Hong Kong: Govt to clarify fugitive bill

The Government will step up efforts to further clarify the fugitive bill to different groups and sectors to dispel misunderstandings or concerns about it, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said today.

Speaking to the media after attending a radio programme this morning, Mr Cheung said the Government will explain the content and objectives of the fugitive bill and highlight the new measures relating to it.

He pointed out the Legislative Council Panel on Security will discuss the bill at special meetings today and from June 3 to 5, and said he hopes the live broadcast of the meetings could provide a comprehensive explanation of the bill to the public.

Government officials will continue to explain the bill to different chambers of commerce and groups, Mr Cheung added.

This story has been published on: 2019-06-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 01:54:33|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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The first prize winners Michele Chircop (1st L, Front) and Carl Gollcher (2nd R, Front) pose for a photo with Chinese Ambassador to Malta Jiang Jiang (2nd L, Front) and Malta's Education Minister Evarist Bartolo during a special exhibition of selected works of the 11th edition of the children's art competition in Malta entitled "Imagining China" in Floriana, Malta, on May 31, 2019. The 11th edition of the children's art competition in Malta entitled "Imagining China" concluded here on Friday. A total of 124 works of art were submitted to the competition from seven schools by 5th through 8th grade students. (Xinhua/Yuan Yun)

VALLETTA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The 11th edition of the children's art competition in Malta entitled "Imagining China" concluded here on Friday.

A total of 124 works of art were submitted to the competition from 7 schools by 5th through 8th grade students.

After careful selection by senior art teachers in Malta, 6 works won top awards.

"China and Malta differ in size but both have a long history and a splendid culture, as well as kind and genial people," said Chinese Ambassador to Malta Jiang Jiang.

"I hope that each one of (the participating students) will maintain the heart of the child, strengthen education, enhance artistic accomplishment, and be a benefit to society and country, as well as promote the understanding and friendship between China and Malta, or even beyond in a broader context, to bridge the East and the West."

A total of 31 of the submitted works of art have been selected for a special exhibition to be hosted by Malta's Ministry for Education and Employment till June 7, 2019.

The competition was co-organized by the country's Ministry for Education and Employment and the China Cultural Center in Malta, and was sponsored by Shanghai Electric Power (Malta) Holding Co., Ltd.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 02:14:44|Editor: Yurou

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Serbia's Bozidar Vucicevic (L) spikes during the Men's Volleyball Nations League match between Serbia and Japan in Novi Sad, Serbia, on May 31, 2019. Japan won 3-1. (Xinhua/Predrag Milosavljevic)

BELGRADE, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan shocked Serbia 25-17, 25-12, 24-26, 25-17 on Friday in the first game of the first week of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League in Novi Sad, Serbia.

The guest team started the match with fast offense and strong defense and easily built the lead that led them to their win in first set.

In the second set, Japan were even more convincing, allowing Serbia to score only 12 points.

The home team got back in the third set. And the fourth set was uncertain in the beginning, but the Japanese team manage to separate at 8-7 and gradually build the advantage needed to claim the match.

Japan will face Russia on Saturday, while Serbia will meet France.

The finals of the competition will be played in the United Stated in July.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 03:05:10|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States space agency NASA on Friday unveiled three lunar landers that will carry NASA science payloads to the Moon and pave the way for NASA astronauts to land on the lunar surface by 2024.

The three robotic landers are developed by American Moon landing service providers -- Astrobotic Technology, Intuitive Machines and Orbit Beyond -- under Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, according to NASA.

Astrobotic Technology, a Pittsburgh-based company, proposed to fly a total of 14 payloads to Lacus Mortis, a large crater on the near side of the Moon, by July 2021.

Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based company, proposed to fly five payloads to Oceanus Procellarum, a dark spot on the Moon, by July 2021.

Orbit Beyond, a company in New Jersey, proposed to fly four payloads to Mare Imbrium, a lava plain in one of the Moon's craters, by September 2020.

NASA will determine which payloads will fly on each flight by the end of the summer, according to NASA.

This first batch are among nine American companies selected in November 2018 in a competition to build lunar robotic landers for NASA in the coming decade.

"These landers are just the beginning of exciting commercial partnerships that will bring us closer to solving the many scientific mysteries of our Moon, our solar system, and beyond," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a statement.

NASA also selected 11 private companies on May 16 to conduct studies and produce prototypes of human landers for putting American astronauts including the first woman on the Moon's south pole by 2024.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 03:20:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ATHENS, May 31 (Xinhua) -- A decade after the introduction of a general ban on smoking in enclosed public places in Greece, the country still lags behind other nations in the effort to restrict the addictive habit, the Hellenic Cancer Society (HCS) said on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day 2019 on Friday.

In a press statement, the HCS calls for immediate action to reduce the number of smokers in Greece, stressing that smoking remains one of the greatest threats to human health.

According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco kills more than 7 million people each year.

In Greece particularly, more than 15,000 people die every year of smoking-related causes, while they spend between 25 million and 30 million euros (27.9-33.4 million U.S. dollars) annually on cigarettes, according to a study presented recently by the HCS.

Greek experts underline that in Europe, the lung cancer mortality rate is the highest in Greece. "Every year, this form of cancer kills a population equal to the inhabitants of an island, such as Ikaria or Leros. If we take into account other types of cancer and illnesses caused by smoking, in a few years the number of deaths would wipe out so many of our fellow citizens as the population of the Cyclades islands," the HCS stresses in its message.

In an open letter, the Hellenic Cancer Society calls on the newly elected Greek regional and municipal authorities to actively support its campaign to make playgrounds smoke-free and beaches and public areas free of cigarette butts.

"Contamination of the environment by the toxic substances and the non-biodegradable plastic material of cigarette filters is extremely high, especially the pollution of our seas," the HCS concludes.

Trikala in northwestern Greece is the first smoke-free city in Greece. Serifos Island, located in the western Cyclades and a popular tourist destination, announced on Wednesday the designation of the country's first smoke-free beach.

The beach of Vagia, which belongs to the European Natura network of protected natural sites, will go smoke-free this summer on the initiative of Serifos municipality and the A.C Laskaridis Charitable Foundation.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 04:00:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, May 31 (Xinhua) -- French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher said Friday that French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Lebanon in the second half of this year after the Lebanese parliament passes the 2019 state budget, local media reported.

"The president will come after Lebanon gets over with its 2019 budget. France and the international community have promised to help Lebanon on condition that the country implements important structural reforms," Foucher was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.

Foucher said that France is looking positively at the 2019 state budget approved by the Lebanese government.

"This is considered the first step in implementing reforms in the country," he said.

Endorsing a state budget that slashes the deficit is among the measures that the Lebanese government has pledged to take as part of the key financial and economic reforms recommended at the CEDRE conference organized by France last year.

The CEDRE international conference has pledged more than 11 billion U.S. dollars in loans and donations to Lebanon if structural reforms are implemented in the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 04:35:50|Editor: zh

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A competitor takes part in the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition held in Budapest, Hungary, May 31, 2019. Hungary on Friday held the final round of its 12th "Chinese Bridge" contest for non-Chinese secondary school students, an annual Chinese proficiency competition, in the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)

BUDAPEST, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Hungary on Friday held the final round of its 12th "Chinese Bridge" contest for non-Chinese secondary school students, an annual Chinese proficiency competition, in the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest.

The contest drew the participation of 18 Hungarian secondary school students from different schools offering Chinese language classes.

The middle-school contestants attended the competition themed "Learning Chinese, Creating brighter future," in speech, real time Q&A and talent show sections, showing their Chinese language skill and understanding of the Chinese culture.

After intense competition, a 17-year-old student named Fekete Marcell Zoltan from the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School won and he will represent Hungary in the final world-wide contest to be held in China later this year.

"I feel happy in learning Chinese and after graduation from high school, I would like go to China for my further studies," Zoltan told Xinhua after the competition, adding his dream job in the future would be Hungarian diplomats to China.

As the only full-time public school in Central and Eastern Europe that incorporates Chinese into its curriculum just as the local language, Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School has gained popularity in Hungary in recent years.

Chinese language has become one of the foreign language requirements for Hungary's college entrance exam.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 05:11:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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by Eric J. Lyman

ROME, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Luigi Di Maio, head of the beleaguered Five-Star Movement, one of the two political parties supporting the year-old government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, easily survived the first challenge to his leadership.

Analysts said the 32-year-old deputy prime minister will have plenty more obstacles to clear in the coming weeks and months.

The Five-Star Movement, a populist anti-establishment party founded by comedian-turned-activist Beppe Grillo in 2009, reached its high-water mark last year, when it finished the March 4 general election with nearly a third of the vote.

Under Di Maio's leadership, the party formed an unlikely coalition with the League, a right-wing, nationalist party, with Conte, an independent, nominated by the Five-Star Movement to be head of government.

Things have gone downhill for the Five-Star Movement since then.

In the most recent setback, the party won just 17 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections for members of the European Parliament, less than half that of the League, its coalition partner. The finish was also more than five percentage points behind the center-left Democratic Party, the main opposition party. The results of that vote were so disappointing that some in the party called for Di Maio to be replaced.

To tamp down opposition, Di Maio called for an Internet confidence vote for the party faithful on Thursday. He survived, easily, winning around 80 percent of the votes cast by 56,127 party members. The total nearly matched the 82-percent total he received in 2017 when he replaced the movement's founder, Grillo.

"Di Maio resolved the problem in a way unique to the Five-Star Movement, one member, one vote, true to the organization's roots as a movement rather than a true political party," Nicola Pasini, a political scientist with the University of Milan, told Xinhua.

"The problem for Di Maio is that the strategies that make him popular among the members of the Five-Star Movement have played less well when he's negotiating against the League," Pasini said.

Flavio Chiapponi, a professor of political communication at the University of Pavia, said that Di Maio still has the support of Grillo, which counts for a lot in the Five-Star Movement.

"It would have been too soon to get rid of Di Maio," Chiapponi said in an interview. "It could happen in the future, but I think he will have a chance to turn things around. In Italian politics, things can change very quickly."

Reversing the Five-Star Movement's fortunes could be difficult with an increasingly emboldened League as its coalition partner.

Matteo Salvini, head of the League and the other deputy prime minister, has said that in the wake of his party's strong finish in the European Parliament vote he planned to push his party's agenda.

On the top of Salvini's list is instituting a flat income tax for individuals and restarting the multi-billion-euro high-speed rail project between the northern Italian city or Turin and Lyon in France. The Five-Star Movement has opposed both measures, and Salvini has said that if Di Maio does not help pass the measures, the League could shop around for a new coalition partner.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 05:21:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TRIPOLI, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Security Department of the western Libyan city of Zuwara, some 120 km west of the capital Tripoli, on Friday announced the arrest of 32 illegal immigrants.

A house in Zuwara has been stormed and six illegal Sudanese immigrants were arrested, said the department said in a statement, adding that 26 others of different African nationalities were seized in another location.

The immigrants have been taken to the department to take necessary legal procedures, the statement added.

Libya is a preferred point of departure for immigrants wanting to cross the Mediterranean toward European shores because of the state of insecurity and chaos that followed the 2011 uprising.

Immigrants' shelters in Libya are crowded with thousands of migrants who have been rescued or arrested by the Libyan authorities.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 07:22:03|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed and six hospitalized in a mass shooting on Friday in Virginia Beach, the United States, local police said in a press conference.

The shooter, a current employee, was also dead, Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera said.

The shooting happened on Friday afternoon at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center in Virginia, eastern United States.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dwyer said. "The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbors and colleagues."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 08:02:09|Editor: mingmei

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has wished children nationwide a happy International Children's Day.

Xi extended the greetings in a letter dated May 31 to primary school students in Macao in response to a letter they sent earlier.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 09:12:32|Editor: zh

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Customers select imported goods carried by Zhengzhou-Europe International Block Train in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, Aug. 18, 2016. The trading partnership between China and German city of Hamburg can be traced back to the 18th century. After years of development, the Port of Hamburg is now one of the most important European hubs for trade with China. In 2018, the Port of Hamburg had a total seafreight volume of approximate 8.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), of which some 2.6 million are related to China, according to the statistics released by the port. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

by Xinhua writer Zhu Sheng

HAMBURG, Germany, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The trading partnership between China and German city of Hamburg can be traced back to the 18th century. After years of development, the Port of Hamburg is now one of the most important European hubs for trade with China.

In 2018, the Port of Hamburg had a total seafreight volume of approximate 8.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), of which some 2.6 million are related to China, according to the statistics released by the port.

HISTORIC PARTNERSHIP

"In the last hundreds of years, the trading volume has been always on the growing path. Nowadays, around a third of total cargo here is bound for China or originates there," said Du Xiaohui, Chinese Consul General in Hamburg.

About half of Sino-German trade run through the Port of Hamburg, Du told Xinhua in a recent interview. And more than 550 Chinese companies have settled in the northern German city, and the number is still rising.

Located along the riverside in the city center, the Port of Hamburg Marketing is striving to strengthen the partnership of both sides after witnessing the existing trade prosperity.

"China is for us the biggest market, but not only these days, this is historical," Axel Mattern, joint chief executive officer of Port of Hamburg Marketing, told Xinhua. "Hamburg is a classical import and export destination or hub for China."

Mattern travels very often to China because he believes that a close contact should be established there. "We have a good position, because we have this long-lasting relationship," he said. "That is something that we have to keep for us."

"We have to identify mutual projects and to combine good ideas together, especially surrounding the Belt and Road Initiative," said Mattern, who hopes to develop the good relationship even further.

Hamburg is the central freight handling hub for transport along both the maritime and overland Silk Road, Mattern said.

"We shall be further strengthening and expanding our location in terms of transport geography for the benefit of our worldwide port customers," he said. "Hamburg is well positioned and prepared to be part of the initiative."

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Mattern's remarks were echoed by Lars Anke, head of sales projects at Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), a leading European logistics company with a history of more than 130 years.

Anke told Xinhua that China has been one of the most important partners of Port of Hamburg and HHLA.

"There are very close cooperation relations between Hamburg and China. Therefore, both sides have great potential to strengthen win-win cooperation, especially under the Belt and Road Initiative," he said.

As the operator for the Port of Hamburg, HHLA owns a mature network both by rail and by sea, which can help boost trade between China and Europe, according to Anke.

Hamburg, as a leading logistics hub, enjoys a dense network of around 2,000 container train connections, excellent autobahn infrastructure, a host of possibilities for transport by truck and inland waterway craft, as well as an airport with an air freight center.

"All parties, including local government in Hamburg, have showed their willingness to take part in the Belt and Road Initiative," said Consul General Du, who has already held six symposiums on the topic.

"With its port's outstanding rail infrastructure, Hamburg naturally forms part of China's Belt and Road Initiative," said Du, adding that the port closely connects the Hanseatic city to the Asian country.

Looking forward, the senior diplomat said that the cooperation between China and Hamburg has a solid foundation, on which both sides can expect new opportunities for cooperation on the new platform.

"Hamburg and Port of Hamburg face new chances to promote the comprehensive cooperation relations and trade prosperity between Hamburg and China, between Germany and China," Du added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 09:17:35|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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ISLAMABAD, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's anti-graft body the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued an order to arrest former president Asif Ali Zardari in a money laundering case, local media reported.

According to the reports on Friday, NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal gave approval for the issuance of the arrest warrant of Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and husband of the former late prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The arrest order was issued after Zardari refused three times to appear before the bureau to answer the questions about the case.

NAB is conducting investigations in pursuance of the verdict by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the money laundering of billions of rupees through fake bank accounts.

The accountability watchdog authorities alleged that the former president, who ruled the country from 2008 to 2013, has been found directly involved in the illegal money transfer to other countries through fake bank accounts.

Last week, NAB officials told the Islamabad High Court that the bureau has enough evidence to prove Zardari, the main beneficiary of the fake bank accounts, guilty.

NAB will reportedly submit the arrest order before the court on June 10, requesting it to allow the anti-graft bureau to arrest him for an investigation into the case.

Pakistan has been running an anti-corruption campaign since 2016 and has arrested several politicians, bureaucrats, contractors and businesspersons for their involvement in financial corruption.

In 2017, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif for having any public position in a case of having assets beyond known means. Later in 2018, an anti-corruption court sent Sharif to jail for a period of 10 years after he failed to prove the source of the money he spent to buy luxurious apartments in London in the 1990s.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 09:17:37|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed and six hospitalized in a mass shooting on Friday at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia, local police said at a press conference.

The shooter, a longtime employee of the public utilities department, was also killed, said Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera.

Cervera said the shooter fired "indiscriminately" and was confronted shortly by officers after opening fire on multiple floors.

Among the injured was a police officer whose ballistic vest stopped a bullet, the police chief said. The officer is expected to be recovered.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dwyer said. "The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbors and colleagues."

The motive of the shooter was unknown. Local media said the gunman was fired on Thursday and disgruntled.

The shooting began shortly after 4 p.m. eastern time (2000 GMT) in Building 2 of the municipal center, next door to the City Hall. The building houses the planning, public utilities, public works departments, among others.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 10:53:15|Editor: mingmei

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PARIS, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal continued their own history as both of them reached French Open round of 16 for a record 14th time, while women's second seed Karolina Pliskova became the latest potential title contender to be knocked out following a loss to Petra Martic in the third round here on Friday.

Contesting his 400th Grand Slam match, Federer won the first two sets against Norwegian promise Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1, before being pulled into a tiebreak in the third set, but managed to go through with a score of 10-8.

"The third set could have gone either way. He had chances early, then later, and then again after," admitted Federer. "It was nice to see him hang in there."

Federer will face Leonardo Mayer from Argentina for a quarterfinal spot, and a potential semifinal clash with Nadal looms ahead.

Nadal, in quest for a record-extending 12th French Open title, overcame Belgian 27th-seeded David Goffin 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Nadal said, "I played against a top player that had injuries, and he's a little bit lower in the ranking now, but when he's playing well, he's a player that already showed to everybody that he can win against every player in this world."

Nadal's next opponent will be another Argentinian Juan Ignacio Londero.

Pliskova lost 6-3, 6-3 to Martic, and her exit means that Naomi Osaka is set to maintain her world No. 1 status after the tournament.

Pliskova conceded 28 unforced errors, double that of her Croatian opponent, and also lagged behind in points won on first and second serves.

Prior to Pliskova, other challengers to Osaka's throne have fallen by the wayside, as fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber was eliminated in the first round, fourth seed Kiki Bertens was laid low with an illness, and No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova withdrew through injury.

"The court is pretty slow, so you just have to play some extra shots. She has this kind of game which you don't feel good about, and she played well," Pliskova explained.

Elsewhere, the 2016 winner Garbine Muguruza upset ninth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3. No. 7 seed Sloane Stephens also marched on with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Polona Hercog.

The Chinese women's pair of Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai won their doubles second round match over Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs 6-3, 6-2.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 11:13:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf speaks during an interview in Cairo, Egypt, May 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Binian)

CAIRO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States has initiated a trade conflict against China "unilaterally," a move that is "an assault on the international values," former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Washington stood against the general world system and tore up hopes of free trade and a growing economy, said Sharaf, who is also a committee member of the Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network.

He termed Washington's unilateralist moves as a violation of the principles of multilateralism, free trade and balanced global economic governance.

"The current U.S. administration is seeking global dominance, and the ongoing trade war is one of its features," Sharaf said.

When Washington hinders free trade and sets some unacceptable conditions and restrictions, it disrupts the world trade movement and the interests of the associated partners, he said.

In the latest flare-up in trade tensions with China, Washington increased additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent in May.

The impact of such a move on China will be "manageable," Sharaf said. "Many of the firms affected are American, which ultimately sell products in the United States."

Sharaf said the U.S.-China trade tensions in the short term will lead to some damage to China, the United States and the whole world, but in the long run China will gain more solidarity from other countries which appreciate China's win-win principle.

"Things will change in the long run. America will be one of the biggest countries harmed by the trade war," Sharaf said, adding that big resistance would rise inside the United States, because the employment sector has seen big losses.

The current U.S. administration's moves are based on exercising its dominance and intervention in other countries' internal affairs while China sticks to peaceful coexistence and non-interference, which is clearly observed by the world and seen as a contrast between the two countries, according to Sharaf.

China upholds "very important principles of non-interference and calls for a world full of prosperity and common win-win," Sharaf added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 11:13:29|Editor: mingmei

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BERLIN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Science and technology (S&T) cooperation has been a highlight of ties between China and Germany, and is expected to bring more opportunities to both sides, said officials and experts.

"China and Germany have set a precedent worldwide by setting up an S&T cooperation mechanism between big countries, which has so far created abundant outcomes," said Huang Wei, deputy head of China's Ministry of Science and Technology.

Over 700 intergovernmental research and development programs, couples of joint labs and research centers, among others, have been supported since the mechanism was established in 1978.

"We will continue to promote mutual trust, focus on key areas, increase investment and move bilateral pragmatic cooperation forward," Huang said.

"China and Germany have broad prospects in artificial intelligence cooperation, which will profoundly affect education, health and robots sectors, to name just a few," said Zhang Jianwei, head of Technical Aspects of Multimodal Systems Institute at the University of Hamburg.

"I find my previous teamwork with Chinese colleagues in neuroscience study very successful," said Tobias Kalenscher, professor of Institute of Experimental Psychology at the University of Dusseldorf. "They become increasingly international and involved in academic exchanges. I'm looking forward to expanding our cooperation in (the) future."

David Huang, managing director of Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology, which has one of its research and development centers in Berlin, said Germany has much experience in basic research, engineering, quality control and standardization, while China's strengths are flexibility, price control and a huge market.

"We can well supplement each other and make a win-win," he said.

Werner Hufenbach, professor at the Technical University of Dresden, has experience of cofounding with Chinese companies research centers on rail transport and on automobile lightweight.

"I have worked with Chinese counterparts for almost four decades, which I am convinced that is built on equality, mutual trust and mutual benefits, "said Hufenbach. "I have full confidence in the future of S&T cooperation between our two countries."

For Yin Jun, head of science department of Chinese Embassy to Berlin, China and Germany will have "more cooperation in basic science such as quantum science, brain science, biomedicine, artificial intelligence and so on, as well as in big science research which requires heavy investments and interdisciplinary exchanges."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 11:28:32|Editor: mingmei

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has wished children nationwide a happy International Children's Day, which falls on June 1.

Xi extended the greetings in a letter dated May 31 to primary school pupils in Macao in response to a letter they sent earlier.

"At a young age, you already know that the motherland is Macao's strong backer," Xi said. "I am so glad about it."

Xi expressed his hope that the students can pass on the fine tradition of loving the motherland and loving Macao and make contributions to Macao's development and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation when they grow up.

In their letter to Xi, pupils from the Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School spoke of their understanding of the motherland and expressed their determination to make the motherland and Macao better when they grow up.

Established in 1932, the Hou Kong Middle School has the largest number of primary and secondary students among all schools in Macao.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 11:28:34|Editor: Yurou

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JEJU ISLAND, South Korea, June 1 (Xinhua) -- World experts criticized the United States for unilateralism and nationalism, calling for cooperation and collaboration among regional countries.

"In the United States, President (Donald) Trump is to this day the inglorious proponent of the 'my country first' policy," said Heinz Fischer, former Austrian president, at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity that lasted for three days to Friday in the South Korean resort island of Jeju.

He noted that the Trump administration was "antagonistic to the lessons" Europe had learned in the past, saying the future "lies on collaboration, not confrontation."

DESTRUCTIVE UNILATERALISM VS. CONSTRUCTIVE INTEGRATION

The biennial Jeju forum, held under the theme of "Asia Towards Resilient Peace: Cooperation and Integration," was attended by some 5,500 experts from around 70 countries this year.

Fischer warned of growing "nationalistic tendencies," and recalled the beginning of the 20th century when the "destructive powers of selfish nationalism" got stronger in Europe and led to devastating wars.

"The decision of President Trump to withdraw from the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty), from the Paris climate agreement and from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran is the opposite of wise decisions because it is destroying trust in international agreements," said Fischer.

He stressed that only in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect for the "generally accepted international treaty regime" could the global community succeed in finding necessary balanced solutions to varying interests.

To overcome the U.S.-led unilateralism and nationalism, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said East Asia should pursue a regional integration by creating what he called an East Asian community and promoting the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Proposed by China in 2013, the BRI has extended from Asia and Europe to Africa, Americas and Oceania, opening up new space for the world economy with better-than-expected results. Over 150 countries and international organizations have signed BRI cooperation documents with China.

Based on mutual respect, mutual understanding and mutual assistance, the former Japanese prime minister said Japan, China and South Korea should build an East Asian community together with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"The Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to guide the Eurasian continent into peace, and the East Asian community initiative have the same ends, although their means are not necessarily the same," said Hatoyama.

TRADE WAR HAS NO WINNER

On the U.S.-initiated trade tensions with China, Martin Jacques, a senior fellow with Cambridge University, said at the forum that in the long run, "both economies, of course, will suffer ..."

The Trump administration early in May dialed up the additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent, and threatened to levy duties of 25 percent on some 300 billion dollars' worth of Chinese products yet to be hit.

However, the British expert expressed more confidence in China's growing ability to sustain the U.S. tariff attacks given the innovative growth of China, and its economic and cultural powers.

"Apart from its (China's) far superior growth rate, its standout economic achievement over the last decade has been its sharply rising capacity for innovation," Jacques said.

"Tariffs and a growing willingness to cut itself off from the dynamism of the Chinese economy will make the U.S. economy increasingly less competitive," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 11:38:39|Editor: mingmei

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COLOMBO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka has further amended its travel advisory for Sri Lanka to the primary level of "take safety precautions."

The embassy said on Friday that the Sri Lankan government has launched a large scale crackdown on the extremist forces in the aftermath of the Easter explosions.

The security has been beefed up in public places, such as schools, hospitals and shopping malls.

The embassy said, however, the security situation in Sri Lanka has not returned to normal.

Sri Lanka has entered a state of emergency since April 22 and has extended the state of emergency for another month since May 22.

The travel advisory will be in effect until June 21.

Nine suicide bombers attacked churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka on April 21, which killed more than 250 people and injured over 500.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 12:08:45|Editor: Yurou

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RIYADH, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Summit starting on Friday in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca discussed unified stance on events in the Islamic world, Al Arabiya TV reported.

The 14th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) this year is titled "Mecca Summit: Together for the Future," with the attendance of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and several heads of state from the Islamic world.

The main topics for the summit focused on the issues of Palestine, Islamophobia, countering extremism and terrorism, and the situation of Muslims around the world.

During the opening speech, King Salman highlighted that the Palestinian issue remains the priority of the OIC's work.

"We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of any measures that would affect the historical and legal status of Jerusalem," he said.

In December 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the city in May last year, which made the relations between the United States and the Palestinian Authority deteriorated.

In addition, the Trump administration has been preparing for a new peace plan called "Deal of the Century" to end the prolonged Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which the Palestinians have repeatedly voiced their rejection.

The OIC summit was held following two Gulf and Arab summits in Mecca on Thursday to discuss recent regional developments and measures to be taken regarding them.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 12:23:48|Editor: Yurou

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by Mao Pengfei, Nguon Sovan

PHNOM PENH, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China has achieved "enormous development" in the past 70 years and the progress has benefited the whole world, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong told Xinhua in a recent interview.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"I have visited Beijing and some provinces in China since the 1970s," Namhong said. "If compared then and now, it can be said that it's different like the sky and earth."

"China's enormous development in all fields has not only benefited the people of China but also helped the people in the whole world," he said.

Namhong noted China has provided developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America with a lot of assistance and China's economy is a base for supporting the global economy.

Due to China's tremendous development, its global role today is very important and indispensable for tackling issues in the world, he said.

Namhong said he has seen China's rapid development in all fields in the past seven decades, particularly in economy, people's livelihood improvement, poverty reduction and technological advancement.

Noting that China has become the world's second largest economy, he believes that China's economy will keep growing robustly in the future.

Thanks to longstanding friendship and fraternal cooperation between Cambodia and China, Namhong is strongly confident that the bilateral ties will be further deepened in the future.

"I think the relations between our two countries under the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the comprehensive strategic partnership will be rooted deeper and deeper," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 12:43:57|Editor: Yurou

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China has the world's largest number of world natural heritage sites, an official said.

The country is home to 13 natural sites and four mixed sites, Zhou Zhihua, an official with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said Friday at a news conference regarding cultural and natural heritage day which falls on June 8.

Natural sites include the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries and Mount Fanjingshan which was inscribed last year. Mount Taishan is one of the mixed sites which contain elements of both natural and cultural significance.

Since ratifying the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, China has had one of the fastest-growing countries in world heritage, Zhou said.

The country has also enhanced legal, managerial and technological support of the protection of its world natural heritage, establishing a management system with Chinese characteristics, she added.

China's world heritage has contributed to the country's ecological and socioeconomic development and showcased its image to the world, with sites receiving over 12 million inbound tourist trips last year, she said.

World heritage sites refer to various natural areas and cultural legacies inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage List with outstanding universal value.

As of May, there are a total of 845 cultural sites, 209 natural sites and 38 mixed sites on the list.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 12:54:03|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Scholars at the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think tank, on Friday railed against President Donald Trump's latest threat to impose tariffs of 5 percent on all Mexican imports.

During a teleconference call held by the Washington-based institution, Jason Marczak, director of the Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, said, "I hope this is just a threat because, frankly, these tariffs make no economic sense at all."

Trump announced in a tweet Thursday that the 5 percent tariffs covering the full spectrum of Mexican products sold to the United States will be implemented on June 10, and will remain in effect until Mexico has stopped the flow "illegal migrants" into the United States via the Latin American country.

The White House said in a statement issued following the president's tweet that the planned duties will be increased to 25 percent on Oct. 1 and permanently remain at that level "unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory."

Marczak said total trade volume between the United States and Mexico for March 2019 amounts to 150 billion dollars. "This is not classic importing and exporting, this is supply chain-based trade, we make products together."

Noting that U.S. autos, for example, rely on sourcing from Mexico, Marczak said there will be "a direct hit on U.S. consumers" if the administration implements the tariffs.

"U.S. consumers will face an even graver situation because the president never even outlined what Mexico needs to do to not have these tariffs imposed," he said.

According to Marczak's estimates, if tariffs on Mexican products rise to 25 percent, the United States will pay 3.6 percent more in cost for car manufacturing. "The country doesn't pay tariffs," he said. "Tariffs are paid for by companies and companies pass those costs onto their consumers."

In addition to the harm done to consumers, the tariffs will also lead to further job loss in the U.S. auto industry, Marczak said, adding that the trend is against the backdrop of nearly 20,000 jobs being caught in the auto industry through April this year, the highest in 10 years.

Trump claimed in a Friday tweet that Mexico has taken 30 percent of the U.S. auto industry. Refuting that assertion, Bart Oosterveld, director of the Global Business and Economics Program at the Atlantic Council, said that the auto industry is already not doing well.

"The supply chain is deeply integrated," Oosterveld said. "If the 25 percent of tariffs were imposed, it would be highly disruptive to the auto supply chain," he said, adding that there is "a wide spread misunderstanding" within the administration about who pays for tariffs.

Valeria Moy, nonresident fellow at the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, said given that Mexico is aware of the importance of its trade relationship with the United States, she believes Trump's tariff threat is unlikely to result in the Mexican Congress blocking the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a priority on Trump's trade agenda.

She stressed, however, the tariffs will make collaboration between the two countries much more difficult. "My personal opinion is that in this specific time, we should do more collaboration, instead of less, given the trade and migration issues."

Moy said she hopes that the tariffs remain a threat, but when the threat was made at the presidential level, "it's really difficult to go back."

"To be honest, I don't know what else Mexico can do to try to stop migration," she said. "I mean the economic reality of this country is going to drive migration, whether we like it, or we allow it, or we don't."

The migrant issue, Moy said, is much more complicated than Trump has thought and cannot be solved by imposing tariffs. "In the end, it will only hurt U.S. consumers, and, of course, the Mexican economy as a whole when it starts to lose competitiveness."

Trump claimed in a tweet that his tariffs will see companies leave Mexico and bring back the portion of auto industry that the United States lost to its southern neighbor.

"He's basically lying because basically the car industry is pretty much automatized, so there will be no jobs going back," Moy said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 13:04:06|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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SUVA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Fijian government imposed a seasonal ban on grouper and coral trout on Saturday, and any person or business found harvesting, selling, possessing or exporting these two species of fish during the four-month moratorium will have their fish confiscated and will receive high fines.

According to a statement from Fiji's Ministry of Fisheries, these two species of fish have reduced drastically in its numbers over the past years and spawning ensures that future generations will be able to enjoy the same species in the years to come.

More than 80 percent of Fiji's known grouper and coral trout breeding sites are either declining or have been lost. One study found fish landings of grouper have declined 70 percent over 30 years, with some areas of the island nation hardly catching the prized fish anymore.

The grouper and coral trout peak breading months are June through September. The ban covers that period of time each year, from June 1 to Sept. 30 and is designed to ensure these fish breed and restock Fiji's reefs.

This is the second year for Fiji to start the ban, which was officially enacted in June 2018.

Fiji and the Pacific region were highly dependent on coastal fisheries resources. In Fiji, more than half of its 900,000 population depend on the ocean and fish as a source of income and livelihood.

The fishing industry exports up to 400 million Fijian dollars' (about 184.3 million U.S. dollars) worth of fish products annually which contributes about 2.9 percent to Fiji's GDP.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 13:14:09|Editor: mingmei

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KUNMING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Eleven impoverished patients from the Myanmar border town of Muse have regained their vision after receiving free eye surgery from Chinese doctors through a bilateral friendship program.

Supported by the Ruili-Muse International Friendship and Vision Restoration Project, the patients were admitted to Ruili People's Hospital in southwest China's Yunnan Province on May 24.

Six people have had surgery for cataract extraction and five for pterygium excision. All have recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

San Meng, chairman of the Ruili municipal committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, visited the patients before they left. "China is willing to offer help to those on the border in Myanmar with eye problems who can not afford medical treatment," San said.

The vision restoration program, initiated in February 2018, is sponsored by the committee as well as Ruili's health department and donations from Chinese businesses.

The program has helped 25 Myanmar patients recover vision.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 13:24:13|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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CANBERRA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has chosen northern Australia for its first-ever launch from a privately-owned site.

The U.S. space agency on Friday night announced it will work with the Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) to launch four rockets from the Arnhem Space Center in Northern Territory, 700 km east of Darwin, in 2020.

"This is the single most important event to date in putting the Australian space industry on the global map and will open the doors to growth and job opportunities in the Australian space industry," ELA chief Carley Scott told News Corp Australia.

"NASA has not launched from a non-government launch site anywhere else in the world and the decision by NASA to partner with ELA in Australia firmly embeds Australia as a serious part of the global space sector.

"It's exciting to be pioneering the development of commercial space launch services in Australia and it's even more rewarding to be doing it with one of the world's leading space agency and one synonymous with cutting-edge space exploration."

Following the landmark announcement, Australia's Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews on Saturday declared that space tourists could be departing from South Australia (SA) within five years.

She told News Corp that the SA-based Australian Space Agency (ASA) is in discussions with Virgin Galactic about how to make Adelaide a space tourism hub.

Under the current plan, spacecraft would use a commercial runway at Adelaide Airport to take off.

Passengers will experience three minutes of zero gravity before seeing iconic Australian attractions such as the Great Barrier Reef or Uluru from 100 km above the Earth.

Andrews said that Australia would target passengers from China and southeast Asia.

"I'm very keen to develop space tourism here in Australia. We've already got some keen players in the northern hemisphere, the United States, in particular, they are looking at taking people up on space flights. We're ideally located in the southern hemisphere," she said.

"What's being planned is three minutes of weightlessness. We know that there's a market. Clearly, the cost of space travel will come down over time,"

"We're probably looking at a five-year timeframe. It wouldn't just be the space trip. They'd come to stay."

Virgin Galactic flew test passengers into space for the first time in February. Their flights currently cost approximately 250,000 Australian dollars per passenger but that figure is expected to fall before they launch in Australia.

Steven Marshall, the premier of SA, said the international interest was a sign that Australia's space industry was burgeoning.

The ASA launched in July 2018 with the goal of tripling the annual value of Australia's space sector to 12 billion Australian dollars (8.33 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030.

"This is just an indication of the worldwide interest we are receiving and the tip of the iceberg. Our state now has an enormous competitive advantage by having the national space agency located in Adelaide," Marshall said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 13:49:25|Editor: mingmei

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by Duncan Murray

SYDNEY, June 1 (Xinhua) -- As winter sets in across Sydney Harbour, a selection of artworks from Hong Kong's highly anticipated M+ museum are lighting up the Opera House -- with a five-day preview of visual works from the museum's collection showing from Wednesday to Sunday.

The Hidden Pulse, a joint venture with the Sydney Opera House, is the first collaboration of M+ International, an initiative aimed at fostering global partnerships ahead of the museum's 2020 opening.

The collaboration falls during the broader Vivid Sydney Festival which every year lights up the city's harbor and surrounds, bringing light installations and musical performances to locals and visitors for about a month in May and June.

"The Hidden Pulse will give audiences the opportunity to view moving image artworks by acclaimed international artists from diverse geographical locations and cultural backgrounds," Opera House contemporary art curator Sarah Rees said.

One of the featured presentations is "Miraculous Trajectories," a collaboration by electronic musician Shao Yanpeng and emerging avant-garde video artist Cheng Ran.

The images for the work are pieced together from Cheng's 2015 nine-hour epic film "In Course of the Miraculous," which explored the real-life disappearances of three missing people.

Cheng, who lives and works in Hangzhou, an eastern city of China, visited Sydney for the screening and told Xinhua why he made a movie that was so long.

"I'm not actually a filmmaker. I'm a video artist, so I'm always thinking about other ways of using this medium," he said.

"So I hope this long movie can extend for one whole day of people watching it. It's like one day, going into work in the morning and finishing in the evening."

"The question is, during that time of one whole day, what is happening?"

Australian audiences can witness a portion of the entire film, cut down to just 70 minutes, which will screen at the Opera House on Sunday.

Cheng and fellow artist Cameron Rowland were named as inaugural winners of Nomura Emerging Artist Award, with each receiving 100,000 U.S. dollars.

Among a worldwide slew of works by cutting edge visual artists, The Hidden Pulse will also show the critically acclaimed, "Love is the Message, the Message is Death" by Arthur Jaffar, which incorporates African American music and historical images into a searing depiction of how the culture is portrayed by mainstream media.

M+ curator Ulanda Blair, who was also in Sydney for the event, said that she was delighted to be part of Vivid and to share some of the gallery's exciting moving image collection with Australians.

"The program articulates M+'s strong engagement with contemporary practices from around the world, as well as our firm grounding in Asia," Blair said.

Cheng said that he was honored to be representing M+ during his first ever visit to Australia.

"I have shown some works here before but this video and live music performance will be the most important showing for me. The Sydney Opera House is a dream place for artists and musicians to perform," he said.

"I think for this type of artwork, people don't need to know very much about your country, about your background, they can just listen to the music and watch the movie and feel different experiences from their own heart."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 13:54:27|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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SEOUL, June 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export reduced 9.4 percent in May from a year earlier, keeping a downward trend for the sixth consecutive month, a government report showed Saturday.

Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, amounted to 45.91 billion U.S. dollars in May, down 9.4 percent from the same month of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Import fell 1.9 percent over the year to 43.64 billion dollars in May, sending the trade surplus to 2.27 billion dollars.

The trade balance stayed in the black for 88 months in a row, but the surplus was down 63.5 percent from a year ago.

The falling pace of export in May was faster than a 2-percent reduction in the previous month on the global trade dispute and the downturn in business cycle of the global semiconductor sector.

In terms of volume, the export gained for two months through May, sending a positive signal that the export could rebound in the near future.

The export volume grew 0.7 percent in May from a year earlier, after expanding 2.3 percent in April.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 15:10:06|Editor: xuxin

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by Raimundo Urrechaga

HAVANA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Cuban officials, European Union (EU) diplomats and representatives of European firms on Friday denounced and rejected U.S. recent activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

The act allows U.S. citizens to establish lawsuits against international companies operating in Cuba on nationalized or expropriated properties after 1959.

In a meeting of Cuban government officials, EU diplomatic corps and representatives of European companies operating in the Carribean nation, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, director of U.S. affairs of Cuba's Foreign Ministry, said Washington's recent measures against Cuba seek to limit foreign investment in the island country.

It is also directed against those who trade with the Caribbean nation, he said.

The EU Ambassador to Cuba Alberto Navarro said the EU's position is "firm" in rejecting the U.S. move and its member states have "antidote laws" in case any U.S. court imposes fines on them.

"What this legislation seeks to create is confusion, discourage investments and that is something the EU doesn't share," he added.

He noted that European firms have been told not to collaborate with U.S. judges and if there are any economic sanctions, they can ask the European Court of Justice to compensate them for financial damages.

However, Fernandez de Cossio said the claims and lawsuits "which have been presented so far have not been directed against foreign companies in Cuba but against commercial activity that is not necessarily capital investment."

Enabling this section of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act aims to further strengthen the nearly six-decade old economic embargo, he said, adding that it also seeks to block any future improvement of bilateral ties by only allowing U.S. Congress to totally lift the embargo.

Meanwhile, Xulio Fontecha, president of the Association of Spanish Entrepreneurs in Cuba (AEEC), enumerated a series of intimidating practices by the United States towards the European business community based in the Caribbean nation.

Among them are warning letters sent by Cuban organizations in the United States to some members of the AECC about the implications of doing business in the island country, the closing of bank accounts of several firms and the denial by courier companies to send documents to Havana.

"It's a policy of hostility towards us. Some organizations have asked us to stop supplying certain products and equipment that U.S. companies are beginning to distribute in Cuba," he added.

U.S.-Cuban relations have plummeted since Trump took office, dramatically rolling back the detente initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 15:55:19|Editor: xuxin

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PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Nine policemen were killed and three others wounded when Taliban militants attacked a local police camp in Afghanistan's northern province of Baghlan overnight, a provincial source said Saturday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 16:11:36|Editor: zh

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Workers discuss carving plans at a brick carving company in Linxia County of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Gansu Province, May 31, 2019. Linxia brick carving is one of the traditional folk arts in Linxia, which became a mature artistic form and prospered during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It was listed in 2006 as one of China's national intangible heritages. (Xinhua/Ma Ning)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 16:20:25|Editor: xuxin

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RABAT, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The two-day visit of British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox to Morocco focused on trade and economic relations with the North African country after the Brexit.

Joined by Emma Wade-Smith, British Trade Commissioner for Africa, Fox met on Friday with Moroccan Minister of Industry, Trade and New Technologies Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Minister of Agriculture Aziz Akhannouch and Secretary of State to Foreign Affairs Mounia Boucetta.

"Britain is undergoing a mutation with the Brexit, but in any case, it needs to strengthen its relations with a number of friendly countries like Morocco," Elalamy told the press after the meeting.

"The relations between Morocco and the United Kingdom are very good and long-standing. Today we are lucky to have very good economic and political relations," he added.

During the meetings, the two sides discussed Morocco's position toward Europe and Africa and the opportunities for both Moroccan and British businessmen.

For his part, Fox said the talks touched on how the two countries could cooperate at the economic and business levels.

"We are more advanced in the services sector and have a lot of skills that could be useful here," said Fox.

Britain "wants to invest in Morocco's future in terms of workforce and capacity to generate services that will facilitate export to the African continent," he added.

On Thursday, Fox met with Abdellatif Loudiyi, Moroccan Minister-Delegate for National Defense.

"The United Kingdom and Morocco have a mutual interest in delivering security and stability in North Africa. It means there is huge potential for defence and security exports, and for British capability to play a full part," the British Embassy in Morocco said in a tweet after the meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 16:25:27|Editor: xuxin

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PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Nine policemen have been killed and three others wounded as Taliban militants attacked a local police camp in Afghanistan's northern province of Baghlan overnight, a provincial source said Saturday.

"The clash erupted as a dozen of armed militants stormed an Afghan Local Police (ALP) base in Bagh-e-Shamal, an area on the outskirts of provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri city Friday night," Bismillah Atash, a provincial council member, told Xinhua.

He said nine ALP personnel were killed and three others wounded as the clash continued until Saturday morning.

Several militants were killed and wounded during the gun battle, but the number could not be exactly specified, said the source.

Local police is a local security entity composed of villagers to defend their community where the presence of the national army or national police is slim to ensure law and order.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since early April when the militant group launched its annual rebel offensive in different locations, which had claimed hundreds of lives including militants, security personnel and civilians.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 16:45:40|Editor: xuxin

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WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Government officials, trade experts, business associations in both the United States and Mexico have seen no point but harm -- to others and itself -- of the Trump administration's decision to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods coming from Mexico.

Puzzled and angry, some called for twice-thinking by the U.S. president and his administration.

In a surprise Twitter announcement on Thursday, Trump said that on June 10, "the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied."

Some U.S. business organizations warned that the tariffs threat on Mexican imports would only hurt U.S. business and families.

"These proposed tariffs would have devastating consequences on manufacturers in America and on American consumers," said Jay Timmons, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Manufacturers.

"We have taken our concerns to the highest levels of the administration and strongly urge them to consider carefully the impact of this action on working families across this country," Timmons said.

The National Retail Federation, a renowned retail trade association in the United States, issued a statement on Friday, saying "the growing tariff bill paid by U.S. businesses and consumers is adding up and will raise the cost of living for American families."

Business Roundtable, a group of chief executive officers of major U.S. corporations, said on Friday that "imposing unilateral tariffs on Mexican imports would be a grave error."

The organization strongly urges the Trump administration to stop moving forward with these tariffs, which would "create significant economic disruption and tax U.S. workers, farmers, consumers and businesses."

"These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border," said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

According to the chamber's research, a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports would result in a potential tax increase on American businesses and consumers of 17 billion U.S. dollars.

"The strategy seems to be to coerce Mexico into cooperating more on immigration, but these tariffs will really just cause even more harm to Americans," Tori K. Whiting, an economist specializing in trade at the Heritage Foundation, told Xinhua.

Trump said he will lift the tariffs only if "the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico." However, experts cannot agree that tariffs are the solution to curb the migration tide.

"Unilateral tariffs on all Mexican imports will not solve the urgent problems of securing our border and fixing our broken immigration system. We urge the Administration to engage constructively with our neighbors and allies to resolve trade, migration and security issues in ways that will benefit Americans, not cause economic damage," read the Business Roundtable statement.

"While most of the immigration at the southern border has been from Central America, if this action harms the Mexican economy, it will likely increase the number of Mexicans also looking to cross the border into the United States," said Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of Congress and the Presidency.

"Moving ahead with these tariffs would also jeopardize the prospects for the Administration's top trade priority -- the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) -- and would undermine duty-free North American trade that supports over 12 million American jobs," said the Business Roundtable statement.

The USMCA is a signed but not ratified free trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The Trump administration's tariffs announcement was made at a time when the USMCA is awaiting the ratification of the legislative bodies of the three participant countries.

"Manufacturers have been working hard to secure passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and the last thing we want to do is put that landmark deal and the 2 million manufacturing jobs that depend on North American trade in jeopardy," Timmons warned.

The tariffs plan has also stirred up opposition in its southern neighbor.

Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that the U.S. tariffs move was "unfair" and the treatment "makes no economic sense for anyone," given that Mexico is the U.S. main trade partner.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that the U.S. tariffs on imported Mexican goods would harm both countries.

"I believe that President Trump will understand that this is not the way to solve things. I believe there is going to be a rectification, immediately, there has to be one," said Lopez Obrador.

On Thursday night, Lopez Obrador sent a letter to Trump, calling for dialogue to solve the underlying problem of immigration. "Social problems are not resolved with tariffs or coercive measures," said the Mexican president.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 16:55:49|Editor: xuxin

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RIO DE JANEIRO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday denounced the Supreme Court's recent ruling to make homophobia and transphobia crimes as severe as racism.

The court's decision was criticized by the country's evangelical Christian groups, who are vocal in their stance against homosexuality and transsexuality.

Bolsonaro, who is an evangelical Christian himself, accused the Supreme Court of trying to legislate.

In response, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the court was not trying to legislate, but only fulfilling its mandate to act in the defense of vulnerable minorities.

Brazil approved same-sex civil unions, which are similar to marriages, in early 2011, and same-sex marriage was legalized in the country in 2013.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:00:51|Editor: Yamei

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Governors of three U.S. western states Friday threw their weight behind women's right to abortion as some other U.S. states are working to limit women's reproductive rights.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, together with his Oregon and Washington counterparts Kate Brown and Jay Inslee, issued an open letter to reaffirm their support for women's freedom to choose abortion if necessary.

"In the past few weeks, states across the country have enacted new and extreme restrictions on abortion, attacking safe and legal health care and putting women's lives at risk," said the governors in the letter.

The open letter came after Alabama State Governor Kay Ivey signed a new law earlier in May that would ban all abortions, except in cases in which the mother's life is in danger.

The Alabama law would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, with the possibility of 99 years of imprisonment. Even victims of rape and incest would not be permitted to terminate their pregnancies.

The law was the latest challenge to the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade case that ruled that women have a right to abortion.

Governors of California, Oregon and Washington slammed these bans and restrictions as a violation of "woman's constitutional right to safe and legal abortion, contrary to 40 years of precedent."

"Reproductive choice -- the right to make private decisions about one's body, the right to determine whether and when to have children, the right to make medical decisions without political intrusion in the doctor's office -- is fundamental to a woman's autonomy and ensuring that all women ... have an equal role in our society and our economy," they said.

The three governors urged other states to review their laws and enact similar protections, programs and policies to safeguard a woman's right to choose.

"Even as states around the country enact extreme laws that violate women's rights and undermine access to safe and legal healthcare, we will uphold women's equality and liberty by protecting their reproductive freedom," they said.

In California, women's right to abortion is protected by both the state's constitution and statute.

Newsom also signed the California Proclamation on Reproductive Freedom Friday, reaffirming California's commitment to protecting women's reproductive choices.

He welcomed women from other U.S. states to California to "fully exercise their reproductive rights."

In Washington state, abortion has been legal for nearly 50 years, and the state became the first U.S. state to pass a voter-approved initiative guaranteeing the right to abortion for Washington women in 1991.

Oregon passed one of the strongest reproductive healthcare bills in the country in 2017, which expanded reproductive services to all Oregonians across the state.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:05:53|Editor: Yamei

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by Peerzada Arshad Hamid

NEW DELHI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Eight mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, went missing in northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials said Saturday.

The mountaineers went missing on way to Nanda Devi East peak in Pithoragarh district, about 540 km east of Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand.

According to officials, those missing include four British nationals, two U.S. nationals, one Australian and an Indian.

Officials said the Indian in the group might be a guide, however, local media reports said he is a liaison officer from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering,

"It was a group of 12 people which left left Munsiyari, the base camp on May 13. All of them were supposed to return to base camp on May 25," Additional District Magistrate Pithoragarh R. D. Paliwala told Xinhua via telephone.

"Yesterday evening we got information that only four people have returned and eight are missing."

The group had embarked on a mission to climb the 7,434-meter Nanda Devi peak.

Officials said they have initiated the rescue efforts to trace the missing climbers.

"Following the information about missing mountaineers, we mobilized our teams including disaster response force personnel, health teams and police, besides informing the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to initiate a rescue work. The team has set out to trace the missing persons," Paliwala said. "We have even requisitioned for a helicopter to intensify the search operation."

Nanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India.

According to officials, the route to the Nanda Devi peak begins from Munsiyari and mountaineers have to tread a distance of about 90 km on foot.

"We are hopeful to trace them soon but at the same time rescue efforts are dependent on the weather conditions," Paliwala said.

Reports said the route is currently covered by snow and ice due to glacier movement.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:05:55|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Beijing authorities have continued efforts to plant trees to improve the eco-system in the capital city.

According to the municipal forestation bureau, so far, 7.2 million trees have been planted over an area of 11,867 hectares, completing 77 percent of the forestation plan for the whole year.

Authorities have paid more attention to the effect and quality of forestation, with high technologies employed to save rainwater, improve soil quality and ensure the survival rate of the trees.

A work plan issued by the bureau also put forward specific measures to enhance efforts in bio-diversity, forest quality, soil quality, education about nature and water-saving.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:05:57|Editor: Yamei

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WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were killed in a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia on Friday, local police said.

The shooter, a longtime employee of the public utilities department, was also killed, said Virginia Beach police chief Jim Cervera.

The United States has one of the highest gun-related death tolls in the world due to lax gun control laws, according to a study released in August 2018 by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The following is a chronology of the bloodiest and most notable mass shootings recorded in the United States in the past decade:

-- THOUSAND OAKS, California, Nov. 7, 2018: A former Marine opened fire in a crowded bar popular with college students in Thousand Oaks, a suburb about 64 km northwest of Los Angeles, killing 12 people including a sheriff's deputy.

-- PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, Oct. 27, 2018: At least 11 people were killed and six others were injured after a gunman opened fire inside a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

-- SANTA FE, Texas, May. 18, 2018: Ten people were killed and another ten wounded when a shooter opened fire inside Santa Fe High School in southeast Houston, Texas.

-- PARKLAND, Florida, Feb. 14, 2018: A former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, opened fire with an assault-style rifle, killing 17 students and educators.

-- SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas, Nov. 5, 2017: A gunman with an AR-15-style rifle barged into the First Baptist Church and killed 26 people, more than half of whom were children.

-- LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Oct. 1, 2017: At least 59 people, including the alleged gunman himself, were killed and more than 500 others wounded when the attacker opened fire, sniper-style, on an open-air music festival in Las Vegas. It was the worst mass shooting attack in U.S. history.

-- FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, Jan. 6, 2017: Five people died and six others were injured in the shooting inside the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The gunman, Esteban Santiago, then laid down his weapons and surrendered to police.

-- ORLANDO, Florida, June 12, 2016: A security guard wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando before he was shot dead by police.

-- SAN BERNARDINO, California, Dec. 2, 2015: A couple declaring allegiance to the Islamic State killed 14 people and wounded 17 others at a social services center in San Bernardino City, California. Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik were pursued by police and died in the ensuing shootout.

-- OREGON, Oct. 2, 2015: A gunman killed nine people at a community college in the state of Oregon before committing suicide after being wounded by police.

The gunman, identified by U.S. media as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, about 290 km south of Portland, Oregon's largest city.

-- CHARLESTON, South Carolina, June 17, 2015: A white man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston, killing nine people in an assault that authorities described as a hate crime. Subsequently, the assailant, Dylann Roof, was sentenced to death in January 2017.

-- CHICAGO, May 26, 2015: Twelve people were killed and more than 40 more wounded in shootings in Chicago during Memorial Day.

-- WACO, Texas, May 17, 2015: Nine people were killed and several wounded after a shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, Texas, with more gangs threatening to descend on the town after the violence.

-- WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2013: A 34-year-old navy contractor employee opened fire inside the building at the Washington Navy Yard that serves as the headquarters of the Naval Sea System Command, killing 12 people before he was shot dead by police.

-- NEWTOWN, Connecticut, Dec. 14, 2012: The Sandy Hook elementary school shooting stunned the nation after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults. The attacker, who killed his mother prior to the rampage, also died in the massacre.

-- OAK CREEK, Wisconsin, Aug. 5, 2012: A white supremacist killed six people in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek before he was wounded by police and turned the gun on himself.

-- AURORA, Colorado, July 20, 2012: Twelve people were killed and 59 others injured at a Batman movie premier, where a lone, heavily armed gunman burst into a packed theater in a suburb 10 miles (16 km) east of Denver. Local police identified the perpetrator as James Holmes, 24, who was given 12 life sentences for each victim, and an additional 3,318 years for those he tried to kill.

-- TUCSON, Arizona, Jan. 9, 2011: A gunman opened fire at a public gathering outside a grocery in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people including a nine-year-old girl and wounding at least 12 others. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot point blank in the head, leaving her critically injured, but she recovered miraculously. The 22-year-old shooter, who was reported to be fixated on Giffords, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012.

-- FORT HOOD, Texas, Nov. 6, 2009: U.S. army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan opened fire at a military base in Fort Hood, leaving 13 dead and 42 others wounded. He was sentenced to death in 2013.

-- BINGHAMTON, New York, April 4, 2009: A man shot dead 13 people at a civic center in Binghamton, where he had enrolled earlier to study English, before killing himself.

-- CARTHAGE, North Carolina, March 30, 2009: A heavily-armed gunman shot dead seven patients and a nurse in a privately-owned nursing home in North Carolina, intending to kill his estranged wife who worked there. He was given multiple sentences, totalling over 179 years.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:21:02|Editor: Yamei

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RIYADH, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Summit on Saturday reaffirmed the Palestinians' right to statehood in its final communique, Al Arabiya TV reported.

Held in Islam's holiest city Mecca along with Gulf and Arab summits, the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation reiterated the centrality of the issues of Palestine and Jerusalem to the Islamic nation, highlighting its principled and continuous support at all levels for the Palestinian people in attaining their inalienable rights including self-determination and the establishment of an independent and sovereign state.

During the summit, leaders of Islamic states discussed the ways to fight extremism and terrorism, and the issue of growing Islamophobia around the world.

The Islamic summit encouraged the United Nations and other international and regional organizations to adopt March 15 as the International Day against Islamophobia.

On March 15, a gunman killed 51 Muslims in attacks on two mosques during Friday prayers in Christchurch city, New Zealand.

At a press conference after the summit, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir urged Iran to comply with international law.

The three summits came just weeks after a drone strike on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and attacks on four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:21:05|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Using the excuse that Mexico fails to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants to the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to increase tariffs on all products imported from the neighboring country by 5 percent from June 10.

It is not the first time that the United States bullied others with punitive tariffs. However, this time it has gone even further, extending its tariff war beyond economic field.

Yet the question is: do these reckless and capricious measures have anything to do with the migration problem?

"Social problems are not resolved by taxes or coercive measures," Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told Trump in an open letter.

The abuse of tariffs is part of a changing U.S. foreign policy, which is shifting towards a more aggressive and unilateral approach.

Although many U.S. entrepreneurs, analysts and think tanks have warned of the disastrous consequences of the abusive use of tariffs, the U.S. government seems to believe that its policies will help solve its domestic and external problems.

Yet the reality is that these policies are only to further complicate problems, distort international trade and add uncertainty to the global economy.

After tariffs were raised on Chinese products, U.S. companies and consumers are paying for the rising costs, while the U.S. stock exchanges fluctuated sharply amid fear of an escalating trade war. Washington is also threatening to slap punitive levies on cars from European countries and Japan, raising fears of countermeasures from its allies.

Trump said he wants "fair trade." Yet in reality, what he really wants is the kind of trade that can maximize American interests. As for the legitimate interests of others, it seems that the trade hawks in the White House do not care.

Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that the U.S. tariffs move was "unfair" and the treatment "makes no economic sense for anyone," given that Mexico is the U.S. main trade partner.

Beyond all doubt, the U.S.-style "fair trade" is not what the international community needs or can accept.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:31:10|Editor: Yamei

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by Peter Mertz

DENVER, the United States, May 31 (Xinhua) -- If rain falls on U.S. Midwest farm belt this weekend, as predicted, "catastrophic" 2019 might get worse, farmers in the country fear.

"Farmers are facing an unprecedented situation thanks to the ongoing trade war, river flooding, and record-setting rain this spring," the Illinois Farm Bureau posted Wednesday.

On Friday, AccuWeather, a U.S. media company that provides commercial weather forecasting services worldwide, predicted showers on Saturday and Sunday for much of the Heartland -- across 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of farmland stretching from Texas to western Pennsylvania.

"Showers and locally severe thunderstorms will erupt and rumble across parts of the Midwest and the central and northern Plains ahead of a press of drier air into this weekend," AccuWeather posted Friday afternoon.

TERRIBLE TIMES

"2019 is turning out to be a nightmare that never ends for the agriculture industry," Seeking Alpha, a crowd-sourced content service for financial markets, bottom-lined in an article last week.

"Thanks to endless rain and unprecedented flooding, fields all over the middle part of the country are absolutely soaked right now, and this has prevented many farmers from getting their crops in the ground," they noted.

Since March, from the Rocky Mountains to the Ohio River Valley, the weather has been formidable.

Millions of Midwesterners have endured unremitting rainfall, hundreds of dangerous tornadoes, and rampant flooding that has spilling into already saturated grounds -- much of it farmland.

The National Weather Service (NWS)'s Storm Prediction Center logged 23 tornado reports on Tuesday and 29 on Wednesday, breaking the all-time record for consecutive tornado days in the country.

The 2019 season has seen 611 documented tornados across the United States that have killed 38 people thus far, up from 10 fatalities in 2018. Seven of the tornado deaths this year have occurred in May, the NWS reported.

Of the 6,000 flood gauges that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains on waterways across the country, 381 were above flood stage this week across the Central Plains and in the upper Midwest, according to Bill Bunting, chief forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center.

SOYBEANS, CORN AND WHEAT

Much of the most severe flooding is concentrated in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, northwest Iowa, southeastern South Dakota and Oklahoma where on Tuesday the governor declared all 77 counties were in a state of emergency.

Illinois and Iowa are the top two soybean producing states in the United States, according to Arista.com.

"I put my first crop in 1974, and this, without a doubt, has been the longest, most frustrating season I've had in my career," Terry Davis, a Roseville Illinois farmer told FarmWeekDay.com.

"I'm losing corn right now from standing water," he said.

In neighboring Ohio, the forecast was equally bleak, although areas were hoping to miss the showers.

"The problem is we see systems with only 1 to 3 days of dryness tops in-between ... which does not allow for net drying at all over the long haul," OhioAg.Net posted Wednesday.

"As much as 3 to 5 inches (8 to 13 cm) of rain will soak soils from South Dakota and Minnesota south to Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas," said the U.S. Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Kansas and North Dakota are America's top two wheat producing states, according to Atlas.com.

"We have never had a year quite like this before, and U.S. food production is going to be substantially below expectations," the Indiana Farm Bureau posted this week.

"I very much encourage everyone to get prepared for much higher food prices and a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the months ahead," they added.

In Nebraska, the country's third top producer of corn, "74 cities, 65 counties and four tribal areas have declared states of emergency," said Megahn Schafer, executive director of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation (NFBF).

"The cost of the damage has surpassed 1.3 billion U.S. dollars," state officials said.

"We continue to think that planting progress will be difficult to see going forward and will depend more on luck -- being lucky enough to miss out on at least one of these waves -- than anything else," Schafer posted.

LOWER-THAN-EXPECTED 2019 YIELD

Corn and soybean production in the United States for 2019 will be lower than the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimate, and also lower than the 2018 yield because of continued wet weather throughout a number of key states, AccuWeather stated this week.

"The next two weeks are critical for corn planting," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Jason Nicholls. "Most intended corn acres not planted by June 4th will likely go to soybeans or be left unplanted."

AccuWeather estimates the 2019 corn crop will yield 14.15 billion bushels, lower than the USDA's estimate of 14.9 billion bushels and also lower than the 2018 yield of 14.3 billion bushels.

According to the USDA's crop progress reports, only about 11 percent of Illinois corn, and about 4 percent of soybeans have been planted.

Last year at this time, 88 percent of corn and 56 percent of soybeans were already in the ground, the USDA said.

"I would use the word 'catastrophe' to describe what Illinois farmers are facing, but the truth is that what they are going through is far beyond that," Nicholls added.

The USDA forecast net farm income, a broad measure of profits, of 69.4 billion U.S. dollars this year. If accurate, that would be the third year of net income below 70 billion U.S. dollars since 2015.

"We're starting to see a new average coming out here," said USDA economist Carrie Litkowski at a webinar on Wednesday, noting that farm income in 2019 will be far below it was early this decade.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 17:36:14|Editor: Yamei

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BUENOS AIRES, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Argentine President Mauricio Macri highlighted Friday the benefit to the country brought by the modernization of the Belgrano Cargas train line, an initiative that has the support from China.

Macri directed the inauguration ceremony of the first 700 km of renewed railway tracks of the Belgrano Cargas train in the town of Joaquin V. Gonzalez in Salta province.

"Where there is cargo and work, the railroad will arrive. It is a fundamental piece because it brings Argentines closer to other Argentines," the president said.

For the modernization and updating of the tracks, he said, the government had "to bid, plan and award the project, do the construction work, and start a cultural change in the company through the training of conductors and everybody else in this new stage with the new equipment brought from China."

The Argentine government has been working on the recovery of the "C8 branch" of the Belgrano Cargas train, which crosses the northern provinces of Tucuman, Salta and Santiago del Estero.

The works are part of a project that seeks to renovate, for the first time, the 1,800 km of railways in the region and that also covers the provinces of Chaco and Santa Fe.

"The whole world has confidence in us and has opened the door for us to sell what we are capable of doing, and we need to be connected for that," Macri said during the ceremony.

The train has modern machines produced by the CRRC Qishuyan company, subsidiary of the CRRC Group, China's leading train manufacturer.

The incorporation of the locomotives is part of the comprehensive plan to reactivate the freight trains. The plan includes the purchase of locomotives and wagons and the rehabilitation of roads.

In a statement, the Argentine government said the works in the Belgrano Cargas train line generated more than 3,700 direct jobs. Between January and April of 2019, it transported 674,010 tons of cargo, 27 percent more than the same period of the previous year.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 18:41:49|Editor: xuxin

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 4.57 million U.S. dollars has been raised from a record-breaking sale of an opportunity to lunch with U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett, the U.S. e-commerce leader eBay Inc. that supported the charity auction said Friday.

eBay said the anonymous highest bidder offered a total of 4,567,888 dollars to buy a seat for lunch with Buffett at the auction that opened on May 26 at a starting sum of 25,000 dollars and closed Friday evening in downtown San Francisco.

The profits from the sale will help support the Glide Foundation (GLIDE), a San Francisco-based charity group, in launching a comprehensive suite of social services that aid San Francisco's most vulnerable residents, including the homeless.

The sale is part of GLIDE's annual eBay for Charity Auction for a Power Lunch with Warren Buffett, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the legendary auction.

According to eBay, until now, the auction has provided over 30 million dollars to support its efforts to provide charity relief for the most vulnerable population in the city.

"GLIDE has done tremendous work to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization in San Francisco. We are incredibly proud that this year's Power Lunch with Warren has broken our all-time record of funds raised," said eBay's President and CEO Devin Wenig.

GLIDE President and CEO Karen Hanrahan expressed appreciation to Buffett for "his unwavering friendship and dedication to this auction," noting that the funds raised through the auction would go directly to support GLIDE's charity programs and services.

GLIDE serves roughly 750,000 free meals for the needy ever year.

Buffett, chairman and CEO of the holding company Berkshire Hathaway that owns Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom and some other businesses, is well known for giving much of his fortune to charity organizations.

eBay has hosted the auction for 17 years in a row, and last year's bid raised 3.3 million dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 18:56:58|Editor: xuxin

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ROME, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Italy was outlining a plan for cutting public spending and increasing revenues, the country's Economy and Finance Minister Giovanni Tria told the European Union (EU) Commission in response to a request of information over excessive debt.

"In preparation for the Draft Budgetary Plan 2020, and in light of updated macroeconomic projections, the Government is working on a comprehensive plan of spending review and revenue enhancement," Tria wrote in a letter published by the ministry on Friday night.

The letter was accompanied by the Treasury's technical documentation on debt development.

In the three-page document, the Italian finance minister explained the rise in debt-to-GDP ratio recorded last year was partly due to "a year-end increase in treasury balances in anticipation of sizable bond redemptions in early 2019."

"Other stock-flow adjustments also contributed to raising the debt ratio, notably the fact that we issued a higher share of government securities below par," Tria specified.

Adding to this picture some challenging macroeconomic conditions -- such as the drop in global trade and manufacturing activity seen in the second half of 2018 -- the official said implementing restrictive fiscal measures would have been "counter-productive" for Italy.

"I would strongly underline that the up-to-date information summarized in the attached Report on Debt Developments indicates that this year's deficit will come in below the latest official forecast," Tria went on in one passage.

He explained that "the year-to-date performance of the economy and of tax revenues has so far exceeded the projections of the Stability Program", and other recurrent revenues looked set to outperform as well, while the resources necessary to implement the government's new welfare policies would be less than those estimated in the 2019 Budget.

"As a result, the deficit would be significant lower than the Commission's forecast and the change in the structural balance would be compliant with the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) also on the basis of the Commission's output gap estimate," the finance minister said.

On Wednesday, the EU Commission sent a formal letter to the Italian government, asking explanations for a lack of progress in cutting the country's public debt.

Italy's debt is in fact the second largest in the EU after that of Greece, accounting for 132.2 percent of GDP in 2018 from 131.4 percent in 2017, according to data by the Economy Ministry.

The Commission's text was partly published by all major media outlets here. "Italy is confirmed not to have made sufficient progress towards the debt reduction criterion in 2018," the EU executive body wrote.

While such concerns were conveyed from Brussels, the government this week discussed whether to defy EU fiscal rules -- eventually boosting budget beyond the EU threshold of 3 percent of GDP -- to implement new expansionary reforms, and especially a flat tax program, to revive economy.

The latest official statistics showed the Italian GDP expanded by 0.1 percent in the first three months of 2019, exiting a technical recession marking the last two quarters of 2018, but growing less than expected.

The latest exchange between Brussels and Rome came after the two sides' months-long standoff over the 2019 budget, which ended only in late December after the Italian rightwing government agreed to change its budgetary plan and reduce its deficit target.

Now, after the new letter from Brussels, the country might risk facing an excessive debt procedure (entailing fines) by the EU in the next months, if found in a prolonged non-compliance with the bloc's fiscal rules.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 18:56:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo attends the 18th Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore, June 1, 2019. South Korean and Japanese defense ministers and the EU high representative for security expressed optimism about the positive developments on the Korean Peninsula over the past one and a half years here on Saturday at the 18th Shangri-La Dialogue. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korean and Japanese defense ministers and the EU high representative for security expressed optimism about the positive developments on the Korean Peninsula over the past one and a half years here on Saturday at the 18th Shangri-La Dialogue.

During a plenary session, South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said the two summits between leaders of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the three inter-Korean summits have greatly alleviated military tension in the region.

He also hailed the significant achievements of the Panmunjom Declaration signed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un in 2018, in which the two sides agreed to a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the comprehensive military agreement signed by the two militaries which led to the alleviation of military tensions in border areas.

Although the Hanoi summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim in February failed to reach an agreement, Jeong said it was still a meaningful event showing that open and candid discussion can be held between the two leaders.

"In order to hold on to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for denuclearization, it's important to continue the momentum of dialogue generated through the summit talks," Jeong said, adding that the DPRK also needs to be assured of "a bright future of peace and prosperity."

He asked for patience in the denuclearization talks as the mistrust built in the past 70 years can't be cleared in just one and a half years. He also called on the international community to lower sanctions against the DPRK, and to provide humanitarian aid.

For his part, Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said that peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is "extremely important" for Japan and Japan is optimistic.

He said the policy of the Japanese government concerning the DPRK remains unchanged. "Japan seeks to normalize its relations with North Korea (DPRK) through a comprehensive resolution over outstanding issues of concern," including nuclear, missile and history issues, he said.

Japan supports the diplomatic approaches to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in recent months, Iwaya said, adding that he believes collective results of the international community's efforts could serve as an "important basis" for DPRK-U.S. talks.

Reaffirming that the denuclearization goal should be "peacefully achieved by diplomatic efforts," Iwaya said Japan will offer assistance to unleash the DPRK's potential for a better future if it takes the right path.

EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said Asia's security also matters to Europe, and EU countries have been working more closely with ASEAN nations, including military cooperation.

The EU believes that lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula is possible and such peace can only be achieved by diplomatic means, Mogherini said, adding that the denuclearization process must be complete, irreversible and verifiable.

She said the engaged sides are getting much closer than before and "the EU is ready to do its part in negotiations resilient against shocks."

Noting that sanctions on the DPRK are just means to a goal, not a goal itself, the official said the EU can offer financial support to the denuclearization process as a leverage.

Also at the plenary session, U.S. special representative to the DPRK Stephen Biegun said enormous progress has been made on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and China and Russia cooperatively contributed to the goal.

The U.S. government remains engaged with the DPRK through diplomacy, avoiding provocation, continuing to close gaps and making further progress, he said.

The 18th Shangri-La Dialogue opened in Singapore Friday evening to discuss the security situation and its challenges in the Asia-Pacific.

Defense ministers, security experts and diplomats from different countries gathered in the city-state to share their views on Asia's evolving security order and its challenges, cyber-capability development, new patterns of defense cooperation, among other topics.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 19:02:02|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- German carmaker Mercedes-Benz will recall 44,900 automobiles in China due to a tyre problem, according to China's market regulator.

The recall, starting from Oct. 25, was filed by Mercedes-Benz (China) Automotive Sales Co. and Beijing Benz Automotive Co. It involves its imported and parts of domestically-produced cars manufactured between April 20, 2016 and May 4, 2019, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation.

In the process of driving, the defective tyres may bulge due to external forces, causing safety risks.

The company said it would replace the defective parts free of charge.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 19:27:11|Editor: xuxin

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SKOPJE, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Starting from June 1 payment in cash in North Macedonia will be limited up 30,000 Macedonian Denar (MKD) in the local currency value (around 500 euros, or 560 U.S. dollars), North Macedonia's Finance Minister Dragan Tevdovski told reporters on Friday.

According to the new law "On money laundering and terrorism financing" passed in the parliament, North Macedonian citizens can not make purchases in cash if the amount surpasses 30,000 MKD.

"The government has decided to lower cash payment limits aiming to reduce shadow economy," Tevdovski said.

Moreover, Tevdovski underlined that the Finance Ministry has institutional capacity and will continue to fight against shadow economy and against payments that are not reported or taxed.

According to the Confederation of Businesses in North Macedonia, the shadow economy in the country is over 30 percent.

It is not the first time for the government to tighten the payment limit. In January 2019, North Macedonia's government lowered the payments in cash from 2,000 to 1,000 euros in the local currency Macedonian Denar. (1 euro = 61.9 MKD)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 19:37:14|Editor: xuxin

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STOCKHOLM, June 1 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of the Scandinavian airlines (SAS) pilot strike last month, passengers affected by the chaos have started to seek compensation, Swedish Television (SVT) reported on Saturday.

As it stands, about 100 unsatisfied passengers have complained and new complaints are made daily, said the TV report.

Though the airline and the pilot union have since reached an agreement, 370,000 passengers were affected by the strike.

Of those who have applied for compensation, "most relate to a specific EU regulation, a standard amount that one can get when a flight has been canceled or delayed," Marcus Isgren, head of the National Board for Consumer Disputes, told SVT.

The standard amount is between SEK 2,500 and 6,000 (263 - 632 U.S. dollars), but SAS is unwilling to pay it. SAS told SVT that the EU regulation does not apply in this case because the strike is an extraordinary event and they could not order the pilots to work.

Either way, those passengers who have complained may have to wait months for a response, as Swedish institutions and businesses slow down over the summer months.

"We have to let our employees get holidays like everyone else," Marcus Isgren told SVT. (1 SEK = 0.11 USD)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 20:07:30|Editor: zh

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NEW YORK, May 31 (Xinhua) -- An audience of some 2,000 in New York City on Friday night was fascinated by a unique music that dates back thousands of years as Bianzhong, or chime bells, came to the Carnegie Hall with a traditional Chinese orchestra.

The ancient Chinese musical instrument is more than 2,000 years old. A set of Bianzhong often contains dozens of bronze bells with various shapes and scales, hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet to produce melodies.

As beautiful, lingering tunes of chime bells echoed such traditional Chinese instruments as bamboo flute and Erhu, performed by a contemporary orchestra, an atmosphere that blended the ancient and modern pervaded the venue.

"We're trying to bring new life to the ancient music of chime bells," Hu Zhiping, president of the Wuhan Conservatory of Music, told Xinhua. "This is probably the first time ever that such kind of mix has been seen on a world stage."

The Oriental Chinese Orchestra from the conservatory in central China's Hubei Province performed the concert, which highlighted the culture of Chu, an ancient kingdom that lasted some 800 years till 223 B.C. and largely covered Hubei and neighboring regions. Chime bells were a major instrument in royal palaces of Chu.

This is reminiscent of the grand archaeological finding four decades ago when the most noted set of chime bells were unearthed in Hubei Province from a tomb of Marquis Yi, ruler of one minor state under the control of Chu.

In the main hall of the Carnegie Hall, one piece of music after another elicited rich responses from the audience. When programs with household names, like My Motherland and The Jasmine Flower, were played on the stage, many couldn't help humming along with the familiar melodies.

"I really loved every minute of it," said Adam Berg, a New Yorker, after the show. As a fan of traditional Chinese instruments, Berg saw chime bells for the first time at a concert. "I didn't expect it. It was fantastic. We need more performances like this in the future."

"We wish we could promote cultural exchanges between China and the United States through the enchantment of Chinese music," Hu said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 20:17:36|Editor: xuxin

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MOGADISHU, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations mission in Somalia on Saturday condemned the murder of one of its security staff in the central town of Galkayo on Friday evening.

Mohamed Abdi Khayre, a UN local security assistant, was killed as he was leaving a mosque in the city of Galkayo, said Raisedon Zenenga, officer-in-charge of UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the deputy special representative of the UN secretary-general in Somalia.

"We mourn the passing of Khayre, who served with distinction in the UN Department of Safety and Security during his tenure with the organization," Zenenga said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

No individual or group has thus far claimed responsibility for the killing of Khayre, who was rushed to a local hospital but later died of his wounds.

"We urge the authorities to spare no effort in tracking down the gunmen responsible for this heinous murder of a courageous colleague who put himself in harm's way to protect UN personnel based in the city of Galkayo," Zenenga said.

"The entire UN family in Somalia extends their heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Khayre," he added.
Source: Xinhuanet| 2019-06-01 20:32:40|Editor: zh

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CiPark holds an exhibition entitled The Brilliance of Time-- CiPark in Beijing, capital of China, June 1, 2019. (Xinhuanet/Zhang Xiaolong)

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- An exhibition was held at Huaxi LiveWukesong to celebrate the International Childrens Day.

Entitled The Brilliance of Time-- CiPark, the holographic immersive art exhibition attracted children to explore the mysterious world of porcelain.

Five lovely animal characters are created specially for the exhibition.

Hosted by Xinhuanet. Co., Ltd and co-hosted by Jingdezhen Municipal Peoples Government, the exhibition incorporates modern cross-media technologies and the most advanced digital tools to make history come alive.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 20:27:39|Editor: xuxin

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NICOSIA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus introduced a General Health System on Saturday, which the country's president, Nicos Anastasiades, hailed as "the biggest reform ever" in the eastern Mediterranean island.

The system, known as GESY from the Greek acronym for General Health System, was the culmination of heated discussions which dragged on for 20 years. It was made possible thanks to the courage of one man to clash with political parties, the powerful Medical Association and private hospitals, and also with insurance companies.

George Pamporides, a lawyer, was appointed health minister in June, 2015, and in July, 2017, he managed to have the necessary legislation for the implementation of GESY passed by parliament. He did not accept a new term as government minister after presidential elections in 2018.

"A historic day has dawned on the country. A day that possibly marks the biggest social conquer in the history of the Republic of Cyprus...Good start," President Anastasiades twitted.

On the eve of the introduction of GESY, Anastasiades dismissed suggestions to postpone the start of the scheme because of lack of adequate training of doctors and pharmacists in the use of the computer program which manages the scheme.

Also, programmers worked throughout the night to remove glitches from the system.

Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou also dismissed suggestions to put off the introduction of the system.

"There will be problems and obstacles. We are aware of this and we are expecting this. The ideal would be to be completely prepared, but as the ideal is not possible, we are proceeding with what's possible," he told a news conference.

Under the new health system, every citizen of Cyprus, and also EU citizens, will be eligible to have all his medical expenses covered by the Health Insurance Organization (HIO), which collects contributions from employees, employers, self-employed people, public officials and the state.

Employees and pensioners have 1.7 percent of their income paid to the HIO, with employers contributing 1.85 percent of the salary of each employee and the government paying 1.65 percent for every eligible member of GESY.

The contributions will stay in force during the first phase of GESY, which will cover only visits to the personal or family doctor and medication.

When the second phase of the scheme comes into force as of March 1, 2020, it will cover treatment in hospital by specialist doctors, and the contributions will be increased to 2.65 percent for employees and pensioners, 2.9 percent for employers and 4.75 percent for the state for each eligible member of the scheme.

Eligible members of the scheme will pay from between one euro for each prescribed medicine and for blood tests to 10 euros for more expensive examinations, such as an X-Ray or an MRI.

The health minister said that a satisfactory number of private general practitioners have signed contracts with HIO to work for GESY and added that he also expects a good number of specialists and private hospitals to register by the introduction of the second phase next March.

Existing government hospitals, which currently care for about three quarters of the eastern Mediterranean island's population, will gradually be turned into autonomous units and will compete with private hospitals.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 20:52:50|Editor: xuxin

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YAOUNDE, June 1 (Xinhua) -- An explosion hit Cameroon's lone refinery Friday night, causing serious damage and production suspension, according to a statement published Saturday by the refinery.

"We inform you of the occurrence of an explosion followed by a serious fire in our production units on May 31, 2019, around 9:30 p.m., causing damage and an indefinite stop to production of all our units," Jean-Paul Simo Njonon, general manager of Cameroon's National Oil Refinery (SONARA), said in the statement.

No one were killed or injured, according to a tweet by national television CRTV last night. The fire has been put out by firefighters who worked the whole night.

The cause of the incident is not yet clear. Local authorities said a crisis meeting will be held to determine the exact cause and consequences of the explosion.

The refinery is located in the coastal town of Limbe, in the Southwest region, one of Cameroon's two English-speaking regions where armed separatists are fighting to secede from the majority French-speaking country.

Separatists have been suspected of causing the explosion but they have not claimed responsibility officially.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 21:48:26|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Planning a visit to the famous Badaling section of the Great Wall in Beijing? Well, make your reservations first.

On Saturday, the iconic Badaling section started limiting visitors to 65,000 a day to guarantee smooth and safe travels. Visitors also need to make real-name reservations online.

On Saturday morning, the ticket counter was no longer filled with long queues of tourists, and visitors swiped their ID cards to go into the scenic area.

According to authorities of the scenic area, paper tickets will no longer be issued. Tourists can buy tickets and make reservations on the official online ticketing system, or via a public account on the social media tool WeChat.

The Badaling Great Wall is located in Yanqing County, 60 km northwest of downtown Beijing. It is the earliest open section and the most popular tourist destination on the wall. Many foreign heads of state and government have visited it since the 1950s.

The Badaling Great Wall received more than 9.9 million visitors last year, and the number of tourists has been extremely uneven in the off-season and peak season. Tourist's enthusiasm has caused great pressure for the safety of the relics and tourists, therefore, advance booking and visitor limits are necessary, according to Chen Fei, an official in charge of the management of the Great Wall at Badaling.

"The number limit will provide a good visiting environment for tourists, while also decreasing pressure on the Great Wall's maintenance," Chen said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 21:53:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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An exhibitor introduces a surgical robot during the 2019 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, capital of China, May 31, 2019. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A trade fair in Beijing has shown that China is making a steady steering on growth in knowledge and technology-intensive services.

The five-day 2019 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) drew the curtain on Saturday in Beijing, with intended contracts worth 105 billion U.S. dollars signed.

The contracts, involving financial services, communication services, information technology services, cultural services and legal services, signal China's upbeat momentum in the growth of the non-manufacturing sector.

Over the week, the world's largest services trade fair hosted some 240 forums and business talks, which occupied nearly all major conference venues in the Chinese capital.

Yan Ligang, the fair's spokesperson, said 11 venues saw more than 400,000 visits by participants from 137 countries and regions and 21 international organizations.

He said in total, 306 domestic projects worth 87.512 billion dollars were signed at the fair. There were also 134 overseas projects with a total value of 17.55 billion dollars.

As the non-manufacturing sector sustains an ever-expanding growth, the Chinese government, from this year, upgraded the biennial fair formerly held by the municipal government of Beijing since 2012 to a national fair for trade in services, which will be held annually ever since.

TIDING OVER ODDS

Many foreign visitors described CIFTIS as crucial for addressing the challenges facing the world economy.

"As national barriers to trade in services are mounting in numbers, CIFTIS gathers us together to discuss this issue in a timely manner and jointly explore the path to promote trade in service and create a favorable trading environment," said Ludger Schuknecht, deputy secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in his speech delivered at the fair.

"At these difficult times in global trade, keeping the door open is a contribution that China can do to boost confidence in international trade and stabilize global demand," said Dorothy Tembo, deputy executive director of the International Trade Center (ITC), at CIFTIS.

She said as a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, ITC is dedicated to supporting SMEs around the world. It supported 100 companies from developing countries to attend the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai last year. These companies initiated deals worth over 116 million U.S. dollars after the event.

At a forum discussion at CIFTIS, Tembo said a WTO study finds that by lowering costs and increasing productivity, digital technologies could provide an additional boost to trade by up to 34 percent by 2030. China is by all means a global champion in retail e-commerce.

FUTURE HAS COME

At an e-commerce themed exhibition area of CIFTIS, visitors were welcomed at the doorway by an exhibition of a smart home with intelligent furnishing presented by Gome Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd., the tech arm of Chinese home appliance retailer GOME.

From door locks and lighting to home appliances, everything is voice-controlled and connected to the Internet for remote control via a mobile app.

Nearby, the booth held by China's online retail firm of JD exhibited the fully automated "whole in- and ex-warehouse process" of small and medium-sized packages.

Even pictures on walls at the fair give a touch of new tech. Beside photos illustrated as China's poverty-stricken areas, visitors paused to scan QR codes underneath to find not only details but also local specialties that could be immediately ordered online, such as tea and pear syrup, as the e-commerce sales of farm produce is a part of China's poverty relief efforts.

The fair's organizer held an auction of the agricultural goods and futures orders of the goods, which garnered 1.4 billion yuan (202.8 million U.S. dollars) of fund for assisting the growers' poverty relief endeavors.

Worawit Techasupakura, a tourist official from Thailand, said a cohort of enterprises from Thailand's competitive industries including food, medical services and environmental protection participated in this session of CIFTIS.

He said 10.5 million trips were made by Chinese tourists to Thailand in 2018, up 7.4 percent from 2017 and bringing in 18 billion U.S. dollars of tourist income.

STRATEGIC TRANSITION

China has worked to steer away from the old growth driver of export-oriented manufacturing to power the new engine of trade in services.

The Ministry of Commerce released at the opening of CIFTIS on Tuesday that China's service trade rose 2.6 percent to 1.29 trillion yuan (about 191 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2019, after making a robust growth of 11.5 percent to 5.24 trillion yuan in 2018, a historic high and ranking second in the world for five consecutive years. The share of service trade in the country's total foreign trade has reached 15.6 percent.

In 2018, China's service export in transport, insurance, intellectual property royalties and other business service sectors all posted double-digit growth, with the export of computer and information soaring 69.5 percent year on year.

China has taken a slew of measures to open up the service sector and push forward services trade with overseas partners. Its service trade with countries and regions along the Belt and Road (B&R) reached over 120 billion U.S. dollars last year, according to the ministry.

Beijing is China's pilot city for the expansion and opening-up of the service trade industry. In 2017, it saw the launch of China's first foreign-controlled joint venture in aircraft maintenance, set up by Air France Industries KLM Engineering and Maintenance and Beijing General Aviation Co. Ltd.

In 2018, the added value of Beijing's service trade accounted for 81 percent of the city's GDP.

In March, the Bank of Beijing announced plans to join hands with global finance company ING Bank N.V. to invest 3 billion yuan in setting up a banking joint venture, in which ING Bank holds a 51 percent stake.

Speaking at CIFTIS, Norman Sze, Deloitte China Government Affairs lead partner and Northern Region managing partner, said China's development of trade in services would bring huge opportunities to the world. Deloitte hopes to share its specialty with Chinese firms in the sector.

(Video reporters: Wang Xiunan, Wang Pu; Video editor: Zheng Xin)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 21:53:32|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China will consider four factors when deciding whether to put a foreign entity on a list of "unreliable entities," the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Saturday.

The country will establish such a list based on relevant laws and regulations to safeguard national security, public interest and the rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the MOC announced Friday.

The Chinese government will consider first whether the foreign entity has adopted discriminatory measures on Chinese entities including a blockade or supply cut before putting it on the list, said Zhi Luxun, director with MOC's bureau of industry, security, import and export control.

It will also consider three other factors including whether the foreign entity violates market rules or contract spirit for non-commercial purposes, whether it causes actual damage to Chinese firms or related industries, and whether it poses actual or potential threats to China's national security, Zhi said.

China will take all necessary legal and administrative measures against the listed entities in accordance with China's foreign trade law, anti-monopoly law, state security law and other related laws and regulations, according to the MOC.

Enterprises or individuals on the list will go through certain investigation procedures and related stakeholders will be given certain rights to defend themselves. Detailed measures will be rolled out soon, said Wang Hejun, director of MOC's treaty and law department.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 22:09:30|Editor: huaxia

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by Lu Hui

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States' pursuing an "America First" policy contradicts its self-proclaimed image of a paragon of "free trade" and "fair trade" and exposes its hypocritical nature.

For some time, the United States has been willfully pursuing its "America First" policy by blatantly setting trade barriers, violating multilateral trade rules and undermining fairness and justice. This poses serious harm to the world economy, including the United States itself and also tarnishes its national image.

Washington has abused its superpower status by bypassing the World Trade Organizations dispute settlement mechanism and unilaterally initiated international trade disputes based on its domestic law.

Over more than a year, the U.S. side has wielded a "big stick" of protectionism against many of its trade partners and arbitrarily imposed high tariffs on imports from China.

Only recently, the United States has increased additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.

This aggravated the year-long trade friction between the world's top two economies despite their 11 rounds of trade talks.

Adding tariffs can not address the real ills of the U.S. economy; instead, it will only harm U.S. farmers, increase costs for American consumers and businesses, rattle financial markets and threaten global growth.

When widespread suspicion and market turmoil were triggered, the U.S. side shifted the blame to China.

Actually, the United States is to blame for the failed trade talks as it has adopted a totally self-contradictory attitude and often used flip-flop tactics.

Facts speak louder.

On one occasion, the U.S. side said the trade talks with China were going "very smoothly," while on another occasion, it accused China of "pulling back and breaking its promises."

In May last year, during Chinese Vice Premier Liu He's visit to Washington, the two countries agreed not to engage in a trade war.

But only days later, the Trump administration said it will impose a 25-percent tariff on 50 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese imports.

Then in December, the two sides agreed on the value of Chinese purchases of U.S. goods, but the United States deliberately raised the asking price in subsequent negotiations.

Furthermore, the U.S. side has gotten into the bad habit of saying one thing while doing another.

Often, the United States claimed that it would develop a cooperative partnership with China, while labeling China as an opponent with fabricated excuses and intention to contain Chinas development.

"Without credit, a man can not establish oneself, neither does a nation to prosper."

These self-contradictory moves have damaged U.S. long-term interests and disgraced Washington's credibility as a responsible major country.

As the world's largest economy and the only superpower, the United States is expected to match words with deeds and desist from engaging in bullying.

Clearly, a trade war has no winners.

The China-U.S. trade friction can only be solved through consultation and dialogue under the principle of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.

Decision-makers in Washington need to have a clear understanding that bullying isn't the solution to its trade disputes and get back on the right track as soon as possible.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 22:18:43|Editor: xuxin

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MALE, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Maldives government on Saturday banned the sale of single cigarettes across the island country as part of its efforts to discourage smoking, local media reports said.

The government also passed a new regulation on packaging and labelling all tobacco products which will now only allow a pack of 20 cigarettes to be sold.

The regulation also mandates all tobacco packaging to be labelled as required by the Health Ministry and to provide a sample of all tobacco items before selling it.

The Health Ministry will place graphic health warning labels on the cigarette packs with larger fonts.

Over 462 million cigarettes are imported to the Maldives annually, according to statistics released by the Maldives Customs Service.

President Mohamed Ibrahim Solih on Friday appealed to the nation to bid farewell to smoking and the consumption of harmful substances in order to promote healthy lifestyles.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 22:28:56|Editor: xuxin

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VIRGINIA BEACH, the United States, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The shooter who killed 12 people in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach, in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia, on Friday, has been identified as DeWayne Craddock, a 15-year city employee, local police said on Saturday.

Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera told a press conference that Craddock, 40, had been employed with the city's public utility department for the past 15 years as a city engineer.

He was still employed at the public utilities at the time of the shooting and did have a security pass, City Manager Dave Hansen said.

Local media had described Craddock as a "disgruntled employee."

The suspect, who died after a "long gunbattle" with four police officers following the carnage, was said to have used a .45 caliber pistol equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and extended ammunition magazines.

The police chief declined to comment on any possible motive, while adding that more weapons were recovered at the scene and from the suspect's home.

Eleven of the 12 deaths in Friday's shooting were employees of the city, Hansen said. The other was a contractor seeking a permit.

"I have worked with most of them for many years," he said. "Today we all grieve."

The Virginia Beach shooting was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were killed at a California bar.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 22:44:03|Editor: Liangyu

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SHANGHAI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- "If my face is still frequently exposed on my parents' social media, such as WeChat Moments, it might not be safe for me," 10-year-old Zhang Chuyi wrote to a congress of the Young Pioneers of China in Shanghai before International Children's Day, which falls on Saturday.

While adults understand the danger of information leaks in the digital era, children in China are also beginning to realize the importance of protecting their own privacy online, including their images.

Zhang and her peers hope that their parents will stop overexposing them online.

"If they want to share our images and privacy online, they need to obtain our permission first," she said.

Zhang is a fourth-grade student in a Shanghai elementary school. In her class of more than 30 students, more than 70 percent said their parents had shared things about them in a variety of ways.

A survey of students in third-grade, fourth-grade and fifth-grade in the school suggests that 80 percent of the children had been exposed by their parents online. Most of the children did not like their images or information being shared online.

Zhang first began to oppose "over-sharenting" when she found out that her parents had been sharing her photos and assignments online without her consent and had compared her with other children. She said she felt really embarrassed and stressed. She has started to worry more about the security risks it might cause.

"Faces and bodies are private, and should not be shared online at random," she said. "These days, faces can be used in many ways because of facial recognition."

Zhang's classmates agreed.

"I know that faces can be used to open and lock doors," said one of her classmates. "When my parents pay, they seem to be able to do so with their faces."

Zhang Chuyi's school had recently applied facial recognition technology in their school library. Although thinking such technology is quite convenient, she is also afraid that "bad guys" might take advantage of it and commit crimes by using her photos shared online by her parents.

China has a vast online population. The number of the country's online users hit 829 million by the end of last year, up 7.3 percent from the previous year, according to a report on China's Internet development released in February.

Meanwhile, facial recognition is expanding. China's Forward-looking Industry Institute said that the facial recognition market in China surpassed 1 billion yuan (about 145 million U.S. dollars) in 2016, and is expected to hit 5.1 billion yuan by 2021. The technology has been used in toilets, traffic lights, supermarkets, among others.

Although many children of Zhang's age still have no access to the Internet, they are well aware the risks certain online activities such as "over-sharenting" could bring and yearn for protection of their privacy not only in real life but also online.

"It should be noted that most Chinese children nowadays are born around 2010," said Zhou Jianjun, an official in charge of children's rights protection in Shanghai. Born and living in a digital era, children are very familiar with the Internet. "In fact, their consciousness of online privacy is even stronger than most adults," Zhou said.

In order to better ensure children's security, the Chinese government has been taking measures to strengthen children's protection online and is also trying to enhance children's awareness of online privacy by vigorously promoting security education. "This is partly the reason behind the awakening of children's online privacy consciousness and self-protection consciousness," Zhou said.

Zhang Chuyi's proposal caused quite a stir online.

"But my child is so wonderful that I cannot help myself," said a woman surnamed Zheng.

"It is important to obtain children's permission," said online user "Liudianshui." "We need to consider their feelings."

"Though we are not grown-ups, our rights still need to be respected," Zhang Chuyi said. "We are our own masters."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 22:49:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Undoing the economic interdependence between China and the United States is "unacceptable" to the world and will lead to irreversible damage to global supply chains, Robert Kuhn, a renowned U.S. expert on China, warned.

Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, made the remarks in a recent interview with Xinhua in response to recent voices in the United States that advocate pulling apart the two countries economically.

"Once you begin disrupting global supply chains, it's not something that you can easily restore," said Kuhn, who has been awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal by the Chinese government. "In fact, even starting the change, it probably can never be restored totally."

While depicting the worst possible scenario of trade tensions between China and the United States, Kuhn said there has to be a way out, otherwise the consequence is "horribly inefficient" on many levels.

"It's bad in terms of technology. It will slow down the innovation rate of the whole world," Kuhn said.

Misperceptions on both sides shadow the current standoff between the two largest economies in the world, Kuhn said while naming some of the fierce arguments that comprise the trade frictions, including loss of jobs in U.S. manufacturing industry, U.S. trade deficit with China, market access and intellectual property rights protection.

"We tend to generalize when we see the other," while the reality is more complex and fine-grained and needs to be seen through the other's perspective in order to be well understood, he said.

Over the last 20 to 30 years, millions of Americans lost their jobs in manufacturing sectors and indeed many manufacturing jobs were transferred to China, which makes some people feel that China is the cause of those jobs being lost. "That is not a valid point," he said. "That's the way the world becomes more efficient via globalization."

If those jobs did not go to China, they would have gone to someplace else with lower production costs because of a market system, said Kuhn. "If you stop all Chinese imports ... those jobs are not coming back to the United States in large numbers."

"They would go to Mexico or Vietnam or Bangladesh ... and they would be at a somewhat higher price and lower quality," he added, mentioning that Chinese products have the best price-quality relationship, because that is what the market has determined.

If those jobs were to be successfully brought back by setting restrictions, "that would hurt the United States ... because they would be lower-level manufacturing jobs and therefore undermine in the long run U.S. technology and productivity," Kuhn explained.

In the latest flare-up of U.S.-China trade tensions, Washington increased additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent in May, and has threatened to raise tariffs on more Chinese imports.

In response, China has announced that it "will fight to the end," and raised additional tariffs on a range of U.S. imports starting from June 1.

On the issue of trade deficit, Kuhn said "it's not China ripping off the U.S.; that's not the way it works."

U.S. consumers benefit because their standard of living has been raised by getting cheaper products with better quality, said Kuhn, noting that "it's kind of a reciprocal arrangement."

"Large trade deficits are not necessarily sustainable over a long period of time, but it is a mistake to blame China for them," he added.

On intellectual property rights protection in China, Kuhn said the perception in the United States about this issue is not accurate as to the current situation.

Elaborating his experience with Shanghai's intellectual property court, one of the several courts established in China for intellectual property rights protection, Kuhn said over the last 10 years, China is really making progress in this area.

The way to deal with the China-U.S. deadlock, Kuhn suggested, is to look squarely at the real issues from each side's perspective, analyze them with respect to what informs and motivates them, and then try to discern the core issues and bottom lines.

The two sides need to solve some of the less-difficult problems rapidly and then seek compromise or reconciliation on the more-difficult ones, according to Kuhn.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 23:04:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAPE TOWN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Parliament is seeking an appropriate way of dealing with a request to remove Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Speaker Thandi Modise said on Saturday.

This came after John Steenhuisen, chief whip of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), said his request for Parliament to initiate removal proceedings against Mkhwebane is receiving attention.

Under the Rules of Parliament, the speaker is obligated to refer such a request to an appropriate structure of Parliament for its consideration, Modise said in response to Steenhuisen's remarks.

An advice is being sought on the appropriate way of dealing with the DA's request given the fact that certain structures of the 6th Parliament are not yet established, said Modise, who was elected as speaker of the 6th Parliament last month.

Previously, the Committee on Justice and Correctional Services in the 5th Parliament considered a similar request but resolved in February to recommend to the National Assembly not to support the request to expedite proceedings to remove the Public Protector from office, saying such removal proceedings were premature.

The DA has intensified its campaign to have Mkhwebane removed since the 6th Parliament was established last month.

The DA accuses Mkhwebane of blocking investigation into a corruption scandal involving Ace Magashule, secretary general of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Magashule was allegedly involved in the Vrede Dairy Farm Project in Free State when he was premier of the province. It's alleged that millions of rand in government funds intended for the project was instead laundered by the controversial Indian Gupta family in collaboration with Magashule and other ANC officials.

Magashule has denied the accusation.

The Pretoria High Court ruled last month that Mkhwebane failed to do her job with due diligence and also failed to properly investigate those implicated in the Vrede Dairy Farm scandal.

Mkhwebane said after the ruling that she was considering her legal options, including a possible approach to the Constitutional Court to have the ruling against her overturned.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 23:04:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China will consider four factors when deciding whether to put a foreign entity on a list of "unreliable entities," the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Saturday.

The country will establish such a list based on relevant laws and regulations to safeguard national security, public interest and the rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the MOC announced Friday.

The Chinese government will consider first whether the foreign entity has adopted discriminatory measures on Chinese entities including a blockade or supply cut before putting it on the list, said Zhi Luxun, director with MOC's bureau of industry, security, import and export control.

It will also consider three other factors including whether the foreign entity violates market rules or contract spirit for non-commercial purposes, whether it causes actual damage to Chinese firms or related industries, and whether it poses actual or potential threats to China's national security, Zhi said.

China will take all necessary legal and administrative measures against the listed entities in accordance with China's foreign trade law, anti-monopoly law, state security law and other related laws and regulations, according to the MOC.

Enterprises or individuals on the list will go through certain investigation procedures and related stakeholders will be given certain rights to defend themselves. Detailed measures will be rolled out soon, said Wang Hejun, director of MOC's treaty and law department.

The decision to establish the list is made in line with international practice with the aim to safeguard the fair and reasonable international economic and trade order, and the rule-based multilateral trading system, Wang said.

The list will also work as an alert for Chinese enterprises to guard against certain foreign entities when doing businesses with them, Zhi said.

Zhi added the international industrial division is intertwined. Some countries' abuse of long-arm jurisdiction will deal a heavy blow to global economic growth and the security and stability of international industrial, supply and value chains.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 23:04:20|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Syrian refugees are to take buses to return to their homeland in Lebanon's northern city Tripoli, on June 1, 2019. About 621 Syrian refugees, who gathered in different areas in Lebanon including Nabatieh, Tripoli, Beirut and Bekaa, returned to their homeland on Saturday. (Xinhua/Khalid)

BEIRUT, June 1 (Xinhua) -- About 621 Syrian refugees on Saturday returned to their homeland from Lebanon, an online independent newspaper reported.

Refugees gathered in different areas in Lebanon including Nabatieh, Tripoli, Beirut and Bekaa, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) secured their return to Syria through the Masnaa Border Crossing, Elnashra said.

More than 1 million Syrian refugees are registered with the UNHCR in Lebanon, while the Lebanese government estimated the true number of Syrians in the country at 1.5 million.

To facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, Russia has drafted a strategy and presented it to the Lebanese authorities.

The strategy aims at securing the return of 890,000 Syrian refugees to their homeland.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 23:39:45|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Liu Jinsong (2nd L front) and Afghan National Minister of Disaster Management Najeeb Fahim (1st L front) attend a handover ceremony of emergency food assistance in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 1, 2019. China handed over emergency food assistance to Afghanistan in a ceremony held in Kabul on Saturday. The assistance was handed over to Afghan National Minister of Disaster Management Najeeb Fahim by Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Liu Jinsong. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah)

KABUL, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China handed over emergency food assistance to Afghanistan in a ceremony held in Kabul on Saturday.

The assistance was handed over to Afghan National Minister of Disaster Management Najeeb Fahim by Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Liu Jinsong.

Liu said such assistance will benefit hundreds of thousands of civilians affected by natural disasters in Afghanistan.

China will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, and is willing to promote Chinese companies' participation in Afghan economic development, Liu added.

Fahim expressed his gratitude to China's assistance, saying such assistance represented the long-standing friendship between the two countries.

In order to enhance Afghanistan's emergency management capabilities for natural disasters, China is planning to provide additional relief materials such as tents and blankets. More cooperation is being discussed by both governments aiming to help Afghanistan monitor meteorological disasters using China's satellite remote sensing technology, according to Liu.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 23:44:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ISLAMABAD, June 1 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of an HIV outbreak with more than 700 cases of HIV positive patients in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, an international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) has begun investigation into the sudden spread of the disease, local reports said on Saturday.

The team, which arrived in the country on Tuesday, will try to ascertain the source of the outbreak and control it, as well as provide its expertise in the areas of HIV testing, paediatric HIV treatment and family counselling, said local reports quoting health officials.

Director General Health Sindh Masood Solangi said nearly 700 people have been diagnosed with HIV virus, including 576 children aged from neonatal to five years old, in the past few weeks in Rato Dero town in the district of Larkana of the southern Sindh province.

He added that nearly 25,000 people had been tested for HIV since late April.

Earlier this week, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr. Zafar Mirza said the recent spread of HIV among children was either caused by unsafe injections or there is another reason that the authorities have been unable to determine so far.

The outbreak has stirred panic among residents of the area. Panicked parents were rushing to local health facilities to have their children tested for the virus.

Authorities were also cracking down on unqualified doctors as well as illegal blood banks and laboratories said to be involved in spreading the disease, and arrested at least 17 quack doctors and shuttered more than 70 clinics in Larkana.

The provincial government has launched a number of HIV control and awareness programs with the aim of raising awareness among families about HIV and its treatment.

Medics long considered Pakistan a country of low HIV prevalence, but the disease is expanding at an alarming rate with about 20,000 new HIV cases reported in 2017 alone, according to the United Nations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 23:55:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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VIRGINIA BEACH, the United States, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The shooter who killed 12 people in a Friday mass shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, a coastal city in U.S. state of Virginia, has been identified as a longtime city employee, authorities said Saturday.

Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera told a press conference that DeWayne Craddock, 40, had been employed with the city's public utility department for the past 15 years as a city engineer.

He was still employed at the department at the time of the shooting and had a security pass and "was authorized to enter the building," City Manager Dave Hansen said.

Several U.S. media outlets had described Craddock as a "disgruntled employee."

The suspect, who died after a "long gunbattle" with four police officers following the carnage, was said to have used a .45 caliber pistol equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and extended ammunition magazines.

More weapons were recovered at the scene and from the suspect's home, according to Cervera.

The police chief declined to comment on any possible motive.

"Right now, we have a lot of questions. The whys, they will come later. Right now, we have more questions than we have answers," Cervera said.

Eleven of the 12 deaths in Friday's shooting were employees of the city, Hansen said. The other was a contractor seeking a permit.

"I have worked with most of them for many years," he said. "They leave a void that we will never be able to fill."

Vigils in memory of the victims were planned for Saturday evening.

Four people, including a police officer, were also injured in the melee that broke out Friday afternoon in the popular Virginia resort city with an estimated population of roughly 450,000, which is about 300 kilometers south of Washington, D.C.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he has spoken to state and city officials to offer condolences to the community.

The Virginia Beach shooting was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were killed at a California bar.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 00:00:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HANOI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The 2019 Da Nang International Fireworks Festival kicked off in Vietnam's central Da Nang city on Saturday.

Teams from Belgium, Brazil, China, Britain, Finland, Italy, Russia, and Vietnam are to describe the beauty and culture of typical rivers in their countries during the month-long festival themed "Stories by the Rivers," Vietnam News Agency reported.

They will come together for a pyrotechnic competition in five nights themed "Origin", "Seed", "Love", "Colors" and "Going out to Sea." The festival, which lasts from June 1 to July 7, will also feature art performances and street carnivals every weekend.

After Vietnam and Russia performed during the curtain-raiser on June 1, Brazil and Belgium will take the stage on June 8. Italy and Finland will play the third night on June 15, while China and Britain will perform on June 22. The top two teams will be selected for the final on July 6.

According to the Da Nang Department of Tourism, the city welcomed nearly 7.7 million holidaymakers in 2018, up 15.5 percent against 2017, including roughly 2.9 million foreign tourists, up 23.3 percent.
Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen (L) attends a press conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the United States, June 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

VIRGINIA BEACH, the United States, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The shooter who killed 12 people in a Friday mass shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, a coastal city in U.S. state of Virginia, has been identified as a longtime city employee, authorities said Saturday.

Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera told a press conference that DeWayne Craddock, 40, had been employed with the city's public utility department for the past 15 years as a city engineer.

He was still employed at the department at the time of the shooting and had a security pass and "was authorized to enter the building," City Manager Dave Hansen said.

Mourners pray on June 1, 2019, for the victims of the mass shooting, during an improvised vigil in a parking lot of a shopping center in Virginia, Beach, Virginia.(Xinhua/AFP PHOTO)



Several U.S. media outlets had described Craddock as a "disgruntled employee."

The suspect, who died after a "long gunbattle" with four police officers following the carnage, was said to have used a .45 caliber pistol equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and extended ammunition magazines.

More weapons were recovered at the scene and from the suspect's home, according to Cervera.

Virginia Beach police chief Jim Cervera (3rd R) speaks during a press conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the United States, June 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

The police chief declined to comment on any possible motive.

"Right now, we have a lot of questions. The whys, they will come later. Right now, we have more questions than we have answers," Cervera said.

Eleven of the 12 deaths in Friday's shooting were employees of the city, Hansen said. The other was a contractor seeking a permit.

"I have worked with most of them for many years," he said. "They leave a void that we will never be able to fill."

Vigils in memory of the victims were planned for Saturday evening.

Photo taken on June 1, 2019 shows a sign of Virginia Beach Municipal Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Four people, including a police officer, were also injured in the melee that broke out Friday afternoon in the popular Virginia resort city with an estimated population of roughly 450,000, which is about 300 kilometers south of Washington, D.C.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he has spoken to state and city officials to offer condolences to the community.

The Virginia Beach shooting was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were killed at a California bar.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 01:15:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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PARIS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Naomi Osaka had her dream of winning the third straight Grand Slam title snapped by Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2 in the women's singles third round here on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Japanese's 16-match winning streak at Grand Slams also came to a conclusion.

Talking about her disappointment, the top seed admitted, "It would go from 1 to 10 and I'm like at a 100 right now."

Osaka, in her first time being the top seed at a Grand Slam, had gone through the first two rounds with two comebacks, while failing this time in front of a more resolute Siniakova, who registered her first career victory over a top-ranked player.

"Definitely during this tournament I have had a feeling different from other Grand Slams or every other Grand Slam that I have played, because usually I find it very free and fun, and this time around I was kind of tense the entire time," Osaka pointed out.

"I would just say I'm very disappointed in how I played, and I wish I could have done better. But I can't turn time."

Osaka conceded stunning 38 unforced errors, nearly tripling that of her opponent.

"I just feel like there has been a weight on me. I know that's because everything is sort of new. I have played French Open before but not in this circumstance or situation," Osaka noted.

Having advanced to last 16 for the first time in career, the 42nd-ranked Czech will next face Madison Keys of the United States, as the 14th seed saw off Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

"I felt the chance because her first and second round were tough. I could see that she's not so confident like she was. I just try to focus on my game and be ready for a big fight," Siniakova commented.

"I was trying to chase every ball and make her miss if it's possible, just try to stay her behind baseline and not feel confident like she's in front of the court or inside the court," she added.

Osaka failed to prove herself in clay major with a personal best record of third round. Despite her elimination, Osaka is set to maintain the top ranking after the tournament, guaranteed by last challenger Karolina Pliskova's exit on Friday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 01:25:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CHANGCHUN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A 5G-themed pavilion will make its debut at the 12th China-Northeast Asia Expo to be held from August 23 to 27 in Changchun, capital city of northeast China's Jilin Province.

The pavilion will showcase cutting-edge technologies in the Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, as well as the latest scientific and technological achievements and applications in the new era of 5G, according to a government press conference Friday.

Industry leaders from home and abroad including Huawei, ZTE, FAW and Nokia will display information and communications technologies, intelligent transport and system solutions.

This year's expo, with a total exhibition area of 70,000 square meters, will have five other pavilions with themes ranging from northeast China revitalization and imported merchandise to healthcare product and services.

The first China-Japan-ROK Entrepreneur Summit will also be held during the five-day event.

Since its first launch in 2005, the expo has attracted more than 700,000 merchants and 7,000 exhibitors from over 130 countries and regions and serves as a platform to promote economic and trade exchanges and cooperation in the Northeast Asia region.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 01:55:53|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen (2nd L) and Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera (1st R) attends a press conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the United States, on June 1, 2019. The shooter who killed 12 people in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach, in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia, on Friday, has been identified as DeWayne Craddock, a 15-year city employee, local police said on Saturday. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

VIRGINIA BEACH, the United States, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Police on Saturday identified the shooter who killed 12 people in a Friday carnage at a municipal building here as a longtime city employee, as they recovered more weapons believed to belong to him.

At a press conference Saturday, Virginia Beach police chief Jim Cervera identified the gunman as DeWayne Craddock, 40, a city engineer who had been employed with the city's public utility department for the past 15 years.

City Manager Dave Hansen said Craddock was still employed in the department at the time of the shooting and had a security pass and "was authorized to enter the building."

Several U.S. media outlets had described Craddock as a "disgruntled employee."

The suspect, who died in a "long gunbattle" with four police officers after roaming three floors and shooting "indiscriminately" at terrified people, was said to have used a .45 caliber pistol equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and extended ammunition magazines.

"This is a large-scale crime scene, it's a horrific crime scene," Cervera told reporters, adding that investigators who spent the night inside the building endured a "physical, emotional and psychological toll."

The scene was like a "war zone," Cervera said, adding that more weapons were recovered at the scene and from the suspect's home.

The police chief declined to comment on any possible motive.

"Right now, we have a lot of questions. The whys, they will come later. Right now, we have more questions than we have answers," Cervera said.

The FBI is assisting local police in conducting the investigation, he added.

Eleven of the 12 deaths in Friday's shooting were employees of the city, Hansen said. The other was a contractor seeking a permit.

"I have worked with most of them for many years," he said. "They leave a void that we will never be able to fill."

Vigils in memory of the victims were planned for Saturday evening.

Four people, including a police officer, were also injured in the melee that broke out Friday afternoon in the popular Virginia resort city with an estimated population of some 450,000, which is about 300 kilometers south of Washington, D.C.

The shooting occurred in Building No. 2 of the sprawling Virginia Beach Municipal Center, which includes several city facilities, including the police department.

Building No. 2 houses offices for planning and public works and is adjacent to city hall.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he has spoken to state and city officials to offer condolences to the community.

The Virginia Beach shooting was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were killed at a California bar.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dyer said on Friday. "The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbors and colleagues."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 03:21:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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NEW YORK, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A group of seven Chinese artists is presenting their creative works in New York City (NYC), offering arts lovers an exhibition with diverse artistic forms during the weekend.

Named "ON THE SPOT," the exhibition features dozens of artworks in various forms, including paintings, fashion designs and an interactive virtual reality (VR) game project.

The event, hosted by Zoe Creation, is on display at Artosino Gallery on Saturday and Sunday, gathering representative works from printmaker Zan Wang, interactive designer Yijun Xu, fashion designer Yiwei Wu, photographer Shuonan Liu, installation artist Zsa Zsa Wen, and painting artist Kathy Guo and illustration artist Yiqi Tang.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is an interactive three-dimensional VR game project designed by interdisciplinary installation artist Zsa Zsa Wen, who utilized a broad range of technological and multimedia tools

The artistic interactive space showcases the light and dark sides of people's shadows through vivid story-telling and virtual effects, which aims to inspire audience to explore the deeper side of their inner self, according to an exhibition introduction.

Three young artists made their debut in the Big Apple. Among them, Yiwei Wu presented her stylish apparels that intend to demonstrate her exploration into various human emotions such desire and panic.

Kathy Guo brought her hand-drawing paintings, and Shuonan Liu's works focus on distinctive strollers on the street.

Each artist's creative concepts are connected with designs of geometric elements in the gallery, which the exhibition organizer described as an "undefined white cube," aiming to provide audience with an art-exploring journey.

"In this undefined white cube, each singularity is an artist's self," Xiaoyue Zhang, curator of the exhibition, told Xinhua. "I hope more people to pay attention to young artists by seeing how amazing these young (Chinese) artists could be."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 04:36:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADEN, Yemen, June 1 (Xinhua) -- At least two Yemeni soldiers were killed on Saturday during an attack launched by suspected al-Qaida gunmen in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout, a security official told Xinhua.

The local official based in the province said on condition of anonymity that a group of gunmen believed to be members of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch attacked a military post in Hadramout's Valley.

He confirmed that the armed attack killed at least two newly-recruited soldiers and injured a number of others at the scene.

The source pointed out that the gunmen clashed with the soldiers stationed at the military post for several minutes, and then managed to escape.

Local media reports indicated that a terrorist attack targeted a military post of the 23rd Armored Brigade in Hadramout's Valley, killing and injuring a number of soldiers in the area.

Various areas in the government-controlled province of Hadramout witnessed sporadic attacks by terrorist elements during the past months.

Militant groups such as the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch and the Islamic State (IS) group have active presence in the country's southern and eastern areas, taking advantage of the bloody conflict raging in the impoverished Arab country since 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 04:46:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BUDAPEST, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The captain of a cruise liner that crashed into a sightseeing ship in Budapest was arrested pending a criminal investigation into the tragedy, a Hungarian official told Xinhua on Saturday.

"The court charged and arrested the captain of the cruise ship after a hearing of several hours," a spokesman of the Budapest prosecutor's office told Xinhua following the decision.

He was charged with threat of waterborne traffic causing a fatal mass disaster.

"The prosecutor's office made a motion to arrest the suspected captain," the prosecutor's office announced in a statement.

The captain of the cruise ship was detained by Hungarian authorities on May 30, but Hungarian laws limit detention to 72 hours. If a suspect is not charged after this period, he has to be released, set free on bail, or arrested.

"The investigating judge ordered the arrest of the captain for one month today. In addition, the court found that the suspect could be placed under house arrest, but the prosecution appealed this decision," the statement said.

Gabor Elo, a lawyer for the 64-year-old captain, a Ukrainian citizen, told that his client maintained his innocence during the hearing.

"I do not want to enter into details about his testimony, but he did not change what he said when he was questioned as a witness: he did not commit any wrongdoing, and is extremely sorry for the accident," Elo told journalists following the decision.

The sightseeing boat, the "Hableany" (Mermaid in English), carrying 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew members collided with the large Swiss cruise ship (Type Viking) and sank in the Danube in the evening on Wednesday.

Hungarian authorities confirmed that 35 people were on board the Hableany, seven people were dead, seven saved, all South-Koreans, and 21 were still missing, including the two Hungarian crew members.

The Mermaid has been found close to the Margit Bridge, and preparatory work was initiated to hoist the wreckage out of the waters, but the flooding of the Danube slowed down the operation which might take days, according to experts.

On Saturday, search and rescue teams -- including expert divers from Austria and South Korea -- tried to assemble a metal structure to be lowered into the Danube, in order to divert the strong current and enable the divers to descend and approach the wreck.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 05:21:59|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HELSINKI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming Finnish left-center cabinet under Social Democratic leader Antti Rinne is toning down the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Finnish security policy, local media reported on Saturday.

The newspaper Iltalehti published on Saturday the security policy section of the new government's program.

The new wording notes that "maintaining national leeway" and "options of choices" belong to the basis of Finnish security policy. "That maintains the possibility of applying for NATO membership", the program says.

The outgoing center-right government of Centre Party leader Juha Sipila defined in 2015 Finland as "a country outside military alliances" and noted that Finland "maintains practical companionship with NATO and maintains the possibility of applying for NATO membership".

Commentators noted on Saturday that the previous definition was a compact sentence that included the possibility of NATO membership application, while in the new definition NATO comes up in a separate sentence.

The new foreign and security policy section of the government program does not accept the use of Finnish territory for hostile purposes against other countries. The previous government program did not include that restriction.

Commentators of Iltalehti, Tommi Parkkonen and Lauri Nurmi, noted the sentences restricting the use of Finnish territory are particularly interesting as they could be interpreted in such a way that the government program would not allow NATO forces to use Finnish territory in operations that defend the Baltic countries.

But at the same time the government program defines that "as a member of the European Union Finland could not be an outsider if security is threatened in the vicinity of Finland or elsewhere in Europe".

The Iltalehti commentators concluded that under that definition Finland then should help Estonia, if that country would be attacked.

The new program highlights defense co-operation between Finland and Sweden. "Deepening of the co-operation with Sweden gives opportunities for strengthening the defense of our countries," it says.

The Baltic countries are members of NATO while Finland is not. Finland and Sweden are enhanced partners of NATO. There is also a three country protocol that includes the United States.

During recent years practical co-operation and defense planning of Finland and Sweden has increased, but both countries have underlined no actual military alliance exists.

A Swedish parliamentary defense plan in May suggested that Sweden should earmark a brigade to be sent to Finland in the event of a crisis.

The new foreign policy definitions appear to give a more central role to value questions such as promotion permissiveness and equality in all international activities. The Iltalehti commentators saw a partial return to wordings heard during the presidency of Tarja Halonen in 2000-2012.

The new Finnish government is to include the Social Democrats, the Center, the Greens, Left Alliance and the Swedish Peoples Party.

Government program talks that took nearly three weeks were completed on Friday, parts of the program have been published in the media.

The official publication of the program is to be on Monday at the new central library of Helsinki. During this coming week the participating parties are to give the final seal to joining the cabinet. The new government could be appointed by the end of the week.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 05:37:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Two bombings hit Syria's northern Raqqa city Saturday, killing and wounding tens of people, a war monitor reported.

The first explosion was caused by a land mine that exploded in the Basel Street in the central part of the city and when the people gathered to see what happened, a car bomb went off, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory said the explosions hit near a command center of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

It said five civilians and five SDF fighters were killed, while 20 others were wounded.

The report said the explosion bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State (IS).

The U.S.-led coalition had supported the Kurdish-led SDF in their push to capture Raqqa, which was the de facto capital of the IS, in 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-02 05:47:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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VIRGINIA BEACH, the United States, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Investigators have identified two .45 caliber pistols used in Friday's mass shooting at a municipal building that killed 12 people, a U.S. official said Saturday.

All indications were that the guns were bought legally, Ashan Benedict, regional special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal law enforcement organization within the U.S. Department of Justice, told a press conference.

One gun was bought in 2016 and the other was bought last year, according to Benedict.

He also said two other weapons were found at the home of the gunman, identified by police earlier in the day as 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, a city engineer who had been employed with Virginia Beach's public utility department for the past 15 years.

The shooting massacre that Craddock carried out on Friday afternoon led to 12 fatalities and four injuries.

Craddock was killed in a "long gunbattle" with police officers.
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Two Ukrainian servicemen wounded, as a result of the attack

Open source

The Russia-backed militants violated the ceasefire regime 10 times in the Donbas combat zone, including they fired wit the Minsk-banned weaponry five times. The press service of the JFO HQ reports this on Facebook.

The enemy fired with the Minsk-banned weaponry, in particular, with 122 mm artillery systems and 82 mm mortar.

Besides, they opened fire with grenade launchers of various systems, anti-tank rifles, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

The attacks have been registered near Vodiane, Mariinka, Krasnohorivka, Avdiivka and Starohnativka settlements. At the same time, the occupants fired near Travneve and Novoluhanske villages.

Two soldiers of the Joint Forces operation have been wounded, as a result of the attack.

Earlier, the Russia-backed militants violated the ceasefire regime eight times in the Donbas conflict zone.

The Pro-Kremlin militants fired at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with 122 mm artillery systems, 82 mm mortars, grenade launchers of various systems and small arms.
Gryb does not receive the medical treatment he needs, according to his lawyer Dubrovina

The lawyer of Ukrainian political prisoner Pavlo Gryb, who is illegally kept in Russian prison, Maryna Dubrovina was not allowed to visit him three times. Grybs lawyer reported this to MBK.news.

I was not allowed to him, I came three times, had been waiting for the whole days, but unsuccessfully, they said that everything occupied and they cannot let me in, Dubrovina said.

According to the lawyer, Gryb does not receive the medical treatment he needs.

The defense party added that she applied to Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova, although there was no response.

Dubrovina earlier stated that Ukrainian prisoner suffers from chronical diseases, which are portal hypertension, ulcers of the stomach and duodenum.

Currently, Pavlo Gryb is being hold in the prison number 4 in Rostov-on-Don.

The young man was captured by the Russian special service in Belarus in August 2017. The Russian prosecutors charged him with preparing a terrorist attack in Sochi. The Ukrainian suffers from several serious diseases, inlcuding heart and lives issues, as well as the Alzheimer's disease.
Export of such products is carried out exclusively on the basis of permits issued by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

Open source

Russian government decree banning the export of oil and oil products to Ukraine has come into force today, June 1. Export of such goods is carried out exclusively on the basis of permits issued by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. This is reported in the decision of the Russian government of April 18, No. 460-25.



"From June 1, 2019, the export of goods from the Russian Federation to the territory of Ukraine according to the list in accordance with Appendix No. 3 is carried out exclusively on the basis of permits issued by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation ", - said in the decision.



According to the text of the resolution, the list of products prohibited for importation into the territory of Ukraine includes crude oil and crude oil products obtained from bituminous rocks, ethylene, propylene, butylene and butadiene, petroleum jelly; paraffin, microcrystalline oil wax, paraffin wax and other.



Petroleum coke, petroleum bitumen and other residues from the processing of oil or petroleum products derived from bituminous rocks, as well as bituminous mixtures based on natural asphalt, natural bitumen, petroleum bitumen, mineral resins or mineral tar pitch (for example, mastic, asphalt mixes for road surfaces) are also banned for import to Ukraine.

Related: U.S Senate names possible sanctions for Nord Sream-2



Earlier the new Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Danyliuk did not rule out the possibility that Russia's ban on the supply of diesel fuel and oil to Ukraine could cause problems

According to Danyliuk, approximately 40% of Ukraine's diesel fuel is exported from Russia.

"That is an essential part, and, basically, the business already has to think how to diversify deliveries because of these restrictive measures, and this is actually happening, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council said.

The NSDC Secretary does not rule out the possibility that "merely a change of supplier" can happen, and there will be no real supply constraints.

However, as a country, we should be ready for this. It means that the volumes are high, options of diversification exist; some can last for a while, some simply can lead to an increase in the value of the product. That is fuel, so all these issues need to be solved," Danyliuk added.
The draft law is aimed at strengthening the defense capabilities of Ukraine, including through the transfer of defense articles, the sale of lethal defense articles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the strengthening of Ukraine's ability to withstand Russian cyber attacks

The House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress presented a draft law On Supporting Ukraine to Protect Its Independence, Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, which provides for the possibility of granting Ukraine the status of the U.S. main ally except for NATO. The press service of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States reports.

"The bill foresees the possibility of granting Ukraine the status of the U.S. main ally except for NATO from the time of coming into force of this document until our country joins the North Atlantic Alliance. This status can be used to simplify the procedure for the transfer of defense articles to Ukraine," the report said.

It is reported that the bill is aimed at strengthening the defense capabilities of Ukraine, including through the transfer of defense articles, the sale of lethal defense articles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the strengthening of Ukraine's ability to withstand Russian cyber attacks. Anti-tank, anti-ship, and anti-aircraft systems are added to the list of types of weapons that can be transferred to Ukraine.

The draft law states that U.S. policy should include support:

The sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, as well as the Euro-Atlantic and European integration of our state.

The right of the people of Ukraine to freely determine their future and to adopt independent and sovereign decisions in the field of foreign and security policy, including concerning relations with other countries and international organizations without interference, intimidation or pressure from other countries.

Ukraine's rights to defend against Russian aggression by providing U.S. security assistance.

Further consolidation of democratic values in Ukraine, including by strengthening the rule of law, enhancing transparency and accountability in the state sector, and combating corruption.

The co-authors of the bill were the leaders of the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, Democratic congressman Eliot Engel and Republican Michael McCaul, as well as Chairman and Co-chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy and the Environment of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrat William Keating and Republican Adam Kinzinger.
Among the new members of the group will be already familiar figures as well as several new ones, according to Klimkin

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin Unian

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky will announce the names of the Ukrainian representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group on settling down the Donbas conflict, among them will be already famous persons and the new members as well. Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin stated this on air Radio NV.

The Minsk group will renew its work. As far as I understand it will happen on June 5. The new team will be appointed. It will be represented next week. I will not do this, as the President is going to this. You will see some familiar figures, and some new ones, but it will work for sure, Klimkin stated.

According to the Foreign Minister, there is no sense in conducting the Normandy format negotiations for now.

At the same time, Klimkin believes that the agenda should be decided before conducting the negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany on settling down the Donbas conflict. Otherwise no progress can happen.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky accepted the invitation from his French colleague Emmanuel Macron to visit Paris. It was stated after the meeting of the Head of State with Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Yves Le Drian, which took place on May 31 in Kyiv. The press service of the President reports this.

According to the report, Zelensky thanked France for the consistent support for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine emphasized that the solidarity of France with Ukraine as a partner in the Normandy format and in various international groups and organizations was essential for maintaining security and defending the norms and principles of international law on the continent.

The parties paid considerable attention to the further enhancement of bilateral political dialogue and strengthening of cooperation between Ukraine and France, in particular in trade and economic sphere, the report said.

Zelensky outlined many interesting common projects that are being implemented in Ukraine, in particular, those aimed at socio-economic recovery of the eastern regions of the country (for example, the renovation of the water supply system in Mariupol).

Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Jacek Czaputowicz and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Margot Wallstrom.
The bonuses will be paid in order to enhance the motivation of the personnel of the Armed Forces units, according to Poltorak

Ukrainian servicemen, who begin an intensive phase of preparation before joining the Joint Forces operation, will receive bonuses. Ukraine's Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak reported this on Facebook.

I decided to grant these servicemen bonuses of $112 in order to enhance the motivation of the personnel of the Armed Forces units, who begin the final active phase of combat coordination in training centers and landfills before entering the areas of the Joint Forces operation, Defense Minister wrote.

As we reported earlier, the Russia-backed militants violated the ceasefire regime 10 times in the Donbas combat zone, including they fired wit the Minsk-banned weaponry five times.

The enemy fired with the Minsk-banned weaponry, in particular, with 122 mm artillery systems and 82 mm mortar.

Besides, they opened fire with grenade launchers of various systems, anti-tank rifles, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

The attacks have been registered near Vodiane, Mariinka, Krasnohorivka, Avdiivka and Starohnativka settlements. At the same time, the occupants fired near Travneve and Novoluhanske villages.
Thanks goodness, it was not all news of infamy for Malaysia every day for the last week for the year 2021  as there were also some good news and one came ...
YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan summed up the outcome of the My Step for Syunik Province investment business forum, the PMs Office told Armenpress.

Congratulating the participants on holding a dynamic forum, the Prime Minister highlighted the key features of the debate.

Firstly, we saw that there really is a huge potential in the Syunik province. Here we saw proposals and even activities related to the field of technology, here we saw interesting agricultural, tourism projects.

It is very important that we are able to create both a legislative, institutional, and moral-psychological environment and conditions so that a person is inspired by his work and encourages others to work. Without work it is impossible to solve any problem, without work it is impossible to create well-being, and this is the most important thing.

We must infect each other with the desire to work, with the energy of work, we must believe in our future, because it is in our hands, because faith in our future means faith in ourselves.

I am convinced that today every citizen of the Republic of Armenia must first believe in himself. Since the time when we were oppositionists, there is such a discourse: whether the opposition must be believed or not, the authorities must be believed or not.

First of all, a person must believe in himself, in his creative power, and our mission is that we act not in such a way that people believe us, but act in such a way that people believe in themselves, because only by faith they will be able to form an effective government each time, form an effective NA, form effective local self-government bodies.

Our biggest mission is that people, citizens of Armenia believe in themselves. At that moment, when we believe in our citizens, our people believe in themselves, they win.

The only guarantor of the victory of our people, our state, our citizens is the faith of every citizen and people as a whole in himself. I am glad that in this room we saw a lot of people who first of all believe in themselves.

Our daily mission is to have these people believe in themselves more and more every day, every hour, every week, because the more they believe in themselves, the more they believe in today and in the future of our common homeland, which we build and will build together step by step.

I wish all of us energy and optimism, and there is no doubt that a citizen of Armenia will continue his triumph, which will never end.

After each new victory, we will win a new victory, because this is a ladder, and our every step to a new step is preparation to take a step to the next step. So our movement is directed not only forward, but also upward.

And I am convinced that today each of us has made, is making and will make his own step in the name of the Syunik province, in the name of the Republic of Armenia, in the name of the Artsakh Republic. Thank you.

Note that a number of investment programs were presented at the forum and documents were signed on their implementation.
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. The defense ministry of the Republic of Artsakh told Armenpress that on June 1, at 07:30, soldier of the Defense Army Sipan Melkonyan, born in 2000, received a fatal gunshot wound by the shot fired from the Azerbaijani side at a military unit located in the south-eastern (Martuni) direction of the Defense Army.

Investigation is underway to clarify the details of the incident.

The defense ministry of Artsakh shares the grief of the loss and extends condolences to the family, relatives and co-servicemen of the soldier.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. On June 1, on the occasion of the International Childrens Day, the Next Station, Childhood photo exhibition will be held in the Yeritasardakan station of Yerevan Metro.

The Yerevan Subway CJSC spokesperson Tatevik Khachatryan told Armenpress that the photos will tell about how the kids manage the subway operation.

The entire staff of the Yerevan Subway wishes children peaceful, careless and happy childhood, welfare and dignified future.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Anna Hakobyan, spouse of the Prime Minister of Armenia, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of My Step and City of Smile charitable foundations, addressed a congratulatory message on the International Childrens Day, her Office told Armenpress.

The message says:

Dear children and respectful parents,

I sincerely congratulate you on perhaps the brightest holiday of the world  the International Childrens Day. Every adult wants to do the utmost for your childhood to be healthy, careless and safe so that all of you can get a full education and have an opportunity to fulfill your most courageous dreams.

I wish you to live in an inclusive society, be socially protected and be able to use your right to education.

There shouldnt be cases of violence against children in our society, the sex-selective abortions should be rejected by all layers of the public. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of these issues. Although the number of sex-selective abortions has decreased in Armenia, but this is still a problematic issue in the country. According to the research of Armenias demographic and health issues, 7 out of 10 children aged 1-14 have been subjected to psychological or physical punishment within 30 days prior to the research. These are very concerning statistical facts over which we need to work and change the reality, making it brighter, more positive and more dignified.

I also specifically want to congratulate the parents because you bear the mission of surrounding the kids with a family warmth, growing up a dignified generation.

Once again congratulations on this day. I wish you careless childhood, my little friends!

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory letter to Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday, the Armenian PMs Office told Armenpress.

The letter says:

Dear Mr. Pashinyan,

Accept my sincere congratulations on your birthday.

I cordially wish you good health, happiness, welfare and success in the state activity.

I would like to reaffirm the readiness to continue the constructive dialogue and joint work aimed at developing the allied relations between Russia and Armenia, as well as the mutual partnership within the frameworks of the Eurasian integration processes.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev sent a congratulatory letter to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the latters birthday, the Armenian PMs Office told Armenpress.

The letter says:

Dear Mr. Pashinyan,

On behalf of the Russian government and personally myself, I congratulate you on your birthday.

I would like to highlight your constant attention to the issues on developing the friendship, partnership and allied relations between Russia and Armenia. The commercial and investment cooperation is being strengthened, the joint projects in energy, industry, infrastructures, science and culture are being successfully implemented. The integration partnership within the Eurasian Economic Union is being deepened.

I am confident that the active inter-governmental work will contribute to further expanding the practical cooperation and promoting new mutually beneficial initiatives in various areas. This is in full accordance with the long-term interests of our countries.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister, I wish you good health, welfare and success in your responsible activities.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Chief of Police of Armenia Valery Osipyan addressed a congratulatory message on the International Childrens Day on June 1, the Police told Armenpress.

Today it is officially the international day of children. But unofficially, every day, every hour and every minute belongs to them.

Children are not only our future, but also the present, and at any moment everything is being done for the children.

We not only build the country where our kids will be happy, but also measure our daily work, behavior and goals with the assessment of children. And the one is happy who receives such an appreciation.

I congratulate the children on this brightest and sunny holiday. I also congratulate all parents and grandparents, the Police Chief said in the message, wishing all the best to all kids.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. During the period from May 26 to June 1 the Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact nearly 220 times by firing more than 3500 shots from various caliber weapons at the Armenian positions, the defense ministry of Artsakh told Armenpress.

Its worth noting that 80 out of the aforementioned ceasefire violations occurred overnight May 31 during which the Azerbaijani side fired around 2350 shots, most of which from sniper rifles and large caliber weapons. As a result, on June 1, at 07:30, soldier of the Defense Army of Artsakh Sipan Melkonyan, born in 2000, received a fatal gunshot wound.

Artsakhs defense ministry extends support to the family of the soldier and announces at the same time that the provocation of the Azerbaijani side will not remain without a response, adding that the consequences will be painful.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. On June 1, on the occasion of the International Childrens Day, the Armenian Presidential Palace opened its gates for children and their parents.

A number of events and celebrations are taking place on the occasion of this Day.

Organizer of the event, Director of the Child Development Foundation (CDF) Lusine Simonyan said today they are not going to talk about the issues relating to the protection of rights of children.

Our goal today is to say in the Baghramyan 26, the Presidential Palace of Armenia that children live in Armenia, children are born here. Interacting with children in our daily work we are strengthening that belief, that power that we should bear the belief of that responsibility for the sake of children in order to create happy individuals and happy people, Lusine Simonyan said.

Photos by Tatev Duryan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian signed decrees on appointing ministers of new ministries which were formed as a result of the governments structural changes.

According to the Presidents decree, Erik Grigoryan has been relieved from the position of nature protection minister and appointed minister of environment.

Tigran Khachatryan has been appointed minister of economy.

Arayik Harutyunyan has been appointed minister of education, science, culture and sport, being relieved from the position of minister of education and science.

Suren Papikyan has been appointed minister of territorial administration and infrastructures.

Hakob Arshakyan has been appointed minister of high technological industry, being relieved from the positon of minister of transport, communication and IT.

Following the legislative changes the government of Armenia consists of the following ministries:

Ministry of foreign affairs

Ministry of defense

Ministry of emergency situations

Ministry of justice

Ministry of labor and social affairs

Ministry of education, science and culture

Ministry of environment

Ministry of healthcare

Ministry of finance

Ministry of economy

Ministry of territorial administration and infrastructures

Ministry of high technological industry

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Armenia has issued a statment amid the rising tensions on Artsakh-Azerbaijan front line.

As ARMENPRESS was infomed from the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, the statemt runs as follows, ''Armenia resolutely deplores deliberate steps by Azerbaijan in the past three days to increase tension, which manifest in dissemination of false information about its own casualties, direct calls for physical threats to the leadership of Armenia, publicly voiced by representatives of the ruling party in Azerbaijans parliament, and significant increase in ceasefire violations, which resulted today in a killing of private Sipan Melkonyan of the Defense Army of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijans recent actions take place against the background of the appeal of 30 May from the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to exercise maximum restraint to avoid escalation.

These latest developments defy the efforts of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to take constructive efforts towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict, to establish a conducive environment to this end, and represent a serious setback for all the efforts taken over the past months. Azerbaijan violates its own commitments undertaken in the latest Joint Statements in Milano (December, 2018), in Vienna (March, 2019) and in Moscow (April, 2019).

The deplorable actions of Azerbaijan, if not urgently addressed, may represent a serious obstacle to next steps in the settlement process. They also question the credibility of Azerbaijan and their capacity to remain faithful to commitments, as agreed in Dushanbe in September 2018 and reaffirmed in Vienna in March 2019, to observe and strengthen the ceasefire. Armenia strongly urges Azerbaijan to demonstrate genuine political will expressed in concrete and effective measures to observe the ceasefire. Azerbaijan will bear full responsibility for the risks of further escalation.

Azerbaijans latest confrontational and dangerous actions prompt their past violence, atrocities and attempts to aggression and stand proof of the existential physical security risks to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia reiterates that there is no alternative to the peaceful resolution of the conflict, for which strict observance of the ceasefire is an essential condition. Under no circumstances the security of Nagorno-Karabakh and its people will be compromised.

The latest incident underlines the urgency to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism of ceasefire violations and to expand the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office, in accordance with the commitment taken by Azerbaijan in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia expresses its profound and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of private Sipan Melkonyan of the Defense Army of Nagorno-Karabakh''.
The Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia recalls him as a particularly colourful litigant in the 1930s and as the first person with a wooden leg to be granted a flying licence - who delighted in stunt-flying under Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The remarkable thing about the old Papua New Guinea was that you were given the opportunity to meet people like Goya.

I strongly suspect that he was  but, for me, more than that he was a truly outstanding man and a friend.

WAS GOYA HENRY (1901-74) the first person to fly a plane under the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

Even more provocative was his habit of taking members of the public for short joyrides in a light plane along the perimeter of Mascot airport, his pilot's licence being suspended many times between 1934 and 1938, when the High Court finally clamped down on him altogether and brought an end to the joy flights.

Goya later quit Sydney and became captain of a trawler in New Guinea.

Ill never forget the times travelling with him on the MV Thetis to Manam and other islands, and the wonderful conversations we had about pre-war Australian aviation, Territory characters, classical literature and matters medical (both our fathers were country doctors), the sinking of the Titanic, the law, and numerous other topics.

When he volunteered for the RAAF at the start of World War II, a senior officer, previously trained to fly by Goya, said to him: Theyll never take you, Goya. Youre not a Mason, youre not a Catholic and you can fly a plane.

The official reason why he was not accepted, of course, was that hed lost a leg.

In conversation Goya continually made classical and Shakespearean references. In a letter to me in 1967, obviously in the dumps, comparing himself to Hamlet.

He loved a reference I made to Achilles sulking in his tent, a state in which I never found Goya.

The Achilles more to his taste would have been found in Tennysons Ulysses: It maybe we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Im sure that in the afterlife, Goya, you have touched the Happy Isles and the prospect of me seeing you and Achilles in the future is very sustaining to me in the here and now.

I hope Im not being too presumptive if, as did the famous author Frank Clune, I claim you as an old pal.
The rules for who can register and vote at the referendum date back to the Bougainville Peace Agreement, which states  in section 315 - that eligibility to vote in the referendum will be the same as for national elections in Bougainville plus non-resident Bougainvilleans.

They must implement the law as it stands, and I support their efforts to do so.

Let me start with reminding all that the Bougainville Referendum Commission was set up by the Autonomous Bougainville Government and the National Government to administer the referendum in an impartial and inclusive manner.

BUKA - I am aware of discussions around who is eligible to vote in the referendum.

The peace agreement was of course the product of negotiations, with the content agreed by both sides, including those representing Bougainville. As you know, I myself signed the peace agreement.

Section 315 of the agreement and the Organic Law on Peacebuilding and Bougainville Referendum gives the right to vote to all Papua New Guinea citizens who have resided in Bougainville for at least six months and meet other criteria such as age.

This applies regardless of whether you consider the person to be Bougainvillean or not.

After the enrolment period, the draft role will be displayed for public inspection and objections. Any voter who believes that an enrolled person is not eligible  due to age, for example, or due to not having resided in Bougainville for the last six months  can lodge an objection that will be considered and determined by the Bougainville Referendum Commission.

These criteria have been known for a long time  there is no new rule being applied.

We have waited 20 years for this referendum, and so we must participate in our largest possible numbers. I call on all eligible voters to enrol during the upcoming enrolment exercise, and to participate in the display and review process that will follow.

The enrolment criteria for those living in Bougainville are:

have been living in Bougainville for at least the past six months prior to enrolment

were born on or before 12 October 2001

are a PNG citizen

are entitled to vote in PNG National Elections

For non-resident Bougainvilleans (Bougainvilleans living outside Bougainville), the eligibility criteria for enrolment have been agreed to be:
Eric Tapakau was deeply committed to the betterment of Bougainville and its people

DENIKA SEETO | Communications Manager, Bougainville Copper Ltd

BUKA - Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) lost both a dear friend and esteemed colleague with the untimely passing of Eric Tapakau on 19 May after a brief illness.

Eric, 44, was a highly regarded member of our Bougainville team having joined the company in September 2017 as media and communications adviser.

As a testament to his capabilities and leadership, he was quickly promoted to a senior project officer position just four months later.

One of Erics great qualities was his natural affinity with people and his ability to effectively engage with those at all levels of the community. He was deeply committed to the betterment of Bougainville and its people and had earned widespread respect.

Those who knew him best, including former work colleagues and school friends, recall how people loved being in Erics company. He was warm and welcoming and, also possessed a quick wit and wicked sense of humour.

ET, as he was affectionately known, was able to lighten the mood of any room no matter the situation and it was often hard to keep a straight face when he was around.
(As it happened Wera had been a student at a school at which Keiths close friend Murray Bladwell had been principal and Keith was able to put them in touch after 50 years.)

Wera and Keith exchanged contact details and spoke for many minutes.

After we finished, the Jackson family met Hon Wera Mori, commerce minister and member for Chuave in Simbu, where Keith had come as an 18-year old to teach - and has remained a friend of PNG ever since.

By we I mean Keith Jackson AM, who wrote the Foreword to my latest book Survivor, his lovely wife Cr Ingrid Jackson, a councillor in the shire of Noosa on Australias Sunshine Coast, and their son Ben, a communications specialist working with the Australian aid program in Papua New Guinea.

PORT MORESBY  We had quite a lunch at the Grand Papua on Friday.

Daniel and Keith with copy of Survivor and traditional Enga caps

Daniel and political mover and shaker Bryan Kramer MP

Keith and I also met my Facebook Warrior, Hon Bryan Kramer. It was an honour to meet the fiery member for Madang who had made it possible for PNGs new prime minister Hon James Marape to ascend to power just on Thursday.

At that very minute Marape was upstairs on the 15th Floor of the Grand Papua forming a caretaker government.

Another surprise for me was meeting my own Kandep MP, Hon Alfred Manase, as I was in the hotel lobby. The moment our eyes met he greeted me warmly and we took photos.

We are family, it was impossible to ignore. We are all linked one way or another, even to Don Polyes Gini village in Kandep.

This thing called politics must not be seen as a weapon to separate or attack people and turn them into enemies.

Argue only against policy issues which you dont like.

And this must be borne in mind by supporters on both sides who abuse Facebook to launch personal attacks on behalf of our leaders.

They go to the extreme of swearing at each other while hiding behind fake names.

Remember, we will continue to use the Kandep-Mendi Highway which Don Polye built.

We will continue to take medicine at the Kandep Hospital that Alfred Manase has maintained and where an ambulance was delivered recently.

Kandepion people must drop their negative attitudes and learn to leave politics to the politicians.

You never know, they could be wining and dining somewhere when you continue to live with your hatred and resentment for the rest of your life with only your shadow following you around.
Every Friday our Personal Finance team will round up consumer news you need to know ahead of the weekend, on a segment we call Family First for YFi PM. Read below for this weeks round-up.

You might want to think twice about your grilling plans for Memorial Day, as the USDA announced a recall on Wednesday of 62,000 pounds of beef by Illinois-based Aurora Packing Company, Inc.

USDA ANNOUNCES BEEF RECALL

Products involved in the warning include short ribs, ribeyes, and briskets bearing an establishment number Est. 788 inside the USDA inspection mark on the packaging. Look for a list on the USDA/FSIS website of retailers where these products could pop up. The Food Safety and Inspection Service told Yahoo Finance that they are still working on collecting all of the distribution information for the Aurora Packing recall.

The recall comes after traceback activities in random sample testing by the Food Safety Inspection Administration showed the potential for E. coli contamination. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products, according to the USDA.

Hot dogs are also questionable items to put on your grill, as over 1 ton of beef frankfurters are being recalled for possibly containing pieces of metal. Vienna Beef Company originally discovered the contamination and says they were able to reclaim all packages in question, which were sold to restaurants in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin but had not been available to retailers. The USDA is in the process of verifying whether the recall is in fact complete.

Vienne Beef announces a recall of 1 ton of their beef frankfurters ahead of the Memorial Day holiday.

And for whatever food you do bring along for your memorial day festivities this weekend, follow some simple safety tips to avoid foodborne illnesses. Bring along paper towels, hand sanitizers and antibacterial wipes to your picnic. You should also bring two coolers instead of so perishables that should be kept on ice at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below can stay separated from the rest of your food and beverages. Dont forget a meat thermometer to assure your meat is cooked to safe temperatures, and dont leave any leftovers outdoors for longer than two hours.

Story continues

Food safety packing tips

MEMORIAL DAY FOOD SAFETY:

If running water is not available, bring soap, paper towels, hand sanitizer, or moist towelettes. This will help keep your hands clean throughout the day, especially after handling any raw meat or poultry.

Avoid cross contamination by using clean plates and utensils. Dont place cooked food on a plate that once held raw meat or poultry.

Bring a couple of portable coolers  one for perishable foods and one for beverages  filled with ice. Perishable items like raw chicken, burgers, or appetizers like fresh salsa, guacamole, or bean salads should be kept at 40F or below.

Dont forget the food thermometer! Cook meat and poultry to the safe internal temperatures. Checking the temperature is the only way to know if your food is safe to consume. USDA-recommended safe minimum internal temperatures are: Beef, pork, lamb, and veal (steaks, roasts and chops): 145F with a three-minute rest time Fish: 145F Ground meats (beef, veal, lamb, pork): 160F Whole poultry, poultry breasts and ground poultry: 165F

Bring the right amount of food that you will consume at your picnic, but if you still have some leftovers, dont leave them outdoors for more than two hours.

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Foreign employees of US energy major ExxonMobil will return to work near Iraq's border with Iran Sunday, the oil ministry said, two weeks after being evacuated over tensions between Washington and Tehran. "ExxonMobil accepted that the 83 employees evacuated will resume their posts from Sunday," spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP. He said Iraqi authorities, which had slammed the decision to pull out the workers from the West Qurna oil field as political, have taken "the necessary security measures for their return". ExxonMobil pulled out its expatriate employees from the southern oil field after the US ordered non-essential personnel to quit its diplomatic missions in the country on May 15. Washington cited an "imminent" threat from Tehran-linked armed groups in Iraq as tensions fuelled by US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal spiked. It came 10 days after the Pentagon deployed an aircraft carrier task force and B-52 bombers to the Gulf to fend off an unspecified alleged plot by Tehran to attack US forces or allies. Oil ministry spokesman Jihad insisted that the absence of the foreign workers had not affected production as the bulk of the workforce is Iraqi. The West Qurna oil field lies close to Iraq's border with Iran
Mexico's president said Saturday he thinks US officials are prepared to negotiate on President Donald Trump's threat to use tariffs as a tool to fight illegal migration across the border. "There is willingness on the part of US government officials to establish dialogue and reach agreements and compromises," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference. He did not say what gave him reason to believe this, though he noted that his government had contacted both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser. Trump's surprise announcement Thursday of new tariffs against a key US trading partner was widely criticized, including by US business groups, border-state politicians and some Republican lawmakers. It sent global markets slumping on Friday. Trump appeared to have no regrets about the move, tweeting on Saturday: "When you are the 'Piggy Bank' Nation that foreign countries have been robbing and deceiving for years, the word TARIFF is a beautiful word indeed!" "Others must treat the United States fairly and with respect - We are no longer the 'fools' of the past!" he wrote. Lopez Obrador said a Mexican delegation led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet Wednesday in Washington with Pompeo to discuss the tariffs. - 'Doing our job' - Trump said Thursday that tariffs starting at five percent and gradually increasing to 25 percent will be applied to all Mexican imports beginning June 10, unless Mexico does more to halt the flow of undocumented migrants. "Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades," Trump said in a tweet. Lopez Obrador said Friday that his country was "doing our job" to stem the flow of undocumented migrants -- many of them fleeing poverty and violence in Central America -- and he warned Trump that new tariffs would be a lose-lose game. From January to April, Mexican authorities detained 51,607 migrants, a 17 percent increase from the same period in 2018, according to official figures. On Saturday, Lopez Obrador voiced confidence on the upcoming talks. "The results are going to be good because there is an atmosphere that is favorable to dialogue both in this country and in the United States," the Mexican president said, adding that he doubted the tariffs would ultimately take effect. "It is in everyone's interest to reach an agreement," he said. Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants have been crossing into the US -- more than 100,000 a month in recent months -- causing temporary shelters to overflow and judges unable to keep up with asylum applications. Trump, who has often demonized the migrants as criminals and gang members, has declared the situation an emergency. The US tariffs would be devastating for Mexico, which sends 80 percent of its exports to the US. Analysts said Trump's shock move jeopardized the chances for ratifying a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, known as the USMCA. His announcement came the same day Trump began the process of ratifying the new pact. "The move is seen as a further disruption for US manufacturing supply chains, adding to consumer costs, with the uncertainty undermining business investment," chief economist Scott Brown of Raymond James said on the investment firm's website. It might also undercut chances for resolving the continuing US trade conflict with China, analysts said, by raising questions about whether US negotiators can be trusted. In a tit-for-tat competition, the US and China have imposed billions of dollars in tariffs on goods imported from the other. Beijing on Saturday increased tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods, retaliating for Washington having raised duties on $200 billion in Chinese goods. But trade with Mexico is, in some ways, more deeply intertwined with US jobs and manufacturing. Many products, like cars, appliances and computers, are partially produced on one side of the border and then finished on the other. Mexico's president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he thinks US officials are prepared to negotiate on President Donald Trump's threat to use tariffs as a tool to fight illegal migration across the border People are seen approaching a border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, on May 31, 2019, a day after US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs against Mexico unless it stops the flow of undocumented migrants Cars pass from the US into Mexico at the border crossing in San Ysidro, California on May 31, 2019; cross-border business would be hit hard by new tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump This graphic shows top exports in US-Mexico trade in 2018, according to US Census Bureau data
Conservative businessman Nayib Bukele took office Saturday as president of El Salvador, tasked with turning around grinding poverty and rampant gang violence that are sending thousands fleeing to the United States. Bukele was sworn in by the speaker of the National Assembly in a square in downtown San Salvador, as a large, boisterous crowd applauded and shouted "We did it!" The telegenic Bukele, 37, was elected in February to succeed Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a leftist former guerrilla who maintained close relations with his Nicaraguan and Venezuelan counterparts. Bukele has said he will seek closer ties with the United States, home to 2.5 million Salvadorans. With only 6.6 million people living in the small Central American country, its fortunes are closely linked to the United States which nearly a third of its citizens call home. "I will be the president of all Salvadorans," Bukele pledged. "Our country is like a sick child, we all have to take care of it." US President Donald Trump, who has railed against the waves of migrants flooding into his country from El Salvador as well as Honduras and Guatemala, wished Bukele well on Twitter. "Congratulations President Bukele on your inauguration! The United States stands ready to work with @NayibBukele to advance prosperity in El Salvador and the hemisphere," Trump said. Official estimates indicate an average of 200 Salvadorans leave the country per day to enter the United States without documents. Some analysts have called Bukele a millennial president: above all because he is at ease on social media, but also because he often adopts a casual appearance, ditching a tie and wearing his hair in a ponytail. Critics say Bukele, former mayor of the capital San Salvador, is light on policy and substance. He has said a priority of his five-year term is cracking down on gangs that recruit young people into their ranks, while profiting off drug trafficking and extortion. El Salvador last year tallied 3,340 homicides. That was 15 percent less than in 2017, but still amounted to a rate of 51 killings per 100,000 inhabitants, making it one of the world's most violent countries not at war. The fearsome gangs, with an estimated 70,000 members, are blamed for much of the violence. The son of a Muslim imam and a Christian, Bukele describes himself as believing in God rather than an adherent to a religion, an apparent effort to steer clear of any anti-Muslim sentiment. Delegations from 83 countries attended Bukele's swearing-in. The United States was represented by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. El Salvador's new president, Nayib Bukele (L), is sworn in by the president of the National Assembly, Norman Quijano (R) next to his wife Gabriela Rodriguez A boy dressed as El Salvador's new president Nayib Bukele is seen amid a crowd of supporters attending th new leader's inauguration ceremony in downtown San Salvador
Romanians lined Bucharest streets and packed two cathedrals on Friday to welcome Pope Francis, who began a three-day trip to the country with a message of integration for a post-election European Union following nationalist gains. In speeches in the capital, Francis praised the "sacrifices" of Romanian emigrants and urged the faithful to reject "a culture of hate". Thousands of people along Bucharest boulevards cheered, waved and took pictures as Francis travelled through the capital by popemobile. Many television channels transmitted his visit live, while screens where put up throughout the city for people to watch the ceremonies. - 'Viva papa' - Outside Saint Joseph Catholic Cathedral, where tens of thousands gathered for a mass, people waved flags and also chanted "Viva papa", or "Long live the pope". During the three-day visit to the mainly Orthodox country the 82-year-old is expected to raise issues fuelling nationalism, such as poverty, as well as inter-religious relations. In one of his speeches Friday, Francis paid homage "to the sacrifices endured by so many sons and daughters of Romania". Rampant unemployment and poverty have pushed millions to seek better lives abroad and the country still faces major socio-political problems despite joining the EU in 2007. The exodus of Romanians seeking work abroad had led to the "depopulation of many villages", he said. He also had a private meeting with Orthodox Patriarch Daniel despite their strained relations, and they prayed alongside each other -- one in Latin and the other in Romanian. The pontiff set off from Rome's Fiumicino airport early Friday after meeting a group of 15 homeless Romanians who live in Rome. In Bucharest, he was welcomed at the airport by pro-European President Klaus Iohannis and some 200 cheering children, dressed mostly in white and waving flags. After talks with Iohannis, Francis met Romania's first female Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila. - Strained history - The pope's visit follows 20 years after John Paul II received a warm welcome for his perceived role in the fall of Communism. Relations between the Orthodox Church and Romania's Greek Catholics -- who number just 150,000 -- have been strained ever since the decades of the communist rule following World War II. The tiny community had its property confiscated and its religious leaders were jailed. But the Greek Catholics resisted, holding secret masses until the dictatorship fell in 1989. The pontiff will beatify seven bishops who were tortured and died in prison, setting them on the path to sainthood. He will also travel across the country to meet people of diverse faiths and languages, which include 18 officially recognised minorities. The highlight of the trip is set to be Saturday's mass at the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the picturesque Transylvania region. Tens of thousands are expected to attend the ceremony, which will see Francis present a golden rose at the large wooden replica of the Madonna -- a tradition for popes visiting major Marian shrines. - 'Hearts and minds open' - Francis' trip will be an opportunity "to send a message to the many Catholic Hungarians there to keep their hearts, minds and gates open to others," religious expert Claire Giangrave wrote in the religious news website Cruxnow. "The challenge for the pope is to stress to the Orthodox community that the Church of Rome does not want to 'Latinise' it," said Bishop Pascal Gollnisch, director of the Oeuvre d'Orient French charity, which supports Eastern Churches. "The unity sought is not institutional: the aim is not to bring all Christians together under the Catholic label, but to have everyone recognise each other as Christians," he told AFP. burs-jza/jj Pope Francis visits Romania Friday with a message of unity Pope Francis and Romanian Patriarch Daniel will not appear together in public, a sign of their frosty relations The highlight of the trip is set to be Saturday's mass at the SumuleuCiuc shrine in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the picturesque Transylvania region Pope Francis is set to visit a newly built catholic church in the middle of a Roma comunity neighborhood in Blaj, Romania
Tens of thousands gathered Saturday for a mass by Pope Francis on his second day in Romania with the ceremony in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the Transylvania region set to be the highlight of his trip. The mass has been keenly awaited for reasons of both faith and national identity in majority Orthodox Romania where believers suffered under the post-war decades of Communist rule. For Catholics in the "Szeklerland" area, where some 600,000 ethnic-Hungarians comprise a majority of the population, the pope's visit -- a first for that region -- is seen as welcome recognition of their identity. In pouring rain, a sea of colourful umbrellas and rain coats formed around the hillside Sumuleu Ciuc shrine early Saturday. In all, an estimated 200,000 people were expected to attend the ceremony, which will see the Argentinian pontiff present a golden rose at the large wooden replica of the Madonna -- a tradition for popes visiting major Marian shrines. Most pilgrims will be Romania-based ethnic-Hungarians, but organisers expect some 25,000 will also travel from Hungary itself, as well as from Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine, all countries with sizeable Hungarian communities. - Pilgrims from abroad - Having come by train, car and bicycle, thousands of people already started to gather late Friday with churches in the nearby small town of Miercurea Ciuc, 215 kilometres (133 miles) north of Bucharest, staying open all night to accomodate pilgrims. Between religious chants in Hungarian, they expressed their hopes for the 82-year-old's visit. "If I meet the pope, I will tell him that Transylvania must be autonomous," Zoltan, 60, who came from western Hungary and makes an annual pilgrimage to Sumuleu Ciuc every year since 2006, told AFP. Hungary's nationalist premier Viktor Orban, who is not going to Saturday's mass, has been building ties with the diaspora since he returned to power in 2010 as part of a so-called "national policy" that is seen warily in Romania as an effort to extend Budapest's reach. Over the weekend, the pope will continue to travel across the country to meet people of diverse faiths and languages, which include 18 officially recognised minorities. Later Saturday, he will travel to Iasi in northeastern Romania, where he will meet with youngsters. Francis arrived in the capital Friday to begin his three-day trip, praising the "sacrifices" of Romanian emigrants -- millions have moved abroad in search of better work opportunities -- and urging the faithful to reject "a culture of hate" following nationalist gains in recent European parliament elections. In Bucharest, thousands lined the streets to wave to Francis in his pope mobile and filled two cathedrals. Many television channels transmitted his visit live. He also had a private meeting with Orthodox Patriarch Daniel despite their strained relations, and they prayed alongside each other -- one in Latin and the other in Romanian. The pope's visit follows 20 years after John Paul II received a warm welcome for his perceived role in the fall of Communism. Tens of thousands gathered in the rain for a mass by Pope Francis on his second day in Romania with the ceremony in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the picturesque Transylvania region An estimated 200,000 people were expected to attend the ceremony, which will see the Argentinian pontiff present a golden rose at a replica of the Madonna Most pilgrims will be Romania-based ethnic-Hungarians, but organisers expect some 25,000 will also travel from Hungary itself, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine Pope Francis visited the Saint Joseph Cathedral in Bucharest with a message of integration
Serena Williams suffered her earliest Grand Slam exit since 2014 when she crashed out of the French Open on Saturday, ending her bid to win a record-equalling 24th major, just hours after world number one Naomi Osaka also suffered a shock defeat. Williams was beaten 6-2, 7-5 by US compatriot Sofia Kenin, who wasn't even born when the American legend made her Paris debut in 1998, in the third round. Top seed Osaka's hopes of winning a third successive Grand Slam ended when she was knocked out by unheralded Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-2. Their losses mean that 14 of the top 20 seeds in the women's draw have failed to make the second week in Paris. It was 37-year-old Serena's earliest exit at the Slams since a third round loss to Alize Cornet at Wimbledon in 2014. Three-time Roland Garros champion Williams was attempting to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 majors. "She played really well, especially in the first set where she hit pretty much within an inch of the line all the time," said Williams. The America veteran, who played just one clay court match in Rome before suffering a knee injury in the run up to the French Open, said she had expected to progress further in Paris. "I would have expected to have gotten past the the third round. If someone said I would only get this far, I'd have said they were a liar. "I haven't been on the court as much as I would have wanted to. It's been a gruelling season." Kenin, the 20-year-old world number 35, will face eighth seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia for a place in the quarter-finals. "There's a lot of emotions now," said the Russian-born player. "Serena is such a great champion and I have all the respect for her." - Osaka headaches, stress - Williams, who has still to add to her majors collection since she returned to the tour after giving birth to her daughter, fired 30 winners and 34 unforced errors. Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open champion, said losing to 42nd-ranked Siniakova may have been a blessing in disguise. "Losing is probably the best thing that could have happened," said 21-year-old Osaka. "I felt very tired. I had headaches, maybe that's the stress. "I felt there was a weight on me. This hasn't been the happiest of times." Osaka was undone by a shocking 38 unforced errors as she finally ran out of luck in Paris having had to come back from a set down in her first two matches. Elsewhere in the women's draw, 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova of the United States reached her second successive fourth round at a Slam with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Romania's Irina Camelia Begu. She will face Spanish qualifier Aliona Bolsova, ranked at 137, who saw off Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 7-5. Defending champion and third seed Simona Halep stormed into the last 16 with a 55-minute 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of Ukrainian 27th seed Lesia Tsurenko. Halep next faces Poland's Iga Swiatek who celebrated her 18th birthday by seeing off Olympic champion Monica Puig 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Men's world number one Novak Djokovic eased into the last 16, stepping up his bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously for the second time. The Serbian saw off unseeded Italian Salvatore Caruso 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a fourth-round tie with Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff who defeated Croatian 13th seed Borna Coric, 4-6, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/1), 11-9. "Finally, I think I found my best form in the second set," said 2016 champion Djokovic, who is yet to drop a set. German fifth seed Alexander Zverev needed another five-setter to reach the fourth round, defeating Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 1-6, 6-2. - Landmark for Tsitsipas - Zverev, whose best run at a Slam came in Paris last year when he made the quarter-finals, will face Italy's Fabio Fognini. Fognini defeated Spanish 18th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Crowd favourite Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first Greek player in 83 years to reach the second week at Roland Garros as he survived a scare against Filip Krajinovic to win 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (8/6). The 20-year-old will take on former champion Stan Wawrinka for a place in his second Grand Slam quarter-final. Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, recorded his 500th match win with a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (10/8) win over Grigor Dimitrov. There were also wins for last year's runner-up Dominic Thiem, French favourite Gael Monfils, Argentinian eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro and Russian 10th seed Karen Khachanov. All over for Serena Williams Shock win for Sofia Kenin Down and almost out: Japan's Naomi Osaka No problems for Novak Djokovic
Yasmin Boland

One week to the New Moon! Very conveniently, the New Year will (practically) start with a New Moon. Theres a New Moon on January 2 (as you would know if you had a copy of my Moonology Diary 2022!) Heres what its going to mean for you! In just under a week from now, there []
Roger Misso, one of three Democrats seeking to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko in New York's 24th Congressional District, believes President Donald Trump should be impeached for obstructing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Misso, D-Syracuse, explained his position during an interview with The Citizen and in a video posted on his social media channels over Memorial Day weekend.

"When I joined the military, I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. It's the same oath the president and John Katko took," he said. "Protecting the Constitution means respecting the rule of law. It means that when anyone breaks the law  no matter how rich or how powerful they are  we hold them accountable."

The stance is based on his reading of Mueller's report on the nearly two-year investigation. The report details 10 episodes when Trump may have committed obstruction of justice, including the time when he asked then-FBI Director James Comey to stop an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's conduct. Flynn later pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.

Other potential instances of obstruction of justice include Trump's efforts to oust Mueller as special counsel and firing Comey as FBI director.

Mueller, citing Department of Justice policy that prevents charging a sitting president with a federal crime, said his office didn't make a determination on whether Trump obstructed justice. However, he repeated Wednesday that "if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so."

In his statement this week, Mueller reiterated that there is a process outside of the criminal justice system to accuse a sitting president of a crime. Some Democrats view that as an impeachment referral.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Wednesday supporting further investigations by Congress, but fell short of endorsing the initiation of impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Misso agrees with Pelosi that investigations should continue, but he believes impeachment proceedings should begin.

"That is how the law in this country works," he said in a phone interview. "I sense some cynicism from folks who think it might be better politically not to do it. I would just say that we have fallen so far and so hard if our belief in how we uphold the Constitution is if it's going to hurt or help us politically."

He added, "I believe Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can carry out impeachment proceedings and do the work of the American people."

Misso's potential opponent, Katko, disagrees. He told The Citizen in mid-May that while he's troubled by the conduct of some Trump campaign officials and believes Trump should've been more disciplined during the investigation, he doesn't think the president committed obstruction of justice.

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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After formally requesting the resignation of Cayuga County Administrator J. Justin Woods on Wednesday, county legislators have largely declined to provide a reason for the request, although some say it's the position itself they don't support.

The Legislature on Wednesday provided Woods, who started as administrator in Dec. 2017, with a formal written request for his resignation, and have spent much of the week working to determine how to continue from here, according to multiple officials.

According to the employment agreement between Woods and the Legislature, as well as Local No. 7 of 2017, which outlines the administrator position, the termination process can unfold in a number of ways.

Woods could be terminated under several clauses of the agreement, which would determine whether he is entitled to all, some or none of an employment security fund in addition to accrued and unused vacation time.

Woods' contract provides a $135,000 annual salary, and was set to be in effect from Dec. 18, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2021.

While legislators, Woods, and the county attorney's office work to determine how the termination process continues, Legislature Chair Tucker Whitman, R-Sterling, said Wednesday officials are working to continue daily county operations.

In the meantime, however, both Woods and numerous legislators have declined to comment on what led to the request for resignation or whether they supported or opposed it, with many citing either confidentiality concerns for personnel matters or an informal agreement or understanding to defer comments to Whitman or the county attorney.

Several legislators, however, did express support for the termination, with the suggestion that the administrator form of county government might not be the right fit for Cayuga County as a common thread between them.

"It's not just Justin, it's the form of government. It's a struggle all the time as to directives from the Legislature to the administration. There's a disconnect," Vice Chair Timothy Lattimore, R-Auburn, said.

Lattimore said he supports either returning to the county's previous form of government, where a chair appointed by the legislators held executive power, or creating a charter to outline the duties of an elected executive.

The county moved away from the chair-based government in 2006 when, after several previous attempts, a local law was approved creating the position of county manager, which had similar duties to and eventually was adapted into the county administrator position.

That local law, according to its text, was meant to create increased efficiency of government operations and agencies through the creation of a chief administrative officer serving at the pleasure of the Legislature.

The first, Wayne Allen, was fired without public explanation after three years in 2009. Administrator Tom Squires left in 2013 after approximately three years for a job at Mohawk Community College. In 2017, Suzanne Sinclair resigned in March with an $80,000 settlement agreement that prevented any parties from discussing reasons behind the departure.

Paul Pinckney, R-Aurelius, agreed with Lattimore, saying the problem was not with Woods so much as he is "firmly under the belief that a county administrator does not work with our form of government, and I won't support any hires in that capacity until we figure something else out."

Pinckney said he wasn't sure whether it made sense to pursue moving toward either an elected executive or empowered chair, and wanted to have a deep discussion on the topic.

Similarly, Legislators Ryan Foley, D-Auburn and Joseph Bennett, R-Auburn, said they didn't feel there was enough information currently available to know what the next steps should be. While Bennett said he supported parting ways with Woods and Foley would not comment, the two said they were confident the county county eventually find a way forward.

Bennett was the only member of the Legislature to vote against hiring Woods in 2017, in a 13-1 vote. Legislators Charlie Ripley, R-Summerhill, and Chris Petrus, R-Brutus, were not on the body at that time, while Legislator Andrew Dennison, R-Ira, was excused absent but sent a letter supporting Woods' hiring.

Legislator Chris Petrus, R-Brutus, said he was in support of terminating Woods' contract "only if we address the underlying issues," saying he felt the creation of a charter, if approved by referendum, that specifically detailed the duties of Legislators and the administrator would be the only way to avoid continued turnover and disagreements around the position.

"It leaves no room for error," Petrus said.

The current powers of the administrator were outlined in Local Law No. 7 of 2017 and an updated job description, crafted in part with the help of a hired consultant, and states the administrator "shall oversee, provide leadership for and have general supervision over all departments, office, and agencies within the county government structure."

Minority Leader Keith Batman, D-Springport, the chair at the time that law was passed and when Woods was eventually hired, said that line needed to be added to the job description in order to be clear and consistent.

Batman could not be reached for comment this week.

A consultant hired by the Legislature in 2017 that provided their report in March 2018 further recommended clarifying reporting lines between the administrator and Legislators, and encouraged Legislators to recognize the difference between governance and general county operations.

Despite that, disagreements regarding separation of powers and duties were frequent during Woods' tenure, often between Legislators as much as with Woods.

Given the amount of turnover in the position, Legislator Joseph DeForest, D-Venice, said he had concerns about the difficulties the county could face if it was decided to attempt to hire another administrator.

"I would think it would be very difficult to attract another candidate at this point given the Legislature's track record with administrators," DeForest said.

Additionally, DeForest said the likelihood of paying Woods a hefty severance so soon after doing the same with Sinclair was "a tough pill to swallow and I think it'll be a tough pill for constituents to swallow."

Like most other Legislators asked for comment, DeForest declined to say whether he directly supported or opposed terminating Woods, but said he had enjoyed working with Woods and thought the new vacancy, on top of other several key vacancies, could be difficult to deal with.

Moving forward, Whitman said legislators and staff were working to arrange daily operations, which he had confidence in department heads to keep running "just as they have any other day."

After Whitman deferred the question out of a concern of being incorrect, county attorney Chris Palermo said that the move to request Woods' resignation did not require a formal vote, and county law authorized the chairman to request the resignation after informal approval by the Legislature.

According to the employment agreement, depending on how Woods responds to the request, a vote may or may not be required.

"I'm in the process of reviewing the county Legislature's request, and I don't expect to have any further comment until the matter is resolved," Woods said in an email.

Legislators Aileen McNabb-Coleman, D-Sennett, Ben Vitale, D-Montezuma, and Patrick Mahunik, I-Auburn, declined to comment. Legislators Elane Daly, D-Auburn, and Dennison could not be reached for comment. Legislator Charlie Ripley, R-Summerhill, declined to comment besides that he agreed with terminating Woods' contract.

Staff writer Ryan Franklin can be reached at (315) 282-2252 or ryan.franklin@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @RyanNYFranklin

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AUBURN  People in Auburn bolted from their chairs Saturday with raised arms and closed eyes, with words of praise echoing across the room they were in.

Except the crowd wasn't in a church. They were in the Auburn High School auditorium for the annual Harriet Tubman Pilgrimage celebrating the famous abolitionist and former Auburn resident, clinging to the words of the Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes III.

Haynes, the senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, gave the keynote address for the pilgrimage event, as he did last year. Armed with a voice that reached the seats in the back of the auditorium, Haynes praised Tubman, "the Moses of our people."

"Harriet is saying to us that freedom is an inside job that will always have external, liberating consequences," Haynes said as the people on stage with him all stood up from their chairs.

Throughout the address  during which he mentioned a flurry of names, including civil rights icon the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois and hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar  he brought up Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying last month that the redesign of the $20 bill won't come out until 2028, despite efforts over the last few years to have Tubman's face placed on the currency. He referred to the delay as "a dream deferred."

Haynes urged people to fight for justice. By the time he was finished his energetic address and slumped into his chair, half of the crowd was on their feet.

Earlier in the event, Bishop Dennis V. Proctor of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church  which Tubman was a member of  thanked those who came to the event to celebrate "the life of the free Harriet," adding emphasis on the word "free."

The pilgrimage also included a memorial service at Tubman's grave at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, which took place earlier in the day. The Rev. Dr. Melanie Miller spoke of Tubman and her accomplishments, including acting as a spy during the Civil War and volunteering as a nurse to heal wounded soldiers.

"We have learned that Harriet Tubman was much more than most of us learned in our elementary school educations, of her activities as an abolitionist and being a conductor of the Underground Railroad," Miller said, much to the gatherers' cheers.

Dianna Cummings, who said before the event memorial started that she has portrayed Tubman in reenactments in Buffalo for 16 years, said coming to Tubman's grave site for the first time, with her husband, Richard Cummings, was an emotional experience. Dianna Cummings could be seen cheering during different parts of the service.

Kermit Morris said he brought daughter Taylore Morris to the event so she could experience a part of their heritage.

"Our history is rich, and our ideals and freedoms are justified," Kermit Morris said.

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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AUBURN  Antoinette Agosta Giancola, 95, the wife of the late Charles Giancola, passed away peacefully on Thursday, May 30, 2019, in Auburn Nursing Home.

A native of Auburn, Antoinette was born Jan. 3, 1924 to the late Salvatore and Mary Scavone Agosta, and was a communicant of Holy Family Church. She was employed for many years at the Columbian Rope Factory until she became a homemaker following the birth of her daughter. Antoinettes greatest accomplishment and source of pride and joy was her family. She was a loving and devoted grandmother to her two grandchildren, Kaylay and Connor, and was the happiest sharing all of their achievements and stories, and spent every moment she could with them. She enjoyed cooking fabulous Italian meals for her family and in her later years, enjoyed knitting and crocheting. She was best known for always having a smile on her face, even on challenging days.

Antoinette is survived by her loving daughter, Anne Marie Duffy and her husband, Steven; two grandchildren, Kayley and Connor Duffy; two sisters-in-law, Rose Hoydic and Angelina Giancola; and several nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, and her husband, Charles, Antoinette was predeceased by three brothers, Louis, John and Vincent Agosta.

Friends are invited to join the family for a Mass of Christian burial to be offered at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 3, in Holy Family Church. Burial will be in St. Josephs Cemetery. Calling hours will be conducted from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Cheche Funeral Home Inc., 1778 Clark St. Road, Auburn.

Antoinette will be greatly missed, but her smile and memory will forever be in our hearts. Antoinettes family would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude for the love and care she received from the staff at Upstate Dialysis, in Auburn, for the past 19 years.

To offer condolences to the family, please visit www.chechefuneralhome.com.
The Los Angeles Times called the show a traditional American musical: a heartwarming tale of misfits who create a community by putting on a show. But the big difference with the new stage musical Shooting Star is that the misfits are aspiring performers in the gay porn industry, and the show they put on is, well, a lot of gay porn.

But the play, which opens in Los Angeles this weekend, will likely not be lacking in verisimilitude, given that the creator and author of Shooting Star is popular veteran gay performer Hans Berlinwho for his debut as a playwright has temporarily reverted to his given name, crediting his work to Florian Klein. The author says that he hopes the show will take audiences inside the personal lives of porn performers.

While the show is subtitled A Revealing New Musical, and Berlin is best known for his obviously revealing performances in such titles as Heavy Load, San Francisco Meat Packers and Working Class Stiff, he does not appear on stage in his show. The musical will be sexy, he says, and in fact includes some nudity, but the porn star turned librettist says that he was more interested in portraying the inner lives of his characters, than their on-screen personas.

Were not giving the audience something they think they would hear in a show about pornthat were all bad people and we all have a drug addiction, and we do porn because we were pushed into it, Berlin/Klein told the gay site The Sword. Its not that at all. Its a show about human beings. Were showing the human side of porn, were showing that were all just people.

It was just under one year ago that Berlin, as AVN.com reported at the time, staged a showcase version of Shooting Star for theater industry professionals and investors. AVN also interviewed Berlin here.

Now Shooting Star is ready for the footlights of live theater, opening May 31 at Hudson Mainstage Theatre in Hollywood. Showtimes are 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, with a 3 p.m. matinee-only show on Sundays, through June 30. The $35 tickets for the show can be purchased by calling (323) 960-7787 or visiting the On Stage 411 site.
On May 30, 196950 years ago this weekthe small Scandinavian country of Denmark, with its population at the time of fewer than 5 million inhabitants, undertook a decision that changed the world. Half a century ago, Denmark became the worlds first country to legalize porn.

To be specific, Danish politicians introduced legislation to legalize pornographic visual images, with the ban officially lifted on July 1, 1969. Two years earlier, Denmark also led the way in legalizing written porn, and was the first nation to withdraw from the 1923 Geneva Convention treaty for the suppression of obscene literature.

When Denmark lifted the ban on obscene prose in 1967, the idea behind the move was not to make pornographic literature widely available, but instead to kill the demand for the taboo bookswhich despite the ban were widely available on most bookstore shelves at the time.

And according to Danish historians Rene Lkkegaard Jepsen and Kasper Reggelsen, lo and behold, it worked. The so-called obscene books lost their appeal and gradually vanished from stores that had peddled them despite, or perhaps because of, their outlaw status.

Two years later, when Denmarks conservative Secretary of State for Justice Knud Thestrup proposed legalizing visual pornography as well, he had the same idea in mindonce the taboo is broken, demand will drop, he believed.

Needless to say, things didnt work out quite the way he hoped.

Instead, the countrys porn industry exploded, as Danish porn historian Jon Nordstrm wrote last week in the Danish newspaper DR. And not only did the legalization of porn set off a boom in production of adult materialwhich had long existed in Denmark but was now free to go mainstreamthe new legislation also supercharged the sexual and free love revolution that had steadily been taking hold throughout the latter half of the 1960s, but now would move at warp speed into the 70s.

Even before the ban was lifted, the hippie movement, thoughts about free sex and nakedness mixed together with porn, because it was a youth culture that was against all forms of censorship, Nordstrm said.

Thestrup himself later expressed regret, admitting that his hope that Danes would suddenly lose interest in explicit images of other people having sex was misplaced. But the decision nonetheless reshaped the country not only internally but also in the eyes of the world community, and opened the door for other countries to liberalize their anti-porn lawsgiving rise to a new industry that had previously existed only on the shadowy fringes of society.

Pornography became a piece of Danish cultural history, which made Denmark known for its open-mindedness, wrote Jepsen and Reggelsen. And which quickly made a group of men, who understood this new interest of society, rich. And some, very rich.

Photo By Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons
BROOMFIELD, Colo.Officials from adult distributor Eldorado Trading Co. announced the passing of General Manager Jim Talbot.

Jim has left an indelible mark on our company and every Eldorado employee, said Wanda Garland, Eldorado CEO. His steady leadership and quiet strength served as a faithful presence at Eldorado. We will keep his legacy of great service, personal relationships, and outstanding stewardship alive and well. We are so grateful we have been able to call him both a colleague and a friend.

Jim died Friday, May 31, Eldorado reps said.

Jim joined Eldorado in 2009 to work with Eldorados executive team and support the companys expansive growth. Prior to that, he worked with Human Resources company IPA in Melbourne, Australia.

When Eldorado founder and CEO, Larry Garland died in 2017, Jims guidance and encouragement was invaluable during the transition, company officials said in a release. The Eldorado family is heartbroken by the news of Jims passing.

Details of a memorial service were not immediately available.
Coca-Cola apparently believes the second time is a charm.

After waiting nearly 40 years since first introducing New Coke, only to have it bomb, the company is bringing the ill-fated product back to the world that didnt want it in the first place. As part of a promo its doing with the producers of Stranger Things, now entering its third season, Coke will introduce a limited number of New Coke cans in both the show and in real-life in early July.

Re-introducing a flop is sure to add even more folk lore to a global corporate heavyweight that has been oozing its own self-made mythology since company founder Asa Candler in 1891 first erected the iron-clad veil of secrecy that surrounds the one of the worlds most famous recipes.

Heres a sampling of that legendary lore:

Keep it in the vault

Producers of the radio program This American Life in 2011 came across an article on the history of Coca-Cola in an old copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Coca-Colas hometown newspaper, according to an article in Time. Published on page 2B on February 18, 1979, the article received little attention at the time. But, producers say, thats because no one realized the photo used to illustrate the story is a hand-written copy of John Pembertons original recipe, jotted down by a friend in a leather-bound recipe book of ointments and medicines, and passed down by friends and family for generations.

This recipe is nutty!

The long story of Cokes secret formula begins with Pemberton, a veteran from Georgia who emerged from the Civil War with a morphine addiction, says the report. Hoping to cure his ailment, he dreamed up Pembertons French Wine Coca, a brew that included kola nut and coca wine. But in 1886, as Atlanta passed prohibition legislation, he reformulated the drink without alcohol, renamed it Coca-Cola, and began selling it in Georgia pharmacies.

Paranoia strikes deep 

Asa Candler, an early president of the company, bought the formula in 1887, according to the article, but he worried rivals would obtain the recipe so he insisted no one ever write it down again. Staff removed all labels from ingredient containers and identified them by sight and smell only. Candler even went through the company mail so he could shred invoices that employees might attempt to sell to other drink makers.

Is the secret out?

According to the sleuths at This American Life, Candler and his colleagues were too late: The book of remedies with the copy of the Coke recipe had already started its travels, according to Time. This American Life tracked down the book to a widow in Griffin, Georgia, who says her husband was fishing buddies with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer. Its now in a bank vault, too.

And yet, the mystery remains 

Even though the world may have deduced the general ingredients on their own, the report says nobody has yet to figure out the so-called Merchandise 7X flavoring that gives Coke its telltale taste and alluring effervescence. The company has always said, and as far as I know its true, that at any given time only two people know how to mix the 7X flavoring ingredient, Mark Pendergrast, historian and author of For God, Country and Coke told This American Life.

Those two people never travel on the same plane in case it crashes; its this carefully passed-on secret ritual and the formula is kept in a bank vault.

Forgotten, but not gone

According to Mental Floss, New Coke hung around for a while, even though most people thought it was history. After consumers berated the company into bringing back their original flavor just months after New Cokes debut  the company tried to rebrand it as Coke II and continued offering it to bottlers until 2002. It may have been in the hope that persistence would pay off: The revised formula allegedly contained fewer ingredients and was cheaper to produce than Coke Classic.

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Former Flagstaff City Councilmember and current Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans announced Saturday her intentions to run for one of the two seats representing Legislative District 6 in the Arizona House of Representatives.

Evans, who is a member of the Democratic Party, said she has been seriously considering running for the past six to nine months. But longer than that, Evans said she has watched the legislature in action, especially in regards to how state action has affected localities.

There is a disconnect between our state representatives and local municipalities. We believe in self responsibility and personal responsibility but we also know that we are stronger together, Evans said. That is the Arizona I grew up in and the Arizona I see every day across northern Arizona. What I see down in the Capitol is not that.

What she does see is legislatures putting political party and personal friendships before their constituents and solving issues, Evans said.

Evans specifically mentioned moments in which local action on the parts of cities across the state have been directly superseded, writing in a statement, whether it be vacation rentals, plastic pollution or vaping regulations, whenever a corporation feels threatened by rural initiatives they run to their friends in Phoenix and politicians promptly pass a law taking away local power.

And Evans said in her role in the Greater Arizona Mayor Association, she has heard similar sentiments from other mayors and residents of other cities and towns across northern Arizona.

Evens said she believes a lot of this disconnect is because many state representatives do not have experience in local government before they go to the Capitol and thus dont understand the issues on the ground.

As such, Evans said one of her priorities is bringing the local perspective back to the Capitol and provide clarity to the legislature as to what the role of the state is versus the role of the local government.

Evans said other priorities are funding for education, water conservation, encouraging small businesses and better distributing transportation money to every part of the state.

Looking at where most transportation dollars go, Evans said most of the money goes to Maricopa and Pima counties, and that is a problem.

On education, Evans said it is not acceptable that the state ranks near the bottom of school spending.

I believe the majority of people in this district feel like I do, Evans said.

Evans is a third-generation Arizonan who has served as vice president of Mission Services for Goodwill Industries of Northern Arizona and Executive Director of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association of Flagstaff, Inc.

In 2008, Evans became a city councilmember, and then became mayor of Flagstaff in 2016.

Evans will be competing for the two seats representing LD6 with Art Babbott, the current chair of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors, and incumbent Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake.

The one open seat is the result of Rep. Bob Thorpe terming out of his spot in the state House and deciding to run for a seat in the state Senate.

LD6 encompasses the cities of Flagstaff, Holbrook, Sedona and Payson and crosses over Coconino, Navajo, Yavapai and Gila counties.

Adrian Skabelund can be reached at the office at askabelund@azdailysun.com, by phone at (928) 556-2261 or on Twitter @AdrianSkabelund.

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Guaranteeing the right to vote for all citizens of the United States has been a long and hard struggle, according to Patty Hansen, Coconino County Recorder. Hansen provided a short history of that struggle for members of the newly formed Flagstaff Chapter of the League of Women Voters in Flagstaff, last week, at the Weatherford Hotel.

While Hansens presentation focused on voter rights and voter suppression in Arizona, she began her presentation with an historical overview of the situation across the nation. When the country was founded the states limited voting to property-owning or tax paying white males, about six percent of the population, Hansen said.

Hansen described a series of amendments to the U.S. Constitution that eventually permitted other individuals and groups to exercise their right to vote.

Women, for example, after a 72-year struggle, obtained their right to vote in 1920. While Native Americans were granted citizenship in 1924, their right to vote in some states, with a large Native population, was curtailed until the l960s.

Arizona has been in the forefront making registration and voting more convenient in the 1990s and early 2000s, Hansen said. During that period, on-line voter registration was initiated; absentee voting no longer required a good excuse; and the number of vote centers were expanded. Early voting was made more convenient with Permanent Early Voting Lists.

Hansen contended that election fraud has never been a legitimate issue. It is more likely that an American will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the poles, she said.

Hansen said that at times there are problems associated with lawmakers and organizations declaring a need to prevent voter fraud in support of their legislative efforts. Their proposals, however, will accomplish nothing more than make it difficult for some citizens to vote.

In a Democracy we need to make voting easier for the people, Hansen said.

After her presentation, Hansen said her office is actively encouraging people to vote on the Navajo Nation. We have two full-time bilingual staff members who routinely visit chapter houses, promote voter registration and assist the people as interpreters on election days.

In concluding her presentation, Hansen said she looked forward to working with the new Flagstaff Chapter of the League.

The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago in 1920, shortly before women were given the right to vote. It started as a mighty political experiment designed to help 20 million women effectively carry out their new responsibilities as voters. Over the years the League has become a non-partisan, political education organization, that empowers voters and defends democracy by ensuring elections are free, fair, and accessible.

In addition to challenging voter suppression practices, the League is also involved with issues related to redistricting, health care, money in politics, immigration, and strict compliance with the Constitutional Amendment process.

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Lowell Observatory is celebrating its 125th anniversary of discovering and sharing the wonders of the universe (see the Arizona Daily Suns wonderful special publication, which was part of last Sundays newspaper edition). The observatory will be celebrating all year, starting with a three-day series of events this coming week:

Thursday, June 6

* 125th Ceremony: 5:30 p.m. Join local and state government officials and Lowell staff in a ceremony recognizing Lowell Observatorys heritage.

* 125th Anniversary Walking Tour: 6-7:30 p.m. Take a walk through Lowell Observatorys 125 years of research and look toward the future on this 1.5-hour guided tour.

* 125th Anniversary Talk: 7-8 p.m. Lowell Observatory astronomers have been on the forefront of scientific research for 125 years. Explore the discoveries of the past and the wonders of the future in this 45-minute talk.

Friday, June 7

* Lunar Legacy Tour: 10:15-11:15 a.m. Hear the story behind the Moon mapping that occurred at Lowell in preparation for the first Apollo mission.

* 125th Anniversary Tour Kids Edition: Clark Telescope and Mars: 12-1 p.m. Visit the historic Clark Telescope and hear how it was used to study the planet Mars. Watch the Clark dome spin on top of car tires and learn why we call telescopes time machines. Participate in Mars-themed activities and view detailed images of the planet displayed on the OmniGlobe spherical display.

* Telescope Viewing of the Moon: 12-5 p.m.

* Spectroscopy, 1-2 p.m. Participate in interactive demonstrations to learn how we determine what things in space are made of. View the Suns rainbow of colors through a spectroscope, an instrument that splits sunlight into a range of colors, and look for the fingerprints of elements embedded throughout the Suns spectrum (weather permitting).

* 125th Anniversary Tour Kids Edition: Pluto: 2-3 p.m. Visit the telescope used to discover Pluto. Hear about the adventure that led to its discovery and the story of how it was named. Find out about the really cool (haha!) features on Pluto  including giant mountains made of ice  revealed by the New Horizons spacecraft. Participate in hands-on science activities and view detailed images of Pluto displayed on our OmniGlobe.

* Preview of New Junior Astronomer Program: 3-6 p.m. Test recent additions to our Junior Astronomer program. Guided demonstrations featuring Junior Astronomer STEAM lab activities.

* 125th Anniversary Walking Tour: 6-7:30 p.m. Take a walk through Lowell Observatorys 125 years of research and look toward the future on this 1.5-hour guided tour.

* 125th Anniversary Talk: 7-8 p.m. Lowell Historian Kevin Schindler will explore the observatorys heritage of important and sometimes quirky discoveries, past and present.

Saturday, June 8

* Junior Astronomer: 125th Anniversary Edition: all day. Take part in recent additions to our Junior Astronomer program including hands-on projects in our new Junior Astronomer STEAM Lab.

* Self-guided Stations/Treasure Hunt: 10-7 p.m. Be a kid at heart with our special 125th Anniversary Junior Astronomer activity for adults. Complete it for a free Clark Telescope sticker!

* 125th Anniversary Tour Kids Edition: Clark Telescope and Mars: 12-1 p.m. See Friday description.

* Spectroscopy: 1-2 p.m. See Friday description.

* 125th Anniversary Tour Kids Edition: Pluto: 2-3 p.m. Visit the telescope used to discover Pluto. See Friday description.

* Telescope Viewing of the Moon: 2-7 p.m.

* 125th Anniversary Walking Tour | 6-7:30 p.m. See Friday description.

* Carl Lampland, Pioneer Infrared Astronomer: 7-8 p.m. Join us for a special talk by astronomy historian Dr. Joseph Marcus. At his death in 1916, Percival Lowell left behind a trio of astronomers  Vesto M. Slipher, Earl C. Slipher, and Carl. O. Lampland  to carry forth his research legacy into the mid-20th century. In 1920, Lampland joined forces with the pioneering infrared physicist, William W. Coblentz, to adapt Coblentzs stellar radiometers to the 40-inch reflector at Lowell Observatory.

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We asked a half-dozen Nebraskans what letter grade they would give senators this legislative session and why. Here are their responses:

Marj Plumb, Omaha, Family Planning Council of Nebraska

Grade: C

We were very pleased with Sen. (John) Stinner and the majority of the Appropriations Committee, who before we won the federal grant, were really trying to balance the budget and not give in to the governors political attempts to defund Planned Parenthood.  (But) really disappointed that the Legislature did not move forward on Medicaid expansion. That is a huge missed opportunity for expanding not just health care but family planning care for over 90,000 low-income Nebraskans.

Wayne Eatinger, Cherry County rancher

Grade: D

Sen. (Tom) Brewer says property taxes are not only too high, theyre immoral. So its disappointing. LB155 (eminent domain challenge bill for landowners) was a bright spot, and there were some other smaller issues that were, too, but other than that, its just disappointing.  I know not much got accomplished.

Art Nietfeld, Gage County farmer

Grade: D

"I hate to criticize them too much, but I wish they would have passed some property tax relief, because farmers probably pay 50 times as much to support schools and counties as the average person. Instead of raising the sales tax, I think they ought to raise income tax. That's a lot more fair and it's a less regressive tax. Property taxes in Nebraska are approximately three times as high as they are in Kansas. On cropland, property taxes takes roughly one-half of my net income in an average year, and on pasture, it really takes all of it."

James Woody, Lincoln, former U.S. Navy electronics technician

Grade: D+

"They do not fail, because they succeeded in meeting their sole constitutional duty of passing a budget. They lose points for not achieving any meaningful property tax reform, public education funding reform and for not meaningfully addressing in any way our prison overcrowding crisis. No points awarded for outstanding statesmanship this year, as term limits continue to rob the body of its best and brightest senators, as well as their accumulated institutional knowledge."

John Skinner, Lincoln, computer programmer

Grade: C

There was basically gridlock.  But I still believe that Nebraska has a really good state Legislature compared to many other states in the United States. I think the unicameral and nonpartisan structure is a very good structure.  As much as I may complain about gridlock, in this case I think there is less gridlock in the unicameral than there is, for example, in Congress and in other state legislatures."

Rena Parmenter, Scottsbluff, retired

Grade: C

"They accomplished barely what they had to (passing a budget) and failed to pass medical marijuana. I do not think tax cuts for the rich or corporations should be a priority and question how much so-called property tax relief would actually go to family farmers and not corporate farms. The whole state fails repeatedly by voting for crap like term limits and reinstating the death penalty."

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The Legislature ended Friday  adjourned sine die  on day 84 of the 90-day session.

And while senators are usually eager to end the long session and get back to their districts, nine of them said: Heck, no, we don't want to go. Most of those were rural and conservative senators, but not all.

Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, who asked for a roll call vote on sine die, said the Legislature hadn't accomplished what it needed to accomplish, especially cutting spending and giving property tax relief.

"I don't think our work was complete and I thought we should have used the last six days to do what we should have done earlier," Erdman said.

The Legislature did not meet as originally scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday and adjourned ahead of next week's four scheduled dates.

On the last day of this session, senators and observers had similar messages about how the Legislature had functioned, or not functioned, as a whole. Most mentioned distrust and missed opportunities.

"There were no winners, and there will be no sportsmanship awards," said longtime lobbyist and legislative observer Walt Radcliffe. "It's a very divided and Balkanized body."

The only issue of statewide consequence that passed was the budget, Radcliffe said.

Speaker Jim Scheer highlighted a few more bills of consequence in his sine die speech to senators.

"It was certainly an ambitious session, to say the least," Scheer said.

Senators introduced 739 bills, passing 294 into law. But several major issues, the biggest being tax incentives and significant property tax cuts, were left to hope for a brighter day in the 2020 session.

And for the third session in a row, Scheer said, budget uncertainties clouded the state's economic picture.

Still, the next two years will see $550 million go to property tax cuts through the Property Tax Credit Fund, and more than $2 billion will go to K-12 education. The budget also set aside funding for Medicaid expansion, and senators increased Medicaid provider rates that had been held flat in recent years.

Scheer acknowledged the session was not all "blue skies."

"This body has been at loggerheads our fair share of times," he said.

Senators can disagree philosophically, but what should not happen are personal attacks and vilification, he said. "That is what creates distrust."

He suggested senators get to know each other better over the interim and build real relationships that will hold up next session.

Of the bills that passed, Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed three: LB472 to allow Gage County to create a sales tax to help pay the Beatrice 6 judgment without a vote of the people; LB492 to give property tax authority to the Omaha-area Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority; and LB533 that changed language on marriage applications and documents.

Senators voted to override the Gage County and metropolitan transit bills, while the override motion on LB533 was withdrawn.

LB533 sponsor Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said her bill was an appropriate cleanup mechanism to bring state law into compliance with the legal rights of same-sex couples.

Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt wanted a vote on the override.

"What I got out of the governor's ... veto letter, was that Nebraska is legally obligated to tolerate same-sex couples, but we're going to make life as hard and as unwelcoming as possible for those people while they're here in this state, because that's what we believe in this state," Hunt said.

This session, she was disappointed in the tension evident in senators' relationships and their mistrust of each other, she said.

"I think there were a lot of common sense simple policies that should have been easy for us to pass but were made difficult for political reasons," she said. "When we do that, I don't think we're representing people well."

Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks said a number of senators took positions this session that demanded "my way or the highway."

"I would hope that instead of leaner and meaner, we become more kind and compassionate, that we listen to each other more," she said of her hope for the future.

Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop is serving his ninth year in the Legislature after sitting out four years because of term limits. In his previous terms, he said, senators understood the priorities they needed to address, in addition to the budget.

"And it doesn't feel like those issues are getting done," he said.

There's now a bloc of senators opposed to anything that isn't within their personal priorities.

"And then when their stuff comes up, they have no good will, they have no functioning center to get things done," Lathrop said. "And you leave without having accomplished what it takes to move the state forward, what we need to do to answer the concerns of the people in Nebraska."

There are senators not exercising their own judgment, he said, but rather voting the way someone else has suggested they vote.

Lathrop gave the Legislature a grade of C minus.

Lincoln Sen. Mike Hilgers is in his third year, and said he saw a number of bills passed this session that he cared about, and he was able to deepen relationships.

He'd give the Legislature a grade of "Incomplete." Those bills that weren't passed this year will carry over until next year.

Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart characterizes the session as "opportunities missed," because senators were not working as a team.

"I don't think we've built the level of trust necessary to see progress," Wishart said. "My new favorite quote is 'progress happens at the speed of trust.'"

Senators shouldn't wait until a bill is on the floor to negotiate it. That doesn't work, she said, and leads to bad deals and mistakes. And they can't wait until the last days of the session to address priority issues.

"We are all exhausted. We are spent. Our relationships are strained. And that's when we're going to talk about property taxes?" she asked.

If she was giving out grades, she would give the session a B, she said.

But, she added, "I would have been devastated in school if I had gotten a B. Devastated."

Reach the writer at 402-473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSLegislature.

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When North Carolina governors and lawmakers talk about "the state budget," they rarely tell you the whole truth.It's not that they are trying to deceive you. They are simply speaking a kind of political shorthand that, unfortunately, fails to convey the full breadth and cost of state government.Our state budget contains several discrete funds with their own design, function, and revenue sources. Last year, they totaled $54.5 billion in expenditures. Some $23.9 billion of that, or 44 percent, consisted of the General Fund. It receives the proceeds of state income taxes, sales taxes, and other levies, while housing state expenditures on education, human services, public safety, and general government.The General Fund is what politicians typically refer to as "the state budget." It's obviously of great importance and interest. But the General Fund encompasses less than half of the state budget. Federal appropriations (28 percent), highway funds (7 percent), and programs funded by other taxes and fees (21 percent) account for the rest.For the sake of both accuracy and accountability, policymakers and those who report or comment on their actions should be more comprehensive in their presentation of fiscal data. North Carolinians can't make informed decisions at election time, or engage effectively with public officials in-between elections, if they aren't getting the full story.In particular, by focusing so much on the General Fund, our current discourse about the state budget obscures the large role that federal dollars play in state government. During the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, for example, General Fund appropriations fell. But state government simultaneously received significant increases in federal funding, largely offsetting the overall fiscal effect (although not necessarily the effect on specific agencies or programs).The consequences of federal funding go far beyond the immediate fiscal effects, however. What Congress appropriates, Congress must first expropriate. If you are a North Carolina taxpayer, you are also a federal taxpayer. While the net flow of funds may be positive to our state at a given point in time - especially if direct expenditures on federal installations such as military bases are included in the calculation - North Carolinians are no less on the hook than all other Americans for the massive borrowing binge both parties have been on in Washington.In other words, there's really no such thing as "free" federal money for states. It's costly, in more ways than just the obvious.Chris Edwards lists some of them in a new research paper for the Cato Institute . One dynamic is called the "flypaper effect." When Congress creates a new grant-in-aid program for states, its offer of federal money entices state legislatures to spend additional dollars of their own on the same things, often in the same way.If you think politicians and bureaucrats in Washington always know best, and that there is just one best way to solve public problems, then this flypaper effect shouldn't worry you. If not, it should.Another, related problem is the extra cost states incur for handling complex federal grants. Here in North Carolina, a new report by the General Assembly's Program Evaluation Division took the administration of Gov. Roy Cooper to task for squandering lots of time and millions of dollars in ineffectual efforts to deliver federal aid to victims of Hurricane Matthew, which ravaged a significant swath of the state in 2016. For one of the programs in question, North Carolina had spent only 1 percent of allocated federal funds through the end of 2018.Cooper officials defended themselves in part by challenging some of the division's definitions and interpretations of existing law. As you can see, even seen in the best possible light, the episode illustrates how involving multiple levels of government can prove cumbersome and confusing.The Cato Institute paper concludes, and I agree, that federal aid ought to be a much-smaller share of state budgets.Edwards writes, which requires
Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham

The Senate's proposed biennial budget includes the largest pay raises for state employees in more than a decade, but doesn't include a cost-of-living increase for state retirees.Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and top appropriations chairmen held a news conference Tuesday, May 28, to announce key provisions of the budget.The proposal includes more spending on Medicaid, but doesn't fully expand the program under the Affordable Care Act, as Gov. Roy Cooper wants. It cuts business and personal taxes, shifts $1.1 billion into a rainy day savings fund, and increases the amount of income people can earn without paying income taxes.Education spending would increase more than $1.3 billion over the next two years. K-12 capital funding for new schools and repairs is $4.8 billion over 10 years: $1.67 billion from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund; $1 billion from the Public School Capital Fund; and $2.1 billion in needs-based capital funding.Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said teachers will get an average 3.5% raise over two years, with average pay climbing to $54,500.The budget also gives a raise to state employees. Their pay hikes averaged 7.6% over the past five years while teachers got an average 20% boost, Brown said.Rob Broome, State Employees Association of North Carolina executive director, joined lawmakers at the announcement. He said state employees received no pay raises in five of the past 10 years, and praised the Senate proposal to add $220 million over the biennium to increase most state employees' pay by 5%.Berger defended not adding a COLA for state pensioners because of pressure on the retirement system. It lost $4.1 billion in 2018, and has $17 billion in unfunded liabilities.Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, said the state is fully funding its share of the retirement system and State Health Plan in this budget.The Senate version of the spending plan differs marginally from both House Bill 966 , a $23.9 billion budget the House passed along party lines earlier this month, and Cooper's proposal Berger said.He expects continuing disagreements with Cooper over budget priorities. Many observers think Cooper will veto anything the General Assembly sends him.Berger said budget plans passed under Republican leadership has sparked an economic boom.Cooper and legislative Democrats have been adamant they would not support a budget without Medicaid expansion. The Governor's Office doubled down in a written response to the Senate plan.Cooper spokesman Ford Porter said.Medicaid spending will increase several hundred million dollars in the Senate budget, Berger said.he said.The budget appropriates more than $32 million over two years to fund 1,000 slots on the Intellectual/ Developmental Disability Medicaid Program waitlist. Recipients receive personal care services and other in-home assistance. Senate Bill 361 included similar provisions but has not been voted out of committee.Berger said one reason not to expand Medicaid is the possibility the federal government will stop covering 90% of the costs of coverage. He pointed to a federal decision to reduce funding to N.C. Health Choice, which provides government insurance to children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. As a result, the state must pay an extra $100 million next year to keep those children insured.Most of the people who would qualify for Medicaid under expansion are healthy males between 18 and 50. They would lose Medicaid benefits if they got a job, which discourages people for to look for employment, Berger said. About 40% of people in the targeted Medicaid population would no longer be able to get subsidies for private insurance under Medicaid expansion.The budget would reduce the number of state certificate of need laws that decide when and where medical facilities may be built, and whether providers can purchase expensive equipment. Lawmakers are pushing CON reform bills this session.
Boston Massacre site, by Kimberly Vardeman from Lubbock, TX, USA  WikiCommons image

In an act of integrity that also proved to be politically shrewd, future President John Adams served as defense counsel for British redcoats involved in the Boston Massacre of 1770.Adams was a prominent advocate of the Patriot cause. His cousin Sam was one of its top leaders. Still, John Adams insisted that the soldiers deserved legal representation. He also recognized that if they didn't get a fair trial, whatever "justice" got meted out by a Boston mob would harm rather than help the Patriots' case for self-government.During the trial, Adams offered a defense not only of the presumption of innocence and the right to counsel but also for seeking truth wherever it may be found.he said,Modern politicians sometimes quote this passage solemnly before making a political point. But do they really practice what Adams preached? Or, if I may be so bold, do you?Politics is a team sport. It always has been. As another American Founder, James Madison, famously explained, the origins of political faction areHumans can approach the same question with wide varieties of information, perceptions, and objectives.Madison observed,These differences, in turn, haveNeither Adams or Madison thought it possible to wish political factions away. Nor do I. As regular readers surely know by now, I have strong opinions on political questions. I want government at all levels to be smaller , less costly , and less intrusive . I think competition is superior to monopoly in both the private and public sectors. I don't think government should try to engineer "social justice," whatever that means, because it requires inflicting injustice on specific individuals.Regardless of whether you agree with me on these and other political propositions, however, it ought to be possible for us to come to some level of agreement on basic facts. We may well continue to disagree about what these facts mean, of course. But at least we'd be talking about the same thing. We'd truly be arguing rather than just bickering with each other.This is, alas, much harder to do than to describe. When trying to answer a question of fact, we tend to follow the lead of sources, of "experts," whose political views we share. When someone from the "other team" offers a factual proposition, we frequently discount it. Indeed, we don't just tend to discount their factual claims about political issues. As the authors of a new study in the academic journal Cognition discovered, there's a strong tendency to let politics influence judgments on matters far afield from public policy.The researchers called this effect "epistemic spillover," which they detected in a creative set of online experiments that blended political questions with a geometric-puzzle test. They foundCognitive biases are tricky things. Be honest: when you hear about the kind of behavior I just described, do examples from the "other team" come more quickly to mind? If you are Trump critic, do you see MAGA hats on those subjects? If you are a Republican, are social-justice warriors making the mistake?The truth is that we are all prone to the same errors. We face the same temptations. I believe being a good citizen requires that we lean against our biases - that we do our own homework and be skeptical (though not cynical) when listening to political leaders. If you agree, perhaps that gives us a good place to start.
Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University (Photo from ECU website)

Vidant Health doesn't understand why the North Carolina Senate wants to cut its funding.So said Vidant CEO Dr. Mike Waldrum during a Wednesday, May 29, news conference, called after the Senate released a budget proposal that would strip the Vidant Medical Center - which serves as the teaching hospital for East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine - of $35 million in Medicaid funding.That's harsh, Waldrum said, and would devastate the people of eastern North Carolina. Vidant Health operates eight hospitals and other affiliated medical centers in 29 N.C. counties.The Senate's move is one more event in a battle over governance. In late April, Vidant Health's board revoked the UNC System Board of Governors' ability to appoint members to VMC's board. That was a problem, UNC said, because a decades-old affiliation agreement between VMC and ECU allows the UNC BOG to appoint nine of the hospital board's 20 members.Vidant, along with the Pitt County Board of Commissioners, unanimously voted to strip the BOG of of its power. Pitt County retained its right to appoint 11 members to VMC's board while Vidant Health itself took control of the other nine seats.ECU was not consulted in the decision to block BOG appointments, Waldrum told. Vidant's board includes representatives of the university, he added.On May 20, UNC took Vidant to court. On May 24, Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour granted the UNC System a 10-day, temporary restraining order against Vidant Health.On May 29, Vidant and UNC agreed to move the case from Orange County to Pitt County, and to participate in mediation.Waldrum wouldn't say whether reinstatement of the BOG's appointment powers would be part of the mediation.Waldrum toldVMC's affiliation with ECU will remain intact, even if the Senate slashes the hospital's budget, Waldrum said. Vidant officials have repeatedly stated that VMC's new board structure will include two appointees from ECU.But what classified VMC as a public teaching hospital was its formal contract with ECU, and that contract has been breached, said Pat Ryan, a spokesman for Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham.Public and private hospitals receive different benefits, he said, and Vidant, a private corporation, shouldn't receive public benefits if it won't allow public input.Berger didn't notify Vidant that the provision would be included in the budget, Ryan said.The Senate is making a strong statement, but the cut isn't likely to make it into the legislature's final budget, said Jordan Roberts , health-care policy analyst for the John Locke Foundation.he said.
Have Sheriff Offices in North Carolina, possibly even Beaufort County's Sheriff Office, become too political in the discharging of their sworn constitutional duties?

No, the sheriff is a constitutional officer.

Yes, the Sheriff Office, on strong occasion, often reverts back to political patronage in the dispensation of their sworn constitutional duties.
A truck crashed into a business on Main Street in the Heights Friday afternoon, trapping a woman and injuring the driver.

The crash occurred at 645 Main Street after 4 p.m. Friday. Posh Salon is located in the north part of the building, and a tattoo parlor is located in the south part of the building.

A pickup traveling northbound on Main Street and driven by a man apparently crashed into the building through the tattoo parlor and came to a rest in the nail salon. The pickup may have also side-swiped a parked car before crashing into the building. The pickup pinned a female Posh Salon employee under the truck, Billings Police Sgt. Clyde Reid said.

The woman trapped under the pickup was conscious when she was pulled from under the vehicle, Reid said. She was taken to Billings Clinic. Firefighter paramedics performed Advanced Life Support on the woman, Billings Fire Battalion Chief Kevin Johnson said. Firefighters used air bags to lift the truck and pull her out, he said.

The driver got out of the truck and was walking and talking, and was taken to St. Vincent Healthcare, Reid said.

The extent of their injuries was unknown, but they appeared to be stable, according to Johnson.
Evergreen IGA, a Montana-owned longtime grocer in business in Billings, is slated to close in two weeks.

Employees at both the store Friday morning and the grocer's central office confirmed the closure, saying that employees were told the store would be closing in two weeks. The company that owns the store, Van's, opened its first store in Browning in 1932 and operates seven Montana grocery stores including the Billings store, according to its website.

The closure is another step toward a grocery scene not only dominated by larger chains, but devoid of smaller ones.
A Billings man accused in a $43 million bank fraud scheme is denying the charges and has been granted release pending his next court appearance.

Todd Capser, 47, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal charges in the Southern District of New York. He was granted a $100,000 unsecured bond and released on his own signature, plus bond to be signed in Montana.

Capser is accused of providing misleading information about his assets to leverage $43.3 million from a Toronto lender, identified in a related lawsuit as Third Eye Capital Corp., of Toronto.

Filed in federal district court in Montana on April 10, the lawsuit identifies Capsers father, Edward Michael Capser, as backing the $43 million loan with a bogus investment portfolio worth at least $30 million.

Prosecutors, too, identified Edward Capser as participating in the bank fraud scheme in their indictment for Capser. However, Edward Capser has not been charged criminally.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys will seek 10 years in prison for a 23-year-old man charged with rape and sexual assault.

Jacob Daniel Eastman pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of rape and one count of sexual assault in separate cases.

A plea deal calls for prosecutors to dismiss one other rape charge, as well as charges of burglary and theft from a third case.

When he was 19, Eastman had sex with a girl younger than 14, according to his admission in the first case.

In the second case, he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old when he was 20. Originally charged with sexual intercourse without consent, Eastman later saw the charge reduced to sexual assault.

The legal age of consent in Montana is 16.

Under a plea deal, the state and defense plan to jointly recommend a total of 20 years in the Montana State Prison, with 10 years suspended.

A sentencing date has not yet been set.

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The disputed bill would redefine a wild bison or wild buffalo in a way that Bullock said in his veto letter would create confusion and uncertainty about whether Yellowstone National Park bison could be mistakenly considered domestic animals. The governor suggested changes to the bill that lawmakers rejected.

Reynolds acted swiftly after receiving Bullock's complaint. The judge wrote in his order that if what the governor says is true, Stapleton is trying to unconstitutionally override a governor's veto, which would cause irreparable harm because the vetoed law would go into immediate effect.

"The Governor has established facts, which, if proven true, establish he vetoed HB 132 in compliance with the Montana Constitution and Montana Code Annotated," Reynolds wrote.

The judge ordered Stapleton to rescind the chapter number he assigned the bill, remove the bill from the file of laws passed during this year's legislative session and inform the Legislature's code commissioner that he had done so. The judge also ordered Stapleton to send the governor's veto message and a copy of the bill to all legislators within five days.
Scientists tasked with reviewing government plans to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. said in a report released Friday that the proposal has numerous factual errors and other problems.

The five-member scientific panel's conclusions were detailed in a 245-page report delivered to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

One reviewer said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appeared to have come to a pre-determined conclusion, not supported by its own science, that wolves should come off the endangered species list.

"It looks like they decided to delist and then they compiled all the evidence that they thought supported that decision. It simply doesn't support the decision," said Adrian Treves, an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Treves said a chief concern is poaching: Without protections, illegal killings of wolves could rise, he said.

The findings could undercut the government's contention that gray wolves across the Lower 48 have recovered from widespread extermination.
We now pivot to working with newly appointed Chair Sheila Stearns and the task of creating the rules for us to work by. We thank Chairwoman Stearns for her willingness to join us in service to the people of Montana. She has a long record of leadership and public service to our state. We hope she will follow the good precedent established by Chairman Jim Regnier during the last cycle in seeking public input on the rules, that is, the line drawing criteria, that we will follow.

Good districts are generally recognized to be representative of communities of interests and it is our belief that the best expression of those communities are our existing communities, whether they be our cities, counties or reservations. These lines should be respected.

A rigorous process, public involvement and clear, uniform rules and criteria will guarantee an outcome that is fair and will be supported by the public. Partisans will likely be disappointed at times when the consistent application of the rules results in a less than favorable outcome to their party, but that is the result if the chair serves as a neutral arbiter.

We Republican commissioners look forward to the work ahead with our Democratic colleagues under the leadership of Stearns. We ask the public to please pay attention as our work begins and hold us all accountable.

Dan Stusek and Jeff Essmann, both of Billings, were appointed to the 2020 Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission by House Majority Leader Brad Tschia and Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas, respectively.

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As president of the Billings Community Foundation, I am writing to say thank you to everyone who participated in the Yellowstone Valley Giving Day on May 2-3 this year.

Together, we are reinforcing the value of philanthropic giving, encouraging community engagement, and strengthening collaborative impact for the benefit of the Greater Yellowstone Valley Region of Montana. In 2019, our community experienced an unprecedented level of giving as 104 nonprofits came together to raise over $192,000 in 24-plus hours.

The Billings Community Foundation is the driving force behind Yellowstone Valley Gives, we serve clients in nine counties in Southeast Montana and strongly advocate for collaborative initiatives for greater impact in these communities and the region. Our mission is to help individual donors and charitable organizations meet the needs of the Greater Yellowstone Valley Region of Montana.

Yellowstone Valley Gives is only possibly because of our generous community partners. To see a list of those partners, participating nonprofits, and the donation leaderboards, visit YellowstoneGives.org.
GRAND FORKS  While interim may be in his title, Joshua Wynne does not plan to sit idly waiting for a new University of North Dakota president to be named in the coming months.

Wynne, who was unanimously selected Thursday by the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education to lead the university on an interim basis, plans to take actions that will continue to move UND forward.

I didnt take this job to just have a nice fancy title and sit in a nice office and not have anything happen, thats not me, he said. My focus is on keeping the momentum going forward  and that there will be real accomplishments in moving the agenda forward for however long that takes.

Wynne added he will not hesitate to make tough decisions. He plans to continue his duties as dean of the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences and as vice president of health affairs at UND.

Wynne said he wants to continue the positive momentum at UND and bring the school to even greater heights. He said outgoing UND President Mark Kennedy and other senior staff at the university have laid the building blocks for UNDs new direction through ventures such as the One UND strategic plan and addressing deferred maintenance on campus.

Were striving for excellence, whether its in education, in scholarships or service to community, we really do want to be the best we can be, he said. Im going to try and help every faculty and staff member and every student to achieve their maximum potential.

Kennedy will be leaving UND on June 15 after spending three years at the helm of the university.

Wynne makes around $690,000 a year in his position, according to state records.

He said contract terms for the interim job have not been determined yet, but he noted he did not take the position for the money.

Wynne indicated he is not interested in serving as president on a permanent basis and accepted the interim role with the understanding he would retain his current responsibilities and return to the medical school once a new president is named. He said he never planned on becoming a university president in his career.

Dave Molmen, former CEO of Altru Health System and head of the medical school's advisory council, has worked closely with Wynne for many years. He said Wynne is the ideal choice to fulfill the role of interim president.

He has the skills and the deep knowledge of our university and a track record to match that, said Molmen, adding that Wynne is the type of leader who will hit the ground running.

During his time at UND, Wynne has led the medical school through a number of ventures, including the completion of a new $124 million facility. The building was completed in 2016 and was done on-time and under budget, Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, said.

He also has helped lead the successful implementation of the North Dakota Healthcare Workforce Initiative, which works to transform health care delivery and the health of North Dakotans each day.

Earlier this year, Wynne helped secure a stabilized funding source for the medical schools residency program, which trains doctors in various specialties throughout the state.

Molmen said Wynne is able to achieve these goals through his leadership style, which is a combination of listening to others and strategic thinking.

To be successful in that very complex job, an individual has to be a really strong bridge builder and Dr. Wynne has shown that he can build relationships, he said, noting Wynne has built very strong relationships with students, staff and faculty, as well as alumni, legislators, the community and the state board. Hes not only well liked, but highly respected.

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FARGO  North Dakota State University will not be ending its partnership with Planned Parenthood to train teachers how to talk with students about sex, despite calls from Christian groups and 89 state legislators to scratch the program.

Safe Spaces workshops will be held June 3 and 4 in Dickinson, June 6 and 7 in Fargo, and June 14 and 15 in Grand Forks. K-12 teachers who attend will receive a professional development credit while learning to promote healthy sexuality and relationships among the youth they serve, according to a summary of the events.

It basically focuses on positive youth development and adolescent sexual risk behaviors, said Amy Jacobson, North Dakotas director for Planned Parenthood. It talks about the importance of communicating between youth and a trusted adult.

At least two faith-based groups  Concerned Women for America and Family Policy Alliance  asked people to contact NDSU to urge the school to find another partner or cancel the workshops altogether. They dont want Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services and promotes abortion rights, to indirectly reach children.

I guarantee you  there will be discussion over abortion and how it relates to kids and how that should definitely be put forward as an option for them and so on, said Mark Jorritsma, president and executive director of North Dakotas Family Policy Alliance branch. We dont believe that is correct. We dont believe abortion should be an option.

Organizers of the workshops say abortion is not promoted and that teachers are not given curriculum to pass on to students. Still, NDSU has received about 170 messages and calls requesting that the workshops be cancelled, university spokeswoman Anne Robinson-Paul said.

The university also was sent a letter signed by 89 Republican legislators who expressed their displeasure with the partnership. It claimed the schools affiliation with Planned Parenthood violates the intention of North Dakota to avoid even the appearance of legitimizing the abortion industry, according to the letter dated April 23.

The letter stops short of asking NDSU to cancel the workshops. But its intent was to convince administrators to end the partnership, said Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, who collected the signatures.

NDSU cant just cancel the grant, which runs through 2020, President Dean Bresciani said in a Thursday, May 29, letter to Myrdal. The university administration cannot interfere with research as long as it complies with the law, he wrote.

If we attempted to control research, particularly in response to political pressure, then NDSU could be violating accreditation standards, which require academic freedom and political autonomy, Bresciani wrote. We cannot risk our accreditation because, without it, NDSU would not be able to accept any federal money, including student loans and grants.

In response to Bresciani, Myrdal acknowledged the importance of academic freedom but said she doubts it prevents NDSU from interfering with research.

This isnt research, this is outreach, Myrdal said.

NDSU has received $250,000 each year since 2017 from a federal program aimed at educating youth about abstinence and contraception. Its an attempt to prevent unplanned pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, according to Bresciani's letter.

Last year, $165,629 of the money went to Planned Parenthood for various education efforts, including almost $1,000 for the Safe Spaces workshops, said Molly Secor-Turner, an NDSU associate professor in nursing and public health and one of the principal investigators for the grant.

North Dakota law prohibits Planned Parenthood from teaching sex education classes in schools. State, county and local government entities also cannot provide funding or pass along federal dollars to groups that perform abortions.

But NDSU receives the federal funds directly, and state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem opined in 2013 that the partnership with Planned Parenthood does not break any laws.

Jorritsma said NDSU accepting the grant directly through a federal program was a way to sidestep the law.

Secor-Turner says the workshops intentions are misunderstood. The training is meant to help teachers communicate to students about sexual health free from any personal bias and judgement, and also with respect to diversity, Jacobson said.

Safe Spaces for teachers isnt a sexual health curriculum to any extent, Secor-Turner said. To me, its hard to understand how anyone can be opposed to this.

The program has reached roughly 100 teachers and has received positive reviews from educators and parents, Secor-Turner said. Last year, workshops were held in Bismarck, Jamestown and Minot.

Concerned Women for America and Family Policy Alliance pressured NDSU to cancel the workshops last year. Other groups associated with the partnership backed out, but the workshops were still held.

The state Department of Public Instruction is not associated with the workshops, and schools do not instruct teachers on whether or not to attend the workshop, the department said. Teachers decide if they want to participate.

Myrdal said the Legislature cant block NDSU from accepting the grants, but some lawmakers have contacted higher ups in Washington, about canceling the federal funding. She also said there are talks of cutting state funds to NDSU that would equal the amount it gives to Planned Parenthood.

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JAMESTOWN  The North Dakota State Hospital in Jamestown is working to come into compliance with accreditation standards after a survey documented multiple deficiencies, including suicide prevention measures, maintaining a safe environment for patients and proper use of restraints or seclusion.

A survey team for The Joint Commission, the accrediting body for hospitals, in March found multiple serious deficiencies that resulted in a determination of preliminary denial of accreditation for the state hospitals inpatient service.

Since then, the hospital has been working with reviewers to resolve problems and bring the hospital back into compliance, Rosalie Etherington, the state hospitals superintendent, said Thursday, May 30.

Many of the deficiencies have been addressed, she said, and Etherington expects the remaining problems will be fully resolved by September. They have almost all been solved, Etherington said.

Most of the deficiencies stemmed from new standards that recently took effect involving suicide prevention measures for an area of the hospital called intensive care, which serves a small number of patients who pose a risk to themselves or others, she said.

It was for a very specific reason, Etherington said, adding that multiple deficiencies in a variety of categories were deemed out of compliance as a result.

The new standards, called anti-ligature measures, are intended to prevent patients from hanging themselves. Door knobs that for years were considered safe, for example, recently were deemed no longer acceptable, she said.

They believed we were secluding people unnecessarily, Etherington said, although people were not locked in rooms.

In April, a 31-year-old male patient at the state hospital was charged with attempted murder after an attack in March on a female staff member who was cleaning bathrooms. The patient, Jason Benefiel, choked and dragged the employee, who suffered facial lacerations, a fractured septum and was unconscious at times, according to court records.

After the attack, Benefiel was secluded before state troopers took him into custody. Coincidentally, the assault happened during March, the same month of The Joint Commission accreditation survey.

Etherington forwarded documents from The Joint Commission showing progress has been made in follow-up surveys in April and May. Another survey will happen soon, no later than Tuesday, June 4, and the hospital has until September to resolve what Etherington said are a few remaining deficiencies.

Were expecting them any day, she said.

In one case, the remaining issue was deemed of moderate risk to harm a patient, visitor or staff member, and in three other instances the risks were deemed low, according to a follow-up report dated May 6.

The state hospital provides inpatient psychiatric care for 90 to 100 patients at a time, and also provides residential treatment for another 100 to 120 sex offenders and patients with substance use disorders.

The residential treatment programs, also surveyed in March, were granted a standard three-year accreditation.

A spokeswoman for The Joint Commission said the only information the body could release publicly is a general summary report available online. Details are kept confidential by agreement; the accreditation process, intended to provide quality assurance for the public, is voluntary.

That is all the public information that we can provide, said Maureen Lyons of The Joint Commission. The goal is always to put into place some kind of plan where they can correct areas.

The North Dakota State Hospital is overseen by a seven-member board that includes a state legislator, Rep. Chet Pollert, R-Carrington, the House majority leader. Pollert wasnt available Thursday for comment.

Rep. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, who is influential on social services and human services, said the accreditation report raises concerns, and could reflect the effects of several years of lean budgets.

As an unintended consequence, weve jeopardized people, she said. In recent decades, the focus has shifted from providing behavioral health care in the state hospital to providing community-based services.

As a result, Hogan said, the hospital might have been overlooked. The adequacy and safety of the state hospital could be addressed by an interim legislative committee, she said.

Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, has long been an advocate of increasing community-based services, and said providing behavioral health services at the state hospital is old style medical practice at best.

Mathern sponsored a provision in the human services budget bill for an interim study to develop a statewide plan to address acute psychiatric and residential care needs.

Issues to be studied include the size and use of the state hospital and the potential need for state-operated or private acute facilities outside of Jamestown.

In this year's legislative session, lawmakers rejected a proposal by Gov. Doug Burgum to build a new state hospital, and instead decided to study the hospital and options for delivering psychiatric care.

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"Without the ILLEGAL Witch Hunt, my poll numbers, especially because of our historically 'great' economy, would be at 65%," President Donald Trump tweeted last week.

In all likelihood, the president believes what he wrote. It's a strongly held sentiment among many of Trump's ardent supporters that if he hadn't been stabbed in the back by the Deep State, the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller and a complicit media, people would have realized by now that Trump is, as the actor Jon Voight recently put it, "the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln." Or at least they would give him a fairer shake than he's gotten.

Is it true that the president's poll numbers have suffered largely because of what he calls a "witch hunt"?

The shortest and most accurate answer for this and all counterfactuals is, "We can never know." Still, there's ample reason to conclude the answer is, "Probably not."

There are two mutually reinforcing reasons for this conclusion, one structural, the other specific to Trump. The structural explanation is that the electorate has been growing more polarized for decades, and the presidency had become a symbol in the culture war long before Trump.

There have been only a handful of times in recent decades when any president has enjoyed a supermajority of public approval. During wartime, for example, the rally-around-the-president effect often swamps partisanship. George H.W. Bush hit 89% after the first Iraq war, and after 9/11, his son reached 90%.

Other events can also goose approval ratings. Bill Clinton's highest approval numbers were reported on the day he was impeached (a fact House Speaker Nancy Pelosi probably is thinking about as the House considers impeaching Trump). It's widely believed the bump in Clinton's polling was less a referendum on the president than on the effort to remove him. Barack Obama's best performance (67%) came four days after his inauguration, when many Americans were hopeful that his presidency could deliver on his campaign promise to put the culture wars behind us.

In all of these cases, however, the entropic effect of polarization reasserted itself as Americans divided back into Red and Blue teams. Obviously, events mattered. If, say, the second Iraq War had gone swimmingly, things might have been different, but there's little reason to believe the larger trend wouldn't have manifested itself again in time.

And then there's the specific case. Trump won in 2016 by picking the lock of the Electoral College while losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. According to Gallup, he took office with an approval rating of 45%. His highest approval rating in Gallup's polling was achieved in April 2019: 46%.

The notion that the public would have come around to Trump but for the Mueller probe presupposes that the investigation is what made him unpopular, when all of the evidence suggests that the investigation was merely something that people who already disliked the president put their hopes in. When Mueller's finding that there was "no collusion" was released, Trump's approval rating went down, not up. Also, the fact that Trump enjoys majority approval for his handling of the economy even as his overall disapproval ratings stay high demonstrates that voters don't look only to economic indicators when judging presidents.

There is, however, one way in which the Mueller probe may have hurt him: his reaction to it. When impeachment loomed for Clinton, however much he was privately obsessed with it, his public position was to ignore it and at least seem like he was focused on the people's business. Trump went a different way.

Normal presidents begin their terms by reaching across the aisle and attempting to at least appear as if they represent the whole country. They try to build on the coalition that elected them. Trump has never made any sustained effort in this regard. From his inaugural address onward, Trump has catered to his biggest fans and most ardent supporters.

This is a defining feature of Trump's character. The only people who matter are the ones who love him. And since his election, he's routinely mocked the idea that he should be "presidential," because his fans would find it "boring."

It's easy to imagine a world where the Mueller probe never happened. It's harder to imagine one where Trump isn't Trump, which is why 65% approval was never in the cards.

Jonah Goldberg writes for the Los Angeles Times.

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"Our service members don't set the policy or declare the wars, they just fight them. Never again do we send our young men and women off to war and then back home debate the efficacy of what they're doing. They're doing their jobs, they're serving their country."

-- Maj. Gen. Al Dohrmann, North Dakota adjutant general, explaining the lessons of the Vietnam War during a Memorial Day address.

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"But if you're going to look at it, I think you have to look at it fairly from both sides and let both sides present from wherever it is and go from there."

-- Rep. Bill Devlin, R-Finley, on how an interim study of marijuana issues should be handled.

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"Anything that is out there that will benefit a veteran or their family or spouses, dependents is certainly a positive move."

-- Pam Helbling-Schafer, director of the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, on $175,000 approved by the Legislature for burials of military spouses and eligible dependents at the cemetery south of Mandan.

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"I think just about everybody on the squad took advantage of that opportunity."

-- Paul Schauer, Wilton, a volunteer ambulance driver, on first responders who have asked for red-colored license plates free of charge that grant admission to state parks. Voters approved the program in 2018.

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"We have evaluated the Burleigh Wind project, talked to community leaders and decided to move the project. We look forward to developing this project and providing affordable, home-grown energy in North Dakota for years to come."

-- NextEra, in a statement announcing a proposed wind farm will move to Emmons and/or Logan counties.

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"It represents the struggle for fairness by people who honestly have felt like they were wronged by their government. It feels to us the interests of ... developers are being prioritized over a sense of neighborhood."

-- Cathedral District resident Bonnie Palecek, after the Bismarck City Commission approved an exemption needed to build a small home on an empty lot in the district.

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"I am happy to see the commission and mayor decided to allow me to move forward with the build. I worked really hard to provide as much factual information not only to why this type of infill is good for the city but also can be done in an appropriate way."

-- Anne Cleary, who requested the exemption for the Cathedral District house.

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"If you take a bucket of soil from your backyard and you grind it up, smash it up and then lay it back down again, that's not going to be as productive as the soil next to it."

-- Tom DeSutter, a North Dakota State University professor and soil scientist who's part of a team hired by Andeavor after an oil spill damaged land near Tioga.

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"When we built that memorial, we told our people that we wanted to be able to add names. I had all the names put on that I had, and now we've added more."

-- Virgil Horst, of the Viet Nam Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club, on the POW/MIA Memorial.

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"That was hairy. That was very hairy. Especially when I got farther down toward the ground and the North Koreans started shooting at me."

 Vern Huber, 90, on being captured during the Korean War after his plane was shot down and he was forced to bail out.

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To fit my definition of sub human would be a self-centered person without regard to anyone else, without honor, without scruples, etc. What comes to mind is the story in Benghazi, Libya.

The leader of the free world and his direct underling putting employees in this foreign land. The employees ask for help, they didnt get it. They get killed and their bodies dragged through the streets while their bosses thousands of miles away immediately start blaming some unknown person who made a video then eventually blamed the dead employees for the situation.

Today, years later nobody is held responsible for these murders. The two bosses didnt even investigate until they were sure there wasnt any evidence left!

So, the other day I was doing a back-and-forth with a Facebook friend. My friend was telling me how certain statues need to be removed from public view because they depicted someone who owned slaves. I say they are part of the history of our nation and we need to be reminded of our history, the good and bad, so history does not repeat itself. Our tomorrow will be our yesterday if we do not learn from the past.

To try to make our past only good is a fools errand. Our time spent trying to make our future different from the bad in the past would be time better spent. My friend was sure they still need removing from a moral standpoint.

My response to my friend was: You hold a statue, an inanimate object, to the highest moral standard then come election time you put forth, and fight vehemently to elect a candidate that is proven to be sub human. Someone without morals, honor, patriotism, and is greedy, to influence the free world.

Jim Braun, Belfield

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News / National

by Staff reporter

THOUSANDS yesterday thronged White City Stadium to pay their last respects to national hero Dr Dumiso Dabengwa as speakers from a cross section of society testified to his impeccable liberation war credentials and contributions towards development.Dr Dabengwa's cortege arrived at White City Stadium just after 10:15AM and was made of the hearse carrying his body, vehicles carrying family members, Government officials, close friends and Zapu members among others. He will be buried in Ntabazinduna today.Dr Dabengwa died last week on Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya en-route to Zimbabwe from India where he had been rushed for medical treatment. He died at the age of 79 following liver related illness. People from all walks of life and politicians from across the political divide attended Dr Dabengwa's funeral service in true testimony of statesmanship.Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Bulawayo Judith Ncube said when Dr Dabengwa died procedures that are usually followed before a national hero is declared were abandoned attesting to his stature. She said Dr Dabengwa is true national hero of impeccable character."Many people have spoken about ubaba uDabengwa's remarkable contributions to the national cause. Dabengwa was not anointed a hero, he worked for this accolade that no one can erase or take away from him. What happened in declaring him a national hero is that there wasn't a meeting to deliberate about what honour suits him. But the President soon after learning that he had died, that a hero had died, he (President Mnangagwa) adjourned a meeting that he was holding and had to make a Press briefing quickly thereby confirming that a hero of heroes had died. The President was observing ubaba uDabengwa's works," she said.Ncube said Dr Dabengwa was a great visionary and level headed man who led by example. She challenged Bulawayo residents to stop fighting over trivial issues and work towards reviving the city's industries in honour of his vision."Mama maKhumalo, God bless you. Our hero and commander has gone, he was not the type who would demand to be followed but his actions always spoke louder than words. We are grateful that ubaba uDabengwa was declared a national hero, so we want to say rest in peace our Zimbabwe's hero," she said.Former Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) military wing, Chief of Staff and Patron of the Joe Modise Foundation Major General Jackie Sedibe (Retired) described Dr Dabengwa as a selfless servant of humanity and a gallant warrior for social justice and peace."Dumiso Dabengwa belonged to a rare breed of freedom fighters whose patriotism goes beyond national boundaries. A warrior who believed that their own freedom cannot be meaningful as long as their neighbours still toiled under the oppressive clutches of Colonialism and Imperialism," she said."Dabengwa's credentials are to be found in his life-long commitment to the struggle for the liberation of the people of South Africa which he saw as a part of his role as a combatant for the liberation of his own country Zimbabwe." Zapu acting president Mr Isaac Mabuka commended Government for declaring Dr Dabengwa a national hero."There was precedence that if you wanted to be a hero you had to join Zanu-PF. But there is now a new precedence because the precedence that was there was going to make future governments even of opposition parties that if you do not belong to our party you won't be a hero. Now we have seen a new direction that even if you are in the opposition party, you can be a national hero. We thank the President of the Republic for that," said Mr Mabuka.A member the National Security Organisation (NSO), which Dr Dabengwa headed as Zipra intelligence chief, Mr Jeremy Brickhill described the national hero as man of integrity."Dabengwa was a fearless commander. He never issued orders which he himself would not carry out. He was a kind commander. He cared about his soldiers. Dumiso taught us many lessons but today I want to talk about the lessons he left me. He was a soldier of peace, he believed and fought for our development. Dabengwa didn't want to manage poverty or increase it he fought to overthrow poverty," said Mr Brickhill."He respected traditional culture but rejected tribalism he fought against racism, tribalism and discrimination all his life. He fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe."He paid tribute to Dr Dabengwa's widow for standing by her husband through the difficult moments. Dr Dabengwa's younger brother Mr Jabu Dabengwa described the national hero as a principled man who joined politics in his early 20s.Mr Dabengwa said his older brother would convene political meetings at their Mpopoma house which later landed him in jail after calling the then government rotten.He said while Dr Dabengwa was politically active, he remained a family man who made time for his wife, children and siblings.Services chiefs led by Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga represented by Deputy Commissioner-Gen in charge of Operations Learn Ncube and Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Commissioner General Paradzai Zimondi among others members of the security attended the funeral service.Also in attendance was Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu and Defence and War Veterans Deputy Minister Victor Matematanda. MDC president Mr Nelson Chamisa, his deputy Professor Welshman Ncube among other members of the opposition also attended the funeral service.The others who attended the service include Zanu-PF Politburo member Tshinga Dube, former Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association national chairman Jabulani Sibanda and former Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo.
One thing about the cartels is that they work with everyone; all political parties, all factions. All they want is protection so when one s in power they flock in pretence of long time support. They are the biggest hypocrites vacillators and politicians should see through them.

On the other hand, the genuine supporters are never in the forefront. I'm yet to see someone like Billy Rautenbach doing the ZANU PF slogan or chanting "Pamberi neZanuPf" yet he cunningly benefits from the system whilst dishing out crumbs from the vast proceeds.Why is Billy Rautenbach's ethanol option mandatory without option? He sells at +$1 n yet importing from Brazil is 50c, Triangle's cheaper, why aren't we addressing that? Let's unpack him, what did he do with the Todal concession but speculate?He hides behind sanctions but how many blacks were too but not empowered similarly? How does he continue to be given prime concessions without production? Hwange is another example. These are the same whites who sold arms to Rhodesia. We need to ensure our people control the resourcesThe opportunistic cartels can be seen consorting with all the regimes; they need to be weeded out. It's a task I can initiate by exposing the names in Parly to clear the criminals surrounding Mnangagwa The milking of Zimbabwe's resources needs to end; enough is enough!The only thing these nefarious criminals have done is to employ money changers in the streets to fuel the forex black market with no contribution to the economy. These leakages must be plugged!!
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

Members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police have arrested a man for carrying large sums of money in cash on his vehicle."Police in Mutare are investigating a case in which a 35 year old man was found with US$10 000, 00 cash, ZAR30 000, 00 and RTGS3 000, 00 in the CBD in his vehicle on 28/05/19," ZRP said in a statement.The Police further urged the public to avoid carrying large sums of money in vehicles as they risk attacks by robbers.Meanwhile in an unrelated incident police in Goromonzi have arrested 7 men in connection with a case of murder.The arrested are Innocent Mukazika(37), Look Makwamure(30),Trust Mupezeni(20), Joseph Mutumanji (18), Tafadzwa Phiri(17), Desire Muzhero(20) and Kudakwashe Domingos(22) all of Proton Farm, Goromonzi.The suspects pounced on the deceased and assaulted him with iron bars and sticks following a dispute with Innocent Mukazika over firewood.Police are warning the public against meting instant justice on someone perceived to have wronged them instead offenders should be reported or handed to the police for due process of the law to take course.The United States of America recently issued a traveling warning to its citizens intending to travel to Zimbabwe due to the increasing level of crime.Police however assured citizens and visitors that they are on high alert to police the country.
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

Matabeleland North Minister of State Richard Moyo got a rude awakening on Saturday when he was booed by some mourners at the burial of the late ZPRA Intelligence Supremo Dumiso Dabengwa in Ntabazinduna.Minister Moyo was speaking on behalf of President Emmerson Mnangagwa who did not attend the burial because it was a private family ceremony.When Moyo stood up to go to the podium after being invited by the Master of Ceremony some mourners started singing the Ndebele protest song: Into oyenzayo siyayizonda.Richard Moyo became unpopular with some section on Nabazinduna and Matabeleland people when he criticised Chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni for leading a spirited effort to bar government from taking over a farm in his area.The booing started again when Moyo was recognising some VIPs who were present including Chief Fortune Charumbira.Earlier during the event the Dabengwa family through their spokesperson showed their displeasure at the government's plan to take over the funeral through implementing their own program and disregarding the one that the family had proposed.The family spokesperson, Gibson Sibanda took over as MC and insisted that the family will conduct their own program before handing handing over to the government.Speakers during the event included South Africa's Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo, Shirley Brown from Umkhonto weSizwe veterans.The Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces General Philip Valerio Sibanda was in attendance.
News / National

by Gibson Nyathi

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa and Chief Ndiweni have lashed out at President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputies for failing to attend the Burial of struggle veteran Dumiso Dabengwa who was buried at Ntabazinduna about 40 kilometres outside Bulawayo.Speaking after the conclusion of the state programme of Dabengwa's burial, both Chamisa and Chief Ndiweni said they were saddened by Mnagagwa's absence from the event."I'm sad that those who rule us did not want to honour the man we are burying here with their presence.This speaks to the fact that things are not well in our country," said Chief Ndiweni.He also lamented the economic collapse in the and the state of democracy which he saidis in serious trouble." The state of democracy in Zimbabwe is in serious trouble, there are many issues that we need to resolve," said Chief Ndiweni.He the Zimbabwe people are living in is not the one veterans like Dabengwa fought for."Something has gone wrong and all of us need to speak up, need to have a voice to that conversation which can put our country straight," he said.Chamisa on tbe other hand said the Burial of Dabengwa was not a partisan event but was meant to honour his contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe.
Opinion / National

HE used to call me at random and odd times; almost always late at night. The last time he did was at 11pm several weeks ago. He wanted to tell me he was in South Africa and was not well. This was the third call he had made to say he was ill. I had previously received another call, again well after 11pm, when I was in Kenya a couple of years back. We spoke for over an hour-and-half, him explaining his medical condition and this test and that. He was hopeful.I promised to visit him as soon as I came back from Angola where I was going the next day. He seemed to light up on news that I was going to Angola, and asked many questions. Memories from the struggle, I guessed. He was in trenches there. I reminded him it was a different kind of place now than it was during the liberation struggle.But he had a pressing issue. He wanted to know if I had seen the picture circulating on social media and was keen to find out who the other little girl besides Nombulelo, his daughter, was on the photo. I laughed and told him I was the original source of that picture, although lots of people were now sending it to me on WhatsApp not knowing it had originated from me in the first place.He thought he knew, but did not want to make a mistake by guessing who it was. I told him it was Gugu and he said: "Of course, I knew." I laughed. Gugu, now deceased, was the daughter of Benjamin Dube, another Zipra stalwart who died earlier this year. Dumiso Dabengwa broke the news to me in one of our numerous conversations.Dabengwa and my father Sidney Malunga, two-PF Zapu stalwarts, were inseparable: both persecuted by former president Robert Mugabe's regime; tried for treason, accused of being on an invented Zapu War Council, both acquitted, but kept detained illegally for almost four years, then released within weeks of each other and both standing shoulder-to-shoulder to bury their comrade Lookout Masuku - the Zipra commander - who had died in prison just before they were released. They even bought houses literally next to each other. They were always right next to the big man, Joshua Nkomo, the Zapu leader. Sadly, they are all now reunited by death.Although I was only 12 when they were bungled off to Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, I had heard too many stories about these Zapu heroes before they went in and after. I recall many meetings held at home where we served as waiters and waitresses as they argued loudly and fiercely over strategy and approach to an onslaught from Mugabe's Zanu-PF government in the early 1980s. I wondered later when they were all accused of treason, how odd it was that whenever they met at home, they "plotted" so openly and loudly.They were all quirky. Edward Ndlovu, another Zapu bigwig, was quite "aristocratic" with a very superior quality of English. I recall one time I was asked to bring them cheese as they huddled and argued in my father's tiny "bar" and when I delivered it and ran off, Ndlovu called me back and said: "Bafuna ukulincitsha icheese (they want to deny you cheese)", and promptly gave me a huge portion of it back as he shouted, "Let me go to the house of commons" - toilet. He would always laugh at his own joke and we would laugh with him. His English was matched only by Paul Themba Nyathi, another Zapu cadre. I remember wishing I could speak English that way.Dabengwa was always the quietest of all these many fathers we had. The rest were loud, boisterous, daring and took no prisoners, yet respectful of each other. Everyone spoke. When they disagreed, which they did, at times not talking for months, there was still mutual respect between them and disagreements were always settled. Dabengwa always spoke when he needed to. He never elaborated, never raised his voice, but his points would always land and secure grunts and nods.I recall one such epic disagreement which only made better sense when I was older: when my father was tried for trying to overthrow the government, the state claimed that it had a star witness who would implicate him with no chance of escaping conviction. The prosecutor, Goodwills Masimirembwa, kept the identity of this witness secret.Eventually, when the trial started, and the witness was called, it turned out to be none other Welshman Mabhena, another Zapu stalwart, who was himself brought to court shackled and in prison garb. At the very first instance, Mabhena denounced the statement implicating my father and attributed to him, arguing that it had been secured through torture. It was thrown out by the magistrate and the case collapsed, although my father was immediately served with another detention order much the same way Dabengwa and Masuku had been when their treason trials crumbled.After they were released from prison, tensions surrounding that coerced witness statement endured, although my father well knew that torture was the modus operandi of Zanu-PF, having been tortured himself. I have no proof, but I suspect that Dabengwa mediated in the dispute.I always wondered why most of the Zapu luminaries "conspired" to make it so easy for the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and other state security services to round them up by buying houses in one area. We had Dabengwa on Diamond Drive, Angeline Masuku on Old Gwanda, Mabhena on Amatja Road, my father on Langa Road and Fletcher Dulini, another Zapu official, on Percy Road in the same neighbourhood. It would only have required one security team to round them up easily in no time.When they were released from Chikurubi after Nkomo had cut a deal with Mugabe - the 1987 Unity Accord - there were tensions among them. Nkomo had done what he believed was in the best interest of the people and the party. Most importantly, the people. Too many people had died and continued to die, and he and his party could not protect them since they were not in government and had no means to do so. Mugabe seemed willing and ready to kill more. There was nothing to stop him until it was 20 000.A lone figure, with his movement decimated, his lieutenants in jail, continued attempts on his life, Nkomo - who had escaped assassination and fled the country - had to cut a deal with the devil. The only deal on the table was capitulation. He took it. He had no choice if Angola was to be avoided. As the prisoners were released, they were tasked with selling the deal to the brutalised and traumatised population. None believed in the deal and its sincerity. They knew it was negotiated at gunpoint, but their release was part of the deal and their leadership roles required that they do what they needed to do.I recall fierce arguments between these comrades over going to rural areas to talk to the people and explain the Unity Accord. Their own safety and security was also a factor. Njini Ntuta, another senior Zapu leader, had been murdered in cold blood by security forces masquerading as dissidents, but in fact known to have been state operatives, so had Micah Bhebhe in Inyathi in Matabeleland North province.My father had been warned against going to bury his own father - my grandfather - as there was an ambush set up to kill him. He had taken the cautious path and not gone, sending my older brother Busi instead. I am unsure how Busi himself did not become collateral damage, especially since at one time the CIO had arrested him, my cousin Ronald, Dabengwa's nephew Xolani, Angeline Masuku's son, and other teenage children of Zapiu leaders in lieu of my father and his comrades who had all gone into hiding. They had detained them at Brady Barracks for at least a week, in order to force the Zipra comrades to surrender in exchange for their children. They had all refused, roundly calling for their innocent teenage children to be released.After the Unity Accord, Dabengwa had initially been offered the post of Deputy Minister of Home Affairs which Zapu had complained was too junior. He later became the minister. His role as Minister of Home Affairs would be the basis for another point of disagreement with his colleagues.Every year, the Ministry of Home Affairs oversees the Heroes Day celebrations. In the run-up to this event, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) TV subjects the population to an excessive dosage of liberation war narratives which were always only about Zanla's contribution to the struggle. The role of Zipra, which was militarily superior to Zanla in terms of training and conventional fighting, even though it was also a guerrilla force, had been completely obliterated from history. So when he became Minister of Home Affairs, Dabengwa's comrades expected an immediate change. They expected to see more of Zipra and Zapu's role also highlighted, not just Zanu and Zanla. That did not happen. Over the years it became a sore point between the comrades - my father especially.To be somewhat fair, Zanu had erased Zipra's contribution when it confiscated its records and its properties. Zipra had been a superior guerilla movement that had bombed the fuel tanks in then Salisbury (which Zanla falsely claimed to have done) and shot down Air Rhodesia flights. Zipra was also trained as both a guerilla movement as well as a regular army. It was like a national army in waiting. It was far better resourced than Zanla, given that it was supported by one of the two Super Powers then, the Soviet Union, whilst Zanla was backed by China, then a poor country and small power. None of this was finding its way onto the Heroes Day menu. Only the Nyadzonya and Chimoio massacres by the Rhodesians were being trumpeted. Nothing about Air Rhodesia's Vickers Viscount shootings by Zipra and the subsequent bombings of Zipra's Victory and Freedom Camps in Zambia in retaliation and the resultant massacres.There were other points of divergence between the erstwhile comrades. One key one was the marginalisation of Matabeleland. Gukurahundi, the coldblooded massacres in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, had decimated the region. In the years after independence, there had been zero development in Matabeleland. Rural schools were emptied, teachers targeted and killed, clinics closed, business targeted by both dissidents - army deserters - and the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade. Shops were closed tostarve the masses. There were curfews under a colonial state of emergency Mugabe had inherited and implemented with zeal fighting his liberation struggle comrades.Rural life had not only come to a standstill, but had regressed. Recall that the region had endured the wrath of the liberation war before that and barely recovered from that. After the Unity Accord, there had been little done to compensate for Matabeleland underdevelopment during the Gukurahundi years. There had been no mini-Marshall Plan needed.Meanwhile, other regions in the country had enjoyed the post-war peace dividend with ambitious and successful resettlement and rural development programmes. Nkomo was not in a position to demand anything at all, except stopping the killings.But when peace returned, Matabeleland politicians began to face tough questions from their constituents, and in turn ask tougher questions of each other and their own comrades in government. Why was nothing being done to find a permanent and sustainable solution to the region's water crisis, for instance. Why was the country's second university slated for Bulawayo taking forever to be built, while Sardc in Harare had overtaken it? Why were factories moving from Bulawayo to Harare? Why were university and college intakes skewed against locals in Matabeleland? Why were there less science facilities in the region's schools? Why were there less schools, especially given the targeting of schooling infrastructure during Gukurahundi? Why was the region underdeveloped compared to others in general terms? These questions, whilst aimed at the broader government, landed primarily at the doorstep of former Zanu leaders comrades in government. For better or worse, they fuelled a sentiment of failure by the former Zapu comrades despite the disruptive circumstances.Dabengwa always took criticism and these harsh attacks with quiet dignity. He always listened, never gave excuses. In the fullness of time it has become clear now that the Zapu comrades in government controlled nothing. In destroying Zapu, Mugabe had built an impenetrable dictatorship in which he allowed Nkomo some leeway, but kept everything else. The Zapu comrades inside government never seriously took time to explain any constraints they faced to their constituents. The alienation with the people grew as did the tensions between comrades in and outside government.Meanwhile, Mugabe maintained a tight grip on power. I recall having very uncomfortable separate conversations with the late vice-president Joseph Msika, the late vice-president John Nkomo, Mabhena and Dabengwa about what they considered their legacy to be.To be honest I spoke my mind out against them. They indulged me a lot and in different ways invoked my father's name with "well your father understood this better. We are alone in there. The system is not in our control".I asked: "So why are you staying in it? Why not leave?" "You don't understand Sipho, my son, we are working to change it from inside. We need you, young people to come and help us. Come back home!", they would reply.I would always laugh and say "come to do what baba (father)? Work for a system that even you cannot change?" They would retort: "So who will change it for you?" And so went the conversations. But Dabengwa eventually left the "system" and never went back, and with that my respect for him grew. His other comrades drifted in and out of the system showing the proverbial lack of spine.The first sign of concern about Dabengwa was when he called me a couple of years ago. I was in Kenya for the week and the call came around 11pm. He wanted to see me urgently. He wanted to talk. We had talked before about his legacy and him writing a book. He said this was now urgent. He was feeling easily tired when he did his daily walking exercise with mama MaKhumalo in Fourwinds, Bulawayo.Every day they would pass our house and speak with my mother when they saw her. He did not think it was anything serious, but said he would get medical checks. He said he wanted to work on his book. He even had an outline. It was actually two books. I promised to come and see him as soon as I got back to Johannesburg, South Africa, which I did and we spent a good four hours talking after which he handed me the outline of the two books. I promised to read and get back to him, but urged him to start documenting. I even eagerly told him that I had a title The Black Russian: Memoirs of A Freedom Fighter. He smiled wryly, waved my suggestion away and asked me to take him to Sandton in Johannesburg which I promptly did.Although there are many stories, there is an encounter I can not leave out. When the late Richard "Gedi" Dube, former Zipra commander and commissar, fell ill and was hospitalised in Johannesburg in 2013, Dabengwa came to visit him in hospital. Dube was one of the last surviving comrades that had been with Nikita Mangena, the feted former Zipra commander, when he was killed. The others were the late Jevan Maseko and Jacky Mpofu. I was at the hospital about to go in to see Dube when Dabengwa arrived with Dube's wife, Assah, who is also sister to one of my friends.We went in together and when Assah told Dube that Dabengwa was there, I was amazed to see a man weak and hardly able to do much literally take the "military attention posture", while lying there on the bed. He came alive when Dabengwa asked him: "Kunjani ndoda? (how are you man?)", this was a commander meeting his fellow commander.It was an unforgettable moment. There is trivia about Dube. At independence he was the current Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga's commanding officer in Nyanga as colonel. Dube had quit in disgust when Chiwega - his subordinate - was promoted to be his superior. That was how Mugabe operated; he suppressed Zapu and Zipra cadres and promoted his own comrades. Even in state and public service affairs, that became the norm.Among many other times, I also had the opportunity of talking to Dabengwa in 2008 at his house after he left Zanu-PF. We sat at the same verandah where they had planned to sit with my father and uncle Backson Sibanda the day my father died. The day before, I had spent several hours with MaKhumalo talking as she shelled groundnuts in the dark - during a power cut - and I drank beers which she said were from the previous year's Christmas party.Dabengwa had not been there, so I met him the following day. He told me that he had decided to retire from politics. He explained his decision to leave Zanu-PF and to support Simba Makoni, a senior Zanu-PF official who had also quit, against Mugabe. He also said Zapu members had asked for an extraordinary congress to revive the party.Dabengwa said he was going to ensure that this happened. I asked him, "Baba, you said you are planning to retire, but you are plunging right back into the fray?" He shrugged his shoulders and said "the people have asked us to revive the party and we cannot say no".One Monday in January 2018, I received a call from Dr Ibbo Mandaza who runs Sapes Trust. "Sidney (he always called me by my father's name), I am convening a dialogue on Gukurahundi at Sapes on Thursday. I want you to speak. Dabengwa has agreed to also speak together with Eleanor Sisulu and Martin Rupiya."It was short notice, I told him and I could not reorganise my calendar. He insisted I do what I can. I realised that it was really not a request and after reorganising my diary called Mandaza and said: "Doc, if we do it in Harare on Thursday, let's do in Bulawayo the next day, on Friday."He promptly agreed. The dialogue in Harare was the first of its kind there.Expectedly, youths were sent to disrupt it. We had anticipated worse - that the police would stop it, maybe even barricade the road. Instead, the cowardly option of boisterous disruption was used. The event was well-attended, but the small group of Zanu-PF youths was bent on stopping everyone except, manipulatively, Dabengwa from speaking. He refused to accept the bait and rebuked them. I too pushed back, refusing to be silenced, but at some point became exasperated and turned to him next to me and said "baba, this is nonsense". He calmly responded and said: "Don't let yourself be distracted, do what you came here to do."It was a fascinating evening which illuminated the pervasive fear by elements in Zanu-PF to have the Gukurahundi openly debated. The next day we flew to Bulawayo and had the debate there. Dabengwa repeated his most poignant point that Gukurahundi was planned. It was not accidental. Rejecting Mugabe's "moment of madness" excuse, he implicated the British too, whom he alleged had intimated to Mugabe at independence that his greatest threat was Zapu and Zipra. This was not a debatable issue to him and the die had been cast back then.There are more stories than there is time and space to write about Dabengwa and indeed about many of the fascinating heroes that Zapu and Zipra produced. Stories about courage, selfless dedication and sacrifice, but also about pain, loss and sadness. A lot is lost in superlatives like "hero" and "man of the people." The unwritten stories are about the pain and sacrifice these brave men and women showed at personal sacrifice to liberate their country and others.They are about sacrifices their families made and the suffering. They are about the unspoken heroes like MaKhumalo - Zodwa Dabengwa - and my mother who kept the families together, whilst inspiring these great men to keep fighting and when they were imprisoned, to retain their sanity in the face of unimaginable pressure. They are about the personal losses and tragedies - like the cold-blooded murder of ugogo Dabengwa's mother by the Rhodesian security forces both to punish him and also to force him to go back home and bury her so that they could capture him.He did not go back. She lived with her grandchildren who witnessed this heinous crime. Two men had arrived at night and knocked at the door. They had told gogo that her son Dabengwa was there to see her. She had asked why he was not coming in. They had lured her outside leaving her grandchildren inside. Two shots had rung in the dark night. The very young children including, Smanga, Bongani and Xolani, were too terrified and stayed indoors all night to discover their grandmother in a pool of blood the following morning. Their terror and trauma was beyond imagination.One can only imagine the heart-wrenching pain Dabengwa carried in his heart, the guilty conscience and the anguish of not being able to save and bury his mother. He would later work closely with the same Rhodesians who killed his mother in integrating the three armies - Rhodesian, Zipra and Zanla - just as he worked with his Zanu-PF jailers and torturers. Dabengwa carried it all, with quiet dignity that only true heroes possess. His death is a real wake up call for Zimbabwe to finally and genuinely confront its demons.Without Dabengwa and many of the departed Zapu and Zipra comrades, fixing past wrongs, especially Gukurahundi, becomes harder not easier as some misguided elements may want to believe.What is left is for us is to continue the fight for democracy, freedom, human rights, justice and prosperity - things that the majority of Zimbabweans are currently struggling for - which Dabengwa left unfinished, but fought for relentlessly. Only that way can we ensure that Dabengwa and many of his comrades in Zapu and Zanu, as well as Zipra and Zanla, did not struggle, suffer and die for in vain.Malunga, a human rights lawyer and Osisa director in Johannesburg, writes in his personal capacity.
Close up shot of senior couple holding hand. Loving couple sitting together and holding hands. Focus on hands.

High-quality dividend stocks are a retirees best friend. These investments provide a consistent income stream, which can replace a portion of pre-retirement earned income. The reliability of dividends can also provide peace of mind to investors who are nervous about the high levels of volatility in the market.

Today, Ill highlight three companies that currently pay healthy dividends and should be able to continue their payouts, regardless of short-term market concerns.

Financial Services

Manulife Financial (TSX:MFC)(NYSE:MFC), which provides international financial services primarily in Canada, the United States, and Asia, is currently paying a dividend of 4.3%. The stock trades at 7.9 times forward earnings, one times book, and 0.9 times sales. As of this writing, the stock was trading just over $23, well within its 52-week range of $18-$25.

Although its operations in Asia might be of some concern in the near future due to trade tensions within the region, the long-term outlook is bright. Recently, the company announced it has unified its institutional, retail and retirement wealth, and asset management businesses into a new brand, Manulife Investment Management.

This new name will be used across the globe, with the exception of the U.S., where it will continue to be recognized as John Hancock Investment Management. The company hopes that by creating a new brand, it will be able to extend its strengths deeper into existing channels while positioning it to take advantage of a unified global brand for future expansion, especially into the Asian markets.

Utilities

Fortis (TSX:FTS)(NYSE:FTS), an electric and gas utility company with operations in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean, has been on a roll this year. The stock has climbed over 11% YTD, trading near $51 as of this writing. The stock currently pays a dividend of 3.6%. What makes this dividend attractive is that the company has achieved 45 consecutive years of dividend growth.

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The company has announced an aggressive $17 billion capital-investment plan over the next five years. And with that announcement, Fortis expects to continue its dividend growth at a rate of 6%.

Telecom

BCE (TSX:BCE)(NYSE:BCE) is also having a great year. As of this writing, the stock is trading above $60, near its all-time high and up significantly from $53 at the beginning of the year. BCE, Canadas largest telecom company, pays a dividend of 5.3%, one of the highest dividends in the industry.

BCE is consistently able to grow its revenue year over year, and with its steady stream of deployable capital, it is adopting 5G technology faster than any other telecom company in Canada. The company believes this level of growth is sustainable and expects to continue its 5% compounded annual dividend increase.

The bottom line

Regardless of which way you believe the market is headed in the short term, investors can count on the dividends from high-quality stocks to provide lucrative income streams in retirement. Companies like Manulife, Fortis, and BCE, which are growing in their respective industries, have higher-than-average dividends, and histories of reliable dividend increases, are excellent choices for a retirees portfolio.

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Fool contributor Cindy Dye owns shares of BCE INC. and FORTIS INC.

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
Conflict between USA and China, male fists - governments conflict concept

Its been over two weeks since the U.S./China trade deal collapsed, and markets are still reeling from the carnage.

After suffering its worst day of the year on Wednesday, the TSX edged lower on Thursday, signalling that investors are getting wary of stocks in this jittery trade environment. Although the major spat is between the U.S. and China, all markets are being affected; Canada in particular is caught in the cross-hairs thanks to its involvement in the Huawei/Meng Wanzhou fiasco.

For months, Canadas involvement in the detention of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou has been a concern for market commentators, who worried that China may retaliate with tariffs or boycotts of Canadian goods. The U.S. added fuel to the fire recently by putting Huawei on a trade blacklist, prompting threats of retaliation from China.

Its in this tense environment that Canada Goose Holdings (TSX:GOOS)(NYSE:GOOS) finds itself. Ever since the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, commentators have worried about potential Chinese boycotts hitting GOOS in the pocketbook. Now, with Huawei bans in the discussion and the U.S. & China at an impasse, the company may find itself on thin ice. To understand why that could be the case, lets look at Canada Gooses recent earnings.

Canada Gooses revenue miss

Recently, Canada Goose released an earnings report that showed a slight revenue miss: $156 million to the expected $159 million. That tiny miss triggered a massive selloff, with GOOS shares down 30% in just three days of trading. Although a 1.5% miss might not sound like it would justify a 30% crash, the company also revised its long-term outlook downward, expecting 20% year-over-year growth for 2020 (when in the past it had been growing at 40-50% a year).

Why U.S./China trade tensions could make the situation worse

Canada Goose has already said that its revenue going forward will be lower than previously expected. Making matters worse is the possibility that a U.S./China trade war could hit the company in the pocketbook and send shares even lower.

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China is (or used to be) Canada Gooses ace in the hole. Although the companys largest market is North America, China is where the growth happens: in North America, revenue was up just 25% in 2019, whereas global (mainly Chinese) sales jumped 60%. Put simply, if Canada Goose ever wants to get back to the 40% year-over-year revenue growth that it had previously been posting and which its stock price was based on, it will need China.

The problem is that the ongoing trade war threatens all that. China has already threatened a number of trade restrictions on the U.S., including rare earth metals, which the world depends on for smartphone manufacturing. Its not inconceivable that Canada could be targeted by similar tariffs and trade restrictions, given its involvement in Meng Wanzhous detention, a huge flash point in the dispute between the U.S. and China. Were China to go ahead with that, Canada Goose would be a vulnerable target, as one of the most popular Canadian brands in that country.

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Fool contributor Andrew Button 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
In the end, Imelda Cortez's story was too much even for El Salvador's famously harsh courts. Her case was making news around the world, and DNA had confirmed that the newborn she was accused of attempting to murder was the product of rape by a 70-year-old stepfather who'd abused her throughout her childhood.

Cortez, 20, the daughter of a poor rural family, insisted she didn't know she was pregnant until she entered an outhouse and a child came out.

The baby was born healthy and remains so, but in El Salvador, any birth outside a hospital can be deemed suspicious. Because prosecutors claimed she had intended to kill the child after it was born, she was charged with attempted aggravated murder, an offence that carries a possible sentence of 20 years in prison.

Her case is one of many in the Central American nation that are jarringly at odds with the Trudeau government's views on a woman's right to choose. But the federal government itself is helping to fund a Salvadoran justice system that takes a very harsh line on abortion prosecutions. Salvadorans pushing to change the abortion law say it often persecutes women like Cortez who have experienced miscarriages or stillbirths.

"As a government, as Canadians, we will always be unequivocal about defending a woman's right to choose, defending women's rights in general," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said May 16 in Paris. This week, he spoke out against anti-abortion measures in Alabama and other states.

The strictest abortion law in the world

The police and prosecutors who put Cortez in prison receive support and training from the government of Canada. They enforce what many consider to be the harshest anti-abortion law in the world  with no exceptions for rape, incest or efforts to save the life of the mother.

The prosecutors' office in El Salvador typically brings charges against women suspected of abortion that carry a sentence of between 30 and 50 years in prison. Doctors who fail to call police when they suspect an abortion has happened also face prison terms.

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Salvador Melendez/The Associated Press

After a forensic examination, police charged Cortez with "aborto culposo," or abortion with criminal intent (with a maximum sentence of eight years). But lawyer Omar Flores said the Salvadoran attorney-general's office wanted to take a more aggressive approach.

Flores is project coordinator for human rights group FESPAD (Fundacion de Estudios para la Aplicacion del Derecho), which has been deeply involved in the cases of two dozen women charged with terminating or attempting to terminate pregnancies.

Flores told CBC News during Cortez's trial that prosecutors zeroed in on the fact that she hadn't spoken to anyone about her pregnancy or sought medical attention.

Charging a rape victim with murder

"The police were basically trying to attenuate or soften the charge, but the prosecutor (Marisol Caceres) wasn't having that," he said. "At her insistence the charge was elevated to attempted aggravated murder."

Prosecutors relied on the testimony of Imelda's stepfather Pablo Henriquez, who told police the teen had asked him for a dollar to buy sanitary towels four days before the birth  proof, said prosecutors, that she knew she was pregnant.

Henriquez himself was arrested after a nurse at the hospital overheard him threatening to kill Imelda if she disclosed the rapes. But the case against her continued until December 2018, when a judge tossed it out. Imelda Cortez had spent 18 months in prison.

El Salvador is waging a grim struggle against criminal gangs that have made it one of the most dangerous countries the world.

The government of Canada has contributed millions of dollars to El Salvador to assist in that fight  $3.4 million in 2017 alone. The program is administered by the Justice Education Society of Vancouver, B.C.

"The decision to provide aid to build the capacity of elements of the justice sector in El Salvador is a decision of the government of Canada," said Justice Education Society Executive Director Sonia Poulin, adding that it was only part of "a broader set of policy goals and initiatives" across Central America.

Where Canada's money goes

Canadian money has flowed both to the prosecutors' office and to the National Civil Police; some of it has been used to develop forensic skills for crime scene analysis. Forensic evidence collected at the scenes of births and stillbirths, and afterwards in hospitals, has played a major role in some controversial abortion prosecutions.

Then-minister of international development Marie-Claude Bibeau said just before Cortez's final court hearing in December that she was seeking more information about Canada's assistance.

"Such decisions taken by the attorney general are very difficult for me to understand," she told CBC News. "It's always very tempting to withdraw our support, but at the same time if we withdraw we have no voice to influence the attorney general and to advocate for these girls."

A spokesman for Bibeau's replacement in the portfolio, Maryam Monsef, said Canada, "alongside like-minded allies and human rights organizations, closely follows cases involving criminal accusations of women accused of abortions in El Salvador."

"Our ambassador will continue to attend these trials and will continue to raise our concerns with the Government of El Salvador, including with the Attorney General. Canada will continue to express the importance of ensuring women have access to justice," said Geoffroi Montpetit, Monsef's chief of staff.

Abortion was always illegal in traditionally Catholic El Salvador, but until the late 1990s it was permitted when a doctor certified that the mother's life was in danger.

The emergence of an anti-abortion movement, with conservative politicians pushing for murder charges, parallels the rise of evangelical protestantism in Central America.

El Salvador's main right wing party ARENA pushed successfully for a full ban, but it was the leftist government, dominated by members of the former guerrilla movement FMLN, that oversaw a recent wave of incarcerations under the law.

Aggressive prosecution

While a political campaign to stop the prosecutions has been picking up steam, it's fiercely opposed by El Salvador's Catholic hierarchy, evangelical pastors and the prosecutor's office, according those who've campaigned to halt the incarceration of women and girls under the abortion law.

"It's more than just indifference from the prosecutor's office to the plight of these women," said Flores. "The prosecutors are the ones who are always pushing for the longest sentences."

Flores said a new gender policy the Salvadoran government brought in at the end of 2018 was supposed to improve the situation for women and girls. But attorney-general Douglas Melendez, who was showing signs of softening his approach, was removed by the National Assembly and replaced by hardliner Raul Melara.

"Things seem to be back where they were before," said Flores.

Ricardo Langlois is a San Salvador lawyer who is defending two women on abortion charges. One is Maricela Albizuri, 31, who says she gave birth to a stillborn baby in a bathroom. Now on conditional release because of a lifelong history of mental illness, she has been charged with aggravated murder and is facing 30 to 50 years in prison.

His other client, 20-year-old Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz, also says she didn't know she was pregnant until she delivered a child in a bathroom. She told police the baby was stillborn and that she had been raped by a local gang member.

She spent 24 months in pretrial custody before receiving a 30 year sentence. Thanks to an appeal by her lawyers, she now has a new trial that starts June 24. But she still faces a potential 50-year sentence.

Langlois said he would like to see more pressure on the attorney-general's office.

"I think that before giving any kind of contribution, you have to really find out exactly what it's going to be used for," he said.

CBC News asked Flores if he's seen improvements in El Salvador since the Cortez case ended.

"They're still pursuing the same approach: charge first and ask questions later," says Flores. "The trials continue."
FILE PHOTO: Picture of Canadian and Chinese flags taken prior to the meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and China's President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse

BEIJING (Reuters) - China hopes Canada understands the consequences of siding with the United States and doing its bidding, China's foreign ministry said on Friday, after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called for the release of two Canadians detained in China.

Chinese authorities detained Canadian businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig in December, shortly after Canada arrested China-based Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, on a U.S. warrant.

She faces extradition to the United States on charges she conspired to defraud global banks about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran. She and the company have denied the charges and China has called for her release.

Asked about Pence comments that U.S. President Donald Trump would speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the detained Canadians at a G20 meeting in Japan in June, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang implied Canada was to blame for its problems in China.

"We hope that the Canadian side will come to understand the full consequences of pulling chestnuts from the fire on behalf of the United States, and not inflict more harm on themselves," Geng told reporters, without elaborating.

Pence, who has taken a hard line on China, discussed the detained Canadians with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on Thursday, where they also talked about Huawei and China trade issues.

Kovrig and Spavor were formally charged with espionage this month. China has also cut off imports of key Canadian commodities in an effort to press it.

Canada has called the arrests arbitrary.

During his visit, Pence thanked Canada for standing up for the rule of law in detaining Meng.

While Canada says China has made no specific link between the detentions of the two men and Meng's arrest, experts and former diplomats say they have no doubt it is using their cases to pressure Canada.

(Reporting by Cate Cadell; Editing by Ben Blanchard, Robeert Birsel)
The meetings in Ottawa this week between U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau produced a lot of warm words about friendship, shared history, leadership and the importance of the Canada-U.S. trading relationship.

It also injected a note of cold reality: this Liberal prime minister is prepared to go a long way to make his relationship with the Trump administration work, even if means fraying ties with Democrats.

With Pence at his side at their joint media availability, Trudeau first took a shot at Conservative opponents in Canada who questioned the advisability of insisting that the new North American trade deal include chapters to promote labour rights, the environment and gender equity.

From there, the prime minister offered some unsolicited advice to progressive politicians in the U.S., taking aim at congressional Democrats who are refusing to ratify the deal without assurances that those labour standards will be enforced in Mexico.

"They are significant things that we look to the U.S. Democrats to understand are significant improvements and are issues, like Canadian Liberals, they care deeply about," Trudeau said.

"So we are confident that the work being done on ratification is possible because we made sure from multiple angles that this was a better deal for Americans, Canadians and Mexicans."

Democrats: We can judge the deal for ourselves, thank you

Translation: if Liberals are happy with this deal, Democrats should be, too.

This matters, because the Democrats now control the House of Representatives. And at least one leading Democrat on the House ways and means committee that will review the deal is unimpressed by Trudeau's pitch.

"Well, you know, we're capable certainly of judging on our own what the implications of these agreements might be," said Michigan Representative Dan Kildee in an interview with CBC Radio's The House airing Saturday.

"Obviously there's interest in having an improved agreement among the three countries. But we shouldn't settle for something that's marginally better when we can make it a very good and sustainable agreement with far more certainty. And that's all we're trying to do."

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Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada's position is that the deal adequately protects workers and this country's national interests. Canadian union representatives on the advisory council put together by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland support the deal as-is.

Re-opening the deal, they argue, would create uncertainty. And uncertainty is bad for economic growth.

Self-sabotage on the southern border

The White House is eager also to secure a political win by getting the new trade deal through Congress as quickly as possible. Apparently that's still the plan, even though President Donald Trump might well be sabotaging it by imposing new tariffs on Mexico this week  this time to pressure the Mexican government to stop the flow of migrants before they reach the U.S.

Pence has been making stops in Michigan, Ohio and other key states to promote the benefits of the trade deal. Those stops apparently helped to convince him that the Trump administration's "national security" tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum were hurting American businesses.

That helped turn the very conservative Pence into a surprising ally for progressive Liberals.

Even after he apparently was subjected to a lecture from the prime minister on the rollback of abortion rights in some U.S. states, Pence represents a friend for the Trudeau government (or at least a more predictable partner) inside the White House on economic and trade files.

Freeland praised the former Indiana governor for his efforts in getting Trump to lift the tariffs.

"And I do want to say he has played an important role in the United States, both in the NAFTA process and the discussions around lifting of the national security tariffs," she said.

Kildee represents an auto-making district that includes Flint, the city where General Motors was founded a century ago. GM once employed 80,000 people there. Today, the company employs a tenth of that number in the city; many lawmakers blame that decline, in large part, on carmakers moving jobs south to Mexico, where wages are lower.

Kildee said he supports a proposal put forward by two Senate Democrats that includes measures to bar Mexican exporters from benefiting from the deal's reduced tariffs if they violate workers' collective bargaining rights.

The government of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador brought in labour reforms earlier this month that are meant to strengthen unions and their collective bargaining rights.

Democrats responded by announcing this week that they intend to send a delegation to Mexico to make sure that's actually happening.

'We have to have some proof'

Kildee insists he and his colleagues will not be pressured by President Trump or anyone else into ratifying the deal without changes to protect workers.

"We have to have some proof that Mexico is going to live up to this because we have plenty of evidence in the past that they've been unwilling to do to so," he said. "This is just too important for our workers."

With an election fast approaching, quick ratification of the new NAFTA is extremely important politically for the Liberals. And that makes Trudeau and Trump the most unlikely of allies, especially given Trump's habit of using trade and tariffs to punish his country's largest trading partners and closest neighbours.

"We are now ready to proceed with ratification of NAFTA," Freeland said Friday. "I am in close touch with my counterparts in both Mexico and the United States to be aware of their domestic processes and our intention, in so far as possible, is to move in tandem with our partners."

If Trump has his way, that will happen this summer.
Mama June Shannons family is hopeful that she gets the help she needs.

During Friday evenings Mama June: From Not to Hot season finale, Mama Junes family staged an intervention with the reality star in an attempt to get through to her  but unfortunately, it didnt go according to plan.

Upon entering her sister Doe Does house, Mama June, 39, found her daughters Lauryn Pumpkin Shannon, Alana Honey Boo Boo Thompson and Jessica, and niece Amber waiting to speak with her as Doe Doe said, today is your intervention.

If this intervention doesnt work, shes mentally going to have an actual breakdown, said Pumpkin.

Although they entered the conversation with high hopes, the intervention went downhill.

Physically, its like you dont care about your health, said Pumpkin, 19. Im concerned about you. We care about you. Alana cares about you, Jessica cares about you, Doe Doe cares about you and its like everybodys trying to get you back healthy and you have tunnel vision and the only person you see is Geno, she said, referencing Mama Junes boyfriend Eugene Geno Edward Doak.

Mama June and her sister Doe Doe | WE TV

When Pumpkin alleged that Geno was cheating, Mama June said, I dont know what youre talking about.

RELATED: Mama Junes Daughter Pumpkin Says Her Family Is Going Through a Rough Patch After Moms Arrest

Honey Boo Boo, 13, then took the floor, explaining to her mother that her decision to live with Pumpkin was not by choice. Tearfully, Honey Boo Boo added, I swear to God mama its not by choice.

I would love to come home and stay with you, tell you about my day, but I cant do that because Im scared, an emotional Honey Boo Boo said. Im scared to stay at your house.

But Mama June didnt want to proceed with the discussion and proceeded to exit the house. After chasing after her  and therapist Dr. Ish, executive producer Adam Freeman and executive producer Moriah intervening  Mama June admitted that she wasnt the same person she used to be.

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Just ask Geno how many times I sit there and cry to him and be like, I hate my f self. I want to f kill the person that I am now. Because I dont know who I am, she said. I dont know if I want to kill myself kill myself or I want to kill the person that has took over my body.

Honey Boo Boo | WE TV

Eventually, the group convinced Mama June to enter an in-patient treatment facility. That evening, they drove her to the center, which was hours away in North Carolina. After some hesitation, Mama June checked herself into the facility.

But after only 12 hours, June checks herself out, the show revealed on the episode. Geno picks her up. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Two days later, in Alabama, Mama June and Geno were arrested on drug possession charges.

She was arrested on possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia charges after she allegedly had crack cocaine and a crack pipe on her, a spokesperson for the Macon County District Attorneys Office told PEOPLE in March, adding at the time that the substance was undergoing testing.

RELATED: Mugshot of Mama June Released After Crack Cocaine Arrest

Mama June was arrested with Geno, who was charged with third-degree domestic violence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. The spokesperson alleged Doak also had suspected crack cocaine and a crack pipe.

At the time, Mama June claimed that all the drugs and paraphernalia belong to her, the show stated.

As soon as Geno got Mama from the treatment center, I knew it was over from there. Mama just got charged with a possession of crack cocaine, which is a felony, Pumpkin said on the episode.

Honey Boo Boo, Amber and Jessica | WE TV

Since Mama June got arrested in Alabama, she has to stay there until she goes to court, said Doe Doe. The show revealed that Mama June later appeared in court and faces felony charges for drug possession while Geno faces felony charges for drug possession and additional domestic assault charges. Geno is ordered by the court to stay away from June.

But June and Geno check into an Alabama Hotel and Casino together, the show stated. They remain in Alabama together.

According to the show, Mama June is currently in Alabama, where she is awaiting trial. June remains in Alabama. According to June, shes not allowed to leave the state until after her hearing, the show stated. She could face several years of jail time.

Mama June and Geno | Macon County Alabama Sheriff/Shutterstock

In the wake of Mama Junes arrest, Honey Boo Boo has continued to live with Pumpkin, who became her legal guardian. Now, as the family awaits to see what comes of Mama Junes future, theyre standing strong together.

Gathering together at Doe Does house on the episode, the family reminisced about happy times with the From Not to Hot star, including her granddaughter Ella Graces birth.

RELATED: Honey Boo Boo Admits She Has a Crush on Her DWTS: Juniors Partner: Oh My God, So Cute!

I just want mama back, said Honey Boo Boo. Like at the pageant. She helped me and we both did it together. I mean even if she wasnt there, I wouldve gotten first place. And when we were at Dancing with the Stars, she was so fun end me and her spent time together. And she would take me to rehearsals and she would take me here and there.

In her message to June, Doe Doe said, Look at whats been there with you for the whole time, not just the last three years. Look at the life you had versus the life that you have. Think about it: which one would you rather have? Were all still here. You need to make some decisions, some serious decisions and make some life changes.

In her confessional, Honey Boo Boo said, So I really hope this is rock bottom for mama because once you hit rock bottom, theres no more going deeper  you can only go up. I really hope mamas just thinking I just got arrested. I need to get it together. I need to get my s together. If this isnt her wake-up call. I could possibly lose her forever.

As of right now, my hopes for mama is honestly for her to get it together and her to leave Geno and just all-in-all get herself back to where she once was, said Pumpkin.

If you or someone you know is in need of help, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
Nova Scotia's highest court has allowed a look inside a case with ties to the province's longest criminal trial.

In a decision released Friday, a judge of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal rejected a bid by Blois Colpitts to maintain publication bans and sealing orders in his battle with the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, the group which regulates the legal profession.

The society has launched disciplinary proceedings against Colpitts following his conviction last year for fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Colpitts was lead director and counsel for Knowledge House, a Nova Scotia e-learning company that imploded in 2001.

Colpitts and other company directors were accused of manipulating stock prices just before the company's collapse.

Following his conviction, Colpitts reached an agreement with the barristers' group to voluntarily give up practising law until the appeal of his conviction is decided.

In his arguments to the courts, Colpitts said his agreement with the society should have meant no further action would be taken against him. The society took a different view.

Colpitts went to court to fight the society, but he wanted more. He tried to have all aspects of his battle with the society sealed and to have him only identified in court records by the initials XYZ.

Judge rejects bid for anonymity

In a decision last month, Justice Peter Rosinski of the Supreme Court rejected Colpitts's bid for anonymity. Rosinski's decision was sealed until this week's ruling by the Court of Appeal.

"I am not convinced that there is a serious risk to an important public interest to be protected here," Rosinski wrote.

"Regarding the reputational consequences, that is a legal argument constructed of straw," the judge went on to say.

In his review of Rosinski's decision, Justice Duncan Beveridge of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found no error in his reasoning.

Beveridge also dismissed Colpitts's arguments about the potential harm he would face if his legal battle were made public.

"I agree with the Society that there is no evidence how or why Mr. Colpitts would suffer irreparable harm if the public is aware that, in reliance on the terms of the March 27, 2018 agreement, he challenges the Society's decision to lay charges of unprofessional conduct," Beveridge wrote.

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Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan speaks at the IISS Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore

By Idrees Ali

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States will no longer "tiptoe" around Chinese behavior in Asia, with stability in the region threatened on issues ranging from the South China Sea to Taiwan, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Saturday.

Shanahan did not directly name China when making accusations of "actors" destabilizing the region, but went on to say the United States would not ignore Chinese behavior, the latest in the exchange of acerbic remarks between the world's two biggest economies. He added, however, he was keen to foster a military relationship with Beijing.

"Perhaps the greatest long-term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules-based international order," Shanahan said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's biggest security gathering.

"If the trends in these behaviors continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths, sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful."

Shanahan's first major speech since taking over as acting defense secretary in January came as the United States and China remain locked in an escalating trade war and at odds over a range of security issues in Asia.

His reference to artificial features was a swipe at islands built by China in the disputed South China Sea, a strategic waterway claimed almost wholly by Beijing.

"We're not going to ignore Chinese behavior and I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that," Shanahan said later in answer to a question.

A senior Chinese military official responded to Shanahan's comments by saying that the United States' actions on Taiwan and the South China Sea were hardly conducive to maintaining stability in the region.

Shanahan said it was in Beijing's interests to have a constructive relationship with the United States.

Story continues

But he added: "Behavior that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end."

"Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow, and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefited us all - including China."

U.S. lawmakers said Shanahan's speech was impressive.

"I was very impressed and I certainly am looking much more positively on potentially voting for him when his confirmation happens," Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth told reporters.

The White House said last month that it plans to nominate Shanahan as defense secretary, a job he has been doing in an acting capacity since January, the longest in Pentagon history. His nomination, if and when it comes, will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

"The way he laid out the facts and the United States' position in a firm way, but very upfront, impressed me tremendously," Duckworth added.

Senator Angus King, a political independent from Maine and on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Shanahan had "distinguished" himself and was hopeful the confirmation hearing would take place within about a month.

TRADE WAR

Shanahan said that he did not see the current trade dispute between China and the United States as a trade war, but rather just part of trade negotiations.

An increase in Chinese tariffs on most U.S. imports on a $60 billion target list took effect as planned on Saturday, after Washington's own tariff increases.

Shanahan also became the latest senior U.S. official to call out Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying in his speech that it was too close to the Chinese government.

The United States has accused Huawei of espionage, breaching trade sanctions against Iran and intellectual property theft. Huawei disputes all allegations.

China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe is due to address Asia's marquee security summit on Sunday when he is expected to criticize the United States over its implied support for a democratic Taiwan.

On Friday, Shanahan held talks with Wei that both sides called "constructive", although their teams later reverted to type with critical comments on each other's defense strategies.

Along with the expected warnings aimed at China, Shanahan referred to cooperation between the two countries in areas like military-to-military exchanges, counter-piracy and joint efforts to reduce the "extraordinary threat" posed by North Korea's military ambitions.

"I am confident that we'll solve problems," Shanahan said.

Shanahan also called on U.S. allies to contribute more to their own defense. Burden-sharing, from Asia to Europe, has long been a demand of President Donald Trump's administration.

"We need you to invest in ways that take more control over your sovereignty and your own ability to exercise sovereign choices."

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Joe Brock, Lee Chyen Yee and Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)
Suspects arriving at the murder trial (AFP/Getty Images)

An alleged jihadi leader has admitted beheading a Scandinavian tourist in Morocco - but said he now regrets it.

Abdessamad Ejjoud, 25, told a court that his group killed Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and Norwegian Maren Ueland, 28, in the name of Islamic State.

The murders took place last December in Moroccos Atlas Mountains.

Ejjoud, a former street vendor who had previously spent two years in jail for terrorism-related charges, said his group were searching the mountains for tourists when they abucted the European pair.

Moroccans holds placards as people pay tribute to murdered Danish Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Norwegian Maren Ueland in Rabat (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

It is claimed that two members of the group killed the women, while a third filmed the murders on his phone.

The horrific footage was soon posted online.

Footage of the beheading showed one of the killers telling the camera that the murder was payback for the the deaths of jihadis in Syria.

In the video, the attackers can be heard shouting "enemies of Allah" and "revenge for our brothers in Hajin, a town in eastern Syria.

The group also pledged their allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Another suspect being led into court. The trial continues (AFP/Getty Images)

Ejjoud though told the court that he now regrets his actions.

"I regret what happened and I am still trying to grasp it, he said. After failing to join the Islamic State, we decided to do jihad at home.

He, Rachid Afatti and Ouziad Younes have been charged in relation to the two Scandinavian students' deaths.

The Scandinavian women knew each other after attending the same university.

Their bodies were discovered by two French tourists on December 17.

Their remains were subsequently flown home and the murders prompted vigils in Morocco for the two victims.

---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK---
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] Nearly a month later, Thomas is speaking out about his decision to skip the ceremony. The couple was reportedly disappointed when he said he couldn't attend due to heart surgery. Thomas has been getting to know Harry through phone calls since he and Meghan started dating. During these phone calls, Thomas even got a taste for Harry's politics. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]

In just a few days, President Trump will touch down in London to meet the British royal family with the exception of Meghan Markle, and, after the president's latest comment, it's probably for the best.

Ahead of his visit across the pond, a reporter from British newspaper The Sun informed Trump that Meghan wouldn't be joining his get-together with the rest of the monarchy. "I didnt know that. I hope she is okay," he replied.

She just gave birth to the newest heir to the throne, Archie Harrison  NBD.

No I didnt know that she was nasty, POTUS says about Meghan Markle in the clip after the interviewer told him that in 2016 shed threatened to leave the US if he was elected. https://t.co/ufduNAppCr  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 1, 2019

The royal correspondent then went on to tell Trump that Meghan is not a fan of his politics and backed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, which prompted the president to seemingly insult the American princess. "I didnt know that. What can I say? I didnt know that she was nasty," he said. While it's unclear if Trump meant "nasty" as in the shorthand for women who support Clinton, aka the "nasty woman" movement, it's still not nice to use that word when describing someone's character.

Trump quickly attempted to smooth things over by adding that he believed she would make a "very good" princess. It is nice, and I am sure she will do excellently, he said. She will be very good. I hope she does [succeed]."

Story continues

WPA Pool/Getty Images

Meghan's not Trump's biggest fan either. During an interview on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, she was vocal about her dislike for the then-presidential candidate. Its really the moment I go; we film Suits in Toronto and I might just stay in Canada, she said. Yes, of course, Trump is divisive, think about female voters alone, right? I think it was in 2012 the Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points; that is a huge number and with as misogynistic as Trump is, and so vocal about it, that is a huge chunk of it.

Looks like maternity leave couldn't have come at a better time for Meghan.
Three men have been sentenced to death for the murder of British expatriate Alan Hogg and his wife Nhott (R) (AP/FACEBOOK)

Three Thai men have received the death penalty for the murder of a British expat and his Thai wife whose brother allegedly ordered the killings.

Phrae Provincial Court issued its verdict in the case of 64-year-old retired petroleum engineer Alan Hogg and his 61-year-old wife Nhot Suddaen.

Thai officers stand by the area where the bodies of murdered Briton Alan Hogg and his Thai wife were found, in Phrae province, Thailand (AP)

Their bodies were found buried on their property in northern Thailand in September 2018.

Mr Hoggs brother-in law, Warut Rattanasajjakitt, 63, paid hit man Kittipong Kamwan, 24, to batter Nhot to death with a hammer while associate Phia Kamsai, 63, blasted the businessman with a shotgun.

Warut Rattanasajjakit masterminded the murder of the British expat and his wife (AP)

All three were found guilty of premeditated murder, concealing bodies, illegal possession of weapons without licences and bringing the weapons into the city without licences.

Police say the killers were traced after they stole the victims pick-up truck.

The businessman and his wife were murdered by contract killers in Northern Thailand (FACEBOOK)

The men confessed to being hired by Ms Nhots brother to kill the couple for financial gain.

A fourth defendant, Sima Uppamun, 60, was found guilty of assisting premeditated murder.

Read more on Yahoo News UK:

Jihadi gang leader admits beheading Scandinavian tourists

British teen raped in hotel spa in Majorca

Controlling husband found guilty of bludgeoning and hacking wife to death

Uppamun admitted acting as an 'agent' to help Warut with the plan.

The defendant had his sentence commuted to 25 years in prison for co-operating with the investigation.

The court called the murders an act that extremely damages the countrys reputation as unable to ensure the safety of lives and assets.

Kittpong Kumwan and two other men have been sentenced to death for the murders (AP)

It said the suspects were considered extremely dangerous to society.

On Friday, the court sentenced the three men to death by lethal injection but they have 30 days to appeal the ruling.

If the appeal is rejected, the guilty men could be executed within days.

The bodies of the retired petroleum engineer and his wife Nhot Suddaen were discovered on the property of their home (AP)

After the couples murder, it emerged that Warut had fallen out with Alan and Nhot over a family feud.

He had become increasingly jealous at Alan's wealth, which Mr Hogg had used to build a luxury mansion, while his brother-in-law lived in a wooden hut next door.

Police said Warut was 'angry and resentful' at the businessman for borrowing money from the couple.
Here we reproduce news and opinion articles in the print and electronic media since October 8, 2008, about each of our 58 county grand juries. Most are about grand jury reports. Our posting of these articles does not purport to reflect the opinions of CGJA or our members. We hope that this feature is a resource to grand juries, grand jury advisors, CGJA chapters, the media, and the public. Sponsored by the California Grand Jurors' Association, www.cgja.org/




Clark Yolitz, Menomonie market president of Dairy State Bank, was among over 200 other bankers from around Wisconsin who met last week for Capitol Day in Madison.

This is the eleventh year the states bankers have joined forces to discuss issues impacting Wisconsins banking industry with lawmakers.

At this point in our history, it is more important than ever for Wisconsins bankers to talk with our elected representatives about the financial issues effecting the Dunn County area, said Yolitz. The welfare of the banking industry is directly tied to the welfare of our communities.

Yolitz met with state Rep. Rob Summerfield of the 67th Assembly District, representing Dunn and Chippewa counties.

We are working directly with business owners, farmers, and residents of this area, so our bankers firsthand knowledge is invaluable to the lawmakers who debate and decide on the rules and regulations that guide banks, and that ultimately effect the communities we both serve, said Yolitz.

We discussed issues that directly affect our industry, but more importantly, we talked about how banks help the communities they serve.

In addition to two locations in Menomonie, Dairy State Bank has offices in the Dunn County villages of Colfax, Downsville and Wheeler and the Chippewa County city of Bloomer. There are seven other locations in Polk, Barron and Washburn counties.

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Have your say

The Public Service Commission will hold back-to-back hearings on Friday, June 14, on a complaint against VC Tech, the contractor that struck a gas line triggering the July 10 natural gas explosion in Sun Prairie.

Party hearing: 10 a.m.

Public hearing: immediately following

Both hearings are open to the public and will take place in the hearing room on the first floor of the Hills Farm State Office Building, 4822 Madison Yards Way.

Public comments can be made during the second hearing or submitted in writing through June 13. Mail comments to Docket 9300-PLI-100 Comments, Public Service Commission, PO Box 7854, Madison, WI 53707
Duplicate drivers licenses were fraudulently ordered for 71 Dane County residents, indicating that those residents identifying information had been compromised, officials with the state Department of Transportation said Friday.

Several callers told the DOT that they received duplicate drivers licenses in the mail that they had not ordered, Department of Motor Vehicles administrator Kristina Boardman said.

Officials discovered that the drivers licenses had been ordered through the DMVs online system, Boardman said, which requires knowledge of a persons Social Security number, drivers license number and date of birth.

The DOT had not had a data breach, Boardman said, but the individuals whose licenses were fraudulently ordered likely had their information compromised at some point. Boardman said some of the callers also said credit cards had been fraudulently ordered in their names.

After searching for patterns in the orders, Boardman said the department found that 27 of the fraudulent drivers licenses had already been mailed. Another 44 licenses ordered fraudulently were caught before being mailed.

We are concerned that because these are all on the same street that they (the people who fraudulently ordered the licenses) were hoping to intercept the mail when it was being delivered, Boardman said.

Boardman said she doesnt know if any of the mailed drivers licenses had been intercepted.

All 71 individuals affected will be mailed notices about the situation, whether or not the fraudulent license had been shipped, and steps people can take to protect their identities.

The DOT offers an electronic notification program at wisconsindmv.gov/enotify, where Wisconsin residents can sign up to receive emailed renewal notices as well as confirmation of transactions.

With the notification system, Boardman said, People can take control early if they spot a transaction they didnt order.

The online system for ordering duplicate drivers licenses and ID cards has been shut down, Boardman said. Individuals can request duplicate licenses in person at DMV locations.

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At the 2019 IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nat Sherman International will release a limited edition cigar under its Timeless brand known as the Timeless 2019 Limited Edition.

The Timeless 2019 Limited Edition consists of a Dominican Shade grown Colorado Oscuro wrapper over a Dominican binder and fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The cigar is being produced by the Quesada factory in Licey, Dominican Republic. The Timeless 2019 Limited Edition will be available in one size  a 6 x 50 Toro and will be presented in five-count boxes. Pricing is set at $85.00 MSRP per box. Production is limited to 5,000 five-count boxes.

This is the second limited edition released by Nat Sherman under the Timeless brand. Earlier this year, the Nat Sherman Timeless Limited Edition TAA Exclusive was released to Tobacconist Association of America (TAA) retailers. In addition to the Timeless 2019 Limited Edition, Nat Sherman is also releasing a limited edition under its Epoca brand at the IPCPR Trade Show.

These two unique Limited Edition cigars are in keeping with our tradition of innovation over the last nearly 90 years, said Michael Herklots, Vice President of Nat Sherman International in a press release. Weve worked relentlessly to ensure these limited edition cigars are meaningful and memorable additions to the collections of all adult premium cigar enthusiasts.

At a glance, here is a look at the Timeless 2019 Limited Edition:

Blend and Origin

Wrapper: Dominican Shade Grown Colorado Oscuro

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Dominican Republic

Factory: Quesada Cigars S.A.

Vitolas Offered

Toro: 6 x 50

Photo Credit: Nat Sherman International
Runza restaurant is far more than just a source of income for Joe Niedbalski.

The new managing partner/owner of the local 33rd Avenue branch in Columbus has been tied to the company for the better part of 19 years. Its also how he met his wife, Becki, in 2004 when she worked at the now-closed Rock n Roll Runza in downtown Lincoln.

After former managing partner/owner Steve Hughes stepped away from his leadership role early this year, Niedbalski filled the void. The 1997 Scotus Central Catholic High School graduate prior to filling this role had a very similar position at a Lincoln location. Becki currently serves as a district supervisor for numerous Runza locations across Nebraska.

It is cool, we never really planned on moving back to Columbus, Joe said. Then this opportunity kind of came up at the beginning of the year with the other manager leaving. They came to us because they knew I was from the area and had experience, and if someone moves to a location like this, they (Runza corporate) would like somebody that is local and has an idea about the community.

Joe, Becki and their three young daughters are in the process of transitioning from Lincoln to Columbus. The goal, Joe said, is to close on a home in Columbus in late June.

I think that he is really excited  we are both excited to just kind of get back to more of a community environment, Becki said. Rather than being in a bigger place where everyone is doing their own thing and youre stuck in traffic  things like that.

Joe is a man who has worn many hats for Runza throughout the years. In addition to his management roles, he also served as an Information Technology (IT) specialist and worked for some time as a district supervisor.

Joe said that transitioning from Lincoln to Columbus has been pretty smooth sailing overall, adding that taking over an experienced, dedicated staff has paid dividends regarding his ability to settle in.

You know, hats off to the staff here, because we have retained most everyone and theyve really helped out with keeping things organized, Joe said. Because with any management change its difficult  you never know whats going to happen when someone new comes in and brings changes.

The Columbus Runza, Joe said, was founded in 1982 at the same location it resides today. This year commemorates 70 years of Runza being in operation. During that time frame, 81 locations have sprouted up around Nebraska, with four others in surrounding states.

Interestingly enough, the Columbus branch is one of the top-performing Runza franchises.

This store is one of the top-four busiest stores out of our 85-location chain, which is just crazy, he said. If you drive by here any time of the day the drive-thru is usually pretty busy, but we try to move things along as quickly as possible.

One aspect of Joes job that he really enjoys is cultivating talent. In 2000, when he first stepped foot inside of a Runza, he was just a part-time worker, albeit one with a real sense of drive and vision. He wants his staff  whether high school students or adults  to aspire for great things in their lives.

And thats kind of what Becki and my goal is, to kind of develop the staff here and maybe find another manager that we can maybe open a store somewhere else  we could see that down the road, Joe said. I definitely like to share (with staff) what I have learned. With a lot of the high schoolers, I try telling them, Dont just come here and scoop fries for a year, learn how much things cost, or why is Joe always stressed out about things? Just learn about the business more so they can use that down the road.

Becki said that she wont have a big role in the day-to-day operation of the Columbus Runza, but that she will periodically pop in to help where needed.

A lot of her focus will be placed on making sure her young children settle in and have a great place to call home.

We are excited for them to be a little closer to some family that we still have in Columbus, Becki said of her children. And just get them involved in dance studios and all of the other activities that Columbus offers to kids.

Sam Pimper is the news editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at sam.pimper@lee.net.

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Thrivent Financial consultant Melanie Knoepfle knew she wanted to do something to help those in need in the aftermath of Marchs historic flooding that decimated much of the state, though wasnt quite sure where to begin.

But after coming across a friends before-and-after photos of historic Camp Pawnee on social media, she found herself in somewhat disbelief.

Its devastating. Its pretty much obliterated, Knoepfle said of the camp on the south end of Columbus, noting its roads, electrical and plumbing are all in dire need. I knew I wanted to do something for flood relief. Sometimes you just dont know where to start and this was a good place where I knew we could make a significant impact for Camp Pawnee.

So Knoepfle, along with Jane Tooley, Habitat for Humanity of Columbus Executive Director Lori Peters, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services/Premier Real Estate agent Lisa Saenz, Julie Urkoski (the office manager at the Thrivent office in Columbus) and Dr. Kurt Kapels, all worked to create the Camp Pawnee Flood Relief Fundraiser. The Thrivent Communities gathering will take place from 6-9 p.m. June 9 at The Eagles, 3205 12th St. in Columbus, and see all proceeds go to the local flood relief and restoration of the popular venue thanks to Thrivent Financial covering the cost of the entire event.

As part of it, participants will be able to put their knack for trivia to the test. Saenz said questions will range in topic, including Camp Pawnee, the Columbus area, Nebraska and a variety of others.

People can expect a good time with good drinks and food, and they can prove to be the smartest one in the room, Sanez said. We just hope to pump some new life into the camp. It has been around a long time.

Registration is open tentatively through Wednesday and space is limited, so officials are encouraging those interested in participating to sign up sooner than later. It is $300 for an eight-person table, which includes the price of the meal they'll get on site. There will also be a cash bar.

Those who dont have a full table can also register but will be assigned a table on the night of the event. Registration for individuals is $37.50 per person.

Participants are asked to decorate their tables and encouraged to wear costumes. Decorating and dressing up arent necessarily required, but prizes will be awarded for the best table theme and best costume before the night is over.

Trivia experts can also expect some sort of goody for taking first-place, along with bragging rights.

Those interested can register by calling Knoepfle at 402-606-4410 or email at columbusneoffice@thrivent.com. The plan is to make the trivia night an annual fundraiser for the local Habitat for Humanity. A decision was made this year to help Camp Pawnee after seeing what the flood did to the property.

The night will also feature a silent auction and a raffle of sorts.

Every single thing is going to help Camp Pawnee, Knoepfle said, noting she lives close to the venue. I know the YMCA uses it for day camps. I know how badly (Camp Pawnee) was affected and that theyre a nonprofit, so theyre going to need all of these funds.

Matt Lindberg is the managing editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at matt.lindberg@lee.net.

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Columbus producer Bill Luckeys family has been tending land in Columbus about 3 miles north of Behlen Mfg. Co. for generations.

Luckey currently owns a wean-to-finish operation and also holds partial ownership of a sow farm. He is responsible for the daily care of 740 nursery pigs and 1,400 finisher pigs. In addition, he and his family operate a 2,000-head custom contract finisher, market 10,000 pigs annually and raise corn, bean and cattle on 700 acres.

Its quite an operation, and before Luckey took over, it was manned by his parents and grandparents before them.

Ive lived on my farm all my life, Luckey said. And my grandparents were on the same section (of land), just on the other corner of the section.

His familys legacy is ingrained in the land theyve operated for all of those decades.

Third or fourth, probably fourth - fifth, I dont know, he said of how many generations of family members have run their hands through the dirt on his property. It just seems like they have always been farming.

After being appointed to the National Pork Board recently, Luckey will have the opportunity to look after the interests of producers much like himself all throughout the United States. The National Pork Board is comprised of 15 pork producers nominated by the National Pork Producers Delegate Body, made up of 132 producers and importer members, according to information provided by the Nebraska Pork Producers Association (NPPA).

It gives me great pleasure to extend my warmest congratulations to Bill on his appointment to the National Pork Board, said Tim Chancellor, president of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, through a released statement. I am confident that Bill will continue his unwavering dedication to the pork industry.

Luckey currently serves the pork and ag industry in numerous capacities, and in fact, it can be a bit of a challenge balancing his many roles and obligations. He said he really has to pick and choose selectively where he allocates his time and resources.

The new board member serves on the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee and on the board of directors for the Swine Health Information Center. In addition, he has given more than 50 speeches as an Operation Main Street 2.0 speaker, served on the National Pork Producers Council board of directors from 2008-2014 and on the NPPA board of directors from 2001-2007. He was president during his final year on the NPPA board of directors.

In April, Luckey volunteered his services in Tanzania helping plant hybrid seed corn at a local orphanage and help provide a more solid revenue stream for the Christian organization.

Luckey said that decisions made by the National Pork Board are designed to positively impact the industry as a whole, its not about appointed members representing their own states interests.

When we vote we look at what would be best for the whole industry, not just for my operation or just for Nebraska, Luckey said. So I dont represent Nebraska on this  even though I come from Nebraska  I represent all pork producers all across the country.

Through his role, Luckey will do his fair share of traveling. There are six bi-monthly in-person meetings in addition to several other teleconferences and gatherings.

Some will be in Des Moines (Iowa), I think next month there is one in Wisconsin, the one next week would have been with the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, but that was canceled because of the African Swine Fever situation in China  Because we have a lot of visitors from other countries and a lot of them (countries) are ASF positive, so we didnt want to run the risk of having it brought into our country.

Luckey said he views being on the board as a big honor and responsibility. He noted that members of the board are highly qualified individuals who are able to make forward-thinking decisions that will help propel their industry into the future.

You have someone who is directly in the business making decisions, he said of the governing body. And by being in organizations you stay much more informed about what is going on and you can help direct the industry or the organization in a way that you feel is beneficial.

Although his position isnt a state seat, Luckey is definitely proud of where he is from and feels fortunate to represent Columbus, Platte County and Nebraska on the national pork scene.

When you introduce yourself you always say that you are from Nebraska, he said. Everyone on the board is proud of where they come from, but we are also proud to represent the pork industry across the whole country.

Sam Pimper is the news editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at sam.pimper@lee.net.

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Dean Pearsoll

Age 68

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, at First United Methodist Church in Columbus. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, at McKown Funeral Home, and will continue from 1 p.m. until service time on Thursday at the church. Interment will be in the Columbus Cemetery with military honors by Hartman Post # 84, American Legion Honor Guard.
There was a big media buildup and a lot of wild guessing by the pundits on FOX and CNN about what Special Counsel Robert Mueller was going to say in his public statement on Wednesday.

But in the end, after Mueller's nearly 10-minute sum-up of his two-year, $40 million investigation into Russian election interference in the 2016 election, we were left with no bombshells, no smoking guns, no surprise twists - nothing new.

We heard nothing from Mueller we didn't already know, and he took no questions from reporters.

But because the language Mueller used this week was different from the language Attorney General William Barr used when he summarized the basic conclusions of the Mueller Report Barr in April, Mueller's statement gave a fresh jolt of energy and hope to the Deranged Democrats' dream of impeaching the president.

Everyone knows that if Mueller had found even a whiff of collusion with the Russians or the slightest hint of obstruction of justice by President Trump, he would have already made that charge - in BIG CAPITAL LETTERS - on page one of his 400-plus-page report.

Mueller didn't do that in April and he didn't do it Wednesday.

But that didn't stop most of the 23 Democrats running for president or the Trump Hate Media from slobbering all over Mueller's deviously worded and legally shifty statement.

The Democrats and CNN's embarrassingly unbalanced panels of Trump-hating journalists parsed every other word to "prove" that, see, Mueller thought Trump really was guilty of obstruction but he just couldn't charge him because he's a sitting president.

Now, thanks to what Mueller said and didn't say, the craziest Democrats in the House wanted to start impeaching the president yesterday morning. But Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi knows nothing new was learned Wednesday that wasn't already in Mueller's report.

Pelosi may eventually be forced by her caucus to proceed with impeachment, but she knows that it would probably backfire politically on the Democrats in 2020 and that it is never going to happen anyway as long as Republicans rule the Senate.

Despite the liberal media's biased overreaction, Mueller's statement was another fizzled "blockbuster" in the "Russian Collision" fantasy that diehard Trump haters still think was real.

The issue Mueller raised that should matter most to Americans now is, "What exactly did the Russians do to screw with our democracy in 2016?" and "What should we be doing to prevent them from trying to screw with our elections next fall?"

None of the Democrats running for president said anything about working on legislation to prevent Russian hackers from meddling in our elections again.

All they and their soulmates in the liberal media did was declare Mueller a great American patriot and climb on the "Impeach Trump Now" bandwagon.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin and his old KGB comrades in Moscow are still laughing their butts off about 2016.

They didn't spend much on Facebook ads. They didn't hack our election systems and change vote totals. And they didn't help Trump steal the White House from Hillary.

But their meddling has succeeded in disrupting the American political system far beyond Putin's wildest dreams.

And thanks to the sore-loser Democrats and the Trump-hating establishment media, both of which still refuse to believe Trump could have beaten Hillary without committing a crime or treason, Russia's interference is still succeeding.

Mueller made a big deal out of Russia's meddling in the 2016 election on Wednesday and stressed in his written report how deeply involved they were.

But you don't hear the Democrats in Congress and the liberal media talking about the importance of stopping the Russians from interfering in our elections.

All we're hearing is the "I" word - impeachment.

In the end, the deranged reaction to Mueller's statement by the Democrats in Congress and their soulmates in the media has made it clear - for the hundredth time - that they are much more interested in stopping Trump in 2020 than stopping the Russians.

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan." He is the founder of the email service reagan.com and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter.

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This week we have one of those rare occasions when government priorities and government funding match exactly. As Fox News reports, "Loose change left at airports may be used to help fund border operations."

If you need additional proof Washington, Inc. doesn't give a damn about stopping and reversing illegal immigration, this should do it.

Maybe Trump will order the Pentagon to go through the seats looking for nickels after Nancy Pelosi commandeers a military jet to take her home on weekends.

Pelosi, though isn't the problem. She's doing what she promised her voters. The House isn't the problem. Even under the 'leadership' of Paul RINO immigration bills were passed and forwarded to the Senate.

The problem is the Senate. Even when Republicans controlled the presidency and both houses nothing was done. People are tired of an immigration policy that only works against citizens and the Chamber of Commerce conservatives who refuse to change it.

Already Sen. Thom Tillis (R - Carolina del Norte) has a primary opponent named Garland Tucker III who is running TV commercials. Sen. Susan Collins (R - Intermittently) has a primary opponent, as does Sen. Lindsey Graham (R - Weathervane). All fit Tucker Carlson's description of our ruling class, "decadent and narcissistic."

These primary opponents are a start, because without a change in the Senate, retaking the House and re-electing Trump will be as meaningless for border enforcement as it was in 2016.

The only way for Trump to send a message that he demands cooperation from the Senate is if he personally defeats his main roadblock: Curator of the Senate Mitch McConnell.

McConnell has treated Trump and his agenda with thinly disguised disdain since the election. McConnell's claim to fame is mere longevity in office, as if he were a turtle only to be valued by how long he has been in existence.

McConnell is completely undisturbed by the single most important issue facing the nation - the approximately 30 million illegal aliens already living inside our borders.

Instead of bucking the cheap labor lobby that supports the world's first taxpayera'-subsidized invasion, McConnell proudly introduces trivial legislation to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco to 21.

"Youth vaping is a public health crisis," McConnell announces while the real crisis is bussing the table in the restaurant where he eats.

As long as McConnell is 'leading' the Senate, Trump's immigration agenda and reducing the size of government is dead. (Although Mitch and Jared - that negotiating fool - might be able to work something out on keeping Mitch's wife as part of the cabinet during the second term, too.)

The Curator is gearing up for his 2020 re-election by trumpeting his two biggest accomplishments: Acting as the Judicial Human Resources Dept. for the White House and increasing the national debt.

Instead of tweeting about whatever has penetrated his thin skin this morning, President Trump should be lining up and funding a primary challenger for McConnell. Mitch's approval rating among Kentucky voters is what pollsters term "underwater." Fiftya'six percent disapprove of job his performance while only 33 percent approve.

But wait until they find out about his get tough policy on Juul!

Trump on the other hand is vastly more popular. His approval rating is 61 percent compared to a disapproval of 35 percent. Even in 2016 Trump was more popular. He carried Kentucky by 30 points, while McConnell two years before won by only 16.

Challenging McConnell in the primary isn't exactly a suicide mission. His last challenger, Matt Bevin, is now the state's governor.

If Trump recruited a primary challenger and then put his charisma and his cash behind the challenger I believe the Mitch the Turtle would be soup. More important, it would send a message to the rest of the housebroken conservatives in the Senate that there are real costs to opposing the president's agenda.

And so what if the challenger loses? Could McConnell pass any less of Trump's immigration and border security legislation? How much more passive aggression does the Curator contain?

Either Trump changes the composition of the Senate or his administration will have accomplished less than the Bush Interregnum. The only difference being Trump's was noisier.

Michael Shannon is a commentator and public relations consultant, and is the author of "A Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times." He can be reached at mandate.mmpr@gmail.com.

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We share our bodies with trillions of microbes that are critical to staying healthy, but now scientists are getting a much-needed close look at how those bugs can get out of whack and spur disease.

One lesson: A single test to see what gut bacteria you harbor wont tell much. Research published Wednesday found repeat testing spotted the microbial zoo changing in ways that eventually may help doctors determine whos at risk of preterm birth, inflammatory bowel disease, even diabetes.

At issue is whats called the microbiome, the community of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live on the skin or in the gut, nose or reproductive tract.

The instability of our microbiome might be an early indicator of something going awry, said Dr. Lita Proctor, who oversees microbiome research at the National Institutes of Health.

A hot field

Theres lots of research identifying the thousands of species that inhabit our bodies and interact in ways important for health, such as good digestion. Microbiomes start forming at birth and are different depending on whether babies were born vaginally or via C-section.

And they change with age and different exposures, such as a course of antibiotics that can wipe out friendly bacteria along with infection-causing ones.

But cataloging differences in microbes in healthy and unhealthy people isnt enough information. What jobs do the bugs perform? Do they temporarily rev up or shut down if you get an infection or become pregnant or put on 20 pounds? When is a shift in your microbiome not just temporary but bad for long-term health  and is it possible to fix?

A trio of NIH-funded studies tracked three microbiome-related health conditions to learn how to start finding those answers.

Inflammatory bowel diseases

For a year, a Harvard-led research team tracked 132 people with conditions such as painful Crohns disease and some healthy people for comparison. They took stool samples every two weeks, and checked how microbes affected the immune system or metabolism.

As the diseases wax and wane, so does microbial activity, researchers reported in the journal Nature. Surprisingly, many times a patients gut microbiome changed radically in just a few weeks before a flare-up.

Some of the microbes produce molecules that keep the intestinal lining healthy, likely one reason the disease worsened when those bugs disappeared, Proctor said.

Premature birth

About 1 in 10 babies is born prematurely, and researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University found a warning sign in the vaginal microbiome, which changes over the course of pregnancy.

Researchers tracked nearly 600 pregnancies, and reported in Nature Medicine that women who delivered preterm  especially African Americans  tended to have lower than normal levels of a type of Lactobacillus bacteria as early as the first trimester.

They also harbored higher levels of certain other bacteria species, which are linked to inflammation.

Type 2 diabetes

Also in Nature, a Stanford University-led research team tracked 106 people for four years, some healthy and some pre-diabetic. Up to 10 percent of pre-diabetics will develop diabetes each year, but theres little way to predict who.

The researchers did quarterly tests for microbial, genetic and molecular changes, plus testing when the volunteers caught a respiratory infection and even while some deliberately put on and lost weight. Not surprisingly, they found a list of microbial and inflammatory early warning signs of brewing diabetes.

But most interestingly, people who are insulin-resistant showed delayed immune responses to respiratory infections, correlating with tamped-down microbial reactions.

Whats next?

The studies provide an amazing and overwhelming amount of data but more work is needed to tell if the clues will pan out, said immunologist Ken Cadwell of NYU Langone Health, who wasnt involved in the new research.

But the take-home message, especially since at-home gut bacteria tests already are sold: If you test your microbiome on Tuesday, its going to tell you about your microbiome on Tuesday, cautioned Cadwell. To one day monitor important changes will require easier, cheaper tests, he added.

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Despite resistance from Russia, China and African countries, United Nation Security Council (UNSC) has extended an arms embargo and sanctions on South Sudan for a year.

Key Highlights

Vote : A US-drafted resolution was adopted by UNSC after a vote of 10 in favour with five abstentions. As per the rule, in the 15-member council, a resolution presented for vote requires a minimum of nine votes for adoption.

: A US-drafted resolution was adopted by UNSC after a vote of 10 in favour with five abstentions. As per the rule, in the 15-member council, a resolution presented for vote requires a minimum of nine votes for adoption. Outcome: Post adoption of resolution an arms embargo is placed on South Sudan along with an assets freeze and global travel ban put on eight South Sudanese nationals for their role in fuelling the war. The measure adopted will renews until 31 May 2020.

About UNSC Sanction
The World Health Organisation (WHO) awarded Rajasthan governments Medical & Health Department its Tobacco Control Award for year 2019 in recognition of Rajasthans achievements in the field of tobacco control.

Key Highlights

The Award was conferred by WHO on occasion of World No Tobacco Day (celebrated on 31 May 2019) at a function in New Delhi.

Background : Every year WHO recognizes various individuals and institutions worldwide and in each of six WHO regions for their accomplishments in area of tobacco control. For this years prestigious award WHO selected total 33 institutions and individuals across world including five organisations from the South-East Asian (SEA) region viz. India, Thailand and Indonesia. The two institutes selected from India (in SEA region) includes Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (in New Delhi) and Rajasthans Health Department.

: Every year WHO recognizes various individuals and institutions worldwide and in each of six WHO regions for their accomplishments in area of tobacco control. For this years prestigious award WHO selected total 33 institutions and individuals across world including five organisations from the South-East Asian (SEA) region viz. India, Thailand and Indonesia. The two institutes selected from India (in SEA region) includes Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (in New Delhi) and Rajasthans Health Department. Rajathans Medical and Health Department was the only government body in country which was awarded for its tobacco-free initiatives.

Rajasthans Tobacco Campaigns
New York City subway riders have had some creative nonsense thrown their way lately, including but definitely not limited to: a lit firecracker; a prolific emergency-brake-pulling malcontent; and an overflowing toilet clogging rush hour service. But on Friday morning, the MTA dusted off one of its classic horrors: the broken subway elevator.

Riders say they were trapped for upwards of 80 (!) minutes on an "unbearably hot" elevator at the 72nd St. Q train station, beginning at 9 a.m. Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene, but a spokesperson for the FDNY told Gothamist that it "took a while to access due to where they were."

"It's a blind shaft below the ground," the spokesperson explained. "So, they're trapped in the middle of brick." All 17 stuck commuters were freed about an hour after the firefighters showed up. Authorities said no one was injured, though people were understandably shaken up.

Weve been stuck in this elevator for almost 40 minutes. Its getting unbearably hot in here and people are beginning to lose their cool. @MTA pic.twitter.com/kacTl0FYl9  Jerry (@allmanbrosfan) May 31, 2019

Hi all - thanks for the well wishes. We got out after an hour and 20 minutes of being stuck in there. Heard the FDNY say that they were some of the worst elevators they had seen. Sounds par for the course when it comes to the MTA!  Jerry (@allmanbrosfan) May 31, 2019

NYC Transit President Andy Byford addressed the incident during an unrelated press conference on Friday, blaming the third-party contractor, Schindler, that operates the elevator. "Obviously we're now having urgent discussions with Schindler about why that elevator stalled," Byford said. "The bottom line is we're going to hold them to account. I do not want my customers trapped in elevators, period." (Schindler did not immediately respond to Gothamist's inquiries.)

Of course, accessibility advocates have long pointed out that the subway's elevators are notoriously unreliable. A 2017 audit by the city's comptroller found that the MTA skipped out on scheduled maintenance for nearly 80 percent of the sampled escalators and elevators; the situation was even worse for the system's 53 elevators that are privately owned and operatedan arrangement that developers may accept in exchange for building concessions from the city.

Before holding nearly 20 New Yorkers hostage earlier today, this particular elevator was installed as part of the Second Avenue Subway project only two years ago. But just because the infrastructure isn't aged, doesn't mean it's functional: A study by the Transit Center found that in the first quarter of 2017, the new elevator at Lex/63rd Street, just one stop from this morning's failure, was out of service more often than any other elevator in the whole system.

And would you look at that: It just happened again.

An elevator just went out of service at the Lexington Av / 63 St station, which serves the #F #Q lines. It is the one that is on the mezzanine of 3rd ave entrance to f/q platform for service in both directions.  MTA Elevator Outages (@MtaOutages) May 31, 2019

We the Commuters is a weekly newsletter about transportation from WNYC and Gothamist. Sign up below for essential commuting coverage delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

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President Trump has escalated his war on facts and fact-finders. On issues ranging from climate change and missile testing to intelligence estimates and economic statistics, the Lord of the Lies consistently fabricates evidence to fit his own misshapen view of reality.

As a result, he is polluting the whole policy process. It's totally legitimate to have different priorities, preferences and constituencies. But sensible -- and effective -- programs are impossible if there is no agreement on independent information gathered and analyzed by professional procedures.

The Emperor of Error has extended his pattern of perversion to the political sphere, where he retweeted a video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that deliberately distorted her speech cadence to make her seem incoherent.

That went too far even for some Republicans, like Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, who told CBS, "You shouldn't disseminate information that you know is ultimately doctored." The president's strategy of deception, Hurd added, is "something that gets at the heart of our democracy."

There's nothing new about any of this. The Washington Post calculates that the president has made more than 10,000 "false or misleading statements" since taking office. But the problem is getting worse. It's bad enough for the president to attempt to deflate the intelligence of a political rival, or inflate the size of his crowds or his wealth. It's far more damaging for him to undermine the essential functions of government.

Take the issue of North Korea's missile tests. National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters there was "no doubt" that Pyongyang had violated United Nations Security Council resolutions by launching at least three short-range ballistic missiles earlier this month. Yet the president, with absolutely no evidence to support his view, blithely remarked, "My people think it could have been a violation. I view it differently."

"Lying about what the North Koreans are doing is a recipe for disaster," Jeffrey Lewis, an arms expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told the Washington Post. It will only encourage North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to test more and bigger weapons as a way of ratcheting up pressure on Trump, who longs for a deal with Kim to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

The president has long clashed with his own intelligence analysts because they documented Russian meddling on Trump's behalf in the 2016 election. Now he's retaliated by assigning a political ally, Attorney General William Barr, to investigate how the CIA and the FBI handled their inquiries.

James Baker, the former general counsel of the FBI, told the Post that Barr's appointment is "a complete slap in the face to the director of national intelligence."

Michael Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA, called it "yet another destruction of norms that weakens our intelligence community."

Trump is also intent on weakening climate scientists, who have repeatedly warned about the dangers of global warming. "In the next few months," reports The New York Times, "the White House will complete the rollback of the most significant federal effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, initiated during the Obama administration." One key to that rollback: barring government scientists from projecting the fallout from global warming past 2040, when the damage is expected to increase dramatically.

"What we have here is a pretty blatant attempt to politicize the science -- to push the science in a direction that's consistent with their policies," said Philip R. Duffy, president of the Woods Hole Research Center. "It reminds me of the Soviet Union."

Trump has long sought to politicize -- and demonize -- another branch of independent inquiry: economics. He has regularly defied reality by saying trade wars are "easy to win" and that tax cuts pay for themselves -- both blatant falsehoods.

Now, reports Catherine Rampell in the Post, "Slowly but surely, the Trump administration has been chipping away at the independence and integrity of our federal statistical agencies, whose data is critical to keeping our democracy functioning and our economy healthy."

One devious proposal: Recalibrate how the poverty line is determined so that fewer Americans will fall below it and qualify for various forms of federal aid. Rampell calls the change a "double win" for Trump: "It allows you to claim your policies have lifted families out of poverty, even if they're still struggling. It's also a backdoor way to slash spending on the safety net."

Government can only work when decisions are based on facts, not fantasies. The "heart of our democracy" is truly threatened when the president violates that principle -- over and over again.

Steve and Cokie Roberts can be contacted by email at stevecokie@gmail.com

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If congressional Democrats will temper their enthusiasm for impeachment with lucidity about the nation's needs and their political self-interest, they will understand the self-defeating nature of a foredoomed attempt to remove a president for aesthetic reasons. Such reasons are not trivial but they are insufficient, particularly when almost all congressional Republicans are complicit in, by their silence about, Donald Trump's comportment.

Impeachment can be retrospective, for offenses committed, or prospective, to prevent probable future injuries to the nation. Greg Weiner is a Madison scholar par excellence and author of a new book on a subject -- prudence -- that Democrats should contemplate ("Old Whigs: Burke, Lincoln, and the Politics of Prudence"). Elsewhere, he writes this about what he calls "one of the Constitution's most solemn powers":

"The purpose of impeachment is not punitive. It is prophylactic. Criminal law looks backward toward offenses committed. The object of impeachment is not to exact vengeance. It is to protect the public against future acts of recklessness or abuse."

Attempting to overturn the result of a presidential election is a momentous undertaking. In 1998, when Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for lying about sex with an intern, the public punished them for what it considered a grossly disproportionate response. Today, many Democrats are fixated on Trump's possible obstruction of the investigation into an offense -- conspiracy with Russia -- for which the investigation did not find sufficient evidence. Prudent Democrats will not propose removing Trump because, for example, they think he had a corrupt intention when he exercised a core presidential power in firing FBI Director James Comey.

What can accurately be called aesthetic considerations are, however, powerfully germane. As Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 65, impeachable offenses should "relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself." Trump's incessant lying and increasingly contemptible coarseness are as reprehensible as was Richard Nixon's surreptitious criminality. And -- because they are constant, public and hence desensitizing -- they will inflict more long-term damage to America's civic life than Nixon's misdeeds did.

But Democrats should heed Weiner: "That an offense is impeachable does not mean it warrants impeachment." Potential impeachers must consider "the general political context of the times," including "the potential public reaction." Democrats should face two lamentable but undeniable facts: Trump was elected because many millions of Americans enjoy his boorishness. And he essentially promised to govern as a lout. Promise-keeping would be an unusual ground for impeachment.

Furthermore, impeachment will not result in Trump's removal. Consider today's supine behavior of most congressional Republicans, which stirs fragrant memories of the vigorous obedience of many members of the U.S. Communist Party to Stalin in the late 1930s. Until Aug. 23, 1939, Stalin wanted, so the CPUSA advocated, U.S. engagement in European resistance to Hitler's expansionism. However, when on that date Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact as a prelude to carving up Poland, the CPUSA instantly pivoted to advocating U.S. noninvolvement in Europe's affairs. Then on June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union and the CPUSA lurched back to advocating maximum U.S. engagement in resistance to Hitler.

Most congressional Republicans today display a similar versatility of conviction. They were for free trade until Donald Trump informed them that they were not. They were defenders of the U.S. intelligence community until Trump announced in Helsinki that he believed Vladimir Putin rather than this community regarding Russian support for his election. They excoriated wishful thinking regarding North Korea until Trump spent a few hours with Kim Jong Un and, smitten, tweeted, "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea." Republicans have moved from stressing presidential dignity to cowed silence when, to take only the most recent example, Trump endorsed a North Korean state media outlet's ridicule of "low IQ" Joe Biden (a taunt Trump falsely ascribed to Kim). Republicans railed against Barack Obama's executive overreaching but are eloquently mute when Obama's successor promiscuously declares "emergencies" in order to "repurpose" funds Congress appropriated for other purposes, and to truncate the process of congressional approval of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and its allies.

CPUSA members in the 1930s, blinkered by ideology, had a servile faith in a Soviet regime that they identified with historic (and therefore progressive) inevitabilities. Today's congressional Republicans, blinded by their puppy-like devotion (and leavened by terror of the capricious master to whom they are devoted), would make a Senate impeachment trial a partisan debacle ending in acquittal.

Impeachment can be an instrument of civic hygiene. However, most of today's Senate Republicans, scampering around the president's ankles, are implausible hygienists.

George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com.

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LEBANON  The Lebanon Museum Foundation will hold the second of its 2019 local history programs, beginning at 2 p.m., June 12 in the old Lebanon Hotel dining room of the Lobby, 661 S. Main St.

Bob and Betty Adams, former owners of Adams Pharmacy in Lebanon, will discuss their 27 years of running the downtown drugstore and display pharmaceutical relics that they inherited with the store.

This event is open to the public and free to all.

The Adams Pharmacy was in the Donaca Building, owned by the Masons, who had their lodge upstairs (the building is now undergoing renovation).

Bob was the pharmacist. Betty served as bookkeeper and gift buyer. "Older ladies worked at the soda fountain. Because a Rexall drugstore had been in the building, or the one next door since the 1880s, the Adams found antiquated supplies and equipment when they started their business. These items tell fascinating stories about the development of the pharmacy trade, both in general and in Lebanon in particular.

By boosting interest in local history, this program is intended to raise support for the Lebanon Museum, which has a small collection in storage at the Lebanon Public Library, but so far no display space.

Last fall the museums kickoff program featured a talk on the Kalapuya by Tony Farque, an archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service. On May 16, three Lebanon natives told stories about growing up in the town. At least two more local history programs are in the works for this year.

For more information about the Lebanon Museum Foundation and its programs, visit https://lebanonmuseum.org, find LebanonMuseum on Facebook, or send a message to info@lebanonmuseum.org.

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LEBANON  Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest (COMP-NW) held its fifth commencement ceremony on Friday morning, sending 104 newly minted doctors into the world.

The occasion was marked by the presence of the only two women who have served as Oregon governors, Barbara K. Roberts  the states 34th governor  and current Governor Kate Brown.

This morning represents a truly historic moment, as we are honored by having the only two female governors of the state of Oregon on our stage together today, said COMP Dean Paula Crone. In fact, this may be the first time this has occurred on any university commencement stage across the country. Both of these women have served as role models and as examples to many of us. Their influence and their impact are far-reaching.

Both Roberts and Brown were granted honorary degrees during the ceremony and both then addressed the faculty, students, family members and civic leaders who had assembled for the occasion.

Brown noted her connection to this years graduating class as her niece, Meagan Kristine Smith, is a member of the class of 2019 and will be serving her residency in family medicine at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Wash.

This is a place where through a co-mixture of caffeine, adrenaline and perspiration you are transformed from a regular person into a doctor of osteopathic medicine, Brown said.

She encouraged graduates to believe they can make a difference in the world, pointing to former Oregon State Sen. Alan Bates of Medford as an example.

Bates, who died in 2016, was a doctor of osteopathic medicine with a busy practice who also found time for public service. He was a state representative from 2000-2004 and a state senator from 2005 until his passing. Before joining the Legislature, Bates served as the chairman of the Health Services Commission and played a key role in the creation of the Oregon Health Plan.

Brown remembered how during legislative sessions, Bates would work in Salem during the week and then return to Medford to see patients all weekend.

And then on Monday morning, he would drive back to Salem and do it all over again, she said.

But his practice wasnt limited to his own patients. Bates also served as the unofficial doctor for the Legislature and his timely intervention helped save lives on at least a couple of occasions.

Brown urged the graduates to see Bates life as an example of multifaceted service.

Theres no question that one person, one dedicated person with good ideas, can change the world. Sen. Bates was that person and so are you, she said.

Roberts asked the members of the class to be willing to stand alone if circumstances and their conscience require.

Im talking about the kind of personal courage it takes to speak out when you stand alone on an issue, she said.

She told the audience how she was introduced to the public sphere as a mother in the mid-1960s. She was told that her son Mike, who is autistic, did not have to be provided with a public education.

Roberts began traveling to the Legislature weekly where she lobbied for a change in the states education laws and practices. She was inexperienced in the world of politics, but through her perseverance, Oregon passed the first special education rights law for children with emotional disabilities.

I had changed my sons life and changed his future. My law, Oregons new law, change the lives of hundreds and eventually thousands of Oregons children and their families and my own life was never the same, Roberts said. That first political success for my son cemented my belief that if your cause is just and you are determined enough, and sometimes even brave enough, one person can make a difference.

The class of 2019 included 53 men and 51 women. With this fifth class, COMP-NW has now graduated 501 doctors.

The ceremony stopped to note the 500th graduate, Lebanon High School alumnus Morgan Cameron Wimmer. The granddaughter of Lebanon physician Robert Wimmer, she will serve her residency in family medicine at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis.

She is thankful for the impact the medical school has had on her hometown.

I see the economy booming. I see kids becoming interested in science, Wimmer said. I see so many more charity activities. Its wonderful. I dont think they even realize how much theyve done for Lebanon.

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Although she initially took her oath of office in an informal proceeding on May 3, Benton Countys newest Circuit Court judge has been hearing cases in borrowed robes.

Not anymore.

At the Benton County Courthouse Friday afternoon, Joan Demarest repeated her oath and donned her very own judicial robe during a solemn ceremony known as an investiture.

More than 100 people were on hand for the occasion, filling Courtroom 2 to overflowing. Those in attendance included Demarests parents, her four children, numerous friends, courthouse staff, local elected officials, and members of the mid-valley law enforcement and legal communities.

Lending added dignity to the ceremony were eight black-robed jurists, who filed silently into the courtroom and observed from the jury box. Among them were fellow Benton County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Donohue and Senior Judge David Connell, whose retirement from the bench created the vacancy filled by Demarest.

Locke Williams, presiding judge of the Benton County Circuit Court, conducted the ceremony.

On behalf of Judge Donohue and myself, and our court staff, I would like to warmly welcome Joan to the Circuit Court, he announced, then asked Demarest to stand and raise her right hand as he administered the oath.

Demarests father, Harry, held her new robe as she swore to support the U.S. and Oregon constitutions and impartially discharge the duties of her office. As she finished, he draped the black gown over her shoulders to cheers and applause from the audience.

Demarest was appointed in April by Gov. Kate Brown to fill Connells seat, becoming the second woman to serve as a judge in the Benton County Circuit Court. After earning her law degree from the University of Oregon in 1998, she began a varied legal career that included stints as a prosecutor in the Benton County District Attorneys Office, as an advocate for students at Oregon State University and as a defense attorney with the Corvallis firm of Jennifer Nash and Nicolas Ortiz.

Speaking at Fridays investiture, Nash described Demarest as a good friend and a first-class lawyer whose view of the legal system had evolved over time. As a young deputy DA, she said, Demarest was a zealous prosecutor, but as a defense attorney she earned the nickname of the Night Avenger from Linn County Jail deputies for her frequent after-hours visits with her clients.

Judge Demarest is a real-life superhero, and we are very lucky to have her as a judge, Nash said.

State Sen. Sara Gelser, who said she got to know Demarest when they both served on the Corvallis School Board, spoke about her friends devotion to public service.

Gelser noted she had seen Demarest in action in the courtroom, both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. In both cases, Gelser said, she was impressed by Demarests overriding compassion, not only for the people she was representing but also for everyone else involved in the case  qualities she predicted will make Demarest a good judge.

It wasnt about winning, Gelser said. It was about justice.

Demarest kept her own remarks brief, thanking Gov. Brown for her appointment and everyone in attendance for their support.

I am very appreciative of this position and the trust thats been bestowed on me, she said.

Reporter Bennett Hall can be reached at 541-758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at @bennetthallgt.

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BENTON COUNTY SHERIFF

DUII  10 a.m. May 19, 25000 block Highway 20, Philomath. A deputy responding to a report of a man breaking into a car stopped Mark Leon Overpeck, 38, of Toledo and arrested him. Overpeck was charged with unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and DUII.

DUII  5:45 p.m. May 24, milepost 46, Highway 20 Philomath. A deputy arrested Michelle Marie Heim, 51, of Newport, for a charge of DUII during a traffic stop. Heim reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.0 percent and was evaluated by a drug recognition expert.

DUII  1:45 p.m. May 25, North 19th and Main streets, Philomath. A deputy arrested Valerie Jo Nelson, 63, of West Linn, for a charge of DUII. She reportedly refused a breath test.

CORVALLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT

Theft  5:50 a.m. May 20, 1780 NE Four Acre Place. Employees at the Home Depot reported that sometime in the previous day someone stole a $2,350 riding lawn mower.

LINN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

From Friday afternoon

Elude  Florentino Odilon Contrereas-Sanchez, 22, of Harrisburg, was charged with felony attempt to elude and reckless driving. The crimes allegedly occurred on Thursday, and the Linn County Sheriffs Office was the investigating agency.

Eludes  Christopher Wayne Gray, 34, of Albany, was arraigned on indictment on charges of felony and misdemeanor attempt to elude, reckless driving and reckless endangering. The crimes allegedly occurred on April 12. In a separate case, allegedly occurring on March 4, Gray was charged with felony and misdemeanor attempt to elude and reckless driving. The prosecution has filed a notice of intent to seek an enhanced sentence in both of those elude cases. (Gray was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly trying to elude Lebanon police officers. He has not been charged regarding that incident.) In a third case, allegedly occurring on Dec. 20, Gray also was charged with harassment, strangulation and fourth-degree assault. He was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear in a fourth case.

Meth dealing  Amber Albin Taylor, 45, of Albany, was charged with delivery and possession of methamphetamine. The crimes allegedly occurred on May 2 and the Albany Police Department was the investigating agency.

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Good essay this week by Sean McElwee and Tory Gavito for GQ-- The Democratic Party Is Waging a War Against Its Very Own Base . Essentially, their theme is that the tent is too damn big and there are too many Blue Dogs and New Dems in it befouling the core Democratic brand and confusing voters who try to understand what the Democratic Party stands for and what values it holds dear.

Yesterday another dozen innocent Americans were randomly gunned down by some NRA crackpot in Virginia Beach. Last cycle the NRA and other pro-gun groups spent $4,261,760 bribing congressional candidates. Most of those bribes went to Republicans, of course. But not all. There used to be dozens of Democrats taking sewer money from the gun merchants and their lobbyists; in 2018 there are just 13-- 4 in the Senate (2 of whom, Heitkamp and Donnelly, were defeated) and 9 in the House. These are the House members sucking up the blood money, from worst to slightly less terrible:

McElwee and Gavito began by noting that "At a critical juncture before the 2020 elections, the leadership of the Democratic Party is, perplexingly, abandoning key constituencies of its base, including young people, women, and people of color, as well as the policies that fire them up. In chasing a narrow swath of white swing voters, the leadership has ignored a broader coalition of voters who have delivered blue victories time and time again. Not only that-- at times, its actively antagonizing them."

Even though the multiracial coalition that re-elected Obama in 2012 and stayed home in 2016 was large enough to change the outcome of the election, the Democratic leadership has focused on voters who swung from Barack Obama to Donald Trump. Party leaders have also taken to kneecapping up-and-coming progressives. Earlier this year, the DCCC-- the partys House campaigns arm-- announced that it will blacklist firms that work with primary challengers, despite their delivering exciting new talent, reflective of its base, like congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.





This has led them to positions at odds with the values of the Democratic electorate. In the very same week that Alabama passed a full-fledged abortion ban, in what appears to be a coordinated, Republican-led attack on womens reproductive rights in several states, DCCC chairwoman Cheri Bustos planned a fundraiser for Illinois congressman Dan Lipinski, an anti-choice, anti-LGBT Democrat who opposed the Affordable Care Act and refused to endorse President Barack Obama in 2012. In his safe blue district, he faces a primary challenge from mainstream, pro-choice progressive Marie Newman, who lost many of her consultants after the DCCC announced its blacklist.





The backlash against the fundraiser for Lipinski-- who supports abortion banswas, predictably, swift and furious. Facing pressure, Bustos dropped out of it, but she had already signaled to the base that she valued incumbency over protecting a womans right to choose from the onslaught of right-wing attacks.





Bustos also made it clear that she sees the path to victory for Democrats in white swing voters, rather than in mobilizing the base of young voters and voters of color. She, along with other members in leadership like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer routinely undermine their colleagues' bold initiatives, such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal (though this may also be related to their acceptance of fossil-fuel industry donations), despite the popularity of these policies among Democratic voters. Leadership routinely says that they have to hold the center and mainstream.





Data for Progress, a think tank that studies public opinion and voter file data, analyzed the path forward for the Democratic Party, and the party could make big gains by a strategy that mobilizes progressives, rather than continuously undermining their base.





This orientation toward the middle instead of values and vision is demobilizing... The results of demobilization are devastating. As the chart below shows, in four key states in 2016, there were more progressives who voted in 2012 and then stayed home in 2016 than the margin of victory in each state. Many of these voters are young people of color.













The valuation of white moderate voters-- and so-called "electability"-- over growing and reliable constituencies seems to have led the party to abandon areas where it could have won. The establishment's hostility toward the Democratic base is not new. This tension was starkly represented by Bill Clintons third-way centrism, with legislation like the 1994 crime bill and financial deregulation. And despite that models defeat in key 2016 states, its adherents, like Joe Biden, continue to push it as the sole way forward. Bidens campaign is based around the thesis that good old boys can sit down over beers and pass comprehensive climate legislation. Its more absurd than anything the left has proposed.





The partys neglect of the Democratic base is reflected in the rhetoric and strategy that it employs in determining its geographic investments, too. Democrats continue to ignore the south and southwestern states, underinvesting in places where demographics are actually the most advantageous. Take Texas. Ignoring Texass 38 electoral votes, especially after Democrat senate candidate Beto O'Rourke lost by a mere 2 points, in 2018, is an old-world view. Democrats lost Texas in 2018 by 200,000 votes in a state with more than 6 million eligible voterspeople of color and young people-- not voting concentrated in major cities. Texas is changing and Democrats can take it, if they have the imagination and the will to follow the data.





Instead, they look at past battles lost in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. They argue that these are the important states on the path to 270 electoral college votes, insinuating that these populations are moderate and white. But even in the northern states, Democrats dont get the base math right.





In Michigan, Democrats lost by 10,704 votes while over 4 million voters, counting both eligible registered Democratic and unregistered voters, were up for grabs. In 2016, Democrats failed to recognize that the turf in Michigan no longer looked like it did when Bill Clinton ran his 1996 reelection campaign, setting up field operations in neighborhoods that no longer existed. Consider the following data demonstrating that a multiracial coalition continues to be ignored by campaigns in traditional presidential battleground states, based on Data for Progress analysis of the Cooperative Congressional Election Studies 2016 survey.

In contrast, when Democrats mobilize their base, they win. There is GA-06, which middle-of-the-road Jon Ossoff lost; congresswoman Lucy McBath won there by running a campaign on the issue of gun safety and embracing the new electorate. Or in TX-32, where congressman Colin Allred focused on mobilizing young people and people of color in addition to making the case for his values in the Dallas area, flipping his district for the first time in 15 years.





Stacey Abramss gubernatorial campaign in Georgia was an explicit attempt to expand the electorate. That strategy succeeded in bringing a Democrat the closest to victory in a Georgia gubernatorial race since 1998. But the campaign wasnt starting from scratch. Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2014 with the explicit intention of mobilizing the black electorate in Georgia. That long-term work focused on the base will pay off.





Mobilizing the Democratic party base means standing up for progressive values, principles, and policies-- and reaching out to the people it claims to represent. In the Data for Progress and YouGov Blue What The Hell Happened survey, we found overwhelming support among 2018 voters for policies like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and free college. And, in a recent report, Pew found that Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, turning 18 this cycle, are now a bigger voting block than Clintons cohort of boomers and older generations-- together they outvoted older generations in the 2018 midterm elections.





The idea that the party needs to focus on the so-called center simply isnt supported by data. The path forward for the Democratic Party is investing in the electorate of the future, not trying to win a smaller proportion of white voters that voted for Trump. This strategy will pay dividends for decades. Without a sharp pivot, Democrats risk again losing an entire generation of future Democrats who are disengaged and increasingly skeptical of the American political system.
NY Times that Trump "threatened to hit Mexico with new tariffs, escalating his immigration fight with Americas largest trading partner. And with that, he showed, once again, that hes ready to employ trade as an all-purpose tool for his policy goals... Trump is juggling multiple trade conflicts today, with allies and rivals alike. His demands, often first disclosed through Twitter, have caught trading partners off guard. Of course, Mexico isnt Mr. Trumps only target. Far from it. In fact, what hes taking on is broader than any particular country. He is challenging the post-World War II consensus that free trade enriches the world." Yesterday, Carlos Tejada reported in thethat Trump "threatened to hit Mexico with new tariffs, escalating his immigration fight with Americas largest trading partner. And with that, he showed, once again, that hes ready to employ trade as an all-purpose tool for his policy goals... Trump is juggling multiple trade conflicts today, with allies and rivals alike. His demands, often first disclosed through Twitter, have caught trading partners off guard. Of course, Mexico isnt Mr. Trumps only target. Far from it. In fact, what hes taking on is broader than any particular country. He is challenging the post-World War II consensus that free trade enriches the world."





In 2018, the U.S. imported $346,527,700,000 worth of goods from Mexico and exported $265,014,400,000 worth of goods to Mexico. So far this year, trade between the two countries has been even bigger. According to CNBC three states will he hit hardest: Arizona, Michigan and Texas.

If Trump goes through with the duties, their effects will ripple across the country. America imported $346.5 billion in goods from Mexico last year, 10% more than in the prior year, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. But several key 2020 electoral states would take a particularly sharp blow from the tariffs.



Border state Arizona gets about 40% of its imports from Mexico, the highest share for any state. About 38% of Michigans imported products come from Mexico, while about 35% of Texas imports are from its southern neighbor.

Other states which important a significant amount of goods from Mexico include California, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Tennessee. U.S. imports from Mexico include computer and electronics equipment, auto parts, chemicals, petroleum, appliances, paper food products... CNBC suggests that if Trumps surprise tariffs on Mexican goods raise costs for companies and consumers in those three states enough, there will be political costs to pay. Trump isn't likely to lose Texas or win Michigan, but Arizona-- with its 11 electoral votes-- could flip blue. Worse for the Republican Party is the list of Republicans up for reelection next year who could be negatively impacted, including Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) and Reps Will Hurd (R-TX), Chip Roy (R-TX), Kenny Marchant (R-TX), John Carter (R-TX), Pete Olson (R-TX), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Fred Upton (R-MI), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Duncan Hunter (R-CA).





Michael Bloomberg wrote a widely-read editorial for Bloomberg News yesterday, Stop Trump on Trade , suggesting that Congress rein in the idiot's "trade-policy powers before it's too late. Trumps approach to trade policy had set new benchmarks of incoherence and irresponsibility even before his threat to impose escalating tariffs on imports from Mexico-- but this latest maneuver takes the cake. The administration plans to harm businesses north and south of the border, and to impose additional new taxes on U.S. consumers, not to remedy a real or imagined trade grievance but to force Mexico to curb migration to the U.S. This is a radical and disturbing development. The administration is invoking a law that allows it to impose emergency economic sanctions. Its safe to say that Congress never envisaged that those powers would be used in a case like this."





A day earlier, one of his reporters, David Fickling, has asked "How far down the rabbit hole are we on U.S. trade policy right now? Just a few years ago, the idea that British cars and Canadian steel could be considered a national-security threat to America would have been laughed out of the room-- but here we are, with so-called Section 232 tariffs still threatened on European automobiles and only just removed on Canadian metal ."

You can't say he didn't warn us

Bloomberg himself noted that "Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who has supported many of Trump's previous moves on immigration, said it plainly: 'This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent.' Its also, by the way, a straightforward violation of U.S. commitments under existing trade treaties. In effect, even the pretense that the U.S. is adhering to a legitimate, rule-bound trade policy has been all but abandoned." This is another instance of Putin just laying back and savoring how far his modest investment in the U.S. elections has gone to further Russia's foreign policy objectives.
Workers are seen at a construction site in Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham

As Vietnam needs to borrow around VND700 trillion ($30 billion) to service its debt in three years the repayment pressures are rising.

The amount of debt due at certain points in time is very high, threatening liquidity and requiring Vietnam to borrow more to pay immediate dues, Hoang Quang Ham, a delegate of Phu Tho Province, told the National Assembly.

"In 2019, 9.3 percent of the governments internal debt is due. Between 2019 and 2021, the figure is 32.7 percent."

Ham said to meet its repayment obligations in the 2019-2021 period, the country needs to borrow VND700 trillion, and at times it will have to borrow up to VND20-40 trillion ($858 million  $1.72 billion) a month.

Public debts include debts of central and municipal/provincial governments and government-guaranteed debts. The government's internal debt is debts it owes to lenders within the country. In Vietnam, the internal debts are domestically-issued government bonds.

Delegate Pham Dinh Toan of Hung Yen Province said the situation of public debt has improved, but it is still high and Vietnam cannot be complacent when its revenue sources are not sustainable.

Toan pointed out that in the past years, state budget revenue has surpassed projections, but the revenue has mainly come from land and natural resources. "This is a one-off revenue, unsustainable and not a long-term option because this resource is finite."

The fact that revenues from production and business activities have not matched projections means that enterprises are still facing difficulties, that Vietnam has not established a solid state budget revenue base, and needs to improve the business environment, he said.

Concurring with this view, delegate Ham of Phu Tho said that the state budgets current state is not sustainable, with a large proportion of income from land or natural resources, which is rising.

While in 2016, revenue from oil and land made up 14.8 percent of the national budget, this rose to 15.7 percent and 17.6 percent in 2017 and 2018 respectively. At the same time, tax collection from enterprises was lower than expected, he noted.

"Small and medium enterprises account for 98.3 percent of all companies registered, but only 40 percent them were profitable," Ham said, adding that production capacity and operational efficiency of domestic enterprises are still low.

According to a recent report by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to the National Assembly, Vietnams public debt is estimated at 58.4 percent of GDP, or $136.75 billion, the lowest since 2015. It is also well below the 63.9 percent target set by the Ministry of Planning and Investment last August.

However, MoF officials have also said that Vietnam should not enter into more debt as repayment pressures are mounting.
College student Nguyen Dang Cuu is the leading actor in a South Korean TV series on a multicultural family.

In "My Nickname Is President," Cuu plays Lee Min Guk, a Vietnamese-Korean man newly hired by a company.

Guks experiences in the office and home, highlighting discrimination based on position and financial status in South Korean society, especially for descendants of a mixed family, form the crux of the 18-episode series.

From the first day at work, Min Guk is bullied and discriminated against by older colleagues because he has a foreign origin.

The first three episodes of the series have already been screened. On some online forums, many Vietnamese viewers have encouraged and supported Cuu as this is the first time for him to act in a series.

Cuu, born in 1992 in the central province of Ha Tinh, is currently a senior student in economics at Daegu University in South Korea. He was invited to audition for the role by a friend.

The low-budget sitcom is being broadcast on South Korea's KCTV Channel 7. It is produced by KCTV, the biggest broadcasting system in South Koreas Jeju province.

Before "My Nickname Is President," some Korean films have also dealt with the topic of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Korean people in South Korea, including "Hanoi Bride," "Golden Bride" and "Hometown Over The Hill."
Ma Pi Leng is considered one of the toughest mountain passes in northern Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/hachi8.

A landslide on the Ma Pi Leng mountain pass in Ha Giang Province injured a Vietnamese tour guide and a Dutch tourist on Friday.

Vietnamese tour guide Tran Van Nghiep was driving Van Der Geest, a Dutch tourist, 23, on a motorbike up the mountain pass in Meo Vac District at around 3 p.m. when rocks came tumbling down on them.

Both men were badly injured and rushed to a local hospital for treatment, media reports said.

Another Vietnamese tour guide and a foreign tourist driving alongside them were not hit.

Many districts in the mountainous province, including Meo Vac, have experienced prolonged downpours over the past few days, triggering flooding and landslides.

Ha Giang, around 240 kilometers (150 miles) to northwest of Hanoi, is known for captivating hills and mountain passes. The Ma Pi Leng mountain pass, which runs 20 kilometers to a mountain peak two kilometers high, is considered one of the toughest trails in Vietnam.

In November 2017, a Spanish traveler died after driving his motorbike off a cliff on the pass.
Lao man sentenced to death for smuggling 10 kilos of drugs to Vietnam

Lao man Tho No Bi stands trial in Nghe An Province in central Vietnam for drug smuggling, May 31, 2019. Photo courtesy of Nghe An Police.

A court in the central province of Nghe An sentenced a Lao man to death on Friday for carrying 10.7 kilos of drugs into Vietnam.

The indictment said Tho No Bi, 37, had been hired by another Lao national late last year to bring drugs of different kinds into Vietnam to find customers.

He then reached a man in northern Vietnam, who ordered six kilograms of methamphetamine and 48,000 ecstasy pills. The package was expected to fetch $48,000 and Bi was offered payment worth around $230 for the transaction.

He was arrested when carrying the drugs on his back, trekking through the border into Vietnam at Que Phong District of Nghe An.

He was charged with illegal trade of narcotics.

He admitted the crime, saying his family of nine kids usually had to struggle with poverty and hunger. He himself did not have a stable job and the income from farming could not help him and his wife afford raising their children, Dan Tri reported.

But the judge panel said the drug amount was "especially large" and that he should be sentenced to death.

Vietnam is known to have 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 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.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, an intersection of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, the world's second largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 1, 2019

It has always been Eagle Forums position that life is sacred from conception, that a baby is a person, and that there should be no exceptions to his or her protection from abortion except to save the life of both mother and child. Modern science has confirmed our position  notably with ultrasounds which enable us to see into the womb. Eagle Forum is thrilled to see states passing legislation in an attempt to get the Supreme Court to revisit its infamous abortion decision which has resulted in some 60 million babies dead in the United States since 1973. For example, on May 15, 2019, Alabama passed the Human Life Protection Act, the strongest abortion law in the nation. It was almost immediately enjoined by the ACLU and others. It holds that the performance of an abortion is a Class A felony, with a minimum sentence of ten years prison. The only exceptions are serious health risks to the mother such as death, major physical and suicide risks, which are carefully stipulated. The law affirms that an unborn child is a person in utero, regardless of viability as was already defined in Alabamas homicide law. Eagle Forum of Alabama championed this bill from its inception. Executive Director Becky Gerritson continues to advocate for all innocent life. See her speech and others at the Students for Life Rally in Montgomery where victims of rape and incest gave powerful witness to the need for prolife bills without exceptions. Most recently, Louisiana passed a Heartbeat Bill. We thank Eagle Forum Louisiana President Sandy McDade for her effective advocacy. Following is her report. Eunie Smith, President

After taking the lead in many Pro-Life Bills since the late 1970s, Eagle Forum of Louisiana along with the help of several smaller and newer groups used its leadership and expertise to pass the Heartbeat bill. This same bill has been passed in several other states and could end the uncivilized practice of killing unborn children.

The Heartbeat Bill is intended to wipe out the false reasoning of Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton and is a major opportunity to overturn both rulings and once again allow pre-born babies the chance to live. It asserts that life begins with a heartbeat.

In a news opportunity on the steps of the Louisiana Capitol the brave author of this bill, John Milkovich, explained that The fetal Heartbeat Bill prohibits abortions after a heartbeat is medically detected.

In the Roe v Wade decision the Supreme Court said that once we are able to prove that the fetus is a human then the issue should be revisited. Heartbeats are now detected as early as 8 weeks We are counting on the Supreme Court to keep its word.

Democrat Governor Edwards has agreed to sign the legislation.

If there are any questions, please contact Sandy McDade, 318-458-1410

###
A medical doctor friend of mine was recounting his experiences in Africa as a volunteer for a church missionary program. He said it was very satisfying for the soul but his biggest problem was communicating with the patients. He gave me an odd look and said it gave him a begrudging respect for veterinarians.

Several ago I made a trip to Australia. Grand folks, hospitable and definitely livestock people. However, it did take me several days to get used to the language. Its like youre talkin Spanish to Italians...they sound so much alike, you actually think youre communicating!

The only thing I really learned to say in Australian was ketchup. But they call it Tmaw-tow-sawz.

It didnt stop me from makin friends. I spent a week each with a couple of bush country veterinarians. On the day they planned to pass me from one to the other we made the trip from Barraba to Quirindi. The three of us found much in common, as three ol cow vets could. We spent the afternoon at an Angus field day.

That evening my hosts had planned a big formal supper. On our way home a call came over the two-way.

Can you attend a kawving? it squawked.

A carving? I asked.

Yes, a kawving.

It was getting dark as we climbed out of the car at a little farm. The wife said her husband was detained at the pub but the heifer was in the crush. Said heifer was smallish and pitiful lookin. Sort of a magpie Angus cross. Two cold hooves stuck out behind her tail. It didnt look good. My colleagues introduced me to the Missus and explained, to my surprise, that she would be pleased to see the American method.

The chute was covered and had a concrete floor. Unfortunately, the floor was wider than the tin roof so the afternoon shower had left two inches of standing muck right where we laid the heifer down.

Soon I was wallowing about on my side in the slimy pool, arm deep inside trying to correct the head back malpresentation. My two friends carried on a nonstop commentary describing my procedures to the preoccupied farm wife. She stood, arms folded across her chest as I splashed and scrabbled for some leverage on the slick floor. They held the flashlight and occasionally lent a boot for me to brace against as I pedaled like a three leg-ged crab on glass.

We saved the heifer but lost the calf. I rode to the formal dinner in the backseat, my green underwear sticking to the upholstery. Needless to say, The American Method was dinner conversation.

I was reminded of my Australian experiences while listening to the African M.D. Yes, I told him, I could relate. I, too, had been to a foreign country where I didnt speak the language. But I was able to communicate with my patients. I guess it was because my language was universal. I speak cow.

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125 YEARS AGO

May 26, 1894: Craig and Butler have about completed the walls of Chases new stone warehouse and another week will see the building finished.



The Times- Review says that Tuscarora will soon be without a drug store. Mr. Mason having decided to pack his stock of drugs and seek a more unhealthy section.

The Tuscarora Times-Review says that Tim Wright returned Wednesday evening after several months absence, during which time he had a circuit of the globe. He visited Ould Ireland and also South Africa, where he found many former Tuscarorans.



J. L. Martin and Charley Gooding are at work on Jake Nelsons new building.



We are glad to note that Henry Taber is much improved, and is now able to be around the house.

100 YEARS AGO

May 26, 1919: Raymond Parus, who has been with the American army of occupation in Germany, and who lately returned to America, has been discharged and arrived here last evening. He is one of the important witnesses for the defense in the Parus murder case.



May 30, 1919: Now that the validity of the prohibition law has been upheld by the supreme court, several liquor cases that have been pending, waiting for this decision, will come up for trial, among them being the A. Puccinelli case, who was arrested on January 20th for a violation of this act. His preliminary hearing was held in the justice court, and he was found guilty of having liquor in his possession in the Elko hotel and of selling a bottle of whisky to one of his roomers. An appeal was taken to the district court and the hearing will follow the Barton case, and will probably come up on next Monday. The justice court imposed a fine of $300 and a sentence in the county jail of two months.



The editor of the Free Press is the proud owner of a medal made from captured German cannons, presented to us by the treasury department in recognition for our services in assisting, through the paper, the several Liberty Loan drives, and specially the Victory Loan. We are going to carry it as a pocket piece, and if you want to see it  ask us.



The Christian Science society will hold services Sunday morning at 11 oclock and Wednesday evening at 8 oclock. Corner 7th and Idaho streets. The reading room in same building is open Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m.

75 YEARS AGO

May 26, 1944: George L. Turcott, principal of the Elko high school for the past seven years and instructor of science at the school for the previous ten years, has resigned his position as head of the institution. He will be succeeded to the position by Neil R. Jones mechanical arts instructor at the school since 1924. Turcott announced today that he has accepted a position with Morrison-Knudson of Boise. Members of the school board who selected Jones to succeed Turcott are Mrs. Mildred Stout, Joe Gennette and H.A. Agee of Wells.

June 30, 1944: Mrs. Ray Rizzi and children of Elko visited Mr. Rizzi at the Peck Ranch from Friday until Sunday. The Rizzis recently purchased the Peck ranch near Mountain City.

June 1, 1944: The last tin can collection for several months will be conducted Saturday by the Boy Scouts, according to Bob Best, scoutmaster of Troop 53. You are requested to have your cans prepared and ready for collection by 9 oclock Saturday morning. Have them on the sidewalks, near the curbs so that they may be easily collected.



Mrs. Toledo Bartorelli and small daughters spent Decoration Day in Elko. They make their home at Battle Mountain since Mr. Bartorelli joined the armed services.

50 YEARS AGO

May 26, 1969: Demolition of the remnants of the old J. C. Penney Co. building at Fourth and Idaho Streets began this morning in preparation for the construction at the site of the new branch of the First National Bank of Nevada. The contract for the demolition project was awarded to Vega Construction of Elko.



May 29, 1969: Special envelopes to be carried by Pony Express between Elko and Ely to commemorate the Elko and Elko County Centennials, are now being sold by the Centennial Pony Express Committee of the Elko Chamber of Commerce for $1. The envelopes will be mailed from the original Ruby Valley Pony express Station in Elko and will be hand-stamped with the legend Mailed at Original Ruby Valley Pony Express Station in Elko, Nevada June 27, 1969. The stamp will also bear a picture of the original station.



May 31, 1969: Work on an extensive remodeling and expansion project undertaken by the Stockmens Hotel in September is more than 95 percent complete and hotel officials expect to be open to the public by June 6. The project included the addition of two floors above the hotels casino area and the remodeling of dining room and bar areas on the lower floor.

25 YEARS AGO

May 25, 1994: Elko County School District Associate Superintendent Royal Orser yesterday announced his plans to retire in October after 31 years with the district. I have a strong desire to pursue some long delayed personal interests, Orser wrote in his letter to the board. I take this means to thank you for providing me with some wonderful experiences and the opportunity to serve in many capacities throughout the district. It is my sincere hope that overall I was a positive force and contributed to the success of the district.



May 27, 1994: Dr. Cal Lewis was recently named outstanding community professor by the University of Nevada School of Medicines 1994 graduates. A plaque given to Lewis states he was honored in appreciation of outstanding dedication to medical education. He said it was the first time a rural professor has been honored in the 20 years the school has been open.



May 28, 1994: Construction of Newmont Gold Companys $300 million roaster plant was more than 85 percent complete by the end of this week. The plant is part of the companys expansion of the South Operations Area north of Carlin.

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Folks, you dont realize where were headed, Nevada Sen. Pete Goicoechea said during a conference call Thursday. The bills were seeing coming out of here that we cannot do anything about, its killing us.

As the legislature entered its final days faced with a logjam of bills to deal with, Goicoechea, along with Assemblymen John Ellison and Gregory Hafen  three Republicans in the Democrat-dominated legislature  took time to share some thoughts on this years session.

Goicoecheas core message: After this session, taxes will be going up, and rural areas like Elko County are getting a raw deal.

With what weve done with collective bargaining, prevailing wage, all the bad bills that are coming out as majority bills, its going to get very, very expensive to live in the state of Nevada, Goicoechea said.

He did not mince words about his thoughts on SB543, the school funding bill.

I think its a disaster, Goicoechea said.

He called it the freeze and squeeze of the rural school districts.

Its really hard on the rural school districts, he said. Its going to be really problematic, especially for Elko and some of these other jurisdictions. White Pine, theyre getting a $4 million hit out of this, and they cant afford it. Its just wrong.

Elko County schools would be frozen at current budget levels until they come into alignment with the new formula. Goicoechea said that would take about eight years. He said in Eureka County, it would take about 61 years for them to hit equilibrium with the new funding formula.

I dont think the plan is going to work, Goicoechea said. As we were debating it on the floor, I said, its fine and dandy now, were in a boom on mining, everything is increasing. But if gold goes to $900, these schools that are frozen at that level, they wont be able to turn the lights on. I told them, then the money is going to have to come from the south back into the rurals. And they arent going to want to do that.

The school funding bill has gone through a lot of changes, and there will probably be some more tinkering in the final days of the legislature, but Goicoechea said it looks like it will remain a bad bill. One part of the bill which may get some last minute adjustments is how the net proceeds of minerals are handled. Goicoechea said the state constitution says the money is supposed to go to the counties, and the counties then distribute it.

The state doesnt touch it, Goicoechea said. The argument will be whether the state can siphon that money away from the school districts. But thats been litigated several times already, and its very clear in the constitution. This is huge for the rural counties.

Great Basin College and other smaller colleges in the state are also going to be seeing some funding cuts after this legislative session, Goicoechea said.

Its not going to be a good cycle for the small college, he said.

The way theyre doing the financing, by the time that bill comes, theyre set in stone, Assemblyman Ellison said. These guys wont even listen. I tell them that the four community colleges around our state are our workforce. But its just going in one ear and out the other. Ive never seen it like this.

He said part of the problem is that there are so many freshman legislators, and Goicoechea agreed.

I lay a lot of it back to term limits, Goicoechea said. He said that even Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson commented that half the legislative body changes every year.

Probably the big problem with higher education is that everybodys scrambling, Goicoechea said. There are a lot more demands down south with the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College. Those people are soaking up most of the funding and they have the votes to do it.

Rural Nevada is going to have to wake up and realize we dont have any real clout, Goicoechea said, until the people in southern Nevada start recognizing the fact that we are here and we deserve and we are relevant.

Its just been a tough session.

Although rural schools and colleges might be seeing tight budgets, the overall state budget will be going up, Goicoechea said. He said the money going to education  including increases in teachers salaries  and other changes like collective bargaining for state employees, are going to add up to a lot of funding.

Were talking a billion dollars in new taxes, folks, and then weve got to sustain what were rolling up right now. A couple billion dollars in new taxes might not cover this next budget. And I dont know where its going to come from, but everybodys going to feel the pain, and we will see the reset on property taxes. Some of these issues that weve all been fighting, its going to happen.

With this liberal administration weve got, we are going to be California on steroids as we start paying taxes.

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In San Francisco, there is an an 800-ton monument that retells California history, from the Spanish missions to American settlement. Several bronze sculptures and relief plaques depict American Indians, white miners, missionaries and settlers. A female figure symbolizing white culture stands atop a massive stone pillar.

The design of the pioneer monument was celebrated in newspapers across the country when it was erected in 1894. Today, however, activists have argued that the monument  particularly its depiction of a Spanish missionary and Mexican vaquero, or cowboy, towering over an American Indian  is demeaning to American Indians.

Should the city take down part of this 125-year-old monument?

Many cities are removing or reinterpreting their Confederate monuments, with the understanding that they commemorate racism. But few Americans realize that pioneer monuments placed across the country are also racist.

As my research and forthcoming book on pioneer monuments since the 1890s show, most early pioneer statues celebrated whites dominating American Indians.

Confederate and pioneer monuments

Since at least 2015, cities across the United States have debated what to do with more than 700 Confederate monuments.

After the Civil War, grieving widows raised funds to place monuments to soldiers in southern cemeteries. But most statues of Confederate leaders and foot soldiers were put up around 1900 by heritage organizations to honor the Lost Cause.

The Lost Cause is the idea that that the Civil War began as a heroic defense against northern aggression. In fact, the Civil War was primarily fought to defend slavery.

In the past few years, cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana and Baltimore, Maryland have chosen to remove their Confederate statues. Activists tore down a Confederate soldier statue in Durham, North Carolina last year.

By contrast, there has been far less attention on the roughly 200 pioneer monuments erected for similar reasons around the same time.

The earliest pioneer monuments were put up in midwestern and western cities such as Des Moines, Iowa and San Francisco, California. They date from the 1890s and early 1900s, as whites settled the frontier and pushed American Indians onto reservations.

Those statues showed white men claiming land and building farms and cities in the West. They explicitly celebrated the dominant white view of the Wild West progressing from American Indian savagery to white civilization.

Deviations from that script produced public controversy. For example, Denver residents in 1907 vocally opposed prominent American sculptor Frederick MacMonniess plan for a pioneer monument. MacMonnies proposed a large stone pillar surrounded by bronze hunters, miners and settlers similar to San Franciscos celebrated monument. MacMonniess model included a mounted Plains American Indian warrior atop the pillar to show American Indians yielding to white settlement.

But Denver residents expected the figure at the top of the pillar to represent the pinnacle of progress, like Eureka, the female figure representing the spirit of California on San Franciscos monument.

Denvers residents argued that the monument needed a white man on top, so MacMonnies revised his design, replacing the American Indian warrior with frontiersman and American Indian fighter Kit Carson, on horseback.

By the 1920s, whites controlled most western lands, and they stopped depicting American Indians in their pioneer monuments. New pioneer monuments from Maryland to California focused on western women. Pioneer mothers in sunbonnets stood for white civilization winning in the West. And they offered a conservative model of womanhood to contrast flappers wearing short dresses and bobbed hair and womens growing sexual freedom.

More recent monuments, such as Goodland, Kansass They Came to Stay and Omaha, Nebraskas Pioneer Courage, do not directly engage racial politics. As their titles suggest, these statues honor pioneer families grit, and they teach local history.

But these statues still represent a racist view, ignoring the cost of white settlement on Native lands. Like earlier monuments, they reinforce white dominance and erase ethnic diversity in the American West.

Pioneer monuments today

The recent debate about Confederate monuments has sparked some discussion of pioneer monuments in a few places. In April, Kalamazoo, Michigan removed its 1940 Fountain of the Pioneers because local residents disliked its depiction of a white settler looming over an American Indian.

After decades of protest, San Francisco debated taking down the depiction of a Spanish missionary towering over an American Indian from the 1894 pioneer monument.

In the 1990s, activists persuaded the city to place a plaque telling the dark side of California history in front of the statue. But todays protesters argued that plaque, hidden by landscaping, is not enough. They want Early Days  if not the entire monument  taken down.

The San Francisco Arts Commission agrees, but the Board of Appeals blocked its removal in April.

On September 14, 2018, the Early Days statue was removed from the San Francisco monument and placed in storage. In April 2019, about 150 Native American leaders and youth from across California posed for photographs on the empty base where Early Days once stood. The photos will be part of the San Francisco Art Commissions American Indian Initiative.

Each pioneer monument has its own history and local meaning. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. But communities are beginning to consider removing or reinterpreting these monuments to white conquest.

Cynthia Prescott is an associate professor of history at the University of North Dakota.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for inviting him to pay an official visit to Washington.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian president, Zelensky also stressed that the draft law on strengthening support for Ukraine, which was presented in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, is an important signal of a strong strategic partnership between the two countries.

"Thanks to the United States of America for the consistent support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine," the Ukrainian president said.

The report notes that the bill to provide support to Ukraine to defend its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity is aimed at strengthening the defense capability of the Ukrainian state, in particular by transferring weapons, selling lethal weapons to Ukraine's Armed Forces, and strengthening Ukraine's ability to resist Russian cyberattacks.

The list of weapons that can be transferred to Ukraine is complemented by anti-tank, anti-ship and anti-aircraft systems. The document also provides for granting the status of the main U.S. military-political ally to the Ukrainian state.

The Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. said on Facebook that such a status would be valid for a period from the day the bill comes into force until the country joins NATO. It could also be used to facilitate the procedure of handing over defensive weapons to Ukraine, the embassy said.

Under the bill, the U.S. policy should involve support for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, integration into NATO and the European Union, its people's right to freely decide their future and make independent and sovereign decisions on foreign and security policies, including relationships with other countries and international organizations without interference, intimidation or pressure by other countries, Ukraine's right to defend itself from the Russian aggression using U.S. military aid, promote democratic values in Ukraine, including by strengthening the rule of law, transparency and accountability in the public sector and combatting corruption.

The U.S. policy should also denounce any territorial changes to Ukraine through the use of force such as Russia's illegal invasion and occupation of Crimea and Donbas, condemn the continued detention in Russia of the 24 crew members from Ukrainian warships, who were captured near the Kerch Strait in November 2018, urge Russia to implement the Minsk agreements in full, and support the deployment of international security mechanisms in Donbas.

The bill is a new important step aimed at deepening the U.S.-Ukrainian strategic partnership in countering the Russian aggression, the Ukrainian embassy said.
The Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine has sent 22 vehicles with humanitarian aid weighing more than 400 tonnes to the territory of Donbas not controlled by Ukrainian authorities, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has reported.

"Some 22 trucks from the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine followed through the Novotroitske checkpoint to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. The vehicles transported chemicals for water purification, salt, medical equipment, bleach and activated carbon weighing almost 400 tonnes for the residents of Donetsk region," according to the official website of the Border Service.
In the first five months of this year, the index rose 9.4%year-on-year, lower than the growth of 10.3% recorded in the same period last year but higher than 7.4% and 6.6%in the corresponding time of 2016 and 2017.

The processing and manufacturing sector, responsible for a large part of domestic industrial production, reported the IIP growth of 10.9% while the IIP growth of electricity production and distribution stood at 10.3% and that of water supply and waste-sewage treatment sector reached 7.9%.

Meanwhile, the mining sectors IIP dropped 0.1% year-on-year, according to the GSO.

Some major industrial products achieved high production growth in the first five months, such as coke coal and refined mining products (84%), metal (40.5%), ore exploitation (14.9%), motor vehicles (14.7%) and rubber and plastic products (14.1%).

However, others experienced slight growth or even declines in the IIP, such as electronics, computers and optical devices (up 3.1%); tobacco (up 2.6%); medicines, pharmaceutical chemicals and pharmaceutical material production (up 1.4%); production of other vehicles (down 2.3%); services in support of the mining industry (down 3.5%); and exploitation of crude oil and natural fuels (down 4%).

The GSO said as of May 1, the number of labourers in industrial firms increased 1.4% month-on-month and 2.2% year-on-year. Employees in State-owned businesses contracted 0.9% while those in non-State and FDI enterprises rose 1.3% and 3.1%.

Experts said the countrys industrial growth was driven byan increase in the number of enterprises, investment capital and labourers. Meanwhile, productivity remained low and the gap with other countries such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Japan and the Republic of Korea continued to widen.

Industrial growth, especially the processing and manufacturing sector, still relied on FDI firms.

Experts, therefore, suggested creating national branded and competitive products, integrating more deeply into global value chains and stepping up industrial structural reform.
The event was held by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (under the Ministry of Industry and Trade) in collaboration with the Lao Cai Provincial Department of Industry and Trade and the Department of Commercial Affairs of Honghe County (Yunnan, China). It attracted the participation of 176 Vietnamese enterprises and over 70 Chinese ones.

With the advantage of convenient transportation, Lao Cai province is considered a bridge to connect and promote trade and export goods to the market in Yunnan province and southwestern China.

At the conference, the two sides introduced the market demand and regulations of each other on the import and export of agricultural and aquatic products. At the same time, enterprises of the two countries made direct contact under commodity groups and sought partners for business cooperation.

Each locality and enterprise at the event was also offered a free booth to display and introduce their typical products.

The conference discusses measures to promote the import and export of agricultural products, fruit and seafood between Vietnam and China, especially Yunnan province. (Photo: NDO/Quoc Hong)



This was a good opportunity for domestic and foreign agencies and enterprises to grasp information on the mechanisms for import and export policies in both Vietnam and China, thus creating favourable conditions for domestic localities and enterprises to boost exports to China.

To facilitate the import and export of agro-forestry and aquatic products, Lao Cai committed to requesting its functional forces to issue certificates of origin of goods at the border gates and declare e-customs and pre-registration of quarantine records in order to shorten clearance time for goods and reduce costs for enterprises on both sides.

Chinas Yunnan provincial government also pledged to create optimal conditions for the import of agricultural products, fruit and seafood into China through border gates in Lao Cai, while annually organising the Hekou - Lao Cai Border Trade Fair, speeding up the construction of a cross-border cooperation area to facilitate the trade of goods with Vietnam, and building the maximum incentive mechanism for customs clearance and transportation of import and export of agricultural products, fruit and aquatic products between localities of Vietnam and Yunnan.
The event, part of activities under the 2019 national trade promotion programme, brought together dozens of enterprises from the two nations across various fields.

Addressing the seminar, Trinh Xuan Hieu, a representative from Vietnams trade mission in Russia, highlighted the fine traditional friendly relations and comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, reflected through the regular exchange of visits by their senior leaders.

Vietnam-Russia economic and trade cooperation has also been growing strongly, especially since the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union free trade agreement came into effect in October 2016, he said.

Hieu affirmed that the trade mission and the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia always stand ready to do everything possible to support and boost cooperation between companies of the two countries.

Vietnamese and Russian firms meet and discuss business cooperation. (Photo: NDO)



Sergey Zhuravlev, head of the strategic development department at Food City Trade Centre, stated that, over recent times, Vietnams farm produce has been on the rise in the Russian market.

Some items have even strengthened their position, which proves that these products are of high quality and are favoured by Russian consumers, thus attracting the interest of wholesalers and retailers in Russia, he added.

During the seminar, the two countries businesses met directly, exchanged information and introduced each others products to seek suitable partners, thence discussing the signing of cooperation deals.

Earlier on May 29, as part of their working trip to Russia, the delegation of Vietnamese businesses attended the Vietnam-Russia Business Forum and had meetings with Russian firms in Saint Petersburg.

Vu Ba Phu, Director of VIETRADE, speaks at the Vietnam-Russia Business Forum in Saint Petersburg. (Photo: NDO)



Vu Ba Phu, Director of VIETRADE, hailed the forum as an opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to advertise their products to Russian businesses, distributors and customers, adding that it was also an ideal platform for Russian exporters and investors to see Vietnam as an attractive, safe and potential destination.

Vice President of Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry Elena Zheltukhina suggested that Vietnamese and Russian companies cooperate to develop joint tourist products in order to mutually attract tourists.
Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh attended the event, which was held by Vietnam National Television (VTV) and the central province of Quang Nam under the theme Colourful Cultural World.

The participating countries included the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, China and host Vietnam. The impressive performances of the international and Vietnamese art troupes on the gala night bore the typical traditional cultural identities of each participating country.

Speaking at the ceremony, on behalf of the State and the people of Vietnam, Vice President Thinh warmly welcomed guests and children from the eight countries to attend the festival opening in Hoi An, a land with a long history and many famous cultural heritages, which is also a convergence of many different cultures in the world and a land that marks the desire for peace, integration and development of Vietnam.

The Vice President urged the VTV, Quang Nam and Vietnamese children to express their hospitality and introduce their guests to the unique traditions, history and culture of Vietnam, as well as to explore the cultural richness and diversity of other countries in the world.

She also expressed her wish that international guests and children would spend time enjoy the scenery and cultural heritages in Hoi An, as well as other localities across Vietnam, to have good moments there and learn more about the country and people of Vietnam.

The festival is held annually to celebrate International Childrens Day, on June 1, and to strengthen the friendship and solidarity of countries in the region through cultural activities and exchanges between children.

At its first iteration in 2016, the festival gathered children from ASEAN countries. It expanded last year to draw the participation of the Republic of Korea, Russia, China and Japan.
Informing her host on the working session with the Supreme Peoples Procuracy of Vietnam the same day, Yamila Pena Ojeda said the two agencies have engaged in an extensive cooperation for years, producing practical and effective outcomes.

She said Cuba is implementing its new constitution, with the Supreme Peoples Procuracy playing an important role in completing the legal system.

Praising Cubas achievements in health, education and bio-technology, among others, NA Chairwoman Ngan stressed that despite global changes over the past six decades, Vietnam and Cuba have stood side by side in their national construction and development.

The two nations have cooperated in all fields, maintained delegation exchanges and regular meetings between their ministries and sectors, and supported each other at multilateral forums and international conferences. Bilateral trade has recorded continuous increases, while joint projects in agriculture, construction and health are running effectively.

NA Chairwoman Ngan stated Vietnam supports the collaboration between the two procuracies. She said as Cuba has a new constitution, it is practical for the agencies to exchange experience and cooperate concerning the role of the supreme procuracy in constitution implementation and protection of the law.

She said she hopes joint programmes between the two procuracies will be fruitful, contributing to the Vietnam - Cuba relations.
During meetings, deputy head of the Party Central Committees Organisation Commission Tuy reported them about the outcomes of the working session with Laos - Vietnam Friendship Association as well as future cooperation plan, saying that both sides will continue working closely together to celebrate major holidays and anniversaries, especially paying tribute to war heroes in each country.

Lao President of the National Assembly Pany Yathotou, Vice President Phankham Viphavan and head of the Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations Sounthone Xayachak said the visit contributes to fostering special relation between the two nations.

They thanked the Vietnamese Party, State and people for providing invaluable and unconditional support for Laos over the past years.

Yathotou, for her part, appreciated tribute activities that the central committees of Vietnam - Laos and Laos - Vietnam friendship associations jointly held, saying that these will educate young generations about the tradition of bilateral ties.

She affirmed that the Laos - Vietnam ties will last forever, and leaders of the Lao Party, State, Government and people will do their best to strengthen the relationship to bring practical benefits to the people.

In the morning the same day, Deputy head of the Party Central Committees Organisation Commission Tuy held talks with Vilayvong Butdakham, head of the Lao NAs Committee for Planning, Finance and Audit and Chairman of the Laos - Vietnam Friendship Association Central Committee.

The two sides reviewed coordination between the central committees of Laos - Vietnam, Vietnam - Laos friendship associations and discussed future plans.

Butdakham expressed his delight at the development of bilateral comprehensive partnership in diverse areas over the past years.

He suggested that the two central committees should continue working closely together to hold exchange activities, thus raising young generations awareness of bilateral special relations.

Deputy head of the Party Central Committees Organisation Commission Tuy took the occasion to propose diversifying activities during major anniversaries of the two countries.

Chairman of the Central Committee of Vietnam - Laos Friendship Organisation Tran Van Tuy (L) receives the Friendship Order from head of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations Sounthone Xayachak. (Photo: NDO/Xuan Son)

In the afternoon the same day, head of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations Sounthone Xayachak granted Friendship Order, the noble distinction of the Lao Party, State and people, to the Central Committee of Vietnam - Laos Friendship Association in honour of its contributions to great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive partnership between the two nations.
The leader made the statement in Hanoi on May 31 while Minister and Secretary General of the presidency Patrick Achi and a high-ranking delegation of Ivory Coast, who are visiting Vietnam.

At the meeting, Deputy PM Dam spoke highly of the traditional partnership between the two nations, as well as support and sentiments of people of the African country towards Vietnam over the time.

Since Vietnam and Ivory Coast set up diplomatic ties in 1975, the countries have joined hands in various multilateral forums, he noted. With two-way trade reaching about US$1 billion in 2018, Ivory Coast is Vietnams second largest trade partner in Africa at present.

The countries need to determine fields of mutual concern, such as human resources, digital economy and economic structure transition, the Deputy PM said.

Deputy PM Dam underlined the establishment of cooperation mechanisms at governmental and ministry levels to strengthen the bilateral cooperation and friendship, benefitting firms and people of the two countries.

In reply, Achi said during the visit, his delegation had working sessions with leaders of the Government Office, the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to discuss the implementation of e-government and digital economy.

The delegation also made fact-finding trips to northern Quang Ninh province, along with Can Tho city and Ho Chi Minh City in the south, he noted.

Achi expressed his hope to learn experience from Vietnams education development, especially high school education.
Trac, who is also permanent deputy head of the Central Steering Committee on Corruption Prevention and Control and the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform, met Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) Jose Ramon Machado Ventura during the visit.

He said the Party, State and people of Vietnam will do their best to further deepen traditional friendship and comprehensive partnership between the two Parties, States and peoples founded by Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro.

The official affirmed Vietnams consistent stance on supporting the just revolutionary cause of Cuban people and the fight for immediate and unconditional end to economic, trade and financial embargo against their country.

Machado Ventura, for his part, lauded Vietnam for its readiness to share experience in diverse areas with Cuba and work with the country in joint activities to strengthen bilateral ties.

As Vietnam is stepping up reform and Cuba is updating its socialist-oriented socio-economic development model, he suggested facilitating regular visits at all levels and sharing experience in State leadership, socio-economic management and Party building.

During the stay, the Vietnamese Party official also held talks with head of the CPC Central Committees Department of Organisation and Cadre Policy Aberlado Alvarez Gil, during which both sides discussed specific measures to further promote comprehensive and effective ties between the two Parties and countries in the near future.

The guest also met bilaterally with Vice President of the Council of State and Comptroller General of Cuba Gladys Bejerano Portela, Chief Justice of the People's Supreme Court Ruben Remegio, and leaders of several other ministries and agencies.

The two sides shared experience in internal work, corruption prevention and control, law building, judicial reform, political security and social safety and order.

While in Cuba, the Vietnamese delegation laid wreaths at monuments dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh and national hero Jose Marti, visited an elementary school named after Vietnamese hero Nguyen Van Troi and several economic and tourism establishments in Matanzas province.
The 14th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) this year is titled "Mecca Summit: Together for the Future," with the attendance of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and several heads of state from the Islamic world.

The main topics for the summit focused on the issues of Palestine, Islamophobia, countering extremism and terrorism, and the situation of Muslims around the world.

During the opening speech, King Salman highlighted that the Palestinian issue remains the priority of the OIC's work.

"We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of any measures that would affect the historical and legal status of Jerusalem," he said.

In December 2017, US President Donald Trump declared that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the city in May last year, which made the relations between the United States and the Palestinian Authority deteriorated.

In addition, the Trump administration has been preparing for a new peace plan called "Deal of the Century" to end the prolonged Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which the Palestinians have repeatedly voiced their rejection.

The OIC summit was held following two Gulf and Arab summits in Mecca on May 30 to discuss recent regional developments and measures to be taken regarding them.
The head of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah warned on Friday that if there was a war against Iran the whole Middle East region would "erupt", amid escalating US-Iranian tensions.

U.S. President Donald "Trump, his administration, and his intelligence know well that any war on Iran will not remain confined to Iran's borders", Hassan Nasrallah said.

"Any war on Iran will mean the whole region will erupt," said the head of the Iran-backed movement in a televised speech, explaining that such a war was therefore unlikely.

"And any American forces and American interests will be permissible" as a target, he said.

Hezbollah is listed as a "terrorist group" by the United States, and has fought several wars with US-ally Israel to the south of Lebanon.

Nasrallah on Friday also slammed a proposed U.S. peace deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that Trump has dubbed "the deal of the century".

"It's a void deal... a historic crime," he said of the plan, that has already been rejected by the Palestinians as it is expected to largely favour Israel.

"This deal is a loss of Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic rights," Nasrallah said.

Thousands of Iranians joined annual rallies in support of the Palestinian cause on Friday, also rejecting the US peace plan.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has been drafting the long-awaited peace plan, the economic aspects of which are to be presented at a conference in Bahrain next month.

The United Nations earlier on Friday said it would not be taking part in that meeting on June 25 and 26 in Manama.

Gulf countries in Mecca expressed "support for the U.S. strategy towards Iran", which includes crippling sanctions and deploying an aircraft carrier task force, B-52 bombers and an amphibious assault ship to the Gulf.

Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah was a force to reckon with.

"We have precision missiles in Lebanon, and enough to be able to change the face of the region," he said.

The movement has been backing the Damascus regime in the civil war in neighboring Syria, and stands accused of also backing rebels in the conflict in Yemen.
In one of his harshest attacks yet on Iran, King Salman of Saudi Arabia accused Tehran of supporting "terrorist militias" that he said were a threat to global oil supplies and regional security.



The king, speaking on June 1 at a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, described a recent attack on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and an armed drone assault on Saudi pipeline facilities as "terrorist acts."



"We confirm that these subversive terrorist acts are aimed not only at the kingdom and the [Persian] Gulf region, but also on the security of navigation and energy supplies to the world," the king told the gathering.



He said the drone attack on the pipeline was carried by Huthi rebels in Yemen, which he described as a "terrorist militia backed by Iran."



Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, backed by the United States, is an archrival of Shiite-majority Iran and competes for influence in the region.



In recent weeks, tensions have risen in and around the Strait of Hormuz, a key petroleum shipping route at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that Iran has threatened to block.



Earlier this month, Washington announced the deployment of an aircraft carrier battle group and a bomber task force to the Gulf to counter what U.S. officials called "clear indications" of threats from Iran to U.S. interests or its allies in the region.



Iran, which had a representative at the Islamic summit, has denied any involvement in the recent attacks.



"Saudi Arabia has used the holy month of Ramadan and the holy city of Mecca for political gain in order to put to the world baseless claims against Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told Irans ISNA news agency.



On May 30, King Salman told an emergency summit of Arab leaders in Mecca that the international community must use all means to stop the Iranian regime from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.



The king accused Iran of harboring global and regional terrorist entities and threatening international waterways."



Saudi Arabia had called for the emergency summit to help project a unified position by Muslim and Arab nations against Iran.



Iraq, which has strong ties to both Iran and the United States, objected to the hard line taken against Tehran, saying that the security and stability of Iran was "in the interest of Muslim and Arab states."

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters




An ultra-conservative ayatollah in Iran has suggested that the state broadcaster should replace female presenters with male anchormen.

Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, who is Supreme Leader Ali Khameneis representative in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi province, is the most vocal ultra-conservative senior religious figure in Iran, who has banned concerts and theater in the province.

The official government IRNA quotes him saying, In some state broadcasting programs it is possible to use men instead of women presenters. It is not necessarily a must to appoint a woman to be the host of a program.

Alamolhoda also said that hijab is a necessity by Sharia law and unfortunately, sometimes even among outwardly pious families it is not being properly observed.

Islamic republic officials and imams face a problem when the weather becomes hot, since women are less inclined to cover their heads and faces too much. This leads to public condemnations of even young men who wear tight T-shirts with very short sleeves.

Law enforcement and morality police increase their vigilance in summer and often stop and admonish or even try to arrest people who are not fully observing proper attire laws.
Irans foreign minister says Tehran needs no mediator for negotiating with the U.S., but the prerequisite for a dialogue is for Washington to abide by the 2015 nuclear agreement.

In an interview with Arabic speaking Iranian TV, al-Alam, on Friday, May 31, Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated, "We have already said that we do not need a mediator," adding, "America has started an economic war against our people...this should stop. Whenever (Washington's) policy changed, then, the atmosphere will also change."

Furthermore, Zarif accused Washington of "show off by pretending that it is ready for talks with Iran.

Echoing his comments, a senior advisor to Zarif, Behzad Saberi Ansari, has also told al-Alam TV, "There is no sign of U.S. goodwill or readiness to move toward reducing tensions, adding that Washington only pretends with "some theatrics" to be seeking negotiations.

Earlier on May 29, President Hassan Rouhani had also asserted that should Washington cancel its sanctions on Tehran, the road toward negotiations between the two sides will be paved.

Nonetheless, on the same day, the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "absolutely rejected" any talks between the two, let alone negotiating about the issues that involve Iran's "honor."

However, the spokesman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Kayvan Khosravi, has already confirmed that several delegations from different countries visited Iran to relay "Washington's message."

In one of his latest comments on Tehran, President Donald Trump said on May 30, that the U.S. would "certainly negotiate" with Iran if Tehran made a move.

In a tweet on May 20, President Trump had noted, "Iran will call us if and when they are ever ready. In the meantime, their economy continues to collapse - very sad for the Iranian people!"
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

Trend:

Polish President Andrzej Duda invited Polish companies to work in Alat Free Economic Zone.

Polish President Andrzej Duda referred to the vast opportunities available in Alat Free Economic Zone during his press briefing with Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev.

I think that we are creating new opportunities. Im excited about upcoming meeting of our countries businessmen. I think that the Polish companies branches should be present in free economic zone created within Alat International Sea Trade Port. Your country is becoming a hub and we want the Polish companies to be in the mentioned zone and by operating there hugely strengthen our relations. We also want to use the capacities of Alat International Sea Trade Port located nearby Baku. Hopefully, Polish companies will benefit from mentioned opportunities, he said.

Azerbaijani Parliament adopted a law about Alat Free Economic Zone on May 18, 2018.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 21 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on June 1, Trend reports.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

By Kheyraddin Nasirzade  Trend:

A meeting was held on May 31 between Rovnag Abdullayev, President of Azerbaijans SOCAR, and Murat Gigin, Chairman of Turkeys Tekfen, Trend reports referring to SOCAR.

At the meeting, the parties signed a memorandum on the construction of a new carbamide plant in Azerbaijan.

Based on the experience gained in the construction of the existing carbamide plant, SOCAR is considering building a new production complex in Sumgayit, Azerbaijan with a daily capacity of 1,200 tons of ammonia and 2,000 tons of carbamide. The memorandum also provides for cooperation in the marketing of existing and new complex fertilizer products.

According to the signed document, a joint working group will be formed at the next stage, and issues regarding the construction of a new plant will be analyzed.

These include the possible participation of companies belonging to the Tekfen Contracting Group based on EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) in construction facilities at the plant; the marketing of the plant by Toros Tarm, Tekfens subsidiary, to enter regional markets with finished products, as well as its sales; participation of the parties as shareholders.

SOCAR successfully works in various fields of the oil and gas industry as an integrated flexible and highly qualified company. In recent years, the company has significantly expanded its activities in the petrochemical industry, having built and commissioned new plants for the production of polymer products and carbamide fertilizers in Azerbaijan.

The factories of SOCAR Polymer and SOCAR Carbamide, being the last links in the company's value chain, acquire raw materials from other enterprises of SOCAR, and, through this synergy, are of great value for the company. SOCAR continues to explore new investment opportunities to increase Azerbaijans revenues and create new jobs in the country.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

Trend:

Uzbekistan, Huawei and a number of foreign investors will soon sign a trilateral agreement on the implementation of the Safe City project in Uzbekistan, Trend reports with reference to Podrobno.uz.

Now we are making calculations together with the Ministry of Finance for this project. At the same time, negotiations are underway with Chinese investors who are planned to be attracted to this initiative, said Davron Azizov, director of public relations and corporate communications of Huawei in Uzbekistan.

According to him, at the first stage of the project, an investment of $300 million is being discussed.

During the recent visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to China, it became known that the Chinese companies Huawei and CITIC Guoan Information Technology plan to invest over $1 billion in the development of the digital infrastructure of Uzbekistan.

These funds will be used to develop e-government, digital economy, information technology, telemedicine and IT telephony.

Mirziyoyev praised the use of artificial intelligence technologies, and also inquired about the fate of projects that have already been implemented in Uzbekistan in cooperation with Huawei, and how the company trains specialists.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Iran is ready to provide a path for energy transit for Tajikistan and create key infrastructure for economic activity in the region, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said at a meeting with Tajik Foreign Minister Sirodjidin Aslov, Trend reports referring to the website of the Ministry of Energy of Iran.

According to Ardakanian, Tajikistan has the potential of producing about 15 percent of all hydroelectric power in the world.

He added that, if this potential is realized, it will most certainly play a key role in the development of the region.

Noting that Iran currently has an energy exchange with all of its neighbors (with whom the country has land borders), the minister said that Iran intends to synchronize its electrical system with Russia via Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The first shipment of liquefied natural gas, part of a 140 million cubic meters purchase by Bulgarian state-owned gas company Bulgargaz, arrived at the Revithoussa LNG terminal in Greece, Bulgarias Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova said on May 31, Trend reports via Sofia Globe.

This is Bulgarias first acquisition of LNG from the US  the first shipment of 90 million cubic metres comes from Cheniere, with a second 50 million cubic metres shipment from the US subsidiary of British Petroleum due in the third quarter of the year.

One of the main priorities of this Cabinet in the energy sector is the diversification of sources and routes of gas deliveries  One week after starting the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria inter-connector, natural gas from the US will enter into the Bulgarian gas grid, Petkova said in a statement.

The gas will be shipped using the existing link to Greece, but the expanded inter-connector will allow Bulgaria to ship larger quantities of gas from Greece, both from Azerbaijan starting next year and from the proposed second Greek LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis, in which Bulgarian grid operator Bulgartransgaz plans to take a minority stake, expected to be 25 percent.

Dutch trading company Kolmar was contracted to deliver the two shipments and has lodged a letter of intent with Bulgarias Energy Minister, offering to sign a contract to deliver 500 million cubic metres of LNG over a period of five years, to be traded on Bulgarias future Balkan gas hub, Petkova said.

Petkova said that the two LNG shipments were acquired at competitive prices. According to Bulgargaz executive director Nikolai Pavlov, the purchase allowed the company to save 15 million leva (about 7.7 million euro).

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

STAR oil refinery of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR in Turkey has reached its full processing capacity of 10 million tonnes of oil per year in May and is expected to process 7 million tonnes of crude by the end of 2019, Zaur Gahramanov, head of SOCAR Turkey Energy, told Reuters, Trend reports.

"The plant is currently processing 28,500 to 29,000 tonnes of crude oil daily," he said, adding that the same volumes would be processed in June and July.

Oil products from the refinery are sent to the Turkish domestic market as well as for export.

Gahramanov said that STAR would export 300,000 tonnes of reformate and 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel this year, while exports next year were expected to rise to 600,000 tonnes of reformate and 200,000 to 250,000 tonnes of jet fuel.

Gahramanov said that reaching its full capacity enabled STAR to add other grades of crude oil to Urals, the only grade that it had been refining so far.

"We plan to purchase 600,000 barrels of Siberian light crude and oil from Iraq Basra in June for processing purposes as it is possible to refine all crude oil grades at our plant," he said, adding that Saudi oil was not commercially profitable for the company at the moment.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 1

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Ashgabat, Trend reports referring to the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary (TDH) state agency.

The head of state expressed confidence that this meeting will give a new impetus to fruitful cooperation between Turkmenistan and Russia, and will allow defining future prospects and ways of developing cooperation in various fields. The president noted the high level of Turkmen-Russian relations.

As emphasized, Turkmenistan and Russia have long-standing friendly relations. In the modern era, interstate dialogue is dynamically developing both in bilateral and multilateral formats, within the framework of authoritative international organizations.

About 190 companies with Russian capital operate in Turkmenistan. The ARETI International Group (formerly Itera Group) has been operating in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea on the basis of the signed production sharing agreement (PSA) since 2009. In 2019, after a three-year break, Russia's Gazprom resumed purchases of Turkmen gas.

Moreover, Russia and Turkmenistan are initiating cooperation in the Caspian. In particular, it is being planned to launch a freight line across the sea, which will connect Russias Makhachkala with the Turkmen port of Turkmenbashi.

The 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Russian Commission for Economic Cooperation was held in Ashgabat on May 8.

The parties considered joint projects, issues of the activities of Russian companies in Turkmenistan, as well as prospects for cooperation in the industrial, construction, transport, oil and gas, gas chemical and electric power industries.

The agenda also included cooperation issues in such important areas as the agro-industrial complex and the supply of agricultural equipment, construction, interaction among business structures and the introduction of advanced technologies.

Turkmenistan has been recently actively developing business relations with the subjects of Russia, including the Republic of Tatarstan, the Sverdlovsk region and the federal city of St. Petersburg.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

Lies and intrigues, which the whole atmosphere of the Middle East region is saturated with, creates deep skepticism that makes people mistrust even the obvious facts, tuning the brain towards various conspiracy theories.

Involuntarily you begin to ask yourself questions, paranoid at first sight, and to look for answers. Some 20 years ago everything seemed to be a lot easier.

Is it a coincidence that President Trumps peace plan on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be made public at the peak of the chaos and collapse taking place in the Arab world?

If your home is burning, you will most likely be involved in fighting fire and saving your household, having no time to deal with other issues. Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the Arab Maghreb  many Arab nations are torn by civil wars, protests, street rallies, terrorist acts and internal political strife.

The Arab street, whether in Sudan, Syria or anywhere else, where for several generations a stable ideological matrix of attitude to the Palestinian-Israeli issue has been cemented, and which could be the main barrier to the implementation of the US peace plan, needed to be dealt with.

Is it a coincidence that in those countries where the peace plan is planned to be supported  Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf countries  stability is maintained, despite the scorching flames of the Arab spring?

These states have no less painful points and internal problems, which, if only touched, will also turn into unrests and violence. But somehow, there is peace there.

And theres this: is it a coincidence that the newly elected right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu  an ardent opponent of any concessions in the Palestinian-Israeli issue  failed to form a coalition that resulted in dissolving of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and announcement of new elections?

Netanyahu is well-known for his intransigent and aggressive stand towards the problem. If he doesnt soften it, he would become a hurdle for the great Middle East deal  after all Palestinian Arabs should also be satisfied.

In connection with the new Knesset elections in September, another question arises: will President Trump postpone the presentation of his peace plan from June to the post-election time, waiting for the results?

I think, he will not.

Robust democracy, sustainability of Israel's State institutions and a multi-party system that represents the interests of various segments of society make it possible not to fear a multiplicity of opinions.

Discussions on the specific provisions of the peace plan, which will begin immediately after its promulgation, will become the ground on which the election campaign will be built, and the one who, in the opinion of the Israelis, will be the most convincing in his arguments on the issue of further coexistence with Palestinian Arabs, will win the elections and become the new Prime Minister.

The reduction of pressure from Netanyahu and his far-right supporters on Israeli society allows Washington to expect that Israel will accept the peace plan, making certain concessions.
About 621 Syrian refugees on Saturday returned to their homeland from Lebanon, an online independent newspaper reported, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Refugees gathered in different areas in Lebanon including Nabatieh, Tripoli, Beirut and Bekaa, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) secured their return to Syria through the Masnaa Border Crossing, Elnashra said.

More than 1 million Syrian refugees are registered with the UNHCR in Lebanon, while the Lebanese government estimated the true number of Syrians in the country at 1.5 million.

To facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, Russia has drafted a strategy and presented it to the Lebanese authorities.

The strategy aims at securing the return of 890,000 Syrian refugees to their homeland.
Twenty-nine migrants were injured in a fire that broke out early on Saturday at a center in the northwestern Bosnian town of Velika Kladusa, police said, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Regional police spokesman Ale Siljdedic said the injured were taken to hospitals in Velika Kladusa and neighboring Bihac following the fire at the Miral center, which is used as temporary accommodation for about 500 migrants.

The fire was put down during the course of the day but more than a hundred migrants were forced to stay outdoors braving rain and cold weather because the buildings upper floor was destroyed, a Reuters photographer said.

An investigation into the cause of the fire was underway, police said. Police spokesman Siljdedic told Reuters the fire was most likely caused by a heater as temperatures had fallen overnight.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which manages the camp, said in a statement that eight people remained in hospital, two of them with serious but not life threatening injuries.

Videos posted on social media showed several people jumping in panic out of the centers windows.

Local doctors said that many of the injured suffered from limb fractures and only few of them from burns. IOM said its was ready to engage additional staff to put the building back into full use.

About 25,000 people from Asia and North Africa entered Bosnia from Serbia and Montenegro last year, and about 6,000 have arrived in the impoverished Balkan country this year, according to Bosnias security agencies.

Only around 3,500 have been accommodated in transit centers, leaving thousands sleeping rough.

Most of the migrants are concentrated in Bihac and Velika Kladusa, where authorities say resources are overstretched. They have requested that the three transit centers there, including Miral, be closed and residents moved elsewhere.

Ethnically-divided Bosnia has not formed a government seven months after a general election. State institutions in charge of migration and asylum issues are operating in a caretaking capacity.
At least two people were missing on Saturday after blasts at the explosives plant Kristall in the central Russian town of Dzerzhinsk, Interfax and RIA news agencies reported, Trend reports citing Reuters.

As we understand, two went missing, deputy governor Dmitry Krasnov was quoted by RIA as saying in a statement broadcast by Russian state TV channel Rossiya 24.

Some 22 people were injured, Interfax news agency reported citing a source. An official at the local health ministry said earlier that most of the injured have fragment wounds.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions, said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media.

According to Cavusoglu, double standards are still being applied to Azerbaijan, despite the fact that 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory is under Armenian occupation.

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 Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
The defense chiefs of the United States and China on Friday discussed ways to better enforce United Nations sanctions on North Korea, the Pentagon said, Trend reports citing Yonhap.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe held a "constructive and productive" meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, according to Lieutenant Colonel Joe Buccino, a Pentagon spokesman.

"The two leaders discussed ways to build military-to-military relations that reduce the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation between our nations," he said in a statement.

"Secretary Shanahan specifically discussed how our militaries can better cooperate to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolutions related to DPRK sanctions," he added, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

China's cooperation is critical because nearly all of North Korea's external trade flows through the neighboring nation.

The U.S. has insisted on keeping all sanctions on North Korea until the regime abandons its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted a day earlier that China has done "good work" enforcing the sanctions but could always do better.

"It's not perfect. It's not perfect anywhere," he told reporters traveling with him to Europe. "We're always looking to do better with respect to enforcement. But they've been a very good partner on that issue even while there have been difficult conversations on trade taking place."

Pompeo said the U.S. and China have a "substantially overlapping interest" when it comes to denuclearizing North Korea.
Twilight heartthrob-turned-arthouse darling Robert Pattinson is Warner Bros. next Batman, Trend reports citing The Verge.

Variety reported on Friday that Pattinson would play the vigilante in a planned standalone movie called The Batman, helmed by War for the Planet of the Apes and Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. An additional report from Deadline suggested that Pattinson was Reeves preferred choice, but Warner Bros. executives werent entirely sold. The studio was torn between him and Nicholas Hoult, according to Deadline. Batman is a crucial franchise for Warner Bros., and the studio didnt want to jeopardize it. There is a chance that The Batman could turn into a mini-franchise of its own, according to Deadline, with the supposed contract set to include options on at least two more films.

Pattinson is best known for his work as the vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise, but hes since established himself as an indie darling. Hes received critical acclaim for his work in movies like David Cronenbergs Cosmopolis, Claire Denis High Life, and the Safdie brothers 2017 film Good Time. Pattinsons decision to join The Batman is surprising since the actor has previously said hes cautious about entering more franchises after working on Twilight. But The Batman may be the perfect answer.

The only reason why Im cautious about big franchise things is you cant make them R rated, Pattinson said at the Berlin Film Festival in 2018.

Reeves described the film as a return to what Christopher Nolan did with his Dark Knight trilogy. Its a different version than Ben Afflecks take on the character from Justice League and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the interpretation of director Zack Snyder, who remains convinced that Batman is an unrepentant murderer.

The Batman is currently scheduled for theatrical release in 2021.
As the media giant shifts the way it reaches its creators, it says it will close the company's only permanent Canadian studio later this year, Trend reports citing Sputnik.

In an email sent on Thursday to its online creator community, YouTube said it plans to replace its Toronto studio with a "pop-up" approach that will roll out temporary studios in different regions of the country, CBC News reported. The move would help YouTube production assets reach Canadians in cities where they wouldn't otherwise have the resources.

"We are moving from a fixed model based out of YouTube Space Toronto into a community-based model where we'll meet creators where they live. This will include a mix of workshops, events and pop-up spaces, allowing us to better connect with the unique communities of creators from coast to coast," Mark Swierszcz, manager of YouTubes Toronto studio, said in a statement.

According to a spokesperson, YouTube has already established two pop-ups in Montreal and is getting a positive response from local creators.

"Given the size of the country and the fact that our creators are not all based in one city, we hope this new approach will help us to better connect with the unique communities of creators in every region," Swierszcz added.

The 3,500-square-foot facility of YouTube Space Toronto opened at George Brown College in the spring of 2016 amid a boom in the growth of the creator community. It was accessible to YouTube personalities with over 10,000 subscribers, with the time divided representatively to the popularity of the channels, helping with the equipment, workshops and space to hold launch parties.

The company also plans to close another YouTube Space in Mumbai, India, that operates on the grounds of a school, yet locations in other cities, including New York, London, Paris and Los Angeles will stay open.

According to Swierszcz, YouTube is looking into options for a different kind of permanent Toronto facility for local creators and "will have more to share very soon about a future home."
The United States and Poland are close to inking a deal on increasing the number of US troops stationed in the Eastern European country by at least 1,000 people, media reported, Trend reports citing Sputnik.

On Friday, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter that the agreement might be signed during Polish President Andrzej Dudas visit to the United States, planned for June 12.

The outlet added that the move would be accompanied by enhancing the capabilities of the forces, adding a special forces unit and a joint training site.

Poland currently hosts around 4,500 US troops, deployed as part of a NATO mission in the wake of Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014.

During Duda's visit to Washington in September 2018, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States was considering establishing a permanent military base in Poland. The Polish president offered to pay around $2 billion of the total costs and suggested that the base be named Fort Trump.

Western politicians, especially those from the Baltic States and Poland, have repeatedly stated that Russia allegedly constitutes a threat to their security. At the same time, Russia has repeatedly stressed that it will never attack any NATO country. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, NATO is well aware of the absence of Moscows plans to attack anyone and simply uses the alleged threat as a pretext to deploy more equipment and troops near Russia's borders.
KYODO NEWS - May 30, 2019 - 21:30 | All, Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday called for other Asian leaders to jointly address the global challenges of reducing plastic trash in the oceans and promoting free trade.

In a speech delivered at a conference on the future of Asia, Abe said Japan will establish an international research center for plastic debris this year. The issue will be on the agenda at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka next month.

"I am determined for us to work together with you in ASEAN to protect the beautiful seas, our common asset," Abe said as leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in Tokyo for the two-day conference.

Japan is planning to locate the research center within the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, based in Jakarta.

Abe laid out three major agenda items for the G-20 summit on June 28 and 29 -- maintaining the free and fair trading system, addressing the challenges of the digital economy such as data governance, and using innovation to tackle environmental issues.

In the speech, Abe pushed for reforming the World Trade Organization.

The WTO, set up a quarter century ago, "has failed to keep up" with changes in the world economy, Abe said, stressing the need "to make the WTO relevant again as a guardian" of free trade.

As negotiations are under way to create an Asia-wide free trade zone under the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Abe appealed for a successful conclusion to the talks.

The 16 nations -- the 10-member ASEAN along with Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand -- are aiming to reach an agreement this year after missing a year-end deadline in 2018 due to disagreements over tariffs and other politically sensitive issues.

"We should together maintain the maritime order that has nurtured us up to the present day -- the free, open maritime order faithful to the rule of law -- and safeguard and then strengthen free trade to the greatest degree possible," Abe said.

Earlier in the day, Abe met with Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, who assumed the post in May, and agreed to continue cooperation in promoting free trade, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

"Singapore is always looking forward to contributing to the G-20," Heng told Abe at the outset of the meeting, as Singapore has been invited to participate in the Osaka summit as an observer.

Japan has been strengthening ties with ASEAN nations at a time when China is also seeking closer relations with them.

As Tokyo is aiming to create a "free and open" Indo-Pacific, helping ASEAN countries, particularly those along the Mekong River, build infrastructure is one of the key diplomatic pillars.

When Abe met with Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on Thursday, Abe promised Japan's support for reconstruction in Attapeu, a southeast province of Laos, following the collapse of a dam last year.

Japan will also encourage administrative officials in Laos to study at Japanese graduate schools as part of bilateral cooperation, hoping to help raise future leaders of the country, the Foreign Ministry said.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also met with Abe on Thursday.

As Vietnam has been also invited to join the G-20 summit as an observer, Abe and Minh expressed hope for a Japan-Vietnam summit on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 1, 2019 - 23:59 | World

The Japanese, U.S. and Australian defense chiefs urged North Korea on Saturday to return to denuclearization negotiations that have been at a standstill following the collapse of a second summit between Washington and Pyongyang in late February.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan reached the agreement with Japanese and Australian defense ministers Takeshi Iwaya and Linda Reynolds at their meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore.

In the wake of the collapse of the Feb. 27 to 28 summit in the Vietnamese capital, where U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to reach a deal, Pyongyang has resumed provocative actions such as recent short-range missile tests.

Prior to the trilateral gathering, Japanese and Australian defense ministers held bilateral talks and agreed to work together to crack down on ship-to-ship smuggling involving North Korean vessels, while confirming the importance of bilateral security cooperation.

At the outset of his meeting, Iwaya told Reynolds, who took up the post late last month after the general election in May, that Tokyo is willing to expand joint drills with Canberra to bolster defense capacities with each other.

Illegal ship-to-ship transfers of goods are activities believed to be used by North Korea to evade U.N. Security Council sanctions aimed at preventing Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
By Toma Mochizuki, KYODO NEWS - Jun 1, 2019 - 08:04 | Arts, Feature, All

A group of men jam their feet into high-heeled shoes and walk back and forth, some falteringly, others with unlikely confidence. Some women watch on, gauging the men's reactions while sympathizing with each other's stories about wearing the torture devices masquerading as fashion.

They were all participants in a recent event in Tokyo held to highlight the plight of many women -- the forced wearing of heels in the workplace -- in an extension of the #KuToo online movement.

The social media hashtag references the Japanese words for shoes, "kutsu," and pain, "kutsuu," with a nod to the worldwide #MeToo movement which has rallied awareness about the scourge of sexual harassment and violence against women.

Organizers of the event with the tag-line, "Is job-hunting in sneakers acceptable?" gave the men stilettos with 5-centimeter high heels and asked them to quite literally walk in a woman's shoes. The experience allowed the men to understand the discomfort and inconvenience that come from walking with one's heels held aloft.

"I'd be quite annoyed if someone asked me to wear these," shoemaker Jun Ito, 34, said as he put on a pair of black heels. He promptly took the shoes off after posing for a photo. "Wearing heels makes me feel unstable and my feet got sweaty," he added.

(Jun Ito)

The event, organized by petition website Change.org to "reflect upon ideal working conditions from one's feet," questioned the necessity of heels in the workplace from various viewpoints as it challenged etiquette norms in Japan.

"I hope there will come a day when women don't have to wear heels in the workplace...Why do we have to injure our feet while working when men are allowed to wear flat shoes?" asked Yumi Ishikawa, 32, the creator of the #KuToo movement.

The actress and writer tweeted in January her frustration about the unfairness of having to wear heels. In her part-time job at a funeral parlor, Ishikawa worked as an usher and was on her feet for the majority of the day, often finishing her shift with bleeding pinky toes.

Regardless, the dress code at the parlor required women to wear black strapless closed-toe heels between 5- to 7-cm high.

One workday, she noticed that her male colleague was wearing light flat shoes. Annoyed, Ishikawa casually tweeted about the disparity of the dress code, and to her surprise received over 67,000 likes and nearly 30,000 retweets. Encouraged by the replies, she created the hashtag #KuToo.

"People tend to feel they shouldn't make a fuss, but this movement started from a complaint I made," Ishikawa said at the gathering. "If you think something isn't right, then I don't think it's such a bad thing to talk about it."

What began as a rant soon became a trend on the platform and quickly garnered enough support that an online petition questioning gender-based dress codes was born, with a focus on women and heels. Her petition against forced heel wearing in the workplace now has over 18,700 signatures.

"I realized that it's a problem so many people sympathize with," she said.

Some supporters of the campaign tweeted that forcing women to wear high heels in earthquake-prone Japan can even pose a threat to their lives.

Countries around the world have also been cracking down on policies on workplace dress codes in recent years.

In Britain, professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers became the target of ridicule after receptionist Nicola Thorp was sent home without pay for not wearing the required 5- to 10-cm high heels in December 2015.

Dissatisfied, Thorp began an online petition that garnered over 150,000 signatures, subsequently triggering a debate in parliament.

Although the British government concluded the existing law was adequate in banning gender-based discrimination, it published guidelines in May 2018 titled "Dress codes and sex discrimination -- what you need to know," outlining how the law could be applied in the workplace.

At the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in France, Julia Roberts and many other actresses sent photographers crazy when they walked the red carpet barefoot or in sneakers to cast light on the event's dress code. Their protest came after a number of women were barred from entering a screening for not wearing high heels the year before.

The Canadian state of British Colombia and the Philippines have also moved to ban workplaces from forcing women to wear heels, according to Shino Naito, vice senior researcher at the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training.

Japan has a law to prohibit gender-based discrimination in certain phases of employment such as recruitment, promotion, training and renewal of contracts, but there is no reference to dress codes, she said.

"Japan is a society where people are often hesitant to speak up. But once one person does speak out, others tend to follow," Naito said at the event.

Ishikawa says women who enjoy wearing heels, of course, have the right to continue doing so, "and even men who wish to wear heels should be permitted," she said.

She is scheduled to submit the online petition to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Monday to coincide with the start of the screening process for recruitment of new university graduates, during which many female applicants wear heels.

The petition calls on the government to tell companies to ban rules enforcing the wearing of heels.
By Tomoyuki Tachikawa, KYODO NEWS - Jun 1, 2019 - 19:25 | World, All

Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya on Saturday asked his South Korean counterpart to prevent a recurrence of a radar lock-on incident that occurred late last year, expressing eagerness to end talks about the issue that has worsened ties between the two nations.

"I believe there is only one truth" but Japan and South Korea "should take one step further based on a future-oriented viewpoint," Iwaya told reporters after he spoke with Jeong Kyeong Doo for more than 30 minutes in Singapore.

Jeong again rebuffed Japan's allegation of the radar lock-on. The minister, however, said that he and Iwaya exchanged views "in a candid manner" and that Seoul will make active efforts to improve relations with Tokyo.

The defense chiefs of the two countries held in-depth talks for the first time since a South Korean destroyer allegedly locked its fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol plane in December 2018.

Iwaya and Jeong met at a lunch on the occasion of the Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue. They shook hands and smiled, although Japan-South Korea ties have been deteriorating sharply over contentious history and defense issues.

Related coverage:

Japan concludes S. Korean claim over radar lock-on is "baseless"

S. Korea discloses video of maritime incident to dispute Japan claims

(Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya (L) and his South Korean counterpart Jeong Kyeong Doo)

As tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been rekindled following the rupture of the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi in late February, Tokyo and Seoul may be leaning toward improving bilateral relations, diplomatic sources say.

Iwaya and Jeong also chatted together on Friday night at the venue of the ceremony of the three-day meeting through Sunday.

Strains between Tokyo and Seoul have been running high especially after the radar lock-on incident. In January, Japan concluded that South Korea's denial of the alleged radar lock was "baseless" and has cut off talks on the incident since then.

Seoul, meanwhile, has claimed that Japanese Self-Defense Force planes had deliberately flown at low altitude near South Korean naval vessels multiple times, terming the acts a "clear provocation."

The two nations have also been engaged in several disputes based on differing interpretations of thorny issues related to history, such as South Korea's court orders to pay compensation for work done during Japan's colonial rule of the peninsula.

A series of court rulings in South Korea have ordered Japanese companies to compensate for what Seoul calls forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

Tokyo has argued that the issue of wartime compensation was resolved by a 1965 treaty that established diplomatic ties between the two countries, under which Japan provided South Korea with $500 million in financial aid.

With bilateral relations showing little sign of improving, North Korea fired projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and 9, fanning fears about peace and stability in the region.

In the wake of Pyongyang's missile launches, Tokyo and Seoul may have started to consider the possibility of talks, the sources said.

Japan and South Korea agreed to deepen defense cooperation and work together to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions designed to thwart Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions, Iwaya said.
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As the cost of college continues to skyrocket and U.S. student debt totals rise , selecting a major in a field that pays well and offers long-term professional opportunities can be a crucial decision for students.

"Choosing a major might seem like no big deal, but it's one of the few choices you make as a 19- or 20-year-old that can have an outsized impact on your entire career  and possibly your whole life," Chris Kolmar, co-founder of career planning site Zippia , tells CNBC Make It .

Zippia analyzed the most recent Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data from the American Community Survey (ACS), to determine the average annual income of graduates with 174 college majors. When looking at workers between the ages of 29 and 31 who were employed the whole year and worked at least 35 hours per week, Kolmar and his team found that petroleum engineering stands out as the highest-paying college major  by far.

The average annual income students who graduate with a degree in petroleum engineering is about $169,680 per year, according to Zippia, while graduates of the second-highest paying major earn closer to $95,351 a year on average.

According to U.S. News and World Report , the best college for those who want to study petroleum engineering is University of Texas Permian Basin , where petroleum engineering majors can expect median starting salaries of about $119,500.

Here are the 10 highest-paying college majors of 2019 according to Zippia:

10. Chemical engineering

Average annual income: $79,086

9. Business

Average annual income: $80,048

8. Economics

Average annual income: $82,560

7. Mining and mineral engineering

Average annual income: $83,754

6. Actuarial science

Average annual income: $84,104

5. Naval architecture and marine engineering

Average annual income: $86,941

4. Geosciences

Average annual income: $89,799

3. Engineering mechanics and physics

Average annual income: $90,085

2. Applied mathematics

Average annual income: $95,351

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1. Petroleum engineering

Average annual income: $169,680

This is not the first year that petroleum engineering has been named the highest-paying college major. In 2018, salary comparison site PayScale surveyed 2.3 million graduates from over 2,700 colleges across the U.S. and found that workers with this degree earn around $94,000 at the beginning of their careers, and an occupation-wide average of $175,000 a year.

But just because petroleum engineer can offer some sky-high salaries doesn't mean that all students should rush to change their major right away. Workers in the petroleum industry report above-average stress levels, below-average flexibility and below-average work-life balance. They must also contend with the uncertainty that surrounds the oil and gas industry.

Other high-paying majors on Zippia's list include numerous science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, including applied mathematics, physics and chemical engineering.

"Like most other studies that look at the link between earnings and majors, the highest paying majors are STEM or have some basis in math, such as economics and finance," says Kolmar. "These majors lead to jobs that are in high demand  jobs that have a need for analytical skills or specific types of sciences.

"When you're selecting a college major, you should consider how that choice will set you up for your career. If you're looking to snag a high-paying job out of college, you should ideally look for a subject you're passionate about, but that there's also a market for on the hiring front."

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Tuition at community colleges is $3,660 a year on averagebut here's how much students actually pay

Average tuition at private colleges is $35,830 a yearbut here's how much students actually pay

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The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China is having an unmistakably negative effect on the technology sector. Numerous tech stocks have heavy Chinese exposure, whether it's via the rare-earth materials they use in their products, manufacturing done in China or just deriving a large percentage of revenues from the country. And their shares have been punished as the rift between the two countries has widened.

As a group, the outlook is worrisome. But a few tech stocks are more shielded than others from Chinese trade issues. Just look to the cloud.

Cloud computing has been a lucrative mega-trend on its own; whole industries have moved into scaled data centers, linked by fiber cable and wireless networks. But it also is shaping up to be something of a safe haven from trade concerns. China may make some of our devices, and their chips may go into our technology infrastructure, but the clouds themselves are ours, and so is the value inside them. Thus, many companies that operate cloud-based services look to be relatively well-insulated against this long-running U.S.-China trade spat.

The following are six tech stocks that can help China-proof your portfolio. Many of these stocks have run hot in 2019, and some of them are expensive as a result. But each is also a strong long-term holding based on the merit of their technological innovations and the lucrative markets they address.

SEE ALSO: 50 Top Stocks That Billionaires Love

Adobe

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Market value: $133.9 billion

Adobe (ADBE, $274.51) began life as a printing software company that became well-known for its early Web video engine Flash, Photoshop photo-editing software and Acrobat PDF software.

Adobe's products drove strong growth on their own, but the cloud truly turned them into profit machines.

Under CEO Shantanu Naruyen, who stepped into the role in 2007, Adobe has turned all its software into cloud-based services for creative work, document management and, more recently, marketing. Importantly, it now offers these services as annual subscriptions rather than one-time software purchases, which not only has grown its sales and profits, but made them more predictable.

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Shares have rocketed 325% higher in the past half-decade to clobber the relatively modest 45% from the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index - a reward for the company's operational progress. Revenues more than doubled between 2014 and 2018, while profits have shot up from 27 cents per share to $2.59 in that time. Free cash flow has tripled. That cash hasn't been converted into a dividend yet. Instead. Adobe has spent on acquisitions such as Marketo (B2B marketing management cloud platform) and Magento (commerce platform) - it bought both in 2018 for a combined $6.3 billion. Even then, the company's cash and short-term investments are just about enough to pay off all its long-term debt.

Mark Tepper, president and CEO of Strategic Wealth Partners, recently told CNBC his firm is "backing up the truck" on software companies such as Adobe, which he says has "no exposure to China." Wall Street analysts are high on the stock, with 25 of the 31 covering it calling it a "Buy" or "Strong Buy." That includes Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss, who writes that the company can maintain a 20% annual profit growth rate over the next three years, even if digital media growth slows.

SEE ALSO: 10 Stocks That Could Feast or Fall on China Trade

Cisco Systems

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Market value: $229.3 billion

Cisco Systems (CSCO, $53.57) hasn't been completely untouched by increasingly hostile trade rhetoric, but its stock has nonetheless risen to levels not seen since the dot-com boom, when it briefly was the world's most valuable company.

Cisco makes networking equipment and telecommunications software, but also provides other tech services including cybersecurity. CEO Chuck Robbins has turned firm's focus toward delivering more of its software services via subscription, a la Adobe. Still, some of its supplies are vulnerable to trade tensions, but the company has taken several steps to reduce its exposure to the recently increased tariffs on Chinese imports.

"When we saw the indication that the tariffs were going to move to 25% on Friday morning, the teams kicked in and we actually have executed completely on everything that we need to do to deal with the tariffs," Robbins said during Cisco's most recent quarterly conference call. "We see very minimal impact at this point ... and it is absolutely baked into our guide going forward."

Just note that while Cisco may be better protected than many tech stocks, it's not perfectly shielded. Daniel Milan - a managing partner for Cornerstone Financial Services in Birmingham, Michigan - praises the company's leadership in moving to non-China suppliers, but adds that Cisco still had to push through price increases on its networking equipment early in 2019. "I'm not so sure that Cisco is insulated from the Chinese trade war," he says.

Cisco also offers a little defense in the form of a dividend offering a modest 2.6%. More promising is the fact that said dividend, at 35 cents per share, has multiplied several times over since its initial 6-cent payout in 2011.

Palo Alto Networks

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Market value: $19.4 billion

Computer security is a difficult niche within the software business. Guards must protect every software window, but crooks need find only one hole for disaster to strike.

The approach of Palo Alto Networks (PANW, $204.30) is to implement "next generation" firewalls offering "zero trust," because negligent insiders can do as much damage as malicious outsiders. Palo Alto's software inspects and logs all network traffic, determining who needs access to what instead of just letting any insider into everything.

While it's nice to invest in tech stocks that will survive the trade war, more ideal is a company that could actually thrive from it. Cornerstone's Milan believes Palo Alto may do just that, benefiting from this conflict "as more and more people and business become aware and/or concerned with cyber security threats from China, leading to more business."

Palo Alto, which came public in 2012, has exploded by roughly 660% from its IPO price. Its revenues nearly quadrupled between 2014 and 2018. The company still is not profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, but it's at least making headway into its losses.

The company took a hit recently following its fiscal third-quarter earnings report, in part - ironically - on worries about its transition to offering its products as cloud-based annual subscriptions. Two recent acquisitions also cut into its outlook.

Still, while many analysts rushed to downgrade their price targets, the majority - 29 of 41 - remained in the "Buy" camp. Even Cowen analyst Nick Yalo, who has a "Hold" on PANW, told MarketWatch that while there's near-term profitability risks, "we think Palo Alto Networks's continued expansion into the cloud security market is the right move over the long term."

SEE ALSO: The 7 Best ETFs to Beat Back Trade War Worries

Salesforce.com

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Market value: $120.6 billion

Salesforce.com (CRM, $155.66) - a cloud-based customer relationship management software specialist - was founded in 1999 to rent a CRM application built on an Oracle (ORCL) database. Now, after many years, Salesforce is working to unshackle itself from that database by developing its own.

China resists foreign cloud applications - that knocks out a large potential area of growth, but it also means U.S.-based application companies aren't impacted by tariffs (except to the extent that customers go out of business).

Salesforce revenues have grown by about roughly 25% annually for the past few years, with analysts forecasting closer to 20% (so less, but still rapid growth) this year and next. And while profits are expected to take a small step back this year, analysts on average are looking for 28.5% annual earnings expansion over the next half-decade.

CRM also is one of the best-rated tech stocks out there. All but four of the 45 analysts covering the stock consider it buy-worthy.

"Salesforce is a great addition," writes Steve Koenig, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, where CRM is on the "Best Ideas List." Large-cap software as a service names "are dependable holdings," he writes, taking advantage of technology trends that have been in place for a decade. Piper Jaffray analyst Alex Zukin calls CRM "the most attractive risk/reward in our coverage universe today."

"It is reasonable to assume that Salesforce would be less susceptible to the Chinese trade war and thus considered a 'winner' in comparison to other more manufacturing heavy tech companies," Cornerstone's Daniel Milan says. But he cautions investors to remember that escalating tensions could cause a global growth slowdown, which would hit even China-insulated companies.

Square

Courtesy Z22 via Wikimedia

Market value: $26.9 billion

Square (SQ, $63.67) is best known for its credit card readers that plug directly into mobile phones. But they're a Trojan Horse. Behind them lie a host of banking and other services. These are the real secrets to the company's success.

In 2018, Square's revenues grew 50% year-over-year to $3.3 billion. While the company did absorb a $38 million loss, that was 40% better than 2017's red ink. The company still has nearly $1.1 billion in cash and short-term securities, however, which is important because Square regularly makes acquisitions to expand its platform. These include Weebly, a website hosting service acquired last year for $365 million, and Eloquent Labs, which makes a conversational artificial-intelligence assistant called Elle meant to speed customer service, bought in May for an undisclosed sum.

The idea is that these kinds of services, which can help small businesses compete with bigger ones, can be grafted onto loans and other banking services. Its peer-to-peer payment application, Square Cash, was growing faster than PayPal's (PYPL) Venmo as of last year, and former PayPal parent eBay (EBAY) is offering its merchants up to $100,000 in financing through the company's Square Capital unit.

This has made Square an expensive stock with a price-to-sales ratio of 7, versus just 2 for the S&P 500. But it's not that out of line for financial-tech firms. Visa (V) sells for more than 16 times revenues. So does Mastercard (MA).

That's not slowing down analysts such as Guggenheim's Jeff Cantwell, who recently reiterated a "Buy" rating on SQ. He says the long-term outlook "is improving significantly over time" due to factors including international tailwinds and expanding hardware.

And among tech stocks, Cornerstone's Milan says Square has a "strong insulation from tariff issues." Square does operate outside the U.S. - but only in Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Twilio

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Market value: $16.0 billion

Twilio (TWLO, $126.93), which went public in 2016, offers communication services through its cloud that let businesses use a panoply of phone services without the phone network.

Amazon.com's (AMZN) Twitch streaming platform, ride-hailing service Lyft Inc. (LYFT) and customer-service software company Zendesk (ZEN) have deployed the company's application program interfaces (APIs) to secure customer accounts, do rapid global launches and cut the cost of supporting remote workers. The technology supports both voice and data communication systems of all kinds, from text to video.

The company went public in June 2016 at $15 per share; roughly three years later, it has exploded by more than 740%. And like the rest of the stocks on this list, that share-price growth has been justified by rapid revenue expansion. Sales of roughly $89 million in 2019 hit $277 million in 2016, then clocked in at $650 million last year. Better still, while about 25% of Twilio's revenues are generated overseas, China is a minimal part of that because of its communications regulations.

Twilio has reached profitability - on a non-GAAP basis, which backs out certain expenses and other figures. But by traditional accounting measures, its net losses have actually been expanding, from about $41 million in 2016 to roughly $122 million in 2018.

Investors, who have driven shares up 42% YTD, and analysts alike appear to be giving Twilio patience and the benefit of the doubt for now.

Ten of 13 covering analysts call TWLO a "Buy" or "Strong Buy" in large part because Twilio's services save companies money and boost productivity. The firm recently added email to its offerings, buying platform SendGrid for roughly $2 billion worth of stock in a deal that closed this February. Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron, who has an "Outperform" rating on the stock, re-evaluated the company with SendGrid folded in, writing, "Our analysis yet again leaves us bullish and illustrates the upside left in the model."

SEE ALSO: The 12 Best Tech Stocks for a 2019 Recovery

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Copyright 2019 The Kiplinger Washington Editors
Right before Memorial Day, over 75 businesses came to Capitol Hill to demand that their lawmakers establish a national carbon price. The participating business leaders collectively employ over 1 million U.S. workers and represent a combined market value of around $2.5 trillionthe largest group of businesses assembled on the Hill to advocate for climate legislation in a decade.

In over 80 meetings with members and staff from both the House and Senate, these business leaders spoke forcefully on the risk climate change poses to their operations, their employees, and their customers. They challenged Congress to heed their warning, accept the severity of the crisis, and take action to address the threat of a rapidly warming world. And they made clear: There is support in the business community for setting a national carbon price as a central component of any legislative strategy to address climate change.

Now, it is our responsibility, as members of Congress, regardless of our party affiliation, to respond to the businesses who drive our economy.

We represent different parts of the country and stand on opposite sides of the aisle in Washington, but we agree that there is perhaps no issue as urgent for our nationand our economyas tackling climate change.

Fortunately, solutions are not as elusive as politics would suggest. Seven in 10 Americans are concerned about climate changemore than ever before. Climate impacts are being felt by Americans all across the country and our constituents are calling for solutions. And an increasing number of both Democrats and Republicans agree on a key policy to address climate change: putting a price on carbon pollution.

Businesses know all about the risks of climate change. Companies are increasingly experiencing disruptions to their supply chains and damages to their assets from floods, droughts, wildfires, storms, and other climate-driven extreme weather, and investors see it reflected in their portfolios. Businesses bottom lines show that climate change isnt a far-off risk, its a cost thats already racking up damages to our economy to the tune of more than $300 billion a year, an amount which is only expected to grow.

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Thats why we have both introduced legislation proposing a price on carbon. A price on carbon will level the economic playing field in the energy sector, unlock market-driven innovation, and lead to the deployment of low, zero, and negative carbon technologies. It will help create millions of new jobs and slash U.S. carbon emissions dramatically, making it a powerful tool for curbing climate pollution. Our bills are not the only onesthere are several proposals to price carbon that have been introduced in Congress.

The transition to a cleaner economy should not be achieved at the expense of those who will be hardest hit: Thats why we propose using the proceeds from the carbon fee to help ease the transition to a clean energy economy, by returning money to the taxpayers as a dividend each month, investing in research and development, and rebuilding our infrastructure.

Our approach also aims to efficiently reduce emissions and spur innovation and investment in new technologies. Placing a price on carbon emissions allows for individuals and companies to make more informed decisions by factoring in the cost of greenhouse gas pollution to society, allowing the market to appropriately respond by reallocating resources to lower-emissions products and behaviors. A transition to clean energy is a job creator: In 2018, the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors alone employed nearly 3.3 million Americans. And this proposal would create and support more jobs across a wide range of sectors, including in the building trades, manufacturing, science, and engineering.

Our own states are already unlocking the growth potential of clean energy and working to minimize the future costs of rising seas. In Delaware, we are transitioning our electricity sector to 25% renewable generation by 2025. And in Florida, cities are already spending over $4 billion to harden infrastructure, improve drainage, and renourish beaches to combat tidal flooding.

The public is often presented with a false choice between growing the economy and combating climate change but we are heartened to see businesses recognize that this trade off is a myth. America must not lose out on the good paying jobs and new technologies that will come with the transition to clean energy. A strong, stable, national carbon price will help combat climate change, speed the uptake of renewable energy in the U.S., unlock innovation in our economy, and boost our competitiveness overseas.

Its time for Congress to take bold action to address climate change and create jobs. Putting a price on carbon will help us reach both of these goals.

Chris Coons is a Democratic senator from Delaware. Francis Rooney is a Republican representative from Florida.

More opinion in Fortune:

Breaking up Facebook wont be enough, says Morgan Stanley boss. Heres his proposal

Democrats are skeptical about the USMCA. But they shouldnt be

Why Joe Biden is a true progressive candidate

The number of men uncomfortable mentoring women is growing

Why the U.S.-China trade war wont end anytime soon

Listen to our new audio briefing, Fortune 500 Daily
It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Apache (APA). Shares have lost about 12.1% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Apache due for a breakout? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.

Apache Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates, Sales Miss

Apache reported mixed first-quarter 2019 results, wherein earnings topped the Zacks Consensus estimates by a whisker, but sales missed the same.



The upstream explorer reported earnings per share  excluding one-time items  of 10 cents, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny on the back of record Permian output. The bottom line, however, declined from the year-ago level of 32 cents owing to lower commodity price realizations.



Revenues of $1,635 million marginally missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,638 million. The top line also declined 6.4% from the year-ago period.



Production & Selling Prices



Production of oil and natural gas averaged 502,877 oil-equivalent barrels per day (BOE/d) comprising 63% liquids  up 14% from a year ago. While ramped-up operations in the Alpine High region of the Permian Basin certainly aided Apaches output levels, the companys considerable acreage in Egypt and North Sea also stepped up the production rate in the quarter under review.



The U.S. output (accounting for 58% of the total production) rose 25% year over year to 291,693 BOE/d. The companys international operations increased 2% y/y to 211,184 BOE/d. Apaches production of oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) was 316,759 barrels per day, while natural gas output came in at 1,116,707 thousand cubic feet per day.



In the company's Permian Basin acreage, average production volumes hit a record of 247,939 BOE/d, improving from 182,972 BOE/d recorded in first-quarter 2018. The results were aided by operational progress and the continued ramp up at its Alpine High discovery.



The average realized crude oil price during the first quarter was $57.70 per barrel, 10% lower than the year-ago realization. The average realized natural gas price also declined to $2.34 per thousand cubic feet from $2.82 in the year-ago period.



Total Costs & Financials



Lease operating expenses totaled $365 million, up 4.5% from the year-ago quarter. Moreover, total operating expenses increased 8.1% from the corresponding period of 2018 to $1.4 billion, primarily on the back of higher depreciation and general/administrative costs.



As of Mar 31, the oil giant had approximately $327 million in cash and cash equivalents. The company had a long-term debt of $8.1 billion, representing a debt-to-capitalization ratio of 53.6%. During the quarter under review, Apache generated $598 million of cash from operating activities, while shelling out $597 million on capital expenditures.



Guidance Intact



Apache reiterated its guidance for 2019 capital spending at $2.4 billion. The company also maintained its 6-10% worldwide production exit rate growth in 2019, 12-16% in the United States and 5% in the Permian Basin.

Story continues

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates. The consensus estimate has shifted -11.2% due to these changes.

VGM Scores

Currently, Apache has a nice Growth Score of B, though it is lagging a lot on the Momentum Score front with an F. However, the stock was allocated a grade of B on the value side, putting it in the second quintile for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of B. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Notably, Apache has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We expect an above average return from the stock in the next few months.



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Disputed Facts in the Gun Debate

By Rob Morse. May 30th, 2019

Original Source

The gun debate is difficult for many reasons. It is often an emotional issue. Unfortunately, there isnt one gun debate, but perhaps dozens of gun debates. Even the questions that seem simple are difficult to answer well.

Difficult questions about our guns

Are guns too easy to get?

Does a firearm in your home put you at greater risk?

How often do ordinary citizens defend themselves with a firearm?

A simple answer is easy to find.. and often wrong. There are questions hidden within questions as we look for the truth.

Is the US violent because of civilian gun ownership?

For some people, the gun issue is one of appearance. Many legal residents own guns here in the USA. We also see lots of news coverage when innocent people are shot. We dont read about the violence in other countries, so we assume that other countries are peaceful. We put these facts together and conclude that guns cause violent crime here in the USA.

It turns out that our news is biased in favor of reporting local violent crime. Other countries have violent crime also, but you have to look to find it. What is unusual, is that only a few cities in the USA cause most of our murders. To be precise, two percent of our counties have 51 percent of our murders. 54 percent of our counties have no murders at all.

The stereotype of gun owners is a rural farmer, but it is our failed inner cities where we see the most violence. Bad governance causes violent crime, not guns.

Are guns too easy to get?

You might think it is easy to buy a gun if youve never done so. There are 23 thousand firearms regulations. Most of these restrictions have no effect on violent crime. The reason is that 99 percent of criminals get their firearms illegally. Passing another gun law doesnt change the behavior of criminals, and criminals are the ones who commit violent crime.

If you think it is easy for an honest citizen to buy a gun, then I encourage you to try and buy one in California or New Jersey. Criminals dont have to wait for a 10 day waiting period or a one-gun-a month delay. It can take you months to buy a gun legally, while a criminal gets a new gun in an hour on the street. Gun laws dont stop criminal behavior.

Does a firearm in your home put you at greater risk, or does it make you safer?

There are hidden layers to that simple question. Most criminals run away when they find out youre at home. Most criminals run away when they see the homeowner or shop owner has a gun for self-defense. Was that an example of armed self-defense even if gun owner never pressed the trigger?

It turns out that criminals behave toward us the same way they behave toward the police. Like us, the police will touch their firearm dozens of times yet never have to press the trigger as they face a violent encounter. The policeman thinks things would have gone very differently if he were unarmed. Likewise, criminals behave differently when they have unarmed victims.

Many homeowners dont report that they had a gun in their hand when the criminal ran away. Most law enforcement agencies dont keep statistics on civilian self-defense. That means it is hard to get solid data when guns save lives.

We also have dirty data when it comes to firearms accidents. Did a child find an improperly stored firearm and hurt someone? We want to keep our guns away from our children and unauthorized strangers.

Unfortunately, we get confusing reports after an accident involving a firearm. Was the gun improperly stored by the legal gun owner, or was the gun stuffed under the couch cushions by a criminal who was visiting his girlfriend for the night? Did children find the gangs gun that was hidden under the front steps? Was the unauthorized person who got the gun your 4 year old who found it in the dresser drawer, or a 19 year old burglar who smashed his way into your house and used a pry bar to open your lock box? The data is often confusing since both are described as negligent discharge of a firearm by an unauthorized minor. We dont want to lump these events together since the cure for each is dramatically different.

How often do ordinary citizens defend themselves with a firearm?

From the best data that I can find, self-defense is rare and accidental injuries with a legally owned firearm are extremely rare. Most injuries with a firearm are suicide by middle-age white men. For perspective, about one-out-of-5-million children will find and misuse an improperly stored firearm this year. About one-out-of-200 of us will use a firearm to legally defend ourselves or another innocent party. That means your legally owned gun makes you safer. With a little education, some training, and safe storage, your gun makes you much safer.

I wish I had short and simple answers to the gun debate. I chose to give you the best truth I have even though it took a little longer.

Murders in US very concentrated: 54% of US counties in 2014 had zero

murders, 2% of counties have 51% of the murders

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/injury/injury_matrices.htm

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201905281075418086-gun-laws-firearms-control/

A Second Look at a Controversial Study About Defensive Gun Use

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The exit ramp is a long, curving slope, and you have to make sure the 50-foot big rig you're driving carefully navigates the bend and doesn't fly out of control at a high speed.

But the thing is, you're not actually there. You're in a room in Silicon Valley, watching the ramp unfold in front of you on several screens. That heavy load you're carrying is thousands of miles away in Florida.

Welcome to teleoperated driving, or remote-controlled driving with a human in front of a steering wheel, brake, and gas pedals, and a "windshield" plastered with monitors. It's a method that allows autonomous vehicles to operate without anyone inside. Instead, there's a watchful remote driver, or operator, there for trickier moments that the robo-truck or vehicle can't handle. A few companies offer remote driving systems that work in conjunction with autonomous vehicles, like Phantom Auto and Starsky Robotics. Other robotics companies rely entirely on remote control. Even Waymo, the Google spin-off autonomous vehicle company, has Read more...

More about Remote Control, Autonomous Vehicles, Delivery Robot, Self Driving Truck, and Tech
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Donald Trumps vow to impose tariffs on all goods made in Mexico will be a blow to major hardware technology companies already reeling from the U.S.-China trade war.

Dell Technologies Inc., HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. are among the U.S. technology companies that manufacture products in Mexico. Computers and printers made by these companies and imported into the U.S. from Mexico would face a 5% levy starting June 10, according to Trumps decree. The White House said Thursday that the tariffs would rise as high as 25% in October if Mexico doesnt stop the flow of migrants and asylum-seekers across the U.S. southern border.

The U.S. imported $25 billion worth of computers from Mexico in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and $2.5 billion in computer accessories. Hardware giants that have relied more on Mexican production the past two decades to take advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement are now facing whiplash. They have already been forced to reconfigure their supply chains to contend with American duties imposed by Trump on products made in China.

For Dell, Mexico was a safe harbor to escape from the worst impacts of the U.S.-China trade conflict. The Round Rock, Texas-based company reallocated some desktop computer production to Mexico from China months ago in response to U.S. levies. The company also makes servers in Mexico. Now, its trying to figure out how to deal with the potential new tariffs.

We are big believers in free trade, Dell spokesman Steve Gilmore said Friday in a statement. One possibility, if this tariff goes through, is that well have to raise prices. The good news is we have a global, flexible supply chain with more than 25 production facilities. This is an advantage for us that allows us to pivot very quickly and minimize impact to customers the best we can.

HP manufactures some personal computers and printers in Mexico. The company said its diverse global supply chain would help reduce the risks of the tariffs.

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We share industry concerns that broad-based tariffs are putting consumers on the front lines of a trade war by increasing the cost of electronics, an HP spokesman said. We are actively monitoring the situation and will continue to work with the U.S. administration to advocate for the best interests of customers, partners and consumers.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a server maker that split from HP Inc. in 2015, also is girding itself for the new U.S. import duties. A tariff on goods made in Mexico would have a worse financial effect on HPE than the levies on goods made in China, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. HPE also assembles some products in the U.S. and depends on a unified North American supply chain, the person said.

HPE expects the duties to be detrimental to the computer industry and the U.S. economy, according to the person, who wasnt authorized to speak publicly about the issue. The current trade environment is untenable for global companies, which may have to allocate fewer resources to research-and-development and other investments that fuel U.S. innovation, the person said.

In a statement, HPE said, We continue to believe an open market is best, but we are confident that we can leverage our diversified global supply chain to mitigate the impact from changes in global trade.

Many major technology firms rely heavily on other companies to manufacture their products, including Florida-based Jabil Inc. and Flex Ltd., based in San Jose, California. Both of these contract manufacturers have operations in Mexico.

Those companies make products from mobile phones to servers and have extensive customers lists, including Apple Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and the personal computer makers. Jabils Guadalajara facility operates 363,000 square feet of manufacturing space and makes networking infrastructure, wireless and telecommunications gear.

Jabil is Ciscos biggest supplier, according to supply chain data compiled by Bloomberg. Earlier this month, Cisco Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins said his company has done extensive work to mitigate the impact of U.S. tariffs on gear made in the China by shifting production elsewhere.

Apple, one of the worlds largest sellers of technology products, lists three suppliers with ties to Mexico on its list of top component sources: KEMET Corp., Skyworks Solutions Inc., and CCL Design. All three companies make components for Apple that go inside its devices, with Skyworks having long been a key supplier of wireless components.

The companies also have manufacturing outside of Mexico, including in Asia, and its unclear if Apple actually sources any of their components directly from Mexico.

Other World Computing Inc., a maker of computer storage components, is another company that shifted production from Asia to Mexico. Now the closely held firm, which has annual sales of $125 million, is longing for a predictable business environment. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Larry OConnor said Trumps announcement was a kick in the gut.

China I get, but I dont know what the endgame of this is, OConnor said in an interview. These trade issues are great sound bites for a certain base, but damaging for the folks who have to deal with it. It has the high risk of pushing jobs away from the U.S. and North America.

OConnor said the new duties could fray trade relationships that support jobs on both sides of the U.S-Mexico border, and the U.S. supply chain isnt yet robust enough to make his products domestically. The company may have to boost prices for individuals and companies that want to upgrade the storage or speed of their Mac computers. In the long term, Other World Computing will look for production locations that arent vulnerable to tariffs, he said.

Lenovo Group Ltd., a Chinese PC and server company, has multiple production lines in Mexico. The company has gained enough market share to become the worlds largest PC maker in part by offering low prices -- a strategy that will be tested when Trumps new duties go into effect.

(Updates with comments from HP and HPE starting in sixth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Mark Gurman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nico Grant in San Francisco at ngrant20@bloomberg.net;Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Molly Schuetz

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- East Africa Metals Inc. (EAM.V) ("East Africa" or the "Company") announces voting results from its Annual Meeting of Shareholders held today in Vancouver, BC.



A total of 75,774,458 million common shares, representing approximately 42.20% of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares were voted in connection with the meeting. East Africa shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of all items of business, including the election of each director nominee as follows:

Dr. Jingbin Wang 99.99%

Mr. Andrew Lee Smith 99.96%

Dr. Antony Harwood 99.98%

Dr. Zhijun He 99.99%

Mr. Sean Waller 99.98%

Mr. David Parsons 99.98%

East Africa shareholders voted 99.98% in favor to appoint PricewaterhouseCooper LLP as auditors, 99.89% in favor of the amended stock option plan and 99.93% in favor of the proposed Tibet Huayu financing and development of the Terakimti, Da Tambuk and Mato Bula Projects in Ethiopia (See news release dated Feb. 8th, 2019).

Tibet Huayu Finance and Development

The transaction defined in the binding LOI includes terms that in exchange for 55% interest of Harvest and 70% interest in TRI, Tibet Huayu will:

Provide a cash payment of US$1.7M to EAM;

Finance, develop and operate the Terakimti, Da Tambuk and Mato Bula projects.

On completion of the proposed transaction:

Tibet Huayu will hold the rights (interest) to 55% post tax profits/Government distributions of Harvest and hold the rights (interest) to 70% of the post tax profits/Government distributions of TRI.

EAM will hold the rights (interest) to 15% post tax profits/Government distributions of Harvest and hold the rights (interest) to 30% of the post tax profits/Government distributions of TRI.

Closing conditions include: Ethiopian Ministry of Mines providing a formal letter confirming that the Terakimti Project mining license will not be in default if construction is not completed within the timeframe stipulated in the mining license or if the construction timeframe is extended; Ethiopian Ministry of Mines providing a formal letter confirming that it will issue the Adyabo Project mining licenses upon approval from the Ethiopian Council of Ministers; Receipt of all required approvals including and not limited to board, regulatory, and government approvals; Execution of definitive share purchase agreements and joint venture agreements respecting the Transaction; and Receipt by EAM from Tibet Huayu of the cash payment of US$1.7M.



EAM will retain the mineral rights, and all exploration obligations for the prospective targets not incorporated in the three mining licenses (EAM Mineral Resources). EAM shall give Tibet Huayu a right of first refusal of reasonable duration to acquire EAMs Mineral Resources. For consideration of the future Ethiopian Mineral Resources negotiations will be based on i) cash payment and ii) allocated % of post-tax profits of the new mineral resources. Tibet Huayu and EAM will use best efforts to finalize all conditions precedent and finalize the definitive agreement.

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Management Changes

East Africa has, over the past several months, been engaged in the transition from a pure exploration company to a development and exploration company. As part of this transition we have been significantly cutting costs and have reduced the Companys G&A costs by nearly 55%.

Mr. Peter Granata (C.F.O.) and Mr. Jeff Heidema (V.P. Exploration) have tendered their resignations to pursue other opportunities. Both Messrs. Granata and Heidema have been instrumental in the growth of East Africa Metals during their time as Executives of the Company. The Board and Management of EAM are grateful for their contributions and wish them well in their future endeavours.

Effective immediately, Andrew Lee Smith, B.Sc., P.Geo. will be assuming the duties as the Companys Qualified Person, under the definitions of National Instrument 43-101 and will oversee the Companys upcoming drill program (See news release dated March 1st, 2019).

Ms. Jacqueline Tucker will replace Peter Granata, as the Companys Chief Financial Officer Ms. Tucker is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. Ms. Tucker has over 30 years experience in providing professional services to a number of listed entities. Ms. Tucker has served as an officer and a director of a number of public companies that include mining, oil and gas and life sciences.

Andrew Lee Smith stated, East Africas management and Board of Directors are pleased with the progress the Company has achieved over the past seven-years in Ethiopia. They are also thankful for the hard work and dedication the administrative staff and technical team have displayed in meeting difficult challenges in pursuit of the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.

Additional information about East Africa can be viewed at the Company's website at www.eastafricametals.com or at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Andrew Lee Smith, P.Geo.

For further information contact:

Nick Watters, Business Development

Telephone +1 (604) 488-0822

Website www.eastafricametals.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "forecast", "project", "budget", "schedule", "may", "will", "could", "might", "should", indicate or variations of such words or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by East Africa as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of East Africa to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: timing of receipt of approvals related to the LOI and Definitive Agreement; timing of receipt of mining permits; timing of mining development; projected heap leach recoveries ; engineering study assessments and results, metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the mineral resources for the Adyabo and Harvest; estimated timing of receipt of the Adyabo mining license applications and/or exploration license extensions, interest and exchange rates; mineral exploration and development; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the initial mineral resource for the Adyabo and Harvest; interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; foreign taxation risks; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; the speculative nature of strategic metal exploration and development including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves; contests over title to properties; and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, as well as those risk factors set out in in East Africas managements discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and for the year ended December 31, 2018, and East Africas listing application dated July 8, 2013 Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The contained gold, copper and silver figures shown are in situ. No assurance can be given that the estimated quantities will be produced. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the timely closing of the financing; the timely closing of the Handeni Property definitive agreement; the price of gold, silver, copper and zinc; the demand for gold, silver, copper and zinc; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; the renewal or extension of exploration Licenses; the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although East Africa has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not update or revise forward-looking information even if new information becomes available unless legislation requires the Company do so. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
An antibiotic apocalypse is coming and Nepal is not ready for it

Antibiotics are overused and misprescribed in both humans and animals across the country. Doctors and researchers say that bacteria are evolving faster than ever, developing resistances to the most commonly used antibiotics, making infections harder to treat.

Photo: Shutterstock
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 31, 2019) - Ethos Gold Corp. (TSXV: ECC) ("Ethos" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement to raise gross proceeds of $225,000 (the "Offering"). The Company will issue 1,125,000 units (each a "Unit") at a purchase price of $0.20 per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share of the Company at a purchase price of $0.40 per share for a period of two years from the date of the closing of the Offering.

Dr. Quinton Hennigh will be subscribing to the Offering. As announced in the Company's May 17, 2019 press release, Dr. Hennigh joined Ethos as a technical advisor to oversee the Company's drill campaign to test a Carlin-type gold target at Iron Point, 22 miles east of Winnemucca, Nevada. Stated Craig Roberts, P.Eng., President and CEO of Ethos: "We are very pleased to have Dr. Hennigh on board as a shareholder of Ethos and we look forward to working with him in drill testing the Carlin-type gold target at Iron Point. We anticipate announcing the date for commencement of drilling at Iron Point shortly."

The proceeds of the Offering will be used the Company's exploration projects and for general working capital. The Offering is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"), and securities issued in the Offering will be subject to a 4-month hold period. No finder's fees are payable in respect of the Offering.

Ethos also announces that it has granted, under its Share Option Plan, incentive stock options to certain directors, officers and consultants of the Company to purchase an aggregate of up to 600,000 common shares exercisable for a period of up to five years from the date of grant at a price of $0.20 per share. This grant is subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.

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About Ethos Gold

Ethos Gold is exploring the La Purisima gold project (earning 100%) in Chihuahua Mexico, the Iron Point Carlin gold project (earning 50% from Victory Metals Inc.) 22 miles east of Winnemucca, Nevada, and the Perk-Rocky copper-gold porphyry project (earning 100%), 220 km west of Williams Lake, British Columbia. La Purisima is a near surface, bulk tonnage, oxide gold target, and a maiden drill program will commence shortly. Iron Point is a Lower Plate hosted Carlin style gold target, and a planned program of three vertical holes to test this target will commence shortly under the supervision of Dr. Quinton Hennigh. Perk-Rocky is a copper-gold porphyry target, and an exploration program including detailed airborne geophysics and ground mapping and sampling will commence shortly. Ethos also owns approximately 8% of the equity of Carlin Type Holdings Ltd., a private company earning into 100% ownership of three Nevada exploration projects, including two deep Carlin type targets (Carlin East and Selena). Ethos is also earning into the Pine Pass and Ursula vanadium projects (100% earn-in) in north-central British Columbia. In March 2019 Ethos received notice from the Province of British Columbia that the mineral tenures making up its Pine Pass vanadium project are included in an area under consideration for an immediate moratorium on development proposals and possible inclusion in an expanded environmental protected area, and Ethos is now waiting on the resolution of this issue before finalizing plans for further work.

Ethos currently has cash of approximately C$6.5 million and 54.8 million shares issued.

For additional information please contact Tom Martin at E: tmartin@ethosgold.com P: 1-250-516-2455 or view the Company's website, www.ethosgold.com and the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Ethos Gold Corp.

Per: "Craig Roberts"

Craig Roberts, P.Eng., President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions:

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to, among other things, the Company's plan to undertake the Offering and the contemplated use of the proceeds. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include, possible, accidents and other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances necessary to carry out the Company's exploration plans, the risk that the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plans, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal changes that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

The securities referred to in this news release have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer for sale of securities for sale, nor a solicitation for offers to buy any securities. Any public offering of securities in the United States must be made by means of a prospectus containing detailed information about the company and management, as well as financial statements.

THIS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR

DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES



Corporate Logo

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/45208
Forget Mueller: Our pants are still down on election security, and Facebook can't save us

Outgoing special council Robert Mueller emphasized the true point of his report in a press conference on Wednesday: "there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election."

Blaming Facebook, focusing on the Mueller-Barr feud and debating obstruction of justice and impeachment mean the federal government is not sufficiently focused on election security.

It's probably going to happen again.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's press conference Wednesday , which briefly described his team's thinking about how they approached obstruction allegations against the president, buried one largely buried story about the entire affair: Then and now, we as a country still collectively have our pants down on cybersecurity.

The political circus surrounding the Russia investigation and social media's response to it are largely distractions. And as Congress embarks once again on dissecting Mueller's words -- and not the core problem of cybersecurity that caused him to speak in the first place -- it's clear we've learned next to nothing.

What really went wrong

These days, commentators from the tech industry are mostly focused on the role Facebook FB and other social media companies played as Russian operatives tried to influence the 2016 election. Facebook itself has spent a lot of the last two years talking about the steps it's taking to prevent being used for misinformation in future elections.

But during the conference, Mueller only touched briefly on that topic:

"...a private Russian entity engaged in a social media operation where Russian citizens posed as Americans in order to influence an election."

That's it.

I'm not a Facebook apologist . But we shouldn't be leaning on social media companies to protect our elections. We should be relying on the federal government.

The Mueller probe has not improved how we think about cybersecurity. All it's done is move the needle on what individuals think went "wrong" with the 2016 election, based on their political leanings.

Story continues

Here is what really went wrong. In Russia, a secret intelligence unit spent years  well before Trump's rise  prepping for a campaign of chaos-driven social engineering that was most likely meant to throw a wrench into American discourse and sow division.

At DNC headquarters, weak passwords and bad security hygiene made it easy for operatives to steal information and inject it into this chaos cycle.

Poorly trained staff in Trump's inner and outer circles also made it easy for this same Russian department to trick them into associating with fake accounts on social media, including highly inflammatory accounts advocating for the most extreme right-wing positions, according to the report.

In the run-up to the election, secretaries of state across the U.S. did not tap into federal awareness efforts on election hacking. In Florida, this led to a breach of voter databases  though not voting machines themselves, a critical distinction.

Talking about "collusion" and "interference" misses this critical point: The 2016 election problems were the result of a multi-pronged cyberattack that none of these parties were prepared for.

They remain unprepared.

Why unprepared?

The Department of Homeland Security and information-sharing organizations have done a great deal of organizing since 2016. Elections infrastructure, limited to what is owned and operated by the secretaries of state themselves (in other words, excluding political campaigns), is now under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, with an important "critical" designation that was bestowed by outgoing President Obama in January 2017.

DHS serves as a sort of dispensary of best practices, and less as a tactical operator, however.

DHS's program is voluntary  and volunteering may depend on the politics of each state. The aid DHS provides involves more coordination than fingers-on-keyboards help from hackers or counter-intelligence professionals.

Compare that to Russia's well-oiled hacking machine, as described in the Mueller report. In fact, close your eyes and try to picture Vladimir Putin sitting at a meeting of regional representatives from across Russia discussing "best practices."

Following the departure of outgoing DHS head Kirstjen Nielsen, who staked much of her tenure on the cybersecurity problem, scattered reports have indicated cyber personnel are being asked to do work at the U.S.-Mexico border instead of elections security.

The FBI, charged with investigating accounts of interference has had its own staffing issues, with numerous departures of key personnel since 2016, coinciding with a range of scandals and frustrations at the agency. The FCC and Congress, who have been focusing Facebook and Twitter over their "roles" in hosting the misinformation and disinformation spread by Russian trolls in 2016, have been largely ineffective.

The social media companies have provided frequent updates on their progress, but realistically, their effectiveness will be limited by practical considerations of the platform and the fact that there are few well-established guidelines for how to do it right  let alone regulations.

Also, Russia or any country interested in misdirection won't do precisely the same thing again. Which is why centralized coordination is so necessary.

Near the end of his press conference, Mueller acknowledged this important reality: "I will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictmentsthat there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. That allegation deserves the attention of every American."

Determining the relevance or legality of obstruction is important. But between the gentlemanly Mueller-Barr feud, the inevitable avalanche of Trump tweets that will follow, Congress's debate over whether to attempt impeachment or question Mueller or be tougher on Barr, the severely important questions about our national cybersecurity stance go utterly unexplored and unanswered.

And so, yes, it will probably happen again.
Disclaimer: These summaries are provided for educational purposes only by Nelson Rosario and Stephen Palley. They are not legal advice.The post Former limited partner in Polychain files suit against company after receiving a redemption of his capital account appeared first on The Block.

Disclaimer: These summaries are provided for educational purposes only by Nelson Rosario and Stephen Palley. They are not legal advice. These are our opinions only, arent authorized by any past, present or future client or employer. Also we might change our minds. We contain multitudes.

As always, Rosario summaries are NMR and Palley summaries are SDP".

[related id=1] Greenhouse v. Polychain Fund I Lp & Polychain 2030, 2019 Del. Ch. LEXIS 194[NMR]

The teeny State of Delaware is where many corporations and other business ventures are incorporated in the U.S. What people may not be aware of is that Delaware has a specific court system called the Court of Chancery that handles all corporate litigation in Delaware. That court is extremely influential in the corporate world. This case involves Polychain, a blockchain fund incorporated in Delaware, and Greenhouse a former limited partner in their fund. If you have been paying attention to crypto for awhile Polychain should be familiar to you, because at one point they had a $1 billion in assets under management. So, whats this dispute about? $$$$. Records. Standing.

At one time, Harry Greenhouse was a limited partner in Polychain. On Nov. 13, 2017, Polychain requested that their limited partners consent to the use of side pockets (these are accounts that typically hold hard to value and often illiquid assets) to hold certain investments. What investments? SAFTs, obviously. For those that dont remember a SAFT is a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens that was designed to be akin to the SAFE, a Simple Agreement for Future Equity that was created by Y Combinator. Two weeks later Greenhouse informed Polychain he wanted out, and requested a full redemption of his capital account. Greenhouse claims he was told his account would be redeemed one way, Polychain says it was another way. The valuation dispute was focused on those illiquid assets, i.e. SAFTs. There was some back and forth between the parties, and a wire transfer to Greenhouse that he accepted, a demand see the books, a refusal, and ultimately Greenhouse files this lawsuit.

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What is the real issue here? Well, during the back and forth Greenhouse made a formal demand to inspect Polychain's books. Why would he do that? So, that he could determine if his redemption amount was what it was supposed to be. Polychain ignored this initial request, and once the lawsuit was filed stated that Greenhouse didnt have standing to inspect their books.

Standing is the legal concept that a party has to have sufficient connection to a case and harm at issue to bring the lawsuit in question. Limited partners in Polychain have a right, read standing, to inspect their books and records. This is common in partnerships of all types. Looking at the timeline of events shows where Greenhouse went wrong.

Greenhouse didnt make his demand to see the books until after he was wired his money redeeming his account, with 5% of his funds held as an audit holdback per the limited partner agreement, on Jan. 25, 2018. Over a month later Greenhouse made a formal demand to inspect Polychains books and records. Polychain did not respond. Greenhouse filed this lawsuit in March 26, 2018, and the lawsuit got stayed (put on hold) pending a determination of arbitrability. The arbitrator determined that the Chancery Court should answer the standing question pertaining to the record request, and the defendants filed a motion for the court to decide the case on the pleadings, which brings us to the present day.

Deciding a case on the pleadings, that is the allegations in the complaint, is generally possible when the court takes the facts in the complaint as true and view them in a light favorable to the nonmoving party. Here that means taking the facts as true and favorable to Greenhouse. In doing that the court still found that Polychain was entitled to a judgment in their favor on the standing question. Why? Simply put, Greenhouse made his records request too late. He didnt ask to see the books to determine if the valuation of his account redemption was sufficient until three months after he informed Polychain that he wanted out, and over one month after he was informed his account had been fully redeemed. Greenhouse tried to claim that his audit holdback meant he still had an equity stake in the fund and he was thus still a limited partner, but the court was not convinced. His audit stake may entitle him to rights as creditor of Polychain, but not a partner. Ultimately, Greenhouse accepted the redemption, and didnt request the records until it was too late.

Dont feel bad for Greenhouse though. The arbitration proceeding is still pending, and he may get what he thinks he is due there.

The Block is pleased to bring you expert cryptocurrency legal analysis courtesy of Stephen Palley (@stephendpalley) and Nelson M. Rosario (@nelsonmrosario). They summarize three cryptocurrency-related cases on a weekly basis and have given The Block permission to republish their commentary and analysis in full. Part II of this week's analysis, Crypto Caselaw Minute, is above.
NORTHVILLE, Mich., May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gentherm (THRM), the global market leader and developer of innovative thermal management technologies, announced today that Wayne Kauffman has been appointed Vice President and General Counsel effective July 1, 2019.



Kauffman will oversee all legal matters for Gentherm including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation, securities regulation, corporate compliance and data privacy. He will report to Phil Eyler, Gentherms President and CEO, and serve on the Companys Executive Committee. Kaufmann succeeds Ken Phillips, who has decided to leave the Company for personal reasons.

I am pleased that Wayne is stepping up to assume the General Counsel role and joining our executive management team. The combination of his 15 years of legal experience in addition to his deep automotive operations and engineering background make Wayne a strategic partner to provide both legal and business counsel to drive Gentherms focused growth, said Eyler. Wayne is an accomplished intellectual property strategist and leveraging this unique skill set with the executive team will accelerate our technology plan.

Eyler added, Ken served as Gentherms General Counsel for nearly seven years and has been a vital part of the development and execution of the Companys growth from a start-up, as well as playing a critical role in the recent transformation of the business. I want to personally thank Ken for his dedication and commitment to Gentherm and wish him well.

For the past five years, Kauffman has led Gentherms intellectual property policy and development, and was a key driver in various other legal matters including litigation, commercial agreements and employee agreements. He joined Gentherm from Robert Bosch LLC, where he supported Bosch divisions in intellectual property development. Kauffman began his legal career with the national IP law firm of Harness, Dickey & Pierce, P.L.C., where he primarily assisted clients in securing patent rights. Prior to that, Kauffman began his career with General Motors, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility over his 17-year tenure in vehicle manufacturing, product development and vehicle safety and integration in both the U.S. and Canada.

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Kauffman holds a J.D. in Law from Wayne State University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University.





Investor Contact

Yijing Brentano

investors@gentherm.com

248.308.1702

Media Contact

Melissa Fischer

media@gentherm.com

248.289.9702




OCALA, Fla., May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (NYSE American: HEB), an immuno-pharma company focused on the research and development of therapeutics to treat multiple types of cancers and immune-deficiency diseases, today announced that its stockholders voted in favor to grant the Board of Directors the authority to effect a reverse stock split of the companys issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock. The proposal passed by approximately 55% of all issued and outstanding shares and approximately 86% of the shares actually voted were voted in favor of the reverse split.



Following the stockholder vote, the Board met and approved a 1-for-44 reverse stock split to achieve a value of approximately $5 per share. The Company anticipates that the reverse stock split will be effective on June 10, 2019, and the Company's common stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on June 11, 2019.

The favorable vote by stockholders and subsequent reverse split serve two important purposes, said CEO Thomas K. Equels. First, we ensure that Hemispherx can continue to meet the stock price listing standards of the NYSE American. Second, strengthening our stock price this way is potentially a strong driver for stockholder value, as most major investors on Wall Street have prohibitions on investing in stocks under $1, and in some cases even under $5. If we achieve success in any one of our immuno-oncology clinical trials (See: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) using our drug Ampligen, we want a stock price high enough to allow all major players in the market, such as well-established funds, family offices, banks and index funds to buy on the open market and create favorable buying pressure on the stock. This strategy aligns with our goal to seek out big pharma partners who share our excitement and enthusiasm for the potential of Ampligen in immuno-oncology. We believe that successes in these ongoing immuno-oncology trials have the potential to create an optimal environment for these goals which are designed to create the opportunity for increased stockholder value.

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The reverse stock split will reduce the number of shares of the Company's common stock currently outstanding from approximately 96,827,062 shares to approximately 2,200,616 shares. All resulting fractional shares will be rounded up to the next whole share. Proportionate adjustments will be made to (i) the per share exercise price and the number of shares of common stock that may be purchased upon exercise of outstanding stock options granted by the Company and warrants issued by the Company and (ii) the number of shares of common stock issuable under the Company's 2018 Equity Incentive Plan. The number of authorized shares of the Company's common stock will remain unchanged.

The Company's common stock will continue to trade on the NYSE American under the symbol "HEB". A new CUSIP number of 42366C509 has been assigned to the common stock in connection with the reverse stock split.

Information for Stockholders

Upon the effectiveness of the reverse stock split, each forty-four (44) shares of the Company's common stock, $0.001 par value per share, issued and outstanding will be automatically combined and converted into one share of common stock, par value $0.001 per share. No fractional shares will be issued in connection with the reverse stock split. Any fractional share of common stock that would otherwise have resulted from the reverse stock split will be rounded up to the nearest whole share.

The Company's transfer agent, American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, will act as exchange agent for the reverse stock split, and will provide stockholders of record holding certificates representing pre-split shares of the Company's common stock as of the effective date with a letter of transmittal providing instructions for the exchange of stock certificates for post-split shares. Stockholders owning shares via a broker or other nominee will have their positions automatically adjusted to reflect the reverse stock split, subject to the broker's or nominee's particular procedures for processing the reverse stock split, and will not be required to take any action in connection with the reverse stock split. American Stock Transfer & Trust Company can be contacted at (800) 937-5449.

Additional information about the reverse stock split can be found in the Company's definitive proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 24, 2019, a copy of which is available at www.sec.gov and at www.hemispherx.net under the SEC Filings tab located on the Investor Relations page.

About Hemispherx Biopharma

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is an immuno-pharma company focused on the research and development of therapeutics to treat multiple types of cancers. Hemispherx's flagship products include the Argentina-approved drug rintatolimod (trade names Ampligen or Rintamod) and the FDA-approved drug Alferon N Injection. Based on results of published, peer-reviewed pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, Hemispherx believes that Ampligen may have broad-spectrum anti-viral and anti-cancer properties. Clinical trials of Ampligen already conducted include studies of the potential treatment of cancer patients with renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. These and other potential uses will require additional clinical trials to generate the safety and effectiveness data necessary to support regulatory approval and additional funding. Rintatolimod is a double-stranded RNA being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders of the immune system.

Cautionary Statement

Some of the statements included in this press release may be forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For example, no assurance can be given as to whether the current or planned trials will be successful or yield favorable data and the trials are subject to many factors including lack of regulatory approval(s), lack of study drug, or a change in priorities at the institutions sponsoring other trials. In addition, initiation of planned clinical trials may not occur secondary to many factors including lack of regulatory approval(s) or lack of study drug. Even if these clinical trials are initiated, we cannot assure that the clinical studies will be successful or yield any useful data. Among other things, for forward-looking statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. This press release and prior releases are available at www.hemispherx.net . The information found on our website is not incorporated by reference into this press release and is included for reference purposes only.

Contacts:

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.

Phone: 800-778-4042

Email: IR@hemispherx.net

Or

LHA Investor Relations

Miriam Weber Miller

Senior Vice President

Phone: +1-212-838-3777

Email: mmiller@lhai.com
Man holds the flags while people take part in the 35th India Day Parade in New York

By Neha Dasgupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian government said on Saturday it will continue to seek to build strong economic ties with the United States despite a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to end preferential trade treatment for India from June 5.

In a relatively tame response to the announcement from Washington on Friday, the Indian government said it was "unfortunate" that its attempts to resolve significant U.S. requests had not been accepted.

Indian officials had previously raised the prospect of higher import duties on more than 20 U.S. goods if Trump dropped India from the program but there was no mention of that in the response.

"India, like the U.S. and other nations shall always uphold its national interest in these matters," the Indian government said in a statement issued through India's trade ministry.

The privileges come under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which had been allowing preferential duty-free imports of up to $5.6 billion a year into the U.S. from the South Asian nation. India is the biggest beneficiary of the GSP program.

The Indian government said that India viewed the issue as part of its ongoing economic relationship with the U.S. and "will continue to build on our strong ties with the U.S., both economic and people-to-people."

It added: "We are confident that the two nations will continue to work together intensively for further growing these ties in a mutually beneficial manner."

An earlier version of the statement had used the words "it is hoped" rather than "we are confident" but was subsequently withdrawn and replaced.

NEW MINISTER

The United States had put on hold a decision to withdraw the GSP benefits to India until May 23, the day the results of the country's 39-day general election that began April 11 were announced. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi only took the oath office on Thursday and on Friday named Piyush Goyal his new commerce and industry minister - the official who will handle trade matters.

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New Delhi was making efforts to avoid withdrawal of the GSP benefits over the past few months, a senior government official said, adding that the U.S. move was sudden and without communication.

Washington has been particularly irritated by India's tightening of regulations that have undermined major U.S. companies but favored domestic entities in the past year. In particular, tighter e-commerce rules that came in earlier this year hurt Amazon.com and Walmart, which last year bought Indian online retailer Flipkart for $16 billion.

Trump, who had first announced his intention to take away the privileges in early March, said in a statement on Friday that New Delhi "has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets".

Twenty-four members of the U.S. Congress sent the administration a letter on May 3 urging it not to terminate India's access to the GSP.

A spokesman for India's opposition Congress Party, which took a drubbing in the general election, said the U.S. move has "grave trade and economic implications" for India and demanded Modi issue a comprehensive statement addressing the problem.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta,Additional reporting and writing by Sankalp Phartiyal; Edited by Martin Howell, William Maclean)
Jim Cramer: It's time to start buying amid market weakness, but take it slow

"Now that people are really freaking out ... I think it's time to start picking up stocks into weakness," CNBC's Jim Cramer says.

"So if you've got some cash on the sidelines, I think you can possibly begin putting it to work," the "Mad Money" host says.

"Today's action sends a chilling message: Even if you shoot the lights out [and] do an amazing job, it won't matter, your stock is going to be sold," he says.

The market sell-off has reached the "emotional stage" and investors should begin scouting opportunities to buy stocks, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

The three major U.S. indexes all declined less than 1% during the trading day as traders confidence in stocks as an asset class, he said. That makes it a good time to get ahead of the curve and reenter the market at discounted prices, he said.

"Now that people are really freaking out ... I think it's time to start picking up stocks into weakness. That's not cheerleading, it's discipline," the "Mad Money" host said. "So if you've got some cash on the sidelines, I think you can possibly begin putting it to work. But slowly and surely, and not with a degree of gusto because it's not warranted."

Emotions have overtaken the market, Cramer said.

Take Johnson & Johnson JNJ : In the first day of a high-profile trial, Oklahoma state prosecutors blamed the company for playing a role in more than 46,000 opioid-related deaths over a decade. In response, shares of the pharmaceutical giant plummeted more than 4% during the session.

Cramer argued, however, that Johnson & Johnson was a much smaller contributor in the country's opioid epidemic, including the state of Oklahoma. The "real bad actors" were Purdue Pharma, which downplayed how addictive its OxyContin drug was, and Teva, which sells painkillers, he said. The two companies settled with state prosecutors for $270 million and $85 million, respectively, in recent months.

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Johnson & Johnson, whose involvement was much smaller than the aforementioned drug makers, lost about $15 billion of market share Wednesday. The "pullback has become ridiculously overblown," Cramer said.

"To the worn out and despondent, JNJ's become yet another nightmare," he said. "But to me, the decline here is simply another buying opportunity, even as I accept there could be more downside from frightened investors."

Workday WDAY , which tanked nearly $10 per Wednesday, suffered a similar overblown fate, Cramer said. The cloud software firm reported a "fantastic" quarter on Tuesday  the best out of Cramer's "Cloud Kings" stock group thus far, he said. The company picked up more business with Cisco, Geico, Procter & Gamble, Siemens and Airbus, he noted.

"This pullback was totally predictable. The stock had run up dramatically going into the quarter  it was cruising for a bruising, even with great numbers," Cramer said. "But today's action sends a chilling message: Even if you shoot the lights out [and] do an amazing job, it won't matter, your stock is going to be sold."

WATCH: Cramer breaks down why investors should start looking for buying opportunities

Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Cisco and Johnson & Johnson.

Questions for Cramer?

Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up!

Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram

Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com





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Creating space for women in the tech world

The participation of women in Nepals info-tech sector is still very low but the future holds promise.

Pixabay
The tariff was pushed by advisor Stephen Miller, an immigration hawk, according to the source close to the White House.

The surprise decision to announce the tariff plan came as Trump was "riled up" by conservative radio commentary about the recent surge in border crossings, according to the source.

The opposition to the tariffs by Mnuchin and Lighthizer marked a rare moment of unity from two top administration officials with starkly different economic ideologies.

President Donald Trump's Treasury secretary and top trade advisor opposed his surprise plan to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports, according to a source close to the White House who said the idea was pushed by immigration hawk Stephen Miller.

The announcement came as Trump was "riled up" by conservative radio commentary about the recent surge in border crossings, according to the source.

Trump made the announcement Thursday night on Twitter. He said he will impose 5% tariffs on all Mexican imports starting June 10 and escalate them to 25% "until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP."

Anticipation that the tariffs combined with an escalating U.S.-China trade war could cool global growth sent equities sharply lower Friday, with the major U.S. indexes off by 1% in afternoon trading.

The opposition by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer marked a rare moment of unity from two top administration officials with starkly different economic ideologies.

Miller's role was confirmed by the source close to the White House and a person briefed on the matter.

Trump's move was announced as the administration's most prominent free-trade advocates  including economic aide Larry Kudlow and Vice President Mike Pence  were not around to argue against it. Pence was in Canada on Thursday. Kudlow, a former CNBC contributor, was undergoing surgery for a hip replacement, according to three sources.

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Lighthizer's opposition to the tariffs was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

"Lighthizer is not happy," an unnamed administration official told the paper.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Jeff Emerson, a USTR spokesperson, said Lighthizer supports Trump's strategy.

Peter Navarro, a White House economic advisor, told CNBC earlier Friday that Trump's threat of new tariffs came in response to Mexico's "export" of "illegal aliens."

"Look at what we are trying to do. This is actually a brilliant move by the president to get Mexico's attention, to get them to help us, because so far they have just been standing by," Navarro said.





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PORTLAND, Ore., May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NW Natural Water Company, LLC (NW Natural Water), a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Natural Holding Company (NWN), has finalized acquisitions of Sunriver Water LLC and Sunriver Environmental LLC.



The transactions closed following regulatory review and approval by the Public Utility Commission of Oregon and close cooperation with the seller and community stakeholders.

This is a very important and exciting acquisition for us, said David H. Anderson, NW Natural Holdings president and CEO. The Sunriver utilities have a legacy of high-quality service, a talented workforce, and deep expertise in wastewater operations. Were excited for them to join the NW Natural family, which has been providing safe, reliable, and affordable utility services for more than 160 years.

Sunriver is located near Bend in Central Oregon and is one of the largest resort communities in the Pacific Northwest. The water and wastewater utilities serve a combined 9,400 connections and employ 21 people across both companies.

NW Natural Water has been an excellent partner on this transaction, and we have been working closely with them to ensure a smooth transition, said Tom OShea, managing director of Sunriver Resort LP. We believe their ownership of the Sunriver utilities will be positive for customers, employees, and the community.

This marks the sixth transaction NW Natural Water has closed in the water sector and its first in the wastewater segment. It recently completed acquisitions in Sequim, Washington, and has two additional acquisitions pending in Idaho. In aggregate, these closed and pending transactions represent approximately $70 million of cumulative investment in the water sector and nearly 18,000 connections serving approximately 45,000 people.

These aggregate acquisitions are projected to be accretive to NW Natural Holdings earnings per share in the first full year of operations.

ABOUT NW NATURAL HOLDINGS

Northwest Natural Holding Company, (NWN) (NW Natural Holdings), is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and through its subsidiaries has been doing business for 160 years in the Pacific Northwest. It owns NW Natural Gas Company (NW Natural), NW Natural Water Company (NW Natural Water), and other business interests and activities.

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NW Natural is a local distribution company that currently provides natural gas service to approximately two million people in more than 140 communities through more than 750,000 meters in Oregon and Southwest Washington with one of the most modern pipeline systems in the nation. NW Natural consistently leads the industry with high J.D. Power & Associates customer satisfaction scores.

NW Natural has 19 Bcf of storage in Oregon with 3 Bcf supporting renewables. NW Natural Holdings subsidiaries own and operate 34 Bcf of underground gas storage capacity.

NW Natural Water currently provides water distribution service to approximately 43,500 people through 17,400 connections. To date, NW Natural Water has acquired six water distribution utilities and a wastewater company with several additional acquisitions pending. Upon closing current outstanding transactions, cumulatively, NW Natural Water expects to have invested $70 million and serve nearly 45,000 people through approximately 18,000 connections in the Pacific Northwest.

Additional information is available at nwnaturalholdings.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report, and other presentations made by NW Natural Holdings from time to time, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "believes," "estimates," "expects" and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the following: plans, objectives, goals, strategies, assumptions, estimates, expectations, expenses, future events, investments, stability, reliability, customer and business growth, customer rates or rate recovery, the water utility strategy and the related pending water acquisitions, acquisition integration, the likelihood, timing, and success associated with any transaction, financial results, accretion or financial projections, strategic fit, workforce projections, revenues and earnings, performance, timing or effects of future regulatory proceedings or future regulatory approvals, and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts.

Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. We caution you therefore against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are discussed by reference to the factors described in Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors," and Part II, Item 7 and Item 7A "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk" in NW Natural Holdings most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated by subsequent filed reports, and in Part I, Items 2 and 3 "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk," and Part II, Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in such company's quarterly reports filed thereafter.

All forward-looking statements made in this report and all subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral and whether made by or on behalf of NW Natural Holdings, are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

New factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for the company to predict all such factors, nor can it assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

Investor Contact: Nikki Sparley, 503-721-2530, nikki.sparley@nwnatural.com

Media Contact: Melissa Moore, 503-220-2436, melissa.moore@nwnatural.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 30, 2019) - Pure Nickel Inc. (TSXV: NIC) (the "Company" or "Pure Nickel") announces that it has filed a Technical Report, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators, for the Neal Project ("Neal"). The Company is Eric Sprott's 51% partner in the Neal Development Limited Partnership ("Neal LP") which holds a lease to operate Neal (see Pure Nickel press release dated April 30, 2019). The Neal mine area, located 27 kilometers southeast of Boise, Idaho, is a high-grade vein gold project comprised of five patented and seven unpatented lode claims.

Pure Nickel President and CEO, Mr. R. David Russell, notes: "With Pure Nickel transitioning away from the nickel business, management has chosen Neal as our first gold project for the following reasons: 1) high-grade underground gold potential, 2) non-refractory sulfide mineralization amenable to gravity and flotation, 3) private patented land base with a current mining permit, 4) easy access and logistics from nearby Boise, and 5) the availability of multiple processing options."

The Neal Technical Report, entitled: "NI 43-101 Technical Report: Property Report for the Neal Project, Elmore County, Idaho", was prepared by Thomas H. Chadwick, CPG, an independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Mr. Chadwick has reviewed, verified and approved the technical content of this news release.

The Neal Project Technical Report may be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.purenickel.com.

Highlights of the NI 43-101 Technical Report include:

Project Location and Access:

The Neal Project is located in Elmore County, Idaho in rolling hills just east of Boise. Access is a short 25-minute commute from the Boise Airport via paved roads for most of the way.

Power and water are available nearby and could be furnished to the project as needed.

Neal Land Status:

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All historic and modern mining and exploration has been confined to five patented (private property) claims that make up the core of the Neal property.

An additional seven unpatented lode mining claims provide further mineral rights along trend in both directions from the patented property. These claims are located on federal lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service.

Project History:

Gold mineralization at the Neal Project and elsewhere in the Neal Mining District was discovered in 1889 by Arthur Neal. Total reported District lode gold production through 1941 has been estimated at around 30,000 ounces, with most of this production coming from the Neal Project area in the 1889-1915 time frame 1 .

The Neal Project area contains three historic underground gold mines: Hidden Treasure, Homestake and Daisy. These mines were eventually connected underground and were at peak production from 1902-1915.

Neal was explored in the late 1980's for open pit, heap leach potential with a reverse circulation drilling program consisting of 208 holes totaling 47,000 feet.

Modern bulk sampling from an open cut in 2015-2016 produced a stockpile of mineralized material estimated to contain around 13,900 tons at 0.132 ounces per ton (oz/t) gold2. The stockpile is not part of the NIC Neal transaction and remains with Sprott Mining.

Vein & Mineralization Description: (historic geology & mining from 1Bennett, 2001 and 3Lindgren, 1898)

Neal gold mineralization is hosted in north-easterly striking veins that average around N70E, and dip to the south at 60-45 degrees. Vein widths range from 2-13 feet.

Historically mined "mineralized" shoots averaged around 0.5 oz/ton gold, with reported strike lengths of 75-125 feet and 350 feet of dip development at Homestake, whereas the Hidden Treasure reported 450 feet of strike development with 165 feet of dip.

Geology and Mineralization :

Neal area veins are hosted entirely in intrusive rocks, with the primary host a Cretaceous-aged biotite granodiorite of the Idaho Batholith.

Fault zones that host the veins are frequently intruded by lamprophyre dikes in the Neal area, as well as by rhyolitic dikes. Other dike-like intrusives are also common and can be compositional and/or textural variations of the granodiorite. The lamprophyres at Neal are sometimes minor hosts to mineralization.

The approximate N70E trend of the Neal vein system can be offset locally by northerly trending faults.

Neal veining consists of one or two primary veins, but other veins have been identified with roughly parallel strikes and dips. A total of five veins have been identified to date.

Veins consist of quartz-white mica-clay-pyrite alteration and mineralization and can be subtle to identify in the field. Quartz textures are indicative of higher temperature mesothermal environments, and quartz content is modest overall. Near surface, iron oxides after pyrite are often direct indicators of gold mineralization. Other associated minerals include minor to trace amounts of galena and sphalerite.

No bottom to the mineralized vein system has been identified, and little exploration or mining has been conducted along strike beyond the known mining limits.

Metallurgy and Mining :

Historic mining records for Neal and other districts in the region indicate that gold was commonly recovered from both near surface and deeper sulfide mineralization by gravity and flotation, although some cyanidization was used in the early 1900's.

Several modern studies have been conducted on mixed oxide-sulfide material at Neal that suggest strong gold recoveries of up to 90% can be achieved using a mill with a combined gravity and flotation circuit. Neal sulfide material does not appear to be refractory.

Exploration Plan:

NIC plans to explore the Property for higher grade strike extensions of the Neal veins and to determine deeper down-dip potential in, and around, the known mines.

The Technical Report recommends a drill-oriented exploration program for the 2019-2020 field seasons of approximately US$ 1 million. This program proposes a dual reverse circulation and diamond (core) drilling approach to locate and confirm vein targets at Neal.

About the Neal LP and Sprott Mining Partnership

On April 29, 2019 Pure Nickel signed an Agreement ("Agreement") with 2176423 Ontario Ltd., a company controlled by Eric Sprott ("Sprott") to acquire an operating and controlling interest in the Neal LP. Under terms of the Agreement, the Company acquired 51% of the Neal LP from Sprott in consideration of the issuance to Sprott of 10,221,732 shares of the Company. The closing of the transaction was announced May 13, 2019 and Sprott now holds 13% of the currently issued and outstanding shares of the Company. In addition, the Company has an earn-in option to acquire an additional 27% of the Neal LP, along with seven unpatented mining claims by raising between US$ 1-1.5 million for an exploration drilling program. Upon completion of this future financing, Pure Nickel has the option to pay Sprott US $84,706 to exercise its option to acquire the remaining 27%. Upon completion of this earn-in option, Pure Nickel will own 78% of Neal LP, Sprott will retain 20% and a separate party will continue to hold the remaining 2%. The transaction is more fully outlined in the Company's press release dated April 30, 2019.

About the Neal Project

The Neal Project is a high-grade gold-dominant vein system with at least five veins known to date. It is located near Boise, Idaho and has excellent access via 20 kilometers of improved gravel and dirt roads from Interstate-84. The Project consists of five private patented mining claims covering approximately 22.4 hectares (55.38 acres) and another seven unpatented lode claims covering about 52.6 hectares (130 acres) located on U.S. Forest Service administered public lands.

References

1Bennett, Earl H., 2001. The Geology and Mineral Deposits of Part of the Western Half of the Hailey 1o x 2 o Quadrangle, Idaho, USGS Bulletin 2064-W, prepared with Idaho Geological Survey, Idaho State University and the University of Idaho: with a section on the Neal Mining District by Thor H. Kiilsgaard and Earl H. Bennet (pp 24-29).

2Russell, R. D., 2017-2018. Neal Average Assay for Stockpile (A to H), Atlanta Gold internal spreadsheet and supporting lab work of Neal stockpile material, 2017.

3Lindgren, Waldemar, 1898. The Mining Districts of the Idaho Basin and the Boise Ridge, Idaho; Department of the Interior, US Geological Society; Extract from the 18th Annual Report of the Survey 1896-1897, Part III, Economic Geology; Washington, Government Print Office (pp 609-703).

About Pure Nickel

Pure Nickel is a mineral exploration and development company. With the acquisition of a controlling and operating interest in the Neal Project in Idaho, the Company has made the first key strategic step to expand its focus from nickel to include gold and silver exploration and development.

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Thomas H. Chadwick, BSc., CPG, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure Standards for Mineral Projects.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Pure Nickel Inc.

R. David Russell

Chairman and CEO

T. (416) 644-0066

info@purenickel.com

www.purenickel.com

Forward Looking Statements

Some of the statements contained herein may be forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and resources, exploration results, expectations, plans, and objectives of Pure Nickel are forward-looking statements that involve various risks. The following are important factors that could cause Pure Nickel's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements: changes in the world-wide price of mineral commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in mineral exploration, risks associated with development, construction and mining operations, the uncertainty of future exploration activities and cash flows, and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events may differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Pure Nickel undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/45124
Including C$34 Million Equity Private Placement

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rebel Capital Inc. (Rebel or the Corporation) (RBL-P.V), a capital pool company, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent dated May 30, 2019 (the Letter of Intent) with Chief Commercial Construction L.P., a Pennsylvania limited partnership (the "Vendor"), to acquire a property located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania containing a 91,790 square foot data center with a three-story connected 43,800 square foot office property on an approximately 7.65 acre site (collectively, the Property) for a total purchase price (the Purchase Price) of US$32 million (the Proposed Transaction).



The completion of the Proposed Transaction will be subject to requisite regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV), and a number of additional conditions precedent, including the negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement, and the completion of a brokered private placement financing to fund a portion of the Purchase Price. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed on the terms proposed in the Letter of Intent or at all.

The Proposed Transaction is intended to constitute Rebels Qualifying Transaction in accordance with TSXV Policy 2.4 - Capital Pool Companies. On closing of the Proposed Transaction, Rebel anticipates being classified as a "Tier 1" real estate issuer that will meet the TSXV's initial listing requirements applicable therefor. The Proposed Transaction will not be a Non-Arm's Length Qualifying Transaction (as that term is defined under the TSXV policies), and as a result, it is anticipated that the approval of the shareholders of Rebel to the Proposed Transaction will not be required. However, depending on the ultimate structuring of the Proposed Transaction, Rebel may be required to obtain shareholder approval under corporate law to approve certain matters ancillary to the Proposed Transaction.

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Earnest Money Deposit and Proposed Non-Brokered Private Placement Financing

Pursuant to the Letter of Intent, Rebel has a 60-day period from the date of the Letter of Intent to conduct due diligence on the Property. In connection therewith, Rebel is required to deposit US$640,000 (the Deposit) as earnest money with Chicago Title Insurance Company within five days of the date of the Letter of Intent. The Deposit will be held in trust pending completion or termination of the Proposed Transaction. If the Proposed Transaction proceeds, the Deposit would be credited on account of the Purchase Price on closing of the Proposed Transaction.

It is anticipated that a newly created entity to be acquired by Rebel on completion of the Proposed Transaction will, as soon as possible, complete a non-brokered equity private placement (the Non-Brokered Financing) for gross proceeds of no less than C$1 million to fund payment of the Deposit and certain other diligence-related costs and expenses in connection with the Proposed Transaction. The actual size of the Non-Brokered Financing (subject to a minimum of C$1 million) and the issue price will be determined in the context of the market.

Proposed Brokered Private Placement Financing

It is also anticipated that Rebel will complete a brokered private placement of subscription receipts (the Brokered Financing) for gross proceeds of approximately C$34 million to fund a portion of the Purchase Price. The actual size of the Brokered Financing and the issue price will be determined in the context of the market.

Rebel has engaged Canaccord Genuity Corp. (Canaccord) to act as the lead agent in connection with the Brokered Financing. In connection with the Brokered Financing, Canaccord will be paid a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds of the Brokered Financing and, subject to regulatory approval, compensation options exercisable at any time up to 18 months following the date of closing of the Brokered Financing to purchase up to that number of common shares of Rebel as is equal to 6.0% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold pursuant to the Brokered Financing, at an exercise price equal to the issue price of the Subscription Receipts.

The gross proceeds of the Brokered Financing will be held in escrow pending satisfaction of certain specified escrow release conditions, including the satisfaction of all conditions precedent to the completion of the Proposed Transaction (other than the payment of the Purchase Price).

The Non-Brokered Financing and the Brokered Financing are both subject to TSXV approval.

Appointment of Shant Poladian and Anish Chopra to Rebels Board of Directors

Rebel is pleased to announce that Shant Poladian and Anish Chopra have been appointed to Rebels board of directors, subject to TSXV approval. In addition, Mihalis Belantis has agreed to resign as a director of the Corporation. Messrs. Poladian and Chopra bring significant experience in real estate and capital markets. For additional information see Messrs. Poladian and Chopras biographies under Proposed Management and Directors below.

Proposed Management and Directors

Subject to TSXV approval, on completion of the Proposed Transaction, it is currently anticipated that the board of directors of Rebel will consist of the following five directors and the management will consist of Mark MacDonald, Shant Poladian, Joe Damiani and Wilbur Wong.

Mark MacDonald, Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer

Mr. MacDonald is founder and Chief Executive Officer of C15Edge Data Centers, which has developed and operates a highly secure, redundant 24/7 colocation facility in Toronto, Ontario. In addition, Mr. MacDonald has over 30 years of experience in broad investment, corporate development and restructuring, including co-managing Ontario Teachers Pension Plans $4.5 billion portfolio of private investments.

Shant Poladian, Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Poladian has over 20 years of experience in real estate and capital markets, including as the founding Chief Executive Officer of FAM REIT which developed, leased and financed a 3 MW 64,000 square foot mission critical data center in Winnipeg, Manitoba for Bell MTS. In addition, Mr. Poladian has acted as a director of Amica Mature Lifestyles Inc., Equity Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity and Managing Director  Investment Banking at Eight Capital.

Joe Damiani, Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Damiani is a data center and cloud service professional with over 25 years of international experience in Service Provider, IT Outsourcing and Financial Services verticals. Most recently Vice President at C15Edge Data Centers, Mr. Damiani assisted with the launch and growth of the organization. Mr. Damiani was formerly VP & GM, Capris Data Center, Director, ThinOffice at Ceryx and Director, Product at Bird on a Wire Networks (acquired by AT&T Canada).

Wilbur Wong, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Wong has over 10 years of experience in real estate and capital markets, including VP of Investments for FAM REIT. Mr. Wong is a former VP of Investment Banking at Eight Capital, Director of Asset Management at KEYreit, Asset Manager for GWL, and Real Estate Analyst for Delta Hotels and Blackwood Partners.

T. Richard Turner, Independent Director

Mr. Turner currently serves as Board Chair of ViveRE Communities Inc. He has acted as chair and/or director of many public real estate companies/REITs, including Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust, Invesque Inc., HealthLease Properties Real Estate Trust, IAT Air Cargo Income Fund and Sunrise Senior Living Real Estate Trust.

Andrew Oppenheim, Independent Director

Mr. Oppenheim is a partner and corporate lawyer at Gowlings WLG and has acted as the lead independent director of Amica Mature Lifestyles Inc.

Anish Chopra, Independent Director

Mr. Chopra is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Portfolio Management Corp. Mr. Chopra has acted as a Managing Director and Head of the Innovative Solutions Group at TD Asset Management.

Details of insiders of Rebel will be disclosed in a further news release.

Filing Statement and Information Circular

In connection with the Proposed Transaction and pursuant to the requirements of the TSXV, Rebel will file a filing statement or a management information circular on its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com , which will contain details regarding the Proposed Transaction, the Brokered Financing and the Property.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship of a qualifying transaction of a capital pool company is required by the TSXV unless an exemption from the sponsorship requirement is available. The parties will be seeking a waiver of any requirement for a sponsor, but in the event a waiver is not available, the parties will update the markets accordingly.

Trading Halt

Trading in the Rebel Shares has been halted in compliance with the policies of the TSXV. Rebel anticipates that trading will remain halted pending the review of the Proposed Acquisition by the TSXV.

General

Rebel will issue additional news releases relating to the Proposed Transaction, including information relating to transaction structure, the Brokered Financing and summary financial information of the Property, if and when the parties enter into the definitive agreement. For further information, please contact:

Craig Lindsay

(604) 218-0559

craig@otisgold.com

Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance and if applicable pursuant to TSXV, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Proposed Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Proposed Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding the terms and conditions of the Proposed Transaction, the terms of the Non-Brokered Financing and the Brokered Financing and the composition of the board of directors of the resulting issuer upon completion of the Proposed Transaction. Although Rebel believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Rebel cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by Rebel is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: Rebel's ability to complete the Proposed Transaction; the expected timing and terms of the Proposed Transaction and the related private placements; the state of the financial markets for Rebel's securities; the state of the real estate sector in the event the Proposed Transaction is completed; recent market volatility; Rebel's ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risks and factors that Rebel is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to Rebel's initial public offering prospectus for a more complete discussion of applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through Rebels issuer page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. Rebel 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.

About Rebel

Rebel is incorporated under the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) with its registered and head office in Vancouver, British Columbia. Rebel is a reporting issuer in the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. The Rebel Shares are listed for trading on the TSXV under the symbol RBL.P.

SOURCE: Rebel Capital Inc.
(Adds background)

May 31 (Reuters) - Sempra Energy said on Friday the $10 billion Cameron liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana had shipped its first cargo, making the plant the fourth big LNG export terminal to enter service in the United States.

Mitsui & Co Ltd, one of the partners in the Cameron project, chartered the tanker, Marvel Crane, to pick up the commissioning cargo.

It was not immediately clear where the vessel was headed.

Sempra said commissioning cargos were a critical step in the start-up process. The plant is expected to get federal authorization to enter commercial operations in mid-2019.

Natural gas use is growing fast around the world as countries seek to wean their industrial and power sectors off dirtier coal.

There are three liquefaction trains at Cameron. The first started producing LNG in mid May. Sempra has said it expects Cameron 2 and 3 will enter service in the first and second quarters of 2020.

Cameron will produce about 12 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG, or roughly 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas. One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to fuel about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.

When the United States sent out its first LNG cargo in February 2016, the country was not exporting any of the fuel.

Since then, the United States has become the world's fourth biggest LNG exporter in 2018, behind Qatar, Australia and Malaysia, and is on track to overtake Malaysia and become the third biggest in 2019.

Just looking at terminals under construction, U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to jump to 7.4 bcfd by the end of 2019 and 10.0 bcfd in 2020 from 5.2 bcfd now.

Cameron is jointly owned by affiliates of Sempra, Total SA , Mitsui, and Japan LNG Investment LLC, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corp and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK). Sempra indirectly owns 50.2% of Cameron.

McDermott International Inc and Chiyoda Corp are the lead contractors at Cameron.

Sempra has a long-term goal of exporting 45 MTPA of North American LNG and is developing a second two-train phase at Cameron, the Port Arthur LNG export terminal in Texas and plans to add export facilities in two phases at its existing Costa Azul LNG import terminal in Baja California in Mexico.

Saudi Aramco signed a 20-year agreement on May 22 to buy LNG from Sempra's proposed Port Arthur.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino Editing by Bernadette Baum)
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 1, 2019 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc. ("RCI" or the "Company") (RICK). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.

The investigation concerns whether RCI and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On December 11, 2018, RCI announced in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filing that the Company could not timely file its annual report due to "delays in completing the audit of its financial statements for the year ended September 30, 2018." On this news, RCI's stock price fell $1.37 per share, or approximately 6%, to close at $22.33 per share on December 12, 2018.

Then, on May 10, 2019, RCI announced that it could not timely file its quarterly report with the SEC for the period ended March 31, 2019 due to pending investigations concerning negative articles published about the Company in mid- and late 2018. On this news, RCI's stock price fell $1.67 per share, or over 7%, to close at $20.48 per share on May 13, 2019.

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/547335/SHAREHOLDER-ALERT-Pomerantz-Law-Firm-Investigates-ClaimsOn-Behalf-of-Investors-of-RCI-Hospitality-Holdings-Inc--RICK




Binod Ghimire covers parliamentary affairs and human rights for The Kathmandu Post. Since joining the Post in 2010, he has reported primarily on social issues, focusing on education and transitional justice.
SAO PAULO, May 31 (Reuters) - British sugar trader Czarnikow has entered as a partner in a new ethanol trading company in Brazil, in a joint venture with a group of local investors who control sugar and ethanol plants, according to documents released on Friday by the Brazilian government.

CADE, the Brazilian anti-trust watchdog, said it has approved the creation of the ethanol trading venture after a request by Czarnikow and its partners Vale do Tijuco Acucar e Alcool SA and Canapolis Acucar e Etanol SA.

Both Brazilian companies are controlled by a group of investors including IndoAgri Brazil Participacoes and investment fund Marseille FIP. The group will have a combined 51% share in the venture, with Czarnikow taking 49%, according to the documents released by CADE.

Czarnikow, a sugar trader and provider of trade services and financing, recently decided to expand into other products, including ethanol.

The group of investors in Brazil partnering Czarnikow are also expanding operations from the initial sugar and ethanol plant Vale do Tijuco in Uberaba, Minas Gerais state. They were involved in the acquisition three years ago of a sugar mill sold by Archer Daniels Midland Co, located in Limeira do Oeste, as well in Minas Gerais.

There were no details regarding expected investment in the venture or targets for ethanol trading.

Ethanol consumption is booming in Brazil, mostly due to a large price advantage over gasoline. Production increased almost 20% in the last crop-year ended in March. (Reporting by Luciano Costa and Marcelo Teixeira Editing by Susan Thomas)
President Trump on Thursday announced that he intends to impose 5 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico  one of the United States largest trading partners  in June, over the large number of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. at the southern border.

U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico totaled $671 billion last year  including $371.9 billion in imports and $299.1 billion in exports, according to government data. The U.S. trade deficit for the year was $72.7 billion.

Mexico was the third-largest goods trading partner for the U.S. in 2018  and its second-largest export market.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a number of business groups have come out in opposition to the tariffs, which they say will be paid for by American families when companies are forced to pass on increased costs.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among several groups that are exploring potential legal action against the threatened tariffs, FOX Business learned on Friday.

Heres a look at some of the top items the U.S. imported from Mexico in 2018:

Vehicles: $93 billion worth of imports

Car production facilities rely on trade with Mexico for parts in order to complete final assembly.

Electrical machinery: $64 billion worth of imports

Machinery: $63 billion worth of imports

The U.S. imports heavy equipment, like tractors, from Mexico.

Mineral fuels: $16 billion worth of imports

Optical and medical instruments: $15 billion worth of imports

Agricultural products: $26 billion worth of imports, including:

Fresh vegetables: $5.9 billion. Mexico exports a large amount of tomatoes, eggplant and cucumbers to the U.S.

Fresh fruit: $5.8 billion. The U.S. imports 80 percent of the avocados consumed in the U.S. from Mexico.

Wine and beer: $3.6 billion. According to data from the Beer Institute, the U.S. imported 773 million gallons of beer from Mexico in 2018, an increase of 8.6 percent from the year prior and more than it receives from any other country. In the first 11 months of 2018, the U.S. imported 172.4 million liters of tequila from Mexico according to the countrys National Chamber of the Tequila Industry. Mexico also exports a large amount of wine.

Snack foods: $2.2 billion

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Processed fruits and vegetables: $1.7 billion

Service imports from Mexico  including travel, transport and technical  totaled $25.3 billion.

Related Articles
President Donald Trump expands the list of bilateral issues between the US and Mexico that he claims would be remedied by the imposition of tariffs on all imports from Mexico.

Trump claims that if his proposed 5 percent tariff on all Mexican imports goes into effect, not only would Mexico be forced to address the migrant crisis, but that drug smuggling would decrease, U.S. auto manufacturers would return stateside and the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico would improve.

The tweets put the president squarely at odds with the message coming from his administration, which is that the tariffs are intended only as an emergency measure to help protect U.S. national security, and are totally unrelated to trade negotiations.

President Donald Trump on Friday expanded the list of bilateral issues between the U.S. and Mexico that he claimed would be remedied by the imposition of tariffs on all imports from Mexico. The expanded list includes helping stem the opioid epidemic, and returning auto industry jobs to the United States.

The new issues effectively stretched the president's personal case for the tariffs beyond that of his own administration, which has insisted that any tariffs would only be intended to address the national emergency of undocumented asylum seekers crossing into the United States.

In a series of tweets Friday morning, Trump wrote that if his proposed 5% tariff on all Mexican imports were to go into effect on June 10, a policy unveiled less than a day ago, then not only would Mexico be forced to address the influx of migrants crossing its borders headed for the United States, but also that drug smuggling would decrease, that U.S. auto manufacturers would return stateside, and that the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico could be remedied.

TRUMP TWEET

TRUMP TEEET

The tweets put the president squarely at odds with the message coming from both acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and senior trade advisor Peter Navarro, the two most visible White House aides defending Thursday's tariff announcement so far.

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A White House spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment from CNBC on the apparent disconnect between the president's messaging and that of his top aides.

Appearing Friday morning on CNBC, Navarro pushed back on the notion that the tariffs were intended to bring more manufacturing jobs to the United States from Mexico, saying that the tariffs were "not at all" related to that goal.

"This is strictly about national security and threats to our economy from illegal immigration from a criminal enterprise," Navarro said.

Trump's tweet about the auto industry jobs was posted nearly simultaneously with Navarro's appearance on CNBC.

Speaking on a conference call with reporters late Thursday, Mulvaney likewise insisted that the newly announced tariff threat was totally unrelated to ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico over a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as USMCA, that still needs to be ratified by legislatures in Mexico and the United States.

"These are not tariffs as part of a trade dispute," Mulvaney said on the call. "These are tariffs as part of an immigration problem. The USMCA is a trade matter and completely separate."

Also unclear Friday was what, precisely, Mexico would need to do in order to satisfy Trump's demand that the longtime U.S. ally do whatever it takes to see that the "illegal immigration problem is remedied."

TRUMP TWEET

The abrupt tariff announcement and the potential impact tariffs could have on the prices U.S. consumers pay for goods sent futures markets tumbling Thursday night, a slide that continued into Friday's trading day.

The United States imported $346.5 billion of goods from Mexico in 2018, an increase of 10.3% over the year prior, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The 2018 total accounted for 13.6% of overall U.S. imports that year.

 CNBC's Joanna Tan contributed to this story.





More From CNBC


By Tom Hals and Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to impose a tariff on all Mexican goods to push Mexico to halt a surge in illegal immigrants is likely to be challenged in court and will test the scope of the president's emergency powers.

Trump dramatically intensified his quest to limit a wave of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, including families fleeing violence in Central America, by threatening to impose the tariffs starting on June 10.

Financial markets reeled and business leaders on both sides of the border were taken by surprise, prompting discussions of legal action to curtail Republican Trump's use of a law never previously applied to impose tariffs.

Jennifer Hillman, a Georgetown Law school trade law professor, questioned Trump's citation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in his announcement on Thursday night.

"If you read the text of IEEPA, it's about the president being able to declare a national emergency to be able to stop financial transactions," said Hillman, a former World Trade Organization judge.

The law has been used by presidents to impose sanctions on countries such as Iran and Sudan but Trump's proposed novel application of it has never been addressed by the courts, according to legal experts.

"Its clearly beyond the spirit of the law," said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School. "But is it within the letter of the law? Possibly."

Some legal experts said that unlike many of Trump's immigration policies that have been blocked by courts, the tariff threat may survive a challenge because it was wrapped up as a national security measure.

Challengers would have to show the president was acting outside the letter of the law and national security interest, a difficult standard to meet because of the wide authority given to the executive branch under the act.

Lawyers who advise large corporations said clients were interested in pursuing legal action to block the tariffs, but declined to identify the corporations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a major business lobby group, said it might sue.

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The IEEPA gives the president power in times of "unusual and extraordinary threat" to regulate a wide range of economic activity. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, used the law to block all the assets in the United States belonging to Iran after Americans in Tehran were taken hostage. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the move, saying the IEEPA "was sweeping and unqualified."

Using the law as a tool to cut the flow of immigrants arguably falls outside the intent of Congress, which adopted the IEEPA to respond to violent threats, said Raj Bhala, a professor at the University of Kansas School of Law who specializes in international trade.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said on Friday that Trump is acting within his authority to protect national security.

"Industry should be in communication with their counterparts in Mexico to encourage the Mexican government to work with the Administration and stave off the dangerous crisis at our southern border as quickly as possible," Deere said.

OVERWHELMED

White House officials say the immigration system is overwhelmed by thousands of migrants, many of whom turn themselves over to U.S. border officials to claim asylum.

In April, Trump took a step back from an earlier threat to close the southern U.S. border to stanch the flow of people, under pressure from companies worried that a shutdown would cause chaos for businesses. Trump has been unable to get sufficient funding from Congress to fulfill his 2016 campaign promise to build a wall along the border.

The Mexican tariffs were going to be administered by the Department of Homeland Security, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office. Hillman, the former WTO judge, said that was unusual.

Courts tend to defer to the president on national security, as the U.S. Court of International Trade did in March in ruling against a challenge to U.S. steel tariffs imposed by Trump under a different law.

There are other avenues to challenge the tariffs outside U.S. courts.

Bhala said the tariffs would almost certainly run afoul of both the North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT. It is not yet clear how Trump's tariff threat will affect the trade negotiations with Mexico to replace NAFTA.

Both agreements allow members countries to initiate disputes against one another, and NAFTA also allows investors to take action against governments.

However, Bhala said, the NAFTA and WTO dispute resolution processes are slow, taking years to reach a final judgment, and can be difficult to enforce.

Yet another avenue is to go to the U.S. Congress, said Steven Schwinn, a professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

"Congress doesnt need to delegate this kind of authority to the president and particularly this president," said Schwinn. "If Congress wants to take back that authority, they can take that back."

(GRAPHIC-Trump vows high tariffs on all Mexican goods link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Khd82D).

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Brendan Pierson in New York; additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Grant McCool)
The railroad industry is "concerned" about a possible disruption of the North American supply chain should the U.S. impose tariffs on imports from Mexico.

Railroad companies with more exposure to trade with Mexico, such as Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) and Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), saw their stocks dip upon the news that President Donald Trump is considering slapping tariffs on Mexican imports as a way to push Mexico to take steps to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. President Trump is proposing to impose a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports starting on June 10, with that percentage increasing up to 25 percent on October 1.

For now, the rail industry is taking a wait-and-see stance. The American Association of Railroads (AAR) said it watching to see what customers will do. The group also said it is "most keenly focused and interested" in seeing Congress ratify the trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, known as USMCA.

"Any action that impedes [USMCA's] passage is concerning, such as tariffs that create barriers to commerce. We are watching what our customers say and do, particularly the auto and agricultural industries that move a lot of goods to and from Mexico," AAR said.

"The rail network and the supply chain is integrated across North America and policymakers should do what they can to promote more trade  not less  across the continent," the group said.

Meanwhile, Kansas City Southern not only has an operating arm in Mexico, it also serves 90 percent of auto assembly plants in Mexico and has four automotive distribution facilities and access to three major Mexico ports on the Pacific and Gulf Coasts.

Kansas City Southern "is aware of the President's tweet yesterday but is not able to estimate what impact such action might have on the flow of its cross-border freight. KSU's cross-border traffic represents approximately 40 percent of our total traffic. Sixty percent of our cross-border traffic originates north of the border and is exported from the U.S. to Mexico, including grain exports originating in the Midwest states forming the US Corn Belt. Forty percent of our cross-border traffic originates in Mexico and terminates in the U.S., including a substantial amount of freight from U.S.-based companies such as the auto sector," the railroad said.

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"KSU hopes that such action will not be necessary and that efforts of the U.S. and Mexican governments to stem the flow of immigrants through Mexico to the U.S. border are not tied to the vital commerce that exists between the two countries and Canada. KSU appreciates and strongly supports the President's leadership on Congressional passage of the USMCA and believes it will bring needed improvement over the NAFTA agreement and certainty about North American competitiveness going forward," the railroad further said.

BNSF and Union Pacific did not return requests for comment, but their role in facilitating cross-border movement is core to their identities. Union Pacific touts itself as the only Class I railroad to serve all six gateways between the U.S. and Mexico.

While U.S. Census data on imports doesn't break down the imports by transport mode, at stake are potentially billions of dollars. For the first three months of this year, U.S. imports of goods from Mexico totaled $86.6 billion.

Of that, U.S. imports of advanced technology, a category which includes electronics and products for the aerospace and information and communications industries, totaled $13.8 billion in the first quarter of this year. U.S. imports of automotive parts and vehicles from Mexico totaled nearly $32.3 billion.

Image sourced from Pixabay

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 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
WEST CHESTER, Ohio, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AK Steel (AKS) said today that members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Local 4104, have ratified a new three year labor agreement covering about 110 hourly production and maintenance employees at the companys Zanesville (OH) Works. AK Steel said that UAW officials notified the company that the new contract was ratified in voting held on May 30, 2019 in Zanesville. The new agreement takes effect on May 31, 2019 and runs through May 31, 2022.

We are pleased to have reached a labor agreement at Zanesville Works for our employees, said Roger K. Newport, Chief Executive Officer of AK Steel. The new agreement continues to provide a competitive and flexible labor contract for AK Steel and our Zanesville employees.

Zanesville Works is a specialty flat rolled finishing facility for AK Steels electrical and stainless steels.

AK Steel

AK Steel is a leading producer of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for the automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, including electrical power, and distributors and converters markets. Through its subsidiaries, the company also provides customer solutions with carbon and stainless steel tubing products, die design and tooling, and hot- and cold-stamped components. Headquartered in West Chester, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), the company has approximately 9,500 employees at manufacturing operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and facilities in Western Europe. Additional information about AK Steel is available at www.aksteel.com.

Contacts:

Media  Lisa H. Jester, Corporate Manager, Communications and Public Relations (513) 425-2510

Investors  Douglas O. Mitterholzer, General Manager, Investor Relations (513) 425-5215
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for HCP (HCP). Shares have added about 2.8% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is HCP due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.

HCP's Q1 FFO Surpasses, Revenues Miss Estimates, NOI Up



HCP reported first-quarter 2019 FFO as adjusted of 44 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents. Comparable FFO as adjusted in the prior-year quarter was 48 cents per share.



Results were supported by decent performance of the companys life-science and medical-office segment. However, decline in rental and related revenues unfavorably impacted top-line growth.



This healthcare REIT generated revenues of $436.1 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $442.1 million. Further, the figure comes in lower than the year-ago number of $479.2 million.



Behind the Headlines



HCP witnessed 3% year-over-year rise in the three-month cash SPP net operating income (NOI). There was 6.5% growth in life-science cash NOI, 4.2% rise in the medical office segment and 2.4% advancement in other non-reportable segments. However, these positives were partly offset by a 0.7% decrease in seniors-housing portfolio cash NOI.



During the first quarter, HCP purchased a portfolio of nine recently-built, continuum of care, senior housing communities for $445 million. The portfolio is concentrated primarily in Florida and operated by Discovery Senior Living.



During the March-end quarter, 18 seniors-housing communities, operated by Sunrise Senior Living, were converted from triple-net leases to RIDEA structures.



HCP had cash and cash equivalents of around $120.1 million as of Dec 31, 2019, significantly up from $110.8 million recorded at the end of 2018. Additionally, the company ended the first quarter with $1.7 billion available under its $2-billion credit facility.



Outlook



HCP reiterated its 2019 FFO as adjusted guidance at $1.70-$1.76 per share.



Furthermore, the company expects 2019 SPP cash NOI growth for total portfolio to be 1.25-2.75%.

Story continues

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates.

VGM Scores

At this time, HCP has a poor Growth Score of F, a grade with the same score on the momentum front. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Notably, HCP has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.



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Zacks Investment Research
It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Tetra Tech (TTEK). Shares have lost about 0.7% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Tetra due for a breakout? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.

Tetra Tech Tops Q2 Earnings Estimates, Ups FY19 View

Tetra Tech kept its earnings streak alive in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 (ended Mar 31, 2019), with earnings surpassing estimates by 9.4%. Also, the quarters adjusted net sales surpassed estimates by 6.7%.

The companys adjusted earnings per share in the reported quarter were 70 cents, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 64 cents. Also, the bottom line increased 29.6% from the year-ago quarters 54 cents on the back of strengthening businesses related to sustainable infrastructure, water and renewable energy.

Backlog Solid, Revenues Up Y/Y

In the reported quarter, Tetra Tech generated adjusted revenues of $727.4 million, reflecting year-over-year growth of 3.2%. Alternatively, adjusted net revenues (adjusted revenues minus subcontractor costs) were $590.1 million, reflecting growth of 10.8% from the year-ago quarter.

Further, the top line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $553.3 million.

Backlog at the end of the quarter was $2,814 million, reflecting growth of 12% from the year-ago figure.

Based on customers, revenues from the U.S. Federal (accounted for 28% of the quarters revenues) were flat year over year or grew 9%, excluding adverse impacts of partial shutdown of the government. Conversely, the U.S. Commercial sales (24% of the quarters revenues) grew 5% year over year, and the U.S. State and Local sales (17% of the quarters revenues) increased 39%. International sales (31% of the quarters revenues) increased 23% on account of growth in infrastructure, and oil & gas programs.

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The company reports revenues under the segments discussed below:

Net sales of Government Services Group were $316 million, up 8.8% year over year. This improvement was driven by healthy growth in disaster response and recovery planning as well as municipal water infrastructure businesses.

Revenues from Commercial / International Services Group totaled $274.1 million, reflecting year-over-year growth of 13.3%. Results were driven by healthy growth in oil & gas business in Canada, and the U.S. environmental business.

Margins Improve

In the reported quarter, Tetra Techs subcontractor costs totaled $137.2 million, reflecting a decline of 17.6% from the year-ago quarter. Other costs of revenues were $488.9 million, up 10.8% year over year. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $47.9 million, up 2.4% year over year.

Adjusted operating income in the reported quarter increased 20.8% year over year to $54.5 million while adjusted margin improved 70 basis points to 9.2%.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Exiting the fiscal second quarter, Tetra Tech had cash and cash equivalents of $130.7 million, up 96.6% from $66.5 million recorded at the end of the last reported quarter. Long-term debt was down 6.6% sequentially at $231.3 million.

In the first half of fiscal 2019, the company generated net cash of $99.2 million from operating activities, significantly above $23.6 million generated in the year-ago comparable period. Capital expenditure was $7.2 million, up from $4.6 million in the first half of fiscal 2018.

During the first half, the company bought back shares worth $50 million and distributed dividends totaling $13.3 million. It had $175 million authorization left under the share buyback program at the end of the fiscal second quarter.

Outlook

Tetra Tech stands to gain from healthy demand for sustainable infrastructure, increased federal spending, municipal water infrastructure, disaster recovery planning and others. Also, the company noted that the acquisition of eGlobalTech is predicted to solidify its business from government and commercial customers. The company will integrate eGlobalTech with its Government Services Group.

For the fiscal third quarter (ending June 2019), net revenues are anticipated to be $575-$625 million and earnings per share are likely to be 75-80 cents.

For fiscal 2019 (ending September 2019), the company anticipates net revenues of $2.3-$2.4 billion versus the previously stated $2.2-$2.4 billion. Sales are projected to grow 5% (versus the earlier 2%) from the U.S. Federal, 5% from the U.S. Commercial, 15% (versus the earlier 10%) from the U.S. State and Local, and 10% from International customers.

Earnings per share for the year will likely be $2.95-$3.05, up from $2.80-$2.95 stated earlier. Effective tax rate in the year is anticipated to be 24%.

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed an upward trend in fresh estimates.

VGM Scores

At this time, Tetra has a great Growth Score of A, though it is lagging a lot on the Momentum Score front with a D. However, the stock was allocated a grade of A on the value side, putting it in the top quintile for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of A. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Estimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. It comes with little surprise Tetra has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We expect an above average return from the stock in the next few months.



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Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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The retail sector continues to be a challenging place to make a profit, and among Wednesday's more interesting earnings reports were three that reflected that fact. Outerwear specialist Canada Goose (NYSE: GOOS) came in with weaker-than-expected revenue, and its forecast for "materially larger losses" in its current quarter sounded disturbing. Upscale apparel seller Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) delivered weak comps, and -- perhaps more concerning -- said it was closing three of its flagship stores. And while Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) beat on revenue and earnings, the targets it topped were hardly ambitious.

In this MarketFoolery podcast, host Chris Hill and senior analyst Seth Jayson zoom out and consider the bigger picture for these companies, the environment in the retail and apparel segment, the investment theses for the stocks, and more.

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. A full transcript follows the video.

More From The Motley Fool

This video was recorded on May 29, 2019.

Chris Hill: It's Wednesday, May 29. Welcome to Market Foolery! I'm Chris Hill. Joining me in studio today, Seth Jayson in the house. Thanks for being here!

Seth Jayson: You're welcome!

Hill: If yesterday was all about payment technology, and it was, today is all about retail. We've got "earnings," and I'm putting earnings in air quotes because there's a lot of red out there today. Let's start with Canada Goose, which is the maker of outerwear.

Jayson: Expensive jackets. I own this one. The stock just got cheaper.

Hill: The stock just got cheaper.

Jayson: Thanks a lot, Canada!

Hill: [laughs] Let me just say to anyone listening, please ignore any headlines you see about Canada Goose, fourth-quarter adjusted profits being higher than expected, because none of that matters. Revenue was weak, and the company said it expects, and now I'm quoting, "materially larger losses in the current quarter."

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Jayson: That's actually not really very shocking. I wouldn't call revenue weak. It was still pretty good growth. The problem here is they're always surpassing estimates, and they missed the estimates by a whopping $800,000. The stock is down 25%, or close to it right now. That's a bit of an overreaction, but it's understandable. Revenue was up 25%. And that's in Canadian dollars. I can't remember how Canadian dollars compare to real dollars these days. But we'll do things in Canadian dollars since that's what I have in front of me. This was the slowest revenue growth in several quarters, but this is not really that crazy. They sell expensive jackets. You can't grow 40% every quarter forever. You get a bigger base, and that growth becomes harder to achieve.

Now, the material larger losses in adjusted operating earnings and net income are also really not a surprise. They have been building out a small, but larger, retail footprint. So, you talk about quarters where you're not selling as much product. Mostly, they still sell high-end jackets. So when you're selling less product, but you have a bigger footprint, and you're putting the pedal to the metal on systems to be able to support that footprint, you end up with more losses in the quarters where you're not gaining the revenue.

None of this is to say that this is awesome news. I'm not excited about it as a shareholder. But I'm not really all that worried. This is a company that was trading at a premium, so this is not unexpected. But I don't think this is a signal for the end.

Hill: Let me get to the math for a second. Seth, while you were chatting, I just used the Google machine. One Canadian dollar equals basically $0.75 in the U.S. $800,000 loss, that's just a shade under $600,000. So, you really look at this stock down 25%, and you think to yourself, "Eh."

Jayson: It seems like a little overreaction. I would have expected something more in like 10% or 15%. But what do I know? People are worried about a lot of stuff today. We've got the trade war continuing to go on, and many other retailers are stinking it up. We're going to talk about Abercrombie, aren't we?

Hill: Yeah.

Jayson: Is this a transition? Is this what's known in the biz as a transition? They're also down around 25% percent.

Hill: [laughs] We can, but let me just say one last thing with Canada Goose. This stock, with the drop today, is basically where it was a year ago. It has visited lots of interesting places in between. It's mid $30s today.

Jayson: I was near a double not long ago. I didn't sell it because this is a stock that came to me when I was in New York City. Everybody was wearing these jackets, or a knockoff version. But, even the dudes carrying noodles out of the dumpling shop that I like. These aren't folks who make a ton of money. They're delivery dudes on bikes. They were buying the actual Canada Goose jacket because they didn't want to freeze. It was really cold at that point in time. I came back, I started reading reviews of the jackets, even the dirtbag gear magazines where they frown on boutique expensive stuff. Their attitude was, "We kind of hate to admit it because these are really expensive, but they really are a step above, so if you've got the money, this is what you should go for." And then I started looking at the financials, and I thought it was worth an investment to me. They're doing a good job. But it's always been a high-priced stock. If you can't hurdle that earnings estimate for the first time in a while, everyone freaks out.

Hill: Let's transition to Abercrombie & Fitch. As you said, similar story, at least in terms of the stock, the stock down about 24%.

Jayson: They would kill for 25% revenue growth right now, however.

Hill: [laughs] Yes. First-quarter same-store sales were weak. The thing that struck me was, they're closing three of their flagship stores -- one in New York, one in Italy, one in Japan.

Jayson: That's some expensive real estate, but usually they keep the flagships and get rid of the lousier mall positions. But maybe they've already gotten rid of all those?

Hill: And that's what makes me think -- look, this is not the first time on this show, probably not the last time on this show, that we've talked about Abercrombie's earnings and the resulting stock drop of 15% or more. But this is the first time that I've been struck by the store closings. Even when they've had quarters where they struggled, the flagship stores have done pretty well. Yes, it's expensive real estate. But the fact that they've made the decision to close -- the one in New York is a Hollister store, because Abercrombie & Fitch owns the Hollister brand --

Jayson: Everyone in New York loves to pretend that they're California beach people, which is the fake Hollister story, right?

Hill: I guess. I don't know. In some ways, this seems worse to me than what we just talked about with Canada Goose.

Jayson: Yeah, I think Abercrombie survived their near-death, but brands that are in the middle of that consumer price range -- Abercrombie, remember, used to be higher-priced, and then you had American Eagle at the lower end. And then 2009 hit, and nobody could sell anything. People didn't care so much about spending $80 or $90 or $110 bucks, whatever it was, at the time, on jeans with a label. What happened after that, in my opinion as somebody who held a lot of retail stocks and stunk it up, is that for the core audience for some of these brands, not spending, not doing the conspicuous consumption thing, became more fashionable, more acceptable. And I think they've all struggled since. The lower-priced places have done better. So, you had your Zaras, your H&Ms, they took a lot of the business that used to go to these premium brands.

Abercrombie seemed to have recovered from that. But this 1%-ish growth, which to me is really just flat, suggests to me that there's not a whole lot left here. It's not somewhere where I would put my money, even after a 25% drop today. I'd rather own the scary Canada Goose, which maybe has an intact growth story, than something that clearly doesn't have a growth story and clearly isn't a value.

Hill: We'll wrap up our Retailpalooza with what looked like a solid first quarter for Dick's Sporting Goods. Their sales and profits came in higher than expected. They raised their profit guidance for the full fiscal year. I'm wondering if just what is happening in the market today is why the stock isn't really moving.

Jayson: It's hard to be impressed with this.

Hill: Really?!

Jayson: I think so.

Hill: What if they were lavender scented stores?

Jayson: If they were lavender scented ... I'm so underwhelmed, I can't even make the easy jokes. It's up 6.2%. First of all, what strikes me is the headline. When a company like Dick's is up 6.2%, the stock spikes. Any other smaller company that's in a hotter business, 6.2% would just be a daily move. I guess they make $0.61 a share, $0.59 a share earlier. Sales up 0.6%. They expect to earn $3.20 to $3.40 a share, up from their previous range of $3.15 to $3.35. That all sounds great. But this is another slow-growth business. The problem is that same-store sales were flat. That only looks good when you consider the drop the year before.

I think the problem they're going to have, even though online sales were up a little bit more, is that for a lot of this type of gear, consumers are increasingly turning to the app from the brand itself. If you're buying Under Armour, you can buy directly from their website and get a decent deal. Same thing for many of the other brands. And then you've got competitors like Lululemon selling similar stuff that you just can't even get at Dick's. So, this to me is a decent result, but I still think the eventual trajectory of a company like this is for flat to slightly "eh" growth for the long term because they just can't compete with online sales for a large portion of what they do sell. Now, some sporting goods, you need to go in and try out. But not everything, especially not apparel.

Hill: Looking at a stock chart, it reminded me, years ago, when you and I would talk about the Gap. And I remember you made the joke, at any given moment, you don't need to look at a stock chart to know where The Gap is trading, because your joke was, it's probably in the teens. There was this stretch of four or five years where Gap was basically there. Now, it's in the 20s.

Jayson: I think it was maybe $15 to $21 or something for the whole time my daughter was growing up.

Hill: Yeah, in that range. Dick's Sporting Goods has basically been in the mid-30s for a long time now. I'm wondering -- Edward Stack is the CEO. His dad started this business. He's been a CEO since the mid-1980s. He's 64 years old. I'm not knocking the guy, but, for any company that has had the same CEO for 35 years, I think it is reasonable for any shareholder or potential shareholder to ask, what is the succession plan for this person? It's entirely possible that some new blood and some new thinking could maybe invigorate Dick's Sporting Good's business and therefore get the stock higher than the mid-30s.

Jayson: Yeah. I really wonder. The problem with Dick's is, consumers love to identify with the retailers, or especially with the brands that they buy. Who identifies with Dick's? I mean, nobody. It's just, maybe it was the most convenient place to get things, and it's not anymore, given the internet.

Hill: Versus identifying with, like, "Oh, I wear Nike shoes."

Jayson: I can go online and order a custom version of Nikes. I can order Adidas from many places. I can order some of this stuff much more easily. Some of these shoes, I can order them from Zappos. They get to the house, I can try them on, send them back if I don't like them. I don't have to pay return shipping. If I like a certain brand, like Under Armour, like I said, I'm going to order directly from them. They're going to have a better selection. I don't think we're going to be talking about Dick's like we talk about Walmart, for instance. Walmart said: "Hey, we've got this digital idea. We have all these stores. How about people order stuff, and they pick it up? Since we're everywhere, that's actually more convenient for a lot of people than having stuff shipped to their house." And it works. Home Depot, very similar story. You might want that stuff sooner. I don't see the same opportunity for innovation at a Dick's Sporting Goods. Maybe they do online order and pick up, but that's not going to change anybody's life compared to how it might be able to do that at a Walmart or a Home Depot.

Hill: Before we wrap up, since it's not just summer travel season, it's summer, period --

Jayson: Is it already summer?

Hill: It basically is.

Jayson: Here, it is. I was a sweat hog this morning.

Hill: [laughs] I feel like once you get past Memorial Day, you're basically in the summer, even though any kids who are in school who are listening to this are like, "It's not summer yet, I've still got a couple weeks of classes."

Jayson: Hey, they should be paying attention. Put down that iPad, iPod, whatever.

Hill: Any health tips for people exercising outdoors?

Jayson: Starting with, don't.

Hill: On our running Slack channel this morning --

Jayson: On our running Slack channel, I wanted to warn people -- I do very well running in the heat compared to most people. I'm tall and skinny so I have very little mass and a decent amount of surface area. But I run in the shade and I run next to a creek, so I'm not afraid to go out even if it's 100 degrees and the heat index is up there. If things get bad, I'll just go sit in the creek. But you do have to be super careful. I'm lucky: I've run enough long races in the heat that I have a very obvious tell when I'm getting overheated. It sounds weird, but I feel like I have a really hot warm doughnut of air around my neck. And it's a really distinct feeling. And as soon as I feel that, I know I need to start walking, get in the shade, stop if I need to, cool off, because I'm getting too hot and I'm going to start getting dizzy after that.

The important thing to remember is, you can't hydrate your way out of being too hot. If you're too hot, you need to lower your temperature. That means you have to discontinue the work, get in the shade, get in air conditioning, get in a pool, do something.

Hill: That's good advice, but that you're right, that does sound weird, the hot doughnut of air.

Jayson: The hot doughnut of air. And you may just be going along, and suddenly you get dizzy. If you start to feel crummy, you have to quit exercising. That is really the only fix. If you feel really crummy, you need to hit the SOS on your phone.

Hill: Obviously, people listen to this while they're commuting. They listen to this when they're in their homes, maybe doing stuff around the house, walking the dog, doing chores around the yard. But there are definitely people who listen while exercising. For you people in particular, be careful out there.

Jayson: Yeah. Get your shirt completely wet before you go out. I will often at least get my running hat sopping wet with water so I get the evaporative cooling right away. Shirt works really well, too. But if it's too hot, if you don't do well in the heat, run on a treadmill. Do something else. Skip a workout. You can skip your workouts. It's OK.

Hill: Now you tell me.

Seth Jayson, thanks for being here. As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. That's going to do it for this edition of MarketFoolery. The show is mixed by Dan Boyd. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening! We'll see you tomorrow.

Chris Hill has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Seth Jayson has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Lululemon Athletica, Nike, Under Armour (A Shares), and Under Armour (C Shares). The Motley Fool recommends Canada Goose Holdings and Home Depot. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Gov. Pete Ricketts said Friday that this year's Legislature helped deliver "significant, direct property tax relief" to Nebraska taxpayers and he plans to sit down soon with two key legislative leaders to discuss their ideas for school aid reform.

Ricketts said he'll huddle with Revenue Committee Chairwoman Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn and Education Committee Chairman Mike Groene of North Platte to see if they might be able to find some agreement on a path forward.

Linehan and Groene largely shaped this year's Revenue Committee proposal (LB289) that would have raised $372 million in additional state revenue, predominantly in the form of sales taxes, to fund substantial property tax relief delivered through state aid to schools.

Ricketts opposed that plan, branding it as a tax increase, while Linehan and the committee described it as tax reform.

The Legislature, in the end, chose to add another $51 million a year to the state's property tax credit fund, adopting the governor's preferred route for additional tax relief as outlined in his 2019-21 budget recommendations.

That brings total direct property tax relief to $225 million a year, Ricketts said.

"Considering school aid reform is a good idea," Ricketts said during an interview in his office as the Legislature wound down its 2019 legislative session.

However, he said, history demonstrates that increased state aid to schools does not deliver sustainable property tax relief.

Ricketts pointed to a chart demonstrating that school district property taxes returned to or surpassed earlier levels just a few years after the state increased aid to schools.

The key is spending discipline, he said.

"By controlling spending, we can provide more property tax relief," Ricketts said.

State spending will rise at a 3% level during the next two fiscal years, he noted.

Another control, he said, will be LB103, a bill introduced by Linehan and enacted this year, which will automatically reduce property tax levies as valuations increase, thus requiring taxing entities to vote to raise their levy if they want to increase their revenue.

On other matters, Ricketts said he's not alarmed by the Legislature's failure to enact a new business tax incentives proposal to replace the Nebraska Advantage Act, which is due to expire at the end of 2020.

The new plan (LB720), called Imagine Nebraska, would "make a lot of great changes," the governor said. "Big ideas take time to percolate.

"It's certainly an improvement on what we have right now," he said, and can be enacted next year before the current plan expires.

The governor pointed to job creation successes during his administration, noting there have been four straight years when Nebraska has counted 1 million non-farm jobs.

Ricketts defended his administration's decision not to fully implement the Medicaid expansion proposal adopted by Nebraska voters last November until October 2020.

"If we can get it rolled out before October, we will," he said. "It's no later than that October.

"States that rush make mistakes," the governor said, pointing to the example of California, which signed up an estimated 450,000 persons who might not have been eligible for coverage.

"This is a big deal," Ricketts said, with an estimated 94,000 Nebraskans eligible for coverage. Those new recipients are largely adults who work at low-wage jobs and who cannot afford private health care insurance.

Ricketts defended President Donald Trump's threat to impose new tariffs on Mexican goods if Mexico does not do more to halt migrants from crossing the border into the United States.

"We certainly do have a crisis at the southern border," the governor said.

Ricketts pointed to the newly negotiated trade compact with Mexico and Canada and trade openings for U.S. beef in China and pork in Argentina as examples of how "this administration is opening up trade opportunities" for Nebraska agricultural products.

As for the current trade standoff with China, the governor said, "we've got to have a fair trade relationship with China."

Speaking to the Legislature an hour later, Ricketts saluted the disaster relief efforts by Nebraska workers and volunteers following record flooding in March.

"That's the power of us working together as Nebraskans to get things done," he said.

Ricketts praised senators for enacting a budget that allows the state to "live within our means without raising taxes."

See photos from the final day of the 106th Legislature:

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSDon.

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Fremont Altrusa

Fremont Altrusa met at Bellas Diner with 14 in attendance.

Jane Petersen and Kay Bevington served as hostesses.

President Sue Maly presided. Minutes were read by secretary Rhoda Holstine. She also read thank you notes from Jolene Schauer and the director of Days for Girls for contributing $300 to their cause.

Marian Brown, treasurer, presented the treasurers report.

Four cakes were presented to the Jefferson House for birthdays in the month of May.

Mary Caffey gave a report on the Scholarship Achievement Dinner and thanked the member of her committee; Jakie Pawling, Colleen Dilley, Brown and Maly for their assistance.

Darlene Kroeger and Holstine gave reports on their attendance at the two Habitat for Humanity home dedications. The club gives each new home owner a bookcase and books for each family member.

Jolene Schauer gave a report as she presided over her final meeting as District Seven Governor in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Karen Rathje was elected to serve as a director on the District Seven Board. Petersen and Maly attended as delegates. Maly was the recipient of the Lamplighter Award.

Club members were asked to give suggestions for future programs and months they would be able to serve on committees.

Brown presented the budget for 2019-2020 and it was approved. Her committee members were Caffey and Rathje.

Bevington announced the raffle quilt was assembled and at the quilters.

The next meeting will be June 4 at Bellas. Schauer will conduct installation of new officers and initiation of new member, Kim Spicka.

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A class on preserving damaged photos will be held from 10-11:30 a.m. June 8 at First State Bank & Trust Company, 1005 E. 23rd St., in Fremont.

First State has teamed up with organization experts, Liz Tonjes Moritz of Hope Organizing, and Christie Johnson of Vision to be Organized to present a class to teach you to help save your photos that may have been damaged during the recently flooding.

Tonjes Moritz (a local living in Omaha) and Johnson (a Fremont native, now living in California) will present tips and tricks to help you and your loved ones with preserving those photos, either damaged or not.

This presentation will help give you what you need to know when any natural (or even unnatural) disaster hits too close to home for preserving your photos.

This is a free workshop, but space is limited to the first 40 registrants. Register online at https://www.fsbtfremont.bank/index.cfm/fsbtu or by calling First State Bank & Trust Company at 402-721-2500.

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An arrest warrant was issued Friday for Malik Watson, a 19-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student from Omaha charged with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful intrusion.

Each count could result in up to a year in jail.

A male student told University Police that he was showering in a fifth-floor bathroom at Abel Hall in the early-morning hours of May 1 when someone held a black phone under the shower stall's door, possibly taking pictures, Sgt. Nolan Conradt wrote in an affidavit for Watson's arrest.

The student opened the shower stall door and saw the man holding the phone before he fled to a stairwell exit, police said. The description matched that of Watson, who police say was seen on security video exiting the Abel Hall stairwell at 12:55 a.m.

Watson was then observed entering neighboring Sandoz Hall at 12:56 a.m., holding a black phone, and heading for the fourth floor, where police say he was assigned.

Watson, a sophomore broadcasting student, moved out of student housing later that day and police say they have been unable to contact him.

Police learned of three similar incidents, occurring between April 28 and May 1 in men's restrooms at Abel and Sandoz halls.

On each occasion, the victims reported a phone with a black case being put under the shower door with its camera lens directed toward the victim.

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Smoke from wildfires burning in Canada contributed to hazy skies over parts of Nebraska on Friday and could lessen air quality into the weekend.

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department encouraged residents to monitor air quality at lincoln.ne.gov/health.

According to the National Weather Service in Valley, the higher levels of smoke will reach the Lincoln area after 10 p.m. Friday.

Here's a loop depicting smoke forecast through tonight which will lead to hazy skies. #newx #iawx pic.twitter.com/9LzpOCt0QM  NWS Omaha (@NWSOmaha) May 31, 2019

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I believe most Americans want Congress to work hard, think smart, and get things done. While the stop-start, meandering, twisting, halting process of government can be frustrating, these last few weeks have been important for Nebraska, and for America. From flood relief to Chief Standing Bear, below is an overview of the various pieces of legislative activity underway.

Flood Recovery: Offutt

Last week, in the House Appropriations Committee, we were able to pass my amendment to fund $230 million for RC-135 surveillance aircraft infrastructure destroyed in recent floods. The RC-135 aircraft collects electronic data around the world and invaluable intelligence. This amendment builds upon previous work to provide $120 million for expedited recovery and another $300 million for reconstruction at Offutt Air Force Base. Please review my remarks on getting the 55th Wing back to full mission readiness here.

Flood Recovery: Farms, Roads, Levees

The House and Senate have passed a disaster assistance bill, which should be signed into law soon. This bill includes our work to add $310 million to the Emergency Watershed Program, which is important for rebuilding eroded stream banks, among other activities. Some of this money will flow to our states Natural Resource Districts (NRDs), who play an important role in managing our land and waterways.

The bill also includes $558M for the Emergency Conservation Program to help our farmers clear fields; resources for lost grain stored on farms; about $1.5 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers for levees; and $1.6 billion for the Federal-Aid Highways Emergency Relief Program.

Heroic Acknowledgments

At the encouragement of many Nebraskans, I recently wrote to President Trump asking him to award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Mr. James Wilke. Mr. Wilke was a farmer in Platte County who gave his life to help another stranded in the flood. I remain hopeful that the White House will give this request due consideration. I recently spoke of Mr. Wilke before the House of Representatives.

Agriculture in America

I hold the position of Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Last week, we began the process on the appropriations bill for fiscal year 2020. The legislation reflects a commitment to rural development programs, rural broadband, and livable communities. It provides additional resources for our farmers, who provide food security here and around the world; it helps accelerate generic drug approvals to bring down costs; and, unfortunately, it also sparked a major controversy around the ethics and science of genetic modification of human beings. This provision will be vigorously debated as the process goes on. I invite you to view my statement on the opening debate here.

For Our Veterans

After many years of effort, we recently broke ground on the Lincoln VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic. This new clinic on the grounds of the beautiful Veterans Affairs campus upholds our historic past while innovating for our future. Nebraska continues to lead the nation in partnerships to help our veterans.

Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail

Ponca Chief Standing Bear was arrested in 1879 after trying to bury his son on the Ponca ancestral homeland along the Niobrara River. His subsequent trial is one of the most important civil rights stories in American history. I have reintroduced a bill to mark the pathway of the forced relocation of the Ponca tribe to Oklahoma.

I believe we must continue to retell the story of this great Native American and great Nebraskan. Here is a link to the congressional proceedings and an additional interview I did back home.

Soon a new statue of Chief Standing Bear will have an honored place in the United States Capitol. We are working with the Speaker of the House to secure a date for the ceremonial unveiling.

Its easy to define problems; its hard to solve them. Often, the day in, day out work of government is not glamorousits just the steady work of making things happen, helping people out, getting it done.

Congressman Jeff Fortenberry represents the First District of Nebraska. He can be reached at: 1514 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-4806; or 301 S. 13th St., Suite 100, Lincoln, NE 68508, 402-438-1598; or P.O. Box 377, 641 N. Broad St., Fremont, NE 68026, 402-727-0888.

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The head of the Taliban ruled out calling a cease-fire anytime soon, as the United States envoy headed to the region for new round of efforts to end the long-running war in Afghanistan.



In his comments on June 1, Haibatullah Akhundzada also claimed that foreign forces in Afghanistan were "condemned to defeat." However, he also said Islamist fighters would continue talks with the United States.



The Taliban's fight "and resistance against the occupation is nearing the stage of success, Allah willing," Akhundzada said in a message timed for Eid, the festival that ends the holy month of Ramadan.



"No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives," Akhundzada said.



Last year, the Taliban observed a three-day cease-fire during Eid. Many Afghans have hoped for another truce this year.



Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had proposed a nationwide cease-fire at the start of Ramadan, but the Taliban rejected the offer.



Meanwhile, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was heading to Afghanistan and also Germany, Belgium, Qatar, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates as part of continuing efforts to try and end the war.



The State Department said Khalilzad will continue talks with the Taliban in Doha, where the group has a political office.



The Taliban has refused to negotiate directly with the Kabul government.



In Kabul, Khalilzad was expected to meet representatives of civil society and women's rights groups.

With reporting by AFP and dpa
Two years ago, Paula Baack was packing boxes with nine years of memories as the choral director at Air Academy High School.

She shared tears and hugs with students and parents. She attended goodbye parties and accepted the Peak Performance Award for Excellence in Choral Education from the Colorado Springs Chorale, presented annually to one local exceptional teacher.

After 46 years of teaching kindergartners through college students in Nebraska, Arizona and Colorado, Baack, a Monument resident, retired. But not by choice. She said she was unexpectedly forced out of her job for trying to help a student in need.

I was embarrassed I had my career ending so quickly, she said last week, the wound of her displacement still stinging.

Baack, who said she wallowed in self-pity for months, constantly replayed in her mind what had led to her being reassigned from her longtime position to overseeing study hall, and subsequently tendering her resignation.

She said she was accused of misappropriating money by collecting change in class and starting an online fundraiser for a student whose family was struggling.

Four complaints emerged, she was told, and that was the end of her lifelong work.

But what had seemed catastrophic for the well-respected choir director proved to be a new beginning, as Baack realized she wasnt the only seasoned educator this type of thing was happening to.

I started wondering are there efforts in all school districts to unload teachers whove been there for a long time, she said.

The question took her on a 19-month journey researching and writing a book, Rescue the Teacher, Save the Child! The newly released book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The answer to her question is a resounding, Yes.

Across the nation, public school districts want to make way for teachers who arent going to cost them as much, Baack said. And when youre on a tenured track and you have success, its relatively hard to get rid of you.

But theres a pattern in the stories Baack relates in her book from teachers who may not kowtow correctly. The path to involuntary job loss often begins with an underlying harassing tone from administrators and staff, she said.

Faults on performance reviews follow, often for actions that were praised in the past but are deemed no longer acceptable.

Id witnessed colleagues telling me their evaluations had been changed to fit the scenario of them moving closer to being asked to leave, Baack said.

A closed-door meeting occurs with the principal telling the teacher he or she is not properly following protocol or the curriculum or another infraction.

Then comes the demotion, dismissal or departure.

Why not a buyout, Baack asks, from districts who are too heavily laden with experienced, more expensive teachers?

Baack met some of the teachers featured in the book at a gathering organized last year by a representative of the Colorado Education Association. These were teachers who had been harassed in their jobs, or forced to resign or retire.

Along with relating the stories of other educators, the part memoir, part self-help book includes insight shes gained from her experience from the time she started teaching in 1971.

In addition to ushering longtime educators out the door, mistreatment on the job takes several forms, she said. Low pay is the No. 1 reason teachers leave the profession, she said, but angry emails from parents and other staff is usually the top pitfall of being a teacher today.

I dont think a lot of administrators understand the administrators job is to protect their staff, she said. About three-fourths, when put to the test, would feel compelled to take the side of the parent.

Throughout the book are teachable moments, situations from a student setting a fire in a classroom to a teacher realizing an ultimate achievement, for colleagues to learn from her mistakes.

Reflection questions for students, parents, teachers and administrators are another helpful tool.

If a student is unhappy or unsuccessful, the teacher is the first one parents and administrators blame in 21st-century learning, Baack said.

We have parents ranging from helicoptering to in absentia, she said, and some kids feel entitled.

And instead of providing mentoring for struggling teachers, administrators often just issue threats of termination, she said.

As a result, teachers are leaving the profession in droves, and not as many young people are choosing the field as a career, Baack said.

She points to a hostile work environment as the reason for the national teacher shortage.

I hope to become the voice advocating for teachers who are demeaned and demoralized in our nations school systems, she said.

Baack also offers solutions in her book. In addition to standing behind teachers, supporting them and providing mentoring, she believes administrators should follow a due process for grievances  a system that she says is now insufficient.

She also advocates for more camaraderie among teaching staffs, a better vetting process in hiring teachers and school boards to have a more active role in determining integral practices.

School districts should ban vitriolic emails, she advises, and encourage class retreats at the beginning of a school year to develop empathy among students and identify students with mental health issues.

If we do reach out and rescue our teachers from an environment where they dont feel comfortable and cant grow, we will save our children, Baack believes.
Colorado is a state of immigrants  most Coloradans, likely, came from other states. But once they settle in for a while, Coloradans want to vote.

Exciting things are happening with voter registration in Colorado. The voter rolls are growing at a much faster rate than the population as a whole, probably as a result of increased efforts by political parties and election officials to register new voters. In some of the more populous counties in Colorado along the Front Range, voter registration growth rates over the past nine years have exceeded 50%.

Start with El Paso County, which contains Colorado Springs. According to the most recent U.S. Census data on the internet, El Paso Countys population grew by 14.7% from 2010 to 2018, but the rate of growth for active registered voters was 46.9%. More than 120,000 new voters joined the electorate in El Paso County during the period studied.

The voter increase in Denver was even greater. The population from 2010 to 2018 went up 19%, but the number of active registered voters increased 59.1%. That came out to more than 150,000 more active voters over a little less than a decade in the Mile High City.

The Secretary of States Office keeps track of active and inactive voters in Colorado. Inactive voters are those who have missed voting in a number of elections. We prefer to base our calculations on active voter rolls, which are routinely scrubbed of the names of people who are not voting regularly.

For the state of Colorado, the population growth rate from April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2018, was 13.2%. The number of active voters statewide, however, during roughly the same period grew by 41.7%. That is a percentage point difference of 28.5. Colorado added more than 1 million new active voters in slightly more than eight years.

This increase in active voter registration was not spread evenly throughout the state. Most of the large increases in registration were in the heavily populated Front Range along Interstate 25. Only seven of Colorados 64 counties grew active voters at a faster rate than the state rate of 41.7%. They were Adams (53.3%), Broomfield (54.0%), Denver (59.1%), Douglas (47.1%), El Paso (46.9%), Larimer (42.6%), and Weld (56.7%).

Scoring close behind the state average were four of the states other populous counties  Arapahoe (37.8%), Boulder (33.3%), Jefferson (33.5%), and Pueblo (33.9%).

Note that from 2010 to 2019, every Colorado county added active voters, even those losing population.

We have two theories to explain these sizable increases in active registered voter when compared with the growth of the states population.

One theory is avid recruitment of new voters by presidential candidates at the time of presidential elections. Presidential campaigns are hiring workers to pursue the d ground game, identifying potential voters, befriending them, and seeing that they register and vote.

A second explanation for the new voters is Colorados major expansion in the electoral participation opportunities of unaffiliated voters. Electoral reforms supported by both political parties have made it easier to register and have encouraged more people, including unaffiliated voters, to participate in all elections. Unaffiliateds now can vote in Democratic and Republican party primary elections as well as in Colorados new presidential primary.

There have been constant improvements in voting and voter registration. Mail-in elections have improved voter turnout as well as the desire of newcomers to register to vote.

Note, too, the changes in political party registration from 2010 to 2019. In 2010 the Republican and Democratic parties and unaffiliated voters were almost evenly balanced . By 2019, the Republicans and the Democrats had gone down and unaffiliateds had gone up. The 2019 percentages were unaffiliateds 39.3%, Democrats 31.1%, and Republicans 29.6%.

Unaffiliated voters increased 8.3 points while the Democrats decreased 2.6 points and the Republicans dropped 5.7 points. Both political parties in Colorado are losing their appeal to newly registering voters, the Republicans slightly more than Democrats.

The two major political parties in Colorado should take a warning. Apparently, the strident partisanship and polarization of the two major parties are starting to drive newcomers to the voter rolls to be unaffiliated.

The long-term impact of these new trends is hard to predict. It is still Democrats and Republicans who get elected to political office. Unaffiliated voters might be moderates, but it is party politicians who populate the state Legislature, serve as governor, are elected to Congress, and occupy almost all county offices.

It is our guess that many of the younger newcomers to Denver and the Denver suburbs are inclined to register as unaffiliateds. Many are well-educated and have good jobs yet are not pleased by the ideologues in the two traditional political parties.
A heated debate takes place every year around Christmas time. Its not about which relatives house you should visit for the holidays, its a topic with greater importance. Its a question everyone wants to know the answer to but cant seem to agree on. Is the 1988 film Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis, a Christmas movie?

You voted:
Anup Ojha is a reporter for The Kathmandu Post primarily covering social issues and human interest stories. Before moving to the social beat, Ojha covered arts and culture for the Post for four years.
Colorado's John Hickenlooper is among 14 Democrats running for president who are descending on San Francisco this weekend to woo activists in the state that brands itself as the nation's most liberal.

Home state Sen. Kamala Harris, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren also are among the candidates coming to court thousands of party faithful at the California Democratic Party's annual convention, a major draw for Golden State activists who get far fewer chances to interact with presidential hopefuls than their counterparts in traditional early-voting states.

The candidates are set to make speeches to delegates on Saturday and Sunday.

Hickenlooper, a former Colorado governor and Denver mayor, is slated to speak to the convention Saturday afternoon. His campaign said he "will urge Democrats to distance themselves from socialism," a theme he sounded on national news shows earlier in the week.

"If we want to beat Donald Trump and achieve big progressive goals, socialism is not the answer," Hickenlooper planned to say, according to a speech excerpt provided by his campaign. "I was re-elected in a purple state in 2014  one of the worst years for Democrats in a quarter of a century. I was one of only two Democrats to win a swing state that year. And, as governor, I worked with non-profits and business. With Democrats and Republicans. And, we achieved big progressive results."

Former Vice President Joe Biden is not scheduled to attend the gathering, citing a scheduling conflict. He's the only big-name contender skipping out on the gathering, which is a major stop for candidates this year because California moved up its primary to March 3, known as Super Tuesday.

The other candidates attending the gathering are New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; California Rep. Eric Swalwell; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro; and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.

The Associated Press and Colorado Politics contributed.
The Air Forces top general usually worries about bullets, bombs and missiles. But Gen. Dave Goldfein confesses hes fretting hurricanes, floods, twisters and Colorados softball-size hail these days.

With Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio joining the Air Forces growing list of bases damaged by storms, in this case, a tornado last week, Goldfein wants Congress to cover the losses.

We dont have an insurance company, Goldfein told The Gazette. Congress is our insurance company.

Flooding at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and hurricane damage at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., caused damage topping $1.2 billion.

Last week, Wright-Patterson was hit by a tornado that ripped through a base housing complex, damaging 150 homes and rendering 12 uninhabitable.

Congress has money for the Air Force set aside in a larger $19 billion disaster relief measure. That bill has passed the Senate but has been held up in the House amid arguments over money for border issues.

In the absence of congressional help, the Air Force has been forced to move money from other projects to pay for its disaster program. Among the planned jobs that got put on hold was a $68 million renovation to fix the Air Force Academys leaky but iconic Cadet Chapel.

Work on the chapel was set to begin this year but got postponed in favor of more crucial projects at Tyndall, one of the Air Forces most important fighter bases, and Offutt, which is home to U.S. Strategic Command, which controls Americas nuclear arsenal.

Goldfein said hes confident that Congress will come up with the disaster relief cash.

Hes also keeping a wary eye on a wider debate over the Pentagons proposed $750 billion 2020 budget.

The Trump administration engineered a budget bid that skirted mandatory budget caps called sequestration with creative accounting. The Pentagons budget for 2020 is set for a $50 billion cut, which the military sought to cover with $100 billion for overseas contingency operations  a budget category thats not subject to sequestration caps.

Congress has balked at the ploy, which would essentially use emergency cash for day-to-day operations.

While lawmakers havent objected to the size of the Pentagons demands, they also havent come up with a plan to remove sequestration restrictions, which came into existence in an Obama-era deal to cut the federal deficit.

Goldfein, 60, is entering his final year as the Air Forces top general, and hes not sugarcoating his opinion of the budget caps.

The greatest threat to national security is the guillotine of sequestration, he said.

But Goldfein is an eternal optimist, saying hes sure lawmakers will reach a budget accord even in a year marked by partisan brinksmanship and rancor. He foresees a future where Congress does away with temporary budget tricks and steers a steady course for defense programs.

Our ability to plan and build the Air Force the nation needs is 100% dependent on stable budgets, he said.

A career fighter pilot who pinned on second lieutenants bars after his 1983 graduation from the Air Force Academy, Goldfein is pushing the service to better confront new threats from Russia and China.

That has included fielding new stealth fighters and a new generation of refueling tankers while embarking on programs to acquire a new generation of bombers, as well as revitalizing the nations nuclear forces.

Hes also sought to build the budget for Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs as the service works to come up with new satellite technologies and plans to defend Americas constellations in orbit.

Goldfein said the investments are key to making the country strong enough to deter wars and defeat enemies determined to attack.

Regardless of the location, regardless of the enemy, the Air Force will be central to every campaign, he said.

Under Goldfeins watch, the Pentagon issued plans for a separate space service that will fall under Air Force control. The new Space Force will relate to the Air Forces structure much as the Marine Corps falls under the Navy, if Congress signs off on the separate service.

In Goldfeins work, hes had a powerful partner in Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who stepped down Thursday to accept the top post at the University of Texas in El Paso.

Goldfein said hes going to miss his boss.

I think we have been extremely well-served by Dr. Heather Wilson, he said.

The general took a break from budget worries and war plans last week to spend two days at the Air Force Academy.

Seated on stage next to President Donald Trump during the schools graduation, the general and the commander in chief had a lengthy conversation.

Its a great time to be an airman, Goldfein said. I really appreciate the presidents leadership.

Trump returned the compliment, saying Goldfein is the right man to revitalize the service.

Goldfein said hes focused on the services future, which is heavily dependent on the cadets trained in Colorado Springs.

Its just inspiring to spend time with these cadets, he said.

The night before graduation, Goldfein swore in a squadrons worth of new second lieutenants. He told each of them of the sacred duty of officers to the airmen entrusted to our care.

And Goldfein paused to thank Colorado Springs for the way it cares for his troops at four local bases.

Thank you for taking care of so may cadets over the years, Goldfein said, adding himself to that roll call of cadets who have called the city their temporary home.

Nobody takes care of airmen or cadets like Colorado Springs.
The Heritage Park of North Iowa recently acquired a collection of antique 1940s carnival rides from Winnebago Industries.

Heritage Park Chairman Ron Holland said the rides were originally from the bay side on Clear Lake.

I dont know if were going to use them all, but were going to use some of them at the park and setting up the ones that we feel that are safe and everything, Holland said.

The rides include a small roller coaster, a scrambler, a spinning hydraulics-based ride and a six-carriage kids Ferris wheel, but Winnebago Industries is keeping the merry-go-round.

Carnival1 Heritage Park has recently acquired 1940s carnival rides, including a small kids' Ferris wheel and a spinning swing ride.

Theres a little bit of everything, Holland said.

Carnival2 This helicopter carnival ride is part of the collection Heritage Park recently acquired from Winnebago Industries.

Holland said they are still in the process of moving all the rides up to the park, but are about half done.

Were moving them as we get the time and the weather and the volunteers  were all volunteers, so nobody gets paid out there, he said.

Currently, there are four rides in storage in Forest City, and they have three or four more rides to collect.

Holland said they still are not sure where they will end up putting the rides but their current priority is just getting the rides out of Clear Lake.

So were just moving them for storage spot right now, and we may have to move a couple things to get them in; weve got to measure it all out and everything, Holland said.

The Heritage Park Board is a little concerned about the liability of the carnival rides, so they want to be certain of how they are installed and built so nobody gets hurt, according to Holland.

Weve actually contacted the [American Pickers] because they like that kind of stuff, but they havent contacted us back yet, Holland said.

Holland said the carnival rides for him were the most interesting acquisition out of all the new things Heritage Park got this year.

So thats going to be kind of a new deal when we get two or three of them set up for sure, hopefully done in next year, he said.

Holland said theyll probably work on the rides during the summer when they have time and then get two or three of them going by next spring.

The Heritage Park Board isnt sure where to put the rides because they want to put them inside the fenced area, but not in the way of the train tracks but still on a stable and flat area.

Everybodys got a little different idea, Holland said.

They are also working on completing the train track for the trolley train that goes around the park. Currently, it starts at one point and when it gets to the end of the track, the train has to back up to return to the starting point. Holland said they want to complete the track so the train can go in one continuous loop.

Weve got extra ties; we just dont have quite enough money to put it all together, he said.

Holland said hed like to get the railroad track all the way around because they have a trolley that holds about 20 people, and they have the ties and some railroad and eventually theyll make the tracks go a little farther so both ends connect.

[The trolleys] got its own gasoline motor and put-put-puts around the track, but we cant go all the way around, weve got to go so far and then come back, he said.

Heritage Park of North Iowa is a 91-acre outdoor museum dedicated to the preservation of Americas rural heritage.

Several shows featuring steam and gas powered antique tractors, draft horse demonstrations, shingle-making, threshing and other activities are held at Heritage Park each year.

Steam Threshing Festival (23).JPG David, Kathryn, Cora and Jack Burtling from Conrad, tour the tractors and steam engines on Saturday at Heritage Park Steam Threshing Festival.

IMG_0144.JPG Sarah Corey, Kailyn Corey and Aviana Holkesvik buy themselves some kettlecorn while strolling through Heritage Park's Junkapalooza.

Kite 1.jpeg One of the kites fly near the steeple of the church on the grounds at Heritage Park of Forest City.

Visit heritageparkofnorthiowa.com for more information on Heritage Park, including a schedule of events.

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The attack comes as the Syrian army, with Russian air support, conducts a limited offensive in Syrias northwest provinces. Whats notable about the NLF attack is that it targeted neither Syrian forces nor Russian-backed proxies but Russian forces themselves. The attack could mean a couple of things. It could be that Turkey, which has so far been largely effective in muzzling the NLF, is beginning to lose control of its Syrian proxies, and that one NLF contingent took action of its own. (This particular incident may represent only a small group that split off from the broader NLF organization.) Its also possible that Turkey sanctioned the attacks, or at least didnt stop them, in attempt to pressure Russia to force Damascus to back off from its offensive.

Though its difficult to tell which of these explanations is most likely, either would have consequences that extend far beyond Syria. If Turkey is losing control of some of its proxy groups in northwest Syria, it will be more difficult for Russia and Turkey to work together toward a resolution to the recent flare-ups. ( The two signed a cease-fire last summer that resulted in a de-escalation zone and temporarily put to rest speculation about an impending Syrian offensive). Turkey has a number of interests in Idlib and Hama provinces, but perhaps the most immediate is preventing the mass influx of refugees over the border into Turkey that could result from a large-scale ground offensive. Turkeys leverage with Russia is in maintaining its position as a power broker in the province. Thats something it has already struggled with; part of its deal with Russia was to quash the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a commitment Turkey failed to meet.

However, most signs right now point to Russia and Turkey working closely together to establish another sort of cease-fire. The Russian news agency TASS reported on May 31 that the two were close to reaching some form of an agreement, and there have been a number of reports over the last week of Turkey busily resupplying its proxies in the northwest in order to repel Assads offensive. Its hard to imagine that Turkey would be losing influence over any such groups if its increasing its arms supplies to them.

At the same time, Turkey is just weeks away from receiving Russian S-400 systems , an issue which, to Russias glee, has torn at the U.S.-Turkish relationship and even prompted the U.S. to bar Turkeys receipt of F-35s, U.S. fighter jets that Turkey has been actively involved in developing since the jets inception. Ankara must know that allowing attacks on Russian service members would be a surefire way to scuttle the delivery of a weapons system that Turkey has risked its relationship with the U.S. to attain. Unless, of course, Turkey believes it has a dependable backup plan. U.S.-Turkish dialogue over alternatives to the S-400s has been ongoing ( they even agreed to form a study group to try to work through the issue more formally ), so its possible the two have reached some kind of an agreement that would free Turkey to more forcefully counter Russian ground forces. This would mean more bad news for Russia  beyond attacks on its ground forces  which had hoped that weakened U.S.-Turkish relations would hurt Turkeys position in NATO.

If Turkey is willing to allow Russian forces to be attacked, then it might be willing to take bigger risks to defend its position in northwest Syria and ensure that a large-scale offensive doesnt happen. For now, it seems as though Russia is still willing to negotiate on northwest Syria, which means it isnt in a rush to push Turkey too firmly back into Washingtons camp.

Whatever the case may be, the attack is a reminder that, despite optimistic coverage of Turkeys improving relationship with Russia, the two still have conflicting interests, including in Syria. Even if the two can cooperate on energy and weapons systems, they remain locked in a proxy war in northwest Syria. Theres a reason these two have gone to war countless times since the rise of the Russian Empire, and elements that led to that centurieslong competition are still relevant today.
Grand Old Partisan salutes Charles Anderson, born in Kentucky this day of 1814. Graduating from Miami University, he studied law and was a county prosecutor at Dayton. The young Whig won election to the state senate, arguing for repeal of racist 'black laws'.

While in Texas as civil war loomed, Anderson barely escaped with his life after opposing secession. President Abraham Lincoln sent him to England on a speaking tour. Returned home, he enlisted as colonel of the 93rd Ohio Infantry. Two severe wounds and typhoid ended his military service.

In 1863, Republicans elected him Lieutenant Governor. He served five uneventful months as Governor following the death of the incumbent.

It was his brother, Robert Anderson, who commanded Fort Sumter.

Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3xBY9ps0mdo

Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.

Each day, Michael Zak's grandoldpartisan YouTube channel and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than sixteen decades of Republican heritage. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states so far.

He also wrote the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

Buy the book at Amazon

See www.youtube.com/q?v=IzxKCiXc5Qc for a brief video of a Texas Republican praising Back to Basics for the Republican Party.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"

For
Chandan Kumar Mandal is the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife.
" " Flickr/ Zappys Technology Solutions (By CC2.0) An illustration of a bacteriophage attacking a superbug bacteria.

Drug-resistant bacterial infections pose a grave and pervasive danger to the health and longevity of every person on Earth. Antibiotics  Western medicine's first line of attack and last line of defense  are becoming impotent against certain antibiotic-resistant superbugs. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people are dying worldwide each year from infections that were once treatable.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists 18 major antibiotic-resistant threats for the United States and reports that at least 2 million people a year become infected with drug-resistant bacteria and 23,000 a year die as a direct result of these infections. The CDC reports that an additional 15,000 die annually from Clostridium difficile(C. diff) which is linked to long-term antibiotic use and is listed as priority number one on the CDC's "urgent threat" list.

But some studies say the death toll is much higher. A Reuter's analysis of death certificates done in conjunction with CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reveals that tens of thousands more people die each year of complications from secondary infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and other antibiotic-resistant infections. A study cited by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016 predicts that by 2050 someone could die every three seconds from antibiotic-resistance: That's 10 million people a year worldwide.

If only this were a movie and not real life: We need a superhero to sweep across the planet and stamp out these death-dealing superbugs before it's too late.

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Phage to the Rescue?

Meet bacteriophage, or phage for short. Discovered in 1917 by microbiologist Felix d'Herelle, could this almost forgotten, century-old Soviet-era medical treatment be our last-ditch hope against the onslaught of chronic, drug-resistant infections?

As David S. Weiss, Ph.D., director of the antibiotic resistance center at Emory University, explains, "Phages are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. When administered to a patient, the phages track down and kill the bacteria-causing disease, allowing the patient to recover."

To grasp how phage therapy works, it's essential to understand the difference between bacteria and viruses. The majority of drug-resistant superbugs that create medical mayhem are bacterial. Bacteria are microscopic single-celled organisms that exist to feed, metabolize and ceaselessly reproduce. Viruses, which are much smaller than bacteria, live solely to reproduce. A virus attaches to a cell, commandeers its reproductive apparatus and then blasts the cell, allowing viral copies to float free.

Think of viruses as tireless, meticulous sanitation workers that stop bacteria from consuming the planet. Think of each individual phage (and there are trillions of them in the world) as a discriminating assassin that is evolutionarily tuned to kill only one specific bacteria. This targeted attack and annihilation of lethal, multidrug-resistant bacteria (that in no way harms the sick patient) is the crux of the potential hope for phage therapy as a do-or-die treatment.

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The Phage Cocktail

Unlike broad spectrum antibiotics (which kill the good bacteria along with the bad), phages target and destroy only certain strains of pathogenic bacteria. For phage treatment to work, the doctor must determine which species of bacteria is causing the infectious disease. And no two patients are alike. Individual samples have to be tested against a variety of phages to determine which strain of phage will work. Once a specific phage shows an aptitude for killing a patient's specific bacterial strain, scientists must then mass-produce the phage, purify it and confirm the phage cocktail to be safe.

Asked in an email whether phage therapy has the potential to be used as an alternative to antibiotic treatment, Weiss says, "Absolutely. Although not well-studied and largely unproven, phage therapy holds great promise as either a stand-alone therapeutic or one that could be used in conjunction with traditional antibiotics. Numerous studies have indeed shown that phages and antibiotics can work together to kill bacteria."

Very few doctors have actually used phage therapy even experimentally, and the general public has never heard of it. But scientists have been studying for years how phages destroy bacteria, which phage virus destroys which bacteria and how to cultivate prodigious numbers of phages to use in the fight against deadly bacterial infections in actual patients.

In the U.S., phage therapy is generally employed on a case-by-case basis and as a last resort involving terminally ill patients who've exhausted all other medical options. But on a hopeful note, in February 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new Phase 1/2 clinical trial in humans to test a new bacteriophage treatment for Crohn's disease. Phage therapy has been practiced successfully for decades in eastern Europe at medical facilities like the Eliava Phage Therapy Center in Tblisi, Georgia, where the therapy originated in 1923. And currently doctors in Belgium have begun to implement phage treatments by prescribing custom-made phage cocktails that are made in compound pharmacies.

The major obstacle to introducing phage therapy in Western medicine is the lack of any appropriate regulatory and legal framework or oversight. Currently the FDA maintains an "eleventh hour" hotline that lets doctors ask for approval to use an unapproved medical treatment on a patient if all other options have been exhausted and hope is all but lost. Once permission is granted, the process of acquiring phages and administering phage therapy becomes a complex collaborative effort between doctors, scientists, regulatory agencies and families of the patients  without a moment to spare and a life literally hanging in the balance.

Asked if phage therapy should be taken seriously by Western medicine, Weiss says, "Given the crisis of antibiotic resistance that we currently face, we must seriously consider all available treatment options. There is growing support to rigorously explore phage therapy and the role it could play in combating superbugs."

Now That's Interesting Scientists have discovered a previously unknown class of antibiotics they're calling "malacidins." And they found it right under their feet: in dirt.
Capital High School staff spent a smoky Saturday morning praising the accomplishments of the school's 282 graduates.

Principal Brett Zanto took the stage to welcome everyone to the ceremony and expressed great gratitude at the sunny weather. He joked that if he'd followed the snow day recommendations of the student body, the ceremony would be occurring on the July Fourth holiday. Before handing over the reins, Zanto took a moment to praise the many accomplishments of the class of 2019. He mentioned a variety of activities in which the class excelled, including ACT scores, sports, music and more.

"No matter where you go after today, you all share one common bond," Zanto said. "And that is Capital High School. You join a very proud collection of Capital High graduates."

Helena Public Schools superintendent Tyler Ream also joined in praising the class. Ream said that this was by far his favorite graduating class from Capital High to date. He acknowledged he was teasing them because this is his first graduating class as superintendent.

"It is this class of 2019 that taught me what it means to be a Bruin," Ream said. "Do not let this beautiful sun go down today without thanking everyone who helped you get here."

Among the graduates were 28 valedictorians, eight salutatorians and 52 who were given Capital High's Full Boar Award for taking at least eight or more credits of AP, honors or accelerated courses.

The keynote speaker for the event was Dean Folkvord, founder of Wheat Montana. Folkvord took the stage and stated that being asked to come back to the school he graduated from in 1978 was a humbling experience.

"There are a lot more similarities going on here than differences," he said.

Folkvord took the time to share his story and a mantra that has helped him get through life: "If you dream alone, it's only a dream." He shared that he was raised by parents who weren't wealthy but were hard workers. During his senior year, Folkvord's father approached him and said they would be selling their Helena Valley farm and moving to Three Forks onto a bigger farm.

The elder Folkvord wanted his son to become a partner, but under the condition that he attend Montana State University and obtain his agriculture business degree. Folkvord agreed and went off to MSU, where he wasn't the best student academically. There he met his wife Hope, who helped him turn his life around.

Years later, the couple toured a pineapple farm in Hawaii that had a store at the front of the farm that sold their goods. This gave Folkvord the idea for Wheat Montana. He shared the idea with his wife who was immediately on board. He shared the idea with his father who also saw its potential. Wheat Montana was eventually born.

"We were dreaming together," Folkvord said. "Every time we have grown the company, we dreamed with other people. You have to share your dreams, goals and visions with people who can help make it happen."

It was a message about not trying to go it alone. Relying on others close to you can help you accomplish what you wish in life.

Folkvord was introduced by Norris Blossom, Capital High's student body president. Blossom was one of five highly accomplished students chosen to speak at the ceremony. He shared with his classmates a phrase that stuck with him all throughout high school: "It's a great day to be a Bruin."

Blossom said all of the great memories and all of the challenges the class has faced together is a commonality they share.

"We are all proud to be a part of the Bruin family," Blossom said. "But today is more than a great day to be a Bruin, it's a great day to be a graduate."

Blossom was joined by Isabelle Melton, Amanda Penley, Mariah Thomas and Seth Lang who also gave speeches.

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On Saturday, Montana's most famous congressional representative will have her life sung on stage at the Grandstreet Theatre.

Jeannette Rankin's story of peace, resistance and standing strong in her convictions resonates as much today as it caused consternation in her time. Rankin's powerful desire to hold fast to peace and bring change grounded itself deeply in Ari Afsar.

Afsar will be performing "Jeannette in Concert" on Saturday night with Helena-native Erin Ortman. As part of the production, the two will discuss the process of making "Jeannette" and how a concept album about a Montana maverick came to be in the first place.

Afsar has a long resume. She has opened for Michelle Obama at the Shrine Auditorium, released her first EP this year, been an American Idol semifinalist and portrayed the original Eliza Hamilton in the Chicago production of "Hamilton."

The interest in Rankin grew organically from Afsar's engagement with her own political experience. Afsar works with the American Civil Liberties Union and was connected with the Women's March in recent years.

"I got extremely involved in Chicago," Afsar said, sitting recently at the dining room table of Jeff Downing, the artistic director for Grandstreet Theatre. "I wanted to bring women together for change."

But as Afsar found herself more and more drawn to politics, she wanted to know who the "founding mothers" were.

"I did a Google search," Afsar said, which revealed Jeannette Rankin.

Born in 1880 near Missoula, Rankin was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1917. Though she was determined to fight for women's suffrage, Rankin was forced to make a difficult decision about voting against the United State's entry into the first World War.

A committed pacifist, Rankin voted against America's decision to enter World War I and later against entering into World War II. Afser is keeping her focus on Rankin's long, colorful life tight with the 25 songs she's written about Rankin and her suffrage work close to the World War I period.

Afsar said she spent a ton of time researching Rankin.

"I became obsessed with her," she said. "And I wrote a concept album about Jeannette Rankin," she said with a laugh.

After being set up by a mutual friend with Lauren Gunderson, a playwright and screenwriter, the concept album became a musical, Afsar said. With the success of "Hamilton," marrying the radical life of Rankin with music and acting seems reasonable. But it still needs some work.

"It's not finished, polished," Afsar said. "We're on the fourth or fifth draft."

Afsar is grappling with both the extraordinary color in Rankin's life and some of the difficult spots.

"She made racist statements," Afsar said. "She's a flawed woman."

Dealing with those flaws is just part of the creative experience. It gives the story power, and Afsar, Gunderson and Ortman are hoping "Jeannette" can make its way to Broadway at some point in the near future.

For now, Afsar is enjoying being in Montana for the first time and feeling Rankin's world around her. "It would feel wrong not to be here," Afsar said. "It's extremely powerful."

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Tears, cheers and hugs were plentiful at The Myrna Loy Friday afternoon as few graduation ceremonies share the raw emotion on display at Helena's Project for Alternative Learning.

Seeing these 28 graduates, seven who graduated last winter, succeed in the face of adversity struck an emotional chord with the PAL staff as they shared stories from the past few years. Principal Wynn Randall, who started at PAL three years ago, told the graduates that having only him as their principal at PAL meant a lot to him. The PAL class of 2019 was the first Randall had spent a full high school career with.

"What you have done and what you have accomplished is incredible," Randall said.

It was the resilience of the students that surprised Randall and the PAL staff. He said it would undoubtedly carry the graduates far in life.

"Be proud, but never be satisfied," Randall said. "The moment you become satisfied, you stop reaching for your potential."

Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney was the keynote speaker for the ceremony. He was introduced by his son Ryan, a PAL teacher who said working there was a dream come true for him. Cooney said he remembered who the speaker was at his graduation, but couldn't remember what they said. He wanted to share something with the students they would hopefully remember.

Cooney shared the story of student he knew who was smart but didn't apply himself. This was apparent to everyone around the student. The student went to a major Montana university after graduating, but was kicked out after a single semester. He then went to a smaller school on academic probation. Cooney said the student grew up a lot in that year and eventually graduated with high honors.

"Now, I'm not talking about me, but my story isn't much different," Cooney said. "I'm talking about the guy who just introduced me."

Cooney revealed that he was referring to his son, who had played a major role in educating the graduates. He said being a parent has made him well aware of the struggles students like the ones at PAL face.

"But you're here because you didn't give up," Cooney said.

He told the students that the path ahead would have many more challenges for them, and that even if they were like him and had nothing figured out, they would be okay.

"From this day forward, you're only set by the constraints of yourself," he said. "I believe in each and every one of you, and I expect great things."

Throughout the ceremony, many awards were handed out to the graduates. The Helena Education Foundation chose Camille Wood-Foucar and Conor Miller as distinguished achievers. Wood-Foucar also received a scholarship from Kiwanis Club of Helena.

The Clifford White Cow award went to Caleb Burdsall. He was also given the PAL award alongside fellow graduate Tyzer Rushford-Miller. The Jeannette Rankin award was given to Curtis Burrington for displaying leadership and other admirable qualities.

PAL's Resilience awards were given to Davina Millons and Garret Olijar. They were chosen by the staff for overcoming difficult life circumstances and making a positive change.

Alongside the parents and staff, the biggest supporters of these graduates were their fellow classmates. They hugged and cheered for each member of their small graduating class.

When Randall pronounced the class graduates, they tossed up their caps and embraced. During that moment, it was evident why so many PAL students call the school their second family.

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If asked what the biblical gospel (good news) message consists of, most Christian teachers would probably say something like: Jesus died, rose again, and now lives; therefore, we can have a better life here and also eternal life with him in the hereafter. But was that what Jesus said when he preached the gospel?

Matthew 4:17 says, From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Matthew 9:35 says, Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Jesus inseparably connected words and action. He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom through teaching in the synagogues and then enacted the good news of the kingdom through a healing ministry.

Jesus doesnt begin to talk about his death and resurrection until after his transfiguration in Matthew 16:21 (late in his three-year ministry), but he was preaching the good news long before that. His death and resurrection were the means of actualizing and initiating a new, heavenly kingdom upon the earth. The biblical phrase Kingdom of God can also be translated (from the Greek) as the reign of God. So, when Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is near, he means that God is initiating a new, rightful reign over the His world and His authority will supersede that of emperors, kings, presidents and the like. That new reality is actually good news. It is good news that God intends to redeem, renew, and restore his creation and the communities of the earth.

At the big picture level, the good news is all about reversing the curse in Genesis 3:17-19. Jesus teaching and ministry are the initial indications that God is allowing the value system of Heaven to permeate and fill the earth once again. It is an actual new reality breaking into the lives of people and upon the earth through acts of compassion, forgiveness, feeding, blessing and healing.

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus announced to his hometown synagogue congregation in Nazareth that: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lords favor. This is the language of Jubilee. Then he said what no one expected: Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21).

Jesus is preaching Jubilee a once every 50 years Israelite celebration where work was supposed to cease for an entire year, prisoners were to be released, slaves freed, property reverted back to rightful owners, and the financial debts of the poor forgiven. Jesus preached that the essence of Jubilee had arrived with the new heavenly kingdom, and its soon to be inaugurated new king. What the festival of Jubilee should always have meant throughout Israels history (there is no evidence it was ever actually practiced) finally broke into the world through the life and ministry of Jesus.

Jesus life demonstrated how his followers are to live in the present. Christian lives enact Jesus prayer calling for Gods will to be done upon the earth as it is in heaven. His teaching and example guide our vocations, our family relations and all social interactions with people in this world, because Christians live as present-day citizens of Heaven.

Theologian and Christian author N.T. Wright states that the gospel itself was designed to generate a new kind of people eager for good works; in fact, to generate communities whose regular practice makes the surrounding world a better place. Christians who work for the betterment of this world are instruments of Gods impending kingdom, even if they dont realize it (see Matthew 25:37-40).

Medical professionals enact the precepts of Gods kingdom as they relieve suffering and heal the sick. Environmental scientists carry out the wishes of the worlds new ruler as they work to protect and preserve the creation God loves. Educators inform and equip successive generations of kingdom citizens as they dispel ignorance, teach truth and prepare students for responsible, benevolent life in the world. Social workers advance Gods kingdom when they advocate for ethical treatment and better living conditions for the oppressed and neglected. And the list could go on.

Christians dont pursue careers merely for wealth, influence or power. Jesus disciples make their vocations assist in ushering the kingdom of God to the earth. Whether through medicine, law, education, service industries, etc., Christians use their abilities to advance the kingdom of God in the world, making this place more like heaven. The reality of Gods kingdom coming to earth is demonstrated through Christian efforts to heal the sick, relieve hunger, provide justice and otherwise improve the lives of people around them. Astute disciples of Jesus recognize these things as signs of Gods kingdom advancing in the world, even if it goes unrealized by most people.

Note: IR Religion Page columnist Steve Brehe and I will be offering a summer community program based on The Great Reckoning: Surviving a Christianity That Looks Nothing Like Christ by Stephen Mattson. In the spirit of Martin Luther, who often talked theology in taverns, we are going to have an organizational meeting at the Lewis and Clark Brewery on June 4 at 5:30 p.m. All are welcome. Well set future times and places then.

Mark Wilson holds a masters degree in theology, is a Bible teacher at the South Hills Church of Christ, and coordinates the religion writer columns appearing on the Religion Page in the Saturday edition of the IR.

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Plan to involve co-ops in economic activities likely to be a non-starter

The governments plan to involve cooperatives intensely in economic activities to achieve the goal of 8.5 percent growth is likely to be a non-starter due to lack of an effective monitoring system at the federal, state and local levels, officials and entrepreneurs said.
When game wardens shot a mountain lion near downtown Helena last Wednesday, it struck a nerve with many who questioned why the animal was not tranquilized or trapped and relocated.

Subsequent online comments, emails and phone calls from Independent Record readers weighed mostly against the lethal removal, although many who responded also felt the actions appropriate given the mountain lions location near an office building and two city parks. Questions ranged from challenging the threat the lion posed to the policy that calls for removing them lethally.

Game Warden Sgt. Justin Hawkaluk said that Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks policy dictated that the lion be removed due to it entering an urban area and its proximity to two parks and a daycare.

Concerns for public safety were paramount in this case and the only option was lethal removal, Hawkaluk said.

While state officials believe the potential threat of the lion would warrant lethal removal regardless of their relocation policy, FWP like many wildlife agencies in the West, has a longstanding policy against relocating mountain lions regardless of public safety risk.

Mountain lions shall not be captured and translocated under any circumstances, according to Montanas Mountain Lion Management Strategy.

Biologist Jay Kolbe of White Sulphur Springs wrote the strategy, which was adopted earlier this year. Continuation of the non-relocation policy was based on the best information wildlife managers have available, he said.

Non-relocation is based on two factors. The first that mountain lions that enter urban areas and threaten people or animals have a higher likelihood of doing it again. Second, given their territoriality, lions that have been relocated tend to die at high rates from conflicts with resident mountain lions or other stresses.

Its been a settled issue as far as the research goes, Kolbe said.

Both studies from the 1990s as well as those ongoing in Canada have produced mixed results, when it comes to relocating lions, he said.

Some lions are translocated and you never hear from them again, but they have a higher rate of recidivism you would say, Kolbe said.

Montanas lion management plan cites a 1998 New Mexico study as support for the policy. The study, Evaluating Cougar Translocation in New Mexico, published by The Wildlife Society journal, documents the behaviors of 14 mountain lions captured and relocated. Researchers looked at the differences between ages and sex in determining the propensity to travel as well as mortality.

Messages left for the studys lead author Toni Ruth were not returned in time for this story.

Nine of the 14 animals in the study died over a two-year period. Five of those deaths  two females and three males  were killed by other mountain lions. Two males traveled back to the area where they were originally trapped.

The outcome of cougar translocation seems influenced by the sex, age, and social status of the individual prior to translocation, the study says.

The study notes that stress from relocation is a suspected factor in higher mortality rates than resident mountain lions because the majority of animals died in the second year after release. And older animals had the highest mortality rates or returned to their capture areas.

Human-caused deaths were lower than researchers anticipated, as no mountain lions were killed by hunters and only one died after being struck by a vehicle.

The study concluded that mountain lions from 12 and 27 months old, that have not had histories of conflicts with humans or preying on livestock or pets, present the best animals for reintroductions or augmentations of existing populations. Females would likely be the most successful as they had a higher survival rate, the study said.

Montana is far from the only state that with a policy against relocating mountain lions.

Moving problem mountain lions is not an option, according the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. It causes deadly territorial conflicts with other mountain lions already there. Or the relocated mountain lion returns.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had a similar response after backlash for killing a mountain lion in Portland.

"ODFW does not relocate cougars, as relocation would create territorial conflicts among existing cougar populations and could also spread disease," the department told the Oregonian.

Other states seem to handle the fate of mountain lions on a more case-by-case basis.

Wildlife offices throughout Washington respond to cougar sightings when there is a threat to public safety or property. Cougars involved in human conflict may be live-trapped by trained fish and wildlife personnel and moved to more remote areas, or removed, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Colorado and Idaho will also relocate mountain lions in some circumstances.

Reporter Tom Kuglin can be reached at 447-4076 @IR_TomKuglin

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Today's Highlights in History:

On June 1, 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, gave the order, "Don't give up the ship" during a losing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon in the War of 1812.

On June 1:

In 1533, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was crowned as Queen Consort of England.

In 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state.

In 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state.

In 1926, actress Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles.

In 1939, the British submarine HMS Thetis sank during a trial dive off North Wales with the loss of 99 lives. Lou Nova defeated Max Baer at Yankee Stadium in the first U.S. televised heavyweight prizefight. Mexico officially abolished the siesta.

In 1943, a civilian flight from Portugal to England was shot down by Germany during World War II, killing all 17 people aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.

In 1967, the Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was released, as was David Bowie's debut album, eponymously titled "David Bowie."

In 1968, author-lecturer Helen Keller, who earned a college degree despite being blind and deaf almost her entire life, died in Westport, Connecticut, at age 87.

In 1977, the Soviet Union formally charged Jewish human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky with treason. (Shcharansky was imprisoned, then released in 1986; he's now known as Natan Sharansky.)

In 1980, Cable News Network made its debut.

In 2008, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent died in Paris at age 71.

In 2017, President Donald Trump declared he would pull the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement. (The U.S. remains a part of the agreement until at least 2020.)

In 2009, Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of everyone on board. General Motors filed for Chapter 11, becoming the largest U.S. industrial company to enter bankruptcy protection. A gunman shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long outside of an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas; another soldier, Pvt. Quinton I. Ezeagwula, was wounded. (Abdulhakim Muhammad, a Muslim convert, pleaded guilty to capital murder, attempted capital murder and gun charges; he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.) Conan O'Brien debuted as host of NBC's "Tonight Show" (however, he stepped down in January 2010 after a dispute with the network).

In 2014, freed American soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl entered the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a day after he was released by the Taliban in exchange for five Guantanamo terrorism detainees. Ann B. Davis, 88, who became America's favorite and most famous housekeeper as the devoted Alice Nelson on television's "The Brady Bunch," died in San Antonio, Texas.

In 2018, after a week of hard-nosed negotiation and diplomatic gamesmanship, President Donald Trump announced that the nuclear-weapons summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un that he had earlier canceled would take place on June 12th in Singapore. Trump directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take "immediate steps" to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants to keep them open, calling it a matter of national and economic security. An Ecuadorean immigrant, Pablo Villavicencio, was held for deportation after delivering pizza to an Army installation in Brooklyn, New York; a judge later ordered him freed while he continued his efforts to gain legal status. Health officials said four more deaths had been linked to a national food poisoning outbreak blamed on tainted lettuce, bringing the total to five.

Thought for Today:

"Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another."

 Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian (1892-1971).

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DECATUR  Police said officers found bags of cannabis and cocaine in a man's vehicle during an early Thursday morning traffic stop in Decatur.

A sworn affidavit said an officer spotted the 26-year-old man's vehicle traveling in the 700 block of East Johns Avenue without a rear registration plate light. During a search of the vehicle, the officer found a green bag that contained a clear plastic bag filled with a "leafy, green substance," the affidavit said.

The contents of the bag field-tested positive for cannabis and weighed 39.3 grams, the affidavit said. Eight plastic baggies containing 0.8 grams of field-tested positive cocaine were also found in the green bag, the affidavit said.

The man faces preliminary charges of delivery of a controlled substance and delivery of cannabis, which are subject to review by the Macon County State's Attorney's Office.

He was held in the Macon County Jail Friday in lieu of $20,000 bond.

2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review

Contact Jaylyn Cook at (217) 421-7980. Follow him on Twitter: @jaylyn_HR

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DECATUR  A 28-year-old manager who was demoted Monday at a Decatur restaurant came back a few hours later and stole money from the safe, police said.

Officers responded at 7:54 a.m. Tuesday to Carrol Lou's BBQ, 2612 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, and the owners told police they noticed at 6:40 a.m. two money bags were missing from the safe, detective Sgt. Chris Copeland said. There was a significant amount of money inside, along with gift cards, he said.

Officers did not see any sign of forced entry, and one of business' doors was unlocked, Copeland said. Video surveillance showed a person who matched the description of one of the employees entering the building at 11:46 p.m. Monday.

Copeland said the man walked straight to the safe, grabbed the cash and left. The owner told police the man seen in the video had the same hairstyle and shoes their employee normally wore to work.

Copeland said the 28-year-old employee is also the only one with a key who matches the suspect's description, according to the owner.

The Herald & Review called the restaurant twice seeking a comment from the owner about the incident, but he was unavailable both times.

2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review

Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985. Follow her on Twitter: @KNolenWrites

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DECATUR  Police are investigating the shooting death of Suave L. Turner, a 28-year-old Decatur man who was brought to HSHS St. Mary's Hospital on Thursday night, Macon County Coroner Michael Day said Friday.

Day, in a news release, said Turner was pronounced dead in the hospital's emergency room at 11:39 p.m. An autopsy was conducted at the McLean County Coroner's Morgue in Bloomington, he said, and found that the preliminary cause of Turner's death was a single penetrating gunshot wound to his upper right chest.

In a statement, Decatur police detective Sgt. Chris Copeland said officers went to St. Mary's at 11:25 p.m. after someone was brought to the hospital in a private vehicle. He said the victim had suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest and subsequently died.

Detectives were called in and are conducting interviews, he said. The case is being investigated as a homicide.

Day identified Turner as the victim Friday morning, and said that an inquest is pending.

Copeland said police would not release more information at this time.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Decatur Police Department at (217) 424-2711 or (217) 424-2734.

Contact Allison Petty at (217) 421-6986. Follow her on Twitter: @allison0512

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DECATUR  Stephanie Jones moved to Decatur's West End specifically to send her children to Dennis School.

And while Jones' son is in third grade at Dennis, she said, she was told there's no space for her daughter, who will be in first grade next year. Her daughter will have to go to one of the other buildings in the district, but Jones doesn't yet know which one.

When she tried to register her daughter for kindergarten for this year, there was no room, either, so Jones homeschooled her for kindergarten.

It kind of stinks, having two kids in separate schools, she said. I was told I could pull (her son) out of Dennis and send him to same school she goes to, but that defeats the purpose of moving here.

The Dennis boundaries are home to 878 children who could be eligible to attend Dennis School, which is not a magnet school. With its project-based learning model and its partnership with Millikin University as a lab school, Dennis has proven to be a popular choice. Like Jones, families are moving into homes within its boundaries in order to send their children to that school.

The problem is, Dennis can't hold them all.

Of those 878 children, 478 are enrolled at Dennis. Another 240 attend one of Decatur's magnet schools, which leaves about 160 kids who have to be assigned, as Jones' daughter will be, to one of the other nearby elementary schools.

As part of the Decatur School District's five-year strategic plan, Dennis will expand into two buildings in fall 2020. French Academy, at the corner of Wood and Monroe Streets, will move into the building now occupied by Enterprise School at 2115 S. Taylor Road. Dennis will take over the French building as its second location.

Getting the second building, when French moves out to Enterprise, that really opens up additional seats, said Fred Bouchard, assistant superintendent of support services. We don't have room at the inn right now. We use our pod system and enrollment balancing, so some of those students are at South Shores and some are at Oak Grove or Franklin, other schools that are in pretty close proximity.

Consolidating elementary buildings, which is on the district's strategic plan and should be completed by August 2021, will mean redrawing boundaries, and a group is already working on that, he said. The district's buildings will decrease from 22 to 17 by then. At present, the pod system assigns students to a nearby building if there isn't room at the building they would otherwise attend, as happened to Jones' daughter.

This pod system isn't ideal, he said. But we do know that when we combine schools, we need to talk about what those boundaries would look like and making sure we're making good decisions, based on that future and what building capacities are.

At Dennis, a committee of students, parents and teachers has met twice and will meet throughout the summer to narrow down their ideas for the move, said Keith Creighton, principal intern and leader of the visionary team. He's been a teacher at Dennis for several years. The hope is that the committee will have two or three workable plans by September, and have that refined by December into one plan to present to the school board.

There's been a lot of excitement on the student end about being empowered and being impactful on the world, Creighton said. They're starting to see that their actions, their choices and their work can affect the larger world outside, and that's a real exciting thing. It's helped to build community here at the school, it's helped to create a family atmosphere, it's helped to have students dream bigger than I had experienced before when teaching.

The school's partnership with Millikin University, which began in 2012, means that Millikin students studying to be teachers have a place to apply what they're learning, but it also means that Dennis students benefit from having those college students as mentors, said Jaiden Hinton, a sixth-grader who has been at Dennis since kindergarten.

First-grade teacher Cassie Mann said she thinks that Dennis students spend more time interacting with the community, due to their project-based learning model, and therefore word gets out about the school thanks to the kids' enthusiasm. That may be one reason people move to homes inside its boundaries in the hope of getting their kids into Dennis.

When we have all these kids in a boundary that want to go to Dennis, and we have to turn kids away, Mann said. We have all these kids who live close to our school but can't get in because we're over capacity. We have teachers, specialists, counselors in (converted) closets. We don't even have the space for the people we need to have here. That's a problem. People are even choosing to move into our neighborhood, and we have to tell them, 'Sorry, you just bought a house, but we don't have room for your kid.

The hope is that expanding will make room for those students, she said.

Space is at such a premium, Creighton said, that closets have been turned into offices and even classrooms. Every inch of space is being used. The band meets on a wide landing between floors, jokingly dubbed the blanding for band landing. Art classes are constricted on which projects they can tackle because there's no permanent art classroom, so they can't do anything that has to dry overnight, for example. Among many other reasons for looking forward to the expansion, he said, is knowing that there will be room for art, band, special education and other specialties to have their very own space.

Seventh-grader Quinn Heneghan is on the committee working to come up with a plan for the two-campus school and something that's important to him is that the two buildings retain the feeling of being one school, not two.

We (students) are thinking about the dual campus, he said. What does it look like? How are students going to feel about it? What grades go to (each) campus is a very big part.

LOOKING BACK: Decatur's Dennis School

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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MATTOON  State Sen. Dale Righter said on Friday that he won't seek re-election next year, ending what will be a 23-year tenure in the state legislature.

Righter, a Republican and a Mattoon native, said he plans to complete his current term, which ends in January 2021. The position will be up for election in November of next year.

He said his decision was based on his time in the legislature, which included terms as a state representative as well as a senator, but also admitted "the day to day politics wears you down."

"I think it's time for for someone else to represent the people," Righter said. "This job has been an immense blessing to me."

Righter's district includes all or part of Champaign, Piatt, Douglas, Edgar, Coles, Clark, Cumberland, Shelby, Effingham, Crawford, Lawrence and Wabash Counties.

Righter was appointed to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1997 when then-Rep. Mike Weaver resigned to take a seat on the Illinois Industrial Commission.

He won a hotly contested race in 1998 against Democrat Carolyn Brown Hodge, an election that set a record for candidate spending for a state house seat.

He stayed in the House seat until 2002, when he was elected to the 55th District state Senate seat, an open seat because of redistricting that year. He's served in that seat since then.

Righter, 52, said Friday he feels "it's time for a new challenge" and has options to consider but hasn't made a decision on what he'll do after his term ends.

He was previously a practicing attorney, including time as a drug case prosecutor, and said a return the legal practice is "a possibility."

Righter said the highlight of his tenure has been serving constituents and making sure that people he represented to be able to contact his office for the help they needed.

"We were able to resolve those persons' problems," he said. "It's the day-to-day helping people."

During his time in the House, Righter said, he was pleased to be able to work to add requirements for medical screening of newborns. That came after a local family contacted him after a screening missed a genetic problem in their daughter that caused her death, he said.

He also mentioned work in the Senate on legislation, which Chicago Democrat Heather Steans co-sponsored, that helped with Medicaid reimbursements.

As for his remaining time in office, Righter said he wants "to do what we've always done" by helping the Senate district's residents. Work on legislation will be a more "wait to see what happens" approach, he said.

Righter said the timing of his announcement was in part to give anyone interested in running for the seat time to make a decision. He said he had "no one in mind" as a possible candidate.

Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave

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SPRINGFIELD  Conditional graduated tax rates and a pair of bills aimed at addressing Illinois high property tax costs passed the General Assembly on Friday and will head to the governor.

The graduated tax rate structure will take effect in January 2021 only if voters approve a constitutional amendment on the November 2020 general election ballot. The Senates vote Friday was a procedural concurrence with a minor House amendment.

Per the rate structure, single filers would pay the maximum rate of 7.99 percent on all income once their taxable income tops $750,000. For joint filers, that rate takes effect on all income when it exceeds $1 million.

For the rest of the brackets, each varying tax rate would apply to only one specific margin of income.

The rates are 4.75 percent on taxable income from $0 to $10,000; 4.9 percent from $10,001 to $100,000; 4.95 percent from $100,001 to $250,000; 7.75 percent from $250,001 to $500,000; and 7.85 percent from $500,001 to $1 million.

For single filers, tax rates are the same as joint filers up to $250,000; but the 7.75 percent rate applies from $250,001 to only $350,000, while the 7.85 percent rate applies from $350,001 to $750,000.

The bill also includes an increase in the property tax credit from 5 percent to 6 percent, and up to a $100 per-child tax credit for couples earning less than $100,000 and single persons earning less than $80,000.

The corporate tax rate would go from 7 to 7.99 percent, not including an existing corporate property replacement tax of 1.5 to 2.5 percent that is not changed by the bill.

The property tax bills became part of the conversation this session at the request of several swing votes on the constitutional amendment, and were backed by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

One bill, Senate Bill 39, will establish a property tax relief fund, which would be used to pay refunds to Illinois property taxpayers, but it would be subject to the appropriations of future General Assemblies and would not take effect until January 2021.

It passed the House 98-16 Thursday night with one voting present, and it passed the Senate 56-0 with one present vote Friday.

This bill will create a mechanism that will allow the General Assembly to provide direct property tax relief to every single homeowner in the state of Illinois, Rep. Daniel Didech, a Buffalo Grove Democrat and the bills House sponsor, said.

Didech said a property tax task force will meet this summer in an effort to identify revenues for the fund and find other ways to provide property tax relief, and the General Assembly will decide on revenues in the future.

Some House Republicans on Thursday called the fund smoke and mirrors and window dressing. They questioned whether it would ever receive the funding to actually provide tax relief and said it would not actually address the factors driving high property taxes.

This is fake property tax reduction, Rep. David McSweeney, a Barrington Hills Republican, said.

The legislation creating the task force passed both chambers Friday after heated debate Thursday night which led to a late amendment being pulled from the House record.

Republican Minority Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, pointed out the late amendment removed the authority of Republican lawmakers to appoint members to the task force.

This is the first time in my time down here that the rights of the minority party have been completely trampled on an issue that you claim is important, Durkin said. But youre saying in here that Republicans dont matter. We have no voice in this committee. Shame on you.

The sponsor of the bill, Democratic Rep. Jonathan Carroll of Northbrook, said the language was provided by the governor and he eventually pulled it from the record after initially refusing.

By Friday, Carroll added a fourth amendment to Senate Bill 1932 including the minority leaders in the task force appointment process once again.

The task force is to meet over the summer to look for solutions to address rising property tax costs and address the way local governing bodies levy taxes.

Were putting them on notice, Carroll said.

Both chambers passed the task force bill unanimously Friday with little discussion other than Republicans expressing skepticism about the ability of the task force to create change.

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Responding to continued concern over severe flooding in dozens of Illinois counties, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has issued his second state disaster proclamation.

A Friday news release from the governor's office says this proclamation covers 34 counties bordering both the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, including Alexander, Jackson, Randolph and Union counties. The second proclamation follows Gov. Pritzker activating the National Guard earlier this week to monitor and repair levees.

With this proclamation, the governor also "dispatched the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's ... Unified Area Command vehicle to Winchester in Scott County where it will establish a State Unified Area Command." According to the release, the UAC will provide the area with coordinated assistance.

In the release, Pritzker responds to the closure of roads and disruption of commercial enterprises. The governor says he directed his department heads to "provide any resources needed to these communities to protect the lives of Illinois residents." The release says the proclamation will ensure continued support for embattled communities as well as 200 National Guard soldiers to lend a hand with the flood-fighting.

The release says all locations between New Boston, Illinois and Cape Girardeau, Missouri are expected to reach their top five all-time crests.

Continued heavy rainfall as well as snow melt contributed to record flooding this spring. The news release from the governor's office says levees could be compromised at any time.

"Levees along both rivers are saturated and could be breached or overtopped at any minute," the release says.

According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, the bridge at Chester will be closed at noon Saturday.

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Anil Giri is a reporter covering diplomacy, international relations and national politics for The Kathmandu Post. Giri has been working as a journalist for a decade-and-a-half, contributing to numerous national and international media outlets.
Congrats to the Illinois legislature on voting to let Illinois taxpayers decide in the November 2020 election whether to amend our state constitution to allow for a progressive or graduated income tax.

The legislature also ought to let Illinois voters decide on whether they want an open primary, where voters would finally get to cast a secret ballot in the primary.

Ironically, our state constitution already mandates "secrecy of voting" (Art. II, Sec. 4), but this has never been interpreted to mean you have the right to secrecy in choosing your party when voting in the primary. Yet this is clearly what voters want. In advisory referendums in more than 20 municipalities and townships, including Decatur, voters overwhelmingly voted yes for an open primary, in some places by as high as 88%. Nevertheless, the legislature thus far has failed to enact an open primary law.

But open primaries would be insured if we amended our constitution by adding after "secrecy of voting." "including what party is picked in a primary." Then voters would pick whether to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary behind the secrecy of the voting booth.

Today voters must publicly tell the election judge if they want a Democratic or Republican ballot, and a permanent record is made of their choice that anyone can see. That's why most voters do not vote in party primaries; they rightly think how they vote the primary is nobody's business

If the legislature won't vote for an open primary law, it should at least allow voters to make that call in a statewide referendum, just like they did on the progressive income tax. If you agree, tell your state legislators. May 2020 is the deadline for the legislature to put the open primary question on the November 2020 ballot.

Sam Cahnman

Springfield

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Ce blog contient: - des reflexions scientifiques - des mecanismes, des phenomenes, a partir de la cuisine - des idees sur les "etudes" (ce qui est fautivement nomme "enseignement" - des idees "politiques" : pour une vie en collectivite plus rationnelle et plus harmonieuse ; des relents des Lumieres ! Pour me joindre par email : herve.this@inrae.fr
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" " The ballad and folktale of John Henry, the tireless railroad worker, is the stuff of American legend. Image courtesy Ryan Stanton/Flickr used under Creative Commons CC BY-ND 2.0 license.

John Henry said to his captain,

"A man is nothing but a man,

But before I let your steam drill beat me down,

I'd die with a hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord,

I'd die with a hammer in my hand."

-- Anonymous, "The Ballad of John Henry"

The ballad and folktale of John Henry, the tireless railroad worker, is the stuff of American legend. The ultimate battle of man versus machine, John Henry represented the hearts of the working men who struggled to keep their jobs on the railroad as machines began moving in to do their work.

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As the tale goes, John Henry was an ex-slave who went to work on the railroad as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railroad. His job was hitting steel spikes into rocks, and he was the fastest and strongest worker on the line. When the owners of the C&O decided to drill right through Big Bend Mountain in West Virginia instead of building the railroad around it, many workers lost their lives because of the dangerous work. But not John Henry. He drove spike after spike, digging his way through the mountain.

One day a salesman appeared, touting the efficiency and speed of a new steam-powered drill. The workers arranged a contest: John Henry versus the machine. When the dust settled, John Henry dug a 14-foot (4-meter) hole, but the machine made it only 9 feet (nearly 3 meters). As the rail workers celebrated, John Henry toppled over and died from exhaustion.

An amazing story of the human spirit and work ethic, yes, but was John Henry a real person? Most historians agree that he was, as thousands of African-Americans worked on the railroad, with hundreds perishing during the drilling of the Great Bend Tunnel. Their unmarked graves lie at entrance of the tunnel, at the feet of a statue of John Henry. However, opinions vary on Henry's birthplace and other details. Let's look at some of the theories.

One historian, MacEdward Leach, posits that John Henry was from Jamaica and died there working construction on the Kingston-Port Antonio Railroad between 1894 and 1896 [source: Garon]. But another historian named Scott Nelson delved deep into papers and records and came to the conclusion that Henry was from New Jersey and later ended up in prison in Virginia, where the penitentiary leased prisoners out to the railroad for daily work.

Work songs like "The Ballad of John Henry" helped the railway workers perform their rhythmic jobs more efficiently. Nelson also believes it's more likely that Henry died from dust inhalation than from exhaustion [source: Grimes].

No matter who he was or where he came from, John Henry continues to endure as an American folk hero and champion of the rail workers in the late 1800s.
Remarks: This was the number one song on the US R&B chart this year, 2021. It went to #1 in the US on both the R&B and pop charts and made the top 20 on po...

3 days ago
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Funding for the MTProto project comes directly from the Iranian government, and this has reportedly yielded a proxy that is specifically capable of evading that governments block on the popular Telegram messaging app, which was imposed only last year. CHRI stated that its unclear how MTProto is, but it then went on to note that the company behind it its distribution inside Iran, Smart Land Solutions, is the same company that previously developed Telegram clones for Iranian users.

As these clones began to emerge in advance of the ban, various cyber security experts warned against downloading them, because doing so could expose users to more extensive monitoring by Iranian cyber police. These authorities have routinely used online communications as the basis for prosecution in line with the Islamic Republics vaguely-defined religious and political laws, like insulting sanctities or spreading corruption. Authorities have also carried out multiple raids on individuals and organizations you used social media to contribute to networks of professional models and photographers, or to otherwise promote secular or Western lifestyles.

In light of the warnings about Telegram alternatives like HotGram, the original app is still widely used throughout Iran, in defiance of the ban. But this is only possible through the use of circumvention tools similar to MTProto. Meanwhile, Iranian internet users who either do not use such tools or were not aware of the relevant warnings may presently be communicating with technologies that are vulnerable to spying. In this sense, the governments strategy seemingly failed to strike a decisive blow against banned apps, but succeeded in further chipping away at online freedom of expression.

It is reasonable to assume that Smart Land Solutions has worked with its government financiers to build the same sorts of deliberate security vulnerabilities into MTProto as it did into previous clones of Telegram and other popular apps. And as CHRI affirms, it is likely that the outcome will be similar, in that most users will avoid the government-sponsored resource while a handful will open themselves up, wittingly or unwittingly, to expanded monitoring.

This reflects the same contrary trends that were referenced above. That is to say, the Iranian regime is working to impose new restrictions and to find new strategies for criminalizing online communication, but the vast majority of Iranian web users are still pushing back against the restrictions and finding generally secure means of defying them.

It was perhaps in awareness of that latter trend that Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Irans Civil Defense Organization, appeared on state television on Tuesday to praise the regimes supposedly unparalleled cyber security protocols. In the area of such threats, we have achieved remarkable capabilities and can easily thwart [foreign] attacks, he said.

Although his remarks were prominently focused characterizing the Islamic Republic as being under threat of cyberattack by enemies such as US intelligence agencies, these claims very often function as code for the regimes war on any perceived challenge to the ruling system. For instance, in January 2018, while Iran was still in the midst of a nationwide uprising by domestic proponents of democratic governance, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed the protests on a triangle of enemies based outside the country, using domestic dissident groups as paws and foot soldiers.

In reporting on Jalalis comments, Tehran Times also pointed out that the Iranian government recently claimed to be launching the next phrase of its long-touted plan to develop a national information network, or Halalnet, that effectively isolates the Iranian internet from the rest of the world and only allows the display of regime-approve contents. Many information technology experts have dismissed these plans as impractical, but officials ongoing promotion of the idea underscores a commitment to imposing as many restrictions as impossible on domestic communications.

As with HotGram and MTProto, the regime has sought to push the public toward a Halalnet prototype by promising faster speeds and fewer interruptions when using the government-approved alternative. But recent and ongoing trends cast serious doubt upon the assumption that Iranians, in general, will trade away what limited online security they now have, for the sake of greater convenience within limited areas of online activity.

Furthermore, the regimes professed confidence about the future of the Halalnet appears to be at odds with the recent efforts to develop vulnerable circumvention tools. Although Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi portrayed MTProto as a means of managing the persistent impulse to circumvent restrictions, it is difficult to see why such management would be necessary if the authorities truly believed themselves capable of cutting off the Iranian internet from the outside world.
About Me William Kelly I am a freelance writer, journalist and historian whose major interests are music and history, with a special emphasis on the assassination of President Kennedy. View my complete profile

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DANVILLE -- Thirty students were recently inducted into the Lakeview College of Nursing Developing Honor Society. Those receiving this honor include the following:

Urvish Amin from Effingham, Katie Bloom from Villa Grove, Kamryn Boarman from Neoga, Christine Fields from Charleston, Laura Hardiek from Effingham, Kory Kowalski from Effingham, Kassidy Montgomery from Oreana, Colleen Perry from Paris, Kelsey Reardon from Altamont, and Stephanie Wesch from Arcola.

In order to be considered for the Lakeview College of Nursing Developing Honor Society each student was required to be within the top third of their graduating class, hold a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, and demonstrate excellence in scholarship.

Lakeview College of Nursing Honor Society is a developing chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, a prestigious international nursing honor society.

Several of Lakeview's faculty leaders were also recognized for membership within this developing honor society as Nurse Leaders. The faculty who were awarded Nurse Leader membership was as follows: Mina Cho of Champaign, Amy Paredes of Mattoon, Lanette Stuckey of Effingham, Rita Wallace of Marshall, and Ariel Wright of Danville.

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MATTOON -- State Sen. Dale Righter said on Friday that he won't seek re-election next year, ending what will be a 23-year tenure in the state legislature.

Righter, a Republican and a Mattoon native, said he plans to complete his current term, which ends in January 2021. The position will be up for election in November of next year.

He said his decision was based on his time in the legislature, which included terms as a state representative as well as a senator, but also admitted "the day to day politics wears you down."

"I think it's time for for someone else to represent the people," Righter said. "This job has been an immense blessing to me."

He said he planned to formally announce his decision at the end of the General Assembly's session on Friday, which he expected to last until late in the day.

Righter was appointed to the area district's seat in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1997 when then-Rep. Mike Weaver resigned to take a seat on the Illinois Industrial Commission.

In 1998, he won a hotly contested race against Democrat Carolyn Brown Hodge, an election that set a record for candidate spending for a state house seat.

He stayed in the house seat until 2002, when he was elected to the 55th District state Senate seat, an open seat because of redistricting that year. He's served in that seat since then.

On Friday, Righter, now 52 years old, said he feels "it's time for a new challenge" and has options to consider but hasn't made a decision on what he'll do after his term ends.

He was a practicing attorney before his election to the House, which include time as a drug case prosecutor, and said a return the legal practice is "a possibility."

At first deferring talk about his work on legislative issues during his tenure, Righter said "the highlights have been constituent service." He said his goal was for the people he represented to be able to contact his office for the help they needed.

"We were able to resolve those persons' problems," he said. "It's the day-to-day helping people."

But during his time in the House, Righter said, he was pleased to be able to work to add requirements for medical screening of newborns. That came after a local family contacted him after a screening missed a genetic problem in their daughter that caused her death, he said.

He also mentioned work in the Senate on legislation, which Chicago Democrat Heather Steans co-sponsored, that helped with Medicaid reimbursements.

As for his remaining time in office, Righter said he wants "to do what we've always done" by helping the Senate district's residents. Work on legislation will be a more "wait to see what happens" approach, he said.

Righter said the timing of his announcement was in part to give anyone interested in running for the seat time to make a decision. He said he had "no one in mind" as a possible candidate.

Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave

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Chicago Tribune

Democrats in Springfield have voted to put a referendum question on the ballot next year that, if approved by voters, would switch Illinois' constitutionally protected flat income tax to a graduated one. Under the current proposal, rates would increase on those earning more than $250,000 a year. More important, the constitutional change would empower the legislature and future governors to change tax rates and income brackets whenever they wish. Which direction do you think those rates will head?

Make no mistake: Switching to a graduated income tax is not going to save this state. Not even close. New revenue generated under the rates proposed  optimistically, $3.4 billion per year  doesn't come close to paying down the massive debts Illinois lawmakers have piled up, including a $133.5 billion unfunded pension obligation that's still rising. Worse, hitting high-income earners will have the reverse effect of driving more residents and businesses to flee Illinois.

The way out is real reform and it's hiding in plain sight. The pension clause needs to be loosened. Benefits earned so far should and would be protected.

Why should Illinois voters be denied the chance to vote on pension reform while they're voting to raise billions of dollars in new income tax revenue?

Tell your legislators you really do want to fix Illinois: When you vote on the income tax, you want to vote on a pension amendment too.

Chicago Sun-Times

Voters deserve to have public policy set by legislators who aren't getting cash from one side of the debate.

Elected officials are working for the video gambling industry  pulling in good money  and then, as legislators, participating in the big decisions about how to tax and regulate that very same industry.

A story by Jason Grotto of ProPublica Illinois and Dan Mihalopoulos of WBEZ Chicago spells out financial links between lawmakers and the video gambling industry. The danger of dark influences has always been great.

With that in mind:

 State Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, should not be working for the video gambling industry in any capacity.

 Senate Assistant Majority Leader Antonio Munoz's son should not be working for the industry.

 No elected official  we're looking at you, state Sen. Tom Cullerton and Cook County Commissioners Deborah Sims and Peter Silvestri  should be allowed to have a direct or indirect financial interest in video gambling.

Video gambling laws in Illinois favor the industry, not the people of Illinois or taxpayers. The state does not even set aside money in licensing and administrative fees to cover the costs of policing the industry, which is what the fees were intended to do.

Who's looking out for you when elected officials, even if only a handful, are directly or indirectly on the payroll of the video gaming industry?

Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus

We were pleased to see last week that Illinois lawmakers had sent Gov. J.B. Pritzker a pair of good government bills that merit his signature.

HB2265 would require Illinois middle schools to create and include a much-needed unit on civics education. The class would be created by educators and funded by private donations.

HB348 would give township voters, via referendum, the power to dissolve township governments in McHenry County, but has the potential to be expanded to include other communities in this government-heavy state.

While the two bills do not, on their face, appear to have much in common, both present opportunities to improve Illinois government and the body politic.

We trust the governor, too, will see the merits and reach for his pen.

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For more than 200 years, President Madison's system of checks and balances has worked well in preventing a government of tyranny or criminal enterprise.

Today, and until next year's elections, one party owns the House of Representatives and its opposition owns the Senate. Checks and balances provided by the voters. Next year we shall see how the furniture will be arranged.

Constitutional authority has suffered setbacks, beginning markedly in the years of President Woodrow Wilson, who imprisoned Americans who disagreed with his policies.

More recently Gen. Michael Flynn was denied equality before the law by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose endless financial resources ruined Flynn financially. Mueller's power to threaten Flynn's son squeezed a false confession of guilt from Flynn the father.

We should hope for changes in the law which provides a special counsel. Its present legal foundation fails utterly to pass the Colombo test. The fictional detective named Colombo did not and could not search for a criminal until there first was manifest evidence of a crime, such as a dead body. Forbid the appointment of a special counsel until a bi-partisan commission has provided evidence a crime was committed. Possibly the answer? Something like this would be the difference between a government of justice and government as a criminal enterprise.

-- Leonidas Miller, Mattoon

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Pletcher and his family moved to Lincoln a few years later in 1998. After working in the food industry for several years, he became the owner of the Engine House Cafe in 2009, an investment he called the best hes ever made.

The Engine House Cafes positive reception comes not only from its food, but from its location in Havelock, Pletcher says.

You see so many people when they come in, they dont go straight to a table, he said. They stop, they hug somebody, they say hi to somebody coming and going. Its got that neighborhood feel to it.

But while the Engine House Cafe has seen success, Pletcher, who previously served as president of the Havelock Business Association, said the community still has issues with vacancy.

We struggle to fill up every bit of space that we have, he said. There are several spots that businesses just come and go. Just finding a permanent fixture would be great.

One new addition to Havelock could fill that role. The Pasta Place, which served its first dish in March and has been in a soft opening for several months, is set to be fully operational in mid-July, according to owner Don Mayhew.
Michael Nesmith, in The Monkees and with his Pop Clips and Elephant Parts exploration of music video, played a key role in changing how music was presented to young people, making it visible, so to speak, and accessible on television.
First-Plymouth Congregational Church, 20th and D streets, will offer an Animal Blessing as part of the 11:59 a.m. worship service Sunday, June 2.

This service is free and open to the public with all faiths welcome. All well-behaved animals on leashes or in crates or cages are welcome inside the sanctuary. Photos of animals not present will also be offered blessings.

Following the service, outside in the courtyard the clergy will offer an individual blessing, certificate and guardian charm.

While the Blessing is free and open to the public, a freewill offering will be donated to Nebraska Humane Society and Hearts United for Animals for their assistance with animals impacted by Nebraskas devastating spring floods.

Animal artwork by artist Julia Noyes will be displayed during the service.

For more details, call 402-476-7565 or visit firstplymouth.org.

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But studies have shown that health and mental care for moms should continue far beyond the early days after delivery, when complications such as high blood pressure or depression can affect moms and as a result, the babies care.

Its becoming increasingly clear that we cant just cover women while theyre pregnant, said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Expanding Medicaid is not enough to address the many challenges our country faces with respect to the health of mothers and babies. But without it, and without the continuous affordable comprehensive coverage for women of childbearing age it provides, it will be near impossible to see sharp improvements.

Floridas uninsured rate has dropped by 10% since the Affordable Care Act went into effect in 2014, from 29% in to 19%. But according to the study, there are twice as many uninsured women in Florida between ages 18 and 44 compared with states that have expanded Medicaid. The rate of uninsured Florida women in that age range is 19%, compared to the average of 9% in states that have expanded Medicaid.
York County's insurance company has sued a Lincoln woman who they say embezzled more than $100,000 from the landfill in the less than two years she worked there.

Lynn Rasmussen, 60, got two years of probation and 90 days of jail time, including 60 days that can be waived by the court, on a misdemeanor theft charge for it in January.

At that time, Rasmussen had agreed to pay restitution of nearly $12,600, according to York County District Court records.

But in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Lancaster County, EMC Insurance Companies, which insures the City of York, alleged that while Rasmussen ran the scale house at the York Area Solid Waste Agency, she voided $107,824.20 in receipts between October 2014 and July 2016 and deposited the cash into her personal bank accounts.

As a result of her acts, EMC said, it paid York or others on the city's behalf $95,000, and now is seeking the money from Rasmussen.

The company's attorney, Tara Holterhaus, said Rasmussen so far has failed to pay.

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The U.S. State Departments International Visitor Leadership Program brought six young leaders from Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama and Slovakia to Lincoln May 12-15. They were hosted by the Lincoln Council for International Visitors (LCIV) and were chosen by the U.S. Embassies in their countries.

During their Lincoln stay, they met with Secretary of State Robert Evnen, Deputy Secretary of State/Election Commissioner Wayne Bena and the Nebraska Office for State Information Security. They also visited the Legislature and toured the Capitol.

Other visits were to Infogressive Inc., the State Patrol Information Analysis Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln law and political science professors and the chief information security officer for UNL. At a public reception at the Foundry on May 14, they were interviewed by Jon Vanderford of KOLN/KGIN TV.

Eight English-speaking journalists from around the world will be in Lincoln June 6-11. This delegation from Guatemala, Kosovo, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria and Poland will be examining the topic "Media Responsibility in an Age of Disinformation."
During one of the coldest days in recent memory, a Gold Star family living just a few miles outside Beatrice lost heat in their home. They again have a working furnace, thanks to a campaign by the city's former mayor.
Even as several prisons bills were amended into a single piece of legislation signed into law this week, some state senators expressed frustration at how little progress was made this session.

Indeed, the average daily prison population in Nebraskas 10 prisons inched north of 160% of designed capacity during the first quarter of 2019. And thats without considering the 100 or so state inmates contracted to six county jails at any given time.

However, a bill that should decrease these numbers advanced out of committee late in the session and will be primed for debate by the full body early in 2020. Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks has again proposed returning Nebraska to its former practice of allowing a prisoner to become eligible for parole in as little as half of the original term imposed by the court.

A law passed in 2015 mandates the declaration of a prison overcrowding emergency if the population isnt below 140% on July 1, 2020. Back in January, Scott Frakes, director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, told lawmakers he didnt expect his agency would be able to meet that goal  and, with exactly 13 months to go, nothing appears to have change.
Cal Thomas and the Heritage Foundation told us the other day ("Fix debt, entitlements as one," May 24) that entitlements are the cause of debt growth and that therefore cutting Security, Medicare and Medicaid open the path to debt reduction.

But consider: The last budget surpluses (1997 to 2000) were done away with by tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, a war against Afghanistan to capture Al-Qaeda criminals (2001), the bursting of a dot-com bubble and a war against Iraq to get rid of its nonexistent weapons.

A subprime mortgage recession occurred in 2008; the wars continued; and taxes were cut again in 2017. The economy had been growing for eight years before the latest tax cuts and is still growing. The tax cuts may be helping the economy; but, more certainly, they are growing the debt.

Mr. Thomas and the Heritage Foundation think retirees and the sick should pay this debt, so that wars can continue, the wealthy can enjoy their gifts from Congress and the financial sector can find new ways to tank the economy.
In his May 17 Fort Report, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry pretends to care about climate-damaging emissions with his comments about the bad air pollution in Beijing, China.

Yes, the pollution in Beijing is terrible. But I say this because he continues to support President Donald Trump, who denies that climate change is actually happening.

Rep. Fortenberry is not speaking out about President Trump withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, nor about the naming of William Happer, who does not believe humans are responsible for climate change, to the National Security Council.

Perhaps the congressman believes people in China are responsible for their air pollution but, like President Trump and some of his appointees, that people in the United States arent responsible for pollution and emissions.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the per-person amount of carbon dioxide emissions in China is 6.59 tons per year. In India, the per person emission is 1.58 tons per year.
RACINE  Sam Wahlen of Racine wants to help the extreme poor around the world, and he thinks he knows how to do that: through microfinance.

Wahlen, 25, a local business banker, is the author of the book Microfinance: an Economic Analysis of Banking to the Poor. In it, he argues that foreign aid is largely ineffective in accomplishing its intended goals and that there is little correlation between foreign aid and economic growth.

The right tool for helping the extremely impoverished, Wahlen believes, is microfinance.

I discovered the topic when I was in high school  home schooling, to be exact  and I was fascinated with it, he said.

And when I went to college, I found that I really loved writing about it. So, Wahlen wrote the vast majority of the book, perhaps 90%, while earning a degree in economics at Marquette University.

He then self-published the 121-page trade paperback book (which is listed at $11.99) through Archway Publishing, a segment of Simon & Schuster, about 18 months ago.

Wahlen said his introduction to people of extreme poverty came during mission trips to Honduras when he was in middle school.

Describing his book, Wahlen said: It introduces the topic of microfinance to the average, everyday person  its a remarkable way to combat and target poverty, particularly extreme poverty in rural, underdeveloped areas.

Microfinance is a selection of tools, financial services, provided to the poor to allow them to finance, specifically, certain business endeavors, but it can be used for a variety of ways, Wahlen said. The most common form, he said, is microcredit: small loans to poor, self-employed people so they can buy products, supplies and so on.

Microfinance also has expanded to include microinsurance, Wahlen said, home loans and more.

Anything from cellphones, debit cards, savings accounts  those typical services that you and I take for granted but are mind-blowing to the rural poor.

Used around the world

Wahlen said microfinance was invented and specialized in Bangladesh but is now widely used around the world. In particular, its being used in Southeast Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America, he said.

Banks typically avoid doing microfinancing, Wahlen said. The recipients of microfinancing are incredibly hard to lend to, he said. They dont have collateral; they dont have any form of credit score; their income is very haphazard and unreliable. Theyre most often subsistence farmers, or they make and they sell right there on the street, and thats going to determine what they eat the next day.

So, he said, there are a certain number of for-profit entities and a large number of nonprofits that have focused on providing those banking services in places of deep poverty. An example of the latter category is Kiva Microfunds.

The main takeaway from microfinance, Wahlen said, is that we can help the very poor by allowing them to help themselves. They dont need handouts; they dont need welfare; they dont need gifts. What they need is the ability to help themselves.

Wahlen said he wrote his book to be comprehensible to anyone, but said his main audience is younger professionals, people who are idealistic and savvy in the business world.

The book is available from Amazon; Wahlen said he also hopes to get it into libraries and eventually bookstores.

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RACINE  A second teen has been charged in connection to last weeks fatal shooting of 19-year-old Jose Angel Padilla.

Christopher Stanley Webster, 18, who lives in the 1200 block of Center Street, where the shooting occurred, was charged on Friday with first-degree intentional homicide as party to a crime, a felony.

According to police, Webster was with 17-year-old Deshawn Ellison when Ellison allegedly shot Padilla in the back with a shotgun in front of Websters home on the night of May 22.

According to a criminal complaint:

Ellison changed his story several times while being interviewed by police, but he did admit to being at Websters home. At one point, Ellison reportedly said that Webster had tipped him off about a potential robbery they could commit, but later changed his story, claiming that the shooting of Angel was retaliation for a previous robbery.

Both Webster and Ellison are students at Case High School.

According to online court records, this is the first time Webster has been charged with a crime in Wisconsin. Ellison was previously found guilty of robbery in 2015 as a minor, according to police.

A preliminary hearing for both Webster and Ellison is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave. Both remained in custody as of Friday night at the County Jail.

After an initial hearing on Friday, Websters cash bond was set at $500,000. As conditions of his bond, Webster is required not to make contact with Ellison or anyone in Angels family, and also must provide a DNA sample to the Racine County Sheriffs Office.

Another charge

Ellison also faces an additional charge for an alleged battery that reportedly occurred two days before Angel was killed.

According to a criminal complaint, Ellison hit a female several times in the head during a fight regarding his cellphone and Xbox on May 20 at Ellisons residence in the 1000 block of Main Street.

The complaint states that the female did not want to prosecute, although she reportedly was unable to hear out of her left ear that evening after Ellison allegedly hit her.

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ELMWOOD PARK  The villages friendly atmosphere and permeating spirit of neighborliness has inspired two Elmwood Park women to answer the call of community service.

Patricia Black and Alicia Gasser were recently appointed to fill trustee vacancies on the Elmwood Park Village Board.

Black, a musician and composer, has resided in the village since 2008, when she moved into the home where her parents had resided.

The way that neighbors kept an eye out for her parents well-being helped convince Black that the village had unique and endearing qualities. The village of 500, Black said, is a little patch of sanity in a crazy world. We dont want it to change.

Black said she is looking forward to the challenge of serving the community. She said she will respect the differences among her fellow board members while keeping in mind whats best for the community.

Gasser, a middle-school English teacher at The Prairie School, has resided in the village for eight years. But she has lived in the Racine area all her life. Her dads grandfather helped found Brannum Lumber, which operated in Racine for 99 years until it closed in 2008.

Although new to village politics, Gasser has been involved with the villages neighborhood rummage sale and chaired the event last year.

One of my goals is to do more for the families, especially the kids since we are growing in families, Gasser said. The people who live in the community are so kind and friendly, we really do look out for each other.

The first board vacancy resulted when Trustee Cindy Goffe, whose term was to expire in 2020, resigned as of March 1 due to family medical issues, Village Administrator Christophe Jenkins said.

The second vacancy resulted after Ernie Rossi gave up his village trustee post after his election as village president on April 2. Rossi defeated incumbent Kathy Wells in the presidents race. Rossi was unopposed for trustee in the same election.

Blacks seat will be up for re-election in April 2020 and Gassers seat in April 2021.

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RACINE COUNTY  A human trafficking case that implicates five people in forced labor and worker abuse in Georgia and Wisconsin has a connection to Mount Pleasant-based Borzynski Farms.

Five people were indicted by a grand jury for allegedly forcing 14 Mexican immigrants to work on farms in the two states in 2016.

Prosecutors said in the indictment that workers documents were seized to prevent travel, and they were forced to work under the threat of being caused serious harm.

The indicted are: Saul Garcia, 49; Saul Garcia, Jr., 26; Daniel Garcia, 28; Consuelo Garcia, 45; and Maria Remedios Garcia-Olalde, 52. They face several charges, including forced labor, trafficking in peonage, slavery, and involuntary servitude. One of the men also is accused of trying to influence the testimony of two of the victims to the grand jury. The indictment, made in the Eastern Wisconsin District of U.S. District Court, was unsealed last week.

Borzynski Farms said in a statement to multiple media outlets that it contracted with Garcia & Sons, whose chief financial officer is listed as Saul Garcia, for harvesting services during the time period covered in the indictment. Borzynski Farms did not respond to a request for comment from The Journal Times.

At no time did Borzynski Farms know of the use by Garcia and Sons of illegal laborers, or laborers who were being abused, the statement reads.

Harsh conditions alleged

The indictment alleges the defendants recruited the immigrants, all Mexican men, and got them agriculture work visas under the pretense they would work in Georgia. Instead, prosecutors say the defendants brought them to Wisconsin farms, where they worked from July 2016 to Nov. 10, 2016.

While working in Wisconsin farms in Kenosha and Racine counties, prosecutors said the workers were cramped into a hotel, often four men to a room, and sometimes had to sleep on the floor. Beginning at 6 a.m., four yellow school buses would take them to work, according to prosecutors.

The workers were sometimes denied water during hot days, worked 12-hour shifts six or seven days a week with only 30-minute lunch breaks, and were denied medical care or punished when they sought it themselves, according to a document prosecutors filed to support the defendants detention.

Garcia & Sons supervised its own workforce, per its contract, according to the Borzynski Farms statement. Borzynski Farms stated that it cooperated with the federal investigation and stopped using Garcia & Sons contract laborers once it learned of the allegations.

Borzynski Farms is disheartened that its fields and facilities may have been used by Garcia & Sons to exploit or cause harm to any worker, the statement reads. Borzynski Farms believes that being a farm worker is a valuable and honorable profession, and it continues to take steps to ensure that workers and contracted laborers on its farms have a healthy and fair work environment.

Although none of the properties listed in the indictment are owned by Borzynski Farms, according to online property records, Borzynski Farms does have a farm in Moultrie, Ga., where many of the affected properties are located.

Several of the properties are single-family homes owned by Consuelo Garcia.

Although the charges were filed on behalf of 14 men in Wisconsin, in 2015 and 2016 the defendants brought hundreds of Mexican immigrants to work on their farm in Georgia, where the suspects live, according to prosecutors in that state. Some of the workers were eventually sent to Wisconsin.

Transport vehicle stopped

Authorities busted the Wisconsin operation on Nov. 10, 2016, when they stopped one of the yellow school buses. Of the 23 workers on the bus that day, 11 returned to Mexico and 12 chose to stay in Wisconsin. The indictment doesnt say where in Mexico the men were recruited and the victims are not named.

Trafficking another human being is a particularly vile crime, Matthew Krueger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern Wisconsin District, said in a statement. The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting anyone who seeks to sell another persons freedom.

Borzynski Farms has farms and offices in Illinois and Texas, in addition to Wisconsin and Georgia. The company was started by brothers Joe and Dave Borzynski in Sturtevant in 1964. Its largest farming operation is in Wisconsin, with more than 3,000 acres. Cabbage is among the crops it is known for growing in this area.

Borzynski Farms is disheartened that its fields and facilities may have been used by Garcia & Sons to exploit or cause harm to any worker. Borzynski Farms statement

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STURTEVANT  The Sturtevant Village Board is moving toward expanding the number of parks that people can rent and, with a permit, bring beer and wine.

Currently, the village only allows users to bring beer and/or wine into Firemans Park on Charles Street. A person or group can rent the park for $150 and add a beer/wine permit for $50. If the park is in good shape after the event, half of the rental fee, $75, is returned.

A proposed ordinance amendment, which will get a second and final reading at the next Village Board meeting, broadens the policy to add North Park on Michigan Avenue, South Park at 95th Street and Mount Pleasant Avenue, and East Park on 87th Street at Corliss Avenue. The permit must be on the premises during the event for law enforcement personnel to see, and anyone who drinks must be of legal age.

The Village Board normally meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 6 p.m. at the Village Hall.

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RACINE  Ken Michur sat at a table in the back of the Hospitality Center and painted the room in front of him on a postcard size piece of paper.

Most of my life has been surrounded by art, Michur said, who is trying to get back into creating art after falling into financial distress.

Michur said he works but he also comes to the Hospitality Center, 614 Main St., to get clothes if he needs them, a good meal and other services.

They provided clothes for me when I had hardly nothing to wear, Michur said. If it wasnt for this place Id be a goner.

The Hospitality Center aims to be a one-stop shop for people in need of clothes, food, transportation, health care and any other service it can provide to its patrons who are struggling financially.

The Hospitality Center is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and serves upwards of 100 people per day.

There are a lot of people who havent heard from us until theyve gotten hit by those hard times, said Carl Fields, program manager for the Hospitality Center. And then they communicate differently. Theyre asking different questions. Different questions lead to different answers and those answers lead to us.

Community lends a hand

On Thursday, volunteers from the Aurora Health Center on Washington Avenue in Mount Pleasant provided womens wellness exams including breast exams. Food was catered by Hope City Church and Roma Lodge.

Crystal Rieser, family physician for Aurora, said they had a steady flow of women seeking treatment.

When we do the breast exams, we can show them what to do, Rieser said. If we tell them what to do and what to look for, it could be checked early and that could be potentially lifesaving.

Rieser added the women they examined were grateful for the service.

We have models where they can feel what abnormal feels like and its good for them to practice, Rieser said. A lot of them didnt know what to look for and were walking them through the exam and theyre very happy to get that information.

Bringing services to the people

Pastor Seth Raymond, executive director of the Hospitality Center, realizes the majority of people who come there live in the Downtown area, which means it could be difficult for them to get resources like health care or food.

Raymond said volunteers are the lifeblood of the Hospitality Center.

It helps us stretch our budget, Raymond said of people donating food and supplies. And also it helps break down those barriers that people perceive between an us and them mentality ... We break down those misconceptions about people who are in poverty.

Raymond said he tries to bring services and resources to the people they serve. Even simple things such as bringing representatives from Andis Company from Sturtevant to the center to provide a monthly salon, and providing laundry services at Velvet Touch Laundromat at 2027 Lathrop Ave., on the last Wednesday of each month.

Katasha Hodge has been a volunteer since last November and said volunteering has helped her grow and helped improve her self-esteem.

I was down and out and I needed to be around people, Hodge said. For me, helping people, it helps me. It makes me feel good about myself.

Every day, Hodge said she looks forward to coming to the Hospitality Center to interact with the guests.

Without this place, where would everybody go? Hodge said. This place is necessary. It needs to be here.

Jerry Baker has been coming to the Hospitality Center for the past three years.

As a diabetic, Baker said the Hospitality Center is a good place for him to get a good meal and manage his blood sugar.

Sometimes I get up and I dont have anything in the house to eat or I dont feel like cooking because my sugar might be low, Baker said. I put my coat on and come down here and get sweets and stuff to help bring (my blood sugar) up.

Baker said hes appreciative of the information and services that come to the center but one of the best things for him to do is to be social with the staff and other guests.

Im living in a senior citizen home and sometimes where Im at, people dont come out and socialize, Baker said. So I come down here in the morning, drink coffee, get a little socialization and it makes you feel good instead of sitting at home and by yourself all day, you got somebody to talk to.

Hope week

As part of their hope week, roughly a dozen volunteers from Hope City Church, located at 944 Main St., served lunch Thursday to the guests at the Hospitality Center. Chili dogs, steamed green beans and fruit was on the menu.

Lead Pastor Tyler Butler said its important for his congregation to get out and serve the community.

We dont just want to be a church in the city, we want to be a church for the city, Butler said.

It was the churchs second time volunteering at the Hospitality Center but congregation members hope to do it more often.

Its humbling, Butler said. Its a great opportunity to love people, to serve people and I think thats what the gospel is all about.

There are a lot of people who havent heard from us until theyve gotten hit by those hard times. And then they communicate differently. Theyre asking different questions. Different questions lead to different answers and those answers lead to us.  Carl Fields, program manager for the Hospitality Center

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Skepticism about climate change-related research led the Legislatures budget committee last week to water down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers plan to restore a Department of Natural Resources science bureau, according to a top Republican senator.

The Republican majority on the Legislatures budget committee agreed to restore two of the 18 researchers cut in 2015 by then-Gov. Scott Walker and his GOP allies in the state Assembly and Senate.

Evers administration officials said the two positions wont be enough to research new ways to reduce damage done to lakes, streams and drinking water by climate change, invasive species and contaminated sewage.

Evers, who was elected in November and promised to make 2019 the year of clean drinking water, proposed restoring five researcher positions to help guide initiatives aimed at protecting water quality. A DNR official expressed gratitude that the budget panel approved the two researchers who are to focus on emerging contaminants, such as cancer-linked PFAS chemicals that have been found in several Madison wells and across the state.

It would have been better if we could build more capacity in water resource research, said DNR budget director Eric Ebersberger. Its a big deal in the sense that we would have liked to have the five.

Half of the senior scientists were cut from the DNRs Integrated Science Services Bureau in the 2015 state budget because Republicans didnt want them studying the way climate change and pollution from mining could harm the environment.

DNR researchers try to ensure that department programs use effective methods when managing the complex biological systems found in land and water.

But the cuts and other staff losses have meant the DNR no longer has staff with expertise in research subjects including pathogens that force beach closings, restoration of lakes with eroded shorelines or sections that turn into swamps or dry land, and toxic contaminants in fish and wildlife, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported.

The department has reduced capacity to research problems, such as controlling wildfires and basic lake science topics including blooms of bacterial algae and diminished fish populations, the fiscal bureau said.

The budget panels leader for natural resources issues, Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, said in an interview he was leery of Evers plans to begin rebuilding the science bureau.

The other three researchers proposed by Evers would have had as a priority finding ways to adapt DNR water protection programs to changing climatic conditions such as increased rain and extreme weather events.

That was certainly one of the red flags for me, Tiffany said of the proposed resumption of climate-change research. Trying to re-establish the science bureau is certainly a red flag for me, too.

Tiffany was a driving force behind the 2015 cuts and the subsequent elimination of the science bureau. Tiffany doesnt accept the findings of 97 percent of working climate scientists that the climate is changing rapidly in large part because of human-caused pollution. He opposes environmental regulation he sees as needlessly hindering businesses.

The two researchers approved by Tiffany and the other 11 Republicans on the budget panel are to research emerging water contaminants such as PFAS, a large group of synthetic compounds associated with serious health risks that have been detected in Wisconsin drinking water.

Business interests have urged the DNR and legislators to go slow on PFAS regulation, which has cost millions of dollars to find and clean up in other states. No Republicans have signed on to a bill Democrats have offered to launch a broad effort aimed at protecting Wisconsin from PFAS contamination in ways other states have employed for years.

Tiffany said he voted to add the two PFAS researchers as a compromise with Evers, and because the budget committee co-chairman, Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, has in his district the states worst known case of PFAS in drinking water.

Science bureau reduced and reorganized

In 2017, at the urging of Tiffany and other Republicans, the DNR disbanded what was left of the science bureau and renamed it Office of Applied Science. Nineteen researchers who remained after the cuts were dispersed across the agency to work directly for managers of fisheries, wildlife and pollution-control programs.

Tiffany said he thought the reorganization would give the then-secretary of the DNR, former Republican lawmaker Cathy Stepp, the ability to ensure that research benefited sportsmen while eliminating studies that take climate change into account.

Critics have voiced concerns that with less centralized control of research, department-wide priorities and efficiency could be lost, and with fewer scientists the DNRs wildlife management decisions  for example about which lakes and streams are stocked with fish  could be skewed by individuals and groups with political influence.

Tiffany has disregarded what DNR wildlife scientists say when their research contradicts things his constituents tell him about whether hunting regulations are written in a way that helps them have success when they hunt.

The initiation of topics researched by Office of Applied Science is influenced more by DNR program managers than it was when the agency operated the science services bureau, but the final selection is reviewed by a central coordinator who consults with the DNR secretary before giving approval, said Scott Hull, who directs the office.

The fiscal bureau suggested that the budget committee could consider approving just two of the five researchers.

The bureau said the DNR had 30 or more PFAS research projects ready to go, but it might be unable to accelerate its research agenda at a pace to fully avail itself of the (other three) positions immediately.

However, Hull and others said the latest update of the DNRs research agenda covering all of Evers priorities would be finalized by July 1, when the new state budget is supposed to take effect. The list of projects will easily exceed the ability of five additional researchers, Hull said.

The DNRs division of environmental management chief, Darsi Foss, said that in addition to emerging contaminants and climate-induced damage to waterways, the priorities for the five would have included:

Protecting lakes and streams from invasive species that can change aquatic ecology  including altering water quality and the types of fish available to anglers.

Keeping water safe from health hazards such as nitrate and bacterial pollution associated primarily with farming.

Ensuring that sewage sludge that is spread on farm fields across the state isnt contaminated by toxins or other chemicals that could be carried by rain into drinking water, lakes and streams.

When the Legislatures Joint Committee on Finance completes its recommendations on Evers budget, the Assembly and Senate will vote on them, and Evers will have an opportunity to sign or use his veto power to alter or reject them.

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The Vernon Economic Development Association (VEDA) continues to receive national and state recognition for the success business entrepreneurs are realizing at the Food Enterprise Center which the non-profit owns and manages in Viroqua. Sue Noble, executive director of VEDA, shared this news and other highlights of the organizations activities from the past year at its annual membership meeting held May 15 at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve (KVR) in La Farge.

Keith Ashley-Wright, chair of the Township of Stark and Critical Business Initiatives Program Manager at Organic Valley, opened the meeting with information about Stark Township within which the KVR is located. He identified the following strengths of the area: the La Farge Medical Clinic, La Farges small school district, Organic Valley a huge employer, and the KVR as a tourist attraction and a big asset.

VEDA is a 5013 non-profit organization formed in January of 2006 by a group of community leaders and business executives from throughout Vernon County. VEDAs mission is to create economic wealth and prosperity in the region. In talking about the groups mission, Chuck Peterson, a VEDA Board Member and Warehouse Manager at Organic Valley, spoke about meaningful work being key to a healthy economy. Economic development is about creating opportunities, he said.

The opportunities for entrepreneurs that VEDA has created at the Food Enterprise Center were featured as a model in a national study conducted by the Food Works Group, a firm that focuses on food systems planning and business development. Their report was published in January of this year. Businesses in the Food Enterprise Center benefit from having on-site technical assistance, business counseling, access to resources, peer mentoring and an infrastructure that includes two commercial kitchens, loading docks, and space to start or expand a business operation.

We are building wealth in the region by creating the environment for economic development to occur, said Noble. Its community development from the inside out, she added, referring to the 25 businesses now leasing space in the renovated former NCR manufacturing facility at 1201 N. Main St. in Viroqua. Local entrepreneurs are creating their own economic solutions by creating businesses that create jobs and increase the tax base in our region.

VEDAs accomplishments from the past year also include the following:

Assisting more than 90 businesses with one-to-one counseling and resources. These business contacts came from both within and outside Vernon County, including Stoddard, Coon Valley, Readstown, La Crosse, La Farge, Westby, Sparta, Viroqua, Soldiers Grove, Chicago, Trempealeau, Chippewa Falls, Lancaster, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Waunakee, Galesville, Eau Claire, and Blue River.

Connecting businesses to local investor funds

Seeing the Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club still going strong with monthly meetings offering valuable resources. Now in its 12th year, these gatherings of aspiring entrepreneurs and experienced business professionals have resulted in 10 new businesses and 40 new jobs. Meetings are open to anyone interested and are held on the second Wednesday of each month at the Food Enterprise Center beginning with networking at 5:30 p.m. and a speaker at 6 p.m.

Hosting two workshops on social media in partnership with Cashton Bank

Working with local growers to access markets for industrial hemp. Two tenants at the Food Enterprise Center, HempScience and Fifth Season Cooperative, are involved in this activity.

Continuing to work with the Village Board in Ontario for flood recovery and moving the vision for that village forward. Noble has also facilitated four Community Conversations in connection with this effort.

Helping Community Hunger Solutions, another Food Enterprise Center tenant, to distribute food to flood victims through the 2018 Labor Day weekend. A grant-funded project under VEDA, Community Hunger Solutions receives and packages excess or imperfect-but-still-nutritious produce from area farmers and delivers it to meal centers and food banks in the region. Noble shared a letter from Dan Stein from Second Harvest Food Bank in which he spoke highly of the cooperation the two food-related organizations displayed in meeting the emergency need following that flood. Since its inception, more than 900,000 lbs. of food have been distributed by Community Hunger Solutions to needy people instead of going to waste.

In addition, at the annual meeting organizational financial reports were presented and election of board members was held. Re-elected to the VEDA Board for three-year terms were Mike Breckel, Kay Buck, Chuck Peterson, and Jim Servais. At a Board meeting which took place after the annual membership meeting, the following officers were elected: Mike Breckel, president; Jim Servais, vice-president; Dave Maxwell, secretary; and Kay Buck, treasurer. Other members of the Board include Christina Dollhausen, Julie Emslie, Jeff Gohlke, Al Hanson, Kathy Neidert, and George Wilbur.

For more information on VEDA and opportunities to help support or become involved in a coordinated effort to economic development in our region, go to our website www.veda-wi.org. We look forward to your partnership!

Kathy Neidert is a member of the Vernon Economic Development Association (VEDA) Board of Directors.

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1. Yes. The economy is strong and unemployment low. Thats a good basis for a solid year.

2. Yes. Health experts are getting a handle on COVID. 2022 should be a better year.

3. No. If any large-scale COV ID-related shutdowns take place, it will hit the nation hard.

4. No. Inflation is still too much of a wild card. It could really cause a drag on the economy.

5. Unsure. There are too many variables at play to predict with any degree of certainty.

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St. Francis Medical Center Offers Free Sidewalk CPR Classes to the Community as part of National CPR Week June 1-7

In support of National CPR Week June 1-7, St. Francis Medical Center is offering free Hands-Only CPR classes on Thursday, June 6, in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency. The classes will be held at St. Francis Medical Center located at 3630 E. Imperial Highway in Lynwood.

CPR instructors will demonstrate the proper techniques of Hands-Only CPR. Hands-only CPR consists of strong, fast, rhythmic chest compressions without the rescue breaths. The hands-on sessions give participants the opportunity to practice the technique on CPR simulator mannequins. According to research reported by the American Heart Association (AHA), hands-only CPR can be as effective as traditional CPR with rescue breaths when it is performed in the first critical minutes of an adult experiencing cardiac arrest outside the hospital.

The AHA stresses that immediate CPR can triple a victims chance of survival. With seventy percent of cardiac arrests occurring at home, administering CPR until first responders arrive could save the life of a loved one.

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Sidewalk CPR Sessions

Session 1: 8:30 am  9:00 am

Session 2: 9:00 am  9:30 am

Session 3: 9:30 am  10:00 am

Session 4: 10:00 am  10:30 am

Session 5: 10:30 am  11:00 am

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Session 6: 11:00 am  11:30 am

Session 7: 11:30 am  12:00 noon

Session 8: 12:00 noon  12:30 pm

All sessions offered in English and Spanish.

To register for a session or for questions, please call the St. Francis Medical Center Education Department at (310) 900-8522. The class is not a CPR certification course, but information on how to get certified will be available.
Chinese dissidents are looking back at the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijings Tiananmen Square.

June 4 marks the 30-year anniversary of the demonstrations. On that day, Chinese troops opened fire to break up the student-led protests. Rights groups and witnesses say hundreds or even thousands of people may have been killed in the unrest.

The Tiananmen Square protests remain one of the most politically taboo subjects in Chinese society today. Chinas government and ruling Communist Party have no official plans to mark the event. The government has never provided an official description of the violence, identified how many people died or investigated officials responsible.

Wuer Kaixi was a well-known student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests. He fled the country after the military broke up the demonstrations. He had been put on the governments most-wanted list for his involvement in the pro-democracy movement.

Wuer Kaixi is now 51 years old. He lives in Taiwan with his wife and children. He told the Associated Press he is still trying to keep memories of Tiananmen Square alive. Sometimes remembrance is one of the most humble forms of resistance, he said.

Wuer Kaixi added: Lets look at what the Chinese regime is clearly. Its a group of people who stole the position of ruling China - one of the largest counties in the world - and theyre taking advantage of that position to do one thing: loot.

Wang Dan was another leader of the pro-democracy movement during the Tiananmen Square protests. At the time, he was a young student attending Peking University.

Wang was on the Chinese governments most wanted list after the protests. He was arrested and served two terms in jail before being freed in 1998. He then received permission to move overseas.

The dissident now lives in the United States. Wang says he is still attempting to inform people about the need to bring democracy to China. It is time for us now - for the whole democratic countries now - to re-recognize the true face of the (Communist Party of China) and try to learn some lessons from the Tiananmen massacre, he said.

Wang is also calling on Western nations to link Chinas human rights record to trade relations as a possible way to force change. China becomes a threat for the free world, and in my opinion, I think it is time to relink trade and human rights issues. That might be the only way to deal with this problem, he said.

Dissident Pu Zhiqiang was a student during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. At the time, he pressed the government for free speech and freedom of the press.

Looking at old pictures of his younger self and others 30 years later, the dissident said he believes the aims of the protesters were mostly pure.

We hoped that China could change for the better, said Pu, now 54. As a 24-year-old, presented with this chance to serve society, had I not played a role at all, not made my voice heard, I would not have been able to forgive myself, he told The Associated Press.

Longtime Hong Kong democracy campaigner Chu Yiu-ming was in his 40s when he joined the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Chu, a Christian clergyman, helped get dissidents out of China after the bloodshed. He later helped lead major pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2014.

Speaking with the Reuters news agency, Chu said he thinks the political situation in China seems worse today than in 1989. Regarding Chinas political situation, I feel even more pessimistic, Chu said. The students back then were opposing corruption but now things are more serious than in 1989.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His story was based on reports from the Associated Press and Reuters. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

taboo  adj. not acceptable to talk about or do

humble  adj. not proud; not thinking of yourself as better than other people

regime  n. a system of government or other control, especially one that people do not approve of

take advantage (of something)  v. treating people badly in order to get something from them

loot  v. to steal

massacre  n. the violent killing of many people

pessimistic  adj. always believing that bad things will happen
Chewbacca climbed into the pilot seat of the Millennium Falcon as fireworks exploded above Disneyland in Anaheim, California, Wednesday.

Chewbacca is an imaginary creature born in the first of the Star Wars series of movies. He was in Disneyland for a ceremony to open the new Star Wars area at the theme park.

Chewie, lets fire up the Falcon, said Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker. He also attended the event to open the more than five-and-one-half hectare area called Star Wars: Galaxys Edge. It opened to the public Friday.

The furry Chewbacca had trouble starting the huge spaceship, which led actor Harrison Ford to surprise the crowd and offer an assist. Ford played the Star Wars character Han Solo. He hit the side of the ship and said Peter, this ones for you, in honor of Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca in five films and died in April.

Ford stood on stage with Hamill, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, Star Wars creator George Lucas, and Billy Dee Williams, who performed the part of Lando Calrissian in Star Wars.

Lucas created the Star Wars movie series in 1977 and sold it to Disney in 2012. He gave high praise to Galaxys Edge, which is set in Black Spire Outpost, a settlement on a planet called Batuu that appeared in Star Wars books but never in film.

You did a great job, Lucas said to Iger. It could have gone very bad but it didnt.

Lucas described the Star Wars area as something you couldnt even have dreamed about 20 years ago."

It will change your life, he added.

The place offers visitors the chance to step into the Millennium Falcons cockpit and control a simulated flight.

Guests also can drink blue milk, eat space meat cooked by a pod-racing engine and have a drink at an outer-space restaurant.

Expectations run high from generations of fans. Many of the movie series lovers have waited 40 years since the first film to visit a real-world version of the galaxy far, far away.

The goal was to be ambitious, really ambitious, Iger told a reporter earlier on Wednesday. To be bold, but not only bold in terms of scale, but in terms of detail, artistry, technology, and to make sure first and foremost that we are pleasing the most ardent Star Wars fan.

Disney also aims to appeal to a broad group of Star Wars lovers as well as people without any attachment to the futuristic series.

Im Caty Weaver.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

theme

ambitious

bold

scale

ardent

foremost
Armed with incentives, Singapore has been increasing its efforts to get technology businesses and investors interested in the country.

Companies and government officials say the goal of the campaign is to make Singapore into a high-tech center.

But now, the city-state is turning its attention to finding skilled workers, and even the government says its work is not done.

Attracting talent

U.S.-based investor Paul Bragiel said he had to be asked three or four times before he accepted an invitation from Singapore to come see its tech industry.

Bragiel made the nearly 13,000-kilometer trip from the United States in 2010. Back then, he said, the city-states chances of becoming a leading Asian tech center were bleak, to say the least.

But he saw some promise, and like many other investors and tech companies since then, he was attracted by generous terms from government agencies.

They gave us a very aggressive deal. Very few countries would have matched it, added Bragiel. He also considered Hong Kong and Tokyo for an Asian expansion before helping to set up Golden Gate Ventures in Singapore in 2011. The Reuters news agency reported that he would not say what the terms of his deal were.

Golden Gate Ventures is a venture capital company. It connects investors with startup companies and other businesses.

Singapore, Southeast Asia and the tech industry

Singapore is one of the smallest nations in Southeast Asia.

Internet users in nearby Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia spend four hours or more every day on mobile internet. That information comes from a 2018 study by social media platform Hootsuite.

Manufacturing, finance and insurance businesses made up more than a third of Singapores $356 billion economy last year.

The information-communications sector, which includes tech companies, represents about 4% of that total. But it is growing faster than any other sector, based on information released last week.

Information and communications grew at about 6.6% in the first three months of 2019. The next fastest of the nine sectors Singapore follows was finance and insurance at 3.2%.

Chng Kai Fong is managing director of Singapores Economic Development Board, or EDB. The EDB is the government agency that negotiates some deals between local companies and foreign investors.

Fong said he is now hoping to attract Jedi Masters, or high-level tech people, to Singapore. With the help of those Jedi Masters, he hopes can finally turn Singapore into a major tech center.

Details on the deals negotiated with the EDB are hard to come by. The government makes businesses sign nondisclosure agreements, noted companies, advisors and officials.

Tax holidays, financial aid for research and development and co-funding for investments are among the incentives from different agencies, they added.

The secretive nature of the deals means it is unclear how much the country spends to attract such companies and whether it proves profitable.

Challenges and criticisms

Yet a number of issues remain. Some tech companies have expressed concern about Singapores recently passed fake news law, which critics say could limit free speech. Alphabets Google said it was worried the law would hurt innovation and the growth of the digital information ecosystem.

Also, Singapore only has a single local unicorn - a startup worth over $1 billion - in ride-hailing company Grab. That information comes from researchers at CBInsights.

Indonesia has four such unicorns: taxi app Go-Jek, travel website Traveloka, and market places Bukalapak and Tokopedia. Hong Kong has two, in online travel agency Klook and logistics business Lalamove.

At a time of tensions between the United States and China, Singapore seems to be on neutral ground while still enjoying free trade with both. Last year, the city-state added a free trade deal with the European Union.

Political issues also threaten to pull Hong Kong further under Chinas influence, which should help Singapore, noted one banker.

For Bragiel, any concerns he had about Singapore almost 10 years ago are long forgotten.

Silicon Valley attracts the whole world; Singapore is catching up, he said.

I'm John Russell.

And I'm Alice Bryant.

Aradhana Aravindan, John Geddie, Anshuman Daga reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted their report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

incentive  n. a thing or action that motivates someone to do something

bleak - adj. not hopeful

attract  v. to cause to have an interest or liking in something

generous  adj. showing a willingness to give more of something

match  v. to be equal to something

mobile  adj. able to move or moved easily

insurance  n. the act of a company promising a guarantee of payment for a loss, damage or health condition

nondisclosure  n. legal term - failure to report information

fake news  n. news stories that appear to be news, but which are often sensational and have factual mistakes

innovation - n. the act or process of proposing new ideas, devices, or methods

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
Suicide rates among young people in the United States have been on the rise for almost 10 years, with the sharpest increase found among girls. That information comes from a new study published in JAMA Network Open.

The study found that suicides among girls aged 10 to 14 increased by about 13 percent each year between 2007 and 2016. Suicides among boys in the same age group rose by 7 percent per year.

Donna Ruch is a researcher at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in the state of Ohio. She was the reports lead writer. She said the research shows a significant increase in younger female rates of suicide.

Ruch said she believes the bigger increase in deaths among girls is related to changes in the methods girls choose to try to kill themselves.

Now they are using more lethal means, she said. And that really concerns us.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 19 in the United States.

To take a closer look at suicide trends among the young, Ruch and her team examined nationwide data on suicides among people aged 10 to 19 from 1975 to 2016.

The researchers identified 85,051 deaths among U.S. youth between those years. About 80 percent of them were boys.

Rates of suicide in children aged 10 to 14 went down between 1993 and 2007. After that, they began to rise again, by 12.7 percent per year among girls and by 7.1 percent among boys.

Similar trends were seen among people aged 15 to 19, with a decline until 2007, then yearly increases of 7.9 percent among girls and 3.5 percent among boys.

Ruch and her team cannot explain the increases. But she said finding a reason is an important next step.

For now, she advises parents to know the warning signs that a child might be in danger: Is the child making suicidal statements? Are they unhappy for longer periods of time? Are they withdrawing from friends and school activities?

If they are, Ruch said, thats when you should start to consider taking your child to a mental health professional.

Suicide expert Ian Rockett suggests that the numbers in the study actually underreport the number of girls who kill themselves.

We know that females are more inclined to use drug intoxication as a method, said Rockett, a professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown and the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

Thats less likely to be picked up as a suicide, Rockett noted.

Rockett believes that media may play a role in the rising rates of suicide among young people in general. He points to a soon-to-be-published paper he helped write that links the Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why with increased suicide rates among both boys and girls.

The association we found is actually stronger in females, he said. And that should be a cause for concern related to exposure to mass media.

Im Ashley Thompson.

The Reuters news agency reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

significant - adj. large enough to be noticed or have an effect

lethal - adj. causing or able to cause death

youth - n. the time of life when someone is young : the time when a young person has not yet become an adult

trend - n. a general direction of change

withdraw - v. to stop spending time with other people

inclined - adj. wanting to do something or likely to do something

intoxicated - adj. affected by alcohol or drugs

association - n. a connection or relationship between things or people

exposure - n. the fact or condition of being affected by something or experiencing something : the condition of being exposed tosomething
An Albany man who was charged with a dozen sex crimes against four girls last week now stands accused in a separate case of first-degree rape 
An Albany man was sentenced to more than six years in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections last week after being convicted of s
A longtime city employee opened fire in a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 12 people on three floors and sending terrified co-workers scrambling for cover before police shot and killed him following a "long gun-battle," authorities said.
LEXINGTON  After an eight year search the Dawson County Childrens Museum will now have a location of their own to operate out of. The organization will be moving into the building at 800 N. Washington St.

Dawson County Childrens Museum board president Pat Longly said the location on Washington St. was, "the right size, affordable and felt like the right fit."

She added the building will be known to, "old timers," as the old Maloley grocery store and the site where Department of Health and Human Services used to have a call center.

Longly started the Childrens Musuem organization back in 2011 after she retired from teaching, but the group has never had a building to call their own.

Until now the Childrens Museum has been operating out of the Lexington Public Library, hosting events on the second Saturday of each month, Longly said.
Pastor Anne Gahn said at the latest council meeting she has heard about the lack of options from around the community and it is affecting many people.

The Orthman Community YMCA is also interested in the childcare situation. Director Riley Gruntorad said conversations are in the, "very early stages," but the YMCA understands the childcare need.

Gruntorad said the YMCA is one of the largest daycare providers in the country. "We are here to build a better community, this is one way we could do that."

If its not a daily question on social media, then it is every other day, Gruntorad said of people asking about childcare options in the county. "There is a huge need," he said.

In an effort to effectively serve the community, Gruntorad said the YMCA is "very interested," in providing more childcare options, but are at least a year out from doing so.
Seamus Lawless, an assistant professor of computer science at Trinity College in Ireland, went missing last Thursday when he slipped and fell shortly near the summit, on a different side of the mountain from where the main traffic jam is taking place.

On Friday, the Independent reported that a second Irish climber, Kevin Hynes, died on Friday. He had climbed parts of Everest before, and the British group he traveled with, 360 Expeditions, said in a statement he was one of the strongest and most experienced climbers on our team.

Earlier this week an American, Donald Lynn Cash, 55, of Utah, died after falling sick, possibly from the high altitude. It was unclear what role, if any, the foot traffic jams had in his death.

And a 65-year-old Austrian man is also among the dead.

Last year, 807 people reached the mountains summit, more than had ever reached the top in a single year before. When climbers choose to scale Everest, they do so with the understanding of the potential perils they could encounter along the way.
Linda Wood cast an eye toward the water being pumped into the street from her basement and voiced the thought of just about everyone in this Council Bluffs neighborhood along the Missouri River.

I hope its not going to get as bad as 2011, she said Saturday as she stood on the front porch of her home a couple of blocks from the levee.

Throughout the neighborhood, the results of busy sump pumps could be seen in the crystal-clear groundwater flushing out of pipes and into gutters. The water table thats forcing water into basements and crawl spaces hasnt risen this high since the historic, summerlong Missouri River flood eight years ago, residents say.

The Missouri River is rising because of heavy rain runoff and increasing releases from upstream dams. And now the effects are showing up in the Omaha metro area.

Interstate 29 is again fully closed from northern Council Bluffs to Loveland, Iowa.

Interstate 680, which links northern Omaha to Iowa, has closed. That brings to six the number of Missouri River crossings that are closed between Omaha and St. Joseph, Missouri, according to state roads officials. Only five crossings remain open  four in the Omaha area and one at St. Joseph.
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On the morning of June 13, Maysoun Chablout and her husband decided it was best to stay inside.

It was the day after a mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando and Chablout, a Muslim woman who wears a hijab, feared she would be blamed for the horrific violence if she appeared in public.

It felt like 9/11 for us Muslims where you couldnt go outside for three weeks, said Chablout, who was born in Syria and has lived in Madison for three years. She teaches Arabic studies at Madinah Community Center.

Although Muslims residing in the United States have publicly condemned such attacks as contrary to the teachings of Islam, those same U.S. residents, many of them American citizens, still fear hostile environments that can result when shooters are identified as Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiment is suspected by some to be the motive behind the recent shooting death of an Imam and his assistant in Queens, New York, though that has not been confirmed.

Local Muslims interviewed say they want people to know that Islam is not confined to a society or geographic location. There are 1.6 billion Muslims residing across the globe.

Madison Muslims have migrated from different parts of the world, belong to a wide variety of ethnic groups and are a tightly knit community. They estimate that there are approximately 10,000 Muslims in the Madison area, many of whom attend the area's three mosques, located downtown and on the east and west sides. All of the mosques are former churches. People gather at each of the mosques for Friday afternoon prayers, called Jummah.

While many in Madisons Muslim population said they dont experience the same kind of hostility that their Muslim counterparts face in other parts of the country, they point to the media as a primary source of rhetoric that roots Islamophobia among non-Muslims.

Media is playing a critical role towards portraying Islam in a negative way and sadly it is the prime source of information for the masses, said Sohail Siraj, owner of Best Brains Learning Center, an academic tutoring business in Madison.

Still, Muslims interviewed say they have found a supportive community here.

It is important for the whole nation and the city of Madison to know that churches and other organizations reached out to us after all the anti-Islam rhetoric in the media about Muslims to show support, said Gibril Jarjue, president of the Islamic Center of East Madison. There is solidarity between Muslims and other faiths in Madison.

Jarjue said the churches signed a letter in support of the Madison Muslim community.

I hope other organizations in other cities learn from this kind of unity because we have families and kids here, Jarjue said. They are growing and they are Americans.

On a recent Friday, the Imam leading prayers at the Islamic Center of East Madison quoted from the Quran, the main religious text of Islam, and preached about living in harmony with neighbors despite the challenges of the current political climate.

It is a common theme in the mosque. During the sermon preceding the prayers, Imam Alhagie Jallow, an Islamic scholar, said terrorist attacks carried out across the globe by those who identify as Muslim are not acts of Islam.

Islam should not be judged as a religion based on one persons action, said Jallow, who presides over the Islamic Center of East Madison. If a terrorist has an Islamic name, the entire world blames the rest of the Muslims and it is painful.

Islam condemns the killing of human beings, he said. Jallow quoted a verse from the Quran which is translated as: If a person saves one soul, the reward is for saving the whole world. And if you kill one soul, the consequences and punishment for that is as if you killed the whole world.

Nizam Nizammuddin, an immigrant from India who has lived in Madison for 45 years, condemned mass shootings such as those in Orlando and San Bernardino, California, calling them barbaric.

If their interpretation of Islam triggers a derailed thought process, that is their individual problem and misunderstanding of the religion. It does not mean that Islam allows such actions, Nizammuddin said. There is no room for such kind of violence.

Violent acts that the media link with individuals who happen to be Muslim cause shock and grief as well as frustration for local Muslims.

I was in shock and frustrated at the (Orlando) shooter at the same time for carrying such an attack when Muslims are already portrayed so negatively, said Akmal Hamid, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student originally from Malaysia.

When she first heard about the mass shooting in Florida, Najeeha Khan, another student at UW-Madison originally from Pakistan, hoped that the perpetrator was not a Muslim.

Because we have seen it in the past where the media links the attack to Islamic values and we can suffer the consequences and deal with negative comments although we didnt ask for it, Khan said.

Khan wears a hijab and prepared herself for negative remarks and more stares than usual after the attack. The traditional headscarf makes it impossible for Muslim women to blend in.

It is unnerving when people just blatantly keep staring at you in public if youre wearing a hijab, said another UW-Madison student, Afra Alam, who was born in Waukesha and is of Bangladeshi descent. People have such crazy hairstyles, but thats more acceptable in public than me wearing a scarf over my head.

The medias tendency to link Islamic values and terrorism, even indirectly, seems to happen for several reasons, some said.

UW-Madison student Hamid believes that by making that connection, journalists think their stories will be more interesting and more people will read them.

That is the medias goal, and people who already antagonize Islam  including politicians  hit the jackpot, Hamid said.

Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the UW-Madison, said that when there is a presidential candidate like Donald Trump who establishes narratives against a particular race or religion, it can be hard for journalists to correct that tone.

With breaking news, Culver said, the media needs to slow down.

They should not immediately make the top question: Is this terrorism? Is this terrorism? Is this terrorism? They need to step back and look at the situation as a whole.

Competitiveness, Culver said, can lead to some pretty flawed decision-making.

UW-Madison student Alam feels that the media portrays Muslims in a bad light in order to attract a larger audience.

The dangerous rhetoric of Islamophobia sparks even more hatred towards Muslims, she said.

Culver said a lack of diversity in newsrooms also hurts coverage.

We dont have people practicing a rich variety of faiths among newsrooms. The average newsrooms are white males from middle to upper class and we see a lot more men than women, she said.

She said the media should be out talking to people in their community and building trust so that they understand situations like Chablouts, who did not feel safe leaving her house.

Those are the things we need to pay attention to as news media and also responsibly report on communities, she said.

Nihal Ahmad, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said the term fundamentalist Christian is never used in the media when a Christian commits a crime.

The media should not call these terrorists Muslim extremists because they are not Muslim in the first place because they are not following Islam, Ahmad said.

Imam Jallow thinks the solution is to educate journalists about Islam.

The media needs to separate what is Islam and what an individual is doing, Jallow said. We are Americans and we obey the same law as every other U.S. citizen.

Focusing on religion neglects real issues behind the crimes, some said.

If a person has a Muslim name and brown skin color they are automatically called terrorist, unlike many other instances where the shooter gets away by having a mental disability, said Haddijatou Tunkara, a young Madison Muslim.

Media critics are concerned, Culver said, that once the label of terrorism is applied to Islam, it transforms coverage and people lose sight of the situation and its relationship to other social issues like mental illness.

When Tunkara learned about the Orlando shooting from a Buzzfeed notification on her phone, she was devastated.

The first thing the media mentioned was that he is a Muslim and not the fact that he might have a mental disability, Tunkara said.

Tunkara is an advocate for gun control and said that is the issue to focus on: It shouldnt be that easy for someone to get a gun and carry out such a heinous attack.

Culver agreed that the role of guns can be overlooked.

If you look at cases not just like Orlando or San Bernardino, in fact all cases involving mass killings, we have never really come to terms with as a society to accept the toll of guns in this country, she said.

The recent attacks have prompted local Muslims to hold interfaith events to inform people about Islam.

Bin Dada, a consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said Muslims should have been reaching out to the community since 9/11.

We shouldnt wait for these attacks to happen in order to realize that we need to be more involved in the community, he said.

Local efforts mirror larger initiatives around the country, such as those by the American Friends Service Committee in Washington, D.C. AFSC collaborates with Muslim, Christian and Jewish faith-based organizations to confront and eliminate Islamophobia.

Muslim Americans are put in a corner where they are either accused of being terrorists or seen as objects that will be used as insinuating terrorism, said Raed Jarrar, government relations manager in AFSCs office of public policy and advocacy.

We try to fight against legislation that will increase discrimination against Muslim Americans, he said. Changing the prevailing narrative about Islam and Muslims in the U.S. is very important  about Islam being a foreign religion that is associated with negative values is one of the issues that many organizations are trying to push for. Islam is not a foreign religion to the United States.

There is no narrative out there that says Muslims Americans are equal to Americans. We should not be holding them to another bar to prove their American-ness and prove they deserve to be in this country.

Best Brains Learning Centers Siraj agrees.

We need to show people we are the same human beings as you are, we have the same heart as you do, and we have the same feelings as you do, he said.
Why are you the best candidate for the district?

Fitchburg is an evolving community. Were experiencing some growing pains right now, and we need a leader who can empathize but keep a clear vision to lead us into the future. That leader needs to be passionate and eager to do the work of service  not only by showing up to meetings but by being present in the community. That person needs to actively seek out the needs of the families, seniors, business owners large and small, farmers, and people of color who call Fitchburg home. We need a fresh perspective for our growing community. I believe that my energy and collaborative nature make me the leader that Fitchburg needs to bring county resources home.

What sets you apart from your opponent?
What is the greatest challenge facing the district and if elected, how would you address it?

We need a safer, healthier community for everyone, which requires investments in mental health services, long-term solutions to the opioid crisis and clean lakes to swim and play in. We need affordable housing, transportation and access to community health services. And, as our governor says, whats best for kids is best for our state. Kids need somewhere to go after school. We need to support inclusive and fun programs where kids can learn and grow from a young age through high school. We need to ensure that Dane County remains affordable so these same kids can one day also buy their first homes here.

If elected, what do you hope to accomplish?

I want to make Dane County healthy, safe and affordable.
TWIN FALLS  With the recent rainy days, it seems like summer will never come.

Of course, that hot summer sun will come sooner than we expect, and everyone will be in desperate need of a frozen treat to escape from the heat.

Thankfully, the Magic Valley has a ton of options to help fight the heat. Heres a sampling of whats available.

Canyon Rim Creamery

163 Cheney Drive W., Twin Falls

Canyon Rim Creamery is new to the Magic Valley  it opened in March 23  but it hit the ground running with its 24 flavors, delicious chocolate milk and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Troy and RoLynne Hendricks had the idea to open the creamery three years ago when they moved to Twin Falls and they missed the Idaho Falls-based Reeds Dairy. The couple had the idea to bring the dairy-based treats to their new home.

Tony Hendricks recommends Gavins Mess  a chocolate ice cream with Oreos crushed in with a caramel covering.

We believe that ice cream is a food group, RoLynne Hendricks said.

Cloverleaf Creamery

205 Broadway S., Buhl

Cloverleaf Creamery is a staple in the Magic Valley for a reason. They describe the ice cream as velvety heaven  which isnt far from the truth.

Every year they participate in Twin Falls Rotary Clubs annual Ice Cream Funday. This year, the event runs from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 27 in City Park in Twin Falls.

Tropical Sno Twin Falls

347 Pole Line Rd., Twin Falls

Maybe ice cream isnt your thing. Tropical Sno has you covered with handmade shaved ice. They boast more than 40 flavors for you to choose from.

Usher in the 2019 summer season with the grand opening of Tropical Sno Twin Falls, with a two-for-one deal between 12 and 9 p.m. Saturday.

Baskin Robbins

677 Blue Lakes Blvd. N., Twin Falls

If you want something familiar and reliable Baskin Robbins is always a safe bet. They offer an extensive menu of ice cream flavors and cakes for any special occasion this summer.

Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt

725 Blue Lakes Blvd. N., Twin Falls

A great alternative to ice cream is a delicious frozen yogurt. For anyone who loves to cool off with a snack but doesnt want all the guilt of ice cream, yogurt is always a great treat.

Check out its nutritional information at orangeleafyogurt.com.

Kiwi Loco

828 Blue Lake Blvd. N., Twin Falls, ID 83301

Another local yogurt stop, their catchphrase is your yogurt, your way.

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Last week, I traveled to Washington, D.C., with volunteers representing a coalition of over 50 cancer-fighting organizations for the One Voice Against Cancer Lobby Day. Together, we asked Congress to keep the momentum going and prioritize our nations ongoing investment in cutting-edge cancer research.

Everyone knows someone with cancer  whether it is a friend, family or ourselves. There is perhaps no better way for Congress to demonstrate support for the fight against cancer than by funding advancements in research.

In my meetings with my members of Congress, I called on them to make cancer a national priority and provide hope to more than 1.7 million Americans expected to be diagnosed with the disease this year.

Cancer is on the verge of significant new breakthroughs. We are at a point where advancements in research are saving more lives than ever. The National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute have played a key role in virtually every major cancer prevention, detection and treatment discovery.

Continued investments in lifesaving medical research and prevention for diseases like cancer should be a top priority for Congress. We cannot miss this opportunity.

I am asking our Idaho Congressmen to please help fund the fight.

Jayne Runyon

Volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

Burley

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Bridgepoint Education, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides postsecondary education services in the United States. Its academic institutions, Ashford University and University of the Rockies, offer associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in the disciplines of business, education, psychology, social sciences, and health sciences. The company offers its programs primarily through online; and at its campuses. As of December 31, 2017, its institutions offered approximately 1,200 courses and 80 degree programs; and had 45,730 students enrolled. The company was formerly known as TeleUniversity, Inc. and changed its name to Bridgepoint Education, Inc. in February 2004. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

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New research presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia congress (the annual meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology) in Vienna, Austria (1-3 June) shows that commonly used anaesthetic drugs still work, even after exposure to the extreme environmental conditions of the Antarctic. The study was conducted by Professor Major Ricardo Navarro-Suay of Hospital Central de la Defensa "Gomez Ulla", Madrid, Spain (who serves in the Spanish Armed Forces) and colleagues.

Anaesthetists can find themselves working in a wide range of situations and challenging conditions where the supply of medicines can be interrupted or drug efficacy could be altered by environmental factors. This can introduce uncertainties into planning how anaesthetics will be used during a procedure, which in turn can impact patient safety.

The authors studied the effects of exposing four commonly used anaesthetic drugs (fentanyl citrate, etomidate, rocuronium bromide and suxamethonium chloride) to Antarctic weather conditions to determine whether these compounds could be safely and reliably used in such environments.

To evaluate the impact of environmental factors on anaesthetic drugs, the four selected drugs were subjected to the extreme polar climate of Deception Island in Antarctica, with vials of each drug left outside in clear plastic bags (see poster) but nothing to protect them from the bitterly cold conditions.

Measurements were taken of the maximum and minimum values of; daily temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, amount of sunlight, rain, and solar radiation. Drug vials were then examined at 24, 48, and 72 hours for damage to the container itself, any changes or deterioration of the medicine inside, and a detailed chemical analysis was performed to measure any loss of potency of the compounds using high resolution liquid chromatography.

The team found that despite being exposed to Antarctic conditions for up to 72 hours, the drugs were well within the allowed margins of security (99-110%). To explain further how a result of 110% could be achieved, Major Navarro-Suay says: "Sometimes a drug can be changed or improved with weather conditions, like light or cold. The drug administration security interval is from 95 to 110% so these results show we could employ these drugs safely to patients under the extreme conditions like the polar weather found in Antarctica."

He concludes: "This chemical analysis shows that using the common anaesthetic drugs fentanyl, etomidate, rocuronium bromide and suxamethonium chloride appears safe even in this extreme environment in Antarctica."

Explore further Antarctic snowfall dominated by a few extreme snowstorms
Three-dimensional culture of human breast cancer cells, with DNA stained blue and a protein in the cell surface membrane stained green. Image created in 2014 by Tom Misteli, Ph.D., and Karen Meaburn, Ph.D. at the NIH IRP.

A new form of drug drastically improves survival rates of younger women with the most common type of breast cancer, researchers said on Saturday, citing the results of an international clinical trial.

The findings, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, showed that the addition of cell-cycle inhibitor ribociclib increased survival rates to 70 percent after three and a half years.

The mortality rate was 29 percent less than when patients, all under 59 and pre-menopausal, were randomly assigned a placebo.

Lead author Sara Hurvitz told AFP the study focused on a form of breast cancer which is fueled by the hormone estrogen and which accounts for two-thirds of all cases among younger women.

It is generally treated by therapies that block the hormone's production.

"You actually can get synergy, or a better response, better cancer kill, by adding one of these cell-cycle inhibitors" on top of the hormone blocking therapy, said Hurvitz.

The drug works by inhibiting the activity of cancer-cell promoting enzymes.

The treatment is less toxic than traditional chemotherapy because it more selectively targets cancerous cells, blocking their ability to multiply.

An estimated 268,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the US in 2019, while the advanced form of the disease is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women aged 20 to 59.

Growing menace

Though advanced breast cancer is less common among younger women, its incidence grew two percent per year in the US between 1978 and 2008 for women aged 20 to 39, according to a previous study.

The new trial, which looked at more than 670 cases, included only women who had advanced cancerstage fourfor which they had not received prior hormone-blocking therapy.

"These are patients who tend to be diagnosed later, at a later stage in their disease, because we don't have great screening modalities for young women," said Hurvitz.

In addition, patients who develop breast cancer early tend to have more complex cases.

"That's what makes us so excited, because it's a therapy that's affecting so many patients with advanced disease," added Hurvitz.

A pill is administered daily for 21 days followed by seven days off to allow the body time to recover, since two-thirds of patients have a moderate to severe drop in white cell count.

Jamie Bennett, a spokeswoman for Novartis, which markets the drug under the brand name Kisqali and funded the research, said it cost $12,553 for a 28-day dose.

But, she added, "the majority of patients in the US with commercial insurance will pay $0 per month for their Kisqali prescription."

There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer and the majority of the women on the drug will require some form of therapy for the rest of their lives.

'Significant survival benefit'

Oncologist Harold Burstein, who was not involved in the research, said it was "an important study," having established that the use of the drug "translates into a significant survival benefit for women."

Burstein is with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

"Hopefully, these data will enable access for this product for more women around the world, particularly in healthcare systems which assess value rigorously as part of their decisions for national access to drugs," Burstein added.

Moving forward, Hurvitz said she was interested in investigating whether ribociclib could help nip cancer in the bud at an earlier stage.

"We want to go and look at those women diagnosed with early stage disease, small tumors, tumors that haven't gone to the lymph nodes or haven't gone to other parts of the body and see if we can stop it from returning later from metastasizing," she said.

The enrollment phase of new global clinical trial is now underway.

Explore further Fulvestrant plus anastrozole extends lives of women with advanced HR+ breast cancer

More information: New England Journal of Medicine, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1903765 Lancet Oncology, www.thelancet.com/journals/lan  (18)30292-4/fulltext

 2019 AFP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Nicotine and caffeine withdrawal can cause unnecessary suffering to patients in intensive care units (ICUs), and could be leading to unneeded laboratory testing and diagnostic imaging such as X-rays and MRIs, according to a systematic review of clinical and observational studies involving 483 adults.

The findings are being presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia congress (the annual meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology) in Vienna, Austria (1-3 June).

"Nicotine and caffeine are some of the most commonly used and highly addictive substances in modern society, but they are often overlooked as a potential source of significant withdrawal symptoms when abruptly discontinued in ICU", explains Associate Professor Maya Belitova from University Hospital "Tsaritsa YoannaISUL, Sofia, Bulgaria who led the research.

"Withdrawal symptoms including nausea, vomiting, headaches, and delirium can last for up to 2 weeks. These symptoms resemble conditions such as meningitis, encephalitis, and intracranial haemorrhagethis may confuse clinical diagnosis and result in unnecessary tests which can cause patient harm, cost a lot of money, and waste time."

In Europe, up to 27% of the population smokes, and more than half drink coffee. The systematic review, synthesising all the available evidence from the scientific literature, included 12 studies investigating withdrawal symptoms and treatment in ICUs between 2000 and 2018, involving 483 adults (aged 18-93).

Results showed that acute nicotine withdrawal substantially increases agitation (64% smokers vs 32% non-smokers) and the number of tracheal tube and intravenous line displacements caused by agitation in ICU patients (14% smokers vs 3% non-smokers).

However, nicotine substitution therapy was shown to contribute to the development of ICU delirium (severe confusion and disorientation)which is associated with prolonged intubation, increased length of stay, and greater risk of dying.

Abrupt caffeine withdrawal leads to drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and can increase rates of ICU delirium. Caffeine benzoate has been successfully used to treat headaches but substitution in the ICU has a limited evidence base.

"ICU patients may benefit from nicotine substitution or caffeine supplementation, but with little evidence for their effectiveness, this should be left up to the judgement of treating physicians", says Professor Belitova. "There is lack of evidence on abrupt caffeine withdrawal, its complications and therapeutic options. Future research should focus on acute caffeine withdrawal as an independent risk factor for agitation and delirium in ICU and on available treatment options."

Explore further Harm caused by nicotine withdrawal during intensive care
Ohio's health authority on Friday ordered a newly opened hospital outside Columbus to immediately flush and disinfect its water lines and take other steps to protect the public's health after seven patients were diagnosed with potentially fatal Legionnaires' disease.

The Ohio Department of Health said in a statement that the first Mount Carmel Grove City patient diagnosed with Legionnaires', a severe form of pneumonia, was admitted to the 200-bed hospital April 29, the day after it opened. The statement described state Health Director Amy Acton's adjudication order as a rare event.

The hospital also has been ordered to test and clean its ice machines, clean and service its on-site cooling towers, and provide all test results and a water management plan to the Health Department.

If Mount Carmel fails to follow Acton's directives, she will order the hospital to stop accepting patients, the statement said.

State and Franklin County health officials were conducting an environmental assessment at Mount Carmel on Saturday morning.

Mount Carmel spokeswoman Samantha Irons said in a statement late Friday that the hospital is running additional tests on its water sources and that its water supply is receiving "supplemental" disinfection. She said hospital officials are confident Mount Carmel can maintain full services "while we study this situation."

The Mount Carmel statement said anyone who has been hospitalized at the facility and develops a cough, muscle aches, headaches or shortness of breath should contact their primary care physician.

The Centers for Disease Control and Infection website says people are infected with Legionnaires' by inhaling airborne water droplets containing the Legionella bacteria. Cooling towers containing water and a fan as part of a centralized cooling system are a potential source for Legionella, the CDC says.

While most healthy people are unaffected, those over 50, smokers and others with weakened immune systems and chronic lung disease are most at risk of being infected, the CDC says.

The Mount Carmel system has been under intense scrutiny after discovering that a doctor had prescribed excessive doses of painkillers to 29 patients who died at its other hospitals.

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
About 336 sex offenders are listed on the state registry in the Missoula area, and that's only the number of those who are compliant with their registration.

Assistant Attorney General Madison Mattioli stepped into a grant-funded position in April to address the 4,744 sex offenders statewide who are not compliant with current addresses and information on the state Department of Justice's Sexual and Violent Registration.

Mattioli and Assistant Attorney General Ole Olson were appointed as special prosecutors this week by the Missoula County Board of Commissioners to work those cases here.

The SVOR prosecutor position is funded through the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), a section of the the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The Montana Attorney General's Office has secured grant funding for the position through September 2021.

Enforcing that registration is a compelling public safety interest, Mattioli said.

"It helps people protect themselves and their communities," she said.

While DOJ maintains the registry, it's typically up to local agencies to enforce compliance and track offenders. With more than 4,000 sex offenders not complying with the registration, the Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigations installed two agents solely committed to tracking down non-compliant offenders, sometimes working with the U.S. Marshals Office to bring them into custody, DOJ spokesman John Barnes said.

From there, Mattioli takes the case to prosecution.

"It's all law enforcement," Barnes said. "This is another aspect of that."

But prosecution is just one of several components required in the new grant-funded position. Mattioli's time is divided between educating local agencies on SORNA programs, providing lawmakers with information and updates on statutes, and developing Memorandums of Understanding with tribal nations who operate as SORNA jurisdictions in Montana.

She recently worked with the tribal officials on the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Indian Reservations to bolster registry efforts there with enhancements to their current training programs. Just as with any other agency in Montana, Mattioli's work will be a helping hand in communities where sex offender registration enforcement might not take the highest priority.

"This just helps them, to the extent that they need help," she said.

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Next week, the Flathead County Fairgrounds in Kalispell will host the first annual Herd Bull Powwow to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Its going to be a barn-burner, predicts organizer Bruce Grant. In addition to 32 categories of traditional Native American dancing, the event advertises bull riding, a relay race, drum contest and hand game tournament  and more than $250,000 in prize money.

Grant, a Havre resident and member of the Gros Ventre tribe of the Fort Belknap Reservation, has helped organize these gatherings for 25 years. While the dancers are competing, he said, they also find deep spiritual significance in the ritual. While we dance, we pray. As we get dressed, we pray. As we get undressed, we pray. Its a continuous prayer.

The regalia, too, holds significance, he said. Grant spent 26 years assembling his powwow outfit, Herd Bull, from buffalo materials. If you go to the powwow and look at all these Native American outfits, regalia, theyre looking at a story.

Powwow guests will see plenty of stories in Kalispell next week. Grant said hes been fielding hundreds of calls from across the U.S. and Canada about the event, and expects at least 3,000 to 5,000 dancers, but thats shooting low.

The gathering will honor missing and murdered indigenous women, a long-overlooked group thats risen to prominence in the past year. Theres a lot of sorrow and heartache from them kids that are missing.  We all have to be part of this, Grant said.

He said hes invited Gov. Steve Bullock, the members of Montanas congressional delegation and state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, and hopes the benefits will extend to everyone who comes.

This is a healing powwow, Grant said. This means that everybodys invited to get your healing.

It comes, he said, from watching and being there, and having a heartbeat. Once you hear that heartbeat, thats your healing. That heartbeat is a drum, and its also not only to honor the missing and murdered, but our elders, our youth, and our women and children.

The powwow will be held at the Flathead County Fairgrounds in Kalispell. Pre-registration for contestants begins Wednesday, June 5, and the Grand Entry will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday. A one-day ticket to all events costs $20.

Organizers are still looking for both Native and non-Native sponsors for the event categories. Sponsorship costs $6,500 for an adult category, $3,250 for a teen category, and $1,400 for a junior category. Sponsor groups, individuals and businesses will be able to judge their categorys winners, and will be recognized with an honor song and star quilt.

For sponsorship information, and more details about the powwow, call Bruce Grant at 406-399-7826.

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" " Most local governments require business owners  even online sellers  to legitimize their operations by obtaining business licenses. Rawpixel Ltd/ThinkStock

In the 1989 remake of the movie "Parenthood," father-to-be Tod remarks to his future mother-in-law, "You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog or drive a car. Hell, you need a license to catch a fish! But they'll let any [expletive] be a father" [source: IMDB]. Tod's perception is that licensing is arbitrary  it doesn't make much sense. However, when you break it down, licensing makes perfect sense. The word "license" comes from the Latin licentia (freedom, liberty), a cognate of licentem/licere (to be lawful), whose root, leik, means "to offer or bargain" [source: eymonline.com]. A license affirms one's freedom to perform the licensed action. Most local governments require business owners  even online sellers  to legitimize their operations by obtaining business licenses.

Whether you're selling through a marketplace like Etsy or operating an independent website, you're required to abide by your local laws. This often means getting a business license. Depending on what you're selling, you might also need to obtain additional licensing. Furthermore, depending on how you structure your business (sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation), you might need to obtain certain federal permits. Check your city or county's website for information about the permits required in your area.

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In addition, here are some other things to consider when you're thinking about starting a business that sells things online:

If you're operating from home, be sure to check with your city or county zoning and planning agency to see if a home occupation permit is required.

If you're operating your online store from an apartment or rented residence, check your lease for any restrictions or rules around operating a home business.

Etsy advises its online sellers that they may be obligated to pay sales taxes. If so, you'll need to apply for a sales tax ID number.

If you're not sure where to start, the U.S. Small Business Administration offers a useful hyperlinked list of federal and state websites where you can find information about licensing requirements in your area and for your type of business. In addition, companies like Intuit can help you identify and  for a fee  submit the permits and licenses required for your business area and type. Click over to the next page to learn more about how you can get legit by obtaining a business license.
"Ongoing uncertainty with trade policies have had a negative impact on agriculture and on the sentiment of our customers concerning investing in new equipment," Deere spokesman Ken Golden said.

In announcing quarterly earnings, Golden said Deere announced the impact of tariffs would lower net income by around $75 million. He said most of the increased costs are related to steel, in both direct purchases of steel and in purchases of parts and components containing the metal.

The trade war between the U.S. and China, Swenson said, has the furthest reaching impact on the Quad-Cities region, where agriculture meets top multinational companies.

But for some companies manufacturing metal parts from imported steel and aluminum, tensions between the U.S., Canada and Mexico also have taken a toll.

Matt Meenan, a spokesperson with the Aluminum Association, said the lifting of tariffs on steel and aluminum from Mexico and Canada was welcome news.
DES MOINES - Thomas M. Lawrence, 67, of Des Moines died of natural causes on May 29, 2019, at his home in Des Moines. He was born on March 12, 1952, in Bossier City, Louisiana, the second son of Stan Hack Lawrence and Joan Lawrence. He grew up in Muscatine and attended Muscatine Public schools, graduating from Muscatine High in 1970. He later attended Marycrest College in Davenport, where he graduated with a degree in communications. Early in his career he worked as a Library Assistant at Musser Public Library and as a DJ for several different Quad-City and Iowa City radio stations. He found his true calling when he joined the staff of the Bootleggers performing wait staff at Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island. He knew that was where he belonged and he helped to entertain audiences there for nearly 30 years. He was a real showman with a beautiful singing voice. He was reading by age 3 and excelled not just at trivia, but in being deeply knowledgeable about nearly everything. So naturally, in 1988, he fulfilled a life-long dream of appearing on Jeopardy! and ended up being a three-day champion there. He was an avid runner and completed the Bix 7 and Watermelon Stampede road races numerous times. He was a great fan of old monster movies, comic book superheroes, the Beatles, the Iowa Hawks and the New York Yankees.
They would ask me what actors I saw in the roles. I would tell them, and theyd say Oh thats interesting. And that would be the end of it. --Elmore Leonard, in 2000, on the extent of his input for Hollywood's adaptation of his novels
The technological Cold War thats breaking out between the U.S. and China has exposed Europes awkward attempts to walk a fine diplomatic line between the two superpowers.

Super-fast 5G mobile networks are the most visible example. The EU doesnt want to copy Donald Trumps ban on Chinas Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. (despite his threat to curb intelligence sharing with the British unless they fall into line). But neither does Europe want to turn a blind eye to the Chinese cyber-security threat and evidence of the countrys unfair trade practices. The continents leaders are trying to find their own united path. Its an encouraging ambition, but one thats still a long way from being realized.

Well have a better idea of progress at the end of June, by which time EU member states are meant to have completed the first stage of a project to beef up mobile network security across the region. The aim is to set common technical standards and for countries to work together to identify any weak links that could infect the system at large. This is meant to lay the groundwork for a single 5G toolbox for the bloc by the end of the year.

The EU hopes that by presenting a combined front, it will have the power to dictate the terms of trade on 5G technology with China and avoid having to rip Huawei out of existing networks or disadvantage its own consumers by ditching a key supplier.

Unfortunately, history tells us Europe is often incapable of such collaborative endeavors. The willingness of EU member states to share sensitive national security information with each other is crucial to the 5G project. Such willingness has been in short supply before, and its not clear this time will be much different.

Several countries intelligence services  including those of the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Britain  have already raised flags about Huawei, of varying shades of red. But its hard to build a clear view of the threat because the information offered up by individual states is so patchy. This is not a rich tapestry of shared knowledge.

This reluctance to share intelligence is sometimes based on fear of where it will end up: Germany is one of several countries worried about potential Russian influence in Austrias secret services, for example. At other times, governments dont want to hand over information for fear of losing control or autonomy. Even in times of crisis such as the aftermath of a terrorist attack, national security services tend to distrust the big European institutions, according to Oldrich Bures, founder of the Center for Security Studies in Prague.

So theres a risk that the latest network security initiative will end up resembling other worthy pan-EU projects that collide with national interests. These include a Rapid Alert System to fight fake news and disinformation on social media by encouraging EU member states to share information and coordinate responses, which has met with a lukewarm response. A lack of proper funding and political willpower have made it a non-rapid, non-alert, non-system, one Brussels official told Reuters.

The EUs cyber-security agency, meanwhile, is due to get a bump in its yearly budget and personnel, but only in four years time, and even then to a hardly spectacular 23 million euros ($25.6 million) and 125 staff.

Intelligence sharing is not a magic wand for dealing with the Chinese 5G problem, of course. The Five Eyes network  a spooks alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.  has been riven by disagreement over Huawei too. And with the Chinese company offering telecoms operators eye-popping price discounts of about 60 percent versus its closest competitors, according to the Washington Post, business interests will also have their say about how Huawei should be treated.

But unless the EU member states find a way to trust each other, their attempts to steer an independent course on the U.S.-China technology clash will look doomed.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged the worlds biggest economies to accommodate each others interests to avoid a prolonged conflict, adding that the U.S. has the most difficult adjustment to make.

Speaking at a regional forum attended by Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, Lee called on both nations to avoid a zero-sum dynamic. China must convince the world that its a responsible global player, he said, while the U.S. must give Beijing a greater say in forging international rules.

The U.S., being the preeminent power, has the most difficult adjustment to make, Lee said. But however difficult the task, it is well worth the U.S. forging a new understanding that will integrate Chinas aspirations within the current system of rules and norms.

Singapore, a city-state heavily dependent on trade, has been one of the most outspoken countries in Asia calling for the U.S. and China to reach a deal. Lee warned last year that Southeast Asian nations might someday have to choose between them, and said Friday that punitive trade actions would affect investments, technology and people-to-people ties.

Divided and Troubled World

Every action taken by one side will be seen as a direct challenge to the other, and will elicit a counter-action, Lee said. We will all be headed for a more divided and troubled world.

The trade conflict between the U.S. and China took a dramatic turn for the worse in May after President Donald Trump hiked tariffs after accusing Beijing of reneging on commitments in negotiations. His administration also blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co., threatening to cripple Chinas most strategic technology company.

China has responded with tariff increases and threats against U.S. companies. On Friday, the Commerce Ministry said it will establish a list of so-called unreliable entities that could affect thousands of foreign companies operating in Beijing. Bloomberg News reported that Beijing has also readied a plan to restrict exports of rare earths to the U.S. if needed.

In a question-and-answer session after the speech, Lee said Singapore hadnt yet decided which companys equipment it would use to build a 5G network. He said every system would have vulnerabilities, and its important to be able to trust the country that provides the equipment.

Lee said it was worrying that a bipartisan consensus was emerging in the U.S. that China was a strategic competitor that needed to be contained, a sentiment that is likely to get worse as the 2020 election approaches. He said a protracted face-off wouldnt look like the Cold War, given the U.S. and China dont have an irreconcilable ideological divide and Beijing has extensive trade links with the rest of the world.

To reach a lasting agreement, he said, political leaders must work to convince skeptical populations of the merits of working together. He also called for strengthening multilateral institutions, saying no country should cripple or block them.

It is the responsibility of political leaders to find solutions to head off these extreme outcomes, he said.

Global trade has been in swifter decline in 2019 amid greater U.S.-China tariffs and threats that have discouraged investors and prompted businesses to consider re-jiggering their supply chains. Even before the latest escalation, Chinas economy was losing momentum, as reflected by weaker-than-expected data in April.

The trade-war pain, alongside cyclical weakening in global demand, has been particularly felt among the worlds export engines in Asia. Exports for Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan all contracted in April from the same time in 2018. Vietnam has stood out as a lone beneficiary, posting export gains and attracting more attention among businesses.

Speaking in Washington earlier this month, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said it wont work to view China as an adversary that must be contained, and he called for constructive competition between the superpowers. A world that splits into rival blocs would jeopardize gains made under the U.S.-led world order over the past 70 years, he said.

Singapore wants both a sustained U.S. presence, which we believe is positive, and we also want China to be able to assume its rightful place as it develops and becomes a superpower in its own right, Balakrishnan said.

Lee said both the U.S. and China are so big that neither could take each other out if they tried, and that Singapore didnt want to choose between them.

We maintain links with both sides, but to actively avoid taking sides, actually also requires actively not being pressured to take sides, he said, prompting laughter. And unfortunately, when the lines start to get drawn, everybody asks Are you my friend or not my friend? And that makes it difficult for the small countries.
Lisa Ann Jones, Age 55, died on Saturday May 25, 2019 at her home in Salt Lake City, UT. Lisa was born to Saundra Knowles and Donald Comer on December 23, 1963 in Los Gatos, CA. She was one of four children and loved dancing as well as sewing her own clothes when she was in high school. She was an incredible dancer and had an amazing voice. She met her soon to be husband Bradley Jones while attending BYU Provo where she was studying English, Drama and Dance. She also worked in the theatre department there and sewed many costumes and she really enjoyed that.

Brad and Lisa were married in August of 1983 and had five beautiful children together that quite literally were her world. She loved being a mother and loved her children more than words can say. She could pick up any skill she desired and was incredibly talented, mastering painting, sewing, the piano, singing, dancing, writing, hair and makeup art, massage therapy, knitting, cooking, and the list could go on.

She loved traveling and spent time in Africa doing humanitarian service, in Europe, and all over the United States. Hawaii was her happy place and she loved it there. She spent the last few years of her life living in Utah to be close to her three sons and granddaughter. She had just received honors at her employer and was incredibly gifted at talking and connecting with people.

She was very spiritual and no matter what life threw at her she always had a very strong faith in God that never wavered. She also loved her furbaby Buster very much and often sewed him clothes. The defining characteristic of Lisa was Love. She showed love constantly to everyone and everything. She was an example to all of us of how to be a good person.

She is survived by her daughter Heather Jones, son Trevor Jones, son Garrett Jones, son Ian Jones, daughter Brandy Jones, and grandchildren Ethan Stout and Lily Jones. Also, her Mother Saundra Knowles, Father Donald Comer, Step Sister Kelly, Step Brother Jason, Step Mother Ann, Step Mother Emmy, Brother Mike and Sisters London and Tracy. Services for Lisa will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints located at 2590 Trower Ave. In Napa, CA on Saturday June 1, 2019 at 1pm. There will also be a service in Utah on June 1, 2019.
A pavement pulverizing, runway revitalizing, $15 million modernizing effort is underway at Napa County Airport.

Workers are cracking the 76-year-old portland cement concrete that is the runway pavement. The concrete will be left and become the base for the new asphalt surface.

The original World War II-era runways at the airport have stood the test of time. But now its time for renovation.

Napa County airport isnt a commercial flight airport like the much larger ones serving Oakland and San Francisco. Locals arent driving there on a regular basis to catch flights. For most Napans, it is a world unseen except maybe in the distance from the Butler Bridge.

Still, the county-owned airport is the aerial gateway to wine country for private and charter flights and home to small planes flown by local pilots. It has 50,000 takeoffs and landings in a typical year.

The goal is to keep the airport by south county wetlands up-and-running for planes, even while the main runway is reborn.

Were always open, with the exception of some night closures toward the end of the project, airport Manager Greg Baer said.

Achieving this is taking a six-phase effort. The airport has three runwaysa main runway for prevailing winds, a much shorter parallel runway and a crosswind runway used when wind conditions warrant. All of these runways are scheduled to be open or closed at various times before the project finishes in October.

For example, the main runway is presently open, though shortened to 4,146 feet compared to the usual 5,931 feet. The crosswind runway is closed so renovations can be done in the area where it overlaps with the main runway.

In a few weeks, the main runway should be closed for renovations and the crosswind runway should be open.

We put a lot of effort in the planning of this project, Baer said. The phasing plan was intended to keep us open as much as possible. Thats why its kind of complex.

So far, so good, according to local pilot Jim Lyon, who has a 1964 Cesna 210 at the airport.

The only time I would be impacted is say there is a really strong wind thats favoring the runway thats under construction, Lyon said. Then Im going to have to weigh things out and see how much I want a crosswind takeoff or landing.

If he was up in the air and a strong wind came up unfavorable for the available runway, he might land at Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville. If he hadnt taken off, he might decide not to fly, Lyon said. But he doesnt see this as being a frequent choice.

Its really not going to affect us little guys and when its done, its going to be nice, Lyon said.

Consultants Mead and Hunt prepared a 2017 pavement index report on the main runway for the county. It found the runway in poor condition under Federal Aviation Administration standards.

The pavement problem apparently affects the bigger planes more than the small ones such as Lyons.

But I can land my plane on grass strips, Lyon said.

Baer said the concrete runway experiences spalling, with spots of pavement breaking up in such a way that could cause a blown tire. The airport must continually patch the damage.

Still, Baer isnt complaining that a 76-year-old runway has wear-and-tear. He praised the original building job.

When you think about it, the fact were still using it is very impressive, he said.

Napa County Airport dates back to the U.S. Armys desire for a local airfield to help with World War II coastal defenses. A deal called for the county to buy the land, the Army to build and operate the airfield during the war, then for the county to take over the facility.

Workers began pouring the concrete runways in November 1943, the St. Helena Star reported at the time. They poured it in 25-foot strips, 8 inches deep in the middle and a foot deep at the sides.

Ninety percent of the $15 million renovation project is being paid for by a Federal Aviation Administration grant. None of the money is coming from the countys general fund coffers.

I like to tell people who may not know a lot about the airport the fact that we operate as an enterprise fund, Baer said. So were fully self-sustained. We do not take any general fund dollars.

The main runway has designation 18R/36L derived from the two directions it points. For example, the 18 is the magnet compass reading of 180 degrees rounded off to the nearest 10th of a degree. Airports paint the designations in big numbers on runways.

But the earths magnetic field has shifted since the main runway received this designation and the renovation project is proving to be the time for an update. The reborn runway will be named 19R/1L.

Its a brand-new surface and its also going to have a brand-new name or number on it, Baer said.

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Precariously placed near an earthquake fault and a natural-gas pipe, Stone Bridge School may be in line for a new location  again.

Before a near-capacity audience of more than 130 people at Stone Bridge, directors of the Napa Valley Unified School District announced Thursday they will recommend relocating the charter school in the rural Carneros region, and set a goal of updating parents and faculty on the campus future by Oct. 1.

Such a proposal, which requires approval from the NVUSD board, would be the third attempt at finding a new home for Stone Bridge since the 2014 earthquake ripped gashes on the property on Los Carneros Avenue and revealed the campus nearness to the West Napa Fault that triggered the quake.

In the five years since, plans for the academy to share Yountville Elementary School, or to move to Old Sonoma Road, have fizzled  even as millions of dollars from a 2016 school-bond issue have led to renovations at two other seismically vulnerable schools.

The meeting between school district leaders, and the parents and teachers of Stone Bridge students from kindergarten to eighth grade, revealed the tension in balancing the need to bolster student safety against shrinking public-school enrollment that has squeezed Californias per-student funding to the Napa district.

NVUSD leaders also confronted the disappointment and skepticism of school parents upset at a sharp reduction in Stone Bridges allotment  from more than $14 million to $2 million  from Measure H, the $269 million bond issue passed by Napa County voters three years ago.

We overpromised, we underdelivered; I get it, Mike Pearson, NVUSDs facilities director, said of what he called campaign promises that never should have been made for specific schools. But at some point weve got to say OK, lets go.

Pearson told Stone Bridge parents that district staff favors shifting the campus over rebuilding it on site or long-term reliance on portable classrooms.

A rebuild at Los Carneros would require at least $55 million without solving the problems of an active fault zone unbuildable under state law, as well as the continuing presence of a 26-inch-wide Pacific Gas & Electric gas line on the north side of campus, he said. Meanwhile, portable units could be added for $4 million or less but would drive up maintenance costs due to their shorter lifespan, added Pearson.

Moving Stone Bridge offers the best chance of finding the school a safe long-term home, said Pearson, although he conceded the special challenges of relocating an independent charter school with needs unique to the district. As a Waldorf school, Stone Bridge follows a low-technology curriculum heavily based on interactive and hands-on learning, including an on-campus farm where students help grow fresh produce and chickens  a fixture more difficult to copy on a more urban campus.

If no plan to relocate or rebuild the school before the summer of 2020 is ready by this October, Pearson told the audience, Napa Valley Unified will announce the delay in advance and create an interim plan for the school, which could include moving up to seven existing portable buildings at least 50 feet away from the fault line.

Afterward, Pearson said such a holding action may be covered by the $2 million recommended for Stone Bridge in the school districts most recent Measure H implementation plan, which the NVUSD board approved in April. Funds from the bond sale are to be used within three years, and district officials have said they cannot bank that money to use in the distant future.

No sites are currently being actively studied as replacement homes for Stone Bridge, according to Superintendent Rosanna Mucetti, who said options may emerge if NVUSD closes campuses or consolidates schools due to declining enrollment.

The absence of an obvious landing spot for the Stone Bridge School remained a sore spot for some parents, who questioned whether Napa Valley Unified can come up with a solid road map by October without knowing what other properties will become available.

Until we know the where, we cant make a recommendation, said Faith Armstrong Foster, the mother of four children who have either graduated from or still attend Stone Bridge.

A fall-off in enrollment  and forecasts of further declines  has led Mucetti to warn of continuing budget cuts despite the Measure H school bond. The school districts fiscal reserve of 3.6 percent is dropping near the states 3 percent minimum districts must maintain to avoid a potential state takeover, she said.

Stone Bridges renovation or relocation is not the only project left in limbo by Napa Valley Unifieds fiscal woes. On May 20, the district said that American Canyons second middle school, scheduled to break ground this summer, could be put on hold because it lacks the $2.2 million a year needed to run the school without cutting other programs.

Mucetti, who was not in the school district before her 2018 appointment, said the backlash of such austerity measures shows the peril of making overambitious promises to win political support.

There is a risk when campaign promises are made for specific projects at specific schools, she told the Stone Bridge audience. It always leads to disappointment and lack of trust.

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Since OLE Health opened its first clinic 47 years ago, its become a household name in the Napa Valley.

And it keeps growing.

Today, OLE Health is the second-largest health care provider in Napa County, behind Kaiser Permanente, in terms of patients treated. It serves a quarter of countys kids and one in six county adults.

Its new, 29,000-square-foot south Napa campus, which will begin serving patients on June 3, is one of nine facilities, including seven in Napa County and two in Fairfield. Its new south Napa campus, which hosted a ribbon-cutting Wednesday afternoon, is expected to serve 15,000 patients per year.

But OLE Health wasnt always such a well-funded, high-profile community organization.

The beginning was just a little room and we dont have nothing, said Aurelio Hurtado, a founder of OLE Health. We just have the idea.

The early days

OLE Healths name comes from the Organizacion Latino-Americana de Liberacion Economica, or OLE, a group that was founded in 1967 to advocate for stronger inclusion of Latin Americans in Napa County, said Hurtado, who was OLEs president at the time. Hurtado wrote in a report after OLEs first year that Latin Americans in Napa County werent receiving help from community organizations because, in part, of a language barrier, and lack of organization within the community.

The idea of founding a clinic for low-income and Spanish-speaking people was first floated by Placido Garcia, a farmworker and artist who had visited a clinic in Healdsburg.

I like that, I fell in love with it, Garcia said in documentary La Semilla: The OLE Health Story. We need something like that in Napa too.

He mentioned the Healdsburg clinic at an OLE meeting in January 1972 and members agreed it was a good idea to have something similar locally, according to a timeline of OLE Healths history compiled by Nara Vaughn in 1997. The Rutherford-based Clinica OLE opened its doors to the public in September of 1972. Three volunteers staffed the clinic and Garcia designed its logo.

Its founders were proud. Without farmworkers, Hurtado said, theres no Napa.

We begin with a lot of hard work, commitment and a lot of love, amor, Hurtado said. We created something that was needed in the community.

The clinic got an additional staff member and expanded into a new building in 1975, thanks to donations and state funding, according to the timeline. Clinica OLE began to open five days per week in 1977 and continued to expand in 1978.

Fighting for funding

Then came cuts from the state Health Department, a fire that destroyed Clinica OLE in 1980 and more cuts from the state Rural Health Division in 1981.

OLE was faced with a choice: close its doors or work four times harder to keep it alive, Hurtado said.

For a time, OLE Health closed.

This is to inform you that Health Clinic OLE is closing and will no longer be able to provide you with medical services, read a letter to patients, according to the timeline. We are sorry we can no longer serve you.

A fundraiser underwritten by the late vintner Mary Tilden Morton helped OLE Health get closer to reopening, and St. Helena Hospital and Health Center offered the organization a generous payment plan to buy a trailer that the clinic remained in for 13 years, according to the timeline.

Things were looking up, but they werent easy.

A fundraising committee formed in 1982 helped pull together enough money to keep OLE Health going, and donations from wineries, the city of St. Helena, the Town of Yountville, Queen of the Valley Hospital and Napa Valley Vintners Association began to pour in, according to the timeline. Yountville allowed OLE Health to relocate near its City Hall for free.

By 1984, OLE Health received funding for the first time from the Napa Valley Wine Auction, totaling $50,000, or 20 percent, of profits. Such hefty donations continued, and in return, staff parked cars for the event, according to the timeline.

Over the next few years, a trust fund was created for OLE Health and the clinics funding and services began to grow. The clinic moved out of its modular unit and began a monthly program on KVON, La Voz de la Valle, to discuss health care for Spanish speakers.

OLE Health held its first Hispanic Health Fair for 250 guests in 1990, started to receive some state dollars again and flourished thanks to the hiring of new executive director Cindy Goodale in 1991, according to the timeline. That year, OLE Health served 1,200 patients per month.

Unprecedented growth

Residents raised more than $60,000 to open a St. Helena clinic in 1993, thanks in part to help from the St. Vincent de Paul Society of the Catholic Church, according to the timeline. OLE Health started working with the county to provide medical services to homeless residents that same year.

OLE Health received a combined $200,000 from Queen of the Valley and St. Josephs Health System to expand into Napa and its Trancas Street location, which opened in 1994, according to the timeline. The organization had grown to 12,000 visits in 1995.

Around that time, OLE Health hired its first full-time, bilingual family practice physician, and Thomas Keller, owner of The French Laundry, offered to hold an annual fundraiser for the organization, according to the timeline. OLE Health even began to serve Lake Berryessa residents, but that clinic later closed because residents preferred the Napa clinic, according to OLE Healths website.

OLE Health opened its Pear Tree Lane clinic in 2002 and began providing dental services in 2005, according to the website. Clinic OLE became a Federally Qualified Health Center in 2005, a move that increased the clinics reimbursement rate, said OLE Health CEO Alicia Hardy.

Much of the organizations transformation occurred thanks to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, she said. OLE Health saw huge growth in use of its pediatric services. OLE Health expanded to offer pharmaceutical, optometric and nutritional services.

There was so many more of our patients that had insurance, Hardy said. The additional revenue coming in allowed us to do so much more.

By request, OLE Health opened two facilities in Fairfield in the past three years, she said. This allows the clinic to be where its patients are, since many people who work in Napa live elsewhere.

Grants and donations have continued to grow over the years, she said.

While OLE Health has expanded exponentially in recent decades, Hardy said its still trying to fight misconceptions. Few people realize that the organization is so large, takes private insurance and is a one-stop shop for many patient needs, she said. It even serves tourists who need medical services while on vacation.

OLE Health serves the community by keeping its workforce healthy, Hardy said. Everybodys quality of life improves when the community, as a whole, is healthy.

I think theres a real recognition of how we all tie together as a community, she said. Theres certainly just a desire to help and help support the mission.

That strong sense of direction and dedication to the nonprofits mission is something that OLE Health co-founder Hurtado says he admires in the current generation of OLE Health leadership.

He called OLE Health his daughter and said hes proud to watch how shes grown, thanks to boundless community support since the early days of the clinic. There have been more downs than ups in OLE Healths history, but its stuck around. Hurtado called it a miracle.

Its too good to die, he said.

Hurtado said the founders never could have dreamed that OLE Health would expand into a building as large as the south Napa clinic.

We wont be around too long, he said. But the clinic will be there for years and years.

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Napa Valley landlords have been barred from raising rents by more than 10 percent since the 2017 wildfires. That could change June 1, when price gouging restrictions are set to expire in Napa County and elsewhere.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown issued a State of Emergency proclamation for Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties after the 2017 North Bay and Northern California fires. Such orders prohibit price gouging, which means that landlords, hotel or motel operators, and people who sell items such as emergency supplies, medical supplies, gasoline or building materials cant raise rates by more than 10 percent, according to state law.

Brown extended price gouging restrictions in the counties again in April and November of last year, through May 31, 2019. A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday afternoon that the office did not have any updates regarding the possibility that price gouging restrictions could be extended.

Local property managers stress that a minority of landlords try to price gouge tenants, but the looming expiration date didnt go unnoticed by housing providers, according to Pablo Zatarain, executive director of Fair Housing Napa Valley.

He said he became concerned after the agency began received calls from landlords that indicated they might be looking to raise low rents by 20 to 50 percent, to market rate prices.

Rent increases of 10 to 20 percent might be too much for single-parent families or seniors on a fixed income, who face other costs such as health care and transportation, he said.

One of our biggest fears is that displacement would lead to migration out of the county, Zatarain said.

But not everyone says that the price gouging restrictions are still reasonable.

The purpose was to protect people who lost houses, said Randy Gularte, owner of Napas Crown Realty Property Management. Now two years has passed. That time is over.

The Board of Supervisors last week unanimously agreed to allow Napa County to join in asking Newsom to extend price gouging protections. Sonoma, Shasta, Santa Barbara and Mendocino counties have also requested an extension, said Molly Rattigan, deputy county executive officer.

Rebuilding is a process that takes time, she said. Some people are still dealing with insurance, construction and building processes, and under state law, most insurance companies allow people three years to figure out what they want to do.

Rebuilding permits have been pulled for a quarter of the 655 homes lost in the 2017 wildfires, said Ryan Gregory, who chairs the Board of Supervisors. Just 12 of those homes have received final approval from the county, according to David Morrison, director of the county Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department.

Were not as far along as we want, Gregory said. We know a lot of our folks are continuing to struggle to get back in shape.

While the price gouging law applies to other products and services, housing is the countys main focus. Another year of keeping the 10 percent price gouging cap is the right thing to do, he said.

Three years of a modest, 3.3 percent increase isnt unfair to landlords, he said.

Gregory noted that the board also voted last week to extend deadlines for certain fire relief measures by another three years. The board extended ordinances that streamline the permitting process for owners of fire-damaged properties looking to rebuild and extend emergency protections for disaster victims looking to rebuild.

Zatarain of Fair Housing Napa Valley said he hopes to see price gouging restrictions extended at least through the end of the year to protect the countys most vulnerable tenants. That includes low-income families, families with children, families living paycheck to paycheck, Latinos and people with disabilities, he said. Many of those households are tied to the service industry.

The communitys dynamics are hurt when local tenants have to leave the county to find housing options. Displacement means fewer people in the workforce and schools, and more traffic, Zatarain said.

Countywide, the housing stock doesnt meet demand. Extending the price gouging restrictions would keep those (housing) opportunities, as limited as they may be, intact, he said.

Mindy Wyman, owner of Wyman Property Management in Napa, said she considered a 10 percent rent increase to be significant, unless a property is coming back on the market after years of being at the lower price to the same tenant.

Landlords who raise rents usually do so at a 2.5 to 5 percent increase, she said. Anyone who raises rents significantly can cause a hardship for tenants who are used to spending a certain amount every month.

Overall, Wyman said she supported price gouging restrictions.

I personally havent come across people that are really looking to make a buck off of people or off of a tragedy, she said.

While Gularte said most landlords were understanding and wanted to help people who lost their homes after the wildfires, he said a minority tried to raise the rent on new tenants after the 2017 wildfires. For Gularte, it became a matter of encouraging landlords to think about the position that people who lost their homes were in.

Unfortunately (price gouging restrictions) had to be put in for the two percent of landlords that try to rent gouge, he said.

Both Wyman and Gularte of Crown Property Management took issue with the fact that the states price gouging law doesnt allow landlords to raise rents by more than 10 percent, to market rate, even if they are in between tenants and relisting a property.

Some landlords have long-term tenants or relationships with their tenants and want to keep prices low, Wyman said. But when that client leaves, she said, they can raise prices by only 10 percent  even if the rental is far below market rate.

Thats where I dont completely agree, Wyman said. I dont know what could be done to change that.

A lot of landlords value a tenant who pays rent on time and takes care of their unit, even if that means collecting less rent, Gularte said. A good tenant is worth a lot of money.

But if they move out, price gouging restrictions can put the landlord in a difficult spot.

Youre harming the person who rented the place out, he said. It wasnt their fault that there was a fire.

Rattigan of the county said she could appreciate that point, but there isnt a one-size-fits-all approach to deal with the issue.

This is the statute that exists in state law, and what were able to respond to and ask for, she said.

But days before the order was set to expire, there was still no indication as to what the governor would decide.

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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had barely breathed his last in February 2016 when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that the Republican-controlled Senate wouldnt act on any replacement proposed by President Obama.

The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice, McConnell said. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.

As the Los Angeles Times noted in an editorial at the time, McConnells justification for keeping the Scalia seat open was self-serving sophistry.

We added: The American people do have a voice in any nomination Obama makes. They spoke when they elected him to a second term that has 11 months remaining. His authority to nominate Supreme Court justices is no more diminished by his supposed lame-duck status than any of his other constitutional powers.

Alas, McConnells stonewall held. Because the Senate refused to act on Obamas nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to succeed Scalia, the seat was held open until a new president, Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, who was confirmed largely on party lines.

It was obvious from the start that McConnells invocation of the principle that Supreme Court seats shouldnt be filled in an election year was bogus. Now it develops that it was a principle hes willing to abandon to serve his partys interests.

On Tuesday, McConnell was asked at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Paducah, Ky., about the possibility that a Supreme Court justice might die next year. The questioner asked: What will your position be on filling that spot?

Ted Barrett of CNN reported on what happened next:

The leader took a long sip of what appeared to be iced tea before announcing with a smile, Oh, wed fill it, triggering loud laughter from the audience.

It was a Mr. Burns moment that has brought cries of Hypocrisy! from McConnells critics. His spokesman and defenders in the media argued that no hypocrisy was involved because the actual principle guiding McConnell is that Supreme Court nominees shouldnt be confirmed in an election year in which the Senate and the White House are controlled by different parties.

McConnell did float this alternative justification in an interview in March 2016, telling reporters: Youd have to go back to 1888  you do remember Grover Cleveland, right?  to find the last time a vacancy created in the Supreme Court in a presidential year was confirmed by a Senate of a different party.

The fact that McConnell offered shifting rationalizations for his obstructionism doesnt alter the fact that stonewalling Garland was a nakedly partisan power play. Principles and precedents had nothing to do with it.

Partisanship had poisoned the Supreme Court confirmation process long before Scalia died. But in blocking any consideration of Garland, McConnell escalated the conflict to the political equivalent of DEFCON 1. He escalated it even further when he engineered the end of the filibuster on Supreme Court nominations to secure Gorsuchs confirmation. (In that instance, he was following the example of former Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose party ended the filibuster for lower-court appointments.)

To accuse McConnell of hypocrisy, a venial sin committed by most politicians, obscures the fact that he is guilty of the mortal sin of violating a political and constitutional norm and exacerbating a partisan war over Supreme Court nominations that shows no sign of abating.

Its McConnells fault that some Democratic presidential candidates are considering the terrible idea of increasing the number of seats on the Supreme Court to compensate for the seat stolen from Obama in 2016. McConnell should think about that as he sips his iced tea.

Michael McGough is an editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times.
According to recent Italian research scientists, the use of Twitter drops the students performance, Daily Mail reported.

According to scientists, due to the use of this platform, the test results of high school students are reduced by 25-40%.

Experts say that the drop was most noticeable among higher-achieving students, and that the use of social networking sites had impaired their performance.

According to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, his firm is responsible for 'building a systemic framework to help encourage healthier debate, conversations, and critical thinking.'

However, a study proved what many people claim: social networks are not the best place for advanced discussions.

Researchers from the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Milan studied the performance of about 1,500 students attending 70 Italian high schools in 20162018.

The text - The Late Mattia Pascal - satirises issues of self-knowledge and self-destruction.

Half of the students were encouraged to discuss and analyse the text on Twitter, with lecturers adding their own responses to enliven the debate. The remaining 50 per cent used more traditional classroom-based seminars to pour over the work. Those who used Twitter suffered the drop in performance when it came time for tests, the source noted.
Armenia PM holds phone talks with Russian counterpart

Areshev: In case of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, the focus will be on Russian military base in Gyumri

Yerevan museum opens new exhibition featuring archaeological relics from Shushi

Putin, Lukashenko play hockey after talks

Armenian PM: We must resolutely move towards the Armenia that our ancestors, our martyrs dreamed of

Mishustin, Pashinyan congratulate each other on New Year and Christmas

CNN: Biden to hold a call with Putin on Thursday

Karabakh President: Artsakh people and authorities will never accept any status as a part of Azerbaijan

Armenia President to celebrate New Year in Qatar

Vladimir Putin assesses informal summit of CIS countries

Dmitry Polyanskiy: Whole world will benefit from normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations

Armenian Iranologist: Opening of a consulate in Kapan is a signal showing how important Syunik Province is for Iran

Russia and Azerbaijan PMs discuss activities of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Deputy PMs' task force

NEWS.am daily digest: 29.12.21

Iran to grant permission to open Consulate General in Armenia's Kapan

Armenia MFA reports names of Armenian POWs returned through Hungary's mediation

Brussels Airlines flight to Yerevan, hit by lightning strike, returns to Brussels Airport

Karabakh President signs a number of laws

Baku transfers 5 Armenian POWs to Yerevan with Hungary's support

Artsakh citizen transferred to Armenian side through Russian peacekeeping forces' mediation

Rudenko: Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan finalizing parameters for launching joint infrastructure projects

Russia ready to provide mediation assistance to Armenia and Turkey in any way

Armenia PM: Construction of Meghri section of Yeraskh-Julfa-Meghri-Horadiz railway is starting

Russia Deputy FM: Commission for demarcation of Armenia-Azerbaijan state border may be set up soon

Azerbaijan transfers Artsakh resident Armen Verdyan to Armenian side

Putin submits to Russian State Duma federal bill simplifying acquisition of citizenship

Converse Bank is the best Trade Finance Provider 2022 in Armenia according to Global Finance

Shalva Papuashvili elected Georgia's parliamentary speaker

Joseph Borrell says EU wishes to take part in US-Russia talks

Dollar increases in Armenia

The Arab Weekly: Azerbaijan is external factor more likely to derail attempt to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations

State Control Service launches investigation at Yerevan city hall

Armenia NGO's advocates assume protection of 2 Armenian servicemen arrested after captivity

Public Services Regulatory Commission increases electricity tariffs in Armenia

Russian peacekeepers' representative in Karabakh: 26,090 explosive objects have been destroyed

Armenia Iranologist: Our only thought should not be concession, but to be ready for next war

Democratic Party of Armenia: PM Pashinyan makes it clear he must be removed from office immediately

Artsakh resident gets lost, ends up in territory under control of Azerbaijan army

Armenia military aviation university head dismissed

Military analyst: Armenia PM statements on handing over Karabakh were absolutely predictable

Armenian company presents a revolutionary innovation in 2D and 3D modeling fields

US embassy in Armenia announces Democracy Commission Small Grants Program for 2022

Andrea Wiktorin: EU stands by Armenia to improve life of Armenian citizens

Russias Putin to Armenias Pashinyan: I expect that we will ensure further dynamic development of bilateral cooperation

Armenia MOD: All army personnel received bonus pay

Pallone says will push to ensure required reports are accurate in documenting Azerbaijan, Turkey war crimes in Artsakh

Putin to Armenia President: I am convinced our bilateral allied cooperation will continue developing next year

53-year-old woman gives birth for the first time at Shengavit Medical Center in Yerevan

88 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Russia Navy Northern Fleet song and dance ensemble arrives in Karabakh

US and NATO partners ready to start active diplomatic talks with Russia

South Korea and US agree on draft text of declaration on Korean War official end

The National Interest: How Biden can foster real peace in the South Caucasus

China calls on US to protect Chinese space station and its crew

WFP & Yeremyan projects share the same vision: joint trip to Jermuk to explore best practices

Afghan brothers in Germany charged in killing their sister for her Western-oriented way of life

Newspaper: 4th battalion being formed within Armenia Police Internal Troops

Newspaper: Armenia authorities have 3-level chat groups on social media

Pack of hyenas kill two people in 24 hours in Kenya

Bill Gates reveals plan to save the planet

Kuwait forms new cabinet

Attorney: Criminal prosecution against Artur Vanetsyan terminated, there was no preparation for Armenia PM's murder

Armenia army's General Staff chief visits air force military unit

Armenia opposition MP: Constitutional Court states that government should decide who will pay for employees' PCR tests

Brawl takes place in Parliament of Jordan

Armenia Ombudsman meets with Russia Ambassador, return of Armenian captives being held in Azerbaijan discussed

Armenia launches 42 cases regarding submission of declarations by officials in 2021

Armenian man who was wanted arrives in Yerevan and voluntarily shows up at police station

Armenia MOD peacekeeping brigade soldiers participate in tactical military exercises

Armenia has new Ambassador to Israel

Azerbaijani opposition journalists protesting against repressive law on media

Armenia President and his wife pay visit to Yerablur Military Pantheon

Armenia Competition Protection Commission to check pricing for COVID-19 tests at Zvartnots Airport

Advocate: Criminal prosecution against Armenian detachment commander Ashot Minasyan is over

NEWS.am daily digest: 28.12.21

Opposition 'Armenia' Faction of National Assembly holds session chaired by Robert Kocharyan

Armenia education minister: 9 universities in 11 countries are carrying out Armenian Studies development programs

Armenia PM attends informal meeting of leaders of CIS countries in St. Petersburg

Ex-PM: Armenia authorities want to leave Karabakh to Azerbaijans whim

Armenia Competition Protection Commission chief: There will be new player in petrol market soon

Armenia political parties activities, their governing bodies property shall be scrutinized

Dollar goes down in Armenia

Opposition lawmaker: Local producers will face difficult situation if Turkey companies invade Armenia

Georgia PM: Pashinyan and Aliyev are interested in the establishment of peace in the region

Ruling force MP is sure all remaining Armenian captives in Azerbaijan will be returned

Aravot.am: Mother of ex-mayor Vardan Ghukasyan's deceased son-in-law killed in Armenia's Gyumri

Parliament majority member: Major personnel changes must be made in Armenia army

A new start at Inecobanks most popular branch

Governor: Armenia Central Bank has entered new stage of transformation

Shoygu: Russian peacekeepers gradually bringing life back to Karabakh

60% of Armenias Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine to pass under Russia-registered company control

Seven people killed in Colombia bus incident

Learjet crashed in California

Shooting in Colorado kills five people

President: Main precondition for keeping Artsakh Armenian, alive is to live, create here (VIDEO)

1 more person dies of coronavirus in Karabakh

Turkey records increase in COVID-19 cases

Yerevan has new First Deputy Mayor

Displaced Karabakh residents seek political asylum from France

Taliban open fire on women protesters in Kabul
These events have been reported elsewhere as Texas Legislature accidentally makes everyone a licensed plumber, and that is certainly the kind of thing that will get my attention. See, e.g. Oklahoma Accidentally Makes All Civil Litigation Loser Pays (May 23, 2017); Ruling on Typo Means Its Still Okay for Younguns to Marry in Arkansas (Oct. 15, 2007) (noting legislature had accidentally repealed lower age limit). But in this case it doesnt seem to be entirely true.

Its pretty close, though.

What the legislature seems to have done, according to the Texas Tribune, is abolish the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, which is currently responsible for licensing plumbers and enforcing the state plumbing code. Or, at least, it failed to reauthorize the thing. Under a sunset law, the board dissolves automatically on September 1 unless the legislature takes action. But that didnt happen. It looks like the legislature had no intention of doing so anyway, because it had a bill ready to go (Senate Bill 621) providing that the boards functions would be transferred to the larger Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on September 1, when the sunset provision takes effect. So one way or another, the legislature apparently planned to get rid of the TSBPE for good.

Publishers Note: Consistent with my long-established policy, at no point in this post will I be using the word flushed to describe any action by any person or entity, nor for that matter will I be using plumbing-related terminology of any kind in such a way in connection with this incident. I have no comment on the Tribunes choices in this regard. That is all.

Okay, fineexcept that it then failed to pass SB 621, or a backup safety net bill that protects agencies otherwise threatened by the sunset provision. And the legislative session has now ended. So as of September 1, there will be no entity responsible for licensing plumbers and enforcing the state plumbing code, although that last part wont matter because the code also expires automatically on September 1. So its not that the legislature just made everyone in Texas a licensed plumber, its that now anybody can legally do plumbing work in Texas without a license.

Whether this is a problem depends on who you ask, and probably whether you need any serious plumbing done.

The Tribune quoted a source as saying this is a disaster because the plumbing industry in Texas is now completely unregulated. But it cited the source as Roger Wakefield, master plumber, and it struck me as at least possible that master plumbers and/or other currently licensed plumbers might not be entirely objective on this matter. Some believe that there is way too much state regulation of professions to begin with, and that abolishing a few agencies and plumbing codes and licensing requirements might be a good thing. I tend to be sympathetic to that view, though I was more sympathetic to it before I noticed that what I assumed would be a metal pipe leading from my garbage disposal to the drain was in fact a sort of tube made out of rolled-up electrical tape. That suggests you might be better off with a master plumber as opposed to, for example, your friends brother Doug who knows where to borrow a wrench. Something to consider.

While the details of the legislatures action, or inaction, are a little complicated, it does look like this happened semi-accidentally.

According to the Tribune, when SB 621 came up in the House, Rep. Senfronia Thompsonwait. Senfronia Thompson. Does that ring a bell? Yes it does. See That Includes You, Sticky (Sept. 18, 2018) (reproducing a brief but colorful address by Rep. Thompson to the Texas House on a matter of personal privilege). Anyway, Senfronia did not disappoint here, either. She amended SB 621 to postpone the transfer of authority until 2021, which I think wouldve meant thered be no licensing authority for those two years. But that apparently was removed during compromise negotiations. She then objected to the result and asked her colleagues to reject the bill, sayingI thinkthat she didnt believe Texas needed any of them goldang plumbin boards:

How many people in your districts have told you that because of what has been going on for the last several years that they got poop running out of their house and all over the streets? Thompson said. Nobody in your district has been telling you that. But theyve been telling you they need plumbers, they need to be independent and all were doing is giving them the independence that we created.

I interpret this to mean that (1) aint nobody got poop running out of their house and all over the streets in Texas, and (2) Rep. Thompson believes that situation will not deteriorate appreciably under the new regulatory regime. I might be misreading it, though.

Rep. Chris Paddie urged colleagues to support the bill, saying that if it didnt pass, the board would fall under the safety net instead, which was bad for a reason I dont really understand. But neither did anybody else, or they didnt care, because the House rejected the bill. Three hours later, though, Paddie was back on the floor saying he had misspokenthe safety-net bill had already failed, so if SB 621 didnt pass, Texas would be without either a licensing entity or a plumbing code on September 1st. Oops. But again it didnt matter, because the House rejected his request to reconsider the vote.

Congratulations to us all, Paddie was quoted as saying. Our plumbing shortage is solved, because [now] we can all become plumbers. Unlicensed plumbers, but yes.
The requested page is currently unavailable on this server.

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* Shanahan warns of destabilizing forces in Asia

* U.S., China locked in disputes over trade, defense

* Defense chief says United States, China can cooperate (Adds comments from Chinese military official, U.S. lawmakers)

By Idrees Ali

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - The United States will no longer "tiptoe" around Chinese behavior in Asia, with stability in the region threatened on issues ranging from the South China Sea to Taiwan, acting U.S. Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Saturday.

Shanahan did not directly name China when making accusations of "actors" destabilizing the region, but went on to say the United States would not ignore Chinese behavior, the latest in the exchange of acerbic remarks between the world's two biggest economies. He added, however, he was keen to foster a military relationship with Beijing.

"Perhaps the greatest long-term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules-based international order," Shanahan said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's biggest security gathering.

"If the trends in these behaviors continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths, sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful."

Shanahan's first major speech since taking over as acting defense secretary in January came as the United States and China remain locked in an escalating trade war and at odds over a range of security issues in Asia.

His reference to artificial features was a swipe at islands built by China in the disputed South China Sea, a strategic waterway claimed almost wholly by Beijing.

"We're not going to ignore Chinese behavior and I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that," Shanahan said later in answer to a question.

A senior Chinese military official responded to Shanahan's comments by saying that the United States' actions on Taiwan and the South China Sea were hardly conducive to maintaining stability in the region.

Story continues

Shanahan said it was in Beijing's interests to have a constructive relationship with the United States.

But he added: "Behaviour that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end."

"Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow, and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefited us all - including China."

U.S. lawmakers said Shanahan's speech was impressive.

"I was very impressed and I certainly am looking much more positively on potentially voting for him when his confirmation happens," Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth told reporters.

The White House said last month that it plans to nominate Shanahan as defense secretary, a job he has been doing in an acting capacity since January, the longest in Pentagon history. His nomination, if and when it comes, will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

"The way he laid out the facts and the United States' position in a firm way, but very upfront, impressed me tremendously," Duckworth added.

Senator Angus King, a political independent from Maine and on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Shanahan had "distinguished" himself and was hopeful the confirmation hearing would take place within about a month.

TRADE WAR

Shanahan said that he did not see the current trade dispute between China and the United States as a trade war, but rather just part of trade negotiations.

An increase in Chinese tariffs on most U.S. imports on a $60 billion target list took effect as planned on Saturday, after Washington's own tariff increases.

Shanahan also became the latest senior U.S. official to call out Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying in his speech that it was too close to the Chinese government.

The United States has accused Huawei of espionage, breaching trade sanctions against Iran and intellectual property theft. Huawei disputes all allegations.

China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe is due to address Asia's marquee security summit on Sunday when he is expected to criticize the United States over its implied support for a democratic Taiwan.

On Friday, Shanahan held talks with Wei that both sides called "constructive," although their teams later reverted to type with critical comments on each other's defense strategies.

Along with the expected warnings aimed at China, Shanahan referred to cooperation between the two countries in areas like military-to-military exchanges, counter-piracy and joint efforts to reduce the "extraordinary threat" posed by North Korea's military ambitions.

"I am confident that we'll solve problems," Shanahan said.

Shanahan also called on U.S. allies to contribute more to their own defense. Burden-sharing, from Asia to Europe, has long been a demand of President Donald Trump's administration.

"We need you to invest in ways that take more control over your sovereignty and your own ability to exercise sovereign choices." (Reporting by Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Joe Brock, Lee Chyen Yee and Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)
(Adds quote, background)

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States would end its preferential trade treatment for India on June 5.

Trump had announced his intention to remove India from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program in early March.

"I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets," Trump said in a statement on Friday.

India is the biggest beneficiary of the GSP, which allows preferential duty-free imports of up to $5.6 billion from the South Asian nation.

Indian officials have raised the prospect of higher import duties on more than 20 U.S. goods if Trump drops India from the program.

Twenty-four members of the U.S. Congress sent the administration a letter on May 3 urging it not to terminate India's access to the GSP.

(Reporting by Eric Beech Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Sonya Hepinstall)
Police cars gather at the scene where a gunman opened fire and killed 11 people - FR41444 AP

Twelve people were shot dead, and six injured, as a gunman stormed a public building in Virginia Beach and opened fire indiscriminately in America's latest mass shooting.

The gunman, DeWayne Craddock, 40, who also died, was a local utilities engineer formerly employed by the city of Virginia Beach, and was described by police as a "disgruntled employee".

This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, said Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer. "The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbours and colleagues."

Craddock carried out the mass shooting in a building that houses the city's public works and utilities offices, around 4pm local time, as employees were still at their desks.

He stalked through several floors as he opened fire indiscriminately at former colleagues, using a 45 caliber handgun with extended magazines and a sound suppressor, according to police.

Police officers in Virginia Beach Credit: The Virginian-Pilot

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who was in the building, described how workers hid on the floor and barricaded an office door with a desk.

She said: "We kept hearing gunfire. We were trying to keep as quiet as possible. I have an 11-month old baby at home and all I could think about was him, and trying to make it home to him."

Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera told reporters at a press conference that officers returned fire at Craddock. One officer was shot but was "saved" by his ballistic vest, Cervera said.

Police Chief Cervera said it was a "longterm gun battle" and confirmed there were victims on all three floors of the building. He said they were still in the process of identifying victims.

The shooting has sent a shockwave through Virginia Beach, a city of 500,000 people on the Atlantic coast, in the state of Virginia, about 200 miles southeast of Washington DC.

Five patients were taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, where two died. Two others remained in critical condition and one in fair condition, a spokesperson for Sentara Healthcare said.

Story continues

The White House said President Trump had been briefed on the shooting, while the state governor, Ralph Northam, said his team was "actively monitoring the situation in Virginia Beach".

The mass shooting - defined as four or more people killed - on Friday was the 150th of the year in the US. It was the worst shooting since November, when 12 people were killed in Los Angeles.

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1300 N St. NW, #503. | Photo: Zumper

Curious just how far your dollar goes in Logan Circle?

According to Walk Score, this Washington neighborhood is a "walker's paradise," is easy to get around on a bicycle and is a haven for transit riders. Data from rental site Zumper shows that the median rent for a one bedroom in Logan Circle is currently hovering around $2,400.

So, what might you expect to find if you've got $2,500/month earmarked for your rent? Read on for a roundup of the latest rental offerings, via Zumper and Apartment Guide. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

1300 N St. NW, #503

Listed at $2,500/month, this 670-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit is located at 1300 N St. NW, #503.

In the unit, you can expect hardwood floors, high ceilings and in-unit laundry. Building amenities include assigned parking, a fitness center and outdoor space. Both cats and dogs are welcome. There's no leasing fee required for this rental.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

1625 15th St. NW, #8

Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit over at 1625 15th St. NW, #8. It's also listed for $2,500/month for its 709 square feet of space.

In the unit, there are hardwood floors, a dishwasher and a balcony. The building features a fitness center. Cats are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

1532 15th St. NW, #3

To round things out, check out this one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom apartment that's located at 1532 15th St. NW, #3. It's listed for $2,495/month.

In the apartment, you'll get a balcony and carpeted floors. The building offers a fitness center, a business center and outdoor space. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are allowed.

(See the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
The Citadel. | Photo: Kenny D./Yelp

Looking for something to do this week? From Global Running Week to a Microtheater Block Party, here's a lineup of options to help you get out and about in the days ahead.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Global Running Week "We Run Miami "Shirt Giveaway - Powered by Baptist Health

From the event description:

1,000 Shirt Giveaway! Bring those first timers out and tell them they will be getting a shirt. We want to hit 1,000 runners at Run Club this week to break records and celebrate Global Running Week. Run at one of the network's 8 Run Clubs and snag a free "We Run Miami" shirt courtesy of your friends at Baptist Health.

When: Monday, June 3, 7 p.m.- Thursday, June 6, 8:30 p.m.

Where: Baptist Health Run Club Network (See Listing for Locations)

Admission: Free

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Lifecann MD Medical Marijuana Clinic Opening Event

From the event description:

Celebrate the launch of our new LifeCann MD Medical Marijuana Clinic. Show up on Tuesday and score a 15 percent discount off all certifications and CBD products.

When: Tuesday, June 4, 6-8 p.m.

Where: LifeCann MD, 1063 S.W. Eighth St.

Admission: Free

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

TCG x CCE Block Party!

From the event description:

We're throwing a Block Party! Join nearly 1,000 theatre makers of color from across the country this Tuesday at Microtheater Miami. Presented by Communications Group and Centro Cultural Espanol, this event features food, dancing and theatre performances!

When: Tuesday, June 4, 6:30-11:30 p.m.

Where: Microtheater Miami at Centro Cultural Espanol de Cooperacion Iberoamericana, 1490 Biscayne Blvd.

Admission: Free

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Legislature 2019: Where do we go from here?

From the event description:

Story continues

There's no way to put it lightly: The 2019 legislative session was a rough one for anyone who cares about public schools, gun safety and our most vulnerable neighborhoods. Where do we go from here? Come out this Wednesday and have a glass of wine with Ruth's List Miami, the Community Justice Project. State representatives Cindy Polo and Dotie Joseph will discuss the impact of the recent session and the fights aheadespecially in light of recent abortion laws passed in our neighboring Alabama.

When: Wednesday, June 5, 6:30-9 p.m.

Where: CIC Miami, 1951 N.W. Seventh Ave.

Admission: Free

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Global Run Day Miami

From the event description:

We invite each of you to join us for a fun social run through the streets of Miami. Head over to Citadel's rooftop for a post-run celebration that includes live music and happy hour. First 200 runners who arrive by 6:45 p.m. get a wristband with access to The Salty "RUN" Donut.

When: Wednesday, June 5, 6:30-9 p.m.

Where: The Citadel, 8300 N.E. Second Ave.

Admission: Free (RSVP Recommended)

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

This story was created automatically using local event data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - Frustrated at an unending flow of migrants across the southern border, President Donald Trump overruled the advice of his two top trade advisers in abruptly imposing tariffs on Mexico, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were both "blindsided" when Trump made the decision, said one of the sources.

Lighthizer had expressed fears that slapping the tariffs on Mexico could complicate efforts to get Congress to approve a recently agreed trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.

Trump announced on Thursday that as of June 10 he would impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico and would continue to ratchet it higher until Mexico takes action to stop an increase in mostly Central American migrants crossing the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

Jeff Emerson, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office, said on Friday that Lighthizer "supports the president and supports what the president is doing."

But the sources said Lighthizer had disagreed with Trump on the tariffs.

Emerson said the USTR will not be administering the Mexico tariffs, as it has done for duties levied on some $250 billion of Chinese goods in Trump's trade war with Beijing.

Instead, he referred questions about the tariffs on Mexico to the Department of Homeland Security, which will be the lead agency in the effort.

Spokespersons for the U.S. Treasury and DHS could not immediately be reached for comment.

Trump had grown increasingly agitated in recent days about the situation along the border, frustrated that nothing his administration had tried was stopping the surge in migrant arrivals, two administration officials said.

In April, U.S. border officers apprehended nearly 99,000 people crossing the U.S. southern border, the highest monthly figure since 2007.

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Trump has diverted money from government agencies to pay for a border wall, an effort that has been tied up in courts, and his administration has separated some migrants from their children, but the policies have not had a significant effect on reducing the number of people crossing illegally.

He is eager to use immigration as an issue for his 2020 re-election campaign, but is under pressure to show results that he promised during his 2016 presidential run.

Trump had in the past talked about getting tougher on Mexico with tariffs but advisers had talked him out of it. This time, however, he decided to go ahead, two sources close to him said.

"He's putting his foot down," one said.

Trump felt that tariffs had forced Mexico to respond to U.S. concerns over trade relations in the past and wanted to try the tactic again. The decision was supported by Stephen Miller, his hawkish immigration adviser, the administration officials said.

CNBC, which initially reported the opposition by Mnuchin and Lighthizer, quoted a source as saying Trump made the decision on immigration after becoming "riled up" by conservative radio commentary about the surge in border crossings.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said earlier on CNBC that he believed Mexico will respond "very favorably and very quickly" to Trump's tariff action.

In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador predicted that Trump would ease up on his demands and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said he had begun negotiating with officials in Washington.

Navarro praised Trump's tariff plan as a "brilliant move" to pressure Mexico to help secure its own southern border and break up criminal gangs that he said were profiting from facilitating migration from Central America and through Mexico to the United States.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Makini Brice, David Lawder and Jeff Mason; Writing by David Alexander and David Lawder; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
President Trump believes, not without good reason, that the Mexican government is not doing its utmost to stop the illegal flow of Central Americans crossing the U.S. border. And so he has responded with . . . a $17 billionayearandrising sales tax on Americans.

The president loves tariffs. He believes that they are an effective means of protecting American firms from unfair overseas competition and a good negotiating tool as he works to reform trade agreements that he believes are disadvantageous to Americans. But the question of who ends up actually paying any given tax is complicated. The price of those tariffs, and the retaliatory tariffs they have provoked, is very high for American companies: For example, the tariffs Beijing imposed in response to Trumps have cost American farmers an enormous part of their export market (half of exported U.S. soybeans used to go to China; the tariffs have been a gift to Brazilian producers), but the U.S. tariffs themselves are an enormous problem, too. Many American manufacturers import raw materials and components from abroad, and complex products such as automobiles and electronics may cross the border several times in the course of production.

A 5 percent tariff on Mexican goods would notionally amount to about $17 billion on U.S. imports from Mexico, touching everything from industrial components to fruit and crude oil. In reality, it is difficult to say how much money would be raised, because buyers respond to tariffs in unpredictable ways. In any case, many of those costs will be borne by American consumers and  this cannot be emphasized enough  American businesses that rely in some part on imported inputs. More important, it would cause uncertainty around a North American supply chain that has evolved organically over many years as the result of enormous investment by American companies and their business partners.

President Trump envisions a tariff that will potentially ratchet up to 25 percent.

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The president here is unnecessarily complicating his own life. He has just overseen the successful renegotiation of NAFTA, which will be reconstituted as the U.S.MexicoCanada Agreement (USMCA). But that agreement has not yet been ratified  not by the United States, and not by Mexico. Imposing punitive tariffs over a policy dispute unrelated to trade five minutes after negotiating a new trade pact makes the Trump administration  and the United States  look like an unreliable negotiating partner. Mexico is not wrong to resent it, and even Trump allies such as Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) are against him on this.

Also, its a good rule of thumb to fight one trade war at a time. If the administration, correctly, wants to focus on Chinas malign trade practices  and not just during the current dispute but over the long term  it needs good trading relationships with its allies, especially here in North America.

Illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America is a significant problem, and President Trump did well to put it at the center of his agenda. Many of the policies he has proposed  walls, increased enforcement, changes in asylum policy  are worthwhile and would likely prove effective if implemented. But Congress isnt interested in passing them, which has left the president to grasp for unilateral ways to solve the border crisis. Some of these are politically unsustainable or of dubious legality, e.g. the zero-tolerance policy and the unilateral spending under the emergency declaration.

Mexico has played ball with Trump on immigration policy more than anyone would have expected at the outset of his presidency, but there are limits to the Mexican governments effectiveness and its willingness to subordinate its interests to ours. Ideally, wed get Mexico to sign a safe third country agreement. That would allow us to exclude asylum-seekers who transit through Mexico on the basis that they should be applying in Mexico instead. Of course, Mexico has no incentive to make it possible for asylum-seekers to stay there instead of enabling them to quickly move on to the United States.

If Trumps tariff threat gets Mexico to sign such an agreement, we will be the first to congratulate him on his successful brinkmanship. But it is more likely that Mexico will make some assurances that will be enough to get Trump to relent, while not changing anything fundamental on immigration.

The worst-case scenario is getting no action from Mexico whatsoever and the imposition of spiraling, disruptive tariffs, whose costs will in fact fall, to a great extent, on Americans.

More from National Review
NEW YORK (AP)  Embracing Manhattan's iconic Rockefeller Center as his venue, Alexander Wang offered a huge hug to his city and American fashion as he showed his latest collection al fresco Friday night  complete with street food and a public crowd joining the usual insiders.

This ready-to-wear Collection 1 is the start of his second year off the traditional fashion week calendar, choosing June and December over February and September in a plan to offer more options to consumers throughout each year.

There seemed to be something freeing about that for the designer, who joyously waved to the crowd at the close of his show in pink print cutoffs and a white sweatshirt, bringing family up on his ever-changing lit stage as the sun went down.

Coming just a few days after Memorial Day, Wang was in an all-American red, white and blue mood, flashing a U.S. flag branded with an "a'' for, yes, Alexander, as the real thing lined the center's lower plaza on poles. It's where Rockefeller Center's popular skating rink draws masses of tourists.

Above, Wang branded his food-cart hot dogs, slushies and pretzels for his guests with the same "a." His flag made it onto some sweaters and wide elastic undershort waistbands as well.

"We're so honored to be here at Rockefeller Center," Wang said live on Instagram, YouTube and his website during a pre-show hosted by the young, goofy YouTuber Jay Versace, a fashion show newbie. "I love New York. It is my home. I feel so proud to be based here. It's such an incredible city."

A magnet for supermodels on his runways and celebrity followers, Wang didn't disappoint. Diplo was front row and Kaia Gerber and Kendall Jenner were among his walkers. Versace strolled backstage, chatting up Gerber as he watched the models getting their hair and makeup done.

Restricting the public to a street-level view of the show, looking down, Wang set up his benches for insiders around the golden masterwork Prometheus, a statue in a fountain done by Paul Manship in 1933. The evening's weather was perfect, closing the city's first sunny, mild day after days of rain. There were smiles all around in the crowd as they were treated to the fresh air.

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On the runway, Wang paid homage to American fashion and some of its greats  Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein among them  as Anna Wintour explained to Versace. She, too, was pleased the city's torrential rains had stopped and not spoiled the experience.

Wang opened the mixed-gender show with a series of button-down coats and jackets for fall. All had one lapel emblazoned with his name. One model walked in a Statue of Liberty crown and others in tiny black silver studded skirts. Wang topped some heads with billed caps that had head wraps on the outside.

Denim jackets were paired with asymmetrical skirts, open to the hip on one side and hanging just above the angle on the other. Pete Davison of "Saturday Night Live" modeled pants with half black, half white legs, paired with a sleeveless T-shirt on top (showing off his tattoos) and a cap with the bill turned backward. His model strut needs work.

Fur trimmed a light blue striped shirt-cuffed coat, while chunky soled sneakers were mixed with stilettoes on the feet of his walkers. Fringy western looks came in black with multiple braided belts. There were bright whites in relaxed trousers and jackets, shorts and culottes, some fit for evening versus day streetwear.

Wispy slip dresses were worn over white T-shirts and loose burnished corduroy pants were cinched at the ankle with elastic. An identical pair of the trousers was done in eggplant purple.

To close, models stood still in rows, giving the crowd one last long look on Wang's special night.
Well, this isnt what you want to wake up to first thing in the middle of the night.

Mary Wischhusen, a 77-year-old woman from Clearwater, Florida, woke up around 3:30 a.m. Friday to use the bathroom when she heard a loud crash, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

When she went to investigate, she found an aggressive 11-foot alligator on her kitchen floor.

All I had was a vision of a huge head, Wischhusen told the newspaper. A big head looking at me saying, Hey.

Wischhusen went to her bedroom and called 911, but, strangely enough, the authorities were already aware.

Patricia Picor, who delivers the Tampa Bay Times to Wischhusens home saw the massive alligator on the street. She thinks that her cars headlights startled the animal because it immediately tried to scurry away and squeeze into a nearby street drain. Unfortunately, it was too big to fit, so the frustrated gator headed toward Wischhusens front door and began to thrash around. Picor called the authorities.

See you later, alligator  A scaly 11-foot-long gator broke into a Clearwater home overnight through some low windows in their kitchen. Clearwater Police officers and a trapper responded to the scene to capture and remove the gator. There were no injuries. pic.twitter.com/jsOxRNfkEV  Clearwater Police Department (@myclearwaterPD) May 31, 2019

According to the Clearwater Police Department, it broke into the house through ground-level windows.

The police and a trapper removed the behemoth. No one was hurt.

Well, except for some of the good stuff in Wischhusens kitchen.

I dont know why he wanted my red wine, but he got my red wine, she told the Times.

Hey, its better than it getting your foot. Priorities, Mary!

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Associated Press

Just before Thomas Randele died, his wife of nearly 40 years asked his golfing buddies and his co-workers from the dealerships where he sold cars to come by their home. For the past 50 years, he was a fugitive wanted in one of the largest bank robberies in Clevelands history, living in Boston under a new name he created six months after the heist in the summer of 1969. How he was able to leave behind one family and create a new life  while evading a father and son from the U.S. Marshals Service who never gave up their hunt  is just now being pieced together.
Luanda (AFP) - Former leader of Angola's rebel UNITA movement Jonas Savimbi will be reinterred Saturday, 17 years after he was killed in a shootout with government soldiers that spelt the end to the country's long civil war.

Angola, a former Portuguese colony, became a Cold War battleground after independence in 1975 when the Marxist-Leninist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) seized control.

The United States lined up behind Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels and the Soviet Union and its allies backed the MPLA.

"The remains have been returned to UNITA and the family," Alcides Sakala Simoes, spokesman for UNITA, told AFP on Friday.

"There was a lot of emotion. It has been 17 years since the government was asked to give us the body. This is an important step for national reconciliation."

"We are moved and relieved, we will be able to mourn," Cheya Savimbi, his eldest son, said after the remains were handed over at a ceremony in Andulo about thirty kilometres (20 miles) from the village of Lopitanga where the funeral will be held.

At least half a million people died in the conflict for the vast, oil-rich southern African nation, which played out over more than a quarter of a century.

Early in 2002, soldiers pursued the 67-year-old Savimbi across the province of Moxico in central eastern Angola.

On February 22, his pursuers caught up with him. He fought back but, riddled with more than a dozen bullets, soon died.

His body was taken to the provincial capital Luena and hurriedly buried in a cemetery, with a cross of iron on the mound of red soil and the name "SAVIMBI Jonas" etched into the trunk of an acacia tree.

- Swift ceasefire -

After his death, rival sides swiftly moved towards a ceasefire in a conflict that had lasted 27 years.

This year, after long talks, the MPLA government agreed with UNITA and the Savimbi family to hold a funeral on Saturday in Lopitanga, in central Angola, where Savimbi's father is buried.

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The deal was unlocked after President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Savimbi's sworn enemy, stepped down in 2017 and was replaced by his defence minister, Joao Lourenco.

"Seventeen years on, it was time further to heal the scars of past conflict and under a new head of state, Joao Lourenco, allowing this to happen is easier," Alex Vines of the London-based think tank Chatham House told AFP.

Typically dressed in a green combat uniform, with a walking stick in his hand and a revolver on his hip, Savimbi led an army of more than 30,000 troops.

Backed for many years by apartheid South Africa, his forces were accused of atrocities and he himself was described as having carried out summary executions.

His remains were handed over after a dispute this week between government authorities and UNITA over how the procedure would be conducted.
Coinbases President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Asiff Hirji has left the company, the latest in a series of departures by senior executives at the US cryptocurrency exchange.

Emilie Choi, VP of Business, Data and International, has been named as the new COO.

Congrats @emiliemc on the new role. Let's do this  https://t.co/6lXEYc4Ix4  Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) June 1, 2019

Coinbase also lost Balaji Srinivasan, Chief Technology Officer, in May. In a tweet, Srinivasan, founder of Earn.com, said that he had enjoyed his time at the company and that he would now take time off to get back in shape and up to speed on everything happening when he was heads down at Coinbase.

In April, meanwhile, Head of International, Dan Romero, announced his resignation in a blog post.

Im planning to take some time to figure out whats next, but I remain as optimistic as ever about the potential of cryptocurrency and Coinbase, he said.

I joined Coinbase when it was 20 people; it is now over 700 people. Ive also had the privilege to work across almost every aspect of the business: our banking partnerships, international, and time with both our consumer and institutional businesses. Through this, Ive come to appreciate the value in working at a mission-driven company thats willing to focus on a long-term strategy, he added.

Staying true to a mission often requires doing hard (or even unpopular) things. But Ive been lucky to learn first hand that its those hard things that often generate the most value.

The post Another one bites the dust: Coinbase President and COO departs appeared first on Coin Rivet.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez returned to her old job behind the bar to promote increased wages for restaurant servers and other tipped workers.

The New York politician, famously worked as a bartender before being elected to US Congress last year, took lunch orders, served pizza and cocktails at her

Any job that pays $2.13 an hour is not a job, she told restaurant workers, customers and reporters at the Queensboro Restaurant in her New York City district, referring to the lowest possible wage before tips.

Its indentured servitude. All labour has dignity and the way that we give labour dignity is by paying people the respect and the value that they are worth... We have to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Taking to Twitter after her stint behind the bar, she wrote: I was nervous that I may have lost my touch - still got it! That muscle memory doesnt quit."
Seoul Koren BBQ and Hot Pot. | Photo: Julie T./Yelp

Craving Korean food?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top Korean spots around Aurora, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to satisfy your cravings.

1. Seoul Korean BBQ and Hot Pot

Photo: Joey W./Yelp

Topping the list is Seoul Korean BBQ & Hot Pot. Located at 2080 S. Havana St. in Village East, the sushi bar and Korean spot, which offers barbecue and more, is the highest-rated Korean restaurant in Aurora, boasting four stars out of 619 reviews on Yelp.

2. Tofu House

Photo: jem c./Yelp

Next up is Dayton Triangle's Tofu House, situated at 2353 S. Havana St., Unit D1. With four stars out of 170 reviews on Yelp, the Korean spot has proven to be a local favorite.

3. Dae Gee Korean BBQ

Photo: maximous P./Yelp

Village East's Dae Gee Korean BBQ, located at 1910 S. Havana St., Unit 1, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the Korean spot, which offers barbecue and more, four stars out of 110 reviews.

4. Yong Gung

Photo: alice o./Yelp

Yong Gung, a Korean, Chinese and Asian fusion spot in Village East, is another go-to, with four stars out of 91 Yelp reviews. Head over to 2040 S. Havana St. to see for yourself.

5. P & Y Cafe

Photo: mike n./Yelp

Check out P & Y Cafe, which has earned four stars out of 85 reviews on Yelp. You can find the Chinese, Korean and Asian fusion spot at 2769 S. Parker Road.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Cafe Crepe. | Photo: Jose N./Yelp

Looking to try the top creperies around?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top creperies in Austin, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to venture next time you're on the hunt.

1. Crepe Crazy

Photo: WES M./Yelp

Topping the list is Crepe Crazy. Located at 3103 S. Lamar Blvd. in South Lamar, the creperie is the highest rated creperie in Austin, boasting 4.5 stars out of 415 reviews on Yelp.

2. Cafe Crepe

PHOTO: J R./YELP

Next up is downtown's Cafe Crepe, situated at 200 San Jacinto Blvd., Suite A. With four stars out of 790 reviews on Yelp, the creperie, French and breakfast and brunch spot has proven to be a local favorite.

3. Insennity

Photo: LENNY D./Yelp

West University's Insennity, located at 411 W. 23rd St., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the food truck, creperie and Chinese spot five stars out of 33 reviews.

4. Saperlipopette

Saperlipopette, a food truck, creperie and French spot located downtown, is another much-loved go-to, with five stars out of 28 Yelp reviews. Head over to 75 Rainey St. to see for yourself.

5. Parisian Crepes

PHOTO: PARISIAN CREPES/YELP

Check out Parisian Crepes, which has earned five stars out of 20 reviews on Yelp. You can find the creperie and food truck, which offers shaved ice and more, at 6218 Brodie Lane.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Mr Netanyahu's biographer described last night as his lowest point in 13 years - REUTERS

It was just six weeks ago that Benjamin Netanyahu strode onto the stage in Tel Aviv and declared victory in Israels last election.

The political maestro had done it again. He had secured a fifth term in office, seen off a reinvigorated opposition, and looked on course to use his new majority to change the law and shield himself from prosecution on criminal corruption charges.

That vision all fell apart in a few chaotic hours on Wednesday. Unable to form a majority coalition government, Mr Netanyahu instead forced a new election which neither he nor Israeli voters wanted.

The Israeli prime ministers air of invincibility has now been shattered. The rules of political gravity, it seems, apply to him as well as to other mere mortals. His biographer described it as his worst night in 13 years.

Mr Netanyahus most immediate concern is the criminal prosecution on allegations that he illegally accepted luxury gifts and changed public regulations in return for favourable coverage from a media tycoon. (He denies wrongdoing).

Mr Netanyahu failed to form a coalition before Wednesday's deadline Credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

His plan had been to use the coming months to alter the rules so that he would have immunity as long as he was in office. Political insiders described himself as almost singularly obsessed with the issue.

Now those plans will have to wait until after the election or may be scrapped altogether. He got a reminder of his circling legal woes earlier on Wednesday, when his wife agreed to pay to 12,000 to settle her own fraud case.

It is still entirely possible, maybe even likely, that Mr Netanyahu will win the next election. No gambler ever got wealthy by betting against him. But he faces a number of potential head winds.

Voters tend to punish the ruling party for dysfunction in government and Israelis who are frustrated at being dragged to the polls a second time may take it out on Mr Netanyahus Likud party.

Because he did not expect to face voters again for several years, Mr Netanyahu has also been less than subtle about his ambitions to secure immunity for himself. That may mean the oppositions allegation that he is vandalising Israeli democracy will stick in the coming election in a way they did not last time.

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Finally, there is a danger for Mr Netanyahu that Israelis have simply had enough of his drama. They may turn to a boring but dependable figure - like the centrist opposition leader Benny Gantz - as long as he can give them a quiet life.

The unexpected new election probably also means that the White Houses much-delayed and much-maligned peace plan will be permanently shelved.

The first rule of the Trump administrations Israeli-Palestinian policy has always been: do no harm to Mr Netanyahus political prospects.

They deliberately waited until after his election victory in April to start rolling out their plan. And before that they gave the prime minister a massive pre-election gift by recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The US may still forge ahead with the less controversial economic half of the plan at a summit in Bahrain next month. But they are likely to indefinitely delay the more complex political component that was due later this year.

By the time Israels election is over the 2020 US presidential election will be in full swing. It is unlikely Donald Trump or his team will have much interest in the Middle East when they will be fully focused on the American Midwest.
Binance Charity Foundation (BCF), the charity arm of crypto exchange Binance, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Safe Future, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Uganda focused on improving the countrys quality of education.

The adoption of blockchain and crypto in charity is not as easy as many people might think, says Athena Yu, Executive Director of BCF. We are inspired by the Ugandan government, which is willing to work closely with us to explore various possibilities in blockchain-enabled solutions for childrens education and health. Together, we will enhance this new way of charitable giving with more transparency and sustainability.

CEO of Safe Future, Mula Anthony, says that the Binance for Children Special Impact Education Project Uganda will provide a brighter future for 100,000 children, with new supplies going to schools, such as solar panels, sanitary pads, school supplies, LED screens, as well as breakfast and lunch for students.

Today 28th May 2019, the "Binance for Children Special Impact Education Project Uganda" implementation started with lighting up of two project schools. Pupils and Teachers at the two Kampala schools are so excited. Thanks to Blockchain Charity Foundation. pic.twitter.com/zwbXIOhJuT  Mula Anthony (@mulanthony) May 28, 2019

New portal

Last year, BCF introduced a blockchain-based donation tracking platform.

Binance CEO CZ unveiled the solution during the Blockchains for Sustainable Development session at the UNCTAD World Investment Forum.

Binance is covering all operational fees on the new portal, ensuring that 100% of donations will go directly to end-beneficiaries . CZ also shared the results of the ventures donation drive for flooding victims in West Japan. It raised $410,000 in crypto donations seven days after CZ called for support via Twitter, with all donations tracked on the blockchain.

The post Binance Charity Foundation inks MOU with Ugandan NGO appeared first on Coin Rivet.
Moscow (AFP) - A blast at a major explosives plant in central Russia Saturday injured 79 people and damaged nearly 200 buildings nearby, local officials told Russian news agencies.

The explosion happened at the "Kristall" factory in Dzerzhinsk about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Moscow, in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

A local health ministry official quoted by the TASS news agency said 79 people had suffered light or moderate injuries, a huge increase on the initial figure of 19.

"According to the latest information, 79 people asked for medical help after the explosion at Kristall: 38 factory workers and 41 residents of the city. There are no children among the injured," a health ministry statement said.

Fifteen people were hospitalised but none had life-threatening injuries, it said.

Of the injured, 14 had to be hospitalised, but no one had been killed, said the spokesman.

Earlier, health ministry officials told news agencies that the wounded had "shrapnel wounds of mild and moderate severity" and that they were receiving medical assistance.

The force of the blast damaged five factory buildings and 180 houses nearby.

The deputy governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Dmitry Krasnov, told Russian state television that two people were missing.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened an investigation into potential violations of industrial safety at the plant.

Local emergency services told news agencies that more than 300 people and 50 technical vehicles were taking part in cleaning the plant following the explosion.

Representatives of Kristall told Interfax that five people were working in the area where the explosion occurred and were safely evacuated.

There was no information yet on where the injured were at the time of the blast.

Local fire fighters told agencies they had no information about any more people still inside the plant, which was set up in 1953.

"There was a explosion in one of the workshops, followed by a fire of around 100 square meters," a spokesman of the local emergency ministry told news agencies.

Images on social media showed a large cloud of smoke billowing from the building after the explosion.
London (AFP) - US President Donald Trump has said British former foreign minister Boris Johnson would make an "excellent" prime minister to replace Theresa May.

Trump was speaking ahead of the start of a state visit to Britain on Monday, during which he will meet May.

She is set to resign on June 7 over her failure to deliver a deal to bring Britain out of the European Union.

Asked by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun for his opinion on the 12 candidates to replace her, Trump said, "I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.

"I have always liked him. I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person."

He added that several candidates in the Conservative leadership race had asked for his support, without revealing who.

A key Leave campaigner in the Brexit referendum, Johnson has said he is prepared to take Britain out of the European Union, "deal or no deal".

In the interview, Trump also repeated his criticism of how May has handled Brexit negotiations, saying Britain had allowed the EU to "have all the cards".

"It is very hard to play well when one side has all the advantage," he said. "I had mentioned to Theresa that you have got to build up your ammunition."

May concluded a divorce agreement with the EU in November but her deal was rejected three times by the British parliament, forcing her to seek a delay in leaving the bloc, now scheduled for October 31.

- 'Nasty' Meghan -

Commenting on Britain's domestic politics and opining on ruling-party leadership choices at a sensitive time would normally be an unusual move for a US president -- but not for Trump, a former reality-TV star who often speaks his mind.

It could however add to tensions during Trump's three-day visit to Britain.

Trump is to be received in Buckingham Palace on Monday by Queen Elizabeth II.

He will then have a discussion with Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne who is known for speaking out against global warming -- an issue Trump is dismissive of. The president has decided to pull the US out of the Paris climate change agreement that seeks to curb carbon emissions.

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A meeting with Meghan, the former US actress who married Charles's second son Prince Harry, is not on the agenda for Trump, whom she criticised during his 2016 campaign to be America's leader.

"What can I say? I didn't know that she was nasty," Trump said of Meghan, though he also said he was "sure she will do excellently" as a princess.

As for protests that are expected to dog Trump's state visit, the president insisted "I think I am really -- I hope -- I am really loved in the UK".
London (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Friday that British former foreign minister Boris Johnson would make an "excellent" prime minister to replace Theresa May.

Trump was speaking ahead of the start of a state visit to Britain on Monday, during which he will meet May.

She is set to resign on June 7 over her failure to deliver a deal to bring Britain out of the European Union.

Asked by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun for his opinion on the 12 candidates to replace her, Trump said, "I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.

"I have always liked him. I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person."

He added that several candidates in the Conservative leadership race had asked for his support, without revealing who.

A key leave campaigner in the Brexit referendum, Johnson has said he is prepared to take Britain out of the European Union, "deal or no deal".

In the interview, Trump also repeated his criticism of how May has handled Brexit negotiations, saying Britain had allowed the EU to "have all the cards".

"It is very hard to play well when one side has all the advantage," he said. "I had mentioned to Theresa that you have got to build up your ammunition."

May concluded a divorce agreement with the EU in November but her deal was rejected three times by the British parliament, forcing her to seek a delay in leaving the bloc, now scheduled for October 31.
Photo: Nanoramic Laboratories/Glassdoor

Boston-based energy storage company Nanoramic Laboratories has secured $8.5 million in a corporate round, according to company database Crunchbase, topping the citys recent funding headlines. The cash infusion was announced May 23 and led by NGK SPARK PLUG CO.

According to its Crunchbase profile, "Nanoramic specializes in energy storage technology and material solutions based on nano-carbons. Nano-carbons have exceptional electrical, thermal and mechanical properties at the nano-scale level. We synthesize and incorporate nano-carbons in various materials and transfer these properties at the macroscale level."

The 11-year-old company has raised 10 previous funding rounds, including a $5 million Series D round in 2018.

The round brings total funding raised by Boston companies in energy over the past month to $26 million, and an increase of $23 million from the month before. The local energy industry has produced 16 funding rounds over the past year, yielding a total of $100 million in venture funding.

In other local funding news, gaming and video games company Mightier announced a $6.6 million Series A funding round on May 21, led by FoxKiser.

According to Crunchbase, "Mightier helps children build emotional strength. Our program, developed at Harvard Medical School, aims to help children with behavioral and emotional challenges learn how to harness emotions in daily life. For more information, please enter your email address below."

Founded in 2016, the company has raised three previous rounds, including a $2.4 million seed round in 2018.

Meanwhile, fashion company Forsake raised $1.5 million in seed funding, announced on May 24. The round was financed by Western New York Venture Association.

From the company's Crunchbase profile, "Forsake is for those seeking more freedom and fewer ceilings. They design all-weather footwear for travel and adventure. Their goal is to bring higher level of versatility to your feet with products."

Forsake last raised $500,000 in seed funding in 2018.

This story was created automatically using local investment data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Chicago (AFP) - A new form of drug drastically improves survival rates of young women with the most common form of breast cancer, researchers said on Saturday, citing the results of an international clinical trial.

The findings, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, showed that the addition of a drug known as a cyclin inhibitor increased survival rates to 70 percent.

The mortality rate was 29 percent less than when patients were given a placebo.

Lead author Sara Hurvitz told AFP the study focused on hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, which accounts for two-thirds of all breast cancer cases among younger women and have in the past generally been treated by therapies that block estrogen production.

"You actually can get synergy or a better response, better cancer kill, by adding one of these cell cycle inhibitors" on top of the hormone suppression, Hurvitz said.

The treatment is less toxic than traditional chemotherapy because it more selectively targets cancerous cells, blocking their ability to multiply.

The trial, which looked at more than 670 cases, included only women under the age of 59 who had advanced cancer -- stage four -- for which they had not received prior hormone-blocking therapy.

"These are patients who tend to be diagnosed later, at a later stage in their disease, because we don't have great screening modalities for young women," said Hurvitz.

"That's what makes us so excited, because it's a therapy that's affecting so many patients with advanced disease."

Oncologist Harold Burstein, who was not involved in the research, said it was "an important study," having established that the use of cyclin inhibitors "translates into a significant survival benefit for women."

Burstein is with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The research received funding from the Novartis pharmaceutical company.

"Hopefully, these data will enable access for this product for more women around the world, particularly in healthcare systems which assess value rigorously as part of their decisions for national access to drugs," Burstein added.
Budapest (AFP) - The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged Saturday over the accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists and left 21 missing.

The Mermaid carrying mainly South Korean tourists overturned and sank late Wednesday, seconds after colliding with the Viking Sigyn cruise ship on a busy stretch of the Danube in the heart of Budapest.

Strong currents have hampered the search for those missing -- 19 South Koreans and two Hungarians -- preventing divers from reaching the submerged boat.

The Sigyn's Ukrainian captain was charged Saturday, a Budapest court official told AFP, but gave no further details.

The 64-year-old was detained Thursday for questioning for "endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths", police have said.

The captain's lawyer, Balazs Toth, said the court had granted bail, but prosecutors were appealing and so his client remained detained.

"He is devastated by the number of victims and is asking constantly that condolences are conveyed to their families," Toth said.

"My client has not changed his statement made as a witness. He insists that he has not made any error," his other lawyer, Gabor Elo, told reporters after the hearing.

- Four-country search -

Near the accident site, a floating crane has been erected, as well as a small pier for use by divers.

But with the Danube swollen after weeks of rain, the strong current has complicated plans to lift the wreck, and the prospects of finding any of the passengers alive are seen as very slim.

Serbia, Romania and Croatia -- countries along the Danube, south of Hungary -- have been asked to help in the search after South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha insisted in Budapest on Friday her country would not give up hope of finding survivors.

One of the bodies had been found about 11 kilometres (seven miles) downstream of the accident site.

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South Korean relatives of the Mermaid passengers arrived in Budapest Friday, and officials took them to the banks of the Danube.

The Hungarian Magyar Nemzet daily, meanwhile, on Saturday quoted police reports as saying the Sigyn might not have warned the pilot of smaller ship that he was going to overtake.

According to the newspaper, he also did not alert police about the collision.

- Black flags -

People have been laying flowers along the river bank and on a bridge near the collision site, as well as at the South Korean embassy.

On Saturday, black flags were flying along the bridge.

Only seven people are known to have survived so far. Those missing include a six-year-old girl, as well as the Mermaid's Hungarian captain and a crew member.

The collision happened on a popular part of the river from where sightseers can view the city and parliament, which is lit up at night.

Larger river cruise boats travelling on the Danube between Germany and the Black Sea typically spend several days moored in the capital.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran was a master of the federal budget process, quietly shrugging off criticism about pork-barrel spending while directing billions of dollars back to his home state of Mississippi.

Cochran died Thursday at age 81. He was the 10th longest-serving senator in U.S. history and wielded power for several years as chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Through federal spending in what has long been one of the poorest states in the nation, Cochran leaves a legacy that's visible in many ways, including catfish on dinner plates and Navy ships on the seas.

Several buildings in Mississippi bear his name, including a federal courthouse in Jackson, agricultural research centers in Stoneville and Poplarville, a pharmaceutical research building at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, a conference center at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, and a research park at Mississippi State University in Starkville.

There's even a variety of rice named "Thad," in his honor. The USA Rice Federation said the name was given by employees at Mississippi State University's Agricultural and Forestry Experimentation Station.

In the rural flatlands of the Delta, Jimmy Avery is director of the Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center, which is part of the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. The aquaculture center's work focuses on genetics, water quality, and fish health to try to improve production for farm-raised catfish.

Avery said Cochran's name and photo are on a wall, and he and other scientists used to meet with the senator in Washington. Avery said Cochran was well versed on agriculture issues and asked informed questions about their work, including how foreign competition affects the catfish industry.

"He was responsible for a very wise investment here in Mississippi at a time when a lot of other states were not making investments in aquaculture," Avery said Friday.

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During his final election in 2014, Cochran faced harsh criticism from Republican primary challenger Chris McDaniel, a state senator with tea party support. McDaniel said Cochran's spending habits had increased the federal debt to a dangerous level.

Cochran told The Associated Press that the federal government had a large federal debt and "I think that is a danger to continued economic growth and prosperity," so officials had to be cautious.

Cochran continued: "A certain amount of debt is acceptable, I think. And the experts provide testimony at hearings every year when we're reviewing federal requests from the federal government for spending funds to continue to operate their departments."

The Center for Responsive Politics said that during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 federal budget years, Cochran sponsored or co-sponsored the most earmarks among the 435 members of Congress. In 2008, he was responsible for 255 earmarks totaling $837.3 million. In 2009, he was responsible for 259 earmarks totaling $1.2 billion. In 2010, he had 243 earmarks totaling $497.6 million. Many, but not all, of his earmarks were for Mississippi projects.

One of many buildings named for the former senator is the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center, an 800,000-square-foot (74,322-square-meter) former retail space that now houses physicians' offices, an outpatient cancer treatment center and other medical operations. It's in a mostly African American neighborhood in central Jackson.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the longest-serving of Mississippi's current four House members and the only one who's African American, said in 2014 that Cochran's work in securing federal money was vital to developing the medical mall in the mid-1990s.

On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Cochran secured billions of dollars for recovery after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. He also earmarked money for the Gulfport Harbor  $10 million in 2009 alone. His influence as Appropriations Committee chairman also helped one of the state's largest employers, Ingalls Shipbuilding, which has received contracts to build military vessels.

Cochran also leaves a legacy of people in leadership positions in Mississippi.

The current president of Delta State University, Bill LaForge, worked as legislative counsel and chief of staff for Cochran.

The current president of Mississippi State University, Mark E. Keenum, worked for Cochran for 18 years, with 10 of those as the senator's chief of staff.

"He provided extraordinary leadership and walked with giants, yet remained humble and true to his Mississippi roots," Keenum said Thursday. "Sen. Cochran had a tremendous influence on my life. He taught me how to respect people, how to listen, how to make decisions based on facts and then to move forward."

____

Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .
Photo: Serena T./Yelp

A new bar has opened its doors in the neighborhood. Located at 544 Carondelet St. in Central Business District, the fresh arrival is called Bar Marilou.

Bar Marilou provides an upscale lounge experience with French bar fare and a variety of signature cocktails, with menu items ranging from bar burgers to crushed strawberries to anchovies.

According to the business' Facebook page, this place specializes in "Cocktails, wine and French-inflected fare, in partnership with Quixotic Projects."

With a 3.5-star rating out of three reviews on Yelp so far, Bar Marilou is getting solid feedback from clientele.

Sarena T., who was among the first Yelpers to review the new spot on May 18, wrote, "Came on opening night, lots of people, but not at all crowded and got a seat at the bar with a couple of friends from out of town. Easy, welcoming cozy atmosphere, no bouncer, no reservations."

Yelper Jody B. added, Bar Marilou opened this week and I was there on the fifth night. As is normal with any new establishment, they seem to be still finding their footing, so it's hard to be too critical at this point.

Head on over to check it out: Bar Marilou is open from 4 p.m.midnight on Monday-Wednesday and Sunday, and 4 p.m.2 a.m. on Thursday-Saturday.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
1344 N. High St. | Photo Zumper

Cheesman Park is quite walkable, is quite bikeable and offers many nearby public transportation options, according to Walk Score's rating system.

So what does the low-end rent on a rental in Cheesman Park look like these daysand what might you get for the price?

We took a look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments in Cheesman Park via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide, to find out what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in this Denver neighborhood.

Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

14th Avenue

Listed at $925/month, this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, located at 14th Avenue, is 21.9 percent less than the $1,185/month median rent for a one bedroom in Cheesman Park.

When it comes to building amenities, expect on-site laundry. In the unit, expect central heating and hardwood flooring. For those with furry friends in tow, know that cats and dogs are welcome on this property. The listing specifies a $45 application fee and a $400 security deposit.

(See the complete listing here.)

1344 N. High St.

Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 1344 N. High St., which is going for $1,095/month.

The building offers on-site laundry and a business center. In the unit, you'll find air conditioning, hardwood flooring and a dishwasher. Pets are not welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(See the full listing here.)

1455 Vine St.

This one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, situated at 1455 Vine St., is listed for $1,175/month.

In the unit, expect air conditioning and carpeting. The building offers on-site laundry, outdoor space and storage space. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: cats and dogs are not permitted. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental.

(See the listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
4455 52nd St.| Photos: Zumper

According to rental site Zumper, median rents for a one bedroom in Talmadge are hovering around $1,550, compared to a $1,700 one-bedroom median for San Diego as a whole.

But how does the low-end pricing on a Talmadge rental look these daysand what might you get for the price?

We took a look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments from Zumper and Apartment Guide, to find out what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in the neighborhood, which, according to Walk Score ratings, is very walkable, is relatively bikeable and has some transit options.

Read on for the cheapest listings available right now. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

4427 Estrella Ave.

Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom at 4427 Estrella Ave., which is going for $1,325/month.

The building offers assigned parking for an additional fee and on-site laundry. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. Pets are allowed.

(See the full listing here.)

4470 Euclid Ave.

Check out this one-bedroom, one-bathroom at 4470 Euclid Ave., listed at $1,350/month.

In the unit, the listing promises hardwood flooring and lots of closet space. The building includes outdoor space and secured entry. For those with furry friends in tow, know that cats and dogs are welcome on this property. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental.

(Here's the listing.)

5252 Monroe Ave.

And here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom at 5252 Monroe Ave., which, with 550 square feet, is also going for $1,350/month.

When it comes to building amenities, expect on-site laundry, parking and a storage locker. Apartment amenities include air conditioning, central heating and a patio. There's no leasing fee required for this rental, but there is a $35 application fee.

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(Check out the listing here.)

4455 52nd St.

Over at 4455 52nd St., there's this 638-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom, going for $1,400/month.

When it comes to building amenities, expect on-site laundry and parking. The unit offers stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and a ceiling fan. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(View the listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Photo: Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse/Yelp

Looking for a yummy South American meal near you?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best high-end South American restaurants around Chicago, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to fill the bill.

1. Fogo De Chao Brazilian Steakhouse

Photo: Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse/Yelp

Topping the list is Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse. Located at 661 N. La Salle Drive in River North, the steakhouse and Brazilian spot is the most popular high-end South American restaurant in Chicago, boasting 4.5 stars out of 1,562 reviews on Yelp.

Fogo de Chao specializes in fire-roasting meats with the Brazilian technique of churrasco. On the menu, look for the picanha sirloin, filet mignon, ribeye, lamb chops and more.

2. Tango Sur

Photo: Emily Y./Yelp

Next up is Lakeview's Tango Sur, situated at 3763 N. Southport Ave. (between Waveland Avenue and Grace Street). With four stars out of 2,242 reviews on Yelp, the steakhouse, Latin American and Argentine spot has proven to be a local favorite for those looking to indulge.

Tango Sur specializes in Argentinian food. On the menu, look for the short ribs, breaded beef with baked ham and mozzarella, prociutto served with melon and more.

3. ZED451

The Near North's ZED451, located at 739 N. Clark St., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the fancy steakhouse, lounge and Brazilian spot four stars out of 1,343 reviews.

The Brazilian steakhouse has a menu made from scratch, according to the website. Personalize your experience with a choice of soups, salads and chef selections that vary by season.

4. Texas de Brazil

Photo: Texas de Brazil/Yelp

Texas de Brazil, a steakhouse, venue and event space and Brazilian spot on the North side, is another pricey go-to, with four stars out of 209 Yelp reviews. Head over to 210 E. Upper Illinois St. to see for yourself.

The Brazilian steakhouse specializes in beef, lamb, pork, chicken and Brazilian sausage. The menu also offers a variety of salads, roasted vegetables, cheeses and more.

5. El Che Steakhouse & Bar

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Photo: Eda X./Yelp

Over in the West Loop, check out El Che Steakhouse & Bar, which has earned four stars out of 195 reviews on Yelp. Treat yourself at the bar, steakhouse and Argentine spot by heading over to 845 W. Washington Blvd. (between Green and Peoria streets).

The culinary experience at El Che Steakhouse & Bar is Chef John Manion's "love letter to his travels in Argentina interpreted through the Buenos Aires tradition of live-flame cooking," according to the website. On the menu, look for the grilled oysters, barbecue quail with red chimichurri, beef short ribs and more.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
(Corrects spelling of Shanahan in paragraph 2)

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - The United States' actions on Taiwan and the South China Sea are hardly conducive to maintaining stability in the region, a senior Chinese military official said on Saturday, responding to comments by acting U.S. Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

"He (Shanahan) has been expressing inaccurate views and repeating old tunes about the issues of Taiwan and the South China Sea," Shao Yuanming, a senior official of the People's Liberation Army, told reporters after Shanahan's speech.

"This is harming regional peace and stability."

Shao added that China would defend its sovereignty at any cost should anyone try to separate Taiwan from its territory. It views the self-ruled island as a wayward province and has not ruled out the use of force to return it to the fold.

"China will have to be reunified," Shao said. "If anybody wants to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will protect the country's sovereignty at all costs."

China translates the Chinese word "tong yi" as "reunification," but it can also be translated as "unification," a term in English preferred by Taiwan independence supporters who say the Communist government has never ruled the island, so it cannot be "reunified."

Earlier, Shanahan told delegates at a defense forum in Singapore that the United States would no longer "tiptoe" around Chinese behavior in Asia, with stability in the region at threat on issues ranging from the South China Sea to Taiwan.

Shanahan did not directly name China when he spoke of "actors" destabilizing the region, but went on to say the United States would not ignore Chinese behavior.

However, Shao responded by saying it was the United States that was destabilizing the region with its recent actions.

In May, a U.S. warship sailed near the disputed Scarborough Shoal claimed by China in the South China Sea, angering Beijing at a time of tension over trade between the world's two biggest economies. (Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in Singapore)
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States' actions on Taiwan and the South China Sea are hardly conducive to maintaining stability in the region, a senior Chinese military official said on Saturday, responding to comments by acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

"He (Shanahan) has been expressing inaccurate views and repeating old tunes about the issues of Taiwan and the South China Sea," Shao Yuanming, a senior official of the People's Liberation Army, told reporters after Shanahan's speech.

"This is harming regional peace and stability."

Shao added that China would defend its sovereignty at any cost should anyone try to separate Taiwan from its territory. It views the self-ruled island as a wayward province and has not ruled out the use of force to return it to the fold.

"China will have to be reunified," Shao said. "If anybody wants to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will protect the country's sovereignty at all costs."

China translates the Chinese word "tong yi" as "reunification", but it can also be translated as "unification", a term in English preferred by Taiwan independence supporters who say the Communist government has never ruled the island, so it cannot be "reunified".

Earlier, Shanahan told delegates at a defense forum in Singapore that the United States would no longer "tiptoe" around Chinese behavior in Asia, with stability in the region at threat on issues ranging from the South China Sea to Taiwan.

Shanahan did not directly name China when he spoke of "actors" destabilizing the region, but went on to say the United States would not ignore Chinese behavior.

However, Shao responded by saying it was the United States that was destabilizing the region with its recent actions.

In May, a U.S. warship sailed near the disputed Scarborough Shoal claimed by China in the South China Sea, angering Beijing at a time of tension over trade between the world's two biggest economies.

(This story has been refiled to correct the spelling of Shanahan in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in Singapore)
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Could China YuHua Education Corporation Limited (HKG:6169) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. Yet sometimes, investors buy a stock for its dividend and lose money because the share price falls by more than they earned in dividend payments.

China YuHua Education pays a 3.9% dividend yield, and has been paying dividends for the past two years. It's certainly an attractive yield, but readers are likely curious about its staying power. Some simple analysis can offer a lot of insights when buying a company for its dividend, and we'll go through this below.

Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis

SEHK:6169 Historical Dividend Yield, June 1st 2019

Payout ratios

Companies (usually) pay dividends out of their earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, the dividend might have to be cut. Comparing dividend payments to a company's net profit after tax is a simple way of reality-checking whether a dividend is sustainable. China YuHua Education paid out 54% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. This is a fairly normal payout ratio among most businesses. It allows a higher dividend to be paid to shareholders, but does limit the capital retained in the business - which could be good or bad.

In addition to comparing dividends against profits, we should inspect whether the company generated enough cash to pay its dividend. China YuHua Education paid out 25% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservative and suggests the dividend is sustainable. It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

Remember, you can always get a snapshot of China YuHua Education's latest financial position, by checking our visualisation of its financial health.

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Dividend Volatility

One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. The company has been paying a stable dividend for a few years now, but we'd like to see more evidence of consistency over a longer period. During the past two-year period, the first annual payment was CN0.065 in 2017, compared to CN0.11 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 29% a year over that time.

The dividend has been growing pretty quickly, which could be enough to get us interested even though the dividend history is relatively short. Further research may be warranted.

Dividend Growth Potential

Examining whether the dividend is affordable and stable is important. However, it's also important to assess if earnings per share (EPS) are growing. Growing EPS can help maintain or increase the purchasing power of the dividend over the long run. China YuHua Education has grown its EPS 61% over the past 12 months. We're glad to see EPS up on last year, but we're conscious that growth rates typically slow as companies increase in size. With recent, rapid earnings per share growth and a payout ratio of 54%, this business looks like an interesting prospect if earnings are reinvested effectively. We do note though, one year is too short a time to be drawing strong conclusions about a company's future prospects.

Conclusion

When we look at a dividend stock, we need to form a judgement on whether the dividend will grow, if the company is able to maintain it in a wide range of economic circumstances, and if the dividend payout is sustainable. First, we think China YuHua Education has an acceptable payout ratio and its dividend is well covered by cashflow. We were also glad to see it growing earnings, although its dividend history is not as long as we'd like. Overall we think China YuHua Education is an interesting dividend stock, although it could be better.

Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 15 China YuHua Education analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with our free report on analyst estimates for the company.

If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%.

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.
Over the past decade, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) has made operational excellence a top priority, with the goal of boosting customer satisfaction. The carrier has succeeded in becoming one of the most reliable airlines in the world. Meanwhile, Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK) has struggled to integrate Virgin America -- a smaller rival it acquired in late 2016 -- into its core Alaska Airlines brand without alienating customers or allowing reliability to slip.

Based on some objective customer experience metrics, Delta is now a better airline than Alaska. Nevertheless, that's not how travelers see things. In the recently released J.D. Power 2019 North America Airline Satisfaction Study, Alaska Airlines won for the 12th consecutive year in the "traditional carrier" segment. Moreover, it actually widened its lead over Delta.

An Alaska Airlines plane flying over clouds.

Alaska Airlines just won its 12th consecutive J.D. Power award. Image source: Alaska Airlines.

Delta Air Lines is doing all the right things

Over the past decade, Delta has invested heavily in equipment and processes to ensure that customers (and their bags) arrive at their destinations on time. It has gained recognition for its efforts in the annual Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report, which ranks airlines based on the rate of involuntary denied boardings, on-time performance, the frequency with which baggage is lost or damaged, and the number of official complaints to the Department of Transportation.

In the 2017 AQR report, Delta nearly took the top spot, coming in just behind Alaska Airlines. The margin separating the two rivals narrowed further in the 2018 report, with Alaska winning by a hair.

Delta Air Lines finally broke through in the 2019 report. The company was in the top third of the industry for all four metrics covered by the AQR study and led the way in terms of avoiding "bumping" customers from flights. Alaska Airlines didn't come close to matching Delta's performance, instead tumbling three spots to No. 4 in the industry.

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A Delta Air Lines plane parked on the tarmac.

Delta offers better service than Alaska Airlines according to many objective metrics. Image source: Delta Air Lines.

Alaska Airlines still gets the nod from passengers

Whereas the AQR report scores airlines based on objective metrics, J.D. Power's annual airline satisfaction study is based on surveys of thousands of air travelers. That said, there are clear links between the four metrics tracked in the AQR study and customer satisfaction.

Not surprisingly, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines have been closely matched in recent years. In the 2017 study, Alaska edged out its larger rival with 765 points (out of a possible 1,000) to Delta's 758. Both airlines improved their scores in 2018, but the margin of victory barely changed. That year, Alaska Airlines scored 775 and Delta scored 767.

Delta improved its score significantly in the 2019 J.D. Power survey, reaching 788 points. Yet Alaska Airlines made even bigger gains, achieving a new record for traditional carriers of 801 points. This allowed both carriers -- but especially Alaska -- to move a lot closer to the low-cost carriers that typically achieve the best overall customer satisfaction scores from J.D. Power.

Strong scores across the board

J.D. Power asks travelers about seven key aspects of the customer experience:

Cost and fees In-flight services Aircraft Boarding/deplaning/baggage Flight crew Check-in Reservations

Among the five traditional carriers included in the rankings, Alaska Airlines received the best ratings for six of the seven criteria this year, with Delta taking second place each time. For the last criterion, the in-flight services category, Alaska and Delta received roughly equal marks.

This highlights just how clear the hierarchy is for customer satisfaction among U.S. airlines. Alaska Airlines has a comfortable lead over Delta Air Lines in terms of customers' perceptions, but the gulf between both of those carriers and American Airlines and United Continental is far wider.

Can Delta catch Alaska Airlines?

Despite Delta Air Lines' efforts, overtaking Alaska Airlines in the J.D. Power rankings will be tough to pull off. For one thing, Alaska is nearing the end of its merger integration process, which will probably lead to better customer service in 2019 and beyond.

Even so, Delta could quite conceivably match Alaska Airlines in many of the categories where it trails today. However, J.D. Power gives the most weight to the cost and fees category. Alaska Airlines is likely to enjoy a permanent advantage on this dimension, due to its positioning as a low-fare airline -- whereas Delta strives to earn a revenue premium. Still, from a shareholder's perspective, high fares are an excellent reason for falling short of the top ranking for customer satisfaction.

More From The Motley Fool

Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Alaska Air Group and Delta Air Lines and is long January 2020 $20 calls on American Airlines Group. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool recommends Alaska Air Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Paris (AFP) - For a sign of how far Western politics and transatlantic relations have changed, look no further than next week's D-Day commemorations in Britain and northern France.

Five years ago, for the 70th anniversary, former US president Barack Obama travelled to France to stand with America's allies and deliver a moving tribute to their joint sacrifice and shared destiny in World War II.

In what was condemned as vulgar and disrespectful by right-wing opponents at the time, he was filmed chewing gum during one of the ceremonies -- apparently to stop a craving for a cigarette.

Starting from Wednesday, US President Donald Trump will attend two days of memorials in Britain and France for the 75th anniversary of the world's biggest naval operation, which signalled the start of efforts to liberate western Europe.

"It's not the same world," Francois Heisbourg, a former French diplomat and head of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told AFP.

While European leaders in Obama's era would sometimes complain privately that Europe was a low priority for the US president, none ever imagined a US leader actively working to undermine the European Union.

And Trump, who has cheered Brexit and is openly hostile to the idea of the EU bloc, has ripped up postwar conventions to such an extent that chewing gum at a ceremony seems like an offence from a different era.

He has publicly refused a handshake with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "weak" and has humiliated British Prime Minister Theresa May over her strategy to negotiate Britain's departure from the EU.

On his last visit to France in November last year to mark 100 years since World War I, he left mocking the "very low approval rating" of his host, President Emmanuel Macron.

Heisbourg said that "everyone will wait anxiously for the end of the ceremonies fearing a Twitter storm from Donald Trump."

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Despite all this, Jeremy Shapiro, an expert on transatlantic relations at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that relations between the US leader his Western counterparts "aren't disastrous".

"They still want to be allies, but there isn't that same sense of shared destiny which is what you need to land people on a beach together. There's a sense that they can have transactions that work," he told AFP.

"Trump has caused everyone to see him in that light, and that's how they see him," he added.

- Putin absent -

The commemorations of the D-Day landings, which saw 150,000 Allied soldiers storm the beaches of northern France on June 6, 1944, will begin on Wednesday morning.

Queen Elizabeth II will preside at a ceremony in Portsmouth in southern England attended by May, Macron, Trudeau, Merkel and Trump, who begins a state visit to Britain on Monday.

Thousands of ships left from Portsmouth under cover of darkness 75 years ago for an invasion that signalled the start of the liberation of western Europe from Nazi occupation.

British authorities have said the D-Day event will be "one of the greatest British military spectacles in recent history" involving 26 RAF aircraft and 11 Royal Navy vessels.

On Thursday, ceremonies in France will continue along the wide sandy beaches where troops faced a hail of Nazi bullets and artillery shells which left 10,470 dead, wounded or missing on the first day.

One notable absentee will be Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was invited to represent the Soviet Union for the first time in 2004 on the 60th anniversary of the invasion.

He was also present in 2014, just as his relations with the West were collapsing over his decision to order troops into eastern Ukraine to annex Crimea.

"In 2014, the attack in Crimea gave the Allies something to unite around," Heisbourg said.

The Russian leader, whose government made "sweeping and systemic" efforts to help get Trump elected in 2016 -- according to an investigation by US special counsel Robert Mueller -- was not invited this time.

- Bridging differences -

European leaders and Trump are at odds on a number of issues, any one of which has the potential to become a public source of friction at this week's ceremonies.

The US leader has repeatedly threatened to impose new tariffs on European imports, and there are also major differences on climate change, Iran's nuclear ambitions and the civil war in Syria.

The sensitive issue of defence spending is seen as one possible flashpoint, given the occasion and Trump's past comments.

The US president regularly assails European leaders for their failure to spend the equivalent of 2.0 percent of their GDP on defence.

The figure was agreed by all members of the NATO alliance, which grouped the Allies together after WWII, while Obama was still in office.

"There's a high risk that Donald Trumps uses the ceremonies to remind everyone about the dependence of Europe on the United States for its security and defence," Heisbourg said.

A source in the French presidency said Macron was hoping to use the opportunity to bridge some of his differences with Washington.

The D-Day commemorations are a "good opportunity to celebrate this common victory and to explore some of the priority issues between us to try to bring our positions closer together," an aide said on condition of anonymity.
WASHINGTON  Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez defended the party's decision to raise the bar on who makes the presidential debate stage this fall following criticism that the rules are arbitrary and exclusive.

Some candidates are questioning the DNC's decision to require that candidates hit 2% in four qualifying polls and tally at least 130,000 individual donors before they could qualify for debates scheduled for September and October. That's twice the minimum candidates must meet to get on stage for the first and second rounds of debates, which start later this month.

"Weve said this all along, that in the fall were going to raise the threshold because thats what we always do. You have to demonstrate that youre making progress. And 2% is hardly a high bar in my judgment," Perez said Saturday on CNN. "You cant win the presidency in the modern era if you cant build relationships with the grassroots."

Perez said the DNC spoke to "a ton of people" for input before adopting its debate rules.

"What weve set up  is a structure where we want to give everyone a fair shake to communicate their vision to the American people," Perez said. "The proof is in the pudding. Candidates have done a very good job in the aggregate of reaching the grassroots and I think thats going to help us as a party in the long run."

In this April 3, 2019, photo, Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, speaks during the National Action Network Convention in New York. The Democratic National Committee is upping the ante for its second round of presidential primary debates, doubling the polling and grassroots fundraising requirements from its initial summer debates. The parameters, announced Wednesday, May 29, 2019, are likely to help cull a crop of nearly two dozen candidates and, in the process, intensify scrutiny on Democratic Chairman Perez and his pledge to give all candidates a chance to be heard.

But not everyone of the roughly two dozen major candidates running for the Democratic nomination is satisfied.

At a campaign stop in New Hampshire this week, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet called the new rules "arbitrary."

"I don't think they should be winnowing the field, and I certainly don't think the DNC should be favoring national fundraising and cable television over the early states like New Hampshire," Bennet told WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.

Skewered by critics in 2016 for seemingly favoring Hillary Clinton, the DNC also received a letter from presidential candidate John Delaney who questioned how the committee put together the criteria.

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"Right now, we live in a country where half the people can't afford basic necessities like their rent, their food, their utilities. I'm running for those people," the former Maryland congressman told CBS News in an interview Friday. "It doesn't seem like they're probably contributing to a lot of political candidates so why is their voice not relevant."

Debate rules: It just got harder to make the later 2020 Democratic debates

What to know: What you need to know about the 2020 election so far

The first debate is scheduled to be held over two nights on June 26 and 27 in Miami, and the second round is scheduled for July 30 and 31 in Detroit. To qualify, candidates must register at least 1% in three polls or receive campaign contributions from at least 65,000 donors.

The campaigns of 12 candidates say they have met both the polling and donor qualifications to take part in the first two rounds of debates.

They are: former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Rep. Beto ORourke, D-Tex., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee and activist Marianne Williamson.

Up to 20 Candidates have until June 12 to qualify for the Miami debates. By June 14, Perez said he expects the lineups for the two-day event (10 candidates on each night) will be randomly selected.

Perez told CNN the format will give those polling in the lower half of candidates to have a "breakthrough moment" that can lift them into the fall debates.

"My goal is to make sure that all of those candidates and their supporters feel like they got a fair shake so that next spring when we have our nominee, they can hit the ground running," he said.

Contributing: Aamer Madhani

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democratic debates: DNC Chair defends rules to get on stage, says they ensure a 'fair shake'
President Donald Trump has responded to negative comments that Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, made about him during his 2016 presidential run.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Sun that was published on Saturday, Trump was asked how he felt about Markle calling him misogynistic and divisive during a 2016 appearance she made on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. The Duchess of Sussex also said that she would consider staying in Canada, where she was filming Suits at the time, if Trump became President.

Trump was apparently surprised by Markles remarks. I didnt know that No, I hope she is OK. I didnt know that, no, he said. So what can I say? No, I didnt know that she was nasty.

However, Trump went on to say that he felt Markle was a good addition to the British royal family. I am sure she will do excellently, he said. She will be very good.

When Trump arrives in the U.K. for his state visit on Monday, he is expected to meet with Queen Elizabeth II as well as Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Markles husband, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
Luanda (AFP) - Thousands of supporters of Angola's former rebel leader Jonas Savimbi rallied for his public reburial on Saturday, 17 years after he was killed by troops in a shootout that marked the end of the country's devastating civil war.

Wearing T-shirts printed with an image of Savimbi's face, supporters placed his coffin on a hexagonal monument designed by one of the guerrilla leader's sons in Savimbi's native village of Lopitanga. It was then buried in accordance with his wishes.

The ceremony was touted as a symbol of national reconciliation after decades of war.

Savimbi, known as the "black rooster", died in February 2002 during a clash with the army in central Angola.

Soldiers buried him there and his public funeral and reburial came after long negotiations between Angolan authorities and Savimbi's UNITA, now an opposition party.

"This moment should have happened 17 years ago," Raul Danda, vice-president of UNITA, told AFP.

A portrait of the charismatic but divisive rebel leader was placed before the coffin, which was drapped with UNITA's green and red flag.

"We have come to Lopitanga to pay homage and to confirm that we are here to continue your fight," said UNITA chief Isaias Samakuva.

"We bow before the defender of noble causes," he said.

Angola, a former Portuguese colony, became a Cold War battleground after independence in 1975 when the Marxist-Leninist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) seized control.

The United States lined up behind Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels and the former Soviet Union and its allies like Cuba backed the MPLA.

At least half a million people died in the conflict for the vast, oil-rich southern African nation, which played out over more than a quarter of a century.

Early in 2002, soldiers pursued the 67-year-old Savimbi across the province of Moxico in central eastern Angola. On February 22, they caught up with him. He fought back but was soon killed.

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His body was taken to the provincial capital Luena and hurriedly buried in a cemetery, with a cross of iron on the mound of red soil.

The public funeral is "an important sign of national reconciliation," said Raphael, one of Savimbi's 30 children. But no representative of the Angolan government was present at Saturday's ceremony.

- Divisive figure -

After his death, the rival sides swiftly moved towards a ceasefire in a conflict that had lasted 27 years.

But his public funeral has rekindled the divisive debate over a man described as both charismatic and authoritarian.

"He fought for the interests of the people, we are here for one last farewell," said Jorge Kangajo, a driver at the ceremony.

In the capital Luanda, opinions were more divided.

Jonas Savimbi "made war and killed Angolans.... He does not deserve a dignified funeral," said a soldier, Adao Fortunato.

This year, after long talks, the MPLA government agreed with UNITA and the Savimbi family to hold a funeral in Lopitanga, where Savimbi's father is buried.

The deal was unlocked after President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Savimbi's sworn enemy, stepped down in 2017 and was replaced by his defence minister, Joao Lourenco.

In August 2018, a commission was set up to organise the exhumation. The body was exhumed in January 2019. In May, DNA tests confirmed that the remains were those of the former UNITA leader.

- 'Betrayed his people' -

Typically dressed in a green combat uniform, with a walking stick in his hand and a revolver on his hip, Savimbi led an army of more than 30,000 troops.

Backed for many years by apartheid South Africa, his forces were also accused of atrocities and he himself was described as having carried out summary executions.

Authoritarian and intransigent, Jonas Savimbi was also "very intelligent and very charismatic", according to Fred Bridgland, author of the biography "Jonas Savimbi: a Key to Africa".

"Savimbi betrayed his people, he ruined his movement because of his paranoia and his sexual appetite," he told AFP.

"He killed to eliminate people in his party, those whom they considered a threat (...), and he killed because of sexual jealousy."

Reports emerged of women who had dared to refuse his sexual advances being burned in public, along with their children.
Kinshasa (AFP) - Veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi was laid to rest Saturday as his son, the president, looked on, following three days of ceremonies honouring his memory.

President Felix Tshisekedi was visibly moved as he watched the final ceremony for his father, who died in February 2017 in Brussels at the age of 84.

His body was flown back to Kinshasa on Thursday aboard a private jet, ending a protracted battle by his family to secure its repatriation.

The former prime minister turned opposition leader was buried in a private plot at Nsele, on the outskirts of the capital Kinshasa.

Etienne Tshisekedi was a revered figure in the opposition for his resistance to former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and ex-president Laurent Kabila.

Etienne Tshisekedi never got to see his son ascend to the presidency, after bitterly-fought elections at the end of last year that led to the first peaceful transition of power in the country's history.

Laurent Kabila's son, Joseph, who stepped down as president at the beginning of the year, did not attend the funeral.

President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has ruled the neighbouring Republic of Congo for 35 years in all since 1979, however, was present.

And a number of other African leaders came to pay their respects during the three days' of ceremonies to honour Tshisekedi.

President Joao Lourenco of Angola, Faustin-Archange Touadera of the Central African Republic and Zambia's Edgar Lungu all attended.

And in a surprise move Friday, so too did President Paul Kagame of DR Congo's eastern neighbour Rwanda, with whom relations have long been strained.

Kagame's visit, his first since 2010, represented an important sign of rapprochement between the two countries.

- Opposition absent -

The three days' of ceremonies have not dispelled post-election tensions inside the country.

Leading opposition figure Martin Fayulu, who maintains that a behind-the-scenes deal between Felix Tshisekedi and Kabila robbed him of victory in the presidential election, paid tribute to Etienne Tshisekedi's "fight for justice and democracy".

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But he stayed away from the ceremony -- as did fellow opposition figure Moise Katumbi.

Thousands of people paid their respects to Tshisekedi on Friday when his coffin was displayed at the 80,000-seater Martyrs' Stadium in Kinshasa.

But the turnout, with the stadium half full, was a far cry from the vast crowds and fervour the elder Tshisekedi was able to muster in his heyday.

Earlier Saturday, Jean-Marc Kabund, interim leader of the UDPS, paid tribute to his party's founder.

"Like a Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela, a Martin Luther King, the fight of Etienne Tshisekedi was for dignity, liberty and the fulfilment of the Congolese man," he said before the coffin was taken from the stadium for burial.
Labour party shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has released a Twitter video speaking out against Trump's visit (GETTY)

Labours Emily Thornberry has attacked Donald Trump describing him as a racist and sexual predator with just three days to go before his visit to the UK.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary has said that she would join demonstrators in London protesting against Mr Trump.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has already rejected an invitation to a state banquet at Buckingham Palace on Monday with Mr Trump as well as other officials.

Ms Thornberry has said in a video on her Twitter account: The president does not deserve the honour of a state visit. He is not welcome.

Next week, the Tory government will roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump. A President who is destroying all the values that have always united Britain and America. Join me and thousands of others in Trafalgar Square next Tuesday @ 11 am to #StopTrump pic.twitter.com/csBDpi9npy  Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry) 31 May 2019

In a video message released on Friday, Ms Thornberry said: "Next week the Tory government are going to roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump, a president who is destroying all the values that have always united Britain and America.

"Destroying the world order, the chances of a Palestinian state and our efforts to tackle climate change. He is trying to take away the rights of women worldwide to control our own bodies.

Read More on Yahoo News:

Trumps Mexico tariff plan divides Republicans

Trump says attempt to hide USS John S. McCain was 'well meaning'

His words and his conduct betray him as a racist and a sexual predator.

This president does not deserve the honour of a state visit. He is not welcome.

We stand together against Trump.

The video has been viewed more than half a million times and retweeted 2,000 times.

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Trump and First Lady Melania arrive on June 3 for a state visit.

During his three-day visit, the president will attend a banquet at Buckingham Palace, have a private tea with Charles, lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey and attend events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Unlike Obama, the current President has not been asked make an address in the Houses of Parliament.
Prague (AFP) - The European Commission says Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis must return millions of euros subsidies after a draft audit report found the billionaire in a conflict of interest, Czech media reported Saturday.

The Commission conducted the audit in January and February, suspecting Babis of taking decisions on EU subsidies as a politician but drawing them as an entrepreneur.

It found Babis, the second wealthiest Czech, still rakes in profits from the Agrofert food, chemicals and media holding he founded.

The Commission, which halted subsidies to Agrofert pending the audit verdict, said it wanted the Czech Republic to return the equivalent of 17.4 million euros ($19.5 million) in subsidies drawn counter to the rules.

The 64-year-old Slovak-born Babis transferred Agrofert to two trust funds in February 2017 -- months before he became prime minister -- to comply with conflict of interest regulations.

But citing the funds' articles of association, the Commission said that "Mr Babis is the settlor and the sole beneficiary of these Trust Funds."

"The two main objectives of the Trust Funds are the administration of the Agrofert group and the protection of the interests of Mr Babis," reads the draft report.

- 'Direct economic interest' -

"Mr Babis... therefore has a direct economic interest in the success of the Agrofert group," it says, adding Babis's impartiality as a politician was compromised.

The draft report also highlights a number of other flaws related to EU subsidies drawn by Agrofert.

"The total amount of corrections proposed... amounts to CZK 451,174,585," the report says.

The Czech finance ministry said it would comment on the report only when it has received the final version in Czech.

On Friday when a Czech daily published an extract from the report, Babis said the allegations were not true.

"The Czech Republic will definitely not have to return any subsidies. There is no reason for that because I'm not violating Czech or European conflict of interest laws," he added.

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In an emotional speech in parliament, he called the newspaper story "a filthy lie" and accused lawmakers of "having no other topics but Agrofert."

The Commission declined to comment on the matter on Friday. Its spokesperson told AFP that it "never comments on ongoing audit procedures and certainly not on leaks."

Babis leads a minority centre-left government of his populist ANO movement and the leftwing Social Democrats, relying on tacit support from the Communists for a parliamentary majority.

The former Communist is also facing police charges over EU subsidy fraud and allegations he served as a secret police agent in the 1980s when the former Czechoslovakia was a Communist state.

Babis has repeatedly rejected the allegations as a smear campaign.

Despite his woes, ANO won last weekend's European elections, gaining 21.2 percent of the vote.
Photo: iStock

Looking for an adventure in one of the worlds great megacities, but without the hassle of flying halfway around the world? Mexico City is North Americas largest, at over 8 million people (and more than twice that number in the greater metro area).

It's the oldest capital city in the Americas, rich in history and culture, and a major economic center in the region today. In addition to Aztec ruins, the city has the worlds largest single-metropolitan concentration of museums, plus extensive art galleries, concert halls and theaters. And the citys 16 boroughs and many colorful neighborhoods offer an abundance of shopping, restaurants, bars and nightlife.

Whether youre trying to escape ASAP or youre looking to plan your travels around upcoming deals, take a look at these forthcoming flights between Cincinnati and Mexico City, which we pulled from travel site Skyscanner.

We've also included popular hotels, restaurants and attractions in Mexico City, to get you excited about your next excursion. (Prices and availability are current as of publication and subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Flight deals to Mexico City

Currently, the cheapest flights between Cincinnati and Mexico City are if you leave on Oct. 7 and return from Mexico on Oct. 10. United currently has tickets for $306, roundtrip.

There are also deals to be had in August. If you fly out of Cincinnati on Aug. 31 and return from Mexico City on Sept. 7, Alaska Airlines can get you there and back for $322 roundtrip.

Top Mexico City hotels

To plan your accommodations, here are some of Mexico Citys top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do, and customer satisfaction.

The St. Regis Mexico City (Paseo de la Reforma 439)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

For an all-around top recommendation, consider The St. Regis Mexico City. The hotel has a five-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $255.

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The Four Seasons Mexico City (Paseo de la Reforma 500 Colonia Juarez)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

There's also the 4.9-star rated The Four Seasons Mexico City, which has rooms for $179/night.

Set in the heart of Mexico City on the busy Paseo de la Reforma, this luxury hotel is close to the Monumento a los Ninos Heroes and the Monumento a los Heroes de la Independencia.

The Condesa DF (Avenida Veracruz 102 Colonia Condesa)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

A third option is The Condesa DF. The 4.6-star hotel has rooms for $265/night.

This 40-room luxury hotel is located in Mexico City's Condesa district, close to many restaurants, bars and cafes.

Featured Mexico City restaurants

Mexico City has plenty of topnotch dining options. Here are a few of the most popular, according to Skyscanner.

Lalo! (Zacatecas 173)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Let's start with the essentials: where to get your coffee fix. For a popular option, check out Lalo!, which has an average of five stars out of seven reviews on Skyscanner.

Panaderia Rosetta (Colima 179)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

If you're looking for a local favorite restaurant pick, head to Panaderia Rosetta, with 4.9 stars from 11 reviews.

"This is the sister bakery to Rosetta," wrote Leila. "It's a very cozy breakfast spot with only a few bar stools for seating. Get there early to get your hands on the good pastries."

El Moro (Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas, 42)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Also worth considering is El Moro.

"This 1930s-era churreria is a stand-out and must visit," wrote visitor Harold. "The lines can be long but they move quickly."

Featured local attractions

Mexico City is also full of sites to visit and explore. Here are some popular attractions to round out your trip, again from Skyscanner's listings.

The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Av. Juarez)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

First up is The Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Inaugurated in 1934, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City is a major cultural center where you can attend poetry readings, operas, dance recitals, art shows and more. Its construction began in 1904, but took three decades to complete due to the Mexican Revolution and complications during the building process.

"The place in itself is a beauty," wrote visitor Analu. "The lobby feels like youve stepped back in time. The museum is well worth the visit."

Callejon Regina (Calle Regina Centro Historico)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Then, there's Callejon Regina.

"I have seen the transformation of this alley. Back when it was a busy street until its current closure to cars, becoming a walking destination for pedestrians," wrote visitor Rebeca. "Undoubtedly, it is one of my favorite areas of the historic center."

Kiosco Morisco de Santa Maria la Ribera (Calle Salvador Diaz Miron S/N)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Finally, consider checking out Kiosco Morisco de Santa Maria la Ribera.

"The kiosk of Santa Maria la Ribera is a benchmark of ancient Mexico," wrote visitor Maru. "Few people know, but this was a 100% Mexican architectural project that was assembled in the United States."

This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
By Dado Ruvic

VELIKA KLADUSA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Twenty-nine migrants were injured in a fire that broke out early on Saturday at a center in the northwestern Bosnian town of Velika Kladusa, police said.

Regional police spokesman Ale Siljdedic said the injured were taken to hospitals in Velika Kladusa and neighboring Bihac following the fire at the Miral center, which is used as temporary accommodation for about 500 migrants.

The fire was put down during the course of the day but more than a hundred migrants were forced to stay outdoors braving rain and cold weather because the building's upper floor was destroyed, a Reuters photographer said.

An investigation into the cause of the fire was underway, police said. Police spokesman Siljdedic told Reuters the fire was most likely caused by a heater as temperatures had fallen overnight.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which manages the camp, said in a statement that eight people remained in hospital, two of them with serious but not life threatening injuries.

Videos posted on social media showed several people jumping in panic out of the center's windows.

Local doctors said that many of the injured suffered from limb fractures and only few of them from burns. IOM said its was ready to engage additional staff to put the building back into full use.

About 25,000 people from Asia and North Africa entered Bosnia from Serbia and Montenegro last year, and about 6,000 have arrived in the impoverished Balkan country this year, according to Bosnia's security agencies.

Only around 3,500 have been accommodated in transit centers, leaving thousands sleeping rough.

Most of the migrants are concentrated in Bihac and Velika Kladusa, where authorities say resources are overstretched. They have requested that the three transit centers there, including Miral, be closed and residents moved elsewhere.

Ethnically-divided Bosnia has not formed a government seven months after a general election. State institutions in charge of migration and asylum issues are operating in a caretaking capacity.

(Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by William Maclean and Toby Chopra)
Washington (AFP) - Just a few days after returning from his visit to Japan, where he met new Emperor Naruhito, Donald Trump heads to Britain, where Queen Elizabeth II will receive him during a state visit that could be rocky.

The US president -- who has never hidden his affinity for military honor guards and red-carpet diplomacy -- will arrive in London at a moment when the country's politics are in disarray.

Prime Minister Theresa May will soon step down, her party is looking for a successor and Britons are wondering how their "Brexit" from the European Union is going to happen -- and what it will mean for them.

His last visit to Britain nearly a year ago, which brought tens of thousands of protesters into the streets, was particularly tumultuous after Trump's criticism of May to The Sun tabloid caused an uproar.

Trump's three-day stay this time around begins on Monday with a ceremony at Buckingham Palace followed by lunch with the queen.

That evening, he will be the guest of honor at a state dinner, a privilege also afforded to George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

So what kind of attitude will the billionaire Republican adopt on the trip? Will he weigh in further on who should next occupy 10 Downing Street? Will he offer Britons advice on how to leave the EU?

As have all his predecessors, he will certainly emphasize the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain. But the rest -- as with most things related to POTUS 45 -- is hard to predict.

"I think President Trump is perhaps looking most forward to his interactions with the royal family," said Heather Conley, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the summer of 2018, Trump had tea with Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, but was not afforded the pomp and circumstance of a state visit.

Before he sets foot on British soil, there are multiple calls for protests -- and controversy is already brewing.

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The leader of Britain's main opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, declined an invitation to the state dinner in Trump's honor.

He said it wasn't the time to roll out the red carpet for a president who "rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric."

- The 'excellent' Boris Johnson -

On Tuesday, Trump's trip will take a decidedly political turn when he sits down with May, just days before she steps down on June 7.

While she was the first foreign leader welcomed to the White House after Trump's election victory in November 2016, their relationship has not always been rosy.

Tensions have soared on occasion and the disputes between the two sides are real.

"When you look at the US-UK relationship, there's a lot of bilateral disagreement," Conley said, naming Iran as a major point of contention, seeing as Britain backs the nuclear deal dumped by Trump.

The Paris climate accord, which Trump also abandoned, is also on the list. The US president's talks with Prince Charles, who is actively pro-environment, could focus on this issue.

China and its controversial tech giant Huawei could also be on the agenda, as well as a US-British trade deal, though no concrete progress is expected from this trip.

Before heading across the Atlantic, Trump staked a claim to close ties with Boris Johnson, the pro-Brexit favorite in the race to succeed May, and anti-EU populist Nigel Farage.

"Nigel Farage is a friend of mine. Boris is a friend of mine. They're two very good guys, interesting people. I like them," Trump said.

"Maybe it is not my business to support people but I have a lot of respect for both of those men."

He doubled down on Friday, praising Johnson's bid for the prime minister's post in an interview with The Sun.

"I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent," he said.

No meetings are scheduled with Johnson or Farage -- for now.

The end of Trump's European trip will focus on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, with a ceremony at Portsmouth also attended by the queen.

Trump and his wife Melania will then make a brief stop in Ireland before heading to France on June 6 for the D-Day commemorations in Normandy.
Beijing (AFP) - Former Chinese officials railed Friday against US "bullying" and "containment" policies at a forum on US-China economic relations, with a dire warning that the trade war could last decades.

Washington and Beijing resumed their tariffs battle earlier this month after trade talks ended without a deal, with the US side accusing Chinese negotiators of reneging on previous commitments.

This week China's propaganda machine ramped up the anti-American commentaries and threatened to curb exports of rare earths, which are key to US tech industries, after President Donald Trump blacklisted telecom giant Huawei.

Former Chinese officials had more to say at the seminar on economic relations on Friday.

Noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump were expected to meet at the G20 summit in Japan next month, Dai Xianglong, a former head of China's central bank, said "it could be very difficult" for them to resolve the trade issues.

Trump more than doubled punitive tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent earlier this month, and launched the process to hit nearly all remaining imports from the Asian country.

"Since raising tariffs, the US has beaten down Chinese tech companies, and even halted US-China technology contacts, stopped Chinese students from going to the US to study, and in the future will roll out new measures," Dai told reporters.

China has been "calm and collected" and limited in its response, Dai said, "but I wouldn't rule out bigger countermeasures to come".

The scope of the trade war is getting bigger, he said, noting it could persist for a long time.

- 50-year trade war? -

The former officials repeatedly returned to the economic hit the trade spat has had and will continue to have on the US, China and the rest of the world.

The trade war has slowed the flow of Chinese tourists to the US, said Ma Xiuhong, a former vice commerce minister, noting numbers dropped 5.7 percent last year and would fall again this year.

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"Adding high tariffs didn't resolve the crisis of the Great Depression," said Zhu Guangyao, a former vice finance minister, referring to the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, "instead they worsened the state of the US and global economy".

"This lesson I think we all remember it clearly," he said.

Trump said Thursday the tariffs were having a "devastating effect" on China, which the Chinese foreign ministry dismissed as US "lies".

The US and China have exchanged tariffs on $360 billion in two-way trade so far, with China preparing to raise tariffs on $60 billion of US imports from Saturday.

The US is now "comprehensively containing" and trying to "squash" China with its policies, said Wei Jianguo, a former vice-minister of commerce, adding Washington is not willing to accept China's rise as a superpower.

"From slapping on tariffs, to the Vice President (Mike Pence)'s fierce words, to beating down Huawei, and other high-tech Chinese companies, (the US) has invariably pounded China's bottom-line and core interests," said Wei.

The US is going further and further down a mistaken path, he said.

We may fight this trade war "over 30 years, or maybe it's 50 years," he said, noting even if there was an agreement this time around, the US would provoke another trade war in the future.

"Time, justice and truth is on our side, the Chinese people must win, peace must win, the whole world's people must win," said Wei.
NBC Universal and WarnerMedia will reconsider working in Georgia if the states highly restrictive abortion ban goes into effect.

The companies on Thursday became the latest in wave of major media firms to formally push back against the states so-called heartbeat law, which bans abortions after six weeks. On Wednesday, the Walt Disney Company said the abortion ban meant they too would reconsider locating production in Georgia.

If the new law holds we will reconsider Georgia as the home to any new productions, a spokesperson for WarnerMedia said. As is always the case, we will work closely with our production partners and talent to determine how and where to shoot any given project.

NBC Universal also phrased their announcement as a possibility, suggesting that it was assuming the bill, which was written to be unconstitutional in one of several Republican-led attempts to challenge Roe v Wade, will not actually go into effect.

We fully expect that the heartbeat bills and similar laws in various states will face serious legal challenges and will not go into effect while the process proceeds in court," NBCUniversal said in a statement on Thursday. "If any of these laws are upheld, it would strongly impact our decision-making on where we produce our content in the future.

Georgia is a major filming location, and calls for boycotts from the Hollywood sector began immediately after Governor Brian Kemp signed the states abortion ban into law. Along with these three major companies, Netflix and several smaller studios have threatened or committed to filming elsewhere.

Nine states have so far passed abortion bans similar to Georgia's, amid fury and calls for boycotts around the nation.

In neighbouring Alabama, where an even more restrictive abortion ban was passed shortly after Georgias, the University of Alabamas largest donor, Hugh Culverhouse Jr, called for a boycott of the state on Wednesday.

The University, which named its law school after Mr Culverhouse, is now contemplating returning his $21.5m in donations.

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Governor John Bel Edwards, an anti-abortion rights Democrat, signed Louisianas abortion ban into law on Thursday. While not quite the production location that Georgia is, efforts to end filming for television and movies are already being discussed.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Photo: Giache Crepes and Art/Yelp

There's a brand-new creperie in town. Located at 295 N.W. 27th St. , the newcomer is called Giache Crepes and Art.

Courtesy of owner Valeria Gaiche, this new business serves sweet and spicy gourmet crepes inspired by her grandmother's recipes, according to its website. Vegan options and hot and ice coffees are also available. On the menu, look for a tiramisu crepe with extra chocolate, the Lobster Mac & Crepe and Grandma's Apple Pie. Yelpers appreciate the ambience, noting the walls are decorated with works from Argentinian-born artist Flavio Galvan.

With a four star rating out of three reviews on Yelp so far, the newcomer has made a promising start.

Yelper Jessica K., who reviewed the new spot on May 26, wrote, "The pineapple piggy and tiramisu are delicious. There's something for everyone, sweet and savory, breakfast or lunch!"

Head on over to check it out: Giache Crepes and Art is open from 9 a.m.8 p.m. on MondayWednesday and Sunday and 9 a.m.9 p.m. on Thursday-Saturday.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Port-au-Prince (AFP) - A panel of judges on Friday accused Haitian President Jovenel Moise of being at the center of an "embezzlement scheme" that siphoned off Venezuelan aid money meant for fixing roads.

The accusation was the latest linked to Venezuela's Petrocaribe aid program, which has been plagued by claims of corruption since its 2008 establishment.

In a report running more than 600 pages, the High Court of Auditors said that in 2014 the Haitian government gave two companies, which had the same payroll and staff, contracts to upgrade a road.

One of the businesses was Agritrans, a banana farming concern headed by Moise until his election in 2017, which received more than 33 million gourdes ($700,000) to fix the road.

Calling it "nothing more than an embezzlement scheme," the court said the two companies "made the same commitments separately on the same dates."

They also found that Moise's company received a cash advance nearly two months before the contract's signing, which the judges said amounted to "collusion, favoritism and embezzlement."

"The state of this stretch of road raises questions and shows that there is a huge gap between the amounts spent and the reality of the work that would have been done," the judges wrote after visiting the site.

In the same report, the court said a 2015 decision to award another road construction contract to Agritrans violated public procurement laws.

Set up under the government of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Petrocaribe allowed several Caribbean and Latin American countries to buy oil at cut-rate prices and on easy credit terms.

Investigations by the Haitian Senate in 2016 and 2017 concluded that nearly $2 billion from the program was misused.

Three-fifths of Haiti's population of nearly 11 million live below the poverty line of $2 a day.

Since the summer of 2018, a civic movement has mobilized to demand an accounting of the use of funds from the program.
PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - A ruthlessly efficient Simona Halep marched into the fourth round of the French Open on Saturday, dropping just three games against Lesia Tsurenko.

Halep, the defending champion from Romania, had been forced to go the distance in the first two rounds. Playing her best match of the tournament, she had no trouble against an error-strewn Tsurenko, winning 6-2, 6-1 in just 55 minutes to extend her win streak against the No. 27 seed from Ukraine to 8-0.

After a relatively cool start to the first week of the French Open, temperatures are expected to soar to as high as 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) at the end of the afternoon at Roland Garros in Paris.

Taking advantage of the balls kicking up higher on the clay of the main Court Philippe-Chatrier, Halep took the first set in just 28 minutes as she dominated her opponent from the back of the court.

Tsurenko, who had won her previous match 11-9 in the decider against Serbias Aleksandra Krunic playing with a broken racket, requested a medical timeout as she trailed 3-0 in the second set.

Watched by Romanian billionaire Ion Tiriac, Haleps intensity never dropped, as she took a 4-0 lead with aggressive shot-making. Serving for the match at 5-0, Halep got broken, but booked a spot in the fourth round in the next game with a volley, her ninth winner. She made 14 errors, while Tsurenko had just 8 winners and made 32 unforced errors.

"It was a tough match even if the scoreline does not show it," Halep said.

"Every day in my life I have that image of me winning last year in my mind, it was my greatest moment of my career and it was all the more satisfying for having won here in the juniors as well." (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Hong Kong will cull 4,700 pigs after African swine fever was detected in an animal at a slaughterhouse close to the border with China, the second such case in a month in the crowded financial hub.

The animal came from a farm in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and importation from mainland China has been suspended until further notification, Sophia Chan, Secretary of the city's Food and Health Department said Friday night.

The government-run slaughterhouse in Sheung Shui will be closed for cleansing and disinfection, she added.

Last month around 6,000 pigs were culled after the virus was detected in a pig imported from a farm in the same province. Supply from across the border was temporarily suspended for a week during the disinfection of slaughterhouse.

Pork is a staple of Chinese cuisine, with space-starved Hong Kong importing the majority of what it consumes from the mainland.

After African swine fever spread across more than half of China's provinces last year, Hong Kong banned imports from any Chinese farm where the virus had been detected.

Chinese officials have said hundreds of thousands of pigs were culled in a bid to stop its spread -- an effort that has also seen restrictions on transporting pigs from affected areas.

With some of the worlds most densely populated streets, Hong Kong remains on high alert to diseases. In 2003, some 300 people died during an outbreak of severe acute respiratory disease (SARS).

The virus is not dangerous to humans but is fatal to pigs and wild boar.
Keanu Reeves and Ali Wong in Always Be My Maybe

Always Be My Maybe is the latest Netflix romantic-comedy to prove that rumours of the genres death have been greatly exaggerated.

But while Randall Park and Ali Wongs patter, as well as their script, which they co-wrote with Michael Golamco, is the key reason for Always Be My Maybes success, Keanu Reeves hilarious cameo is also one of the highlights of the film. Especially since Reeves is playing a despicable version of himself.

Read more: Keanu Reeves heads off on a road trip with strangers

How did Keanu Reeves end up in Always Be My Maybe, though?

Well, it turns out that he is a huge fan of Wongs stand-up, while the actress/writer/comedian, also told People that she was intent on making sure that all of her characters love interests were Asian-American men.

WESTWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MAY 22: Nahnatchka Khan, Ali Wong, Randall Park and Keanu Reeves attend the world premiere of Netflix's 'Always Be My Maybe' at Regency Village Theatre on May 22, 2019 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix)

It was really important to me that all of her love interests were Asian-American. And we wanted to find a sexy Asian-American man who would be Marcus worst nightmare if he decided to confess his feelings.

In everything I do its very important to show my attraction and desire towards Asian-American men.

Read More: Keanu Reeves says Fox studio blacklisted him for 14 years

Thats why Wong approached Reeves, whose father was born in Hawaii and is of Chinese descent, with the pair then discussing the role at Los Angeles famed Chateau Marmont. Shortly afterwards Reeves wrote Wong a note that read, I would be honored to be a part of your love story.

Wong was quick to insist that Reeves is nothing like the version portrayed in the film, though. Hes a funny, sweet professional guy whos really like about the work. And so much so that it wasnt intimidating. He was very approachable.

Always Be My Maybe is now available on Netflix, while Reeves can be heard next in Toy Story 4, which is released on June 21.
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian police on Saturday said they have identified seven South Koreans who died in a Budapest riverboat crash on Wednesday, without releasing their names.

"We could do that first using finger and palm prints taken from them, the corpses, and cooperating with South Korean authorities, and second, using photographs shown to victims' family members, who identified their relatives," police spokesman Kristof Gal said.

Seven South Korean citizens survived the crash and seven died, while 19 South Koreans and two Hungarians have been officially listed as missing for three days, all of them feared dead amid hostile conditions on the Danube river.

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Toby Chopra)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  A Hungarian judge on Saturday ordered the formal arrest of a captain whose Viking river cruise ship collided with a sightseeing boat on the Danube River, sinking the tourist boat and leaving seven South Koreans dead and 21 other people missing.

Authorities said water levels in Budapest are expected to fall quickly in the coming days, helping efforts to salvage the wreckage that may still contain victims' bodies.

The judge ordered the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn cruise ship formally arrested for 30 days. He said the captain could be released on bail  subject to him wearing a tracking device and remaining in Budapest  but prosecutors are appealing that decision.

The Viking ship collided Wednesday evening with a much smaller sightseeing boat carrying 35 people, most of them South Korean tourists, in Budapest, the capital. Seven people were rescued.

Divers so far have been unable to even approach the wreckage of the 27-meter (88-foot) tour boat due to high water levels, strong currents and murky waters. A Hungarian military ship has been anchored at the site to help the salvage operation.

The captain is suspected of endangering water traffic causing a fatal mass disaster, which carries a sentence of 2 to 8 years.

"The substantiated suspicion is supported by the report from the scene, photographs, video recordings and more," the court said, adding that the suspect must be available for authorities investigating the deadly crash.

The captain, identified only as Yuriy C. in line with Hungarian laws, has been in custody since Thursday. His lawyers dispute that their client made any mistakes leading to the collision, which took place under a heavy rain and with restricted visibility on the river.

Defense lawyer Gabor Elo said there are no grounds to consider his client a suspect in the case, arguing that the prosecution's request for the arrest was motivated only by the fact that the captain is a Ukrainian citizen.

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Elo said his client "is very sorry that he was involved in such an accident in which so many people lost their lives or are missing."

Hungarian police spokesman Kristof Gal said the seven confirmed victims, all South Koreans, have been identified with the help of South Korean authorities by using finger and palm prints and showing photos to relatives.

Some victims' relatives and friends on Saturday visited the site of the collision under the city's Margit Bridge, one of the seven main bridges over the Danube in Budapest, close to the neo-gothic Hungarian parliament building. Flowers tributes and candles have been placed along the bridge.

High spring water levels have so far hampered recovery efforts for the missing but Hungarian authorities hoped that would soon change.

Water management authorities said Saturday the Danube River's water levels will soon peak at around 5.9 meters (19 feet, 5 inches) and fall to about 4 meters (13 feet) by the middle of next week. It added that no rainfall affecting water levels was expected in the next six days.

___

AP Writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed.
By Neha Dasgupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian government said on Saturday it will continue to seek to build strong economic ties with the United States despite a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to end preferential trade treatment for India from June 5.

In a relatively tame response to the announcement from Washington on Friday, the Indian government said it was "unfortunate" that its attempts to resolve significant U.S. requests had not been accepted.

Indian officials had previously raised the prospect of higher import duties on more than 20 U.S. goods if Trump dropped India from the program but there was no mention of that in the response.

"India, like the U.S. and other nations shall always uphold its national interest in these matters," the Indian government said in a statement issued through India's trade ministry.

The privileges come under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which had been allowing preferential duty-free imports of up to $5.6 billion a year into the U.S. from the South Asian nation. India is the biggest beneficiary of the GSP program.

The Indian government said that India viewed the issue as part of its ongoing economic relationship with the U.S. and "will continue to build on our strong ties with the U.S., both economic and people-to-people."

It added: "We are confident that the two nations will continue to work together intensively for further growing these ties in a mutually beneficial manner."

An earlier version of the statement had used the words "it is hoped" rather than "we are confident" but was subsequently withdrawn and replaced.

NEW MINISTER

The United States had put on hold a decision to withdraw the GSP benefits to India until May 23, the day the results of the country's 39-day general election that began April 11 were announced. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi only took the oath office on Thursday and on Friday named Piyush Goyal his new commerce and industry minister - the official who will handle trade matters.

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New Delhi was making efforts to avoid withdrawal of the GSP benefits over the past few months, a senior government official said, adding that the U.S. move was sudden and without communication.

Washington has been particularly irritated by India's tightening of regulations that have undermined major U.S. companies but favored domestic entities in the past year. In particular, tighter e-commerce rules that came in earlier this year hurt Amazon.com and Walmart, which last year bought Indian online retailer Flipkart for $16 billion.

Trump, who had first announced his intention to take away the privileges in early March, said in a statement on Friday that New Delhi "has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets".

Twenty-four members of the U.S. Congress sent the administration a letter on May 3 urging it not to terminate India's access to the GSP.

A spokesman for India's opposition Congress Party, which took a drubbing in the general election, said the U.S. move has "grave trade and economic implications" for India and demanded Modi issue a comprehensive statement addressing the problem.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta,Additional reporting and writing by Sankalp Phartiyal; Edited by Martin Howell, William Maclean)
New York (AFP) - The influential 90s-era indie rock group Pavement will reunite for two European performances in 2020 after disbanding two decades ago.

"Pavement: only two worldwide shows in 2020," announced the Primavera Sound festival on Saturday, saying the American band would play the Barcelona fest and its sister event in Porto.

Pavement performed a reunion tour in 2010, having released its last studio album, "Terror Twilight," in 1999.

The band's ringleader and indie rock's patron saint Stephen Malkmus recently hinted that a reunion was "realistic," telling a Rolling Stone podcast that "anything's possible."

"If there's interest, then that's always a factor," Malkmus said. "If people are really psyched about it, I'd be psyched about it too."

After forming in California in 1989, Pavement achieved both critical success and an ardent cult following for its lo-fi sound and laconic vocals.

"Confirmed : Pusha T watched the Pavement Prima Vera 2020 announcement on site," tweeted Malkmus, referring to the rapper who played this year's edition of the Barcelona fest. "#so I'm glad it's happening."
Paris (AFP) - On June 6, 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops invaded the northern French coast, marking the start of France's liberation from Nazi occupiers.

It is remembered as a defining moment of World War II. Here are some little-known facts about 'the longest day'.

- 'Erotic adventure' -

"When the Germans came, we told the men to hide. But when the Americans came, we had to hide the women!"

The French joke refers to the "erotic adventure" which the US military promised American soldiers fighting in France, historian Mary Louise Roberts writes in "What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France."

Propaganda painted France as "a tremendous brothel inhabited by 40 million hedonists". Readers of the military newspaper 'Stars and Stripes' could learn the French for "you are very pretty", "I am not married" and "are your parents at home?", whereas the German vocabulary section offered phrases such as "No cigarettes!" and "Line up!", Roberts explains.

American promiscuity sparked outrage in cities like Le Havre and Reims, where sexual acts "took place in parks, cemeteries, streets and abandoned buildings". More than 150 American soldiers were tried for rape. The vast majority of those prosecuted were black, she says, leaving some French civilians shocked at "American racial injustice".

- Threat of defeat -

With D-Day looming, the Allies prepared for the worst. Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe and future US president, Dwight Eisenhower, wrote in a statement on June, 5 entitled "In case of failure", that "any blame or fault... is mine alone".

"My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available.... The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do."

Allied forces quickly gained control of five points along an 80-kilometre (50-mile) front on beaches codenamed Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword. But at Omaha, heavy casualties earned the beach the sombre nickname 'Bloody Omaha'.

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At Omaha, high cliffs gave the Germans an immediate advantage. Americans were left waist deep in rough seas as crashing water sank their landing craft, and some drowned. Of the 34,000 Americans deployed, 2,500 were killed or injured.

Some paratroopers drowned in "catastrophic" jumps, said French historian Jean Quellien, author of "The Battle of Normandy". Heavy equipment weighing 30 to 40 kg (65-90 lbs) pulled them underwater in deep swamps.

- Inflatable tanks -

'Fake news' might be considered a modern phenomenon, but the British led a deception campaign, codenamed Operation Fortitude, to try and fool the Germans into thinking the Allies planned to attack Scandinavia, then France's Calais region, rather than Normandy.

Inflatable tanks were positioned on the British coast facing Calais, and metallic lures were used to make it appear to German radar that a large force was about to land near Calais. Fake radio messages were leaked to German intelligence services.

Even after the D-Day landings on June 6, the Germans believed a second attack was planned in the Calais region. Hitler eventually ordered troops to join the Normandy front.

- Native American 'code talkers' -

Creating and cracking coded messages would have taken too long during the landings - messages quickly understandable to an English-speaking German on the same wavelength. The Americans instead used Native American "code talkers", especially the Comanche, who worked in their indigenous language.

John Parker, son of "code talker" Simmons Parker, remembers that "bomber plane" was translated as "pregnant bird".

He said his father told him that in the Comanche language, "crazy white man" meant Hitler.

- Landing in... Indonesia -

In December 2018, the British postal service, Royal Mail, apologised after releasing a stamp commemorating D-Day's 75th anniversary yet showing American troops landing in Indonesia, then known as Dutch New Guinea.

""We would like to offer our sincere apologies," Royal Mail said.

burx-lv/cmb/sjw/wai
By Silvia Aloisi and Gavin Jones

ROME, June 1 (Reuters) - Italy has vowed to respect the European Union's fiscal rules in its next budget despite deteriorating public finances and a pledge by the anti-austerity government for swingeing tax cuts.

Responding to a letter from the EU Commission questioning why Italy's already huge debt grew last year, Economy Minister Giovanni Tria blamed an economic downturn and said additional belt-tightening measures would make things worse.

"I wish to reiterate that the 2020 budget will be SGP (Stability and Growth Pact) compliant," Tria said in his letter to Brussels, published late on Friday.

The drop in global trade and manufacturing activity in the second half of 2018 was abrupt and deeper than expected, he said, and this had prevented Rome from fulfilling the EU requirement to shrink debt.

"I believe that the new government followed a responsible and prudent approach," he added.

"At any rate, given continuing high unemployment and near-deflationary conditions, the introduction of restrictive fiscal measures would have been counter-productive."

Italy is keen to avoid a legal clash with the EU over its structural deficit, which strips out the effects of the business cycle and one-off items.

Under EU rules, it is required to shrink the deficit by 0.6% of gross domestic product every year until it is in balance. Instead it has been rising every year since 2015.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION

The EU's letter, signed by economic commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Pierre Moscovici, was sent on Wednesday, a day after Italy's right-wing Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called EU fiscal rules obsolete.

Since winning the European parliamentary elections on Sunday, Salvini, whose party has been ruling Italy for the past year in a coalition with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, has promised to adopt substantial tax cuts which could inflate the deficit.

The League chief insists that Italy should cut taxes to boost growth, rather than abide by fiscal rules that could choke the economy.

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Five-star, licking its wounds after its EU election defeat, has said it backs Salvini's tax plans but will not accept any cuts to health or welfare spending.

Tria, a former academic who is not from either party, has often had tense relations with his political paymasters since the government was formed last June, especially during a drawn-out tussle over Romes 2019 budget when he wanted to commit to a lower deficit.

In a sign of the tensions within the coalition, his letter was delayed at the last moment when 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio said he had not been consulted over the contents and wanted a government meeting before it was sent.

Under EU law, the Commission is obliged to warn member states in writing when they fail to abide by agreed fiscal targets. These require them to keep the headline deficit below 3% of GDP and debt below 60% of GDP.

Brussels will now take into consideration "relevant factors" that Italy deems may have contributed to the fiscal deterioration. If the Commission decides they are insufficient, it will start disciplinary action.

Italy's national debt rose from 131.4% of GDP in 2017 to 132.2% in 2018 and will go up to 133.7% this year and to 135.2% in 2020, according to Commission forecasts.

Tria said the 2019 deficit could come in below the government's target of 2.4% of GDP - a level deemed too high by the Commission. The 2020 budget will be unveiled in the autumn. (Additional reporting by Angelo Amante Editing by Clelia Oziel)
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's culture ministry has said it will revoke the lease on a state-owned monastery where a right-wing Roman Catholic institute close to former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon had planned to train political activists.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said it would revoke the concession on the mountaintop property outside Rome granted to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, citing violations of various contractual obligations including a failure to pay concession fees and do maintenance work.

Benjamin Harnwell, director of the institute based in the Trisulti monastery, had told Reuters in September that Bannon was helping to craft the curriculum for a leadership course aimed at right-wing Catholic activists to be held in the 800-year-old monastery.

Bannon, who has launched a campaign to build a populist movement across Europe, has also been raising funds for the institute, Harnwell said.

An official at Italy's culture ministry, Gianluca Vacca, said in the statement that inspections ordered by authorities had found a number of irregularities with the concession that allowed the institute to use the property.

"Proceeding with the revocation is thus a duty," Vacca said.

The project for a right-wing leadership academy had been criticized by Italy's left parties and local media had raised doubts over whether Harnwell's institute fulfilled the requirements of its agreement with the government.

Vacca, a member of the anti-establishment 5-Star party which has been ruling Italy in a coalition with the far-right League since last year, said there were no political motives behind the decision to revoke permission for the institute.

He said the procedure to award the concession to Harnwell's association - whose board of advisers is chaired by Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading Vatican conservative - had been completed under the previous, center-left government.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Peter Graff)
Daniel Craig as James Bond

James Bonds impact on UK pop culture is immeasurable. But this goes way beyond the 24 movies that have been released.

In fact, Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have made life as 007 look so appealing that the character still plays an integral role in MI6 recruitment, even though his work bears little to no resemblance to the work of a real spy.

Read More: 'Bond 25': The troubled timeline of Daniel Craig's final 007 film

This was the claim made by Dr Rory Cormac, who is an associate professor of international relations with a specialty in secret intelligence at Nottingham University, at the Hay Festival. But rather than being peeved by James Bonds unrealistic portrayal of the spy, MI6 are huge fans of the positive branding that the films and Ian Flemings books have provided.

They like the image it creates, as Bond is linked to British omnipotence and omniscience. It is a great recruitment sergeant as well  although a lot of people who want to become James Bond get weeded out very early, as they are psychopaths.

BEIJING, CHINA - NOVEMBER 10: (CHINA OUT) British actor Daniel Craig promotes new film "Spectre" directed by British actor and director Sam Mendes on November 10, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

In fact, according to the Guardian, Cormac even revealed that intelligence officials from other countries sometimes use the legendary character as an ice-breaker when they come face to face with MI6 agents.

When MI6 agents are trying to make contact with people in far-flung countries as part of operations, they have been known to be greeted, Hello, Mr Bond! It helps to break the ice.

Read more: Broccoli discusses chances of a female Bond

Back in 2016 Alex Younger, the chief of Britains Secret Intelligence Service, wasnt quite as positive about the impact of James Bond.

Because while he admitted that Bond has created a powerful brand for MI6 he warned that the films have made people believe there is a single quality that defines an MI6 officer, which is patently untrue as there is no standard MI6 officer.

Well see if more nuance is added to the franchise when James Bond 25 is released on April 8, 2020.
CHICAGO (AP)  Chicago's top prosecutor gave a new justification in documents released Friday for why she recused herself from the investigation into "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's claim he was the victim of a hate crime: there were false rumors she was related to Smollett and she didn't want any hint of a conflict of interest.

The justification from Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx was contained in 2,000 pages of documents her office released Friday.

Foxx says the false rumors circulated as suspicions grew about Smollett's account that he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack, so she recused herself to avoid "even the perception of a conflict."

The new documents, along with previous releases show a shifting justification for why the prosecutor recused herself. They also show how Foxx inserted herself in the case even though she had publicly vowed to stay out of the decision-making.

Jussie Smollett leaves courthouse after charges of lying to police were dropped on March 26, 2019 in Chicago.

More: Jussie Smollett bought drugs from the brothers who staged alleged attack, documents show

Smollett faced 16 felony counts related to making a false report that he was assaulted by two men early on Jan. 29. Investigators said he made the false report because he was unhappy with his pay on "Empire" and believed such an incident would give his career a boost. Foxx's office dropped the charges on March 26 without any admission of guilt by Smollett, prompting a hail of criticism especially from then Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

The new documents show that, despite saying she had recused herself from the case, Foxx told a deputy in texts that she believed her office had overcharged the actor.

Foxx communicated in early February with former first lady Michelle Obama's former chief of staff Tina Tchen, who was representing Smollett's family, and with a member of Smollett's family about the investigation. She recused herself on Feb. 13, and her office cited the communications with the Smollett relative, whom Tchen had encouraged Foxx to call, as the reason for the decision.

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More: Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx suggests race is involved in Smollett dismissal backlash

In late March  after questions were raised about the dropping of charges  Foxx and her aides sought to recast her role, with one statement saying Foxx "used the term 'recuse'" in the "colloquial use of the term." They said the correct description was that she had "informally separated herself from the decision-making" in the case.

As documents released earlier illustrated, Foxx nevertheless weighed in at critical points as her staff decided whether to proceed with the prosecution, which began when Smollett was charged on Feb. 20. Her input included a March 8 text to First Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Magats, who became the final decision-maker in the Smollett case after Foxx purportedly stepped away.

Foxx texted: "Sooo ...... I'm recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases ... 16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A."

Magats responded to his boss, saying: "Yes. I can see where that can be seen as excessive."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jussie Smollett: Over 2,000 documents released, Kim Foxx shifts reason for recusal
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP)  Martin Kaymer is 18 holes away from ending five years without a victory.

He is mildly surprised. He is not the least bit stressed.

And he has plenty of company among contenders at the Memorial for whom winning has become more of a memory than a habit.

Kaymer was bogey-free Saturday at Muirfield Village for a 6-under 66 that gave him a two-shot lead over Adam Scott, setting up a final pairing of two major champions and former No. 1 players in the world in the midst of long droughts.

Four shots behind and very much in the mix are Jordan Spieth  a three-time major champion and former No. 1  and Hideki Matsuyama, both winless since 2017. Joining them was Patrick Cantlay with a skill set that suggests he should have more than his one victory that came in the fall of 2017.

"We can all play good golf, and it's quite nice for tomorrow because no one is really holding back," Kaymer said. "I think you only hold back if you don't know the situation because then you don't know how to react and you play safe, defensive. ... No one is playing like that in that group."

Kaymer was at 15-under 201 in his first appearance at the Memorial in 10 years.

The German was on the verge of falling out of the top 200 in the world ranking until a tie for eighth in the British Masters last month. His road back began with an emphasis on the short game, and it paid off in a big way on a course that slowly getting faster.

He holed par putts of 8 feet and 20 feet on the front nine to keep within the leaders, took the lead with a wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the par-5 11th, saved par from a scary bunker shot behind the 12th green with water in front of him, and then holed a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 13 that breaks sharply over the last few feet. Spieth, playing with Kaymer, raised his putter as he watched it break, appreciating the difficulty of it.

Scott had only one blemish on the ninth hole and did enough right to pile up birdies on the par 5s and a few other holes that he's in a spot to win again. A year ago, Scott left the Memorial and had to go through U.S. Open qualifying. While he hasn't won, he chased Brooks Koepka all the way to the finish line at Bellerive in the PGA Championship last summer and feels comfortable where he is.

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"I'm just going to play as good as I can tomorrow," Scott said. "I like where it's all at. I feel like the last few times I've been in with a chance, going back to the PGA Championship last year, I felt comfortable. So I'm not worried. I feel like this is the spot I'm meant to be. ... I feel like my game is at a level that if I put it all together properly and control myself out there, I can win."

Matsuyama won the Memorial in 2014, the start of his road to stardom. He finished strong on both nines to give himself a chance with a 64.

Spieth has put together his best three-week stretch since the end of the 2017 season, and he was most pleased that he is keeping his tee shots in play and overcame some spotty iron play with a short game that appears to have returned full force. He finished with a 15-foot par putt on the 18th.

"Just trying to hit plenty of greens in regulation and let the flat stick work itself on Sunday," Spieth said.

Cantlay, a former No. 1 amateur in the world whose career was slowly by a back injury so severe he thought he might not return, had a chance to win the Memorial last year when he took a two-shot lead into the back nine and then failed to make another birdie, missing a playoff by one shot.

He had a 68 to give himself another chance.

Tiger Woods also started strong by holing a bunker shot, nearly holing another and making the turn in 32. But on the 10th, his fairway bunker shot didn't get out and came back in his footprint, leading to a double bogey. That slowed momentum, and Woods finished with a bogey for a 70 that left him 11 shots out of the lead.

Kaymer looked like a world beater in the summer of 2014 when he won The Players Championship in a Sunday duel against Spieth, and then won by eight shots at Pinehurst No. 2 for his second major. Where it all went is as mysterious as the game of golf, though Kaymer spoke about his focus being on the wrong things.

He feels as though he's back, or close enough to contend in the U.S. Open in two weeks, and Sunday could be a barometer. Either way, he was satisfied with his game and his position and what he's done.

"Tomorrow is playing brave, playing the way I can play, enjoying the capability of my game," he said. "Everything is there. I don't need to hold back with anything. I don't need to be afraid of something that could happen. I just look forward to whatever happens tomorrow."
Tehran (AFP) - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was an austere and charismatic cleric who remains an icon 30 years after his death for standing against the West and bringing down Iran's monarchy, but also for his revolutionary ideas about Islams role in politics.

The black-turbaned Shiite scholar spent more than 14 years in exile before returning to his homeland in 1979 at the age of 76, two weeks after mounting protests forced the shah to flee into his own exile.

- Religious scholar -

Ruhollah, whose name means "spirit of Allah", was born in 1902 to a family of religious clerics in Khomein in central Iran, and later adopted his hometown's name.

He was only a few months old when his father was murdered because of his opposition to the imperial regime.

Brought up by his mother and aunt, he undertook religious studies, notably in the Shiite holy city of Qom, south of Tehran.

In 1929, he married a 16-year-old girl with whom he had three daughters and two sons.

He mastered philosophy along with Islamic law and jurisprudence and started teaching, gaining a reputation for his knowledge and moral rigour.

He also studied less traditional aspects of Shiism, including the mystical strain of "erfan", and composed his own poetry.

By the late 1950s he was being considered an ayatollah, which means "sign of God" and designates a high-ranking Shiite cleric, though he found himself increasingly at odds with a religious establishment that preferred to stay out of politics.

Khomeini became a fierce opponent of the pro-Western shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, particularly over a series of agricultural and social reforms that threatened the land-owning elite and their clerical allies and sought to grant women the right to vote.

- Jailed and exiled -

In an inflammatory sermon in 1963, Khomeini warned the shah that he risked being overthrown by the people if he continued along his reformist path - a speech that led to his imprisonment.

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A year later, he was forced into exile following a vehement outburst after the shah had given diplomatic immunity to US military personnel.

He went first to Turkey and then to Iraq in 1965, where he set up base in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

It was here that he developed his doctrine of velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurist), declaring all forms of monarchy unjust and stating that political leadership should be in the hands of religious judges as the only people with the authority to interpret and implement divine law.

Expelled from Najaf by Iraqi authorities, Khomeini moved to France in 1978, leading the last stages of the Islamic revolution from a Paris suburb.

His fierce diatribes against the shah were recorded on cassettes and smuggled into Iran, where the bloody repression of demonstrations was bringing ever larger numbers of people into the streets.

As the protests grew, the shah fled Tehran on January 16, 1979. And on February 1 "the flight of the revolution" brought Khomeini back in triumph.

The Islamic republic was proclaimed on April 1.

- 'The Great Satan' -

Throughout the 1970s, Khomeini adopted some of the left-wing rhetoric popular among students and activists, defining the movement against the shah as one of oppressed masses taking on a tyrant.

In this, he could draw on centuries of Shiite symbolism around martyrdom and resistance that gave his message mass appeal.

He had another priority: ousting the United States -- the shah's main ally -- which he labelled the "Great Satan".

In November 1979, radical student followers of Khomeini held 52 US diplomats and citizens hostage at the US embassy in Tehran for 444 days. Although it was not immediately directed by Khomeini, he saw an opportunity to ensure the revolution maintained its radical direction, and relations with Washington have never recovered.

At the end of 1979, Khomeini was made the "leader" ("rahbar") after the new constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran was enacted, based on his doctrine of velayat-e faqih.

A rapid process of Islamisation was thrust upon Iranian society  and the revolutionary fervour was viewed with concern by neighbouring dictators.

- 'Satanic Verses' fatwa -

In 1980, Iraq's Saddam Hussein sought to exploit the upheaval in Iran and launched a war to seize territory and prevent the spread of the revolution among his own majority-Shiite population.

Iran's nascent revolutionary government put up a surprisingly effective defence, but was dragged into eight long years of conflict before Khomeini reluctantly accepted a ceasefire.

The nation was devastated by the conflict, but it greatly strengthened the Islamic system, which triumphed over Marxist and liberal internal opponents.

Weakened by prostate cancer, Khomeini issued a fatwa -- a religious edict -- shortly before he died on June 3, 1989.

He called for the death of British writer Salman Rushdie for the novel "The Satanic Verses", which the ayatollah considered blasphemous - ensuring the Islamic revolution remained a defiant challenge to the West.
TOKYO (AP)  The lawyer for Nissan's former chairman Carlos Ghosn on Saturday criticized a bail condition that prevents his client from seeing his wife, as Ghosn awaits trial on financial misconduct charges.

A judge has forbidden Ghosn from seeing his wife, Carole, including in the presence of lawyers, or talking to her on the phone. Prosecutors say the restriction is needed to prevent evidence tampering.

"This is unfair," Takashi Takano, the lawyer, said in a phone interview, calling it a human rights violation. "It's cruel and unusual."

His earlier appeal of the ban, rejected by district and appeals courts, went to the Supreme Court, which turned it down last month.

The Supreme Court decision cannot be appealed, but Takano vowed to keep filing new petitions, stressing that the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality or the human rights aspects. The next one will be filed within two or three weeks, he said.

Ghosn's lawyers recently filed a second petition with the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, arguing that the restrictions on seeing his wife amount to a deprivation of fundamental human rights.

Takano acknowledged that the situation looks dismal, as Japan's Supreme Court is not easily influenced by other governments' views or by public opinion.

"Even the strongest man in the world can be stressed, psychologically damaged. That's very natural as a human being," said Takano, noting that Ghosn was holding up well compared to other clients he has had.

Ghosn has been aggressively taking part in meetings with his defense team, according to Takano.

The case has entered the stage known as "pre-trial sessions," during which both sides hand in evidence. A trial date has not been set. In Japan, preparations for trials routinely take months.

Ghosn, who led Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. for two decades, was arrested in November and charged with falsifying financial documents in reporting retirement compensation, and with breach of trust in diverting Nissan money toward personal investment losses and a company effectively run by him.

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Ghosn, 65, a Brazilian-born Frenchman of Lebanese ancestry, has repeatedly said he is innocent, accusing some at Nissan of plotting against him and opposing a plan to merge Nissan with French alliance partner Renault.

Renault is set to vote Tuesday on a possible merger with Fiat Chrysler.

Nissan has dismissed Ghosn from the board and denounced him as unethical, and has promised to strengthen corporate governance.

Takano, who has law degrees from the U.S. and Japan, has earned the nickname "Legend" for winning innocent verdicts in a nation where the conviction rate is higher than 99%.

Despite the odds, Takano expressed confidence that Ghosn would get exonerated, while declining to go into the specifics of his defense strategy.

"We will win," he said.

___

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Beirut (AFP) - Lebanon's army chief on Saturday criticised measures in the country's austerity budget, including a recruitment freeze, warning they would have a negative impact on the military.

General Joseph Aoun's intervention, rare for a Lebanese army chief, comes after the government approved a budget aimed at unlocking billions of dollars in aid that an official source said includes a three-year army recruitment freeze.

"The ban on recruiting soldiers or cadets, and the ban on dismissal, will have negative consequences on the military institution," Aoun said in a statement published by the army.

Lebanon is one of the world's most indebted countries and the government plan is expected to trim the country's deficit this year to 7.59 percent.

Donors at the so-called CEDRE conference last year pledged $11 billion in aid and soft loans to Lebanon, which vowed to reduce its public spending.

Aoun said the army has already been adopting a stringent approach to spending and last year returned part of its budget to the state coffers.

"The army is the backbone of Lebanon, we do not exaggerate in saying that it guarantees (the country's) security and stability. Its mission is not limited to times of war and conflicts," he said.

"Despite the current security stability, significant challenges remain, such as those at our eastern, southern or maritime borders," Aoun added.

Lebanon has been hit by repeated political deadlocks in recent years and the economic woes have been compounded by the devastating war in neighbouring Syria.

It is also technically still at war with Israel, with United Nations peacekeepers stationed on the frontier.

There have been numerous protests in recent weeks against the austerity measures by Lebanese government workers, including by retired soldiers concerned about possible pension reductions.

Civil servant salaries are to be cut under the new budget, which would also introduce a 2-percent tax on imports and increase taxes on interest income from bank deposits from seven to 10 percent.

The plan still needs to be ratified by parliament, giving lawmakers an opportunity to table amendments.
LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will wade into Britain's Brexit turmoil during a visit to London in which he will also tell outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May that her successor should ban Huawei from building 5G networks.

Following are the top stories:

> Trump: Boris would be 'very good' PM > Trump in the UK: Brexit, Huawei and royal banquet > Trump praises 'friends' Johnson and Farage > FACTBOX-What is the UK-US 'special relationship'? > What will Donald Trump do in the United Kingdom? > Irish village to welcome Trump with pride > UK decision on Huawei and 5G not final - Bolton > Snarling orange 'Trump baby' blimp to fly (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge)
1521 Pine St. | Photo: Zumper

Apartment hunting on a budget can be frustrating. So what does the low-end rent on a rental in Rittenhouse look like these days  and what might you get for your money?

Per Walk Score ratings, the neighborhood is a "walker's paradise," is very bikeable and is a haven for transit riders. It also features median rents for a one bedroom that hover around $1,695, compared to a $1,495 one-bedroom median for Philadelphia as a whole.

A look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments in Rittenhouse, via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide, offers an overview of what budget-minded apartment seekers can expect to find in this Philadelphia neighborhood.

Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

2216 Walnut St.



Next, there's this 360-square-foot apartment at 2216 Walnut St., listed at $995/month.

In the unit, which comes furnished, expect to find air conditioning. Cats and dogs are not welcome. The building features a fitness center, on-site laundry and secured entry.

(See the listing here.)

1521 Pine St.

This studio apartment, situated at 1521 Pine St., is listed for $1,025/month.

Inside, you're promised air conditioning, hardwood flooring and a dishwasher. Neither cats nor dogs are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee

(See the listing here.)

2118 Walnut St., #3M

Then, at 2118 Walnut St., #3M, you'll find this studio apartment going for $1,175/month.

In the unit, look for hardwood flooring and high ceilings. Building amenities include on-site laundry and storage. Hairball alert: cats are welcome.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

2101 Chestnut St.

Finally, there's this 465-square-foot studio space at 2101 Chestnut St. It's being listed for $1,200/month.

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In the apartment, expect to find hardwood flooring and a walk-in closet. Cats and dogs are not permitted. When it comes to building amenities, expect garage parking and a fitness center. There's no leasing fee required for this rental.

(Here's the full listing.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
I like to start my classes on conservative intellectual history by distinguishing between three groups. There is the Republican party, with its millions of adherents and spectrum of opinion from very conservative, somewhat conservative, moderate, and yes, liberal. There is the conservative movement, the constellation of single-issue nonprofits that sprung up in the 1970s  gun rights, pro-life, taxpayer, right to work  and continue to influence elected officials. Finally, there is the conservative intellectual movement: writers, scholars, and wonks whose journalistic and political work deals mainly with ideas and, if were lucky, their translation into public policy.

Its a common mistake to conflate these groups. The Republican party is a vast coalition that both predates and possibly will post-date the conservative movement. That movement has had mixed success in moving the party to the right, partly because of cynicism and corruption but also because politicians must, at the end of the day, take into account the shifting and often contradictory views of their constituents. The conservative intellectual movement exercises the least power of all. You could fit its members into a convention hall or, more likely, a cruise ship.

Ideas matter. But the relation of ideas to political action is difficult to measure and often haphazard. The line between shaping a politicians rhetoric and decisions and merely reflecting them is awfully fuzzy. The conservative intellectual movement, in addition to generating excellent writing, has had seven real-world applications since its formation after the Second World War: originalism and supply side economics in the 1970s; welfare reform and crime policy in the 1980s and 90s; educational choice and reform over the last two decades; James Burnhams anti-Communist strategies that found expression in the Reagan Doctrine; and the counterinsurgency plan known as the surge that prevented the defeat of American forces in the second Iraq war. There have been other successes, for sure, but also plenty of setbacks. Whats important to remember is that liberals as well as Republicans, conservative activists, and conservative intellectuals contested every single one of these policies.

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The story goes that, for many years, American conservatives adhered to a consensus known as fusionism. Economic and social conservatives put aside their differences. Freedom, they decided, was necessary for the exercise of virtue. The struggle against and ultimate defeat of the Soviet Union was more important than domestic politics or intramural disagreements. Conservative intellectuals eager to privilege either freedom or virtue like to attack this consensus, which they often describe as zombie Reaganism. The truth is that the strength of fusionism always has been exaggerated. The conservative intellectual movement has been and continues to be fractious, contentious, combustible, and less of a force than most assume.

Episodes of division and strife are far more common than moments of unity and peace. The more you study the history of American conservatism, the less willing you are to describe it in monolithic terms. There isnt one American right, there are multitudes, every one of them competing for the attention of politicians and policymakers. The most prominent and politically salient varieties, as expressed in William F. Buckley Jr.s National Review, Irving Kristols Public Interest, Norman Podhoretzs Commentary, and William Kristols Weekly Standard, have weakened or disappeared altogether. One of the reasons the intra-conservative argument has become so personal and acrimonious is that nothing has replaced them.

Indeed, the situation today is awfully similar to that which confronted conservatives in the 1970s. Then, the Buckley consensus had to find a modus vivendi with neoconservatives as well as with the Catholic integralists around Triumph magazine, against the background of a populist revolt that called out failing elites while relying on racial and ethnic appeals that sometimes crossed the border of decency.

The campaign and election of Donald Trump complicated this already cloudy picture. The debate over Trumps character and fitness for office opened, or poured salt on, wounds that have not and will not heal. Moreover, the varying opinions of Donald Trump the person became hard to disentangle from divergent assessments of his program. Fights over his rhetoric and behavior morphed into struggles over his economic and foreign policies, then changed back again. It became all too easy to score points by associating ones opponents with either Trumps most radical supporters or his most vociferous detractors.

Trumps victory seemed to favor one side over the other. But such vindication may turn out to be just as much a mirage as the zombie Reaganism straw man. It does Trump supporters no favors to ignore the facts: The president did not win a majority, captured a smaller percentage of the popular vote than Mitt Romney, and took the Electoral College thanks to 77,000 votes spread over three states. It is also the case that to date, President Trump has been most successful when he has adhered to the traditional Republican program of tax cuts, defense spending, and judicial appointments.

The rise of Donald Trump, Brexit, and nation-state populism throughout the world certainly suggest that something has changed in global politics. American conservatism ought to investigate, recognize, and assimilate the empirical reality before it. The trouble is that no one has concluded definitively what that reality is.

Not for lack of trying. Beginning in 2016, intellectuals who favored Trump have been searching for a new touchstone for conservative thought and politics. These writers are often described as populists, but that label is hard to define. Broadly speaking, they have adopted the banner of nationalism. They believe the nation-state is the core unit of geopolitics and that national sovereignty and independence are more important than global flows of capital, labor, and commodities. They are all, in different ways, reacting to perceived failures, whether of Buckley conservatism, George W. Bushs presidency, or the inability of the conservative movement to stop same-sex marriage and the growth of the administrative state. And they have turned away from libertarian arguments and economistic thinking. Not everything, these thinkers believe, can be reduced to gross domestic product.

This emphasis on the nation as not only an economic but a political entity is apparent in the title of the National Conservatism conference to be held by the Edmund Burke Foundation next month in Washington, D.C. It is best articulated in Christopher DeMuths essay in the Winter 2019 Claremont Review of Books, Trumpism, Nationalism, and Conservatism. The Claremont Institute and its affiliated publications, including the new website The American Mind, have taken the lead in attempting to develop a pro-Trump conservatism in line with the principles of the American Founding.

Like populism, however, nationalism is a capacious idea that encompasses many subsets of opinion. Claremont may be the main site of nationalist conservatism, but it is not alone. Within the nationalist camp, broadly defined, are four schools of thought. Each is associated with a young Republican senator. The lines between these persuasions blur  some of the senators I name could fit into different categories, and others might not accept the labels I am about to bestow on them  but the conservative terrain has become so difficult to navigate that its useful to have a map. Let me take you through this new territory.

The Jacksonians

Some conservatives  myself included  see Donald Trump through the lens of Jacksonian politics. They look to Walter Russell Meads landmark essay in the Winter 1999 / 2000 National Interest, The Jacksonian Tradition in American Foreign Policy, as not only a description of the swing vote that brought us Trump, but also as a possible guide to incorporating populism and conservatism.

The Jacksonians, Mead said, are individualist, suspicious of federal power, distrustful of foreign entanglement, opposed to taxation but supportive of government spending on the middle class, devoted to the Second Amendment, desire recognition, valorize military service, and believe in the hero who shapes his own destiny. Jacksonians are anti-monopolistic. They oppose special privileges and offices. There are no necessary evils in government, Jackson wrote in his veto message in 1832. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

This is a deep strain in American culture and politics. Jacksonians are neither partisans nor ideologues. The sentiments they express are older than postwar conservatism and in some ways more intrinsically American. (They do not look toward Burke or Hayek or Strauss, for example.) The Jacksonians have been behind populist rebellions since the Founding. They are part of a tradition, for good and ill, that runs through William Jennings Bryan, Huey Long, Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace, Ronald Reagan, Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot, Jim Webb, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and Donald Trump. The Jacksonians believe in what their forebears called The Democracy. They are the people who remind us that America is not ruled from above but driven from below. Irving Kristol captured some of Jacksonianisms contradictions when he described the movement as an upsurge of revolt against the moneyed interests, an upsurge led by real estate speculators, investors, and mercantile adventurers, which spoke as the voice of the People while never getting much more than half the vote, and which gave a sharp momentum to the development of capitalism, urbanism, and industrialism while celebrating the glories of the backwoodsman.

The Jacksonians have extended their conception of the in-group to include Americans of every ethnicity and race. The somewhat slippery distinction they make is between American and foreigner. I say slippery because sometimes it is hard to tell when Jacksonians decide to accept a legal immigrant as fully American. Jacksonians emphasize borders. They are happy to see the government direct benefits to the middle class. They dont want to reform entitlements. They are willing to accept short-term sacrifice if it ends up benefiting the people. They are skeptical of preemptive war, but if a conflict arises, they want to finish the job quickly and ferociously. The very faults of the persuasion as a guide to prudent statesmanship, wrote historian Marvin Meyers, may have been its strength as a call to justice. For a society inevitably committed to maximizing economic gains, this persuasion in its various forms has been the great effective force provoking men to ask what their nation ought to be.

The Jacksonian in the Senate is Tom Cotton. Hes taken the lead on conservative immigration reform. A supporter of the president, he is also a national security hawk. He was perfectly Jacksonian when he said a conflict with Iran, should it erupt, would be swiftly concluded due to overwhelming American force. A native of rural Arkansas and an Army veteran, his new book Sacred Duty describes the Jacksonian code of honor and sacrifice. If you want to know where this key swing vote in American politics is headed, watch Cotton.

The Reformocons

Reform conservatism began toward the end of George W. Bushs presidency, with the publication of Yuval Levins Putting Parents First in The Weekly Standard in 2006 and of Ross Douthat and Reihan Salams Grand New Party in 2008. In 2009, Levin founded National Affairs, a quarterly devoted to serious examinations of public policy and political philosophy. Its aim is to nudge the Republican party to adapt to changing social and economic conditions.

In 2014, working with the YG Network and with National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru, Levin edited Room to Grow: Conservative Reforms for a Limited Government and a Thriving Middle Class. The report was the occasion for a lot of publicity, including a Sam Tanenhaus article in the New York Times Magazine asking, Can the GOP Be a Party of Ideas?

Trump both hindered and aided reform conservatism. He dealt it a setback not only because reform conservatives opposed him in the primary (and many in the general) and he knows how to keep a grudge. He also defeated the reform conservatives most promising champion, Marco Rubio. And he did it in part by emphasizing two issues, trade and immigration, that were missing from Room to Grow.

But that is not the end of the story. Trump also obliquely aided reform by smashing the status quo and proving the Douthat and Salam thesis that support from whites without college degrees is essential to Republican victory. After the election, Rubio kept advocating for democracy and human rights, but jettisoned supply side orthodoxy. He fought successfully to expand the child tax credit in the 2017 tax bill. He proposed a paid parental leave policy and criticized stock buybacks. In 2018 he delivered a speech arguing for a new nationalism based on an economy built on the dignity of work, the family as the most central institution in society, working together in community, and the belief that every human being is endowed by God with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Rubio has cited Oren Casss The Once and Future Worker (2018). Its worth noting that Cass is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where Salam recently became president. Meanwhile, Levins follow-up to his Fractured Republic (2016) is a call for rebuilding institutions crucial to the formation of character. Reform conservatism, in other words, is far from being a spent force.

The Paleos

Where the paleoconservatives distinguish themselves from the other camps is foreign policy. The paleos are noninterventionists who, all things being equal, would prefer that America radically reduce her overseas commitments. Though its probably not how hed describe himself, the foremost paleo is Tucker Carlson, who offers a mix of traditional social values, suspicion of globalization, and noninterventionism every weekday on cable television.

Carlson touched off an important debate with his January 3 opening monologue on markets. Culture and economics are inseparably intertwined, Carlson said. Certain economic systems allow families to thrive. Thriving families make market economies possible. You cant separate the two.

Carlsons indictment of Americas ruling class and the ugliest parts of our financial system was remarkable for several reasons. First, he delivered it on a network whose opinion programs normally laud American capitalism and free enterprise. Second, the speech was wide-ranging, criticizing everyone from Mitt Romney to Sheryl Sandberg to parents who let their kids smoke weed. Third, Carlson offered a theory of the case. Social decline, he said, is related to the loss of manufacturing jobs. It happened in the inner cities. Now its happening in the Rust Belt and in rural America. When jobs disappear and low-skilled male wages decline, family formation breaks down.

While Carlson noted in passing that wage income is taxed at a higher rate than investment income, he did not make any specific proposals. Im not a policy guy, Im a talk show host, but I sincerely believe that no problem is solved unless you have a clear image in your mind of what you want the result to be, he told Michael Brendan Dougherty at the National Review Institute conference in March. Earlier this month, he welcomed John Burtka, the chairman of the paleo journal The American Conservative (TAC), on to his program. Burtka argued for treating the social media giants as monopolies. Carlson loved it.

In a separate piece for TAC, Burtka offered a defense of economic nationalism. He advocated a national industrial strategy, without providing many details, though presumably incorporating some mixture of tariffs and government-directed investment. This reluctance toward nuts-and-bolts legislative proposals is widespread. We still need to figure out a lot of the details for how this vision of conservative politics, a pro-family, pro-worker, pro-American nation, conservatism actually looks in practice, J. D. Vance told a recent TAC gala. Were waiting!

Paleos have brought renewed attention to the condition of American communities. Tim Carney of the American Enterprise Institute and Washington Examiner devotes his new book, Alienated America, to the frayed bonds that barely connect working-class Americans to each other. Like Carlson, Mike Lee might not accept the paleo label, but he best represents this mixture of traditionalism, communitarianism, and nonintervention in the U.S. Senate. His social capital project is a major effort to assess the strengths and vulnerabilities of American society. Hes worked with Rubio on parental leave, though it should be said that unlike paleos he opposes Trumps trade policies. Paleos might not have exact answers when it comes to domestic policy, but they are certain American foreign policy should be restrained, within constitutional bounds, and prioritize diplomacy over military force.

The Post-liberals

Here is a group that I did not see coming. The Trump era has coincided with the formation of a coterie of writers who say that liberal modernity has become (or perhaps always was) inimical to human flourishing. One way to tell if you are reading a post-liberal is to see what they say about John Locke. If Locke is treated as an important and positive influence on the American founding, then you are dealing with just another American conservative. If Locke is identified as the font of the trans movement and same-sex marriage, then you may have encountered a post-liberal.

The post-liberals say that freedom has become a destructive end-in-itself. Economic freedom has brought about a global system of trade and finance that has outsourced jobs, shifted resources to the metropolitan coasts, and obscured its self-seeking under the veneer of social justice. Personal freedom has ended up in the mainstreaming of pornography, alcohol, drug, and gambling addiction, abortion, single-parent families, and the repression of orthodox religious practice and conscience. When an ideological liberalism seeks to dictate our foreign policy and dominate our religious and charitable institutions, tyranny is the result, at home and abroad, wrote the signatories to Against the Dead Consensus, a post-liberal manifesto of sorts published in First Things in March.

The ambition of neoliberalism, wrote the editor of First Things in the spring of 2017, is to weaken and eventually dissolve the strong elements of traditional society that impede the free flow of commerce (the focus of nineteenth-century liberalism), as well as identity and desire (the focus of postmodern liberalism). This may work well for the global elite, but ordinary people increasingly doubt it works for them. The result, he said, has been populist calls for the strong gods of familial, national, and religious authority.

The post-liberals are mainly but not exclusively traditionalist Catholics. Their most prominent spokesman is Patrick J. Deneen, whose Why Liberalism Failed (2018) was recommended by that ultimate progressive, Barack Obama. Israeli philosopher Yoram Hazonys Virtue of Nationalism (2018) is another important entry in the post-liberal canon. Hazony has contributed essays to both First Things (Conservative Democracy) and American Affairs (What Is Conservatism?) making the case for conservatism without Locke, Jefferson, and Paine.

The post-liberals have put forward two contradictory political strategies. The first, advanced by Rod Dreher, who is Eastern Orthodox, is the Benedict Option of turning away from the secular world and shielding, as best you can, spiritual life. The second, as put by Sohrab Ahmari also in First Things, is to use these values [of civility and decency] to enforce our order and our orthodoxy, not pretend that they could ever be neutral.

Another post-liberal, Gladden Pappin of American Affairs, says,

Rather than asking the question, What should conservatives/progressives do? considerable advances can be made through certain purely practical considerations: How can the integrity of the national political community be assured? How can commercial activity and technological development continue to be turned toward the common good, and toward our own strategic advantage? What can we do with the reins of power, that is, the state, to ensure the common good of our citizens?

The closest the post-liberals have to a spokesman in the Senate is freshman Josh Hawley, who attends an evangelical Presbyterian church. Not six months into his term, Hawley has already established himself as a social conservative unafraid of government power. He has picked fights with the conservative legal establishment by criticizing two of President Trumps judicial appointments. He has identified Silicon Valley as a threat to traditional values and proposed legislation to begin to rein in the tech industry. And in a little noticed commencement address to Kings College, he inveighed against the fact that

For decades now our politics and culture have been dominated by a particular philosophy of freedom. It is a philosophy of liberation from family and tradition; of escape from God and community; a philosophy of self-creation and unrestricted, unfettered free choice.

This Pelagian vision  Pelagius was a monk condemned by the Church fathers as a heretic  celebrates the individual, Hawley went on. But it leads to hierarchy. Though it preaches merit, it produces elitism. Though it proclaims liberty, it destroys the life that makes liberty possible. Replacing it and repairing the profound harm it has caused is one of the great challenges of our day.

The post-liberals say that the distinction between state and society is illusory. They argue that, even as conservatives defended the independence of civil society from state power, the left took over Hollywood, the academy, the media, and the courts. What the post-liberals seem to call for is the use of government to recapture society from the left. How precisely they intend to accomplish this has been left undefined. (Though the levy on large university endowments included in the 2017 tax bill is a start.)

Another question is whether the post-liberal project is sustainable in the first place. The post-liberals, like other nationalists, may have over-interpreted the results of the 2016 election. Trump is many things, but it is safe to say that he is not an integralist. Prominent online and in my Twitter feed, the post-liberals might also misjudge their overall numbers. Before they recapture the state, much less re-moralize a nation of 300 million and hundreds of sects and denominations, they must first convince their co-religionists.

Appeals to the common good are rhetorically powerful, but they often run up against the shoals of Americas constitutional structure and overwhelming emphasis on individual rights. That is one potential reason the post-liberals seem more interested in European philosophy and politics. It also could be why many of them are eager to abandon the term conservatism.

Which might be for the best. Fusionisms critics say that it was historically contingent on the unique situation of the Cold War. But if you read the best expression of fusionist conservatism, the Sharon Statement of 1960, you see that its ideas of freedom and constitutionalism are deeply embedded in American intellectual traditions. There is only one American political tradition, wrote Irving Kristol, and every political movement must obtain its sanction, invoking the same memories, the same names, the same archetypal images, even the very same quotations. A conservatism that does not incorporate the ideas of freedom and civil and religious liberty that imprinted America at its birth not only would be unrecognizable to William F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan, Americans themselves would find it alien and unappealing. And rightly so.

This column was originally published on The Washington Free Beacon.

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Mecca (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Saturday slammed the US decision to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise the disputed city as Israel's capital.

The Saudi-hosted summit condemned the "transfer of embassies of the United States and Guatemala to Jerusalem" and urged all members to "boycott" countries that have opened diplomatic missions in the city, a statement said.

The statement comes as US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner prepares to roll out economic aspects of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month.

The plan, dubbed by Trump as the "deal of the century", has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say Trump's policies have shown him to be blatantly biased in favour of Israel.

Palestinians have cut off all contacts with the Trump administration after the president broke with decades of bipartisan policy to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017.

Israel insists the whole of Jerusalem is its "eternal, indivisible capital". The Palestinians demand the city's eastern sector as the capital of their long-promised state.
Meghan McCain found herself in a precarious situation during Fridays broadcast of The View when she went a bit too far with a metaphor about impeachment, prompting her and the rest of the crew to quickly walk back her comments.

Discussing President Trump recently declaring that impeachment is a dirty, filthy, disgusting word as pressure ramps up in the wake of Robert Muellers public comments, McCain noted that House Democrats are still being careful as the public hasnt embraced the idea yet.

Whats interesting is that only 45 House members are for impeachment proceedings, which actually surprised me, she said. Its only 20 percent of House Democrats. Ten percent of the entire House and I do think, I agree with you, that Nancy Pelosi is an incredibly shrewd politician. Sixty-five percent of Americans say Congress should not begin proceedings at the moment.

The conservative host then stated Democrats need to make sure they dont miss if they go down the impeachment pathusing a rather graphic analogy.

I will say if you take this kill shot, Democrats, you better not miss, McCain declared. You better hit his jugular. If there is a finger still moving at the end of it, you will ruin your chances in 2020 but you better do this well if youre going to do it.

Almost immediately, co-host Whoopi Goldberg interjected, letting viewers know that McCain doesnt mean that Democrats need to actually shoot the president.

I dont mean literally! McCain exclaimed. Im so sorry!

She continued: Oh my God! I mean like a metaphorical. Im a hunter and shooter, Im sorry about my metaphors. And I talk like a redneck, so sorry.

Liberal co-host and frequent McCain sparring partner Joy Behar stepped in to provide a better metaphor, telling the former Fox News personality to say if youre going to swing, you better hit the ball.

Thank you, Joy, for giving a better metaphor, an appreciative McCain responded. Thank you very much!

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Goldberg, meanwhile, ended the segment by offering additional cover to McCain while claiming the panels comments are constantly dissected and parsed.

So heres the thing, people come after us for what we say and how we say it because theyre listening for something to be wrong in their mind, she asserted. We try not to do that so we look out for each other because we know because we all see what people write to us.

I appreciated it, McCain concluded. Live TV. Sorry.

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By Christine Murray

MEXICO CITY, June 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Mexico City lawmakers have given the green light to decriminalize sex work in the capital, hoping it will be a first step to a crackdown on sex trafficking that traps thousands of Mexican women and children.

Lawmakers in Mexico City's Congress on Friday voted 38-0, with eight abstentions, in favor of a bill to remove a line in the Civic Culture Law which said prostitutes and their clients can be fined or arrested if neighbors complained.

Temistocles Villanueva, a local representative with the ruling center-left Morena party, said the new law recognized that people had the right to engage in sex work.

"It's a first step that has to lead to regulation of sex work, to fight human trafficking and strengthen the rights of sex workers," he said.

"Exercising sexuality in our country is still a taboo topic that few of us dare to talk about."

Sex work is allowed in much of Mexico but states have different and sometimes unclear rules, meaning workers frequently operate in legal vacuums which can leave them vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking by crime gangs.

Mexico is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor, with Mexican women and children the most at risk from sex trafficking, according to the U.S. State Department.

Mexico is listed as a Tier 2 nation in the U.S.'s Trafficking in Persons Report, meaning it does not meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but it is making significant efforts to do so.

The report said observers had made links between women's disappearances and murders and trafficking by organized criminal groups.

Elvira Madrid, founder of sex work rights group Brigada Callejera said the change to the law was welcome, but now there needed to be a legal framework that protected workers.

Debate over the legal status of sex work in Mexico and elsewhere is controversial, particularly among some anti-slavery groups who argue that decriminalization provides a cover for human traffickers.

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But sex worker and other human rights groups in Mexico say criminalization only sends the problem deeper underground, and exposes an already vulnerable group to abuses by police and organized crime.

Friday's bill came after an earlier version was criticized by sex worker and human rights groups. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum's office sent it back to Congress with suggested modifications which were taken up.

Eduardo Santillan, also a Morena Mexico City Congressman, said that now that sex work was decriminalized, anti-trafficking public policy should be strengthened.

"We think that the big challenge of this Congress will be making both of these fundamental principles compatible," he said. (Reporting by Christine Murray, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
Mexico City (AFP) - Despite calling himself a champion of migrants' rights, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has actually stepped up detentions of Central Americans crossing Mexico -- just not enough to please Donald Trump.

Mexico's leftist leader scrambled to defend his migration policies Friday after Trump blew up neighborly relations by announcing he would impose tariffs of five percent -- rising to 25 percent by October -- on all Mexican goods "until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied."

"We are doing our job," Lopez Obrador replied.

The anti-establishment politician has gotten a rude wake-up call on the migration issue since sweeping to office in December after a landslide election win.

He initially vowed to break with Mexico's past by warmly welcoming Central American migrants fleeing violence and poverty.

His government offered humanitarian visas rather than detaining them, providing access to health services and education during their stay in Mexico.

But as the flow of Central Americans trekking toward the United States has continued to surge -- drawing threats from Trump to close the border and, now, impose tariffs -- Lopez Obrador has had to change his game plan, if not his stump speech.

- Visa restrictions, detentions -

Lopez Obrador still talks of welcoming migrants and safeguarding their rights.

But his actions on the ground have taken a hardline turn.

"There's an inconsistency between the narrative and the reality," said Leticia Calderon of the Mora Institute in Mexico City.

An initial lull in migrant detentions under Lopez Obrador's administration was followed by a surge: from January to April this year, Mexican authorities detained 51,607 migrants, a 17-percent increase from the same period in 2018.

When more than 13,000 migrants applied for humanitarian visas in less than two weeks, the government suspended the program.

Instead, it now gives migrants visas that restrict them to the south of the country, far from the US border.

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Originally designed for Central Americans making short visits to southern Mexico for activities like shopping, these "regional visitor visas" are now applied to Africans, Cubans and Haitians as well.

Migrants have not taken kindly to the new policies. They have rioted several times in recent weeks in the euphemistically named "shelters" where the authorities hold them.

Cubans, in particular, have taken umbrage, breaking out of shelters en masse at least six times since March.

"Lopez Obrador opened his mouth too soon," said international relations expert Javier Urbano at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City.

"Promising a total overhaul of migration policy in a matter of weeks was completely out of touch with reality."

Mexican migration policy, he added, "continues to be based primarily on containment and repression."

Nevertheless, migrant detentions at the US southern border continue to rise: in April, border officers apprehended a new record of 58,474 people who crossed in family groups.

- Drugs: another sticky issue -

Lopez Obrador's big idea to stop migration is a 10-year economic development plan for Central America and Mexico that he says will wipe out the root causes of the exodus.

He wants the US to contribute a major part of the $10 billion-a-year budget, and his administration had been in talks with White House officials to that end.

But then Trump lashed out with tariffs over the migration issue -- and doubled down Friday by saying Mexico also needed to stop drug trafficking into the US if it wanted the tariffs lifted.

Lopez Obrador is also in a sticky situation on drug trafficking.

He has declared an end to the bloody "war" that previous governments waged on the country's powerful drug cartels, the main suppliers to the US.

But he has also launched a new, militarized National Guard to fight crime, drawing criticism from human rights groups and disappointing some supporters.

As with migration, he appears powerless to stop the problem: the wave of cartel-fueled violence sweeping Mexico has only gotten worse, and this year is on track to break last year's record of 33,500 murders.
By Frank Jack Daniel

MEXICO CITY, May 31 (Reuters) - Mexico wants to sharpen existing measures in its bid to narrow a flood of Central American migrants to the U.S. border, a top Mexican official said on Friday, ahead of planned meetings in Washington over tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump.

Trump on Thursday said he would introduce the tariffs, starting at 5% on June 10 and quickly ratcheting higher if Mexico did not substantially halt illegal immigration, largely from Central America, across the U.S.-Mexican border.

"To avoid these flows that go from Central America to the United States in large numbers I think we can make progress with traditional mechanisms and better exercise existing rules," said Jesus Seade, Mexico's deputy foreign minister for North America.

Asked if Mexico might agree to be classified as a "safe third country" where asylum seekers would have to lodge claims instead of the United States, he replied, "That is not something we are working with."

Seade declined to give further details of what more Mexico could do to stem immigration, citing the delicate nature of the talks in Washington.

Trump's ultimatum is the biggest foreign policy test yet for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and a tall order for security forces already struggling to reduce migrant flows and combat record levels of gang violence and homicide.

Trump's pressure has spurred Mexico to step up the number of undocumented immigrants it detains and deports in recent months, but numbers reaching the U.S. border have also risen.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard traveled to Washington on Friday and is to be joined by Seade on Sunday. On Wednesday they will meet a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to resolve the dispute.

Seade said the Mexican team was setting up other meetings for Monday and Tuesday, and had spoken ahead of the trip with the United States Trade Representative.

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"I had a good conversation with (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, but in reality the issue at hand has more to do with immigration," he added.

Trump has pledged to end the wave of tens of thousands of asylum seekers, including many Central American families fleeing poverty and violence, who make the arduous journey north to seek refuge in the United States.

In the biggest migrant surge on the U.S-Mexican border in a decade, U.S. officials say 80,000 people are in custody, with an average of 4,500 mostly Central American migrants arriving each day, overwhelming the handling resources of border officials.

The number of migrants arrested on the southwest border last month was 98,977, a record.

As part of the U.S. effort to stem the flow, Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Guatemala government agreed to boost law enforcement cooperation, the DHS said on Friday.

"Included in the agreement is a provision on law enforcement training to improve criminal investigations that disrupt human trafficking and drug smuggling networks," the DHS said in a statement.

Such networks are often run by transnational criminal groups that profit from human suffering, it added.

A Mexican government source said McAleenan and Guatemala's government agreed on the presence of DHS "advisers" in the Central American nation, but Mexico was not part of the pact.

Since taking office in December, Lopez Obrador has urged Trump to help him tackle migration by promoting economic development in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. (Writing and additional reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
A cyclist riding on Valencia (at 14th Street). | Photo: Teresa Hammerl/Hoodline

After installing a three-block protected bikeway on Valencia Street from Market to 15th streets earlier this year, city agencies are keeping the momentum going.

Last week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced that it will add parking-protected bike lanes to eight more blocks of Valencia Street, covering the area between 19th Street and Cesar Chavez.

While Valencia already has a bike lane, it is not protected from vehicle traffic with barriers. In order to avoid ride-hailing and delivery vehicles double-parked in the bike lane, cyclists along Valencia are often forced to navigate into traffic.

According to SFMTA data, 86 people were injured in traffic collisions on Valencia between 19th and Cesar Chavez in the past five years. Nearly half of those injuries stemmed from vehicle dooring and double-parking.

"We heard through community outreach that people did not feel safe with the existing bike infrastructure, due to the constant loading and unloading of people and goods in the bike lane," agency representatives wrote in a blog post.

Yet the changes will not affect arguably the four busiest blocks of Valencia, from 15th to 19th streets. That drew criticism from bicycle advocates, who took to Twitter to express their displeasure.

"Completing all of Valencia is still an absolute priority for us," the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition noted. "We will ensure that [the section between 15th and 19th streets] continues to move forward."

SFMTA spokesperson Erica Kato said that the agency remains committed to installing a protected bikeway between 15th and 19th streets as well. But that section "has unique challenges given its land uses and available roadway width, which will require additional outreach and engineering work," she said.

By comparison, the 19th to Cesar Chavez portion of Valencia has a similar roadway configuration to the Market to 15th section, allowing the agency to "[utilize] the lessons learned from the evaluation, work with the community and design and implement a protected bikeway in a years time," she said.

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A cyclist riding a bike on Valencia, at 20th Street. | Photo: Google Maps

The new bike lanes on Valencia from 19th to Cesar Chavez are currently in the design phase, with implementation scheduled for spring 2020.

In the meantime, one of the already protected bike intersections, at Valencia and Duboce, will be getting an upgrade this month to provide better signal separation between bicyclists and drivers making right turns.

The changes to the bike lanes are part of Vision Zero, the city's plan to eliminate all traffic deaths and reduce severe traffic-related injuries by 2024.

Most of Valencia Street is part of the Vision Zero high-injury network, the 13 percent of streets in the city that account for 75 percent of severe and fatal traffic collisions.

Mayor London Breed has been driving much of the push for new protected bike lanes under Vision Zero. Earlier this month, she said that she wants to add 20 miles of protected bike lanes to the city over the next two years.

Those interested in learning more about plans for the Valencia Street bike lane can sign up for SFMTA email updates.
500 S.W. Ninth Ave. | Photo: Zumper

Apartment hunting on a budget can be challenging. So what does the low-end rent on a rental in Little Havana look like these days  and what might you get for your money?

According to Walk Score, the neighborhood has excellent walkability, is convenient for biking and offers many nearby public transportation options. It also features median rents for a one bedroom that hover around $1,300, compared to a $1,925 one-bedroom median for Miami as a whole.

A look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments in Little Havana, via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide, offers an overview of what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in this Miami neighborhood.

Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

1255 S.W. Sixth St.

Listed at $900/month, this 320-square-foot studio apartment, located at 1255 S.W. Sixth St., is 17.4 percent less than the $1,090/month median rent for a studio in Little Havana.

When it comes to building amenities, expect assigned parking. In the unit, you'll get air conditioning. Pets are not allowed. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(See the complete listing here.)

500 S.W. Ninth Ave., #3

This one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, situated at 500 S.W. Ninth Ave., #3, is listed for $1,230/month.

In the apartment, you're promised in-unit laundry. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: this spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental.

(See the complete listing here.)

402 N.W. 12th Ave.

Then there's this apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom at 402 N.W. 12th Ave., listed at $1,299/month.

Amenities offered in the building include assigned parking and on-site laundry. In the unit, look for air conditioning and a walk-in closet. Neither cats nor dogs are allowed. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental, but there is a $365 application fee.

(See the listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Antero Resources (NYSE: AR) is sitting on a potential gold mine of liquids-rich natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale region. The company's resource-filled position has already fueled its ascension up the leaderboard to become the nation's fifth-largest gas producer and the leader in natural gas liquids (NGLs). Unfortunately, the driller hasn't been able to fully cash in on that production because it's lacked the infrastructure needed to take its output to premium-priced markets.

Those infrastructure bottlenecks, however, are beginning to go away. That's because midstream giant Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) recently completed some critical projects. As a result, Antero Resources now has the access it needs to maximize the value of its production.

A pipeline and an oil pump at sunset.

Image source: Getty Images.

Cashing in on its market access for NGLs

Antero Resources recently reported strong underlying first-quarter numbers. CEO Paul Rady discussed the factors fueling the company's success on the accompanying conference call. He pointed out that "we began shipping volumes for the first time in February through our commitment on the Mariner East 2 pipeline," which is operated by Energy Transfer and moves NGLs from processing facilities in the Marcellus region to Philadelphia, where Energy Transfer's Marcus Hook Terminal can export them to the global markets. According to Rady, "We have 50,000 barrels a day of propane and butane capacity contracted on the pipeline, which equates to about one-third of the available capacity on ME2 today. As the largest shipper on ME2 and with approximately 50% of our NGL production being sold into premium international markets today, we are well positioned to deliver peer-leading NGL price realizations going forward."

Rady further noted that the company is already experiencing the benefits of this pipeline. He stated on the call that it "boosted cash flow by approximately $20 million during the first quarter." That number should improve as the company ramps up its exports. Antero only exported 29% of its volumes during the quarter but expected that number to reach 50% once it hits full stride.

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Locked in on natural gas

In addition to securing space on Energy Transfer's Mariner pipeline systems for its NGL volumes, Antero locked up capacity on several other pipelines for its natural gas volumes. The company, for example, is a major shipper on Energy Transfer's recently completed Rover Pipeline system, which moves gas to premium markets across the U.S. as well as in Canada.

Rady noted on the call that "with the entirety of our committed firm transport now in service" thanks to recently completed pipeline projects, it gives the company "significant visibility... with respect to our long-term development plan." For starters, the company estimates that it will earn a $0.15 to $0.20 per Mcfe premium to prevailing in-basin market prices for its natural gas because it can transport its output to premium markets. That gives it a competitive advantage over its peers not only should local prices weaken but because it can make longer-term decisions since it knows it can get its gas to higher-priced markets.

The pricing disconnect between local and premium markets could widen in the coming years, especially along the Gulf Coast as more LNG export facilities start up. Rady pointed out on the call that "our significant firm transport capacity into the Gulf Coast region provides a tremendous opportunity for us to benefit from this robust growth" of LNG export facilities. He added, "We expect our firm transportation portfolio to become increasingly valuable as LNG players look to secure long-term supply agreements with strong counterparties who have confidence in their drilling inventory over multiple decades. Antero has the production base, the drilling inventory depth and quality, the transport portfolio, and the balance sheet to be a very strong player in the LNG supply business."

Everything it needs to succeed

Antero Resources has struggled to get full value for its natural gas and liquids output in recent years due to the lack of adequate infrastructure to transport its volumes to higher-valued markets. However, thanks to the recent completion of several pipelines by Energy Transfer, the company now has full access to premium-priced markets. As a result, it should earn more money on its production than rivals that didn't lock in firm transportation on these systems, giving it a competitive edge.

More From The Motley Fool

Matthew DiLallo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
San Salvador (AFP) - Conservative businessman Nayib Bukele took office Saturday as president of El Salvador, tasked with turning around grinding poverty and rampant gang violence that are sending thousands fleeing to the United States.

Bukele was sworn in by the speaker of the National Assembly in a square in downtown San Salvador, as a large, boisterous crowd applauded and shouted "We did it!"

The telegenic Bukele, 37, was elected in February to succeed Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a leftist former guerrilla who maintained close relations with his Nicaraguan and Venezuelan counterparts.

Bukele has said he will seek closer ties with the United States, home to 2.5 million Salvadorans.

With only 6.6 million people living in the small Central American country, its fortunes are closely linked to the United States which nearly a third of its citizens call home.

"I will be the president of all Salvadorans," Bukele pledged.

"Our country is like a sick child, we all have to take care of it."

US President Donald Trump, who has railed against the waves of migrants flooding into his country from El Salvador as well as Honduras and Guatemala, wished Bukele well on Twitter.

"Congratulations President Bukele on your inauguration! The United States stands ready to work with @NayibBukele to advance prosperity in El Salvador and the hemisphere," Trump said.

Official estimates indicate an average of 200 Salvadorans leave the country per day to enter the United States without documents.

Some analysts have called Bukele a millennial president: above all because he is at ease on social media, but also because he often adopts a casual appearance, ditching a tie and wearing his hair in a ponytail.

Critics say Bukele, former mayor of the capital San Salvador, is light on policy and substance.

He has said a priority of his five-year term is cracking down on gangs that recruit young people into their ranks, while profiting off drug trafficking and extortion.

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El Salvador last year tallied 3,340 homicides. That was 15 percent less than in 2017, but still amounted to a rate of 51 killings per 100,000 inhabitants, making it one of the world's most violent countries not at war.

The fearsome gangs, with an estimated 70,000 members, are blamed for much of the violence.

The son of a Muslim imam and a Christian, Bukele describes himself as believing in God rather than an adherent to a religion, an apparent effort to steer clear of any anti-Muslim sentiment.

Delegations from 83 countries attended Bukele's swearing-in.

The United States was represented by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Israels political system was derailed this week over a conflict between secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews over national service. Or at least that was the reason given by Avigdor Lieberman, the politician whose hard-line stand in favor of requiring the ultra-Orthodox to serve in Israels military  as does the rest of the population  prevented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from forming a government despite apparently winning election to a fourth term.

But, as with political conflicts in any democracy, its not quite that simple.

The refusal of Lieberman and his Israel Beitenu party to join the coalition Netanyahu had assembled, despite having run in the April 9 election on a pledge to join the prime minister, effectively erased what had seemed like a decisive victory for the Likud.

When Israelis elect their Knesset, or parliament, they dont vote for individual members in districts. Instead, they cast a single ballot for one of the host of political parties representing every conceivable political, religious, and ethnic constituency. Any party that passes the cutoff point for entry into the Knesset  a mark that has varied over the years but is currently set at 3.25 percent of the total vote  gets a proportional share of the 120 total seats up for election. That has made it virtually impossible for any single party  no matter how mainstream its appeal  to attain a majority on its own. Thats why every Israeli prime minister since the countrys founding has been forced to assemble a coalition of like-minded or at least compatible factions in order to get to the 61 votes that would enable them to govern. The system has functioned because the various parties are members of blocs; they compete with each other for influence but join together once the election is over.

Thus, it was assumed that Liebermans party would join with Netanyahus Likud. But Lieberman, who once was a personal aide to Netanyahu and has served as foreign minister and defense minister over the course of the last decade of Likud-led governments, had other ideas. Without the five votes of Liebermans faction, Netanyahu was stuck at 60, one short of a majority. And no amount of persuasion or inducements, including offers of office, could get any members of the opposition to give him the ability to govern.

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Netanyahu could have chosen, as is the tradition, to respond to this dilemma by having Israels president ask someone else to take a shot a getting a majority. But Netanyahu had no intention of allowing Benny Gantz  the former general who heads the Blue and White party, which tied the Likud for the most seats in April but doesnt have enough smaller allies to get to 61 votes  a chance at the job. So instead, Netanyahu asked and got a majority of the Knesset  which had been sworn in only a few weeks ago  to vote to dissolve itself and hold new elections in September.

For all of the chaos and unseemly wrangling that usually attends Israeli coalition-building, nothing like this has ever happened before. And as angry as the voters may be at the waste of time, effort, and money that will go into holding a second national election, its not clear whether the results will change.

There is a perception that Netanyahu, who has stood atop Israels political world virtually unchallenged over the course of the last ten years, has been weakened and may be nearing the end of his time as Israels leader. And it is that weakness, rather than any devotion to principle, that induced Lieberman to send the country careening down this path.

Liebermans party has always been perceived as an offshoot of Likud that appealed directly to voters who were, like its leader, immigrants from the former Soviet Union. They are mostly secular, and like the rest of the countrys non-religious population, they deeply resent the fact that  stemming from a deal made with the ultra-Orthodox by David Ben-Gurion, Israels first prime minister  religious young men who are enrolled in Torah-study programs are exempt from the military draft to which all non-Arab Israelis, male and female, are subject. In Ben Gurions time, the arrangement affected only a small number of potential draftees, but now, due to the growing ultra-Orthodox population  a group that is distinct from those who consider themselves Modern Orthodox and enthusiastically embrace the obligation of national service  involves tens of thousands of men. Given the political clout of the parties that represent this group, change has been impossible.

But while the issue is a legitimate sore point for voters, Liebermans stand was hypocritical. The bill that he insisted Netanyahu pass in the coming Knesset would not actually increase the number of people drafted. Lieberman has a record of cooperation with the ultra-Orthodox political parties, whose total of 16 Knesset seats makes them integral to any coalition Netanyahu might form, and he had expressed no interest in the issue when he was defense minister.

The real reason for Liebermans obduracy was his belief that Netanyahu will be taken down by the corruption investigation that is hanging over him. With a hearing scheduled now for October over three possible charges, it appears the only way for Netanyahu to avoid being indicted is for the next Knesset to vote to give prime ministers immunity from criminal charges while in office. While such immunity is far from abnormal in modern democracies, Netanyahus critics claim the passage of such a law would be a blow to the legitimacy of Israels system. With a majority, Netanyahu could probably have won approval for such a law, because his political allies  and the majority of the voting public  consider the charges against Netanyahu (which include dubious claims of attempted bribery of hostile media) to be too flimsy to justify his removal from office.

But by delaying the installation of a new government until after the October hearings that will finally decide whether Netanyahu will be indicted, Lieberman has likely ensured that an immunity bill cant be passed until after the prime minister is formally charged. Though Israeli law doesnt require him to resign under those circumstances, it remains to be seen as to whether he could actually govern.

That sets up Lieberman as a potential kingmaker: He could possibly name Netanyahus successor, whether it is Gantz or, more likely, one of the prime ministers colleagues in the Likud caucus.

This isnt the first time his opponents have counted Netanyahu out. But the challenge he faces in the coming months is formidable. The publics lack of faith in his centrist and left-wing opponents makes it likely that the right-wing and religious bloc will again command a majority after September. Yet while polls show him either maintaining the Likuds number of Knesset members or increasing it, its not clear if Netanyahu will be any better positioned to form a government without Lieberman after the next election. And the greater the uncertainty about his future, the more likely it is that at some point someone within the Likud  such as former minister Gidon Saar  might try to unseat him as party leader.

Israels voters may well still consider Netanyahu to be the countrys indispensable man, since he is likely to be facing the indictments armed with another mandate from the voters. But the embarrassment he suffered in the last week has chipped away at the perception of his political invincibility. Unless he can find a way to make his legal problems disappear, this setback may be the beginning of the end for the man who has defined both Israeli politics and the U.S.Israel alliance for the last decade.

More from National Review
Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of death in the UK. (GETTY)

The obesity epidemic in the UK has been descried as the new smoking by NHS bosses who say the number of people who get cancer due to their weight is set to double.

NHS researchers have said that obesity will be responsible for 36,800 new cancer diagnoses per year by 2030.

This would be a 100 people per day being diagnosed with the disease due to their weight and a rise from around 22,800 a year in 2015.

NHS boss Simon Stevens said: While cancer survival is at a record high, many people dont yet realise that obesity causes cancer. On current trends by 2030 we could see 100 new patients every day being diagnosed with obesity-related cancer.

In 2014 84% of adults in England were classified as overweight or obese

Obesity is the new smoking and if we continue to pile on the pounds, were heading for thousands more avoidable cancer deaths each year.

Mr Stevens made the comments at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

By 2043, obesity is likely to overtake smoking as being the leading preventable cause of cancer in women.

Britain has the highest rates of obesity in Western Europe and rates of obesity are rising even faster than in the United States.

Read More on Yahoo News:

Morbid obesity in Britain to double within 20 years

Obesity significantly increases risk of serious disease, researchers warn

Around 30% of UK adults are now obese, which is double the level in 1993.

Harvard University expert Dr Jennifer Ligibel is due to present evidence showing the impact of obesity on breast cancer, calling for more action to prevent deadly weight gain.

Dr Ligibel, from Harvards Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said: It is very troubling. We are making major advances in cancer therapies and treatment, but the risk is that obesity could undercut all of this.

We are also learning that with some cancers it seems the level of adiposity could make the disease more aggressive.

This is a global problem - at the moment the US has higher levels of obesity but the UK is catching up.

We really dont yet know the full consequences that obesity could bring in terms of cancer.
By Josh Smith

SEOUL, June 1 (Reuters) - The factories have innocuous names, but analysts say several ostensibly civilian facilities visited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently are also used to build ballistic missile launchers and other weapons.

On Saturday North Korea state news agency KCNA released reports of Kim providing "field guidance" at a number of factories and cities, without specifying when the visits occurred.

While the reports only mentioned economic elements, the sites help form the core of North Korea's arms industry, and have played a major role in developing its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology, according to analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in California.

"This is the heart of North Koreas defense industry," CNS researcher Jeffrey Lewis told Reuters. "These are the kind of visits we saw in 2016 and 2017 as North Korea moved toward ICBM testing."

Among the sites Kim visited was the February 8 General Machine Factory, which has been used to construct ballistic missile launchers.

The machine factory was the site of the July 28, 2017, launch of a Hwasong-14 ICBM, which Kim personally observed.

"North Korea has usually tried to hide this facility by not naming it," Lewis told Reuters. "Sometimes it is unnamed; in other cases only the name of the plant manager was given."

KCNA reported that Kim called for a "higher modernization plan" for the factory, while he watched "varieties of daily necessity goods" being produced.

In January Lewis authored a report listing the February 8 plant as one of several sites that North Korea's leaders had visited in the past without fully disclosing the location or full purpose.

In many cases the visits appeared to be linked to efforts to reduce North Korea's reliance on imported chassis for its missile launching vehicles, the report said.

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Kim also visited the Kanggye General Tractor Plant and the Kanggye General Precision Machine Plant, according to KCNA.

Both of those factories are linked to the defense industry and may have played a role in the missile program, the CNS analysts said.

Kim has declared his nuclear force "complete" and announced an end to tests of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.

At the same time, however, Kim called for more operational weapons. Negotiations with the United States aimed at convincing North Korea to surrender its existing nuclear weapons and missiles have stalled.

In May Kim oversaw the first flight of a previously untested weapon - a relatively small, fast missile experts believe will be easier to hide, launch, and maneuver in flight. (Reporting by Josh Smith Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
By John Miller

ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis has released data showing sharply improved overall survival rates for its breast cancer drug Kisqali, which the Swiss drugmaker hopes will help it chip away at the dominance of Pfizer's blockbuster Ibrance.

Novartis's Kisqali had $235 million in sales in 2018, well behind the $4.1 billion for Ibrance, as Pfizer's first-to-market drug captured the lion's share of women with metastatic HR+/HER2- cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ibrance in February 2015, two years before Kisqali.

The data released on Saturday showed about 70 percent of pre-menopausal women with hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer were alive 42 months after getting a cocktail of Kisqali and endocrine therapy.

That compares with 46 percent who received only endocrine therapy, which at the time of the study was the standard of care.

Doctors helping lead Novartis's Kisqali study, called Monaleesa-7, said the statistically significant benefit it showed was good news for patients facing a challenging disease.

"To achieve overall survival improvement in an incurable disease, like metastatic breast cancer, is truly an outstanding advancement," said Dr. Sara Hurvitz, head of breast cancer clinical trials at the University of California Los Angeles.

According to a Refinitiv poll, analysts expect Kisqali - priced at about $130,000 per year - to reap about $1.2 billion annually by 2024.

SURVIVAL ANALYSIS

The Swiss company is hoping its new survival analysis, released at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago, will convince more doctors to consider Kisqali.

"Most physicians would practice evidence-based medicine, and in that case, having statistical significance certainly would have some persuasion in how they would actually move forward," John Tsai, Novartis' head global drug developer, said on a call.

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Analysis of separate clinical trials is ongoing to determine potential overall survival benefit of taking Ibrance together with endocrine therapy, as well as of endocrine therapy with a similar drug, Eli Lilly's Verzenio, that had $255 million in sales last year.

Kisqali, Ibrance and Verzenio have not been compared with each other in trials.

In addition to losing the race to market for Ibrance, Novartis's Kisqali has faced some safety-linked hurdles.

Its label includes warnings for a possible heart condition, called QT prolongation, and liver toxicity that require monitoring that Pfizer's medicine has avoided.

Kisqali, a CDK4/6 inhibitor that aims to halt hyperactive cellular machinery that drives tumor growth, is approved as an initial treatment for women with HR+/HER2- advanced or metastatic breast cancer, regardless of whether they have gone through menopause.

Ibrance and Lilly's Verzenio have somewhat narrower first-line FDA labels, covering initial therapy for HR+/HER2- breast cancer in women after menopause.

(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by David Holmes)
By Sharon Bernstein and Tim Reid

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Advisory: Corrected to remove reference in paragraphs 12, 14-15 to a pamphlet purporting to be from the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, criticizing Bernie Sanders. It was not from Biden. Corrects spelling of Senator Booker's name in fifth paragraph.

Fourteen Democratic presidential candidates sparked cheers and applause in the streets of San Francisco on Saturday as they worked the crowds at the California party's state convention, a sign of the state's heft in upcoming nominating contests.

Their presence lent star power to a state organizing convention that has become a window into the issues and rivalries at stake as Democrats compete for the nomination to run against Republican President Donald Trump in 2020.

"Oh my God, is that Bernie Sanders?" a young woman yelled as she walked past the tousle-haired progressive icon, who was taking selfies with admirers after addressing a union group.

Following an evening of parties including one emceed by a drag performer in the LGBTQ-friendly city, presidential hopefuls including Sanders and fellow U.S. Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar addressed members of the Service Employees International Union before heading into the main convention hall.

"This election is not about one guy in one office," New Jersey U.S. Senator Cory Booker exhorted the crowd in an afternoon speech. "It is about a referendum on who we are and what me must be to each other."

Harris, who has been eclipsed in early polling in California by former Vice President Joe Biden and Sanders, made clear she was not taking her home state for granted.

Supporters with signs bearing her name and shouting "Kamala! Kamala!" formed a gauntlet outside of the SEIU event that Sanders was forced to walk through.

"I am here to earn everyones support, and Im going to fight to earn it," she said at a breakfast held by the party's women's caucus.

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Despite Harris' clear organizational clout, however, it was U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren who drew the greatest cheers from the progressive crowd on Saturday, far more than Harris or former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke.

To screams and whoops, Warren called for universal free preschool and childcare, forgiveness of student loan debt, free college and a wealth tax on the highest earners.

"Thats two cents on the dollar for people with fortunes worth more than $50 million," Warren declared in an old-school political speaking style that swelled for emphasis as she reached each talking point. "They can afford two cents."

Notably absent from the event was Biden. As the convention opened on Saturday morning, his aides moved among the crowd press area.

Biden leads in early polling in the state, but opted not to attend the convention, a move experts said could make him seem above the fray, but could also be risky if Californians come to see him as taking the state for granted.

In perhaps a sign of the campaign to come, Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, polls second behind Biden among Democrats.

A moderate, Biden appeared to be staking a position to the right of Sanders.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who calls himself a pragmatic progressive, drew loud and prolonged boos when he told the crowd "Socialism is not the answer." The boos drowned out Hickenlooper's explanation that as a governor of a "purple" state with mixed Democrat and Republican voters, he was able to enact progressive policies by reaching out to opponents.

It was not a welcome message at a convention where Sanders and Warren were greeted like rock stars. Other attendees emphasized their left-leaning positions, with Harris taking on Trump and demanding the House of Representatives begin impeachment proceedings against him.

"We need to begin impeachment proceedings and we need a new commander in chief," she said.

When U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who represents San Francisco, vowed to "investigate and litigate to protect our democracy," yells of "impeach!" broke out in the convention hall. Pelosi has so far resisted Democratic calls to impeach Trump over actions many say were illegal, including possible obstruction of justice in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.

Sanders is set to address the convention on Sunday. At the SEIU breakfast, he called the low federal minimum wage unacceptable and said it was a disgrace that millions of Americans did not have healthcare.

The convention opened with a moment of silence for the 12 victims of a gunman in Virginia Beach on Friday, the latest mass shooting in the nation.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein and Tim Reid; Editing by Paul Simao and Chris Reese)
CAIRO, June 1 (Reuters) - A summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned any position adopted by an international body that supports prolonging occupation, including a U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, it said on Saturday.

The Mecca summit also refused all illegal Israeli measures aimed at changing facts in occupied Palestinian territories including Jerusalem, and undermining the two-state solution, it said in a statement.

The summit urged member countries to take "appropriate measures" against countries that move their embassies to Jerusalem, it added.

The summit refused any proposal for peaceful settlement that did not accord with Palestinians' legitimate inalienable rights, the statement said. (Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash

A nurse licensed in the state of Oklahoma faces charges of abusing her 10-year-old daughter by subjecting her to unnecessary medical procedures across six states.

Oklahoma City resident Alisha Newman, 34, was charged on Tuesday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court of physical child abuse, recklessly causing great bodily harm and child neglect, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Suspicions arose after Newman checked her daughter in Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin, where she was treated for a severe infection.

During the girl's hospitalization, Newman told staff that her daughter had been diagnosed with several rare diseases. The girl was confirmed to have had a pacemaker, IV port and a gastro tube previously installed.

Newman's assertions raised alarm bells, and a review of the girl's lifetime medical records was undertaken. Her medical history showed a pattern of her mother providing false or misleading information to medical providers, prompting a "high degree of concern" that the girl is a victim of factitious disorder imposed on another, also known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

A $50,000 cash bond has been set for Newman; she'll be back in court for a preliminary hearing on June 7.
L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot/AP

A disgruntled Virginia Beach employee shot and killed 12 people on Friday inside the citys municipal complex where he worked, before he was killed by police in a ferocious running gun battle with responding officers. The shootout limited what authorities said could very well have have been a much higher death toll.

Four police officers emptied all of their ammunition during a long-term, large gun fight in which officers were met with a barrage of shots. One officer was shot but saved by his armored vest, Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cevera said.

Of the 12 people killed in what City Manager Dave Hansen called a senseless incomprehensible act of violence, 11 were city employees, some who had spent decades working for the city. They were the focus of a Saturday morning press conference in which each was identified and memorialized by Hansen.

Virginia Beach Shooting Victims Were Engineers, Admin Assistants, Agents

As of Saturday afternoon four people were being treated for injuries at local hospitals, city officials said. Three were in critical condition and one was in stable. The officer who shot had been treated and released.

Police formally identified the gunman as 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, a public utilities employee who city officials said had worked with the city for 15 years. He was employed at the time of the shooting though it was not clear if he had gone to work Friday before the shooting.

In identifying Craddock, Cevera went to great lengths to note that he would mention the gunmans name once, and going forward he would only be referred to by authorities as the suspect.

Cevera declined to offer a motive for why Craddock arrived a little 4 p.m. Friday afternoon to the building where he worked carrying multiple guns and dozens of rounds of ammunition and waged a gun battle on all three floors of the building.

Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ATF recovered two .45 caliber handguns used by Craddock from the crime scene, said Ashan Benedict, the Special Agent in Charge of the local field office. One gun was purchased in 2016 and a second in 2018, and both by all accounts were purchased legally, he said. Authorities also recovered two additional weapons during a search of Craddocks home. One of those guns was legally purchased, officials said, but did not have details on the second.

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Craddocks criminal record appears confined to traffic tickets and no felonies, according to public records, making him eligible to purchase firearms.

The police chief said the investigation is in its early stages and that the city was being helped by roughly 40 FBI investigators who had taken over processing the crime scene.

This is a large scale crime scene. Its a horrific crime scene, Cevera said.

Craddock was listed as an engineer in the Virginia Beach public utilities department, according to official websites and news reports. State records show Craddock first received a professional engineer license in 2008. He graduated from Old Dominion University in 2002 with a degree in civil engineering, according to a 2003 biography posted on the website of a local engineering firm where he apparently used to work.

According the Virginia National Guard, Craddock enlisted in April 1996 and was discharged in April 2002. He was assigned to the Norfolk-based 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team as a 13B cannon crew member and held the rank of specialist by the time he left the service. He did serve in any overseas deployments.

Neighbors told local news reporters that his wife had left him some years ago and police said that he lived alone.

The shooting began when Craddock shot one person in a vehicle outside Building 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, which accommodates up to 400 workers in the utilities and public works departments, Cevera said. Craddock then entered the building using access available as an employee, he added.

He had a security pass like all employees had and he was authorized to enter that building, Cevera said, adding that the building where the shooting occurred is open to the public.

Armed with a .45-caliber handgun outfitted with a suppressor, Cevera said Craddock fired indiscriminately as he made his through all three levels of a building he knew well.

When the emergency call came out, four officerstwo veteran supervisors from the detectives bureau and two canine handlersimmediately responded arriving within minutes, Cevera said. The city's police headquarters is among the buildings in the government complex where the shooting took place.

They located the gunman by the crack of gunfire as Craddock reloaded extended magazines in his handgun and fired at victims throughout the building, and at officers, Cevera said.

Officers exchanged fire down a hallway before they were finally able to shoot and kill Craddock. The officers stopped this individual from committing more carnage in that building, Cevera said.

Even though he was involved in a long-term, moving gun battle with these officers, when he went down, they did what cops do and they rendered first aid to this individual, he said.

The victims were found on all three floors and one outside, he said. Investigators worked through the night to identify the bodies, process the crime scene and turn corpses over to the medical examiner's office, which will hand them over to families for burial.

One officer was shot in his armored vest but will survive, Cervera said, adding the officers were recovering from seeing what could best be described as a war zone.

"Police work the scene where eleven people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building, Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. A longtime, disgruntled city employee opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 11 people before police fatally shot him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded in the shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera. L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot/AP

Mayor Bobby Dyer declared the shooting Virginia Beach's darkest hour. A senseless crime happened and imposed tremendous grief on the people of Virginia Beach, the commonwealth, and the country.

Megan Banton, who worked in the Public Works building where the shooting took place, told Channel 13 NewsNow she and about 20 of her colleagues barricaded themselves inside their offices with their desks. Banton said she heard gunshots, and police yelling for people to get down.

I just dont know why anyone would do something like that, Banton told the station. I dont know what would possess somebody to come in and just start shooting at people.

"Police work the scene where eleven people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building, Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. A longtime, disgruntled city employee opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 11 people before police fatally shot him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded in the shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera. L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot/AP

City Councilwoman Barbara Henley told The Virginian-Pilot that she pulled up to City Hall at around 4 p.m. when she heard sirens and saw police.

I thought it was an accident, Henley told the newspaper, adding that someone outside the building had told her to get out of the area.

She said she got back into her car and drove home after she heard someone yell, Get down!

I was scared to death, she said.

Henley said security had been beefed up in nearby city hall in response to shootings across the nation, but not all of the buildings in the complex.

"Police work the scene where eleven people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building, Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. A longtime, disgruntled city employee opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 11 people before police fatally shot him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded in the shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera. L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot/AP

Adam Rawnsley contributed reporting

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Sumuleu Ciuc (Romania) (AFP) - Pope Francis on the second day of a visit to Romania celebrated diversity at a mass Saturday attended by tens of thousands of people in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the Transylvania region seen as the highlight of his trip.

The open-air mass was keenly awaited for reasons of both faith and national identity in majority Orthodox Romania, where believers suffered under the post-war decades of Communist rule.

For Catholics in the "Szeklerland" area, where some 600,000 ethnic-Hungarians comprise a majority of the population, the pope's visit was seen as welcome recognition of their identity.

Under dark skies, a sea of colourful rain coats formed around the hillside of the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine as Francis arrived by popemobile.

- Golden rose -

In his mass, Francis celebrated "a people whose wealth is seen (in) its myriad faces, cultures, languages and traditions" and called on pilgrims not to be "afraid to mingle, to embrace and to support each other".

"To go on pilgrimage is to participate in that somewhat chaotic sea of people that can give us a genuine experience of fraternity, to be part of a caravan that can together, in solidarity, create history," he said.

Up to 100,000 people were estimated to have attended the ceremony, which saw the Argentinian pontiff present a golden rose at the large wooden replica of the Madonna -- a tradition for popes visiting major Marian shrines.

"For us, worshippers, it's a very beautiful thing to have the pope among us. It's a once-in-a-life-time chance," Iosif Orban, a pilgrim, told AFP.

Another man, Alexandru Miron, said he walked one and a half hours through pouring rain and mud early Saturday to see the pontiff.

"Was it worth it? Yes," he said.

- Pilgrims from abroad -

Most pilgrims were Romania-based ethnic-Hungarians, but organisers had said some 25,000 would also travel from Hungary itself, as well as from Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine, all countries with sizeable Hungarian communities.

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Having come by train, car and bicycle, thousands of people started gathering late Friday with churches in the nearby small town of Miercurea Ciuc, 215 kilometres (135 miles) north of Bucharest, staying open all night to accomodate pilgrims.

Between religious chants in Hungarian, they expressed their hopes for the 82-year-old's visit.

"If I meet the pope, I will tell him that Transylvania must be autonomous," Zoltan, 60, who came from western Hungary and makes an annual pilgrimage to Sumuleu Ciuc, told AFP.

Hungary's nationalist premier, Viktor Orban, who did not attend Saturday's mass, has been building ties with the diaspora since he returned to power in 2010 as part of a so-called "national policy" that is seen warily in Romania as an effort to extend Budapest's reach.

Olah Zoltan, a volunteer helping to organise the mass, said he wanted more recognition for ethnic Hungarians, such as for them being able to use Hungarian instead of Romanian as their language.

"We want greater respect for the rights of the Hungarian minority," said the theology professor, who works in the central town of Cluj-Napoca.

Francis' mass Saturday was translated both into Romanian and Hungarian.

- Trip across the country -

Over the weekend, the pope was to continue his journey across the country. Later Saturday, he was to arrive in Iasi in northeastern Romania to meet youngsters.

Many television channels broadcast his three-day visit live.

Francis, on arrival in the capital Friday, praised the "sacrifices" of Romanian emigrants -- millions have moved abroad in search of better work opportunities -- and urged the faithful to reject "a culture of hate" following nationalist gains in recent European parliament elections.

In Bucharest, thousands had lined the streets to wave to Francis in his pope mobile and filled two cathedrals.

He also had a private meeting with Orthodox Patriarch Daniel despite strained relations, and they prayed alongside each other -- one in Latin and the other in Romanian.

Twenty years earlier, then-pope John Paul II visited Romania, receiving a warm welcome for his perceived role in the fall of Communism.
By Paula Rosales

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador's new president, Nayib Bukele, took office on Saturday pledging to cure the Central American country that he described as a "sick child" following years of violence and migration that has strained relations with the United States.

The 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador, who won more votes than all other candidates in the February presidential election, brought an end to a two-party system that has held sway over the country for three decades.

"Our country is like a sick child, now it's up to all of us to take care of it," Bukele told the crowd. "We have to suffer a little now, we have to have a little pain, assume our responsibility and all as brothers to bring forward that child."

Accompanied by his pregnant wife Gabriela Rodriguez, Bukele vowed to make bitter decisions for the impoverished and violence-plagued Central American country during his five year term. He did not give details.

His presidency breaks three decades of bipartisanship between the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the outgoing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).

Bukele, who has been critical of Beijing in the past, must now balance the interests of China and the United States.

The Chinese embassy in El Salvador said in a statement on Twitter that Bukele had told a special envoy he considered China a friend and that there was "great potential" to work together.

El Salvador broke ties with Taiwan in August last year to establish relations with China, following the Dominican Republic and Panama in the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Bukele on Saturday on Twitter, saying the United States was ready to work with him "to advance prosperity in El Salvador and the hemisphere."

Trump has frequently threatened to cut aid to El Salvador - as well as neighboring Guatemala and Honduras - if they do not do more to curb migration to the United States.

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The U.S. Department of Commerce said in a statement that the United States sent a delegation led by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to attend the ceremony.

While in El Salvador, the statement said, Ross met with Bukele and his Foreign Minister, Alexandra Hill, as well as with business leaders to discuss improving the investment climate and potential for economic growth.

Tensions over migration have been running high between the United States and its southern neighbor Mexico, with Trump threatening earlier this week to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican goods exported to the United States on June 10.

Mexican Economy Minister Graciela Marquez, who also attended the event in San Salvador, tweeted a picture of herself and Ross, saying they had spoken and would continue their dialogue next week in Washington.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez were not invited to the ceremony, since Bukele considers them "undemocratic" governments.

(Reporting by Paula Rosales in San Salvador, additional reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher in Mexico City and Mike Stone in Washington; writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Diane Craft)
Donald Trump has said a 5 per cent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico will begin on June 10 - Getty Images North America

Republicans and business bodies criticised Donald Trumps proposed 5 per cent tariff on Mexican imports on Friday amid fears it could force up the price of cars and food for Americans.

The US president said the tariff will be levied on all goods imported from Mexico on June 10 unless the countrys leaders lower the number of illegal migrants crossing into America.

He warned that the tariff would ramp up every month, eventually reaching 25 per cent by October unless illegal migrant crossings were dramatically reduced.

Mexico cannot allow hundreds of thousands of people to pour over its land and into our country - violating the sovereign territory of the United States, Mr Trump said.

If Mexico does not take decisive measures, it will come at a significant price.

America imported almost $350 billion worth of goods from Mexico last year, including $93 billion worth of cars and $26 billion of agriculture products.

A US border patrol agent patrols the US border with Mexico in Nogales, Arizona Credit: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

The move triggered criticism because it will be American importers who pay the tariff and the cost could be passed on to US consumers in the form of higher prices.

Chuck Grassley, the Republican joint chairman of the Senate Finance Chairman, warned the move was a misuse of presidential tariff authority, saying trade and border security were separate issues.

Mr Trump plans to use powers granted to him through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to implement the tariff, effectively bypassing Congress.

Neil Bradley, the executive vice president at the US Chamber of Commerce, called imposing tariffs exactly the wrong move.

He added: These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border.

The move comes after months of mounting frustration from the president that despite more than two years in office he has failed to drive down illegal immigration numbers.

Earlier this year Mr Trump forced out most senior figures in Homeland Security, the government department which handles immigration, and indicated he wanted a tougher approach.

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The tariff will begin at 5 per cent on June 10 and rise to 10 per cent on July 1, 15 per cent on August 1, 20 per cent on September 1 and 25 on October 1. All goods imported from Mexico will be impacted.

But the White House made clear the first tariff and subsequent increases could be scrapped if Mexico does enough to drive down illegal border crossings into America before those deadlines.

During a White House briefing, senior administration figures noted that at any one time some 100,000 migrants are passing through Mexico on their way to Americas southern border.

Mr Trump tweeted on Friday:

Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades. Because of the Dems, our Immigration Laws are BAD. Mexico makes a FORTUNE from the U.S., have for decades, they can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2019

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexian president, criticised Mr Trumps America First approach in a letter about the tariff but played down the confrontation, calling for a peaceful and negotiated solution.
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Argentina's Fernandez duo close to winning key ally in election race: sources

Argentina's political pairing of moderate Peronist Alberto Fernandez and firebrand ex-president Cristina Fernandez are closing in on sealing an important ally to help beat incumbent President Mauricio Macri in elections later this year, three sources told Reuters on Friday. The Fernandez-Fernandez ticket, seen as the major challenger to center-right Macri in October's vote, are in late stage talks with rival centrist Peronist Sergio Massa, who could help give the pairing wider appeal with voters.

Protesters set fire to U.S. Embassy in Honduras in second day of demonstrations

Protesters torched the access gate to the U.S. Embassy in the Honduran capital on Friday during a second day of major protests against President Juan Orlando Hernandez. The protesters set fire to the entrance of the building in downtown Tegucigalpa with about a dozen tires after dousing them with fuel, Reuters witnesses and fire services officials said. A fire department official said there were no damage to the embassy apart from the access gate.

Palestinians say U.S. 'deal of the century' will finish off their state

The U.S. blueprint to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, still in draft form after almost two years, is seen by Palestinians, and by some Arab officials and politicians, as a plan to finish off the Palestinian cause. The initiative, driven by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser, was billed by the U.S. president as the "deal of the century."

UK's Javid says would order 'no-deal budget' if prime minister

British interior minister Sajid Javid said he would order the preparation of a "no-deal budget" to convince the European Union that Britain was serious about leaving on Oct. 31 if he succeeds Theresa May as prime minister. "This would also show the EU we are ready - so when we turn up to negotiate, they know we are not afraid of walking out," he wrote in a column for Saturday's Daily Mail newspaper.

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North Korea executes envoy to failed U.S. summit -media; White House monitoring

North Korea executed its nuclear envoy to the United States as part of a purge of officials who steered negotiations for a failed summit between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper said on Friday. Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, along with four foreign ministry officials after they were charged with spying for the United States, the Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the situation.

Trump says Boris Johnson would be 'very good' as next UK prime minister

U.S. President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Boris Johnson's campaign to be Britain's next prime minister and urged all candidates to pledge to boost defense spending, in a striking intervention ahead of his state visit next week. "I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent," Trump told the Sun newspaper about the former foreign secretary and leading Brexit campaigner, who is a front runner to succeed Theresa May as head of the Conservative Party.

Lebanon's Hezbollah vows to confront U.S. Middle East plan

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah pledged on Friday to confront the U.S. Middle East plan that President Donald Trump has touted as "the deal of the century." Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the heavily armed Shi'ite movement, said it was unlikely Washington and its allies would launch a war against Tehran as they would pay a heavy price.

Saudi King Salman says will resolutely confront aggressive threats

Saudi Arabia's King Salman said that a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca on Friday would seek to confront threats and work for the future of Arab and Islamic states. "We will resolutely confront aggressive threats and subversive activities," King Salman said on Twitter as the summit began.

Trump urges Mexico to 'finally do what must be done' on immigration

President Donald Trump on Friday pressured Mexico to stop people from crossing into the United States, one day after threatening to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports in a bid to get the country to crack down on illegal immigration. Trump said on Thursday he would ratchet up tariffs unless Mexico stopped people from illegally crossing the border it shares with the United States. The plan would impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports starting on June 10 and increase monthly, up to 25% on Oct. 1.

Russia says U.S. military curbs on space cooperation are unfair competition

Russia accused the United States of trying to unfairly grab market share in the space services industry on Friday after the U.S. military imposed restrictions on space launch cooperation with Moscow. The U.S. Department of Defense on Friday banned contracts for Russian commercial satellite services if they were deemed to pose an unacceptable cyber security risk, a document on the U.S. government's Federal Register showed.
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Today we'll look at Aeroports de Paris SA (EPA:ADP) and reflect on its potential as an investment. In particular, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that can give us insight into how profitably the company is able to employ capital in its business.

First, we'll go over how we calculate ROCE. Second, we'll look at its ROCE compared to similar companies. And finally, we'll look at how its current liabilities are impacting its ROCE.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Generally speaking a higher ROCE is better. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since 'No two businesses are exactly alike.'

How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?

Analysts use this formula to calculate return on capital employed:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

Or for Aeroports de Paris:

0.082 = 1.1b  (16b - 2.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.)

So, Aeroports de Paris has an ROCE of 8.2%.

See our latest analysis for Aeroports de Paris

Is Aeroports de Paris's ROCE Good?

ROCE can be useful when making comparisons, such as between similar companies. Using our data, Aeroports de Paris's ROCE appears to be around the 10% average of the Infrastructure industry. Aside from the industry comparison, Aeroports de Paris's ROCE is mediocre in absolute terms, considering the risk of investing in stocks versus the safety of a bank account. Investors may wish to consider higher-performing investments.

ENXTPA:ADP Past Revenue and Net Income, June 1st 2019

When considering this metric, keep in mind that it is backwards looking, and not necessarily predictive. ROCE can be misleading for companies in cyclical industries, with returns looking impressive during the boom times, but very weak during the busts. This is because ROCE only looks at one year, instead of considering returns across a whole cycle. Since the future is so important for investors, you should check out our free report on analyst forecasts for Aeroports de Paris.

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Do Aeroports de Paris's Current Liabilities Skew Its ROCE?

Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. The ROCE equation subtracts current liabilities from capital employed, so a company with a lot of current liabilities appears to have less capital employed, and a higher ROCE than otherwise. To counter this, investors can check if a company has high current liabilities relative to total assets.

Aeroports de Paris has total assets of 16b and current liabilities of 2.6b. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 16% of its total assets. It is good to see a restrained amount of current liabilities, as this limits the effect on ROCE.

What We Can Learn From Aeroports de Paris's ROCE

If Aeroports de Paris continues to earn an uninspiring ROCE, there may be better places to invest. Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Aeroports de Paris. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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.
Sajid Javid has put his hat in the ring to be next Tory leader. (GETTY)

Tory leader hopeful Sajid Javid has ruled out a second referendum, an early election or revoking Article 50 if he were to be successful in the race to replace Theresa May.

Mr Javid, writing in the Daily Mail, said that another vote would be disastrous for trust in politics as he says he would prepare fully for a no-deal Brexit.

The Home Secretary said he would negotiate an amendment to the Irish backstop with Ireland in a bid to get a deal passed by MPs in the House of Commons.

Theresa May will stand down from office on Friday June 7. (GETTY)

He said: "The voters have been asked their opinion more than enough times.

Never in this country's history have we asked people to go to the polls a second time without implementing their verdict from the first.

Another vote before we leave would be disastrous for trust in politics, and cause the kind of chaos that risks handing Jeremy Corbyn and his hard-left supporters the keys to No 10.

Theresa May will resign as leader on Friday June 7 and 12 MPs are currently battling it out to be her replacement.

US President Donald Trump has backed Boris Johnson in the leadership contest saying that he would be an excellent choice.

Read More on Yahoo News:

Elton John says he's 'ashamed' of the UK as he goes on anti-Brexit rant during tour

More than 750k Europeans have applied to stay in UK after Brexit

Other contenders in the tight race are the cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt, Rory Stewart and Michael Gove.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Javid also said that three years after the EU referendum the British peoples frustration and the need to make good on the referendum result have never been greater.

He said he would be the right person to take the lead and referred to his experience in business where he would negotiate in international deals.

Some of the contenders for the Tory leadership - Andrea Leadsom, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid and Dominic Raab. (GETTY)

He said: Now, I'm ready apply those skills to the biggest challenge this country has faced since 1945  and I have a detailed plan for doing so.

First, we must unite as a party to get a deal through in this Parliament. Some argue we should have a second referendum.

Others, a general election. Some even suggest revoking Article 50. Well, in the words of a great British Prime Minister who knew how to get what she wanted from the European Commission: No, no, no.
Photo: KaiOS Technologies/Facebook

San Diego-based telecommunications and mobile apps company KaiOS Technologies has secured $50 million in Series B funding, according to company database Crunchbase, topping the citys recent funding headlines. The cash infusion was announced May 22.

According to its Crunchbase profile, "KaiOS Technologies powers an emerging global ecosystem of affordable digital products and services. Its mobile operating system, KaiOS, enables a new category of lite phones and other IoT devices that require limited memory while still offering a rich user experience. KaiOS comes with an app store based on HTML5, and through partnerships with developers including Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter, it offers popular services like social media and streaming to millions of users in both developed and emerging markets."

The three-year-old startup has raised two previous funding rounds, including a $22 million Series A round in 2018.

The round brings total funding raised by San Diego companies in apps over the past month to $56 million. The local apps industry has produced 11 funding rounds over the past year, yielding a total of $114 million in venture funding.

In other local funding news, content company Tiled announced a $1.5 million seed funding round on May 20, led by Kickstart Seed Fund.

According to Crunchbase, "Tiled is the leading microapp platform. Microapps are rich, interactive content experiences that perform like native apps or fully coded websites and are commonly used for sales pitches, playbooks, training, customer education, internal communication, content marketing and more. Tiled delivers an unprecedented level of insight into content engagement with Pathway Insights, Completion Events, and the Tiled Engagement Score."

The company also raised a $2.3 million seed round in 2018.

This story was created automatically using local investment data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
(Reuters) - The Palestinian cause represents a core issue for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Saudi King Salman said in his speech during to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Mecca on Saturday, adding the kingdom "refuse any measures that touch the historical and legal position of East Jerusalem".

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Ali Abdelaty; editing by G Crosse)
Mecca (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Saturday warned that "terrorist" attacks in the region could imperil global oil supplies.

"We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies," the king told a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the holy city of Mecca.

King Salman has called on Gulf and Arab leaders to confront Iran's "criminal acts" after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, in the Sea of Oman and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

"We will resolutely confront aggressive threats and subversive activities," King Salman said on Twitter just before the start of the OIC summit.

The OIC meeting is the third and final summit hosted by Saudi Arabia this week, aimed at galvanising support among Arab and Islamic nations against arch-rival Iran.

Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia in the first two summits on Friday as it ratcheted up tensions with Iran.

Tehran, which has strongly denied involvement in any of the attacks, expressed disappointment that Riyadh plans to level the same "baseless accusations" at the summit of the 57-member OIC.

"Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation calls for a position on the attacks on the kingdom" said OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen.
Mecca (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - A Saudi-hosted Islamic summit on Saturday threw its support behind Palestinians ahead of a US-led peace plan suspected to be skewed in favour of Israel, as Muslim states rallied around Saudi Arabia over tensions with Iran.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, the third and final Iran-focused summit in the holy city of Mecca this week, denounced controversial US moves to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The summit of the 57-member bloc, marked by the notable absence of Iranian and Turkish leaders, called for a "boycott" of countries that have opened diplomatic missions in the city.

Trump broke with decades of bipartisan policy to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017.

The OIC's statement comes as Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner prepares to roll out economic aspects of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month.

The plan, which has been heavily talked up by Trump and dubbed his "deal of the century", has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say the president's policies have shown him to be overwhelmingly biased in favour of Israel.

The Palestinians see the eastern part of the disputed city as the capital of their future state.

Kushner, who was in Jerusalem on Friday on the latest leg of a regional tour to sell the plan, had looked to an alliance with Saudi Arabia against Iran as a way to gain Arab support.

But Saudi King Salman told leaders of the OIC countries gathered at the summit: "The Palestinian cause is the cornerstone of the works of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is the focus of our attention until the brotherly Palestinian people get all their legitimate rights.

"We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of any measures that would prejudice the historical and legal status of Quds (Jerusalem)."

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- 'Aggressive threats' -

The OIC also backed Saudi Arabia in escalating tensions with Iran, as King Salman warned that "terrorist" attacks in the Gulf region could imperil global energy supplies.

The remark came after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

"We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies," the king told Muslim leaders.

Tehran has strongly denied involvement in any of the incidents.

In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the king vowed to confront "aggressive threats and subversive activities".

"Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world," said OIC Secretary General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen, voicing solidarity that was shared by other members.

In back-to-back summits on Friday, Gulf and Arab allies similarly threw their support behind Saudi Arabia, which drew accusations from Iran of "sowing division".

The summits came after Trump's hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday that Iranian naval mines were "almost certainly" responsible for the damage to the four ships off the United Arab Emirates on May 12.

The findings of a five-nation inquiry into what happened have yet to be released.

Tehran dismissed Bolton's accusation as "laughable" and accused him of pursuing "evil desires for chaos in the region".

- Erdogan absent -

Regional tensions have risen sharply since US the Trump administration reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions against Iran, after he abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Iran in May last year.

But Trump has appeared to soften his tone towards Tehran, saying that his government does not seek "regime change".

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was notably absent from the key OIC summit, an AFP photographer said.

A regional heavyweight, Turkey -- which maintains close ties with Iran -- was instead represented by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani was also not present but sent a representative to the talks, an AFP reporter said.

Erdogan's visit would have been his first to the kingdom since the brutal murder last October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which tarnished the international reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - A second defeated candidate in Malawi's presidential election on Saturday launched legal proceedings seeking the annulment of last week's vote won by incumbent Peter Mutharika on grounds of fraud. annulled

Mutharika, leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won the presidential election with 38.57 percent of the vote. Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera came second with 35.41 percent, while former vice-president Saulos Chilima got 20.24 percent, according to official results.

Both defeated candidates have alleged fraud. Chakwera has already launched a court battle to have the vote scrapped. Chilima said he would also make a legal challenge.

"We want the court to decide our case where we are challenging the presidential results," Chilima, Mutharika's estranged former deputy, told AFP.

"In fact, based on the irregularities that we have submitted, we would like the court to nullify the presidential results so that we can start all over again," he said.

Malawi has a "winner-takes-all" system, and in 2014 Mutharika also narrowly beat Chakwera, a former evangelist.

Mutharika came to power vowing to tackle corruption after the "Cashgate" scandal a year earlier revealed massive looting from the coffers of the poor southern African country which is heavily dependent of foreign aid.

But he has faced corruption allegations himself.

Chilima, a youthful 46-year-old, was Mutharika's running mate in 2014 and became vice-president but quit the ruling party last year and set up the United Transformation Movement (UTM) to contest the election.

Chakwera's Malawi Congress Party (MCP) had obtained a brief court injunction to halt the release of the results, claiming "very glaring irregularities".

The party said that results sheets were covered in correction fluid and some sheets from polling stations far apart bore the same handwriting.

But the injunction was lifted on Monday and Mutharika was declared the winner hours later.
The deaths of dozens of grey whales washed ashore in recent months along the US West Coast are to be investigated by a team of US government biologist.

Declaring the spike in deaths an unusual mortality event, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said designation the deaths required greater scrutiny and allocation of more resources to determine the cause.

At least 70 dead grey whales have turned up on the US West Coast in 2019, many of them emaciated. The number is the highest recorded since 2000.

So far, 37 dead grey whales have turned up in California waters, three in Oregon, 25 in Washington state and five in Alaska, according to officials of NOAAs National Marine Fisheries Service.

The total of dead whales documented probably represents a small fraction of those that have perished, scientists say.

The most recent dead whale in Alaska was spotted last week near Chignik Bay.

Many of the stranded whales have been found with little body fat, leading experts to suspect that the dramatically warming waters of the northern seas may have depleted the food stock the whales rely on, causing the die-off.

The grey whales summer in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea off Alaska, consuming most of a years worth of nourishment to pack on the blubber they need to carry them south to wintering grounds off the coast of Mexico and back north to feeding grounds off Alaska.

Sea ice has been at or near record lows in the Bering and Chukchi, and water temperatures have been persistently much higher than normal.

Scientists say this is an apparent consequence of human-caused climate change.

The conditions the whales encountered last summer could be hurting the animals now, as they make their annual migration north, said scientists assembled by NOAA for a teleconference on Friday.

The Arctic is changing very, very quickly, and the whales are going to have to adjust to that, Sue Moore, a University of Washington oceanographer, told reporters.

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Another theory is that the number of whales has reached the limits of the environments natural capacity to sustain further population growth, scientists said on the call.

The current estimated population of eastern North Pacific grey whales is about 27,000, the highest recorded by the agency since it began grey whale surveys in 1967, said biologist David Weller.

The deaths could be caused by a combination of factors, as in other die-offs, the scientists said.

However, it is known that some whales have ventured into new places in their search for food, facing higher risks of collisions with ships.

We are seeing lots of live grey whales in unusual areas, some of them clearly emaciated, trying to feed, John Calambokidis, a biologist and grey whale expert with the Cascadia Research Collective.

More dead whales are expected to wash ashore during the northward migration, the scientists said.

The last major West Coast grey whale die-off, in 1999 and 2000, was believed to have been related to an ocean-warming El Nino event. It also triggered an unusual mortality event declaration.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.
SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan suggested on Saturday that China was responsible for a range of destabilizing activities in Asia, stirring already heightened tensions between the world's two largest economies.

In a wide-ranging speech in front of regional defense chiefs at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Shanahan called on Asian allies to increase their security spending, while emphasizing the United States' commitment to the region.

Shanahan's comments come as the United States and China are locked in an escalating trade war and at odds over a range of issues from the disputed South China Sea to democratic Taiwan, claimed by China as its sacred territory. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
The Taliban are unlikely to call a ceasefire any time soon, the group's leader indicated Saturday, though he said the "doors of dialogue" with the US remain open.

The rare message from Haibatullah Akhundzada comes after a sixth round of US-led talks ended last month in Qatar with little sign of progress and amid continued bloodshed across Afghanistan.

"The doors of dialogue and negotiations have been kept open and at this very moment, the (Taliban) negotiation team... is engaged in negotiations with the American side," Akhundzada said in a message ahead of the upcoming festival of Eid, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had proposed a nationwide ceasefire at the start of Ramadan early last month, but the Taliban rejected the offer.

Last year, the Taliban observed a three-day ceasefire over Eid and many Afghans -- exhausted by decades of war and violence -- had pinned their hopes on another truce this year.

But Akhundzada said: "No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives."

In a sign of Afghans' frustration with their country's seemingly unending conflict, a group of protestors have restarted a peace march that last year saw them walking across Afghanistan and into the capital Kabul.

Bismillah Watandost, a spokesman for the People's Peace Movement, told AFP on Saturday that about 30 people had started the walk late Thursday, heading from Lashkar Gah to Musa Qala in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

"We will be marching 150 kilometres (93 miles). Some of our friends have blisters on their feet from wearing old shoes," Watandost said.

"This is our first peace march during the holy month of Ramadan, all of us are fasting."

He said the group aims to express to the Taliban the pain and suffering of Afghans.

"Even if we are intimidated with death threats, we won't care about it," Watandost said.

On Friday, former president Hamid Karzai mistakenly declared the Taliban had announced a new ceasefire after hearing an old message the insurgents had put out last year.

Karzai's announcement unleashed a brief spell of confusion across the country, with media outlets firing off tweets and breaking news reports announcing the alleged truce.
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For many, the main point of investing is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. So we wouldn't blame long term Towngas China Company Limited (HKG:1083) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 36% over a half decade. The good news is that the stock is up 3.5% in the last week.

Check out our latest analysis for Towngas China

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

While the share price declined over five years, Towngas China actually managed to increase EPS by an average of 0.7% per year. So it doesn't seem like EPS is a great guide to understanding how the market is valuing the stock. Alternatively, growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past. By glancing at these numbers, we'd posit that the the market had expectations of much higher growth, five years ago. Having said that, we might get a better idea of what's going on with the stock by looking at other metrics.

In contrast to the share price, revenue has actually increased by 7.9% a year in the five year period. So it seems one might have to take closer look at the fundamentals to understand why the share price languishes. After all, there may be an opportunity.

The chart below shows how revenue and earnings have changed with time, (if you click on the chart you can see the actual values).

SEHK:1083 Income Statement, June 1st 2019

Towngas China is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. Given we have quite a good number of analyst forecasts, it might be well worth checking out this free chart depicting consensus estimates.

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What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Towngas China's TSR for the last 5 years was -29%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 14% in the twelve months, Towngas China shareholders did even worse, losing 17% (even including dividends). However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 6.6% over the last half decade. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. Before deciding if you like the current share price, check how Towngas China scores on these 3 valuation metrics.

We will like Towngas China 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.
BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - El Salvador's decision to establish ties with China was correct and the two countries have bright prospects, a Chinese envoy told El Salvador's maverick new president, who has been critical of Beijing.

Nayib Bukele, a 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador and a political outsider who was elected in February as the next president of the Central American nation, had questioned whether his country should maintain diplomatic relations with China.

In March he accused the Asian giant of not playing by the rules and intervening in other nations' affairs.

Last August, El Salvador broke ties with Taiwan to establish relations with China, following the Dominican Republic and Panama.

China later offered El Salvador about $150 million for social projects and 3,000 tons of rice to feed thousands of drought-hit Salvadorans.

Meeting Bukele in San Salvador on Friday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang offered congratulations from President Xi Jinping, the foreign ministry said.

"Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in various fields have developed rapidly and presented broad prospects for development," the ministry on Saturday cited Qin as saying.

"The facts prove that China and El Salvador establishing ties accords with the trend of the times, has enjoyed popular support and is the right decision."

The statement cited Bukele, who takes office on Saturday, as saying the new government is committed to continuing to develop ties with China and would "correctly handle Taiwan-related issues."

Beijing's growing role in Latin America has unnerved Washington.

In August, the White House warned that China was luring countries with incentives that "facilitate economic dependence and domination, not partnership."

Bukele has been critical of the benefits El Salvador received after establishing diplomatic ties with China.

The outgoing government of Salvador Sanchez Ceren has defended its decision to open ties with China and has accused Bukele of receiving orders from the United States to cut ties with the country.

China views self-ruled and democratic Taiwan as merely a wayward province with no right to state-to-state relations. Now Taiwan only has ties with 17 countries, almost all small developing nations such as Belize and Nauru. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Tottenham and Liverpool will meet in the Champions League final

Liverpool and Tottenham will meet in the first all-English Champions League final for 11 years.

Jurgen Klopps Reds and Mauricio Pochettinos sides both had the stars aligned for remarkable comebacks at the semi-final stage.

But only one team can emerge victorious, only one script can become reality.

READ MORE: Liverpool reach the Champions League final after sensational comeback against Barcelona

READ MORE: Lucas Moura magic sends Spurs to first ever Champions League final after win over Ajax

Will it be the underdogs of Tottenham who complete the fairytale? Or will Liverpool banish the ghosts of Real Madrid past in their own city?
While Kentuckys Bourbon Trail and Napa Wine Country are two regions beloved by travelers in search of Americas tastiest drinks, driving through Arkansas in search of sake hasnt caught on quite yet.

However, Ben Bell is hoping Americas growing interest in craft sake will eventually lead to an official trail in his home state.

For years I have dreamed about a sake trail in Arkansas that can be also be a gateway to our Delta region, where most U.S. rice is produced, says Bell, director of content for the Sake Brewers Association of North America.

Though Arkansas produces over 40% of Americas rice annuallygenerating an estimated revenue of $2 billion dollars per yearthere are currently no sake breweries in the state. And with the success other regions have had with tourists and international businesses intrigued by alcohol production, theres a huge opportunity for the emerging American craft sake industry to create a home base in Arkansas.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureaus 2017 American Community Survey, Arkansas ranks 48 out of 50 states in terms of median household income. While there isnt any definitive data that measures how much of an economic impact the American craft sake industry would have on the state, data from similar industries strongly suggests that an investment in craft sake breweries would have a positive impact on local communities. One Arkansas farm thats already been able to bridge the gap between American rice and the sake industry is Isbell Farms in England, Ark. Owner Chris Isbell developed sake-specific rice varietieslike the prized Yamada Nishikithat many thought could only grow in Japan and is currently working with a variety of sake companies to provide them this essential ingredient.

In Kentucky, the bourbon distilling industry is a serious contributor to the local economy. A recent study by Dr. Paul Coombes of the University of Louisville and economic consultant Barry Kornstein concluded that the total annual economic impact of the distilling industry is 20,100 jobs, with annual payroll of $1 billion, producing $8.6 billion of economic output. In California, a 2016 report by Visit Napa Valley revealed wine tasting at wineries to be the regions most popular tourist activity, contributing to a tourism industry that generated $1.92 billion of visitor spending within the county.

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Brooklyn Kura is the first sake brewery in New York. | Courtesy of @godaddy

However, building multiple sake breweries is only part of the challenge when thinking about how to ingratiate a completely new industry in a state. In order to truly achieve success, Bell and his fellow craft sake makers will have to educate the public about sakes history, brewing techniques, and how to properly drink the beverage.

There is a lot of interesting history about sake coming to the United States, and its older than you might think, Bell says. The first sake brewery in the U.S. was established in Berkeley in 1901, he notes, while others came and went, mostly in Hawaii and California. Todays oldest sake breweries date back to the 1970s.

A Learning Curve

Although sake production is not new to the United States, theres currently a new wave of interest thanks to craft sake operations popping up in cities across the country. Many Americans first experience sake as a warm shot dropped into a beer or served out of a small box, the memory of a night filled with sake bombs enough for many to steer clear of the drink.

However, those poor experiences are often the result of a low-grade product being used to flavor beer. Seasoned sake drinkers know there are other ways to experience the complexities of this drink. It really took a trip to Japan and a firsthand experience with fresh, local, and affordable sake to seed the idea of creating Brooklyn Kura, says Brian Polen, who opened New York States first sake brewery in 2018.

Head brewer Brandon Doughan samples sake inside the brewery in Brooklyn. | Courtesy of @godaddy

Similarly, Sake Ninja Chris Johnson, a certified sake sommelier, became enamored with the drink while teaching abroad in Japan. As a small town of mostly farmers we did not drink fancy sake, ever. So I have not had really great sake before this day. I poured out glasses to all in attendance and we said Kanpai and my life was changed forever, Johnson recalled about the bottle of Yatsushika Junmai Daiginjo he received as a parting gift.

Part of what makes sake so unique, and the idea of a trail so appealing, is that the range of flavors between different types of sakes varies. Brewers have a lot of leverage in the sake-making process, and as a result, sake can be savory, sweet, floral, or acidic, and combinations thereof, Polen says.

Though often (mistakenly) referred to as a rice wine, sake is actually the result of fermentation created by combining five ingredients: rice, water, a mold known as koji, yeast, and lactic acid. Sake styles vary depending on the amount of distilled alcohol added to sake as well as the type of rice milled.

While theres no definitive U.S. style given the industrys infancy, theres a lot to like about the prospect of American sake eventually joining the ranks of the worlds finest. Does American sake have a style like our big Cali wines and hoppy craft beers? I think the answer right now is that it is too early to say, Bell says. We need more brewers and more time to see a distinctive style form. However, one thing Americans love is bold experimentation, and I think you can expect plenty of that in the future.

Brooklyn Kura Sake. | Courtesy of @godaddy

For now, American sake spokespeople are concentrating on making the best sakes they can using locally available ingredients. I think people here like the idea of sake production and very much understand the connection with our rice industry. But they are understandably skeptical of the potential, Bell says. Also, it doesnt help that most people I talk to have never had really good sake. Its like pitching a wine industry to people if they had only drank jug wine at an Italian restaurant once or twice.

Arkansas sake trailblazer is currently taking time off to embrace his new role at the Sake Brewers Association, a position that may ultimately help him make an even bigger impact on the industry as a whole. For a decade, Bell says, I have been trying to make a path with sake, but perhaps I have gotten to the point where I can let that path guide me.

More must-read stories from Fortune:

Move over rose, hard seltzer is the new drink of summer

Japans sake makers look to wine to define craft brews by region

To combat food waste, these Brooklyn businesses teamed up to brew bagel beer

Canned wines are on the rise and perfect for this summer. Here are the ones you should try

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Photo: iStock

At the heart of the Great Lakes region, Detroit was one of Conde Nast's must-visit destinations for 2018. Not only is Detroit known as a leader of American industry, the city's diverse communities also boast major contributions to music, art and architecture. Detroit was the first U.S. city to be named a "City of Design" by UNESCO, and is known as the home of Motown Records and the birthplace of techno. The city also offers many historic museums and arts institutions.

Whether youre trying to jet set ASAP or youre looking to plan your travels around upcoming deals, take a look at these forthcoming flights between Memphis and Detroit, which we pulled from travel site Skyscanner.

We've also included popular hotels, restaurants and attractions in Detroit to get you excited about your next excursion. (Prices and availability are current as of publication and subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Flight deals to Detroit

The cheapest flights between Memphis and Detroit are if you leave on Aug. 2 and return from Michigan on Aug. 4. American Airlines currently has roundtrip, nonstop tickets for $225.

There are also deals to be had in July. If you fly out of Memphis on July 4 and return from Detroit on July 7, American Airlines can get you there and back for $265 roundtrip.

Top Detroit hotels

To plan your stay, here are some of Detroits top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do and customer satisfaction.

The Atheneum (1000 Brush Ave.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

If you're looking for an inexpensive place to stay, try The Atheneum. The 4.7-star hotel has rooms for $129/night.

This family-friendly hotel is near Campus Martius Park, the GM Renaissance Center and Ford Field.

The MotorCity Casino Hotel (2901 Grand River Ave.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

For an all-around top recommendation, consider The MotorCity Casino Hotel. The hotel has a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $178.

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This Detroit casino hotel is near the Masonic Temple and Fox Theatre.

The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit (1114 Washington Blvd.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Another 4.7-star option is The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. Rooms are currently set at $179/night.

"The Westin Book Cadillac is an iconic hotel that embodies Detroits revolution. The Book Cadillac building was built in a neo-classical style ... the hotel rooms are luxurious and comfortable, featuring the heavenly bed, which is standard across all Westin properties," wrote Samantha.

Featured Detroit food and drink

Don't miss Detroit's food scene, with plenty of popular spots to get your fill of local cuisine. Here are a few of the top-rated eateries from Skyscanner's listings.

Green Dot Stables (2200 W. Lafayette Blvd.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

For a popular option, check out the Green Dot Stables, which has an average of five stars out of six reviews on Skyscanner.

"Each slider, side, salad or dessert you order ranges from $2 to $3," wrote Kenny.

Public House (241 W. 9 Mile Road)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

One more solid option is the Public House, with five stars from five reviews.

"This is a cute little place that serves awesome sliders for a super low price," wrote Megan.

Slows Bar BQ (2138 Michigan Ave.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

For another popular option, check out Slows Bar BQ, with 4.8 stars from 22 reviews.

"If you love baby back ribs, this place serves them sliding off the bone," wrote reviewer Lou.

Featured local attractions

To round out your trip, Detroit offers plenty of popular attractions worth visiting. Here are two top recommendations, based on Skyscanner's descriptions and reviews.

Greenfield Village (20900 Oakwood Blvd.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Greenfield Village is another popular destination, with 4.8 stars from 11 reviews.

"This is a great place to spend the day learning about history. Lots of demos of glass blowing, pottery making, weaving, machinery, etc. My favorite was Edison's workshop and also all the Model T cars driving around. A great family place," wrote visitor Yvonne.

The Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Next up is The Detroit Institute of Arts. It checks in with 4.7 stars from 45 reviews.

Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts for a chance to immerse yourself in beautiful artwork and robust collections. The museum features over 60,000 pieces, including collections from America, Asia, Africa and Europe.

This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Cowboy Star. | Photo: Elena D./Yelp

Looking to try the top steakhouses around?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best high-end steakhouses in Colorado Springs, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to meet your needs.

1. Cowboy Star

Photo: tony l./Yelp

Topping the list is Cowboy Star. Located at 5198 N. Nevada Ave., Suite 150, in northeast Colorado Springs, the steakhouse, cocktail bar and New American spot is the highest-rated high-end steakhouse in Colorado Springs, boasting four stars out of 206 reviews on Yelp.

2. The Famous

Photo: stephanie n./Yelp

Next up is central Colorado Springs' The Famous, situated at 31 N. Tejon St. With four stars out of 293 reviews on Yelp, the steakhouse and traditional American spot, serving burgers and more, has proven to be a local favorite for those looking to indulge.

3. The Steakhouse at Flying Horse

Photo: the steakhouse at flying horse/Yelp

The Steakhouse at Flying Horse, located at 1880 Weiskopf Point, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the fancy steakhouse and cocktail bar four stars out of 58 reviews.

4. Prime 25

Photo: allie w./Yelp

Prime 25, a steakhouse and bar that offers seafood and more in southwest Colorado Springs, is another pricey go-to, with four stars out of 118 Yelp reviews. Head over to 1605 S. Tejon St. to see for yourself.

5. Walter's Bistro

Also in southwest, check out Walter's Bistro, which has earned four stars out of 122 reviews on Yelp. Treat yourself at the steakhouse and New American spot, which offers seafood and more, by heading over to 146 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Donald Trump has announced he will place tariffs on all Mexican imports in a latest attempt to address a border crisis and crack down on illegal immigration.

A 5 per cent tariff will come into effect from 10 June and gradually increase up to 25 per cent until the illegal immigration problem is remedied, the US President said.

The move, aimed at controlling a wave of tens of thousands of asylum seekers, including many Central American families fleeing poverty and violence, risks devastating economic relations with the countrys biggest trade partner for goods.

The United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our country, STOP, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

The legislation would threaten the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a trade deal that is currently is in the process of being updated.

The decision is a direct challenge to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

If the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico, to be determined in our sole discretion and judgment, the tariffs will be removed, Mr Trump later added in a statement.

Mr Obrador responded in a public letter saying "social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures". He also alluded to the United States' history as a nation of immigrants. The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol, he wrote.

In February, Mr Trump declared the situation on the Southern border of the United States to be a national emergency, citing an invasion of drugs, gangs and people crossing into the country.

During his election campaign and time in office Mr Trump has sought funds to build a wall on the border, a campaign which has been popular with his supporters.

Many experts have criticised the announcement. The drama is legal, but it's preposterous, Gary Hufbauer, an expert in trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said.

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Others have suggested Mr Trump may be posturing to appeal to his voter base. This seems more theatre and tactics than a strategy to solve the migration crisis and rebalance North American trade, Daniel Ujczo, a U.S.-based international trade lawyer, said.

The announcement also comes amid growing calls for the president's impeachment, following FBI special counsel Robert Mueller's surprise statement on Wednesday in which he suggested only Justice Department policy prevented his team from charging a sitting president with a crime.
President Trump abruptly announced on Thursday new tariffs on goods imported from Mexico, which he said were intended to pressure the country to stop the flow of immigrants across the U.S. southern border.

A 5% tariff will go into effect on June 10 and rise 5% each month until it reaches 25%, Trump said in a tweet. The tariffs will continue until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, the president wrote.

Defending the tariffs Friday, Trump seemed to expand his argument beyond immigration, citing the trade deficit and drug trafficking as issues he was also targeting. Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades, Trump tweeted.

Because of the Dems, our Immigration Laws are BAD. Mexico makes a FORTUNE from the U.S., have for decades, they can easily fix this problem.  In order not to pay Tariffs, if they start rising, companies will leave Mexico, which has taken 30% of our Auto Industry, and come back home to the USA. Mexico must take back their country from the drug lords and cartels. The Tariff is about stopping drugs as well as illegals!

The surprise move rattled markets Friday, and drew criticism from numerous and varied sources. Heres a roundup of comments and reactions:

Billions in added costs: CNBCs Jeff Cox did some quick math on how much the tariffs could cost: Based on 2018 trade numbers, in which the U.S. imported $371.9 billion from Mexico, that would equate to a tax on U.S. consumers that would start at $18.6 billion and escalate to just shy of $93 billion.

Key Republicans not on board: Multiple lawmakers said they oppose the new tariffs, including several Republicans. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said in a statement, "Trade policy and border security are separate issues. This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent." Grassley added, "I support nearly every one of President Trumps immigration policies, but this is not one of them.

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Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) commented, The presidents use of tax hikes on Americans as a tool to affect change in Mexican policy is misguided. It is past time for Congress to step up and reassert its Constitutional responsibility on tariffs.

Big business registers a complaint: The Business Roundtable released a statement saying, Imposing unilateral tariffs on Mexican imports would be a grave error. Business Roundtable strongly urges the Administration not to move forward with these tariffs, which would create significant economic disruption and tax U.S. workers, farmers, consumers and businesses.

U.S. automakers are particularly vulnerable: If the tariffs were to fully take effect, they would cripple American car manufacturers, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank. U.S. automakers, who are highly dependent on Mexican imports, would face $23 billion in increased costs, resulting in an average price hike for consumers of $1,300 per vehicle.

Even Trumps top trade adviser is opposed: The Wall Street Journals Vivian Salama and William Mauldin report that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer argued against the new tariffs, saying they would make it harder to ratify the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is meant to replace NAFTA. Chris Krueger of Cowen Research underlined that point: In the space of a few hours last night, Trump overturned all we thought we understood about the near term direction of the Administrations trade strategy, Krueger wrote. Trump unveiled a one-two punch that we believe will make USMCA extremely hard to pass in both Mexico and the U.S.

Taking back the tax cuts: Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, tweeted, Policy incoherence in action: Increasing taxes to 25% on all Mexican imports would yield $86.6 billion. That would offset more than half of the fading effects of the 2017 TCJA which was designed to boost productivity enhancing investment. Real economy will pay the price.

Losing credibility: I dont see how our trading partners will continue to negotiate with us as if we have any credibility going forward, Emily Blanchard, a trade economist at Dartmouth, told The New York Times Neil Irwin. Theyre going to have a much harder time selling any costly domestic reform or sacrifice that is a concession to the U.S., because the U.S. is acting like an erratic bully.

Is it just a distraction? Some critics speculated that Trumps move served as a distraction from bad press surrounding the Mueller investigation, and that Trump would withdraw the tariffs this summer, when immigration levels across the southern border tend to fall due to the heat. Voxs Matthew Yglesias wrote that six to eight weeks from now, Trump should have a pretty easy off-ramp from this policy and an opportunity to declare victory even if the concessions he manages to wring from Mexico are relatively minor.

Immigration hardliners applaud: Some Trump supporters see the move as long overdue. President Trump went out of his way to work with Mexico to alleviate this crisis, former White House adviser Stephen Bannon told The New York Times. They failed to act. Now he dropped the hammer. The ratcheting up to 25 percent will get their attention.

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WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that a member of his legal team, Emmet Flood, will leave his post later this month after helping him handle the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign.

"Emmet Flood, who came to the White House to help me with the Mueller Report, will be leaving service on June 14th. He has done an outstanding job  NO COLLUSION - NO OBSTRUCTION! Case Closed! Emmet is my friend, and I thank him for the GREAT JOB he has done," Trump said on Twitter.

Trump has been restructuring his legal team as he shifts from dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe to battling Democratic-led investigations in the U.S. Congress.

Flood, an experienced Washington lawyer, holds the job of special counsel to the president. Flood and Pat Cipollone, who holds the post of White House counsel, represent the presidency as an institution, not Trump as an individual.

Mueller concluded that Russia repeatedly interfered in the 2016 election and that Trump's campaign had multiple contacts with Russian officials, but he did not establish that there was a criminal conspiracy with Moscow to win the White House.

Mueller's report declined to make a judgment on whether Trump obstructed justice, although it outlined instances in which Trump tried to have Mueller fired or otherwise impede the investigation. (Reporting by Mike Stone Editing by Alistair Bell)
War and Young Americans

So were going to do this all over again? Well, not if I can help it. Not that I have much hope that I can, mind you. As the bastions of war chime on, my voice, like so many others, will be drowned out. The military industrial complex knows how to do propaganda, better than anyone. But Ill try.

Vietnam gave the US its biggest ever defeat, both militarily and morally, and yet mere years after its deeply humiliating withdrawal was put into action, the country was back at sending its promising young boys and girls not to its school systems, but to far away battle fields to be crippled, traumatized and slaughtered.

I know, I know, the UK and France do that too, but few other places do. Russia today uses its troops to defend its territory, China has yet to reveal its intentions. But the intentions of the US have been known ever since WWII ended.

In 1956, president Eisenhower, himself a longtime military man, warned the country upon taking leave of office, of the military-industrial complex that was threatening to take over its government. Less than 10 years later, thats exactly what the complex did, and its never looked back.

And Im thinking: you never learned anything at all? Not from Ike, not from Vietnam, not from the non-existent Iraqi WMD, and not from Libya or Syria? How is that even possible? Oh wait, I know, because the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN et al is where you get your so-called news. Thats why. Gotcha.

Today, May 26 2019, and Im deeply ashamed to say it, I have two stories, one concerning a speech by VP Mike Pence at West Point, the other from Caitlin Johnstone about a Twitter thread initiated by the US military itself. Pences speech is heart breaking in its ignorance of US history, Caitlins is heart wrenching in its acknowledgment of that same history, and what it does to young Americans.

Now, I think this is not about Trump, as many will undoubtedly claim, its about Trump and Pelosi and Pence and McCain and Bolton and Hillary and Pompeo and Obama and all of the people hanging around both administrations. Lets see what YOU think.

Pence To West Point Grads: You Will Fight On a Battlefield for America at Some Point in Your Life

Vice President Mike Pence told the graduating class of the West Point Military Academy on Saturday that the world is a dangerous place and they should expect to see combat. Men and women of West Point, no matter where youre deployed, you will be the vanguard of freedom, and you know that the soldier does not bear the sword in vain. The work you do has never been more important. America will always seek peace, but peace comes through strength. And you are now that strength. It is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life. You will lead soldiers in combat. It will happen. Some of you will join the fight against radical Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some of you will join the fight on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific, where North Korea continues to threaten the peace, and an increasingly militarized China challenges our presence in the region. Some of you will join the fight in Europe, where an aggressive Russia seeks to redraw international boundaries by force. And some of you may even be called upon to serve in this hemisphere. And when that day comes, I know you will move to the sound of the guns and do your duty, and you will fight, and you will win. The American people expect nothing less.

Mike Pence is a very dangerous person. Hes planning to send American children into endless wars once again, 45-odd years after Vietnam and 20-odd years after Iraq. And theres no-one left to stop him, other than Trump, Not exactly a solid guarantee. The Democrats will cheer this on, and their media will too. They always have.

Now, Im not old enough to remember the whole story of the US involvement in Vietnam, but I do recall this 1985 video from Paul Hardcastle, which stated that the average age of the US soldier in Vietnam -towards the end- was 19. I have also seen Coppolas movie Apocalypse Now, and many others, and yes, Im wondering where todays versions of these movies are.

Because, you know, when I read the Twitter thread picked up by Caitlin Johnstone listing what was supposed to be a promo thing from the army, my heart sinks and hurts and in the end is downright defeated. Its like reading the accounts from Vietnam, and nothing has changed in 50+ years. How can that be? Says innocent me.

But religious nut Mike Pence has the guts to present this as some sort of heroic thing. For young Americans to go die in a desert for nothing at all other than Exxons access to oil and the profits of Boeing and Raytheon. And of course theyve been setting this up for decades, that young kids -certainly blacks- who have no shot at a proper education, can get one only if they agree to become cannon fodder.

Thats Nam, guys, thats the 1960s, history. And just look at how terribly that failed. Well, Mike Pence would like to repeat that failure.

The US Army Asked Twitter How Service Has Impacted People. The Answers Were Gut-Wrenching.

After posting a video of a young recruit talking to the camera about how service allows him to better himself as a man and a warrior, the US Army tweeted, How has serving impacted you? As of this writing, the post has over 5,300 responses. Most of them are heartbreaking. My daughter was raped while in the army, said one responder. They took her to the hospital where an all male staff tried to convince her to give the guy a break because it would ruin his life. She persisted. Wouldnt back down. Did a tour in Iraq. Now suffers from PTSD. Ive had the same nightmare almost every night for the past 15 years, said another. Tweet after tweet after tweet, people used the opportunity that the Army had inadvertently given them to describe how they or their loved one had been chewed up and spit out by a war machine that never cared about them. This article exists solely to document a few of the things that have been posted in that space, partly to help spread public awareness and partly in case the thread gets deleted in the interests of national security. my grandpa served in vietnam from when he was 1825. hes 70 now and every night he still has nightmares where he stands up tugging at the curtains or banging on the walls screaming at the top of his lungs for someone to help him. he refuses to talk about his time and when you mention anything about the war to him his face goes white and he has a panic attack. he cries almost every day and night and had to spend 10 years in a psychiatric facility for suicidal ideations from what he saw there. My best friend joined the Army straight out of high school because his family was poor & he wanted a college education. He served his time & then some. Just as he was ready to retire he was sent to Iraq. You guys sent him back in a box. It destroyed his children. My best friend from high school was denied his mental health treatment and forced to return to a third tour in Iraq, despite having such deep trauma that he could barely function. He took a handful of sleeping pills and shot himself in the head two weeks before deploying.

If you got the stomach for it, guys, do read it. But I got to tell you, I find it hard.

The US killed millions of people and maimed ten times that in Vietnam, and that very much includes its own young and promising American citizens, and they did it again in Iraq. Mike Pence wants to repeat that in Iran and other theaters. Supported by Pelosi, Pompeo, Schumer, Bolton etc. Shame for them John McCain passed.

Theres only one US presidential candidate whos explicitly spoken out against this mad repeat of Vietnam, and thats Tulsi Gabbard, who actually served in Iraq. So she will be pushed aside by the DNC. Who are funded by the military industrial complex, dont you know. Must serve the machine. We have a long way to go.

I always thought that Springsteen talking about Vietnam from Born In The USA is sort of like a haiku, encompassing the essence in just a few words, even if he doesnt catch all the misery and bloodshed and mental anguish and broken lives and all of it (but how could you?):

I had a brother at Khe San; Fighting off the Viet Cong Theyre still there, hes all gone He had a woman he loved in Saigon I got a picture of him in her arms now

I know people older than me have many more examples of this and from the time when the war was actually ongoing. Eve of Destruction? Creedence? Please send suggestions.

But also, please recognize the similarities in the madness then and now.

And lets try and make it stop.

Lets try and stop history from even rhyming, let alone repeating.

Nassim Taleb likes to point out that in olden days those who declared wars would also be first in line to fight them. By design. The fair thing to do.

Lets send Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump and Chuck Schumer and Mike Pompeo and John Bolton and all of their families into Iran first. And then we can talk.

By Raul Ilargi Meijer

Website: http://theautomaticearth.com (provides unique analysis of economics, finance, politics and social dynamics in the context of Complexity Theory)

 2019 Copyright Raul I Meijer - 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.

Raul Ilargi Meijer Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Donald Trump sent an official State Department map to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, showing the long-disputed Golan Heights as part of Israel.

The US president sent his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner to deliver the map to Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Mr Trump had drawn an arrow on the map pointing to the Golan Heights and scribbled a single word: Nice.

This map had not been updated since the Six Day War, Mr Netanyahu said in an address to the nation, referring to the 1967 Middle East war, after which Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria and later annexed in 1981 it in a move which has not been internationally recognised. Well, it has been updated, it just got an update ... That is to say, there are very important developments here.

He pointed to Mr Trumps note and added: Here is the signature of Trump, and he writes nice. I say, very nice!

Mr Netanyahu is mired in political chaos after he failed to assemble a governing coalition.

During his bid for re-election, he repeatedly leveraged his relationship with Mr Trump and showed off political gifts from the White House to court voters.

His campaign received a huge boost when the Trump administration upended decades of US policy and formally recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.

Israels parliament has voted to dissolve itself and call a second election just a month after the last polls.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to the Golan Heights on a map of Israel signed by Donald Trump (EPA/ATEF SAFADI)

Mr Trump later claimed he made the snap decision after receiving a quick history lesson on the Middle East.

Speaking in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition, Mr Trump recounted a meeting with his top advisers on the Middle East: I said: Fellows, do me a favour. Give me a little history, quick. Want to go fast. I got a lot of things Im working on: China, North Korea. Give me a quickie, he said, according to Reuters.

He said he then continued: How do you like the idea of me recognising exactly what were discussing?

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The US president claimed David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel and an arch supporter of Israeli policy, was shocked, like a wonderful, beautiful baby, and asked if Mr Trump would actually do it.

Mr Trump added: I went  bing!  it was done. We make fast decisions. And we make good decisions.
London (AFP) - US President Donald Trump urged Britain to be "very careful" about involving Chinese tech giant Huawei in its new 5G network, in an interview published Saturday ahead of his state visit to London.

Asked about reports that Britain is planning to give the firm a limited role, Trump told the Sunday Times newspaper: "Well, you have other alternatives and we have to be very careful from the standpoint of national security."

He added: "You know we have a very important intelligence gathering group, that we work very closely with your country (Britain) and so you have to be very careful."

The US has long voiced suspicions that Huawei is controlled by the Chinese government and thus a global security threat -- charges strongly denied by the firm and by Beijing.

Prime Minister Theresa May's government has insisted a decision has not yet been made on Huawei's involvement in building a 5G network in Britain.

Trump said he believed "things will all work out, you'll see".

In a wide-ranging interview, the president also repeated previous criticism of May's strategy for taking Britain out of the European Union.

She is due to step down in the coming weeks over her failure to deliver Brexit on time.

Trump suggested her as-yet unchosen successor should walk away from Brexit talks with the bloc if they do not get a better deal.

"I would walk away. If you don't get the deal you want, if you don't get a fair deal, then you walk away," he said.

The day after endorsing former foreign minister Boris Johnson to succeed May, Trump suggested another leading Brexit supporter, Nigel Farage, should help negotiate with Brussels.

He said that Farage, whose Brexit party caused a major upset in recent European elections, "has a lot to offer".

"They wont bring him in. Think how well they would do if they did," he said.

Trump will be welcomed to London on Monday by Queen Elizabeth II at the start of a three-day state visit that will also include talks with May and a ceremony marking 75 years since the D-day landings.
London (AFP) - US president Donald Trump urged Britain to be "very careful" about involving Chinese tech giant Huawei in its new 5G network, in an interview published Saturday ahead of his state visit to London.

Asked about reports that Britain is planning to give the firm a limited role, Trump told the Sunday Times newspaper: "Well, you have other alternatives and we have to be very careful from the standpoint of national security."

He added: "You know we have a very important intelligence gathering group, that we work very closely with your country (Britain) and so you have to be very careful."

The US has long voiced suspicions that Huawei is controlled by the Chinese government and thus a global security threat -- charges strongly denied by the firm and by Beijing.

Prime Minister Theresa May's government has insisted a decision has not yet been made on Huawei's involvement in building a 5G network in Britain.

Trump said he believed "things will all work out, you'll see".

In a wide-ranging interview, the president also repeated previous criticism of May's strategy for taking Britain out of the European Union.

She is due to step down in the coming weeks over her failure to deliver Brexit on time.

Trump suggested her as-yet unchosen successor should abandon talks with the bloc if they do not get a better deal.

"I would walk away. If you don't get the deal you want, if you don't get a fair deal, then you walk away," he said.

- Protests planned -

Trump on Friday used another newspaper interview to endorse former foreign minister Boris Johnson to succeed May.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is boycotting a state banquet with Trump, called it an "entirely unacceptable interference in our countrys democracy".

On Saturday, the president suggested another leading Brexit supporter, Nigel Farage, should help negotiate with Brussels.

He said that Farage, whose Brexit party caused a major upset in recent European elections, "has a lot to offer".

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Trump will be welcomed to London on Monday by Queen Elizabeth II at the start of a three-day state visit that will also include talks with May and a ceremony marking 75 years since the D-day landings.

Large protests are planned and London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Sunday it was wrong to be rolling out the red carpet.

Writing in The Observer newspaper, Khan -- who has had several Twitter spats with Trump -- said the president was "one of the most egregious examples" of a growing global threat from the far-right.

He said leaders such as Hungary's Viktor Orban and Farage "are using the same divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century to garner support, but are using new sinister methods to deliver their message".

Khan said Trump's "divisive behaviour flies in the face of the ideals America was founded upon -- equality, liberty and religious freedom".
WASHINGTON  A family in Iowa believes the Food and Drug Administration will decide whether their only surviving daughter lives or dies, and theyve been on a monthslong crusade to break through its bureaucracy. And theyre succeeding.

Just last week, the FDA gave Jaci Hermstad, a 25-year old Iowan who is dying from a rare form of ALS, an early sign that she will receive the first dose of an experimental drug never before tested in humans. The FDAs move, which was confirmed to STAT by Jacis family and doctor, is a breakthrough for the Hermstads.

For months, the family has circulated petitions, tweeted at President Trump, and called on some of Washingtons most controversial and powerful politicians  including the speaker of the House and a Republican under fire for racist comments  all to convince the FDA to waive even the most basic of studies before the drug is injected into Jacis already fragile immune system.

The Hermstads progress reopens an ardent debate in Washington over the FDAs role in determining when sick or dying patients can access experimental therapies  and what role career politicians should play in the nations decisions about how and when to let patients access untested treatments. It also underscores a fundamental question about the role of lawmakers: Is it fair for a member of Congress to intervene on behalf of a single constituent?

Do you really want the FDA responding to one-by-one requests by families from congresspeople? asked Arthur Caplan, the founding head of the New York University School of Medicines division of medical ethics.

The FDA is no stranger to this debate: The issue came to a head this time last year, when Washington deliberated over and ultimately passed a federal right-to-try law, which largely cuts the FDA out of the process for determining when dying patients can access experimental treatments being studied in clinical trials.

Read more: Saving Mila: How a tailor-made therapy, developed in a flash, may have halted a young girls rare disease

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The Hermstad case is far more convoluted. The drug Jacis trying hasnt gone through clinical trials, making it ineligible for the pathway outlined in the right-to-try law, which was supported by President Trump. And though Jacis family felt compelled to press Trump and lawmakers to help, they may not have needed to: The FDA had never denied Jacis request for access to the drug; regulators simply asked that toxicology testing to be done. In fact, Jacis own doctor has had nothing but kind words for the FDA throughout the process.

The chaotic backstory underscores how complicated it has become to access experimental therapies in the U.S. And it raises a host of questions about the role of the FDA as a gatekeeper, the propriety of Congress acting on behalf of a single patient, the role of crowdfunding to pay for basic research, and the most basic and fraught question of all: Who is to blame when a 25-year-old is facing virtually certain death and cant get access to a drug she thinks might save her life?

Youve got a large ethical and policy quagmire here, Caplan said.

When Jacis family heard about the drug in February, it felt like divine intervention. The call came just a day after Jaci was first diagnosed: Dr. Neil Shneider, the head of Columbia Universitys ALS clinic, described a new therapy known as an antisense oligonucleotide that, at least in theory, could prevent the production of proteins suspected to kill motor neurons in ALS patients.

Its like God has paved this path for this to happen, and theres a reason for it, Lori Hermstad, Jacis mother, said.

Quickly, however, the Hermstads learned that the therapy was far too early in development for them to access it. It hadnt even been vetted for basic safety and toxicity  which meant it would be a lengthy, uphill battle to get the drug through the FDAs existing pathway for potentially lifesaving experimental treatments, known as its expanded access program. The Hermstads also couldnt rely on the federal right-to-try law that Trump signed in May 2018, because the drug hadnt gone through Phase 1 clinical trials.

But the Hermstads were determined not to give up. They contacted their local lawmakers, started a Facebook group called Cowgirl Up for Jaci, and launched an online petition to the FDA.

The Hermstads aggressive campaign eventually pulled in an unlikely band of lawmakers: Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Sen. Chuck Grassley, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and fellow Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who had been stripped of virtually all his power after he espoused racist views in a January interview with the New York Times.

King took the most brazen step.

On May 20, the congressman introduced an almost unheard of piece of legislation: a one-sentence bill directing an entire federal agency to make an exception to its rules for a single, named individual: Jaci Hermstad. It runs just 40 words.

The bill never was formally considered by Congress, but it got the attention of some of Washingtons top lawmakers. King had multiple productive discussions on the issue with Pelosi, who eventually contacted the FDA directly to talk about the Hermstad case, according to a press release from King. (Neither King nor Pelosi responded to requests for comment.)

Jacis senator, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, one of Washingtons most influential health policy legislators, also has urged the FDA and the White House to give Jacis request every consideration, according to Michael Zona, a Grassley spokesman.

Less than a week after Kings bill and Pelosis intervention, Jacis family got the first sign that the FDA was backing down from its previous demands. While the FDA hasnt formally accepted or denied Jacis expanded access petition, Columbias Shneider told STAT Wednesday that there was some bending at the FDA. He said the agency seemed willing to back off its earlier requests that the drug company conduct significant toxicology studies before Jacis first infusion.

I think maybe that we were lucky in that we hit them at a moment when there was a lot of external pressure and internal discussion about this, and we were a test case, Shneider said.

(Shneider emphasized that Jacis first planned infusion on June 10 still wont be finalized until he formally hears back from the FDA regarding the expanded access application, which he formally filed Wednesday.)

The rare personal interventions from some of the nations highest ranking public officials  and the FDAs exceedingly early exception to its own policies  raise questions about the role the federal government plays in the lives of dying patients. Such questions roiled the agency when Washington first began to debate a federal right-to-try law: The FDAs main job is to determine which drugs are safe and effective for Americans. But are there times, perhaps when life is on the line, that it shouldnt carry out that mission?

What right to try has done, and what one-patient bills like this will do, is put us back into a position where we have to justify FDAs existence to society, said Holly Fernandez Lynch, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, who has raised concerns with the Hermstad case and with the federal right-to-try law. For this particular patient it seems like an individual decision, but it has long term impact on whether we allow FDA to do its function.

Congress does have the power to pen so-called private legislation  bills which only apply to a select group of people, rather than to the public writ large. These private bills have been written to grant citizenship, relieve debts, and pay out those harmed by government wrongdoing. Sen. Hubert Humphrey Jr. even penned a piece of private legislation to give special benefits to former employees of the Senate restaurant.

But experts raised concerns with the precedent set by a bill intended to help one single patient.

Read more: A year after Trump touted right to try, patients still arent getting treatment

What does that mean for everyone else who is similarly in a situation that is very dire but who maybe [doesnt] have the same resources to be able to communicate with legislators, and the media, and with the larger public through social media? Kelly McBride Folkers, a research associate at NYUs division of medical ethics, asked.

In half a dozen interviews by STAT with experts on both sides of the debate over the FDAs expanded access policies, no expert could point to another piece of legislation that so clearly attempted to force the FDAs hand regarding an individuals treatment.

Even Shneider, Jacis doctor, was left feeling uneasy about the level of political pressure being put on the FDA. In an interview with STAT, he said the FDA has been really responsive and really responsible throughout the process of trying to get Jaci treatment.

I did not encourage it, frankly, said Shneider, referring to the congressional pressure put on the FDA. Shneider even described the federal interventions as people putting their foot [on] the neck of the FDA.

He also acknowledged that Jacis case likely will provide a road map for doctors hoping to get preclinical treatments to their patients, just as his team at Columbia relied heavily on the experience of Dr. Timothy Yu, who pioneered a similar process to get an experimental drug for Batten disease to a patient last year.

But nonetheless, he hopes the congressional pressure isnt an enduring lesson of his endeavor.

I dont know how sensitive the FDA is to congressional pressure, I would hope frankly that theyre not too sensitive to it. They have a job to do, Shneider said, adding that he wasnt made aware of Kings bill before it was introduced.

After STAT published this story, an FDA spokesperson said the agency regularly receives expanded access requests from physicians, patients, family members, and others, including Members of Congress on behalf of constituents and that each inquiry is handled individually regardless of route of entry, and is addressed with the same attention and rigor.

The ethical quagmire of Jacis case is all the more complicated by the fact that the Hermstads are trying to raise $700,000 to pay for the treatment.

Shneider said the money is being used to do the very basics needed to get Jaci treatment  things like paying a contract research organization for the remaining testing needed for the drug, as well as the costs of the infusions, hospitalizations, and Jacis travel to Columbia.

Read more: Right-to-try law intended to weaken the FDA, measures sponsor says in blunt remarks

I dont have, nor should I, use the resources of my center for one patient like this, not that it doesnt have implications for others, and so I didnt have the money to pay for this and so the burden of this financially is largely going to be on the family and the community, Shneider explained.

While a drug maker was involved in developing the drug, none of the money will go to that company, which has nothing to do with this, at this point, according to Shneider. Shneider declined to name the company involved, which appears to be Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

When contacted by scientists and physicians looking for a potential treatment for Jaci, we said yes, providing some of our early research into oligonucleotides.  We also continue to advise them on antisense technology and its use in the treatment of ALS, Frank Bennett, senior vice president of research and franchise leader for neurological programs at Ionis, told STAT in a statement.

Even if the money being collected by the family isnt going to line the pockets of a drug maker, the University of Pennsylvanias Fernandez Lynch said the funding for this treatment raises a ton of ethical concerns.

What about other patients who cant afford this kind of access and dont have this kind of political clout? Should people be contributing to a GoFundMe that is extremely unlikely to lead to benefit? What are we doing to patients when we advance this spirit of fighting disease at all costs? she asked.

For the Hermstads, Jacis path to treatment is far less a philosophical debate about the separation of powers or health care financing and far more about the importance of continuing to try.

Their story with ALS starts back in 2005, long before right to try was a national slogan or Jaci was even diagnosed with the disease, when Jacis twin sister, Alex, was diagnosed with the same form of ALS that now is forcing Jaci to fight for her life, a rare mutation known as FUS P525L.

The fear that Jaci, too, might have the mutation was always in the back of the Hermstads heads, but those fears didnt reach their height until last November, when Jaci started to experience symptoms like back pain and trouble walking long distances.

Then came Valentines Day 2019. A blizzard had blanketed the interstate in Iowa, turning a tense three-hour drive to Jacis doctor into a precarious six-hour trek. And it only got worse when Jaci was given the news she had feared all along: She, too, had the same rare and almost certainly fatal form of ALS that had killed her twin sister.

Lori Hermstad, Jacis mother, describes it as the worst day of her life, second only to Valentines Day 2011: The day she buried Alex.

You cant explain the emotional pain, Lori Hermstad said. Its the worst kind of heartache anybody can describe.

Read more: FDA official hints at a tough road ahead for right to try

Since then, the ALS has continued to zap away Jacis nerve cells.

I do this for a living, and Im telling you, its striking, the case of her decline, Shneider said.

Within months of her diagnosis, she could no longer ride her beloved horse, Bud, and she had to seriously consider whether to be put on a ventilator.

To know that you have your last remaining child going through it, and theres actually a possibility that it could be a breakthrough, and that it might be too late is another kind of torture that you cant even describe, Lori Hermstad told STAT.

The Hermstads met Rep. King at a benefit for Jaci held in March. The two hit it off, even making a plan to work together in opening a horse arena when Jaci is feeling herself again.

And after they met, reaching out to him was like reaching out to any other friend or family member. They were, and are, doing everything they can to fight for Jaci.

Hes been an amazing support and advocate and we are just so thankful that hes done all he has done to help Jaci, Lori Hermstad said.

And Lori, at least, is emphatic that any family should be allowed to do the same  no matter what the political environment.

There should be absolutely nothing, no bureaucracy, nothing, to stop the FDA from allowing somebody who is going to die anyway to not try a drug. Period, she said.

For the most part, the debate isnt worrying the Hermstads. Theyre busy dealing with the daily struggles associated with advanced ALS, like Jacis ever worsening breathing troubles. And theyre not done pushing. Their new campaign is closer to home: Theyre hoping Jaci can get her treatment pushed up from her scheduled appointment on June 10.

Until it actually happens, I think thats when we can really celebrate, because a lot can happen between now and two weeks, Lori Hermstad said. Its still scary.
ISTANBUL (AP)  Ankara and Moscow are again facing an escalation of violence in Syria's last rebel-held territory, a development that puts their cooperation to the test even as they support opposing sides in the eight-year war that has devastated Syria.

An all-out offensive by Syrian government forces to capture Idlib in northwestern Syria from insurgents could unleash an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, for the area is home to 3 million people.

Turkey, which is already hosting more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, is facing strong pressure from Syria, Iran and Russia to deliver on its pledge to control the armed rebel factions in Idlib.

But Turkey also needs Russia to rein in Syrian President Bashar Assad to prevent a massive outflow of refugees and to keep Turkish soldiers on the ground safe.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin "have an incentive to cooperate and ensure that nobody's interests are totally trampled," says Aaron Stein, the director of the Middle East program in American think-tank Foreign Policy Research Institute.

In September, the two leaders brokered a cease-fire for Idlib in the Russian resort of Sochi, preventing a bloody onslaught, despite the fact that Russia has firmly backed Assad and Turkey supports opposition forces. Nine months later, the truce has failed.

The agreement called for a 15-to-20 kilometer (9-to-12 mile) demilitarized zone free of insurgents and heavy weaponry and for two key highways crossing through Idlib to be reopened. The demilitarized zone has been breached and the highways are at the center of the current government offensive.

Syrian ground forces have been advancing from the south of the rebel stronghold under the cover of Syrian and Russian airstrikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 291 civilians and 369 fighters have been killed since April 30 in the rebel stronghold. In the same period, 269 government troops and 22 civilians were killed in government areas by rebel fire. The U.N.'s children's agency said more than 130 children have reportedly been killed.

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Already, more than 200,000 people from the stronghold have been displaced, according to the U.N., with some seeking safety near the border with Turkey while others crammed into crowded camps in Syria.

Turkey has accused the Syrian government of violating the cease-fire and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the country has told Russia "the regime must be controlled."

Russia has launched airstrikes in Idlib and is providing air cover in the Syrian government offensive. It has complained that the militants have increasingly been targeting its military base in the nearby coastal province of Latakia.

But for now, Moscow is unlikely to support an all-out Syrian operation in Idlib because the benefits of a long-term alliance with Turkey outweigh one military battle.

"Russia doesn't want to ruin its relationship with Turkey because of Idlib," says Kirill Semenov, a Moscow-based Middle East analyst and expert at the Russian International Affairs Council.

In late April, Putin said he would not rule out a large-scale assault but "together with our Syrian friends, we believe that this would not be advisable" due to humanitarian issues.

Still, Russia's patience is wearing thin with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which it accuses of targeting its military base. HTS is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Russia and Turkey, despite its claims it has disassociated from al-Qaida.

Top Russian officials have often called Idlib a "breeding ground for terrorists."

Despite the cease-fire deal, Turkey has been unable to neutralize the extremists. Much of Idlib has come under the control of HTS, which has defeated Turkey-backed armed groups.

Emre Ersan, an associate professor of international relations and political science at Istanbul's Marmara University, believes Turkey may have overestimated its influence over HTS. He says Turkey's plan to split the group and absorb its more moderate members has not worked.

Instead, HTS has used Turkey as leverage against Russia and Assad-supporter Iran, according to Ersan.

Adding to the risks, Turkish troops are in the line of fire. Two Turkish soldiers were wounded in early May in a Syrian government artillery attack on an observation post. Three other attacks have been cited by Turkey's official Anadolu Agency, raising questions if the attacks were accidental or designed to pressure Ankara with Russia's knowledge.

"The Turkish Armed Forces will not take a single step back from where it is," Akar, Turkey's defense minister, said last week.

Erdogan and Putin have talked on the phone, agreeing to continue working along the lines of the cease-fire agreement to prevent civilian deaths and a refugee flow. They also agreed to meet on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 conference in Japan.

"Apart from this dialogue and cooperation, there is nothing on the ground that can prevent a catastrophe in Idlib," Ersan says.

The presidents have become close since 2016, rebuilding their relations after a dramatic crisis in 2015 when Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border. Their rapport comes amid Turkey's fragile relations with NATO ally United States, especially over Washington's support of Syrian Kurdish-led forces who control large swaths in eastern Syria. Ankara considers them an extension of a Kurdish insurgency operating inside Turkey.

Erdogan is so far sticking to his promise to buy Russian-made S-400 missiles despite U.S. warnings the system would jeopardize Turkey's participation in the F-35 fighter jet program and compromise its safety. Stein calls this "a big win for Russia." Turkey is angling for a way to have both the S-400s and the F-35s.

Turkey is also talking with the U.S. about a safe zone in northeastern Syria and has repeatedly asked for the U.S. to end its military support for Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. Erdogan will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the G-20 as well.

Ersan believes Russia may allow Turkey to grab the northern town of Tel Rifaat from the Kurdish fighters, the last town they control in western Syria. Russian support could help Turkey put pressure on the SDF, widen Turkish influence and strengthen its hand in ongoing negotiations with the U.S.

In exchange, he argues, Turkey could be open to some limited Syrian operation toward Idlib.

_

Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed from Moscow and Sarah El Deeb contributed from Beirut.
Mecca (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was notably absent from a key summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi holy city of Mecca early Saturday, an AFP photographer said.

Turkey, a regional heavyweight, was instead represented by its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Erdogan's visit would have been his first to the kingdom since the brutal murder last October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which tarnished the international reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The OIC meeting is the third and final summit hosted by Saudi Arabia this week, aimed at galvanising support among Arab and Islamic nations against arch-rival Iran, which has close ties with Turkey.

Khashoggi, a Saudi royal insider and Washington Post contributor was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a "rogue" operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed.

Saudi prosecutors have absolved the prince and said around two dozen people implicated in the murder are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men.

But attention has remained focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder despite the kingdom's denials.

Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed.
WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - The United States began collecting higher, 25% tariffs on many Chinese goods arriving in U.S. seaports on Saturday morning in an intensification of the trade war between the world's two largest economies and drawing retaliation from Beijing.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed the tariff increase on a$200 billion list of Chinese goods on May 10, but had allowed a grace period for sea-borne cargoes that departed China before that date, keeping them at the prior, 10% duty rate.

The U.S. Trade Representative's office in a May 15 Federal Register notice set a June 1 deadline for those goods to arrive in the United States, after which U.S. Customs and Border protection would begin collecting the 25% duty rate at U.S. ports. The deadline expired at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday

The tariff increase affects a broad range of consumer goods, and intermediate components from China including internet modems and routers, printed circuit boards, furniture, vacuum cleaners and lighting products.

Earlier on Saturday, China began collecting higher retaliatory tariffs on much of a $60 billion target list of U.S. goods. The tariffs, announced on May 13 and taking effect as of midnight in Beijing (1600 GMT), apply additional 20% or 25% tariffs on more than half of the 5,140 U.S. products targeted. Beijing had previously imposed additional rates of 5% or 10% on the targeted goods.

No further trade talks between top Chinese and U.S. negotiators have been scheduled since the last round ended in a stalemate on May 10, the same day when Trump announced higher tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods and then took steps to levy duties on all remaining Chinese imports.

China ordered the latest tariff increases in response to Trump's move.

Trump has accused China of breaking a deal to settle their trade dispute by reneging on earlier commitments made during months of negotiations. China has denied the allegations.

Beijing has grown more strident in recent weeks, accusing Washington of lacking sincerity and vowing that it will not cave to the Trump administration's demands.

Its rhetoric has hardened particularly since Washington put Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on a blacklist that effectively bans the firm from doing business with U.S. companies. (Reporting David Lawder in Washington and Stella Qiu and Se Young Lee in Beijing; editing by Grant McCool)
By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. government biologists have launched a special investigation into the deaths of at least 70 gray whales washed ashore in recent months along the U.S. West Coast, from California to Alaska, many of them emaciated, officials said on Friday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared the whale die-off an "unusual mortality event," a designation that triggers greater scrutiny and allocation of more resources to determine the cause.

So far this year, 37 dead gray whales have turned up in California waters, three in Oregon, 25 in Washington state and five in Alaska, say officials of NOAAs National Marine Fisheries Service. Five more were found in British Columbia.

The most recent dead whale in Alaska was spotted last week near Chignik Bay on the Alaska peninsula.

Many have little body fat, leading experts to suspect the die-off is caused by declining food sources in the dramatically warming waters of the northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea off Alaska.

The gray whales summer there, consuming most of a year's worth of nourishment to pack on the blubber they need to carry them through the migration south to wintering grounds off Mexico and back north to feeding grounds off Alaska.

Sea ice has been at or near record lows in the Bering and Chukchi, and water temperatures have been persistently much higher than normal, an apparent consequence of human-caused climate change, scientists say.

The conditions the whales encountered last summer could be hurting the animals now as they make their annual migration north, said scientists assembled by NOAA for a teleconference on Friday.

"The Arctic is changing very, very quickly, and the whales are going to have to adjust to that," Sue Moore, a University of Washington oceanographer, told reporters.

Lack of sea ice may be reducing supplies of the tiny crustaceans known as amphipods that are the gray whales prime food source, Moore said.

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"The sea ice has been changing very quickly over the last decade or so," she said.

Another theory is that the number of whales has reached the limits of the environment's natural capacity to sustain further population growth, scientists said on the call.

The current estimated population of eastern North Pacific gray whales is about 27,000, the highest recorded by the agency since it began gray whale surveys in 1967, said biologist David Weller.

"Keep in mind that carrying capacity is not a hard ceiling, but that its a shifting threshold," said Weller, who is with the agency's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego.

"In some years or period of years the environment is capable of supporting more whales than in other years."

The deaths could be caused by a combination of factors, as in other die-offs, the scientists said.

Some whales have detoured into places like San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, where they face a greater risk of ship strikes and other hazards, said John Calambokidis, a biologist and gray whale expert with the Cascadia Research Collective.

"We are seeing lots of live gray whales in unusual areas, some of them clearly emaciated, trying to feed," he said.

More dead whales are expected to wash ashore during the northward migration, the scientists said. The total of dead whales documented probably represents a small fraction of those that have perished in the current episode, they said.

The last major West Coast gray whale die-off, in 1999 and 2000, was believed to have been related to an ocean-warming El Nino event. It also triggered an unusual mortality event declaration. (Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage, Alaska; Editing by Steve Gorman and Clarence Fernandez)
By Katie Paul

SAN FRANCISCO, May 31 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday denied Facebook Inc.'s request to dismiss a lawsuit by the Washington, D.C. attorney general over the social media giant's improper sharing of 87 million users' data with British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

The U.S. capital city sued Facebook in December, accusing it of misleading users because it had known about the breach for two years before disclosing it and had allowed third-party app makers to access user information without their consent.

Judge Fern Flanagan Saddler signed the order denying Facebook's motion to dismiss, or alternatively, stay proceedings, the court said in a brief statement on its website.

It was the second legal blow for the world's largest social network on Friday, after a judge in Delaware ordered it to turn over to shareholders emails and other records on its handling of data privacy, also linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the decision.

Cambridge Analytica, hired by U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, used a personality quiz distributed on Facebook to gather profile information in order to predict and influence voter behavior.

It shut down after the breach was disclosed. Several U.S. and European regulatory probes into Facebook ensued, including investigations by multiple state attorneys general.

The Washington, D.C. court could award unspecified damages and impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation of the district's consumer protection law, or potentially close to $1.7 billion, if penalized for each consumer affected.

The lawsuit alleges the firm's quiz software had data on 340,000 D.C. residents, even though just 852 users had directly engaged with it. (Reporting by Katie Paul; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY, May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to slap punitive tariffs on all Mexican trade if Mexico does not stop illegal immigration has punched a gaping hole in his Mexican counterpart's hands-off approach to diplomacy, with potentially ruinous consequences.

Mexico could face a severe economic shock if Trump makes good on a pledge to impose escalating tariffs of 5% on all Mexican goods from June 10 if the country does not halt a recent surge of migrants from Central America crossing the U.S. border.

The news, delivered in a tweet on Thursday evening, battered the peso and fueled concern about President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's reluctance to engage in foreign affairs or push back against Trump on his touchstone issue of illegal immigration.

It also raised fears that the Republican president will keep attacking Mexico as he seeks re-election next year.

In power since December, the leftist Lopez Obrador has tried to deflect Trump's barbs, insisting that the best way to tackle migrant flows is by jointly fostering development in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where most of the migrants apprehended on the U.S. border come from.

Trump has shown no enthusiasm for the idea.

In his day-to-day business, the 65-year-old Mexican president has stayed focused on domestic issues, pursuing a nationalist agenda of economic self-reliance and putting the brakes on foreign investment in the oil industry.

Foreign policy has been largely left in the hands of Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who has been dispatched to Washington to persuade the Trump administration to back down.

"Lopez Obrador doesn't want to get involved in this, but it's impossible to avoid," said former foreign minister Jorge Castaneda, a longstanding critic of Lopez Obrador, who says he has failed to grasp the significance of the U.S. relationship.

"Relations with the United States in Mexico are not a foreign policy issue. They are a domestic policy issue."

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Around 80 percent of Mexico's exports are sent to the United States, whose businesses by far account for the biggest source of foreign direct investment to the country. U.S. business groups and lawmakers have said tariffs could be devastating to both countries.

Lopez Obrador told his morning news conference on Friday he believes the U.S. government will ultimately "rectify" its position. Asked if he would change the country's migration policy to accommodate Trump's request, he said Mexico is already tackling the problem.

Mexican officials have signaled they will respond in kind if Washington actually imposes tariffs, steps likely to target regions with high concentrations of Trump voters.

But doubts are growing in Mexico about whether Lopez Obrador has taken the wrong tack by downplaying U.S. provocations.

Agustin Basave, a former diplomat and ex-leader of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution, said Mexico had to put cooperation on security, combating drug trafficking and migration with Washington "on the table" to stand up to Trump.

There was no point in trying to "appease" Trump because even if Mexico completely sealed its southern border with Guatemala, he would keep demanding concessions, Basave added.

Trump has said this year he will cut off U.S. aid to Central America and threatened to close the Mexico-U.S. border.

"He'll use Mexico as a scarecrow the whole time," Basave said. "And this will increase the closer the (U.S.) election gets."

UNPREDICTABILITY

Mexico faces an uphill struggle to contain immigration, particularly in the wake of budget cuts to migration authorities made to fund Lopez Obrador's flagship welfare policies.

One Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number of people seeking to reach the United States from the rest of Latin America through Mexico is now so great that Mexico could only hope to "administer" the problem.

Hector Vasconcelos, a lawmaker from the ruling National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) who heads the Senate foreign relations committee, said Lopez Obrador was right to try to manage tensions by not reacting to Trump's broadsides.

"It's always been a given for me that President Trump could do anything at any moment," Vasconcelos told Reuters, pointing to how the U.S. election process was influencing his rhetoric.

"I think we need to get used to this being President Trump's way of governing. So I don't think there is a way out," he added, saying that if Mexico had taken a more combative approach to Trump, bilateral relations would today be even worse.

Among diplomats and government officials, widespread unease about Lopez Obrador's attitude extends beyond his dealings with Trump to the international stage in general.

In March, Lopez Obrador said he had asked Spain to apologize for crimes committed during the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521, a step one foreign diplomat from a third country described as "nuts."

The president's announcement this month that he wanted to ditch the so-called Merida Initiative, a framework for security cooperation with the United States, did little to cement stronger U.S.-Mexico ties.

Sergio Alcocer, a former deputy foreign minister for North America, said the Merida scheme was beneficial to Mexico because it made Washington assume co-responsibility for security matters that have helped fan bilateral tensions over the border.

"If you leave the mechanism, you lose that," he said. (Reporting by Dave Graham Editing by Daniel Flynn and Sonya Hepinstall)
New York (AFP) - American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez returned to her restaurant roots on Friday, donning an apron and serving drinks in Manhattan in a push to raise the country's minimum wage.

The 29-year-old New Yorker and rising political star, who describes herself as a socialist, worked as a bartender and waitress in a restaurant in her hometown before entering Congress last year.

"I was nervous that I may have lost my touch - still got it! That muscle memory doesn't quit," she wrote on Twitter after an hour taking orders and swinging a cocktail shaker at a restaurant in her Queens constituency.

Ocasio-Cortez was promoting of the "One Fair Wage" campaign, which is calling for a raise to the federal hourly minimum wage to $15 for service workers.

"The federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13 an hour. That is unacceptable. Any job that pays $2.13 an hour is not a job. It's indentured servitude," she said behind the bar.

"All labor has dignity, and the way that we give labor dignity is by paying people the respect and value that they are worth."

Bronx-born Ocasio-Cortez, who has become a favorite target of Donald Trump supporters, owes part of her aura to her magnetic social media presence and her bold, progressive political platform.

She told the Guardian last year that prior to entering politics she worked 18-hour shifts as a waitress and bartender to help save her mother's home from foreclosure.

From the start, Ocasio-Cortez traded heavily on her non-privileged background in her quest to defeat a 10-term, Democratic Party grandee in her first political race in a New York primary last June.

Overnight, she went from total unknown to the toast of coastal America, profiled in Vogue, a guest on chat shows and jetting around the country lending her rock-star status to other insurgent candidates.

burs-gle/rma




The US state department has cut off funding to a group that purported to combat Iranian propaganda, after it was found to be trolling US journalists, human rights activists and academics it deemed to be insufficiently hostile to the government in Tehran.

The Iran Disinformation Project was funded by the state departments global engagement centre which was created to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation. In recent weeks however, the groups Twitter account @IranDisinfo targeted BBC journalists, thinktank experts and civil society advocates, denouncing them as being mouthpieces and supporters of the Iranian government.

In one case they singled out a researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), Tara Sepehri Far, because she had looked into the human rights impact of sanctions on ordinary Iranians.

Related: Iran tensions: 1,500 US troops head to Middle East as Trump seals $7bn Saudi arms sale

The group also focused on supporters of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Donald Trump withdrew from last year, particularly the National Iranian American Council, which has advocated nuclear diplomacy with Tehran. It used the hashtag #NIACLobbies4Mullahs.

In response to a request for comment, a state department spokesperson said: The bulk of the work by @IranDisinfo has been in line with the scope of a project with the Department of State. We have, however, identified recent tweets that fall outside the scope of the project to counter foreign state propaganda or disinformation.

The statement added: Today, the Department suspended the funding for the Iran Disinfo project until the implementer takes necessary steps to ensure that any future activity remains within the agreed scope of work.

Many of the groups controversial tweets were deleted on Friday.

Brett Bruen, who was director of global engagement in the Obama White House, said that the global engagement centre was originally created to counter Russian and Isis disinformation and propaganda. However, under the Trump administration, it was starved of funds and personnel, and has an operating budget of just $20m. Lea Gabrielle, a former navy intelligence officer and Fox News journalist was hired to run it in February.

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It is not being used to deal with Russian disinformation or Isis propaganda, but they are syphoning money off to attack the Iran [nuclear] deal and Iran, Bruen said. We know that information warfare is a serious and damaging threat, but the centre is being treated by the Trump administration like it is a reserve for dipping in to for pet political projects.

Sarah Leah Whitson, HRWs executive director for the Middle East and North Africa, welcomed the speed of the state department decision to cut funding to Iran Disinformation Project.

Groups like this really undermine human rights advocacy when they use it selectively as a political weapon to go after a perceived enemy.
Washington (AFP) - The United States will end preferential trade treatment for India from Wednesday, US President Donald Trump has announced, in a fresh economic headwind for New Delhi alongside slowing growth and record unemployment.

India has been the single biggest beneficiary of the decades-old US Generalized System of Preferences programme, allowing the country to export $5.7 billion worth of duty-free goods in 2017, according to figures from US Congress.

Trump said in a statement issued late Friday that he wanted greater access for US goods to the giant South Asian nation.

"I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets," Trump said.

"Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India's designation as a beneficiary developing country."

Trump announced in March that he would be ending the preferential trade accord with India, but did not give a date.

Washington has sought to make India a closer diplomatic ally, but has long complained about limited access to the huge market of 1.3 billion people.

The US had a $26.7 billion trade deficit with India in 2017-2018.

The announcement is the latest headwind to threaten the Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was re-elected to his second term in a landslide just weeks ago after campaigning partly on his record as an economic reformer.

Official figures released Friday showed that India's growth slowed for the third straight quarter to 5.8% in January-March, while unemployment hit a 45-year high in 2018.

The Indian government made no immediate comment on Washington's move, but media reports said New Delhi was considering higher import duties on more than 20 US goods including agricultural produce and chemicals.

Indian commerce secretary Anup Wadahan played down the move to end the country's GSP status in March, saying that preferential trade accounted for a fraction of its nearly $80 million in annual exports to the US.
San Francisco (AFP) - The US Department of Justice is preparing an antitrust investigation of Internet titan Google, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The Journal cited unnamed sources close to the matter as saying the department would look into Google practices related to web search and other businesses.

Justice department officials share antitrust oversight with the Federal Trade Commission, which conducted a wide-ranging investigation of its own into Alphabet-owned Google that ended in 2013 with no action taken.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A new investigation would come as backlash grows against major tech companies that dominate key segments of the online economy.

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has argued that big firms such as Facebook, Google and Apple should be broken up through antitrust enforcement.

Alphabet's profit in the first three months of this year sagged under the weight of a hefty antitrust fine in the European Union.

Alphabet said profit in the first-quarter fell 29 percent to $6.7 billion on revenue that climbed 17 percent to $36.3 billion.

The earnings took a hit from a European Commission fine that amounted to $1.7 billion at the end of March, according to the quarterly update.

Google's lucrative advertising platform remained the largest revenue driver for Alphabet, delivering more than $30 billion in revenue, but costs rose sharply as well.

But Google continues to face pressure around the world from regulators, notably in Europe amid multiple investigations over alleged abuse of its dominance in internet search, advertising and its mobile system.

The latest fine imposed by Brussels cited Google's AdSense advertising service, saying it illegally restricted client websites from displaying messages from ad service rivals.

Google is separately working to satisfy EU regulators investigating its hugely popular Android devices following a $5 billion fine last year.

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Google earlier this year said it would offer smartphone users five browsers and search engines as part of the company's effort to meet EU competition concerns.

Brussels accused Google of using the Android system's dominance of smartphones and tablets to promote the use of its own Google search engine and Chrome browser and shut out rivals.

In the United States, Google has been a target of President Donald Trump and his allies who have accused the search giant of "bias" and silencing conservative voices, claims denied by the Silicon Valley firm.
The United States said Friday that it had suspended tax exemption privileges enjoyed by Pakistani diplomats due to parallel disputes with Islamabad in the latest dust-up between the countries.

Under the 1961 Vienna Convention, diplomats around the world do not pay taxes in countries where they are posted, with embassy staffers in Washington routinely flashing State Department-issued exemption cards when dining out or shopping.

The State Department said it withdrew tax exemptions for Pakistani diplomats and their dependents as of May 15, citing pending tax issues faced by US diplomats in Pakistan.

"The issue is the subject of ongoing bilateral discussions, and we hope to be able to resolve the issue and restore the tax privileges," a State Department spokesman said.

While the latest issue was not linked to politics, the United States last year restricted Pakistani diplomats in Washington from traveling outside a 25-mile (40-kilometer) radius around the US capital after charging that Pakistani police routinely harass US diplomats, including through time-consuming traffic stops.

The Pakistani embassy in Washington said that 22 officials enjoyed the tax exemption.

In a statement, it also said that discussions were underway "on the basis of the principle of reciprocity."

Pakistan is a Cold War ally of the United States but the two countries have had bumpy relations in recent years, with President Donald Trump cutting off some $300 million in military aid, saying Islamabad had failed to curb Islamist extremists who stage attacks in Afghanistan and India.

Pakistan has tried to revive ties by using its contacts with the Taliban to facilitate negotiations with the Trump administration, which wants to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and end America's longest war.
Washington (AFP) - The State Department is suspending funding for a taxpayer-funded Twitter account on Iran that sharply attacked critics of President Donald Trump's hawkish policy, an official said Saturday.

The Iran Disinformation Project was set up late last year with a stated mission to expose the "nefarious influence" of the clerical regime in Tehran, including by tackling its "social media manipulation."

The account, in English, Farsi and occasionally Arabic, is funded by the State Department's Global Engagement Center, which is in charge of countering foreign propaganda.

To its modest number of Twitter followers, which stood at just over 2,700 on Saturday, @IranDisinfo offers a narrative in line with the Trump administration, highlighting human rights concerns in Iran, attacking its leaders across the spectrum and using the hashtag #40YearsOfFailure to describe the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew the pro-US shah.

But some of the many US-based critics of the Trump administrations hard line on Iran, who fear his policies could lead to war, voiced alarm at also being attacked by the account, which at times suggested they were stooges for the regime.

A State Department official said that while "the bulk" of @IranDisinfo's work was acceptable, the Department "identified recent tweets that fall outside the scope of the project to counter foreign state propaganda or disinformation."

On Friday, "the Department suspended the funding for the Iran Disinfo project until the implementer takes necessary steps to ensure that any future activity remains within the agreed scope of work," he said.

Negar Mortazavi, a prominent Twitter commentator on Iran who is based in Washington, highlighted the irony that she cannot return to Iran because she has worked for US-funded Voice of America.

"@IranDisinfo uses my own tax money to attack and smear me and call me 'Devil's Advocate,'" she tweeted.

The account also attacked Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post journalist who was detained for a year and a half in Iran.

@IranDisInfo assailed him for using his column in the newspaper to criticize Trump's ban on visas for Iranians and citizens of several other Muslim-majority countries, saying the former prisoners was ignoring abuses by Tehran.
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By Gary Robertson

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Reuters) - The gunman who killed 12 people at a Virginia Beach municipal building before dying in a shootout with police was identified on Saturday as a disgruntled city engineer and co-worker of most of the victims.

All but one of the victims from Friday's mass shooting in the coastal resort community were employed by the city, officials said, while the other was a contractor seeking a permit. Four people were wounded.

The gunman, DeWayne Craddock, had worked for the city's public utilities department for about 15 years, Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said at a news conference. He declined to comment on any possible motive.

"These are 12 individuals who came to work ... thinking they would go home in the evening, and they didn't return and it left a tremendous void in their families and in our community," Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said at a news conference.

It was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were slain at a Los Angeles-area bar and grill by a gunman who then killed himself.

Bodies were found on all three floors of the Virginia Beach building and in a car parked outside, according to authorities.

Cervera described the crime scene as "horrific" and said that investigators who spent the night inside the building endured a "physical, emotional and psychological toll."

Police said the gunman was armed with two .45 caliber pistols and used an employee pass to enter secure areas before firing "immediately and indiscriminately" on victims while reloading with multiple extended ammunition magazines.

At least one of the pistols was fitted with a "sound suppressor," police said. Both handguns were bought legally by the shooter within the last three years, Ashan Benedict, a special agent at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told the news conference.

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Two more firearms were found at the home where Craddock lived alone, he said.

After the attack began, two police supervisors from a building across the street arrived within minutes, Cervera said, and they were quickly joined by two police dog-handlers. The suspect was killed after a lengthy gun battle.

The victims who worked for Virginia Beach had been employed for between 11 months and 41 years. Six worked in the public utilities department and five were employed in the public works department.

A number of vigils and commemorations are planned, including a memorial service the city is organizing for Thursday evening.

GRAPHIC - Major mass shootings in the United States https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-SHOOTING/010092KQ3BM/index.html

MAKESHIFT BARRICADES

The bloodshed unfolded at Building Two of the municipal center complex on Friday afternoon as workers prepared to leave for the weekend. Some survivors recounted how they cowered in fear after stacking desks against office doors as makeshift barricades.

Three of the wounded victims were in critical condition and a fourth was in fair condition at local hospitals, said Julie Hill, a spokeswoman for Virginia Beach.

A police officer who was shot but saved by his ballistic vest has been treated and released, she said.

Cervera said he would only name the gunman once, and hereafter refer to him just as "the suspect."

According to local media, Craddock was 40 years old and had no serious criminal record.

He served in the Virginia National Guard from 1996 to 2002, and was assigned to a Norfolk-based battalion as a cannon crew member, a guard spokesman said, adding that Craddock's records do not indicate any overseas deployments.

Cervera said 40 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are recovering evidence at the crime scene, which lies in a complex of office buildings several miles inland from the town's popular seashore, situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia's most populous city has roughly 450,000 year-round residents. Its police department had trained for a mass shooting, and even planned to hold a citizen workshop on active shooter situations on Saturday. The workshop was canceled.

On Saturday, Melissa Millemon, a daycare worker, and Tina Devault, who works for a heating and cooling company, were among local residents who came to the shooting site to lay flowers, American flags, and other tributes to the victims.

Both said they either knew someone who had been killed or had a friend or acquaintance who knew one.

"One of my friends lost her neighbor," Millemon said, adding that a member of the local softball community was also killed.

"It's a sad day," Devault said.

(Reporting by Gary Robertson in Virginia Beach; Additional reporting and writing by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Paul Simao and Chris Reese)
Twelve people were killed and four more were injured in a mass shooting by a disgruntled government employee at a municipal building in Virginia.

DeWayne Craddock, who worked for the Virginia Beach public utilities department, opened fire indiscriminately upon his colleagues shortly after 4pm on Friday, said police.

The 40-year-old engineer was shot dead after a long gun battle with four police officers, one of whom was injured, according to police chief James Cervera.

Municipal workers described hiding in offices and under desks as the suspect shot victims on three floors of the building.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant, said she heard gunshots, called police and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door.

We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe, she said. We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasnt real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots.

Cheryl Benn, 65, said her husband David, a traffic engineer with the city, had called her from a barricaded room to say he initially thought it was someone working with a nail gun until he saw the bodies.

This is unbelievable for Virginia Beach, Ms Benn said. By and large, its a pretty calm and peaceful place to live.

Police entered the building and evacuated as many employees as they could before exchanging fire with the suspect. One of the officers life was saved by his bulletproof vest.

One of the victims was found shot dead inside a vehicle outside the municipal building. Ten others were killed inside and one more died on the way to hospital.

On Saturday morning the 11 city employees were identified as Laquita Brown, Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine Nixon, Richard Nettleton, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua Hardy, Michelle Missy Langer and Robert Bobby Williams. The 12th victim, Herbert Bert Snelling, was a contractor filling a permit.

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Pictures of the 12 victims were shown at a press conference (AFP/Getty)

The citys mayor, Bobby Dyer, called it the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.

A senseless crime happened that imposed tremendous grief upon the people of Virginia Beach, the commonwealth and this country, he added.

Virginia governor Ralph Northam said in a statement he was devastated by the unspeakable, senseless violence, and is offering the states full support to survivors and relatives of the victims.

That they should be taken in this manner is the worst kind of tragedy, the governor said during the news conference.

The attack took place less than 24 hours before Virginia Beach Police Department was due to hold a Citizens Defence workshop to offer advice on what to do during mass shootings. The event has been cancelled.

A .45-calibre handgun with a suppressor and extended magazines was recovered from the scene, according to officials. Two law enforcement sources told CNN the weapons were legally purchased recently.

Craddock appears to have had no major criminal convictions and online records suggested he served in the National Guard.

Dave Hansen, the city manager, said Craddock was still employed by the government at the time of the shooting and had a security pass that allowed him access to nonpublic areas of the municipal building.

Officials refused to comment on whether Craddock was facing disciplinary or termination proceedings.

Virginia Beach police are still investigating a motive and Mr Cervera said his name will only be mentioned once by the force. He will be forever referred to as the suspect, because our focus now is the dignity and respect for the victims of this case and to their families, he said.

The police chief said that officers gave the suspect first aid after he was shot, but he died.

A neighbour of the suspect told a local TV station that Craddock seemed like a nice guy. Cassetty Howerin, 23, said: Im petrified, because I live right under him so that couldve been easily me, or my girlfriend, or my roommate.

Virginia Beach is the states largest city and a popular holiday spot. The building where the attack took place is in a suburban complex miles away from the high-rise hotels along the beach and the downtown business area.

Additional reporting by Associated Press




America was reeling on Saturday after 12 people were shot dead at a government building in Virginia Beach late on Friday afternoon. It was the deadliest mass shooting this year and prompted fresh demands for gun control reform.

Related: Virginia Beach shooting: 12 dead as city mourns 'the most devastating day'

The 12 who died were named. Describing a horrific crime scene, police and city leaders said they would name the gunman only once, preferring to focus on those he killed. Four people remained in hospital, seriously injured.

Virginia Beach city manager Dave Hansen struggled to suppress sorrow and anger as he described a senseless, incomprehensible act of violence. As he listed the dead, his co-workers, he referred to them in the present tense.

Eleven were city employees who worked in Municipal Building Two. One was a contractor trying to get a permit. All but three lived in Virginia Beach.

Details began to emerge, in tributes from friends and family. Christopher Rapp was a member of a local bagpipe group. In a Facebook post, bandmates said he was quiet but passionate. He had only been working for the city for 11 months. Robert Bobby Williams, a special projects coordinator, had worked for the city for 41 years.

Laquita C Brown was remembered as someone who lit up any room. It still doesnt feel real, Sinda Price wrote of the public works employee of nearly five years. I cant believe shes gone.

Ryan Keith Coxs brother, Ervin Ray Cox Jr, wrote: My heart is hurting because my baby brother was murdered today. I wont hear his beautiful singing voice at church or home anymore. I loved my brother and will truly miss his caring soul. Until we meet again in heaven.

The other victims were Tara Walsh Gallagher, Mary Louis Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine A Nixon, Richard H Nettleton, Joshua O Hardy, Michelle Missy Langer, and Herbert Bert Snelling.

They left, Hansen said, a void we will never be able to fill.

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Top row from left: Laquita C Brown, Ryan Keith Cox, Tara Welch Gallagher and Mary Louise Gayle. Middle row from left: Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Joshua A Hardy, Michelle Missy Langer and Richard H Nettleton. Bottom row from left: Katherine A Nixon, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Herbert Bert Snelling and Robert Bobby Williams.

Top row from left: Laquita C Brown, Ryan Keith Cox, Tara Welch Gallagher and Mary Louise Gayle. Middle row from left: Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Joshua A Hardy, Michelle Missy Langer and Richard H Nettleton. Bottom row from left: Katherine A Nixon, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Herbert Bert Snelling and Robert Bobby Williams.Photograph: AP

The injured were not named. Martin OGrady, head of trauma at Sentara Virginia Beach hospital, told reporters one person had returned to intensive care and two needed operations to get injuries repaired. One person did not require urgent care, he said, but if the injury were a little further over he probably wouldnt be here today.

One policeman was hurt, saved by a bulletproof vest. Police chief James Cervera said officers responded within minutes of the first call from Municipal Building Two. There was no verbal exchange with the gunman.

Once he identified them he immediately opened fire, Cervera said. They returned fire. This was a long-term, large gunfight. The gunman was killed by police.

The shooting stunned this resort city of 448,000 residents and 3 million annual tourists, and renewed national debate about gun violence. Joe Biden, the former vice-president running for the Democratic nomination, said he and his wife, Jill, were heartbroken.

When will we finally say enough is enough? he tweeted. Its long past time to hold our leaders accountable.

Cervera named the gunman as DeWayne Craddock, 40, a 15-year employee of the public works department. According to the Associated Press, Craddock spent time in the national guard and received military training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelors degree in civil engineering.

Police confirmed on Saturday that he was a current employee and had not been recently terminated, as had been reported by some news outlets. The gunman gained access to the building with an active security pass.

Authorities said the gunman used a .45 caliber handgun with a suppressor and extended magazines. On Saturday, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent Ashan Benedict told reporters the gunman carried two pistols which were purchased legally in 2016 and 2018. An unidentified firearm recovered from the gunman's home was also purchased legally.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant, said she heard gunshots, called 911 and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door. She texted her mother to say there was a gunman in the building.

We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe, Banton told the AP. We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasnt real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots.

Virginia Beach is the biggest city in its eponymous state. Mayor Bobby Dyer called Friday the most devastating day in the history of his city.

It was the deadliest instance of US gun violence since November 2018, when a dozen people were killed at a bar and grill in Thousand Oaks, California. Other recent death tolls include 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016; 58 people at a concert in Las Vegas in October 2017; 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018; and 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in October.

On Saturday, Donald Trump tweeted that he had spoken to Virginia governor Ralph Northam and city leaders to offer condolences to that great community. The federal government is there, and will be, for whatever they may need. God bless the families and all!

The president is a close ally of the National Rifle Association, which is headquartered in Virginia. Democrats competing to take on Trump were quick to demand reform. Senator Bernie Sanders, for example, wrote on Twitter: The days of the NRA controlling Congress and writing our gun laws must end. Congress must listen to the American people and pass gun safety legislation.

In a statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi pointed to a bill passed in February when she said the House had passed common sense, bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation. But the prospect of an end to business as usual still appears remote.

The Senate must bring these bills to a vote, Pelosi said. As the upper chamber is controlled by Republicans, that remains unlikely.
Twelve people have been killed and six others wounded after a disgruntled employee opened fire at a municipal centre in Virginia Beach, the citys police chief has said.

Police said the suspect, a long-term and current employee at Virginia Beach Municipal Centre fired indiscriminately and was killed when officers responded to the incident.

Virginia Beach police chief James Cervera told reporters an officer was among the six wounded, adding that he was basically saved by his bulletproof vest.

Theres no way to describe an incident such as this, said Mr Cervera.

At the same conference, Virginia Beach mayor Robert Dyer said: This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.

The shooting happened at the Virginia Beach Municipal Centre, a campus of city offices and agencies, which includes the police department. The shooting happened in Building Number 2, which includes offices for planning and public works.

This day will not define Virginia Beach, said Virginia Beach councilman Aaron Rouse at the press conference. We will come together. We show the strength of our city.

Officials told WAVY that one patient was taken to Sentara Pincess Anne hospital. They were brought by a helicopter reserved for severe injures. Five other patients were taken to Virginia Beach General, seemingly with lesser injuries.

This is a tragic day for Virginia Beach and our entire Commonwealth, wrote Virginia governor Ralph Northam on Twitter. My heart breaks for the victims of this devastating shooting, their families, and all who loved them. I am on my way to Virginia Beach now and will be there within the hour.
By Philip Pullella

MIERCUREA-CIUC, Romania (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged ethnic Hungarians and Romanians to put their troubled past behind them on Saturday as bad weather disrupted his visit to Transylvania, forcing him to be driven for hours on winding mountain roads.

More than 80,000 people gathered on muddy slopes around one of Romania's most popular Catholic shrines to see the pope on the second day of his trip to the country.

Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of the First World War, has a large ethnic Hungarian population and there have been tensions sometimes between ethnic Hungarians and Romanians.

Ethnic Hungarians, many of whom are Catholic in a predominantly Orthodox Christian nation, are the largest minority in Romania, around six percent of the population.

This has often caused friction between the two European Union neighbors with tensions flaring occasionally over the public use of ethnic minority flags.

In his homily to the rain-soaked crowd, which included Hungarian President Janos Ader, the pope suggested past troubles should not be a barrier to co-existence.

"Complicated and sorrow-filled situations from the past must not be forgotten or denied, yet neither must they be an obstacle

or an excuse standing in the way of our desire to live together as brothers and sisters," he said.

Francis was to have flown by plane from Bucharest to the city of Bacau and then by helicopter to the Sumuleu-Ciuc shrine in this town nestled in the mountains.

But thunderstorms, low clouds and rain forced him to fly to the city of Targu Mures, on the other side of the Carpathian mountains, and be driven for to the site.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has visited Transylvania many times privately to meet local Hungarian leaders and outline his policy views.

In 2015, Romania rebuked him for posting on his Facebook page symbols it said suggested Budapest favors autonomy for Romanian territory populated mainly by ethnic Hungarians, calling such "revisionism" unacceptable.

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After the weather improved somewhat, Francis flew by helicopter and plane to the city of Iasi to visit Catholics in the remote region of Moldova, close to the border with the former Soviet Union's satellite Republic of Moldova.

There he addressed tens of thousands of young people, telling them to remain united and look for fresh bonds that can unite people.

He returns to Rome on Sunday night.

(Additionial reporting by Radu-Sorin Marinas in Bucharest, Editing by William Maclean and Clelia Oziel)
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Monster Beverage (MNST). Shares have added about 7.4% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Monster Beverage due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.

Monster Beverage Q1 Earnings & Sales Beat



Monster Beverage reported solid first-quarter 2019 results, wherein top and bottom lines outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved year over year. Notably, this marked the fourth straight positive earnings surprise, with the third consecutive sales beat.



Q1 Highlights



Monster Beverages earnings of 48 cents per share rose 26.7% year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents.



Net sales of $946 million improved 11.2% year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $916.3 million. Moreover, gross sales (net of discounts and returns) rose 10.1% to $1,090.4 million. Robust gross and net sales growth are attributed to strong sales for the Monster Energy brand energy drinks, introduction of Monster Energy brand energy drink and the launch of Reign Total Body Fuel high-performance energy drinks.



Additionally, net sales to customers outside the United States totaled $274.3 million, up 17.4% year over year. This represented about 30% of total sales in first-quarter 2019 compared with 25.8% in the year-ago quarter. However, top-line growth was partly negated by unfavorable currency that hurt gross and net sales by $25.9 million and $22 million, respectively.



Segmental Performance



Monster Energy Drinks: Net sales at this segment increased 11.5% year over year to $870.4 million. Robust gains from the sale of Monster Energy brand energy drinks and Reign Total Body Fuel high-performance drinks were partly offset by a negative impact of nearly $18.2 million from adverse currency rates.



Strategic Brands: This segment includes a range of energy drink brands acquired from Coca-Cola in addition to its affordable energy brands. Net sales at this segment rose 6.9% to $70.3 million in the first quarter. However, currency headwinds hurt the segments results by $3.8 million.



Other: Net sales at this segment, which includes some products of American Fruits & Flavors sold to independent third parties (AFF Third-Party Products), grew 12.8% year over year to $5.3 million.



Costs & Margins



First-quarter 2019 gross margin remained flat at 60.6%. Gross margin benefited from increased prices for products sold in the United States and Canada along with product sales mix. This was somewhat mitigated by negative geographic sales mix and higher input costs.



Operating expenses increased 11.4% year over year to $262.1 million. SG&A expenses, as a percentage of sales, grew 60 bps to 12.9%. However, selling expenses, as a percentage of net sales, dipped 50 bps to 11%. Meanwhile, distribution costs, as a percentage of sales, declined 10 bps to 3.8%.



Despite higher costs, operating income of $311.5 million increased 11.3% year over year. Meanwhile, the operating margin remained flat at 32.9%.



Other Financials



Monster Beverage ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $618.3 million, and total stockholders' equity of $3,698.8 million.



Moreover, the company bought back 2.6 million shares for about $139 million (excluding broker commissions) in the reported quarter. As of May 2, 2019, it had nearly $20.6 million and $500 million remaining to be bought back under share repurchase plans authorized in August 2018 and February 2019, respectively.



Strategies on Track



Monster Beverage completed the alignment with Coca-Cola system bottlers in the United States, with the allotment of the Kalil Bottling Groups distribution territories in March 2019 and the transition of the Big Geyser Inc. territory in April 2019. Further, the company is on track with the transitioning of the Monster Energy brand to Coca-Cola system bottlers in more countries.



Furthermore, management remains committed toward product launches to boost growth. In the first quarter, it successfully launched Monster Energy Ultra Paradise, Monster Dragon Tea line, Reign Total Body Fuel line of high-performance energy drinks and Java Monster Swiss Chocolate in the United States. Additionally, it rolled out many Monster Energy and Strategic Brands energy drinks in existing international geographies.



Moreover, the company is set to launch the strategically preferred affordable energy brand  Predator  in additional international markets in 2019.

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How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed an upward trend in fresh estimates.

VGM Scores

At this time, Monster Beverage has an average Growth Score of C, however its Momentum Score is doing a lot better with an A. However, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Estimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of this revision indicates a downward shift. Notably, Monster Beverage has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.



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Photo credit: Gary Coleman for Volvo Cars America

From Car and Driver

Nobody has ever asked me to come work in a car factory. The reasons for that are fairly obvious: Factories could be dangerous to me, and I could be dangerous to the product. The car companies are probably more worried about that second part-digits can be reattached, but wheels can't once I cross-thread all the studs. It takes a long time to build a reputation for quality, but a very short time for me to install your turbo backward.

Despite a few inherent risks, Volvo invited me to come build a 2019 S60 at their new 1600-acre plant in Charleston, South Carolina. That means they have a lot of confidence in me, or maybe just confidence in their quality-control procedures.

Clocking In

Photo credit: Gary Coleman for Volvo Cars America

Before showing up at the factory, it's important to be appropriately dressed. I make a pit stop at T.J. Maxx to buy myself some khakis (some Izod chinos, to be precise). Why? Because you can't have rivets on your clothing when you're working next to freshly painted cars, and it would be weird to wear suit pants while slinging a torque wrench.

After that, I am suited up with an orange polo shirt and steel-reinforced sneakers-built for maximum comfort and maximum toe protection. Suitably attired, new recruits are sent for training in the processes that will apply out on the factory floor. The goals are simple: stay safe, build perfect cars, and do it all quickly.

To learn the routines, you're dispatched to a practice line where the "cars" are wooden boxes with crude parts you'll need to bolt on as the line moves. For a given component, you need to verify the part number before you start slinging wrenches. You need to make sure your power tool is spinning in the right direction and that you're fastening the part with the right nuts.

None of that sounds too daunting, but when you've got multiple parts to attach while the car body moves inexorably toward the next station, discombobulation sets in quick. When that happens, you have one recourse: pull the cable that runs above your station and stop the line.

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At the Volvo plant, any worker can stop the line for any reason. When someone pulls the cord, a song starts blasting-a different song for each area, so a supervisor will quickly know which spot needs help. In the training room, it's "Welcome to the Jungle." My petition to change that to Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business" is swiftly rebuffed.

Joining the Line

Photo credit: Gary Coleman for Volvo Cars America

Given a choice of assignments, I head for a powertrain station, where I'll install driveshafts and purge valves with an exceptionally patient Volvo team member named Tramaine Smalls.

"Each car coming down the line is different, so you've got to check and see what it is-especially whether it's hybrid or not," he tells me.

Photo credit: Gary Coleman for Volvo Cars America

The reason for that, I soon learn, is that the engine side of the hybrid driveshaft is exactly the same as the nonhybrid but the overall length is way shorter, presumably because the electric motor takes up some real estate. So you don't want to bolt one of those into a nonhybrid lest you end up with a stubby driveshaft that doesn't reach the hub, causing someone to pull that overhead cable farther down the line (the song is "La Bamba," although no one knows why).

Smalls's job is to install driveshafts on both sides of the engine and then fit a nest of plastic tubes that seem to be part of the purge valve system. He's so smooth and untroubled that this all looks easy-hang the loose end of the driveshaft with a cable, seat the splines, start a couple of bolts, torque them down with a computerized wrench, mark them with a paint marker. That's one driveshaft.

The other one is a little different (it has a snap ring), and the purge valve tubes require both some screwdriver action and crimping a clip in place. All of this happens as the floor moves beneath you: you're not moving relative to the engine, but everything's moving through the factory, with stripes on the floor denoting where your workspace begins and ends.

If you're not done by the time your engine is on its way out of your area, it's "La Bamba" time. The music never plays on account of Smalls, but for me, that's a different story. The good news is that when you try to install a driveshaft backward, it won't go in that way. Trust me.

Bring In the Robots

Photo credit: Ezra Dyer

Like any modern car factory, the Volvo plant is highly automated. Parts of it are mostly dark even when the line is running, because robots don't need light. But you can see where automation hits its limits, where the dystopian darkness gives way to bustling human enterprise.

Even at the marriage station (where the lower half of the chassis is bolted to the upper body), the mega-robo-wrench that motors up beneath each car has its bolts supplied by a person, who makes sure each of the 20-plus wrench heads is loaded with the correct hardware.

Photo credit: Volvo

Having actually installed propulsion parts on somebody's brand-new S60, I have a newfound appreciation for the insane logistical nightmare of car manufacturing. Thousands of parts, assembled by human and machine, coalesce to become this single entity: a car.

When I climb into an S60 T6 for my drive home, I know that there are driveshafts driving and purge valves purging somewhere under that long hood. But it's a tribute to the Volvo build process that once I leave the factory parking lot, I forget all about how damn hard it is to build a car.

Until the next time I hear "La Bamba."

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King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, handed over to five men, top laureates of the 2017-2018 literacy program, the Mohammed VI Prize at a ceremony in a mosque in Sale following the Friday noon prayers.

The prize winners are Ibrahim Houilat from the city of Dakhla, Younes Yaacoubi and Fouad Hilal from Fez, Abdelhak El Karouani from Essaouira and Omar Drissi from Larache.

The National anti-illiteracy program in mosques was launched after King Mohammed ordered in a speech in August 2000 that Mosques remain open to dispense literacy and religious and civic education courses based on a well-defined program.

From 2000 to 2018, more than 3 million people benefited from the Program to combat illiteracy in mosques. The Program is also followed on the Mohammed VI channel of the Holy Quran, broadcast twice a day, and on the website of the ministry of Islamic Affairs.

The plan for the period 2017-2021 aims to increase the number of beneficiaries of the national Program to combat illiteracy in mosques to 4.5 million people, or 1.5 million additional people.

The ministry of Islamic affairs, which supervises the program, is to launch a new experiment as of next year at some 1,000 locations in urban and rural areas.

The new experiment, which will target men and women under 50, will mobilize Ulema Councils, imams of mosques, preachers, morchidins and morchidates, in coordination with local authorities.

The Program has enabled mosques to regain their leading position in terms of guidance, spiritual orientation and literacy, as well as their role in building a democratic, modern, open society based on the rejection of exclusion and marginalization, and the struggle against poverty and ignorance.
Illegal Mining





This article was originally published by 8btc and written by Vincent He.

Although China has shut down bitcoin trading platforms and deemed them illegal, its attitude toward bitcoin mining is still ambiguous. Now, 70 percent of the worlds bitcoins are produced in China, while 70 percent of Chinas stock are in Sichuan, a western province of China, especially along the Dadu River, where there is plenty of hydropower.

As bitcoin mining requires a lot of electricity, Chinas bitcoin mining camps are often located in remote areas with low electricity charges, such as Xinjiang, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and other regions. As a saying goes, Sichuan is the natural mining capital of bitcoin.

Due to the fact that nearly 50 percent of the revenue from bitcoin mining is used to pay for electricity, miners have turned to direct power supplies from power plants.

The cost is very low for the direct power supply of the power station, for it does not need to be integrated into the state grid, said a senior miner. Many mines are built directly in or near the power station, and they build their own substations.

A Chinese bitcoin mines factory building cannot be approved, nor can environmental assessments and construction reports. Mines may be suspected of illegal construction and power plants direct sales also violate electricity laws.

The shortest factory building is on the Dadu River embankment, only a few meters away from the river surface. The newly built cement wall is isolated from the office building of the power station and connected with a transformer unit separated from the wall of the power station.

Entering the factory building, the water mist emitted from the power plant drifted in and the staff jokingly said, This is natural cooling water.

The walls of the buildings in the mine are equipped with large fans running at high speed. In front of the fans in the workshop are dense mining machines. In front of some vacant machines, many workers are busy installing machines.

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According to the staff, the mining machines here come from all over the country, mostly from Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shenzhen and other regions. The owners keep their own mining machines in the mine camp. They pay the electricity fee, the deposit fee and wait for the coins.

During the flood season, the mining machines return to Sichuan one after another, Xiaowu said. Just like migratory birds, the mining machines migrate to Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in winter and return to Sichuan and Yunnan in summer, where electricity prices are lower.

A mine owner revealed that, because of the slow signing of the power supply agreement with the power plant, building the plant cannot include an environment assessment or construction reporting in advance.

The Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources said that they had known the illegal construction of bitcoin mining camps occurs along the Dadu River. At present, a working group led by the Credit and Economic Bureau has been set up, which is conducting a thorough investigation.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
The markets have been peppered with negative news all week, culminated with the so-called veiled threat by China to withhold the exportation of rare earth metals. CNBC left that story up on its webpage all day as if trying to scare investors, but the markets were resilient. There was no escalation in the U.S.-China trade dispute on Wednesday even though the headline writers tried to create one.

The Australian and New Zealand Dollars are trading higher on Thursday. When analyzed alone, this seems like no big deal, but when coupled with selling of the safe-haven Japanese Yen, a rise in U.S. Treasury yields and increased demand for risky assets, then the moves take on added importance.

The markets have been peppered with negative news all week, culminated with the so-called veiled threat by China to withhold the exportation of rare earth metals. CNBC left that story up on its webpage all day as if trying to scare investors, but the markets were resilient. There was no escalation in the U.S.-China trade dispute on Wednesday even though the headline writers tried to create one.

It may be just a subtle change, but the price action in the Aussie, Kiwi, Yen, Swiss Franc, Treasurys, stock market and even gold are all indicating that sentiment may be shifting.

While the headline writers may be trying to trigger another wave of selling pressure in stocks and another round of buying of safe-haven assets, keep in mind that all the U.S. and China have to do is announce they are talking about trade again and the negativity will go away quickly.

At 07:20 GMT, the AUD/USD is trading .6930, up 0.0013 or +0.21% and the NZD/USD is at .6521, up 0.0010 or +0.14%.

U.S. Economic News

It was a quiet day in the states on Wednesday. The Richmond Manufacturing Index ticked lower to 5, up from the previously reported 3, but below the 6 estimate.

According to the Richmond Fed, shipments and new orders had fairly flat reading and the third component, employment remained positive.

The bank said, Firms reported growth in spending and positive overall business conditions, and remained optimistic about growth in the coming months.

The Richmond Feds services sector index posted its largest single-month drop since February 2003, plunging to 1 in May from 26 in April. Firms also reported softening in demand growth and local business conditions, according to the bank. However, respondents were optimistic that growth would improve in the next six months.

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There were no major reports from Australia on Thursday and in New Zealand, Building Consents were down 7.9%. Last month, was revised down to -7.4%. The Annual Budget Release was an interesting read, but not a market mover.

Daily Forecast

At 12:30 GMT, AUD/USD and NZD/USD traders will get the opportunity to react to a number of U.S. economic reports, but the main focus is likely to be on U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Todays reports include the Goods Trade Balance, Preliminary Wholesale Inventories, Weekly Unemployment Claims and Pending Home Sales.

The GDP report is a little tricky to gauge at times because technically, it is stale data. In other words, it represents the past. However, given the escalation in the trade dispute between the United States and China, this report could take on added importance.

Since the data was taken before the latest round of tariffs, which are scheduled to kick in on June 1, a number lower than the 3.2 previous read and especially the 3.1 estimate will take on added importance.

If investors believe that economic growth will worsen after the tariffs are in place then a lower number can only mean the economy is already trending lower.

If the report comes equal to or higher than expected then it will mean the economy has some wiggle room and that perhaps it will take more than the new tariffs to trigger a recession in the future.

Look for heightened volatility with the release of the report and keep in mind that the AUD/USD and NZD/USD price action is indicating an easing of tensions. Dont be surprised if the U.S. and China announce the trade talks are back on. Both currencies could rally sharply higher if this occurs.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:
The summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held Friday night in Mecca, hailed the sustained efforts made by King Mohammed VI, chairman of the Al Quds Committee, for the defense of the Holy shrines of Islam in Al Quds Acharif.

This came in the final communique issued by the 14th OIC summit, where King Mohammed VI was represented by his younger brother Prince Moulay Rachid.

The Islamic leaders and representatives of the OIC member countries praised the sustained efforts of King Mohammed VI to counteract the measures taken by the Israeli occupation to Judaize the holy city.

The OIC leaders also praised the important role played by Bayt Mal Al-Quds Acharif Agency, financial arm of the Al Quds Committee, through the realization of development projects and the organization of activities for the benefit of the inhabitants of the holy city and in support of their resistance.

The declaration stressed the OIC Member States endeavors to end Israeli occupation of Arab and Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, in accordance with relevant international resolutions, affirming full solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle against occupation and their right to decent life in their independent and sovereign state with Al Quds as its capital.

The 14th OIC Summit, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the OIC, examined ways to develop a unified position on current issues and events in the Islamic world and underlined the need to work earnestly in order to counter the political, economic and cultural challenges facing OIC member States.

Besides the latest developments in the Palestinian issue, the Summit also looked at the situation in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Addressing the latest developments related to Houthi militia attacks by ballistic missiles against Saudi oil pumping stations and the acts of sabotage on commercial vessels in the UAEs regional waters, the OIC Member States denounced these terrorist attacks and called on the international community to assume its responsibilities toward preserving peace and security in the region.

The declaration denounced terrorism, extremism and fanaticism in all their forms and manifestations, whatever their causes and motives and underlined the importance of closing ranks to stand up against terrorist organizations and enacting deterrent laws and controls to counter the scourge of terrorism.

The declaration rejected any attempts to link terrorism to any nationality, civilization or religion. It also reiterated rejection of providing any direct or indirect support for groups and organizations that incite violence, extremism and terrorism under any pretext.

The Member States reiterated their firm condemnation of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion, color or faith, and decried sectarianism, and confessional fanaticism in all their forms and manifestations.

The declaration affirmed that those in charge of social media have huge responsibilities in achieving the goals and objectives of Islamic fraternity and keeping away from stirring chaos and dissent among the members of the Islamic nations.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the leader in customer relationship management software, is no stranger to controversy. But its latest move may have just raised the stakes. With no fanfare, Salesforce updated its Acceptable Use Policy in April, and now bars its customers from selling certain types of firearms using the e-commerce tools on its platform.

The revised document includes the following passage under the Prohibited Actions subhead: "Worldwide, customers may not use a service to transact online sales of any of the following firearms and/or related accessories to private citizens." It went on to list a number of military assault-style weapons, as well as "magazines capable of accepting more than 10 rounds." This policy bars customers that sell items on the list from using its e-commerce platform to process the transactions.

This policy change is sure to please some people and infuriate others, and that's not even counting the customers affected.

Military assault-style weapons hanging on a wall rack

Image source: Getty Images.

A growing trend

Salesforce was immediately accused of forcing its views on others and discriminating against gun owners. It's important to note, however, that Salesforce isn't the only company to choose sides in the ongoing national conversation about gun sales. In 2015, retail giant Walmart (NYSE: WMT) -- the biggest seller of guns and ammunition in the country -- announced it would no longer sell military assault-style rifles in its stores. This included the AR-15, the most popular rifle in America. The company also banned high-capacity magazines and bump stocks.

In early 2018, both Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) and Walmart went even further. Dick's said it would ban sales of assault rifles at all stores, including its 35 Field and Stream locations. Both Walmart and Dick's also raised the minimum age for gun purchases to 21 years old. This year, Dick's announced it would stop selling guns and ammunition from 125 of its 720 locations. Sales at Dick's initially slumped following the decision, but the company returned to growth shortly thereafter.

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Other online sales platforms have made similar moves. eBay and Amazon.com -- the world's largest e-commerce company -- already have policies that prohibit the sale of firearms on their sites.

Salesforce has a history of activism

This isn't the first time Salesforce and its outspoken CEO, Marc Benioff, have used the company's success to bring attention to -- and take a stand on -- a highly charged political and/or social issue.

Indiana passed a law in 2015 that allowed businesses or individuals to cite religious beliefs in refusing services to same-sex couples, which some called state-sponsored discrimination. Salesforce, which has a major presence in the state, canceled programs, and Benioff threatened to pull all Salesforce employees out of Indiana. The outcry from a wide variety of companies doing business in the state -- including Salesforce -- forced changes to the legislation.

At Benioff's direction, Salesforce has been working to close the gender pay gap, one employee at a time, and ensure that women are promoted on equal footing with their male counterparts. The executive has also called for greater regulation of social media, citing consequences similar to alcohol and tobacco addiction.

Benioff has made his views on guns clear before. Just in February, he tweeted support for banning the AR-15 rifle following the deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, last year.

No big deal?

Some investors feel that these companies are overstepping their bounds by publicly stating their views on controversial political issues like guns, and should just focus on their businesses. Others applaud the decisions, citing the influence of big companies on orchestrating change.

Salesforce sought to downplay the move in a statement: "After carefully reviewing similar policies in the industry and discussing with internal and external stakeholders, we updated our policy. The change affects new customers and a small number of existing customers when their current contracts expire."

More From The Motley Fool

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fools board of directors. Danny Vena owns shares of AMZN. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends AMZN and Salesforce.com. The Motley Fool recommends EBAY. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The United States warned China on Saturday against threatening its neighbours' sovereignty and said Washington is investing in new military technology to defend its Asian allies. Washington and Beijing have been vying for influence in the region, which hosts potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait. Ties between the two powers are once again taking centre stage at the weekend Singapore conference known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, which gathers defence ministers and top military officials from around the world. While the forum is purely on security, the discussions are being held against a backdrop of Sino-US trade tensions and high-tech rivalry. "China can and should have a cooperative relationship with the rest of the region ... But behaviour that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end," acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told the forum. "Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow, and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefitted us all, including China." - No 'fait accompli' - Washington has been pushing back against Beijing's aggressive militarisation of the South China Sea, where China has staked "indisputable" ownership over almost the whole area and rejects partial claims by Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Beijing is also regularly angered by US and other warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait, which it considers part of its territorial waters. A French warship entered the Strait in April, prompting a warning from China's navy. On Saturday, French minister of the armed forces Florence Parly said her country's forces will not be forced from the region. "We will continue to sail more than twice a year in the South China Sea. There will be objections, there will be dubious maneuvers at sea. But we will not be intimidated into accepting any fait accompli," she told the forum. For the first time since 2011, China has sent its defence minister, General Wei Fenghe, to the Singapore gathering. Wei is scheduled to speak Sunday, when he is expected to respond to Shanahan's remarks. The Sino-US rivalry has placed many Asian countries in a bind as they have deep military ties with Washington but enjoy strong trade relations with Beijing. "The uncertain relationship between the US and China will remain as an explicit factor in shaping the stability of the Asia-Pacific region particularly that of Southeast Asian countries," Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu told the conference Saturday. "If anything happens in the South China Sea, the world also will suffer. We have to increase our defence diplomacy. We love America, we also love China." - 'Indo-Pacific is our priority' - Shanahan said the United States was investing heavily in new military technology to combat fresh threats and maintain its superiority and capability to defend its Asian allies. He said North Korea "remains an extraordinary threat and requires continued vigilance" and stressed Washington would continue to meet its defence obligations to Taiwan, which China sees as part of its territory to be reunified. "The Indo-Pacific is our priority theatre. We are where we belong. We are investing in the region," he said, adding that military investments will rise significantly over the next five years. "We want to ensure no adversary believes it can successfully achieve political objectives through military force," Shanahan said. Shao Yuanming, deputy chief of the joint staff department of China's Central Military Commission, on Saturday welcomed US efforts to stabilise military ties, but slammed what he said were "erroneous remarks" by Shanahan on the South China Sea and Taiwan. "From the very beginning, Taiwan is an inseparable part of China," he said. "China must be unified... If anyone wants to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will resolutely defend our motherland at all costs." The two sides have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949 but China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified. Washington and Beijing have been vying for influence in the region, which hosts potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said the US was investing heavily in the Indo-Pacific region to maintain its military superiority and capability to defend its Asian allies China's defence minster General Wei Fenghe is attending the Singapore meeting and is expected to respond to the US remarks on Sunday
When world leaders gather for D-Day commemorations, Vladimir Putin's absence will be a sign of how Russia's huge sacrifices in World War II have gone missing in most French minds. It's a striking reversal from 75 years ago, when the Soviet contribution at a cost of 27 million dead soldiers and civilians was hailed by the French as the biggest factor in Germany's defeat. Just after the European fighting ended in May 1945, a poll by the French survey group Ifop found that 57 percent of the French thought Moscow had contributed the most to the war effort, compared with just 20 percent who named the United States. But by the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings by Allied forces in 2004 -- when Russia was represented for the first time, by Putin -- the figures were reversed, with just 20 percent putting the Soviet Union first. Instead, 58 percent lauded the US, even though its total losses of 400,000 in both the European and Pacific theatres were just a small fraction of the dead in the Soviet Union. "From a purely historical point of view, overlooking the absolutely critical role of the Soviet Union is absurd," said Denis Peschanski, a senior research fellow at France's CNRS institute, who has long studied the evolution of France's collective memory of the war. - Hollywood effect - While the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact initially established neutrality between Moscow and Berlin, Hitler's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union led to brutal fighting and sieges of Russian cities until Stalin was able to mount a counterattack. The fierce Russian offensives battered Germany's military might while immobilising millions of Nazi soldiers who might have reinforced the Atlantic coast. "In 1945, the great ally was Stalin and the USSR -- their role was absolutely clear for the French," said Stephane Grimaldi, director of the Caen Memorial Museum for World War II in Normandy. "But 50 years later, it's the US that won, for the very simple reason that in the meantime we had the Cold War," he said. Hollywood also helped change perceptions with a string of hit films starting in the 1960s showing brave Americans fighting far from home. "If you look at way it has been portrayed in popular culture, it's all about the battle in France and the Battle of Britain, but World War II was overwhelmingly Germans and Russians killing each other," said Jeremy Shapiro from the European Council on Foreign Relations. - Hearts and minds - For decades, French presidents didn't officially commemorate the D-Day landings, when 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed France's Atlantic coast by sea and by air. French Resistance hero and president Charles de Gaulle refused to honour the Allied operation in which he was relegated to a secondary role. Upon entering Paris in 1944, he cheered a city "liberated by itself, liberated by its people" -- despite the lines of British and American tanks behind him "De Gaulle wanted first and foremost to re-establish France's sovereignty, and that meant getting the Americans out," Grimaldi said. His anti-American tendencies were echoed by France's Communist Party, which wielded tremendous postwar influence thanks to its role in the Resistance. The communists regularly reminded voters in the post-war period of the Red Army's contribution. But Soviet repression behind the Iron Curtain steadily eroded support for them -- just as the US was shaping its own narrative of how the war was won, on the silver screen. "A film that had an absolutely essential role in the '60s was 'The Longest Day'," Peschanski said. "It puts the spotlight on the Americans and the French Resistance, and it was a phenomenal success." Just over 30 years later, another D-Day film gave the heroic American account to new generations on both sides of the Atlantic -- Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" from 1998. "The Cold War isolated the Russians, and it isolated the Russian story" of the war, Grimaldi said. "The hero is now the nice American, it's John Wayne, and he's the one who's going to save Europe, not the Russians." - 'Should be in front row' - America's role in liberating Europe got a further boost when president Francois Mitterrand became the first French head of state to hold D-Day ceremonies at the Normandy beaches in 1984. US president Ronald Reagan attended the commemoration, which would become a major world event just as the Soviet Union was collapsing. Yet even as the war ended, gratitude to Russia hadn't totally eclipsed France's admiration for the US, with GIs getting rapturous welcomes as they fought their way across the country. Asked in a 1944 poll which country they would visit if they could, 43 percent of Parisians picked the US, while just 13 percent chose the Soviet Union. Russia's image has been tarnished further under Putin, whose relations with the West nosedived after he ordered troops into neighbouring Ukraine in 2014 to annex Crimea. "Putin's not being invited has nothing do with World War II, it's about today," Peschanski said. "If the goal was to talk about the past, the Soviet Union and its heirs, which means Putin, should be in the front row alongside the Americans and the British." A memorial wall for German soldiers killed in Russia during WWII illustrates the role that country played in defeating the Nazi regime
With the second series of #KillingEve due to arrive in the UK imminently, Phoebe Waller-Bridge reflected on her experience of working on the show with none other than Tina Fey, exclusively for British GQ. https://t.co/W0TrhfZ26n  British GQ (@BritishGQ) May 30, 2019

On Solo:She was amazed at the detail/craftsmanship of what goes into making the film. Everyone from cast and crew were energetic about it.She said the first time going onto the Millennium Falcon was cool, and said that there were crew who would with a press of a button wobble the ship.On Growing Up as a child:Said she was a nightmare and she liked school growing up, just didn't like homework.Her first memory of making someone laugh was when she was seven and remembers her mom laughing.On Sandra Oh and her Character Eve:With Eve, I felt more connected to that character. There were bits of me. I was writing parts with bits of myself and then being able to let that go, actually, when I first spoke to Sandra [Oh] about Eve [the MI5 detective she plays], she had such an immediate connection to the character. She was like, I know who this is. And she would talk about her in ways that Id just end up writing on the wall, being like, Thats her touchstone, her point.'On Jodie Comers portrayal of Villanelle in Killing Eve:Villanelle really grew in my mind watching Jodie, because the more playful she got, the more I was like, We can go anywhere with this actress. Then shed start putting on this swagger. Around episode four or five, Jodie just started doing this swagger. I was just like, Where did that come from? And I realized its when she goes back to Russia, her home country, that shes got this other personality there. And that really inspired how we wrote the final few acts.
Trump just throws tariffs at any and all problems, doesn't he?



This is so dumb. Jesus Christ.



We need to get rid of him in 2020. And honestly, start impeachment hearings now so his misdoings can be televised nationally.

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It's the only thing he knows because he's never moved on from the 80s, tarifs, trade wars, reaganomics, etc.



I hate him so much.

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Diplomacy hew?

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The only tolerable comment on that tweet is the one that says "I would pay to not have avocados in my life"





Everyone else is as deplorable as you would expect.





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I dont know how much yall are paying, but in Spain I get four perfect avocados for 2.

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Thats so cheap! I was in Italy last month and they asked 4 for 1

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They're usually $2 each near me.

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Omg where are you?? Here they charge 4 for $5

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same :(

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In Central California we can usually get them 2 for $1 sometimes or $1-2 each. Just depends on the time/season.



In LA theyre always crazy expensive so I always just stock up on avocados when Im back home.

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small ones at my texas grocery store are 88 cents. bigger ones are 1.66

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I went to Spain and tasted what you guys call avocados and I can see why you dont pay much for them.

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$0.50-$2. I try not to pay more than $1.25.

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The big ones can be over $1.50 sometimes, but I prefer the smaller ones and those are usually around $1. Hell I wish they were smaller (and could be cheaper), usually I dont need that much avocado/want to make sure I dont go over the portion limit which Is easy with avocado

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I japan I get one for like 200 yen.

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They're usually $1 each. Sometimes you'll hmget lucky and find them on sale for 2/$1

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Here its 2 for 2 or 3.70 for a kilo

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Where at? I think all the avocados I see are expensive...

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$3-5 dollars per avo is pretty usual here

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i live in ohio and right now the small ones are 69 cents, bigger ones are $1.50 or 4/$5

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In France now and I usually got them 2 for 3 in supermarkets. But I'm orignally from SE Asia and avocados are way cheaper there and taste way better too.

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Organic ones are usually like $3-5USD per pound at my small health food store.



Edited at 2019-06-02 10:31 am (UTC)

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Pretty sure I saw them on sale 2/4$ here in Mtl yesterday

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Target sells them for $1.29 but I get an extra 20% off for being an employee and another 5% with my redcard, so I pay less than 1 USD. I always buy a bag of 4 at the beginning of the week and then eat them over the weekend when they're finally ripe.

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I hate this asshole. He ruins everything.

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my friend made a valid point yesterday and the reason why trump is still popular. its because the average person doesn't see what's currently happening every singe day. the average person will look up someone right before an election and cast judgement based on that. so let's say things continue to go the same route - "oh, economy's good? taxes are fine? i think he's doing a good job"

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this. people will never vote against trump unless they get hit with 2008 style recession again

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Well, he's doing his best to kick off a toilet economy, which is currently well overdue. I think the economists have been predicting a big drop for several years now, which would've supposedly happened no matter who was president.



Chinese tariffs + going after Mexico is not a good thing for the average consumer. Unless things have changed, general stuff like US brand-name candy was being mfg in Mexico, along with items like appliances, etc. but I don't know if that has changed in the last decade. It's kinda hard to tell since companies are being weasels and not listing the country of mfg very much any more. But almost everything seems to be made in China these days of the items that do have a country of mfg listed.



I guess tariffs on Canadian goods is next. I do know they make some products for the general US consumer market (like Tampax?). And ooh, I see that my Mucinex is made in England, so I could see this douchenozzle going after all non-US manufactured goods and think it's a good idea.



Dumbo thinks this is the way to get back US mfg. That doesn't happen overnight, dude. Also, the US mfg of yore is dunzo with the level of automation these days. There won't be millions upon millions of jobs when you have robots. And the US mfg that is still around these days uses foreign components, even my US-made nail polish remover.



Maybe these idiots will notice when most everything they buy that is non-perishable or has a long shelf life goes up in cost, especially. But they seem to love to vote against their best interests (see all the idiots who had health insurance via the Healthcare Marketplace), so who knows.

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I eat a half almost every day, I buy 3 a week. And are there people who still believe Trump is good at business?

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Yes there are :(

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i'm an econ major and i've noticed lots of people in my classes that are pro-trump policies in class discussions. its terrifying

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We need a new plague.

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lol sis just bring his several bankruptcies or how not a single bank gives him money anymore. i can comprehend ignorant people thinking he knows business but people in college who have resources to know better? get out of here.

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pro-trump policies meaning scamming contractors and workers out of their due pay? Well thats unsettling...

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econ schools are breeding ground for bootlickers tbh

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my friend made a valid point yesterday and the reason why trump is still popular. its because the average person doesn't see what's currently happening every singe day. the average person will look up someone right before an election and cast judgement based on that. so let's say things continue to go the same route - "oh, economy's good? taxes are fine? i think he's doing a good job"

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Maybe the 54% of white women will be upset now.

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Lmao, hit em where it hurts

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nnnnnn

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Sometimes I just stop and think wow Donald trump is our president 



I guess less avocados for me



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They were showing him on the news the other day and that was me, it's so embarrassing.

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He had a rally in my city last month and I was like ">_> why is he near me."

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I do this occasionally as well. I'll see him giving what he calls a speech on tv and think "people actually voted for this guy".

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Even two years on, it still hits me in waves. Every once in a while, usually once every couple weeks, the fact will wash over me like I'm hearing it for the very first time and it just sends this sense of existential dread washing over me. It hasn't helped my depression at all.

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It's still so surreal to me when I think about it

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Maybe this will be the way to get white people to care about Trump's fuckery?

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Nope. They'll just deflect it.



"He HAD to!"

"He's doing this for our safety!"



It doesn't fucking matter anymore. Nothing does.

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They'll blame it on Obama, lol, it's always Obama's fault (tho of course, it's not...).

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The people in the midwest who voted for him probably think avocados are some liberal costal elite vegetable

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my friend made a valid point yesterday and the reason why Trump is still popular. its because the average person doesn't see what's currently happening every single day. the average person will look up someone right before an election and cast judgment based on that. so let's say things continue to go the same route - "oh, economy's good? taxes are fine? i think he's doing a good job"

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nah, they'll probably brush it off as ~snowflake millenials and their avocado toast tears

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Only when my Mexican boyfriend makes guacamole for me. I am too lazy to do it myself. Hell I am even too lazy to eat kiwis



Edited at 2019-06-01 10:41 pm (UTC)

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How hard is it to eat a kiwi? Slice in half, eat with spoon, throw away the furry skin.

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Guacamole isn't hard to make either lol. Just throw some avocado, onion, salt, and lime into a bowl and mix. Serrano chilies and cilantro if you're feeling festive.

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But the skin is good for youuu!



This came up the other day at work cos we had a pavlova (baked meringue + custard and fruit in case you dont know) and there was sliced kiwi on it and it HAD THE SKIN ON but it still tasted amazing because so much crispy sugar and meringue so no big deal I ate it all

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He is SO. GOD. DAMN. STUPID.

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This comment just floats around my head all day.

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Question, because I must be too ignorant to understand...anything. Can we not simply get them from, you know, Puerto Rico? Which is our commonwealth? Which could use the money post-Hurricane Maria? Where the avocados are plentiful and delicious? I mean...is it really that difficult? Someone educate me.

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He probably thinks Puerto Rico is a part of Mexico.

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i believe it

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They dont produce nearly enough for the rest of the US



We get 80% from Mexico and most of the rest come from CA

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I think I'm allergic to them, every time I've eaten them I've gotten sick

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Michoacan. Thats my state where all my family resides and where I stay when I visit. Guess Im gonna try and bring back several aguacates  on our trip in September. That and a box or two of Kinder Sorpresas for me and my nephews. Mostly me.







The US ones suck. Smh. Fucken Trump.Michoacan. Thats my state where all my family resides and where I stay when I visit. Guess Im gonna try and bring back several aguacates  on our trip in September. That and a box or two of Kinder Sorpresas for me and my nephews. Mostly me.The US ones suck.

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you can only bring avocados into the us without the pit, so good luck



and kinder sorpresas were illegal in the us, no? it's why the us has kinder joys

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Welp. I was mostly half joking about the avocados but thats a bummer to know.



Yeah I guess Kinder Sorpresas are still considered illegal in the US but Ive never had a problem flying back home with a box or two in my checked in luggage. I just stuff them in between my clothes and theyre always there when I collect my luggage.

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Why can't they have the pit? That's so odd.

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Stewie, are you going to become a black market avocado dealer?

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Avocados, eh. Im more annoyed that Dollar Tree is going to have to raise their prices because of Trump.

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come again about dollar tree

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It seems like this was inevitable. None of the other dollar stores are strictly one dollar anymore, and Dollar Tree has stuff for more than a dollar in some states already.



Family Dollar, which is owned by Dollar Tree, has been struggling for awhile and just announced they're going to start selling alcohol.

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WHAT?



NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

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ok see now THIS is the most devastating news ive heard in a long time



my wallet is quaking 

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Hm, considering the dollar store is mostly cheap plastic stuff, Trump might actually inadvertently help the environment, lmfao

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Cabinet, which comprises of 58 ministers has a total of 51 crorepatis. According to the details mentioned in the self-sworn affidavits of all these ministers, excluding Ramvilas Paswan and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, total 22 ministers have declared criminal cases against them, says a report by an NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The details of Ramvilas Paswan and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar were not analyzed as they are not currently members of either House. Among total 16 ministers who have said there are "serious criminal cases" registered against them, BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, V Muraleedharan, who is now MoS in the Ministry of External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, has declared an attempt to murder case against himself.

While the average assets of all the ministers account for Rs 14.12 crore, four ministers have declared more than Rs 40 crore worth of assets. SAD MP and Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the richest minister with assets worth Rs 217 crore. Goyal Piyush Vedprakash, BJP Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra, is the second richest minister in Modi's new Cabinet with assets worth Rs 95 crore. Rao Inderjit Singh, BJP MP from Haryana, is the third richest candidate with total assets worth Rs 42 crore while Home Minister Amit Shah is the fourth richest minister with assets worth Rs 40 crore.

Nirmala Sitharaman is new Finance Minister: Dalal Street hails appointment, expects her to revive the economy

Six ministers -- Amit Shah, Giriraj Singh, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Babul Supriyo, Nityanand Rai, and Prahlad Joshi -- have declared cases related to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A) and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs (IPC Section-295A), said the report. Besides, three ministers, including Nitin Gadkari, Giriraj Singh, and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, have declared cases related to illegal payments in connection with an election, bribery and undue influence at an election.

India Inc on the agenda for the new government

Of the total 56 members analyzed, two candidates are just Class 10 pass, while six are those with Class 12 certificate. Total 16 are graduate, while 15 have done post-graduation. There's only one candidate with a doctorate degree. Total 11 (20 percent) ministers have declared their age to be between 41 to 50 years while 45 (80 percent) ministers have declared their age to be between 51 to 70 years. There are six (11%) women ministers in the new Modi government.

Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister for a second term on Thursday. In his new Council of Ministers, Amit Shah was appointed as the new Home Minister, while Rajnath Singh has been given the charge of the crucial defence ministry. Nirmala Sitharaman was appointed the new Finance Minister after Arun Jaitley opted out due to health concerns.

Edited by Manoj Sharma

Modi govt assigns plum portfolios to many first-timers to use fresh thinking on key issues
Preliminary data released on Thursday by Japans Ministry of Finance showed that the countrys crude oil imports from Iran dropped 42 percent month-on-month to 169,100 barrels per day (bpd) in April. The drop comes a month after its Iranian crude imports surged to 292,209 bpd. Marchs surge came after the resumption of imports in February due to local refiners boosting purchases to meet term contractual requirements. February imports of Iranian crude were posted at 76,057 bpd, marking the first import of Iranian crude in four months.

Hydrocarbon anemic

However, the real story behind the numbers is Japans kowtow to U.S. demands that it halts Iranian crude oil shipments due to ongoing U.S. sanctions against Irans energy sector. In April, Japanese refiners suspended oil imports from the Islamic Republic after President Trump upped the geopolitical ante between Washington and Tehran by not extending sanction waivers past May 2 on Iranian oil imports for eight countries, including Japan. Japan for its part, with a population of only 127 million people, is the worlds third largest economy and third largest crude oil importer. Japan also remains the worlds largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer, ahead of China, and South Korea. Japan is also the third-largest importer of coal behind India and China.

Trumps move to suspend Iranian oil sanctions waivers caught major oil importers as well as markets off-guard since most expected either a continuation of the waivers to keep more barrels on the global markets to help offset the ongoing OPEC+ supply cut to remove 1.2 million bpd. Related: Saudis Raise Oil Prices To Asia As Demand Spikes

The removal of oil import waivers put Japan in a tight spot since it has to maintain its close relationship with the U.S. not only to maintain strong economic ties, but it needs U.S. military cooperation against a rising and increasingly aggressive China as Beijing expands its influence in both the heavily contested South China Sea as well as the East China Sea where the two countries have overlapping territorial claims.

The quandary for Japan is that the country is hydrocarbon anemic and produces virtually no oil and gas. Japan imports more than 80 percent of its oil and gas from abroad. Japan has limited domestic energy resources, and is currently only producing less than 10 percent of its total energy consumption domestically ccording to the U.S. Energy Information Administrations (EIA) most recent analysis of Japans energy sector.

Trade pressure from Washington

The U.S. is also calling Japan on the carpet for what it says are trade imbalances. During his state visit to Japan on Sunday and Monday, President Trump talked tough on trade but also gave his Japanese counterpart and ally, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, some breathing room. Trump indicated Washington would not press Tokyo for a bilateral trade deal until after the Upper House elections in July, a move that the Japan Times said was apparently taking into consideration Abes desire to avoid pressure to cut tariffs, which may affect farmers. Nonetheless, Trump chastised Japan about the tremendous trade imbalance between the two countries and said there would be some announcements regarding bilateral trade probably in August.

Abe said on Monday Japan will cooperate with the U.S. and also play a constructive role in helping reduce tensions with Iran as his country navigates Washington's sanctions against Tehran and hopes for an early restoration of Iranian crude imports.

By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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A Federal High Court in Lagos was on Friday informed that embattled Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia facing money laundering charges, is currently on admission in the Hospital. Details shortly

The post BREAKING: Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia Rushed to the Hospital appeared first on Breaking Times.
Few days after stepping down as Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has indicated interest to contest the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa State, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a statement signed by his media aide, George Oji, yesterday, he said: He had already met President Muhammadu Buhari and intimated him of his decision to contest the governorship race in Bayelsa State on the APC platform in November.

He added that being a minister opened his eyes to the enormous opportunities embedded in agriculture which he intends to replicate in the state by creating jobs as well as generate income, and guaranty food sufficiency.

He said: What I have learnt in this ministry of agriculture, I never learnt in 12 years that I was at the parliament. As a senator for eight years, I never knew the potential that exists in agriculture. Now that I am trying to explore some new opportunities, I am going to make agriculture number one priority, if I have the opportunity of taking the experience I have here to my home state.



He said his thought of being posted to Ministry of Niger Delta was dashed when President Buhari posted him to where he served.

I was thinking that I would be posted to the Ministry of Niger Delta, but the president in his wisdom decided to send me here, he said.
According to a report by TheCable, some members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN ), better known as Shiites, set ablaze the national flags of the US and Israel during a massive protest in Abuja on Friday.

The protesters, who converged on Wuse market junction, described the US and Israel as enemies and oppressors of the people of Palestine.

Abdullahi Musa, secretary of the academic forum of the movement, said the flags were burnt to show anger against the countries over their oppressive tendency against Palestine.

The flags were displayed to the crowd with the caricature of President Donald Trump before some members of the group sprayed fuel on them.

The incident led to traffic logjam in the area. Also, three coffins wrapped with Palestinian flags were on display which signified the three children of Ibraheem El-Zakyzaky, leader of the group, who were killed by the security operatives during a protest in Zaria in 2015.

The movement said the protest was organised to drive home the demand for President Muhammadu Buhari to release Ibraheem El-Zakyzaky, leader of the group, to enable him seek medical attention.

The group vowed to continue with the protest irrespective of the intimidation by the security agents.

The security operatives had on Friday morning mounted several roadblocks along Maraba-Abuja express way subjecting people to security checks.
The absence of former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode stalled the continuation of an alleged money laundering case leveled against him and three others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at a Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday.

Fani-Kayodes lawyer, B. F. Ajudua, said he was indisposed, but did not state openly what was ailing the former minister. We apologise for the absence of the second defendant. A letter to that effect was filed, he told the court.

Fani-Kayode, Director of Publicity of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation in 2015, is on trial with former Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, for alleged money laundering.

They were charged with former Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) Chairman and ex-Chairman of Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Mr. Yusuf Danjuma, and a company, Jointrust Dimensions Nigeria Limited.

The quartet were accused of violating the Money Laundering Act by indirectly retaining N300million, N400million and N800million, all proceeds of corruption, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The prosecution said they allegedly committed the offence, to which they pleaded not guilty, between January 8 and March 25, 2015 ahead of the 2015 general elections.

At the trial on May 14, Fani-Kayodes counsel had opposed the prosecutions bid to tender an extra-judicial statement he made.

ALSO READ: Fani-Kayode reacts to call for Oshiomhole resignation

Usman and Yusuf had also disowned their statements, contending that they made them under duress.

The defence counsel, Messrs Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), Norrison Quakers (SAN) and Clement Onwuenwuenor, urged the judge to order a trial-within-trial to test the voluntariness of the statements.

But the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, maintained that the defendants made the statements voluntarily, adding that there was no need for a trial-within-trial.

Justice Rilwan Aikawa had adjourned till yesterday for ruling on the statements admissibility, but Fani-Kayodes absence stalled it.

The judge adjourned until June 24 for ruling and possible trial-within-trial.

Post Views: 76
The Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde scrapped the activities of the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), following the spate of violence across Ibadan.

On Thursday, the Police Public Relations Officer, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said that six NURTW members had been arrested for disturbances at motor parks between Wednesday and Thursday

The state government on Friday declared the activities of the Union illegal with immediate effect. He also announced the taking over of all parks and garages in the state.

The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Bisi Ilaka, told journalists at a Press conference in the Governors Office that the combined security task force in every community of the state have been charged to take control and maintain peace and order. He said:
A group of newly elected Congress parliamentarians on Saturday elected UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi as their parliamentary leader. The decision was taken in a meeting, which was held a week after Rahul Gandhi, taking responsibility for the party's loss in the Lok Sabha election 2019, expressed his desire to quit the Congress President post. The Congress won 52 out of 542 parliamentary seats in 2019's General Elections. This is the party's second worst performance after the 2014 poll debacle. The grand old party is three members short to qualify for the post of Opposition's leader in Lok Sabha.

While congratulating his mother, Rahul Gandhi, in his address to party's MPs, said the party "will fight the BJP every day". "You have to understand who you are first. You are fighting for every single Indian. Hatred cowardice and anger is fighting against you... You have to be more aggressive," he added. Gandhi, in reference to the missing party members, said, "I would be happy if the old faces were here and they are ideologically with us. We will try and rejuvenate ourselves and we can do it".

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gandhi's close aide, has lost the Lok Sabha election 2019 from Guna. Several of the Congress' senior leaders have also lost against the BJP. Moreover, Sonia Gandhi has made it clear that the party chief's post is her top priority.

Addressing the lawmakers, she thanked Rahul Gandhi for "toiling night and day and taking on the Modi government... raising concerns about all sections of society and helped the party win in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan". She added, "As we speak, emotional messages are coming for his continuation (as the party chief). The Congress Working Committee met to deliberate the issue and must take steps." The meeting was attended by Congress' all 52 lawmakers, who won in the Lok Sabha election and members from the Rajya Sabha.

Also Read: Ajay Singh says SpiceJet exploring options to takeover Jet Airways' widebody planes

Also Read: Modi 2.0 Cabinet: New govt has 51 crorepati ministers; 16 with serious criminal cases

Also Read: Donald Trump says US to end preferential trade treatment for India on June 5
The police in Ogun State on Friday confirmed the arrest of 31-year old Oluwaseun Fakoyejo at MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta, venue of the inauguration of Ogun State Governor Prince Dr Dapo Abiodun on Wednesday May 29.

The arrest of the suspect followed intelligence received by the police command that some hoodlums were at the stadium to ferment trouble which made the Police to be more vigilant during the ceremony.

Spokesman of the State Police Command, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi said the suspect was arrested in the wake of attacks unleashed on people at the stadium shortly after the new governor and dignitaries departed the stadium.

Read Also: Police arrest man with short gun at Abioduns inauguration

Other suspected miscreants were said to have fled while one locally made single barrel pistol and four live cartridges were recovered from the suspect.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Bashir Makama has ordered a thorough investigation of the suspect, in order to apprehend his fleeing accomplices.
Operatives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Police Command have arrested six suspects for illegally trading in different naira denominations.

The suspects are: Auwal Yunusa, 22; Mohammed Auwal, 20; Yusuf Shuaibu, 31; Suleiman Saidu, 38; Usman Ibrahim, 24; and Mohammed Salisu; 24.

Their arrest on Friday followed a joint raid carried out in Dei-Dei area of Abuja, by the Central Bank of Nigeria Enforcement Committee on the Abuse of the Naira, the FCT Police Command and Department of State Security Services.

The Police recovered from them N1,948, 060 in 200, N50, N20, N10 and N5 denominations.

The police in a statement said:  On 31st May, 2019 at about 1030hrs, the police carried out joint raid at Dei-Dei under bridge where six persons were arrested for illegal Trading and Hawking of Nigeria Currency contrary to Sections 20 and 21 of the CBN Act, 2007.

Read Also: Police arrest man with short gun at Abioduns inauguration

The raid is part of the renewed effort of the Committee to enforce of the provisions of the aforementioned Sections of the Act, which prescribes the offence of selling, buying, spraying and squeezing of the Naira for which, six months imprisonment or an option of N50, 000 fine or both are prescribed as penalty upon conviction.

Consequent upon the raid which recorded huge success, the total sum of N1, 948,060 was recovered from the six suspects arrested and others at large at Dei-Dei under bridge.

The Police said added that the suspects and exhibits had been transferred to the Command Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.

It also disclosed that the case will be charged to court upon completion of investigation.
Chinas decision to hit back at US over the decision of President Trump to impose higher tariffs on $200 billion Chinese goods took effect as planned on Saturday, with Beijing retaliating against Washingtons escalation in the trade war between the worlds two largest economies.

The tariffs, announced on May 13 and taking effect as of midnight in Beijing (1600 GMT), apply additional 20% or 25% tariffs on more than half of the 5,140 U.S. products targeted. Beijing had previously imposed additional rates of 5% or 10% on the targeted goods.

No further trade talks between top Chinese and U.S. negotiators have been scheduled since the last round ended in a stalemate on May 10, the same day when U.S. President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods and then took steps to levy duties on all remaining Chinese imports.

China ordered the latest tariff increases in response to Trumps move.

Trump has accused China of breaking a deal to settle their trade dispute by reneging on earlier commitments made during months of negotiations. China has denied the allegations.

Beijing has grown more strident in recent weeks, accusing Washington of lacking sincerity and vowing that it will not cave to the Trump administrations demands. Its rhetoric has hardened particularly since Washington put Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on a blacklist that effectively bans the firm from doing business with U.S. companies.

Chinese state-owned newspapers warned this week that Beijing was ready to use its dominance in the production of rare earths  chemical elements used in everything from high-tech consumer electronics to military equipment  in its trade war with the United States.
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American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) last month won a critical legal case which set a precedent against IPv4 address fraud.

The verdict determined that ARIN was defrauded of approximately 735.000 IPv4 addresses by an individual who used 11 shelf companies to do so. The perpetrator was ordered to return the fraudulently obtained resources and cover $350.000 of legal fees.

As the prices of IPv4 addresses are rising due to exhausting supplies, this case might be the first one of more to come. Meanwhile, the emerging second-hand IPv4 market creates opportunities for both transparent IPv4 brokers and fraudsters alike.

The current state of the IPv4 market urges IP address buyers to be aware of their IPv4 suppliers reputation. Reputable companies dont take abuse control lightly to protect the assets they are leasing. The seller must guarantee the legitimate origin of their supply and the buyer must not use the assets in illicit ways, said Vincentas Grinius, CEO of Heficed, an IP address-centric company offering IP address, cloud, and dedicated server solutions.

There are several reasons why fraud in the IPv4 market is not an isolated occurrence, but rather a symptom of a more complicated problem.

As of today, the only regional internet registry with IPv4 resources available in its pool is the African regional registry (AFRINIC). The remaining registries have run out of free resources at different times in the past decade, with ARIN reaching this crucial point in 2015. What this means for the internet is that the only way to obtain an IPv4 address is to lease it in the second-hand market.

As with every resource in high demand and low supply, various legal and illegal practices are being deployed to obtain and resell IPv4s. At Heficed, we have various abuse prevention processes in place to make sure the resources we obtain and lease do not contribute to any fraudulent scheme, commented Grinius.

However, with the IPv4 second-hand market still scattered across a number of IP address brokers and the need for a transparent global solution to this problem unmet, there are precautions a lessee should keep in mind when obtaining IP addresses from a broker.

Everyone interested in leasing IPv4 addresses should invest time and investigate the broker they are about to trust. Apart from various tools available to check the history of a given IP address, the customer should also consider the reliability of the broker by answering these questions: how long is the company in business? What are other clients saying about the company? Reputation is paramount in the IP address industry, finished Grinius.

With fraudsters actively leeching upon public internet resources, both the sellers and the buyers ought to invest extra effort in minimizing the risks connected to IP address abuse of different kinds.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign from office for attending the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC).

Recall that President Buhari left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia a day after his swearing-in ceremony to attend a meeting of the Organisation for Islamic Affairs (OIC).

The group in a statement by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Chuks Ibegbu, said Buhari owes Nigerians explanation about his trip to Saudi Arabia immediately after the swearing-in ceremony.

The statement said, Why immediate attendance of Organisation of Islamic Countries, OIC, meeting in Saudi Arabia a day after his swearing in? Mr President Buhari owes Nigerians that explanation.

ALSO READ: Islamisation agenda: Fani-Kayode blast Lamido

This is a secular country and a leader that wants to be a mullah or fanatic is free to resign rather than plunge us into a religious crisis.

Ohanaeze also attacked Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila for traveling to Mecca to perform Umrah, lesser hajj, saying his journey to Mecca in his bid to become speaker was a bad omen.

Specifically, it said Gbajabiamilas journey to Mecca in his bid to become speaker spells doom for Nigerias democracy.

It stressed, Femi Gbajabiamila, a born again Christian turned into Muslim for political reasons is dangerous to our democracy.

Although, people have a right to change their religion, the sudden change from a Christian to a Muslim and his umrah journey to Mecca just to be Speaker is a bad omen.

Can we trust such a character who can change his faith for power sake?
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has agreed to be the royal father during the maiden edition of the Yoruba Cultural Heritage Festival taking place in Chicago, United States of America in September.

The Yoruba Cultural Ambassador, Chief Lekan Alabi, said this during his visit to the Oonis Palace in Ile Ife on Saturday.

Alabi said that he was at the palace to inform the Ooni about the Yoruba Cultural Heritage Festival and Awards at which the traditional ruler would be the Royal Father of the day.

According to him, Oba Ogunwusi had earlier picked Sept. 6 to Sept 9 for the event, adding that the dates had already been publicised.

Read also: Ooni to tour operators: project Nigeria in good light

Also speaking, the festivals coordinator, Mr. Wole Duro-Ladipo, said that he was very happy that the Ooni would be in Chicago for the event.

We were clamoring that the Ooni should come and we are delighted that he had agreed to be with us from Sept. 6 to Sept. 9.

Nigerians in Chicago, including the Mayor of Chicago, University of Chicago and Nigerians in United Kingdom are eagerly waiting to receive our revered Royal Father, he said.(NAN)
Eighteenth Century British philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, might not have had Zamfara State in mind when he painted the picture of the disorderly society that prevailed before the institution of government. Describing the setting as the state of nature, Hobbes reckoned that life in that setting was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short because there were no laws governing how people related with one another, hence it was all a matter of survival of the fittest.

Sadly, that seems the ugly prospects that stare the residents of Zamfara, the Northwest state where bandits appear to have taken over the reigns, unleashing a reign of terror on hapless residents. But they(residents)appear to have grown tired of waiting for help from the security agencies and have resorted to securing themselves against the mindless anti-social elements who have turned the state into a killing field. The consequence is the proliferation of arms and the springing up of many local arms manufacturing outfits who are out to meet the rising demand for arms among the residents. So cheap now are arms in the state that with N7,500, a sum that is barely enough to buy 50 litres of petrol, you can own a pistol.

An erstwhile politician and former secretary of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, an international umbrella of cattle breeders, Alhaji Sale Bayari, recalled that before now, most of the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) that circulated in the area were smuggled in from the Maghreb due to the Arab Spring uprising and the activities of the Al-Qaeda movement. He said that some of the arms used in the uprisings found their way into the country through migrants from Libya to Sudan, Mali, Chad, Niger and finally, Nigeria.

Bayari, who is the current chairman of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, recalled further that a lot of these SALWs were brought into Nigeria because of the big crime market involving armed robbery, cattle rustling, kidnapping, bunkering, Niger Delta militancy and herdsmen/farmers crises, among others.

Bayari explained that herdsmen, having seen the efficacy of the arms that were used against them by cattle rustlers and other criminal elements, became desirous of acquiring them for self-defence. But at the end of the day, such arms are not only used for self-defence but also for aggression, depending on the sociology of the society.

Kamuku Forest is a typical example of such an environment which has become the fortress of the oppressed, the displaced, the maimed, the dispossessed, the poor and the orphans of those murdered in cold blood in their struggles to defend their tribe, faith and their means of livelihood, he said.

Guns, guns everywhere

But while the world is fixing its gaze on the killings in the state, the gun manufacturing industry is booming, all in the name of local vigilantes protecting the people in various communities, especially those that are most hit by the killings. In Tsauni, a community in Tsafe Local Government Area, about 90 kilometres drive from Gusau, the state capital, for example, local gun manufacturers have found wealth.

Investigation conducted by The Nation revealed that a double-barrel pistol from the local blacksmiths in the area sells for N7500, while a short single barrel gun that carries between 10 and 20 Boris iron balls, costs between N13,000 and N20,000.

A gun manufacturer in the area, who pleaded anonymity, said the business had enjoyed a boom since banditry became pronounced in the state.

He said: We now have a bigger and wider market because of the activities of bandits. People also come here in hundreds every day for the concoction that could make one immune to bullets of any type. People come here daily from all corners of the country and even beyond. A lot of people buy these guns and go back to their communities to get the ammunition, which is easy to get from any automobile mechanic.

Asked whether they sell their products to only vigilante groups in the state, he said: We sell to anybody with the purchasing power. Why should we ask them who they are and where they come from? That is not our business. Our business is fabricating these guns and selling them to make money. We should not ask questions or theyll think we are security people and we will lose their patronage.

In Tsafe, Sokoto Road in the heart of Gusau and other parts of the state, it is now a common sight to see travellers atop trucks and in small commercial vehicles flaunting their locally made guns without being subjected to any form of checks. Teenagers are also frequently seen clutching guns in the streets.

The police, who are constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of checking the proliferation of arms are nowhere to be seen in the whole of Tsauni community, and no single security operative is found around.

The Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad Muhammad, who is also the Chairman of the Zamfara State Council of Chiefs, lamented the absence of security agents, saying it is the the reason banditry and other criminal activities have assumed a gruesome dimension.

He stressed that none of the 14 local government areas in the state could boast of 50 policemen except those in the state capital. This, he said, makes the communities prone to the activities of criminals who can easily hide in those areas without traces.

One of the first sights that confronts a visitor to Tsauni community is the booming market of firearms displayed on mats the same way as tomato sellers display their ware beside the main road. A more dangerous aspect of the arms production business in Zamfara is the experience the manufacturers are gaining by the day. They have even started producing guns that use vehicle plugs as bullets, which they christened mai plugo (the plug type). Also on display are swords, machetes, moon-shaped bows and knives of different shapes and sizes.

A leader of the vigilante group, Malam Ibrahim Muhammad, lamented that the police who everyone look up to for protection and to investigate and fish out bandits informants had among them some bad eggs who make it possible for suspected informants to be free by changing the charge sheets before taking them to court. He said their initial suspicion was that it was judges that were setting the suspects free.

He said: On one occasion, we investigated and found an informant for the bandits. We apprehended him and handed him over to the police. But we went through hell before we could secure the bail of those that apprehended him as they were arrested by the police and detained for spurious reasons.

Read also: 26 killed as mob, bandits clash in Zamfara

Genesis of banditry

Tracing the genesis of the banditry that now ravages the state like a deadly disease does a healthy body, the Emir of Anka, Alhaji Ahmad, said it all began when some residents, who called themselves Yan sa Kai, organised themselves as a group and launched extra-judicial killings on Fulani kingpins when cattle rustlers started their nefarious acts in the 1990s.

He said: At that time, there were only cattle rustlers who had their dens in the forest. They later organised themselves and appointed a leader who had a sort of magic stick. They would visit towns and villages on market days, and when he pointed the magic stick to any person of his choice, they instantly labelled the person a cattle rustler, hack him to death and burn his flesh in front of everyone, after removing his ear.

The emir recalled that 98 per cent of their victims were Fulani; an act he said some politicians used to incite the Fulani against the Hausa by claiming that the Hausa wanted to eliminate the Fulani in their domain. The Fulani, according to him, started migrating in fear for their lives.

He added that when the extra-judicial killings continued, the Fulani organised themselves and started contributing money to buy all sorts of guns. They then started converging to attack the Yan Sa Kai group, killing any one of them they came across.

The emir said it is sad to see people accusing traditional rulers of aiding bandits when they (traditional rulers) are the ones calming down the situation in their own capacity. He called on the Federal Government to live up to its promises so that people will have access to their farmlands and go about their normal activities.

Now, the Yan Sa Kai group has started mounting road blocks and checkpoints, wearing blue uniform with their mai plugo on their shoulders and collecting tips from drivers as gratification for securing the roads. Many people believe there is the possibility that the same people responsible for banditry could be the ones blocking the roads.

Most of the vigilantes and Yan Sa Kai members are widely believed to be immune to gun bullets and metal blades because of the concoctions and other talisman they take to protect themselves.

Executive order raises hope

Many people see it as a welcome development that President Muhammadu Buharis recently signed into law the executive power to remove, revoke or banish all forms of firearm or shotgun certificates or licences in Nigeria. The executive order, according to reports, will take effect from today(June 1 this year).

The law stipulates that the licence issued to anybody in the past, allowing them to sell, own or carry any type of prohibited weapon, components parts or ammunition is now history. Only policemen, soldiers and other security agents are fully authorised by law to can carry a gun can now do so.

Yet, many people believe that revoking gun licences is not enough, because most of the people who own various types of guns are carrying them illegally. The critical thing, they say, is the recruitment of enough policemen to man every nook and cranny of the community. The Emir of Anka had earlier suggested that youth service should be extended to three years so that the youths, during their orientation in camp, would be trained as security operatives and incorporated into the security folds for the additional two years as other countries are doing, while the normal recruitment of security agents should still go on.

To dislodge kidnapping in Zamfara State, drastic measures need to be taken, according to the Chairman, Zamfara State Council of Chiefs. Communications in Zamfara State, he said, should be cut off for at least three months if a lasting solution must be found to the activities of bandits.

The telephone, according to the emir, is what the bandits use to call the families of kidnapped people to demand for ransom. He said the situation had worsened to the point that bandits, during the telephone contact, instruct their victims family members to bring food items and other cooking materials, including salt, in addition to the ransom they demand.

He said that while cutting off communication could be a difficult solution, the people of the area would have to endure it in order to find a solution to the calamitous activities of bandits. He reasoned that without a source of communication with victims families to negotiate ransom, the bandits could give up their acts. But there is no solution to a problem without a price, he said, adding that part of the price the people of the state has to pay is to go incommunicado.

The emir condemned the situation where the security agencies prioritise security to individuals at the expense of the lives and property of the larger majority.

As you can see, I am an emir with six security personnel, comprising the police, the Civil Defence and others. I am only one person. You can see more than 40 security men in the convoy of a single governor, while in the whole of our community, you cannot see up to 10 security operatives. What kind of security arrangement is that? he queried.

Police launch manhunt for culprits

When contacted on the issue of the booming arms trade in the state, the Commissioner of Police, Celestine Okoye, told The Nation that he had issued directives to his men to fish out and arrest any person indulging in the fabrication and illegal sale of arms across the state.

A visibly angry CP warned that gun manufacturing is one of the worst crimes, adding that owning firearms factories is illegal across the country. No one has the right to own any gun factory and anyone caught in the business will be dealt with accordingly, he warned.

Oloye hinted that the command has protection arrangements for informants of security agencies, especially on the activities of bandits. He assured the residents of the commands full protection at all times. Anyone with information on the bandits and their criminal activities should not be afraid to come forward and see me, he counselled.

Okoye revealed that to curtail tomorrows criminality, the excesses of these criminals must be curtailed today, assuring the people of the state to be calm because their travails will soon be over.
Our company is a certified pellet producer of pellets based on the ENplus system (ID - UA 013). The monthly volume of production is up to 900 tons.

The raw material used is dry stem wood - PINE (100%), which is formed in the process of sanitary felling and thinning of forests (THIS EXPLAINS THE COLOR OF THE PELLET - the color of dry pine). The practical absence of bark guarantees a stable low ash content, up to 0.45%. Also, our pellets are characterized by high calorific value - more than 5 kW / h.

Four state forestries are located near us, which guarantees a constant raw material base. We purchase raw materials mainly from companies that are engaged in logging, as well as in forestries under direct contracts.

We export our products to Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Germany, Denmark and South Korea (we have experience in container shipping).

In the domestic market, through the largest in Ukraine chain of construction supermarkets Epicenter, pellets are sold to residential consumers.

We export our production on FCA, IF, DAP terms (Incoterms 2010).

Currently we have wood pellets, 6 mm:

- 15 kg bags - 100 EUR/ton, FCA (Incoterms 2010);

- big bags (1000 kg) - 95 EUR/ton, FCA (Incoterms 2010);



We guarantee fast customs clearance.

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We work on prepayment (bank transfer) or L/C.
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Welsh Liberal Democrats Councillor for Cwmbwrla Ward, City and County of Swansea - Please buy my novels at Author Page
AS A student, having an advocacy is going the extra mile.

It truly is for the 10 most outstanding student leaders in Central Visayas who were recognized for their exemplary performance not only in academics but in leadership and social responsibility as well.

They will all bid to become part of the national level of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) 2019 to be held on the last quarter of this year.

In a forum last May 29, 2019, two of them shared their personal stories and how they have developed their love for service.

It took a personal experience for Edward Aninon, of the University of the Visayas, to discover his advocacy for the Out-of-School Youth (OSY).

I was inspired by my dad. When he was still alive, he made it easier for me to study by supporting me. When he died, thats the time I felt I was less privileged. It was also the time I realized my passion to OSY Aninon said in Cebuano.

For Japhet Suson, of the University of San Jose-Recoletos, it was his family who inspired him to volunteer for various initiatives in and out of the university. I always have this sense of value for family. My parents have always told me that if you want to serve and help, dont ask for something in return, said Suson.

The TOSP, founded and organized by Jose Concepcion Jr., is already in its 58th year of search ing for outstanding graduating college students from all over the country.

The other eight awardees were June Jan Genelsa and Denxybel Montinola, both from the University of San Carlos, Marc Lennard Colina and Nino Jan Miole of the University of Cebu-Banilad, Shyra Marie Minoza and Janryl Tan from UC Main Campus, Lester Toledo from the Cebu Institute of Tecnology-University and Carlisle Naudyn Caroro of Siliman University. Unfortunately, none from Siquijor have made it to the top 10 this year.

Erlyn Ivy Rago, a member of TOSP 7s executive committee for this years TOSP search, said that they had a meticulous deliberation before coming up with the top 10.

Story continues

The TOSP regional screening committee did not just go through the applicants bid book but also went through the finalists stories during an interview, she said. The TOSP regional screening committee is represented by experts in the fields of Engineering, Medicine, Education, Humanities and Business and Accounting.

This years TOSP-CV has 36 nominees represented by 24 colleges and universities in the region; only 20 advanced in the regional judging and interview.

More than the cash prize, the gift of community and the journey they will have with the TOSP alumni is the biggest benefit for its awardees.

The journey of TOSP starts after the awarding ceremony. They journey with us, they have their ates and kuyas that can help and collaborate with them in their advocacy and the network in the community, Rago said.

These, according to Suson and Aninon, are the real highlights of their TOSP journey. (WBS)
CEBUs elite triathletes Jorry Ycong and Banjo Norte of the Cebu City Rider Omega Triathlon Team will battle some of the countrys top guns in the Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay Philippiness on Sunday, June 2, 2019.

Ycong and Norte will once again face the many-time 70.3 Philippines champion August Benedicto in the 1.9-kilometer swim, 90K bike and 21K run showdown.

Benedicto bagged the coveted mens Asian elite crown while Ycong and Norte finished as runners-up in their previous battle in the Ironman 70.3 Davao last March.

We are good here and were able to rest well. It will go down on who will have the best condition on race day, the native of Negros Oriental Ycong told SunStar Cebu. Hopefully we can give a good battle.

Ycong said they hope to land on the podium again just like in Davao City.

This will be a tough task for the them as formidable contenders like Benedicto, Mark Anthony Hosana of Active Health/Standard Insurance, Benjamin Rana of Unilab Active Health and Leonard Rondina of Go For Gold PH have same thing in mind.

It will really depend on what we can do (together with Norte). One thing is for sure, we will go out strong, he said.

The half-Ironman distance race will also feature age-groupers, relay teams and the pros. (RSC)
THE Philippines's relationship with Japan is now on even stronger footing, following President Rodrigo Duterte's third visit to Tokyo, Malacanang said on Saturday, May 31, 2019.Palace issued

THE Philippines's relationship with Japan is now on even stronger footing, following President Rodrigo Duterte's third visit to Tokyo, Malacanang said on Saturday, May 31, 2019.

Palace issued the press statement, when Duterte returned to the country early Saturday morning after a four-day working visit to Japan.

President Rodrigo Duterte capped his working visit to Japan on a high note, putting the Philippines' strategic partnership with Japan on an even stronger footing, it said.

Palace touted that Duterte had a successful bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and participation in the 25th Nikkei International Conference on the Future of Asia.

It noted that the two leaders had both agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in infrastructure development, trade and investments, agriculture, labor, defense, maritime security and maritime domain awareness, people-to-people exchanges, and the pursuit of just and lasting peace and progress in Mindanao.

It added that Duterte had also welcomed Japan's fresh commitment of around 25 billion for the development of Mindanao's road network, vocational training facilities and equipment, water supply development in the Bangsamoro, and livelihood programs, among other projects.

Malacanang said the President had likewise conveyed appreciation for Japan's renewed support for the government's ambitious Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, citing Japanese development assistance as the gold standard for the country's development cooperation with other partner countries.

President Duterte and Prime Minister Abe also discussed modalities for greater cooperation in upgrading the Philippines' defense capabilities, including in maritime security and maritime domain awareness, the press statement read.

They explored opportunities to tap the demographic complementarity between two countries to drive economic growth, including the possibility of Japan opening its door to skilled foreign labor, it added.

Story continues

Palace said Duterte and Abe had also exchanged views on regional maritime security, non-traditional threats, ongoing efforts to secure peace in the Korean peninsula, supporting free trade, and advancing the rule of law, including in the South China Sea.

It added the President had likewise lauded the Philippines-Japan partnership as one that empowers rather than fosters dependency and is the kind of relationship that we [the Philippines] seek with other countries.

In a keynote speech at the Nikkei's annual forum, Duterte had emphasized that the destruction caused by natural disasters is more painful for developing nations and for the poorest of the poor, Palace noted.

The President urged for greater accountability among developed countries, stressing that when the lives of millions hand in a balance, there has got to be a way, it said.

Duterte, during his trip to Japan, also assured Japanese businessmen that the Philippines is a safe and profitable destination for their investments, as he emphasized that corruption will never tolerated, Palace said.

Duterte's third visit to Japan yielded P288.804 billion worth of business deals, which are expected to generate 82,737 jobs for the Filipinos.

President Duterte thanked Japan partners for their vote of confidence in the Philippines as a trade market and investment destination, Palace said.

Malacanang said Duterte had also met key Japanese tourism industry partners who expressed optimism in doing more business in the Philippines, affirming that the country has remained one of the preferred tourism destinations of Japanese nationals.

In a meeting with the Filipino community in Japan, Duterte had also made sure to thank them for the overwhelming support given during the recent Philippine midterm elections, Palace said. (SunStar Philippines)
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Seoul is worried a swine flu outbreak in North Korea could cross the heavily militarized border and devastate the South's US$5.9 billion pork industry

South Korean troops stationed along the world's last Cold War frontier have been put on high alert in the face of a new infiltration threat from the nuclear-armed Northfever-stricken wild boar.

An outbreak of African swine fever that has cut swathes through China, Vietnam and Mongolia has spread to the isolated country, sparking worries that sick animals crossing the heavily militarized border could devastate the South's US$5.9 billion pork industry.

"We need to focus on preventing wild boars in the North from entering our territory," the South's Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon said Saturday after visiting a pig farm near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two countries.

African swine fever is known to be harmless to humans but is fatal to pigs and wild boar and has devastated supply chains in Chinathe world's largest consumer of porkwhere authorities have ordered the culling of hundreds of thousands of pigs.

Pyongyang told the World Organisation for Animal Health that 77 out of 99 pigs had died from the disease at a farm near the China border, according to Seoul's agricultural ministry.

The ministry said Friday that the disease is "highly likely" to hit the South, and the government has ordered fences to be erected at farms along the border to prevent possible contact between pigs and wild boars.

Seoul believes Pyongyang raises some 2.6 million pigs across 14 state-run farms. The outbreak could worsen food shortages in the impoverished North, where, according to the World Food Programme, its output last year hit the lowest level since 2008.

In the South, there are about 6,700 pig farms across the country, and pig farming accounts for 40 percent of the total livestock industry.

In 2011, a devastating outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease hit the entire Korean peninsula and resulted in the culling of nearly 3.5 million cattle, pigs and other animals in South Korea alone.

While its bristling fortifications, rolls of barbed wire and trigger happy North Korean troops mean crossing the DMZ can be deadly for humans, the zone has been untouched by development and is a haven for wildlife.

Last October a rare Asiatic black bear was photographed in the zone, Seoul's environmental ministry said.

Explore further Seoul: North Korea confirms African swine fever outbreak

 2019 AFP
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LAKE GEORGE  Kevin Harder remembers summer nights when his mother would put on some records outside and theyd do the jitterbug.

June Palmer, Harders mother, was his musical inspiration, and that very quickly included the King of rock n roll, Elvis Presley.

Sixteen years ago, the Lake George Elvis Festival rolled into town. During its first couple of years, Harder and his wife, Renee, went. Renee said she could see how much her husband loved Elvis. She did, too.

So, Renee said, she told Kevin they couldnt go back to the festival the following year unless he participated.

I created this, Renee said, standing next to Kevin on Friday at the Lake George Forum.

Kevin laughed. The Gansevoort resident has been part of the Lake George Elvis Festival for 13 years now and loves every minute of it. He was one of about 40 Elvis tribute artists participating Friday.

Other local Elvises included Matthew and Spencer Boyce of Saratoga Springs and Joe Ramsey of Glens Falls.

By day, Kevin works for Schermerhorn Real Estate Holdings, managing about 2,000 apartments in Saratoga County.

Off hours, Kevin dyes his blond hair black and puts on one of 10 Elvis-inspired jumpsuits tailored specifically for his body. He has spent about $2,000, sometimes more, on each outfit, purchased from an Ohio tailor who specializes in Elvis attire.

He marches in parades and makes appearances at other events.

On Friday, Kevin was competing in the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest and was wearing what he called his ladder jumpsuit, based on the pattern. The judges, he said, are very particular and want to see outfits that fit properly.

He gets nervous on stage, he said.

You feel it from your toes up. If you werent nervous, it means youre overconfident, Kevin said.

Adam Sherry, one of the festival organizers, said the event attracts Elvis tribute artists from all over the world. On Friday, one participant was from Japan, another from Australia and another from Texas.

Sherry and his brother Jason run Elvis festivals all over the country through Sherry Management. Lake George is their biggest event, Adam said.

It has a big following, he continued. We get a lot of support from locals. Its a beautiful, amazing town.

Hundreds were at the Lake George Forum to watch and listen to Elvis classics on Friday, including 25-year-old Caitlin Rickson from Essex, Vermont, and her friend, Eva Spera, from Duxbury, Vermont.

Her first time at the event, Rickson dressed up as Elvis, too, in a white jumpsuit and black wig. She became interested in Elvis, she said, after watching her dad dance to one of his songs at her sisters wedding about 10 years ago.

Spera said Rickson is like an Elvis encyclopedia and knows everything about the King. The two are going to be visiting Graceland in January.

Its that timelessness that Kevin loves about Elvis, inspiring generations and generations of people.

Im so amazed every time (I see) kids this tall, they know who Elvis is, Kevin said, putting out his hand to a few feet above the ground. It goes to tell you that the tradition will never end.

Reporter Gwendolyn Craig can be reached at (518) 742-3238 or gcraig@poststar.com. Follow her on Twitter @gwendolynnn1.

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VIRGINIA BEACH: The gunman who killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building was identified by police Saturday as a 15-year city employee who had served in the military and was described by neighbors as quiet and rarely smiling.





Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera identified the gunman as DeWayne Craddock, who was employed as an engineer with the city's public utilities department. Cervera declined to comment on a motive for Friday's rampage that ended with Craddock dying in a gun battle with police. .





Authorities used a Saturday morning news conference to focus on the victims, saying 11 of them worked for the city. Another victim was a contractor trying to get a permit. They projected photos on a screen and gave each victim's name along with biographical details.





"They leave a void that we will never be able to fill," said City Manager Dave Hansen.





Hansen said that chaplains and family assistance workers worked overnight to notify family members of the dead, which he described as "the most difficult task anyone will ever have to do."





The 11 city employees who died were identified as Laquita C. Brown of Chesapeake, Tara Welch Gallager of Virginia Beach, Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach, Alexander Mikhail Gusev of Virginia Beach, Katherine A. Nixon of Virginia Beach, Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk, Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan, Ryan Keith Cox of Virginia Beach, Joshua A. Hardy of Virginia Beach, Michelle "Missy" Langer of Virginia Beach and Robert "Bobby" Williams of Chesapeake. The 12th victim, Herbert "Bert" Snelling of Virginia Beach, was a contractor filling a permit.





Authorities have said the gunman opened fire with a handgun in the municipal building Friday afternoon, killing 12 people on three floors and sending terrified co-workers scrambling for cover before police shot and killed him following a "long gun battle." Four other people were wounded in Friday's shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, police have said.





Police have said the suspect was armed with a .45-caliber handgun. Cervera said Saturday that more weapons were found at the scene and at his home, but declined to elaborate.





Dewayne Antonio Craddock, 40, was a professional engineer who had graduated from Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News in 1996 and joined the Army National Guard, according to a newspaper clip from the time. He received basic military training and advanced individual training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He later graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Before going to work in Virginia Beach, he worked for a private engineering firm in Hampton Roads.





Craddock appears to have had no felony record, which would have made him eligible to purchase firearms.





People who live near Craddock said police swarmed the small neighborhood of modest townhomes in Virginia Beach on Friday where some said he had lived for at least 10 years.





Several neighbors said Craddock was clean cut, a member of the neighborhood association board and spent time lots of time at the gym. But they also said he mostly kept to himself, especially after his wife left him some number of years ago.





Angela Scarborough, who lives in the neighborhood, said "he was very quiet . he would just wave."





She said she knew his wife, but she left some time ago. "She just left," Scarborough said. "Didn't let us know or anything."





"I'm very saddened because this is a great neighborhood," Scarborough said. "It's very sad to know that that's the way he decided to resolve the situation. It's just something I can't believe."





She added: "I would speak to him and he would speak back, but conversation-wise, I never had a conversation with him."





Cassetty Howerin, 23, who lived under Craddock, was visibly shaken upon learning from reporters that police said he was behind the shooting.





"That could have easily been me," she said.





Howerin said Craddock had cameras at his home monitoring two nice cars parked out front, including what appeared to be a Mustang. But she said she never saw him bring anyone over. She never saw him come home with groceries.





"He never really cracked a smile," she said.




GLENS FALLS  He always thought it would be Mark and Kate; Kate and Mark, the perfect couple, living the perfect life, destined to have perfect children in a perfect picket-fence world.

But when Kate, his fiancee, dumps him just before their wedding, Marks mirage of tomorrow dissipates, leaving him in what he calls a dark place and holding two non-transferable, non-refundable round-the-world airline tickets meant for the honeymoon.

And much like the Stephen Stills song, Love the one youre with, jilted Mark searches for another Kate McBride to use the pre-named ticket of his ex who he still loves.

'Calling All Kates' WHAT: "Calling All Kates," by Jeremy Schonfeld & Emily Goodson and directed by Chad Rabinovitz WHEN: 7:30 p.m., June 14, 15, 18, 19,20,21, 22; there is also a 2 p.m. matinee on June 19 WHERE: The Charles R. Wood Theater, Glen Street, Glens Falls TICKETS AND INFORMATION: Packages and tickets to individual shows may be purchased by calling 518-480-4878 or visiting the Wood Theater Box Office. For more information on the full season, including detailed show descriptions and video trailers, visit www.ATFestival.org.

And so begins his sweetly zany journey with a quirky and easily excitable Kate, who said she was born about 26 years ago in a Ponderosa Steak House bathroom.

It is the journey of two disparate travelers, bound only by the name Kate, in the Adirondack Theatre Festival-created play, Calling All Kates, currently in rehearsal at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls.

Oh you must be Mark, shrieks Kate, played by Zoe Jensen, after detailing a harrowing hot sauce story that is still spinning her off-balance as she boards a plane for the first time.

Its me Kate, the Kate, your Kate, vacation Kate, she said, thrusting her outstretched hand toward Mark. You are No. 3 in my notebook of people I want to hug someday.

Oh, No. 3, said Mark, played by Josh Israel, revealing his unease with the situation when he tells Kate shes sitting in the wrong seat.

Thats my seat, he said.

Kicking off the summer with a June 14 opening, this romantic comedy musical, rooted in a true story, headlines this summers Adirondack Theatre Festivals 25th anniversary season.

We created our own airline for the show, said Producing Artistic Director Chad Rabinovitz, who co-created and is directing the musical. It is our intention to start here (with Calling All Kates) and move across the globe. We are creating something highly producible that other theaters can use.

Years in the making

A few years back, Rabinovitz read the story of Jordan Axani, a 28-year-old Toronto man who took to Reddit, a social media platform, after his fiancee broke up with him before they could take a planned round-the-world adventure.

Reddit, I need your help. You see, in March I booked a fairly wicked trip around the world for my ex and me, Axani wrote. While our relationship came to a close, I am still planning to go on the trip and she is not (naturally). And because I hate the idea of a ticket around the world going to waste, I am looking for a Canadian named Elizabeth Gallagher who could use the ticket.

Axanis no strings offer went viral and after finding 18 Canadian Elizabeth Gallaghers, he selected a woman from Nova Scotia for the purely platonic trip that they completed over two months in 2015.

I read about the story and thought, that would be a great musical, said Rabinovitz. Each year I write a grant to hopefully commission a writer. And after being awarded a NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts) grant a few years ago, I commissioned playwright Emily Goodson and composer and lyricist Jeremy Schonfeld to write the show.

And like most shows, Calling All Kates, has been following a long creative route to get to this summers more complete work.

This has taken years to get to this, Rabinovitz said. So much goes into it. The cool thing is, if something is not working, we can change it. Now we are at the point of,what if we tweaked this or that.

ATF Summer Season Schedule June 14-22 "Calling All Kates," by Jeremy Schonfeld & Emily Goodson This romantic comedy musical is based on the true story about a young man (Marc) who plans a honeymoon around the world only to have his fiance break up with him, leaving him with non-transferable and non-refundable plane tickets. Marc does a social media search to find someone with the exact same name as his ex to travel the globe with him. July 5-13 "The Enlightenment of Percival von Schmootz," by the celebrated comedic songwriting duo, Michael Kooman & Chris Dimond. Directed by Scott Weinstein ("Knights of the Sales Office,") this Monty Python-esque musical follows a ridiculously optimistic young man fed up with a world filled with plagues, pestilence and poor personal hygiene as he sets out on a quest to end the Dark Ages. June 23-27 "Sequence," by Canadian playwright Arun Lakra and directed by Marshall Pailet ("Loch Ness" and "Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat.") An edge-of-your-seat science thriller follows Time Magazines Luckiest Man Alive who has successfully bet double or nothing on the Super Bowl coin toss for 20 consecutive years. Hes getting ready to risk $800 million on the 21st when a young woman claims to have figured out his mathematical secret. August 3-9 "Beau," by Douglas Lyons & Ethan D. Pakchar. Eight actor-musicians tell the story of Ace Baker, who spends the first decade of his life fatherless. At 12 years old, a phone call reveals that his grandfather, Beau, has been alive all his life  and his mother knew. Family secrets unravel as Ace rushes to make up for lost time with a man who changes his life and puts a guitar in his hand. Beau is presented by special arrangement with R.K. Greene, The StoryLine Project, LLC. Special Events: Adirondack Theatre Festival brings back the PB&J Cafe: A Dinner Theatre for Kids. This years production is the classic adventure, "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll and adapted by Kathryn Schultz Miller, performing June 25-28 & July 16-20. Additional special events for the 2019 Season feature "ATFs Greatest Hits,"a collection of fan-favorite songs from ATF musicals over the past 25 years, July 7-8. A concert reading of a new musical, "Start Again," from the writer of ATFs best-selling show, "Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat,"July 19-20. And an utterly unique blend of comedy, magic, and contortion with Jonathan Burns: Flexible Comedy, June 28 & 29.

And during Wednesdays rehearsal, Rabinovitz directed Jensen and Israel, who played the lead in last summers sold-out Front Page Flo, through lines, expressions, tone, emotions and physicality.

Youre expecting your new best friend, push that as far as you can, Rabinovitz said to Jensen.

Then turning to Israel, he directs him to exaggerate his sadness.

As the morning rehearsal continues, Kates joie de vivre easily hooks her audience; her laughter and giggles, contagious, even getting laughs from on-set crew. And even though Mark is the suffering jilted lover, his warmth and heart peek through his well-defended posturing, leaving some wondering if the two will end up together.

Playing to audiences in the early developmental stages in Bloomington, Indiana, Calling All Kates came to ATF last summer for a staged musical reading and it has since been changed, tweaked, rewritten, and tweaked some more.

And it is from the early audience feedback that the show has emerged. The script and the number of characters actually changed based on local audience feedback from last seasons reading of the show in Glens Falls.

With Calling all Kates, we did a developmental reading last year. It was our most popular reading, Rabinivitz said, adding that it sold out and they had to add more performance dates. We added three characters to the show based on the audience feedback from last year. It was significant feedback to develop new songs. They (the audience) are really part of something original.

Logos, flight attendants and the ATF Airline

As part of this first show, Rabinovitz said they created the ATF Airline, complete with a set representing the inside of the ATF plane and originally designed flight attendant wear.

We wanted to keep it chic and vintage-looking, said costume designer Jolene Richardson on Wednesday during rehearsal. Richardson recently wrapped-up shows in Orlando and is here for the summer.

They are blue and orange, she said about the ATF flight attendant uniform colors. The world they (Mark and Kate) live in, there are lots of reds and yellows.

The set build team came into town last week to create Chicago designer Shane Cinals set in the lower level of the Charles R. Wood Theater. And right now it look like they are ahead of schedule even with daily changes being made since rehearsal began on Monday.

According to stage manager Lindsay Kipnis, they have to make changes like extending a ramp or removing a staircase as rehearsals reveal what needs tweaking.

Before rehearsals began on Monday morning, Kipnis and the assistant stage managers used colored tape to replicate the set on the floor of an upstairs rehearsal space in the Wood Theater.

It took about two-and-a-half hours, she said about the taping. It wasnt too bad because everything is angular.

In talking about the show, Richardson admitted it mirrored her own life with the big break-up.

I think it is so cute and so much fun and there are so many layers to the characters, she says. It is about love and trust.

The new season runs June 14 through Aug. 9 at the Charles R. Wood Theater, featuring four main stage shows and four special events.

Were the Netflix Originals of theater, Rabinovitz said. Its a challenge finding the best new plays and musicals in the world  We are making the roller coaster ride better with more turns, more dips. These are all big deal projects. This season as a whole is a thing to experience.

Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli covers Washington County government and other county news and events.

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Forty percent of the primary care providers in the Glens Falls Hospital network have left this year, and they have not been replaced.

The departures have delayed appointments to the point where some of the remaining providers are now booking for November.

One patient had to take her granddaughter to urgent care for an ear infection, during normal office hours, because her pediatrician was too busy to see her. Urgent care is much more expensive for patients than a regular sick visit.

She has also had to switch doctors three times this year, as each provider decided to leave the hospitals primary care system.

I dont think the hospital realizes. Here youre losing all these people, causing so much anxiety, said patient Natalie Fido-Kennedy of Salem. My doctor restored my faith in the medical profession. She listened. She cared. Its hard finding someone like that, and someone your kids like and trust.

The hospital lost $38 million in 2017 when a new billing system did not function. As the problem persisted through much of 2018, hospital officials cut positions, services and reduced some salaries in an effort to get into the black. The losses had a delayed effect on providers, since it often takes months to collect from insurance.

Providers and patients contacted The Post-Star to report on the departures. Providers would not agree to speak on the record, out of fear they would hurt future employment prospects if they were seen criticizing an employer.

But they are speaking with their feet. In the last six months, 16 of the hospitals 40 primary care providers  doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners  have left or turned in their resignation letter. Most have gone to similar primary care systems run by hospitals, including the Ellis, Saratoga and Southwestern Vermont systems.

The 24 providers that remain must cover the Glens Falls Hospital primary care systems entire caseload.

Several providers are now working at two or more locations, and most locations have far fewer providers than last year.

The Glens Falls primary care center on Broad Street had four providers. Now its down to one physician, who also works at the Hudson Falls office. Hes so busy that patients with a non-urgent issue have to wait six weeks for an appointment.

The Wilton primary care office run by Glens Falls Hospital lost all of its providers, so two from Broad Street were relocated there.

Likewise, Whitehall lost two of its five providers, Granville lost three of its seven providers, and Cambridge primary care lost two of its seven providers.

Most of the providers leaving are physician assistants or nurse practitioners, but six physicians also left or are leaving.

Lack of information

As providers leave, patients might as well. They have choices in the area: Hudson Headwaters Health Network operates a growing system of primary care offices, and so does Saratoga Hospital.

Most patients have been sent letters, telling them that their provider left, or that their provider was moved to another location. Many have been told that they must switch to another location as well. Some patients a reporter encountered at primary care offices were taken aback to learn from the reporter that their provider had left.

Getting a new primary care provider has caused them difficulties  they must have one to approve refills of regular prescriptions, for example. One patient needed to meet with her doctor to get pre-op approval for cataract surgery, but her new primary could not see her until the end of July. Eventually, she was able to see another provider, at a different office, for the approval.

In February, when hospital CEO Dianne Shugrue said the hospital was in the red, she also said it might be time to get out of the business of primary care. No hospital official has confirmed that is occurring now, although the hospital is not advertising to replace any of the departing providers.

The Post-Star emailed Vice President of Planning Tracy Mills with a list of providers who had left, as reported by providers and patients. She declined to comment on the list, so a reporter called every primary care office in the hospitals system and asked to make an appointment with the providers listed on the hospitals website. Office workers responded by explaining which providers had left or were leaving and which were still available for appointments, as well as how long the wait would be for an appointment.

None of that information was communicated through hospital press releases or its website.

Unhealthy burden

The shrinking of the system, intentional or not, is causing major problems, according to doctors and patients.

Patients complain about long waits to get an appointment and providers say they have to rush from patient to patient. One provider said he has submitted his resignation, because so many others had left without being replaced.

With the attrition of both providers and ancillary staff, the burden on those remaining is unhealthy, he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he still works for the hospital. I stayed because these are my friends, neighbors and community that I provide care for.

Unfortunately, there is no aspect of the system that is not broken, with no answer for a fix ... I still see these people daily, and I feel like Im abandoning them. I will always be concerned for their well-being. For now, I have to take care of myself, he said.

Hospital officials would not admit the primary care system had gotten smaller.

If there are changes in physicians or locations for services, that information will be communicated to patients and the community in a timely manner, Mills said in an email on May 14.

While primary care providers have left, the hospital has added providers in other specialties.

Since 2018, 38 new providers  physicians and physician assistants  have joined our team, Mills said in an email on May 15. She did not respond to two further emails and refused to speak by phone.

Mills also said in her May 15 email that losing 40% of primary care providers this year was not unusual.

There is nothing that indicates our staffing trends in the last year differ from years past or from the national average, she said. Those who have left our staff, much like any industry, have done so for a variety of reasons. Were proud of the work done by all 2,700 of our employees, including the 180+ providers, who work together to provide the quality care that our patients deserve.

Cant phone it in

Mills did say, however, the hospitals primary care may be changing.

Its no secret that health care is changing. Primary care is being delivered  and will continue to be delivered  in increasingly non-traditional settings. We will remain focused on identifying the very best ways to provide affordable primary and specialty care in locations that are convenient for our community, she said.

The most common non-traditional setting for primary care is tele-medicine.

But for many issues, a doctor must physically examine a patient. Ear infections, for example, cannot be diagnosed by telephone, because the physician cant see into the patients ear. Tele-medicine software will alert patients to that limitation before the call is placed, so they dont have to pay for a useless call.

On those issues, patients who want to avoid the higher cost and wait time at an urgent care must see a primary care provider.

Fido-Kennedys family switched from their Wilton provider, who left, to two providers in Greenwich. Recently, she got a letter saying that one of those two  Frank Westad  was leaving, so her granddaughter will have to switch providers again. Of the medical centers remaining four providers, one is there only two days a week and one is about to depart temporarily for maternity leave.

They were overbooked before, Fido-Kennedy said. And now that Franks leaving, I cant imagine the madhouse.

You can reach Kathleen Moore at 742-3247 or kmoore@poststar.com. Follow her on Twitter @ByKathleenMoore or at her blog on www.poststar.com.

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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
The Francis family has created BFF Bags, which Francis explained as a family, it was always helpful for us to receive gift cards to various places. We traveled a lot for Brantleys care, so gas cards, restaurant and grocery gift cards were always helpful. Brantley was a frequent flyer to the hospital and doctors offices, and as a way to distract him, we would have lots of small little toys with us to give him. It helped take his mind off the not-so-fun things he had to do. As a way to encourage and support families going through similar situations, we have designed the BFF Bags. In these bags, children experiencing cancer will receive some of their favorite things and also various gift cards to help with the financial stress of traveling. ... We want other families to know they are not fighting alone.
Charles Brown, a farm management specialist for the Iowa State Extension in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and who is a farmer himself, has planted nothing at this time. Being in southern Iowa gives him a bit more time to make a decision. According to the Iowa Crop Progress Report issued May 26, farmers in Iowa had planted 76% of their corn, and 32% of their soybeans. In southeast Iowa, farmers there had 61% of their corn planted and 21% of their soybeans in the ground.

Then the weather turned.

There are a lot of guys in my area that have not turned a wheel in a field in almost a month, Brown said.

A number of farmers in his area got work done in April and put a lot of corn into the ground and some beans, he said. Since then, its been hit or miss.

But to plant or not to plant will be an individual decision by the farmer who has to sit down and try to figure out.

There are just so many unknowns right now, Brown said. Well see how it goes in the next couple of weeks as we get more details of the aid package.
DHARAN, June 1: The governing Nepal Communist Party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has complained that the 'secret agreement' among the top leaders in course of party unification was misinterpreted by media. Addressing a cadres' orientation and interaction at Sunsari constituency no 1 here today, Chairman Dahal said prime minister and chairman of the party, KP Oli could run the government for five years.



"We are in continuous dialogue. KP Oli can run the government for five years. I kindly request all of you not to be sway by media reports. With the agreement, we run the government for five years," he reminded before the cadres.




"We've erected our flood wall at 8th St. and River Drive, the railroad is still passing through it and they are assisting with monitoring our flow levels," Bettendorf Public Works Operations Manager Kris Hatfield said Thursday about prepping for potential flooding this weekend.

As of Thursday afternoon, the river was at 19  feet, Hatfield said. "But when the water came up before at 19 , it was flooding River Drive. Well, now they're saying it's higher than that, but it's still not on River Drive. So it's always a different scenario every time you're trying to follow predictions," he said. "So you try to prepare for two feet above whatever they're going to say."

As the river level rises, Bettendorf will add more measures, Hatfield said. First is getting people ready on the east and west sides of the Harbor, and then working their way south to where it would impact businesses. Leech Park, 35th St. and Elm St. and 8th St. are the three main focus points, Hatfield said.
Assange's stolen classified documents didn't just find their way to the Taliban; the indictment points out that WikiLeaks copies were also found in Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. During the raid that killed the al-Qaida leader, U.S. forces recovered "a letter from bin Laden to another member of the terrorist organization al-Qaida in which bin Laden requested that the member gather the DoD material posted to WikiLeaks" as well as a response from that al-Qaida operative providing him with the secret U.S. government documents Assange had provided.

Indeed, Assange's disclosures nearly blew the bin Laden operation. Just one week before the raid, Assange released his "Gitmo files "which contained information that could have tipped off bin Laden that the CIA was closing in on him. One of Assange's stolen documents  the file on Abu Faraj al-Libi, al-Qaida's captured operational commander  revealed that Faraj had "reported on al-Qaida's methods for choosing and employing couriers, as well as preferred communications means"; that he had "received a letter from UBL's designated courier" who was "the official messenger between UBL and others in Pakistan"; and that "in mid-2003, [Faraj] moved his family to Abbottabad, and worked between Abbottabad and Peshawar," Pakistan. The CIA tracked bin Laden down to Abbottabad by following his courier, thanks, in large part, to information provided by Faraj. Had bin Laden read that document detailing what Faraj had told the agency, he could have known that the United States had made the connection between his courier and his Abbottabad hideout. Fortunately, U.S. Special Operations forces did not give bin Laden time to figure it out.
Kathmandu, Nepal, June 1, 2019: Responding to the widespread wrath and criticism, the ruling head Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has given a hint to revise the controversial media laws. The party has initiated internal discussion to revise the media laws with the motive to restrain the party and the government from the controversies.





As the government and its head NCP has fall under enormous pressure not only from the partys rank and files but also from the international media watchdogs for the harsh media laws that contradict the constitution as well, some leaders of the party has taken initiation to revise the media laws.





However, revision on the bill would not easy as some leaders of the party particularly the Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota have remained adamant to pass the media laws without any revision.





Though Minister Baskota was from the media background, he has vehemently been standing in favor of endorsing media laws in its current form. Notwithstanding the concerns of others, the government has tabled the harsh media bill at the National Assembly to Amend Media Council Act.





Withstanding to the widespread criticism, a section of leaders and party-aligned journalists has approached the senior leaders and cabinet ministers demanding immediate revise the media laws. The leaders, who have stand in favor of the revision in the media laws have a saying that further delay to revise the media laws would tarnish the image of the party and the government as well.





Minister Baskota is in center of criticism for drafting controversial media bills. Not only the leaders from the oppositions and ruling parties but also the national and international media watchdog and right agencies including the civil society leaders have criticized the media laws claiming that some provisions of the laws curtails the fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution.





The constitution of the country has ensured of full freedom of the press. The ruling head NCP and the government also used to parrot for the same. But the laws drafted by the government have proposed confiscating media equipment and hefty fine against media outlets and journalists going against the fundamental values and spirit of freedom of press.





As the draft Bill has proposed a fine of up to Rs 1 million for media outlets and journalists for publishing any content in violation to the media code of ethics, the government and its head NCP has fall under the criticism for heading towards the authoritarianism by curtailing the fundamental rights of right to information.





Likewise the Bill has also provisioned that any media outlets, publishers, editors and/or journalists can be fined up to Rs 1 million for publishing contents found to be tarnishing the dignity or reputation of any individual.




Six candidates seek three open seats on the Meade School Board in the June 4 election.

According to information from Meade School District 46-1, running for three 3-year terms are incumbents Curtis Johnson and Robert Burns, both of Piedmont. The four first-time candidates are John Nachtigall of Elm Springs, R.J. Ludwick of Sturgis, J.T. Vig of Opal, and Lee Spring of Atall.

Johnson has served on the Meade School Board for five years and is seeking his third term on the board.

Burns has served on the Meade School Board for 10 years and held both president and vice president positions.

Nachtigall is a rancher from Elm Springs who has two children attending Elm Springs School.

Ludwick is a business owner from Sturgis. He and his wife, Tanya, have three children attending Sturgis Middle School and Sturgis Brown High School.

Vig is a self-employed rancher. He and his wife, Kelsey, have a daughter attending Opal School.

Spring is a fifth-generation rancher on the family ranch near Union Center. He and his wife, Jamie, have two children attending Atall School.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Polling places include the Sturgis Community Center, Piedmont School Gym, Elm Springs School, Hereford Hall, Union Center School, and Opal School.

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A prosecutor's duty is not to get convictions but to see that justice is served. If the jury cannot determine guilt or innocence after hearing all the evidence, then their decision is justice served by the entire group.

Has the city run out of weed killer and gas for their mowers? The dandelions are out of control and the grass has yet to be mowed  what an eyesore, not just for locals but tourists as well.

Keep the no-wake restriction on Deerfield Lake. It is the only big lake in the Black Hills where canoeists can enjoy nature without noisy motorboats around.

It is time for Senators Thune and Rounds to stop the bankruptcy of our soybean farmers by Trump's trade tariffs. There is no emergency other than South Dakota farmers going broke.

I really hope the city and county have plans to start spraying for mosquitoes quickly. They are already out in full force and with all the standing water and quickly warming temperatures this will be a record year if they are not kept at bay.

Its ridiculous that one of the most respected businesses in Rapid City got raided because of misdirected righteousness and political posturing. This does not protect the community."

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Public works and safety officials said Thursday that they are still trying to determine what caused a 40-foot-deep sinkhole to open up in a residential neighborhood in north western Rapid City.

The crater gaping in front of a home on the 300 block of Whitewood Street was said not to have grown any wider by late Thursday afternoon but continues to erode beneath the surface.

As a result, the street remains closed to traffic from West Rapid to West Omaha streets without any indication of when it will reopen. Barricades closing off West Omaha Street from National to Sturgis streets were still in place by late Thursday evening as well.

"With the sinkhole remaining active  we cant determine a timeline for when we would open up to traffic at this point," City Spokesperson Darrell Shoemaker said in a telephone interview late Thursday.

The sinkhole was first reported to the Police Department shortly before 6 a.m. by the occupant of the house that sits beside it. Stretching from the sidewalk and into the street, the sinkhole grew throughout the morning as police officers and firefighters cordoned off the area. It reached a width of more than 25 feet by the end of the day.

No injuries or car crashes were caused by the sudden formation of the pit, the likes of which Shoemaker said have not been seen since the early 1980s.

According to the city's Public Works Department, the sinkhole is not believed to have occurred as a result of an infrastructural failure as it did not form near an active water line. Excessive rainfall the area has endured as of late is not believed to be a factor in its formation.

Despite drawing representatives from Black Hills Energy, the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company and the city's Water Division to the scene, Shoemaker said the city is not aware of any disruptions in residential water, sewer and power service in the area. A gas line serving an apartment building on Omaha Street had to be shut off, however, and was not operational as of Thursday evening.

While local public safety agencies had vacated the neighborhood by the end of the day, Shoemaker said police plan to increase their patrol presence in the area through the night.

Although no evacuations are planned, some residents who walked to the closed-off sections of their neighborhood expressed a sense of unease upon observing the sinkhole.

Joe Avvampato, who owns Avvampato Design Group and lives around the block from where it formed, said he has seen depressions along National Street that he worries could one day collapse as well.

"It's kind of scary," he said. "I've seen this happen before in other cities I've lived in. I don't think something like this is really preventable. It's hard to say."

Public Works Director Dale Tech was quoted in a press release as saying no other sinkholes have been reported to the city.

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Re-elect Amanda Scott

I believe the residents of Ward 4 should re-elect Amanda Scott for city council. I have known Amanda for many years and can honestly say her combination of intelligence and dedication serve her constituents well.

She is committed to gaining the knowledge of the matter at hand, and then advocating for reasonable and effective solutions. Her range of background experiences is highly desirable. I'm convinced there is no better-suited person to represent Ward 4 than Amanda.

James English

Rapid City

Keep Darla Drew on council

Few citizens have been more active in our Rapid City community than Darla Drew. She has served on an endless list of boards, committees, and special projects during her lifelong residence in Rapid City. From PTA president to business owner, from artist and entertainer to Readiatrics innovator, from WAVI volunteer to major event organizer, Darla's dedication spans the gamut of community involvement.

As a member of the Rapid City Council for the past five years, few have brought as much civic experience and public energy to elective office. She is making a difference and for the better. Darla, genuinely loves Rapid City and takes pride in its every success. Nevertheless she recognizes city problems and takes independent actions to solve them or she joins with others in developing positive outcomes. To be around Darla is to roll up your sleeves and get active.

Darla remains a gold plated candidate for city council. Energetic in participation, knowledgeable on issues, and experienced at the grass roots level, she brings a seasoned and civil citizenship to every government decision. Vote Darla Drew.

Anton Kaiser

Rapid City

Vote for Cante Heart

As someone who moved to Rapid City seven years ago, I have witnessed the growth that has occurred in the area, and with the training opportunities to come to Ellsworth, know that more expansion will come. This is why I am voting for Cante Heart who represents Ward 5, as I know she will lead our community to further prosperity, for all who live here.

Cante Heart has been a community member for over 20 years and is raising her own family here. She is committed on various boards and participated in active opportunities to improve the lives of our residents. In addition to her long-serving experience, I believe a fresh perspective will bring about ideas and leadership that our council would value. It is time for a strong Native American woman to represent Ward 5 and help build bridges so no voice is left unheard.

Her platforms: Infrastructure, Economic & Workforce Development, Affordable Housing, Education, and Diversity are areas that will progress the lives of current residents and future generations. I proudly support Cante Heart and I ask Ward 5 voters to give her the chance to serve our community.

Whitnee Pearce

Rapid City

SD doesnt have a CBD problem

CBD was confiscated from Staple and Spice for allegedly containing a trace amount of THC. Significantly under .3 percent that is federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill, but remains illegal in South Dakota because Kristi vetoed the hemp bill. They did leave other CBD for Staple and Spice to sell that didnt have THC.

States Attorney Mark Vargo must now determine if he will press charges. Is he being spanked because he challenged Noem and Ravnsborg on their position that all CBD is illegal? This would not be an issue if Noem if hadnt vetoed the hemp bill. This store owner wouldnt be facing loss of thousands of dollars of CBD. She would not fear of prosecution and the cost of retaining an attorney.

Noem needs to educate herself on the benefits of CBD. There are thousands of South Dakotans using CBD to alleviate chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, migraines, inflammation, sleep disorders and many more. Law enforcement has more serious crimes to investigate. Law enforcement purchased thousands of dollars of CBD from all stores in Rapid to test. Noem said that legalizing hemp would drain resources of law enforcement labs.

This isnt a THC problem, its a Kristi Noem problem.

Sharon Neva

Rapid City

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The EU

Google says the EU requires a notice of cookie use (by Google) and says they have posted a notice. I don't see it. If cookies bother you, go elsewhere. If the EU bothers you, emigrate. If you live outside the EU, don't go there.
WARNING for European visitors European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.
Education Reporter

Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe.
The Russian army seems to be in the process of replacing the Windows system with the Debian-based Linux distribution Astra Linux.

Cyber security seems to subvert the globalization concept, governments are working to develop their own technology fearing possible espionage and sabotage activities of foreign states.

The Russian military is in the process of replacing the Windows system with the Linux distribution Astra Linux .

Astra Linux is a Debian-based distro developed in Russia by the Scientific/Manufacturing Enterprise Rusbitech RusBITech about ten years ago.

Astra Linux is a RussianLinux -based computer operating system developed to meet the needs of the Russian army, other armed forces and intelligence agencies. It provides data protectionup to the level of top secret in Russian classified information grade. reads the Wikipedia page. It has been officially certified by Russian Defense Ministry, Federal Service for Technical and Export Control and Federal Security Service.

The Astra Linux distribution was initially used only by private companies, later Russian government agencies started using it after it was certifified to handle classified information.

Recently the Russian Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEC) granted Astra Linux the security clearance of special importance. This level of authorization allows the use of the Linux OS in Russian Government offices with the highest standards of data privacy and the highest degree of secrecy.

The certification was granted for Astra Linux Special Edition version 1.6, (aka Smolensk).

The adoption of the Astra Linux distro in the Government environments will allow reducing costs security verification used by the Russian armed forces. Software and hardware qualification remain a crucial problem for almost any government that fear the possible presence of hidden backdoors.

In the past, Russian Army officials raised concerns about the possible presence of hidden backdoors in the Windows operating system installed by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The announcement of a move to Astra OS was made in January 2018 by the Russian Ministry of Defence.

A similar decision was also announced by the Chinese government that also plans to stop using the Microsoft operating system, especially after the recent ban of Chinese 5G technologies imposed by many western countries.



If you appreciate my effort in spreading cybersecurity awareness, please vote for Security Affairs in the section Your Vote for the Best EU Security Tweeter

Thank you

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs  Astra, Russia)

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Gulbadin Naib is determined to see the positives after an opening fixture to defeat to Australia at the Cricket World Cup (courtesy of the ICC)

Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib was keen to stress the positives from his sides performance after suffering a seven-wicket defeat to Australia at the Bristol County Ground.

A half-century from Najibullah Zadran helped the Afghans recover from the worst possible start, in which they lost both of their openers for ducks, to post a target of 208.

But David Warner hit an unbeaten 89 to guide the reigning champions to a comfortable victory after Australia skipper Aaron Finch set the tone with an explosive 66 off 49 balls.

And despite admitting that Afghanistans total was sub-par, Gulbadin was encouraged by the way his side fought back and showed that they can live with the best teams in the world.

It is a low score on this kind of surface and if you batted faster, you should be 250 or 270-plus runs on this kind of surface against Australia or any other team, he said.

You can't give them any chances [to take wickets], so this is why we slightly missed out on some runs. If you look at the start of the innings, we lost two wickets in two overs.

[Mohammad] Shahzad and Hazratullah [Zazai] didn't bat well and also in the middle we struggled.

We thought positive things in the middle and me and Zadran were able to make a 90-run partnership.

We thought we could score 200, 250 plus, but credit goes to the Australian side, they bowled really well. When you face [Mitchell] Starc and [Pat] Cummins, it's quite quick.

We can play against these kind of teams, so you should take positive things from them, they can't give you any single chance of mistakes. Obviously, we have a tough match upcoming.

Shahzad and Hazratullah lost their wickets without scoring a run in the first two overs after Afghanistan, who face Sri Lanka in Cardiff in their next game on Tuesday, decided to bat first.

Further wickets fell as Afghanistan found themselves 77/5 before skipper Gulbadin (31) and Najibullah (51) mounted a recovery to guide their side to 160/5 in Bristol.

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A late cameo from Rashid Khan (27) ensured the lowest ranked team in the tournament passed 200 as Cummins (3-40) and Adam Zampa (3-60) were the pick of the Aussie bowlers.

Finch and Warner made easy work of the chase, though, as Australia reached the target within 35 overs for their ninth consecutive ODI victory and a perfect start to their defence.

But while the result did not go their way, Afghanistan showed enough to suggest they can upset a few sides in this tournament  especially with their passionate support behind them.

Gulbadin continued: Every team, especially for us, is a tough team, so we are just waiting for our turn. You know this type of team doesnt give you a single chance.

But they are coming really hard and harder how they did in this game. We look and we just take a positive thing from the performance and go for the next day.

Obviously, if you have this kind of audience and they are supporting you and you know your side, so the difficulty you have  you take a lot of positive things from the crowd.

So the crowd and all support for Afghanistan, and there was a huge number of Afghans in the crowd, gave us a lot of energy on the ground for the boys.

 ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2019
The United States warned China on Saturday against threatening its neighbours' sovereignty and said Washington was investing in new military technology in the next five years to keep Asia stable. "China can and should have a cooperative relationship with the rest of the region ... But behaviour that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end," acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told a regional security forum in Singapore. "Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow, and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefitted us all, including China." Shanahan said the United States was investing heavily in the Indo-Pacific region to maintain its military superiority and capability to defend its Asian allies. Washington and Beijing have been vying for influence in the region which hosts potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea, Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait. Ties between the two powers are expected to take centre stage at the Singapore conference which gathers defence ministers and top military officials from around the world. For the first time since 2011, China has sent its defence minister to the gathering. "When we talk about preparedness, we mean having the right capabilities in the right places to respond to crises, and to compete with and deter high-end adversaries," the Pentagon chief said. While the United States does not seek conflict, it knows that having the capability to win wars is the best deterrence, he said. "We want to ensure no adversary believes it can successfully achieve political objectives through military force," he said.
When Jang Ha-sung appeared at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to present his credentials as South Koreas new ambassador to China, he might well have expected the formality to proceed without so much as a ripple of controversy.

The event, though, did not go according to plan, instead highlighting South Koreas delicate balancing act between China and the US  its main trading partner and security guarantor, respectively  after he was quoted expressing support for Beijings Belt and Road Initiative.

Jang, a former economist with no formal diplomatic experience, and six other incoming envoys on Tuesday told Chinese President Xi Jinping their countries wanted to actively participate in the global infrastructure drive after Xi asked for their cooperation, state-run CCTV reported.

South Koreas Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the report, insisting Jang, who has emphasised the importance of Beijing involvement in securing peace on the Korean peninsula, had never discussed Chinas signature infrastructure plans and his remarks had been wrongly conflated with other envoys comments.

It was not the first time South Korean President Moon Jae-ins administration has felt compelled to correct the record on Beijings initiative, which calls for vast investment in roads, railways, ports and bridges to create a new Silk Road linking Asia and Europe.

In March, Seoul denied reports South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon had called for the joint development of belt and road projects during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

While offering no ringing endorsement of belt and road, South Koreas Ministry of Foreign Affairs told local media its latest clarification did not indicate it was against the initiative, and it was interested in finding common areas in policy between countries. The ministry did not respond to questions from the South China Morning Post about its exact stance.

The conflicting messages, analysts said, reflect South Koreas delicate balancing act as it considers how belt and road could help achieve its long-standing objective of linking a reunified Korean peninsula with Europe via Eurasia, while trying to avoid strategic conflict with the US.

Story continues

We know the government wants to be in the belt and road but whenever questioned they become defensive

Jaewoo Choo, Kyung Hee University

South Korea sends about one-quarter of its exports to China, its biggest trading partner, but relies on the US for its security under a defence pact forged in the aftermath of the Korean war, which ended in 1953. Washington has derided the belt and road strategy, touted by Beijing as a vehicle for common prosperity, as a way for China to assert control over other countries by burdening them with unsustainable debts.

We know the government wants to be in the belt and road but whenever questioned they become defensive, leading us to believe they are being conscious of the US, said Jaewoo Choo, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.

Although South Korea has yet to officially sign on to Beijings infrastructure plans or participate in any of its projects, it has directly signalled its support. During a visit to Chongqing in 2017, Moon called for integration between Beijings plans and his New Northern Policy, which envisages the creation of new transport, logistics and energy networks linking the Korean peninsula with China, Russia, Mongolia and Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan.

Moon, who has made rapprochement and eventual reunification with North Korea a signature issue of his presidency, said combining the initiatives would lead to peace and joint prosperity in the region.

The South Korean government wants to participate because of the symbolism and meaning associated with taking part, said Sungku Jang, a fellow with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

South Korea has a special relationship with North Korea as part of the same land mass but in reality it has been an island country for the last 70 years. In the South Korean constitution, the entire Korean peninsula is treated as South Korean territory but because reality doesnt align with the constitution, the symbolism of connecting the continent cant be exaggerated.

Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, a visiting professor at the College of Economics and International Trades at Pusan National University, said belt and road offered South Korea numerous potential economic benefits, including new opportunities in Eurasia, including China, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Russia, and beyond.

It will provide opportunities for both North and South Korea to initiate joint economic and industrial projects taking advantage of the new logistical routes, Hinata-Yamaguchi said. It also allows South Korea to access much needed energy resources from countries in Eurasia.

Any embrace by Seoul of Beijings belt and road, however, risks upsetting Washington, against the backdrop of escalating tensions over a range of issues, including trade, technology, Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Despite pursuing closer relations with Beijing since taking office in 2017, Moon is mindful of concerns raised by Washington, which poses a serious dilemma to South Korea, said Nam Chang-hee, a political science professor at Inha University.

Moons has sought cooperation with the North, which is crucial to building links with Eurasia, but that has been hampered by Pyongyangs renewed missile tests and lack of action on nuclear disarmament, and South Koreas sluggish economy.

In a Realmeter poll last month, 52 per cent of South Koreans said they supported Moon, who enjoyed sky-high approval ratings for much of his tenure, in his outreach to the North, compared to 48 per cent against  a precipitous drop from last year when 88 per cent expressed enthusiasm about the liberal leaders first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The public in Seoul began to perceive China as a future predator against Korean businesses

Nam Chang-hee, Inha University

With criticism over the economy and foreign policy growing louder, I think it will be difficult for the Moon administration to freely manoeuvre, Kang said.

Increasingly negative perceptions of China among the South Korean public further complicate matters. In a Gallup Korea poll last year, 46 per cent of South Koreans named China as the biggest threat to peace on the Korean peninsula, the highest proportion ever recorded  a result attributed to Beijings economic retaliation against Seoul over its deployment of an American anti-missile defence system the previous year.

The public in Seoul began to perceive China as a future predator against Korean businesses rather than as a wide, open, lucrative market, Nam said.

Nam said Moons administration would likely end up participating in at least some belt and road projects, while emphasising the continuing importance of the US-Korea alliance.

Seoul probably will do its best to reconcile the conflicting demands from Washington and Beijing, slightly leaning toward its ally with a careful consideration that without the US endorsement of the inter-Korean peacemaking process, Moons New Northern Policy coupled with a soft North Korea policy is not sustainable, he said.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article What does South Korea think of Chinas belt and road? Its complicated first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
The United States does not seek conflict but coercive behaviour like Chinas that erodes other nations sovereignty must end, acting secretary of defence Patrick Shanahan told an Asia security summit in Singapore on Saturday.

Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Shanahan criticised China for breaching the US-led world order and urged Beijing to cooperate with Washington.

[Some] actors undermine the system by using indirect, incremental actions and rhetorical devices to exploit others economically and diplomatically, and coerce them militarily. They destabilise the region, seeking to reorder its vibrant and diverse communities toward their exclusive advantage, he said.

Behaviour that erodes other nations sovereignty and sows distrust of Chinas intentions must end  the US does not seek conflict, but we know that having the capability to win wars is the best way to deter them.

The defence official also warned of actors engaging in predatory economics and debt for sovereignty deals, lubricated by corruption, which take advantage of pressing economic needs to structure unequal bargains that disproportionately benefit one party.

In a speech lasting almost 40 minutes, Shanahan said Washington had already committed US$125 billion for operational readiness and sustainment for the next financial year, and had requested an extra US$104 billion for research and development into emerging technologies.

This funding will boost the depth and capacity of our armed forces, and also help expand our training  including with allies and partners  to improve mission readiness critical to meeting this regions challenges, he said.

He also urged other nations to increase their military spending.

We need you to invest further in yourselves. We need you to invest in ways that take more control over your sovereignty and your own ability to exercise sovereign choices, he said.

Story continues

Despite Shanahans strong words, Wu Shicun, one of the Chinese delegates at the Singapore forum and head of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said the US defence official struck a conciliatory tone.

Shanahans moderate view shows the US wants to maintain a stable security relationship with China by trying to prevent any possible military conflicts, even though he intentionally showed off Americas long history and far-reaching military influence in the region, Wu said.

The one possible fly in the ointment was Taiwan, which could become the defining factor in future US-China relations, he said.

The Taiwan issue remains the core problem in the Sino-US relationship. The US will not allow the reunification of the two sides of Taiwan Strait and will keep selling arms to Taiwan and coming up with measures to support independence-leaning forces.

China is involved in multiple territorial disputes in the South China Sea with Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines.

Shanahans speech provided a detailed picture of the United States Indo-Pacific defence strategy as it seeks to counter not only Beijings growing economic and military clout in the region, but also rising scepticism about Washingtons commitment to it.

From our trilateral relationships with Australia, Japan and South Korea, to our work with Thailand co-organising the Asean-US Maritime Exercise scheduled for this September, we are building an interconnected Indo-Pacific, he said.

China and the US have been locked in a trade war for close to a year, and in that time their rivalry has extended into 5G technology, cyberspace and the South China Sea.

We compete with China where we must. But competition does not mean conflict. Competition is not to be feared, Shanahan said.

The Shangri-La Dialogue is part of a broader regional tour for the defence official, which began on Wednesday in Jakarta and will be followed by visits to Seoul and Tokyo.

Collin Koh, a maritime security analyst with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said China was keen to avoid a military conflict in the South China Sea.

Its biggest maritime fear is the prospect of a clash with the US, he said, adding that opinion on Washingtons Indo-Pacific strategy was mixed.

Some Chinese scholars think the US-led Indo-Pacific discourse is heading nowhere, so theres no need to overreact to it.

On the other hand, there appear to be nagging concerns that the strategy poses a long-term obstacle to Chinas emergence, Koh said.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article Erosion of nations sovereignty must end, US defence chief Patrick Shanahan tells Asia forum first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
Hong Kongs No 2 official insisted on Saturday there was no hidden political agenda behind the governments push to change the citys extradition laws, even as opposition legislators submitted at least 189 amendments seeking to add safeguards to the controversial fugitive transfer bill.

From the get go, we have no hidden agenda, or political missions to carry out, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said as he took to the airwaves to defend the bill, which would allow the transfer of criminal suspects to jurisdictions Hong Kong has no extradition deal with, including mainland China, Macau and Taiwan.

Mistrust in mainland Chinas legal system and human rights record was at the forefront as lawmakers spent more than eight hours on Saturday grilling Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu for more details on the extradition bill.

How can a person [facing rendition] prove that the relevant evidence [against him or her] is fabricated? Or prove that an extradition request from the mainland is politically motivated? Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai questioned.

Linda Lam Mei-sau, a deputy law officer at the Department of Justice, said such people could supply evidence suggesting political motivation.

For instance, that they are members of a political party, or the things they have done, may make them feel the prosecution was due to their involvement in politics, Lam said.

Lawmakers had until Saturday to submit amendments to the bill before the second reading resumes at a full council meeting on June 12.

The Democratic Party tabled 94 suggested changes and the Civic Party submitted 30, while their pro-establishment rivals said their concerns had already been addressed by the government.

On Thursday the government announced a series of concessions, including accepting transfer requests only from the highest authorities, and allowing more safeguards in future ad hoc extradition documents, such as insisting on open trials. However, those safeguards will not be written into the bill.

Story continues

Separately on Saturday, Senior Counsel Michael Blanchflower, an expert in extradition law, said the governments assurances did not go far enough.

Promises do not constitute a legal duty, said Blanchflower, who previously served as senior assistant director of public prosecutions. The proposals do not change the fundamental problem that a person will be surrendered to a place where he or she will not receive a fair trial.

Meanwhile, 30 members of the legal sector, including Senior Counsel Edward Chan King-sang and Bar Association chairman Philip Dykes, called for a meeting with the security chief and justice minister Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah.

They were responding to Lees suggestion on Friday that members of the legal profession might have misunderstood the bill.

The lawyers invited officials to an open meeting where government representatives could enlighten us on our misunderstanding of the bill.

The citys No 2 official also doubled down on the governments claim that the bill was essential to resolving the case of a Hongkonger wanted in Taiwan in connection with the murder of his girlfriend last year.

Asked if the government would condemn jurisdictions that failed to deliver the safeguards listed in the extradition agreements, Cheung sidestepped the question.

I dont think it is an issue of whether we should condemn or not, he said. If such a case were to happen you couldnt fool anybody.

This article Hong Kong extradition bill: no hidden political agenda behind proposal, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung insists first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
LTFRB personnel inspects a school bus.

MANILA, Philippines  The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Friday called on school administrators to report unauthorized school service vehicles to help address the problem on colorum vehicles.

LTFRB director for technical division Joel Bolano said the agency cannot solve the problem alone and it would be more effective if school officials would help in their campaign against colorum school service vehicles.

Colorum vehicles are private vehicles posing as public utility vehicles which operate without a franchise from the LTFRB.

Although the LTFRB has been conducting spot inspections against illegal school service vehicles during the start of the school season, Bolano said they still need help from other agencies.

We assure them that the LTFRB is giving them the time. Mayroon kaming mga tao along school premises lalo kapag opening [ng klase]. Yung presence naming, nandoon talaga, kaya lang, yung sinasabi ko we have to get help from other agencies, he said.

School service vehicles that operate without franchise can pose dangers because these did not undergo proper inspection and test for road worthiness.

Illegal school service vehicles also present unfair competition to legitimate operators.

According to Celso dela Paz, president of the National Alliance of School Service Association of the Philippines, more parents are subscribing to colorum school service vehicles as they offer cheaper monthly fee of P1,200 than the legitimate operators P1,500 fee.

Marikina-based Dela Paz also hit the local authorities alleged inaction despite the rampant operation of colorum school service vehicles in their area.

Doon na nga ako nagugulat eh. Bakit kaming mga may prangkisa ang kanilang pinaghihigpitan? Samantalang nagkalat ang mga colorum, hindi lang dito sa Marikina, buong Metro Manila halos may colorum, he complained.

The LTFRB has admitted to having difficulty in effectively apprehending illegal school service vehicles in Metro Manila due to insufficient number of personnel.

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The agency also urged parents not to use the service of illegitimate school service vehicles as these are not registered with the LTFRB, thus passengers are not covered by its personal accident insurance policy.

Sana yung school service na kukunin nila ay yung mga legitimate na may franchise kasi may mga insurance yun na magko-cover dun sa mga passenger, Bolano said.

The LTFRB warned anew that operators of apprehended colorum service vehicles will be fined P200,000 and the vehicle will be impounded for three months. (with details from Joan Nano)

The post LTFRB asks school officials to report illegal school service vehicles appeared first on UNTV News.
BERLIN, GERMANY - MAY 31: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Photo by Thomas Koehler/Photothek via Getty Images)

Huawei and Iran are two of the key issues on the table as US secretary of state Mike Pompeo made a half-day stop in Germany on Friday.

The secretary of state first met with German foreign minister Heiko Mass and then held a 45-minute meeting with chancellor Angela Merkel. It is Pompeos first visit to Berlin since taking office over a year ago.

The world is in a state of great unrest, Merkel said in her brief joint appearance with Pompeo before their meeting, listing Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and Ukraine. The USA is and remains Germanys most important partner outside of Europe.

Maas, speaking at his earlier press conference with Pompeo Friday morning, said the two countries are currently going in different ways" on Iran. The German foreign minister added that the US and Germany "ultimately have the same goals," which include Iran not acquiring nuclear weapons.

Germany is keen to mediate in the Middle East as tensions between Iran and the US ratchet up. The US recently sent a carrier strike group and will deploy about 1,500 troops to the region. Berlin sent an envoy to Iran last week in an attempt to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Trump pulled out of in May 2018.

Iran told envoy Jens Plotner that it had run out of patience with the US, and said that France, Germany, and the UK should still honour their commitment to the deal by trading with the country, according to Reuters.

Pompeo and Maas also tackled the thorny topic of Huawei. The US has been pressuring allies to ban equipment from the Chinese company from their telecoms networks over what it says are spying concerns.

Pompeo said in Berlin that Germany would make its own decisions about Huawei, but warned that the US may withhold national security data if it lacked confidence in the security of German networks.

Trump will also tell the UK during his upcoming visit that Washington may refuse to share intel if Huawei is not banned from its 5G networks, according to a Financial Times report.

Story continues

Germany said in April that the Chinese tech giant would be allowed to compete in the auction to build its 5G technology network. Jochen Homann from Germanys Federal Network Agency told the Financial Times that no equipment supplier, including Huawei, should or may be specifically excluded.

Germanys NATO spending  Trumps ongoing gripe with Berlin  will also be discussed on Friday. Before leaving on the trip, Pompeo told journalists that the president is not satisfied with Germanys financial contributions to NATO, something that has been a bone of contention between the two countries since Trump took office.

Theyre an important, big economy inside of the EU, and we need them fully engaged and devoting adequate resources to the protection of Europe, Pompeo said.

While Merkel avoided mentioning the US president by name during her Harvard University commencement speech on Thursday, her address was regarded as an outspoken criticism of Trumps policies and world view. She urged students to stand up against protectionism and nationalism, tear down walls of ignorance, and to never describe lies as truth and truth as lies.
Romanians lined Bucharest streets and packed two cathedrals on Friday to welcome Pope Francis, who began a three-day trip to the country with a message of integration for a post-election European Union following nationalist gains. In speeches in the capital, Francis praised the "sacrifices" of Romanian emigrants and urged the faithful to reject "a culture of hate". Thousands of people along Bucharest boulevards cheered, waved and took pictures as Francis travelled through the capital by popemobile. Many television channels transmitted his visit live, while screens where put up throughout the city for people to watch the ceremonies. - 'Viva papa' - Outside Saint Joseph Catholic Cathedral, where tens of thousands gathered for a mass, people waved flags and also chanted "Viva papa", or "Long live the pope". During the three-day visit to the mainly Orthodox country the 82-year-old is expected to raise issues fuelling nationalism, such as poverty, as well as inter-religious relations. In one of his speeches Friday, Francis paid homage "to the sacrifices endured by so many sons and daughters of Romania". Rampant unemployment and poverty have pushed millions to seek better lives abroad and the country still faces major socio-political problems despite joining the EU in 2007. The exodus of Romanians seeking work abroad had led to the "depopulation of many villages", he said. He also had a private meeting with Orthodox Patriarch Daniel despite their strained relations, and they prayed alongside each other -- one in Latin and the other in Romanian. The pontiff set off from Rome's Fiumicino airport early Friday after meeting a group of 15 homeless Romanians who live in Rome. In Bucharest, he was welcomed at the airport by pro-European President Klaus Iohannis and some 200 cheering children, dressed mostly in white and waving flags. After talks with Iohannis, Francis met Romania's first female Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila. - Strained history - The pope's visit follows 20 years after John Paul II received a warm welcome for his perceived role in the fall of Communism. Relations between the Orthodox Church and Romania's Greek Catholics -- who number just 150,000 -- have been strained ever since the decades of the communist rule following World War II. The tiny community had its property confiscated and its religious leaders were jailed. But the Greek Catholics resisted, holding secret masses until the dictatorship fell in 1989. The pontiff will beatify seven bishops who were tortured and died in prison, setting them on the path to sainthood. He will also travel across the country to meet people of diverse faiths and languages, which include 18 officially recognised minorities. The highlight of the trip is set to be Saturday's mass at the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the picturesque Transylvania region. Tens of thousands are expected to attend the ceremony, which will see Francis present a golden rose at the large wooden replica of the Madonna -- a tradition for popes visiting major Marian shrines. - 'Hearts and minds open' - Francis' trip will be an opportunity "to send a message to the many Catholic Hungarians there to keep their hearts, minds and gates open to others," religious expert Claire Giangrave wrote in the religious news website Cruxnow. "The challenge for the pope is to stress to the Orthodox community that the Church of Rome does not want to 'Latinise' it," said Bishop Pascal Gollnisch, director of the Oeuvre d'Orient French charity, which supports Eastern Churches. "The unity sought is not institutional: the aim is not to bring all Christians together under the Catholic label, but to have everyone recognise each other as Christians," he told AFP. burs-jza/jj
* Malaysia set to post five straight gains * Indonesia on track for biggest monthly loss in 14 months * Philippines rises to over three week high By Shreya Mariam Job May 31 (Reuters) - Singapore stocks fell on Friday, and is set for its biggest monthly loss in more than three years, symbolising a tough month for most equity markets in the region as U.S.-China trade tensions reignited. The benchmark index in Singapore slid 0.6% as investors turned cautious of a possible slowdown in global growth. "Singapore is one of the most exposed countries to any slowdown in global trade. Our gross trade is 400% of GDP," Paul Chew Kuan Leng, head of research at Phillip Securities Research said. U.S. President Donald Trump's move to slap tariffs on Mexico garnered fears that the United States, and maybe the whole world, was slipping into recession. Adding to the worries was China's factory activity in May, which slumped into a deeper contraction than markets' expectations, heaping pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus to support an economy hit hard by a bruising trade war with the United States. Financial stocks drove losses, with the city-state's largest lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd shedding as much as 1.3% to hit its lowest level since Feb. 11. Southeast Asia's largest economy  Indonesia  shrugged off disappointing China data and trade tension woes with its benchmark stock index rising as much as 1.4% to hit a more that two-week high. However, for the month the index dropped 4.5%. As political uncertainty eases, DBS remains positive on Indonesian equities boosted "by confidence placed in Bank Indonesia (BI) and strengthening in the rupiah," as said in a note. Shares of Bank Central Asia Tbk PT gained 2.1%, while those of and Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk PT rose 2.2%. Philippine stocks extended gains into the fourth consecutive session, rising to a more than three-week high, underpinned by real estate stocks and industrials. For May, the index is set to post a 0.5% loss. Some analysts say Philippines may be considered an attractive alternative for firms moving out of China to avoid raised tariffs. Ayala Land Inc and JG Summit Holdings Inc advanced 2.2% and 2.3%, respectively. Malaysian stocks gained 0.5% and were set to post a five-day winning streak, to aid a marginal monthly gain. Tenaga Nasional Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd gained 1.1% and 1.9%, respectively. Thai and Vietnam stocks dipped slightly and were set to post a monthly loss. Broader Asian shares, meanwhile, slid at first but soon drew month-end bargain hunting with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 0.3%. For Asian Companies click; SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS AS at 0432 GMT Change on the day Market Current Previous close Pct Move Singapore 3125.21 3143 -0.57 Bangkok 1620.24 1621.57 -0.08 Manila 7916.01 7836.55 1.01 Jakarta 6160.071 6104.106 0.92 Kuala Lumpur 1644.5 1636.5 0.49 Ho Chi Minh 966.56 969.34 -0.29 Change so far in 2019 Market Current End 2018 Pct Move Singapore 3125.21 3068.76 1.84 Bangkok 1620.24 1563.88 3.60 Manila 7916.01 7,466.02 6.03 Jakarta 6160.071 6,194.50 -0.56 Kuala Lumpur 1644.5 1690.58 -2.73 Ho Chi Minh 966.56 892.54 8.29 (Reporting by Shreya Mariam Job in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
Imee Marcos

MANILA, Philippines  If Senator-elect Imee Marcos were to be asked, she would choose to chair the Senate Committee on Social Welfare as she wants to focus on crafting bills that would help alleviate poverty.

Gusto ko sana social welfare, the incoming senator said during an interview with the program Get It Straight with Daniel Razon on Friday (May 31).

Titingnan natin ang 4Ps kasi dapat i-expand iyong work tapos ibabagsak ang presyo, importante iyon, she added.

But in consideration of the more senior senators, Marcos said it will depend on the decision of Senator Joel Villanueva who currently chairs the Social Welfare Committee if he would give up the chairmanship.

Nevertheless, the senator-elect said she is still okay with the Senate Committee on Local Government as it also fits her credentials having years of experience in local governance.

Despite the controversies thrown against her and her family, Marcos ranked eight in the 2019 senatorial race with over 15,800,000 votes.

When the 18th Congress begins, Senator-elect Marcos said she would prioritize measures on lowering poverty incidence in the country, land reform, and peace and order or the anti-terror bill among others.

Land reform agad-agad. Iyong wala nang utang utang (kundi) ibigay na ang lupa. Hahanap tayo ng Sistema dyan,) she noted.

Marcos also wants to amend the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and push for more Cash-for-Work programs instead of the dole-out scheme.

She said she supports the establishment of a Department of Water to address the countrys water problem as well as measures for agricultural development and lowering the price of basic commodities.

She also wants to amend the current Solo Parent Law and push for more benefits for single parents.

Dahil walang masaydong benepisyo ang mga nanay na mag-isa. Mahirap kasi. Its hard to bring up kids by yourself, she explained.

Marcos admitted she is against the Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC), a preference contrary to the Duterte administration.

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She would support, however, measures that would establish a mandatory citizenship service instead of mandatory military service.

Citizenship training na hindi pinipilit na maging military dahil hindi po pwedeng pilitin ang tao na maging sundalo, she explained.

I can bring another perspective to the issue. Hindi pwedeng pilitin ang bata (na maging sundalo) pero iyong citizenship ng isang Pilipino, iyong pagiging makabayan, iyon kailangan at agree ako na gawing mandatory iyon, she added.

She wants an increase in tobacco and other sin taxes; reinstate the death penalty for drug-related crimes; extend the term of barangay officials and synchronize elections with the national level; benefits for retiring local officials; reform Sangguniang Kabataan system; and, the establishment of the Department of Overseas Filipino Worker.

When asked if she would revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a known legacy of his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, the incoming senator said it is not necessary as there are alternative sources of energy similar to the windmills of Ilocos Norte.  (with reports from Rey Pelayo)

The post Senator-elect Marcos to prioritize laws on poverty alleviation, agriculture appeared first on UNTV News.
Photo credit: Samir Hussein - Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are honoring Pride Month with a celebratory message on Instagram.

"For the month of June we 'proudly' shine a light on PRIDE," part of the caption reads.

The couple has previously addressed their commitment to supporting LGBTQ+ rights in their work.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shared a celebratory message in honor of Pride Month (June) on Instagram this morning.

Back in April 2018, a month before they got married, Meghan and Harry were voicing their eagerness to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights in their work with young people across the world. At the Commonwealth Youth Forum, they spoke with activist Jacob Thomas, who was recognized for working to reduce the suicide rate amongst LGBTQ+ people in Australia.

Thomas revealed to People that his work resonated with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. "Miss Markle said, and these were her exact words, 'This is a basic human rights issue, not one about sexuality,'" he said.

Thomas added, "Prince Harry said that what was so amazing was that ten or so years ago, we wouldnt have been having this conversation and how incredible it was that we now were."

The Sussexes also spoke to LGBTQ+ activist Jonah Chinga from Kenya at the event. "Both Prince Harry and Miss Markle said they would put LGBT issues at the front of their work," he told reporters, per People.

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Photo credit: WPA Pool - Getty Images

This year, Harry also backed the charity Mermaids, which supports transgender and gender diverse children in the U.K. He invited the organization's CEO to a meeting with other leading charities "on the front line of mental health work in the U.K," royal correspondent Hannah Furness reported for The Telegraph.

('You Might Also Like',)
Ministry celebration

Congregation of Bethany Lutheran Church, 1201 Dubuque, St., in Sioux City will be celebrating the 15-year ministry of the Rev. Gerry and Joan Bruhn. The appreciation event will be held 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday in the social hall at the church, after our 10 a.m. worship service. There will be a short program and a meal including a variety of smoked meats and side dishes catered by Louis Bros BBQ, as well as desserts and refreshments.

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School will be 5:45 to 8 p.m. from June 9 to 13 at Grace United Methodist Church, 1735 Morningside Ave. To Mars and Beyond will help children discover the wonders of God's universe while learning how God walked with the heroes of the Bible and that God is always with them too. Music, crafts, games, Bible study and snacks are included for all children ages 3 years through sixth grade in the community. Cost is $5 per child or $10 per family. For further information contact Jan Jacobson at 276-3452.

Hope Lutheran Church, 218 W. 18th St., in South Sioux City, will hold its Vacation Bible School from 9 to 11:30 a.m. from June 10 to 14. There will be games, stories and snacks for all children ages Pre-K through the sixth grade.

Faith Lutheran Church, 3101 Hamilton Blvd., will host Vacation Bible School from 8:30 a.m. to noon on June 15. The theme is Dragons in the Bible. To register leave a message at the church 712-258-4820 or faithsc3101@gmail.com. There is no cost to participate.

Church Rummage Sale

Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St., will hold a Church Rummage Sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Go to door 6, the gym entrance on the north side. Something for everyone.

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Rihanna is making fashion history. Fenty, her women's wear line, has joined Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy under the vast LVMH umbrella (ella ella ella).

By joining forces with LVMH, the powerhouse French conglomerate behind the world's biggest labels, Rihanna is blessing high fashion with an inclusivity that Europe's exclusive fashion houses have never seen before.

Rihanna is the first woman for whom Bernard Arnault, the mega-company's chairman and chief executive, built a label from scratch. She's only the second designer who can claim that honor. The first was Christian Lacroix in 1987. Rihanna is also the first woman of color to lead an LVMH maison. According to the Business of Fashion, she's a 49.99% shareholder in LVMH's Fenty.

"Rihanna has always been bold. Never afraid. And now she's a pioneer," said Tuesday Gordon, longtime manager of Center City boutique Joan Shepp. "This is a special moment in fashion for black women."

It's also a win for young fashionistas. And that has the potential to make an even greater impact on the industry.

Fenty _ which debuted Friday at a Paris pop-up and which will launch online on Wednesday _ speaks to those younguns who wouldn't think twice about pairing a Fenty Japanese denim blazer with a pair of fast-fashion Fashion Nova jeans. It has in mind the young man who may want to wear a corset. And it relates to all who would rather scroll through Instagram and click to buy than thumb through a fashion glossy. Rihanna belongs to the millennials on down.

And this makes me wonder: When it comes to cachet, does Rihanna need LVMH as much as LVMH needs her?

Ten years ago, I would have been on the side of LVMH. People were shopping for sport. Labels mattered more than a brand's story. And although Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's the Row was gaining serious industry traction, we still lived in a world where celebrities were just the faces of the fashion brand. Who cared if they could actually design? Name recognition was queen. Who didn't own a pair of Jessica Simpson's wedge sandals? Celebrities needed established labels in their corner for style cred, and in Simpson's case, it was Vince Camuto.

Brands founded by black celebrities, from Kimora Lee Simmons' Baby Phat _ which she plans to relaunch this summer _ to Jay-Z's Rocawear, were pigeonholed as streetwear. Sean "Diddy" Combs broke the mold with the success of Sean John, a brand that reportedly rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars in sales annually. Still, the highest retail echelon he's reached is Macy's.

I suspect this lack of respect for celebrity brands driven by hip-hop artists in fashion's most rarefied houses is why rapper/designer Kanye West was once obsessed with pleasing Hedi Slimane, the former creative director of Yves Saint Laurent for whom he wrote his 2013 single "I Am a God." Yeah, I know Kanye thrives on being the center of attention, but I'd bet money a part of him was pleading for the validation in the high-fashion community that black celebrities had never been afforded, no matter how many pieces of clothing they sold.

But without these "streetwear" brands fronted by black celebrities, this Fenty-LVMH lovefest wouldn't exist. Rihanna is still under Jay-Z's Roc Nation label, and its CEO, Jay Brown, helped broker the deal for Ri Ri. Simmons, Jay, and Combs made inroads in an industry in which LVMH wants Rihanna to be a boss.

My, how the script flips.

So what does Rihanna get out of the deal? Under the LVMH umbrella, Fenty will enjoy the manufacturing and distribution resources only a monster brand can offer. That's a luxury for any designer, said Kevan Hall, former creative director of Halston and who dressed Katherine Heigl and Vanessa Williams on the red carpet and whose pieces are sold locally at Gabrielle in Bala Cynwyd. "But when it comes to fashion cachet," Hall said, agreeing with me, "Rihanna has a bit of an edge."

Rihanna has the influencers' ultimate design gig. She can speak directly to her 71.1 million Instagram followers, and the concept of the collection is based on who she is, rather than what the brand wants her to be. She's dictating to LVMH what her style is, rather than LVMH telling her what's going to sell. LVMH is in her house now.

And this is why: Rihanna's style has been an important part of her persona from the moment she launched her singing career. In 2014, the Council of Fashion Designers of America named her its style icon, and Rihanna boldly arrived at the gala in a see-through Adam Selman gown. She's the highlight of every Met Gala; she didn't show up this year, and Twitter was salty.

In 2017, Rihanna and LVMH launched Fenty Beauty. Its tagline is "Beauty for all," and it has been applauded for offering 40 shades of foundation, helping a myriad of women appear flawless. Last May came Savage X Fenty lingerie, aimed at helping women with curves in all sizes slay the night.

No wonder Rihanna can be disruptive. I can already see how her influence at Fenty is impacting fashion's greater good.

Fenty's double-breasted blazers _ complete with built-in fanny packs _ roomy trousers, puff-sleeve shirts, and corset shirt dresses in neutral blushes, khaki browns, blacks, and whites are proof the label's nude palette goes way beyond customary peaches and ivories. Also, the collection's pieces go up to an American size 14. That's remarkable when most French fashion houses tend to make a hard stop between sizes 10 and 12.

And Rihanna is completely ignoring the fashion calendar. Fashion collections are traditionally revealed on runways in September and February. But Rihanna is releasing her inaugural grouping now. And it will be available to buy within days, not in six months.

There is no doubt this foray is promising, says Teri Agins, author of "The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever." But the fanfare will mean little if Fenty doesn't make major sales. And that's going to be tough, even for a game-changer like Rihanna.

"If they figure this thing out and it works," Agins said, "that's when we will really be talking unparalleled."

(c)2019 Philly.com Visit Philly.com at www.philly.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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SIOUX CITY -- When Lynn Gross joined the Sioux City Municipal Band, color television was in its infancy, drive-in movie theaters were still popular and, on a weekend evening, area families would flock to Grandview Park to see the band play.

Times have changed, but Gross, 73, still plays his saxophone with the band at the park's bandshell. One of the few municipal bands to survive into the 21st century, it still draws a crowd.

This summer marks the 100th season of Sioux City's band, which will stage its first 2019 concert Sunday at the Grandview Park bandshell.

The band's roots actually go back a little further than 100 years -- the earliest members were part of The Journal's "Newsboy band," which formed in 1912. Some of those newsboys went off to fight in World War I, and, after they returned, formed the American Legion-affiliated Monahan Post Band. The band was renamed the Sioux City Municipal Band in 1948.

Dave Madsen, the band's host/emcee, said few, if any of the band's current 50 members (plus 25 substitutes) are part of the American Legion. And he's not sure how many have ever carried the Journal. For the most part, present-day band members are just music lovers.

"A lot of these folks are professional musicians, a lot of them are band teachers or they're retired band teachers," Madsen said. "Some people are just people who've been playing for a long time, and are really good."

Gross has been with the band for the majority of its 100 summers. He joined after finishing his freshman year at the University of South Dakota in 1964. At the time, the band was still led by Leo Kucinski, who had directed it since 1929 and was a key figure in the construction of the bandshell in the 1930s.

"They needed a tenor sax player, and the band director at USD recommended me," Gross said.

After graduation, he spent part of his career as a music teacher in the Sioux City public school system and part working in music stores. Now approaching his 56th year with the municipal band, he has no plans to retire.

"What I've taught and pushed when I wanted kids to start music, it's something you can do all your life, and I thought I should live that," he said. "You can be good at what you do until your dying day, actually, which you can't say about a lot of sports."

Sunday's performance will feature the Offutt Brass, the brass quintet from Offutt Air Force Base, as well as the Siouxland Youth Chorus. Selections will include the "Stars and Stripes Forever," a medley from the musical "Oliver," "A Festival Prelude" by Alfred Reed and a Beatles medley.

The traditional audience sing-a-long, led by Madsen, will include Somewhere Over the Rainbow and I Got Rhythm.

The Sunday night concerts will continue through July 21.

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In 1973, the writer Andrew Tobias published his autobiography, The Best Little Boy in the World, under the pen name of John Reid. Tobias was not the first or last gay man who tried to compensate for his sexual orientation by striving to be the best in all his endeavors.

Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is another good example of the best little boy in the world. In spite of his last name, pronounced Boot-Edge-Edge, Mayor Buttigieg has an impressive resume, chronicled in his recently published book The Shortest Way Home: One Mayors Challenge and a Model for Americas Future.

He was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve, serving in Afghanistan; a Rhodes scholar at the University of Oxford; a business analyst for a global management consulting firm; and, since 2011, mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

As Troy Mallis put it, Buttigieg is attractive, charismatic, witty, down-to-earth and smart as a whip - perfect husband material. (But hes already married.) He is multilingual in a country where most people, including the president, can barely speak one language. All that Buttigieg has left to do is run for president, and as a Democrat.

When Mayor Buttigieg announced his candidacy, most pundits put him down as a flash in the pan, soon to be replaced by more serious candidates. But Buttigieg has proven to be quite resilient. Public opinion polls have placed the mayor in third place, just behind the old warhorses, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Even Donald Trump, who likes to insult anyone who dares to oppose him, took notice when he called Mayor Buttigieg Alfred E. Neuman, after MAD magazines cover boy. (There is some resemblance.) On his web page, PeteForAmerica.com, Buttigieg declares that Its time for a new generation of American leadership after decades of misgovernment by baby boomers like Trump, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Though he is only 37, the youngest serious candidate for president  20-year old Elijah Manley does not count  Buttigieg reminds us that he has more years of government experience than the president, more years of executive government experience than the vice president, and more military experience than anybody to walk into the Oval Office since President George H. W. Bush.

But even Pete Buttigieg has his faults, which his Democratic opponents were quick to point out. Buttigieg is a butch, white, cisgender male, which should not be held against him but which is reflected by his limited views and by the lack of diversity at his campaign rallies (which are almost, but not quite, as white as the makeup of the Trump rallies).

Buttigieg realizes his shortcomings and is trying hard to reach out to African-Americans and other minorities. Mayor Pete has also been criticized for being long on generalizations and short on specifics, unlike policy wonks like Elizabeth Warren.

Finally, there is the fact that Buttigieg is gay, which should not be a detriment but which still is in a largely homophobic country. In any case, voters who hate Buttigieg because he is gay are voting for Trump regardless of his sexual orientation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted the year-round sale of a higher blend of ethanol, marking what biofuels and agriculture representatives call a major win for Iowa  the nations leader in ethanol production.

But while Fridays EPA decision to end the summer ban on the sale of E15  a fuel blend of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline often marketed at the pump as Unleaded 88  comes one day before the start of summer driving season, the effects are expected to be gradual.

Whats more, some fuel retailers could have to shell out big bucks before they can even offer E15 at the pump.

We might not be talking about a game changer for ethanol and corn prices on day one, or maybe even year one, but it will help, said Monte Shaw, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director. I dont want to mislead people and say in a couple of years well have another seven billion gallons of ethanol demand because of E15  it will take longer than that  but we will see an uptick in demand right away.

Iowa ethanol plants produced a record-breaking 4.35 billion gallons in 2018. That accounted for about 27 percent of the total U.S. production last year.

The elimination of the ban on E15 summertime sales  first promised in October by President Donald Trump  prompted praise from Iowa lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, as well as Democrat House members Dave Loebsack and Abby Finkenauer.

Industry officials anticipate year-round E15 sales to boost the growth of compatible pumps across the state.

E15 is available at more than 180 refueling sites in Iowa, according to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

Ariel Rubin, communications director with Kum & Go, said the chain has installed E15 pumps at 148 stores. Nearly 240 store locations offer E85, she noted.

We continue to add E15 and E85 to every new store that we build, Rubin said, adding that the year-round sale of E15 should expedite the growth of compatible fuel pumps.

Dawn Carlson, president and chief executive officer of FUELIowa, a trade organization that represents the fuels industry, said the EPAs announcement was great news for the industry. But she added that many retail fuel locations will need to undergo extensive infrastructure upgrades before they can sell the fuel.

Most existing E15 retailers received state grants geared toward expanding those sales, while private groups have provided more than $5 million to larger retail chains in Iowa for E15 infrastructure upgrades, Carlson said.

All told, Carlson said 85 percent of all retail fuel sites in Iowa  largely located in more rural areas  are incompatible with E15 or cannot prove compatibility, meaning they are prohibited from legally offering the fuel.

It could cost as much as $100,000 to modify a retail fuel site to properly dispense E15 and another $500,000 to raise and rebuild an existing three-tank system  the typical number of tanks at a gas station  to allow for safe and legal E15 storage, she added.

Whats more, Iowa offers up to 10 cents per gallon in refundable income tax credits to E15 retailers, which gives existing E15 retailers a leg up.

For Iowa small-business owners competing against someone selling E15, the change will be immediate, Carlson said. In this industry, street prices drive sales. The short-term impact of year-round E15 will hinge on whether the 10-cent advantage will put competing businesses who cannot sell E15 out of business.

The long term impacts remain to be seen.

Another unknown in the discussion are the customers  whether they will fully embrace E15 as the infrastructure expands.

The EPA also on Friday announced reforms to the Renewable Fuel Standard in an effort to add transparency to the Renewable Identification Number, or RIN, credits process.

Oil refiners  with a capacity of fewer than 75,000 barrels per day  are required to blend an amount of biofuels into their fuel or purchase RINs as a substitute.

New rules aim to make the RIN process more transparent.

Despite some uncertainty in the overall impact of year-round E15 sales, Fridays EPA announcement was met with praise in Iowa.

This means stronger markets for farm families across Iowa who have been struggling with ongoing low commodity prices and trade tensions. It also creates operational efficiencies for fuel marketers and instills confidence in the renewable fuels market, which spurs investments in infrastructure, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in a Friday news release.

Officials in the petroleum industry, however, have said they would sue the EPA if year-round E15 sales were allowed.

The statutory language leaves no question that the EPA lacks authority to extend the E10 volatility waiver to E15. Finalizing this aspect of the proposed rule would clearly be unlawful, and we strongly oppose it, Chet Thompson, president and chief executive officer of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, said in an April 30 statement.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Associations Shaw said he will not be surprised if a lawsuit is filed in the near future, but he said he is confident in the new rules.

The key for this rule is not just that it approves year-round E15, but that it does so based on the best science and legal precedents that will survive the Big Oil onslaught in court, Shaw said in a Friday news release.

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The quote is attributed to President Harry Truman, and Ronald Reagan kept it on his desk: "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

It is even more amazing what has been accomplished with the American economy, but Democratic presidential candidates, the media and economists such as Paul Krugman of The New York Times refuse to give President Trump any credit. Recall that it was Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, who predicted that Trump's election would trigger "a global recession." One continues to wait in vain for an "I was wrong" statement from him.

The Economist, a center-left British magazine that includes coverage of events in the U.S. and is no fan of the Trump administration, recently published a remarkable editorial that contains gems Republicans should quote between now and the next election. They include a strong rebuke to the contention of many Democrats that "working people" are still struggling and that the improved economy continues to benefit only the wealthiest 1 percent.

The bleak picture painted by Democrats, the editorial says, "is at odds with reality." The Economist refers to a worldwide "jobs boom" and (note to Bernie Sanders and others promoting socialism) asserts that, "Capitalism is improving workers' lot faster than it has in years ... the zeitgeist has lost touch with the data."

Noting that U.S. unemployment at 3.6 percent is the lowest in 50 years, the magazine says, "Less appreciated is the abundance of jobs across most of the rich world."

A more educated population, the matching by websites of jobs to qualified applicants, and, yes, economic stimulus efforts that helped fuel the emergence of economies from the last recession have all contributed to the American economy and many European economies.

Then there is this, which has been the gospel of conservatives for decades when it comes to welfare and its disincentive for many to find work: "... reforms to welfare programs, both to make them less generous and to toughen eligibility tests, seem to have encouraged people to seek work."

This has forced liberal politicians to shift their focus from the unemployed to the "quality" of jobs. British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is quoted as saying, "Our jobs market is being turned into a sea of insecurity."

"Reality begs to differ," says The Economist. "Official projections" predict that by 2026, "America will have more at-home careers than secretaries." Jobs and the skills necessary to fill them are changing, but not so rapidly that workers -- and especially younger people -- cannot adjust their education and training to match the new requirements.

Wages are rising almost everywhere, and, as the editorial says, tight labor markets "lead firms to fish for employees in neglected pools, including among ex-convicts. ... American wonks fretted for years about how to shrink the disability-benefit rolls. Now the hot labor market is doing it for them."

This is the argument that conservatives, many Republicans and the Trump administration have been making for some time. Economic growth, not government, raises most boats.

While acknowledging "The jobs boom will not last forever" and that a recession will eventually "kill it off," the editorial concludes that the economic boom "deserves a little appreciation."

It deserves more than that and would be more than appreciated if it all happened under a Democratic president. Republicans and the Trump administration should seize on this reality and promote it every day, asking voters if they want to continue with these successful policies or return to low economic growth and fewer jobs.

It is a question Democrats and their policies of higher taxes and reimposed regulations will find difficult, if not impossible, to answer.

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Dave Loebsack put his thumb on the scales.

Loebsack is retiring from Congress; the 66-year-old Iowa City Democrat will have served 14 years representing Iowas 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives when his term ends next year.

This past week, Loebsack endorsed Rita Hart in the nascent race to replace him. The primary election is still more than a year away, but Loebsack has made it known which candidate he supports.

"Rita Hart is a farmer, educator and former state senator who truly understands what Iowa and our district needs. But most of all, Rita Harts a problem solver who will fight day in and day out to bring people together and get the job done, Loebsack said in a statement. I know shell continue to champion the priorities weve worked for together like giving our veterans the care and support they need, expanding rural broadband, and providing more opportunities for vocational and skills training for Iowans.

The move essentially clears the Democratic field for Hart, a former state senator and candidate for lieutenant governor.

Sure, other Democrats could still get in the race. But any such candidate would face a significant uphill climb against Hart as she carries Loebsacks endorsement, not to mention her own qualifications as a well-known figure in the district.

Whether thats a good thing for Democrats remains to be seen. The party has some recent experience with field-clearing primaries that did not go well: namely, the 2014 U.S. Senate race.

Bruce Braley, who represented the 1st District in Congress, did not face a primary challenge in that 2014 race. Meantime, then-state Sen. Joni Ernst emerged from a competitive primary with momentum; she went on to defeat Braley in the general election.

Should Democrats feel gun-shy about clearing a primary field in this 2nd District race? I put that question to Pat Rynard, publisher of the political website Iowa Starting Line, during a recent episode of "Iowa Press" on Iowa Public Television.

Rynard said that while a competitive primary may be a good thing, its not like the Democratic Party is shooing away other potential candidates. Its more, Rynard said, that those other potential Democratic candidates view Hart as a formidable candidate and feel it may not be worth their effort to face her in a primary.

When Loebsack announced his retirement, the 2nd District seat instantly became a toss-up in the view of national political forecasters. Loebsack has represented the district since his upset election in 2006, but Republican President Donald Trump won the district in 2016. Republicans will make a concerted effort to flip the seat in 2020.

It would appear it will be up to Hart to keep the seat in the Democrats hands, and it looks like she will head into what figures to be a tough general election without having a similarly difficult primary.

Whether that affects her chances in 2020 remains to be seen.

Iowa Republicans criticize new tariffs

Iowas top elected Republicans, U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and Gov. Kim Reynolds, are expressing opposition to President Trumps threat to apply another round of tariffs on Mexico  this time with the goal of pressuring Mexico into action on immigration policy.

A White House statement said the new 5 percent tariff would be applied June 10, and that Trump would lift them only after Mexico takes actions to alleviate the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Grassley, Ernst and Reynolds issued statements disagreeing with the strategy.

"Trade policy and border security are separate issues. This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent," Grassley said. He added the new NAFTA agreement, formally called the USMCA, would be jeopardized as a result.

Ernst and Reynolds also noted the potential for a negative impact on the agreement at a time when Iowa farmers already are facing multiple headwinds that are driving down the price of corn and soybeans.

"If the president goes through with this, Im afraid progress to get this trade agreement across the finish line will be stifled, Ernst said. She added this "isn't the right path forward" to fixing illegal immigration.

Reynolds said the immigration issue should not be resolved "on the backs of Iowa farmers."

"Iowans are frustrated with Washingtons inability to reform our countrys immigration system and address the crisis at the border, but I am asking the president to rethink this approach," she said.

Erin Murphy covers Iowa politics and government for Lee Enterprises. His email address is erin.murphy@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at @ErinDMurphy.

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There may be no man alive who has done more damage to Americas understanding of economics than Art Laffer. So, of course, Donald Trump is now awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The White House press release calls Laffer the father of supply-side economics, the conservative doctrine that emphasizes growth through tax cuts. First, hes not really the father of this movement. Its original intellectual force was economist Robert Mundell, a quirky Nobel prize winner under whom Laffer studied. Laffer did go on to become the ideas most important preacher and popularizer, though. Hes best known for observing that if the government raises taxes too high, it will eventually collect less revenue, because people will begin to work and earn less. Thus, in some circumstances, tax cuts could theoretically pay for themselves by spurring the economy. He wasnt actually the first person to notice this, but no matter. One night at dinner in 1974, he illustrated the point to Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld by drawing a curve on a napkinwhich is why we now call the concept the Laffer curve.

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The Laffer curve is a somewhat useful observation. Most economists agree that there is a point of diminishing returns where raising taxes becomes counterproductive. But to reach it, you probably have to push rates really, really highpossibly to somewhere around 70 percent. Laffer has instead spent years preaching the idea that almost any tax cut for businesses and the rich could potentially pay for itself, an intellectually corrosive notion that has now become the conceptual backbone of the Republican Partys entire economic program. Trumps Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin insisted the administrations own tax cut would cover its own cost (Laffer , who advised Trumps campaign in 2016, himself said the cut to the corporate rate would pay for itself many times over.) Mitch McConnell said much the same. Predictably, it wasnt true.

Spreading the idea that tax cuts are self-financing wasnt Laffers only sin against economics. Hes been personally involved in some disastrous public policy experiments, such as the notorious Kansas tax plan that wrecked the states finances. And recently, he and his longtime friend Stephen Moore, the conservative pundit Donald Trump nearly nominated to the Fed, co-wrote Trumponomics, a book-length tribute to the administrations policies. Now hes getting a medal for his services.
Get More Slate Money Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to Slate Money Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page.

Listen to Slate Money via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

This week, Slate Money talks about Trumps trade wars with China and Mexico, the Fiat ChryslerRenault merger, and MacKenzie Bezos giving pledge.

And in the Slate Plus segment: the JPMorgan paternity leave lawsuit.

Email: slatemoney@slate.com

Twitter: @felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas, @EmilyRPeck

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.
Attorney General William Barr says hes trying to wrap up the Russia investigation with fairness and honesty. We live in a hyperpartisan age, Barr told Jan Crawford of CBS News in an interview recorded on Thursday. Im going to make the decisions based on the law and the facts. But the 45-minute interview, from which CBS aired excerpts on Friday, is full of falsehoods and smears. It exposes Barr as an agent of President Donald Trump.

Barr says Trump didnt obstruct justice in the investigation, despite special counsel Robert Muellers report, which details nearly a dozen obstructive acts by the president. To this day, Barr has supplied no written basis for his conclusions and no point-by-point rebuttal of Muellers evidence. Instead, Barr has turned the Justice Departments fire on Trumps investigators. Two weeks ago, Barr told Fox News that if he were Trump, Id be comfortable saying it was a witch hunt.

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In Thursdays interview, Crawford asked Barr about the 2016 decision by former FBI officials, including then-Director James Comey, to investigate contacts between Russian-affiliated actors and people in the Trump campaign. Mueller has spent two and a half years, Barr replied. And the fact is, there is no evidence of a conspiracy. So it was bogus. This whole idea that Trump was in cahoots with the Russians is bogus.

Barr addresses only one of Trumps multiple efforts to interfere in the investigation.

Bogus? To begin with, Mueller was appointed on May 17, 2017, almost exactly two years ago. The phrase two and a half years comes from Trumps surrogates, who have been circulating it for months. Barrs description of the reports bottom line on collusionno evidencealso parrots the Trump camps spin. Actually, Mueller reported that there was evidence but that it did not establish that the Campaign coordinated or conspired in two specific Russian operations: promulgating fake news to influence the election and hacking and disseminating Democratic emails. Mueller concluded that the investigation established multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government. Those links included Russian offers of assistance to the Campaign. Mueller added that in some instances, the Campaign was receptive to the offer.

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In the interview, Barr addresses only one of Trumps multiple efforts to interfere in the investigation. He asserts that Trumps firing of Comey in May 2017 cant be obstruction of justice, because we dont believe that the firing of an agency head could be established as having the probable effect, objectively speaking, of sabotaging a proceeding.

Thats preposterous. Muellers report documents a direct attempt by Trump, through Comey, to sabotage a proceeding. In February 2017, Trump expelled everyone else from the Oval Office so he could speak with Comey alone. Trump used this opportunity to ask Comey to drop the FBIs investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who had been caught lying about his contacts with Russia. Mueller reports that just before this meeting, Trump told a friend that getting rid of Flynn would end the Russia inquiry. But Comey continued the inquiry, and Trump fired him. Thats prima facie evidence of intent to sabotage the investigation.

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Barr doesnt just assert Trumps innocence. He says theres no evidence that Trump is damaging American institutions. People are saying that its President Trump thats shredding our institutions. I really see no evidence of that, Barr told Crawford. The real shredding of our norms and our institutions, Barr contends, is coming from the idea of resisting a democratically elected president and basically throwing everything at him.

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Again, thats boilerplate spin from the Trump camp. And again, it flies in the face of the Mueller report. In addition to Trumps attempt to subvert the Flynn investigation, the report details how Trump sent back-channel messages to thenAttorney General Jeff Sessions to abort the Russia inquiry, tried to overturn Sessions recusal, tried to cover up the Trump Tower meeting between Russians and his senior campaign aides, tried to fire Mueller, and tried to create a false witness statement that he hadnt tried to fire Mueller. Every one of these incidents is a documented assault on American institutions. Barrs claim that he has seen no evidence of such assaults is, in effect, a confession that the attorney general hasnt read or refuses to accept the report.

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While denying any evidence of Trumps corruption, Barr insinuates that Trumps investigators behaved improperly. The use of foreign intelligence capabilities and counterintelligence capabilities against an American political campaign to me is unprecedented. And its a serious red line thats been crossed, Barr told Crawford. I have not gotten answers that are at all satisfactory, he said of the investigators conduct. Some of the facts that Ive learned dont hang together with the official explanations. Barr doesnt explain on what basis hes casting these public aspersions, which ostensibly derive from an ongoing internal probe of the investigators. Nor does he reject Trumps claims that the investigators betrayed their country. When Crawford asked whether Comey and other top FBI officials committed treason, as Trump alleges, Barr replied: Not as a legal matter.

Throughout this performance, Barr depicted himself as an honest guy just trying to call balls and strikes in a world gone mad. He lamented that others dont share his objectivity. Sometimes people can convince themselves that what theyre doing is in the higher interest, he told Crawford. Sometimes they can look at evidence and facts through a biased prism that they themselves dont realize. If Barr is lucky, hell be remembered as one of those peopleand not as an accomplice who lied through his teeth.
The vast majority of applicants for U.S. visas will now have to hand over their social media usernames along with previous email addresses and phone numbers, according to a newly imposed rule. Applicants for pretty much all visas, except for certain diplomatic and official ones, will have to give five years worth of phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles as part of the application process.

The State Department was already collecting social media information, but only for those who had been identified for additional scrutiny, including people with a history of traveling to areas controlled by terrorist groups. That meant some 65,000 people had to hand over that information. But now the number will include around 14 million applicants for nonimmigrant visas and some 700,000 applicants for immigrant visas. Although applicants will be able to say they dont use social media, lying about it could lead to serious immigration consequences, a State Department official said in an interview with the Hill.

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For now the form only includes the most popular social media platforms, but soon applicants will be able to list all the sites they use. This is a critical step forward in establishing enhanced vetting of foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States, the official added. As weve seen around the world in recent years, social media can be a major forum for terrorist sentiment and activity. This will be a vital tool to screen out terrorists, public safety threats, and other dangerous individuals from gaining immigration benefits and setting foot on U.S. soil.

When the new rule was proposed last year, the ACLU called it ineffective and deeply problematic. The move will infringe on the rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens by chilling freedom of speech and association, particularly because people will now have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or misunderstood by a government official, the ACLU said.
Police on Saturday identified the gunman who opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday and killed 12 people as a disgruntled city employee who had served in the military. Four others were seriously injured and are in the hospital. Officials did not elaborate as to why DeWayne Craddock, who had worked for the city for 15 years, was disgruntled or what could have precipitated the attack. They also did not say whether he was facing any kind of disciplinary action. Craddock died after engaging in a long-term gun battle with police officers that wounded one officer who was saved by his bullet-proof vest.

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This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, Mayor Bobby Dyer said at a news conference. The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors and colleagues. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since November 2018 when 12 people were killed at a bar in California.

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Craddock allegedly shot and killed his first victim in a car outside the public works and utilities building before going inside and opening fire immediately and indiscriminately, Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said. The gunfire began at around 4 p.m., just as workers were getting ready to leave for the weekend. Officials found people wounded on all three floors of the building as Craddock seemed to move quickly through the building armed with at least a .45-caliber pistol that had a sound suppressor and extended magazines that helped him reload repeatedly during the attack. Police later said they recovered additional weapons at the scene.

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Craddock, 40, joined the Army National Guard after graduating from high school in the nearby city of Newport News. He then went to Old Dominion University, where he received a bachelors degree in civil engineering. He worked at private firms before joining the city government. Craddock did not appear to have any record with the police beyond some traffic violations.

Police and city officials made a point of saying they would only name the suspect once in order to focus attention on the victims. Virginia Beach city manager Dave Hansen named the victims during a news conference, describing the shooting as a senseless, incomprehensible act of violence. Eleven of the dead were city employees and one was a contractor who was trying to obtain a permit. The dead were:

Laquita C Brown, of Chesapeake, Virginia; Tara Walsh Gallagher, of Virginia Beach; Mary Louis Gayle, of Virginia Beach; Alexander Mikhail Gusev, of Virginia Beach; Katherine A Nixon, of Virginia Beach; Richard H Nettleton, of Norfolk; Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan; Ryan Keith Cox, of Virginia Beach; Joshua A Hardy, of Virginia Beach; Michelle Missy Langer, of Virginia Beach; Robert Bobby Williams, of Chesapeake; and Herbert Bert Snelling, of Virginia Beach.
The U.S. Navy confirmed that all the reports were true and the White House had requested to hide the USS John S. McCain during President Donald Trumps state visit to Japan. A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the Presidents visit, Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, chief of Navy information, said in a statement. There were also no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain.

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The acknowledgement came shortly after acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan called for an investigation of the incident. Our business is to run military operations and not become politicized, Shanahan told reporters in Singapore. I would not have moved the ship. The controversy over the request began earlier this week when the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House wanted the destroyer to be moved out of sight during the presidents visit. In the statement, Brown said the Navy is fully cooperating with the review of this matter.

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According to earlier reports, the request to hide the ship came from the White House military operations office. And it seems the Navy initially tried to comply with the request. Although the USS John S. McCain was under repairs and moving It would have been impractical, its name was temporarily hidden by a giant tarp. Once higher ups got wind of what was going on they called the whole thing off. But the question remains about whether sailors from the USS McCain were deliberately kept away from Trumps speech. Some say they were turned away, but officials insist that if that happened it was solely due to a space issue and not because their uniforms include the ships name.

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Trump has denied he knew anything about the request but also did not seem particularly troubled by it, saying that whoever made it likely had good intentions. Now, somebody did it because they thought I didnt like him, O.K.? Trump told reporters. They were well meaning, I will say. I didnt know anything about it. I would never have done that. He also used the opportunity to once again explain why he was not a big fan of John McCain.

.@MeghanMcCain on @TheView: Its impossible to go through the grief process when my father, whos been dead 10 months, is constantly in the news cycle, because the president is so obsessed with the fact that hes never going to be a great man like he was https://t.co/ftBCPe97PB pic.twitter.com/JV7VDo2dLV  The View (@TheView) May 30, 2019

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Meghan McCain harshly criticized Trump this week, saying that his repeated attacks against her father have made an already difficult time even more difficult. Its impossible to go through the grief process when my father, whos been dead 10 months, is constantly in the news cycle because the President is so obsessed with the fact that hes never going to be a great man like he was, she said at the beginning of The View on Thursday. Its a bizarre way to do this. Its a bizarre way to grieve. Its a bizarre way to say goodbye to my dad. She also took to Twitter to call Trump a child, saying that she feels the need to stand up for him because Trump wont let him RIP.

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A Virginia Beach city employee firing indiscriminately killed at least 11 people at a municipal office building Friday afternoon, according to Police Chief James Cervera, making it the highest-casualty U.S. shooting of the year. The suspect, a public utilities worker, died after a shootout with police, the chief said.

At least six other people were injured and taken to hospitals, including a police officer who was saved by his bullet-proof vest. The shooting began in the public works office building next to City Hall, and the gunman moved onto multiple floors, police said.

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A reporter for local NBC affiliate WAVY said a source told him the suspect was a former employee who was actually fired yesterday from the city.

City Councilwoman Barbara Henley told the Associated Press she realized what was happening as she approached a group of people gathered outside City Hall at 4 p.m.

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Somebody told me there had been a shooting and they were told to leave. Afterward, I heard a loud male voice say, Get down! so I did, Henley told the AP. When the person said to get down, then everybody dispersed pretty quickly, she said.

Im just sick. All these people that I work with all the time, she said. They are such really fine people, and I just hope theyre all safe.

The magnitude of the tragedy is comparable to 2018s most dire shootings, including the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting in October, with 11 dead; the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas in May, when 10 were killed; and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland in February, with 17 dead.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper quoted Mayor Bobby Dyer saying, This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.
Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now...
Martin Luteran, the founder and rector of the Collegium of Anton Neuwirth, was inspired abroad to catalyse a change in Slovak social norms.

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I spent five years abroad. When I returned to Slovakia, I set up Collegium Anton Neuwirth.

I got the idea while I was studying in Oxford

Seeing and experiencing life at the college inspired me to imagine what it would be like to have an institute like that in Slovakia. Once you experience it, you know that it can exist.

The main obstacle was that it was foreign to our culture

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Read also: Slovak migrant shares the stories of other migrants to understand her own Read more

There were a lot of practical blocks in people's minds. Namely that I would never raise enough money. But when someone says you cant do something, that it is not possible, its not a valid enough argument.

How will you know if you never try?

In the end, I did raise the money. I went to a couple of fundraiser training events run by Americans and I implemented what I learned. It proved that when there is a will, there is a way.

I came from a culture of post-communism where being different was not encouraged

It was all about being grey and average. If you came up with a new and different idea, the other people automatically discouraged you from it. Abroad, I gained exposure to a different attitude. Life abroad taught me that its okay to dream. I experienced a culture of support that showed me that dreams can be fulfilled. That is, if you have the discipline to work on them. Today, we take many of our students to Oxford. We do this to show them that what they are experiencing with us in Slovakia is not crazy, but actually quite normal in other parts of the world.

I would say a leader is someone who is an inspiring and virtuous person

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Read also: Blog: Abroad, I discovered something inside of me Read more

A person who has a vision, shares it with others and implements it for the good of society. But in Slovak, the word for leader is 'vodca'. It is unfortunate, because it has a connotation to the German 'fuhrer', which is very much connected with Hitler.

In Slovak, we are trying to coin a new term inspirujuca osobnost (inspiring personality)

One way we learn is by imitating others. That is why a big part of our program is introducing our students to other inspiring people. This is what all these new organizations are trying to do; to show young people that a different way is possible.

I do not believe in chance. There is a reason why you were born here

If you have an attitude that once you go abroad, you are the best and everything in Slovakia is terrible, whats the point? Where you were born is not something that you can change. It is something that was given to you.

When you live abroad and see something good, try to find ways to bring it home

You will be surprised by how many people it can benefit. Again, one example can lead to other examples and eventually catalyse a change in social norms.

One person cannot do it alone, but you can start by inspiring others

This testimony was originally published in Zuzana Palovics book, The Great Return. You can learn more about the book as well as Palovics own journey as a Slovak migrant that later returned to Slovakia at http://thegreatreturn.eu/.
Bratislava has experienced several violent incidents in the past two days.

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A 39-year-old man shouted offensive remarks at Kenyan citizens in the centre of Bratislava.

The offender verbally offended three men from Kenya, spit at them and wanted to fight them. The police detained him in the early morning on Saturday, June 1. His case is now being handled by the National Criminal Agency (NAKA). He is suspected of committing the crime of defamation of race.

The incident occurred only hours after another major incident surprised citizens of Bratislava. On Friday evening, there was shooting on Bratislava's Obchodna Street.

In the afternoon, the police received a report about a man who attacked a security guard at the Finance Ministry on Stefanicova Street with a knife. Still carrying his knife, he went to Obchodna Street where the police found him. He threatened the people on the street, including the police officers.

"The man continued threatening [people] with his knife. He was dangerous for his surroundings and for the police officers, which is why the police used their guns against him," the police reported, as quoted by the Sme daily.

After they fired shots at him, he also injured himself with his knife. During the shooting, the police also shot a 15-year-old girl.

The police report that the attack left one man in critical condition, while the other suffered light injuries. They are not allowed to provide any information about the girl, as she is a minor.

Moreover, the police also informed about another incident that occurred at Bratislava's Hurbanovo Square on Saturday at 7 am. A 28-year-old man attacked a 22-year-old deaf man, kicking him in the head. The man is in serious condition, according to Sme.

Following the incidents, the police announced "extensive measures".
Opening night at Grand River Raceway will launch on Wednesday, June 5 with the Elora tracks popular 'Local Biz Night' event where 120 guests from 22 local businesses will be wined and dined for the evening.

Local Biz Night guests will be also be paired with a horse from Race 7. Guests will meet their horses in the barn and cheer them home to the finish line.

The race card also includes four Grassroots divisions of the Ontario Sires Stakes for three-year-old trotting colts.

Fun & Frivolity Friday Race Night returns this year with the fan favourite Drive A Racehorse event included most Friday race nights. Guests of all ages can sign-up the night-of at the Tarmac Booth to experience the thrill of driving a racehorse (accompanied by a professional) on the racetrack.

All Fun & Frivolity Friday Race Nights also include a live trackside broadcast with 107.5 DAVE ROCKS, an extended Tarmac Show between the races and The NEIGHbourhood kids activity area in the new Homestretch Tent.

Visitors to Grand River Raceway will notice some changes to the facility as Elements Casino undergoes renovations. The Guest Care Counter, as well as betting windows and TV monitors for viewing the races, have been temporarily relocated to the new 3,200 sq. ft. First Turn Tent, located beside the Lighthouse Restaurant.

During this time, temporary signage and site maps have been installed to help guests find their way around the facility.

Beginning this fall, Grand River Raceway will also be undergoing renovations of its own.

The $4 million project will include an expanded Lighthouse Restaurant and Ship In barn that will house a new simulcast lounge, expanded kitchen and event space, administration offices, and a maintenance shop. Renovations are expected to begin in October and be completed by June, 2020.

We are thrilled to begin another season of racing here at Grand River, said Jamie Martin, Director Of Operations. We look forward to sharing our exciting future plans for the facility with our guests.

Renovation designs for $4 million expansion, slated to begin October 2019

Live harness racing is featured on most Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights from June 5 through September 27. Details about dinner reservations for the $20.99 Race Night Buffet can be found online.

Other special racing events include the fifth annual Rens Pets Wiener Dog Races (July 5) and the 29th Industry Day horse racing celebration featuring the Battle Of Waterloo (August 5).

Grand River Raceways 10-race program for June 5 will be available on its website (by June 3) and streaming video will be available starting at 6 p.m. Parking and admission are always free.

(With files from Grand River Raceway)
"She's really sharp right now," said driver Jim Morrill Jr. after he guided Majestic Kat ($2.70) to an easy two-length victory over Lougazi in Buffalo Raceway's featured $13,000 Open Trot on Friday night (May 31).

It was the second straight win for Majestic Kat, who arrived back in Western New York after just registering a 2-1/4 length score at Flamboro Downs on May 26.

Morrill Jr. had a big night as well by capturing five of the nine events on the program.

When the starting gate swung open, B Z Glide and Kahoku took off while Majestic Kat toiled in third. But Morrill Jr. changed his mind about tucking in and raced to the lead instead, a decision that proved to be the right one.

"I was just being careful with her getting around the first turn. I didn't want her to break," Morrill Jr. said. "I knew I'd get to the lead eventually."

And once gaining the top, there was no looking back for Majestic Kat as she posted fractions of :28.4, :57.3 and 1:29.1. Enjoying a four-length advantage at the top of the stretch, the remainder of the field were in surrender mode and tussled for the minor spoils with Lougazi (Ray Fisher Jr.) picking up second-place and Southern Palms (Kevin Cummings) collecting third.

Owned by the Vogel & Wags Nags Stable, Jack Rice and the Pine Hill Racing Stable, the five-year-old Majestic Son-Order By Matilda mare notched her seventh win in 15 attempts this year. She was now produced $52,100 in earnings this year and $258,627 in her career.

Maria Rice, who trains Majestic Kat, had a double on the night.

In the sub-featured $10,000 Class A-B Handicap trot, another Majestic Son mare, Ticket To Seattle ($5.90) found passage to the winner's circle with a non-threatened three-quarter-length victory over Are You In. The final clocking was 1:58 over the fast track which equaled his lifetime mark set last season at Woodbine.

The favoured Empire Earl N (Fisher Jr.) jumped out to the lead and put up fractions of :28.4, :59.3 and and 1:29.1. Ticket To Seattle, in the meantime, started her first-over trip down the backstretch the final time and was nose-to-nose with Empire Earl N with a panel to go.

Ticket To Seattle (Morrill Jr.) then began to nudge away from the pacesetter and took the length nod over Are You In (Cummings), who finished in second. Empire Earl N held on for the show position.

The win was the fourth in 17 starts this year for the five-year-old mare, who is owned by William Emmons and trained by James Clouser Jr. The victory took her 2019 bankroll to $20,778 and lifetime earnings to $137,873.

Racing will continue on Saturday evening at 6 p.m., when a 13-race card will be presented. There's a carryover of $2,528 in the Pick-5, which begins in the second race.

(With files from Buffalo Raceway)
Race fans can tune here into a special online broadcast of the 2019 Camluck Classic from The Raceway at the Western Fair District.

Tonights Camluck Classic Invitational at The Raceway at Western Fair District has been reduced to a field of six with the scratches this morning of both Sintra and Trump Nation.

Sintra, who was the 3-1 third choice in the race from post 5, came up with a foot injury this week. His connections were hopeful he would be good enough to go tonight but ultimately made the difficult decision to withdraw the star pacer.

Longshot Trump Nation, who drew post 7, spiked a temperature according to his connections and did not make the trip to Canada.

The remaining six horses will compete for a $157,000 purse with Confederation Cup winner Done Well installed as the 7-5 morning line choice from post two. Below is the complete field in post position order:

1. Ideal Jimmy

2. Done Well

3. The Wall

4. Southwind Amazon

6. Rockin Speed (will leave from PP5)

8. Rockin Ron (will leave from PP8)
A paycheque for the winner's share of the purse doesn't change based on the margin of victory. For Union Man Hanover, his winner's share of the purse was also the same in the case of a two-plus length defeat.

In the Saturday (June 1) Winners Over pacing feature at Exhibition Park, a competitive field of four went postward for a purse of $1,500. John Davidson hustled HP Bushido Dragjet out from post two and cleared around rail-leaving favourite Instant Shadow (Robert Laffin) but not without appearing to clip the inside horse on his way by. HP Bushido Dragjet would then reel off fractions of :30, :59.2 and 1:29.1 while all along on the lead before coasting home more than two lengths to the good ahead of a quick-closing Union Man Hanover (Dr. Mitchell Downey) in a time of 2:00.

Upon investigating that first turn incident, the APHRC judges deemed that HP Bushido Dragjet did in fact impede the progress of Instant Shadow, prompting a disqualification of the winner. HP Bushido Dragjet finished first, but was placed fourth. That placing bumped runner-up Union Man Hanover into the win spot to keep his perfect seasonal record intact. Fall Bliss (Mike Downey) finished third but was placed second, and Instant Shadow was placed third.

A 10-year-old son of Artiscape - Up Front Rose owned by Dr. Downey and trained by Ellen Stevenson, Union Man Hanover now boasts 43 lifetime victories with earnings in excess of $431,800.

For the results from Saturday's card of harness racing in Saint John, N.B., click the following link: Saturday Results - Exhibition Park Raceway.
What behavior patterns do we have that are just like the automation of a mother turkey discussed below?

Start with the obvious. You see a bright light  and you squint your eyes.

But what about ones we dont even realize we are doing?

I can easily point to 5:

1. Receiving a gift will necessitate a reciprocal action.

2. You will react to a harsh visual.

3. Combining two things for long enough will make you associate the two.

4. The simpler the answer, the easier you will believe it.

5. The more I repeat something, the more believable it is.

How ridiculous a female turkey seems under these circumstances: She will embrace a natural enemy just because it goes cheep-cheep, and she will mistreat or murder one of her own chicks just because it does not. She looks like an automaton whose maternal instincts are under the automatic control of that single sound. The ethologists tell us that this sort of thing is far from unique to the turkey. They have begun to identify regular, blindly mechanical patterns of action in a wide variety of species.

-Robert Cialdini, Influence
Linking the Israeli government and fundamentalist Christians to the Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre?

Looks like the mental anguish caused by their Trump Derangement Syndrome has taken these Dems over the edge.

Via Fox News.

A draft resolution set to be debated this weekend at the California Democratic Party State Convention, obtained by Fox News, accuses the Israeli government of willfully aligning with the virulent Islamophobia of white supremacist groups in the U.S.  and links Israel indirectly to the Oct. 2018 massacre of 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

The document was one of a slew of secretive, unpublished proposals obtained by Fox News that are slated for debate beginning Friday morning. A total of 14 Democrat presidential contenders are set to descend on the San Francisco gathering at the Moscone Convention Center, including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Bernie Sanders.

Some of the draft resolutions would mandate that Democrat officials work to nullify President Trumps pro-Israel policies. One document directs party officials to take a subsidized trip to Israel only if they undertake to devote an equal amount of time to visiting Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Tentatively titled Commending the House for resolving to fight all racism and bigotry and for resisting the false conflation of support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism, the resolution blasting Israels purported role in furthering white supremacy was co-authored by David Mandel, an elected state Assembly delegate and progressive attorney who says he holds dual U.S.-Israel citizenship and lived in Israel for 10 years.

The document calls the October synagogue shooting the culmination of an alarming re-emergence of virulent antisemitism that is a core element of historical and currently resurgent white supremacism in the United States and around the world. The Israeli government, along with some of its U.S. backers, the resolution continues, welcomed support from Christian fundamentalist and ultra-right groups in the United States and abroad, dangerously ignoring their deeply rooted antisemitism while aligning with their virulent Islamophobia.

Mandels new resolution praises House Democrats for passing the broad resolution opposing bigotry. And, in an apparent reference to Omar, the resolution adds that the California Democratic Party opposes all efforts to stigmatize and suppress support for Palestinian human rights by falsely conflating it with antisemitism, whether in the unfounded attacks and even death threats against Democratic members of Congress or in the widespread efforts to shut down discussion and intimidate students on campuses around the country..
Editors note: This is the seventh story in our 20th annual Standout Grads series about special graduates from the class of 2019. The series will appear on the front page every day through June 12.

Clatskanie senior Foster Evenson has a clear path forward. It just so happens that that road is a big loop.

The 4.0 graduate and student body president is getting ready to head to Oregon State University to study forestry. But after that? Hes bringing what hell learn right back home.

As a fourth-generation resident of Clatskanie, Foster feels the pull of his community. I dont try to make a big deal of my family, he said, But connections lead to more connections.

Fosters family owns the Evenson Logging Co., and he said his goal is to learn all about forestry science and business so he can fully join the family business. He knows he is starting from the bottom, just like anyone else his age, but he admits to having a very big reason to keep at it.

I know eventually Ill be able to run some very cool machinery, Foster said.

He said his biggest accomplishment was being voted student body president by his peers. He campaigned extensively around Clatskanie High Schools student-run store, which he promised to keep open every day. Sticking to my word has been the priority, Foster said.

The student store has earned $1,200 this year to fund student activities such as dances and sporting events. Foster called the experience an eye-opener in the value of leadership, and he plans to look for positions working with the student body at Oregon State. Leadership is a real opportunity to grow, Foster said.

Doing all this required him to face off with what he called his biggest hurdle: procrastination. He said he had a big problem with it, but learning to stay on top of everything was key to him being able to graduate with perfect grades.

His biggest source of support, he said, was undoubtedly his mother, Jennifer Evenson.

Shes been so supportive, Foster said. She constantly comes to every event and shes devastated when she cant go. I couldnt ask for more. Shes always been there for me.

But, as with a lot of kids his age, Foster knows he has to find his way on his own as he heads to Corvallis. He says he isnt worried about it, but he has to admit hes feeling butterflies.

I wouldnt say anxious, since Im going to have people with me. But I am a little nervous, because I dont know what to expect in college. Im going from a small town to a huge school, but Im always up to meet new people.

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When Jessie Kirks car broke down outside The Daily News building on Douglas Street early this week, it was more than an inconvenience.

Kirk, 43, and her 12-year-old daughter have been living in the vehicle for about a month and half and are among the growing number of people living in vehicles locally over the past several years.

Kirk and her daughter have been homeless for about six months. They stayed in hotels after losing their Longview home last fall. They briefly stayed at an Oxford House (a transitional housing program for recovering drug abusers) but said she left on her own. Kirk and her daughter later rented a room in Kelso from a friend, which they left in mid-April.

They have been parked in the neighborhood near Victoria Freeman Park because it is where Kirks father used to live and she feels safe there, she said. One of her former neighbors sometimes brings Kirk and her daughter hot meals and lets them use his bathroom, she said.

Kirk said she tried to get into Community House on Broadway but was told it was full. She has been working with Love Overwhelming as well as calling rental companies to try to get housing.

Kirk has arthritis and gets some money from disability but she said there is no housing available.

I wish people would step up and offer more low-income housing, she said.

Kirk said she will hopefully be able to start working as a 24-hour caregiver for a friend. She and her daughter will be able to live in the home, she said.

Wednesday, though, her immediate need was to move her disabled car and get it repaired. Some friends towed the vehicle for her that afternoon, but she could not be reached afterward to see how shes faring.

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Newly filed court documents provide previously undisclosed details about the Oregon Department of Justices intense investigation into a botched multimillion-dollar tax credit deal and illustrate the lengths to which state officials have gone to seek answers in the case.

Those records name the subjects of the states look into a potentially fraudulent sawmill renovation that relied on more than $12 million in state and federal funds: Ecotrust, a politically connected conglomerate of nonprofit and for-profit companies that boost eco-friendly businesses; JP Morgan Chase bank; and the owners of the defunct Rough & Ready sawmill.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has assigned two veteran prosecutors to the case: Tim Nord and Brian de Haan, her spokeswoman said. The pair led the investigation of solar panel firm SolarCity and its accountant, Novogradac, which together repaid the state $13 million after the firms submitted false applications to obtain tax credits.

So far, Nord and de Haan, along with investigators and paralegals, have together logged more than 850 hours on the Ecotrust case, according to the Justice Department.

In the new court filing, prosecutors are asking a judge to enforce a subpoena-like document called an investigative demand against Ecotrust, which has instructed its accounting firm, also Novogradac, to withhold certain records from investigators.

Ecotrust claims the records are subject to attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors say that is nonsense because the documents represent work by and communication with accountants, not lawyers.

Rough & Readys owners hired Novogradac in 2013 and 2014 to draw up financial forecasts for the tax credit arrangements. The mill hired Novogradac again in 2017 to review the tax credit transaction against Internal Revenue Service regulations. Ecotrust hired the accounting firm in 2018 as a consultant.

The investigative demand served to Novogradac demands the company identify its arrangements with Ecotrust, Rough & Ready and Chase; work it performed for those entities and correspondence with them; and the companys communications about press reports on the tax credits deal. The Oregonian/OregonLive broke the story in February 2018 that Ecotrust had brokered a suspicious tax credit transaction and, in a September 2018 follow-up story, described the potential for investigations.

Michael Kron, special counsel to Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, said in a statement that the departments goal in the investigation is to ascertain whether any party made false claims in order to obtain state tax credits, and, if so, to pursue remedies under Oregon law.

We do not often have to resort to court to enforce our investigative demands, but we will do so when necessary, Kron said. The information were seeking here could shed significant light on the underlying transactions.

Rosenblum personally ordered the investigation last spring, according to emails obtained by public records request. Her directive came two days after the February 2018 report by The Oregonian/OregonLive raised suspicions about a $3.1 million state tax credit transaction overseen by Ecotrust.

Money from selling the credits  along with a loan from Chase and a $7.8 million federal tax credit outlay  was meant to generate cash to reopen the Rough & Ready mill and create 70 desperately needed jobs in Oregons rural Illinois Valley.

Ecotrust benefitted by netting a $520,000 management fee to coordinate the deal. Chase purchased the tax credits at a deep discount and used them to lower the banks Oregon and federal tax obligations. The mills owners, Jennifer and Link Phillippi, stood to profit from its operations and eventually kept the proceeds from selling the new equipment the taxpayer money helped pay for.

Rough & Ready reopened briefly but closed in less than two years because of a log shortage. The Oregonian/OregonLives analysis found the shortage was a foreseeable stumbling block that regulators did not consider before awarding tax credits to the project.

Also troubling was a mammoth one-day Chase loan. The $4.9 million loan was used by the Phillippis to essentially acquire the sawmill from themselves  a violation of regulations that require transactions to be arms-length, state regulators later concluded. The loan inflated the project budget to about twice its true size and led the state to issue tax credits Rough & Ready did not qualify for.

After the project collapsed, officials at the state economic development agency launched an investigation and found the project budget was boosted unlawfully and Ecotrust and Chase improperly benefited as a result. It moved to claw back the excess credits.

A Chase spokeswoman declined to comment. Nicolo Pinoli, a Novogradac partner who worked with Ecotrust on the sawmill project and whose records investigators wish to examine, did not return a message Thursday.

Novogradac issued a statement noting that it was its client Ecotrust, not its own leaders, that claimed attorney-client protections for its records. The statement said Novogradac respects its clients right to make those claims while it waits for a court decision.

An Ecotrust spokeswoman said in a statement Wednesday that the outfit remains confident the transaction was structured consistent with the law and the norms of tax credit investments. We are cooperating with the state on its investigation, the statement said, and Ecotrust takes seriously our privilege to communicate with our lawyers.

The investigation is a civil matter that may lead to financial penalties, rather than a criminal investigation in which targets face possible indictment.

Rosenblum, the attorney general, ordered investigators to determine if a criminal case should also be opened, public records show. A criminal prosecutor, Elijah Michalowski, logged 48 hours on the case, but a criminal investigation was not opened and the reason is unclear.

Investigators did not write a memo explaining their declination to prosecute, said Andy Foltz, a senior assistant attorney general. Asked to provide documentation showing the Justice Departments policy for conducting reviews and investigations, Foltz said there was none, but said there may be unwritten policies.

The department also denied a public records request for documents produced during the criminal review, citing attorney-client privilege. Rosenblum did not respond to a request from The Oregonian/OregonLive that she waive the privilege in the interest of transparency.

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Editors note: Todays editorial originally appeared in The (Tacoma) News Tribune. Editorial content from other publications and authors is provided to give readers a sampling of regional and national opinion and does not necessarily reflect positions endorsed by the Editorial Board of The Daily News.

Anytime Washington can serve as a shining example to other states by modeling compromise on a divisive public policy matter is an occasion worth celebrating.

But when another West Coast state follows our lead by making progress to stop fatal police shootings, quenching years of simmering unrest between racial-justice and public-safety advocates, it should bring more than just an ordinary celebration.

There should be dancing in the streets.

This week, the California state Assembly achieved a major bipartisan breakthrough by adopting a police use-of-force bill with a resounding 66-0 vote. It establishes a new legal standard for when law enforcement officers are justified taking lethal action, changing the vague term reasonable to the less permissive language based on the totality of the circumstances.

This might seem like semantic hair-splitting, but it isnt. While the ultimate interpretation of the terminology will be left to judges, people on both sides believe the change will result in fewer needless deaths, setting clear guidelines for cops and increasing their training and use of non-deadly tactics.

California police unions and racial-justice activists, who butted heads for years over the legal standard, moved toward common ground in recent weeks. Momentum picked up after last years tragic death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man shot by Sacramento police while holding his cellphone in his grandparents backyard. Pressure mounted further after the Sacramento County district attorney filed no charges against the officers who killed Clark.

Despite Wednesdays unanimous Assembly vote, the compromise didnt win over all shooting-victim family groups or activist organizations, including Black Lives Matter, who feel it doesnt go far enough. But it has the support of Clarks family, among others. Slow progress is better than no progress, said Stevante Clark, Stephons brother.

Assuming the Senate approves the bill and Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it, as expected, California will have one of the strongest deadly-force standards in the country.

If all this sounds familiar, its because Washington paved the way last year by changing its own legal standard, drawing a clearer line on what constitutes a justifiable killing by a law-enforcement officer.

Legislators in Olympia voted to drop Washingtons uniquely police-friendly malice shield that made it virtually impossible to prosecute a reckless cop; they retained the good faith clause, which means officers still can make split-second decisions to defend themselves or the public in life-threatening confrontations.

Washington voters affirmed the changes at the ballot box last November, approving Initiative 940 with a nearly 60-percent yes vote.

As in California, Washington had to overcome years of stalemate between police unions and activists. And in both state capitols, there were emotional speeches on both sides of the aisle when the deciding votes were cast.

Was it mere coincidence that Californias breakthrough came a year after an accord was reached in our state? That seems unlikely.

We believe Washingtons leadership helped set the tone for political reconciliation and street violence de-escalation  and that, ultimately, innocent lives will be spared all over the West Coast.

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China Distance Education Holdings Limited primarily provides online and offline education services, and sells related products in the People's Republic of China. It operates in three segments: Professional Education Services, Business Start-Up Training Services, and The Sale of Learning Simulation Software. The company offers online professional education services in accounting, healthcare, engineering and construction, and legal education industries; and other professional education courses, such as online test-preparation courses for self-taught learners pursuing higher education diplomas or degrees, and accounting practical skills training courses for college students and working professionals. As of September 30, 2020, it operated 19 Websites. The company also operates an Open Learning Platform, a proprietary education platform to share educational content and deliver live courses online; and sells proprietary books and reference materials. In addition, it provides business start-up training services to university students, job seekers, and individuals; offline accounting, tax, healthcare, and legal professional training services to accounting firms and the general public; and courseware production and online platform development services, as well as sells learning simulation software to the college market. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

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Looking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

1 year ago
CARBONDALE  Im done going back, Chip Loghry said Saturday, their voice crackling through a bullhorn.

Before the crowd of about 200 gathered marchers left the Gaia House in Carbondale, Loghry told the group our history is a dance. They said the LGBTQIA+ community takes two steps forward and one step back.

But, Loghry said they are done with that.

2nd annual Southern Illinois Pride Fest starts today CARBONDALE  As temperatures rise, summer traditions return once more to remind us of our collective histories. One month before our nation ce

Loghry, who identifies with the they/them pronoun set, is the vice chair of Carbondales Rainbow Cafe, a safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth and their allies and was addressing the marchers before this years Southern Illinois Pride Fest. The group was about to embark on a trip through the citys downtown to end at the Town Square Pavilion where the weekend's festivities were centered.

Logghry told the crowd that I want to grow old but added that as people outside of the heterosexual, gender-conforming community, this is not always a guarantee. But still, Loghry said its their duty to do it anyway.

Keith Ortolana was the last speaker to address the group before they started their march. He reiterated Loghrys tone of perseverance.

Nothing will ever bring us to a full stop, he said as he was met with cheers.

But, Ortolana asked a deep question of the group, too. Something that wasnt the same for every person there, at least not exactly the same.

What is pride, anyway?

Roy Younger and his partner, Keith Parkhill, sat in the shade of the Town Square Pavilion after the march. The couple has been together for 27 years and admitted they have a lot of perspective on where the LGBTQIA+ community has come.

Parkhill remembers coming out in 1986 while he was in high school in McLeansboro. It was no easy task for him.

Back then it could be a very lonely life, he said.

Younger had a slightly easier time. His uncle was out as gay, which gave him a role model  the family had already accepted Youngers uncle which he said also made things easier on him.

But then there was the rest of the world he had to deal with. Younger and Parkhill both recalled being in Carbondale when they had to go out in fear of being targeted with violence. They told stories of waiting for large groups to go into a restaurant or business so they wouldnt be spotted going in together. All to avoid being beaten.

When asked what pride was to them, Parkhill spoke up. He said for him it was the push for everyone to be able to live the same life as heterosexual people.

The two men were quietly very satisfied with the party going on around them. No more were people as afraid of being out and proud while out in public, though all admitted the struggle to overcome fear and prejudice was far from over.

Austin Peppers walked his daughter in a stroller during Saturdays festival. Peppers performs in drag and identifies as pansexual, a person who does not limit their attraction to a specific sex or gender identity.

The pride festival was especially meaningful to him as a father. He said regardless of who his daughter loves, he wants her to know she has a community. However, he admitted that he will be honest if she comes out as anything other than heterosexual: Its not easy being in the community.

To Peppers, Pride encompassed the history of the modern gay rights movement, which is often cited as starting with the 1969 Stonewall riots, a series of violent clashes between gay Americans and New York Police.

Peppers said it is taking what happened at Stonewall and not letting the hate get to you.

All of this lines up with Ortolana said pride was.

Pride, at its core, is whatever you make of it, he said.

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MOUNT PLEASANT  On Thursday, June 6, Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum will welcome 10 World War II D-Day veterans aboard the USS Yorktown to share their memories about the invasion of France 75 years after the battle.

The program is free to attend and will begin at 10:30 a.m. Retired Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek will be the keynote speaker.

In addition to hearing first-hand accounts of the battle to take the beaches of France, the audience will also learn about the Navy destroyer USS Laffeys role in supporting the invasion of Utah Beach on June 6. The warship, which is on display at the museum, is one of only three D-Day Allied warships still in existence. The United States Flag that flew on the ship on June 6, 1944 has been restored by museum staff and will be unveiled for the first time during the D-Day program.

The D-Day veterans participating in the event on June 6 are all from South Carolina. Following the program, theyll participate in a meet-and-greet. The USS Laffeys D-Day flag will also be available for museum visitors to take photographs alongside.

A few months ago, we didnt know if we could find any men that were part of the D-Day invasion 75 years ago, said Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum Executive Director Mac Burdette. Weve been blown away by the response to our call for help in finding these heroes. Unfortunately, this will likely be the last time most people will ever have an opportunity to meet a D-Day veteran and shake his hand. I hope the community will take advantage of this chance to thank the men who risked their lives to save the world from Nazi Germany.

Keynote speaker Mikolashek served for more than 30 years. In addition to serving as the Armys inspector general, Mikolashek also served as the commanding general, Third United States Army/Army Forces Central Command. As Coalition Land Forces Component commander, he commanded all ground forces in Afghanistan and the Middle Eat during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Nearly 160,000 American, British and Canadian troops stormed the beaches of France on June 6, 1944. In addition to manpower, 11,000 aircraft and 5,000 ships supported the operation. Following the invasion of France, the Allies fought through Europe and forced the Germans to surrender eleven months later on May 8, 1945.

For more information, visit USSYorktownFoundation.org or call 843-881-5925.

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World War II veteran Dan Wannamaker answered the call of duty when he was drafted into the U.S. Army, but the 96-year-old says military service was challenging for him.

"I feel like I did everything they told me to do, but I rebelled a lot of times," Wannamaker said, reflecting from his North residence on his service as a private in the U.S. Army.

"I did not like using guns and things, he said.

"I don't put no knife in my hand no more. I don't put no more guns in my hand no more because I found I was not born with them," he said.

Wannamaker's story began on a farm in St. Matthews.

Born on July 4, 1922, he learned hard work on the farm riding mules, chopping and planting cotton and raking corn.

"That was the farming thing back then," he said. "Sharecropping."

As a young adult, Wannamaker worked at a Columbia restaurant called "The Grill" for a time as an excuse to leave the farm. Later, he headed to Philadelphia.

"I was running from the farm," Wannamaker said. "I didn't want to farm anymore. I didn't like the sun out there too much. It was hard work, but it wasn't when you are young and strong enough to handle it."

In Philadelphia, Wannamaker worked a number of jobs to make ends meet including in construction and in the shipping department for Walgreens drug store.

Wannamaker then got a job working for the U.S. government as a mint smelter.

He then got caught in the draft and came back to South Carolina. He was around 22 years old at the time.

"My daddy told me to not go in the Army," Wannamaker said. "He wanted me to work on the farm because all the work we had to do."

But the young Wannamaker did not have a choice.

"They were drafting at that time," he said.

So on March 9, 1943, Wannamaker went to Fort Bragg.

He later joined the 784th Tank Battalion at Fort Hood in Texas. The battalion was one of the Army's segregated combat tank battalions during the war.

After being transferred from Forth Hood to Camp Swift, Wannamaker found out that his previous battalion at Fort Hood was deployed overseas.

Wannamaker's military service ended and he was called back to South Carolina July 22, 1944.

He got married and had six children, three of whom are still living.

Wannamaker said World War II was costly. He lost a lot of friends in battle -- "a whole lot of them."

The war was and still is something he still struggles to understand.

"Now I could understand why my daddy did not want me to go to the Army," he said. "It is the kind of thing where you had to kill and fight people that you did not know anything about."

Wannamaker said he also had problems with oaths, which he points out the Bible says should not be taken.

"When you take an oath, you will have no control over yourself," he said.

Despite struggling with cataracts, Wannamaker says he continues to read his Bible and enjoys going to church.

Wannamaker has not let his age slow him down.

He tries to make it to the First Citizens Bank in North daily for his morning coffee and still is active riding his bicycle whenever and wherever he can.

When asked the key to his longevity, Wannamaker simply said, watch what you eat and what you drink.

"I learned that from my mama on the farm," he said, noting he would eat a little bit of chicken and a little bit of pork.

The Stories of Honor program is accepting nominations through June 24, 2019, of local veterans and active-duty military personnel from all branches of the armed forces who live in Orangeburg, Bamberg or Calhoun counties.

Select stories are being featured weekly in The T&D and at TheTandD.com from May 26 through Aug. 11, with a bonus story on June 6, the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

The series will be followed up with a commemorative special section on Sunday, Aug. 18, and a special event honoring all featured veterans the following week on the campus of South Carolina State University.

Nominations can be submitted online at thetandd.com/forms/promo/storiesofhonor or by mail to: T&D Stories of Honor, P.O. Drawer 1766, Orangeburg, SC 29116. Please include your name, email address, daytime phone number and the nominees name and branch of service.

Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551. Check out Zaleski on Twitter at @ZaleskiTD.

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Roby Leon Hanna Jr., 51, of 303 Sturkie St., Cope, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

Circuit Judge DeAndrea G. Benjamin sentenced him to six years in prison, suspended to two years of probation.

She also ordered him to complete substance abuse counseling and undergo random drug/alcohol testing.

As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed Hannas charges of violating drug distribution laws and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance near a school.

In other pleas:

 Michael Wayne Kirkpatrick, 64, of 1488 Glover Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense third-degree burglary.

Benjamin sentenced him to 205 days in prison. He was given credit for 205 days served at the Orangeburg County Detention Center.

A grand jury indicted Kirkpatrick on the charge of second-degree burglary.

 Brandle Devon Wright, 33, of 550 Wilson Street Apt. 2, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic violence.

Benjamin sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended to two years of probation.

She gave him credit him for having already served 93 days in jail.

His probation term may end early upon his completion of a batterers treatment program.

Wright is not allowed to possess any firearm or ammunition for the next three years.

 Jamal Jabbar Brown, 38, of 390 Threson Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to unlawful carrying of a handgun.

Benjamin sentenced him to one year in prison and gave him credit him for time served.

 Quintin Codann Byrd, 32 of 348 Gladden Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession of cocaine.

Benjamin sentenced him to one year in prison, giving him credit for time served.

Byrds charge of grand larceny valued at $10,000 or more was dropped due to lack of prosecutorial merit.

 Deangelo Henry Murray, 24, of 2514 Jonah Street, North Charleston, pleaded guilty to second-offense driving under suspension and hit-and-run involving property damage.

Benjamin sentenced him to 90 days in jail. He was given credit for having already served 46 days there.

 Alfred Davis, 53, of 137 Diamondhead Drive, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and battery.

Benjamin sentenced him to 30 days in jail. He was given credit for time served.

A grand jury indicted Davis on the charge of second-degree assault and battery.

 Adriene Lyn Williams, 40, of 12822 Highway 98, Sebring, Florida, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession of less than one gram of methamphetamine.

Benjamin sentenced her to 90 days in jail.

 William M. Brunson, 32, of 466 Ulmer Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession of cathinone, unlawful carrying of a pistol and failure to stop for blue light.

Benjamin sentenced him to six months in prison. He was given credit for having already served 97 days in jail.

As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed Brunsons charges of first-offense driving under suspension and use of license plate other than for vehicle which issued.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD.

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AIKEN  U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Forest Service personnel from the Savannah River Site, working with the National Wild Turkey Federation, recently held the fifth annual Ultimate Fishing Challenge at SRS to honor the nation's wounded warriors and mobility-impaired residents from throughout the region.

"We have a wide variety of natural resources at SRS that we can share from time to time with members of those groups who have risked their lives for us, such as our military veterans and first responders," said Tony Towns, DOE Natural Resources Program manager. "Along with our annual Wounded Warrior Deer Hunt and SRS Ultimate Turkey Hunt, this fishing event is one more way we can express our appreciation for their service to our country."

Recently, dozens of military veterans wounded in combat and U.S. citizens with serious mobility issues enjoyed hours of fishing on a lake at SRS, appreciating the near-wilderness conditions.

I had a blast. Im thankful my name was picked, said Army veteran Jeffrey Lanier, a former Apache helicopter crew chief in Afghanistan and current SRNS employee. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that makes you not want to fish anywhere else. I really appreciate this opportunity.

Each year, dozens of volunteers prove they are the heart of what makes this outdoor adventure so successful and rewarding for the tournament fisherman.

"It's not just the fact that the volunteers devoted most of their weekend to create such special memories for our guests. These men and women truly care, and they want to demonstrate their appreciation," said Tal Mims, Wildlife Program Manager, U.S. Forest Service Savannah River. Most of them come from SRS organizations.

The catch-and-release fishing contest was held May 18 and ended with a cookout and awards ceremony for the two largest fish caught, as well as the single largest fish presented at the weigh-in. The record for a single fish caught since the inception of this event is 10.4 pounds.

"What we love about this program is that everyone leaves having successfully caught several fish, most of which are quite large," Mims said. "The comradery, time enjoying life on the lake and some friendly competition means so much to our participants. The stories I've heard over the last five years at this event, from many of our participants, is touching. Often, they have tears in their eyes as they attempt to express their gratitude."

The participants are chosen through a lottery system administered by NWTF personnel at their office located in Edgefield. According to Mims, more than 80 applications were received for this years competition, with 25 being selected.

The water is pristine and virtually untouched by man, Mims said. These fish have never seen a lure. So theres probably some truth to that old rumor that all it takes is to drop in a shiny hook to boat a fish."

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The third times a charm. Well, at least for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate picked up his first endorsement as a candidate during his third visit to Orangeburg at the Orangeburg County Democratic Partys monthly meeting Saturday morning.

As mayor of the city, Im just so proud to endorse Mayor de Blasio because I believe that he would do a good job, City of Orangeburg Mayor Michael Butler said.

The two mayors, who met at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2018, have become friends and share some of the same ideals, according to both de Blasio and Butler.

This is de Blasios third visit to Orangeburg, and his second within the last two weeks.

His first visit was to Butlers church, and his second was to a local eatery.

Butler gave de Blasio his first endorsement in a campaign that isnt a month old.

Butler said de Blasios main message could help the country.

His main message is putting working people first. Thats what moved to me, working people first. They have felt left behind under this present administration, but with this new blood, coming I think that thats going to move the country, Butler said.

I think that he would be a very good president because he cares about the American people, Butler added.

De Blasio was grateful from an endorsement from a person who he said is an impact player.

Your endorsement means so much to me. And your leadership here is just extraordinary. You have such a fan in me. Ive been watching what youre doing to bring up Orangeburg and Ive watched what youve done to help folks with the biggest problems to know that they have someone on their side, he said.

The NYC Mayor said the endorsement is going to give us a strong beginning as we build out our efforts here in South Carolina.

De Blasio announced that some endorsements from figures in New York are soon to follow, but cited Butlers endorsement as a major building stone.

I always say Rome wasnt built in a day, but you know when it starts to get built, you know when the foundation stones are laid, and this is one of those moments for us to get such an important figure in the state of South Carolina or our side, de Blasio said.

Contact the writer: bharris@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5516

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ORANGEBURG -- Betty Jane Crider Black, 81, of Orangeburg, died at her home on May 31, 2019. She was the wife of the late Julian W. Black Sr.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, June 2, 2019, with the Rev. Ryan Tucker and the Rev. Toni Pipkins officiating. The family will receive friends after the service in the Church sanctuary.

Betty was born in St. Matthews, a daughter of the late Shaler and Belle Driggers Crider. Betty was co-owner of Creative Screen Printing/Embroidery and retired from Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5. She was a member of First Baptist Church, a former Sunday School teacher, and a deacon. Music played an intricate part in her life. During her teen years, she played the piano and organ, and sang at Gethsemane Baptist Church in St. Matthews. Betty sang in the Chancel Choir at First Baptist for over 60 years. She volunteered in the Mission Action Center and Soup Kitchen. She was also a member of the Women's Enrichment Council and participated in the Community Bible Study. Betty was an active member of the Pilot Club of Orangeburg and a past president. She loved her family, church and friends. Betty loved helping anyone who needed her. She prayed that her smile would make someone have a brighter and happier day.

Survivors include two sons and daughters-in-law, Wally (Patti) Black of Gastonia, North Carolina, and Cooper (Angela) Black of Blythewood; grandchildren, Rebecca (Billy) Zweier of Charlotte, North Carolina, Hannah Black and Andrew Black of Blythewood; great-grandchild, Wit Zweier of Charlotte, North Carolina; and sister, Evelyn Dunlap of Cayce. She was predeceased by her husband, Julian W. Black Sr., sister, Louise Crider, and brothers, Cramer Crider and Randy Crider.

The family would like to offer special thanks to Grove Park Hospice, Circle of Love care givers, and the many volunteers who provided love and support for Betty and her family during her illness.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church Capital Campaign, PO Box 637, Orangeburg, SC 29116-0637.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.dukesharleyfuneralhome.com.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says hes received a lot of inspiration from Orangeburg.

On Saturday, he also received the endorsement of the citys mayor. It is the Democratic presidential candidates first official endorsement.

Orangeburg Mayor Michael Butler said de Blasio has focused on putting working people first.

Thats what moved me, working people first. They have felt left behind under this present administration, but with this new blood coming, I think that thats going to move the country, Butler said.

I think that he would be a very good president because he cares about the American people, Butler added.

De Blasio spoke on the importance of Orangeburg at the Orangeburg County Democratic Partys monthly meeting.

South Carolinas absolutely crucial, and if youre talking about South Carolina, you have to talk about Orangeburg, de Blasio said. This is such an important place, but not just because of its political impact, but because things are happening here.

Ive watched with tremendous appreciation the way the Democratic Party here in Orangeburg is building, bringing in a lot more young people, building a stronger apparatus. Ive watched what Mayor Butler has done to deepen that bunch of folks who get involved in the community.

De Blasio fielded questions about his views on various national issues.

One person asked de Blasio about the infrastructure needs of the country.

For infrastructure, I have a very simple, straightforward idea. Repeal those tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Repeal them, put that money into infrastructure. Right there you have enough to cover a huge infrastructure plan for this entire country, he said.

It would create jobs, it would address all the things that are holding back our economy, that are making it hard for people to get around. Its available to us right now, he added.

A question about how de Blasio would handle foreign affairs was also asked, and de Blasio cited his experience in a city with a large international presence.

Every day we work to protect New York City from threats from all over the world. So, my experience is a real-life experience, he said.

I have the real-life experience of managing the biggest, toughest city in the country. The most international city, the city that deals with the rest of the world so deeply, but also, sadly, the city that has to deal with some of the biggest security concerns anywhere in this country.

I think thats a real-life experience that allows me a lot of perspective that I could bring to the White House, he said.

De Blasio also spoke on some of the focal points of his campaign, including free pre-K education.

Saturday marked de Blasios third visit to Orangeburg, and his second within the last two weeks. His first visit was to Butlers church, and his second was to a local eatery.

Butler gave de Blasio his first endorsement in a campaign that isnt a month old.

De Blasio said he is grateful for an endorsement from an impact player.

Your endorsement means so much to me. And your leadership here is just extraordinary. You have such a fan in me. Ive been watching what youre doing to bring up Orangeburg and Ive watched what youve done to help folks with the biggest problems to know that they have someone on their side, he said.

The NYC mayor said the endorsement is going to give us a strong beginning as we build out our efforts here in South Carolina.

De Blasio announced that some endorsements from figures in New York are soon to follow, but cited Butlers endorsement as a major building stone.

I always say Rome wasnt built in a day, but you know when it starts to get built, you know when the foundation stones are laid, and this is one of those moments for us to get such an important figure in the state of South Carolina or our side, de Blasio said.

Contact the writer: bharris@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5516

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Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC) has announced that it has reduced rates for its long- term, fixed-rate (LTFR) mortgages offered to eligible borrowers, by its partners (banks and mortgage finance companies).

Fully owned by the Saudi Public investment fund, SRC was established in 2017 with the goal to help transform the local housing market.

This comes in sync with Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) announcement of its new statistical bulletin listing a new record for real estate mortgages during the last month.

SRC said the move is aimed at supporting the stability and the growth of the secondary mortgage market and to increase liquidity and facilitate access to domestic and international financing sources.

The Saudi firm has reduced the profit rates on 15-20-year LTFR (long-term fixed-rate) mortgage loans, dropping, for example, the 20 years from 7.10% APR (Annual percentage rate or the annual rate charged for borrowing or earned through an investment) (3.85% Flat) to 6.25% APR (3.52% Flat) effective April 24.

Driven by macroeconomic factors, the rate drop enables SRC and the partner primary originators to pass on the benefits to end borrowers.

The announcement follows SRCs acquisition of portfolio of mortgages worth SR750 million ($200 million) purchased from leading banks and mortgage finance companies in the kingdom.

SRC had also signed multiple portfolio acquisition agreements with its partner lenders at the Financial Sector Conference held in Riyadh in April.

"The rate drop on our already attractive LTFR products makes home ownership ever more affordable and accessible for Saudi citizens, and on the back of the great work done by the DMO/MOF to extend the tenor of the curve, we will soon provide competitive pricing for even longer tenor," said its CEO Fabrice Susini.

"This also acts as a critical enabler in facilitating the mortgage penetration, which is among the lowest in the region," he noted.

"In this context, the development of a secondary housing finance market will ultimately meet the Vision 2030 housing sector goal of increasing home ownership to 60 per cent by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2030," stated Susini.

The reduction of rates on mortgages also follows SRCs sukuk (Islamic bond) issuance of SR750 million in the first quarter of 2019 as part of SR11 billion sukuk establishment programme.

According to Susini, the sukuk programme supports SRCs strategy to purchase more home loan portfolios from mortgage financing companies and banks to boost the kingdoms secondary mortgage market.

As part of the sukuk programme, SRC is expected to make multiple sukuk issuances in 2019, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
In a press release, the public prosecutor's office spokesperson confirmed that a presumed Islamic State fighter held in a Syrian camp previously lived in Luxembourg.

The public prosecutor's office released the information on Friday following reports in the international press. A Brazilian newspaper had reported the facts on Thursday ahead of the public prosecutor's office confirming the information. The individual, who is of Portuguese nationality, previously lived in Luxembourg.

The headline of the Brazilian paper was "Portuguese Jihadist arrested in Syrian" and reported that Steve Duarte Amieiro had survived the collapse of the Islamic State only to be taken into custody afterwards. Duarte, who lived in Meispelt before joining the Islamic State, was caught by Syrian rbeels and Kurdish soldiers. He is said to be held in what was former IS stronghold, Baghouz.

The article went on to say that the "terrorist" (as quoted in the article) had joined ISIS in September 2014 and had been taken into custody in the Deir ez-Zor province, not far from the former IS stronghold Baghouz. The relevant secret services had already been informed that Duarte had been taken to a prisoner camp.

Duarte's imprisonment should be of interest to Europol, as a Luxembourgish arrest warrant for him had been issued previously. Duarte initially worked in the IS propaganda services, working as a camera operator and spreading propaganda on social media.

He appeared in a video for the terror group in January 2016. The video featured the execution of hostages. Duarte has now been taken into custody, as confirmed by the Luxembourgish public prosecutor's office.

RTL Report from February 2016

VIDEO: Steve Duarte-Film (in Luxembourgish) .

The above video in Luxembourgish details Duarte's radicalisation, as well as an animated discussion with then-mayor of Luxembourg City Xavier Bettel. Duarte and four other men were stopping passers-by on Grande Rue in October 2013 to preach the teachings of the Coran. As this occurred before Bettel was elected as prime minister of the country, he approached the men and told them they were not allowed to preach without his authorisation as the mayor of Luxembourg City.
DENVER  U.S. officials must consider climate change effects from leasing about 250 square miles of public lands in Colorado and Utah for oil and gas drilling, under a federal court ruling issued Wednesday.

The order from U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington follows a March decision in the same case that blocked drilling on 500 square miles of energy leases in Wyoming.

The earlier ruling required a new environmental review of the impacts from burning fossil fuels extracted by private companies through the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements sizable energy leasing program.

But unlike earlier, Contreras did not immediately block new drilling in Colorado and Utah. Environmentalists who brought the case said they were still deciding whether to request such a move.

Contreras acted at the invitation of government attorneys representing the Department of Interior. They conceded, based on the judges March ruling, that a new review in Utah and Colorado was appropriate because the circumstances were similar to what happened in Wyoming.

In the March 19 ruling, the court found that (Bureau of Land Management) failed to take a hard look at the climate change impacts of oil and gas leasing, the attorneys wrote. The analyses of climate change impacts in ... the Colorado and Utah leasing decisions are similar.

Approval of the Wyoming leases was ultimately renewed this month, after BLM officials published a hastily assembled document in April that said the Wyoming leases by themselves had minor potential to affect the rate of climate change.

The dispute revolves around leases sold to companies in the three states in 2015 and 2016, during President Barack Obamas administration. It comes amid an aggressive push by President Donald Trumps administration to open more public lands to energy development.

Environmentalists had criticized the study of the Wyoming leases as a cursory review that largely ignored the threat posed by climate change.

We feel they are likely to do the same thing here, said Jeremy Nichols with WildEarth Guardians, one of the plaintiffs in the case. They need to do better. We need to see a commitment by the Bureau of Land Management and Department of Interior to confront the climate crisis.

Extracting and burning fossil fuels from federal lands generates the equivalent of 1.4 billion tons annually of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, according to a recent report from the U.S. Geological Survey. Thats equivalent to almost one-quarter of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

Interior Department Press Secretary Molly Block said in response to a question about the April review that the agency met the legal obligations to analyze greenhouse gas emissions.

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, which advocates for the industry, said the governments decision to complete the greenhouse gas analysis for Colorado and Utah was logical after the judges ruling in the Wyoming case.

Sgamma said it was not a setback for energy companies.

Its just a common sense decision not to move forward with litigation and get the same result two more times, but just do that analysis now and submit it and be done with it, she said.

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Paulann Tanner Doane

CASPERNever one to seek out the spotlight, Paulann Tanner Doane quietly slipped her earthly bonds on May 28, 2019 with her family by her side.

Paulann was born February 18, 1964 in Casper, Wyoming to Robert and Jane Tanner. She attended University Park, East Junior High and graduated from Kelly Walsh High School in 1982. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Dance from the University of Wyoming in 1987. While at UW she completed an internship with the Kennedy Center where she helped to organize the National College Theatre Festival.

She and her husband Rob, moved to Washington, D.C. where she continued her education at American University, and in 1991 was awarded a Master of Arts Administration. Following, she worked at Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center. She and Rob returned to the west where she accepted a position at AIMS Community College in Greeley and later at Red Rocks Community College in Denver.

She, Rob and son Avery returned to Casper with her appointment to Casper College as the Executive Director of the Casper College Foundation. During her tenure at Casper College, Paulann directed the completion of the largest campaign in Casper College history overseeing the Vision: Campus: Community fundraising campaign, welcomed the iconic Essence of Rex statue to the campus- including the celebratory T-Rex cake. Her campaign funded five new buildings on the Casper College campus (Walter H. Nolte Gateway Building, the Residence Hall, the Early Childhood Learning Center, the Casper College Student Union and University of Wyoming at Casper Building and the Music Building.) Under her leadership the college presented over $7.5 million in scholarships, $21.9 to support the college and increased the foundation assets by over $44 million.

Her career included many accolades including the presentation of a named scholarship at Red Rocks Community College in 2015, and the Commitment to Excellence Award from Casper College in 2019.

Paulann married her high school sweetheart, Rob Doane in Casper on January 2, 1987 and was blessed with son Avery on October 8, 1997 and together with Rob and Avery welcomed Zach into the family on April 6, 2017.

Paulann collected friends throughout her life with whom she never lost touch. She loved dogs, cats, music, wine and Tom Petty. Paulann put the Soup Nazi to shame with her creations. Her stuffed shells were her sons favorite meal. Her home was always open to homeless nephews and stinky high school boys  the couch and the fridge were available for as long as was needed.

Paulann loved to travel and most recently enjoyed a family trip to Hawaii where she thoroughly loved snorkeling and riding high above the volcano on a helicopter, as well as a trip with Rob, her parents, brother Matt, and sister-in-law Jenny to Washington D.C. On this trip she was excited to see old friends and enjoyed visiting the National Gallery and viewing presidential portraits. Always among her favorite excursions were trips to Lander because that meant visiting and spending time with her extended Doane family.

She laughed easily and often. At herself, Robs jokes, the cats antics, and frequently was the first to laugh with her father and brothers after lengthy and heated political discussions as she bravely dissented with the prevailing republican sentiment.

She had absolutely no sense of direction and once commented that MapQuest was created just for her. When Rob was asked to be the official to sign her nieces marriage license, Paulann required the couple to first complete pre-marital counseling (which she designed and facilitated) at her dining room table.

She hated that she wasnt able to tan and was overjoyed when the pale healthy look became vogue. She loved the mountains, camping with Rob in their R-Pod, sitting on her back patio, dancing, music and even managed to win the annual Tanner Thanksgiving Cribbage Tournamentonce.

She is survived by husband, Rob; sons, Avery and Zach; parents, Robert and Jane Tanner; siblings, Stuart (Daney), Eric (Cori), and Matt (Jenny); along with many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and grands. She was always supported by Robs parents, Alan and Shirley Barkley; sisters-in-law, Judi Davis and Marian Doane.

Services will be held at St. Marks Episcopal Church on Monday, June 3rd at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers donations are requested to the Paulann T. Doane Scholarship at Red Rocks Community College or the Paulann Tanner Doane Right Track Scholarship at Casper College.
The Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled against Rex Rammell, a frequent candidate for statewide office, and affirmed a lower courts decision to dismiss a lawsuit after finding he concealed information he was obligated to turn over.

The states highest court circumscribed the extent of its review because Rammell  who represented himself in the appeal  did not file a transcript of the Sweetwater County District Court proceedings. The appellate court nevertheless determined the district court judges August 2018 decision to dismiss one of Rammells claims was a legitimate response to violating the rules of discovery.

Generally speaking, dismissal of an action is an authorized sanction for a discovery violation, Chief Justice Michael K. Davis stated in the courts written decision, published May 21. Given that authority, coupled with the constraints on our review created by the limited record, we summarily affirm the district courts dismissal of Dr. Rammells breach of express contract claim.

The Supreme Court likewise affirmed a lower court decision to declare summary judgement against the veterinarian on a set of other claims.

When reached by phone Friday afternoon, Rammell said the courts decision was indicative of an overly complicated judiciary system. He said he would again file a lawsuit on the same issues, though he did not specify how he would convince a court to reconsider the decisions. He said the supreme courts ruling against him was an abdication of that bodys responsibility.

I thought it was cowardly, actually, he said. All I can tell you is the system is broken.

Rammell also told the Star-Tribune that the district court judge was mistaken in determining he was deceitful during the discovery process and his statements in court were not credible.

Richard Honaker, the Rock Springs lawyer who represented the veterinary clinic, did not immediately respond to a late Friday afternoon message requesting comment for this story.

The appellate courts rulings stem from a summer 2017 lawsuit that Rammell, a veterinarian, brought two months after Mountainaire Animal Clinic, a Rock Springs clinic, fired him. In the civil filing, Rammell also named Paul Zancanella, a veterinarian and the clinics owner, and Vicky Zancanella, the clinics office manager who is married to its owner, as defendants in the lawsuit.

In its response, the clinic alleged that after Paul Zancanella fired Rammell, he violated the terms of a non-compete clause. The clinic asked Judge Richard Lavery to expressly forbid Rammell from competing with Mountainaire. The district court granted the clinics request.

In June 2018, the clinic requested the judge declare summary judgement against Rammell. Lavery did so for all but one of Rammells claims, which alleged breach of contract. In August, the judge found that Rammell had mistakenly issued invalid subpoenas and had violated its injunction by offering veterinary services near the clinic. However, Lavery did not impose any sanctions.

The judge also found Rammells responses to discovery requests ranged from evasive and misleading to outright false. In response to the final finding, Lavery dismissed Rammells final remaining claim.

During the discovery phase of a lawsuit, parties to a case are required to respond to their opponents requests for information either by providing the requested evidence or by claiming it is exempt. The judge found Rammell instead hid information that would have favored his opponent.

Plaintiffs intent to fraudulently conceal this information can be inferred from the circumstances. There is a broad pattern of deceit, Lavery wrote in his decision. (No) lesser sanction than dismissal will suffice. The judicial process depends on transparency. ... A less severe sanction would not sufficiently remedy Plaintiffs abusive conduct, as there is no way to ascertain whether he has concealed other crucial evidence, casting doubt on the reliability of any verdict in his favor.

Although Rammell did not include a transcript of the evidentiary hearing that preceded the judges ruling, the court declined a request from the clinic to dismiss the appeal without further review. The appellate court, however, noted it was limited in the extent it could review the lower judges decision to dismiss the case.

In its decision to uphold the district judges decision to grant summary judgement against Rammell, the state Supreme Court noted the elements of his claim for tortious interference were not supported by facts.

Rammell ran for governor in 2018 as a Constitution Party candidate, finishing with about 3 percent of the vote. In 2016, he ran for U.S House, but lost in the primary to the eventual winner, Liz Cheney.

Follow crime reporter Shane Sanderson on Twitter @shanersanderson

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A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out. Here are the real facts:

CLAIM: A photo of a menacing cloud formation hovering over a cornfield was taken Tuesday by the Bonner Springs, Kansas, police department as tornadoes coursed through the region.

THE FACTS: A photojournalist captured the photo almost a year ago while covering storms about 200 miles away from Bonner Springs, in the small town of Andale, Kansas. Travis Heying, a photographer with The Wichita Eagle newspaper, took the photo on June 26, 2018.

"It's just a cool, midsummer Kansas thunderstorm," Heying told The Associated Press.

Facebook and Twitter users shared the photograph, wrongly identifying it as being taken west of Kansas City. Heying said it should have been easy to spot that the photo was being misrepresented. "Any self-respecting Midwesterner knows the corn is never that tall in May," he said.

THE INTERNET IS DUMB AND STUPID SOMETIMES!!!! https://t.co/sHraWnazBI  Travis Heying (@travisheying) May 29, 2019

CLAIM: Screenshot shows CNN host S.E. Cupp on her "Unfiltered" show with a chyron that suggests she was discussing "fashtag," a new symbol for the alt-right.

THE FACTS: The image was manipulated. Cupp did not discuss hashtags being used as a fascist symbol on her show, a CNN spokeswoman told the AP in an email.

The screenshot was taken from Cupp's May 25 program on "Politics & Sexism," in which she discussed White House counselor Kellyanne Conway's claim that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not "pro-woman" because she declined to speak with Conway following a meeting.

The fabricated image shows a hashtag covered by a red circle with a backslash across it where there had been a picture of Pelosi and Conway on the screen. The original chyron read: "Trump called Pelosi 'Crazy Nancy,' says she has 'Lost it.'" In the altered image it reads: "The 'Fashtag,' alt-rights new hate symbol?" The manipulated image circulated as part of a thread on the online forum 4chan, where users jokingly suggested using hashtags to represent swastikas.

CLAIM: Video shows "the new congresswoman from Michigan" talking about "making all of America Muslim."

THE FACTS: The woman in the video is not Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The video shows Muslim advocate Sharifa Alkhateeb addressing the "Muslim American Political Awareness Conference" in 1989.

The video, which has often been misrepresented online, began circulating again on May 26 after rock musician Ted Nugent shared it on Facebook. The caption with Nugent's post, tied to Memorial Day, urges people to "listen very closely to the new congressman from Michigan" and the speaker's beliefs "so we don't let them continue to destroy the wonderful American system of individual freedom that so many died for."

The video shared by Nugent has a timestamp of 1989. Tlaib, a 42-year-old Democratic congresswoman, would have been a child when the video was made.

In the video, Alkhateeb discusses creating ways of bringing all Americans into the same way of thinking as Muslims. Alkhateeb, former president of the North American Council for Muslim Women, died in 2004. A representative for Nugent did not respond to requests for comment.

This is part of The Associated Press' ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform. Find all AP Fact Checks here: https://www.apnews.com/APFactCheck Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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DNA may have been found on the last slave ship to land in America, how the 'Harry Potter' cast is bringing back the magic, and more of today's
CHEYENNE  It was earlier this month when Heather Osterman received the good news from Google.

Her daughter, Amelia Osterman, had been chosen as the Wyoming winner of the Doodle for Google contest.

For the ecstatic mother, this both came as a wonderful surprise, yet not a major shock, since her daughter has shown a proficiency in art since she was young.

This has been a long journey for her, Heather Osterman said Thursday. She tried to enter the contest about three years ago, but she missed the deadline. So, it was fun this time to see her get it done and get it submitted. We actually found out on her birthday, May 6, so this is a long-awaited birthday present for her.

While she was elated to find out the news her daughter was the Wyoming winner, the biggest challenge was keeping it a secret. For each of the 53 students chosen as winners in the competition (from all 50 states and three territories), representatives from Google would go to their respective schools and host an assembly.

But the catch was that Amelia and her fellow competitors werent allowed to know they won the doodle contest until the representatives showed up for the assembly. Heather Osterman admitted she couldnt even tell the majority of the extended family until last week. She worried that since theyre all so close-knit, someone would accidentally spill the beans to Amelia before the Thursday afternoon gathering at Cheyennes McCormick Junior High.

When Heather Osterman talked with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Amelia still had no idea she was about to receive the award. But Heather Osterman knew her daughter would be floored when she finally heard the news in the next 20 minutes.

Amelia is an amazing artist, she said. Im just glad shes able to be recognized for her efforts and her talent. Shes definitely going to be surprised. She told her dad shes been checking the computer every day to see if Google had made a decision.

She gave major credit to both Google and Laramie County School District 1, the former for making the presentation such a fantastic spectacle and the latter for always supporting Amelia when she needed it the most and for always backing the arts department.

The prompt Amelia and thousands of other students in kindergarten through 12th grade followed for the contest was to redesign the Google logo while being inspired by the theme When I grow up, I hope ...

Although Amelia is one of the 53 winners, her journey isnt done yet. Monday through Friday of next week, people across the United States can vote for their favorite doodle from all 53 contestants at www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html. The public vote will determine the five national finalists (one in each grade group).

Google will announce the finalists in June, and each winner will have their image featured on the Google homepage for a day. The national winner will also receive a $30,000 scholarship, and his or her school will receive a $50,000 technology package toward the establishment or improvement of a computer lab or technology program.

During the half-hour presentation Thursday afternoon, two representatives from Google handed out Doodle for Google T-shirts to all of the eighth-graders from McCormick before finally announcing Amelia was the Wyoming winner. They gave three hints to the students to try and guess who the recipient was, which tipped off Amelia.

She was excited she won, but she noted she wasnt expecting it.

When I saw the answer to the first hint, I realized my sister had asked me that exact question and that was my response, she said. I think it would be cool to be on the Doodle team, but Im not sure what I want to do after high school or college yet. I really like art and graphic design, though.

Her mother also added that Amelia has an interest in writing, noting that she thinks her daughter could grow up to be an author who illustrates her own work.

For her efforts, the Google employees displayed a large print of her design, a space-themed image with the Google logo hidden in it. She also received a tote bag and T-shirt, both of which had her design emblazoned on it, as well as a Chromebook laptop.

Amelia said it took around 24 hours total to create her design.

I just really enjoy doing art, she said. I think other students should definitely try out the Doodle for Google contest at some point, though. Even if you dont make it, its still a lot of fun.

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Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts into five US states

HELENA, Mont. (AP)  Smoke from large wildfires in Canadas Alberta province has drifted into Wyoming and four other states and is causing haze and air quality issues.

More than two dozen fires are burning in Alberta and 10,000 people have been forced from their homes.

The smoke has drifted into Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington state and Wyoming.

The government agency Alberta Wildfire reports the largest blaze is out of control about 450 miles north of Edmonton and has burned 887 square miles of land.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rated Helenas air quality as unhealthy Friday morning while the air quality in the Montana cities of Great Falls and Lewistown was rated as unhealthy for sensitive groups such as people with asthma or heart disease.

Crews rescue backcountry skier in Grand Teton National Park

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK (AP)  Search and rescue crews recovered a backcountry skier after he fell off a ridge in Grand Teton National Park.

Park officials say 24-year-old Stephen Sherk injured both of his legs Wednesday after he slipped on ice and slid about 1,000 feet near Cody Peak.

Park public information specialist Denise Germann says park officials assisted Teton County Search and Rescue crews in the rescue operation.

She says mountain patrol staff from the nearby Jackson Hole Mountain Resort also skied to the injured man to assist.

Officials say Sherk was hauled down the mountain and taken to a hospital by ambulance.

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Dubai South will bring to the spotlight the emirates advanced logistics connectivity and innovation among a global network of transport, logistics, mobility, IT and supply chain management companies when it participates at the Transport Logistic Exhibitions in Munich from June 4 to 7, 2019.

In line with its commitment to play a key role in further advancing Dubais leadership in global trade and e-commerce, It will showcase major projects under Dubai Souths Logistics District which provide various business solutions.

Dubai continues to lead globally in terms of attracting foreign direct investments (FDI) as it increased by 41% in 2018, valued at Dh38.5 billion considering its pioneering efforts in innovation and digital transformation.

From 2015 to 2018, the emirate has attracted a total of $21.6 billion worth of FDI in advanced technology transfers. It also continues to surpass leading economies such as the US, UK and South Korea in the Smart Service Index, having achieved sixth in the global rankings.

Dubai Souths multi model Logistics District provides seamless access to seaports, airports and major roads, reflecting its advanced connectivity and flexibility.

It has created various solutions such as ready-to-occupy and built-to-suit options for various types of business operations such warehouses and distribution centers.

As well offering various office solutions through its facilities at The Business Park, a complex of 11 modern buildings equipped with state-of-the art amenities just right at the entrance of Dubai South.

The Logistics District highlights the ease of doing business in Dubai as setting up companies take minimum processing time, supported by onsite licensing for setting businesses and a dedicated branch for visa and residencies arrangements under the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, apart from an e-portal which facilitates all forms of online services.

Logistics District is also the home of EZDubai, the 920,000 square-metre purpose-built e-commerce zone which seeks to boost the e- commerce sector in the region and serve as an integrator for e-commerce related businesses.

Dubai Souths Logistics District CEO Mohsen Ahmad said: "Participating at the Transport Logistic Exhibitions brings a lot of enthusiasm for Dubai South as we anticipate positive responses to our latest projects in the Logistics District."

"These initiatives are designed to offer a range of optimal solutions to market players keen to explore the Middle East and the Asian region markets, in line with Dubais continuing leadership as a regional and global trade hub considering its business-friendly environment and policies," noted Ahmad.

"We continue to create innovative ways to provide smart facilities as well as business processes that enhance the ease of doing business in emirate and serve many regions," stated Ahmad.

"Dubais strategic location and advanced connectivity bring significant value to the global trade network and we leverage the emirates distinct advantage to deliver optimum benefit to all types of trade, including the ever-increasing role of e-commerce in the global economy," he stated.

"Our focus is to provide smart facilities and cutting-edge services that will improve efficiency and ease of doing business in line with Dubais ambition to become the worlds smartest and happiest place in the world," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The 27 students achieved a 93 percent pass rate on their skills tests. The testing is rigorous and ensures that the individuals are prepared to handle a medical emergency. The Wyoming state average is 87 percent and the national average for the first attempt is around 77 percent.

These students have to give up many hours of time on weekends and evenings to achieve competency in these skills. But it doesnt stop there. They have to also spend countless hours studying and learning knowledge. We try to teach critical thinking because no patient ever is exactly like the textbook. These success rates show the dedication of the students and the instructors to ensure that we are training excellent prehospital providers, said Andrew Appleby, instructor of paramedics and EMS at Western.
SALT LAKE CITY  The parents of a University of Utah student killed by her ex-boyfriend have said their formerly shy daughter was brimming with confidence and excited to graduate before she was fatally shot on campus last year.

Jill and Matt McCluskey told the Deseret News newspaper in Salt Lake City that 21-year-old Lauren McCluskey planned to move to a warmer place like San Diego after her scheduled graduation in May.

But, she was killed before she could begin her final semester. Authorities have said 37-year-old Melvin Rowland killed her on Oct. 22, 2018  after the track athlete broke off her brief relationship with Rowland when she learned he had lied about his name, age and criminal history.

She reported to campus police that Rowland, a sex offender who had spent time in prison, started harassing and extorting her after she broke up with him. Her friends reported Rowlands controlling behavior to dorm staff nearly a month before the shooting, but that warning never made it to police.

Jill McCluskey of Pullman, Washington, said her daughter seemed infatuated with Rowland after meeting him at a bar where he was a bouncer. She had only had a few boyfriends and Rowland charmed her with roses and dinner dates.

He had told Lauren McCluskey he was 28 and studying to get a computer science degree while working part-time as a bouncer.

Even before they found out about his criminal past, Jill McCluskey said she had some concerns about the age difference between the two but decided not to interfere too much because she was wary of her tendency to be a helicopter parent.

After the breakup and the reports her daughter made to police, Jill McCluskey said she called campus police asking for help for her daughter.

Minutes before she was shot, Lauren McCluskey was on the phone with her mother and told her she was doing well.

Her daughters last words in that phone conversation were, no, no, no and sounds of distress.

Authorities have said that was the moment Rowland grabbed her, shoved her into the back seat of her car and shot her.

An independent investigation the University of Utah ordered to review how campus police handled the case found multiple missed warning signs before the shooting. The report said understaffing and lack of training was to blame. No one was disciplined.

University president Ruth Watkins has pledged to implement a series of recommendations made by investigators  including additional training for campus police to recognize signs of dating and domestic violence and the hiring of a victim advocate. But Watkins said theres no reason to believe Rowland, whom she called a master manipulator, could have been stopped.

Jill McCluskey and her husband, Matt, disagree. They want the university to be held accountable and have vowed to use their daughters death to shed light on campus dating violence.

They found an amazing number of failings, and then for them to say, were going to implement all these changes, but it wouldnt have made any difference in preventing Laurens murder? Its a very convenient, legal fiction, and blatantly false, Matt McCluskey said.

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The New York-based consulting firm, Alvarez and Marsal, has been awarded two efficiency study contracts in Wyoming totaling $2.175 million through the Government Efficiency Commission. A&M makes more money for each new efficiency study they conduct whether the state saves any money or not.

Former Gov. Matt Mead wanted to help the state become more efficient, and I believe he tried hard and I am thankful for his efforts. Now this monster task is in Gov. Mark Gordons hands and I wish him the best.

In testimony to the GEC on May 2, A&M recommended Wyoming spend $45-$55 million more with the hope of saving over $200 million in the 2023-2024 budget, yet there doesnt seem to be a single guarantee. Pat Arp, Gov. Gordons chief of staff, pointed out that A&Ms current $2 million study has stopped short of showing if and how the savings can be implemented.

A&M has conducted similar multi-million dollar efficiency studies for Kansas, Louisiana and North Carolina and the savings there seem uncertain at best. Is it asking too much to have A&M verify the exact amount these other states saved?

Mark Howard, A&Ms Denver-based consultant, then took the floor to remind us that we are right where we need to be (after weve spent $2 million). A&M has introduced a set of ideas to introduce savings, he said. They have a very long list of ideas, but the next step would be to invest $10 million to recover savings. He also added that such studies are not new, but the studies are done, you farm out all the recommendations, nobody knows what happens. I guess the initial $2 million just got their teeth wet.

With the new software A&M purchased for the state, it will be the states responsibility to track any savings. Is this setting up Wyomings state employees to bear the blame if no savings are ever realized?

Many of A&Ms recommendations do not seem feasible and others are already being implemented.

When responding to questions about educational savings, A&M offered up their Kansas study. Spoiler alert: According to the Kansas Board of Education, their recommendations seem to have never been acted on there. Yes, JW Rust, a consultant at A&M, used an example of a savings recommendation that was never implemented, but failed to mention that to the panel. One of their Kansas recommendations was to slash teacher benefits. Did we not already know that would save money?

I was relieved that when A&M was asked how to handle some of their other recommendations they didnt suggest one of their consultants gain a government position, as happened in North Carolina. The Raleigh News & Observers reports that Rudy Dimmling, who is a consultant for A&M, was being paid roughly $800,000 per year for his consultancy services before being appointed as the states Medicaid Finance Director at an annual salary of $175,000. And now it looks like he is back to consulting for A&M.

When looking at A&Ms Shared Services handout located on the WyoLeg.gov website, it appears that A&M is also recommending we spend $10 million more for a few other recommendations. This is not a typo. The investment for a recommendation would cost around $10 million. Yes. And then if we actually do some of this, we are possibly looking at spending more money.

Chris Cowley was introduced at the GEC hearing as A&Ms supply chain and logistics person and seems to be based in Seattle. He is also their Wyoming guy but I could not find him listed on the A&M website. Mr. Cowley mentioned that hard dollars are not the only thing A&M is looking for. (Uh oh! I am starting to view statements like this as a disclaimer for later when no savings are realized.)

In their initial $280,000 study, A&M barely mentioned strategic sourcing, suggesting that $126 million in current state contracts  copier purchases for example  could benefit from being strategically sourced. Now it seems they have someone ready to explore this field at taxpayers expense.

For the past three years, I have been advocating for only a strategic sourcing proposal where payment is based on the percentage of savings. It was probably foolish to think A&M would have watched a revenue stream walk out the door.

Also, according to A&M, it sounds like everyone has to be on board or this wont work out. How will we know if future elected officials will even be committed to this?

Why dont we wait and see if the current $2 million study ends up savings us any money before biting off another $45 million?

Rebecca Bextel is a Jackson-based entrepreneur who also stays busy raising four daughters with her husband, Jonathan.

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Its been two months since the University of Wyoming announced that Laurie Nichols would no longer serve as the schools president. From the start, the university has been less than candid with the public about the decision. In the initial announcement, officials said Nichols was merely moving to a faculty position instead of being honest about what this really was: a demotion that caught nearly the entire campus community off guard.

Since then, the universitys board of trustees has remained stubbornly silent on the matter. The trustees have refused repeated calls  from students, from faculty, from the public and from the press  to explain what led to the decision to unceremoniously end the tenure of the universitys first female president, leaving anyone who cares to make a guess at the reason. Was it age? Was it temperament? Was it some action, taken or not?

Nor have they been clear about how they will end what has become a distressing trend: the turnover at the top of Wyomings lone four-year public university. Interim President Neil Theobald is now the fifth person to lead the school in six years. He expects to serve in his new role for only a year, meaning the University of Wyoming will have six presidents in seven years  a breathtaking amount of turnover that has allowed uncertainty and instability to fester.

Trustees and the universitys attorney say personnel rules bar the university from explaining what led to Nichols dismissal. Theyve used the same rationale to block the Star-Tribunes repeated requests for information  even as it pertained to how the university may have spent taxpayer money to assess the performance of one of Wyomings highest paid public employees.

Now that two months have passed, one might question why journalists continue to press for information about Nichols ouster. Why not focus on other, more positive, matters?

The answer is simple. There are few more important institutions in our state than the University of Wyoming. It is responsible for educating so many of our young people, for conducting research on subjects that are critical to our state, for housing some of Wyomings top thinkers and creators.

But even more than that, in a state with a scattered population separated by mountains, deserts and miles of empty prairie, the university is one of the few institutions that binds us together. We are all cowboys and cowgirls. We all bleed brown and gold. And whether we attended the school or not, we all have a stake in its success. When it struggles, so does Wyoming.

And so we need answers. We need to know why this happened. We need to know whether, as some faculty have alleged, Nichols leadership skills were judged differently because she was a woman. We need to know whether she was treated more harshly than other high-profile administrators. And we need to know why the same board that has overseen so much strife and uncertainty from behind closed doors is qualified now to pick a new leader  and with that person, stability  to the university.

Those questions need answers. And if officials and trustees believe they can simply wait us out, that we will give up and seek out stories that are less challenging, they are mistaken. If they think students and faculty will quietly move on to other concerns, they are wrong. The public has a right to know what happened at the university it funds richly. We wont stop asking questions until the questions are answered. Its up to the universitys leaders to decide how long that will take.

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Almost 2 million bighorn sheep once roamed the Wests mountains. They moved in waves so thick early explorers could hardly count their numbers. They provided endless food for Native Americans and settlers.

Until they didnt.

By the late 1800s and early 1900s, only about 25,000 sheep likely occupied the western U.S. and Canada. No one knew exactly how many bighorn sheep lived in Wyoming before western expansion  it was likely in the hundreds of thousands  but by 1960, only about 2,500 remained.

Of the few remaining herds in the state, one stood out to biologists and land managers as worth protecting. The Whiskey Mountain herd, as it was called, summered high in the Wind River Range before wintering outside of Dubois in red cliffs and rolling foothills.

It only had about 500 animals remaining in the 40s, but biologists and land managers had a plan. They used wildfire, prescribed burns, seeding and fertilizer to maintain and improve the habitat, and by the 1970s, about 2,000 could be counted.

Ive watched it ever since I was a child, and I turn 65 this summer, said Lynn Stewart, a Dubois taxidermist, hunter and former bighorn sheep hunting guide. For the town of Dubois, it was such a drawing card for traditional hunters and nonhunters alike. Its been there forever.

It was a success by all measures. So much of a success, in fact, that Wyomings Whiskey Mountain sheep were sent everywhere from the Bighorn Range to Nevada and Oregon as a way to boost regional numbers and keep the local herd sustainable.

Then in 1991, a die off hit.

Numbers crashed, and they havent come back.

A big part of the reason is abysmal lamb survival, said Kevin Monteith, an assistant professor at the University of Wyoming. And its a problem Monteith and two graduate students, working closely with Game and Fish and others, hope to solve.

This spring marks the halfway point in a six-year study comparing the iconic Whiskey herd with others in Jackson and Cody as a way to see if the underlying issue could be disease, poor food quality, predators, some combination of the three or an unknown factor altogether. A team of biologists will spend June racing to find newborn lambs, placing tracking devices on their necks and then recording the cause of their probable demise.

The answer, if the team can find one, could not only help the Whiskey Mountain herd, but perhaps many other struggling herds across the West.

n n n

For an animal that makes its living in some of the states harshest, highest climates, bighorn sheep are surprisingly susceptible to health issues, mostly non-native pneumonia pathogens.

Their numbers historically shrank because of market hunting and habitat loss, but it was pneumonia-causing bacteria that proved to be the death knell for many of the herds, said Steve Kilpatrick, executive director of the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation.

Domestic sheep typically carry the pathogens, and they pass them to bighorn sheep through nose to nose contact. Once in a herd, the disease often spreads quickly, causing healthy adults and lambs to keel over.

The Whiskey herds history  growing, healthy populations followed by a sudden die off and difficult time recovering  is not unusual among herds in the West. It also seems to be perhaps something more than just disease.

Thats why a coalition including Game and Fish, the sheep foundation, the Wyoming Governors Big Game License Coalition, the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust are working to raise $1.3 million to pay for the project.

The first three years focused on issues such as the possibility of not enough food or poor food quality, particularly as they related to disease. The second three years begins now, and will look mostly at lambs while also comparing the herd to bighorn sheep in Jackson and Cody that seem to be faring better.

The vast majority of the lambs we capture and collar we suspect will die, and we want to know when and from what they are dying, Monteith said. Its a big missing gap at the moment. We know that pregnancy rates are high. They are putting lambs on the ground, theyre not just making it back to winter range with them.

***

On its surface it sounds simple: Figure out when, where and why lambs are dying.

The logistics of that, however, are a bit more complicated.

Bighorn sheep lambs are born able to walk in remote mountain meadows. Within a few days they can travel distances with their moms and have likely moved on. They weigh about as much as a human infant  usually 7 to 9 pounds at birth.

No study in Wyoming has ever been able to successfully examine lamb survival because of the expense and logistics of working with wildlife in such remote areas.

Until now.

Ewes were captured in late winter as part of the project, and fitted with GPS collars and an internal transmitter. When an ewe gives birth, the transmitter pings her collar and lets Monteiths graduate students  Rachel Smiley and Brittany Wagler  know where the lamb was born.

They then have less than two days to trek thousands of vertical feet through rugged Wind River country to find the lamb before it and the mother move on.

Processing lambs can take about 15 minutes, at which point it generally rejoins the mother and eventually heads onto summer range.

From there biologists wait to see if the lamb lives. As few as five lambs per 100 adults survive to adulthood in the Whiskey Mountain herd. Wildlife managers would like to see that at 30 lambs per 100.

Whats happening on summer range, we dont know, whether poor nutrition or pneumonia we dont know, said Greg Anderson, Game and Fishs wildlife biologist in the Lander region.

Researchers hope the overall study, which includes detailed examination of habitat sections in the Jackson and Whiskey areas, body fat and health measurements of ewes, and the lamb work, will result in an answer.

A lot of people are barroom biologists who theorize, said Stewart, the Dubois taxidermist. But at this point, its up to science to figure it out, and hopefully it can.

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Tucson police detectives are investigating after an elderly man was found dead in his home on the citys south side Friday afternoon, police said.

The man, who is in his 70s, was found with obvious signs of trauma in his home in the 2100 block of South Tucson Avenue, near South County Club Road and East 36th Street, according to Officer Frank Magos, a department spokesman.

Magos said a neighbor who regularly checks in on the man at his home called police after finding him shortly before 12 p.m.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Magos said.

Police have not released the man's name.

Anyone with information is asked to call 88-CRIME, an anonymous tipster line.

This story is developing. No further information was immediately available.

Contact reporter Gloria Knott at gknott@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @gloriaeknott

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.

Gloria Knott #ThisIsTucson Editor Gloria was born and raised in Tucson and is a 2018 University of Arizona grad. From wildflowers to wildlife, she loves all things Tucson and hopes to share her love of the city with readers 
I think the House should continue its investigations. As a former prosecutor, you want the best evidence possible before you charge the crime, she said. Nobodys above the law, including the president. I just dont think were quite there yet.

Grijalva was watching a repeat of Muellers Wednesday comments when I met him at his Tucson office that morning. Like the other two, hes aware that impeachment is risky.

I understand the political calculation of going deliberate and cautiously forward on impeachment because of the lack of bipartisan support, because the Senate wont do anything and because your could turn Trump into a martyr, he said.

On the other hand, he said, the House majority has another judgment coming, and thats the defense of the institution as a separate and equal branch of government. Were going to get judged on that one. History will do that.

Of the three, Grijalva came closest to grasping the bind that Trump and Mueller have put them in. On Wednesday Mueller said, If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.
It charged that the Indian Child Welfare Act gives tribes pretty much unfettered authority to decide placement of children with some native blood, even those who have never set foot on a reservation.

The claim most immediately sought to protect the two children from being taken from their current homes. Other children were subsequently added to the claim.

Meanwhile, the Navajo Nation and the Gila River Indian Community interceded on behalf of the federal government to defend the law.

In an extensive ruling two years ago, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake said attorneys for the Goldwater Institute had not proven that any of the children they were claiming to represent actually were harmed because of the ICWA requirements. And Wake said if there is a child who may be in danger, the claim can be dealt with by the state courts that are handling the adoption or foster care proceeding.

That sent the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. But the judges there decided to sidestep the question, declaring the case moot because the children at issue already had been adopted.

Sandefur conceded the point. But in a bid to keep the case alive, he argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that the couples involved had suffered economic harm, entitling them to pursue their challenge.
Abu Dhabi has moved seven state-owned firms - with operations ranging from airports and ports to power supply - to a new development holding company to make it easier for them to raise debt and improve services, reported Reuters, citing sources.

The new entity, Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADDHC) was set up last year to monitor and guide development service companies in the UAE capital.

It is being led by Mohamed Hassan Al Suwaidi, a former executive of Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala, and the seven firms could eventually be privatised, stated the sources.

The holding company's portfolio will include Abu Dhabi Airports, Abu Dhabi Ports, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Abu Dhabi Media, Abu Dhabi Power Company, Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, and Abu Dhabi Health Services Co, they added.

"The holding company will allow the firms to operate at arm's length," a source familiar with Abu Dhabi's plans said.

It will be able to raise debt for its units, who can also raise debt themselves rather than through the department of finance, separating them from the emirate's own debt plans.

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi, rated AA by S&P and Fitch and Aa2 by Moody's, issued its last international bonds in 2017, raising $10 billion. A rise in oil prices last year meant the emirate had no urgent need to borrow further, said the Reuters report.

Abu Dhabi has seen some of its largest firms merge in the last two years in response to an earlier oil price slump, it added.
Local journalism is important  and producing it costs time and money.

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President Trump is telling us that the 25 percent tariffs imposed on Chinese goods will be paid (as punishment) by China. This is simply anoth
Hello dear readers, my name is Edward Celaya. Although Im new to this space, if youve ever held a private party, been to a University of Arizona tailgate or had a beer at a catered event somewhere around Tucson, theres a good chance you might already know my face.

If youve had a child between the ages of 6 months and 6 years and a pool in the backyard, I might also be familiar to you from swim lessons for the little ones.

Ive also been an editor for the two award-winning college newspapers in town, the Aztec Press and the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

On the surface there is little similar between swim lessons, bartending and opinion journalism.

But look closer, and youll see a common thread  service. At my essence, I am a helper.

Just like teaching children to float on their back results in fewer drownings, informing people of potential solutions to the upcoming e-scooter apocalypse is vital to the greater community good.

Each job Ive had in the five years since I left Tempe for Tucson has had its lessons.
This week our esteemed Legislature in Phoenix called it quits after 134 days. Sometimes their sessions last longer. It all depends on how long it takes their political donors to make up their minds for them as they quibble over the $11.8 billion state budget.

How fruitful was this session? They should reintroduce spittoons in the Arizona House and Senate. At the end of five months of exercising their lungs, with no foresight and little judgment, at least the spittoons could offer evidence of legislative productivity.

When the state was being created our wise forefathers decided to give Tucson the states university and in exchange for that plum Phoenix got the states insane asylum and the legislature, two institutions that are wholly indistinguishable save for the fact the gentle asylum inmates produced salable goods at one time as opposed to their babbling peers in the state assembly who are barely capable of manipulating staplers or weaving lanyards.This session I was awestruck as great minds gathered from all over the state to address the great problems of our time, like how to triple their daily allowance without getting strung up like horse thieves. After much debate they decided on a bold plan, orchestrating a nearly unanimous vote at the last minute. Smart move, varmints. Cant play political whack-a-mole when all the moles are bad.
Other Opinions and Columnists from 'The Conversation'
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A Vietnamese startup company has developed an app that supports employers in supervising the employees activities, arranging work shifts, and keeping track of overtime work.

The software, Tanca, makes it easy for employers of local diners, restaurants, coffee shops, and milk tea shops to keep track of employees shifts, working hours, as well as other complex and time-consuming tasks.

Tanca, a product of Di dong xanh, a Vietnamese mobile app developer, not only helps supervising employees but also facilitating other human resource-related tasks such as rearranging shifts, keeping track of those who change shifts and reporting number of working hours of each employee.

Users only need to sign up for an account on the Tanca website to start using the software.

Tanca uses location detecting on the mobile devices of each employee so as to keep track of the time employees come to work and when they leave, which is also current global trend.

You are no longer going to waste money on timekeeping machines no matter where the employees work, Tran Viet Quan, founder and managing director of Di Dong Xanh said.

This is a useful solution for businesses that still implement timekeeping devices while they have many part-time employees and employees without fixed schedule.

Tanca not only supports the supervision of the employees, it also makes other internal activities simpler.

Many tasks normally involve approving signatures on written papers including proposals, financial plans, accounting tasks, and asking for a leave, can now be managed on the app.

Most of the tasks can be done digitally, even meetings can be done online using smartphones, not requiring employees to be present at the office for the meeting, Quan said, implying that it also helps with managing employees that work remotely which is becoming increasingly common.

The application has received many positive responses.

Do Van Huy, CEO at Netlink Co, one of Googles advertising partner companies in Vietnam, said Tanca proved efficient in managing employees while also cutting short many complicated procedures.

We saved up to 50 percent of our costs, Huy said.

Another Tanca user, Pham Quang Huy, said the app allows him as an employer to supervise where the employees are and keep track of their shifts, without the need of any manual procedures and complex documents.

He also added that thanks to the application, communication among employees, gift-exchanging, and group meetings became much more convenient.

All the data in the process of working is stored electronically, which makes it easy to find and cross-check when needed.

Tanca now boasts some 200 customers in Ho Chi Minh City including both Vietnamese and foreign companies, which find the app to be an effective solution to human resource problems.

Tanca currently serves many small and medium businesses, especially retailers such as restaurants, coffee shops, and English centers, Quan said.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A South Korean man has been walking through Vietnams cities and provinces to provide financial support to local needy students.

Ha Ji Won, 64, began his journey to spread love and kindness in 2014, walking all the way from Ho Chi Minh City to the central city of Da Nang.

Since then, he has spent one month every year walking through various regions across Vietnam, from big cities to small communes, providing financial support to needy children along the way.

Most recently, he walked through the northern province of Phu Tho.

Ha shared that he intended to award a total of VND200 million (US$8,700) to 30 students from poor families, chosen by their teachers and school administrators, in each province.

Its not my money, he said. Im just a mailman carrying a message from one person to another.

Ha says he chose to deliver the money on foot because it allows him to admire the magnificent beauty of Vietnam on his way to help those in need.

Before each trip, he carefully prepares everything hell need for the journey, including his own body. He also hire a car to follow him on his journey in order to carry food and provide him with a place to sleep for the night.

He hopes to have walked to all cities and province in Vietnam and reached a distance of 5,000km to by the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties of Vietnam and South Korea in 2022.

The 64 year-old-man shared that he skipped college after graduating high school and immediately started looking for a job to earn a living, later becoming a businessman and raising a family.

The idea of awarding scholarships to poor students came to Ha Ji Won after a trip to Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, when he acknowledged the hardship in peoples lives.

He also said that the purpose of this annual event is to share love and learn about the lives of Vietnamese people living in remote areas.

I temporarily close my company in May every year so that I can go on my walking journey, he shared.

I get a lot of praise and encouragement from my family and friends.

Nguyen Ngo Quang Nhat, Has partner and assistant in his walking journeys from 2015, shared that the South Korean does his best to understand the different cultures in Vietnam he discovers on his journey.

Nhat also shared that Ha Ji Won, along with his friends, sponsored renovations to school buildings in the northern highlands provinces of Ha Giang and Cao Bang in 2018.

Hes not Vietnamese, but the love he has for our people makes me feel as if he was, Nhat said.

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Organic cosmetics are becoming increasingly popular in Vietnam as local residents become more aware of the harmful effects that chemicals used in makeup products can have on both their health and the environment.

Two Vietnamese women are pioneering Vietnams organic cosmetic market, giving the countrys women a handcrafted alternative to the harmful chemicals used in big-brand makeup products.

Makeup and soap bars

When Tang Boi Quan finishes her daily duties as a full-time directors assistant at a Taiwanese bank in Vietnam, she heads home to tend to her true passion - an online business focusing on organic soap and makeup products shes handcrafted herself.

Quans organic makeup is her response to the harmful chemicals used in conventional cosmetics and the high prices Vietnamese often dish out for such products.

The 30-year-old entrepreneur also holds workshops to teach others how to similar products on their own.

Though she only began selling her products three years ago, Quan has been making them for her own personal use for much longer.

I started out with lipsticks and then became passionate about making cosmetics, Quan said.

I eventually branched out into making different products like soap bars and charcoal toothpaste.

Quan specifically ensures that each of her products is made only natural ingredients that can be found locally in Vietnam.

Vietnam has a variety of natural oils that are good for health like coconut oil, coconut butter, avocado oil, and lemongrass, Quan explained. The greatest challenge is finding pure oil extracts.

Tang Boi Quans handmade soap bars. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Of all the products she crafts, Quan says soap is her favorite because it allows her to get creative with the different colors and patterns she uses to decorate the soap bars.

I want people to know what a real bar of soap is like and I want to produce it at an affordable price, Quan said.

Real soap bars are made using fatty acids found in vegetable oil and serves as a natural detergent that does not cause harm to our health, our skin, or the environment, according to Quan.

Quan says the natural oils skin benefits are also the main reason why people in Western countries, Japan, and Taiwan are turning to organic cosmetic and hygiene products.

Some people even use them [handmade soap bars] to wash clothes because they do not want to use chemical detergents that pollute environment, Quan said.

Her soap bars are cut into small pieces with prices ranging from VND35,000 (US$1.5) to 45,000 ($1.9) per piece. Each bar typically last for an entire month and is wrapped in eco-friendly paper.

Quan also encourages customers who use her other projects to bring bank the containers, such as wooden lipstick tubs, so that they can be washed and refilled in order to minimize waste.

Every month, she chooses one of her days off from her full-time job to hold a workshop focused on instructing others on how to make the DIY products she sells.

My customers include a lot of foreigners, but I really want to expand my Vietnamese customer base because its important to focus on local health and environment, Quan said.

Tang Boi Quan at a workshop instructing others how to make handmade lipsticks safe for health. Photo: Tuoi Tre

DIY perfume

Nguyen Le Quynh Nhus shares a similar passion. The 25-year-old has spent the last three years building a business centered around handmade scents and perfumes.

She first began experimenting with mixing scents in her bedroom, doing her best to hide the hobby from her family.

One day, as my dad was looking for something and he walked into my room; that was when my family found out I was making my own perfumes, Nhu shared.

They werent very supportive because they wanted me to pursue a career in education or banking, not start my own business.

Nguyen Le Quynh Nhus bottles of handmade perfume. Photo: Tuoi Tre

After graduating with a biotechnology degree from International University - Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Nhu worked as an English teacher before starting a job as an assistant for a South Korean corporate director.

Now, after striking out on her own, she not only sells organic and handmade scented candles and perfumes, but she also holds workshops where she teaches others how to make the environmentally friendly products.

For Nhu, each scent has its own story, usually reminding her of a person and the story that person represents.

Nguyen Le Quynh Nhus handmade candles. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham JBR in Dubai has named Carlo Kazan as its new assistant director of sales.



Kazan has more than 15 years of hospitality experience gained from various countries including UAE, Oman, Qatar, US, and his home country, Lebanon. Prior to joining the property, Kazan was a senior sales manager at Habtoor Grand Resort, Autograph Collection by Marriott. He also worked as a business development manager at Salalah Rotana Resort, and was part of the sales team of The Torch in Doha and Le Gray Hotel in Beirut.



Binu Varghese, hotel manager, commented: We are pleased to welcome Carlo on board. With the full support from the team, we are confident that his extensive experience will be of great value during this exciting period for the property and Dubais tourism scene. - TradeArabia News Service
Check out whats in the news today.

Politics

-- Vietnams Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich attended a meeting between the U.S. Secretary of Defense and ASEAN defense ministers on the sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.

Society

-- Two people, including a Dutch tourist and a Vietnamese tour guide, were injured during a landslide on Ma Pi Leng mountain pass, one of northern Vietnams most spectacular and the heart of the UNESCO-recognized Dong Van Karst Plateau, in Ha Giang Province on Friday.

-- Fake GrabBike drivers have been preying on victims at the Mien Dong (Eastern) Bus Station in Binh Thanh District and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Tan Binh District in Ho Chi Minh City by offering rides with exorbitant prices.

Business

-- A Frankfurt-bound flight by Vietnam Airlines had to return to Hanoi only 30 minutes after takeoff due to a technical issue on Thursday.

-- Authorities in Da Lat, the capital city of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, has said it will intensify crackdown on the so-called specialty brokers, individuals hired by local household businesses to trick visitors to visiting their facilities and buying famous delicacies at high prices.

-- Vietnams gross domestic product (GDP) will surpass that of Singapores by 2029 if Vietnam maintains its annual growth rate of about six to 6.5 percent and Singapore continues to grow at 2.5 percent a year, senior economist Irvin Seah predicted in a report published by Singapore-based DBS Bank earlier this week.

-- Vietnamese automaker Vinfast announced on Friday that the first edition of made-in-Vietnam automobile Fadil will be handed over to buyers in a ceremony in mid-June.

Lifestyle

-- Eight delegations of international children showcased special cultural performances indigenous to their origins at the 2019 VTV International Childrens Festival organized at Vinpearl Land Hoi An resort complex in the central province of Quang Nam on Friday evening.

-- Experts discussed Vietnamese ethnic groups cultures falling into oblivion at a seminar on the conservation and development of cultural values in ethnic minorities in Hanoi on Friday.

Sports

-- More than 600 impaired children on Friday competed in sporting events at the 2019 Disabled Childrens Festival, organized in the south-central city of Nha Trangvin celebration of the International Childrens Day (June 1).

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Fake GrabBike drivers have been preying on victims at the Mien Dong (Eastern) Bus Station in Binh Thanh District and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Tan Binh District in Ho Chi Minh City by offering rides with exorbitant prices.

Most of those passengers falling victim for the scam are apparently unfamiliar with the ride-hailing app. They often skip booking on the mobile app and carelessly accept the prices shown to them by the motorbike drivers.

Little did they know that the con artists choose the pick-up point farther than the actual location, or quote them the prices of the journey using GrabBike Premium or GrabCar services.

N.M., a college student, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper she paid VND133,000 (US$5.72) for a ride that actually cost only VND50,000 ($2.15) as she fell victim to fake GrabBike driver.

I didnt check the price on my Grab app but accepted his offer immediately, N.M. said.

A Tuoi Tre reporter has gone undercover as a passenger who wanted to go from Mien Dong Bus Station to the Binh Phuoc Intersection in Thu Duc District, and was offered a price of VND171,000 ($7.35) from a scam driver. The ride actually cost only VND33,000 ($1.42) at the time.

A sign warning against fake GrabBike drivers is seen at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ngoc Khai / Tuoi Tre

Similarly, a fake GrabBike driver told your correspondent a ride from Tan Son Nhat International Airport to Ben Thanh Market would cost VND124,000 ($5.33), while it should be only VND37,000 ($1.6).

H.V., a resident in Tan Phu District, told Tuoi Tre there is always a group of GrabBike drivers at the entrance of the Mien Dong Bus Station who never accept any bookings via the app.

They would come to me and ask for ride fares that are three to five times higher than actual quotes in the app, H.V. said, adding that these men would mutter curses when he rejected their offers.

A veteran xe om, or motorbike taxi driver, who looks for customers near Tan Son Nhat revealed to Tuoi Tre that the operation of fake GrabBike drivers has been rife in the area for two years, under the protection of a powerful individual.

Fake GrabBike drivers have to pay protection money to this boss, otherwise they will be intimidated and even attacked attempting to prey on victims here, he said.

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Actress Eve Morey thanked fans this week for voting for her in the Logie Awards.

Last week she was nominated for Most Popular Actress and the Gold Logie following a dramatic storyline in which her character succumbed to cancer.

But it followed revelations some fans in the UK had registered votes online using Australian addresses from the White Pages.

Morey told fans she was grateful for their support in a humbling video online.

We just had the Logies nomination event on the weekend and it was all a bit of a blur. I was like How is this happening whats going on?' she said.

Once I got through the shock I went It happened because people cared enough about the work to actually put the effort in to go and vote and to say We acknowledge your work and we want to show that to you.

I cant say how grateful I am for that.

Co-star Ryan Moloney, who was also nominated as Most Popular Actor, also rang TripleM last week to say. In all seriousness, Im actually just appreciative of the pat on the back, and Im actually kind of okay with that from this point on. Really, I am!

Meanwhile showbiz veteran Patti Newton has come under fire on social media for criticising Gold Logie nominees.

Despite acknowledging Eve Morey was probably lovely and a beautiful actress she added, most people walking down the street wouldnt know who she was.

Angry Neighbours fans have pointed out Newton appeared in the 10 Peach soap as Valerie Grundy for the 8,000th episode last December.
After a rewarding career in the computer industry, Sybil decided to try her hand at writing mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in

and

, among others. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Southern California where she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages and spending time with

friends and family. Find her at

.

Sybil Johnsons love affair with reading began in kindergarten with The Three Little Pigs. Visits to the library introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a host of other characters. Fast forward to college where she continued reading while studying Computer Science.
Evening Standard

Another 17,269 additional confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been reported across the UK, it was revealed on Tuesday. This brings the total confirmed cases of the variant in the UK to 177,201 although no case numbers have been reported in Scotland or Wales since December 23. The number of deaths in England of people with the Omicron variant has risen to 49, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Brazil snubs Venezuelan opposition envoy as doubts rise on Guaido FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan opposition representative Maria Teresa Belandria shouts slogans during a protest against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Brasilia

By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil withdrew an invitation to the envoy for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to present her diplomatic credentials, she said on Friday, and the government in Brasilia said it would decide later whether to accept them.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro still recognises Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela, his spokesman said. Guaido's envoy, Maria Teresa Belandria, played down the idea that the snub reflected scepticism from Bolsonaro's government.

Diplomatic analysts said mounting evidence that a change of government in Venezuela is not imminent may have Bolsonaro and his aides wondering if they overplayed their support for Guaido.

Former military officers making up about a third of Brazil's cabinet have been wary of provoking Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, warning against moves that could tip an economic and political crisis into violence across Brazil's northern border.

Belandria had been invited to present her credentials at the presidential palace along with ambassadors from other countries next Tuesday, but the government changed its mind.

"I was uninvited," she told Reuters, but went on to dismiss any suggestion the snub reflected diminished support for Guaido.

"There will be another opportunity," she said. "Brazil's support continues to be strong, solid and decisive. It's merely a protocol matter."

Presidential spokesman General Otavio Rego Barros said Belandria was the representative of Venezuela's "legitimate president" and denied an invitation had been withdrawn.

"Reception or not of the letters of accreditation will be assessed at a more convenient moment," he told Reuters.

Brazilian newspapers Folha de S.Paulo and O Globo reported that Bolsonaro's government had cancelled her invitation because ex-military aides want to pursue dialogue with Maduro, who also has an official representative in Brasilia.

Story continues

"They realise Brazil has to deal with the reality that Maduro is not going anywhere right now and, even if he leaves, Guaido will not be president and a general will likely take his place," said Oliver Stuenkel, a professor of foreign relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo.

Guaido invoked Venezuela's constitution in January to assume the interim presidency, saying Maduro's reelection was not legitimate. Brazil and most Western countries have since backed him as head of state.

However, the Brazilian government has not revoked the credentials of Maduro's representatives in Brasilia.

Guaido's press team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Venezuela recently reopened its border crossing to Brazil after a nearly three-month closure, and Bolsonaro's aides are working to restore more regular power supply for the Brazilian state of Roraima, which depends on the Venezuelan grid.

Bolsonaro, like many heads of state in the region, has been sharply critical of the Maduro government, and advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump have pressed him to take a harder line, raising speculation about positioning U.S. troops in Brazil.

Bolsonaro's top security adviser, retired General Augusto Heleno, told Reuters two weeks ago that Venezuela's armed forces will decide Maduro's future and could depose him to lead a transition to democratic elections.

"Recognition of Guaido's envoy was never agreed to by the military, who vetoed the idea of a U.S. base in Brazil from day one," said Brazilian diplomat Paulo Roberto de Almeida.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassu; editing by Brad Haynes, Susan Thomas and James Dalgleish)
China, U.S. defence chiefs hold talks at Asia security summit Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe meet before the start of their meeting in Singapore

By Idrees Ali

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe and acting U.S. Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan held talks on Friday at an Asia security summit in Singapore, a meeting the Pentagon said was "constructive and productive," amid heightened tensions between the two countries over trade and security.

The meeting comes even as Shanahan told reporters on Friday that Chinese militarization of the South China was "excessive" and that he would be calling out such Chinese actions in a speech on Saturday.

The United States and China, locked in an escalating trade war, are also at odds over a series of strategic issues, from the disputed South China Sea to democratic Taiwan, claimed by China as its sacred territory, to be taken by force if needed.

Lieutenant Colonel Joe Buccino, a Pentagon spokesman, said Shanahan found their 20-minute meeting to be "constructive and productive".

"The two leaders discussed ways to build military-to-military relations that reduce the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation between our nations," Buccino said.

He added that Shanahan discussed how the two militaries could better cooperate to enforce North Korea sanctions.

"Secretary Shanahan hopes to build on this evenings discussion with future engagements," Buccino said.

Prior to the meeting, Shanahan stuck an optimistic tone and told reporters that the relationship between the two militaries had "a lot of potential".

He said he had several proposals to improve relations with Beijing that he would discuss with Wei.

CALL OUT CHINESE BEHAVIOUR

Before his meeting with Wei, Shanahan - who on his first day in his role in January said the U.S. military would focus on "China, China, China" - said he would use a speech on Saturday to call out China specifically.

"This part might be viewed as spicy kind of call out good behaviours, bad behaviours and there's parts of this where I think it's appropriate not to ignore," Shanahan said, adding that China's military actions in the South China Sea had been excessive.

Story continues

"They argue that it is defensive, it looks like its a bit overkill, surface to air missiles, long runways... it seems excessive," Shanahan said.

China and the United States have repeatedly traded barbs over what Washington says is Beijing's militarization of the South China Sea by building military installations on artificial islands and reefs.

China claims almost all of the strategic waterway and blames the United States and its allies for escalating tensions by carrying out naval operations in the region.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Joe Brock.; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
World leaders are gathering in southern England Wednesday to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of the Normandy beaches in northern France, one of the turning points of World War II. The Battle of Normandy on 6 June, 1944 led to the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany and helped bring an end to the war.The event kicks off two days of D-Day anniversary commemorations, which will continue in Normandy on Thursday.US President Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth II and 300 veterans, many of whom are in their 90s, will hold a ceremony on the south coast of England. French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders will then join them in Portsmouth, the main departure point for 156,000 US, British, Canadian and other Allied troops sailing to the beaches of northern France.Britain has promised "unprecedented commemorations" in Portsmouth, with testimony from some of the veterans and "one of the greatest British military spectacles in recent years" featuring a flyby of 24 vintage and modern military aircraft. * 97-year-old veteran parachutes for WWII anniversaryCommemorations in France on Thursday will be held at military cemeteries near the Normandy beaches where Allied troops landed and died.Declaration of shared valuesIn a joint D-Day proclamation marking the anniversary, the 16 nations attending Wednesday's ceremony affirmed their shared responsibility to ensure that the horrors of World War II are never repeated."Over the last 75 years, our nations have stood up for peace in Europe and globally, for democracy, tolerance and the rule of law," it said. "We re-commit today to those shared values because they support the stability and prosperity of our nations and our people. We will work together as allies and friends to defend these freedoms whenever they are threatened."

When world leaders gather for D-Day commemorations, Vladimir Putin's absence will be a sign of how Russia's huge sacrifices in World War II have gone missing in most French minds.

It's a striking reversal from 75 years ago, when the Soviet contribution at a cost of 27 million dead soldiers and civilians was hailed by the French as the biggest factor in Germany's defeat.

Just after the European fighting ended in May 1945, a poll by the French survey group Ifop found that 57 percent of the French thought Moscow had contributed the most to the war effort, compared with just 20 percent who named the United States.

But by the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings by Allied forces in 2004 -- when Russia was represented for the first time, by Putin -- the figures were reversed, with just 20 percent putting the Soviet Union first.

Instead, 58 percent lauded the US, even though its total losses of 400,000 in both the European and Pacific theatres were just a small fraction of the dead in the Soviet Union.

"From a purely historical point of view, overlooking the absolutely critical role of the Soviet Union is absurd," said Denis Peschanski, a senior research fellow at France's CNRS institute, who has long studied the evolution of France's collective memory of the war.

Hollywood effect

While the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact initially established neutrality between Moscow and Berlin, Hitler's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union led to brutal fighting and sieges of Russian cities until Stalin was able to mount a counterattack.

The fierce Russian offensives battered Germany's military might while immobilising millions of Nazi soldiers who might have reinforced the Atlantic coast.

"In 1945, the great ally was Stalin and the USSR -- their role was absolutely clear for the French," said Stephane Grimaldi, director of the Caen Memorial Museum for World War II in Normandy.

"But 50 years later, it's the US that won, for the very simple reason that in the meantime we had the Cold War," he said.

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Hollywood also helped change perceptions with a string of hit films starting in the 1960s showing brave Americans fighting far from home.

"If you look at way it has been portrayed in popular culture, it's all about the battle in France and the Battle of Britain, but World War II was overwhelmingly Germans and Russians killing each other," said Jeremy Shapiro from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Hearts and minds

For decades, French presidents didn't officially commemorate the D-Day landings, when 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed France's Atlantic coast by sea and by air.

French Resistance hero and president Charles de Gaulle refused to honour the Allied operation in which he was relegated to a secondary role.

Upon entering Paris in 1944, he cheered a city "liberated by itself, liberated by its people" -- despite the lines of British and American tanks behind him

"De Gaulle wanted first and foremost to re-establish France's sovereignty, and that meant getting the Americans out," Grimaldi said.

His anti-American tendencies were echoed by France's Communist Party, which wielded tremendous postwar influence thanks to its role in the Resistance.

The communists regularly reminded voters in the post-war period of the Red Army's contribution.

But Soviet repression behind the Iron Curtain steadily eroded support for them -- just as the US was shaping its own narrative of how the war was won, on the silver screen.

"A film that had an absolutely essential role in the '60s was 'The Longest Day'," Peschanski said. "It puts the spotlight on the Americans and the French Resistance, and it was a phenomenal success."

Just over 30 years later, another D-Day film gave the heroic American account to new generations on both sides of the Atlantic -- Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" from 1998.

"The Cold War isolated the Russians, and it isolated the Russian story" of the war, Grimaldi said.

"The hero is now the nice American, it's John Wayne, and he's the one who's going to save Europe, not the Russians."

..

'Should be in front row'

America's role in liberating Europe got a further boost when president Francois Mitterrand became the first French head of state to hold D-Day ceremonies at the Normandy beaches in 1984.

US president Ronald Reagan attended the commemoration, which would become a major world event just as the Soviet Union was collapsing.

Yet even as the war ended, gratitude to Russia hadn't totally eclipsed France's admiration for the US, with GIs getting rapturous welcomes as they fought their way across the country.

Asked in a 1944 poll which country they would visit if they could, 43 percent of Parisians picked the US, while just 13 percent chose the Soviet Union.
Help India!

Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood

Of late, some people have been approaching the Muslim community leaders persuading them to welcome the Supreme Court decision if it says that the entire disputed land in Ayodhya be given for construction of temple and alternative land at a distance be allotted for mosque provided that the status quo of all other mosques and other spiritual places in India be judicially frozen as existed on August 15, 1947.

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It is pertinent to recapitulate that the onset of the belief that Babri Masjid was the place where Lord Rama was born dates back to seventy years ago when in 1949 an idol was surreptitiously placed overnight under the central dome of Babri Masjid. Since then from the last seven decades Muslims of India have been at the receiving end of the political spectrum. Elections have been fought and governments have been formed on this issue to the chagrin of the Muslim community. So much so that the Prime Ministers High Level Justice Sachar Committee documented in 2006 that Muslims are lagging behind everybody else (including the Scheduled Castes) in social, economic and educational fields.

Thus, in addition to the clamping down on nefariously eyeing more mosques, the Honble Supreme Court Bench would do well to appreciate that the restoration of concomitant justice to the Muslims of India and indemnifying them against future harm is a vital ingredient of the resolution of the Ayodhya tangle. The comprehensive judicial package of the Babri-Janambhoomi issue needs to incorporate the following directions to the State:

1. Stop violating section 9(1)(c) of Delimitation Act, reserve those electoral constituencies and wards where Scheduled Castes percentage is among the highest and de-reserve the wards and constituencies of Lok Sabha & state assemblies where Muslim population is very high while the Scheduled Caste percentage is not substantial.

2. Implement Alternative Admission Criteria for undergraduate level admissions into all universities and colleges of India as recommended in the Justice Sachar Committee Report (p 246).

3. Approve the RBI proposal of allowing the banks to have a window for interest-less banking.

4. Accept the minority character of Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia and similar other institutions.

5. Given Rs fifty lakh as compensation to every person who is falsely charged of terror activity and is, after several years of multi-dimensional sufferance, exonerated by the court as innocent. Later on, realize this money from the salary/pension/provident fund/retirement benefits of the official(s) who wrongly implicated him.

6. Give proportionate share to Muslims in central and state council of ministers and in all nominated posts and appointments under the state & central governments.

7. Appoint Equal Opportunity Commission at the centre and in the states as recommended by Justice Sachar Committee.

8. Publish Action Taken Reports against perpetrators of lynching.

9. Rehabilitate persons displaced due to communal riots and restore their land and property.

10. Appoint at least one minority community person in all interview panels of UPSC Civil Services and all other interviews for government and PSU appointments.

11. Delete para (3) from the 1950 Order giving the definition of Scheduled Caste as it causes religion-based reservation which is unconstitutional.

12. Recognize Surya Namashkar as Hindu religious worship but do not impose it on anybody.

13. Both Yoga and Namaz lift the spirit and tone the body; give equal official importance to both.

14. Respect constitutional secularism and stop insulting it.

15. For appointment as CEO in the state waqf boards, institute Indian Waqf Service as recommended by Justice Sachar Committee.

16. Re-table the Waqf Properties (eviction of unauthorized occupants) Bill 2014 and enact it into law.

17. Vacate the Waqf properties from Government occupation and restore these to the state waqf boards.

18. Revitalize the mechanism of quarterly meetings between representatives of central waqf council and archaeological survey of India as recommended by Justice Sachar Committee.

19. Bring a white paper on (a) Haj Subsidy and (b) sea journey for Haj.

20. Publish data of all kinds of crimes committed against married women and enact a law to stop them.

21. Stop vilifying the Madarsas.

22. Punish the TV channels who organize programs which jeopardize communal harmony.

23. Do not unleash NIA against love couples.

24. Terms like love jihad and ghar wapsi are meant to belittle the minorities. Condemn and stop this uncalled for propaganda.

Hopefully the Honble Supreme Court Bench will issue these directions to the competent authorities and bodies in addition to freezing the status of all places of worship as it obtained on Independence Day. Muslims would look forward to that scenario.

Dr. Zafar Mahmood is the President, Zakat Foundation of India zakatindia.org
The French government has filed an appeal against a Paris court ruling ordering that life support be resumed for Vincent Lambert, who has been in a vegetative state for over a decade. It's the latest move in an eight-year legal battle over his fate.The French Health Ministry on Friday said it had appealed to the Court of Cassation, which rules on questions of law and judicial disputes, to decide on whether doctors had the right to suspend life-support treatment to Vincent Lambert.It's the latest turnabout in a string of contradictory legal decisions on how best to respond to Lambert's plight. The 42-year old has been kept alive since a motorbike accident in 2008 left him a quadraplegic with severe brain damage which doctors eventually determined was irreversible.After securing backing from a court, doctors were to start removing his water and feeding tubes on the morning of 20 May at the hospital where he has been treated in Reims, northwest France.But in a last-minute ruling, a Paris appeals court ruled that same day that the life support must be maintained while Lambert's case is examined by the UN's Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.The government had already said it was not legally bound to wait for the UN committee's decision and announced on Saturday it had appealed to the Court of Cassation."A request for appeal was filed this morning" on behalf of both the health and the foreign ministries, a health ministry official told AFP.Defining "unreasonable obstinacy"The case has rekindled a sensitive debate over France's right-to-die laws, which allow so-called "passive" euthanasia for severely ill or injured patients with no chance of recovery.Lambert's parents, devout Catholics, have repeatedly launched legal action to keep him alive, saying their son's chances of recovery would improve if he were given better treatment.However painful the Lambert case is for family members, some doctors and French MPs consider there is a point when insistence on maintaining life support at all costs becomes "unreasonable". For Dr. Jean-Louis Touraine, an MP with the ruling REM party and head of the right to die study group at the National Assembly, French law does not currently define that point, which has allowed the mounting number of legal challenges."We are proposing to legislate once more on right to die questions in order to give a more precise definition of what constitutes unreasonable obstinacy," he told France Info."Vincent Lambert's wife, along with the great majority of those who have studied this case, say we are faced with unreasonable obstinacy," the doctor continued adding that Lambert's mother refuted this and maintained it was about "a handicap".Had it been declared earlier that there was unreasonable obstinacy "hydration and continued treatment would have been stopped and everyone's suffering would have been eased".History of the Vincent Lambert case in 5 dates: read here

The French government has filed an appeal against a Paris court ruling ordering that life support be resumed for Vincent Lambert, who has been in a vegetative state for over a decade. It's the latest move in an eight-year legal battle over his fate.

The French Health Ministry on Friday said it had appealed to the Court of Cassation, which rules on questions of law and judicial disputes, to decide on whether doctors had the right to suspend life-support treatment to Vincent Lambert.

It's the latest turnabout in a string of contradictory legal decisions on how best to respond to Lambert's plight. The 42-year old has been kept alive since a motorbike accident in 2008 left him a quadraplegic with severe brain damage which doctors eventually determined was irreversible.

After securing backing from a court, doctors were to start removing his water and feeding tubes on the morning of 20 May at the hospital where he has been treated in Reims, northwest France.

But in a last-minute ruling, a Paris appeals court ruled that same day that the life support must be maintained while Lambert's case is examined by the UN's Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The government had already said it was not legally bound to wait for the UN committee's decision and announced on Saturday it had appealed to the Court of Cassation.

"A request for appeal was filed this morning" on behalf of both the health and the foreign ministries, a health ministry official told AFP.

Defining "unreasonable obstinacy"

The case has rekindled a sensitive debate over France's right-to-die laws, which allow so-called "passive" euthanasia for severely ill or injured patients with no chance of recovery.

Lambert's parents, devout Catholics, have repeatedly launched legal action to keep him alive, saying their son's chances of recovery would improve if he were given better treatment.

However painful the Lambert case is for family members, some doctors and French MPs consider there is a point when insistence on maintaining life support at all costs becomes "unreasonable".

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For Dr. Jean-Louis Touraine, an MP with the ruling REM party and head of the right to die study group at the National Assembly, French law does not currently define that point, which has allowed the mounting number of legal challenges.

"We are proposing to legislate once more on right to die questions in order to give a more precise definition of what constitutes unreasonable obstinacy," he told France Info.

"Vincent Lambert's wife, along with the great majority of those who have studied this case, say we are faced with unreasonable obstinacy," the doctor continued adding that Lambert's mother refuted this and maintained it was about "a handicap".

Had it been declared earlier that there was unreasonable obstinacy "hydration and continued treatment would have been stopped and everyone's suffering would have been eased".

History of the Vincent Lambert case in 5 dates: read here
An army of locusts coming from the Pakistan side has laid siege to a western Indian border district.

Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district is witnessing the biggest attack in 26 years, said the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), headquartered in Jodhpur.

According to the officials, locust hunters are trying to limit the damage.

The last major locust outbreak was reported in Rajasthan in 1993.
By Krisztina Than and Marton Dunai

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Roiling flood waters in the Danube made it impossible for rescuers to reach the wreck of a river boat on Friday, two days after it sank in the Hungarian capital with 28 people feared dead, nearly all of them South Korean tourists.

One rescue diver was swept away and had to be saved, divers said. The authorities said it was unsafe to reach the wreck.

Seven South Koreans were confirmed killed and seven rescued when their pleasure boat struck a cruise liner in heavy rain on Wednesday night. Another 21 people are still missing, 19 of them South Korean tourists, and officials say there is little hope any will be found alive.

Hungarian authorities arrested the captain of the cruise liner late on Thursday. His lawyers said on Friday he denied blame and regretted that he could not avert the crash.

Family members of the Koreans missing or killed began arriving in the Hungarian capital, some covering their faces as they made their way through the arrivals terminal. They were met by embassy staff and driven off in black vans.

A crane ship was docked near the wreck in preparation for recovery operations, but divers fought strong currents in the river, "conditions that preclude any approach of the hull," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

A diver who works at the scene and requested anonymity told Reuters they would probably have to wait for flooding to subside, at least several more days, before they can attempt to secure the site and enter the wreckage.

The current immediately swept away a diver who had submerged on Friday. A hose bringing him air had to be severed and a rescue operation had to be mounted to bring him back up.

The 440-foot (135-metre) cruise liner hit and sank the Mermaid, a smaller pleasure boat carrying Korean tourists, during a rainstorm on Wednesday evening.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, who flew to Budapest on Friday, said the aim was to recover all the bodies.

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"We strive to ensure no corpses are lost from the wreckage or the riverbed," she said. "I hope this level of effort can be sustained."

Swiss-based Viking Cruises, which owns the larger vessel, said in a statement on Thursday that it had cooperated fully with the authorities. It did not immediately reply to a Reuters email seeking fresh comment.

The Ukrainian captain of the cruise ship, identified by police as C. Yuriy from Odessa, denied blame, MTI news agency quoted his lawyers as saying.

He was "shaken by the consequences of the accident and regrets that he had no way to avoid the accident, and expresses his condolences to the families of the victims," they said.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he too was "shaken".

Very Good Tour, the travel agency that brought the Korean group to Budapest, told the Korea Times that it would sue once the causes of the accident were determined.

"We plan to take legal action... because it is related to compensation for our customers," Korea Times quoted an official of the travel agency.

The search area extended to Serbia, downstream from Hungary, Hungarian Foreign Minster Peter Szijjarto said.

(Additional reporting by Krisztina Fenyo; Editing by Peter Graff)
A former journalist convicted of the murder of a French film directors wife in Ireland more than 20 years ago has said he is praying the truth will come out.

Ian Bailey, 62, was found guilty by a Paris court in his absence on Friday of killing Sophie Toscan du Plantier, 39, following a trial of only three days after Irish authorities twice refused to extradite him.

Bailey said claims he was the culprit represented a bundle of lies.

Sophie Toscan du Plantier died in Co Count (Family handout/PA)

He told Irish broadcaster RTE: I know there are people in this country who know that it was not me that was the culprit.

And I know that, sitting on that, my prayer has been that the truth will come out.

Ms Toscan du Plantiers battered body was found on an isolated hillside in Toormore, near Schull, west Cork, two days before Christmas in 1996.

French presiding judge Frederique Aline on Friday listed all the evidence presented to the court during the trial, saying there was significant evidence of Baileys guilt.

She ordered that he be imprisoned for 25 years, directed that a new EU arrest warrant be issued and said there would be an announcement on June 11 about how much compensation he would be told to pay Ms Toscan du Plantiers family.

Pierre Baudey-Vignaud, left, the son of victim Ms Toscan du Plantier, standing with his family lawyers (Tess de la Mare/PA)

Bailey said, given that its a bank holiday weekend in Ireland, he may be waiting on a knock on the door from Tuesday.

He added that he was continuing with life in Co Cork, business as usual, and the trial outcome was water off a ducks back.

He said Ms du Plantiers family was told a bundle of lies from the beginning, that somehow he was the culprit.

They chose to believe that and they still have my sympathy.

The victim was the wife of celebrated cinematographer Daniel Toscan du Plantier and her death has been one of Irelands most famous unsolved killings.

Bailey, who lived three kilometres from Ms Toscan du Plantier, was arrested twice in connection with the death but was never charged, amid allegations of incompetence and corruption against local Irish police.

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The trial was heard at the Cour dAssises in Paris  the regions highest criminal court (Steve Parsons/PA)

Marie Farrell, the only witness to put him at the scene at the time of the killing, later retracted her evidence, claiming she had been groomed and bullied by investigators into giving false evidence.

The case has taken many twists and turns over the years, including Bailey bringing a successful defamation case against newspapers in 2014.

Frustrated by the lack of progress in Ireland, the French authorities started their own investigation in 2008  even exhuming Ms Toscan du Plantiers body in the hope of finding further forensic evidence.

Baileys trial at the Cour dAssises in Paris  the regions highest criminal court  was conducted at what would appear breakneck speed to an Irish or British spectator.

A judge and two professional magistrates heard live evidence from just two Irish witnesses and relied primarily on read statements.

The court repeatedly returned to Ms Farrells evidence despite her retraction and the fact she is considered an unreliable witness by Irish authorities.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran on Friday rejected what it called "baseless" accusations made at an Arab summit, saying Saudi had joined the United States and Israel in a "hopeless" effort to mobilise regional opinion against Tehran, state media reported.

Saudi Arabia's king told an emergency Arab summit that decisive action was needed to stop Iranian "escalations" in the region following attacks on Gulf oil assets, as American officials said a U.S. military deployment had deterred Tehran.

"Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi... rejected the baseless accusations by the heads of certain Arab countries ... and said 'We see the Saudi effort to mobilise (regional) opinion as part of the hopeless process followed by America and the Zionist regime against Iran'," state news agency IRNA said.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)
FILE PHOTO: A man poses with a magnifier in front of a Facebook logo on display in this illustration taken in Sarajevo

By Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will hear a landmark privacy case regarding the transfer of EU citizens' data to the United States in July, after Facebook's bid to stop its referral was blocked by Ireland's Supreme Court on Friday.

The case, which was initially brought against Facebook by Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, is the latest to question whether methods used by technology firms to transfer data outside the 28-nation European Union give EU consumers sufficient protection from U.S. surveillance.

A ruling by Europe's top court against the current legal arrangements would have major implications for thousands of companies, which make millions of such transfers every day, including human resources databases, credit card transactions and storage of internet browsing histories.

The Irish High Court, which heard Schrems' case against Facebook last year, said there were well-founded concerns about an absence of an effective remedy in U.S. law compatible with EU legal requirements, which prohibit personal data being transferred to a country with inadequate privacy protections.

The High Court ordered the case be referred to the ECJ to assess whether the methods used for data transfers - including standard contractual clauses and the so called Privacy Shield agreement - were legal.

Facebook took the case to the Supreme Court when the High Court refused its request to appeal the referral, but in a unanimous decision on Friday, the Supreme Court said it would not overturn any aspect the ruling.

The High Court's original five-page referral asks the ECJ if the Privacy Shield - under which companies certify they comply with EU privacy law when transferring data to the United States - does in fact mean that the United States "ensures an adequate level of protection".

Facebook came under scrutiny last year after it emerged the personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

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More generally, data privacy has been a growing public concern since revelations in 2013 by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance caused political outrage in Europe.

The Privacy Shield was hammered out between the EU and the United States after the ECJ struck down its predecessor, Safe Harbour, on the grounds that it did not afford Europeans' data enough protection from U.S. surveillance.

That case was also brought by Schrems via the Irish courts.

"Facebook likely again invested millions to stop this case from progressing. It is good to see that the Supreme Court has not followed," Schrems said in a statement.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Susan Fenton and Kirsten Donovan)
By Hyonhee Shin and Joyce Lee

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea executed its nuclear envoy to the United States as part of a purge of officials who steered negotiations for a failed summit between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper said on Friday.

Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, along with four foreign ministry officials after they were charged with spying for the United States, the Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the situation.

"He was accused of spying for the United States for poorly reporting on the negotiations without properly grasping U.S. intentions," the source was quoted as saying.

The February summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, the second between Kim and Trump, failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over U.S. calls for complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report. Previously, some North Korean officials who were reported to have been executed or purged reappeared later with new titles.

A spokeswoman at South Korea's Unification Ministry declined to comment. An official at the presidential Blue House in Seoul said it was inappropriate to comment on an unverified report.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders declined to comment on the reports, saying, "I am not going to comment on intelligence one way or another."

"I can tell you we are monitoring the situation and continuing to stay focused on our ultimate goal, which is denuclearisation," she told reporters in Washington.

The United States is attempting to check on the reports of the envoy's execution, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during his visit to Berlin on Friday

When asked about reports of a "shakeup" of Kim Jong Un's negotiating team in a May 5 interview with ABC News, Pompeo said it did appear that his future counterpart would be somebody else "but we don't know that for sure."

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A diplomatic source told Reuters there were signs Kim Hyok Chol and other officials were punished, but there was no evidence they were executed and they may have been sent to a labour camp for re-education.

The newspaper reported that other officials had been punished, but not executed.

Kim Yong Chol, Kim Jong Un's right-hand man and the counterpart to Pompeo before the Hanoi summit, had been sent to a labour and reeducation camp in Jagang Province near the Chinese border, the Chosun Ilbo reported.

Officials who worked with Kim Yong Chol have been out of the public eye since the summit, while seasoned diplomats who appeared to have been sidelined, including vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui, were seen returning to the spotlight.

A South Korean lawmaker told Reuters in April that Kim Yong Chol had been removed from a key party post.

RISE AND FALL

Kim Hyok Chol was seen as a rising star when he was appointed to spearhead working-level talks with U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun weeks before the Hanoi summit.

However, little was known about his expertise or his role in the talks. The four executed alongside him included diplomats working on relations with Vietnam, the Chosun report said.

"This is a man who might provide some tactical advice to the leader but is otherwise a message bearer with little negotiating or policymaking latitude," said Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the Washington-based Stimson Centre.

"Instead, they put in someone like Kim Hyok Chol to insulate Choe Son Hui and more substantive diplomatic personnel, to a certain degree he is expendable and his superiors are not."

The penalised members of Kim Yong Chol's team included Kim Song Hye, who led the preparations, and Sin Hye Yong, a newly elevated interpreter for the Hanoi summit. They were said to have been detained in a camp for political prisoners, the newspaper said.

The diplomatic source said Kim Song Hye's punishment seemed inevitable because she was a "prime author" of the North's plan to secure sanctions relief in return for dismantling the Yongbyon main nuclear complex.

The idea was rejected by the United States which demanded a comprehensive roadmap for denuclearisation.

Kim Song Hye had also worked closely with Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's younger sister and a senior party official whom Kim Song Hye accompanied to South Korea for the Winter Olympics last year.

Kim Yo Jong was also lying low, the paper reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official.

Madden, however, said Kim Yo Jong's status was unchanged as Kim Jong Un's top aide, citing her attendance at key party meetings in April and appearance in state media reports.

Sin Hye Yong was charged with making critical interpretation mistakes that included missing an unspecified "last-minute offer" the North Korean leader supposedly made as Trump was about to walk out, Chosun reported.

'TWO-FACED'

North Korea's official party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun warned on Thursday that "two-faced" officials would face the "stern judgment of the revolution".

"It is an anti-Party, anti-revolutionary act to pretend to be revering the leader in front of him when you actually dream of something else," it said in a commentary.

Hong Min, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said it was possible Kim Hyok Chol and other officials faced some penalty but further verification was needed.

"Executing or completely removing people like him would send a very bad signal to the United States because he was the public face of the talks and it could indicate they are negating all they have discussed," Hong said.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in BERLIN and Hyunjoo Jin in SEOUL; Editing by Paul Tait, Lincoln Feast, Darren Schuettler and Marguerita Choy)
By Samia Nakhoul

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The U.S. blueprint to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, still in draft form after almost two years, is seen by Palestinians, and by some Arab officials and politicians, as a plan to finish off the Palestinian cause.

The initiative, driven by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser, was billed by the U.S. president as the "deal of the century".

While its precise outlines have yet to be revealed, Palestinian and Arab sources who have been briefed on the draft plan say Kushner has jettisoned the two-state solution - the long-standing U.S. and international formula that envisages an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.

After several postponements, Washington plans a first formal outing of the economic components of the plan at a "Peace for Prosperity" workshop in June in Bahrain.

The plan faces possible delays due to political upheaval in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must fight another election after failing to form a government.

Kushner and Trump, with backgrounds in real estate rather than diplomacy, seem to be approaching this hitherto insoluble conflict as a transaction, three Arab officials briefed on the plan said.

If the politics keep failing, the reasoning seems to be, then try dangling tens of billions of dollars before the Palestinians and Israel's Arab neighbours  and do a deal that could unlock prosperity for the Palestinians and security for Israel, these officials said.

Politically, the deal envisages an expansion of Gaza into part of northern Egypt, under Egyptian control, Palestinian officials briefed on the plan told Reuters. Palestinians would be left with a smaller share of the West Bank and some areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem and no control over their borders. Western and Arab sources confirmed the outline of the plan.

Jason Greenblatt, Trump's Middle East envoy, said "rumours" about an expansion into Egypt's Sinai desert were false. He declined to give details of the political plan before it is released.

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On the decision not to use the term "two-state solution", Grenblatt said: "We believe that using certain phrases and labels is not helpful because they lack detail and nuance  they mean different things to different people. The detailed plan, once released, will show what we think may be best solution for the two parties."

NOT BUYING IT

The Palestinians are not buying it.

"What we're seeing from the plan is that it will blow up the Palestinians," one Arab official told Reuters. "The plan doesn't give justice to the Palestinians."

"The Palestinian cause is being liquidated - no Jerusalem (as capital), no right of return for refugees, no sovereign state. That is why this American project is dangerous," one senior Palestinian leader told Reuters.

The deal as outlined so far has been dismissed by President Mahmoud Abbas' western-backed Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Abbas has boycotted political dealings with the Trump administration for 18 months. This followed Trump's decisions in 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Since then, the Trump administration has curtailed aid to the Palestinian Authority, shuttered the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) delegation in Washington and cut off finance to UNRWA, the U.N. agency supporting Palestinian refugees. Washington meanwhile endorsed Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

"In practice they have already started implementing 'the deal of the century'," the senior Palestinian leader said, "on the ground, step by step". "Today, the two-state solution has been scuttled".

Abbas is not alone in his view of the U.S. deal.

It was rejected by the Islamist Hamas movement, which does not recognise Israel's right to exist and has only given conditional consent to a state in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The PLO has dismissed the Kushner effort as an attempt to bribe Palestinians into accepting Israeli occupation of the West Bank, a prelude to Israel annexing about half their territory and leaving them with scattered cantons.

Hanan Ashrawi, a moderate Palestinian leader, tweeted that the Kushner plan and the Bahrain conference were just "a handout to make our captivity palatable".

Palestinian businessmen have opposed the Bahrain gathering despite a plea by Washington to attend, saying their political demands must be addressed in any peace plan.

Qatar said economic prosperity cannot be achieved without political solutions acceptable to Palestinians. Oman said anything that precludes the establishment of a Palestinian state will not be acceptable.

"We are not proposing an economic peace," Greenblatt said. "We know that is not acceptable to the Palestinians. We've been very clear that the full plan includes a political component as well. But the economic plan is an essential component to the full plan."

MOVING ON?

Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an influential think-tank and supporter of Israel, wrote after interviewing Kushner this month that the deal is a political disaster that should be abandoned.

He said positive economic proposals could be lost by the attempt to skirt around Palestinian rights.

"The only way to protect the long-term viability of the plan's best aspects is to kill it," he said.

Satloff wrote that "unlike a real estate transaction in which one party gets the property and the other party gets the cash, a Middle East peace deal starts and ends with the two parties as neighbours, stuck with each other sharing a duplex for eternity".

Kushner meanwhile visited the Middle East this week seeking support for the June 25-26 Bahrain conference.

The meeting is to talk about the cash. The U.S. plan expects almost all of this  $50 billion to $70 billion  to be put up by Gulf Arab allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian sources said. Yet even that is now moot.

Saudi Arabia, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the UAE, under Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, want to move on from a Palestinian conflict they believe has held back the Arab world.

That means uniting with Israel against Iran and concentrating on domestic challenges such as economic reforms and confronting Islamist radicals.

The Saudi crown prince maintains close ties with Kushner. But his father, King Salman, has twice said there will be no deal unless Israel meets Palestinian rights to a state.

"Kushner has been taken by surprise in his meetings in Riyadh recently, where there has definitely been a change in tone  in private and in public  by the Saudis," said a senior western diplomat.

Asked for comment, the White House referred to its earlier official statement on Kusher's February meeting with the crown prince and the king and said they discussed "increasing cooperation" and efforts to facilitate peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

NEW REALITY

The Palestinian official said it is clear that Israel "is creating a new reality on the ground" with the Trump administration's help  not least by paving the way for the annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The Palestinian and Arab officials briefed on the Kushner- Trump plan said its political contours, as explained to them, look like non-starters unless there is a peace deal.

The essential part is Gaza: where 2 million Palestinians are shut into a strip between Israel and Egypt. The idea is to expand it into the north of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, creating an area where Palestinians can live and work under Egyptian control.

"The plan envisions Gaza stretching from Rafah (its southern border) to El Arish and some parts of Sinai. This area will be a Palestinian expansion in which Palestinians can reside," the Palestinian leader said.

Big projects, such as an airport, a seaport, an industrial zone and power stations are envisaged, Palestinian sources briefed on the plan said.

On the West Bank, the plan is for Israel to annex and join up the settlements, take the Jordan valley and make it the Israeli border with Jordan, and leave the Palestinians a bit less than half as "an autonomous mini-state under some form of self-government", the senior Palestinian leader said.

As for Jerusalem, Palestinians would get neighbourhoods on the outskirts such as Abu Dis and Beit Hanina and Silwan: "not the real Jerusalem (but) they will tell them this is your Jerusalem", the Palestinian leader added.

Western diplomats and intelligence sources worry about how the plan might affect Egypt and Jordan.

However much money is offered, these sources question whether Egyptians would happily relinquish territory.

And Jordan fears a Trump-backed Israel is returning to an old theme: Jordan is Palestine and that is where the Palestinians of the West Bank should go, they say.

(This story has been refilled to correct spelling of surnames, paragraphs 10, 37)

(Additional reporting by Ghaida Ghantous, Eric Knecht, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Giles Elgood)
A Paris court has sentenced Ian Bailey, a former British journalist, to 25 years in prison for the murder in 1996 of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Tried in absentia, Bailey's lawyer told RFI the decision was a "grotesque miscarriage of justice".

Bailey has repeatedly denied any involvement in the killing of Sophie Toscan du Plantier and did not attend the three-day trial in Paris.

There was no jury and the three judges took around five hours to reach their verdict and hand down a 25-year prison sentence. Prosecutors had demanded 30 years.

Frank Buttimer, Bailey's defence lawyer, said this was not a criminal trial and his client's guilt had been "pre-determined".

"[Bailey] has been wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit," he told RFI, "which by any standards is a grotesque miscarriage of justice. Otherwise in Ireland he is innocent and has been deemed to be innocent by our criminal justice system."

Nobody has ever been charged in Ireland in connection with Toscan du Plantier's death. Neighbours found her badly-beaten body near her holiday home in south-west Ireland more than 22 years ago.

Bailey, who lived three kilometres away from her at the time, was questioned twice by the Irish police but released without charge.

Paris authorities have twice demanded Bailey's extradiction and twice Irish authorities have refused.

For Buttimer, France has treated Ireland with "an incredible lack of respect" since the investigation in Ireland was launched in 2008. Bailey, a former journalist born in Manchester, has had to remain in Ireland ever since.

"He has been a prisoner in the Republic of Ireland since [France] decided that it was OK to seek his removal under a European arrest warrant system. He has not been able to leave this country since that time. I believe that France will be relentless in its pursuit of my client by whatever means it can."

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French authorities have indeed requested his extradition for a third time.

Bailey cannot appeal the verdict. But under French law anyone found guilty of a crime in absentia is entitled to a second trial where they are present in court and have legal representation.

Read: the background to the trial and the case against Ian Bailey
President Donald Trump and wife Melania will arrive in the UK on Monday 3 June for his first state visit, where he will be welcomed by the Queen and the Royal Family.

While eyes will be on Mr Trump to see if he breaches any royal protocols, its also worth watching out for the Queens choice of jewellery.

Last year when the US president visited the UK, he and Melania had tea with the monarch at Windsor Castle.

It was thought that Her Majesty was sending subliminal messages through her choice of brooches during the three days that Mr Trump was in the country last year.

While the Queen has always remained neutral on political matters, people on Twitter couldnt help but read into what her jewellery may - or may not - say.

READ MORE: Reason why Prince Harry might think Donald Trump is a creep

Political commentator and journalist Daisy McAndrew tells Yahoo UKs The Royal Box: [The Queen] always chooses a brooch with care, that is definitely true.

As she points out, Her Majesty chose Queen Marys True Lovers Knot brooch (believed to be symbolic for love) for her grandson Prince William and Kate Middletons wedding in 2011.

A closer look at the Queen's vintage brooch - a gift from the Obamas in 2011 [Photo: PA]

The brooch that she chose to wear on day one of Donald Trumps visit last time was vintage floral brooch that had been given to her by Barack Obama.

Now that is clearly no coincidence, definitely no coincidence. Is it an insult or is it a tribute? You could argue it both ways.

I mean its fair enough to say that we know Trump and Obama absolutely loathe each other, so I think it is fair to say there was a little message there.

The Queen wore the brooch the Obamas gave her, when she met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar - on the day Trump arrived [Photo: PA]

The Queen had an audience with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar at Windsor Castle on July 12, 2018 - the day Mr Trump arrived in the UK.

READ MORE: Meghan Markle won't be meeting President Trump during state visit

According to From Her Majestys Jewel Vault, the 14-karat yellow gold brooch was bought by the Obamas from the vintage selection at the Tiny Jewel Box jewellery store in Washington.

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On the day the Queen met Mr Trump and Melania at Windsor Castle, she donned the the Queen Mother's Palm Leaf Brooch.

The Queen wore the Queen Mother's Palm Leaf brooch to meet with President Trump and Melania Trump last July [Photo: PA]

McAndrew says: That is the brooch that the Queen Mother wore to the Queens fathers funeral and then the Queen inherited it.

People who were scraping the barrel a little bit for messages said its hardly a brooch that has got happy memories, so its a brooch shed wear to something she doesnt want to go to.

It is a bit of fun but you can guarantee that Twitter will be alight with people waiting to see what brooch [she wears].

The Queen wore the the Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch to meet the King and Queen of Belgium [Photo: PA]

On the final day of the presidents visit to the UK, the Queen wore the Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch (a gift from the Governor-General of Canada in 2017) when she met with King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium at Windsor Castle.

McAndrew says: Again, you could say that its a tribute to North America or you could say its because she likes the Canadians and she doesnt like Trump.
Help India!

By Najiya O, TwoCircles.net

Schools in Kerala will be opened for the next academic year on June 6, after the Eid ul Fitr. The state education department made the announcement in a press release on May 29, after the Chief Minister reportedly asked the Education Minister to reopen schools after the Eid only. The same would be applied for higher education institutions also.

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The state education department had announced earlier that schools would reopen after the summer vacations on June 3, Monday. The decision was widely criticized as Eid ul Fitr might fall on June 4 or 5 and it would be difficult for students, teachers and staff alike. Opposition political parties submitted a memorandum before the Chief Minister and the Education Minister on May 29 regarding the matter and requested to change the opening day to June 6. Muslim organisations and activists also criticized the decision. Finally, the decision to change the school reopening to June 6 was taken in the cabinet meeting held Wednesday.

The first announcement of reopening on June 3 was also read alongwith the Lok Sabha election results which showed that minorities had voted en masse to the UDF, with the LDF winning only one seat in the state. Journalist KK Shahina wrote on Facebook (https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10217390106602240&id=1161526131) that the minorities might have voted for the UDF this time but they have no permanent enmity towards the Left, but on the other hand the Left has no organic relation with the minorities which is evident in the decision to reopen schools on June 3. She adds that the UDF has that organic relationship with minorities so that there would always be some in the UDF ministry who can remind of Ramadan and Eid when taking such decisions.

The number of holidays for the two Eid celebrations also has always been an issue in Kerala, where Muslims constitute 29.56% of the state population according to the Census figures of 2011. The other two major festivals of Onam and Christmas are given 10 days each as holidays (Hindus constitute 51.73% and Christians 18.38%), but the two Eid celebrations usually get only one day holiday, and that too would be announced a week or a few days before or sometimes the day before only. As the holidays are not declared earlier itself in the academic calendar, universities and even the Public Service Commission would fix their exams or interviews etc for the dates. That may need to be changed once the date is announced as Eid holiday, and that too a few days before the date. And sometimes, the dates are not changed at all. This always creates difficulty for students and others alike. The matter remains an unresolved issue eventhough the LDF and the UDF have been in power in turns since the formation of the state. The Muslim League has been with the LDF earlier and then with the UDF, but it too could not come up with a solution to the problem. The issue of fixing the Eid holidays is also related to the last-minute announcement of the Eid dates, after sighting the crescent moon only. However, giving more than one day holiday on the probable dates could solve the issue.

However, at least some private and unaided schools that are plenty in Kerala fix their opening dates and holidays according to the convenience of the teachers and students too. Several schools under Muslim management reopen on June 10 only, and they will make up for the lost classes by working on Saturdays. Some also adjust the festival holidays by giving five days each for each festival, thus not exceeding the number of days but giving equal holidays for each festival.
By Marwa Rashad and Aziz El Yaakoubi

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Salman told an emergency Arab summit on Friday that decisive action was needed to stop Iranian "escalations" following attacks on Gulf oil assets, as U.S. officials said a military deployment had deterred Tehran.

The right of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to defend their interests after the attacks on oil pumping stations in the kingdom and tankers off the UAE were supported in a Gulf Arab statement and a separate communique issued after the wider summit.

Tehran denies any involvement in the attacks and in a sign of regional tensions, Iraq, which has good ties with neighbouring Iran and Washington, said it objected to the Arab communique, which stated that any cooperation with Tehran should be based on "non-interference in other countries".

"The absence of a firm deterrent stance against Iranian behaviour is what led to the escalation we see today," King Salman told the two consecutive meetings late on Thursday.

The ruler of the world's top crude exporter said Shi'ite Iran's development of nuclear and missile capabilities and its threats on world oil supplies posed a risk to regional and global security.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that attacks on four vessels near a major bunkering hub, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, were "efforts by Iranians to raise the price of crude oil around the world."

Riyadh accused Tehran of ordering the drone strikes. The attacks were claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthi group which has been battling a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen for four years.

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said on Thursday that evidence of Iran being behind the tanker attacks would be presented to the U.N. Security Council as early as next week.

"The kingdom is keen to preserve the stability and security of the region, to spare it the scourge of war and to realise peace and stability," King Salman said.

Story continues

Iran, which is locked in several proxy wars with Saudi Arabia in the region, rejected what it called "baseless" accusations made at the summit, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

"We see the Saudi effort to mobilise (regional) opinion as part of the hopeless process followed by America and the Zionist regime (Israel) against Iran," IRNA quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying.

IRAQ PLEA

Iraqi President Barham Salih, asking the gathering to support Iraq's stability, said that rising tensions with Iran could spark a war if not managed well and voiced hope that Iran's security would not be targeted.

Pompeo has warned Iraqi leaders that if they failed to keep in check Iran-backed militias, which now form part of Baghdad's security apparatus, the United States would respond with force.

Tensions have risen between the United States and Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump a year ago withdrew Washington from a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, re-imposed sanctions and boosted its military presence in the Gulf.

Bolton has said that Iranian mines were "almost certainly" used in the tanker attacks. An Iranian official dismissed that as "a ludicrous claim."

The Islamic Republic has said it would defend itself against any aggression. Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has said Tehran was not allowed to pursue development of nuclear weapons as it was banned by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The final communique said regional stability required the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along 1967 borders to include Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

MILITARY DEPLOYMENT

U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, said on Thursday that a repositioning of U.S. military assets in the region had deterred Iran, but that the United States would respond with military force if its interests are targeted.

The United States has deployed 900 additional troops to the region and extended the stay of 600 other service members, after speeding up deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group and sending bombers and additional Patriot missiles.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the summit it was time to renew discussions on joint Arab defence mechanisms.

The United States and the UAE, which hosts a U.S. air base, on Wednesday activated a defence cooperation agreement signed earlier this year.

Gulf states have a joint defence force under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but the alliance has been fractured by a boycott imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and non-GCC Egypt since mid-2017.

The Gulf communique said the six nations had discussed the GCC defence mechanism during their meeting.

Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, whose country hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region, attended the summits, the most senior Qatari official to visit the kingdom since the embargo.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington, Ali Abdelaty and Mohamed Elsherifin Cairo, Guy Faulconbridge in London, Lisa Barrington and Sylvia Westall in Dubai, Eric Knecht in Doha and Babak Dehghanpisheh in Geneva; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Grant McCool and Jason Neely)
The Home Office says a total of 74 migrants were aboard the record number of eight migrant boats that landed off the Kent coast earlier today.

The area of response has stretched across from Dover to Winchelsea Beach in East Sussex, where border force agents have been seen engaging with some of the migrants.

Coastguards say they helped UK Border Force to intercept the eight boats on Saturday morning.

Authorities in France intercepted a further two vessels.

Charlie Elphicke, MP for Dover and Deal, said if the number of boats is verified, it would be "a record number of boats arriving in a single day".

The migrants have since undergone medical examinations, and authorities are working to establish nationalities.

A criminal investigation has also been launched.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he found the number of migrants involved in the overnight English Channel crossing "deeply concerning", stressing that the journey had put their lives in "grave danger".

He added: "I will continue to do all I can to stop them".

In December, Mr Javid declared a major incident regarding the Channel crossings following a spike in migrants attempting to cross into the country by water.

Mr Elphicke added: "This crisis was meant to have been dealt with at Christmas, yet numbers continue to rise. It looks set to surge to record levels through the summer. The home office needs to get a grip on this crisis.

"This is about much more than simply border security. It is about the exploitation of vulnerable people by criminal trafficking gangs - gangs that Britain and France must work together to catch and bring to justice.

"These journeys are also incredibly dangerous. Overcrowded boats with men, women and children aboard. The risk of a tragedy in the middle of the English Channel resulting in loss of life is very real. This is why the home office and France must act now to bring this crisis to an end."

Story continues

A spokesperson for the maritime and coastguard agency said: "We have been assisting border force with incidents off the Kent coast this morning."

A statement from the home office confirmed the border force "is currently dealing with ongoing small boat incidents off the Kent coast. Further details will be provided once the situation has been resolved".

Seven days ago, eight migrants were found in a boat in the Channel heading towards the Kent coast and were taken to immigration centres.

The week before that, 52 migrants were intercepted by border force boats off the coast of Kent.

Speaking after the incident last week, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Anyone crossing the Channel in a small boat is taking a huge risk with their life.

"Since the home secretary declared a major incident in December, two cutters have returned to UK waters from overseas operations, we have agreed a joint action plan with France and increased activity out of the Joint Coordination and Information Centre in Calais.

"It is an established principle that those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and since January more than 30 people who arrived illegally in the UK in small boats have been returned to elsewhere in Europe."
Katerina Siniakova dispatched the top seed Naomi Osaka on Saturday from the French Open. The 23-year old Czech won 6-4, 6-2 to record her first victory over a world number one and leave Simona Halep as the highest seeded womens player in the tournament.Osaka has struggled during her six days at the French Open. In her first round match against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, the Slovakian twice served for the match before succumbing. And in the second round clash with Victoria Azarenka, Osaka had to battle from a set and a break down before prevailing.On Saturday on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Osaka had her chances. She squandered three break points when Siniakova was serving for the set at 5-4. Siniakova overcame the wobble to claim the opener 6-4.Osaka again spurned several opportunities to take the advantage in the second set and once Siniakova broke to lead, the 21-year-old from Japan could not convert the chances to levelElsewhere in the womens draw, Halep cruised into the last 16. After being taken to three sets in the first two rounds, she dismantled Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-1 to continue the defence of her crown. Despite having won all six of their meetings on the senior tour, Halep said she had expected a stern examination but was surprised to find a change of tactic. She was hitting really strong and wanted to finish the points fast, Halep explained. That's why she missed so much.But I had in my head that I had to stay very strong and to play more aggressive. So I think today was a better match. I played better and I felt better on court.

Katerina Siniakova dispatched the top seed Naomi Osaka on Saturday from the French Open. The 23-year old Czech won 6-4, 6-2 to record her first victory over a world number one and leave Simona Halep as the highest seeded womens player in the tournament.

Osaka has struggled during her six days at the French Open. In her first round match against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, the Slovakian twice served for the match before succumbing. And in the second round clash with Victoria Azarenka, Osaka had to battle from a set and a break down before prevailing.

On Saturday on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Osaka had her chances. She squandered three break points when Siniakova was serving for the set at 5-4. Siniakova overcame the wobble to claim the opener 6-4.

Osaka again spurned several opportunities to take the advantage in the second set and once Siniakova broke to lead, the 21-year-old from Japan could not convert the chances to level

Elsewhere in the womens draw, Halep cruised into the last 16. After being taken to three sets in the first two rounds, she dismantled Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-1 to continue the defence of her crown.

Despite having won all six of their meetings on the senior tour, Halep said she had expected a stern examination but was surprised to find a change of tactic. She was hitting really strong and wanted to finish the points fast, Halep explained. That's why she missed so much.

But I had in my head that I had to stay very strong and to play more aggressive. So I think today was a better match. I played better and I felt better on court.
Nicholas Haynes, a Michigan born, Florida raised dealer at Aria for the last 1 years, navigated a field of 686 players to take down Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event. Haynes took home $62,345 and his first WSOP gold bracelet after defeating WSOP Media Director Isaac Hanson in heads-up play.

"I'm thankful for my job and the players [at Aria]." Haynes said after his victory. "There's a lot of incredible players. I watch them and just pick up little bits here and there. Over time, you just become better, you sharpen your edges. I feel like they were very instrumental in my play today. That's why I'm thankful for my job and the players there."

Haynes, who was overcome with emotion after receiving his gold bracelet, described his poker playing experience humbly.

Definitely recreational. I wouldnt ever call myself any kind of pro or anything like that. I play a lot in spurts. I traveled for a year and a half playing in major tournaments. I turned out ok, nothing great. Ive had a couple of cashes throughout the years, but nothing monstrous like this. This is the biggest cash, for sure.

Hanson, who usually works on the other side of the felt with the WSOP, was still in good spirits after coming one spot shy of a bracelet of his own.

"It was crazy; Ive seen it four or five hundred times now, but I didnt think Id ever be there. It just never ran across my mind that this would even be a possibility, so it was pretty cool."

Hanson had one of the more raucous rails at the final table. "It was probably the best part of the whole experience, just seeing all the texts coming, and everyone coming here. It was just really cool to have everyone cheer me on."

Hanson isn't planning on quitting his day job any time soon, however: "I probably will work in a few hours. Id rather just get back to it, I enjoy what I do. I dont want to go home and sit around and do nothing, because thats what I would end up doing."

Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Nicholas Haynes Canada $62,345 2 Isaac Hanson United States $38,503 3 Jorge Ruiz United States $26,681 4 Jesse Kertland United States $18,785 5 Adam Lamers Canada $13,441 6 Jeffrey Fast Canada $9,776 7 Christopher Bowen United States $7,229 8 Joseph Appler United States $5,438 9 Travis Williams United States $4,161

Final Table Action

The final six players returned to action Friday to battle out for the $62,345 top prize and the WSOP gold bracelet. The first hand of the final table provided the first elimination, as Fallsview Casino dealer Jeffrey Fast, who started the final table as the short stack, got his last chips in with king-five of hearts, and Isaac Hanson called with queen-nine of hearts. Hanson found a nine on the flop and Fast was first to fall.

PokerNews Live Reporter Adam Lamers was the next to fall, when he jammed with king-queen, and Jorge Ruiz woke up with ace-jack suited behind him and put him at risk. Lamers and his supportive rail called for a king to help pull him in front, but an eight-high board left Lamers out the door in fifth-place for $13,441.

Jesse Kertland, a Casino Carribean pit dealer, got his last nine big blinds in from the cutoff with king-five, but ran into a monster when Nicholas Haynes woke up behind him with pocket aces. Kertland paired his five on the flop, but improved no further, sending Kertland back home with $18,785 for his fourth-place finish.

Next to go was Montego Bay poker dealer Ruiz, who lost a big flip with king-queen of hearts to Haynes and his pocket tens to be left with just two big blinds. He got those last chips in the very next hand with eight-four of diamonds, and would fail to catch up to the ten-eight of Hanson. Ruiz, who was all smiles even after being eliminated, received $26,681 for third-place.

Hanson started heads-up play with Haynes holding a little over ten million of the 17,150,000 chips in play, but Haynes was able to turn the tide by taking down a healthy pot on Hand 4 of heads-up action with his jack-ten finding top pair on the flop and getting two streets of value from Hanson. On Hand 156 of the final table, Hanson called off his remaining 4,100,000 with ace-nine, and Haynes was live with his king-eight. Haynes found an eight on the flop, and while Hanson picked up a gutshot on the turn, he failed to improve, leaving the WSOP Media Director as our runner-up, taking home $38,503.

PokerNews coverage of the 2019 WSOP continues today with updates from Event #3: $500 Big 50, Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, and Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No Limit Hold'em.
Big trouble is brewing on "The Young and the Restless" based on the preview for Monday's episode. Adam will tell Phyllis that he wants to set the town on fire and that she can be the match. Should the two Genoa City rejects decide to work together, they will cause all kinds of problems. Phyllis is bitter over being pushed out of Jabot and refused to listen to Michael and Laureen who advised her to let go of the past. Ms.Summers continues to prove she is her own worst enemy and Adam knows this. He will say all the right things to make sure things go his way, then cast his new partner in crime aside, once hen longer needs her.

Adam and Phyllis are thrown together on 'Y&R'

Celeb Dirty Laundry reveals that on Monday, Phyllis will have too much to drink and be involved in a minor auto accident with Adam. No one will be hurt, but the duo will have a chat later at Ms. Summers home. Victor's prodigal son will suggest that the two of them work together against the people of Genoa City. The spoiler suggests that Adam is only looking out for himself and will discard his new partner in crime once he obtains his goals. On Friday's "Y&R" episode, Adam made his intentions known to find Chloe and Chelsea so his plot is getting pretty thick. His accomplice has a few irons in the fire as well.

Phyllis was threatened by Laureen to shut down her website with the knockoffs of Jabotiques.

She is planning another venture which she has not yet made public. In addition to the Abbotts, and the Baldwins on her back, there is Summer who snitched to Jack, and refused to leave Jabot to work with her mother. Soap Dirt indicates that Summer will begin dating Theo in order to make Kyle jealous. Other "Y&R" spoilers suggest she might be pregnant.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

If Phyllis accepts Adam's offer, it will give her something to focus on and keep her mind off of all these other issues.

Adam wants revenge on Genoa City

Sharon has turned out to be an ally for Adam and on Friday she called Chelsea on his behalf. The prodigal son also inquired about Chloe who Victor helped to fake her own death.

Nick is sweating bullets because he is afraid of losing Christian and Victoria is worried her half-brother will replace her at Newman Enterprises. If Phyllis and Adam put their heads together, they will wreak havoc on Genoa City. CDL says that someone is going to kidnap Ms. Summers but this may be when Michelle Stafford steps into the role.

Once Phyllis is on board with Adam's plan and Kevin, Chloe and Chelsea are all back in Genoa City, the revenge plot will heat up. Ms. Summers wants to stick it to the Abbotts. and the prodigal desires to destroy his own family. Stay tuned to "The Young and the Restless" weekday afternoons on CBS at 12:30 PM ST on CBS.
Reportedly, Frank Lucas' death occurred Thursday, May 30. Rolling Stone states that Lucas' nephew, Aldwan Lassiter, confirmed the kingpin's passing, also mentioning that he died of natural causes. He's survived by his seven kids. "I bought Harlem, I owned Harlem, I ran Harlem," Lucas noted, according to Rolling Stone. And in Frank Lucas' death, many people can attest to those words. If you remember Denzel Washington's epic portrayal of Frank in "American Gangster," you have an idea of the person Lucas was while alive.

Accordingly, long before his death, Frank moved to Harlem from North Carolina  after witnessing his cousin's murder at the alleged hands of the Ku Klux Klan.

Lucas mentioned this incident as the influential factor fueling his lifestyle change. Rolling Stone says Frank, at a later time, became protege to then-Harlem-mob-boss Bumpy Johnson. However, after Johnson's 1968 death, Frank Lucas picked up the torch and formed his own empire. It was notoriously known as the "Golden Triangle." Lucas was able to effectively cut out the "middle-man" and directly smuggle narcotics into port  from which he coined his particular line of heroin, "Blue Magic." And of course, the "middle" entity was the mafia.

Before Frank Lucas' death, he was sentenced to 70 years

Reportedly, Frank Lucas' imports were so controversial because he'd use coffins for his smuggling endeavors from dead United States soldiers.

At the time, a lot of military personnel died due to the Vietnam War. And "coincidentally," Lucas' drugs were coming from Southeast Asia, according to TMZ. Likewise, Lucas' "dead coffin" strategy also included replicas of the soldiers' caskets. According to Rolling Stone, Frank reportedly stated: "Who the hell is gonna look in a dead soldiers coffin?" Lucas said he had 28 government coffin replicas created for his operation.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

However, they weren't like the others. In Frank's caskets, they were equipped with "false bottoms, big enough to load up with six, maybe eight kilos."

As aforementioned, Frank tacked on a hefty sentence once arrested in 1975 by DEA agents.

Lucas was sentenced to 70 years for his crimes. However, after exchanging information for his freedom  info leading to several drug-related arrests  he was released early, in 1981. But it wasn't long before Frank was back in jail. Reportedly, Lucas was involved in another drug bust three years later, and it violated his parole. So, the kingpin spent seven more years behind bars for the situation.

R.I.P Frank Lucas



The drug kingpin portrayed by Denzel Washington in #AmericanGangster has passed away at age 88: https://t.co/x0yU2TsiiA pic.twitter.com/dUQrOmdMI6  Complex (@Complex) May 31, 2019

Net worth confusion at the time of Frank Lucas' death

At the time of arrest, prior to Lucas' death, he owned property in Chicago, Miami, Detroit, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Puerto Rico, according to TMZ.

However, all of his assets were seized during and after the raids. Upon Frank Lucas' death, it's reported that he had accumulated a net worth of $52 million. However, for some reason, Investopedia notes that it's more to the tune of $30 billion, having allegedly sold $1 million in cocaine per day.

Nevertheless, this hasn't been confirmed by Frank Lucas' estate or family.
"General Hospital" (GH) spoilers for the week of June 3-7 promise great twists. Willow will be on the verge of discovering the truth. Shiloh will have a dangerous faceoff that could cost him a lot of money. Carly, on the other hand, will be desperate to go to the cemetery in an attempt to talk to Morgan. In addition, we will discover the dangerous moves by Ryan who, disregarding the initial assumptions, is alive and has clear intentions to complicate the lives of all those who dare to hinder his criminal plans. Kim, after returning from the mission to Kilimanjaro to spread the ashes of Oscar, will have an emotional collapse.

The latest 'GH' spoilers suggest that from this moment on, Kim will be even more devastated and could commit extreme actions.

'General Hospital': Carly desperate at the cemetery

In the episodes of "General Hospital" of the week 3-7 June, Nina and Valentin will postpone the wedding. Nina needs more time to reflect and will communicate her decision to Valentin. Jordan's storyline continues, struggling between life and death while waiting for the kidney transplant. Time is short and the woman risks dying. Jordan will do anything to find the kidney needed to save her.

Other "GH" spoilers say that Franco will miss Kiki and so he will go to visit her grave. The same melancholy will attack Carly, still devastated by Morgan's death.

Carly is now expecting a baby, but it seems that there will be some problems related to pregnancy. Carly will go to Morgan's grave and want to spend some time with him, telling him about her fears.

Kim could commit suicide in the next 'General Hospital' episodes

According to 'Celebrity Dirty Laundry', we can tell you that Kim and Drew will return from their mission to Kilimanjaro.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Oscar Nero's parents wanted to fulfill their son's last wish by spreading the boy's ashes on his favorite mountain. Kim, back home, will understand that now there's nothing more than the devastating memory of Oscar. She is afflicted by pain, and a difficult time begins for her. Kim will probably abuse drugs to try to stifle her pain or, even worse, she could take her own life.

Meanwhile, Josslyn and Cameron are getting closer and closer, intent on overcoming Oscar's death together. A tender love story could arise between the two. Other "General Hospital" spoilers reveal that Harmony will investigate Willow, intent on discovering the truth about the child. Willow, however, won't trust Harmony, certain that DoD followers are very dangerous. Harmony won't let go and will push Willow to reveal the child's whereabouts. Shiloh will continue to demand clues about this and will force Harmony to hunt down Willow. Will Archer get to the truth? We'll know with the next "General Hospital" spoilers.
Vietnam has been implementing its National Green Growth Strategy since 2012 and its Action Plan on Green Growth since 2014, with great support from the private sector and international partners.

Pham Hoang Mai, director general of the Ministry of Planning and Investments Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment, talked about the financial demand of the strategy and how overseas partners have assisted.

The National Green Growth Strategy and the Action Plan on Green Growth have been deployed for several years now. How much capital do they require for implementation?

The demand for climate change-related capital in Vietnam in the time to come is huge, which is for adaptation and mitigation. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), climate change can annually deprive Vietnam of 4-6 per cent of its GDP. Thus, in order to limit and overcome losses, the Vietnamese government needs to earmark an equivalent sum of the loss for implementing important projects, especially infrastructure ones.

For the target of reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) and effectively using natural resources within the National Green Growth Strategy, it is calculated that the country would need about $30 billion for projects in various sectors, of which about 70 per cent will come from investment of enterprises.

What is the investment situation from the private sector into the green growth strategy?

Private investment in green growth has been largely focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy, usage of natural resources, forest plantation, and environmental protection.

State-owned enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises are taking the lead in these sectors as they have an advantage about technology and capital.

According to a study within the Strengthening Capacity and Institutional Reform for Green Growth and Sustainable Development project, jointly conducted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the United States Agency for International Development, and the United Nations Development Programme, in the 2010-2015 period, international partners funded $440 million for private investment in green growth via programmes and projects, $420 million worth of official development assistance (ODA), and another non-refundable sum worth $15.5 million.

Besides, total private investment into energy efficiency in the sectors of steel, cement, paper, and sugar and sugar cane was $628 million, while demand totaled $1.766 billion.

How has the international community supported Vietnam in implementing the Green Growth Strategy?

In the 1993-2010 period, regarding sustainable development, environmental protection, and climate change, Vietnam with international support reaped many important achievements in institutional and policy development.

Legally, the government has compiled and issued a series of related strategies and national programmes with a view to creating a framework for the implementation of plans on effectively responding to climate change.

Besides, the government has also promulgated many related programmes on forest protection, preventing natural disaster, and energy efficiency.

As for climate change and green growth, in December 2007, Vietnam participated in the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the third meeting of the Kyoto Protocol in Indonesia.

Since then, Vietnam has annually partaken in COPs and attracted much international support to fight climate change and boost green growth.

Remarkably, Vietnam is one of the first countries to ratify Paris Agreement after COP21 and also presented the Voluntary Report on Sustainable Development Goals at the High-level UN Summit on sustainable development in New York in July 2017.

Successes in implementing the National Green Growth Strategy and the Action Plan on Green Growth over the past years have been made remarkably by international partners.

Via different forms of support and co-operation, the governments of some countries and international organisations have directly boosted Vietnams green growth activities from the grassroots to the central levels, luring the participation of authorised agencies, firms, and inhabitants in many areas.

What are the forms of assistance and co-operation with the international community?

The forms are diversified. For example, the international community has provided technical support for ministries and central agencies in institutional development in order to boost green growth.

They also provided the same support for localities in building up action plans and implementing projects. Furthermore, they have also provided credits in order to establish green growth-oriented funds.

However, because Vietnam has recently become a medium-income country, development partners will continue their support programmes but have and will adjust the programmes in a manner suitable to the countrys demand and development level.

A number of bilateral development partners will continue assisting Vietnam in the traditional sectors such as policymaking and institutional development, national governance improvement, strengthening human capacity, response to climate change and mitigating natural calamities, sustainable poverty reduction, education and training, and healthcare.

However, the scale of assistance will gradually reduce, with more focus and more flexible support methods. A number of bilateral development partners have planned to end their ODA for the 2016-2020 period for Vietnam.

What can you tell us about particular global partners and their specific assistance?

The European Commission will continue their development co-operation programme that has been in place for six years, and will focus more on supporting Vietnam in the sectors relevant to the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

Elsewhere, organisations under the United Nations are boosting their co-operation with the Vietnamese government in further riveting the role of the UN in the country, providing further support as development policy advisors instead of as donors.

More flexible assistance models will be applied, with closer co-operation with Vietnamese authorised agencies in mobilising supplementary resources in order to meet growing demand for assistance, in the context of the narrowing budget of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, groups of lenders including the Asian Development Bank, French Development Agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency, the German government, GIZ, International Climate Initiative, KfW, ExportImport Bank of Korea, and the World Bank, who are providers of ODA and preferential loans for Vietnam, have focused on investing in socio-economic infrastructure works such as roads, sea and airports, power plants, and power transmission and distribution systems.

They have also centred on developing in Vietnam urban infrastructure works such as water provision and drainage, waste treatment, and inner-city roads, and on agricultural and rural development in combination with poverty reduction, construction of irrigation systems, healthcare, and educational development.

They have also supported Vietnam in environmental protection, effective usage of natural resources, scientific and technological development, and policymaking so as to assist the country in economic reform and human capacity enhancement.

What are you expecting from international support for Vietnam in the time to come?

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, over the next four years the development banks will continue providing their ODA for Vietnam, but the preferential level of will gradually reduce.

For example, the ODA from the International Development Association, which is part of the World Bank, for Vietnam ended in 2017, while preferential ODA for Vietnam from the Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to the ADBs lower-income developing member countries, ceased earlier this year.

Thus loans will be more costly, forcing local authorised agencies to make thorough calculations when making any decision about using capital from the development banks in order to ensure effectiveness of investment and public debt.

Previously, non-refundable capital was largely used for hunger alleviation and poverty reduction, policy capacity strengthening, and public infrastructure development.

Regarding green growth, many donors and partners have been actively supporting Vietnam in formulating and implementing the National Green Growth Strategy, and actions about reducing GHG emissions in a manner that is suitable to the nationally appropriate mitigation actions.

Notably, over the past few years, there has been a shift in international support to green growth investment in the sectors of energy, waste management, water provision, and both urban and rural infrastructure improvement. VIR

Thanh Tung
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has just fined ride-hailing firm Grab VND120 million (USD5,217) for breaking regulations on borrowing from foreign lenders.

Anh:

Grab is fined VND900 million (USD39,130) for operating the GrabPay service without a permit from the SBV in 2018.

According to the state bank, Grab broke regulations on the time required to submit applications for registering foreign short-term loans, which have been extended into medium and long-term loans where the total loan term is over one year.

The regulations are based on Circular 3 issued by the SBV, dated February 26, 2016.

The SBV issued a decision to impose the fine on Grab for violating regulations in the monetary and banking sector and asked that Lim Yen Hock, representing Grab in Vietnam, be subject to the fine.

The central bank will force Grab to pay the fine in due time.

According to the circular, the borrower must send the registration file within 30 days of signing the agreement to extend a foreign short-term loan to a medium- or long-term loan.

In late 2018, Grab was also fined VND900 million (USD39,130) for operating the GrabPay service without a permit from the SBV.

Dtinews/SGT

Ministry gives green light to GrabTaxi in three provinces The Ministry of Transport has given the green light to the implementation of GrabTaxi services in three provinces, including Thanh Hoa, An Giang and Dak Nong.

Grab warned over out-of-scope operations The Ministry of Transport has asked local authorities in Bac Ninh, Hung Yen and Vinh Phuc to deal with Grab's illegal operation in the areas.
Vietnam is expected to see a fierce confrontation between fashion brands from Europe and from Japan.

Japanese have recently taken rapid-fire steps to enter the Vietnamese fashion market. Stripe International has taken over NEM Fashion, a Vietnamese owned company which has incurred big losses over many years.

Stripe International has taken over NEM

In 2018, Uniqlo spent tens of million of dollars to acquire 35 percent of Elise, a Vietnamese womens fashion brand. Sources said Uniqlo then had to spend much more than Elises chartered capital in the deal. The Japanese fashion brand is making hectic preparations to open its first shop in Vietnam.

The Japanese brand will compete with MUJI, also from Japan, which is about to set up a retail chain in Vietnam, slated for 2020, to sell a variety of products, including clothes.

Stripe stated that it wants to become the No 1 manufacturer of fashion clothes for women by the end of this fiscal year. It also wants to become No 1 in value with revenue expected to increase by 30 percent this year to 5.2 billion yen, or $46.4 million.

NEM has announced a plan to expand business in HCMC and Da Nang this year.

NEMs selling prices are higher than the average income of people in the Vietnamese market. Stripe this year plans to launch a new brand with products affordable to medium income earners in smaller cities.

Stripe stated that it wants to become the No 1 manufacturer of fashion clothes for women by the end of this fiscal year. It also wants to become No 1 in value with revenue expected to increase by 30 percent this year to 5.2 billion yen, or $46.4 million.

Meanwhile, European fashion brands have been in Vietnam for several years. The debut of Zara and H&M was very successful and they continue to be popular.

More recently, an Italian fashion brand has entered Vietnam by cooperating with Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, a distributor of many foreign fashion brands in Vietnam.

OVS is very popular in Europe. In Italy, it is the direct rival of H&M and holds 15 percent of the market of clothes for children aged 0-14.

While more and more foreign fashion brands flock to Vietnam as they can see the great potential of the market, Vietnamese brands have had to scale down their operation or leave the home market.

Blue Exchange, Ninomax, PT 2000, Canifa and Bamboo, which were famous in the past, have seen the number of shops decrease dramatically.

Vietnamese, who favor foreign brands and have increasingly high income, now tend to buy foreign instead of Vietnam-made products. Vietnam ranks third in the world in number of people favoring foreign branded goods, just after China and India.

Younhee Park launches new collection at Ha Long bay fashion show Famous designer Younhee Park from the Republic of Korea recently debuted her latest collection during the Fashion Voyage 2 show which took place in Ha Long bay.

Vietnamese designer Do Manh Cuong holds fashion show in Australia A 2019 Spring-Summer fashion show titled Back to nature of Vietnamese designer Do Manh Cuong took place in Sydney, Australia on May 10.

Thanh Thuy
The year 2018 was marked by a radical transformation of the internal political landscape in Armenia. After amendments to the constitution came into force in March 2018, the transition from semi-presidential to parliamentary government entered the final stage. For the first time in the history of the country, a new president was chosen not by the people, but the parliament of the republic.

On March 2, the Armenian parliament elected a new president of the country -Armen Sarkissian - 90 deputies out of 101 supported his candidacy. Over the years, Sarkissian worked as the senior ambassador of Armenia to Europe, the ambassador of Armenia to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Vatican, the UK, the head of the Armenian mission to the EU. The broad international liaisons allowed Sarkissian to enlist the support of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) deputies, its allies - the Dashnaktsutyun party - and the majority of oppositionists.

The political situation in Armenia became tense at the end of March last year with the appointment of Serzh Sargsyan, who has been the President of the country for 10 years, since 2008, as prime minister. In accordance with the new constitution, Prime Minister consolidates the main powers and competencies and determines the states domestic and foreign policy. On April 17, the parliament approved Serzh Sargsyans candidacy for the post of the prime minister, 77 parliamentarians out 94 present voted for him, which caused the large-scale anti-government rallies. The leader of the Yelk opposition faction Nikol Pashinyan called on the Armenian people to block the streets and highways and announced the beginning of the Velvet Revolution.

Russia has closely followed the developments in Armenia, which is considered to be Russia's key ally in the Caucasus, the member of the EAEU and the CSTO. Moscows concern, apparently, was caused by the possibility of a political crisis developing into a violent confrontation of the conflicting parties. In addition, the events in Armenia unfolded against the backdrop of Russia's confrontation with the West and the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. Therefore, it was important to determine whether the mass protests in Armenia were a continuation of a series of color revolutions in the post-Soviet space and whether they could lead to a sharp deterioration in the Russian-Armenian relations. Such assessments were caused by some opposition forces in Armenia, for example, the Free Democrats and the Yelk Union, which advocated the deepening of relations with the West. The Yelk representatives criticized the country's authorities for joining the EAEU, raised the issue of the need to revise the conditions of the Russian armed forces staying in Armenia. But while the protests continued, Moscow refrained from interfering in the situation, considering what was happening as an internal affair of Armenia, urging all parties to avoid violence, to show sanity and restraint.

Mass protests that began under the motto "Take a step, say no to Serzh" led to the resignation of Sargsyan, and soon the leader of the protest movement Pashinyan was approved as the head of government. The revolutionary events in Armenia and the transit of power were not accompanied by a large-scale power confrontation and did not lead to serious casualties. President Sarkissian played an important role in preserving the situation in the legal field - he mediated Sargsyans negotiations with Pashinyan and held the telephone consultations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Karen Karapetyan, who at that time was serving as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia.

The Velvet Revolution that took place in the spring of 2018 was the result of the accumulated economic and social problems, as well as the growing people's distrust of the government structures. Enough time has passed since the change of power in Armenia, and one might say that the worst fears have not been confirmed - we should not expect radical steps in relations with Russia from the Armenian authorities. Apparently, Pashinyan does not intend to drastically change the country's foreign policy. At a meeting in Moscow, in September 2018, Pashinyan stressed several times the importance of maintaining special strategic relations and expressed readiness to deepen the military-technical cooperation between Moscow and Yerevan.

The early parliamentary elections of December 9, 2018, that the Pashinyan bloc won with over 70% of the votes, demonstrated a high level of people's trust in the new authorities. By the beginning of 2019, the forces that consider themselves winners of the Velvet Revolution controlled the government, the parliament, the Council of Elders of Yerevan, and their leaders Nikol Pashinyan, Ararat Mirzoyan, Hayk Marutyan took the leading positions in all the above-mentioned structures. However, Armenia will have to walk through a taught path of implementing long overdue reforms, which may be accompanied by conflicts between various branches of government, business groups and clans.

Today, the state functioning of Armenia is ensured largely due to formal and informal agreements between key internal interest groups with external forces, among which the Russian Federation as a security guarantor, the collective West as the main financial creditor, and Iran, which has geopolitical and economic interests in Armenia. The most significant interests of Russia include maintaining political stability in Armenia, continuing the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and building a full-fledged dialogue with the new political elites of Armenia on the key issues of the bilateral and multilateral agenda.

As recent events show, the political transformations that began in Armenia more than a year ago are far from complete. Following the executive and legislative branches, attempts are being made to change the judicial system. At the moment, these changes have not affected the fundamental foundations of the Russian-Armenian strategic cooperation. At the same time, the prospects for the Russian-Armenian relations will largely depend on the ability of the key figures in Armenias political circles to find compromises in implementing reforms and shaping the country's foreign policy.
Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, can expect to see more supply chains coming its way if it improves production technology and capacity, as well as regional cooperation, HSBC officials have said.

A worker checks CDs at Manutronic Vietnam Joint Stock Company. Supply chains are shifting to Southeast Asia due to the regions growing economies and consumer markets, especially with trade tensions and rising production costs affecting other markets, according to an HSBC report.

Supply chains are shifting to Southeast Asia due to the regions growing economies and consumer markets, especially with trade tensions and rising production costs affecting other markets, according to the bank.

Pham Hong Hai, CEO of HSBC Viet Nam, said: The changes in global trade are causing businesses to revisit their supply chain investment and capacity strategies, but we have yet to see this convert into wide-scale shifts to Southeast Asia, South Asia or other parts of the world.

Rather than see a wide-scale shift to ASEAN, multinationals due to trade tensions have multiple supply chain strategies with a mixture of localisation, offshoring and re-shoring activity emerging, according to Hai.

Shifts in supply chains have been a multi-year phenomenon due to structural changes in production technology, labour costs, and emerging consumer markets. Over the past decade, ASEAN and Viet Nam have been perceived as a strong production option for multinationals given its role within existing supply chains, growing consumer base, and strong trade and investment ties, he added.

Countries where infrastructure and production networks are already in place such as Viet Nam are likely to be the main beneficiaries of a shift in production capacity.

The hot buttons that will matter for both large and small firms include how ASEAN and Viet Nam can deliver competitive production costs, and how technology and innovation are being introduced to improve productivity.

At a government level, this will require educating international firms about regulatory frameworks, tax incentives, and free trade zones, along with demonstrating improvements in ports and rail and other transport infrastructure.

It will also require ASEAN governments to demonstrate a pathway to longer-term initiatives to remove the non-tariff barriers around the flow of goods across ASEAN, the development of skilled labour; and intellectual property protection, cybersecurity, and movement of commercial data across borders.

ASEAN is the USs fourth largest trading partner, with nearly 4,700 American companies in the region. It is the top destination for US foreign direct investment in Asia.

A recent US Chamber of Commerce report found that 80 per cent of US firms in Southeast Asia are looking to increase investment in the region over the next five years.

The EU is ASEANs second largest trading partner and largest source of FDI.

China continues to be ASEANs largest trading partner (15 per cent of its total trade), while ASEAN is Chinas third largest trading partner.  VNS
San Miguel Brewery Inc., the beer unit of San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc., is studying plans to invest $70 million in building a 2-million hectoliter brewery in Vietnam, according to a Manila-based newspaper.

Chairman Ramon Ang said in an interview with the Manila Standard on May 28 that, following the annual general meeting, the company would begin building the brewery if its market study showed a good opportunity.

The company has a 200-ha property in Ho Chi Minh City that could house the brewery, he added. It has an existing brewery in Vietnam with an annual capacity of 200,000 hectoliters.

It has also expressed interest in bidding for the Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp - Vietnams largest brewer with a 40 per cent market share.

Revenue in Vietnams food and beverages segment is estimated to be $200 million in 2019, according to Statista Market Forecast. Annual growth is forecast at 19.4 per cent in 2019-2024, resulting in a market volume of $407 million by 2023.

User penetration is 16.4 per cent in 2019 and is expected to hit 19.5 per cent by 2023. The average revenue per user (ARPU) currently amounts to $12.55.

San Miguel is also validating plans to build a brewery in California. President Robert Huang said the company recently sent two officials to the US to determine if the community there would allow a brewery and would also study market demand and finalize capacity.

In 2017 the brewer announced plans to set up a brewery in Los Angeles, to cater to the growing demand for its beer in North America. It also operates in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, and Thailand, through its unit San Miguel Brewing International Ltd., which can collectively produce up to 8 million hectoliters of beer yearly. The company also exports beer to over 50 markets.

Its beer business saw orders rise 4 per cent in the international market, on top of an 18.8 per cent volume pickup in the Philippines. Vietnam Economic Times

Phi Linh

Tax rates on alcoholic beverages in Vietnam too low: WHO In 2016, the average consumption of beer and liquor in Vietnam was 8.3 liters, much higher than the global average (about 6.5 liters in 2017) and the trend increasingly hiked, up by 90% over the past seven years.

Beverage giants cannot stay out of plastic reduction trend As plastic reduction is becoming an essential trend to save the environment, beverage companies, which still depend on tremendous amounts of plastic materials, cannot opt out of the trend.
VietNamNet Global - The first international flight landed at the Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh Province on May 27th.

The flight No. DZ62249, which departed from Shenzhen Baoan International Airport in China, was operated by Chinas Donghai Airlines that exploits the Van Don-Shenzhen route with charter flights twice a week on Monday and Friday.

A ceremony with a memorable water salute and ribbon cutting to mark the new air route was held at the airport, with the presence of Quang Ninhs Vice Chair Dang Huy Hau, representatives from local agencies, Van Don Airport, and related airlines.

Addressing the ceremony, Pham Ngoc Sau, director of Van Don International Airport, promised to ensure the best conditions for Donghai Airlines operations, while simultaneously stepping up promotion activities about Van Don and Ha Long destinations in Shenzhen province and the larger Chinese market.

Sau said that the launching of the Van Don-Shenzhen route is a stepping stone for Van Don Airport to embrace its strategy of heading towards global markets, beginning with Asias most populous markets like China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan.

Accordingly, in June 2019 Van Don Airport will open new routes to other international destinations, such as Van Don-Taiwan (Bamboo Airways) or Van Don-Incheon (South Korea, by Vietnam Airlines).

Regarding the Chinese market, there will be new routes to Hainan, Nanning, and Guangzhou, Sau revealed.

Late this year, we will receive flights from Japan and Bangkok, while our domestic flight network will continue to expand with flights to Da Nang and to Phu Quoc Island, Sau said.

After nearly five months in operation, Van Don International Airport has been continuously opening new routes to destinations at home and abroad and got plaudits from prestigious ratings agencies for its comprehensive infrastructure and service quality.

From the onset of 2019, the airport welcomed more than 90,000 passengers with 664 flights offered by Vietnams leading airlines, including national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, budget carrier Vietjet Air, and newcomer Bamboo Airways.

Van Don is also the only Vietnamese airport that has carved out a spot among the top five airports offering the highest services quality in Vietnam Airlines worldwide operation network in the first quarter of 2019 by the Airport Performance Measurement Program (APMP) announced by Vietnam Airlines.

In pursuit of the strategy of launching new routes, particularly to potential international markets, Van Don Airport is conceiving diverse market promotion plans this year.

In early March, the first major promotion conference took place in Quang Ninh, attracting more than 60 airlines and over 100 travel firms who came there to seek opportunities to open new routes and tours to tap into the provinces abundant potential.

Numerous co-operation agreements were inked at the event. Van Don Airport is expected to help Quang Ninh to realize its bold target of welcoming 15-16 million visitors, including seven million international visitors by 2020, increasing to 30 million visitors by 2030, half of whom will be international visitors.

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This will contribute to turning tourism into a spearhead sector in Quang Ninh, as well as turning Quang Ninh into an international tourism centre and a top travel destination in Vietnam, thus matching the provinces tourism development master plan to 2020, with vision towards 2030.

As a 4E-grade airport under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, Van Don International Airport can receive even the most state-of-the art aircraft. Its first-phase terminal capacity is 2.5 million passengers per year that could reach five million passengers per year by 2030 after expansion.

Thanh Van
Vietnams dairy makers are accessing more opportunities to increase exports, but companies need to enhance their competitiveness in foreign markets and develop a concentrated production scale.

Vietnamsdairy makers are accessing more opportunities toincrease exports, but companies need to enhance theircompetitiveness in foreign markets and develop a concentrated productionscale.



The export value of dairy productsand fresh milk reached 48.6 million USD in the first three months ofthe year, with the main export markets in Iraq, Hong Kong, mainlandChina, Afghanistan, the Philippines and other countries, including the UAE,Laos, Myanmar and Japan.



Exports are expected to growstrongly this year as domestic enterprises are targeting expansionof their overseas markets.



Two of Vietnam's dairygiants, Vinamilk and TH True Milk, have been expanding investment inother countries.



Vinamilk has invested in freshmilk and dairy product and processing in the US, New Zealand, Cambodia, Poland,Laos and Myanmar.



This year, Vinamilk investedin its first factory in Myanmar to meet the increasing demand for milk andmilk products there.



Milk consumption in Myanmar,which has a population of 55 million, is 10 litres per head per year,very low compared to other markets in the region, such as Thailand with 36litres and Malaysia with 53 litres.



TH True Milk recently invested ina 2.7 billion USD project to raise cows and process milk in Russia.



Exports of milk and dairyproducts are also expected to increase sharply in the future after theProtocol on exports of Vietnamese milk and dairy products to China, a market of1.4 billion, was inked on April 26



According to the Food andAgriculture Organisation's 2018 global dairy market report, China produced 25.6million tonnes of milk, down 1.1 percent from 2017. In order to meet domesticconsumption of milk and dairy products, the country annually imports 14.6million tonnes of milk.



Nguyen Quoc Toan, acting Directorof the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Agro Processing andMarket Development Agency, told local media at a recent conference in Hanoithat there was great potential for exporting milk and dairyproducts to China.



However, Toan saidthat Vietnamese exporters faced challenges because milk fromAustralia and New Zealand has occupied a large market share in the Chinesemarket. Vietnamese milk exports to China are promising but they willface competition from these two giants, he said.



To expand Vietnams exportmarket in the coming time, businesses in particular and the dairy industry ingeneral should prioritise the modernisation of milk and dairy product processingtechnology that meets the requirements of China in the spirit of theProtocol signed recently, Toan said. "At the same time, productdevelopment should meet the demand of other potential markets such asIndonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.



TH Group Chairman Ngo Minh Haitold diendandoanhnghiep.vn that the door for milk and dairyproduct exports to the Chinese market has initially opened,but not all businesses in Vietnam's dairy industry would be able to enter.



China has technical barriersthat force us to overcome. Companies must ensure two important requirements,including maintaining quality and product standards, and ensuring origin, Haisaid.



Deputy Director of the MARDsDepartment of Livestock Production Tong Xuan Chinh said the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade should improve planning and supervisionof the construction of milk processing plants, which must match thevolume of local cattle herds and the consumption market.



Chinh said the MARD wouldcreate a new policy to support the development of dairy farming and milkprocessing in the 2020-2030 period, promoting the industry as well as theexport of milk and dairy products.



The policy will be submitted tothe Prime Minister for approval, he added.



Chinh said that links betweencow breeders and milk exporters should be tightened. Fresh milk from breedershas to be sold to businesses as soon as possible becausebreeders lack preservation facilities. If they sell milk tothe market, it is only a small amount.



Dairy enterprises need toreorganise the production of dairy cows in a closed chain, controlling diseasesafety and food safety.



At the same time, modernisationof facilities, raw milk purchasing centres, and modern milk factories must beestablished to meet the export demand of many markets, he added.-VNS/VNA

Exploiting FTAs: milk and fabric companies seek opportunities The doors to export markets have opened after the signing of government-to-government agreements. However, enterprises still have to overcome many challenges.

Vietnam's milk producers remodel approach Domestic milk producers are seeking new growth opportunities as changes in consumption trends and competitive pressure start to be felt.
The International Business Times recently had an article about Vietnamese origin billionaire Mai Vu Minh.

Mai Vu Minh met and worked with more than 30 world leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Minh is Chairman of the Board of Directors of SAPA Thale Group headquartered in Germany and is listed as a great investor, a billionaire having a strong influence on the financial world and governments.

A great investor



As an investor, Mai Vu Minh is very interested in generations of startups in Vietnam. In 2017 on the Bloomberg Terminal (a computer software system for 350,000 professionals users to access the Bloomberg Professional service, news, price quotes, and messaging), it was posted that Vietnamese origin billionaire Mai Vu Minh has invested 400 million USD in startups in Vietnam and Global market.



Minh is holding many projects and shares of large corporations in countries around the world and respected by international finance and world politicians for his sharp strategic thinking and multi-billion dollar assets.



In 2013, Chairman of Sapa Thale Group - billionaire Mai Vu Minh negotiated to acquire the project of the Schunk Group's WHE Management Building with the German government. In 2015, billionaire Mai Vu Minh officially signed a contract with the chief executive of Schunk Group, completing the acquisition.



In 2018, Mai Vu Minh represented SAPA Thale Group to sign a bilateral investment cooperation with Dubai Investment Development Agency (DUBAI FDI) and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) to invest in billion-USD projects between Vietnam and the Middle East.



Not only Dubai, the Middle East, but also large corporations of Europe, USA and Japan... cooperate with SAPA Thale group to invest in Vietnam," billionaire Mai Vu Minh added.



In early 2019 accepting the invitation of the Dubai Ministry of Economy and Investment and Dubai Investment Development Agency (DUBAI FDI - Dubai Foreign Direct Investment), an agency of the Department of Economic Development of Government of Dubai, SAPA Thale Group leaders including Mai Vu Minh - the chairman of the group went to Dubai to work with Dubai FDI and leading corporations such as Emirates NBD, DP World, DIFC... on investment cooperation in Vietnam and many other countries in the world.



Activities at government level



Billionaire Mai Vu Minh was widely reported by the media at international events such as: World Economic Forum (WEF), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC)... He is in the list of praises for contributions and sponsorships of these events to be successful next to major corporations in the world.



Billionaire Mai Vu Minh also met and worked with more than 30 top leaders in the world such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern, and Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard. IBTimes/VNA

* The International Business Times is a global digital news publication specializing in news and analysis on business, economic, politics and technology issues, with the audience of about 55 million people every month, through seven editions and four languages.

8X alumni talk about differences with Z-gen overseas students Vietnamese Z-generation students are often leaving Vietnam at the age of secondary education. They are more self-confident than previous generations and willing to express their personal views.

First Overseas Vietnamese Economic Forum to be held in Incheon, South Korea this June The first Overseas Vietnamese Economic Forum (OVECOF) will take place at Songdo Covensia Convention Center in Incheon, the Republic of Korea (RoK) from June 6-9.
As there is growing pressure on urban areas, there is higher and higher demand for green architecture.

The cities in Vietnam are crowded by buildings and lack breathing space

People need to breathe to live, so buildings also need green breathing spaces. After over 30 years of opening its market, Vietnam has seen a massive increase in new urban areas formed by rapid urbanisation.

The rapid development, however, brings new challenges such as polluted living environment or narrow areas for construction.

In recent years, eco-urban, climate-adapted architecture, or green architecture have appeared widely all over the world. Green architecture has become a trend in many countries in both construction works and urban planning.

Singapores lesson

Singapore is an example of incredible green architecture, featuring iconic buildings such as Marina Bay Sands and Changi Airport Station, a green space right in the middle of the airport.

It is a civilised country and Singaporeans always aim at a comfortable, peaceful, and sustainable life, though they have had to import costly clean water and energy from Malaysia for a long time.

Green architecture has become a trend in many countries in both constructions works and urban planning.

Chan Ee Mun, director of WOHA Architects, said that Singapore greatly benefited from support from the government.

"The programmes promoting the use of green trees in the design of buildings or urban infrastructure have brought clear results," he said.

He added that countries wishing to pursue green architecture should start with the design of their projects without stepping back.

From a small island, Singapore has created numerous modern works with green architecture, serving as an example to study by other countries like Vietnam.

The need for breathing space

Vietnam faces a lot of challenges when applying the green architecture model as it requires enormous initial investment.

Tran Vu Lam, chairman of CUBIC Architects, said as a design company for many high-rise buildings, CUBIC always offers customers options featuring vast green spaces to make them feel comfortable.

However, green building is difficult to implement because more green space means less room for housing, the main source of profit for investors.

Many investors ignore the green factor because they prioritise room area or the number of rooms.

"They forget that a green space is worth much more than a space of concrete, Lam said.

He stated that construction works like a living body. People need to breathe to live so the buildings also need green breathing spaces.

While there is growing pressure on urban areas, there is higher and higher demand for green architecture.

"In the last few weeks, although the temperature in the city only increased by a few degrees, we feel is as if it was a dozen degrees. This is due to the lack of green spaces, without which the city radiates a great deal of heat back," Lam siad.

What are the solutions?

From the perspective of an architect, Tran Vu Lam said that it is better if there are more green spaces among buildings, dissipating heat and creating more fresh space.

One of the three essential factors people need for their residential area is connectivity. Investors and designers need to respect this factor and create more space for the project," Lam suggested.

It is necessary to create space for community activities. In addition to trees in the building, the investors can consider incorporating a courtyard like an outdoor swimming pool or grass and trees.

For complex housing areas which require cost-saving and small construction area, Lam said that it is still possible to include a green space by creating a bridge between the buildings.

The courtyard can be used for parking to get revenue, while still creating space for community areas. VIR

Ngan Ha

Vietnam strives for green textile industry The garment and textile industry was one of the country's key export industries, but also produces high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

Vietnam's tourism going the wrong way: Tourists prefer green travel, not skyscrapers More and more international-standard resorts and hotels have arisen in Vietnam, but these facilities are not what foreign travelers want. They visit Vietnam to return to nature.
The Vietnamese government has been actively teaming up with the business community to reduce plastic waste by implementing different models of the circular economy.

Supermarkets, hotels, and even the transport industry are looking to limit plastic waste

Last week, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed Directive No.13/CT-TTg on sustainable development. Some of the key contents include organising the dialogues on related policies, assessing the sustainable businesses based on sustainable business indicators, mobilising participation in Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030, and implementing initiatives on the circular economy.

The government, enterprises, and people have already been working to create a green consumption trend in order to reduce plastic waste across the country. From the outset, many enterprises and consumers have turned towards environmentally friendly plastics.

Tetra Pak Vietnam, a Swedish food processing and packaging solutions company, is working with local partners to set up a collection system to supply used cartons to recyclers.

The company, who have made a presence in Vietnam since 1994, is piloting a used carton collection model at selected schools and public places in Ho Chi Minh City in support of the citys waste management efforts.

Meanwhile, Tien Thanh JSC, a local packaging manufacturer in the northern province of Bac Ninh, has been using corn powder to make packaging products which can be decomposed in around 100 days in the natural environment.

With such an environmentally-friendly feature, Tien Thanhs products are in favour in countries such as the United States, Japan, and France.

Along with the participation of manufacturers, companies using massive nylon packaging have also made an effort to replace nylon with more sustainable items.

Asanzo Electric Group, a Vietnamese electric brand using Japanese technology, is switching to using recycled paper instead of plastic packaging in all products such as televisions, telephones, and household goods.

Pham Van Tam, chairman of Asanzo, said, From 2013 most of Asanzos products were packed in plastic bags. Each product had at least four attached plastic bags to wrap products, controllers, wires, and foot soles.

Tam believed that the conversion of plastic packaging for packaging products into recycled paper is in line with the strategy of sustainable development and environmental protection.

Change in action can be seen clearly in supermarkets. Here, plastic bags have been replaced by self-decomposing versions.

Particularly, in some supermarket systems like Co.opmart, Saigon Co.op, and Big C, banana leaves have been used to wrap vegetable instead of plastic bags.

Changes in tourism products

Meanwhile, many hotels have turned to environmentally friendly products like bamboo toothbrushes, grass straws, or loofah sponges.

Having made a mark in Vietnam for several years, AccorHotels Vietnam is currently a professional manager of more than 20 hotels, owning many brands with high international standards such as Sofitel Legend, MGallery, Pullman, Grand Mercure, and Novotel.

Over the years, implementing the Planet 21 programme which demonstrates the groups ambitious goals for 2020, AccorHotels have asked customers to reuse their towels, and save water and energy to fund tree planting.

These hotel systems have also been using eco-designed beds which are made from wood sourced from sustainably-managed forests, as well as bedspreads and pillowcases made from recycled bottles. In addition, eco-certified soap, shower gel, and shampoo are available in the hotel rooms themselves.

Championing 25 years of sustainable development since its inception in 1994, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts has pioneered the journey of stewardship in its commitment towards communities through its philosophy of embracing the environment and empowering people.

This year Banyan Tree launched its aims towards overall plastic reduction, developing sustainable alternatives for its range of guest amenities such as cotton buds, combs, and toothbrushes.

Using another model of the circular economy in tourism is the Vietnam Grand-Palace hotel cluster. Over the years, this group has implemented waste management and treatment processes, and used a solar power system and solar water heaters.

At the same time, the classification and reuse of garbage has always had the utmost attention paid by hotel leaders and staff.

The hotel focuses on using green, environmentally friendly products to serve guests such as bath oil, shampoo, hand-washing soap, and toothpaste used by Vietnamese suppliers and produced from Vietnamese materials.

Thanks to all of these acts, the Vietnam Grand-Palace hotel group has been considered as a leader in environmental protection.

Solutions for plastic waste

In the middle of April, US-based chemical company Dow and DEEP C industrial zones in Haiphong signed a memorandum of understanding on building the first road using recycled plastics at the DEEP C complex.

The project aims to divert post-use flexible packaging from becoming litter or entering a landfill, while also creating more durable, longer-lasting roads.

Ekkasit Lakkananithiphan, general director of Dow Vietnam, told VIR: Since 2015, the circular economy has been Dows sustainable development target towards 2025. Roads made from recycled plastic demonstrate that plastic waste can be a valuable renewable resource, contributing to the development of the plastic circular economy.

DEEP C pioneers the building and converting of industrial zones into eco-industrial parks, said Do Quang Hung, first Deputy General Director of DEEP C.

One of the main goals under the eco-park initiative is promoting industrial symbiosis to mitigate and decrease industrial waste.

According to Hung, the project will engage local governments, waste collectors, and the industrys value chain to tackle marine debris and waste in Vietnam and develop better end markets for plastic waste.

This cross-industry collaboration shows the commitment each organisation has to advancing a circular economy and reducing the amount of waste in the environment, he added.

Nguyen Quang Vinh, secretary general of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and vice chairman of the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development, also commented that a circular economy has been known as a solution for eco-friendly, durable, and sustainable prosperity.

As it is one of our priorities to realise the sustainable development goals, we highly appreciate this initiative in reducing plastic waste and transforming urban mobility in Vietnam. VIR

Kim Hao

Cu Lao Cham - first biosphere reserve in Vietnam says no to plastic bags Cu Lao Cham  Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam has celebrated its 10th anniversary of UNESCO recognition as a world biosphere reserve for its rich biodiversity.

Universities say no to plastic cups, straws HCM City Open University has initiated a revolution by spending VND90 million to allocate one cup and water jug to each school lecturer and officer in a plan to stop the use of disposable plastic cups and straws.
The impact of climate change on agriculture and aquaculture in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam over the years is forcing local farmers and enterprises to adapt by implementing more effective solutions.

Good practice and utilising new technology can help curb climate change as well as saltwater intrusion and sinking land

Inhabitants in Chau Thanh district in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh can now farm much more easily.

With a mobile phone, they can know exactly how salty the water is without tasting or using their traditional experience. Using that same phone, whenever and wherever they are, they can easily pump water for their farm.

With the Rynan water monitoring app, I can easily know the water level, the salt level, PH level, and turbidity to decide whether to pump water or not. I even pump water when out socialising, said Truong Van Thanh, a local farmer.

According to Thanh, besides using the Rynan app, so as to improve the quality and efficiency of his rice farm, recently he has also used smart fertiliser.

This fertiliser is used once at the beginning of the crop together with young rice trees. It helps save expense and human work, but brings higher productivity of 20 to 30 per cent, he added.

The technologies that Thanh is using for his farm are produced by Rynan Agrifoods, a company established by 60-year-old overseas Vietnamese Nguyen Thanh My in 2016, a year which suffered a record dry season in the Mekong River Delta.

Witnessing the huge loss when thousands of hectares of crops were affected by salinisation, My created a buoy which measures the salt level of water.

These buoys have sensors attached. Every 15 minutes, they send information online so people can access it by mobile phone, My told VIR.

Currently, Tra Vinh province has invested VND1.5 billion ($435,000) in installation of 10 such buoys in the five districts of Duyen Hai, Cau Ke, Tieu Can, Chau Thanh, and Tra Vinh city.

Rynan Agrifoods also sponsors three buoys, increasing the total to 13. Each buoy can collect information within an area of 10 square metres.

In talks with VIR about the pump system, My said, Farmer incomes are very low. We use simple and cheap pump gateway control to help current irrigating systems that have been installed for dozen of years.

According to My, the tool costs only about VND1 million ($43.50), he can even often gift it to farmers for free. The pump gateway controls help save over 30 per cent of water and reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, the companys smart fertiliser also helps reduce GHG emissions. Over the years, rice planting in Vietnam has been the second source of such emissions after power production.

The fertiliser provides more than nutrition at the right time and right amount during rice development, helping reduce the amount of fertiliser, My said.

Mys innovation has helped famers in the Mekong Delta region better adapt to climate change.

Technologies and shrimp farming

One of the biggest shrimp producers and exporters in Vietnam, Minh Phu Seafood Corporation has set the target of developing a complete ecological system to mark Vietnam on the map of world-leading shrimp suppliers.

According to Le Van Quang, chairman of Minh Phu, in 2018 the company held nearly 5 per cent of the worlds shrimp market by volume.

For every 100 shrimp that Minh Phu exports, 40 are exported to the US, 20 to Japan, 10 to the EU, nine to Canada, eight to South Korea, and the remainder to Australia and New Zealand.

This is the result of a strict study process on solutions of how to create good quality shrimps with high productivity.

In the old method, shrimp ponds have a popular size of 50 metres to 100m. With a larger size, it is easy to harvest shrimps in earthen ponds but it is difficult to thoroughly handle impurities, particularly when diseases break out. In our new model, the ponds are floatingly designed with steel tube frames above, helping easily handle impurities, change of water, and controlling the environment, Quang said.

The company has installed sensors to automatically control the pond, and measure the water quality, temperature, and oxygen rate.

They have also used effective microorganism technology to ensure quality of water and development of shrimp in a natural way.

According to Quang, one of the important indicators of the water environment is the oxygen index. If the index in the water is high, the water is clean and safe in terms of bacteria and harmful chemicals dissolved in water. Harmful microorganisms cannot develop, while useful microorganisms decompose organic matters.

With high oxygen levels, the shrimp will grow fast with strong resistance. Investing in hi-tech shrimp farming in parallel with establishing a clean shrimp process, not using antibiotics or chemicals will meet strict export criteria of domestic and foreign markets, ensuring food safety for users, Quang said.

Minh Phus motto is innovating technology to create more value-added goods, increasing competition, and meeting the needs of markets based on the benefits of all sides.

Intercrops make aquaculture more sustainable

Currently, famers in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu have been replicating effective aquaculture models, including sustainable shrimp farming adapting to climate change. Thus, these actions have effectively exploited the potentials and advantages of the locality.

In particular, in the coastal area of Dong Hai district, an extensive shrimp farming model combined with organic shrimp farming in the model of a shrimp forest has been remarkably effective.

In Bac Lieu, 550 farmers participated in applying the shrimp-forest model with an area of over 2,648ha and this model continues to be encouraged for replication.

Although productivity is lower than other aquaculture models, people will gain many other economic benefits from marine resources like crab seed, elongated gobies, and many other valuable aquatic products living under the forest canopy.

Bac Lieu currently has about 33,000ha of shrimp and rice faming, which is an environmentally friendly model in the context of climate change.

Farming production over the years has shown that rice cultivation on shrimp farming does not cause conflicts with the use of brackish and fresh water in the production process.

In the dry season, saline water is poured into serving for tiger shrimp, and in the rainy season farmers take fresh water to grow rice.

Rice varieties used in the model are saline tolerant. After the rice crop, the bottom of the field is mineralised, limiting soil aging due to long-term salinity while at the same time disease germs are also removed during the rice growing time.

Thanks to these, the environment is stable, as shrimp farming does not have to use antibiotics or chemicals.

This model contributes to the reduction of production costs, and the increase of productivity and profitability.

In addition, in the rice crop, farmers also combine raising giant freshwater shrimps with rice. This farming method not only helps people ensure their life because of the quality and value of agricultural products, but it also protects the ecological environment.

In other provinces in the region like Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Tien Giang ,and Ben Tre, the shrimp-rice production model is also applied.

After suffering the impacts of climate change, both enterprises and farmers in the Mekong Delta region and beyond are trying their best to find out new methods of adaptation.

It is clear that it can be achieved using modern technology, via a careful accounting of intercrops, and often, both. VIR

Phi Nguyen

Vietnam's Mekong Delta region adapts to climate change Located at the end of the Mekong River, the Mekong Delta is the most prosperous agricultural production region in Southeast Asia. However, it is also one of the areas most heavily affected by climate change.

Climate change plan needs to cover vulnerable groups in Vietnam Civil society organisations (CSOs) recommended climate vulnerability assessments in order to help the Government implement a national adaptation plan to mitigate the impacts of and respond to climate change.
Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich attended a meeting between the US Secretary of Defence and ASEAN defence ministers on the sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31.

Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich (L) and RoK counterpart Jeong Kyeong-doo

Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich attended a meeting between the US Secretary of Defence and ASEAN defence ministers on the sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31.



At the event, acting US Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan reaffirmed Washingtons free and open Indo-Pacific policy, adding that the US supports cooperation mechanisms in which ASEAN leads and plays a central role.



The US is ready to partner with ASEAN to build a region of peace, stability and development, he said, stressing that Washington attaches importance to the freedom of navigation, aviation and trade.



The Vietnamese defence minister hosted a reception for his Republic of Korea (RoK) counterpart Jeong Kyeong-doo, during which Lich said Vietnam is willing to contribute to peace process on the Korean peninsula.



Jeong said the RoK supports Vietnams stance on the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.



The two ministers agreed to continue promoting bilateral ties on the basis of the Joint Vision Statement on Vietnam  RoK Defence Cooperation through 2030, including defence industry and exchange of high-ranking delegations.



At a separate meeting, Minister Lich and his Australian counterpart Linda Reynolds expressed their satisfaction with the effective and substantial development of bilateral defence ties over the past years, notably the signing of the joint vision statement.



They also vowed to reinforce ties across education-training and UN peacekeeping mission. -VNA

VN Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich to attend 18th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore Defence Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich and a high-ranking Vietnamese military delegation left Hanoi on May 30 for Singapore to attend the 18th Shangri-La Dialogue slated for May 31-June 2.

Vietnamese, Chinese defence ministers hold talks in Hanoi Vietnam and China have recorded progress in their defence cooperation, which deserves to be an important pillar in the countries all-round relations, leaders of the two defence ministries said at their talks in Hanoi on May 27.
Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, who is head of the countrys SOM ASEAN, attended the ASEAN Plus Three SOM and East Asia Summit (EAS) SOM in Bangkok on May 30.

Delegates to the East Asia Summit SOM pose for a group photo



Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, who is headof the countrys SOM ASEAN, attended the ASEAN Plus Three SOM and East AsiaSummit (EAS) SOM, which were held within the framework of the ASEAN SeniorOfficials' Meeting (SOM) in Bangkok on May 30.



Speaking at themeetings, Dung stressed the importance of ASEAN Plus Three and EAS mechanismsin promoting dialogue and cooperation, and building an open, transparent,inclusive and rule-based regional structure, thus contributing to maintainingpeace, security, stability, cooperation and development in the region.



He suggestedintensifying collaboration in connectivity, maritime issues, and adaptation tothe Fourth Industrial Revolution within the ASEAN Plus Three framework, whileaffirming that Vietnam is willing to foster new cooperation initiatives withinthe EAS framework, including cooperation in preventing drug smuggling.



The official sharedstances of other countries on the East Sea issue as well as the situation inthe Korean Peninsula and Myanmars Rakhine state, and reconfirmed ASEANs pointof view on the East Sea as well as Vietnams commitment to working with otherASEAN member states and China in building a Code of Conduct in the East Sea(COC) effectively.



At the meetings,partner nations showed their support for the theme and priorities of ASEAN in2019 as well as the blocs efforts to realize the ASEAN Community Vision 2025,promote connectivity, narrow development gap and strengthen cooperation inresponse to arising challenges.



They emphasised theirbacking for ASEANs central role in the regional structure, and theirwillingness to continue participating in cooperation mechanisms led by the blocsuch as ASEAN Plus Three, East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEANDefence Ministers Meeting Plus.



ASEAN Plus Threecountries affirmed their pledges to consolidate an open and rule-basedmultilateral trade system, foster the regions economic connectivity, and striveto complete negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP).



Meanwhile, thecountries participating in the EAS SOM agreed to continue consolidating andpromoting the role of the mechanism, strengthen its capacity of coping with challenges,and to improve the effectiveness of coordination between EAS and othermechanisms such as ARF and ADMM in the regional structure.



Discussing regionaland international issues, representatives of countries reaffirmed their supportfor dialogue and diplomatic efforts for peace, stability and de-nuclearisationof the Korean Peninsula, and for the Myanmar Government in its efforts toaddressing the humanitarian issue in Rakhine state.



Regarding the East Sea issue, they underlined the importance of maintaining peace, stability, andaviation and navigation safety and freedom in the East Sea; refraining from andavoiding using or threatening to use violence; avoiding conducting actions thatcomplicate the situation; addressing disputes peacefully on the basis ofinternational law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea;implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC)fully and seriously, and building an effective and valid COC.



Within the frameworkof the meetings, the Vietnamese official had bilateral meetings withrepresentatives from India, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand,Canada, the US, and the European Union.-VNA

Vietnam represents ASEAN in committing to jointly protecting civilians in armed conflicts Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of Vietnams permanent mission to the UN, reiterated the commitments of ASEAN countries on the protection of civilians during armed conflicts in a speech on behalf of ASEAN countries on May 23.

ASEAN senior officials gather at Bangkok meetings Senior officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are gathering at meetings in Bangkok from May 28 to 31 to prepare for upcoming events of the bloc.
Oil slumped over 3% on Friday and posted its biggest monthly drop in six months, after U.S. President Donald Trump stoked global trade tensions by threatening tariffs on Mexico, a key U.S. trade partner and major supplier of crude oil. Reuters reports in its article Oil falls 3% on trade worries, heads for biggest monthly drop in six months that Brent crude futures fell $2.38, or 3.6%, to settle at $64.49 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $3.09 to $53.50 a barrel, a 5.5% loss.

Brent touched a session low of $64.37 a barrel, lowest since March 8. WTI hit $53.41 a barrel, weakest since Feb. 14. Brent futures posted an 11% slide in May and WTI a 16% drop, their biggest monthly losses since November.

Trump vowed on Thursday to ratchet up tariffs unless Mexico stopped people from illegally crossing into the United States. The plan would impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports starting on June 10 and increase monthly, up to 25% on Oct. 1. That could hit the lucrative cross-border energy trade. U.S. refiners import roughly 680,000 barrels per day of Mexican crude. The 5% tariff adds an extra $2 million to the cost of their daily purchases, PVM analysts said.

The United States also exports more fuels to Mexico than any other country, according to the U.S. Energy Department. So far Mexico has not said whether it would retaliate. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday urged Trump to back down from the threats.

Investors were already worried that the U.S.-China trade war increased the danger of a recession. Additional levies by Beijing on the majority of U.S. imports on a $60 billion target list are due to take effect on Saturday, in response to Washingtons move this month to slap further tariffs of up to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods.

A Reuters survey showed Brent crude prices are likely to hold near $70 a barrel for the rest of the year as elevated supply risks in the Middle East offset risks to demand. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabias increased output in May was not enough to compensate for lower Iranian exports, a Reuters survey found. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to meet in late June. At the beginning of the year, OPEC and allies agreed to cut production by 1.2 million bpd. U.S. production has offset that decline, as output returned to a record 12.3 million barrels per day, and as U.S. crude stocks fell less than expected last week, according to weekly figures. [EIA/S]

This fresh tariff headline offers a pile on effect to an oil market that has already been seeing downside pressure from some unexpectedly large U.S. crude supply increases that have been weighing on values across this month of May, Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

U.S. energy firms increased the number of oil rigs operating for the first week in four, adding three oil rigs, General Electric Cos Baker Hughes energy services firm said. But in May the rig count was reduced for the sixth straight month.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut combined futures and options position in New York and London in the week to May 28 by 38,030 contracts to 212,080, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said.
Indonesian Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani has spoken highly of Vietnams preparation to run for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC).

A session of the UN Security Council in New York



Indonesian PermanentRepresentative to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani has spoken highly ofVietnams preparation to run for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council(UNSC).



Duringan interview granted to correspondents of the Vietnam News Agency, the diplomatalso shared his countrys experience in undertaking the role as thenon-permanent member of the UNSC, and pointed to challenges that will faceVietnam in the work.



Asession of the UN General Assembly will hold a vote on June 7 for five non-permanentmember positions of the UNSC, including one for the group of Asian-Pacific nations- which Vietnam is representing.



Dian said Vietnam has well prepared in recent months, predicting that thecountry will not face any problem in the upcoming vote.



Memberstates of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also greatly supportedVietnam because the bloc also wants its member countries to be present in the council.



IfVietnam wins the election, it will have only six months to get a thorough graspof procedures and regulations of the council in order to well assume itsposition in the next two years, he said, stressing that careful preparation forthis is very important and necessary.



He expressed his belief that if Vietnam is elected, it would do well itsresponsibilities at the UN Security Council.



The diplomat emphasized that Vietnam will contribute greatly to the council becauseit is very reliable, and works on principles.



Vietnam has sent personnel to UN peacekeeping forces and there are many otherareas in which the country can contribute when becoming a non-permanent memberof the Security Council, he noted.



As Indonesia was the rotary president of the UN Security Council in May, theambassador also shared experiences in coordinating cooperation with othermembers of the council which have different viewpoints, especially the five permanentmembers, to maintain unity within the organisation.-VNA

Election to UNSC opportunity for Vietnam to prove its capability: UN resident coordinator If elected to the UN Security Council (UNSC), Vietnam will have more opportunities to prove its capability and play a more important role in regional and global issues.

Vietnam has big chance to win UNSCs non-permanent seat: senior diplomat Vietnam has a big opportunity to win a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term, Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of Vietnams permanent mission to the UN, has said.
Many voters nationwide have showed their approval of the National Assembly (NA)s debate on May 30, while also highlighting issues they hope will be raised for further discussion.

A view of the seventh session of the 14th National Assembly in Hanoi

The plenary debate, broadcast live on television, looked into the realisation of socio-economic development and state budget plans. It was part of the ongoing seventh session of the 14th NA.

Many citizens said the live broadcasting helped give them a good grasp of the countrys socio-economic situation. They shared the view that legislators were direct in discussing pressing issues of public concern.

Nguyen Thai Hoa, a lawyer in Hanoi, said the countrys achievements in 2018 and this so far year are firstly attributable to the Partys sustained fight against corruption, which has helped strengthen discipline and peoples trust in the Partys leadership and the Governments activities.

He added that the fight against corruption, initiated by Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, has greatly contributed to the Partys rectification and consolidation.

Meanwhile, Dang Tran Hoang Thuy, Director of the Thien Trieu An company based in Dong Nai province, highlighted businesses and peoples concerns about the recent petrol and electricity price hikes, noting that such sudden increases of input costs will considerably influence production and business activities.

He suggested the Government and relevant ministries and sectors make more suitable and transparent moves so as not to cause further burdens on businesses and people.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam, an employee of the Taekwang Vina company in Dong Nai province, also asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to review the electricity bill calculation method of the Vietnam Electricity group, noting that although power prices were said to be raised by over 8 percent, electricity bills of many households have doubled or even risen three-fold.

She expressed her hope for more transparency in power price adjustments and the monopoly over the power supply to be eliminated.

Tran Thi Ngoc, a resident in Hue city of Thua Thien-Hue province, shared some lawmakers views about the complicated drug crime situation, calling on the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate more closely with the border guard force to strictly deal with drug trafficking rings in border areas.VNA

In Vietnam, women find numbers rising in politics but not status Although the number of women in politics continues to rise, the ratio of women in high positions remains low.

NA deputies question EVN power tariff hike Discussion about the recent power price hike heated up the National Assembly (NA) morning session today.
Google has recently officially added Vietnamese to the list of languages receiving support from Google Assistant.

The press conference announcing the launch of Google Assistant in Vietnamese took place on May 6, but many Android users said they began using the tool on May 1.

To be able to activate Google Assistant in Vietnamese, users need to go to Google apps> Add> Settings> Google Assistant> Assistant> Languages and choose "Tieng Viet (Viet Nam)". After that, they just need to hold the Home key to call Google Assistant and say the commands.

However, many others said they could not find option Tieng Viet (Viet Nam) in Languages menu. Experts said it is understandable, since Google still has not supported Assistant Tieng Viet in a large scale.

The major work that assistants have to do, such as reminders, alarms, timers, weather forecasts and directions, can be undertaken by Google Assistant.

After trying different ways (changing systematic languages, areas, restarting and updating apps), the team of engineers from GenK came to the conclusion that whether users can activate Assistant Tieng Viet doesnt depend on users operation.

If your accounts are luckily chosen by Google, you will find it very simple to activate Assistant Tieng Viet. If not, you will not be able to do this no matter what, GenK reported.

As for iOS users, they will need an US Apple ID to be able to download Google Assistant from App Store. After that, they need to log in Google accounts and carry out the same operations.

Google Assistant can do many works for users. It can make calls and send messages with hands free. The feature is very useful, especially for those who drive cars.

The major work that assistants have to do, such as reminders, alarms, timers, weather forecasts and directions, can be undertaken by Google Assistant.

With the advantage in searching, Google Assistant can give answers to questions about many different aspects in life. The knowledge of Google Assistant is synthesized from many different sources, including Wikipedia and search results.

Users can order Google Assistant to play music on Spotify. In fact, Google Assistant also supports music play on Google Play Music as well, but the service is not available in Vietnam. You can request Google Assistant to recognize songs though are listening to in surrounding environment.

Google Assistant can also do translations with voice. Instead of running Google Translate, one can use Google Assistant to translate some simple words and sentences and get results more quickly.

The team from GenK commented that Google Assistant's ability to recognize Vietnamese language is very good. It can correctly understand voices with northern, central and southern accents, and the voices of women and men.

Defense Ministry firm found to forge applications for transport projects Thai Son Development and Investment JSC, a business under the Defense Ministry, was found to have falsified bank statements to win construction contracts and BOT transport projects before transferring them to other contractors.

Chatbot Vietnam wins technology award in Switzerland Chatbot Vietnam JSC has won an award for a technology solution in the E-business category at the UNs World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in the Switzerland.

Mai Thanh
The water was so pure that every piece of gravel could be seen clearly. Suddenly, fish flocked to scramble for food.

From Van Ho district in Son La province, a visitor needs to go through vast old forests, terrain fields, and pass by ethnic Thai peoples houses on stilts hidden in the fog to reach the end of the old forests. There you will see Chieng Yen Stream and Tat Nang Waterfall nearby.

A local man, after hearing from visitors that they were looking for a fish stream, realized they were seeking the Buot Hamlets Fish Stream.

It is located in the middle of the old jungle. There are numerous fish there, he said.

After walking, the visitors reached Buot Hamlet, where there are several houses located in the middle of a valley and old forests, and the Buot Stream, the rendezvous for fish.

Buot stream originates from the colossal mountain of Xa Lac, where hot mineral water sources begin.

There are countless fish, but they are in their caves. They only appear if they see food, an old woman told visitors.

A woman living near Buot Stream threw pieces of bread into the stream. Surprisingly, the clear stream suddenly turned black with many fish appearing.

In rainy season, when floods come, fields are under water and the peaceful stream disappears. Even timber bars can drift away by the strong water flow. However, Buots fish stay alive and safe, thanks to the strange cave in the middle of the stream.

Most of them were as big as an adult finger or wrist. There were also fish with red band near the spine  ca bong, as called by Ha Giang people, and ca doc, by Thanh Hoa people (Spinibarbus denticulatus).

They are the god fish in Cam Luong Stream (Cam Thuy district) and Van Nho (Ba Thuoc), both of which are famous in Vietnam, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to come to admire every year.

Ngan Van Tuom, a Thai ethnic minority man, pointed his hand downstream, and said: There are many big Thanh Hoa god fish here, but they rarely turn up. They spend most of the time in the cave.

In rainy season, when floods come, fields are under water and the peaceful stream disappears. Even timber bars can drift away by the strong water flow. However, Buots fish stay alive and safe, thanks to the strange cave in the middle of the stream.

Local people never catch fish for food. Some men caught serious diseases after eating fish, so no one dare catch fish anymore, he explained.

Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve The Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve in the northern province of Ninh Binh has been recognised as Vietnams ninth Ramsar site.

Quang Nam to release seven rare turtles back to nature The ranger force in the central province of Quang Nam is working with authorities of the provinces Bac Tra My district to return seven rare turtles to the wild.

Mai Chi
AI has now become the key for technology companies to help reduce errors, increase the productivity and quality of their operations, and minimise work accidents in modern

manufacturing plants.

Vietnam needs to address its human resource issues to fully capitalise on AI

However, the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seem to find it difficult to secure the capital and human resources to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI).

A PwC study shows that the application of big data and AI into maintenance operations could increase by 38 per cent in the next five years.

This technology allows companies to better understand assembly lines and anticipate maintenance errors. Thus, manufacturing companies are no longer dependent on a fixed maintenance schedule.

If it is possible to predict technical errors, factories can avoid production disruptions, improve the life circle of machines and equipment, as well as stabilise production.

In particular, intelligent robots with the ability to perform complex operations requiring high precision can soon replace people in dangerous stages, thereby increasing productivity and safety levels in factories.

Not only in manufacturing, but many telecom companies have started AI applications in managing mobile phone subscriptions. VNPT has been actively investing in human resources to master many AI technologies.

Notably, it has deployed AI technology in its registration management application and updated SMCS mobile subscription information.

VNPT also said that with AI technology, registering subscriber information will only take up to five seconds compared to the many manual steps needed previously.

This AI technology automatically peels off all image data, converts it into text and injects information into the corresponding data fields, allowing the use of electronic signatures and electronic records.

Another telecom giant, Viettel, is also developing strongly based on AI analysing voices, images, completing virtual assistant software, distinguishing abnormal acts, and turning information into assets valuable not only for Viettel but also for the society.

In the field of health, Viettels solution for analysing and diagnosing abnormal images by ultrasound (a diagnostics solution to support patients and doctors 24/7) is undergoing the final tests in the laboratory.

Besides these developments and advantages, Vietnam and the world lack the AI workforce in both quantity and quality.

According to the TopDevz IT recruitment platform, the shortage of skilled IT workers is an obstacle to Vietnams IT industry in catching up with the worlds technology.

In the country, there will be a shortage of 75,000 IT personnel in 2019 which will continue to increase to 100,000 in 2020, according to Enternews.vn.

In the report Overview of Artificial Intelligence in Vietnam 2018 announced by Nexus FrontierTech, rubikAI, and G&H Ventures, AI enterprises also face many difficulties when starting their businesses.

About 59 per cent of the companies have been established less than two years ago, and 34 per cent of them may mobilise more than $200,000 from investors.

Nexus FrontierTech, rubikAI, and G&H Ventures proposed that to motivate AI development in Vietnam, the education and training system should play an elevated role, and the country should attract more

foreign investment.

Formal AI training at universities, or more widely popularised technology training is needed to solve AI manpower problems, bringing many career opportunities for technology talents.

In addition, most AI companies still operate at the initial stage on a small scale, with 68 per cent employing fewer than 50 people, and 70 per cent having fewer than 10 engineers.

Therefore, corporations and venture capitalists can provide vital support, the research team stressed.

Building an AI-ready workforce is a vital issue to solve to develop the AI sector. According to PwC, 38 per cent of executives will focus on AI tools for business people, the second-ranked capability they will

cultivate after reusable data sets and models.

However, AI is still complex. Even with basic training, people may not fully understand different AI algorithms parameters and performance levels.

They could accidentally apply the wrong algorithms and get unintended results.

Therefore, a workforce strategy that creates three levels of AI-savvy employees, including citizen users, citizen developers, and data scientists, provide ways for all three to work together successfully.

As AI spreads, most of a companys employees will need training to become AI citizen users to use the companys AI-enhanced applications, support good data governance, and get expert help when

needed.

A more specialised group, perhaps 5 to 10 per cent of the company workforce, should receive further training to become citizen developers: line-of-business professionals who are power users and can

identify use cases and data sets, and work closely with AI specialists to develop new AI applications.

Finally, a small but crucial group of data engineers and data scientists will do the heavy lifting to create, deploy, and manage AI applications.

In fact, there are not enough human resources who can do the work to go around for AI companies.

Thus, with the spread of AI, the issue of AI workforce and training are emerging as burning issues that

need to be resolved with haste. VIR

Tan Duong

85 percent of Vietnam's enterprises remain outside of Industry 4.0: report As many as 85 percent of industrial enterprises in Vietnam still lag behind the fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), and only 13 per cent are at the beginner level, one official has warned.

Technology group FPT to build AI-education complex in Binh Dinh The FPT Corp recently received approval to build an AI-education complex in Binh Dinh province.
In his late 20s, Ho Van Thang decided to launch his first business growing the species of chili pepper his family has treasured for centuries on the western mountain of Quang Tri Province.

The journey of a Mong minority to a brighter future

Ethnic farmers grow valuable tea in remote mountains

Gender inequality in ethnic minority groups: survey

Farmers in Quang Tri Province harvest chili peppers.  VNS Photo Thanh Truc

The idea came to the Van Kieu ethnic man because the indigenous chili planting area had gradually disappeared, replaced by cassava.

Since a tapioca starch factory was opened, people have switched to planting cassava as it was promised to bring them better profits, said Thang. The forest with which we grew up was cut down while many precious indigenous species disappeared along with the clean environment our ancestors have lived in for years.

Thang was motivated by improving local peoples lives, securing their livelihoods and conserving traditional plants and cultivation methods.

According to the Government, Vietnam is now in its third wave of start-up innovation. Innovation and Industry 4.0 have become common catchphrases.

While people around the country pivot to technologies of the future, Thang is taking a step back to embrace the traditions that nurtured him and hundreds of other people in his tribe.

Chili pepper is just one of several traditional products we want to restore, Thang said. They are all indigenous, high-quality and naturally cultivated  factors the market has been searching for.

Nearly a thousand kilometres away, in the northwestern mountainous area in Lai Chau Province, member of the Nung ethnic group Ly Van Ngang formed a group of eight members to produce and gather local products, serving a similar mission  to preserve traditional values and create sustainable livelihoods for local people.

The group did surveys in both Vietnam and China and then decided to focus first on the domestic market.

Our mainstay is indigenous rice which can only be planted in the communes of Lai Chau, Ngang said. The rice has a special taste and high nutrient content.

With quality products, good agricultural practices and high demand, it seems like the start-up businesses of Thang and Ngang are enjoying the conditions to thrive.

But the reality is not so simple. There seems to be a missing piece of the puzzle connecting their products with consumer markets.

Since most of our products are seasonal, it is impossible for us to maintain the supply for distributors, said Thang.

How to best preserve product quality without using preservatives is another question, said Ngang. We want to expand the market but we cannot transport products too far.

Poor bargaining power and price setting ability also prevent these young farmers from getting the profit they deserve.

I often wonder how to successfully connect with traders and build sustainable ties to establish a stronger foundation for indigenous products, Ngang said.

Organic key

Just like Thang and Ngang, Luong Thu Hoai is a start-up entrepreneur.

She owns two shops that distribute local specialities with 80 per cent of goods coming from Ha Giang Province.

Being a specialty, indigenous species and having clear origins are three criteria I set for any product we distribute, said Hoai.

Understanding the concerns of Thang and Ngang, Hoai stressed upon brand building as the first step to unlock the market.

You have to let them know about your presence, she said. It is all about packaging, how you want your customers recognise your products and how they will be transported while still maintaining the best quality.

Traceability is one of the biggest challenges for farmers like Thang and Ngang as their focus is traditional know-how.

According to Hoai, customers want and have the right to know how the food they eat is made.

It seems complicated talking about traceability, Hoai said. In fact, all you need to do is to keep track of all steps in your production  when worms appear, what kind of fertiliser you use, for example. A pen and a notebook are all you need.

Nguyen Cong Chi, director of Digital Verifying Technology Company, has worked in the field since 2014, two years before the Government started paying attention to traceability in agriculture.

The company provides agricultural start-ups run by ethnic minority youngsters a quality management system for free for one year.

Farmers will need to prove their products are indigenous, well made and traceable to receive the support, Chi said.

Ngo Kieu Oanh, an independent consultant for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said policy advocacy can be one solution to reduce the challenges faced by start-up farmers.

Vietnam is proud of its agricultural products, yet many of them cannot make their way to the 90-million-person market, she said.

The Government must play the role of facilitator to create an environment in which agricultural start-ups can thrive.

In 2018, Vietnam issued two decrees on organic agriculture and promoting co-operation in production and consumption. Both were designed to offer farmers greater opportunities and more assistance in developing sustainable agriculture.

Farmers should focus on organic production as there is high demand and customers are willing to pay more, Oanh said.

She gave Tien Giangs Province Lo Ren star apple fruit as an example of an organic-certified specialty which was able to satisfy the US market.

Technology will help you achieve both quality and quantity, bringing a name for your products and opening a door to export markets, said Oanh.

Mountainous areas have advantages to develop organic agriculture, she said. And farmers, accompanied by investors, traders and the Government, should be the vanguard leading the way.

Thang, Ngang, Hoai and other young entrepreneurs have taken the first steps towards building successful businesses based on their traditional values.

They are bound to face challenges, but with hard work and dedication to their craft, the future is bright.

Indigenous species are our pride, the foundation and also the motivation that pushes us forward. With those lasting values, I believe I can try and thrive in my own hometown, Ngang said.

VNS
Fake university diplomas are being offered for sale in many places in Hanoi and HCM City.

A fake diploma



Millions of results about making and trading fake university diplomas can be found on the internet. The service providers even sent advertising messages to attract customers.

A provider on Ho Tung Mau Street, Hanoi, said he could fake bachelor degrees from any university in Vietnam. Each diploma is sold for VND4m (USD171) to VND6m.

Meanwhile, another provider on Lang Street can fake bachelor degrees for VND9m with real seals.

He said he was able to connect with people who could let him use the real seals from the universities.

The provider said his customers had used fake diplomas from the University of Construction, University of Transport, and National Economics University.

According to the provider, his customers are mostly construction workers, mechanics or pharmacists.

They have the experiences but do not have the diplomas they need.

Even the leader of the University of Construction said it was very difficult to detect the fake diplomas since the seal looked very real.

However, the seal still looks a bit blurry and the font used on the fake diplomas is different from the real ones.

The fake diplomas will be found out if they check the given serial number and the student's name.

Each year, the University of Construction receives hundreds of inquiries to check the awards of their degrees.

However, the university's leaders said that their seals were closely managed so they could not be replicated outside.

Colonel Le Dinh Thanh, head of the police department in Nam Tu Liem District, said the forged diploma market was very complicated so they had had troubles in dealing with violations.

In May, they busted a case where a facility in HCM City provided a large number of fake diplomas to customers in Hanoi.

They seized 1,200 seals for various vocational schools, colleges and universities across Vietnam.

Tien Phong/Dtinews

Penalties on sales of fake medicines proposed Twelve people involved in a counterfeit cancer drug scandal at VN Pharma Company are facing new charges of selling fake medicine, instead of smuggling, according to investigators at the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Fake anti-cancer drug manufacturers sentenced to prison Nguyen Xuan Thu, general director of Vinaca Limited Company, which produced anti-cancer drugs made from bamboo charcoal powder has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.
A national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines flight to Frankfurt, Germany, had to return to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi just 30 minutes after taking off because of a technical problem.

An airplane of Vietnam Airlines

Initially, the Boeing 787 Flight VN37 was scheduled to leave Noi Bai at 11 pm on Friday, but it was then delayed until 2:36 am the next day after technical warnings related the planes wings.

However, 30 minutes after the departure, another technical problem was detected related to the backup power generator; so the captain decided to return Noi Bai.

After the landing, Vietnam Airlines used another Boeing 787 for the replacement. The flight safely arrived at Frankfurt.

Following inspection, the faulty aircraft has resumed operation.

Vietnam Airlines apologised and the affected people were provided with alternative flights. Dtinews

Vietnam Airlines apologises for delayed flight Vietnam Airlines has issued an apology to 200 passengers when a flight to Germany was delayed 33 minutes to wait for a passenger.

Vietnam Airlines launches Meet & Greet service National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has rolled out a Meet and Greet service through the Vietnam Airport Ground Services Company (VIAGS), a member of the airline.
Nha Trang has so much more than beautiful beaches and more Russian restaurants than you can shake a stick at, its also home to stunning architecture.

The best attractions in Nha Trang

Stone Church in Nha Trang

The church is a popular place for a spot of photography among young people.  Photo bazantravel.com

One such example in the city in Khanh Hoa Province is the Christ the King Cathedral, a stone church built almost 100 years ago that is also known as a (Stone) church, Nui (Mountain) church, Nha Trang church, or Nga Sau church among locals.

The Christ the King Cathedral is the largest church in Nha Trang and sits on a hill in the city centre, meaning it can be seen from much of the city.



On September 3, 1928, the construction of the church began on a small mountain named Hon Mot. It was built entirely of stone in French Gothic style and featured beautiful stained glass windows by Priest Louis Vallet (1869 - 1945). After Vallet died, he was buried at the foothills of the church.

By December, 1941, the work was completed.

There are two paths leading to the church from the centre of Nha Trang, one a 53-step stone staircase from Thai Nguyen Street and the other a stone pathway from the city square which leads to the yard behind the church.



The three bronze bells in the churchs bell tower are an original feature and are still in working order, with the tower itself surmounted by a large crucifix.

Inside the church, there are hints of Vietnamese influence, namely a pink backlight on the tabernacle and neon lights galore, including a white neon-lit halo atop St. Marys statue.

The chancel area is large and airy with a high and free arch, which is full of light in the early morning, giving the church a peaceful and relaxed ambience.

Outside, the church is decorated with statues of saints and a green campus with various kinds of flowers.

I admire the talented workers that created this masterpiece of stone construction. It looks like a citadel and rampart as well as palace of ancient Rome, said Nguyen The Trong, a visitor from HCM City.

The church is also an ideal place for photographers and young couples to take wedding photos.

"The space here is very quiet and relaxing. I am deeply impressed by its unique architecture. Standing in any corner of the church, I still have very beautiful photos. I came here at the end of the day with little sunshine, which is great for taking photos. My photos dont need much editing, said Tri Nguyen from HCM City.

Christ the King Cathedral is an interesting destination for visitors to Nha Trang, and even better, its an ideal spot for some beautiful summer photos, all you need is a spiffy outfit and a photographer.

Lam Giang

VNS
WATERLOO -- A Waterloo man who fired at women and children after making threats has pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges.

Jamaal Baker, 40, entered his plea to one count of felon in possession of a firearm on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Sentencing will be at a later date.

Authorities said Baker threatened to kill the mother of his child while they were at an Oliver Street home in January 2018. He also said he was going to make police kill him, according to court records.

When the woman and a friend fled with four children, Baker allegedly fired two shots. Police responded to the gunfire and found Baker hiding in a freezer in Speedy Mart on Linn Street. Officers found a .32-caliber Lorcin handgun in a vehicle parked nearby.

Authorities said at the time of the shooting, Baker was barred from handling firearms because of a 1999 felony conviction from Cook County, Ill.

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RTHK: River boat captain charged over deadly collision

The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged on Saturday over the accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists and left 21 missing.

A Budapest court official said the Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn had been charged, but gave no further details.

The 64-year-old was detained on Thursday for questioning a day after his vessel collided with the smaller Mermaid, carrying mainly South Korean tourists, causing it to overturn and sink on a busy stretch of the Danube.

He was questioned for "endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths", police said at the time.

The captain's lawyer, Balazs Toth, said the court had granted bail, but prosecutors were appealing it so his client remained detained.

"My client has not changed his statement made as a witness. He insists that he has not made any error," his other lawyer, Gabor Elo, told reporters after the hearing.

Strong currents have hampered the search for those missing -- 19 South Koreans, the second boat's Hungarian captain and one crew member, preventing divers from reaching the submerged boat.

The collision happened on a popular part of the river, from where sightseers can view the city and parliament, which is lit up at night.

Larger river cruise boats travelling on the Danube between Germany and the Black Sea typically spend several days moored in the capital. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-06-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
US President Donald Trump has accepted an offer to form a joint working group with Turkey to study Washington's concerns over Ankara's purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia, the Middle East Eye reported on Friday. TRT World reports in its article Trump accepts Turkey's offer of working group on Russian S-400  report that citing several unnamed Turkish officials, the London-based online news outlet reported the Pentagon and US Department of State were against the formation of the group. Trump overruled their apprehensions in a phone conversation with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, the news organisation reported.

Officials in Turkey and the US were not immediately available for comment. Washington says the sale of S-400s to Turkey will jeopardise Ankara's role in the US F-35 fighter jet programme and could trigger Congressional sanctions.

No delay in delivery of missiles

Turkey on Friday denied reports claiming Ankara is considering a delay in the procurement of the S-400 missile defence systems on US demands. "Our procurement process of S-400 from Russia is ongoing as planned," Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said. He also said Turkey's offer to form a working group with the US to discuss Ankara's pending procurement of Russian S-400 is still valid.

Tensions between the US and Turkey reached a fever pitch in recent months with Ankara set to receive the surface-to-air missile defence system. Following protracted efforts to purchase an air defence system from the US with no success, Ankara decided in 2017 to purchase the Russian S-400. US officials advised Turkey to buy the US Patriot missile system rather than the S-400s from Moscow, arguing the Russian system would be incompatible with NATO systems and expose the F-35 to possible Russian subterfuge. Turkey, however, emphasised the S-400 would not be integrated into NATO systems and would not pose a threat to the alliance.
CEDAR RAPIDS -- US. Marshals Service Task Force and Cedar Rapids police officers on Tuesday located murder suspect Andre Richardson, 26, in the 300 block of 22nd Avenue SW.

Richardson fled on foot from officers. He was located hiding in a garage at 299 21st Ave. SW and was in custody at 11:15 a.m.

Area schools including Wilson Middle School and Grant School went into lockdown.

The shooting incident occurred in the Iowa Smoke Shop parking lot at 70 Kirkwood Court SW shortly after 1:20 a.m. Four victims sustained gunshot wounds in the incident. Matrell Michael Eugene Johnson, 18, and Royal Ceiz Abram, 18, died as a result of the shooting. Two other victims, including a 19-year old male and a 19-year old female, remain hospitalized.

Richardson was arrested for two counts of fist-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of willful injury causing serious injury, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, Felon in possession of a firearm, and going armed with intent.

There is still an active, ongoing investigation. The Cedar Rapids Police Department continues to work with the Linn County Attorneys Office on this case. The Police Department continues to encourage anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Cedar Rapids Police Department at (319) 286-5491 or Linn County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-CS-CRIME.

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WATERLOO  Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will return to Iowa next weekend, with one of his stops in Waterloo.

His Waterloo stop is described as a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the National Cattle Congress grounds, pavilion building, 257 Ansborough Ave.

The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is encouraged. Entrance is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sanders plans to also makes stops in Des Moines, Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids and Dubuque.

To RSVP, go to https://act.berniesanders.com/event/bernie-town-hall-campaign_attend/7968

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Speaking to Iranian ISNA news agency on Saturday Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Saad Abdul Wahab Jawad Qandil said that the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had offered the non-aggression pact to the Persian Gulf countries during his visit to Iraq, adding that the Iraqi officials had welcomed Zarifs offer and had declared that they would convey the message to the Persian Gulf countries with which Iran does not have diplomatic relations, Mehr news agency reports.

The Iraqi ambassador also said that according to his knowledge, the offered non-aggression pact had been discussed by deputy Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi during his tour to Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

In response to the question whether Iraq is going to play the role of a mediator in conveying Irans offer to the Persian Gulf countries, Qandil answered yes.
Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said in an interview that he would not challenge President Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020. The comment came just a day after former Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the same on CNN.

The decisions leave limited options for the "Never Trump" wing of the Republican Party. Thus far, the only notable challenge to the president has come from former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld. However, he has not won an election since 1994 and has gained little traction thus far.
Matteo Pucciarelli in New Left Review:

Italy has a new strongmanfor many, a new saviour. The effective head of the government in Rome is not the titular Premier, Giuseppe Conte, nor the winner of the last election, Five Stars leader Luigi Di Maio. It is the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini. As if overnight, a hitherto obscure municipal councillor from Milan, long-time militant in the separatist Northern League, has become the most powerful figure in the country. In just five years, a party that was a dilapidated political relic, with 34 per cent support in the polls, has become, in his hands, the pivot of Italianand perhaps Europeanpolitics. There is a sense, however, in which the story of this astonishing transformation begins a long way off, not in time but spacein the wars and vast economic disparities that have driven millions of Africans and Asians across the Mediterranean in search of work, freedom and a little well-being, towards an affluent Europe that is ever more ageing, unequal and rancorous.

An otherwise normal February day in 2016 in a holding camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, in the middle of that years migrant emergency, offers a sense of this landscape. The hamlet of Idomeni lies among low hills, the jagged Balkans in the distance. Here, the double barbed wire of the government in Skopje attracts less attention than Orbans rolls of the same in Hungary, thoughmatter for guilt for some, merit for otherslanding a single country with the consequences of a modern exodus. It is nearly supper-time, and seen from a distance the Greek camp, which holds about ten thousand refugees, is quiet, as if swallowed up in the darkness. But as you get closer, there is a souk and some children dancing to Syrian music.

More here.
According to the results of the past elections to the European Parliament, in general, the old, traditional European parties lost their positions. At the same time, new parties and right-wing conservative forces gained significant popularity, the analyst of the news agency Vestnik Kavkaza, Matvey Katkov, said today in the National Question program on Vesti FM.

He recalled that the European Peoples Party (EPP), the largest in the European Parliament, maintained the lead, but showed a worse result than in the 2014 elections. "In the new European Parliament, the party will receive 178 seats, and according to the results of the 2014 elections, it received 221 mandates. The total number of seats in the European Parliament has not changed -751. In my opinion, this is typical, and it is observed among other parties, too, the analyst said.

He drew attention to the fact that in Germany, the CDU-CSU union lost some positions. "The Union retained the majority of votes but showed a result worse than on the previous elections. This year the party received less than 29%, although, in 2014, it gained 35%. Germany ranks first in the European Parliament in terms of the number of mandates, there are 96, so the result may affect the balance of power in the European Parliament ", the expert continued.

He also noted that the elections in France, which has the second largest representation in the European Parliament, were especially interesting. According to the results of the voting, Marine Le Pens party the National Rally won the elections gaining 23.31%. The Presidential party La Republique En Marhe! does not lag behind too much, but still loses to Le Pen with 22.41% of votes. In the previous European Parliament, Le Pens Europe of Nations and Freedoms was the smallest - only 37 seats. However, following the results of the past elections, the party won 55 seats, which is also very significant, Matvey Katkov noted.

The expert drew attention to the fact that the EPP and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, which won the second place, cannot form a parliamentary majority and will have to form a coalition.

Of course, assessing these results, it is tempting to state that in the European Union, there is an increase in the right-wing conservative and nationalist forces. However, it seems to me that in many respects, these elections are the result of internal political struggle in the EU member states. This partly contradicts the very idea of the common European political institutions. In theory, the factions of the European Parliament should forget about belonging to the nation states and deal with the European issues. However, today we are witnessing how the internal political issues of individual states are being taken to the pan-European level, in particular, by influencing the balance of power in the European Parliament. I do not support the view that the pan-European integration institutions have proven to be ineffective, but now we see that in practice they do not work exactly as it was initially planned, the analyst concluded.
Taste: Ring in the new year with mimosa cupcakes
HOUSTON  The remains of a child were found Friday near a freeway in Arkansas where a community activist says a man told him he had dumped the body of a missing 4-year-old Houston girl, police said Friday.

Houston police went to Arkansas on Friday after community activist Quanell X told authorities the man arrested in connection with the disappearance of Maleah Davis confessed he disposed of her body there just before he reported her missing in early May.

Houston Police Commander Michael Skillern, one of the officers who traveled to Arkansas, told reporters that authorities had found a childs remains in a garbage bag near Interstate 30 close to Hope.

Quanell X said he spoke on Friday in jail with Derion Vence, the ex-fiance of Maleahs mother, who had claimed Maleah was abducted. Quanell X said that Vence told him he dumped her body in Arkansas.

Sheriff James Singleton in Arkansas Hempstead County said workers found the bag, which had a foul odor coming from it, near Hope, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of the Texas-Arkansas border.

Singleton said the medical examiners office in Little Rock likely will have to identify the remains.

If this is the little girl, we want to make sure that we treat it with respect and dignity, Singleton said.

At a news conference in Houston, Executive Assistant Police Chief Troy Finner said authorities wont be able to confirm if the remains are those of Maleah until an autopsy is performed.

It was unclear how long the identification process would take, Finner said.

Do we believe that its possibly her? Yes. But can we confirm it right now? No, Finner said.

Finner said Maleahs family had been notified of Fridays developments in the case and he expects a murder charge will be filed in the case.

We are here to make sure that little angel receives some justice and whoever is responsible we are going to hold them accountable, he said.

Vence, 27, had claimed he, Maleah and his 2-year-old son were abducted on May 4 by a group of men in a truck. He said he and his son were freed the next day but the kidnappers kept Maleah and his silver Nissan Altima. Police said Vences story kept changing and didnt add up.

Police arrested Vence and charged him with tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse. He remains jailed on a $40,000 bond.

Quanell X said that during his jail visit, Vence told him Maleah is dead and he confessed he dumped the girls body in Arkansas off the side of a road. Quanell X declined to comment on what Vence told him regarding how Maleah had died.

One thing he wanted to make clear to me was what happened to Maleah was an accident, Quanell X said.

In a statement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office has spoken with Vences attorney and there is no agreement in the case.

We continue to work with the Houston Police Department to bring justice for Maleah Davis, Ogg said.

Dorian Cotlar, Vences attorney, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

On Friday, Cotlar filed a motion in court asking a judge to prohibit Quanell X from visiting Vence in jail, where he remains held on a $45,000 bond.

Quanell X had previously spoken on behalf of Brittany Bowens, Maleahs mother, but said he stopped being her spokesman because of inconsistencies in her story.

Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her brothers from the apartment Vence and Bowens shared in August after the girl suffered a head wound, but the children were returned in February, according to an agency spokeswoman.

Bowens could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Earlier in May, Bowens told KRIV-TV she loved her children and it was absurd that anybody would think she had anything to do with Maleahs disappearance or with hurting her.

After a canceled court appearance by Vence on May 13, Bowens was heckled outside the courtroom by people who questioned if she had done enough to protect her daughter before her disappearance.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
Rio Rancho Public Schools management and the district employees union have agreed on a contract that incorporates 6-percent pay raises and two pilot programs involving leave from work.

The RRPS Board of Education unanimously approved the agreement, which Rio Rancho School Employees Union members had ratified, at their meeting Tuesday night at the district administration building. Management and union representatives had been negotiating since the last contract expired in 2013.

We feel pretty good about the fact weve come to a place of agreement on it, said Executive Director of Human Resources Sue Passell at the meeting.

The contract covers the 2019-20 school year, and then the district and union will evaluate how its going, she said. Some changes from the prior contract formalized practices already in place, while others introduced significant differences.

This negotiated contract  on which RRSEU was a leader  correctly prioritized issues and policy which put students needs first and made RRPS a better place for educators to work, said new union president Billie Helean in a news release. By working together, we made great progress together on behalf of the employees  but more importantly, our students.

Starting July 1, salaries will increase 6 percent, according to the agreement. Employees on the teacher salary schedule will get a raise of 6 percent or an increase to the state-mandated minimum salary on their tier of the schedule, whichever is greater.

The new contract puts staff such as librarians, social workers, speech and language pathologists and nurses on the same pay schedule as classroom teachers for the first time. Passell said the district and union were trying to get employees whose salaries had been frozen up to the same level as new employees who were required to be hired at a pay level that matched their experience and training.

The newer employees had been making more than longer-lasting employees. She said a few salaries were still frozen because of lack of money but progress had been made.

The agreement also adjusts salaries of maintenance employees to better reflect their experience and licensure, according to the district.

In addition, the new contract institutes a pilot program allowing full-time educational assistants to apply for family and medical leave after a year of employment with RRPS. Passell said assistants usually didnt build up enough work hours to qualify for that type of leave previously.

This is a year were just going to try it and see how it goes, she said.

Another pilot program allows employees who used three or fewer sick days this past school year to convert leftover sick time into an equivalent number of personal days, up to three, for the upcoming school year. The program is meant to encourage employees to use less sick leave, according to the agreement.

Passell said that on certain days of the year, a lot of teachers want to take personal leave and the district has trouble finding enough substitutes. Under the new contract, teachers cant take those days off unless they have prior approval, which requires them to show evidence of an emergency or a special occasion such as a childs wedding or a funeral occurring during that time.

As another adjustment, employees are required to work two evenings a year, down from three under the previous contract.

To see the full agreement, visit rrps.net.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump is wading into the United Kingdoms political maelstrom days before he is set to embark on his first state visit there, saying Boris Johnson would make an excellent prime minister and calling Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, nasty.

In an interview Friday with the British tabloid The Sun, Trump expressed support for the controversial ex-foreign secretary in his bid to replace Theresa May, saying, I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.

May is to step down amid an impasse over Brexit on June 7, just days after Trump is set to be feted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and after official observances of the 75th anniversary of D-Day are concluded.

Trump referred to the American-born Duchess of Sussex as nasty over comments she made in 2016 threatening to move to Canada if Trump won the White House.

I didnt know that she was nasty, he said of Meghan when read her prior criticism. The former Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, in 2018 and gave birth to their first child, Archie, in May.

During the state visit, the president, his wife, Melania, and his four adult children are expected to meet with Harry as well as his brother, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Meghan is expected to stay home with Archie.

Trump told the newspaper that he didnt know that he wouldnt be meeting Markle but predicted that she will make a very good American princess.

As for May, Trump criticized her handling of Brexit negotiations with the European Union, saying she didnt give the European Union anything to lose.

Trumps first visit to the UK as president was marred by similar critical comments he made to the same tabloid last year about Mays handling of Brexit.

Trump is scheduled to arrive in London on Monday for a three-day visit.
SINGAPORE  U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced Chinas efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarize man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a toolkit of coercion, saying activities by Beijing the U.S. perceives as hostile must end.

In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Koreas extraordinary threat with vows that the U.S. will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region and is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing its stability.

While he didnt specifically name China in early parts of his speech, he made clear who his target was, making pointed references to Beijings campaign to put advanced weapons systems on disputed islands in the region.

If these trends in these behaviors continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful, Shanahan said.

His remarks underscore Americas frayed relations with China, as the Trump administration wages a trade war with Beijing, imposes sanctions on Chinese tech giant Huawei and approves a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory. And they reflect Americas new national defense strategy that declared great power competition with China and Russia as top priorities.

Shanahans speech is also arguably an audition to both the world and U.S. top leaders in Congress, as his nomination for permanent secretary has still not been sent to Capitol Hill by President Donald Trump.

And listening closely in the audience were nervous allies and partners in the region who are worried about the economic impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute and the political blowback of Americas complaints about Beijings rapid progress in hypersonic weapons, nuclear technology and space launches.

Lt. Gen. Shao Yuanming, a senior Chinese officer, said he welcomed deeper communication between China and the U.S., but he expressed strong opposition to some of Shanahans comments on U.S. relations with Taiwan and Chinas operations in the South China Sea. He said China has strong legal claims to the waterway, and that Beijing has put necessary deterrent facilities there in response to U.S. provocation involving military exercises in that region.

Shanahan told reporters Friday that he would use his speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue conference to criticize Beijings use of coercion to advance its interests. And after his remarks, during questions from the audience, he suggested that his speech was more directly critical than those of other U.S. defense secretaries in the past.

I wont apologize for the way I framed some of my remarks, but were not going to ignore Chinese behavior, Shanahan said. I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that. Its not about being confrontational, its about being open and having a dialogue.

Shanahan, however, is one of several Pentagon chiefs to take aim at China during the Singapore conference. In 2014, for example, then-Secretary Chuck Hagel used the podium to slam China for cyberspying and said the U.S. would not look away while Beijings territorial claims destabilized the region and threatened Asias long-term progress.

Still, Shanahan said the U.S. is willing to cooperate with China and welcomes competition, but said behavior that erodes other nations sovereignty and sows distrust of Chinas intentions must end.

Competition does not mean conflict, he said. Competition is not to be feared. We should welcome it, provided that everyone plays by internationally established rules.

He also rejected suggestions that the U.S. is in a face-off or trade war with China, and said economic negotiations with Beijing are ongoing and the Pentagon is building relations with the Chinese military.

But he went on to restate Americas distrust of Huawei, the worlds No. 1 network equipment provider and second-largest smartphone maker. The U.S. claims Huawei is legally beholden to Chinas ruling Communists, which could use the companys products, including its next-generation wireless network known as 5G, for cyberespionage.

Shanahan said Huawei is too close to the government of China, which has laws requiring data be shared.

Thats too much risk for the department, said Shanahan. You cant trust that those networks are going to be protected.

China warned Friday that that it was drawing up a list of unreliable foreign companies, organizations and individuals for targeting in what could signal retaliation for U.S. sanctions on Huawei.

Much of Shanahans speech centered on Americas work with partners across the region.

The Indo-Pacific is our priority theater, he said. We are where we belong. We are investing in the region. We are investing in you, and with you.

But he also called on the Pacific nations to invest in their own futures.

Several U.S. senators attending the conference gave Shanahan high marks for his speech, saying his criticism of China hit the right tone. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said Shanahan distinguished himself in his remarks, including assertions that conflict with China is not inevitable.

King stopped short of saying he would vote for Shanahan when his nomination hits the Senate, but Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said she was impressed and is now more inclined to support him.

On North Korea, Shanahan said the U.S. is focused on negotiations to achieve full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, adding that the North has neared a point where it could credibly strike regional allies, U.S. territory and our forward-deployed forces.

He credited China for its cooperation on enforcing U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.

In a departure from past conferences, however, Shanahan faced little backlash from the Chinese leaders in the audience during the question-and-answer session.

On Friday, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian was both conciliatory and challenging.

Wu told reporters that the U.S. has recently had a series of negative words and deeds on Taiwan issues.

On the issue of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the U.S. should not underestimate the determination of the Chinese military, will or ability, he said.

___

Associated Press writer Annabelle Liang contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The Justice Department has taken early steps toward opening a federal antitrust investigation into Google, according to three people familiar with the matter, marking a new chapter in the tech giants troubles with regulators around the world who contend the company is too large and threatens rivals and consumers.

The move thrusts Google back under the regulatory microscope in the United States roughly six years after another federal agency probed the search and advertising behemoth on grounds that its business practices threatened competitors  though the government spared the company from major punishment at the time.

The exact focus of the Justice Departments investigation is unclear. The department began work on the matter after brokering an agreement with the governments other antitrust agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to take the lead on antitrust oversight of Google, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are confidential.

The probe could threaten Google with a harsh examination of its sprawling digital empire, which includes its dominant position in search and advertising, its Android mobile operating system and newer gambits such as self-driving cars and drones. Its expansive, data-hungry footprint increasingly has drawn the attention of Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who say that Google  and some of its peers in Silicon Valley  have become too large and should potentially be broken up.

The DOJ declined to comment, citing its policy against confirming or denying investigations. The FTC did not respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Some Democrats seeking the presidency in 2020, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have explicitly threatened more oversight of the tech industry if they win the White House.

Google and other big tech companies have too much power and theyre using that power to hurt small businesses, stifle innovation, and tilt the playing field against everyone else, Warren said in a statement late Friday. Its time to fight back.

The Trump administration has also studied Silicon Valley: The Justice Department convened state attorneys general last year to explore the competition concerns posed by Google and other big tech companies. Some of those state attorneys general expressed their own interest in banding together and opening an antitrust investigation of Google at the time.

In Googles previous tangle with antitrust regulators, FTC officials sought to determine whether the companys search algorithms  and its practice of devoting better screen real estate to its services over those of rivals  threatened competitors. The FTC also investigated Googles advertising practices, as well as the means by which the company licensed to its rivals some of the critical patents involving mobile phones.

But the FTC opted in 2013 against forcing Google to alter broad aspects of its business, including the way it displays search results. The agency also decided not to pursue a breakup of Google. The decision by the agency, at the time under President Barack Obama, drew the ire of critics who felt the agency should have challenged Google in a way similar to when the government sued Microsoft in the 1990s in one of the last major U.S. antitrust cases. The government at the time alleged that Microsoft broke federal antitrust laws to protect its dominant operating system, Windows, and crush competitors.

In contrast, Google has faced greater antitrust scrutiny abroad. The European Union has been a leading force in actions against the tech giant, and regulators there have imposed roughly $9 billion in fines against the company in the past three years. Those rulings include findings of violations of competition rules in the way Google presents search results. EU rulings also faulted the company for how it licenses its Android smartphone operating system to device makers. EU officials also have threatened additional investigations and potential penalties, spurred on by allegations from some of Googles competitors, such as the reviews site Yelp.

At the Justice Department, a full-fledged antitrust probe of Google could present another major test for an agency that has most recently been scrutinizing the tech and telecom industries. Last year, the department unsuccessfully challenged AT&Ts purchase of Time Warner, and in recent weeks, antitrust lawyers there have raised concerns about the proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile.

Makan Delrahim, who currently leads Justices antitrust division, is on his second tour of duty at the agency. Delrahim previously represented corporate clients including Google during its purchase of the ad giant DoubleClick in 2007.
In Gudauri, a Filipino tourist was killed as a result of an accident. The Georgian Interior Ministry reported that the tourist flew from Gudauri on a paraglider, but lost control over the Gudsky Gorge and fell into the Aragvi River.

Along with him was a citizen of Georgia, who survived the tragedy.

A criminal case has been initiated into the death of a tourist under the article causing death by negligence, Georgia Online reports.
Data shows that one in every four children throughout New Mexico are food insecure  thats approximately 130,000 children who are unsure where their next meal is coming from.

Breaks from school and out-of-school time present challenges for many families with low income who rely on meals provided at school. This is a serious issue  children require good nutrition for optimal growth and development, readiness to learn and school performance. When it comes to hunger, even when we control for the effects of factors correlated with poverty, food-insecure children are more likely than food-secure children to face health problems such as anemia, lower nutrient intake, cognitive problems and so on.

The after-school space serves as a bridge, providing opportunities for youth to have access to healthy foods when they are not in school, and can be a critical partner in addressing childhood hunger in the state. Throughout New Mexico, there are limited resources for youth to access healthy meals after school. This is only exacerbated by the fact that after-school programs are not always accessible to low-income families due to program fees. It is well documented that after-school programs can prevent summer learning loss and can mediate achievement gaps that exist among low-income youth  especially in math and reading  but are also cost prohibitive to these youth.

The At-Risk Program is a component of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) that provides meals to youth who do not have access to food after school hours. The most recent national data from the Food Research & Action Center shows New Mexico had an average daily participation of 5,934 students in the At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program in 2017. The Food Research & Action Center has established a goal for each state to provide 15 suppers for every 100 free/reduced school lunches provided. Only the District of Columbia has achieved the 15:100 goal.

If New Mexico was to serve 15 suppers for every 100 lunches served via the National School Lunch Program, New Mexico could have an average daily participation in the At-Risk Meals Program of 27,699 children. With this number, New Mexico could feed an additional 21,764 children after 3 p.m., which translates to $1,323,750 in additional federal reimbursement dollars that can be used to hire staff, purchase new equipment and expand access to after-school programs by decreasing fees. Meeting this goal, however, is not possible if more after-school programs do not exist.

There are several after-school programs throughout the state working toward reducing hunger by adding suppers.

 Albuquerque is able to serve thousands of meals every week at its after-school sites throughout Bernalillo County.

 The Rio Grande Educational Collaborative provides meals to the children taking part in its programming and served nearly 20,000 meals in April this year.

 Moving Arts Espanola provides free farm-to-table suppers prepared fresh daily in-house by Chef Laura Cox to 300 children a week. Over the course of a year, Moving Arts provides 12,000 free meals to youth throughout the Espanola region.

Expanding access to healthy meals after school to the 130,000 children who face food insecurity is a necessary investment to improve the health and education outcomes of New Mexicos most vulnerable citizens. Each day after-school programs keep youth safe, offer enrichment opportunities and provide youth with food they may otherwise not have. By investing in after-school programs and utilizing child nutrition programs such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program, we can work toward ensuring all New Mexican youth have access to healthy meals and build a successful and hunger-free New Mexico!
Despite our states economic recovery, many New Mexico families are experiencing financial insecurity. Too many of us feel were working harder than ever just to meet basic needs. A major source of anxiety is health. Were concerned about affordable and accessible care, but were also worried about getting sick in the first place. Families like mine worry about shattering their family budget and getting buried under health care costs because we cant afford to lose a days pay.

Thats why I applaud the Bernalillo County Commission for introducing a bill to give every worker in the county the right to earn sick days. Thanks to Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins, it is model legislation, giving employees the ability to earn one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours per year, and they can roll over unused time into the next year.

This policy would benefit my family and so many others. I have two children in elementary school. Despite my best efforts to wash hands, wipe noses and ask them to cough in their elbows, they both tend to bring home whatever virus is going around their classrooms. I consider myself lucky when they are both sick at the same time. And Im the one who takes care of them and everyone else because I have a flexible work schedule. Last year, my mother had both of her knees replaced. I was responsible for taking her to physical therapy and doctors appointments. But there was a cost; I would put my children to bed and then work until midnight or later to meet work deadlines to compensate for the time I was away helping my mother. I couldnt afford to lose that income.

The loss of income  or even your job  because you or a family member is sick is a major source of stress and anxiety for working moms like me. These loyal workers may forego medical care or risk financial instability when illness causes them to miss work. Workers in New Mexico also lack protection from discipline or dismissal for short-term absences due to illness or domestic violence. Under the county proposal, employees can use sick and safe time to recover from illness, seek preventive care, take care of a sick child or other family member, or escape from and address domestic violence.

Allowing New Mexican workers to earn paid sick days is both the smart and the right thing to do. More than 100,000 working people in the county, and half of all workers statewide, cant earn a single paid sick day to care for themselves or their families. This hurts all of us. When people go to work sick, they infect their colleagues, take longer to heal and are less productive.

Workers without paid sick days are more likely to go to work sick and more likely to delay needed medical care, leading to prolonged illness and costly emergency room visits. Food service, personal care and child care workers generally have less access to earned sick leave. Researchers estimate that five million cases of the flu could have been prevented in 2009 if all working people were able to earn paid sick days.

Though some in the business community will surely try to quash this working-families legislation, providing earned sick days is actually a common sense solution that helps business. Jurisdictions that have embraced this policy find that besides being the right thing to do, earned sick leave is a cost-effective solution that nurtures a productive workforce. Providing employees with the ability to earn paid sick days off keeps the high cost of turnover and loss of productivity down, and creates healthier families and communities. Studies show that in cities and states that have implemented earned sick days, business owners are supportive of the policy and report that costs are nonexistent or minimal.

New Mexicans agree family stability is essential to ensure the success of our children and future generations. Passing Bernalillo Countys proposed earned sick days measure is an important down payment on that brighter future.
Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A building at Los Alamos National Laboratory with a price pegged at more than $1 billion apparently has some bad plumbing.

A federal safety oversight board recently reported that the operations staff at the Radiological Laboratory Utility Office Building found a leak in the buildings radioactive liquid waste system.

The leak was small and hasnt caused any safety problems, according to the lab. But critics say the leak is just another example in a long line of problems at the national lab.

Engineers determined that the leaky valve and six others apparently were made from carbon steel  incompatible with radioactive liquid waste streams from chemistry operations at the building that include nitric and hydrochloric acids.

The suspect valves are also in contact with stainless steel piping, which would create another corrosion mechanism, says the report posted by inspectors for the independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

The small amount of low-level radioactive liquid waste that leaked was completely contained inside of a sump designed for such an event, said a lab spokesman. Removing this system from service for maintenance activities does not impact safety or the mission. The system remains out of service and isolated until repairs are completed.

Lab watchdogs have labeled RLUOB, which got the green light for construction in 2011, as the most expensive building in New Mexico. The labs website says its part of a capital project to replace aging Cold War-era facilities.

Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a frequent LANL critic who called attention to the recent safety board report, said the plumbing problem is symptomatic of the labs history of safety issues, which has included using the wrong kind of cat litter as a desiccant when packing a radioactive waste drum. A reaction in the drum caused it to breach in 2014 and contaminate the nations nuclear waste storage facility near Carlsbad.

Remember, this is the gang that couldnt get it straight between organic and inorganic cat litter, sending a radioactive waste drum that ruptured and closed the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for three years, costing the American taxpayer three billion dollars to reopen, Coghlan said in a statement.

Now we learn that they dont know elementary plumbing for liquid radioactive wastes lines, and were supposed to trust them while they unjustifiably expand plutonium pit production?

LANL is in the process of ramping up for a congressional mandate to the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nations weapons complex, for production of pits, the plutonium cores of nuclear weapons as part of a huge plan to modernize the nations nuclear arsenal.

It never ends, all these relatively small things that are pretty much constant, Coghlan added.

The report said the staff at RLUOB will confirm the valve materials and if shown to be incorrect, investigate the cause of this failure in the design, procurement, and installation processes.

The valves were installed in 2013 as part of a modification to add straining and sampling capabilities that were not included in the original design, says the report.

RLUOB features special instrumentation and equipment for supporting national security science through the understanding of plutonium, the labs website says. Laboratory space is outfitted with state-of-the-art analytical instruments, gloveboxes, open-front boxes, fume hoods, gloveports, enclosure coating and double-door transfer systems.

From its robust design to its advanced scientific equipment, RLUOB is essential to the Laboratorys national security mission in support of NNSAs nuclear weapons program, the website adds.
For far too many young people, especially in New Mexico, taking drugs has become synonymous with having fun. And while thats been true for decades, today taking a pill being passed around at a party can be the last thing you ever do.

As Journal investigative reporter Colleen Heild revealed in this weeks Sunday Journal, that light blue pill someone offers you could be prescription oxycodone painkiller. It might just be an antacid manufactured to look like oxycodone. Or, it could be a knockoff containing fentanyl that can kill you with a single dose. You never know.

Over the past year, plastic baggies of such pills containing the deadly opioid fentanyl  50 times more powerful than heroin  have shown up at drug busts, traffic stops and other law enforcement operations in New Mexico. One APD supervisor said nobody has any idea whats in this pill, even the dealers selling it. This looks like medication from the doctor. And thats whats scary. The public thinks this is somehow better than using heroin or meth.

Think again. Heilds report describes in heartbreaking detail the needless loss of yet another young New Mexico life due to bad fentanyl.

Her report drives home the point its past time to focus on stopping the distribution of doctored drugs.

Just round up the dealers, right? Well, dealers are minions in an international chain of destruction that often starts with China, a renowned player in fentanyl manufacturing. The fentanyl is often shipped to Mexico, where it is pressed into pills. But when dealers get their supply, they  just like their customers  often have no idea what chemicals and/or other substances went into making that pill.

Consider  a minuscule amount of fentanyl, equivalent to several grains of salt, can prove fatal.

So, is the answer to target the suppliers and manufacturers and force them to shut down their lucrative businesses? In April, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez announced the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, which would impose sanctions on China and Chinese entities that supply and support the trafficking of fentanyl, and also allow new funding to law enforcement to fight foreign opioid trafficking.

Thats a start. Here at home the very least we can do is ensure those who peddle death in our communities face some very real repercussions, as well as use law enforcement to generate genuine fear/education among N.M. suppliers, dealers and users.

In 2007, 18,515 people in the U.S. died due to opioids. In 2017, 47,600 died; nearly 60% of them involving fentanyl.

Enough is enough.

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.
New Mexico State Police officials say the agency actually beefed up its operations in Otero County in recent months, despite the local sheriffs recent complaints that officers left his jurisdiction for Albuquerque, creating a manpower shortage and a rise in crime in his area.

Lt. Mark Soriano, a State Police spokesman, said in an email to the Journal on Thursday night that his agency started increasing its proactive operations in Otero County in April after the county declared a state of emergency because a federal border checkpoint on a highway in the county had closed. Soriano said the agency has focused on doing drug interdiction on highways leading to Otero County, which includes Alamogordo.

Those operations led to hundreds of citations and 18 arrests, he said.

Sorianos email was in response to a letter sent by Otero County Sheriff David Black to media outlets across the state last weekend. The sheriff said six State Police officers who work in his jurisdiction were among the 50 officers from across New Mexico temporarily assigned to Albuquerque as part of a Metro Surge Operation announced May 10. The Journal published a story Wednesday.

The police agency temporarily increased its presence in some of the highest-crime areas of New Mexicos largest city. Black said that the restructuring caused a manpower shortage and led law enforcement to cancel planned operations in Otero County.

State Police officials said they have not canceled any law enforcement operations in Otero County as a result of the Albuquerque operation.

The recent deployment of 50 officers to the Albuquerque operation has not in any way stopped New Mexico State Police from being proactive in any and all areas of that state, Soriano said.  New Mexico State Police has not and will not decline any reasonable requests for assistance from any law enforcement agencies around the state during the Albuquerque operation.

State Police already have begun to scale back their surge in Albuquerque and send some officers back to their regular beats. State Police have made more than 250 arrests and have been involved in two police shootings during the surge.

I need to do some more follow-up with (State Police), because we have some difference of opinion, Black told the Journal on Friday. I dont want to cause a storm between the two agencies because we rely on them so much.  I need to get right with them.
President Donald Trumps threat to impose escalating tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico could endanger passage of the proposed replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, members of the New Mexico congressional delegation said Friday.

They are jeopardizing all of the work that can be done, U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan said at the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Congressional Series Luncheon.

Trump said Thursday that he will impose escalating tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico until authorities in Mexico stop migrants from crossing its territory and entering the U.S. illegally.

And that came after the administration gave Congress a 30-day notice of its intent to send lawmakers implementing legislation for a vote on the proposed trade pact that would replace NAFTA.

Whenever he believes there is a threat against him, he goes back to immigration, Lujan said, questioning whether the president was acting in good faith.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA deal, reached in months of contentious negotiations as a replacement for NAFTA, has been one of the Trump administrations most touted achievements.

Kenneth Smith Ramos, who led then-Mexican President Enrique Pena Nietos delegation to USMCA talks and is now an international trade consultant at Mexico City-based AGON, said the tariffs would have a terrible impact on our producers and our exporters,

And it would hurt U.S. producers as well because they rely a lot on Mexican inputs for their production, he said. So it would reduce their competitiveness and force them to raise prices, which would ultimately, of course, hit consumers.

Lujan also said a 5% tariff would translate into a 5% increase when consumers buy fruit and vegetables at the store.

Lujan and U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., also voiced other concerns about the pending trade agreement.

Both said they thought protections for workers and the environment should be included in the agreement, as well as requirements concerning the cost of prescription drugs.

We need to make sure these protections are a part of any agreement, Haaland said.

But Lujan voiced doubts, saying the Trump administration doesnt have a good track record protecting the environment.

The Associated Press contributed to the story.
Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland said Friday there is not an immigration crisis on the border with Mexico, characterizing a crisis as tanks crossing the border and the country being invaded.

But her New Mexico colleague, U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, said at the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Congressional Series Luncheon that Americas broken immigration policy needed to be fixed.

Immigration was just one of the topics discussed at the luncheon at Isleta Resort and Casino. Trade with Canada and Mexico, calls for impeachment of President Donald Trump, and the ability to pass legislation in an atmosphere of gridlock were among the issues they also tackled.

Haaland and Lujan both blamed policies by the Trump administration for the increase of Central American migrants arriving at the border.

There are so many ways to remedy the immigration situation, Haaland said. The president has made it worse.

Lujan said he hoped the president would reverse some of his decisions and bring back some of President Barack Obamas policies, such as allowing in-country processing and restoring aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, home countries to many of the migrants.

Why would that support be severed? he said. Why would we not work with the ambassadors of those countries to strengthen their economies?

Lujan and Haaland said many of the migrants were fleeing those countries because of gang violence and extreme poverty.

If we have laws to protect asylum-seekers and protect refugees, we need to enforce those laws, Haaland said.

Their solutions include increasing and filling vacancies of immigration judges, case workers, customs workers and Border Patrol agents.

Haaland also suggested upgrades in technology and used the example of American-made eye scanners that are being used in the Middle East to identify people coming across the border, which she said could decrease the processing time of asylum-seekers.

Lujan said there were 3,000 vacancies for customs workers, and believed evaluating pay, benefits and improving conditions on the ground as a means to address recruitment and retention issues.

He mentioned the lack of water for border personnel at the station at Antelope Wells, saying they had to use portable toilets and had to drive for miles to take showers.

Haaland voiced skepticism of a recent Trump administration merit-based immigration proposal that includes employment skills requirements, although she did acknowledge job shortages around the country.

I met with members of the restaurant association in my office and they need workers, she said. They are very supportive of making sure there are immigrants coming into the country. Do you need a resume to work in a restaurant? When I got my first job in a bakery, they didnt ask me for my resume. They put me to work and trained me.  Its honorable work.
YORKTOWN, Va.  In suburban Philadelphia, it took a little more than eight minutes into the question-and-answer session at freshman Rep. Madeleine Deans town hall before someone asked about impeachment.

The topic was broached in Southern California as Rep. Katie Porter fielded other questions on health care, homelessness, border security and the minimum wage.

In military heavy Yorktown, along coastal Virginia, another newly elected Democrat, Rep. Elaine Luria, never got asked about it at all.

Since House Democrats swept to power last November, the seams of their big tent majority are being stretched over the difficult issues surrounding whether to start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

For those lawmakers and others, the town hall sessions in their districts revealed how much or how little impeachment is on voters minds. Lawmakers were at home the same week that special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his first and potentially last public statement on the matter.

The differing opinions expressed to lawmakers offer a snapshot of the challenges facing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the many conversations to come.

I actually wondered whether anybody would bring it up, Dean told the crowd of about 150 in a Montgomery County Community College auditorium.

It was Wednesday, the night after Muellers rare public remarks. Dean drew applause and whistles and hoots of support as she laced into Trump, calling him the most indecent president of our lifetime.

Dean serves on the House Judiciary Committee, which is steeped in the impeachment debate, and she is among those calling for an impeachment inquiry. But the new congresswoman also acknowledged that in other conversations with voters around the district recently, they did not raise the subject.

The night before Muellers spoke at the Justice Department, Luria said she, too, was only asked about impeachment at one of her three stops Tuesday, during a visit with seniors at a retirement community.

The former Naval officer, who is also new to Congress, said it came up as more of a question, asking what she makes of it all.

I talked about how I think Congress has an important duty, oversight, and we have a big responsibility to get to the bottom of the facts, she recalled in an interview later that evening after the town hall in Yorktown.

Luria said she also brought the question back to the seniors for their advice. I wasnt alive when Watergate happened  I understand it was very divisive as a country, she recalled telling them, and kind of asked them, How do you feel about it?'

The seniors nodded in agreement, she said, responding, Yes, its something that would be very divisive.

These are the considerations Pelosi is taking into account as she considers the Houses next moves. Despite increasingly vocal voices among her colleagues for the start of an impeachment inquiry, Pelosi has made it clear shes in no rush to impeach. Such proceedings would start in the House before the case would shift to the Senate for a trial.

Pelosi prefers a more measured approach, saying she wants to have the countrys support, whatever the Houses ultimate decision.

Democrats last year won the majority in so many districts that had voted for Trump in 2016, basing their campaigns on promises of lowering health care costs, creating jobs with infrastructure investment and cleaning up the government. So Pelosi is wary of taking on an impeachment inquiry that would overpower that agenda.

Pelosi worries impeachment would split the country. She remembers how the proceedings against President Bill Clinton helped propel Democrats, and warns it could help Trumps re-election in 2020.

But that might not be enough for some voters.

About 15 people waited at a library in Memphis to meet with Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat who was one of the earliest House proponents of impeachment

One constituent, Lloyd Brown, 62, told The Associated Press that he is watching the impeachment process closely.

I do think that Congress should proceed with impeachment hearings, because I believe that will bring out some of the facts that havent become public yet, Brown said.

Cohen, also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, discussed the possibility of impeachment, expressing his hope that Mueller will testify before the House. The congressman said that even if Trump is impeached, he does not think that the president will be convicted in the Republican-controlled Senate.

But I do think he should have his day of reckoning, Cohen said, adding later that Trump makes Richard Nixon look honest.

At a town hall in western Michigan on Tuesday, a woman told Rep. Justin Amash, the only Republican to accuse Trump of impeachable conduct, that she has been calling Pelosis office nearly every day because we need to change her mind about an impeachment inquiry.

Amash agreed its time to start an inquiry. But Amash, who has drawn criticism from his party, said Pelosis sort of playing it both ways.

On Thursday, about 100 people packed into a small room at a library in Tustin, California, as Porter spoke briefly then drew from random questions attendants had written down on cards.

They covered various topics including one about what should happen to those who refuse to appear for testimony before a congressional committee, leading Porter to briefly address the issue of impeachment.

The new congresswoman from what had been a Republican-held district told the crowd her goal is to do her job, not stoke a crisis. But she said the refusal to comply with the subpoenas was a turning point, in her view.

You didnt hear me ever talk about impeachment. Its not why I went to Washington, she said. But I will not shirk my duty if the time comes, and the time is nigh.

After the event, Barbara Colter, 66, said the last time she saw Porter speak the congresswoman didnt seem to want to move in that direction. But her comments on Thursday made Colter think thats changed. And she agrees.

After yesterday, I think that we need to move in that direction, Colter said.

___

Mascaro reported from Yorktown, Virginia, Levy from Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, Sainz from Memphis, Tennessee, and Taxin from Tustin, California. Associated Press writer David Eggert contributed from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
SAN FRANCISCO  California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday called for nationwide background checks on people purchasing ammunition, saying it would be the next phase in the heated debate over gun control.

Newsoms comments came a day after a shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach left 12 people dead and six others wounded.

Talking to reporters after a Saturday morning speech at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, Newsom also criticized President Donald Trump for tweeting his condolences to the Virginia Beach community, saying he had failed to do anything to stem the epidemic of gun violence in America.

Grow up. Recognize and reconcile that we live in the only country in the world where anything like this happens, Newsom said of the president. He has completely failed to address this issue in any meaningful way. The words become insulting the more they are repeated (with) no action to follow them up. His positions are extreme.

Newsom was the official proponent in 2016 of Proposition 63, which mandated background checks for ammunition purchases, outlawed high-capacity magazines and levied fines for failing to report when guns are stolen or lost. It also created a process for removing guns from people who are convicted of a felony, which puts them in the states Armed Prohibited Persons System.

We just dont need background checks on guns, we need background checks on every single ammunition purchase, Newsom said. We need to get serious about keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous and previously convicted felons, we need to make sure we address the issue of people who are dangerously mentally ill.

The National Rifle Association has challenged Proposition 63s gun restrictions in court. Newsom called the NRAs opposition disgraceful and said it will lead to more gun-related deaths. The governors focus on gun control policy was heightened by the mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks that left 12 people dead in November, just a day after he was elected governor.

In his proposed budget, Newsom has incorporated funding increases for a state program to seize guns from thousands more people who are ineligible to possess firearms because of criminal convictions or mental illness, as well as for the Firearms Violence Research Center at the University of California, Davis.

Newsom helped kicked off the state Democratic Partys spring convention in San Francisco, where the governor served two terms as the citys mayor. With 14 Democratic presidential candidates scheduled to address the party delegates, Newsom joked about being the undercard and kept his speech brief.

The governor said the presidential candidates would be wise to embrace the progressive policies and ideals of California, instead of only turning to the state for campaign donations.

Its not just about the ATM now. Its about policy. Its about values. Its about what were framing, not just in the context of resistance but framing a positive alternative to Trump and Trumpism, Newsom said.

Newsom also criticized Trumps vow to impose escalating tariffs on goods imported from Mexico until authorities there stop migrants from entering the U.S. illegally. Newsom said that no state has more to lose economically from the policy than California, a top trading partner with Mexico.

This is a tax on the American people, Newsom said. I hope he comes to his senses.
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian congratulated the head of government of the country, Nikol Pashinyan, on his birthday, wishing him success in running the country.

The press service of the Armenian Cabinet noted that on his birthday, Pashinyan receives congratulations from the heads of foreign states, representatives of international organizations, as well as private individuals, news.am reports.

Earlier, protest actions were held against Pashinyan in Yerevan and 12 other cities of the country. The event was held under the motto "The birth of lies."
In the fall of 2010, without Dr. Lees knowledge or having an opportunity to defend himself, the newly appointed Chairperson of the Pathology Department at Milford Hospital informed the hospitals credentialing committee that she was not recommending for approval or supporting Dr. Lees application for renewal of his medical staff privileges. For those who do not know, medical staff privileges at a hospital are a major asset to a medical doctor and they establish the relationship that permits among other things, the doctor to practice at a particular hospital. When medical staff privileges at a hospital are revoked or not renewed, the doctor no longer has permission to practice at the hospital or use its facilities. The non-renewal of the medical staff privileges, may also adversely affect the doctors license to practice medicine. In Dr. Lees case, the non-renewal of his medical staff privileges at Milford Hospital is under appeal.

Because of studies submitted to the FDA prior to approval of HPV vaccines indicating there was a substantial increase in pre-cancerous lesions for those who had already been exposed to vaccine-relevant genotypes of HPV before they were injected with Gardasil  or Cervarix  , Dr. Lee agreed to offer his cutting edge technology HPV genotyping test to medical consumers throughout the United States to protect those who were considering HPV vaccination so they could avoid that potential risk. The decision was announced to the public via a BusinessWire Press Release on 20 September 2010.

SANE Vax Inc. was organized to provide medical consumers with all of the information they need to make informed choices about vaccines, HPV vaccines in particular. Dr. Sin Hang Lee, Director of Milford Medical Laboratory Inc. has been instrumental in our efforts to raise consumer awareness regarding safe and effective cervical cancer prevention and the scientific facts in relation to the international HPV vaccine controversy.

Although Dr. Lee still maintains his medical staff privileges during the appeal, his position as director of the laboratory was summarily terminated along with his employment relationship at Milford Hospital on December 13, 2010 and he has been prevented from using the hospitals laboratory to continue his testing and research there ever since that time. A lawsuit addressing the wrongful termination claim has been brought against the Milford Hospital.

While the hospital-based appeal hearings and the lawsuit are pending, Dr. Lees research and testing and the operation of his world class, CLIA certified molecular diagnostic laboratory at the Milford Hospital have all been significantly hindered and obstructed. Dozens of opportunities for Dr. Lee to test Gardasil samples for contaminants have been lost as the hospital has redirected and/or returned vaccine lots sent to and intended for Dr. Lee back to the senders or other locations. Dr. Lee and his attorneys are pursuing all available legal remedies to restore the testing laboratory as soon as possible in order to protect the public health, safety and well being.

In addition to his efforts to make sure those who choose to use HPV vaccines are able to protect themselves from a potential increased risk of pre-cancerous lesions due to prior exposure to vaccine-relevant HPV, Dr. Lee also allowed SANE Vax Inc. to offer his HPV DNA sequencing technology to those unfortunate enough to have experienced abnormal pap tests after HPV vaccination. SANE Vax Inc. believes these medical consumers have a right to know what genotypes of HPV are associated with their abnormal cells. If they are vaccine-relevant genotypes, the vaccine did not work for them. If they are not vaccine-relevant genotypes, perhaps the manufacturer targeted the wrong genotypes for their geographic area. Either way, medical consumers have a right to know.

Through the donation of his laboratory facilities, time and effort, Dr. Lee was able to confirm the contamination of Gardasil with recombinant HPV DNA firmly attached to the aluminum adjuvant contained in the vaccine. This is a man who has dedicated his life to what is best for the medical consumer, no matter what the cost to himself personally.

It is the belief of the SANE Vax team that Dr. Lee has come under fire because of his association with and support for the SANE Vax mission. Therefore, the SANE Vax Board of Directors is beginning a campaign to let those in charge of deciding Dr. Lees fate know that we, along with medical consumers around the world, support Dr. Lee.

If you wish to join us to show your support for Dr. Lee and his ability to continue his much needed research, please take a few minutes to send the following three emails to the authorities in charge of determining Dr. Lees fate:

#1 Dr. Joe Pellacia, President and CEO, Milford Medical Hospital

#2 Commissioner Jewel Mullen, Connecticut Department of Public Health

#3 Mr. George Jepsen, Attorney General State of Connecticut

All you need do is copy the linked emails into a new email, add an introductory sentence if you wish, and type your name and state/country after the signature line.

Without the information provided by Dr. Lee and his ongoing research, we feel medical consumers around the world will be deprived of information that is vital to their ability to exercise their right to informed consent when it comes to HPV vaccinations.

Please, take a few minutes and show those in charge of deciding Dr. Lees fate that you support his efforts to do what is best for medical consumers.



Read Entire Press Release here: http://sanevax.org/dr-sin-hang-lee-a-case-study-in-ethics-don%E2%80%99t-pay/








The President of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, congratulated the winners of international and republican olympiads, excellent students, children from large families, as well as children from orphanages from all regions of the republic on the International Day for the Protection of Children.

He stressed that in the modern world, education plays a particularly important role. An educated person can do everything. Therefore, at your age, the most important thing is to study well and gain knowledge. I am sure you will become worthy citizens of our country. I wish you happiness, Akorda quotes the Kazakhstan leader as saying.
Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has laid out his vision for how the countrys economy needs to be reformed in order to resist sanctions. His extensive policy speech on May 14 was more detailed than previous ones and also included admissions about the existence of maladies and the need for significant structural reforms. But what needs to be undertaken to achieve the goals outlined in Khameneis core statements?

In outlining the maladies Iran faces, Khamenei referred to our dependence on oil. This statement is correct, and the call to reduce dependence on oil export revenues is a reasonable approach, though it has been an objective in Iran for decades. At the current juncture, as Iran faces challenges in selling its crude oil due to US sanctions, one approach would be to allow for the establishment of mini refineries across the country  a proposal that is gaining momentum in expert discussions in Iran. However, as such entities would be best materialized through private sector investments, impediments to achieving this objective can be found in the second and third maladies identified by Khamenei.

Indeed, the second malady is the unnecessary intervention of state organizations in the area of the economy. The dominant presence of governmental and semi-state institutions (such as religious, revolutionary and military foundations) in economic activities is an inhibiting factor in the development of the countrys genuine private sector. As explained at Al-Monitor last month, The feeling among private entrepreneurs is that there is a threshold up to which they can grow. Beyond that threshold, private businesses have to be taken over by semi-state institutions. This shortcoming in the Iranian economy can only be addressed through serious political reforms to which Khamenei would have to commit in the process.

The third malady is that various twists and turns and bizarre mazes and corridors in government organizations lead to damaging the environment of finance and business. It is refreshing that the supreme leader has paid attention to the countrys deficient investment climate and extensive red tape. Yet it remains to be seen whether any serious steps will be taken to address this issue. Here, the steps that need to be taken are relatively well defined, but it seems that an incompetent bureaucracy married with interests of corrupt networks continue to impede serious reforms.

The inability to reform the business environment will also undermine the capacity to offer structural reforms to the budget  a request that Khamenei formulated in March 2019. He reminded the government and the Majles that they had two more months to eliminate  the structural hurdles regarding the budget. The task is clear, i.e., the government will need to promote transparency and accountability in the state budget positions in order to increase the efficiency of budget allocations and push back against corrupt practices.

Khamenei also outlined the need for restructuring the banking system, acknowledging that it requires some brave management. The supreme leader clearly realizes that pushing back against the powerful networks that have abused the deficiencies in the budget and banking sector will require significant resolve. It would be more appropriate to see Khamenei pointing to the needed political shifts, such as an end to the culture of patronage in many business relations.

Regarding containing the economic impact of external sanctions, Khameneis advice was not to allow economic policies to depend on external decisions. The economy should not be conditioned to the decisions of others, sounds like a great statement, but it is easier said than done in an economy that is so intertwined with the global economy, both in terms of exports and the need for imports for local production. To achieve such a status, Iran needs to become a much more developed economy focused on import substitution, and achieve a much greater self-sufficiency in key industries. Furthermore, the country would need a clear economic doctrine that is driven by technocrats rather than by political appointees who have other agendas, including the continuation of a commission culture that compels authorities to sustain imports.

One of the highlights of Khameneis speech was when he carefully referred to the existing corruption in the economy without mentioning the word corruption. He asked the administration to confront the destructive forces in various economic areas and outlined: Today, we are faced with smuggling, hoarding and very detrimental brokerage deals. We have received reports about the treasonous purchase of wheat, meat, public foodstuffs and the like and I have shared my concern with officials. Again hinting at the complexity of such a process, he continued: Of course, when you confront them, some noise might be made. Some individuals will cause a commotion and create an uproar. So, everyone should stand behind the administration and help it so that the punitive divisions of the administration can fulfill their function in the true sense of the word.

It would be interesting to see whether this will be the starting point of a genuine fight against corruption within the state structures. These sentences leave no doubt that Khamenei is referring to corrupt state officials. The call for everyone to stand behind the administration is also a reflection of the past complaints from the administration that their efforts would be fruitless as long as other institutions fail to support the government.

Khamenei also commented on the need to remove the many obstacles to boosting domestic production and referred to manufacturing as the mother of all economic activities. He cited the fact that many domestic factories were closing down because of certain problems. He also identified liquidity growth as a disaster for the economy. Experts agree that managing liquidity will only be possible hand-in-hand with the above-mentioned reforms in the budget structure and the banking sector.

Two more sectors received special attention in the speech: agriculture and construction. Khamenei correctly pointed to the significance of the agricultural sector in terms of employment. Incidentally, both sectors play a crucial role in creating jobs, and their development would help Iran emerge from its current economic stagnation.

In addition to some indirect allusions to the Iranian culture of taarof, or courtesy, Khameneis speech also had occasional references to ideological terms such as jihadi management or a self-sufficiency jihad or the economy of resistance, but his focus remained on the need for reforms and restructuring. As such, this was one of the most comprehensive outlines of Khameneis economic doctrine, which focuses on self-sufficiency, import substitution through boosting domestic production, putting an end to the dependence on crude exports and prioritizing the agricultural sector. He also reminded everyone that his reference to resistance does not mean a military confrontation.

All in all, it was important that the supreme leader referred to detailed reforms such as improving the business climate, pushing back against the interference of state institutions in the economy and banking reforms. However, it is valid to argue that a number of these reforms would not be effective in the absence of needed political reforms. As such, Ayatollah Khamenei would be well advised to show courage himself and clearly state what political reforms will be introduced to support the process.

Interestingly, within a few days after the mentioned speech, President Hassan Rouhani asked for more powers to push back" against an economic war being waged by the United States. Increased powers can certainly help the Iranian government push some of the needed reforms through the countrys complex power structure, but to bear fruits, this effort will require the cooperation of all key political power centers and the full endorsement of Ayatollah Khamenei, as key political reforms will be required.
Two students - at the University of Alabama and Auburn University - have filed a class-action lawsuit against the makers of e-cigarettes, saying the products prey on youth to recruit replacement smokers for financial gain.

The suit, filed May 22 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama West Division, lists Juul Labs Inc., Altria Group and Philip Morris USA as defendants.

Elizabeth Ann Swearingen, 19, a Montgomery resident who attends Alabama, became addicted to Juul at 18, the suit claims, while Auburn student John Thomas Via Peavy, 19, became addicted at 17.

Once an accomplished high school cross-country athlete, Swearingen now has trouble breathing during the simplest of tasks, the suit states. Peavy has experienced severe breathing problems after using Juul, including but not limited to severe chest-congestion and decreased appetite.

Both were partial to the mango flavor, and both unintentionally swallowed the e-liquid containing nicotine, the suit claims.

The Altria Group recently acquired a 35 percent stake in Juul, which is the countrys leading e-cigarette seller. Altria also owns Philip Morris, which sells Marlboro.

The suit seeks actual, compensatory, and consequential damages, saying that the companies concealed the dangers of its e-cigarettes, specifically to minors, and specifically marketed toward them.

The 38-page lawsuit is one of several similar suits filed around the country dealing with e-cigarettes, their advertising and usage. Juul e-cigarettes use cartridges called pods containing nicotine and oil that, when heated, creates a vapor emitting a reduced aerosol. Critics say Juuls deliver a larger dose of nicotine than conventional cigarettes.

Studies show that there is a decrease in the perceived harshness of the aerosol to the user and thus a greater abuse liability,'" the suit contends. A Juul pod can be consumed very fast, meaning users are exposed to the amount of nicotine contained in a pack of cigarettes (or more) in a much shorter timeframe.
Studying music at Samford University, a Baptist-affiliated school, is not your typical path to the Catholic priesthood.

But thats the path that worked for Deacon Justin Ward, who will be ordained a priest on Saturday, June 1. Ward, who grew up Southern Baptist in North Carolina, earned his bachelors and masters degrees in church music at Samford University.

A turning point in choosing his vocation came a decade ago, when he played the organ in some of the worlds great European cathedrals on a tour with the Samford choir.

Retired Samford music professor Tim Banks said he could tell Ward was in his element as he manned the organ in the Chartres Cathedral and the Notre Dame Cathedral in France in May 2009, and at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy.

Their big finale was a concert in St. Peters Basilica, at the Vatican, the world headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

He played the organ at the Vatican for a Thursday afternoon Mass, Banks said. It was a marvelous thing. I dont know if that experience was a little tiny seed that began to blossom.

Bishop Robert Baker, who confirmed Ward as a Catholic, will officiate his ordination.

Of the 50 people in the Samford choir traveling through Europe in 2009, more than half were Baptist and most got their first exposure to the great Catholic cathedrals. That was a good thing for a whole bunch of Baptists, said Banks, who grew up the son of a Baptist preacher.

I have never tried to predict where things go with my students, Banks said. Looking back the tour of Europe, Wards career choice makes sense. I can see the trajectory there now, Banks said.

After the 800-year-old Notre Dame was severely damaged by a fire on April 18, during Holy Week, Ward recalled the impact the great cathedral had on him. Its an icon for the world, Ward said.

He wont ever forget playing the organ there.

As an organist, Notre Dame is like a grandmother, Ward said. Lots of priests will tell you Notre Dame has the most beautiful altar in the world.

Ward said St. Pauls Cathedral, where he will be ordained in an 11 a.m. service on Saturday, is also quite beautiful. Our stained-glass windows and the high-vaulted ceilings  it evokes that verticality, to point to the divine, to the transcendent.

After his ordination, Ward will officiate his first Mass as a priest on Sunday, June 2, at 11 a.m. in St. Pauls Cathedral. On Monday at 7 a.m., hell officiate the morning Mass at the EWTN chapel.

EWTN Global Catholic Network televises that service worldwide.

On Monday hell be in front of 250 million people worldwide, Banks said. Im so proud of Justin and where his path has taken him.

Ward studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

He said he plans to study sacramental music at the liturgical institute at Mundelein Seminary at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Chicago this fall.

Banks noted that the Catholic Church is trying to improve the quality of choral and worship music throughout the country.

They are trying to go back to a previous tradition in a modern sense, Banks said. People like Justin Ward can help do that.

Banks will bring a knowledge of music and performance that the average priest doesnt have, Banks said.

Worship is a special kind of theater, Banks said. I dont mean in a secular way. Worship is a drama. He brings that ability and talent and wisdom.

And hell excel at the work of a parish priest, Banks said.

Hell be terrific, Banks said. His talents as a musician and artistic mind will inform his priestly duties. You dont have to be a musician, but It doesnt hurt.
By CAROLYN HAX (Adapted from a recent online discussion.)

Dear Carolyn: With all the talk of sexual assault in the news [this year], I am having a lot of trouble. In addition to reliving my own assault, several childhood friends have disclosed their own assaults on Facebook. I want to be there for them -- and everyone who is coming out with their stories now -- but I am overwhelmed with sadness, rage and frustration.

I am going to see a counselor for the first time in many years, but I think I need to take a break from both the news and social media. The issues are: 1. How do I explain why I am taking a break without telling my own story? My family doesn't know and I'm not ready to open that can of worms. 2. I feel guilty that I am not being there for the women I love who ARE brave enough to come forward.

Am I being a good steward of my mental health or just copping out?

-- Triggered By the News

Hax: Good steward. Take your break from news and social media, take care of you. Anyone who thinks this need to skip a couple of news cycles is unusual is either living under a rock or ... well. No explanation is required.

And while I am grateful for the support opportunities available through social media, I am not comfortable with any implied or perceived obligation for any individual to provide that support. Certainly not to the degree that you feel guilt for not adding your thumb/teary face/heart or sympathetic comment. Thats internalizing someones business model to an unhealthy degree, so a step back could benefit you in that regard as well, by breaking the spell so many of us are under that tells us a social media presence is a requirement or a virtue.

Give yourself what you need. Don't explain or apologize or beat yourself up.

And, for what it's worth: These people "who ARE brave enough to come forward" need breaks themselves, for one -- everyone does. And they chose their moments when they were ready, which is your right as well, just as it's everyone's right not to come forward if they never feel ready.

I hope you'll internalize this in place of your current sense of obligation: When you've been through hell, it's OK to say a silent "thank you" to all the people who are doing the brave work of coming forward. They're doing it for you, too.

I'll say it to them on behalf of all of those who aren't ready to speak up: Thank you.

Re: Triggered:

To emphasize a point: Don't contrast yourself to those women who are being brave by coming forward. You're being brave by taking charge; not letting the worst moment of your life destroy you; getting help; having genuine concern for others in the midst of your own trauma; etc. It's all incredibly brave.

-- Anonymous

Hax: Well said, thanks.

Email Carolyn at tellme@washpost.com, follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/carolyn.hax or chat with her online at 9 a.m. Pacific/noon Eastern time each Friday at www.washingtonpost.com.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
Alabama lawmakers gave final approval today to the state education budget for next year, a plan that calls for spending $7.1 billion from the Education Trust Fund, almost $500 million more than this year.

The budget includes funding to add about 250 teachers in grades 4-6, a boost for the states prekindergarten program, and funding for a 4 percent pay raise for education employees.

The budget passed on what is expected to be the final day of the legislative session. It goes to Gov. Kay Ivey, who can sign it into law.

Rep. Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa, chairman of the House education budget committee, said the budget shows that school funding in Alabama is continuing to bounce back from the deep cuts forced by the recession about a decade ago.

I think were clearly heading in a very positive trend right now. This is a very positive budget to address a lot of critical needs in education around the state in every area, every region on every level," Poole said.

The states prekindergarten program would receive $123 million next year, about $27 million more than this year. The program has won recognition for its quality but is still not available statewide. The funding increase will help pay for more classrooms.

Alabamas community colleges would get a 9 percent increase in the budget, up to $417 million.

The 4 percent raise for education employees follows a 2.5 percent raise this year.

Poole said the budget would fund the Public Education Employees Health Insurance Program to the level that should avert any need to raise insurance premiums on employees.

So, that will keep hard earned dollars in our education employees pockets," Poole said.

The increase in the education budget is possible because of rising tax revenues from income taxes and sales taxes.

Those are very positive signs that the economy in our state is doing well, Poole said. Unemployment is down. Wages are up. Really in a lot of industries, more jobs than we have people. Were working hard to get that workforce ready and to fill those jobs.
An armed woman who was killed by Huntsville police on Thursday repeatedly told officers to shoot me before they fired multiple rounds at her, an official said today.

Crystal Danielle Ragland died at Huntsville Hospital after two officers fired several shots at her, a police department spokesman said. The shooting happened outside 32-year-old Raglands home at Stadium Apartments on Westheimer Drive in west Huntsville.

Lt. Michael Johnson in a phone call with AL.com on Friday afternoon released more information about the deadly shooting and events that preceded the gunfire. He said he watched police video of the shooting. AL.com is seeking copies of any videos through a public records request.

The lieutenant said two officers knocked on the front door of Raglands apartment shortly after 8:30 a.m. Less than a minute later, Ragland was on the ground suffering multiple gunshot wounds.

Police havent publicly identified the officers. AL.com is seeking their personnel files through a public records request.

Johnson said Ragland came out of her apartment through a side door, carrying a gun in her pants pocket. Police told Ragland not to touch her weapon, which she denied having, even though the officers could see it, Johnson said.

Ragland repeatedly shouted shoot me during a seconds-long confrontation with the officers, Johnson told AL.com.

The officers started shooting when Ragland grabbed her weapon and began tactically drawing it, Johnson said. Ragland never fired any shots.

A family member of Ragland declined an interview request from AL.com late Thursday. Attempts to reach the family on Friday werent immediately successful.

Police have declined to say how many shots officers fired during the encounter. Johnson said officers fired several rounds from two different weapons in less than three seconds.

Officers were at the apartments because multiple neighbors reported Ragland had been pointing her gun at them. In response to a public records request, the Huntsville City Attorneys office released to AL.com part of three police reports about Raglands actions. The reports, which are heavily redacted, list Ragland as a suspect accused of menacing people with a handgun at the apartments.

Deseree Montgomery, a woman who said she saw police shoot Ragland, told news reporters that she didnt see Ragland with a gun or notice one on the ground after the shooting.

Johnson said the gun fell to the ground between Raglands body and her apartment. He said witnesses wouldnt been able to see the gun from across the parking lot.

Both officers who shot at Ragland are on desk duty while the police department investigates. The investigative findings will be presented to a review board, where police captains will decide whether the officers followed policy.

Representatives from the Huntsville City Attorneys office, the police departments citizen advisory council and the Madison County District Attorneys office also attend review board hearings, though they dont have votes in whether to clear officers internally.

The district attorneys office considers whether such shootings are legally justified.
In the wake of a violent death, a victims family is often left wondering: What could we have done differently to save this life?

As the number of people dying from gunshot wounds in the United States is on the rise, this question is being asked not only by those in mourning. Despite heavy restrictions on funding for gun-related research in this country, many medical and public health organizations believe a public health approach is the best path toward better understanding the root causes of violence.

Part of that understanding is identifying who is at risk to be a victim.

In 2017 in Alabama, 1,100 people died from complications of gunshot wounds573 suicides, 506 homicides, and 21 accidental discharges, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH).

Each of those deaths contributed to the Center for Disease Control naming Alabama second deadliest in the nation for firearm fatalities.

Alabamas troubling trends are part of a national public health crisis: 40,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds in 2018, the highest number of victims in 50 years. In the U.S., homicide is the leading cause of death for young black boys and men. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death nationally, and the second leading cause of death for young people, ages 10 to 24. The National Institute of Mental Health reports nearly half of suicides were carried out by firearm in 2017.

In Alabama in 2016, 70 percent of suicides were by firearm. Many studies show that states with higher rates of firearm ownership also have higher rates of suicide, and a 2013 survey suggests nearly half of Alabamians own a gun.

ADPH reports 84 percent of homicides are carried out by firearm.

Alabama second in the nation behind Alaska for rate of death from firearms.

While there is no singular portrait of the dead, demographics from the most recent ADPH data reveal troubling patterns: In 2016, of the 1,034 people who died of gunshots wounds, 82 percent were men. Alabamas suicide victims were 90 percent white men (72 percent used a firearm as a weapon), while 60 percent of gun-related homicide victims in the state are African American men.

Why are men more likely to die from gunshot wounds?

Multiple studies have reported that males are more likely to use violent methods when attempting suicide (e.g., firearm, hanging) while women tend to use non-violent methods (e.g., drug overdose, drowning). The violent methods are far more fatal than the non-violent methods, said Dr. Russell Griffin, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UAB.

But men and women are equally as likely to have suicidal thoughts, Griffin said. So, the difference we see is largely due in part to the difference in method.

Research shows girls, especially ages 10-20, are increasingly using firearms in suicide attempts, so the gender divide might change in coming years.

Dr. Lonnie Hannon, associate professor of sociology at Tuskegee University, said men are socialized to be violent. For most of human history, the primary mechanism for obtaining power was through violence, he said. So power, violence, economic strength, and manhood are all bound together. Society instructs us that violence is an acceptable means to an end. Young men apply this socialization to their own lives.

Hannon said for many men, including himself, what's ultimately at stake is self-worth, dignity, and respect.

Men use violence as a default mechanism for achieving power over someone else's life, or in the case of suicide, power over their own life, Hannon said.

Why is there such a stark racial split between homicide and suicide?

Griffin said the racial split isnt present across all age groups, especially when it comes to suicide and children. Its difficult to tease out all the risk factors, but the noticeable divide might be related to where people are living and what their socioeconomic status is.

If we look at suicide data from the CDC using their WONDER tool, we see no difference in suicide rates for African-Americans for urban versus rural areas while rates increase for Caucasians as the areas become more rural. If we look at homicides in the same data, we see opposite trends. In particular, for African-Americans, the homicide rate from 1999-2016 goes from 26.4 per 100,000 large central metros to 13.1 per 100,000 in rural areas.

Public health research, Griffin said, shows violent crime is associated with lower socio-economic status, higher unemployment rates, and low education levels.

The risk for Black men to die of homicide doubles in urban environments because of the trauma associated with poverty, said Hannon.

Economic depravity is a strong predictor of whether a young man will commit a gun crime.

How are homicide and suicide risks factors relatedor not?

Even though both suicide and homicide are violent deaths that commonly use firearms as the method of death, the situations that lead up to the deaths are different, Griffin said. Not all homicides are due to the person's actionsthere are a good number of homicides each year that are persons who were bystanders caught in the crossfireand the person who commits the homicide may not necessarily be hopeless as homicide can be a crime of emotion or passion.

Hannon said describing homicide and suicide as two sides of the same coin might be correct when examining hopelessness, but theres more nuance to the risk factors for each.

This story is part of a series examining gun violence a public health issue. You can read the first story about the people working to reduce homicide by firearm here.
The Alabama Department of Corrections surrendered documents this week that the U.S. Department of Justice said dealt with reports of excessive force and sexual abuse against inmates by correctional officers.

According to a four-page motion filed Thursday by lawyers representing the DOJ, the ADOC provided documents specifically related to use of force and sexual abuse by staff. As a result, the DOJ withdrew a petition to enforce a subpoena that it filed last October.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gray Borden had given both sides until Friday to come up with a solution to the impasse.

There is no word yet on what DOJ will do with the documents. In April the Justice Department released a report on its two-and-a-half-year investigation into violence and poor conditions within Alabamas mens prisons. The DOJ concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that conditions in the prisons violate the Eighth Amendment.

Last month, in an effort to get the contested documents, Justice Department lawyers said there are still areas of the investigation that have not been completed.

A footnote on the first page of the 62-page report on Alabamas prisons says that the investigation was opened to look at whether ADOC was adequately ensuring inmate safety from physical and sexual violence between inmates, and whether inmates had safe and sanitary living conditions.

However, the footnote stated that an investigation into a third issue - whether inmates were safe from excessive force and sexual abuse from staff members  is ongoing because the Departments petition to enforce its subpoena for documents relevant to that issue is pending with the court.

On Oct. 12, 2018, DOJ filed a petition requesting the federal court force ADOC to turn over a series of individual prisoner investigative files, and documents on open and closed investigations, including autopsy reports on some inmates and some medical records not previously made available at correctional facilities.

The filing also requested weekly reports from ADOCs Intelligence and Investigations Division from September 2016 to September 2017.

Since 2012, Alabama mens and womens prisons have come under repeated scrutiny for staffing and safety, as well as a pervasive atmosphere of documented sexual and physical abuse.
Two bounty hunters from Mobile who were shot outside a Mississippi church Tuesday were upgraded Friday from critical to stable condition, police said.

Charles Foster, 44, and Sandra Roson, 52, who work for a bond recovery company, were parked outside a church in Moss Point, Mississippi around 11 p.m. Tuesday when they were shot, according to the Moss Point Police Department.

Foster and Roson were taken to Singing River Hospital in critical condition. They were then transferred to a Jackson hospital Wednesday for surgery. On Friday, police said their conditions improved to stable.

Police were still looking for the suspect or suspects who fired multiple shots at the bounty hunters as of Friday night.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The man who shot and killed 12 people at a government building Friday was identified as a 15-year employee of the city Department of Public Works and all but one of the victims were city employees, authorities announced Saturday.

DeWayne Craddock, of Virginia Beach, was an engineer who served as a project manager and contact for a number of utility projects, according to posts on the Virginia Beach web site.

Authorities solemnly read the names of each of the victims at the outset of a news conference on Saturday morning, saying all worked for the Department of Public Works and the Department of Public Utilities, except for one contractor.

The victims were identified as:

Laquita C. Brown of Chesapeake, Va., a right of way agent with Public Works for more than four years;

Tara Welch Gallagher of Virginia Beach, an engineer with Public Works for six years;

Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach, a right of way agent with Public Works for 24 years;

Alexander Mikhail Gusev of Virginia Beach, a right of way agent with Public Works for nine years;

Katherine A. Nixon of Virginia Beach, an engineer with Public Utilities for 10 years;

Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk, an engineer with Public Utilities for 28 years;

Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan, Va., an engineer with Public Works for 11 months;

Ryan Keith Cox of Virginia Beach, an account clerk with Public Utilites for more than 12 years;

Joshua A. Hardy of Virginia Beach, an engineering tech resident with Public Utilities for more than four years;

Michelle "Missy" Langer of Virginia Beach, an administrative assistant with Public Utilities for 12 years;

Robert "Bobby" Williams of Chesapeake, a special projects coordinator with Public Utilities for 41 years;

Herbert Bert Snelling of Virginia Beach, a contractor who was filing a permit when the shooting occurred.

This combination of photos provided by the City of Virginia Beach shows victims of Friday's shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, Va. Top row from left are Laquita C. Brown, Ryan Keith Cox, Tara Welch Gallagher and Mary Louise Gayle. Middle row from left are Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Joshua A. Hardy, Michelle "Missy" Langer and Richard H. Nettleton. Bottom row from left are Katherine A. Nixon, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Herbert "Bert" Snelling and Robert "Bobby" Williams.Courtesy City of Virginia Beach via AP

They leave a void we will never be able to fill, city manager Dave Hansen said at the news conference.

Police Chief James Cervera declined to discuss a motive for the spree but said Craddock used a city issued badge to gain entry to a public works building in the sprawling municipal complex.

Cervara said the officers, along with the FBI and Virginia State Police, worked through the night to identify all the victims of the shooting.

"This is a horrific crime scene," Cervera said.

Cervera said investigators had found additional weapons at the scene of the shooting as well as at Craddock's home, in addition to the .45-caliber semitautomatic handgun outfitted with a sound suppressor and extended magazines they believed was used to carry out the shootings. Cervera declined to say what those weapons were.

The gunfire erupted shortly after 4 p.m. on Friday and victims were found on all three floors of Building 2, where the shooting occurred, Cervara said. An additional victim was located outside in a vehicle.

Four officers arrived on the scene within minutes of the shooting and quickly found Craddock, Cervera said. Craddock opened fire on the officers and the officers quickly shot back. Craddock did not say anything to the officers.

"This was a long-term, large gunfight," Cervara said.

Cervara said one of the officers was hit by a bullet, but a bulletproof vest saved his life. Cervara said Saturday morning that the officer was "doing well." Craddock was eventually shot and the officers rendered aid, Cevera said. Craddock later died.

Robin Morse, a permit service coordinator in the planning department, said in an interview that she was on the building's first floor when she suddenly heard a lot of commotion from the story above. When loud bangs boomed down the stairwell, she didn't know what it was.

"I thought someone had fallen down the steps," she said. "Then, someone yelled, 'There's an active shooter in the building' and they told us to get out."

Morse and others quickly left the building, stayed outside for a short while, and then went home. She said she knew Craddock, but only barely.

"This has been devastating for so many people. These people were murdered and didn't deserve this," Morse said.

Shelia Cook, 49, who works for the city, watched the response to the shooting unfold on Friday.

"We could kind of hear what was going on . . . we heard like popping - poom, poom, like that - and then we saw the ambulance," Cook said. "And we saw the police. We saw all these things going on. So then we were like, oh, it must be really big."

Afterwards, Cervera said officers methodically checked every room, closet and desk in the municipal building before determining it was free of danger. The building is home to roughly 400 employees for Public Works, Public Utilities and other city agencies.

Hansen said the city has received an outpouring of support and would be providing assistance to employees. Building 2 will remain closed and the city services housed there will be transferred elsewhere. Four wounded victims remained hospitalized as of Saturday morning.

Craddock seemed to play an active role in the Department of Public Works.

In 2015 Facebook post by the city of Virginia Beach, the city said Craddock was a project manager for the installation of a water main along a city road. In 2018, he was listed as a contact person for a utilities project on the city website.

He gave members of a local chamber of commerce a tour of a water pumping station project in 2015, according to an article from the time in the Lake Gaston Gazette.

Court records show only a single traffic offense on his record in Virginia Beach.

Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday night the victims, shot near the end of the last day of the workweek, "were heading into the summer weekend. That they should be taken in this manner is the worst kind of tragedy."

He added that the shooting "tests our souls."

Friday's shooting added another city to the growing list of places affected by a mass shooting. It is the deadliest since November, when a gunman opened fire at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, killing 12 before fatally shooting himself. A police officer responding to that shooting died after suffering multiple gunshot wounds.

Cook returned to the complex Saturday with five members of her church, Mount Olive Baptist Church. They usually gather on Saturday mornings from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. for an "intercessory prayer" meeting, where they call out the names of people who need God's help aloud. Their pastor, the Rev. Jason Knight, decided they should hold the meeting at the complex instead, although he did not make it. His car would not start.

We have a prayer ministry every Saturday at 7 a.m. so our pastor called for us to come out and pray on the grounds, because our colleagues and our neighborhoods and our city need God. We need God right now. And we want to be able to be that light in a dark world, Cook said.

(c) 2019, The Washington Post  Story by Jim Morrison, Peter Hermann and Justin Jouvenal. Justin Wm. Moyer, Jim Morrison and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
A man was gunned down in the parking lot of a business on busy Ensley Avenue Friday night.

Birmingham police spokesman Officer Rod Mauldin said West Precinct officers were dispatched just before 9:30 p.m. to a person shot outside Ensley Seafood in the 3100 block of Ensley Avenue. The restaurant is adjacent to the Quick Mart.

When officers got to the scene, they found the adult male victim unresponsive from an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service. His identity has not been released.

Mauldin said the citys gunfire detection system  Shot Spotter  indicated six to nine rounds were fired. Detectives are canvassing the area.

Right now, we dont have a lot of information, Mauldin said. We dont know a motive. Theyre trying to see exactly what took place here tonight.

A person of interest is in custody and being questioned by authorities. Mauldin asked that anyone with information come forward. Tipsters are asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

The killing is Birminghams 46th homicide victim of 2019. Of those, at least seven have been ruled justifiable and therefore are not deemed criminal by the Birmingham Police Department. In all of Jefferson County, there have been 67 homicides, including the 46 in Birmingham.
The armed men exited a truck and escorted the woman and child across a section of border protected only by a small log fence. One of the smugglers accompanied the woman and child between an opening in the fence, onto U.S. soil, and two others remained on the Mexican side of the fence. After walking with the woman and child for several yards, the third man walked back through the fence to Mexico.

The smugglers can be seen traversing the border with ease, almost nonchalantly, highlighting the lack of border security at the U.S. southern border.


The publication of The Ugly American in 1958 created a sensation in the United States. A scathing critique of arrogant and inept American diplomatic provincialism, the novel was written as a warning by two Americans  Eugene Burdick and William Lederer  to their fellow Americans. It is a damning indictment of the stupidity and ignorance, arrogance and ineptitude of those who were charged with representing the country.

In 1961, after reading the book, President John F Kennedy decided to start the Peace Corps, a voluntary organisation that sends Americans to different parts of the world to assist with development and try to counter negative perceptions of the US as an imperial power. The difference and the distance between the reality of The Ugly American and the idea of a Peace Corps is the battlefield between two opposing forces laying competing claims on the soul of this nation.

Soon after its phenomenal success, the novel was turned into a movie starring Marlon Brando, Sandra Church, and Eiji Okada. The original novel and the film adaptation have made The Ugly American something of an iconic landmark of what ails American politics at home and abroad.

Today, as the American war machine is preparing for yet another assault on a far-away place to reassert its imperial power, it is quite useful to reread the novel and reflect on its persistent relevance.

Who are the Ugly Americans?

The Ugly American was a work of fiction but based on facts. Sarkhan, the fictional country where the novel is set, is the allegorical name of anyones homeland at the receiving end of the arrogance and ignorance of Ugly Americans. Sarkhan was Vietnam. Sarkhan was Guatemala. Sarkhan was and remains Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine. Sarkhan was and remains Iran.

It is now for the second time in my lifetime that yet another Ugly American is plotting against the course of history in my homeland. I spent much of my adult life thinking of the name Kermit Roosevelt as the epitome of pernicious evil. Today, the degenerate character of John Bolton overshadows the memory of Kermit Roosevelt.

Who are these creatures?

Kermit Roosevelt Jr (1916 -2000), a grandson of US president Theodore Roosevelt, was a career intelligence officer who engineered the CIA-MI6 overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, in August 1953.

I was a two-year-old toddler when that fateful coup altered the course of history in my homeland. It undermined the democratic movement and allowed the Pahlavi regime to consolidate power. A decade later, Ayatollah Khomeini launched his first militant Shia putsch against the Pahlavis and recast the Iranian political culture in decidedly Islamist terms, the consequences of which we still live with.

For Iranians, that vicious, vulgar, rude, and loutish interference in their democratic aspirations remained the most traumatic event of the 20th century.

Sixty-six years later, I am witnessing how another Ugly American is walking in the footsteps of Roosevelt. His name is John Bolton, a chief advocate of the disastrous US invasion of Iraq, a nefarious Islamophobe, and former chairman of the far-right anti-Muslim Gatestone Institute. This infamous institution is known for spreading lies about Muslims  claiming there is a looming jihadist takeover that can lead to a Great White Death  to incite hatred against them and intimidate, silence, and alienate them.

In his diabolical plans to wage war on Iran, Bolton is taking a page from Roosevelts playbook. Just as the CIA operative used venal Iranian politicians and fake news to incite against the democratically elected Iranian government, today his successor, the US national security adviser, is seeking to spread misinformation on a massive scale and set up a false flag operation with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), a militant terrorist organisation. Meanwhile, he has also pressed forward with debilitating sanctions that are further worsening the economic crisis in the country and making the lives of ordinary Iranians unbearable.

It is true that the regime Bolton is targeting is not completely innocent. No doubt the custodians of the Islamic republic have their share of nefarious interventions in all the troubled spots in the region  the most disgusting aspect of which is their involvement in Syria to keep the murderous Bashar al-Assad in power.

But who will cast the first stone? The US, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Russia? Which country is exactly where it is supposed to be? Which one is not involved in monumental human calamities?

Exacerbating the already catastrophic scene in the Middle East, the Bolton war on Iran will result in nothing other than an endless night of death and destruction throughout the region  adding millions of Iranians to the Afghan, Iraqi, Palestinian, Syrian and Yemeni victims of war.

An imperial regime with no legitimacy

Bolton is the dreadful residue of the pure violence and wanton cruelty that drive Zionist Christian zealots in their crusades against Muslims. He is the embodiment of the basest and most racist roots of American imperialism.

The regime he serves is the most naked and vulgar face of brutish power, lacking any semblance of legitimacy  a bullying coward flexing its military muscles. At its helm is an arrogant mercantile president, who  faced with the possibility of an impeachment  has no qualms about using the war machine at his disposal to regain political relevance and line his pockets.

But the world must know Americans are not all ugly, they are not all rabid imperialists  Boltons and Roosevelts. What about those countless noble Americans  the sons and daughters of the original nations that graced this land, of the African slaves who were brought to this land in chains, of the millions after millions of immigrants who came to these shores in desperation or hope from the four corners of the earth? Do they not have a claim on this land too  to redefine it and bring it back to the bosom of humanity?

When it comes to Iran, history has given us the accounts of two noble Americans to balance their ugly compatriots and keep things in perspective. One is Howard Conklin Baskerville (1885-1909), a teacher in an American missionary school in Tabriz, who fought for Iranian democracy. In 1909, just two years after he arrived in Iran, he joined the pro-democracy forces resisting the Qajar royalists during the Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911 and died defending the city of Tabriz against their assault.

The other is William Morgan Shuster (1877-1960), an American lawyer and civil servant who, during the same revolution, was brought in to help the country cope with the massive debt the Qajar royal family had accumulated. He not only tried to help the revolutionaries financially but also resisted the interference of two empires  the Russian and the British  who sought to have him expelled. Upon his return to the US, Shuster wrote a book called The Strangling of Persia  a scathing critique of Russian and British imperial violence.

For their service and dedication to the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people, both Baskerville and Shuster have been given the highest honour in the pantheon of Persian poetry of the constitutional period.

Anytime I think of Kermit Roosevelt and John Bolton, I am reminded of Baskerville and Shuster and tell myself: The worst thing about the United States is that there is always hope for it.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
As the Chinese vice president visits Germany, the EU sees opportunities in the ongoing US-China trade war.

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan has visited Germany this week, first visiting Hamburgs harbour, where a Chinese firm is building a new container terminal, then holding talks with Angela Merkel, the countrys chancellor and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Friday.

His German tour follows a two-day trip to the Netherlands.

The Europe trip is important. Berlins stance on China  for better or worse  affects its European neighbours views and policies, Joshua Webb, of the Koerber Stiftung think-tanks Berlin Foreign Policy Forum, told Al Jazeera.

From lobbying for Huawei to gauging whether there is potential to lure Berlin from its orientation towards Washington, there is certainly enough to discuss from a Chinese point of view.

In fact, Wang is just the latest in a series of high-profile Chinese visitors to Europe. It is clear that the ongoing, escalating trade war between China and the United States makes the European Union, the worlds largest trading bloc, more important to the Chinese.

Theres no doubt that trade was on the agenda in Berlin, alongside bilateral relations, observers say.

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Europe certainly feels the effects of the tit-for-tat tariffs and economic sabre-rattling in which the US and China are currently engaged. But rather than seeing the European Union as helplessly trapped between two economic superpowers, most experts working in this area believe any trade war may well bring Europe more opportunities than disadvantages.

Conflict between the US and China presents a good moment for the EU to exert pressure on China and get some concessions, Gustaaf Geeraerts, codirector of the Centre for China-EU Relations at Fudan University in Shanghai, told Al Jazeera.

For years, [EU] reciprocity meant calling on China to adapt to the EUs rules and norms.

Change in Europes posture

Beijing has frequently said it would be willing to compromise on such issues, but, realistically, the Chinese never followed through and the Europeans never pushed them on it, he added.

That is about to change, Geeraerts said. Recently, European powers have been taking a more cautious and realistic approach instead of that previous openness, qualified by some defensive measures. There was a clear turning point in April, he notes.

A tougher stance from Europe resulted in some success at Aprils EU-China summit in Brussels, with the Chinese promising to stick to deadlines, to prevent further forced technology transfers and to seriously discuss state subsidies for the first time. If China does not open its economy, the EU may close its own market to Chinese investors  or introduce barriers similar to those that China has, Geeraerts concludes.

The EU would like to show China that its new policy no longer involves just a carrot, but also a stick.

And this is where the US is helping, albeit perhaps inadvertently.

The internal situation in China is quite complicated, Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik, a professor of China studies at the University of Vienna, told Al Jazeera.

[President] Xi has to balance the various wings of his party and, above all, the Communist Party of China needs the economy to run smoothly. With all the pressure the US is putting on, the Chinese may now want to provide business conditions to the EU that are more favourable than they have been for the past five or six years. Personally, I would look at this as an opportunity.

Cautious optimism

Market numbers also appear to provide good news for the EU.

As David Owen, chief European economist for US-based investment bank Jefferies International pointed out in his monthly markets commentary in mid-May, several studies  one from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, one by Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel and recent research by the European Central Bank suggest the EU could actually be benefitting from changes in international trade patterns.

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However, as Owen also warned clients, much depends on how much diversion there is, away from the US and China, to the EU and China, and the EU and the US. Trade is not a zero-sum game and operates through complicated global supply chains  much will ultimately depend on whether, after China, the US administrations focus switches more to the EU.

Duncan Freeman, a research fellow at the EU-China Research Centre at Belgiums College of Europe, suggests the negative impacts on global trade could still outweigh any positives. Some EU companies may benefit from the exclusion of US competitors from China, but this will be outweighed by the wider global economic disruption, he told Al Jazeera.

There is another challenge to viewing the US-China trade war as an opportunity for Europe, suggests Freeman.

While analysts and think-tanks have frequently suggested that Europe play a balancing role, acting as a mediator in the fight rather than picking sides in what has been described as a long-term tussle between nascent and ageing superpowers, Freeman says the EU shares some of Washingtons concerns about China  but prefers a more diplomatic and less protectionist approach.

Getting there could prove tricky, however. A unified EU position is problematic because member states have divergent views of the relationship with China, Freeman said. And this is mainly because member state economies and their interests are very different [from each other].

Acting tactically, China tends to approach vulnerable countries that need its help, Weigelin-Schwiedrzik adds.

In March, EU countries looked on uneasily as Italy signed up to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy that has increasingly been viewed with suspicion. Other European nations, including Greece, Portugal and the Czech Republic have also welcomed multibillion-euro Chinese investments.

Europe will continue to welcome Chinese investment but is not likely to abandon its recent cautious approach, which appears to be yielding dividends.

The outgoing Commission found a prudent strategy in creating and strengthening defensive measures such as the foreign investment mechanism, said the Berlin Foreign Policy Forums Joshua Webb.

However, there remain significant differences with China, and the debate around Huawei and 5G services demonstrates that the EU wont always be able to avoid taking a clear stance.
Athens, Greece  Famous in Greece for selling letters written by Jesus on television, Kyriakos Velopoulos, a ranting far-right populist and telepersona, managed to pull off one of the biggest surprises of last weeks European Parliament elections.

Velopoulos captured 4.2 percent of the vote with his Greek Solution party, a victory that seemed to catch much of the country off guard.

A former journalist, Velopoulos attributed the populist partys self-declared rags-to-riches assent to the fact that he met many of his voters personally.

I crossed the country three times, door to door, he said in a television interview the day after the election. Politicians today are too far from the people. If everyone had done their jobs, we might not be here today.

Greek Solution took voters from every party, exit polls showed, but its largest cohorts came from the far right. Eleven percent of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn partys voters crossed over to Greek Solution, as did 15 percent of those who voted for Independent Greeks, the ruling Syriza partys now-discredited former coalition partner.

Few voters would argue with many of Greek Solutions priorities; greater transparency and meritocracy in the public sector; law and order on the streets; journalistic objectivity in television coverage; investment in key national industries and a reversal of Greeces population decline.

Even some of Greek Solutions more daring ideas would have broad appeal, such as launching an international campaign to oblige Germany to repay war reparations Greece still claims, and enticing diaspora Greeks with tax breaks to move to sparsely populated areas of the country.

But some policies raise serious questions. The party wants a 200-kilometre wall built along Greeces land border with Turkey to keep out migrants, even as the Aegean is an archipelago of thousands of easily reachable islands. It wants to send Non-Governmental Organisations away and immediately deport irregular migrants while still offering asylum to those who genuinely need it, as its manifesto proclaims.

Greek Solution also advocates creating a parallel private currency to strengthen the liquidity of the Greek economy while remaining in the Eurozone and borrowing from markets. And who will decide what to include in mandatory government playlists of good Greek music and theatre on television and radio?

Not only do these party positions make little sense, but they tap into a playbook of themes shared by the United Statess Donald Trump, Hungarys Viktor Orban, Austrias Hans-Christian Strache and Italys Matteo Salvini.

An affable clown?

But many in Greece dont see Velopoulos operating in the same category. Some people find him an affable clown  a ranting telepersona, says journalist and political analyst George Gilson.

He sells herbal cures that supposedly come from Mount Athos, Gilson adds, referring to a peninsula of thousand-year-old monasteries in northeast Greece, one of Orthodoxys holiest sites.

Gilson believes the party has received financial backing from the Kremlin. [Velopoulos] has bought tonnes of time from small local television stations around the country, a very expensive proposition, and theres no transparency as to where this money is coming from  He often mentions Russia and that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is basically the saviour.

One might underestimate Greek Solution at ones peril. The party isnt about to seize power, but Velopoulos made his ambitions clear when asked whether he would take his seat in Brussels as a Euro-MP.

According to some polls, the party may take more than a dozen seats in the 300-seat national parliament when Greece holds a national election on July 7.

The mother of all battles is the national election and thats where I want to focus. If you have one vote in 700-odd in the European Parliament, things are a bit difficult. But if you have 18 to 20 MPs in the national parliament, you can perform miracles, Velopoulos recently said.

By pitching Greek Solution as a populist, nationalist, anti-establishment party, Velopoulos stands to reap two major benefits in the upcoming general election, largely because other parties have been tainted by controversy.

Golden Dawn has been discredited since the murder of a left-wing rapper in 2013, for which a party member has been indicted, but which is thought to have been ordered by the party leadership. All 18 of the partys original set of MPs, elected in 2012, are on trial for conspiracy to form a criminal organisation. Prosecutors see the rappers murder, as well as the killing of Pakistani migrant Shehzan Luqman, also in 2013, and a series of other attacks on migrants, as part of a racially motivated Golden Dawn campaign of terror. The partys voters were evidently ready for a nationalist alternative not as motivated by hate.

Last year, Syriza struck a deal recognising the countrys northern neighbour as North Macedonia. What enraged many Greeks was that the agreement recognises Macedonian ethnicity and language. Ancient Macedonians were a Dorian race who spoke Greek, and Greeks today consider them a vital component of Greek nationhood, not a foreign nationality.

The deal tore Syrizas coalition partner, Independent Greeks, between its nationalist instincts and power. Its MPs were split on the ratification vote, allowing the deal to pass but destroying the party.

Russian influence

The North Macedonia agreement highlighted rival geopolitical ambitions playing out in Greece today. The US and European Union backed the deal strongly, because it removed Greeces veto on North Macedonia joining NATO. Russia was openly opposed, and two of its diplomats were humiliatingly expelled from Greece for allegedly using the Orthodox Church to agitate against the agreement.

Gilson sees Greek Solution as Putins comeback for losing out in the North Macedonia agreement. Greek Solution is a Russian party Its a major step in Russias effort to gain influence in Greece, and in a sense, its Putins revenge for the North Macedonia agreement, he says.

Velopouloss spokesman, Vangelis Fanidis, denies this. We go with Greeces interest wherever that lies  Russia, America, China. We go logically towards Christian Russia, but its not a sure thing given Russias current alliance with Turkey, he told Al Jazeera.

Greece and Turkey have been locked in a territorial dispute over airspace and territorial waters for decades, but this dispute has escalated in the past two years as the two historic rivals seek to establish exploration rights for hydrocarbons.

Fanidis also denies that there has been any outside funding. Velopouloss private money is the only source of [party] funding. And hes been audited by the financial crime squad and the tax authorities about this.

Greek Solution has already performed a feat  to be a rising populist presence in an election that has seen all others fall. After a bruising eight-year recession that saw traditional Greek parties scatter voters to anti-austerity upstarts, Greek politics appear[s] to be gradually coming to normality and even maturity. Greek Solution could be the party that bucks that trend.
Shooter identified as DeWayne Craddock fired at colleagues at Virginia Beach municipal centre before police killed him.

At least 12 people were killed in Virginia Beach  a city in the US state of Virginia  on Friday when a gunman opened fire at a municipal centre, in the latest mass shooting in the country.

Police on Saturday identified the gunman as DeWayne Craddock, who fired indiscriminately at his workplace colleagues, sending coworkers scrambling for cover before police fatally shot and killed him, authorities said.

Several others were wounded in the shooting  the worst since a high school shooting left at least 17 people dead in 2018.

Virginia Beach police chief James Cervera said the gunman entered the municipal centre and immediately began to indiscriminately fire upon all of the victims.

Police entered the building and got out as many employees as they could, then exchanged fire with Craddock, who was killed, the chief said.

Cervera added the suspect was armed with a .45-calibre handgun equipped with a sound suppressor device and was reloading his weapon with extended ammunition magazines as he moved through the building.

The police chief declined to comment on any possible motive but said additional weapons were recovered at the scene and from the suspects home.

The citys mayor, Bobby Dyer, called it the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach [WAVY-TV/NBC/via Reuters]

Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen said at a press conference on Saturday that Craddock had been employed by the city for 15 years as an engineer.

Hansen said Craddock was still employed at the time of the shooting on Friday afternoon and possessed a security pass that allowed him access to non-public areas of the municipal building.

Neither Hansen nor Cervera would comment on whether Craddock was facing disciplinary or termination proceedings at the time of the shooting.

Devastating day

The citys mayor, Bobby Dyer, called it the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.

A public works employee told a local NBC television news affiliate that employees were at their desks when gunshots rang out and recounted seeing a badly injured woman in a stairwell, WAVY-TV reported on its website.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911 and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door.

We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe, she said. We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasnt real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said in a statement he was devastated by the unspeakable, senseless violence, and is offering the states full support to survivors and relatives of the victims.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.

The precise circumstances of Fridays shooting were being investigated, with FBI agents and Homeland Security Department forensic technicians assisting local police due to the size and scope and intensity of the crime scene, Cervera said.

The municipal centre lies several miles inland from the towns popular seashore, situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

It ranks as Virginias most populous city with roughly 450,000 residents.

150 mass shootings

Fridays shooting was believed to be one of the deadliest acts of workplace gun violence in the United States. In February, a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.

The Gun Violence Archive website has documented at least 150 mass shootings so far in 2019. The monitor has also documented at least 5,764 people killed and 11,060 injured by gun-related incidents since January 1.

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The US House of Representatives approved two bills in February to toughen background checks for gun purchases, but the legislation faces opposition from the Republican-controlled Senate and the White House.

They were the first major gun control measures approved in Congress in years.

Although Republican President Trump has said he supports stronger background checks, he has so far toed the party line on gun control legislation, leaving Washington deadlocked on how to address frequent mass shootings in the US.

In December, however, the Trump administration banned bump stocks, devices that make semi-automatic weapons fire faster.
Government departments in the US are at odds over the introduction of 5G technology.

In the United States, government departments are clashing over the introduction of 5G wireless technology.

On the one side are scientists in the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and NASA, on the other, are officials from the Federal Communications Commission who are making billions of dollars by auctioning off satellite bandwidth space to wireless companies.

But scientists say that the search for profit is getting in the way of their ability to forecast the weather.

Al Jazeeras Mike Hanna explains from Washington, DC.
The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel in Hungary has been charged as police say they have identified seven South Korean tourists who died in the tragedy.

A Budapest court official on Saturday said the Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn had been charged but gave no further details. The captains lawyer, Balazs Toth, said the court had denied bail.

The 64-year-old was detained for questioning on Thursday a day after his vessel collided with the smaller Mermaid, carrying 35 people, mainly South Korean tourists, causing it to overturn and sink on a busy stretch of the Danube.

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He was questioned for endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths, police said at the time.

Meanwhile, police said they had identified the seven bodies of the South Koreans found so far, without releasing their names.

We could do that first using finger and palm prints taken from them, the corpses, and cooperating with South Korean authorities, and second, using photographs shown to victims family members, who identified their relatives, police spokesman Kristof Gal said.

Strong currents have hampered the search for another 21 people still missing  19 South Koreans, the second boats Hungarian captain and one crew member  preventing divers from reaching the submerged boat.

The collision happened on a popular part of the river from where sightseers can view the city and parliament, which is lit up at night.

It is so far unclear what caused the accident, in which the 135-metre cruise ship hit and sank the smaller pleasure boat on Wednesday night.

Water levels are expected to peak on Saturday and the current depth of the river, just short of 6 metres should fall to about 4 metres by mid-week, the National Water Authority said in a statement.

That would leave the wreckage very close to the surface, according to sonar imaging, and should make it easier to search it for bodies and prepare to remove it from the riverbed, something divers have been unable to do under the current hostile conditions.

Larger river cruise boats travelling on the Danube between Germany and the Black Sea typically spend several days moored in the capital.
The veteran opposition leaders body repatriated two years after he died, as DRC government accords him a state funeral.

Kinshasa, DR Congo  More than two years after his death in Brussels, Etienne Tshisekedis body was repatriated to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he was finally laid to rest in the land of his ancestors.

Etienne was a towering figure in the Congolese political scene. Briefly appointed prime minister in the 1990s, he was considered an eternal opponent.

For four decades, he denounced successive governments abuses, first under the self-proclaimed Marshal-President Mobutu Sese Seko, then Laurent-Desire Kabila and finally Joseph Kabila  Laurent Kabilas son.

The veteran opposition leader was stubborn, quick-tempered and often impulsive  a personality that was far from flawless and deemed unpredictable by many.

Among those who came to pay a tribute on Saturday was Jean Lebosomo, a civil servant and member of Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the party Etienne had founded, with others, in 1982.

Jean had a shirt made for this event, with the face of his hero printed on it.

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He was the father of democracy, he said. He taught us not to fear, and to fight for our rights, he said.

He didnt have the opportunity to enjoy the results of his struggle, but we will follow the path he made for us.

Affectionately nicknamed le vieux (the old man) or leader maximo by his supporters, he was very popular in Kinshasa.

The capital was his stronghold, the headquarters from where he led his political resistance for 40 years.

Etienne died of pulmonary embolism (a disease of the lung) at 84, on February 1, 2017, in a hospital in Brussels  the capital of the former colonial power Belgium.

At the time, political tensions were high in DRC and the veteran leader was in the middle of a long and exhausting confrontation with then-President Joseph Kabila, who delayed polls multiple times, extending his stay in office.

Fought for several decades

But even after his death, Etienne was still perceived as a threat by the authorities.

For two years, his body had been kept in a mortuary in Brussels, awaiting permission from the Congolese government to be repatriated home.

It would be a recognition of the noble cause he carried, said Nathan Tshinkunku, one of his grandnephews. He fought for several decades for our rights and for the rise of democracy in DRC.

If Etienne has finally been able to return to Kinshasa and receive a state funeral, it is because his son, Felix Tshisekedi, was proclaimed the winner of the December 2018 presidential election.

Felix, 55, was sworn in as president in January in the first peaceful handover of power since the countrys independence in 1960.





Felixs ascent to power came after very contested results and following a secret agreement of power-sharing with Kabila who left the presidential chair, but still holds the reins of many key sectors. A compromise, many whisper, Etienne himself would have opposed.

Felix positions himself as his fathers political heir, wearing the same trademark flat cap.

The two-day funeral, during which the president didnt speak publicly, fulfilled one of the first promises he made in office.

Dignitaries of the Catholic Church, representatives of the UDPS attended, as did several African heads of states, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

We forgive those who offended you, said the eldest of Etiennes granddaughters. The deceased could be made a national hero.

Relaying the torch

The state funeral was organised after several delays and the 80,000-seat Martyrs of Pentecost Stadium in Kinshasa, where the ceremonies were held, was never full.

A few thousand people had gathered around the roads to see the hearse passing, carrying the mortal remains, in a black coffin covered with the Congolese and the UDPS flags, to their last resting place.

It was nothing compared with the huge crowds that Etienne could mobilise during his lifetime.

Etienne Tshisekedi was the face of the DRCs opposition for decades [Colin Delfosse/Al Jazeera]

Some wondered if people in the capital grew tired of waiting for his body to return or an expression of a lack of enthusiasm for the new president.

UDPS members attending the funeral fondly remembered him.

He was a man of principles, deeply rooted in his convictions. He wasnt someone who wanted to make sure that his son would be the one succeeding him as the head of the party after his death, a party member, who declined to be named, said.

Albert Moleka, his former head of cabinet, said: Now Felix must find his own way to lead.

Martin Fayulu, one of the presidential candidates, who still disputes the results, paid tribute to Etiennes fight for democracy and justice, but said he wouldnt attend the funeral.

Etienne was buried in an unachieved $2.5m mausoleum in Nsele on the far outskirts of Kinshasa.
The US Department of Homeland Security recommends immediate action to relieve the severely overcrowded migrant detention facility.

A US government watchdog has issued a damning report on overcrowding at a migrant detention facility in Texas.

The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security says immediate action must be taken to address the problem.

Al Jazeeras Rob Reynolds has more.
Iranian citizens rallies for Quds Day, also known as Jerusalem Day, in the annual display of solidarity with Palestinians, which it has marked since the start of its 1979 Revolution.

Iranians turned out in groups across the country to mark whats known as Jerusalem Day.

Demonstrations were held across the region in a show of support for the Palestinian cause.

The rallies come just weeks before the White House is due to present the economic part of its long-awaited peace plan in Bahrain.

Al Jazeeras Mohammed Jamjoom reports.
Navy SEAL Edward Gallaghers defence team have filed motions to remove lead prosecutor from the case for misconduct.

The military judge presiding over the court martial of a US Navy SEAL charged with war crimes said on Friday prosecutors who electronically tracked email communications of defence lawyers without a warrant violated the accuseds right to a fair trial.

The finding came near the end of a two-day hearing that wrapped up just 10 days before Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher is due to stand trial in a case that has drawn the attention of United States President Donald Trump.

Gallagher is charged with murdering a helpless, wounded Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) fighter in his custody, and with two counts of attempted murder in the wounding of two unarmed civilians, a schoolgirl and elderly man, shot from a snipers perch.

The charges stem from Gallaghers deployment as a platoon leader to Iraqs northern city of Mosul, in 2017.

He has pleaded not guilty to those and other charges, including obstructing justice. If convicted, the decorated career combat veteran could face life in prison.

Gallagher says he was wrongly accused and that fellow SEAL team members testifying against him, several under grants of immunity, are disgruntled subordinates who fabricated allegations to force him from command.

His defence team has filed motions seeking either to dismiss the charges altogether or remove the lead prosecutor from the case, on grounds of alleged misconduct by the prosecutor and agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).

Defence attorney Timothy Parlatore, representing Gallagher, spoke with reporters at a pre-trial hearing in San Diego [Earnie Grafton/Reuters]

The defence specifically has accused Navy lawyers of conducting illegal surveillance of defence attorneys and news media using electronic tracking software secretly embedded in emails sent to the defence.

In court, prosecutors have said the email auditing tools they used were designed merely to detect the flow of emails without revealing their content and were aimed at pinpointing the source of leaks from case files sealed by the judge.

The judge, Navy Captain Aaron Rugh, adjourned the hearing without ruling yet on the defence motions. But Rugh said he had already found the prosecutions conduct amounted to a violation of the defendants Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial under the US constitution.

Even if the judge refuses to dismiss the case, removing the lead prosecutor, Navy Commander Christopher Czaplak, would probably result in a lengthy delay.

A ruling on the motions could come at any time, and momentum seemed to be moving in favour of the defence.

At the end of Thursdays proceedings, the judge unexpectedly ordered Gallagher be released from base confinement at a nearby military hospital centre in San Diego while he awaits trial.

He was transferred there from a military brig at a Marine Corps air station in California in March at the direction of Trump, who cited Gallaghers past service to our country.

Trump last Friday said he was considering pardons for a number of service members accused of war crimes, and Gallaghers case is widely believed to be one of the cases under review.
Acting US defence secretary mixes sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Korean threat at Shangri-La conference.

US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said that Washington will no longer tiptoe around Chinas behaviour in Asia.

In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan on Saturday mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Koreas extraordinary threat with vows that the US will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region and is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing its stability.

Perhaps the greatest long-term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules-based international order, he said, at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore.

While he didnt specifically name China in early parts of his speech at Asias biggest security gathering, he made clear who his target was, making pointed references to Beijings campaign to put advanced weapons systems on disputed islands in the region.

If these trends in these behaviours continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful, Shanahan said.

Were not going to ignore Chinese behaviour and I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that, Shanahan said later, in answer to a question.

However, he also said he was keen to foster a military relationship with Beijing.

Rivalry

Shanahans remarks came as the United States and China remain locked in an escalating trade war and at odds over a range of security issues in Asia.

A senior Chinese military official responded to Shanahans comments by saying that the United States actions on Taiwan and the South China Sea were hardly conducive to maintaining stability in the region.





Shanahan said it was in Beijings interests to have a constructive relationship with the United States.

But he added: Behaviour that erodes other nations sovereignty and sows distrust of Chinas intentions must end.

Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow, and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefited us all  including China.

US politicians said Shanahans speech was impressive.

I was very impressed and I certainly am looking much more positively on potentially voting for him when his confirmation happens, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth told reporters.

The White House said last month that it plans to nominate Shanahan as defense secretary, a job he has been doing in an acting capacity since January.

His nomination, if and when it comes, will have to be confirmed by the US Senate.

The way he laid out the facts and the United States position in a firm way, but very upfront, impressed me tremendously, Duckworth added.

Trade tariffs

Shanahan said that he did not see the current trade dispute between China and the United States as a trade war, but rather just part of trade negotiations.

An increase in Chinese tariffs on most US imports on a $60bn target list took effect as planned on Saturday, after Washingtons own tariff increases.

Shanahan also became the latest senior US official to call out Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying in his speech that it was too close to the Chinese government.

The United States has accused Huawei of espionage, breaching trade sanctions against Iran and intellectual property theft. Huawei disputes all allegations.

The annual Shangri-La Dialogue  a two-day event  gathers defence ministers and top military officials from around the world.

While the forum is purely about security, the discussions are being held against a backdrop of Sino-US trade tensions and high-tech rivalry.
Leaders from Muslim countries call US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital illegal and irresponsible.

Political leaders and heads of state from Islamic nations have condemned countries that have made the illegal and irresponsible decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In a joint statement on Saturday, at the end of a summit of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the leaders called on countries that have moved their embassies to Jerusalem to rethink their strategy which they said constituted a serious violation of international law and international legitimacy.

The OIC urged member countries to take appropriate measures against countries that move their embassies to Jerusalem.

US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital in December 2017, breaking with decades of established protocol, and in May 2018 transferred the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Guatemala followed suit soon afterwards.

The Palestinian people have the right to achieve their inalienable national rights, including their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, the final statement said.

Jerusalem is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians as their capital and the move by the United States was roundly condemned by Palestinians who said the US could no longer portray itself as a neutral mediator between the two sides.

Deal of the century

The OICs statement comes as Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner prepares to roll out economic aspects of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month.

The plan, dubbed the deal of the century, has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say Trumps policies have shown him to be blatantly biased in favour of Israel.

Kushner, who was in Jerusalem on Friday on the latest leg of a regional tour to sell the plan, had looked to an alliance with Saudi Arabia against Iran as a way to gain Arab support.

But Saudi King Mohammed bin Salman told leaders of the IOC countries gathered at the summit: The Palestinian cause is the cornerstone of the works of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is the focus of our attention until the brotherly Palestinian people get all their legitimate rights.

We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of any measures that would prejudice the historical and legal status of Quds [Jerusalem].

The meeting was the third international summit to be held in Saudi Arabia since Thursday.

Iran tensions

The OIC also backed Saudi Arabia over escalating tensions with Iran, as King Salman warned that terrorist attacks in the Gulf region could imperil global energy supplies.

The remark came after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies, the king told OIC member states.

Tehran has strongly denied involvement in any of the incidents.

In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the king vowed to confront aggressive threats and subversive activities.

Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world, said OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen, voicing solidarity that was shared by other members.

Analysts say Riyadhs strategy to counter Tehran is not being helped by divisions within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

This strategy from the GCC states is flawed. Flawed because in one sense they dont want to talk to Iran. Iran has asked for a dialogue and they dont want to sit at the table and talk to Iran and sort out all the issues they have with Iran. There are conflicts between the GCC member states. The GCC is not united and it is fragmented, Abdullah Baaboob, a Gulf and Middle East analyst told Al Jazeera.

The OIC summit also urged the US to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he is expecting good results from talks planned in Washington next week.

Mexicos president has hinted his country could tighten migration controls to defuse US President Donald Trumps threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Saturday that he was expecting good results from talks planned in Washington next week.

He said Mexico could be ready to step up measures to contain a recent surge in migration in order to reach a deal with the United States.

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The main thing is to inform about what were already doing on the migration issue, and if its necessary to reinforce these measures without violating human rights, we could be prepared to reach that deal, Lopez Obrador said.

His comments follow those of Jesus Seade, the deputy foreign minister for North America, who told Reuters news agency on Friday that Mexico wanted to sharpen existing measures to curb the flow of Central Americans trying to reach the US soil.

Lopez Obrador was asked in the news conference whether he would allow Mexico to become a so-called safe third country, which would allow US authorities to send migrants back to Mexico and make them apply for asylum there.

He did not answer the question, but pressure has grown steadily on his government to give ground on the issue.

Following an agreement with Lopez Obrador, US authorities have since January begun sending migrants back to Mexico to wait there while their US asylum claims are processed.

The number of ports of entry for returnees under the so-called Remain in Mexico policy has gradually increased, and policy experts say it could be expanded to more cities.

Al Jazeeras Rosalind Jordan, reporting from Washington, said: Its unusual and perhaps illegal for a government to impose tariffs for non-economic or trade-related reasons.

She also said a number of organisations, including the US Chamber of Commerce, which represent most US businesses in the country, were considering to sue the US government to prevent the tariffs from taking effect.

Their argument is that this is not only to hurt US businesses, but it is creating a hostile environment for these businesses to operate within. They want to try to curtail the Trump administrations efforts to use tariffs to deal with all sorts of policy issues, not just the economic ones, Jordan said.

Tariff threat

Trump said on Thursday that he would apply the tariffs on June 10 if Mexico did not halt the flow of undocumented migration, largely from Central America, across the US-Mexican border.

His ultimatum hit Mexican financial assets and global stocks, but met resistance from US business leaders and legislators worried about the effect of targeting Mexico, one of the top trade partners of the US.





Trumps threat to inflict pain on Mexicos economy is the biggest foreign policy test to date for Lopez Obrador and a tall order for Mexican authorities struggling not only to contain migration but also to fight record gang violence.

Mexicos economy relies heavily on exports to the US and shrank in the first quarter. Under Trumps plan, US tariffs could rise as high as 25 percent this year.

Lopez Obrador said Mexico would not pursue trade wars with the US, but noted that his government had a plan in case Trump did apply the tariffs to ensure the country was not impoverished. He did not provide details of the plan.

Were doing all we can to reach a deal through dialogue, the veteran leftist said. Were not going to get into a trade war, a war of tariffs and of taxes.

He nevertheless noted that Mexico reserved the right to seek international legal arbitration to resolve the dispute.

Tit-for-tat

Meanwhile, some Mexican business groups have urged the government to strike back against any Trump tariffs.

On Friday, Mexicos top farm lobby said Lopez Obrador should target agricultural goods from states that support Trumps Republican Party if the US leader carries out his threat to punish Mexico for the migrants heading north.

Apprehensions at the US border with Mexico have surged in recent months, though Mexican data also show more deportations and detentions at Mexicos southern border with Guatemala, mostly of Central Americans trying to reach the US irregularly.

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Those statistics are likely to figure in the Mexican governments argument that it is addressing the problem.

The bulk of migrants are fleeing widespread violence and poverty in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Many seek asylum in the US when they cross the border.

Trump is pushing Congress to change US law to make it more difficult for the migrants to claim asylum.
A public inquiry report leaked to Canadas national broadcaster has called disappearances and murders of possibly thousands of indigenous women over recent decades a Canadian genocide.

The report, details of which were released by CBC on Friday, concluded that indigenous women and girls faced a disproportionately high level of violence through state actions and actions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies.

The 1,200-page final report is set for public release on Monday at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  who has made reconciliation with Canadas 1.6 million indigenous peoples a government priority  and families of the victims.

According to official estimates, almost 1,200 indigenous women and girls went missing or were killed between 1980 and 2012.

But commissioners with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have said that figure is probably too low.

We do know that thousands of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) have been lost to the Canadian genocide to date, said the report, titled Reclaiming Power and Place.

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The fact that First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples are still here and that the population is growing should not discount the charge of genocide.

The report added that due to the gravity of the issue, the inquiry was preparing a supplementary report on the Canadian genocide of indigenous peoples according to the legal definition of genocide, which will be posted at a later date.

CBC said it contains more than 230 recommendations.

The inquiry was the culmination of years of lobbying by native leaders, activists and victims families seeking to know why possibly thousands of indigenous women were murdered or have gone missing over the past three decades.

Indigenous women represent four percent of Canadas population but accounted for up to 16 to 24 percent of homicide victims during the period, said the reports authors. The commissioners held 24 hearings across Canada over the past 2.5 years and heard from more than 2,000 witnesses, including family members of missing or murdered women, survivors of violence, experts and officials.
Mustafa al-Kharouf, who has been living in occupied East Jerusalem, faces deportation to Jordan.

For the past five months, Mustafa al-Kharouf has been languishing inside Israels Givon prison, away from his wife Tamam and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Asia, but now he faces deportation to Jordan.

The 32-year-old photojournalist, son of an Algerian mother and a Palestinian father, has been living in Jerusalem since 1999 when his family moved back.

Despite repeated attempts in the past decade, he has been denied permanent residency status, which he is entitled to, thus rendering him stateless.

By the time Kharoufs family met the conditions set out by the policy to get residency, Mustafa was 18 years old and his family were not able to submit an application for family reunification or child registration on his behalf.

In January, Mustafa, who worked with the Anadolu Agency, was arrested after his lawyer challenged the Israeli interior ministrys decision to reject his request for legal status.

His fate is now in the hands of an Israeli high court, which will decide if he will be deported to Jordan, a country he has no ties to.

In order to attain their legal status as Palestinians in the city, Kharoufs family applied for the family reunification requests.

But at the core of Israels complicated laws for Palestinian Jerusalem residents  who are granted residency rights but not Israeli citizenship  is the centre of life policy, which has been described as a legalised cleansing.

The policy, which requires Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem to prove they keep a centre of life in the city to uphold their legal status, has been criticised by rights groups as discriminatory and as a precursor to forcible transfers  a serious violation of international law.

Legal status rejected by Israeli interior ministry

Adi Lustigman, Kharoufs lawyer from the Israeli rights organisation HaMoked, told Al Jazeera that Kharouf tried to regulate his status in Jerusalem for years, but to no avail.

He had an interim order during some periods, but the rest of the times he has just managed, like many other stateless and status-less Jerusalemites do, Lustigman said.

It is of course enormously difficult to be a person with no rights, no work permit, and nowhere to go in order to be legal.

From October 2014-2015, Kharouf was granted an Israeli B/1 work visa on a humanitarian basis. Yet requests for a visa extension were eventually rejected by the ministry of interior for security reasons.

Lustigman believes the ministrys rejections are related to his work as a photojournalist documenting human rights abuses committed by the Israeli authorities in occupied East Jerusalem.

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After Kharouf got married to his wife Tamam, a Palestinian Jerusalemite, in 2016, he filled out another family reunification application, but it was again rejected in December 2018 by the interior ministry.

According to Lustigman, the decision was based on unfounded accusations that Kharouf was a member of Hamas, which is banned by Israel.

The lawyer appealed the decision on January 21 2019, but the next day, Israeli forces raided Kharoufs home and arrested him, and he has since been placed under administrative detention  indefinite imprisonment without trial or charges against him.

My husband is the most optimistic person I know, but now he is beyond miserable, Kharoufs wife Tamam told Al Jazeera.

Tamam is permitted to visit her husband once a week for a maximum of 20 minutes only behind a glass window.

His spirits have deteriorated so much since his arrest, the 27-year-old school counsellor said. He has lost 10 kilograms, and is very depressed.

A few months later in April, the Israeli District Court rejected Kharoufs appeal and gave an interim order not to deport him so he is able to take his case to Israels High Court, with May 5 given as the deadline. The appeal has already been filed, but the High Court has yet to make a decision. Kharouf remains at imminent risk of being forcibly deported to Jordan.

Deportation order illegal

Saleh Hijazi, the head of Amnesty Internationals Jerusalem office, called the Israeli decision to refuse Kharoufs residency application and deport him as cruel and unlawful.

[Kharouf] must be released immediately and granted permanent residency in East Jerusalem so he can resume his normal life with his wife and child, Hijazi said.

The arbitrary detention and planned deportation of Mustafa al-Kharouf reflect Israels long-term policy to reduce the number of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, while denying them their human rights, he continued.

Following Israels illegal annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, at least 14,600 Palestinians have had their residency permits revoked.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, the deportation of protected people from an occupied territory is illegal. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court stipulates that the deportation or transfer [by the occupying power] of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory constitutes a war crime.

A person cannot be left stateless, Jessica Montell, Executive Director of HaMoked, said in a press release in April. On the practical level, there is no sense holding Mustafa pending deportation when there is no country to which Israel can deport him.

The High Court of Justice has recognised East Jerusalemites as an indigenous population with a unique status. Israel must therefore release Mustafa without delay and give him the legal status to which he is entitled as a Jerusalemite.

Tamam has been busy consulting with lawyers to see what can be done but she said that most of them say her husbands case is too complicated and refuse to take it on.

I havent thought about an alternative plan for us, Tamam said. If Mustafa gets deported to Jordan, he will not receive residency let alone citizenship.

In fact hell get detained by Jordanian authorities as soon as he crosses the border for as long as it will take them to review his files and come to a decision on what to do with him, she continued.

If he gets deported, it wont be just one family that will be fragmented. Hell be ripped away from me and my daughter, from his parents, and from his in-laws.

Lustigman says the importance of highlighting Kharoufs case can make the difference in not uprooting the photojournalists life.

We hope that public opinion, press interests, and NGO actions would have a certain weight and be of help, the lawyer said.
In the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip last year, more than 45 pupils were killed by Israeli fire.

More than 45 Palestinian school children were killed by Israeli fire last year in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

Since 2018, the Palestinian Ministry of Education estimates that some 20,000 students have suffered through different Israeli violations.

Now teachers and students are trying to find ways to protect themselves from violence by Israeli settlers and security forces.

Al Jazeeras Nida Ibrahim reports from Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
Irans president says Tehran may engage in talks if the US showed its respect, state media reported.

President Hassan Rouhani has suggested Iran may be willing to hold talks if the United States showed its respect, but said Tehran will not be bullied into negotiations with Washington, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

on Saturday, Fars news agency quoted Rouhani as saying: We are for logic and talks if [the other side] sits respectfully at the negotiating table and follows international regulations, not if it issues an order to negotiate.

We have shown that we do not submit to bullying and covetous powers, he said.

Iran and the US have been drawn into a starker confrontation in the past month, a year after Washington pulled out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehrans nuclear programme in return for lifting international sanctions.

Washington reimposed sanctions last year and ratcheted them up in May, ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil. In recent weeks, it has also hinted at military confrontation, saying it was sending extra forces to the Middle East to respond to an Iranian threat.

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US President Donald Trump says the 2015 nuclear deal was not strong enough and he wants to force Iran to negotiate a new agreement. Some US officials have spoken of the possibility of new talks.

Trump said on Monday: It [Iran] has a chance to be a great country with the same leadership We arent looking for regime change  I just want to make that clear.

Irans top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday Iran would not negotiate with Washington. Rouhani had previously signalled talks might be possible if sanctions were lifted.

In Saturdays speech to a group of Iranian athletes, Rouhani noted Trumps recent remarks and suggested they were a climb-down from statements last year that encouraged regime change in Iran.

The same enemy which declared its aim last year to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran today explicitly states that it does not want to do anything to [our] system, Rouhani said.

If we remain hopeful in the war with America, we will win.

Baseless claims

Fears of conflict erupting in the Gulf region have grown in recent weeks amid fiery rhetoric from both sides.

Last week, Trump said he will send about 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East amid heightened tensions with rival Iran.

He said the purpose of this deployment is mostly protective, and is meant to increase the security of forces already in the region.





Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reiterated his countrys rejection of the USs increase in military deployments to the region, as the US said Iran was likely behind attacks on oil tankers off United Arab Emirates (UAE) coast earlier this month.

On May 12, the UAE said four commercial ships off the coast of Fujairah, one of the worlds largest bunkering hubs, were subjected to sabotage operations.

The attack caused significant damage to the structure of the two vessels, according to Saudi Arabias Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih.

Tehran has strongly denied involvement in the incidents.

A three-day summit in Saudi Arabia that focused on regional security issues this week came to a close on Saturday, with Riyadh urging leaders to stop Irans naked aggression in the region.

In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the Saudi king vowed to confront aggressive threats and subversive activities.

Tehran described the allegations as baseless, saying Saudi Arabia had joined the US and Israel in a hopeless effort to mobilise regional opinion against Iran.
At least 10 others wounded after security forces open fire near protest site in Khartoum, a doctors committee said.

At least two people have been killed and 10 wounded in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum when shots were fired near the site of a protest sit-in, a doctors committee close to demonstrators said.

After regular forces opened fire, there were casualties on Nile Street near the sit-in site, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said in a statement following the incident on Saturday.

The committee did not specify which forces opened fire or identify those killed or wounded. A man died who was hit with live rounds in the head, the committee said.

Thousands of demonstrators in Sudan have attempted to stop security forces from closing down the main street outside the military headquarters in Khartoum.

Sounds of live gunfire were heard at around 2pm local time (12:00 GMT), which lasted for about four hours, witnesses told Al Jazeera.

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Asim Abdullah, 40, a business owner at the site of the sit-in, told Al Jazeera that security forces blockaded the Nile Street, which is adjacent to the army headquarters, and attacked protesters from all sides.

Dozens of vehicles belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), army and police blocked the area and opened fire at the protesters, he said.

Rehan Abdul Galil, a 30-year-old engineer, said soldiers from the RSF were beating some of the protesters using sticks.

RSF soldiers have used excessive violence. I saw more than 20 soldiers beating a single protester with sticks, she said.

Unruly elements

The ruling military council had warned last week that it would disperse the main sit-in outside the army headquarters.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Transitional Military Council (TMC) said in a televised speech that legal action would be taken against what it called unruly elements at the encampment outside the defence ministry.

He said a military vehicle used by the RSF had been attacked and seized near the encampment.





Over the past few days, at least three protesters, including a pregnant woman, were shot dead at the site of the protests, while eight others suffered injuries, according to a statement by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA).

In its statement released on Friday, the SPA held the TMC accountable and urged the council to practise restraint and respect the Sudanese peoples right to freedom of expression and assembly.

The site has become the central point of Sudans protest movement, which saw longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir overthrown last month and has since been calling for the generals who replaced him to hand over power to a civilian-led administration.

A ttack on media freedom

Tens of thousands of protesters had converged on the encampment, heeding a call by protest leaders to step up pressure on Sudans military rulers following a two-day strike last week.

Protesters have accused the RSF of trying to undermine a transition to democracy, a charge the force denies.

The Freedom and Change alliance, the group that is leading the protest movement, has been negotiating with the TMC regarding a political transition, but talks have stalled.

Other attempts to quell the demonstrations have included the closure of media outlets who have been reporting the ongoing developments.

On Saturday, Sudans foreign ministry summoned the countrys envoy to Qatar, Sudans state-run news agency said. It came a day after Doha-based news channel Al Jazeera Media Network said Sudanese authorities had shut down its Khartoum bureau.

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The report by Sudan News Agency (SUNA) quoted Babaker al-Amin, a spokesman for the ministry, as saying that Sudans ambassador to Qatar Fathel-Rahamn Mohammed was summoned for consultations and will be sent back to Doha within the coming hours.

Qatar-funded Al Jazeera on Friday said Sudanese authorities banned its journalists from reporting in the country.

The decision also included the withdrawal of the work permits for the correspondents and staff of the network with immediate effect.

Al Jazeera decried the move as an attack on media freedom, professional journalism, and the basic tenets of the right for people to know and understand the reality of what is happening in Sudan.

Additional reporting by Mohammed Alamin in Khartoum.
US envoy negotiating with Taliban to resume talks with the group in the Qatari capital to advance the peace process.

The US envoy negotiating with the Taliban will hold new talks this month with the group in Qatar, the US State Department has said, as momentum builds for a deal to end Americas longest war.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran US policymaker who is leading President Donald Trumps push to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, left on Friday on a 17-day trip that will take him to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, the state department said on Saturday.

In Doha, he will resume talks with the Taliban after a break of around a month to move the peace process forward, the department said in a statement.

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Khalilzad has already met six times with the Taliban in recent months as he looks to seal a deal under which the United States will pull out troops who were first deployed following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The US and the Taliban are believed to have largely agreed on a key demand of Washington: that the Taliban should not allow Afghanistan to be used by armed groups.

But a major sticking point remains the refusal of the Taliban to negotiate with President Ashraf Ghanis government, which enjoys international support while the Taliban considers it a puppet of the West.

The Taliban, believing it has leverage on the military front, has also rejected Ghanis overtures for a nationwide ceasefire.

No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives, Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhunzada said, in a rare message released on Saturday.

I ntra-Afghan negotiations

About 17,000 foreign troops, including a contingent of some 14,000 US soldiers, are based in Afghanistan as part of a US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some US forces also carry out counterterrorism operations.

The US has said it will not agree to any withdrawal of troops as part of an eventual peace deal until the Taliban puts in place security guarantees, implements a ceasefire and signs off on other commitments including an intra-Afghan dialogue with the Kabul government and other Afghan representatives.





But the Taliban insists it will not do any of these things until the US announces a troop withdrawal timeline.

In Kabul, Khalilzad will meet representatives of civil society and womens rights groups, which have been especially concerned about a larger role for the Taliban.

Khalilzad will encourage all parties to work towards intra-Afghan negotiations that lead to a final peace settlement, the state department said.

Germany, another of Khalilzads stops, has voiced willingness to hold a meeting on peace in Afghanistan.

The US peace envoy will start his trip in Pakistan, the chief backer of the Taliban before the September 11 attacks and which has used its contacts to facilitate the talks with the Taliban.
Groups head indicates no ceasefire anytime soon in Afghanistan, but says negotiations remain open with the US.

The Afghan Taliban is unlikely to call a ceasefire any time soon, the groups leader has indicated, even though the doors of dialogue with the United States to end the 18-year-long war in the country remain open.

In his annual message on Saturday, ahead of next weeks Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada pledged to continue fighting until the groups objectives were reached.

No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of Jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives, he said in the message, adding that the Taliban aimed for an end to the occupation and establishment of an Islamic system.

His statement comes days after a Taliban official said that decent progress had been made during talks with a group of senior Afghan politicians in Moscow.

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A sixth round of US-led talks in Qatar also wrapped up last month with some progress made on a draft agreement for when foreign troops might withdraw from Afghanistan.

The doors of dialogue and negotiations have been kept open and at this very moment, the [Taliban] negotiation team  is engaged in negotiations with the American side, Akhunzada said.

Taliban representatives have been talking with US diplomats for months about withdrawing more than 20,000 US and NATO coalition troops in exchange for guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used as a base for attacks.

But so far there have been no signs of a ceasefire agreement and formal negotiations with President Ashraf Ghanis government, who Akhunzada accused of trying to sabotage dialogue between the Islamic Emirate and Afghan political figures.

The Taliban, overthrown by US-backed forces weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate.

Peace march

Ghani had proposed a nationwide ceasefire at the start of Ramadan early last month, but the Taliban rejected the offer.

Last year, the Taliban observed a three-day ceasefire over Eid for the first time since 2001. Soldiers and civilians welcomed Taliban fighters and supporters into villages and towns. Afghan security forces were seen embracing the Taliban on the outskirts of the capital, and the fighters were allowed into Kabul if they temporarily turned in their weapons at the edge of the city.

During a 2018 ceasefire over the Eid al-Fitr holiday, there was no significant fighting in Afghanistan for the first time in years [File: Parwiz/Reuters]

Many Afghans, exhausted by decades of war and violence, had pinned their hopes on another truce this year.

In a sign of frustration with their countrys seemingly unending conflict, a group of protesters have restarted a peace march that last year saw them walking across Afghanistan and into the capital, Kabul.





Bismillah Watandost, a spokesman for the Peoples Peace Movement, told AFP news agency on Saturday that about 30 people had started the walk late on Thursday, heading from Lashkar Gah to Musa Qala in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

We will be marching 150 kilometres. Some of our friends have blisters on their feet from wearing old shoes, Watandost said. This is our first peace march during the holy month of Ramadan, all of us are fasting.

He said the group aims to express to the Taliban the pain and suffering of Afghans.

Even if we are intimidated with death threats, we wont care about it, Watandost said.

Afghan officials have been deeply suspicious of the so-called intra-Afghan dialogue, which they see as a means of reinforcing the Taliban and powerful regional politicians while sidelining the legitimate government.

The Eid message offered assurances that the Taliban did not seek a monopoly over power and would respect all the rights of male and female Afghans under the shade of a sound Islamic government and develop education, commerce, employment and welfare.

The Taliban says that conditions for peace require an Afghanistan that is free from foreign occupation.
Rights group and ships captain say Tunisias Zarzis port is not letting 75 migrants saved at sea from coming ashore.

Tunisian authorities have stopped 75 migrants saved at sea from coming ashore, according to a rights group and the captain of the ship which rescued them.

The migrants were adrift in international waters in a boat with a broken engine when an Egyptian tug boat brought them on board, the captain said on Saturday on condition of anonymity.

After notifying authorities in Italy and Malta, the crew headed for the southern Tunisian port of Zarzis, where authorities refused to allow the ship to dock.

Were in a critical situation, were nearly 100 on board and we dont have more than two days of supplies of water and food, the captain told AFP news agency by phone.

Tunisian rights organisation FTDES said the regional governor demanded government support before accepting the migrants, following an increase in new arrivals from neighbouring Libya in recent months.

Tunisian authorities did not respond to AFPs requests for comment.

The crew of the tug boat rescued 64 Bangladeshis, nine Egyptians, one Moroccan and one Sudanese, who had departed from Zuwara in western Libya, according to FTDES.

Last month, around 60 migrants, mostly from Bangladesh, had drowned off the coast of Tunisia after leaving Libya on a boat bound for Europe.

There has been a significant reduction in rescue vessels operating in the Mediterranean Sea in recent months, with humanitarian boats facing legal woes as countries such as Italy impose a hardline migration policy.
Hundreds come out in the US city to pray for those killed in one of the worst workplace shootings in the country.

About 200 people have come out in the US city of Virginia Beach to pray for 12 people killed in a mass shooting at a municipal centre by a coworker.

The prayer vigil led by a local church on Saturday morning drew city workers, community leaders, and residents, who wanted to offer hugs and condolences for those killed on Friday by a gunman identified as DeWayne Craddock.

We grieve with you, we are all in this together, Governor Ralph Northam, who also attended the vigil, told the crowd.

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President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the community on Saturday over Twitter: Spoke to Virginia Governor @RalphNortham last night, and the Mayor and Vice Mayor of Virginia Beach this morning, to offer condolences to that great community. The Federal Government is there and will be, for whatever they may need. God bless the families and all!

Al Jazeeras Heidi Zhou-Castro, reporting from Virginia Beach, said multiple more vigils were scheduled, but the community was divided about gun rights.

Even the day after the tragedy the community here is divided about how to prevent events like this from happening in the future, she added. One of the vigil attendees told me he supports gun rights as do many Americans.

Motive not known

Police killed Craddock after he fired indiscriminately at his workplace colleagues, shooting 12 dead and wounding several others.

The victims were identified as Laquita C Brown, Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine A Nixon, Richard H Nettleton, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua A Hardy, Michelle Missy Langer, Robert Bobby Williams and Herbert Bert Snelling.

The precise circumstances of Fridays shooting were being investigated [Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP]

Virginia Beach police chief James Cervera said the suspect was armed with a .45-calibre handgun equipped with a sound suppressor device and was reloading his weapon with extended ammunition magazines as he moved through the building.

Cervera declined to comment on any possible motive but said additional weapons were recovered at the scene and from the suspects home.

Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen said at a press conference on Saturday that Craddock had been employed by the city for 15 years as an engineer.

Hansen said Craddock was still employed at the time of the shooting on Friday afternoon and possessed a security pass that allowed him access to non-public areas of the municipal building.

Neither Hansen nor Cervera would comment on whether Craddock was facing disciplinary or termination proceedings at the time of the shooting.

Devastating day

The citys mayor Bobby Dyer called it the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.

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A public works employee told a local NBC television news affiliate that employees were at their desks when gunshots rang out and recounted seeing a badly injured woman in a stairwell, WAVY-TV reported on its website.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911 and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door.

We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe, she said. We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasnt real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots.

The precise circumstances of Fridays shooting were being investigated, with FBI agents and Homeland Security Department forensic technicians assisting local police due to the size and scope and intensity of the crime scene, Cervera said.

The municipal centre lies several miles inland from the towns popular seashore, situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

It ranks as Virginias most populous city with roughly 450,000 residents.

150 mass shootings

Fridays shooting was believed to be one of the deadliest acts of workplace gun violence in the United States. In February, a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.

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The Gun Violence Archive website has documented at least 150 mass shootings so far in 2019. The monitor has also documented at least 5,764 people killed and 11,060 injured by gun-related incidents since January 1.

The US House of Representatives approved two bills in February to toughen background checks for gun purchases, but the legislation faces opposition from the Republican-controlled Senate and the White House.

They were the first major gun control measures approved in Congress in years.

Although Republican President Trump has said he supports stronger background checks, he has so far toed the party line on gun control legislation, leaving Washington deadlocked on how to address frequent mass shootings in the US.

In December, however, the Trump administration banned bump stocks, devices that make semi-automatic weapons fire faster.
What anti-American zealots in government and media are doing to president Trump is unprecedented and should scare the heck out of every American. They have created a parallel universe void of truth and reality. In the midst of Trump actually making America great again, millions of Americans believe Trump is a Russian agent, mentally ill, and leading America to destruction.

Trump brought back jobs that Obama decreed were gone forever. Black, Hispanic, and female unemployment are at historic lows. Trump pulled us out of bad deals with foreign governments. Thanks to Trump eliminating absurd regulations and oppressive taxes, businesses are coming home to America building factories. The average American wage is $27 per hour. Americans are enjoying an economic boom. All this incredible good news is for the most part being hidden from Americans.

Instead, Democrats, fake news media, Hollywood, and social media flood the airwaves with their lie that Trump is horrible for America. They claim he obstructed justice in the Mueller investigation. Hogwash! The truth is the Mueller so-called investigation was really an illegal witch-hunt, a silent coup undermining Trump's presidency; to reverse the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller's investigation was based solely on the Steele Dossier, a bogus document written in 2016 and paid for by Hillary Clinton. Hillary's despicable fake document claimed that Trump paid prostitutes to urinate on a hotel bed slept in by Obama. Mueller and the 19 Hillary lawyers he hired knew the document was filled with lies. And yet, they used it to illegally obtain warrants to harass the Trump administration for three years. Trump knew the Mueller investigation was a scam to destroy his presidency. Still, Trump did not exercise his authority to fire Mueller. Trump turned over a million documents to Mueller's evil minions. Still, fake news media is helping Democrats to sell their obvious lie that Trump is engaged in a cover-up.

Trump pushed back against his treasonous conspirators by publicly calling them out on their lies and behind-the-scenes illegal dirty tricks. This enraged them. Republicans usually allow Democrats and fake news media to spread lies about Republicans and policies beneficial for We the people. Trump is a different breed of Republican, one who stands up for himself. This has caused anti-American zealots (Democrats, fake news media, Hollywood and deep state Republicans) to declare Trump insane.

Think about this, folks. For over three years, Trumps enemies launched an illegal silent coup to reverse the 2016 presidential election. Every time Trump told the American people the truth about what these treasonous conspirators were doing, they launched a national narrative that Trump is insane and attempting to obstruct justice.

Displaying off the chain arrogance and chutzpah, anti-American zealots are trying to criminalize Trump defending himself. They expect Trump to lie back and not respond to them spreading lies 24/7 about him and his policies.

They are, in essence, saying screw the law, screw the truth, screw equal justice and screw the American people. They are fanatically intent on removing Trump from office by any means necessary. This threatens justice for every American.

Anti-American zealots control 90% of the media, Hollywood, and educational institutions. Folks, if these people can get away with hiding the remarkable job Trump is doing for America and falsely branding him a Russian agent and a lunatic, think what they can do to any and every conservative, Christian, and Republican. Their power is extremely scary and totally unacceptable.

I cannot explain why, but suddenly the image of Lady Justice wearing a blindfold struck a powerful chord with me. Knowing why Lady Justice wears a blindfold, I asked my wife Mary if she knew. Mary said yes.

Lady Justice wears a blindfold because friends should not be treated differently than strangers; the rich should not be treated better than the poor. In other words, Justice should be distributed equally to all Americans.

Democrats, fake news media, and deep state Republicans have ripped the blindfold off Lady Justice. Democrats and deep state anti-Trump operatives break laws at will, while inventing bogus crimes to attack Trump.

Disturbingly, Trump haters in government and media can sell the American people lies about Trump and his excellent job performance. Incredibly, they have created a parallel universe void of truth and reality.

AG William Barr absolutely must uncover these treasonous rats in our government and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. If Barr does not follow through, the blindfold of Lady Justice in America will be gone forever.

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American

Help Lloyd spread the Truth
On May 14, 2019, Professor Rabab Abdulhadi gave a guest lecture at the University of California Los Angeles that was laced with distortions of history and anti-Semitic tropes. Abdulhadi characterizes herself as a scholar/activist, an oxymoron that would have inspired ridicule in the academic world I entered as a student in the late 1950s.

If scholarship is the objective search for the truth, how is it possible to be both an ideologue and a scholar? The short answer is the two are visibly incompatible, for a believer will not accept disconfirming evidence of cherished articles of faith.

Nor should they, because the world of faith and the world of evidence are two distinct and different realms. In todays academic world, however, those realms are inseparable.

Academia is now a place where one is encouraged to proudly embrace ones commitment to ideology as some sort of badge of honor rather than as a mark of intellectual limitation. That is, of course, if the ideology conforms to the normative standards of leftist/socialist thought and intersectionality.

Despite universities being havens for safe spaces and concrete bunkers to prevent students from hearing ideas that might make them uncomfortable, universities can always dust off the First Amendment when it comes to defending speech that transmits an approved agenda.

It was no surprise that the UCLA invoked the First Amendment to support Abdulhadis insufferable and ahistorical nonsense that Israel is a colonial entity based on white supremacy. At a minimum, Abdulhadi should know that more than half of Israelis are the descendants from the Jews of the Middle East that were ethnically cleansed by her kinsman from homelands they lived in for a thousand years before the first Muslim warrior galloped out of the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century.

I have no objection for any university to invite anyone to enter the free marketplace of ideas and spout their nonsense. The problem is that some nonsense, like Abdulhadis, is acceptable while other points of view run up against the trenches of political correctness.

Freedom of thought is highly prized when it is consonant with popular thought on campus. For example, hardly a faculty member would find a loyalty oath palatable, but UCLA requiring a written commitment to diversity as a condition for promotion is not seen as telling faculty what to think.

If a university is going to hide propaganda behind the First Amendment and embrace the objective of freedom of thought, at a minimum it should not make attendance at a propaganda festival compulsory.

No one signed up from the class bulletin to hear Abdulhadi, who as a faculty member at San Francisco State University, issued an ukase that Zionists were not welcome on campus. Her declaration was repudiated by the chancellor the state university system.

Abdulhadis behavior toward Jewish students on the SFSU campus has long been a matter of public controversy, and the university, on March 20, 2019, entered into an out-of-court settlement to cease what is widely perceived as its longstanding tolerance of both anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

To her credit, Abdulhadi makes no secret of her ideology. Consequently, anyone extending an invitation to her should not be surprised by what they are getting, which raises the additional question of what does her teaching and research have to do with a class in anthropology?

This is yet another instance of indoctrination of a captive -- dragooned in this case -- audience of students who pay outrageous tuition to hear the political opinions of leftist activists. It is kind of activity that is producing generations of college graduates that have been told what leftist shibboleths to parrot but not how to think for themselves, which at one time was the function of a college education.

Lest one think UCLAs raising of the First Amendment shows that it is a bastion of free thought removed from concerns with political correctness, consider Abdulhadis presentation in the context of a momentous decision on the UCLA campus, the gutting of its English major in 2011.

As Heather Mac Donald notes, until 2011, UCLA English majors took one course in Chaucer, one in Milton, and two in Shakespeare. These authors represent the foundations of English literature and our connection with Western civilization.

But these authors were outed as dead white European males or part of the white, racist, imperialist establishment. So, UCLA expunged them and replaced them with trendy courses in gender, race, ethnicity, and post-colonial studies, etc. (You can fill in the rest of the politically correct buzz words.)

Thanks to the purging of the foundational authors of English literature, a student in English literature can spend four years at UCLA and have substituted alternative rubrics of gender, sexuality, race, and class and never have read Shakespeare.

So, one wonders, can a UCLA student receive a degree in anthropology and never read Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, or Karl Polanyi but know Rabab Abuldhadis seminal work in the Islamophobia journal?

There was a time when an education in the liberal arts taught one how to think independently, how to grapple with conflicting ideas, and how to understand the work of the luminaries that created intellectual disciplines. That time has passed.

More than likely Boas, Sapir, and Polanyi, some of the greatest minds of the last century, have been replaced by alternative rubrics that are not part of the imperialistic establishment. After all, they are not only dead white European males but also Jews. Two reasons not to incorporate them in the politically correct curriculum dominated by alternative rubrics and activist scholars.

Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science and a distinguished scholar with the Haym Salomon Center.
The irony was that Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn was charged with and plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI.

By his own standards Robert Mueller was guilty of making false statements in his parting gift to Democrat impeachment seekers. He was not, however, under legal oath, which is maybe why Democrats did not want him to be questioned by Congress in a hearing beforehand.

Mueller has had to walk back his lie about Office of Legal Counsel policy keeping him from indicting a sitting president. In his alleged farewell address, former Special Counsel Mueller managed to channel former FBI Director James Comey. Where is it written that former FBI directors get to recite a litany of possible charges against someone they are not going to charge? If, as Mueller had said, you could indict a sitting President, and that is why he was not indicted, then why did he spend some $40 million the past two years pursuing an indictment? Just what happened to the presumption of innocence?

Mueller told AG Barr that it was not DOJ policy on not indicting sitting presidents that guided his decisions. Then, knowing the lamestream media would run with his lie, said the opposite. Elizabeth Vaughan noted at Red State:

In his statement this morning, Robert Mueller said if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. He also said that, because of Office of Legal Counsel guidance, his team did not have the option of charging a sitting president with a crime. This is the opposite of what he told Attorney General William Barr and several other DOJ officials at a meeting which took place on March 5th. Barr was asked about why Mueller had failed to come to a conclusion on the question of obstruction of justice during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1st. He said, We were frankly surprised that they were not going to reach a decision on obstruction and we asked them a lot about the reasoning behind this. Mueller stated three times to us in that meeting, in response to our questioning, that he emphatically was not saying that but for the OLC opinion he would have found obstruction. Barr made a similar remark at the press conference he held prior to the public release of the redacted Mueller Report. He told reporters, We specifically asked him about the OLC opinion and whether or not he was taking a position that he would have found a crime but for the existence of the OLC opinion. And he made it very clear several times that was not his position.

It is not his or any prosecutor's job to "exonerate" anyone. They are presumed innocent, are they not? It was not a matter of whether you can indict a sitting president. The fact is that no president can be indicted for doing what he is constitutionally empowered and entitled to do. That is not obstruction of justice. Trump could have fired Mueller just as he did Comey and closed his entire investigation at any time and it would not have been obstruction of justice. So noted legal scholar Alan Dershowitz in an interview with Leandra Bernstein of the Sinclair Broadcast Group on ABC7/WJLA Thursday:

Constitutional lawyer and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said the special counsel had a legally flawed approach to investigating alleged obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump. "What jumps out at me is that the Mueller people got the law all wrong on obstruction of justice," Dershowitz told Sinclair Broadcast Group in a Thursday interview. "They came to the conclusion that a president could obstruct justice by simply exercising his constitutional authority under Article 2." According to Dershowitz, the president was within his authority to fire the FBI director and would have been justified, under the unified executive theory, to shut down the investigation. "The position I've taken from day one is for the president to obstruct justice, he has to go beyond his own permissible constitutional authority and engage in conduct that would be a crime for anyone else, like tampering with witnesses, obstructing a witness, paying witnesses, telling them to lie. None of that is charged against President Trump," Dershowitz said.

Trump also could have fired Mueller and closed the Office of Special Counsel at any time. If he couldnt, Democrats and some Republicans wouldnt have tried to pass laws preventing just that event. They are creatures of the executive. Trump can fire any of his executive branch employees at any time for any reason. Agreeing with that assessment, Andrew C. McCarthy writes at National Review:

In our system, we have a unitary executive. All executive power is vested in a single official, the president of the United States. That means subordinate executive officers do not have their own power; they are delegated to exercise the presidents power. When they act, they are, in effect, the president acting.  Prosecutorial power is executive in nature. Federal prosecutors therefore exercise the presidents power. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller have no power of their own; they exercise President Trumps prosecutorial power for as long as that arrangement suits President Trump. The president does not need cause to fire them. He does not need to explain any dismissal to Congress -- Gee, its Thursday and I feel like firing someone is good enough. If lawmakers believe the president is abusing his power by firing good public servants arbitrarily, they can impeach the president. Or they can try to bend the president into better behavior by cutting off funding, refusing to confirm nominees, or holding oversight hearings that embarrass the administration. Congress has these powerful political tools. But it does not have legal means to usurp the presidents constitutional power.

But exercising presidential powers is not a crime. Of course, Robert Mueller didnt need a crime. In the best traditions of Josef Stalin, Mueller with Flynn and others needed only the man. He would find the crime, As Dershowitz writes in the Washington Examiner:

Special counsel Robert Mueller was commissioned to investigate not only crime but the entire Russian "matter." That is an ominous development that endangers the civil liberties of all Americans. Federal prosecutors generally begin by identifying specific crimes that may have been committed -- in this case, violation of federal statutes. But no one has yet identified the specific statute or statutes that constrain Mueller's investigation of the Russian matter. It is not a violation of any federal law for a campaign to have collaborated with a foreign government to help elect their candidate One does not have to go back to the Soviet Union and Lavrentiy Beria's infamous boast to Stalin, "Show me the man and I will show you the crime," in order to be concerned about the expansion of elastic criminal statutes. There are enough examples of abuse in our own history. From McCarthyism to the failed prosecutions of Sen. Ted Stevens, Rep. Thomas DeLay, Gov. Rick Perry and others, we have seen vague criminal statutes stretched in an effort to criminalize political differences.

Obstruction of what? An investigation fraudulently spawned by James Comey's felonious leaking of a private conversation with President Trump and a fake dossier put together by a British spy from Russian sources and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC? Funny, but Mueller never said his investigation was obstructed or impeded in any way. Nor was anything else.

How can you obstruct justice on social media in front of 300 million people anyway? Mueller is now free to run and hide from testifying before Congress and answering embarrassing questions like when did he know there was no collusion and why did he keep going anyway, why he hired a team of Democratic lawyers, including one from the Clinton Foundation, and had as his chief deputy someone who was at Hillarys victory party?

By refusing to go after the real colluders with Russia who committed real crimes, it is Robert Mueller who was obstructing justice.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.
In one of his early memoirs, Thomas Jefferson attributed to John Adams the quip that "a boy of 15 who is not a democrat is good for nothing, and he is no better who is a democrat at 20." This could not be farther from the modern truth, given that most Millennials seem to perpetually express their discontentment with conservatism. In an ABC Poll subsequent to the 2018 midterm elections, 31 percent of Millennials aged 1829 voted Republican. A 2018 Pew Research Center study suggests that the deficit between Millennial Republican voters and Millennial Democratic voters has increased from a 15-point disadvantage to a 27-point disadvantage.

To even further supply evidence of Millennials disinterest in conservatism, a Harvard study concluded that 26 percent of adults aged 1829 support President Donald J. Trump, and 11 percent of Millennials were "sure to re-elect the President in 2020." Catering to the Millennial vote has left the interests of the Republican Party. As Millennials continue to be dormant in the workplace, yield the highest expenditures out of any generation, and be consumed by student debt, they are persistently pushing the radical left movement. But a new demographic may soon be undecided at the polls, and that is Generation Z.

The Case for Courting Generation Z's Vote

Young people are becoming increasingly undecided in the voting process. In a 2018 Midterm Election Tufts study, it was discovered that youth engagement in congressional elections has peaked at 31 percent. The voting turnout among people aged 1829 has increased by 9% from 2000, according to a Brookings study. Youth affiliation with the independent party has been steadily increasing over the past presidential elections. Tufts found that almost half (43.6 percent) of people aged 1824 did not affiliate with a political party. The younger demographic is growing larger and more contested by year. It would be common sense for the GOP to invest time in outreaching to the unabating growth of this new youth demographic.

A Genetic Advantage to a New Generation: The Fertility Gap

Although Democrats are more liberal on sex and reproduction, the actual action of conceiving a child is dominated by conservative mothers. This fact is derived from the (lack of) importance of the construct of marriage in the Democratic Party. In a 2005 USA Today survey, it was said that "[o]f the 50 congressional districts with the lowest marriage rates, all are held by Democrats." And given that 60% of American births occur inside wedlock, marriage is a consistent indicator for childbirth.

Conservative mothers are outpacing liberal mothers in births. Arthur Brooks, a social scientist at Syracuse University, stated that "[t]he political Right is having a lot more kids than the political Left." He elaborated that "the [fertility] gap is actually 41 percent." It was studied that the ratio of children born from a conservative woman to those from a liberal woman is 2.08:1.47. A CDC report gathered that the states with the largest fertility rates voted red in 2012, while all the states with the lowest fertility rates went blue. In 2006, Brooks theorized that "[a] state that was split 50-50 between left and right in 2004 will tilt right by 2012, 54% to 46%. By 2020, it will be certifiably right-wing." Brooks's theory stands correct so far, at least for Ohio, which went red in the 2014 midterm elections, the 2016 presidential election, and the 2018 midterm elections. As Democrats continue to get more abortions and pop their birth control pills, the political race is slowly turning red. As Arthur Brooks comically concluded his study, "Democratic politicians may have no more babies left to kiss."

Generation Z Is More Conservative on Social Issues

Millennials have a notorious reputation for being the most liberal generation on paramount social issues, whereas Generation Z has taken a more conservative stance. According to a survey by The Gild, 59 percent of Generation Z respondents stood as "in between 'conservative' and 'moderate'" on issues such as marijuana legalization and the transgender movement. In comparison, 83 percent of Millennial respondents considered themselves "'quite' or 'very liberal'" on the same issues.

Generation Z also has a focus on freedom of speech and civil liberties, in contrast to the Millennials, who have institutionalized ideas such as "safe zones" and have endorsed conservative censorship on campus. In a FIRE (Foundation of Individual Rights in Education) survey, it was found that 89 percent of college students "think it is important that their college or university encourages students to have a public voice and share their ideas openly," and 96 percent of students "think it is important that their civil rights or liberties are protected." The study also found that 75 percent of students believe that they "should have the right to free speech on campus, even if what is being said offends others."

On abortion, Generation Z is taking an increasingly pro-life stance. In a Gallup poll, it was found that youths aged 1829 were most likely to think abortion should be "illegal under any circumstances" than any other generation (23 percent). The youth's position on the morality of abortion has shifted drastically over the past two decades and has increased by 11 percent since the early '90s. A Marist poll suggested that 47 percent of adults aged 1829 think abortion "causes more harm than good" in a woman's life, against 37 percent of the age group thinking it benefits a woman's life. Generation Z is generally in support of "banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy," with 44 percent thinking abortion after the 20-week mark is immoral, the largest number out of any age group. In its few years of existence, Generation Z has veered away from the generational liberal youth standards, and statistics show that the generation's conservative voice is growing.

An Increasingly Connected Generation

The mainstream media have always been controlled by leftist establishmentarianism, and as liberal biased media outweigh conservative media at a ratio of 13:1, the leftist narrative has been disseminated throughout America's most prominent stories. The rise of the internet has changed how many receive their news; instead of dialing in to CNN, MSNBC, or CBS, Americans have been increasingly viewing the news online. Distrust of the mainstream media has grown among consumers, as data suggest that 77 percent of Republicans and 38 percent of Democrats "sometimes or never" trust the news. Skepticism of the mainstream media and a consumer base flocking to an open-source platform will change the dynamic of how the public interprets the news. The rise of more truthful, personable, and independent media sources could affect how Generation Z receives news.

Generation Z is the first generation to be completely exposed to modern technology. It is the most interconnected generation, as almost everyone is associated with others through the services of social media, mobile phones, and instant messaging. The internet is an extraordinary apparatus, remarkably capable of calling out the media's lies. This allows a media consumer to have multiple different perspectives and conclude, by individual virtues and beliefs, which one is correct. This simple action was non-existent in any other generation's youth. Generation Z has more access to conservative voices and media than any other generation.

Those in Generation Z are rushing to the polls at an aggressive rate, proving themselves as devoted and involved citizens. They are developing to become a contested demographic, as studies suggest that Generation Z has been affiliating as independents in large numbers. Generation Z is becoming conservative on several key issues and is arguably the first generation that has conservative potential at the polls. If the Republican Party wants to sustain its conservative voice through the next generation of voters, it is about time to court Generation Z's vote.
Does it get more blatant than this? A lefty congressman, Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks, California, says he can't get airtime on MSNBC unless he promises to talk about impeachment. No impeachment talk, no airtime for him.

Here's what the Right Scoop spotted:

A Democratic Congressman actually complained on-air to a host on MSNBC that they wouldn't have him on except to talk about impeachment: California Rep. Brad Sherman told MSNBC host Ari Melber that he's been trying to get on his show to talk about other issues like drug prices and the Saudi nuclear program, but all they want to talk to him about his impeachment: "Actually I've been trying to get on your show to talk about the Saudi nuclear program. And if it was my time we'd be talking about efforts to control drug prices. There's this image in this country that Congress is focused only on impeachment. That's the only thing I can get on TV to talk about, but it's not really what I'm working on."

The Washington Times has more about it here.

The Right Scoop points out that far from being a congressman opposed to impeachment, Sherman is actually the guy who authored 2017's impeachment resolution, so his credentials in their minds are pristine.

What it really shows is that the nets, particularly far-left MSNBC, have an impeachment agenda, and anyone not willing to beat the drum for it is off the air. No talk about prescription drug prices, no talk about amnesty for illegals, no talk about infrastructure. And certainly no talk about opposition to impeachment, so Nancy Pelosi is out of luck. We won't be seeing here there any time soon. Freshman rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sure. Utterly marginal Rep. Ilhan Omar, sure. But the speaker of the House is not going to get a slot  of that you can be sure.

It's stupid, even from the network's own point of view. They're disregarding the reality that the audience is going to be bored to death with the nonstop monolithic coverage. And they're forgetting that the "Russia-Russia-Russia" tactic that did such wonders for their ratings earlier is actually about to be repeated. Prepare for some Drudge headlines about the slide, boobs. And never mind that setting an agenda first and then finding people to fill it out is not news at all, but propaganda, so they're no longer in the news business. They're determined to force impeachment down our throats, no matter what. Some creep near the top of the MSNBC hierarchy has issued the command to all the little minions below that impeachment is the only story they plan to cover, and now the guests  even the leftiest among them  are being told it's impeachment rants or the highway. Make the cuckoo-clock cuckoo on cue.

This isn't how you do news. What they're trying to do is foist impeachment onto us so Democrats are pressed to make it happen. And it's quite damaging information now that the word is out. Audience members should be well advised that this is the slop the news agency intends to feed them through November 2020, and they can adjust their viewing habits accordingly. It almost sounds like a formula for bad ratings, given the boringness factor ahead. Fox News and OAN ought to even use it as a selling point  watch our network, and you never know what you are going to get. Watch theirs, and prepare for the one-note drumbeat you already know the story of, and it's not going to get any better. Can you say "fake news"?
In The Washington Post's article, "As Netanyahu falters, Israel faces the prospect of a quick election do-over," published May 29, 2019, the author states within the article, "The release of a political plan for peace with the Palestinians could raise difficulties for Netanyahu, whose potential right-wing government has little room for compromise."

This deceptive passing statement completely ignores the Palestinians' continuous refusal for compromise since before Israel officially became a state. Once again, the Washington Post continues anti-Israel bias by leading the reader to believe that the Palestinians remain without a state because Israel will not compromise.

If the Palestinians had accepted the two-state partition plan of 1947 outlined by the U.N., they would, like Israel, have their own state, and this needless conflict would not exist. Israel has made numerous attempts to negotiate and offered large compromises, but the Palestinians time and again have refused to compromise, sometimes even refusing to sit down and negotiate with Israel, and they walk away from potential peace deals without offering a counter-proposal.

So let's not continue the misleading undercurrent of bias that there is not a peace deal because Israel refuses to compromise. In allowing this prejudice, the Washington Post is doing a disservice to history.
Remember the ungrateful caravan migrant from Honduras known as "Lady Frijoles"? The poster child for the migrant caravan and all its gimme demands, the one who dragged her finger across a plate of donated Mexican food and told a German reporter the Mexican staple cuisine was "fit for pigs"? She made herself real popular with the Mexicans with that one but knew the ropes of illegal immigration so well that she parlayed that into an asylum claim in the U.S. after cutting the line and walking across the U.S. border ahead of the others. No taking a number or "wait in Mexico" for her. She wanted instant customer service and a lot of free stuff. She told reporters she was looking for free medical care for her daughter, she said, and it's pretty obvious she knew how soft a touch Uncle Sam is.

After that, she turned up in Dallas and then got her name in the news again last March for assaulting the aunt who had sheltered her for free there, using a knife and a bed frame. Apparently, the aunt was upset that she and her illegal alien sister, already under one deportation order, had caused the aunt to lose her job, and the aunt wanted the pair to leave. So, there's probably more backstory than we know about her migrant quest for free stuff, and none of it good.

Telemundo has an updated scoop on what she's up to now (in Spanish), and the Mazatlan Post of Mexico has an English language summary here:

The lawyer of Marian Zelaya Gomez informed about the legal situation of his client and commented that the outlook for her is not encouraging. TEXAS, USA- Marian Zelaya Gomez, nicknamed in social networks like "Lady Frijoles" can spend 2 to 20 years in prison for the aggression against a woman in Dallas County, Texas. This was reported by the defendant's own lawyer, James Jamison, who confirmed to Telemundo that the outlook of his client is not encouraging. "This case is a very serious case, of an aggravated assault, the maximum punishment can be 20 years, the minimum is two years," the lawyer told the television station. At this time Zelaya Gomez and her sister remain in the Dallas County jail, awaiting the resolution for the crime of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. THE FACTS On March 26, "Lady Frijoles" and her sister allegedly assaulted Alba Escobar Andrade, who sheltered them in an apartment. The police report indicates that the immigrants attacked the woman with a knife.

Two to twenty is quite a bit, particularly in this age of lawmen and prosecutors ignoring every crime they can and judges handing out zero-consequences sentencing. And the attorney, who seems to be a real pay attorney, not a public defender, though it is unknown who is paying for her, says her outlook is rather grim.

What the whole thing shows is that allowing unvetted migrants into the country is a recipe for bringing in crime, violence, and social upheaval, as well as a whole lot of ingratitude. People tend to value things for exactly what they pay for them, and, well, Frijoles paid nothing for her phony asylum claim. Instead, she brought crime, abnormal use of police and prison resources, and social trashification right into Dallas. She's all set to cost us after contributing nothing. Two to 20? It's a lot. It had to be bad for the prosecutors to even bother.

Everything about her suggests she's not the kind of person coming in illegally that leftists depict. For one thing, she was gaming the system to her best advantage, telling just the right sob story to the press about having to eat pig food and then breaking through the U.S. barriers to get served first.

But it gets worse: El Mundo Hispanico says she deleted her social media accounts featuring her sexy pictures wearing designer brands shortly before she walked across to make her asylum claims to the U.S. Then she put up a fake account depicting herself as a wholesome ordinary mom with kids who don't seem to be her kids. Where does a supposedly penniless migrant dependent on donated food get the time and place to do social media manipulation, and how did she know that U.S. lawmen would be looking for it? And who paid for her expensive lawyer?

And why does this nonsense keep going on, with Democrats at the top blocking all efforts to keep people from abusing the system as this poster child for the migrant surge repeatedly has done?

Image credit: Telemundo Dallas screen shot.
Cops are people who sometimes have to take on thankless dirty jobs, because someone has to take out the trash, but now that they're coming down with typhus-like illnesses, based on the multiplication of the homeless population and the accompanying rats, one wonders how fair this is  or, more to the point, if maybe leftists making policy wanted it this way.

According to ABC News:

At least one officer with the Los Angeles Police Department has contracted the bacteria that causes typhoid fever, Salmonella typhi, and another one is showing typhus-like symptoms, the police department announced on Thursday. The officer who had contracted the illness is being treated, and the other officer has yet to be confirmed to be infected, according to the LAPD. Both officers work at the LAPD's Central Division, according to a statement released by the department.

California's blue-state Democrats can thank themselves for this one, based on all their laws to "protect" the homeless to be homeless, inadvertently creating conditions for a plague. The Left doesn't like cops, of course, nor any enforcement of laws, so the idea of cops coming down with medieval illnesses rather fits into their scheme of things. Typhus in fact means that some cops won't enforce the vagrancy laws at all. Good times for the plague.

The homeless are a varied population, and while some are people who've been marginalized by leftist housing policies, which drive rents sky-high, other are chronically homeless due to their own behavior and difficult to help. The very condition of being homeless means eating food and leaving scraps and excrement on the streets, which are ideal ecological conditions for the drawing of rats. That's happened, and now the rats are bringing diseases.

One gets the sense that the lawlessness of the whole thing and the city's refusal to regulate high concentrations of homeless encampments around the city center are now the playing field for the plague. Cops can't avoid these places as the rest of us often do  the homeless population always tends to require some kind of police intervention just by its lawless and abnormal nature. The Left will do nothing about this, but the police may press city officials for some kind of relief, go on strike, or just quit bothering.

But typhus is pretty serious, and even if the cops quit enforcing the law if they don't get the hazmat suits they need, one thing's probably pretty certain: this is just the beginning.

Image credit: Earth'sbuddy via Wikimedia Commons, CC NY-SA 3.0.
The U.S. Defense Department requested federal funding to support the ramp-up of several American rare earth element mines after China threatened an export ban.

The Sino-American trade war raged this week with a series of back-and-forth retaliations. With China generally being unable to gain advantage by pressuring the Trump administration over the risks of higher import prices and key component interruptions, Bloomberg reported that Beijing's leadership has a plan to restrict export supply of the 17 so-called rare earth elements that are crucial to the U.S. production of military jet engines, satellites, and lasers, plus consumer products from iPhones to electric cars.

The threat against the U.S. was issued Thursday in a China People's Daily incendiary headline: "United States, don't underestimate China's ability to strike back." The article warned of the United States' "uncomfortable" dependence on China rare earths.

The Government Accountability Office in 2016 reported that the United States represents about 9 percent of world demand for rare earth elements, with the Defense Department accounting for 1 percent of demand. But 15 of the 17 elements are key inputs across most of America's high-tech weapons systems.

From the 1950s through the mid-1990s, California's Mountain Pass Mine supplied most of the world's demand for rare earth elements, including europium for color TVs. But China targeted domestic production, and export supply of rare earth elements beginning in the late 1990s as a pathway to enter the Western world's high-tech supply chain.

Rare earth elements are not very rare, but they are found in deposits of the low-level radioactive element thorium. Miners know that mining and processing thorium requires substantial environmental mitigation to protect workers and adjacent communities to avoid health risks of developing pancreatic, lung, and other cancers.

By selling product at 30 percent below market and mostly ignoring mine tailings and dumping refining wastewaters loaded with heavy metals, acids, and radioactive elements into giant unlined ponds, China was able to corner over 80 percent of the rare earth market. Mountain Pass continues to mine about 20 percent of rare earth element ore, but 100 percent is shipped by containers to China for refining.

China's State Council disclosed in 2012 that the country's rare earths operations typically produce wastewater with a "high concentration" of radioactive residues that have "severely damaged surface vegetation, caused soil erosion, pollution, acidification, and reduced or even eliminated food crop output."

According to the Germany-based Institute for Applied Ecology, Bayan-Obo, China's largest rare earths project features an 11-square-kilometer waste pond  about three times the size of New York City's Central Park  filled with toxic sludge and thorium.

Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews in a press conference outlined the funding request that was sent to the White House and briefed to Congress. Col. Andrews emphasized: "The department continues to work closely with the president, Congress and U.S. industry to improve U.S. competitiveness in the mineral market."

None of the report details was disclosed, but Col. Andrews said a federal program would employ targeted economic incentives to boost domestic rare earth production.

American Elements began discussions with the Trump administration in 2017 aimed at the U.S. government nationalizing the Mountain Pass mine to expedite environmental approvals to ramp up production. CEO Michael Silver told Daily Manufacturing News at the time, "The [White House] staff understood the urgency of the matter."

In a sign that new competitors will enter the domestic market, Australian rare-earths processor Lynas Corp. and Texas chemical company Blue Line Corp., announced a partnership this week to "see that US companies have continued access to rare-earth products by offering a US-based source."
On May 29, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his only and final public comments on his Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election. Following Mueller's remarks, John Brennan, director of the CIA under President Obama, commented that Mueller's "public statement today is going to give momentum to those who want to move forward with impeachment hearings. I think there can be no doubt about Mr. Mueller's message that the obstruction of justice issue is not resolved and that there needs to be a follow up action on it."

Let there be no doubt that President Trump, ever since the charge emerged that he and Russia may have colluded with each other to help him win the 2016 election, did everything within his power to impede  yes, "obstruct"  the spreading of that lie (the "Lie"). We now know from the Mueller Report what Trump knew all along: that there was no collusion. The charge was untrue. Donald Trump had a clear responsibility to defend himself against the personal defamation of the Lie, and more importantly, he had an absolute obligation to protect the Office of the President against such a false accusation.

A private citizen, falsely accused of any illegal act or misdeed, can appeal to the legal system and seek public correction of the falsehood and retribution. But as a public official and with no recourse to the courts while the Mueller investigation was in progress, Trump had no choice but to defend himself in the public arena by denying the Lie in tweets, at rallies and press conferences, and to the media.

So yes, Trump made every effort to obstruct efforts by those in the Congress, in the government, and in the media to spread the Lie. Now, as congressional hearing testimonies are declassified, we find that the Lie may have been part of an orchestrated plan by government officials together with leaders of the Democratic Party to destroy the Trump presidency. Trump must have suspected that the Lie may have had sinister origins, but he never had proof of such a conspiracy. That proof could be forthcoming in the months ahead.

The most bizarre backdrop to the legacy of the Lie is the sheer silliness of such an obvious non sequitur as political collusion between Donald Trump and Russia. World powers are still engaged in a century-old struggle between two polar-opposite economic philosophies: communism and capitalism. To believe that Mother Russia, the world's dominant communist power, the great showcase of atheistic Marxism, would want to help elect to power a dedicated anti-communist and pre-eminent capitalist in the country that opposes all that Russia stands for is beyond ridiculous. That so many would follow that Lie down the rabbit hole is quite astonishing for a nation that prides itself on its common sense.

So as to the "obstruction" accusation against the president, yes, he is guilty as charged. But the object of his obstruction is the injustice of the Lie. Obstruction of injustice, AKA warranted self-defense, is not a crime. However, if there are those within the government who created the Lie as part of a plot to remove Trump from the presidency for fear that he might uncover crimes at high levels in the prior administration  they are ones who would be guilty of obstruction of justice.

As for Mr. Brennan, he may regret his call for follow-up action on possible obstruction of justice. It could be time for Mr. B. to heed Will Rogers's advice for those in his situation: "When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles east of South America's southern Patagonian coast. The islands are a British overseas territory since 1833, but Argentina too maintains claim to the islands having been in control of the islands for a period prior to 1833. Argentinas long dispute escalated in 1982, when the countrys forces invaded the islands resulting in the Falklands War. Over a period of ten weeks, some 650 Argentine military personnel, over 250 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders died. In the end, the islands were returned to the British Crown. But the real winners were the islands penguins.

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The 18th century was a popular time for whaling. The whale oil industry was booming, and the Falklands was an ideal place for catching whales and extracting whale oil. To produce whale oil, the blubber is separated from their bodies, and the fat is put on fire in gigantic vats of boiling water. But the Falklands is completely devoid of trees. The only vegetation here are a variety of wind-resistant dwarf shrubs that are entirely useless as fuel. Without wood to keep the fire going, the whalers started using another plentiful resource that made a suitable fuel - penguins.

Unfortunately for them, penguins have considerable amount of fat under their skin, and the whalers knew that fat is inflammable and makes a great substitute for fuel. The animal is also flightless and docile in nature, making them easy to catch. So whenever the fires got low, they simply grabbed a few penguins and threw them into the fire. By the time the whale oil business died out, millions of penguins have been burned. 300 years ago, before the Europeans arrived, the islands were teeming with an army of penguins 10 million strong. This figure was reduced by 95%. Then the Argentinean invasion happened.

The Argentines wanted their islands back, and to deter the British from reclaiming the area they captured, its military laid down more than 20,000 landmines along the beaches and pastureland near the capital city. After the war ended, the British government made an effort to clear the minefields but it was a dangerous and laborious effort. Instead, they decided to fence off the explosive zones and put up signs warning people to stay away from the area. With humans out of the way, these minefields have since become accidental sanctuaries for the islands penguins. These animals are light enough to hop about the minefields without setting off a mine, so they move around busily finding partners, preparing nests and waddling about the mating grounds. Over the last thirty years, their numbers have risen. Today, the Falkland Islands are home to 1 million penguins. These odd sanctuaries have proven so popular and lucrative for ecotourism that efforts exist to prevent removal of the mines.

Also See: How Sniffer Rats Detect Landmines and Tuberculosis in Mozambique

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Sources: Mental Floss / Now I Know / Wikipedia / Perry Ponders / QI.com
1991 was a notable year in the geopolitical history of the world. It was the year the Gulf War started marking the beginning of Americas constant military presence in the Middle East. That same year Cambodia made peace with Vietnam bringing an end to a decade-long war. Meanwhile, Yugoslavia collapsed, and clashes between Serbia and the other Yugoslav republics launched another war which ran through the rest of the decade. 1991 also saw India abandon its policies of socialism and self-sufficiency, and the country started to open up for the first time to participation from foreign entities. 1991 was also the year the Soviet Union broke up. This was perhaps the single most important thing to happen that year.

For several years before, things had begun to change within the Soviet Union with the arrival of Mikhail Gorbachev. Although he vowed to preserve the Soviet state and its socialist ideals when coming to power, Gorbachev felt that significant reform was necessary. Gorbachev sought to bring social and political reforms to his country by bestowing more rights and freedoms upon the Soviet peoplethe so-called glasnost policy, while his perestroika policy attempted deep restructuring of the political and economic system to bring the Soviet Union at par economically with the West. When many countries of the Eastern Bloc, such as Poland, Hungary and Romania, which were once satellite states of the Union, started to reject the communist government, Gorbachev declined to intervene.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Threatened by Gorbachevs inaction, and fearing the collapse of the Communist Party, a couple of hard-liners of the party, the KGB, and military officials attempted an ill-conceived, ill-planned, and poorly executed coup on August 19, 1991, inadvertently accelerating the movement to disband the Soviet Union. Five days later, Gorbachev stepped down as the party's general secretary, but retained his presidency. In the months that followed republics began to leave the Union rapidly and claim their independence. Ukraine declared independence the same day Gorbachev resigned. The next day Belarus followed. Two days later, it was Moldova. A couple of Baltic states like Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia had already left the Union before the coup had even begun. By December 1991, only two states remained in the Soviet UnionRussia and Kazakhstan.

On December 8, representatives from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine met in Brest, Belarus, and declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. Four days later, on December 12, Russia abandoned the Union leaving only Kazakhstan as the sole member of the Soviet Union. This situation persisted for four days, before Kazakhstan officially seceded from the Union, becoming the last Soviet republic to declare independence.

The Soviet Union itself was not formally disbanded until 26 December, 1991, which means that during these ten days, it existed as a country with no territory.

Countries of the Soviet Union. Image credit: imgur.com

Gorbachev formally resigned as Soviet President one day prior, on 25 December, before vacating his office for Boris Yeltsin to take over. After Gorbachev left the Kremlin, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the Russian tricolor was raised in its place, symbolically marking the end of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin moved into Gorbachev's former office the next day. All former Soviet embassies became Russian embassies, and the few remaining Soviet institutions that had not been taken over by Russia ceased operation. By midnight of 31 December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

Leading image of a 1970s globe with the map of USSR by BioMellie/Shutterstock.com
It seems like the Justice Department is preparing an antitrust investigation of Google, at least according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The source says that the information comes from people familiar with the matter.

The report claims that the Justice Departments antitrust division has been laying the groundwork for the probe in recent weeks. This is not the first time Google is being investigated in this matter, some of you will remember that the Federal Trade Commission, actually conducted a broad antitrust investigation of the Mountain View giant years ago, but that investigation was closed in 2013.

Google actually made some voluntary changes to its business practices back then, some of them, in order to comply with the rules. Why are we mentioning this? Well, the Federal Trade Commission shares antitrust authority with the Justice Department, and the two departments have been in talks recently on who would oversee a new investigation. Based on the provided info, it seems like the Justice Department will.

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The Justice Department is ready to make the first move now, as everything is prepared, based on the info provided by the Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department, Google, and FTCs spokeswoman declined to comment on the information at this time.

If all of this information is accurate, that would put some unwanted spotlight on Google. The company has already been through the ordeal with the Federal Trade Commission, though, so at least it knows what to expect even though this may be a somewhat different investigation as it is coming from a different department, and Google grew considerably since 2013, needless to say.

This also comes at a time when Google is trying to deal with all the Huawei-related issues that have surfaced since the US banned US companies to do business with one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world. Huawei did receive a 90-day grace period recently, to continue its business with existing products, but that wont help the company much if the US doesnt reconsider.

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It has been reported that Huawei is working with Google to try and resolve issues surrounding this ban, but that doesnt seem to be dependent on Google at this point. President Trump did say recently that Huaweis ban could be lifted as part of a new trade deal with China, so theres hope for Huawei in this regard.

Google is one of the most important puzzles in Huaweis game (because of Android), as if this ban continues, Huaweis future devices will not be able to continue running Android, basically. They will still have access to the open source part of the system, but will no longer be Googles partner, and basically every important Google-related service will stop working, so its important for Huawei to resolve this. The ban also affects hardware-side of Huaweis business, but thats a completely different story. All in all, Google will have its hands full in the coming weeks / months with this ban and the probable antitrust investigation.
MadridThe Spanish Senate will not admonish PPs Rafael Hernando for saying F*** you, scumbag! to the newly-elected Catalan senator during the higher chambers inaugural session, after he interrupted Raul Romevas oath of allegiance to the Constitution which the pro-independence senator pronounced as a political prisoner and in Catalan only. The decision comes after ERC requested that Hernando be formally admonished for his action and that the offensive expletive be added to the record of proceedings.

The matter was addressed last Wednesday at a Bureau meeting a body of which Hernando himself is a member and the decision was made public by ERC on Friday, when Romevas party circulated the Bureaus official reply in writing.

In the statement, house Speaker Manuel Cruz informs ERC spokesperson Mirella Cortes that there are no grounds for an admonishment and that ERCs request to rectify the record is dismissed as per Article 190 of the upper chambers rules and regulations. The article in question states that senators speeches and any resolutions taken by the chambers plenary sitting, the permanent deputation and the committees, either when bills are written into law or informative sessions are held with members of the Government, shall be recorded in the chambers proceedings, together with any incidents that might have occurred.
Six years ago, the company moved into a newly-rehabbed 11,000-square-foot space with rent and expenses of $15,000 a month  expensive, though below market for the size and location. But the expense of building damage and other after-effects of Hurricane Harvey (2017) led to a cash-flow problem from which METdance has never recovered.  Houston Chronicle
Kus dili (bird language), used to communicate over long distances in a mountainous farming area near Turkeys Black Sea coast, renders the entire Turkish language into variously pitched and articulated whistles. Cell phones may have made kus dili redundant, but at least some of its speakers wont give up on it.  The New York Times
Fans and trolls, however caught onto the word Bharat in the middle of the tweet and decided to take their shots.

While Vivek Oberoi did comment on a tweet involving Aishwarya Rai, the actor was again trolled for accidentally promoting Salman Khans upcoming film Bharat.

Oberoi, whose latest film PM Narendra Modi  a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi  received a lukewarm response, was in Delhi to attend Modis swearing-in ceremony. To commemorate the occasion, the actor tweeted: Im watching @narendramodi bhai taking his oath for the 3rd time on his journey from CM Gujarat to PM of Bharat once again!.

Fans and trolls, however caught onto the word Bharat in the middle of the tweet and decided to take their shots.

Bharat movie ka promotion kiya abhi, tweeted a user, among a host of others who realised that Vivek had used the name of Salmans upcoming film in his tweet.

Meanwhile, some Twitter users asked the actor to join politics and others quizzed him about a sequel to the Modi biopic.

Sanskriti Media
Even home ministry insiders said that days of soft approach towards separatists in the Valley, including the Hurriyat Conference, will end soon.

If the past track record of Amit Shah as the Gujarat home minister is any indication to go by, he is know to have zero tolerance towards terror. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Challenges are something that new home minister Amit Shah seems to enjoy and overcomes successfully. He has proved this beyond doubt as the BJP chief by playing a key role in bringing back his party to power. And now he is all set to repeat his performance as the new Union home minister as he sets out to tackle contentious issues including anti-terror fight, internal security, illegal migrants, Article 370 and 35A.

The role of home minister is not something new to the BJPs chanakya, considering that he held the portfolio in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was the chief minister. However, the dynamics at the national level assume a much bigger proportion and pose a new challenge to him.

If the past track record of Mr Shah as the Gujarat home minister is any indication to go by, he is know to have zero tolerance towards terror. Thus, one can expect a much more pro-active role of the security forces in the Kashmir Valley.

Even home ministry insiders said that days of soft approach towards separatists in the Valley, including the Hurriyat Conference, will end soon. It is expected that while the security forces will be given a complete free hand to deal with terrorists in the Valley, other agencies like the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate will launch an offensive against separatist elements and their over-ground workers in Kashmir with the sole view of cutting their financial network.

The new incumbent at the North Block will have to address the issue of Article 370 and Article 35A while taking a closer look at the Jammu and Kashmir situation.

The BJP manifesto has promised to eliminate to these two special provisions regarding J&K. While Article 370 deals with giving autonomy to J&K, Article 35A provides special rights and privileges to permanent residents of the state.

However, it may not be easy for the new home minister to deal with these matters as local parties like the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have already issued threats of major backlash in the Valley if these Articles are eliminated.

But given the BJPs public stand on this contentious issues, Mr Shah is likely to pursue it much more aggressively as compared to the previous NDA Government.

The issue of illegal migrants also remains on top of the priority list of the new home minister who would ensure that the exercise of preparing National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is taken to its logical conclusion. The NRC exercise is being conducted on directions of the Supreme Court and is largely aimed at identifying the migrants, mostly from Bangladesh.

Mr Shah is also expected to give a major push to the Citizenship Amendment bill which aims at providing citizenship to religious minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis who have come to India in the wake of religious persecution in neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The bill was withdrawn by the previous NDA government after introducing it in Parliament in view due to protests.

Under Mr Shah, the new NDA government is all set to make a fresh attempt to get the bill cleared by Parliament.

While the situation in Naxal zones improved considerably during the previous NDA government, it still remains a major internal security challenge that Mr Shah will have to address.

Another key issue that Mr Shah is expected to closely monitor is violence, particularly political killings, in both Kerala and West Bengal. Even during the previous government, the then home minister Rajnath Singh had expressed concern over violence and issued advisories to the two states.

But with the BJP consistently maintaining that its workers were being killed due to political reasons in Kerala and West Bengal, Mr Shah is expected to take a tough stand on the issue and the home ministrys role may not just be limited to merely issuing advisories to state governments.
Singh will have to look at big-ticket defence reforms amid the ongoing modernisation process.

New Delhi: Rajnath Singh, who was home minister during Prime Minister Narendra Modi governments previous term, is the new defence minister now.

Unlike several of his cabinet colleagues who took charge of their offices on Friday, hours after the portfolios were announced on Friday, Mr Singh did not immediately join the new office in Defence Ministry located in South Block. He is expected to take charge on Saturday.

However, when he takes over the reigns from his predecessor Nirmala Sitharaman, Mr Singh will have to look at big-ticket defence reforms amid the ongoing modernisation process.

Among the major procurements that the new defence minister will need to give a go ahead is critical military equipment. Close to 400 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force and over 50 for the Navy, 111 light Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), submarines, warships, armoured vehicles, UAVs and military helicopters need to be procured on a priority basis.

As part of big-ticket reforms, a major task at hand before the new minister is the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and integrated operations for the three services. The government also needs to make the Indian defence industry, particularly the public sector, more competitive as compared to foreign players by investing in research and development.

A major part of the Prime Ministers speeches in the election rallies focused on the defence and security preparedness of India. With a comfortable margin in Lok Sabha, now is the time for the NDA government to strengthen the defence forces through military procurements, modernisation and reforms. Meanwhile, defence secretary Sanjay Mitra was given an extension of three months. He was to retire from service on Friday after the completion of his two-year tenure.
This meet would be the first occasion when Rahul will interact with party leaders since CWC meeting on May 25.

Nationwide demonstration were held urging Rahul Gandhi to rethink his decision to resign from the post of party president. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) will meet on Saturday and will be presided over by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. It will be attended by all Congress MPs, including party president Rahul Gandhi.

This meet would be the first occasion when Rahul will interact with party leaders since CWC meeting on May 25 in which he announced his decision to quit from the post of party chief. The decision was rejected by the partys highest decision-making body.

Nationwide demonstration were held urging Rahul Gandhi to rethink his decision to resign from the post of party president.

The CPP may also elect a new chairperson, a post currently held by Sonia Gandhi.

A senior leader said calling a session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) would give an opportunity to Rahul to interact directly with 2,000-odd delegates from across the country.

As per the Congress constitution, all CWC resolutions have to be ratified by the AICC. AICC is the appropriate forum where Rahul Gandhi can put his views before the delegates and announce his future plan, the leader said.

Since the CWC meeting on May 25, Rahul Gandhi has had just a few brief interactions with party colleagues.

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi held brief but separate discussions with Venugopal and partys chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi did not meet Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit who, along with other party colleagues and workers, staged a sit-in outside his residence to plead with him to reconsider his resignation offer. She conveyed the message through one of his aides.

Also on Wednesday, a photo went viral of Rahul Gandhi taking out his pet, Pidi, on a ride.

Several state units such as Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have passed resolutions urging Rahul Gandhi to stay on.

The Congress has last faced such a crisis back in 1999, when Sonia Gandhi, just months after being named party president, quit over three senior leaders, Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar objecting to her leadership on account of her foreign origin.

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Ceremony organised to commemorate sacrifice by Indians during war.

The ceremony was conducted as per appropriate military honours after which urns containing the ashes of the individuals were handed over by the Italian authorities to the Indian side

New Delhi: In a solemn ceremony organised in Prato, near Florence in Italy on Wednesday, urns of two Indian soldiers  Hari Singh and Palu Ram of the Indian Army  who participated in the World War II were presented to the Indian government.

The ceremony was organised to commemorate the sacrifice made by the Indian soldiers during the World War II. The bones of these two soldiers were found near Florence in 1996 from Indian area of the battlefield at Poggio Alto near Montale (Florence). The remains were exhumed and investigated by team of doctors. Based on the date of death, location of the remains, anthropometric and morphological examination, findings on boots worn and ammunition used, the researchers matched the Commonwealth records of missing soldiers to ascribe the remains to those of Hari Singh and Palu Ram of 4/13 Frontier Force Rifles.

Service documents of both the individuals were found in the Army records held with the National Archives of India. Based on details of heights provided, the correct identification of the two corpses could be carried out successfully and the remains of the soldiers were duly cremated. The ceremony for presentation of urns was organized on 29 May 2019 at Public Assistance, Prato (Florence). In addition to a sizeable presence from the community of Prato and the Italian Armed Forces, the ceremony was attended by the Mayor, President of Public Assistance and Prefect of Prato. Representatives of Common Wealth War Graves Commission, Red Cross Society and host of other dignitaries of Prato also attended the ceremony.

The Indian side was represented by Mrs Reenat Sandhu, the Ambassador of India and Colonel Rohit Teotia, the Defence Attache to Italy. 16 senior officers attending the National Defence College Course in India and on a study tour to Italy also represented India and attended the ceremony.

The ceremony was conducted as per appropriate military honours after which urns containing the ashes of the individuals were handed over by the Italian authorities to the Indian side

Ashes of these two soldiers will be scattered on 16 Jul 2019, in the Forli war cemetery where the other comrades from that battlefield have also been commemorated.

The contribution of Indian soldiers in the liberation of Italy during the Second World War is well known. Almost 50,000 Indian troops, mostly between the ages of 19 to 22, fought for the Liberation of Italy. The first Indian troops were landed at Taranto in the south of Naples on 19 Sep 1943. From then until 29 Apr 1945, they were engaged in a heroic mission. 5,782 made the supreme sacrifice during the Italian campaign. It is creditable that out of 20 Victoria Crosses awarded during this campaign, Indians received six Victoria Crosses.

The story of their bravery and their sacrifice is still talked about in Italian cities and villages that they helped to liberate. The Indian Soldiers lie in cemeteries all over Italy, in particular Sangro, Cassino, Arezzo, Forli and Rimini. The heroism of the Indian soldiers was visible in the battle to take Monte Cassino, battle for Sangro river and Liri Valley, the advance along the east coast to Bologna, crossing of Senio river and the battle of Gothic lines.
Swaraj opted out of contesting in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections citing her health.

Both Jaishankar and the new Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, assumed office on May 31, following the official announcement regarding portfolio allocations. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Engaging on Twitter for the first time, newly appointed External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday said that he is honoured to be given the responsibility.

"My first tweet. Thank you all for the best wishes! Honoured to be given this responsibility. Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji," Jaishankar's first tweet read.

My first tweet.



Thank you all for the best wishes!

Honoured to be given this responsibility.

Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 1, 2019

A surprise addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest Union Cabinet, the former Foreign Secretary succeeds Swaraj in helming the Ministry of External Affairs for the next five years under the NDA government.

Swaraj opted out of contesting in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections citing her health. She spearheaded various rescue operations during her term, including those in Libya and Yemen. The former EAM was much-loved by people for being one of the most approachable ministers, known for hearing out and solving grievances on Twitter.

Jaishankar pledged to follow the precedent set by her, and tweeted, "We at Team @MEAIndia continue to be at your service 24x7. Happy to be leading the effort with my colleague MoS Muraleedharan ji."

We at Team @MEAIndia continue to be at your service 24x7



Happy to be leading the effort with my colleague MoS Muraleedharan ji @VMBJP  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 1, 2019

The EAM went on to express his gratitude for the wishes extended by his counterparts from Australia, France and Indonesia, who tweeted their greetings for the former top diplomat.

Both Jaishankar and the new Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, assumed office on May 31, following the official announcement regarding portfolio allocations.

"Back at South Block, in a new role! The new External Affairs Minister of India @DrSJaishankar assumes office," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Friday.

Back at South Block, in a new role!



The new External Affairs Minister of India @DrSJaishankar assumes office pic.twitter.com/C4o9ctZIvr  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) May 31, 2019

A former career diplomat, the 1977-batch IFS officer and Padma Shri awardee served as the Foreign Secretary for three years - from 2015 until his retirement in 2018 - under Modi's previous term as Prime Minister.

He had earlier served as India's Ambassador to China and then to the US. The incumbent EAM has previously been India's Ambassador to the Czech Republic and High Commissioner to Singapore as well. He was also the First Secretary and Political Advisor to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka.

It is believed that Modi first met Jaishankar when he travelled to China as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2012.

The former diplomat played a critical role in handling tough negotiations with Beijing, following the incursion in Doklam and Ladakh's Depsang.

He is also known as the Indian government's key strategist for China and the US. In 2008, Jaishankar was a member of the team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal under the UPA government headed by then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

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The biggest task ahead for the new HRD minister will be the release of the NEP which is already delayed by over four years.

New Delhi: Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank took charge of the human resource development ministry on Friday with senior ministry officials handing him over the draft of the much-awaited New Education Policy (NEP).

The former Uttarakhand chief minister and Haridwar MP told reporters that he will be meeting officials to chalk out a plan of action. The biggest task ahead for the new HRD minister will be the release of the NEP which is already delayed by over four years.

Incorporating Indian knowledge systems in the curriculum, constituting a National Education Commission and curbing arbitrary fees hikes by private schools are among the recommendations made by an expert panel to the ministry for the NEP.

The committee headed by former ISRO chief K. Kasturirangan wasformed to draft the new education policy by the ministry previously headed by Prakash Javadekar, who is now the information and broadcasting minister.

The draft report of the committee said, The topics in school curriculum and textbooks will include Indian contribution to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, psychology, yoga, architecture, medicine, as well as governance, polity, society, and conservation course on Indian knowledge systems.

The existing NEP was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992. A new education policy was part of the BJPs manifesto ahead of the 2014 general election.

Mr Pokhriyal, a PhD from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna University in Garhwal,has authored over 35 books. He is one of the 24 new faces inducted into the Union Cabinet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
Jaishankars innings in the government is a rare instance of a career diplomat taking charge of the external affairs ministry.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday put his team in place with the number two Cabinet position of Union home minister going to his trusted lieutenant and debutant Amit Shah while incumbent Rajnath Singh was moved to defence. The big surprise came with the crucial and high-profile finance ministry going to Nirmala Sitharaman, who is now the first full-time woman finance minister of the country. In the previous term, she had become the first full-time woman defence minister.

The other debutant Cabinet inductee, S. Jaishankar, expectedly got the external affairs portfolio to replace Sushma Swaraj who had opted out of Lok Sabha elections due to health reasons.

Mr Jaishankars innings in the government is a rare instance of a career diplomat taking charge of the external affairs ministry.

A new Jal Shakti ministry, in which the erstwhile ministries of water resources and drinking water and sanitation will be merged, has been formed with Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at its helm.

With the induction of Mr Shah and Mr Jaishankar, there are two new faces in the all-powerful Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which is chaired by the Prime Minister and is the final decision-making body on matters related to countrys security, including defence policy and internal security. The CCS also includes defence and finance ministers.

Ms Sitharaman succeeded Arun Jaitley who opted out of the new government on health grounds. She will have a deputy in Anurag Thakur, a first-time minister of state in the Modi government. Both are considered close to Mr Jaitley.

The Prime Minister will retain the department of personnel and training, atomic energy and space as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.

Mr Modi was sworn-in on Thursday as Prime Minister for a second term, helming a 58-member team of ministers.

Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his family bastion of Amethi, will be the new women and child development minister. She will also retain the textile ministry, according to a communique issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Considered one of the best performers during the first term of Modi government for his expeditious project implementation, Nitin Gadkari will continue to be the minister for road transport and highways and has also been given charge of the Ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises in which the government is aiming to generate as mush employment as possible.

Piyush Goyal, who had presented the interim budget ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, has been given the commerce and industry ministry in addition to his old charge of railways. However, the coal ministry has been taken away from him and given to Pralhad Joshi, a new entrant into to the Modi Cabinet. Mr Joshi will also be the minister of parliamentary affairs and mines.

Ravi Shankar Prasad will continue as minister of law and information technology. In addition, he was allocated telecom, a portfolio he commanded in the first half of Modi 1.0 government.

Odisha strongman Dharmendra Pradhan retained his petroleum portfolio and has also been given charge of the steel ministry.

Former Uttarkhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank is the new human resource development minister while Bihar ally and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswam remains consumer affairs minister.

The agriculture ministry has been allocated to Narendra Singh Tomar who also got the rural development and panchayati raj portfolios.

Prakash Javadekar has been given the ministries of information and broadcasting as well as environment.

Lone Delhi MP in Modi Cabinet, Harsh Vardhan, will be the health and family welfare minister. He will also head ministries of science and technology and earth sciences.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda will be the minister of chemicals and fertilizers and Thawar Chand Gehlot will be new minister of social justice and empowerment.

Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal will continue to be the minister of food processing industries.

Former diplomat Hardeep Puri will be new minister of state (independent charge) of civil aviation while former IAS bureaucrat R.K. Singh will retain the ministries of power and renewable energy in the same capacity.

Eight-term BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh Santosh Kumar Gangwar will be minister of state (independent charge) of labour and employment.
The Rajya Sabha will be convened June 20 and have its last sitting on July 26, it said.

New Delhi: Newly-appointed finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the full Budget for 2019-20 on July 5, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided in its first meeting on Friday.

The Cabinet also approved extension of Prime Minister Kisan Yojana to all farmers. Announcing the decision, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said nearly 14.5 crore farmers are expected to benefit from the scheme.

Other decisions taken at the meeting were related to welfare of farmers, small traders and children of defence and security personnel. The Cabinet also approved the summoning of the 17th Lok Sabha on June 17 and the session is expected to conclude on July 26, an official statement said.

The Rajya Sabha will be convened June 20 and have its last sitting on July 26, it said.

The economic survey will be released on July 4. The election of a new Speaker will take place on June 19 while President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint session of Parliament on June 20, it said.
This comes after Asaduddin Owaisi attacked Kishan Reddy for stating his comments as irresponsible and a move to spread hatred.

Clearing his stand, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy on Friday said that he did not say anything wrong. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Clearing his stand, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy on Friday said that he did not say anything wrong. He had earlier claimed that Hyderabad has become a safe zone for terrorists .

There are places in the country where terror activities are on a rise. If an incident takes place in Bengaluru or Bhopal, its roots are traced to Hyderabad. The state police, NIA have arrested terrorists in Hyderabad every two or three months. I didn't say anything wrong, said Reddy.

Read: Hyderabad turning safe haven for terror: G Kishan Reddy

This comes after AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi criticised MoS (Home) G Kishan Reddy for calling Hyderabad as a safe zone for terror stating it irresponsible and a move to spread hatred.

Owaisi said, An MoS speaking like this! This shows their hatred for Telangana, Hyderabad. Such irresponsible statements don't suit a minister, but we expect this from him. Wherever they see Muslims, they take them for terrorists. We can't cure them.

Raising questions on the enmity between Telangana and Hyderabad, he asked, Since past 5 years there is peace here, there are no communal riots, religious festivals are peacefully celebrated, it is a growing city. What enmity do they have with Telangana, Hyderabad? Do they not like that it is growing?

He also said that it was unfortunate for a Minister of State for Home to say such things. I'd like to ask him that in last 5 years how many times have NIA, IB and RAW gave in writing that Hyderabad is a safe zone for terror? asked Owaisi.

Calling Hyderabad a terror-safe zone sends out a wrong message, said Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) on Saturday.

Read: Calling Hyd safe zone for terror will harm business: TRS on Kishan Reddy's statement

"The statements given by the newly appointed Minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy, categorizing Hyderabad as a safe zone for terror sends a very wrong signal to investors and businesses which are planning to invest in the state," TRS leader Abid Rasool Khan told ANI.
The ministers were, earlier, allowed to carry mobile phones but were asked to keep them on silent mode.

CMO was sceptical of misuse of technology in views of hacking and espionage threats. (Photo: ANI)

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has prohibited the usage of mobile phones during official meetings from Saturday. The decision was taken keeping in view certain security issues and distraction.

"The Chief Minister wants all ministers should focus on issues that are discussed in the cabinet meetings. They should not get distracted by their mobile phones. Some ministers have been busy reading messages on WhatsApp during the meetings," mid-day quoted a senior official in the chief minister's secretariat.

The ministers were, earlier, allowed to carry mobile phones but were asked to keep them on silent mode. They would be asked to deposit their mobile phones and would get coupons which could be exchanged later.

CMO was skeptical of misuse of technology in views of hacking and espionage threats.
Rahul Gandhi will pay a two-day visit to his constituency from June 7 to thank the voters for his stupendous win.

Vijayan also assured that the Kerala government is making continued efforts to help the farmers and has also announced a moratorium on repayment of farmers' loans till the end of this year. (Photo: ANI)

Thiruvananthapuram: Responding to Congress President Rahul Gandhi's letter requesting for an inquiry into the "suicide" of a debt-ridden farmer VD Dinesh Kumar from Wayanad, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has stated that he has ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter.

In a letter dated May 31, the Chief Minister said: "I have asked District Collector, Wayanad, to conduct a detailed inquiry into the suicide of VD Dinesh Kumar and submit a report to the government at the earliest for taking further action including any financial assistance."

Vijayan also assured that the Kerala government is making continued efforts to help the farmers and has also announced a moratorium on repayment of farmers' loans till the end of this year.

Expressing concern over issues being faced by farmers in the country, the Chief Minister said they ought to be raised in the Parliament and urged Gandhi to join the movement.

"...As these loans from commercial banks come under the SARFAESI Act it is for the Government of India to take a considered stand with regard to the outstanding farmers' debt with the banks. This issue needs to be raised in the Parliament and I hope that you will join us in taking up the issue of relief for the debt afflicted families in Kerala as well as other parts in the country," he said in the letter.

The Congress chief, who has been elected as MP from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat for the first time, on May 28 wrote a letter to Vijayan requesting him to order an inquiry into the 'suicide' of Kumar.

Gandhi also urged the Kerala Chief Minister to extend financial support to the family of the deceased.

"I am deeply saddened by the suicide of VD Dinesh Kumar, a farmer in Neervaram, Panamaram Panchayat, Wayanad. On speaking with his wife Sujitha, I learnt that her husband had been under severe stress due to his inability to repay the loans he had taken and this pushed him to commit suicide," read the letter.

"Kumar's case isn't an isolated one. There has been a spate of farmers' suicides in Wayanad, due to an inability to repay loans. What is disturbing is that while the government of Kerala has announced a moratorium on repayment of farm loans till December 31, 2019, yet farmers are still being pressurized and hounded by a loan collection agent," said Gandhi in the letter.

"I write to request you to order an enquiry, into the circumstances surrounding Kumar's death and to extend financial support to his family. Moreover, given the devastating long term impact of the 2018 floods on agriculture in India, it is crucial to consider long term measures to free our farmers from the vicious debt trap thousands of them are caught in," stated the letter.

Rahul Gandhi will pay a two-day visit to his constituency from June 7 to thank the voters for his stupendous win.
Earlier Saturday, Owaisi had said, 'If Modi can visit a temple we can visit our mosques.'

New Delhi: Minority Affairs Ministry Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday hit out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his comments that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can visit the temple then Muslims can visit Mosque, saying some people talk like this for the sake of their livelihood.

Speaking to ANI here, Naqvi said, "Some people talk like this for the sake of their livelihood. Some people talk unnecessary things on the basis of religion, caste and region. This does not help anyone. Modi has the confidence of 130 crore people of the country. Under Modiji people know they are well secured."

Earlier Saturday, Owaisi had said, "If Modi can visit a temple we can visit our mosques, if Modi can go sit in a cave, we Muslims can also proudly say our prayers in mosques. Securing more than 300 seats is not a huge thing, Because India has a living Constitution, the 300 seats (of the BJP) cannot take away our rights."

Read: Dont worry about BJP's return to power: Owaisi to Muslims

Owaisi also said that Muslims need not fear by Modi returning to power and added that every citizen is respected in the country.

Slamming Owaisi's statement Chhawani Temple priest Pramhans Das on Saturday said in Ayodhya: ''Aatankwadiyon ka agar kahin network milta hai to usme kahi na kahi usme Owaisi ka hath hai (Owisi is, somehow, responsible for the terrorism.) People like Owaisi are behind the raising of anti-India slogans. People like him bring a bad name to Islam.''
In Jerusalem, thousands pray at Al-Aqsa on last Friday of Ramadan.

Worshippers, including Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world, sheltered under umbrellas as volunteers sprayed them with water around Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City compound, (Photo: AP)

Jerusalem: Tens of thousands of Muslims attended prayers at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem amid tight security on the last Friday of Ramadan, hearing a message of defiance against Israeli control of one of the most sensitive venues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Worshippers, including Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world, sheltered under umbrellas as volunteers sprayed them with water around Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount.

Security at the site was heavy after an earlier stabbing attack in the city, in which two Israelis were injured and a Palestinian teenager suspected of carrying out the attack was killed by Israeli security forces.

Later on Friday Muslims celebrate Laylat al-Qadr, or Night of Power, on which they believe that the sacred text of the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammad by Allah.

Israel captured the Old City and the rest of East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, occupying and later annexing it.

Palestinians do not recognize Israels authority in East Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of a future Palestinian state that also includes the West Bank and Gaza. They are extremely sensitive to the presence of Israeli security forces in and around the Noble Sanctuary.

Palestinian Muslims in the West Bank and Jerusalem have not traditionally marked the annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day initiated by Iran in 1979 and which coincides with Ramadans last Friday.

There was no mention of Quds Day by Ikrima Sabri, the preacher who delivered the Friday sermon. But he issued a message of defiance to the crowd, which religious officials estimated at 260,000.

This is a message to all those who wish to take over Al-Aqsa Mosque and to the attackers and those who storm it: dont exhaust yourselves, you will never have control over one inch of Al-Aqsa, it is a red line, he said in a message apparently aimed at Israelis following recent tensions with security forces. But in Gaza, where the Islamist militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad are backed by Iran, Quds Day was commemorated.

On Thursday Yehya Al-Sinwar, Hamass chief in Gaza, restated Hamass opposition to U.S. President Donald Trumps forthcoming Mideast peace plan. The first stage of that plan is due to be an economic conference in Manama, Bahrain, where Trump officials will encourage Arab countries to invest in the Palestinian Territories.

What audacity is Trump announcing? He wants to sell Jerusalem to the Zionist enemy, and he wants the Arabs to pay the price, Sinwar told a meeting north of Gaza City. This deal will not pass as long as we are alive.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, addressed the meeting by video-link from Iran.
Tejaswi Yadav in Bihar, at the helm of the RJD only because he is the anointed son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, could not win a single seat in Bihar.

The Modi tsunami of 2019, where for the first time since 1971 a party has come back to power with an absolute majority larger than what it had before, has opened up a new paradigm of politics. The contours of this change need to be understood, especially by Opposition parties, for only then can they internalise the magnitude of the change that confronts them. If they choose not to see, or understand, the new political landscape, they do so only at their own peril.

There are two principal takeaways from this election. The first takeaway is that the politics of entitlement, and of dynastic politics, has received a major challenge. The political battlefield is littered with fallen dynasts. The most visible setback is to the Congress, the principal Opposition party, where Rahul Gandhi is at the helm, solely because he is a member of the Gandhi family. Rahul lost his own election from the family bastion of Amethi. His party has been decimated, increasing its paltry tally of 44 in the last elections by a meagre eight seats. The Congress party is in urgent need of surgical introspection, and needs a new leadership, a new narrative, a new operational strategy, and a new cadre.

The fate of other dynasts is equally pitiable. Akhilesh Yadav, who runs the Samajwadi Party (SP) only because he is the son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, performed terribly in Uttar Pradesh. His wife lost the elections, as did other members of his family. Ajit Singh, son of Chaudhary Charan Singh, lost too in UP, as did his son, Jayant Singh. Tejaswi Yadav in Bihar, at the helm of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) only because he is the anointed son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, could not win a single seat in Bihar. In Haryana, the scions of the famous political clans of the state  the Chautalas, Hoodas, and Bhajan Lal  bit the dust. Naveen Patnaik, who came to power in Odisha as the son of stalwart Biju Patnaik, managed to retain a majority of the seats both for the Lok Sabha and in the state Assembly, but not without seeing serious inroads into his state by the BJP. True, some dynasties have survived. Jagan Reddy, son of former state Chief Minister, the late Y.S. Jagan Reddy, swept Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu too, Stalin, son of Karunanidhi, the towering satrap of Tamil politics, did extremely well. At the individual level, too, many newly elected MPS are the progeny of influential politicians. However, the hitherto unchallenged thesis that progenies have an ordained right to inherit the political mantle from their influential parents has suffered a definitive setback.

A second takeaway is that old equations of caste arithmetic have been overwhelmed by the political chemistry of the new politics. In UP, the conventional expectation was that a gathbandan of Yadavs, Dalits, Jats and Muslims, would be invincible, purely in terms of the numerical aggregation of caste. The alliance was decimated. In Bihar, the RJD had thought that it could pose a formidable challenge due to the time-tested coalition of Muslims and Yadavs. That coalition too was decimated. Leaders mired in old political equations could not understand that members of their captive flock could transcend caste fealties and take an independent view of who they would wish to vote for. The vertical prism of caste blinded many old school leaders to the fact that horizontal aspirations would escape the silos to which conventionally they had been confined. The result is that henceforth the two plus two equals four calculations of parties that refuse to see beyond caste and creed, will need a serious rethink, and while caste will not entirely go away in the calculation of all political parties, its pivotal importance  as it used to be in the past has suffered serious erosion.

What were the strengths of the Modi Tsu-NaMo, that it largely swept aside entrenched dynasties and caste citadels? Certainly, the most important single element is leadership. This election was Narendra Modi's election. People voted for him, and in his name. That was because he combined  whether you like him or not  eloquence, charisma, energy, vision, will, decisiveness, and above all, a cultural rootedness that spoke in the idiom ordinary people could identify with. There was just no one in the Opposition that came even close to challenging his appeal.

The crafting of a definitive narrative was also important. That narrative consisted of identifiable elements. Firstly, it focused on the tangibles that were delivered in the last five years touching the quality of lives of the poor  toilets, housing, electricity, direct cash transfers, gas cylinders, health schemes, roads and other infrastructure projects. Secondly, it tapped into a widespread angst among ordinary Hindus that  starting from the Shah Bano case of 1985  there has been a deliberate attempt to forsake the secular principle of respect for all religions and adopt a policy of appeasement of the minorities  read Muslims  for only vote-bank politics. Thirdly, following the Balakot attack, it evoked nationalism, and the paramount importance of the security of the nation against external threats. And, lastly, it raised the hopes of the young by the slogan New India. This was especially relevant since India is one of the youngest nations of the world, with some 65 per cent of the people below the age of 35. The young are impatient, aspirational and tired of the formulas of the past. Even though the concept of New India was never spelt out in great detail, the idea was appealing, for it brought into play the possibilities of new avenues, new opportunities, and a new vision of transforming the country. These elements of the narrative were projected and disseminated by a highly motivated, disciplined, and huge cadre  for which the credit must go to party president Amit Shah.

A mandate so huge also bestows great responsibilities and raises very large expectations. It is hoped that the NDA government will rise to the occasion. In particular, it must work to create an India of social harmony, where there is the fullest respect for all faiths, and discordant voices of hate and divisiveness are kept in check. The dictum of the great strategist Chanakya must always be remembered: a nation is only as strong as the harmony it fosters within.
Sushma Swaraj opted out of the Lok Sabha election for health reasons.

Days after the Bharatiya Janata Party rode to a stunning victory in the recent Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah called on veteran leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to seek their blessings and also to mollify them as they were known to be unhappy at being marginalised in the new dispensation. After the last 2014 general election, the seniors were made members of a non-functioning margdarshak mandal. This time they were denied tickets. But BJP insiders bemoaned that despite the BJPs massive victories in two successive elections, anyone who is considered an Advani loyalist continues to be suspect. They said as many as 25 party leaders at different levels of seniority have been especially identified. This group, which is waiting to be rehabilitated by the BJP leadership is not sure if its members will make the cut. They cite Sushma Swarajs example who topped this list and was accommodated in the last government as external affairs minister because of her stature and experience but was denied functional autonomy. Ms Swaraj opted out of the Lok Sabha election for health reasons.

Just when the Congress was congratulating itself on keeping its motormouths in check during the recent poll campaign, the irrepressible Mani Shankar Aiyar landed the party in the thick of a roaring controversy before the last phase of the election. The party found itself fending off the Bharatiya Janata Partys sharp attack following the publication of an article by Mr Aiyar in which he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and repeated his neech remark. Writing that Mr Modi would be ousted in this election, Mr Aiyar said, That would be a fitting end to the most foul-mouthed prime minister this country has seen or is likely to see. Remember how I described him on 7 December 2017? Was I not prophetic? Mr Aiyar had made a similar statement in the midst of the Gujarat assembly for which Congress had suspended him. Given his reputation to shoot his mouth off, Mr Aiyar was asked to keep a low profile during the general election and stay away from television news channels. Finding himself out of the election hurly-burly, Mr Aiyar decided to give vent to his views in an article. But it transpires that he had sent advance copies to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhis offices for their approval, which was duly given. Little wonder Mr Aiyar was upset when he was publicly upbraided by Rahul Gandhi for what was seen as his latest transgression.

The Bharatiya Janata Partys most visible and aggressive spokesperson, Sambit Patra, lost in the recent Lok Sabha election though it was not for want of trying. Mr Patra, who was fielded from Puri in his home state Odisha, went the extra mile to connect with the electorate, especially since he is based in Delhi. While banking on the high profile he has acquired, courtesy his frequent participation in prime time debates on television channels, Mr Patra shifted base to his constituency for the entire period of the poll campaign. He moved around in a cavalcade of vehicles and set up camp in different villages on his route and never returned to the city for the night. Mr Patra also made it a point to take a dip in the local pond every morning while wearing a saffron dhoti, making sure the villagers did not miss this ritual. In addition, he visited every temple during his travels and got himself photographed extensively while offering prayers, complete with vermillion paste on his forehead. But Mr Patras efforts proved futile as he was defeated by Biju Janata Dals Pinaki Mishra. He can, however, draw solace from the fact that he lost by a narrow margin.

Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who was in charge of West Bengal affairs, is understandably the toast of the town after the saffron party made huge inroads in this eastern state, winning as many as 18 Lok Sabha seats. Mr Vijayvargiya had declined to contest in the recent general election so that he could focus on expanding his partys footprint in West Bengal. However, he has always nursed ambitions of occupying the chief ministers gaddi in his home state Madhya Pradesh. Now that he has proved his mettle, he is hoping to be rewarded for his efforts by BJP president Amit Shah who is learned to have taken a shine to Mr Vijayvargiya. But his return to Madhya Pradesh will depend on how the BJP moves ahead in destabilizing the Kamal Nath government which cannot be ruled out as the Congress has a wafer-thin majority in the assembly. Moreover, the Congress state unit is in turmoil after the partys humiliating defeat and there is every possibility that its disgruntled legislators could be ready to switch sides. But the ever-popular former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who also wants his old post back, could prove to be a stumbling block.
India has systematically undermined Saarc and vigorously promoted Bimstec though it is not a member; but, then, neither is Pakistan.

There was something pathetically unreal in the sustained press speculation about a resumption of talks between India and Pakistan after the Indian elections. Even a cursory study of the record of the Modi governments policy on the talks would have injected some realism in the minds of the hopefuls.

It is, of course, very true that India and Pakistan had established a tradition in the past of offering congratulations after their respective general elections, coupled with an offer of talks which the other side gladly accepted. Neither country wanted a stand-off or confrontation. However, it should have been obvious by 2016, if not earlier, that Narendra Modi was out to break tradition in domestic as well as foreign policies.

Foreign secretary talks were cancelled in 2014 on the pretext that Pakistans high commissioner had invited a Hurriyat leader for talks. This was but par for the course.

But one must ask, given the Modi governments basic approach towards Pakistan and Kashmir, what talks will achieve?

India has systematically undermined Saarc and vigorously promoted Bimstec though it is not a member; but, then, neither is Pakistan. This is part of Indias proclaimed policy of isolating Pakistan. It surely cannot parley with Pakistan while urging the world to keep it out at bay. The policy is certain to fail.

Pakistan has won new friends like Russia. It has a standing in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere. Donald Trump notwithstanding, the US needs it badly if it is to stage a dignified retreat from Afghanistan. Indias massive efforts in Afghanistan will not alter the facts of geography, history and the compulsions of politics. And there is the rising superpower China, whom India courts.

If the policy of isolation is doomed to failure, expectation of a dialogue is unreal. What will India and Pakistan talk about? There is no common ground on the core issue of Kashmir. It was finally established in 2005-2007 by Musharraf and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the realistic and innovative four-point formula  but wrecked by a rabble of vicious, small minds. In Kashmir, Geelani led a vicious bunch, but one that did not point out any defects or suggest improvements.

It was the same story in Pakistan sung by critics of Musharrafs domestic policies and by the BJP in India. At a great moment, small minds operated viciously to destroy a historic achievement. Imagine the scene in South Asia today if it had succeeded.

However, Kashmir is not the sole issue between the two countries. There are the joint statements of 1987 and 2001 which list them. Alas, there is no prospect of a dialogue on these either, although common ground was achieved on Sir Creek, Wullar barrage and Siachen. Other matters are also very susceptible to settlement. That is what Modi and his advisers do not want. All or nothing is their policy. Their demands are: Pakistan must wash its hands of Kashmir and those fighting there must surrender. On this diplomatic graveyard India will build peace  settling these issues with Pakistan and imposing on Kashmir a constitutional order which accomplishes the BJPs goal of erasure of Article 370 and ensures Kashmiris integration with India  the peace of the graveyard.

By arrangement with Dawn
The upcoming flagship will ditch all physical buttons as well as the headphone jack.

Earlier on this year, vivo made waves when they showed off their waterdrop handset that was devoid of any ports or physical buttons. This is probably where the future of smartphones is heading and it appears that Samsung will be the biggest smartphone manufacturer to take some design cues from this handset as the latest leak suggests that the Galaxy Note 10 will be launched without any physical buttons and will lose the headphone jack.

While the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 will not be as futuristic as the vivo Apex 2019, it will feature some of its design traits. Of course, the Galaxy Note 10 will come with a charging port and a slot for the S-Pen, but other than that it will forego any physical buttons making it a step in the right direction.

As per a report by Android Police, sources familiar with Samsungs plans claim that the South Korean smartphone giant will begin its curtailing of the headphone jack and even physical buttons like the volume rockers and power button with the Galaxy Note 10. There will be no 3.5mm audio jack or any exterior buttons. Instead, Samsung will use pressure-sensitive areas that will be highlighted by a raised bump or textures along the sides to denote the buttons. Earlier on these changes had stepped into the rumour mill but now this is the first time that there is any sort of solid confirmation regarding the same.

With the Samsung Galaxy Note series of devices, the brand has a stellar track record of adding forward-thinking designs making it quite appealing for those looking to upgrade. Galaxy Note fans appreciate Samsung as they always strive to add futuristic tech in the device making it an early adopters dream.

With the removal of the headphone jack, Samsung may alienate a part of its following who have always stuck by the brand for its devotion to this port even when half of the smartphone industry has gotten rid of it. In the flagship segment, Samsung is the only brand to stick with the 3.5mm connector as Apple, Google, Huawei and OnePlus have all abandoned the port. Budget smartphone manufacturers such as Xiaomi and OPPO have also removed it from some of their devices. With Samsung removing the audio jack on its Galaxy Note 10; it is only a matter of time till the lower-end models also abandon the connector.

By Samsung removing the audio jack, they can potentially add more battery in the handset, something which every user can appreciate. However, with the rumours that the smaller of the Note 10 devices featuring a mere 3400mAh battery, this may propel potential consumers to opt for the more expensive of the two variants.

With the removal of the physical buttons, Samsung can make the handset a lot sturdier as these cutouts in the chassis of a handset usually tend to be the weakest point of a smartphone. So by ditching the volume buttons, Samsung could make a thinner handset without neglecting its build quality.

Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Deccan Chronicle and/or other staff and contributors to this website.
King Salman has called on Gulf and Arab leaders to confront Iran's 'criminal acts' after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels.

Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia in the first two summits on Friday as it ratcheted up tensions with Iran. (Photo:AP)

Mecca: Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Saturday warned that "terrorist" attacks in the region could imperil global oil supplies.

"We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies," the king told a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the holy city of Mecca.

King Salman has called on Gulf and Arab leaders to confront Iran's "criminal acts" after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, in the Sea of Oman and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

"We will resolutely confront aggressive threats and subversive activities," King Salman said on Twitter just before the start of the OIC summit.

The OIC meeting is the third and final summit hosted by Saudi Arabia this week, aimed at galvanising support among Arab and Islamic nations against arch-rival Iran.

Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia in the first two summits on Friday as it ratcheted up tensions with Iran.

Tehran, which has strongly denied involvement in any of the attacks, expressed disappointment that Riyadh plans to level the same "baseless accusations" at the summit of the 57-member OIC.

"Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation calls for a position on the attacks on the kingdom" said OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen.
How to Be Supportive If Your Partner Is a Sexual Assault Survivor

Dating Someone Who Has Dealt With Sexual Assault? Here's What to Know

Did you know that someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every 92 seconds? That eye-opening statistic, which comes from the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), demonstrates just how prevalent sexual violence is today. While sexual assault can happen to anyone  regardless of age, race, religion or orientation  one thing that applies across nearly all cases is that it can have lasting effects on a survivors mental and emotional health, as well as their relationships. Thats why if your partner has experienced this kind of trauma, its crucial to educate yourself on how to be supportive.

Everyone deals with the trauma in their own unique way. That said, a 2018 report published by Samuel Merritt University revealed that there are some common things many survivors struggle with: feelings of shame, guilt, denial, isolation, and difficulty trusting others and setting boundaries. Additionally, they may experience physical symptoms, such as insomnia or eating disturbances, and psychological symptoms, ranging from flashbacks, phobias and depression to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

RELATED: How to Support Sexual Assault Survivors

Building a healthy, happy relationship with a survivor depends on your ability to show up for them in the way they need you to the most.

Your survivor doesnt need saving  they already saved themselves, says Amanda Kay Price, a sexual assault survivor and television producer known for her work on Little Fires Everywhere, Hulus Emmy-nominated limited series.What they need is for their partners and loved ones to listen when they speak, hear what they are saying, and be there when they ask.

To dig in a little deeper, here's what two trauma experts and real-life survivors suggest in order to make sure your partner feels safe, heard and loved.

Let Them Take the Lead in Sharing

No matter how curious or concerned you are, sexual assault survivors agree that pressuring someone to talk about their assault before theyre ready could hinder the healing process.

The most important step for our healing is that we need to be able to have control over how we respond, and that includes when and how we share, says Abby Honold, a survivor, advocate and activist who introduced a federal bill to better train law enforcement in trauma-informed handling of sexual assault cases.

Erinn Robinson, press secretary for RAINN, adds that survivors should also get to decide how much detail is shared.

"The feeling of being pressured and not being in control of your own story can bring back the feeling of loss of control over your body during sexual assault, Robinson tells AskMen. Many survivors talk about how losing control of their story after assault can feel like a second traumatic event.

Licensed clinical social worker Melanie Shapiro agrees that its critical to be patient with your partner, and to provide a safe space so that they feel comfortable revealing information.

Avoid taking it personally if your partner doesnt want to share, or needs space or time alone to process, she adds.

According to Honold, many survivors often fear that their partner might judge them or change their opinion of them when they share their experience. Thats why she recommends saying something along the lines of, I won't see you any differently, but knowing what happened can help me be a better partner for you if you want to establish a safe space that inspires them to open up.

Just Listen

Once your partner is comfortable talking to you about their assault, the best thing you can do is to listen with an open mind.

Remove yourself from your partners narrative and let them lead, notes Price. By doing this you are reaffirming to the survivor that they have power again and that their story matters.

While it may be tempting to ask lots of questions about the events to gain a deeper understanding of them, doing so could be unintentionally detrimental.

Often, these questions will make it sound like theyre blaming the survivor for what happened, or suggesting that the survivor could have avoided the attack by doing something different, explains Robinson. Let the survivor take the lead.

Honold specifically advises avoiding any questions that could be perceived as judgements  like those that start with Why did/didnt you [XYZ]?  as these can contribute to survivors guilt and shame.

We've asked ourselves those questions many times, and plenty of victims of sexual violence don't even know why we responded the way we did, she explains. Instead, remind us that we took care of ourselves in the best way we knew how.

As it can be difficult to know what to say when your partner begins letting you in on their experience, start by reassuring them that youre there for whatever they might need. As Honold points out, there are many ways to be supportive without even verbally responding to your partner  making eye contact, showing them youre engaged by nodding, or gently putting your hand on theirs.

However, its important to ask if its OK before using any kind of comforting touch while someone is disclosing their experience, as physical contact can potentially be triggering to some.

Set Clear Boundaries in the Bedroom

It should go without saying that youll need to be extra careful about how you navigate intimacy if your significant other has experienced sexual assault. Shapiro suggests launching a conversation in which you encourage your partner to be transparent about their likes and dislikes, or even discussing possible ground rules that might make them feel more secure.

Would it be helpful for them if you ask for consent when having sex? Would they prefer to be the one to initiate intimacy? What are their personal triggers? Are there any words you should avoid?

It avoids confusion or miscommunication and can make intimacy feel safer, explains Shapiro. It can offer your partner the option to decide what does and does not feel safe. And having that control can be supportive and empowering for a survivor.

Your partner will likely need to rebuild a sense of trust where sex is concerned, all while rediscovering whats pleasurable to them after their traumatic experience. Because of this, its imperative to let them get comfortable with communicating their needs and exploring intimacy at their own pace. Once youve established some ground rules, you can demonstrate that you respect them by simply asking, Does this feel OK? as a way of doing so.

If the only form of intimacy your partner is able to give you is to reach out to you and hold your hand, cherish that intimacy," states Price. "And I beg you, please do not take it for granted. Were doing the best we can.

Suggest Other Sources of Support

While there are a multitude of useful resources available for sexual assault survivors, you should tread carefully in how you bring them up to your partner. Robinson notes that only survivors should be making those choices on their own timelines, which is why you should never pressure them into seeking help or make them feel bad about their choice not to do so.

Some of most beneficial resources she suggests include the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) and RAINNs 24/7 Online Hotline. Calling such numbers can help survivors connect with someone at their local rape crisis center. The online chat service also offers a way for survivors to receive support, advice or practical information from one of RAINNs trained professionals. Note that these resources are also available for any loved ones who have been impacted by the assault, so you may want to take advantage of them, too.

Honold recommends doing some research on your partners specific behavioral responses to the trauma, whether theyre experiencing nightmares, hypervigilance, or depression.

There are always small ways that you can learn how to be supportive for specific symptoms or problems we're experiencing, she explains. If your partner is having trouble sleeping, for example, learning about things that can help with sleep is a way to be useful without being pushy or taking on the role of a therapist. One of the best things my husband did was that he took it upon himself to learn about grounding exercises back when I used to have horrible flashbacks. I didn't even need to tell him what was going on  he took the time to research it himself, and he started learning how to help ground me when I was triggered into a flashback.

Offer Up Help Without Pushing Them

In the aftermath of the assault, your partner may be forced to confront their trauma head on, such as if they plan to report the assault or seek medical attention. Offer to be there without pushing them to invite you along or take it personally if theyd rather go it alone.

Also, if your partner opts to seek therapy, you might want to volunteer to accompany them for a session  but again, you need to respect their choice if they dont want you to be there.

It can be painful to disclose details of the assault, and some survivors may even feel like it causes them to relive it. As much as you may suspect that therapy could help your partner to facilitate the healing process, allow them to decide when theyre ready to go that route.

It can be really tempting to see a path forward for someone that seems obvious, but going to the cops or seeing a therapist are decisions that we need to arrive at on our own, explains Honold. That doesn't mean that your partner won't want to talk through decisions with you, but it's really important that the survivor is the one driving the decisions about how they're moving forward.

Your partner may decide they want to seek individual counseling before you go to therapy together. However, you can let them know that the option for couples counseling is on the table if they feel that might be helpful. Shapiro notes that attending therapy sessions with your partner can provide unbiased professional insight into how the trauma may be affecting your relationship (and how to handle it).

Above all, its imperative to understand that every individuals recovery happens at their own individual pace. All you can do is keep reminding your partner that you care, listening to them when theyre ready to talk, researching and suggesting helpful resources, and showing up when they need you.

There is no one-size-fits-all that applies to survivors  each persons story and healing journey are unique, explains Robinson.

And when you feel unsure of how to be supportive, dont underestimate the impact of a simple question: How can I help? After all, there are a multitude of ways to show support, and what works for one person may not for another.

The response might be, I dont know what you can do, and listen to that, advises Price. What your partner is asking you to do is do nothing  sometimes, doing nothing is the most powerful thing a partner can do to show support.

Remember that helping your partner to heal requires making them feel as empowered as possible, and that means allowing them to take the lead when it comes to sharing information, re-building a healthy sense of intimacy and taking charge of their own unique process.

Loving a survivor is complex, contradictory and will not be easy, explains Price. But when a survivor trusts you, that trust will be one of the most beautiful things this world has to offer. Do not break that.

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New Rainforest Resort Will Put You Up In Eco-Friendly Seed Pod Tree Houses

Stay in a Fancy Seed Pod Room at This New Rainforest Resort

Singapore Zoo is already an enormously popular tourist destination. The 64-acre facility is home to more than 2,400 animals and has won a bunch of awards in recent years, including being named the third best zoo in the world in the 2018 Tripadvisor Travellers Choice Awards.

What makes it so special? The Southeast Asian rainforest environment is pretty great, but so is its open concept layout and naturalistic enclosures that are home to more than 300 species, a third of them endangered.

Now Mandai Park Holdings, owners of the zoo (in Singapore the attraction is known as Mandai Zoo), is turning its attention to people, building a new eco-friendly rainforest resort with seed pod rooms that allow you to get up close and personal with nature.

RELATED: A Breathtaking Mirror-Covered House Is on Airbnb

Designed by WOW Architects, the 338-room resort will have standard suites with views into the rainforest but the main event will be 24 tree houses, elevated off the forest floor in the trees surrounding the resort. And theyll be designed in the shape of seed pods. Very cool.

PART OF THE SCENERY

Its pretty clever stuff. Much of the resort will be elevated several feet above the ground allowing wildlife to roam freely below, but the four stories of the central buildings still wont reach above the lofty upper canopy of the rainforest.

The resort was designed with the native flora and fauna as inspiration, and the architecture and interior design will showcase the biodiversity of Mandai for guests to appreciate and learn from, WOW Architects managing director Wong Chiu Man said in a news release.

When completed, the building and the landscape will become a holistic, immersive experience.

RELATED: Best Travel Destinations for Single Guys

The resort is also intended to be as low energy, sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. Rooms will feature natural ventilation and solar panels powering mixed-mode air conditioning, while the nifty tree houses will be cooled using chilled water.

ZOO LIFE

The 11-acre sites placement behind Singapore Zoos back-of-house facilities will also give guests the opportunity to interact with the zoo along with the Jurong Bird Park, which is due to relocate to Mandai next year, and a new rainforest park. Whats on offer? Think behind-the-scenes programs, guided nature walks and hands-on experiences.

Chief executive of Mandai Park Holdings Mike Barclay told Singapores Straits Times that guests could, for example, be taken into elephant enclosures in the evening to help zookeepers put together food puzzles. Guests would then return the following morning to witness the elephants pull apart the branches to get at the food inside.

The yet-to-be-named resort will be operated by Banyan Tree Holdings. It will be the companys first property in Singapore and is due to open in 2023.

So start saving those dollars.

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Do Penis Pumps Really Work?

Your All-Inclusive Guide to Penis Pumps

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

Even if youve never used a penis pump, if youve seen Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, you know exactly what one looks like. In a scene from the film, Powers has just been thawed out from being cryogenically frozen for decades. When retrieving his belongings, a penis pump (described as a vacuum constriction device) is plucked from the basket.

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Thats not mine! he exclaims. I dont even know what this is, this sort of thing isnt my bag, baby. The scene continues in similar effect, ultimately positioning the object as a cheap gag. But the reality is, a penis pump can serve a serious purpose.

What Is a Penis Pump?

A penis pump is a viable and safe treatment option for those who have difficulties achieving or maintaining an erection by reversing atrophy and pulling blood-flow into the penis. Considering 50 percent of men experience erectile function problems by their middle-age and one in four men under 40 have reported erectile issues, it is an item you may benefit from becoming familiar with. Additionally, penis pumps can also be used for enlargement, with men who use them reporting that they can make an erection up to one to three inches larger, and even 25 percent girthier.

The item consists of a tube (often made of glass or plastic) that fits over the penis, a hand or battery-powered pump attached to the tube, and a construction ring that fits around the base of the penis when erect. Reports by the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists found that between 56 percent and 67 percent of men whove used a penis pump report that it is effective. The device is also believed to be a safer alternative to erectile dysfunction pills which may cause hard side effects like fainting, headaches and blurred vision.

What Are the Risks of Using a Penis Pump?

Though considered one of the less risky treatments available for ED, there are still some minor ailments to watch out for when using a penis pump. Since the erection is not achieved naturally this way, the penis may be more purple in color (and a bit numb), but dont fret  it happens. When vacuum erection devices (aka penis pumps) are misused, they can cause bruising, skin stretching and nerve damage that lowers sensation, says Susan Bratton, a sex advisor and author of the Pump Guide. These bruises are often painless and generally last a few days. To avoid damage, it is recommended you follow the safety guidelines provided with your pump.

If your particular device doesnt come with instructions, Bratton suggests not using it. She also advises against using another item around the house (even novelty products found in many sex shops) as an alternative. Proper pumps are medical devices approved by the FDA for erectile dysfunction, she says, remarking that jelqing (the act of manually stretching the penile tissue) is a dangerous albeit popular alternative as men can bruise, overstretch and hurt their penises by jelquing too hard. A quality pump is an investment in reversing erectile dysfunction, restoring tissue that has atrophied due to lack of intimacy or illness and for penis enlargement.

How to Properly Use a Penis Pump

Though you should still follow the instructions provided for each individual device, most penis pumps tend to work the same way. Trimming or shaving any pubic hair near the base of your penis is suggested so that it doesn't get caught in the ring. Before using the pump, it's also a good idea to apply a lubricant to the penis so it doesn't pull coming out. Then, place the pump over your penis, pumping the air out of the cylinder using a low vacuum pressure. Once the penis is erect, with the help of lubricant, release the vacuum and remove the pump.

If the pump is left on too long or pumped too tightly, it can potentially harm the blood vessels and tissue in the penis, says Dr. Steven McGough, Director of Research and Development at Women and Couples Wellness. This can sometimes cause small blood vessels to bleed resulting in small red spots called petechiae to form on the penis.

Batton recommends using the pump every other day to allow for some rest and recovery. If you choose to pair your pump with a cock ring (which will help maintain a harder erection), limit use of the ring to 30 minutes  any longer than that can cut off circulation to your penis and cause serious harm.

Purchasing a Penis Pump

While some penis pumps are available without a prescription, its best to speak with a doctor before purchasing as they can suggest a quality device that suits your specific needs. Sure, there are some readily available online and in sex ads, but those might not be safe or effective.

McGough suggests making sure your penis pump has a vacuum limiter, which keeps pressure from getting too high and harming your penis. Generally, you want a rubber opening at the bottom of the pump that can accommodate multiple penis sizes (diameter), a pump that is durable and reliable, and a quick release valve for once you have achieved an erection, he says.

Interested in getting your very own penis pump? Check out three options below recommending by professionals.

VaxAid V30 Hydropump

McGough recommends the VaxAid V30 Hydropump, a device which tackles ED both inside and outside of water if you want to use it in the shower. The device comes with six erection rings, two comfort pads, lubricant, a manual and an instructional DVD.

$310 at Amazon.com

Penomet Premium

McGough also recommends the Penomet Premium Package, which includes a wide number of gaiters (60, 65, 70, 75, 80), a shower strap, a digital exercise handbook, a printed instructional booklet and a three-year warranty. Penomet crafts their product with the consumer in mind, following feedback from thousands of individuals and consumers. The interchangeable gaiter system allows users to safely increase the pressure for a comfortable experience.

$127 at Penomet.com

The Whopper Premium Male Enlargement System

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AMG

Underpinned by the Sigma platform, the first generation of the performance sedan was offered with the LS6 and LS2 small-block V8 engine options. Better still, a Tremec T56 linked the fury under the hood to the rear wheels, translating to lots of fun for the most spirited of drivers.The second generation leveled up to the 6.2-liter LSA with a supercharger and the option of a six-speed automatic, producing 556 ponies at the crankshaft. Fast-forward to 2015, and thats when the third generation showed up with the LT4 from the Corvette Z06. Its the most powerful Cadillac ever, but on the other hand, Cadillac discontinued the CTS-V. That's right; 2019 is the final model year for the performance-oriented luxury sedan.Typical of General Motors, the engineers and bean counters made a mess out of the CT5-V . A 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 provides suck-squeeze-bang-blow to either the rear wheels or all wheels, rated at 355 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. Thats a lot less than the CTS-V, and not enough performance credentials to keep up with BMW and Mercedes-Even Audi has a more powerful competitor in the segment, and the RS6 prepares to get even better thanks to the MLB Evo vehicle architecture the Volkswagen Group utilizes in the Lamborghini Urus. Turning our attention back to Cadillac and the V-Series anniversary, the STS-V and XLR-V werent all that special. But the CTS-V Sport Wagon certainly was!Only 1,764 longroofs were ever produced for the second generation of the mid-size model, packing 556 horsepower. During that era, the Mercedes-Benz E63 T-Modell with the AMG Performance Package had 518 horsepower.V-Series is a philosophy as much as the unique components comprising each variant, declared Brandon Vivian, executive chief engineer at Cadillac . That means the various V-Series models offer distinctive driving experiences, but always distilled through Cadillacs unique perspective on spirited performance.The CT6-V is the most powerful Cadillac from the modern era, switching from a supercharged V8 to a twin-turbocharged V8. The Blackwing develops 550 horsepower in this application, and were disappointed once again considering the pushrod-style engine of the CTS-V is more potent.On that note, theres no denying the crown jewel of General Motors has been slacking in the go-faster department. Such wow, very anniversary!
Palmdale, CA (93550)

Today

Periods of rain. Low around 40F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low around 40F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Two of the countries where the threat of direct military conflict with the U.S. is greatest are Iran and North Korea.

Threat level: Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who until last April was involved in the most sensitive discussions on those countries with President Trump, warns its difficult to overstate the threat from a nuclear North Korea.

The big picture: In an interview with "Axios on HBO," McMaster argues North Korea could directly threaten the United States, China, Japan, the world with its nuclear arsenal and could also engage in nuclear blackmail.

This regime could say [if U.S. forces] dont go off the Korean peninsula, we're going to threaten the use of nuclear weapons, for example.

McMaster also raises the prospect of North Korea selling its nuclear secrets, or even weapons, noting Pyongyang was developing a nuclear weapons program for the Assad regime in Syria.

He also points to the risk of wider nuclear proliferation in Japan, South Korea and beyond, asking: If North Korea gets a weapon, who doesnt?

Between the lines: North Korea already has a nuclear arsenal, and many experts doubt that leader Kim Jong-un will ever give it up.

McMaster says the U.S. needs to prepare for at least the option of the use of military force to convince Kim to denuclearize.

The Trump administration has sidelined the so-called bloody nose strategy, though, and the president speaks warmly of Kim and his intentions.

Meanwhile, the administration has focused its ire on Tehran.

McMaster places Iran on the list of the greatest global threats because of its support for groups the U.S. has designated as violent proxies and terror groups.

His successor as national security adviser, John Bolton, has increased the pressure on Iran further still, warning of "unrelenting force" if Iran or its proxies strike U.S. interests.

That has led to a fear that tensions could spill over into military conflict, even though Trump and Iranian leaders have both said they don't want a war.

Go deeper:
Illinois' state House passed legislation legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and is sending it to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who, while campaigning, said he would legalize the drug, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Why it matters: Illinois will be the first state to legalize marijuana through legislation rather than voter initiative if the governor signs the bill, per the Tribune. The legislation also includes a directive for Pritzker to pardon people with convictions for low-level cannabis-related offenses.

Go deeper: The next wave of weed legalization
Of top 10 global carbon emitters, not a single one is hitting its climate goals as outlined under the Paris Agreement, per data from the Climate Action Tracker.

Why it matters: Even if every country that's adopted the Paris Agreement were to meet their pledges, it would not avert the worst effects of climate change.

Driving the news: June 1 marks the 2-year anniversary of President Trump's announcement that the U.S. would withdraw from the deal. Per the Climate Action Tracker, the U.S., the second-largest world emitter of greenhouse gasses (but top historical emitter), falls under "critically insufficient," the worst category, in meeting its Paris pledge.

The backdrop: The Paris Agreement's main goal is to keep global temperature rise this century to "well below 2C," above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C.

Each country determined what it would be willing to do under the agreement. Such commitments are known as intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs).

After ratifying the agreement, the INDC would become the country's first nationally determined contribution.

So far, 185 countries have ratified or adopted the Paris Agreement. All of the NDCs are available here.

Details: Climate Action Tracker ranks countries based on "(I)NDCs, 2020 pledges, long-term targets and current policies against whether they are consistent with a country's fair share effort to the Paris Agreement's 1.5C temperature goal."

There are 6 different categories: critically insufficient, highly insufficient, insufficient, 2C compatible, 1.5C Paris Agreement compatible and role model.

Not all the countries with NDCs appear on the tracker.

Where countries rank: The top 10 emitters are bolded.

Role model: None.

1.5C Paris Agreement compatible: Morocco, The Gambia

2C compatible: Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India , Philippines

, Philippines Insufficient: Australia, Brazil , EU , Kazakhstan, Mexico , New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Switzerland

, , Kazakhstan, , New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Switzerland Highly insufficient: Argentina, Canada , Chile, China , Indonesia , Japan , Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, UAE

, Chile, , , , Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, UAE Critically insufficient: Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United States, Ukraine

Yes, but: There is no enforcement mechanism under the Paris Agreement to punish a country for missing a target.

Go deeper: Axios' complete coverage of the Paris Agreement.
There was an 8% drop in international students in the U.S. last year, with nearly half of that decline coming from fewer Chinese students receiving visas.

Why it matters: The trend is at least partially attributed to President Trump's immigration policy changes and rhetoric, which have led to fewer foreign students applying to study at U.S. institutions. Foreign students contributed $36.9 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2016-2017 academic year, according to the NAFSA Association of International Educators.

But other factors came before Trump:

Chinese students were given an extension for their F-1 student visas, making them valid for five years instead of one. This was announced at the end of 2014, which correlates with the beginning of the decline in Chinese student visas, according to the data. China has received the most student visas from the U.S. over the past several years.

Yes, but: China aside, the number of F-1 visas issued has declined two years in a row.
The State Department announced that all foreigners looking to attain a U.S. visa will have to list their social media accounts, emails and previous phone numbers, reports AP.

Why it matters: This change is part of the Trump administration's sweeping plan to overhaul the screening process, and they are citing national security as the primary motivation. President Trump has tried numerous things to curb immigration into the United States under the umbrella of national security, including the controversial "Muslim ban."

The impact: The move is expected to impact the nearly 14 million foreigners who apply for American visas annually. About 710,000 of those applications are for immigrant visa applicants, per AP.

Chinese visa agents are allegedly telling their citizens to avoid using terms such as "give birth to babies in the US," "greencard immigrant" or "guns" on social media as a result, per the South China Morning Post.

What they're saying: The Brennan Law Center released a statement saying the new requirement "creates serious risks to privacy and free speech. Despite the rush to implement these programs, there is scant evidence that they actually meet the goals for which they are deployed." They also claim Muslims will be especially targeted by the new requirement.

Context: The Trump administration announced this initiative in March 2018, but is only now moving forward with it. Social media screens are currently required for applicants who require "extra scrutiny," and nearly 65,000 applications each year fall into that category, according to AP.

Go deeper: ICE is seeking a program to monitor the social media of visa-holders
Saturday marks two years since President Trump announced he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement  and the chasm between scientific findings and political action is only growing.

The big picture: Climate science is now more clear than ever about the damage that climate change is causing. But many countries arent on track to meet their Paris emissions targets  and now theres no U.S. leadership to push them to try harder.

The details: Scientists tell Axios they now have:

More confidence in the observed amounts of global warming, showing the planet has been heating up faster than previously thought, from the poles to the depths of the seas.

Clear evidence that virtually all of the observed warming since 1950 is due to human activities.

Robust data showing that limiting global warming to the Paris targets of 1.5C or 2C would have significant, tangible benefits by reducing damage.

Between the lines: A study published last week projected that unchecked growth in greenhouse gas emissions could cause global sea levels to rise by an average of 3.6 feet by 2100.

This compares to just 2.3 feet if warming is limited to 2C above preindustrial levels, coauthor Robert Kopp tells Axios.

The lower the amount of warming, the less likely it is that the planet will trigger climate change tipping points like the loss of the Greenland or West Antarctic ice sheets.

Over the past two years weve learned that key impacts of climate change, like the melting of ice, the rise in sea level, and the increase in devastating weather extremes, are playing out faster than our models projected just a few years ago.

 Michael Mann, Penn State University

The emissions reductions required to meet the 1.5C goal are drastic and would be costly. They include getting to net zero emissions by 2050, and negative emissions by 2100.

There are few signs that governments are willing to undertake such radical actions.

Where it stands: While virtually all countries except the U.S. remain committed to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, many arent on track to meet their targets  which are mostly too weak anyway, according to the Climate Action Tracker, a research group following the Paris deal pledges.

China and India are poised to meet their targets with currently implemented policies, the group says, which may suggest they could be doing even more, said Elliot Diringer, of the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

Canada, Australia and the U.S. aren't on track to meet their goals.

By the numbers: Since Trump promised to withdraw from the deal:

The intrigue: Experts say Trumps vow to withdraw from the deal didn't cause this progress, or lack thereof. But

Whats harder to assess is the degree to which its undermining political will in countries to push forward the policies needed to meet their targets, Diringer said. Id say its a fair bet that over time continued U.S. inaction will have a corrosive effect on political will globally.

What to watch: To what degree countries ratchet up their policy ambitions and Paris targets at a high-profile United Nations summit on September 23. A top U.N. official said earlier this week 80 countries were prepared to do so, but he didnt name names.
By Trend

Italian companies have invested $596 million in Azerbaijan's oil and gas sector, the Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said at an event on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Italian Republic, Trend reports.

The minister noted that Italy is the main trade partner of Azerbaijan.

"Italy is an important country for Azerbaijan due to its support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as its role in the development of relations between the EU and Azerbaijan," he said.

Shahbazov noted that the volume of mutual trade between the two countries, as well as exports from Azerbaijan to Italy increased over the last year.

"Investments of Italian companies in the Azerbaijani economy to this day amounted to $767 million. Meanwhile, investments of Azerbaijani companies in Italy amounted to $135 million," Shahbazov said.

The minister noted that the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) project, which brings the two countries together, has now been completed by over 87 percent. He expressed confidence that the year 2020, when the project will be launched, will be a historic year in the cooperation of the two countries.

TAP worth 4.5 billion euros is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).

TAPs shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

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By Trend

Azerbaijani startups will be entered into the database of SEP (Cross-Industry Pan-European Open Innovation Platform), Tofig Babayev, Director of Azerbaijans Regional Information Technologies Academy (RITA), coordinator of EUs Harmonization of the Digital Markets (HDM) in the Eastern Partnership program for Azerbaijan, told Trend.

According to him, the process will be completed within the next 2 weeks.

Our task is to bring our start-ups to the European level. The EU has a platform for registering start-ups. Unfortunately, we could not register there before, Babayev said.

He added that it became clear at the two-day seminar of the EU Eastern Partnership countries held in Baku that this was only a technical issue.

"We informed the European Commission. In the next 2 weeks, Azerbaijani start-ups will be entered into the database of the European platform," Babayev said.

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By Trend

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has hosted an official reception in honor of President of Poland Andrzej Duda.

The heads of state made speeches at the event.

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By Trend

In 2018, Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR increased the volume of drilling works, and the total footage drilled exceeded 160,000 meters, said Yashar Latifov, vice-president for field development of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR, Trend reports.

He made the statement at the 26th International Caspian Oil & Gas Conference in Baku on May 31.

He said that in 2015-2016, this figure was 110,000 meters.

Although the number of wells has not changed, the average depth of each individual well has almost doubled from 1,200 meters to 1,900 meters, he said.

The two-day 26th International Caspian Oil & Gas Conference, held at Bilgah Beach Hotel, started on May 30 and continues today. It involves top-level executives of companies from the energy sector, who discuss key oil and gas projects of the Caspian region and energy security.

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By Trend

Oil slumped over 3% on Friday and posted its biggest monthly drop in six months, after U.S. President Donald Trump stoked global trade tensions by threatening tariffs on Mexico, a key U.S. trade partner and a major supplier of crude oil, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Brent crude futures fell $2.38, or 3.6%, to settle at $64.49 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $3.09 to $53.50 a barrel, a 5.5% loss.

During the session, Brent fell to a session low of $64.37 a barrel, lowest since March 8. WTI sank to $53.41 a barrel, weakest since Feb. 14.

Brent futures posted an 11% slide in May and WTI a 16% drop, their biggest monthly losses since November.

(Graphic: Oil prices monthly changes link: tmsnrt.rs/2WujIcF).

Trump vowed on Thursday to ratchet up tariffs unless Mexico stopped people from illegally crossing into the United States. The plan would impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports starting on June 10 and increase monthly, up to 25% on Oct. 1.

That could hit the lucrative cross-border energy trade.

U.S. refiners import roughly 680,000 barrels per day of Mexican crude. The 5% tariff adds an extra $2 million to the cost of their daily purchases, PVM analysts said.

The United States also exports more fuels to Mexico than any other country, according to the U.S. Energy Department, though so far Mexico has not said whether it would retaliate.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday urged Trump to back down from the threats.

The threats compound concerns about global economic growth, already at risk due to the U.S.-China trade war. That dispute has prompted worries about a recession.

Additional levies by Beijing on the majority of U.S. imports on a $60 billion target list are due to take effect on Saturday. The tariffs are in response to Washingtons move earlier this month to slap further tariffs of up to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods.

A Reuters survey showed Brent crude prices are likely to hold near $70 a barrel for the rest of the year as elevated supply risks in the Middle East offset risks to demand.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabias increased output in May was not enough to compensate for lower Iranian exports, a Reuters survey found. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to meet late June. At the beginning of the year, OPEC and allies agreed to cut production by 1.2 million bpd.

U.S. production has offset that decline, as output returned to a record 12.3 million barrels per day, and as U.S. crude stocks fell less than expected last week, according to weekly figures.

This fresh tariff headline offers a pile on effect to an oil market that has already been seeing downside pressure from some unexpectedly large U.S. crude supply increases that have been weighing on values across this month of May, Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

U.S. energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs operating for the first time in four weeks but cut the rig count for the sixth straight month as most drillers cut spending plans. Companies added three oil rigs, General Electric Cos Baker Hughes energy services firm said Friday.

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WHAT IS APOTHIO LLC?

One of the early players in Kern's emerging hemp industry is a company from out of the state that has partnered with a local college to conduct research while also contracting with local farmers to grow the product for processing in Bakersfield.

Bakersfield-based Apothio LLC describes itself as a research institution that uses proprietary genetics to produce cannabidiol, the popular cannabis extract known as CBD, and create related formulations for specific clinical outcomes. It boasts a "library" of 40 million seeds.

Apothio registered on Sept. 4, 2018, as a Colorado company doing business in California. It also has addresses in Los Angeles and Indiana, where the company formed on Oct. 3, 2016, as well as a location in Kentucky.

On Feb. 22, the Kern Community College District announced a research and crop-cultivation partnership between Apothio and Cerro Coso Community College.

Under the agreement, the college leased the company property in California City for research, processing and marketing of hemp. Sales of the product are expected to fund future educational and research opportunities.

On May 8, Alameda-based hemp and cannabis processor NewBridge Global Ventures announced it has forged a joint venture with Apothio under which the Bakersfield company will supply the Northern California outfit with hemp and give it a long-term lease for a 30,000-square-foot Bakersfield warehouse for processing purposes.

Last month's announcement says Apothio expects to harvest 512 acres of hemp this month with a yield of 330,694 pounds of CBD and 33,694 pounds of microcannabinoids.

"This is a wonderful alliance for both partners," Apothio CEO Trent Jones said in the release. "Whole plant-derived, water-soluble cannabinoids give us the ability to bring a product that is safe, compliant and versatile to the mass market."

Apothio has also contracted with Kern County farmers Stenderup Ag Partners to grow industrial hemp in the Arvin area. As part of that arrangement, Stenderup planted hemp on 140 acres in October, all of which was harvested in January, followed by planting on an additional 500 acres in the second week of March.

Apothio could not be reached for comment for this story.

A 2-ounce bottle of the company's whole-plant hemp extract sells for $90 on the internet.
Highland principal: 'My heart is heavy to think that people believe I am not supportive of our military'
Virtual learning works well

We enrolled our grandson Lane at Texas Virtual Academy at Hallsville (TVAH) so he could learn without distraction. Lane suffers from severe emotional distress; and public school at home gives Lane the opportunity to learn in a comfortable environment.

The large group setting in brick and mortar school was so stressful g for Lane that many school mornings began with panic attacks. Because Lane learns at home, attendance is no longer a challenge. Lane enjoys his teachers, talks with them easily, and gets quick responses. Lanes earning all As, which he hasnt done since early elementary school.

TVAH offers Lane the opportunity to take PE and Art. Lane has always excelled in his art classes, helping peers with their projects and earning awards. Were glad to give this option back to Lane.

TVAH has been the best experience weve ever had! The teachers, counselors, and administrative staff have been so helpful. We are eternally grateful TVAH had a place for him. Were so proud of Lane and the progress hes made in virtual school.

Kellie Freeman, Grandparent, Orange

Payback is coming

The chickens will be coming home to roost and changes will be coming, now that we have an attorney general who will investigate the investigators. Our president will be the best POTUS this country has had up to and including Ronald Reagan. I can almost hear the rooster crowing in the chicken house (D.C.)

In addition, this president can tweet like a little birdie. It will be Katie Barr the door. The extremely liberal media (both print and video) will have some crow to eat.

Calvin McCormick, Lumberton

Congress must follow up Mueller

May 18 marked one month since the release of the Mueller report. Lets review what weve learned.

The investigation found no evidence that anyone on the Trump campaign actively cooperated with Russian intelligence operations. They didnt say anything about unaffiliated individuals like Roger Stone, or acquiescence in a foreign attack on American elections. And there is more to come on this score. Mueller referred or handed over 14 criminal investigations to other offices.

The investigation also found 10 instances in which President Trump may have violated the law by trying to obstruct the investigation. While Mueller determined that, since the President cant be indicted at this time, it was improper for the Department of Justice to make a charging decision, he strongly hinted that Congress should pick up where he left off.

Congress has tried to do exactly that by gathering the necessary documents and taking testimony from the attorney general, the former top White House lawyer, and Mueller himself. But the president is simply refusing to cooperate. If the report completely exonerated him, as he claimed, what is the president afraid these people will say?

So what did we learn from the Mueller report? That theres a lot more we need to learn.

Chris Truax, Appellate Attorney, San Diego, Calif., Legal Advisor, Republicans for the Rule of Law
Buyers of new homes being built by a Co Antrim construction company which has gone into administration have been urged to contact the developers' solicitors with any questions.

Dixons Contractors, which is based in Dunloy, went into administration on Thursday, putting the jobs of up to 90 people at risk.

The family company is also thought to have around 150 sub-contractors on its books, which include other firms as well as tradesmen.

It's understood there had been trading difficulties at the business for some time, with staff at up to 15 building sites stood down last week.

It's believed the business had debts of around 5m.

The company was involved in many prestigious housing schemes across Northern Ireland, including Hazelbank Hall in Newtownabbey, where houses have an asking price of around 380,000.

Its website lists eight active housing development sites, including a new one at Park Avenue Heights in sought-after Belmont in east Belfast.

Homes on the sites are listed for sale off-plan - so that they can be reserved by a buyer before they are fully built. Deposits of 500 are usually required to reserve homes before they are built and it's expected that any deposits paid would be refundable.

One figure in the building industry said: "In this case I understand the houses will be completed and no purchasers should lose out."

A spokeswoman for Colin Graham Residential, which was carrying out sales on the Hazelbank Hall development in Newtownabbey, said that while Dixons had been carrying out the building work, another firm was the main developer of the site.

The agency said: "As a prudent developer, the developer of the site has proactively sought advice and is taking steps to ensure as little disruption as possible on site.

"Any purchaser with a specific query should direct that query to the developer's solicitors."

Professor Alastair Adair, deputy vice chancellor at Ulster University and head of its built environment research institute, said a "legal minefield" awaits the administrators who have been appointed to sort out the affairs of the company.

During the economic crash in the Republic, the large numbers of builders going out of business meant that many housing developments were left unfinished, giving rise to so-called 'ghost estates'.

But Prof Adair said that was unlikely to materialise in this case.

"It's a very different market here now compared to what happened back them," he said. "The housing market in Northern Ireland is much healthier, and particularly the market for new homes, so hopefully a new contractor will be able to step in."

But he said there would be concerns for many people involved in the business in the meantime. "This will be having an adverse impact on employees, and they will want to know what their position is going forward, as they will also have their own liabilities," he said.

One insolvency lawyer said that the company's work in progress could be sold on, and in the developments where Dixons was carrying out building work on behalf of a developer, another builder could be brought on site.

Business advisory firm EY - which was appointed as administrators of the company - was not available for comment at the time of going to press.
A major new housing development of nearly 160 homes looks set to go ahead in the Co Down seaside village of Millisle.

Planning officials at Ards and North Down Borough Council have recommended approval for the scheme, which would see 122 houses and 36 apartments built on the waterfront next to Seaview Caravan Park.

But the potential green light for the application is tinged with sadness for the Colwell family, who built the seaside caravan park on the Ards Peninsula 50 years ago.

David Colwell, who launched the bid for the modern housing development almost a decade ago, sadly passed away in January this year. He is survived by his wife Ann and their children Andrew and Alison. It's understood his family intend on carrying on with his vision for the site.

One local person, who did not wish to be named, said the housing scheme would be a fitting legacy to the efforts Mr Colwell put into developing the site from a family farm into a popular tourist destination.

The next stage of the site's development could now see dozens of family homes built in the seaside village.

Ards and North Down's new planning committee will decide on Tuesday whether they will back the recommendation of the council's planning officers to approve the application.

The report reveals that the concept for housing on the site actually dates back to 1967, when the then Down County Council signed off on a dual application to put both housing and caravans on the site. While the Colwell family built the caravan site in the late 1960s, the housing scheme never fully materialised.

The modern plan surrounds one large 16.5 acre site and a second smaller area separated by Seaview Caravan Park. The larger site fronts onto the Donaghadee Road into the village, while the smaller plot would extend from the existing Ashley Park residential development on the Moss Road.

Planning officials concluded: "Given the planning history on the site and the acceptable siting, design and layout it is considered that this proposal should be granted planning permission."

Ards and North Down district is the second most expensive place in Northern Ireland to buy a home, after Lisburn and Castlereagh. The average house in the area was 150,247 in the first quarter of 2019, 0.8% higher than the same period in 2018.
Co Down man Peter* admits his life spiralled out of control due to alcoholism - and doctors told him that if he didn't stop drinking he would die.

Now, after eight years of sobriety, the 57-year-old, whose brother died from alcoholism, says that The Right Key project near his home has been a lifeline and given him back his self worth.

The Right Key uses music, instrument making and crafts to help people in recovery, including those with addiction or mental health issues, to rebuild their lives. The project received a grant of 160,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund in 2016 and its work has been so successful that the project has recently been awarded another 200,000 to help even more people like Peter.

"Putting a cork in the bottle is just the start of recovery; living sober and getting sobriety into your life afterwards is a continuous journey," says Peter, who is from Tullylish.

"When I stopped drinking, all I had in my life was AA meetings. I had lost my life and I felt useless, but The Right Key has turned that around for me. The encouragement and kindness that I get here is brilliant. The music and singing is a great therapy and it's helped me keep my sobriety."

Peter worked for an engineering company, was married and has three sons, but his drinking spiralled out of control and he lost everything and reached breaking point.

"The alcoholism takes you to a place where everything has gone," says Peter. "I left my family and my house, I lived on my own and drank on my own. It caused lots of physical and mental health problems and I was hospitalised quite a few times.

"For me it was years of insecurity and unfounded fears which led me to drink and it just got worse over time.

"I had my first drink at 14-years-old - it made me confident, which I enjoyed the feeling of, so I kept drinking, but I was still in control of it at that stage.

"When I got married I cut back, but it slowly came back into my life when I was in my late 30s and it led to the end of my marriage and made it hard to have a relationship with my kids.

"When I tried to control the drinking I couldn't enjoy it and when I tried to enjoy it, I couldn't control it.

"Living on my own opened up the gates to drinking being a daily habit, and I started waking up every day with the shakes and being sick. I couldn't hold down a job at that point.

"When I was in my late 40s I had hit rock bottom and I ended up in hospital, where the doctors told me there was so much damage to my liver that if I didn't stop drinking I would end up dead. So I went home that night and I got on my hands and knees and I prayed for help. I didn't drink that weekend and on the Monday morning I went to the addiction unit in Armagh for a week and when I came out I joined my local AA."

That was eight years ago and since then Peter has made amends with his sons and he now has a one-year-old granddaughter in his life.

But without a job Peter still lacked structure in his life, so when he heard about The Right Key a year ago he knew it was just what he needed.

"When I first walked into The Right Key I was welcomed with open arms. There are many people here with many different aspects of recovery, like drink and drugs, or mental health, but it all crosses over and we all understand each other, which is a real help." The Right Key is based in Loughbrickland in Co Down and the activities take place in its Recovery Cafe, which is all about reconnecting people to the community, providing support and friendship, and giving them back their confidence and self-esteem.

They run a singing circle, write music and stories, and build instruments including guitars in the workshop. The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund will allow The Right Key to convert part of the group's building into residential accommodation, train members to be peer mentors and increase the outreach work. The project will also be able to pay for a staff member to run more activities for the growing number of people needing support.

Peter's confidence and mental health has improved thanks to the activities. He says: "I used to sing when I was drunk, but I'd never have had the confidence to do it sober. Now I sing here in front of others every week and the buzz I get is better than anything alcohol can give you, it's a natural high and it's fantastic.

"The woodwork activities have been really special for me. My younger brother died four years ago from alcoholism, which was very difficult for me to watch and not be able to help him. But I've been able to make him part of this project by putting a memorial message inside one of the guitars we crafted, so every time it's played his memory is living on.

"My sons are all grown up now and love the thought of me coming up here, they can see a big change in me. I've also carved a wooden rocking horse for my granddaughter from scratch. When I look at it I'm so proud of myself, I can't believe I made it," he adds.

"The confidence and structure this group has given me is second to none. There is a lot of love and support and friendship here - that's what you need when you are in recovery. It's been a lifeline for me and for lots of other people."

Sheila Smyth, who's the driving force behind The Right Key, says: "This funding has been amazing for us. The people who come here have found a renewed joy for life and they have been able to start working, to be creative, and give hope to others.

"We have been able to form a brand new recovery community of people who are moving forward with their lives, and there is no price you can put on that."

*Peter does not wish to use his surname
Just a few miles from Bushmills and close to major attractions including the Giant's Causeway, Ballylough House, which has been run as a bed and breakfast since 2017, is a perfect place to base a holiday. Although as I discovered when I visited the owners, David and June Traill, Ballylough is very much a destination in its own right.

Set well back from the main Castlecat Road, the two-storey, five-bay Georgian property boasts 150 acres of scenic walkways, ancient woodland and a beautiful walled garden.

But there's more to Ballylough than picturesque views and warm hospitality. From the little bridge that straddles St Columb's Rill on the main approach to the house to the medieval castle at the back of the property, the place is steeped in history. Little is known about the site's earliest occupants but in 1789 the estate was purchased by the Traill family.

Keen to know more, I arrived at the house, where David and June told me about the people - as well as the ghosts - that have made Ballylough their home.

Seated in the drawing room, we're joined by friend of the family and event organiser Brian Moore. Introductions out of the way, June pours coffee while David settles into the role of storyteller.

"If we go right back in Ballylough's timeline, then evidence suggests it was probably occupied during the Iron Age," he says. "There's a crannog and a rath on site, and at the back of our lawn there's the ruin of a castle that we think was built by the Savages for the MacQuillans. Around 10 years ago, when a small archaeology team from Queen's University and the Ulster University at Coleraine came up to do a dig, they found evidence of an even older castle underneath the existing one. We think that one dates to around 1275. We don't have all the details but it's a very exciting discovery."

With a captive audience, he moves on to the tale of two clans.

"The MacQuillans built Dunluce Castle around the 15th century before the Macdonalds, aka Lords of the Isles, came riding in from the north and pushed them all the way back here to Ballylough," David adds. "Of course, back then, feudal wars were common and, over the years, the MacQuillans and Macdonalds continued to raid each other, stealing cattle and taking people as slaves. Indeed, there is a story that tells how, during an attack, the MacQuillans captured one of the high born MacDonald women and carried her off.

"Apparently, she developed a case of Stockholm Syndrome and fell in love with her captor, a MacQuillan prince.

"It seems that romance blossomed, they decided to marry and a truce was called between the two clans. Sadly there is no happy ever after. The tale ends with a massacre when, during the wedding feast, the Macdonalds rose up and put everyone to the sword. Apparently, the bride's ghost, known as the Grey Lady, can still be seen wandering the grounds at Ballylough."

Is she a friendly ghost?

"Yes, the Grey Lady is well known round here," June chips in. "But it is said that if you see her, it's a premonition that someone close to you is going to die."

Is there anything positive about a premonition of impending death?

"There's nothing negative about a sighting of the Grey Lady," June assures me. "She appears only to those whose nearest and dearest is very ill and expected to die. I think, in those circumstances, it really is quite a positive thing to know the end is near and to have a little time to prepare and say goodbye."

While I'm pondering this, David throws not one but another two spectres into the mix.

"We have another ghost called Mae Rae," he says. "Her name literally translates to 'May with the red hair' and, according to legend, she was a local woman who looked after the children here. Apparently Mae and her charges were killed during an attack and she's been roaming around ever since, searching for her husband. Our third ghost in residence is thought to have been a servant who was murdered in the tunnels leading from Ballylough to Dunluce Castle. Not to worry, though, they're all benign and very friendly."

The ghostly theme laid to rest, conversation turns to the Traill family history. Mentioned in records as far back as the 11th century, there's no shortage of stories to share. David settles for one of his favourites.

"The one that interests me begins in Normandy where two brothers from a tiny village go off to fight in the Battle of Hastings and, sadly, one is killed," he reveals.

"The Traills then turn up in Woodford, just outside Bedford where, three generations later, the Black Death arrives and the family up sticks and move to Blebo in Scotland.

"They settle, intermarry with the Bruces and become very involved with politics and the church. Then we find another two brothers involved in battle. This time it's the Civil War (1642-1651) and the Rev Robert Traill, Chaplain to the Royalist Army, is on the opposite side to his brother, James, who was one of Cromwell's two main commanders. The reverend, wounded at the battle of Edge Hill, ends up before Cromwell and is eventually sentenced to death.

"Fortunately, his brother intervened and Robert, saved from the chopping block, is banished to Holland. He was allowed to return when Charles II came to the throne.

"However, the reverend didn't like how the king ran his court or the country and before long was charged with treason and, once again banished to Holland. Eventually, he was able to come home to Edinburgh where he died in 1676.

"Just two generations later, in 1789, the Venerable Anthony Traill came over to Northern Ireland where he and his wife Agnes bought Ballylough House from the Stewarts, who were the land agents acting for the Macdonalds. The Traills have been here been here ever since."

Among the more fascinating facts about the family is its link to royalty. Records cite John Traill, Laird of Blebo, and his wife Agnes Bruce as the great-grandparents (12 times removed) of the late Princess Diana.

Nearer home, Colonel William Traill won a place in Northern Ireland's hall of fame when he pioneered the world's first commercially run hydro-electric powered tram system. Operating between Portrush and the Giant's Causeway, the line was opened in 1883 by a character of note - the 5th Earl Spencer, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Fast forwarding a few generations, I ask David about his personal connection with Ballylough.

"I was actually born in Canada and lived there until I was around three," he explains. "My father, Richard, who was the younger son in the family and not expected to inherit this place, went to live in Vancouver. His older brother, my uncle Bill, had suffered from TB as a child and spent 18 months in Forster Green Hospital in Belfast. He later moved to Kenya where the climate is warmer and a lot kinder. He did return to Ballylough but only for a year. In the end, he bought his family tickets to New Zealand and never returned. My granny wrote to my father and told him he'd better come back and run the place, which is what he did."

What was it like growing up at Ballylough?

"Looking back, it was a fantastic childhood, we had beautiful surroundings with a lot of space to play in," David recalls.

"I remember my granny being a very Victorian kind of lady. Initially, when my parents arrived, there was just me, although my mother was expecting my brother at the time. The three of us lived in the west wing while granny had the rest of the house to herself. By the time my two brothers and twin sisters arrived, living arrangements had changed. Granny acquiesced and agreed to give us the house while she lived in the west wing."

Like most of his peers, David was sent to boarding school. The experience has left him with a curious sense of identity.

"I was sent first to primary school in Kilkeel then on to St Columba's in Dublin," he says. "I like to describe my background this way. I learned my Irish history in the north and I learned my Irish history in the south. That makes me a well-balanced Irishman - I have a chip on both shoulders!

"Seriously though, boarding school was a great experience. The friendships forged at school have lasted a lifetime."

After graduating from the Ulster University at Coleraine, David carved a niche in the world of finance, living in Cyprus and working for Sun Alliance.

Apart from the occasional comment, June has been happy to let David take the lead - but now it's her turn in the spotlight.

"My father was South African," she reveals. "I was born in Kenya and during my early years our family lived on a farm there, known as the Rooken-Smith farm. Later, after my parents divorced, my mother remarried an Irishman, Michael Wright, and in 1965 we went to live on a farm near Crossmaglen."

The more reserved of the couple, June's tone is softer but as a storyteller she and David are equally entertaining.

"My mother and stepfather both had children so there's eight of us altogether," she says. "As you can imagine, with that many siblings, there's a lot of names to get through. I tend to simplify things by referring to us as 'his, hers, theirs and ours'. I think that covers everyone."

Northern Ireland's troubled past has tainted many childhood memories but June's recollections are mainly positive.

"Yes, of course we had the daily shelling, rockets, Army on the streets, etc," she says. "On one occasion our school was blown up and I have vivid memories of us kids bawling our eyes out, feeling very upset.

"But looking back, I have many fond memories of growing up in Crossmaglen.

"I was around nine at the time when our school was bombed. Afterwards, my sister Sarah and I were sent to boarding school in England while my brother and another sister continued at St Joseph's in Crossmaglen."

Following the death of their grandfather, James Wright, June and her sister returned from England and were sent to boarding school in Dublin. Her parents moved from Crossmaglen to the Wrights family home at Gilford Castle, Craigavon, in 1979.

I really wanted to be an architect, June tells me. But to get the necessary A-levels, it was quicker to come home to Northern Ireland. Then my aunt Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer so I decided to go over to Kent where they lived and help look after her and her family. At the time, her son James was just four years old and her daughter Rachel was eight. It was a difficult situation for everyone. Today, James works in logistics and Rachel is head teacher in a primary school.

Sadly Junes aunt passed away, leaving her in need of some emotional space.

After my aunt passed, I felt the need to get away, she remembers. I just wanted to travel for a while and so I rang the QE2 company and asked which were the best jobs on their cruise ship. They told me that beauticians were always in demand and so I took a beauty therapy course and got the job. I was in England at the time and planning a trip home when Davids parents rang and asked if Id give him a lift.

David adds: The finance industry is very stressful and I always looked forward to coming back to Ballylough for some peace and quiet.

The two families had become good friends after Junes family moved to Northern Ireland, although she didnt know David very well at that stage. And they didnt realise it at the time but that event was to change the course of both their lives  although, as June explains, she wasnt looking forward to sharing a long car journey with an old man.

I agreed to pick David up but I was dreading it! she admits. I remember ringing my mum and asking her what on earth I could talk to him about! Its funny now but back then I was just 21 and a six-year age gap seemed huge! David was only 27 but, from my perspective, he was an old man although, as it turned out, I neednt have worried. He was excellent company, we talked the whole time and he was very amusing.

Regardless of how scintillating his conversation, it wasnt enough to trigger any romantic interest. Fortunately, however, David had a special party trick that worked wonders.

Our familys fancy dress parties were famous, June recalls. But when my sister invited David along, she insisted that, as I knew him, I should come too. I hadnt wanted to go but in the end I was glad I did because as soon as I saw him drink whisky from a bottle between his feet, I was hooked!

The couple were married at Gilford Castle, in 1988... and June never did take the job on the QE2. She and David have four sons, Shane, who is now 29, Paddy (27), Bruce (25) and Henry (22)  Ballylough B&Bs bedrooms are named after the boys.

I realised that I didnt want to work in the beauty industry after all, she says. Of course, I still wanted to be an architect but that avenue was closed to me so I ended up working as an office manager for Reid computing company.

Later, David and I went to live in Cyprus which is an amazing place. I loved living there, it is so beautiful, very family orientated. In fact two of our sons, Shane and Paddy, were born in Cyprus. Our third son, Bruce, was born in Gibraltar.

You know, life was very different for new mothers back then. For a start, there was no such thing as maternity leave. I had Bruce on the Thursday and was back in the office on Friday afternoon. Our youngest son, Henry, is our little Irish one, he was born in Craigavon. Fortunately, my mother was around to help out.

What brought the family back to Northern Ireland?

The education! they say in unison.

June says: We were both offered jobs in finance in London but I didnt want to raise our children there. We came home to Gilford Castle in 1994 and moved to a small cottage here at Ballylough four years later. Then, in 1999, we moved into Ballylough House.

June goes onto to explain how, over the years, change has also come to Ballylough.

A lot of the land has gone, there is no farming here so for us to make the property wash its face or bring in an income, we have to come up with new business ideas.

So in keeping with our charity, Ballylough Living History Trust, we run whats known as the Battle of the Boar.

Brian steps in to shed some light on the event. Were not celebrating an actual battle, he smiles. Its just a name. But anyone with an interest in military history would appreciate the opportunity to see the various uniforms and the different methods of combat that have evolved through time.

Having said that, the Battle of the Boar is so much more. Its a chance to see the various life styles of a bygone era. For example, we have a Viking village where people can learn how to make belts and arrows or the Bronze Age where a very talented woman demonstrates bronze age pottery. Then theres the Normans who show off their garments. As well as informative, the Battle of the Boar event is vibrant, colourful and the music is fantastic!

June isnt the only one in her family to take an interest in pageants and the creative arts.

My nan, Nelly Roberts, used to run pageants in England, employing up to 5000 actors at a time, she says. My mother, Christine, is a talented artist and dress designer. At one time, she made costumes for the London Ballet.

So, growing up, I was surrounded by creativity. My nan has quite a fascinating story. She was well known in archaeological society and, indeed, was part of the team who discovered the Roman Baths! Whenever I visited, she took me to interesting places such as Hastings and told me fascinating stories of historical re-enactments. Her brother, Frank Haines, started up the Barn Owls, one of the original music groups to entertain the troops, so they have quite an incredible story in their own right.

What does June hope historical re-enactments will do for Ballylough?

Its one of our educational strands, she says. I believe that people learn history through experience rather than books. We try to tell the story of the MacQuillans and the Macdonalds through re-enactment.

As well as preserving the heritage at Ballylough, June is passionate about improving the lives of individuals and the community.

Im very interested in a thing called social prescription. For example, one project is to take therapies, such as counselling, outdoors. We want to use nature to promote healing and a sense of wellbeing.

Equally, we want our children to associate going outdoors with feeling good. Instead of a hassle, things like putting on hats and coats can be linked to the idea of having fun. I like to think of it as re-wilding our children. Im very excited to have a scout group coming here to spend a few nights learning things like bush craft. Our own boys all love coming home to Ballylough where they can relax and unwind.

How do David and June envisage the future at Ballylough?

Wed love to have the opportunity to open a heritage site, June says. Wed use it as an educational and wellbeing facility. Thats what wed really love for Ballylough. Its a very special place, the people in the community have been wonderful to us and Id love others to enjoy it too.

David nods in agreement.

We could shut the gates and keep it as a private home. But you know what? How often do you get an asset like this? Its a place that should be shared.

For information about bookings and events at Ballylough House, visit ballylough.co.uk, and to find out about bed and breakfast breaks, visit ballyloughbnb.co.uk
Rev Dr David Latimer (68) is minister of First Derry Presbyterian Church and Monreagh in Co Donegal.

Q. Can you tell us something about your background?

A. I was born in Dromore, Co Down, 68 years ago. My father, Cyril, was a coachbuilder with the Belfast Corporation Transport Department. My mother Margaret died only last year, aged 96. They introduced me to the Christian faith and encouraged me to take school seriously. My mother's constant advice was. "A little science is easily carried."

I attended Dromore Primary School and Banbridge Technical College and, after O-levels, I worked for the Northern Ireland Electricity Board. Later, I graduated with an economics degree from Queen's University Belfast and, in 1983, I was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. My first charge was in Glascar and Donaghmore in Co Down, before moving to Derry in 1988.

Soon after ordination, I became part-time chaplain with 204 (North Irish) Field Hospital RAMC and served until 2015. In the second half of 2008, I served with the unit in Afghanistan, where I was also a hospital chaplain in Camp Bastion.

My wife, Margaret, is a former primary school teacher and we have three daughters, Joanne and Susannah, who live in London, and Jessica, who is in Aberdeenshire. Our five grandchildren are Sean, Eve, Grace, Seth and Lily. My married sister, Catherine, lives in Portadown.

Q. How and when did you come to faith?

A. It was in a mission hall in Dromore, on the Sunday night before Christmas in 1960. There were no lights flashing, or voices speaking. In fact, nothing sensational happened, which maybe suggests the whole thing was a great big anti-climax. The reality is I invited Christ into my life.

Since their arrival into Ulster, Presbyterians have prioritised meeting together weekly to sing psalms, say prayers and listen to sermons. Worshipping on Sundays helps clear my head, recalibrate my thinking and equip me for another week. My faith, however, is not restricted to putting a hat on at 11.30am on Sundays and removing it an hour later. To be effective, faith has to run through my life like writing in a stick of rock, defining who I am and informing what I do.

Q. Have you ever had a crisis of faith, or a gnawing doubt about your faith?

A. I cannot pinpoint a period of crisis, but I have not been immune from bouts of doubts. Choosing to publicly acknowledge these with my congregations has been well-received. Martin Luther King once said: "We may have arrived in different ships, but we're in the same boat now." Being a Christian minister provides me with no special protection, nor does it prevent me from having more questions than answers.

Q. Have you ever been angry with God? And, if so, why?

A. Sitting alongside one of my congregation, who'd just been told he had cancer, I felt as if I'd been struck dumb. This guy, who had just turned 60, had never missed a day from his work. An inoperable cancer diagnosis seemed so unfair. I struggled to understand what God was about. I left that family home with a heavy heart and none too pleased with God.

Q. Do you ever get criticised for your faith? And are you able to live with that criticism?

A. My decision to reach out to Martin McGuinness attracted considerable criticism. Letters, emails and phone calls, which did not disguise people's dislike for my friendship with him. Some even suggested I should quit the ministry. As far as I can ascertain from the Bible, our mission, as followers of Jesus Christ, is to let the walls that divide us crumble and the barriers that separate us fall.

Jesus excluded no one and He held nothing back. He built bridges among people, which is precisely what I did reaching out to Martin. My relationship with Martin, from the outset, was punctuated by both adulation and disapproval. The comments that wound, however, are those from people claiming to be Christian. Harsh, hurtful, judgmental and unforgiving emails, letters, telephone calls and text messages, from people professing to love God, never cease to shock and sadden me.

Notwithstanding that, the lovely lesson flowing from Calvary powerfully reassures me that only goodness can drive out evil and only love can conquer hate. This supplies wind for my sail to keep on going on.

Very soon into my relationship with Martin, I noticed that he never took notes, but never forgot to deliver on his promises. No matter how trivial the issue, there was always an answer transmitted by him, or one of his staff. I found this remarkable and sufficient to persuade me that Martin was a man whose word was good and who could be trusted completely. Our relationship and other aspects of my life were mentioned in my book, A Leap of Faith, which was published last year.

Q. Are you ever ashamed of your own Church, or denomination?

A. I am disappointed by decisions taken by my Church at last June's General Assembly. Deciding to break ceremonial links with the Church of Scotland and deny full Church membership to gay and lesbian Presbyterians and baptism for their children, I found disturbing.

"In Christ, there is no east or west, in Him, no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole, wide world."

The General Assembly's debate last year on same-sex couples and the Sacrament was the ugliest thing in the world. My pastoral heart wants to embrace the LGBT community.

Q. Are you afraid to die? Or can you look beyond death?

A. As an ordained minister, every funeral I attend is a stark reminder that I will not be around forever. While I shrink from thinking about how my exit from Planet Earth might come about, I am not frightened by the inescapable fact that, one day, I will die and that's because I believe life continues on the far side of the grave. As for hell, my emphasis in preaching is to highlight how no one should ever conclude they are beyond the pale, "for the love of God is broader than the measure of the mind and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind".

Q. Do you believe in a resurrection?

A. While I believe in resurrection, a topic that has long mystified people, I find it helpful to visualise my eyes finally closing on this side of the grave and opening instantly on the other side, where life will continue in the nearer presence of Christ. The English cleric Charles Kingsley helpfully says: "It is not darkness you are going to, for God is light; it is not lonely, for Christ is with you; it is not unknown country, for Christ is there."

Q. What do you think about people of other denominations, or faiths?

A. I have the u tmost respect for people of different denominations and other faiths. Stepping into the sacred space of "the other", as I have often done, has invariably been an enriching experience.

Regardless of who we are, where we live, or how we pray, we are all members of the same human family, more alike than different. In our badly divided society, I believe it is time for us to stand together, to work and pray together and to hold only love, only peace in our hearts for one another.

Q. Do you think the Churches in Northern Ireland are fulfilling their mission?

A. The number of people sitting in church pews is falling and none of us has a mix-and-stir formula to reverse this trend. Maybe it's to do with most people affording holidays in the sun, owning their home and driving their own car. It seems like the Church has lost its appeal and I believe it has, until something happens and suddenly people's assessment of the Church alters.

Clearly, there's something about churches that society finds comforting whenever life bends and buckles.

As for religion in Northern Ireland helping, or hindering, perhaps Jonathan Swift's perceptive commentary is appropriate when he said: "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."

Q. What is your favourite film, book and music?

A. A favourite film would have to be Schindler's List, favourite book would be Across That Bridge by Congressman John Lewis and favourite music Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

Q. Have you any major regrets?

A. My main regret is not reaching out sooner to Martin McGuinness.
Party issues: Clare Short claims the real problem is not anti-Semitism, but the stretching of its definition to include all criticism of Israel

Clare Short is helping to spread a myth that stops the Labour Party from getting to grips with anti-Semitism.

The former Labour Cabinet minister claimed on Newsnight on Tuesday that the real problem was not anti-Semitism, but the stretching of the definition of anti-Semitism to include all "criticism of Israel".

David Hirsh, author of Contemporary Left Anti-Semitism, coined the term "the Livingstone Formulation" to sum up what is going on when someone spreads the "you can't criticise Israel" myth. He named it after Ken Livingstone, who once said: "The accusation of anti-Semitism has been used against anyone who is critical of the policies of the Israeli government."

Hirsh pointed out that this formulation is, first of all, flatly untrue. The party members complaining about anti-Semitism in Labour today themselves usually have a record stretching back decades of public criticism of many aspects of Israeli government policy.

More than that, the formulation is poisonous, because, for Hirsh, it involves "refusing to engage with an accusation of anti-Semitism", instead making "an indignant counter-accusation, that the accuser is taking part in a conspiracy to silence political speech".

And it reduces all discourse about Israel, Hirsh observes, some of which may, indeed, be demonisation of Israel, or actual anti-Semitism, "into the legitimate category of 'criticism'".

Worst of all, the formulation involves a conspiracy theory: the idea that "those who raise the issue of anti-Semitism are doing so as part of a common secret plan to silence such 'criticism'". But it's all a big lie.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, adopted under pressure by the Labour Party leadership in 2018, says "criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic". None of the most frequently heard criticisms of current Israeli government policy fall foul of the IHRA definition. To criticise Israel's occupation of the West Bank, call for its immediate withdrawal and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is not anti-Semitic. Nor is criticism of the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Not a single person has been suspended, or expelled, from the Labour Party for making these kind of sharp criticisms of Israel. And nor should they be.

What is causing a crisis in the party is not "criticism of Israel", but hate-filled demonisation and dehumanisation that echoes classic anti-Semitism.

We have seen a local party vote down a resolution condemning the Pittsburgh Synagogue massacre, because it had heard enough of "anti-Semitism this, anti-Semitism that"; Jewish Labour councillors have been compared to Goebbels and Jewish Labour MPs have been called "the enemy within".

Details of these and over 100 other cases of anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism-denial and victim-blaming in the party can be found in the 2019 Fathom report Institutionally Anti-Semitic: Contemporary Left Anti-Semitism and the Crisis in the British Labour Party.

The hour is late. Unless the "you can't criticise Israel" myth is seen for what it is, a form of anti-Semitism denial, the party may be finished.

The party is now "institutionally anti-Semitic" in exactly the sense given that term in the Macpherson Report: guilty of a "collective failure... to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin".

It has failed to understand contemporary anti-Semitism, failed to prevent the party becoming host to anti-Semitism, failed to develop "appropriate and professional" processes to deal with anti-Semitism, or safeguard members, and failed utterly to eradicate the party's culture of anti-Semitism denial and victim-blaming.

Whatever her intentions, Clare Short has reinforced that culture with her comments.

Prof Alan Johnson is a Labour Party member and editor of the online journal Fathom, which encourages a deeper understanding of Israel
Almost 24,000 pupils will learn today which post-primary school they will be attending this autumn, as letters from the Education Authority drop onto doormats across Northern Ireland

Almost 24,000 pupils will learn today which post-primary school they will be attending this autumn, as letters from the Education Authority drop onto doormats across Northern Ireland.

More than 99% of pupils have been allocated a place at a post primary school, with 86% receiving their first choice.

Just over 200 pupils have not yet been allocated a post-primary place.

There were 1,267 more pupils taking the test in 2019 than the previous year.

Each year there are unplaced children at this stage, the Education Authority said, adding that along with the Department for Education it would continue to work with parents and schools in the coming weeks to ensure successful placement for every child.

The Education Authority has put a telephone helpline in place for parents, in case they do not receive a letter or their child has not been placed in a school.

The helpline telephone number is 028 9598 5595, and it will be open today from noon to 5pm.

It will reopen on Monday at 9am.
A decision to cut teaching hours at a Co Antrim school shows the "desperate plight" faced in education funding, an MLA has said.

East Antrim Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson made the comments after the principal at Larne Grammar said he was forced to cut the school day by 10 minutes.

It is also cutting teaching staff by a further 1.4 full-time equivalent positions, and will be unable to replace its vice-principal who is retiring at the end of the year.

Head teacher Jonathan Wylie hit out at our "failing politicians", saying schools had suffered budget cuts of 10% in real terms since 2012.

Mr Dickson (right) said: "It's a very serious situation and I'm aware that a number of primary schools have had to do the same.

"I think it's indicative of the desperate plight of school budgets. I know only too well about it in East Antrim from meetings with principals."

He said many found themselves in a "critical situation".

"This is the time of year headteachers need to review their staffing. So I have every sympathy with Larne Grammar School, but the reality is we need an education minister back to make strategic decisions on the budget."

He said the Stormont impasse made it harder to scrutinise decisions taken by the Education Authority.

In a statement released to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Wylie said the only way to manage cuts and maintain educational standards was to cut staff.

"Individual schools have been attempting to manage this significant cut, whilst at the same time maintaining the quality of educational provision on offer to their pupils. This has resulted in schools being forced to reduce staffing levels, both teaching and support, cut back on spending on resources and facilities maintenance and extra-curricular provision," he said.

"Many of these cuts have been absorbed by schools and school staff with the result that they have not been noticed by parents and the wider community."

Mr Wylie said boards of governors were now being faced with "unpalatable choices".

"School leaders are angry and frustrated that they are being placed in this position due to the failure of politicians and, through them, the Department of Education to ensure appropriate levels of funding for schools in Northern Ireland," he said.

He added that a range of options had been considered, but reducing class times to cut 10 minutes from the school day from September would have least impact.

"The Governors and staff of the school remain steadfast in their commitment and determination to ensure that the pupils of Larne Grammar School receive the best possible educational experience, and have access to a broad and balanced curriculum, in spite of the many external pressures to which schools are being subjected," he added.

One parent of a pupil at the school told the Nolan Show yesterday she did not blame the principal. "But what I was interested to find out, and my point in contacting the show, is other schools in wealthy areas charge a much higher voluntary fee, and I am wondering, are schools that can draw on parental financial support... are they able to shelter themselves from the cuts?"

The Department of Education had not responded to a request for comment by the time of going to press.
This is the theatre director who groomed and sexually abused a young boy.

Jonathan Conaghan (41) had been due to be sentenced by a judge at Antrim Crown Court yesterday.

However, the hearing was adjourned after it emerged that two reports, one from probation and one from a doctor, were not ready in time.

Earlier this month, Conaghan, whose address is not known, pleaded guilty to seven sex offences committed against the boy on dates between November 30, 2015 and June 1 last year.

Conaghan, who at one stage was the resident artistic director for a Co Down theatre company, admitted two counts of sexually assaulting a boy under 13, inciting the victim to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with the child "for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification" and meeting a child following sexual grooming.

Two counts of voyeurism disclose that "for the purpose of sexual gratification, he observed (the victim) doing a private act knowing that the other person did not consent to being observed for your sexual gratification".

In court yesterday, prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher said that while Conaghan had already been interviewed by a probation officer, they needed a further interview before their report could be compiled, adding that the Probation Board had asked for a two-week adjournment to facilitate that.

The defence however, continued the lawyer, were asking for three weeks to allow them time to obtain and serve a doctor's report.

Ms Gallagher told Judge Kevin Finnegan QC there had been a "basis of facts" document already lodged with the court and she would also be lodging a victim impact statement written by the boy's mum.

Adjourning the sentencing to June 24, Judge Finnegan remanded Conaghan back into custody.

He told Conaghan that although "I'm sure you're anxious to get it over and done with... I cannot sentence without these reports".

The judge added, however, that "I do not want this case to go beyond the summer, not just for Mr Conaghan's benefit but also for the mother who is taking a close interest in the case".
Two chief constables are to appear before Northern Ireland's Policing Board after the High Court ordered confidential material be returned to journalists.

Millions of journalistic documents and digital files seized when Durham police raided the homes and offices of documentary film-makers in Belfast last August with support from the PSNI will now be returned.

Durham Constabulary Chief Constable Mike Barton will accompany PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton at next Thursday's Policing Board meeting.

A spokesperson for the board said yesterday's ruling "raises some serious questions around the circumstances and handling of this investigation".

"This matter has been the subject of scrutiny by the board with a series of questions put to the chief constable on it," they said.

"Following today's court ruling, the Chief Constable of the PSNI has been asked to report to the board on its implications and he will be accompanied by the Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary."

SDLP Policing Board member Dolores Kelly MLA said that journalistic freedom should not be impeded by the PSNI.

She said: "The comments from the Lord Chief Justice today are a welcome vindication of the entirely appropriate actions taken by Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey to protect their sources.

"They behaved in an ethical and professional manner.

"It is a matter of profound regret that the PSNI has appeared to zealously pursue these journalists for simply doing their job. Shining a light on one of the most heinous acts of our past is a public service that should be lauded, not branded as criminality. I have raised this case at the Policing Board and directly with the chief constable. I will be doing so again.

"There needs to be a serious rethink about the approach to this matter and I hope the PSNI will learn very quickly."

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland programme director, said that if Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey had been unsuccessful in court "then every reporter in receipt of leaked official documents would have had to live in fear of dawn raids by the police and potential prosecution under the Official Secrets Act".

He said police had "acted outrageously" and the two police forces involved "have emerged with their reputation tarnished, and senior officers in Durham and in Belfast now have serious questions to answer".

"It is unacceptable that the bereaved families of Loughinisland are today not an inch closer to justice than 25 years ago, when the police promised they would leave 'no stone unturned' in the pursuit of the killers," he said.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it was "a victory for Trevor and Barry, for the NUJ and for press freedom".

"The High Court has affirmed the right of journalists to protect confidential sources of information and provided clear and unambiguous directions for the appropriate manner in which the PSNI and the courts should behave in seeking to access journalistic material," said Seamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary.

"There can be no short cuts when it comes to fundamental principles of human rights."

"The attitude of the PSNI and Durham Constabulary has been profoundly disappointing and it is evident that their mission has been to frustrate at every turn the work of the two journalists.

"In a democratic society trust in the police is vital. That trust was shattered by the actions of the PSNI and Durham Constabulary.

"Today's ruling by the High Court sets the standard for future behaviour and I hope that the incoming chief constable pays attention to the judgment.

"He will also have to address a culture of suspicion of and aggression towards reporters and photographers by elements within the PSNI."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said it was "an important legal victory".

"The message from this case is clear. Journalists have a right to stick to the code of conduct and NUJ members have a right to affirm that right when confronted with an application for a search warrant," he said.

"This has been a time of great stress for Trevor, Barry, their families, friends and work colleagues. At this time we think also of the Loughinisland families, who have shown such grace and dignity at all times and whose determination to seek the truth has been a source of inspiration."

Alliance Party deputy leader Stephen Farry MLA welcomed the judgment.

He said: "The arrests and detentions of Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney led to serious public interest issues relating to freedom of the press and how journalists serve the community.

"Ultimately, the priority must be to seek justice for the loved ones of those killed in Loughinisland, as well as addressing the complex needs of all other victims in our society."

Loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson, who has also been involved in a legal case about the seizure of journalistic material, said it was "the right decision".
Deirdre Connolly is one of 557 former village postmasters taking action against the Post Office

A former Post Office manager from Co Tyrone who said she was wrongly forced to pay back 16,000 to her ex-employer has welcomed progress in a class action suit.

Deirdre Connolly (49) is one of 557 former village postmasters accused of stealing money who are fighting a court battle with the state-owned company.

She said she is now hopeful the group will be vindicated in the eyes of the law.

The workers claim a bug in a computer system caused accounting errors and left them obliged to balance the books with their own money, which the Post Office denies.

Yesterday it was reported that the Post Office has since spent 18m fighting - and losing - the case so far.

This includes a failed attempt to get trial judge Mr Justice Fraser recused from the case.

The Post Office said: "We are continuing to defend this complex litigation which is currently scheduled until March next year.

"We are not commenting in detail on live litigation outside of public court hearings."

Mrs Connolly told the Belfast Telegraph: "The Post Office is appealing (their losses in the case so far) and they're going to keep appealing it to the bitter end.

"But there's 557 of us in the group libel action and we're involved in every step of the way."

She said the ordeal has had a devastating effect on her health and family life.

"For me personally, what's happened has affected my whole family completely. My son tried to commit suicide and there were other challenges.

"To live in a rural area and to be accused of that is awful, the stigma sticks with you.

"That's why I'm involved in this legal action to try and clear my name. I feel very positive so far about the trial."

She said that family members had helped her to pay the 16,000 sum.

"You had to pay it back because as postmaster the buck stops with you, or so you're told," she said. "When you're put in a situation like that you'll do anything to pay the money back that they say was taken.

"Four different people had to help us out to get the money."

"Getting that money back is neither here nor there, it's about getting your reputation fixed.

"I also suffered from epilepsy because of the whole stress of it. It put pressure on my marriage and my whole family life completely changed."

Since she first spoke out about her experience last September, she also claimed that at least eight other Post Office workers had told her of similar experiences.

"They're putting money into their post offices, but because of the stigma, they will not come forward. There's no way to describe what they've put me and others through," she said.
Belfast City Council should make "alternative arrangements" if it cannot look after a stately home in its most famous park, a descendant of the philanthropist who gifted the estate to the public has said.

Andrew Dixon (58) said the family has watched on in horror as the derelict house in the grounds of Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park in south Belfast has gradually decayed since it was handed over to the council by his great, great aunt in 1959.

Discussions took place at Belfast City Council several years ago on the future of Wilmont House during which it was suggested the Dixon family should be contacted to discuss its future - but City Hall has yet to get in touch.

In the meantime, windows have been broken and boarded up at the house, which dates back to 1859, and Mr Dixon fears it will go the same way as Cairndhu House in Larne, another property gifted by the Dixon family, which lies in ruins.

"I don't want to be disrespectful or antagonistic, but if, as I understand, the council intimated several years ago that they would like to approach the family to discuss the future of the property, then we're not too hard to find," he said.

"The house and estate was gifted to Belfast and if they can no longer look after it then we should talk.

"We have had no contact about Wilmont House and we would hate to see it fall into such a worse state of disrepair.

"I believe when the lands and properties were gifted to Belfast there were understandings about how the property was to be used.

"If the council now feel they can no longer uphold those understandings, perhaps they need to press on with alternative arrangements.

"They have said they would like to talk to the family. I have plenty of ideas on how it could be used and surely that's more preferable than letting it go to ruin. I and my father Robin Dixon, Baron Glentoran, have already watched how another of the properties at Cairndhu in Larne has bee n handled and I would hate to see Wilmont House go the same way," he said.

"Sadly what we look at now bears little resemblance to what the house was in its heyday. It's boarded up, windows are broken, and it stands in a place of such beauty that it's disappointing to see all the history of the house, but I'm available to talk."

The estate covering more than 128 acres is home to Belfast's famous International Rose Garden. It was donated to the people of Belfast by Lady Dixon in 1959, in memory of her late businessman husband, Sir Thomas, a former Lord Lieutenant of Belfast.

Wilmont House dates back to 1859 and during the Second World War was the headquarters of the US army in Northern Ireland. One of its most celebrated visitors was Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the famous Antarctic explorer, during his stay in Belfast in 1904.

It has also served as a nursing home, as a parks office for the council and the headquarters of the Belfast marathon.

In 2013, a proposal for the refurbishment of the property over a seven-year period was rejected.

A Belfast City Council spokeswoman said: "We're currently preparing an invitation for expressions of interest to go to the market to seek a suitably qualified developer for the restoration and regeneration of Wilmont House, a listed Grade B1 building in Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, to bring it into a new use.

"As part of this, we're pursuing efforts to get in touch and engage with the beneficiaries of the will of Lady Dixon."
A Co Armagh father and son yesterday narrowly avoided prison over their role in a 7m gaming machines racket.

John Bailie (66), of Francis Street and his son Anthony Bailie (41), of Boconnell Street, both Lurgan, were each handed eight month prison sentences, suspended for a year.

The pair pleaded guilty to a series of charges under the NI Betting and Gaming Lottery Amusements Order 1985.

John Bailie further admitted possession of criminal property totalling 570,438 as a result of the racket, which spanned a five-year period.

Belfast Crown Court heard that in January 2015 police carried out co-ordinated raids on three amusement arcades in the Greater Belfast area owned by John Bailie's company Corcrain Enterprises Ltd, which held council-issued permits for the rented premises.

Prosecution counsel David McDowell QC said the premises searched were 'Winners 777' based at Shaftsbury Square and Lisburn Road in Belfast and at Chapel Hill in Lisburn.

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Judge Geoffrey Miller QC heard that during the Belfast searches, police were accompanied by officials from the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC), who inspected the machines on the premises.

Mr McDowell said that under the amusement permits issued, machines were only allowed to accept stakes of 30 pence with a maximum payout of 25.

However, when the machines were played at the Belfast arcades, BGLC officials discovered that payouts were "in excess of the permitted amounts".

In total, the prosecutor said police recovered 126,000 in cash from three premises along with computers which recorded payouts to players of up to 3,500.

He told the judge: "You can see from the amounts of money that were involved they were operating as an illicit casino."

The court was told that at the Chapel Hill premises PSNI officers were not accompanied by BGLC officials and instead video recorded police officers playing the machines which paid out in excess of the 25 permitted limit.

Mr McDowell said that during the search at Shaftsbury Square, a female employee told police her "boss" was Anthony Bailie.

He later came to the premises and provided police with keys to the 30 machines on the premises and after arrest and caution, he replied: "I wish to inform police that all arcades across Northern Ireland operate the same machines."

Police also arrested John Bailie at his Francis Street home and "96,000 was seized from various locations and areas of the house".

The prosecutor said that between 2009 and 2015, a total of 7m had flowed through the accounts of Corcrain Enterprises Ltd from the illicit racket.

Police investigators discovered that almost 327,000 had been transferred out of the company accounts of John Bailie and his wife Anne, who was also charged over the scam but died in March 2018 from cancer.

The court heard that confiscation proceedings were now underway to recover 570,749 from the company and John Bailie.

The prosecution counsel said John Bailie had a caution on his record for similar offending in 2012, while his son had a clear record. Both were assessed by probation as posing a medium risk of reoffending.

Karen Quinlivan QC for father-of-four John Bailie said he now "accepted and regretted his actions and had shown genuine remorse".

Ronan Lavery QC for Anthony Bailie said: "This has been a very difficult four years for the whole family. His medical reports show a significant deterioration in his condition over these last few years. He has stopped work and is unable to work and now lives on PIP benefits. He too has shown genuine remorse for his actions."

Mr Lavery also urged the judge not to jail his client.

Judge Miller said that he had been persuaded by the arguments of both defence QCs and would impose eight month sentences on both defendants, suspended for 12 months.

The judge also fined Corcrain Enterprises Ltd 30,000 and banned John Bailie from being a company director for five years.

All machines and computers seized were made the subject of a forfeiture order and the proceeds from their sale will go to Addiction NI.
A notorious child rapist from Northern Ireland has been jailed in Australia for abusing seven vulnerable young people and committing a catalogue of sexual offences while acting as a foster parent

A notorious child rapist from Northern Ireland has been jailed in Australia for abusing seven vulnerable young people and committing a catalogue of sexual offences while acting as a foster parent.

Desmond Gore (73) was found guilty of abusing four girls and two boys aged between six and nine who were in his care from October 2007 to August 2011.

The prolific paedophile, who emigrated in 1968, was also found guilty of abusing another girl not in his foster care.

He was convicted on 20 of the 21 charges on Tuesday.

Despite branding the charges against him as "complete and utter lies" Gore was sentenced to 15 years and four months behind bars when he appeared in WA District Court in Perth yesterday.

Judge Christopher Stevenson said the painter and decorator's crimes against extremely vulnerable victims required a significant degree of pre-planning, physical force and psychological manipulation.

Referring to the biblical story of David and Goliath the judge branded Gore's behaviour as an extreme breach of trust which caused harm, damage and destruction.

"You preyed upon them, you took advantage of the situation," Gore was told.

"At least David had a stone, these children had nothing, they had nobody and nothing and you had absolute power over them in every sense."

During an eight-day trial the court heard how Gore put tape over one girl's mouth to prevent her from screaming while he raped her.

The sexual predator told another victim no one would believe she had been raped because she was "not worth it".

The first act of abuse occurred 14 days into Gore's first foster placement and continued for four years at his Armadale home.

In 2013, a care worker stumbled upon a gut-wrenching letter belonging to one of Gore's victims who had moved out of his home two years earlier.

"I feel safe when loved," the child had written. "I feel sad when I have sex with my granddad."

The Department of Child Protection (DCP) put his foster carer status under review, but the court heard how Gore befriended case workers as part of a bid to conceal his crimes.

He tried to persuade them that the children were "very damaged" and not to be believed.

It wasn't until 2017 that the young girl was able to disclose the offending to investigators.

Gore, who was prescribed Viagra in the 1990s and began getting testosterone injections, told the court he was impotent at the time of the abuse and claimed that he was never left alone with his foster children.

Judge Stevenson said it was "unfortunate" that the children were not believed on two occasions in 2009 and 2015 and compared the "accusatory" interrogation of an eight-year-old child to the Spanish inquisition.

Some of Gore's victims, many of whom are now young adults, struggled to finish giving evidence during the trial - one of them had to be admitted to a psychiatric facility.
Police at the scene of the incident on Fairview Road in Derry. Credit: Leona O'Neill

Police at the scene of the incident in the Galliagh area. Credit: PSNI

A man has died after a suspected stolen car crashed into a lamppost and caught fire in Londonderry.

At around 4.15am it was reported to police that a red coloured Mazda 6 car had struck a lamppost in the area of Fairview Road.

The vehicle is reported to have caught fire and travelled along Fairview Road for a short distance before coming to a rest close to the junction of Galliagh Park.

Mans body discovered in a burnt out vehicle in Galliagh Park #Derry. Police say red Mazda car struck a lamppost in Fairview Road, car - which had earlier been stolen in Oakfield Park- caught fire and travelled for a short distance before coming to a rest here at Galliagh Park pic.twitter.com/HLZkBsPqyZ  Leona O'Neill (@LeonaONeill1) June 1, 2019

Police and the Fire Service attended the scene and the body of a male was discovered inside.

The vehicle is believed to have been stolen in the Oakfield Avenue area of the city earlier.

Police are working to establish the circumstances of the incident and establish if any other people were travelling in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Chief Inspector Jonny Hunter is appealing for anyone who observed a red coloured Mazda car being driven in the area of Oakfield Avenue or Fairview Road prior to the collision or anyone who witnessed the collision to contact officers in Strand Road on 101 quoting reference 316 01/06/19.

Expand Close A man has died after crashing into a lamppost in Derry. Credit: Leona O'Neill / Facebook

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Fair View Road has since reopened.

A Northern Ireland Ambulance Service spokesman said it did not attend the incident.

SDLP Ballyarnett Councillor Brian Tierney has said that residents in the Galliagh area are shocked by the death

We dont yet know the full circumstances and I would appeal to anyone who saw or heard anything early this morning near Fairview road to come forward to police.

"On behalf of the SDLP, I want to send my sincere condolences to the family of this man who will be going through a very difficult time.

The PSNI has undertaken a significant investigation in the area and I would ask residents to cooperate with them as that continues into this evening. Weve had significant disruption and as the cordon is reduced, which we expect in the next half hour or so, Ill be speaking with Translink officials to ensure we can return to a normal service so that local people can go about their business.

As we enter the summer months, I will be continuing our work with this community and particularly with young people to ensure they remain safe.
Seamus Daly, one of four men a civil court found responsible for the Omagh bomb, was declared bankrupt in Belfast yesterday.

It marked the latest round in a long legal battle by the victims' families to bring the men responsible for the deaths of 29 people in 1998 to justice.

Daly was not in court for the ruling - the first time that a paramilitary has been declared bankrupt in Northern Ireland for refusing to pay compensation to his victims.

In March, the High Court in Dublin declared three of the other men found liable for the bombing bankrupt after they failed to pay the 1.6m compensation owed to the Omagh victims.

The case against Daly was taken in Northern Ireland because he is the only one living north of the border.

Michael Gallagher, who lost his son in the bombing, said the next step would be to seize the men's assets, a task made much easier by the bankruptcy declarations.

"It's now for the Irish and Northern Ireland authorities to pursue all means to access those assets that we believe the bombers have tried to conceal," he said.
A local Tottenham Hotspur fan is going out of his way - a staggering 17,000 miles out of his way - just to see his beloved team play in tonight's Champions League final.

John Toner will travel the equivalent of three-quarters of the way around the world just to get to Spurs' showpiece encounter with Liverpool in Madrid.

But the 33-year-old, who lives in Belfast, believes the highly circuitous route is worth it, with Spurs playing in their first ever Champions League decider against Jurgen Klopp's highly-fancied Reds.

And he's shelled out over 2,000 to embark on what must be one of the longest detours ever to the Spanish capital which, as the crow flies, is 1,000 miles from Belfast.

But this could well be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Spurs fans and, in his case, the journey to Atletico Madrid's fabulous Wanda Metropolitano stadium will include stops in Uganda, Ethiopia and Qatar!

Even so John (inset below) told the Belfast Telegraph prior to departure that he is looking forward to his epic, convoluted journey, which is scheduled to end in Madrid this morning. "Belfast to Kampala, then on to Kigali... from there to Doha and finally - hopefully - on to Madrid," said journalist John.

"I've got to make two connecting flights before I get to Madrid, so fingers crossed everything runs smoothly."

He added: "I'm originally from the Tottenham area of north London and grew up supporting Spurs. I'm going with three of my friends who are Liverpool fans and hoping to meet some other Spurs fans in Madrid... if we can find each other!

"It's a long way to go, but Spurs have never been in this position, they've never reached this stage of the competition, and I wanted to be part of history."

Many supporters of both clubs have had to take drastic measures to make tonight's final because direct flights between the UK and Spain were snapped up as soon as the English teams made sensational comebacks in the semi-finals, with Liverpool beating Barcelona and Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs seeing off Ajax.

John is staying in an Airbnb studio in Retiro in the middle of the city for three nights, costing 400, and as a season ticket holder got a ticket for the final for 154.

Travelling back to Belfast will be a lot less laborious for him as he's flying home from the Spanish capital on Tuesday, having picked up a one-way ticket for 130, and he said he'll "probably spend around 500 when I'm there".

Given his massive expenditure, will they win? He replied: "I'll probably cry either way."

But while it's the biggest match in the club's history, by contrast their opponents have won it five times and been in the final on three other occasions.

And that's why massive Reds fan Pearse Sharratt, a 30-year-old barber from Belfast, immediately jumped at the opportunity to go.

He was travelling from Belfast to Naples yesterday and then on to Madrid that evening ahead of tonight's big match at a cost of 250 return.

"I had previously booked a flight to Ibiza, which I lost, but it actually worked out for me to go via Naples instead," he told this newspaper.

"There's a two or three-hour layover but I'll get to Madrid that night. I'm flying home on Tuesday from Madrid to Heathrow and then from Heathrow to Belfast."

Pearse's Liverpool-based uncle Barry Brennan (37) flew from Belfast to Valencia on Tuesday, where he spent three nights before heading to the Spanish capital for today's game.

His sister Alanna (28), a barber who works with him in Belfast, and his grandparents Tom and Maura Brennan, who're both in their 60s, also decided to make the trip.

"I think Alanna has caught the bug in the last couple of years; she probably wasn't the biggest fan in the world but she's recently surprised us all," he said.

"She came to Barcelona with us a few weeks ago for the semi-final and she's now busting to get to Anfield as she's never been, but we'll have to rectify that soon.

"They got their flights in and out of Valencia really cheap, at under 100 return, and then they were going to Madrid yesterday and taking the train back to Valencia on Tuesday and flying out straight away.

"I think they all had a fear of missing out.

"They're going for the atmosphere and the fun and just to see it and take it all in."

Pearse said all five of them are sharing an apartment in the centre of Madrid at a cost of 2,300 for four nights.

"We're going to win - there's no doubt in my mind and I'm going to say 3-1," he said.
Only three of Northern Ireland's health trusts have a stop smoking specialist midwife to help expectant mums kick the habit. Stock image

Only three of Northern Ireland's health trusts have a stop smoking specialist midwife to help expectant mums kick the habit.

Pregnant women living in the Belfast, Southern and South Eastern trusts can access specialist services to help them give up.

Around 15% of local woman smoke during pregnancy, according to the South Eastern Trust.

Last year there were 23,154 births here and around 3,473 of them were to women who smoked in pregnancy.

However, the specialist stop smoking midwives are not available at Altnagelvin, Antrim, Causeway or South West Acute hospitals.

The risks of smoking during pregnancy are serious, from premature labour to an increased chance of miscarriage, stillbirth or sudden infant death.

While only three of the trusts have specialist stop smoking midwives, the Public Health Agency (PHA) funds tests to help identify women who smoke.

The PHA said: "The PHA has provided funding to each of the five health and social care trusts to ensure all pregnant women are offered carbon monoxide testing when they book in at the early stages of their pregnancy, followed up with another test for those women who have tested positive when their baby is born.

"The women who test positive are given immediate advice and offered referral to smoking cessation services. Comprehensive stop smoking support is available for pregnant women in all health and social care trusts."

However, official figures show that the Northern and Western trusts, where no stop smoking specialist midwives work, had the worst cessation rates in 2017/18.

According to Department of Health figures, 88 women set a quit date in the Western Trust in 2017/18, while 145 women in the Northern Trust set a quit date over the 12-month period.

This compared to 194, 192 and 286 in the Belfast, South Eastern and Southern trusts respectively. Fifty-two percent and 57% of women in the Northern and Western trusts respectively had successfully quit smoking four weeks later, while the success rate was 63% in the Belfast and Southern trusts and 70% in the South Eastern Trust.

Alliance Party health spokeswoman Paula Bradshaw said the figures show a direct correlation between the availability of stop smoking specialist support and the success of stop smoking efforts.

She added: "What we have in effect is a postcode lottery which ultimately affects the health of children depending on where they happen to be born, as well as their mothers.

"There can be no question that specialist smoking cessation support should be available to mothers on the same basis across all trusts."

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has called for better services to help pregnant women stop smoking.

It has revealed that almost 70% of heads of midwifery have reported that they are without a stop smoking specialist midwife in their maternity team.

The RCM has shared the findings from its annual heads of midwifery survey as it publishes a new position statement on 'Support to Quit Smoking in Pregnancy'.

It has called for specialist stop smoking support to be available to all pregnant women on an opt out basis. It also wants all NHS staff to be supported to stop smoking.

RCM chief executive Gill Walton said: "Smoking significantly increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and sudden infant death and birth abnormalities. Smoking also damages a mother's health and is associated with maternal risks in pregnancy, such as placental abruption and eclampsia.

"Evidence shows that stopping smoking early in pregnancy can almost entirely prevent adverse effects and we need to be doing all we can to support women and their families to stop smoking.

"If we are serious about tackling smoking rates in pregnancy what is needed is specialist stop smoking advisors who are closely aligned with and contain members of the maternity team."
A female traffic warden was told she would "roast in hell" after telling a Free Presbyterian gospel event that they could not park in a pedestrian zone in Portadown.

A video circulating on social media shows a heated exchange between the traffic warden and those taking part in a Free Presbyterian gospel event in the town centre.

It shows the traffic warden explaining that the vehicle cannot be parked in a pedestrian zone before a man asks her if she would "go down the Garvaghy Road and book cars" and then saying "you will roast in hell, that's what will happen to you".

The traffic warden had explained that the car is on an area that is covered by double yellow lines. During the incident a few people appear to gather around her. She then asked them to move back.

"If you don't step back from me, I will call the police," she said. She then radios a colleague for assistance.

Among those who approached the traffic warden is Rev Darryl Abernethy from Bethany Free Presbyterian Church.

He asks the traffic warden if she would ticket a funeral hearse that was parked there, in which the warden replies: "We don't go near funerals, we don't disrespect the dead."

He said to the traffic warden: "You don't disrespect the gospel open air, for two weeks running, we have done this for 40 years."

The traffic warden then explains to the church minister that in the last six months double yellow lines have been painted and legislation has come into effect that no cars can park in that area.

He then says there has been a car parked in that area for 40 years during the event and says he will "take it up with the relevant authorities".

A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said: NSL is contracted by the Department to carry out parking enforcement duties across Northern Ireland.

"The Department has only now become aware of the incident and will seek further information from NSL.

"Traffic Attendants have been carrying out parking enforcement duties here for many years and they deserve the same level of respect as any other worker.

In a statement the Rev Darryl Abernethy told the Belfast Telegraph that for 40 years Bethany Free Presbyterian Church has held open air gospel meetings in Portatown town.

He said: "For forty years a car has been parked by the open air for the duration of the meeting. Until 25th May 2019 we have never been asked to move the car or been issued with a ticket.

"On Saturday 25th May the open air meeting was interrupted by a young traffic warden and we were told to move the car immediately otherwise it would be ticketed.

"I told the traffic warden we would be finished in five minutes but this didn't satisfy her.

"A conversation ensued and I took the wardens number and told her we would take the matter up with the relevant authorities, which we have.

"If the law has recently been changed in relation to parking restrictions in Portadown we will readily comply with them.

"The incident was secretly recorded and posted online without our knowledge. From the footage we have obtained the individual who recorded the incident can be heard cursing the traffic warden, the church and God.

"Since the incident took place it has been brought to my attention that the traffic warden was told that she would 'burn in hell'.

"This comment should not have made in the circumstances and my understanding is that the individual who made the comment is not a communicant member of Bethany FPC.

"We are happy to have the matter officially clarified and will abide by any parking restrictions once they are."
Trade unionists have called for the urgent restoration of devolved government.

They urged the British and Irish Governments to act on compensation for historical abuse victims, "inadequate" public sector pay and a "cliff edge" change looming for those on welfare benefits.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said a permanent Forum for Social Dialogue including the power-sharing government, plus the trade union movement, employers, community and voluntary sector and farming community should be established.

It added: "The Northern Ireland Committee of ICTU, as the leadership body for trade unions in Northern Ireland, and the largest cross-community civic society body in NI, affirms our commitment to the restoration of devolution to Northern Ireland within the framework of equality and rights set out in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements.

"Many of these commitments reflect the contribution made by the trade union movement to the process which resulted in the peace agreement and the establishment of devolved power-sharing Government.

"NIC-ICTU also affirms our commitment to the protection and full implementation of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement to achieve an inclusive society that works for all." The intervention followed the placing into administration of Co Antrim building firm Dixons Contractors earlier this week.

Trade unionists urged the two governments and the political parties, to urgently address matters of serious concern to their collective membership of over 200,000 workers and the wider public. "We seek firm commitments that action will be taken as part of a coherent, progressive and comprehensive Programme for Government, and where necessary, that legislation will be enacted without delay to address persistent and growing problems in our society."
Ian Bailey was found guilty in his absence on Friday (PA)

A former journalist convicted of the murder of a French film directors wife in Ireland more than 20 years ago has said he is praying the truth will come out.

Ian Bailey, 62, was found guilty by a Paris court in his absence on Friday of killing Sophie Toscan du Plantier, 39, following a trial of only three days after Irish authorities twice refused to extradite him.

Bailey said claims he was the culprit represented a bundle of lies.

Expand Close Sophie Toscan du Plantier died in Co Count (Family handout/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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He told Irish broadcaster RTE: I know there are people in this country who know that it was not me that was the culprit.

And I know that, sitting on that, my prayer has been that the truth will come out.

Ms Toscan du Plantiers battered body was found on an isolated hillside in Toormore, near Schull, west Cork, two days before Christmas in 1996.

French presiding judge Frederique Aline on Friday listed all the evidence presented to the court during the trial, saying there was significant evidence of Baileys guilt.

She ordered that he be imprisoned for 25 years, directed that a new EU arrest warrant be issued and said there would be an announcement on June 11 about how much compensation he would be told to pay Ms Toscan du Plantiers family.

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Bailey said, given that its a bank holiday weekend in Ireland, he may be waiting on a knock on the door from Tuesday.

He added that he was continuing with life in Co Cork, business as usual, and the trial outcome was water off a ducks back.

He said Ms du Plantiers family was told a bundle of lies from the beginning, that somehow he was the culprit.

They chose to believe that and they still have my sympathy.

The victim was the wife of celebrated cinematographer Daniel Toscan du Plantier and her death has been one of Irelands most famous unsolved killings.

Bailey, who lived three kilometres from Ms Toscan du Plantier, was arrested twice in connection with the death but was never charged, amid allegations of incompetence and corruption against local Irish police.

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Marie Farrell, the only witness to put him at the scene at the time of the killing, later retracted her evidence, claiming she had been groomed and bullied by investigators into giving false evidence.

The case has taken many twists and turns over the years, including Bailey bringing a successful defamation case against newspapers in 2014.

Frustrated by the lack of progress in Ireland, the French authorities started their own investigation in 2008  even exhuming Ms Toscan du Plantiers body in the hope of finding further forensic evidence.

Baileys trial at the Cour dAssises in Paris  the regions highest criminal court  was conducted at what would appear breakneck speed to an Irish or British spectator.

A judge and two professional magistrates heard live evidence from just two Irish witnesses and relied primarily on read statements.

The court repeatedly returned to Ms Farrells evidence despite her retraction and the fact she is considered an unreliable witness by Irish authorities.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt spoke out about the importance of the free press (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

A free media is an essential pillar of a thriving society, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has insisted.

Mr Hunt spoke out on the role of journalists in holding the powerful to account, exposing wrongdoing, deterring corruption and strengthening democracy.

The Tory leadership hopeful will host the worlds first ministerial summit on media freedom in London next month.

A free media is not a Western value but a pillar of a thriving society, benefiting people across the world. To embrace the opportunities of a free society we must defend the press. My speech in Glasgow to #WorldNewsMediaCongress @NewspaperWorld https://t.co/18GOoKfVKP pic.twitter.com/3Bs7kj710S  Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) June 1, 2019

He said: We cant physically stop journalists from being locked up for doing their jobs, but we can alert global public opinion and make sure the diplomatic price is too high.

Mr Hunt used his speech to the World News Media Congress in Glasgow to pay tribute to murdered journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead while working in Northern Ireland in April.

He said the senseless killing of a talented young journalist showed here in the United Kingdom we too have no cause for complacency.

And he also hailed Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who spent more than 500 days in jail in Burma after reporting on the massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims.

Heres the speech by @Jeremy_Hunt to the World Media News Congress #WNMC19 - great to be hearing from #journalists how the #DefendMediaFreedom campaign can make a difference https://t.co/jHi7IntH6H  Alastair King-Smith (@AlastairKS) June 1, 2019

Mr Hunt is now working with Canadian foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland to shine a spotlight on abuses and raise the cost for those who harm journalists for doing their jobs.

The two politicians will jointly host next months summit in London, with the UK Foreign Secretary saying: We want to build a coalition of governments committed to a stronger diplomatic response when media freedom is curtailed, and greater support when countries do the right thing, remove restrictions and push out the frontiers of free expression.

He told the conference: By serving as a constant deterrent against corruption and misrule, the best journalism helps the economy and helps a society to flourish.

But in the end we must promote a free media not solely for practical reasons but because it is what we stand for  democracy, freedom of expression mean nothing unless independent journalists are able to scrutinise the powerful and discover the stubborn facts, however inconvenient this might sometimes be for the politicians at the receiving end.

If we want to embrace the opportunities of a free society, encourage the open exchange of ideas, pass informed judgment on our leaders, and do it peacefully through the ballot box, then we must defend the institution that enables all of this.

A free media is not an optional extra, still less a Western value. It forms one pillar of a thriving society, benefiting people in every corner of the world.

Scotland is internationalist, progressive, innovative, open and outward looking - my address opening the World News Media Congress to Scotland as the World Media gathers in Glasgow #WNMC19 pic.twitter.com/DCEnozTQUm  Fiona Hyslop (@FionaHyslop) June 1, 2019

Earlier, Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop told the gathering she was concerned that the continuity of high quality journalism is at risk.

Opening the Congress, Ms Hyslop said: The Scottish Government passionately believes that an independent and diverse media landscape is vital to a well-functioning democracy.

Protecting our participatory democracy is perhaps now more important than ever, and the role of serious, considered, quality journalism in doing so cannot be underestimated.

I am therefore very concerned about trends suggesting the continuity of high quality journalism is at risk. Declining income streams, misinformation and disinformation are all serious issues we are having to grapple with.
Donald Trump has called on Britain to leave the European Union without a deal if Brussels refuses to meet its demands, as he urged the Government to send Nigel Farage into the negotiations.

In his second extraordinary intervention into British politics ahead of this weeks state visit, the US president suggested the UK should walk away from talks and refuse to pay the 39 billion divorce bill if its requests are not met.

He told the Sunday Times it was a mistake not to involve Brexit Party leader Mr Farage in negotiations, saying he has a lot to offer and is someone he likes a lot.

Mr Trump added: He is a very smart person. They wont bring him in. Think how well they would do if they did. They just havent figured that out yet.

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The president, who will arrive in London on Monday, said the British Government has to get the deal closed.

He suggested: If they dont get what they want, I would walk away If you dont get the deal you want, if you dont get a fair deal, then you walk away.

Mr Trump added that if he was in charge, he would not pay the EU divorce bill, and he claimed it is not too late to sue the EU to give Britain greater ammunition in the talks.

If you dont get the deal you want, if you dont get a fair deal, then you walk awayDonald Trump

He told the paper: If I were them I wouldnt pay 50 billion dollars. That is me. I would not pay, that is a tremendous number.

Meanwhile Mr Trump vowed to go all out to secure a free trade deal between the UK and US within months of Britain leaving the EU.

Defying diplomatic norms for the second time in as many days after telling The Sun he backs Boris Johnson to become the next prime minister, Mr Trump also said he would have to know Jeremy Corbyn before authorising the sharing of highly sensitive US intelligence.

He also urged the Labour leader to get along with the United States if he wants Britain to continue to benefit from US military and intelligence support, the paper reported.

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His intervention comes as a dozen MPs battle it out to replace Theresa May as Conservative leader, with several candidates pledging they would be prepared to take the UK out of the EU without a deal.

Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan compared the language used by Mr Trump to that of the fascists of the 20th century.

Writing in the Observer, Mr Khan said: President Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat.

The far-right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values that have defined our liberal, democratic societies for more than 70 years.

Viktor Orban in Hungary, Matteo Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage here in the UK are using the same divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century to garner support, but with new, sinister methods to deliver their message.

And they are gaining ground and winning power and influence in places that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

The first day of Mr Trumps state visit to the UK will see him have a private lunch with the Queen, tea at Clarence House with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, and attend a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
Around 190 Spurs fans face missing the match of a lifetime after their charter flight was delayed by more than seven hours (Steve Paston/PA)

Almost 200 Tottenham fans face a race against time to make the Champions League final after their flight was delayed by more than seven-and-a-half hours.

One of the charter flights laid on by Thomas Cook to make sure supporters made it to tonights showdown against Liverpool in Madrid was grounded after a bird strike.

In a bid to get them to Spain, Thomas Cook flew one of its own planes from Manchester to Stansted on Saturday afternoon, but the flight only left just before 5.30pm UK time.

The 180 passengers will have just one hour before kick off to disembark, get through security and make it to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium which is about 3km (1.8 miles) from Madrid-Barajas airport.

One fan whose blood pressure was sent through the roof by the delay was Rob White.

He tweeted this morning: So @Freebird 09:50 Stansted to Madrid, still not taken offoperational issuesat least another hour. Anyone got a spare stadium ticket?

So @Freebird 09:50 Stansted to Madrid, still not taken off...operational issues...at least another hour. Anyone got a spare stadium ticket?  pic.twitter.com/1s5CjYMpxH  Rob White (@robawhite) June 1, 2019

It was not until mid-afternoon that desperate fans boarded the replacement plane.

Mr White posted: The Stansted Airport 190 are now sitting on an actual plane after a 6.5 hour omnishambles!

Thomas Cook said in a statement: One of our six chartered aircraft taking Tottenham Hotspur supporters to Madrid suffered a bird strike on its way to Stansted Airport and was deemed not safe to operate.

We have sourced an alternative aircraft to take the remaining fans to the match in time. The other five aircraft with supporters on have all landed in Madrid.

It remains to be seen whether the fans end up watching the match from the pavement rather than from the stands.
Donald Trumps upcoming state visit to the UK features on many of the front pages on Saturday, while Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green also makes headlines.

The Sun carries an interview with the US president ahead of his arrival in the UK on Monday in which Mr Trump backs Boris Johnson to be the next prime minister.

He also calls the Duchess of Sussex nasty for comments she made before the 2016 presidential election suggesting she would leave the US if he won.

The Times reports that Mr Trump will meet Mr Johnson during his three-day trip, while there has also been speculation around a potential meeting with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.

The Times 1/6/2019

Sir Philip Green has been charged with sexual misconduct in the US. It is alleged he groped Katie Surridge (pictured), a pilates teacher. He denies the charges.#thetimes #tomorrowspaperstoday @thetimes pic.twitter.com/WFg3Rqjthy  The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) May 31, 2019

But Mr Farage claims he has been banned from meeting the president, the Daily Express says.

The Daily Mail leads on Sir Philip Green, reporting that he has been charged in the US over claims he assaulted a Pilates instructor.

The Daily Mirror says the retail tycoon has strenuously denied the allegations, while the The Daily Telegraph also carries the same story.

In other news, The Guardian reports that the most senior female Islamic State captive has played a key role in the CIAs hunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Guardian front page, Saturday 1 June 2019: Arcadia boss Philip Green charged with assault in US pic.twitter.com/OUVPOJQh8B  The Guardian (@guardian) May 31, 2019

The Financial Times says businesses and global investors reacted with dismay after Mr Trump threatened to hit Mexico with unilateral tariffs because of what he called a migration crisis at the border.

Just published: front page of the Financial Times UK edition Saturday June 1 https://t.co/05sjolWa3v pic.twitter.com/9k3PCzrV7i  Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) May 31, 2019

And the i says climate activists have vowed to blockade Heathrow airport in June and July unless the third runway is cancelled.

The Independent says prominent Labour figures have warned the party will pay a heavy price if Jeremy Corbyn does not shift his position on Brexit.
Frank Lucas, the man Denzel Washington portrayed in the film American Gangster (AP Photo/Jim Cooper, File)

Former Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas, whose life became the basis for 2007 movie American Gangster, has died at the age of 88.

His nephew Aldwan Lassiter said Lucas died on Thursday in New Jersey, where he had lived for years.

Lucas became a major heroin dealer before being convicted in 1975 and sentenced to decades in prison.

He turned informant and was released after about five years.

His story inspired the Ridley Scott-directed American Gangster, which starred Denzel Washington as Lucas.

The movie brought scrutiny of dubious claims in Lucas legend, particularly a portrayal of him smuggling drugs in US soldiers caskets during the Vietnam War.

As for Lucas unquestioned role in supplying potent heroin, he said in 2007 that he regretted doing some terrible things.
A US judge has issued an order to keep Missouris only abortion clinic operating despite the objections of state health officials.

The ruling delivered abortion rights advocates with a courtroom victory after a string of setbacks in state legislatures around the US.

St Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer said Planned Parenthoods St Louis clinic can continue providing abortions despite the Missouri health departments refusal to renew its licence due to a variety of patient safety issues.

He said the temporary restraining order was necessary to preserve the status quo and prevent irreparable injury to Planned Parenthood.

With the abortion license set to expire at midnight on Friday, Planned Parenthood pre-emptively sued this week and argued that the state was weaponising the licensing process.

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Planned Parenthood said that without court intervention, Missouri would become the first state without an abortion clinic since the US Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that legalised the procedure nationwide.

The clinics licence shall not expire and shall remain in effect until a ruling is issued on Planned Parenthoods request for a permanent injunction, Mr Stelzers ruling says. A hearing is set for Tuesday morning.

In refusing to renew the licence, Missouris health department cited failed surgical abortions in which women remained pregnant and legal violations, while insisting that it first needed to interview several clinic physicians who had been reluctant to talk.

Planned Parenthood said two staff doctors agreed to interviews but that others who are contractors or no longer work at the clinic would not talk.

State health department director Randall Williams had said earlier on Friday that a court order allowing the abortion clinic to remain open would not resolve the issue.

The issues that are of concern to us are still there, Mr Williams said.

The fight over the clinics licence comes as lawmakers in conservative states across the nation are passing new restrictions that take aim at Roe v Wade.

Abortion opponents, emboldened by new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, are hoping federal courts will uphold laws that prohibit abortions before a foetus is viable outside the womb, the dividing line the high court set in Roe.

Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have enacted bills barring abortion once there is a detectable foetal heartbeat, as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.

Missouri lawmakers recently approved an eight-week ban on abortion, with exceptions only for medical emergencies. Alabama has gone even further, outlawing virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. None of the bans has taken effect, and all are expected to face legal challenges.

Today is a victory for women across Missouri, but this fight is far from over, Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Dr Leana Wen said in a statement. We have seen just how vulnerable access to abortion care is here  and in the rest of the country.

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Sarah Felts said the St Louis clinic continued to perform abortions on Friday, including on many patients who moved up appointments that had been scheduled for next week because of the uncertainty.

The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to preliminary statistics from the state health department.
A law enforcement official stands at an entrance to a municipal building that was the scene of a shooting (Patrick Semansky/AP)

The gunman who killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building has been identified by police as a 15-year city employee who had served in the military.

Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera identified the gunman as DeWayne Craddock, who was employed as an engineer with the citys public utilities department.

Mr Cervera declined to comment on a motive for Fridays rampage that ended with Craddock dying in a gun battle with police.

Authorities used a Saturday morning news conference to focus on the victims, saying 11 of them worked for the city.

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Another victim was a contractor trying to get a permit. They projected photos on a screen and gave each victims name along with biographical details.

They leave a void that we will never be able to fill, said City Manager Dave Hansen.

Mr Hansen said that chaplains and family assistance workers worked overnight to notify family members of the dead, which he described as the most difficult task anyone will ever have to do.

The 11 city employees who died were identified as Laquita C Brown of Chesapeake, Tara Welch Gallager of Virginia Beach, Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach, Alexander Mikhail Gusev of Virginia Beach, Katherine A Nixon of Virginia Beach, Richard H Nettleton of Norfolk, Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan, Ryan Keith Cox of Virginia Beach, Joshua A Hardy of Virginia Beach, Michelle Missy Langer of Virginia Beach and Robert Bobby Williams of Chesapeake.

The 12th victim, Herbert Bert Snelling of Virginia Beach, was a contractor filling a permit.

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Authorities have said the gunman opened fire with a handgun in the municipal building on Friday afternoon, killing 12 people on three floors and sending terrified co-workers scrambling for cover before police shot and killed him following a long gun battle.

Four other people were wounded in Fridays shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, police have said.

Police have said the suspect was armed with a .45-calibre handgun. Mr Cervera said that more weapons were found at the scene and at his home, but declined to elaborate.

Dewayne Antonio Craddock, 40, was a professional engineer who had graduated from Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News in 1996 and joined the Army National Guard, according to a newspaper clip from the time.

He received basic military training and advanced individual training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

He later graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelors degree in civil engineering. Before going to work in Virginia Beach, he worked for a private engineering firm in Hampton Roads.

Craddock appears to have had no crime record, which would have made him eligible to purchase firearms.
Mark Zuckerberg will remain as Facebook chairman after an attempt to strip him of the position put forward by a group of shareholders was rejected.

Investors in the social network are growing increasingly agitated with Mr Zuckerberg holding both chairman and chief executive roles amid "a seemingly endless stream of controversies and data breaches", one shareholder said during an annual general meeting.

However, Mr Zuckerberg was unlikely to be rattled by leadership questions, given he holds the majority of the voting power.

Investment firms such as Trillium and NorthStar have long called for the 35-year-old to stand down from his chairman post and focus on being chief executive, urging him to follow the example of other tech firms such as Google owner Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft, which have independent board chairs.

Outside the meeting, protesters convened to voice their concerns about Mr Zuckerberg's power, while the Fight for the Future advocacy group projected a 'Fire Mark Zuckerberg' display.

Abigail Shaw of NorthStar Asset Management said during the meeting: "We estimate that last year over 80% of independent shareholders voted yes on this proposal, therefore telling Mr Zuckerberg and the board that they are unhappy with the current arrangement.

"Shareholders continue to have no resource against the board or management when scandals pull down shareholder value. It is no secret that our company has struggled in the past two years due to a seemingly endless stream of controversies and data breaches.

"These include critiques of the company's likely role in proliferating fake news that affected the 2016 US election, stories that, quote, laid bare Facebook's lax policies around the use and sharing of user information, and risked losing users' trust in the platform and multiple allegations that the company's communications app WhatsApp and even the Facebook platform itself facilitated the spread of hate in places such as Myannmar (Burma) and India, which led to violence and aided in genocide."

In closing remarks, Mr Zuckerberg did not address calls for him to reduce his power directly, but spoke of his goals to make Facebook more transparent, and its plans to make the social network more privacy-focused.
Its been more than seven months since cannabis was legalized, and according to Canadian retailers, business is good.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Delta 9 Cannabis manager Taylor Bristow holds some of their product, during set up for their grand opening at Shoppers Mall earlier this year. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Its been more than seven months since cannabis was legalized, and according to Canadian retailers, business is good.

Winnipeg-based Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. released its financials on Thursday for the first full fiscal quarter since prohibition ended. The company says their Q1 operating revenues were $5.63 million. Thats up from $332,104 for the same quarter last year.

Delta 9 only operates three stores, which is far less than the number run by competing chains owned by the likes of Canopy Growth Corporation (Tweed, Tokyo Smoke) and National Access Cannabis (Meta Cannabis Supply Co., NewLeaf Cannabis). However, where some of these chains are retail only, Delta 9 grows some of their own product and sells grow pods for other companies to cultivate their own cannabis.

When Delta 9 opened its Brandon location at Shoppers Mall on April 4, The Sun reported it as then being Manitobas largest in terms of floor size. "Everybody... thats coming through the store seems to be really blown about by the size of it, and the look, and our staff," Delta 9 Brandon manager Taylor Bristow said.

Delta 9 CEO John Arbuthnot told The Sun in an interview that his companys first quarter revenues were "much more" oriented toward the production wholesale part of the business.

"What weve highlighted for investors is that the industry did face some supply shortage issues in Q1," said Arbuthnot. "That led to some delays in overall store openings for Delta 9. We pushed our second and third store openings back to the end of Q1 and Q2."

In the months following legalization, many provinces cannabis outlets were plagued by supply shortages, but Arbuthnot believes that the worst is over. "It really looks like were out of the woods in terms of the overall supply issues," he said. "Delta 9 stores as well as stores across the province are very well supplied at this point."

Arbuthnot said that Delta 9 is "very happy with the overall results" of its Brandon location.

Delta 9 recently announced it had received authorization to supply cannabis products to Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis and approval to supply its products to Saskatchewans retail and wholesale cannabis markets. "The next step for us will be beginning to push west in terms of retail store openings," said Arbuthnot.

In addition, Delta 9 announced on May 9 that it had been granted an export permit to sell rooted cannabis plants to cannabis producers in Australia.

The next major change to the cannabis industry will come later this year when it will become legal for stores to sell cannabis edibles. Gelcaps containing a small amount of THC or CBD for microdosing as well as oral sprays are currently legal for sale, but items like the classic pot brownie are not. Cannabis concentrates for use in vaporizers are also currently prohibited from sale.

While edibles cant be sold, that doesnt prevent consumers from making their own cannabis treats. Bristow said that Brandons Delta 9 held an information session giving visitors recipes and tips for cannabis cooking last month.

Matt Ryan, vice-president of marketing for National Access Cannabis, said on Friday that his companys locations were built with the future in mind.

"The stores were already built planned to house a variety of products, whether theyre edibles that can be on a shelf or other consumables," Ryan said. "We planned ahead to be ready, whatever comes our way."

National Access Cannabis runs Brandons Meta Cannabis Supply Co. store.

National Access Cannabis runs 14 NewLeaf Cannabis stores in Alberta as well as nine Meta stores in Manitoba and one in Saskatchewan reported second quarter revenues of $16.2 million. Another NewLeaf store opens in Calgary next week. NAC reported in March that it had sold $20 million worth of cannabis at retail since legalization.

The Department of Justice Canada website says that edible products and concentrates will be legal for sale approximately one year after the first round of legalization came into effect on October 17, 2018.

The Sun reached out to Canopy Growth Corporation, which runs the Tweed and Tokyo Smoke cannabis retail chains, which both have outlets in Brandon, for comment on the status of their businesses but did not receive an answer by press time.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
TORONTO - The federal government is expanding a program offering support to privately sponsored refugees in the LGBTQ community.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Minister of Immigration Ahmed Hussen makes an announcement of support for pre-arrival services at the YMCA in Toronto on January 14, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

TORONTO - The federal government is expanding a program offering support to privately sponsored refugees in the LGBTQ community.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says the Rainbow Refugee Assistance Partnership will build on a pilot project launched in 2011.

The program provides start-up costs and three months of support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and two-spirited refugees who are privately sponsored by Canadians.

The initial pilot project offered support to 15 refugees per year, but the government says that number will be raised to 50 starting next year.

The initiative is a partnership between the federal government and the Vancouver-based Rainbow Refugee Society, which applauded what it called Ottawa's "commitment to protecting LGBTQ2 refugees."

A statement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says the department is pledging $800,000 over five years to expand the pilot.
Update: 04/06/19 Janelle Quinn, who was missing from Cavan, has been located safe and well.

Gardai have thanked the public for their assistance.

01/06/19: Cavan Gardai appeal for information on missing teenage girl

A teenage girl has gone missing from her home in Co. Cavan.

Gardai in Cavan town are asking for help to find Janelle Quinn, aged 16 years, who is missing from Mullahoran, Co. Cavan since May 29, 2019.

Janelle was last seen on Wednesday afternoon and is described as being five foot four inches tall with a slim build, long straight dark brown/blond hair and green eyes.

When last seen she was wearing ripped denim jeans, a black top, green jacket and black Nike runners.

It is believed that she may have visited Kilbeggan town and/or Dublin.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact Gardai in Cavan on 049 - 4368800, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Two development firms have lodged plans to build accommodation for more than 650 people in Limerick and Galway.

Revington Land Limited has submitted proposals to An Bord Pleanala for nearly 400 homes in Limerick city.
Gardai have appealed for the public's assistance in locating a 16-year-old girl who is missing in Dublin.

Enisa Koci is missing from Merrion Road, Dublin 4, since Thursday.
Gardai are investigating a serious hit-and-run road collision in Co Louth today.

The incident occurred at around 9.55am this morning at Barrack Street in Dundalk.

A man in his 30s was seriously injured and was taken to our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Gardai are treating this as a deliberate act of endangerment.

They are appealing to the public for any information about the current whereabouts of, or on the driver of, a Silver Ford Focus, 99-D-25111.

Anyone who can provide assistance is asked to contact Dundalk Garda Station 0429388400, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Ian Bailey has said he is praying the truth will come out after he was convicted of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, 39, in West Cork more than 20 years ago

The former journalist, 62, was found guilty by a Paris court in his absence on Friday of killing the wife of French film director, Daniel Toscan du Plantier, following a trial of only three days.

Bailey said claims he was the culprit represented a "bundle of lies".

He told RTE: "I know there are people in this country who know that it was not me that was the culprit.

"And I know that, sitting on that, my prayer has been that the truth will come out."

Ms Toscan du Plantier's battered body was found on an isolated hillside in Toormore, near Schull, West Cork, two days before Christmas in 1996.

French presiding judge Frederique Aline on Friday listed all the evidence presented to the court during the trial, saying there was "significant evidence" of Bailey's guilt.

She ordered that he be imprisoned for 25 years, directed that a new EU arrest warrant be issued and said there would be an announcement on June 11 about how much compensation he would be told to pay Ms Toscan du Plantier's family.

Bailey said, given that it's a bank holiday weekend here, he may be waiting on a knock on the door from Tuesday.

He added that he was continuing with life "business as usual", and the trial outcome was "water off a duck's back".

Ian Bailey. Pic: Dan Linehan

He said Ms du Plantier's family was told a "bundle of lies from the beginning", that somehow he was the culprit.

"They chose to believe that and they still have my sympathy."

Earlier: Ian Bailey's solicitor brands guilty verdict a 'grotesque miscarriage of justice'

Ian Bailey's solicitor has said yesterday's verdict against his client in France is a "grotesque miscarriage of justice".

French authorities have ordered a new European arrest warrant after the 62-year-old was convicted in his absence of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996.

Baileys solicitor Frank Buttimer said his client is incredibly distressed.

He said: "I kind of saw what's been going on out there in the media just like everybody else, but he was not represented by anybody in the court.

"It was really no more than, what I would call, a rubberstamping exercise of a predetermined position of guilt on the part of Ian Bailey by the so-called French criminal justice system."

Mr Buttimer said his client is innocent in this country, in spite of what has been done to him in the other country and that he would continue to support Bailey, who had been through a nightmare.

Frank Buttimer

It is incredibly distressing, Mr Buttimer said.
A prominent Donegal county councillor has resigned from the Fine Gael party just days after winning them a seat on the local council.

Frank McBrearty officially resigned from the party this morning.

The Raphoe politician officially offered his resignation to the party this morning and it was accepted.

Minister Joe McHugh confirmed the 50-year-old, who won a seat in the Lifford-Stranorlar electoral area just last weekend, has resigned.

He told Donegal Daily: "I am disappointed that Frank has resigned. He's a hard-working councillor and I wish him well in his role as a councillor in the time ahead."

McBrearty, who had been an Independent councillor, joined the party just weeks before the election in a move that annoyed some other members.

We first reported that McBrearty was considering his position last Thursday.

At the time, Councillor McBrearty claimed he was being hounded out of the party by fellow elected Fine Gael members.

He claimed his family had been the victim of "atrocious allegations" from some Fine Gael councillors and that his mental health was being affected.

It is expected that Cllr McBreaty will make a statement on the matter later in the day.
Inflation is set to rise with the news that tobacco manufacturers are to increase the price of twenty cigarettes by 8p.

The increase will add 0.1% to our annual inflation rate, almost 5p in every pound of consumer spending goes on cigarettes.
The funeral of conjoined twin Mary who died during an operation to separate her from her sister Jodie is taking place near the family's home on a Maltese island.

Ecclesiasticos Sultana, arch priest of the island of Gozo, said the service would be held at the local church, the Nativity of our Blessed Virgin.

Surviving twin Jodie is still being cared for at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester.

Earlier this week Mary's parents Michaelangelo Attard, 44, and his wife Rina, 29, left Jodie's bedside to return home for the funeral.

The conjoined babies were born at St Mary's Hospital last August and separated after a legal battle between medics and the parents.

Mr and Mrs Attard, who are devout Catholics, opposed the operation which inevitably led to the death of Mary, the weaker twin.

The couple came to Manchester because of the hospital team's previous experience with conjoined twins.

After the birth of the girls, surgeons were forced to go to the High Court in London to win the right to operate and save Jodie against the wishes of the parents.

Mr and Mrs Attard, whose identities were initially protected, had objected to the operation because they believed that their daughter's fate should be left in the hands of God.

Last September they challenged the decision in a privately-funded appeal which was denied after agonising deliberations by three judges. An 11th hour appeal was launched by the ProLife Alliance but also failed.
Anthony Van Dyck provided Aidan O'Brien with a record-equalling seventh victory in the Investec Derby at Epsom.

Eighteen years on from his first triumph in the premier Classic with Galileo, the CoTipperary trainer saddled no less than seven of the 13 runners, with the previously unbeaten Sir Dragonet heading the market at 11-4 after being supplemented earlier in the week.

Anthony Van Dyck - a three-time winner as a two-year-old - earned his shot at Derby glory with an impressive comeback victory in the Lingfield Derby Trial three weeks ago and was also prominent in the betting at 13-2, following support in the minutes leading up to the race.

Seamie Heffernan's mount raced in mid-division for much of the way, and still had more horses ahead of him than behind inside the final quarter-mile

What an absolute thriller!



Anthony Van Dyck is your winner of the #EpsomDerby pic.twitter.com/y7R4fkXlqk  TwinSpires Sportsbook  (@TS_Sportsbook) June 1, 2019

Sir Dragonet and Madhmoon - trained by the 86-year-old Kevin Prendergast - were disputing the lead racing inside the final furlong, but Anthony Dan Dyck darted up the inside of the pair and galloped on strongly against the far rail.

Madhmoon boxed on for second to deny O'Brien a clean sweep, with another Ballydoyle inmate in Japan flying home to finish third, ahead of his stable companions Broome and Sir Dragonet in fourth and fifth respectively.

O'Brien said: "It's incredible. I'm so delighted for everyone and privileged to be part of the team.

"The lads (John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith) put so much in and everyone who works in Ballydoyle and Coolmore - all the way along. There's so many people, from the ground up to the riders, that I'd like to thank.

I wasn't sure (if he would win), they were all there with a chance and I knew Kevin's horse was there (Madhmoon) and I knew he'd be in top shape and he's a very good horse.

"We were just hoping and so delighted to be involved at that part of the race."

He added: "Seamus had been placed so many times and has worked for us for so long - he's such a special fellow. He's always been a world-class rider and I'm so delighted for him."

 2001 - Galileo

 2002 - High Chaparral

 2012 - Camelot

 2013 - Ruler of the World

 2014 - Australia

 2017 - Wings of Eagles

 2019 - Anthony Van Dyke



Aidan O'Brien equals Robert Robson, John Porter & Fred Darling record having trained 7 #EpsomDerby winners!! pic.twitter.com/ottHKU03Iu  Mr. Racing Tips (@MrRacingTips) June 1, 2019

Heffernan said: "I was following Ryan (Moore, on Sir Dragonet), who I thought was the biggest danger. It was a big ask for Sir Dragonet on his just his third run, but mine had danced every dance.

"I've been around plenty of Derby winners, I rode his father in a trial and won it. It means a lot to win it.

I'm always confident riding for Aidan. Anything can happen, it doesn't matter whether they are favourite or a big price - he trains them all for the big day.

"I haven't had to take a pull going down to the two pole and wait for a run in a long time - I was confident I was going to get plenty of money."

PA & Digital Desk
The Italian government is blocking plans by former White House adviser Steve Bannon to set up an academy for future populist political leaders in a medieval monastery in the mountains outside of Rome.

On Friday, Italy's populist government said it was revoking the rights to the property, which were given to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, an academy affiliated with Mr Bannon.
One general option when an interaction starts to escalate, he noted, is to walk away and cool off. But, he said, on a plane there are few escape routes. A study, published in 2016, found that multiple classes on an aircraft increased the likelihood of misbehaviour. The study, "Physical and Situational Inequality on Airplanes Predicts Air Rage," by Katherine DeCelles, now at the University of Toronto, and Michael Norton, at Harvard Business School, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. The authors found that the presence of a first-class cabin, in addition to an economy-class cabin, was associated with more frequent air rage incidents. And boarding through the first-class cabin rather than the mid-section of a plane increased those incidents. The air transport association found that disruptive incidents fell into several categories; the most common were ignoring safety regulations, excessive drinking before a flight and smoking. The association also had reports of more severe disruptions, including physical aggression and damage to equipment. It's far too easy for unruly events to occur, Harteveldt says.

Now, British and European Union organisations are starting programs to minimise disruptions. "No one wants to be next to that passenger who has consumed too much alcohol or is aggressive or rude due to other reasons," says Henk Van Klaveren, head of public affairs at the Airport Operators Association in London. Loading In July, the Airport Operators Association, the UK Travel Retail Forum and the air transport association (and later, Airlines UK) introduced a media campaign to curb excessive drinking. Called One Too Many, the program is expected to return this northern summer. The campaign began at 10 airports (14 now participate, including London Heathrow) with airport screens and posters and a leaflet distributed by the police. It also appeared on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Bars and restaurants eliminated shots and two-pints from their menus. World Duty Free shops, a subsidiary of retailer Dufry, voluntarily introduced sealed bags to carry alcoholic purchases at 24 airports in Britain.

The One Too Many campaign "reminds passengers of their responsibilities and the severe consequences of drinking to excess," says Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association. "These consequences range from being denied boarding to unlimited fines, flight bans and prison sentences for the most serious offences." The campaign is showing decreases in alcohol-related offenders at airports in Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham, according to the operators association. Beginning in April, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the airline transport association started a separate campaign on social media and YouTube. That campaign, #NotOnMyFlight, is intended to draw attention to rowdy behaviour. The 28 EU member states and four associate states  Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland  participate voluntarily. A video, created for dramatic effect, shows a passenger dancing in an aisle, another tossing an inflatable toy and luggage from the overhead bin and a third smoking in a lavatory. Each vignette intersperses a mug shot of the passenger with a designated punishable offence. "The campaign is to remind passengers that each has the responsibility to behave in the correct manner when they fly," a spokesman for the aviation safety agency says.

One of the more extreme incidents occurred on a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Malta at the end of April. Fights broke out, and inebriated passengers danced on seats and abused the flight crew. Loading The crew requested police assistance while in flight and, when the plane landed, the police removed and detained some of the passengers. "We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time, and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our No. 1 priority," the airline said in a statement. "This is now a matter for the local police." The police in Malta said two 23-year-old male passengers had been arraigned before a magistrate. They were accused of boarding an aircraft when drunk, acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft or any person and interfering with the aircraft crew's ability to perform its duties. Each was fined 1500 euros, or about $2400. In March, two hours into a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles, two passengers started quarrelling in the aisle. Flight attendants tried to move one to another seat.

The pilot enforced security procedures and returned to Oahu. When the plane landed, the flight attendants were treated for injuries, and the passengers who had been fighting were taken into custody. The aircraft finally arrived in Los Angeles five hours late. What an airline considers acceptable behaviour is outlined in its contract of carriage. This document is available online, at airline ticketing facilities or by request from customer service. Contracts may be different for domestic and international flights. An international effort is underway to adopt broader regulations to handle passenger disruptiveness, called the Montreal Protocol 2014. Currently, a serious offence is tried according to the law of the aircraft's country of registration. The new regulation would consider whether a serious offence had been committed regardless of national registration. Jurisdiction over disruptive passengers would extend beyond the country where the aircraft is registered, to include the destination country. The treaty requires 22 countries for ratification. So far, 19 have ratified it. The agreement adds provisions to recover costs from unruly passengers, says William O'Connor, a partner at the law firm Cooley in San Diego whose practice includes aviation matters. "There are issues of proof," he says, "and airlines are reluctant to involve customers as witnesses."
Police are investigating after a 27-year-old man was found dead in the street under suspicious circumstances.

The man, from Deagon in Brisbane's north, was found about 5.45am in the neighbouring suburb of Bracken Ridge.

Police investigate after a man's body was found in the street in Barfoot Street, Bracken Ridge on Saturday. Credit:Seven News/Mac Lyon

A crime scene was set up on Barfoot Street as police investigated on Saturday.

A resident on the street said neighbours were surprised to be greeted by detectives.
Watches, jewellery, cash and bank cards worth $130,000 were stolen from a home in Brisbane's south.

South Brisbane district detectives believed the property in Sunnybank was broken into between April 17 and April 20.

Police released footage on Saturday of a man who could help with investigations after one of the stolen bank cards was used at an ATM at a Sunnybank shopping centre on April 21.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Policelink on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
One - Maggie Beer - is the queen of comforting, decadent food; using fruit, chocolate or expertly baked cakes and biscuits to make you feel like youre getting a warm hug when you take a bite.

The other - Anna Polyviou - describes herself as a pastry rebel, pushing the boundaries of what you thought was baking to produce treats including chocolate microwave sponge and caramel popcorn marshmallow.

Chefs Maggie Beer and Anna Polyviou at the Good Food and Wine Show in Melbourne. Credit:Eddie Jim

Despite differences in their approach, both have come together for the 2019 Good Food & Wine Show to share their tips about baking, and to walk the audience through making the perfect dish at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Beer, the author of 10 cookbooks, has been on stage with fellow chef Matt Moran, while Polyviou and her signature pink mohawk will take to the arena on Sunday to share all the secrets that go into her show-stopping desserts.
Thick black smoke blanketed the sky above a northern suburbs factory after it went up in flames early on Saturday.

More than 30 firefighters battled the blaze at Valmont Coatings' Campbellfield factory for more than an hour.

More than 30 firefighters brought the blaze at a Campbellfield factory under control in just over an hour. Credit:Simon Schluter

Emergency services were alerted to the fire at Lara Way around 7am, and it was declared under control shortly before 8.30am. It was fully extinguished within hours.

It is believed around six people self-evacuated before firefighters arrived, and there have been no reports of injuries. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Two men were stabbed during a fight on a popular inner-city night strip early on Saturday.

Police believe the fight broke out on Smith St, Fitzroy, around 1.30am. Paramedics arrived to find two men with knife wounds, one in a serious condition.

A 36-year-old man from Travancore was stabbed multiple times, and was taken to the Royal Melbourne hospital with injuries to his upper and lower body.

He is in a stable condition, but is expected to undergo surgery.

The second man, a 19-year-old from Mulgrave, received just one stab wound. He was taken to the Royal Melbourne in a stable condition, but has since been released.
London: Pete Wellock, a retired housing consultant, had just popped out to pick up some groceries last week when he found himself face to face with Rory Stewart, a gangly, animated and very earnest Cabinet minister.

Rory Stewart, right, a candidate for prime minister, campaigns in Wigan, England. Credit:Mary Turner/The New York Times

Stewart, who has begun a darkest-of-dark-horses campaign to succeed Theresa May as prime minister, has spent the last week travelling the country trying to engage members of the public on Brexit, broadcasting these encounters in a stream of slightly awkward, DIY-style dispatches on social media.

Britons, not a people known for chatting up strangers, find these hilarious, and have responded on Twitter with good-natured mockery, joking that Stewart is "in your fridge for the next hour," or "sliding out from under your bed" or "calling me from a series of blocked numbers."

Somewhere amid all that banter, Stewart has hijacked the Conservative Party leadership campaign with a surprising argument: Britain must reapply its energy to compromise, between its own angry factions and with Europe.
Budapest: As divers descended on Saturday into the Danube, Hungarian authorities predicted it would take an extended search to find the 21 people still missing after a boat carrying South Korean tourists was rammed by a cruise ship and sank into the river in Budapest.

Candles make up the name of South Korea under the Margaret Bridge where a boat carrying South Korean tourists sank in Budapest, Hungary. Credit:AP

Seven people so far are confirmed dead and seven others were rescued.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, visited the site of Wednesday's accident and met with rescue and search officials before holding talks.

"We have to prepare for a protracted search," Szijjarto said he was told by Budapest river police, adding that authorities were also expecting help from Serbia, where the Danube flows after leaving Hungary. "It is not unimaginable that we will need to depend on them in the coming days."
Beijing: China announced on Friday that it would establish a blacklist of "unreliable" foreign companies and organisations, effectively forcing companies around the world to choose whether they would side with Beijing or Washington.

Huawei has been blacklisted by the US as the trade war with China escalates. Credit:Bloomberg

Chinese state media reported that the new "unreliable entities list" would punish organisations and individuals that harm the interests of Chinese companies, without detailing which companies would be named in the list or what the punishments would include.

But the implications are far-reaching.

Chinese reports suggest that the Commerce Ministry will directly target foreign companies and groups that abandoned Huawei after the Trump administration levelled sanctions this month that prohibited firms from doing business with the Chinese technology giant.
Last year, Apple announced that it had created tools to help people limit the time they and their children spent on their iPhones. Around the same time, Apple began purging from its App Store a number of apps that offered similar services. Now 17 companies affected by that purge say they have a technical answer to the privacy concerns that Apple cited for dropping them. The companies on Thursday proposed the creation of an application programming interface, or A P I, a common bit of software that enables computer programs or apps to work with one another. The companies said the A P ...
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by Melani Manel Perera

The Sri Lankan government is thought to be negotiations deals over military bases with foreign powers to protect the country from international terrorism following the Easter Sunday attacks.

Colombo (AsiaNews)  Card Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo, and some high-ranking Buddhist monks signed a joint declaration strongly opposing any agreement with foreign countries involving the presence of foreign troops in Sri Lanka".

The religious leaders point the finger at a secret agreement that would see Sri Lanka allow the United States to use a base on the island nation.

Local newspapers have reported that the Sri Lankan government is negotiating military agreements with foreign countries with the aim of fighting Islamic terrorism, following the Easter Sunday attacks by Islamists against three churches and three hotels in Colombo, which left more than 250 people dead.

The declaration was signed by Card Ranjith, Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera, the Mahanayake (great leader) of the Asgiriya Chapter, Venerables Vijithasiri Thera and Dimbulkumbure Wimaladhamma Thera, Anunayake monks of the Malwatte Chapter, Venerables Wendaruwe Upali Thera and Anamaduwe Dhammadassi Thera, and Anunayake monks of the Asgiriya Chapter.

For the religious leaders, such a agreement would jeopardise the countrys sovereignty. "The government has no right to do so," they insist.

At the same time, they call on the authorities to ban extremist organisations to "ensure lasting peace and enforce the law".
When he started his studies at IIM Kashipur, the last thing Ravi Gajraj, now 32, expected to be doing was working with indigenous sources of rice, millets and vegetable seeds. Like most of his seniors and peers, he expected to join the corporate rat race  an MNC, bank, consultancy firm or the like.

But during the second year of his MBA, Srijans Ved Arya visited his campus and made a case for students to do something for society at a large with their newly acquired skills. To put their knowledge to use to benefit others instead of focusing narrowly on growing their own ...
Bright, well-meaning students convinced me that I didn't deserve to be in my university. I so deeply internalised their narrative that I couldn't fight it within my own self, let alone with them. The conversations around Dr Payal Tadvis suicide, on May 22, 2019, have been quite unsettling.

That some have attributed it to work pressure or cowardliness, shows a lack of understanding about how caste works or how deeply pervasive it is. I can imagine what could have driven her to end her life  I experienced unapologetic casteism at university too. I ...
With 51,909 members, Andong is the smallest ecclesiastical district in Korea. At the start of the 19th century, the first Christians who settled in the area were refugees from persecution. Bishop emeritus Mgr Rene Dupont (MEP) arrived in 1969, tasked with developing seven empty parishes with the help of a few priests. As a very rural area, the diocese is particularly affected by the aging of the population.

Seoul (AsiaNews/EdA)  On May 26, all Andong parishes celebrated the 50th anniversary of the smallest South Korean diocese. Mgr John Chrisostom Kwon Hyok-ju led the celebrations. Almost all of the dioceses 91 priests were present.

Activities were held in a large gym rented for the occasion as the faithful were too numerous for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The start included the screening of a video that paid tribute to the Bishop Emeritus of Andong, Mgr Rene Dupont, of the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP), who came to South Korea in 1969, tasked with developing seven empty parishes (39 at present) with the help of a few priests.

"Andong has changed so much in 50 years," he noted. "Today the diocese has 51,909 members (almost 7 per cent of the population). Everybody knows each other. In fact, Andong is the smallest diocese in Korea, and people are happy to come here. The atmosphere is very friendly."

In the middle of the gym, actors highlighted the main moments of the history of the Christian presence in Andong.

At the start of the 19th century, the first Christians who settled in the area were refugees from persecution. Fearing discovering and death, they lived in communities in remote mountains. Many became martyrs (in 1815, 1827 and especially in 1866).

Only after the signing of the French-Korean treaty, which recognised religious freedom in 1886, could Christians come out of their hiding places in a land of Confucian intellectuals, Buddhist monks and animistic shamans.

The fear of regime change and the memory of the persecution have led them to be discreet. The first waves of evangelisation began after the Second World War and the Korean War, in 1953.

"Catholicism in Korea still has a certain vitality," says Fr Carolo Charles Lee Yeong-gil, a former priest from the Diocese of Andong now engaged in pastoral work in Le Mans, France.

"There are five million Catholics out of 50 million people, and there are around one hundred thousand adult baptisms each year. But right now, things are changing a lot. There are fewer and fewer vocations, especially in the countryside, where aging among Christians is very noticeable. Andong is a very rural diocese and it is particularly affected by this trend.

"Since the founding of the diocese, evangelisation focused primarily on the farming world," Fr Carolo explained. " Catholic farmers in Andong are still very active, but young people go to the city to find work or study."

At the end of the celebrations, those present took part in the solemn thanksgiving Mass officiated by Mgr Kwon. During the homily, Fr Gilles Reithinger, MEP superior general, cited the deep bond between the Society and evangelisation in Korea.

"Two hundred years ago, he said, in response to the request of the first Korean Christians, Pope Leo XII entrusted the country to the Foreign Missions of Paris. Pope Gregory XVI appointed Mgr Bruguiere as first apostolic vicar of Korea.

"Among the 103 Korean saints, ten are priests from the MEP: Mgr Imbert and Fathers Maubant and Chastan, Mgr Berneux, Mgr Daveluy and Fathers de Bretennieres, Dorie, Beaulieu, Huin and Aumaitre.

Of the 170 priests sent to Korea, many died as martyrs from illness or exhaustion. Twelve were killed during the Korean War. On the whole, the missionaries bore the same cross as Korean Christians.
Maybe youre tired of sharing a studio apartment with five other coders. Or perhaps WeWorks beer selection no longer inspires big thoughts. Or maybe youre just a restless multimillionaire who simply wants to be rich somewhere else.

Whatever the case, New Zealand has the immigration system for you. The countrys Global Impact Visa is as much about intellectual renewal and generating positive vibes as economic impact. You can live in New Zealand or not, do business in New Zealand or not, and stay in New Zealand at the end of the visa term or not. The main ...
The factories have innocuous names, but analysts say several ostensibly civilian facilities visited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently are also used to build ballistic missile launchers and other weapons. On Saturday North Korean state news agency KCNA released reports of Kim providing field guidance at a number of factories and cities, without saying when the visits happened. The reports only mentioned economic elements, but the sites help form the core of North Koreas arms industry, and have played a major role in developing its intercontinental ...
Saudi Arabia's King Salman said on Saturday that attacks on Saudi oil assets last month by Iran-backed groups are a threat to global oil supplies and regional security. "The drone attacks on Saudi oil pumping stations carried out by groups supported by Iran not only threaten the security of the kingdom and the Gulf, but also threaten maritime safety and global oil supplies," Salman said at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in the Saudi city of Mecca. This is the third meeting of Arab leaders the king has held in Mecca this week. On Friday, Salman ...
As Air France pilots fought for control, an Airbus A330 passenger jet plummeted from 38,000 feet for four minutes, its engines running but its wings unable to seize enough air to fly. The doomed jet, weighing 205 tonnes, was in freefall after entering an aerodynamic stall. The ordeal ended in tragedy in the early hours of June 1, 2009, mid-way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris during an Atlantic storm, killing all 228 people on board. As relatives mark the disasters tenth anniversary, the aviation industry is still implementing lessons learned from Air France flight 447 even as ...
As many as 220 well-trained recruits joined the Ladakh Scouts Regiment of Indian Army as young soldiers at an impressive Attestation Parade in Leh today.

The parade organised at Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre on Friday was reviewed by Lt. Gen Y K Joshi, General Officer Commanding of Fire and Fury Corps. The General officer is also the Colonel of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and Ladakh Scouts.

"The young soldiers, hailing from all regions of Ladakh, took oath in unison to serve the nation. The Reviewing Officer congratulated them for the impressive parade and urged them to devote their life in service to the nation as proud soldiers of the Indian Army. He also complimented the parents of the young soldiers on having motivated their wards to join the Regiment," a release by the Defence Ministry said.

The General Officer exhorted the young soldiers to continue to strive hard in pursuit of excellence in all spheres and take a solemn vow to uphold the sovereignty of the nation against all odds in the true spirit signified by the ethos of the Indian Army.

The young Riflemen were awarded medals for their outstanding performance during training. 'Gaurav Padaks' were presented to the proud parents whose wards joined the Regiment as Young Soldiers.

On the occasion, the soldiers also paid homage to the bravehearts of the regiment during a wreath-laying ceremony conducted at the Regimental War Memorial.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New entrant to the North Block, Amit Shah on Saturday took charge as Home Minister in the Modi government.nd Rai, who have been named the Ministers of State in the Home Ministry, were with him. The ministers of state presented bouquets and shawl to Shah. The two ministers also took charge of their office later.

Inducted into the government, Shah will be part of the elite group of ministers in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) comprising the four ministers of Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs besides the Prime Minister.

Referred to as 'Chanakya' of modern-day for his organisational abilities that were marked by series of successes in the elections as BJP president, Shah's entry into the North Block gets a profile commensurate with challenges like terrorism, Maoist violence and the problems in Kashmir.

Replacing another heavyweight Rajnath Singh in the ministry, the BJP president will have to address issues like scrapping the special status of Kashmir under Article 370 of the constitution, an issue dear to the party and the Sangh parivar for long and a promise included in the manifesto during the recent elections.Shah's first responsibility will be to ensure that Pulwama like attacks on security forces or on civilians, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, do not take place for which he has to take steps to revitalize the security establishment.

The other major issue that will come up for review in the Home Ministry will be whether to continue with the muscular anti-terror policy being pursued in Kashmir and whether the government would give an opportunity for internal dialogue with various stakeholders in the troubled state.

The BJP and Shah, in particular, had also been campaigning for Register of Citizens throughout the country.

Shah brings with him a vast experience in the political arena. He was party in-charge of Uttar Pradesh in 2014 and helped BJP and its allies win 73 out of 80 seats.

In 2019 too, Shah managed BJP's election campaign and also rigorously campaigned at the same time, which lead the party winning 303 seats. BJP became the first party in India, since 1971, to return with full majority.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Minister of State for Food Processing Industry Rameshwar Teli said on Friday that there was good scope for the food processing industry in the whole of north east and steps would be taken for harnessing this potential.

Teli, second time MP from Assam, told reporters in Assam Bhavan that although food processing was a new subject for him he expressed confidence he would deliver results under the guidance and leadership of his senior cabinet minister Harsimrat Kaur.

"I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah ji, Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal for giving me such a responsibility and the people of Assam for supporting me. I am determined to work for the development of northeast wholeheartedly," he said.

Teli said that northeast has enough scope for food processing as the region is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and to further facilitate the processing of varieties of fruits and vegetables, required steps would be taken. He stated that he will raise voice against the problem of the state in the center.

He told ANI that "emphasis will be laid on Namrup Fertilizer Plant. I have already discussed with the Prime Minister to revive the plant".

The Namrup-based BVFCL is the lone fertilizer industry in the northeast region contributing a great deal in the agriculture sector of the state and the country as a whole.

"The government is working on a proposal to extend the gas pipeline network to Upper Assam, which will help in starting operation of Unit IV of the Namrup Fertilizer Plant", he further stated.

Teli is a member of the tea-tribe community and is the only BJP MP from Assam who has been re-nominated by the party to contest in the recent elections. He defeated Congress heavyweight and former Union minister Paban Singh Ghatowar in both 2014 and 2019 in Dibrugarh parliamentary seat.

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Launching an attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday suggested renaming the Ministry of Home Affairs as "Ministry of Providing Clean Chits".

Priyank, who is a Minister for Social Welfare in the Karnataka Government and son of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, attacked Shah a day after the latter was allotted Ministry of Home Affairs in the Narendra Modi Cabinet.

"Now that we have a new Home Minister, I think it is better to rename the Ministry of Home Affairs as Ministry of Providing Clean Chits," Priyank tweeted.

Replacing another political heavyweight Rajnath Singh in the ministry, Shah makes his debut at the Centre being given the crucial Home Ministry, a portfolio he has handled as a state minister in Gujarat under Modi.

Called 'Chanakya' for his organisational abilities, marked by a series of successes in elections as BJP president, Shah's entry into the north block gets a profile commensurate with challenges like terrorism, Maoists violence and problems in Kashmir.

Challenges grew for Shah in 2010 when he was jailed in Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Later, a special CBI court dismissed the case.

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Leaders of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday welcomed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's decision of extending the benefits of PM-KISAN Yojana to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country.

Amar Satpathy, former Agricultural Minister and BJD MLA, said: "Odisha has adopted policies to empower farmers and to increase their income. But there are many schemes operational in Odisha. The central government is following the footprint of Odisha. It is a good thing but all farmers should get benefits."

On Friday, the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister approved all land holding eligible farmer families to avail the benefits under PM-KISAN which is income support of Rs 6,000 in three installments.

Earlier, the small and marginal landholder farmer families with cultivable land holding was up to 2 hectares could avail the benefits. The revised scheme is expected to cover around 2 crore more farmers, increasing the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries.

BJD MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik said, "We should welcome if any decision is taken in the farmers' interest. Naveen babu is making efforts for the welfare of farmers. Before elections, we offered benefits to farmers under KALIA scheme. Forgiving loans is not a solution as it will increase the problems of banks."

Before simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced KALIA scheme which aims to provide annual financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per household for the sustenance of those farmers.

However, a BJD MLA also criticised the BJP government for not implementing the Swaminathan report on the solutions to the problems faced by farmers.

"Farmers are being deceived from 2014 by BJP. They have not implemented Swaminathan report. Under KALIA, our Odisha government is providing assistance to farmers giving Rs 5,000 to farmers in three installments. They are only 6,000 in three installments of Rs 2,000," said BJD MLA Rohit Pujhari.

The Odisha government has also decided to increase the number of beneficiaries under its "KALIA" scheme to 75 lakh farmer families as against 42 lakh at present.

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Francis celebrated Mass at the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine, in Transylvania, a Hungarian-speaking area, before at least 100,000 people. To go on pilgrimage, he said, is to participate in that somewhat chaotic sea of people that can give us a genuine experience of fraternity, to be part of a caravan that can together, in solidarity, create history.

Bucharest (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis celebrated Mass today dedicated to Mary Mother of the Church near the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine. As he did yesterday on his first day in Romania, the pontiff called on the people of Romania to walk together past old divisions and rifts. Going on pilgrimage, noted the Holy Father, means feeling called and compelled to journey together, asking the Lord for the grace to change past and present resentments and mistrust into new opportunities for fellowship.

Historically, Sumuleu Ciuc, where Francis arrived by plane from Bucharest, has been a place of pilgrimage that not even Romanias Communist regime was able to shut down. As the shrine is located in Transylvania, pilgrims come from all over Romania as well as Hungary.

The area is still home to a substantial Hungarian-speaking community. The choir and many pilgrims donned traditional Hungarian costumes. Some of the prayers recited during the Mass were in Hungarian.

The altar where the Pope celebrated the service is called the Three Hill Altar because it represents the three hills where the patriarchal cross, a Hungarian heraldic symbol of the 13th century, stands.

In his homily, Francis stressed the value of "pilgrimage" in such a place before a crowd of at least 100,000 who came for the Mass.

Here, every year, on the Saturday before Pentecost, you come on pilgrimage to honour the vow made by your ancestors, and to strengthen your own faith in God and your devotion to Our Lady, before her monumental wooden statue. This annual pilgrimage is part of the heritage of Transylvania, but at the same time it honours Romanian and Hungarian religious traditions. The faithful of other confessions take part in it, and it is thus a symbol of dialogue, unity and fraternity. It invites us to rediscover the witness of living faith and hope-filled life.

To go on pilgrimage is to realize that we are in a way returning home as a people, a people whose wealth is seen its myriad faces, cultures, languages and traditions. The holy and faithful People of God who in union with Mary advance on their pilgrim way singing of the Lords mercy. In Cana of Galilee, Mary interceded with Jesus to perform his first miracle; in every shrine, she watches over us and makes intercession, not only with her Son but also with each of us, asking that we not let ourselves be robbed of our fraternal love by those voices and hurts that provoke division and fragmentation. Complicated and sorrow-filled situations from the past must not be forgotten or denied, yet neither must they be an obstacle or an excuse standing in the way of our desire to live together as brothers and sisters.

To go on pilgrimage is to feel called and compelled to journey together, asking the Lord for the grace to change past and present resentments and mistrust into new opportunities for fellowship. It means leaving behind our security and comfort and setting out for a new land that the Lord wants to give us. To go on pilgrimage means daring to discover and communicate the mystique of living together, and not being afraid to mingle, to embrace and to support one another. To go on pilgrimage is to participate in that somewhat chaotic sea of people that can give us a genuine experience of fraternity, to be part of a caravan that can together, in solidarity, create history (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 87).

To go on pilgrimage is to look not so much at what might have been (and wasnt), but at everything that awaits us and cannot be put off much longer. It is to believe in the Lord who is coming and even now is in our midst, inspiring and generating solidarity, fraternity, and the desire for goodness, truth and justice (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 71). It is to commit ourselves to ensuring that the stragglers of yesterday can become the protagonists of tomorrow, and that todays protagonists do not become tomorrows stragglers. This requires a certain skill, the art of weaving the threads of the future. That is why we are here today, to say together: Mother teach us to weave the future.

Lastly, The Lord does not disappoint those who take a risk. Let us journey, then, and journey together, allowing the Gospel to be the leaven that permeates everything and fills our peoples with the joy of salvation.

After the Mass, the Pope offered a golden rose to the statue of Mary, carried to the altar. The image, over 2 metres high, all in wood, was made between 1515 and 1520, miraculously surviving a fire set by the Turks in 1661. (FP)
Mayor of Asansol Municipal Corporation and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Jitendra Kumar Tiwari on Saturday complained to the police that a caller, claiming himself to be Union Minister Babul Supriyo, has verbally abused and threatened him.

The letter written by Tiwari stated, "A caller claiming himself to be Asansol MP and Union Minister Babul Supriyo abused me in filthy language and threatened me with dire consequences."

Earlier this week in Paschim Bardhaman, Tiwari reportedly, after getting information of vandalisation of TMC office, reached there and threatened police officers to arrest BJP workers.

Alleging there was a delay in action taken by the police he threatened them stating that if immediate action was not taken he would vandalize the BJP office in the area.

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Calling Hyderabad a terror-safe zone sends out a wrong message, said Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) on Saturday.

"The statements given by the newly appointed Minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy, categorizing Hyderabad as a safe zone for terror sends a very wrong signal to investors and businesses which are planning to invest in the state," TRS leader Abid Rasool Khan told ANI.

This comes after G Kishan Reddy, who was recently appointed as the Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs, said that Hyderabad city had become a safe zone for terrorists and the Centre would take appropriate action.

"Wherever in the county a terrorist incident happens, its roots are in Hyderabad," Reddy had said adding that people from Myanmar and Bangladesh were staying in the Old City illegally and the union home ministry will take an action.

Reacting further to the newly appointed minister's remarks, Khan said, "We have nothing against government taking action against terrorist. I can assure everybody that Hyderabad is one of the safest places in the country and friendliest environment for carrying out businesses.

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The case against retired Army soldier Mohammad Sanaullah who has been sent to detention centre for illegal migrants is "fabricated" as he was on a counter-insurgency operation in Manipur at the time police said to have taken his statement in Assam, claimed family members and advocate of Sanaullah.

"Yesterday, in an interview with local media, the enquiry officer has claimed that he never met Sanaullah and the person he enquired was not him but somebody else. In the Foreigners Tribunal, we have already contended that the case against him is fabricated and holds no truth as at the time the police claimed to have taken his statement he was deployed in counter-insurgency operation far away in Manipur," said Sanaullah advocate Aman Wadue.

"He is falsely implicated in the case and he is not a foreigner. The enquiry is only being made on the basis of names and other details in the voter list which is not fully reliable as it has many errors. The thumb impression on the statement taken by the police is of a different person with the same name. We have approached High Court," said Mohammad Azmal Haque, Retd. Army officer and family member.

Family members of Mohammad Sanaullah, the retired Army soldier who fought in the Kargil war two decades ago and who is currently serving as an ASI in the Border Police has approached the Gauhati High Court after he was sent to a detention centre for illegal migrants.

Mohammad Sanaullah, 52, who retired as an honorary Lieutenant in the Army, was arrested soon after he was summoned by the Assam Police Border Organisation, or the Border Police, in Guwahati on Tuesday.

The arrest followed the order of a Foreigners' Tribunal that adjudged him a non-citizen.

Sanaullah's family said they hoped the High Court would hand them justice.

Before joining Border Police, Sanaullah served in the Army for 30 years and was designated as a Captain. He was also conferred a medal by President of India for his service.

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Congress party on Saturday urged the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come up with a multi-phased roadmap to kick-start the economy and evolve an employment generating strategy.

"Slump in economic growth and runaway unemployment are two important challenges before the country. I hope the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister will address them by laying a short-medium-long term roadmap of kick-starting the growth engine as also employment generating strategy," said Congress leader Randeep Surjewala.

Government data showed on Friday that the country recorded a GDP growth of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19, the lowest in five years. In FY 2017-18, the GDP growth rate was 7.2 per cent. The slowdown was largely attributed to lacklustre growth in agriculture and mining sectors.

Data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Friday also showed that 5.8 per cent of men and 3.8 per cent of women are unemployed in rural India. In urban areas, the numbers are much higher at 7.1 per cent of men and 10.8 per cent women being unemployed.

Congress leader P L Punia also urged the government to take concrete steps to reverse the economic slowdown which, he said, is causing a lot of hardship to people.

The industrial output is down, the manufacturing sector is not growing, resulting in massive unemployment in urban and rural regions across the country, he said.

The news of unemployment in 2017-18 at 6.1 per cent came as when the Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi began its second term on Friday.

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A Pune court on Saturday sent Vikram Dhawe and advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, the two accused in Narendra Dabholkar murder case, to CBI custody.

After hearing the arguments, Additional Sessions Judge A V Rotte sent the two accused to CBI custody till June 4.

During the course of hearing, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Suryavanshi, appearing for the CBI submitted before the court that Punalekar crossed all his limits as an advocate and advised Kalaskar to destroy the weapons used in the murder of Dabholka, following which four pistols were thrown and destroyed.

SPP Suryavanshi contended that accused Vikram Bhave showed the way of escape to assailants. "It is a big chain of conspiracy, hence, 5 days of time is not enough. Sanjeev Punalekar's custody is required. He is not cooperating in the investigation. He knows what he has done but is not sharing it during the interrogation. Hence we want more time investigate him," the public prosecutor told the court.

"Mobile and two laptops have been recovered from the possession of Punalekar. The data analysis for the same is on and we want to confront him on this data," Suryavanshi contended.

The investigation agency further submitted that forensic psychology analysis and statement analysis tests were conducted on Punalekar and the results of the same are still awaited.

Suryavanshi submitted, "We want to know from Vikram Bhave whether more people were involved in the reccee as the vehicle used in the killing is not yet recovered."

Concluding his arguments, the public prosecutor demanded for 14 days custody of the two accused. "It's a big conspiracy and as per the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act we are entitled to avail 30 days of custody, however, we need only 14 days custody of the accused persons," CBI's counsel contended.

Commencing his arguments, Sanjeev Punalekar through his counsel Subhash Jha submitted before the court that his advice to Kalaskar is not illegal. "If some client comes to me seeking advice it's my right to have privilege communication under section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act and that is not illegal," he submitted.

While advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay appearing for another accused Vikram Bhawe told the court that both the accused persons were interrogated by CBI for two days before the arrest. Inspite of that they could not get any material for making any arrest.

"The investigation agency has got no justification to arrest the accused persons. The statement of Sharad Kalaskar based on which the duo is arrested is taken in some other case and is not related to this case," Upadhyay submitted before the court.

He added that the probe agency has issued summons to the two accused on Whatsapp and no legal summons were served to them.

The agency had arrested Punalekar and Bhave from Mumbai on May 25 in connection with the murder case. Punalekar is also an advocate for the case and has been advocating for many right-wing accused in different cases.

Founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), Dabholkar was shot by bike-borne assailants while returning home from a morning walk on August 20, 2013.

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Members of various Dalit organisations in the capital on Saturday organised a dharna, urging Rahul Gandhi to continue as the president of the Congress party.

Urging Gandhi not to resign, former Congress MLA Jai Kishan said: "Rahul might be correct in deciding to resign, but for the millions of people who have placed their faith in him and the party, it is not justifiable. He shouldn't let us down by resigning from his post."

"He is not the only one who should be held accountable for the party's performance in the elections. All the party workers should take moral responsibility and work hard to strengthen the party," he said.

"As of now, there is no one who can replace Rahul Gandhi. It is not the right time to give someone else the responsibility to lead the party," he said.

It is worth mentioning that Rahul had offered to step down from the party president post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, taking the moral responsibility for the party's dismal performance in the recently held General Elections.

R Joshi, another activist, said: "We firmly believe in the potential of Rahul Gandhi. We all know the sacrifices made by the Congress leaders since Pandit Nehru's period for the country. That is the reason why we urge Rahul Gandhi to continue."

He said: "Election is more of like a game. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. It is not a big deal. We all believe that Rahul is capable of saving our country from the hands of those people who don't believe in the system of social inclusion."

While reports suggest that Gandhi remains firm on resigning, a number of leaders from the Congress party and its allies have urged him to continue as the party president.

In the recently held Lok Sabha polls, Rahul lost to BJP's Smriti Irani in Amethi, which he had been representing since 2004. However, he got elected from Wayanad in Kerala. The BJP won 303 seats in the polls, while the Congress could win just 52 seats.

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At least 12 people lost their lives after a "disgruntled" public utilities worker opened fire at a Virginia Beach city building here on Friday night.

The shooter was killed in the ensuing gunfight with police forces, CNN reported while quoting Police Chief James Cervera.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach...The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbours, colleagues," said Mayor Bobby Dyer.

The mass shooting took place in Building 2 of the municipal centre, according to police.

The injured were rushed to the Virginia Beach General Hospital for treatment. Four people are still wounded and receiving medical attention, amongst whom, one is a police officer who was "saved by his vest," the police said.

The shooting suspect was identified as 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, who worked as a certified professional engineer for the city.

The motive behind the shooting is yet to be ascertained.

FBI officials reached the scene to assist the local authorities with an investigation into the incident.

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Delhi BJP unit on Saturday organised a felicitation ceremony for the party workers after the party swept all seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the capital in the recently concluded elections.

Felicitating the workers on this occasion, BJP Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari said," Due to our workers, we have a government which started taking decisions from the first day itself. Modi government has not only increased scholarships for children but also made provision for the pension to the farmers."

Targeting the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal, Tiwari said, "In the same way we have to dislodge the anarchist Kejriwal government. There is BJP at the centre and if we form BJP government in Delhi then all the works will be done smoothly."

Terming the BJP workers as the backbone of the party, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijendra Gupta said, "Kejriwal's government has not fulfilled a single promise and voters don't need his government in Delhi anymore."

Targeting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, party MP Hansraj Hans said, "On one hand, there are people working with for the nation and on the other, there are people like Kejriwal who support the people trying to split the country."

The time has come to free Delhi from the anarchism of Kejriwal government and work with full energy in our areas, said Hans.

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Despite severe criticism from his political opponents, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy on Saturday looked undeterred over his statement calling Hyderabad a "safe zone of terrorists".

"There are places in the country where terror activities are on a rise. If an incident takes place in Bengaluru, Bhopal, its roots are traced to Hyderabad. State police, NIA have arrested terrorists in Hyderabad on an interval of every 2-3 months in the past. I did not say anything wrong," Reddy told reporters here.

Talking to a newspaper on Friday, he had called Hyderabad as a terror safe zone.

"Wherever in the country, a terrorist incident happens, its roots are in Hyderabad," he said.

Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, earlier in the day, slammed the newly-elected MP from Secunderabad for his statement and said the BJP sees terrorists wherever Muslims live.

Reacting to Owaisi's comments that Muslims need not to afraid by Modi's return to power as Constitution safeguards their rights, Reddy said he does not need Owaisi's certificate over minorities.

"Our PM has worked and will work for Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas to strengthen the nation," Reddy said.

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A hamlet of 47 families, who were issued land deeds by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami three years ago, have finally been allotted the land in the middle of an elephant corridor.

Speaking to ANI, a disgruntled villager Kandhi Amma said: "I, along with 100 other families residing in thatched huts on the outskirts of Coimbatore had raised a demand for free land deeds ten years ago. Three years ago, we were taken by our local MLA to MGR centenary celebration, where as many as 47 families were granted the land deed by Edappadi K Palaniswami. Recently, we were informed that we have been allotted land in the elephant corridor. Initially, we were happy, but later when we visited the site, it was discovered that it is a rocky area in the middle of the elephant corridor."

She further added that the area is unfit for human habitation. "We will be killed by the elephants if we live there," Amma said.

Another villager Rankjitham said: "We took the matter to the local MLA, but he started abusing us. We demand the district authorities give us land in a suitable area.

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In the afternoon Francis travelled to Iasi to meet with young people and families. It's up to young people to pursue the prophetic vision: without love and without God, no one can live on the earth. Faith does not show up on the stock exchange. It is not for sale, but it is a gift that keeps alive a profound and beautiful certainty: that we are Gods beloved children.

Bucharest (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis met with young people and families on Saturday afternoon in Iasi, eastern Romania, almost on the border with Moldova. During the meeting he said that faith unites parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, people different by birth and traditions. He also said that young people must pursue the prophetic vision: without love and without God, no one can live on the earth.

Immediately upon arriving after a flight by plane and trip by helicopter, the pontiff went to Our Lady Queen of Iasi Cathedral, where he met many sick people whom he greeted one by one. On leaving, the Pope blessed a marble statue of Christ the Redeemer and a stone that shows the Way of Santiago de Compostela in Romania.

Like this morning at the shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, in Transylvania, a large crowd made the journey from the cathedral to the large square in front of the Palace of Culture in Iasi, to hear people sing and bear witness as well as listen to Franciss words. In his address, the pontiff highlighted the story of Elisabeta and Ioan who spoke of their life in a family with 11 children, two of them priests and two nuns.

All of you are different, said the Holy Father, you come from different places, yet today everyone is gathered, together, just as on every Sunday morning in the old days, when everyone went to Church together. The happiness of parents seeing their children gathered around them. Surely, today there is joy in heaven at the sight of all these children who have wanted to be together.

You look to the future and you open the door to it for your children, your grandchildren and your people by offering them the best lesson that you learned from your own journey: never forget where you come from. Wherever you go and whatever you do, dont forget your roots. It is the same dream, the same advice that Saint Paul gave to Timothy: to keep alive the faith of his mother and grandmother (cf. 2 Tim 1:5-7). As you continue to grow in every way  stronger, older and even in importance  do not forget the most beautiful and worthwhile lesson you learned at home.

Certainly, a faith that does not show up on the stock exchange, or sell, may not appear, as Eduard reminded us, to be of much use. Faith, however, is a gift that keeps alive a profound and beautiful certainty: that we are Gods beloved children. God loves with a Fathers love. Every life, and every one of us, belongs to him. We belong as children, but also as grandchildren, spouses, grandparents, friends, neighbours; we belong as brothers and sisters. The Evil one divides, scatters, separates; he sows discord and distrust. He wants us to live detached from others and from ourselves. The Spirit, on the contrary, reminds us that we are not anonymous, abstract, faceless beings, without history or identity. We are not meant to be empty or superficial. There is a very strong spiritual network that unites us; one that connects and sustains us, and is stronger than any other type of connection. It is roots: the realization that we belong to one another, that each of our lives is anchored in the lives of others. Young people flourish when they are truly loved.

Speaking about Edouard, a young man, the pontiff noted that he told us that, like many others in his town, he tried to practise the faith amid numerous challenges. Many indeed are the challenges that can discourage us and make us close in on ourselves. We cannot deny it or pretend that it isnt the case. Difficulties exist and they are evident. But that cannot make us forget that faith itself offers us the greatest challenge of all: a challenge that, far from enclosing or isolating us, can bring out the best in us all. The Lord is the first to challenge us. He tells us that the worst comes when there are no more paths between neighbours, when we see more trenches than roads. The Lord is the one who gives us a song more powerful than all the siren songs that would paralyze us on our journey. And he always does it the same way: by singing a more beautiful and challenging song.

The Lord gives us a vocation, a challenge to discover the talents and abilities we possess and to put them at the service of others. He asks us to use our freedom as a freedom to choose, to say yes to a loving plan, to a face, to a look. This is a much greater freedom than simply being able to consume and buy things. It is a vocation that sets us in motion, makes us fill in trenches and open up new avenues to remind us all that we are children and brothers and sisters to one another.

This is less about generating great programmes or projects, than about allowing faith to grow. As I mentioned to you at the beginning: faith is not transmitted only by words, but also by gestures, looks and caresses, like those of our mothers and grandmothers; with the flavour of those things we learned at home in a straightforward and simple way. Where there is hue and din, let us try to listen; where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony; where everything is uncertain and ambiguous, let us bring clarity. Where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity; in the midst of sensationalism and instant communication, let us be concerned about the integrity of others; where there is aggression, let us bring peace; where there is falsehood, let us bring truth. In everything, let us make it our concern to open up paths that enable a sense of belonging, of being children and brothers and sisters (cf. Message for the 2018 World Day of Social Communications).
Head of Congress social media wing Divya Spandana seems to have logged off Twitter.

Her twitter account does not display any tweets and her Twitter bio does not mention her as head of social media. There is also ambiguity on whether she is still part of the social media team.

There is no official confirmation from either the Indian Congress party or Spandana herself.

Word is out that Spandana has parted ways from the team, according to a source.

When ANI reached out to her she refuted the claim. "Your source is wrong", said Spandana.

The Congress media department declined any comment on Spandana's account being deleted.

Spandana has been credited with a turnaround of the Congress party's social media presence. BJP has a robust media cell and a strong online presence.

Congress was routed in the recent general elections with BJP-led NDA storming into power at the Centre.

After the drubbing, the Congress had officially announced that their leaders or members will not participate in discussions or telivision debates for at least a month.

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Enforcement Directorate on Saturday summoned former Civil Aviation Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel to appear before the agency on June 6 in connection with the airline seat allotment scam case.

Speaking to ANI, Patel said: "I will be happy to cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate to help them understand the complexities of the aviation sector."

Earlier on March 30, the law enforcement agency had filed a charge sheet against the accused corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar in which the name of the minister had also come up.

The agency in its charge sheet had alleged that Talwar was in touch with Patel.

"Talwar finalised various communications on behalf of Emirates, Air Arabia to be addressed to the then Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel," Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh, appearing for the agency, told Special CBI Judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj on May 1.

Talwar was extradited by Dubai authorities on January 30, along with Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena. The ED had alleged that Talwar was involved in cases related to corporate lobbying.

He is accused of facilitating the dispersal of profit making routes of Air India to private airlines using his contacts.

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Punjab government has put on hold the rationalisation policy for transfer of vocational teachers till further orders, Punjab government said in a statement on Saturday.

" Minister Om Prakash Soni has taken this decision after objections registered by leaders of the Vocational Teachers Union during a meeting with the minister. Besides this, some Members of Legislative Assembly have also written to the minister to review the policy before its implementation," it added.

Om Prakash Soni took this decision after long discussions with the union leaders. He also wrote to the Secretary, Punjab in this regard.

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Rahul Gandhi may have offered to resign as President accepting moral responsibility for the election debacle but Sonia Gandhi on Friday came out strongly backing him for his "valiant and relentless campaign" and asserted that he has "demonstrated his fearless leadership, by taking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government head on".

Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting after he re-election as its Chairperson, she said even as they were meeting emotional messages were coming from all over the country "vindicating" his leadership and said the party We all express our gratitude to him for his sincerity of purpose, his relentless effort, his hard work and leadership," she added.

Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party, which elected as Chairperson of the CPP for a ofurth consecutive term, she said even as they were meetijng there were "emotional messages" froin all corners "vindicating" his leadership and said "We all express our gratitude to him for his sincerity of purpose, his relentless effort, his hard work and leadership."

Gandhi said it was time to draw appropriate lessons from the party's defeat in the elections and declared that undeterred by the many challenges that lie ahead, we (Congress) will rise again."

"...As Congress President, he has given his all and toiled night and day for the Congress party. He demonstrated his fearless leadership, by taking the Modi government head on. He highlighted the injustices carried out against farmers, workers, traders and small businesses, against the youth, women and the marginalised sections of our society," Gandhi said in the meeting, the first after the election defeat and ahead of the parliament session starting later this month.

Expressing gratitude to Rahul for his "relentless effort, hard work and leadership", she said, "He has rejuvenated the Congress organisation in many states, and most recently led us to victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. As Congress President, He earned the respect and love of every worker and crores of voters across the length and breadth of our country."

"Even as I speak, emotional messages are coming from all corners, vindicating his leadership. We all express our gratitude to him for his sincerity of purpose, his relentless effort, his hard work and leadership," she added.

The UPA chairperson also said in the new Modi government, the party will support progressive and inclusive policies but will also oppose the government strongly whenever they undertake divisive and regressive actions.

"...We were in the forefront of ensuring that some of the UPA's historic Acts were not diluted. At the same time, we cooperated with the government on a series of reforms, with constructive suggestions. This time too, we will support progressive and inclusive policies but oppose the government strongly whenever they undertake divisive and regressive actions," she said.

"In an unprecedented crisis, lies an unprecedented opportunity. It is up to us to grasp it with humility and self-confidence, drawing the appropriate lessons from our defeat. The people of India expect us to honour their mandate by renewing and reinvigorating ourselves. Undeterred by the many challenges that lie ahead, we will rise again," she said.

The UPA chairperson also said in the new Modi government, the party will support progressive and inclusive policies but will also oppose it strongly whenever they undertake "divisive and regressive" actions.

"...We were in the forefront of ensuring that some of the UPA's historic Acts were not diluted. At the same time, we cooperated with the government on a series of reforms, with constructive suggestions. This time too, we will support progressive and inclusive policies but oppose the government strongly whenever they undertake divisive and regressive actions," she said.

Sonia also asked the party leaders to ensure better coordination and cooperation with like-minded parties.

"We must remember that our numbers in the Rajya Sabha will be challenged, and therefore it is even more important to ensure better coordination and cooperation with like-minded parties. The issues we raise in Parliament, must resonate in the minds of our Party workers and with the public," she said.

Gandhi said "We are not going to let our guard down. We must hold the Government accountable to their promises. Progress is currently being measured through manufactured data. Progress must be measured with truth. We will continue to fight for truth and transparency.

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Ellen DeGeneres' mother, Betty, has opened up about her daughter's claims that she was sexually abused by her stepfather.

The American comedian and talk show host spoke about being sexually assaulted by her mother's then-husband when she was a teen on David Letterman's Netflix talk show 'My Next Guest Needs No Introduction'.

Believing the claims of Ellen, the 89-year-old said she loves her daughter, according to Fox News.

"I know now that one of the hardest things to do is speak up after being sexually abused," Betty said to NBC News. "I love my daughter, and I wish I had the capacity to listen to her when she told me what happened."

"I live with that regret, and I wouldn't want that for any other parent. If someone in your life has the courage to speak out, please believe them," she added.

During her interview with Letterman, Ellen admitted the man reportedly touched her breasts.

"He told me when she [my mom] was out of town that he'd felt a lump in [my mother's] breast and needed to feel my breasts because he didn't want to upset her, but he needed to feel mine," she recalled.

"I'm angry at myself because, you know, I didn't -- I was too weak to stand up to -- I was 15 or 16. It's a really horrible, horrible story and the only reason I'm actually going to go into detail about it is because I want other girls to not ever let someone do that."

She continued, "We [women] just don't feel like we're worthy, or we're scared to have a voice, and we're scared to say no. That's the only reason I think it's important to talk about it because there are so many young girls and it doesn't matter how old you are. When I see people speaking out, especially now, it angers me when victims aren't believed, because we just don't make stuff up. And I like men, but there are so many men that get away with so much."

"It is just time for us to have a voice. It's time for us to have power," the Emmy-winner added.

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You will now be able to check for most popular dishes at the restaurant you are headed to when you use Google Maps.

The mapping service has added a new feature called popular dishes that highlights a restaurant's most popular items on the menu to make it easier to choose your next dining destination.

The feature uses a machine learning algorithm that matches dish names, provided by Google Maps users, with relevant photos and reviews.

The popular dishes feature is live on the Google Maps app for Android devices. It will be rolled out to iOS users in the coming months.

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The Centre on Saturday dismissed apprehensions over the three language formula in the wake of the draft new policy and said there was no move to impose any language on anyone.

"Only a report has been submitted on the new policy. Government has not taken any decision on it. It has not even considered it and therefore the misunderstanding that the government has decided on the new policy is not true."

"After we will get the public feedback, then only it will come up before the government. More importantly, the Modi government has always promoted all Indian languages and therefore there is no case of or intention of imposing any language on anybody. We want to promote all Indian languages," Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told the media.

His comments came after a controversy erupted in Tamil Nadu over the draft education policy recommendation favouring a three language formula in school education. Political parties in the state have warned of a language war on the issue.

"It is a draft prepared by the committee on which a decision will be taken only after we get the public feedback," he said.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Cabinet for taking historic decisions at its first meeting in New Delhi last evening.

"The pro-poor decisions benefiting poor farmers and traders reflect the earnestness of the BJP-led NDA government to fulfill the promises made to the people," he said on Saturday.

In a statement issued here, the Chief Minister said: "The extension of the PM-KISAN scheme to all farmer families, irrespective of size of land holdings, introduction of a pension scheme for our industrious farmers who toil day and night to keep our nation fed as well as small shopkeepers, retail traders, and the self-employed people, and increase in the amount to be paid as part of the Prime Ministers Scholarship Scheme under the Defence Fund, speak volumes about the earnestness of the BJP-led NDA government to fulfill the promises made to the people.""These decisions were taken at the very first meeting of the Union Cabinet after the Lok Sabha elections show that the Narendra Modi government has hit the ground running in answering the aspirations of the people," the Chief Minister said.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit the Police Memorial tomorrow to pay tribute to the policemen who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.

The memorial located in New Delhi's Chanakyapuri area is spread over 6.12 acres and has a 30-foot tall heavy black granite central sculpture, a museum and a 'Wall of Valour' bearing the names of policemen who have died while serving the nation since Independence.

Earlier on Saturday, the new entrant to the North Block, Shah took charge as Home Minister in the Modi government 2.0.

Shortly after taking charge, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with top officials of the ministry, followed by a call on him by Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik.

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Hrithik Roshan, who is currently in China for the premiere of his film 'Kaabil', is on cloud nine after meeting Jackie Chan on Friday.

And it looks like the 45-year-old actor had his fanboy moment. "Meeting Jackie Chan was a revelation at so many levels. Incredible experience. Inspired," Hrithik wrote on Instagram, while sharing a picture with the international cinema icon.

In one photograph, Hrithik is seen holding on to a book, sporting a casual look with a black t-shirt and jeans and completing the look with a hat. Jackie is capturing hearts in a white t-shirt and black pants.

In another picture, the two stars have posed with panda soft toys.

The 'Fiza' actor also posted a picture as Instagram story where he called a "12-year-old kid" who gets crazy after meeting his favourite personality.

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Earlier on Friday, Hrithik shared a poster of Kaabil, thanking his fans in India and China for their support.

"He's probably wondering why I'm so happy.KAABIL in CHINA. Ground zero. ( as you can tell ) .Just landed in Beijing. Feels like the start all over again. Thank you to all my fans in India and China and everywhere else for making this incredible experience happen! Love you all so much! .And congratulations team KAABIL !! Xiexie ni de ai CHINA," he wrote.

Hritik's co-actor in the film, Yami Gautam, will soon join the actor in China before the release of the film on June 5.

'Kaabil' follows the story of a visually impaired couple Supriya and Rohan living happily. Their lives take an intense turn when Supriya is raped by some men having strong political connections.

After Supriya is unable to handle what happened to her, she commits suicide. Rohan vows to take revenge from the culprits.

The film which was directed by Sanjay Gupta and produced by Hrithik's father Rakesh Roshan, had hit the theatres on January 25, 2017, in India.

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Dates have always been an inseparable part of the holy month of Ramzan, when the faithful break their long hours of fasting with iftar, that is traditionally begun by consuming dates.

To meet the growing demands of consumers and offer them more options, many new varieties of dates have been brought into the market of the Hyderabad city during the ongoing month of Ramzan.

Local markets in old Hyderabad and other parts of the city are flooded with a wide range of dates. Every other provision store has set up special stalls selling dates to cater to 'Rozadars' demands.

Talking about the increasing demand and exports of the relished food product, Shaik Safath, a trader in the old city says: "In the holy month of Ramzan people from various parts of the city and the state come here to purchase varieties of dates. Here the public can purchase many varieties. We exclusively display dates imported from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and India. The sales increases manifold during Ramzan, however, remains low on other days."

He also said that the price range of dates available in the market varies from Rs 250 to Rs 2500 per kg.

Consumers also seemed excited to taste the new varieties of dates.

Syed Quadri, who buys dates says, "We remain on fast during this month and end it by consuming dates. So we visit the old city of Hyderabad to purchase dates as here large varieties of dates are available. We are getting many new varieties here and it feels good to taste them with the family during the time of Iftar."

During the month of Ramzan, the devout observe rigorous fasting for about 30 days and do not consume food or water from dawn to dusk. They eat Sehri (a pre-dawn meal) and break their day-long fast with Iftar in the evening.

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After Amit Shah assumed the charge as Union Home Minister on Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik gave a small briefing to Shah on the prevailing situation in J-K.

Malik met Shah at Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) here today.

"I briefed him about the ground situation and also told him what the people think. I briefed him about the development work," said Satya Pal Malik.

He denied having any talks regarding the State Assembly elections in J & K saying it is a subject related to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

"Election is not my subject, the election will take place when Election Commission will decide about it," said Malik.

"We are prepared for the Amarnath Yatra, with people's support, it will be successful as last year," he said.

Amit Shah on Saturday took charge as Home Minister in the Modi government. He will have to address issues like scrapping the special status of Kashmir under Article 370 of the constitution, an issue dear to the party and the Sangh Parivar for long and a promise included in the manifesto during the recent elections.

Shah's first responsibility will be to ensure that Pulwama like attacks on security forces or on civilians, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, do not take place for which he has to take steps to revitalize the security establishment.

The other major issue that will come up for review in the Home Ministry will be whether to continue with the muscular anti-terror policy being pursued in Kashmir and whether the government would give an opportunity for internal dialogue with various stakeholders in the troubled state.

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The decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet will go a long way in improving the status of farmers in the country, said Bhartiya Kisan Morcha president Virendra Singh Mast on Saturday.

"I want to thank Modiji and his cabinet for taking the biggest step since Independence for the welfare of farmers. This will boost the agricultural economy which will empower crores of farmers across the country. This is the first time when the farmers have felt that they are important and cared for in the country," Mast said at a press conference here.

Addressing rural distress in its first meeting on Friday, the Union Cabinet approved a new pension scheme for small and marginal farmers across the country and extended the ambit of the direct income support scheme for farmers by removing the ceiling of two hectares to cover more beneficiaries.

The benefits of PM KISAN Yojana have now been extended to all 14.5 crore farmers of the country.

Mast also said that there is joy amidst the farmers in India and also thanked Home Minister Amit Shah for keeping these promises in the BJP manifesto.

"I thank BJP president and Home minister Amit Shahji for keeping these promises in the BJP manifesto and the government for fulfilling them in the first meeting of its ministers," he said.

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I will be happy to cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to help them understand the complexities of the aviation sector, said former Union Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Sunday.

The law enforcement agency earlier in the day issued summon to Patel, asking him to appear before the agency on June 6 in connection with the airline seat allotment scam case during his tenure.

Talking to ANI, Patel said: "The matter pertains to bilateral agreements for the exchange of flying rights between two governments where any private individual has no role to play."

He said that traffic rights to foreign airlines were granted by their respective countries and not by the Government of India.

"Flying rights are equal for both the respective countries. This policy has been in practice for the past 60 years or more and till date irrespective of any government," added Patel.

Stating further, Praful, who is also a Nationalist Congress Party leader, said: "This issue has also been examined in great details by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), which says that 'the liberalised policy towards bilateral entitlements benefitted Indian traveller considerably in terms of choices and lower tariffs."

"Moreover, the CAG report does not point out any loss incurred by the exchequer and has not indicated any government functionaries or pointed out any lacunae in the process," he said.

Earlier on March 30, the law enforcement agency had filed a charge sheet against the accused corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar, in which the name of the former minister had also come up.

The agency in its charge sheet had alleged that Talwar was in touch with Patel.

"Talwar finalised various communications on behalf of Emirates, Air Arabia to be addressed to then Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel," Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh, appearing for the agency, told Special CBI Judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj on May 1.

Talwar was extradited by Dubai authorities on January 30 along with Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena. The ED had alleged that Talwar was involved in cases related to corporate lobbying.

Talwar is accused of facilitating the dispersal of profit making routes of Air India to private airlines using his contacts.

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Indian Police Service (IPS) Association on Saturday welcomed the Narendra Modi government's decision to enhance Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme given under the Defence Fund (NDF).

"We at IPS Association express our heartfelt gratitude to PM Sri @narendramodi for his Cabinet's decision to include wards of police martyrs in the Prime Minister Scholarship Scheme as well as raising the amount disbursed under it," it said in a tweet.

In his first decision after being sworn-in to head the government for a second term, Modi, who had made security an important plank in the elections, on Friday hiked the scholarship assistance under the NDF.

The rates of scholarship have been increased from Rs 2000 per month to Rs 2500 per month for boys and from Rs 2250 per month to Rs 3000 per month for girls.

The ambit of the Scholarship Scheme has been extended to the wards of State Police officials who are or were martyred during terror or Naxal attacks. The quota of new scholarships for the wards of state police officials will be Rs 500 in a year.

"Our government's first decision dedicated to those who protect India! Major changes approved in PM's Scholarship Scheme under the Defence Fund including enhanced scholarships for wards of police personnel martyred in terror or Maoist attacks," Modi had said in a tweet later.

The NDF was set up in 1962 to take charge of the voluntary donations in cash and kind received for promotion of the national defence effort, and to decide on their utilisation.

Currently, the fund is being used for the welfare of the members of the Armed Forces, Para Military forces and Railway Protection Force, and their dependents.

The fund is administered by an Executive Committee with the Prime Minister as the Chairperson and the Defence, Finance and Home Ministers as Members.

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BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa on Saturday said that the leaders of his political quarter have instructed him not to make any move which can destabilise the coalition government in Karnataka. He also informed media that Congress' Siddaramaiah is plotting to get some legislators to defect.

"I have just returned from Delhi. Our leaders have instructed me not to take any move that will scuttle the government in the state. I believe that Siddaramaiah is sending some of his MLAs to me and is trying to take political leverage. We will remain silent for the time being. They may fight with each other and anything can happen. We have been clearly informed not to disturb or made attempts to topple the government," he said while speaking to ANI in Bengaluru.

Yeddyurappa was in the capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After attending the function at Rashtrapati Bhawan, he held talks with the senior leaders of the party.

The JDS-Congress coalition, which is in power in the state, went through a rough patch during the campaigning of the recently concluded elections.

Congress has 79 MLAs while Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) has 37 MLAs in the coalition government holding power in the state.

Tensions between the two parties benefitted the BJP which won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka while both JDS and Congress had to content itself with just one seat each. However, the Karnataka Congress unit had said that there was no threat to the coalition in the state.

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After reports of filmmaker Vikas Bahl getting acquitted of sexual harassment charges came in media, Rangoli Chandel, sister of Kangana Ranaut, slammed the move and said the girls who raise voice against sexual assaults will now be shamed.

Rangoli also took a dig at actor Alok Nath who was granted anticipatory bail a few months ago in an alleged rape case filed by writer-producer Vinita Nanda.

"After Alok Nath Vikas Bahl gets clean chit, whereas girls will be shamed all their lives for raising their voices, Bollywood scum land on this earth remember jaise woh film piti thi yeh bhi pitegi (the movie will be a flop like the earlier one)," Rangoli tweeted.

Rangoli further wrote, " tum logon ka hisab hoga (you guys will face the consequences), there is a world beyond this world, where a woman's cry isn't unheard."

Bahl was facing charges of sexually harassing a woman, who used to work as a crew member with him, following which the Indian Film and Television Directors' Association served a show-cause notice to him.

According to media reports, Bahl name will be incorporated in the credits of the upcoming Hrithik Roshan starrer film 'Super 30'.

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With Tunga dam which provides water to Shivamogga city reaching a dead storage level, the city may likely face acute water shortage in the near future, officials said.

The city which has a population of about 3.60 lakh is dependent on the dam water for its everyday water supply; however, the intense summer season has led to dip in the present water level in the dam.

Outlining the gravity of the alarming situation, Executive Engineer Ramesh told ANI, "The Monsoon is delayed. Because of dead storage, we are only able to draw very less amount of water. We can manage for a month with available water. We have requested the irrigation authority to take suitable action to preserve the required amount of water. We cannot use dead storage water for any purpose except drinking, so district administration has ordered to preserve water".

He also asserted that due to scarcity, the water is being supplied to the outskirts of the city on alternate days.

Ramesh also said that the district administration has already issued orders to not supply water for irrigation and has made water supply for the public as its first priority.

Timmegowda, a tanker owner supplying water said, "Rain is delayed, from last three-four years first time we are facing such a situation. As of now, we try to manage drinking water with tankers."

Shivamogga Deputy Commissioner ( DC) KA Dayananda also said instructions have been given to ensure supply of drinking water.

Dayananda said, "Rural part of Shivamogga is suffering a lot and I have instructed all junior and senior engineers to ensure the supply of drinking water. For Shivamogga city we are using Tunga dam water, we reached dead storage now. I wish good rainfall in the catchment area which will spread to Chikkamagaluru district."

On May 31, India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted normal rainfall across the country from June to September.

As per the IMD Bulletin released on Friday, "Rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2019 southwest monsoon season (June to September) is most likely to be Normal".

The four-month monsoon season is extremely crucial for the agricultural-based economy of India and affects the livelihood of millions of people.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first Cabinet decision to approve a major change in the 'Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme' under the Defence Fund has garnered wide-scale support from the kin of those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

In his first decision after being sworn in for a second term, Modi increased the rates of scholarships from Rs. 2000 per month to Rs. 2500 per month for boys and from Rs. 2250 per month to Rs. 3000 per month for girls.

Speaking to ANI about the Cabinet decision, wife of Kadti Mukesh, who has killed during an encounter with Naxalites on February 18 last year, said, "I learned about this scholarship scheme. My daughter will get help in education with this scheme and I am happy about it."

Kadti has a three-year-old daughter who will soon start school.

Family members of another soldier, Kawasi Hunga, who lost his life in a bomb blast in the year 2014 also expressed delight over the announcement. The deceased soldier has three daughters aged five, eight and ten years.

The eldest daughter, a Class Five student said: "Scholarship will get us money to fund our dresses and books. It will be good for our education."

The ambit of the Scholarship Scheme has been extended to the wards of State Police officials who are or were killed during terror or Naxal attacks. The quota of new scholarships for the wards of state police officials will be 500 in a year.

"Our government's first decision dedicated to those who protect India! Major changes approved in PM's Scholarship Scheme under the Defence Fund including enhanced scholarships forwards of police personnel martyred in terror or Maoist attacks," Modi said in a tweet later.

The Defence Fund (NDF) was set up in 1962 to take charge of the voluntary donations in cash and kind received for promotion of the national defence effort, and to decide on their utilisation.

Currently, the fund is being used for the welfare of the members of the Armed Forces, paramilitary forces and Railway Protection Force and their dependents. The fund is administered by an Executive Committee with the Prime Minister as the Chairperson and the Defence, Finance and Home Ministers as Members.

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A lion cub and three langurs were rescued on Saturday from Belgharia Expressway here.

Based on the intelligence received, a joint team of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) and West Bengal Forest Directorate (WBFD) chased and intercepted a Mahindra Scorpio near Kendriya Vihar Housing Complex, informed the officials.

The three accused, identified as Wasim Rahman (29), Wajid Ali (36) and Md. Gulam Gaus (27), have been arrested in connection with the case.

The lion cub (Panthera Leo) and three langurs (Trachypithecus Poliocephalus)-two adults and a juvenile- were recovered from the vehicle, officials said.

As per the preliminary investigation, it has been revealed that the endangered animals were trafficked from Bangladesh to Western India.

Further investigation is underway.

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Madhya Pradesh government has issued orders for a major administrative reshuffle in the state, transferring 37 IPS and 29 IAS officials.

In the recent transfers, District Magistrates of 15 districts have also been relocated from their current postings whereas over a dozen district police chiefs have been given different charges.

Bhopal Zone Inspector General (IG) Jaideep Prasad has also been transferred in and will be replaced by 1995 batch IPS officer Yogesh Deshmukh.

District Police Chiefs of Jabalpur, Dhar, Agar Malwa, Sidhi, Shahdol, Gwalior are among those transferred from their current charges.

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The main accused in the murder of Surendra Singh, a close aide of Amethi MP Smriti Irani, was arrested by the police following an encounter here.

According to the police, the accused, identified as Wasim, was held in Shalhapur area on Friday night following an encounter where he sustained a bullet injury and was admitted to a hospital.

With this, all the five accused in the case have been arrested.

Earlier on Monday, four accused - Ramchandra, Dharmanath, Naseem and Golu - were arrested by the police in connection with the case.

A case has been registered against them.

Singh, former village head of Barauli, was shot dead at his residence in Amethi on May 25. He was referred to a Lucknow hospital but succumbed to injuries during treatment.

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New Delhi [India], June 1 (ANI): Delhi Police have arrested a man and his live-in partner for brutally murdering her own four-year-old son whom she shared with her estranged husband. They later destructed the evidence, police said.

Both the accused, identified as Komal (22) and Ravikar (21) were staying together in Uttam Nagar.

Komal is already married and the boy was with her first husband. She left her husband and started living with Ravikar since January 2018. According to Dwarka district police, the child died on April 23.

Both the accused told neighbours that the child fell down from the stairs three days back and later died on April 23. After murdering the child, they buried the body in Wazirabad and fled from their rented accommodation. Suspicion rose when Komal's father called the neighbours and said that his daughter informed him that the child died due to an accident.

Sharing information about the case, DCP Dwarka, Anto Alphonse said, "A neighbour had called the police and informed us about this. He suspected a foul play. After this, the police started the investigation. Since the accused were absconding, police got permission from SDM Dwarka to dig out the buried body on May 2. Following all procedures, police dug out the body on May 7. Few body parts were missing."

The post-mortem of the body was conducted at Safdarjung Hospital. The report is yet to come.

Meanwhile, Komal and Ravikar returned to their rented house. At that time, the same neighbour called the police and informed about them. Later the police reached the spot and arrested the couple subsequently.

During the interrogation, Ravikar confessed to his crime. He revealed that he did not like the child as he was from Komal's husband. On April 23, he smashed the child's head on the wall and then killed him by strangulating. After the child died, both Kavita and Ravi cooked up the story, got the sympathy of neighbours and took the body for last rites.

After this confession, police registered a case on May 31 under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. According to police, the investigation is on and the exact role of Kavita is being ascertained as to whether she was also involved in the murder or only destructed the evidence and hid the whole matter.

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry kicked off Pride Month on Saturday with a sweet post dedicated to the LGBTQ community.

The royal couple shared a collage of images, including one of them featuring Harry's late mother Princess Diana on their Instagram account in honour of Pride Month, which kicks off on June 1 in U.K. and U.S.

"Continuing with our tradition to rotate the accounts we follow based on causes and social issues that matter to us: For the month of June we "proudly" shine a light on PRIDE. This month we pay tribute to the accounts supporting the LGBTQ+ community - those young and old, their families and friends, accounts that reflect on the past and are hopeful for a deservedly more inclusive future," the caption read.

Celebrating the LGBTQ community, they wrote, "love is love."

"We stand with you and support you Because it's very simple: love is love," the caption further read.

Harry's late mother has repeatedly used her royal status to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and campaign for better treatment for patients.

Last month, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex explained that they were only following organisations on Instagram that work to "promote mental well-being, mental fitness, body positivity, self-care, and the importance of human connection," with a changing list to reflect charities surrounding different causes each month, reported People.

They unfollowed the royal members Instagram accounts -- including Kensington Royal (Prince William and Kate Middleton's account), Clarence House (the account of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall), Princess Eugenie, Prince Andrew and even The Royal Family (which represents the Queen and other members of the family).

During his visit to a London YMCA, Harry met with Mermaids CEO Susie Green. The U.K. charity is a leader in supporting transgender children, and Harry wanted to highlight the organisation's work as part of the Royal Foundation's ongoing efforts in the field of mental health.

Green told the outlet that Harry's invitation to the roundtable discussion convened by The Royal Foundation's "Heads Together" campaign was "quite heartening, bearing in mind that there is such controversy and we are attacked regularly."

"I think it's always really important to young people to see that people with the authority and credibility that Prince Harry has are supporting them and are listening and acknowledging the fact that they exist," Green said.

Prince William has also extended his support for the community, posing for the cover of Attitude magazine in June 2016.

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A meeting of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is underway. Party president Sharad Pawar is chairing the meeting in Mumbai.

The emergency meeting has been called to look into shortcomings behind the massive defeat in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra. Besides, the political quarter is also expected to chalk out the strategy for Maharashtra Assembly elections that are due later this year.

It should be noted that Pawar on Friday had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and discussed not only about the upcoming polls but also the drought situation in Maharashtra.

The two parties won just six out of 48 seats at stake in the state in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections - four seats had gone to the NCP and two to the Congress.

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Muslim are not tenants in India and they cannot be denied the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution, said All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi here on Saturday.

"We have to keep India prosperous, we will keep India prosperous. We (Muslims) are equal residents and not tenants. We are equal stakeholders here," he said while addressing a gathering here on Friday.

Owaisi said that Muslims were equal citizens of this country and they cannot be denied the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution of India.

Reacting to Owaisi's statements, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always said 'sabka saath sabka vikaas'. People like Owaisi are known for spreading hatred in society and the nation does not pay attention to statements of such people."

Owaisi had also attacked the ruling BJP government and said,"If BJP thinks that by winning 300 seats they can rule over India, they are wrong. I promise that Asaduddin Owaisi will fight for India. I appeal to the dalits to also come together.

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Iqbal Ansari, the main litigant in the Babri Masjid dispute, on Saturday supported AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi over his "Muslims need not worry over Modi's return" statement and said that Muslims feel safe under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

"Whatever Asaduddin has said is right. Muslims are feeling safe under Narendra Modi's government. Muslims are able to freely practice their religion," Ansari said.

He said that Muslims and the ruling party are in complete sync and accused the Opposition Congress of instilling fear in the minds of people of the community. "BJP is with Muslims and Muslims are with BJP. People from all religion are with BJP. No one would have imagined that BJP will have such a huge majority," the community leader stated.

He said, "We Muslims want to work for the nation and will never like to defame nation or cause any harm."

Ansari's views were echoed by Satyendra Das, the main priest of Ram temple, who said: "Our opponents have created a fear that Muslims would face hardships in BJP rule. This is wrong. It would never happen. For our PM, every citizen irrespective of their religious identity is an Indian and free to practice their religion."

Owaisi, a parliamentarian from Hyderabad, had on Friday said Muslims are free to follow their faith and visit mosques and should not be worried about the BJP's return to power, as the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to every citizen.

Addressing a gathering at Macca Masjid in Hyderabad, he had said: "If Modi can visit a temple we can visit our mosques, if Modi can go sit in a cave, we Muslims can also proudly say our prayers in mosques. Securing more than 300 seats is not a huge thing, Because India has a living Constitution. The 300 seats (of the BJP) cannot take away our rights.

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Minority Affairs Ministry Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday hit out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his comments that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can visit the temple then Muslims can visit Mosque, saying some people talk like this for the sake of their livelihood.

Speaking to ANI here, Naqvi said, "Some people talk like this for the sake of their livelihood. Some people talk unnecessary things on the basis of religion, caste and region. This does not help anyone. Modi has the confidence of 130 crore people of the country. Under Modiji people know they are well secured."

Earlier today, Owaisi had said, "If Modi can visit a temple we can visit our mosques, if Modi can go sit in a cave, we Muslims can also proudly say our prayers in mosques. Securing more than 300 seats is not a huge thing, Because India has a living Constitution, the 300 seats (of the BJP) cannot take away our rights."

Praising Prime Minister Modi, the Minority Affairs Minister further said, "Modi has called for development for 130 crore Indians without discrimination. He speaks about development with dignity and that is why he has broken the hindrances of religion, caste and region. He has formed the highway of development by turning down all barriers of religion, caste and region."

Naqvi said, "Farmers and youth are priorities of the Modi government. We have worked for that in the previous term. The new Modi government will work on the challenges of the previous term."

"Modi's philosophy is of is hit and done not hit and run. Like what he promised to do against terrorists, corruption and price rise, he accomplished that," Naqvi added.

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Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ganesh Naik on Saturday clarified that his political quarter will not ally with Congress for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra.

"There is no question of the merger between Congress and NCP. We did not hold any discussion during the party meeting today," he said.

Today, the NCP held an emergency meeting to look into shortcomings behind the massive defeat in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra. Party president Sharad Pawar chaired the meeting in Mumbai.

Giving out details about the party meeting, the senior NCP leader said that youth representation on various seats in the Assembly polls, Lok Sabha debacle and making Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) an ally or not were the main agendas that were discussed by the leaders.

"We met to discuss our performance in Lok Sabha elections. On making Prakash Ambedkar's party VBA an ally, leaders were of different opinions. Some of them are against the idea as they believe that the party works to divide Bahaujan votes against us. But the other group of leaders feel that they should be made a part of the alliance in assembly polls," he added.

It has been noticed that after the Lok Sabha elections, regional party leaders have been trying hard to get several players to form an alliance to give a tough fight to the BJP in the Assembly.

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The Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday banned ministers from carrying their mobile phones in cabinet meetings.

The ban on mobile phones has reportedly been put at the behest of the Chief Minister Yogi.

All ministers will now have to leave their phones outside while a cabinet meeting or an official meeting with Adityanath is in progress.

The last cabinet meeting of the UP cabinet was held on May 28, the rule will become applicable from the next meeting as and when it is called by the UP Chief Minister.

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AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday criticized the newly- appointed Union Minister of State for Home Kishan Reddy for linking Hyderabad with terrorism and alleged that the BJP sees terrorists whereever Muslims live.

Talking to a newspaper, Reddy, MP from Secunderabad, had on Friday said: "Wherever in the county, a terrorist incident happens, its roots are in Hyderabad." He also called Hyderabad a terror safe zone.

Reacting to Reddy's statement, Owaisi said, "He has spoken in a disgraceful manner even before taking charge. Talking like this in an irresponsible manner does not suit a minister. But we expect them to talk like this because whereever they (BJP) see Muslims, they see terrorists."

"This is so unfortunate that in the last 5 years, NIA, RAW issued advisories that Hyderabad was turning into a terror hub," the Hyderabad parliamentarian said.

He also said that the BJP was jealous of the progress of Hyderabad, which is considered to be the second largest IT hub in the country.

"There is peace in Hyderabad. All religious ceremonies took place with peace and harmony here. This is the second largest software hub after Bengaluru. Why are they (BJP) so jealous of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh? They do not want to see Telangana grow," he said.

Owaisi took a dig at the central government over the high unemployment and poor economic growth and said that BJP's voters only care about what he called "lynching rate". "Yesterday, data on unemployment and GDP was released. It showed downfall. But Modi's voter demands that keep the lynching rate at 5-6 per cent even if there is no employment," he stated.

He said that Telangana has a composite culture and BJP would fail in its attempt to make inroads in the state.

Owaisi had on Friday said that Muslims are free to follow their faith and visit mosques and should not be worried about the BJP's return to power as the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to every citizen.

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The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Appellate Tribunal has transferred the matters involving ICICI-Videocon loan case accused Nishant Kanodia and Deepak Kochhar to another bench.

The matters were transferred from the Chairman, Adjudicating Authority to the Member (Law), Adjudicating Authority, on Friday.

Earlier in March, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had conducted various raids in the premises of companies related to Kanodia and Kochhar and had seized various documents and electronic records under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Pursuant thereto, an application was filed by the agency before the adjudicating authority under the PMLA, 2002.

Following which a show cause notice was issued by the adjudicating authority to companies connected with Kanodia and Kochhar, calling upon to justify as to why the documents seized should not be permitted to be retained.

The said notice was challenged by the companies before the Appellate Tribunal, PMLA. Advocates Vijay Aggarwal and Mudit Jain appearing for the companies argued that the order was passed without consideration of the record, which shows that a view was already framed by the Adjudicating Authority.

The bench headed by Justice Manmohan, retired from the Delhi High Court, heard the appeals and passed an order on May 30 where it observed, "With regards to other submission of the appellants that the discrepancies are so glaring, the same hearing officer may not be able to go against his own finding as the reason to believe orders passed by him on the face of record are defective and the notice under Section 8(1) has been issued on the basis of the said defective reason to believe which would show that while issuing the notice, even the authorised officer has not cared to see the materials which were seized, otherwise such a mistake would not have happened."

"In the interest of justice, equity and fair play, this tribunal directs that after filing the reply, the hearing shall be conducted by other Member (Law), who shall consider all the contentions of the appellants and decide the same on merit," the order said further.

The bench also observed, "In the interest of justice and equity, it has transferred the matters from the Chairman, Adjudicating Authority D. Singhal to the bench of Member (Law), Adjudicating Authority Tushar V Shah.

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Former President Pratibha Patil on Saturday was conferred with "Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca" or Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico's highest civilian honour for foreigners.

The award was presented by Mexico's Ambassador to India, Melba Pria, at a special ceremony held in the MCCIA Bhavan, Pune.

Pria said the Order is the highest distinction given by the Mexican government since 1933 to foreigners for their prominent services to Mexico and to humanity.

Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa, along with 13 Indian nationals, including the first Vice president of India, preceded Patil. "This is also the first time that we have awarded the 'Aztec Eagle' to a woman," the envoy added.

On her part, Patil said, "I want to thank Mexico for conferring this prestigious award. This is the felicitation of the friendship of our two countries."

"India and Mexico are old civilizations. Both present vibrant and pluralistic democracies. We recognise each other on the international scenario and actively contribute to find creative solutions to global problems," she added.

"Congratulations to Former President of India Smt Pratibhatai Patil for 'Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca' (order of the Aztec Eagle), Mexico's highest civilian honour!," Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, tweeted.

"This award was presented in Pune today," he added.

The award, which was created in 1993 by the then President of Mexico, Abelardo L. Rodriguez, is given to prominent heads of state or government, ambassadors after they have served in Mexico.

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Priyanka Chopra is setting the record straight for once and for all.

The 36-year-old actor denied reports that she met her friend and Duchess Of Sussex, Meghan Markle, and her son Archie Harrison.

Calling all such reports "untrue", she took to Twitter handle to put out a clarification.

"While these are great gift ideas... this story is untrue, and I was actually in town for work. I hope whoever this "source" is starts checking their facts more often," she wrote along with a link of an article by The Sun.

The publication claimed that the actor had mended her broken friendship with Meghan by visiting Archie and bringing the royal's newborn some gifts, reported People.

Although Priyanka acknowledged that the gifts would've been a "great idea," the actor shut down the rumours, noting that she was only in London for work.

Priyanka last spoke up about her friendship with Meghan in March, after she was missing from the star-studded guest list of the Duchess of Sussex's New York City baby shower.

While appearing on an episode of 'Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen', Priyanka was asked whether the rumours were true that she was upset with Meghan for skipping her wedding to Nick Jonas.

Cohen said, "They said you didn't go to her baby shower because you were pissed at her!" In response, the actor said, "Oh my god. No, it's not true."

Priyanka's friendship with Meghan dates back to 2016 when the two met at the ELLE Women in Television dinner.

"We bonded as actors. We just became friends, like two girls would," Priyanka told People of their friendship in September 2017.

Priyanka even made Meghan's now-defunct Instagram account, when the former 'Suits' star shared a photo of the duo after they caught a performance of Hamilton on Broadway.

Priyanka was also one of the celebrities on the star-studded guest list for Meghan and Harry's royal wedding on May 19, 2018.

Although Meghan moved to take on the duties of a full-fledged member of the royal family, Priyanka previously shared that the distance hasn't affected their bond.

"I think friendships depend on people individually and how personal your relationship is. You can have work friendships, those are different. But when you have real friendships, like ours, it doesn't matter what people look at you as or where your world goes, you sort of just, stay friends. And I think that's what we're like," she told People in July 2018.

On the work front, Priyanka will be next seen in Shonali Bose's 'The Sky Is Pink' and she has also signed up for a project with Mindy Kaling.

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Engaging with the Twitterverse for the first time, newly appointed External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar paid homage to his predecessor Sushma Swaraj on Saturday.

"My first tweet. Thank you all for the best wishes! Honoured to be given this responsibility. Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji," Jaishankar's first tweet read.

A surprise addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest Union Cabinet, the former Foreign Secretary succeeds Swaraj in helming the Ministry of External Affairs for the next five years under the NDA government.

Swaraj opted out of contesting in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections citing her health. She spearheaded various rescue operations during her term, including those in Libya and Yemen. The former EAM was much-loved by people for being one of the most approachable ministers, known for hearing out and solving grievances on Twitter.

Jaishankar pledged to follow the precedent set by her, and tweeted, "We at Team @MEAIndia continue to be at your service 24x7. Happy to be leading the effort with my colleague MoS Muraleedharan ji."

The EAM went on to express his gratitude for the wishes extended by his counterparts from Australia, France and Indonesia, who tweeted their greetings for the former top diplomat.

Both Jaishankar and the new Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, assumed office on May 31, following the official announcement regarding portfolio allocations.

"Back at South Block, in a new role! The new External Affairs Minister of India @DrSJaishankar assumes office," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Friday.

A former career diplomat, the 1977-batch IFS officer and Padma Shri awardee served as the Foreign Secretary for three years - from 2015 until his retirement in 2018 - under Modi's previous term as Prime Minister.

He had earlier served as India's Ambassador to China and then to the US. The incumbent EAM has previously been India's Ambassador to the Czech Republic and High Commissioner to Singapore as well. He was also the First Secretary and Political Advisor to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka.

It is believed that Modi first met Jaishankar when he travelled to China as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2012.

The former diplomat played a critical role in handling tough negotiations with Beijing, following the incursion in Doklam and Ladakh's Depsang.

He is also known as the Indian government's key strategist for China and the US. In 2008, Jaishankar was a member of the team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal under the UPA government headed by then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

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Punjab Police on Saturday arrested a Nigerian from Jalandhar and recovered 1 kg of heroin drug from her.

"Local police recovered 1 kg heroin on the directions of DGP. We had put up check-posts. We stopped the Nigerian woman and recovered 1 kg heroin from her purse," Jalandhar SSP Navjot Singh Mahal said while talking to reporters.

The Police Officer further said that an FIR has been lodged against the woman.

"She came to India on a student visa but she did not take admission anywhere. Her student visa has already expired," Mahal said.

"Nothing is clear as of now. We will interrogate her to find out where this drug was to be delivered," he said.

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Actor R Madhavan, who is ageing like fine wine, turned 49 today and shared the most thoughtful gift from Prajesh Sen, the co-director of his upcoming film 'Rocketry

The dashing actor took to Instagram to share a picture of him posing along with his 'prolific' birthday present. Prajesh sent him a 'Rocketry' customised portrait of the actor.

It is indeed a thoughtful gift for Madhavan as the actor is currently busy with the respective film.

In his caption, the actor thanked Prajesh for thinking of something so special.

He wrote, "Thank yousoooo much @prajeshsen .. what a thoughtful and wonderful Birthday gift.. Rocketey on my head..and in my mind ..cannot get more prolific."

The actor is quite active on social media and often treats his fans with selfies and candid stills.

Having acted in a host of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu films, Madhavan is inarguable, one of the most talented actors and with every film, the star only gets better.

Currently, the actor is gearing up for his upcoming film 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect'. Madhavan is playing the role of scientist S Nambi Narayanan in the movie.

The film focuses on the life and achievements of scientist Narayanan, who was falsely accused of being a spy and arrested in 1994. Though free, he is still fighting against those police officials, who allegedly falsely implicated him and are still free.

Besides acting, Madhavan is also directing, writing and producing the film. It will release in English, Hindi and Tamil. The movie is scheduled to hit theatres in 2019.

The 'Three Idiots' actor was last seen in 'Saala Khadoos' (2016) and 'Zero' (2018).

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Affirming that Congress' ideological battle with the BJP will continue, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday thanked voters and Congress workers for supporting the party in the elections and termed them as fighters working to safeguard constitutional values in the country.

"Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the colour of his skin or belief," Rahul was quoted as saying by party spokesperson Rajdeep Singh Surjewala.

Surjewala tweeted, "Shri Rahul Gandhi thanked voters and Congress workers (at Congress Parliamentary Party meet)."

Rahul's statement comes amid his firm resolution to quit as party president after Congress' debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

He later congratulated his mother Sonia Gandhi on being elected as the leader of Congress parliamentary party.

"Congratulations to Smt Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong & effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India," he tweeted.

Rahul has been adamant on not backtracking from his decision of resigning from the post despite several requests from senior party leaders and is learnt to have instructed to search for a new person to helm the grand old party.

He had offered his resignation taking moral responsibility of the humiliating defeat in the general polls at Congress Working Committee meeting.

Congress secured a meagre 52 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats in the seven-phased elections. The BJP once again stormed to power with 303 seats.

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I have come here to seek Lord Krishna's blessings on behalf of all the ministers in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government, said Union Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday after offering prayers at the Shrinathji temple here.

"I came seeking Thakurji's blessings before we start the work of rebuilding the country with compassion and harmony. I have come here on behalf of every one of us (ministers), seeking his blessings. I have always said that whatever I have achieved till date is due to his blessings," Irani told reporters here.

Irani has been allotted the ministry of textiles and the ministry of women and child development in the PM Modi cabinet 2.0.

Irani took oath along with the PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence minister Rajnath Singh and other prominent BJP cabinet ministers and representatives of BJP allies - Ram Vilas Paswan (LJSP), Harsimrat Kaur (Akali Dal), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) and Ramdas Athawale (RPI-A) on Thursday.

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The Russian city of Dzerzhinsk declared a state of emergency after multiple blasts rocked an explosives factory here on Saturday authorities said.

Videos shared on social media showed that three explosions at a TNT production plant sent massive plumes of smoke over the city. The first explosion soon triggered two other blasts at the same facility at 11:45 am (local time), before spreading to another building nearby, Russia Today reported.

Dzerzhinsk officials have also launched a criminal inquiry in the blast that injured at least 20 people, on suspicion of a breach of industrial safety rules.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations further stated that the fire is currently spread over a 100 square meter area. The strength of the explosion smashed glass three kilometres away.

The TNT factory, which manufactures and stores explosives and ammunition, suffered a third blast since last year. Last August, five workers were killed in an explosion at the site, and in April an explosion destroyed a one-story building but caused no injuries.

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The Supreme Court on Saturday stayed an order of the Chhattisgarh High court directing a team of doctors to conduct a medical examination on a woman to ascertain if she is mentally fit to get married.

Earlier, a petition was filed by the girl's father in Chhattisgarh High court seeking a psychiatric examination of her daughter, who had married a Muslim man against his wishes, contending that she is mentally unfit to get married.

Following this, the High Court had ordered the same to be conducted by a team of three doctors including a psychiatrist and sought the report to be submitted in a sealed cover.

While putting a stay on the High Court's order today, a Bench headed by Justice MR Shah asked the woman's lawyers to approach the High Court within four weeks.

The top court also said that till the High Court passes orders on her application, the Chhattisgarh High Court order of her medical examination shall remain stayed.

The apex court further said, "It will be open for the High Court even to call the petitioner (woman) and have a dialogue with her and try to assert the true facts."

This came after Advocate Pallav Mongia, representing the disgruntled woman challenged the High Court's order and filed an appeal in the apex court.

The petitioner had contended that the High Court had passed the order without hearing her and that the same had infringed her right to autonomy and dignity.

The plea contended that the woman has been certified as mentally fit in a medical examination conducted by a team of three doctors on March 17.

It was further claimed by the woman that she was being tortured and harassed by her parents who did not permit her to leave the house to live with her husband.

The petitioner stated that she had made a rescue call in March and was taken to "Sakhi One Stop Centre" in Raipur. She also claimed that her parents forcibly took her to a mental hospital in Akola in Maharastra where she was threatened that she would be killed if she stayed with her husband.

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DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday said that the BJP government at the Centre should not even think in dream about the three language policy and warned that such "greedy" things will cause them disaster.

A controversy broke out in Tamil Nadu on Saturday over the new Draft Education Policy of the government at the Centre that has recommended a three language formula with political parties opposing "imposition" of Hindi in the state.

"The BJP government should not even think about the three-language policy in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, having a two-language policy, is like honeycomb and BJP is trying to throw a stone at it by inflicting a three-language policy again. BJP should not even think about it in their dreams. Such greedy and wrong thing will cause them disaster," Stalin said.

His comment comes in the wake of the draft education policy prepared by the Kasturirangan Committee, released yesterday, which spoke of continuation of the three language formula in the schools.

In the Draft Education Policy 2019, the three language formula recommends inclusion of English and Hindi besides mother tongue in the non-Hindi state, while the Hindi-speaking states should include English and Indian language from other parts of India.

The draft policy said multilingualism is a necessity of India as of much of the developed world and must be considered a boon and an opportunity for learning and expanding one's horizons rather than a burden.

Children learn languages extremely quickly when immersed early and multilingual children in studies around the world have also been found to learn faster and be placed better later in life than those who are unilingual, it said.

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Several supporters of Lalu Prasad Yadav met the former Bihar Chief Minister at a hospital in Ranchi on Saturday.

Those who met Lalu at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) include former Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary.

Some visitors reached the hospital with fresh mangoes from their home town for their beloved leader.

This comes after reports came out suggesting that Lalu seemed to be in shock after Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) poll debacle in Bihar. Doctors treating Lalu had said that he was skipping food.

Lalu's younger son and Bihar Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav had last month alleged that his family was not allowed to meet the ailing RJD chief.

"For the past two months, my family is not being allowed to meet my ailing father. BJP government has resorted to hooliganism. Lalu ji is being treated worse than war prisoners," Tejashwi had tweeted.

The RJD supremo is in jail in multi-crore fodder scam cases that pertain to fraudulent withdrawals from state treasuries by Animal Husbandry Department officials between 1991 and 1996 when he was the chief minister of undivided Bihar.

Lalu Prasad-led RJD for the first time could not secure even a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections.

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The Congress on Saturday attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre over issues of unemployment and the US' decision to end its preferential trade treatment to India, saying it is a double whammy and urged the government to take steps to tackle the crises.

"The US' decision to end special trade status to India has grave trade and economic implications for our country. It will directly affect 16 per cent of India's exports. This special status was availed by India in 1975 when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. With unemployment at a 45-year high, it is a double whammy," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference here.

The US is slated to revoke India's status as a beneficiary developing country for purposes of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) from June 5, according to a proclamation issued by President Donald Trump.

In its response, India downplayed the possibility of any negative impact on trade relations with the US.

"These are unilateral, non-reciprocal and non-discriminatory benefits extended by some developed countries to developing countries. As part of bilateral trade discussions, India had offered resolution on significant US requests in an effort to find a mutually acceptable way forward. It is unfortunate that this did not find acceptance by the United States," said a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

"India, like the United States and other nations shall always uphold its interest in these matters. We have significant development imperatives and concerns and our people also aspire for better standards of living. This will remain the guiding factor in the government's approach," it said.

India is the biggest beneficiary of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which allows preferential duty-free imports of up to 5.6 billion dollars to the US.

Surjewala claimed that India stopped purchasing 23.5 million tonnes of crude oil annually from Iran due to US pressure.

Accusing BJP of not taking any steps to prevent the move, Surjewala said, "The notification came on March 4. But the government did not do anything to prevent it. In future, we could see many more industries, including services, where exports worth USD 28 billion could be significantly affected."

"We urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a statement on this issue and place before the public a way forward to overcome this grave trade and economic crisis," he added.

The Congress spokesperson said that the party will support steps taken by the government in addressing the unemployment crisis.

"In our country, the job crisis is grave. India's young needs jobs and are facing the worst crisis in the last 45 years. The responsibility lies in the current government to address this issue as a first priority. We will support any step in this direction taken by the Prime Minister in a concrete manner," Surjewala said.

With Lok Sabha elections over, the government on Friday made public the Periodic Labour Force Survey report that placed the unemployment rate at 6.1 per cent for year 2017-18, which is set to be the highest in 45 years.

The PLFS annual report placed the unemployment rate among men at 6.2 per cent and women at 5.7 per cent, combining both rural and urban areas and the overall rate at 6.1 per cent.

The report was prepared by agencies including the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Labour Bureau, Registrar General, and Census Commission.

However, government sources maintained comparing the recent jobs data with past data is faulty and foolish.

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After a controversy broke out over three-language norm in the draft of new Education Policy, Education Secretary R Subrahmanyam on Saturday clarified that no policy decision has been taken by the government yet and there would be no "imposition of any language in educational institutions."

"This is a draft policy submitted by the committee and is placed for the views of the general public. It is not the policy announced by the government. After getting feedback from the general public, and after consulting State governments, the Educational Policy will be finalised by the government," Subrahmanyam said in a tweet.

"The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed for equal development and promotion of all Indian languages. There will be no imposition of any language in educational institutions, nor discriminations against any language," he added.

Earlier, Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' had also said that no language would be imposed on any state.

"The committee was formed for drafting New Education Policy. That committee has given its report. The report of the committee is only received by the Ministry. That's not the policy. No language will be imposed on any state," HRD Minister Pokhriyal told ANI.

"We have received the draft report to take suggestions from the people. Somewhere this misunderstanding has happened. People think that this has become policy," he added.

"Secondly, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our government have decided that we will respect all Indian languages with full power and develop them. There shouldn't be any controversy over this matter," he said.

Earlier today, several political parties had warned the Centre of a language war over 'attempts' to impose Hindi. Leaders cutting across party lines in Tamil Nadu said the state has a history on the language issue and would not tolerate any imposition.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tumkur District Congress president R Ramakrishna on Saturday wrote to general secretary KC Venugopal blaming party leaders for the defeat of Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition candidate HD Deve Gowda in the Lok Sabha constituency.

He has also recommended expulsion of leaders like former MLA KN Rajanna, and state Youth Congress vice president Rajendra from the party.

"The person who is responsible for all this is KN Rajanna, Youth Congress president R Rajendra, Gram Panchayat member J J Rahana, Chudappa Shantla Rajanna, Manjula Narayana Reddy, Taluk panchayat president, vice-president, and members," Ramakrishna wrote in his letter.

As a part of the seat-sharing deal between Congress and JD (S), Tumkur Lok Sabha seat was contested by JD(S) leader and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. However, he lost to BJP's GS Basavraj.

In his report to Venugopal, the district Congress president termed the lack of unity between JD (S) and Congress workers as one of the reasons for the loss.

"Although the coalition party announced Deve Gowda as the coalition candidate, former MP Muddahanumegowda, KN Rajanna filed nomination earlier, which created confusion. After much drama, they withdrew their nomination but their followers never supported the coalition candidate," Ramakrishna said in his report.

He further alleged that Muddahanumegowda campaigned at only two places and did not campaign in the rest of the places, which helped the BJP.

"Sahakar Mahamandala president N Ganganna and others distributed money in favour of the BJP. The money which was given by the Congress was also distributed to favour the BJP," Ramakrishna said in his report.

"I request the party high command to take strict stringent action against the above-mentioned people," he urged.

BJP won 25 of 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the Congress-JD(S) coalition could win only two seats.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Patrick Shanahan, the acting US Defence Secretary, and Wei Fenghe, the Chinese Defence Minister, discussed ways to better enforce UN sanctions on North Korea during a "constructive and productive" meeting held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum here on Friday.

"The two leaders discussed ways to build military-to-military relations that reduce the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation between our nations," Yonhap News Agency quoted a Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Joe Buccino, as saying.

"Secretary Shanahan specifically discussed how our militaries can better cooperate to enforce UN Security Council Resolutions related to DPRK (North Korea) sanctions," the spokesman added.

This comes as denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang have come to a standstill, especially after the breakdown of the second US-North Korea summit at Vietnam earlier this year. The two countries reportedly failed to see eye-to-eye on sanctions waivers.

While North Korea wants the sanctions to be removed, the United States has remained steadfast in its stance to remove sanctions only once complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is achieved.

The US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo recently acknowledged that China had done "good work" when it came to sanctions enforcement on North Korea, but highlighted that there was scope to do better.

"It's not perfect. It's not perfect anywhere...We're always looking to do better with respect to enforcement. But they've been a very good partner on that issue even while there have been difficult conversations on trade taking place," Pompeo said.

The Secretary of State's statements and the defence chiefs' meeting comes despite the United States and China being locked in a trade dispute currently.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United States Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said on Friday that Washington is looking into reports that North Korea executed a senior official after Kim Jong-un and Trump were unable to reach an agreement during their Hanoi summit in February this year.

"We've seen the reporting ... we're doing our best to check it out," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press conference in Berlin, as cited by CNN. "We're doing our best to check it out. I don't have anything else to add to that today," he added.

The matter pertains to a report published in South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo on Friday that North Korea's special envoy to the US, Kim Hyok-chol, was executed by Pyongyang in March on charges of "being recruited by US imperialists and betraying the supreme leader."

During the Hanoi summit, Honk-chol had led negotiations with the US special representative to North Korea, along with being in charge of the working-level talks with his American counterparts.

The report also said Kim Yong-chol, a top aide to the leader and Pompeo's counterpart in negotiations, was sent to a remote province for hard labour, Yonhap news agency reported.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to comment on the report, but did say the US is "monitoring the situation."

"I'm not going to comment on intelligence one way or another. I can tell you that we're monitoring the situation and continuing to stay focused on our ultimate goal, which is denuclearization," Sanders told reporters here.

While the details reported by Chosun remain unconfirmed, experts acknowledge that it is certainly plausible to think Kim Jong Un could have carried out a possible purge of this nature.

"There's certainly plenty of evidence -- both in Kim's recent past, and North Korean history -- of purging officials when things don't work out the way that the leader needs, or when there are potential concerns about different factions within the government and the elite," said Lindsey Ford of the Asia Society Policy Institute, who is also a former Pentagon adviser for Asian and Pacific Security.

"Trump can talk about how he and Kim are on the same page ... because they are buds, but (Kim) is a dictator who, in the past, has executed people close to him: his brother, his uncle -- and he's not afraid to do it again," Ford added.

President Trump and Kim Jong-un met in Hanoi on February 27 and 28 with hopes of signing a deal that sees Pyongyang stop missile testing and getting economic sanctions in return. However, "no agreement was reached" as the summit was abruptly concluded, and a signing ceremony, as well as working lunch, was cancelled.

North Korea had sought partial relief in sanctions at the summit in Vietnam, according to Pyongyang's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. The US, however, has held on to its stand to ease sanctions only when the complete denuclearization is reached.

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Responding to Congress President Rahul Gandhi's letter requesting for an inquiry into the "suicide" of a debt-ridden farmer VD Dinesh Kumar from Wayanad, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has stated that he has ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter.

In a letter dated May 31, the Chief Minister said: "I have asked District Collector, Wayanad, to conduct a detailed inquiry into the suicide of VD Dinesh Kumar and submit a report to the government at the earliest for taking further action including any financial assistance."

Vijayan also assured that the Kerala government is making continued efforts to help the farmers and has also announced a moratorium on repayment of farmers' loans till the end of this year.

Expressing concern over issues being faced by farmers in the country, the Chief Minister said they ought to be raised in the Parliament and urged Gandhi to join the movement.

"...As these loans from commercial banks come under the SARFAESI Act it is for the Government of India to take a considered stand with regard to the outstanding farmers' debt with the banks. This issue needs to be raised in the Parliament and I hope that you will join us in taking up the issue of relief for the debt afflicted families in Kerala as well as other parts in the country," he said in the letter.

The Congress chief, who has been elected as MP from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat for the first time, on May 28 wrote a letter to Vijayan requesting him to order an inquiry into the 'suicide' of Kumar.

Gandhi also urged the Kerala Chief Minister to extend financial support to the family of the deceased.

"I am deeply saddened by the suicide of VD Dinesh Kumar, a farmer in Neervaram, Panamaram Panchayat, Wayanad. On speaking with his wife Sujitha, I learnt that her husband had been under severe stress due to his inability to repay the loans he had taken and this pushed him to commit suicide," read the letter.

"Kumar's case isn't an isolated one. There has been a spate of farmers' suicides in Wayanad, due to an inability to repay loans. What is disturbing is that while the government of Kerala has announced a moratorium on repayment of farm loans till December 31, 2019, yet farmers are still being pressurized and hounded by a loan collection agent," said Gandhi in the letter.

"I write to request you to order an enquiry, into the circumstances surrounding Kumar's death and to extend financial support to his family. Moreover, given the devastating long term impact of the 2018 floods on agriculture in India, it is crucial to consider long term measures to free our farmers from the vicious debt trap thousands of them are caught in," stated the letter.

Rahul Gandhi will pay a two-day visit to his constituency from June 7 to thank the voters for his stupendous win.

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Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said he will work with the Congress MPs from Punjab for the betterment of the state.

"I have no inhibitions in working with the Congress MPs from Punjab. As a minister in the government I will do everything possible to provide all facilities under schemes such as Swacch Bharat, Hriday in the state," Puri told reporters here.

Puri on Friday took oath as the Union Civil Aviation Minister. He has also been made a junior minister in the Commerce and Industry Ministry which is being headed by Piyush Goyal.

Puri asserted that Congress' winning 8 out of the 13 seats in Punjab did not make a huge difference as the BJP had been able to do relatively well in the seats where it had contested.

"The elections are over now, we will do internal surveys and forward its results within the party. If Congress claims it has dramatically won seats here, let it be, there are no differences with the Akali Dal and we will not engage in playing blame game now. If you look at the seats where the BJP had contested you will find out we did really well," Puri said.

He added that he will release a vision document cum website titled, "Puri for Guru ki Nagri" within a week which will give the opportunity to every Amritsar resident to reach him directly. The website will have the option for the people to directly interact with him and share their problems and ideas.

Puri, a former Indian Foreign Service officer lost the Lok Sabha polls from the Amritsar seat and is currently a Rajya Sabha lawmaker.

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Microsoft has warned that nearly one million computers globally are still at risk of malware attack similar to WannaCry that spread worldwide in 2017 causing billions of dollars in damage.

The software giant recently discovered "wormable" vulnerability in Remote Desktop Services for Windows that can automatically spread.

The company has issued its second advisory, urging users to update their systems to prevent the "BlueKeep" malware attack, Engadget reported on Friday.

"Microsoft is confident that an exploit exists for this vulnerability. It's been only two weeks since the fix was released and there has been no sign of a worm yet. This does not mean that we're out of the woods," warned Simon Pope, director of incident response at Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC).

"Our recommendation remains the same. We strongly advise that all affected systems should be updated as soon as possible," said Microsoft.

The bug is a "critical" vulnerability that affects computers running Windows XP, Windows 7 and server operating systems.

These operating systems are widely being used especially in corporate environments.

"The vulnerability can be used to run code at the system level, allowing full access to the computer -- including its data.

"Worse, it is remotely exploitable, allowing anyone to attack a computer connected to the internet," reports TechCrunch.

Only Windows 8 and Windows 10 are not vulnerable to the new bug.

--IANS

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At least 29 people were injured in a fire at a refugee centre in western Bosnia on Saturday, officials said.

An Interior Ministry spokesperson said the injured, all of whom were migrants, were taken to the hospital, Efe news reported.

The cause of the fire was not yet known.

Bosnian security agents estimate that no less than 6,000 people have entered the country illegally so far this year.

The majority of these people are in the west of the country, from where they hope to move onto Croatia, a member state of the European Union, and then Slovenia, which is in the Schengen area of free movement.

--IANS

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The US space agency has awarded a total of $254 million to three companies to land their machines on the lunar surface, paving the way for NASA astronauts to land on the Moon by 2024.

The three companies are: Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Intuitive Machines of Houston, Texas; and Orbit Beyond of Edison, New Jersey, the agency said in a statement late Friday.

Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines plan to land their machines by July 2021 and Orbit Beyond aims for September 2020.

Each commercial lander will carry NASA-provided payloads that will conduct science investigations and demonstrate advanced technologies on the lunar surface.

"Our selection of these US commercial landing service providers represents America's return to the Moon's surface for the first time in decades, and it's a huge step forward for our Artemis lunar exploration plans," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

"Next year, our initial science and technology research will be on the lunar surface, which will help support sending the first woman and the next man to the Moon in five years," he added.

By the end of the summer, NASA will determine which payloads will fly on each flight.

The potential payloads include instruments that will conduct new lunar science, pinpoint lander position, measure the lunar radiation environment, assess how lander and astronaut activity affects the Moon, and assist with navigation precision, among other capabilities.

"These landers are just the beginning of exciting commercial partnerships that will bring us closer to solving the many scientific mysteries of our Moon, our solar system, and beyond," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC.

Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon within five years, NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans are based on a two-phase approach.

The first is focused on speed -- landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024 -- while the second will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028.

--IANS

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After enthralling fans with their latest hits in Delhi on Friday, South Korean K-Pop boy-band VAV will make the second stop of their India tour in Imphal.

The group announced the tour in the beginning of May on social media, finally giving in to "requests from their Indian fans", they told reporters in Delhi.

The group will perform at the Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

The Delhi concert saw the group performing their hits like "Thrilla Killa" which has over 23 million views on YouTube.

The six-member group debuted in 2015 with the mini-album "Under the Moonlight".

K-Pop, a popular musical genre of South Korea, has many avid followers in India. The country also saw famous K-Pop song "Gangnam Style" going viral in 2012.

The tour has been arranged by Kiwa India, an organisation promoting Indo-Korean ties.

"This is a collaboration between India and Korea to promote cultural ties and break language barriers. We did much research and found VAV is the best K-Pop group to hold a concert in India," Eunjoo Lim, Kiwa CEO, told IANS.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Saturday met E.S.L. Narasimhan, Governor of both the states, and discussed inter-state issues.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who arrived in Hyderabad by a special aircraft from Vijayawada, drove straight to the Raj Bhavan and met the Governor. Minutes later, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao joined them.

This was the first meeting of the two Chief Ministers with Narasimhan since Jagan Reddy took oath as the Chief Minister on Thursday.

The meeting, a day ahead of the fifth anniversary of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, assumes significance in view of the disputes between the two states with regard to certain provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014.

The Governor is believed to have discussed the issues relating to the division of institutions under the 9th and 10th schedule, handing over the buildings housing the Andhra Pradesh government offices in Hyderabad, sharing of assets of the institutions located in Hyderabad and distribution of employees between the two states.

With the YSR Congress Party led by Jagan Reddy coming to power in Andhra Pradesh, Chandrashekhar Rao believes that the environment is conducive for resolving all the outstanding issues.

The Telangana Chief Minister, who attended Jagan Reddy's swearing-in on April 30 in Vijayawada, has extended the hand of friendship to Andhra Pradesh and said both the states should amicably resolve all issues including the dispute over the sharing of river waters.

Earlier, Jagan Reddy had called on Chandrashekhar Rao on April 25 in Hyderabad to invite him for the swearing-in.

--IANS

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State-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is diversifying into more civilian areas to spur its corporate growth in fiscal 2019-20, a top company official said on Saturday.

"As diversification into non-defence opportunities will drive our growth, we are entering into more verticals in the civilian sector, including space electronics, solar, homeland security, smart cards, telecom, railways, civil aviation, fuel cells and lithium batteries," BEL Chairman M.V. Gowtama told reporters here.

Though the city-based defence behemoth caters largely to the Indian armed forces, including the army, Navy and Air Force, it has been foraying into more civilian space for diversification and broad-basing its business, rolling out electronic voting machines (EVMs), solar panels for intelligent traffic management signals and set-top boxes for direct-to-home digital broadcasting services.

"We supplied over a million EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units to the Election Commission for conducing the recent Lok Sabha elections across the country. Our machines were used in 400 of the 542 parliamentary seats. The order contributed Rs 2,600 crore business in fiscal 2018-19," Gowtama said.

"The poll panel also used EVMs and VVPATs made by the Hyderabad-based state-run Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) in the remaining 142 parliamentary seats," he said after presenting the financial performance of the 'Navaratna' company.

The company will supply more EVMs and VVPATs to the states where assembly elections are due later this year or early next year. The orders will be for new machines and upgraded versions to replace the older voting machines.

"We expect orders worth Rs 600 crore from the states to supply EVMs and VVPATs in this fiscal (2019-20) and more orders from other states where assembly elections are due."

Of the Rs 51,798-crore order book value the company has for this fiscal, around 50 per cent of it (Rs 25,000 crore) is from the Navy, Rs 9,000 crore from the Army, Rs 7,000 crore as annual management contracts (AMCs) and upgrades and Rs 3,000 crore from civilian sector.

"Our capital expenditure for this fiscal will be Rs 660 crore for new facilities in Hyderabad plant, Palasamduram in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district, Bengaluru, Bhatinda in Punjab and Jodpur in Rajasthan," said the Chairman.

A portion of the capex will also be spent on modernising the plant machinery to overcome obsolescence, which is rapid in the electronics domain.

In the defence business, the company received orders for supplying the long range surface-to-air (SAM) missiles for the Navy's Project-17A class Shivalik stealth frigate, integrated perimeter security system for the air force, home land security system for naval airfield and naval equipment (war reserves) and setting up of weapon repair facility at naval shipyards.

"We have also got export orders valued at $117 million (Rs 807 crore) for making vacuum interrupters, X-ray parts, transmitting tubes and EMI (electro-magnetic interference) filters," added Gowtama.

--IANS

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(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.)
Police carried out a baton charge to disperse a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters shouting "Jai Shri Ram" at a demonstration at Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas district on Saturday, ahead of a Trinamool Congress meeting in the area.

The police officers tried to keep the BJP workers, who were trying to block the road, away from the area through which the convoy of Trinamool leaders including some ministers were scheduled to pass, before forcibly dispersing them.

The Rapid Action Force (RAF) has been deployed to control the situation.

Explaining the reason for the protest, a BJP worker said: "The party office in Kanchrapara Thana More belonged to Shubhrangshu Roy (BJP leader Mukul Roy's son). After he joined the BJP, Trinamool is trying to occupy the party office but we will not let that happen."

State Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick whose car crossed the area termed the BJP activists "uncivilised and barbaric".

About Subhrangshu Roy, Mullick told reporters: "He is a traitor, I will say this hundred times. Traitors have no character. We will keep fighting.

"He is a kid and still not mature. He is just seeing 2019 and not looking ahead till 2022..... 2024. His father is encouraging the son to fight, but in this way they cannot finish Trinamool Congress."

According to him, the Trinamool will fight to get back their party offices in Kanchrapara and Halishahar in the district.

Mullick sais Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee will visit Kanchrapara on June 14.

"Mamata Banerjee's government will continue in Bengal. Some win and some lose elections, which is a common thing in a democratic system. But if people act like rowdies, it won't be tolerated," Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose said.

He said people can chant "Jai Shri Ram" slogan as the "culture we believe in, is inclusive of all people" but on the police baton charge, added: "If people misbehave and block roads then the police will do their work."

--IANS

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The climate of change is dawning upon the global platform. The mega mandate with which Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India would begin his second term May 30, 2019, has potential to disrupt the decades-long global inertia to act on climate change, which has been recognised as the defining challenge of our times. However, defining actions have not been put in place yet to address it. That is poised for change.

The hype created by people like former US President Barack Obama and outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and curtain calls in the corridors of United Nations climate meetings resulted in only theatrical applause. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has just crossed 415 ppm - a high never seen before in human history. That deserves no applause. A hot, flat and crowded world is waiting for transformation to happen. Modi's re-election has offered the best hope for changing the climate of inaction.

Modi stands out amidst the miserable and frustrating political scenario dotted with the inaction of the world leaders on climate change. Many leaders harbour overly nationalistic motives, provoke inward looking trade barriers and, at the same time, upend the established climate science.

Deficit of political will has often been cited as the key reason for not taking decisive action against climate change fearing voters' backlash. However, Modi's re-election is poised to act as a catalyst for global change. Modi's track record is strong testimony to the potential transformation that could emerge, along the lines of India's Independence movement.

It is now well recognised that pledges by world leaders made under the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 are inadequate to keep the temperature rise of 2 degrees C below pre-industrial levels. Climate change is running faster than us. Ambitious targets as dictated by science in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) state that the world has to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels much more rapidly, phasing it out completely by 2050 to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees C.

Modi, with his passion for making it happen, has the potential to convene like-minded world leaders to act to achieve the ambitious target of 1.5 degrees C.

Modi has been dubbed as 'divider-in-chief' by sections of Western media. Yes, indeed, he divides action from inaction. Years ago, when he was Chief Minister of one of India's 29 states, he stated, referring to former US Vice President Al Gore's famous narrative of climate change, 'Inconvenient Truth', that the "real test of the leadership is not only welcoming the 'Inconvenient Truth' but in devising, formulating and implementing a strategy that results in what I call decisive and timely convenient action to deal with this very truth".

Within a year of his first term as Prime Minister, Modi raised the target of solar energy capacity in India to 175 GW (equivalent to avoiding installation of 350 MW coal fired plants) by 2022. Within the two years of his first term, he established, along with former French President Francois Hollande, an inter-governmental organisation called International Solar Alliance (ISA) to use nature's power to address climate change. One hundred and twenty one countries are now part of the ISA, most of which are located partly or completely in the region between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, which receives maximum solar energy on the earth.

Before the UN coined the term 'Agenda 2030 : Leaving no one behind'(in 2015), Modi had coined the equivalent but more stronger phrase ' Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' (With all, development for all) which many leaders, from other countries, including John Kerry, former US Secretary of State, started reciting.

The 2018 Champion of Earth award was given by the UN jointly to PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, while presenting award to Modi, said, "Prime Minister Modi understands the enormous benefits of climate action. Many other leaders also understand. The difference is that Prime Minister Modi not only understands, but that he acts with enormous energy to make this change. And this leadership is today more necessary than ever."

While accepting the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize for 2018, Modi stated that India's growth story is not only good for the people of India but also for the entire world. He also said that despite having a historically low carbon footprint, India has been playing an active role in the global fight against climate change.

"India, as a responsible member of the international community, has been in the forefront of our collective fight against climate change," he added.

Modi then dedicated the award money of $200,000 to the 'Namami Gange' (Clean Ganga river) Project. That act of Modi got minimal visibility in the media in the heat of general elections but, on the world stage, Modi's act was praised as his passion for the

Modi was also conferred the Order of Zayed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Order of St Andrew the Apostle, the highest order of the Russian Federation, both this year. Acceptance speeches of Modi at the award ceremonies would now acquire greater salience as India progresses under his leadership and, who knows, Modi might win the Nobel Peace Prize soon!

(The author is Chairman TERRE Policy Centre, former Director, UNEP. The article is in special arrangement with South Asia Monitor)

-- IANS

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The fallout from the Congress party's second consecutive general election rout is coinciding with Rahul Gandhi's obstinacy about not withdrawing his resignation to give shape to a presidium-like apparatus that could lead the party from now on.

Sources in the Congress have indicated that the crisis has thrown up several suggestions on the future leadership structure in the party. The one that has got the most tickmarks relates to the presidium.

In continuing discussions on the issue, the sources said there could be three working presidents, one each from north, east and south India. There could even be a fourth working president, from western India.

As part of the preparations to instal the new leadership, Rahul Gandhi has called the party's Young Turks to Delhi for consultations. These are leaders he associates with, the ones close to him.

This comes against the backdrop of an open war between the Congress old guard and Rahul Gandhi's handpicked generals. The old guard, which is accused of being status quoist and entitlement seeking, believes that the Congress party is their turf.

The Young Turks are convinced that the Congress party of old has to metamorphose into something more agile, action-oriented and in tune with the times to take on an all-conquering Bharatiya Janata Party by presenting a rival discourse.

Rajasthan Congress party chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot is already in the capital. The sources said that he is a certainty as one of the working presidents if the presidium-like apparatus is finally put in place.

Jyotiraditya Scindia is also said to be a candidate. However, he could have scuppered his own chances having lost the election to the Guna Lok Sabha seat. His mentors are aware that in an era of searing political competitiveness that acknowledges only winners, someone who has lost an election cannot be so quickly elevated to the top party position.

Among the other names being suggested for working president is K.C. Venugopal. Milind Deora is also in contention, the sources said.

Adjustments are also likely to be made keeping caste combinations in mind. Which means that Brahmins -- in caste-conscious Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, for instance, the Congress is mainly seen as an upper caste party -- and 'banias' could find a place in the new setup on the basis of their caste.

The old guard, naturally, is resisting the changes aware that should the new leadership structure take root, they would be pushed out into the cold.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is adamant that the old guard must not take pole position in the party. He also wants them to be out of key positions in the states as he insists that the party needs an overhaul. He could be speaking from experience -- his own elevation as party president took a while, as the old guard dug its heels in during Sonia Gandhi's presidentship and refused to let go.

The Congress president is also determined that his family should distance itself from the party leadership -- a move also opposed by the old guard because it hinges its own fortunes with the Gandhis.

One of the tasks before the new presidium will be to find ways to lift the party of its present situation. But, in the new fit, dynasty will not be a solution. For Rahul Gandhi, that means going beyond his own family to include other dynasts within the Congress.

A special pain point for the Congress is said to be Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The party president had named him among other chief ministers for not working hard enough in their states. These were also chief ministers who had fielded their sons to the dislike of the party high command.

Sources said that there is a possibility that Gehlot might have to pay a price for fielding his son from Jodhpur -- he lost the election -- spending time campaigning for him when he should have campaigned for the party across the state. If it happens it would mark the beginning of the purge of the old guard.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress in Uttar Pradesh may decide against contesting the bye-elections to 11 Assembly segments that have been necessitated after 11 legislators from the state won the Lok Sabha polls.

Majority of the party leaders feel that the party should avoid contesting bye-elections until its organisation strength right from the booth level has improved.

A group of former Congress legislators and leaders have sent a letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, urging him to concentrate on building up the party organisation before contesting elections.

"The bye-elections to 11 Assembly segments will not change the complexion of the state assembly since the BJP is way ahead of the halfway mark but if the Congress does not fare well then the party will face maximum flak," said a former legislator who is a signatory to the letter sent to the party high command.

The party leaders feel that the Congress, in fact, should start preparing for the 2022 Aassembly elections which is still two and a half years away.

"We have time and we should learn from the BJP when it comes to mobilising party cadres. The party should take up one Assembly segment at a time and ensure that the organisation is built down to the booth level.

"There are 403 Assembly segments. And even if we devote one day to one segment, we will build up the organisation within 13 months after which the party can start candidate selection," a former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president suggested.

A section of party leaders have communicated their suggestion to UPCC President Raj Babbar, who has also resigned, owning moral responsibility for the party's poor performance in the recent elections. There has been no decision on his resignation though.

A senior leader, said to be close to Babbar, said that unless a decision is taken on his resignation, he cannot initiate any exercise for party building.

"There is no doubt that every Congress worker and leader now feels that time has come for us to end our differences and work collectively towards strengthening the party. I agree that we should avoid contesting bye-elections unless we are very sure of the results," he said.

Meanwhile, bye-elections to 11 Assembly segments were to be held in Uttar Pradesh. Rita Bahuguna, a legislator from Lucknow Cantt, has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Allahabad and her Assembly seat will be vacant.

So shall be Satyadev Pachauri's, who won from Kanpur and his assembly seat Govind Nagar, will fall vacant.

The third, Uttar Pradesh Minister S.P. Singh Baghel has won from the Agra Lok Sabha seat and his Assembly seat Tundla will face a bye-election.

Similarly, BJP MLA from Pratapgarh, Sangam Lal Gupta, is now the MP from Pratapgarh. Saharanpur BJP MLA Pradeep Kumar has won the Kairana Lok Sabha seat.

BJP MLA from Chitrakoot R.K. Singh Patel has won the Banda Lok Sabha seat while Barabanki MLA Upendra Rawat is now an MP from the same seat.

Bahraich legislator Akshaywar Lal has won the same Lok Sabha seat and in Aligarh, BJP MLA Rajvir Singh has scored a victory on the Hathras seat.

SP MLA Azam Khan will soon vacate his Rampur seat since he has won the Lok Sabha elections from the same Lok Sabha seat.

In Ambedkar Nagar, BSP MLA Ritesh Pandey has won the Lok Sabha elections and his Jalalpur Assembly seat will also be vacant.

--IANS

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Congress MLA and former Director General of Police (DGP) Harish Meena began an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday protesting against his own government in Rajasthan for the death of a tractor driver who was allegedly beaten up by policemen in Tonk district on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the state President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Madanlal Saini, has formed a three-member committee to probe the matter.Harish Meena alleged that the state government did not pay heed to his demands even after he sat on a dharna for the last three days demanding justice for Bhajanlal Meena, who died under suspicious circumstances after being allegedly beaten up by police officers in Laxmipura village in Tonk district.

While

Bhajanlal's family members claimed that he was killed after being thrashed by the cops, the police termed it an 'accidental death'. The protesters alleged that Bhajanlal was chased and thrashed by the police which led to his death.

The protestors, who are sitting on a dharna in Nagarfort village with the body of Bhajanlal along with Harish Meena, are demanding action against the accused police officers and job for a dependent member of Bhajanlal's family.

Speaking to the media before beginning his hunger strike, Harish Meena said that he had communicated his message to the state government, but it took no initiative in the last three days. "Hence I had to resort to hunger strike," he said.

On Saturday, BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Kirorilal Meena also arrived at the venue of the dharna and said that a huge protest will be launched on June 5 if the demands of the protestors were not met.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA and deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore said on Saturday that the state government's days were numbered as even its own MLAs were sitting on dharna against their own government.

BJP state unit chief Saini alleged that the Ashok Gehlot-led government was intentionally trying to suppress the matter. He also said that a three-member panel has been constituted to probe the incident, which includes Tonk MP Sukhveer Singh Jaunpuriya, Tonk district President Ganesh Mahur and former MLA Kanhaiyalal. The committee will submit its report within three days.

--IANS

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The Congress on Saturday said it will not formally stake claim for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha as it is two seats short of the required number of 54.

According to rules, a party needs to have 10 per cent of 545 members, the total strength of Lok Sabha, to qualify for the post of Leader of Opposition, which is a Cabinet rank position. But the Congress has got only 52 members.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "We will not stake claim for the post of LoP in Lok Sabha as we are two short of 54 members required for the status."

He was responding to a question on the LOP post in LS post.

Even in the last Lok Sabha, the Leader of the Congress party in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, was not granted the Leader of Opposition status as the party had won only 44 seats in 2014.

Answering another query whether the party along with other opposition parties can stake claim for the status as Opposition block, he said, "The newly-elected Parliamentary Party will decide the party's strategy."

The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) met earlier in the day for the first time after the Lok Sabha elections and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected as its leader.

However, suspense over the post of Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha continues. The party has authorised Sonia Gandhi to take the decision on Leader of Congress.

--IANS

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The Congress on Saturday said that it will not formally stake claim for the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha as it is two seats short of the required number of 54.

The party also said that Rahul Gandhi will continue to be the Congress President.

According to the rules, a party needs to have 10 per cent of 545 members, the total strength of the Lok Sabha, to qualify for the post of Leader of Opposition, which is a Cabinet-rank position. But the Congress has got only 52 members in the Lower House, two short of the required numbers.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "We will not stake claim for the post of LoP in the Lok Sabha as we are two short of the 54 members required for the status. However, the onus also lies with the government... whether it wants to designate a party formally as the principal opposition."

Even in the previous Lok Sabha, the leader of Congress in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, was not granted the status of Leader of Opposition as the party had won only 44 seats in the 2014 general elections.

When asked if the party was looking at a merger with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Surjewala said that he had no information about any such merger between the two parties.

When asked if the Congress could stake claim for the LoP status as an Opposition block along with other opposition parties, he said, "The newly-elected Parliamentary party will decide the party's strategy."

The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) met earlier in the day for the first time after the Lok Sabha elections where UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected the leader of the Congress parliamentarians.

However, the suspense over the post of leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha continues. The party has authorised Sonia Gandhi to take a decision on this matter.

When asked if Rahul Gandhi was still insisting to step down from the post of Congress President, Surjewala said: "Rahul Gandhi continues to be the Congress President. The naysayers will say what they have to. The media has to wait rather than trying to jump to any conclusion. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has urged him (Rahul Gandhi) to continue as the party President."

When asked about nationalism and other important issues which were used by the BJP to consolidate support ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Surjewala pointed fingers at Doklam, where Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a two-month standoff in 2017.

"Even today Chinese army is deployed in Doklam just 10 metres from the Indian post where a road has been constructed. It is a diplomatic failure on the part of the Indian government," he said.

--IANS

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Filmmakers and artistes, who felt restricted by the censorship rules, found the over-the-top (OTT) platforms as a way to express themselves freely. But they are now concerned about moves to regulate this medium too and argue that instead of putting curbs, there should 'age-based' certification.

Their concerns stem from the Supreme Court's recent direction to the Centre to regulate the content featured on OTT media platforms, where shows and films on are often laced with nudity, violence and strong language.

Filmmaker Sachin Yardi, who jumped into the web space bandwagon with "Chopsticks", lauded the digital space for the freedom it gives to artistes and is against censorship on the digital medium.

"Everyone has his own individual idea of what censorship should be and I have mine. At the very core of all of this, we shouldn't undermine the intelligence of people at large and that it is crucial," Yardi told IANS.

He said one "should not make an opinion of what others should see".

Actress Kubbra Sait, who became famous by playing Kuckoo, a transgender in the popular crime thriller "Sacred Games" and shot a scene with frontal nudity, said there is no need of another 'censor board' for OTT content.

She believes in age group-appropriate certification.

"It allows the freedom to make a choice, of whether you want to watch it or not. But I don't understand a body of professionals who decide for the population, whether or not they think it's appropriate for them to watch/consume the content," Kubbra told IANS.

The actress asks as to why there is a need of a digital censorship board as there are enough disclaimers and parental controls when watching content on demand.

"A story needs to be told the way it has either happened or has been written. A board to censor even the content on web is now a tiring debate. Makers need the freedom to make what they want to. The viewers have the same freedom to watch what they want to," she said.

In January, Online Curated Content Providers, including Netflix and Hotstar, voluntarily signed a self-regulatory Code of Best Practices under the aegis of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Amazon Prime Video, however, is not part to the self-regulatory code.

Actor Ali Fazal, who featured in Amazon Prime Video's crime thriller "Mirzapur", feels that censorship will lead to piracy.

"The fact that a bunch of nerdy randoms must have brought this up because 'Hey, why not? We've managed to censor films, how dare they get away with digital?' I don't think anyone knows what to censor...," Ali told IANS.

"I'm sorry to say but this may motivate people to go back to piracy, something we as an industry have been fighting for years and people will un-subscribe to all Indian OTT platforms happily if its censored because it is hypocrisy in the Indian context," he added.

Filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan, who is venturing into the digital space with "Mrs Serial Killer", is also not in favour of censorship on the medium.

"I truly don't believe in censorship. I believe in a certificate which says 13+, 16+ or 18+ (rating). Give it a rating and people can judge it for themselves... When anything and everything is censored, what is art for me may be censorable for you," Farah told IANS.

Richa Chadha, who has featured in the Amazon Prime's "Inside Edge", says it is best to give shows and cinema on OTT platforms "an age-based rating".

"Currently, the Internet is free of censorship, and content makers are enjoying this new found freedom. I am not in favour of censorship per se, but it worries me that a 12-year-old is watching shows about guns and castrations," Richa told IANS.

(Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians)

--IANS

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National security strategy, military and equipment modernisation, defence reform besides garnering more funds for the ministry are the areas of challenge for the new Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to analysts here.

Defence experts are also of the view that the helicopter fleet of all three services require extensive replacement.

Singh, on Saturday, took charge as the country's Defence Minister. He is the fourth face to head the ministry in five years after Arun Jaitely (who had two stints), Manohar Parrikar and Nirmala Sitharaman.

He was received by Minister of State for Defence Shripad Yesso Naik who took charge on Friday, as well as by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa and Navy Chief Karambir Singh.

"The main challenge for Rajnath Singh is the preparation of a National Security strategy which was to be prepared by the newly constituted Defence Planning Committee. This will provide new guidelines to the services to prepare strategies," former Brigadier and defence expert S.K. Chatterjee told IANS.

"The country also has to decide on the induction of S-400 defence systems of the Russians keeping in view its impact on our relationship with the Americans," he said.

The analysts felt that with the government giving more emphasis to the Make in India initiative, the focus should now be on production rather than on buying hardware.

"Defence production with other countries need to be sorted out. We should enter into production with Russia, America, Israel and other countries," defence expert Qamar Agha said.

According to the experts, for Singh, who has been a successful Home Minister, the road ahead won't be that tough as he is a team leader and will take along all the three services.

Chatterjee said that the military and equipment modernisation is in progress currently, following a rather slow decade in this regard. The requirement is to push the pace in major areas of concern, including on air power resources, he added.

The experts were also of the opinion that the Assam Rifles should continue under the Army's operational control, otherwise it would lead to a steep decline in their combat capability.

Earlier in the day, the new Defence Minister visited the National War Memorial and paid homage to the martyrs.

--IANS

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An assistant professor accused of sexually assaulting female students at the Faridabad Government College, Sector 16, surrendered on Friday night and the police are expecting more disclosures during his interrogation.

The case, which was first reported on May 16 by a girl student of the college, grew into a big sex scandal with three more girls claiming to be victims of sexual assault at the hands of the assistant professor and the number might grow during the police investigation.

"The accused assistant professor, identified as Chandra Shekhar, surrendered last night and has been sent to police remand. While we cannot disclose the case details at the moment, the number of victims is likely to shoot up as a peon and a lab attendant arrested earlier in connection with the case have revealed that the sex scandal was going on for more than four years now," said Sube Singh, Public Relation Officer (PRO) to the Commissioner of Police (Faridabad).

The two other accused in the case, peon Vikram and lab attendant Jagdev Singh, were arrested on May 16 and have been sent to police custody. During interrogation, they revealed that Chandra Shekhar, who taught accounts in the college, made them partners in the crime. Their task was to identify girls who feared flunking in the practical examination and offer them a way to pass if they indulged in sexual relations with Chandra Shekhar.

The police are probing whether the peon and and the lab attendant also sought sexual favours from the victims.

"While both the accused are denying any involvement in the sexual assault of the victims, they admitted to have lured girls into the trap. We are probing if the two also sought sexual favours from the victims," added Singh.

The police are expecting more victims to come out and lodge their complaints during the course of the investigation. "Peer pressure and social embarrassment are stopping many girls from coming forward," Singh said.

--IANS

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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal continued their own history as they reached French Open round of 16 for a record 14th time, while women's second seed Karolina Pliskova became the latest potential title contender to be knocked out following a loss to Petra Martic in the third round here on Friday.

Contesting his 400th Grand Slam match, Federer won the first two sets against Norwegian promise Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1, before being pulled into a tie-break in the third set, but managed to go through with a score of 10-8, Xinhua news agency reports.

"The third set could have gone either way. He had chances early, then later, and then again after," admitted Federer. "It was nice to see him hang in there."

Federer will face Leonardo Mayer from Argentina for a quarter-final spot, and a potential semi-final clash with Nadal looms ahead.

Nadal, in quest for a record-extending 12th French Open title, overcame Belgian 27th-seeded David Goffin 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

He said: "I played against a top player that had injuries, and he's a little bit lower in the ranking now, but when he's playing well, he's a player that already showed to everybody that he can win against every player in this world."

His next opponent will be another Argentinian Juan Ignacio Londero.

Pliskova lost 6-3, 6-3 to Martic, and her exit means that Naomi Osaka is set to maintain her world No. 1 status after the tournament.

She conceded 28 unforced errors, double that of her Croatian opponent, and also lagged behind in points won on first and second serves.

Prior to Pliskova, other challengers to Osaka's throne have fallen by the wayside, as fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber was eliminated in the first round, fourth seed Kiki Bertens was laid low with an illness, and No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova withdrew through injury.

"The court is pretty slow, so you just have to play some extra shots. She has this kind of game which you don't feel good about, and she played well," she added.

Elsewhere, the 2016 winner Garbine Muguruza upset ninth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3. No. 7 seed Sloane Stephens also marched on with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Polona Hercog.

The Chinese women's pair of Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai won their doubles second round match over Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs 6-3, 6-2.

--IANS

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The main entrance of the US Embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa was left charred after demonstrators set fire to tires and objects in front of the building.

The fire was extinguished by Friday afternoon, and a State Department spokesperson later said no embassy personnel were injured in the incident, reports CNN.

The fire came amid days of protests by education and medical professionals, who are urging the government not to privatize their sectors.

The US Embassy had previously instructed the families of US government employees to remain home during the protests.

It was not immediately clear whether the embassy was the intended target of the demonstrators.

A senior State Department official told CNN the incident did not appear to be serious and that staffers were seeking more information from the scene.

The State Department spokesperson for Western Hemisphere Affairs later called the fire an "unacceptable" act of "violence", and said the embassy was working "closely" with Honduran authorities.

--IANS

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Demanding closure of casinos, women wing of the Congress here on Saturday staged a protest outside an offshore casino facility.

They were also demanding action against a woman activist, who filed an FIR against Congress MLA Atanasio Monserrate, Mayor Uday Madkaikar and former Deputy Mayor Yatin Parekh for allegedly molesting her while overseeing an anti-encroachment drive outside the casino office.

"We demand closure of offshore casinos, hub of illegalities, in Panaji," Goa Congress Mahila Morcha chief Pratima Coutinho said after leading a 500-strong group of protesters to the strip, which hosts offices of offshore casinos. The protesters also clashed with the police.

Coutinho said the woman activist who alleged molestation by the Congress office-bearers, including Monserrate, was lying and should be booked for misleading the police.

"There was no molestation. The woman who claims to be an activist was hired by the casino operators to file complaints against our MLA, mayor and former deputy mayor," Coutinho said.

Monserrate, in the run-up to the May 19 Panaji Assembly by-election, had promised to oust the casinos from the Mandovi river off Panaji, within 100 days.

--IANS

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The US Department of Justice is preparing to open a case against Google for potential anti-trust violations, thus, putting scrutiny on the tech giant amid a growing chorus of criticism about the power of Big Tech, The New York Times has reported.

This comes at a time when there's a debate whether large technology companies should be broken up.

"This year, with a new antitrust task force announced in February, the trade commission renewed its interest in Google. In recent weeks, the commission referred complaints about the company to the Justice Department, which also oversees antitrust regulations, according to two people familiar with the actions," The New York Times report said.

The commission has also told firms with complaints against the tech giant to take them to the Justice Department.

This is not new for Google, it has has faced anti-trust tests in the past.

In 2013, Google said it would change some practices after it agreed to a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission. The FTC had been concerned that some of Google's business practices could stifle competition.

In 2010, the company received an antitrust complaint from the European Commission regarding ranking of shopping search results and ads, which resulted in Google being fined $2.7 billion in 2017, according to Alphabet's latest annual report, reported CNBC News.

--IANS

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A US judge has asked Facebook to hand over data privacy records related to the massive Cambridge Analytica scandal.

According to a report in Engadget on Friday, Facebook shareholders in September 2018 sued the social networking platform to obtain information pertaining to the data leak of 87 million users.

"Today, a US judge sided with shareholders, ordering Facebook to release the documents," said the report.

According to the judge in Delaware Chancery Court, the shareholders have a "credible basis" to suspect that Facebook board members may have committed wrongdoing.

The shareholders had sued Facebook to obtain records related to the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and other privacy breaches.

The irony is that Facebook argues that privacy doesn't actually exist on Facebook.

At a separate hearing in a class-action lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder argued that there is "no expectation of privacy" on the platform.

"There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy," Snyder told the US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria, arguing that users had given consent to share their data with third parties.

"You have to closely guard something to have a reasonable expectation of privacy," he was quoted as saying in a Digital Trends report.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg survived a leadership vote at the social networking giant's annual meeting on Thursday to step down as Chairman.

--IANS

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The US withdrawal of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) will have an "insignificant" impact on India's exports, however, the move has caused anxiety over economic uncertainty as domestic growth has slowed.

The US had earlier announced withdrawal of GSP benefits extended to exports from India from June 5, 2019.

The GSP benefits are envisaged to be non-reciprocal and non-discriminatory export benefits extended by developed countries to developing countries.

While on official level, India said it did offer resolution on significant US requests to find a mutually acceptable way.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has termed the move as "unfortunate", but industry observers cite the benefit of only around $200 million as insignificant to causer major worry.

"Sectors like chemicals and engineering goods have been benefiting under the GSP regime and thus would lose out at the margin, unless the government increases some rebates on these sectors to counter the loss," Madhavi Arora, Lead Economist, Edelweiss Securities, told IANS.

"That said, the annual benefit that India has been getting under GSP is a tad below $200 million annually. To that extent, the impact is not too significant."

Similarly, Trade Promotion Council of India's Chairman Mohit Singla said: "The withdrawal of GSP will not make much difference as Indian exports are all geared to take this challenge."

"Even the US was benefiting from the GSP regime, since the intermediary inputs provided by India helped keep its industry competitive."

The GSP withdrawal is only going to inject the estimated, additional burden of $190 million, which is miniscule compared to India's overall export to US, he added.

As per industry data, India's exports to the US during 2018 stood at $51.4 billion out of which only $6.35 billion were under the GSP scheme.

On the other hand, Federation of Indian Export Organisations' President Ganesh Kumar Gupta pointed out that exporters of products having GSP benefits of 3 per cent or more, will find it difficult to absorb the loss.

According to Gupta, most affected sectors will be "imitation jewellery, leather articles other than footwear, pharmaceuticals and surgical products and chemical and plastics".

He said government should provide supports to products where GSP loss has been significant so that "the market is not lost".

Earlier in March, the US had given a 60-day withdrawal notice to India on the GSP benefits extended by it.

The US commenced a review in April 2018 on India's GSP benefits, while both the countries were discussing various trade issues of bilateral interest.

--IANS

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Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman on Saturday on the sidelines of the 14th Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) here.

The two leaders discussed matters of mutual interests and bilateral ties and Khan thanked the Saudi government for extending oil facility to Pakistan on deferred payments, Geo News reported.

They also agreed to expedite decisions taken during the visit of Bin Salman to Pakistan in February, in particular, early implementation of decisions taken during the first meeting of the Supreme Coordination Council.

Islamabad had earlier secured $6 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia to boost the cash-strapped country's economy and struck a 12-month deal for a cash lifeline during Khan's visit to the Kingdom in October 2018.

--IANS

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The Quad countries, India, Australia, Japan and the US, have discussed leveraging the power of the private sector, which could balance China's economic diplomacy that promotes infrastructure development in its quest for global influence.

At a Quad consultation on Friday in Bangkok, senior officials discussed initiatives to "encourage transparent, principles-based investment in quality infrastructure in accordance with international standards and leverage the potential of the private sector", according to a press note from the US State Department.

The increased stress on infrastructure and investment signals an initiative by the Quad nations to meet China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond that buttresses its play for dominance with programmes like the One Road One Belt for infrastructure development with strategic implications.

As important as projection of naval and military power in the region and beyond is for China, its goal of dominance depends also on commerce and developing infrastructure around the world, and this would require the Quad to go beyond traditional strategic manoeuvres to a long-term economic response.

Joint military exercises among them have so far been the most visible joint efforts by the Quad.

As the Quad nations do not have centralised, government-controlled economy like China, they would have to get the private sector to play a role in infrastructure development, which the consultation emphasised. The countries have several projects in other developing countries, but they are not coordinated.

In the case of India, government organisations as well as the private sector have been involved on the ground in infrastructure projects in places like Afghanistan and Iran and the nation could play an important role in any joint initiative with financing and resources mobilised by the others.

The mention of transparency and principles in the US note about the consultation is telling because of growing complaints from around the world about China's projects that are pitched as development aid have saddled the recipients with massive loans leading to Beijing exerting control over the projects or even more broadly on the economy. In addition, there have also been reports of corruption and lack of transparency.

The US note added: "They underscored their intent to continue close coordination and collaboration in support of sustainable, private-sector led development, maritime security, and good governance."

A statement by India's External Affairs Ministry was silent on private sector involvement.

It said: "The officials discussed cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; regional security, including counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster Rrelief; maritime cooperation; and cyber security issues, with a view to promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region."

A Japanese Foreign Ministry statement on consultation, however, mentioned the private sector.

"They noted initiatives from each country to provide tools and opportunities to quality infrastructure investment in accordance with international standards and leverage the potential of the private sector," it said.

The US was represented at the consultation by W. Patrick Murphy, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southeast Asia, and Thomas L. Vajda, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Security and Transnational Affairs in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, according to a tweet from a State Department account.

The participants of the other countries have not been named.

The Quad consultation took place while senior officials of the Asean Regional Forum senior officials were also meeting in Bangkok.

The State Department said that the Quad officials "welcomed Asean's efforts to develop an Indo-Pacific Outlook" and they "affirmed their strong support for Asean centrality and Asean-led regional architecture, as well as their support for other regional institutions, including the Indian Ocean Rim Association and Pacific Islands Forum".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in <mailto:arul.l@ians.in> and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

--IANS

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The most senior female Islamic State (IS) captive has played a central role in the CIA's hunt Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, helping identify safe houses used by the fugitive terror leader and in one case pinpointing his location in Mosul, Iraq, the Guardian reported.

The captive, Nisrine Assad Ibrahim, better known as Umm Sayyaf, has helped the CIA and Kurdish intelligence officers build a detailed portrait of Baghdadi's movements, hideouts and networks, investigators have disclosed.

The claims have been confirmed by Umm Sayyaf, 29, in her first interview since being captured in a Delta Force raid in Syria four years ago that killed her husband, Fathi Ben Awn Ben Jildi Murad al-Tunis, a close friend of Baghdadi's and also the then IS oil minister.

Umm Sayyaf is a highly controversial figure who has been accused of involvement in some of the terror group's most heinous crimes, including the enslavement of the captured US aid worker Kayla Mueller and several Yazidi women and girls, who were raped by senior IS leaders.

She was sentenced to death by a court in Erbil, and spoke to the Guardian, from a prison in the Iraqi city.

Regarding a house in Mosul she had identified in 2016 where Baghdadi was believed to have been staying, she said: "I told them where the house was. I knew he'd been there because it was one of the houses that was provided for him, and one of the places he liked the most."

Her marriage had given her more proximity to Baghdadi than nearly all other IS women. As one of the organisation's most important wives, she had rare access to meetings and personal discussions and was present several times when Baghdadi recorded audio propaganda messages in the home she shared with her husband.

"He used to do that in our sitting room in Taji (a town in central Iraq)... My husband was the (IS) media chief then, and Baghdadi would visit often."

Umm Sayyaf at first refused to cooperate with her captors. But by early 2016, she had begun to reveal some of the organisation's most sensitive secrets.

She pored over maps and photographs laid out on a table in front of her, alongside American men. "They were very polite and wore civilian clothes," she told the Guardian. "I showed them everything I knew."

Of Baghdadi's current whereabouts, Umm Sayyaf suggested he had returned to Iraq, where he always felt safer.

"He never felt good in Syria, he always wanted to be in Iraq. He would only come to do something and leave. The last I heard of him, he wanted to go to Qaim and Bukamal, but that was some time ago."

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has requested Umm Sayyaf's transfer from Iraq to the US to face justice for her crimes. She told the UN security council in April that Umm Sayyaf "locked them (the captives) in a room, instigated their beatings and put makeup on them to 'prepare them for rape'".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mrunal Thakur-starrer "Love Sonia", which highlights the issue of human trafficking around the world, will be screened at Washington DC and Racine.

The movie was screened at one of Austria's oldest cinemas Stadtkino Wien, and will now be showcased in Washington DC and Racine.

It was screened in Vienna on May 27, and will be screened in Washington DC on June 9, followed by Racine on June 13.

Mrunal will be joining Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Director of ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights); Valiant Richey, OSCE (Organisation for Security & Co-operation) Acting Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings; and film's director Tabrez Noorani, at a question and answer session.

"It feels absolutely amazing to be a part of 'Love Sonia', a story which deserves to be told. I would be travelling to Washington DC and Racine to highlight the gender dynamics of trafficking in human beings, as over 70 per cent of all detected trafficking victims are women and girls, and the need for a victim-centred, trauma-informed approach in all interactions with trafficking survivors," Mrunal said in a statement.

"'Love Sonia' is travelling around and globe and it's a great feeling. I really hope this film gets a wider reach so that it creates good awareness about human trafficking," she added.

The screening is organised by the ODIHR, an independent institution of the OSCE based in Warsaw, Poland.

Talking about her experience in Vienna, the actress said: "This was my first time in Vienna, Austria, and the best thing about screening the movie here was there were people coming from all over the globe, like from Russia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Stockholm.

"It was a wonderful experience and we feel so privileged to have screened this film for the top most agencies over the globe who fight for human trafficking."

The response to the screening in Vienna was "absolutely different", she said.

"One comment that I absolutely loved was when someone mentioned that this film ends on a hope note. The way Indian audiences respond to this film is completely different. I am glad that people see hope and are ready to fight against sex trafficking," Mrunal said.

Inspired by real events, "Love Sonia" is a hard-hitting story about Sonia, who risks her life to rescue her sister from a vicious human trafficking network across India, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The film has an ensemble cast of Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Anupam Kher, Sai Tamhankar, Adil Hussain, Demi Moore and Freida Pinto.

--IANS

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A team of eight members, including seven foreign mountaineers, has gone missing on its way to Nanda Devi peak in Uttarakhand.

A search operation has begun to find these missing foreign climbers.

According to the report, the team, which includes seven mountaineers from the UK, US and Australia besides a liaison officer from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering, left Munsiyari on May 13.

--IANS

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The US Navy has acknowledged that a request had been made regarding the USS John S. McCain in relation to President Donald Trump's recent visit to Japan, but said the warship ended up remaining in its normal configuration.

The statement on Friday continues a saga stemming from emails exchanged between the White House and lower-level US Navy officials about keeping a warship named for the late Senator John McCain's father and grandfather out of sight ahead of the President's trip, reports CNN.

"A request was made to the US Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President's visit," Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, chief of Navy information, said in the statement.

"There were also no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain."

Brown added that the Navy is "fully cooperating with the review of this matter tasked by" acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

Two Navy officials told CNN on Wednesday that the White House Military Office had asked lower-level US Navy officials about keeping the ship out of view -- an impractical request as the ship was under repair, one of the officials said.

The ship ultimately was not moved nor was the name obscured, said Cmdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the 7th Fleet.

Trump told reporters ON Thursday that while he had had no knowledge of the plan nor would he have acted on it, he "is not a big fan" of McCain, and whoever was behind the plan was "well-meaning".

When asked abut the controversy on Friday, Shanahan maintained that the military would not be politicized, adding that he would not have directed the ship to be moved, CNN reported.

"Our business is to run military operations and not to become politicized," Shanahan told reporters at a Singapore news conference.

"I'll wait until I get a full explanation of the facts before I pass judgment on the situation, but our job is to run the military."

--IANS

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A week after the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat on all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan for the second time in a row, party workers accused Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of neglecting grassroots workers and promoting dynastic

Several party workers have demanded a change of guard in the state.

Speaking to IANS, Anand Purohit, a Vice President of the legal cell of the Congress and a former District President of Youth Congress from Jodhpur said, "Many communities turned their back on the Congress. These include Brahmins, Rajputs and the Jats.

"Even the team of the Chief Minister from Jaipur did not have faith in the local party workers. District Congress workers were neglected by the Jaipur team; they were not told to participate in the party's campaign programme. Many times they were not even aware of the campaign schedule in the area."

He alleged the Jaipur team betrayed party President Rahul Gandhi.

Voicing his anger, Purohit said, "We are born as Congress soldiers and will die as Congress soldiers. But we feel bad when we see the party dying in this way".

Echoing similar opinion, Rajesh Sharaswat, Congress Seva Dal general secretary, said the problem for the party's rout in the state lies with the Chief Minister.

"After the dismal performance in 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the party could not win a single seat in the state, the party made a comeback under the leadership of Sachin Pilot in the local elections as well as Assembly polls held last year and formed the government," Sharaswat said.

He said most castes are angry with the Chief Minister. That was the reason why they voted for the BJP in the election.

Sharaswat said, "Pilot should be made the Chief Minister of the state and Gehlot be given a bigger role in the party in Delhi."

He pointed out that had Pilot been the Chief Minister, the party would have managed to win at least four seats in the state.

Another party worker and former Krishi Mandi Chairman, Kalu Singh said that dynasty policy of Gehlot hurt the party a lot in the elections.

He said most of the party leaders' sons, daughters or relatives are occupying plum posts in the party at every level. "This has not gone down well with the people. That's why even the son of Ashok Gehlot, Vaibhav Gehlot, lost the election," Singh said.

After the party's dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi offered to step down from the post during the Congress Working Committee. But his offer to step down was rejected by the CWC members unanimously.

During the party's top decision-making body meeting, Rahul Gandhi was forthright in targeting senior leaders for preferring their sons.

Party sources said Rahul Gandhi had taken the names of Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and former Finance Minister and senior party leader P. Chidambaram for preferring their sons in the general election.

Targeting the senior leadership of the party, Singh said, "The state government believed only in show-off while nothing was visible on the ground. If this was not the case, then how did the people get so much annoyed with the state government within five months?"

Singh also pointed out differences between Gehlot and Pilot. "They came together on public platforms, but there were differences between them."

Singh said party workers who work hard must be rewarded.

When asked if a change in the state party leadership is required, he said, "Yes, it should happen if the party wants to win in the next assembly elections."

Shravan Bishnoi, block Vice President of Congress from Osian area of Jodhpur said the senior leadership completely neglected the grassroots workers during the elections.

He said, after the defeat in 2014, under Pilot they worked hard and connected with every family at every booth.

"And we made a comeback in the Assembly polls last year. But during this election (2019 Lok Sabha elections) the grassroots workers were completely neglected, resulting in the people voting for the BJP," Bishnoi said.

He said the party leadership needs to repose its faith in the grassroots workers which is its main strength instead of relying on a team which has no knowledge of the area and the caste calculation.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday slammed Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy for his statement that Hyderabad is a "safe zone for terrorists".

The Hyderabad MP termed the minister's remarks irresponsible and said it was unfortunate that he has stooped so low.

Kishan Reddy, who was elected from Secunderabad, one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in Hyderabad city, had said on Friday that Hyderabad had become safe zone for terrorists as any terror incident in the country would have a link to the city.

Talking to reporters, Owaisi asked Kishan Reddy to spell out as to how many written advisories were sent by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to the Home Ministry during last five years that Hyderabad had become safe heaven for terrorists.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief also said for the last five years, there was complete peace in Hyderabad as no communal riots broke out in the city and all religious festivals passed off peacefully.

Owaisi, who was re-elected to Lok Sabha from Hyderabad for fourth consecutive term, said out that the city is also the second major exporter of software exports after Bengaluru.

"The statement shows how much they hate Telangana and Hyderabad. They don't want to see the state and the city grow because major companies are investing here due to the efforts of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao," he said.

Owaisi said that such statements from BJP leaders are not unexpected as "wherever they see a Muslim, they think he is terrorist".

He clained the BJP was following a "theory of confusion" as Prime Minister Narendra Modi says one thing while his ministers, leaders of BJP, VHP, other organizations and Baba Ramdev say something else.

Recalling that after Modi first became Prime Minister, they started with "Love Jihad", he said that "this was followed by "Ghar Wapsi", mob lynching, excesses on Dalits and now they were speaking of safe zone for terrorists".

After Modi took as the Prime Minister for the second term, series of hate crimes against Muslims occurred in Gurugram, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, he added.

"Mere lip service will not help. You have to practically discharge your constitutional responsibility," he said on Modi's call to end fear among minorities.

On BJP leaders setting the goal of coming to power in Telangana in next elections, Owaisi said the state under the leadership of Chandrashekhar Rao was making all-round progress and it believed in the composite culture. "RSS and BJP leaders will not succeed in their efforts," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The two-member Congress Committee probing the reasons behind the defeat of their President Rahul Gandhi in his family borough Amethi, has been told that the non-cooperation of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party units was responsible for the defeat.

Congress Secretaries Zubair Khan and K.L. Sharma, who are UPA chaiperson Sonia Gandhi's representatives in Rae Bareli, were informed in "clear terms" that the SP and BSP units in Amethi did not cooperate with Congress and a large segment of their voters went with BJP.

"It is simple arithmetic. Rahul Gandhi got more votes in 2019 (4.13 lakhs) than he did in 2014 (4.08 lakh votes). The BSP candidate in 2014 had polled 57,716 votes and if these votes had come to the Congress, the party would have won. BJP's Smriti Irani defeated rahul Gandhi by a margin of over 55,000 votes," said a local Congress leader.

Amethi district Congress chief Yogendra Misra also supported the charge that the SP and BSP did not cooperate with the Congress even though their leaders had announced support for Rahul Gandhi.

"Former SP Minister Gayatri Prajapati's son Anil Prajapati openly campaigned for Smriti Irani. SP MLA from Gauriganj, Rakesh Singh, went with the BJP in order to save the position of his block pramukhs and zila panchayat members," said Yogendra Misra.

Rakesh Singh, the SP MLA, however, denied the charge.

Rahul Gandhi had lost in four assembly segments of Amethi and the margin of defeat was highest (18,000 votes) in Gauriganj. He led in Amethi but trailed in Tiloi, Jagdishpur and Salon Assembly segments.

The two-member committee has taken feedback from Gauriganj and Tiloi party workers and will be meeting the workers in Jagdishpur, Salon and Amethi over the next two days.

The final report would be submitted to the Congress high command next week.

The defeat of Rahul Gandhi in Amethi has shaken up the Congress since the constituency was considered a Congress bastion since 1980.

--IANS

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Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday rejected the resignation of state Minister Lal Chand Kataria who had resigned a few days back taking moral responsibility for the Congress party's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in his constituency by over one lakh votes.

Rejecting his resignation, Gehlot said that at the time when the election results have not been in favour of the Congress, the moral responsibility of party members increases to unitedly face the challenges ahead and contribute in providing good governance in Rajasthan.

"In the past, you have rendered your duty as a Union Minister, also you have been MLA many times and hence your experience shall benefit the state," he said.

Kataria had reportedly resigned as state Agriculture Minister, citing the rout of the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

In a press release, Kataria said he had sent his resignation to the Governor through Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who has come under attack from Congress President Rahul Gandhi after the Congress failed to win even a single seat in Rajasthan.

However, the offices of neither the Chief Minister nor the Governor could confirm that Kataria had quit.

Kataria himself could not be reached on telephone to confirm if he had resigned.

However, on Friday, Kataria confirmed that he had gone to Uttarakhand after submitting his resignation.

His press release, which had gone viral on social media, said he considered it morally inappropriate to continue as minister after the party's defeat.

"This resignation should not be connected to any other factor," he said, adding he would remain a member of the Assembly and continue to articulate people's grievances.

--IANS

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UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will continue as the Congress Parliamentary Party leader as the newly elected members of the party in Lok Sabha once again elected her as the leader of the CPP during their first meeting on Saturday here.

Gandhi won the Rae Bareli seat from Uttar Pradesh by defeating the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes.

"Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party! She says, 'we thank the 12.13 crore voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party'," tweeted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The CPP met here at the central hall of Parliament, amid continuing upheaval in the party as current President Rahul Gandhi insists on stepping down following a mammoth debacle faced by the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

Sonia Gandhi was party president till 2017 for 19 long years before passing the baton to son Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi, also present in the meeting, thanked the voters and addressed the Congress party workers, saying, "Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the colour of his skin or belief", Surjewala added.

--IANS

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(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.)
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will continue as the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leader as the newly-elected Lok Sabha members of the party once again elected her to the post during their first meeting here on Saturday.

However, suspense over the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha continued as the party authorised Sonia Gandhi to decide on it.

Gandhi won the Rae Bareli seat from Uttar Pradesh by defeating the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes.

"Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party! She says, awe thank the 12.13 crore voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party'," tweeted Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

According to party leaders, Sonia Gandhi's name was proposed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

After the meeting, Surjewala told media persons, "Sonia Gandhi was unanimously elected as the CPP leader. She also accepted the mandate given the people of the country to the party."

Surjewala said that during the meeting, Sonia Gandhi said the party MPs will keep on raising the voice of the people in both Houses of Parliament.

Asked who will lead the party in the Lok Sabha, Surjewala said, "There is a constitution for Parliamentary party and Sonia Gandhi will decide on the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha."

The CPP met here at the central hall of Parliament, amid continuing upheaval in the party as President Rahul Gandhi has been adamant on stepping down following a huge debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.

Sonia Gandhi was party president till 2017 for 19 long years before passing the baton to son Rahul Gandhi.

To a question about what Rahul Gandhi said during the meeting, Surjewala said: "He thanked the voters, party workers and leaders and leaders of the ally parties for supporting the party in the Lok Sabha elections."

He said: "Rahul Gandhi said that all the 52 Lok Sabha MPs and Rajya Sabha MPs will raise the voice of all citizens in Parliament."

Earlier, Surjewala took to Twitter and said: "Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the colour of his skin or belief."

--IANS

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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge for a second term, Nepal's top industrialist and Chairman of CG Corp Global Binod Chaudhary has expressed the hope that the two countries will show a "renewed sense of commitment" to take the bilateral ties to a new height by forgetting the "unpleasant" developments witnessed in the recent past, like the 2015 economic blockade.

Chaudhary, who was here to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Modi government-II, is confident that the Indian Prime Minister would take the "required decisive steps to transform Nepal", saying it would be beneficial for India too.

The billionaire businessman talked about the trade imbalance tilted towards India and wanted Modi to "correct" the situation, saying: "It requires a political leadership of different order. Modiji has that courage."

Speaking to IANS here, he said the re-election of Modi with a much bigger mandate gives confidence that he would be able to accomplish what could not be achieved earlier and that the bilateral relations would be taken to a new height.

"A prosperous Nepal will be beneficial for India," said the Chairman of CG Corp Global, which has more than 130 companies in diverse sectors, including financial services, energy, education, hospitality and real estate.

"I hope there would be a renewed sense of commitment on part of both the governments to take the Nepal-India relationship to the new height, thereby concluding many critical bilateral projects of huge importance, which have not made progress.

"Both countries need to forget the past and work for a different level of economic prosperity," Chaudhary said.

Asked what he meant by "forgetting the past", Chaudhary referred to the 2015 Madeshi unrest, which was followed by the economic blockade of Nepal.

"Things were moving on track, but the unfortunate events, like Madeshi unrest and blockade, happened and caused serious damage to the relations at people to people level. This has left an undesirable level of trust deficit and pain in many minds which, given the historic relationship of Nepal and India, needs to be corrected," the billionaire businessman said.

Recalling Modi's address to the Nepalese Parliament during his first visit to Kathmandu in 2014, Chaudhary, who had met him at that time, said, "there was a completely different level of euphoria and the expectations went high".

Hopes rose about languishing important projects seeing the light of the day, he said.

"Unfortunately, there are elements in both India and Nepal who consciously don't let things happen and sabotage the processes. They are good at spreading an impression that help in creating lack of mutual trust," he said.

According to the top businessman, people in both countries have "now repaired the ties, but we lost 4 years in the process".

Modi, in his address to the Nepalese Parliament on August 3, 2014, had said India would help the Himalayan country build highways, I-ways and transways.

He had noted that Nepal had abundant potential in the hydro power sector and India would like to buy electricity from it, for which New Delhi was committed to establish transmission lines.

While making a reference to those promises by the Indian Prime Minister, Chaudhary said: "Modiji went out of the way in cementing the relationship, which has opened many new dimensions of mutual cooperation, including waterways and railways, and reopening avenues with economic relationship to a new height."

Likewise, the Nepal government has also responded to this effort and initiative demonstrated by India during the two visits of Prime Minister Modi and the then Foreign Minister.

Underlining that a prosperous Nepal, with enhanced capacity to buy, will only benefit India, Chaudhary said: "India is a huge market in the eyes of the whole world. But as far as Nepal is concerned, it's the other way round. Nepal has two-third market share for goods from India, while Nepalese exports to India are limited and not growing as it should."

This caused trade imbalance in favour of India, Chaudhary said, adding one of the ways to address it was cooperation in the power sector.

Talking about possibilities in the energy sector, he said: "Nepal is in an unfortunate situation by having to buy power instead of selling... There is potential for generation of 100,000 megawatts of power in Nepal. Instead, Nepal buys 500 megawatts from India."

According to the top businessman, India should help build power plants of at least 20,000-30,000 megawatts in Nepal.

"It's in India's interest to see Nepal become an example in the neighbourhood of a country, which contributes to the Indian economy through supply of power, energy several agro-based raw material, including trustworthy and hardworking man power," the billionaire businessman said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The body of a tourist guide who was killed while saving tourists during a rafting accident in Lidder river in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam area was pulled out of the river on Saturday.

Rouf Ahmad Dar went missing while rescuing save five tourists, including foreigners, when their boat capsized in the river on Friday evening.

The body was handed over to the family for last rites after completion of medico-legal formalities, tourism department officials said.

State Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam has directed the concerned officers to provide all possible assistance and compensation to the family of the braveheart.

--IANS

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As he hardens his stand on trade, US President Donald Trump is ending India's $5.6 billion trade concessions under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences programme with effect from June 5.

"I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets," he said in a proclamation issued Friday night.

"Accordingly", he said, "it is appropriate to terminate India's designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019."

The end to GSP comes ahead of the meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Japan later this month during the G20 Summit. Trade issues are likely to come up during their meeting.

Trump is on a mission to end the massive US trade deficits and has imposed or proposed higher tariffs on imports from several countries while involved in a trade war with China.

On Wednesday, he announced punitive tariff hikes on imports from Mexico over its leniency towards immigrants from Central America.

Turkey was also stripped of its GSP trade concessions along with India on Friday.

India, which came under the GSP programme in 1975, is its largest beneficiary in the US. However, India's GSP exports of $5.6 billion were only a small part of the total exports worth $76.7 billion in 2017, according to the US Trade Representative (USTR).

Total India-US trade was $126.2 billion in 2017, with a $27.3 billion deficit for the US.

The GSP programme is limited to certain categories like apparel and footwear with the aim of alleviating poverty by promoting exports by poor craftspeople and artisans in those sectors.

At a hearing held by the USTR last June on withdrawing India's GSP, the Minister in-charge of Commerce at the Indian embassy in Washington, Puneet R. Kundal, said that withdrawing GSP benefits to India "would be discriminatory, arbitrary, and detrimental to the development, finance and trade needs of India, which is a vast and diverse developing country with unique challenges."

Trump had notified Congress in March of his intent to end the GSP preferences as required by law.

Trump has been on a warpath against what he said were high tariffs on US imports to India.

While pushing for the Reciprocal Trade Act in January, he brought up India's duty on American whiskey, which he said was 150 per cent, and on Harley Davidson motorcycles that he asserted he had gotten reduced from 100 per cent to 50 per cent.

The decision to end the GSP may not entirely be influenced by high tariffs imposed by India on US imports. The two countries have had differences over the restrictions placed on e-commerce by Amazon and on Walmart subsidiary Flipkart and on data housing by Visa and Mastercard.

In retaliation for the US raising tariffs of steel and aluminium imports from India, New Delhi has threatened to increase duties on agricultural products like walnuts, apples and other fruits imported from the US.

A trade group has warned that ending GSP for India could ironically end up helping China on which the Trump administration has launched a trade war.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association said in written testimony to the USTR that if GSP benefits are withdrawn for India as well as Indonesia and Thailand, US "companies will have no choice but to return to sourcing from China".

But the US dairy industry made a strong submission to the USTR to end the GSP for India citing its difficulties in exporting to India.

Shawna Morris, Vice President of the National Milk Producers Federation and the US Dairy Export Council in oral testimony at the USTR hearing in June accused India of refusing to provide them equitable and reasonable access to its markets through "unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary requirements."

These requirements by India were that the exports should not come from cows that have been given cannibalised feed that includes offal or other meat products.

Kundal countered that it was not an issue of market access but of "certification given the religious, cultural and moral sensitivities" and India provide unimpeded market access to dairy products from all countries that met the criteria.

Another opposition came from the medical sector based on price controls on medical devices imposed by India. Kundal said that these were necessitated by India's need to provide affordable healthcare to its citizens.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump has expressed his support for former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as the next leader of the Conservative Party, saying he would be an "excellent" choice and is "a very talented person".

"I think Boris would do a very good job," Trump said in an interview with The Sun, published on Saturday. Trump's comments came ahead of his state visit to the UK, which begins on Monday.

Johnson as well as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid are in the race to become the next Tory leader and head of the government after Prime Minister Theresa May announced recently that she would be stepping down on June 7.

As the UK braces for the US President's visit, Trump said he had been paying close attention to the Tory leadership contest.

"I actually have studied it very hard. I know the different players. I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent. I like him. I have always liked him. I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person," Trump said.

Remarking that other candidates had asked him for endorsements, the US President said, "I could help anybody if I endorse them." He, however, did not name Tory leaders who sought "his support", but said he looked favourably on Hunt saying "I like him".

Trump's comments came as UK's Home Secretary Sajid Javid became the latest leadership contender to say he was prepared to leave the EU with no deal.

Having previously said he was "surprised how badly" Brexit negotiations went, Trump told the Sun the UK "allowed the European Union to have all the cards". "It is very hard to play well when one side has all the advantage," he said, adding the negotiators failed to put pressure on the EU.

The process to elect the next British Prime Minister is expected to continue till July as lawmakers will take part in several rounds of voting until a decisive result emerges.

The UK is on course to leave the EU on October 31 following years of negotiations with the EU. With May failing to get her deal passed through Parliament, it was unclear weather the UK would be leaving the bloc with a deal or not.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British retail mogul Philip Green has been charged with four counts of misdemeanour assault in the US, after a Pilates instructor accused him of repeatedly slapping and touching her body during classes.

The billionaire chairman of Arcadia group, the retail empire that includes Topshop, was charged on Friday with "knowingly touching another person with the intent to injure, insult or provoke" in 2016 and 2018, Deputy County Attorney Lauren E. Deakin for Pima County, Arizona, told CNN.

Each count of misdemeanour assault carries a potential sentence of up to 30 days in jail, a fine of not more than $500 and up to one year of probation.

The allegations of assault were made by Pilates instructor Katie Surridge who told police in Arizona that Green touched her inappropriately at the Canyon Ranch resort in Tucson.

In a statement given to CNN on behalf of Green, the businessman "strenuously denies these allegations and is disappointed that the charges have been filed in his absence and they are minor categories of misdemeanour in the US".

The statement also denied "any allegation of any sexual assault or misconduct made by the prosecution".

In a police interview, Surridge told Pima County Detective David Stivers that the "creepy old man" had "vigorously" slapped her bottom in January 2016. Surridge told resort staff, who said they spoke to Green and reassured her it wouldn't happen again.

However, in January 2018, Green took another class with Surridge and allegedly assaulted her again, according to the interview.

"Katie is aware charges were filed and trusts justice will take its course," Surridge attorney Peter Limperis told CNN on Friday night.

A spokesperson for Canyon Ranch told CNN they would not comment on the allegations but said they "do not condone or tolerate inappropriate behaviour towards our employees".

An arraignment date is set for June 19 in Tucson where Green will be represented by his lawyer.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), party President Rahul Gandhi said under her leadership the Congress will prove to be a strong opposition.

"Congratulations to Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong and effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.

His remarks came soon after Sonia Gandhi was elected as CPP leader unanimously as the newly-elected Lok Sabha members of the party elected her to the post once again during their first meeting here on Saturday.

The CPP met here at the central hall of Parliament, amid continuing upheaval in the party as Rahul Gandhi has been adamant on stepping down following a huge debacle in last month's Lok Sabha polls.

However, suspense over the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha continued as the party has authorised Sonia Gandhi to decide on it.

Sonia Gandhi won the Rae Bareli seat from Uttar Pradesh by defeating the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes.

According to party leaders, Sonia Gandhi's name was proposed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Sonia Gandhi was party president till 2017 for 19 long years before passing the baton to son Rahul Gandhi.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US will withdraw the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits extended to exports from India from June 5, 2019. India calls it "unfortunate".

The GSP benefits are envisaged to be non-reciprocal and non-discriminatory benefits extended by developed countries to developing countries.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry: "India as part of our bilateral trade discussions, had offered resolution on significant US requests in an effort to find a mutually acceptable way forward."

"It is unfortunate that this did not find acceptance by the US. India, like the US and other nations shall always uphold its national interest in these matters."

Earlier in March, the US had given a 60-day withdrawal notice to India on the GSP benefits extended by it.

Subsequently, the US commenced a review in April 2018 on India's GSP benefits, while both the countries were discussing various trade issues of bilateral interest.

In India's case the GSP concessions extended by the US amounted to duty reduction of only $190 million per annum.

-IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In his first major public appearance in Asia, Acting US Defence Secretary Pat Shanahan said on Saturday that Washington would no longer "ignore Chinese behaviour" in the Asia-Pacific region, calling its activity a "tool kit of coercion".

Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit here, Shanahan also said that despite Beijing's militarization of disputed islands in the South China Sea, its alleged attempts to conduct cyberattacks on other nations and its engagement in "predatory economics and debt-for-sovereignty deals", he wanted a better military-to-military relationship.

"I think in the past people have tiptoed around" Chinese activity in the region, the Acting Defence Secretary told the audience during the question-and-answer period after his remarks.

"It's not about being confrontational. It's about being open and having a dialogue."

In describing China during his address before defence leaders in Asia, Shanahan said that "perhaps the greatest long-term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules-based international order", Efe news reported.

But later in his 45-minute speech, Shanahan said there were areas where China "could still have a cooperative relationship with the US", such as counterpiracy and enforcing UN sanctions on North Korea.

A day earlier Shanahan held a 20-minute meeting with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the conference. He said he gave Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe a book of images of ship-to-ship transfers of oil near China, a common way that North Korea has allegedly skirted sanctions.

"China can and should have a cooperative relationship with the rest of the region, too. But behaviour that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end.

"Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefited us all, including China," Shanahan added.

China has defended its activities in the region, saying it is providing economic support to other Asian nations through infrastructure projects. It has said it has sovereignty over all South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters.

Beijing also denied its involvement in cyberattacks and said it is a victim of such activity.

In response to his meeting with Gen. Wei Fenghe, Shanahan said he saw "a lot of potential" in the military relationship between the two countries. Yet he described China's buildup on disputed islands in the South China Sea as "overkill" if intended as a defensive measure.

A speech by Gen. Wei scheduled for Sunday could overshadow the US acting Defence Chief, who has been in the job since January 1.

--IANS

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(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.)
Veteran industrialist and Williamson Magor Group patriarch died on Saturday at his residence here. He was 92.

He was suffering from old-age ailments, according to company sources.

Khaitan had recently resigned as Chairman of the group's flagship companies, Eveready Industries and McLeod Russel, citing his old age. He became Chairman Emeritus for both the companies.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences.

"Saddened at the passing away of noted industrialist BM Khaitan Ji. He was a much respected elder statesman of the business community of Bengal. My condolences to his family, his colleagues and his friends," Banerjee said in a tweet.
Veteran industrialist and Williamson Magor Group patriarch Brij Mohan Khaitan died on Saturday at his residence here. He was 92.

He was suffering from old-age ailments, according to company sources. A widower, he is survived by his younger son, Aditya, and only daughter Divya Jalan.

Khaitan had recently resigned as Chairman of the group's flagship companies - dry cell battery maker Eveready Industries and tea producer McLeod Russel, citing his old age. He became Chairman Emeritus for both the companies.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences.

"Saddened at the passing away of noted industrialist BM Khaitan Ji. He was a much respected elder statesman of the business community of Bengal. My condolences to his family, his colleagues and his friends," Banerjee said in a tweet.

Born in a family of lawyers (Khaitan & Co), Khaitan, who was known in global tea fraternity as the "evergreen tea man of India", had made his tea empire in Assam and extended the business geography to Uganda, Rwanda and Vietnam.

Lauded as "a clear visionary" and one of the most humanitarian industrialists" of modern India, Khaitan made the tea industry Indian-owned in the era after Independence.

From a mere supplier of tea chests and fertilisers to the Williamson Magor company, he joined its board after his family became a saviour to the tea planter when a crisis loomed over the company in 1961.

At that time, B. Bajoria, an investor, acquired nearly 25 per cent stake in the Bishnauth Tea Company, the flagship firm but the Khaitan family provided the money to buy out Bajoria's stake and B.M. Khaitan was invited to join the board. Later, in the face of stiff resistance, he went on to become Managing Director of the Group.

In 1987, the Guthrie family, then the majority shareholder in the McLeod Russel Group, decided to sell their tea plantations in India. Khaitan negotiated with them and bought their estates, to make the Williamson group the world's largest private tea producer.

In its condolence message, the Indian Tea Association described him as "one of the last stalwarts in the tea industry amongst the old guard".

"Our deepest condolences to the bereaved family... Members of the Indian Tea Association deeply condole the passing away of B.M Khaitan, Chairman emeritus MRIL, this morning. His demise marks the end of an era and loss of a leader and guide for the Indian Tea Industry. May his soul rest in peace," the association said in a tweet.

A Bachelor of Commerce from Calcutta University, Khaitan, better known as BMK, came to the limelight in the early 1990s as he had fought a long battle with Nusli Wadia's Bombay Dyeing to acquire Eveready. It was considered as one of the largest corporate takeovers in those days.

According to industry doyens, it was BMK's entrepreneurship zeal and business acumen that has put the Khaitans' business empire at the peak of tea, batteries and engineering businesses.

"He was one of the business promoters who saw business and social welfare together and actively supported many social initiatives. Khaitan was widely acknowledged to be a gentleman. His group companies scaled new heights under his leadership," Indian Chamber of Commerce Director General Rajeev Singh said. Khaitan had been the chamber's President in 1973.

However, at the time of his demise, the group companies - Eveready Industries, McLeod Russel, McNally Bharat Engineering -have been stressing on reducing debt at the group level.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese authorities have announced implementing a new daily quota of 65,000 visitors, starting from June 1, to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, aimed at limiting overcrowding of both local and foreign tourists.

"The number of tourists visiting the Badaling Great Wall Scenic Area is enormous," Chen Fei, deputy director of the Badaling District Office, told the media on Friday.

"About 10 million visitors came to Badaling last year."

Although 10 million is around the population of Sweden or Austria, it averages out to about 27,000 visitors per day -- much lower than the new limit. The problem, however, lies in the unbalanced distribution of that number, reports CNN.

"Visitor numbers during weekdays and holidays varies largely," Chen was quoted as saying.

"(Badaling) recorded a maximum of 100,000 visitors on one day while weekday visitor numbers average around 10,000 per day. The number can be only a few thousand visitors during the off-season."

In addition to the quota, there is a new online ticketing system -- both on Badaling's official website as well as its official Wechat page.

Admission tickets have to be purchased under each individual traveller's name, up to seven days in advance.

There will also be a three-grade warning system to indicate the congestion level of the Badaling section. Various crowd control procedures will be deployed when each of the signals is hoisted.

The yellow warning signal is flagged when visitor numbers reach 39,000 in one day; the orange warning signal is issued when there are 52,000 visitors on the wall; and the red signal is flagged when the wall has hit full capacity -- 65,000 visitors.

Other Chinese destinations like the Three Gorges Dam and Beijing's Palace Museum have also implemented visitor limits.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has banned the use of mobile phones during his official meetings, including at cabinet meetings.

"The Chief Minister wants all ministers should focus on issues that are discussed in the cabinet meetings. They should not get distracted by their mobile phones. Some ministers have been busy reading messages on WhatsApp during the meetings," said a senior official in the chief minister's secretariat.

The decision has also been taken keeping in view hacking and electronic espionage threats.

The ministers were, earlier, allowed to bring mobile phones but had to keep them on silent mode.

Now, they would be required to deposit their phones at a designated counter and a token would be issued which could later be exchanged for their mobile phone.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Robert De Niro has urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller to leave his "comfort zone" and testify before Congress about the findings of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

De Niro pleaded his case in an open letter titled, 'Robert Mueller, We Need to Hear More', published by the New York Times.

The actor, who has portrayed Mueller on "Saturday Night Live", has argued that the Special Counsel's 400-page report does not speak for itself as Mueller has said it does, because it is not written plainly enough for the average American to understand, reported dailymail.co.uk.

"Your life has been a shining example of bravely and selflessly doing things for the good of our country. I urge you to leave your comfort zone and do that again," De Niro wrote, addressing Mueller.

"It (your report) may speak for itself to lawyers and lawmakers who have the patience and obligation to read through the more than 400 pages of carefully chosen words and nuanced conclusions (with all due respect, as good a read as it is, you're no Stephen King)," he added.

He further said that President Donald Trump's statements are so loud and persistent that they need to be refuted.

After his redacted report was released last month, Mueller held a press conference on Wednesday where he stated that he did not clear Trump of wrongdoing, but that his office would not offer additional commentary on the subject, while announcing his resignation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

During the conference, Mueller asked Americans to read his full report, saying "it speaks for itself" and requires no additional comment from him.

Throughout the course of Mueller's two-year investigation into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, he and his office endured a barrage of attacks from Trump, who repeatedly called the probe a "witch hunt".

De Niro, in his letter to Mueller, further said: "While I and so many Americans have admired your quiet, confident, dignified response in ignoring that assault, it allowed the administration to use its own voice to control the narrative.

"And those voices are so loud and so persistent that they beat even reasonable people into submission. The loudest, most persistent voice belongs to the president himself, and under most circumstances, we want to believe our president."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the party's newly-elected 52 members in Parliament will fight every inch of the way like "a pride of brave-hearted lions" to protect the Constitution and the country's institutions and there will be no walkover for the BJP.

Addressing the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the central hall of Parliament, Gandhi cautioned the lawmakers that it will "be like the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress party" and asserted "yet we fought and won and we are going ...
Ten people were killed and 20 wounded Saturday in a suicide car bomb attack in Raqa, a former stronghold of the Islamic State group (IS) in north Syria, a rights watchdog said.

The explosion claimed the lives of five civilians and five soldiers of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by Washington which wrested the city from IS in October 2017, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The attack, for which no one has claimed responsibility, was preceded by a bomb explosion that left several people wounded in another part of the city frequently targeted by the Islamic State group, said the SOHR.

"The car bomb attack was targeting an SDF position," SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP. The explosion took place at the al-Naim square where IS had carried out beheadings when it was in control of the city.

On April 9, a double bombing claimed by IS killed 13 people, mostly civilians, in the jihadist group's former bastion.

IS jihadists seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" in areas it controlled.

Several offensives with US-led coalition backing chipped away at the "caliphate" until it was declared eliminated on March 23.

Ambushes and hit-and-run attacks have continued in both countries, with IS jihadists still scattered in the Syrian desert.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A disgruntled veteran public utilities employee stormed a government building in the US State of Virginia and fired indiscriminately at his co-workers, killing at least 12 people and wounding six others, police said Saturday.

The gunman, whose identity has not been released, was killed when police responded to the shooting in the southeastern coastal city of Virginia Beach.

The suspect, a long-term and current Virginia Beach city employee, fired "indiscriminately" in a public utilities building, police said.

Police Chief James Cervera told reporters there was an exchange of gunfire with officers and a police officer whose ballistic vest stopped a bullet was injured.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach. The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbour, colleagues," Mayor Bobby Dyer was quoted as saying by the CNN.

The shooter was a disgruntled employee, the report said, quoting a Virginia government source.

"The President has been briefed on the shooting in Virginia Beach, VA and continues to monitor the situation," White House said.

"This is a horrific day for the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are devastated by the tragic shooting in Virginia Beach," said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam after visiting the scene.

The shooting took place shortly after 4 PM within the sprawling Virginia Beach Municipal Center, a campus of city offices and agencies, including the Police Department, when the gunman entered the public works department building of the city's municipal center.

The attack unfolded on multiple floors in Building No. 2, which includes offices for planning and public works, among others, and is adjacent to City Hall. The name of the gunman, who worked in the public utilities department, was not revealed by the city policy, police said.

Police found victims on every floor of the building, the police chief said, adding the identities of the victims were not immediately released nor was the motive of the attack.

According to local Virginian Pilot newspaper, the shooter came armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor on it and shot one victim in a vehicle outside before entering the building. The rest were shot inside.

The FBI is helping the city police in investigating the shooting incident.

Senator Mark R Warner said that he is horrified by what has happened in Virginia Beach.

"I am thankful to law enforcement for their swift and courageous response. My heart goes out to all the victims of today's senseless violence, their families, and the entire community that has been affected by these awful events. I will be praying for the swift recovery of those injured," he said.

"My heart breaks for Virginia Beach. For the victims, their families, the community, everyone impacted by this terrible act of violence. But the moment we resign ourselves to be just onlookers to such carnage, we lose our soul. We can and will take action," Senator Ed Markey said.
A disgruntled veteran public utilities employee stormed a government building in the US State of Virginia and fired indiscriminately on multiple floors at his co-workers, killing at least 12 people and wounding six others, police said Saturday, in the latest incident of mass shooting in the country.

The gunman was killed when police responded to the shooting in the southeastern coastal city of Virginia Beach.

The suspect, a long-term and current Virginia Beach city employee, fired "indiscriminately" on multiple floors in a public utilities building, police said.

Police Chief James Cervera told reporters there was an exchange of gunfire with officers and a police officer whose ballistic vest stopped a bullet was injured.

The shooting suspect was identified as DeWayne Craddock, according to a law enforcement official and a Virginia government source, CNN reported.

Craddock, 40, worked as a certified professional engineer for the city of Virginia Beach in the Public Utilities Department. He is listed on department releases as a point of contact for information on local road projects over the past several years.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach. The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbour, colleagues," Mayor Bobby Dyer said.

The shooter was a disgruntled employee, the report said, quoting a Virginia government source.

"The President has been briefed on the shooting in Virginia Beach, VA and continues to monitor the situation," White House said.

"This is a horrific day for the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are devastated by the tragic shooting in Virginia Beach," said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam after visiting the scene.

The shooting took place shortly after 4 PM within the sprawling Virginia Beach Municipal Center, a campus of city offices and agencies, including the Police Department, when the gunman entered the public works department building of the city's municipal center.

The attack unfolded on multiple floors in Building No. 2, which includes offices for planning and public works, among others, and is adjacent to City Hall.

Police found victims on every floor of the building, the police chief said, adding the identities of the victims were not immediately released nor was the motive of the attack.

According to local Virginian Pilot newspaper, the shooter came armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor on it and shot one victim in a vehicle outside before entering the building. The rest were shot inside.

The FBI is helping the city police in investigating the shooting incident.

Senator Mark R Warner said that he is horrified by what has happened in Virginia Beach.

"I am thankful to law enforcement for their swift and courageous response. My heart goes out to all the victims of today's senseless violence, their families, and the entire community that has been affected by these awful events. I will be praying for the swift recovery of those injured," he said.

"My heart breaks for Virginia Beach. For the victims, their families, the community, everyone impacted by this terrible act of violence. But the moment we resign ourselves to be just onlookers to such carnage, we lose our soul. We can and will take action," Senator Ed Markey said.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the US since November.

Twelve people were killed at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California in November.

Officials said that gunman shot an unarmed security guard outside the bar, went in and continued shooting, injuring other security workers, employees and patrons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two armed militants of the People's Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK) were arrested from East Karbi Anglong district of central Assam, defence sources said Saturday.

Acting on a tip off, Army troops launched a joint operation with the police and apprehended the two from Bakulia area on Friday.

One .22 pistol along with a magazine, six rounds of .22 ammunition, three mobile phones, six SIM cards, three memory cards, Rs 5,855 in cash, and other articles were seized from the two PDCK cadres, the sources said.

Interrogation revealed that they are close associates of PDCK 'chief of army staff' David Mukrang and have been collecting extortion money and providing logistical assistance to him, the sources said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Delhi court has awarded varying jail terms to six people under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for running a syndicate to cheat a large number of people in various states.

The convicts -- Vipin Sharma and his wife Hunny, Sachin Sharma, Harshad Alam and his son Aman, and Bhupender Singh -- were held guilty of cheating, forgery, impersonation and criminal conspiracy.

While Vipin was sentenced to 12-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 55 lakh, the others have been awarded 10-year jail term with a fine of Rs 14 lakh each.

Special Judge Rakesh Syal also ordered that the 10 victims be paid compensation of Rs 33.8 lakh by the members of the syndicate out of the fine imposed on them.

According to police, this was the first conviction under MCOCA in Delhi.

The convicts had cheated people of crores of rupees by assuring them jobs in New Zealand and European countries, the police said, adding that initially they were booked for cheating, criminal conspiracy, etc, but police later invoked MCOCA after finding out that 31 cases had been registered against the accused in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.

Vipin was the kingpin of the syndicate and a large number of passports in the name of different people with work visas of New Zealand and fake documents such as PAN cards, debit and credit cards, shopping cards, mobile phones and SIM cards were seized from them, the police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar Saturday asked the ministry officials to keep a strict vigil on the monsoon and drought conditions in the coming agriculture season.

The minister also stressed on the need to strengthen field institutions and coordination with state governments for expanding out-reach and extension to farmers.

After taking charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Tomar held a review meeting with senior officers of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare at Krishi Bhawan.

Ministers of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala and Kailash Choudhary were also present in the meeting, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said in a statement.

While addressing the officials, Tomar reminded them of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doubling farmers income by 2022 and urged the officials to orient their work and focus to realise this goal.

The minister emphasised on strengthening and fast tracking of e-NAM to facilitate agricultural trading.

He said acting on poll promises the Modi government in its first Cabinet meeting approved extension of the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, income support scheme to all farmers and also cleared a pension scheme - PM Kisan Pension Yojana - for agriculturists.

The minister asked the officials to make a lasting contribution with integrity, team spirit and focussed approach in their respective fields for the growth of agricultural production and welfare of farmers.

In their address both Rupala and Choudhary emphasised on the vision of the Prime Minister for doubling farmers income by 2022 and urged all the officers to put in their best effort.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
While the Indian Air Force announced Friday that all temporary restrictions imposed on Indian airspace after the Balakot air strikes have been removed, it is unlikely to benefit any commercial airlines unless Pakistan reciprocates and opens its airspace too.

Among Indian airlines, the international operations of Air India and IndiGo have been affected by the closure of Pakistan airspace since February 27.

IndiGo, India's largest airline by share in domestic passenger market, has been unable to start direct flights from Delhi to Istanbul.

While the low-cost carrier started the Delhi-Istanbul flight in March this year, the flight has to take the longer route every time through Arabian Sea and take a stop at either Doha in Qatar or Ahmedabad in Gujarat for refuelling.

Similarly, full-service carrier Air India is unable to fly non-stop flights from Delhi to the US since the closure of Pakistani airspace.

The Delhi-US flights of the national carrier have to stop at Sharjah for refuelling and have to operate with two sets of pilots so as to not violate the time restriction rules of Indian aviation regulator DGCA.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have also been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan.

The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Since Pakistan's airspace closure, the airfare on many routes have gone up significantly, including Delhi-Kabul, Delhi-Moscow, Delhi-Tehran and Delhi-Astana.

An Afghanistan government official told Civil Aviation Secretary P.S. Kharola on April 3, at a public event in New Delhi, that the ticket price on Delhi-Kabul route and Kabul-Delhi route, which is usually around USD 300, has increased to around USD 700.

The Afghan official said two Indian airline companies, Air India and SpiceJet, have already stopped their Delhi-Kabul flights due to Pakistan airspace closure.

On Friday evening the Indian Air Force tweeted, "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed."



A senior Pakistani government official indicated Saturday Pakistan is likely to lift the airspace ban along its eastern border with India in reciprocation to the country's decision to remove all the temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace.

Earlier this week, Pakistan civil aviation authorities had extended the closure of its airspace till June 14.

Pakistan had fully closed its airspace on February 27 after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot. Pakistan opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.

Pakistan had given a special permission to India for then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly through Pakistani airspace to attend the SCO meet in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on May 21. However, the airspace for other commercial airliners remains closed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy Saturday met the Governor of the two states ESL Narasimhan and attended an Iftar hosted by him here.

The two Chief Ministers are understood to have discussed issues vis-a-vis bifurcation of (undivided) Andhra Pradesh in 2014.

Rao attended the swearing-in of Jagan in Vijayawada on Thursday.

The two leaders have already decided to take steps to address issues concerning both the states.

Hyderabad is the common capital for the two states for a period of 10 years beginning 2014.

Both attended the Iftar hosted by the Governor on the occasion of Ramzan at the Raj Bhavan complex, official sources said.

Meanwhile, Narasimhan directed that an ambulance be allowed to go first when traffic was stopped at Raj Bhavan for his convoy to pass (while he was on the way to attend the Iftar at the hall which requires travelling by road), they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of the International Yoga Day on June 21, the AYUSH ministry has launched a mobile application to enable people locate yoga events and centres providing training.

The users will also be able to look for certified yoga instructors, a senior AYUSH ministry official said.

According to him, 'yoga locator'- a map-based location app - will also enable yoga instructors to register themselves and reach out to a maximum number of people.

"People want to know where they can go for yoga training or to pursue a yoga course. This app 'yoga locator' will help them locate yoga centres as well as yoga instructors within the preferred radius of their vicinity. Their aim is to encourage and help more and more people to adopt yoga," the official said.

He said it will be a permanent app, which will give information about yoga activities happening in their vicinity throughout the year.

Unofficially, there are more than two lakh yoga instructors in the country and it will enable them to enrol themselves.

The International Yoga Day will be celebrated on June 21 across the globe and the



AYUSH ministry has shortlisted five cities -- Delhi, Shimla, Mysore, Ahmedabad and Ranchi -- for holding the main function this year.

It will be the government's first mega public event after Narendra Modi became prime minister for a second term.

Names of the four cities have been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) which will finalise the venue of the main function of the International Yoga Day to be held on June 21, official sources said.

In the lead-up to the event, a two-day yoga mahotsav is being organised in Delhi by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga starting Saturday. It will be attended by about 10,000 people, including yoga teachers, professionals, enthusiasts among others.

"The aim is to build an atmosphere of yoga in the lead-up to the main event and sensitise the people about the June 21 function," the official said.

The United Nations declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014 after Modi called for the day to be adopted as a global celebration of yoga, an ancient practice that began in India more than 5,000 years ago.

Last year, the main event of the International Day of Yoga was held at the ground of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, in which Prime Minister Modi participated.

The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi on June 21, 2015, in which representatives of 191 countries took part. In 2016, the main function was held in Chandigarh and in 2017 it was held in Lucknow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of International Yoga Day on June 21, the AYUSH Ministry has launched a mobile application to enable people to locate yoga events, centres providing training and instructors.

Yoga locator- a map-based location app - will also enable yoga instructors to register themselves and reach out to a large number of people, a senior official of the ministry said.

"People want to know where they can go for yoga training or to pursue a yoga course. This app 'yoga locator' will help them locate yoga centres as well as yoga instructors within the preferred radius of their vicinity. Their aim is to encourage and help more and more people to adopt yoga," he said.

It will be a permanent app, which will give information to people about yoga activities happening in their vicinity throughout the year, the official said.

It is estimated that there are more than two lakh yoga instructors in the country.

International Yoga Day will be celebrated on June 21 across the globe and the AYUSH Ministry has shortlisted five cities -- Delhi, Shimla, Mysore, Ahmedabad and Ranchi -- for holding the main function this year.

It will be the government's first mega public event after Narendra Modi became prime minister for a second term.

The names of the four cities have been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and it will finalise the venue of the main function for International Yoga Day, official sources said.

In the run-up to the event, a two-day Yoga Mahotsav is being organised in Delhi by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga and it started on Saturday.

It will be attended by about 10,000 people, including yoga teachers, professionals, enthusiasts among others.

"The aim is to build an atmosphere of yoga in the run-up to the main event and sensitise the people about the June 21 function," the official said.

Vice-Chairman of NITI AYOG, Rajeev Kumar inaugurated the Yoga Mahotsav and stress on popularising the yogic culture through the medium of social media.

"Yoga teaches us to live with nature rather than conquering it, that makes 'Vasudhaiv Kutubkam' possible and we live with harmony and peace," he said.

Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) Shripad Yesso Naik dubbed International Yoga Day as the biggest mass movement for health and wellness.

"Natural and traditional medicine system is flourishing not only in India but across the globe," he said and assured that the ministry is committed towards the research and development of Yoga, Ayurveda and other natural and traditional medicinal systems.

The United Nations declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014 after Modi called for the day to be adopted as a global celebration of yoga, an ancient practice that began in India more than 5,000 years ago.

Last year, the main event of the International Day of Yoga was held at the ground of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, in which Prime Minister Modi participated.

The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi on June 21, 2015, in which representatives of 191 countries took part. In 2016, the main function was held in Chandigarh and in 2017 it was held in Lucknow.

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Navaratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd Saturday asserted that electronic voting machines manufactured by it were "non-tamperable" and "not a single case of mismatch" between EVMs and VVPATs were reported in the Lok Sabha polls.

Defending EVMs over allegations of tampering levelled by opposition parties during the recently-concluded general elections, BEL CMD M V Gowtama told reporters here that the "storm" created by political parties before the polls has died down.

"We didn't have even a single case of mismatch reported between EVMs and VVPATs. So, that is the greatest achievement...I assure you that the EVMs manufactured by BEL are non-tamperable and no mischief can be played with those EVMs," he said.

Asked about doubts raised by the opposition parties about mismatch between votes polled and counted, Gowtama said, "The storm created before the elections has died down post-polls, by all political parties.They all knew very well that these machines cannot be tampered with."



Observing that democracy in India can only survive by using EVMs, he said the voting and VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) machines ensure that no rigging takes place.

"If any candidate has any apprehension or doubt, he is free to approach court after elections, within 45 days...that option is available to the candidate," he added.

In around 400 of the 542 constituencies that went to polls this time, EVMs were supplied by BEL.The rest were supplied by ECIL, the company said.

Roughly 10 lakh plus sets of control units, ballot units and VVPATs were supplied by BEL in the previous fiscal, it said.

Noting that the company generated Rs 2,600 crore in revenue from the Election Commission's order of EVMs, Gowtama said, there are no pending orders from poll panel.

"However we are expecting orders from state governments for different elections during the current year and they may not exceed Rs 100 crore," he said.

BEL has recorded a turnover of Rs 11,789 crore during FY 2018-19, registering a growth of 17 per cent over the previous year turnover of Rs 10,085 crore.

The profit after tax was at Rs 1,927 crore as against Rs 1,399 crore in the previous year, while the export turnover was down at USD 21.6 million against USD 26 million in 2017-18, the company said.

The order book value of the company as on April 2019 stood at Rs 51,798 crore compared to Rs 40,115 crore in April 2018.

BEL acquired Rs 23,431 crores of orders during 2018-19, it added.

Responding to a query on the long-range surface-to-air missile (LRSAM), Gowtama said the company is sitting on an order for 11 ship-sets for LRSAM and they are planning to deliver the first ship-set during March 2020.

The system is jointly designed and developed by DRDO and IAI-Israel, and BEL is a partner.

On BEL's contribution for assembling satellites for ISRO, the CMD said recently the company has completed assembling and testing of one satellite for remote earth monitoring and it is expected to receive orders for some more during the current year.

Pointing out that the fare collection gates at metro stations are closed loop ones, Gowtama also said for the first time in India, BEL along with C-DAC has designed a gate, which has now been internationally certified, and they would be installed at metro stations across the country in a phased manner from the current year.

"As part of the National Common Mobility Card programme (single card can be used anywhere) of the central government, these gates are getting ready... they are one loop gates," he added.

Diversification in non-defence opportunities would drive BEL's growth, he said, adding that the focus would be on space electronics, solar, home land security, smart cards, telecom, railways, civil aviation, Li-Ion Batteries among others, Gowtama said.

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In a breakthrough in the investigation into the murder of Kannada litterateur MM Kalburgi, the Special Investigation Team Saturday said it has arrested a 27-year-old man from Belagavi.

The SIT said in a statement that it arrested Praveen Prakash Chatur, a resident of Belagavi, Friday.

A court has remanded him in police custody till June 7, the SIT said.

Kalburgi was shot dead on August 30, 2015 at his residence in Dharwad by two assailants who fled in a motorcycle.

The Supreme Court had on December 11 last year favoured a CBI probe into the murders of Kalburgi, social activist Govind Pansare (in Maharashtra) and journalist Gauri Lankesh.

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The West Bengal government has appointed an administrator to run the Naihati Municipality in North 24 Parganas District, officials said on Saturday.

The state's Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim said the administrator has been appointed to oversee affairs of the civic body.

Twenty-nine out of 31 councillors of the municipality had recently joined the BJP.

On Friday, 18 of them submitted a letter to the Naihati Municipality Board, seeking a meeting to deliberate on a no-confidence motion against Chairman Ashok Chatterjee.

"We hope that the appointment of the administrator will help restore normalcy in the civic body," a senior official at the Urban Development Department said.

A number of councillors of the Bhatpara, Halisahar and Kanchrapara municipalities have also defected to the BJP.

"We are yet to take a decision on these three municipalities. We are working on it," the official added.

Meanwhile, the BJP accused the Trinamool Congress of using backdoor strategy by appointing an administrator to run the Naihati Municipality.

"The ruling TMC is trying the backdoor strategy to run a civic body where it has lost majority. I fear that the state government will do the same for the other three municipalities



Halisahar, Kanchrapara and Bhatpara," West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

The West Bengal government has already appointed an administrator for the Howrah Municipal Corporation.

Chief Minister Banerjee had taken part in a sit-in organised by her party outside the Naihati Municipality on Thursday to protest against alleged violence perpetrated by the BJP, after the announcement of poll results.

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BJP Kisan Morcha Saturday hailed the Modi government's move to extend PM-KISAN scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country as a "historic decision" and claimed "no other" central government has taken such a huge step for prosperity of farmers in the country.

At a press conference held at the BJP headquarters here, president of the party's farmer wing Virendra Singh Mast said his outfit is organising district-level programmes across the county to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the first Cabinet meeting, the government Friday decided to extend PM-KISAN scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country costing Rs 87,000 crore a year and also announced over Rs 10,000 crore pension scheme for five crore farmers, thereby fulfilling the BJP's poll promise.

"In the very first meeting of the cabinet, the Modi government has taken such a huge decision for farmers. This will strengthen the agro-economy and in turn strengthen the country," Mast told reporters.

The Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Siddhi (PMKSS) was announced in the interim Budget, under which the government decided to provide Rs 6,000 per year (in three equal instalments) to an estimated 12.5 crore small and marginal farmers holding land up to two hectares.

Announcing the two key decisions on Friday, new Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Modi 2.0 government had announced the landmark decisions for the farming community in the first Cabinet meeting.

In another major decision, had Tomar said the Cabinet also approved the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pension Yojana under which small and marginal farmers will get a minimum fixed pension of Rs 3,000 per month on attaining the age of 60 years.

"The government has fulfilled the promise the BJP had made in its Lok Sabha poll manifesto, an that too in the first meeting of the new cabinet," the BJP Kisan Morcha president said.

"No other previous Indian government has taken such a huge step for prosperity of farmers in the country," he claimed.

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At least 19 people were injured in a blast at a major explosives plant in central Russia on Saturday, the Interfax agency reported, citing the local health ministry.

The blast took place at the "Kristall" factory in Dzerzhinsk about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Moscow.

"All of those who were injured -- around 19 people -- are receiving medical assistance," a representative of the local health ministry told Interfax.

"We are talking about shrapnel wounds of mild and moderate severity," she said.

Representatives of Kristall told the agency that five people were working in the plant at the time of the explosion and that they were safely evacuated.

Local fire fighters told agencies they had no information about any more people still inside the plant.

"There was a technical explosion in one of the workshops, followed by a fire of around 100 square meters," a spokesman of the local emergency ministry told agencies.

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The BSF has reached out to villagers living along the International Border (IB) to strengthen the security grid in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, officials said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) has taken the decision in wake of the threat of infiltration of militancy, narcotic smuggling and ceasefire violation along the borderline, they said.

The force authorities held scores of meeting with people living along the IB in the district on Saturday, they said.

It also organised a village coordination meeting in Border Out Posts (BoPs) of Bundhtip, Gallar village, Nursery and Chak Faquira, they said.

During the meeting, local issues of villagers pertaining to border area and its security were discussed, they said.

A BSF official emphasised that villagers are an important aspect of border protection grid and their timely and appropriate response to any untoward event plays significant role in the national security.

They were asked to be vigilant and keep an eye on any movement close to the IB and share inputs with the forces immediately.

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Despite pushback from US business, Mexico and Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threat to slap a 5 per cent tariff on Mexican imports unless America's southern neighbor cracks down on Central American migrants trying to cross the US border.

US manufacturers said the tariff, set to take effect June 10, would have devastating consequences on them and American consumers. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wall Street in response to Trump's planned action.

"Imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico is exactly the wrong move," said Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is exploring legal action in response to the tariffs.

"These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border. Instead, Congress and the president need to work together to address the serious problems at the border."



Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador dispatched his foreign secretary to Washington to try to negotiate a solution. He said social problems are not solved with coercive measures, but also seemed convinced that Trump just needed to be informed about all the steps Mexico has taken to slow illegal migration.

Mexico has stepped up raids on migrant caravans traveling through the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca this year. It has deported thousands of migrants and frustrated thousands more who wait endlessly for permits that would allow them to travel legally through Mexico.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with his Mexican counterpart via telephone Friday, said State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, who's traveling with Pompeo in Bern, Switzerland. Ortagus said the department doesn't comment on details of diplomatic conversations.

"We maintain an ongoing dialogue and close cooperation with Mexico on a wide range of issues, including border security efforts," she said. "The United States and Mexico recognize that managing our shared border is a challenge common to both countries."



Administration officials told reporters in a briefing call Thursday evening that Mexico could prevent the tariffs from kicking in by securing its southern border with Guatemala, cracking down on criminal smuggling organizations, and entering into a "safe third country agreement" that would make it difficult for those who enter Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the US.

"We fully believe they have the ability to stop people coming in from their southern border and if they're able to do that, these tariffs will either not go into place or will be removed after they go into place," said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Trump said the percentage will gradually increase up to 25% until the migration problem is remedied.

"Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades," Trump said in a tweet Friday.

"Because of the Dems, our Immigration Laws are BAD. Mexico makes a FORTUNE from the US, have for decades, they can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!" Trump's decision showed the administration going to new lengths, and looking for new levers, to pressure Mexico to take action even if those risk upending other policy priorities, like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that is the cornerstone of Trump's legislative agenda and seen as beneficial to his reelection effort.

Keeping the economy rolling also is critical to Trump's reelection, and business was not happy with the president's planned tariff on Mexican imports.

"These proposed tariffs would have devastating consequences on manufacturers in America and on American consumers," said Jay Timmons, chief executive officer of the National Association of Manufacturers.

"We have taken our concerns to the highest levels of the administration and strongly urge them to consider carefully the impact of this action on working families across this country."



The stock market's tumble on Friday all but guarantees that May will be the first monthly loss for the market in 2019. The hit automakers particularly hard. Many of them import vehicles into the U.S. from Mexico.

"The auto sector and the 10 million jobs it supports relies upon the North American supply chain and cross border commerce to remain globally competitive," said the Auto Alliance, which represents automakers that built 70 per cent of all cars and light trucks sold in US.

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The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged Saturday over the accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists and left 21 missing.

The Mermaid carrying mainly South Korean tourists overturned and sank late Wednesday, seconds after colliding with the Viking Sigyn cruise ship on a busy stretch of the Danube in the heart of Budapest.

Strong currents have hampered the search for those missing -- 19 South Koreans and two Hungarians -- preventing divers from reaching the submerged boat.

The Sigyn's Ukrainian captain was charged Saturday, a Budapest court official told AFP, but gave no further details.

The 64-year-old was detained Thursday for questioning for "endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths", police have said.

The captain's lawyer, Balazs Toth, said the court had granted bail, but prosecutors were appealing and so his client remained detained.

"He is devastated by the number of victims and is asking constantly that condolences are conveyed to their families," Toth said.

"My client has not changed his statement made as a witness. He insists that he has not made any error," his other lawyer, Gabor Elo, told reporters after the hearing.

Near the accident site, a floating crane has been erected, as well as a small pier for use by divers.

But with the Danube swollen after weeks of rain, the strong current has complicated plans to lift the wreck, and the prospects of finding any of the passengers alive are seen as very slim.

Serbia, Romania and Croatia -- countries along the Danube, south of Hungary -- have been asked to help in the search after South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha insisted in Budapest on Friday her country would not give up hope of finding survivors.

One of the bodies had been found about 11 kilometres (seven miles) downstream of the accident site.

South Korean relatives of the Mermaid passengers arrived in Budapest Friday, and officials took them to the banks of the Danube.

The Hungarian Magyar Nemzet daily, meanwhile, on Saturday quoted police reports as saying the Sigyn might not have warned the pilot of smaller ship that he was going to overtake.

According to the newspaper, he also did not alert police about the collision.

People have been laying flowers along the river bank and on a bridge near the collision site, as well as at the South Korean embassy.

On Saturday, black flags were flying along the bridge.

Only seven people are known to have survived so far. Those missing include a six-year-old girl, as well as the Mermaid's Hungarian captain and a crew member.

The collision happened on a popular part of the river from where sightseers can view the city and parliament, which is lit up at night.

Larger river cruise boats travelling on the Danube between Germany and the Black Sea typically spend several days moored in the capital.

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The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged Saturday over an accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists dead and left 21 missing.

A Budapest court official said the Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn was charged but did not give further details.

The 64-year-old was detained Thursday for questioning "in relation to 'endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths'", a day after his vessel collided with the smaller Mermaid carrying mainly South Korean tourists, causing it to overturn and sank on a busy stretch of the Danube.

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The anti-corruption wing of the CBI here has registered a case against nine people, including a customs official, in connection with a gold smuggling case through the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, credible information was received by the Anti-Corruption Branch in Kochi that Radhakrishnan, Superintendent, Customs, Air Intelligence, Thiruvananthapuram Airport and eight others entered into a criminal conspiracy and smuggled out gold worth several crores of rupees from April 27 to May 13 this year through the airport.

In the FIR filed in the Special CBI Court in Thiruvananthapuram, the CBI said Sunil Kumar and Sareena Shaji in connivance with Radhakrishnan tried to smuggle out 25 kg of gold bars valued more than Rs 8.17 crore through the airport on May 13 without paying any customs duty.

They were intercepted by personnel of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), who recovered the gold from Kumar's possession.

The CBI said the other accused persons Vishnu Somasundaram, M Biju, Veneetha Ratnakumari, Abdul Hakkim, Rasheed P K and Prakashan Thampi "played important roles in the conspiracy".

They procured the gold bars at Dubai, transported the same to Thiruvananthapuram through carriers, smuggled the gold out of the airport, sold it through jewellery shops, the CBI added.

The CBI alleged the accused persons conspired among themselves and furtherance of the conspiracy smuggled gold bars valued at several crores of rupees, including the gold bars weighing 25 kg seized by DRI on May 13.

Their crime constitutes the commission of cognisable offences punishable Indian Penal Code Section 120B read with 420, and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).

Biju, a lawyer, who is the prime accused in the case, had surrendered before the officials of the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at its office here on Friday.

Earlier, Radhakrishnan was arrested in the state capital for allegedly helping the gold smugglers.

The DRI sleuths had arrested him on suspicion that he had a prior knowledge of an attempt by two people from Dubai to smuggle in gold.

The two, who arrived here from the Gulf nation earlier this month, were nabbed for an attempt to smuggle in 25 kg gold worth over Rs eight crore.

Earlier this week, the DRI had submitted in the Kerala High Court that smuggling of gold into the country was threatening its economic well-being.

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The Centre has shortlisted five cities -- Delhi, Shimla, Mysore, Ahmedabad and Ranchi -- for holding the national programme of the International Yoga Day this year.

It will be the government's first mega public event after Narendra Modi became prime minister for a second term.

Names of the four cities have been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) which will finalise the venue of the main function of the International Yoga Day to be held on June 21, official sources said.

"We have already started the preparations and the event will be organised in a large scale," a senior AYUSH ministry official said.

If national capital is selected as the venue, it would be hosting the event for the second time. Delhi had hosted the main event of the Yoga Day in 2015.

In the lead-up to the event, a two-day yoga mahotsav is being organised in Delhi by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga starting Saturday. It will be attended by about 10,000 people, including yoga teachers, professionals, enthusiasts among others.

"The aim is to build an atmosphere of yoga in the lead-up to the main event and sensitise the people about the June 21 function," the official said.

The United Nations declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014 after Modi called for the day to be adopted as a global celebration of yoga, an ancient practice that began in India more than 5,000 years ago.

Last year, the main event of the International Day of Yoga was held at the ground of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated.

The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi on June 21, 2015, in which representatives of 191 countries took part. In 2016, the main function was held in Chandigarh and in 2017 it was held in Lucknow.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Saturday hit back at former chief minister and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala for equating him with a "useless animal", saying people have taught his party a lesson for using "such undignified" language.

Khattar took to his Twitter handle to express his displeasure over the Indian National Lok Dal president's remarks against him.

"Om Prakash Chautala ji, people have taught you a lesson for using such undignified language. You can violate dignity but my education is not like that. Will pray to the Almighty to give you good sense and bless with a long life," Khattar said.

Chautala, in a meeting with party workers on Friday after being released on furlough, made stinging remarks against the Haryana chief minister.

"We call animals, be it milch ones or others, who turn ineffective and useless 'Khatter'. This 'nakara' (useless) has come to Haryana. Never thought he would get a chance (to rule the state). It was the state's misfortune. It was like a heavy loss to the state," he said.

The Chautala-led INLD suffered its worst ever drubbing in the recently held Lok Sabha election as the party's all ten candidates forfeited their security deposits. Its vote share dropped to 1.89 per cent.

The INLD, which won two seats in 2014, had then increased its vote share to 24.4 per cent from 15.78 per cent in 2009 when it lost all the five seats it contested.

After a split in the party following a feud in the Chautala clan, its political graph nosedived. Chautala's grandsons Dushyant and Digvijay floated a separate outfit the Jannayak Janata Party.

Chautala, serving a jail sentence in connection with the teachers recruitment scam in Haryana, was released on furlough on May 28. Since then, he had been meeting party workers in the state.

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China warned Canada that it needs to be aware of the consequences of aiding the US in an extradition case involving Chinese tech giant Huawei that is believed to have sparked the detentions of two Canadians in China.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang's comments came after US Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

Both were arrested on December 10 after Canada detained a Huawei executive wanted by the United States on fraud charges. While China has denied they were taken in retaliation, it has repeatedly implied that there is a strong connection between the cases.

Korvig, a former diplomat and Asia expert at the International Crisis Group, and Spavor, a businessman, have been accused of colluding to steal state secrets. Canada has repeatedly urged their immediate release, calling their detentions arbitrary. Neither has been permitted access to lawyers or family members.

"We hope that the Canadian side can have a clear understanding of the consequences of endangering itself for the gains of the US and take immediate actions to correct its mistakes so as to spare itself the suffering from growing damage," Geng said at a daily briefing.

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder, is accused of lying to banks about the company's dealings with Iran in violation of US trade sanctions. Her attorney has argued that comments by US President Donald Trump suggest the case against her is politically motivated.

Washington has pressured other countries to limit the use of Huawei's technology, warning they could be opening themselves up to surveillance and theft of information. China and the US are currently embroiled in a trade dispute that is weighing heavily on global financial markets.

Another Canadian held in China, Robert Schellenberg, was re-sentenced to death in a drug case following Meng's detention. His case is currently under appeal.

In their joint statement, Pence and Trudeau said: "The United States and Canada stand together to firmly reject the wrongful detention of two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and call for their immediate release.

China's actions are damaging its international reputation and a deep concern for all countries that uphold the rule of law." "Canada and the United States welcome constructive, results-oriented engagement with China that concretely demonstrates respect for the rule of law, human rights, and fair and reciprocal trade," the statement said.

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Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi has congratulated S Jaishankar on his appointment as India's External Affairs Minister and praised his positive contributions to the development of bilateral ties and expressed readiness to work with him to achieve new progress in China-India relations.

Nearly 16 months after he retired as India's foreign secretary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed Jaishankar, 64, as the External Affairs Minister on Friday, a surprise move aimed at adding further strategic heft to the government's foreign policy.

"We congratulate Mr Jaishankar on his appointment as foreign minister of India," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Friday night.

It said Wang has sent a congratulatory message to him.

As foreign secretary of India and ambassador to China, Jaishankar has made positive contributions to the development of China-India relations, the release said.

"China is ready to work with India to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and promote new progress in China-India relations and pragmatic cooperation in various fields to bring more benefits to the people of both countries," it said.

Jaishankar was India's envoy in China from 2009-13. He was India's foreign secretary from 2015-2018.

A 1977-batch IFS officer, Jaishankar played a key role in resolving the crisis following the incursion in Ladakh's Depsang and the Doklam stand-off, handling the tough negotiations with Beijing.

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Amid talks of cabinet expansion to save the government in Karnataka, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Saturday met the Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah and held discussions.

"Both leaders have met on cabinet issue and have held discussions. Whether it is expansion or reshuffle, it may take place only after June 4," official sources said.

The Congress in Karnataka over the last couple of days had gone into a huddle to avert a potential existential crisis to the one-year-old coalition ministry, and discussed about the possible cabinet rejig to address the dissent within.

Kumaraswamy had also held discussions with congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.

Coalition leaders were initially unable to reach consensus on whether to go in for cabinet expansion by filling three vacant posts or reshuffle by asking a few ministers to step down and make way for the disgruntled lawmakers.

CLP leader Siddaramaiah, however, had indicated that reshuffle was on the cards.

According to party sources, there are talks about first filling three vacant posts and then going in for reshuffle if the need arises.

Meanwhile, Independent MLA Nagesh and KPJP MLA R Shankar also met Siddaramaiah on Saturday and held discussions.

There are reports that in case of cabinet expansion they are likely to be inducted into the Ministry.

During the meeting Siddaramaiah is said to have asked both legislators not to fall pray to any attempts by the BJP to woo them.

On Wednesday reports and pictures of Nagesh and Shankar meeting rebel Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is allegedly hobnobbing with the BJP, had added to the coalition's worry.

Shankar was inducted into Kumaraswamys cabinet, but was subsequently dropped during the reshuffle in December last year, following which both of them had withdrew their support from the government and sided with BJP.

Coalition worries have multiplied after the BJP's spectacular win with 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in its pocket, leaving a mere one seat each to the Congress and JDS, which, despite a joint fight, were swept away by the Modi wave.

Also, growing unrest within the party and threat by Ramesh Jarkiholi to quit Congress along with other MLAs has worried the leadership as it would trigger a number game in the assembly.

The talk about cabinet reshuffle or expansion has also given rise to number of aspirants within the party.

Of the total 34 ministerial positions in Karnataka, the Congress and JD(S) have shared 22 and 12 respectively.

Currently, three posts are vacant, two from JD(S) and one from Congress.

However, allaying fears that the BJP was trying to weaken the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka, the saffron party's state president B S Yeddyurappa Friday had said central leaders have asked the state unit not to indulge in any activity to "destabilise" it.

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A case of molestation and assault has been filed by a woman against three persons including Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserratte and city Mayor Uday Madkaikar following a ruckus during an anti-encroachment drive.

Monserratte and the other two moved a court Saturday, seeking anticipatory bail.

The alleged incident took place during action taken by the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) Friday to remove an alleged illegal structure at the office of 'Big Daddy', an off-shore casino anchored in the river Mandovi.

The staircase of the office allegedly encroached on the footpath. Monserratte, the newly elected Congress MLA, mayor Madkaikar and former mayor Yatin Parekh accompanied the CCP workers when they went to remove it.

They faced opposition from a group which included casino employees.

A woman who was part of the group later alleged that Monserratte, Madkaikar and Parekh touched her inappropriately, abused her and outraged her modesty, police said.

"In her complaint lodged late last night, the woman also alleged that the accused threatened to kill her," police sub-inspector Arun Abhay Gawas-Desai said.

A case under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt),354 (assault outraging woman's modesty), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) was registered, he said.

Monserratte claimed that no such incident took place. He was present at the site only to oversee the demolition work, he said.

"None of the persons named in the complaint were involved in any such action of outraging modesty," he said.

He and the other two moved a court here seeking pre- arrest bail Saturday.

"All three have sought anticipatory bail before principal sessions judge Irshad Agha," said Swapnil Nasnodkar, their lawyer.

The accused have been framed up, he claimed.

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Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the party's newly-elected 52 members in Parliament will fight every inch of the way like "a pride of brave-hearted lions" to protect the Constitution and the country's institutions and there will be no walkover for the BJP.

Addressing the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the central hall of Parliament, Gandhi cautioned the lawmakers that it will "be like the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress party" and asserted "yet we fought and won and we are going to do it again".

"We are 52 members and I guarantee you, it does not matter what institutions are standing against these 52 members. It does not matter who is standing against these 52 members. These 52 members are going to fight the BJP every single inch, without giving this much and that applies to the members from Rajya Sabha as well," he told the MPs, adding the Congress party will fearlessly do its duty as the leading opposition party in Parliament and outside.

Gandhi's pep talk to the Congress lawmakers comes as it struggles to come to terms with its second successive crushing defeat in Lok Sabha elections and is facing a leadership crisis after his decision to quit as party president.

The MPs at the meeting unanimously elected Sonia Gandhi as leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party and she has been authorised to decide the leaders in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

"The Congress Party may have just 52 Lok Sabha members, but we will work together like a pride of brave hearted lions to protect our Constitution and institutions and to fearlessly do our duty as the leading Opposition party. The BJP will have no walkover in Parliament," Gandhi later said on Twitter.

Stressing that the Congress will rejuvenate, he lauded each of the MPs who have won this election and said they would go down in history as the ones who not just fought against a political party but also against every institution.

"You fought a very good election, obviously, because the people who won the Lok Sabha this time need to understand exactly what they fought. You are probably the first people in this country's independent history, who have fought an election not against a political party but against every single institution in this country.

"There is not one institution that did not fight you and tried to stop you from coming into Lok Sabha and you fought every single one of those institutions and you forced your way into the Lok Sabha. And that is something you should be extremely proud of," he said.

Gandhi told the MPs that they have to understand that they are fighting for the Constitution of the country and the right of every single individual, regardless of the skin colour, religion, gender or state.

"Who is fighting against you, you have to understand that also. Hatred, cowardice and anger are fighting against you. Lack of confidence, lack of self-belief is fighting against you. The people who are opposing us in Parliament House, they use hatred, they use anger to fight us.

"Throughout the election, there is only one way to fight hatred and anger. There is no other way and that is the love and the affection and the compassion of the Congress Party.

"That is why the BJP sits and says that we want 'Congress-mukt Bharat' because without the Congress they have a free run and no one to counter them. There is no opposition against the BJP other than the love and the compassion, the affection of the Congress Party. And that is what you have to understand," he told the new members.

He asked them to be more aggressive and said they "may have to shout a little more, as they will get less time in Parliament like the last time".

"Last time, if the Speaker used to give us five minutes, this time it may be two minutes, but in those two minutes, we will put forth what the Congress Party believes, we will put forth our defence of the Constitution," he said.

Gandhi also said it would have been better if some of the old faces would have won.

He said there were 5-10 people in the last Lok Sabha who gave tremendous support, but lamented that they did not win this time. "But they are ideologically with us even though they are standing outside the House. For me, they are standing with us inside the Lok Sabha."



Gandhi also thanked all the Congress workers "who fought for the idea of India and defended it" and said "it is an opportunity for us to introspect, to look inwards, to try and see as to what went wrong, to try to rejuvenate ourselves."



"I have no doubt that the Congress Party is going to rejuvenate. I have to thank all of you specially the seniors who are here. You have given a tremendous service in fighting for the Constitution and now you are fighting every single institution.

"There is no institution that is going to support you in this country, not one is going to support you. It is like during the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress Party yet we fought and won and we are going to do it again," he told the MPs.

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The Saturday told a special court here that advocate Sanjeev Punalekar and his assistant Vikram Bhave, who were arrested in connection with rationalist Dabholkar murder case of 2013, were not cooperating with it in the investigation.

On the CBI's request seeking 14-day custody for both the accused, additional sessions court judge A V Rotte extended their remand till June 4.

Punalekar, reportedly an office-bearer of the Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, had represented some of the accused in the murder case.

The had said that Punalekar had asked Sharad Kalaskar, one of the alleged shooters of Dabholkar, to destroy the weapons while Bhave had helped them in reconnaissance before the crime.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Suryawanshi told the court Saturday that Punalekar and Bhave are not cooperating with investigators, and that more time is needed to interrogate them.

"A mobile phone, two laptops belonging to Punalekar have been seized and the data from the mobile is being analysed. Punalekar's interrogation is needed for further investigation," said Suryawanshi.

Punalekar is not only an advocate but he is also associated with 'Sanatan Sanstha', he said, adding that the advocate had conspired with the other accused in the case, including those who have been named in the charge sheet.

The Sanstha is a right-wing organisation which is accused of preaching orthodox form of 'Sanatan' (ancient) dharma or religion.

"Punalekar has not acted as an advocate but he has crossed his limits by advising one of the shooters to destroy the weapon," Suryawanshi said.

He also told the court that they have conducted Forensic Psychology Analysis and Forensic Statement Analysis tests on Punalekar, whose results are awaited.

On Bhave, Suryawanshi said the accused is a convict in the 2008 Thane bomb blast case.

He said Bhave is also not cooperating during investigation.

"The vehicle used in the commission of crime (assassinating Dabholkar) has not been recovered yet, and since Bhave is not cooperating with the investigation, information about the vehicle is still not been revealed," he told the court.

The also mentioned a "status report", submitted earlier in the Bombay High court, which Suryawanshi said provides a substantial ground for extending the custody of the duo.

So far, six people, including member and ENT surgeon Virendrasinh Tawde, and alleged shooters Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, have been arrested by the CBI in the Dabholkar case.

Punalekar's counsel Subhash Jha said even if the communication between Kalaskar and Punalekar assumed to be true, it was a "privilege communication" between a lawyer and a client.

"A confession statement given by Kalaskar to Karnataka Police in some other case cannot be a base to arrest my client in the present case," said Jha.

He said the present case against Punalekar revolves only around the advised given by Punalekar to Kalaskar.

"So the offence does not travel beyond 201 of IPC (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) which is a bailable offence," argued Jha.

Bhave's lawyer Ghanshyam Upadhyay questioned the progress report of the CBI arguing that the investigation agency has not come out with any incriminating material against the former since his arrest on May 25.

"There is no development in the case and now to get the further custody, the CBI is citing reasons that the accused is not cooperating," he said.

Dabholkar, an anti-superstition activist, was shot dead while on morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013.
US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced China's efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarise man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a "toolkit of coercion," saying activities by Beijing the US perceives as hostile must end.

In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Korea's "extraordinary" threat with vows that the US will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region and is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing its stability.

While he didn't specifically name China in early parts of his speech, he made clear who his target was, making pointed references to Beijing's campaign to put advanced weapons systems on disputed islands in the region.

"If these trends in these behaviours continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful," he said.

His remarks underscore America's frayed relations with China, as the Trump administration wages a trade war with Beijing, imposes sanctions on Chinese tech giant Huawei and approves a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory.

And they reflect America's new national defense strategy that declared great power competition with China and Russia as top priorities.

Shanahan's speech is also arguably an audition to both the world and US top leaders in Congress, as his nomination for permanent secretary has still not been sent to Capitol Hill by President Donald Trump.

And listening closely in the audience were nervous allies and partners in the region who are worried about the economic impact of the US-China trade dispute and the political blowback of America's complaints about Beijing's rapid progress in hypersonic weapons, nuclear technology and space launches.

Lt Gen Shao Yuanming, a senior Chinese officer, said he welcomed deeper communication between China and the US, but he expressed strong opposition to some of Shanahan's comments on US relations with Taiwan and China's operations in the South China Sea (SCS).

He said China has strong legal claims to the waterway, and that Beijing has put necessary "deterrent facilities" there in response to US provocation involving military exercises in that region.

Shanahan told reporters Friday that he would use his speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue conference to criticise Beijing's use of coercion to advance its interests. And after his remarks, during questions from the audience, he suggested that his speech was more directly critical than those of other US defense secretaries in the past.

"I won't apologise for the way I framed some of my remarks, but we're not going to ignore Chinese behaviour," Shanahan said. "I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that. It's not about being confrontational, it's about being open and having a dialogue."



Shanahan, however, is one of several Pentagon chiefs to take aim at China during the Singapore conference. In 2014, for example, then-Secretary Chuck Hagel used the podium to slam China for cyberspying and said the US would not look away while Beijing's territorial claims destabilised the region and threatened Asia's long-term progress.

Still, Shanahan said the US is willing to cooperate with China and welcomes competition, but said behaviour that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end.

"Competition does not mean conflict," he said. "Competition is not to be feared. We should welcome it, provided that everyone plays by internationally established rules."



He also rejected suggestions that the US is in a "face-off" or trade war with China, and said economic negotiations with Beijing are ongoing and the Pentagon is building relations with the Chinese military.

But he went on to restate America's distrust of Huawei, the world's No 1 network equipment provider and second-largest smartphone maker. The US claims Huawei is legally beholden to China's ruling Communists, which could use the company's products, including its next-generation wireless network known as 5G, for cyberespionage.

Shanahan said Huawei is "too close to the government" of China, which has laws requiring data be shared.

"That's too much risk for the department," said Shanahan. "You can't trust that those networks are going to be protected."



China warned Friday that that it was drawing up a list of "unreliable" foreign companies, organizations and individuals for targeting in what could signal retaliation for US sanctions on Huawei.

Much of Shanahan's speech centred on the US work with partners across the region.

"The Indo-Pacific is our priority theatre," he said. "We are where we belong. We are investing in the region. We are investing in you, and with you." But he also called on the Pacific nations to invest in their own futures.

Several US senators attending the conference gave Shanahan high marks for his speech, saying his criticism of China hit the right tone.

Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said Shanahan "distinguished himself" in his remarks, including assertions that conflict with China is not inevitable.

King stopped short of saying he would vote for Shanahan when his nomination hits the Senate, but Sen Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said she was impressed and is now more inclined to support him.

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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday visited Deoli in southwest Delhi and told the residents that his government will start laying water pipelines there in two months.

The area is yet to get Delhi Jal Board (DJB) pipelines and most people rely on private tankers and illegal borewells for water.

Kejriwal, accompanied by DJB officials, told the residents that the work of laying pipelines will be completed in four months.

"Once the pipelines are laid, you will start getting water from Sonia Vihar... I have got to know that DJB tankers don't come here regularly and you have been buying water from private tankers," the chief minister said.

"In some cases, people pay for DJB tankers too. I have given strict orders to DJB officials... now onwards, no one will have to pay for water tankers, " Kejriwal, who is also the utility's head, said.

He told the residents that 60 new borewells will be dug in the area to deal with the problem of water.

The chief minister also came across two private borewells in the area and directed officials to take action against such people.

He also asked the officials to ensure an adequate number of water tankers reach the people in the area.

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/ -- Leading Ahmedabad-based best dental clinic, Dr. Agravat One Day Implants Clinic, launches a revolutionary dental solution to offer quick yet effective fix to Crooked, Broken or Missing Teeth



Dr. Agravat One Day Implants Clinic has again reiterated its goal of helping its clients get the fastest possible beautiful smile with the introduction of the innovative concept that is designed to streamline the treatment process and provide the patient with Teeth in record time.

Over the years, dental implants have been associated with extended healing times, high costs and patient discomfort, often leading to the loss of productive time. However, Dr Bharat Agravat's Smile in Hour Cosmetic Clinic is looking to change this narrative with the revolutionary system.

Incorporating the latest advantages of CT Scans and 3-D imaging software, the system ensures the accurate evaluation of the jaw bone structure, creating a permanent restoration prior the dental implants surgery, and ultimately offering patients a more accurate and safer positioning of dental implants.

In addition to offering a fast yet effective front tooth implant procedure, other features and benefits of the concept are briefly highlighted as follows:



No Incision No Suture No Pain Same Day Implants Placed Same Day Fix Teeth Dr Bharat Agravat's Smile in Hour Cosmetic Clinic Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, has further established itself as a one-stop dental solutions provider with the amazing concept to fix crooked, broken, chipped or missing teeth in as little as sixty minutes, allowing patients to get back to their daily activities immediately.

A video demonstration of the solution and its features can be found on Dr Bharat Agravat YouTube Channel.

More information about the recently launched system and other innovative dental solutions by Dr Bharat Agravat's Smile in Hour Cosmetic Clinic can be found on their website.

About Implantologist Dr Bharat Agravat



He is setting new benchmarks of excellence with 18 distinguished awards and 20 years of experience. He has done his Clinical Mastership in Implant Dentistry from New York University USA, Advanced Education in Implant Dentistry at Harvard University School of Dental Medicine USA, Min-Residency in Advanced Endodontics from University at Buffalo USA and Online Externship Implant Fellowship Program with DentalXP & NYU Dentistry at Atlanta, USA. Dr Bharat Agravat is 'World Records India' holder for Dental Tourism. 'First Time in The World & India's First' Dental Travel Android Mobile Apps. Patented Innovations in Cosmetic & Implants Dentistry related Product 'One Touch Smile'. Diplomate & Fellow at the International Congress of Oral Implantologist - DICOI & FICOI, USA.

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Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi Saturday said there was no possibility of manipulating the EVM-VVPAT system, but the Election Commission should explain to the opposition and the people by clearing doubts about it.

In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the opposition had alleged that Electronic Voting Machines and VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Trail Machines) were being manipulated.

The EC had refuted the allegations.

Asked to comment about the allegations, Quraishi said "There is no possibility of manipululation or tampering of EVM or VVPAT system. Machine cannot show different figures.

Every time you press the button, it will have the same figure. I don't even understand the allegations. However, the EC should convince the Opposition and people that the system is foolproof. We have to take people along," he said.

People's trust has to be maintained and won, he told PTI here on the sidelines of launch of Delhi-based digital media company DataLEADS' website.

Quraishi further said EVMs cannot be tampered because there were many checks and balances.

"So far, nobody has been able to prove that it can be tampered and after the introduction of VVPATs any possibility of any tampering should completely disappear," he said.

On the opposition demand to go back to the ballot paper voting system, Quraishi said rather than doing away with the EVMs, one should look at improving these machines.

"There is no question of going back to ballot paper voting system. We have been improving VVPATs and EVM system.

If there is need for further improvement, one should look at that, rather than going back," he said.

Barely two days before the Lok Sabha vote count on May 23, a political row had erupted over reports of alleged tampering of EVMs.

The Supreme Court had last month dismissed a plea filed by 21 Opposition parties seeking a review of its April 8 order directing the Election Commission to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to five polling booths per assembly segment.

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The Election Commission Saturday described the reports about "ghost voters" in the Lok Sabha polls as incorrect, saying the claims were based on provisional turnout data uploaded on its website.

"The provisional voter turnout data reported on ECI website is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers. Therefore, it is incorrect inference to find ghost voters when there are none," according to a statement issued by the Commission.

The poll panel reacted days after a section of the media reported that there was discrepancy in the total turnout and the actual number of electors in some states.

Responding to the reports, the EC said two categories of votes are counted to arrive at the final result -- those polled in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and those that are collected through postal ballots from service voters and also from the personnel deployed for poll duties outside their constituencies.

"The provisional voter turnout data is displayed as percentage figure on the Election Commission of India website and Voter Helpline mobile app on the poll day as uploaded by the Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer based on the approximate percentage turnout figures obtained from sector magistrates, who in-turn get it periodically over phone/in person from about 10 presiding officers," the Commission said.

After scrutiny of documents by the Returning Officer, provisional number of general voters' turnout is compiled and uploaded on the ECI website based on the polling station wise tentative turnout data reported by the presiding officers.

"All these figures are provisional, based on estimates which are subject to change as is made clear from the disclaimer on the website..." it said.

The postal ballot count is added to the EVM general voters' count to give the final votes polled in every parliamentary constituency and the winning candidate is given return certificate in form 21E by the returning officers.

Based on both the EVM votes and postal ballots, the returning officer prepares Form 21E and Index Card in which the break-up of voter turnout, including tendered votes for the constituency, is tallied to get the final voter turnout for each constituency.

Since the index card takes months to prepare, the commission said it had directed all the Returning Officers on March 26, 2019, to send the Index Cards within 15 days of the declaration of the result.

The commission said reconciliation of voters' data for all parliamentary constituencies have been completed in all the states and the Index Forms of all 542 parliamentary constituencies are expected to reach the ECI from Returning Officers shortly.

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The mother of convicted drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman said Saturday that the US Embassy in Mexico City granted her a visa so she can visit her son in prison.

Sitting in a wheelchair in front of the embassy, Consuelo Loera said that she and two daughters were both approved Saturday for visas to travel to the United States.

"Thank God, the US Embassy gave me the permission," she said in a feeble voice while surrounded by a throng of journalists: Loera said she hasn't seen her son in more than four years. She added that she has yet to receive the actual visa or set a date for her trip.

Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lopez Obradr lobbied for the visa to be issued after receiving a letter from Loera asking for assistance.

"El Chapo," who led the Sinaloa drug cartel and twice escaped from Mexican prisons before he was extradited to New York, was convicted in February of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation.

The three-month trial heard tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans and jewel-encrusted guns.

He is due to be sentenced this month and faces a life term in a maximum-security US prison selected to guard against another of the jail breakouts that made him a folk hero in Mexico.

Guzman's lawyers did not deny his crimes but argued that he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was.

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The European Commission says Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis must return millions of euros subsidies after a draft audit report found the billionaire in a conflict of interest, Czech media reported Saturday.

The Commission conducted the audit in January and February, suspecting Babis of taking decisions on EU subsidies as a politician but drawing them as an entrepreneur.

It found Babis, the second wealthiest Czech, still rakes in profits from the Agrofert food, chemicals and media holding he founded.

The Commission, which halted subsidies to Agrofert pending the audit verdict, said it wanted the Czech Republic to return the equivalent of 17.4 million euros (USD 19.5 million) in subsidies drawn counter to the rules.

The 64-year-old Slovak-born Babis transferred Agrofert to two trust funds in February 2017 -- months before he became prime minister -- to comply with conflict of interest regulations.

But citing the funds' articles of association, the Commission said that "Mr Babis is the settlor and the sole beneficiary of these Trust Funds."



"The two main objectives of the Trust Funds are the administration of the Agrofert group and the protection of the interests of Mr Babis," reads the draft report.

"Mr Babis... therefore has a direct economic interest in the success of the Agrofert group," it says, adding Babis's impartiality as a politician was compromised.

The draft report also highlights a number of other flaws related to EU subsidies drawn by Agrofert.

"The total amount of corrections proposed... amounts to CZK 451,174,585," the report says.

The Czech finance ministry said it would comment on the report only when it has received the final version in Czech.

On Friday when a Czech daily published an extract from the report, Babis said the allegations were not true.

"The Czech Republic will definitely not have to return any subsidies. There is no reason for that because I'm not violating Czech or European conflict of interest laws," he added.

In an emotional speech in parliament, he called the newspaper story "a filthy lie" and accused lawmakers of "having no other topics but Agrofert."



The Commission declined to comment on the matter on Friday. Its spokesperson told AFP that it "never comments on ongoing audit procedures and certainly not on leaks."Babis leads a minority centre-left government of his populist ANO movement and the leftwing Social Democrats, relying on tacit support from the Communists for a parliamentary majority.

The former Communist is also facing police charges over EU subsidy fraud and allegations he served as a secret police agent in the 1980s when the former Czechoslovakia was a Communist state.

Babis has repeatedly rejected the allegations as a smear campaign.

Despite his woes, ANO won last weekend's European elections, gaining 21.2 percent of the vote.

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Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been hired by a US-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm as the chair of its advisory board, the company announced in a statement.

The former prime minister "will be responsible for curating and overseeing the strategic guidance" the board provides to Afiniti, the company was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

It would be one of Cameron's most prominent appointments since he step down as prime minister in 2016.

He has previously taken a number of roles at not-for-profit organisations and has a memoir, For the Record, due out later this year, the report said.

Cameron said he was "delighted" to take the job working on "transforming the future of customer service and interpersonal communications".

The Afiniti advisory board has high-profile figures including John Browne, former chief executive of BP and Franois Fillon, the former prime minister of France.

The AI company was set up by the US-Pakistani entrepreneur Zia Chishti and specialises in the use of AI in call centres, the report said.

Cameron resigned as prime minister after the remain campaign lost the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Since then he has become president of Alzheimer's Research UK, chair of the National Citizen Service's board of patrons and chair of the LSE-Oxford commission on state fragility, the report said.

"The government I led took a wide range of steps to ensure the UK was successful in the new tech industries... As part of this work, I was excited to see the rapid development in artificial intelligence and the huge potential AI has to address some of the challenges that societies face today... I am therefore delighted to have been asked to chair Afiniti's advisory board, helping support their work to transform the future of customer service and interpersonal communications," Cameron was quoted as saying in the report.

Afiniti's chair and chief executive Chishti said that the company was delighted at Cameron's appointment.

"David's deep personal commitment to this issue makes him perfectly placed to lead our advisory board and support Afiniti in our next stage of growth," he was quoted as saying.

Cameron's memoir is due to be published this autumn after the rights were sold to the publisher William Collins for 800,000 pounds three years ago.

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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the issue of providing relief to the families of farmers, who committed suicide over failure to repay bank loans, needs to be raised in Parliament.

The Union government needs to take a stand regarding the agricultural loans taken by farmers from commercial banks, he said on Friday in a reply to the letter written by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

A copy of the letter was released to the media.

Vijayan said since the farmers across the country were facing "severe distress" due to their mounting debts and difficulty in repaying the loans availed by them, the matter needs to be raised in Parliament.

"This issue needs to be raised in the Parliament and I hope that you will join us in taking up the issue of relief for the debt affected families," he said.

Gandhi, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad, had asked the state government to provide assistance to the family of V D Dineshan, a Wayanad farmer, who committed suicide allegedly due to mounting debt.

The chief minister said that since outstanding loans from commercial banks come under the SARFAESI Act, it is for the Centre to take a considered stand regarding the farmers' debts.

Vijayan also said he had asked the Wayanad district collector to conduct a detailed inquiry into the suicide of the farmer and submit a report to the government for taking further action, including providing financial assistance.

Pointing out that the state was making continued efforts to help the farmers, he said there was a moratorium on repayment of farmers' loans till December this year.

Dinesh Kumar, 53, had ended his life after consuming a poisonous substance on May 25.

His relatives had said financial burden forced him to take the extreme step.

Gandhi, in his letter dated May 28, said he was "deeply saddened" by the farmer's suicide and requested the state government to conduct an inquiry and extend financial support to the family.

"Kumar's case isn't an isolated one. There have been a spate of farmer suicides in Wayanad, due to an inability to repay loans," Gandhi had said in his letter.

The Congress chief said it was important to consider "long-term measures" to free farmers from the "vicious debt trap" given the devastating impact of the last year's floods.

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A fire on Saturday engulfed a migrant center in northwestern Bosnia, injuring 32 people, police said.

The blaze erupted early in the morning in the center in Velika Kladusa, which hosts some 500 migrants stuck in the Balkan country while trying to move toward Western Europe.

The blaze likely started accidently from a cooking device, said local police spokesman Ale Siljdedic.

It spread swiftly, sending the migrants fleeing the building, with some jumping through the windows, Siljdedic told The Associated Press.

Thirteen migrants remain hospitalized with injuries such as burns or fractures, he said. The fire was put out after several hours.

Several thousand migrants fleeing war and poverty in their countries have been passing through Bosnia toward the West. They mostly flock to the northwest that borders European Union member Croatia.

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An eight-member team of mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, has gone missing on its way to Nanda Devi East peak in Pithoragarh district in

The team, which includes seven mountaineers from the UK, US and besides a liaison officer from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering, left Munsiyari on May 13 to scale the 7434-metre peak and was scheduled to return to the base camp on Friday.

The district administration has sent a rescue team in search of them after they failed to return to the base camp.

The district administration sprang into action after people at the base camp informed the authorities late on Friday night about the team going missing en route to the peak.

The route to the peak begins from Munsiyari, about 132 km from the district headquarters. From Munsiyari to the Nanda Devi base camp, mountaineers have to traverse a distance of about 90 km on foot.

The rescue team comprising State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), police and medical personnel has been sent to the Nanda Devi base camp in search of the climbers, Munsiyari sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) R C Gautam said.

The team was scheduled to reach the Nanda Devi base camp on Friday and Munsiyari on June 1, he said.

The SDM said the rescue team will reach the base camp late Saturday night and start rescue operation with the help of expedition team members at the base camp.
An eight-member team of mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, has gone missing on its way to Nanda Devi East peak in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand, prompting the administration to launch a massive search-and-rescue operation.

The team, which includes seven mountaineers from the UK, US and Australia besides a liaison officer from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering, left Munsiyari on May 13 to scale the 7434-metre peak.

The team is said to have been missing since May 25 when it was supposed to return to the base camp, Pithoragarh District Magistrate V K Jogdande told reporters Saturday.

The route to the peak begins from Munsiyari, about 132 km from the district headquarters. From Munsiyari to the Nanda Devi base camp, mountaineers have to traverse a distance of about 90 km on foot.

"Besides the ITBP search teams, we have sent a 14-member search and rescue team from Munsiyari to the spot this morning. The team comprises SDRF, medical personnel, revenue police and local villagers," the district magistrate said.

A State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team also left Dehradun in a helicopter Saturday morning to conduct an aerial survey of the area but inclement weather hampered the operation, Jogdande said.

"The team will make another attempt to carry out an aerial survey to trace the missing mountaineers as the weather improves," the DM said.

"An ITBP search team has reached Martoli village about 21 km from Nanda Devi base camp. It will soon reach the base camp," he said.

"We have also sought helicopter sorties from neighbouring districts of Chamoli and Rudraprayag to trace the exact location of the mountaineers," he said.

The team leader, Martin Mortain, is a well-known mountaineer from Britain.

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Four men, who were part of a crowd that thrashed two persons here after tying them to a pole on suspicion of stealing batteries from auto-rickshaws, have been arrested, police said Saturday.

Mohd Saleem (60), Ajay (36), Jibrail (25) and Akhil Biswas alias Govind (28) were arrested Friday night, hours after a video surfaced on social media purportedly showing the incident, the police said.

"The accused were arrested last night after a case was registered against unidentified persons at Sector 20 police station. Those arrested were identified on the basis of their appearance in the videos. They were held from the local auto stand," Circle Officer, Noida 1st, Kaustubh said.

On May 30, the two victims, whose identity still remains unconfirmed, were thrashed by a crowd, including auto-rickshaw drivers, in Sector 26 after locals suspected them to be auto battery thieves.

The purported video of the incident got widely circulated on social media by next day, prompting police to file an FIR under the Indian Penal Code sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 342 (wrongful confinement).

"The men, apparently intoxicated, were found sitting in a parked auto-rickshaw with wrench in their hands and then held by the crowd which tied them to a pole with a rope and beat them up in scorching sunlight," according to police.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 17-year-old girl was killed and her mother and younger sister were injured when an elephant attacked their house in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district, a forest department official said Saturday.

The incident took place late Friday night near Ramshama village on the outskirts of Badalkhol Wildlife Sanctuary, said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Krishna Kumar Jadhav.

The elephant destroyed a wall of the mud house of Vishwanath Chauhan and attacked the family when they were sleeping, Jadhav said.

Chauhan's daughter Lalita died on the spot while his wife Munni Bai and seven-year-old daughter Varsha sustained injuries, he said.

Police and forest personnel reached the spot after getting information about the incident, he said, adding that Munni Bai and Varsha were admitted to nearby Bagicha Health Centre. Both were out of danger, Jadhav added.

Elephant attacks have claimed four lives in Jashpur district in the past one month.

On the night of May 28, a retired BSF jawan was trampled to death by a herd of elephants in Tapkara.

On May 3, two villagers were killed in separate incidents in Kunkuri forest area.

Four herds of elephants are known to be roaming in Kunkuri, Tapkara, Narayanpur and Patthalgaon areas and forest personnel have been directed to keep a tab on their movement, the DFO said, adding that villagers too have been asked to stay alert.

Jashpur shares border with Odisha and Jharkhand, and the dense forest in this tri-junction area is a prime habitat of elephants.

Forest officials from Jharkhand and Odisha have been asked to share information about cross-border movement of elephants, Jadhav said.

Human-elephant conflict is common in thickly forested northern Chhattisgarh which comprises districts of Surguja, Surajpur, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Korea.

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Saturday said the state government will draw a broad roadmap for social, economic, educational and spiritual development of the people belonging to the Moran community.

He said the community has the potential of becoming a national asset and called upon all the organizations representing the aims and aspirations of the Moran community to formulate a comprehensive action plan for development of the community in the fields of sports, culture and education.

Sonowal was speaking as chief guest at the 19th biennial conference of Asom Moran Sabha and 9th biennial conference of Moran Jatiya Mohila Parishad in Tinsukia district.

He said the Assam government is committed to bring about all round development of the people belonging to Moran community.

The chief minister said the long standing demand of the Moran community to bring them within the ambit of ST status is in the priority list of the Centre and the state government would extend all help to accord ST status to the Moran community.

He, however, made it clear that social security of all sections of the people will be maintained.

He urged all representatives of the community to influence and inspire the common people so that a new India as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be achieved, which will be based on the strong edifice of cooperation and not conflict.

Assuring that the government would play the role of a catalyst in realizing dreams of the people of the community into a reality, Sonowal urged the parents to help their wards to imbibe in them virtues than can help them to excel in sports, culture and education.

The chief minister said that undivided Dibrugarh district was among the highest revenue generator, which used to contribute to government exchequer more than any other district.

He urged the people to work hard so that the past reputation of the district can be restored and the district can flourish and become the most advanced district of the country.

Underlining the role of the Moran community in strengthening the greater Assamese identity, Sonowal said that people belonging to this community have immense potential to contribute to the unity of the country.

He assured the people of the Moran community that the government would extend all possible support so that all problems of the community can be solved expeditiously.

The chief minister said the present government has initiated its development mantra of 'sabka sath, sabka vikas, sabka biswas' and the government would continue to work relentlessly for collective welfare of all.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three Governors, including Jammu and Kashmir's Satya Pal Malik, and the Uttarakhand chief minister called on Home Minister Amit Shah, who assumed charge on Saturday.

Malik, Kerala Governor P Sathasivam and Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao met Shah separately during the day.

Official sources described the meetings as courtesy calls.

Malik is said to have given a small briefing on the prevailing situation of Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently under the President's rule, sources said.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also called on Shah separately.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Saturday reported 27.87 per cent decline in domestic sales to 11,442 units in May as against 15,864 units in the same month last year.

HCIL said it also exported a total of 450 units during last month.

"The market continues to be tough for the auto industry with two consecutive months of such a high de-growth. It is unprecedented in the last two decades.

"After elections, we were expecting an upswing which has not yet come. Factors like liquidity that is affecting capital to auto sector along with increase in fuel prices have remained a challenge to revive consumer sentiments," HCIL Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing Rajesh Goel said.

The company is still hopeful that sales will revive due to favourable indicators on monsoon and expected actions by the new government, Goel noted.
Hrithik Roshan is on cloud nine after the Bollywood actor got a chance to meet veteran action star Jackie Chan during his visit to China.

The 45-year-old actor is in the country where is he is promoting his film "Kaabil" ahead of its release on June 5.

Taking to Instagram, Hrithik shared a number of photos with the iconic martial artiste.

"Meeting Jackie Chan was a revelation at so many levels. Incredible experience. Inspired. #kaabilinchina #ilovechina #china @jackiechan," he wrote in the caption.

"Kaabil", which released in India in 2017, also features Yami Gautam and Ronit Roy in pivotal roles.

The film follows a specially-abled couple; Rohan and Supriya, who lead a blissful married life. But their happiness comes to a standstill due to unavertable circumstances for which Rohan vows to take a revenge from the culprits.

"Kaabil" is produced by FilmKraft, imported by China Film Group corporation and is distributed and translated by China film group.

It is distributed internationally by B4U Motion Pictures Release, and is promoted by Tianjin Qitai Culture Communication Co. Ltd.

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Scorching heatwave conditions gripped large swathes of the country Saturday as the mercury crossed the 50-degree mark in Rajasthan's Churu, while several other places endured maximum temperatures markedly above normal with the weatherman saying there will be no respite until next week.

The national capital battled conditions in the "red category" as the maximum temperature recorded at the Palam observatory was 46.1C, according to the India Meteorological Department. The Safdarjung observatory recorded a maximum of 43.5C.

The India Meteorological Department Friday issued the highest "red-colour" warning for the city. Mahesh Palawat of the Skymet said heatwave conditions will persist in Delhi for another week and the maximum temperature will hover around 46 degrees Celsius.

Churu in the western part of the desert state of Rajasthan was the hottest placed in the country at 50.8 degrees Celsius, nine notches above normal, according to the met department office in Jaipur.

The entire state reeled under intense heatwave conditions with Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Kota recording their maximums at 49, 47.9, 47.2 and 46 degrees Celsius. Jodhpur, Jaipur and Barmer registered their maximum day temperatures at 45.6, 45.2, 44.5 degrees Celsius.

In Uttar Pradesh, the highest maximum temperature was recorded in Banda at 48.4 degrees Celsius. Several areas in the state reeled under heatwave conditions.

The IMD said heatwave to severe heatwave conditions are very likely to prevail over Rajasthan, Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh during the next five days and over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and south Uttar Pradesh during the next three.

A heat wave is usually declared when the maximum temperature remains above 45 degrees Celsius for two consecutive days.

Heatwave conditions intensified in Punjab and Haryana also, with Narnaul (Haryana) sizzling at 47.2 degrees Celsius. Hisar experienced blistering heatwave conditions at 45.6 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal, as per a meteorological department report.

In Punjab, Amritsar and Ludhiana reeled under severe heatwave conditions with 45.7 and 44.1 degrees Celsius, up by five degrees above normal, respectively. Union Territory Chandigarh, the common capital of Punjab and Haryana, sizzled at 42.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal.

In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, at least four places recorded their maximum temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. The hottest place in the state was Una at 44.9 followed by Bilaspur 43, Hamirpur 40.6, Mandi 40.5 degrees Celsius.

However, capital Shimla and some other parts of the state got some relief from the scorching heat as thundershowers accompanied with gusty winds came towards the evening, Shimla MeT Centre Director Manmohan Singh said.

In the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Jammu city recorded a maximum of 43.6 degrees Celsius, 4.2 notches above season's average. While heatwave conditions continued throughout the day, there was a light duststorm in Jammu.

Elsewhere, the IMD said the maximum temperatures were markedly above normal (5.1C or more) at many places over central Maharashtra and in some parts of Himachal Pradesh, west Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh and north interior Karnataka.

The maximum temperatures were 3.1C-5.0C above normal at most places in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Vidarbha and Marathwada and at a few places over Rayalaseema and Kerala.

The heatwave condition continued to prevail in western part of Odisha while the coastal region encountered high humidity levels as 10 places in the state recorded maximum temperatures above 40 degree Celsius Saturday, IMD sources said.

Jharsuguda and Angul in the western region of the state recorded temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius and 42.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.

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/ -- Evidence Shows E-cigarettes a Viable Solution to Reduce Tobacco Harm



Western countries have witnessed record-breaking declines in smoking rates, says new study



A recent paper on The Prospects of e-cigarettes in India: Overview of Evidence, Opportunities and Challenges Based on Experience in Western Countries by Konstantinos Farsalinos, Christopher Russell and Rajesh Sharan evaluates evidence from western countries, their regulations and provides insights on how India too can develop an appropriate framework to maximize the potential of e-cigarettes to complement available tobacco control measures and minimize adverse public health effects.

The paper highlights that not only are e-cigarettes significantly less harmful, but that in the past few years, countries like UK, US, New Zealand, UAE, Canada that have set out pragmatic regulations for e-cigarettes have witnessed unprecedented decline in adult smoking rates. These findings position e-cigarettes as a viable alternative to reduce tobacco smoking, and make a strong case for regulating the sector, to address issues of quality, labeling, promotion and sales, and to ensure that e-cigarettes are made available to adult smokers to reduce their personal health risk.

India is home to nearly 12% of the world's cigarette smokers, and an even larger section of the population uses other forms of tobacco including smokeless tobacco (SLT) such as khaini, gutkha, zarda, or local smoking tobacco like bidi, hookah, chillam, or a mixture of these. The World No Tobacco Day, which is observed to create awareness on harmful effects of tobacco use and discourage its use, is an opportune time to explore how alternatives to cigarette can support lowering India's staggering tobacco death rate of 1.35 million per year.

It is pertinent to note that, India is a member of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and is bound by MPOWER policy recommendations to reduce tobacco demand. The Indian Government must consider its on-ground implementation with practical solutions that help bring down tobacco consumption rates. Despite the awareness programs and expenditure towards educating about the health consequences, India has the lowest quit rates among the GATS-2 countries.

This begs the question - Why is India not exploring the Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) policies which aim to prevent or reduce harm by promoting substitution of combustible tobacco with less harmful non-combustible sources of nicotine? These products are already being used to support existing tobacco control measures especially in developed countries like United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), an increasingly popular THR tool, have been the focus of intense public health debate. From a safety perspective, compared to e-cigarettes, cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic and toxic. E-cigarettes, on the other hand, do not contain tobacco, and the ingredients of e-cigarette liquids in controlled quantities reduce risk that a smoker would otherwise be exposed to by an order of magnitude. A risk assessment analysis by Stephens had concluded that carcinogenic risk of e-cigarettes is about 0.4% that of smoking, and based on currently available evidence, there is little doubt that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking.

As per a study by Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH), cigarette smokers who initiated e-cigarette use had 7.88 times the odds of switching to 30-day cigarette cessation compared to non-users of e-cigarettes. In US, tobacco use data from 2010 to 2015 showed a substantial increase in e-cigarette use. The data on prevalence and growth of e-cigarette also presents a very strong correlation with significant increase in cessation rates in the US.

The UK and European Union regulatory framework for e-cigarettes includes quality standards, nicotine concentration limits, marketing restrictions, and can easily be modified for implementation in India. In fact, the UK Department of Health has also pledged to support adult smokers in switching to less harmful nicotine products like e-cigarettes, while also maintaining that complete cessation is the ideal solution. The country's liberal approach has paid off, as UK witnessed record-breaking decline in the adult smoking population. In 2017, the lowest ever smoking rate of 15.1% was recorded in UK. Smoking prevalence among young adults in UK has also declined by 25% since 2011. Encouraged by the impact thus far, the UK Commons Science and Technology Committee recently concluded that regulations on e-cigarette licensing and advertising should be further relaxed.

It is imperative that India learns from the experience of other countries, and provide tobacco users with a less harmful alternative, rather than prohibiting e-cigarettes and missing out on an unprecedented opportunity to help adult smokers in India.

India's tobacco burden



106 million smokers- 12% of the world's smokers live in India 1.35 million tobacco deaths per year in India Lowest quit rate among GATS-2 countries Tobacco Harm Reduction through e-cigarettes



Cigarette smoke contains 400 toxins, 69 known carcinogens Carcinogenic risk of e-cigarettes is about 0.4% that of smoking E-cigarettes are at least 95% less harmful than tobacco smoking - Public Health England Learning from UK's experience with e-cigarettes



UK's regulatory framework for e-cigarettes includes quality standards, nicotine concentration limits, marketing restrictions Lowest ever smoking rate of 15.1% recorded in 2017 Smoking prevalence amongst youth declined by 25% since 2011 UK Commons Science and Technology Committee to further relax e-cigarette regulations About Konstantinos Farsalinos:



Konstantinos E. Farsalinos, M.D., is a research fellow at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens-Greece, at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras-Greece and at the National School of Public Health-Greece. He has been conducting laboratory and clinical research on e-cigarettes as a principal investigator since 2011. Examples of his work include the first study on the cytotoxic effects of e-cigarette vapor on cultured cells and the immediate effects of e-cigarette use on cardiac function and coronary circulation. He ran a worldwide online survey of almost 20,000 vapers (users of e-cigarettes) identifying patterns of use and experience with e-cigarettes among consumers, published in 2014. He also co-authored the first systematic review on e-cigarette safety, published in 2014. He has analyzed patterns of e-cigarette use based on large European and US population surveys (Eurobarometer, National Youth Tobacco Survey). Additionally, he is performing research work on heated tobacco products. He was the handling editor and author in a book titled "Analytical assessment of e-cigarettes", published by Elsevier in 2017.

About Christopher Russell:



Christopher Russell is a Psychologist and tobacco harm reduction researcher at the Centre for Substance Use Research, Scotland



About Rajesh Sharan: https://nehu.ac.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Home Minister Amit Shah said Saturday the country's security and welfare of the people are the key priorities of the Modi government.

Shah, who assumed the charge of the sensitive ministry on Saturday, held a meeting with senior officials to familiarise himself with the issues concerning the ministry.

During the meeting, senior officials gave a detailed presentation of the functioning of the Home Ministry and the key issues it is handling now, a ministry official said.

Two newly appointed ministers of state for home G K Reddy and Nityanand Rai who too took charge on Saturday, also attended the hour-long meeting.

"Country's security and people's welfare are Modi government's priorities. Under the leadership of Modi ji, I will try my best to fulfil these priorities," Shah tweeted in Hindi after assuming the charge.

Shah also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him the responsibility of the Home Ministry.

"Today, I have taken the charge as India's Home Minister. I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reposing faith in me," he said.

Earlier Saturday, Shah was given a warm welcome at the North Block office of the Home Ministry by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Jain and other senior officials.

Shah took charge two days after he was sworn-in following a landslide victory of the BJP-led NDA.

Another Home Ministry official said Shah is expected to prioritise the NDA government's policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and checking illegal immigration.

The new home minister's immediate task would be handling the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the President's rule, and the situation that may arise after the publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

The NDA won a landslide mandate in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election with the saffron party winning 303 of the 542 seats that went to polls.

Shah was the key architect of the BJP's victory as the party president.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Home Minister Saturday said country's security and welfare of the people are the key priorities of the Modi government.

Shah, who assumed the charge of the sensitive ministry on Saturday, also said he would try his best to implement all these priorities.

"Country's security and people's welfare are the Modi government's priorities. Under the leadership of Modi, I will try my best to fulfill all these priorities," he tweeted after assuming the charge.

Shah also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bestowing the responsibility of the sensitive ministry.

"Today, I have taken the charge as India's Home Minister. I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reposing faith in me," he said.

Shah was received at the North Block office of the home ministry by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Intelligence Bureau Chief Rajiv Jain and other senior officials.

Two newly appointed ministers of state for home - G K Reddy and Nityananda Rai - also took charge Saturday.

Shah took charge two days after he was sworn-in following a landslide victory of the BJP-led NDA.

A home ministry official said Shah is expected to prioritise the NDA government's policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and checking illegal immigration.

The new home minister's immediate task would be handling the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the President's rule, and situation which may arise after the publication of the final Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

The BJP-led NDA has received a landslide mandate in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections with the saffron party winning 303 of the 542 seats that went to polls.

Shah was the key architect of the BJP's victory as the party president.

Kerala Governor P Sathasivam and Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao were among the first who made courtesy calls on the home minister.
In a signal to Pakistan to open its airspace for commercial airlines, has announced that all temporary restrictions imposed on Indian airspace post airstrike have been removed.

Earlier this week, Pakistan civil aviation authorities had extended the closure of its airspace till June 14.

Pakistan had fully closed its airspace on February 27 after an strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.

tweeted on Friday evening, "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed."



Pakistan had given a special permission to India for then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly through Pakistani airspace to attend the SCO meet in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on May 21. However, the airspace for other commercial airliners remains closed.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.

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The Tamil Nadu government Saturday made it clear that its men employees can wear dhoti reflecting Tamil culture or any Indian traditional dress and at the same time wanted them to avoid casual attire.

Days after the government asked its Secretariat employees to avoid casual clothes and wear neat, clean, formal attire, the government has now clarified that traditional dress like veshti (dhoti) is always permissible for its staff.

Through a Government Order (GO) dated May 28, 2019, the government had amended the "Tamil Nadu Secretariat Office Manual," mandating the dress code.

A revised GO issued today (1 June) by Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan said: "Government servants are required to wear neat, clean, formal attire that is appropriate to the work place setting, so as to maintain the decorum of the office, while in duty, like saree or salwar kameez or churidhar with dupatta in the case of female government servants...

...and shirts with formal pants or veshti (dhoti) reflecting Tamil culture or any Indian traditional dress, in the case of male government servants. Casual attire shall be avoided.

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Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik Saturday briefed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the security situation in the state, which is currently under the President's rule.

During the 15-minute meeting, the Governor apprised the home minister about the preparation for the Amarnath Yatra.

The 46-day-long yatra will begin on July 1, the day of Masik Shivratri, and would conclude on August 15, the day of Shravan Purnima.

Discussions were also held between the two on the law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley and the border areas besides various development issues.

"I have discussed security matters and development issues with the Home Minister," Malik told reporters after the meeting.

The Governor, however, said that the issue related to holding assembly elections in the state was not discussed as the matter was under the purview of the Election Commission of India.

Jammu and Kashmir is under the central rule since June 2018 and the assembly election is expected to be held later this year.

Shah assumed charge as Home Minister on Saturday.

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Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik Saturday saluted the bravery of the tourist guide who sacrificed his life to save five tourists from drowning in the Lidder river in Pahalgam and announced a ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the deceased's kin.

Rouf Ahmed Dar, a registered professional rafter, cared little for his life and jumped into the river when the raft, carrying the tourists, overturned near Mawoora after it was caught in a sudden gusty winds.

The five people, three locals and a couple from West Bengal, were onboard the raft when the tragedy struck on Friday evening at the rafting point in Pahalgham, 96 km south of Srinagar.

Dar's body was fished out of the river on Saturday.

A Raj Bhavan spokesperson said the governor saluted the bravery of the tourist guide who lost his life while rescuing tourists from the Lidder river in Pahalgam on Friday and termed him a real-life hero.

The governor prayed for the eternal peace to the departed soul and strength to the bereaved family in its hour of grief, the spokesperson said, adding honouring the exemplary display of selfless action, the governor has announced financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh for Dar's family.

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Actor-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge believes more than James Bond, the movies about the famed British spy should do justice to its women characters.

The 33-year-old actor-writer, best known for creating hit series like "Fleabag" and "Killing Eve", recently boarded the project and will be credited as a writer alongside Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, Scott Z Burns with Cary Joji Fukunaga, who will also direct the film.

In an interview with Deadline, the 33-year-old actor-writer said the Bond franchise continues to be "relevant" but that the movies needs to "treat women properly".

"There's been a lot of talk about whether or not (the Bond franchise) is relevant now, because of who he is and the way he treats women. I think that's bollocks," Waller-Bridge said.

"I think he's absolutely relevant now. It has just got to grow. It has just got to evolve, and the important thing is that the film treats the women properly. He doesn't have to. He needs to be true to this character," she added.

The upcoming Bond 25 will mark Daniel Craig's fifth outing as the famed fictional British spy. Oscar winner Rami Malek is playing the villain in the film.

The film will also feature talented names such as Billy Magnussen, Dali Benssalah, "Blade Runner 2049" actor Ana De Armas, David Dencik, and "Captain Marvel" star Lashana Lynch. Actor Lea Seydoux is reprising her "Spectre" role of Dr Madeleine Swann.

Waller-Bridge said she wants to make sure that the women actors feel like "real people" after reading the script.

"I just want to make sure that when they get those pages through, that Lashana, Lea and Ana open them and go, 'I can't wait to do that.' As an actress, I very rarely had that feeling early in my career. That brings me much pleasure, knowing that I'm giving that to an actress," she said.

Bond 25 is scheduled to release in April 2020.

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The Jammu and Kashmir police Saturday admitted presence of militants in Kishtwar district of Jammu region and said it has tasked its anti-terror Special Operation Group to track neutralise militants in area.

Inspector General of Police M K Sinha of Jammu Zone made the admission a day after two special police officers (SPOs) were injured in a gun battle between police and militants, who managed to escape.

Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on May 20 had ruled out the presence of militants in Kishtwar belt.

IGP Sinha said there are reports about eight militants being active in the vast area of the district and the SOG has been activated to neutralise them.

"We have activated SoG in Kishtwar after the terror incidents took place," he told reporters.

Replying to a question on spread of militancy in Jammu region, Sinha said militants will keep up their nefarious designs but the police will soon neutralise them.

He said as and when police get information, they act quickly as they did yesterday.

Kishtwar district, which shares its boundaries with Anantnag district of South Kashmir, has seen an increase in incidents of terrorism in recent times.

On November 1, BJP state secretary Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet were were gunned down by terrorists in Kishtwar, while returning from.

On April 9, senior RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his personal security officer were killed in firing by terrorists at Kishtwar hospital.

Lt Gen Singh on May 20 had said the Army will not allow the area south of Pir Panjal to slip into terrorism and had ruled out the presence of militants in Kishtwar belt.

Lt Gen Singh said there are some reports keep coming from various intelligence agencies regarding the presence of some terrorists south of Pir Panjal but they have not found any confirmed report about the presence of terrorists there.

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In the wake of a controversy over the recommendation of an HRD Ministry panel to teach Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar Saturday clarified that the committee had only prepared a draft report and no decision has been taken on implementing it.

He asserted that no language should be imposed on anyone.

The draft of the new National Education Policy, proposed by the panel constituted by Javadekar when he was HRD minister in the previous Modi government, had suggested teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states.

"The committee has submitted its report. The draft has been prepared but government has not taken any decision. It is just a misunderstanding. We will only take a decision after feedback on the draft has been received," Javadekar told reporters.

His reaction came after parties in Tamil Nadu, including the DMK, Saturday strongly opposed the three language formula's continuation with add-on features proposed in the draft National Education Policy alleging it was tantamount to "thrusting" Hindi and wanted it junked.

"The Modi government's policy has always been that all languages should be developed and no language should be imposed on anyone. There should be no unnecessary apprehensions about it, the Union minister added.

Javadekar is the Union minister for information and broadcasting in the second Modi government. The HRD portfolio has been allotted to Ramesh Pokhriyal this time.

"Students will be required to attain proficiency in discussing their major in at least one Indian language through an appropriate written project or presentation in that language," as per the draft policy said.

Besides the DMK, the CPI and BJP's ally in the Lok Sabha polls, the PMK, also alleged that the recommendation on the three language formula was "imposition of Hindi" and wanted scrapping it.

The three language formula which bats for Hindi from "pre-school to class 12 was a big shocker," and the recommendation would "divide" the country, DMK chief M K Stalin said.

Tamil Nadu Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan told Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamil channel: "There will be no deviation from the two-language formula followed in Tamil Nadu. Only Tamil and English will continue to be taught in our State."



Sengottaiyan's party AIADMK is an ally of the BJP.

AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran said, "Imposing Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states will destroy pluralism. This would make non-Hindi speakers second class citizens.

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Seekingoppositions cooperation in the smooth conduct of the upcoming Lok Sabha session, newly appointed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi Saturday said the government was ready for discussion on any issue.

The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha will be held from June 17 to July 26, with the regular budget to be presented on July 5.

"I request all the opposition parties, people have given unprecedented mandate in favour of Narendra Modi and the BJP. For five years lets successfully conduct the sessions and discuss on issues.

The government is ready for discussion on any issue," Joshi said.

Speaking to reporters on his visit to the city after taking over as minister, he said it is common belief that in the Lok Sabha there should be debates, discussions and not disruptions.

"So following the peoples mandate lets all work together- is our request to all the opposition parties. In the days to come we will call a meeting in this regard, so I seek their cooperation," Joshi said.

He pointed out that there are four ministers from Karnataka in the Modi cabinet and they would meet once in 15 days and discuss on Karnataka related issues and follow up.

"We want to protect the interest of Karnataka thats our decision," he said, adding that the big result to the BJP led by Modi was a huge responsibility, "as expectations of people are very high."



Karnataka Lok Sabha members-- Pralhad Joshi, D V Sadananda Gowda (Chemical and Fertilizer) and Suresh Angadi (MoS Railway) were inducted into the ministry Thursday, apart from Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance), who is a Rajya Sabha MP from the state.

Responding to a question on the Mahadayi river water issue, he said both Karnataka and Goa governments have sought clarification and have appealed to the Supreme Court on the matter.

"... let Karnataka government call an all party meeting and legal experts, if they want notification, we will participate in it.

Legal experts, who had represented Karnataka, had earlier said since both states have filed an appeal, it cannot be done. But if experts say it is possible, let's try, we have no objection," he said.

Mahadayi river tribunal had delivered its verdict allocating 13.5 tmcft of water to Karnataka.

As all three riparian states (Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra) have sought clarifications from the tribunal on its final judgment and as states have also gone to the Supreme Court against it, the Centre has refused to notify the tribunals verdict citing legalities.

When pointed out that a BJP government was in power in Goa, Joshi said parties in the states would take a stand for their state.

Earlier too Congress governments were there at the centre at Goa and here, he said.

"Mahadayi issue did not crop up after Modi came or Pralhad Joshi," he said.

Asked if the Prime Minister would intervene and solve the issue at this stage, Joshi, without giving any direct response, blamed the Congress for taking the matter to the tribunal.

The minister, who also holds the coal department portfolio, said there would not be any shortage in supply of coal.

"...there is minimum stock of 15-16 days everywhere, whatever demand comes that will be supplied," he added.

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Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi Saturday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and greeted him on his assuming office for a second consecutive term.

"With a 'Man of Destiny' who is steering the destiny of Bharat/ India. @PMOIndia @narendramodi," Bedi tweeted.

The former IPS officer who completed three yearsas Lt Governor of the union territory on May 29, also met the new Home Minister Amit Shah in the capital today.

Raj Nivas sources here said Bedi discussed "challenges before the union territory of Puducherry with Shah. Priority being the need to ensure grass root level democracy by holding panchayat elections."



Civic polls have not been held for nearly ten years here "despite the directions of the Supreme Court," the sources said.

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Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Saturday congratulated UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on her election as leader of Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha and said her vast experience and



leadership will give a "stronger voice" to the opposition in Parliament.

Gandhi was once again elected leader of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) at a meeting of party MPs at the Central Hall of Parliament on Saturday.

"Hearty congratulations to Ms Sonia Gandhi on being elected as leader of the #Congress Parliamentary Party. Her vast experience and leadership will give a stronger voice to the Opposition in the Parliament. I wish her the best. @INCIndia @INCKarnataka," Kumaraswamy tweeted.

Congress Legislature Party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said her leadership would strengthen the opposition and help in keeping a check on the BJP.

"Congratulations to Smt.#SoniaGandhi for being elected as @INCIndia Parliamentary leader. Her vision, commitment & leadership will strengthen the opposition & help in keeping a check on @BJP4India," he said in a tweet.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara in a tweet said, "Hearty congratulations to Smt Sonia Gandhi avaru for taking the mantle of leadership of @INCIndia in Lok Sabha. Under her able & experienced leadership, I am sure the Congress party will be a strong voice of our people & defender of our Constitution in the Parliament.

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Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday laid emphasis on making students aware of the Constitution of India from school days.

He said the preamble of the Constitution should be printed at the beginning of school textbooks so that the feeling of responsibility towards the Constitution could be developed in students.

Sharing his views at a 'yuva chintan shivir', organised by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Bhilwara, Gehlot said every section of society had the freedom of expression.

C P Joshi, speaker of the state assembly, said the parliamentary democracy should be the focus of such programmes, which help strengthen the democracy.

Social activists, including MKSS founder Aruna Roy, were present on the occasion.

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A 25-year-old man has been arrested in Kerala for allegedly sexually exploiting over 50 women, he had befriended over social media, by blackmailing them with their morphed obscene photos, police said Saturday.

Pradeesh Kumar from Areeparambu near Ettumanoor was arrested on Friday on the basis of a complaint by a woman, they said.

Explaining his 'modus operandi,' police said Kumar used to target women over social media and got their phone numbers.

After establishing contact with the women, mostly housewives, and understanding their family problems, he used to create fake Facebook accounts posing as female and got in touch with the husbands of his potential targets, police said.

The accused used to take screenshots of the chats their husbands had with the fake accounts and forwarded it to their wives to convince them about their spouse's "illicit relationships."



After being ensured that the women had started distancing themselves from their husbands, the accused grew very close to the victims and then invited them for video chats. He then allegedly blackmailed the women with their morphed obscene pictures and sexually exploiting them, police said.

He had reportedly developed code languages to ensure that the women themselves were chatting with him on various social media platforms. If they failed to type the code before chatting, Kumar allegedly hurled expletives at them.

If the women refused to comply with his orders, the accused threatened to send their morphed obscene photographs to their husbands, police said.

Following his arrest, morphed obscene photos of many women have been recovered from the accused's laptop, they said.

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A 17-year-old girl was set ablaze allegedly by a man after she rejected his advances at Semiliguda in Odisha's Koraput district, police said Saturday.

The girl, a second-year engineering (diploma) student, suffered critical burn injuries, they said.

The accused Gopi Khemundu, of Ganjana village, was obsessed with the girl and angry after she turned down his proposal, said Sunabeda Sub-Divisional Police Officer Niranjan Behera.

The girl was staying at a rented accommodation with her friends in Semiliguda and the accused attacked her there Friday afternoon, the SDPO said.

He was carrying a bottle of petrol and set her on fire, Behera said.

"It was a pre-planned attack," the official said.

The girl was immediately rushed to SLN Medical College and Hospital here and later shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur after her condition deteriorated.

"Separate teams have been formed and efforts are on to nab the culprit who fled soon after committing the crime," the SDPO added.

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Former President Pratibha Patil was Saturday bestowed on the highest civilian award of Mexico for foreigners.

The ambassador of Mexico to India, Melba Pria, presented 'Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca' (Order of the Aztec Eagle) to Patil, who had served as the first woman president of the country during 2007-12, at a special ceremony held here in MCCIA Bhavan.

On the occasion, Patil said a mutual agreement was signed between Mexico and India when she was president, and that both the countries have emphasised on enhancing friendly relations.

"While doing all this I represented India. So this award is the honor of my country. Both countries have the honor of friendship. In 2007, President Felipe de Jazas Calderon Hinozosa visited India when he was the country's president. Then I visited Mexico in 2008. During this period, the relationship between the two countries was strengthened," said Patil.

Pria said, "the honorable foreign citizen who has strengthened humanitarian relations with Mexico is given this honor. She (Patil) is the first Indian woman to receive such an award. Earlier Dr. Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II (2nd), Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Bill Gates were honored with this award".

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As the new dispensation began its second innings in Delhi, a perception took shape in southern India that the region, particularly and Andhra Pradesh, has been given a raw deal in ministerial berth allocations.

has been given three Union ministerial berths in addition to Finance portfolio for Nirmala Sitharaman, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from that state, while one minister each hail from and Telangana.

Tamil Nadu, which boasted of as many as nine ministers in the UPA-II government in 2009, did not get any representation in government.

While the BJP drew a blank this time, its ally AIADMK managed to win one (Theni) seat and the rest (37 Lok Sabha constituencies) went to the kitty of the DMK- combine.

DMK chief M K said Prime Minister has "slighted" by not appointing anyone from the state in the cabinet, since he was "angered" that people did not elect even a single MP from his party.

Congress's president K S Alagiri said the exclusion could be only construed as boycott of not only AIADMK but Tamil Nadu as well.

Alleging a raw deal, he said "due to an anti-Modi wave" witnessed during polls, Tamil Nadu has been sidelined.

He said Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar have no links to Tamil people and could not be regarded as representatives of Tamil Nadu.

He wondered what stopped the BJP from naming at least one of its leaders from Tamil Nadu to the (and elect them to the Rajya Sabha).

Political commentator M Bharat Kumar said while was a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, S Jaishankar was based.

"They have no links whatsoever to Tamil Nadu as of now. How do you expect them to protect the interests of our state?" he asked.

Analyst Ravindran Duraisamy, however, said it was wrong to say TN been given a raw deal. "Both Sitharaman and Jaishankar hail from Tamil Nadu and they have their roots here." Though Sitharaman may have been elected to the Upper House from Karnataka, she was a native of Tamil Nadu and similar was the case with Jaishankar, he added.

Political observer D Jagadheeswaran said the difference of opinion within the top leadership of the AIADMK was the reason for no MP (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) from Tamil Nadu getting a berth.

Senior BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha MP, L Ganesan, said the present was not a full-fledged one, adding there were more openings, apparently indicating that Tamil Nadu stood a chance during future expansion.

"AIADMK should have been given (a berth), but we do not know what happened during the talks and what transpired." Similar was the perception about representation of in the Cabinet.

Andhra-based political commentator P Naveen said, "Seeing the Modi Cabinet, it appeared as if the Centre did not have any connection with " The BJP has only one MP in AP, Suresh Prabhu, who was elected to the Upper House in 2016.

However, he did not find a place in the Cabinet this time.

The BJP did not win any of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in AP in the recent general election.

In 2014, the Telugu Desam Party's (which was an ally of the BJP then) two - P and Y S Chowdary - found place in the

During the UPA rule, the had more than 30 in undivided and there were more than seven ministers from the state with leaders like S Jaipal Reddy and M M Pallam Raju having Cabinet rank.

In Telangana, where BJP had won four LS seats, analyst Telakapalli Ravi said people would have been happier if G Kishan Reddy had been given independent charge at the least, leave alone a Cabinet rank.

Though has been represented in the Cabinet, Narayana A, who teaches political philosophy at Azim Premji University, said it would be "a bit premature" to say if adequate representation has been given to the state in the Modi cabinet, because full cabinet was not yet in place.

He, however, expressed surprise over no representation for SCs, STs and OBCs for now.

"It is a little surprising that there is no representation for SCs, STs and OBCs, because SCs and STs have been with the BJP for some time now and the OBC is new addition to BJP's support base in Karnataka," he added.

The induction of Sadananda Gowda (Vokkaliga) and Suresh Angadi (Lingayat) is being considered as a balancing act to accommodate the two dominant communities of Another minister from Karnataka, Pralhad Joshi is a Brahmin.

The previous Modi ministry had five members from Karnataka, including Sitharaman.

The BJP's unit chief, P S Sreedharan Pillai, argued that though the southern states have given fewer for the party, the Prime Minister has given good consideration to the south.

Another BJP leader S Suresh said it was not about the number of ministers in the cabinet (from every state), but the union government's attitude towards the states that mattered.

He said the Centre had always and would continue to give all states a fair deal irrespective of the number of ministers.

Though the BJP drew a blank in Kerala, V Muraleedharan, a former state party chief, has been made Minister of State for External Affairs. He is a Rajya Sabha MP from

During the tenure of Congress-led UPA II, there were eight ministers from
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer prayers at the famed Sri Krishna Temple in Kerala's Guruvayur on June 8.

This will be Modi's first visit to the southern state after assuming office as prime minister for the second consecutive time.

According to temple sources, the prime minister is expected to spend at least 45 minutes at the shrine, dedicated to Lord Krishna.

"We have got confirmation that the prime minister will visit the shrine on June 8. According to the information received, he will reach the temple by noon and take part in 'uchapooja'," a senior Guruvayur Devaswom official told PTI.

The official, however, said they do not have any information as to whether any other ministers would be accompanying Modi.

BJP sources here told PTI that the prime minister would only to offer prayers at the shrine and no other official or party programmes were scheduled as of now.

"The prime minister is expected to reach the state by 11.30 am and return by 4 pm the same day," the source told PTI.

The Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple is one of the most significant Vaishnava temples in south India.

Modi had offered prayers at the centuries-old Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple here, known as one of the 108 'Divyadesams' of Lord Vishnu, in January.

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Flight Lieutenant has become the first woman fighter pilot to fly by day a Hawk advanced jet aircraft, a defence release has said.

She achieved the feat at the Kalaikunda Station in on Thursday, it said.

"Flight Lieutenant became the first woman fighter pilot to become fully operational by day on Hawk advanced jet aircraft as she landed after a gruelling 4 aircraft combat sortie at station Kalaikunda, West Bengal, which was the last syllabus sortie, of being fully operational on the Hawk Jets," the release issued on Friday said.

Her training involved flying both air-to-air combat and air-to-ground missions, it added.

She has undertaken many practice missions, which involved firing of rockets, guns and dropping high calibre bombs and also participated in various Level flying exercises, the release said.

She has a total of over 500 hours of incident-free flying, of which 380 hours are on the Hawk Mk 132 jet. She had, along with two other women pilots, and Avani Chaturvadi, joined the fighter stream in June 2016, it said.

A week back, Flight Lieutenant became fully operational by day on Bison, the release added.
Soon after taking charge as Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh Saturday asked the chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force to prepare separate presentations on the security challenges facing the country as well as overall functioning of their forces.

Singh held a meeting with Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and newly-appointed Navy Chief Karambir Singh at the headquarters of the defence ministry in the Raisina Hills and discussed several issues with them, officials said.

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Yesso Naik, Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra, Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary (Defence Production) Ajay Kumar and several other senior officials were also present at the meeting.

A defence ministry spokesperson said Singh instructed the officers to prepare detailed presentations on all divisions of the ministry and set time-bound targets to achieve the desired outcome.

Officials said the presentations will be reviewed by Singh at a high-level meeting soon.

In Saturday's meeting, Singh was given a brief presentation on the functioning of the ministry as well as role of its four departments -- Department of Defence, Department of Defence Production, Department of Ex-serviceman Welfare and Department of Research and Development Organisation.

Singh, who was the Home Minister in the previous government, was accorded a grand welcome by the three services chiefs and senior officials when he arrived at the defence ministry around noon.

A defence ministry spokesperson said Singh urged all those who greeted him to give their best and work towards achieving the "targets".

Earlier in the day, Singh visited the national war memorial and paid tributes to the fallen heroes.

As defence minister, Singh's most crucial challenge will be to speed up the long-delayed modernisation of the three services besides ensuring overall coherence in their combat readiness.

His another challenge will be to ensure peace and tranquillity along the frontier with China while developing required military infrastructure to deal with any possible Chinese hostility.

As he took charge of the ministry just three months after India carried out air strikes on a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot, it is expected that he will continue with the policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross border terrorism.

Containing infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan will be another key focus area.

As the Defence Minister, Singh will face the challenge of strengthening the combat capabilities of the Army, Navy and the Air Force due to changing regional security matrix and geo-political dynamics.

The forces have been pressing for equipping them to deal with hybrid warfare and Singh will have to attend to this crucial demand.

The government has been focusing on domestic defence production and Singh will have to carry forward a number of big-ticket reform initiatives, including implementing the ambitious "strategic partnership" model.

Under the new model, select Indian private firms will be roped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign defence majors.

Singh also faces the challenge of modernising the defence research organisations and various other defence public sector undertakings so that they can produce state-of-the art military hardware to match requirement of the forces.

He will also have to oversee implementation of major reforms in the 12-lakh strong Army. The Army has already finalised a blueprint for its reform including right-sizing of the force.

His predecessor Nirmala Sitharaman had taken on the opposition head-on with her fiery defence of the Rafale fighter jet deal and it will be interesting to see how Singh deals with the issue.

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None of the Congress' seven Lok Sabha election candidates from the national capital attended the Saturday meeting of a party committee on examining the poll debacle in Delhi.

The meeting of the Delhi Congress' probe committee was attended by some leaders, including two district presidents of the New Delhi parliamentary constituency, but no MP candidate from the party was available as many of them are out of the city, committee member Yoganand Shastri said.

The panel, which was formed by the party's Delhi president Sheila Dikshit last Monday to look into the reasons behind its poor performance in the general elections, had met last week.

The five-member committee will submit its report to the Dikshit in 10 days.

Besides Dikshit, who contested from North East Delhi, Rajesh Lilothia and Vijender Singh, Congress candidates from North West Delhi and South Delhi, respectively, have appeared before the committee so far.

All the seven Congress candidates, including Dikshit lost the Lok Sabha polls, with huge margins to their BJP rivals.

"The party leaders and workers have expressed the view that the Congress can spring up a surprise in the assembly pols in Delhi, provided everyone unites to face the challenge," Shastri said.

A senior Delhi Congress leader said the party should declare its candidates for the Delhi assembly elections at least two months in advance so that they have enough time to reach out to the voters.

"In the Lok Sabha polls, the candidates got hardly 15-20 days to campaign which was not enough time to reach out to the vast number of voters spread across large geographical areas of the parliamentary seats in Delhi," he said.

The candidates of Congress on seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi were announced when nominations for the polls begun.There was a lot of confusion over party's allaince with the AAP, which finally did not materialise, the leader said.

A section of Congress leaders, who have questioned the authority of the probe committee, have avoided appearing before it.

The group of such leaders maintained that no such committee can be formed without the consent of the All India Congress Committee in-charge of Delhi unit PC Chacko. He has denied having any information about the committee, they claimed.

They alleged that the role of some of the committee members was questionable during the Lok Sabha polls.

A saving grace for the Congress was that it pushed the AAP by emerging as a runner up on five of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.The voting percentage of the Congress was also more than that of the AAP.

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An eight-member mountaineering team, including seven foreigners, has gone missing on its way to the 7,434 metre high Nanda Devi East peak, prompting a massive search and rescue operation amid bad weather.

The team led by well-known British mountaineer Martin Moran includes three other climbers from the UK, two from the US and one from Australia, besides an officer from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi.

The team had left Munsiyari near Pithoragarh on May 13 to scale the peak but did not return to the base camp on May 25 as scheduled.

The missing climbers are Martin Moran, John McLaren, Richard Payne and Rupert Havel from the UK, Anthony Sudecam and Rachel Bimmel from the US, Ruth Macrain from Australia and IMF's Chetan Pandey, said Pithoragarh District Magistrate V K Jogdande.

The team leader Martin Moran is a well known climber who has already scaled the peak twice in the past, he said.

The district administration launched the search operation after people at the base camp alerted authorities late Friday night.

The team is said to have been missing since May 25 when it was supposed to return to the base camp, Jogdande told reporters Saturday.

The route to the peak begins from Munsiyari about 132 km from the district headquarters.

Besides the Indo-Tibetan Border Police search teams, a 14-member search and rescue team from Munsiyari too has been sent to the spot this morning, said the district magistrate.

The team comprises men from State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), medical profession, revenue police and local villagers, he said.

Another SDRF team left Dehradun in a helicopter this morning to conduct an aerial survey of the area but inclement weather hampered the operation, Jogdande said.

"It has been raining in the district. The helicopter which arrived from Dehradun to conduct an aerial survey could not take off due to bad weather. An air search will be conducted tomorrow if the weather permits," he said.

An ITBP search team has reached Martoli village about 21 km from Nanda Devi base camp," he said.

"We have also sought helicopter sorties fromneighbouring districts of Chamoli and Rudraprayag to trace the exact location of the mountaineers, he said.

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The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has reiterated the grouping's support for the legitimate rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the United Nations resolutions, the Pakistan Foreign Office said here Saturday.

The OIC is an international organisation consisting of 57 member states, with 53 countries being Muslim-majority nations.

The 14th OIC summit was held in the holy city of Makkah on Friday and several leaders of Muslim countries attended. Prime Minister Imran Khan represented Pakistan at the Summit.

Foreign Office said in a statement that the Summit in Makkah reiterated the Conference's principled support for the legitimate right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with UN resolutions.

India has made it clear that there is no scope for any third party role or mediation in Kashmir. The Ministry of External Affairs said in March that the Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.

The Conference approved Yousef Aldobeay of Saudi Arabia as OIC's special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir.

The Conference called for adoption of a comprehensive strategy to combat Islamophobia, building on proposals made by Pakistan in the OIC Ministerial Executive Committee meeting in March 2019.

Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address articulated Pakistan's views on the situation in Kashmir, Palestine, Islamophobia and the need for science, technology and innovation for Muslim countries, the statement said.

Prime Minister Khan held meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other leaders on the sidelines of the summit, according to the statement.

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Indian start-ups like and Oyo, which have been on an expansion mode in the UK, are among some of the key names on the shortlist for the UK-India Awards this year.

The awards, which will mark the closing of UK-India Week between June 24 and 28, are being judged by an all-women jury for the first time and cover a wide range of sectors including business, tech, trade, and social impact.

Taxi hailing firm and hospitality group Oyo, which entered the UK market last year, will compete with Taj Vivanta in the Market Entrant of the Year category.

Leading financial organisations like Santander, Barclays, and Sun Global will fight it out in the Financial Organisation of the Year category, while British giants BT and BP will compete in the Social Impact Project of the Year segment.

"The UK-India Awards recognise people and organisations who work to build the bridge between the UK and India. They bring a wealth of innovation and creativity to this rich and winning partnership," said Manoj Ladwa, Founder of India Inc Group, the organisers of the annual awards and UK-India Week.

"This year's nominations are no different they are and individuals that recognise the importance of the UK-India relationship and the global role the countries must fulfil," he said.

Last year's awards, attended by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and UK Foreign Office minister Mark Field, saw winners such as Standard Chartered Bank, London Stock Exchange and Carbon Clean Solutions.

Now in its third year, the awards mark the conclusion of UK-India Week attended by senior Indian and British ministers, policymakers, entrepreneurs and executives.

UK-India Week, described as a key event in the bilateral calendar, will this year launch with the first-ever India Day in the Houses of Parliament complex in London on June 24 and include a Leaders' Summit in the English countryside of Buckinghamshire and conclude with the awards ceremony in London on June 28.
Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli has extended an invitation to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for a visit to his country and strengthen bilateral relations through regular exchange of visits.

Oli was on a two-day visit to New Delhi along with leaders of other BIMSTEC countries to take part in Modi's swearing-in ceremony on Thursday as the country's prime minister for the second term.

Besides India, BIMSTEC comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.

According to the statement by the Nepal foreign ministry, Modi has accepted the invitation.

Oli, who returned to Nepal on Friday, also met Modi during the visit where the two leaders expressed commitment to take bilateral relations to a new height.

"He (Oli) extended best wishes for the successful tenure of Modi," the statement said.

"Both prime ministers expressed happiness over the progress made in Nepal-India relations under their respective leadership," it added.

The two leaders underlined the importance of regular exchange of high-level visits between the two countries in order to further strengthen bilateral ties and advance cooperation in all possible areas for the mutual benefits of the two countries, the statement said.

During his first term in office, Modi visited Nepal twice in 2014- in August for a bilateral visit and in November for the SAARC Summit.

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President Donald Trump is wading into the United Kingdom's political maelstrom days before he is set to embark on his first state visit there, saying Boris Johnson would make an "excellent" prime minister and calling Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, "nasty."



In an interview on Friday with the British tabloid The Sun, Trump expressed support for the controversial ex-foreign secretary in his bid to replace Theresa May, saying, "I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent."



May is to step down amid an impasse over Brexit on June 7, just days after Trump is set to be feted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and after official observances of the 75th anniversary of D-Day are concluded.

Trump referred to the American-born Duchess of Sussex as "nasty" over comments she made in 2016 threatening to move to Canada if Trump won the White House.

"I didn't know that she was nasty," he said of Meghan when read her prior criticism. The former Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, in 2018 and gave birth to their first child, Archie, in May.

During the state visit, the president, his wife, Melania, and his four adult children are expected to meet with Harry as well as his brother, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Meghan is expected to stay home with Archie.

Trump told the newspaper that he didn't know that he wouldn't be meeting Markle but predicted that she will make "a very good" American princess.

As for May, Trump criticized her handling of Brexit negotiations with the European Union, saying she "didn't give the European Union anything to lose." Trump's first visit to the UK as president was marred by similar critical comments he made to the same tabloid last year about May's handling of Brexit.

Trump is scheduled to arrive in London on Monday for a three-day visit.

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One of the two terrorists killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district on Friday was a Pakistani and the duo belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit, police said on Saturday.

Four terrorists and an "active associate" were killed Friday in two encounters with security forces in Shopian and Pulwama districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

One of the militants killed in the encounter at Midoora in Awantipora area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district has been identified as Yawar Ahmad Najar, a resident of Darganie Gund Tral while the other has been identified as Pakistani code named Umar, a police spokesman said.

He said both the ultras as per police records were affiliated with proscribed terror outfit JeM and were wanted in a series of terror crimes including attack on security establishments in the area and many other civilian atrocities.

"As per the records available with police, they were involved in series of terror attacks in Tral and Awantipora area including killing of civilian at Reshipora Tral on 18th March this year, firing on security forces at Zaji Kurd Lalpora forests on 7th April this year, attack on security forces at Sofigund forest on 9th April, attack on civilian at Nowpora Awantipora on 29th March, IED explosion at Amlar Tral road during the intervening night of 2/3 March 2019. Several terror crime cases were registered against them, he said.

The spokesman said incriminating material including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter and all such materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror crimes.

Two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants and their "active associate", who was missing since Thursday and "was part of the militant group, were also killed Friday in an encounter with security forces in Shopian district.

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A Pakistan Army soldier was killed on Saturday in an attack on a military patrol vehicle by some unidentified militants in the North Waziristan tribal district, the Army said.

The incident happened when an Army vehicle was on routine patrolling duty in the Boya area of the district.

The vehcile of army was on routine patrolling in Boya area of the district when it was targeted by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and subsequent firing by the militants.

"A 26-year old soldier was killed in the attack," the Pakistan Army said in a statement, adding that terrorist activities in North Waziristan has increased lately.

During the last one month, five soldiers have been killed and 31 others injured various terror attacks in the district.

The Army said that the arrest of facilitators linked to such terrorist activities led to the Kharkamar post incident on May 25.

Two lawmakers Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar led a mob that allegedly attacked the post, forcing soldiers to open fire in which three civilians were killed.

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An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced three activists of the Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) for five years each in jail for arranging funds for the proscribed terror outfit amid pressure from the global community to rein in militant groups.

The Anti-Terrorism Court found the trio guilty in three separate cases on Friday after funds collected for the militant outfit were recovered from them. They were sent to central prison in Gujranwala in Punjab province.

The convicts M Iftikhar, Muhammad Ajmal and Bilal were also fined Rs 45,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 40,000 respectively besides the sentence.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Gujranwala had earlier registered a case against them, the Express Tribune reported.

According to Punjab CTD spokesperson, the investigations and prosecutions are being followed to stop proscribed organisations from indulging in terror financing.

The spokesperson warned these organisations and their leaders to desist from such acts or action would be taken against them.

Pakistan launched a crackdown against supporters of militant outfits after pressure from the international community to stop support to the militant groups.

Three members of the Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa were arrested Thursday on charges of terror financing in Punjab province.

Six JeM members were arrested for allegedly collecting funds for the terror group on Wednesday.

On Monday, three terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militant groups were arrested by the CTD officials in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Last week, six activists of the JeM and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were arrested by the CTD from Gujranwala, Rawalpinid, Multan and Lahore for allegedly collecting funds to finance terrorism.

Paris-based international terror financing watchdog FATF in June last year placed Pakistan onto its watch list in a bid to push the country to halt support for militant groups.

In February, the FATF decided to continue the 'Grey' listing of Pakistan for its failure to stop funding of terrorist groups such as the JeM, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the JuD.

The Pakistan government arrested over 100 members of banned outfits including JeM chief Azhar's son and brother and also taken control of JeM, JuD and FIF's properties including seminaries and mosques across the country.

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Pakistan on Saturday indicated that it may lift the airspace ban along its eastern border with India, imposed on February 27 after the Balakot airstrke, to reciprocate IAF's decision to remove all restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace.

The (IAF) on Friday announced on Twitter: "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the on 27 Feb 19, have been removed."



Reacting to India's decision, a senior official of the Pakistan government said, "Once the Indian government lifts the air restriction on Pakistani flights, Pakistan is likely to reciprocate it."



ALSO READ: IAF removes temporary restrictions imposed on airspace post Balakot strike

The official told PTI that India has yet to inform Pakistan about lifting of airspace ban for its flights.

"We only heard about this through the media as no communication in this respect has taken place as yet. We may follow the suit once India lifts air restrictions on our flights, he said.

The IAF said it had removed restrictions that were imposed on all routes a day after its 12 Mirage 2000s crossed over to Pakistan and attacked a JeM terrorist training camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan fully closed its airspace on February 27 after an IAF strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot. On March 27, it opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. On May 15, Pakistan extended its airspace ban for flights to India till May 30.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Since Pakistan's airspace closure, the airfare on many routes have gone up significantly, including Delhi-Kabul, Delhi-Moscow, Delhi-Tehran and Delhi-Astana.

Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.

Two Indian airline companies, Air India and SpiceJet, have already stopped their Delhi-Kabul flights due to Pakistan airspace closure.

Pakistan had given a special permission to India for then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly through Pakistani airspace to attend the SCO meet in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on May 21. However, the airspace for other commercial airliners remains closed.

Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal had said Islamabad want de-escalation.

"If de-escalation takes place we would not like to have a ban on our airspace for India for a single day but for the purpose, India will have to talk to us," he had said.
Pakistan is likely to lift the airspace ban along its eastern border with India in reciprocation to India's decision to remove all the temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian air space, a senior Pakistani government official indicated Saturday.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday announced on Twitter: "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed."



Reacting to India's decision, a senior officials of the Pakistan government said, "Once the Indian government lifts the air restriction on Pakistani flights, Pakistan is likely to reciprocate it."



The official told PTI that India has yet to inform Pakistan about lifting of airspace ban for its flights.

"We only heard about this through the media as there is no communication in this respect has taken place as yet. We may follow the suit once India lifts air restrictions on our flights, he said.

The IAF said it had removed restrictions that were imposed on all routes a day after its 12 Mirage 2000s crossed over to Pakistan and attacked a JeM terrorist training camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan fully closed its airspace on February 27 after an IAF strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot. On March 27, it opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. On May 15, Pakistan extended its airspace ban for flights to India till May 30.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.

Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal had said Islamabad wanted de-escalation.

"If de-escalation takes place we would not like to have a ban on our airspace for India for a single day but for the purpose, India will have to talk to us," he had said.

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NCP president Sharad Pawar Saturday dismissed speculation that his party was likely to merge with the Congress.

Speaking at a party meeting here, Pawar also touched on the issue of alleged Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering, saying he had doubts about the technology from early on.

The meeting was held Saturday to discuss the Lok Sabha results and review preparations for the Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The NCP has its own identity and it will maintain it. Speculation about merger with the Congress was a rumour spread by some journalists who wanted that "we should not stay together with our allies", Pawar said.

The speculation about a possible merger had begun after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi met Pawar in Delhi after the Lok Sabha results.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president further said that political leaders, the media as well as political analysts thought that the government at the Centre will change after the the Lok Sabha elections.

"But what happened was exactly opposite... I had doubts about EVMs from early on," he said.

"The BJP lost Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly polls even though they were in power (in those states). A doubt had crossed my mind whether these losses were (meant) for winning national elections," he said cryptically.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is now trying to destabilise the Congress governments in the three states, he alleged.

Talking about the Maharashtra polls, which are due this year, Pawar said as in the Lok Sabha elections, his party will give chance to young and fresh faces.

Speaking at the meeting, Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil said, "Pawar saheb's 79th birthday comes this December. We should gift him 80 MLAs (win 80 seats in Assembly polls)."



Saying that the NCP had put its poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls (winning just four seats in Maharashtra) behind it, Patil said the party should highlight the work done in 15 years when it was in power in the state.

Senior NCP leader Ganesh Naik told reporters that a constituency-wise review was conducted in the meeting.

Many NCP candidates spoke about how the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Agadhi (VBA) ate into their votes, he said.

"There was no discussion on inclusion of Raj Thackeray's MNS in the alliance for assembly polls," Naik said to a question.

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will address a major India-centric summit to be held here this month, according to the organisers of the event.

Organised by US India Business Council (USIBC), the two-day "India Ideas Summit" beginning on June 12 is the first major event after Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second term this week.

While Pompeo is expected to lay the ground work for India-US relationship during Modi's second term, Ross in his key note is likely to address the economic and trade aspect of the bilateral ties.

"I think this is an important opportunity and quite frankly, I'm really excited that USIBC's India Ideas conference will be one of the first opportunities where both governments can really amplify this relationship after the election," USIBC president Nisha Desai Biswal told PTI on Thursday.

"We are expecting to have tremendous representation on the US side. Secretary Pompeo will be one of our keynote speakers and (it will) really (be) an opportunity to define the vision of US-India moving forward, not just in our bilateral relationship, but (also) about the partnership and how it can really shape the whole Indo Pacific," Biswal said.

The first edition of "India Ideas summit" was held in Mumbai last year. The 2019 Summit in Washington DC will focus on connecting cities and States, recognising the critical role of local markets in driving the commercial relationship.

The attendants will hear remarks from governors, chief ministers and mayors, as well as TED-style talks and discussions with leading business executives, policymakers and thought leaders.

Among other prominent speakers include Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, several Congressmen, Chief Ministers from India and CEOs and senior industry executives.

"We will also have keynote from Secretary Ros. The economic and trade relationship is one that is of growing importance. It has a huge amount of untapped potential for both countries. We would like to see US-India trade and economic partnership that yields huge dividends in both directions," Biswal said.

"I see more and more Indian companies that are investing in the United States. We will be hearing from a number of those, at our idea summit. And I see more and more US companies that are going deep, and making big bets on India, the Indian economy and India's rise," she said.

The summit will be an opportunity to hear from a number of CEOs who will be in town for the conference, she said, adding that a number of governors who are betting big on the US-India relationship will also be present at the summit.

Indian ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla, his American counterpart Ken Juster, Mahindra & Mahindra MD Pawan Goenka, TDSAT Chairperson, former Supreme Court Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, Invest India CEO Deepak Bagla, American Tower Corporation CEO Jim Taiclet and Lockheed Martin Executive VP Rick Edwards are other prominent speakers.

Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, Eightfold AI President Kamal Ahluwalia, Tellurian CEO Meg Gentle, Yes Bank CEO Ravneet Gill, former Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao, OYO Hotels CEO Ritesh Aggarwal, Dynamatics Managing Director & CEO Toby Malhoutra, FedEx Regional President Jack Muhs and Intel India Managing Director Nivruti Rai will also speak at the summit.

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Tens of thousands gathered Saturday for a mass by Pope Francis on his second day in Romania with the ceremony in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the Transylvania region set to be the highlight of his trip.

The mass has been keenly awaited for reasons of both faith and national identity in majority Orthodox Romania where believers suffered under the post-war decades of Communist rule.

For Catholics in the "Szeklerland" area, where some 600,000 ethnic-Hungarians comprise a majority of the population, the pope's visit -- a first for that region -- is seen as welcome recognition of their identity.

In pouring rain, a sea of colourful umbrellas and rain coats formed around the hillside Sumuleu Ciuc shrine early Saturday.

In all, an estimated 200,000 people were expected to attend the ceremony, which will see the Argentinian pontiff present a golden rose at the large wooden replica of the Madonna -- a tradition for popes visiting major Marian shrines.

Most pilgrims will be Romania-based ethnic-Hungarians, but organisers expect some 25,000 will also travel from Hungary itself, as well as from Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine, all countries with sizeable Hungarian communities.

Having come by train, car and bicycle, thousands of people already started to gather late Friday with churches in the nearby small town of Miercurea Ciuc, 215 kilometres (133 miles) north of Bucharest, staying open all night to accomodate pilgrims.

Between religious chants in Hungarian, they expressed their hopes for the 82-year-old's visit.

"If I meet the pope, I will tell him that Transylvania must be autonomous," Zoltan, 60, who came from western Hungary and makes an annual pilgrimage to Sumuleu Ciuc every year since 2006, told AFP.

Hungary's nationalist premier Viktor Orban, who is not going to Saturday's mass, has been building ties with the diaspora since he returned to power in 2010 as part of a so-called "national policy" that is seen warily in Romania as an effort to extend Budapest's reach.

Over the weekend, the pope will continue to travel across the country to meet people of diverse faiths and languages, which include 18 officially recognised minorities.

Later Saturday, he will travel to Iasi in northeastern Romania, where he will meet with youngsters.

Francis arrived in the capital Friday to begin his three-day trip, praising the "sacrifices" of Romanian emigrants -- millions have moved abroad in search of better work opportunities -- and urging the faithful to reject "a culture of hate" following nationalist gains in recent European parliament elections.

In Bucharest, thousands lined the streets to wave to Francis in his pope mobile and filled two cathedrals. Many television channels transmitted his visit live.

He also had a private meeting with Orthodox Patriarch Daniel despite their strained relations, and they prayed alongside each other -- one in Latin and the other in Romanian.

The pope's visit follows 20 years after John Paul II received a warm welcome for his perceived role in the fall of Communism.

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The Punjab Mail, one of the oldest long-distance trains in the country, completed 107 years Saturday.

June 1 is also the birthday of the Deccan Queen, which connects Mumbai and Pune. The popular train completed 89 years of its operation Saturday.

The Punjab Mail, or 'Punjab Limited' as it was then called, steamed out on June 1, 1912 from Mumbai, heading for Peshawar, now in Pakistan.

A service meant primarily for white 'sahibs' initially, it soon started catering to lower classes too. Third class cars started appearing on the Punjab Mail by the mid-1930s.

It got an air-conditioned car in 1945. Now it runs on electric power.

Before Partition, the train ran from Ballard Pier Mole station in Mumbai to all the way to Peshawar, covering a distance of 2,496 km in 47 hours, said Sunil Udasi, Chief Public Relations Officer, Central Railway.

It was known to be the fastest train of British India.

Now its northward journey ends at Firozpur Cantonment after covering 1,930 km within 34 hours and 15 minutes.

"The train then comprised six cars; three for passengers and three for postal goods and mail. The three passenger cars had a capacity of only 96," he said.

The train also had bathrooms, a restaurant car and a compartment for luggage and the servants of British passengers.

The Deccan Queen was introduced on June 1, 1930 by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, forerunner of Central Railway.

It was the first deluxe train connecting two important cities of the region, and was aptly named after Pune, known as the Queen of Deccan, Udasi said.

"The people of both the cities are happy with its impeccable record of punctuality. The train has become an institution binding generations of intensely loyal passengers," Udasi added.

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Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has rejected the resignation of Agriculture Minister Lalchand Kataria, who had offered to quit following the poor results of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

Kataria met the chief minister at the latter's residence Friday evening and reiterated his desire to resign, but Gehlot rejected it, sources said.

"The CM rejected the resignation and asked him to continue and play role in delivering good governance," a CMO source said.

On Sunday last, the minister had announced his desire to resign and a purported resignation letter was circulated on social media.

However, the chief minister's office and the Raj Bhavan had refused having received any such letter.

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Soon after taking charge as Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh Saturday asked the chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force to prepare separate presentations on the challenges and overall functioning of their respective forces.

Singh held a held a meeting with Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and newly-appointed Navy chief Karambir Singh at the headquarters of the defence ministry at the Raisina Hills during which he was apprised about the security scenario, officials said.

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik, Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and several top officials of the ministry were also present at the meeting.

Officials said separate wings of the ministry were also told to prepare presentations which will be reviewed at a meeting soon.

Singh, who was the Home Minister in the previous government, was accorded a grand welcome by the three services chiefs and senior officials when he arrived at the defence ministry around noon.

A defence ministry spokesperson said Singh urged all those who greeted him to give their best and work towards achieving the "targets".

Earlier in the day, Singh visited the national war memorial and paid tributes to the fallen heroes.

As defence minister, Singh's most crucial challenge will be to speed up the long-delayed modernisation of the three services besides ensuring overall coherence in their combat readiness.

His another challenge will be to ensure peace and tranquillity along the frontier with China while developing required military infrastructure to deal with any possible Chinese hostility.

As he took charge of the ministry just three months after India carried out air strikes on a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot, it is expected that he will continue with the policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross border terrorism.

Containing infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan will be another key focus area.

As the Defence Minister, Singh will face the challenge of strengthening the combat capabilities of the Army, Navy and the Air Force due to changing regional security matrix and geo-political dynamics.

The forces have been pressing for equipping them to deal with hybrid warfare and Singh will have to attend to this crucial demand.

The government has been focusing on domestic defence production and Singh will have to carry forward a number of big-ticket reform initiatives, including implementing the ambitious "strategic partnership" model.

Under the new model, select Indian private firms will be roped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign defence majors.

Singh also faces the challenge of modernising the defence research organisations and various other defence public sector undertakings so that they can produce state-of-the art military hardware to match requirement of the forces.

He will also have to oversee implementation of major reforms in the 12-lakh strong Army. The Army has already finalised a blueprint for its reform including right-sizing of the force.

His predecessor Nirmala Sitharaman had taken on the opposition head-on with her fiery defence of the Rafale fighter jet deal and it will be interesting to see how Singh deals with the issue.

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Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi of full support and cooperation of the state government in achieving the common goals of nation building and improving the welfare of the citizens of the country.

He also congratulated Modi and his council of ministers on behalf of the people of the state.

"The people of India have given the BJP led NDA, under your leadership, an overwhelming mandate and I am confident that under your visionary leadership, the country will scale greater heights," Rio said in a letter sent to Modi on Saturday.

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Two Rajasthan MLAs, one from the ruling Congress and the other from the BJP, Saturday began an indefinite hunger strike over the death of a tractor-trailer driver, allegedly after being beaten up by policemen in Tonk district.

Harish Chandra Meena of the Congress and the opposition's Gopichand Meena are demanding a CID inquiry and compensation for the victim's family.

Bhajanlal (30) was on his way to Ganeti village on Tuesday night when he was stopped at Laxmipura by police, who allegedly assaulted him, resulting in his death.

However, police denied the allegations, saying he died due to an injury after falling from the tractor-trailer when they stopped him for checking it.

Harish Meena, a former DGP and Congress MLA from Deoli-Uniara, started his dharna at a hospital in Tonk's Nagar Fort on Wednesday.

Later, BJP's Jahazpur (Bhilwara) MLA Gopichand Meena joined him and the dharna was converted into an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday.

The two MLAs demanded a government job for the driver's next of kin, Rs 25 lakh compensation, lodging of a murder case against the policemen, their suspension and a CID probe into the matter.

"The government is paying no heed to our demands. The driver was murdered but the government is not serious about it. The indefinite strike will be called off only after our demands are met," BJP's Gopichand Meena said.

He said his party leaders Kirori Lal Meena and Prahlad Gunjal visited the protest site and extended their support.

"A state-wide protest will be launched from June 5 if the government fails to fulfil the demands," he said.

Meanwhile, Tonk Collector R C Dhenwal said the government is ready to meet their demands.

"A compensation of Rs 8 lakh will be given as per rules. Besides, the government will give an additional Rs 5 lakh from the chief minister's relief fund," he said.

No complaint has been lodged with police over the death, Dhenwal said. But he assured that a CID probe will be ordered.

He said the government will also consider a demand of a job for a family member of the victim.

"A decision can be taken after the inquiry but they are adamant on getting the job now," he said.

The body is yet to be cremated.

Meanwhile, the BJP set up a three-member committee to look into the issue.

"The committee will hand over its report to the party in three days. The Congress government is trying to suppress the matter," state BJP president Madan Lal Saini said.

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A politician has been shot at by unidentified men in Greater Noida, within 12 hours of the killing of a local party unit chief in Gautam Buddh Nagar, police said Saturday.

The incident took place late on Friday night when Brajpal Rathi, the party's district secretary was returning to his house in Eta sector in an SUV accompanied by a friend and driver, the police said.

"Rathi was sitting in the second row of the Fortuner when the unidentified assailants targeted him near the Tilpatta chowk and he got a bullet injury in one of his hands. The men then fled and Rathi was taken to a hospital where he was treated and said to be out of danger," a police spokesperson said.

Surajpur police station, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, has not registered any FIR so far in the case as it has not received any complaint, the official said.

Official sources, requesting anonymity, told that it appears to be a "self-hatched" episode by Rathi to get police security again.

Rathi was previously given police security which was withdrawn with the model code of conduct for the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections coming into effect, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the office bearers of will be meeting Gautam Buddh Nagar police chief Vaibhav Krishna to take up the matter with him.

"We are scheduled to meet the SSP this afternoon where senior party workers, including former Gautam Buddh Nagar MP, Surendra Nagar, will be present, party's district unit chief Veer Singh Yadav told

of the SP's Dadri assembly segment unit Ramtek Kataria was shot dead by unidentified assailants near his home in Dadri on Friday.

The police are probing that matter but have prima facie ruled out political conspiracy in the case, which they said is a result of personal enmity with his extended family.

Another Lalji Yadav was shot dead Friday morning in Jaunpur district in a similar manner when unidentified bike-borne men sprayed his body with bullets and fled.

The Jaunpur police also ruled out in killing of Yadav, who worked as a property dealer and also had criminal cases including those of loot and murder against him.

Jaunpur police chief Ashish Tiwari said FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) has been registered and probe underway.
The Chhattisgarh government has appointed Satish Chandra Verma as the new Advocate General of the state, replacing Kanak Tiwari from the post.

The appointment was made late Friday night.

Before the order of Verma's appointment was issued by the government, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had said Friday evening that Tiwari had resigned from the post and his resignation had been accepted. However, Tiwari maintained that he had not tendered his resignation.

Before being appointed as the new AG, Verma was the Additional Advocate General of the state.

Tiwari had been appointed as the Advocate General after the then A G Jugal Kishore Gilda resigned from the post following the formation of Congress government in the state in December last year.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Article 165 of the constitution of India, the Governor of Chhattisgarh is pleased to appoint Satish Chandra Verma, Additional Advocate General, Chhattisgarh as Advocate General, Chhattisgarh, in place of Kanak Tiwari, with immediate effect," the order issued by state's Law and Legal Affairs department on Friday night said.

Talking to reporters at Swami Vivekanand Airport here, Baghel had said on Friday evening that Tiwari had tendered his resignation from the post, which had been accepted.

"He (Tiwari) had expressed his inability (to continue with the post). His resignation has been accepted and the new appointment to the post has been made," Baghel had said in response to a query.

However, Tiwari had claimed that he had not tendered his resignation and was not aware of the CM's statement.

"I firmly say that I haven't resigned from the post of Advocate General. I haven't written any resignation letter to the Governor, who is my appointing authority," Tiwari had said.

He asked how could his resignation be accepted if he had not tendered it in the first place.

Tiwari's statement triggered speculations about a rift between the state government and its highest law officer.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi-led Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) party accused the Congress government of creating constitutional crises in the state.

"The post of advocate general is very important and highly dignified. It does not suit a chief minister to make a mockery of it. The row over the appointment of AG has led to constitutional crises in the state," former MLA Amit Jogi, son of Ajit Jogi, said.

The Chhattisgarh High Court should take its cognisance and investigate the matter, he said.

"What was the reason that a senior and renowned lawyer like Kanak Tiwari was terminated after being insulted...The CM made false statement about his resignation, which reflects that Tiwari, while discharging his constitutional duty, was denied to be part of the illegal, inappropriate and un- constitutional acts on the direction of the chief minister for which he had to bear the brunt of termination," Jogi alleged.

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Saudi Arabia's King Salman slammed Iran over recent attacks targeting the kingdom, describing the incidents on Saturday in a speech before Muslim leaders gathered in Mecca as "terrorist acts" that threaten global energy supplies.

It was the monarch's strongest words yet since tensions spiked in recent weeks between the two regional heavyweights.

Iran had a representative present at the 57-nation summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, but its top leadership did not attend.

The Islamic summit drew political figures and heads of state from countries spanning Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

They come with widely varying policies and priorities, but share a common reverence for the Al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem, known as the first "Qibla" because Muslims prayed toward it before the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca.

Despite sharp differences between OIC member-states on a gamut of issues, a final statement by the group stressed support for a future Palestinian state, as well as the rejection of any deal or plan that prolongs Israeli occupation and undermines the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The language stood in contradiction to the Trump administration's decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in recognition of it as Israel's capital, as well as a still undisclosed White House plan already rejected by the Palestinian leadership.

Glimpses of the plan suggest it sidelines or ignores the longstanding goal of Palestinian independence. A meeting next month in Bahrain aimed at rallying Arab economic support for the plan is being boycotted by the Palestinian Authority, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE are attending amid growing ties with Israel in the face of shared enemy Iran.

The US recently sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf as tensions run high. The escalation stems from the Trump administration's decision to withdraw the U.S. from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers last year and impose crippling economic sanctions on the country.

Speaking to leaders from OIC countries, King Salman opened the summit saying the world must fight the sources and funding of terrorism around the world.

He then said the alleged sabotage of four oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in past weeks represents a "grave danger" to the security of maritime traffic and regional security.

He blamed Iranian-backed terrorist militias of being behind a subsequent drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.

"We emphasize that these subversive terrorist acts are aimed not only at the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also on the security of navigation and energy supplies to the world," King Salman said.

Iran denies being involved in the incidents.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had his own message for OIC leaders ahead of the summit, urging them to stay focused on the rights of Palestinians.

In a letter published online Friday, Rouhani said Muslim leaders should not let the importance of Palestinian statehood be "marginalized" in the face of the Trump administration's forthcoming Israeli-Palestinian plan.

Rouhani also noted in the letter he was not invited to the Islamic summit, but expressed Iran's readiness to work with all Muslim leaders to confront the White House's so-called "Deal of the Century."



King Salman told OIC leaders that the rights of Palestinians remains the cornerstone issue of the organization, which was formed 50 years ago in response to an extremist arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, one of Islam's most sacred sites.

He said the mosque remains under occupation and threat.

"We reiterate with emphasis the rejection of any measures that infringe upon the legal status of Al-Quds Al-Sharif," King Salman said, referring to east Jerusalem and the mosque compound.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said any peace deal that does not include an independent and sovereign Palestinian state along 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital will be rejected by the OIC body.

"We shall not accept the rewriting of history, exchanging justice with economic benefits and disregarding dignity and legitimacy," he told the OIC summit.

The meeting began after midnight and ran into the early hours Saturday due to evening prayers and day-long fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

Saudi Arabia's effort to bring leaders to Mecca reflects the kingdom's desire to project a unified Muslim and Arab position on Iran to isolate it internationally.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Tehran regrets



"Saudi Arabia's abuse of its privilege as the host" of the OIC "to sow division between Islamic and regional countries." The summit follows two emergency Arab meetings the night before in Mecca criticizing Iran's behavior and influence in countries like Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

Presenting a unified stance on Iran faces obstacles within OIC member-states, which includes Iran. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is attending the summit, has sought good ties with both Saudi Arabia and Iran, for example.

The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group told supporters in Lebanon on Friday the Mecca summits are a Saudi call for help from Arab countries after Saudi Arabia failed to win in Yemen, where the kingdom and its allies have been at war since 2015 against Iranian-allied Yemeni rebels.

"It is a sign of failure," Hassan Nasrallah said. "These summits are calls for help ...that express the failure and the inabilities in confronting the Yemeni army, popular resistance and people.

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The senior-most Islamic State (ISIS) female operative in captivity in Iraq has claimed that she played a central role in the US-led coalition's hunt for the terrorist network's chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Nisrine Assad Ibrahim, better known by her ISIS name of Umm Sayyaf, claims she helped identify safe houses used by the fugitive terrorist leader and in one case even pinpointing his location in Mosul, the Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday from the Kurdish city of Erbil in Iraq.

The claims that she helped CIA and Kurdish intelligence build detailed portraits of Baghdadi's movements, hideouts and networks, emerged in Sayyaf's first interview since being captured in a Delta Force raid in Syria four years ago that killed her husband, the then ISIS oil minister.

"I told them where the house was. I knew he'd (Baghdadi) been there because it was one of the houses that was provided for him, and one of the places he liked the most," she recalled.

The 29-year-old is a highly controversial figure who has been accused of involvement in some of the terror group's most heinous crimes, including the enslavement of the captured US aid worker Kayla Mueller and several Yazidi women and girls, who were raped by senior ISIS leaders.

She was sentenced to death by a court in Erbil and spoke to the Guardian, partly through a translator, at a prison in the city. She was accompanied by a Kurdish intelligence officer who made no attempt to intervene in the interview, the newspaper said.

Leading international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has requested Sayyaf's transfer from Iraq to the US to face justice for her crimes. She told the UN Security Council in April that Sayyaf "locked them (the captives) in a room, instigated their beatings and put makeup on them to 'prepare them for rape'."



Sayyaf was the wife of Fathi Ben Awn Ben Jildi Murad al-Tunis, a close friend of Baghdadi's and veteran of the group who held one of its most important roles at the time of his death. As one of the organisation's most important wives, she had rare access to meetings and personal discussions and was present several times when Baghdadi recorded audio propaganda messages in the home she shared with her husband.

"He used to do that in our sitting room in Taji (a town in central Iraq). My husband was the (ISIS) media chief then, and Baghdadi would visit often, Sayyaf said in the interview.

Speaking about Baghdadi, she said: "He visited us often in Syria. Before we moved to Omar (oil field), we lived in a house in Shadadah (a nearby town).

And distancing herself from him, she added: Whatever he did, did not involve me," she said.

Sayyaf at first refused to cooperate with her captors and remained sullen and sometimes volatile in her cell in northern Iraq. But by early 2016, she had begun to reveal some of the organisation's most sensitive secrets, none more so than how Baghdadi moved around and operated.

For many hours Sayyaf pored over maps and photographs laid out on a table in front of her, alongside American men.

"They were very polite and wore civilian clothes. I showed them everything I knew," she recalls.

Sayyaf receives a monthly visit from her family, and has access to doctors and aid workers. However, despite her cooperation with authorities, she is unlikely to earn a change to her sentence.

"She comes from a very radical environment, and if she returned to them, she would become like them," an intelligence chief told the newspaper.

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The authorities have clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC in Punjabi Lane area in Shillong and served notices to its residents directing them to furnish documents within a month to prove that they had settled in the area legally.

Punjabi Lane is inhabited by people from Punjab, who were brought to Shillong around 200 years ago by the British to work as cleaners and sweepers. An incident of assault in the area in May last year had resulted in group clashes following which it was put under curfew for over a month.

Following the direction of a High Level Committee of the state government, Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) officials served the notices to the people on Friday.

Prohibitory Orders under Section 144 CrPC were clamped in Punjabi Lane before the notices were served as there were intelligence inputs apprehending trouble in the area, a senior official of the East Khasi Hills district administration said.

The prohibitory orders will remain in place till further notice.

"Most of the residents received the notice in person. Officials pasted the notices on the front doors of the houses which were under lock and key," an SMB official told PTI.

In the notice, the residents of the Punjabi Lane were asked to furnish documents regarding their possession of either land or house and the period of their stay.

The notice said the information will be helpful for preparing both long and short term policies by the government for resolving the issue at Punjabi Lane.

Of the hundreds of people at Punjabi Lane, only 184 employees of the SMB and government departments and their families have earlier been identified as legal settlers, official sources said adding that there was a demand from various quarters to relocate the Punjabis from the area.

"They have been requested to come forward and furnish the information to the SMB office betrween June 3 and July 3," SMB Chief Executive Officer S B Sohliya said.

The SMB will wait for a month and submit a report about the matter to the High Level Committee (HLC) constituted to find out a feasible solution for relocation of the people of Punjabi Lane, also known as Sweeper's Colony.

As per the inventory survey conducted by the SMB last year, there are over 300 households in Punjabi Lane, Sohliya said.

The settlers had refused to cooperate with the authorities during the survey conducted last year and "this is their second and the last opportunity," Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, who is the head of the HLC, had said earlier this month.

The local Punjabi community in December last year had urged Governor Tathagata Roy to disband the HLC for allegedly issuing orders with an intent to displace them.

On May 29, 2018, clashes erupted when a bus driver and his friend were attacked at the Punjabi Lane area and they received injuries. As rumours of the assaulted victims dying in hospital spread on social media, people attacked the settlers following which the entire area was put under curfew for over a month.

Following this, a delegation of the Punjab government visited the city and interacted with the settlers. The delegation members also met Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.

However, the Meghalaya administration expressed unhappiness after the Punjab government sanctioned Rs 60 lakh as compensation to the community members who were affected by the violence.

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The inaugural session of the 10th Sikkim assembly will be held for a day on June 3, a notification issued by the Raj Bhawan has said.

During the session, Pro-tem Speaker Sangay Lepcha will administer oath to the 29 newly elected MLAs in the 32-member assembly, the notification said on Friday.

Three candidates - former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and D T Lepcha (both SDF), and Kunga Nima Lepcha (SKM) - were elected from two seats each.

Chief Minister P S Golay is not a member of the legislative assembly as he had not contested the recently- concluded assembly polls in Sikkim.

His party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) emerged victorious by bagging 17 seats.

On the other hand, Pawan Kumar Chamling-led SDF won 15 seats and was thrown out of power after nearly 25 years.

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The sluggish pace of has further delayed its onset over Kerala to June 7, private weather forecaster Skymet has said, revising its earlier forecast date.

Skymet previously said the would reach Kerala, commencing the four-month rainfall season in the country, on June 4 with an error margin of plus or minus two days.

"(But) present weather conditions are indicating onset would be now around June 7, with an error margin of plus or minus 2 days," Skymet said.

The India Meteorological Department has said the expected day of monsoon arrival over Kerala could happen on June 6, with an error margin of plus or minus four days.

"Dynamics of monsoon keep changing. So far not even one out of the three criteria needed for declaring the onset of monsoon has been met. In fact, it would take some more days for conditions to become favourable for the same," said G P Sharma, president, meteorology and climate change, Skymet Weather.

Sharma pointed out three main reasons for the sluggish pace of monsoon.

There has been a low pressure area off the Somalia coast on the Horn of Africa, which is governing the wind pattern. The system has taken away the moisture and restricting the stream of westerly winds over western Arabian Sea from reaching Kerala, he said.

An anti-cyclone a high pressure system making the air more dense over central Arabian Sea is pushing northerly winds that too are blowing along the west Coast. These winds are not instrumental in giving rains over the coast, Sharma said.

The Somali jet phenomenon too is very important for the onset of monsoon surge, he added.

Somali Jet is the core of strong winds that originate from Kenya, cross equator as a part of cross-equatorial flow while blowing along the Somali coast and finally entering the Indian Ocean Region and moving towards Kerala.

This pattern has not been established so far, Sharma said.

Monsoon made an appearance over the Bay Islands in Andaman and Nicobar on May 18, little early than its normal onset date of May 20.

However, its progress has remained extremely sluggish, Sharma said.

By May 27, the monsoon surge covered some more parts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and by May 30, it covered a significant portion of Bay of Bengal and Islands including Port Blair.

Usually, by May 25, the Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) covers both Port Blair as well as Sri Lanka, Skymet said.
Aaroh Soni of Maharashtra fought hard to overcome Karnataka's Ravi Madabhushi in four games and enter the men's singles round two of the 4th NSCI All India Open Squash Tournament on Saturday.

Soni pulled off a 6-11, 18-16, 11-4, 11-4 win in a men's first round match at the NSCI courts.

Also through to round two was another Maharashtra player, Abhinav Thyagarajan.

He also rallied from the loss of the first game to sideline state rival Divit Poojary 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7.

Maharashtra's Agastya Bansal, who recently clinched the boys' under-11 crown in the Southern Slam Junior tournament in Chennai, continued with his impressive form to defeat Harshman Saharia 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 in a boys' U-11 second round encounter.

Subhash Choudhary, who is the top seed, warmed up nicely by taming Maharashtra's Vivan Rajpuria 11-0, 11-0, 11-1 in a second round encounter in the same group.

Savir Sood and Hridhaan Shah, both from Maharashtra, were locked in a grim battle before the former scraoed through to a 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 victory and advance to the third round.

Abhiraj Singh of Uttar Pradesh lost the first game but made a good recovery and won the next three games to get past Maharashtras Mitansh Jain in a boys' under-13 first round match. The UP lad won 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.

In another match, Maharashtra's Nikhil Pande fought back to defeat Sahir Sethi of Delhi 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.

Vedant Chheda of Maharashtra proved too strong for compatriot Krishnav Bubna, coasting to a fluent 11-0, 11-1, 11-3 victory, in another first round match.

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As Congress MPs re-elected her the leader of parliamentary party (CPP), Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said several "decisive measures" were being mulled to strengthen the organisation and lauded Congress president Rahul Gandhi's "fearless leadership".

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh proposed Sonia Gandhi's name which was unanimously approved by all the MPs at a CPP meeting held here in the shadow of leadership crisis after Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to quit as Congress president.

Meeting the newly-elected MPs for the first time, Rahul Gandhi made it clear that the Congress was ready for a fightback and exhorted them to work like "a pride of brave-hearted lions" to protect the country's Constitution and institutions.

The Congress has been on shaky ground after its second successive defeat in Lok Sabha polls. It has 52 members in the 253-member Lok Sabha.

There will be no walkover for the BJP. The MPs have to be to be a "little more aggressive and they may have to shout a little more" as they will get less time in Parliament like the last time, Rahul Gandhi said, asserting that only the Congress can stand against the BJP.

Gandhi had been staying away from meeting party leaders since he offered his resignation even though the CWC rejected it and passed a resolution authorising him to bring structural changes in the party at all levels.

At the CPP meet, the two leaders stressed that the party will vigorously oppose "divisive and regressive actions" of the government.

Sonia Gandhi urged the MPs to play the role of an effective opposition and ensure better coordination and cooperation with like-minded parties in Rajya Sabha. She told the members that the issues they raise in Parliament must resonate in the minds of party workers and with the public.

Sources said the Congress Parliamentary Party authorised the UPA chairperson to pick the party's leader in Lok Sabha.

"In this time of crisis, we must acknowledge the numerous challenges confronting the Congress party. The CWC met a few days ago to deliberate the next steps and the way forward for us. Several decisive measures to strengthen the party are being discussed," she said, while hinting at changes in the Congress



The sources say the party is discussing several proposals, including installing a non-Gandhi as party chief and a body of senior leaders to act as a guiding force to the new president.

Asked about Rahul's resignation, party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Rahul Gandhi is the Congress chief and there are no two opinions about it.

"I would request all the naysayers to hold their breath; the Congress Working Committee has authorised Rahul Gandhi to do a complete overhaul of the organisation from top to bottom...I would request all my friends in the media to wait for a while rather than fall prey to speculation," he said.

Sonia said though Congress had 44 MPs in the last Lok Sabha and 55 in Rajya Sabha, under Rahul's leadership the party fought bravely to expose the government's "misdeeds".

"We were in the forefront of ensuring that some of the UPA's historic Acts were not diluted. At the same time, we cooperated with the government on a series of reforms with constructive suggestions.

"This time too, we will support progressive and inclusive policies, but oppose the government strongly whenever they undertake divisive and regressive actions."



While thanking 12.3 crore voters who supported the party, Sonia Gandhi said, "Your vote to the Congress party is a vote for safeguarding our Constitution, a vote for economic and social progress, a vote for liberty, and for social justice."Praising Rahul Gandhi's for his "valiant and relentless campaign", she said as Congress president "he has given his all and toiled night and day".

She said he demonstrated his "fearless leadership" by taking on the Modi government and highlighted the "injustices" carried out against farmers, workers, traders and small businesses, youth, women and the marginalised.

She also said Rahul rejuvenated the organisation in many states, and most recently led the party to victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

"As Congress president, he earned the respect and love of every worker and crores of voters across the length and breadth of our country. Even as I speak, emotional messages are coming from all corners, vindicating his leadership. We all express our gratitude to him for his sincerity of purpose, relentless effort, hard work and leadership," she said.

Addressing the CPP meet, Rahul Gandhi cautioned the lawmakers that it will "be like the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress party" and asserted "yet we fought and won and we are going to do it again".

"We are 52 members and I guarantee you, it does not matter what institutions are standing against these 52 members. It does not matter who is standing against these 52 members. These 52 members are going to fight the BJP every single inch, without giving this much and that applies to the members from Rajya Sabha as well," he said, adding the Congress will fearlessly do its duty as the leading opposition party in Parliament and outside.

Meanwhile, Rahul congratulated the newly-elected CPP leader. "Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong and effective opposition party that will fight to defend the Constitution of India," he said.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra later met all the MPs at the UPA chairperson's 10 Janpath residence.

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Tens of thousands of LGBT South Koreans and their supporters paraded through central Seoul Saturday for the capital's 20th gay rights march, with ruling Democratic Party members taking part for the first time.

The parade, some 70,000 strong according to organisers, made its way through the South Korean capital with participants dancing on open truck beds and waving rainbow flags.

"People who used to be invisible are here to show that they exist," said Jeong Min-hee, a 26-year-old participant.

"It's so much fun, I'm very excited and it feels so good to be in solidarity with others."



South Korea is Asia's fourth biggest economy and a capitalist democracy, but lived through decades of military rule when evangelical Christianity was widespread and framed the communist North as evil.

Christian churches still have enduring political influence in the South, and they are now targeting sexual minorities, activists say.

"The conservative Christians consider both -- communists and sexual minorities -- as deserving to be demonised in South Korean society," said Lim Bo-rah, a senior pastor at an LGBT-friendly church in Seoul.

But changes in society are afoot. Members of the ruling, left-leaning Democratic Party (DPK) participated in the event for the first time this year and CASS, one of the South's largest beer brands, on Friday became the country's first major company to openly support gay rights.

The South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- a former human rights lawyer -- has spoken only vaguely on gay rights. His political rivals and LGBT activists say he is trying not to alienate supporters.

As the front-runner in the presidential race in 2017, Moon said in a television debate that he "opposed" homosexuality in the military.

"We decided to participate because we wanted to show that LGBT people and their allies exist even within the ruling party," said Kim Min-seok, one of some 30 DPK members who showed up at the parade, waving the party flag.

"I often felt we were invisible within the DPK -- many members wouldn't even think about the possibility of our existence", Kim said.

The participation of the ruling party's members was announced prior to the event and sparked intense controversy, triggering the spokesperson for the main opposition, conservative party Min Kyung-wook to say the Democrats should "come out" as a "queer" party.

Homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea but there is currently no legislation outlawing discrimination.

It is also the world's only advanced economy to make consensual gay sex between soldiers a crime under military rules.

It is a marked contrast to Taiwan -- which also has Confucian cultural components, a history of dictatorship, and has enjoyed an economic boom in recent decades.

But earlier this month Asia's first gay marriages took place on the island after it legalised the change.

Activists say the difference is religion: South Korea has proven fertile ground for religious groups that offered comfort and salvation that appealed during times of deep uncertainty following the Korean War.

Now more than 20 per cent of South Korea's population are Protestant Christians, surveys show, compared to about five per cent of Taiwanese.

Thousands of Christian protesters turned out to protest the event on Saturday, holding up signs that read "Repent and come back to Jesus. He loves you."



A cross-section of society were present, including buddhists, Korean-American adoptees, asexuals and parents of sexual minorities.

In previous parades, "young LGBT people would come to us and cry in arms whenever we gave them free hugs," said Lee Sun-young, who works for Parents and Families of LGBTAIQ people of Korea.

"We always remember them. I hope they know that the world is changing, although slowly.

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Three teachers of St Stephen's College have approached the Delhi High Court against the inclusion of a member of institution's Supreme Council in the interview panel for selection of Christian students.

The three teachers who are members of the college's governing body -- N P Ashley, Abhishek Singh and Nandita Narain -- challenged the decision taken by the Supreme Council at its meeting on March 12.

According to the decision, an additional Christian member nominated by the Supreme Council would be a part of the interview panel in respect of admission of Christian students in all subjects.

The St. Stephen's teachers were represented by -- Sunil Mathews, Sabah Iqbal Siddiqui and Babita -- who argued that the decision of the Supreme Council went against the constitution of the college.

Stephen's College expressly prohibited interference of the supreme council in the administration of the college.

The counsel also pointed out the observation of the Supreme Court in the St Stephen's case of 1992 where the apex court held that admission of students was an essential facet of the administration of the college, a statement from the three teachers said.

The judge has issued a notice in the matter and also fixed the hearing of the stay application on June 12, a few days before the interviews are supposed to commence.

Dr Rasal Singh, member, Academic Council said, "We are in complete support of the struggle of colleagues from St Stephen's College to protect the academic integrity of the admissions process."



The Supreme Council of the college is a subset of six members of the governing body and comprises all members of the Church of North India. The Supreme Council controls the religious and moral instruction of students.

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Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Saturday presented the Luminous Lummer Dai Literary Award 2019 to Tagang Taki of Siang district, for his contribution in the field of literature during NEFA days.

The award, instituted by Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society (APLS) was given during the 79th birth anniversary celebration of doyen of Assamese literature Lummer Dai, at Jawaharlal Nehru Museum, here.

While recalling the contribution of Dai in the field of literature, Mein said that he is the pride for the state and a 'Sahitya Surjya' in the world of Assamese literature.

The deputy chief minister exhorted the youths to draw inspiration from Dai and carry forward his legacy.

"Our state has large number of tribes having distinct variant cultures and heritages, for a writer there is so much of subjects in offer to write," Mein said and advocated for preservation of oral literature in digital format and in written form.

While lauding the effort of APLS, the deputy chief minister called upon the members of the society to encourage more literary activities in the state and assured his help to them in their endeavour.

Earlier, Mein paid floral tribute to image of the literary icon.

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Kirti Kulhari says she is happy that audiences have liked her performances in the last couple of films but believes she still has a long way to go.

The 34-year-old actor most recently starred in "Uri: The Surgical Strike" and Amazon Prime Video's web-series "Four More Shots Please".

"If you are talented and hardworking you will always succeed and this is not just for our industry but it's everywhere.

"I have really worked hard with all my patience and determination to achieve the little I have in my life but there is a long way to go. I am satisfied as an actor with the kind of roles I am getting to play," Kirti told PTI.

After trying her hand at serious roles in the last few films, Kirti says she is keen to do light hearted movies now.

"The challenge for me is to be able to do different and meaningful projects. I have not done a comedy film for a while, so comedy and also a good romantic film is definitely on my list," she adds.

Kirti says 2019 has been really good for her professionally and as well as personally.

"I am in a really happy and content space. I got lot of love for 'Uri...' and it also translated into lot of interesting work for me."



She will be seen next in "Mission Mangal"; an untitled film where she plays the role of a musician; and the Netflix series, "Bard of Blood" opposite Emraan Hashmi.

In "Mission Mangal", which is being touted as India's first space film, Kirti will be seen alongside Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Sonakshi Sinha, Akshay Kumar and Sharman Joshi.

"The whole cast of this amazing film is extremely strong, independent and everyone very different from each other yet so respectful and encouraging. It has been one of the best sets for me till date. I have enjoyed every minute working on the film. I am very glad and grateful that I got to be a part of it.

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Parties in Tamil Nadu including the DMK Saturday strongly opposed the three language formula's continuation proposed in the draft National Policy alleging it was tantamount to "thrusting" Hindi and wanted it junked.

The Tamil Nadu government said it would continue with the two-language formula, seeking to cool frayed tempers.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram in a series of tweets in Tamil said: "what is the meaning of three language formula in schools? The meaning is they will make Hindi a compulsory subject..."



In another tweet, he said "If Hindi language is a compulsory subject its import is imposition of Hindi."



"The BJP government's real face is beginning to emerge..." he also tweeted.

Meanwhile, "#StopHindiImposition, #TNAgainstHindiImposition trended on the microblogging site Twitter.

The three language formula which bats for Hindi from "pre-school to class 12 was a big shocker," and the recommendation would "divide" the country, DMK chief M K Stalin said.

The draft policy prepared by a panel led by eminent scientist K Kasturirangan was unveiled on Friday.

Recalling the anti-Hindi agitations beginning as early as 1937 in Tamil Nadu, the DMK leader in a statement here said since 1968 the State was following the two-language formula of learning only Tamil and English.

The DMK would never tolerate imposition of Hindi and strongly oppose it. "Still, I believe that the Central BJP government will not make way for another language stir," he said.

The Dravidian party also said recommendations like "Gurukula" mode of education, teaching Sanskrit and sending Hindi teachers from Hindi speaking States to non-Hindi speaking States would in due course cause a "big danger" to non-Hindi speaking people.

The recommendations, the DMK said rather than lifting the standards of has led to doubts that it had "ulterior motives" like imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States and thrusting Sanskrit in schools.

Recalling Jawaharlal Nehru's assurance that English would continue to be in use till such time desired by non-Hindi speaking States, he also pointed out that the State had enacted years ago a Compulsory Tamil Learning Act.

Demanding the Centre to reject the draft recommendations which was "imposition," of Hindi under the garb of three-language formula, he said his party MPs would voice their strong opposition in Parliament as soon as the House was convened.

Taking potshots at the AIADMK for being what it called a "yes master," to the Centre, he wanted Chief Minister K Palaniswami to strongly oppose it and if not remove the words "Anna," and "Dravida," from his party's name.

The AIADMK is an abbreviation for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The BJP must never even dream to implement three language formula in Tamil Nadu and such a "greedy dream," would lead to "catastrophic," consequences for them, he said.

Parties including the CPI and BJP's ally in the Lok Sabha polls, the PMK too alleged the recommendation on the three language formula was "imposition of Hindi" and wanted scrapping it.

Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan said "be it language or a project, if we do not like that, it should not be forced on us." He said his party would pursue legal options against it.

Minister K A Sengottaiyan told Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamil channel: "There will be no deviation from the two-language formula followed in Tamil Nadu. Only Tamil and English will continue to be taught in our State."



The draft National Education Policy, 2019 available on the government website said the three-language formula will need to be implemented in its spirit throughout the country, promoting multilingual communicative abilities for a multilingual country.

Schools in Hindi speaking areas should also offer and teach Indian languages from other parts of India, it said.

The three language formula, followed since the adoption of the National Policy on Education 1968 and endorsed in subsequent years will be continued.

Since research now clearly showed that children picked up languages quickly between the ages of 2 and 8, and moreover that multilingualism has great cognitive benefits to students, children will now be immersed in three languages early on, starting from the foundational stage onwards, it said.

"...students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, ... while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English."



Also, every student will take a fun course on "The Languages of India" sometime in Grades 6-8.

The draft policy said India also has "an extremely rich literature in other classical languages, including classical Tamil, as well as classical Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia, in addition to Pali, Persian, and Prakrit; these classical languages and their literatures too must be preserved for their richness and for the pleasure and enrichment of posterity."



A choice of foreign languages like French and German, would be offered and available to interested students to choose as electives during secondary school.

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Narendra Singh Tomar Saturday took charge of the Agriculture Ministry, and said various measures are being taken to empower farmers.

"Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today officially took charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare," the ministry said in a statement.

Parshottam Rupala and Kailash Choudhary also took charge as Ministers of State in the agriculture ministry.

Addressing the media after taking charge, Tomar lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his dynamic leadership and his concern for farmers.

He said acting on poll promises the Modi government in its first Cabinet meeting approved extension of the PM-Kisan income support scheme to all farmers, removing the ceiling of two hectares, and also cleared a pension scheme for agriculturists.

A new initiative was also taken to control animal diseases to support livestock rearing farmers.

The minister said the path breaking pension scheme will provide financial support to farmers who toil day and night to keep the nation fed.

It is also for the first time since Independence that such a pension coverage has been envisioned for farmers.

It is estimated that five crore small and marginal farmers will benefit in the first three years itself.

On PM-Kisan scheme, he said that the revised scheme is expected to cover around two crore more farmers, increasing the coverage of PM-Kisan to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries.

Tomar urged the ministry officials to make a lasting contribution in their respective fields for the growth of agricultural production and welfare of farmers.

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Displaying the true traditions of 'Kashmiriyat', a tourist guide sacrificed his own life to save five people, including two visitors from West Bengal, after their raft capsized in Lidder river flowing through the picturesque South Kashmir resort town of Pahalgham.

Rouf Ahmed Dar, a registered professional rafter, cared a little about his life and jumped into the river when the raft overturned near Mawoora after it was caught in a sudden gusty winds.

The five people, three locals and a couple from West Bengal, were onboard the raft when the tragedy struck it Friday evening at the rafting point in Pahalgham, 96 kms south of Srinagar.

Quoting eyewitness, officials said that Dar, who was escorting the couple as a tourist guide, had initially swam to safety. But on seeing the others getting drawn into the the water, wasted no time and jumped into the water again and managed to save them, they said.

A search and rescue operation was launched immediately afterwards and teams of State Disaster Response Force were joined by the police and locals. The searches continued until late hours, but were abandoned due to darkness, they said.

The body of the brave tourist guide was retrieved Saturday morning near Bhawani bridge and was handed over to his relatives after medico-legal formalities, they said.

"It was actual demonstration of Kashmiriyat, which teaches love brotherhood and care, displayed by Dar, who successfully saved five people including two domestic tourists, in the true spirit of trademark Kashmiri hospitality," said Deputy Commissioner (Anantnag) Khalid Jehangir.

On directions of chief secretary B V R Subrahmanyam, an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh has been sanctioned for the 32-year-old Dar's kin, who is survived by his parents, brother and wife.

The two tourists -- Manish kumar Saraf and Sweta Saraf hailing from Nandan Nager, Kolkata -- were taken to Srinagar. They said they have got a second life thanks to Dar, a senior police official said.

Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, has recommended Dar for bravery award, the officials said, adding the chief secretary also hailed his bravery and directed the district administration to support his family.

State tourism in-charge and the advisor to Governor Satya Pal Malik Khursheed Ganai offered his condolences on loss of Dar's life. "Without caring for his own life, Dar braved strong currents of river Lidder to save five people from drowning. It was an ultimate sacrifice one can offer."



Former chief minister Omar Abdullah also expressed condolences. "My salute to this braveheart Rauf Ahmad Dar. He saved the tourists from his capsized raft but lost his own life in the process. May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannat."



Pradesh Congress chief G A Mir described Dar as a symbol of true Kashmiriyat.

BJP State General Secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul expressed grief over Dar's death and offered his deepest condolence to the family. Koul appealed the Governor's administration to provide full support to Dar's family.

Former minister and chairman of People's Conference Sajad Lone also paid tributes to Dar.

"A very sad incident. My tributes to the exemplary courage bravery and dedication of Rouf Ahmed. He sacrificed his own life to save the lives of our guests. He is the real hero who will be an inspiration in selflessness and our tradition of hospitality.

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A tourist guide lost his life after saving five tourists, including two foreigners, from Lidder river at the famous Pahalgam resort in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Saturday.

A Raft capsized at rafting point in Mawoora Pahalgam in the south Kashmir district on Friday after it was caught in sudden gusty winds and all passengers onboard fell in the Lidder river, the officials said.

They said a tourist guide -- Rouf Ahmed Dar -- without caring for his own safety, rescued all the tourists from the fast flowing water of the river, but lost his life.

"Dar successfully saved five tourists, including two foreigners, in the true spirit of trademark Kashmiri hospitality," the officials said.

Search and rescue was launched immediately and teams of state disaster response fund, police and locals, searched till late hours, but had to abandon the search due to darkness, they said.

The officials said the body of the brave tourist guide was retrieved from the river on Saturday morning near Bhawani bridge and after completion of medico-legal formalities, it was handed over to his relatives.

Deputy Commissioner Anantnag has recommended Dar for bravery award, the officials said, adding chief secretary has also hailed his bravery and directed the district administration to support the family of the deceased.

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Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Saturday reported 6.2 per cent decline in total vehicle sales to 13,066 units in May, as against 13,940 in the same month last year.

In the domestic market, the company reported sales of 12,138 units last month, down 7.4 per cent as compared to 13,113 units in May 2018, TKM said in a statement.

"The company exported 928 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 13,066 units....The company exported 827 units of the Etios series (in May,2018)...thus clocking a total of 13,940 units," it added.

Commenting on the sales performance, Kirloskar Motor Deputy Managing Director N Raja, said, "The customer demand had witnessed a continued slowdown before the election results. Customers have been cautiously spending which has led to sluggishness in the domestic auto sales. Added factors like liquidity tightening, high insurance costs, increase in fuel costs have also weakened the retails".

However, with the formation of a stable government now at the Centre, there is an increase in customer walk-ins post the election results announcement, which would brighten the sales in upcoming months, Raja said.

"We are excited about the upcoming launch of Glanza on June 6, it would mark our entry into the premium hatchback segment to cater to the growing demands of our existing and prospective customers. We are confident Glanza backed by Toyota's unique sales and service efficiency will create a new benchmark in the industry in customer delight," he added.
The Tripura High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail petition of IPFT MLA Dhananjoy Tripura who is accused of raping and deceiving a woman by not marrying her.

Justice Arindam Lodh on Friday rejected his bail petition, saying the accused was a powerful person.

Public Prosecutor Babul Chowdhury told reporters that the MLA is absconding.

The legislator had claimed that he was framed in the case and opposition parties were trying to malign his image.

In her complaint, the woman claimed that she was "socially engaged" to the IPFT MLA from Rimavalley constituency.

She said that the accused maintained an intimate relationship with her, but later refused to tie the knot.

The MLA was booked for raping and deceiving the woman.

The IPFT is an ally of the ruling BJP in the state.

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US President Donald Trump has said that he would formally announce his bid for re-election at a June 18 rally in Florida - a state that was key to his victory in 2016.

Trump's wife Melania, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen will also be part of the evening event in Orlando at the Amway Center arena, Trump said on Twitter on Friday.

"I will be announcing my Second Term Presidential Run... on June 18th in Orlando," he said. "Join us for this Historic Rally!"



Trump has made it clear since taking office that he planned to run again in 2020, has held multiple campaign rallies and has already raised tens of millions of dollars.

When he speaks to his supporters, he often refers to his six remaining years in power -- not the 18 months left in his first term.

Trump will launch his campaign against the backdrop of mounting Democratic calls for his impeachment, including by several of the nearly two dozen members of the opposition party seeking to unseat him.

For now, the 72-year-old billionaire Republican leader has focused his energy -- and fiery criticism -- on Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, the 76-year-old former vice president.

Biden, a six-term senator before serving as number two to president Barack Obama, has taken a substantial lead in early polling. Trump has referred to him as "Sleepy Joe" -- and even "SleepyCreepy Joe."



Biden styles himself, like Trump, as an ardent defender of working class Americans -- someone who can win back the Midwestern, white, male blue-collar voters who went for the Republican in 2016.

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House.

Three weeks ago, Trump said the Democratic presidential primary would come down to a race between Biden and independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost the nomination to Clinton in 2016.

"Looks to me like it's going to be SleepyCreepy Joe over Crazy Bernie," Trump tweeted. "Everyone else is fading fast!" In the announcement of his presidential run in April, Biden said Trump had "fundamentally altered the character of this nation." The scene of Trump's announcement is no accident: Florida is a major prize for any presidential candidate, and traditionally a battleground state.

In 2012, Obama bested Mitt Romney in the Sunshine State by less than one percentage point. In 2016, Trump beat Clinton there by a bit more than one point.

The election will take place on November 3, 2020.

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Tunisian authorities were on Saturday stopping 75 migrants saved at sea from coming ashore, according to a rights group and the captain of the ship which rescued them.

The migrants were adrift in international waters in a boat with a broken engine when an Egyptian tug boat brought them aboard, the captain said on condition of anonymity.

After notifying authorities in Italy and Malta, the crew headed for the southern Tunisian port of Zarzis where authorities refused to allow the ship to dock.

"We're in a critical situation, we're nearly 100 on board and we don't have more than two days of supplies of water and food," the captain told AFP by phone.

Tunisian rights organisation FTDES said the regional governor demanded government support before accepting the migrants, following an increase in new arrivals from neighbouring Libya in recent months.

Tunisian authorities did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

The crew of the tug boat rescued 64 Bangladeshis, nine Egyptians, one Moroccan and one Sudanese, who had departed from Zuwara in western Libya, according to FTDES.

Last month, around 60 migrants, most from Bangladesh, drowned off the coast of Tunisia after leaving Libya on a boat bound for Europe.

There has been a significant reduction in rescue vessels operating in the Mediterranean Sea in recent months, with humanitarian boats facing legal woes as countries such as Italy impose a hardline migration policy.

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Ankara and Moscow are again facing an escalation of violence in Syria's last rebel-held territory, a development that puts their cooperation to the test even as they support opposing sides in the eight-year war that has devastated Syria.

An all-out offensive by Syrian government forces to capture Idlib in northwestern Syria from insurgents could unleash an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, for the area is home to 3 million people.

Turkey, which is already hosting more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, is facing strong pressure from Syria, Iran and Russia to deliver on its pledge to control the armed rebel factions in Idlib.

But Turkey also needs Russia to rein in Syrian President Bashar Assad to prevent a massive outflow of refugees and to keep Turkish soldiers on the ground safe.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin "have an incentive to cooperate and ensure that nobody's interests are totally trampled," says Aaron Stein, the director of the Middle East program in American think-tank Foreign Policy Research Institute.

In September, the two leaders brokered a cease-fire for Idlib in the Russian resort of Sochi, preventing a bloody onslaught, despite the fact that Russia has firmly backed Assad and Turkey supports opposition forces. Nine months later, the truce has failed.

The agreement called for a 15-to-20 kilometer (9-to-12 mile) demilitarized zone free of insurgents and heavy weaponry and for two key highways crossing through Idlib to be reopened. The demilitarized zone has been breached and the highways are at the center of the current government offensive.

Syrian ground forces have been advancing from the south of the rebel stronghold under the cover of Syrian and Russian airstrikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 291 civilians and 369 fighters have been killed since April 30 in the rebel stronghold. In the same period, 269 government troops and 22 civilians were killed in government areas by rebel fire. The U.N.'s children's agency said more than 130 children have reportedly been killed.

Already, more than 200,000 people from the stronghold have been displaced, according to the U.N., with some seeking safety near the border with Turkey while others crammed into already crowded camps in Syria.

Turkey has accused the Syrian government of violating the cease-fire and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the country has told Russia "the regime must be controlled." Russia has launched airstrikes in Idlib and is providing air cover in the Syrian government offensive. It has complained that the militants have increasingly been targeting its military base in the nearby coastal province of Latakia.

But for now, Moscow is unlikely to support an all-out Syrian operation in Idlib because the benefits of a long-term alliance with Turkey outweigh one military battle.

"Russia doesn't want to ruin its relationship with Turkey because of Idlib," says Kirill Semenov, a Moscow-based Middle East analyst and expert at the Russian International Affairs Council.

In late April, Putin said he would not rule out a large-scale assault but "together with our Syrian friends, we believe that this would not be advisable" due to humanitarian issues.

Still, Russia's patience is wearing thin with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which it accuses of targeting its military base. HTS is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Russia and Turkey, despite its claims it has disassociated from al-Qaida.

Top Russian officials have often called Idlib a "breeding ground for terrorists." Despite the cease-fire deal, Turkey has been unable to neutralize the extremists. Much of Idlib has come under the control of HTS, which has defeated Turkey-backed armed groups.

Emre Ersan, an associate professor of international relations and political science at Istanbul's Marmara University, believes Turkey may have overestimated its influence over HTS. He says Turkey's plan to split the group, with some of its members joining



Turkish-backed opposition forces and the group's hard-liners isolated, has not worked.

Instead of coming under the umbrella of moderate groups, HTS has used Turkey as leverage against Russia and Assad-supporter Iran, according to Ersan.

Adding to the risks, Turkish troops are in the line of fire. Two Turkish soldiers were wounded in early May in a Syrian government artillery attack on an observation post.

Three other attacks have been cited by Turkey's official Anadolu Agency, raising the question if the attacks were accidental or designed to pressure Ankara with Russia's knowledge.

"The Turkish Armed Forces will not take a single step back from where it is," Akar, Turkey's defense minister, said last week.

Erdogan and Putin have talked on the phone, agreeing to continue working along the lines of the cease-fire agreement to prevent civilian deaths and a refugee flow. They also agreed to meet on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 conference in Japan.

"Apart from this dialogue and cooperation, there is nothing on the ground that can prevent a catastrophe in Idlib," Ersan says.

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UK police have arrested 30 Hells Angels bikers during a three-day event marking the motorcycle club's 50th anniversary in Britain.

Police in Surrey and Sussex say 34 people had been detained on suspicion of drug offences and possession of offensive weapons in connection with the Hells Angels Euro Run 2019.

Police say 12 people five Germans, three Hungarians, and one person each from Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic and Greece have been charged.

Assistant Chief Constable Nev Kemp says authorities have been "very clear with those attending the Hells Angels event, many from overseas, that we will not tolerate criminal and anti-social behaviour."



Some 3,000 bikers are expected to take part in a 22-mile (35-kilometer) mass ride Saturday in southern England from Pease Pottage to Brighton, the highlight of the event.

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An undertrial prisoner escaped from the Muzaffarnagar district jail in Uttar Pradesh, officials said Saturday.

The inmate, Dilshad, fled from the prison on Friday, jail superintendent A K Saxena said, adding that a case has been registered and a hunt launched to nab him.

The authorities have also ordered a departmental inquiry to ascertain how could the prisoner evade security and flee from the prison.

Dilshad was arrested on May 26 in neighbouring Shamli district.

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US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced China's efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarise man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a "toolkit of coercion," saying Beijing's bad behaviour must end.

In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Korea's "extraordinary" threat with vows that the US will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region and is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing its stability.

While he didn't specifically name China in early parts of his speech, he made clear who his target was, making pointed references to Beijing's campaign to put advanced weapons systems on disputed islands in the region. "If the trends in these behaviours continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful," Shanahan said.

His remarks underscore America's frayed relations with China, as the Trump administration wages a trade war with Beijing, imposes sanctions on Chinese tech giant Huawei and approves a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory. And they reflect America's new national defense strategy that declared great power competition with China and Russia as top priorities.

Shanahan's speech on Saturday is also arguably an audition to both the world and US top leaders in Congress, as his nomination for permanent secretary has still not been sent to Capitol Hill by Trump.

And listening closely in the audience were nervous allies and partners in the region who are worried about the economic impact of the US-China trade dispute and the political blowback of America's complaints about Beijing's rapid progress in hypersonic weapons, nuclear technology and space launches.

"No one nation can - or should - dominate the Indo-Pacific," Shanahan told the conference.

He added that the US is willing to cooperate with China and welcomes competition, but said behaviour that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end.

"Competition does not mean conflict," he said. "Competition is not to be feared. We should welcome it, provided that everyone plays by internationally established rules." Shanahan told reporters Friday that he would use his speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue conference to criticize Beijing's use of coercion to advance its interests. And he called the island militarization excessive and "overkill." Much of his speech centered on America's work with partners across the region.

"The Indo-Pacific is our priority theater," he said. "We are where we belong. We are investing in the region. We are investing in you, and with you." But he also called on the Pacific nations to invest in their own futures.

He also will likely face fierce questions from Chinese leaders in the audience, as many US defense chiefs have seen during this annual forum. On Friday, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian was both conciliatory and challenging.

Speaking to reporters after Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe's meeting with Shanahan, Wu noted that the US has recently "had a series of negative words and deeds" on Taiwan issues.

"On the issue of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the US should not underestimate the determination of the Chinese military, will or ability," he said.

But he also said Shanahan and Wei found room for agreement on the need for denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and efforts to improve communication between the US and China.

For years, American defense secretaries have used the Shangri-La conference's podium to condemn China for its militarization of outposts in contested areas of the South China Sea and for conducting cyberespionage against US technology programs. But they have balanced their criticism with calls for cooperation, stability and a rules-based order in the region.

Shanahan told reporters Friday that the US needs to do a better job of describing its level of commitment to the region, including military exercises, training and other activities.

"I do think we have to up our game on talking about interactions," he said, adding that the U.S. will have a larger presence in the region for various military exercises. "Our responsibility is to show them what we're actually doing.

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The US envoy for Afghanistan is travelling to Afghanistan and also Belgium, Germany, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the next two weeks as part of an effort to help end the long-running war.

In Kabul, the State Department says Zalmay Khalilzad will consult with the Afghan government and other Afghans.

He also will continue talks with the Taliban in Doha, where the insurgent movement maintains a political office. The Taliban refuse to negotiate directly with the Kabul government.

At his other stops, Khalilzad will work to build international support for the Afghan peace process.

The talks so far have focused on a timetable for US troop withdrawal as well as Taliban guarantees that they won't harbor terrorist groups or allow Afghanistan to be used as a staging ground for global terror attacks.

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The US envoy negotiating with the Taliban will hold new talks this month with the insurgents in Qatar, the State Department said Saturday, as momentum builds for a deal to end America's longest war.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran US policymaker who is leading President Donald Trump's push to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, left Friday on a 17-day trip that will also take him to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said.

In Doha, he will resume talks with the Taliban after a break of around a month "to move the peace process forward," the State Department said in a statement.

Khalilzad has already met six times with the Taliban in recent months as he looks to seal a deal under which the United States will pull out troops who were first deployed following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The United States and the Taliban are believed to have largely agreed on the key demand of Washington from 2001 and again now -- that the Taliban not allow Afghanistan to be used by violent extremists.

But a major sticking point remains the refusal of the Taliban to negotiate with President Ashraf Ghani's government, which enjoys international support.

The Taliban, believing they have leverage on the military front, have also rejected Ghani's overtures for a nationwide ceasefire.

"No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives," Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhundzada said in a rare message released Saturday.

In Kabul, Khalilzad will meet representatives of civil society and women's rights groups, which have been especially concerned about a larger role for the Taliban.

Khalilzad will "encourage all parties to work towards intra-Afghan negotiations that lead to a final peace settlement," the State Department said.

Germany, another of Khalilzad's stops, has voiced willingness to hold a meeting on peace in Afghanistan.

He will start his trip in Pakistan, the chief backer of the Taliban before September 11, which has used its contacts to facilitate the talks with the Taliban.

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India Saturday said it will continue to work with the US to strengthen economic ties in the wake of America's decision to withdraw export benefits under a programme.

The US has said with effect from June 5, it will withdraw incentives to Indian exporters provided under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme.

In a statement, the commerce ministry said in any relationship, particularly in the area of economic ties, there are ongoing issues which get resolved mutually from time to time.

"We view this issue as a part of this regular process and will continue to build on our strong ties with the US, both economic and people to people. We are confident that the two nations will continue to work together intensively for further growing these ties in a mutually beneficial manner," it said.

It said that the GSP benefits given by developed countries like the US to developing nations such as India are "unilateral, non reciprocal and non discriminatory".

The US' decision came following complaints by its medical devices and dairy industries, which have alleged that India did not provide equal market access to their products. The medical devices players have also raised objections over price caps put by India on products like stents.

The ministry said that India, as part of its bilateral discussions with US officials, had offered resolution on significant US requests in an effort to find a mutually acceptable way forward.

"It is unfortunate that this did not find acceptance by the US," it added.

However, it said that India, like other nations, shall always uphold its national interests in these matters.

"We have significant developments imperatives and concerns and our people aspire for better standards of living. This will remain the guiding factor in the government's approach," it said.

On March 4, the US had stated that it would roll back the GSP benefits after 60 days.

India had earlier also said that the US' decision will not have a significant impact on its exports to the country.

India exports goods worth USD 5.6 billion under the GSP, and the duty benefit is only USD 190 million annually, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan had said.

As many as 1,900 Indian products from sectors such as chemicals and engineering get duty free access to the US market under the GSP, introduced in 1976.

The US' demand for relaxation in norms for exports of medical devices and dairy products are non-negotiable for India.

Commenting on the issue, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ganesha Kumar Gupta said the government should provide some support to products where GSP loss has been significant so that the market is not lost.

"We favour extension of Rebate of State and Central Tax Levies Scheme (RoSCTL) on such products on exports to US," Gupta said.
The Congress on Saturday said the US government's decision to terminate special trade status for India will have adverse consequences on exports and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the country into confidence and make a comprehensive statement explaining how he intends to overcome this "grave trade and economic crisis".

Addressing a press conference, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it is a "double whammy" for India which has "succumbed to US pressure" of not buying crude oil from Iran and has also lost the special trade status and alleged that the government did "nothing to preempt it" despite being informed of the decision in March.

"On behalf of the people of India, we urge upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a comprehensive statement on the issue to the nation and place before the public a way forward to overcome this grave trade and economic crisis," he told reporters.

"The Prime Minister should take the nation into confidence," he also said.

The Congress leader also urged the Modi government to withdraw the hike in LPG prices for both subsidised and non-subsidised category which it has "gifted" to the people soon after coming back to power.

The LPG prices have risen by Rs 323.5 per cylinder for non-subsidised category and Rs 85.37 for subsidised category in the last five years, he alleged.

"We urge the Prime Minster to take back this increase in LPG price rise," he said, adding that women of the country will be badly affected by the price hike.

Surjewala said on one hand the Indian Government has decided to yield to pressure and stop purchasing crude oil of 23.5 million tonnes annually from Iran at favourable terms, on the other hand, 'special trade status' for India has been withdrawn by the country to whom its export volume is the largest.

"What is of more concern is the fact that the withdrawal of 'special trade status' was notified to India on March 4, 2019 itself. Yet the Government did nothing to preempt it. The most serious implication would be for sectors like Agriculture, Auto Parts, Pharmaceutical etc. which are already facing serious crisis," he said.

The Congress leader said in future, India could see many more industries, including the services industry which has more than UDS 28 billion under exports to the US being affected significantly.

He said a decline in exports to the the United States which is India's largest partner will worsen the job crisis.

"Already, unemployment is at a five-year high of 6.1 pc (NSSO) and GDP growth has slumped to a five year low at 5.8 pc. At this juncture, withdrawal of the special trade status by the US is a double whammy," he said.

He said the United States' proclamation terminating the status of India as 'beneficiary developing country' or 'special trade status' with effect from June 5, 2019 has grave trade and economic implications for India, as it directly effects India's exports worth USD 54.4 billion (Rs 3,80,000 crores).

Surjewala recalled that it is after 44 years that this status is being taken back, as it was on November 24, 1975 when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister that this was granted to India.

On the unemployment figures, the Congress leader said the NSSO data was earlier held back by the government but confirms that the job crisis in the country is grave.

"It cannot be subject matter of a slanging match between two political parties. India's young need jobs. India's young are unemployed. India's young are facing the worst unemployment crisis in last 45 years.

"So, bereft of the niceties, all these technicalities, the responsibility and the onus lies on the current Government to address the job crisis as its first priority," he said.

"We will request the Prime Minister to look at the job crisis as a priority number one for the nation and we will support any steps taken in this direction by the Prime Minister, for this positively and in a concrete fashion.

"We sincerely hope that a Prime Minister, who has been elected with such a huge mandate, is listening to the cry for justice of the young in this country," he said.

The US President has terminated India's designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key GSP trade programme, with the proclamation stating that New delhi has not assured the US that it will provide "equitable and reasonable access to its markets."



The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

"I have determined that India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India's designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019," President Donald Trump said in a proclamation on Friday ignoring a plea by several top American lawmakers.

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US Senator Cory Booker has hired over a dozen Asian American Pacific Islanders, mostly Indian-Americans, for his 2020 presidential campaign which is said to be the largest among the Democratic aspirants.

The first African-American Senator from New Jersey, Booker, 50, announced his 2020 presidential bid on February 1.

Currently there are nearly two dozen Democratic presidential aspirants, who will be pitted against each other in the party's primary elections beginning early next year.

Prominent among them include former Vice President Joe Biden, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard; Senators Kamala Harris, Michael Bennet, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

From his national press secretary Sabrina Singh, State operations director New Hampshire Shwetika Baijal to Iowa political director Rishi Bharwani; Booker has hired more than half a dozen Indian-Americans for his presidential campaign.

"I'm proud to be building a campaign that reflects the rich diversity of our country. Being inclusive of the voices of members of the Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community have always been and will always be a top priority for me and my campaign," Booker, who represents New Jersey in the Senate, told PTI.

"From who we hire to how we engage with one another, we always seek to empower and uplift diverse voices and ensure everyone has a seat at the table. I'm extremely proud of the members of the AAPI community that make up this team," said Booker, who is a friend of India and Indian-Americans.

Among other AAPI members in his campaign team are Deepak Jonnalagedda, Iowa Field Organiser; Sobaika Mirza, Director of Human Resources; Jen Kim, States Chief of Staff; Philip Kim, Nevada State Director; Yash Mori, Videographer and Meena Yi, Director of Design.

"The makeup of the Cory 2020 campaign staff reflects the diversity of this country, and I'm really proud to be a part of it," campaign spokesperson Sabrina told PTI.

"It's an honor to work for someone who not only believes in inclusive policies for the country, but who hires and empowers a diverse group of people in his staff," she said.

Before joining Cory 2020, Sabrina worked at the Democratic National Committee as the deputy communications director. She is a first generation Indian-American.

Baijal previously was a vice president at 50+1 Strategies; while Bharwani was the campaign manager for Amber Gustafson in Iowa.

Prior to Cory 2020, Jonnalagedda was a field organiser for the Iowa Democratic Party and Mirza most recently served as Senior Operations Officer at Avaaz.

Mori previously was a digital staffer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

There are presently more than 20 million people of the AAPI descent residing in the United States, which amounts to more than 6 per cent of the population. The AAPI population is the most rapidly growing ethnic group in the country and is expected to increase to over 40 million individuals by 2060.

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Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Saturday underlined the need for writers and litterateurs to promote progressive and positive thinking among the people even while holding a mirror to the happenings in society.

Speaking at an event to mark the valedictory of the death centenary of noted social reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam, organised here by Andhra University and Mosaic Sahitya Sansta, Naidu said he (Veeresalingam) was forward looking in his outlook and was against bigotry and superstitious beliefs.

He was a strong advocate of widow remarriage, opposed the dowry and caste system as also child marriage and batted for empowering women through education, the Vice President added.

Veeresalingam was popularly known as Andhra Raja Ram Mohan Roy, he said.

Naidu said writers, authors, columnists can change the mindset of the people through their progressive writing and can help remove disparities and evils in society.

Stressing the need for protecting and preserving native languages, Naidu urged intellectuals, educationists and journalists to strive towards promoting progressive thinking and bringing about an attitudinal change among the people to eliminate social evils.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Wesley Snipes is set to headline the new zombie action thriller, "Outbreak Z".

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 56-year-old actor will also executive produce the film, which will be directed by Chris Brewster.

The filmmaker is best known for working as a stunt choreographer on films such as "Ant-Man and the Wasp", "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Black Panther".

The film's story, penned by Hamid Torabpour, Clint Narramore and Andrew Kightlinger, follows two SWAT officers on a desperate hunt through an overrun college campus in search of a man who holds a vaccine to a zombie virus.

Additional casting for the film is now underway. The production is expected to start soon in Minnesota.

The project will be produced by Peter Wise, while Torabpour, Camille Torabpour, Dr. Mark Smith and Patrick Werksma will be executive producers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NCP leader and former Union minister Praful Patel said Saturday he will be happy to cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate so that it understands the "complexities" of the aviation industry.

The ED earlier in the day summoned Patel, who was the civil aviation minister in the UPA government, over an alleged aviation scam.

"I will be happy to cooperate with ED for their understanding of the complexities of the aviation industry," Patel told PTI over phone.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has authorised its regional unit to begin proceedings against nine auditors and audit partners, which include BSR Co and Deloitte Haskins & Sells (DHS). This comes after these auditors were charged with "colluding with management of IL&FS Financial Services" and falsifying its book of accounts deceptively.

"The ministry asked its regional director (western region) to include the auditors in the ongoing proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal by making them co-respondents and seek interim attachment of their properties," reported The Economic Times.

The ministry said in an order dated May 29 that the regional director was authorised to begin proceedings under section 140 (5) of the Companies Act before NCLT against DHS, BSR, Udayan Sen, Kalpesh Mehta, Sampath Ganesh, Shrenik Baid, Rakesh Jain, Nishit Udani, Anju Rawat, Payal Rathod, and AP Shah and Associates "for their role in perpetuating the fraud and seek debarment".

As per reports, the regional director was asked to include the auditors and their partners in the proceedings under Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act pending before the NCLT and seek interim attachment of their movable and immovable properties, which includes "lockers, bank accounts and jointly held properties".

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which had filed charges against the auditors in the probe into Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), has been directed to commence disciplinary proceedings against them before the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the National Financial Reporting Authority.

(Edited by: Nehal Solanki)

Also read: ILFS crisis: ED conducts fresh raids in Mumbai

Also read: PIL against Paytm post paid wallet; HC seeks reply from RBI
Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), a part of the USD 20.7 billion Mahindra Group, on Saturday reported 3 per cent decline in total sales at 45,421 units in May.

"The auto major had sold 46,848 units in the same month last year," M&M said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The domestic sales, which include sales made in subsidiary company Mahindra Electric Mobility, were down 2 per cent to 43,056 units in May compared to 43,818 units in same period a year ago.

Total exports fell by 22 per cent to 2,365 units as compared to 3,030 units in the same month a year-ago.

The passenger vehicles segment (which includes UVs, Cars and Vans) sold 20,608 units last month, as against 20,715 units in May 2018.

Also Read: Slowdown blues: Maruti Suzuki May sales decline 22% on muted domestic demand

In the commercial vehicles segment, sales stood at 17,879 units, as against 18,748 units in May 2018.

In May 2019, the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment's sales was at 637 units.

Commenting on the sales numbers, Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M said, "While consumer sentiment and demand continued to be subdued during the pre-election phase, our focus has been on correcting the channel inventory."

"Now, with a stable government at the centre and the forecast of a near normal monsoon, we hope to see an improvement in consumer sentiment over the next few months," he said.

Also Read: M&M net profit dips 29% to Rs 5,315 crore in FY19, board recommends dividend of Rs 8.50 per share

Earlier this week, the company reported 16 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 969 crore during quarter ended March 31, 2019, as compared to Rs 1,155 crore in the same quarter last year.

M&M sold 1,63,937 vehicles during January-March quarter of 2019 as against 1,56,453 units sold in the same quarter last year, posting a growth of 5 per cent. The tractor sales declined by 15 per cent to 56,903 units in Q4FY19 from 66,885 units sold in Q4FY18.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
More than one-fifth of automotive dealers in the country expect reduced earnings in the year ended March 2019 over a year-ago period amid the industry reporting some 5 per cent growth in vehicle sales during the period, the report said Friday.

The domestic automotive industry saw a marginal increase of 5.1 per cent at 26,267,783 units in the financial year ended March 2019 as compared to 24,961,312 units sold in FY18, as per industry body SIAM.

The industry produced a total 30,915,420 vehicles including passenger and commercial vehicles, three and two wheelers and quadricycles in April-March 2019 as against 29,094,447 units in the same period of 2017-18, registering a growth of 6.26 per cent.

"More than one-fifth population (21 per cent) of dealers across the three automotive segments --passenger vehicle, commercial vehicle and two-wheeler -- expect their financial performance to be poorer in the fiscal year ended March 2019 compared with FY18," according JD Power- FADA India Dealer Satisfaction with Automotive Manufacturers Index (DSWAMI) StudySM, released Friday.

The study was conducted by JD Power in partnership with Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA).

There are around 15,000 automobile dealers pan-India, as per FADA.

India's GDP tanks to 5.8% in March quarter, loses fastest-growing economy tag to China

According to study, among those who expect a poorer performance this year, 71 per cent said that they did not achieve their revenue target for the year.

"The automotive industry, especially the passenger vehicle and two-wheeler segments, are facing serious headwinds due to several external challenges on the revenue side," said Kaustav Roy, director and country head, India, JD Power.

"Additionally, an increase in the cost of doing business have also affected the dealers outlook and financial performance.

Strategic use of the various business levers, with a strong focus on customer retention, hold the key to long-term sustainability," he added.

Dealership business is facing its toughest challenges in recent times and the entire business model needs an overhaul to keep up with the changing dynamics of our trade, said Ashish Harsharaj Kale, F A D A President.

"We are hopeful that the findings of the survey will act as a beacon for the entire automotive eco-system, leading towards a healthier business environment for the industry, especially for the automotive dealer fraternity at large," he said.

Online purchase of vehicles is seen as an important future trend by almost one-third (31 per cent) of all dealers across the three segments, as per the study, indicating that digitalisation will lead the way.

In addition, as many as 43 per cent of dealers believed that investment in digitalisation is likely to bring about a reduction in manpower costs for their business.

Besides, the study also suggested that the dealers are looking for more collaboration as 10 per cent of the respondents felt that it was not easy to do business with their original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

These dealers have satisfaction scores that are, on average, 247 points (on a 1000-point scale) lower than those who find it easy to do business with their OEMs, it said.

The study also found that on average, as many as 85 per cent of dealers believed that they definitely will continue to work with their automaker for the next two years.

Slowdown Blues: Govt confirms unemployment rate highest in 45 years at 6.1%

Budget Session to begin on June 17, Union Budget to be presented on July 5
The Centre Friday decided to bear the entire cost of Rs 13,343 crore under an existing scheme that seeks to control livestock diseases, especially foot and mouth disease (FMD) and brucellosis, in the next five years.

A decision in this regard was taken in the first Cabinet meeting of the Modi 2.0 government. Briefing media, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said the scheme is in the interest of the farming community. "This is an existing vaccination scheme under which the Centre and state governments contribute funds in the ratio of 60:40. In a rare instance of departure, the Central government has decided to now bear the entire cost," the minister said.

The Cabinet had cleared a total outlay of Rs 13,343 crore to fully control these diseases among the livestock in the country in the next five years and subsequently eradicate these diseases, he said. The disease of food and mouth disease (FMD) and brucellosis are common among the livestock -- cow, bulls, buffaloes, sheep, goats and pigs.

The scheme envisages vaccination coverage to 30 crore bovines (cows-bulls and buffaloes) and 20 crore sheep/goat and 10 million pigs. Javadekar said the government aims to eradicate FMD and brucellosis diseases fully as it has done in the case of polio and tuberculosis in human beings. The government said if a cow or buffalo gets infected with FMD, the milk loss is up to 100 per cent which could last for four to six months.

In case of Brucellosis, the milk output reduces by 30 per cent during the entire life cycle of animal and also causes infertility among the animals. The infection of brucellosis can also be transmitted to the farm workers and livestock owners. Both the diseases have a direct negative impact on the trade of milk and other livestock products, it said. "The decision of Cabinet today fulfils the major promise made in the manifesto as it provides much relief to crores of farmers in the country who rear livestock," the government statement added.

Slowdown Blues: Govt confirms unemployment rate highest in 45 years at 6.1%

Cabinet approves extension of PM-KISAN scheme to all farmers

Slowdown Blues: India's GDP tanks to 5.8% in March quarter, loses fastest-growing economy tag to China
Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his second term in office, temporary restrictions imposed on all air routes after the Balakot air strikes have now been lifted, the Indian Air Force said. "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed," the IAF tweeted.

#Information : Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed. - Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) May 31, 2019

The closure of the air space had mainly affected flights from Europe to Southeast Asia, as the foreign carriers operating on these routes had to suspend their operations or were forced to take costly detours because they could not fly over Pakistan. Additionally, the flights coming from the US and Europe to New Delhi were severely affected due to the closure of the air space.

Pakistan lying in the middle of a vital aviation corridor has further led to extended flight timings for passengers and additional fuel costs for airlines. After the IAF decision, foreign airlines may resume their original, shorter routes.

The restrictions were imposed as tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian Air Force attacked a JeM terrorist training camp in Balakot of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

On May 12, Pakistan had extended the ban on India using its airspace for commercial flights till June 14. The country had fully closed its airspace after the Balakot airstrikes, which were carried out in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

Rajasthan board Class 10th result 2019 to be declared on June 3; here's all you need to know

Rich Indians may soon face difficulty in getting US visa over annual cap issue
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday surprised markets by naming Nirmala Sitharaman, formerly the defence minister, as the next finance minister on a day data showed that Asia's third biggest economy grew at its slowest pace in 17 quarters. While the economy grew at 5.8% in the January-March period, falling behind China's pace for the first time in nearly two years, the unemployment rate rose to a multi-year high of 6.1% in the 2017/18 fiscal year.

The figures highlight the challenges Sitharaman faces in her biggest government position, and raises the need for an urgent stimulus.

"The new government will first have to address the demand slowdown, which, in turn, requires revitalising the credit channels," said Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist at L&T Financial Holdings in Mumbai.

"On a war footing, they will have to address the issues in basic infrastructure sectors like power, roads and railways. While RBI (central bank) can provide a palliative in the form of monetary easing, the government will have to work hard on restoring investment confidence." Sitharaman, who was a commerce minister and briefly the junior finance minister in Modi's first term, got the finance ministry job replacing Arun Jaitley, who opted out of this government due to ill health.

There was also speculation that Amit Shah, chief of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), would head to the finance department but Modi instead made him the minister of home affairs.

Regarded as the architect of Modi's landslide victory in the recently concluded general election, Shah replaced senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, the new defence minister.

Unlike Shah and Jaitley, Sitharaman, 59, is seen as a political lightweight.

She is the senior most woman minister in Modi's cabinet and the second woman to head the finance department after late former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

"It is a big surprise and very unexpected news," said Yogesh Nagaonkar, founder and chief executive of Rowan Capital Advisors in Mumbai. "The initial expectation of the market from her would be to see how she addresses liquidity concerns. We need to have good liquidity in the market to achieve growth."

Nagaonkar said the ministry should have gone to Piyush Goyal, a chartered accountant who had stepped into the role twice in the previous government when Jaitley was out sick. Goyal will now be minister of railways and commerce, at a time when trade ties with the United States are straining.

Sitharaman faces pressure from industry for the government to provide some stimulus to halt a worrying slowdown in India's $2.7 trillion economy.

The government is already considering rolling out a slew of 'big-bang' economic reforms in the first 100 days of Modi's second term, with a focus on privatisation of state assets and relaxation of labour and land rules for businesses, a top official at the government's main think tank told Reuters.

In its first meeting, the new cabinet on Friday decided to meet its pledge to expand a programme to give 6,000 rupees ($86) a year to all farmers, and introduced a pension plan for small traders.

Modi also named S. Jaishankar, a former foreign affairs secretary, as India's new external affairs minister. He will take over from Sushma Swaraj, the ruling party's veteran leader and the previous most senior woman in the cabinet. She has also stepped aside due to poor health. This is the first time that a foreign secretary has been appointed as India's foreign minister.

"It shows that the prime minister is serious about foreign policy, and secondly, that he is entrusting it in the hands of a professional," Lalit Mansingh, a former foreign secretary, told Reuters.

Rajasthan board Class 10th result 2019 to be declared on June 3; here's all you need to know

Rich Indians may soon face difficulty in getting US visa over annual cap issue
In a major blow to India's newly elected government, US President Donald Trump has terminated India's designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key GSP (Generalised System of Preference) trade programme, with effect from June 5. The White House in a statement said India had not assured the United States that it would provide "equitable and reasonable access" to its markets, which was why the Trump administration had taken the action.

The US government had notified India on March 4, 2019, of its intent to terminate the country's designation. The 60-day notice period ended on May 3. "I have determined that India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India's designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019," Trump said. Notably, the decision would put additional tariffs burden of over $300 million on the American businesses every year.

The government has responded to the US action, saying India, as part of bilateral trade discussions, had offered resolution on significant US requests to find a mutually acceptable solution but to no avail. "India, like the US and other nations will always uphold its national interest in these matters," a statement by the Ministry of Commerce said.

India was the largest beneficiary of the programme in 2017 with $5.6 billion worth of exports to the US being given duty-free status, according to a Congressional Research Service report issued in January. According to The Washington Post, while the US remains India's top export partner, receiving more than $48 billion in goods from the country in 2017, just over 10% of imports from India benefit from the programme, which was to expire in December 2020. Turkey, the other new target in Trump's trade wars, was the fifth largest beneficiary with $1.7 billion in covered imports.

The move is the latest push by the Trump administration to reduce US trade deficits and redress what it considers to be unfair trading relationships with other countries, starting with China. In addition, Trump has repeatedly called out India for high tariffs.

What is the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA)?

These agreements give signing nations special or preferential access to each other's markets, giving a boost to overall trade. In the US, the GSP programme - designed to promote economic growth in the beneficiary developing countries - provides duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories.

The criteria for inclusion in the GSP programme include factors such as providing the US with equitable and reasonable market access, respecting arbitral awards in favour of US citizens or corporations, combating child labour, providing adequate and effective intellectual property protection, and respecting internationally recognised worker rights, among others.

The overall impact on India

The bilateral trade between India and the US stood at $74.5 billion in 2017-18, up 15.5 per cent from $64.5 billion in the previous fiscal. However, the numbers are skewed in India's favour. For instance, India reportedly imported items worth $26.3 billion from the US in FY19 (April-December) but posted a total export of $38.8 billion. Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan had earlier said that the GSP withdrawal would not have a significant impact on India's exports to the US since the duty benefit, or savings on import tariffs amounted to only $190 million annually.

Moreover, Monideepa M Mukherjee, a spokeswoman for India's commerce ministry, had also told Associated Press that GSP was in any case "meant for least-developed countries, and India has graduated out of that". The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) also believes that India's exports to the US will remain unaffected by Trump's latest move since it will only have a marginal impact on a few domestic sectors such as processed food, leather, plastic, building material and tiles, engineering goods, and hand tools, among others.

Options before India

The buzz is that India may take a firm stance by imposing retaliatory tariffs on the US. If this comes to pass, a total of 29 items imported from the US, including walnuts, lentils, boric acid and diagnostic reagents, will face higher duties, cutting benefits to the US exporters. The move will put an extra burden of $290 million per year on US items exported to India.

Edited by Manoj Sharma
A disgruntled public utility employee opened fire with a handgun on co-workers at a municipal building in Virginia on Friday afternoon, killing 12 people and wounding at least four before he was fatally shot by police, authorities said.

The mass shooting in the coastal resort of Virginia Beach was the deadliest instance of U.S. gun violence since November 2018, when a dozen people were slain at a Los Angeles-area bar and grill by a gunman who then killed himself.

Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said the suspect in Friday's carnage was armed with a .45-caliber pistol equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and "extended" ammunition magazines he used to reload repeatedly during the attack.

Survivors recounted scenes of pandemonium and fear that erupted as gunshots rang out, and workers scurried frantically for cover.

"We just heard people yelling and screaming to get down," Megan Banton, a public utilities worker, told television station WAVY-TV, recalling that she and co-workers barricaded themselves in their office.

"We put the desk up against the door because we didn't know if they were coming in. We were just hoping that it would be over soon, and then we heard the cops yelling up the steps."

The first victim was shot in a vehicle outside the public works and utilities building at the city municipal center before the suspect entered that building and "immediately and indiscriminately fired upon all the victims," Cervera said.

The chief said the suspect engaged in a "long-term gun battle" with four police officers who confronted him inside, preventing the gunman from "committing more carnage in that building."

One officer was wounded in the shootout, but his bullet-proof vest saved his life, Cervera said. Authorities said the gunman ultimately was shot by police and was declared dead at a hospital.

Donald Trump says US to end preferential trade treatment for India on June 5

'MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS'

Cervera said the suspect was a longtime public utilities employee, and described him as "disgruntled," but declined to say more about what may have precipitated the attack.

"We have more questions than we really have answers," he told reporters about two hours after the shooting.

The shooting was believed to be the deadliest act of workplace gun violence in the United States since February, when a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.

Authorities have determined the suspect's identity but are not ready to make the name public, Cervera said.

"We will release his name once," the chief said. "Then he will be forever referred to as 'the suspect,' because our focus now is on the dignity and respect of the victims and their families."

The bloodshed unfolded, according to police, at Building Two of the municipal center complex, where office space for more than 400 employees houses information technology, public works, planning and utilities departments next door to City Hall.

The complex lies several miles inland from the town's popular seashore, situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Southeast Virginia's most populous city has roughly 450,000 year-round residents.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dyer said at a news conference with the police chief. "The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues."

Arriving in town a short time after the shooting, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said: "This is just a horrific day."

"Our hearts ache for victims of the senseless violence that has been inflicted on the community," he told a news conference hours later.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting and "continues to monitor the situation."

Pompeo, Wilbur Ross to address this year's India Ideas Summit in Washington
Indian budget airline SpiceJet Ltd is examining the prospect of taking over widebody jets previously operated by Jet Airways Ltd, but initial studies show they need significant maintenance work, its chairman said on Saturday. SpiceJet, which operates narrowbody and turboprop planes, does not have firm plans to become a widebody operator with longer-range flights in the wake of Jet's collapse in April, SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh said.

"Certainly a gap has been created and there seems to be an opportunity but it is also a business that we don't know very much about. A higher risk business," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an airline industry conference in Seoul.

"We are exploring it. We'll see. If it looks like it is significantly profitable we can do it." Leasing or buying widebody jets not previously operated by Jet are another possibility, he said. SpiceJet took over the leases of 25 Boeing Co 737 jets previously operated by Jet in April and May.

The carrier plans to add another 35 planes throughout the financial year ending March 31, 2020, including some more ex-Jet aircraft on lease, some Q400 turboprops and "hopefully" 737 MAX jets after regulators approve the return to service of the grounded model, Singh said.

SpiceJet had a 13.1% share of India's domestic market in April, according to government statistics, behind IndiGo's 49.9% and Air India's 13.9%. Singh said IndiGo's increasing dominance of the domestic market was becoming a cause for concern to the broader industry. "I think the government will have to explore what possibilities exist" for remedies, he said. "We haven't thought about it as yet. The government has just been elected and we are in the middle of a massive expansion ourselves."

Also read: SpiceJet inducts 22 grounded Jet Airways planes; to add 8 more aircraft

Also read: BT Buzz: IndiGo, SpiceJet stare at tough times with vicious fare war ahead
OTTAWA, June 1, 2019

Today marks the beginning of National Indigenous History Month.

In 2009, the House of Commons unanimously passed a law designating June as National Aboriginal History Month, in recognition of Indigenous Peoples contributions to the building of Canada and the strength of our nations Indigenous communities.

During National Indigenous History Month, Canadians are encouraged to take part in numerous activities that will take place across the country, including the festivities on National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21. These are all great opportunities to showcase the unique heritage, cultures, traditions, worldview and remarkable achievements of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.

Canada is proud to join with other nations around the world to mark UNESCO's International Year of Indigenous Languages in 2019, in order to highlight the critical challenges facing Indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote them. In Canada, three out of four of the 90 living Indigenous languages are classified by UNESCO as endangered.

Indigenous languages contribute to the diversity and richness of Canada's linguistic and cultural heritage. They are an integral part of the reconciliation process. Our government is committed to reconciliation through a renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples, focused on rights, respect, trust, cooperation and partnership. With that in mind, we fully supported the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. In addition, we have implemented ten principles respecting the Government of Canada's relationship with Indigenous Peoples.

On February 5, I introduced Bill C-91, An Act Respecting Indigenous Languages, to reappropriate, revitalize, preserve and strengthen First Nations, Metis and Inuit languages. This is a historic milestone and a step toward healing and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

As Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, I invite you to celebrate the vital role Indigenous Peoples play in building a better nation for Indigenous youth, their families, all Canadians and future generations. We have a collective duty, based on understanding and respect, to recognize and enforce the rights of Indigenous Peoples and to be open to Indigenous languages and cultures. Together, let's celebrate National Indigenous History Month!
June 1, 2019 Toronto, Ontario Parks Canada Agency





In 1956 and 1957, Canada received more than 37,500 refugees who fled Hungary after Soviet troops marched on Budapest to crush a revolution that sought political reform and independence from the Soviet Union. Spurred by popular sympathy, the Canadian government acted quickly to select, transport, and resettle people in cooperation with non-profit organizations; a successful and unprecedented process which later established an important model for the reception of future refugees to Canada.





Today, Arif Virani, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the Minister of Democratic Institutions, and Member of Parliament for Parkdale  High Park, commemorated the national historic significance of the Refugees of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with a special ceremony to unveil a plaque at Budapest Park. The park is known locally as the heart of the Hungarian community in Toronto. The announcement was made on behalf of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, Catherine McKenna.





The repression of this uprising generated the largest wave of refugees since the months following the end of the Second World War. In only three months, almost 200,000 Hungarians - about 2% of the population of Hungary - sought refuge from the Communist regime. In response to this crisis, Canada provided assistance to Hungarian refugees with measures such as simplifying admission of immigrants, negotiating Hungarian escape from camps, providing for the needs of refugees upon arrival to Canada, and assuming most of the associated costs of resettling. Since then, the refugees have gone on to make significant contributions to economic and cultural life across Canada.





The Government of Canada, through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, recognizes significant people, places, and events that shaped our country as one way of helping Canadians and youth connect with their past. The commemoration process is largely driven by public nominations. To date, more than 2,000 designations have been made.
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.
Audi has revised prices for the A3 sedan in India and it is now available at a special starting price of Rs 28.99 lakhs (ex-showroom). The German luxury car manufacturer has announced the special price to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the A3 sedan in India. There are no other changes apart from revision in prices across the A3 product line up in India.

Mechanically, the Audi A3 sedan is available in two engine options - a 2.0-litre four-cylinder TDI engine (35TDI) which produces a maximum power output of 141bhp and the 1.4-litre TFSI engine (35TFSI) that generates a maximum power of 148bhp. The Audi A3 35 TFSI also comes with an intelligent engine and has the Cylinder on Demand (COD) efficiency technology. As per ARAI certification, Audi A3 returns a fuel efficiency figure of 19.2kmpl (A3 35TFSI) and 20.38kmpl (A3 35TDI).

As for features, the Audi A3 sedan gets a panoramic sunroof, Audi phone box with wireless charging, two-zone AC with rear vents and entry LED lights with Audi logo. The S line package is now available for the Audi A3, which includes - S line front and rear bumpers and side skirts, S line radiator grille, S line rear diffuser, tailpipes in chrome, illuminated door sill trim with S logo and S line badge on the front fenders.

The revision in Audi A3 sedan prices is as follows 

A3 35 TFSI Premium Plus - Rs 33.12 lakhs (Old Price) / Rs 28.99 lakhs (New Price)

A3 35 TFSI Technology - Rs 34.57 lakhs (Old Price) / Rs 30.99 lakhs (New Price)

A3 35 TDI Premium Plus - Rs 34.93 lakhs (Old Price) / Rs 29.99 lakhs (New Price)

A3 35 TDI Technology - Rs 36.12 lakhs (Old Price) / Rs 31.99 lakhs (New Price)

Audi A3  N/A Onwards

Audi | Audi A3 | A3
To Tucker McClendon:

I realize you have only been on the school board about nine months, and answers to the questions I asked you eight days ago in an email are not included in the orchestrated message from Dr. Johnson's "statement of values" budget speech to help garner support for the budget you enthusiastically voted to approve, but I would like to know if you have any intentions of answering my questions or must you wait for the HCDE P-R Department to instruct you on how to answer the questions before you respond? We all now understand how the HCDE wants to "control" the message.





In an attempt to discredit information I am sharing at my community meetings the narrative and message from the HCDE PR Department about comparing teacher pay has suddenly changed. Due to me fact-checking their message about losing teachers to Georgia due to pay being untrue, the story is now "...teacher salaries in Hamilton County are less than other counties within Tennessee..." "Control" the message.





After watching News Channel 3's report on the BX Community meeting retired HCDE Principal and two term District 8 School board member David Testerman texted me this message last night and with his permission I am sharing it with you, "...I agree with your statement on News 3. fight the good fight..." Thank you David...appreciate the input...





Lennon about the elderly not being affected by a tax increase? Are school board members really this mis-informed by the HCDE PR Department attempting to "control" the message? And by the way, why does a School Board member make statements like the ones by Ms.Lennon about the elderly not being affected by a tax increase? Are school board members really this mis-informed by the HCDE PR Department attempting to "control" the message?

County Commissioner Tim Boyd
Meet the new Batman. Robert Pattinson, best known for playing vampire Edward Cullen in Twilight, will portray the Caped Crusader in the upcoming movie The Batman, Deadline reported.



Matt Reeves will direct Pattinson in the movie, which will focus on the formative years of Bruce Wayne. The movie will start pre-production this summer and is supposed to hit theaters on June 25, 2021.



Pattinson is taking over the part from Ben Affleck



Robert Pattinson | Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

Ben Affleck is the most recent actor to play Batman on the big screen, in 2017s Justice League. Initially, he was also going to star in and direct The Batman. But after playing the character in three films, he decided to exit the superhero franchise. (Affleck also appeared in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad.)



I tried to direct a version of it and worked with a really good screenwriter, but just couldnt come up with a version, I couldnt crack it, he said on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this year. So I thought it was time to let someone else take a shot at it. They got some really good people so Im excited.



Pattinson will be the ninth actor to play Batman in a live-action movie



Lewis Wilson as Batman and Douglas Croft as Robin in the 1943 movie Batman. | Columbia Pictures/Getty Images

Batman made his comic book debut in 1939, and it didnt take long for him to make the jump from print to movies. Pattinson is actually the ninth actors to portray the character in a live-action film.



The first of many Batman movies arrived in 1943, with Lewis G. Wilson starring as the millionaire turned crime fighter in a 15-part serial.



Robert Lowery was the second actor to respond to the Bat Signal. He starred in the 1949 serial Batman & Robin. After that, there was a nearly two-decade gap before audiences saw Bruce Wayne again in theaters.



In 1966, Adam West made Batman his own when he started playing the character on the classic Batman TV series. He also put on his tights in the same year for Batman: The Movie.



Batman since the 1960s



Michael Keaton as Batman | Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

After Wests turn as the Caped Crusader, there was another two-decade stretch where Batman was absent from the movies. But he returned in a big way in 1989 in Tim Burtons Batman, with Michael Keaton as the title character. Keaton reprised the role in the 1992 sequel Batman Returns.



When Joel Schumacher took over the franchise in 1995, audiences got a new Batman as well, with Val Kilmer suiting up for Batman Forever. But his time in Gotham City was short, and when 1997s Batman & Robin was released, George Clooney had taken on the role. That widely reviled movie was a box-office bomb, and plans for a sequel were canceled.



Thankfully, the series got a reboot in 2005 with Batman Begins. Christian Bale played Bruce Wayne the hit movie and then returned for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.



Four years after Bale hung up his cape, Affleck made his DC Universe debut in Batman v. Superman. Now, Pattinson is set to play the part.



But before The Batman arrives in theaters, one more actor will play the Bruce Wayne character. Dante Pereira-Olson has been cast as a young Bruce Wayne in Joker (which stars Joaquin Phoenix in the title role). It comes on October 4, 2019.



Other Batman actors



Bale, Keaton, and Affleck are just a few of the many men whove brought Batman to life. Several other actors have played the character in animated movies, TV series, and video games.

Will Arnett played Batman in The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie, and The LEGO Movie 2. Kevin Conroy voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series in the mid-1990s and Rino Romano in The Batman, another animated series. David Mazouz plays a young Bruce Wayne in the live-action series Gotham. And additional actors have played the character in additional cartoons and video games.


It looks like Kim Kardashian West is working hard to help out another inmate she is certain has been wronged by the criminal justice system.



The reality star is once again using her platform to help an inmate who is currently on death row for a crime she is certain he did not commit.

Kim Kardashian | Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

According to sources, Kardashian recently visited inmate Kevin Cooper, who she has been working with since October, to prove to Californias governor and other government officials that he is and always has been innocent.



Who is Kevin Cooper?

Kim Kardashian West is determined to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, and her latest campaign proves just how serious she is.



On May 30, Kardashian spoke with convicted murderer Kevin Cooper, who is on death row in San Quentin prison, in an effort to get to know his story a little better.

After sitting down with Kevin, Kardashian later tweeted out a photo of him describing their meeting.

I had an emotional meeting with Kevin Cooper yesterday at San Quentins death row. I found him to be thoughtful and honest and I believe he is innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted, she tweeted.

I had an emotional meeting with Kevin Cooper yesterday at San Quentins death row. I found him to be thoughtful and honest and I believe he is innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted. pic.twitter.com/FveajjjA5y  Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 1, 2019

The reality star has been advocating for Cooper after learning of his unfair trial and conviction back in October.



Cooper and Kardashian talked for two hours as he explained how hes been behind bars for 36 years even though he is innocent.



Back in 1983, Kevin Cooper was convicted of murdering Douglas and Peggy Ryan, their 10-year-old daughter Jessica, and 10-year-old Chris Hughes in their Chino Hills home.

Even though hes maintained his innocent all these years, Cooper has had to deal with the ever-changing death row penalty policies, which is where he stands today.

Kim has brought Kevins case to the Governors attention

Kim is certain Kevin has been wrongfully accused and has been working since October to get the Governor to look into Coppers case according to TMZ.

Californias then-Governor Jerry Brown and government officials took Kims pleas into consideration and looked back into Coopers case.



When Kevin Copper was convicted back in the 80s, investigators were certain they had found his DNA at the crime scene.

However, Cooper appealed the ruling and it was found that his blood, which was found on a T-shirt at the crime scene, had test tube preservative on it.

Cooper tried to prove his innocence time and time again but his attempts were not taken seriously.

After Kim Kardashian West asked Governor Brown to look into Coopers case through Twitter, Brown eventually ordered DNA testing and further testing was ordered by Californias new Governor, Gavin Newsom.

Governor Brown, please add Kevin Cooper to your legacy of smart, fair and thoughtful criminal justice reforms. https://t.co/OzhZIWdxWL  Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) October 7, 2018

With Newsom being against the death penalty, he has suspended all executions during his reign as Govenor.

There is a good chance with Kim Kardashian Wests help, Kevin Cooper could have his freedom back one day soon.

It has been reported that Kim Kardashian is using her knowledge of the legal system wisely and her time spent studying to become a lawyer has really paid off.

So far, Kim has helped free over 17 prisoners over the last three months as part of her campaign and is not looking to stop anytime soon.

The reality star has had a great track record so far helping wrongfully convicted individuals prove their innocence and at the rate shes going, Kevin Copper could see the light of day a lot sooner than he thinks.


NCIS  the most-watched scripted show on TV with ever-increasing ratings  boasts an unrivaled international fanbase. From grandmas in the United States to teenagers in Asia and college millennials in France, the shows demographic is impressively widespread. Thus, when it comes to fame, NCIS stars (and former stars) Mark Harmon, Cote de Pablo, Sean Murray, and Michael Weatherly have all grown accustomed to being spottedno matter where they go.

Cote de Pablo | Photo by Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

While Cote de Pablo left the show in 2013 (before returning this year), her character Ziva David remained in the hearts of fans everywhere. Though many were initially skeptical concerning her casting, as she was brought on to replace Agent Todd, she quickly found her way into the hearts of millions.

The former Mossad agent confusing America idioms was irresistible. Now that shes back, and set to appear in the premiere of season 17, fans cant wait to see where her story will go following her six-year-long absence.

During an interview with Rachel Ray, Cote de Pablo discussed what its like playing Ziva David, during which she noted a very awkward fan encounter experienced while visiting Ecuador.



Cote de Pablo on the NCIS and Ziva David admirer living in Ecuador



During the interview, Rachel Ray states, Even when youre traveling, people must recognize you from the show. Its a global phenomenon. Cote de Pablo, remembering a specific story, responded:



I was actually in Ecuador at a supermarketAnd Im just, you know, walking through the aisles. I think I had like five tamales that I took home, and theyre in my refrigerator. And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a man, kind of a baldish man, comes up to me and he goes [imitating the man by puffing out her chest and shoulders, while placing her hands on her hips] Ziva David in the hallway. And I just looked at him, and I said [hesitantly] yes, and then he proceeded to just kind of come really close to me, And it totally caught me. It was just out of context.

Rachel Ray Show

Cote de Pablo goes on to explain how she was surprised, since she was in another country, looking like a civilian, and sort of disguised, undercover, as such. Yet, Cote de Pablo is not the first to experience such an occurrence; Mark Harmon had a similar experience when traveling with his wife in Austria.

Just how famous is NCIS and who watches the show?



If being the most-watched scripted show on television doesnt paint a picture of just how popular NCIS is, maybe Vices explanation will help. In an article discussing NCIS, Drew Millard explains the audience as one that on any given episode is double the population of North Carolina. 10.38 million people live in North Carolina!

It's the shocking finale everyone is talking about! Stream the #NCIS season 16 finale full episode now: https://t.co/uunJYIaM56 pic.twitter.com/d1T96rN9Ve  NCIS (@NCIS_CBS) May 22, 2019

Though famous across several demographic, NCIS is most-watched among viewers 55 and older; however, its also quite popular among viewers aged 35-54 and viewers aged 18-34. While more people aged 35-54 are aware of the shows existence, an equal amount of people in the 18-34 and 35-54 ranges watch the show on a weekly basis.



When it comes to NCIS, it definitely isnt a pre-teens go-to; however, it doesnt look like the show needs to conquer that audience anytime soon. NCIS is doing just fine pleasing the age groups already tuning in.
Southern Charm is all about old money and new drama, and few of its stars embody that better than Kathryn Dennis. And with all of the courtroom custody battles and accusations flying left and right, it seems as if Kathryn Dennis and her ex, Thomas Ravenel, have the drama accounted for. As for old money, Dennis has that under control as well. Kathryn comes from a lush political background. And while it was almost two centuries ago, one of her ancestors was an important figure in Americas political history  and not a very racially tolerant one.



Kathryn Calhoun Dennis and her family history

Dennis full name, Kathryn Calhoun Dennis, gives an immediate hint to her checkered family history. Working backwards, Dennis is the granddaughter of South Carolina Senator Rembert C. Dennis.



Rembert C. Dennis served in the South Carolina Senate from 1943 to 1988 as a registered Democrat. Dennis once famously opened a session of Congress with what was allegedly an impressive turkey mating call.



However, Dennis real claim to historical fame is her direct relationship with John C. Calhoun. Calhoun was the 7th Vice President of the U.S., serving directly under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. They were called the Great Triumvirate and essentially dominated U.S. politics in the first half of the 19th century.



Calhouns dangerous policy

To say that John C. Calhoun supported slavery was an understatement. Widely recognized as the political voice of the antebellum South, its Calhoun who once said that slavery is a positive good for all parties involved.



Calhoun once gave an infamous speech in which he said, I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a gooda positive good.



Calhoun also once said, Never before has the black racefrom the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually.



Some historians also see Calhoun as the man who helped spur on the Civil War. Though Calhoun never wanted the South to become separatist, it was his belief that the South needed special privileges and protections as a minority area in the United States.

Kathryn Dennis politics

Kathryn Dennis seems to have had political aspirations of her own, perhaps in an effort to carry on the familys political history. Dennis went to University of South Carolina, where she studies both womens studies and political science. According to Bustle, Dennis was active in her universitys Republican group, as well as their Delta Delta Delta sorority.



In 2010, Dennis serves as an intern for the South Carolina Lieutenant Governors office. She also served as a page in 2010 to Senator John Land. However, it has been some time since Dennis was once politically active, and it leaves fans wondering if shell ever pick up the mantle and go for it again. Theres the possibility that the recent drama on Southern Charm might harm her prospects, however.


If youre a big fan of The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond, then you know she despises bananas. She often talks about her hatred of the fruit during interviews. We know Drummond doesnt want to be in the same room as a banana, but what is the reason? Heres why The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond hates bananas.

Ree Drummond really hates bananas

The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Hearst

In a 2011 post on The Pioneer Woman blog, Drummond wrote about her dislike of bananas. Heres what she said about the horror she feels when shes near a banana:

I hate, abhor, loathe, and recoil at the sight of bananas. Ive disliked them my entire life, even when I was a baby. And I happen to believe that this is some sort of genetic aversion, as both my dad and one of my brothers share it, too. In my entire forty-two years on this earth, Ive never eaten a whole banana. Ive had accidental bites here and there, half of which were promptly spit out into a napkin.

Will The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond ever serve bananas at her restaurant?

You might be wondering if bananas will ever make it onto the menu at Drummonds Pawhuska, Oklahoma restaurant, The Mercantile. It shouldnt come as a surprise that you wont see bananas in the Pioneer Womans restaurant. The Food Network star told Fox News she doesnt plan for bananas to be on the menu any time soon. I have a restaurant and bakery, and theres not a singular banana in the whole joint, said Drummond. Every once in a while, one of the customers will ask, You think youll ever have a banana cream pie? and the answer is always no, she added.

Ree Drummond made an exception at her ice cream shop

Drummond really hates bananas, but she hasnt banned them from all her establishments. She told Fox News she has been collaborating with a team of chefs and bakers so she can work on new flavors and menu ideas. The publication says Drummond gave in and allowed one banana dish at her ice cream parlor. We do offer a banana split there, she told Fox News.

Why does Ree Drummond hate bananas?

Ree Drummond and Sam Champion | Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images

Drummond says on her blog that she will never like bananas. I am unabashedly anti-banana. I wear it like a badge. Its part of my identity, along with being a redhead and someone whos never watched The Princess Bride or Groundhog Day, she wrote. But what is the reason for her aversion to the fruit?

The Food Network star mentions on her blog that she dislikes the taste and texture of bananas. She also said she used to have nightmares about being chased by bananas. I remembered all the nightmares Id had about bananas. In one of them, a large banana is chasing me with a machete, she wrote. Drummond hates bananas so much, she often mentions it during interviews. In her interview with Design and Living Magazine, she made sure it was clear she doesnt like the fruit. I dont like bananas. I like to drive that point home, said Drummond.

Read more: Is The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond Doing Too Much?

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We thought about putting a headline of Queen Elizabeth is a Racehorse Gambler, but we knew that would sound like an article from The Onion. If you still think the idea is bogus the queen has made millions of dollars from the horse racing industry, you dont know everything about her.

Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Windsor Horse Show | Tim Graham/Getty Images

It turns out Queen Elizabeth has owned and bred her own racehorses for years and continues to make money off of them. This hobby must be in the Windsor blood because her mother did the same thing throughout the 20th century.

How much money the queen has earned from racing her horses hasnt always been known. The real amount might surprise you, which could reluctantly inspire more horse gamblers in America.

When did Queen Elizabeth start moving into horse racing?

Queen Elizabeth II attends Newbury racecourse to watch 3 of her race horses. pic.twitter.com/zsrphAziRJ  Steve Parsons (@parsnippo) April 13, 2019

Those of you who ever want to see the queen letting her guard down would be smart to make an effort to see her at a British horse racing event. She reportedly nurtured her love of raising and racing horses over three decades ago.

Her interest in raising horses and horse racing seem to go back much further in time, but she didnt race her own horses professionally until 1988.

No doubt it became addictive when she realized her horses could win her major pounds. All of that fortune the Windsors have wasnt entirely handed on a silver platter. Now we know the queen made a small part of her money racing her self-bred horses.

The exact seven figure shes earned undoubtedly surprises even her most ardent supporters from inside or outside her inner circle.

How much money has Queen Elizabeth made from horse racing?

Queen Elizabeth II has won over $8.8 million from horse racing prize money in the past three decades https://t.co/gywEm18nih pic.twitter.com/03jCXTBnL2  CNN (@CNN) October 26, 2017

We once reported the queen made $8 million dollars racing her horses over the last 31 years. In pounds equivalence, thats 7,768,448.

Other sources claim its closer to $9 million in American money. Out of 2,830 races her 100 horses have run in, theyve won 451 of them. Mathematically, this places her horses on a 16% winning track record as an impressive percentage.

How many racehorse gamblers here in America probably popped their eyeballs seeing these figures? We know horse racing still has a strong market in some American circles, especially when you include the Kentucky Derby and related races. However, horse race gambling has likely dropped off here compared to what it once was in a different era.

You could once find numerous celebrities who would often be seen at a horse track gambling away on their favorite horses. With more animal activism in celebrity culture, you arguably dont see this as much today. Regardless, some notables today are still very much involved.

Gambling on horses likely keeps the queen feeling useful

Happy 89th birthday #QueenElizabeth. Discover more about The Queen's passion for horse racing http://t.co/a7QfA0Tw8d pic.twitter.com/pKBOroXHzD  Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) April 21, 2015

Something worth pondering is the queen was probably looking for something in her life where she could earn money through her own labors. Being handed money without really earning it as a royal is perhaps more than a little psychologically damaging. Then again, her duties as queen havent been a bed of roses.

While perhaps she feels her work as queen makes up at least a quarter of her earnings, breeding horses and having them win races would give a much quicker feeling of satisfaction.

Plus, earning millions of pounds is nothing to complain about when you realize the queen isnt really a billionaire.

Then you have the general excitement of a horse race, something she palpably feels if youve seen pics of her watching her horses run. Thanks to the fast pace of racing horses, you can see why shes likely found it addictive. In a time when British protocol is still archaically methodical and tedious, horse racing undoubtedly continues to keep the queen mentally healthy.
Like many retired military service members of his particular vintage, Jerry Herker served a tour in Vietnam during the war. But unlike many others, his experience didnt result in so much emotional baggage as it did perspective.

It changes your whole attitude toward life, Herker said during an interview in his modest split-level Medical Lake home he and his wife, Patti, have lived in for some 40 years.

Herker spent most of his 27-year Air Force career working on aircraft as a maintenance technician, wrenching on everything from small, single engine Cessna O-1 forward observation planes to F-4 Phantom fighters and B-52s.

From his enlistment in 1963 to his retirement as a Chief Master Sgt., Herker served on bases from the now defunct Schilling Air Force Base in Amarillo, Tex. to the remote Shemya AFB, now Eareckson Air Station, in Alaska, near the tip of the Aleutian Island archipelago that separates the north Pacific and the Bearing Sea.

He met Patti while he was stationed at Minot AFB, N.D. They married in September 1969. A month later he received orders to Vietnam.

Herkers assignment was to support air operations from a small airfield in Bao Loc, just west of Cam Ranh Bay in the Lam Dong province in Central Highlands region of then South Vietnam, as a crew chief.

It was kind of an isolated location, he said.

The airstrip from which the units three single-engine Cessna O-1 Bird Dog planes flew consisted of interlocking, perforated steel planking. There were no runway lights, he said. His unit consisted of just nine men  four pilots, another crew chief, two radio operators and a single intelligence officer.

Their mission: to serve as the air element of forward air controllers, or FACs, who performed reconnaissance and coordinated air-ground operations with ground combat units.

Part of Herkers job as a FAC-er was to load white phosphorous rockets beneath the wings of the planes. White phosphorous is a self-igniting incendiary that burns with a white smoke. The rockets were not for direct offensive purposes, but to highlight targets for artillery and air-ground support aircraft. Pilots flew missions alone.

These pilots would put these rockets in as close to the bad guy as they could as a marker, Herker said.

He and his small crew were self-sustaining. The rockets were shipped to them in pieces, which they had to assemble before placing them on the aircrafts wings. They pumped fuel into the aircraft with hand pumps.

Their living quarters were steel conex boxes surrounded by sandbags in whats known as a MAC-V, or military assistance command, a joint-service facility Herker and his comrades shared with a U.S. Army unit. An Army artillery unit regularly fired over their heads.

But the airfield where they worked was a mile and a half from the main MAC-V compound. Herker and his eight fellow airmen also served as airfield security, with Army back up, if needed. There were, of course, always armed.

They occasionally had rockets fired in their direction. Unexploded ordinance had to sporadically be removed from the runway.

We actually worked 24/7, Herker said. We flew airplanes every day unless the weather wouldnt let us.

He recalled the Bao Loc area as being fairly benign in terms of conflict, possibly because of the presence of Montagnards, people indigenous to the Central Highlands who became important allies of the U.S. military there.

Still, they were occasionally attacked.

We knew when the rockets were coming because the mamasans wouldnt come to work that day, Herker recalled.

Mamasan is a broadly used colloquial military term of endearment for local women, typically at Asian duty stations, who are often employed as domestic labor for U.S. servicemen.

If the mamasans didnt come to work we knew you better get your flak jacket and helmet on and take your gun and head for the bunker that night, Herker said.

Herker said he didnt see or experience any direct loss of life during his tour. Still, he was cautious.

You had to be more aware of your surroundings because you were in a combat zone, he said.

Herkers own experience about his tour in Vietnam was that he didnt see much difference between being stationed there during a war, or at any other stateside duty station.

His philosophy about Vietnam is different than most, saying that he didnt think Vietnam vets had it any worse than combat veterans of other wars, at least in his experience.

I dont care which war youre in, war is hell, he said.

The difference with Vietnam vets wasnt in their combat experiences, but in the attitudes of Americans when they arrived home.

When we came back from Vietnam is where we had it so much different, Herker explained. We didnt come back with any respect from the general public.

Like most Vietnam veterans, he too experienced the direct, individual criticism and vitriol of protesters who lay in wait for returning servicemen when they landed back home.

He was in uniform when he arrived in San Francisco from Vietnam. Protesters confronted the returning GIs in the baggage claim area of the airport, spitting on them and calling them baby killers. They would approach servicemen individually or in small groups, step in front of the men and challenge them.

At least that was Herkers experience. He did nothing when protesters confronted him, he said. He just turned and walked away.

I had comments Id have liked to make, but (the protesters) werent worth making any comments over, Herker said, noting he had been counseled by superiors to not engage them. I hated them and thought they were a bunch of jerks, but that was no place to be confronting them. Be better than they are.

But Vietnam caused Herker to view life differently.

I respect life more than I did before, he said. And lives of others more than I did before.

Herker said he suffers no post traumatic stress issues, other than the occasional dream about coming under attack.

Im one of the lucky ones, he said.

After his retirement in 1990, Herker landed a job with the General Services Administration in fleet management, retiring from there in 2006.

He now serves fellow veterans through the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as he has since he retired from the Air Force. He is a past VFW state commander, and is currently serving as chief of staff for the national VFW commander-in-chief, a job which has him traveling all over the U.S.

He is also active in the Spokane Area Veterans Honor Guard, a group who participates in funeral services for veterans in the greater Spokane region.

Wherever they need us to go, well go, he said.

Asked why he serves in in those capacities, and Herkers response was mission-driven.

When I retired my purpose was serving veterans, and helping veterans, their families and service members, he said. Thats what we do. Thats our mission in the VFW.

Overall, Herker said he enjoyed his Air Force career and the people he served with, all without regret.

He estimated that 98 percent of the people attending Memorial Day services are veterans and their families  people who served or families of those who served.

He felt most people dont understand what service members families endure while their husband, wife, father or mother are deployed.

Its a heavy load to put on families, Herker said. Kids back home  a lot of stress for them to go through.

Theyre the ones that support all this stuff, the family members of veterans, Herker said of celebrations like Memorial Day.

The mission of the VFW is, in part, To serve our veterans, the military and our communities. To advocate on behalf of all veterans, according to the VFW website.

Herker has done just that for 29 years  longer than he served in the Air Force. Which might explain his prevailing attitude toward society in general.

I want people to know that if it wasnt for veterans, you and I wouldnt be here. Theres a reason we have the freedoms weve got, he said

Its something that shouldnt be taken for granted.

People think they are owed something and theyre not, Herker said.

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.
PCA Presbytery rejects Revoice Conference, says it's not a 'safe guide' on gender, sex issues

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A regional body of the Presbyterian Church in America is denouncing the Revoice Conference, which is a gathering of LGBT Christians who seek to adhere to biblical standards of sexual ethics, as not a safe guide on issues of gender and sex.

The Central Carolina Presbytery formed a committee last November to investigate the theological merits of the inaugural Revoice Conference, held July 2018 at the Memorial Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, Missouri, a PCA congregation.

The 16-page report, posted Tuesday on The Gospel Coalitions website by PCA Pastor Kevin DeYoung, expressed concerns that some of the principal voices in Revoice have not been careful enough with their labels, their theology, and their relational advice.

Consequently, at present we do not feel Revoice is a safe guide in helping Christians navigate questions of gender and sexuality, stated the report.

In evaluating the Revoice speakers, the report noted that a key disagreement between them and the conference was whether same-sex attraction only becomes sinful when acted upon.

The answer to that question will profoundly shape our pastoral care, our advice for the same-sex attracted, our language, our prayers, and the labels we use, the report explained.

Most of our disagreements with Revoice start with the theological conviction that the desire for an illicit end is itself an illicit desire.

The Presbytery committees report did commend Revoice for adhering to biblical marriage and for their desire to help sexual strugglers stay rooted in Christ and in historic orthodoxy.

While we disagree with important aspects of what was said and assumed at the Revoice Conference, in so far as the movement acts as a reminder for all of us to be welcoming, sympathetic, and hospitable, there are valuable things we can learn and necessary lessons to be appropriated, continued the report.

The same-sex attracted among us need what all of us need, and what can only be found in the church: the redeeming power of gospel truth and the transformational love of gospel people.

Nate Collins, president and founder of Revoice, sent The Christian Post with a statement on Wednesday in response to the Presbytery's findings.

"While we appreciate the charitable tone from the Central Carolina Presbytery committee, a number of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations remain," Revoice asserted in its statement.

Revoice also directed CP to a report by the PCA Missouri Presbytery, which they consider to be the best assessment of their conference and which included both compliments and critical feedback.

"At this point, we believe that the Missouri Presbytery has provided the most careful, thoughtful, and accurate report  which was based, in part, on numerous conversations with those directly involved with Revoice," continued the statement.

Revoice garneredcontroversy when it was first announced last year. Some were concerned that the conference was attempting to advance LGBT ideology within conservative churches.

Stephen Black, executive director of First Stone Ministries, an organization that seeks to help people with "sexual brokenness," told The Christian Post in an earlier interview that he believed the conference was seeking "to manipulate the Church to embrace LGBT+ people as a victimized minority group instead of a group of Christians only."

Revoice promotes their need to bring all things LGBT+ into the Church for complete acceptance as legitimate identities to be embraced. They communicate that a person's sexual orientation is a fixed nature of human beings, explained Black to CP last year.

I completely disagree with this ideology as it is not biblical. A true Christian identity is man and woman, male and female, and found in Christ alone, not in an unclean term of sexual brokenness.

Greg Johnson, lead pastor of Memorial Presbyterian, which hosted the first Revoice, explained to CP last year that he felt there was "a lot of fear and misinformation out there about the conference.

"Admittedly, the conference organizers have chosen to use some language that has left some folks confused. If you've never met a celibate gay Christian, you have to read closely. They may not mean what you think they mean," noted Johnson.

"I think the big pushback has come from people who confuse the orientation and the action. Someone can experience homosexual attraction or orientation without engaging in homosexual behaviors."

Revoice will hold its second annual conference June 58 at the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, with opening night taking place at the Stifel Theatre.

Featured speakers will include Wesley Hill, assistant professor of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania; Johanna Finegan, a gay atheist who later became a Christian and started a family in 2004; Mark Yarhouse, professor of psychology at Regent University; and Nate Collins, who serves as president of Revoice.
Ravi Zacharias, Francis Chan warn US church against getting 'too comfortable'

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Ravi Zacharias and Francis Chan addressed the question of whether its possible for American Christians  whose faith may be dulled by affluence and comfort to experience God in a similar way to persecuted believers in other parts of the world.

During a Q&A session at the 2019 Church Leaders Conference, held at the Zacharias Institute in Alpharetta, Georiga, Zacharias first explained that in America and in other Western nations, comforts are more accessible and affordable than in other parts of the world.

It's easy to start climbing up the wrong tree and looking for the fruit on that tree and thinking you have all that you need, he said.

At the same time, Zacharias pointed out that many parts of the world wouldnt have heard the Gospel if it werent for the generosity of American Christians  and thats often a forgotten reality.

I'm one of those who was blessed by the giving in Canada and the United States, he said. I came to know the Lord in India, but there were missionaries from Canada and the United States there who reached my parents who reached us. And that's because the people here have grown up with an attitude of giving as one of America's greatest gifts.

In fact, sometimes a gift that's almost abused. We don't even think to what it is we are giving. We just see a need and start giving without demanding accountability at the same time.

But now, the role of the American church, Zacharias said, may be changing.

Our role may not be so much in a doing evangelism as enabling evangelism because there's a fine crop of nationals and other possibilities, he said. So yes, it is possible for us to get too comfortable. But I also want to say a big thank you for the way this country has supported the cause of world missions all over the globe. And we cannot naysay that side of it.

But the risk is "always there, he said. Whenever you have a plentiful in supply, we just have to take it as from the hand of God and not see it as a license to get free of any responsibility.



Chan, the former teaching pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, and author of Crazy Love, acknowledged that the affluence and comfort Americans enjoy isnt necessarily our fault.

I mean we live in this country and there are just a lot of comforts that come our way," he said.

Still, he argued that Scripture warns against some of those riches and how they can deaden you and place your heart to where suddenly you treasure your life here ... more than the one to come.

There is something about our culture that can soften us. What can we do about it? Does that mean we just resolve and go, Well, I live in America. We can only go so far in our walk with the Lord 'cause we're not persecuted. Absolutely not. But there are things we need to do just even in our own prayer lives when Scripture says to be sober-minded and self-controlled for the sake of your prayers."

That thought of being clear-minded rather than filling your mind with mindless texts and Facebook posts and videos and movies so where, when its time to pray, our mind is going everywhere and we lose touch with reality, Chan added. And that's the problem. That's what keeps us from some of this depth and this time with the Lord. I see it. I feel it slipping away.

While America has done much to further the Gospel, the California pastor said its hard sometimes when you go [to] other countries and meet saints around the world that have suffered so much for the Gospel.

It gets us so excited to want to be like them. And not everyone has that privilege to see that and experience that and to feel their pain and see their intimacy with Christ, he said. And so, sometimes in coming back here, I just wanted to let people know what is possible and I really believe it is possible here.

But our comforts and our riches really do fight against us in our quest for that.

The theme of the 2019 Church Leaders Conference was Blessed Are the Peacemakers and was held May 23-24.

The event description states: What does it look like for the church to be reconciled to God, to forgive one another as the Lord forgave, and to live out our message of reconciliation in a deeply-divided culture?

In addition to Chan and Zacharias, speakers included Becky Pippert, John Bechtel, Michael Ramsden, Lisa Fields, Abdu Murray, Judy Dabler, Vince Vitale and other members of the RZIM team.
Disney threatens to boycott Georgia over heartbeat abortion ban

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Disney is threatening to quit doing business in Georgia over the states recently passed law banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that it would be very difficult to continue doing business in Georgia if the state law takes effect as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2020.

I rather doubt we will, Iger told Reuters, adding, I dont see how its practical for us to continue to shoot there.

I think many people who work for us will not want to work there, and we will have to heed their wishes in that regard. Right now we are watching it very carefully.

Some have accused Disney of holding a double standard, noting that while the company considers leaving Georgia over its abortion law, they have recently considered opening a new resort in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed HB 481, also known as The Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, into law.

The Act bans abortions performed when the heartbeat of an unborn baby is detected, which is normally six weeks into a pregnancy.

Georgia is a state that values life, said Kemp when he signed the Act into law. We protect the innocent, we champion the vulnerable, we stand up and speak for those that are unable to speak for themselves.

While many pro-life activists celebrated the passage of the law, it was met by opposition and boycott calls from many in Georgias vibrant television and movie industry.

Ted Sarandos, Netflixs chief content officer, told Variety in a recent statement that his company was working with the American Civil Liberties Union to fight the new law.

We have many women working on productions in Georgia, whose rights, along with millions of others, will be severely restricted by this law, said Sarandos.

Given the legislation has not yet been implemented, well continue to film there, while also supporting partners and artists who choose not to. Should it ever come into effect, wed rethink our entire investment in Georgia.
Millennial non-Christians more spiritually curious than older nonbelievers: Barna

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Millennial-aged Americans who identify as non-Christian display more interest in spiritual issues than non-Christians from older generations, according to a Barna Group research report.

In a sample of the research released Tuesday, Barna found that 70% of non-Christian millennials reported having at least one conversation about their religious beliefs with a close friend or family member. By contrast, 52% of older non-Christians said the same.

Barna also found that 64% of millennial non-Christians reported having one or more conversations about their beliefs with a Christian, versus 44% for older non-Christians.

Millennial non-Christians are much more likely to have had one or more conversations about faith than their older counterparts and are twice as likely to express personal interest in Christianity (26% vs. 16%), explained Barna.

Theyve also had much more personal experience with all kinds of evangelistic methods than older non-Christians, including through tracts (45% vs. 26%) or encounters with a person either at church (35% vs. 19%) or on the street (30% vs. 16%).

The findings were part of a larger report titled Reviving Evangelism, which drew its findings from studies of American adults from last year.

One survey included a sample space of 992 respondents who identified as Christian. The other was of 1,001 adults who were not practicing Christians. Both studies had a margin of error of 3 percent.

In February, Barna posted another sample from the Reviving Evangelism report, which noted that non-Christians who are willing to talk about faith with Christians often do not have their preferences for dialogue met.

Barna found that while 62% of non-Christian and lapsed Christian respondents wanted to talk with a practicing Christian peer who listens without judgment, only 34% said that this practice was found among practicing Christians they know personally.

Also, 50% of non-Christian and lapsed Christian respondents said they wanted to dialogue with someone who does not force a conclusion, however only 26% said that applied to practicing Christians they knew.

Not everyone may be ready to go from A to Z in a single conversation, and pressing the topic forward may feel forced to the non-Christian  to the point of turning them away, said Brooke Hempell, senior vice president of research at the Barna Group, in an earlier interview with The Christian Post.

Allowing the other person to draw their own conclusions leaves open the possibility that they may leave the conversation without making a decision for Christ  by some evangelistic measures, that conversation would be a failure.
Pakistani pastor attacked by Muslim mob, family's home seized: report

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A Pakistani pastor and his family were attacked in their home by a radical Muslim mob in response to his Gospel ministry and are now homeless, the Missionary News Network reports.

Pastor Aziz, a former church planter who is supported by FMI (formerly known as Forgotten Missionaries International) in the Balochistan province, was the target of an attack that took place on May 27 at his home.

The attack marked the third time this year that the pastor has suffered an ambush at the hands of radical Muslims angered by his growing ministry.

According to FMI executive international director Bruce Allen, 35 men beat him, his wife and college-age daughter after entering the family's home.

Fortunately for the pastor and family, the attack was said to have occurred as a police officer was patrolling the area. The officer and his colleagues were able to rescue the Christian family from the attack. But the mob seized the familys home and they are now homeless.

Pastor Aziz, who himself had come out of a Muslim background, has been evangelizing and church planting in the province of Balochistan, Allen was quoted as saying. He said the pastor was targeted in order to stop his ministry from growing.

Aziz is said to have planted three churches in Balochistan, a province that borders Iran and Afghanistan. Aziz also operates outpost ministries along the border with Iran.

These Muslim militants want to see that stopped, Allen asserted. But we are very glad that he is alive and he is determined to continue his ministry, even though he now has no home.

According to Allen, Azizs congregations and ministries are still operating and have not been impacted by the attack. Although Aziz has faced two similar attacks already this year, it was the first time he was targeted in his home.

According to Allen, the family has previously faced persecution for their faith in Christ.

Over a decade-and-a-half ago, Allen said, Azizs 5-year-old son was kidnapped because of the familys faith in Christ. Unfortunately, the family has not seen him since the abduction.

Aziz has considered that all of his belong[ings] are lost to him, but he fully understands he is not lost to God, Allen said. Even though he has been crying on the phone as he pours out his heart  Azizs spirits remain high.

Pakistan ranks as the fifth worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2019 World Watch List. According to Open Doors, converts from Islam  such as Pastor Aziz  face the brunt of the persecution in Pakistan.

Despite persecution against Christians and other religious minorities being carried out by angry radicals, perpetrators are often not brought to justice by local authorities.

Additionally, Open Doors warns that radicals in Pakistan seem to be gaining political power since the new ruling government must maintain good diplomatic relationships with some radical groups.

Churches in Pakistan have been the subject of numerous attacks perpetrated by radicals, including the Lahore church attacks in 2015 and the Quetta church bombing in 2017.

Christian churches more active in outreach and youth work face stronger persecution in society, Open Doors USA noted in a fact sheet on Pakistan.

Last December, the U.S. State Department listed Pakistan as a country of particular concern because the government has either engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

More recently, the Pakistani government has taken some positives steps.

Asia Bibi, a Catholic mother who was on death row for blasphemy charges, was acquitted by Pakistans Supreme Court last year. After months of delay, Bibi was allowed to leave Pakistan earlier this month to start a new life with her family in Canada.

Christians are not the only ones persecuted in Pakistan. Peaceful Ahmadiyya Muslims also face severe persecution. But in March, an 82-year-old Ahmadiyya Muslim prisoner of conscience Abdul Shakoor was released from prison in Pakistan after being held for three years on blasphemy charges.

Many Christians and Ahmadis flee persecution in Pakistan and seek refugee status in nations like Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Louisiana passes heartbeat abortion ban; Democratic governor plans to sign

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Louisianas legislature passed a bill that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, putting it one step closer to becoming law.

Senate Bill 184, which would ban abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, passed the Louisiana House of Representatives on Wednesday in a vote of 79 to 23. Earlier this month, the bill passed the state Senate by a vote of 31 to 5.

Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards has indicated that he plans to sign SB 184 into law when it reaches his desk, despite objections from national party leaders.

In 2015, I ran for governor as a pro-life candidate after serving as a pro-life legislator for eight years, said Edwards in a statement, according to CBS News.

As governor, I have been true to my word and my beliefs on this issue. But it is also my sincere belief that being pro-life means more than just being pro-birth.

Introduced by Democrat Senator John Milkovich of Shreveport, SB 184 prohibits abortion in most circumstances for unborn babies once they have a detectable heartbeat.

 it shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly perform an abortion with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of an unborn human being when a fetal heartbeat has been detected, stated the legislation.

SB 184 included an exemption for abortions meant to prevent the death of a pregnant woman or prevent a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.

We believe children are a gift from God, said Milkovich in comments reported by The Associated Press on May 15, adding, once a heartbeat is detected, the baby cant be killed.

Louisianas heartbeat bill is similar to those passed in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio. Missouri lawmakers have passed an eight-week ban on abortion. Alabama has passed the most restrictive ban on abortion by outlawing the procedure even in cases of rape and incest. The state bans are seen by some as a way to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

The Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union denounced the success of SB 184, vowing to use legal action to prevent it from taking effect.

Louisiana politicians have now sunk to a new low with an extreme ban that would outlaw abortion before many women know they are pregnant, tweeted the ACLU of Louisiana.

Were committed to making sure this brazen attack on the constitutional right to abortion access never takes effect.
Only 1 in 10 Americans support offering Bible literacy classes in public schools: poll

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As bills in several states would require public schools to offer Bible history classes, a new poll revealed that only about one in 10 Americans support the idea of Bible history electives.

A Hill-HarrisX poll of over 1,030 Americans released last week found that just 12 percent of respondents believe that states should require schools to offer new history classes that teach only about the Bible and no other religious text.

The poll, which has a 3.1-percentage-point margin of error, comes as bills in at least 10 states have been introduced this year that would require public schools to offer Bible classes but would not allow for texts from atheists or other religions to be offered as electives, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Such classes are already legally recognized in seven states, according to The Gospel Coalition.

The new survey found that 16 percent of respondents believe that states should require schools to offer history classes that teach about all major religions, not just Christianity and the Bible.

Seventeen percent of respondents said that they think schools should offer history classes that not only teach the history of all major religions but also the history of atheism.

Nineteen percent of respondents feel that schools should not offer history classes focusing on any religious books. The poll also found that 18 percent of respondents believe states should allow schools to decide whether or not to offer history classes on religion or atheism.

Almost two out of 10 respondents (17 percent) said they were unsure when answering the question.

In 2017, Kentucky passed what has been deemed the Bible Literacy Act, which requires schools to offer elective social studies classes on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible [and] the New Testament in order to provide to students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture.

The purpose of these courses is to focus on the historical impact and literary style from texts of the Old Testament and/or New Testament era, including the Hebrew Scriptures to teach students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory and public policy, the Kentucky Board of Education states online.

Similar bills have been introduced by conservative lawmakers in other states thanks to advocacy from Project Blitz, an effort launched in 2015 by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation. The project seeks to protect the free exercise of traditional Judeo-Christian religious values and beliefs in the public square.

In addition to Kentucky, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a similar bill earlier this month. Arkansas also passed a similar Bible elective bill this year.

The Kentucky bill and similar ones introduced in other states have drawn the ire of secularists who feel that such classes in public schools cross the line when it comes to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The clause states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

When broken down by political affiliation, the Hill-HarrisX poll found that 22 percent of Republicans and 25 percent of respondents who classify as strong conservative feel that states should require schools to offer history classes that teach about the Bible only.

On the flip side, 22 percent of Democrats, 24 percent of respondents who classify as strong liberal and 29 percent of those who said they lean liberal feel that states should require schools to offer classes that teach about all religions and atheism.

Twenty-two percent of Democrats and 25 percent of those who identify as strong liberal believe states should not allow schools to offer classes that teach about any religious book. Meanwhile, 16 percent of Republicans said the same.

Critics, such as Americans United, feel that such bills are part of an effort to establish this sort of narrow Christian agenda as the norm for our country.

The [poll] results are interesting because they provide the first snapshot of what Americans really think about this issue, Americans United Senior Adviser Rob Boston wrote in an op-ed.

Thats important because bills that would allow or require public schools to offer classes that purport to teach about the Bible as an academic subject keep surfacing in state legislatures, and a few have even become law.

Natalie Jackson, research director with the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, told The Hill that the Hill-HarrisX poll is unique in the sense that nearly 20 percent of respondents indicated that they were unsure on this issue.

"I just think there's no real consensus right now on the type of policy, she said.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1963 that school-led Bible reading violates the Establishment Clause, the nations high court left open the possibility for schools to teach the Bible so long as it is presented objectively as part of a secular program of education.

In January, President Donald Trump voiced his support for the Bible literacy class bills that have been introduced in the states. He said they give students the option of studying the Bible.

Starting to make a turn back? Great! Trump wrote in a tweet.

Chuck Stetson, who is in favor of Bible instruction in schools and publishes a textbook he claims is being used in over 600 public schools in the U.S., told The Washington Post that the U.S. is not too far away from a tipping point.

Instead of having to find a reason to teach the Bible in public schools academically, as part of a good education, youre going to have to find a reason not to do it, Stetson was quoted as saying. When the president of the United States gives us a shout-out, thats pretty crazy. . . . Its got the momentum now.

The idea of offering Bible classes in public schools is not new since similar classes have been offered and funded by some public schools across the U.S. As The Washington Post notes, other schools have taken a different approach by allowing children released time to attend church-taught Bible classes.
4 choir members killed in crash as they arrive at church for revival meeting

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Four beloved members of a church choir were killed in a crash Tuesday night as they arrived at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, where they were set to sing for a revival meeting.

Just as their church van turned to enter the parking lot of Mount Zion Baptist Church, a truck pulling a trailer full of metal slammed into it, killing four of the 11 people inside, the Virginia State Police told The New York Times. It was about 6:54 p.m.

The crash victims were identified by police as James Farley, 87; Wartena Somerville, 36; Delois Williams, 72; and Constance Wynn, 85, all of whom were members of Shiloh Baptist Church in Blackstone, Virginia.

"A Ford E-350 multi-passenger van was traveling west on Route 460 when it slowed to make a right turn into a church parking lot," a Virginia State Police spokesperson told CBS 6. "A Ford F-450 truck pulling a trailer loaded with metal failed to stop in time and rear-ended the van. The impact of the crash caused the van to overturn several times before it finally came to rest on its side off the right side of Route 460. Meanwhile, the truck ran off the left side of Route 460 and struck the guardrail."

Mount Zion Church Pastor Joseph Fields, who knew Williams and Farley, told CBS 6 that he was greeting people attending the revival meeting when he heard a loud boom, then discovered the smoking church van on its side.

He and others ran over to help but they were unable to open the doors of the vehicle. Thats when he reached inside the van and started grabbing hands, including Farleys, and prayed to God for help.

"At the time I was doing all that praying, Im going to tell you the Gods truth, I didnt know that anyone had passed," Fields said. "I was shocked when they said four has [sic] passed on the scene. I was literally shocked."

Lafayette Dickens, another member of Shiloh Baptist's choir who had traveled to the revival in his own car and arrived shortly after the crash, said it was unexpected.

I was coming from work and thought I was going to go there and it was going to be a routine church program, because we sing at different churches all the time, he told the Times. I thought it was going to be like any other time, but I guess the good Lord had other ideas.

He described the scene as pretty bad and said he just tried to calm people who lost loved ones as we found out who they were.

Blackstones Mayor, William D. Coleburn, said his town of just 3,600 was devastated over the loss of the choir members.

The people we lost and the people who were injured were the cream of the crop, he told the Times. Good God-fearing people who left their church on Tuesday night here in Blackstone and went 20 miles down the road to spread the good Word to another church.

Farley was a former groundskeeper for Shiloh Baptist Church; Somerville was a local schoolteacher with a 9-month-old daughter; Williams was the chairwoman of the churchs deacons council; and Wynn had spent more than two decades on the town council Dickens and Coleburn said.

Somervilles husband, Michael Sommerville, who returned to the crash site on Wednesday in search of her cellphone, said his wife was always happy.

She had a little baby. She hugged and kissed us both before she left and waved because she was always happy and she smiled and waved and pull on off, he said.

The driver of the truck that crashed into the church van has been identified as 47-year-old Robert Lee Allen of Norfolk. He suffered minor injuries and charges against him are pending.

A vigil for the deceased choir members will be held at Shiloh Baptist Church on Thursday at 6 p.m.
At Gods Garage, former pastor blesses women who struggle with car trouble

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A former pastor who struggled with lack and car trouble promised God he would help others that found themselves in his situation once he was in a better place. He's now helping vulnerable women with free auto repair services and cars.

Through a nonprofit venture called Gods Garage in Conroe, Texas, which he started in 2012, PC Pastor Chris Williams and his team of volunteers have been triggering tears of joy in the lives of single ladies, widows, and wives of deployed military who are struggling to make ends meet.

In a recent interview with People magazine, Williams, 49, explained that while his father was a trained auto mechanic before answering the call to be a pastor, he never learned much about the trade from him.

My dad went to tech school to become a mechanic before he became a pastor, and I followed him into the pastor side of things, but didnt know much about cars, he said. My dad taught me the basics of car care, and I grew up watching him help people stuck on the side of the road.

It wasnt until he got older and found himself struggling financially, according to a story posted on his nonprofits website, that he fully appreciated his fathers talent.

Unfortunately, as I got older, the things that I should have learned, I didnt, as I found myself short on money and long on car troubles. I prayed to God many times that my car would start in the morning so I could get to work. No money for parts, much less labor! he explained. I told God that if I could make a difference for people in my situation, I would gladly help them.

It wasnt until about seven years ago though that while serving as a youth pastor Williams was forced into action.

He explained to People that he was driving home one rainy night in Montgomery, Texas, when he saw a woman and her child walking in the rain. He recognized them as a part of his congregation and offered them a ride. What he learned next stayed with him.

They told me that their car had been in the shop for months and they couldnt afford to get it out, Williams said. Right then, I decided that I needed to figure out a way to get my dream of opening a free garage off the ground.

He said he decided to focus on helping women because he noticed that dishonest dealers and repair shops tend to prey on single mothers and widows.

Sadly, there are people who will prey upon just about anyone, he said. Also, car repairs are so expensive, and where I live, its rural. So if you dont have a car, you cant get a job. And if you dont have a job, you cant buy a car. Its a cruel dilemma to be in.

The social media pages of Gods Garage are littered with photos and videos of women receiving the blessing of the groups work or car donations.

Since 2012, with help from about 12 rotating volunteers, said People, Gods Garage has repaired more than 200 cars at no cost and given away more than 100 restored vehicles to women in need.

Theres no greater joy than seeing a mom finally be able to start her car up and drive it home, volunteer Harvey Yaw, 67, told People. And when people donate their old cars and we fix them up and give them away, theres a feeling thats unbelievable. The people are so grateful  their emotion always brings tears of happiness.
Christine Caine: We can end sex trafficking overnight if people stop watching porn, 'Game of Thrones'

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International evangelist Christine Caine said the quickest way to end the sex trafficking epidemic is for people to stop consuming pornography and watching shows like HBOs Game of Thrones.

Speaking last week during the Heaven Come conference, a worship gathering in Los Angeles, Caine told the audience, Ill tell you how to stop human trafficking, sex trafficking overnight: If people stop watching porn.  Just stop it.

Here I am trying to put traffickers in jail and youre watching Game of Thrones, she continued, referring to the shows graphic nudity, Fox News reports.

She challenged Christians who claim to watch the show just to be culturally relevant, asking, "How's that going to work with a trafficker?"

The Australian evangelist leads the anti-trafficking ministry A21, which operates in 15 countries. The organization prosecutes traffickers and rescues victims in addition to focusing on combating slavery. According to A21, human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world, generating more than $150 billion every year.

Many types of pornography, Caine warned, are actually products of sex trafficking.

"Nothing is free," she said. "Porn costs somebody."

When believers surrender their lives to Christ, it affects everything they do, from what they watch to where they place their passion, she declared.

"The issue is not whether you are going to die, 100 percent we're all going to die," Caine said. "The issue is will you live the life God put you on this Earth to live. Will you step up into your God-given purpose and your God-given destiny and stop playing it safe, and stop living small, and start believing your God is huge and He's able to do so much more than you give him credit for?

In addition to leading A21, Caine heads Propel, a women's organization dedicated to helping women realize their purpose, passion, and potential.

Previously, Caine shared with The Christian Post how her own experiences with betrayal and brokenness have inspired her to help give others a future.

The 52-year-old evangelist endured 12 years of childhood sexual abuse and was 33 when she discovered that she was adopted.

"You take a chick from Sydney, Australia, who was abandoned and unwanted and was abused for years, and today I'm running a global anti-trafficking organization and a global women's movement," she said. "Only God could do that. I think sometimes people see someone like me and they think that to do what I do, I've been exempt from trials and pain and suffering. In reality, I think, 'Oh no, my past has prepared me for what I do.'"

"I could've allowed my past to define my future, but God has done an unexpected thing with my life," she continued. "Through Christ, my history doesn't define my destiny. I want to encourage people that God is able to do so much more than they ever could imagine if they trust Him."

Research from Gallup in June showed that 43 percent of respondents to its annual Values and Beliefs survey said porn was "morally acceptable," a 7-point increase since 2011 when questions of that nature were first asked.

This month, Arizona passed a resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis, becoming the latest in a handful of states that have acknowledged its harmful effects on society.

"Potential detrimental effects on pornography users include toxic sexual behaviors, emotional, mental and medical illnesses and difficulty forming or maintaining intimate relationships," the resolution says, citing the normalization of violence, the sexualization of children and sex trafficking as among the effects of porn.

To date, Montana, Utah, South Dakota, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Idaho, Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia have formally recognized porn as a public health crisis.
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A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. So said Solomon close to three thousand years ago. A just principle, declared well and at the proper moment, he argued, is of exquisite beauty, of surpassing worth. It is so because such a word speaks truth, justice, and mercy to us in our own circumstances.

In the midst of the slavery debate, President Lincoln found such an apple: the principle of liberty for all, as displayed in the Declaration of Independence. This principle, he asserted, clears the path for all  gives hope to all  and, by consequence, enterprize, and industry to all. It provided the fundamental argument against the system of human bondage then infecting our country; all human beings, by virtue of their humanity, equally possessed the right to freedom, regardless of immaterial distinctions of skin-tone. The Constitution, he continued, was the frame of silver, meant ultimately to display and enhance this principle.

So has the Declaration spoken a word fitly to us now. That apple of gold is found in its assertion that all menare endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life. This word, this principle speaks to the debate raging in the statesand soon in the courtsregarding the legal status of abortion. In this calendar year, five states have banned abortion at the detection of a fetal heartbeat. OneAlabamaeffectively prohibited it from conception.

In passing these statutes, states have not ignored the Declarations fitness for this moment. Of those six, four appealed to the Declaration in defending their effort. Missouris law, for example, states that it acts [i]n recognition that Almighty God is the author of life, that all men and women are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life. Kentuckys statute similarly articulates that the Declaration of Independence recognizes the fundamental truth that all people have been endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In other words, these states have sought new silver frames to adorn and to enhance the Declarations golden apple of the equal right to life.

In each instance, the laws convey a Lincolnian insight. In each instance, they connect the Declaration to the correction of inequality between humans, one based in the failure to recognize some as human.

This use of the Declaration of Independence stands in stark relief to that documents usereally usurpationin the recent Kansas Supreme Court case on abortion. That decision provided the most expansive protection for abortion rights in American history. It, too, did so by appealing to the Declaration of Independence, to that documents guarantee of the inalienable right to liberty. It saw the apple of gold as liberty for all women to terminate their pregnancies. It sought to be a frame of silver to adorn that principle.

Alabamas law correctly combats this vision, pointing out that Abortion advocates speak to women's rights, but they ignore the unborn child. Kansas highest court, too, failed by this stark omission. For it ignored the most fundamental question in defining the womans or anyones libertywhether its exercise itself violated anothers inalienable rights. All persons have the unanlienable right to control of their own bodies. They dont have such a right to control anothers very existence. Such is not liberty over oneself but tyranny over anotheranother at the earliest and most vulnerable stages of exercising his or her right to life. Far from an apple of gold or frame of silver, these constituted their antithesisa morally rotted fruit within a splintered legal casing.

Thus, these heartbeat bills force us to confront the heart of the matter. We in them address the fundamental questions of what is life and our obligation to that liferegardless of their age, form, and political power. In this needed project, the Declaration again serves as our apple of gold. These laws now stand, hopefully will ever stand, as another fitting frame.

Adam Carrington is assistant professor of politics at Hillsdale College.
As Boris Johnson is summoned to court, we should all be worried

There are some things you don't miss until you have lost them. Good health is most noticed when you don't have it. Likewise growing up in a Western liberal democracy I suspect that most of us just take the rule of law and 'equality before the law' as givens.

However, as we continue to remove the Christian foundations of our society, there is a clear and present danger that this may no longer be the case.

Witness the case of Norwich businessman Marcus Ball who has taken out a private prosecution against the leading Tory leadership candidate Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson is to be prosecuted for misconduct in public office on the basis that he allegedly made false statements during the EU referendum campaign.

Reactions to this in our Twitterfied, divisive society, have been largely dependent on your political view. Those who voted Remain and dislike Johnson give a 'like' to the prosecution and think it is entirely justified. Those who support Johnson and regard him as the best hope for Brexit, cry persecution!

But without making judgements upon those politicised views, there are far more serious considerations to take on board.

Firstly, from a political and democratic perspective, this prosecution, if permitted, would mark a serious change in the way that law and politics interact in our culture.

Mr Johnson may have been less than accurate in his support of the claim that we send 350 million to the EU each week, but then George Osborne solemnly told us that within two years of a vote for Brexit unemployment would rise by 500,000 to 800,000. It fell. He also promised an emergency budget immediately after we voted for Brexit. Should Osborne be prosecuted? If this precedent were followed I would struggle to think of many politicians who could not be sued!

But the problem is even deeper than that. Raising private prosecutions is an expensive business. Mr Ball has raised over 350,000 from a crowd funding campaign. If we are going to have politics conducted through the courts, who will that benefit the most? The wealthy elites. And who will lose some of the little power they have? The powerless poor.

Justice for sale is not justice. A few years ago we were in dispute with a major airline who had mistreated us. They offered a derisory sum in compensation. Much as we would have liked to have taken them to court, our lawyer advised us that although they were fairly certain we would win, nothing was absolutely certain. Were we prepared to risk everything we had to fund the legal costs required? Of course not. And so we accepted their offer.

The lawyer told us that this corporation would have a room full of lawyers who would assess the dangers of the cases they were dealing with  not just on the merits of the case, but considering the resources of the opponents they were facing.

If you were a millionaire celebrity they would pay out immediately, but if they figured you would not have the resources to sustain a legal challenge, they would play hardball.

When you have one rule for the rich and another for the poor, it's not justice.

The Bible has a great deal to say about this. Here are five biblical principles to consider:

1) Care about justice for the poor

Proverbs 29:7 - The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

2) The Guilty should be convicted

Proverbs 24: 24-25 - Whoever says to the guilty, "You are innocent," will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.

3) Justice should be impartial

Leviticus 19: 15 - Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.

4) Justice should be done in the light of the ultimate Judgement day

Ecclesiastes 3: 17 - I said to myself, "God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed."

5) Justice doesn't come easy.

Isaiah1:17 - Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

Many Christians work on the premise that what the poor need most is charity and hand-outs. Maybe what the poor need most is justice? To live in a just society, where all actually are equal before the law, and where the rich do not have access to 'First Class' or 'Business' justice while the rest go in 'Economy'.

A just society gives all an opportunity. An unjust society is one that oppresses, divides and corrupts.

One day all the unjust rulers, lying politicians and corrupt judges will stand before the Ultimate Judge, as Paul told the rulers in Athens:

Acts 17:31 - He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

What a glorious assurance that is for all believers who are facing unjust situations right now  and who have little hope of getting justice.

Deuteronomy 32:35 - Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.

So we don't need to. We can seek justice but not revenge. We know that justice denied is only justice delayed  until the coming of that great and glorious day when all injustices will be righted. Meanwhile we continue to pray and work for Gods will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

David Robertson is a minister in the Free Church of Scotland. He blogs at www.theweeflea.com
Big Oil probably wont be buying up the Permian Basins struggling independent drillers any time soon.

Years of costly exploration and frantic buying sprees have gutted shareholder returns in the worlds largest shale basin. And management teams and their financial backers cant count on shale-hungry, cash-rich supermajors to buy them out.

Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips are all on record saying they are wary of scooping up smaller rivals at a time when would-be sellers are demanding premium payouts and global crude prices are under pressure from ample supplies.

There is not always alignment among buyers and sellers, Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said Wednesday. He suggested Permian drillers may have to be squeezed by weak prices for a bit longer before they dial down their expectations.

Thats often the case in a market, particularly in one thats in transition, Woods said.

Conoco Chief Executive Ryan Lance has a similar view. There are a lot of bid-ask issues sitting in the market today, he said on May 23. Expectations change is whats needed to stoke acquisition activity.

Shell has been on the hunt to bulk up in the Permian for some months but has yet to seal a deal. The Anglo-Dutch major was said to be in talks with privately-owned producer Endeavor Energy Resources LP in January.

Chevron walked away from buying Anadarko Petroleum Corp. earlier this month after being outbid by Occidental Petroleum Corp. Were serious about being disciplined, Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth said.

Occidental may have ended up with a winners curse. Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, sued Occidental on Thursday for its fundamentally misguided and hugely overpriced bid for Anadarko.
As May jumped into June and summer carousing gets into motion, eager partygoers lit up one of San Antonio hottest North Side rooftop nightclubs.

BurnHouse was the scene and a mix of EDM had the packed club moving.
Brooke Lynn Hytes may not have won the crown, but the race is just beginning.

The Canadian queen, who finished second to the wonderfully weird Yvie Oddly, seems poised for a healthy post-"RuPaul's Drag Race" career. She's polished. She's professional. And, as a ballet dancer, she can lip sync en pointe.

She also has a special place in her heart for Houston. And we may see her on screens again sooner than you think.

OUR QUEEN: A conversation with 'RuPaul's Drag Race' winner Yvie Oddly

Can you take a breath and look back on everything that's happened?

I feel amazing. I'm so proud of everything that I accomplished and was able to show. I worked really, really hard to get there. I'm really happy with the way everything turned out, even if I didn't win. I still feel like a winner. The real race starts after the show. Vroom, vroom, bitches.

What was the biggest challenge for you during filming?

It would probably be just getting out of my little bubble of having to be perfect all the time and being able to let go and just kind of be silly and have a little bit more fun with everything. I think I was so caught up in trying to be perfect all the time that it was hard for me to let myself go. I just really had to give myself permission.

What other queen would you have loved to see in the finale?

I think Vanjie really deserved to be in the finale. I would have loved to see Nina (West) up there, too.

Would you be up for a future "All Stars" season?

Yeah, I think so. Of course I would be open to being on "All Stars." Just not for a couple years. I need to have sanity. I wanna rise in the space that's happening right now for me.

You were recently at Rich's in Houston and showered local performer Leilani L. Jackson-Ross with money for her death-defying drop.

That was crazy. I was like, "Is she actually going to jump from all the way up here?" I felt like I didn't have a choice. I actually felt bad. I felt like I should have given her more money. That's a death-defying move. That was really, really cool, and I think it's so important. We are so lucky as Ru girls. We get paid more. People care about us more, just in general. I think a lot of us forget about the girls working the clubs every single night. A lot of times they're working way harder than we are. Yeah, we get on planes every day or whatever. But these girls are hustling every day. And then we kind of waltz in and steal everyone's thunder, which I don't think is fair. I was that girl forever. I think it's really important to put a spotlight and show appreciation to your local talent. Those are the girls who are gonna be on "RuPaul's Drag Race" one day.

What's your impression of Houston and its performers?

I love Texas. I'll always have a great time in Texas in general. I love Texas drag. Y'all have some of the best drag queens in Texas. They have the most hair, the most makeup. It's like old-school, high-whore pageant drag, and that's what I live for. Houston, especially. I've been to Houston many times for pageants and worked at Rich's one or two times before. You guys really know what you're doing when it comes to drag.

Joey Guerra is the music critic for the Houston Chronicle and also covers everything from "Drag Race" to "Idol." Follow him on Twitter. Send him news tips at joey.guerra@chron.com.

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Friday, guests gathered under towering dinosaurs to drink, eat and dance among the exhibits after-hours at Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Attendees enjoyed food truck fare from Foreign Policy, Good Dog Hotdog, Refill Station, dlish Curbside and Dipped as well as music by Hybrid 7.
Toshiba will pay the French energy major Total about $800 million to take over its contractual agreements to buy liquefied natural gas for 20 years from Houston's Freeport LNG.

The deal helps Tokyo-based Toshiba exit what it considered a regretful financial boondoggle to commit to LNG purchases for two decades after it surprisingly entered the LNG business in 2013.

Freeport LNG's massive LNG export plant south of Houston is expected to belatedly come online later this year.

Total is continuing to grow its global LNG empire with the deal as the world's second-largest LNG player after Royal Dutch Shell and rising.

"The takeover of Toshiba's LNG portfolio is in line with Total's strategy to become a major LNG portfolio player," said Philippe Sauquet, Total president of gas and power.

Earlier this year, Total increased its ownership stake in Houston-based Tellurian and its Gulf Coast LNG projects to 25 percent.

Also, in May, Total agreed to buy the Africa assets of The Woodlands-based Anadarko Petroleum for $8.8 billion, including the multibillion-dollar Mozambique LNG project starting heavy construction later this year. That sale would go through only after Houston's Occidental Petroleum closes on its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko.

RELATED: Cameron LNG sends out first export shipment

Total also owns a stake in the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana that just started LNG shipments in May.

As for Freeport LNG, Toshiba committed in 2013 to buy 2.2 million tons of LNG for 20 years from the plant's third processing unit, called a train. That third train is slated to start operations in 2020. Since 2013, global LNG prices have fallen as more projects have started up from the U.S. to Australia.

Toshiba has sought to exit the deal. Late last year, Toshiba planned to sell its commitments to China's ENN Group but that arrangement fell through.

Now, Toshiba will pay Total $815 million to take over its Freeport LNG contracts. And Total, in turn, will give Toshiba $15 million to buy its U.S. LNG business.
The remains of a child found in southwest Arkansas whom authorities believe to be Maleah Davis arrived in Houston Friday evening, according to the Houston Police Department.

Houston police said they could not confirm that the remains are those of Maleah but indicated they believe they found the missing girl. The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed they received the remains of a child and would work to identify it in the coming days.
A contentious power struggle between three powerful Fort Bend County elected officials took centerstage at Tuesday's Commissioners Court workshop after Sheriff Troy Nehls accused Commissioner Andy Meyers and Constable Wayne Thompson of spreading false information to pressure Nehls to reverse a dispatch center policy change made last January.

In the weeks after the policy change, Constable Thompson reportedly released a letter to the public claiming 911 calls were not being answered in a timely manner placing our citizens lives at risk Nehls read and looked up at Judge George and the commissioners. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The January policy change signaled a shift away from the role of contract constables deputies as near-equal partners in policing efforts in the unincorporated areas of the county to an arrangement for Sheriff Deputies to respond to all calls. Constables now mainly serve as supplemental deputies contracted to patrol neighborhoods and keep an eye on homes for vacationing residents.

Nehls said one reason for the shift was sheriff deputies at times ignored calls for service from areas with patrol contracts in place.

Thats not fair to tax payers, Nehls said. We are the primary county law enforcement agency and we are responsible for all the citizens in the county. These supplemental patrol contracts could go away, and residents need to know were always going to be here for them.

Constable Thompson voiced his frustrations to commissioners that he and other constables werent notified of the policy change. He also detailed how his role had expanded over the years as the number of patrol contracts in his precinct grew.

A few days after he took office as constable in January 2015, Thompson said Sheriff Nehls contacted him about the possibility of constables assisting with calls related to misdemeanor crimes, such as animal bites, traffic accidents and car burglaries among other things.

They reached out to us for help, Thompson said and told commissioners that soon after deputy constables were dispatched directly to calls in the contract patrol areas. Weve been very successful at this. We are the second largest county law enforcement agency in Fort Bend and we hold more patrol contracts than any other single agency as well.

It was clear we were singled out, Thompson said and told commissioners his department had responded to over 33,000 calls last year. I believe this was punitive.

As the conflict intensified in recent weeks, Commissioner Meyers lobbied to re-organize the countys dispatch service, now currently under the direction of Sheriff Nehls.

Commissioner Meyers proposed that moving the 911 call center to another department under different leadership, would allow for expanded operations and increased revenues by partnering with other law enforcement agencies. The new structure would involve a consolidated independent dispatch agency where all entities have input, Meyers said.

Im on the side of tax payers. I want safety and efficiency, he said.

Nehls told commissioners the countys 911 call unit currently provides dispatch services to 11 fire departments, numerous police departments and the countys emergency medical services department. After Meyers proposed changes to the dispatch department, Commissioners Ken DeMerchant and Vincent Morales had visited the dispatch department to learn more about its operations. Nehls then asked Meyers when he had last visited the dispatch department.

I dont know, Meyers said.

I havent seen you there in six and a half years, Nehls said.

Are you going to sit there and attack me? Is that your purpose here? Im sorry, but Im not going to let this rest. I need to redress this This is uncalled for, Sheriff, Meyers said. All were trying to do is follow through with the complaints that we get from our constituents and the people who we have contracts with.

Precinct 3 is the largest of Fort Bend Countys four precincts and holds the lions share of patrol contracts arranged with high-end resident developments without city police services such as Cinco Ranch and Sienna Plantation. For contract patrol services, HOA or MUD boards sign annual agreements to pay 95 percent of each contract deputy's salary and the associated costs for patrol cars, uniforms, equipment and more. In Precinct 3, Constable Thompson provides 34 contracted deputies for 18 contracts, bringing in revenues on average of $17,000 each month according to agenda documents posted on the county website. In Cinco Ranch, where average home values are over $450,000, eight Precinct 3 constable deputies are contracted for neighborhood patrols, resulting in annual revenues to the county of over $816,000.

By the end of the workshop, Meyers and his fellow commissioners and County Judge KP George voted unanimously to appoint a committee to consider the options for re-organizing the county's dispatch control operations. It is hoped the members can meet and present their findings by July 23.
Courtesy photo by Mary Favre

The Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce's Education Division will host the 2019 State of Higher Education, on Wednesday, June 5, from 11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. at Sweetwater Country Club, 4400 Palm Royale Blvd., Sugar Land.

Panelists Madeline Burillo (Houston Community College), Randy Wooten (Texas State Technical College), Jay Neal (University of Houston) and Betty McCrohan (Wharton County Junior College) will discuss the issues, accomplishments and future of higher education in Fort Bend County.
NYERI COUNTY, Kenya - He was a priest just out of seminary. She was a nurse. They were both from the slopes of Mount Kenya, but their paths improbably crossed in Rome.

He became unshakable in his desire to marry her, even though he had taken the Catholic Church's mandatory vow of celibacy for priests.

When he returned to preach in Kenya, Peter Njogu was shocked when fellow priests told him that many of them had broken that vow, marrying and having children. In hushed tones, they spoke of their "secret families," kept hidden in distant homes. The thought of doing so pained him.

As the Catholic Church goes through a global crisis brought on in part by the revelation of widespread sexual misconduct by its clergy, self-proclaimed Bishop Njogu believes he has figured out how to save Christianity's largest church from its own sins: Let priests marry and raise families.

Njogu's breakaway faction, the Renewed Universal Catholic Church, is Catholic in every way except in having optional celibacy for its priests. Its growth in Kenya is rooted in opposition to the practice of keeping secret families but reflects a growing worry among some Catholics that the celibacy requirement - to many an nonnegotiable tenet of the priesthood - creates a harmful culture of sexual secrecy.

The Vatican has shown no interest in reexamining the issue for all priests, and Pope Francis has called celibacy a "gift to the church." But the pontiff has also signaled that he is open to ordaining married men in remote parts of the world with a severe shortage of priests. More radical voices in the church have called for the church to rescind the requirement altogether.

"Most of our members are ex-Catholics," said Njogu. "They are tired of the hypocrisy. Some of our people call us the 'Church of the Future.' "

Nearly 20 priests and more than 2,000 parishioners have joined Njogu since 2011, he claims, mostly in the towns and villages that dot the fertile slopes of Mount Kenya, the 17,000-foot-high extinct volcano right in the center of this country.

"Now that I've come out, these other priests tell me, 'The problem with you is you went public,' " he said on a recent Sunday after celebrating Mass. "And I say, 'I am not the problem; I am the solution. Join me.' "

To his flock, he said: "This is where you find your freedom from all that hypocrisy."

The church in the hilltop village of Gachatha where Njogu preaches his reformation is a far cry from a cathedral. The pews, pulpit and church itself are all made of wooden planks nailed together. The floor is sawdust atop dirt. On a clear day, the ice-capped peak of Mount Kenya glimmers through a glassless window.

While Catholicism has declined in numbers in some former bastions in the West, such as Ireland, it is growing more rapidly in Africa than anywhere else. Africans make up nearly a fifth of the world's Catholics. Njogu's sermons hark back to Catholicism's pre-celibacy era while appealing to the faith's future in Africa, where he believes it will have to reconcile with local customs as it grows.

"No one in the Vatican understands the African soul. They do not understand that for the African man, priest or not, the worst sin is to leave this world without siring a child," said Njogu. "Mandatory celibacy is thus the root of priestly sin, but they pretend all is well while their house is burning to the ground."

The Catholic Church excommunicated Njogu after he defected for alleged "unbecoming behavior," including purchasing land and speaking openly about his intention to marry Berith Kariri, who remains his wife.

"These priests are not sincere, they are pursuing personal interests," said Father Daniel Kimutai Rono, general secretary for the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops. "There is nothing about 'African-ness' or 'European-ness.'" The vow of celibacy, he said, "is about the vocation, about the call to serve God and the sacrifice which entails in serving God."

Dozens of Njogu's followers said in interviews that they left the mainstream church because they doubted their former priests' devotion to the vocation.

"As a parent, I had to fear that a priest would impregnate my daughter if I took them to my old churches," said Margaret Kimondo, who was one of Njogu's first converts. "In front of the altar they may look one way, but at night, you don't even want to hear those stories."

Philip Muiga, 78, had been a Catholic priest for decades before joining the Renewed Universal church last year.

"One day I met a priest in the street who I have known for a long time, and he was drunk," he said. "When I went home and looked at myself in the mirror, I just saw darkness. I could not justify continuing to call these men my colleagues."

Rono, who represents the Kenyan Catholic Church, denied any sort of systemic abuse or existence of "secret families" but acknowledged a global churchwide "trend of infidelity to the priestly vocation" and said priests should avoid any kind of "coverup." The Vatican deferred to its Kenyan representatives for comment.

Celibacy has been expected of Catholic priests since its origins in the first century after Jesus Christ's death, but the 12th-century imposition of a celibacy vow was necessitated primarily by a priesthood that had begun using the church as a family business, said Chris Bellitto, a professor and church historian at Kean University in New Jersey.

"Priests were handing their parishes along to their illegitimate sons as if they were training them as cobblers, who inherited your shop and tools when you died. This complicated the integrity of the sacraments - what if the son didn't have a vocation or disposition as a spiritual leader? - and the independence of the church, since the bishop was supposed to be naming parish priests," said Bellitto.

But the vow always seemed at odds with certain parts of the Bible's teachings, leading many within the church to question its purpose. Njogu's faction is certainly not the first to try charting a new course without the celibacy vow, said Kim Haines-Eitzen, a historian of early Christianity at Cornell University.

"In Catholicism, there's always been a pronounced preference for asceticism to prove devotion. But how do you square that with, say, 'be fruitful and multiply,' from Genesis? Are priests expected to be separate from all other humans?" she said.

That enforced detachment from the lives of their flock is what drives priests in Kenya to adopt "secret families," said Father Matthew Theuri, 73, who was a catechist for nearly four decades before joining Njogu's church as a priest. But it also presents a quandary in being a good priest, he said.

"Our churchgoers come to us with questions about wayward children, trouble paying school fees, marital issues - how can we help them if we know nothing of that life?" he said, while sitting at home with his wife, Jane, and two of his grandchildren.

After Njogu's Mass on a recent Sunday in Gachatha, Joseph Macharia, a coffee farmer, said he thanked God every day for the new church.

"This is a more open way of being," he said. "The others, the ones who keep secret families, they come to the pulpit to lie. Maybe they think we are stupid."

- - -

The Washington Post's Rael Ombuor in Nairobi and Chico Harlan in Rome contributed to this report.
An Alabama man is being praised for rescuing a baby who police believe had been locked inside a hot car for 12 hours.

According to Fox 10, Jermius Scott told Mobile Police he noticed a black car parked in front of an apartment building in the early hours of Sunday morning. About five hours later, he noticed a baby was inside the vehicle.

"So I really used my elbow to bust the window. Seeing the baby turning purple in that car, I couldn't just leave that baby in there like that, man. That's dead wrong," Scott said.

Tarance James said Scott called for him to come outside and help.

"And, so, as we came, we peeked in the car and we were like, 'Oh, there was a baby in there. It's hot, we need to hurry up and get him out.' So, when we saw that, he hit it with the elbow, unlocked the door, got the baby out," James said.

Both men said the baby, which was reportedly about 4 months old, was sweating heavily.

The child was rushed to the hospital and is expected to recover. Officials said the baby was supposed to be in the care of his father.

According to WPMI, the father told investigators he must have forgotten the boy after dropping off his other two children at their grandmothers house.

Child services has been notified about the incident.

"I don't know who it was and don't want to know because, you know, you're not supposed to hate nobody, but that's a hateful situation," Scott said.

Police are classifying the case as reckless endangerment, but no arrests have been made.
A Delaware mother is opening up about a brutal attack that nearly took her life.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley told KYW she was attacked while at a resort in the Dominican Republic.

I feel so guilty, I blame myself. If I didnt go down there by myself it wouldnt have happened. I wouldnt have put my family through that, said Lawrence-Daley.

She and her husband, Christopher Lawrence-Daley, went to Majestic Elegance Resort in Punta Cana in January with friends.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley said she went downstairs at the resort just before 11 p.m. to buy a snack when a man wearing a resort maintenance hat strangled and beat her.

He put something around my throat and he proceeded to strangle me unconscious. But before I went out, Ill never forget the last breath I took because it had some water in it and I just remember, 'Im never going to see my kids again, Im never going to see my husband again, and theyre never going to find me here,' she said.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley was missing for eight hours. Her husband urged security to help him look for her, which they did, but they reportedly thought she was "drunk somewhere."

She drifted in and out of consciousness the whole time.

"It was hell," she said.

Resort staff finally found her when she woke up in an underground crawl space filled with rocks and waste water, and began screaming.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket, nerve damage throughout her head and her mouth had to be sewn back together.

When we first found her at the infirmary, it was unreal. I just lost control, Christopher Lawrence-Daley said.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley urges others to be "safe and smart" when on vacation.

Im at the point where I feel strong enough that I want to get this information out there because women need to understand they cant walk around by themselves, Tammy Lawrence-Daley told People. I hate to say that, but its the truth. What I went through, I would never wish on anyone.

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She penned an emotional Facebook post, that includes graphic images, about her experience that has been shared more than 200,000 times.

"How do you explain to your kids you were almost killed by some random stranger and that, Mommy is coming home, but I dont look like myself?' How do you look into your parents eyes as they gaze upon your battered face telling them, Im okay, Ill be okay. Seeing friends break down in tears as they look at you. Everyone asking, why?, how?"

Tammy Lawrence-Daley said the resort didn't offer to reimburse her for her vacation or medical bills.

"This man thought he killed me, but he failed. He is still out there, a predator, waiting for his next victim. Only the next woman may not be so fortunate. Please, please do not walk alone," she wrote.

Multiple news outlets have reached out to Majestic Elegance Resort for comment but have not heard back.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - He was a longtime employee with an office access card. He carried two legally purchased firearms. Police arrived within moments of the first shots.

Nothing in the immediate aftermath of Friday's mass shooting stands out as a breakdown in security. And yet 12 people who showed up as usual to a city office building - 11 employees and one contractor filing a permit - never made it back home.

Officials could offer no clear motive or explanation Saturday for what Police Chief James Cervera called a "horrific event of unbelievable proportion."

Authorities identified DeWayne Craddock, 40, of Virginia Beach, as the shooter, who was killed in a gun battle with police. Craddock used two 45-caliber handguns in the incident, and an official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they had been legally purchased - one in 2016 and the other in 2018.

Investigators recovered two other firearms from his home, and one of those also had been legally purchased. The other was still being examined, the ATF official said.

On Saturday morning, Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen solemnly read the names of each victim at a news conference. Leaders vowed to focus on their lives and not the person who killed them.

Four other victims remained in hospitals, three in critical condition and the fourth in fair condition, according to Julie Hill, communications director for the city. A police officer was also shot; he was treated and released after his armored vest saved his life.

"Make no mistake, we are a heartbroken city," Hill said. "We lost 12 people who did nothing more than go to work."

Craddock was an engineer who had been employed by the Department of Public Utilities for 15 years. Cervera denied news reports that Craddock had been fired from his job but declined to discuss Craddock's work history or say whether he was targeting anyone in the shooting.

The director of the public utilities department said he was mystified by Craddock's behavior.

"There weren't any clues I was aware of or that were being funneled to the top," Bob Montague said. "I certainly didn't have a reason to believe that anything like this would happen. He had a number of active projects that were moving along really well."

Police searched the shooter's home and found nothing to provide an obvious motive, according to a city official, who added that some people thought Craddock had been acting differently on over the past several months but nothing that indicated a dangerous situation.

The investigation is a "time-consuming, meticulous process," Cervera said. Local police are being assisted by state police, ATF and the FBI, with 40 federal agents taking over responsibility for gathering evidence inside the building, he said.

Cervera said the first call reporting an active shooter came in shortly after 4 p.m. and officers arrived almost instantly. The police department is about 150 yards from the Public Works offices in the sprawling municipal complex, a cluster of neo-Colonial buildings near golf courses and affluent neighborhoods in this vast, decentralized city.

Business was winding down on the Friday after Memorial Day. Cervera said he did not know whether Craddock had been at work that day. Parts of the building are open to the public - the first floor is city planning and permits, with lots of foot traffic in and out.

On the second floor, the elevators open to a counter where residents can pay their water bills. Other offices on that floor - mostly for public utilities - are secured, but can be opened with the access badge that Craddock was carrying.

According to the city official, Craddock arrived at the building and shot his first victim in the parking lot - the contractor, who was in his car. Once Craddock went inside, things moved quickly.

He shot a woman walking out to go home and then used his access badge to begin shooting indiscriminately at people in offices, according to the official. He fired shots on all three floors as workers scrambled for cover.

Public utilities account clerk Christi Dewar, 60, said co-worker Ryan Keith Cox corralled several employees in a room for safety, then said he was going to look for others. But the shooter fired into the room, some bullets hitting a cabinet stacked against the door. Everyone dropped to the ground.

"I think that's when he got Keith," Dewar said. She said she called 911 and when police arrived someone screamed, "Keith is on the ground! Keith is on the ground!"

As they were being led out, Dewar said she stepped over someone who turned out to be her slain friend Michelle "Missy" Langer. An officer holding her hand told her, "Don't look down, don't look down," she said. " And I don't know how I made it."

Police had arrived quickly from their nearby headquarters. Two detectives got there first and met up with two K-9 officers, then went into the building and quickly engaged the shooter, the law enforcement official said.

"This was a long-term, large gunfight," Cervera said.

He credited the officers with preventing more carnage, and said investigators recovered a sound suppressor and extended magazines along with the firearms at the scene.

"This is a horrific crime scene," Cervera said. "It took a physical, emotional and psychological toll on everyone who spent the night in that building."

The shooting sent employees fleeing the building, while others froze in place. Roughly 400 people work there, though it's unclear how many were present late Friday when the shooting took place.

Accounting clerk Thomas Colson, 39, said he recognized the shooter from seeing him around the hallways. On Friday, he didn't realize Craddock had a gun until someone shouted.

Then he and a colleague barricaded themselves in an office.

"I knew seven of the 12 victims," Colson said. "I have a little girl, she'll be five in October, and one woman used to always ask me to see pictures of my baby girl. I don't remember names, but when I saw that woman's face this morning as one of the victims I just broke down and cried. My little girl said she never saw me cry before and wanted to know why. . . . All I want, all I want, is for this not to happen to somebody else."

Drew Lankford works on the third floor in Public Works but was out getting a haircut when the shooting happened. He got a frantic call from his daughter, who works in City Hall.

"She was just sobbing," he said.

Lankford said he jumped out of the barber chair and followed police vehicles back to work. "Had I not stopped for a haircut," he said, "I'd have probably been right in the middle of it."

He said his office had undergone active shooter training at the end of March.

After the incident, Cervera said officers methodically checked every room, closet and desk in the building before determining it was free of danger.

On Saturday, Craddock's family members posted a note on their door in Newport News that read they were sending "heart felt condolences" to the victims.

In addition to Langer and Cox, those killed were identified as Virginia Beach residents Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine Nixon, Joshua Hardy and Herbert "Bert" Snelling; Chesapeake residents Laquita Brown and Robert "Bobby" Williams; Norfolk resident Richard Nettleton; and Powhatan resident Christopher Kelly Rapp.

Family and friends began to mourn them Saturday in private moments and public vigils. One had not yet finished his first year on the job, while another had spent more than four decades there. They were engineers, account clerks and administrative assistants.

Rapp, a Public Works engineer, had a passion for Scottish music, friends said. Gallagher, another Public Works engineer, had a 22-month-old son.

At the Virginia Beach home of Snelling, neighbors keep arriving, some with flowers. "Bert was a great guy. He'd do anything for you," said one man who lives on the street who didn't want to give his name.

Honor guards from the city police and fire departments have been assigned to each victim's family for support, Cervera said.

Hansen, the city manager, said the city has received an outpouring of support and would be providing assistance to employees. Building 2 will remain closed, and the city services housed there will be transferred elsewhere.

Gov. Ralph Northam, D, said Saturday morning that he ordered flags to fly at half-staff on government buildings. President Donald Trump tweeted he had been in contact with local and state officials.

"The Federal Government is there, and will be, for whatever they may need. God bless the families and all!" Trump tweeted.

City employee Shelia Cook, 49, returned to the complex Saturday with five members of her church, Mount Olive Baptist Church.

"Our pastor called for us to come out and pray on the grounds, because our colleagues and our neighborhoods and our city need God," Cook said. "And we want to be able to be that light in a dark world."

Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer vowed at a grim news conference Saturday afternoon that the city would overcome the tragedy.

"We will not be defined by this horror," he said. "Going forward we will define ourselves as a city of love and compassion for those neighbors that we lost."

At the same news conference, Cervera credited officers for following their training but seemed at a loss for what might have prevented the violence. If someone wants to step up security screening of employees, he said, that's a question for other city leaders to debate.

- - -

The Washington Post's Nick Anderson, Lindsey Bever, Paulina Firozi, Orion Donovan-Smith, Alex Horton, Jennifer Jenkins, Magda Jean-Louis, Jim Morrison, Justin Wm. Moyer, Antonio Olivo, Michael E. Ruane, Samantha Schmidt, Patricia Sullivan, Julie Tate, Debbie Truong and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
Pope Francis gives the green light to the process of beatification and canonization of the former street child. The documentation for the cause will be collected by the French Dominican Fr. Thomas de Gabory. Mons. Ongtioco: "Darwin is an example of holiness". Born in 1994, he discovered the Catholic faith in 2006. Since then, the disease has become his "mission".

Manila (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis declared "Servant of God" Darwin Ramos (photo), a Filipino street child who died in 2012 due to a serious degenerative disease: the Diocese of Cubao (Manila suffragan) received the green light to start the process of beatification and canonization.

Card Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, signed the nihil obstat at the start of the cause on March 29th. Following the order, the inquiry for the canonization of Ramos at the Diocesan Court of Cubao will be conducted by the postulator, the French Dominican Fr. Thomas de Gabory. The local bishop, Msgr. Honesto Ongtioco, initiated the process at the request of the Friends of Darwin Ramos Association. " The Vatican has given us the go signal to go deeper in his life how he lived his faith and how he gave witness to Jesus to whom he was very close - the prelate declares to CbcpNews -. Darwin is an example of holiness. Being a street child, afflicted with myopathy, he is closely united with Christ in his suffering and joy ".

Darwin Ramos was born December 17, 1994 in Pasay City. He spent his early years in a slum in Villanueva street. To help the family, Darwin becomes a waste collector on the street, along with his younger sister. Unfortunately the initial symptoms of what will later be diagnosed as Duchenne muscular dystrophy appear. Darwin's muscles weaken. Every morning, his father leaves him at the Libertad station to beg for passers-by.

Darwin Ramos was born on December 17, 1994 in Pasay City (Philippines). He spent his early years with his poor family in a slum on P. Villanueva street. In order to help his family, Darwin became a scavenger (waste picker) in the street, with his younger sister. They spent their day going through garbage to recover plastic waste which they sold. Unfortunately, the initial symptoms of what will later be diagnosed as Duchenne muscular dystrophy appeared. Progressively, Darwin could no longer stand and his muscles weakened. Poverty pushed the family to live on the street. His father was leaving Darwin every morning at the Libertad station to beg from passers-by who were taking pity on the boy

In July 2006, a group of street educators of the ANAK-Tnk Foundation (Tulay ng Kabataan), which was already regularly meeting with Darwin for few days, were able to fetch him in Quezon City. After getting acquainted with them and understanding that they could help, he entered in one of the centers run by the foundation itself to help street children. Today the foundation is led by the French priest Fr. Matthieu Dauchez and takes care of 280 street children in 17 centers; assists 50 children with special needs in three equipped facilities; conducts field programs for 800 children rummaging through the rubbish and 1,300 living in slums.

Discovering the Catholic faith, he wanted to adhere to himself, and on December 23, 2006, he received the Sacrament of Baptism. In December 22, 2007, he received the First Communion and the Sacrament of Confirmation. Over the years, his physical condition deteriorates progressively. In suffering, the boy developed a profound personal relationship with Christ, to whom he offered his pains. Darwin did not complain: when he spoke about his illness, he did not call it myopathy but "mission".

On 16 September 2012, what his loved ones call Darwin's "Passion Week" began. His condition suddenly worsened: Darwin felt pain while breathing and was then led to hospital. Even in these moments of great suffering and despite the fact that his hour was about to come, he continued to maintain a friendly attitude, thanking everyone for the services that were being lent to him. Thursday, September 20, 2012, Darwin experienced a spiritual battle. He said: I am fighting against the devil. Friday, Darwin looked peaceful and had a big smile. He thanked those who had cared for him and expressed his joy in the hope of soon meeting the Lord by writing A huge thank you and I am very happy. Saturday, Darwin entered into a great silence while remaining conscious. The Servant of God died at the Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City at PCMC, Sunday 23 September 2012.
FULTON, Ark.  A month-long search for 4-year-old Maleah Davis may have ended Friday along a tree-lined junction in southwest Arkansas after investigators found a childs remains scattered along Interstate 30, where her mothers ex-boyfriend confessed he dumped her.

Houston police said they could not confirm that the remains are those of Maleah  whose disappearance captured the nations attention  but indicated they believe they found the missing girl. The identify is pending the results of an autopsy.

I was fearing there was never going to be an ending, said Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller, whose volunteers had spent the month combing Houston for signs of the child. Theres an ending. Certainly not the way we wanted it, not a scene we wanted to see, but unfortunately we cant choose these things.

A CITY MOURNS: A month after her disappearance Houston has questions, at HoustonChronicle.com

A work crew mowing Interstate 30 near Fulton  about 330 miles from Houston  discovered a bloodied black garbage bag earlier this week, but they left it alone with the assumption that its foul odor was from a discarded animal. A mower earlier on Friday struck the bag, tore it open and scattered its contents, Hempstead County Sheriff James Singleton said.

Authorities turned their focus to the bag Friday morning after longtime community leader Quanell X announced that he had visited 27-year-old Derion Vence at the Harris County Jail and garnered a confession. The information he gleaned was enough to send investigators and Texas EquuSearch crews packing for Hempstead County.

By dusk, several law enforcement vehicles parked along the road and investigators searched for evidence along a grassy embankment. Miller said authorities would be flying the remains back to Harris County for an autopsy.

Miller wishes they could have reached the site before the tractor and brush hog went over the bag.

The grisly discovery in his jurisdiction confounded Singleton, a grandfather to two young girls. He said Vence had no known connection to the area.

I have no earthly idea why he came to Hempstead County, Singleton said of the suspect. If youre in law enforcement  youre going to see horrible and cruel things. Theres a lot of evil in the world.

The junction is about 20 miles from the Texas border and a five-and-a-hour trek from the Alief-area apartment in southwest Houston home where Maleah lived with Vence and her mother, Brittany Bowens. Maleah was last seen alive on April 30 at the apartment while Bowens was attending a funeral in Massachusetts.

Quanell had been speaking for Bowens during media interviews and court hearings in the wake of Maleahs disappearance. Earlier this week, he said he is no longer representing Bowens, who could not be reached Friday.

Vence was a no-show to pick Bowens up at Bush Intercontinental Airport on May 3. He resurfaced at a Sugar Land hospital the night of May 4 to report Maleah missing and to tell police that three men attacked him and abducted her. On May 11, he was charged with tampering with evidence in connection with the missing girl.

Nearly three weeks later, after police Chief Art Acevedo disputed Vences account and characterized him as uncooperative, Vence allegedly told Quanell that he killed the girl and disposed of her body in Arkansas.

He says it was an accident. And he confessed to me where he dumped her body, Quanell said. He felt like he was just totally overwhelmed, because Brittany wasnt being the mother she should be being.

Vence reportedly kept track of how long he drove and how far, he continued.

He said that he pulled over in Arkansas, got out of the car, walked to the side of the road, and dumped the body off the road, Quanell said, without indicating how the girl may have died.

HPD Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner said he anticipates a murder charge in the case but would not elaborate. Vence has already been charged tampering with a corpse and is being held on a $45,000 bond.

The alleged confession was a point of contention for Vences newly-appointed attorney Dorian Cotlar, who filed a motion Friday morning prohibiting Quanell X from visiting his client at the jail.

The jail does not generally allow inmate visits on Fridays, except for lawyers, ministers and sometimes community leaders, officials said.

We know Quanell X as a community leader, Harris County Sheriffs Office spokesman Jason Spencer said. When a community leader asks to visit an inmate, we generally allow it, as long as the inmate agrees to the visit.

Cotlar said his client was led to believe by HPD investigators on Friday that he no longer had a lawyer. His previous lawyer, Thomas Burton, had motioned to withdraw from the case on Wednesday. The motion was granted on Thursday and Cotlar was immediately appointed to the case, court records show.

Vence did not know that Cotlar was his new lawyer and was under the impression that his family sent Quanell to the jail to represent him. Quanell indicated that he would provide Vence with new lawyers and that everything was going to be fine.

Quanell X completely misled my client, Cotlar said. I dont know how he was able to get into the jail.

Details that Quanell claimed to have learned from Vence during that brief jailhouse meeting did not happen, Cotlar continued.

My client did not confess to Quanell. He did not use the word accident with Quanell, Cotlar said. Quanell makes his living off of reward money.

Burton had been privately retained but said he withdrew as counsel this week because Vences family could not pay for his services.

Its too complex of a case to be working on for free, Burton said. He received some compensation, he said, but it wasnt enough.

Burton also questioned Quanell Xs role in the case.

It certainly appears hes attempting to practice law without a license, Burton said.

In a phone call, Quanell said he was not representing Vence or his family at the time of his visit. He said he went to the jail to see Vence because I wanted to.

I felt like I needed to, he said.

During the news conference at HPD headquarters, Finner declined to comment on Quanells visit.

Hes been working with law enforcement for years, Finner said. I dont know how he got there, or what was said when he was there. I know that he did get some information about the whereabouts of this little angel.

st.john.smith@chron.com

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom is welcoming women across the country who are seeking abortions to come have the procedure done in his home state.

In a Friday letter, Newsom joined Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in urging states "to review their laws and enact their own protections" after states such as Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and Mississippi recently passed stringent laws that would curb access to abortion.

"In the absence of federal leadership on this issue, states must step up and put in place their own protections  both in statute and in their state constitutions, and through the expansion of family planning and education  to defend every American's right to reproductive freedom," the governors wrote. "Roe is settled law, but newly enacted and clearly unconstitutional laws in a handful of states compel our states to act now to reaffirm longstanding commitments to safeguard the fundamental rights of women."

ALSO: Judge says Missouri clinic can keep providing abortions

Newsom took it a step further, inviting women in conservative states to come to California to "fully exercise their reproductive rights."

"Today, we issued a California Proclamation on Reproductive Freedom, reaffirming our commitment to protecting women's reproductive choices, educating Californians about their rights to reproductive freedom, welcoming women to California to fully exercise their reproductive rights, and acting as a model for other states that want to ensure full reproductive freedom for women," the letter reads.

Newsom isn't the only California lawmaker taking aim at states passing new abortion laws.

Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) unveiled a proposal on the campaign trail that would require states to receive federal approval before changing abortion laws.

RELATED: Nebraska lawmakers approve abortion drug notice bill

"We are living through an all-out assault being waged on women's health and reproductive rights," Harris wrote on her campaign website. "From Alabama to Ohio, and Missouri to Georgia, the goal of Republican politicians is clear: Overturn Roe v. Wade and end safe and legal abortion in America."

Under her proposal, states that have a history of of limiting access to abortion would have to receive clearance from the Justice Department before implementing new laws on reproductive care.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting

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In route news this week, United adds two new destinations from San Francisco, doubles frequencies on an SFO transcontinental route, and eyes a new Europe destination from Newark; Frontier adds a new SFO flight; Southwest adds Bay Area intrastate service; Alaska Airlines partners with South African Airways; American starts new Honduras service and adds domestic markets; Aeromexico boosts its transborder schedule; Egyptair starts Washington Dulles service; Air New Zealand wants to fly non-stop to New York; Ethiopian delays a new Houston route; and Emirates sets the world's shortest A380 flight.

United Airlines has a couple of new routes coming up at San Francisco International next week. On June 5, United is due to launch new daily service from SFO to Columbus, Ohio, followed on June 6 by the introduction of seasonal fights three days a week from SFO to Fairbanks, Alaska, continuing through August 18. Also on June 6, United will begin a second daily roundtrip between SFO and Tampa. Currently, the single United flight to Tampa departs SFO at 1:45 p.m.; with the new schedule, Tampa departures from SFO will be at 10:05 a.m. and 10:45 p.m.

United's SFO-Columbus fight isn't the only new service to Ohio; on June 2, Frontier Airlines adds San Francisco-Cincinnati to its route map, offering three flights a week (on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays).

In addition to its San Francisco schedule additions, United is also kicking off a pair of new non-stop routes from its Denver International hub next week, introducing daily United Express flights to the Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport in California, serving Arcata/Eureka; and daily United Express non-stops to Charleston, South Carolina.

At its Newark hub, meanwhile, United is said to have its eye on a new transatlantic route next year. According to Spanish media, United plans to begin non-stop service from Newark to Seville, operating five flights a week on a seasonal basis beginning in May 2020.

Southwest Airlines has obtained more slots at Long Beach Airport, and it plans to use most of them for new California Corridor service. On October 1, Southwest said, it will begin service to Long Beach from Oakland four times a day, and from San Jose and Sacramento four times a day on weekdays and three a day on weekends. The airline will also begin Long Beach-Las Vegas service twice a day on weekends, and Long Beach-Denver flights once a day on weekends.

Alaska Airlines has signed up another international partner. South African Airways said this week it has inked a new interline agreement with Alaska for connections between the two at New York JFK and Washington Dulles, SAA's U.S. gateways. "This new relationship will offer increased convenience to customers by allowing travel on one single electronic ticket and through interline baggage transfer upon check-in with either SAA or Alaska Airlines in the U.S. or Africa," according to a South African Airways spokesperson.

American Airlines is due to kick off new service to Honduras from its Dallas/Ft. Worth hub next week. On June 6, American begins three flights a week from DFW to Tegucigalpa, followed on June 7 by four weekly roundtrips from DFW to San Pedro Sula. The airline will use A319s on both routes. On the domestic side, American just started twice-daily American Eagle flights between Chicago O'Hare and Duluth, Minnesota; and it announced plans to begin New York JFK-Richmond, Virginia service in late November with three daily roundtrips.

Delta's joint venture partner Aeromexico expands its transborder network this weekend, starting daily Atlanta-Guadalajara service on June 1, three weekly flights between Detroit and San Luis Potosi June 2, and three a week from Detroit to Guadalajara on June 3. All the new service operates with Embraer E190 regional jets.

United's Star Alliance partner Egyptair is set to launch new service on June 3 between Cairo and United's Washington Dulles hub. The new Cairo flights will operate three days a week, using a 787-9 Dreamliner.

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Air New Zealand has settled on Boeing's 787-10 Dreamliner  the largest of the 787 family  to replace its fleet of 777-200ERs, according to reports from Auckland. The carrier has placed an order for eight of the wide-bodies, with deliveries due to start in 2022. The extended range of the 330-seat 787-10s will permit non-stop service from Auckland to the U.S. East Coast, and the airline reportedly plans to use the new planes to begin New York non-stops.

Ethiopian Airlines  like Air New Zealand, a member of United's Star Alliance  is making more changes to its North American service. The airline was supposed to begin new service between Houston Bush Intercontinental and Addis Ababa (via a stop in Lome, Togo) on June 23, but now it has pushed that back to mid-December, according to Routesonline.com. That Houston route was planned as a replacement for Ethiopian's discontinued Los Angeles service. The airline has also axed plans to boost its Addis Ababa-Washington Dulles schedule from seven flights a week to 10 on June 20 and will push back new Addis Ababa-Toronto flights (via Dublin) from June 17 to October 28.

If your bar trivia quiz asks a question about the operator of the world's shortest scheduled flight for an Airbus A380 super-jumbo, you can put down Emirates as the answer. According to CNN, Emirates will start flying an A380 on July 1 between its Dubai home base and Muscat International Airport  a route that covers just 211 miles-- about as far as SFO is from Reno, NV.





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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.
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio-- June 7 has been declared National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the city. The citys proclamation came about thanks to the efforts of two members of Moms Demand Action, one of whom is an Independence resident.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day began as a response to the shooting and killing of Hadiya Pendleton, a teenager who marched in former U.S. President Barack Obamas second inaugural parade. A group of Pendletons friends honored her by wearing orange to raise awareness about the dangers of gun violence. It has since grown to be adopted by a coalition of gun violence prevention groups nationwide.

One such group is the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America organization, which has chapters throughout the country. According to their website, they are a part of Everytown for gun safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country.

The volunteer local group leader for the Cleveland chapter, Molly Crowe, said the group formed shortly after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was partly modeled after the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) group and is made up of all volunteers.

Crowe said the group focuses on policy change and that the members work to advance bills that reduce gun violence and oppose those that allow for it. Members travel to the State Capital to meet with lawmakers, testify at hearings, attend parades and hold documentary screenings.

Additionally, Crowe explained that the group will attend festivals to explain safe gun storage to prevent accidental shootings.

During election time, the group may administer their seal of approval for gun sense candidates. These may be people running for state or national offices.

Its an epidemic, and we are (making a) move to reduce gun violence. (We look at) how it affects a community and make an effort to change, said Crowe.

Mothers Demand Action has been active for four years and has reached out every year to local mayors and school boards to create proclamations for June 7 to recognize Gun Violence Awareness Day in their cities.

Independence resident Andrea Kovesdi, along with fellow MDA member Erin Dickinson, asked Independence Mayor Anthony Togliatti to create a proclamation for the city.

It is more impactful if (members ask) within their own communities, Crowe said.

Kovesdi said there has never been a gun violence awareness proclamation in the city before. Though she said she had been unsure how the mayors office would respond, Kovesdi said, They were very receptive, genuinely interested in our cause, kind and gracious. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, especially considering its nothing I had ever done before.

The proclamation gives a brief history of the origins of the day and states that every day, 100 Americans are killed by gun violence and are 25 times more likely to be killed with guns than people in other high-income countries. It goes on to say, Protecting public safety in a community is a mayors highest responsibility, and support for the Second Amendment right of law-abiding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from people with dangerous histories.

It ended by saying that wearing orange on June 7 would not only raise awareness about gun violence, but would honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors.

Moms Demand Action held an open mic event for National Gun Violence Awareness Day last year. (Photo courtesy of Molly Crowe)

In many other cities, people will wear orange or color their well-known landmarks orange for this national day of awareness. According to the American Public Health Association website, orange originated in hunting culture, and wearing it on June 7 will acknowledge that America has responsible gun ownership and values human life.

The Cleveland chapter of Moms Demand Action will be holding an open mic event from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at Studio 105, the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning at 1470 E. 105th St., Cleveland. They are partnering with Literary Cleveland and 12 Literary Arts, which both promote literature, poetry and the spoken word.

Crowe said, All are invited to come with ideas, thoughts and feelings on gun violence and (communicate) that in whatever way possible.

Read more news from the Parma Sun Post.
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- The choice of who will become the next South Euclid City Council member will be Mayor Georgine Welos to decide.

City Council members met in executive session Thursday (May 30) evening for just over two hours and were unable to arrive at a consensus as to who would replace former councilman Jason Russell.

Russell, in early April, announced that he would be resigning from council, effective April 30. The 34-year-old stated that he needed more time to concentrate on his job and upcoming marriage.

According to the citys charter, council had 30 days, or until May 30, to select Russells successor. After 30 days, it is up to the mayor to select that successor.

We had nine candidates and six council members, and somebody (a candidate) had to get four votes (from council), said Council President Dennis Fiorelli. "No one really stood out to get four votes.

Thats the system thats in place. Im pretty comfortable with what (council) did. Now, it will be up to the mayor. There is a check and balance in place if council cannot agree on someone.

Residents who submitted resumes and letters of interest in trying to gain a council seat included Dennis Silsby, of Greenway Road: Breanna May, of Avondale Road; Christopher Latham, of Westdale Road; Curtis Orr, of South Belvoir Boulevard; Mary Bastawros, of Argonne Road; Denise Turner, of Hinsdale Road; Susan Hardy, of Plainfield Road; Andrew Fernandez, of Berwick Lane; and Carol Sisson, of Wilburn Drive.

Clerk of Council Keith Benjamin said Welo can select from among the nine who submitted applications or choose any other South Euclid resident she deems best for the position. Benjamin said there is no stated timeline in the charter by which Welo must make her decision.

The person chosen would serve only through the end of 2019, when Russells term comes to a close. The new council member would then have to seek election to retain the position.

Council met three times to interview the candidates and discuss their choices.

We ran out of time because of the 30-day limit, Fiorelli said.

When asked if any of the nine candidates was close to getting four votes from council, Fiorelli said he could not give details because Thursdays meeting was in executive session.

I can say it was close, but not close enough, he said.

Following executive session, council held a brief special meeting in which none of the candidates were nominated.

Welo was unavailable for comment.

Read more Sun Messenger news here.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A Cleveland man accused of shooting at a man in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood subsequently threatened to harm the man and his family if he testified in the case, court records say.

Xavier Kafel, 18, is charged with intimidation of a crime victim after he threatened an 18-year-old man through a May 21 text message, according to court records.

He is being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Kafel and two other men were indicted last month after they shot at the man April 8 on West 45th Street at Archmere Avenue. A Cuyahoga County judge barred Kafel from contacting the man before Kafel was released from jail on a $2,500 bond.

Since his April 16 release from jail, Kafel has threatened the man and the mans family several times through text messages, Facebook, and video chat, court records say. The threats said that someone would shoot up the mans house if he testified, court records say.

In one message, he told the man f--k yo dad Ill kill him too, court records say.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors filed a motion May 23 to revoke Kafels bond. He was arrested the next day, records say.

Kafel and the man have been involved in an ongoing feud that started over a girl, a witness told investigators.

Kafel was previously identified as a suspect in a March 25 incident at the mans home. He and five other men broke into the home and threatened the man before the mans father chased them away, police reports say.

Kafel is charged with aggravated menacing in connection with the break-in, according to his indictment in common pleas court.

Two weeks later, Kafel and two other men shot at the man during the April 8 incident, court records say. Investigators found 15 bullet casings at the scene, as well as bullet holes in a nearby 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury last month indicted Kafel; Jeorge Caraballo, 28; and Blake Cochran, 20, on a series of charges related to the incident, including felonious assault, court records say.

Caraballo remains jailed on a $50,000 bond, but Cochran was released after posting a $2,500 bond.

To comment on this story, visit Saturdays crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A 28-year-old man is charged in connection with a home invasion turned shootout that ended with the mans accomplice dead, according to police.

Ernest Switzer of Cleveland is charged with aggravated murder in the death of Martinez Levenshown, 49. He also faces an aggravated burglary charge.

Switzer was arrested after he showed up at University Hospitals with a gunshot wound to his right arm, police said. A court date has not yet been set.

Switzer is not accused of fatally shooting Levenshown, but can be charged with his death under Ohio law because hes accused of committing a felony with Levenshown that led to Levenshowns death.

A 30-year-old resident of the home shot Levenshown and told police he acted in self-defense. He was arrested on a probation violation, but not in connection with the shooting.

An Ohio law known as the Castle Doctrine lets a person use deadly force against intruders into their home or car.

The incident happened about 10:30 p.m. at a home on Laisy Avenue near East 93rd Street in the citys Kinsman neighborhood.

Levenshown, Switzer and a third man police have not yet identified forced their way into the 30-year-old mans home, police said.

The trio attacked the 30-year-old man and threatened to shoot him, according to police. Levenshown pulled out a gun, as did the 30-year-old man, according to police.

Both fired shots at each other and Levenshown was killed. The 30-year-old man was shot in the forearm and Switzer in his arm and finger, police said.

Switzer and the unidentified man ran from the home. The 30-year-old man flagged down a police officer in the area and told him that a man was shot and not moving inside his home, police said.

Levenshown was pronounced dead at the scene by medics, police said. Police found two guns at the home.

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WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio  A 23-year-old man was arrested Saturday in connection with a head-on crash on an highway bridge that killed a 32-year-old woman and injured four others, including two children, police said.

Donnell Furguson, 23, of Cleveland, is charged with reckless homicide, a third-degree felony, Police Chief Christopher Collins said in a news release.

Furguson was arrested about 9 a.m. Saturday after being released from a rehabilitation center, Collins said. Furguson was then released from the jail because of his injuries and ordered to appear in Willoughby Municipal Court on Wednesday.

Police said Saturday they are still investigating the factors that led up to the crash.

Skye Brown, 32, of Euclid, died in the crash. Two women, ages 56 and 39, and two children, ages 9 and 11, inside the same SUV as Brown suffered injuries but survived, police said.

The crash happened about 3 a.m. May 12 on the overpass bridge that connects Interstate 271 and I-90.

Furguson was driving a 2013 Nissan Altima in the opposite direction of traffic on Ohio 2 and I-90, police said.

Several area police departments were searching for the car after several motorists reported seeing the car driving the wrong way on the highway, police said.

Before police spotted the car, Furgusons crashed into the 2016 Mazda CX-5 SUV. Brown was in the passenger seat, and the 39-year-old woman was in the backseat with the two children, according to police.

The four survivors were taken to Hillcrest Hospital for treatment. Furguson was taken to the Cleveland Clinic.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  A Lakewood man is accused of attacking a liquor store owner and his 65-year-old father after the duo denied letting him buy items with a bad credit card, police say.

Nicholas Wilson, 28, is charged with felonious assault. He is not in police custody and a warrant was issued Thursday for his arrest.

Two other men Michael Rivas Vazquez, 41, and Roberto Rodriguez, 42 told police they were at a Memorial Day barbeque nearby and jumped into help Wilson, who they thought was being attacked.

They are charged with attempted felonious assault and are being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on $20,000 bond.

The 37-year-old store owner and his father were taken to MetroHealth, where they were in critical condition, police reports say. The owners father suffered a skull fracture, according to court records. An updated condition was not available on Saturday.

The incident happened about 8 p.m. on Memorial Day at the State Road Beverage and Liquor store.

Wilson walked into the store, tried to buy a few items and gave the 65-year-old man a credit card with no name on it, police reports say. He told Wilson he couldnt accept the card.

Wilson became irate and trashed the store, knocking over items on the counter and smashing liquor bottles, police reports say.

The owner and his father chased Wilson from the store, according to police.

Wilson turned around and punched the 65-year-old man in the face, police reports say. The store owner jumped in the middle of the fight and Wilson tried to jump into his SUV, police reports say.

The 65-year-old man went after Wilson, police reports say.

Vazquez and Rodriguez saw the fight from the front yard of the home and tried to help Wilson, thinking he was getting attacked, police reports say.

Wilson then slammed the 65-year-old man to the ground and kicked him repeatedly, according to police.

Rodriguez shoved the store owner to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the face, police reports say. Vazquez then punched another store employee in the chest several times, police reports say.

A large group of people surrounded the fighters and said police had been called.

Wilson got in his SUV and drove off and Vazquez and Rodriquez went back to their party, according to police reports.

Officers found the 65-year-old man unconscious and bleeding heavily from his left ear, police reports say. The store owner had multiple cuts and bruises on his face and neck, according to police.

Rodriguez told police he ran down to the fight, but did not hit anyone, police reports say.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Samuel Little, one of the nations most prolific serial killers, was charged Friday with killing two Cleveland women and dumping their bodies on the citys East Side.

Little, who grew up in Lorain, confessed to the slayings of Mary Jo Peyton in 1984 and Rose Evans in 1991. Little also admitted to local authorities that he killed a third woman from Cleveland in 1977 or 1978, but the details on that case are much less clear.

On Sunday, The Plain Dealer will report what Cuyahoga County investigators are doing to piece the case together and where they believe Little disposed of the womans body.

While Little confessed to the womans death, he admitted that he spent little time with her, and his recollection of where he dumped her body is a hazy after more than 40 years.

The women Little killed in Cleveland are among multiple victims slain in Ohio and 93 across the country, authorities said.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted him on charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping in the deaths of Peyton and Evans. If convicted here, he could face additional life sentences. In exchange for his confessions, county prosecutors have agreed not to go after the death penalty.

He already is serving four life terms: three for convictions in California and one in Texas. The Plain Dealer reported details of those cases Saturday.
Cleveland City Council and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland are is the verge of providing the kind of help to people in poverty that can be life altering: free lawyers to help people fight evictions.

In the latest episode of This Week in the CLE, the cleveland.com podcast discussion about recent news, reporters and editors talk about what the council action could mean. The discussion includes part of a recording from a visit by Council President Kevin Kelley and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland to talk about the initiative.

The evidence is clear about how devastating eviction is. It removes children from their schools, creating greater hardships in their education. It depletes the limited funds families have. It launches people on to downward spirals that make getting out of poverty ever more challenging.

Without lawyers, people facing eviction have the odds stacked against them. They almost always lose in court. But when people facing eviction have a lawyer by their side, they win more than they lose, and the landlords often are forced to be more responsible and fair.

Download the podcast here or, on many devices, click on the player below to start listening. The eviction conversation starts at 21:22. You can also read the transcript.

Chris Quinn: This week a team from Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley visited us to talk about how close we are to providing lawyers for people who are in poverty and facing eviction. The Legal Aid team reiterated how devastating eviction is for people in poverty because of how it interrupts school for kids, depletes their limited funds, and throws up all sorts of hurdles for them for emerging from property. Hazel Remesch, a Legal Aid attorney immersed in the project, explains some of what they have learned about Cleveland evictions. First, she told us how many people who get evicted have lawyers in Cleveland.

Hazel Remesch: What does the landscape look like? There's 9,000 evictions that are filed every year in the City of Cleveland alone, about 20,000 countywide. Only one to two percent of the tenants who are going into court are represented by and attorney, whereas 75% of landlords are showing up to court with a lawyer by their side.

Chris: Then she told us a bit about who gets evicted.

Hazel: It's 77% of them were African-American women. Sixty percent of the households have children, with two children on average. We also learned that about 38% of the people with surveyed were actually working full time at the time of the eviction. And the median monthly income was about $1,200 a month.

Chris: Finally, she told us what happened in New York when lawyers were provided to people being evicted.

Hazel: So New York has now been ... They're phasing their implementation in over five years. At the end of their first year, they've seen that 84% of the households who went into eviction court with a lawyer at their side avoided displacement.

Chris: With all of that, Council President Kelley explained that the argument for providing lawyers to those facing eviction has been made, and he's now trying to figure out how to pay for it.

Kevin Kelley: For reasons that have been stated, that the kind of the moral case has been made, and that argument, that's over with. And it's a question of how do we get to the end. And that is a math problem that's not as simple as a number of cases times cost equals what the city's on the hook for. It's a matter of how do we put together ... In anything we do in government. How do you put together something that's going to be sustainable that doesn't ... If it runs off the rails it will be not good for future councils and mayors and tenants in our housing community. So we're looking at different things like ... Well, right now, Legal Aid provides services for up to 200% of federal poverty guidelines. Maybe we can't go that high to start. Maybe we're looking 150, maybe we're looking at 100. Maybe we're looking at families with children. Maybe we're looking ... So we're trying to plug in different formulas to come up with what is that number that is something that is sustainable. And, spoiler alert, it is going to start limited.

Chris: So, Bob, when is Kelley aiming to have the legislation ready?

Bob Higgs: I think he'd like to have something over the summer. Council goes on recess June 3rd, but they'll have a couple of big summer meetings. But it's going to take a little while to pull it together because he's got to figure out how to pay for it. That could push it into early fall, but he wants to get at this pretty quickly.

Chris: He was visibly uncomfortable during our discussion when people brought up cost. Do you think that's because he has to navigate a very challenging political landscape to make this happen and worries that early talk about cost will just make it harder?

Bob: I think that's a big part of it, because it's ... We're talking about millions of dollars here, potentially, and that's a hard sell to some members of council and also to some parts of the community. You've got people out there who will say, "Oh, if they just paid their rent, they wouldn't be in this fix." But it's not that simple. That's the moral thing. But finding a way to pay for it is tricky, because it is a lot of money.

Chris: We learned a lot about the challenges for affordable housing and eviction through the project that we did on poverty called A Greater Cleveland, something Mark was involved in. And in the need to help people who are facing eviction we even had the guy who wrote the book about eviction come to town and give a speech at Playhouse Square about these challenges. How important do you think this would be, Mark, to changing the landscape?

Mark Naymik: It'll make a huge difference, on two levels. One is, first let's address that they're not looking to get people out of paying rent. What they found is that people get taken advantage of without a lawyer, so things become worse. A landlord will not only go for the back rent but then will hit them for damages in the apartment, so that it becomes a secondary cost and hit on them. And often when they are represented by a lawyer, when the tenant is, you realize that, "Okay, hey, that tenant has been complaining for months about the leaky ceiling, so you can't charge them for it." That's something that was on the landlord. And they just want to make a little more balanced. And when there is a lawyer involved, this is the other big impact, they often find that a little negotiation can resolve the situation for both sides. Maybe they can figure out a way to delay the payment, if there's a promise made or some money is given up front, then the landlords says, "Okay, you can stay. I'll get my money. I don't have to go through the cost of re-renting." And things move forward. And that's the goal. The goal is not to get them out of paying what they owe, it is to make sure that they're not taken advantage of for being poor.

Chris: Well, those numbers from Hazel were astounding. I mean, to go from winning a couple of percent of the time to well over more than half the time. The other thing that they all talked about is, once the landlord knows they might be up against somebody with a lawyer, they're much less likely to seek eviction because they know that the units are not really up to speed. And once there's a lawyer for the tenant saying, "Hey, there was no water for a month. What gives?" That they get in trouble with the housing court.

Mark: This whole study, weve been following it for a couple of years, with the Legal Aid Society. Really is about much bigger system, too, right? They want to get at, if the landlord has a bad roof, does this trigger an inspection? Obviously, thats the stick that scares them, by coming into that court then someone may go check. Theres been efforts by Legal Aid Society and others to get a registry of landlords on the books, which is now there, and they have to begin to catalog every property thats a rentable property, and that eventually things will be better, better oversight and all that stuff with it. So theres a lot to this program.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said Friday that Congress needed to investigate ties between President Donald Trumps inner circle and Russia, but stopped short of saying the House should begin impeachment hearings.

I dont think it should be imminent, Brown said. I think we need to know more.

Following Special Counsel Robert Muellers public statements any possible criminal charges to Trump must go through Congress, a growing number of Democrats have explicitly stated their desire to start the impeachment process. The president has touted Muellers lack of charges against him as an exoneration, though Mueller made clear that was not the case.

If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so, Mueller said.

Brown, who spoke with members of the media following his keynote address to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition in downtown Cleveland, was a member of the House the last time Congress impeached a president  Democrat Bill Clinton in 1998 for obstruction of justice and perjury. (Brown voted against impeachment. The Senate acquitted Clinton in 1999.)

Brown said Muellers report and subsequent statement were alarming, but wanted further investigation by Congress.

You read 20 pages of the Mueller Report and you cant help but be troubled by the interaction of the Trump family and the Russians and the Trump campaign and the Russians, Brown said. We need to know more about that. Hearings will do that.

Brown, a frequent critic of Trump, also said he was against the recent tariffs the president said he would impose on Mexico as punishment over immigration. Brown generally supports tariffs, though only as an economic policy.

Tariffs are a temporary tool to get to a long-term trade policy, Brown said. You dont use tariffs on issues that have nothing to do with tariffs. This will be counterproductive. The best way is to work with those governments to help them stem the violence and the flow of refugees. These are refugees whose families have broken apart because of violence. Theyre not going 1,000 miles with small children just because they want to.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Vampires are terribly hard to eradicate. Just when you think were done with these crafty bloodsuckers, they come roaring out of the shadows to remind us how durable, malleable and adaptable they are.

Indeed, no matter how the pop culture has been defined since the April 1819 publication of John Polidoris immensely influential Lord Ruthven story, The Vampyre, theyve remained a constant presence for 200 years.

They may get momentarily pushed into dark corners by other supernatural beings. We saw that happen when the zombie craze, led by The Walking Dead in 2010, eclipsed a vampire boom that had seen the emergence of such book-to-screen franchises as True Blood, Twilight and The Vampire Chronicles.

They may suffer for a brief time from overexposure, as if momentarily retreating from the suns rays. But theyre always there.

Pick a decade, and youll find them: from Nosferatu in 1922 and Bela Lugosis Dracula in 1931 to Christopher Lees first appearance as the Count in 1958 and Jonathan Frids Barnabas Collins on Dark Shadows in the 1960s; from Louis and Lestat in the 1994 film version of Anne Rices Interview with the Vampire to Bill Compton and Edward Cullen and the sensualized vampires of the 21st century.

And were seeing quite a lot of them in 2019. Two high-profile cable series, one just concluded and one about to premiere, are vampiric in nature, although extremely different in tone.

The just-concluded series is FXs What We Do in the Shadows, the wonderfully sly satire that puts an inspired American spin on the 2014 New Zealand mockumentary vampire spoof of the same name. It wrapped up a sensational 10-episode first season Wednesday night, and a 10-episode second season is in the works.

Kayvan Novak, left, as Nandor, Harvey Guillen as Guillermo, Matt Berry as Laszlo in FXs What We Do in the Shadows.

FX would have been batty not to order a new batch of episodes. What We Do in the Shadows brilliantly and hilariously maintained its fang-in-cheek premise, emerging as one of the years best new shows.

It passes the baton, so to speak, to NOS4A2 (yes, pronounced Nosferatu), a spooky and suspenseful drama that AMC premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday, June 2. The series is based on Joe Hills 2013 novel, which puts a deeply disturbing spin on its distinct take on vampires.

Folklore on vampires vary greatly. Not all vampires are blood drinkers. Not all are shapeshifters. And dont even get me started on sunlight.

So each writer tends to make up his or her own rules, accepting some traditional aspects while rejecting others. Hill pretty much invented his own rule book for NOS4A2, his third horror novel. Hes well aware of the tradition and his heritage (there are shout-outs in the book to his father, Stephen King, with references to the Dark Tower and Shawshank Prison).

Ashleigh Cummings stars as blue-collar New Englander Vic McQueen, a gifted young woman who discovers she has a supernatural ability to find lost things. Zachary Quinto plays the villainous Charlie Manx, an evil and immortal predator with a penchant for taking things.

The malevolent Manx feeds off the children he lures into his mysterious 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith. He needs their souls. He then deposits the drained remains of his victims in Christmasland, a prison of sorts where every day is Christmas.

Ashleigh Cummings as Vic McQueen in AMCs NOS4A2.

Vics mission is to rescue the children, but, with one wrong turn, she might lose her grip on sanity or become another of Manxs victims. Clearly, unlike What We Do in the Shadows, this reimagining of the vampire story isnt playing things for laughs.

But, as the vampire hunter said as he indicated the sharpened tip of a wooden stake, thats sort of the point. There are vampires of all sorts for all, uh, tastes.

One much-discussed project on the horror horizon is a new miniseries take on Bram Stokers 1897 novel Dracula. These three 90-minute episodes from Sherlock creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss will star Claes Bang (The Girl in the Spiders Web) in the title role. Filming began in March on this co-production from BBC One and Netflix.

Set to go into production in September is a series version of The Vampire Chronicles, the Rice novels that began with Interview with the Vampire. Rice and her son, Christopher, are on board as executive producers for the Hulu show.

Also in production are: writer-producer Rob Thomas series version of the 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys (Tyler Posey of Teen Wolf will star); a film version of Marvels Morbius, with Jared Leto as the vampiric lead character; Undying Love, a film adaptation of the comic book about a solider who falls in love with a vampire; V-Wars, a Netflix series based on the comic book and starring Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries); and, yes, heading for the stage, True Blood: The Musical.

Theres more, lots more. As Prof. Van Helsing says in Stokers Dracula, The vampire lives on and cannot die by mere passing of time. Or, as Dracula says in the same book, My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.
The rising cost of college can make earning an advanced degree seem out of reach for many students today.

According to the College Board's 2018 Trends in College Pricing Report, from 1988 to 2018, prices tripled at public four-year schools and doubled at public two-year and private non-profit four-year schools.

In particular, private schools often get significant attention for having sky-high "sticker prices," which include tuition, fees, room and board. But when the College Board broke down what the average net price of college is today  taking scholarships and grants into account  they found that students typically pay less than the published price.

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, reports that the cost to attend for the 2018-2019 academic year included $54,320 for tuition, $9,120 for rooming, $5,550 for boarding, $2,017 for personal expenses, $1,595 for books, and $1,236 for fees  totaling roughly $73,892.

But for some students, the cost of attending Brown is significantly less.
CNBC's Jim Cramer on Friday said it is a "huge mistake" for President Donald Trump to wage a trade dispute with Mexico in an effort to curb immigration at the border. "It is a mistake to use commerce as a weapon against a government that's been happy to cooperate with us on trade," the "Mad Money" host said. Cramer has generally been in favor of the prolonged trade war with China to address "predatory practices" the country has used, but Mexico "is the best trading partner we could ask for." According to Cramer, corporate executives think Trump's Mexican tariff threat could be a stunt. But "hope" should not be a part of the equation, the host said. Many companies have seen their stocks collapse while waiting for the U.S. and China to strike a deal, he added. "You have to presume the president will actually go through with these tariffs," Cramer said. "You don't want to get caught with your pants down when he does exactly what he told you he'd do." Trump announced the 5% tariffs on all imports from Mexico in a tweet Thursday. The taxes are slated to take effect on June 10. In a series of hikes, the rate could rise to 25% later this year if the country does not move to stop the flow of asylum seekers crossing the southern border. "Right now, Trump's trying to get his revised version of NAFTA through Congress. Slapping a bunch of tariffs on Mexico out of nowhere  left field  doesn't help," Cramer said. "A fit-of-pique tweet is unbecoming of our great country. We are all losers this time."

Watch out for that tariff

President Donald Trump tours the area around the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Calexico, California, U.S., April 5, 2019. Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

Cramer drew a line in the sand on President Donald Trump's attempt to negotiate trade via Twitter. After supporting a hard-line trade stance against China, Cramer denounced the surprise 5% tariffs that Trump has threatened to slap on all imports from Mexico starting next month. The threat sent the three major U.S. indexes down between more than 1% each Friday. "When Trump goes after the Mexican government, which has already made a bunch of concessions in the NAFTA renegotiations, it makes investors nervous [and] makes them want to sell," the host said. "It feels like there's no plan, like anything could happen, and that's a bad feeling because the markets hate uncertainty." America imported more than $346 billion of merchandise from its southern neighbor in 2018, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Mexico is the country's second largest trade partner, and the duties on imports could reportedly cost U.S. consumers at least $18.6 billion. The Trump administration said the tariffs would put pressure on the Mexican government to impede the flow of undocumented asylum seekers crossing the border. Trump said he has planned a series of tax hikes over the next several months if the matter is not addressed to his satisfaction. "If you want a strong economy and higher stock prices ... the last thing you need is a president who bursts through Twitter shouting: 'Who's next for punishment?' ... You can't conduct negotiations out of left field, via tweet," Cramer said. "In an era where all that matters is who's next for punishment ... we need to be very cautious, unless we get some sort of game-changing data that shifts the whole narrative." Click here to read up on what Cramer is watching in the week ahead

A close eye on tariffs

Todd McKinnon Anjali Sundaram | CNBC

Investors searching for a needle-in-a-haystack stock that has limited exposure to tariffs might come across Okta. CEO Todd McKinnon told Carmer in a one-on-one interview Friday that the global cloud software company does not have as much exposure to China's economy as most other entities. But the firm is monitoring trade tensions, he said. "In an indirect way, we're helping companies of every organization across the entire world be successful with their businesses as well," he said in the interview. "Indirectly we benefit from that, so we have a close eye on that as well." Read more here

Protecting enterprises

Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Some of the most recognizable names on the stock market, like General Electric and United Airlines, are relying on Zscaler to protect its systems from phishing attacks. The attacks are done via social engineering attacks to steal user data, such as login credentials. Zscaler, the cloud-based information security company, acts as a check point almost like TSA an international airport, CEO Jay Chaudhry told Cramer. "We're inspecting everything that goes in and out of your device to make sure we are blocking the bad we are protecting the good to have people do good business," he said. The company blocks as much as 100 million threats a day, he confirmed. Catch the full interview here

Training the 'new collar' workforce

Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, speaking at the Business Roundtable CEO Innovation Summit in Washington, DC on Dec. 6th, 2018. Janhvi Bhojwani | CNBC

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said that corporations owe it to society and their shareholders to help prepare people for AI-driven changes to the workforce. In a world where it is expected that artificial intelligence will impact every existing job, she said business leaders have an important social, corporate and economic responsibility to help high school students develop skills for what she called "new collar" jobs at the intersection of business and technology. Think cloud and cyber careers, she said. "[There's] a different paradigm that I think is going to be needed to make this an inclusive era. It is one of the things I worry the most," Rometty said in a sit down with Carmer. "We build these technologies so I think we have a responsibility  to prepare society for these technologies." Get more here

Cramer's lightning round: Aramark is in the 'penalty box'
Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaking at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 1, 2019

SINGAPORE  Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan called on America's allies in Asia Pacific to invest more in national security  a move that's reminiscent of U.S. President Donald Trump's well-worn script to NATO nations on burden-sharing.

Speaking Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Shanahan highlighted an exhaustive list of U.S. contributions to the region before asking allies to commit to more.

"Our government is devoting significant resources to this mission. This is a massive effort," Shanahan said during his remarks. "Every nation, independent of size, has an important role to play. And like the business of building airplanes, no one nation can go it alone," the former Boeing executive added.

Figures provided by the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, put China's 2019 defense spending at $176 billion. That's more than the combined budgets of South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

"People have to invest in themselves. I mean, we are making a sizable investment," Shanahan told a small group of reporters on Friday. "Now, different countries can do more, and some just don't have the means and the resources at the time. So, there is not one size fits all but everybody has a responsibility to invest in security," he added.

When asked about the reaction from partners in the region to a potential spending increase, Shanahan said he expects allies to work with the United States.

"When we are having these conversations it'll be about asking what's appropriate for us to help with and what can they do and I think those are natural conversations," Shanahan said. "I have not found the conversations awkward in the least."
The Chinese government plans to release a white paper laying out its position on trade talks with the U.S., amid uncertainty about whether the two sides will return to the negotiating table and growing concern that the trade war will only continue to escalate.

The position paper is scheduled to be released Sunday morning Beijing time, according to state-run Xinhua news agency. The Chinese government will also hold a press conference.



The trade war continued to escalate this week with no clear exit for China and the U.S.



Beijing threatened to restrict rare-earth mineral exports to the U.S. China controls about 35% of the world's rare-earth reserves, which are critical for a wide-range of key industries including tech, automotive and defense among others. The U.S. is heavily reliant on imports to meet its rare-earth needs and 80% come from China.



The threat to restrict rare-earth minerals comes amid increasingly militaristic rhetoric from Beijing. A commentary in the People's Daily, the country's largest newspaper, cautioned the U.S. not to underestimate China: "Don't say we didn't warn you!"



That phrase was used before China's border war with India in 1962 and prior to the China-Vietnam War in 1979. President Xi Jinping has also called on China to prepare for a "new Long March," a reference to the Communist Party's long -- but ultimately successful -- struggle against nationalist forces during the Chinese civil war.
Maryland Gov. Larry Logan told The Washington Post that he will not challenge President Donald Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination, ending his flirtation with a possible insurgent campaign that would have offered an alternative to moderate Republicans who are dissatisfied with Trump's tenure in office.



"I'm not going to be a candidate for president in 2020," Hogan told the Post.

The popular, centrist governor said he did not want to be pulled away from his duties in Annapolis by a long-shot campaign against an incumbent president who remains popular with the party base.

"I have a commitment to the 6 million people of Maryland and a lot of work to do, things we haven't completed," the governor told the Post.



A Republican governing in a largely Democratic state, Hogan managed to win a second term in 2018 despite the blue wave that gave Democrats control of the House of Representatives in Washington.



Hogan has a very high approval rating in Maryland. Eighty percent of Marylanders approved of his handling of state government in a February poll. But 55% said he should not run for president.



In an interview with CNBC in March, Hogan said he would consider challenging Trump "if the president weakened and I really thought it was important to the country," but even at that time he suggested that scenario was unlikely.

"There are more things I want to get done, and I also don't want to go on some fool's errand," Hogan said. "Nobody's successfully challenged a sitting president in their primary since 1884, and I don't want to just run around the country and put my family and everybody through that kind of an effort for no reason."



Hogan is the son of the only Republican in Congress to vote for all three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon during the Watergate crisis.

Trump said he would formally announce his re-election bid on June 18 at a rally in Orlando, Florida.

Though Hogan has bowed out, Trump will face a challenge from at least one other candidate. William Weld, former Republican governor of Massachusetts, announced in April that he would challenged the president for the nomination.



Read the full story in The Washington Post.
Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi at the Nasdaq market site during the Dropbox IPO, March 23, 2018. Source: Dropbox

Not long ago, Salesforce was the cloud software market and Marc Benioff its billionaire evangelist. But in the last few years, scores of tech companies that make their money selling subscription services have grown quickly, gone public and made their founders exceptionally rich. The biggest successes have even turned their creators into billionaires to the point that, while Benioff occupies the tallest building, his wealth no longer towers over that of several peers. At least eight founders of cloud software companies have joined the billionaire ranks amid the recent cloud boom. Their ascent highlights investors' continuing thirst for the popular business models of land and expand and recurring revenue, where software salespeople get small teams hooked on their products and then watch them spread more broadly throughout the organization, leading to bigger monthly payments. When Salesforce was getting started two decades ago, the cloud offered a new way to work. Now, it's the way we work. Microsoft has become the world's most valuable public company by taking its old packaged and desktop software products and putting them in the cloud, while at the same time taking on Amazon, the second most valuable company, in providing cloud infrastructure so other companies can offload their critical infrastructure. From collaboration and communication tools to security and software for the medical industry, a whole new generation of companies are taking over the enterprise. And while founders of popular consumer technology companies like Pinterest and Uber also now rank among tech's nouveau riche, it's the business software world that's seeing a steady stream of newly-minted billionaires, a trend that appears poised to continue. Here are some of the biggest winners in the cloud craze:

Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian

Atlassian Co-executives Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar at their Sydney office in 2006. Fairfax Media | Fairfax Media | Getty Images

The co-CEOs of Atlassian each own about 63 million shares of the company, which sells software for collaboration, project tracking and code storage. Their holdings were worth almost $8 billion each at market close on Friday, topping Benioff's net worth of about $6.6 billion. Farquhar and Cannon-Brookes were recently crowned by the New York Times as Australia's first tech billionaires. The pair first met at the University of New South Wales in 1998, started Atlassian in 2002 and took it public in the U.S. in 2015. Along the way, they opened a large office in San Francisco, home to several top executives. Last year, Atlassian put aside its rivalry with Slack, selling its HipChat service in exchange for a small stake in the business chat company. In the most recent quarter, Atlassian's revenue rose 38% from the prior year. The stock is up 41% in 2019, giving the company a market value of over $30 billion. Farquhar has said that he and Cannon-Brookes want to provide education for 10 million children over the next decade, focusing on the developing world.

Eric Yuan, Zoom

Eric Yuan, founder and chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications, at right, speaks with Jay Heller, head of capital markets & initial public offering execution of Nasdaq, during the company's IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on April 18, 2019. Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A Chinese programmer who emigrated to Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom, Yuan took his videoconferencing company public last month and was showered with love from Wall Street. The stock has more than doubled from its IPO price, valuing the company  which is profitable  at over $20 billion. Yuan holds close to 47 million shares in Zoom for a stake worth over $3.7 billion. Zoom has a freemium business model that's proven to be a major success. In the year that ended Jan. 31, more than half of the 344 customers that delivered over $100,000 in revenue originally signed on with a free product before subscribing, according to Zoom's IPO prospectus. Before starting Zoom in 2011, Yuan helped build the WebEx video conferencing technology and then joined Cisco through an acquisition. Now Zoom competes with WebEx, and Yuan is more likely to meet with customers over Zoom than in person.

Tobi Lutke, Shopify

Tobias Lutke, CEO of Shopify, speaks at the Collision conference in Toronto, Canada, on May 22, 2019. David Fitzgerald | Sportsfile | Getty Images

The CEO of Shopify runs the e-commerce company far away from Silicon Valley, in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa. In 2004, Lutke's task was to write code to sell snowboards online. The store, Snowdevil, opened for business, but Lutke and the team figured it would be a better idea to use what they learned to help the rest of the retail world sell their stuff online. Shopify went public in 2015. Shares have since climbed more than 1,500%. In the most recent quarter Shopify's revenue nearly doubled, and the company says its software is now used by 800,000 businesses in about 175 countries. Lutke controls almost 8 million shares worth close to $2.2 billion. In November, someone on Twitter predicted that Amazon would acquire Shopify in 2019. In response Lutke wrote that he would prefer to buy Amazon in 2029. tweet

Drew Houston, Dropbox

Drew Houston, chief executive officer and co-founder of Dropbox Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Technology Television interview in San Francisco on Aug. 14, 2018. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

It's little surprise to see the CEO and co-founder of Dropbox on this list. Houston was famously inspired to develop a service for storing files online after realizing he left a USB stick with critical information on it at home. Dropbox has racked up half a billion registered users of its cloud syncing and sharing service, and it's become popular with both consumers and business users. Founded in 2007, Dropbox experienced such a rapid growth spurt in its early years that by 2011 venture investors were already valuing the company at $4 billion. That number hit $10 billion three years later. But the company has had to grow into that valuation and is still struggling to get there. Since going public in March 2018, the stock has hardly budged, leaving Dropbox with a market cap of $9.3 billion at Friday's close. Houston's 94 million shares are worth $2.1 billion. "We're a little biased, but we think we have one of the most talented teams ever assembled, and we grow stronger every year," he and co-founder Arash Ferdowsi wrote in a letter published just before shares started trading. Ferdowsi didn't quite make the list  his stake is currently worth less than $850 million.

Peter Gassner, Veeva

Veeva founder and CEO Peter Gassner outside the NYSE Ben Hider | NYSE Euronext

Gassner, who co-founded Veeva Systems in 2007, is a veteran of IBM and Salesforce. Whereas Salesforce has taken the route of building software for salespeople and marketers in any industry, Veeva has chosen the so-called vertical approach, focusing specifically on life sciences. There are similarities with Salesforce, though. Both companies have broadened their offerings and target audience over time. Gassner now has Veeva positioned to sell a more comprehensive suite of tools to the health-care industry. Like Zoom, Veeva was profitable at the time of its IPO in 2013. Since then, the stock has jumped from $20 to $154.29, getting a 15% boost on Thursday following a better-than-expected earnings report. Gassner, who also sits on Zoom's board, holds 13 million Veeva shares, worth just over $2 billion.

Jay Chaudhry, Zscaler

Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Chaudhry, founder and CEO of Zscaler, grew up in a Himalayan village. Today, people in 185 countries use technology from Zscaler, whose cloud-based software helps companies provide secure access to cloud applications. It's the fifth company he's started and funded. "My success so far has mainly been because I have very little attachment for money," he told Bloomberg in an interview earlier this year. Nevertheless, his wealth has been swelling rapidly. Zscaler has jumped 356% since its IPO in March 2018, giving it a market cap of over $9 billion. The 26.8 million shares Chaudhry owns are worth more than $1.8 billion.

Chad Richison, Paycom

Paycom CEO Chad Richison, fourth from left, rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on April 8, 2015. Paycom
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers a speech during the 121st founding anniversary of the Philippine army on March 20, 2018. Ted Aljibe | AFP | Getty Images

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has called for action to reduce the chance of conflict in the South China Sea, where the United States and other countries are challenging Chinese assertions of sovereignty. Beijing claims most of the disputed sea, parts of which are claimed by countries including the Philippines and Vietnam. China maintains that virtually the entire body of water  where trillions of dollars worth of international trade pass through each year  belongs to it. The Asian giant has fortified, expanded and militarized reefs and islets to back up its stance. The United States and other countries which claim no territory in the region have taken issue with Beijing's position. The U.S. Navy frequently sends ships within close distance of Chinese-held territory in the sea in what it calls displays of support for the right of freedom of navigation in international waters, angering Beijing. Navies from France and Britain have also carried out similar missions.

'Flashpoint for trouble'

During a speech Friday at the Future of Asia conference in Tokyo, Duterte said the territorial tensions were dangerous. "It's at stress," he said of the South China Sea, adding it will be a continuous "flashpoint for trouble" the longer the issue is left to fester. He called for the conclusion of an agreement to govern conduct in the South China Sea, which is under consideration between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China. He added that the absence of a deal is leaving an opening for outside powers to get involved. "France, Britain, America are testing the waters," he said, apparently referring to their freedom of navigation missions. "This is not a testing of waters of temperature," he added. "It is really testing who can fire the first shot." Duterte also blamed Beijing for its expansive claim, asking, "Is it right for a country to claim the whole ocean?"
A truck transports new cars at the Port of Veracruz, Mexico. Susana Gonzalez | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Honda's head of American operations, Henio Arcangeli, worries that President Donald Trump's latest proposal to slap a 5% tariff on auto imports from Mexico will price some Americans out of cars just when auto prices are near record highs. "The tariffs will be a problem for us and everyone else in the industry," Arcangeli said in an interview. Like many U.S. and foreign automakers, Honda imports much of its U.S.-bound autos from its manufacturing plants in Mexico. It imported 109,989 of its Fit and HR-V models from Mexico last year, a more than 600% jump since 2011, according to Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia, or INEGI. The North American Free Trade Agreement opened the borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada in the early 1990s and paved the way for an international auto manufacturing industry between the three nations. Mexico is now one of the largest auto manufacturing countries in the world, and autos and auto parts are the largest single export, by value, to the United States. About 2.6 million vehicles were shipped north of the border in 2018, valued at more than $93 billion, up from just 1.33 million vehicles in 2011, according to INEGI data. That's about 15% of the total of 17.30 million vehicles sold in the states last year. Trump's using the tariffs to pressure the Mexican government to stem illegal immigration over the southern border. He's threatened to levy tariffs at 5% come June 10 and "will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed," Trump said in a tweet. By October 1, barring a resolution, the tariffs will jump to 25% which, for some Mexican-made cars and light trucks could translate into more than $10,000 per vehicle, he said.

A Ford Motor Co. vehicle is driven to an inspection point before being loaded onto a ship for export at the Port of Veracruz in Veracruz, Mexico, on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013. Susana Gonzales | Bloomberg | Getty Images

"Here's what you have to remember. Tariff equals tax hike," said Paul Ingrassia, a Pulitzer Prize-winning automotive journalist now working with the Revs Institute, said on CNBC Friday. But even vehicles assembled in the U.S. -- including those bearing foreign brand names like Toyota, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai -- would be hit by the tariffs if a resolution isn't found before they go into effect in less than two weeks. American assembly plants make extensive use of a significant number of Mexican-made parts and components, such as wiring harnesses, that are low value or which have high labor content. About 70% of the wiring harnesses used in the U.S. come from Mexico. Those auto parts and components bring the total to $99.6 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Even at 5%, the added tariff "potentially could scrub the deal, especially for marginal buyers," said Joe Phillippi, head of AutoTrends Consulting, noting they could add about $1,500 to the cost of a typical Mexican-made Ram 1500 or Chevrolet Silverado pickup. That would jump fivefold if the tariffs aren't removed by October. With some pickups and other Mexican imports topping $50,000 apiece, the tariffs could add on $10,000 or more  or force manufacturers to swallow a large share of their profit margins. The average transaction price  what customers actually pay after factoring in options and incentives  will reach a near-record $33,457 for May, LMC Automotive forecast, a 4% year-over-year increase. "The auto industry gets hammered" if the tariffs are enacted, with the situation getting worse each month as they are increased, Phillippi said. It is possible that the auto industry may try to absorb some of the added costs, as has been the case with some of the Trump tariffs on imported aluminum and steel, but that would have a harsh impact on an industry facing a weakening market. Sales were off by 2.8% during the first four months of this year and are expected to be down another 2.1% when May numbers are released next week, according to a forecast by LMC Automotive. Things get particularly complicated on the component side. It has become commonplace since NAFTA went into effect in 1994 for parts to move back across what has become a largely invisible border. Some may cross from Mexico to the U.S. and back again as often as seven times, said Steve Kinkade, a spokesman for Honda. The Japanese automaker imported 107,989 vehicles from Mexico in 2018, a 611% increase since 2011. Its numbers pale when compared to General Motors, which led the industry by importing 666,765 vehicles from Mexico last year, a 109.6% increase since 2011. Next in line was Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, at 504,793 vehicles, a 206.2% increase during the same period, according to INEGI data.
A view of Virginia Beach Hospital after a shooter opened fire at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, in Virginia, United States on May 31, 2019.

A man opened fire on co-workers at city offices in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Friday afternoon, killing 12 people and wounding others before he was fatally shot by police, authorities said.

Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said the mass shooting in the coastal resort city began as a public utility employee entered the public works and utilities building at the city municipal center and "immediately and indiscriminately fired upon all the victims."

The chief later said that the suspect engaged in a "long-term gun battle" with law enforcement officers as police confronted him inside the building. One police officer was wounded in the shootout, but his bullet-proof vest saved his life, Cervera said.

The police chief said the suspect was armed with a .45-caliber handgun equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and was reloading his weapon with extended ammunition magazines as he moved through the building.

Authorities said the gunman ultimately was shot by police and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Cervera said the suspect was a longtime public utilities employee, and described him as "disgruntled," but declined to say more about what may have precipitated the attack.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that White House lawyer Emmet Flood is "leaving service" on June 14. The announcement comes days after Robert Mueller announced that the special counsel's office was closing.



Flood was tasked with helping Trump deal with Mueller's Russia investigation. He replaced Ty Cobb, who convinced Trump to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.



Flood previously represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment.



Trump thanked Flood for doing "an outstanding job" and again claimed that the special counsel's investigation found no evidence of collusion or obstruction.



Emmet Flood, who came to the White House to help me with the Mueller Report, will be leaving service on June 14th. He has done an outstanding job  NO COLLUSION - NO OBSTRUCTION! Case Closed! Emmet is my friend, and I thank him for the GREAT JOB he has done.



In his report, Mueller made clear that he did not investigate collusion, which has no legal definition. The special counsel investigated whether or not the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russian interference in the 2016 election.



Though Mueller found extensive contacts between Russians and Trump campaign officials, the investigation did not find sufficient evidence to establish a conspiracy or coordination.



On the question of obstruction, Mueller pointedly declined to exonerate Trump and laid out several instances in which the president may have tried to obstruct the investigation.



In his only press conference since he was appointed special counsel, Mueller said Wednesday if his office had confidence that Trump "clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so."

His office, however, did not make a determination about whether the president committed crime.



Mueller made clear that Justice Department guidelines barred the prosecution of a sitting president for a federal crime. "Charging the president with a crime was not an option we could consider," Mueller said.



Mueller said that the special counsel's office was closing and he was returning to private life.



Flood had criticized Mueller's final report as "political" and suffering "from an extraordinary legal defect" in a letter to Attorney General William Barr. "It quite deliberately fails to comply with the requirements of governing law," he said.

Flood argued that conclusively finding innocence "is never the task of the federal prosecutor." Instead, prosecutors complete their investigation and ask a grand jury to decide whether or not to seek charges.

The relevant passages from the Mueller report "can be understood only as political statements," Flood argued. Prosecutors are "expected never to be political in the performance of their duties," he said.



-- CNBC's Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report




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Someday augmented reality will become a mainstream feature of ordinary eyeglasses and sunglasses for everyday, general-purpose consumer use. But that day is many years in the future.

Reading the news, its easy to conclude that consumer smart glasses are on the brink of becoming available.

Apple is famously toiling away on future iGlasses, or whatever it will call them. A recently published continuation patent (which is a patent that the company wants the Patent Office to keep examining to change the scope of the original patent) describes what Apple calls data glasses capable of integrating virtual content with the real world, including for StreetView-style turn-by-turn directions and other location-based applications.

The patent office recently published several new smart glasses patents for Apple. One reveals new technology Apple is working on for holographic display of objects in glasses.

Facebooks Reality Labs has been working on augmented reality glasses for a few years. A patent filed this week by Facebook describes a cartilage conduction audio system for eyewear devices that would project sound into the ear without blocking ambient sounds.

And Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spotted this month visiting the headquarters of Luxottica, which is a global eyeglass giant known to be interested in partnering with smart glasses makers.

These projects by Apple and Facebook wont ship as consumer products for many years. The technology simply isnt ready.

In the meantime, smart glasses are growing in adoption and importance for all kinds of businesses uses, and for five reasons. Smart glasses are powerful for business but a non-starter for consumers because smart glasses ...

1. Are socially unacceptable

When smart glasses look just like ordinary prescription glasses and sunglasses, without conspicuously thick frames or awkward protrusions, consumers will be happy to buy and wear them.

For the next several years, however, glasses with sensors, electronics and batteries that can power cameras and screens will look ugly, bulky and oversized.

Take the poster child for smart glasses, the now-venerable Google Glass.

Google introduced last week an updated version of its smartglass product, called Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2. This is the third version of Glass  the first of which was the experimental Explorer version introduced by invitation only six years ago, and the second was the first Enterprise edition of the product.

The new Glass has an updated design, a lot more power inside and a lower price: $999.

The new Glass has an 820mAh battery (up from 570mAh) to power the Android 8.0 Oreo running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 processing platform (with a quad-core 1.7Ghz CPU). This processing power is necessary, according to Google, to power computer vision and advanced machine-learning capabilities. The headset has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

Google claims the new Glass can charge in 17 minutes.

The camera is upgraded to 8 megapixels, but the display is still 640 x 360.

Three beam-forming microphones isolate speech for voice commands.

A multitouch gesture touchpad on the right side of the headset provides touch controls.

A built-in accelerometer and gyroscope inform software of the angle and motion of the wearers head.

Safety glass lenses and new water and dust resistance make Glass suitable for factory or shop work. Alternatively, they can be fitted with prescription lenses.

Google Glass has limited capabilities out of the box. Its intended to be purchased in large numbers and customized with purpose-built functionality by the company that buys them. Google says the price is $999, but the actual cost depends on quantity purchased, plus services chosen, such as software customization, customer support and training.

Dozens of companies exist to provide end-to-end Google Glass solutions for businesses.

Google Glass is suitable for doctors, factory workers, delivery people and others. But its not suitable for normal wear in polite company. Glass is, and will remain, a work tool that just doesnt look right for everyday wear out and about in the world.

And the same goes for all other products introduced to date  theyre acceptable for professional use, but not consumer wear.

2. Solve business problems but not consumer problems

Googles Explorer program was launched so that Google could become educated about how various kinds of people might use Google Glass. It turns out that almost all the usage involves simply taking pictures with the camera. Picture-taking is not something consumers really need help with.

But manufacturing and warehousing are a different story. Glass is currently deployed at scale (440 Google Glass units) by Deutsche Post DHL Group in its warehouses.

Boeing and Airbus use Glass and their own AR applications for manufacturing airplanes and warehouse work.

These and other companies need their employees to both reference massive amounts of information and communicate with one another, while keeping both hands free. So Glass and other smart glasses solve these real-world business and enterprise problems.

A company called North this week unveiled the ability to use its Focals smart glasses with Google Fit, which gives fitness data in the headset, a clear consumer application. (Most of the functionality for Norths glasses offer smartwatch-like notifications from a smartphone.)

But North also announced support for Google Slides in its North Focals smart glasses. You can use the integration by downloading a special Focals Connect Chrome extension, then loading Slides into the browser. Your speaker notes appear to you in the glasses screen, invisible to your audience. A control ring on the glasses enable you to move forward and backward through your presentation.

These glasses probably wouldnt be ideal for normal business or sales presentation. Theyre too bulky (and therefore distracting) and create a psychological distance between speaker and audience.

However, presentation notes in smart glasses is a great application for training, which enterprises do constantly.

Its also true that integrating AI will greatly boost the utility of smart glasses for enterprises. An Israeli company called Plataine created a Google Glass app that uses image recognition AI and Googles own Dialogflow to create a Glass-specific virtual assistant. The app can recognize objects and display instructions or other information based on what it recognizes.

The same goes for medicine. A teaching hospital at Harvard Medical School called Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is using Google Glass. Doctors get important information about patients in emergency situations, and claim that in more than one instance lives were saved when glass delivered information about drug allergies in time to prevent injection.

3. Often need tethering

Google Glass is too underpowered for some enterprise applications. So many new enterprise and business products have to be tethered to a computer thats more powerful than puny ones that can be comfortably attached to the wearers head.

Earlier this month, Epson announced new smart glasses designed for business users called Moverio BT-30C, which are scheduled to ship next month. The glasses connect to either an Android smartphone or a Windows PC via USB-C. They remain tethered during use.

The glasses require an app, and the apps display appears to float in midair. It can place up to three screens in space, and you move from one screen to the next by turning your head. Turn to the left and see a video; turn to the right and see your notes.

The functionality is potentially great. But no consumer is going to walk around with glasses that have to be tethered to a phone or laptop.

4. Dont have all-day battery life

Screens and cameras and the electronics that power reasonably good smart glasses need batteries that are either too big or too weak. Smart glasses need to double as prescription glasses, and consumers wont accept glasses that dont last a full day.

Business applications, however, need to last only for a workday.

5. Are too expensive

Google Glasss price came down a little, but its still more expensive than an average smartphone. When enterprises such as Boeing buy them by the hundreds and use them for complex manufacturing, the cost is justified. But the gadget-happy public wont pay more than $300 or $400 for what is essentially a wearable smartphone accessory.

Google Glass is often lumped into the same category as Microsofts Hololens or Magic Leaps One glasses. In fact, these products exist in an entirely different space. Their displays are far higher in resolution and enable visual objects to appear to interact with physical objects (for example, showing animations that appear to be resting on a physical table).

With Glass, a small rectangular display hovers in space without any connection to the physical world, and the placement of that display depends entirely on the orientation and position of the wearers head.

So while Google Glass and other devices in the same class will be going online at scale in enterprises over the next three years or so, the Hololens or Magic Leap class devices are more than five years out for significant penetration into enterprises. And more than 10 years way for consumers.

So while the technology press generally believes that consumer smart glasses are a year or two away from general consumer adoption, the reality is that this timeline applies only to enterprise applications. The consumer toys everyone wants are five to ten years into the future.
How to Survive a Select Committee by Scott Colvin

You will be placed in the pillory and pelted with rotten fruit by grandstanding politicians bent on trashing your reputation. That prospect strikes sheer terror into successful business people who are summoned to appear before Commons select committees to be questioned about something or other which has gone conspicuously wrong with the great enterprises over which they have hitherto held untrammelled sway.

The appearance of this how to book is a tribute to the success of those committees. So far as I can see, it is the first work of its kind.

For the committees have become more frightening. An entire career, arduously constructed over a period of 30 years, can be destroyed in an hour or two if the witness strikes the wrong note.

This means people like Scott Colvin, who works for the Finsbury public affairs firm founded by Roland Rudd, are hired to help support witnesses through the whole incredibly arduous process.

Colvin is not a good writer. In the first five lines of his book, he uses the word great three times, which no one with an ear for language would be willing to do.

But the phenomenon he investigates  the humiliation or attempted humiliation of men (chief executives are still most often men) who are unused to answering impertinent questions about the vast sums they earn and the negligible amounts of tax their firms pay  has become part of the theatre of politics, and brings joy to many an egalitarian heart.

The author rightly contends that the election of the chairs of these committees by the whole House, a reform introduced in 2010, has made them more independent of the whips and therefore more formidable.

A good chair can apply great pressure to a witness. It was a pleasure to be reminded of Gwyneth Dunwoody, Labour chair of the Transport Committee from 1997-2008, who remarked that awkward old bats have their purpose, and took no nonsense from New Labour even in the days when the whips were more powerful.

She said Railtrack would collapse, the Blairites insisted it was fine, and Railtrack collapsed. Her sarcastic attitude to the callow ministers who appeared before her was a joy. One woman who informed her that she was giving figures in pounds received the crushing retort: Oh, good, what a clever lady. You will obviously have a long career.

Andrew Tyrie, chair of the Treasury Committee from 2010-17, and Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee from 2010-15, both made considerable reputations as inquisitors.

Colvin quotes lengthy chunks of evidence where witnesses from Amazon and G4S get into terrible trouble. He observes that select committees work best when a private sector witness has something to lose.

Business figures who are already discredited can, by contrast, be impertinent to their tormentors, without losing anything more.

In the how to section of the book, Colvin observes that witnesses who are arrogant tend to come off worst. The poorest performers are those who think they know everything, make no preparation, do not inform themselves of the embarrassing facts about their organisation which the committee is likely to require (its tax arrangements in Luxembourg; the ratio between the chief executives earnings and what the lowest-paid employees are paid; the reasons why there was no back-up plan when the IT system crashed), and instead indicate their deep resentment at being required to appear.

Humility works better. Rupert Murdoch (not touched on in this book), never one for half-measures, said while being questioned by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee about the phone-hacking scandal: This is the most humble day of my life.

You have to accept that MPs have the right, on behalf of the public, to question you, and in Colvins dull but prudent view you should not try to be interesting, or to score points:

During the course of questioning remember that there is little to be gained from taking too many risks or trying to gain an obvious victory over the committee. The MPs are both the opposing team and the referee, so it is difficult to beat them at their own game. That applies after the hearing too, when the committee can simply write up the report in the most aggressive, and personal, way possible to score an act of final revenge against you if you have bested them in the session itself.

He gives a list of business cliches of American origin which however freely you may use them inside your firm, will greatly irritate British MPs, so should not be used in your evidence:

Burning platform Boil the ocean Low-hanging fruit Reaching out Going forward.

And he draws with proper attribution on the work of Philip Aylett, clerk of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, in order to sketch the history of select committees. I did not know of Ayletts thesis, Thirty Years of Reform: House of Commons Select Committees, 1960-1990, and have not had time to read it before writing this review, but it looks a valuable work, written with a consideration for the reader which is missing from this book.

Harold Wilson was a champion of the select committee system, so was Norman St John-Stevas, and so in more recent times was the Labour MP Tony Wright, author of the reforms which since 2010 have made select committees more formidable.

The image of the pillory, with which this review started, is fitting, for when something has gone scandalously wrong either with a business or with a government department, part of the punishment is that whoever is in charge is humiliated by the relevant committee.

Whether you are a minister or a chief executive, you could end up losing your reputation and therefore your job.

During the Windrush scandal, Amber Rudd had to resign as Home Secretary after she had given an incorrect answer to Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Cooper asked: Targets for removals  when were they set?

Rudd replied: We do not have targets for removals.

Colvin discusses various ways in which committees might be improved. But like the Chamber of the House of Commons, they are already working better than they did 20 years ago.

And perfection is hardly to be expected. A certain improvisation, and chasing in a not entirely reputable way of headlines, is natural and even useful.

After all, Theodore Roosevelt made his name as a young politician by denouncing, with the help of journalists who supplied the evidence and then acclaimed his heroism, plutocrats who were behaving in a disgraceful way.
Phillip Lee, the Conservative MP for Bracknell, has lost a vote of no confidence in him by his local Conservative association. The vote was called after 53 members signed a petition. Lee resigned as Justice Minister a year ago in protest against Brexit. His support for a second referendum is clearly the cause of the disquiet in his Association.

The vote leaves Lees position unclear. He has not been deselected. Nor has the Conservative whip been withdrawn from him. Yet nor would it be plausible to continue as if nothing had happened. In March a motion of no confidence was passed against Dominic Grieve by the Beaconsfield Conservatives. Grieves executive decided against dropping him as their candidate, but this has been followed up with a move for deselection by the membership. So his fate is unresolved. Again with the case of Nick Boles in Grantham and Stamford a deselection did not actually take place. The process was started but then Boles resigned his membership and later crossed the floor.

Gerry Barber, the Bracknell Conservative Association chairman said:

The result of the vote was that a majority of members present were in agreement with the motion, which was therefore passed, and the result has been communicated to Dr Lee and to the full membership. I will be discussing the meeting with Phillip later this week.

In a statement, Lee says:

In the future, I may or may not decide that I can continue serving as a Conservative Member of Parliament and the Bracknell Conservative Association may or may not decide that they wish to readopt me as the Conservative Partys candidate. But one thing is for sure: we will not be forced into taking a decision one way or the other by this orchestrated, destructive campaign from outside the Party that has done nothing but spread hatred, intimidation and distrust over a single issue. That is not the Conservative way; it is not the Bracknell way. Meanwhile, the people of the Bracknell constituency can rely on my absolute commitment to serving our areas best interests in Parliament, without fear or favour, and then take into account my full record at the next General Election.

This is unlikely to be last such saga.
Owen Paterson is a former Environment Secretary and former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He is MP for Shropshire North. He is also Chairman of UK2020.

I visited Peterborough on Thursday this week, campaigning with Paul Bristow. He is an excellent candidate  a local business owner with a fine record of charitable service and a determined Brexiteer who wants to see us out of the EU by the 31st October, ideally with a Free Trade Agreement but, if necessary, on WTO terms.

He would be a vast improvement on the previous Labour MP  Fiona Onasanya, a convicted criminal  and infinitely better than the current Labour candidate, who ducked a live hustings on Thursday night.

Under normal circumstances, he would be a shoo-in. But the current Government has made his task unnecessarily hard. The views of those to whom I spoke uniformly echoed the sentiments which saw the Conservative Party lose over 1300 councillors in the local elections and record the worst result in our history  under nine per cent  in the European Parliament elections. These Peterborough voters told me, in effect: the Conservatives said for two years that we would leave the EU on March 29th. We didnt and we wont vote for you again until we do. Why should we listen to you on any other subject?

The leadership election will be crucial for the survival of a Party which is now in serious danger of collapse. The current leaderships of both main Parties have missed this point, but the last Westminster voting intention poll from YouGov putting both the Conservatives and Labour on just 19 per cent each should focus the minds of whoever succeeds them.

Conservative MPs now face a binary choice. We can choose to repair the damage wrought by the outgoing leadership by electing a leader with a cast-iron promise that we will leave the EU by October 31st at the latest  ideally with a Free Trade Agreement, but fully prepared to go to WTO terms with pragmatic side agreements already in place.

Or else we can opt for more of the same. More fudge. More prevarication. More delay. If we do, then we should not be surprised when the voters who are currently giving us such a kicking make their permanent political homes elsewhere. The most successful political party of the 20th century  if it survives at all  will look back on a nine per cent vote share as a lofty ambition in the twenty-first

It is, therefore, vital that the current leadership election is conducted in a serious manner and that the leading contenders are properly scrutinised. But with 12 candidates declared  only one short of the number of runners in todays Derby  we risk looking at best frivolous and at worst utterly self-indulgent. Even on a purely logistical level, imagine how impractical a hustings would be with so many candidates. If every subject were given half an hour, each candidate would have only two and a half minutes to speak and we would have no genuine scrutiny of their ideas.

The 1922 Committees Executive needs to ensure that the process is conducted properly. It ought to raise the threshold for being nominated to 12 MPs and see more than one candidate eliminated in each round. That way, we can ensure proper debate among the leading candidates whilst having an efficient election which does not drag on into a lengthy vanity parade.

But some of the candidates, too, ought to take stock. It is very flattering being spoken of as a potential leader, receiving emails encouraging one to stand or seeing glowing praise on Twitter, but some must, surely, know that they cannot be considered as genuine contenders. Standing with an eye on a future Cabinet job might seem a clever strategy, but it makes for an unedifying spectacle.

Candidates would do well to adhere to the famous maxim of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi:    Know thyself. Those words were once inscribed on the pronaos of the Temple, and all would pass under them to learn their fate from the Pythia inside. Before trying to enter the holy of holies in Number Ten, all candidates should think long and hard, reflect in the mirror, and put the good of their country and Party ahead of their personal ambitions and vanity.

The threat to the Conservative Party is now existential. We cannot afford to repeat our previous mistakes in another botched leadership contest. We must emerge determined to rebuild the trust which we have lost and the relationship with our supporters which has broken down. We must emerge with a leader unfailingly resolved to lead the UK out of the EU by October 31st, with or without a deal.
Royston Smith is the MP for Southampton Itchen

In 2016 we asked the British public to decide if we should remain a member of the European Union or leave. We didnt ask them to choose how we should leave, we asked them if we should stay or go.

What has happened in the last three years since the majority of voters chose to leave has been driven not by the voters but by politicians, former Prime Ministers, the media, and commentators. While I was campaigning to leave, people discussed many things with me. Most of it was about uncontrolled immigration, our sovereignty and international trade. No one talked about a deal or no deal.

We all know there has to be some sort of agreement with the European Union, even if there is no deal. It is the same as when anyone exits an agreement that involves another stakeholder  we will need to honour our obligations and commitments in law. The challenge for the next Prime Minister will be to explain how we can honour the referendum result and leave in a way that carries the support of most people in the country. The success of the Brexit Party in the European Elections has made that challenge even more difficult.

I know from talking to many of the candidates standing to be the next Leader of the Conservative Party that they all agree on one thing: we must leave the EU. But Brexit is not the only test our next Prime Minister will face.

Our Party, like the country is divided and the next Prime Minister will have to show considerable skill in uniting Conservative MPs not just on Brexit but on the many other important issues that have not received the amount of attention they deserve in the past three years.

Brexit has sucked all the energy out of Government and Parliament. It is encouraging to see so many people engage in political debate, but the discussions that our society has needs to be more than how, when, or if we leave the EU.

There are many challenges that our country faces, from how we deliver our public services, to how we educate our young people so that the UK can continue to compete with the worlds emerging economies and how we prepare our workforce for the advance of Artificial Intelligence and the technological revolution. Its not just domestic issues but international ones too, such as how we and our allies should respond to threats from autocratic regimes, rogue states and terrorism.

The next Prime Minister will need to set out a vision for the country which is compelling and achievable. We need more affordable homes, jobs with career prospects and security, people need to feel safe on the streets and in their homes and our young people need to believe that their lives will be at least as good as those enjoyed by the generations before them. Our healthcare must be as good and responsive as the best in the world, and our military must have the support to project power around the world and deter aggressors.

These things are possible and with the right leader deliverable. We need a range of policies, an understanding of the challenges and a solutions-based approach that will unite the Conservative Party and most importantly, our country. I have listened to all the arguments and in my opinion, there is one candidate that stands out above the others. That is why I will be supporting Kit Malthouse to become the Leader of the Conservative Party and the next Prime Minister of our country.
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STAMFORD  It was quiet Thursday on Lenox Avenue, where squirrels ran between the large old trees growing in front of colonial-style homes nearly a century old.

It was tranquil, too, on Tremont Avenue, except for a half-dozen sparrows squabbling atop someones stone wall.

The same was true for Midland Avenue and Hamilton Avenue, where neat hedges and picket fences edge the small lawns. Rhododendrons were blooming, and American flags hung from front porch posts.

By Friday night, however, cars, trucks, motorcycles and whatever else travels on Interstate 95 are likely to clog the streets of residential Glenbrook day and night, with no let up until Monday.

It will happen again next weekend.

The state Department of Transportation is stripping away a dilapidated 1958 bridge on nearby Route 1 and dropping in a prefabricated new one, a $15 million project that will take two weekends.

The bridge spans I-95 near busy Exit 9, so the work will create major disruptions:

Friday, 6 p.m.  Exit 9 on-ramps, northbound and southbound, close; Route 1 drops from two lanes to one.

Friday, 9 p.m.  Exit 9 off-ramps, northbound and southbound, close; Route 1 closes between Courtland Avenue and Seaside Avenue.

Friday, 11 p.m.  I-95 traffic will be detoured to two-lane temporary roadways at the Exit 9 on- and off-ramps; Route 1 traffic will be detoured along Courtland Avenue, turning right onto curving Hamilton Avenue, and back out to Route 1.

Everything reopens at 5 a.m. Monday.

DOT officials have sent a dire message to motorists for this weekend and next: Dont go there.

I-95 traffic is supposed to use the temporary roads designed to skirt the construction work at Exit 9, but it will slow traffic on the highway, and motorists could tire of waiting, get off surrounding exits, and turn onto Route 1 and city streets looking for a way out.

State police are anticipating backups on the Merritt Parkway because motorists will be seeking an alternate to I-95. Troopers will be stationed on the Merritt to handle the overflow, state police have said.

They also will station two sergeants and 11 troopers at the construction site around I-95 Exit 9.

Certainly Route 1 traffic, and likely some from I-95, will makes its way to Lenox, Tremont, Midland and other side streets off Courtland and Hamilton avenues, if not other parts of Glenbrook.

City Rep. Monica Di Costanzo said it seems that word is out in her District 7, which includes the project area. Churches, businesses, the Glenbrook Neighborhood Association, state Rep. Dan Fox, D-148, and others have been spreading information, Di Costanzo said.

Ive seen people verbally reminding people at stores, so word of mouth has helped, too, she said. I think people who live here are familiar with what will happen.

The problem will be with people who do not live in the area, Di Costanzo said.

My fear is about truckers who get off I-95 and travel around and dont know where theyre going. They can rip down power lines, she said. That happened in the last two months on Glenbrook Road.

It came up when state transportation officials explained the project to the Board of Representatives a few months ago, Di Costanzo said.

I told them, Make sure you look at the curve on Hamilton Avenue. Theres not a lot of room there. Please put the troopers where they can tell people  do not get off the highway, she said.

Though there will be back-to-back weekends of traffic woes, the project is designed to reduce chaos. It makes use of a technique called Accelerated Bridge Construction, in which a new bridge is built near the site of the old one, then moved into place.

Each new 900-ton span is trucked to the site, and the old bridge is demolished as they are installed.

People may walk, not drive, to the work site to watch. State officials have set up a pedestrian viewing area. They also will stream the bridge replacement live at i95exit9.com.

Christie Fountain, president of the Glenbrook Neighborhood Association, said transportation officials attended the groups March meeting to tell residents what will happen.

Nobody panicked. But its something no one has experienced before, Fountain said. I know of one person who plans to walk to the viewing area and watch it. Weve been posting it on Facebook, and some people are responding, saying, Just stay home.

If the bridge were to be replaced using traditional construction methods, the work would take two years and create traffic backups the whole time, state transportation officials have said. Each day, more than 140,000 vehicles use Exit 9, and about 17,000 drive over the Route 1 bridge.

Di Costanzo said she had a question for the transportation officials who appeared before her board.

I asked if we get reimbursed if a large truck damages sidewalks, curbs, someones property, she said. I never got an answer.

Beyond that, the bridge replacement project will bring more than traffic for the weekends that begin Friday and June 7, Di Costanzo said.

Theres going to be noise. Theres not going to be any relief, she said. It will be right next to peoples bedrooms for two weekends in a row. Its not going to be pretty.

Transportation and law enforcement officials anticipate traffic on the highway to be backed up for several miles.

In Greenwich, planners of two large events scheduled for this weekend recommend that people take the train into town.

The Greenwich International Film Festival and the Greenwich Concours dElegance car show draw attendees from a wide region. The car show will be held Saturday and Sunday in Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich; the film festival has screenings and panel discussions throughout the weekend, in Greenwich and Stamford.

acarella@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2296.
NEW CANAAN  St. Marks Episcopal church will hold a prayer vigil Sunday for Jennifer Dulos, the New Canaan mother of five who has been missing since May 24.

On May 25, officials found blood in Dulos rented Welles Lane home, sources close to the investigation said.

Police have conducted searches in Dulos New Canaan neighborhood, Waveny Park  where her Suburban Chevrolet was found  as well as Pound Ridge, N.Y., where the Hartford Courant reported there is a home associated with Dulos family.

On Friday, May 31, police took the search to Hartford. Later that day, they questioned Dulos estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, and escorted him with police vehicles him as he drove away from his home.

According to New Canaan Police Lt. Jason Ferraro, no arrests had been made as of late Friday night.

Though Ferraro has said the case has not been classified as a homicide, a source told WFSB police are treating it as one.

A prayer vigil held for Dulos at St. Aloysius Church on Thursday night drew hundreds. Aaron Cooper, head of New Canaan Country School, which Dulos children attend, told the crowd the kids are safe and with family.

Many there did not know Dulos personally, and attendees represented a number of different denominations.

Were gathering here to pray for Jennifer, to pray for her family, to pray for those who love her, to pray for this community, said Rev. Robert Kinnally, pastor of St. Aloysius.

St. Marks Episcopal Church, located at 111 Oenoke Ridge, will host Sundays vigil from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., according to a flyer emailed to Hearst Connecticut Media. All are welcome.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
FAIRFIELD  Police are seeking the publics help in identifying a man who robbed a Fairfield Dunkin Donuts early Tuesday morning.

The robbery happened around 2 a.m. Tuesday when a black man, who police described as having a thin build, in his 40s, wearing a red jacket and hat, walked in to the Dunkin Donuts at 593 Post Road and demanded the money out of the cash register.

The man implied he had a gun, though no weapon was displayed, and he threatened to shoot the cashier, police said.

An undetermined amount of cash was taken from the register, police said.

By the time police arrived, the man had fled the scene. A K9 track of the suspect was unsuccessful.

No one was injured in the incident.

Detectives are still investigating the robbery. They ask anyone with information to contact the Detective Bureau at 203-254-4840.
Bloomberg photo by Marlene Awaad.

President Donald Trump agreed with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan to form a joint study group on the Russian S-400 missile defense system, which Turkey wants to buy despite U.S. pressure to abandon the purchase, according to officials from both nations familiar with the decision.

In a call with Trump on Wednesday, the Turkish president reiterated his desire to jointly examine any risks the system poses to the next-generation F-35 jet, according to a Turkish official who asked not to be identified discussing details of the call. Trump agreed, though the American view is that the group's findings will support the U.S. position that deploying the Russian system would put the fighter plane at risk, according to an American official.
69 containers loaded with waste, sent to the Philippines and falsely labeled as recyclable material. Canada has agreed to cover the full cost of their transfer. The garbage will be treated at a Vancouver waste-to-energy plant. A growing number of countries across Southeast Asia are calling on Western nations to recover their garbage.

Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Philippine government today sent 69 containers laden with waste back to Canada. The move puts an end to a long diplomatic dispute that saw President Rodrigo Duterte threaten to "sail to Canada and dump the garbage there".

In April, the Philippine president had attacked Ottawa on waste, shipped between 2013 and 2014 in what the North Americans consider a trade agreement. The cargo - labeled as plastics to be recycled in Manila - was actually composed of diapers, newspapers and water bottles. Canada has agreed to cover the full cost of their transfer and disposal. Waste containers travel on the MV Bavaria (photo), a merchant ship set sail from Subic Bay, port and former US naval base north of Manila. The approximately 1,500 tons of garbage will arrive in the Canadian city of Vancouver by the end of June, to be treated at a local waste-to-energy plant.

Canadian Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna, welcomed the waste shipment. "We have made a commitment with the Philippines and are working closely with them," she said yesterday. Sean Fraser, secretary to the ministry, says: "This is proof that we are respecting our international obligations to address the issue of waste produced in Canada". Fraser reports that in recent weeks Ottawa has moved quickly to deal with the problem, which dragged on for several years after the Philippine government called it "a very serious priority".

A growing number of countries throughout Southeast Asia are calling on Western nations to take back the rubbish sent to their shores, claiming that part of it has crossed the borders illegally. The amount of garbage exported by developed countries came to light after China, which had imported most of it for years, introduced the "ban on foreign garbage". As a result, the garbage - often classified as recyclable through counterfeit shipping notes - was sent to other developing countries, which they now begin to reject. A few days ago, Malaysia announced that it will return 450 tons of plastic waste to countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Windber duo earns Female and Male Athletes of the Week for Dec. 17-23
LaGRANGEVILLE, N.Y  Health Quest Systems, Inc. is tightening its cybersecurity following an 11-month investigation into unauthorized access to internal emails and attachments in employee email accounts that may have contained patient information.

The company issued a statement through a Philadelphia law firm Friday evening saying that the unauthorized email access was the result of a phishing incident with Health Quest affiliates Health Quest Medical Practice, Health Quest Urgent Care and Hudson Valley Newborn Physician Services.

Health Quest first learned of the incident in July 2018 when several employees were deceived by a phishing scheme and were tricked into inadvertently disclosing their email account credentials to an unauthorized party.

On April 2, 2019, the investigation found that certain email attachments containing patient information related to services some patients received at Health Quest Medical Practice between January 2018 and June 2018 were breached. The patient information may have included names, provider names, dates of treatment, treatment and diagnosis information, and health insurance claims information.

The company said it has no evidence that any information has been misused or was viewed or accessed, but it began notifying potentially affected persons on Friday, May 31, and has established a dedicated call center to answer questions.

To help prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future, HQMP is implementing multi-factor authentication for email and additional procedures to further expand and strengthen its security processes, the company said. HQMP is also providing additional training to its employees regarding phishing emails and other cybersecurity issues.

Patients who believe they may be affected by this incident but who do not receive a letter by Tuesday, June 10, are asked to call (800) 277-0105, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
You have got to know that politics are for sale in this country, with an emphasis on New York. Bessie Smith was absolutely right when she sang, There are lots of ways to sell it, baby. A slew of articles make the point that our politicians are on the take, maybe not illegally, but on the take nevertheless. Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio are among the major offenders. Both of them hire people who will get out there and recruit experts in hauling in money. There may be a distinction between raising money for your own pocketbook and for your campaigns but if you follow the bouncing ball, there aint much of a distinction.

Why do people who obviously want  and often get  something from the government give so much money to these politicians? Come on! We werent born yesterday. They want to get things from the Legislature and the governor to help line their pockets. We are talking about real estate people and taxicab people and restaurant people. They give money because the rewards they will reap for doing so are huge in proportion to what they are putting out. It becomes very seductive. People brag that they know the governor or the mayor or the police commissioner. Sometimes they get invited to parties held at the places where the president or the governor or the mayor lives.

One of the reasons why we need a free press is that they are capable of figuring out who is buying influence. They use whatever is available to them. When pressed, politicians like Andrew Cuomo are likely to tell you that sunlight is the best antiseptic. The Gray Lady, The New York Times, reported on a rooftop $25,000 fundraiser held right before the Big Ugly state budget was passed. Most people reading this will have no idea whats in the budget, which is why favors can be dispensed without negative feedback. Mayor de Blasio also is no stranger to dispensing favors to those who need something from the City (capitalized because it IS the City.)

Lobbyists have earned themselves a bad name. Theyre perceived as predators who are eating the peoples lunch. One of them once told me, Just see it as a big bag of goodies and all you have to do is put your hand in and take something out. It is no coincidence that some of the most successful lobbyists were once employed by the very politicians who were in a position to reward them when they became lobbyists. It is also not unheard of for the lobbyists to advise their clients to give money to those politicians. Of course, I have a relative who was once told by a paramour, Youve got to give a little to get a little. To carry that analogy a bit further, a number of years ago a goo-goo (good government) lobbyist who campaigned for ethics legislation suggested that lobbyists were the handmaidens of politicians. At the time, the politicians were so upset that they guy lost his job for telling the truth. Were beyond that now. Its interesting. Younger voters seem to have less tolerance for the old ways of doing things.

Our legislatures are leadership-centered. As Robert Michels wrote in his Iron Law of Oligarchy, when you get a crowd, one person usually rises to the top and calls the shots. So you have to figure that the key players get most of the attention from the lobbyists. Thats why their ex-employees become such effective lobbyists until the moment a new group gets in and there is a changing of the guard. Just think of all the Republican lobbyists who are out of luck since the Republicans lost the Senate unless, of course, they recruited some influential Democrats to their firms.

The whole thing is pretty ugly, even if it is guaranteed the Constitution.

Sunday Freeman columnist Alan Chartock is a professor emeritus at the State University of New York, publisher of the Legislative Gazette and CEO of the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network. Readers can email him at alan@wamc.org.
Though it doesnt go into effect until Jan. 1, 2020, New York bail reform is already having a positive impact. Under the new law, most people charged with nonviolent crimes will be released until trial rather than incarcerated if they cant afford bail.

Dutchess County projects a steep drop in jail intakes and therefore is downscaling its new jail, scheduled to open in 2023, from 569 to 311 cells. Estimated savings include at least $8 million for construction and $2.5 million per year for operations. Its possible the entire top floor of the proposed building can be eliminated, which would save even more.

Thats welcome news. For many years, Dutchess has jailed many people who pose no risk to the community, at an estimated cost of $210 per day per inmate. While judges should have discretion over whether to detain certain offenders  such as domestic abusers  its clear that we can put far fewer people behind bars. Last year, Dutchess jail admissions for violent felony charges numbered 212; those based on nonviolent charges totaled 2,535.

Bail reform challenges prosecutors and judges to fundamentally change how they work. On average, Dutchess judges set higher bails than their counterparts in nearby counties. Our district attorney relies heavily on plea bargains: Guilty or not, defendants who cannot afford bail often are forced to negotiate a plea or face the loss of their jobs, apartments or custody of children while they are stuck in jail. Wealthier defendants, of course, can post bail and defend themselves in court. The result is a two-tiered system in which money often determines a persons sentence and criminal record.

Alternative approaches are gaining momentum. A majority of those entering the Dutchess jail have documented mental health or addiction diagnoses -often both. Nationwide, nine-tenths of women in the justice system are survivors of sexual or physical abuse.

The best solutions to these issues are prevention and intervention, before someone ends up in jail for petty theft or possession of a controlled substance  the charges that most frequently land a Dutchess resident in jail. Intervention is no easy task. Mental health needs are complex, and someone in the grip of heroin addiction might reject help for years. But there often are better  and cheaper  strategies than putting people behind bars. In a recent audit of Dutchess partnership with Project MORE, county Comptroller Robin Lois highlighted the effectiveness of this community agency. Its programs cost between 78 and 97 percent less than incarceration.

We shouldnt wait until the new jail opens to increase our commitment to such alternatives. Unfortunately, after the 2008 financial crisis, the county sharply cut its budget for mental health support. Completion of the Crisis Stabilization Center in Poughkeepsie, which offers immediate care to any county resident, also was halted due to major cost overruns. Nonetheless, the Department of Behavioral and Community Health is doing effective work through the stabilization center and mobile response teams. The department has secured a grant to coordinate responses, track patterns of deadly fentanyl use, and expand its capacity to prescribe medication-assisted treatment (MAT), an essential response to opioid addiction.

At the jail itself, declining inmate counts will provide opportunities for more effective policy. After Jan. 1, the extreme pressures on Dutchess corrections officers, who have been working extended shifts under difficult conditions, should ease. That will allow the jail to fully staff and implement an MAT program, so that anyone who arrives struggling with opioid or heroin addiction can get treatment, which doesnt happen now. In Rhode Island prisons, providing MAT has resulted in a 60 percent drop in post-release overdose deaths. We can and should match that result.

Less crowding and fewer burdens on corrections officers also should enable the jail to expand other programs for inmates. The Dutchess County Sheriffs Office has accumulated over $300,000 in commissary profits that must, by law, be spent to benefit inmates. Those funds should not be saved any longer but instead used in creative ways. One-on-one mentoring can have a huge impact. Some jails offer intensive, transformative meditation classes. Columbia Countys successful Children of Incarcerated Parents program brings children to visit their parents  not through glass, but in a special area with books, games and toys.

In rethinking the jail, Dutchess County has an opportunity to reflect more broadly on what justice means, both inside and outside of a cell. Every part of our justice and public health systems must respond in ways that better address our addiction and mental health crises and make our communities safer and healthier.

The Freeman welcomes guest opinion columns for this space from public officials and public-interest groups about a single news topic. Submissions should be emailed to letters@freemanonline.com and should be between 550 and 750 words. The Freeman reserves the right to reject submissions.
WEST CHESTER  The time is not right now to begin the process of impeaching President Trump, U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan said in an interview Saturday before a busy day filled with events from West Chester to Phoenixville, despite an intransigence from Trump and his administration that leaves her frustrated and concerned.

I think what is important right now is that we be very sober and deliberate about how we are going about this on behalf of the people, Houlahan, D-6th, of Easttown, said about calls for impeachment from a growing number of her Democratic colleagues in the House. I take my responsibility enormously seriously, because this is nothing to trifle with.

One of the larger reasons I decided to run for Congress was that I was very worried about this president and this administration, and what they are doing to our democratic norms and values. In the 21/2 years since I declared, a lot of things have confirmed that anxiety and that reason for running.

I believe we need, as a Congress, to continue the oversight that we are already doing, she said in answer to a reporters question. I believe that we need to find way to have the opportunity to have the administration change, either in 2020 or otherwise.

Democrats in the House of Representatives need to, make sure we are bringing everyone along, instead of further dividing the nation, when considering starting impeachment proceedings, Houlahan declared.

Her stance, at variance with her two freshman Democratic colleagues from the Philadelphia suburbs, aligns with that of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has to date resisted calls to impeach Trump.

But, Houlahan stressed, things could change.

Such proceedings would start in the House before the case would shift to the Senate for a trial. Pelosi prefers a more measured approach, saying she wants to have the countrys support, whatever the Houses ultimate decision.

Democrats last year won the majority in so many districts that had voted for Trump in 2016  or, in Houlahans case, had been solidly in the GOP column for decades  basing their campaigns on promises of lowering health care costs, creating jobs with infrastructure investment and cleaning up the government. So Pelosi is wary of taking on an impeachment inquiry that would overpower that agenda.

Pelosi worries impeachment would split the country and galvanize Republican support for Trump. She remembers how the proceedings against President Bill Clinton helped propel Democrats, and warns it could help Trumps re-election in 2020.

I think that is largely where I am as well, Houlahan said. I think that a political impeachment would only further divide us. I think that it would only further strengthen an administration that is already being destructive to our nation.

She pointed to the refusal of the administration to comply with lawful subpoenas and demands for testimony by oversight committees as evidence of confrontational behavior that I have never expected or seen.

So, it may come to the fact that we need to proceed, she said in the interview. Frankly, it may come to that place.

Houlahan made her comments at the beginning of a day that would see her holding an open house for her district office in West Chester and then a making a prominent appearance at the annual Pride Fest in Phoenixville, an event dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ community in Chester County.

She spoke while sitting with a reporter outside a coffee shop across from the West Chester University campus.

The Pride event holds special meaning for Houlahan this year, as she was instrumental in passing legislation in May meant to give protections to the LGBTQ community under federal Civil Rights laws.

The Equality Act, of which she is an original cosponsor, would ensure all LGBTQ Americans are guaranteed full protections against discrimination with regard to employment, education, access to credit, jury service, federal funding, housing, and public accommodations. The House passed the bill 236-173.

It is important that when we talk about our equalities we talk about everyone, she said. As the mother of a gay daughter, one of the reasons I ran for Congress was concern for her community, of them being disenfranchised and being discriminated against. In many of our states still she can be fired for being gay, she can be discriminated against for being herself. I think that is fundamentally un-American.

When she began thinking in 2016 about a run for Congress, she and her family, including her daughter Molly, discussed what it would mean for their public identity. She said her daughter spoke of the anxiety she felt at not having discussed her identity with others.

She felt that had she been more out, had she been more communicative about who she was to people maybe different people would have made different choices in the election, Houlahan said. She felt almost guilty that she had not been more forward about this. So she said, This is a time when I need to share his, that you need to share this, Mom.

But she said, If you share this, you need to promise that you will work for my community and not just use it. And I promised. And it was pretty overwhelming to be able to press that Yes button in the vote on May 20. I sent her a picture of me pressing the Yes button.

Houlahan said she had attended the Pride Fest event over the past three years, calling it, a joyful event. Im really struck by the LGBTQ community and how welcoming they are of each other and of the world, and impressed that gay relations in the county are fairly good.

This community is a very welcoming community, she said. Even though we are very mixed in our political affiliation (in the county)  we are 40-40-20, Democrats, Republicans, and independents  I think that we all are respectful of one another, regardless of where we sit on the political spectrum. We let people be who they are, largely.

Houlahan and the other House members will return to Washington on Monday after a week-long Memorial Day break, during which she met with the state Attorney General in Reading to discuss the opioid crisis and in southern Chester County to discuss the state of the mushroom industry with the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue. She anticipates working on the military budget, small business issues, and trade with Canada and Mexico.

She expressed satisfaction that House Democrats had been able to pass more than 100 pieces of substantive legislation in the first six months of their term, but frustrated that much of that had landed with a thud in the Senate, where GOP leadership refuses to allow it to even be considered.

All of those (bills) have gone nowhere, and it is incredibly disheartening to see a Senate that is unwilling to take up any of the work of the House, she said.

What I think nobody pays much attention to is that fully 2/3 of everything that happens in the Congress is non-oversight related, and pretty much 95 percent of what I do is non-oversight related. The work of the people is still happening, she said. I would just like to to continue to focus on those issues that unite us.

Pennsylvanias 6th Congressional District includes all of Chester County, most of southern Berks County and the City of Reading.

This story contains information from the Associated Press.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
England has never been particularly well known for its wine, but that could be about to change as the industry's top critics and winemakers claim the country is producing bottles of plonk that have never tasted - or sold - better.

Thanks to geology mapping, which has changed the condition of soil in Britain over the years, the grapes that are grown for English sparkling wine are now the same as those produced in the Champagne region of France.

Caroline Stevens of Danebury Wines, a boutique seven-acre vineyard in Hampshire, explains that many hobbyists were planting in England before they realised it was a suitable climate for making Champagne, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

'The vineyard is planted to the same seam of chalk the goes under the Channel and pops up in France in the Champagne region,' she explained.

'Chalk is one of the good soils to grow vines in, as it is very porous and the roots can easily penetrate it. It also provides excellent drainage, while at the same time retaining sufficient water.'

The prevailing conditions improving the grapes mean that the wine grown in the UK, particularly in southern England, is becoming high society's go-to tipple.

England has never been particularly well-known for its wine, but that could be about to change as the industry's top critics and wine makers claim the British tipple has never tasted - or sold - better. Pictured: The Danebury wine estate in Hampshire

Last month, society bible Tatler called English bubbles 'all the rage', writing: 'British sparkling wine is now a prominent fixture at the finest of al fresco spring suppers and it makes for the most refreshing of aperitifs to enjoy in a shapely flute  possibly enhanced with a drop of creme de cassis.'

It's also been served at the Ritz for the first time, as their 'Champagne of the month'. Giovanni Ferlito, head of wine and beverages at The Ritz, said: 'When we first offered English sparkling wine it was hard to persuade people to try it, but in just a year there has been a big change in people's perceptions and now they ask for it.'

And in April, Grand National winner Jockey Davy Russell celebrated with a bottle of Coates & Seely English Sparkling Wine, breaking a 172-year tradition of using Champagne.

It was rumoured to have been served at Harry and Meghan's wedding, and is also now the beverage of choice at 10 Downing Street dinners.

English Sparkling is also served in the Victoria and Albert museum's upmarket South Kensington cafe, in the celeb haunt Soho House and in dozens of Michelin-starred restaurants.

In April, Grand National winner Jockey Davy Russell celebrated with a bottle of Coates & Seely English Sparkling Wine, breaking a 172-year tradition of using Champagne

David Moore, the founder of Pied a Terre, a Michelin-star French diner in London's Fitzrovia, told Femail it's been 'exciting to see the consumer demand for English wine'.

He also praised winemakers for gaining the loyalty of costumers: 'It's great to see brands like Bolney Wine Estate in Sussex go from strength to strength and gain the loyalty of so many Brits as their first choice option to start their evening or to pair with their meal.'

Sam Linter, managing director at Bolney Wine Estate, seemed to agree with the praise: 'English wine is fresher, crisper and more linear than other sparkling wines and we think that is what makes it so special. It also matches very well with food too! Offering a whole new style, whilst still being made by the same traditional method used by Champagne.'

Caroline Stevens of Danebury Wines, a boutique seven-acre vineyard in Hampshire, explains that many hobbyists were planting in England before they realised it was a suitable climate for making Champagne, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier

She added: 'It's our still wines too which are proving to be popular for a celebration. The Bolney Wine Estate Pinot Gris has been served at Wimbledon whilst our Bacchus has been showcased at The Jockey Club races.'

And it's not just in the UK; Gareth Maxwell, the commercial director of Hattingley Valley Wines, one of the largest producers of English Sparkling Wine in the UK, told Femail that UK wine is finally being accepted internationally.

'At the end of last year we had a temporary listing in Whole Foods in the US, nationwide in Germany and Australia,' he said

'People are interested because climatically we are the only other place in the world that has the same soil as the Champagne region in France.

'England for centuries has been known as the centre of the wine trade and we've got a long history, we're respected for that, but now finally we have a really premium product to offer to the world - and now we've got the brand of Britain, which is a very strong brand around the world.

'English Sparkling Wine used to be a lot of German varieties and hybrids and no one wanted it.

Christopher White, CEO of Denbies (pictured) England's largest single estate vineyard with a range of 16 wines, producing over 450,000 bottles of wine per annum, told Femail that the growth in demand due to 'the consistent quality of product, the increase in volume and production which is enabling us to supply both major on and off trade'

'If you speak to anyone over 60 they'll say, "I don't like English wine, it's awful" because they'll think of what it was 60 years ago. It's totally different now!'

Gareth explained that there's no restriction on planting vines in the UK unlike the continent.

'If you wanted to, tomorrow you could go and get 50 acres in Hampshire and plant a vineyard, but if you went to a rural area in France you could plant a vineyard, but you have to apply and get permission and that's common in a lot of Europe,' he said.

'There's a lot of money come out of the city - and a lot of them will put it into vineyards. It's quite a romantic thing, people don't get into wine because they love money, they get into it because it's an expression of themselves and a lot of people love wine.

'Because of the professionalism that's gone into it, winemakers from across the world are coming to England because they want to be involved in this young industry.

'The wine trade is really guilty of talking about itself, but it's known for 10 years that English Sparkling has the potential to be great.'

Last week, English Wine won a record number of gongs at the Decanter World Wine Awards, 138. Pictured: A sample of Danebury's wines

Gareth pointed out that now English Wine has started winning competitions and beating its closest competitor Champagne, people are seeing it as getting 'one-up' on the French.

'The French have dominated wine so long, it's a bit of a friendly rivalry,' he said.

'We've got an awful long way to go to convince customers to actually buy it, but it's in the supermarkets.

'When the currency dropped 20 per cent after the Brexit vote, it made Champagne 20 per cent more expensive and our exports cheaper.'

The falling price combined with the the improving taste of the bottle has seen sales surge. Since last year, domestic sales of the tipple are up 180 per cent, according to Henry Connell, co-founder of The Uncommon.

He says it's the English terrain that makes wine so great: 'England now has the ideal growing conditions to produce the champagne grapes  Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier  as well as many other wonderful cool climate aromatic grapes like Bacchus.

Since last year, domestic sales of the tipple are up 180 per cent, according to the Henry Connell, the Co-Founder of The Uncommon (stock image)

'After all, England and France were once connected land masses and our vineyards are only 200 miles north of Champagne in France.'

Last week, English Wine won a record number of gongs - 138 - at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

And the international recognition doesn't stop there. One of the world's most renowned wine critics, Eric Asimov, gave a talk at the Nantucket Food & Wine festival last week about English Wine.

Writing last year about 10 different south England vineyards for the New York Times, he said that English bubbles are 'no longer just a novelty'.

Christopher White, CEO of Denbies, England's largest single estate vineyard with a range of 16 wines, producing over 450,000 bottles of wine per annum, told Femail that the growth in demand is due to 'the consistent quality of product' and the 'increase in volume and production which is enabling us to supply both major on and off trade'.

'English wine is no longer perceived as a niche product; economies of scale and investment in advanced specialist sparkling wine equipment has enabled us to compete on both quality and price,' he said.

'Wineries in England are now producing international award-winning quality wines, consistent with those on a global platform.'

The number of bottle of produced in the UK has almost tripled from 5.9million in 2017, to 15.6million in 2018, according to WineGB , the body promoting English wine

'English sparkling wine is competitively priced, with a lower carbon footprint - even more important with consumers now being increasingly aware of the provenance of produce,' he continued.

The growth in demand in has also seen supplies rocket.

For English and Welsh Wine week, which runs from May 25 to June 2, the industry's trade body Wines of Great Britain (WineGB) has just released the latest planting figures, confirming that around three million vines were planted this year - equating to an additional 690 hectares of vineyards and a 24 per cent increase in the overall land now under vine.

The number of bottles produced in the UK has almost tripled from 5.9million in 2017 to 15.6million in 2018, according to WineGB.

'This impressive figure of three million vines represents another milestone in the growth of our fantastic industry,' comments Simon Robinson, Chairman of WineGB.

'Last year we set out our vision that in the next 20 years, at the rate of current growth, we could be producing some 40 million bottles per year. We're certainly heading towards that. This is a thriving British industry.'

And it seems the international recognition of the wine is only improving the product.

For English and Welsh Wine week, which runs from May 25 to June 2, the industry's trade body Wines of Great Britain (WineGB) has just released the latest planting figures confirming that around three million vines were planted this year - equating to an additional 690 hectares of vineyards and a 24 per cent increase in the overall land now under vine

James Lambert, managing director at Lyme Bay Winery, which regularly picks up gongs for its still and sparkling wine and is stocked by Unlikely Wine, said: 'This international recognition means that people are really taking notice  both in terms of increased distribution with retailers and the vital visibility of being enjoyed at major society events and celebrations.

'This investment and development work is offering discerning drinkers brilliant wines and great value for money even at higher price points. Given the scale of the sparkling wine market in the UK and elsewhere, there is significant growth potential for very many year.'

Laithwaite's English Sparkling Wine Buyer, Karl McCulloch, told Femail: 'The 2018 harvest, an estimated 15.6 million bottles, was nearly three times larger than 2017 and the quality is outstanding.

'After the two previous frost-ridden vintages, this will allow our producers to continue to meet the increasing demand. With more than two million vines being planted this year, the UK wine industry certainly has big plans for the future.'

Gareth Maxwell, the commercial director of Hattingley Valley Wines, one of the largest producers of English Sparkling Wine in the UK, told Femail that UK wine is finally being accepted internationally

The bright plans for the future are making investors happy too. James Simmonds, a partner at accountancy firm UHY's national drinks sector, said: 'High quality English wine has steadily won over consumers, a trend we spotted last year when the number of new wine producers opening in the UK hit a record high with 80 new wine producers starting up in 2017 - up 25 per cent from 64 the previous year, and more than double the 36 that opened six years ago.

'Historically, professionals here have previously invested in the traditional wine regions of Bordeaux or Chianti, but now they now have the option to be part of the UK wine scene and pioneer change in the industry.

'High profile individuals are leading the charge for homegrown wine, with English wine being endorsed by a number of UK aristocrats. For example, English sparkling wine is served at Number 10 Downing Street receptions instead of Champagne and it has been widely reported that English sparkling wine was served at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding too.'

Trading expert Siddharth Shankar added: 'English sparkling wine is becoming more and more popular not just in the UK but around the world.

'UK drinks exports have reached a record high of 8.3bn. English sparkling hasn't quite overtaken whiskey and gin  the UK's largest drinks exports  yet, but in 2018 there was a 50 per cent increase in UK and international sales of English wine and the trend is set to continue, so watch this space.'

He added: 'The weak pound has made English sparkling wine more affordable than ever before in comparison to Champagne, Prosecco and Cava.

'There is a growing demand for British beverages in booming markets like China, Japan and India. English sparkling wines are slowly gaining popularity here due to the English culture of serving sparkling wines at any special event. The east, due to its preference for western habits, is catching onto the sparkling wine culture.'

Food Minister David Rutley told Femail: 'It is great to see our produce being embraced by wine enthusiasts at home and abroad. The English sparkling wine industry has shown creativity and determination to shine on the global stage.

'I'm looking forward to seeing our sparkling wine businesses go from strength to strength, flying the flag for top quality British produce.'
A breast cancer survivor whose twin sister also battled the disease celebrated their 56th birthday with an ambush makeover.

Cheryl from Austin, Texas, was enjoying a girls' trip in New York City with her sister Charlotte and their cousins when she was plucked from the Today plaza and given a head-to-toe-ambush makeover on Thursday's show.

'I'm a breast cancer survivor. My twin sister and I had breast cancer at the same time, so we're kind of celebrating that as well,' she said of the birthday trip.

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Celebration: Cheryl from Austin, Texas, received an ambush makeover on the Today show Thursday in honor of her and her twin sister Charlotte's 56th birthday

Recovery: The sisters both had breast cancer at the same time and were enjoying a girls' trip in New York City

Cheryl admitted that she has spent more than a decade working from home and her look could use an update.

'I've worked from home for over 10 years and I rarely go out,' she explained. 'I want to be a little bit more on trend and more presentable. That would be something I would like to learn.'

Cheryl looked stunning when she stepped on stage rocking a new 'do and a flowy ruffled dress.

One of her cousins dropped her jaw when she saw her new look for the first time, while her sister Charlotte said 'she looks great.'

Cheryl was just as stunned when she turned around and looked at herself in the mirror.

Desperate for a new look: Cheryl admitted that she has spent more than a decade working from home and her look could use an update

Stunned: One of her cousins dropped her jaw when she saw her new look for the first time

'I look totally different,' she exclaimed.

When Today host Jenna Bush Hager told her she looked 'boho chic,' she said: 'I like that. I'm gonna use that.'

Celebrity hairstylist Louis Licari explained that Cheryl's long dark hair was cut into a long bob, and he softened her color with golden highlights.

'Notice they don't start at the top of the head, which is more modern,' he said of the natural-looking highlights.

Today style correspondent Bobbie Thomas was filling in for Jill Martin, who was out celebrating her recent engagement, and she knocked it out of the park with Cheryl's new look.

Transformation: looked stunning when she stepped on stage rocking a new 'do and a boho-chic ruffled dress

Before and after: Celebrity hairstylist Louis Licari explained that Cheryl's long dark hair was cut into a long bob, and he softened her color with golden highlights

Bobbie dressed her up in a ruffled high-low dress midi dress and heels, topping off the look with a long statement necklace.

'She works at home. She said she hasn't dressed up in 11 years so she wanted something she could wear during the day and then put on heels and go out,' the stylist explained.

When asked if she was comfortable in her new outfit, Cheryl joked: 'I'm getting used to the stilts.'

'It looks like something Stevie Nicks would wear,' said Today host Carson Daly, prompting Cheryl to start swaying back and forth as if there was music playing.

Anna, a mom from Freeman, South Dakota, also received a dramatic ambush makeover on Thursday morning's show.

Simply stunning: Anna, a mom from Freeman, South Dakota, also received a dramatic ambush makeover on Thursday

Big day: Anna was in New York City for the first time to watch her two sons perform with the Freeman Music Choir at Carnegie Hall

She was in New York City for the first time to watch her two sons perform with the Freeman Music Choir at Carnegie Hall.

'I would like a makeover because I have looked the same for the last 30 years,' she explained. 'I'm going to turn 50 this year. I'm excited to see what's going to happen with my makeover.'

Anna looked ready for a night on the town when she stepped on stage in a glamorous jumpsuit and a sleek new 'do.

There was plenty of whooping and hollering from the choir members when they removed their blindfolds and checked out the mom's makeover for the first time.

Anna was pretty much speechless when she looked in the mirror, and it took her a moment to say: 'I like it.'

Ready for a change: 'I would like a makeover because I have looked the same for the last 30 years,' she explained. 'I'm going to turn 50 this year

So chic: Anna looked ready for a night on the town when she stepped on stage in a glamorous jumpsuit and a sleek new 'do

All smiles: Louis said he toned her blonde hair color and left a few highlights after it was cut into a sleek bob

Louis explained that they 'just wanted to update her look a little bit,' so he toned her blonde hair color and left a few highlights.

'I mean, she looked beautiful before. She looks more beautiful now, I believe,' he said, noting that she also had a few inches of her hair cut off.

'It looks so sophisticated and chic,' he said of her new haircut.

Meanwhile, Bobbie noticed from the get-go that Anna was a low-maintenance mom who is almost always in jeans and a T-shirt.

'We kept her in pants, but she is going to Carnegie Hall to watch her sons sing tonight,' she said of Anna's navy blue halter jumpsuit. 'She needed a special occasion look that still fits her personality, and I just think she sparkles.

Anna's husband John agreed, telling her that she looks 'beautiful.'
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have voiced their support for the LGBT community and given a touching tribute to Princess Diana at the start of Pride month.

The royal couple used their social media account to help 'shine a light on Pride', saying they believe 'love is love' in an Instagram post this morning - which has already been liked more than 200,000 times.

It features a collection of nine images which come from Instagram accounts Harry and Meghan are now following, and by the artist Ruben Guadalupe Marquez.

The duke and duchess's post explained that they have a tradition of rotating Instagram accounts they follow based 'on causes and social issues that matter to us'.

One old photo features Harry's mother Diana, Princess of Wales sat by the bedside of Gerard McGrath, a patient at Aids hospice London Lighthouse, shortly before her death.

One old photo features Harry's mother Diana, Princess of Wales sat by the bedside of Gerard McGrath, a patient at Aids hospice London Lighthouse, shortly before her death

The duke and duchess's post explained that they have a tradition of rotating Instagram accounts they follow based 'on causes and social issues that matter to us'

In 2017, he recalled the visit, saying: When she came in, she was shining.

That smile, it just beamed when she smiled. She beamed.

I sound like a sycophant but thats how it was.

Im not a royal person really, Im a republican, but she was an exception.

More than 30 years ago, the then 25-year-old Diana was credited for challenging the stigma against those affected by HIV and Aids.

At the opening of the UK's first purpose-built HIV/Aids unit that cared exclusively for those suffering with the disease, she shook hands with an Aids patient without wearing gloves  dispelling myths that it could be passed from person to person by touch.

Other photos in the Instagram post include pictures from Stonewall, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Trevor Project and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

The royal couple used their social media account to help 'shine a light on Pride', saying they believe 'love is love' in an Instagram post this morning which features a collection of nine images from Instagram accounts Harry and Meghan are now following

An accompanying message from Harry and Meghan said: 'For the month of June we 'proudly' shine a light on PRIDE.

'This month we pay tribute to the accounts supporting the LGBTQ+ community  those young and old, their families and friends, accounts that reflect on the past and are hopeful for a deservedly more inclusive future.

'We stand with you and support you. Because it's very simple: love is love.'

A number of charities and organisations were tagged in the post include akt, Stonewall, The Trevor Project, Human Rights Campaign, It Gets Better Project, Sage, and Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Harry and Meghan's post, and the beginning of Pride month, coincides with the controversial visit of US President Donald Trump to the UK  starting on Monday.

In recent tweets, the president backed Pride month and paid tribute to 'the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation'.

'Let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation,' he said on Twitter.

Meghan has been a vocal critic of Mr Trump, backing his former rival Hillary Clinton and suggesting before the 2016 election she would leave the US if he won.

LA-born Meghan will not be present as the president meets other members of the royal family during his state visit after giving birth to her son Archie almost four weeks ago.
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Epsom racegoers were treated to a scorcher for the Derby day as the mercury soared to 82F (27.7C) and most were seen taking full advantage of the sun while having a celebratory tipple.

Despite the heat and the copious amounts of prosecco consumed yesterday at Ladies day, thousands of punters turned up in their finery to watch Anthony Van Dyck create history with victory in the Epsom Derby.

Anthony Van Dyck won the Derby for racing horse trainer Aidan OBrien and jockey Seamie Heffernan.

This is the first time jockey Seamie Heffernan has won the Investec Derby for the first time, having had two near misses in the past.

A variety of famous faces were seen including Mary Berry, The Only Way is Essex stars Ryan Thomas and Lucy Mecklenburgh, former Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo and Chris Grayling, the transport secretary.

And so to is the queen who has come along to support her horse Sextant who is in the sixth race of the day.

Derby day is traditionally the busiest of the two days in terms of races and features seven races, including the Greatest Flat race in the World.

Racegoers enjoy the warmth and atmosphere during Derby Day of the 2019 Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Surrey, where temperatures are predicted to reach highs of 72 F (22 C) today

Keeping the sun off their heads punters look glamorous as they sip the non-official drink of the race - prosecco

Knight in shining armour: This gentlemanly racegoer carried his partner over a patch of water on the ground

Time for a tipple: These dressed-up ladies take a break from watching the races to top up their glasses with rose

This racegoer showed off her boldly bright yellow dress while she twirled around

These three ladies marched in formation while having a cooling drink during the hottest day of the year at the Epsom races

One racegoer injected a splash of colour into his outfit by donning a red top hat while drinking his beer

These two ladies showed off their bet slips while striking a pose and sipping on a refreshing beverage

A racegoer looks elegant in a black cloche style hat and chic sunglasses

Georgia Toffolo, a former Made in Chelsea star also known as Toff, wears a floral dress and headband with a small shoulder bag

Three ladies show off their

A young racegoer tries on a hat during Derby Day of the 2019 Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse

The gorgeous puffed long sleeve summer dress with a low v-neck line looks the picture perfect embodiment of summer on Miss Toffolo

Enjoying a glass of Pimms the racegoers shield from the sun with wide brimmed straw and top hats

Mary Berry (right) presents Trainor Sir Michael Stoute with the trophy for winning the Investec Diomed Stakes with Zaaki during Derby Day of the 2019 Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Surrey

Queen Elizabeth II wears vibrant blue during Derby Day of the 2019 Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Epsom

Anthony Van Dyck ridden by Seamie Heffernan (Pink) wins the Investec Derby Stakes on Derby Day today

Chris Grayling, Transport minister, takes a swig from his glass of drink at the Investec Epsom Derby horse racing, Epsom, Surrey, today

Mr Grayling wears a smart three piece suit complete with a tie on the year's first day of summer

Racegoers appear as silhouettes in the sunshine during Derby Day of the 2019 Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse

Blush beauty: Charlotte Hawkins ventured out of the ITV studios to host for ITV racing at Epsom Race's Ladies' Day at on Friday

Streaming sun shines down on those lucky enough to be at the races for the second Derby day today

A group of lads break from tradition and lose the top hats instead opting for multi-colour ties

Two women watch the races with extravagant head pieces during Derby Day of the 2019 Investec Derby Festival

An array of hats can be seen in a shot over the crowd as they wait for a race to start

Ryan Thomas and Lucy Mecklenburgh, The Only Way is Essex stars, attend Derby Day of the Investec Derby Festival. Lucy dresses in a mini dress with lace cap sleeves and a bow detailing while Ryan wears a classic three piece suit

Ryan Thomas and Lucy Mecklenburgh, The Only Way is Essex stars, are seen giggling in a box while they watch the races

The pair were later seen in a box having a refreshing drink while watching the races

Snap happy: The reality stars film the race as it takes place, as Lucy appears to hold a betting slip

Fans arrive on the Epsom buses prior to Derby Day at Epsom races with one sheltering from the sun under a parasol while others wear hats

TV presenter Francesca Cumani blends in with a life sized zebra while wearing stripes

Wearing traditional Epsom races dress a couple look smart in a top hat and large brimmed hat with a fascinator on top

A man snaps a pic of the racecourse from a viewing platform while wearing a top hat

YES! A man yells in elation as a race comes to the end while others watch on with less enthusiasm

A woman wears an ivy and flower crown with pearl earings and a pretty pink dress
A 35-year-old British man was left with a nine-day erection after falling off his moped and bruising his genitals.

The bruise to his perineum - the area between the genitals and anus - in the crash, nine days before his visit to a UK hospital, caused a constant flow of blood to his penis.

It meant that he was left with a Grade IV erection - the highest level on a medical scale known as the Erection Hardness Score - for nine continuous days.

A 35-year-old British man was left with a nine-day erection after falling off his moped and bruising his genitals (stock image)

The man's case was revealed in a case study published last month in the journal Case Reports in Urology.

The report described how, although the erection was not painful, the man did experience 'mild discomfort in walking'.

Doctors said: 'On examination there was a grade IV erection with a rigid base and shaft with slight dorsal curvature of 10 degrees, which was nontender.

'There was a superficial haematoma (bleeding) present to the scrotum and base of penis.'

Ninety five percent of cases of priapism - where an erection lasts too long - are caused when blood cannot leave the penis because of a blockage of blood vessels.

This is known as low-flow priapism. Drugs to treat erectile dysfunction and neurological conditions are common causes, though most conditions are unexplained.

The bruise to his perineum - the area between the genitals and anus - in the crash, nine days before his visit to a UK hospital, caused a constant flow of blood to his penis. Above: The crash caused fistulas - small channels (seen in white) - which redirected the flow of blood to vessels which were generating his erection

However, the 35-year-old man had high-flow priapism, which instead meant that blood would not stop flowing to his penis.

This usually occurs when blood vessels surrounding the genitals are ruptured because of physical trauma.

The bruising caused by the fall from the moped created a pooling of blood and two fistulas - small channels which redirected the blood to vessels that generated his erection.

While low-flow priapism is generally an emergency because a blockage can kill tissue and damage the penis, high-flow cases are less dangerous.

Even though around 60 percent of cases resolve on their own, the man opted for an invasive procedure to treat it.

It involved doctors using a catheter to pick out the arteries which were feeding the erection, creating blood clots to stem the flow of blood to the fistulas.

Bruising to the man's perineum left him with high-flow priapism, which meant that blood would not stop flowing to his penis (stock image)

They then opted for a foam which broke down one of the fistulas within four to six weeks, while for the other they used a microcoil designed to a blocked blood vessel.

The man's condition improved soon after, though it was some time before he regained normal use of his penis.

A year later, he told doctors that he had normal erectile function.
When it comes to the health of her two daughters, Alice Ross is simply 'trying to do the right thing'  much like any loving parent.

In her case, that meant not having them vaccinated.

When they were babies, she declined the jabs routinely offered to protect youngsters against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, and Hib  haemophilus influenzae type b  a bacterial infection responsible for a range of nasty diseases, mainly in children under five.

And after the girls were one, Alice also rejected for them the MMR jab, which offers immunity against measles, mumps and rubella.

Middle-class anti-vaccine parents are now demanding their children get vaccinated as the number of measles cases have risen across the UK. Public Health England confirmed the growing number of measles cases is an 'ongoing' crisis (stock image)

All are diseases that routinely cause pain, long-term disability and death in children. Measles still kills 100,000 a year, although these days such tragedies are generally only seen in countries where vaccination is not offered.

Despite knowing this, Alice chose against having her daughters immunised. Until now.

Last month the girls, who are now aged nine and ten, received their first ever vaccination  the MMR, from a nurse at their local GP surgery. And, astonishingly, it was at their own request.

Alice, 44, from Stoke Newington, North London, says: 'The girls told me someone had been talking at school about the rise in numbers of measles cases, and they said, "We're OK, Mummy, because we've been vaccinated." I had to tell them, "Well, actually, no you haven't." They were quite cross.

'I was aware of measles becoming more common, as it's been in the news, so when they told me they wanted to be vaccinated, I thought we should just do it.'

Alice is one of the growing number of parents who, concerned about the alarming rise in measles infections in England, are hurriedly having their older children vaccinated against the disease.

Figures obtained by this newspaper reveal a surge in measles cases in the past two months.

Public Health England has confirmed that in three London boroughs, the number of children affected has risen threefold, and admitted the crisis was 'ongoing'. It's understood similar increases have been seen in the East of England.

It is, according to Adam Finn, Professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol, a 'tragedy'.

He says: 'Relatively recently we saw zero cases. This new scenario is the aftermath of the false ideas spread about vaccination in the 1990s, which caused many to avoid vaccines and so remain unprotected.

Measles is a horrible and very infectious disease that spreads easily. It leaves a legacy on the immune system even after recovery. Most deaths are caused by infections that occur even after the measles have gone.'

I'm not anti-vaccine... Just pro-choice

Alice  not her real name  agreed to speak to The Mail on Sunday only on guarantee of anonymity.

She says: 'I know there are lots of people who won't agree with what I did and say I am crazy or selfish. But I don't see myself as an anti-vaxer or stupid. I'm just pro-asking questions and having a choice.'

The vast majority of parents in Britain do vaccinate, but Alice is certainly not alone  and those like her are squarely blamed for the resurgence of measles in Britain.

Last month NHS England revealed that more than half a million British children did not receive the MMR jab between 2010 and 2017.

Chef Executive Simon Stevens called rejection of vaccines 'a growing public health timebomb', and warned of fake news continuing to stoke 'fear and scepticism' about the jabs.

Measles cases in England more than trebled from 259 in 2017 to 966 last year.

In the first quarter of 2019, there were 231 confirmed cases and 795 cases of mumps  a viral infection that causes swelling in the neck and can lead to infertility in males  similar to the number in the same period last year.

Two young girls, whose mother chose not to have them vaccinated as babies, received their first ever vaccination  the MMR, from a nurse at their local GP surgery at their own request after the rising numbers of the disease had been discussed at their school (stock image)

But the latest figures revealed to The Mail on Sunday suggest that the numbers are rapidly increasing.

An official letter sent to heads of all schools in three London boroughs  Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and City of Westminster  obtained by The Mail on Sunday, warned: 'There has been a significant increase in the number of measles cases among residents in North West London since April.'

Public Health England informed us that since April, a 'school outbreak' in North West London had led to 31 individuals infected with measles in the last two months  double that seen between January and March.

In three other London boroughs, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster, the total for April and May alone stands at 34. That's a total of 65  three times the amount Public Health England would expect.

In a statement, Public Health England said: 'The outbreaks in London and the East of England reported in the first quarter of 2019 are ongoing.

'We will continue to see cases of measles in England.'

Why is middle-class rejecting MMR?

The MMR vaccine is given routinely on the NHS as two injections to babies. The first is delivered within a month of their first birthday and the second at three years and four months. This offers almost complete immunity.

Although 95 per cent of children now have their first shot, just 87 per cent turn up for their second. And when figures are examined on a more local level, another more surprising trend emerges.

According to NHS data, between 2014 and 2018 the London boroughs that show the most significant drop in vaccination rate are overwhelmingly the most well-off.

Measles and mumps... what to look out for Symptoms of measles develop about ten days after a person is infected and include a runny nose, sneezing and a cough; sore, red eyes that may be sensitive to light; and a high temperature. A few days later a blotchy, red-brown rash appears, usually on the head or neck (right), before spreading to the rest of the body. Measles, which is more severe in adults, typically resolves in seven to ten days. Mumps causes shivers, tiredness and painful swelling of the parotid glands  salivary glands just in front of each ear. One side may be swollen initially, but in most cases both glands are eventually affected, causing difficulty opening the mouth to talk, eat and drink. Earache and abdominal pain are sometimes also experienced. Symptoms of mumps last two or three days and disappear over three to seven days. Symptoms of measles develop about ten days after a person is infected and include a runny nose, sneezing and a cough; sore, red eyes that may be sensitive to light; and a high temperature (stock image) Advertisement

In Kensington and Chelsea, home to the UK's top earners, uptake of the first MMR jab fell from 80 per cent  already below the UK average  to 78 per cent in just four years.

In upmarket Westminster, uptake has fallen from 79.5 per cent to 77.5 per cent since 2014.

Well-to-do Camden has seen MMR take-up drop seven per cent.

Intriguingly, analyses of the least well-off provincial boroughs tell a vastly different story.

Barnsley, considered one of Britain's poorest towns, has maintained an impressive MMR uptake rate of 96 per cent.

This is above the 95 per cent needed to achieve so-called 'herd immunity', whereby enough people are vaccinated to protect the entire population from the infection.

Figures in Bolton, Rotherham, Rochdale, Oldham and County Durham are also consistently high.

The findings echo earlier research that found babies with a mother educated to degree level or beyond were most likely to be un-vaccinated.

Another study found most anti-vaccination social media posts were written or shared by middle-class, high earners.

The Mail on Sunday's resident GP, Dr Ellie Cannon, says: 'Many of the mothers I see who are worried about vaccination are middle-class. They read around subjects, so are more likely to encounter spurious claims, such as jabs causing autism, or that giving babies combined vaccines, as in the case of MMR, 'overloads' their immune system.

'There are other reasons that people don't vaccinate, such as simply being disorganised or moving house, but these misconceptions have been very damaging.'

Why not just give separate jabs?

Concerns about 'overload' are a key reason for the rise in parents opting for individual vaccinations, rather than the combined jabs offered on the NHS, says Dr Cannon.

Only private clinics offer separate jabs and as they are not obliged to provide data, it is impossible to know just how many are doing this. But there is no benefit in choosing individual vaccines. Doing so may, in fact, be riskier.

Dr Chaira Hunt, who works at a private GP service in West London, says: 'The only difference is that the baby has to have three injections rather than one.'

Dr Hunt does not offer separate vaccines as a matter of principle.

'There is no benefit in separating MMR. Doing so would feed into the myth that the combined vaccine is linked to autism.'

Professor Helen Bedford, from the Institute of Child Health and University College London, adds: 'The reason for combination vaccinations is to give as much protection as possible, as young as possible, and to reduce the risk of encountering serious disease.'

Dr Hunt has seen a soaring demand for the MMR jab outside of the usual vaccination schedule since the beginning of 2019.

'In the past five years I've had fewer than five MMR requests like this. This year so far, I've had about 40. Parents admit they were hesitant about giving vaccines but now that they are reading reports of outbreaks, they have decided that it's too risky to let their children remain unvaccinated.'

One middle-class father  who would only agree to speak anonymously  has arranged for his son, now four, to have separate jabs for tetanus, diphtheria, polio, Hib and Men B (meningitis), but not measles, mumps or rubella.

The man, who is in his 40s and from Hove in East Sussex, paid 'about 800' for single vaccines. He says: 'We kept meaning to get the measles jab, but there is still that worry in the back of your mind about whether it's safe.

'Given that there is a real danger of getting measles now, we plan to have him given a single jab in the next week or so.'

Everything I read justified my choice

Misconceptions about the MMR jab began in 1998 when medical journal The Lancet published a paper by paediatrician Andrew Wakefield that linked MMR to autism.

Wakefield, now based in California and dating model Elle Macpherson, was later discredited and struck off as a doctor, but the damage was done.

In 2001, then Prime Minister Tony Blair added fuel to the fire when he refused to say whether his 18-month-old son Leo had been given the MMR.

It was revealed seven years later, in Cherie Blair's biography, that he had.

Uptake of the MMR vaccine dropped from more than 90 per cent to less than 80 within a few years, and in some areas as few as 65 per cent of children had the jab  although it has since recovered.

Eve, golden girl of our brilliant health section The Mail on Sundays deputy health editor Eve Simmons has won a prestigious award for young talent in journalism. The 30 To Watch awards  judged by a panel of senior media experts  celebrate Britains emerging news and features talent among those aged under 30. Eve, 28, took the gold award in the health category. Judges were particularly impressed with her investigation into breast implant injuries in March this year, in which she revealed that patients were not being warned about the risks of a deadly type of cancer. MoS health editor Barney Calman said: Eve is a fantastic reporter, writer and story finder. Eve (right) with the BBC's Tina Daheley (left), the award show host Advertisement

Recalling her frame of mind ten years ago, Alice says: 'There was a lot of scepticism about childhood vaccines, particularly MMR  about whether it was safe.

'I had a friend whose child had autism, and we wondered if it had been linked to vaccines. I remember being told my eldest would have to have a five-in-one vaccine, and it seemed so much to give a tiny baby. So we said no. After that, everything I read on the subject seemed to justify my decision.

'In hindsight, I suppose that's what I was looking for.'

So how would she have felt if the girls had contracted measles or transmitted the virus to a baby or older person, who may have suffered complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis?

'I'm not sure, pretty guilty I suppose,' she answers. 'I had measles when I was ten, and it was horrible. I know it sounds strange, but it never really crossed my mind. I suppose I just thought, their own immune systems would handle it.'

Alice is grateful that the nurse who gave the girls their MMR jab was 'really supportive, and not judgmental'.

She's now 'thinking' about having her daughters vaccinated against other infections, from cervical cancer-causing HPV, to meningitis. 'I don't regret not having them vaccinated as babies,' she says, 'but having the MMR now was the right choice.'
Have you ever borrowed a T-shirt from a friend or a family member, sniffed it, and instantly recognised their unique smell?

Yet, if someone alerts you to your personal scent, you struggle to sense anything but the pong of your surroundings.

While we might become immune to our own natural smells, we pick up far more information about other people and our environment than we are aware of.

One US study even discovered that blindfolded students could find their way down a windy path by using their scent alone as a guide.

While we might become immune to our own natural smells, we pick up far more information about other people and our environment than we are aware of. Some scientists claim natural body odurs may even lure or deter would-be romantic partners

We all unknowingly produce an invisible cloud of smells that is picked up by others and, some scientists claim, may even lure potential romantic suitors.

On the other hand, some of us release an unpleasant odour that acts as a deterrent to would-be partners.

So, what does your smell say about you?

Pheromones - The sniffable aphrodisiac

Some scientists have proposed that the powerful influence of smell could be due to chemicals called pheromones.

These are chemical signals which many mammals and insects produce and which can, unconsciously, affect behaviour. They are detected by an organ in the animals nose known as the vomeronasal organ.

In the animal kingdom, these signals are used for many reasons, including sexual attraction.

For example, the female silkworm moth produces a particularly powerful pheromone that, floating on the breeze, can attract males from miles around.

Male mice release pheromones in their urine that speed up the rate at which young female mice reach puberty, accelerating reproduction.

The Smelly T-Shirt Study by Claus Wedekind provided more evidence of the profound influence of human smell. Male students were asked to wear plain cotton T-shirts for 48 hours and female students judged the intensity and sexiness of the smell (stock image)

So if these potent odours are working wonders for the sex lives of animals and insects, surely they are doing the same for us humans?

Not necessarily. First of all, the vomeronasal organ functions differently in humans and it may not detect pheromones.

And if we cant detect them, what would be the point in producing them? Despite decades of searching, a human pheromone that stirs our libido has yet to be identified.

But there is some tantalising evidence that the aromas we produce do alter our behaviour, aside from making us avoid those who emit unpleasant gases.

A now-famous American study, conducted in the 1970s, looked at young female students living in a shared dormitory and found that, over time, all their periods appeared to synchronise.

The researcher at Wellesley College in Massachusetts proposed that pheromones produced by some women were picked up by others, changing their menstrual cycle.

As it happened, numerous attempts to repeat the findings failed, and it now seems likely they were due to chance.

However, the so-called Smelly T-Shirt Study by Swiss zoologist Claus Wedekind provided more concrete evidence of the profound influence of human smell.

He enrolled 44 male and 49 female students and asked the men to wear plain cotton T-shirts for two days and nights. Washing was banned, as was anything that might mask their natural smell. So no curries, booze or aftershave.

After 48 hours, the men put their smelly T-shirts into cardboard boxes with holes in them. The lucky female students sniffed the boxes and scored the intensity, pleasantness and sexiness of the smell.

Dr Wedekind had also taken blood samples from all the students to measure genetic differences between volunteers.

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He was testing the claim that one of the things we look for in a mate is someone very different to us, genetically, to reduce the chance of inbreeding and boost our ability to fight off infections.

As it turned out, female students did indeed score T-shirts worn by men with different genes as sexier than those worn by men with similar genetic profiles to themselves.

I recently tried the same experiment for a TV programme on sexual attraction. As an added twist, we included a T-shirt worn by a gorilla from a nearby zoo.

Our results confirmed those from the original experiment, and though the gorillas T-shirt had a few female admirers, on the whole volunteers were not keen.

As for the dubious pheromone sprays sold online that claim to make you sexually irresistible  dont waste your money.

Most claim to contain something called androstanol, a steroidal pheromone with a musk-like odour, which has gained a reputation as a powerful aphrodisiac.

Androstanol has been shown to be a major turn-on  if you are a pig. The few studies done on humans suggest it doesnt really do much for us.

Bacteria can keep that whiff at bay

Just as human aromas can turn us on, they can put us off people too.

Most of us use scents to mask the odours coming from our armpits, but for some unfortunate people, no amount of regular washing and deodorants can dilute their rank smell.

That, says Belgian microbiologist Dr Christopher Callewaert  also known as Dr Armpit  is because they harbour a lot of a particularly odorous bacteria called corynebacterium.

While most people use scents to mask the odours coming from our armpits, for some no amount of washing or deodorant can dilute their smell. Microbiologist Dr Christopher Callewaert says it's because they an odorous bacteria called corynebacterium (stock image)

He says: Some people with bad body odour are too psychologically distressed to talk to strangers, or even to leave the house.

How to boost your sense of smell 1. Practice makes perfect Studies show that, like anything else, our sense of smell improves with practice. First thing in the morning, try taking a good sniff of your coffee before you gulp it down, paying special attention to the different aromas. 2. Lose weight A study in New Zealand found that extreme weight loss improved peoples ability to smell. As smells play a vital role in driving appetite, scientists believe the link may be due to obesity-related changes to the metabolism affecting communication pathways between gut and brain. 3. Have a tipple Research shows that small amounts of alcohol improve smelling performance. But drinking lots (more than two small glasses of wine for women, or a pint and a half of beer for men) has the reverse effect. Alcohol lifts the brains inhibitory responses, boosting acuity of the senses. Advertisement

A few years ago, he carried out the worlds first armpit transplant, which was not quite as dramatic as it sounds.

He took bacterial swabs from the armpits of a nice-smelling volunteer and wiped these swabs on the armpits of a stinky volunteer, who had carefully washed his armpits with antibacterial soap.

After several applications, the stinky armpits seemed to improve.

Using other peoples sweat as a form of deodorant has its obvious downsides, so Dr Callewaert has now produced what he calls a probiotic deodorant.

This is a spray containing a relatively high concentration of a harmless strain of bacteria, staphylococci, which have been linked to the production of much pleasanter smells.

The idea is that the staphylococci from the spray will displace the bacteria in the armpits that are causing the pong.

Trials show the spray doesnt work for everyone, but most volunteers were delighted with the results.

Now Dr Callewaert plans to produce a version to compete in the multi-billion-pound deodorant market.

In the meantime his advice to those plagued by BO is to wear cotton clothes and avoid over-using anti-perspirants, as these can encourage the growth of odorous strains of bacteria.
A hot probe that blasts defective nerves in the lungs could help thousands of asthma sufferers breathe more easily.

The one-off, hour-long treatment involves inserting a device into the airways to destroy overactive nerves in the lungs that cause breathing difficulties.

Its hoped the revolutionary technique will bring relief to those with severe asthma who struggle to keep it under control with medication.

Asthma affects about 5.4 million people in the UK. Many manage their condition well with a combination of inhaled steroids  to prevent attacks  and pumps to open up the airways in the event of one.

Nuvaira is a new asthma treatment that could help thousands of sufferers with severe asthma. The one-off, hour-long treatment involves inserting a device into the airways to destroy overactive nerves in the lungs that cause breathing difficulties (stock image)

But one sufferer in ten has severe asthma that often fails to respond to standard treatments. The consequences can be fatal  asthma kills an average of three people a day in the UK.

The new treatment, which is called Nuvaira, deploys a ground-breaking therapy called targeted lung denervation.

Its based on the discovery that a faulty nerve that runs from the brain to the lungs may be partly to blame for asthma flare-ups.

For many years, the illness was thought to be due solely to the immune system overreacting to allergens  such as pollen  or viruses, like a cold.

But scientists now know it can also be worsened by problems with the vagus nerve  a twisting bundle of pathways running from the chest to the brain.

Branches of the vagus nerve control the muscles in the airways that manage the breathing.

In healthy lungs, the nerve sends signals to the muscles to ensure they contract and relax smoothly, allowing the airways to inhale and exhale properly.

But if the nerves are faulty, these muscles become overactive. As they tighten more and relax less, the airways become narrowed and breathing becomes harder.

Destroying these branches of the vagus nerve blocks the faulty signals, stopping the muscles in the airways from tightening and allowing more air to pass into the lungs.

Denervation involves the patient being given a general anaesthetic and a device called a bronchoscope being inserted through the mouth and into the lungs.

The treatment works by inserting a device called a bronchoscope through the mouth and into the lungs. The thin tube carries a deflated balloon is fed into the lungs. Once the balloon is in the correct position, it is inflated and the tiny electrodes emit radiofrequency energy

It has a tiny camera and a light on the tip which allows doctors to see the area they are treating.

Next, a thin tube carrying a deflated balloon is fed into the lungs. Once the balloon is in the correct position, it is inflated.

On its surface are tiny electrodes that, at the press of a button, fire radiofrequency energy (or microwaves) at the inner lining of the lungs where the faulty nerves are located.

The temperatures reach 80 Celsius  enough to penetrate several millimetres into the lining of the lung, destroying nerves just beneath the surface.

Research suggests it is effective almost immediately, allowing patients to breathe comfortably.

It has already proved successful in treating patients who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder  a severe breathing problem often, but not always, caused by smoking.

Now 30 asthma patients at hospitals in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, including some treated on the NHS, will receive the therapy as part of a three-year clinical trial.

Aircraft engineer Stuart Simpson, 54, from Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was the first person in the UK to have the lung-burning treatment. The married father-of-two has had asthma since his early 30s.

Initially, his condition was well controlled using steroid inhalers and a pump containing the drug salbutamol to relieve wheeziness.

Now 30 asthma patients at hospitals in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, including some treated on the NHS, will receive the therapy as part of a three-year clinical trial (stock image)

But after a bout of pneumonia in 2004, his asthma worsened, especially during exercise.

Stuart says: Ive always maintained a high level of fitness. But then I developed exercise-induced asthma. Normally, you breathe in through the nose, so the air is warm, but when you exercise, breathing becomes faster and through the mouth, making the inhaled air colder and drier.

In some people with asthma, the airways are sensitive to these changes and react by getting narrower, causing asthma symptoms.

Mainstream drugs failed to halt the effects of exercise on Stuarts airways, so staying active became harder for him.

Stuart underwent the procedure in March at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

He says: Afterwards, I had a bit of a sore throat and a cough but that cleared up within a couple of days. I was back at the gym within a week of the treatment.

Subsequent tests revealed a significant increase in Stuarts peak/flow score  a measure of lung function.

He says: I still carry salbutamol at all times, just in case, but my use of pumps has reduced and its given me the confidence to push myself further with sport and fitness.
THOSE WHO ARE LOVED

by Victoria Hislop (Headline 20, 496 pp)

THOSE WHO ARE LOVED by Victoria Hislop (Headline 20, 496 pp)

In their small Athens apartment, the large Stavridis family squabble like any other. But once World War II erupts, their differences become more sinister.

Like the Mitford sisters, each member backs a different side. Panos is a Communist, Thanasis a supporter of the German-appeasing government, while flashy Margarita takes up with a Nazi.

And as the conflict ends, studious Themis, the quiet sister radicalised by the recent sufferings, becomes a Communist guerrilla in the civil war. Her adventures fighting in the mountains, followed by the horrors of the prison islands, make for a ghastly, thrilling but romantic ride.

Hislop has done her research and handles the great sweep of complex Greek history with skill and confidence. She makes a touching family story out of violent and divisive times and her fans will lap this up.

HOW TO FIND HOME

by Mahsuda Snaith (Doubleday 14.99, 304 pp)

HOW TO FIND HOME by Mahsuda Snaith (Doubleday 14.99, 304 pp)

This tale of three homeless people in Nottingham shines a light into a dark world.

When former drug addict Molly meets charismatic Luca, she agrees to go with him on a mysterious quest. Her crazy, but resourceful, friend Jules tags along and a tragicomic adventure ensues.

The disreputable-looking threesome excite suspicion in a smart market town and crash-land into the lives of a posh boho family. But always behind them is the shadow of Mollys abusive, controlling ex-boyfriend, and an even scarier threat tracking Luca.

In this offbeat, engaging, wryly humorous novel, loosely inspired by The Wizard Of Oz, we meet strange, sad and colourful characters and learn that in the bleakest situations there is laughter, camaraderie and even love.

THE BOOKSHOP OF THE BROKEN-HEARTED

by Robert Hillman (Faber 8.99, 288 pp)

THE BOOKSHOP OF THE BROKEN-HEARTED by Robert Hillman (Faber 8.99, 288 pp)

This story appears to be a whimsical romance, yet its a good deal darker.

I was hooked by handsome, but hopeless, hero Tom, a farmer whose flighty wife runs off and leaves him alone in the wilds of Australia. But I wasnt expecting Auschwitz, where strong-willed Hannah lost her husband and son.

After surviving the worst Europe can throw at her, she heads to the other side of the world, meets Tom and opens the eponymous bookshop.

The complication is Peter, the stepson stuck in Jesus Camp, a settlement of cruel fundamentalists. He is determined to escape back to Tom but can Hannah bear to be his mother? Can one camp of evil cancel out another? Youll have to read this beautifully written novel to find out.
. . . are you reading now?

Ive just finished Middle England by Jonathan Coe. I adored it. Somebody left it in my car and I started reading it without any idea where it was going. You slowly realise that its about Brexit and it takes you out of the London bubble to analyse how it came about. Its brilliantly done and reveals itself in increments. Essential reading in todays political climate. Coes satire is subtle, but biting. You get an insight into almost every viewpoint, something that is increasingly rare nowadays. Im a big fan of Coes writing in general, having read What A Carve Up ages ago.

. . . would you take to a desert island?

Mark Twains The Innocents Abroad, published in 1869. Twain goes on one of the first cruises around the Mediterranean and its a laugh a minute. The thing that really hits you is how modern it feels  we have this image of Victorian times as being quite po-faced and serious. Most of the American tourists with Twain are a bit uptight and he rips into both them and the tourist scams and attractions they endure.

Dom Joly (pictured) revealed that he recently finished reading Middle England by Jonathan Coe. He also shared the book that he would take to a desert island

Ive just walked across Lebanon for my new book and feel that Twain would have made an ideal companion. Sadly, when I was actually marooned on a desert island for two weeks by Bear Grylls, I was not allowed any luxuries, including books. This would have been a great solace.

. . . first gave you the reading bug?

I was a sucker for the adventures of Tintin and devoured every one as a kid. He was quite contagious as he gave me both my travel and reading bug. I used to have a map of the world in my bedroom. I marked every destination that this plucky little Belgian reporter, with a seemingly limitless expense account, visited with a flag.

I vowed Id go to every one of them when I grew up. I have now been to all of them, but Im not sure I grew up. Tintin never made it to Lebanon, which annoys them  as it does every other French-speaking country he avoided. I have a collection of fake Tintin covers from countries such as Senegal and Vietnam that were livid at his not bothering to make the effort.

. . . left you cold?

I gave Salman Rushdies The Satanic Verses several attempts but couldnt ever make much headway. This was made worse when he bought my flat in Notting Hill. I made another last-ditch attempt, to no avail.

I felt embarrassed and went easy on him; Id told friends that, before I moved out, I was going to re-tile my roof terrace so that next time Google Earth swept over London, the words SALMAN RUSHDIE LIVES HERE would be clearly visible in massive letters. As it was, I thought better of it and chickened out. This was probably for the best. Ill try to give it another go soon (promise) . . .

The Hezbollah Hiking Club: A Short Walk Across The Lebanon by Dom Joly is published by Constable on June 13 at 20.
A man accused of sexually abusing and piercing the nipples of a 15-year-old girl is a professional body modifier who calls himself 'Jimmy Jam'.

James McKenzie, 35, was last week charged with the aggravated sexual abuse of a teenager, procuring a child and producing child abuse material.

American-accented McKenzie is the proprietor of a piercing shop, Jimmy Jam Piercer Man, in Armidale, New South Wales.

'Jimmy Jam Piercer Man': Armidale piercer James McKenzie, 35, was charged with a string of offences last week. Above, with a female acquaintance unrelated to the case

Mr McKenzie in a social media post featuring one of his clients

In court, police will allege McKenzie offered the young woman drugs and money in exchange for sex.

Daily Mail Australia has been told McKenzie was known to the girl. Police will allege the victim met McKenzie on social media in March and also worked for him briefly.

McKenzie advertised his business's services, including ear, facial, nipple and vaginal piercings, online

Online, McKenzie advertised his business' services, including piercing ears and facial 'snakebites'.

He also advertised piercings of nipples for up to $140 and parts of the male and female genitalia.

McKenzie claims to have been a piercer for 18 years and his Facebook page featured testimonials from various clients - including photographs of his name written in marker on their bellies.

'You can be any age, race, gender, sex, orientation, age or religion... We all bleed red when pierced,' a company T-shirt said.

Sex crimes investigators started an investigation into McKenzie two months ago and swooped on his Armidale home last week.

Officers seized electronic devices and drug-related items about 11am last Thursday.

James McKenzies's business's advertised services

Police swooped on McKenzie's home in Armidale, in New South Wales's north

He was arrested and charged with eight offences, the last being possession of a knife in a public place.

McKenzie was refused bail last week and will face Armidale Local Court on June 5. McKenzie's defence solicitor declined to comment this week.
Vicki Arnold's index finger was still resting on the trigger of the shortened .22 semi-automatic rifle when police arrived at a gory crime scene in the north Queensland bush.

She had gunshot wounds underneath her jaw and her body was bloated and decomposed.

Her best friend, Julie-Anne Leahy, was slumped next to her in the driver's seat of the four-wheel-drive. The seat belt was looped around her neck twice and she had been shot twice in the head.

Police quickly concluded that Ms Arnold had killed Ms Leahy, before taking her own life.

But that was just the start of one of Australia's most enduring mysteries - who killed Vicki and Julie?

Best friends Vicki Arnold (right) and Julie-Anne Leahy (left) were found dead in Ms Leahy's four wheel drive in bushland, near Atherton in north Queensland, on August 9 1991

Alan (centre) and Julie-Anne (right) married on September 24, 1998, and Ms Arnold (left) was a bridesmaid

The best friends were found dead in Ms Leahy's four wheel drive in bushland, near Atherton in north Queensland, on August 9 1991.

Alan Leahy, Ms Leahy's husband, reported the two women missing on July 26, about 8am, when they failed to return from an early morning fishing trip.

Investigative journalist and author Robert Reid followed the captivating case in the 28 years following, in a bid to lift the lid on the unsolved mystery.

Mr Reid, who spoke to the Australian True Crime podcast about the homicide, said it was 'lazy' policing to begin with - but there was much more to the multi-layered case.

The two key suspects are both dead and even Mr Reid admitted 'it's over'.

But who killed Ms Arnold and Ms Leahy?

Many struggled to believe the two best friends were victims of a murder-suicide and a third inquest in 2013 confirmed otherwise.

Queensland coroner Michael Barnes determined Ms Arnold and Ms Leahy were murdered in a double homicide and justified putting Mr Leahy to trial.

But in 2015, the Department of Public Prosecutions dropped the case. Mr Leahy died in July 2018 in Alice Springs.

The trial was abandoned when police identified a new prime suspect in their investigations, notorious standover man Chris Dunlea.

The 34-year-old was killed in an 'execution style shooting' in Bundaberg in 1994, before authorities got wind of his alleged involvement.

The police officers who were called to the horrific crime scene failed to properly investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths and quickly concluded Ms Arnold had killed Ms Leahy (pictured), before taking her own life

The car Ms Leahy and Ms Arnold were found in by five youths riding their bikes in the area

Mr Reid described Dunlea as a brutal and violent man who would rip off drug dealers' marijuana crops.

One of the men who was convicted of shooting Dunlea, Gregory William 'Peggo' De Jong, contacted Mr Reid from prison and declared his victim would boast about killing the women, Mr Reid wrote in The Australian.

'They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,' Dunlea told De Jong, adding 'we had to get rid of them so they didn't bring heat to the area, and my mates put it down as a murder and suicide'.

Mr Reid dismissed it at first, until he was approached by Hazel and Jim Skarott who owned a convenience store in Yungaburra, not far from Cairns.

The couple told Mr Reid they opened their shop early one morning and Dunlea entered with two women, who fit the description of Ms Arnold and Ms Leahy.

Many struggled to believe the two best friends were victims of a murder-suicide and a third inquest in 2013 confirmed otherwise. Queensland coroner Michael Barnes determined Ms Arnold and Ms Leahy were murdered in a double homicide and justified putting Mr Leahy to trial. But in 2015, the case against Mr Leahy was dropped. Pictured: Ms Leahy

They knew Dunlea because he was previously employed by them elsewhere for milk runs, but he didn't know they owned that shop.

The couple recalled Dunlea was in a hurry to get out of the store. One of the women said they had just finished fishing and needed to get back home to her children.

Mr Reid was convinced by the Skarott's story and determined Dunlea had killed the two women.

'I was convinced and in my third book I've got Chris Dunlea as the shooter,' he told the podcast.

Mr Reid was even given permission to go through the Leahy house to investigate the case and how Mr Leahy could have orchestrated the killings that night, but it was to no avail.

'I can't get him up there to do the actual murders,' he said while explaining it as implausible Mr Leahy could have moved from location to location in bloodied clothes.

'And everyone I've spoken to then and since said ''yep'' Chris would have done that, he would have been paid.'

'I don't have Alan Leahy off the hook, I know he knew what was going to happen.'

Ms Leahy pictured with her half sisters Margaret and Vanessa. Court documents said Mr and Ms Leahy had a steady relationship until the teenagers arrived, when Ms Leahy began to suspect her husband was paying too much attention to Margaret

Why was Alan Leahy suspected of the homicide?

Alan and Julie-Anne married on September 24, 1998, and Ms Arnold was a bridesmaid.

Ms Leahy's mother was unable to care for her daughter's half sisters Vanessa and Margaret and they had been living with their grandmother until they became too much of a burden.

Vanessa moved into Ms Leahy's home just before her 14th birthday in July 1989 and Margaret moved in about December, aged 16.

Court documents state the couple had a steady relationship until the teenagers arrived, when Ms Leahy began to suspect her husband was paying too much attention to Margaret.

Both sisters later alleged to having a sexual relationship with Mr Leahy.

Both sisters later alleged to having a sexual relationship with Mr Leahy (pictured). He died in July 2018 in Alice Springs.

Mr Reid told the podcast Vanessa still blames herself for the two women's deaths.

But Mr Reid explained Vanessa was a child who had become 'captivated' by a father-like figure, who deliberately groomed her for sex.

At the second inquest in 1999, Vanessa revealed the original statement she gave to police was false.

She said Mr Leahy told her to tell a different story so their sexual relationship did not come to light.

Mr Reid said Mr Leahy had motives for his wife's death, notably access to his wife's insurance and having Vanessa in his house.

The day after the two women disappeared, Mr Leahy told an officer at the Atherton Police Station the couple had been having some financial difficulties.

A shortened .22 semi-automatic rifle was found lying in the passenger seat and Ms Arnold's hand was resting on the firearm, with her index finger on the trigger

The crime scene

The bodies were found about 4pm by five youths riding their bikes in the area, court documents stated.

They promptly notified police and said they did not approach the car closer than about 10 metres.

Sergeant Michael Morrison, Herberton Police, first attended the crime scene and on realising the women suffered violent deaths, he called for backup.

Detective Sergeant Michael Hayes and his assistant, Senior Constable Willem Hendrikse arrived shortly, when it was windy, raining, and becoming dark.

Another officer attended to take photos of the scene and the officers attempted to take fingerprints, but failed.

The car was found with the back glass door open, with the luggage compartment holding two fishing rods and two buckets with fishing tackle and bait in them.

The vehicle's side doors were also open and the window was wound down on the passenger side.

The vehicle's side doors were open and the window was wound down on the passenger side. A rock, the size of a large grapefruit, sat underneath the frame of the passenger seat and it had a number of hairs and dried blood stuck to it

A rock, the size of a large grapefruit, sat underneath the frame of the passenger seat and it had a number of hairs and dried blood stuck to it.

Ms Arnold was sitting in the passenger side of the car and her legs were outside the vehicle. Her body was so severely decomposed the extent of her injuries could only be identified by a post-mortem.

It was found Ms Arnold had gunshot wounds underneath her jaw, behind the tip of the right ear and on her left thigh.

Ms Leahy's body was found in the driver's seat and it was evident she had suffered injuries to her head. The driver's seat belt was looped around her neck twice.

The autopsy found she had been shot twice in the head and suffered three incisions on her neck.

A shortened .22 semi-automatic rifle was found lying in the passenger seat and Ms Arnold's hand was resting on the firearm, with her index finger on the trigger.

The case remains open.
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The number of Allied troops who died during training for the D-Day landings outnumbers those that perished during the fateful final landings, a fascinating new book reveals.

The June 6 1944 operation was the most ambitious military endeavour of the Second World War, with hundreds of boats assembling off the coast of Normandy, carrying men from every corner of Britain, America, the Commonwealth and beyond.

Thousands of them would be dead by nightfall. The objective was to shatter Hitler's formidable Atlantikwall defence and open a Western Front in the battle for Europe to drive back the Nazi menace while Soviet forces tackled them from the east.

Millions had been brought to the United Kingdom in preparation for the pivotal assault, transforming its towns, coasts, fields and cities into an enormous training camp.

But at least 5,440 died in live fire drills, amphibious landing exercises and flight training compared with around 4,414 at Normandy, says historian Peter Caddick-Adams.

The lecturer was inspired to write Sand and Steel: A New History of D-Day, after hearing the stories of 1,000 D-Day veterans from all countries involved, but it was one soldier in particular - piper Bill Millin, who stormed the German-occupied beaches while blasting tunes on his bagpipes - that sparked the idea.

On the beaches of Normandy in August 1975, piper Millin spoke to Dr Caddick-Adams, then aged 14, telling him: 'Before we even start with the combat, let's go back to the training, because getting it right beforehand was the recipe for success'.

In Sand and Steel: A New History of D-Day, Dr Caddick-Adams follows piper Millin's advice, and reveals the full horror Allied troops suffered as they prepared to overwhelm the Nazis, examining the facts behind the historic assault, and paying tribute to the stories he has heard through speaking to veterans.

At least 5,440 died in live fire drills, amphibious landing exercises and flight training compared with around 4,414 at Normandy, says historian Peter Caddick-Adams (Pictured: Troops coming ashore during training exercises for the Allied D-Day invasion in 1943)

US Army troops and crewmen aboard a Coast Guard manned LCVP approach a beach on D-Day in Normandy, June 1944

946 die in tragedy of Slapton Sands

Devon, April 1944

More than 30,000 men were involved in Exercise Tiger when German E-boats unleashed several torpedoes on Force U.

The exercise took place in Slapton Sands, Devon, in April 1944, intended to be a practise for the eventual storming of Normandy.

But a series of errors saw hundreds of troops killed by friendly fire, and the situation worsened when German E-boats attacked exposed vessels at Lyme Bay.

More people died during the exercise than in the D-Day landing at Utah Beach - with many soldiers sinking and drowning during the exercise weighed down by their heavy kit and sodden clothes.

Up to 946 Americans and sailors lost their lives in the chaos that followed, but due to the disaster happening close to D-Day, Eisenhower kept the truth from people back home.

The legendary general instituted a cover-up that lasted until the 1970s and to this day the number of casualties is contested.

Pictured: American army preparations for D-Day on Slapton Sands, Devon. 749 GIs were killed when one of these training exercises went horribly wrong. In order to give the troops battle experience live rounds were used and unwittingly the soldiers killed many of their comrades

Millions had been brought to the United Kingdom in preparation for the pivotal assault, transforming its towns, coasts, fields and cities into an enormous training camp (pictured: Canadian soldiers study a German plan of the beach during D-Day landing operations in Normandy, France, June 6, 1944)

A series of errors saw hundreds of troops killed by friendly fire, and the situation worsened when German E-boats attacked exposed vessels at Lyme Bay (pictured: Soldiers, boats and a blimp during exercises at Slapton Sands, April 1944)

10 infantrymen drown in a Scottish loch

Inverary, March 1944

Ten soldiers 'vanished forever' when they ran down a ramp and into a loch in Inveraray after mistakenly thinking their landing craft had hit land. D Company, 2nd Glosters, were practising how to get in and out of the vessels, Major Francis Goode recalls.

But one set of Marines struck a buoy and due to the exercise taking place in semi-darkness mistook the crash for hitting the safety of the sand.

Lowering the ramp, the men prepared to run onto what they expected to be the beach, hauling with them their heavy weapons.

The 'fully equipped' infantrymen hurtled from their assault craft straight into the loch and, dragged down by their equipment, were never seen again.

At the beginning of June 1944 an ammunition train blew up near Soham in Cambridgeshire. At this time thousands of tons of munitions were being transported around the country in preparation for the D-Day invasion of Europe. Pictured: An American Lend-Lease 'utility' engine lies half on its side, hurled from the track by the explosion

Dr Caddick-Adams said he feels he has become the 'torch-bearer' of the stories he learned from the 1,000 veterans he spoke to, and says in Sand and Steel he is handing those stories on to other people (pictured: US Army troops in an LCVP landing craft approach Normandy's Omaha Beach on D-Day)

How a Scottish piper who stormed Normandy in a kilt inspired book that revealed the extraordinary loss of life during D-Day training Pictured: Bill Millin, personal piper to Lord Lovat on D-Day, pictured at Pegasus Bridge When he was just 14, Dr Caddick-Adams met piper Bill Millin, who was in his 50s, striding up and down the Normandy beaches in August 1975. 'He told me about striding down the ramp on the morning of D-Day and because he was wearing the kilt, and as is traditional he had nothing on underneath the kilt, he said the cold water of the English Channel played havoc with his anatomy, and then he remembered his kilt riding up around him "like a tartan jellyfish, floating in the water all around",' Dr Caddick-Adams told MailOnline. 'Those are big impressions on a 14-year-old.' Piper Millin has since passed away, but a statue of him still remains in Normandy. Speaking of his inspiration behind writing Sand & Steel, Dr Caddick-Adams said: 'It was talking to one veteran [piper Millin] about D-Day, and he said "well, before we even start with the combat, let's go back to the training, because getting it right beforehand was the recipe for success". 'And he was absolutely right.' The historian added that feels he has become the 'torch-bearer' of the stories he learned from the 1,000 veterans he spoke to, and in Sand and Steel he feels he is handing those stories on to other people. 'This is quite deep, and this is not something I've put together in the last year or so,' he says. Sand & Steel, the historian says, is a about D-Day, but half of it is about the training before the day even begins. 'Had it not been for the tough, brutal training, for up to a year beforehand, then I'm sure that we wouldn't have prevailed on the day,' Dr Caddick-Adams said. 'Most of our understanding of D-Day comes from perhaps the movie The Longest Day, or more recently Saving Private Ryan - and both of those really begin in the surf, and not much earlier. 'The entire preparation period for 2.5million soldiers in southern England, in some cases for far longer than a year, but certainly for a minimum of a year for everybody, is just glossed over in the previous history books. 'So half of my book is abut that - setting the scene, and then I go into the troops wading through the surf, on both sides of the beach.' Dr Caddick-Adams said he met Millin in Normandy in 1975, and his story of storming the beaches wearing his kilt left a lasting impression with him, prompting him to speak with 1,000 veterans about the operation - and the often-forgotten training exercises ahead of the day itself. Pictured left: The statue of Millin in Normandy) Advertisement

US troops among 98 dead at Woolacombe

Devon, September 1943

South of the border, a 16-square-mile Assault Training Centre had been set up for Americans to train.

The Woolacombe base on the county's north coast was the site of machine gun, mortar, rocket-launcher and flamethrower drills.

Troops used their proximity to the water to test out their landing craft, with 14 drowning on December 18 1943 when three of the vessels foundered in surf.

Five GIs died and 14 were wounded by machine gun fire. The deadly mishap occurred during an exercise in which the barrage was supposed to soar over troops' heads.

Ninety-eight soldiers died at Woolacombe, most of them American, as they prepared for the day on which they hoped to overwhelm the Nazis.

American marines practising D-Day landing on Slapton Sands in 1944. More than 30,000 men were involved in Exercise Tiger when German E-boats unleashed several torpedoes on Force U. Up to 946 Americans and sailors lost their lives in the chaos that followed, but due to the disaster happening close to D-Day, Eisenhower kept the truth from people back home

'Had it not been for the tough, brutal training, for up to a year beforehand, then I'm sure that we wouldn't have prevailed on the day,' Dr Caddick-Adams said (pictured: A US Army medic moves along a narrow strip of Omaha Beach administering first aid to men wounded in the Normandy landing on D-Day)

Wasteful of human life to the point of disregard

Wiltshire, April 1944

An entire platoon perished in Exercise Dreme at Tidworth Barracks, where training was 'wasteful of human life to the point of disregard' in the eyes of Captain Charles R Cawthon.

The glider training camp saw regular parades of coffins, draped in flags, as red berets carried their comrades to be laid to rest.

Exercise Dreme was a gargantuan undertaking that involved a total of 140 aircraft performing night-navigation tasks.

During the sessions, a Stirling bomber towing a Horsa glider smashed into a tree, killing all six of the bomber's crew, both of the pilots on the Horsa and the 24 passengers being towed. The fatalities wiped out an entire platoon of the 7th King's Owen Scottish Borderers.

An American officer examines a 500lb bomb crater made during a beach bombardment exercise on Slapton Sands, March 14 1944. A bombed hotel is pictured in the background. Operation Beaver was part of the disastrous rehearsals for the D-Day Landings three months later

Pictured: Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, during the D-Day landings

Dakotas collide in mid-air killing all on board

Berkshire, May 1944

Two C-47s - nicknamed Dakotas by those who flew in them - crashed mid-air, killing every airman on board during the relentless four-day training sessions titled Exercise Eagle.

Paratroopers had aimed to drop under the cover of darkness around Hungerford and Newbury, with glider troops landing the next day.

But two aircraft from the 316th Troop Carrier Group smashed into one another - killing a total of 14. The commander of the 36th Squadron, and two 505th Parachute Infantry officers were among the fatalities.

One pilot recalled the terrifying moment that he saw one of the aircraft deviate from formation, climbing up to strike the other plane soaring above.

'We flew directly through the flames and debris,' he told the author, adding the experience 'gave us a horrible foretaste of what the Big Day might be like'.

The first stage, codenamed Operation Duck, of a doomed rehearsal of the D-Day landings. Here on January 6, 1944, American General Grant's tanks are loaded onto landing craft at Kingswear, near Dartmouth, in preparation for the first large-scale practise landings at nearby Slapton Sands

Floating tanks sink with a watching Churchill unaware of the horror

East Wittering, May 1944

Several Canadians drowned as a violent undertow pulled the heavily-laden troops under water as they disembarked at Bracklesham Bay.

Winston Churchill was watching during exercise Fabius III, in which servicemen were honing their amphibious landing skills.

Though the wartime leader was unaware of the tragedy unfolding before his very eyes as he watched from the beach, Lieutenant Peter Hinton of the 262nd Landing Craft Infantry Flotilla watched the soldiers being dragged under with horror.

Private Richard Harris was 18 when he took part in the follow-up drill, Fabius IV, when he firmly believed he was actually headed to France to confront Hitler's forces.

After sailing throughout the night 'somewhere in the direction of France', he found himself storming English beaches between Bognor Regis and Littlehampton to a backdrop of smoke and explosion pyrotechnics.

Pictured: British troops disembark from the Canadian navy infantry landing ship HMCS Prince David on D-Day in Normandy, June 6, 1944. Millions had been brought to the United Kingdom in preparation for the pivotal assault, transforming its towns, coasts, fields and cities into an enormous training camp

Sub-machine gun falls

Off Sword Beach, D-Day

Accidents continued right up until the hour of attack. As the 2nd East Yorks sailed to Sword Beach, a loaded Sten gun was placed on a table on their vessel.

The weapon fell onto the deck as the landing craft pitched on rolled while the soldiers made their approach to take on the Nazis.

As it crashed onto the floor of the boat, it fired, and several rounds fired around the steel bulkheads, striking one man in the heel. But another wasn't so lucky. One bullet cut a soldier's femoral artery. Sergeant Eirc Ibbetson bled to death.

Landing Craft Infantry of the US Coast Guard during training exercise Fabius at Slapton Sands, Devon, May 3 - May 9, 1944. General Eisenhower instituted a cover-up that lasted until the 1970s and to this day the number of casualties is contested

Sacked Padre takes his own life

A padre killed himself after he was sacked because his pre-battle service was a 'rotten sermon about death and destruction'.

Servicemen complained about his words, which had left them shocked shortly before they were heading to fight Hitler's troops in Normandy.

Though the incident was largely forgotten among the men who heard the sermon, the cleric took his dismissal from the camp badly. On the last day in the camp he killed himself. His death was recorded as a battle casualty.

Pictured: An LCM landing craft manned by the US Coast Guard, evacuating US casualties from the invasion beaches, brings them to a transport for treatment on D-Day in Normandy, June 6 1944
Former Catholic priest Fred Lenczycki has pleaded guilty to two counts of sodomy that took place in Missouri in the early 1990s

The first U.S. priest to be labeled as 'sexually violent' for crimes he committed in Illinois has now admitted to abusing two boys in Missouri.

Fred Lenczycki pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of sodomy that took place in the early 1990s.

The crimes occurred between 1991 and 1994, while Lenczycki, now 74, was serving as chaplain at St Louiss DePaul Health Center.

The Catholic priest was charged in February, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

One of the victims, Ron Kanady, now 38, said Thursday that the guilty plea was vindication.

'I am so relieved that justice finally didn't give up on me,' Kanady told The Associated Press. 'For all those years, people looked the other way, it felt like. And now, finally, something's being done.'

Lenczycki was removed from the ministry in 2002, when he was charged with sexually abusing three boys in the 1980s at a church in Hinsdale, Illinois.

The Illinois victims told authorities 'Father Fred' repeatedly molested them, often using the pretense of swaddling them in 'Baby Jesus' costumes for pageants that never took place.

He pleaded guilty in 2004 and was sentenced to five years in prison.

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The crimes in Missouri occurred in the early 1990s, while Lenczycki was serving as chaplain at St Louiss DePaul Health Center (pictured)

In 2008, a year before his release, he became the first U.S. priest to be labeled sexually violent when he was committed under Illinois' Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act.

Lenczycki has been free for the past decade and currently lives in suburban Chicago.

However, church and court files show that Lenczycki admitted abusing up to 30 boys in Illinois, Missouri and California over 25 years.

Victims of clergy sexual abuse have demanded more accountability and transparency from the Catholic church since last year, when a Pennsylvania report detailed seven decades of child sexual abuse by more than 300 predator priests.

The Vatican convened a sexual abuse summit in February to hear the testimony of several victims.
A British family were left distraught and hundreds of pounds out of pocket after their dream holiday was shattered by a fire.

Aaron Hewlett, 28, and his family including four young children were staying at the Magic Tropical Splash in Benidorm on a Jet2 holiday when their room 'filled with smoke'.

They would spend the next day moving between 'sun loungers wearing towels for blankets' to a doctors surgery as their holiday was quickly taken off course.

It began when a small blaze broke out in the Benidorm resort's reception area 17 floors below.

As Mr Hewlett made his way down through the hotel with his family he tries to activate the fire alarm on his floor and the one below but need appeared the work when pushed

Firefighters take to the scene at the Magic Tropical Splash in Benidorm and put out the small blaze

Mr Hewlett and his wife had just put their children, aged nine, seven, three and one, to bed when their room began to 'fill with smoke' coming from below.

They say that no alarm had been 'immediately raised', but they decided to take the safe option and evacuate down the stairs.

It was here Mr Hewlett said that he attempt to warn other guests by activating the fire alarm on his floor, but when he knocked in the red button nothing happened.

He then took out his phone, and can be heard recording himself saying: 'Staying on the 17th floor, fire is going on outside, but it don't work. As you can see no fire alarm on another one.'

In a later video, Mr Hewlett walks through the lobby before approaching someone who appears to be a member of staff about why the fire alarms don't work.

'It was just here a small one, it was not the case to put the fire alarm on,' he can be heard saying.

Mr Hewlett approaches an employee in the reception who says that the fire was 'only small' and was not a reason to raise alarm among guests

The father said his three daughters, who all had coughs as a result of smoke, were made to sleep on a sun lounger for four-and-a-half hours

The man then adds that he 'asked the police guy' who he claims said that no further action was necessary.

Benidorm's fire brigade were called to the resort late on May 14, and worked to put out the blaze as hotel guests waited outside.

'My 4 children were made to sleep on a sun lounger for four-and-a-half hours and not one member of staff came out to check if any of us were ok,' said Mr Hewlett.

His three daughters all had coughs as a result of smoke from the fire and having to wait outside, and were recommended to visit a doctor by a Jet2 rep.

According to Mr Hewlett, the room his family had been staying in had been 'filled with smoke'. Pictured: Magic Tropical Splash in Benidorm

Mr Hewlett said he has approached Jet2 to request a refund for their experience at the resort. Pictured: Magic Tropical Splash in Benidorm

Mr Hewlett said that the rest of their trip was also blighted by an 'inability to eat the food'after they were offered a transfer to the Magic Natura resort.

The family have approached Jet2 to request a refund for their experience at Magic Tropical Resort.

Last summer a mother almost lost her leg from an accident on the resort's waterslide that got infected with flesh-eating bugs.

Helen Priestley, 42, split her leg open in two places while riding the chute and had to have two operations after her cuts became poisonous.

She also travelled with holiday operator Jet2, and said last year that the company had not apologised to her following the incident.

A spokeswoman for Jet2 said: 'A small fire outside the hotel reception was contained and quickly put out.

'This was a minor incident and at no stage was there any danger to holiday makers staying in the hotel. Local fire officers have confirmed that all procedures were followed correctly.'




Donald Trump ruffled feathers Friday on America's political left by marking Pride Month with a call to support LGBT people who live in the dozens of countries where being gay is a crime.

It was the first time a Republican president has publicly celebrated the month-long focus on gay rights in the U.S. But LGBT activists and Democratic politicians quickly blasted the president as a hypocrite because his administration has sought to limit transgender rights in the U.S. military and opposes other gay rights proposals that his base sees as too progressive.

'As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation,' Trump wrote in a pair of tweets.

'My Administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invite all nations to join us in this effort!'

The president tapped U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell in February to lead that effort. Grenell is the administration's most high-profile gay appointee.

Reached in Berlin, Grenell told DailyMail.com that 'President Trump has never wavered in his support for decriminalizing homosexuality. This is a clear message to the 71 countries that would arrest people like me for being gay.'

Donald Trump trumpeted his support for LGBT Pride Month on Friday, the first-ever Republican president to take that step

Trump issued his Pride commemoration in a twet that promoted his initiative targeting laws around the world that criminalize being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell is the Trump administration's most visible openly gay official, and he wants the West to pressure the 71 nations where it's a crime to be homosexual

But Trump's political opponents pounced on Friday, saying the White House has tried to undercut the rights of LGBT Americans at the same time the president has empowered Grenell to crusade for gay rights around the world.

The Human Rights Campaign, a gay lobby group in Washington, tweeted a hard slap at the White House.

'Trump & Pence are no friend to LGBTQ people,' the group wrote. 'They have: Banned trans troops, Nominated anti-LGBTQ extremists, Remained silent on anti-LGBTQ violence abroad, Attempted to allow medical providers to deny LGBTQ people care, Tried to ban "transgender" & "diversity" from CDC reports.'

Conservative writer Chad Felix Greene, who contributes to The Federalist, slapped back.

'Trump did not ban trans troops,' he noted. 'He did not nominate 'anti-LGBT extremists' to the judiciary. He nominated the first gay, Filipino judge, Dems blocked. Trump: initiative to end the criminalization of homosexuality worldwide. No LGBT person is denied care. The CDC line was debunked.'

Jerri Ann Henry, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, says her group will celebrate the 'massive' step of seeing a Republican president issue an unprecedented statement of support for Pride month

Grenell lives at the U.S. embassy in Berlin with his husband Matt Lashey (right), a former Broadway actor

Jerri Ann Henry, a lesbian activist who leads the Log Cabin Republians group, told DailyMail.com on Friday that her organization has pressed the Trump White House to make a public show of support for Pride Month.

'To have any president recognize Pride is important to my community. To have a Republican president recognize that is massive,' she said in a phone interview. 'It's worth noting that hasn't happened before, and not anything close.'

'There will be many other issues we have to go to war over, but I will celebrate this,' Henry said.

'I'm not here to say everything the president does is perfect on every LGBT issue, but I'm happy to compliment and celebrate the good things when I can get them. This is one of those cases and I'm so proud.'

The liberal Human Rights Campaign, a gay lobby group, slapped at the White House with a claim of hypocrisy

Conservatives like columnist Chad Felix Greene pushed back and defended Trump administration policies that affect LGBT Americans

Barely a week before his election victory in 2016, Trump posed on a Greeley, Colorado stage with a rainbow flag decorated with an 'LGBT for Trump' message as he tried to differentiate himself from previous Republican candidates who were seen as broadly anti-gay

Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer tweeted his own list of anti-gay 'Recent Trump Administration acts' on Friday, claiming Trump has: 'Banned transgender Americans from military service, Opposed the Equality Act, Blocked citizenship for children of same-sex couples, Allowed anti-trans discrimination in homeless shelters, Ended healthcare protections for transgender people.'

And Mark Pocan, a gay Democratic congressman from Wisconsin, tweeted a variation on the same list theme.

'Just in the last month, the Trump Administration has fought to: Deny citizenship to some children of same-sex American couples, Strip protections for transgender Americans at homeless shelters, End anti-discrimination protections for transgender Americans in health care,' Pocan wrote.

Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters at the White House on Friday that the president should be celebrated for 'calling on other countries to do something that's very important, which is to join the U.S. in decriminalizing homosexuality.'

'I'm old enough to remember the 2008 campaign where Hillary and Obama were arguing with each other as to who was more for traditional marriage. It wasn't so long ago,' she said, noting that Trump is 'the first president to start as president, approving of gay marriage. That's somehting he should be lauded for.'

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the administration's main focus but 70 other nations also criminalize gay sexual activity; Iran and seven others apply the death penalty for the 'offense'

Saudi Arabia is one nation that has executed man for being gay, applying 'morality' laws; the Trump administration's strategic alliance with the kingdom and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, could make it difficult to apply pressure

Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, a gay Democrat, was outraged on Friday that Trump would honor LGBT Prime Month

Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway noted Friday that Donald Trump is the first U.S. president to openly support gay marriage at the beginning of his first term

It's unclear how the Trump administration's push to decriminalize homosexuality distinguishes between Iran, a country it is trying to isolate, and Saudi Arabia, whose strategic importance to the White House can't be overstated.

Iran's Sharia-law death penalty has become particularly vexing for Grenell.

A British government document released by WikiLeaks indicates that the UK believes Iran has executed 'between 4,000 and 6,000 gays and lesbians' since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Islamist nation publicly hanged a 31-year-old man in January for violating a law against same-sex intercourse.

Saudi Arabia also has 'morality codes,' enforced by Sharia courts, that specifically criminalize homosexual contact.
'Puppet master': Kiara Serci (pictured) is accused of organising the meth syndicate

A pregnant ex-stripper who was granted bail to have her baby outside prison now faces a new legal fight to her chances of being freed to give birth.

Kiara Jo-Elle Serci, 26, worked as a dancer at Sinsations strip club in Darwin before she and two co-accused were arrested for trying to smuggle commercial quantities of methamphetamine across the country.

On Friday Judge Alan Woodcock granted Serci, who is six months pregnant, bail so that she could give birth to her child outside the confides of a prison facility while she awaits trial.

However Crown Prosecutor Collette Dixon opposed bail and applied for stay of Judge Woodcock's bail decision, which will allow the Supreme Court to review the decision.

The bail review must be held before Wednesday unless an exception is made.

Judge Woodcock's decision to allow Serci, who still maintains her innocence, her freedom comes in spite of the Corrections Commissioner Scott McNairn stating that she could give birth and keep the baby in prison as the mothers unit at Holtze Prison would be reopened when Serci has her child, NT News reported.

Serci's lawyer Matt Hubber acknowledged the unit was operational but noted no children were housed at the state Correctional Centre.

'It seems that the unit is operational, however, there are no children housed at Darwin Correctional Centre,' he said.

Holly Attard, a 22-year-old meth addicted stripper who lived with Serci, has admitted to becoming a drug mule because she wasn't earning enough money doing lap dances

Under Northern Territory law, pregnant prisoners are required to be taken to a facility to give birth unless doing so poses a threat.

The Corrections Commissioner can also allow the child to live with its mother in jail, until the child is two years old, under certain circumstances.

Mr Hubber also said his client intended to fight the allegations that she was involved in the alleged drug syndicate.

He previously told the court Serci 'fell into drug use and was taking methamphetamine until she learned she was pregnant'.

Serci's co-accused, her former housemate and colleague at Sinsations, Holly Attard, provided a statement detailing Serci's alleged role in the syndicate.

Crown Prosecutor Collette Dixon said she had been informed Serci would be transferred into the mothers-only section of Holtze

In October 2018, Attard was caught with 325 grams of meth when she landed in Darwin from Adelaide.

She claims she was just a courier - but Serci denied involvement and claimed Attard was blaming her after she got 'caught red-handed'.

The pair had an ongoing arrangement that Attard would be Serci's mule in return for free drugs, a court previously heard.

Attard claimed business had dried up in the Top End following an exodus of construction workers, and said she wasn't making enough money as a dancer, but couldn't leave because of her drug habit and her puppy.

Attard, who's only other brush with the law was for stealing latex pants, was sentenced to three years and four months jail, suspended after one year served.

A third co-accused, Joshua Cozamanis, was also charged in relation to the smuggling operation.

Police allege he travelled with Attard from Adelaide to Darwin under the alias Wayne Kerr and was the principal offender.
A mother has spoken of her unimaginable grief at losing her three young daughters in two horror car crashes.

Chris Latimer, from Mill Park, Melbourne, Victoria, lost her daughters Melissa, 17, and Wendy, 16, on New Year's Day 1997.

They were in a car being driven by Wendy's boyfriend Matthew when he overtook a car only to hit an oncoming vehicle.

Ms Latimer's son Grant also suffered terrible injuries in a car crash in which the driver, his best friend, was killed.

Chris Latimer lost her two daughters Wendy and Melissa (pictured left and second from right) in 1997 and lost her third daughter Nicole (centre) more than 20 years later

Twelve years later the family suffered another unbelievable blow when Ms Latimer's daughter Nicole was also involved in a car crash.

Nicole suffered terrible brain damage and died six years later from a seizure and internal bleeding.

Tragically, it was too late to save her by the time anyone realised what was happening.

Speaking of the moment she found out Nicole's car crash Ms Latimer said she could not believe what she was going through again.

'There was silence all the way to the hospital, because we knew that this was pretty bad,' she said.

'We pulled into the car park and I remember thinking "I can't open the door, if I open the door and get out, my life's going to change.'

'We've gone through so many things typical families never have to, right from when we had to bury two teenage daughters in white coffins,' Ms Latimer told The Age.

Chris Latimer (picturede above) speaks out about her story and raises awareness of road safety

Ms Latimer said her son still suffers mental trauma after his accident.

'He'd lost his two sisters, and now he's lost his best mate and he blamed himself for not being sober and telling Marcus to slow down,' Ms Latimer told the ABC.

Ms Latimer has said her family has been severely impacted after the fatal collisions.

Her step-daughter can't get a licence due to panic attacks she experiences while driving.

Her son Grant won't raise children after the trauma has left him fearful he could lose another loved one.

The crash (car wreckage pictured above) that tragically took the lives of Chris Latimer's eldest daughters

Ms Latimer now raises awareness of road safety, speaking at many organisations hoping to end the high rate of road fatalities.

More than 5000 are seriously injured in road traffic accidents each year in Australia.

There have been so many accidents on roads in Victoria this year that experts from a state government Road Safety Summit held a crisis meeting on Friday.

Ms Latimer says people need to spend money on cars that can protect them during crashes.

'Put your house up for mortgage and go and get them a car that will save their life.'
Australian coffee-drinkers could soon pay $7 for a flat white because coffee farming has become so unsustainable, one industry expert has claimed.

Mark Dundon, 57, co-owns Seven Seeds cafe in Carlton, an inner-north suburb of Melbourne, and has been a part of the cafe scene for 18 years.

He says climate change is making it harder for farmers in South America and South-East Asia to grow coffee and once they sell their product to major companies, the price they receive is often below the production costs.

He believes prices could explode because producers are abandoning the industry for better work.

Australian coffee-drinkers could soon pay $7 for a flat white due to farmers affected by climate change and producers at the mercy of the large corporations, according to one expert (stock picture)

'Coffee is going to become really expensive - maybe $7 a cup. There'll be a shortfall, prices will spike and cafes will go out of business,' Mr Dundon told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Dundon believes people will be forced to change their coffee habits to drinking two cups a week rather than two or three a day.

He said the entire coffee-drinking culture is likely to change and cafes will employ less staff to help cut costs.

The cafe boss said climate change is making it extremely difficult for farmers who are turning away from the industry in droves.

'They will look at avocados, bananas, coca, depending on where they are, or they'll just walk off the farm and sell cigarette lighters in Bogota,' he said.

Mark Dundon, 57, co-owns Seven Seeds cafe (pictured) in Carlton, an inner-north suburb of Melbourne, and has been a part of the cafe scene for 18 years. Mr Dundon said climate change is making it extremely difficult to grow coffee and farmers will move to other industries in order to survive

Most coffee is grown in poor countries with the biggest producers being Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia.

Out of around 25 million coffee farmers, the vast majority, are small and own only a hectare or two of trees.

The biggest importers of coffee from these countries are the US and Germany, who purchase the product for well under the production cost.

Companies within the US and Germany, such as Nestle and Starbucks Corporation, dictate the price they will pay for the coffee leaving farmers struggling to survive.

Most coffee is grown in poor countries with the biggest producers being Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia (stock picture)

Future coffee traders are looking to lock in low prices for coffee before the small farmers have had a chance to grow it, so they are already far behind before they've started production.

The current system hugely benefits large corporations by maintaining a supply of cheap, mass-market coffee.

Small farmers are finding the coffee industry unsustainable and they don't have the power to set their own prices or access companies who will pay more for better quality coffee.

'The price is the lowest it's ever been. Farmers don't see a future in coffee. If farmers don't get more for their efforts, the industry is at risk,' Mr Dundon said.
Three-year-old Alex Kentfield now remains in 'limbo' as he awaits to find a school

An Autistic child has been left without a school after his condition was deemed 'too severe' or 'not severe enough' to bag a place.

Three-year-old Alex Kentfield now remains in 'limbo' as he waits to find an institution that is equipped to deal with his condition.

His mother Daniela has now lambasted local authorities in Great Blakenham, Suffolk, for leaving her boy upset and confused.

Little Alex was diagnosed with autism when he was just one but has since made great strides in his communication skills at nursery.

His rapid improvement means he is no longer able to qualify for a place at his nursery's specialist feeder school where his mother insists he would be 'very happy'.

After being encouraged to apply to mainstream schools with specialist units, the mother-of-two was horrified to discover staff there were ill-equipped to deal with her son's condition.

It essentially means the little boy is not autistic enough for a specialist school yet too autistic for a mainstream one.

Mother Daniela said Alex had fitted in to Bridge School despite the fact autistic children 'don't tend to socialise'

The family, from Great Blakenham, Suffolk, have now lambasted Suffolk County Council for failing to provide adequate support to autistic children.

The 34-year-old said: 'I'm just exhausted - the council have been so little help.

'We're totally stuck in the middle and I have no idea how things are going to work out.

'I don't understand why we've not been offered more support, it's not fair.'

She added that she is now intimidated by the prospect of home schooling her boy should he not find a place by September.

Alex Kentfield (right), three, and brother Kyle, 12, From Great Blakenham, Ipswich

His mother Daniela was encouraged to apply to mainstream schools with specialist units, but found they were ill-equipped to deal with her son's condition

She said: 'It looks like I'll have to teach him myself but I would need so much help and support to do that - and I can't see him being too happy to spend all his time with me.'

Parents Daniela and Gareth, 34, were first alerted to their son's condition after they noticed he was frequently crying and struggling to communicate.

Having already had his brother Kyle, 12, who does not suffer from autism, they knew instinctively Alex's behaviour was not normal.

The boy was quickly diagnosed with autism which means his ability to speak lags around 18 months behind his peers.

He currently attends The Bridge School assessment nursery in Ipswich where his parents insist he is very settled.

Parents Daniela and Gareth, 34, were first alerted to their son's condition after they noticed he was frequently crying and struggling to communicate

Daniela said: 'He's such a happy little boy and he loves attending his current school.

'Autistic children don't tend to make friends or socialise like that but he has become settled there.

'We had to explain to him that he couldn't carry on there and it's left him really confused - he thinks he's already been booted out.

'He keeps saying 'Bridge School says no more Alex' - it's hard to make him understand.'

Mother Daniela fears she may have to teach him herself but says she would need support

They were expecting him to start in reception class at The Bridge in September - but staff agreed Alex had developed too rapidly to qualify for a place.

Now the family have been left abandoned by the council as they race to find little Alex a place.

And the situation was condemned by UK Autism Ambassador Anna Kennedy OBE who slammed authorities for frequently leaving autistic children in 'limbo'.

The campaigner, who has two autistic sons herself, said: 'This is quite common where children are in what I call limbo.

'My eldest son Patrick found it extremely difficult in mainstream school even though he was articulate and had many strengths.

Alex Kentfield, three, with Dad Gareth Kentfield, 34. The family have been told Alex is essentially not autistic enough for a specialist school yet too autistic for a mainstream one

'This is why I set up a school for my son 20 years ago - we make it out mission to develop strengths and maximise each pupil's potential despite their condition.'

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how sufferers perceive the world and interact with others, according to the National Autistic Society.

It is a spectrum condition meaning autistic people require various levels of support which can be critical to helping them develop and learn.

There are currently around 700, 000 autistic people in the UK - equating to 1 in 100.

Suffolk Council Council have been contacted for comment.
Celebrity chef Kylie Kwong has spoken about the harrowing moment her wife gave birth to their stillborn baby and the turmoil they faced as they struggled to come to terms with the devastating loss.

Kwong, who has run the opulent Sydney restaurant Billy Kwong for the past twenty years, said she and her partner Nell, 44, had first started trying for a baby in 2007, three years after they first met at an art exhibition.

The 49-year-old restaurateur said as a same-sex couple she and Nell needed to plan ahead when it came to trying for a baby, and they were left 'overjoyed' when Nell, who works as an artist, finally fell pregnant in 2011.

The 49-year-old restaurateur (pictured left) said as a same-sex couple she and Nell (pictured right) needed to plan ahead when it came to trying for a baby

But Nell's pregnancy took a tragic turn when her waters broke earlier than expected and the obstetrician delivered the heart-wrenching news that their baby, named Lucky, would be stillborn within two days.

Miraculously, Lucky stayed alive inside Nell for five days - and it was during this time Kwong vowed to do the best by her unborn child until the very end.

'I set up a bar fridge and a gas stove at the hospital because I wanted to feed Nell and our baby the best food. She was hungry and he was still kicking. I said to her afterwards, "We fed him well, right up until the end",' she told The Sunday Morning Herald's Good Weekend.

Following their son's death Kwong says the grief-stricken couple battled through some 'dark' years.

Following their son's death Kwong (pictured right alongside Nell) says the grief-stricken couple battled through some 'dark' years

Kwong (pictured) has run the opulent Sydney restaurant Billy Kwong for the past twenty years

'After leaving hospital, I went food shopping and reached for something Nell had craved during her pregnancy. I realised I didn't need that anymore and started crying. We were devastated at losing Lucky but determined to get through. Nell said, "We must never lose that love that made Lucky",' Kwong said.

But the television chef said the shattered couple eventually found solace and strength from their shared Buddhist faith as well as the support from friends.

She also praised her partner for how she handled the sudden loss of their son.

'There's no one I respect more. Her courage throughout the whole Lucky tragedy was unbelievable. We now feel we can get through anything. We're very good for each other,' she said.

In 2015, on Nell's 40th birthday, Kwong asked her to marry her - to which Nell said yes.

The couple tied the knot earlier this year in a 'magical' ceremony with only seven people in attendance.

On their special day the couple paid tribute to loved ones they had lost.

The couple had photographs of Kwong's father, Nell's grandmother and a picture of Lucky and his ashes.
A notorious baby murderer gave clear indications he thought about taking his own life in a West Australian prison before he did, but they were not detected, inquest findings have revealed.

Mervyn Bell kidnapped, tortured, sexually abused and killed his partner's 10-month-old son Charles Mullaley, over 15 hours in March 2013.

Bell (pictured) was convicted of murder in September 2014, and killed himself in prison a year later

Bell was serving a minimum 27 years behind bars when he took his own life in his cell at Casuarina Prison in September 2015.

According to findings handed down on Thursday, Bell revealed to a psychologist in November 2014 that he frequently thought of suicide and mentioned ways he could do it.

The same psychologist spoke to him in August 2015 and noted "ongoing vague, fluctuating suicidal ideation" but Bell denied any intent or plan.

Just before his death, Bell left a voicemail message for his sister saying goodbye but the call was not monitored because he was at the time not regarded as being at imminent risk of self harm.

"For that reason, several other messages and one call made by Mr Bell in the week prior to his death, in which he clearly indicated suicidal ideation, were not detected," coroner Michael Jenkin said.

The policy relating to the implement Bell used to end his life was changed after his death, limiting the time they were available and then accounted for after use.

The findings also revealed Bell had complained an officer swore at him and abused him, while his family was concerned he had been shackled when he made telephone calls, which they said would have been degrading.

They also expressed concern that two of his relatives, who were inmates in the same jail, were refused permission to visit him in the special handling unit.

There were no records of Bell being restrained or of any prisoners asking to visit him.

Bell's sentencing judge described the case as one of the most evil he had encountered.
A library has split opinions by using a session to teach primary pupils about modern views on gender identity.

Two drag acts hosted readings yesterday designed to show children as young as five that its OK to be different.

Two LGBT stories, including one called When Kyla Was Kyle, were read to the pupils at the library in Southend-on-Sea.

There was also an opportunity to dress up and play games at the family event.

The council-backed Drag Story Time session split opinion in the community, with some arguing it was a healthy way of exploring differences between people, while others complained that children should be allowed to enjoy their innocence.

Two LGBT stories, including one called When Kyla Was Kyle, were read to the pupils at the library in Southend-on-Sea. Pictured is Saffron Slayter who co-hosted the family event

Online comments included one from Kay Callahan, who said: I think this is a great idea and will be good fun for families.

Mandy OHara wrote: Shakespeare used to have men dress up as women all the time in his plays, in full drag. Whats wrong with a little bit of storytelling now and again? Andy Skinner added: You get men dressed up as pantomime dames, you even sometimes get a girl playing Peter Pan, so does it really matter? But one dissenter, Ray Vonn, wrote: Thanks for the invite but Ill pass.

Mandy OHara wrote: Shakespeare used to have men dress up as women all the time in his plays, in full drag. Whats wrong with a little bit of storytelling now and again? Stock picture

Others said primary school children were way too young for this sort of thing and it was sad that so much is being pushed on to our young children these days.

The free hour-long session was hosted by flamboyant acts Joey Bambino and Saffron Slayter. Bambino is the drag king alter-ego of Lewis Carlile, 27, who is described as a cheeky Essex lad and gender fluid. Slayter is a drag queen whose true identity is hidden.

Carlile, who lives in Southend, said: This is about making kids know its OK to be different. I am aware that some people do not agree with LGBT issues. They do not understand what the members of the community go through.

It is about supporting those children who have LGBT families, the kids with two mums or two dads. Southend-on-Sea Borough Council said that the event was intended to celebrate difference in a fun, safe, educational and age-appropriate environment.

Sam Adams, of the annual Southend Pride event, said: Were delighted to be able to bring Joey and Saffron to the forum to host this fun-filled event for all the family. But Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: The council is over-egging the LGBT pudding and may end up damaging LGBT kids.

Focusing too much attention on these children may lead to bullying.
Chicago's top prosecutor Kim Foxx has shifted the explanation as to why she recused herself in the Jussie Smollett's case, saying the real reason she stepped aside was because of false rumors she was related to the 'Empire' actor.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx offered the new public explanation in a statement issued along with the release of 2,000 pages of documents in the case.

In texts with her chief of staff, Jennifer Ballard Croft, Foxx said she was unhappy about having to step away from the investigation - even calling the false rumors she was related to the Empire actor 'racist'.

An ethics officer, she said, 'told me I had to do it.'

She continued: 'There were rumors she claims that I was related to or closely connected to the Smolletts. I told her that wasn't true.

'She said it was pervasive (in the Chicago Police Department) and that I should recuse. I thought it was dumb but acquiesced. It's actually just racist.'

Previous explanations from her office suggested Foxx recused herself in February because of communications with a Smollett family member as the investigation of the reported attack was ongoing.

Foxx communicated in early February with former first lady Michelle Obama's former chief of staff Tina Tchen, who was representing Smollett's family, and with a member of Smollett's family about the investigation.

But Foxx is said to have called that explanation 'bulls***'.

Friday's statement from Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx comes two months after her office suddenly dropped all charges against Smollett accusing him of staging the January attack on himself. The move was widely criticized.

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Chicago's top prosecutor Kim Foxx has released more than 2,000 pages of documents in Jussie Smollett's case to explain why she recused herself from an investigation. Foxx is pictured in February 23 outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago

Actor Jussie Smollett makes a court appearance at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on March 14. The charges were dropped against him on March 26

Foxx now says as rumors circulated that she was related to Smollett's family she recused herself to avoid 'even the perception of a conflict'.

Foxx's statement Friday said: 'This has been a unique case from the very beginning, where the victim became the suspect during the investigation. Allegations of a vicious homophobic and racially motivated attack shook our city and the nation with understandable anger and fear.

In texts with her chief of staff, Jennifer Ballard Croft, said she was unhappy about having to step away from the investigation - even calling the false rumors 'racist'

'I did not have a conflict of interest in this case; only a sincere desire to serve the community. I spoke with Mr. Smollett's family and others while he was still considered to be the victim of a hate crime in an effort to streamline the case and alleviate any concerns about the integrity of the investigation.

'False rumors circulated that I was related or somehow connected to the Smollett family, so I removed myself from all aspects of the investigation and prosecution and delegated my authority and responsibility to my First Assistant so as to avoid even the perception of a conflict.

'I regret that my attempts to this end created confusion outside the office. The public's trust is paramount to our work. That is why today I am releasing material above and beyond what is required.

'It is my sincere hope that this transparency and the ongoing investigation of the Cook County Independent Inspector General will provide guidance and lessons on how to serve you better. I am sorry that despite the best intentions, our efforts were less than what was required of the moment.'

The release of documents Friday evening came as offices closed for the weekend. A court last week lifted an order barring their release.

They portray Foxx as torn about whether to recuse herself at all.

It also suggests miscommunication, saying that attorneys within the office advised against using the word 'recusal' in what Foxx was doing - because they saw no actual conflict of interest.

In late March - after questions were raised about the dropping of charges - Foxx and her aides sought to recast her role, with one statement saying Foxx 'used the term 'recuse' in the 'colloquial use of the term.' They said the correct description was that she had 'informally separated herself from the decision-making' in the case.

Smollett, 36, was accused of staging an attack on himself on January 29 to try to get a raise on the show.

Police say he paid Abel and Ola Osundairo to beat him in what he then described as a racist, homophobic attack by two Trump-loving perpetrators. He has always maintained his innocence and insisted he was attacked.

The documents show one detective wrote: 'He [Abimbola] did not want anyone to think the attack was real and call the police or shoot him.

'Abimbola Osundairo stated that he considered not carrying out the attack but decided to carry it out as he was already there.'

An affidavit said when Abimbola hit Smollett 'it was a pretend punch because he didn't want to knock him out'.

He is even said to have given Smollett 'a chance to fight back as he was scripted', The Chicago Tribune reports.

Among the 2,000 pages of documents there is also evidence Smollett's lawyers suggested what they thought prosecutors should say when dropping the charges.

Risa Lanier, chief of the criminal prosecutions bureau texted Smollett lawyer Patricia Brown Holmes: 'We are still bouncing around language to use in court tomorrow.

'As soon as I receive the final draft I will send it to you.'

After making a requested change Smolletts lawyer replies to prosecutors: 'I like this one. Thanks.'

The release of Friday's documents come a day after another batch of documents revealed that prosecutors told Chicago police detectives that a possible deal with the Empire actor was in the works a month before charges against him were dropped.

The 470 pages of files related to his case, which were only released on Thursday, show detectives investigating Smollett's claim he was the victim of a hate crime were told by Cook County prosecutors a deal with Smollett could include a $10,000 fine and community service.

Detectives had met with a prosecutor at the Cook County State's Attorney's office on February 28 to turn over their materials related to the investigation.

'ASA Lanier informed detectives that she felt the case would be settled with Smollett paying the city of Chicago $10,000 in restitution and doing community service,' the police report reads.

Smollett was charged with 16 counts alleging he lied to police when reporting he'd been the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack in January. Prosecutors dropped charges on March 26 without Smollett admitting guilt

At the time, Smollett had only been charged with one count of disorderly conduct. A week later, a grand jury charged him on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct.

Police now say that they were told by Lanier the original deal, for the single count, included an admission of guilt.

When prosecutors decided to drop all 16 charges with no admission of guilt, they were stunned.

The detectives were closing the case at that point because an arrest was made and the alleged offender was being prosecuted, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Thursday.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Superintendent Eddie Johnson then expressed outrage over the prosecutors' decision.

At the time, Johnson said he learned of the deal prosecutors made with Smollett when the deal was announced by lawyers, adding he didn't think justice was being served.

But the documents indicate that his detectives had been told by the prosecutors a few weeks prior.

The detectives had not passed the information to superiors.

'They didn't pass it on because they didn't know it (the case) was going to be handled the way it was,' the police spokesman said.

Smollett, 36, was accused of staging an attack on himself on January 29 to try to get a raise on the show. Police say he paid Abel and Ola Osundairo to beat him in what he then described as a racist, homophobic attack by two Trump-loving perpetrators. He has always maintained his innocence and insisted he was attacked

The Cook County state's attorney's office has not commented.

Johnson said he stood by his department's investigation.

'My job as a police officer is to investigate an incident, gather evidence, gather the facts and present them to the state's attorney,' Johnson said.

'That's what we did. I stand behind the detectives' investigation.'

The city of Chicago is seeking $130,000 from Smollett to cover the costs of the investigation into his reported beating.

The city claims about two dozen detectives and officers investigated the entertainer's report that he was attacked, resulting in a 'substantial number of overtime hours.'

The documents released Friday are below
A pregnant woman who was stripped naked after being arrested for being too sick to give evidence in court has spoken out about her nightmare.

Kearah Ronan, 26, was forced to spend a night inside a cell in the Perth watch house earlier this year after she was too unwell to testify against her former partner.

Ms Ronan was six months pregnant at the time she was arrested for failing to obey a witness summons, despite calling the court at the time to say she was too unwell.

The Aboriginal woman - who won the 2017 Miss NAIDOC pageant - is the cousin of Ms Dhu, who died in police custody in 2014 after suffering 'inhumane' treatment.

Ms Ronan told The Weekend West she offered to provide the court office a doctor's certificate to prove she was unwell, but was told that wasn't necessary - however the Magistrate disagreed.

Kearah Ronan (pictured), 26, was forced to spend a night inside a cell in the Perth watch house earlier this year after being too unwell to testify in court against her former partner

Ms Ronan - who won the 2017 Miss NAIDOC pageant - was six months pregnant at the time she was arrested for failing to obey a witness summons, despite calling the court at the time to say she was too unwell

Unbeknownst to Ms Ronan as she lay at home sick, an arrest warrant was issued for her.

It wasn't until her mother was pulled over by police in May that she discovered she was wanted, at which point she went straight to her local police station.

'I just thought it was bizarre. I thought it was a misunderstanding (and) perhaps they had got my name mixed up,' Ms Ronan said.

'I went down to the station and (police said) it was a legal binding document and they had no other choice to place me under arrest until I could go to court, which was the next day.'

Ms Ronan said she cried for almost her entire time that she was in custody.

But the mother-of-one claims by far the worst experience of her terrifying night was when she was stripped naked and searched by two female officers.

'I had to undergo every process that a criminal in that circumstance would have to go through... to be treated like that, thats scary,' she said.

When she finally did face court to give evidence against her partner, the magistrate issued her an apology.

Ms Ronan's run-in with the justice system comes just a few years after a WA coroner found her cousin Ms Dhu had died after 'unprofessional and inhumane' behaviour by the police officers whose custody she was in.

The Aboriginal woman who is studying to be a teacher at Curtin University said she cried for almost the entire night in custody

Five years before her own ordeal, Ms Ronan's cousin Ms Dhu (pictured) died as a result of what a coroner found to be 'unprofessional and inhumane' treatment of her while in police custody

Shocking CCTV footage showed Ms Dhu's limp body being carried from her cell to a police van by two officers just an hour before she was declared dead (pictured)

Ms Dhu was locked up for not paying $3,622 in fines, but while in custody suffered a broken rib that resulted in her contracting septicaemia and pneumonia.

Shocking CCTV footage showed Ms Dhu's limp body being dragged from her cell to a police van by two officers just an hour before she was declared dead.

One of officer who testified at the inquest said that moments earlier, a colleague had abused the unconscious woman.

'You are a f***ing junkie you will f***ing sit this out. We will take you to hospital but you are faking it,' the officer whispered in Ms Dhu's ear.

The inquest heard that as Ms Dhu was carried out of the cell, her 'eyes were popping out of her head'.

She was then loaded into the back of a van and driven to hospital, but died either in transit or soon after arriving.

'That had a huge impact on our family, and the level of fear and the impact that it had in regards to police treatment to Aboriginal people,' Ms Ronan said of the treatment of her relative.

One of officer who testified at the inquest said that moments earlier, a colleague had abused the unconscious woman, saying: 'You are a f***ing junkie we will take you to hospital but you are faking it'

The Western Australia Attorney-General has called for an investigation into the treatment of Ms Ronan in custody (Pictured are relatives of Ms Dhu outside the coronial inquest into her death in 2016)

Since her own ordeal Ms Ronan has met with WA Attorney-General John Quigley who said he was 'appalled and deeply upset' after hearing the pregnant woman's story.

Mr Quigley has ordered an investigation into the Ms Ronan's case.

In a statement a WA Police spokesperson defended the decision to arrest Ms Ronan, but admitted they were concerned a pregnant woman was detained in custody.

'Where a person fails to respond to a summons an arrest warrant may be issued by the courts to bring them before the court,' the statement read.

'Police are concerned that a pregnant woman was forced to spend the night in the Perth Watch House and would prefer to have access to an available court.'
Ross Anderson, a security engineering professor, said it was a matter of time before large breaches of data protection were discovered

Schools are heading for a data scandal as they are gathering health details on pupils via apps, a Cambridge academic has warned.

Ross Anderson, a security engineering professor, said it was a matter of time before large breaches of data protection were discovered.

He said schools were increasingly using computerised learning tools and data entry systems, with many unaware of the ramifications.

In some cases, it is thought the private firms behind the apps could hold pupils' details on their servers indefinitely and sell them on to third parties.

Some of the apps are even recording sensitive health information, such as whether children have autism and other special educational needs.

Schools are heading for a data scandal as they are gathering health details on pupils via apps, a Cambridge academic has warned (stock image)

'There are gazillions of companies using all sorts of computerised learning materials and schools are inhaling this without much pause for thought,' Professor Anderson told the Times Educational Supplement.

'Companies are selling this data to all and sundry, even when it is personal health information. Surely there are concerns there? Eventually, there will be a scandal, perhaps fairly soon.'

He said collecting health data could lead to the details being held in places the school did not intend  such as 'a server in Taiwan'  adding: 'It will take a while for the penny to drop but eventually there will be a huge outcry.'

Professor Anderson, who works at the University of Cambridge's computing laboratory, called on schools to consider whether there is a valid reason for keeping pupil data, whether this is backed up by law, and if consent needs to be obtained.

'Lots of schools buy all sorts of c**p because they don't understand it,' he said.

Professor Anderson, who works at the University of Cambridge's (stock image) computing laboratory, called on schools to consider whether there is a valid reason for keeping pupil data,

'They think it is going to help but it doesn't. If you are going to use it, you have to understand it.

'If you haven't been on a chainsaw awareness course, don't buy a chainsaw.'

He added: 'Schools often have no clue what is being hoovered up, by whom and to what use it is being put.' Pupil data could even be used to create a profile of a child so companies can target them with online adverts, he said.

But Duncan Baldwin, deputy policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools were 'very good at storing data and understanding what needs to be done with it'.

He added: 'Data on pupils is held securely on a school's servers. Schools are more vigilant about access to data, making sure that it is secure.'
Telephone fraudsters posing as taxmen have been blocked from 'spoofing' HMRC numbers in a major victory for the Mail.

Ministers hailed the move as a 'huge step forward' in stopping scammers who target 10,000 Britons a day.

The fraudsters have plundered tens of millions of pounds from elderly and vulnerable residents by tricking them into believing they are talking to HMRC.

But the numbers they 'hijack'  which are used by Britons who want to call the taxman  have now been placed on a blacklist with mobile phone network providers. It has already led to reports of cases of the scam falling by a quarter.

Telephone fraudsters posing as taxmen have been blocked from 'spoofing' HMRC numbers in a major victory for the Mail (stock image)

HMRC doesn't use the numbers for outgoing calls, but taxpayers can still use them to call in.

Chancellor Philip Hammond promised a crackdown earlier this year after undercover Mail reporters infiltrated a fake call centre operating in India to expose the industrial scale of the fake tax scam.

The fraudsters proudly demonstrated how they used sophisticated computer software to make it appear they were calling UK residents from HMRC helpline numbers, often beginning with 0300.

The crooks then threatened their targets  selected from online phone directories  with immediate prosecution and jail if they refused to pay non-existent tax debts.

Many victims described how they agreed to pay up to 60,000 to the scammers after checking the number online during a call from the fraudsters and finding it appeared to belong to HMRC.

Last year alone, HMRC received more than 100,000 phone scam reports  up from just 400 three years previously.

Chancellor Philip Hammond promised a crackdown earlier this year after undercover Mail reporters infiltrated a fake call centre

It introduced the controls, created in partnership with the telecommunications industry and Ofcom, after the Mail investigation.

Since they started in April no phone scams have succeeded in spoofing HMRC numbers.

This has already resulted in the authority receiving 25 per cent fewer overall scam reports against the previous month.

The bar on spoofing helpline numbers is the first time it has been used by a government department and could be used to help stop other scammers.

Financial Secretary Jesse Norman said: 'This is a huge step forward in the fight against phone fraud. HMRC's new controls will help to protect thousands of hard-working taxpayers from these criminals.

'Vigilance will always be important but this is a significant blow to the phone cheats.'

Pauline Smith, head of the national fraud reporting centre Action Fraud, said: 'Phone calls are one of the top ways for fraudsters to make contact with their victims.

Between April 2018 and March 2019, one in four phishing reports made to Action Fraud were about fraudulent phone calls.

The fraudsters have plundered tens of millions of pounds from elderly and vulnerable residents by tricking them into believing they are talking to HMRC (stock image)

'It is encouraging to see that these controls developed by HMRC have already achieved a reduction in the number of calls spoofing genuine numbers.'

HMRC said it would continue to work with network providers to prevent its numbers being used fraudulently.

Scammers may still try to use other UK numbers to call potential victims but these will now be easier to spot.
Villagers are embroiled in a battle with Oxford's wealthiest college over plans to turn farmland it owns into a quarry.

Residents say the extraction of sand and gravel in Barford, Warwickshire, will pose a health threat, particularly to children.

On Wednesday, 63 villagers protested outside St John's College, claiming they would face dust, disturbance and toxic emissions from up to 60 lorry movements a day.

The 173-acre site, currently a tenant farmer's arable land, is among more than 9,000 acres of property the college owns around England.

On Wednesday, 63 villagers protested outside St John's College, claiming they would face dust, disturbance and toxic emissions from up to 60 lorry movements a day

St John's, whose former students include Tony Blair, was founded in 1555 and is worth around 616million according to its most recent report, making it Oxford's richest college and wealthier than all bar two of the colleges at Cambridge.

Protesters accuse the authorities of ignoring their plight. Retired GP Malcolm Eykyn, 71, said the site, one of six in Warwickshire that have been identified as suitable to provide sand and gravel for the construction industry, will be only 350 yards from the nearest buildings in the village.

'This quarry will blight both the land and the health of local residents,' he said. 'Dust particles are so small that they cannot be seen. But once inhaled into the lungs, there's no way of getting rid of them.

'Dust from the quarry will contain silica, which can be extremely harmful to children, the elderly and those with chest conditions.'

Fellow villager Nicky Hendry, 52, a horticulturalist, said: 'The village primary school is nearby. We're desperately worried about how this will affect the children's health.

Dr Malcolm Eykyn and Nicky Hendry (pictured in front of the proposed quarry site) accuse the authorities of ignoring their plight

'The college is being very pig-headed  dozens of us have emailed but we have been batted back to the council.

They seem to have adopted a position where they just want to be obstructive.'

St John's has agreed that the farmland could be used as a quarry. It will appoint a sand and gravel extraction company, which will have to seek planning permission for any extraction work.

Villagers want the college to withdraw consent but its bursar Andrew Parker said St John's had a 'social responsibility' both to local people and to assist the county council in building homes.

'There is no doubt that the points that have been raised in the various letters are of substantial concern to the residents,' he said.

'However, the majority are environmental and health and safety issues which the college is not in a position to answer.

St John's, whose former students include Tony Blair, was founded in 1555 and is worth around 616million

It will be the responsibility of the county council and potential new sand and gravel operator to address and answer any such concerns through future planning processes.'

Charles Cadogan, who farms the land, said he could not comment as he is a tenant of the college.

Warwickshire County Council said it was required by the Government to provide for a steady and adequate supply of sand and gravel to the construction industry to build homes.

It said: 'The plan proposes six sand and gravel sites, which have been submitted by landowners, to meet this need.

'These sites have undergone a thorough assessment to ensure their suitability. The council believes the plan to be sound and legally compliant.'
The last known images of little Maleah Davis alive show the four-year-old happily following her stepfather, Derion Vence, into his Houston apartment on April 30 - but the adorable toddler went inside and was never seen again.

Instead, three-days-later Vence was captured on surveillance camera emerging from the property alone, clutching a black trash bag believed to be containing Maleahs remains.

On Friday, Vence allegedly confessed to community activist Quanell X during a meeting that he had killed the toddler and dumped her body 300 miles away from her home in Texas.

Quanell said he was struck by Vances demeanor, claiming he showed more concern about the public's perception of him than he did for reportedly slaying the innocent girl.

The admission followed authorities in southwest Arkansas discovering a black garbage bag giving off a foul odor along the Interstate 30 near Fulton on Friday morning.

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Derion Vence made his confession on Friday. He claimed to have killed his young stepdaughter 'by accident' and dumped her body hundreds of miles from their home

Maleah Davis is shown walking into stepfather Derion Vence's home in Houston on April 30 but was not seen again

In what is believed to be the final image of Maleah alive, the four-year-old is shown entering the apartment in a pink tutu

Vence is seen leaving the family's apartment with a blue laundry basket carrying a large black trash bag on May 3. It is the day he claimed they were all kidnapped

Police have refused to confirm if the remains belong to Maleah, however Quanell claimed the location of where the bag was found matched where the 26-year-old told him hed dumped her body.

But despite the heinous nature of his crime, in an exclusive interview with Fox26, Quanell claimed that Vence appeared more concerned about his public image than he did his impending murder charges during their meeting on Friday.

I was able by God's grace to visit Derion, Quanell said. He voiced his concerns about how he was being portrayed in the media. He was upset with Brittany. He thought he acted as more of a [parent than Maleahs mother Brittany Bowens].

But Quanell revealed what stunned him most about his face-off with Vence was that he showed absolutely no remorse for Maleah's killing.

What hurt me [is] he had no remorse. He had no feelings of regret ... and I can't stop crying, an emotional Quanell admitted.

I had to stop myself from crying because he was so cold in this discussion with me. He cared more about what people think about him, than what he did with Maleah. There was no remorse.

Maleah suffered a brain injury last year which she had to have surgery for. Police said she needed extra care because of it

Quanell said he was struck by Vances demeanor, claiming he showed 'no remorse' and was more concerned about the public's perception of him

Vence is taking police 300 miles from Houston to Hope in Arkansas where he says he dumped her body

Theorizing why Vence would allegedly commit such an atrocious act, Quanell said he believed the stepfather snapped after finding out that Bowens was having an affair.

I asked him, 'Are you a cold-blooded murderer?' He said it was an accident ... He wanted to make it clear everything he was doing for the children by himself.

He was cold. He had a cold spirit, almost like I don't care spirit. That's the part I expected emotions and remorse, there is none.

Before eliciting the confession, Quanell briefly legally advised Maleahs mother, Brittany Bowens, before announcing that hed cut all ties with her this week.

I'm a father. I have daughters, Quanell told Fox26. It was hard standing by Brittany's side, but I had to do what I had to do to make sure I could find out everything - what happened to Maleah and where is she.

Quanell alleges that he discovered early on with his time with Bowens that she had actively sought to cover up Vences abuse against her daughter on more than one occasion.

She never broke down in private conversations, always before the camera. She refused to ever say anything about Derion, even after charged with tampering with the body.

Another surveillance photo shows Vence entering the hospital with his one-year-old son the day on May 4, after he said they were all taken captive

Vences confession comes nearly a month after he first reported Maleah missing on May 4.

He stumbled into a hospital with his one-year-old son claiming all three of them had been kidnapped by Hispanic assailants the day before while driving to the airport to pick up Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens.

Vence's far-fetched version of events claimed the kidnappers let him and his son go but kept Maleah.

Police were quick to point out inconsistencies in his statements, saying he clearly wasnt telling the truth but they initially failed to produce any evidence in rebuttal.

However, after the surveillance footage of Vence leaving the home with the trash bag was discovered police also found traces of Maleahs blood in his car.

'What happened to Maleah was an accident,' Quanell X told The Houston Chronicle on Friday morning. 'He says it was an accident. And he confessed to me where he dumped her body.

'He was very specific with the amount of distance and time.

'When I was able to leave and look it up on my phone, he was to the point on the distance and time.

'He said that he pulled over in Arkansas, got out of the car, walked to the side of the road, and dumped the body off the road.'

Quanell said he had met with the director of Equusearch, which works with the police in missing persons cases, to find her.

'I think it's true enough that I have an airplane lined up at 3 p.m. to fly a detective, and several officers to go up there and go ahead and start the search.'

Maleah Davis' mother Brittany Bowens' former spokesman, Quannell X, (shown with her) says Vence made the confession to him on Friday. Police have not yet confirmed it

The Houston Police Department, which has not commented on the case for more than a week, would not confirm that he had made the confession when contacted by DailyMail.com.

But on Friday, a police department in Arkansas confirmed that Vence was on his way with them to the scene of where the bag was discovered to aid the investigation.

Maleah didnt have to die. That little girl did not have to die, an emotional Quanell later told KHOU 11. That child was being physically abused and physically tortured in that house and they were covering it up. It's a damn shame that her mother chose her mate over her own daughter.

Quanell had been representing Bowens - who maintains she had nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance - but he distanced himself from her earlier in the week, claiming she too had changed her story.

The silver Nissan Vence was driving when the alleged attack took place was found on Thursday at a shopping center in Missouri City, Texas, off Highway 6

Bowens says she was out of state when Maleah vanished. Rather than call 911 when her ex failed to turn up for her, she waited for someone else to collect her.

She then claimed that he had done 'something' with her daughter in revenge against her for dumping him and calling him homosexual.

Quanell has since claimed to have found his own evidence that Vence was molesting Maleah.

He insists that Bowens did not know.

Maleah was taken out of her mother's care last year amid claims of domestic abuse.

She required surgery on a brain injury that her mother says she got by falling over.
A few weeks ago, the Mail carried the heartbreaking story of six-year-old Sebastian Hibberd, who died of a serious bowel complaint after waiting six agonising hours to see a GP.

His father Russell made the first call to the NHS 111 service at 8am on a weekday after his son developed abdominal pains. He was told to contact his GP surgery.

He called several times, but got only an automated message or engaged tone.

When Russell eventually spoke to someone, he was told a duty doctor would call him back. No call came. After a further four hours and two more calls to the surgery,

Sebastian was vomiting and delirious. His father called 999, but it was too late  Sebastian died that afternoon.

A few weeks ago, the Mail carried the heartbreaking story of six-year-old Sebastian Hibberd, who died of a serious bowel complaint after waiting six agonising hours to see a GP

It was a sad and unnecessary loss of life that highlights the failings in primary care.

Im surprised there arent more tragedies like Sebastians because GP surgeries are appallingly overstretched, with patients finding it impossible to get through to their surgery by phone, let alone see a doctor.

In 2015, Jeremy Hunt, then the Health Secretary, pledged to recruit 5,000 extra GPs. Today, there are at least 1,500 fewer GPs, while four out of ten plan to quit within five years

This will only get worse because, as the Mail reported yesterday, surgeries are closing at a record rate  138 last year alone.

A survey by GP magazine Pulse last month reported that some doctors are seeing more than 100 patients a day  three times the safe limit. In Europe, most family doctors see around 20 a day.

In 2015, Jeremy Hunt, then the Health Secretary, pledged to recruit 5,000 extra GPs. Today, there are at least 1,500 fewer GPs, while four out of ten plan to quit within five years. We are heading for the total collapse of primary care.

Im not a GP  I work in a hospital in mental health. But I have witnessed first-hand the disastrous situation unfolding.

Ive had patients whose mental health has deteriorated after discharge because there was no continuity of care from their local surgery. I know that tests and scans go unchecked, and agreed treatment plans arent acted on.

Its not surprising. To cut costs, more and more services are being moved out of hospitals and handed over to GPs, while cuts to social care budgets mean GPs are coping with the fallout from the elderly and vulnerable.

Most work 11 or 12-hour days, struggling to deal with patients and paperwork. Many schedule case review meetings with me on their days off. Several have even referred themselves to me because their mental health has begun to suffer. Burnout is rife.

How we reached this desperate stage is complex. A growing population  thanks to natural change and immigration  and also an ageing one are factors. So is the disastrous GP contract introduced under Labour in 2004.

This absolved GPs from evening and weekend work for a modest pay reduction while giving them financial incentives for carrying out checks on cholesterol levels and blood pressure  which they were doing anyway. It resulted in a pay rise by an average of 60 per cent within three years. Suddenly, the once-trusted GP was being viewed as someone who was more interested in cash than care.

At the same time, the out-of-hours service became the responsibility of local health trusts, which often outsourced the work to large corporations who really put profit before patients.

Yet another factor is the rising number of women GPs who want to work part-time. The Government has failed to make enough places at medical school available to offset the shortfall.

Then there are the ill-thought- through changes to pensions and tax allowances which mean that older, more experienced GPs are taking early retirement to avoid penalties on their pension pots. On top of all this are changes to immigration regulations making it far more difficult to recruit doctors from overseas.

So  a perfect storm. Patients, angry over the decline in care, point the finger at GPs, while NHS managers and politicians have shamefully allowed doctors to become the scapegoats of political and managerial incompetence.

Ive had patients whose mental health has deteriorated after discharge because there was no continuity of care from their local surgery. I know that tests and scans go unchecked, and agreed treatment plans arent acted on. Pictured is Sebastian Hibberd

This has left GPs feeling more undermined and undervalued  which is why young doctors are rejecting general practice.

What is to be done? Other highly trained healthcare professionals, such as nurses and pharmacists, can certainly take some of the burden off frazzled GPs.

There must also be greater financial investment and better long-term planning for front-line services. We must increase medical school places and place a cap on the number of patients a GP can see in a working day. And the Treasury must urgently review the medical pension crisis.

A fundamental investigation of how primary care is run and delivered should be a Government priority. The death of little Sebastian Hibberd  and all the other victims of a failing service  must not be in vain.

A victory... but the battle goes on

After two years of relentless campaigning, the Mail can claim victory in getting the medical establishment to acknowledge the horrendous withdrawal symptoms some patients suffer when they try to come off antidepressant drugs.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has belatedly acknowledged that withdrawal symptoms can be severe (not mild as theyve decreed previously) and may last for months (rather than a fortnight). Patients will now be warned of this in advance.

This represents real progress. Now we need the all-powerful pharmaceutical industry  Big Pharma  to fess up, too.

For too long, drugs firms have downplayed side-effects and withdrawal symptoms associated with antidepressants and buried unfavourable research.

This hampers our ability to prescribe the best treatment. Do the benefits outweigh the costs? is always a consideration when I write a prescription. Yet I can only make a decision if I have all the information.

And patients can only make the decision on whether a treatment is right for them when the doctor has all the facts to share.

At the root of this problem is an astonishing fact: drug companies are not compelled to publish research that isnt favourable to their drugs. This is bad for science, bad for doctors and, most crucially, bad for patients.

Its the next big battle in safer prescribing.

Laughing gas isn't at all funny

Laughing gas  it sounds like harmless fun, doesnt it?

And its so popular. City streets are littered with the small, shiny canisters it comes in after a weekend of carousing.

Teenagers, in particular, love the brief high it gives when inhaled. Indeed, its now the second most commonly used recreational drug in the UK after cannabis.

But the Royal College of Nursing is warning that were too complacent about the risks of laughing gas or, to use its chemical name, nitrous oxide. It can cause breathing difficulties, a dangerously increased heart rate and even death.

We need to educate youngsters about the dangers of this potent chemical  and fast.

Why the simple ideas are the best

Southend University Hospital in Essex has installed a bus stop, complete with a bench, in its A&E department.

It sounds bizarre, but the aim is to help dementia patients.

Research has shown such patients become anxious while waiting to be seen.

But the bus stop  a familiar sight  reassures them and they happily wait for the bus to arrive.

This is one of many innovations being developed in hospitals and nursing homes to discourage patients from wandering. For example, a mirror on the back of a door can stop dementia sufferers from leaving a room or building.

Southend University Hospital in Essex has installed a bus stop, complete with a bench, in its A&E department to help dementia patients

As they approach, they see someone  in the mirror  coming towards them and turn back.

These behavioural ideas arent used enough. Instead, we rely too much on the chemical cosh  sedating medication to manage difficult or anxious patients. They deserve better.

Dr Max prescribes... Get lost in a maze

I took my godchildren to Hampton Court Maze last weekend and it was wonderful to see them pocket their phones and solve a puzzle that didnt involve pixels.

Today, children rarely experience the thrill of getting lost. We insist on knowing exactly where they are and with whom at all times.

My godchildren loved it so much that, once theyd escaped, they insisted we go back and get lost all over again.

To find a maze near you see nationaltrust.org.uk/lists/where-to-find-mysterious-mazes.
Foams, drizzles and glazes may be all the rage on fancy plates in top restaurants.

But TV cook Prue Leith believes they should be banished in favour of clean, fresh and distinct flavours.

The Great British Bake Off judge, 79, has described her exasperation at restaurant trends such as 12-course tasting menus.

Speaking at the Hay Festival, she said: When I was on the Great British Menu I had to bottle it sometimes because I would become so irritated at all the drizzles and foams and jellies and glazes, little lollipops of crackling. They forget that what really matters with food is flavour and texture.

Prue Leith (left) told the Hay Festival that she had to hold in her irritation at some of the drizzles on display while filming Bake Off

Chefs like Heston Blumenthal led the molecular gastronomy movement in Britain, using techniques such as freezing food with liquid nitrogen. But some of his followers are not always so successful.

Miss Leith said: A plate of food should not have more than four or five tastes max on it... I like the flavours to be crisp and separate and clean and fresh.

The TV judge also revealed that her next plan is to launch a colourful range of glasses to inspire older women.

Thousands of women, not as ancient as me but women over 50, are absolutely delighted that somebody so old wears bright colours, she said.
Keira Martin (pictured) pleaded guilty to a string of fraud-related offences at Geelong Magistrates

An audacious con artist who is awaiting sentencing for a raft of charges including ripping off her employees, has advertised for new staff at her beauty salon.

Keira Martin, who owns Studio K salon in Torquay, southwest of Melbourne, admitted to a string of fraud-related offences at Geelong Magistrates' Court earlier this month.

But just two weeks after the mother-of-three pleaded guilty the businesswoman - who opened the Torquay salon in November last year - posted an advert for a new beauty therapist on Facebook.

'Studio K is on the hunt for a new casual beauty therapist to join our growing team,' the advert read.

'If you're an enthusiastic, fully qualified beauty addict who thrives in a fast paced environment we want to hear from you.'

A former Studio K employee, who remained anonymous, has since spoken out to The Geelong Advertiser to warn potential candidates about what working for Martin is really like.

'I resigned like a lot of the other girls. There's several of us that have worked there and now have left,' she said.

The businesswoman (pictured) posted an advert for a new beauty therapist on social media two weeks after her court appearance

A former Studio K (salon pictured) employee, who remained anonymous, has since spoken out to warn potential candidates about what working for Martin is really like

The beauty therapist also noted that Martin was unable to hold onto staff members for a prolonged period of time.

'We all started to drop off in the first couple of weeks or months. Everyone started to cut ties,' she said.

The claims come shortly after a nanny, who works in the local area, said Martin owed her $10,000 worth of unpaid wages.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Scott Bell told the Geelong Magistrates' Court Martin had agreed to pay the woman more than $700-a-week.

But in the months that the nanny worked for her, she failed to deliver on her promise.

Martin also pleaded guilty to owing money to several other business including luxury car dealerships and then didn't pay for them.

Martin (pictured) is also understood to have recently been in receipt of a termination notice in relation to her business

One dealer agreed to hand over the keys to a Mercedes Benz 180 - worth $44,000 - to Martin after she produced fake receipts.

Martin is also understood to have recently been in receipt of a termination notice in relation to her business.

The self-confessed con artist has claimed she has no income other than $500 which she receives from Centrelink.

Martin's lawyer told the court she had begun offending after being 'overwhelmed' as she struggled to care for her three young children.

Police prosecutors are pushing for Martin to be jailed, while Magistrate Jelena Popovic described the matter as being 'a serious case'.

Martin is due to reappear in court for sentencing on August 15.
Cancer sufferers desperate for life-saving surgery are mortgaging their homes to pay celebrity doctors like Charlie Teo when they could be getting the same treatment for free.

Dr Teo, Australia's most famous neurosurgeon, has been in the headlines this week after being criticised that his fee for brain surgery fee - up to $120,000 - forces patients to crowdfund.

The Sydney-based surgeon defended himself by claiming he pockets just 10 per cent of the fee and saying public hospitals were 'unwilling to learn his technique'.

But the head of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia said it was 'disheartening' to see the amount of GoFundMe accounts or hear of patients mortgaging their homes.

Charlie Teo (pictured above) charges a huge $120,000 for brain surgeries and claims it's because he achieves the best results

Sarah Olson told The Australian the country's public hospitals have some of the best brain surgeons in the world - with the only difference being that treatment comes at no cost.

'We are incredibly fortunate in this country to have many skilled neurosurgeons who dedicate their time and expertise to ensure all Australians with brain cancer have access to free world-class treatment,' Dr Olson said.

'It is therefore disheartening to see patients turning to crowdfunding and mortgaging their houses.'

Sarah Olson (pictured) says there is no real evidence that surgery based treatments give people a longer life expectancy

Dr Olson said many surgeons provide treatment like Dr Teo with little or no gap for private patients.

'(This treatment aims to provide the) highest possibility of extended quality of life,' she said.

Operating out of the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Dr Teo claims to have performed a total of 11,000 operations.

And he claims people pay him large amounts because he achieves the best results.

'Am I as good as people say I am? If you speak to any neurosurgeon in Australia they will say its all rubbish,' Dr Teo said.

'(But) I am lauded and seduced overseas by the best hospitals. Surely there is something to that?'

His efforts in the medical field have seen him named as a member of the Order of Australia, but Dr Teo believes this isn't why he has come under fire this week.

He says other neurosurgeons simply feel intimidated by him and his abilities, and subsequently refused to endorse him.

Dr Teo hit back on Tuesday, acknowledging Professor Woo had brought up an 'important issue'

The surgeon claims he only receives $8,000 from the total cost of the procedure, with the rest going to hospital fees and specialists.

Ms Olson said surgery was not always the best decision for cancer patients and that surgery does not necessarily result in a longer life expectancy.

It comes after Professor Henry Woo, a urologist at the University of Sydney School of Medicine, counted 113 GoFundMe campaigns launched by patients hoping to fund an operation.

In particular, Professor Woo pointed to a campaign that was launched for a cancer-stricken girl.

Professor Henry Woo, a urologist at the University of Sydney School of Medicine, counted as many as 113 GoFundMe campaigns had been launched by patients to fund the operations

The family of Amelia 'Millie' Lucas (left), from Perth, raised over $150,000 online so they could afford Dr Teo's surgery for a malignant brain tumour. Her sister Tess, 15, (right) also has the same brain tumour condition but has since been given the all-clear

'Something is seriously wrong if a terminally ill girl with a brain tumour has to raise $120K to have surgery Dr Charlie Teo has offered to do for $60-80K,' Woo tweeted.

'If it was valid surgery, it could/should be performed in the public system under Medicare.'

Professor Woo was referencing the case of Perth girl Amelia 'Millie' Lucas, 12, who made headlines last week after Dr Teo said he would perform open brain surgery that could save her life.

Her family turned to GoFundMe and were able to raise more than $150,000 for the potentially life-saving surgery in 11 days, exceeding the $100,000 target they had set.
Ray Hadley could be issued with a lawsuit within the next few weeks after a former producer made serious bullying allegations.

Lawyers representing the former 2GB producer, Chris Bowen, have been making inquiries regarding Hadley in preparation for a lawsuit that could be filed by the end of June, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Bowen took to Facebook in March to detail his allegations of bullying from Hadley throughout the 16 years he worked at 2GB.

Lawyers for the former 2GB producer, Chris Bowen, have been allegedly making inquiries regarding Hadley in preparation for a lawsuit for alleged bullying that could be filed by the end of June

Bowen had contacted John Laxon, a high-regarded workplace lawyer for Laxon Lex Lawyers, in April.

Laxon has previously represented former 2GB employee, Richard Palmer, who also accused Hadley of bullying.

Hadley reached a settlement with Palmer and was ordered to make an apology on-air.

Part of the investigation Bowen's lawyers are conducting involves compiling a list of witness accounts in the form of affidavits.

Bowen's lawyers allegedly plan to use these affidavits in court to reinforce their allegations of bullying on behalf of Hadley.

Bowen (pictured) took to Facebook in March to detail his allegations of bullying from Hadley throughout the 16 years he worked at 2GB. Bowen had contacted John Laxon, a high-regarded workplace lawyer for Laxon Lex Lawyers, in April

Bowen previously said on Facebook that he was 'subjected to vile and inexcusable behaviour.'

He said the alleged bullying he suffered from Hadley was full of rage and the popular presenter would become uncontrollable.

'It was directed at me at least weekly,' Mr Bowen claimed on Facebook.

'At one point I think we went several months without talking to each other. This is a person that sat five metres away from me, six or seven days a week in a soundproof studio.'

Laxon has previously represented former 2GB employee, Richard Palmer, who also accused Hadley of bullying. Hadley reached a settlement with Palmer and was ordered to make an apology on-air

Bowen spoke of an alleged example where he was forced to wheel Hadley's chair in and out of the studio.

When Bowen complained about his treatment, Hadley allegedly told him to 'do it or find another job.'

Though he did not directly name anybody in throughout his bullying accusations, Bowen later confirmed to news.com.au that he was talking about Hadley.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted 2GB for comment.
Following in her fathers footsteps, Kim Kardashian posed for a picture alongside a convicted killer on death row at the notorious San Quentin prison yesterday, after she launched a legal campaign to secure his release.

The reality TV star spent two hours talking with quadruple murderer Kevin Cooper in an 'emotional' meeting on Thursday - and Kim is convinced the 61-year-old has been framed.

The pair stood arm-in-arm to pose for a picture after the meeting. Kim, dressed modestly in a black zip-up, smiled as she rested her head on the shoulder of the towering Cooper, who adorned a beaming grin.

'I had an emotional meeting with Kevin Cooper yesterday at San Quentin's death row,' the 38-year-old tweeted on Friday. 'I found him to be thoughtful, honest and I believe him to be innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted.'

The reality TV star spent two hours talking with quadruple murderer Kevin Cooper on Thursday - and Kim is convinced the 61-year-old has been framed

Kim took to Twitter to reaffirm her stance on Cooper's innocents on Friday

Cooper has been awaiting death since 1983 for the grisly murders of two parents, their ten-year-old daughter and her friend.

Ever since his arrest, Cooper has vehemently protested his innocence.

In October, Kim asked then-Governor of California Jerry Brown to re-open Cooper's case to investigate new potential evidence that may prove hes not the responsible culprit, prompting Brown to conduct a DNA test against Cooper and evidence found at the scene.

California's new Governor, Gavin Newsom - who is staunchly against capital punishment - ordered additional testing in February.

Kim stopped by the maximum security facility to get to know Cooper while the pair anxiously await the results.

Cooper has been awaiting death since 1983 for the grisly murders of two parents, their ten-year-old daughter and her friend in California

A source said she stayed at San Quentin (pictured) for several hours meeting inmates and staff

Cooper was sentenced to death for the slaying of Douglas and Peggy Ryens, their 10-year-old daughter Jessica, and 10-year-old Chris Hughes, who was staying at their house in Chino Hills in San Bernardino County.

During Cooper's appeal, testing of evidence, including a t-shirt believed to have belonged to the killer, was found to have his blood - and test tube preservative on it.

This indicated the blood on the shirt had been put there from inside a test tube of Cooper's blood, not splattered on during the quadruple murder.

Family photo of Peggy, Doug, Jessica and Joshua Ryens, who was the lone survivor of a hatchet attack in 1985

Advocates argue that the San Bernardino Sheriffs Department tampered with DNA evidence to frame Cooper and that this evidence  found on a t-shirt Cooper says he never wore  should be retested.

Witnesses also said they had seen three white men driving - what was believed to be the family car - away from the home, but cops focused on Cooper instead.

The California man has been fighting to have evidence in his case re-examined for years.

Five judges even agreed that he was wrongly convicted, but he remained behind bars.

Kim Kardashian has freed as many as 17 inmates by secretly funding a criminal justice campaign, it was revealed last month.

The reality TV star began her social justice bids by petitioning President Donald Trump over the release of Tennessee grandmother Alice Marie Johnson in June last year.

Since the 63-year-old was pardoned by Trump after meeting Kim at the White House, she has joined campaigns to get other prisoners released.

Brown was arrested in 1983 and convicted in 1985 for the gruesome murders of two children and two adults - but he has always maintained his innocence

Kardashian met Trump (pictured) to highlight the case of Alice Johnson, prompting her release

Some of Kim's campaigns have been well-publicized, such as former sex slave Cyntoia Brown, Jeffrey Stringer and Johnson, who spent 21 years in prison for a non-violent drug offense.

In May, Kim helped get Stringer from Miami out of prison after he was locked up for more than two decades for a low-level drug case.

The reality star tweeted that she helped fund his case after he had been sentenced to life in prison.

Kim also joined celebrities such as Cara Delevigne and Rihanna in calling for Brown, who served 12 years in prison for killing a man who paid her for sex when she was just 16, to be released.

The Buried Alive Project has tweeted updates of those it has helped and claimed to have aided 17 prisoners, including Terrence Byrd, Jamelle Carraway of Illinois and Eric Balcom from Florida.

And Kim has been secretly funding the project over the last few months, according to TMZ.

Kim Kardashian with Alice Marie Johnson, who was pardoned by President Trump after he met with the reality star at the White House last June

Byrd served 25 years in a federal prison for drug possession charges, Balcom was sentenced to life without parole over a drugs charge when he was 29 and Carraway served 11 years of a life sentence for cocaine possession.

After her successful campaign to get Johnson out of jail, Kim became interested in criminal justice.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star has since registered with the California State Bar to study law to become a fully-fledged lawyer.

Kim must also complete 60 college credits and then work as an apprentice at a law firm in San Francisco with the intention to take the Bar Exam in 2022.
Dalia Jimenez is seen in her mugshot

A suburban Dallas woman has been charged after police say she doused her five-year-old stepdaughter's face with rubbing alcohol and set it on fire.

A Grand Prairie police statement Friday says 20-year-old Dalia Jimenez is charged with felony injury to a child and free on $20,000 bond.

Police say officers went to the family home May 13 after a child had been reported as burned and in need of medical treatment.

Jimenez initially blamed the burns on an accident while lighting a candle.

After detectives found inconsistencies in her account, however, Jimenez admitted that she burned the girl's face as punishment for yelling.

Grand Prairie police Det. Greg Parker said: 'There were burns on both sides of her cheeks, down below her jawline, and small burns on her shoulders as well.'

The child also told investigators she had previously been beaten with a belt.

Police say the child's father wasn't home at the time and isn't considered a suspect.

The child and a younger sibling have been placed with relatives.
A man has been nabbed speeding at more than 180km/h with six children in tow near the Victorian-NSW border.

The 36-year-old was pulled over for driving 185km/h in a 110km/h zone in a Toyota Tarago, south of the Hume Freeway in Wodonga at 7.20pm on Friday.

The man from Tarneit in Melbourne's west was also tested positive for cannabis, while driving with a woman and six children, police said.

He was bailed to appear at the Wangaratta Magistrates Court on July 29 charged with traffic-related offences.

The 36-year-old was pulled over for driving 185km/h in a 110km/h zone in a Toyota Tarago, south of the Hume Freeway in Wodonga at 7.20pm on Friday (stock image)
The U.S. Justice Department is preparing an investigation of Alphabet Inc's Google to determine whether the tech giant broke antitrust law in operating its sprawling online businesses, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Officials from the Justice Department's Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission, which both enforce antitrust law, met in recent weeks to give Justice jurisdiction over Google, said the sources, who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

The potential investigation represents the latest attack on a tech company by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has accused social media companies and Google of suppressing conservative voices on their platforms online.

Trump and his allies accused the search giant of 'bias', claims denied by the Silicon Valley firm.

U.S. Justice Department is preparing an investigation of Google to determine whether it broke antitrust law after Donald Trump accused them of 'bias'. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, is pictured right

Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission met in to give Justice jurisdiction over Google, according to sources. Philipp Justus (L), Vice President Google Central Europe, Pichai (C), and Senior Director Public Policy and Government Relations Annette Kroeber-Riel (R) are pictured in March

One source said the potential investigation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, focused on accusations that Google gave preference to its own businesses in searches.

A spokesman for the Justice Department said he could not confirm or deny that an investigation was being considered. Google declined comment.

Early in 2013, the FTC closed a long-running investigation of Google, giving it a slap on the wrist. Under FTC pressure, Google agreed to end the practice of 'scraping' reviews and other data from rivals websites for its own products, and to let advertisers export data to independently assess campaigns.

Google's search, YouTube, reviews, maps and other businesses, which are largely free to consumers but financed through advertising, have catapulted it from a start-up to one of the world's richest companies in just two decades.

Along the way, it has made enemies in both the tech world, who have complained to law enforcers about its market dominance, and in Washington, where lawmakers have complained about issues from its alleged political bias to its plans for China.

Trump met privately with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in March, saying on Twitter that he had engaged the tech executive on 'political fairness' and won his assurance that the company's loyalties are not split between Washington and Beijing.

Trump said on Twitter that he had engaged the tech executive on 'political fairness' and won his assurance that the company's loyalties are not split between Washington and Beijing

The president tweeted that Pichai 'stated strongly that he is totally committed to the U.S. Military, not the Chinese Military'

Trump earlier mocked the company's perceived institutional slant toward his 2016 opponent

Google and other large U.S. companies have been raising eyebrows among investors and regulators by doing more and more business in China. Trump had tweeted earlier that month that the Internet search giant was 'helping China and their military, but not the U.S. Terrible!'

Following the meeting, which the White House did not disclose until after it happened, the president tweeted that Pichai 'stated strongly that he is totally committed to the U.S. Military, not the Chinese Military.'

Trump announced that the two men 'discussed political fairness and various things that @Google can do for our Country. Meeting ended very well!'

Prior to that he blasted Google for 'helping China and their military' and mocked the company's perceived institutional slant toward his 2016 opponent.

'The good news is that they helped Crooked Hillary Clinton, and not Trump....and how did that turn out?' he snarked.

Three days later the president used his favorite social media platform to blast three tech behemoths at once.

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has pushed for action to break up Google, as well as other big tech companies like Facebook and Apple. Senator Kamala Harris, who is also running for president on the Democratic ticket, has agreed

Trump vented in December that 'Facebook, Twitter and Google are so biased toward the Dems it is ridiculous!'

Trump vented in December that 'Facebook, Twitter and Google are so biased toward the Dems it is ridiculous!'

As he wrestled in November with later-debunked claims that he colluded with Russia to win in 2016, he tweeted: 'Check out how biased Facebook, Google and Twitter are in favor of the Democrats. That's the real Collusion!'

And last August the president unleashed a two-tweet uppercut at the world's largest Internet search company.

'Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD,' he tweeted. 'Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?'

Trump continued, claiming '96% of [Google] results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!'

In a statement after Pichai left the White House, a Google spokesperson said the company was 'pleased to have productive conversations with the President about investing in the future of the American workforce, the growth of emerging technologies and our ongoing commitment to working with the U.S. government.'

Last August the president unleashed a two-tweet uppercut at the world's largest Internet search company

Trump continued, claiming '96% of [Google] results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous

'We are not working with the Chinese military. We are working with the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, in many areas including cybersecurity, recruiting and healthcare,' the statement said.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a March Senate committee hearing that China's military was benefiting from Google's work there on artificial intelligence projects.

TripAdvisor chief executive and co-founder Stephen Kaufer welcomed news that Google could face Justice Department antitrust scrutiny.

'TripAdvisor remains concerned about Googles practices in the United States, the EU and throughout the world,' Kaufer said in a statement.

'For the good of consumers and competition on the internet, we welcome any renewed interest by U.S. regulators into Google's anticompetitive behavior.'

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has pushed for action to break up Google, as well as other big tech companies like Facebook and Apple. Senator Kamala Harris, who is also running for president on the Democratic ticket, has agreed.

TripAdvisor chief executive and co-founder Stephen Kaufer welcomed news that Google could face Justice Department antitrust scrutiny

'This is very big news, and overdue,' Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican Google critic, said on Twitter, regarding the investigation.

Google has faced a plethora of overseas probes.

Europe's competition authority, for one, hit Google with a 2.4-billion-euro ($2.7-billion) EU fine two years ago for unfairly promoting its own comparison shopping service.

Google has since offered to allow competitors to bid for advertising space at the top of a search page, giving them the chance to compete on equal terms.

Alphabet's profit in the first three months of this year sagged under the weight of a hefty antitrust fine in the European Union.

Alphabet said profit in the first-quarter fell 29 percent to $6.7 billion on revenue that climbed 17 percent to $36.3 billion.

The earnings took a hit from a European Commission fine that amounted to $1.7 billion at the end of March, according to the quarterly update.

Google's lucrative advertising platform remained the largest revenue driver for Alphabet, delivering more than $30 billion in revenue, but costs rose sharply as well.

But Google continues to face pressure around the world from regulators, notably in Europe amid multiple investigations over alleged abuse of its dominance in internet search, advertising and its mobile system.

The latest fine imposed by Brussels cited Google's AdSense advertising service, saying it illegally restricted client websites from displaying messages from ad service rivals.

Google is separately working to satisfy EU regulators investigating its hugely popular Android devices following a $5 billion fine last year.

Google earlier this year said it would offer smartphone users five browsers and search engines as part of the company's effort to meet EU competition concerns.

Brussels accused Google of using the Android system's dominance of smartphones and tablets to promote the use of its own Google search engine and Chrome browser and shut out rivals.
One of the men accused of brutally butchering helpless Lesandro Junior Guzman-Feliz outside of a Bronx bodega last year bragged about the moment he administered a fatal stab to the teenagers neck, a courtroom heard on Friday.

According to Trinitarios gang member and cooperating witness Michael Sosa Reyes, murder suspect Jonaiki Martinez Estrella callously bragged that his victim was not going to eat for a very long time because I hit him in the neck as the killers fled the scene.

In truth, prosecutors claim Estrella did more than just strike Guzman in the neck. They say his four-and-a-half inch knife sliced the defenseless 15-year-olds jugular vein, later causing him to bleed to death, breathless.

Addressing the courtroom in Spanish, Reyes harrowing testimony drew several gasps from spectators in the gallery.

One of the men accused of brutally butchering helpless Lesandro Junior Guzman-Feliz outside of a Bronx bodega last year bragged about the moment he administered a fatal stab to the teenagers neck, a courtroom heard on Friday

According to Trinitarios gang member and cooperating witness Michael Sosa Reyes (left), murder suspect Jonaiki Martinez Estrella (right) callously bragged that his victim was not going to eat for a very long time because I hit him in the neck as the killers fled the scene

Thumbs up: Leandra Feliz, Juniors mother, returned to the courtroom on Friday for the first time in more than two weeks

He added that ringleader Diego Suero ordered his disciples from the Bad Boys crew to inflict any kind of damage on rival gang members that fateful evening on June 20, 2018.

Reyes recalled how the gang gathered inside Sueros apartment, just one block away from the bodega on East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue, where Junior was later slain.

Go after Sunset, you know what you have to do, Suero allegedly told his men.

Reyes said he interpreted the order to mean, If you have a gun, shoot it, if you a have a knife, you stab, if you have a machete, you use it.

Shortly afterwards, the gang members spotted aspiring NYPD detective Junior walking the streets and mistook him for a notorious member of the rival Sunset Crew.

At first the men perused him in cars, before hunting him down the terrified young teen on foot.

Reyes recalled for the jury the moment he chased Junior inside the bodega, falsely telling the shopkeeper the boy had done something to his grandmother, and needed to be dealt with.

The gang members spotted aspiring NYPD detective Junior walking the streets and mistook him for a notorious member of the rival Sunset Crew

Reyes watched on as other members of the Trinitarios gang dragged Junior out of the shop by his ankles, and savagely hacked away at him with knives and a machete on the corner of the street

However, Reyes said he couldnt find it within himself to go through with Sueros order after looking Junior in the eyes and seeing just how petrified he was.

At the moment I saw his face, my eyes changed. I saw he was scared, and he reminded me of a person that I had seen before, Reyes told the court.

Instead, he watched on as other members of the Trinitarios gang dragged Junior out of the shop by his ankles, and savagely hacked away at him with knives and a machete on the corner of the street.

Reyes made no attempt to intervene in the murderous onslaught.

He was hiding ... [screaming] No! No! No! recounted Reyes.

He was scared. When they dragged him out, hes laying down fighting for his life. I saw [the defendants] pulling him, grabbing himattacking him with a machete.

The last time Leandra appeared in court she was forced to re-live her sons final moments as the courtroom was played several angles of CCTV footage, documenting Juniors graphic demise

Rather than having to be restrained and removed by officials as she died on May 23, a resilient Leandra left the court by her own accord on Friday afternoon

Reyes added that he felt very bad about the murder, describing how he later fled to the Dominican Republic the following day after learning he was present in a murder.

He returned to the country the following day and handed himself in. He later struck a plea deal with prosecutors in August, agreeing to testify against his fellow gang members.

I explained to her what happened and she told me that I had to come back and face my consequences, Reyes said of confessing to his mother, the New York Post reported.

An outraged friend of Juniors lambasted Reyes to the NY Daily News, insisting he was no better than the murderous assailants he was testifying against.

You have a cell phone, call 911, Erica Tirado said to the outlet. Have somebody come and help that boy before they killed him. [Reyes] didnt do nothing, nothing at all. So I see him as guilty as the rest.

The gang members spotted aspiring NYPD detective Junior walking the streets and mistook him for a notorious member of the rival Sunset Crew

Leandra Feliz, Juniors mother, returned to the courtroom on Friday for the first time in more than two weeks.

During her last appearance she was forced to re-live her sons final moments as the courtroom was played several angles of CCTV footage, documenting Juniors graphic demise.

I closed my eyes It was torture, like killing me alive, the teens mother Leandra Feliz said outside Bronx Supreme Court on May 23.

Feliz was seen placing a hand over her mouth when the video began, attempting to stifle her cries as she relived the moment her son was dragged through the doors of the bodega.

Court officers had to then restrain and remove her from the courtroom as she hysterically wailed uncontrollably into the arms of a family member.

The trial, now in its fourth week, will continue on Monday.
For a fleeting few hours, tradie Casey Townsend could forget about his health battle.

Barely able to speak, but filled with joy and surrounded by his family, he was tying the knot with the love of his life Sharna-Lee.

But this was no ordinary wedding.

The couple, from the Gold Coast, were marrying in a hospital courtyard after Mr Townsend was diagnosed with a potentially life-ending brain tumour.

But, in Mrs Townsend's bitterly ironic words, she had to marry him now - because she 'loves him to death'.

Casey Townsend (pictured alongside his wife Sharna-Lee Townsend and children) suddenly collapsed and was rushed to hospital in an unconscious state in September last year

In September last year Mr Townsend had arrived for his night shift at work when he started feeling disorientated, suddenly collapsed and was rushed to hospital in an unconscious state.

Mr Townsend had suffered a stroke at just 31 years old, and the collapse signified the start of an excruciating nine months which would see the father-of-three suffer a heart attack so severe he was rendered clinically dead.

Mrs Townsend, 30, who married her long-term partner amid his shattering ill-health, said their family's lives have 'been completely torn apart'.

'Casey's currently unwell with pneumonia, [m]yself and our families are very devastated that this is happening to our amazing man,' Ms Townsend told Daily Mail Australia.

'We hope there's a miracle and someone out there can help.'

Mr Townsend's health started to deteriorate almost instantly after he first collapsed.

Mr Townsend's (pictured alongside his children) health began to deteriorate almost instantly after he first collapsed

The couple (pictured on their wedding day) married two days after the brain tumour diagnosis in the hospital courtyard

He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital where was put into an induced coma.

But when he failed to regain consciousness within an hour, as doctors had anticipated, further tests were conducted.

It was revealed Mr Townsend had suffered a stroke and was left unable to speak properly.

He also suffered from memory loss and poor hand-eye coordination.

But tragedy struck once again when just seven days later he suffered a second and much more severe stroke.

As a result of the stroke Mr Townsend needed to undergo urgent surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain.

Doctor's warned it would be a risky operation but said Mr Townsend needed to take the risk in order to survive.

'He got through it, but it broke my heart because he couldn't talk or anything; that hard-working guy, who everyone wanted to be friends with, just looked at me and cried,' Mrs Townsend told The Courier Mail.

Ms Townsend (pictured alongside Mr Townsend) 'knew' she had to marry Mr Townsend because 'she loves him to death' and the couple didn't know what could happen next

In October Mr Townsend was transferred to Gold Coast University Hospital where doctors delivered more horrific news.

Mr Townsend had a brain tumour.

Mrs Townsend, who is now Mr Townsend's full-time carer, said the couple married two days after the brain tumour diagnosis in the hospital courtyard.

She said she 'knew' she had to marry Mr Townsend because 'she loves him to death' and the couple didn't know what could happen next.

'Casey still finds it hard to watch our wedding video because he was struggling to talk and couldn't stand securely but, seriously, I watch it over and over again. It's so beautiful.

'When I met Casey  in a nightclub in 2012  I had just split from the father of my daughter, Sienna (now 7), and didn't expect to fall hopelessly in love. He took on the role of dad so easily, and we went on to have Sonny (3) and Ellie (19 months); we were stoked with our little family,' she said.

But just one week before Christmas, Mr Townsend was taken ill once again and subsequently suffered a heart attack.

Mrs Townsend (pictured alongside Mr Townsend) described the harrowing moment she watched her husband suffer a cardiac arrest

Ms Townsend (pictured alongside Mr Townsend) said she was there the harrowing moment her husband suffer a cardiac arrest

Ms Townsend said she witnessed the harrowing moment her husband suffered a cardiac arrest and doctors performed CPR in a bid to save his life.

He survived. Only to suffer a second heart attack just moments later.

Timeline of Mr Townsend's health battle: September 2018 Mr Townsend collapses at work September 2018 Doctor's identify Mr Townsend's collapse as a result of a stroke September 2018 Mr Townsend suffers second and much more severe stroke October 2018 Mr Townsend is diagnosed with a brain tumour December 2018 Mr Townsend suffers two heart attacks shortly after each other December 2018 Mr Townsend is diagnosed with congestive heart failure and told he needs a heart transplant June 2019 Mr Townsend is still not well enough to have the brain tumour removed or have the heart transplant He is suffering with pneumonia Advertisement

The second heart attack was so severe he heart stopped beating and he technically passed away.

Thankfully, doctors were able to restart his heart.

Following his life-saving operation, Mr Townsend was taken to Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital where, in yet another devastating blow, he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.

Mr Townsend's only hope to survive was to get a heart transplant.

But in a cruel twist of fate the immunosuppressant drugs needed to be taken before a transplant would cause his brain tumour to grow aggressively.

'Casey is not well enough yet to get the tumour removed - his heart wouldn't hold out under anaesthetic - so we are trying to make him stronger so that can happen first, and then the transplant, but it's a slow process, and he is also battling pneumonia,' Mrs Townsend said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up in order to help support Mr Townsend and his family.

'Casey will be in hospital indefinitely as he requires rehabilitation and therapy to retrain his brain for his cognitive impairment, loss of memory, speech and communication skills and hand eye coordination,' family friend Angie Katu wrote.

'We are trying to do our bit to relieve the stress for Sharna by raising money to help their young family to pay their mortgage and bills, one less thing for Sharna to worry about.

'We all know Case as the guy with the biggest smile, the guy that would do anything for his friends and family and even strangers, he's always looking out for everyone now it's time for us to help him.'

You can donate by visiting the Casey Townsend [and] family GoFundMe page.
When it comes to buying a home, people are always trying to get more bang for their buck.

And prospective homeowners are finding that even properties that have been converted from brothels into normal homes are selling for top prices.

Several former brothels throughout New South Wales are selling for more than $1million and real estate agents believe their exclusive features make them more desirable to buyers.

Brothels in Banksia, Rydalmere and Coffs Harbour have all gone on sale with many more throughout Australia expected to do the same.

Most of these brothels are great for buyers as they are located in competitive locations and come with extra laundries, black-out windows and numerous rooms with hot tubs include within.

The brothel in Rydalmere (pictured) was previously 'Claudia's Penthouse' and is expected to sell for more than $2.1million. It comes with eight 'massage' rooms, a VIP lounge area, over 1000sq m of floor space and each room includes hot tubs and mirrors

The brothel in Rydalmere was previously 'Claudia's Penthouse' and is expected to sell for more than $2.1million.

It comes with eight 'massage' rooms, a VIP lounge area, over 1000sqm of floor space and each room includes hot tubs and mirrors.

The Banksia brothel is up for sale as a commercial investment and is expected to sell for roughly $2million.

The Coffs Harbour brothel has been on the market for a year and is on sale for $1.35million.

Included in the brothel is a room with a stripper pole located near the bed and a hot tub as well as six 'consulting rooms.'

The Banksia brothel (pictured) is up for sale as a commercial investment and is expected to sell for roughly $2million

Many brothels were put out of business as illegal activities occurred within which has resulted in several vacant buildings with great potential.

The real estate agent selling Rydalmere brothel said even though the properties are great, the banks are making it difficult for buyers.

'We could have sold it three times over if banks were a little more open to lending,' the agent told The Daily Telegraph.

The Coffs Harbour brothel (pictured) has been on the market for a year and is on sale for $1.35million. Included in the brothel is a room with a stripper pole located near the bed and a hot tub as well as six 'consulting rooms'

Last year, a father bought a former brothel in Redfern for over $1.3million as a gift for his children.

The brothel on 124 George Street included five-bedrooms with mirrors installed and several spa baths.

Several brothels in Kings Cross were re-developed into office and residential spaces with one selling for $2million.
A company has hit back at claims it sent home staff and refused to pay them after they turned up to work in union-branded shirts.

The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) claimed that Fredon Industries sent workers home from the NorthConnex project in Sydney on Wednesday after they turned up wearing shirts with union logos.

However, Fredon has now said the issue was one of health and safety, rather than an issue with the workers wearing union-branded clothing.

A company has hit back at claims it sent home staff and refused to pay them after they turned up to work in union-branded shirts

A spokesman said the shirts covered hi-vis clothing, and that anyone temporarily stood down from work was still paid.

'Fredon is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our staff and respect their right to union participation,' the spokesman said.

'We engage in good faith bargaining with the ETU but we cannot compromise our position on staff safety in the performance of work.'

In correspondence obtained by news.com.au, the ETU said the electrical contractor didn't have any right to withhold the employees' pay.

The ETU argued that the members who wore t-shirts with union logos were 'not engaging in industrial action' and were 'certainly not engaging in a partial work ban.'

The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) claimed that Fredon Industries sent workers home from the NorthConnex project in Sydney on Wednesday after they turned up wearing shirts with union logos
Dolphins have been spotted riding a wave next to a surfing star during a competition in Western Australia.

American surfer Conner Coffin, 25, launched into a barreling wave alongside at least five dolphins on day three of the Margaret River Pro, south of Perth on Saturday.

Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater, 47, said Coffin's ride with the dolphins was one of the 'coolest things I've ever seen in my life.'

Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater (pictured) said Coffin's ride with the dolphins was one of the 'coolest things I've ever seen in my life'

Coffin was shocked when he realised he was surfing with a group of dolphins.

'I just got that wave, and then I looked up and there's a pod of dolphins right by me and a perfect blue set coming,' Coffin told Perth Now.

'I thought, 'Oh my god this is insane'. I was really excited.'

'It was insane,' Slater agreed.

'There were like six dolphins in the lip. I thought one was going to get pitched.

'That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life.'

American surfer Conner Coffin (pictured), 25, launched into a barreling wave along with at least five dolphins swimming next to him at Margaret River Pro, south of Perth on Saturday

Slater (pictured) and Coffin both beat their Brazilian opponents to go through to the next round

Rising star Coffin outscored Brazilian Jess Mendes 12.33 to 9.20 after his epic dolphin surf run.

Meanwhile, 47-year-old Slater had a rocky start to his heat when he was beaten back by waves.

He managed to pull off some slick rides toward the end and beat Brazilian Willian Cardoso 10.06 to 7.34.

Both Americans will head through to fourth round, the round of 16.

The Margaret River Pro competition will end on June 9.

Conner Coffin (pictured) described the experience of surfing with dolphins as 'insane'




A jealous accountant faces jail after posing as a man to trick her ex's new girlfriend into sending her naked photos before posting them on social media.

Blerina Dobla, 26, of Richmond-on-Thames, south-west London, wanted revenge on the woman for dating her ex-boyfriend after he had dumped her.

After contacting her online Dobla posed as a man who wanted to date the woman, eventually persuading her to send intimate images and a video of her naked in the shower.

Jealous accountant Blerina Dobla, 26, posed as a man to trick her ex's new girlfriend into sending her naked photos before posting them on social media. She wanted revenge on the woman for dating her ex-boyfriend after he had dumped her

She then published the video on Instagram and posted more semi-nude pictures of the woman, tagging her friends and family, The Sun reported.

After being made aware of them by a friend, the woman was unable to see the intimate snaps herself.

Prosecutor Chidi Ikwuaklolam told Camberwell Magistrates' Court how Dobla, while pretending to be a man, persuaded the victim to send the photos and videos via Snapchat.

'The complainant thought they would be deleted automatically, but they were retained.

'On January 30, 2017, a video was posted on Instagram that tagged the complainant. It was the victim naked in the shower.

After contacting her online Dobla posed as a man who wanted to date the woman, eventually persuading her to send intimate images and a video of her naked in the shower, Camberwell Magistrates' Court heard (file photo)

'On November 1 the complainant received a call from a friend that an Instagram account tagging her family and friends contained photos of her undressed.'

Dobla attended the Catholic Gumley House Convent School in Hounslow, West London, and lives in a 1.2million house in Richmond-on-Thames, south-west London.

She was traced by police before being arrested at work before initially denying the offences after being questioned.

Dobla attended the Catholic Gumley House Convent School in Hounslow, West London (above)

However, yesterday in court, Dobla admitted sending the indecent images and video.

She was bailed and will return for sentencing on June 28.

Dobla was told by Magistrate Pamela Donovan that a prison sentence was a possibility.
Britain has the potential to be 'even greater' following the 'triumph of democracy' brought about by Brexit, according to the US National Security Advisor.

Former UN ambassador John Bolton claimed leaving the European Union would allow the nation to become a 'strong and independent country' and also help NATO be 'more effective'.

Speaking ahead of President Trump's state visit to the UK, the 70-year-old, who remains a staunch supporter of Brexit, also backed contender for the position of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton has claimed that leaving the European Union would allow the nation to become a 'strong and independent country'

His comments come ahead of President Trump's three-day state visit to the UK from June 3-5

During an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Bolton described the opportunity that Brexit would bring for the country.

Speaking to the paper he said: 'The US preference is for Britain to follow the course of what the people asked for and leave the EU. It is a lesson for everyone in the triumph of democracy.

'As a separate nation again, Britain's impact on the world has the prospect of being even greater.

'And from the US point of view, that is all to the good. I think it will help us... to have another strong and independent country that will help NATO to be more effective and that had to be a plus.'

Mr Bolton, who served as the Bush administration's US ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006, went on to describe how the next UK Prime Minister would need to work on a new trade deal with their overseas partner-the US.

Mr Bolton went on to describe how the next move for the new Prime Minister would be to strike a good trade deal with the US

During his interview, the politician also shared his support for the prime ministerial candidate Boris Johnson

Believing that a new trade deal that would leave both countries in a better position was the next move for the nation, Mr Bolton's comments come as Mrs May prepares to step down from her role as Prime Minister on June 7.

Her decision to resign comes after her withdrawal agreement with EU leaders failed on three occasions to gather the support of politicians in parliament.

During his interview, the author of 'Surrender Is Not an Option' also shared his admiration for the prime ministerial candidate and ex-foreign secretary Boris Johnson as he is pitted against his fellow Tory colleagues.

Also in the the line up in the race for Tory leader are Dominic Raab, Andrea Leadsom, Rory Stewart, Michael Gove, Matt Hancock, Jeremy Hunt, Esther McVey, Sajid Javid, Kit Malthouse and James Cleverly.

Mr Bolton's comments come as the UK prepares to welcome the US president to its British shores during a three-day visit from June 3-5-.

Trump, who has previously criticised Mrs May for not listening to his advice on how to strike a deal with the EU leaders, has also joined Mr Bolton in sharing his support for the former London Mayor during an interview with The Sun.

During the interview he said: 'I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.'
Police in Ibiza are investigating the alleged rape of a British man in the party resort of San Antonio.

The 27-year-old tourist told officers his sex attacker forced himself on him near the raucous West End area before stealing his phone.

Local press have described the suspect as a 'large black man.'

San Antonio de Portmany. San Antonio (also Sant Antoni) is the second largest town in Ibiza

The incident is said to have occurred around 10pm last Sunday, although details were only made public this morning as police in Majorca continued to hunt for a man who raped a 15-year-old British girl in a hotel sauna.

The youngster, who was on holiday with her family, was targeted after entering the sauna alone around 4pm on Monday.

Investigators are understood to have identified the man, believed to be foreign, but have yet to make any arrests.

The incident is said to have occurred around 10pm last Sunday, although details were only made public this morning

No-one from the Civil Guard in Majorca was available for comment early this morning.

Island paper Diario de Ibiza said the San Antonio incident had happened near a KFC take-away in the West End after the British man was thrown to the ground in a surprise attack.

Last month a large group of Brits were filmed fighting outside the take-away restaurant.

The incident is said to have occurred after a row between tourists and local drug dealers turned violent, although there is no suggestion any of the men seen brawling had been selling drugs.
The president of Australia's newest bikie gang has broken his cover to taunt police and claim his squad is rapidly growing.

Satudarah, meaning 'one-blood', is an organised outlaw motorcycle gang that was first set up in Moodrecht, Netherlands, in 1990 before spreading across the world.

The feared bikie gang has chapters all over Australia, and the president of the Gold Coast contingent claims the group continues to grow in numbers.

Pictured: The president of Satudarah's Gold Coast chapter, who identified himself as 'Salvatore'

Satudarah, meaning 'one-blood', is an organised outlaw motorcycle gang that was first set up in Moodrecht, Netherlands, in 1990 before spreading across the world

The president, who identified himself as 'Salvatore', spoke to the Gold Coast Bulletin to prove the gang has strength in numbers, amid reports the Western Australian chapter is in turmoil.

'There's been an article posted over in WA saying that the club has been split into two and they're going to war with each other. That's completely bulls***,' Salvatore said.

Salvatore's claims Satudarah has experienced rapid growth come after Queensland authorities attempted to boot organised motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) from the state with tough laws.

But Salvatore says it makes them 'laugh' when the news reports OMCGs have been run out of town.

'Maybe if they took off the laws where people couldn't wear their colours and consort, they'd know exactly who's who and where they are,' he said.

'Pushing us underground allows us to expand and they can't do s*** about it.'

Salvatore's claims Satudarah has experienced rapid growth come after Queensland authorities attempted to boot organised motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) from the state with tough laws

Salvatore defended the 'brotherhood' by saying that not everyone in the group engages with criminal behaviour

SATUDARAH Saturdah is an organised motorcycle gang that was first set up in Moodrecht, Netherlands in 1990. Dutch authorities have since outlawed the gang  calling them a threat to public order  and banned OMCGs from operating in the country. The group is understood to have about 44 chapters worldwide. They are mentioned in connection with drug and weapons trafficking where they set up operations. The name means 'one blood' in Indonesian and Malay and, unlike other outlaw motorcycle gangs, membership is open to all races and nationalities. Advertisement

Salvatore explained that most new members join the gang to be part of a 'brotherhood' but also happen to dislike police at the same time.

Salvatore defended the 'brotherhood' by saying that not everyone in the group engages with criminal behaviour.

Salvatore admitted there are members locked up in Queensland prisons but those who offend are not necessarily a reflection of the gang.

Unlike other outlaw motorcycle gangs, Satudarah's membership is open to all races and nationalities.

Salvatore, who identifies as having Italian, Slovenian and Cook Island heritage, said his group is 'unique' as it welcomes anyone along for a ride, as long as they don't use a postie bike.

He added that he's a family man, who works full time, and happened to fall in love with motorbikes and belonging to a group.
Labour's John McDonnell has admitted he 'cries all the time' as he attacked the Brexit Party and revealed he is a 'Remainer at heart' in a wide-ranging interview.

The Shadow Chancellor, a self-admitted Marxist who has three children and five grandchildren, described his parenting style as 'soft' and told how he cried when Jeremy Corbyn was shortlisted for the Labour leadership contest in 2015.

He said his constituents upset him the most - citing stories of people who have tried to kill themselves because of a loss of benefits - before going on to offer his thoughts on the success of Nigel Farage in the European elections.

In an interview with the Times Magazine, he also reaffirmed his pro-EU tendencies, saying: 'In my heart I'm a Remainer - I campaigned for Remain - but we have to respect the decision that was made.'

McDonnell also said that the Soviet Union 'was never socialism', claiming that socialists were the first people to go to the gulags in the USSR.

John McDonnell, pictured in Trafalgar Square in front of a banner of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin, has branded the Brexit Party a 'stepping stone to the far right'

On the topic of the rising popularity of Nigel Farage's new political party, he said: 'The issue for me on the Brexit Party is not where the votes are going, it's the nature of its politics... It gives a stepping stone for the far right and that's very worrying.

'We had that politics in this area for a long time, with the BNP and the National Front. I wouldn't want to be inflicted on the rest of society.'

His comments come after the Brexit Party's success at the European Parliament elections last month, with the new political force gaining nearly 31% of the vote - a comfortable first place with the Lib Dems in second with just under 20%.

McDonnell's Labour won 13.7 per cent of the vote.

On the topic of the rising popularity of Nigel Farage's new political party, McDonnell said: 'It gives a stepping stone for the far right and that's very worrying'

Farage, the Brexit Party founder, left his former party UKIP over its appointment of Tommy Robinson as an adviser.

The Shadow Chancellor went on to describe himself as 'working class', using the Marxist definition, as he does not 'own or control the means of production'.

He revealed his religious upbringing, growing up in in an Irish Catholic family in Liverpool, attending Mass every Sunday, becoming an altar boy and going on retreats with monks.

McDonnell attended a boarding school run by the De La Selle brothers and started training to become a priest, saying he misses the Latin, incense and 'drama' of it all.

He goes on to say that doubts began forming when he was 16 years old, adding that the New Testament is about 'transforming society' and 'tackling poverty', which he claims are 'embedded' in his socialism - adding that he always viewed Jesus as a socialist.

McDonnell has previously sparked outrage by making a call to honour people involved in the IRA's 'armed struggle', saying: 'It was the bombs and bullets and sacrifice made by the likes of Bobby Sands that brought Britain to the negotiating table. The peace we have now is due to the action of the IRA.'

In 2006 McDonnell voiced his belief that 'Marx, Lenin and Trotsky' were his 'most significant' intellectual influences, and he was one of the 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader in 2015.
A couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars has slowly been dropping down the Australian rich list because of the amount of money they have donated to charity.

Kay Van Norton Poche and her husband Greg, who live in Manly on Sydney's northern beaches, have given away $150million with the figure still climbing.

Once upon a time they were in the Forbes Top 50 rich list in Australia in 2015, though dropped off in 2016.

As Mrs Van Norton Poche explained, the couple found themselves with more money than they could spend in a lifetime after they sold their logistics business Star Track Express for $750million in 2003.

Manly couple Kay Van Norton Poche (right) and her husband Greg (left) have given away $150 million with the figure still climbing

Their most recent donation of $5 million to Many Hospital has allowed the site to build the country's first young adult hospice

'After the sale Greg and I looked at each other and we thought, 'oh my goodness this is 10 times over what we can spend in a lifetime, let's give it away, let's give it back to the country',' she told the Manly Daily.

Their most recent donation of $5 million to Many Hospital has allowed the site to build the country's first young adult hospice.

The Federal Government matched the generous donation and construction is slated for next year.

'There is nowhere like this for adults who need palliative care,' Mrs Van Norton Poche said at the time.

'There was a gap and we can do something about that and that's wonderful.'

The matter is close to the pair's hearts as Mr Poche has had to visit hospital time and again after suffering several strokes.

'We all suffer adversity in life but it is how you deal with that adversity,' Mrs Van Norton Poche said.

'We don't look at Greg's illness as devastating or tragic. If we did we wouldn't be able to go on.'

Mrs Van Norton Poche comes from humble beginnings as she grew up in Upstate New York as the daughter of a World War II veteran.

With very little in her family, she was taught how to give the most of what she had to other people.

She discovered the rewarding sensation that came from volunteering and the selfless benefits of charity.

Her husband Greg, born in Marrickville, mirrored his wife's sense of humility and has kept a low profile throughout his life and many charitable deeds.

Mrs Van Norton Poche comes from humble beginnings as she grew up in Upstate New York as the daughter of a World War II veteran

Her husband Greg, born in Marrickville, mirrored his wife's sense of humility and has kept a low profile throughout his life and his charitable deeds

He donated $40 million to kickstart the Melanoma Institute of Australia, which went relatively unnoticed.

He also donated $10 million to the University of Sydney help establish a Centre for Indigenous Health with outreach clinics across western NSW.

He remained anonymous at the outset, and only blew his cover when he learned talking about the issue would attract more donors to the cause.

Reporter Nicholas Way called him, 'the mystery man of Australian business... [who], almost incidentally, accumulated a huge fortune that places him among Australia's 20 richest people'.

His generosity has become folklore of sorts, with an anecdote capturing his passion for helping others.

He had been touring the University of Sydney and been so taken up with their centre for Indigenous Health that he wrote a cheque for $10million on the roof of his car.

His wife Mrs Van Norton Poche said that the pair did not feel gratified for all the money in the world.

That feeling of satisfaction simply came from helping people.

And Mrs Van Norton Poche is quick to brush aside the praise they have received for their philanthropy, saying they're not doing it for attention.

Rather, than generosity comes from the feeling that they're doing the right thing.
She already has four children from her marriages to actor Jude Law and Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp.

But now film producer Sadie Frost, 53, has revealed she has a 'secret fifth child' in a post to social media.

The gatekeeper of the famous Primrose Hill set praised 25-year-old Lucky Mthembu for being 'incredible' alongside a topless image of him on Instagram.

She met Lucky in an African orphanage when he was ten years old.

She said 'he is my 5th child', 'he calls me mom' and 'I love this boy' alongside revealing she had paid for his education and put him through film school.

With four children from her marriages to actor Jude Law and Spandau Ballets Gary Kemp, it could never be said that film producer Sadie Frost didnt have her hands full

She met Lucky in an African orphanage when he was ten years old. Pictured, Lucky in South Africa aged eight in 2002

She met actor Jude Law, 46, on set of the film Shopping in 1994, and the pair married in September 1997. They had three children together before divorcing in 2003. Finlay is a DJ and a member of the band Rivrs, while Rafferty and Iris are models

She wrote: 'This is my Lucky who I met 15 years ago. I put him through school and now college.

'He is my 5th child. He studied at film school and is an incredible director of photography. He calls me mom. I love this boy.'

The pair are now making a film together with other children from his orphanage and already have a director and most of the finance.

She added: 'The exciting thing is we have been writing a script and now we have a director, most of the finance and getting a great team.

Lucky posted this image with his girlfriend to Instagram with the caption: 'When we get serious, it's gonna get real'

The actress revealed with Finlay, 28, Rafferty, 22, Iris, 18, and Rudy, 16 slowly emptying the nest, she feels relieved at having her own space after 'worrying about domestic stuff for over 30 years'. Pictured with Sadie's mother Mary Davidson

'It's so exciting to give him and the other kids at the orphanage this opportunity.'

Lucky responded calling Sadie a 'beautiful human indeed' and 'the best mommy in the world' before saying 'I love you'.

He said: 'Thank you so much, you are such a beautiful human indeed.

'I know the people you met back in South Africa can't forget about your compassion towards others, your tenderness towards the broken and generosity to those in need.

'You my guardian Angel, when I needed a mother, alone and desperate you pulled through.

'Distance didn't matter, your family has given me love ever since.

The gatekeeper of the famous Primrose Hill set praised 25-year-old Lucky Mthembu for being 'incredible' alongside a topless image of him on Instagram

'I am happy that you gave chances, and I never wasted them... Because I know hard you work

'Best mommy in the world. The visits, the spoils. I love the kids, I Love You.'

It comes just months after the mother admitted she was 'ready' for her four biological children to move out of the family home in February.

The actress revealed with Finlay, 28, Rafferty, 22, Iris, 18, and Rudy, 16 slowly emptying the nest, she feels relieved at having her own space after 'worrying about domestic stuff for over 30 years'.

Lucky responded calling Sadie a 'beautiful human indeed' and 'the best mommy in the world' before saying 'I love you'

Speaking in an interview with The Times, she said: 'You know what? I'm ready for it. I love being a mum, but by the time Rudy leaves I'll have been worrying about domestic stuff for over 30 years and it will be my time.'

Sadie was previously married to Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp, 59. The couple married in 1988, welcomed son Finlay in 1990 and divorced in 1995.

She met actor Jude Law, 46, on set of the film Shopping in 1994, and the pair married in September 1997.

They had three children together before divorcing in 2003.

Finlay is a DJ and a member of the band Rivrs, while Rafferty and Iris are models.

Sadie has been dating boyfriend Darren Strowger for six years.
Veteran broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson was left fighting back tears as he opened up about the 'nightmare' of his father's death 44 years ago.

The former journalist, who became a national icon during his role as presenter of the BBC show Parkinson, revealed how he watched his father Jack Parkinson 'withering away' during his battle with the lung disease pneumoconiosis.

During an interview on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, Sir Michael, 84, went on to describe the devastating moment his father's body was taken away in a plastic bag following his death in 1975.

Sir Michael Parkinson, 84, was left fighting back tears as he opened up about losing his father Jack Parkinson to the lung disease pneumoconiosis

Jack Parkinson died in 1975 after being diagnosed with the disease which he developed after inhaling coal dust

During the candid interview, the former presenter shared how he and his mother Freda brought his father home to die after he was diagnosed with the disease which he developed after inhaling coal dust.

He told Piers Morgan: 'I'd never seen anybody I loved die and I saw my dad die.

He added: 'You could see him withering away. For a man as vigorous as he was, it was like watching leaves fall from a tree.

'The thing that kind of nags at me like a nightmare is that two guys came to take the body away.

'I see the image very clearly and I thought he's got to be worth a lot more than that... carrying him out in a little plastic bag.

'He knew how much I loved him. I never found it difficult to say that to him  nor he to me.'

Pneumoconiosis is typically caused by long-term inhalation and retention of dusts in the lungs and symptoms can include coughing with or without mucus and chest tightness.

During the interview, Sir Michael, who was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, also went on to describe the lasting impact his father had left on him.

Host Piers Morgan later told The Mirror: 'I wasn't expecting him to be so raw. He's a tough Northern gritty guy.'

Sir Michael also described the devastating moment his father's body was taken away in a plastic bag following his death

The veteran broadcaster is about to set off to Australia for his farewell tour An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson

During the honest interview, set to air tonight, the British icon was also asked about comments he had made last year about comedian Sir Billy Connolly in which he said his 'wonderful brain had dulled' following his Parkinson's diagnosis.

Questioning Sir Michael about the comments Piers Morgan asked: 'There's been a lot of stuff in the press about you two, you commented after seeing him that he just wasn't himself anymore, that he's been very ill.

Sir Michael replied: 'The observation I was making was that he slowed down a bit was not a diagnosis it was an observation from a friend to another friend.

'It was an awards thing I did with him and he was on heavy medication and he stopped me and he put his hands on my shoulder and he said to me ''how long have we known each other'' and I thought maybe wrongly he didn't really know who I was.'

The candid interview, which will air on ITV on June 1, will also see the former presenter address comments made last year about comedian Sir Billy Connolly

'I wrote him a letter and sat down and said there is no way in this world I would hurt you, no way I would deliberately demean you and I tried to explain and I got a lovely reply from him saying lets go back to how they were old friends.'

The interview comes as Sir Michael sets off to Australia for the final time in 2019 during his farewell tour 'An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson' that will take a retrospective look at his rise to fame.

Piers Morgans Life Stories will air on ITV on Saturday June 1 at 10pm.
Union bosses have slammed Israel Folau's sacking, saying he was 'hung out to dry'.

The Wallabies star, 30, became the first Australian sportsman sacked for religious beliefs after he posted on Instagram in April that gay people are going to hell.

Now a senior member of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) has supported the fired rugby star.

And the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association (ALAEA) has questioned Rugby Australia's sponsor Qantas and whether it influenced the decision.

Union bosses have slammed Israel Folau's sacking saying he was 'hung out to dry' and they would back members in religious disputes. Folau is pictured with his wife

CFMMEU NSW state secretary Darren Greenfield said Folau 'should not be hung out to dry' for voicing his religious beliefs, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

'Because it is different and left of field of what most people think and believe, he paid the price of his livelihood with it,' he said.

National president of the CFMMEU Tony Maher said: 'If we had a member who was sacked for their religious views, we would back them and do what we can for them'.

But Mr Maher admitted Folau's contract conditions were different from collective contracts agreed by unions.

Folau was deemed to have breached his contract by falling foul of Rugby Australia's code of conduct which said he must treat people equally.

Folau (pictured) breached an individual contract signed with the Wallabies, which would be quite different to collective contracts agreed by unions, according to Mr Maher

Senior members (pictured) of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) have come out in support of the fired rugby star

In a statement before Folau was sacked, Rugby Australia sponsor Qantas had said: '(Folau's) comments clearly don't reflect the spirit of inclusion and diversity that we support,' it said.

'We are pleased to see Rugby Australia's condemnation of the comments and will await the outcome of their review.'

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association federal secretary Steve Purvinas criticised the national airline for it's apparent influence over Folau's sacking.

'I don't think an airline should interfere with someone's employment,' Mr Purvinas said.

'I think Australians just want to enjoy their sport and we don't care what political or religious views they have.'

Folau said he is considering his legal options and may take the matter to court.
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Two guardsmen had to be helped to their feet after collapsing in sweltering heats during rehearsals for the Trooping the Colour ceremony today.

The Household Division soldiers, who had been taking part in a second round of rehearsals ahead the Queen's official birthday event next week on the Horse Guards Parade in London, had to be lifted to their feet after fainting in the capital's heat.

As the troops, who were dressed in full uniform, including a bearskin hat, took position the two guardsmen were seen falling to their knees as temperatures began to hit 77F in central London.

With their colleagues maintaining their position as the rehearsals came to a standstill, three comrades were seen rushing to one of the soldiers aid, removing his heavy bearskin hat and trying to bring him to his feet.

A guardsman from the Household Division falls to the ground as he takes part in the second round of rehearsals ahead of the Queen's official birthday

Officers stand in formation as a colleague rushes over to the faint solider and tries to lift him to his feet during the Colonel's Review

The troop, who had been taking part in rehearsals ahead the Queen's official birthday next week on Horse Guards Parade, falls to the ground

A second guardsman drops to his knees while taking part in the Colonel's Review- the second rehearsal for the Trooping the Colour parade

Three soldiers try to bring a second guardsman to his feet after he faints in the sweltering heats of the capital today

The second guardsman is helped to his feet after collapsing during rehearsals for the Trooping the Colour ceremony today in central London

As rehearsals were underway, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was seen inspecting the rather warm soldiers as he rode on his horse during The Colonel's Review.

Having taken over the role of Regimental Colonel of the Grenadier Guards from his father the Duke of Edinburgh, in 2017, the sighting marks the first time the royal has inspected the troops at the prestigious event.

The Colonel's Review is the second rehearsal for the Trooping the Colour parade, which dates back to 1748, and the procession can be viewed along The Mall or along the edge of St James's Park in London.

As the soldiers descended upon the capital's streets, crowds equipped with Union Jack flags could be seen gathering behind metal barriers to try and catch a glimpse of the momentous and colourful spectacle.

Last month up to 1,450 soldiers and 400 musicians lined up on the Horse Guards Parade off Whitehall for the first set of rehearsals for the Trooping the Colour parade which sees regiments of the British and Commonwealth flood the streets of the city to commemorate the Queen's birthday.

The Major General Review, which takes place two weeks before the Trooping the Colour, saw a total of 113 words of command be given by the Officer in Command of the Parade.

The official trooping, which takes place on June 8, will see the Queen's personal troops greet the reigning monarch by a Royal salute.

As the troops stand in formation a second guardsmen is seen falling to his knees as temperatures begin to hit 77F in London

Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, is seen inspecting the soldiers as he takes part in The Colonel's Review in London

A guardsman from the Household Division lies face first on the floor after fainting during rehearsals for the Trooping the Colour

Prince Andrew salutes troops during the Colonel's Review on June 1. The second rehearsal has already seen two guardsmen faint in the capital's sweltering heat

Prince Andrew rides on horseback as he salutes troops during the Colonel's Review which is is the second of two rehearsals ahead of Trooping The Colour

The Duke of York takes part in The Colonel's Review- the final rehearsal before next week's Trooping the Colour Parade

Prince Andrew inspects the troops at the prestigious event after taking over the role of Regimental Colonel of the Grenadier Guards from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh

Soldiers parade during the Colonel's Review on the mall in London just before the Duke of York, Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, salutes them

Soldiers and musicians take to the streets of London to rehearse at the Colonel's Review on June 1 ahead of the Queen's official birthday

Soldiers are greeted by crowds in central London as they take part in the Colonel's Review ahead of the Queen's official birthday

The Household Division take their position as rehearsals commence for the Trooping the Colour for the Colonel's Review

The Household Division rehearse in central London ahead of the Queen's official birthday next weekend

Soldiers parade during the Colonel's Review on the mall in London as two guardsmen are seen collapsing due to the increasing temperatures

Soldiers in uniform take formation as the rehearsals for the Trooping the Colour commence in the nation's capital

Guardsmen in bearskin hats march on the mall in London ahead the Queen's official birthday next weekend

After the bands have performed a musical 'troop', the Regimental Colour will be carried down the ranks and the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry will march past the monarch while The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, rank past.

The event will conclude with an RAF fly-past watched by members of the royal family from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

This is not the first time guardsmen have been left battling the rising temperatures during the annual event.

In 2017, at least five guardsmen had to be taken away by paramedics after falling out of their formation during the Trooping the Colour ceremony when temperatures soared to 82F (28C) in central London.

Earlier today forecasters predicted that southern England could see the hottest day of the year so far today with temperatures expected to reach 84.2F.

Soldiers and musicians march along the streets of London during the Colonel's Review on June 1. The day saw two guardsmen faint in the heat

Soldiers take formation and are watched by spectators in central London as they take part in the second of two rehearsals ahead of Trooping The Colour
An Australian woman is among eight trekkers missing after a massive avalanche in India's Himalayas.

Ruth McCance, from Sydney, and seven other climbers failed to return to base camp at Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India, on Sunday.

Ms McCance's group includes three men from the UK, two American men and an Indian guide.

A search was launched when the group did not return to the base and local mountaineers found their empty tents at a higher camp.

Ruth McCance, from Sydney, and seven other climbers failed to return to base camp at Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India, on Sunday

The group, which is led by experienced UK-based climber Martin Moran, last shared updates to social media on May 22. 'The Nanda Devi team has reached their second base camp at 4870m, their home for the next week,' the update said

Amid the search, the mountaineers reported an avalanche at the expedition's proposed route.

A spokesperson from The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Daily Mail Australia they are talking to the family of an Australian.

'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian that may be among a group of trekkers missing in the Nanda Devi area of India.'

'Due to privacy obligations, we are unable to provide further information.'

The group, which is led by experienced UK-based climber Martin Moran, last shared updates to social media on May 22.

'The Nanda Devi team has reached their second base camp at 4870m, their home for the next week,' the update said.

Ms McCance's group includes three men from the UK, two American men and an Indian guide

A spokesperson from The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Daily Mail Australia they are in communication with the family of an Australian

'After a recce of the route they will be making a summit attempt on an unclimbed peak at 6477m.'

Ms McCance had previously gone on climbs in India's Ladakh region.

Reports of the missing group come amid a horror climbing season where nine climbers have died on other 26,000 ft Himalayan peaks.

At Mount Everest, where queuing chaos has been blamed for fatalities, 11 climbers lost their lives in 13 days.

An Australian climber, who is now recovering in a Nepalese hospital, was rescued after he collapsed while climbing Everest.

Gilian Lee, a Canberra public servant, was 7500m up Everest when he suddenly collapsed and fell unconscious after complaining about chest pains.

Photos shared online show traffic chaos on the mountain as trekkers are forced to line up to climb the summit.
Nigel Farage, pictured today in Peterborough, said a friend in Washington informed him Theresa May's office had told Mr Trump's entourage: 'Don't meet this guy'

Nigel Farage says Theresa May has banned him from meeting Donald Trump - and has hit back at the Prime Minister for being 'petty' and 'small minded'.

The Brexit Party leader said Number 10 had told the US president's team not to meet him during his state visit  a move he branded 'absolutely ludicrous'.

Mr Farage, who is today in Peterborough to campaign for the constituency's by-election, said that a friend in Washington had informed him that Theresa May's office had told Mr Trump's entourage: 'Don't meet this guy.'

'It's absolutely ludicrous,' Mr Farage said.

'I know they're worried about their Conservative Party but given that I've got good connections to him and many of the team around him and that they're our biggest military ally, intelligence ally, and very important investor in each other's countries.

'Why would you want to prevent a meeting between someone who knows the president well?

'It's just extraordinary, it's small minded, petty and it's not putting the interests of the country first.'

Farage also said that the outcome of the Peterborough by-election will be 'even bigger' than the European elections in which his Brexit Party won 29 seats.

His party is the bookmakers' favourite to win the constituency, which has traditionally been a closely-fought battle between Labour and the Conservatives.

A Downing Street spokesman said: 'Who the President meets during his visit is of course a matter for him.'

Leader of the Brexit Party Nigel Farage addresses supporters during a rally at the The Broadway Theatre on June 01, 2019 in Peterborough

Pictured: Brexit Party chairman Richard Time poses with Nigel Farage at The Broadway Theatre in Peterborough

The Brexit Party leader said Number 10 had told Donald Trump's team not to meet him during his state visit  a move he branded 'absolutely ludicrous'. Above: the pair pictured together in Trump Tower, New York, in 2016, shortly after he was elected US President

The June 6 by-election was called after Peterborough's previous MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.

Onasanya was elected as a Labour MP and was later suspended from the party after she was sentenced.

Mr Farage, speaking at a packed rally in Peterborough on Saturday, said the by-election is 'the opportunity for the next chapter in this great story' following the European elections.

He said he thought the Brexit Party 'must be doing quite well' as former prime minister Gordon Brown visited Peterborough this week to campaign for Labour.

'It shows you that our political establishment were absolutely mortified by what happened last Sunday (in the European elections),' he said.

'But in some ways what happens here on Thursday (in the by-election) is even bigger.'

He said the Labour Party has a 'very good, well-honed by-election campaign machine' and has been working the ground for 'many months'.

Urging party supporters against complacency, he added: 'Don't underestimate how hard the Labour Party will try.'

Mr Farage said that a friend in Washington had informed him that Theresa May's office had told Mr Trump's entourage: 'Don't meet this guy'. Above: Farage with Trump in Mississippi in 2016 before he spoke at the then candidate's campaign rally during his presidential campaign

Mr Farage also said that if his party's candidate, Mike Greene, a businessman who has appeared on Channel 4's Secret Millionaire, becomes the first Brexit Party MP then 'we will have them on the run'.

The Brexit Party has not published a manifesto, and Mr Farage was asked about future policies during a Q&A segment.

He said he would be 'on the side of' small businesses, would campaign to get rid of 'ridiculous, expensive vanity projects like HS2' and achieve Brexit.

He added: 'If we don't leave the EU on October 31 in a way that is recognisable to those that voted for Brexit, then I predict the end of a two-party system that now serves nothing but itself and not this country.'

Asked about Mr Trump's comments that Boris Johnson would be an 'excellent' choice to replace Mrs May as Conservative Party leader, Mr Farage said: 'He obviously likes Boris, and he obviously thinks Boris believes in Brexit.

'Trump is clearly a Brexiteer  he's never made any bones about that, so yeah he likes Boris. He quite likes Jeremy Hunt by the sounds of it too.'

Mr Trump will be in the UK for a three-day visit from June 3-5, and earlier this week said Mr Farage was a 'friend of mine' and a 'good guy'.

The Brexit Party leader said he knew for 'absolute fact' that Mr Trump had been asked to avoid him, telling MailOnline Mrs May was putting 'Conservative Party unity' above the 'national interest'.

It comes after Mr Trump praised Mr Farage and Boris Johnson as 'big powers' and 'friends' in Washington earlier this week, saying he might meet the two of them during his three-day visit.

Claiming the government had urged Mr Trump not to see him, Mr Farage said: 'I have been told that from Washington on very very good source.

'Ask Downing Street to deny it.

'You would have thought given our security relationship, our defence relationship, our trade relationship that if this county has somebody who is a friend of the US president and without doubt the closest connected of anybody in this country that this could be used as a resource.

Despite claims that Mrs May's office had 'banned' Farage from seeing Trump, a Downing Street spokesman said who the President meets with 'is of course a matter for him'

'And yet the Conservative Party's unity comes first. She is putting the Conservative Party's wellbeing above the national interest in this case - it is a simple as that.

'He has got a difficult balance. The Queen is normally the head of this, he loves the Queen. It is a difficult situation for him.'

What is happening during Trump's state visit to the UK? Monday, June 3 The Queen, joined by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, officially welcome The President and Mrs Trump at Buckingham Palace. Royal Gun Salutes fired in Green Park and at the Tower of London. Private lunch at Buckingham Palace for the President and First Lady, hosted by Queen with Duke of Sussex Tour of Westminster Abbey, where President will lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. Afternoon tea with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence House. Full state banquet at Buckingham Palace Tuesday, June 4 Business breakfast meeting at St James's Palace with Theresa May and Duke of York. Talks at No10 Downing Street followed by lunch with Mrs May, and a joint press conference. President and Mrs Trump host a return dinner at Winfield House, official residence of the US Ambassador. Wednesday, June 5 National Commemorative Event for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Portsmouth, alongside over 300 D-Day veterans. Advertisement

On Thursday the US President said he 'may' hold talks with Mr Farage and Mr Johnson, saying: 'Nigel Farage is a friend of mine. Boris is a friend of mine.

'They are two very good guys, very interesting people.

'Nigel has had a big victory, he has picked up 32 per cent of the vote starting from nothing (in EU elections).

'I think they are big powers over there, I think they have done a good job.'

Mr Johnson is the apparent frontrunner to enter Number 10 this summer after Theresa May resigned, admitting she had failed to deliver Brexit.

But there are deepening divisions between Conservative Party factions over how best to deliver Brexit, with Jeremy Hunt and others warning that trying to force No Deal would be political 'suicide', and Mr Johnson stating that the UK should leave the bloc by the end of October with or without a deal.

When asked if he was supporting Mr Johnson and Mr Farage, Mr Trump said: 'They are friends of mine but I haven't thought about supporting them... I have a lot of respect for both of those men'.

On his previous visit to the UK last July, Mr Trump hailed the qualities of Mr Johnson, who had just resigned as foreign secretary, calling him 'a very talented guy' who would make a 'great prime minister'.

The President said at the time: 'I was very saddened to see he was leaving government and I hope he goes back in at some point. I think he is a great representative for your country.'

Nigel Farage was famously the first senior UK politician to meet Mr Trump after he was elected - and the two were seen posing together by the golden elevator in his New York penthouse.
The president of the Philippines told a crowd in Japan he used to be gay but was cured by 'beautiful women' - before inviting four women on stage to kiss him.

President Rodrigo Duterte, 74, began his speech on Thursday by telling the crowd his critic Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was 'similar' to him because they were both gay.

But, he said, he had actually been 'cured' by beautiful women and 'became a man again' when he married his first wife Elizabeth Zimmerman, according to CNN Philipines.

Beginning his speech in front of the Filipino community in Japan he invited three attractive women standing at the side of the room to take empty seats at the front.

He went on to say someone gay had told him that based on the senator's movements, his critic Trillanes is homosexual, Rappler reported.

President Rodrigo Duterte, 74, began his speech on Thursday by telling the crowd his critic Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was 'similar' to him because they were both gay

'I said, "Are you sure?" They said, "You ask any gay person who sees Trillanes move, they'll say he's gay." No wonder. Good thing Trillanes and I are similar. But I cured myself,' he said.

He added: 'When I began a relationship with Zimmerman, I said, this is it. I became a man again.'

Elizabeth Zimmerman, 71, was married to President Duterte from 1973 until 2000 and they had two children together.

But it was his long-term girlfriend Honeylet Avancena, 49, who sat behind him as he finished his speech by inviting four women on stage to receive a kiss on the cheek

As he invited them up he explained he was only looking for unmarried women of an appropriate age

He said: 'First you shouldn't be married okay. Second you are not a minor. You ma'am. You want a smooch?'

The fourth women accepts a kiss on the cheek from Duterte as he ends his speech

But it was his long-term girlfriend Honeylet Avancena, 49, who sat behind him as he finished his speech by inviting four women on stage to receive a kiss on the cheek.

As he invited them up he explained he was only looking for unmarried women of an appropriate age.

He said: 'First you shouldn't be married okay. Second you are not a minor. You ma'am. You want a smooch?

Beginning his speech in front of the Filipino community in Japan he invited three attractive women standing at the side of the room to take empty seats at the front

'Those four come here. Let them come up. Let them in.'

Duterte has previously used terms like 'bakla' and 'bayot' - meaning gay - as insults towards his political enemies.

This is despite also saying the bible should recognise homosexuality.

He is also inconsistent with his views on gay marriage. In 2017 he said under Filipino law marriage was only between a man and a woman.

But by the end of the same year he told an LGBT gathering he thinks the law can change to allow same-sex marriage.

During Thursday's speech Duterte professed his love for Ms Avancena (right), calling her his 'one and only'. He recalled how he asked her to return to the Philippines from the US where she was working, when they found out she was pregnant with their daughter Veronica (left)

During Thursday's speech Duterte professed his love for Ms Avancena, calling her his 'one and only'.

The couple met in 1998 when she was runner-up of Mutya ng Dabaw - an annual beauty pageant - and he was a first-term mayor of Davao City.

He recalled how he asked her to return to the Philippines from the US where she was working, when they found out she was pregnant with their daughter Veronica in 2003.
Child sex abuse allegations in the Catholic Church double in the last year in yet another damning blow for the Vatican, as the U.S. branch of the church was forced to admit it paid out more than $300 million in compensation to victims.

During the period from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018, 1,385 adults came forward with 1,455 allegations of abuse, according to the annual report of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection.

That was up from 693 allegations in the previous year. The report attributed much of the increase to a victim compensation program implemented in five dioceses in New York state.

A sexual abuse victim points to the photos of Catholic priests accused of sexual misconduct by victims during a news conference in Orange, California. On Friday, May 31, 2019, the U.S. Catholic Church says that allegations of child sex-abuse by clergy more than doubled in its latest 12-month reporting period

According to the report, Catholic dioceses and religious orders spent $301.6 million during the reporting period on payments to victims, legal fees and child-protection efforts.

That was up 14 percent from the previous year and double the amount spent in the 2014 fiscal year.

The number of allegations is likely to rise further during the current fiscal year, given that Catholic dioceses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania have started large compensation programs in the wake of a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report released in August.

The grand jury identified more than 300 priests in six of the state's dioceses who have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse committed over many decades.

Since then, attorneys general in numerous states have set up abuse hotlines and launched investigations, and a growing number of dioceses and Catholic religious orders have released names of priests accused of abuse.

'Victims are coming forward now because of real progress by secular authorities,' said the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. 'Lawmakers are increasingly getting rid of archaic, predator-friendly laws and 16 attorneys general have launched investigations, so many victims are feeling hopeful.'

The advocacy group urged officials in every diocese to turn over sex abuse records to their state attorney general for investigation. The group also said church staff should be instructed to report suspected abuse to secular law enforcement before filing a report internally.

According to the report, Catholic dioceses and religious orders spent $301.6 million during the reporting period on payments to victims, legal fees and child-protection efforts (file image)

According to a survey included in the new annual report, more than 90 percent of the alleged abusers were already dead or removed from the ministry. Most of the reported abuse occurred between 1960 and 1990, with a peak in the 1970s.

Compilation of the annual report entails an audit of Catholic dioceses across the U.S. to assess their compliance with a 2002 charter outlining the church's child-protection policies. Only one diocese, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, was found noncompliant due to lack of transparency in public communications about child sex abuse cases.

Members of the audit team made on-site visits to more than one-third of the 196 U.S. dioceses and found shortcomings in 14 percent of them that will warrant follow-up visits.

Among the problems detected were poor record-keeping of background-check data, and allowing some clergy, staff and volunteers to have contact with children without undergoing training or background checks.

The findings were evidence of 'complacency and lack of diligence on the part of some dioceses,' said a letter included in the report from Francesco Cesareo, who chairs a review board created by the bishops in 2002 to monitor sex abuse prevention efforts.
An American director has supported the decision by Indigenous NRL players who refuse to sing the national anthem.

Spike Lee said it is 'more power to them' after Indigenous stars Cody Walker and Josh Addo-Carr, playing for New South Wales in the State of Origin, vowed to stay silent during Advance Australia Fair.

'Sports has, I feel, always been a vehicle to move society forward,' he told SBS.

Spike Lee said it is 'more power to them' after Indigenous stars vowed to stay silent during Advance Australia Fair

Josh Addo-Carr said he will stay silent during the national anthem at State of Origin

Cody Walker said he will stay silent during the national anthem at State of Origin

Poll Do you think Indigenous players should stay silent during the national anthem? Yes No Unsure Do you think Indigenous players should stay silent during the national anthem? Yes 63 votes

No 169 votes

Unsure 15 votes Now share your opinion





Mr Lee said every culture deserves to be represented and that people need to tell their stories.

'People of colour have caught hell through history, I don't think that's any different here in Australia, not to knock the country. That's worldwide.'

'We've got to move forward. So you want to be on the right side of history, not the wrong side.'

Walker said he will remain silent because the national anthem does not represent him.

'I'm not pushing my view on anyone, it's just how me and my family have grown up and how I feel,' he told the Herald.

Mr Lee said every culture deserves to be represented and that people need to tell their stories (pictured is Josh Addo Carr)

'I'm not pushing my view on anyone, it's just how me and my family have grown up and how I feel,' Walker said

Addo-Carr said he respected Walker's position and would join him in remaining silent during the singing of the national anthem during the first game of State of Origin.

'We are Australians too. Indigenous people were the first people here, on the land,' Addo-Carr told Sydney Morning Herald.

'The anthem doesn't represent us as Indigenous people. We have to change it.

'I am a proud Australian man but a proud Indigenous man, too. If it's not going to stand for my people, why should I sing it?'

Queensland star Will Chambers came out and said he would also not sing.

'I will do my bit and stand up for my people,' Chambers said.

Former NSW player Anthony Mundine has also called on non-indigenous players to stand in solidarity with indigenous players

Former NSW player Anthony Mundine has also called on non-indigenous players to stand in solidarity with indigenous players.

'That would be unbelievable, because they (also) want change. Because generally, people are good people,' Mundine told news.com.au.

'All white fellas ain't bad. They see the Aboriginal people's plight, they see what's going on; the oppression. Within the justice system, kids are getting locked up. How limited the opportunities for Aboriginal people and how many opportunities there are for caucasian white fellas.

'It's hard, but if they stood with them it would be a lot more powerful movement for what they're trying to do, because then you've got both sides of the fence taking one action.'
US Representative Devin Nunes has called the Mueller report a 'fraud' after learning parts that suggest obstruction of the probe from President Trump's team were redacted.

This week more information from the investigation led by Robert Mueller was made public.

A Twitter account shared on Friday, grabs alleging that in the report some vital details were missing from of a November 2017 voicemail left by former Trump lawyer John Dowd for a legal representative for former national security adviser Michael Flynn in the Russia investigation.

In the report it included that Dowd said: 'If there's information that implicates the President, then we've got a national security issue, so, you know,  we need some kind of heads up'.

But it didn't state that the 'heads up' would help them 'deal with' anything that could be presented as a problem for Trump or the United States.

US Representative Devin Nunes says the full Mueller report backup documents should be released after it was shown elements of a transcript involving John Dowd (left) were missing

Nunes called the Mueller report 'all a fraud' in a tweet on Friday and said we need source documentation

The full transcript allegedly reads: 'I understand that you can't join the joint defense; so that's one thing. If, on the other hand, we have, there's information that  implicates the president, then we've got a national security issue, or maybe a national security issue, I don't know  some issue, we got to  we got to deal with, not only for the president, but for the country. So  uh  you know, then-then, you know, we need some kind of heads-up.'

Dowd's voicemail for lawyer Rob Kelner allegedly goes on to say that it's 'for the sake of protecting all our interests, if we can, without you having to give up any... confidential information.'

California politician Nunes commented on grabs of the two versions: 'This is why we need all backup and source documentation for the #muellerdossier released publicly. It's all a fraud...'

Flynn's lawyers returned the message the following day and said they were no longer in a position to share information under any sort of privilege  acknowledging the joint agreement was over. Flynn's lawyers said Trump's personal counsel 'was indignant and vocal in his disagreement,' according to the report.

'The President's personal counsel said that he interpreted what they said to him as a reflection of Flynn's hostility towards the President and that he planned to inform his client of that interpretation,' according to the report, which cited an interview with Flynn's counsel.

Flynn's lawyers took it as an attempt to make them reconsider' their position.

Dowd said in a voicemail 'we got to deal with' it 'not only for the president, but for the country'. President Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Attorney General William Barr last week

Dowd said: 'If there's information that implicates the President, then we've got a national security issue  we need some kind of heads up'

Dowd's voicemail goes on to say that it's 'for the sake of protecting all our interests, if we can, without you having to give up any... confidential information'

Flynn went on to plead guilty in 2018 to lying about having contacts with the Russians.

He is awaiting sentencing after providing what prosecutors said was extensive cooperation.

Flynn shared with the government a number of instances 'that could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of his cooperation,' two U.S. attorneys said in a sentencing document last year.

Judge Sullivan also ordered that Flynn's conversations with former Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak be posted, but they remained under seal.

Michael Flynn (left) went on to plead guilty in 2018 to lying about having contacts with the Russians. But in 2017 his lawyer Robert Kelner (right) told Dowd they were 'no longer in a position to share information under any sort of privilege'

However there was found to be no collusion with the Russians from Trump following the Mueller report, which did not reflect any conflict of interest between the former national security adviser's lawyer and Dowd.

'This is clearly a baseless, political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people,' Dowd responded in a Friday statement.

Since the no collusion outcome, Trump has ordered the launch of investigations into whether agencies illegally obtained information on him.

Trump and other Republicans have alleged the FBI spied on him.
This is the moment an alleged gunman on the run from police steals a ute from an innocent tradesman.

The tradesman, 41, was loading up his Toyota Landcruiser when a man in a black hoodie came running down his drive way in North Beach in Perth on Friday afternoon.

'Give us the keys bro, give us the keys!' the hoodied man said in a video the victim recorded.

The chase finally came to a stop when the driver was arrested at Charles Street (pictured) in West Perth

The chase began after two men allegedly stole a black Holden Astra in Cannington in Perth's south east.

The Astra evaded police at 1.45pm on Welshpool Road in Welshpool, about 10 minutes away from where the car was stolen.

It was next seen dangerously weaving through oncoming traffic at a busy intersection in Yokine on the other side of the city.

The Police Air Wing and cars continued chasing north west until they finally stopped Holden in North Beach.

One man jumped out the car and ran away on foot while the other surrendered and was arrested by officers.

After the tradesman's white Landcruiser was stolen, police chased it to Joondalup, 20 minutes north of the city.

The ute's tires were blown after it was hit with stingers, which slowed it down.

The chase finally came to a stop when the driver was arrested at Charles Street in West Perth.

A man, 26, was charged with reckless driving, possessing a firearm, stealing a motor vehicle and possessing a prohibited drug (methyl amphetamine).

A 35-year-old man was charged with aggravated robbery.

Neither of the men applied for bail and have been remanded in custody after they appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday.

The victim has been to visit his Toyota Landcruiser, which has multiple dents and shredded tyres from the police stingers.

His tools have been returned to him after they fell out of his ute during the chase.
Jeremy Corbyn refused to comment whether his friend will be kicked out of the Labour Party after he was alleged to have made anti-Semitic comments.

Senior Labour official Pete Willsman was suspended on Friday after a video of him making allegedly anti-Semitic comments was released.

The Labour Party has launched an investigation into Willsman - who is a member of the party's ruling National Executive Committee.

However, Corbyn, who was on the campaign trail canvassing in Peterborough ahead of a by-election, refused to address the situation.

The by-election was caused following a recall petition by voters angry over their former MP Fiona Onasanya being jailed for lying about a speeding offence.

Jeremy Corbyn takes part in a walkabout in the run up to the Peterborough by-election

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigning in Peterborough ahead of the upcoming by-election

Corbyn was in Peterborough supporting Labour candidate Lisa Forbes.

Labour is defending a 607 majority over the Conservatives, although Nigel Farage's Brexit party is the bookie's favourite to take the seat next week.

Ignoring questions about the anti-Semitism crisis in the party, Corbyn said: 'This election campaign is about asserting those core Labour values.

'A Labour government will end austerity, a Labour government will invest in the future and a Labour government will deal with the crucial issue that we all face, that of climate change and the environment.'

He said the local council could start by addressing fly tipping.

Labour's by-election candidate is Unite activist Lisa Forbes.

Mr Corbyn continued: 'When we fight this election, yes of course we fight it on the local issues, but we also fight it on what we the Labour Party want to, and are determined to, achieve for all of the young people in this country.

'A national education service, education as a right not as a commodity from cradle to grave, impose an increase in corporate taxation in order to end student debt because of excessive levels of student fees.

'In this campaign we support Lisa who will be a wonderful MP. We take that core Labour message out to all the doors of bringing our society and our community together, to protect jobs... to ensure we maintain that trading relationship with our nearest neighbours in Europe and to ensure that we get a Labour government at the end of this.'

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party's prospective parliamentary candidate Lisa Forbes talk to supporters in the run up to the Peterborough by-election

The constituency has historically been a close-run battle between Labour and the Conservatives

Corbyn and Lisa Forbes. Corbyn said that winning the by-election would be a 'good step towards getting a general election and a Labour government'

He said that winning the by-election would be a 'good step towards getting a general election and a Labour government'.

The Peterborough by-election was called after MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out by a recall petition after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.

Onasanya was elected as a Labour MP but was later suspended from the party after being sentenced.

As he left the rally, Mr Corbyn refused to answer questions about senior Labour official Pete Willsman, who was suspended on Friday over alleged anti-Semitic comments caught on tape.

Mr Corbyn told journalists: 'It's good of you to come here and report on the by-election.'

A party supporter said as she walked past: 'The anti-Semitism stuff - it's all made up.'

The Peterborough by-election was called after MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out by a recall petition

Corbyn has a selfie while campaigning with the party's prospective parliamentary candidate Lisa Forbes (right) and local councillor Shabina Qayyum (left)

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigning with local councillor Shabina Qayyum in Peterborough

In a recording obtained by LBC, Willsman is alleged to have said: 'It's almost certain who is behind all this anti-Semitism against Jeremy. Almost certainly, it was the Israeli embassy.'

Willsman was suspended from the party yesterday in the latest of a string of problems for labour.

Either way, Corbyn set about campaigning in the Peterborough constituency, which has historically been a close-run battle between Labour and the Conservatives.

However, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is attempting to gain a foothold in Westminster and is the bookmakers' favourite.

The Peterborough by-election was called after MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out by a recall petition after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.

Onasanya was elected as a Labour MP but was later suspended from the party after being sentenced.

Later Corybn attacked US President Donald Trump, accusing him of trying to adversely influence British politics

He said: 'President Trump's attempt to decide who will be Britain's next prime minister is an entirely unacceptable interference in our country's democracy, he said.

'The next prime minister should be chosen not by the US president, nor by 100,000 unrepresentative Conservative Party members, but by the British people in a general election.'
In the holy city of Islam, three summits in two days: the Gulf Council (GCC), the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). King Salman asks to use "all means" to block the "Iranian regime". For Iraqis, the stability of an Islamic nation is in everyones "interest". King of Morocco absent, confirming internal divisions.

Mecca (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Saudi King Salman's attempt to create a common anti-Iranian front has broken before Iraqi opposition, during the two-day summit of the Arab world, May 30 to 31 in Mecca, the holy city of Islam. In his address the monarch launched an appeal to the international community, to use "all means" to prevent the "Iranian regime" from "interfering in the internal affairs" of other countries and "hosting regional and global terrorists".

The leader of the Wahhabi kingdom, Tehran's political and religious historical rival (Sunni and Shiite) in the Middle East, spoke of an "escalation" of attacks by the Islamic Republic, mentioning some recent naval incidents of an unclear nature in the Gulf waters. Added to this are the attacks by the Houthi rebels in Yemen against the Saudi border pipelines, which Riyadh accuses Iran of being involved in.

While stressing the intention to guarantee "peace in the region" and that "hands remain outstretched" towards dialogue, King Salman is ready to use force to protect national interests [read oil] from external attacks. And to prevent, along with the US and Israeli allies, the Shiite rival from strengthening its missile arsenal and nuclear capabilities.

Iranian leaders rejected the words of King Salman as "groundless" and part of an "effort to mobilize public opinion" towards a war with Tehran. The possible conflict between the Islamic Republic and the Americans (and their allies) therefore remains one of the hot topics on the table of regional governments, which are, however, internally divided on the issue.

The condemnation expressed by Riyadh was strongly contested by Baghdad, which warned the leaders present about the dangers of a new war in the region and did not want to sign today's final statement at the end of the summit.

In his speech Iraqi President Barham Salih recalled that Iran is a Muslim and neighboring country. "We do not want it struck in its security - he said - because we share 1400 km of border and numerous economic and diplomatic relations". "In all honesty - he concluded - the security and stability of a neighboring Islamic nation is of interest to all Muslim and Arab states".

During the two-day summit in Mecca, three different summits were held - two of which were anti-Iran emergency summits - following the impetus of King Salman and the presence of over 50 heads of state and government. Yesterday the Gulf Council (GCC) and the Arab League Council were scheduled, while today the 14th session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was held. Finally, in the final communique it is recalled that for the attainment of regional stability the birth of an independent Palestinian state is necessary, according to the boundaries drawn in 1967 which include Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Among the absent, confirming the fractures and divisions, the king of Morocco who in recent times broke relations with Riyadh. At the same time, Qatar has sent the Prime Minister and not the reigning emir, a sign that the economic and diplomatic rift in progress since 2017 has not yet been completely healed, although tensions between the US and Iran have favored a rapprochement of positions.
A Florida man was arrested after he allegedly shot his lover during a sex act with his own gun, authorities say.

Andrew Charles Shinault, 23, allegedly shot the woman - who was said to be in her 20s - while 'engaging in an act of foreplay involving his registered hand gun', police said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said deputies were called to Shinault's residence in Valrico, east of Tampa, where he was arrested. He was later charged with manslaughter.

The woman was shot in her upper body. She was transported to the Brandon Regional Hospital but later died from the injury.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office stated in a release that 23-year-old Andrew Charles Shinault was charged with manslaughter on Sunday

Shinault has been booked into the Orient Road Jail on a $50,000 bond.

The victim's identity has not been released under Marsy's law, the sheriff's department said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

Shinault lives at the residence with his parents.
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Thousands of Hells Angels bikers descended on the UK, with 34 arrested during a three-day event marking the motorcycle club's 50th anniversary in Britain.

Police in Surrey and Sussex say the members were detained on suspicion of drug offenses and possession of offensive weapons in connection with the Hells Angels Euro Run 2019.

Among those arrested, 12 people - five Germans, three Hungarians, and one person each from Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic and Greece - have been charged.

Authorities say they have been very clear with people attending the Hells Angels event, many from overseas, that 'we will not tolerate criminal and anti-social behavior'.

Police in Surrey and Sussex say 34 people were detained on suspicion of drug offenses and possession of offensive weapons in connection with the Hells Angels Euro Run 2019

Police escort members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club as they make their way towards Brighton, southern England, Saturday June 1, 2019

Thousands of Hells Angels bikers take part in a three-day event to mark the club's 50th anniversary in the UK

The scene at the motorway services station on the M25 where a group of Hells Angels were stopped by police and search leading to a number of arrests

Around 3,000 bikers were expected to take part in a 22-mile mass ride Saturday from Pease Pottage to Brighton, the highlight of the event.

Seven appeared in court on Friday and were given suspended prison sentences, while five more are due to appear in court on Saturday.

Three others remain in custody and the rest were either cautioned or released without charge.

Despite thousands of bikers being expected by police, sources say numbers were less than planned for.

Assistant chief constable Nev Kemp, leading policing operations, said: 'Although this is a private event, we expect the HAMC celebrations to have an impact on the local road network in parts of East Surrey and West Sussex as large groups of motorcyclists travel to and from the venue.

'The 'ride out' planned for the 1 June will also see several hundred motorcyclists riding in a large convoy which will cause some traffic disruption on the route down to Brighton and back.

'In the interests of public safety, police outriders will accompany the convoy and temporarily hold traffic at key points to keep them together and try to minimise the overall impact on other road users. However, on such a busy weekend, I would urge anyone planning to travel along the A23 stretch between Gatwick and Brighton that afternoon to allow extra time and consider alternative routes.'

The world's most famous motorcycle club have a rich history in the UK, with the first two charters being issued in July 1969.

Seven appeared in court on Friday and were given suspended prison sentences, while five more are due to appear in court on Saturday

Despite thousands of bikers being expected by police, sources say numbers were less than planned for - though the police presence remained high

Around 3,000 bikers were expected to take part in a 22-mile mass ride Saturday from Pease Pottage to Brighton, the highlight of the celebration

Famously, the Beatles were partly behind the expansion of the Hells Angels to Britain, with George Harrison inviting members of HAMC San Francisco to stay at Apple Records in London in 1968.

A film released in 2017 revealed the story behind the Hells Angels visit to the Beatles-run Apple Records and, remarkably, member Pete Knell threatened to smash his fist into John Lennons face - after he had already knocked out another party guest.

He was calmed down before he could punch Lennon, who was dressed as a Santa Claus suit, and the incident helped to grow the fame of the motorcycle club.

Bike fans all over the world started imitating the look of the Hells Angels in the late 1960s, particularly in England.

The world's most famous motorcycle club have a rich history in the UK, with the first two charters being issued in July 1969

The Beatles were partly behind the expansion of the Hells Angels to Britain, with George Harrison inviting members of HAMC San Francisco to stay at Apple Records in London in 1968

The group have also maintained they are a single club and not an organisation for every motorcycle fan and this led them to expand over the world.

Even though San Francisco was 8,000 miles away from London, the club decided to start a chapter there.

To do this, two people traveled from England to the club's base in California to join the club as 'prospects'.

Prospects are required to follow instructions from full members, no matter what they ask, if they wish to graduate to full membership.

Two London charters were then issued on July 30, 1969 with one established in South London and the other in East London.

In 1973 the two charters came together as one, simply called London.
A former undercover cop has revealed the heart-stopping moment his cover was almost blown in a bikie sting that could have cost him his life.

Andrew Curran went into a Rebels safehouse in Green Valley, western Sydney, in 1997.

He was posing as a customer hoping to buy speed off the gang's supplier, Vince*.

Andrew Curran had dropped by a Rebel's safehouse in Green Valley, in western Sydney, in 1997 (stock image)

He had met Vince before - but began to get nervous when the meeting felt different, he told The Daily Telegraph.

Curran had driven his car to the bikie headquarters.

He parked his car in the driveway and walked through the front door.

A group of Vince's accomplices were sitting around a plastic table, their eyes leering at him.

Vince checked his pockets and said he couldn't find the package on him which was strange because he kept the drugs on his person when he knew he was about to sell.

He told Curran to follow him into the kitchen and the suspicious operative followed him.

Thinking that his cover had been blow and his time was up, Curran watched as Vince ruffled through the kitchen drawers.

'I could see my shirt vibrating because my heart was beating so hard,' he said.

'I was waiting for him to pull out a knife or a gun.'

He was posing as a buyer and hoped to buy speed off one of the outlaw motorcycle gang's supplier, Vince (stock image)

Then the bikie looked through the window and noticed a passenger sitting in Curran's car.

He flew into a rage, angry that Curran would have brought a stranger to his house.

The man in the car was an operative, but Curran convinced the bikie it was his buyer.

And that's when a calmed Vince told him to come back to the house in 20 minutes.

Curran slowly walked out of the house, expecting to be hit on the back of the head.

Though the dreaded blow never came. He was in the clear, for now.

Curran had joined the NSW Undercover Branch in 1995, intent on infiltrating the bikie gang and making a dent to their illicit drug trade.

Operatives like Curran and the exact details of their jobs are shrouded in mystery for their own safety.

Their undercover headquarters - a small shop somewhere in NSW - are so secretive that not even cleaners are allowed onto the premises.

Instead, officers must mop the floors and clean the kitchen after themselves.

Operatives are given a completely new identity - a new driver's licence, birth certificate and entry into the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

With their alias comes a family history and layered backstory, all of which must be memorised to the last detail.

Curran had spent a great deal of time honing his new identity so he could be prepared to penetrate the bikie gang.

Thinking that his cover had been blow and his time was up, Curran watched on as Vince ruffled through the kitchen drawers looking for the drugs (stock image)

The upstart had been introduced to Vince through another informant - a small-time crook who cut deals with police in exchange for impunity.

But one day officers caught the informant driving a stolen car. The man threatened police he would rat on Curran if they didn't drop the charges.

'A lot of criminals who are too afraid to kill a police officer are not afraid to kill an informant,' Curran said.

Curran fully expected to be pulled off the case, and his months of work to go down the drain.

But his seniors told him to still meet with Vince at his safe house and buy the speed.

*Name changed.
A young woman died in northern California after she lost her footing while taking photos at Eagle Falls near Lake Tahoe.

The woman, who was not immediately identified, was taking images at the falls in Emerald Bay, on the west side of Lake Tahoe in the northeastern part of the state, officials said.

She then lost her footing and went over, the North Tahoe Fire Protection District said in a statement.

A young woman died in northern California after she lost her footing while taking photos at Eagle Falls near Lake Tahoe

The agency did not say whether she was taking a selfie or long distance shots, but they urged the public to be careful while taking pictures.

She accessed the falls at Highway 89 near Emerald Bay, which has a drop of about 150 feet from that point.

It said: 'This is a sad reminder to be cautious when taking selfies and other photos in dangerous areas.

'Don't under estimate the power of water falls, rivers, and cold water temperatures.'

The woman, who was not immediately identified, was taking pictures at the falls in Emerald Bay, on the west side of Lake Tahoe in the northeastern part of the state, officials said

The Tahoe Truckee Regional Rescue Team, a multi-agency group, responded to the falls to recover the womans body on Friday

The Tahoe Truckee Regional Rescue Team, a multi-agency group, responded to the falls to recover the womans body, according to the fire protection district.

There have been a number of recent incidents where young people have tragically died while taking photographs.

In April, Fordham senior Sydney Monfries, 22, fell 40 feet to her death inside the Bronx campuss Keating Hall clock tower.

The journalism student and her friends had broken into the off-limits structure because they saw it as a 'rite of passage' as seniors and wanted to get photographs for their Instagram pages, according to their peers.

Sydney uploaded a video to Snapchat moments before she died from inside, captioning it 'bell tower'.

After she fell, she was rushed to Saint Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.
The search for missing girl Maleah Davis has ended in heartbreak after nearly a month, after police said that they believe the remains of a child found in a trash bag along an Arkansas freeway are those of the four-year-old girl.

On Friday night, the remains arrived by plane in Houston, where they will be subjected to forensic testing to confirm the dead child's identity and attempt to determine cause of death.

'Do we believe that's it's possibly her? Yes. But can we confirm it right now? No,' Houston Executive Assistant Police Chief Troy Finner said at a press conference on Friday.

Stepfather Derion Marquise Vence, 27, is being held in Houston jail on a charge of tampering with human remains, after allegedly claiming that the girl had died accidentally and admitting that he dumped her body in Arkansas.

Derion Vence made his confession on Friday. He claimed to have killed his young stepdaughter Maleah 'by accident' and dumped her body hundreds of miles from their home

Police searchers made the grim discovery of a child's remains inside a trash bag off this Arkansas freeway on Friday. The remains have been transported to Houston

Police searchers followed the information provided by the suspect Vance to the freeway

Houston Executive Assistant Police Chief Troy Finner said at a press conference on Friday that police believe the remains are Maleah's but that DNA testing is needed to confirm

Houston Police Commander Michael Skillern, one of the officers who traveled to Arkansas, told reporters that authorities had found a child's remains in a garbage bag near Interstate 30 close to Hope.

Community activist Quanell X said he spoke on Friday in jail with Vence, the ex-fiance of Maleah's mother, who had claimed Maleah was abducted.

Quanell X said that Vence claimed Maleah had died accidentally, but then admitted to him that he dumped her body in Arkansas.

Quanell X had previously represented Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens, but cut ties with her recently saying he feared she may have withheld information about the case.

Sheriff James Singleton in Arkansas' Hempstead County said workers found the bag, which had a foul odor coming from it, near Hope, about 30 miles northeast of the Texas-Arkansas border.

"If this is the little girl, we want to make sure that we treat it with respect and dignity," Singleton said.

Executive Assistant Police Chief Finner said authorities won't be able to confirm if the remains are those of Maleah until an autopsy is performed.

It was unclear how long the identification process would take, Finner said.

Vence is taking police 300 miles from Houston to Hope in Arkansas where he says he dumped her body

Finner said Maleah's family had been notified of Friday's developments in the case and he expects a murder charge will be filed in the case.

"We are here to make sure that little angel receives some justice and whoever is responsible we are going to hold them accountable," he said.

Vence had claimed he, Maleah and his two-year-old son were abducted on May 4 by a group of men in a truck.

He said he and his son were freed the next day but the kidnappers kept Maleah and his silver Nissan Altima. Police said Vence's story kept changing and didn't add up.

Police arrested Vence and charged him with tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse. He remains jailed on a $40,000 bond.

Chilling last known images of Maleah

Meanwhile, the last known images of little Maleah alive show the four-year-old happily following her stepfather Vence into his Houston apartment on April 30 - but the adorable toddler went inside and was never seen again.

Instead, three days later Vence was captured on surveillance camera emerging from the property alone, clutching a black trash bag believed to be containing Maleahs remains.

Maleah Davis is shown walking into stepfather Derion Vence's home in Houston on April 30 but was not seen again

In what is believed to be the final image of Maleah alive, the four-year-old is shown entering the apartment in a pink tutu

Vence is seen leaving the family's apartment with a blue laundry basket carrying a large black trash bag on May 3. It is the day he claimed they were all kidnapped

The same day, Vence told police that he, his two-year-old son and Maleah had been kidnapped by unknown assailants.

He claimed that he and the boy had been released, but that the kidnappers had taken Maleah and the car.

It has also emerged that earlier on May 3, Vence would not Maleah's father see the girl when he came to check on her.

Craig Davis, the childs father, and his sister went to the apartment where Maleah lived with Vence and her mother to check on the young girl, Davis said during a Wednesday court hearing.

Vence did not let them in, saying Maleah had the flu, and denied their request to see her as she was sleeping, Davis testified.

What led police to search in Arkansas

Community activist Quanell X came forward on Friday to say that Vence had revealed the location of the body in a conversation from behind bars.

Quanell claimed the location of where the bag was found matched where Vence told him hed dumped her body.

But despite the heinous nature of his crime, in an exclusive interview with Fox26, Quanell claimed that Vence appeared more concerned about his public image than he did his impending murder charges during their meeting on Friday.

I was able by God's grace to visit Derion, Quanell said. He voiced his concerns about how he was being portrayed in the media. He was upset with Brittany. He thought he acted as more of a [parent than Maleahs mother Brittany Bowens].

Quanell (above) said he was struck by Vances demeanor, claiming he showed 'no remorse' and was more concerned about the public's perception of him

Maleah suffered a brain injury last year which she had to have surgery for. Police said she needed extra care because of it

But Quanell revealed what stunned him most about his face-off with Vence was that he showed absolutely no remorse for Maleah's killing.

What hurt me [is] he had no remorse. He had no feelings of regret ... and I can't stop crying, an emotional Quanell admitted.

I had to stop myself from crying because he was so cold in this discussion with me. He cared more about what people think about him, than what he did with Maleah. There was no remorse.

Theorizing why Vence would allegedly commit such an atrocious act, Quanell said he believed the stepfather snapped after finding out that Bowens was having an affair.

I asked him, 'Are you a cold-blooded murderer?' He said it was an accident ... He wanted to make it clear everything he was doing for the children by himself.

He was cold. He had a cold spirit, almost like I don't care spirit. That's the part I expected emotions and remorse, there is none.

Before eliciting the confession, Quanell briefly legally advised Maleahs mother, Brittany Bowens, before announcing that hed cut all ties with her this week.

I'm a father. I have daughters, Quanell told Fox26. It was hard standing by Brittany's side, but I had to do what I had to do to make sure I could find out everything - what happened to Maleah and where is she.

Quanell alleges that he discovered early on with his time with Bowens that she had actively sought to cover up Vences abuse against her daughter on more than one occasion.

She never broke down in private conversations, always before the camera. She refused to ever say anything about Derion, even after charged with tampering with the body.

Another surveillance photo shows Vence entering the hospital with his one-year-old son the day on May 4, after he said they were all taken captive

Vences confession comes nearly a month after he first reported Maleah missing on May 4.

He stumbled into a hospital with his one-year-old son claiming all three of them had been kidnapped by Hispanic assailants the day before while driving to the airport to pick up Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens.

Vence's far-fetched version of events claimed the kidnappers let him and his son go but kept Maleah.

Police were quick to point out inconsistencies in his statements, saying he clearly wasnt telling the truth but they initially failed to produce any evidence in rebuttal.

However, after the surveillance footage of Vence leaving the home with the trash bag was discovered police also found traces of Maleahs blood in his car.

'What happened to Maleah was an accident,' Quanell X told The Houston Chronicle on Friday morning. 'He says it was an accident. And he confessed to me where he dumped her body.

Maleah Davis' mother Brittany Bowens' former spokesman, Quannell X, (shown with her) says Vence made the confession to him on Friday. Police have not yet confirmed it

'He was very specific with the amount of distance and time.

'When I was able to leave and look it up on my phone, he was to the point on the distance and time.

'He said that he pulled over in Arkansas, got out of the car, walked to the side of the road, and dumped the body off the road.'

Quanell said he had met with the director of Equusearch, which works with the police in missing persons cases, to find her.

'I think it's true enough that I have an airplane lined up at 3 p.m. to fly a detective, and several officers to go up there and go ahead and start the search.'

But on Friday, a police department in Arkansas confirmed that Vence was on his way with them to the scene of where the bag was discovered to aid the investigation.

Maleah didnt have to die. That little girl did not have to die, an emotional Quanell later told KHOU 11. That child was being physically abused and physically tortured in that house and they were covering it up. It's a damn shame that her mother chose her mate over her own daughter.

The silver Nissan Vence was driving when the alleged attack took place was found on Thursday at a shopping center in Missouri City, Texas, off Highway 6

Quanell had been representing Bowens - who maintains she had nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance - but he distanced himself from her earlier in the week, claiming she too had changed her story.

Bowens says she was out of state when Maleah vanished. Rather than call 911 when her ex failed to turn up for her, she waited for someone else to collect her.

She then claimed that he had done 'something' with her daughter in revenge against her for dumping him and calling him homosexual.

Quanell has since claimed to have found his own evidence that Vence was molesting Maleah.

He insists that Bowens did not know.

Maleah was taken out of her mother's care last year amid claims of domestic abuse.

She required surgery on a brain injury that her mother says she got by falling over.
A state of emergency was declared in a Russian city today after explosions at a major military bomb-making plant left 38 injured.

A giant fireball followed by a mushroom cloud erupted over the Kristall plant in the city of Dzerzhinsk, east of Moscow, today as residents were left rushing for cover.

The plant, which is Russia's sole manufacturer of HMX and RDX high explosives, is used to make Russia's giant Aviabomb FAB-500, a non-nuclear general purpose, air-dropped bomb with a 500-kilogram high explosive warhead.

A giant fireball followed by a mushroom cloud erupted over the city of Dzerzhinsk, east of Moscow, Russia, today following an explosion at a TNT factory

The mushroom cloud erupted over the Kristall plant following an explosion at the TNT plant

Residents were left rushing for shelter as the explosions erupted in the Russian city today

Footage shows the moment the two explosions erupted in the Russian city, shattering windscreens and shaking apartment blocks.

Local woman Tatiana Novikova said: 'I was walking with my son Yaroslav next to our block of flats when explosion hit so strongly that we both suffered earache.

'My son was so shocked that he was scared to run back into the building.

'By the time when we walked to the entrance we heard another explosion, and saw a giant mushroom of smoke rising above the city.

'We ran into the block closing every door and window that was open as we made our way up, with my head exploding with thoughts about potential chemical or radiation poisoning.

'Later we heard it was TNT.'

Russian forces have used the bomb recently in Syria.

Grey smoke rises into the sky and the city comes to a standstill after the explosion in the city

Smoke rises into the sky after two explosions go off at a military factory in Dzerzhinsk

Paramedics attend to people on the street following an explosion at the military bomb-making plant

Loud hailer announcements were made in the city calling on people not to panic and saying there was no danger of contamination despite the threat of further explosions.

A spokesman at the plant said: 'A fire broke out in one of the enterprise's buildings.

'The plant's services worked quickly and managed to evacuate the personnel on time.

'As a result of the explosion that followed the fire, [the building] was damaged.'

Initially the plant denied there had been casualties and civilian fire services were also banned from the site, it was reported.

Military firefighters were tasked with dealing with the crisis.

Reports state the explosions stemmed from a fire at the JSC Kristall Research Institute polymer processing facility.

A cat lies motionless on the ground following the explosion earlier today in the Russian city of Dzerzhinsk

The inside of one building shows the extent of the damage left by the large explosion in the city

Staff observe the damage done to their building following a TNT plant in the Russian city

Another building sees its ceiling completely destroyed following a large explosion in the city

The Emergencies Services said they were responding to the fire under the highest fire alert category.

According to Interfax's source, the blast completely destroyed the facility at the plant.

On social media residents posted messages that described the destruction that had been left by the bombs.

Resident Olga Garnova posted: 'This is terrifying!!

'I am so scared for my family, my relatives, my friends, for everyone!!

'My block of flats at Tsiolkovskogo Prospekt was shaken by the blast, everything inside my flat jumped up and down.

'My balcony is a mess with everything falling down.

A ceiling collapses inside a building owned by a local resident following an explosion at the TNT plant

A building in left shattered after an explosion as Russia's sole manufacturer of HMX and RDX high explosives

People take to the streets after a explosion takes place at a TNT plant. A criminal case into the bomb factory carnage is now underway

'Windows at a nearby flat were broken to pieces.

'I don't want to think what happened to people next to the epicentre.'

Another resident wrote: 'School Number 37, windows are smashed out, need volunteers help'

A woman with a dacha - country cottage - who is not far from the factory reported: 'My mother flew by three metres (10ft) when the explosion hit.

'My son had just come downstairs when it happened and thank God.

'The blast wave shattered every window on the second floor, all of them.'

Reports said the explosions were heard at the regional capital Nizhny Novgorod almost 20 miles away.

Officials later said there was no threat of further explosions.

The Russian Investigative Committee have now opened a criminal case into the bomb factory carnage.
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McDonald's has opened a new three-story flagship store in Times Square, calling the massive project 'the ultimate product placement' that is 'sure to be felt across the country.'

Thursday marked the first day that the eatery - located at the corner of 45th & Broadway - was open for business and the new store is expected to be the busiest in the United States.

Designed by Landini Associates and Progressive AE, the three-story location serves as the showcase for latest updates that McDonald's hopes to bring to its stores.

'The three-story glass curtain wall provides customers with spectacular dining room views out into the heart of Times Square,' McDonald's said in a release. 'Customers will notice hints of gold and red to celebrate our brand with a modern twist.'

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Larger than life! McDonald's has unveiled a new three-story location at 45th & Broadway that has a massive billboard that is said to be the 3rd largest in Times Square

'The three-story glass curtain wall provides customers with spectacular dining room views out into the heart of Times Square,' McDonald's said in a release . 'Customers will notice hints of gold and red to celebrate our brand with a modern twist'

The 11,199 sq ft restaurant will implement 18 digital kiosks for self ordering and will also be capable of handling mobile order and pay.

There will even be self-order kiosks on the second floor for customers who may want to add on to their dining experience.

It'll be one of the only McDonald's to offer table service and will be able to seat 173 patrons in a 'variety of arrangements.'

The McDonald's billboard is a staggering 9,280 sq ft - the 3rd-largest in Times Square.

So many options! The 11,199 sq ft restaurant will implement 18 digital kiosks for self ordering and will also be capable of handling mobile order and pay

Order up! There will even be self-order kiosks on the second floor for customers who may want to add on to their dining experience

In addition to all the in-store perks, the new flagship location will also be handling deliveries.

The restaurant will also be one of the United States location that is adopting the 'Worldwide Favorites Menu,' slated for a June 5th release for a limited time.

Included will be some international favorites: the Stroopwafel McFlurry from the Netherlands, the Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger from Spain, the Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich from Canada and Cheesy Bacon Fries from Australia.

'While the flagship showcases the ultimate McDonald's experience, we've been delivering new levels of convenience, personalization and service throughout the U.S. since 2016,' said McDonald's U.S. President, Chris Kempczinski.

Melting pot: The restaurant will also be one of the United States location that is adopting the 'Worldwide Favorites Menu,' slated for a June 5th release for a limited time

It'll be one of the only McDonald's to offer table service and will be able to seat 173 patrons in a 'variety '

Kempczinski emphasized that the renovation was about 'changing customer perception.'

He added: 'With this restaurant renovation, our food is positioned in the center of the cultural hotbed that is New York City  in a beautifully designed space that can be replicated across the US. It's the ultimate product placement and the effect is sure to be felt across the country.'

'At the end of the day, this restaurant renovation is the physical and symbolic embodiment of Bigger, Bolder Vision 2020 coming together. And that's something we can all celebrate.'

McDonald's already has two locations in Times Square that are both 24 hours - one on 220 West 42nd Street and the other at 1560 Broadway near 46th Street.

McDonald's U.S. President, Chris Kempczinski, emphasized that the renovation was about 'changing customer perception'
A mother suspected of killing herself and her four children in a fiery crash was visited by child safety officers months before the tragedy.

Charmaine Harris McLeod, 35, died after her Nissan station wagon smashed into a truck on the Bunya Highway, near Kingaroy, northwest of Brisbane, on Monday.

Her four children Aaleyn, six, Matilda, five, Wyatt, four, and Zaidok, two, were also killed and the incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide.

Charmaine Harris McLeod was killed after her Nissan station wagon collided with a truck on the Bunya Highway, near Kingaroy, northwest of Brisbane, on Monday

Her four children Aaleyn, 6, Matilda, 5, Wyatt, 4, and Zaidok, 2, were also killed and the accident is being investigated as a murder-suicide (pictured, with father James McLeod)

Her Facebook profile comprises of a picture of herself next to a short message that said she carried 'a lot of responsibility'

According to a Facebook post by Ms McLeod in December, seen by the Courier Mail, the Department of Child Safety had been investigating her family and their welfare.

She spoke of suffering 'significant mental health issues' and said that 'Child Safety are involved.'

'We feel alone and lost,' she wrote in the post.

'Life is hard, really hard I'm struggling to even trust God.'

Ms McLeod posted comments in online support groups about troubles in her life.

On one occasion, she wrote about about feeling 'lost and alone', while in another post she replied to a question about items she would rescue from a burning house.

'My children can't be replaced, so I would rescue my children first,' she wrote.

Her Facebook profile image comprises of a picture of herself next to a short message that said she carried 'a lot of responsibility'.

'God gave you a heart of gold,' it reads.

'You are a very sensitive person. It's not that easy being you! You carry a lot of responsibility and play an essential role in other people's lives, but you are strong and can bear the burden on your shoulders.

'Never forget how valuable you are.'

Queensland Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander demanded that the Department of Child Safety reveal if it had any involvement with the McLeod family.

'The Palaszczuk Government needs to be transparent and open about this case so Queenslanders can have comfort that our vulnerable children are being protected,' he said.

Minister for Child Safety Di Farmer refused to comment and said she was legally prohibited from commenting on individual cases.

Ms Harris McLeod posted comments in online support groups about troubles in her life

Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander demanded Department of Child Safety come forward and reveal if they had any involvement with the McLeod family

'I know everyone wants answers, and so do I, but we need this to be done properly, and we need to allow police and the coroner the time and space to do their job.'

According to the Courier-Mail, the Child Death Case Review Panel is examining the deaths of the McLeod children.

The body gets involved in such cases after a child who is known to the department within the past 12 months is seriously injured or killed.

A handwritten note, which is believed to have been written by Ms McLeod, was discovered close to the crash site.

The note, along with the absence of skid marks at the scene, resulted in suspicious of murder-suicide.

It remains unclear why the family were so far from their Hervey Bay home.

A handwritten note, which is believed to have been written by Ms McLeod, was discovered close to the crash site

While it remains unclear why they were so far from their Hervey Bay home, the note, along with the absence of skid marks at the scene, resulted in specialist officers and homicide detectives being brought into the case

Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart confirmed the crash was 'absolutely' being investigated as a homicide.

He said homicide detectives were working the case as 'there is a potential that there was an intention for someone to die'.

Commissioner Stewart said it may take some time to uncover what caused the crash and, for the time being, the deaths haven't been added to the national road toll.

Police also don't know where Ms McLeod was heading when the accident occurred, as the car was travelling south along the highway, about three hours from home.

They believed the family were driving from the Bundaberg area, about 90 minutes north of Hervey Bay.

Superintendent Dave Johnson previously said officers were looking at the case from 'all angles' to determine the exact causative factors.
Ice is now cheaper than alcohol and is purer than ever before, making it more potent and deadly for communities.

The fatal drug is wreaking havoc in regional South Australian towns like the Eyre Peninsula, the Riverland, Barossa Valley and Limestone Coast.

The Law Society of SA has demanded the state government increase funding to tackle the ice epidemic in rural areas.

'In 2019, we're hearing it's actually cheaper to buy ice than it is to buy alcohol, with a purity ranging from at least 50 per cent up to 70 and 80 per cent,' Co-chair Craig Caldicott told The Advertiser.

'These days people aren't offending to be able to buy ice - they're offending because they've consumed ice, and that offending is violent.'

Ice is now at least 50 per cent pure and can often be found at 80 per cent purity. The drug is now much more potent and wreaking havoc on regional communities (stock image)

Mr Caldicott said the link between ice and violent crime was different to other drugs like heroin because the effects of ice are unpredictable.

Adelaide was dubbed the 'ice capital of Australia' after it was revealed South Australia consumed one tonne of the drug each year.

Across Australia drug users are consuming a staggering 9.8 tonnes of methamphetamine.

Regional areas in South Australia and Victoria had the highest rates for ice users outside of Australia's major metropolitan centres.

Ice makes its way to South Australia from Melbourne, which faces its own ice troubles.

An elderly Melbourne couple accidentally signed for a package containing $10 million worth of ice in May.

The drugs are allegedly moved to Melbourne along the eastern coast from Tamworth via the Central Coast.

An 'ice castle' with 1.5kg of ice, large quantities of heroin, fentanyl patches and cannabis was raided by police in Tamworth, NSW on Wednesday.
The State Department is now requiring nearly all applicants for U.S. visas to submit their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers.

It's a vast expansion of the Trump administration's enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors, which President Donald Trump has referred to for years as 'extreme vetting'.

In a move that's just taken effect after approval of the revised application forms, the department says it has updated its immigrant and nonimmigrant visa forms to request the additional information, including 'social media identifiers,' from almost all applicants.

The change, which was proposed in March 2018, is expected to affect about 15 million foreigners who apply for visas to enter the United States each year.

Chinese people have their ID and documents checked before entering the U.S. Embassy to apply for a U.S. visa in Beijing in 2004. New extreme measures are in effect for visas

'National security is our top priority when adjudicating visa applications, and every prospective traveler and immigrant to the United States undergoes extensive security screening,' the department said.

'We are constantly working to find mechanisms to improve our screening processes to protect U.S. citizens, while supporting legitimate travel to the United States.'

Social media, email and phone number histories had only been sought in the past from applicants who were identified for extra scrutiny, such as people who'd traveled to areas controlled by terrorist organizations. An estimated 65,000 applicants per year had fallen into that category.

The department says collecting the additional information from more applicants 'will strengthen our process for vetting these applicants and confirming their identity.'

The new rules apply to virtually all applicants for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas.

A Mexican has her photograph taken as she applies for her non-immigrant visa from the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico in 2000

Trump has been calling for 'extreme vetting' measures on immigration for years

When it filed its initial notice to make the change, the department estimated it would affect 710,000 immigrant visa applicants and 14 million nonimmigrant visa applicants, including those who want to come to the U.S. for business or education.

The new visa application forms list a number of social media platforms and require the applicant to provide any account names they may have had on them over the previous five years.

They also give applicants the option to volunteer information about social media accounts on platforms not listed on the form.

In addition to their social media histories, visa applicants are now asked for five years of previously used telephone numbers, email addresses, international travel and deportation status, as well as whether any family members have been involved in terrorist activities.

Only applicants for certain diplomatic and official visa types are exempted from the requirements.
Eddie Hernandez, from Oakland, provides the service on his website and primarily takes photos around San Francisco based on a person's interest

A San Franscisco area photographer and former data analyst is charging upwards of $1000 for hopefuls to capture that perfect moment for their dating profile.

Eddie Hernandez, from Oakland, provides the service on his website and primarily takes photos around San Francisco based on a person's interest.

Hernandez even takes things a step further for his clients and helps them choose the best app for their dating goals.

He was a data analyst for eight years before switching gears and taking photos at weddings and LinkedIn headshots. But over the five years he has been taking photos, Hernandez asserts that a majority are for online/app dating.

'People wouldn't tell me that they were using those photos for dating profiles until years later,' Hernandez explained to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Hernandez even takes things a step further for his clients and helps them choose the best app for their dating goals (stock)

Most of Hernadez's clientele range in ages 25 to 50 and men are three times more likely to pursue his services.

'It's usually the women who are surprised that this is a thing,' said the photographer, adding that men are often unfamiliar with taking photos of themselves and feel they have to pursue women.

Hernandez provides his clients with a questionnaire that he then uses to determine where they should meet up to take photos. He ideally chooses places that a person frequents and prefers that there are people around.

Photoshoot locations have included Crissy Field, parks, famer's markets and cafes.

Most of Hernadez's clientele range in ages 25 to 50 and men are three times more likely to pursue his services. The data analyst often releases studies for various dating sites

Hernandez provides his clients with a questionnaire that he then uses to determine where they should meet up to take photos. He has a 4.5 rating on Yelp

And sometimes the uncontrollable happens as Hernandez is meeting the singles in public places, as was the case when a client was running late in an Uber and managed to get stuck in cement near his shoot at a cafe.

'They forgot to put the yellow caution tape out and this guy got dropped off into cement about knee deep,' he said. 'I totally froze, which was too bad, because that would have been a great photo for me to take, perfectly candid.

'He got out of it, was able to brush himself off, and got clean. He was a little bit nervous, but said if that's the worst thing that could happen, it's OK. He was able to laugh at himself, and that's one of the most redeeming qualities in a client.'

Hernandez frowns on those just looking for a hookup and will reject working with them and folks who lie about their age or how they look.

He advises that people hoping to improve their dating profiles should try to capture candids, try not to pose, wear flattering clothes, use recent photos, use photos that show friends and include photos that show headshots and also full body.

'People actually go on LinkedIn just to verify how a person looks if they can't tell,' the photographer stated, also emphasizing the importance of natural lighting.

'Overcast is great, which is perfect for San Francisco, because every day is overcast.'

Hernandez stresses that people should avoid places that are Instagram heavy or prone to produce a lot of likes but not necessarily good for setting folks apart.

'I had on my website for a while that if you want the Museum of Ice Cream or Color Factory, I will not work with you, half-jokingly,' Hernandez said. 'I use the term 'Instagram look' they I've seen other people do whether it's as a model or blogger. I tell people to stay away from that. It probably reveals more about you in a negative way than a positive way.'

Of course given that it is San Francisco, Hernandez states that people are a little too glued into their technology, and may miss out on some chance encounters in person.

'In New York, you're in a subway, you're walking in busy streets, so the amount of people you're around is a lot,' he said. 'You're more likely to meet people organically, and through self-selection by lifestyle.

'SF relies a bit more on apps than I'd like to see. I try to paint a picture that dating apps should only be used as an additional channel. You should still try meet people organically through meetups, farmer's markets, friends of friends, or some relaxed bars and lounges.'
The archive of a British D-Day commanding officer including his 'top secret' Normandy beach maps has come to light after 75 years.

Lieutenant Commander Bertram Lambert, of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was the 'beach master' as the Canadian forces landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944.

He was responsible for coordinating the landings of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on the 'Mike' section of the six-mile beach centred on the town of Courselles-Sur-Mer.

Lieutenant Commander Bertram Lambert (left), of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, is pictured on Juno beach during the D-Day landings

Lt Cdr Lambert's map of Juno Beach shows the Mike section where he coordinated the landings

His personal effects have been consigned for sale by his family with auction house Bonhams in London who expect the collection to fetch 12,000.

They contain an annotated 'top secret' map showing the intended landing positions of the troops on Juno Beach and also highlighting potential obstacles, as well as known machine gun spots.

Another chart illustrates the tidal curves at certain hours of the day so the landing craft were prepared for the treacherous sea conditions.

Lt Cdr Lambert also kept hold of memoranda sent out both in the lead up to and following D-Day.

The personal effects such as his tidal curve chart have been consigned for sale by the Beach Master's family and it is expected to fetch 12,000

Lt Cdr Lambert's white ensign is featured among the collection on sale with London auction house Bonhams

One issued by the Eastern Task Force the week after the landings stated success had been achieved 'on every beach' in the face of 'very considerable opposition'.

It read: 'During the last week the first part of the British Second Army has been landed by the Eastern Task Force.

'Very considerable opposition was met with on all beaches but on every beach success was eventually won.'

Another, sent to Juno Headquarters, from Sir Miles Dempsey, Lieutenant General Commander of the British 2nd Army, conveyed his 'thanks' for their efforts during a 'critical period', then warned that 'much fighting was to be done'.

It read: 'Please convey to the officers and the men of the Beach Corps under your command my thanks and appreciation for their kind efforts during a critical period.

D-Day orders instructing Beach Masters to 'foster a spirit of closer liaison' between their men is included in the fascinating collection

A letter dated June 21, 1944 gives thanks to the Officers and men of the Beach Groups after the success of the landings

'Much fighting remains to be done. I am confident that I can rely on all those who have made such a fine contribution to the success of this operation not to relax their efforts but to maintain the high standard which they have already set.'

Despite their bravery and sacrifice at D-Day, high command was not going to tolerate any perceived lapses of standards of the men and officers, slamming some for their 'disgraceful' appearance.

Issued from Juno Headquarters on June 15, 1944, the hard-hitting memorandum read: 'During the first nine days of the assault the appearance of both officers and men ashore has been disgraceful.

'Immediate steps are to be taken to rectify the present unsavoury state of affairs which is casting great discredit on his Majesty's Royal Navy.'

The archive contains a Royal Ensign beach flag, Lt Cdr Lambert's uniform, medals and photos of his service during the North African Campaign and Normandy Invasion

A memorandum issued by the Eastern Task Force reads: 'Very considerable opposition was met with on all beaches but on every beach success was eventually won'

The archive also contains a Royal Ensign beach flag, in addition to Lt Cdr Lambert's uniform, medals and photos of his service during the North African Campaign and Normandy Invasion.

One dramatic photo shows Lt Cdr Lambert at Juno Beach Headquarters, communicating by tannoy to a landing craft, the flag flying by his side.

The vast array of items were preserved in a large metal trunk with his name on the lid.

Luke Batterham, specialist at Bonhams, said: 'Lambert was definitely a very important figure on the beach in his role as beach master who was responsible for the Mike section at Juno. It was a huge logistical challenge.

'The archive gives an idea of the sheer amount of planning involved for D-Day and when you go through the contents of the trunk you are handling a piece of history.

Despite their bravery and sacrifice at D-Day, high command was not going to tolerate any perceived lapses of standards of the men and officers, slamming some for their 'disgraceful' appearance

A naval message dated September 3, 1939, instructs 'all concerned at home and abroad' to 'commence hostilities at once with Germany'

'The memorandums are fascinating and it is remarkable that there is a photo showing Lambert with the very flag in the sale on the beach.'

Lt Cdr Lambert was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1906 and joined the Royal Naval Reserves before the beginning of World War Two.

He remained involved in the Admiralty after the conflict ended, taking roles in Malta and Portsmouth, Hants, while also working as a salesman.

Luke Batterham, specialist at Bonhams, said: 'The archive gives an idea of the sheer amount of planning involved for D-Day and when you go through the contents of the trunk you are handling a piece of history'

In later life, he relocated to Cornwall and worked as a swimming instructor and lifeguard.

He died aged 80 in 1997.

Lt Cdr Lambert's medal group consists of a 1939-1945 Star; Africa Star with North Africa 1942-43 bar; France and Germany Star; Defence Medal; War Medal; Royal Naval Reserve Decoration, dated 1965; and a Defence Medal.

The sale takes place on June 26.
A Maryland couple has been found dead in the Dominican Republic with several bottles of heart medication nearby, the U.S. State Department said.

Cynthia Day, 49, and Nathaniel Holmes, 63, checked in to the Bahia Principe Playa Nueva Romana on May 25 and were due to depart Thursday, the same day their bodies were discovered in a room reportedly with 'no signs of violence'.

A hotel worker found them but it was not reported whether the bottles were empty.

Diario Libre reported that Dominican Republics National Police found in their investigation Holmes had called for a hotel doctor Thursday morning, complaining that he felt ill.

Maryland couple Cynthia Day, 49, and Nathaniel Holmes, 63, were found dead in the Dominican Republic Thursday

Holmes posted that he didn't want to leave his vacation in week they both passed away

They checked in to the Bahia Principe Playa Nueva Romana resort last Saturday for five nights

However he reportedly refused medical care when they showed up.

Cyndi Day's sister, Sonya Jackson, told News4's that the US Embassy had confirmed the deaths.

A cause of death has not yet been determined for Day and her fiance Holmes.

Holmes' sister said her brother was 'having a great time' when she spoke to him a couple of days ago.

In Facebook images posted Tuesday Holmes said he was having fun. In a caption he declared he'd had the 'boat ride of a lifetime!!!'

He also shared snaps of Day - who has an adult son - posing with a parrot and a monkey: 'On the way to Saona Island with my baby.'

At one point he wrote: 'Can somebody please loan me $250,000 bcuz I dont want to come home!!!!!'

Their bodies were discovered in a room reportedly with 'no signs of violence'. Pictured is an example of a room at the resort

Vacation snaps show them loved up and having fun in the Dominican Republic this week

He also shared snaps of Day - who has an adult son - posing with a parrot and a monkey

November 2018 picture show them at the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana. In December images Holmes' is seen visiting family members' grave sites to tell them about his new fiancee, 'I put a ring on it!'

His daughter, Dajuan Holmes-Hamilton, wants to know the facts.

'It should have never happened,' she told NBC4, adding that he was grandfather who was looking forward to visiting her daughter.

The property is located halfway between popular locations Santa Domingo, the capital, and Punta Cana.

'Fun in the DR with my baby': Holmes last posted on Facebook on Tuesday, two days before the bodies were found

Holmes' sister said she spoke to him a couple of days ago and he was having a fun on the trip. Day's sister, Sonya Jackson, said that the US Embassy had confirmed the deaths

Holmes' daughter, Dajuan Holmes-Hamilton, said: 'It should have never happened'

They are the second American couple who have died in the Caribbean country since March.

Dominican Republic police said in April a combination of alcohol, speeding and dark roads may have led to the deaths of a couple from New York who stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe Cayacoa hotel in Samana.

Orlando Moore, 41, and Portia Ravenelle, 52, were believed by authorities to be en route to the airport to return from their vacation at the same brand property when Moore may have lost control and crashed into the Caribbean Sea.

This week Delaware woman Tammy Lawrence-Daley relived her January attack during an interview with CBS This Morning.

New York couple Orlando Moore, 41, and Portia Ravenelle, 52, died while on vacation in the Dominican Republic in March

The 51-year-old had been on vacation with her husband at the Majestic Elegance Resort in Punta Cana when she says that she went out alone to get a snack at 10.30pm.

She claims that the man pushed her from behind and she tried to fight him off, only to lose consciousness as he beat her.

She recalls telling her husband that she would be back in five minutes but Lawrence-Daley said she ended up going missing for eight hours.

The woman claims her attacker dragged her down concrete stairs to an underground waste water area in what she says was an attempt to hide her body and mask the sound of the attack.

Lawrence-Daley said: 'Majestic Elegance claims no responsibility for the attack since I couldn't identify the attacker even though he was wearing a uniform with the resort logo and hit me directly in front of the unlocked maintenance room and dragged me down concrete stairs to a basement so that no one could hear or find me.'

Tammy Lawrence-Daley, 51, said she remembers being 'plowed into from behind' and felt her attacker's arms around her as he pulled her into a nearby unlocked maintenance room

Lawrence-Daley claims she was attacked by a hotel employee because she remembers seeing him in a uniform with the resort logo on it




Nigel Farage believes his Brexit Party could be on the verge of its first seat in parliament and has tried to woo voters by warning if they vote Conservative, they will end up with Labour.

The party leader has been campaigning in Peterborough ahead of the by-election after Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was ousted.

He believes the election on Thursday will be a two-horse race between the Brexit Party and Labour.

Nigel Farage has warned voters in Peterborough not to vote Tory and split the Brexit vote as his new party contests its first parliamentary seat

In a bid to avoid splitting the vote, he has urged otherwise Tory voters to back the Brexit Party to prevent Labour from retaining their vacated seat.

Mr Farage told The Telegraph: 'The Tory party in Peterborough are nowhere. But Labour have a massive election machine and they are throwing everything at this. And I mean everything.

'Our key message these last few days to conservative voters in the north of the constituency, is vote Conservative, get Corbyn. Only the Brexit Party can beat Labour here.'

Ironically, the slogan is based on David Cameron's phrase to steal Ukip votes when Farage was leader of the independence party: 'Vote Ukip, get Labour.'

He told voters today at an election rally in Peterborough Town Hall he believes the by-election is a two-horse race between the Conservatives and the Brexit Party

The by-election comes in a monumental week for British politics with US President Donald Trump embarking on a state visit and Theresa May stepping down on Friday.

But Farage said he trusts none of the potential successors to Mrs May to manage a No Deal exit from the EU.

He also said his party is readying itself for a general election if the time comes and the new prime minister fails to deliver Brexit.

Mike Greene is standing in the Peterborough by-election for the Brexit Party.

The seat was vacated by Fiona Onasanya after she was convicted of perverting the course of justice following a prosecution for speeding.
This is the shocking moment a man gets Tasered after allegedly hitting a female police officer in the face and wrestling a policeman to the ground while resisting arrest.

Dale Byrne, 42, was charged with two counts of theft from a shop, two counts of burglary and two counts of assault of a police officer.

Byrne allegedly threatened a Costcutter shopkeeper with a screwdriver on Penn Road in Wolverhampton.

Dale Byrne, 42, was charged with two counts of theft from a shop, two counts of burglary and two counts of assault of a police officer. Byrne allegedly threatened a Costcutter shopkeeper with a screwdriver on Penn Road in Wolverhampton

The officers arrived at around 8.30pm yesterday only to find out Byrne and his accomplice had moved from Costcutter and were allegedly trying to steal alcohol from the Strictly Liquor store across the road.

Footage shows the moments the female and male officer try to arrest the two men outside the second shop.

Byrne punches the female officer in the face before wrestling the second officer to the floor and pummelling him.

But the female officer manages to get to her feet and Taser Byrne before he falls to the floor and gets put in handcuffs.

The female officer manages to get to her feet and Taser Byrne before he falls to the floor and gets put in handcuffs

West Midlands Police say the male officer suffered cuts to his arms, legs and face, with the female officer left with bruising and swelling

Footage shows a second man being arrested at the kerbside moments later.

West Midlands Police say the male officer suffered cuts to his arms, legs and face, with the female officer left with bruising and swelling.

The shopkeepers in both stores were unharmed and the screwdriver was recovered.

According to the Birmingham Mail a West Midlands police spokesman said: 'Police were called after a shopkeeper was threatened with a screwdriver during an attempted robbery at Costcutter, Penn Road, Wolverhampton, around 8.30pm yesterday.

'Officers arrived at the scene and discovered two men who appeared to be trying to steal alcohol from the nearby Strictly Liquor store.

'Two officers were assaulted, causing minor injuries, and a 42-year-old man was Tasered and detained.'

'The 53-year-old man who was arrested has been bailed under investigation until 27 June.

Mr Byrne was due to appear at Walsall & Aldridge Magistrates' Court this morning.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police by calling 101 quoting crime reference number 20WV/128234A/19.
The students and staff at an elementary school have all begun learning sign language in order to welcome a deaf kindergarten student.

The Dayton Consolidated School in Maine invited a Cinderella character actor to sing as she signed in American Sign Language to honor new student Morey Belanger, age six.

Morey is the first deaf student to ever attend the school, and teachers have responded by teaching the rest of the student body sign language.

'Morey -- without even knowing it -- has taught us so much,' said school Principal Kimberly Sampietro told CNN. 'She has brought a culture to our building that we didn't have before.'

Morey Belanger, age six, was thrilled on Wednesday when the Dayton Consolidated School in Maine invited a Cinderella character actor to sing as she signed in American Sign Language

Morey, seen with her mom, is the school's first deaf student. All of the students and teachers have begun learning sign language

Teachers have posted placards around the school showing the signs for different objects, and say that most of the students have learned at least 15 or 20 words so far.

Morey herself has helped teach her own kindergarten class.

'Morey helped all of them to learn the alphabet,' Sampietro said. 'The kids have just really embraced her. They look up to her, they want her around, and they want to partner with her.'

The school has also installed a hearing assistive system and implemented extra teacher training to incorporate sign language into every classroom.

Sampietro said many teachers also began using their free time to watch sign language videos and read books on special education.

A local high school student who hopes to some day work as an American Sign Language Interpreter in a school performed as Cinderella

At Wednesday's princess party, Morey was thrilled when Cinderella began using sign language as she sang.

The Disney princess was played by a local high school student who hopes to some day work as an American Sign Language Interpreter in a school.

Morey, who was dressed as Belle from Beauty And The Beast, ran up to the front and helped sign along to the song.

'I absolutely feel like it makes her feel welcomed,' Morey's mom Shannon Belanger told CNN.

'I think all the kids feel excited that they know another language and I think they think it's fun.'
A Black chef and his friends encountered a racist Airbnb host in New York City who asked which 'monkey' would be sleeping on the couch after the group asserted that her listing said it accommodated five people.

Meshach Cisero - owner and executive chef of The Cage Bird in Washington D.C. - took to his social media to share the unsettling experience of being kicked out by the host at 2am on Saturday morning. The listing was for an apartment in the Upper East Side.

'We arrived to our @Airbnb, and we were harassed several times before being thrown out at 2 am,' Cicero said on Instagram.

Scroll down for video

Meshach Cisero - owner and executive chef of The Cage Bird in Washington D.C. - took to his social media to share the unsettling experience of being kicked out by the host at 2am on Saturday morning

'Her reasonings were because she felt unsafe, we were going to steal and destroy her property, and then told us to Get the f**k out of her house immediately! We cooperated and began to pack our things to leave.'

Cisero and his four friends complied and started gathering their things so that they could leave. But he asserts that as they were packing, the host bust into the apartment with a camera.

They asked her to respect their privacy - as one of them had just exited the shower - but the woman continued her tirade and called them 'criminals' adding that she didn't feel 'safe.'

Cisero added: 'She became so angry, rude, and disrespectful that we had to call @NYPD because we werent sure if shed attack us while trying to leave.'

He and four friends - including his twin brother - had checked in to their rental in Manhattan's Upper East Side. 'We arrived to our @Airbnb, and we were harassed several times before being thrown out at 2 am,' Cicero said on Instagram. He also stressed that the NYPD could corroborate his story

Cisero included videos of him explaining what had happened but also of the host - identified only as Kate - using the slur 'monkey'

The chef concluded the post stating that the group were able to find a hotel and had somewhere to sleep for the night.

Cisero included videos of him explaining what had happened but also of the host - identified only as Kate - using the slur 'monkey'.

The clip shows Kate arguing with Cisero about how many the space can accommodate, with the host asserting that it says four.

'It says four and a couch, so that's five. You have that on your Airbnb description' the chef declares.

Kate retorts, 'which monkey is going to stay on the couch?'

The chef - whose twin was among the group that was asked to leave - included shots of the listing. It does say that the listing has two beds but also states that in addition to Cisero, four other guest were also going to be in attendance.

The clip concludes with the shocked guests repeating the wild question they were just asked.

The chef - whose twin was among the group that was asked to leave - included shots of the listing. It does say that the listing has two beds but also states that in addition to Cisero, four other guest were also going to be in attendance.

Cisero would later post a video thanking everyone for sharing the video and stressing the importance of filming the event

Cisero's post on Twitter quickly went viral and Airbnb responded on the thread to share that they were 'sorry' about the incident. They asked the chef to send them a DM about the incident.

Airbnb released a statement to the DailyMail.com condemning the behavior and adding that the host would be removed from the platform.

'The language used in this video is unacceptable and has no place in the Airbnb community,' said spokesman Ben Breit.

'We have a strict nondiscrimination policy, which we are enforcing to remove the host from our platform. We are supporting Mr. Cisero and his friends in getting them a new place to stay through our Open Doors policy. Were thankful to them for bringing this to our attention so we could take action.'

Cisero would later post a video thanking everyone for sharing the video and stressing the importance of filming the event.

'I am glad that we can shed light on this and hold these people accountable, we can hold our host (Kate) accountable and we can hold Airbnb accountable for these services that they offer us but are not living up to our expectations' he said in the video.

I am also placing myself in the shoes of what could potentially be someone's little sister or brother, or someone who doesn't have the means to figure out their situation right away and get out of it. Like we have.

'We need to reevaluate Aibnb's host policy and how they might not be necessarily in the best interest of a guest because God forbid this was someone else.'

Airbnb's Open Door Policy works to find guests alternative accommodations in the event of discrimination.
Two 'potentially dangerous' raccoon dogs who escaped from their enclosure have been recaptured, police have said.

The male and female pair went missing after digging their way out from a property on Big Lane, Clarborough, Nottinghamshire, on Tuesday.

Nottinghamshire Police were called to Clarborough on Wednesday morning after residents reported being terrorised by the pair of creatures.

They issued a warning to local residents to be 'vigilant' about the animals, describing them as 'potentially dangerous if approached as they are not domesticated'.

A pair of escaped raccoon dogs were captured by police on Saturday after terrorising a town in Nottinghamshire

An update from the force on Saturday said: 'There had since been a number of sightings, and late last night, they were located and recaptured in the local area.

'The owners have since secured their enclosure, to which they will be returned.'

Mandy Marsh, 53, with her niece Mazey Burton, five, told how it took her two hours to chase off a raccoon dog in Nottinghamshire

According to the RSPCA, raccoon dogs, also known as a tanuki or Japanese raccoon dogs, are native to the forests of eastern Siberia, northern China, North Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.

Despite their name, the creatures are not related to raccoons - they are a type of fox that merely look like raccoons.

Mandy Marsh, 53, and her husband Dale, 54, had a run-in with the escaped creatures earlier in the week.

They were woken at about 4am on Wednesday morning by a 'blood curdling scream' and ran outside.

They saw a dog-sized animal which they had never seen before in a stand off with their pet goat Betty and pony Peaches.

The couple, armed with planks of wood, said it took them two hours to chase off the snarling and hissing animal.

But it returned minutes later to corner a dog walker outside their home, before scarpering off.

The raccoon dog is indigenous to East Asia and is unrelated to raccoons but is related to foxes

Mrs Marsh said that several locals reported sightings and attacks on animals in the village during the raccoon dogs' reign of terror.

She said: 'It was actually terrifying. We were laid in bed at about 4am and I heard such a terrifying noise like I had never heard before. It was screaming.

'My husband went out and opened the door and the dog shot out. The dog was barking like mad and my husband went out after her.

'He came back and he said to me 'you are going to have to come and see this, there is something in the field attacking the pony and I have absolutely no idea what it is'.

Mrs Marsh said her pony Peaches and goat Betty were terrorised by two raccoon dogs after they escaped

'We ran out and this animal - we now know it's a raccoon - was trying to attack our goat. The pony was standing in the way trying to protect the goat.

'The raccoon was trying to kill it. This raccoon was absolutely crazy. It was hissing and screaming and snarling. It was going absolutely mad.

'We ran in with two great big pieces of wood to try and shoo the raccoon off and try and get it to go away so we could get the animals out of the field.

'The animals wouldn't move because they were terrified and this raccoon wouldn't budge either and was just hissing.

An aerial view detailing where the raccoon dogs escaped from and where they were spotted

'It kept coming up and we couldn't get near enough to put something on it. The goat and pony were going crazy. It went on for about two hours. We couldn't get rid of it.'

Mrs Marsh, who lives in a bungalow surrounded by fields, said vets said the goat was left with a sore shoulder and scratches.

Raccoon dogs are omnivores who eat insects, rodents, amphibians, birds, fish, molluscs and carrion, as well as fruits, nuts and berries.

She called the RSPCA who told her because it was attacking livestock, they should call police, she said.

The animal returned, and Mr Marsh ran out to confront it once more when it cornered a dog walker, after 6am.

Mrs Marsh said locals had been in touch to report other sightings and attacks on animals

'My husband heard this noise and shot out again,' said Mrs Marsh. 'A woman came along with a dog, not on a lead, and saw the raccoon.

'She thought it was a cat at first. It cornered the dog. She couldn't get to it. The dog was going crazy. It was squawking and barking and my husband grabbed it.

'The woman eventually ran off down the lane with it - it was only a puppy - really upset. It would have killed that dog. We've never seen anything like it in our lives. It was scary. We didn't know what it was. It looked terrible.'

Mrs Marsh lives in a bungalow surrounded by fields in Clarborough, Nottinghamshire

Mrs Marsh contacted police after the attack. She said that police claimed they would potentially send out helicopters to find the raccoon dogs

After posting about the animal online, experts quickly identified it as a raccoon dog.

She estimated the raccoon dog was around three stone and the size of a Staffordshire bull terrier.
A man is feared to have drowned this afternoon at a North London pond.

Metropolitan Police shut down Highgate Men's Bathing Pond in Hampstead Heath today at about 4.25pm after it received word that a bather had gone missing.

The pond was closed for the rest of the day shortly after.

A man is feared to have drowned this afternoon at Highgate's Men Bathing Pond in Hampstead Heath, North London

A police spokeswoman said officers responded to reports of the bather going for a swim and not returning, while his clothes remained beside the pond.

Police, along with London Ambulance Service (LAS), are on the scene, with a search underway in the pond and adjacent areas.

A witness told Sun Online: 'The missing man is in his 30s. His friends reported him missing after he did not return back after swimming.

'It's quite a grim scene.'

Police, along with London Ambulance Service (LAS), are on the scene, with a search underway in the pond and adjacent areas

Hampstead Heath was full with swimmers today as temperatures hit 27 degrees in London.

The popular swimming spot has separate bathing areas for men and for women.
An Alabama man was found dead inside the freezer of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store where he worked.

Authorities said that a coworker found Larry Alvin Long II, 51, of Phenix City, Alabama, unresponsive inside a freezer at the Piggly Wiggly in Columbus, Georgia, where they worked Saturday morning at about 11.20am.

Long was then declared dead at 11.50am.

Surveillance video showed Long going into the walk-in freezer by himself at about 10.13am that morning, WTVM reported.

Larry Alvin Long II, 51, was declared dead after a coworker found him unresponsive inside a freezer in this Piggly Wiggly store on Saturday morning

Surveillance video showed that Long had gone into the Piggly Wiggly's walk-in freezer by himself about an hour before he was found. Authorities don't believe foul play was involved

Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said that Long appeared to have died from cardiac arrest.

Authorities do not believe that foul play was involved in his death, but his body will undergo an autopsy since Long died at work.

'We are heartbroken by the loss of a longtime employee and friend,' JTM Cooperation for Piggly Wiggly owner/operator Justin Milligan said in a statement obtained by WRBL. 'Our hearts and prayers go out to his family. We ask that everyone please show his family the respect and comfort that they deserve.'
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The New Jersey mansion of television character Tony Soprano is being put up for auction with an opening price of $3.4million.

Patti and Victor Recchia are selling the four-bedroom, 5,600-square-foot home in North Caldwell, eschewing real estate agents and requesting interested buyers to email them a bid directly.

The asking price is well above comparable homes in the area, which have sold for between $1.5million and $2million, but the couple say that they believe the mansion is as much of a piece of one-of-a-kind memorabilia as a home.

'I don't think you can quantify the intrinsic value of this home,' Mr. Recchia told the New York Times in an article announcing the sale.

Patti and Victor Recchia are selling the 5,600-square-foot home of fictional Tony Soprano in North Caldwell, New Jersey

The home and famous pool are seen from above. The asking price of $3.4million is well above area average

The above image shows the real life interior of the home. It shows the great room with a white stone fireplace. The patio is recognizable to fans of the show

Sopranos cast members Jamie Lynn Sigler, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Robert Iler are seen outside the home in 1999

Mr. Recchia, 65, is the owner of a construction company which built the 1.5-acre home, as well as more than 20 others in the development where it is located.

He built the home in 1987, and the couple have decided to sell it now that their adult son has moved out, saying they have too much space.

The interior of the home was used as a filming location for the 1999 pilot episode of The Sopranos.

Since that episode, the show is estimated to have filmed on location at the home between 30 and 50 times.

The house was chosen among 150 other homes by the producers of the show.

Following that, a painstaking set replicating the home's interiors was built in Silvercup Studios in Queens.

Film crews returned to the mansion each season for exterior shots, such as the iconic scenes of Tony Soprano retrieving his newspaper from the foot of the driveway.

Film crews returned to the mansion often throughout the series for exterior shots, such as the iconic scenes of Tony Soprano retrieving his newspaper from the foot of the driveway

The kitchen was the scene of numerous arguments and clashes between Tony and his wife, Carmela (played by Edie Falco). Twenty years after show's first season, Falco was quoted as saying that the on-screen couple rarely talked when the cameras weren't rolling. We didnt hang out,' Falco said. 'We werent particularly close, even. We were really just this pretend couple.

The kitchen was also where Tony imparted some fatherly wisdom to his children, Meadow and AJ - played respectively by Jamie Lynn Sigler (second from left) and Robert Iler (far left)

The dining room was where the Sopranos often gathered for small and large Sunday dinners and evening meals. Here Tony is seen having dinner with his wife, Carmela, and their son, AJ

A shot of one the four upstairs bedrooms - this one belonged to AJ in the hit series

American actor James Gandolfini, as Tony Soprano, smokes a cigar while he stands in pool outside of the home

Tony's inexplicable attachment to wild ducks who took up residence in his swimming pool was a compelling plot twist. When the ducks fly away, Tony suffers a panic attack - triggering his entry into therapy and setting the stage for a long-running narrative

The property also houses the pool where Tony famously fed his beloved wild ducks who took up residence.

Over the years, the home has achieved mythic status among dedicated fans, a site of pilgrimage and adoration.

When actor James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano, died suddenly of a heart attack in 2013, devastated fans created an impromptu memorial at the home, leaving flowers, candles and a bag of dried ziti.

A steady stream of tourists have also visited to pose for photos outside of the home.

At least one man arrived wearing a robe and clutching a newspaper.

'They'll pull up in like a limo or something, get out in a robe, and pick up a newspaper,' Mr. Recchia told the Times. He said he believed the photo op was a Father's Day present.

At least one tourist (above) has posed for a photo outside of the home wearing a robe and clutching a newspaper

'I was pulling out of the driveway and I noticed a few fellas on their motorcycles coming down the cul-de-sac,' said Ms. Recchia of a recent interaction.

'So I open my car window just to acknowledge them, and they say, 'Hi, Mrs. Soprano! We're not going to mess anything up, just want to take a couple photos.'

The Recchias are asking qualified bidders to submit offers and proof of funds by June 21 to the email address sopranoshouseforsale@gmail.com.

The Sopranos was a nationwide cultural phenomenon in the six seasons it aired on HBO.

It told the story of mercurial Tony Soprano, the fictional character said to be loosely based on real-life Italian American mobster Vincent 'Vinny Ocean' Palermo.

As Tony rises up in the ranks of the North Jersey organized crime ring, he must balance his violent, sociopathic tendencies with his responsibilities as a family man while he struggles with anxiety and depression.

Tony's vulnerabilities are laid bare during his therapy sessions with Dr. Jennifer Melfi, who hears details of the mob boss's difficult relationship with his overbearing mother.

The emotional epicenter of the show is the tumultuous marriage between Tony and Carmela, who must suffer the indignity of satisfying a philandering husband.

While their relationship on camera was explosive, Falco told a panel celebrating the 20th anniversary of the show's first season that she hardly knew the man who played her husband.

'We never talked about the characters, or their backstory,' Falco was quoted as saying in The Spectator when talking about her relationship with Gandolfini.

'We would get the lines, and we would look at each other, and we would do the scene.

I didnt really know much about his real life, his personal life.

We didnt hang out. We werent particularly close, even. We were really just this pretend couple.
Two Indian air force helicopters and a rescue team scoured the Himalayan region around the Nanda Devi mountain for eight missing climbers without success on Sunday - and survivors are unlikely to be found, two government officials said.

The rescue effort for the climbers from Australia, Britain, the US and India began on Saturday when they did not return to their base camp, but it may take days to trek to the avalanche-hit area where they were last known to have been.

A team of ten to 15 rescuers, made up of police, disaster response personnel and administrators has also fanned out to track down Brits Martin Moran, John McLaren, Rupert Whewell and Richard Payne.

Americans Anthony Sudekum and Ronald Beimel, Australian Ruth McCance and Indian guide Chetan Pandey are also among those reported missing.

'The first aerial recce has concluded,' said Vijay Kumar Jogdanda, the top civil servant in the Pithoragarh district of India's rugged state of Uttarakhand.

'There were only tents spotted, but no human presence. The second helicopter has left for the recce.'

British mountaineer and group leader Martin Moran (left) has been reported missing after his team didn't return to base camp on Friday at Nanda Devi, India's second highest mountain. (Pictured) Friend of 20 years Nigel Vardy who said Mr Moran is an 'experienced climber'

He added, 'Chances of survival are bleak,' and confirmed the occurrence of an avalanche that is feared to have caught the climbers in the area around India's second-highest peak. Officials have declined to identify them.

The casualty rate in the region is almost five times higher than on Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak.

Equipment ranging from avalanche gear to drones and satellite phones is on hand for the rescuers, said Tripti Bhatt, an official of the Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force.

Facebook post from their second base camp, at 16,000 feet, said the group were going to try to scale a previously unclimbed peak

But the rescuers would need at least three or four days of walking to get to the avalanche site, another official said.

The climbers went missing on the Indian side of the Himalayas near the end of a climbing season that has been particularly deadly.

Others in the group who turned back earlier notified officials late on Friday when their colleagues did not return as planned, Sanjay Gunjiyal, a police official in the SDRF, said.

The team had trekked into the heart of the Nanda Devi sanctuary with the 'ambition of summiting a virgin peak', British adventure company Moran Mountain, which ran the expedition, said in a Facebook post on May 12.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the company said it was working with authorities and the British Association of Mountain Guides to gather information about the expedition's fate, but would make no further comment.

The eight climbers were reported missing after an avalanche while they were trying to scale a previously unclimbed 21,000-foot peak.

Ruth McCance, from Sydney, and seven other climbers failed to return to base camp at Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India

It follows the deaths of 11 people in almost as many days on Mount Everest last month after climbers were filmed queuing to reach the summit.

An Indian rescue team was sent up the mountain after the group, led by Mr Moran, who had failed to return to base-camp on Friday as planned.

But they were battling bad weather and Vijay Kumar Jogdande, a magistrate in Pithoragarh district, said: 'We have activated resources to trace the climbers after they failed to return to the base camp, but bad weather is hindering the operation.'

The group, which is led by experienced UK-based climber Martin Moran, last shared updates to social media on May 22. 'The Nanda Devi team has reached their second base camp at 4870m, their home for the next week,' the update said

Two helicopters from the Indian Air Force were drafted in during the early hours of Sunday morning to hunt for those missing.

A Facebook update from May 22 detailing the group's progress said they were going to climb a previously unscaled 21,000-foot high summit.

'In the words of Royal Robbins; 'A first ascent is a creation in the same sense as is a painting or a song',' it added.

Rescuers have so far reported an avalanche on the missing climbers proposed route, as their efforts to meet the second base-camp are hampered by heavy rains and snowfall.

Ms McCance's group includes three men from the UK, two American men and an Indian guide

An Indian government official said an air force helicopter has also been used to locate look for the climbers.

Martin Moran who founded British mountaineering company 'Moran Mountain' in 1985, leads guided tours of difficult-to-reach summits in his native Scotland, as well as Norway, the Alps and Himalayas.

On the company website, it says he has more than 30 years climbing experience.

Mr Moran's friend of more than 20 years, Nigel Vardy, told Sky News Moran 'knows the mountain, he knows the area, he knows what he is doing'.

He said that the experienced climber was 'at the top of his game'.

Speaking about avalanches, he said that even though they make intelligent estimates sometimes there are 'just seconds of notice' which 'can be too late'.

'Avalanche debris is incredibly heavy. It sets like concrete. You really don't just walk out of this stuff.'

Australian woman and experienced climber Ruth McCance had been on several climbs previously in India's Ladakh region.

Ms McCance, from Sydney, was also with the team led by Mr Moran, and sent husband Trent Goldsack a four-word text message hours before the group were believed to have been hit by the avalanche.

A spokesperson from The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Daily Mail Australia they are in communication with the family of an Australian

The message - 'OK at base camp' - was the her first communication in days since the group of 13 headed into the mountains.

'They basically went dark after they left Delhi, but that was expected. She's done this stuff before,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Goldsack said his wife was well-prepared and had been training to go up an unclimbed Himalayan peak for decades.

She went running in the Blue Mountains to improve her stamina and climbed peaks in France and New Zealand, and had climbed in India's Ladakh region before.

'For her, it wasn't about ticking a box. She has a real passion for the mountains and being out in wild environments. And she likes to extend herself... that's what was important to her,' he said.

Mr Goldsack said the expedition was something Ms McCance wanted to do for as long as he'd known her and was 'well within her capabilities'.

The executive coach gave up climbing in her 30s due to the dangers, but took it up again three years ago.

'As much as I loved it and saw others climbing safely and well, I became overwhelmed by the risks involved, so I stopped. At 47 I have started climbing again  I've changed my mind,' she wrote in her blog.

Mr Goldsack said the Indian Government was supporting rescue efforts with helicopters but the search party was still three or four days away.

The British Mountain Guides Association yesterday said it was aware of the news of the missing climbers and were 'assisting where possible.'

At Mount Everest, where queuing chaos has been blamed for fatalities, 11 climbers lost their lives 13 days. Pictured: Climbers queue to stand on the summit of Everest on May 22

Moran Mountain said in a statement: 'We are working with the authorities and the British Association of Mountiain Guides to gather information regarding the Nanda Devi East expedition team.

'Out of respect for those involved and their families, we will be making no furtehr comments at this time.'

The UK Foreign Office said: 'We are in contact with the Indian authorities following reports that a number of British nationals are missing in the Indian Himalayas.

'We will do all we can to assist any British people who need our help.'

A spokesperson from The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Daily Mail Australia they are talking to the family of an Australian.

'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian that may be among a group of trekkers missing in the Nanda Devi area of India.'

'Due to privacy obligations, we are unable to provide further information.'

The group set off as a team of 12 on May 12, but four turned back during the expedition.

Reports of the missing group come amid a horror climbing season where at least 17 climbers have died on other 26,000 ft Himalayan peaks this year.

At Mount Everest, where queuing chaos has been blamed for fatalities, 11 climbers lost their lives in 13 days.

An Australian climber, who is now recovering in a Nepalese hospital, was rescued after he collapsed while climbing Everest.

Gilian Lee, a Canberra public servant, was 7500m up Everest when he suddenly collapsed and fell unconscious after complaining about chest pains.

Photos shared online show traffic chaos on the mountain as trekkers are forced to line up to climb the summit.
Leaving the European Union without a deal will pose no threat to public safety, the Security Minister has declared  as a new Mail on Sunday poll shows voters are becoming less concerned about the effects of a hard Brexit.

A total of 45 per cent agree that a No Deal scenario is 'nothing to fear' or would cause only 'short term problems' with 'few or no consequences for the UK'.

That compares with 30 per cent who believe that it would cause 'severe' problems, according to the Deltapoll research.

A new Mail on Sunday poll shows voters are becoming less concerned about the effects of a hard Brexit

Those advocating for such a hard Brexit will be bolstered by Minister Ben Wallace's insistence today that such a result will have no major downside for national security.

He told The Mail on Sunday that the British intelligence community would be ready for such a situation 'because very little would change'.

The former Remain supporter, who ran Boris Johnson's 2016 leadership campaign, said while law enforcement tools such as the European Arrest Warrant could be affected 'sub-optimally' by a hard Brexit, there were mitigating benefits from walking away from Brussels.

He insisted that 'our ability to protect ourselves increases, because unilaterally we can do things to defend our borders that we cannot currently do as members of the European Union'.

The poll also indicates that Boris Johnson's stance on Brexit has boosted his chances of becoming Prime Minister

Asked directly if public safety would be an issue in a No Deal Brexit, Mr Wallace stressed: 'I don't believe it would be significantly affected.

'I think there will be some downsides to it  but every variant of the deal has some winners and losers.

'To give your readers some comfort, our European partners know that security is not a competition, it's a partnership.

'It's in both our interests to resolve security issues very quickly because it's not an economic advantage.

Among all voters, Boris Johnson is regarded as three times as likeable as Mr Hunt, and also tops the measures for competence and trustworthiness

Those advocating for such a hard Brexit will be bolstered by Minister Ben Wallace's (pictured) insistence today that such a result will have no major downside for national security

'This is not about who's going to sell each other more cars, this is about helping each other. Our European partners have given us all the indications that when it comes to security, it's professional.'

His views were echoed by Brexit Minister James Cleverly, who said: 'As the Minister in charge of No Deal planning, let me assure you that we are much better prepared for a No Deal departure than some would have you believe.'

The leadership contender insisted that a hard Brexit was not his first choice, but added: 'Both businesses and the Civil Service have been working hard for more than two years, getting ready for this possibility.'

In a further development last night, Tory leadership rival Dominic Raab announced he would appoint a special 'Minister for No Deal' at Cabinet level if he became Prime Minister to toughen our negotiating stance with Brussels.

Brexit Minister James Cleverly said the government is prepared for a No Deal departure

The former Brexit Secretary also set out his battle plan for dealing with the anticipated fallout if we leave the EU without a deal, including emergency COBRA meetings.

Mr Raab said: 'To give ourselves the best shot of a deal, we must be willing to walk away.

'We will not be taken seriously in Brussels unless we are clear that we will leave on WTO [World Trade Organisation] terms if the EU doesn't budge.'

And he claimed fears that the Channel ports would grind to a halt were overstated as customs officers would not need to carry any more checks than they do currently.

Mr Raab added that even if there were delays at ports, fewer than one in ten food items would be directly affected.

Today's Mail on Sunday poll also shows No Deal is now more popular in the country than the deal which Theresa May negotiated with Brussels.

If a second referendum were held tomorrow, just 28 per cent of voters would support her deal  lower than the 33 per cent who would leave on WTO terms.

The proportion wanting to Remain is 42 per cent.

The poll also indicates that Boris Johnson's stance on Brexit has boosted his chances of becoming Prime Minister.

Of Tory voters, 35 per cent say his belief that the UK should leave the EU by the October 31 deadline, 'deal or no deal', has made them more likely to support him, compared with 30 per cent who said it made them less likely.

Polling also suggests that Jeremy Hunt has been damaged by his inconsistency. The Foreign Secretary has 'flip flopped' on No Deal, first saying that he was relaxed about it before describing it as 'political suicide'.

In a further development last night, Tory leadership rival Dominic Raab announced he would appoint a special 'Minister for No Deal' at Cabinet level if he became Prime Minister to toughen our negotiating stance with Brussels

A total of 31 per cent said that they were less likely to support him as a result of his vacillation, with just 14 per cent more likely to back him.

What does hard Brexit really mean? What is a hard Brexit? Should Britain and the EU fail to secure a withdrawal agreement, they will trade with each other on World Trade Organisation terms. This rules-based trading system involves 164 countries which guarantee to keep their markets open to all other members. Every nation has a list of tariffs (taxes on the imports of goods) and quotas (limits on these goods which it applies across the board). How will it work? A Under the WTOs most favoured nation rules, the UK cannot discriminate between members. If we lowered tariffs for the EU, or any specific country, we must do it for all nations  unless we agree a trade deal. While Britain would no longer be bound by EU rules, it would have to face the same tariffs on trade with the EU as any other external nation. The Irish border issue remains unresolved, with the Government saying it does not intend to collect customs duties or have any other controls after a No Deal Brexit. How will it affect me? A Under the WTO tariff regime, the price of some goods from countries such as China and the US would fall, with oranges, TVs and batteries all enjoying zero per cent tariffs. However, tariffs on EU goods like beef, Volkswagen cars and cheese would be introduced, hiking up prices. Mobile roaming charges in EU countries are likely to rise and pharmacists are advising patients to order medicines in advance. Advertisement

The changes mean Mr Johnson has opened up a commanding lead over his rivals, topping the poll for best Tory leader both among Conservative voters and the wider electorate.

Mr Johnson has the backing of 39 per cent of Tory voters compared to 15 per cent for Mr Hunt and 13 per cent for Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

A total of 32 per cent of all voters say he would be best placed to succeed Mrs May  nearly three times the level of support of second-placed Mr Gove.

Of the rest of the field, Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid are tied in third place with nine per cent.

Dominic Raab, who is performing strongly among the Tory MPs who will decide which two candidates will be put forward to the party membership for a final decision, is on five per cent.

Rory Stewart, the leadership contender most critical of No Deal, has the support of just one per cent of Tory voters, and four per cent amid the wider public.

Mr Johnson wins on every measure asked by the pollsters. Among all voters, he is regarded as three times as likeable as Mr Hunt, and also tops the measures for competence and trustworthiness.

The poll, which had a larger-than-usual sample size of 2,449, confirms the earthquake which has rocked the two-party system since Mrs May delayed Brexit beyond the end of March.

Labour are in the lead with 26 per cent, just ahead of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party on 24 per cent.

The Conservatives are in third on 20 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats, who have surged as a result of backing from Remain supporters, are on 16 per cent.

Deltapoll interviewed an online sample of 2,449 adults across Britain aged 18-plus on May 29-30. The results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
Jeremy Corbyn's leadership is 'doomed' if Labour crashes to defeat in this week's Peterborough by-election, his allies admit.

They conceded last night that his position would be 'untenable' if the Labour-held seat fell to the Tories or the Brexit Party.

A senior Labour MP said: 'Lose on Thursday and it's basically the beginning of the end for Jeremy.

'If we can't win a by-election in a seat we already hold, even if it's a marginal, then it's really all over for Jeremy. His morale is already very low.'

Jeremy Corbyn's leadership (pictured campaigning in Peterborough) is 'doomed' if Labour crashes to defeat in this week's by-election, his allies admit

The grim forecast came as Nigel Farage made a final push to follow up his Brexit Party's extraordinary European elections triumph into its first seat at Westminster.

Addressing a packed rally in the constituency yesterday, Mr Farage boasted that the European result had 'absolutely mortified' the established parties, but suggested winning the by-election would be an even bigger result.

But despite bookmakers making Mr Farage's party the favourite, there are also predictions that the Tories, who lost the seat by just 607 votes to Labour in 2017, could snatch it back.

The by-election comes after a series of blows to Mr Corbyn, starting with the party's humiliating third place in the European elections behind the Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats.

Well-placed sources said the Labour leader was 'shaken' when the Lib Dems managed to top the European poll even in his North London backyard of Islington.

Jeremy Corbyn campaigning with Lisa Forbes who faced calls to stand down after 'liking' social media posts that suggested Theresa May had a 'Zionist Slave Masters agenda'

The grim forecast came as Nigel Farage made a final push to follow up his Brexit Party's extraordinary European elections triumph into its first seat at Westminster

The Equality and Human Rights Commission's decision to launch a full probe into alleged anti-Semitism in the party  forecast by this paper last week  is also said to have demoralised him.

Yesterday, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell spoke publicly of his anger over Labour's failure to deal with anti-Jewish prejudice, saying: 'We weren't fast enough, we weren't ruthless enough.'

Yesterday, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell spoke publicly of his anger over Labour's failure to deal with anti-Jewish prejudice

There are also reports of a growing rift between Mr McDonnell and Seumas Milne, Mr Corbyn's strategy director and closest adviser.

And Northern Labour MPs in Brexit-backing seats are furious over Mr Corbyn's move towards supporting a second referendum in the wake of the European elections disaster.

One said: 'If we lose Peterborough because Corbyn panicked ten days before the by-election, it'll be unforgivable.'

But a source close to Mr Corbyn dismissed talk of any threat to the Labour leader's position as 'nonsense and mischief'.

Mr McDonnell friends also denied talk of any rift with Mr Milne.

Campaigning in Peterborough yesterday, Mr Corbyn said the contest was about 'asserting core Labour values', including ending austerity and dealing with climate change.

The by-election was called when Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out by a recall petition after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.
Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin took to his Twitter to share his incendiary thoughts in a Saturday tweet

The current Bishop of a Rhode Island city is under fire after sharing a tweet telling his congregation not to support or attend LGBTQ Pride Month events.

Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin took to his Twitter to share his incendiary thoughts in a Saturday tweet that was liked just more than 1,100 times but has been inundated with several thousand incinerating comments.

'A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ 'Pride Month' events held in June,' he said in the tweet. 'They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children.'

Tobin proudly touts that he is a Pittsburgh native. He served as the auxiliary bishop of Pittsburgh from 1992 to 1996, which many users pointed out was during years in which the Catholic Church worked to cover up sexual assault allegations against Pennsylvania priests.

'A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ 'Pride Month' events held in June,' he said in the tweet. 'They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children'

Tobin proudly touts that he is a Pittsburgh native. He served as the auxiliary bishop of Pittsburgh from 1992 to 1996, which many users pointed out was during years in which the Catholic Church worked to cover up sexual assault allegations against Pennsylvania priests

He even reportedly stated that he 'became aware of incidents of sexual abuse when they were reported to the diocese,' asserting that his responsibilities 'did not include clergy assignments or clergy misconduct.'

#MeToo founder and activist, Tarana Burke, summed up the sentiment when she tweeted: 'Can we talk about pots & kettles?#blaaaaack #foh #glasshouses.'

'I think you meant to say that Catholic priests have promoted a culture and encouraged activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals,' added LGBTQ activist Brian Sims. 'One that is especially harmful to minors. Fixed that for you. #BeReal'

#MeToo founder and activist, Tarana Burke, summed up the sentiment when she tweeted: 'Can we talk about pots & kettles?#blaaaaack #foh #glasshouses'

He continued: 'Theres not one ounce of authenticity of integrity here. Attacking families, attacking people fighting for their rights, attacking people celebrating their community, all the while molesting thousands of kids with self-righteous impunity.'

Pollster Matthew McDermott quickly pointed out Tobin's controversial history in Pittsburgh as the auxiliary bishop. McDermott also noted the trends in Rhode Island since the bishop came.

'Association with the Catholic Church in Rhode Island has fallen nearly 20% since Tobin became Bishop,' said the pollster. 'Its evident why.'

Jason Bailey said: 'Oh DO GO ON about things that are harmful to children, oh BISHOP OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

Pollster Matthew McDermott quickly pointed out Tobin's controversial history in Pittsburgh as the auxiliary bishop

McDermott also noted the trends in Rhode Island since the bishop came

Eric Spankle, a professor of clinical psychology, told Catholics not to attend Catholic mass.

He added: 'They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to humanism. They are especially harmful for children.'

'A reminder. Why you let priests that molest children get away with it? Worry about that and leave the LGBTQ community the entire F**K alone. Thanks,' asserted Kellee Terrell.

Greg Bennett stated: 'Im gonna have gay sex on your grave when you die in a few years :) :)'

The sentiment was shared by Travis Helwig, who said: 'Eat my a**hole father.'
Prisoners from jails all over the UK will be released for a five-day boot camp to learn self discipline and tackle anger management issues.

They will have to wear full military kit and hike across courses at Dartmoor national park with former paratroopers keep watch on them.

Prisons involved in the programme include young offenders unit HMP Prison Feltham, in West London, and HMP Guys Marsh, in Dorset.

Officials are hoping that the courses can help cut re-offending rates but prisoners on a similar course in Scotland ran away and were later found enjoying class A drugs bender.

The prisoners and paratroopers will be put up in a 50-bed centre by The Airborne Initiative charity.

Prisoners will have to wear full military kit and hike across courses at Dartmoor national park with former paratroopers keep watch on them

A source told the Mirror: 'Security is paramount. But the powers that be believe courses of this kind are vital in cutting reoffending rates.'

The prisoners at Dartmoor will be woken up at 6am and do an hour of circuit training. before showering and doing two hours of map reading and orienteering.

After this, they'll dress in military-style uniform before going on a seven-mile hike across the moorland, crossing rivers and taking part in adventure training and team-building exercises.

They will return to the centre at 5pm before taking part in a quiz and discussing the events of the day between 8pm and 10pm.

They'll then given 90 minutes of free time before they sleep at 11.30pm.

The news comes after Justice Secretary David Gauke said this week that he will let more prisoners out on release on temporary licence

Up to 20 prisoners will take part in each course, with charity Airborne Initiative saying that it will help 'build self worth' and give the inmates a 'sense of achievement'.

The plans come after Justice Secretary David Gauke said this week that he will let more prisoners out on release on temporary licence.

These inmates will be allowed to work or attend courses.

Prisoners near the end of their sentence will be given the opportunity, as will those considered to be 'low risk'.
Ministers and courtiers fear President Trump could embarrass the Queen by publicly backing Brexit in front of her at a Buckingham Palace banquet tomorrow.

Officials involved in the planning of the controversial State visit are braced for Mr Trump to use his banquet address to heap praise on the UK's decision to quit the EU, despite the Royal Family's scrupulous attempts to remain above the political fray.

Palace sources last night insisted the Queen would be 'more than capable' of dealing with such controversy and Foreign Office insiders said they had not broached the subject with Washington.

A Whitehall source said: 'We've learnt that asking them to steer the President off a subject tends to have the opposite effect.'

Aides fear that President Trump will breach protocol by endorsing Brexit in front of the Queen (pictured with the Queen in 2018)

And a Palace insider added: 'We are not in the business of telling a foreign leader what they can and cannot say for political reasons.'

However, such an intervention by Mr Trump would cause fury, given the lengths to which the Palace has gone to distance the Queen from the divisive debate about Britain's relationship with the EU.

When one newspaper accused the Queen of supporting Brexit in 2016, the Palace made a furious and unprecedented complaint to the Press regulator.

Comments about Brexit would mark a second breach of protocol by the President following his unusual endorsement of Boris Johnson to be the next Prime Minister  before Theresa May has officially resigned.

The president is a supporter of Brexiteers like Nigel Farage - posing together by the golden elevator in his New York penthouse

And after his diplomatic gaffe of backing the current Tory leadership frontrunner, Mr Trump is poised to anger Downing Street further by meeting Brexit Party boss Nigel Farage.

Mr Trump last week described him as a 'friend' and it is thought the pair could be guests at a dinner hosted by the President on Tuesday evening at the official London residence of the US Ambassador. Spokesmen for both men said last night they had yet to receive such an invitation.

In a separate development, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was forced to deny that he had pleaded with Mr Trump to endorse his bid for No 10, after the President said in an interview that some of Mr Johnson's leadership rivals had sought his blessing.

A Foreign Office source said that while it was true that Mr Hunt was in regular contact with Mr Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, it was 'categorically untrue' that he had sought an endorsement.

Palace sources insist that the Queen will be able to cope with anything that Mr Trump might say. The president is a noted fan of Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage

Foreign Office insiders said they had not broached the subject of the president's speech with Washington

Jeremy Corbyn condemned Mr Trump's intervention in the leadership contest. 'President Trump's attempt to decide who will be Britain's next Prime Minister is an entirely unacceptable interference in our country's democracy,' said the Labour leader, who has snubbed an invite to tomorrow's State banquet.

Mr Trump responded to the Labour leader's decision by saying Mr Corbyn was 'making a mistake' in not attending because as a potential future Prime Minister 'he would want to get along with the United States'.

Commons Speaker John Bercow is also boycotting the banquet.

The Government last night pleaded with the public to welcome Mr Trump to London, arguing that 'the special relationship is generational, not one person'.

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace said: 'The relationships are daily and long-developed relationships. You don't unpick that. The special relationship is not Presidents and Prime Ministers.'

The US president also praised hard Brexiteer Boris Johnson, and it looks as if he will meet with the Foreign Secretary during his visit

Arriving on June 3, President Trump will be welcomed by the Queen at Buckingham Palace (left). The president will also have tea with the the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall (right) at Clarence House

Last night, President Trump's intervention sparked calls for the Queen to scrap tomorrow's banquet, to punish him.

Liberal Democrat MP Sir Ed Davey, a former Cabinet Minister now bidding to replace Sir Vince Cable as his party's leader, said: 'The Queen would be perfectly entitled to cancel Trump's dinner, given he's insulted the Duchess of Sussex and interfered in the selection of our next Prime Minister at a time of national crisis.

'We don't need friends like that.'

Sir Ed was referring to interview comments Mr Trump made describing the American-born Duchess of Sussex as 'nasty' over comments she made in 2016 threatening to move to Canada if he became President.

Six glasses each, four menus and 12 pipers

President Trump and his family will be wined and dined by the Queen and other Royals tomorrow night, along with 170 guests picked for their cultural, diplomatic or economic links to the US, in the opulent Buckingham Palace Ballroom (pictured right).

Former Buckingham Palace chef Darren McGrady described such events as 'military operations', with menus planned months in advance. All food will be the 'best of British' but there is likely to be a nod to Trump's Scottish heritage  with perhaps traditional shortbread or salmon.

The exquisite menu served on priceless silver-gilt dinner plates and cutlery from the Grand Service made for George IV, take three days to lay at the vast U-shaped table, each place setting exactly 18in from the next, checked for precision with special measuring sticks.

Staff members lay the State Banquet table, in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the summer opening of the royal house to the public

The exquisite menu is served on priceless silver-gilt dinner plates and cutlery from the Grand Service made for George IV

Chefs will have been given some rough guidelines, and then prepared four menus. These will have been given to the Queen, who decides which she wants.

Each guest has six glasses  for water, red and white wines, a champagne toast, a dessert wine and port, all embossed with the Royal crest.

Nineteen serving stations are set up around the walls of the room, each manned by four staff  each station linked to a traffic light system to co-ordinate the serving of courses.

The footmen must make sure every chair is exactly the same distance from the table and each glass is the same distance from the front edge of the table.

Detailed diagrams are used to illustrate the serving plans and a list of special instructions sets out any dietary requirements and requests for the Royals and other guests.

Each guest has six glasses  for water, red and white wines, a champagne toast, a dessert wine and port, all embossed with the Royal crest

President Trump will be accompanied by First Lady Melania and four of his five children  Donald Jnr, Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany.

Just before the banquet, members of the Royal family will be lined up in the White Drawing Room to be introduced and shake hands with Mr Trump and the First Lady. The Queen and the President will then make their way into the Ballroom side-by-side.

Two silver gilt three-branch candelabra, each cast as a fruiting vine stem, will adorn the table.

The Queen will be seated next to Mr Trump at the top end of the table, along with his wife, Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. Other Royals will be spread between the guests.

Two silver gilt three-branch candelabra, each cast as a fruiting vine stem, will adorn the table

Four large silver gilt scallop shell soup tureens, each surmounted by a triton blowing a conch shell horn

Speeches start at 8pm when the Queen and Mr Trump will both formally address the gathering and propose toasts to one another, followed by the playing of the national anthems.

A string orchestra usually provides the musical backdrop and the end of the banquet is signalled by the arrival of 12 pipers in a procession around the room, a tradition begun by Queen Victoria.

The dress code is white tie and tiaras. Members of the Royal family wear sashes and badges known as orders if they have been given them in recognition of Royal service.

Four large silver gilt scallop shell soup tureens, each surmounted by a triton blowing a conch shell horn, are some of the most striking pieces in the Grand Service.
New system for re-investigating pre-2017 claims could make it easier for bullying victims to come forward

John Bercow is being warned to stick to his original plan to quit by the summer or face a fresh row over allegations he bullied staff.

The Speaker sparked fury last week by announcing that he would stay in the post to oversee the Brexit drama despite repeated claims he is biased against Brexit.

But last night, Tory MPs vowed to fast-track new anti-bullying procedures which would make it easier to investigate so-called historic allegations of bullying.

They say the new system will allow a proper investigation into claims that Mr Bercow bullied his staff  claims he has repeatedly denied.

John Bercow sparked fury last week by announcing that he would stay in the post to oversee the Brexit drama despite repeated claims he is biased against Brexit

Previous allegations include Angus Sinclair, Mr Bercows former private secretary, accusing the Speaker of physically intimidating, demeaning and mimicking him before he took compulsory early retirement in 2010.

Mr Bercow has also been accused of bullying Mr Sinclairs successor, Kate Emms, out of her job.

MPs privately say a revised system for investigating pre-2017 bullying allegations will make it much easier for victims to come forward and for their bully-boy superiors to be held to account.

Previous allegations against Mr Bercow include Angus Sinclair, his former private secretary, accusing the Speaker of physically intimidating, demeaning and mimicking him before he took compulsory early retirement in 2010

The new procedures are yet to be finalised by MPs, with critics claiming Mr Bercow is hoping the new scheme does not come into force before he eventually quits.

But one senior Tory MP said: We are determined to see this introduced as quickly as possible. Mr Speaker may think it can be dragged out till after hes gone but we owe it to Commons staff to get on with it.

When he was elected in 2009, Mr Bercow promised to serve as Speaker for only nine years.

Kate Emms (pictured right beside Mr Bercow) replaced Mr Sinclair as the Speaker's secretary but was also allegedly 'bullied' out of her job

But Commons sources say he is now planning to retire this summer  an expectation fuelled last month when he told his local newspaper in Buckingham that he would not stay on much longer.

But during a trip to the US last week, he said it was not sensible to vacate the chair while there were momentous events taking place and great issues to be resolved.

The move sparked fury among Brexit-backing Tory MPs who have accused Mr Bercow of trying to block the UKs departure from the EU and for abusing his role and acting undemocratically.

During a speech at the Brookings Institution think-tank in Washington last week, Mr Bercow outraged Tory Brexiteers by suggesting the Commons could block No Deal  even though that was the current legal default position.

The Speakers Office yesterday declined to comment.

But allies of Mr Bercow  who has denied any bias over Brexit  said the Speaker would not be cowed by Tory threats.

One said: The Speaker himself chairs the Commons Commission which has provisionally approved this new bullying report regime.

Thats not the behaviour of someone worried about making it easier for staff to report bullying.

The row broke after it emerged that the Speaker spent 13,000 on a trip to Canada last July to attend a conference of Speakers from G7 countries.
A 'magical' drug offers women close to dying from the most common form of breast cancer the prospect of years more life, experts said last night.

Hailing 'almost unheard of' results from a major trial, they said the daily pill could transform the prospect of thousands of women.

After being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, where tumours have spread to other organs, women typically now live just two or three years longer.

But some women are still alive seven years after being put on the treatment, ribociclib, experts have told The Mail on Sunday.

Ribociclib is having 'almost unheard of' results in a major trial on breast cancer patients in the US

A number who were riddled with tumours throughout their bodies have seen their growths all but disappear.

Results of the trial, unveiled yesterday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference, show a major leap in survival rates among those put on the drug.

Last night, lead researcher Dr Sara Hurvitz, of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center in California, said: 'I have counted on one hand the number of agents [drugs] that have this kind of effect. Such a huge survival advantage is almost unheard of.'

And Professor Gabriel Hortobagyi of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who spearheaded the earliest trials of ribociclib, said: 'If you go back 30 years, the average survival of a woman with metastatic breast cancer about 18 months.

'But I have patients who have been on ribociclib and hormone medication for seven years, and they continue to do well.'

The survival benefits could last even longer, he anticipated. 'We won't know for another five, ten years, what the ceiling is.'

Professor Peter Harper, founder of Harley Street's Leaders In Oncology Care, said: 'When you see these responses, they're magical.'

Among those to have benefited is 53-year-old Bernadette Martinho-Brewer from Tulare, California.

'It's absolutely incredible,' said the teacher and mother-of-one, who has been taking ribociclib for almost four years. 'I just hope this drug can help other women too.'

Bernadette Martinho-Brewer from Tulare, California, pictured with her daughter, has benefited from the 'magical' treatment

She was first diagnosed with cancer in her left breast in 2012 which spread. She said: 'I was angry, more than anything  my daughter was barely in her teens. I had to face the fact that I might not make it.

'Now, I just feel so lucky  almost four years later, and I'm working and living life as normal.'

The trial followed 672 women with HER2-negative breast cancer, the most common form of the disease.

It showed 70 per cent of women given ribociclib together with other anti-cancer drugs were still alive after three-and-a-half years.

That compared to just 46 per cent of those given a placebo dummy pill instead of ribociclib.

The new medicine proved so successful the study was stopped early as it was considered unethical not to offer it all the patients.

The trial was sponsored by pharmaceutical firm Novartis, which has developed ribociclib under the name Kisqali. At present, some women with HER2-negative breast cancer can get ribociclib on the NHS, which costs about 35,000 a year.
It took Meg Ryan less than a minute to fake it in When Harry Met Sally, but a new study has found that on average it takes women 13 minutes and 25 seconds to have a real orgasm.

In research that might have taken the passion out of the moment, women were asked to start a stopwatch when they became sexually aroused, and stop it again when they climaxed.

Around one in six of those who took part said they never climaxed during intercourse. Of the rest, the time it took ranged from 5 minutes 42 seconds to just over 21 minutes.

In research that might have taken the passion out of the moment, women were asked to start a stopwatch when they became sexually aroused, and stop it again when they climaxed

Almost nine in ten of those who took part in the research reported longer-lasting sensations when they were positioned on top.

Scientists who conducted the study between October 2017 and last September believe they are the first to measure orgasmic latency  the gap between arousal and climax.

A total of 645 straight women from 21 countries took part  a fifth of them from the UK  and all were married or in long-term relationships.

The average age was 30, but writing in The Journal Of Sexual Medicine, the team from Indias Kadave Institute of Medical Sciences said the age of women and how long they had been with their partner did not have a significant effect on how long orgasms took.

They defined the moment of becoming aroused as an intense desire for sex in the presence of erotic stimuli, which were provided by the partner, audiovisual methods or both, and concluded that the average time to reach orgasm was 13 minutes and 25 seconds.

Almost nine in ten of those who took part in the research reported longer-lasting sensations when they were positioned on top

The study does, however, fail to mention a crucial fact: according to research from 2009, the average time for men to orgasm is just six minutes.

Meanwhile, separate research at Geneva University found that female orgasm is accompanied by three to 15 involuntary contractions of the pelvic muscles  and that the event lasts between three and 26 seconds.

Last year, another study found that men were also way off in estimating how often their wives orgasmed, with 43 per cent getting it wrong.

That research, involving 1,683 newlywed couples, found than 87 per cent of husbands consistently experienced orgasm, but just 49 per cent of the women did.

Katzs Delicatessen, the New York restaurant where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal filmed their famous scene, is holding a fake orgasm contest in July to mark the films 30th anniversary.
Friends of Sir Philip Greens daughter Chloe were speculating last night that her relationship with her hot felon lover Jeremy Meeks is over  after he missed their baby sons first birthday.

An Instagram friend posted a video last week showing Ms Green, 28, enjoying a party for their son Jayden at a ball pit in Monaco with friends.

Meeks  who attracted the hot felon nickname in 2014 after his police mugshot went viral following his arrest for firearms possession  was in Los Angeles.

Sir Philip Green's daughter Chloe may have split up with her 'hot felon' lover Jeremy Meeks

He missed their son's first birthday party in Monaco and had to deny they had split up last week after being pictured with Romanian model Andreea Sasu (Pictured) at the Cannes Film Festival

Photo of the couple's son, Jayden, that was uploaded to Instagram. Meeks has another child, Jeremy Junior, who is ten years old

Only two weeks ago, Meeks, 35, was forced to deny a split after he was photographed arm-in-arm with Romanian-born model Andreea Sasu at two events during the Cannes film festival.

Meeks and Ms Green met in Cannes in 2017 and reportedly became engaged in 2018.

In February this year, she cut short a holiday in Dubai and returned home to Monaco after the pair argued at Dubais upmarket Cavalli Club.

Then in March there were reports that the relationship was on the rocks after Ms Green appeared to ignore Meekss gushing online birthday wishes in which he described her as the most amazing person Ive ever met, adding: Theres NO ONE else Id rather spend the rest of my life with.

Miss Green is this week due to compete in Cash & Rocket, a four-day charity drive from London to Monte Carlo to raise money for womens charities in South Africa and Sierra Leone.

An Instagram friend posted a video last week showing Ms Green, 28, enjoying a party for their son Jayden at a ball pit in Monaco with friends

Meeks, who has a ten-year-old son, Jeremy Jr, from his previous marriage, was signed up by a modelling agency while serving a 27-month sentence and made his catwalk debut during New York Fashion Week in February 2017.

Last night, Ms Green told the MoS: The information you have is untrue. But she declined to confirm or deny that she remains in a relationship with Meeks.
It's an impressive sight. The glistening body and distinctive black and white markings of a killer whale. But this is no ordinary orca.

In fact it is a life-size fibreglass replica being used by Scottish salmon farmers to protect their fish  and safeguard exports worth 200 million a year.

Like a scarecrow of the seas, the fake orca is designed to deter seals from attacking salmon kept in large net cages.

A fibreglass replica of an orca has been launched into the Outer Hebrides to deter seals from eating salmon

As well as looking like a ferocious predator, the prototype  launched last week into the waters of the Outer Hebrides  also terrifies approaching seals with recordings of killer whale noises.

Salmon farmers are allowed to shoot seals attacking their fish as a last resort, but new animal welfare laws in America are forcing the industry to explore innovative, non-lethal alternatives.

Legislation set to be introduced in the US will make it illegal to sell fish if marine mammals have been harmed during the production process.

With each salmon worth an average of 15 to farmers, a seal attack can cost tens of thousands.

Salmon farmers are allowed to shoot seals attacking their fish as a last resort but they are looking to non-lethal alternatives

And as the US buys more Scottish salmon than any other country, the pressure is on to find new ways of keeping stocks safe.

The introduction of 'electric fish'  replica salmon with electrodes attached that can scare seals with a mild electric shock  is also being looked at.

The 12,000 killer whale 'scarecrow' was launched last week by Mowi, the world's largest producer of Atlantic salmon.

The company's Ian Roberts said: 'Hundreds of salmon can be killed by just one seal in a very short time. If you've watched a David Attenborough documentary, you will know seals have good reason to fear orca.'
Thousands of British soldiers who suffered horrific injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are being denied access to a brand new 350 million military hospital following a dispute between Government departments over who would foot the bill for their care there.

Wounded former troops who lost legs and arms in battle are being forced to join lengthy NHS waiting lists because they are barred from the world-leading Defence National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC).

Currently only serving personnel are being cared for at the huge state-of-the-art facility, which was opened by Prince William.

The centre, which has 244 beds, is four times bigger than the military hospital it replaced.

Last night, father-of-two Craig Gadd, a former sergeant in the Royal Engineers, described how he has to hobble back and forth to his local hospital where 'inexperienced' prosthetics specialists try and fail to fit a new socket for his artificial left leg

Currently only serving personnel are being cared for at the world-leading Defence National Rehabilitation Centre, which was opened by Prince William

But because Britain is no longer fighting two major conflicts, its expensively built hydro-pools, high-tech gyms for disabled soldiers and a 1 million gait-analysis centre for troops learning to walk again are being underused, according to military sources.

Meanwhile, thousands of former servicemen and women are being prevented from using these facilities due to a funding row between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and NHS England  which is responsible for the provision of healthcare to veterans.

Last night General the Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, said the Government was 'morally wrong' to prevent those medically discharged from the Armed Forces from using the centre  particularly when the purpose-built facility is understood to be operating far below its capacity.

The DNRC was built on the 360-acre site of Stanford Hall, a Grade-II listed stately home in rural Nottinghamshire and was opened last year by the Duke of Cambridge.

Since then only 12 wounded ex-troops have been treated there, while a defence source who recently visited the centre told The Mail on Sunday last night the hospital, often referred to as Stanford Hall, was 'almost empty'.

Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood has insisted the NHS must pay for ex-soldiers to visit the centre. But last night the Government's stance came under fire from veterans' charities and disabled former troops.

The 46-year-old from Hull was blown up by an improvised explosive device (IED) while searching a Taliban compound in Helmand province in 2010

Lord Dannatt said: 'I am very disappointed to learn that access to the DNRC is being denied to veteran amputee servicemen and women, some of whom took part in the fundraising campaign.

'Denying them access seems morally wrong so I am very glad that Help for Heroes and other charities are pushing hard on this issue.

'Why does it take so much effort and argument every time to get the Government to do the right thing?'

Last night, disabled troops described how they are forced to rely on inferior standards of healthcare on the NHS because staff at their local hospitals do not have enough expertise or experience of treating amputees.

Their harrowing anecdotal accounts are backed up by official reports into the NHS's treatment of veterans.

These surveys have highlighted variable standards of care across the country, issues faced by injured personnel in accessing rehabilitation services and evidence that some NHS providers are unable to treat complex problems involving amputees.

Last night, father-of-two Craig Gadd, a former sergeant in the Royal Engineers, described how he has to hobble back and forth to his local hospital where 'inexperienced' prosthetics specialists try and fail to fit a new socket for his artificial left leg.

Wounded former troops who lost legs and arms in battle are being forced to join lengthy NHS waiting lists because they are barred from the world-leading Defence National Rehabilitation Centre (pictured)

The 46-year-old from Hull was blown up by an improvised explosive device (IED) while searching a Taliban compound in Helmand province in 2010.

Such devices were the enemy's most effective weapon against British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

According to official figures, IEDs account for 70 per cent of the 2,792 UK casualties in both warzones.

Sgt Gadd fears he could lose his job as a building contracts manager because he is taking so much time off work to attend medical appointments which he says are not achieving anything.

He said: 'I'm in constant pain because the socket on my artificial leg doesn't fit properly.

'I've had so many fittings on the NHS but they can't get it right  their prosthetists simply don't have the same experience as the amputee specialists employed by the MoD.

'Most of the people getting artificial legs on the NHS near me are pensioners who just need to get around the house.

'I need to work on building sites, so my prosthetic has to be a perfect, pain-free fit. I'm now worried about my job because of the time I'm having off to go for repeated fittings. I need expert medical attention now to get this right.

Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood has insisted the NHS must pay for ex-soldiers to visit the centre

'The standard of physiotherapy on the NHS just isn't good enough either and there's no joined-up thinking.

'The benefit of Stanford Hall is that all the facilities and treatment programmes are under the same roof.

'Surely it's a no-brainer that amputees and other casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan who would benefit from attending Stanford Hall are able to do so  especially as there is surplus capacity?

'Very few troops are getting wounded on any battlefields at the moment, so it could be done, they've got the space, its a huge site with some amazing kit.'

Sgt Gadd also explained how for ex-squaddies to be sent to Stanford Hall for treatment they must first be referred to the NHS's veterans prosthetics panel, which can allocate additional funding for troops with complex fitting issues.

Advances in modern medical technology meant troops who suffered horrendous injuries in warzones survived (Commando Royal Marines pictured in Helmand Province, Afghanistan)

He added: 'To date the panel has only authorised 12 veterans with prosthetics problems to receive additional treatment at the DNRC. Obviously this needs to happen in a larger number of cases. Perhaps the NHS sees referring veterans to the DNRC as a failure on its part.'

Advances in modern medical technology meant troops who suffered horrendous injuries in warzones survived.

These servicemen and women were later discharged from the UK's Armed Forces, at which point responsibility for the healthcare needs passed to the already over-burdened NHS.

While veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS treatments for any service-related issues, they cannot jump the queue ahead of people with more acute conditions.

The severity of injuries suffered by so many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan inspired the late Duke of Westminster to campaign for a specialist hospital to be built for them.

The Duke, a former Territorial Army officer, envisaged a luxurious facility where troops would be inspired to recover.

A British Army Officer from 1st Battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment walks towards British Army and Afghan National Civil Police in Afghanistan

In an interview before his death he said: 'I wanted a soldier who was born and bred in Toxteth, the lower Clyde or central Birmingham to arrive there and say, 'Wow, somebody is really going to look after me here.'

The billionaire Duke, who owned 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia, contributed 70 million towards the DNRC and raised the remainder of the hospital's start-up costs through fundraising.

He also hoped that serving soldiers and veterans would be treated alongside each other  an aspiration borne out by a statement on the DNRC's website that it helps individuals 'returning to military service or transitioning to civilian life'.

Lord Dannatt's calls for wounded veterans to use Stanford Hall were backed last night by Help For Heroes.

The charity's chief executive, Melanie Waters, said: 'Some veterans will need rehabilitation for many years to come.

'The support offered at the DNRC is second to none. After giving so much to their country, many veterans feel let down at being excluded. They are not really interested in policies and budgets, and while the Government is working out which department will pay the bill for the best care, the people who matter most are missing out.'

Her concerns were echoed last night by another military charity, Walking With The Wounded, which arranges expeditions for injured veterans.

Its chief executive, Edward Parker, said: 'While the DNRC is exactly the sort of development in care which we would expect for our servicemen and women, I would question the exclusion of veterans from receiving care at this new, state-of-the-art facility.'

Last night the MoD said no figures were available for how many serving personnel have used the DNRC. The MoD also refused to confirm how many medical staff are employed at Stanford Hall or the hospital's running costs  which must be picked up by taxpayers.

Without an agreement between the MoD and NHS England over who should pay for wounded veterans to be treated at Stanford Hall they face a wait of several years before being let in.

Last year the Government pledged 70 million for a civilian hospital wing to be built on the same site. But the project remains at the planning stage.

The MoD said: 'While Stanford Hall's primary purpose is to treat injured military personnel, former service personnel can be referred to the facility by the NHS.'

Last night NHS England said that it offered a full care package for veterans.
Three sailors aboard a Royal Navy submarine carrying 16 nuclear missiles have been caught taking cocaine, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal.

The submariners from HMS Vengeance failed a Compulsory Drugs Test (CDT) for the Class-A substance shortly after the 15,900-ton vessel visited a US military port in Florida.

Their urine samples were examined while the submarine continued its top-secret operations and the three crew members were removed from HMS Vengeance when she returned to Her Majestys Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, Scotland.

Three sailors on nuclear-armed Royal Navy submarine have been caught taking cocaine

Last night, military sources suggested the three sailors were part of a larger group of HMS Vengeance crew members who took cocaine during a recent run ashore.

Those others sailors are understood to have passed CDT tests after drinking copious amounts of water to flush the drug out of their bodies. The Royal Navy has declined to comment on this claim.

The cocaine scandal aboard HMS Vengeance comes just two months after The Mail on Sunday revealed how seven sailors had been kicked off another Royal Navy submarine after taking the same drug. They were marched off HMS Talent after testing positive while on duty.

But military sources say cocaine use among crew members of HMS Vengeance is a bigger blow for the Royal Navy because the 150m-long vessel carries Trident nuclear missiles, which can kill millions when fully armed and have a range of 7,500 miles.

Their destructive power has been estimated as the equivalent of eight times the atomic blast that flattened the Japanese city Hiroshima in the Second World War.

They failed a compulsory drugs test when they pulled into a port in Florida. The vessel was carrying 16 nuclear missiles

HMS Vengeance is the youngest of the Royal Navys Vanguard class submarines and entered service in 2001.

It also carries the sealed letters of last resort  instructions from the Prime Minister to be followed in the aftermath of a national catastrophe or a nuclear strike.

Three years ago, a test-firing of a 17 million Trident II D5 missile from HMS Vengeance went badly wrong, forcing submarine officers to over-ride its guidance system and force it to crash harmlessly into the sea off the coast of Florida. Downing Street was later accused of attempting to cover up the incident.

The missiles aboard HMS Vengeance can travel at 13,600mph. At the time of the test, commercial airlines received warnings to steer clear of its flight path.

Typically, HMS Vengeance sails with a crew of 121 ratings and 14 officers. The Royal Navy declined to provide the ranks of those who failed the CDTs but they are understood to be from lower ranks.

The Royal Navy has always maintained a literal interpretation of the Ministry of Defences zero tolerance policy towards drug taking.

Only if sailors can prove they were unaware that they consumed a banned substance  such as when their drink is spiked  do commanders grant a reprieve.

Last year, former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson responded to a series of exposes in The Mail on Sunday about drug-taking in the Army by ordering regimental commanders to stop giving young soldiers caught taking cocaine and other substances second chances.

We also revealed that some repeat offenders had even received third chances because senior officers feared their regiments were already so under-manned.

Last night, the Royal Navy said: The Ministry of Defence has a zero-tolerance drugs policy and will not tolerate misuse of drugs by service personnel in any form or at any time.

Any personnel caught taking drugs will be discharged.
Britain's spy network has been stretched to breaking point by a barrage of new deadly threats, MI5s Whitehall boss has warned.

In a chilling interview with The Mail on Sunday, Security Minister Ben Wallace painted a disturbing picture of how Russian aggression, Islamic extremism, neo-Nazi terrorism and organised crime have made the world a more dangerous place.

Revealing that there are hundreds of active ongoing operations, he made a direct plea for more Treasury funding to help the hard-pressed security services combat rising threats.

Security Minister Ben Wallace (right) with Andrew Parker, director of MI5, in the operations room. Mr Wallace said the world was 'very much more dangerous' now than when he took on the job three years ago

Speaking exclusively to this newspaper inside MI5s London HQ, Mr Wallace said the world was very much more dangerous now than when he took on the job three years ago, adding: If you think your adversaries cant go any lower, you have to think again.

The Minister said: What keeps me awake at night is that the maxim that we have to be lucky all the time, they only have to be lucky once.

Were under assault from all types of enemy  sophisticated cyber criminals, organised crime bosses, terrorists and hostile states  relentlessly picking away at us, targeting us and using all the facilities that the 21st Century has to offer to attack our values and our people.

In a chilling interview with The Mail on Sunday, Security Minister Ben Wallace painted a disturbing picture of how Russian aggression, Islamic extremism, neo-Nazi terrorism and organised crime have made the world a more dangerous place. Pictured are members of banned neo-Nazi group National Action

He said far-Right terrorists had copied tactics from Islamic State jihadis, and law enforcement was stretched as organised criminals using the internet become harder to catch.

Mr Wallace, who tomorrow becomes the UKs longest-serving Security Minister ever, also attacked accountants, lawyers and estate agents, particularly those in London, for not doing enough to turn down dirty money.

He revealed that nearly 600 investigations by the security services are live and said they show that activities of hostile state actors such as we saw last year in Salisbury are not one-offs. Theyre active, theyre targeting, theyre spying, theyre stealing, theyre corrupting  thats growing, not declining.

He said far-Right terrorists had copied tactics from Islamic State jihadis, and law enforcement was stretched as organised criminals using the internet become harder to catch

Russian aggression was one of the worries Mr Wallace spoke of in his chilling interview. Pictured are Russian military vehicles

Whats worrying is the rapid growth of organised crime because of the things like smartphones and encryption. Their ability to organise better means that we have to invest to face that issue.

I can tell you, we are at stretch. Were not at over-stretch but were at stretch.

If we are going to carry on keeping people safe in the way we have been doing it compared to many countries, were going to need to invest. MI5 and the police are stretched, we are stretched because there are only so many hours in the day to deal with the growing threats such as neo-Nazi Right-wing extremism.

The change that has happened is that the far-Right have copied Islamic State  how to echo an event, often twisted, often inaccurate, to serve as a rallying cry for their cause.

Whats worrying is the rapid growth of organised crime because of the things like smartphones and encryption. Their ability to organise better means that we have to invest to face that issue'. Stock picture

The vast majority of terrorist plots against this country are Islamist, Daesh [Islamic State] and Al Qaeda plots, but the threat of the so-called lone actor, the individual who sits in his bedroom and fantasises about taking their warped views of the world on to the streets, is growing.

In a direct plea to Chancellor Philip Hammond, the former soldier said: We are going to need to do more if we are to keep one step ahead of those threats.

We are going to need to fund more of our intelligence services and our police. Security at home and abroad doesnt come cheap and we are going to have to invest in that and continue.

In this game you are also trying to see whats over the horizon. For us to continue to keep pace, were going to have to grow with it. If we dont invest, then I think we wont keep pace.

Ramming home his demand, he added: Youre going to need an uplift, youre going to need to spend more than you have now. The Treasury should understand that every pound you put into security, you get a lot more back. Philip Hammond has been a former Defence Secretary and a Foreign Secretary and hell understand what you get for your money.

The Home Office allocated 728 million for counter-terrorism this financial year, but Mr Wallace argued that will not be enough in future due to the historically high threat level.

He also claimed that the nameless professionals who work under cover deserved more cash as they do it not for glamour or a uniform or medals, not even for recognition  there are no parades for them.

We are the good guys and we are after the bad guys, he added. Because of the work they do we are not lucky, we are successful every day of the week at the moment.

The Home Office allocated 728 million for counter-terrorism this financial year, but Mr Wallace argued that will not be enough in future due to the historically high threat level. Drug package discovered in engine compartment of a car

As well as pleading for more cash, Mr Wallace also demanded that Londons services sector stops dragging its heels when it comes to tackling those who facilitate illicit trade and finance in the UK.

What makes me scream is that nearly every single money-laundering case has a lawyer involved in it. I then look at the number of suspicious activities reported by lawyers in a year and I think its like 1,000 out of 400,000.

The banks are actually doing a lot  the lawyers, the accountants and the estate agents arent even yet at the races.

And he warned the sector: When people justify taking dirty money by saying, Im just the estate agent, some of that dirty money comes from people who traffic children, who murder people, who steal through cyber crime in our bank accounts and they wash it and they put a nice suit on and they come back to London.

People who think it is just a bit of fun or its nothing to do with them should recognise that it fuels more crime and more victims.
Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau's 'bromance' is back after the pair were pictured enjoying a beer and a 'catch up' in an Ottawa brewery.

The former president met with the Canadian Prime Minister at the Big Rig Brewery on Friday during a trip to the country.

Trudeau shared a picture of the two on Twitter on Saturday morning, and the Big Rig Brewery posted several images of the meeting on its Instagram page.

It's not clear what the two men discussed but Trudeau, 47, later tweeted: 'Always great to catch up, @BarackObama.'

He finished his message with 'A la prochaine!' which translate to 'until we meet again'.

Big Rig Brewery posted several images of the meeting on Instagram, writing: 'Yesterday was a good day. What an honour it was to have @justinpjtrudeau and @barackobama stop by our brewery. Our doors and taps are always open. Cheers!

'Thanks again to @justinpjtrudeau @barackobama and their amazing team for spending some time with us. It definitely made our day!'

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former U.S. President Barack Obama meet at Big Rig brewery in Kanata, Ontario

Obama later spoke to an audience of about 12,000 people at an event hosted by the progressive think-tank Canada 2020

Trudeau drank the brewerys Alpha Bomb IPA, while Obama opted for the Canadian Amber, according to The Huffington Post.

Sophie Prescott, event and social media manager at Big Rig Brewery told the website: 'Yesterday was about friendship and respect  two friends catching up over a beer.

'It was an incredible day, and were happy to provide them with a cool spot to just hang out and have a pint.'

The pair have had a famously close relationship with Obama dining with Trudeau at Liverpool House in Montreal in 2017.

In 2016 the pair were spotted laughing and joking in Canadas parliament.

Trudeau shared a picture of the two enjoying a beer on Twitter on Saturday morning

The Big Rig Brewery posted several images of the meeting on its Instagram page

Trudeau drank the brewerys Alpha Bomb IPA, while Obama opted for the Canadian Amber

The pair have had a famously close relationship. They are pictured here hugging during a welcome ceremony during a State Visit at the White House on March 10, 2016

Obama, 57, was in Canada to speak about life after his presidency.

He told a crowd of thousands that he is 'a little bit of a love affair with Canada,', CBC reports.

President Trump is currently trying to pass the United StatesMexicoCanada Agreement to replace the he North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trudeau also met with U.S. vice-president Mike Pence this week.
Linda Sue Godejohn, 55, was charged with driving while intoxicated on Thursday

A Houston school bus driver accused of drink driving with children on board has insisted that she wasnt actually drunk, instead attributing her questionable driving to a bad donut she had eaten hours earlier.

Linda Sue Godejohn, 55, was charged with driving while intoxicated after police say she miserably failed a sobriety test when she was pulled over in Spring, Texas, on Thursday.

Police were alerted to Godejohns allegedly erratic driving after a motorist dialed 911 to report that the bus had turned a corner so sharply it almost rolled over.

Authorities say as many as 30 students from the YES Prep Public Schools North Forest campus were aboard the bus at the time they pulled Godejohn over.

We ended up getting the bus driver out of the bus, giving her a field sobriety test, which she flunked miserably, and she was immediately placed into custody, Constable Mark Herman told Click2 Houston.

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Police were alerted to Godejohns allegedly erratic driving after a motorist dialed 911 to report that the bus had turned a corner so sharply it almost rolled over

Godejohn was released from the Harris County Jail on Friday morning, after posting her $100 bail.

Speaking to reporters upon her release, Godejohn claimed that the whole ordeal had been a terrible misunderstanding.

She wasnt drunk, she reaffirmed, as she claims to have not touched a drop of alcohol for several years.

Instead, Godejohn says she was actually battling an upset stomach in the lead up to her arrest, caused by donut she'd eaten earlier in the day.

My stomach was just hurting so bad that a wheel fell off the thing, the curb, Godejohn said. 'That's all it was, and going 45 mph, its going to whip back.

When questioned why she failed the sobriety test, she replied: Because it's hard, I mean I couldn't even do it right now.

Authorities say as many as 30 students from the YES Prep Public Schools North Forest campus were aboard the bus at the time they pulled Godejohn over

My stomach was just hurting so bad that a wheel fell off the thing, the curb, Godejohn said. 'That's all it was, and going 45 mph, its going to whip back

Godejohn added words of comfort to the childrens parents, insisting they shouldnt worry because their kids are in safe hands and theyve been riding in her bus without incident all year.

The majority of the children on Godejohns bus were 14-years-old. However, investigators later discovered there was a 13-year-old aboard, which could see the 55-year-olds charges become even more serious.

We discovered that one of the children on the bus was under the age of 14 which triggers a higher charge a felony charge for DWI, said Sean Teare of the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Teare said prosecutors will now seek to charge her with driving while intoxicated with a child passenger, carrying further implications.

Investigators said a blood sample taken from the accused has been sent off for analysis to determine whether she was actually intoxicated or not.

Godejohns employer, First Student Buses, says she has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the polices investigation.

The driver was immediately removed from service pending the outcome of the investigation. Safety of the students we transport is paramount. First Student is partnering with the local authorities. Since this is an active investigation, we are unable to comment further.
Boris Johnson's Tory leadership ambitions received a substantial boost last night after he became the first candidate to receive a public endorsement from a Cabinet Minister.

Liz Truss, who abandoned her own ambitions last week, today announces she is joining Mr Johnson's campaign as his 'policy tsar', entrusted with devising a manifesto for a Boris premiership.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury uses an article in today's Mail on Sunday to argue that out of the large field of candidates, only Boris has the 'oomph' to take the country out of the EU by the October 31 deadline and 'unleash the dynamism and talent' of Britain.

Liz Truss has thrown her support behind Boris Johnson to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader

Her backing will cement Mr Johnson's status as the early frontrunner in the race to succeed Theresa May, and the former Foreign Secretary is expected to name more backers in the coming days.

It follows the acrimonious collapse of the so-called 'Bamber' ticket between Mr Johnson and Amber Rudd.

The pair met on Thursday to try to thrash out a joint policy on Brexit  only for Mr Johnson to reject Ms Rudd's demand for him to rule out No Deal.

This week, Boris Johnson rejected Amber Rudd's demand for him to rule out No Deal

Mr Johnson refused to be 'bounced' into dropping his pledge to leave the EU 'with or without a deal' and his camp pointedly insisted that they would not be 'handing out jobs for endorsements'.

One source close to Mr Johnson said: 'Boris is happy to leave the door open if Amber changes her mind but his terms will not change.'

The Mail on Sunday has also learned of major concerns within Mr Johnson's camp that Ms Rudd's backing was seen by some as 'counterproductive' to securing the endorsement of other MPs.

Allies of Ms Rudd insisted the talks had been amicable but disappointing. However, friends of the Pensions Secretary say she assured Mr Johnson he would have her support if it came down to a straight fight between him and Brexit hardliner Dominic Raab.

Sources said that the pro-Remain Ms Rudd was now looking to join forces with Environment Secretary Michael Gove because she believes he can be persuaded to delay Brexit beyond October  and even to sign up to a second referendum.

One Cabinet Minister claimed to this newspaper that Mr Gove had told them that if he was leader he would be happy to delay Brexit until the end of 2020.

Ms Truss writes today that she is proud to be working with Boris on a 'policy platform based on popular free-market conservatism that can take us through Brexit and beyond', adding that: 'We need a leader who can fight Labour's negative and destructive worldview head-on. Boris has proven he's a winner, and now we need someone to win the battle of ideas.'

Ms Truss says she and Boris 'share a deep optimism about the power of individual creativity and enterprise to deliver progress and prosperity', and sets out policies such as cutting stamp duty, scrapping business regulations and introducing free enterprise areas.

She says: 'As Chief Secretary, I know there's still waste to cut. We need to be prepared to stand up to the vested interests who have come to rely on Government handouts, and if Boris has proven one thing, it's that he doesn't shy away from a fight.

'As someone who grew up in a Left-wing household, my first political act was rebellion. It's why I believe people should be free to live their lives as they see fit.'

Describing Boris as a 'British freedom fighter', she writes: 'He's the original champion of the social freedoms brought in by Conservatives since 2010.

'He's the candidate to carry the Conservative torch to the next generation.'

Ms Truss pulled out of the leadership race because she concluded that despite now being pro-Brexit, she voted Remain in 2016 and she would struggle to persuade the Brexiteers in her party to back her.

It now means she would be in prime position to achieve her ambition of becoming the first female Chancellor.

One Tory MP, commenting on the 'Gamber' ticket, said: 'Michael Gove is getting some momentum. His pledge to delay Brexit to the end of 2020 is bound to be popular with some but we think it will destroy the Conservative Party and put Corbyn into Downing Street.'

Why I'm backing Boris, Britain's freedom fighter, by Liz Truss We have a massive task ahead of us over the next six months. We must leave the European Union, deal or no deal, by October 31. At the same time, we must unleash the dynamism and talent of Britain to make a huge success of our economy by taking full advantage of the new freedom we will have. This task is not for the faint-hearted. It will take bravery and a strong platform of policies that can deliver. Boris Johnson is the person with the credibility and oomph to lead at this crucial time and bring Britain with us Boris Johnson is the person with the credibility and oomph to lead at this crucial time and bring Britain with us. I am proud to be working with Boris on a policy platform based on popular free-market conservatism that can take us through Brexit and beyond. In recent years, we've lost confidence to make the argument that Conservative principles can change people's lives. We've let Labour tell us that more red tape, public spending and higher taxes are inevitable. We're told that the country is beset by misery, young people are all flag-waving revolutionaries, wealth creators are the enemy, and only the coming of Jeremy Corbyn's Socialist utopia can solve our problems. We need a leader who can fight Labour's negative and destructive worldview head-on. Boris has proven he's a winner, and now we need someone to win the battle of ideas. He's on the side of the challenger, the start-up, the sole trader. We share a deep optimism about the power of individual creativity and enterprise to deliver progress and prosperity. Only by standing up and making the case for popular, free-market conservatism will we have any hope of winning the next Election and leading Britain into the future. To succeed, we must harness that enterprising spirit. By cutting taxes like stamp duty that hold back home ownership and growth, we can boost the economy to deliver more jobs and higher wages. Where business regulations are having little to no benefit, they should be scrapped and there should be a high bar for new regulations coming in. Likewise, we should embrace freeports and free planning zones  areas where firms can import raw materials, make finished goods and then export them, with none of the border taxes the rest of the country has to pay. They have the potential to create new hotbeds of economic growth in all corners of the UK. Conservative mayors in Birmingham, Tees Valley and elsewhere have shown us how it's done. By unleashing enterprise and building world-class infrastructure, we can make the UK a country of 20 global cities, not just a handful. From Bolton to Walsall, Plymouth to Inverness, our nation is full of pent-up economic potential. We won't make Britain greater by punishing high-growth business or regions. Instead, we need to raise every part of Britain up by giving them freedom to succeed. To do that, we must make sure every person has the basic tools to lead a successful life. That means a good school, opportunity for a great degree or apprenticeship, better local roads and public transport, and ultra high-speed broadband for everyone. But it shouldn't mean tax hikes. As Treasury Chief Secretary, I know there's still waste to cut, and every pound wasted on a vanity project is a pound that cannot be spent on a classroom teacher or road upgrade. We need to be prepared to stand up to the vested interests who have come to rely on Government handouts, and if Boris has proven one thing, it's that he doesn't shy away from a fight. Finally, I'm backing Boris because he's the candidate who best represents the future of Britain. As someone who grew up in a Left-wing household, my first political act was rebellion. It's why I've always believed people should be free to live their lives as they see fit, without being told what to think, how big their pizza should be, or what to view online. If there's one thing young people value more than ever, it's their personal freedom in a world that has never been more open. Boris is a British freedom fighter. He's the original champion of the social freedoms brought in by Conservatives since 2010. He's the candidate to carry the Conservative torch to the next generation and win young people over to the cause of freedom in a world where people like Jeremy Corbyn want to take it away. As I've travelled the country talking to working people about public spending, they, by and large, tell me the same thing. They don't want government to control every part of their lives or hand them everything on a plate. They want the opportunity of a good job, to keep more of their own money, to get from A to B without breaking the bank, and a good school place for their child. And they want reasons to be cheerful about the future of their country. Boris Johnson, and the platform on which he stands, is the candidate who can deliver that. He has massive appeal to people in Britain who ask nothing more than for the opportunity to lead a better life. He's the leader who can get us out of the EU, but also give people hope and optimism about their future and the country's future. There's only one person for the job, and that's why I'm backing Boris. Advertisement

Michael Gove pledges 1billion to help Britain's schools as he tries to mend fences with teachers after he oversaw swingeing cuts as Education Secretary

Leadership hopeful Michael Gove is pledging a 1billion increase to the schools budget

Michael Gove will today pledge a 1 billion increase to the schools budget as the former Education Secretary attempts to unpick his unpopularity among teachers.

The Tory leadership hopeful has vowed to restore the amount of money spent per pupil to 2015 levels in real terms, following a three-year slump.

Following the education reforms he brought in between 2010 and 2014, Mr Gove has been deeply unpopular within the sector and among parents, and was demoted amid fears his reputation could cost the Tories at the ballot box.

But his latest policy has earned him the endorsement of fellow former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, who says Mr Gove is 'ready to lead the nation'.

She told The Mail on Sunday: 'Michael is determined that as the Prime Minister, we will find that extra money.'

Backing the campaign of Mr Gove, who has been Environment Secretary since 2017, Ms Morgan said: 'You have got him as a former Education Secretary, me as a former Education Secretary  education absolutely has to be at the total heart of the Conservative Government's policies going forward.'

Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan says endorsed Mr Gove and said he is 'ready to lead the nation'

She added: 'I followed Michael into the Department for Education, I absolutely know what it takes to turn a department around, to make it deliver and Michael has done that in successive departments.

'In No 10 now, you want someone with a real track record of delivery and I think Michael absolutely has to be the strongest person.'

Last night Mr Gove's campaign manager, Commons Leader Mel Stride, called him 'the outstanding Minister of our time'.

By Harry Cole, Deputy Political Editor for the Mail on Sunday

'Classic Old Etonian rivalry': Boris Johnson's allies dismiss fellow Tory leadership hopeful Rory Stewart's attacks as nothing more than schoolboy banter

Rory Stewart's attacks on his Tory leadership rival Boris Johnson were last night blamed on 'classic Old Etonian rivalry'.

Mr Johnson's allies claimed Mr Stewart's targeting of their man bore all the hallmarks of the fierce competitiveness instilled in pupils at the elite school.

Mr Stewart, who at 46 is eight years younger than his rival, also followed him to the same Oxford University college  Balliol.

Rory Stewart's attacks on his Tory leadership rival Boris Johnson have been blamed on 'classic Old Etonian rivalry'

The two men both went on to serve at the Foreign Office, although Mr Stewart was a junior diplomat compared to Mr Johnson's stint as Foreign Secretary.

In the past week, the International Development Secretary has criticised Mr Johnson, insisting he could never serve under him and branding him an untrustworthy 'Pinocchio'.

Last night, one Minister backing Mr Johnson said: 'This level of rivalry has a classic ring to it.

'It's just an Eton thing and, to be honest, a Balliol thing as well.

'You only truly despise someone who is very similar to you but always destined to go one better.'

Friends of Mr Stewart dismissed the rivalry claim as 'absurd'.

Tory insiders say some of the party's MPs are impressed by Mr Stewart's 'competence', contrasting it with 'gaffe-prone' Mr Johnson.

But Mr Johnson's backers point out that Mr Stewart is also accident-prone, recalling that as a newly elected MP in 2010, he had to apologise after branding some areas of his Cumbrian constituency 'pretty primitive', with 'people holding up their trousers with bits of twine'.
Anne Lister once told her aunt she wanted to write something that would be published and widely read. I wish to make a name for myself, she said. How prescient her words would prove.

Two hundred years later, Listers extraordinary story has captivated the nation thanks to Gentleman Jack, the hit Sunday night BBC drama starring Suranne Jones as a fearless 19th Century Yorkshire landowner with an unapologetically racy romantic life.

So popular is the show  5.6 million viewers tuned into the first episode  that the BBC immediately commissioned a second series.

Anne Lister was certainly a striking figure, especially for a woman of her time. Not only was she a hard-bitten industrialist, she was also a student of anatomy, enthusiastic explorer and prolific diarist.

Suranne Jones as Anne Lister gets to grips with female co-star Lydia Leonard (who plays Marianna Lawton) in scenes from new BBC historical drama 'Gentleman Jack' in the drama, which is set in 1832

As viewers have discovered, she was also the first modern lesbian, a woman unafraid to embrace her sexual orientation decades before her lifestyle would be accepted by society.

Dressed in sharply tailored black outfits crowned with a black silk top hat, Lister was dubbed Gentleman Jack by locals in her home town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, for her appearance, confident stride  and the sexuality they guessed, even if they did not understand it.

As a local newspaper article from shortly after her death stated: Miss Listers masculine singularities of character are still remembered.

Sally Wainwright, the creator of the TV series and the writer of other hit shows including Happy Valley, describes her as one of the most exuberant, thrilling and brilliant women in British history.

Yet, if it hadnt been for the dogged curiosity of another Halifax resident a century and a half after Listers death, her remarkable story might never have been told.

It was author and historian Helena Whitbread who first brought the surprising truth about Listers life to public attention, but only after she had waded through more than four million words and 6,600 pages of Listers 26-volume diary.

The vast quantity of material was not the only problem. Key sections in Listers diaries were written in a fiendishly complex code, or crypt, a mixture of Greek, Latin, mathematical symbols and the zodiac, and it took Whitbread five painstaking years to decode them.

What emerged was a tale of sexual conquest so extraordinary, some thought the journals were a hoax when they were published.

The diaries tell of Listers life as mistress of Shibden Hall, an ancient manor house outside Halifax, her successful wrangles with local businessmen over the price of her coal, and her journeys to France and Russia.

They describe bitter rows with her sister Marian and reveal her passion for classic literature.

But the memoirs also record, in unsparing detail, Listers romantic exploits with the women she seduced, including descriptions of orgasms, sexually transmitted diseases and sex toys which are explicit even by todays standards  and a great deal more graphic than anything contained in the BBC adaptation.

Her more modest accounts of seduction, for example, include an encounter with a woman called Maria Barlow, in which she writes: I had kissed and pressed Mrs Barlow on my knee till I had a complete fit of passion. My knees and thighs shook, my breathing and everything told her what was the matter.

A cryptic note from Lister's diary, which reads: 'I love and only love the fairer sex, and thus beloved in turn by them, my heart revolts from any other love than theirs'

Then [I] made several gentle efforts to put my hand up her petticoats which, however, she prevented. But she so crossed her legs & leaned against me that I put my hand over & grubbled [groped] her on the outside of her petticoats till she was evidently a little excited.

Whitbread has devoted almost four decades to Lister, publishing two volumes of the diaries (No Priest But Love and The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister) and is she now working on a soon- to-be-released biography.

Although she takes the credit for bringing the scandalous exploits to public attention, Whitbread was by no means the first person to crack the secret code that hid them.

Listers diaries had already been read in full by a descendant, John Lister, in the mid-1890s. When, however, he realised the truth about his forebear, he feared his own homosexuality might be discovered were the diaries to be made public and so he decided to hide all 26 volumes in the wood panelling at Shibden Hall. There they remained until 1933, when they were discovered, along with the code, and donated to Halifax Library. And that is where Whitbread found them in 1983, as she explains in her first interview since the TV drama began.

Hoping to pursue a career as a writer, she had asked the library for information about Lister, whose home she had visited as a child.

The archivist asked if I knew shed kept a journal and showed it to me, she recalls. The code looked very difficult, but I wanted to find out what this woman, who lived 200 years before me in my own home town, had to conceal.

What Lister was hiding  as viewers of Gentleman Jack now know  was the true nature of her friendships with a number of women, including Ann Walker, a wealthy heiress.

The shy Walker, played by Sophie Rundle, is seen being swept along by Listers magnetism, despite being warned the landowner cannot be trusted in the company of other women.

Suranne Joness impish smiles to camera (she frequently addresses the audience, drawing comparisons with Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the award-winning Fleabag) leave us in no doubt she intends to succeed in her mission. And with the pair taking a trip to the Lake District together, their relationship seems likely to escalate in tonights episode.

As Whitbread discovered, Walker was far from the first woman to fall under Listers spell. Indeed, her first recorded romance took place when she was just 15 and attending the Manor House School in York.

Listers diaries begin that year, and describe an intense relationship with a girl called Eliza Raine, who shared her attic bedroom. It was not uncommon for young women to share a bed at that time, so the affair would have caused no suspicion. Another romance followed when she was 19.

Whitbread began her transcription part-way through the diaries when Lister was 26, in 1817, and soon discovered her extraordinary secret.

I began to pick up clues, but at first they were a little opaque, she says. I realised she was extremely fond of a married woman named Mariana Lawton.

In the first passage which confirmed my suspicions about what was happening, Anne described getting into bed with Mariana and the pair enjoying a good kiss, which I realised was a euphemism for sex.

In Gentleman Jack, Mariana is seen visiting Lister and sharing her bed, despite being married. Their affair lasted for 17 years, although Marianas marriage initially devastated Lister.

Anne was heartbroken, but I was amused to find that she went on Marianas honeymoon with her and her new husband, and ended up seducing Marianas sister, Anne Belcombe, says Whitbread. Disaster would follow. Marianas husband contracted a venereal disease from a servant and passed it on to Mariana, who in turn passed it to Lister. In graphic detail, she described the symptoms in her diary and would remain infected until her death.

The first episode of the BBC drama begins in 1832 immediately after Listers humiliation at her failure to win the heart of another young, aristocratic woman.

Aged 41, Lister had officially inherited Shibden Hall following the death of her uncle James.

She would not get full financial control until both her father and beloved Aunt Anne died in 1836, but Shibden provided her with an income, thanks to the labour and rent of her tenants, and it ensured her the freedom to pursue the lifestyle she wanted. Formidably intelligent, she proved a capable manager of the family estate, establishing two collieries on the land.

Lister was fascinated by many subjects, including climate, Greek mythology and mountaineering. In Paris, unable to attend university because she was a woman, she attended lectures on anatomy. She rented a small attic room on the Left Bank and got a young medical student to bring her specimens from the local hospital, including a womans head, so that she could dissect them, says Whitbread.

She was so positive and full of energy  there was nothing she couldnt do if she set her mind to it. She was extremely charismatic.

Her lesbianism, if not quite an open secret, seems to have been known by her Aunt Anne, among others.

When courting women, Lister would drop hints to see if the objects of her attraction were open to the idea of a same-sex romance by enquiring: Have you read the sixth Satire Of Juvenal? referring to a piece of writing about a pair of sapphic stepsisters.

At the time, the idea of romantic friendship meant women could spend a great deal of time together, says Whitbread. It wasnt uncommon to have two women walking around with their arms around one another, but it could also extend to sharing a bed and experimenting sexually. If shed been a man, Anne could never have got into womens boudoirs. The well-to-do matrons in Halifax appear to have realised her sexual orientation and declined to allow their daughters to be alone with her.

One told her that nature was in an odd freak when she made you.

Deeply religious, Lister assured her partners that their encounters were not immoral. While male homosexuality may have been positively forbidden and singly punished in the Bible, relationships between women were different.

At the heart of the BBC drama is Listers pursuit of Ann Walker, the wealthy heiress who had inherited the vast Lightcliffe estate.

They had met before, when young Ann was a stupid, vulgar girl indeed, according to Listers diaries, but in 1832, Lister became intrigued by her. Thought I, shall I try and make up to her? she wrote.

Her intentions were not merely amorous, however. She was also attracted by Anns fortune and wanted to make a good match for herself. She definitely manipulated the situation, says Whitbread.

All her love affairs had been disappointing in the end  either shed become disenchanted with her lovers or theyd married men. She wanted to find a relationship that would emulate a heterosexual one  a true partnership.

She went on to marry Walker on Easter Sunday 1834 at Holy Trinity Church in York, in what is considered to be the first lesbian marriage in Britain. In reality, the pair simply took communion together, after exchanging rings beforehand.

In the coming episodes, viewers will see the pair growing ever closer and the widening ripples of concern caused within Walkers family and the community. Anns relatives were horrified and tried to dissuade her, says Whitbread.

There was the added complication of Walkers poor health. Mentally she was fragile and she complained of physical pain, often refusing to get out of bed.

The couple remained together until Listers death from a fever in 1840, aged 49, during a trip to Kutaisi in the Russian Empire (now Georgia).

Under the terms of Listers will, Walker inherited Shibden Hall for the rest of her life, but died in 1854 after a stint in a mental asylum.

Whitbreads first book about Lister was published in 1988, yet her story remained little known in the wider world until now. The author has been thrilled by the spotlight Gentleman Jack has thrown on Lister. Ive always thought the world ought to know about her and now it does, she says. Im very impressed with the drama and Suranne Joness portrayal of Anne. There are small details in the programme which are fictional, but 90 per cent of what you see is true.

Jones says she has been deeply affected by the role.

After eight months filming in Yorkshire, I came out the other end feeling braver, she says. Its a lesson in courage, in being authentic, having a voice and using it, standing up for yourself. Im certainly in love with Anne Lister. I cant say how inspiring she is.

Lister, a woman who lived life on her own terms and always embraced the attention she drew, would no doubt be delighted.
Middle-class parents spreading false claims online are behind a dangerously low take-up of the measles vaccine in well-off areas, official figures unearthed by The Mail on Sunday reveal.

London boroughs, including Kensington and Chelsea and Camden, have seen rates for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination (MMR) drop in the last four years, according to NHS data.

But childhood vaccination rates have held up well in more deprived parts of the country, including Barnsley, Bolton, Rotherham and Oldham.

Middle-class parents spreading false claims online have caused the low uptake on vaccines

The findings chime with previous research showing that online anti-vaccination posts are most likely to be written and shared by higher earners, and that the babies of mothers educated to degree level are most likely to remain unvaccinated.

Public health officials say vaccination rates need to be maintained at 95 per cent or above to achieve herd immunity, in which the entire population is protected against a particular disease.

Yet in Kensington and Chelsea, the uptake of the first MMR jab a child should receive  due when he or she is 12 months old  fell from 80 per cent in 2014 to 78 per cent in 2018.

In neighbouring Westminster, it also fell, this time from 79.5 per cent to 77.5 per cent. And in Camden, uptake of the first jab dived from 87.3 per cent to 80.2 per cent.

Years of below-average vaccination rates in North-West London are now feeding through to spikes in measles cases among schoolchildren and adults.

Since the start of April, there have been 65 confirmed cases in this wealthy part of the capital, according to Public Health England  three times the number the agency would expect. The worrying figure includes a school outbreak that led to 31 people becoming infected with measles in the past two months, PHE said.

It sent a letter to the heads of all schools in the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster, warning them about the significant incident.

In Kensington and Chelsea, the uptake of the first MMR jab a child should receive  due when he or she is 12 months old  fell from 80 per cent in 2014 to 78 per cent in 2018

Years of below-average vaccination rates in North-West London are now feeding through to spikes in measles cases among schoolchildren and adults

However, in a host of towns in northern England, the percentage of babies given their first MMR jab has remained stable  Barnsley, for example, has maintaining a 96 per cent inoculation rate. Children must receive a second dose at three years old for maximum protection.

Dr Ellie Cannon, The Mail on Sundays resident GP, who practises in London, said: Many of the mothers I see who are worried about vaccination are middle-class. They read around subjects, so are more likely to encounter spurious claims, such as jabs causing autism, or that giving babies combined vaccines such as MMR overloads their immune system. These misconceptions have been very damaging.

Vaccine deniers  known as anti-vaxxers  emerged after former paediatrician Andrew Wakefield falsely linked MMR to autism in a discredited paper in The Lancet medical journal in 1998.

For most, measles is a minor illness but around one in 15 children who catch it will develop complications which can cause serious illness.

Measles cases in England more than trebled from 259 in 2017 to 966 last year.
She has sparked hundreds of complaints from Britain's Got Talent viewers who think her raunchy gowns are too revealing for a family show.

But a defiant Amanda Holden has insisted she's delighted her remarkable figure still attracts attention: 'I love it that people are still talking about my tired old breasts and I'm nearly 50!'

Holden, 48, revealed in an interview: 'No one talks about [BGT co-host] Alesha Dixon's  she's got great boobs by the way  and she's eight years younger than me.

Amanda Holden has sparked hundreds of complaints from Britain's Got Talent viewers who think her raunchy gowns are too revealing for a family show

But she has insisted she's delighted her remarkable figure still attracts attention: 'I love it that people are still talking about my tired old breasts and I'm nearly 50!'

'Age is totally irrelevant, thanks to people like J-Lo, who is 49 and just a sexy, hot woman who dresses for how she feels.'

Holden insists her choice of clothes is primarily influenced by cost. However, her new $3m deal to co-present a breakfast show on UK radio station Heart will make her Britain's highest paid female radio presenter  so this should reduce any anxious glances at price tags.

From tomorrow, she will be up at 5.15am and on air from 6.30am to join her co-presenter Jamie Theakston.

Holden, 48, revealed in an interview: 'No one talks about [BGT co-host] Alesha Dixon's  she's got great boobs by the way  and she's eight years younger than me.

But will she regret leaving her two teenage daughters and husband Chris Hughes to fend for themselves?

'I will be there for school pick-up. And I will make sure spellings are done and uniforms are laid out,' she says.

'I've had a job since I was 13, so I will always find a way to earn money, to make sure my family is supported, always make the most of every opportunity,' she said.

I have all the love I need'

From the tragedy of a stillbirth to her own brush with death, AMANDA HOLDEN has had more than her fair share of heartache. She tells Chris Harvey how she stays strong  in the good times and bad

Amanda wears jacket, Sportmax. Shirt, 7 For All Mankind. Necklace, MOD x RJL, from Rachel Jackson London

Amanda Holden loves to get up early. Im a bit like Margaret Thatcher  I can survive on five hours sleep, she says. Thats lucky, as the Britains Got Talent judge will need to tap into her inner lark as the glossy new queen of breakfast radio. Tomorrow on the dot of 6.30am, just hours after the BGT live final, shell be joining Jamie Theakston at the helm of Hearts breakfast show when it goes national for the first time.

Its a big deal for Heart: theyre reportedly paying their hot new signing 3 million over two years, making her Britains highest-paid female radio presenter. Its a lucrative contract, but I wonder if her male radio peers out-earn her? The pay gap is complicated. It doesnt take into account the different paths men and women take, on average obviously! Id like to think that weve taken big steps in the past couple of years to correct any misbalance.

Top, Iris & Ink, from theoutnet.com. Briefs (just seen), Eres. Short necklace, MOD x RJL, from Rachel Jackson London. Long necklace, Soru Jewellery, from fenwick.co.uk

Certainly shes thrilled about this new gig: Its fantastic that its national, because it means my mum will hear me in Cornwall. All my relatives everywhere will be able to wake up with me in the morning!

Amanda and Jamie have known each other for 20 years. So will they have more chemistry than he did with her predecessor, Spice Girl Emma Bunton? No she says, then with a laugh, Well, yes. Jamie will probably notice that Im a gobshite, and I will interrupt him constantly. Hes affable and sweet, and will probably think, Oh, here she goes. Hopefully Ill be on MailOnlines sidebar of shame every day because of something outrageous Ive said.

Shes certainly no stranger to going viral. Only two years ago, Amanda, now 48, dared to bare on BGT in a plunging Julien Macdonald dress that had 663 outraged viewers contacting Ofcom to complain. I love it that people are still talking about my tired old breasts and Im nearly 50! No one talks about [BGT co-host] Alesha Dixons  shes got great boobs, by the way  and shes eight years younger than me.

Perhaps its this front  figuratively and literally  that pushes Amanda from triumph to triumph. Her role at Heart (where she will be competing for listeners against Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2 and Chris Evans at Virgin) is another chapter in the remarkable story of a woman who has overcome unpromising beginnings, personal tragedy and terrifying health scares.

With David Walliams, Simon Cowell and Alesha Dixon on Britains Got Talent

But then Amanda has a get-on-with-it attitude that she learned from her beloved grandmother. She was devastated when Ethel died at the age of 97 last year. She was my biggest inspiration, says Amanda, who has described her nan, a former ice-cream factory worker, as feisty and fabulous. Stubbornness and determination are traits shared by all the women in Amandas family, including her mum Judith and younger sister Debbie. Amanda has previously revealed that their family mantra is: Speak up, speak out and be strong. But growing up, she could never have imagined how much that backbone would be tested.

In 2016, Debbie survived a serious car crash. She went to hell and back, but shes carried on like nothing happened, Amanda says. Like we all do [in our family], because were not victims of our own circumstance.

Amanda, too, faced her own near-death experience when her heart stopped beating for 40 seconds. Shed just given birth to Hollie, now seven, her second daughter with husband Chris Hughes. Hollie was delivered safely, but the placenta was attached to an artery, which ruptured. Amanda lost several pints of blood and flatlined. Chris watched the entire bloodbath. It was definitely worse for him, she says. They were both later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and although Amanda says little things still trigger it, creating feelings of intense anxiety, they got through it with the help of humour. Were jokey, light-hearted people, she says, so we dont linger on things too much. I try to move on with some dark, horrific joke that no one else will laugh at.

With husband Chris and daughters Hollie and Lexi

Her brush with death came just 11 months after her son Theo was stillborn, 28 weeks into her pregnancy. She described in her 2013 memoir No Holding Back how she had got up and had a bath on the morning of 1 February 2011, when she noticed that she hadnt felt him kicking in a while. She drove to hospital for a scan to reassure herself, but was told, The babys heart is not beating. Hes gone. She wrote about hearing her own screams as though they were someone elses.

I ask if she has found any way to process her feelings of loss. Its always there, she says. Theo will always be part of our family. He would have been a year older than Hollie. I often look at the children in the year above her and think, Oh yes, today Theo would have been doing this. Its not something to get over, but Ive got my head round it, and Ive got my amazing hubby, and our love for each other and our family got us through.

She ran a half-marathon recently in support of Theos Hope, an appeal she set up to fund two bereavement counsellors at Tommys Stillbirth Research Centre at St Marys Hospital in Manchester. Her half-marathon clocked in under two hours, as her natural competitiveness kicked in. My friend [actress] Angela Griffin dropped into conversation that shed done a half-marathon in just over two hours. I said to Chris, Ive got to beat Angela, otherwise its game over for me. Hes, like, You dont, youre running for charity, its all fine, but I told him I compete against myself.

At Heart Radio HQ with co-presenter Jamie Theakston

Evidently, Amanda has inherited her familys strength and resilience genes. They werent well off. Her biological father Frank Holden was a petty officer in the Navy, a heavy drinker and rarely home. He left the family when Amanda was four and Debbie was three. For a short time, they got by as a single-parent household, then her mother began dating mechanic Les Collister. They married when Amanda was 11. She cannot speak highly enough of her stepfather. Im so grateful that Ive been brought up by a man who truly loved me and selflessly didnt have his own children so he could afford the two he had taken on when he married my mum. Having someone choose you is almost better than being biologically theirs, because youre wanted so much more. Hes an amazing grandad; hes got all the good stuff and the other guy  Frank  missed out. I feel nothing but sadness for him. Does she feel her relationship with Frank cant be fixed? I dont have any relationship with him. Its like telling me that somebody over theres my dad  theres nothing there because I have all the love that I need already.

Amandas own daughters  Hollie and Lexi, 13  have enjoyed a secure start in life. Shes been happily married since 2008 to Chris, director of a talent management company, whom she met in Los Angeles in 2003, the same year she finalised her divorce from comedian Les Dennis. (They married in 1995, when she was 24 and he was 41, but split in 2002.)

Refreshingly, Amanda has no qualms about leaving the morning routine to Chris. To me, thats the worst part of the day. Every time I brush Hollies hair, she screams, Mummy, youre so rough! But Amandas not totally hands-off: I will be there for school pick-up. And I will make sure spellings are done and uniforms are laid out. But what a relief to head out before the girls are up: Ill be like, Good luck! Amandas alarm will be set for 5.15am every weekday. She concedes that wine and gin will be out during the week. Ive told my girlfriends, Friday - thats the night. I pray for sunshine so I can crack open the rose.

Trench coat, Max & Co. Necklace, MOD x RJL, from Rachel Jackson London. Bra (just seen), Eres

Shes tremendous fun. Today shes wearing a leather jacket and checked trousers, perfect for clambering on the back of the Limobikes (motorbike taxis) shes been using to zip around town for the past 20 years. She even took one this morning in the p***ing rain anything is better than wasting my life in the back of a car.

On this series of BGT, Amanda seems to have gone couture. I go through different phases, she says. I have a different stylist  a bloke. Its a different eye. The man in question is Karl Willett, who has also worked with singer Paloma Faith and actress Gemma Chan. The glamorous Alexis Mabille yellow gown Amanda wore for this years BGT auditions, she insists, wasnt more expensive than anything Id worn on last years shows. Day to day, she prefers to be accessible: If someone asks me, I like to say, This is from Zara. If I admire someones outfit, I hate it when they say to me, Its Dolce! because even I go, Im not buying that  thats the school fees!

Price tags may influence Amandas fashion choices, but she doesnt give her age a second thought. Age is totally irrelevant, she says, thanks to people like J-Lo, who is 49 and just a sexy, hot woman who dresses for how she feels.

Amanda has said in the past that shes sick of answering questions about bloody Botox, so I ask about the comedian who dressed up as the Queen on this series of BGT and gave a speech about how plastic is the modern scourge on the face of this planet, and how no greater innovation has been made than by our judging panel who have stored a great amount of plastic in their faces. Did she think the gag was aimed at her? No! It was Simon [Cowell], 100 per cent, she laughs.

Simon has gone soft, she adds. He gives contestants second chances now and Im, like, Thats just not you. People enjoy him being the pantomime villain. This series also saw the return of Ant McPartlin  the missing half of hosts Ant and Dec  after a period in rehab to deal with drink and painkiller addiction. We missed him, says Amanda. Everybodys gone through different things on the show. Simon wouldnt encourage what Ant did, but hes good at saying, We all make mistakes, welcome back.

Amanda first came to prominence as an actress in dramas such as Cutting It and Wild at Heart. She is still offered parts and turns them down, she says, because her daughters are too young: Do I want to stand in a field for 16 weeks to be part of some drama? No, I do not.

Shirt, Ganni, from irisfashion.co.uk. Necklace, MOD x RJL, from Rachel Jackson London. Bracelet, Soru Jewellery, from fenwick.co.uk

She can, however, be heard performing at Marks & Spencer, where the self-service tills currently feature perky instructions recorded by Amanda and her BGT colleagues. Always in demand when it comes to British institutions, she has also been a royal correspondent for US news show Inside Edition. Shes met Prince Harry  hes got very rough hands  as well as Prince William, the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall: Theyre seen as formal people, but theyre actually a very funny bunch.

Radio presenter, TV judge, actress, royal reporter, voice of Please scan your first item, Amanda has redefined the concept of versatility. So it comes as a surprise to discover that she occasionally suffers from imposter syndrome. Im still in the mindset of Do everything I can while I can because one day Ill get found out. I trained as an actress, but Ive been a waitress, a cleaner Ive had a job since I was 13, so I will always find a way to earn money, to make sure my family is supported, always make the most of every opportunity.

Its tempting to describe Amanda as a survivor, but thriver seems more apt. Im grateful and excited by it all, still, she grins.
Seventy-four people including several children have been detained by the Border Force after eight boats tried to cross the Channel.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid described the incident as 'concerning', after the vessels were intercepted by officials off the UK coast on Saturday.

Only one of the eight vessels made it to shore, landing at Winchelsea Caravan Park beach, East Sussex.

Two other vessels were stopped in France by the authorities there.

It was previously reported 13 had been intercepted on Saturday but HM Coastguard said that was an error.

MPs last night warned that the UK is facing a 'summer of chaos' over migrant boats, warning that vessels crossing the Channel could reach record levels.

An unprecedented amount of illegal immigrants arrive in the Kent Coast today including men, women and children

All those detained have been assessed and cleared by medical staff and are now being processed by immigration officials, the Home Office said.

It said the nationalities of the detainees are still being determined, and a criminal investigation has been launched.

Mr Javid said: 'The number of migrants crossing the Channel overnight is deeply concerning and I'm receiving regular updates on the situation.

'Those who choose to make this dangerous journey across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world are putting their lives in grave danger - and I will continue to do all I can to stop them.'

He said the UK Border Force had stepped up its activity out of the Joint Co-ordination and Information Centre in Calais.

All those detained have been assessed and cleared by medical staff and are now being processed by immigration officials, the Home Office said

Mr Javid added: 'It is an established principle that those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, and since January more than 30 people who arrived illegally in the UK in small boats have been returned to Europe.

'We will continue to seek to return anyone who has entered the UK illegally.'

Border Force vessels, RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Dungeness and Rye and coastguard rescue teams from Folkestone, Langdon and Rye Bay were involved in the response.

Images of men being given blankets by emergency service workers on Winchelsea beach have been shared on Twitter.

A spokesman for Kent Police said it had provided support to the Border Force.

Kent MP Charlie Elphicke claimed the events would mean 'a record number of boats arriving in a single day'.

Only one of the eight vessels made it to shore, landing at Winchelsea Caravan Park beach, East Sussex

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he was deeply concerned after hearing about the migrant boats

He added on Twitter: 'This crisis was meant to have been dealt with at Christmas, yet numbers continue to rise.

'It looks set to surge to record levels through the summer.

'The Home Office needs to get a grip on this crisis.'

One of the boats, which had eight migrants on board, managed to arrive on the coast without being picked up by the Border Force.

Officials handed the men, women and children blankets and bottles of water before they were offered medical assistance.

One migrant was taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia.

A group of 30 migrants on several boats were intercepted this morning attempting to cross the English Channel by UK Border Force

Officials interviewed the group which included men, women and children, after they were safely brought ashore having been found off the coast of Kent

The group made the crossing on several inflatable boats, pictured, from the French coast

A 'record number' of migrant boats were spotted off the Kent coast this morning as more than 30 people were picked up by Border Force officials. Above: officials responding this morning

Border force vessels, RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Dungeness and Rye and coastguard rescue teams from Folkestone, Langdon and Rye Bay have been involved in the response.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: 'Border Force is currently dealing with ongoing small boat incidents off the Kent coast.

'Further details will be provided once the situation has been resolved.'

The number of migrants picked up trying to cross the Channel in May was higher than the figure in December - when the Home Secretary declared a 'major incident' and ordered two Border Force boats to be redeployed to deal with attempted crossings.

The migrants are believed to have taken advantage of calm seas resulting from today's anticipated record-breaking temperatures, which are expected to hit 84F - the highest temperature of the year.

In total, 140 migrants arrived in the month of May alone.

Eight migrants were found in a boat in the channel seven days ago heading towards the Kent coast.

Local MP Charlie Elphike claimed this was the largest number of migrant boats intercepted in one day

UK Border Force agents towed in the inflatable boats used by the migrants for the crossing

It is understood the migrants arrived near Winchelsea beach in as many as 13 small boats and were brought to shore (file photo)

The group, pictured, took advantage of calm seas to make their bid to enter the UK

A total of 13 boats are believed to have tried to make the crossing to the UK today

The UK Border Force sought the assistance of the Coastguard due to the number of boats

They were taken to immigration centres.

The week before, a further 52 migrants were intercepted by border force boats, again off the Kent coast.

More than 30 migrants have been returned to Europe so far this year after they were caught trying to enter the country by boat.

Speaking after last week's incident, a Home Office spokesperson said: 'Anyone crossing the Channel in a small boat is taking a huge risk with their life.

'Since the home secretary declared a major incident in December, two cutters have returned to UK waters from overseas operations, we have agreed a joint action plan with France and increased activity out of the Joint Coordination and Information Centre in Calais.

Local Conservative MP Charlie Elphike said the Home Office needed to respond to the crisis

These migrants are the first to arrive in June. Last month more than 140 managed to successfully cross the English Channel

'It is an established principle that those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and since January more than 30 people who arrived illegally in the UK in small boats have been returned to elsewhere in Europe.'

A spokesman for Kent Police said: 'Kent Police was notified by Border Force at 6.20am that a vessel with suspected migrants on board had been intercepted off the coast of Dover.

'Officers are currently in attendance to provide support to Border Force.'

Officials handed out blankets and bottles of water to the migrants following their ordeal

The migrants were given medical checks before they were processed by officials
Labour was plunged into a fresh row yesterday after the party's candidate in the Peterborough by-election was accused of endorsing anti-Semitic 'conspiracy theories'.

Lisa Forbes faced calls to stand down after 'liking' social media posts that suggested Theresa May had a 'Zionist Slave Masters agenda' and commenting on a thread that claimed Islamic State was created 'by the CIA and Mossad'.

It came just 24 hours after Labour was forced to suspend NEC member Pete Willsman after he was recorded saying the anti-Semitism storm within the party was 'almost certainly' the work of the Israeli embassy.

Lisa Forbes faced calls to stand down after 'liking' social media posts that suggested Theresa May had a 'Zionist Slave Masters agenda'

Ms Forbes 'apologised wholeheartedly' last night

The row broke after journalist Iggy Ostanin posted a screenshot of Ms Forbes liking a Facebook post last month which described Mrs May keeping her 'Zionist Slave Masters agenda alive', alongside a video about the Christchurch mosque shootings.

She also appeared to comment on a post from September 2014 which accused the CIA and Mossad  'supported by British imperialism'  of funding and creating extremists such as Islamic State.

Euan Philipps, spokesman for Labour Against Anti-Semitism, said: 'If Jeremy Corbyn was in any way interested in upholding decent British values of tolerance and fairness, he would have immediately demanded that Ms Forbes stand down.'

Ms Forbes 'apologised wholeheartedly' last night, adding: 'I liked a video of school children praying in solidarity with the Christchurch attacks, not the views expressed in the accompanying text. I am sorry.'
Leadership hopeful Michael Gove is pledging a 1billion increase to the schools budget

Michael Gove will today pledge a 1 billion increase to the schools budget as the former Education Secretary attempts to unpick his unpopularity among teachers.

The Tory leadership hopeful has vowed to restore the amount of money spent per pupil to 2015 levels in real terms, following a three-year slump.

Following the education reforms he brought in between 2010 and 2014, Mr Gove has been deeply unpopular within the sector and among parents, and was demoted amid fears his reputation could cost the Tories at the ballot box.

But his latest policy has earned him the endorsement of fellow former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, who says Mr Gove is 'ready to lead the nation'.

She told The Mail on Sunday: 'Michael is determined that as the Prime Minister, we will find that extra money.'

Backing the campaign of Mr Gove, who has been Environment Secretary since 2017, Ms Morgan said: 'You have got him as a former Education Secretary, me as a former Education Secretary  education absolutely has to be at the total heart of the Conservative Government's policies going forward.'

Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan says endorsed Mr Gove and said he is 'ready to lead the nation'

She added: 'I followed Michael into the Department for Education, I absolutely know what it takes to turn a department around, to make it deliver and Michael has done that in successive departments.

'In No 10 now, you want someone with a real track record of delivery and I think Michael absolutely has to be the strongest person.'

Last night Mr Gove's campaign manager, Commons Leader Mel Stride, called him 'the outstanding Minister of our time'.
Sir Michael Caine has hailed the #MeToo movement for ensuring actresses at auditions don't have to worry about getting raped

Sir Michael Caine has hailed the #MeToo movement for tackling predatory Hollywood and ensuring actresses at auditions don't 'have to worry about getting raped'.

The 86-year-old movie legend believes that young actresses are better protected from sexual predators following the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Caine speaks out in today's Event magazine, saying: 'I'm all for #MeToo. I'm a big admirer of ladies, for their causes and everything.'

And he adds: 'Any actress going for an audition today, no producer would dare make a pass at her. Because he knows he'd be in the paper in the morning. So at least something good has come of it. Women, actresses can relax at auditions now. I mean they'll be nervous about the audition  whether they'll get the part  but they don't have to worry about getting raped.'

Caine worked on several films with Weinstein  who has agreed a 35 million settlement with women who accuse him of sexual misconduct and still faces trial for sexual assault  but says he saw no evidence of any inappropriate behaviour.

'I never saw him do anything wrong with women, but when I read what these girls were saying, it was terrible that he did that,' he says in an interview to mark the release in paperback of his book Blowing The Bloody Doors Off.

In the book, Caine expresses his 'regret and shame' at not realising what some of his male peers were doing in Hollywood in his heyday. The actor, who made his name in roles such as the Swinging Sixties playboy Alfie Elkins, claims his reputation as a champion of women means he has never witnessed any abuse on film sets.

'No one ever did anything in front of me. Because I was very pro-feminist, you know. And they knew that, so they wouldn't do anything in front of me I've always been a man for women's lib,' he says.

'The thing about me and women is that I loved my mother. Very much. So every woman to me is about five per cent my mother.

Caine worked on several films with Harvey Weinstein but says he saw no evidence of any inappropriate behaviour

Weinstein has agreed a 35 million settlement with women who accuse him of sexual misconduct and still faces trial for sexual assault

'So they're always treated very well. I have respect and I'm all for equal pay.

'Mind you, I didn't realise pay was worse for them because I worked with Elizabeth Taylor.

'She got a million dollars, I got 150,000. I thought, 'Wait a minute.' I didn't complain.'

Caine says Shakira, his wife of 46 years, accompanies him whenever he makes a film  'just to be with each other and take care of the loneliness, because it can get lonely'.

'It takes care of infidelity, which you do find in the movies,' he adds.
A leading exam board has been accused of bowing to demands from transgender activists after swapping the word sex for gender in a GCSE biology paper taken by thousands of pupils.

Students sitting the Edexcel paper had to study a diagram of chromosomes  the arrangement of genes which determine if someone is male of female  before being asked to identify which gender was shown. Pupils were also asked to explain how gender is inherited.

Furious scientists, one of whom was marking the test, say the wording of the questions was scientifically inaccurate and suspect it was chosen instead of sex for politically correct reasons following lobbying by transgender campaigners.

A leading exam board has been accused of bowing to demands from transgender activists after swapping the word sex for gender in a GCSE biology paper

Transgender activists object to the use of the word sex to describe if someone is a man or a woman, preferring the term gender which they say should be self determined.

A number of scientists complained to the exam board, fearing pupils who were taught in class to use the word sex would be confused. They insist it was a fundamental error to use the word gender, which they say is a social concept and has a completely different meaning to biological sex.

Biochemist Dr Georgina Toye, one of the examiners who complained to Edexcel ahead of marking the papers, told The Mail on Sunday: I was stunned to see the word gender used in a biology paper  especially in a question that concerned biological sex.

'This is a fundamental error and a scientifically inaccurate use of language that I think will confuse students by giving them the wrong impression that gender and sex are the same. Edexcel told me they chose the wording of the question to help pupils understand it better, but I suspect they have been influenced by transgender campaigners.

Furious scientists, one of whom was marking the test, say the wording of the questions was scientifically inaccurate

Dr Nicola Williams, director of feminist campaign group Fair Play For Women and a research scientist specialising in human biology, commented: It is extremely concerning that transgender ideology now appears to be penetrating into GCSE exam questions.

Previous Edexcel biology papers have always used the word sex in similar questions. Pearson, the company that owns Edexcel, insisted the word gender was used for practical reasons so pupils would not think the question referred to sexual intercourse and it denied being lobbied by the transgender community.

But following the complaints the firm conceded last night that it should have used sex in the exam. It was reported last year that Pearson had been advised by LGBT charity Stonewall on gender issues. In 2017, Pearson endorsed its LGBT-inclusive curriculum guide, which says rather than being born male or female, people are assigned a sex at birth.
One of Harold Wilsons key Downing Street aides spied for Czechoslovakias secret police, according to intelligence files.

Documents unearthed by The Mail on Sunday detail how Ernest Fernyhough, who was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Wilson between 1964 and 1967, provided intelligence to his handlers, including details of the Prime Ministers telephone conversations with US President Lyndon Johnson and discussions about devaluing the pound.

The files say Fernyhough  whose codename was Koza, meaning goat in Czech  was his handlers most valuable source of information. Czech spies first approached Fernyhough in 1958, when he was the backbench Labour MP for Jarrow.

Harold Wilson's Downing Street aide Ernest Fernyhough MP (Pictured) spied on the Prime Minister for Czechoslovakia's secret police

He is described as resembling an absent-minded teacher in the papers, which detail the frustration of his handler, Comrade Kugler, at his laziness. Following a meeting in December 1959 when the MP failed to produce a memo listing politicians who might be persuaded to help the Czech secret police agency, the StB, Kugler wrote that Fernyhough was getting on my nerves and this last meeting has done nothing to improve my opinion of him.

But perseverance appears to have paid off in 1966, when the StB was able to renew its relationship with Fernyhough, by then one of Wilsons most trusted lieutenants.

He was appointed PPS to the Prime Minister in 1964  a year after the scandal involving John Profumo, the then Secretary of State for War, who bedded showgirl Christine Keeler while she was also having an affair with a Soviet spy  and helped convince Wilson to refuse Johnsons request to send British troops to Vietnam.

The documents, stored at the Czech State Security archive in Prague, detail meetings between Fernyhough and Josef Piskula, a new handler codenamed Comrade Petran whose cover was a role as commercial attache in Londons Czechoslovak embassy.

At about the same time, they add, the KGB severed its six-year relationship with Fernyhough amid fears that he was playing a game by informing the Labour leadership of meetings with the Russians.

Files in a Czech archive say he passed on information about a telephone call between the Prime Minister and US President Lyndon Johnson

While the Czechs also had some reservations about Fernyhough, they did not prevent them giving him a rating of DS  meaning a confidential contact  nor recording that he had access to a lot of important information. In a report in October 1966, Piskula says the best information was in Kozas reports on the situation with the pound at the time when the threat of devaluation was looming.

And also information on British-American relations, including telephone conversations between Wilson and Johnson. The accuracy of these reports was fully confirmed by later developments.

Fernyhough, who died in 1993 at the age of 84, was given modest rewards for his efforts, including alcohol, chocolates and a free holiday to Czechoslovakia with his wife and a friend in August 1967.

In the same year, Piskula was removed from Britain  apparently after a heart attack  and Fernyhough was assigned a new handler codenamed Comrade Karhan.

Following a meeting in November 1967, Karhan described the Labour MPs delight at the departure from Parliament of George Wigg, a former Paymaster-General who was Wilsons link to the British security services.

After being appointed chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board, Wigg was made a life peer and stood down as MP for Dudley.

He [Fernyhough] is pleased about the downfall of George Wigg, because Wigg had put pressure on him over the fact that his father was a Communist and also apparently because of his friendship with us, he wrote.

However, Fernyhoughs influence in No 10 was on the wane and he was demoted to Junior Employment Minister after which his use to the Czech secret police dwindled. By 1972, when his files were reviewed by StB officials, it was decided there were no longer any new aspects or opportunities for development.
Recent tests performed by Consumer Reports have cast further doubts on the capabilities of Tesla's Autopilot software.

A new automatic lane-change feature of Tesla's Autopilot system doesn't work well and could be a safety risk to drivers, according to tests performed by Consumer Reports.

The magazine and website tested 'Navigate on Autopilot' and found it less competent than human drivers, cutting off other cars without leaving enough space.

Senior Director of Auto Testing Jake Fisher said in a statement Wednesday that the system doesn't appear to react to brake lights or turn signals, and it can't anticipate what other drivers will do.

'It's incredibly nearsighted,' Fisher says. 'You constantly have to be one step ahead of it.'

Recent tests performed by Consumer Reports have cast further doubts on the capabilities of Tesla's Autopilot software. File photo

Consumer Reports says automakers should be required to make public validated evidence of a new system's safety before releasing it on public roads.

The tests raise more questions about the safety of Tesla's Autopilot system and CEO Elon Musk's statement that Tesla will have fully self-driving vehicles ready sometime next year.

Last week, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said that Autopilot was in use in a March crash that killed a man in Delray Beach, Florida.

Neither the driver nor the system stopped for a tractor-trailer turning left across the path of the Tesla Model 3 in a crash that was similar to one in 2016 that killed a driver near Gainesville, Florida.

In response, Tesla said that drivers who use Navigate on Autopilot properly have traveled millions of miles and safely executed millions of automated lane changes.

The company says drivers must opt for the system by selecting Navigate for Autopilot, which replaces the default setting that requires a driver to confirm a lane change by pushing the turn signal lever.

When drivers choose the system, they are warned that it does not make the vehicle autonomous and that they have to remain in control, the company said.

In April, Tesla announced a software update that enabled Navigate on Autopilot, and Consumer Reports tested its Model 3 after the update.

The magazine said it drove on highways across Connecticut, where its test track is located.

Multiple testers reported that the system cut too closely in front of other cars and passed other vehicles on the right of a divided highway with two lanes in each direction.

A new automatic lane-change feature of Tesla's Autopilot system doesn't work well and could be a safety risk to drivers, according to tests performed by Consumer Reports

A Connecticut law enforcement official told the magazine that passing on the right was improper in the state and could bring a ticket.

In addition, the system also didn't return to the right lane after passing, which also could draw a traffic citation in the state, the magazine said.

'Tesla is showing what not to do on the path toward self-driving cars: release increasingly automated driving systems that aren't vetted properly,' said David Friedman, a former acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who now is vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports.

Tesla shares closed Wednesday down 6 percent at $192.73, the lowest level since late 2016. They are down 42 percent so far this year.
Spanish police in Madrid have confirmed they have arrested four Brits for assault ahead of Saturday night's Champions League final.

Supporters travelled in good numbers for the all-English final against Liverpool but anticipation appears to have been overshadowed by ugly scenes near Puerta del Sol on Friday night.

In a social media clip posted on Tottenham fan account COYS News, police are seen entering a bar with batons before one supporter drinking outside the restaurant appears to be struck by an officer.

Spanish police have arrested four Brits for assault ahead of the Champions League final

Police are seen entering the local restaurant where some supporters were on Friday night

The country's National Police force said officers were the victims of some of the assaults.

They did not give out details of when and where the arrests had taken place in the Spanish capital in a statement overnight.

A force spokesman said in a tweet: 'Four British nationals arrested for assaults, including assaults on police officers, as part of the security operation for the Champions League final in Madrid.'

Confirmation of the arrests came after allegations of heavy-handed tactics levelled at local police who have mounted a major security operation in the run-up to the Spurs-Liverpool game at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

Officers with batons swept in to confront Tottenham fans around the bars and restaurants in Puerta del Sol fan shortly after 9pm on Friday night.

A restaurant worker said the police were responding to complaints that the Spurs supporters had been acting aggressively and shouting abuse at Liverpool fans.

However, supporters gathered outside the bar claimed the intervention was completely unprompted.

'We were having a laugh and having a joke - it was all Tottenham and just fun,' said one supporter. 'Then suddenly two police come at us and suddenly it was bang, bang, they all came steaming in. Smashing tables with their batons. They're doing it just because they can. They are bang out of order.'

Fans appear to have been ushered outside of the restaurant situated near to Puerta del Sol

One supporter who claimed to be inside the venue was furious with how events unfolded

Liverpool fans in Plaza Sol were reported to have been kept in the square by a police blockade

'I had an eight year old boy on my shoulders,' said Spurs fan Harry Wade, 27. 'It was his first away day and we were all having a nice time.'

Liverpool fans inside the bar disputed the story, however, claiming they heard a small group of Spurs fans shouting provocatively about Merseyside.

An employee at the Cafe and Tapas bar confirmed police had been called, but said officers acted 'too heavily'. There were also reports of a small skirmish between fans and police after a brawl in the Liverpool fan zone.

A video appears to have caught the aftermath of events inside the restaurant as supporters are being ushered outside by police, who can be seen wearing helmets and carrying batons.

Fans, including the one filming the video, are ushered out of the venue where one supporter appears to be struck on the back of the legs with a baton.

Around 650 meters away, the Liverpool Echo report that Reds fans were stuck inside a police blockade around the Plaza del Sol in Madrid.

Fans descended on the square for an event which saw DJs Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike headline the pre-Champions League final festival.

The report says that supporters were told they could not exit the blockade until midnight due to the size of the crowds.
Need some advice for planning the perfect break? The Holiday Guru is here to help.

This week flying to America on a dreamliner and a laid-back cruise to warmer climes are the hot topics.

Q. One of my grandchildren is mad about planes and is keen to go on a Dreamliner. I would like to send him and his father to the U.S. Can you help?

Chrissie Stevens, Bideford, Devon.

BA flies Dreamliners (Boeing 787s) to Baltimore, New Orleans, NYC and more

A. Yes, BA flies Dreamliners (Boeing 787s) to Baltimore, New Orleans and New York among others; however, check flight details before booking to be absolutely sure itll be a Dreamliner. Heathrow to Baltimore return from 548pp (ba.com).

Q. We are aged 75 and 70 and our children would like to send us on our first cruise as a treat. Wed like to go somewhere hot, but not on a massive ship and preferably from Liverpool, without children and neither too formal nor too expensive.

Mr and Mrs Long, Southport

The Celebrity Constellation cruise ship departs Barcelona (above) for a nine-night trip to Venice this autumn

A. Well those requirements narrow things down rather! How about the Queen Mary 2 for 12 nights, departing Liverpool on July 16 and stopping at Iceland and Canada (from 1,399pp, 020 3811 6917, iglucruise.com)? Or, outside the school holidays in the autumn, the Celebrity Constellation departs Barcelona for a nine-night trip to Venice, stopping at Monte Carlo, Nice, Rome, Sicily, Corfu and Croatia (from 949pp, 023 9427 2859, planetcruise.com). Neither fits perfectly, but one might appeal.

WERE HERE TO HELP

If you need advice, the Holiday Guru is here to answer your questions and provide tips for your precious time off. Send questions to: holidayplanner@dailymail.co.uk or write to Daily Mail Travel, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT  and include your contact details. We will do our best to answer your queries. Please do not send in any original documents. We look forward to hearing from you.
The eldest daughter of Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Teresa, 47, and Joe Giudice, also 47, head to prom this week.

And doting mom Teresa took to Instagram to celebrate her daughter Gia Giudice on Friday, after posting a string of videos and pictures from the pre-prom activities.

The 18-year-old donned a backless baby blue gown as she was seen posing with her date, 21-year-old Frank Catania Jr, the son of fellow Real Housewives of New Jersey star, Dolores Catania.

Proud mama: 'Gia, the strength & beauty you exude cannot be ignored,' Teresa Giudice began in the Friday post

Her long locks were curled in princess waves as she accessorized with silver bracelets, rings and earrings.

The high-schooler donned a corsage of white flowers on her wrist as a cross ring could be seen on her left ring finger.

Gia smiled as she posed in front of silver balloons that spelled out 'PROM'.

Baby blue: The 18-year-old donned a backless blue gown as she was seen smiling in front of silver balloons that spelled out PROM

'Gia, the strength & beauty you exude cannot be ignored,' Teresa began in the post's caption.

The Celebrity Apprentice contestant looked to the future, as her baby girl was about to head off to college.

'As you take this next step in life and youre off to the @rutgersu Im so proud of you! I was so happy to see you celebrating with your life long friends! Love you Gia'

Prom pose: Gia's long locks were curled in princess waves as she accessorized with silver bracelets, rings and earrings

Accessorize: The high-schooler donned a corsage of white flowers on her wrist as a cross ring could be seen on her left ring finger

'Prom round one': Pictured just one week prior on May 24, this makes for Gia's second prom in a week

'When you were born we could have never known the twists and turns life would throw at us but you have been a pilar [SIC] of strength for our family, I am so honored to call you my daughter. Not a day goes by that Im not so proud of your kindness & generosity,' the mom of four wrote.

She then took a moment to recognize everyone who helped get Gia and her mom get ready for the event.

The prideful post comes just nine days after Gia sent an emotional happy birthday wish to her dad Joe as he turned 47 last week.

Pillar of strength: 'I am so honored to call you my daughter. Not a day goes by that Im not so proud of your kindness & generosity,' the mom of four wrote

Prom party: Teresa took to Instagram to celebrate her daughter Gia Giudice on Friday, after posting a string of videos and pictures from the pre-prom activities

Joe, who has four children with Teresa Giudice - Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 10 - is currently in jail.

He's been fighting against being sent to Italy as a result of his 2014 fraud conviction for years.

'[H]appy birthday to the guy who teaches me everyday to keep going and never stop fighting! you inspire me everyday.. love you so much keep smiling see you soon,' wrote Gia in a post on Instagram.

'Keep smiling see you soon': Gia wished her father a happy birthday on May 22 by posting this photo on Instagram

The eldest daughter has been campaigning to keep her dad in the states with an online petition.

She directed the campaign at fellow reality TV star Donald J. Trump, begging the US President to take mercy on her dad.

And Joe was granted permission to continue living in the U.S. amid his ongoing deportation case, according to court documents obtained by The Blast the same day.
From Cannes to NYC, Elsa Hosk has been all over the place lately.

But on Thursday, it was finally time to go home.

The 30-year-old Swedish supermodel posted a series of photos and videos as she made the trek back to Sweden, wasting no time once she arrived.

'Back to Europe': Elsa Hosk posted a series of photos and videos as she made the trek back to Sweden, wasting no time once she arrived on Thursday

The Victoria's Secret model got right to it once she landed, posing in a strapless yellow dress at her hotel.

The 5 10 beauty's long legs were on full display.

She paired the dress with pointy white boots and a grey suit jacket.

The blonde's hair fell in messy waves onto her shoulders as she rocked a polished middle part, her suitcase still unopened in the background.

No time to unpack: The blonde's hair fell in messy waves onto her shoulders as she rocked a polished middle part, her suitcase still unopened in the background

Finally 'home': Elsa posted an Instagram story on Friday and tagged Ett hem, a boutique hotel in Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden from the sky: Hosk's location is no secret. She told us exactly where she was headed on Friday

Just three days ago the model posted a photo in New York.

And a day before that, Hosk was basking in the sun in Cannes, France, in a teeny cheetah print bikini.

The VS Angel was on the carpet at Cannes many times, always in a head-turning gown.

Time flies: Just three days ago on May 28, the model posted a photo in New York

Seems like just yesterday: And a day before that on May 27, Hosk was basking in the sun in Cannes, France, in a teeny cheetah print bikini

Last year, the catwalk queen recounted how people questioned her when she shared a nude picture online.

Hosk defended her decision by sharing a common feminist mantra: my body my choice.

'I remember posting a nude selfie, and I got so many texts from people who were like, "What did you do? Are you sure about that?"' she told NET-A-PORTER digital magazine.

The lingerie model said she simply responded, '[Y]eah, I dont really care that much. Its my body, its my choice.'
Australian actor Jai Courtney is known for his powerhouse performances on screen.

But on Friday, the 33-year-old actor showed his fans that his talents extend far beyond his acting skills.

Taking to Instagram, The Suicide Squad star flaunted his muscular chest and bulging biceps in a sizzling shirtless selfie.

'Try me': Hunky Australian actor Jai Courtney, 33, flaunted his muscular chest and bulging biceps while painting in a shirtless selfie he posted to his Instagram account on Friday

The Australian-born star looked every inch the off-duty action hero, with a grimacing look over his face as he held a paint roller in his hand.

The handsome star's washboard stomach and meaty pecs were on full display while he performed the mundane weekend work.

Proving that tackling the job alone might not have been the best choice, the actor captioned the snap: 'Try me,' adding the revealing hashtag #DIWhy.

The shirtless selfie sent fans swooning over the hunk, with a number of them leaving their own racy messages for the star.

Muscular: Jai (pictured) regularly shows off his ripped physique in racy shirtless snaps, which regularly sends fans swooning over his action hero like looks

Jai might not have time for weekend work soon, after it was confirmed he will reprise his role as Captain Boomerang in the The Suicide Squad 2.

According to blog Screen Rant, the actor is cast alongside fellow Australian star Margot Robbie and English actor Idris Elba in James Gunn's 2021 film.

The film is separate to the all-female Birds of Prey: The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.

Screen star: 'Being a guy who'd come up around sport and hung out with guys of that nature,' Jai (pictured) said, while speaking to GQ Australia magazine in March 2017

Jai is known for his fit physique and hunky look, with the star previously opening up about his 'masculinity' to GQ Australia.

In his interview with the magazine, Jai said he thought it might have affected his chances for a big screen career.

'Being a guy who'd come up around sport and hung out with guys of that nature,' he told the publication back in March 2017.

'I genuinely thought it was all playing against my ability to get into theatre and study this stuff,' he said.
She went from being a reality television staple to one of the fashion industry's most visible faces.

Kendall Jenner was spotted Friday as she stepped out in New York City to make her way to Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show in Rockefeller Center.

The 23-year-old beauty favored the influential designer's preferred color scheme with a reserved black and white outfit.

Chic figure: Kendall Jenner, 23, was spotted Friday as she stepped out in New York City to make her way to Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show in Rockefeller Center

Kendall had on a flowing white shirt, which was cinched around her already trim waist with a white zip-up waist trainer.

The 5ft10in model mixed the top with a pair of skinny black slacks with slits that showed off her ankles and blue, green and white trainers.

She wore a pair of sleek dark shades, similar to the models favored by her older sister Kim Kardashian.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star accessorized with a brown suede handbag over one shoulder, and her lustrous raven tresses were styled straight and flowed down her back.

Two-tone: Kendall had on a flowing white shirt, which was cinched around her already trim waist with a white zip-up waist trainer

Legs for days: The 5ft10in model mixed the top with a pair of skinny black slacks with slits that showed off her ankles and blue, green and white trainers

Trendsetter: She wore a pair of sleek dark shades, similar to the models favored by her older sister Kim Kardashian

Kendall has previously walked for Alexander Wang going back to 2015.

This show departs from tradition by staging itself outdoors in Rockefeller Center, so that everyday Americans who would never normally have access to fashion shows can catch a glimpse of tomorrow's looks.

The highest paid model in the world was back in the US after a refreshing trip to the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.

Back again: Kendall has previously walked for Alexander Wang going back to 2015

French getaway: She recently returned from a trip to the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival, following her break-up from Philadelphia 76ers player Ben Simmons

The trip came shortly after Kendall's split from her boyfriend, Philadelphia 76ers player Ben Simmons, which was confirmed on May 23.

The couple inaugurated their relationship in March of 2018, though the briefly split in September of that year before reuniting.

Following the break-up, Kendall seemed to be living her best life on the Riviera, flaunting her incredibly trim physique in a polka dot bikini and relaxing on a yacht.

Living her best life: Following the break-up, Kendall seemed to be having a blast on the Riviera, flaunting her incredibly trim physique in a polka dot bikini and relaxing on a yacht

Though she's back to modeling, the reality star went on hiatus after twin backlashes for appearing in a Pepsi commercial widely mocked for it's perceived co-option of the Black Lives Matter movement and for posting an Instagram advertisement for the failed Fyre Festival.

She claimed to suffer from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the uproar.

But in an April interview with The Telegraph, Kendall said things were on the upswing.

'Honestly, the last four years for me have been really telling. Ive gotten to a really good place in life,' she said.

In the same piece, she also opened up about how her stick-thin figure sometimes felt out of place among her sisters.

'My sisters are a lot curvier than me,' she said. 'They have boobs and I dont have boobs. Growing up being this little twiggy girl, I saw my sisters and always thought, Oh no, am I supposed to be more sexy like them?''
Cynthia Bailey is ready for summer.

The 52-year-old Real Housewife Of Atlanta posed up a storm on Instagram in a one-piece white bathing suit that showed off her curves.

She struck a dancer's pose beneath an outdoor shower while drinking the peach bellini drink she concocted for Seagream's Escapes.

Ready for summer: Real Housewife Of Atlanta Cynthia Bailey used a sizzling Instagram snap on Friday to advertise the peach bellini she concocted for Seagram's Escapes

Cynthia plugged in the caption: 'love my [peach] bellini. @seagramsescapes #peachbellini Available in stores now! Store locator link in my bio'.

Her choice of cocktail is a nod to her reality star fame - the Real Housewives Of Altanta are nicknamed the Georgia Peaches.

The brunette bombshell used to be close friends with fellow Real Housewife Of Atlanta Nene Leakes, but the pair clashed on the latest season.

Legends: Her choice of cocktail is a nod to her reality star fame - the Real Housewives Of Altanta are nicknamed the Georgia Peaches

Their problems seem to have stemmed from Cynthia's decision to invite Kenya Moore, another cast-mate on the show, to an party she was holding.

As it happens, the bash was a launch event for the very same bottled peach bellini Cynthia advertised on Instagram this Friday.

Nene has had a long-standing feud with Kenya, so Cynthia's decision to invite her became a major sticking point in season 11.

Hello gorgeous: Cynthia and her current beau Mike Hill are pictured at the beginning of this month attending the 145th Kentucky Derby in Louisville

However, rumor has it that Nene and Cynthia are able to bury their differences when it comes time to deliver professionally.

The pair are said to be riding a parade float together at New York City Pride next month, according to Hollywood Life.

A source gossiped that the two women 'are both happy, and not at all worried about riding the same float together for Bravo to celebrate WorldPride.'
Elton John has publicly hit out following his biopic Rocketman being heavily edited in Russia to remove any scenes of kissing and sex between men in the film.

Also cut out in the edited version is a caption and photograph at the end referring to Elton living with his husband David Furnish and raising their two sons, Zachary and Elijah,.

The musical sensation, 72, released a statement following Russian film critic Anton Dolin sharing how the feature film had been altered in Russia - after he attended a preview.

Hitting back: Elton John, 72, has publicly hit out following his biopic Rocketman being heavily edited in Russia to remove any scenes of kissing and sex between men in the film

A joint statement from Elton and the filmmakers read: 'We reject in the strongest possible terms the decision to pander to local laws and censor Rocketman for the Russian market, a move we were unaware of until today.

'Paramount Pictures have been brave and bold partners in allowing us to create a film which is a true representation of Eltons extraordinary life, warts and all.

'That the local distributor has edited out certain scenes, denying the audience the opportunity to see the film as it was intended is a sad reflection of the divided world we still live in and how it can still be so cruelly unaccepting of the love between two people.

'We believe in building bridges and open dialogue, and will continue to push for the breaking down of barriers until all people are heard equally across the world.'

Unhappy: Also proving his disappointment at the editing, Taron Egerton, 29, who plays Elton in the biopic, shared his dismay at the Russian censorship in the film

Also proving his disappointment at the editing, Taron Egerton, who portrays Elton in the biopic, took to Instagram to air his opinion.

The actor, 29, typed: 'I am crestfallen that the decision was made to censor our movie for the Russian market.

He continued: 'Im even more disappointed to hear about it second hand today on the day of our domestic release.'

Statement: The actor took to Instagram to share a statement with his fans

Disappointed: The star typed: 'I am crestfallen that the decision was made to censor our movie for the Russian market' (pictured on the set of Rocketman)

'I in no way condone this decision and feel disappointed I wasnt made aware and given the chance to fight this move. Love is love. No compromises.'

Russian journalist Anthon shared that around five minutes of the film has been chopped as a result of so-called 'anti-gay propaganda' laws in Conservative Russia which bans gay sex scenes in cinema since 2013.

Dolin described the cut as 'nasty' and added 'Sorry, Sir Elton', in a social media post about the deleted scenes.

Cnesorship: Elton and Taron's statements come after Russian film critic Anton Dolin shared that the film had been edited of any scenes of men kissing or having sex after he saw a preview in Russia

He posted on Facebook: 'All scenes with kissing, sex and oral sex between men have been cut out.

'The most nasty thing is that the final caption has been removed from the finale.

'The movie took only five minutes out, but it's very noticeable. It's about a principled five minutes, very important for artistic purposes.'

Dolin also alleges that Paramount studio representatives were present at the edited premier screening in Russia yesterday.

According to The Moscow Times, The Russian Culture Ministry did not order the scenes to be cut and instead the movie was edited by the distributor Central Partnership to comply with Russian laws.

A spokesman from the Central Partnership told the paper: 'Changes were made to the film to comply with the legislation of the Russian Federation.'

Film critic Yegor Moskvitin, who had seen the original Rocketman at the Cannes Film Festival, told the Moscow Times: 'Several scenes had indeed disappeared from the Russian version.'

Elton John has himself said the studio wanted to tone down the sex and drugs in the movie but he wanted the biopic to be an accurate representation of his early life.

In an article for the Guardian, he wrote: 'Some studios wanted to tone down the sex and drugs so the film would get a PG-13 rating. But I just haven't led a PG-13 rated life.'

In the past Elton John offered to meet with Vladimir Putin to discuss LGBT rights after pranksters called him pretending to be the Russian president, but the meeting has yet to take place.
Former Married At First Sight stars like Clare Verrall and Tracey Jewel recently spoke out about their personal mental health struggles.

And an Australian psychologist has now credited celebrities for increasingly shining a light on the taboo topic.

'Celebrities set an example. People consider them to be beacons of perfection and so people think "If they can do it, I can too", Sydney therapist Janine Rod told BW Magazine.

Shining a light: Two of the nation's most prominent reality TV stars - Clare Verrall (left) and Tracey Jewel (right)- have admitted to their mental health struggles in recent years

'The world has become more aware of mental health. People including celebrities are more aware of their health and more outspoken.'

Hollywood icons like Ryan Reynolds, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber have all spoken publicly about their mental issues.

But Australian household names have been equally vocal, with AFL star Buddy Franklin's wife Jesinta admitting to seeking professional help.

PR guru Roxy Jacenko, meanwhile, admitted in an interview with news.com.au in 2015 she felt 'miserable' after her husband Oliver Curtis was sentenced to 12 months in jail for insider trading.

Opening up: Australian household names have been equally vocal as Hollywood stars on the topic of mental health, with Roxy Jacenko admitting to a bout of depression when her husband Oliver Curtis was sentenced to a year in jail for insider trading

The issue of mental health is particularly topical for Married At First Sight star Clare, who opened up in an interview this month about making two attempts on her life.

During the bombshell sit-down interview with Channel Seven, the 35-year-old spoke about feeling 'broken and confused' following her time filming the show.

Season five star Tracey, 36, meanwhile, revealed she overdosed on medication in a Berlin hotel room in late July 2018.

Seeking help: AFL star Buddy Franklin's wife Jesinta (pictured) has admitted to seeking professional guidance for her mental health struggles

She had a mental breakdown in the days after her ex-boyfriend Patrick, 45, dumped her and left her 'stranded' while they were travelling across Europe.

Fortunately, German doctors were able to save her following the suicide attempt.

After returning to Perth, she checked herself into a mental health facility.
Kim Kardashian West 'hijacked' her half-sister Kylie Jenner's phone on Friday to poke fun of her artificially-plump lips and defend her controversial face-washing tutorial.

The 21-year-old Kylie Skin CEO was blasted Wednesday for using a filter and not thoroughly cleansing her complexion with the $24 foaming face wash in a 35-second video.

'I am in the Kylie Skin showroom offices, and I'm going to teach you guys how to do a tutorial for how to wash your face,' the 38-year-old reality star announced in a Snapchat.

'It's Kylie! Just kidding! It's Kim with my big lips!' Kim Kardashian West 'hijacked' her half-sister Kylie Jenner's phone on Friday to poke fun of her artificially-plump lips and defend her controversial face-washing tutorial

Foundation stain on the towel: The 21-year-old Kylie Skin CEO was blasted Wednesday for using a filter and not thoroughly cleansing her complexion with the $24 foaming face wash in a 35-second video

'And b****es, I only have 10 seconds! What do you want me to do in 10 seconds? I would have done the same exact thing! Should I pick every single product? Cause we know it's sold out. So guys, what is the big deal here with a 10-second video? That's all she's got.'

The KKW Beauty CEO then switched from Snapchat's big lip filter to the baby face filter and declared the change was due to using Jenner's skincare line.

'So after that 10-second tutorial, this is what I look like. Such a youthful complexion now!' Kardashian gushed.

'Kylie Skin is the fountain of youth people. What you need is three seconds. I didn't even need a whole 10 seconds. I now look like a baby. I love this Kylie Skin. KylieSkin.com.'

The 38-year-old reality star Snapchatted: 'What do you want me to do in 10 seconds? I would have done the same exact thing! Should I pick every single product? Cause we know it's sold out. So guys, what is the big deal here with a 10-second video?'

'Kylie Skin is the fountain of youth!' The KKW Beauty CEO then switched from Snapchat's big lip filter to the baby face filter and declared the change was due to using Jenner's skincare line

'You know what the main point she left out was?' Kardashian then held up the $10 Kylie Skin Make-up Removing Wipes and stressed that customers had to use them before moving on to the foaming face wash

At that point, the 'self-made billionaire' (L) showed up and yelled at Kim: 'You're an a**hole! Give me my phone! You're so mean!'

Kim then held up the $10 Kylie Skin Make-up Removing Wipes and stressed that customers had to use them before moving on to the foaming face wash.

At that point, the 'self-made billionaire' showed up and yelled at her famous big sis: 'You're an a**hole! Give me my phone! You're so mean!'

Meanwhile, Kardashian's third husband Kanye West was spotted leaving his office in Calabasas on Friday.

The 41-year-old rapper-designer sported a black hoodie over a pink T-shirt, brown pants, and heavy-duty boots.

Out and about: Meanwhile, Kim's third husband Kanye West was spotted leaving his office in Calabasas on Friday

Business casual? The 41-year-old rapper-designer sported a black hoodie over a pink T-shirt, brown pants, and heavy-duty boots

'He's here and he's perfect!' The 21-time Grammy winner and the aspiring lawyer welcomed their fourth child - son Psalm - via surrogate only 22 days ago (pictured May 10)

Gemini: Kimye will celebrate their daughter North's sixth birthday on June 15 and they're also parents to three-year-old son Saint and 16-month-old daughter Chicago (pictured March 30)

The 21-time Grammy winner and the aspiring lawyer welcomed their fourth child - son Psalm - via surrogate only 22 days ago.

Kimye will celebrate their daughter North's sixth birthday on June 15 and they're also parents to three-year-old son Saint and 16-month-old daughter Chicago.

West discusses his bipolar disorder with David Letterman in the second season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, which started streaming Friday on Netflix.

Started streaming Friday! West discusses his bipolar disorder with David Letterman in the second season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction on Netflix

Framed for four murders? On Thursday, the wrongful incarceration advocate 'had an emotional two-hour meeting' with death row convict Kevin Cooper (R) in San Quentin

And on Thursday, the wrongful incarceration advocate 'had an emotional two-hour meeting' with death row convict Kevin Cooper in San Quentin.

The 'framed' 61-year-old prisoner was granted new DNA testing in February and he claims he's innocent of the four murders he was accused of committing in 1983 - according to TMZ.

Catch more of Kim and her family on the 16th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which airs Sundays on E!
Bride and Prejudice's Jessica Jones and Seyat Abazovski were arguably the most popular couple from the Channel Seven reality series before their split last year.

And now Jessica, 22, has finally revealed the shocking details behind her breakup with the 20-year-old partyboy.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Jess claimed that Seyat was unfaithful and wanted her to remain living with him and his mum Fatima - who was memorably dubbed 'the mother-in-law from hell' by Bride and Prejudice viewers.

EXCLUSIVE: Bride and Prejudice's Jessica Jones claims Seyat Abazovski cheated on her after their wedding and wanted her to remain living at home with him and his mother

Her comments came after Seyat sparked rumours of a reconciliation between the two on Friday, when he posted an image of himself with a mystery brunette on Instagram.

The woman in the image had her head down and was wearing a ring, leading some fans to speculate that it was Jessica in the photo.

When contacted for comment, Jessica told Daily Mail Australia: 'That's not me - it's his girlfriend, the one he cheated on me with right after the show ended!

'I haven't seen or spoken to Seyat in months and I really don't plan on it,' she added.

'That's not me - it's his girlfriend, the one he cheated on me with!' On Friday, Seyat posted a photo to Instagram of the girl Jessica claims he cheated on her with (pictured above)

The Queensland-based brunette then revealed the details of her split with Seyat for the first time.

'He didn't want to support me studying in Townsville,' she explained. 'He wanted me to stay living at his house with his mum [in Melbourne] and wasn't willing to grow up and be mature the way I was.'

She continued: 'Two weeks after the show he decided to cheat on me with his ex and left me, then he wanted me back after he'd had his fun.

'He wanted me to stay living at his house with his mum': Jessica claims that Seyat wanted her to remain living in his home with his mother, who was dubbed 'the mother-in-law from hell'

'But it was over for me by that time. I don't want a cheater. He was going out and leaving me at home and all I would get were messages about him being all over other girls and I didn't deserve that.'

After swapping Melbourne for Townsville following their split, Jess has been focusing on her career and education.

'I've been focused on bettering myself,' she said. 'I've got an amazing job, I'm living out of home, and studying something I love.

'I've been focused on bettering myself,' the 22-year-old explained. 'I've got an amazing job, I'm living out of home, and studying something I love'

'I'm working and studying extremely hard and all he seems to be doing is the same old clubbing and running back to his ex-girlfriend.'

She added: 'We're on bad terms because he has said horrible things about me on social media and he cheated. I have no interest in speaking to him.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Seyat for comment.

During her time on Bride and Prejudice last year, Jessica was subjected to verbal abuse by Seyat's overprotective mother, Fatima.

'We're on bad terms because he has said horrible things about me on social media and he cheated': Jessica claims that Seyat has posted negative things about her online (pictured)

In the first episode, she said that the young brunette 'dresses like a prostitute', was a 'slu**y party girl', 'w***e' and also 'smells like cats', among other insults.

Despite her objections, Jess and Seyat managed to make it down the aisle and get married, but their marriage quickly imploded once the show ended.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Jess indicated that she'll be seeking a divorce as soon as they've been separated for the mandatory 12 months.
It appears Alessandra Ambrosio and her two kids are on the move.

One day after treating her daughter, Anja, and son, Noah, to a trip to the Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios, the longtime Victoria's Secret Angel model was spotted packing up at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The Brazilian beauty was seen walking out with some items and placing them in a half-full moving box truck.

On the move: Alessandra Ambrosio was spotted packing up at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday

Even with a full days work ahead, Ambrosio still oozed style in a white jeans that were paired with a loose-fitting black button-down shirt.

For some added touch of style, she wore sunglasses and wrapped a black-and white patterned scarf around her neck, to go with her white sneakers.

The single mom styled her brown tresses long and flowing to the middle of her back, with some soft waves and a part in the middle.

Fashionista: Ambrosio still oozed style in a white jeans that were paired with a loose-fitting black button-down shirt

Lovely: The single mom styled her brown tresses long and flowing to the middle of her back, with some soft waves and a part in the middle

The 38-year old chronicled her happy time at the theme park with her kids on Instagram, with the caption: 'Hogwarts , Class of 2019 !!! We all have magic inside of us.'

Some of the snaps she posted included giving Noah, seven, a piggy back while Anja, 10, dressed up in an oversized yellow Despicable Me Minions hoodie.

She also flashed the peace sign as she snapped selfies with Anja in front of Hogwarts at Universal's The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter.

The Brazilian beauty load items from her house into a moving truck

While the model was soaking up the fun in the sun with her children on Thursday, police were called to deal with a naked man who was sunbathing on the beach in front of her Santa Monica beach house.

When approached by officers, the man apparently told them he was naked because he was drying his wet clothes, according to TMZ.

The cops didn't buy the story, ordered him to put on his clothes, and watched while he dressed and then headed off without further incident.

Ambrosio shares her kids with former fiance Jamie Mazur.

She has been dating Nicolo Oddi since last August. He's the founder and CEO of Alanui, a knitwear fashion label based in Milan which he created with his sister Carlotta Oddi in 2016.
They're social media influencers who juggle a career in Los Angeles with their humble roots in Vancouver.

And ahead of the premiere of hayu's Relatively Nat & Liv, Natalie Halcro, 31, and Olivia Pierson, 29, told Daily Mail Australia that their lives aren't always glamorous.

'In Canada, we've got no makeup on, we're fishing and milking goats,' the cousins revealed on Friday.

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EXCLUSIVE: 'We fish, milk goats and wear no makeup': Influencers Natalie Halcro (L), 31, and Olivia Pierson (R), 29, revealed their lives are far from 'picture-perfect' ahead of series launch

Nat and Liv, who are pals of Kim Kardashian, said looking 'picture-perfect all the time' is one of the biggest misconceptions of being an influencer.

'People think that your life is so glamorous and perfect, but it's not,' they told Daily Mail Australia.

'You see that in the show, we come to Canada, we're stripped down a lot more, we've got no makeup on, we're fishing and lounging about and milking goats. It's a lot less glamorous.'

The girls also revealed that they decided to put it all out on the table, while filming their new reality series.

Farm life: 'You see that in the show, we come to Canada, we're stripped down a lot more, we've got no makeup on, we're fishing and lounging about and milking goats,' the girls told Daily Mail

'I think when we agreed to do it, we kind of unanimously agreed to be fully transparent and that's the approach that we took,' they said. 'So you see everything on the show.'

And while life in the spotlight can encourage trolls to post nasty comments online, Nat and Liv say they have a solution: simply 'block words on Instagram'.

'What you don't see doesn't hurt you,' the girls said. 'I think that's a really good advice for people. Just take it with a grain of salt.'

'At the end of the day, the positives outweigh the negatives of being an influencer,' they added. 'Obviously it can get to you sometimes, but you just have to do your best to ignore and/or block them.'

Relatively Nat & Liv premieres June 3 on hayu, same day as the U.S.
She's playing the lead in the forthcoming CW show Katy Keene.

But Lucy Hale was looking further ahead in her career on Friday, with the 29-year-old actress spotted stepping out on Hollywood for meetings.

The Truth Or Dare star carried a smoothie to help keep her energized throughout the big day.

Shake it! Lucy Hale, 29, carried a smoothie to help keep her energized throughout the big day of LA meetings on Friday

Lucy wore blue jeans and a crop top for the sunny LA day.

Over the midriff-baring top, the Pretty Little Liars star clipped a small, cream-colored jacket.

She slipped her feet into a pair of black leather flat soled shoes.

The Memphis, Tennessee native accessorized with an orange purse and round-framed dark shades, and her raven tresses were pulled back in a low pony tail.

Top of the crops! Lucy wore blue jeans and a crop top for the sunny LA day

A dream in cream: Over the midriff-baring top, the Pretty Little Liars star clipped a small, cream-colored jacket

Hale's new series Katy Keene is a musical comedy-drama about an Archie Comics character of the same name who originated in 1945 as the brainchild of cartoonist Bill Woggon.

Hale plays the title character, an aspiring fashion designer, navigating her way through New York City.

She befriends other struggling artists who are also trying to make it on Broadway, the runway and in the recording studio.

The series also stars Ashleigh Murray, Camille Hyde, Jonny Beauchamp, Julia Chan, Lucien Laviscount, Zane Holtz and Katherine LaBasa.

Hale is best known for her role as Aria Montgomery on the series Pretty Little Liars from 2010 to 2017.
She was spooked by a 'minor disturbance' in the crowd during her BottleRock festival set last Saturday.

But Madison Beer was the picture of cool, calm and collected when she stepped out in West Hollywood on Friday.

The 20-year-old songstress showed off her incredibly toned body in a tiny white cropped bustier top.

Abs-olutely fabulous: Madison Beer was the picture of cool, calm and collected when she stepped out in West Hollywood on Friday

The POP/STARS hitmaker paired the statement piece with a pair of high-waist blue jeans, and wore white sneakers on her feet.

Over the top, the New York native slipped a royal blue jacket.

Madison's long, brunette tresses were worn in a high, knotted pony tail and she accessorized with heavy gold hoop earrings and a thing gold chain around her neck.

Good hair day: Madison's long, brunette tresses were worn in a high, knotted pony tail and she accessorized with heavy gold hoop earrings and a thing gold chain around her neck

You'd smile too: The 20-year-old songstress showed off her incredibly toned body in a tiny white cropped bustier top

On Saturday, Beer had been performing the Radiohead classic Creep in California's Napa Valley when she stopped and asked what was happening in the crowd.

In video recorded by someone in the crowd and posted to social media, Beer was heard saying: 'What is going on, yo, yo ... what the f*** is going on? Back up, everyone back up.'

Police in Napa told UsWeekly that there had been 'a minor disturbance' in the festival crowd but no weapon was involved and no-one was injured.

Startled: On Saturday, Beer had been performing the Radiohead classic Creep in California's Napa Valley when she stopped and asked what was happening in the crowd

'The man who caused the disturbance was removed from the grounds, there was no threat to the community,' the law enforcement source explained.

Beer later tweeted about the experience, reassuring her fans that she was 'in fact fine'.

'Obviously there was a disturbance and watching videos of all my fans run away in fear truly breaks my heart,' she tweeted.

'After police confirmed the incident was handled I returned to the stage and we finished the show. Concerts should be a safe place for us to enjoy music together.'
They're days away from the series launch of their hayu show, Relatively Nat & Liv.

And speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, influencers Natalie Halcro, 31, and Olivia Pierson, 29, said they go to 'very supportive' pal Kim Kardashian for advice.

The girls also revealed they envisioned having their own 'E! series 10 years ago'.

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EXCLUSIVE: 'She's very supportive': Influencers Natalie Halcro (R), 31, and Olivia Pierson (L), 29, revealed they go to Kim Kardashian for advice, ahead of Relatively Nat & Liv series launch

'Not exactly specific tips, but Kim's just been really, really supportive any time we wanted to talk about things,' Nat and Liv told Daily Mail Australia.

'She's always there for a kind word, and is just very supportive,' they added.

The cousins appear to be following in Kim's footsteps, revealing they envisioned having their own reality show, focusing on family life, 10 years ago.

Supportive: 'Not exactly specific tips, but Kim's just been really, really supportive any time we wanted to talk about things,' Nat and Liv told Daily Mail Australia

'About 10 years ago, Natalie and I put on a vision board having our own show with our family. We put the E! symbol on and everything,' Liv told Daily Mail Australia.

'This is something we've been wanting for years and we were on a prior show (WAGS), and our family was on it.'

'That was kind of a hit, so once this came about, it was kind of a no-brainer,' Liv added. 'This is what we've been wanting to do.'

Sights set on Hollywood: The cousins appear to be following in Kim's footsteps, revealing they envisioned having their own reality show, focusing on family life, 10 years ago

The girls went on to joke that they're about to air their 'dirty secrets' on camera and are '100 per cent open'.

'When we agreed to do it (the show), we kind of unanimously agreed to be fully transparent and that's the approach we took,' they said. 'You see everything on the show.'

Relatively Nat & Liv premieres June 3 on hayu, same day as the U.S.
Gina Stewart has gained the illustrious title of the 'World's Hottest Grandma.'

And on Saturday, the buxom 48-year-old proved exactly why she earned the prestigious title with her latest raunchy Instagram photo.

Clad in a revealing white swimsuit, the Gold Coast blonde flaunted her sensational curves in the skimpy one-piece.

Busting out! The World's Hottest Grandma Gina Stewart, 48, (pictured) flaunted major sideboob in a skimpy white swimsuit in her latest racy selfie posted to Instagram

The sizzling shot showed off major sideboob, along with a generous glimpse of her pert derriere.

Gina shared an inspirational message in the caption, encouraging her fans to be 'kind' to themselves.

'Be nice to yourself,' she began. 'It's hard to be happy when someone is mean to you all the time.'

Inspirational: 'Be nice to yourself,' Gina encouraged her fans. 'It's hard to be happy when someone is mean to you all the time' she added

The blonde beauty revealed last month that she has been inundated with orders for her racy calendar from teenage boys, after one of her anti-bullying posts went viral on LADbible.

'I have been inundated by teenage boys buying up all my calendars and photos from my website,' she said, speaking to Daily Mail Australia.

'I have been inundated by teenage boys buying up all my calendars': Gina revealed she had a huge surge of interest in her after viral content site LAD Bible shared an anti-bullying post

'I gained 10,000 followers overnight even though I'm still shadow-banned on Instagram, and my inbox has got messages streaming in every 10 seconds.

'Some people are asking me to marry them when they grow up! And young women are also thanking me for speaking out.'

Gina has been outspoken over the evils of online bullying, with her revealing she had been the target of trolls almost every day since finding fame.

Bullied: Last month, Gina admitted that she has been the target of online bullying 'most days' since finding fame on the Internet

The Sunshine Coast stunner spoke about how difficult the hate-filled vitriol was toward her, and how it affected her on an emotionally level.

'At first it was really soul-destroying and I cried a lot. It was a really hard time,' she told The Courier Mail.

'But I've learnt to build up a resilience and don't let it affect me. I don't really read comments anymore or buy into it,' she added.
Paddy Colliar had a hilariously awkward spat with his Bachelor In Paradise co-star Bill Goldsmith on the most recent season of the Channel Ten series.

And the British expat was unwittingly pranked into re-creating the on-air argument for Below Deck Mediterranean Hannah Ferrier, the reality star has revealed.

Hannah, 32, told Sydney Confidential she and her boyfriend decided when they were slightly tipsy to troll Paddy on personalised shout-out service Cameo.

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Cheeky! Paddy Colliar was unwittingly pranked into re-creating the on-air argument for Below Deck Mediterranean Hannah Ferrier (pictured), the reality star has revealed

'My boyfriend and I were watching Bachelor in Paradise and Bill and Paddy were having the dumbest fight,' she said.

'It was the most ridiculous thing Ive ever seen - it was like six-year-olds having an argument.

'We were a little bit drunk and went on Cameo - we got him to say the same thing he said to Bill, and he did it but he didnt realise we were making fun of him.'

For $15, fans can request a personalised message from their favourite celebrities.

Hannah said she and her boyfriend decided when they were slightly tipsy to troll Paddy on personalised shout-out service Cameo (video message pictured)

In the video addressed simply to Hannah, the gym manager regurgitates the part of the argument where he slams Bill for trying to form alliances with contestants on the show before going into paradise.

'Hannah, they told you not to do it and you did it anyway why did you do it? Don't call me a moron, you're a moron,' he says in handheld footage shot at his desk.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Paddy for comment.

Prank: 'We were a little bit drunk and went on Cameo - we got him to say the same thing he said to Bill, and he did it but he didnt realise we were making fun of him.'

Bravo's Below Deck franchise follows the lives of crew members working on luxury super-yachts in some of the world's most glamorous locations.

The fourth season of Below Deck Mediterranean is set to premiere on Bravo and Hayu next week.

From demanding guests and below deck hook-ups to deckhand bust-ups and a dramatic underwater rescue, season four looks set to be the most drama-filled yet.

Below Deck Mediterranean S4 - Premieres June 4, same day as the U.S. on Foxtel and hayu
Lady Gaga narrowly avoided a painful tumble onstage this week in Las Vegas for Enigma, her residency at the Park MGM.

In an Instagram video posted by a Chilean fan account, the 33-year-old pop diva can be seen dismounting a gigantic moving metal contraption.

As she tried to maneuver into a couple of backdrop dancers' arms, she nearly fell out of their grip - but with their help, she managed to right herself and get down safely.

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Off she goes: Lady Gaga narrowly avoided a painful tumble onstage in Las Vegas for Enigma, her residency at the Park MGM

The platinum blonde was wearing a glittery futuristic outfit in the video while singing the chorus to Judas, a single from her 2011 album Born This Way.

Back during her Born This Way Ball tour, Gaga suffered a hip injury that required her to have surgery and cancel several concert dates.

To accompany her current Vegas residency, she has opened up a Haus Of Gaga exhibit in the Park MGM showcasing some of her famous outfits through the years.

One of these is the meat dress she memorably wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, curator and Haus Of Gaga collaborator Nicola Formichetti told InStyle.

On the move: In an Instagram video posted by a Chilean fan account , the 33-year-old pop diva can be seen dismounting a gigantic moving metal contraption

Nicola shared that 'initially we kept it in a freezer for a while and then we decide to dry it so that we could keep it properly.'

The fashionista added: 'That was a bit of a process. We won't talk about the entire process, but it's here! It's kind of a beef jerky dress now.'

Gaga, whose Christian name is Stefani Germanotta, is riding a career high after the release of her smash hit movie musical A Star Is Born last year.

Bradley Cooper directed and co-starred in the movie, which is now the third remake of the original 1937 version starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.

Lucky save: As she tried to maneuver into a couple of backdrop dancers' arms, she nearly fell out of their grip - but with their help, she managed to right herself and get down safely

Gaga, whose role was previously played by Janet, Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand, won the best original song Oscar for Shallow from her version of the film.

She followed in the footsteps of Barbra, who in 1977 won the best song Oscar with lyricist Paul Williams for Evergreen from her own version of A Star Is Born.

Although she was also nominated for the best actress prize, she lost to Olivia Colman's performance as Anne, Queen Of Great Britain in The Favourite.

Gaga spent months engaged to her 50-year-old agent Christian Carino, but they were broken up by February, so she took her manager to the Oscars.

Details: The platinum blonde was wearing a glittery futuristic outfit in the video while singing the chorus to Judas, a single from her 2011 album Born This Way

Although Bradley is publicly dating Irina Shayk, the mother of his two-year-old daughter Lea De Seine, there was speculation he had an affair with Gaga.

The conjecture hit a fever pitch after Bradley and Gaga performed Shallow at the Oscars together and set online tongues wagging about their chemistry.

Gaga swung by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to deny the affair gossip, saying that 'people saw love, and guess what? That's what we wanted you to see. I mean, this is a love song, Shallow. The movie A Star Is Born - it's a love story. We worked so hard. We worked all week on that performance.'

Having a ball: Gaga, whose Christian name is Stefani Germanotta, is riding a career high after the release of her smash hit movie musical A Star Is Born last year

Shortly thereafter, Gaga was romantically linked to two-time Oscar-nominated actor Jeremy Renner, who co-starred with Bradley in the 2013 film American Hustle.

An E! News source insisted that Jeremy, whose pre-fame day jobs included working a department store makeup counter, was just 'friends' with Gaga.

'They often hang out when they are both in town. She's been spending time with him recently but it's not romantic,' the insider explained.

'Chris didnt treat Gaga very well toward the end of their relationship, and she really leaned on Jeremy in the weeks after it ended,' dished an Us Weekly source.
She recently returned from a sun-soaked Spanish getaway.

And Kelly Brook was back to work on Friday as she switched her bikini for a boiler suit and spent the day as a zookeeper at the ZSL London Zoo.

In a series of snaps posted to her Instagram, the model, 39, posed alongside her Heart Radio co-presenter Jason King inside an animal enclosure.

New role? Kelly Brook, 39, spent the day as a zookeeper at the ZSL London Zoo on Friday alongside her Heart co-presenter Jason King, 44, in a series of Instagram snaps

The presenter paired her navy 'keeper for a day' jumpsuit with a bright orange animal print jumper and matching shoes.

Kelly wore her brunette locks in loose curls around her shoulders as she smiled next to a wheelbarrow after cleaning out an animal enclosure.

The bombshell also shared a snap of a giraffe sat on a bed of hay as another pair of the gorgeous creatures looked on from the outside.

Cleaning up: The model posed alongside her pal Jason inside an animal enclosure on Friday

Animal kingdom: The bombshell also shared a snap of a giraffe sat on a bed of hay as another pair of the gorgeous creatures looked on from the outside

Kelly then shared a series of clips and snaps from inside the zoo as she and Jason, 44, were led around by a 'real life zookeeper'.

The pair got up close and personal with camels and lions before being led into an enclosure to feed a giraffe.

Her colleague Jason also wore the London Zoo-branded jumpsuit but opted for a sensible pair of white trainers for the unusual experience.

Inspired: The presenter paired her navy 'keeper for a day' jumpsuit with a bright orange animal print jumper and matching shoes

Special day: Kelly also shared a series of clips and snaps from inside the zoo as she and Jason, 44, were led around by a 'real life zookeeper'

Later in the day, Kelly was spotted putting on a fashionable display as she headed out of the Global Radio Studios in London.

The presenter still wore her bold animal print jumper and shoes paired with black skinny jeans and a quilted cross-body bag.

Kelly was seen without her beau Jeremy Parisi, who she rang in her four-year anniversary with earlier this year.

Their relationship flourished into a four-year romance after a flirty exchange via direct message on Instagram.

New experience: The pair got up close and personal with camels and lions before being led into an enclosure to feed a giraffe

Pals: Kelly's colleague Jason also wore the London Zoo-branded jumpsuit but opted for a sensible pair of white trainers for the unusual experience

Kelly previously revealed she initially feared she was being 'catfished' by the hunk until they came face-to-face in real life.

Speaking as she co-hosted Heart Drivetime, the radio presenter said: 'I met him on Instagram! It's the way forward.

'I saw a video of him and I thought, "Oh I wonder if hes on Instagram".

'Obviously he was, as everyone is, and I started following him and I saw he followed me back, so I just slipped in to the DMs and I was like, "Ohhh thank you for the follow".'

Stylish: Later in the day, Kelly was spotted putting on a fashionable display as she headed out of the Global Radio Studios in London

Kelly reportedly 'proved seriously popular' when she made her debut on the radio airwaves at the end of 2018.

The green thumb recently said that life is more settled now she has a permanent job and a steady boyfriend.

'It definitely feels like a whole chapter of my life is over,' Kelly told The Sun's Fabulous magazine in recent months.
Ant McPartlin and Anne-Marie Corbett appeared to be having a tense exchange as they departed the Britain's Got Talent live semi-final on Friday.

The TV presenter, 43, and his former personal assistant turned girlfriend, 42, looked deep in conversation as they left the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

Anne-Marie, who has been dating Ant for more than a year, has supported her other half at every live show for this year's series.

Couple: Ant McPartlin, 43, and Anne-Marie Corbett, 42, appeared to be having a tense exchange as they departed the Britain's Got Talent live semi-final on Friday

The former PA looked stylish in a blue short-sleeved dress with a red leaf print and also carried a black bag.

Anne-Marie completed her look by styling her blonde locks into loose curls for the evening.

Ant was dressed casually after completing his hosting duties alongside Dec Donnelly, sporting a black jumper and dark jeans.

The couple's romance has gone from strength to strength since they started dating last year, shortly after his split from ex wife Lisa Armstrong.

Tense: The TV presenter and his former personal assistant turned girlfriend looked deep in conversation as they left the Hammersmith Apollo

Ant previously credited girlfriend Anne-Marie for 'saving his life', after battling addiction, a drink-drive conviction and divorce.

Last year, the star took a lengthy hiatus from screens to battle his addiction woes during which Holly Willoughby took over his presenting role on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!

Ant and Dec are set to celebrate 30 years of working together this year after first appearing on TV screens in teen drama Byker Grove and their BAFTA nods are a clear welcome - particularly for Ant following his recent woes.

Relationship: Anne-Marie, who has been dating Ant for more than a year, has supported her other half at every live show for this year's series

Outfit: The former PA looked stylish in a blue short-sleeved dress with a red leaf print

Ant made a return to television screens earlier in May for the new Britain's Got Talent as he makes a comeback to the showbiz circuit following a tough year.

He was arrested for drink-driving in March last year and his presenting partner Dec hosted the live Britain's Got Talent shows solo.

Ant's ex wife Lisa was granted a divorce him during a 30-second hearing at the Central Family Court in October last year.

The I'm a Celeb host and his teenage sweetheart had been together for 23 years; they were married in 2006 but announced their split in January last year.

The former flames first met in Newcastle in 1994 before they went onto exchange vows at a stunning country house in Buckinghamshire in 2006.
Bachelor In Paradise couple Keira Maguire, 33, and Jarrod Woodgate, 33, sparked rumours of a split after unfollowing each other on Instagram on Saturday.

And now, the former reality TV star has revealed she turned down Channel Seven's upcoming show The Proposal because ''she had a boyfriend'' at the time.

During a segment on The Buzz podcast this week, Kiera said: ' I actually got an email to apply for [the show] about six months ago and I was like, ''No,'' I obviously had a boyfriend when they sent it through to me.'

'I obviously had a boyfriend': Bachelor In Paradise star Keira Maguire (pictured) revealed she turned down Channel Seven's upcoming show The Proposal during a segment on The Buzz podcast this week... following split rumours with Jarrod Woodgate

Kiera went on to explain that she was 'over these shows', branding programs such as Married At First Sight and Bachelor In Paradise as 'toxic'.

'I wouldn't do it anyway. I'm over these shows, I find them really toxic, even Married At First Sight, even Bachelor In Paradise this year I found that I was actually getting affected personally. I'm more about the fairy tale,' she said.

'I loved The Bachelor because I fell for the fairy tale side of things like being whisked away in a helicopter... I don't know if I would sit through and watch another toxic show.'

Is it over? It comes after Kiera and Jarrod sparked split rumours by unfollowing each other on Instagram on Saturday

It comes after Kiera and Jarrod sparked rumours of a split after unfollowing each other on Instagram on Saturday.

Adding fuel to the fire, the pair haven't posted a photo together in over a month.

Loyal Bachelor fans on Instagram have already noticed the distance between the former lovebirds, with one commenting: 'Are you two still together?'

The last time: Keira and Jarrod haven't posted a photo together since April 28 (pictured)

Another wrote: 'Looks like splitsville with Jarrod again!'

Keira has noticeably ignored any comments about her relationship, but has responded to fans asking about her fashion, hair, and makeup.

The reality TV villain is currently celebrating her 33rd birthday with a sponsored holiday to a luxury resort in Townsville.

Videos posted to her Instagram page show no sign of Jarrod, with Keira opting to enjoy the company of a female pal instead.

Where's Jarrod? The reality TV villain is currently celebrating her 33rd birthday at a resort in Townsville WITHOUT Jarrod

Daily Mail Australia has reached out for comment.

Keira and Jarrod found love last year on the first season of Bachelor In Paradise.

They quickly became inseparable and moved in together, only to dramatically split in August.

Jarrod blamed Keira's obsession with Instagram as the reason behind the break-up, telling Who magazine at the time: 'Her Instagram following is overwhelming and it was taking over our relationship.'

'Her Instagram following is overwhelming and it was taking over our relationship': Jarrod dumped Keira last August, citing her obsession with Instagram as the reason

He added: 'She's purely Instagram-focused and that takes up a lot of time.'

The couple reunited in January this year, and quickly secured a joint deal to promote the food delivery service Deliveroo on Instagram.

With the pair no longer posting together, in addition to unfollowing each other, it's more than likely that there's trouble in paradise yet again.
She's one of the world's most in-demand models.

And Kendall Jenner looked all parts the A-lister as she stepped out in New York after taking part in Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show at the Rockefeller Center on Friday.

The television personality, 23, cut a chic figure in an oversized white shirt which was cinched around the middle with a zip-up belt after the star-studded event.

Chic: Kendall Jenner, 23, looked all parts the A-lister as she stepped out in New York after taking part in Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show at the Rockefeller Center on Friday

Kendall paired the statement garment with skinny black slacks, with slits on the ankles which showed off her blue, green and white trainers.

The model, who has appeared in Keeping Up With The Kardashians since she was 12, carried a brown suede shoulder bag for the occasion.

And Kendall wore her sleek brunette locks slicked back in a low bun as she walked past waiting fans outside the tourist attraction.

Stylish: The television personality cut a chic figure in an oversized white shirt which was cinched around the middle with a zip-up belt after the star-studded event

Simple: Kendall paired the statement garment with skinny black slacks which showed off her ankles and her blue, green and white trainers

The beauty had walked the catwalk alongside Kaia Gerber for designer Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show earlier in the evening.

Accentuating her stunning features with natural makeup, Kendall kept herself warm at the alfresco venue in a thick off-white coat.

She slipped into a white top with a grey, red and black belt which emphasized her trim figure as she walked the runway, which was held outside the Rockerfella Centre where the ice rink is annually installed.

Star power: The model, who has appeared in Keeping Up With The Kardashians since she was 12, carried a brown suede shoulder bag for the occasion

At work: The beauty had walked the catwalk alongside Kaia Gerber for designer Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show earlier in the evening

Kendall paired the simple ensemble with white patent leather boots and white straight-leg cut-off jeans.

The model has walked for Alexander Wang regularly since 2015.

Friday's show departed from tradition by staging itself outdoors in Rockefeller Center, so that everyday Americans could catch a glimpse of upcoming looks.

Heading home: The model looked fresh faced as she headed out of the venue after the show

Beauty: She slipped into a white top with a grey, red and black belt which emphasized her trim figure as she walked the runway, which was held outside the Rockerfella Centre

Kendall was back in the US after a refreshing trip to the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.

The outing came shortly after her split from her boyfriend, Philadelphia 76ers player Ben Simmons, which was confirmed on May 23.

The couple inaugurated their relationship in March of 2018, though the briefly split in September of that year before reuniting.
She is an in-demand actress who is known for her stellar sense of style.

And Sienna Miller enjoyed some family time with daughter Marlowe, six, and her ex partner Tom Sturridge whom she had her child with in New York City on Friday.

The actress, 37, who munched on an ice-cream, cut a stylish figure for the family day out, donning a blue knee-length dress with blue and white trainers and a burgundy handbag.

Out and about: Sienna Miller, 37, cut a stylish figure as she enjoyed a family day out in New York City on Friday

Letting her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders, Sienna completed her look with a pair of shades.

Sienna is currently in a relationship with Lucas Zwirner who she recently enjoyed a romantic break with in Venice, Italy.

Their romance has gone from strength to strength since they went public with their relationship in January earlier this year.

Sparks flew when the couple first crossed paths for the first time when they were introduced to each other through mutual friends.

Style: Munching on an ice-cream, Sienna wore a blue knee-length dress with blue and white trainers and a burgundy handbag

It's not known exactly when Sienna and Lucas began dating, he was the star's date when she attended her ex Tom Sturridge's birthday party last year.

Last year, Sienna gushed to Harper's Bazaar that Tom was her 'best friend in the entire world' and they often stay together to spend mutual time with their daughter.

Sienna is slated to star in the upcoming miniseries The Loudest Voice which tells the story of the rise of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, with Sienna playing his wife Beth.

Australian actor Russell will star as the former Fox News executive who stepped down from his role in 2016 following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Family: The actress was joined by her daughter Marlowe, six, and her ex partner Tom Sturridge whom she had her child

Ailes was named chairman of Fox News in 2005 and, following his resignation, became an advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign where he assisted with debate preparation.

Other stars who are attached to the project include Naomi Watts who is set to play Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor who filed a lawsuit against Ailes in July 2016, claiming sexual harassment.

Sabrina The Teenage Witch star Jennifer Leigh Green will star as Fox News executive Irena Briganti while Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane will portray former PR executive Brian Lewis.

Casual: Letting her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders, Sienna completed her look with a pair of shades

Showtime is co-producing the limited series, which will have eight episodes, with Blumhouse Television.

Sienna is also set to star in the film 21 Bridges, which also filmed in New York City.

Directed by Brian Kirk, 21 Bridges follows a disgraced NYPD detective who becomes embroiled in a manhunt for a cop killer.

As the action-packed story unfolds, the cop discovers a huge conspiracy which links his fellow colleagues to a criminal empire and he must decide who he can trust.
She made a name for herself after starring on the E4 reality series Made In Chelsea.

And Kimberley Garner cut a casual figure as she arrived at a gym in London on Friday.

The reality star, 29, donned a pair of skin-tight pink leggings for her workout, pairing them with a grey hoodie and matching top.

Kimberley Garner, 29, cut a casual figure as she arrived at a gym in London on Friday

Sporting a pair of baby blue trainers, Kimberley carried a pink handbag and let her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders.

The former Made In Chelsea star is back in London after recently buying a house in Miami, Florida.

In an interview with MailOnline, the blonde told how she has purchased a home in the coastal city.

She said: 'I worked very hard last year and had even moved home for a few months to save money.

The reality star donned a pair of skin-tight pink leggings for her work-out, pairing them with a grey hoodie and matching top

'I really had my head down working to concentrate on goals, but achieved it on New Years Eve, praise God, and flew over here. Completing the sale on the plane over.'

Reflecting on her new home, the swimwear designer confessed it is a world away from her former busy life in London.

'Its right on the beach, and really is a dream come true. I am over doing the interior design, going for a beachy chilled vibe for the place.

Sporting a pair of baby blue trainers, Kimberley carried a pink handbag and let her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders

The former Made In Chelsea star is back in London after recently buying a house in Miami, Florida

'I wont be moving here, as London is one hundred percent home, but really overjoyed and proud to have achieved it.'

Although the reality personality is a swimwear designer, she is now following in her familys footsteps and venturing into high-end property development.

After extensive renovations, the former reality star is said to have increased the value of a house which she bought in 2013 for 1.2 million, by over 1 million.

The starlet's choice to go into property has resulted in her London pad doubling in value over a five-year period.
It's the hottest day of the year so far.

And Charlotte Hawkins opted for the ultimate summer colour, as she oozed sophistication in a pastel yellow off the shoulder dress at Epsom racecourse's Derby Day on Saturday.

The 44-year-old presenter looked incredible in the ensemble, which showed off her trim figure, before flowing into a fuller skirt.

Stunning star: Charlotte Hawkins, 44, oozes sophistication in a pastel yellow off the shoulder dress as she returns to Epsom racecourse for Derby Day

Charlotte accessorised the outfit with a pair of matching heels and an intricate floral fascinator.

And the Good Morning Britain star kept it simple with a natural looking makeup pallette, small earrings and wore her hair in a chic updo for the occasion.

The blonde beauty's appearance at the event comes just one day after she attended Epsom's Ladies' Day on Friday to host for ITV Racing.

The presenter looked stunning in a blush pink dress with floral print, which she teamed with an extravagant matching fascinator.

Keeping it simple: The Good Morning Britain star kept it simple with a natural looking makeup pallette, small earrings and wore her hair in a chic updo for the occasion

Races style: Charlotte accessorised the outfit with a pair of matching heels and an intricate floral fascinator

Round two: The blonde beauty's appearance at the event comes just one day after she attended Epsom's Ladies' Day on Friday to host for ITV Racing

The stunning dress featured elaborate mauve brocade detail, before flowing in a layered A-line skirt.

Charlotte later took to Instagram to share a snap from the event.

Posing on the racecourse, the presenter joked about her choice of footwear as she gave her fans a breakdown of where she had purchased her outfit.

Blush beauty: The presenter looked stunning in a blush pink dress with floral print, which she teamed with an extravagant matching fascinator for Ladies Day on Friday

Details: Charlotte later took to Instagram to share a snap from the event as she joked about her choice of footwear and gave fans a breakdown of where she had purchased the outfit

Girls day out: Charlotte joined the likes of Lucy Fallon, Samira Mighty, Olivia Bentley, Vick Hope, and Jorgie Porter, who posed for photos together at the event on Friday

She wrote: 'Todays Epsom outfit! (Not ideal footwear for crossing the track...). Dress @thefoldlondon Hat @laylaleighmillinery Shoes @zara Styling @debbiedresses Hair & Make-up @laurenmacmakeup @epsomdownsracecourse @itv @itvracing #racing #itvracing #itv #epsom #racingfashion #racingstyle'

Charlotte was joined by other stars for Friday's event, including Vogue Williams, Lucy Fallon, Jorgie Porter, Samira Mighty, Vick Hope, Ella Rae Wise and Olivia Bentley.

This isn't the first time that the presenter has ventured out of the ITV studios to attend a glamorous event in recent weeks either.

The star channeled her inner Jessica Rabbit at the BAFTA's last month, as she displayed her enviably toned physique in a black plunging strapless gown, featuring a daring thigh-high slit.

However, while Charlotte's outfit choice was a winner in the style stakes, Good Morning Britain lost out on the Britain's News Coverage nomination at the event.

The blonde beauty's co-host Piers Morgan hit out at BBC bosses and claims they failed to mention the fact the programme had received any nominations.
It recently emerged that she is still legally married to director Len Wiseman, despite splitting over three years ago.

But Kate Beckinsale, 45, didn't seem too concerned as she partied the night away with a pal at the Blind Dragon pub in West Hollywood on Friday night.

The British actress looked sensational as she flashed her abs in a tiny black crop top, which she teamed with black leggings.

Night out: Kate Beckinsale, 45, partied the night away with a pal at the Blind Dragon pub in West Hollywood on Friday night

The on-screen beauty added to the look with a chic patterned cardigan as she enjoyed her evening out.

Kate's brunette locks were pulled up into a high ponytail and her youthful features were enhanced with a glamorous coat of make-up.

The star appeared happy and relaxed as she giggled away with a pal while partying away until the early hours in the morning.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Kate is yet to finalise her divorce from American director Len, 46, after they called time on their 11 year marriage in 2015.

Fashionista: The British actress looked sensational as she flashed her abs in a tiny black crop top, which she teamed with black leggings

Pretty: Kate's brunette locks were pulled up into a high ponytail and her youthful features were enhanced with a glamorous coat of make-up

According to The Blast, the court has now put the exes on notice that they must appear in court in July to finish the divorce proceedings.

Court documents obtained by the website reportedly state 'IF YOU FAIL TO TAKE THE APPROPRIATE STEPS in your case the Court may dismiss your case for delay.'

The couple have reportedly taken no further steps in the case since Kate filed her response back in 2017 after Len initially filed for divorce in October 2016.

The couple started dating in 2003 after meeting on the set of Underworld which Len directed and Kate starred in.

Exes: Meanwhile, Kate is still legally married to director Len Wiseman, despite splitting over three years ago, as it's revealed the exes have yet to finalise their divorce (pictured in 2014)

Divorce: According to The Blast, the court has now put the exes on notice that they must appear in court in July to finish the divorce proceedings

They married on May 9, 2004 and separated in November 2015.

Kate was previously in a long-term romance with fellow actor Michael Sheen, who she began dating in 1995 before breaking up in 2003. They share a daughter Lily, 19.

More recently Kate's romantic life has hit the headlines thanks to her romance with SNL star Pete Davidson, 25.

They began dating in January, but their casual romance was said to have 'fizzled out' late last month because Kate struggled with the 'attention' surrounding the union.

A source told Page Six: 'Even though Kate has been in Hollywood for a long time, she struggled with the attention on her relationship with Pete. He lives his life with his heart on his sleeve.'

Another ex: Kate was previously in a long-term romance with fellow actor Michael Sheen, who she began dating in 1995 before breaking up in 2003. They share a daughter Lily, 19

The Widow actress previously admitted she was 'surprised by the interest' in her romance with the comic.

She added: I've never been in this position before -- never dated anybody who comes with their own bag of mischief...

'It's all quite shocking, and something to get used to. I think if you liked the person less, you would bow out of it. If that were the main thrust of the relationship, there would be a problem. But it's not.'

And she felt the attention it was receiving felt a 'bit tired'. Pete previously defended the age gap between them, insisting it shouldn't be a big deal because people didn't question older men dating younger women.
Australian actress Nadine Garner has catapulted back into the spotlight in a very big way.

On Saturday, the 48-year-old showed off her age-defying appearance for the latest issue of Stellar magazine.

The actress, who first shot to fame at the age of 15, playing the role of Tamara in The Henderson Kids, looks almost unrecognisable in the glamorous photo shoot.

Stunner: Iconic actress Nadine Garner, 48, (pictured) showed off her age-defying appearance in a powerful and feminine photo shoot for Stellar magazine published Sunday

Nadine showcased her youthful glow, with a natural makeup finish and a subtle pale pink lip.

The mother-of-two's blonde locks were left out in a natural curls and parted to the side, framing her face.

In the photo shoot, Nadine showed off her trim figure in a navy silk blouse which was paired with high-waist tan trousers that showed off her tiny waistline.

Powerful stance: In the photo shoot, Nadine showed off her trim figure in a navy silk blouse which was paired with tan trousers that showed off her tiny waistline

Powerful: The sophisticated look was completed with a pair of camel-hued stilettos

The sophisticated look was completed with a pair of monochrome open-toe stilettos.

It comes after the actress spoke out about the 'strange culture' among network executives at the ABC during filming the series, Doctor Blake Mysteries.

She told TV Tonight that when the show was cancelled by the ABC in 2017, despite good ratings, she wasn't surprised.

Flashback! The actress first shot to fame at the age of 15, playing the role of Tamara in The Henderson Kids (pictured)

Nadine said there was an 'unspoken agenda' at the public broadcaster which saw popular shows for older audiences neglected in favour of 'edgier' content.

'It was a strange culture to make a show without network support. So when they finally did drop us, it was a bit like the truth had finally come out,' Nadine said.

She believed this lack of support was due the fact the ABC saw The Doctor Blake Mysteries as geared towards older Australians, when the network wanted to attract younger viewers.

'It was an unspoken agenda,' claimed Nadine.
A few days ago, Rebel Wilson had been lazing on board a luxury yacht, being gently rocked by ocean waves.

However, it appears that holiday mood is well and truly over for the Pitch Perfect star.

Rebel, 39, took to Instagram on Friday to reveal she had climbed a massive 58 sets of stairs, presumably on the way to her hotel room.

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'I'm so hot right now! Just climbed like 58 sets of stairs!' Rebel Wilson (pictured), 39, got puffed out in Portofino on Friday... but won the admiration of her fans on social media

The Hollywood star posted a photo of her wearing a stripey T-shirt, cap and sunglasses looking wistfully out of a window, high above a picturesque bay in Portofino.

She captioned the photo: 'I'm so hot right now! Just climbed like 58 sets of stairs!'

Her followers applauded her effort, with one commenting: '58 sets of stairs! I'd be dead upon arrival!'

Working it! Rebel (pictured) took to Instagram on Friday to reveal she had climbed a massive 58 sets of stairs, presumably on the way to her hotel room. Her followers applauded her effort, with one commenting: '58 sets of stairs! I'd be dead upon arrival!'

'You must be in Italy, no lifts there!' quipped another.

Joked one fan: 'I just went to Tesco and that was enough for me, let alone doing any stairs! Bet the view was totally worth it though.'

Despite the challenges of the local architecture, it is clear that Rebel has been enjoying her Italian sojourn.

Lifted: 'You must be in Italy, no lifts there!' joked one fan. Despite the challenges of the local architecture, it is clear that Rebel has been enjoying her Italian sojourn

The Bridesmaids star took to Instagram on Wednesday to share footage of her lolling on board a yacht while being gently rocked from side to side with the lapping waves.

In the short clip, Rebel is perfectly coordinated in a black and white bathing suit, a white visor and a pair of large-framed black sunglasses.

Clearly in a reflective mood, the blonde comedian captioned the clip: 'Yesterday was fully loving yacht life - today seem drunk with "land sickness" but I'm trying - tomorrow some other cool s**t will happen!'
She was named the face of the Epsom Derby back in 2014 and is a regular at race meets across the country.

And Jodie Kidd made sure all eyes were on her as she led the star-studded arrivals at the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Surrey on Saturday.

The model, 40, cut a chic figure in a plunging white mini dress as she posed at the entrance of the racecourse ahead of the bustling Epsom Derby Day.

Glamorous: Jodie Kidd, 40, made sure all eyes were on her as she led the star-studded arrivals at the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Surrey on Saturday

The former race car driver paired her long sleeve dress with delicate gold sandals and a bright red cross body bag.

She finished off her classic look with a bright pink floral fascinator and wore her blonde locks in a sleek up do for the occasion.

Also in attendance at the annual racing festival was presenter Charlotte Hawkins, 44, who looked sophisticated in a pastel yellow off the shoulder dress.

Chic: The model, 40, cut a very chic figure in a stark white mini dress as she posed at the entrance of the racecourse ahead of the annual Derby Day

Vibrant: Also in attendance at the annual racing festival was Charlotte Hawkins, 44, who looked sophisticated in a pastel yellow off the shoulder dress

Charlotte accessorised her outfit with a pair of matching heels and an intricate floral hair piece.

And the Good Morning Britain star opted for natural makeup, small earrings and wore her hair in a chic up do for the occasion.

Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo, 24, was also in attendance in a gorgeous multi-coloured gown.

Floral: Charlotte accessorised the outfit with a pair of matching heels and an intricate floral fascinator

Regular: The blonde beauty's appearance at the event comes just one day after she attended Epsom's Ladies' Day on Friday to host for ITV Racing

The number, which boasted a nude underlay, plunged down the middle and put emphasis on her tiny stomach thanks to her belt detailing.

Georgia toted her belongings in a chic muted yellow handbag as she posed up a storm in towering nude heels.

The reality star opted for a chic neutral coloured hat atop her shoulder length blonde tresses, while her pretty features were enhanced with a slick of make-up.

Stunning: Georgia Toffolo, 24, didn't disappoint on the style front as she stepped out Derby Day

Fashionista: The former Made In Chelsea star looked sensational as she slipped her slender figure into a pretty multi-coloured dress

Meanwhile, the golden couple of daytime television, Eamonn Holmes, 59, and Ruth Langsford, 59, stunned in summer colours.

This Morning presenter Ruth was a vision in a powder blue floral gown and her husband Eamonn opted for classic grey pinstripe trousers and a black tail coat.

He finished off his simple look with a bright canary yellow tie and a grey waistcoat.

Summer: Meanwhile, the golden couple of daytime television, Eamonn Holmes, 59, and Ruth Langsford, 59, stunned in summer colours

Gorgeous: This Morning presenter Ruth was a vision in a powder blue floral gown and her husband Eamonn opted for classic grey pinstripe trousers and a black tail coat

Great British Bake Off alum Mary Berry, 84, was also spotted arriving for Derby Day in a vibrant multi coloured floral dress and bright pink pumps.

She added glamour to her sophisticated ensemble with a gorgeous navy blue hat.

Jodie's latest outing comes after the mother-of-one, who shares son Indio with ex Andrea Vianini, revealed how she juggles being a mum with her working life and her two-year long relationship with her 'amazing' beau Joseph Bates.

Dapper: Eamonn donned a classic black top hat as he posed with his wife outside the event

Colourful: Great British Bake Off alum Mary Berry, 84, was also spotted arriving for Derby Day in a vibrant multi coloured floral dress and bright pink pumps

She said: 'I have a really good team, I've got an amazing partner, an incredible family. It's all about support and supporting each other...

'It's about knowing Indy is going to be with Joe and with granddad and Mike, I'm very lucky to have such a supportive team around and vice versa and we can make things happen. Everyone's lives are like that but I'm very thankful for my family and partner.'

Jodie's romance with Joseph comes after a turbulent romantic life. She married Aidan Butler in 2005 after a year of romance, but the pair split after 18 months.

She then embarked on a relationship with Argentinian polo player Andrea, and the pair welcomed Indio together in 2011, before parting ways two years later.

Stylish: Mary added glamour to her sophisticated ensemble with a gorgeous navy blue hat (Pictured with husband Paul Hunnings)

Co-ordinated: The food writer accessorised her vibrant outfit with a matching pink clutch bag

Smitten: Lucy Mecklenburgh, 27, and Ryan Thomas, 34, looked all parts the smitten couple as they attended the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Surrey on Saturday

The blonde went on to tie the knot with author David Blakeley in 2014, but the marriage was collapsed in just four months.

Aside from her romances, staunch feminist Jodie spoke of expectations placed upon women, she said: 'It's really tough and unrealistic to have these expectations as a good mother, good wife, good businesswoman and it's so unrealistic and it it can be quiet damaging to have these aspirations and think they're going to fail...

'There's millions of times I've forgotten this - I sent Indy to school in fancy dress on the wrong day! Absolute calamity...

'That's not something that you should be putting yourself out about. You do the best you can and that best I'm sure is fantastic and it's making sure you're careful about social media. Everyone has to be learning about not being too hard on yourself.'

Stylish: The TOWIE star cut a stylish figure in a blush pink, lace mini dress as she posed next to her beau of two years at the annual racing event

Lovebirds: Coronation Street star Ryan opted for a power blue waistcoat and black and white pin striped trousers

Putting in an appearance: Victoria Pendleton was spotted at the star-studded event
There has been a lot of speculation recently regarding Chloe Ferry and Sam Gowland's on/off relationship.

However, the pair appeared to confirm their reunion as they were spotted holding hands while out in Newcastle on Saturday.

The Geordie stars, both 23, strolled alongside one another as they made their way into a local restaurant.

Back on: Chloe Ferry and Sam Gowland, both 23, confirm reunion as they hold hands while out in Newcastle

Chloe looked glamorous in a orange boob tube, ripped high waisted denim jeans and high heels.

The blonde reality star accentuated her tiny waist with a Louis Vuitton belt, which she wore to match her tiny handbag.

Meanwhile, Sam kept it casual in a blue matching tracksuit with white and burgundy detailing and Nike trainers.

Mail Online has contacted Chloe and Sam's reps for comment.

Reunited: The Geordie stars strolled alongside one another as they made their way into a local restaurant

Geordie star: Chloe looked glamorous in a orange boob tube, ripped high waisted denim jeans and high heels

Dressing down: Meanwhile, Sam kept it casual in a blue matching tracksuit with white and burgundy detailing and Nike trainers

Details: The blonde reality star accentuated her tiny waist with a Louis Vuitton belt, which she wore to match her tiny handbag

The pair's outing comes just hours after Chloe announced that she's quit Geordie Shore following the split.

'No I am not going back this series sorry x,' Chloe confirmed after a die-hard quizzed her on Twitter about her return to the next series.

Chloe made the admission when a fan asked: '@Chloe_GShore Im gonna ask the question we all want to know: will you be in the new series of Geordie Shore?????? ARE YOU STAYING???? Pls say yes.'

Out in the Toon: The pair's outing comes just hours after Chloe announced that she's quit Geordie Shore following the split

Break up: The beauty salon owner announced that she had split from Sam after 17 month together earlier this month.

The beauty salon owner announced that she had split from Sam after 17 month together earlier this month.

Chloe wrote: 'It hurts me to say this but me and Sam have gone our separate ways. We are still friends. Things carry on as normal.

'Bring on Saturday for the shop opening.'

However, fans were left confused as the exes were spotted holidaying together in Magaluf just days after.

Announcement: Chloe wrote: 'It hurts me to say this but me and Sam have gone our separate ways. We are still friends. Things carry on as normal'

Rumours: The couple have been rocked with allegations that Sam partied with an 18-year-old girl in his hotel room just hours after he and Chloe split

But, the beauty angrily took to social media to set the record straight that she and Sam were not together despite holidaying together.

She said on Instagram: 'To answer everyones question me and Sam are NOT back together. Yeah, we live together, but thats because weve got a mortgage together. We cant just chuck each other out.

'And why are we on holiday together? Because we work together and Sams best friend is here.'

This was after allegations that Sam partied with an 18-year-old girl in his hotel room just hours after he and Chloe split.

Long-term lovers: The pair began dating in 2017 and starred alongside each other on Geordie Shore

Single status: Chloe was quick to vent that she and her ex are not back together despite the getaway

Sam reportedly invited pretty brunette Holly McConnell, 18, back to his hotel room in Walsall after meeting her outside a club Birmingham.

In a short video clip obtained by The Sun, Sam can be seen opening the door to his hotel room in his boxer shorts, with his unmistakable Chloe leg tattoo on display.

Holly told The Sun: 'I was standing outside Rosie's in Birmingham when I spotted Sam and asked for a picture.

'The next thing I knew he was asking me back to his hotel and I decided to say yes.

The teenager told the publication that Sam, who she claims was in good spirits, didn't mention Chloe after going into his room.

Holly explained that the reality star was sober, despite attempting to get drunk, and the pair chatted before she got a taxi home.

She said: 'We chatted for a bit afterwards and then I got a cab home. We didn't exchange numbers but I'd only just come out of a relationship myself so wasn't looking for anything.'

The allegation came shortly after claims emerged that Sam had romped with a Love Island beauty just a few days after Chloe ended their 17-month romance.
Karl Stefanovic was unceremoniously sacked as host of the Today show in December - with his tumultuous personal life blamed for the program's dwindling ratings.

And now six months later, Channel Nine's Director of News and Current Affairs Darren Wick revealed Karl Stefanovic will not be returning to the Today show.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, Darren said: 'Karl was in a bad place. The show was in a bad place. We decided we needed to get him out of there, rest him, get him off air for six months and give him a reset.'

'We decided we needed to get him out of there': Channel Nine boss revealed Karl Stefanovic (pictured) will NOT be returning to the Today show... six months after he was sacked

'We had no choice but to make changes... The ratings were plummeting last year. We made the big change and now we have to ride it out,' Darren added.

Although he admits the show 'hasn't got it quite right' with co-hosts Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight, Darren is adamant Today isn't 'panicking about ratings'.

'There was no escape for [Karl]... We've just got to find the right fit for Karl  and Nine,' Darren explained.

Some speculation falls to Karl's $50,000 a week fee as being one cause for network reluctance to take him back on.

Reset: Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, Darren said: 'Karl was in a bad place. The show was in a bad place. We decided we needed to get him out of there, rest him, get him off air for six months and give him a reset'. Pictured Karl (L) and Deborah Knight (R)

Meanwhile, viewership has continued to plummet since Karl's departure from Today, particularly in the 44-year-old's home state of Queensland.

The Today show's new lineup, featuring Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight as co-hosts, has failed to appeal to metro viewers in Brisbane.

Ratings in Queensland's capital city have significantly declined since Karl was dismissed in late 2018.

Robert McKnight, the editor of industry website TV Blackbox, said in April that Nine will be pulling 'every trick out of the bag' to boost ratings in coming months.

'There was no escape for [Karl]... We've just got to find the right fit for Karl  and Nine,' Darren explained. Pictured: Karl and Georgie Gardner

The Today show's Brisbane ratings: October 2018 22 October, 2018 - 26 October, 2018 Monday: 52,000 Tuesday: 61,000 Wednesday: 60,000 Thursday: 54,000 Friday: 65,000 Total: 292,000 Advertisement

The Today show's Brisbane ratings: March 2019 18 March, 2019 - 22 March, 2019 Monday: 49,000 Tuesday: 51,000 Wednesday: 51,000 Thursday: 52,000 Friday: 46,000 Total: 249,000 Advertisement

'Viewers in Queensland and Melbourne are very parochial, so if you can show them a bit of love it can often translate into a bump in ratings,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

When Karl was still co-hosting Today last year, one week in October pulled in a total viewership of 292,000 across Brisbane.

But a sample week in March this years shows that the Brisbane audience has dropped by 43,000 viewers to just 249,000.

The Today show's Brisbane ratings: November 2018 5 November, 2018 - 9 November, 2018 Monday: 70,000 Tuesday: 71,000 Wednesday: 68,000 Thursday: 67,000 Friday: 59,000 Total: 335,000 Advertisement

The Today show's Brisbane ratings: April 2019 1 April, 2019 - 5 April, 2019 Monday: 50,000 Tuesday: 51,000 Wednesday: 58,000 Thursday: 48,000 Friday: 49,000 Total: 256,000 Advertisement





Bad news: The Today show's new lineup, featuring Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight (pictured) as co-hosts, has failed to appeal to metro viewers in Brisbane

Upon its debut in January, the revamped Today show was smashed in the ratings by Channel Seven's Sunrise, drawing in a paltry 197,000 metro viewers.

In early March, the show was attracting just 167,000 viewers across the five capital cities, which marked the lowest figures since 2006.

In a recent statement to TV Tonight, Nine's Head of Content Production and Development, Adrian Swift, said viewers should give the Today show a chance.

'The reality is when you change your lineup it takes a long time to bed in,' he said. 'We're not concerned. We are absolutely convinced we will get there.'

Decline: Today's ratings began a steep decline in 2016, when Karl left his wife-of-21-years Cassandra Thorburn and began dating a younger woman, fashion designer Jasmine Yarbrough (R), months later

Today's ratings began a steep decline in 2016, when Karl left his wife-of-21-years Cassandra Thorburn and began dating a younger woman, fashion designer Jasmine Yarbrough, months later.

Audience figures plunged to a 12-year low in September 2018, and it's understood network executives finally decided to axe Karl after his 'over-the-top' wedding to Jasmine in Mexico on December 8.

Channel Nine insiders told The Australian that management had no choice but to sack the host due to the 'crazy' media headlines surrounding his personal life.
Queen Letizia of Spain cut a sophisticated figure in a vibrant red dress as she attended a military parade for Armed Forces Day in Seville.

The Spanish royal, 46, paired her chic midi gown with matching red patent leather heels as she joined King Felipe VI of Spain, 51, at the commemorative event.

The mother-of-two completed her ensemble with a red suede clutch bag and wore her brunette locks in a sleek up do.

Sophisticated: Queen Letizia of Spain, 46, cut a sophisticated figure in a vibrant red dress as she attended a military parade for Armed Forces Day in Seville on Saturday

Queen Letizia opted for minimal make up and simple, silver drop earrings for the royal outing on Saturday.

Appearing in high spirits, Letizia smiled as she greeted attendees at the event which commemorated 30 years of overseas peace-keeping missions.

She was later seen watching over the parade with her husband Felipe, who was dressed in his stark white uniform.

Royal occasion: The Spanish royal paired her chic midi gown with matching red patent leather heels as she joined King Felipe VI of Spain, 51, at the commemorative event

Sleek: The mother-of-two completed her ensemble with a red suede clutch bag and wore her brunette locks in a sleek up do

Also in attendance at the ceremony were Spanish acting Minister of Defense Margarita Robles, Seville's Mayor Juan Espadas and Andalusia's regional President, Juan Manuel Moreno.

The Spanish royal's latest outing comes after she attended the Madrid Book Fair in the city's Retiro Park on Friday.

At the event, Letizia, who is mother to Leonor, 13, and Sofia, 12, took the time to speak to a little girl in a pushchair who was wearing a mask over her face.

Classic: Queen Letizia opted for minimal make up and simple, silver drop earrings for the royal outing on Saturday

Formal: Letizia was later seen watching over the parade with her husband Felipe, who was dressed in his stark white uniform

Mother: The Spanish royal is mother to Leonor, Princess of Asturias, 13, and Infanta Sofia, 12

A sweet photograph taken of the moment shows Letizia gently caressing the girl's cheek as she passed.

Queen Letizia also delivered a masterclass in mixing a polished wardrobe staple with a casual classic when she stepped out in a blouse and skirt.

The knee-length skirt featured trendy contrast seams and tied with a flattering bow at the waist.

Meanwhile her floaty, feminine blouse cut at the shoulder, making the most of the royal's toned arms.

Elegant: Queen Letizia looks radiant in a red dress at National Armed Forces day in Spain

Royal couple: The King and Queen of Spain appeared in deep conversation at the event
Hayden Panettiere's family and friends are worried she's still in contact with her boyfriend Brian Hickerson after he was slapped with a protective order following his arrest for domestic violence.

A court banned the the actress' aspiring actor beau from coming within 100 yards of the Nashville star after his May 2 arrest when police were called out following a drunk fight between the couple.

'It's disturbing to family and friends that Hayden and Brian may not be following the court order,' a source tells Us Weekly.

Breaking the rules: Hayden Panettiere's family and friends are worried she's not abiding by the protective order than was slammed on her boyfriend Brian Hickerson last month after his arrest for domestic violence

'There is not one single person out there who isn't concerned about Hayden. What Brian did to Hayden is unacceptable behavior, and its not to be tolerated.'

Pals of the star aren't sure whether the couple are still spending time together.

'Violating the court order puts both of them in jeopardy. They could both get in serious trouble,' the insider says.

'Haydens friends and family are giving her space because she is going through a lot. They are being supportive as much as they can and as much as Hayden is willing to take it all in.'

'There is not one single person out there who isn't concerned about Hayden. What Brian did to Hayden is unacceptable behavior, and its not to be tolerated.' a source said

Concerned: A prosecutor told the court at Hickerson's arraignment last month that Hayden sustained injuries and bruises to her arms, ear, and neck area during the fight on May 2

A source says Hayden's loved ones want her to realize it is all for the best, to protect her as well as others.

'If its not Hayden, it will be someone else,' they told Us Weekly.

'Her friends check in with her. But when she wants privacy, no one can do anything.'

Hickerson was charged by the L.A. County District Attorney's Office with one felony count of injuring a spouse, cohabitant or girlfriend and could face up to four years in prison.

He pleaded not guilty during an arraignment last month when the judge issued a protective order. He is forbidden from coming within 100 yards of the Heroes star.

The 30-year-old cannot reach out to his girlfriend via phone calls or emails and is also banned from possessing firearms.

Radar Online reports that the prosecutor told the court Hayden sustained injuries and bruises to her arms, ear, and neck area.

During the arraignment Hickerson pleaded not guilty. The judge slammed a protective order on him to forbid him from coming within 100 yards and contacting the Hayden

'He hit her on the face, causing her to get dizzy,' the prosecutor said at the arraignment on Thursday.

The District Attorney claimed there were other unreported incidents of domestic violence in the relationship.

Hayden appeared to be standing by her man as the couple stepped out together in shortly after the incident matching necklaces.

Hickerson's arrest came after a night of drinking on May 2 which saw the actress initially appear with red marks on her neck before it was later discovered that the injuries were more serious than originally believed.

It was reported at the time that Hayden's friends and family are 'more worried than ever' for her safety after the incident, according to People.

Shocker: Panettiere was first spotted with Brian in August 2018, and reports shortly followed that she had split with fiance Wladimir Klitschko (pictured in June 2013) after nine years of dating

Police noticed 'redness and marks' on Hayden's body and arrested Brian at the couple's house around 2 a.m. after the pair came home from a night of drinking.

'Hayden knows Brian has a bad temper and can be controlling, but there is an extreme attraction to it,' a source said. 'And despite warnings from family and friends, the relationship seems solid.'

TMZ reported that Brian posted a $50,000 bond and was released later in the day. Sources said: 'Brian's reputation as a party boy is no secret in Hollywood. Those close to Hayden are more worried than ever about this and his temper.'

Panettiere was first spotted with Brian in August 2018, and reports shortly followed that she had split with fiance Wladimir Klitschko after nine years of dating.

'Hayden is taken with him,' the source said. 'She thinks he is what she needs in her life now.' Hickerson was involved in another domestic dispute with his father David last fall and Hayden was present during the time.

Tough times: Panettiere revealed in 2017 that she checked into rehab after suffering postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Kaya (pictured in January)

Police reports from the incident say cops were greeted by an apparent 'drunk and frantic' Hayden when they responded to a call for assault and battery at a private residence in South Carolina in October 2018.

Panettiere revealed in 2017 that she checked into rehab after suffering postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Kaya.

Lending advice to anyone else going through the same thing, she said: '[Going to rehab/treatment] doesnt make you a bad person, doesnt make you a bad mother. It makes you a very strong, resilient woman. Youve just got to let it make you stronger.'

The two time Golden Globe nominee has been taking a break from acting following the finale of Nashville, which wrapped up in 2018.

Before playing a country diva on the ABC-turned-CMT series, Hayden got her start on daytime TV as a child with appearances on One Life To Live and Guiding Light.

Her star continued to rise in the mid 2000s with her role as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC sci-fi series Heroes.
She's put the brakes on her own love-life after ending things with cheating baby daddy Tristan Thompson.

But Khloe Kardashian gave a fan the date of a lifetime on Friday night.

The 34-year-old reality television star was the high school prom date for superfan Narbeh Babakhani.

Memorable! Khloe Kardashian was the high school prom date of Kardashian Stan Narbeh Babakhani

Khloe looked stunning in a figure-hugging black gown with featured a cut-out back, as she joined the black-tie clad Stan at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, Los Angeles.

She wore her blonde tresses in a slicked ponytail, and vamped up with perfected applied make-up.

Narbeh shared an image of the pair together at the event to his fan account, which has 236,000 followers.

What a date! Khloe looked stunning in a figure-hugging black gown

Thanks! They even posed for official photos beforehand

He captioned: 'Took @khloekardashian as my date to prom... so many more photos to come. Im feeling over the moon  *the sign is a joke! Its a high school prom there would never be an open bar'.

Khloe replied with a series of three hearts.

The pair posed for official photos beforehand, and shared a limo ride together to the dance.

Limo ride! She joined the black-tie clad Narbeh at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, Los Angeles

Prom date! She wore her blonde tresses in a slicked ponytail, and vamped up with perfected applied make-up

Super fan: Narbeh shared an image of the pair together at the event to his fan account, which has 236,000 followers

Sweet! The pair shared a limo ride together to the dance

He captioned: 'Took @khloekardashian as my date to prom... so many more photos to come. Im feeling over the moon  *the sign is a joke! Its a high school prom there would never be an open bar'

What a date! He called Khloe his 'baby' as the pair shared their limo

He looked dressed to the nines in a sharp black suit with matching tie and a generous amount of facial stubble.

He wrote on his Instastories: 'I had a blast with my favorite person ever! We were so similar it was hilarious!! Feeling all the love. Thank you.'

The pair had previously met at a book signing, in 2016 and he explained on his Instagram stories that they regularly direct message on Twitter.

Khloe is single after splitting from Tristan, with whom she shares one-year-old daughter True.

Long time fan: The pair had previously met at a book signing, in 2016

Stan by me: Khloe met the super fan at earlier events
She is always one to make a stylish statement.

And Georgia Toffolo didn't disappoint as she stepped out Derby Day held at Epsom Downs Racecourse at Epsom Downs in Surrey on Saturday.

The former Made In Chelsea star, 24, looked sensational as she slipped her slender figure into a pretty multi-coloured dress.

Chic: Georgia Toffolo, 24, didn't disappoint on the style front as she stepped out Derby Day held at Epsom Downs Racecourse at Epsom Downs in Surrey on Saturday

The number, which boasted a nude underlay, plunged down the middle and put emphasis on her tiny stomach thanks to her belt detailing.

Georgia toted her belongings in a chic muted yellow handbag as she posed up a storm in towering nude heels.

The reality star opted for a chic neutral coloured hat atop her shoulder length blonde tresses, while her pretty features were enhanced with a slick of make-up.

Fashionista: The former Made In Chelsea star looked sensational as she slipped her slender figure into a pretty multi-coloured dress

Toff's outing comes after the former Politics student gave an interview about her opinions.

The I'm A Celebrity star, who describes herself as very pro-immigration, voted against Brexit during the 2016 referendum after dismissing the leave camps growing argument regarding migration.

But with the country no closer to an exit some three years after Leave claimed victory by a slender three percent margin, Georgia, admits her politics have changed.

She told The Telegraph: 'We need to leave, deal or no deal.

'The mood of the country is that were bored, were angry, we voted to leave.

'And there are lots of calls for a second referendum, but if that does happen, I would be very, very upset.'
They met on Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls in early 2017 and confirmed their romance months later.

And Lucy Mecklenburgh and Ryan Thomas looked all parts the smitten couple as they attended the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Surrey on Saturday.

The TOWIE star, 27, cut a stylish figure in a blush pink, lace mini dress as she posed next to her beau of two years at the annual racing event.

Smitten: Lucy Mecklenburgh, 27, and Ryan Thomas, 34, looked all parts the smitten couple as they attended the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Racecourse, Surrey on Saturday

She paired her dress, which featured black faux seams with tiered bows on the centre, with silver strappy heels.

The brunette beauty finished off her sophisticated ensemble with a black and pink floral fascinator.

Coronation Street star Ryan, 34, opted for a powder blue waistcoat and black and white pin striped trousers.

Stylish: The TOWIE star cut a stylish figure in a blush pink, lace mini dress as she posed next to her beau of two years at the annual racing event

Statement: She paired her dress, which featured statement black faux seams with tiered bows on the centre, with silver strappy heels

He finished off his quirky look with a black tail coat, top hat, and a pair of round-lens sunglasses.

The couple's latest outing comes Lucy shared that she is keen to take the next step in her relationship with Ryan by becoming engaged.

The couple recently brushed off split rumours after Lucy was pictured looking very cosy with a man in a Dubai nightclub, believed to be her friend and business associate Adam Rossiter.

In an interview with OK! magazine in late 2018, Ryan said: 'Shes always dropping hints about what she wants to happen. I think Lucy wants me to propose next year!'

Lovebirds: Coronation Street star Ryan opted for a powder blue waistcoat and black and white pin striped trousers

Suave: He finished off his quirky look with a black tail coat, top hat, and a pair of round-lens sunglasses

TV personality Lucy added: 'Youd better get saving because I want a really heavy left hand!'

'I wouldnt waste my time with someone if I didnt believe we were on the same page about children and getting married. I know we both want the same things in the future.'

It appears the pair may already be planning their wedding as, according to new!, Lucy has been looking at inspiration and has liked lots of wedding themed snaps on Instagram, including dresses, flower arrangements and table layout ideas.

Lucy and Ryan met on Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls in early 2017 and confirmed their romance that July after months of speculation.

Joking around: Lucy enlisted Ryan's help to take social media snaps of herself

Living it up: The fitness fanatic was enjoying a rare day off from her training regime

Blooming lovely: Lucy was in high spirits for her fun-filled day out at the races
Jenelle Evans and David Eason are going to therapy as they fight to regain custody of their children.

After losing custody of all three of their children this week, the couple have reportedly signed up for marriage counseling, parenting classes in an attempt to impress the judge overseeing their case.

TMZ reports that David, 30, is also getting a psychological evaluation to find the root of this anger issues.

Fighting for their children: Former Teen Mom star Jenelle Evans and husband David Eason are going to therapy and parenting classes in an effort to get their three kids back

This week a judge refused to return Jace, nine, Kaiser, four and Ensley, two, back to the couple after they were removed from the home by CPS following concerns over their safety.

There have been mounting fears concerning David's anger issues after he shot the family dog Nugget to death after viciously beating the pup.

David had justified his actions by posting a clip of the tiny French bulldog nipping his daughter's face.

It was just the latest in a string of concerning incidents surrounding the gun-obsessed self-proclaimed 'redneck'.

And Jenelle has made it clear she has no plans to leave her unstable husband.

The reality star lost her gig on the Teen Mom franchise after her husband's horrific actions.

Working on himself: TMZ reports that David, 30, is also getting a psychological evaluation to find the root of this anger issues

Walk out: Eason, 30, 'stormed out' when his daughter Maryssa, 11, wouldn't see him this week, according to Us Weekly; (L-R) Ensley Eason, Jenelle, Maryssa and David pictured February 8

Their plans to seek therapy come after David abruptly cut off a visitation with his children after eldest daughter Maryssa, 11, who he shares with his ex, refused to see him.

'Maryssa didnt want to see her father and David stormed out of the meeting center,' a source told UsWeekly.

She's Eason's daughter from a previous relationship, though the former reality couple also lost temporary custody of her following the act of violence last month.

The couple also lost custody of their other three children, Jace, nine, Kaiser, four, and Ensley, two, on Tuesday.

Jace and Kaiser are both from Jenelle's previous relationships, whereas she and David share Ensley.

No thanks: 'Maryssa didnt want to see her father and David stormed out of the meeting center,' a source told the publication

Gone: She's Eason's daughter from a previous relationship, though the former reality couple also lost temporary custody of her following the act of violence last month; David and Maryssa pictured with Kaiser (front) and Jace (yellow shirt)

Jenelle and David share Ensley who is now living with Jenelle's mom and Kaiser is Jenelle's son with ex Nathan Griffiths who is staying with his dad

After receiving the cold shoulder from his own daughter, David seems to have lashed out and threatened to abandon his daughter for good.

'He said he's done with Maryssa, and that she can stay with her grandmother for good,' a source told The Ashley's Reality Roundup.

He also reportedly stated that he would be dropping off any of her remaining belongs at her maternal grandmother's house, where she currently resides.

During the hearing temporarily revoking their custody, the judge told Jenelle that she 'failed to protect the children while they were in her care,' a source told Radar.

'Jenelle was sobbing in court ... [she] believed that her lawyer was going to be able to get her children back and she seemed stunned when this happened.

'Jenelle is standing by David,' as 'despite what happened, she has no plans to leave him,' the source added.

In a statement to The Hollywood Gossip, the former reality star confirmed the information, saying, 'I love being a mother and David and I will get through this. We are staying strong and united.'

Jenelle's mother Barbara Evans previously had custody of her oldest son Jace, but she'll now also assume custody of her daughter Ensley.

Her ex Nathan Griffith will take over full custody of their son Kaiser.
He broke her heart when he broke off their engagement to propose to her Bachelor love rival just two months later.

And Becca Kufrin appeared to poke fun at the situation on Friday after learning ex Arie Luyendyk Jr. has just welcomed a daughter with his wife.

The 29-year-old former contestant on The Bachelor shared: 'On May 31st at 6:08 pm, 9 beautiful, dark chocolate chip cookies were born into this world,'

It came just two days after her 37-year-old ex-fiance celebrated the birth of his daughter with the woman he chose over Becca - 27-year-old Lauren Burnham.

Salty: Becca Kufrin shared a salty cookie recipe just two days after her ex-fiance celebrated the birth of his daughter with the woman he chose over Becca

'After 12 minutes of intense waiting, mom and cookies are doing all right,' the Bachelorette alum wrote.

Arie and Lauren documented their stay at hospital this week, keeping their fans updated on each stage of labor.

They then took to Instagram to share the good news on Thursday, posting a picture of the newborn with a caption that read, 'Alessi Ren Luyendyk. Born May 29, 2019 @ 2:09pm. 6lbs, 13 oz. 20 inches long. She is sweet, calm and @ariejr and I could not be more in love with her.'

Baby girl: 'She is sweet, calm and @ariejr and I could not be more in love with her,' Lauren posted on Thursday

Drama! 'People need to stop freaking out about my damn cookie post,' the author said

Becca posted a recipe following the announcement of the cookie's 'birth.'

'I just found out this is made with vodka. So bring it on,' Becca wrote mid-recipe.

But her followers certainly took notice of her salty caption and the interesting timing of the post.

She followed up with a video of the finished cookies and a few words about the joke.

Real recipe: The author did actually post a recipe following the announcement of the cookie's 'birth'

'People need to stop freaking out about my damn cookie post,' the author can be heard saying, '...cuz Trader Joe's did the exact same thing back in December and everyone thought it was cute and clever.'

'...you're making me stress eat and I only have four left,' she confessed.

On Tuesday Arie posted that his runner up Bachelor wife had gone into labor, captioning the photo: 'IT'S HAPPENING!'

Baby time! On Tuesday Arie posted that his runner-up Bachelor wife had gone into labor, captioning the photo: 'IT'S HAPPENING!'

Doing great! Arie looked tired in a selfie as he gave an update to fans on Lauren's current status

The duo had been in the hospital for about 24 hours with Arie looking tired in a selfie he shared on Wednesday writing: '@Lauren_Burnham is doing incredible... she went into labor yesterday afternoon'.

In the early hours of Wednesday he gave his fans a more detailed update revealing that Lauren had received some pain relief

'It's 5am and @laurenburnham just received an epidural. She is doing great and everythig is going smoothly! We are going to try and catch a little sleep and hopefully we will meet our baby soon!'

Arie and Lauren met during his second time around as the Bachelor on Season 22 and got engaged in March 2018.

Runner up: Lauren was initially the runner-up, but Arie realized that he could not get over the feelings he had for her, blindsiding Becca when he then ended their engagement on camera in order to pursue Lauren

Lauren was initially the runner-up, but Arie realized that he could not get over the feelings he had for her, blindsiding Becca when he then ended their engagement on camera in order to pursue Lauren.

He proposed to Lauren just two months later on the After the Final Rose Ceremony.

The duo married in Hawaii in January, after announcing they were expecting in November.

Becca is now engaged to Garrett Yrigoyen, 30, whom she met on Season 14 of The Bachelorette.
He's sported green hair as the Joker and perfected the man bun.

But Jared Leto's loose and lustrous locks were garnering the most attention, as he posted a selfie to Instagram this week.

The 47-year-old got roasted in the comments by actor Zach Braff and comedian David Spade after he shared a snap which showcased his shiny long hair.

Courteney Cox vibes: Jared Leto's loose and lustrous locks were garnering attention, as he posted a selfie to Instagram

Jokers! The 47-year-old got roasted in the comments by actor Zach Braff and comedian David Spade after he shared a snap which showcased his shiny long hair

'Courtney Cox vibes today. Gorgeous,' commented Scrubs star Braff, 44, on Monday, garnering hundreds of likes.

Comedian Spade, 54, joined in, writing: 'Good god.'

Leto - who has been filming in London, captioned Sunday's picture: 'Hello California! Just finished filming #MORBIUS in London. MARS Tour #soon whos coming?!'

Good hair do care: Leto was channeling Friends star Courteney Cox (pictured February 2018)

'Courtney Cox vibes today. Gorgeous,' commented Scrubs star Braff, 44, on Monday, garnering hundreds of likes

Comedian Spade, 54, joined in the roasting, writing: 'Good god'

The Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman is seen wearing a black shirt in the front passenger seat of a car.

His steel blue eyes are even eclipsed by the glossiness of his wavy dark hair.

The Suicide Squad star previous told Harpers Bazaar the secret to his hair is keeping it clean.

'Soap and water. I use Ivory, Palmolive, or Clorox. I wash my hair every day - Im squeaky-clean - and dry it naturally, with a little L.A. smog,' he explained.

All about the hair! He had green hair when he was playing the Joker (pictured May 2015)

He recently returned to the director's chair for a documentary based on the most patriotic day of the year in America.

For A Day In the Life of America, Leto sent a whopping 92 camera crews to all 50 states to capture a single day on the 4th of July, shot in solely that 24 hour frame.

The film captures all walks of life, including those who were preparing the controversial Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that happened in August 2017.

The film is described as, 'a rallying cry for our collective responsibility towards one another and to our great country,' on the Tribeca Film Festival website.
Prince Harry is used to private helicopters  but got a taste of ordinary air travel when he had to queue to get off a plane, above.

The Duke of Sussex, 34, was spotted on a British Airways flight to London from Rome after playing in a polo match to raise money for his African childrens charity Sentebale.

Fellow passenger Amy Garrick noticed Harry at the front of the plane as she waited to use the loo and later posted: He smiled and said Hi when he realised I knew who he was.

Harrys charity made 3.5 million last year, bringing the total in the past five years to an impressive 16 million.

Prince Harry, 34, was spotted on a British Airways flight to London from Rome after playing in a polo match to raise money for his African childrens charity Sentebale

Harrys charity made 3.5 million last year, bringing the total in the past five years to an impressive 16 million (The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor)

No stopping Prince Louis after his recent appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show  hell attend his first proper Royal engagement at Trooping the Colour next Saturday.

Louis, who turned one in April, is to ride in a carriage with his family at the military display that marks the Queens official birthday.

The Duchess of Sussex will also be there, making her first public appearance since giving birth to Archie on May 6.
Kim Kardashian, 38, has aspirations to become an attorney as she's recently become an advocate for criminal justice reform.

But on Friday it was her half sister, 21-year-old Kylie Jenner, that Kim was advocating for.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star stepped out for a meeting at the Kylie Skin showroom offices in Calabasas in a sweater and matching bike shorts on Friday.

Kylie Skin: Kim Kardashian stepped out for a meeting at the Kylie Skin showroom offices in Calabasas in a sweater and matching bike shorts on Friday

Kim stared down at her phone as she was spotted exiting her white Range Rover.

The reality TV star donned a Kanye West pullover that featured a yellow smiley face and text that read 'Lucky Me! I see Ghosts.'

She accessorized with a huge diamond studded golden chain, which was wrapped around her neck twice.

The businesswoman sported a short bob and a middle part as she paired the look with simple white trainers.

Lucky you: The reality tv star donned a grey-green Kanye West sweater that featured a yellow smiley face and text that read 'Lucky Me! I see Ghosts'

While at the offices, Kim 'hijacked' her Kylie's phone to post on her Instagram story in defense of the 21-year-old.

'You guys, what is the big deal here with the 10 second video, that's all shes's got,' she says in the video.

Kylie Jenner was blasted Wednesday for using a filter and not thoroughly cleansing her face with her $24 foaming face wash in a 35-second video.

But Kylie wasn't the only one Kim came to the defense of on Friday.

The mother of four also took to her own Instagram to post about Kevin Cooper, an inmate in California's San Quentin prison who was convicted of four murders that occurred more than 35 years ago.

In 1983 a family was savagely murdered in their home in Chino Hills, California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the lone survivor of the assault told authorities that there were three attackers, and that they were all White.

Cooper is Black, but he was charged with the crime anyway.

Innocent: The lone survivor of the assault told authorities that there were three attackers, and that they were all White. Cooper is Black, but he was charged with the crime anyway

'I had an emotional meeting with Kevin Cooper yesterday at San Quentin's death row,' Kim wrote in the photo. 'I found him to be thoughtful and honest and I believe he is innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted.'

Kim has been looking into Cooper's case for months now, having asked then-Governor of California Jerry Brown to look into Coopers case back in October.

'I am hopeful that Kevin will be exonerated since DNA testing has now been ordered on Kevin's case,' Kim wrote in a second photo.

'I remain grateful to Governor Newsom for ending capital punishment in California.'
It's the annual daytime event that sees some of Hollywood's biggest stars gather together to showcase their individual style while watching Polo.

And Emily Ratajkowski did just that on Saturday, stepping out in a striking ensemble that allowed her best assets to shine through at the annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey.

The 27-year-old beauty flashed her toned and taut stomach for guests, as she led the stars at the 12th annual event.

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Loving the skin she's in: Emily Ratajkowski flashed her skin in a bold ensemble as she joined stars at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey on Saturday

Emily opted for a bold red cropped sweater that reached to just below her ample cleavage.

She teamed the look with a nude colored knee-length pencil skirt that was held up with a large buckle belt of a complimentary color.

She teamed the bold look with some brown leather mules and a shaggy looking designer purse.

Daring: Emily opted for a bold red cropped sweater that reached to just below her ample cleavage

Emily opted for shades over her eyes, hiding her blushed complexion for the Saturday day event.

Her brunette tresses were styled out sleek and she completed her look with a plump nude lip.

Jennifer Lawrence couldn't stop smiling as she joined the event.

It's a good day: Jennifer Lawrence struggled to wipe the smile off of her face as she joined Emily at the event

The newly engaged beauty was pretty in pink, with the bodice of her dress highlighting her lean physique before pleating out into a floral skirt.

She styled her hair out into natural beach waves, with her glam kept incredibly radiant and dewy.

Keeping her accessories minimal, Jennifer was also sure to flash her $100,000 engagement ring for all to see.

Fahsionista: Keeping her accessories minimal, Jennifer was also sure to flash her $100,000 engagement ring for all to see

Stunner: The newly engaged beauty was pretty in pink, with the bodess of her dress highlighting her lean physique before pleating out into a floral skirt

And known for her chic style, Nicky Hilton Rothschild stepped out in true form on Saturday.

The mom-of-two opted for a mustard colored polka-dot dress that was cinched in at the waist before reaching a midi-length.

Her blonde hair was styled back into a low do, and her glam featuring high cheekbones.

Natural beauty: She styled her hair out into natural beach waves, with her glam kept incredibly radiant and dewy

Style icon: Known for her chic style, Nicky Hilton Rothschild stepped out in true form on Saturday

Victoria's Secret Angel Joan Smalls brought her washboard abs and toned legs to the event.

She opted for a white bra with a matching blazer jacket and short shorts that showcased her incredible physique.

The beauty teamed the look with silver strappy stiletto heels, despite the outdoor grass area.

Glam: Her blonde hair was styled back into a low do, and her glam featuring high cheekbones

Wow! Victoria's Secret Angel Joan Smalls brought her washboard abs and toned legs to the event

Gorgeous: Joan's brunette tresses were out into a loose wave and her glam featuring a smokey eye and nude lip

Shining bright: Gayle King also put on a chic display, stunning in a baby blue colored pleated jumpsuit

Joan's brunette tresses were out into a loose wave and her glam featuring a smokey eye and nude lip.

Gayle King also put on a chic display, stunning in a baby blue colored pleated jumpsuit.

The praised journalist was all smiles, accessorizing with a taupe colored envelope clutch.

Julianne, is that you? Julianne Moore appeared to be keeping a low profile at the event, opting for a sheer dress underneath a black blazer

Unique look: Coco Rocha was all business, opting for a striking white ensemble that had pants underneath a wrap dress

Stunning: Keeping all eyes on her ensemble, she added nude strappy heels and styled her hair slicked back off of her face. She completed her glam with bronzed cheeks and a dark red lip

Dressed to impress: Michael B. Jordan looked incredibly dapper in his suit

Gayle teamed her glam look with silver sequin sneakers and accessorised with bracelets and a necklace.

Julianne Moore appeared to be keeping a low profile at the event, opting for a sheer dress underneath a black blazer.

She added large shades that covered her complexion and styled her hair out.

Lady in red: TK Wonder stole the spotlight in her tule tutu inspired ensemble

All business: Delfina Blaquier was all business in her yellow and white outfit

Smiles all round: Delfina Blaquier was joined by Nacho Figueras

Coco Rocha was all business, opting for a striking white ensemble that had pants underneath a wrap dress.

Keeping all eyes on her ensemble, she added nude strappy heels and styled her hair slicked back off of her face.

She completed her glam with bronzed cheeks and a dark red lip.

Other attendees included Michael B. Jordan, TK Wonder, Delfina Blaquier, Nacho Figueras, Natalie Lim Suarez and Dylan Lim Suarez.
Seven stars have quit the ITV soap since the start of this year.

And Daniel Brocklebank, who plays Vicar Billy Mayhew in Coronation Street, has confirmed that he will not be leaving the soap anytime soon and shared that there is not a crisis following a slew of stars quitting the show.

The actor, 39, who joined the soap in December 2016, revealed he has renewed his contract for a year in an interview with The Sun at the British Soap Awards in Manchester on Saturday.

Going nowhere: Daniel Brocklebank, 39, who plays Vicar Billy Mayhew in the fictional town of Weatherfield in Coronation Street has revealed he has renewed his contract for another year

Daniel told the publication: 'It's good, I genuinely love it there. I'm in my sixth year and I've got some wonderful friends.'

Making reference to the reports of a crisis, following a number of cast members leaving since January, the star said: 'Whenever there's a new producer that comes in, there's always going to be a change. I'm sticking around. I've just signed up for another year.'

Daniel's comments come after it was reported that 'poor wages and exhausting hours' were to blame for seven cast members quitting the soap in three months.

Sources told The Irish Sun that the recent increase in departures stems from a 'poisonous atmosphere' backstage, after Lucy Fallon announced at the start of May that she would be leaving the soap in 2020.

Sticking around: The actor, who joined the soap in December 2016, also added that there is no crisis following seven stars recently announcing they leaving the show

It comes as Lucy joined co-stars Faye Brookes, Kym Marsh and Katie McGlynn who have decided to leave the soap in the coming months, as they hope to find the same success as ex-stars Michelle Keegan and Katherine Kelly.

Lucy announced that she had quit Coronation Street, four years after first joining the cast as teen Bethany Platt.

In a statement she told MailOnline: 'After the most incredible 4 years, I have made the extremely difficult decision to leave Coronation Street at the end of my contract in 2020.

'It's hard to put into words how much this show means to me. I've made lifelong friends with some of the most talented and hardworking people in the industry, I've had some terrific and immensely important storylines and I've laughed with the best people everyday.'

Shocking: Coronation Street has been reported to have been plunged into crisis, with 'poor wages and exhausting hours' to blame for seven cast members quitting the soap

Raging: Sources told The Irish Sun that the increase in departures stems from a 'poisonous atmosphere' backstage, after Lucy Fallon (above) announced she would be leaving in 2020

The star added: 'I'm so thankful to Iain and everyone at Coronation Street, I owe everything to them and I will miss them greatly.'

Lucy then went onto clarify her decision in a tweet, writing: 'My decision to leave was made in August last year and has nothing to do with ANYONE at Coronation Street. I didn't make it lightly and I am going to miss every single person there.'

The beauty has joined stars such as Faye Brookes, Katie McGlynn and Kym Marsh who have recently decided to leave the soap, with a total of seven stars quitting in the last three months alone.

It was also previously claimed that recurring actor Liam Bairstow would be taking a break from the soap, as he took to social media to announce he had wrapped filming as Alex Warner.

Goodbye! After confirming her exit in a statement to MailOnline, Lucy insisted her Twitter her departure 'has nothing to do with anyone' who works on the show

They're going! Lucy's departures means a total of four cast members have quit the soap, including Faye Brookes (left) and reportedly Katie McGlynn (right)

Bosses have since clarified that Liam will be back on set later this month, and Alex is by no means leaving the show.

It has since been reported that upset has been brewing behind the scenes, as many of the soap's newer stars are unhappy with the vast differences in salary.

The publication claimed that veteran cast members such as William Roache (Ken Barlow) are on a staggering 250,000 a year, while newcomers are paid just 50,000, with their fee dependant on appearances.

Simon Gregson (who plays Steve McDonald) also allegedly earns around 150,000 and Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster) is on a reported 170,000.

Controversial: It has since been reported that upset has been brewing behind the scenes, as many of the soap's newer stars are unhappy with the vast differences in salary

A source added that the pay gaps have been an 'open secret' among the cast, with many stars earning more money for far less screen time.

They said: 'Lucy is just the latest to get fed up of seeing great opportunities go to waste because Corrie won't let her take them on.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Coronation Street for comment.

The publication also claims that even minor stars on BBC rival EastEnders earn more cash than Corrie's counterparts.

This also comes despite EastEnders seeing lower ratings than its ITV rivals, and producing four episodes a week to Corrie's six.

It has also been claimed that cast members are demanding producers lift a ban on stars appearing in panto, which has in recent years allowed actors to net a reported 200,000.

Coronation Street: Who's Quit? Gone: Lucy will leave Corrie in 2020, after five years of playing Bethany Platt Lucy Fallon - plays Bethany Platt Lucy is set to leave the soap in 2020, five years after joining the cast as teen Bethany. In a statement the star said she's made the 'extremely difficult decision' to leave the show, after earning much praise for a 2017 storyline which saw her character be groomed and abused. Katie McGlynn - plays Sinead Tinker It has been reported that Katie will be leaving Corrie later this year after six years on the show. The star is currently playing out a storyline which has seen her character battle cervical cancer. A source told MailOnline: 'This story still has a long way to go. Any speculation threatens to undermine the storyline for viewers' Faye Brookes - plays Kate Connor Faye took to Twitter to announce that she was 'off to pastures new,' four years after joining the cast as Carla Connor's half-sister Kate. Leaving: Tristan Gemmill is also set to leave his role as chef Robert Preston The character - who has had much support from the soap's LGBTQ fanbase - has had a fair share of heartache, following her brother Aidan's suicide, and fiance Rana's death in the factory roof collapse. Tristan Gemmill - plays Robert Preston Tristan has also tweeted he will be leaving Corrie later this year, four years after joining as Tracy Barlow's ex-husband. The hunky chef is currently a prime suspect in the Underworld Factory collapse. Kym Marsh - plays Michelle Connor In February Kym told The Sun she would be leaving Corrie later this year to explore other roles. Michelle has been at the centre of many hard-hitting storylines, including the stillbirth of her son Ruari in 2017. Off she goes! Kym Marsh will also leave the cobbles after 13 years on the soap Bhavna Limbachia - played Rana Habeeb Rana exited Corrie in March after she was brutally killed off in the Underworld Factory roof collapse. Bhavna had previously announced she would be leaving the soap, but it had been implied she had several more months before her exit would air. Connie Hyde - played Gina Seddon Gina's exit also aired following the factory collapse, after she struggled to reconcile with her sister Sally and was repeatedly blamed for the tragedy. After her exit scenes aired, Connie announced she had quit the soap after two years in the cast. Advertisement

Corrie stars have been barred from these big money deals by ITV bosses, while EastEnders cast members can reportedly make as much as their annual salary for a short stint on the festive stage.

Sources went onto claim that stars such as Antony Cotton (Sean Tully) and Brooke Vincent (Sophie Webster) have been keen to cash in with panto, but bosses have refused.

Bosses have also reportedly cracked down on stars trying to cash in with big-money endorsement deals.

Previously actors could boost their earnings with promotions for cosmetics, clothes and fast food via Instagram, but now this has now been strictly prohibited by bosses.

The sources go onto claim that Brooke was given a stern telling-off by ITV after posting tweets and snaps endorsing fast food chain Domino's Pizza.

Helen Flanagan was also reportedly disciplined for tweets which promoted a cosmetic surgery clinic.

Meanwhile ITV has recently introduced major commercial deals with brands such as Costa Coffee and Co-Op, and many cast members have been required to reshoot scenes to ensure logos are on display.

This has sparked anger among some stars who have reportedly branded the changes as 'double standards,' given they are not allowed to collect any other fees from promotional deals.

The Irish Sun goes onto claim that many stars are upset with the recent changes to working hours, which require cast members to not only work weekends, but be on call to film scenes anytime during the day or night.

One star claims: 'It sounds like good money, and of course it is compared to many people, but you are held to unbelievable conditions.

'You can't live a normal life and there is constant scrutiny, on top of ridiculously long and unpredictable hours. It's anything but glamorous.'

Hypocritical? ITV has recently introduced major commercial deals with brands such as Costa Coffee and Co-Op, with many stars branding the move 'a double standard'

With this recent upset, sources claim that the opportunities available away from the Corrie cobbles have become more and more appealing.

Acting favourites such as Sarah Lancashire, Suranne Jones and Katherine Kelly have all shaken off their soap roles and gone onto achieve huge success in their own right.

Most recently, Michelle Keegan has earned critical acclaim for her performance in the BBC drama Our Girl, after leaving Coronation Street in 2014.

In autumn 2017, the soap also increased workload by going from five to six episodes a week, but introducing more cast members hasn't helped ease the pressure on stars.

Fans have recently blamed showrunner Iain MacLeod for the increase in cast departures, as it's reported many stars miss former producer Kate Oates, who quit in May 2018.

Sources have told MailOnline that Iain is not to blame for the numerous cast departures, but it can be noted that during his stint as Emmerdale boss from 2016 to 2018, ten cast members quit in a year.
She's a girl in the midst of a breakup from her boyfriend of almost a year.

But the 23-year-old model doesn't have time for tears.

Kendall Jenner stepped out in New York City on Saturday in an ensemble that was red from head-to-toe.

Fiery: Kendall Jenner stepped out in New York City on Saturday in an ensemble that was red from head-to-toe

The Keeping Up With The Kardashian's star paired high-wasted red denim jeans with a white crop top under her red denim jacket.

She paired the look with some shiny menswear-inspired lace-up shoes.

The television personality wore her sleek brunette locks down with a clean middle part.

Red-dy or not: The Keeping Up With The Kardashian's star paired high-wasted red denim jeans with a white crop top under her red denim jacket

Passion for fashion: The model paired the look with some shiny menswear-inspired lace-up shoes

Kendall accessorized with a pair of fashionable black sunglasses, a small black purse and a simple gold chain around her neck.

Yesterday the reality TV star walked the catwalk alongside the likes of Kaia Gerber and - believe it or not - Pete Davidson for designer Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show.

She slipped into a white top with a grey, red and black belt to walk the runway, which was held outside the Rockefeller Center in New York.

Catwalk: Yesterday the reality TV star walked the catwalk for designer Alexander Wang's 2020 collection show which was held outside the Rockefeller Center in New York

The simple ensemble was paired with white patent leather boots and white straight-leg cut-off jeans.

The model has walked for Alexander Wang regularly since 2015.

Friday's show departed from tradition by staging itself outdoors in Rockefeller Center, so that everyday Americans could catch a glimpse of upcoming looks.
Paul Hogan roasted Donald Trump in a hilarious speech at a charity ball on Friday.

The Crocodile Dundee star branded the U.S. President to a 'buffoon' and an 'egotistical a**hole' while speaking at the Tour De Cure Snow Ball in Sydney.

'He's the most entertaining leader since Caligula [the Roman emperor],' the 79-year-old Australian comedian told the audience at The Star.

'He's a buffoon!' Paul Hogan (pictured) roasted Donald Trump in a hilarious speech at a charity ball in Sydney on Friday

Paul quipped: 'Some say he is a buffoon, others say he is an egotistical asshole, I say he's both.'

The actor finished his roast by saying he wasn't there to talk about politics, but to plead with guests to donate money, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Hogan, who is a long-time supporter of Tour De Cure, jetted to Sydney from Los Angeles for the ball.

Cheeky: 'He's the most entertaining leader since Caligula [the Roman emperor],' the 79-year-old Australian comedian told the audience at The Star

He was joined by the likes of Larry Emdur, Sam Mac and Mark Beretta at the event to raise money for cancer projects.

Hogan hit the headlines last year, when sources claimed he was 'devastated' that his ex-wife Linda Kozlowski, 61, was reportedly moving from LA to Morocco with her new partner Moulay Hafid Baba.

Paul and Linda met on the set of Crocodile Dundee, in which she starred as Paul's love interest.

Ruthless: Paul added: 'Some say he is a buffoon, others say he is an egotistical asshole, I say he's both.' Pictured with ex-wife Linda Kozlowski on Crocodile Dundee II in 1988

The pair married in May 1990 and welcomed their son Chance into the world in 1997.

They announced their divorce in October 2013, citing irreconcilable differences.

It was reported in 2017 that Linda and Moulay had tied the knot after the pair were spotted wearing matching gold wedding bands.
Brushing teeth is a pretty simple task for most people, but for one Victorian woman it's a challenge too great.

Joanne, 47, has a degenerative muscular disorder that makes it difficult to use her hands and therefore complete some tasks, like brushing her teeth.

She's hoping a meeting of creative minds in Melbourne can help her find a solution, while coming up with answers for several people living with a disability.

A global non-for-profit movement of innovators, Tikkun Olam Makers, hope to be able to find solutions.

"We aim to help the lives of (people) like John, who is a quadruple amputee and little Austin who lives with congenital muscular dystrophy, to live more independently," founding director Debbie Danson said.

Since its launch in 2016, Makers Melbourne has developed 28 prototypes including a universal bottle-pouring device and an adjustable guide dog harness.

They will hold a 'Makeathon' in Melbourne from Friday to Sunday at FAB9 in Footscray, which will be attended by designers, engineers and inventors.
A man whose arm was "sliced open" by the sharp snout of a marlin which jumped into his boat north of Coffs Harbour has been airlifted to a Sydney hospital for further treatment.

The marlin, thought to have weighed up to 100 kilograms, breached and landed in the 46-year-old's boat off Wooli about midday on Thursday.

His older brother, 48, was also injured in the freak incident which occurred as their five-metre rigid-hull inflatable boat was speeding at 40km/h in the Solitary Islands Marine Park.

A third man on board, also aged 46, was not injured.

"The marlin's sharp snout sliced open the younger brother's lower right arm, causing an open fracture," NSW Police said in a statement.

"The older brother suffered a deep cut to his right shoulder."

The marlin managed to escape "back into the water", a police spokesperson said.

The younger brother was initially airlifted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Coffs Harbour Base Hospital where he was assessed.

He was then transferred, again by air, to Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney where he remains in a stable condition.

His older brother was taken to the Coffs Harbour hospital by road and discharged on Thursday night, a hospital spokeswoman told AAP.
Scott Morrison has returned to outback Queensland to meet graziers recovering from devastating floods.

In his first post-election trip as prime minister, Mr Morrison has flown to the state's north-west to meet farmers still reeling from the February floodwaters.

"There's a long way to go and a lot of rebuilding," he told 2GB Radio on Friday.

"There's a lot of positivity despite the hardship and despite the challenge, so it's a matter of maintaining that into the future."

The prime minister acknowledged that while the floods had turned the landscape green, the waters also washed away the top soil, presenting farmers a new challenge.

He will kick off Friday by visiting Jacqueline and Robert Curley at their Cloncurry stud.

The cattle breeding family has received a $75,000 special disaster recovery grant in the aftermath of the floods.

More than $3.3 billion has been paid or committed to help farmers respond and recover.

Farmers are being offered restocking grants, concessional loans and access to mental health support.

The prime minister will then head to the Burke & Wills Campdraft, an annual rodeo attended by hundreds of farmers and primary producers.

Arriving into Cloncurry overnight, Mr Morrison paid tribute to the resilience of Queenslanders recovering from the natural disaster, which is thought to have killed half-a-million head of livestock.

"What I know absolutely is that this part of Australia is going to be vibrant, successful, and prosperous for generations to come," he told Cloncurry locals at the bowling club on Thursday night.

"This has been one of those times when I think Australians have really all pulled together and shown everyone what we can do."

It's the prime minister's second trip to north-west Queensland this year.

In February, he surveyed herds of cattle that had drowned, others frozen, some still lying dead in dry mud.

Hundreds of locals packed into the bowls club to meet him this time around.

Among the crowd was Brenda Bulley, a grazier from nearby Julia Creek, who lost more than 60 per cent of her stock in the February floods.

"The impact was devastating - to see the stock that had suffered, the way that they died - the amount of stock that we lost," Ms Bulley told AAP.

Ms Bulley has received two $75,000 special disaster recovery grants in the aftermath of the floods, purchasing nearly 300 small steer.

Mr Morrison also praised the livestock recovery agency for reaching out to farmers so quickly.

"It was a very, very significant and very fragile time for this part of the country," he told agency heads at a meeting in Cloncurry.

"When you need to get things done, you've got to clear the way and make sure we can get support to people when they need it."

The latest visit mirrors the first trip Mr Morrison made when he became prime minister last year, citing drought as the main priority for his government.
Caroline Garcia booked her spot in the semi-finals of the Strasbourg International after battling back to defeat Ukrainian qualifier Marta Kostyuk 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Fourth seed Garcia seemed to be on the verge of an upset loss as she trailed by a set and a break to her 16-year-old opponent on Thursday.

But the Frenchwoman rallied to victory in a little under two hours against her highly-rated teenage opponent.

Garcia, the 2016 champion, next takes on compatriot Chloe Paquet, who is the only unseeded player left in the draw after she claimed a 6-3 7-6 (1) win over Australia's Daria Gavrilova, a finalist in 2017.

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka overcame a second set blip before seeing off Puerto Rico's Monica Puig 6-1 3-6 6-2.

Up next for the Belorussian is sixth seed Dayana Yastremska after the Ukrainian brushed aside the challenge of France's Fiona Ferro 6-1 6-3.
HOW THE LEADING WOMEN'S CONTENDERS AND BEST AUSSIE HOPES SHAPE UP FOR THE 2019 FRENCH OPEN STARTING ON SUNDAY

NAOMI OSAKA (JPN)

Age: 21

Ranking: 1

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US11,187,245 ($A16.26 million)

Career titles: 3

Grand slam titles: 2

French Open win-loss record: 4-3

Best French Open result: third round 2018

Yet to win a clay-court title but the Japanese superstar is riding a 14-match grand slam winning streak having swept to US Open and Australian Open glory in the past two majors. Can't be dismissed despite her tough draw.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE)

Age: 27

Ranking: 2

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US16,904,466 ($A24.56 million)

Career titles: 13

Grand slam titles: 0

French Open win-loss record: 9-7

Best French Open result: semi-finalist 2017

The former world No.1 will be oozing confidence after rounding out her preparations with Italian Open success, having also reigned in Brisbane this season and finishing runner-up in Miami.

SIMONA HALEP (ROM)

Age: 27

Ranking: 3

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US29,677,869 ($A43.12 million)

Career titles: 18

Grand slam titles: 1 (French Open 2018)

French Open win-loss record: 24-8

Best French Open results: champion 2018; runner-up 2014, 2017

With three finals appearances already in Paris, the defending champion is a deserved favourite to shed her tag as a one-slam wonder after another consistent season.

KIKI BERTENS (NED)

Age: 27

Ranking: 4

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US8,610,305 ($A12.51 million)

Career titles: 9

Grand slam titles: 0

French Open win-loss record: 11-7

Best French Open result: semi-finalist 2016

The big-hitting Dutchwoman knocked over four grand slam champions, including Halep in the final, en route to the title in Madrid this month to rocket to a career-high No.3 in the world.

ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER)

Age: 31

Ranking: 5

Plays: left-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US28,263,838 ($A41.07 million)

Career titles: 12

Grand slam titles: 3 (Australian Open 2016; Wimbledon 2018; US Open 2016)

French Open win-loss record: 17-11

Best French Open results: quarter-finalist 2012, 2018

Hasn't been on top of her game in 2019 but shouldn't be lacking motivation after arriving in Paris with a first-time opportunity to complete the career grand slam having added the Wimbledon crown to her CV last year.

PETRA KVITOVA (CZE)

Age: 29

Ranking: 6

Plays: left-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US29,883,061 ($A43.42 million)

Career titles: 27

Grand slam titles: 2 (Wimbledon 2011, 2014)

French Open win-loss record: 23-10

Best French Open result: semi-finalist 2012

With titles in her past two events and 13 wins from 14 matches on European clay this season, the big-serving Czech with proven grand slam credentials looms as a serious title threat.

BEST OUTSIDERS

SERENA WILLIAMS (USA)

Age: 37

Ranking: 10

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US88,692,106 ($A128.88 million)

Career titles: 72

Grand slam titles: 23 (Australian Open 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017; French Open 2002, 2013, 2015; Wimbledon 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016; US Open 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014)

French Open win-loss record: 63-12

Best French Open results: champion 2002, 2013, 2015; runner-up 2016

Rarely can the American great be considered an "outsider" but with only two clay-court matches under her belt this season she's not among the favourites but remains desperate to match Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 singles slams.

BEST AUSTRALIAN HOPES

ASHLEIGH BARTY

Age: 23

Ranking: 8

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US7,466,380 ($A10.85 million)

Career titles: 4

Grand slam titles: 0

French Open win-loss record: 2-4

Best French Open result: second round 2013, 2018

The Queenslander arrives with a career-high ranking and could prove how far she's come in a potential round of 16 clash with Williams, who beat Barty in Paris last year.

SAMANTHA STOSUR

Age: 35

Ranking: 89

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US18,378,898 ($A26.71 million)

Career titles: 9

Grand slam titles: 1 (US Open 2011)

French Open win-loss record: 39-15

Best French Open result: runner-up 2010

The former finalist is very much in her career twilight but has made the third round for 12 straight years, not to mention three semi-finals appearance to go with her charge to the 2010 title decider.
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has admitted he has "zero prospects" of being handed a cabinet position as the prime minister shores up his ministry.

Mr Joyce also concedes he may no longer be special drought envoy, a role he was given by Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year.

"Although I, like all politicians, have a desire for a portfolio, I understand there are zero prospects of it (a cabinet position)," Mr Joyce told The Australian on Friday.

Nationals leader Michael McCormack and deputy Bridget McKenzie were unanimously re-elected to their roles on Thursday.

Mr Joyce ruled out a tilt at the leadership despite raising the prospect before the election, which was widely expected to be lost by the coalition.

The prime minister will likely finalise his ministry over the weekend ahead of swearing in ceremonies next week.

Key positions are expected to stay the same but the retirements of several ministers means Mr Morrison has spots to fill for ambitious backbenchers.

The Nationals are hoping to have four cabinet ministers, two outer ministries and three more junior frontbench roles.
iStock(DENVER)  Colorado has banned gay conversion therapy on Friday as the governor signed a bill one day before the start of LGBT Pride Month.



Democratic Gov. Jared Polis put pen to paper on two bills dealing with LGBT rights, including the conversion therapy bill, and another allowing transgender and intersex individuals to update the gender on their birth certificate without needing proof of surgery by a court order or legal name change.



Conversion therapy is a controversial practice that claims to be able to make a gay individual straight through conditioning. Often the practice is initiated by a parent for a child.



Polis is the first openly gay politician ever elected governor in the United States, though Kate Brown of Oregon, who identifies as bisexual, is the first LGBT governor to be elected.



An estimated 20,000 LGBT children from 13 to 17 years old were expected to receive conversion therapy in states where the practice is not banned, according to a January 2018 study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.



A San Francisco State University study, cited by the Human Rights Council, showed teens subjected to conversion therapy were eight times more likely to attempt suicide than LGBT teens who were "not rejected or were only a little rejected by their parents."



The American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association and many other health and psychiatric organizations oppose conversion therapy, according to the Human Rights Council.



The legislation signed by Polis, HB19-1129, states, "The bill prohibits a licensed physician specializing in psychiatry or a licensed, certified or registered mental health care provider from engaging in conversion therapy with a patient under 18 years of age. A licensee who engages in these practices is subject to disciplinary action by the appropriate licensing board."



Colorado became the 18th state to ban the practice, along with Puerto Rice and Washington, D.C. The bans on the practice continue to spread, with just nine states having banned conversion therapy through the end of 2017.



Maine banned conversion therapy for minors earlier in the week.



The bill was passed by Colorado's House on Feb. 19 and the Senate on March 25.



Vice President Mike Pence has often faced criticism for his alleged support for conversion therapy. Olympian Adam Rippon criticized Pence for supporting the practice when he refused to attend a ceremony at the White House following the 2018 Winter Games.



The criticism mostly stems from a Pence 2000 congressional campaign site, which included the line, "Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior."



Pence himself has always denied he supports conversion therapy, including during the 2016 presidential campaign.



But the issue did come up again recently when the vice president sparred with Pete Buttigieg, Democratic presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Pence, who is outspoken about his religious beliefs, has always been against gay marriage and pushed to define marriage as between a man and a woman prior to ascending to the nation's second-highest office.



The conservative Family Research Council has fought in favor of conversion therapy for years. The group donated $83,300 to Senate and House candidates -- all Republicans, including winners such as Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa -- in 2018, according to OpenSecrets.org.



The bill signing by Polis came on the same day President Donald Trump received heavy criticism for a tweet celebrating the start of Pride Month. Much of the criticism surrounded the president's repeated offensives against transgender rights, including banning trans people from the military and, just last week, rolling back nondiscrimination protections for trans patients.



Trump also said in January 2016 interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace that he would "strongly consider" appointing Supreme Court justices to overrule gay marriage.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The meeting with the Patriarch and the Orthodox Synod the focus of the first day of Francis's visit: remembering not wrongs and prejudices, but common roots. In the meeting with the political and civil authorities the search for the common good to "build an inclusive society" where "the weak, the poor and the least are no longer seen as undesirables".

Bucharest (AsiaNews) - "Journeying together", Orthodox and Catholics, in a time in which "the majority have been inexorably excluded" from the well-being brought by technological development which, along with progress, promotes "a 'culture of hatred' and individualism" and while perhaps no longer ideological as in the times of the atheist persecution, it is nevertheless more persuasive and no less materialistic .

Pope Francis is in Romania, where he arrived this morning, for a visit with a strong ecumenical value in one of the countries where, as in Ukraine, the Greek-Catholic Church saw the hardest persecutions by the communist regime, until it was dissolved by law, while its goods and his faithful were "ceded" to the Orthodox Church.

Sunday's beatification in Blaj Transylvania, of seven bishops who were martyred in those years bears witness to this past while the valuesof a fraternity that seeks the path to unity seen today are its greatest legacy.

This is the feeling that pervaded the meeting, in Bucharest, with the Patriarch of Romania, Daniel, and then with the permanent Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church and finally with the recitation, together, of the Our Father, in the Orthodox cathedral. "A common prayer", underlined the Pope, in which "our identity as children and, today in a particular way, as brothers who pray next to each other" is enclosed.

It was the second meeting of Francis in Romania, after the official welcome from the President of the Republic Klaus Werner Iohannis and the meeting with political, social and diplomatic authorities of the country.

This meeting is also marked by the invitation to "journey together" for the common good of the Romanian people, remembering that this "requires a noble willingness to sacrifice something of ones own vision or best interest for the sake of a greater project", to" build an inclusive society" where "the weak, the poor and the least are no longer seen as undesirables".

Recalling the times of the dictatorship and the thirty years that have passed since the fall of the Ceausescu regime, which "oppressed civil and religious freedom" and isolated Romania, Francis said that "In these years, Romania has been committed to building a sound democracy through the plurality of its political and social forces and their reciprocal dialogue, through the fundamental recognition of religious freedom and through the countrys full participation on the greater international stage. It is important to acknowledge the great strides made on this journey, despite significant difficulties and privations." This is how the journey has produced consequences such as "of emigration and the several million people who have had to leave their homes and country in order to seek new opportunities for employment and a dignified existence."

"To face the problems of this new historical phase", the Pope said "It is necessary to move forward together in unity and conviction in following the highest calling to which every state must aspire: that of responsibility for the common good of its people. To move forward together, as a way of shaping the future, requires a noble willingness to sacrifice something of ones own vision or best interest for the sake of a greater project." The Christian Churches can contribute to this by committing themselves to being "a credible reflection of Gods presence and an attractive witness to his works, and, in this way, they grow in authentic mutual friendship and cooperation."

These are the themes also at the center of the visit that the Pope made in the afternoon to the Patriarch and the Orthodox Synod.

Received by the patriarch Daniel at the entrance of the Palace of the Patriarchate, Francis had a private conversation with the Patriarch, before the meeting with the Synod, to which he addressed a speech. "Here - as in so many other places in our times - you have experienced the Easter of death and resurrection: so many sons and daughters of this country, of various Churches and Christian communities, suffered the Friday of the persecution, they crossed the Sabbath of silence, they experienced the Sunday of rebirth. How many martyrs and confessors of the faith! Many, of different denominations, have recently been side by side in prisons supporting each other. Their example stands today before us and the new generations who have not known those dramatic conditions. What they have suffered, to the point of offering life, is too precious a heritage to be forgotten or disgraced. And it is a common heritage, which calls us not to distance ourselves from the brother who shares it .

And now "journeying together with the power of memory. Not the memory of the wrongs suffered and inflicted, of judgments and prejudices, which enclose us in a vicious circle and lead to sterile attitudes, but the memory of our roots: the first centuries in which the Gospel, announced with pharresia and spirit of prophecy, encountered and illuminated new peoples and cultures". "The memory of the steps taken together - he concluded - encourages us to continue towards the future in the awareness - certainly - of the differences but above all in the action of graces of a family atmosphere to be rediscovered, in the memory of communion to revive, that as a lamp throw light on the steps of our journey .

In this perspective, the recitation of the Our Father, together, in the new Orthodox Cathedral of the Salvation of the People was significant. "Jesus - said Francis before the recitation of the prayer - called the brothers Andrew and Peter to leave their nets to become fishers of men together (see Mk 1,16-17). His own call is not complete without that of his brother. Today we want to arise together, side by side, "lifting together, from the heart of the country, the common prayer of the Our Father. It contains our identity as children and, today in a particular way, as brothers who pray next to each other. The prayer of the Our Father contains the certainty of the promise made by Jesus to his disciples: "I will not leave you orphans" (Jn 14:18) and offers us the confidence to receive and welcome the gift of our brother ". "Every time we say" our Father "we reiterate that the word Father cannot stand without saying ours. United in Jesus' prayer, we also join in his experience of love and intercession which leads us to say: my Father and your Father, my God and your God (see Jn 20:17). It is the invitation that "my" be transformed into ours and ours become prayer ". (FP)
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated his Indian counterpart on his election win

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani rival Imran Khan sent messages highlighting the need for "peace" Thursday after Modi's hawkish party won a new term in power.

While the nuclear-armed rivals launched cross-border air strikes at each other barely three months ago, some analysts say the return of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a new landslide could help peace prospects.

Khan congratulated Modi on the win by the BJP, which has long taken a strong anti-Pakistan stance.

"Congratulate Prime Minister Modi on the electoral victory of BJP and allies. Look forward to working with him for peace, progress and prosperity in South Asia," Khan tweeted.

"Thank you PM @ImranKhanPTI. I warmly express my gratitude for your good wishes. I have always given primacy to peace and development in our region," Modi responded, also on Twitter.

The messages came just hours after Pakistan said it had tested a surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads.

India on Wednesday staged a new test of its BrahMos missile, the world's fastest cruise missile.

In February, India launched an air strike inside Pakistan accusing its neighbour of harbouring a group that staged a suicide bomb attack on Indian troops in Kashmir.

Pakistan launched its own raid the next day amid fears of a war, but tensions have calmed since.

Muslim Pakistan had watched Modi's campaign warily, frequently accusing him of using events in the disputed Kashmir region as a ploy to gain votes.

Kashmiri students walks past Indian paramilitary troopers in Srinagar during a general strike

In April, however, Khan said a Modi win could help settle the Kashmir showdown and his government has repeatedly stated it is open to dialogue with the rival.

Pakistanis consider Modi a hardliner, analysts say, but welcomed his win even so -- predicting it could lead to improved relations.

"The expectation in Pakistan is that there will be an incremental improvement in Pakistan-India relations as Modi's attitude would be more relaxed," retired Pakistani general Talat Masood told AFP.

"He is not going to get anything by continuing with the previous policy, because that will not help him at the international level and at the regional level."

Tensions with Pakistan may have boosted his campaign, but with a fresh mandate "you have to deliver", Masood continued.

"If you want to focus on the economy, if you want to focus on the regional co-operation and (for) a better image internationally, it is important to have good regional relations with neighbours," he said.

The Kashmir fuse continues to burn, however. Pakistani and Indian forces regularly fire over the Line of Control -- the de-facto border dividing Kashmir -- leaving civilian dead on both sides.

Pakistan has restricted large swathes of airspace near its eastern border with India since the February clashes, effectively closing off major international flight routes in and out of Islamabad and Lahore while also disrupting Indian flights headed west.
Iranians protest using a mask depicting US President Donald Trump during a rally in Tehran on May 19, 2019

Iran will not hold talks with the United States "under any circumstances" while the rights of the Islamic republic are not respected, said an official quoted Thursday by state media.

"We have said clearly... as long as the rights of our nation are not satisfied, as long as words don't change into action, our path will stay the same as now," said Keyvan Khosravi, spokesman of the Supreme National Security Council.

"There will be no talks under any circumstances," he was quoted as saying by the official state news agency IRNA.

Khosravi said there had been an uptick in official delegations travelling to Tehran from various capitals, although "most of them are coming on behalf of America".

"Without exception we have responded with the message of the Iranian nation's strength, reason and resistance" in line with the policies of the Islamic republic, he added.

Oman's Foreign Minister Yusef Bin Alavi arrived in Tehran on Monday followed by the German foreign ministry's political director Jens Plotner on Thursday.

Despite its efforts to isolate Iran, the United States said it welcomed the initiative and noted that Germany had diplomatic relations with Tehran.

"So we think that this is normal behaviour between two states. And we appreciate any efforts by the Germans to help de-escalate the situation," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters in Washington.

Oman played a crucial role in bringing Iranian and US negotiators together for preliminary talks that ultimately led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with major powers including the United States.

But US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions that had been lifted in exchange for Iran scaling back its nuclear programme.

With tensions between the two sides already high, there has been a dramatic escalation in recent weeks after the US labelled Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a "foreign terrorist organisation".

The United States also deployed a naval carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Middle East over unspecified alleged Iranian "threats" and the acting defence secretary, Patrick Shanahan, said Thursday that Washington may send more troops to the region.

Iran in turn rolled back parts of its commitments within the nuclear deal and gave an ultimatum to the remaining sides that more would follow if they did not provide relief from sanctions.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma was forced to resign by the ruling ANC party last year

South Africa's prosecution on Thursday pushed for ex-president Jacob Zuma to face a corruption trial for a case dating back to the 1990s, saying if he did not it would appear he received special treatment.

Zuma, 77, is accused of taking bribes from French defence company Thales during his time as a provincial economy minister and later as deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1990s.

He has been charged with 16 counts of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to a multi-million-dollar arms deal dating back to before he took office in 2009.

The charges were first brought against Zuma in 2005. They were dropped by prosecutors in 2009, shortly before he became president, and reinstated in 2016.

Both Zuma and Thales deny any wrongdoing and have applied to the court for a permanent stay of prosecution.

"There is a high risk that if Mr Zuma escapes prosecution, that he will be seen to have received special treatment because he is an important and a powerful man," said state lawyer Wim Trengrove.

"It is important too, for Mr Zuma to be seen to be treated the same as others would have been too."

The prosecution dismissed as "unfounded" Zuma's allegations that he was victim of a "witch hunt".

"There is not a shred of evidence the decision to prosecute Mr. Zuma was in anyway politically motivated," said Trengrove. "There is a very compelling case against him".

Thales has said it cannot get a fair trial given the "very long delay of this procedure -- through no fault of Thales at all".

But another state lawyer Andrew Breitenbach said it was Thales and not the prosecution that "has been responsible for the delays" from 2004 onwards.

"It is absolutely clear that Thales escaped prosecution by dishonest trickery," added Trengrove.

The high court in the southeastern city of Pietermaritzburg will have the final say on whether or not charges against Zuma and Thales will be dropped.

Zuma was forced to resign by the ruling ANC party last year.

His successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who held onto power when the ANC won national elections this month, has vowed to root out corruption in government and the party.
Boeing employees in March 2019 build a 737 MAX in Washington State

Two months after Boeing's popular 737 MAX aircraft was grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes, civil aviation authorities gathered Thursday in Texas to consider a burning question: When will the top-selling jet fly again?

Daniel Elwell, acting head of the US Federal Aviation Administration, threw cold water on hopes of a speedy resolution, after revealing late Wednesday that Boeing had held off submitting a proposed software fix for review after his agency raised additional questions.

Investigators have focused on the MAX's anti-stall Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System in inquiries into the crashes in Ethiopia in March and Indonesia in October which left 346 people dead.

Boeing last week said the MCAS update was ready for the certification process, and US airlines were hoping the planes could be back in the skies in time for part of the summer travel season.

But Elwell on Thursday said the process could take one month, two months or longer.

"It is all determined by what we find in our analysis of the application," he said on CNBC.

Once Boeing has submitted all documentation, the FAA will conduct a test flight and detailed analysis to evaluate the safety of the flight software system.

Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at Teal Group, said Boeing wants to avoid having to repeat the process.

"There's a lot at stake in terms of the first impression by the world's regulators," he told AFP.

US air carriers that operate the 737 MAX, including American Airlines, Southwest and United, have said they hope to have the planes flying again by mid-August at the latest.

But the FAA's reputation has taken a beating since the March crash, and faced accusations of an overly cozy relationship with the aviation giant. Other aviation authorities now appear less likely to follow in lockstep with the US agency.

Michel Merluzeau of Air Insight Research, said American officials could end the 737 MAX's grounding toward the end of summer, with authorities in other countries following suit "several months" later.

"We're headed for a return to service that could drag on in time," he said.

- 'Transparency' -

Elwell said regulators also have yet to decide on changes to pilot training once the adjustments have been approved.

The United States has differed with a number of countries on this issue, including Canada. Washington believes training on computers or tablets is sufficient for season pilots but Ottawa wants to require training on flight simulators.

The European Aviation Safety Agency, Canada and Brazil are among countries saying they will conduct their own evaluations of the MCAS fix.

What China, the first country to ground the 737 MAX, will do is also an unknown given the flare-up in trade frictions with the United States.

About five dozen representatives from 33 countries accepted the FAA's invitation to attend the regulators' conference.

During the meeting, which is occurring behind closed doors at an FAA facility, Elwell and other officials will emphasize "transparency," explaining to their counterparts how the agency plans to evaluate the 737 MAX upgrade.

They will also lay out their procedures and seek input.

Regaining the public's trust will take time, according to opinion polls conducted by Southwest showing that many passengers are not yet ready to get back aboard a 737 MAX jet.

And pilots, on whom both the FAA and the air carriers depend, do not appear ready to write a blank check either.

"Before the Boeing MAX's return to service, we need answers and transparency," the European Cockpit Association said Thursday in a statement.

The organization, which represents 38,000 pilots from 36 countries, said it was "deeply disturbing" that the FAA and Boeing were considering a return to service while not disclosing "the many challenging questions prompted by the MAX design philosophy."

Beyond Boeing's reputation, the 737 MAX crisis comes at a major financial cost, given that the plane represented 80 percent of the company's order backlog as of the end of last month.

The company, which has suspended deliveries, is only paid at the moment of delivery and will have to indemnify air carriers for losses.
Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan says the Pentagon could send more troops to the Middle East

The United States is considering deploying more troops to the Middle East as it looks for ways to enhance the protection of its forces in the turbulent region, acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Thursday.

But Shanahan denied news reports that plans call for the deployment of as many as 10,000 more troops to the region, where tensions between the US and Iran are on the rise.

"What we're looking at, are there things that we can do to enhance force protection in the Middle East?" he said, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon. "It may involve sending additional troops."

The Pentagon has dispatched B-52-bombers and a Patriot missile battery to the region, and accelerated the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to the Gulf.

The movements have come in response to intelligence warnings of a heightened threat to US interests in the Middle East.

But they have also provoked skepticism among members of Congress who worry that brinksmanship with Tehran could lead to a dangerous miscalculation.

Shanahan earlier in the week said the US response had put the threat "on hold."

"We have deterred attacks based on reposturing of assets -- deterred attacks against American forces," Shanahan told reporters Tuesday after delivering a classified briefing to the full US Congress.

"Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian miscalculation. We do not want the situation to escalate," he said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a February 2018 visit to New Delhi

India has ended all imports of oil from Iran, its ambassador in Washington said Thursday, becoming the latest country to grudgingly comply with threatened US sanctions.

India had already sharply decreased its imports from Iran and bought one million tonnes (tons) of crude in April, the last month before Washington stepped up its pressure campaign against Tehran and ended all exemptions to sanctions, Ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

"That's it. After that we haven't imported any," Shringla told reporters during a briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election victory.

Shringla said that energy-hungry India has also ended all imports from Venezuela because it considered itself a partner of the United States -- but said the shift had caused pain at home, with Iran formerly supplying 10 percent of India's oil needs.

Calling Iran "an extended neighbor" of India with longstanding cultural links, Shringla declined to say if New Delhi shared President Donald Trump's concerns about Tehran.

"This is an issue that has to be dealt with, really, between the United States and Iran. We are only, in many senses, looking at it as a third party," Shringla said.

But he added: "We would not like to see a move towards any escalation in any way in that area, for the simple reason that we depend very heavily on stability in that part of the world."

Trump last year pulled out of a multinational pact under which Iran drastically scaled back its nuclear work in return for promises of sanctions relief.

The Trump administration has instead ramped up economic pressure on Iran and recently deployed military assets including an aircraft carrier strike group to the area.

The United States as of May 2 ended exemptions it had given to eight governments from its unilateral order to stop buying Iranian oil.

Turkey, which enjoyed a waiver and vocally disagreed with the US policy, has also stopped importing oil from Iran, a Turkish official said Wednesday.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus welcomed the news from Turkey.

"We want the whole world to comply with these sanctions, and we're grateful for our partners and allies that are respecting them," she told reporters.

The Indian ambassador, however, voiced confidence that US sanctions would not affect its partnership in developing Iran's Chabahar port.

India wants to use the port to ship supplies into Afghanistan in a detour from its arch-rival Pakistan, which historically backed the Taliban.

"I think it is in the interest of both our countries and all others concerned to ensure that that lifeline continues for the people of Afghanistan," Shringla said.
Anti-abortion activists try to disrupt a march by people calling for abortion rights in Washington on January 22, 2019

While abortion is legal nationwide, Americans have unequal access to the procedure, depending on their location in the United States and how much they are able to spend.

"If you live in the South or the middle of the country, access is very limited; if you live in the cities in the West and the Northeast, access is more available," said Elizabeth Nash, state policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, which campaigns for women's rights to abortion.

The disparities are great indeed, from the more than 150 abortion clinics available in the most populous state of California, to only one in states like Mississippi in the South or Missouri in the Midwest.

State laws also vary widely on other matters like speed limits for drivers and marriage age requirements, but the Supreme Court has set a "minimum standard throughout the entire country," noted Meg Penrose, of the Texas A&M School of Law.

In a series of rulings dating back to the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision, the high court has found that "before a fetus is viable, a woman has a constitutional right to exercise the choice to terminate a pregnancy."

A fetus is considered viable -- able to survive outside the womb -- from around the 24th week of pregnancy.

That said, "the 50 independent states retain the right to ensure that we don't put a woman's health at risk," so long as they don't place an "undue burden" on women, Penrose added.

That standard is "fairly vague" and "has really allowed abortion restriction to proliferate in the country," Nash said.

The Guttmacher Institute has found more than 1,200 restrictions in place since 1973.

- Progressive restrictions -

Abortion rights activists warn that placing restrictions on access to the procedure can lead to unsafe terminations of pregnancy

Conservative states have slowly chipped away at abortion access, starting by imposing strict conditions to facilities that provided the procedure, such as requiring that they be located near a hospital or have operating rooms or halls of a certain size.

In other states, like Mississippi and North Carolina, women can undergo abortion only within 20 weeks of gestation.

Five states require that women be alerted to links between abortion and breast cancer that have not been proven. And doctors in 13 states must advise women considering abortion that the fetus may feel pain -- a scientifically controversial claim.

Another major divide is money. Eleven states ban private medical insurance companies from reimbursing abortions, which cost around $500 each.

Some 16 states with more liberal majorities use their own funds to fund abortions for the poor. Half require no parental authorization for minors and no delay between an initial consultation and the procedure.

- Evangelicals -

There are about 15 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in the United States, which is similar to rates in Britain and France

There are about 15 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in the United States, which is similar to rates in Britain and France.

But in the southern state of Alabama there are just slightly more than six procedures per 1,000 women, compared to 23 per 1,000 in northeastern New York state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Other factors besides local laws that influence access to abortion include "education, religion, economic development, rural versus urban," said A.E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia School of Law.

Anti-abortion sentiment tends to be stronger in the so-called Bible Belt, a band of socially conservative states in the South and Midwest where socially conservative Evangelical Christians have a powerful say in politics and society.

Nearly 60 percent of people living in Alabama or Mississippi want abortion to be illegal, while 74 percent of those in Massachusetts back keeping it legal, according to a 2014 Pew poll.

The gap could deepen under the sway of the Supreme Court's conservative majority, reinforced with the recent ascent of two justices appointed by President Donald Trump.

The most conservative states in the country have launched a major offensive against abortion in the hope that the court will overturn its 1973 decision.

"The Supreme Court is not going to outlaw abortion. More likely, it will overrule Roe v Wade and leave it for the states to decide ... you could have 50 different regimes," said Howard.
NASA plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024, for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972

NASA on Thursday unveiled the calendar for the "Artemis" program that will return astronauts to the Moon for the first time in half a century, including eight scheduled launches and a mini-station in lunar orbit by 2024.

The original lunar missions were named for Apollo -- Artemis was his twin sister in Greek mythology, and the goddess of hunting, wilderness and the Moon.

Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed that Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed mission around the Moon planned for 2020.

Next will come Artemis 2, which will orbit Earth's satellite with a crew around 2022; followed finally by Artemis 3 that will put astronauts on lunar soil in 2024, including the first woman.

The three will be launched into space by the biggest rocket of all time, the Boeing-led Space Launch System (SLS), which is currently under development but has seen numerous delays and has been criticized in some quarters as a bloated jobs program.

Affixed to its summit will be the Orion capsule, for which Lockheed Martin is the primary contractor.

In addition to these missions, which will be all NASA's efforts, there will be five launches carrying the building blocks of the lunar mini-station "Gateway" which will serve as a staging point for the Moon landing.

These will be carried out between 2022 and 2024 by private space companies, which NASA will pay for their services.

The orbital station will initially consist of a simple power and propulsion element and a small habitat module. In 2024, astronauts will stop there en route to the Moon.

They will then descend to the surface on a lander.

A part of the lander will remain on the Moon while the other part will take off and allow the astronauts to return to their station, where they will board the Orion capsule and return to Earth.

Bridenstine said Thursday that NASA had chosen private firm Maxar to build the station's first module, the power and propulsion element, which would rely on huge solar panels.

In the coming months, NASA will have to decide on who will build the lander. Aerospace giants such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are vying for the contract as are new players like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

"We're not owning the hardware, we're buying the service," said Bridenstine of the lander. "The goal here is speed. 2024 is right around the corner."

He added: "Our goal is ultimately to move on to Mars and not get stuck on the surface of the Moon"
Tornado hits Missouri

Rescuers searched door-to-door for survivors Thursday in the central US state of Missouri following a deadly storm that swept through the region, triggering dozens of tornadoes and damaging floods.

Three people were killed in the small town of Golden City, Missouri, officials said, while residents in the state capital Jefferson City were taking stock of damage caused by what the National Weather Service called a "large and destructive" tornado Wednesday night.

"Last night's tornado activity and the increased flooding has been devastating our state," Governor Mike Parson said on Twitter.

The weather service estimated that the tornado was an EF-3 on a scale of zero to five, with peak winds of 160 mph (257 km per hour).

The twister destroyed homes, ripped away walls and sheared roofs in Jefferson City. Splintered trees and downed power lines clogged roads.

The full extent and cost of the damage was not immediately clear.

"I didn't realize how emotional it would be to see the devastation in this town and everything torn up," resident Eric Powell told KMOV television as he surveyed the aftermath.

"It's just devastating to see the damage," he said.

One bit of good news came from the state's Office of Administration which announced Thursday afternoon that the Missouri State Capitol building was not damaged.

Rescue workers checked door-to-door for survivors. Some 20 people were treated at hospitals overnight, officials said.

Despite the widespread destruction, there were no reports of deaths or additional injuries in Jefferson City.

- More storms expected -

The widespread damage was expected to displace some residents for weeks. The University of Missouri offered housing on its campus.

"As we talk with local and state officials to understand the full scope of the disaster and recovery efforts, we will deploy additional help," Gary Ward, the university's operations chief, said in a statement.

More than two dozen tornadoes were reported overnight in Missouri and neighboring Oklahoma. Thousands were left without electricity.

Ameren Missouri, an energy provider, said more than 400 crews were working to restore power in Jefferson City, but that outages could last through the weekend.

The weather service predicted strong and severe storms would continue through the weekend in Missouri and adjacent Illinois, causing "continued river flooding throughout the Missouri and Mississippi River basins."

Floodwaters rose in Oklahoma, damaging or destroying homes along swollen waterways. There were concerns that some dams could give way and residents were urged to be ready to evacuate.

Several homes were reported destroyed in the small town of Crescent along the Cimarron River, while people living close to a dam on Keystone Lake in the city of Tulsa were encouraged to evacuate or be prepared to do so because the dam could breach.

KJRH television reported loose barges hit a dam on the Arkansas River in Muskogee, Oklahoma. There were no immediate reports of dam failure.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van on May 1 in London before being sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012

The Justice Department on Thursday charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with violating the US Espionage Act in the publishing of military and diplomatic files in 2010, rejecting his claim that he is a journalist.

The department unveiled 17 new charges against Assange, accusing him of aiding and abetting Chelsea Manning with stealing secret US files and also recklessly exposing and endangering confidential sources in the Middle East and China who were named in the files.

The charges against Assange, now 18 in total, reject his claim that he was simply a publisher receiving leaked material from Manning, an action that is protected under the US Constitution's First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of the press.

A new indictment alleges that Assange conspired with Manning to steal the hundreds of thousands of classified files "with reason to believe that the information was to be used to the injury of the United States or the advantage of a foreign nation," the Justice Department said.

It also said that Assange rejected the US State Department's warning in 2010 to redact the names of its and the US military's confidential sources in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran and China, sources it said included journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents.

"Assange's actions risked serious harm to United States national security to the benefit of our adversaries and put the unredacted named human sources at a grave and imminent risk of serious physical harm and/or arbitrary detention," the department said.

"The department takes seriously the role of journalists in our democracy," said Assistant Attorney General John Demers. "But Julian Assange is no journalist."

"Indeed, no responsible act of journalism would purposely publish the names of individuals he or she knew to be confidential sources in war zones, exposing them to the gravest of dangers," he said.

Assange is in prison in Britain for jumping bail and faces a US extradition request when he is released 11 months from now.

WikiLeaks blasted the new charges, saying it threatened reporters broadly.

"This is madness. It is the end of national security journalism and the first amendment," the group tweeted.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Illegal killings and longstanding political resistance have undercut the return of two species of endangered wolves to the wild, frustrating government efforts that already cost more than $80 million but have failed to meet recovery targets.

The number of red wolves roaming the forests of North Carolina has plunged to fewer than three dozen in recent years - the most precarious position of any U.S. wolf species.

In the Southwest, a record number of Mexican gray wolves turned up dead in 2018, tempering an increase in the overall population to 131 animals.

With such small numbers in the wild, biologists say poaching has a big effect. Over the last two decades, more than half of Mexican wolf deaths and about one in four red wolf deaths resulted from gunshots or were otherwise deemed illegal, The Associated Press found.

"It's basically a numbers game," said Brady McGee, who heads the Mexican wolf recovery program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "As we're trying to recover these wolves in the wild, illegal mortalities are still one of the biggest threats."

For red wolves, gunshot deaths are a problem particularly when hunting season collides with wolf breeding season, said Pete Benjamin, a Fish and Wildlife Service field supervisor in North Carolina.

A female red wolf emerges from her den sheltering newborn pups at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., on Monday, May 13, 2019. The Associated Press found that over the last two decades, more than half of Mexican wolf deaths and about one in four red wolf deaths resulted from gunshots or were otherwise deemed illegal. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Wolf recovery is further hindered by political opposition over attacks on livestock or game animals and longstanding arguments over whether the wolves should be treated as distinct species warranting continued protection.

With no changes to current management, the wild population of red wolves likely will be lost within the next decade, according to federal officials . The Mexican gray wolf recovery team is more confident and hopes to double the number in the wild over several years.

___

FRAUGHT HISTORY, MIXED RESULTS

Conflicts over wolves have persisted since Europeans arrived in America. Bounties paid by early settlers gave way to government extermination campaigns as the animals clashed with the agrarian way of life.

When federal officials began recovery efforts in the late 1960s, only remnant populations remained outside Alaska - Western gray wolves along the U.S.-Canada border, red wolves on the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana and Mexican wolves south of the border.

Reintroduction programs faced stiff resistance from ranchers and rural communities, a hurdle that so far the Western gray wolf alone has overcome.

Western gray wolves now number around 6,000 in the Northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest and Western Great Lakes. They're legal to hunt in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, and U.S. officials in March announced plans to end their remaining federal protections across the Lower 48 states.

The main reason for their success is location: Western gray wolves were reintroduced to areas with expansive public lands and plenty of deer, elk and other prey.

"The habitat was so good that it didn't matter if half the people hated them," said Ed Bangs, a retired federal biologist who led recovery efforts in the Northern Rockies.

By contrast, Mexican wolves live in isolated desert mountain ranges, where year-round livestock grazing increases their odds of running into trouble. Red wolves are in an area dominated by farms and private land.

At least 96 red wolves died of gunshot wounds over nearly three decades. For Mexican wolves, 83 deaths were classified as "illegal" over 20 years and that doesn't include any of the 21 deaths in 2018 still under investigation.

The Mexican and red wolf populations are struggling despite a great amount of money and work put into their reintroduction.

Since 1977, more than $44.2 million has been spent on the Mexican wolf, according to federal reports. At least $39.4 million has been spent on red wolves over the past three decades.

About $160 million more has been spent primarily on Western gray wolves.

___

DWINDLING RED WOLVES

Legal protections for red wolves have been solidified by the recent scientific conclusion that they're a distinct species, not a wolf-coyote hybrid as some landowners argued. But conservationists worry the news comes too late, with only 25 to 30 of the canines left in the wild and 200 or more in captive breeding programs.

After red wolves were reintroduced to North Carolina in 1987, the wild population grew beyond 100 and remained stable through 2012.

"For almost 25 years, this was hugely successful. It was money well-spent," said Ramona McGee, a lawyer for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Yet a 1990 federal recovery plan goal for 220 animals in the wild was never met.

Wolf numbers were bolstered by releases of captive-born pups and sterilization of coyotes that competed for space. But those approaches were halted in 2015 amid pressure from conservative politicians and landowners who deemed wolves a nuisance.

Conservationists contend the government abandoned proven techniques. "The biggest problem now is not the mortality, it's the lack of releases," said McGee, the lawyer.

Benjamin, the government field supervisor, said the wild red wolf population already was declining before pup releases stopped, declining to say whether political pressure influenced the decision.

Bill Rich, an eastern North Carolina landowner, complains wolves have made it harder to fight coyotes that kill deer on game land. A federal judge in 2014 banned night hunting of coyotes in red wolf territory because the canines are easily mixed up.

Rich says the reintroduction program is a failure and should be scrapped.

___

HURDLES IN THE SOUTHWEST

Federal managers face similar resistance in the Southwest, where ranchers see Mexican wolves as a threat to their livelihood. Wolves were found responsible for killing nearly 100 cows and calves last year. In March alone, livestock kills totaled 20, and ranchers say their calving rates are dropping because of the wolves.

Wolves also represent competition to outfitters and hunters seeking elk in southwestern New Mexico and Arizona.

Tom Klumker, a hunting guide in the Gila backcountry, fears the reintroduction program will push ranchers, hunters and rural residents from the land.

"We were doing pretty well with just the mountain lion and bear and coyotes but when they added the wolves to the mix, why, things started to go south pretty quick," he said.

Environmentalists have long criticized the Fish and Wildlife Service for not releasing more captive-bred Mexican wolves. They're suing over the federal recovery goal of 320 wolves in the wild, saying it should be vastly more than that.

Retired biologist Dave Parsons, who led Mexican wolf recovery efforts during the 1990s, said the government has a responsibility under the Endangered Species Act to ensure the predators have a chance to fulfill their ecological role.

Otherwise, he said, the wolves risk becoming "museum pieces in the wild."

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Susan Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Matthew Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

___

Follow Matthew Brown at https://twitter.com/matthewbrownap , Jonathan Drew at www.twitter.com/JonathanLDrew and Susan Montoya Bryan at https://twitter.com/susanmbryanNM

This Nov. 18, 2013 photo provided by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service shows a red wolf found shot in Washington County, N.C. Wildlife officials warn the red wolves of North Carolina could be gone from the wild within a decade. (USFWS via AP)

A pair of red wolves huddle at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., on Monday, May 13, 2019. With less than three dozen roaming the forests of North Carolina, the red wolf has seen its numbers crash in recent years, putting it in the most precarious position of any wolf species in the U.S. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

A red wolf peers from behind a tree at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., on Monday, May 13, 2019. For red wolves, gunshot deaths are a problem particularly when hunting season collides with wolf breeding season, said Pete Benjamin, a Fish and Wildlife Service field supervisor in North Carolina. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

A red wolf roams its habitat at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., on Monday, May 13, 2019. Wolf recovery is hindered by political opposition over attacks on livestock or game animals and longstanding arguments over whether the wolves should be treated as distinct species warranting continued protection. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

A female red wolf peers from within a tree trunk in its habitat at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., on Monday, May 13, 2019. Conflicts over wolves have persisted since Europeans arrived in America. Bounties paid by early settlers gave way to government extermination campaigns as the animals clashed with the agrarian way of life. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

FILE - In this April 18, 2019 photo provided by the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Mo., four of six Mexican wolves born recently in captivity are held at the center, after landing in Phoenix, Ariz., for relocation into the wild. A team from the center and U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists placed them with wolf dens along the Arizona and New Mexico borders, where they will be raised by foster parents in the wild. Officials with the center say the pups add to the population in the wild but also add much-needed genetic diversity. (Endangered Wolf Center/ Rachel Crosby via AP)

FILE - In this April 18, 2019 photo provided by the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Mo., Regina Mossotti, left, U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists Cyrenea Piper, center, and Allison Greenleaf prepare Mexican wolf pups born in captivity at the center to be relocated to wolf dens along the border of Arizona and New Mexico. Six pups at the center were placed with dens in the wild in an effort to increase population and add genetic diversity. The Mexican wolf, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, was nearly extinct before repopulation efforts began in the 1970s. About 150 now live in the wild in the Southwest. (Rachel Crosby/Endangered Wolf Center via AP)

FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 16, 1998 file photo, David Parsons, leader of the Mexican wolf recovery team of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service and Diane Boyd-Heger, a Mexican wolf biologist, lift a crate carrying a female Mexican wolf who refused to leave her cage after being released into the wild, in the Apache National forest in Alpine, Ariz. (AP Photo/Jeff Robbins, File)

American red wolves Artemis, right, and Oka, left, keep watch over their 5-week-old pups at the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Mo., on Monday, May 20, 2019. For red wolves, gunshot deaths are a problem particularly when hunting season collides with wolf breeding season, said Pete Benjamin, a Fish and Wildlife Service field supervisor in North Carolina. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Mexican gray wolves rest atop their den at the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Mo., on Monday, May 20, 2019. With such small numbers in the wild, biologists say poaching has a big effect. Over the last two decades, more than half of Mexican wolf deaths and about one in four red wolf deaths resulted from gunshots or were otherwise deemed illegal, The Associated Press found. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A 7-week-old Mexican gray wolf pup explores its surroundings at the Endangered Wolf Center Monday, May 20, 2019, in Eureka, Mo. The Mexican gray wolf recovery team hopes to double the number in the wild over several years. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A Mexican gray wolf is seen at the Endangered Wolf Center Monday, May 20, 2019, in Eureka, Mo. Federal managers face resistance in the Southwest, where ranchers see Mexican wolves as a threat to their livelihood. Wolves were found responsible for killing nearly 100 cows and calves last year. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

This May 25, 2014 photo provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a 100-pound adult male wolf which was outfitted with a GPS radio-collar in the Mt. Emily area. The Mexican and red wolf populations are struggling despite a great amount of money and work put into their reintroduction. (ODFW via AP)

This Feb. 1, 2017 photo provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows the Western gray wolf Snake River pack seen by a remote camera in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. (ODFW via AP)

This Fall 2007 photo provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows Western gray wolf tracks in the north Keating Wildlife Management Unit in Baker County. A wolf's hind foot is smaller in size and generally placed in front of the front foot when trotting. (ODFW via AP)

This Jan. 21, 2017 photo provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a Western gray wolf from the Walla Walla Pack seen by a remote camera in northern Umatilla County. (ODFW via AP)

FILE - In this Thursday, March 7, 2019 file photo, Ella, a Siberian Husky, stands with her owner, Tracey Conway, second from right, during a protest at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in Seattle. Protesters were opposing a proposal made Wednesday by the Trump administration to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states. The plan has gotten a mixed reaction in Washington state. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Big cities in the U.S. aren't growing like they used to.

Most of the nation's largest cities last year grew by a fraction of the numbers they did earlier in the decade, according to population and housing unit estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The previous growth big cities had experienced in the first half of the decade was fueled by millennials who delayed home-buying in the suburbs after the recession and stuck it out in large cities, said William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brooking Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program.

The recession's aftermath "stranded a lot of millennials in cities rather than their moving off to the suburbs," Frey said.

The rising cost of housing in the urban cores of major metro areas also likely played a role, said Stephen Klineberg, founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University in Houston.

"It's getting so expensive to live in San Francisco, New York or Denver," Klineberg said.

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2015, file photo, ice covered Lake Michigan is seen behind downtown skyline, in Chicago. Big cities, like Chicago, aren't growing like they used to. New figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday, May 23, 2019, show most of the nation's largest cities last year grew by a fraction of the numbers they did earlier this decade. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

The Census data released Thursday looked at changes in cities and towns from mid-2017 to mid-2018. The data doesn't reflect changes in metropolitan areas comprising multiple cities, towns, suburbs and counties.

The weakening in growth appears to have started two years ago, and accelerated last year.

Perhaps no other city offers as stark an example of the trend than New York City, the nation's most populous city with just under 8.4 million residents last year. Even though the city has grown by 223,000 residents since 2010, the most of any city over the past eight years except Houston, most of the growth was in the early part of the decade. At its height, New York City grew by more than 82,000 residents in 2011, but it lost 39,000 residents last year.

Last month, when the U.S. Census Bureau released county-level data that showed identical population loss, New York City's planners took umbrage with the federal agency's methodology, saying international migrants were undercounted.

"While population growth has likely slowed, the Census Bureau's methodology is not robust enough to precisely quantify the magnitude of these year-to-year changes," the planners said on the city website.

With the exceptions of Phoenix and San Antonio, the phenomenon of slowing growth in the nation's largest cities also has hit Sunbelt cities including Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas, where the populations grew, but at a fraction of their growth six years ago. San Jose, California, lost more than 2,000 residents last year.

"There is a growing moving-away from cities," Frey said. "The first part of the decade was an aberration. Cities were growing faster than suburbs. That is starting to turn around."

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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The mystery of whether Gov. Ralph Northam was in the racist yearbook photo that upended Virginia politics may never be solved, but one thing is clear: The governor has survived what many initially thought was a fatal blow and has managed to return to something resembling normal.

Since a picture surfaced in February from Northam's 1984 medical school yearbook page showing a man in blackface standing next to someone in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe, Northam has managed to fend off demands for his resignation.

He's even won praise from black lawmakers for such moves as ending the suspension of driver's licenses for unpaid fines and ordering a review of how schools teach America's racial history.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what else comes out of the administration," said Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, a member of the black caucus and a rising star in her party who is considering a statewide run in 2021.

Stephen Morris, an African American from Suffolk, reacted with a shrug Wednesday after attorneys hired by Eastern Virginia Medical School said they couldn't "conclusively determine" the identities of either person in the 35-year-old photo.

"I don't take it to be a big thing. As long as he's doing the right thing with our government, I don't think he should leave office at all," Morris said.

FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2019 file photo, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, left, gestures as his wife, Pam, listens during a news conference in the Governors Mansion at the Capitol in Richmond, Va. A law firm has completed its investigation into how a racist photo appeared on a yearbook page for Northam. Eastern Virginia Medical School said in a statement Tuesday, May 21 that the findings of the investigation will be announced at a press conference on Wednesday, May 22. Northam's profile in the 1984 yearbook includes a photo of a man in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan clothing. Northam denies being in the photo, which nearly ended his political career in February. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Such a muted response is a far cry from a few months ago when Northam's clumsy response to the picture caused a major uproar. The Democrat initially acknowledged he was in the photo and apologized, then reversed course the next day, saying he was not in it.

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, the state House Democratic Caucus, the state Senate Democratic Caucus, the Democratic Party of Virginia, and every Virginia Democrat in Congress called on Northam to resign. So did Democratic presidential hopefuls and several key progressive groups that have been some of the governor's closest political allies.

"People he naively thought were friends didn't even make a phone call to at least tell the governor they were going to call for his resignation," Northam's chief of staff, Clark Mercer, told lawyers investigating the yearbook picture.

In a statement Wednesday, Northam, a 59-year-old pediatric neurologist, repeated that he's not in the photo and apologized again to Virginians, admitting his handling of the episode "deepened pain and confusion."

The picture started a wave of scandals that quickly enveloped Northam's two potential successors, both Democrats. Two women publicly accused Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, which he denied. And just days after calling on Northam to resign, Attorney General Mark Herring announced he, too, had worn blackface in the 1980s when he was in college.

Both Fairfax and Herring also ignored calls to resign. The Democratic Party of Virginia recently rejected a bid by Fairfax to sponsor a table at the party's biggest fundraising dinner of the year. And Herring, who had previously announced a run for governor in 2021, faces an uncertain political future.

And while Northam has been able to return to a sense of normalcy, his tenure will forever be marked by the scandal. He recently had to cancel a political fundraiser where protesters gathered, and withdrew as a commencement speaker at his alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute.

The three interlocking scandals briefly raised the possibility that Virginia's top three Democrats would lose their jobs and the Republican House speaker would become governor.

On Wednesday, GOP House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert panned the investigation, saying the report didn't prove Northam isn't in the picture. He also noted that according to the report, the medical school's leaders knew about the picture before it became public and said nothing.

"It certainly appears that there was an effort to avoid public disclosure of such a racist photograph on the yearbook page of the most prominent alumni in school history," Gilbert said.

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Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia.

McGuire Woods law firm partner, Richard Cullen, left, gestures as Ben Hatch, right, listen during a news conference on a report announcing the results of an investigation into a blackface photo that appeared on the yearbook page of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam from his Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook in Norfolk, Va., Wednesday, May 22, 2019. An investigation ordered up by Eastern Virginia Medical School failed to determine whether Gov. Ralph Northam is in a 1984 yearbook photo of a man in blackface next to someone in a Ku Klux Klan hood. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School of Medicine, Richard Homan, left, speaks to the media as attorney for McGuire Woods law firm, Ben Hatch, center, and McGuire Woods partner, Richard Cullen, right, listen during a news conference on a report announcing the results of an investigation into a blackface photo that appeared on the yearbook page of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam from his Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook in Norfolk, Va., Wednesday, May 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A battle between the press and police is playing out in politically liberal San Francisco after police raided a freelance reporter's home and office seeking to uncover the source of a leaked police report into the unexpected death of the city's former elected public defender.

Journalist Bryan Carmody did not commit a crime when he acquired and published a police report, said First Amendment expert David Snyder because a police report is "not a confidential, legally protected document" and its disclosure and publication is lawful.

Snyder said a journalist who participated in unlawfully acquiring information could be successfully prosecuted for a crime, but that was not the case here.

Carmody said he received the report from a source and did not pay for it, though legal experts argue doing so would not have been a crime. Still, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said the journalist "crossed the line," motivated by profit or animosity toward the late public defender, Jeff Adachi.

An autopsy found Adachi died Feb. 22 of a mixture of cocaine and alcohol, compromising an already bad heart.

Attorney Duffy Carolan, who represents several media organizations siding with Carmody, agrees that the public has constitutional rights to public records.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott answers questions during a news conference, Tuesday, May 21, 2019, in San Francisco. Police agreed Tuesday to return property seized from a San Francisco journalist in a raid, but the decision did little to ease tensions in the case, which has alarmed journalism advocates and put pressure on city leaders. Authorities have said the May 10 raids on freelancer Bryan Carmody's home and office were part of an investigation into what police called the illegal leak of a report on the death of former Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who died unexpectedly in February. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

"The impact of trying to criminalize disclosure of public records, whether or not it violated internal policy or practice, will have a profound effect on public employees' willingness to disclose public records," she said. "It would have a chilling effect."

San Francisco Sgt. Michael Andraychak said Wednesday that the report was not a public record and that state law protects crime reports when "disclosure would endanger the successful completion of the investigation or a related investigation."

Media experts counter that although the law allows police to keep reports secret, nothing in the law stops them from releasing the information. They note police did not raid the office of San Francisco Chronicle reporter who obtained the same information independently of Carmody. The newspaper has said it did not pay for the report.

Police used a sledgehammer to try to get into Carmody's home and handcuffed him for hours as they searched and subsequently removed dozens of cameras, cellphones, computers and other equipment.

"We believe that that contact, and that interaction went across the line," the police chief said Tuesday in his first remarks since the May 10 raids. The department said the same day at a court hearing that Carmody's property would be returned while the legal wrangling proceeds.

Reporters and other First Amendment organizations want a judge to revoke search warrants that authorized the raids and to unseal the materials submitted in support of them. Because the warrants are under seal, it's not known what information police provided to support the search, or whether they disclosed that Carmody is a journalist.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that journalists are free to report on newsworthy information contained in stolen documents or illegally intercepted telephone communications obtained from a third party who violated the law, said Carolan.

The justices may have ruled differently had the journalists encouraged or aided in the unlawful interception of the call, she said. But that is not the same as a reporter encouraging a public official or public employee to provide a public record.

"That is what reporters do every day," Carolan said.

California's shield law specifically protects journalists from search warrants. The Associated Press is among dozens of news organizations siding with Carmody and seeking to submit a friend-of-the-court brief.

Snyder, of the First Amendment Coalition, said the chief's comments seemed to suggest a police employee may have accessed an unauthorized system to obtain confidential information, which the report is not.

"Would an offer by the journalist to pay the source to break the law be enough? Maybe. It would depend on the circumstances," he said.

"I don't think it matters what Carmody's motivations were. The question is: Was his conduct protected by the First Amendment? And all the facts I've seen thus far show it was," he said.

Scott has not provided details of the leak investigation other than to say that Carmody was an active participant in acquiring a police record, which the reporter then sold to three television news outlets as part of a news package that included information obtained from interviews and video footage from the scene of Adachi's death.

Carmody has not responded to requests for comment, although he posted on Twitter on Wednesday the hashtag #journalismisnotacrime. A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $16,000 for him.

In this May 10, 2019, image from video provided by Bryan Carmody San Francisco police armed with sledgehammers execute a search warrant at journalist Bryan Carmody's home in San Francisco. The San Francisco reporter is seeking the return of property after police raided his home, as officials sought to determine the source of a leaked police report into the death of the city's public defender. An attorney for Carmody will make the request Tuesday, May 21 in San Francisco County Superior Court. (Bryan Carmody/@bryanccarmody via AP)

In this photo taken Tuesday, May 21, 2019, from left, David Snyder, an attorney with the First Amendment Coalition, attorney Duffy Carolan, and Thomas Burke, attorney for freelance journalist Bryan Carmody, talk outside a courtroom before a hearing in San Francisco. Advocates of the press pushed back against a San Francisco police chief who said a freelance journalist had "crossed the line" in conspiring to steal a police report, saying that it is not a crime to disclose a public record. Carolan, who is representing several media organizations siding with the independent reporter, says that the public has constitutional rights to access public records. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Thomas Burke, attorney for freelance journalist Bryan Carmody, followed by David Snyder, First Amendment Coalition Executive Director, make their way into a courtroom Tuesday, May 21, 2019, in San Francisco. A San Francisco police attorney said that Carmody, whose office and work equipment was seized in a police raid, can collect his property although the legal issues surrounding the case were not resolved Tuesday. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Samuel Feng set dates to hear separate motions to quash search warrants used to raid the home of Carmody and to unseal those warrants. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Pro-European Dutch parties were predicted Thursday to win most of the country's seats in the European Parliament, with right-wing populist opponents of the European Union managing to take only four of the nation's 26 seats.

In a surprise forecast, the Dutch Labor Party of European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans became the country's biggest party in the 751-seat European Parliament, according to an Ipsos exit poll.

"What an unbelievable exit poll!" Labor leader Lodewijk Asscher told a gathering of cheering party faithful.

The poll was published by Dutch national broadcaster NOS after polling stations closed Thursday evening in Netherlands. Earlier in the day, Dutch and British voters kicked off the first of four days of voting for the European Parliament in all of the EU's 28 nations.

Official results will only be announced after the last polling station in the EU closes late Sunday.

The Dutch Labor party was forecast to win five seats, while the pro-European center right VVD of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte gained one seat to win a total of four seats.

A woman arrived at a polling station located in West Blatchington Windmill near Hove, south east England, Thursday May 23, 2019, as polls opened in elections for the European Parliament. (Steve Parsons/PA via AP)

"There is a clear majority of people in the Netherlands, if you count them altogether, who want the European Union to continue playing a role in tackling problems that need to be solved," Timmermans told NOS, speaking from Spain.

Timmermans is a broadly respected former Dutch foreign minister who is trying to become the next president of the European Commission.

The Dutch right-wing populist group Forum for Democracy was forecast by the Ipsos exit poll to win three seats in its first European elections, but those gains didn't primarily come at the expense of Europe's mainstream parties. Instead, it appeared they came from other populists. The anti-Islam Party for Freedom led by firebrand lawmaker Geert Wilders lost three of its four EU seats, according to the poll.

The splintered result echoes Dutch domestic politics: There are 13 parties in the 150-seat national parliament.

The United Kingdom was the only other EU country to vote Thursday, even as the nation remained in political turmoil over its plans to leave the bloc altogether. No exit polls were expected Thursday night from the UK voting.

The elections come as support is surging for populists and nationalists who want to rein in the EU's powers and strictly limit immigration. Meanwhile, Europe's traditional political powerhouses, both conservative and left-wing, insist that unity is the best buffer against the shifting economic and security challenges posed by an emerging new world order.

But populists across several countries have united to challenge those centrist forces. On Saturday, Italy's anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was joined at a rally by 10 other nationalist leaders, including far-right leaders Wilders, Marine Le Pen of France's National Rally party and Joerg Meuthen of the Alternative for Germany party.

Wilders vowed to keep fighting the populist cause even after his party's projected big defeat.

"We had hoped for more seats," Wilders said in a statement. "But with one seat in the European Parliament we will, together with our European friends, fight even harder against the EU monster, Islam and mass-migration."

Voters across Europe are electing 751 lawmakers, although that number is set to drop to 705 when Britain eventually leaves the EU. The U.K. has 73 European lawmakers, who would lose their jobs when their country completes its messy divorce from the EU. Some of its seats will be reassigned to other EU member states.

The British vote may have a direct impact on the future of embattled Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Conservative Party appears to be losing support amid a prolonged Brexit impasse. May has tried but failed for months to get lawmakers in the British Parliament to back her plan to leave the EU.

Both the Conservatives and Labour in Britain were predicted to be heading for an electoral pasting in Thursday's vote, due to the chaos over Brexit. Results of the vote will be announced Sunday night, and a poor showing for the Conservatives would increase the calls for May to step down as party leader, which would set in motion a leadership contest.

Britain's Brexit party, led by Nigel Farage, has appeared to gain strength in recent voter surveys. Farage voted Thursday, then declared that he hopes to have the shortest possible tenure as a member of the European Parliament because he wants Britain to leave the EU as quickly as possible.

"If you want Brexit, you've got to vote Brexit," he said, warning lawmakers from Britain's two major parties - Conservatives and Labour - that they will be vanquished at Britain's next general election unless they respect voters' desire to leave the EU.

Voting in Britain was marred by the inability of hundreds of the 3 million EU citizens in Britain to vote despite having a legal right to do so. EU citizens who wanted to vote in Britain had to complete a form confirming they would not be voting in their homelands. Some say they did not receive the forms.

The Electoral Commission blamed the problem on the short notice that officials had to prepare for the election, which would not have been held in Britain if the country had left the EU in March, as planned.

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Katz reported from London.

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte leaves on his bike after voting in the European elections in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis)

Thierry Baudet, leader of the populist party Forum for Democracy, casts his ballot for the European elections in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Dutch polls have opened in elections for the European Parliament, starting four days of voting across the 28-nation bloc that pits supporters of deeper integration against populist Euroskeptics who want more power for their national governments. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Thierry Baudet, leader of the populist party Forum for Democracy, casts his ballot for the European elections in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Dutch polls have opened in elections for the European Parliament, starting four days of voting across the 28-nation bloc that pits supporters of deeper integration against populist Euroskeptics who want more power for their national governments. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, casts his ballot in the European elections in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis)

Leader of Dutch Party for Freedom Geert Wilders casts his ballot for the European elections in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis)

Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, center, arrives at a polling station to cast his vote in the European elections in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis)

Jeremy Corbyn leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party after voting in the European Elections in London, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Election volunteers staff a polling station located in a launderette in Headington, England, Thursday May 23, 2019, as polls opened in elections for the European Parliament. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

Monks Father Leonard Norman, left, and Father Mark Caira from the Sancta Maria Abbey in Garvald, Scotland, arrive at a polling station to cast their votes for the European Parliamentary election. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte casts his ballot for the European elections in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis)

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte takes a photo on a phone at a polling station in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 23, 2019, as polls opened in elections for the European Parliament. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip arrive at a polling station to vote in the European Elections in Sonning, England, Thursday, May 23, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Workers clean the European Council headquarters entrance glasses at the European quarter in Brussels, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Dutch and British voters were the first to have their say Thursday in elections for the European Parliament, starting four days of voting across the 28-nation bloc that pits supporters of deeper integration against populist euroskeptics who want more power for their national governments. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

From left, Mother Hildegarde, Mother Xavier and Mother Macrina from the Tyburn Convent leave after casting their votes at St John Parish Church in Hyde Park, London, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Dutch and British voters were the first to have their say Thursday in elections for the European Parliament, starting four days of voting across the 28-nation bloc that pits supporters of deeper integration against populist euroskeptics who want more power for their national governments. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip talk to children as they arrive at a polling station to vote in the European Elections in Sonning, England, Thursday, May 23, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip arrive at a polling station to vote in the European Elections in Sonning, England, Thursday, May 23, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip leave a polling station after voting in the European Elections in Sonning, England, Thursday, May 23, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip leave a polling station after voting in the European Elections in Sonning, England, Thursday, May 23, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, center right, poses for a selfie during a ceremony marking the 27th anniversary of the deaths of prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, in Palermo, Italy, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Igor Petty/ANSA via AP)

Ballot boxes are transported around Inishbofin island, Ireland, Thursday, May 23, 2019 in preparation for voting in the European Parliament elections. Some 400 million Europeans from 28 countries head to the polls from Thursday to Sunday to choose their representatives at the European Parliament for the next five years. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)
BERLIN (AP) - A senior German diplomat headed Thursday to Tehran to press Iran to continue to respect the landmark nuclear deal, despite the unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. and increasing pressure from Washington.

Tensions have soared in the Mideast recently as the White House earlier this month sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region over a still-unexplained threat it perceived from Iran.

Germany's Foreign Ministry sent its political director, Jens Ploetner, to Iran to meet with Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to try to salvage the nuclear deal signed in 2015 in Vienna. The accord has steadily unraveled since the Trump administration pulled America out of the deal, re-imposed and escalated U.S. sanctions on Tehran last year.

Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that Arghchi demanded that European signatories follow through on their commitments under the deal. According to the report, Ploetner said the European side will continue to work to meet Iran's demands and save the deal. The report did not elaborate.

The German envoy's visit follows Iran's declaration earlier this month that the remaining signatories to the deal - Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia - have two months to develop a plan to shield Iran from American sanctions.

"The situation in the Persian Gulf and the region, and the situation surrounding the Vienna nuclear agreement, is extremely serious," the German Foreign Ministry said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "There is a real risk of escalation - including due to misunderstandings or an incident. In this situation, dialogue is very important."

In this Tuesday, May 21, 2019 photo, provided by the U.S. Air Force, a U.S. B-52H Stratofortress, prepares to join up with Qatari Air Force Mirage 2000s and U.S. F-35A Lightning IIs to fly in formation over Southwest Asia to build military-to-military relationships, in an undisclosed location. The B-52H is part of the Bomber Task Force deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to defend American forces and interests in the region. (Senior Airman Keifer Bowes/U.S. Air Force via AP)

With Iran's 60-day deadline, the ministry said there is still a "window for diplomacy to persuade Iran to continue its full compliance" and said Germany remains in close contact with the other nations that have been struggling to keep the deal alive.

The accord, intended to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, promised economic incentives in exchange for restrictions on Tehran's nuclear activities. Despite efforts so far by the others to keep the deal from collapsing, Iran's economy has been struggling and its currency has plummeted after the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions.

Iran continued abiding by the stipulations of the deal, according to a February report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, though it expressed increasing frustration with the inability of the Europeans to provide economic relief. A new IAEA report is due out soon.

Then on Monday, Iran announced it had quadrupled its production capacity of low-enriched uranium. Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67% limit set under the nuclear deal, making it usable for a power plant but far below what's needed for an atomic weapon.

But by increasing production, Iran will likely soon exceed the stockpile limitations set by the nuclear accord, which would escalate the situation further.

Several incidents have added to the crisis, including the sabotage of the oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, as well as a rocket that landed near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The U.S. has blamed Iran for both incidents without publicly offering evidence. America also has evacuated nonessential diplomatic staff from Iraq amid the tensions.

Saudi Arabia said Thursday Yemen's Houthi rebels again targeted an airport in Najran near its southern border with a bomb-carrying drone. The Saudi military said it intercepted the drone, while the Houthis said it struck a Patriot missile battery at the airport. The Houthis have claimed three times in recent days to have targeted the airport, which also hosts a military base. It comes after the Houthis last week targeted a Saudi oil pipeline in a coordinated drone attack.

The Pentagon was to present plans to the White House on Thursday to send up to 10,000 more American troops to the Middle East, to beef up defenses against potential Iranian threats, U.S. officials said. Iran has watched warily as the USS Abraham Lincoln heads toward the Strait of Hormuz and B-52 bombers began flying missions in the region.

Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, said Thursday the military will remain watchful about "deceptions by the U.S. government and its adventurous" president.

"With the finger on the trigger, Iran is ready to respond to any invader strongly and with unbelievable speed," Bagheri said in a statement.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was expected to arrive later Thursday in Islamabad as Pakistan seeks to calm regional tensions. He was to hold talks with Pakistani officials on Friday.

"We believe the situation in the region is serious and needs to be addressed through dialogue by all parties," Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement. "We expect all sides to show restraint, as any miscalculated move, can transmute into a large-scale conflict."

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Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this report.

In this Sunday, May 19, 2019 photo, an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter transports cargo from the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during a replenishment-at-sea operation in the Arabian Sea, as Mideast tensions remain high between Tehran and the United States. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Darion Chanelle Triplett/U.S. Navy via AP)
BEIRUT (AP) - Bombings by Syrian government forces damaged two schools and a health facility in the rebels' last stronghold in the northwest, activists said Thursday, after insurgents successfully hit a power station in a government-held town.

Fighting has raged in the last 48 hours in the region, where insurgents launched a counteroffensive earlier this month, trying to regain territory lost to government forces. The area is among the last controlled by anti-government rebels in Syria's eight-year civil war.

Activists and rescue workers said the government retaliated with an intense air bombing campaign. First responders said dozens of air raids and barrel bombs were dropped on villages and towns south of Idlib, killing at least eight civilians.

Syrian insurgents had recaptured Kfar Nabudah from government forces on Wednesday, two weeks after troops entered it at the start of a ground offensive against the rebels' stronghold.

Naji al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the rebel fighters, said the government is carrying out a "revenge campaign for its defeat" in Kfar Nabudah.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ground clashes have subsided but government warplanes carried out more than 60 raids on various parts of southern Idlib, part of the rebel stronghold that spans the province and nearby Hama.

This photo provided Tuesday, May 21, 2019 by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows smoke rising after Syrian government forces targeted the town of al-Habeet, in Idlib province, Syria. Syrian activists and a rebel spokesman said Wednesday, that opposition fighters have recaptured Kfar Nabuda, a village at the edge of the last rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)

One of the raids knocked out a health facility in Kfar Oweid village, the Observatory said.

Rights groups say that since the offensive was launched in late April, government strikes have hit at least 18 health facilities, including five identified to the government through the United Nations. Some of the facilities were targeted twice.

The White Helmets, a team of first responders, said the raids also targeted two schools in Kfar Nubul and burned crops on several farms.

Syrian Electricity Minister Mohammad Zuhair Kharboutly said Thursday that al-Zara power station in Hama province was back online and linked up to the national grid.

Station manager Mostafa Shantout said a drone operated by insurgents dropped a number of bombs late Wednesday on the station, causing huge damage. He didn't elaborate. The comments by both officials were carried by the official state news agency SANA.

Al-Mustafa denied the fighters targeted the power station. He said the rebels have shelled Hama military airport because it is used to attack their stronghold.
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) - More than 50 people were reportedly killed in an attack by a militia on several villages in the Central African Republic's volatile northwest near the border with Chad, the United Nations said Thursday.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MINUSMA, condemned Tuesday's attacks and its peacekeepers are undertaking "robust patrols in and around Ouham Pende prefecture" where the killings took place, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The government issued an ultimatum to the leader of a militia group known as 3R, calling on him to hand over those responsible.

Government spokesman Ange-Maxime Kazagui says the group retaliated against several communities in the Ouham Pende prefecture after an incident in which one man was killed.

Lucien Mbaigoto, a legislator from the area, said that militia fighters on the ground are not abiding by the peace agreements signed by their leaders, including one in February.

Human rights groups have blamed the 3R group for killing and raping civilians since 2015.

U.N. spokesman Dujarric said a joint mission by MINUSCA, the government, the African Union, and the Economic Community of Central African States is expected to deploy to the affected areas on Saturday "to defuse tensions, assist victims and displaced persons and reassure communities."

He said MINUSCA and the government are also engaging on a local level dialogue "to ease tensions and prevent a retaliatory response by anti-Balaka," a group of militia groups that are mostly Christians and people who follow traditional animist beliefs.

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AP journalist Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Botswana has lifted its ban on elephant hunting in a country with the world's highest number of the animals, a decision that has brought anger from some wildlife protection groups and warnings of a blow to lucrative tourism.

The southern African nation is home to an estimated 130,000 elephants. The lifting of the ban raised concerns about a possible increase in illegal poaching of elephants for their tusks to supply the ivory trade.

"Expect mass culling next," the CEO of WildlifeDirect, Paula Kahumbu, said in a post on Twitter, warning that the impact of Botswana's decision will be felt across Africa.

Botswana has long been a refuge for elephants on a continent where tens of thousands have been killed over the years for their ivory, and the animals long have been a tourist draw. Some had warned of tourism boycotts if the ban was lifted, and even American talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres joined the protest.

"President Masisi, for every person who wants to kill elephants, there are millions who want them protected. We're watching," she tweeted after Botswana's decision was announced.

Lifting the hunting ban comes amid growing conflicts between humans - particularly farmers - and elephants, the government's statement said. It said hunting will resume "in an orderly and ethical manner" but does not say how it will be regulated.

FILE - In this March 3, 2013 file photo elephants drink water in the Chobe National Park in Botswana. Botswana's government says it has lifted its ban on elephant hunting, a decision that is likely to bring protests from wildlife protection groups. (AP Photo/Charmaine Noronha, File)

The country, with a population of just over 2 million people, suffers some human-wildlife conflict but has more space than many other countries for animals to roam.

"Co-existence between wild animals and communities is the only way that wildlife populations will survive," said Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International. "What a shame that Botswana, previously hailed as a shining example of wildlife conservation and a safe haven for elephants, has opted to become a promoter of trophy hunting."

Political friction between Botswana's previous and current president has played a key part in the government's shifting stance on elephants in the past year.

The hunting ban was put in place under previous president, Ian Khama, an outspoken conservationist, but current President Mokgweeti Masisi began to look into it not long after taking office last year.

The decision to lift the ban comes months ahead of general elections in October.

Khama "says Masisi is just currying favor with the electorate whom he will meet for the first time in October, in an election expected to be extremely close-fought, especially as Khama has backed his opposition," the Institute for Security Studies wrote earlier this month.

Safari Club International, a U.S.-based group that lobbies to loosen restrictions on trophy hunting worldwide, cheered Botswana's decision. The group has long argued that the fees paid by big-game hunters provide essential revenue for African governments to fund conservation programs.

"It is heartening to see that the government of Botswana has taken all aspects into its careful consideration of this matter," said Paul Babaz, SCI's president. "These findings clearly show that hunting bans actually hurt wildlife conservation."

Though President Donald Trump has decried big-game hunting as a "horror show," his administration has reversed Obama-era restrictions on the importation of elephant and lion trophies for personal use or display.

Botswana also is among several African countries with some of the world's largest elephant populations that have pushed for looser controls on legal ivory trade . They assert that the commerce will help them pay to conserve elephants, while critics assert that even limited trade fuels demand and drives up illegal killing.

Botswana and neighboring Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa are estimated to have about 256,000 elephants, or more than half of the total estimate for Africa.

Earlier this month Botswana's president raised some eyebrows when he gave stools made of elephants' feet to regional leaders while hosting a meeting on the animals' fate.

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Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - The Latest on John Walker Lindh's release from prison (all times local):

5:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. will closely monitor John Walker Lindh, the Californian who took up arms for the Taliban, after his release earlier Thursday from federal prison.

Trump says Lindh "has not given up his proclamation of terror." He added, "I don't like it at all."

Trump says he asked lawyers whether there was anything that could be done to block Lindh's release but was told that "from a legal standpoint, there's nothing we're allowed to do."

The 38-year-old Lindh left a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, after getting time off for good behavior from the 20-year sentence he received upon pleading guilty to providing support to the Taliban.

FILE - American John Walker Lindh is seen in this undated file photo obtained Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002, from a religious school where he studied for five months in Bannu, 304 kilometers (190 miles) southwest of Islamabad, Pakistan. Lindh, the young Californian who became known as the American Taliban after he was captured by U.S. forces in the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, is set to go free Thursday, May 23, 2019, after nearly two decades in prison. (AP Photo, File)

Lindh's lawyer declined comment Thursday.

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10:25 a.m.

The daughter of a CIA officer killed in Afghanistan after interrogating John Walker Lindh in 2001 wrote President Donald Trump urging him to block the early release of the so-called "American Taliban."

Lindh walked free on Thursday anyway, having served 17 years of a 20-year sentence for illegally aiding the Taliban forces.

Alison Spann is now a journalist in Mississippi. She says she last saw her father, Mike Spann, when she was 9 years old. She posted her letter to Trump on her Twitter page, calling her dad 'the first American killed in the war on terror."

She calls the early release of Lindh for good behavior "a slap in the face" to everyone killed on Sept. 11, 2001, all their loved ones, and "to the millions of Muslims worldwide who don't support radical extremists."

This item has been amended to correct that Alison Spann is a journalist in Mississippi, not Alabama.

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10:00 a.m.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the early release of John Walker Lindh from federal prison is "unexplainable and unconscionable."

Lindh was released Thursday from a facility in Indiana, having served 17 years of a 20-year sentence.

Pompeo told "Fox and Friends" that the so-called "American Taliban" continues to pose a threat. He called for a review of the prison system's early release policies.

The young man from Northern California had joined the Taliban and was with them in Afghanistan during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Lindh also was there when a group of Taliban prisoners rose up and killed CIA officer Johnny Micheal "Mike" Spann.

Lindh struck a plea bargain in which he admitted to illegally providing support to the Taliban but denied a role in Spann's death.

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2 a.m.

The California man who became known as the "American Taliban" after his capture on an Afghanistan battlefield in late 2001 is on the cusp of release from prison.

Thirty-eight-year-old John Walker Lindh is scheduled for release Thursday from the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He has spent more than 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing support to the Taliban.

The plea deal called for a 20-year sentence, but Lindh is getting out a few years early for good behavior.

His release is opposed by the family of Mike Spann. He was killed in Afghanistan during an uprising of Taliban prisoners. Spann had interrogated Lindh shortly before the attack.

A judge recently imposed additional restrictions on Lindh's post-release supervision, including monitoring of his internet use.

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This story has been corrected to ... Corrects in most recent item that Alison Spann is a journalist in Mississippi, not Alabama.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Julian Castro joined a march to a McDonald's restaurant in North Carolina on Thursday to draw attention to workers' efforts to raise the minimum wage and secure other protections.

Nearly all the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have expressed support for the idea that the federal minimum wage should be more than doubled, to $15 an hour, and several were joining actions around the country Thursday.

The McDonald's annual shareholder meeting was also Thursday in Dallas. Striking cooks and cashiers were traveling to the shareholder meeting and attending a video town hall hosted by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another Democratic presidential candidate.

Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former San Antonio mayor, marched with roughly 200 activists, minimum wage workers and union representatives from a park in Durham to a nearby McDonald's. He joined them in chants of, "Put some respect in my check," and "What do we want? 15! When do we want it? Now!"

Workers banged on makeshift drums, waved red flags saying "NC raise up" and carried a giant effigy of McDonald's cartoon character Ronald McDonald. The march ended in a rally front of a McDonald's.

"What's happened in this country over the last 40 years is we've expected less and less from people and from corporations at the very top, and we've expected more and more from the middle class and the working poor," Castro said during the rally.

Presidential candidate and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro speaks with a supporter prior to rallying with McDonald's employees and other activists demanding fairer pay, better working conditions, and the right to unionize in Durham, N.C., Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

He added that his campaign staff won't patronize McDonald's until workers' demands for higher wages, a union and sexual harassment protections are met. His speech drew applause from the crowd and cheers of "you've got my vote!"

During Sanders' video town hall, the Vermont senator said that if he is elected president, working people around the country will make a $15 minimum wage.

"If elected president, trust me, every worker in this country will make at least $15 an hour, and people will have the right to join unions. We'll make it easier for workers to join unions, not harder," he said.

Sanders also said he would fight to make sure workers are represented on the boards of directors of corporations such as McDonald's and others.

McDonald's has come under fire from workers in recent years over their treatment and wages. Durham resident Jamese Cook, 19, has been working at a McDonald's in Durham for five months so far and said she's struggling to help her mother, whom she lives with, pay the bills.

"I had to get more hours to help her," Cook said.

But Cook expressed skepticism over politicians' commitment to the Fight for 15 cause, including Castro. She said she wants to see more legislative action.

"I don't really see anyone fighting for minimum wage like the people I see here," she said. "This is just a start."

In response to the workers' demands, McDonald's issued a statement saying the company recognizes workers' rights to join labor organizations and that the McDonald's Corp. doesn't control the wages in their franchise restaurants, but that the average starting wage at corporate-owned restaurants exceeds $10 per hour.

The statement also said the company has strengthened its overall policy on sexual harassment: "McDonald's is sending a clear message that we are committed to creating and sustaining a culture of trust where employees feel safe, valued and respected."

Workers at the Durham rally said sexual harassment is a systemic issue not just at McDonald's but in other low-wage jobs too. Durham resident Devin Evans, 18, said he was sexually harassed while working at another fast-food restaurant by his boss, but couldn't immediately quit because he needed the money.

He spoke with Castro before the march about his experience and expressed gratitude for Castro's presence.

"I want to see more active candidates that actually care," he said. "Seeing someone with that power here trying to join hands with us... it touches me."

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Follow Morris on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AmandaMoMorris

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Associated Press writer Juana Summers in Washington contributed to this report.

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An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated that Castro is the current mayor of San Antonio. He is a former mayor.

Presidential candidate and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro rallies with McDonald's employees and other activists demanding fairer pay, better working conditions, and the right to unionize in Durham, N.C., Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Presidential candidate and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro speaks with a supporter prior to a rally with McDonald's employees and other activists demanding fairer pay, better working conditions, and the right to unionize in Durham, N.C., Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Presidential candidate and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, second from right, rallies with McDonald's employees and other activists demanding fairer pay, better working conditions, and the right to unionize in Durham, N.C., Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Presidential candidate and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro rallies with McDonald's employees and other activists demanding fairer pay, better working conditions, and the right to unionize in Durham, N.C., Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Asian superheroes - assemble.

Marvel Comics is giving ink to an unprecedented team-up of its mightiest Asian and Asian American heroes, also known as the new Agents of Atlas. Established icons like martial arts master Shang-Chi and newbies like Wave, the newest Filipino superhero, will team up in a stand-alone, five-part comic book series starting this summer, the publishing giant told The Associated Press Thursday.

The roster of 10 super-powered pan-Asian champions made their debut as a team earlier this month in "The War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas." That comic book is one piece of an ongoing saga involving several different groups across the Marvel universe, including the Avengers, doing battle with a fire goddess. But the exclusively Asian limited series is set to roll out in August.

The man leading the heroic charge is veteran comic book writer Greg Pak. Pak is credited with ushering in a new era of Asian characters in co-creating Amadeus Cho, a Korean-American genius teen. The character first appeared in 2005. A decade later, he absorbed the Hulk's powers and started going by Brawn.

"It's always been my dream to do a team book using a bunch of Asian and Asian American heroes," said Pak, who thinks there's more appetite for representation with the success of the movie "Crazy Rich Asians." ''There's literally never been a better time in my memory with more opportunities for doing work that specifically includes Asian and Asian American characters."

The decades-old character of Agent Jimmy Woo (portrayed by Randall Park in last year's "Ant-Man and the Wasp" movie) leads the pack as head of the revived secret protection society Atlas. Others getting in on the action include Brawn and Cindy Moon, who is the Korean American web-shooter Silk.

This image provided by Marvel shows the cover of the first issue in "Agents of Atlas," Marvel Comics' five-part standalone comic book series set to roll out in August 2019. Marvel Comics is giving ink to an unprecedented team-up of nearly a dozen of its mightiest Asian and Asian American heroes. (Jung-Geun Yoon/Marvel via AP)

Other recruits have only previously been seen in Marvel video games or web comics only available in Asian countries. Among them is Korea-born Luna Snow a.k.a. Seol Hee, a K-pop star who can manipulate frozen elements. There's also Aero and Sword Master, the products of creatives in China. Besides crime-fighting, the group will spend time doing things like eating dim sum or singing karaoke.

"That kind of diversity within diversity is amazing," said Pak, who is half-Korean and half-white. "No one character here has to represent all Asian-ness or Asian American-ness. That's a ridiculous demand for any character."

The rest of the "Atlas" creative team includes writer Jeff Parker and artists Nico Leon and Carlo Pagulayan. In the series, the do-gooders find that someone has flipped a switch and created a "cross-Asian portal city" called Pan. In Pan, Asian neighborhoods get geographically scrambled and then stitched together into one city. So, the streets of Tokyo could be next to neighborhoods from Honolulu, Manila and some of Marvel's fictitious Asian countries.

Filipino American Loren Javier, 50, discusses Marvel comics on his "Castles, Capes & Clones" blog and podcast. There were few Asian characters in the lexicon he could look up to as a child, and many were often stereotypical mystics or man-servants.

"I love Marvel but I didn't necessarily see myself in the comics," said Javier, who recalls being teased by a classmate who called him "the enemy."

"Now, finally, I think about kids who are reading this new generation of comics and heroes and getting to see themselves a little bit more," Javier said. "It's very powerful."

Charlie Kirihara, who is half Japanese and half white, was thrilled by "New Agents of Atlas" and tweeted at Pak and Marvel pleading for more content.

Kirihara, 26, said it was a welcome change to see characters that represented Asian and American cultures in "The War of the Realms."

"I read through the book and realized that was the first time I've read a comic book that was all these Asian characters and that wasn't manga written in Japan," Kirihara said, referring to a genre of comics or graphic novels. "I want to see it have legs beyond this storyline."

That's Pak's wish as well. But it depends on how Marvel finds the fan response.

"If people buy the heck out of it, I'm happy to keep writing them," Pak said.

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This story has been edited to correct that Wave is not the first Filipino superhero in the Marvel Universe.

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Terry Tang is a member of the AP's race and ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ttangAP
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Atlantic hurricane season is off to yet another early start, but U.S. weather officials say it should be a near normal year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday predicted nine to 15 named storms. It says four to eight of them will become hurricanes and two to four of those would become major hurricanes with 111 mph winds or higher.

Acting NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said a current El Nino, a periodic natural warming of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide, suppresses hurricane activity in the Atlantic. But other forces, including warmer-than-normal seawater, counter that.

Last year had 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and two major ones, Florence and Michael . Those two big storms hit the United States and together directly killed 38 people and caused $49 billion in damages. The Atlantic basin averages 12 named storms a year, with six becoming hurricanes and three becoming major storms.

NOAA said there's a 40% chance of a normal season, with 30% chances of both stronger and weaker seasons.

"That's still a lot of activity," said NOAA forecaster Gerry Bell. "You need to start to prepare for hurricane season now."

This Sept. 11, 2018 enhanced satellite image made available by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Florence, upper left, in the Atlantic Ocean, Tropical Storm Isaac, center, and at right Hurricane Helene. On Thursday, May 23, 2019, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the Atlantic hurricane season should be near normal. NOAA predicted nine to 15 named storms. It says four to eight of them will become hurricanes and two to four of those major hurricanes with 111 mph winds or higher. (NOAA via AP)

Hurricane season traditionally starts June 1, but this week subtropical storm Andrea briefly popped up, marking the fifth straight year a named storm came in May or earlier. (Forecasters name storms with maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph, or 63 kph.)

Bell said this year's forecast had "competing factors" that balanced out. The El Nino brings wind changes that can keep storms from forming and reduce their strength, but this year's El Nino is weak, Bell said.

One factor pushing the other way is the 20- to 30- year long-term natural cycle of hurricane activity. Since about 1995, the Atlantic has been in the part of the cycle of high-activity, which includes warmer water and west African rainfall, which goose storm activity. Bell said there's no indication of change yet.

Some other non-government forecasters predict a weaker storm season than NOAA, pointing to the El Nino.

Colorado State University, which pioneered hurricane season predictions, is forecasting 13 named storms, five to become hurricanes and two to hit major status. Hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach predicted that overall the Atlantic season will be about three-quarters strong as a normal season.

Klotzbach's team predicted a 48% chance that a storm will hit the U.S. coastline, slightly less than the normal 52% chance. He also said there's a 28% chance of Florida's peninsula being hit and 30% chance the Gulf coast between Texas and the Florida panhandle getting struck. Those are slightly below average.

IBM's Weather Company calls for 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three majors. Accuweather calls for 12 to 14 named storms, five to seven hurricanes and two to four major storms.

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears .

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Italian Catholic Church hierarchy said Thursday it had approved guidelines establishing a "moral obligation" to report cases of clergy sex abuse to police, after bishops long downplayed the problem and covered it up.

The Italian bishops' conference didn't immediately release the text. But the official in charge of child protection, Monsignor Lorenzo Ghizzoni, said it called for bishops to report credible accusations even though Italian law doesn't designate clergy as mandated reporters.

The main Italian victims' group, Rete L'Abuso, called the announcement "dishonest" as the conference in 2014 issued similar guidelines saying bishops had a "moral duty" to report. The group said the 2014 guidelines hadn't resulted in a single church-initiated criminal complaint.

Italy's church - of which Pope Francis is the titular head as bishop of Rome - has been well behind the curve on confronting clergy abuse, with multiple cases of abuse and high-ranking cover-ups that only recently have begun making headlines.

Just this week, the mother of a victim wrote an open letter calling for the resignation of the powerful archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini. He admitted under oath that he transferred her son's predator to another parish in 2011 rather than turning him in to police or keeping him away from children.

The priest, the Rev. Mauro Galli, was convicted by a Milan court last year and sentenced to more than six years in prison.

"We believe that in eight long years, if you had wanted to take the first step you would have had all the time necessary to contact us, and so now out of love for the church we're doing it," the boy's mother wrote. "We ask you for the good of the church, for your own credibility and out of respect of the Holy Father, to resign."

At the time of the sentence, Delpini's archdiocese issued a statement saying it "took note" of the conviction, expressed closeness to the victim and his family and said it awaited the outcome of the church's internal investigation.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut judge has dismissed all remaining claims in a lawsuit in which a Native American tribe argued the state owed it more than $600 million for land allegedly seized from the tribe more than a century ago.

Judge Thomas Moukawsher in Hartford Superior Court ruled Wednesday that the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation doesn't own the mortgages on the land and dismissed the case.

The Kent-based tribe sued in 2016, saying the state seized 2,000 acres (8 square kilometers) from a 2,400-acre (9.7 square kilometers) reservation in western Connecticut between 1801 and 1918 without compensating the tribe. The same judge in 2017 dismissed the tribe's claim that it owned the land but let the mortgages issue proceed.

Richard Velky, chief of the tribal nation, and lawyer Austin Tighe said Thursday that they are asking for a clarification from the judge before deciding what steps to take next, including a possible appeal.

"There definitely will be a next step," Tighe said. "This case is definitely not over."

In the lawsuit, the tribe cited state legislative resolutions from 1736 and 1752.

The 1736 resolution allowed the tribal nation to "continue" on the land until the state Legislature decided otherwise, while the 1752 act granted the tribe the "liberty" to improve and cut wood on the land for as long as the Legislature allowed.

"Telling someone they can stay somewhere, fix it up, and cut wood for themselves on it until the owners says otherwise doesn't sound very much like the owner is giving that person the land," Moukawsher wrote in the December 2017 ruling.

The judge wrote in Wednesday's ruling that he dismissed the tribe's claims about owning the mortgages for similar reasons.

"There is no express grant to the tribe of the ownership of the mortgages, and without one the tribe has no property right it can allege was wrongly taken from it," he wrote.

The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation won federal recognition as a tribe in 2004 from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, but an agency appeals panel overturned the ruling in 2005, citing substantial gaps in historical evidence about its social continuity and political governance.

The tribe accused politicians, lobbyists and advocacy groups of tainting the process for recognition, which allows tribes to qualify for federal aid programs and is a first step toward potentially opening a casino.

Officials in Connecticut granted the reservation to the tribe in 1736.
PARIS (AP) - Britain's Eurovision song "Bigger Than Us" is an even bigger flop than previously thought after its last-place entry was stripped of five points to correct a math error.

The song performed by Michael Rice in Israel and watched by millions on Saturday had received just 16 points.

But the show's organizers added insult to injury in a statement this week as they downgraded Britain's score to 11.

The error occurred when the Belarusian jury was ousted for illegally divulging how it voted before the final was broadcast.

Organizers created an aggregated result to replace the Belarusian jury votes but miscalculated and incorrectly inflated Britain's score.
HUGO, Oklahoma (AP) - A prosecutor is reviewing an investigative report to determine if two police officers who shot into a truck injuring three children and a robbery suspect in southeast Oklahoma should face criminal charges.

The Hugo police officers opened fire April 26, wounding 21-year-old William Devaughn Smith and the children, ages 5, 4 and 1.

District Attorney Mark Madoff says it will take him several weeks to review the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation report and determine whether detectives Billy Jenkins and Chad Allen committed crimes.

The bureau confirmed it sent the report to prosecutors but declined further comment.

Smith is charged with aggravated robbery and is being held in Choctaw County jail. Court records don't list an attorney for him.

Hugo Chief of Police John Bozeman hasn't responded to emailed questions.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A court has scheduled a July 9 hearing on a Texas-based judge's ruling that former President Barack Obama's signature health care law is unconstitutional.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans set the hearing date Tuesday.

The law's opponents want a 5th Circuit panel to uphold U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor's 2018 ruling striking down the law.

O'Connor said Congress rendered the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional in 2017 by eliminating a tax penalty for not having insurance. The Trump administration joined Texas and other Republican-led states seeking to uphold O'Connor.

Numerous Democratic state attorneys general and the U.S. House of Representatives appealed to overturn O'Connor's ruling. They argue that zeroing out the penalty doesn't render the law unconstitutional.

The law remains in effect during appeals.
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) - The class of cadets preparing to jubilantly toss their caps in the air at the U.S. Military Academy's graduation ceremony Saturday includes 34 black women, a record number that's a sign of concerted efforts to diversify West Point's Long Gray Line.

West Point remains mostly white and mostly male. The 34 women comprise a thin slice of the roughly 1,000 cadets in the Class of 2019. Sometimes, they're the only women of color in a classroom. Still, cadets said they're proud to be part of a milestone at the historic academy after four years of testing their limits.

"I just showed myself and those who thought I couldn't do it initially that yes, I can," said senior cadet Stephanie Riley, of Jacksonville, Florida. "And not just, 'yes, I can.' I can show other little girls that yes, you can come to West Point. Yes, you can do something that maybe the rest of your peers aren't actually doing. And yes, you can be different from the rest of the group."

Riley was among the black female cadets who recently posed for pre-graduation photos in their gray uniforms, holding out ceremonial sabers. The pictures - part of a tradition for graduating cadets - were posted widely online and became a symbol of West Point's increasing diversity.

"I was more excited to just take the picture because it means that we're all graduating and it was great to be there with a lot of my sisters who have been there for me in very tough times during summer training and during the academic year," said senior cadet Gabrielle Young, from Hopkins, South Carolina. "I didn't expect it to have the impact that it did around the country."

While West Point challenges every cadet, experiences can be different for black females.

In this May 7, 2019 photo, black female cadets with the Class of 2019 pose at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The 34 women comprise a small slice of the roughly 1,000 cadets in the class. The cadets say they're proud to be part of a milestone at the historic academy after four years of testing their limits. (Cadet Hallie H. Pound/U.S. Army via AP)

Riley said people would look to her for comment during classroom discussions about race or slavery. Young said she's acutely aware of how she carries herself and how she's perceived by different people.

"I feel like in some ways that I do have to prove myself a little bit more, prove that I belong here. And even a classmate told me, I think our freshman year, that I only got in because I was a black female," said Young, one of the few in her class chosen for medical school.

West Point boosted efforts to recruit women and blacks after being told to diversify in 2013 by then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno. The academy changed its marketing approach and opened a diversity office. Admissions officials increased outreach to metropolitan areas like New York City, Atlanta and Detroit. Not all of these efforts were aimed specifically at minorities or women, but they broadened the search for qualified candidates.

The addition of NCAA women's lacrosse and rugby also helped West Point attract high school athletes.

The class graduating Saturday includes 223 women, the largest number since the first female cadets graduated in 1980. The 110 African Americans poised to graduate is an all-time high and double the number from 2013. The class includes the largest number of Latinos, 88.

"We're beginning to see the fruits of our labors," director of admissions Col. Deborah McDonald said.

In another milestone, Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams became the first black superintendent at West Point last summer. In 2017, Simone Askew was the first black woman to become first captain of the Corps of Cadets, the highest student position at academy.

Even with the progress in diversity, West Point has not been immune to issues faced by the military and society. Sexual assault and harassment have been such a persistent problem that Williams suspended classes for a day in February so the entire academy could focus intently on them. And it was only four years ago that 16 black female seniors inadvertently stirred up controversy by raising clenched fists in one of their own pre-graduation pictures.

Critics saw political overtones in a gesture that supporters said was made in good-natured solidarity.

On Saturday, Young and Riley will be among the graduates commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army after an address by Vice President Mike Pence. Riley will go into the Signal Corps. Young will study to become a doctor.

"I don't think I would trade this experience for anything in the world," Young said. "I know that I've accomplished a lot and I know that I'm prepared for whatever."

In this May 22, 2019 photo, cadet Isabella Minter, center, marches with senior class members during Parade Day at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The jubilant crowd of cadets tossing their caps in air at the graduation ceremony Saturday, May 25, will include a record-high 34 black women, a sign of concerted efforts to diversify the Long Gray Line. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this May 22, 2019 photo, senior cadet Stephanie Riley, of Jacksonville, Florida talks during an interview in West Point, N.Y. "I can show other little girls that yes, you can come to West Point," said Riley. "Yes, you can do something that maybe the rest of your peers aren't actually doing. And yes, you can be different from the rest of the group." (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this May 22, 2019 photo, senior cadet Stephanie Riley, of Jacksonville, Fla., walks across campus in West Point, N.Y. On Saturday, May 25, Riley will be among the graduates commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army after an address by Vice President Mike Pence. She will go into the Signal Corps. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this May 22, 2019 photo Briana Love, center, and fellow underclassmen prepare to drill at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The class graduating on Saturday, May 25, will include 223 women, the largest number since the first female cadets graduated in 1980. It will include 117 African-Americans, more than double the number from 2013, and the largest number of Hispanics, 88. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this May 22, 2019 photo, Gabrielle Young, of Hopkins, South Carolina, poses at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. "I feel like in some ways that I do have to prove myself a little bit more, prove that I belong here. And even a classmate told me, I think our freshman year, that I only got in because I was a black female," said Young, one of the few in her class chosen for medical school. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this May 22, 2019 photo, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, second from right, attends Parade Day at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Walking with him is Don Carter, 94, from the class of 1944. West Point remains mostly white and mostly male. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this May 22, 2019 photo, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams attends Parade Day at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Williams became the academy's first black superintendent last year. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) - Malawi's President Peter Mutharika has taken a lead in the election with more than 75 percent of votes counted from the Tuesday poll.

Mutharika has 1.4 million votes while opposition Malawi Congress Party leader Lazarus Chakwera is second with 1.2 million votes and Vice President Saulos Chilima has 651,000 votes.

More than 3.6 million out the total 6.8 million total registered voters have been counted. This is the second day of vote tabulation which shows results from 3,792 centers out of the 5,002.

"This means we have received 75.81 percent of the total polling centers," said Malawi Electoral Commission Chairwoman Jane Ansah. She clarified that this is not a percentage of the total registered voters but total number of polling centers.

Ansah said two polling staff members have been arrested in the lakeshore town of Mangochi for attempting to manipulate elections results.

Malawi has uses 'first past the post' system where whoever amasses more votes than the other becomes a winner. Mutharika won with 36 percent of the vote in 2014 elections.

In this Tuesday, May 21, 2019, photo, vote counting gets underway in Blantyre, Malawi. The country went to the polls to elect a new president in which 78-year-old President Peter Mutharika is seeking re-election to a second term. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

In this May 21, 2019, photo, vote counting gets underway in Blantyre, Malawi. The country went to the polls to elect a new president in which 78-year-old President Peter Mutharika is seeking re-election to a second term. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

In this Tuesday, May 21, 2019, photo, vote counting gets underway in Blantyre, Malawi. The country went to the polls to elect a new president in which 78-year-old President Peter Mutharika is seeking re-election to a second term. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)
BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) - A Houston-area police officer who fatally shot a woman with mental illness is back on the job but not the streets.

Baytown police Officer Juan Delacruz returned to work Monday, according to a department spokesman. He'll be on administrative duty during the investigation into his shooting of 44-year-old Pamela Turner.

Delacruz's return to duty was announced Thursday as community leaders, elected officials and Turner's family gathered at a Houston church to memorialize her and call for justice.

"I want Baytown, Texas, to know this is not something you're going to brush under the rug and send the policeman back to work," the Rev. Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights activist, said during a eulogy. "If he's going back to work, we're going back to work too to get justice for Pamela Turner."

Turner is the latest in a line of black people whose deaths in police shootings were captured on video and drew national attention.

Delacruz shot Turner on May 13 after she hit him with his Taser in a struggle during an attempted arrest, police have said. Turner's family has presented the Hispanic officer as the aggressor, saying he was Turner's neighbor , knew she had paranoid schizophrenia and should have de-escalated the situation.

This undated photo provided by the Turner family shows Pamela Turner, right, with her daughter Chelsie Rubin in Baytown, Texas. A Houston-area police officer knew his neighbor suffered from mental illness and should have offered assistance when that was apparent, but instead he fatally shot the 44-year-old woman, a lawyer for the victim's family said Thursday, May 16, 2019. A police spokesman did not immediately respond to questions Thursday, but previously has said the officer tried to arrest Turner because he knew there were outstanding warrants against her. (Courtesy of the Turner Family via AP)

A lawyer for the family said Wednesday that video of the incident and a private autopsy show Delacruz shot Turner in the stomach, chest and face while a "safe distance" away.

The Texas Rangers and the civil rights division of the Harris County district attorney's office are investigating the shooting.
FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) - Officials say a man used an online dating website to steal not only a Georgia woman's heart but a big chunk of her money.

Police in Franklin, Tennessee, say 34-year-old John Martin Hill was taken into custody Tuesday night at a hotel and is being held on a fugitive warrant out of Gwinnett County, Georgia.

The Gwinnett County Police Department says an Alpharetta woman reported she met Hill on the site, fell in love, and gave him $80,000 to purchase a house and furniture. After that, she says he ceased all contact.

Gwinnett County police say further investigation found that Hill has changed his name multiple times and is accused of committing similar crimes in Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Hill had an attorney to comment for him.
SEA GIRT, N.J. (AP) - Smoke 'em if you've got 'em - but not on the beach in New Jersey this summer.

Smoking and vaping will be banned on nearly every public beach in the state this summer under tougher new restrictions.

Nonsmokers are rejoicing over the ban, which also applies to public parks. But some smokers are feeling discriminated against by the law, which took effect in January.

Fines would start at $250 for a first offense and go up to $1,000 for a third offense.

At least 20 Jersey shore towns had already enacted their own smoking bans before the statewide law took effect. Nationwide, more than 300 coastal communities have banned smoking on their beaches. But bans as broad as New Jersey's are rare.

"I can't stand the smell; it's disgusting," said John Cicchino, of Sea Girt, as he sat on the sand with friends on an 80-degree day this week. "It's not healthy."

FILE - In this July 23, 2014, file photo, a woman smokes a cigarette on the beach in Atlantic City, N.J., while it was still legal. A statewide smoking ban is in effect at New Jersey's beaches for the start of the 2019 summer season, although towns can set aside up to 15% as smoking sections. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)

New Jersey had tried for years to enact a statewide beach smoking ban, only to see the measure die in the Legislature or be vetoed by a governor. It passed last year and was signed into law in July by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who cited health considerations, as well as a desire to keep beaches and parks cleaner.

The Clean Ocean Action environmental group counted more than 22,000 cigarette butts its volunteers picked up from New Jersey beaches during spring and fall cleanups last year.

Puerto Rico bans smoking on its beaches, and the state of Maine bans it at beaches in state parks. California has tried several times to pass a smoking ban at state beaches, but a measure has yet to be signed into law, according to Bronson Frick, associate director of the American Nonsmokers Rights Foundation.

"This has tended to be a more localized solution, but we fully expect there will be more movement toward statewide bans," he said.

The Associated Press asked more than 100 New Jersey beachgoers about the law, the vast majority of whom strongly support it. Even several smokers said the ban is warranted.

Cari Kasey, of Manasquan, is one of them.

"No one wants to sit here and smell your smoke," he said as he played on the sand with his family this week. "I smoke my cigars on the front porch, but I don't take them out in public."

However, some people, including nonsmokers, oppose the ban on the grounds that it surrenders a personal freedom to government.

"Where will this end?" said Jim DiGiacomo of Turnersville, New Jersey, a nonsmoker who owns a summer house in Ventnor. "Another freedom taken away. A beach is a very large open area. Barbecues also create a lot of smoke. Will we blindly go into that good night when such freedoms as a family barbecue are threatened? I sincerely hope not."

Towns have the option of setting up to 15% of the beach aside as a smoking section; Wildwood Crest in Cape May County plans to do so.

The law does not specify who is to enforce the ban, whether it's lifeguards, special police officers, regular police officers, beach badge checkers or someone else entirely. In signing the bill last year, Murphy said he did not want to distract lifeguards from their vigilance, but left it up to local communities to work out the specifics of enforcement.

Several shore towns plan to use special police officers to enforce the ban. Belmar has 20 to 30 such officers each summer who patrol the boardwalk and the beach, said Butch Burdge, a beachfront staff member.

"People who are smoking will say, 'Oh, we didn't know,' even though we have signs," he said. "But generally they're cooperative when asked to put out their cigarette."

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Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A federal judge has rejected a plea deal for a former Kentucky police officer who admitted to sexually abusing minors in the Louisville police department's now defunct youth program.

News outlets report U.S. District Court Judge David Hale said Thursday that the proposed 15-year sentence for ex-Louisville police Officer Kenneth Betts was too lenient. The deal called for Betts to serve 10 to 15 years on federal charges of enticement and child pornography. Hale said federal guidelines call for a 27-year sentence.

Hale told Betts he could proceed with his guilty plea and be sentenced, though he may receive a "less favorable" sentence. He said Betts could also withdraw his guilty plea. Betts attorney, Brian Butler, declined to comment.

Another hearing date was set for Aug. 14.
SANDY, Utah (AP) - A Utah climber with a long-held dream to climb the highest mountains on the planet's seven continents died on top of Mount Everest after reaching his final summit, one of his daughters said.

Don Cash, 55, died "at the peak of Mt. Everest accomplishing his dream of summiting the 7 summits," his daughter Danielle Cook posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

Cook told NBC's "Today Show" that a cause of death has not been officially determined but that family members believe he suffered a heart attack.

Before he headed for the summit, Cash texted his son Tanner that he felt "so blessed to be on the mountain that I read about for the last 40 years."

Cash said on his LinkedIn page that he left his job as a sales executive to try to join the so-called seven summits club of people who have climbed the highest mountains on each continent. In January, he wrote, he climbed Mt. Vinson Masif, Antarctica's tallest peak.

Friend and former co-worker Josh Ray said Cash was "larger than life, everyone loved him, and he always left you with a smile."

Besides mountaineering, Cash loved vintage cars and wrote on Facebook that he owned a 1952 Buick Super Riviera modified into a land-speed racing car called "Bombshell Betty" that he drove on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

He is survived by his wife Monette and their four children, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

His daughter Brandalin Cash told "Today" that "there's so much peace that comes from knowing that he didn't suffer, that it was the best way to go."
HAVANA (AP) - The Cuban government says it is renovating one of the iconic sites of its ideological battle with the United States.

The Anti-Imperialist Tribune is a massive stage that sits beside the United States Embassy on the Malecon seaside promenade. It is crumbling after two decades of constant sun, ocean spray and flooding from hurricanes, including Irma in 2017.

Orestes Llanes Mestres is vice president of the Havana Province Administrative Council. He told state website Cubadebate that two elevated structures would be built on the stage, where speakers addressed massive crowds in 2000 demanding the U.S. return Cuban child Elian Gonzalez after he was rescued at sea.

He said the structures would contain dressing rooms and that others would be rebuilt to withstand weather conditions. He offered no other specifics.

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2015 file photo, people watch a concert by Puerto Rico's Olga Tanon, at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, a massive stage that sits beside the United States Embassy on the Malecon seaside promenade in Havana, Cuba. The Cuban government said on Thursday, May 23, 2019 that it is renovating the iconic site of its ideological battle with the U.S, with the creation of two elevated structures on the stage and the addition of dressing rooms. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan, File)
NEW YORK (AP) - Actor Jharrel Jerome, perhaps best known for his role in "Moonlight," recalls walking to school a few years ago in his native New York City, worried about an upcoming test, when he was stopped by two police officers.

"Stop! Can I see your bag?" one asked him.

He immediately froze in fear. What did he do wrong? Did he walk weird? Did he say something? Jerome let them look though his notebooks, papers and pens. Then they let him go. He was still shaking at his desk hours later.

"You just wonder what was in their mind and what they see in me when I'm just trying to be as good as I could be," he recalled. "It's terrifying because they could have been the worst of cops. They could have done anything."

Jerome, 21, drew heavily on that testy interaction to play Korey Wise, an innocent man who spent 12 years behind bars for a rape in Central Park he never committed. "Thinking about that experience and then thinking about it times ten is terrifying," he said.

Wise was one of five black and Latino teenagers - the others were Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana - who were coerced into confessing to the crime and are collectively known as the "Central Park Five."

This May 20, 2019 photo shows Asante Blackk, from left, Jharrel Jerome, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse, and Marquis Rodriguez posing at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York to promote their Netflix show "When They See Us." (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP)

In Ava DuVernay's new four-part Netflix series "When They See Us," the horrific odyssey the five endured is shown over 25 years, from the 1989 night they were arrested to the day a settlement was reached with the city in 2014.

The case was drawn on racial lines from the outset, with the victim being a young white woman, and it drew worldwide attention. Tabloid headlines compared the teens to a wolf pack, and Donald Trump took out newspaper ads calling for the return of the death penalty in New York state. It took years for the five to be exonerated, and they spent most of their youth in prison. Another man was found guilty of the attack.

The five young actors who play the accused in the first half of the series were horrified to learn details of the case and hope it can lead to changes in the judicial system.

"It hurts me to think that it's 2019 and it's not that I don't still hear of stories exactly like this," said Marquis Rodriguez, 21, who plays Santana and grew up in Brooklyn.

The two New Yorkers - Jerome and Rodriguez - were acquainted with the case before landing their roles, but the three others - Asante Blackk, 17, Caleel Harris, 15, and Ethan Herisse, 18 - hadn't heard of the plight of the Central Park Five. Now they think it's too important to forget.

"It's something that needs to continue to be told, to remind everyone that miscarriages of justice can happen," said Herisse. Harris agreed, and said the case is about something else, too: "It is a story of survival."

Questionable police tactics have led to a long list of troubling police encounters with young black men, including instances that have resulted in death: Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner and Michael Brown among them.

"It kind of blurs together and that's just how it is living in America as a young man of color," said Blackk, who grew up in and around Washington, D.C. "Multiple experiences day after day and it kind of becomes normal to you and that's not OK."

Jerome and Rodriguez said their mothers told them about this ugly chapter in city history, hoping their sons would learn to be respectful of police but also not be too pliant.

"It was just something that she thought was really important for me to know, part of my history and almost a cautionary tale - just how quickly things can go terribly, terribly wrong especially for a young man of color in this city," Rodriguez said.

Jerome's mother grew up near where the attack took place and as a girl of 12 or 13 wasn't allowed to go to Central Park for two years. "That kind of probably stayed with her as she raised her kids," he said. "She made sure that we were aware of stories like that because their case was one of millions of others that we've heard about."

The case still echoes today in no small part to recent instances of exonerated, railroaded defendants and by who occupies the White House. "We've definitely made progress but there is so much more progress to be made," said Blackk.

"We're still living in a time where our president has tried to ban an entire religion from entering this country," he added, referring to Trump's attempt early in his presidency to ban foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

To get into character, all five actors met their counterparts, who charmed the young men with their cheer despite the hardships they faced. Richardson cracked jokes. McCray was warm. Santana nicely offered specific details of his ordeal. Wise was youthful, as if stuck in amber.

"I mean, the man matches his hat to his shirts to his sneakers - still like the '90s. He's all about '90s culture, '90s hip-hop, as if he kind of was in a time machine and stayed there," said Jerome.

Rodriguez still has a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Santana was only 14 at the time of his arrest and maintained his innocence even as he faced police coercion.

"I did not know if I would be able to hold the weight of what he held at that age," said Rodriguez. "I know for sure I would have broken under it. And he came out of it alive and functioning and happy now, which is absolutely unbelievable."

The young actors seem changed by the experience of working on the project. All - from Blackk, who enjoyed his first professional acting role, to the experienced Jerome - said they wanted to find projects as meaningful down the road.

"I want to be a part of important stories and I want to be a part of the right stories and I want them to be told correctly and to be told with an inclusive mindset," said Rodriguez, who is next off to work on the "Game of Thrones" prequel.

Jerome agreed: "This is all I want to do. I want to do projects that speak to people who don't get to have a voice. I want to do projects that resonate with you after a long time."

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

This May 20, 2019 photo shows Marquis Rodriguez posing at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York to promote his Netflix show "When They See Us." (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP)

Thia May 20, 2019 photo shows Ethan Herisse posing at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York to promote his Netflix show "When They See Us." (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP)

This May 20, 2019 photo shows Asante Blackk posing at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York to promote his Netflix show "When They See Us." (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP)

This May 20, 2019 photo shows actor Jharrel Jerome posing at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York to promote his Netflix show "When They See Us." (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A woman who was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer in July 2017 was breathless and sounded concerned when she called 911 minutes before she was killed.

Audio recordings of Justine Ruszczyk Damond's two 911 calls were made public Thursday, as a judge began granting access to the exhibits shown in the recent trial of Mohamed Noor.

Noor was convicted of murder .

Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home. In the first call, she says a woman sounds distressed and she thought she heard the word "help." Damond called back eight minutes later to ensure police had the right address. She was told officers were on the way.

Audio from the calls was published online by Minnesota Public Radio News .
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge is weighing whether courts should intervene in a political dispute between Congress and President Donald Trump over funding the border wall.

Judge Trevor McFadden on Thursday questioned attorneys for the House of Representatives, which brought the lawsuit last month, on whether the courts had the ability to get involved after the administration said it would use Treasury and Defense Department funds to build a wall on the Mexican border.

McFadden also questioned whether there was another way outside the court system that Congress could try to stop the president from using the money.

At stake is billions of dollars Trump wants for the wall, his signature campaign promise, heading into his reelection campaign.

Lawyers argued the move violates the Constitution because Congress appropriates funds, not the president.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that aims to combat the illegal robocalls torturing Americans .

Though the measure wouldn't eliminate all unwanted calls, it would give regulators more tools to go after scammers. It would also push phone companies to adopt new technology to combat fake phone numbers popping up on caller ID.

The Senate passed the bill 97-1 on Thursday. It's not clear what will happen in the House, where Democrats in charge have their own anti-robocall proposals.

The bill has support from the telecom industry and consumer groups, a rare combination.

As scam call volume rises, the Federal Communications Commission is trying to nudge phone companies. The nation's communications regulator will vote in June to allow carriers to block scam calls by default for customers.
NEW YORK (AP) - The special Tony Award that honors educators this year will go to a drama teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia, who has encouraged her students to explore their differences and heal rifts, especially following a deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in the city.

Madeline Michel from Monticello High School will receive the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education Award on June 9 at the Tony Awards in New York City.

Under Michel's guidance, the school has mounted student-written shows such as "A King's Story," about a fictional black Charlottesville teenager who is shot and killed by police; "#WhileBlack," about racial profiling; and "Necessary Trouble," which explores racial and identity symbols that high school students can encounter during a normal school day.

"This program is not about me, because it has to be about my students," Michel said in a statement. "They are our future. They are the people that are going to change the world and make it better. These are the kids who give me so much hope in some very dark times."

Charlottesville was where white nationalists descended in 2017 to protest plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. They fought in the streets with counterdemonstrators. Later, as counterdemonstrators were peacefully marching through a downtown street, a car drove into the crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring many more. A self-avowed white supremacist pleaded guilty.

The annual Excellence in Theatre Education Award bestowed by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University recognizes U.S. educators from kindergarten to 12th grade who have "demonstrated monumental impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession."

This image released by Madeline Michel shows Monticello Drama director Michel, foreground left, on stage with Monticello High School students in Charlottesville, Va. Michel will be the recipient of the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education Award on June 9 at the Tony Awards in New York City. (Madeline Michel via AP)

The award includes a $10,000 prize and a pair of tickets to the Tony ceremony and gala. A panel of judges comprised of the American Theatre Wing, The Broadway League, Carnegie Mellon and other leaders from the theater industry selects the winner, based on candidates submitted by the public.

"Theatre and arts education are fundamental to our educational system. Today, more than ever, we need our local school auditoriums, their wonderfully creative students and courageous theatre educators like Madeline Michel to put powerful new ideas on stage and to share them," said Heather Hitchens, president of the wing and Charlotte St. Martin, president of the league, in a statement.

Michel is a graduate of the University of Rochester and Johns Hopkins University. She began her career as an English teacher in the Baltimore school system. For the past 12 she has been teaching theater in Charlottesville.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Two men have pleaded guilty in Texas for using the now-defunct Backpage.com sex-trafficking site to advertise victims for sale.

Federal prosecutors in Fort Worth say Joshua Glaze pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking through force fraud or coercion. Faizal Sabar pleaded guilty to the same count May 13. Both await sentencing and face up to life in prison.

Investigators say Sabar in 2017 traveled with a victim from Pennsylvania to Texas. Authorities say Glaze helped Sabar create online ads and rent hotel rooms. They say the two men kept the proceeds.

Glaze and Sabar are the latest to plead guilty related to Backpage.com, which was based in Dallas and shut down by law officers in 2018.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina prisoner recently charged with murder in the death of a cellmate last April killed another inmate 17 years ago and was sent away for life for the fatal stabbing of his roommate in 1999.

William Edward Tillman, 54, kicked Carl Pollen Jr. several times in the head and then strangled him with a sheet April 29 in their cell at Perry Correctional Institute near Pelzer, according to an arrest warrant released Wednesday.

Both men were serving life sentences for murder. Tillman killed his roommate by stabbing him in the neck with a butcher knife in Spartanburg County in 1999. Pollen, 45, beat and stabbed a Myrtle Beach motel owner who employed him in 1999.

Tillman killed again in 2002, stabbing his cellmate, 37-year-old Michael Hodge, at McCormick Correctional Institute, according to court records. Hodge was serving a 10-year sentence for burglary, forgery, larceny and other charges from Spartanburg County. Tillman pleaded guilty to murder and was given an additional 30 years tacked on to his life sentence.

Tillman was immediately sent to Kirkland Correctional Institute, which has the maximum security unit where the worst behaving inmates are isolated, according to state prison records.

Tillman spent 13 years there other than a few visits to court or to get medical care before he was returned to a general prison in 2015.

This Feb. 27, 2017 booking photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows William Tillman. Tillman, a South Carolina prisoner already convicted of killing someone behind bars, has been charged with murder in the death of his cellmate last month. Arrest warrants say Tillman kicked Carl Pollen Jr. several times in the head, then strangled him with a bed sheet on April 29, 2019, at Perry Correctional Institute near Pelzer, S.C. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)

Since the 2002 stabbing, Tillman's only violations of prison police before the April attack were three violations for having cellphones, which are banned behind bars, and one possession of drugs violation, according to prison records.

Prison officials didn't immediately respond to questions about moving Tillman back into the general population, but Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has said before the prison system understands the psychological difficulties of keeping inmates isolated.

Records didn't show if Tillman has a lawyer for his recent murder charge.

In his first murder case in 1999, Tillman testified in his own defense, saying he killed 53-year-old Harry Jolley Jr. because he was attacked and was trying to defend himself.

Jolley was angry at Tillman because the two met when Tillman was hitchhiking and Jolley offered him a place to stay. The two had a sexual relationship for a while before Tillman testified he asked to end it.

The night of the killing, Jolley became angry because the relationship didn't start again.

But prosecutors said Tillman first attacked his roommate with a pocketknife, then after he was hurt, went to the kitchen, got a butcher knife, and stabbed him in the neck to kill him. Other evidence included imprints of Tillman's shoes on Jolley's back and head.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP
BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) - The Latest on the Houston area woman who was shot and killed by a police officer (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

Community leaders, elected officials and relatives of a Houston-area woman shot and killed by a police officer say her death must be a call to action.

The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a eulogy for 44-year-old Pamela Turner during a service Thursday at a Houston church.

Baytown police say Officer Juan Delacruz shot the African American woman after she hit him with his Taser during an attempted arrest last week. Turner's family has presented the Hispanic officer as the aggressor, saying he was Turner's neighbor and knew she had paranoid schizophrenia.

Sharpton says that the community will not rest until justice is done. He says Turner's death is not something authorities will be able to "brush under the rug."

This undated photo provided by the Turner family shows Pamela Turner, right, with her daughter Chelsie Rubin in Baytown, Texas. A Houston-area police officer knew his neighbor suffered from mental illness and should have offered assistance when that was apparent, but instead he fatally shot the 44-year-old woman, a lawyer for the victim's family said Thursday, May 16, 2019. A police spokesman did not immediately respond to questions Thursday, but previously has said the officer tried to arrest Turner because he knew there were outstanding warrants against her. (Courtesy of the Turner Family via AP)

Delacruz returned to work Monday. Baytown police say he'll be on administrative duty during the investigation into the shooting.

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12:10 a.m.

A Houston-area police officer who fatally shot a woman with mental illness is back on the job but not the streets.

Baytown police say Officer Juan Delacruz returned to work Monday. He'll be on administrative duty during the investigation into his shooting of 44-year-old Pamela Turner. Delacruz was put on paid leave for three days following the May 13 killing.

Police have said Delacruz shot the African American woman after she hit him with his Taser during an attempted arrest. Turner's family has presented the Hispanic officer as the aggressor, saying he was Turner's neighbor and knew she had paranoid schizophrenia.

A lawyer for Turner's family says video of the incident and a private autopsy show Delacruz shot Turner in the stomach, chest and face while a "safe distance" away.
NEW YORK (AP) - The latest on the charges against bank CEO Stephen Calk (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

A banker charged in New York with issuing loans to win a role in President Donald Trump's administration has pleaded not guilty.

Stephen Calk entered the plea during an appearance in Manhattan federal court Thursday.

Prosecutors say he was CEO of Chicago's The Federal Savings Bank when he approved $16 million in loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. They say he wanted a senior administration post in return.

Chief Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman set bail at $5 million, an amount agreed to by prosecutors and defense lawyers.

In this June 28, 2012 photo, Stephen M. Calk, Chairman and Chief Financial Official of The Federal Savings Bank speaks as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel listens during an announcement about job growth and economic development and a corporate headquarters relocation by the Federal Savings Bank to Chicago. Calk, who prosecutors say tried to buy himself a senior post in President Donald Trump's administration by making risky loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was arrested Thursday, May 23, 2019, on a financial institution bribery charge. (Al Podgorski/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Freeman also warned Calk not to have contact with anyone at the bank, except for his brother. Prosecutors will submit an official list of bank employees he cannot contact by next week.

The bank says Calk's on a leave of absence with no involvement with the bank.

2:45 p.m.

A lawyer for a banker charged in New York with trying to issue loans to win a role in President Donald Trump's administration says his client has done nothing wrong.

Attorney Jeremy Margolis said in a statement Stephen Calk will be exonerated on the "baseless isolated charge" following the bank executive's arrest Thursday.

He was charged with a financial institution bribery charge.

Calk was CEO of Chicago's The Federal Savings Bank when allegedly approved $16 million in loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in the hopes of getting a senior post in Trump's administration.

The bank says in a statement it's not a party to the criminal case. It also says Calk is on a complete leave of absence and has no control over or involvement with the bank.

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10:30 a.m.

Federal prosecutors have charged a banker with trying to buy himself a role in President Donald Trump's administration by making risky loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Stephen M. Calk was arrested Thursday in New York City on a financial institution bribery charge.

He is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court in the afternoon.

A message seeking comment was left with his attorney.

Authorities said Calk committed the crime while serving as CEO of The Federal Savings Bank in Chicago.

Federal prosecutors described the charge in a release, saying Calk abused his bank position by approving millions of dollars in high risk loans that were ultimately downgraded.

Prosecutors say Calk wanted to be appointed Secretary of the Army or some other high level post.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - An inmate accused of leading a riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison during which a guard was killed and other staffers taken hostage was acquitted of all charges Thursday and will soon be freed.

A jury deliberated about nine hours over two days before declaring Roman Shankaras, 32, not guilty of murder, assault, kidnapping, riot and conspiracy.

Shankaras recently completed a seven-year sentence for unrelated riot and robbery charges but has remained in pretrial custody on $2.8 million cash bail.

"His time as a pretrial detainee will be over within the next 24 hours, I would imagine," said Shankaras' attorney, Patrick Collins.

Shankaras blinked his eyes but showed little emotion as the verdicts were read. As he was handcuffed and led from the courtroom, he flashed a broad smile at his supporters.

"I knew he was coming home. He's not a murderer," said Lillian Oliver, 32, who identified herself as Shankaras' wife.

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Delaware Department of Justice shows Roman Shankaras. Shankaras was acquitted, Thursday, May 23, 2019, of leading a riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison during which a guard was killed and other staffers taken hostage. (Delaware Department of Justice via AP, File)

Shankaras is one of 18 inmates indicted after the February 2017 riot, 16 of whom were charged with murder in guard Steven Floyd's death. Two other guards were released by inmates after being beaten and tormented. A female counselor was held hostage for nearly 20 hours before tactical teams burst in and rescued her.

Two previous trials against seven other inmates resulted in only one murder conviction. The verdict against Dwayne Staats, already serving life for murder, came after he boasted of planning the riot, knowing it could become violent. Another inmate, Kelly Gibbs, killed himself in November, days after pleading guilty to rioting, kidnapping, and conspiracy.

One of Staats' co-defendants in the first trial, Jarreau Ayers, was acquitted of murder but convicted along with Staats of assault, kidnapping, conspiracy and riot. The jury acquitted a third co-defendant, Deric Forney. The second trial ended in February with no convictions for any of the four defendants. Prosecutors subsequently dismissed cases against six of the remaining inmates, opting to move forward only against Shankaras and two others.

Lead prosecutor John Downs refused to comment on the prosecution's latest loss as he left court Thursday. A spokesman for Attorney General Kathleen Jennings declined to comment when asked whether the state would drop charges against the remaining defendants.

"They have to do what they think is best, and I'm sure they'll have a meeting and they'll talk about it," Collins said.

As of April 30, before Shankaras' trial, defense costs in the case had cost Delaware taxpayers about $1.3 million.

With little physical evidence, and no surveillance camera footage, prosecutors have relied heavily on testimony from other inmates, whose credibility has been successfully attacked by defense attorneys.

Prosecutors acknowledged there was no evidence that Shankaras participated in killing Floyd or assaulting the other guards. They argued, however, that he could be convicted under the "accomplice liability" doctrine. Under that rule, a person who agrees to commit a crime, such as a riot, can be found guilty of other crimes that could reasonably be foreseen as arising from that initial course of conduct.

The prosecution's star witness in all the trials has been former Baltimore gang leader Royal Downs. Downs, serving a life sentence for murder, has claimed repeatedly that he advocated for a peaceful protest by inmates to air grievances about their treatment, perhaps by staying in their cells and refusing to come out. Once the riot broke out, however, Downs became a key player, taking a walkie-talkie from another inmate and participating in hostage negotiations with law enforcement officials.

Despite his role in the riot, Downs was among several inmates allowed to leave the building during the siege. He signaled his willingness to cooperate with authorities even before the riot was over and subsequently pleaded guilty to a single count of riot, which carries no mandatory prison time.

"There were significant credibility issues and motivation issues with Royal Downs," Collins said.

Downs described Shankaras as the "puppet master" of the uprising, even though Shankaras reportedly stayed in his cell most of the time.

Collins argued that Downs, Staats and Ayers were the true leaders of the revolt. He described Downs as an authority figure among fellow inmates with a history of getting others to do his bidding, including duping Shankaras into writing two letters to him two months after the riot.

Shankaras testified that he wrote the letters after being told to do so by Downs, who indicated he was going to shoulder the blame for the riot and needed information to bolster his credibility. Unbeknownst to Shankaras, Downs was cooperating with investigators.

In the first letter, Shankaras described details of the riot, some of which turned out to be inaccurate because, according to Collins, they were based not on what Shankaras saw or did, but what he heard from other inmates. The second, more damning letter, reads like a manifesto and notes that "persistence procreated the resistance."

"Some had to be convinced, some had to be tricked, and others had to be forced," Shankaras wrote.

Collins argued that Downs drafted the manifesto and duped Shankaras into copying it in his own handwriting so that Downs could use it as "insurance" in his cooperation and plea negotiations with prosecutors.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Delaware Department of Correction shows Sgt. Steven Floyd. Floyd died in a February 2017 inmate riot and hostage standoff at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, Del. A jury on Thursday, May 23, 2019, acquitted an inmate accused of leading a riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison during which Floyd was killed and other staffers taken hostage. (Delaware Department of Correction via AP, File)
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) - A sheriff in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is asking birdwatchers not to leave their cars parked in the middle of a road while they take off on foot in pursuit of a feathered find.

Chippewa County Sheriff Michael Bitnar posted "safety tips" on his department's Facebook page Thursday welcoming birdwatchers to the county and sharing some rules of the road.

Bitnar ask that if they spot a bird they must stop and photograph or observe, to please pull off the road first, close their vehicle doors and turn on the hazard flashers.

He says leaving vehicles parked in the middle of the road "occurs all the time, often times on curves, where traffic has to completely stop because of the vehicles and people standing in the roadway."
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Federal prosecutors indicted five people accused of forcing 14 Mexican immigrants to work in farms in Wisconsin, where they "were victims of a severe form of human trafficking."

Prosecutors said in a grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday that the workers had their documents seized to prevent travel and were shielded from detection by being hidden "in buildings and other places." They were forced to work under the threat of being caused "serious harm," the indictment read.

The workers were sometimes denied water during hot days, worked 12-hour shifts six or seven days a week with only 30-minute lunch breaks, and were denied medical care or punished when they sought it out themselves, according to a document prosecutors filed to support the defendants' detention.

The indictment alleges the defendants recruited the immigrants, all Mexican men, and got them agriculture work visas under the pretense they would work in Georgia. Instead, prosecutors say the defendants brought them to Wisconsin farms, where they worked from July 2016 to Nov. 10, 2016.

The indicted are: Saul Garcia, 49, Saul Garcia, Jr., 26, Daniel Garcia, 28, Consuelo Garcia, 45, and Maria Remedios Garcia-Olalde, 52. They face several charges, including forced labor, trafficking in peonage, slavery, and involuntary servitude. One of the men is also accused of trying to influence the testimony of two of the victims to the grand jury.

The defendants are in custody and don't yet have attorneys.

While working in Wisconsin farms in Kenosha and Racine, prosecutors said the workers were cramped into a hotel, often four men to a room, and sometimes had to sleep on the floor. Beginning at 6 a.m., four yellow school buses would take them to work, according to prosecutors.

Although the charges were filed on behalf of 14 men in Wisconsin, in 2015 and 2016 the defendants brought hundreds of Mexican immigrants to work on their farm in Georgia, where the suspects live, according to prosecutors in that state. Some of the workers were eventually sent to Wisconsin.

Authorities busted the Wisconsin operation on Nov. 10, 2016, when they stopped one of the yellow school buses. Of the 23 workers on the bus that day, 11 returned to Mexico and 12 chose to stay in Wisconsin. The indictment doesn't say where in Mexico the men were recruited and the victims are not named.

"Trafficking another human being is a particularly vile crime," Wisconsin U.S. Attorney Matthew Krueger said in a statement. "The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting anyone who seeks to sell another person's freedom."

As part of their prosecution, the federal government is attempting to seize 15 properties the defendants have in Georgia, as well as 15 of their vehicles registered in the state.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The Latest on the acquittal of an inmate accused of leading a fatal riot at Delaware's maximum security prison (all times local):

3:45 p.m.

The wife of an inmate accused of leading a riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison during which a guard was killed and other staffers taken hostage says she was confident that her husband would be acquitted.

Lillian Oliver says 32-year-old Roman Shankaras is not a murderer, and that she knew he'd be coming home.

A jury on Thursday acquitted Shankaras on all charges related to the 2017 riot and the death of prison guard Steven Floyd.

Shankaras recently completed a seven-year sentence for unrelated riot and robbery charges. He is expected to be released from custody by Friday.

FILE - This Feb. 1, 2017, file photo shows the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna, Del. A riot at the prison resulted in the murder of Lt. Steven Floyd, injuries to Correctional Officers Winslow Smith and Joshua Wilkinson, and the kidnapping of counselor Patricia May. A jury on Thursday, May 23, 2019, acquitted an inmate accused of leading the riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison. (Suchat Pederson/The Wilmington News-Journal via AP, File)

Two previous trials against seven other inmates charged in the riot resulted in only one murder conviction.

Lead prosecutor John Downs had no comment as he left the courthouse.

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3 p.m.

A jury has acquitted an inmate accused of leading a riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison during which a guard was killed and other staffers taken hostage.

Jurors deliberated over two days before acquitting 32-year-old Roman Shankaras on Thursday in the death of Steven Floyd.

Shankaras recently completed a seven-year sentence for unrelated riot and robbery charges. The acquittal spares him from a mandatory life sentence.

Shankaras is one of 18 inmates indicted after the 2017 riot, 16 of whom were charged with murder in Floyd's death. Two guards were released by inmates after being beaten and tormented. A female counselor was held hostage for nearly 20 hours before tactical teams burst in and rescued her.

Two other trials against seven inmates resulted in only one murder conviction.

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Delaware Department of Justice shows Roman Shankaras. Shankaras was acquitted, Thursday, May 23, 2019, of leading a riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison during which a guard was killed and other staffers taken hostage. (Delaware Department of Justice via AP, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - This story was first published on Dec. 21, 2001, when AP journalist Justin Pritchard reported on the American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh's journey to the Taliban front lines. We are reprinting the story now to mark Lindh's release after nearly two decades in prison.

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John Walker Lindh's journey to the Taliban front lines began five years ago in the wealthy suburbs north of San Francisco, where he discovered a brand of Islam known for its missionary zeal.

The clean-cut teen-ager who explored mosques near his Marin County home turned up this month in Afghanistan as a bearded, 20-year-old warrior willing to die for the Taliban's conception of a "pure" Islamic state.

He shocked some of his countrymen by admitting that he served with Arab fighters financed by Osama bin Laden and that he attended a training camp run by the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. Lindh has been locked up by the U.S. military, and his fate probably will be determined by President Bush.

How could a baptized Roman Catholic who had been exposed to Buddhism through his mother wind up on the run with the Taliban and bin Laden's al-Qaida fighters? The last several months of Lindh's life are not well known, but his spiritual quest began simply enough: He discovered Islam at age 15 and liked what it had to offer.

FILE - This file image taken Dec. 1, 2001, from television footage in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, shows John Walker Lindh, right, claiming to be an American Taliban volunteer. Lindh, the young Californian who became known as the American Taliban after he was captured by U.S. forces in the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, is set to go free Thursday, May 23, 2019, after nearly two decades in prison. (AP Video, File)

Inspired by "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" - himself a Muslim convert - Lindh began researching the faith, first through Internet chat rooms and soon after with visits to at least three mosques in the San Francisco Bay area.

Acquaintances say he quickly encountered "tablighi jamaat," a movement roughly translated as "preaching society" that encourages Muslims to contact those whose faith is drifting and steer them back into the orbit of a mosque. There are millions of devotees around the world.

Followers personally petition Muslims to pursue spiritual renewal and live as Mohammed did in seventh-century Saudi Arabia, according to an expert on tablighi jamaat, Barbara Metcalf, who teaches history at the University of California at Davis.

Devotees are studiously apolitical, according to Metcalf. She said their calls for jihad are less a call to arms than a struggle for self-mastery. In Lindh's case, authorities say, there is no evidence Lindh was drafted into bin Laden's self-proclaimed holy war on the United States.

"It doesn't appear that he was actively recruited or that there's a network in the Bay Area to recruit people to fight for the Taliban or any jihad," FBI spokesman Andrew Black said Wednesday.

The focus of tablighi jamaat on personal sacrifice is common to many religions. Its rejection of religious establishment resembles Protestantism, while its missionary mandate is akin to Mormonism.

It must have seemed ideal to Lindh, who was thirsty for a deeper knowledge of Islam.

"You get five, six guys at your disposal to answer questions," said Ebrahim Nana, who knew Lindh when the boy worshipped at the Islamic Center of Mill Valley.

In 1997, soon after he began attending the Mill Valley mosque, Lindh went to a weekend retreat for tablighi jamaat followers at the Santa Clara County fairgrounds, Nana said. He recalled a detective calling the Islamic Center, saying Lindh's mother had reported him missing.

"I remember his mother thinking that he had been kidnapped by some cult," Nana said. "She didn't know anything about Islam."

In time, Lindh blurred barriers between the mosque and the rest of his life. He grew a beard, began to wear an Islamic robe and cap and wanted to be known as "Suleyman."

"He wanted something pure, and he was definitely questing at an early age," his father, Frank Lindh, recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We encouraged him to look."

In time, Lindh found a tablighi jamaat hub at the Islamic Center of San Francisco. He also went to Masjid Darussalam, one of the city's largest mosques. A mosque official, Souleiman Ghali, said Lindh's father showed up about six weeks ago, carrying a picture of the son he had not heard from in more than four months.

Frank Lindh also had a letter from the head of the Pakistani religious school. That fact made Ghali think he stayed with tablighi jamaat last year.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, anybody going to Pakistan is going to hook up with the jamaat," said Ghali, an American citizen born in Lebanon. "You don't reserve a spot in the Hilton. You're part of a connected group, and that's the tablighi jamaat."

After graduating from an independent studies high school at 16, Lindh departed for Yemen in 1998 to study Arabic with his parents' blessing. He returned home in 1999, after 10 months in Yemen.

He stayed in Marin County for about eight months but apparently felt lonely and unsettled. In February 2000, he returned to Yemen and eventually moved to Pakistan, where he studied at an Islamic school near the Afghan border.

It was there he fell in with the Taliban, Lindh told the CNN crew as he was being treated for wounds suffered during the deadly prisoner revolt in Mazar-e-Sharif.

"I started to read some of the literature," Lindh said. "My heart became attached to the movement."

He defended the Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan in 1995 after a bloody civil war. He declared the Taliban's cause the right one and said jihad was "exactly what I thought it would be."
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Marijuana enthusiasts in Maine used a public hearing Thursday to implore the state to protect the small businesses and growers they think should make up the backbone of its budding cannabis industry.

The Maine Office of Marijuana Policy held the public hearing about the state's draft marijuana rules, which are nearing approval after years of delay. State officials have said marijuana could be available in stores in early 2020, or possibly even sooner, but the state needs to pass a legal framework first.

The state needs to use the rules to prevent corporate marijuana interests from overrunning its small cannabis industry, which is long established as a result of legal medical marijuana in the state, said Charles Hawkins, who owns a North Windham dispensary.

"Maine doesn't need 10 marijuana companies with 500 employees, it needs 500 marijuana companies with 10 employees," Hawkins said.

Voters in Maine approved legal recreational use of marijuana in a 2016 vote. The draft rules must still be approved by the Maine Legislature before they can implemented. The rules cover issues such as licensure, retailing and taxation.

The state is still taking public comment on the proposed rules until June 2, said Erik Gundersen, the director of the marijuana office. The state could then provisionally accept the rules and the legislative process could begin.

Joseph Baker testifies during a hearing held by Maine Office of Marijuana Policy, Thursday, May 23, 2109, in Portland, Maine. Many used the event to implore the state to protect the small businesses and growers in the state's cannabis industry. State officials are working to pass a legal framework before marijuana could be sold in stores. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Maine's proposed laws are tailored to prioritize state residents, Gundersen said after the hearing. The proposal would limit licenses to state residents at first.

"A lot of people want to focus on the small guy," he said. "We've done a good job of making sure that Mainers, and the small guy, get the first shot at the industry."

Speakers at the hearing also called on the state to approve a tax structure that isn't punitive for retailers and users. The price point of legal marijuana has to be competitive to deter people from the black market, speakers said.

Matt Hawes, of the Maine Cannabis Industry Association, discusses policy at a hearing held by Maine Office of Marijuana Policy, Thursday, May 23, 2109, in Portland, Maine. Many used the event to implore the state to protect the small businesses and growers in the state's cannabis industry. State officials are working to pass a legal framework before marijuana could be sold in stores. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

David Boyer, Maine political director of Marijuana Policy Project, discusses policy at a hearing held by Maine Office of Marijuana Policy, Thursday, May 23, 2109, in Portland, Maine. Many used the event to implore the state to protect the small businesses and growers in the state's cannabis industry. State officials are working to pass a legal framework before marijuana could be sold in stores. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

J.R. Brennan, of Limington, Maine, testifies at a hearing held by Maine Office of Marijuana Policy, Thursday, May 23, 2109, in Portland, Maine. Brennan hopes to get into the cannabis industry. State officials are working to pass a legal framework before marijuana could be sold in stores. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
NEW YORK (AP) - Plans to build a new Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York are moving forward, a sign that the interstate feuding that stalled the process over the last several years may finally be coming to an end.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Thursday that it is starting a formal environmental review process to replace the crumbling, 1950s-era facility, the nation's busiest, with a new terminal in midtown Manhattan.

A plan to build a new terminal on the site of the current facility, at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, has been considered the leading option for the Port Authority and has been the focus of preliminary engineering discussions, Port Authority Executive Director Richard Cotton said earlier this year.

Previously, a plan to construct a new terminal a block west prompted a bitter dispute in which New York lawmakers and community leaders accused the bistate agency's New Jersey contingent of ignoring their concerns and blundering ahead without their input.

"We are committed to building the replacement bus terminal and to do so in full consultation with the community, with elected officials in both New York and New Jersey, and with all stakeholders," Cotton said in a statement Thursday.

The terminal handles more than 250,000 passenger trips on weekdays and is a destination for tens of thousands of commuters from New Jersey. It has come under withering criticism in recent years for its leaky ceilings, faulty air conditioners, dirty rest rooms and frequent delays.

A planning document released Thursday will be available for public review and comment during the next four months, with public hearings in July and September.

The estimated cost of a new bus terminal could be as much as $10 billion, and construction likely wouldn't be complete for at least a decade.

The Port Authority, which operates the region's bridges, tunnels and transit hubs and owns the World Trade Center site, was criticized after its 10-year capital plan released in 2014 didn't include money to replace the terminal. In 2017, the authority's board approved $3.5 billion for the terminal in a revised 10-year plan after months of political sniping.

New York legislators demanded that then-authority chairman John Degnan recuse himself from the bus terminal negotiations because of allegations of favoritism to New Jersey's interests. New Jersey legislators accused Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of holding the bus terminal project hostage to preserve more money for a redevelopment of New York's LaGuardia Airport.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A payment processor run by a prominent political donor will pay $110 million to settle U.S. charges the company knowingly processed transactions for merchants engaging in frauds.

The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that Allied Wallet, its chief executive Ahmad "Andy" Khawaja and two other senior company officers had agreed to settle charges they participated in numerous scams.

The federal probe stemmed in part from a 2018 investigation by The Associated Press that showed Khawaja's company had helped pornographers, shady debt collectors and offshore gamblers access the international banking system, often by using dummy foreign corporations and fake websites to disguise the underlying business. The reporting was based on thousands of internal company records obtained by the AP.

Khawaja, Allied Wallet and top executives have contributed at least $6 million to Democratic and Republican candidates and groups. The donations earned Khawaja access to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign and a post-election Oval Office visit with President Donald Trump.

Allied Wallet did not immediately respond to a call and email seeking comment Thursday. Following the AP's reporting last year, Khawaja had denied wrongdoing through a company publicist and insisted that any suggestion Allied Wallet had processed fraudulent online transactions was "100 percent false."

Court records indicate Khawaja will forfeit a multimillion-dollar mansion in Los Angeles to the government, but the remainder of the judgment against him will be suspended because of his inability to pay.
CLINTON, Maine (AP) - A natural gas distribution company in Maine plans to get into the production side of things with a poop-to-gas renewable energy project to heat homes.

Summit Utilities is partnering with Maine's dairy industry through construction of an anaerobic digester in Clinton to produce natural gas. Farms will provide the manure.

Kurt Adams, president and CEO, said Thursday that the company plans to spend about $20 million on the renewable natural gas project. He said it's part of Summit's ongoing effort to invest in "innovative technologies that mitigate climate change."

Dan Burgess, director of the governor's energy office, said it's encouraging to see a new technology that both can reduce waste and heat homes.

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The headline of this story has been corrected to show that the natural gas would be used to heat homes, not light them.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on disaster relief legislation (all times local):

4:38 p.m.

The Senate has passed a long-overdue $19 billion disaster aid bill to help to a number of states and Puerto Rico recover after a series of hurricanes, floods and wildfires.

The widely-backed legislation passed by an 85-8 vote.

Republican leaders agreed to a demand by Democrats to toss out President Donald Trump's $4.5 billion request to address a record influx of Central American migrants who are fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras and elsewhere and coming to the United States.

Trump says he'll sign the measure and is promising that the U.S-Mexico border money he wants will pass soon.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., finishes meeting with reporters just after the Senate passed a $19 billion disaster aid bill to help a number of states and Puerto Rico recover after a series of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Republican leaders agreed to Democrats' demand to toss out President Donald Trump's $4.5 billion request to address a record influx of Central American migrants who are fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras and elsewhere and coming to the United States. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The disaster relief bill was most eagerly sought by Trump's GOP allies in states such as Georgia, Florida, Iowa and Nebraska. But the bill was held up for months, first by a battle over aid for Puerto Rico and then by failed negotiations on border aid.

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2:10 p.m.

Congress crafted a long-overdue $19 billion disaster aid package, but only after Democrats insisted on jettisoning President Donald Trump's $4.5 billion request to handle an unprecedented influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The disaster package more than doubled in size since the House first addressed it last year. It would deliver aid for southern states suffering from last fall's hurricanes, Midwestern states deluged with springtime floods, and fire-ravaged rural California.

Disaster relief bills are invariably bipartisan, but this round bogged down.

After weeks of fighting, Democrats bested Trump and won further aid to Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory that was slammed by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017.

But talks this week over Trump's border request broke down.
HONOLULU (AP) - A special federal prosecutor spent an hour taking jurors through what has been called the biggest corruption case to rock Hawaii, showing how a high-ranking law enforcement power couple schemed to silence relatives who threatened to expose the financial fraud that funded their lavish lifestyle.

Michael Wheat, a U.S. attorney from San Diego, said they tapped into a secret police force to carry out their plan to frame an uncle for a peculiar crime: stealing their home mailbox.

A trial against retired Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and former deputy city prosecutor Katherine Kealoha began Wednesday and continues Thursday, five years after they reported the mailbox missing outside their home in an exclusive neighborhood. The couple were indicted in 2017 after a two-year federal investigation that also ensnared current and former police officers, who are now on trial with the Kealohas.

"This case neither begins, nor ends, with a mailbox," said Wheat, who was brought in because federal prosecutors in Hawaii recused themselves.

The case centers on the couple's greed and abuse of their positions, he said, including allegations Katherine Kealoha stole money from banks, relatives and children whose trusts she controlled and police officers carried out their bidding and lied to investigators about it. The charges were so sweeping that a judge broke them into two trials - the first focusing on the mailbox conspiracy.

Defense attorney Cynthia Kagiwada told jurors what happened to the money from Katherine Kealoha's disabled uncle and now-99-year-old grandmother is simply a family misunderstanding. She provided no specifics.

FILE - In this March 12, 2019 file photo, retired Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, former deputy city prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, hold hands while walking to U.S. district court in Honolulu. Opening statements are expected Wednesday, May 22, 2019, after 12 jurors and five alternates are selected for the trial of retired Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha, his wife and current and former officers. Prosecutors say Kealoha and his former city deputy prosecutor wife, Katherine Kealoha, abused their power to frame a relative for stealing their home mailbox because he threatened to expose financial fraud that funded the couple's lavish lifestyle. (AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, File)

Louis Kealoha's defense attorney, Rustam Barbee, said prosecutors are relying on circumstantial evidence. One glaring detail is missing from the prosecution's case, Barbee said: "Five years after the mailbox theft, the government has no evidence of the identity of who they think stole that mailbox."

Attorneys for the officers on trial said there was nothing secret about their police unit and there was never any conspiracy.

But the prosecutor said the "members of a secret police force called the Criminal Intelligence Unit" were hand-picked by the chief because they were closest to the couple.

Officer Minh Hung "Bobby" Nguyen was married to Katherine Kealoha's niece and lived in the couple's pool house, Wheat said. Lt. Derek Hahn was Katherine Kealoha's partner in a solar business, and retired Maj. Gordon Shiraishi was one of her husband's oldest friends.

The plot to frame the uncle, Gerard Puana, emerged after he and his mother, Florence Puana, sued Katherine Kealoha for money she stole in a reverse mortgage scheme, Wheat said.

Instead of paying off the mortgage loan on her grandmother's home, Kealoha used about $150,000 on Maserati and Mercedes Benz payments and tickets for an Elton John concert, according to court documents.

"Over time, the Puanas began to suspect that something was amiss" after the loan ballooned, Wheat said.

Florence Puana wrote her granddaughter a letter asking what happened to the money. Katherine Kealoha wrote an angry response that revealed her intentions to silence her family, Wheat said.

"I WILL seek the highest form of legal retribution against ANYONE and EVERYONE who has written or verbally uttered those LIES about me!" said an excerpt Wheat showed the jury. "They will rue the day that they decided to state these TWISTED LIES!"

The legal retribution was numerous attempts to lock up her uncle and try to have her grandmother declared mentally incompetent, Wheat said.

Katherine Kealoha also used an alias to facilitate her schemes, Wheat said. Evidence will show Alison Lee Wong is the name that notarized fraudulent documents and that Kealoha purchased notary equipment for that fake name, Wheat said.

The trial is expected to last through the summer, with the uncle testifying. Jurors will watch the grandmother's previously recorded deposition because she is too frail to take the stand in person.

A second trial for the Kealohas will focus on bank fraud and identity theft. Katherine Kealoha also faces a third trial for a separate indictment that accuses her and her pain physician brother of dealing opioids.

Former Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha, second from right, and his former deputy city prosecutor wife Katherine Kealoha, right, walk into federal court in Honolulu on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. A trial for what has been described as the biggest corruption case in Hawaii history began Wednesday for the couple, who are accused of conspiring to frame Katherine Kealoha's uncle for a crime he did not commit. The Kealoha's were indicted on charges including conspiracy and obstruction. Federal authorities began investigating the two in 2015 and both stepped down from their jobs as the probe deepened. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

Former Honolulu deputy city prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, right, walks into federal court in Honolulu on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. A trial for what has been described as the biggest corruption case in Hawaii history began Wednesday for Kealoha and her husband, former police chief Louis Kealoha. The two are accused of conspiring to frame Katherine Kealoha's uncle for a crime he did not commit. The Kealoha's were indicted on charges including conspiracy and obstruction. Federal authorities began investigating the two in 2015 and both stepped down from their jobs as the probe deepened. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

Former Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha, right, walks into federal court in Honolulu on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. A trial for what has been described as the biggest corruption case in Hawaii history began Wednesday for Kealoha and his former city prosecutor wife, Katherine Kealoha. The two are accused of conspiring to frame Katherine Kealoha's uncle for a crime he did not commit. The Kealoha's were indicted on charges including conspiracy and obstruction. Federal authorities began investigating the two in 2015 and both stepped down from their jobs as the probe deepened. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2017 file photo former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, right, and his wife, Katherine Keahola leave federal court in Honolulu. Opening statements are expected Wednesday, May 22, 2019, after 12 jurors and five alternates are selected for the trial of retired Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha, his wife and current and former officers. Prosecutors say Kealoha and his former city deputy prosecutor wife, Katherine Kealoha, abused their power to frame a relative for stealing their home mailbox because he threatened to expose financial fraud that funded the couple's lavish lifestyle. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)
In a story May 20 about teaching consent in the #MeToo era, The Associated Press misidentified the description of programs that stress abstinence in sex education taught by the group Ascend. The group teaches "sexual risk avoidance," not "sexual risk aversion."

A corrected version of the story is below:

Amid #MeToo, states debate teaching consent to kids

In the era of #MeToo, lawmakers, educators and teens themselves are re-examining whether sex education needs to evolve to better address some of the issues in society today.

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

Associated Press

Inside a Catholic school in Portland, Oregon, high school sophomores break into groups to discuss some once-taboo topics: abusive relationships and consent.

At one desk, a girl with banana-colored fingernails begins jotting down some of the hallmarks of abuse: Physically hurting you, verbally abusive, can be one-sided. She pauses to seek input from her classmates, boys and girls alike, before continuing: "It messes up your mentality and your, like, confidence."

For the first time this year, Central Catholic High School, like public schools in the city, is using educators from a domestic violence shelter to teach kids about what it means to consent. The goal is to reduce sexual violence and harassment among teens and help them understand what behavior is acceptable - and what's not - before they reach adulthood.

"We're talking about dating violence, sexual assault, relationships, #MeToo - all of those things. I think you have to be intentional about bringing this program into our classrooms," says David Blue, the school's director of diversity and inclusion. "How do you look at all of these constant conversations in our society right now?"

What's happening at this Catholic school in liberal Portland represents a larger debate unfolding in blue states and red, as lawmakers, educators and teens themselves re-examine whether sex education should evolve to better address some of the issues raised by #MeToo. Central to the conversation is whether schools should expand curriculums to help kids understand consent - a concept often defined differently from state to state.

"#MeToo has brought the issue of consent into the national spotlight, but it's abundantly clear that people still struggle with the culture shift that's happening," said Jennifer Driver, state policy director of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which favors liberal sex ed policies. "When done right, sex education can serve as violence prevention. But first, we have to get these policies (enacted)."

Since January, dozens of new sex ed bills have been floated in statehouses, but only five have passed and just two of those require specific instruction about consent, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks sexuality and reproductive health issues. In all, 10 states and the District of Columbia require that consent be part of sex ed curriculum. The states are: California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

Meantime, according to Driver's group, 32 states require that abstinence be stressed in schools that teach sex education. And most federal funding for sex ed in recent years has gone to abstinence programs, to the tune of $2 billion since 1981.

The divide over how to teach sex ed has long split on the question of whether kids are "sexual beings," said Jonathan Zimmerman, an education professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The pendulum has swung from the explicit information on sex, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases taught amid the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s to the abstinence-focused agenda that followed the rise of conservative politics, especially in the Bible Belt.

With the #MeToo movement, the pendulum may be inching back, at least when it comes to efforts to curb sexual violence.

A few abstinence-focused states, such as Virginia and South Carolina, have added consent to the curriculum.

And Oklahoma lawmakers this year considered a bill that would have forced high schools to teach consent. Called "Lauren's Law," the measure was named for a teen who said she was raped at a high school party. The Legislature eventually passed a narrower measure requiring that schools with a sex ed curriculum incorporate teaching about consent. It leaves other districts off the hook, but state Sen. Carol Bush, the Republican sponsor, called it "baby steps."

Bush said she raised two daughters in a Christian home but that a background in public health taught her of the need for comprehensive sex ed programs.

"I hate that we call it sex ed. It's more that you're a valued person - boy or girl - and we need to help our children understand that," said Bush, adding the bill was palatable to conservative colleagues because it lets teens know they have the right to say "no" to sex. She believes an increase in the number of women and younger lawmakers this year helped build consensus.

As with most issues in education, local school districts play a big role in shaping sex education curriculum, and many state laws on sex ed are intentionally vague.

In Cadillac, Michigan, a reliably Republican town of about 10,500 people, school leaders proactively teach consent after the school board voted more than a decade ago to change its sex ed curriculum from "abstinence only" to "abstinence based." These days county prosecutor Jason Elmore regularly visits the town's high school to deliver a sometimes startling message about consent.

Speaking to a freshmen health class last month, he patted his chest, lower abdomen and inner thighs while explaining that anyone under 16 cannot engage in sexual contact there without committing a crime - "even if it's a boyfriend or a girlfriend."

Elmore let the concept of who can do what with whom sink in as the students sat silently. Then he explained what it means for sexual contact to be "freely and honestly given" and how alcohol and marijuana are often involved in cases he sees. In the past year alone, he told the class, he's prosecuted a half-dozen sex-related cases involving Cadillac students.

"In this school?!" one bewildered boy exclaimed.

A 2017-18 survey found that 15 percent of Cadillac ninth-graders and 55 percent of 11th-graders said they'd had sexual intercourse. And 1 in 10 said they'd been hit by a dating partner.

Health teacher Cathy Booher believes more students today understand what it means to give consent and respect boundaries. But inevitably, not long after Elmore's class, she said: "A week or two later, we've had an incident."

In Tennessee, where the state mandates an abstinence-based curriculum, some teenagers are leading their own discussions about consent. The state's sex ed law, known as the 2012 "Gateway Law," not only prohibits the discussion of sexual activities that stop short of intercourse - so-called "gateway sexual behaviors" - it imposes $500 fines on instructors who wade into the topic.

In Memphis, students who are part of the advocacy group Memphis Against Sexual Harassment and Assault have lobbied the school district to fill its Title IX director's job, conducted peer training on consent, organized "Survivor Power Coffee Hours," and taken part in a "Memphis Says No More" poster campaign designed to promote awareness about sexual harassment and violence. The school board has agreed to distribute the posters in all middle and high schools this fall, the teens said.

These issues are personal to youth leaders Devin Dearmore and Savanah Thompson. Dearmore, 18, said she was sexually harassed by a staff member before transferring high schools. Thompson, 15, said she was catcalled, groped, pinned against a locker by another student - and later blamed for it - in eighth grade.

"I think there's this thing in the South that you just don't talk about things - provocative things," Thompson said. "We're being taught all of these things preparing us for college . but they're not teaching you how to cope with things that can derail your life. ... That's where our school system - and school systems nationwide - have failed us. In middle and elementary school, I didn't know I could say no."

Some who oppose teaching consent believe it signals an approval of teen sexual activity.

Mary Anne Mosack, who runs an abstinence education group called Ascend, said her group has been talking about consent for years but in the context that "avoiding sex is your best option." Ascend has trained some 1,500 instructors to teach what it calls "sexual risk avoidance" in public and private schools, clubs, foster homes and more.

Measures like Tennessee's "Gateway Law" are not meant to chill discussion on important issues, Mosack said, but to limit those that stray too far into supposed safe-sex topics such as "naked cuddling" and "showering together."

"In Tennessee and in other states, too, people were looking at those kinds of topics that were being presented, and felt they were inappropriate," she said.

Critics of abstinence-based programs say they shut down urgently needed conversations. And if they are meant to curtail sexual activity in places like Tennessee, the results appear questionable. A study last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Memphis was first among 17 metro areas surveyed in the rate of boys engaged in preteen sex. The survey found 1 in 4 boys have sex before their 13th birthday.

As for teaching students to delay sex until marriage, Columbia University researcher John Santilli considers that unreasonable in a country where just 3 percent of people do so.

"Abstinence until marriage in America in 2019? It's an impossible goal," said Santilli, who studies pediatrics and population health and said that more than half of Americans have sex before leaving high school. "On the other hand, I think we ought to tell young people if they're not ready to have sex with people, if they've had too much to drink, if they somehow feel uncomfortable with somebody, they can say no. To me, that's feminism in action."

He led a recent study that found teaching "refusal skills" in high school can cut the chances someone is raped in college in half.

In Oregon, Central Catholic High Principal John Garrow hoped to balance students' need for information with the Roman Catholic creed on abstinence before marriage. He evaluated several programs before choosing Raphael House, whose mission includes work with sexual and domestic assault survivors.

"We're trying to do our best to follow the teachings and at the same time be realistic, because as a school you lose your relevance real quickly if you're not real," Garrow said.

In the sophomore wellness class in April, two Raphael House instructors asked students to consider signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships. Does your partner make you feel valued? Stupid? Scared?

"It, like, opened my eyes," said Ramaya Wright, 15. "I didn't know those are a lot of the signs of an abusive relationship."

Julia Tycer, a Raphael House educator, said consent comes into play not just in dating relationships but in all of our interactions, every day.

"It's never really too early to be talking about consent," she said. "Practicing consent is really just asking, 'Are you OK?'"

___

Contributing were AP reporter Gillian Flaccus from Portland, Oregon, and AP National Writer Martha Irvine from Cadillac, Michigan. Dale, who reported from Philadelphia, writes about gender issues and #MeToo for The Associated Press. Follow her at https://twitter.com/Maryclairedale
JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's complicated relationship with an angry former protege has sent Israeli politics into uncharted waters.

By triggering an early election, Avigdor Lieberman has raised questions about the political future of the long-ruling prime minister who is bracing for expected criminal charges in a corruption case.

He also has emerged as a feared kingmaker who could continue to threaten Netanyahu.

"They've been going at each other for years," said Reuven Hazan, a professor in the political science department at Hebrew University.

In coalition negotiations over the years, he said that Lieberman has seemingly enjoyed dragging out talks "until the last minute."

The latest showdown, in which Lieberman blocked Netanyahu from forming a coalition government, was the culmination of years of up-and-down relations between student and mentor. It ended in a vote early Thursday morning that dissolved parliament less than two months after elections and triggered another national vote in September.

CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER TO ARIEL SCHALIT FROM SEBASTIAN SCHEINER - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows a map from US President Donald Trump during statements to the press in Jerusalem, Thursday, May 30, 2019. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to push the Trump administration's long-awaited plan for Mideast peace, just as Israel was thrust into the political tumult of an unprecedented second election in the same year. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

In a further embarrassment to the infuriated Netanyahu, it happened just as President Donald Trump's Mideast team was arriving to promote a peace initiative. A lengthy Israeli election campaign adds even more uncertainty to the U.S. plan.

The rivals continued to exchange insults Thursday, with Lieberman accusing Netanyahu of creating a "cult of personality" and the prime minister accusing Lieberman of being a "serial toppler" of governments.

Lieberman, a 60-year-old former nightclub bouncer, immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet republic of Moldova in the 1970s.

He got his start in politics as an aide to Netanyahu, serving as his chief of staff during his first term as prime minister in the late 1990s. He quickly resigned, however, to protest concessions Netanyahu made to the Palestinians and launched a new party, Yisrael Beitenu, appealing primarily to fellow Soviet immigrants.

That set the stage for one of the longest and strangest relationships in Israeli politics. While the U.S.-educated Netanyahu has cultivated an image as a telegenic and worldly statesman, Lieberman speaks in a dour, Russian-accented monotone. While Netanyahu presents himself as a leader, Lieberman is seen as a master backroom operator.

The sharp-tongued Lieberman has been the source of countless controversies. He has referred to Arab lawmakers as terrorist "collaborators," calling for them to face the death penalty, and he led a failed attempt to require Arab citizens to take a loyalty oath. He has infuriated Egypt, a key ally, by suggesting that Israel bomb Egypt's Aswan Dam, and again by saying angrily that its then-President Hosni Mubarak could "go to hell."

Yet he has proven to be a valuable ally to Netanyahu, briefly merging their parties earlier this decade. He has used his influence to secure top posts, including foreign minister and defense minister, but also has feuded with him. He resigned as defense minister last year, accusing Netanyahu of being too weak toward Gaza militants.

"Lieberman is very astute," said Ashley Perry, a former adviser. "He is a chess player literally and figuratively as he thinks long term and he sees the situation long term."

Perry said that despite Lieberman's reputation as a polarizing figure, he has enjoyed strong working relationships across the political map.

After the April 9 election, Netanyahu appeared to be a lock for a fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, with his Likud party and religious and nationalist allies controlling a solid 65-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament.

But during six weeks of negotiations, Lieberman drove a tough bargain in a dispute over Israel's military draft law. Unable to secure Lieberman's support, Netanyahu was left one seat short of a majority and was forced to push for the new election.

Lieberman appeared to be motivated by both political and personal reasons.

Though a staunch hard liner toward the Palestinians, Lieberman also champions a secular agenda and has pledged to confront ultra-Orthodox influence over the country's secular majority. The dispute with Netanyahu focused on draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, a sore spot among secular Jews who are required to serve.

As his core immigrant constituency grows older or integrates into Israeli society, Lieberman has sought to appeal to hard-line secular Israelis and rebrand his fast-shrinking party. Yisrael Beitenu won just five seats in the April election, down from 15 a decade ago.

Hazan, the political scientist, said Lieberman realized during the campaign that the issue of secular rights was a winning one.

"There's nothing you can give him that is going to get him any further with his voter base. What he decided is to cut Netanyahu down to size," he said.

But the collapse of the new parliament also unleashed deep personal animosity. At a news conference Thursday, Netanyahu accused Lieberman of betraying the public to save his party from extinction. "Lieberman is the national toppler. He is a serial toppler of right-wing governments," he said.

Earlier Thursday, Lieberman said the issue had nothing to do with political ideology.

"This is about a cult of personality," he said.

The new election campaign has suddenly made the long-dominant Netanyahu appear vulnerable. Israel's attorney general already has recommended that Netanyahu be charged with bribery and fraud in a series of corruption scandals, subject to a hearing scheduled in October.

With an election coming just weeks before the hearing, the corruption case is sure to be a key issue. And if Netanyahu wins, the corruption case will complicate his efforts to form a coalition, with his hopes shrinking for passing legislation granting him immunity.

For now, Netanyahu will continue to lead in a weakened capacity, as he has done since December, when he declared the previous election.

Throughout this period, Netanyahu has maintained a tough policy toward Iranian troops and their Hezbollah allies in neighboring Syria and has managed sporadic flare-ups of fighting in Gaza.

He tried to portray a business-as-usual image on Thursday, boasting to reporters about a series of meetings with U.S. officials, including presidential adviser Jared Kushner.

But as the U.S. promises to roll out a peace plan at an economic conference in Bahrain next month, it will likely be difficult for him to make any sweeping concessions.

Despite their tense relationship, Netanyahu and Lieberman could still find themselves together after the September election. Lieberman said he would not back opposition leader Benny Gantz as prime minister. That could mean another round of tense negotiations between the old rivals.

Perry, the former adviser, said if Likud emerges as the largest party in September, he thinks Lieberman will again recommend Netanyahu as prime minister and be ready to negotiate.

"What would be the reaction to that remains an open question," he said.

Former Israeli Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman speaks to journalists during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Israel embarked on an unprecedented second, snap election this year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition and instead dissolved parliament. Netanyahu was unable to build a parliamentary majority because his traditional ally, Lieberman, refused to bring his faction into the coalition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Former Israeli Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman speaks to journalists during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Israel embarked on an unprecedented second, snap election this year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition and instead dissolved parliament. Netanyahu was unable to build a parliamentary majority because his traditional ally, Lieberman, refused to bring his faction into the coalition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Former Israeli Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman, center, leaves a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Israel embarked on an unprecedented second, snap election this year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition and instead dissolved parliament. Netanyahu was unable to build a parliamentary majority because his traditional ally, Lieberman, refused to bring his faction into the coalition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Former Israeli Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman speaks to journalists during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Israel embarked on an unprecedented second, snap election this year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition and instead dissolved parliament. Netanyahu was unable to build a parliamentary majority because his traditional ally, Lieberman, refused to bring his faction into the coalition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER TO ARIEL SCHALIT FROM SEBASTIAN SCHEINER - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during statements to the press in Jerusalem, Thursday, May 30, 2019. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to push the Trump administration's long-awaited plan for Mideast peace, just as Israel was thrust into the political tumult of an unprecedented second election in the same year. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER TO ARIEL SCHALIT FROM SEBASTIAN SCHEINER - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during statements to the press in Jerusalem, Thursday, May 30, 2019. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to push the Trump administration's long-awaited plan for Mideast peace, just as Israel was thrust into the political tumult of an unprecedented second election in the same year. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Former Israeli Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman speaks to journalists during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Israel embarked on an unprecedented second, snap election this year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition and instead dissolved parliament. Netanyahu was unable to build a parliamentary majority because his traditional ally, Lieberman, refused to bring his faction into the coalition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Indian prime minister Narendra Modis Hindu nationalist party claimed it won re-election with a commanding lead in Thursdays vote count, while the head of the main opposition party conceded a personal defeat that signalled the end of an era for modern Indias main political dynasty.

Election Commission data by mid afternoon showed the Bharatiya Janata Party leading in contests for 299 out of 542 seats in the lower house of Parliament, with its main rival, the Indian National Congress, ahead in 50 contests.

The data did not indicate what percentage of the estimated 600 million votes cast over the six-week election had been counted.

Although the final tally was not expected until Thursday evening at the earliest, BJP President Amit Shah claimed a victory, crediting Mr Modis leadership.

Now, the time has come to take the Chowkidar Spirit to the next level.



Keep this spirit alive at every moment and continue working for Indias progress.



The word Chowkidar goes from my Twitter name but it remains an integral part of me. Urging you all to do the same too!  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 23, 2019

Mr Modi himself tweeted: India wins yet again.

The election has been seen as a referendum on 68-year-old Mr Modi, whose economic reforms have had mixed results but whose popularity as a social underdog in Indias highly stratified society has endured.

Critics have said his Hindu-first platform risks exacerbating social tensions in the country of 1.3 billion people.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters celebrate in their partys Assam state office (Anupam Nath/AP)

On the campaign trail, Mr Modi presented himself as a self-made man with the confidence to cut red tape and unleash Indias economic potential, and labelled Congress party president Rahul Gandhi, the scion of a political dynasty that lost national power in 2014, as an out-of-touch member of the elite.

Mr Gandhi conceded defeat for his own parliamentary seat to his BJP rival in Amethi, a constituency in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh that had for decades been a Congress party bastion.

Congress, the party of Indias first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and peace activist Mahatma Gandhi, ruled India for nearly half a century after it achieved independence from Britain in 1947.

In 2014, it won only 44 seats, and was projected to win only slightly more this time.

The BJPs performance is absolutely stunning. Modi is the predominant leader in India today. He has pushed everybody else aside. Nobody in the opposition is a match for him, said political commentator Arti Jerath.

Congratulations on your victory and the peoples re-endorsement of your leadership.

Sri Lanka looks forward to continuing the warm and constructive relationship with India in the future.@narendramodi  Maithripala Sirisena (@MaithripalaS) May 23, 2019

A party or coalition needs a simple majority of 272 seats, or just over half the seats in Parliaments lower house, to govern.

Mr Modis going to be the next prime minister, we are very assured of that, said Meenakshi Lekhi, a member of Parliament running for re-election in New Delhi.

Shortly after officials began tabulating the votes, Indias Sensex jumped 2.3% to an all-time high over 40,000, though it closed Thursday off 0.76% at 38,811.

If BJPs lead holds, it will not need a coalition partner to stay in power and could even improve its position compared to 2014, when it won 282 seats.

This election may mark the first time in the partys history that it has won two consecutive elections on its own.

I accept the verdict of the people of India 



Congratulations to the winners, Mr Modi & the NDA.



Thank you to the people of Wayanad for electing me as your MP.



Thank you also to the people of Amethi.



Thank you Congress workers & leaders for your hard work in this campaign.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 23, 2019

World leaders, including Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, congratulated Mr Modi on Twitter.

I congratulate Prime Minister Modi on the electoral victory of BJP and allies. Look forward to working with him for peace, progress and prosperity in South Asia, Mr Khan tweeted.

Trends in the election data suggest that BJPs strategy of pursuing an aggressive campaign in eastern India paid off, with the party breaking into the citadels of Trinamool Congress Party in West Bengal state and the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha state.

Picking up seats in these two states would compensate for projected losses in Uttar Pradesh in northern India.

The biggest losers appear to be the communists who ruled West Bengal state for 34 years until they were ousted by Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress Party in 2011.

Coalition partners of the Congress-led government in New Delhi between 2004 and 2008, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was leading in only three constituencies and the Communist Party of India in two constituencies.

Outside BJP headquarters in New Delhi, hundreds of people cheered and shouted party slogans, lifting cardboard cutouts of Mr Modi and Mr Shah into the air as other people played drums and set off fireworks.

Mohit Sharma, a 29-year-old who runs a bathroom fittings business, said India had never had a prime minister like Mr Modi.

In the past, when leaders after they won elections, they sat in air-conditioned rooms and they never reached out to people, but Modi was never like that. He was always connected to the people through social media, Mr Sharma said.

Fashion designer Sandeep Verma, 39, said he was not a BJP supporter but voted for the party in the elections.

A country like India needs a decisive leader and the people did not find that in Rahul Gandhi. There was no alternative to Modi, Mr Verma said.

The BJP harnessed social media, including Twitter, where Mr Modi has 47.4 million followers, and WhatsApp to reach out to millions of supporters.

Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah displays the victory sign (Manish Swarup/AP)

Mr Modi also capitalised on a suicide bombing in Kashmir in February that killed 40 Indian soldiers.

India retaliated with airstrikes at alleged terrorist training camps in Pakistan, fanning the flames of nationalism and helping the BJP turn voters attention away from the flailing economy and onto matters of national security.

As votes were being counted across India, Pakistans military said it successfully test-fired a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Tensions with Pakistan gave him the narrative he needed to counter all these allegations of non-performance, unemployment and rural distress. It reenergised him and enabled him to reclaim his image as a strong leader India needs at this juncture, Ms Jerath said.

Counting officials open electronic voting machines (EVM) (Bikas Das/AP)

Analysts also said that Mr Modis victory could embolden Hindu hard-liners calling for Hindu cultural practice to colour more of Indias laws and norms.

BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya, a Hindu holy woman who is awaiting trial on charges connected to a 2008 bombing that targeted Muslims, and who recently called independence leader Mahatma Gandhis assassin a patriot, was leading the polls in Bhopal.

At Congress headquarters, a few party workers stood outside looking dejected.

Jagdish Sharma, 50, blamed the counting method, using electronic voting machines, saying Rahul Gandhi is the crowds favourite, but has always lost only due to EVMs. While EVMs exist even Lord Vishnu cant defeat Modi, he said, referring to a powerful Hindu god.

Voters cast ballots on some 40 million electronic voting machines, a method India began using 15 years ago after complaints that the manual count of paper ballots was tainted by fraud and abuse.

A BJP supporter displays a sari with a portrait of prime minister Narendra Modi (Mahesh Kumar A/AP)

But losing candidates and political parties have raised doubts about the accuracy and reliability of the electronic method, doing so again this week.

Top opposition leaders met with Election Commission officials on Tuesday after videos appeared on social media showing some electronic voting machines being moved.

The party officials alleged that the machines were going to be altered, but the commission said the images showed unused machines being moved into storage.
Politicians promoting rape or violence should be given a lifetime ban, according to a new petition.

Prime Minister Theresa May has been urged to change the law to stamp out the abuse of women in politics.

MPs including Labours Jess Phillips, Conservative Nicky Morgan and the Greens deputy leader Amelia Womack have all signed up.

Jess Phillips MP (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

A letter, drafted by The Fawcett Society and published by HuffPost UK, is also signed by feminist campaigners including Caroline Criado-Perez.

Sam Smethers, Fawcett Society chief executive, said: By permitting candidates who behave in this way we are giving them a platform to encourage and mobilise others.

Women, black and ethnic minority people, those from certain religious groups or those who are LGBT are all more likely to be targeted with abuse. We cannot allow this to be the norm.

There is currently nothing to stop someone who promotes rape or violence standing to be an MP, MEP, local councillor or a Police and Crime Commissioner.

Caroline Criado-Perez, left, with Prime Minister Theresa May (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The law does not currently disqualify candidates with a track record of issuing threats.

But campaigners, including 90,000 who have signed an online petition, are demanding tougher sanctions for those who intimidate women in public life.

The Fawcett Society wants a new offence of intimidation of election candidates to be extended, with a statutory code of conduct for candidates and tough penalties which they all sign up to.

The society has flagged up how swift action has been taken against protesters throwing milkshakes over right-wing figures but women suffering abuse often failed to get the same protection.

Jess Phillips has been repeatedly targeted by Ukips European election candidate Carl Benjamin, who is now under investigation by police.

In 2016 he tweeted I wouldnt even rape you, to Ms Phillips, and went further in a video on his YouTube channel in April, saying he might cave.

He said: Theres been an awful lot of talk about whether I would or wouldnt rape Jess Phillips.

I suppose with enough pressure I might cave, but lets be honest nobodys got that much beer.

Ukip election candidate Carl Benjamin (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The Birmingham Yardley MP revealed she had broken down in tears in Birmingham city centre when she heard about his comments, just because I felt the enormous weight of years and years and years of abuse.

On the day the police investigation was announced earlier this month, the MP also revealed that a man had followed her as she left the Commons, asking why Mr Benjamin should not be able to joke about her rape, shouting I pay your wages.

Ms Phillips said: For too long it has been in the hands of political parties to vet who is appropriate to stand for election.

I have found personally that that has allowed a man who makes videos about if he would or wouldnt rape me be selected to stand for a legitimate political party.

This is damaging to womens representation but to our politics as a whole.

The Government must join in and seek to ensure that this cannot happen.

Ms Morgan added: It cannot be right that any person who thinks threatening another with rape or violence is in any way acceptable is then allowed to stand for elected office.

Actions have consequences and threatening rape or violence should never be normalised.

A Government source said intimidation and abuse towards those in public life is inexcusable.

They added: Thats why we are legislating to bar people found guilty of this kind of behaviour during the build-up to an election from running for office for up to five years.

This follows recommendations from the public, political parties and independent electoral bodies  71% of which were in favour of introducing this.

Intimidatory or abusive behaviour is a crime, which in extreme cases is already punishable with a custodial sentence.
Polling stations were evacuated in south west London after an unexploded Second World War bomb was discovered at a building site.

Police sealed off parts of Kingston on Thursday morning after the explosive was found in Fassett Road at about 9.15am, the Metropolitan Police said.

We've been informed of a World War 2 bomb in Fassett Road, #Kingston. We're working closely with emergency services who are evacuating the area. There's a cordon in place at Beaufort Road, Fassett Road, Grove Lane and Grove Crescent. Please avoid the area. We'll keep you updated  Kingston Council (@RBKingston) May 23, 2019

Shortly before 8.30pm, police said some 1,500 houses had been evacuated as a precaution with cordons expected to remain in place until Friday afternoon.

Commander Mark McEwan said: Rest centres and assistance are being provided by our partners. Police patrols will continue in order to ensure the areas safety.

The operation is likely to continue throughout the night.

Please see an update from Cmdr. Mark McEwan surrounding todays incident in Kingston. pic.twitter.com/pvBQVx8Beo  Kingston Police (@MPSKingston) May 23, 2019

Kingston Universitys Penrhyn Road and Knights Park campuses were also evacuated, along with Surbiton High School, where some Year 10 students were sitting exams.

Police sealed off parts of Kingston in south west London, including two polling stations, after a Second World War bomb was found on a building site (Kingston MPS/PA)

Specialist police officers examined the bomb and called in experts from the Ministry of Defence, the Met said.

Two polling stations were closed, St John the Evangelist church in Grove Lane and St Raphaels Catholic church in Portsmouth Road.

If you live in the affected area and are yet to vote in today's elections, your polling station has been relocated to St. Mark's Church, St. Mark's Hill, #Surbiton. pic.twitter.com/y44wXrMe4Y  Kingston Police (@MPSKingston) May 23, 2019

People taking part in Thursdays European elections were instead directed to other sites to cast their vote.

Kingston University said all staff and students at evacuated campuses were advised to go home.

A statement said some student halls and houses were also evacuated.

The Metropolitan Police is evacuating an area of Kingston which includes the whole of Penrhyn Road campus.



The Penrhyn Road campus will be closed for the rest of the day. All staff and students based at Penrhyn Road may go home. (1/3)  Kingston University (@KingstonUni) May 23, 2019

The Met said residents told to leave their homes could go to the United Reformed church, in Eden Street, as they waited for cordons to be lifted.

One parent of a pupil at Surbiton High School said exams were postponed and one Latin exam on Thursday morning was abandoned mid-way through when the alarm was raised.

A cordon was expected to remain in place until at least 4pm on Friday, police said, adding that the fire brigade was also involved in the operation.
Centralisation of Scotlands police and fire services has failed to deliver the savings and improved services it promised, according to a Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP.

Following publication of a report evaluating reform of Scotlands police and fire services, Liam McArthur raised concerns the move has not realised its aims.

Scotlands 16 policing and fire and rescue services  eight police and eight fire and rescue  were merged into two national bodies, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), in 2013.

The move set out to bring a more consistent and improved service across the country, as opposed to having several separate and relatively autonomous regional organisations.

But Mr McArthur claimed: The SNPs centralisation has failed to significantly improve services or deliver the savings that were promised.

When the sums didnt add up, the Scottish Government took an axe to civilian staff positions, forcing more and more officers off the beat to fill the gaps.

The Scottish Government need to ensure that a long overdue staff survey takes place as soon as possible.

This will give us a more accurate picture of the challenges facing hard-working police and fire service workers.

Reform of Scotlands police and fire services was one of the most significant changes in public sector services since devolution. Independent research shows other nations who embarked on similar reforms have also faced a number of challenges. Read more: https://t.co/9acRH5OCsC pic.twitter.com/ZSWhvFotfY  ScotGov Justice (@ScotGovJustice) May 23, 2019

In 2014, the Scottish Government commissioned an independent four-year evaluation of police and fire reform in Scotland, with a report published on Thursday.

Its findings stated the reforms were some of the most ambitious public-sector reforms in Scotland for a generation and said the Government had clearly articulated the strategic aims of the reforms from the outset.

But it said the process of implementing the vision of both a single police service and fire and rescue service has been more challenging and complex than anticipated by those in both policy and practitioner communities.

The report also noted significant progress has been made towards achieving the intended outcomes of reform as set out in the 2012 Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act.

But concerns were raised over staffing and resources available for the services.

One section of the report highlighted unintended consequences of policing reform at local level.

It read: The redeployment of officers to specialist teams, reductions in civilian staff and restructuring of resource provision and geographical responsibilities have resulted in concerns among local officers, shared by the public and local councillors, that resources are increasingly stretched relative to demand.

A section evaluating reform of the fire and rescue service also outlined staff feeling stretched.

It read: Local firefighters have reported feeling stretched as a result of declining numbers of administrative staff, which was viewed as resulting in increasing workloads.

SFRS chief officer Martin Blunden said: We welcome this comprehensive evaluation, which provides strong insight into what is described as one of the most ambitious public-sector reforms in Scotland for a generation.

This report recognises our commitment to putting in place the necessary operational, governance and financial foundations that will enable us to meet modern risks such as severe weather and a growing elderly population increasingly calling upon our support to stay safe.

It is vital that we listen to our people, the public we serve and our partners to ensure they have a voice in shaping future service delivery as we work to navigate a challenging financial environment, and ensure our ongoing efforts enhance both public and firefighter safety.

We recognise that there still remains areas for improvement.

Humza Yousaf said police officer numbers in Scotland have risen 6.3% since 2007 (Jane Barlow/PA)

Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said: Police Scotland has transformed the way policing investigates rape and other sexual crimes, improved its approach to investigating murders and unexplained deaths, and its response to dealing with national threats.

Our structure has allowed for the 73 million Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh, which has state-of-the-art forensics capacity and houses DNA 24, the most advanced profiling facility in Europe.

This is despite having been required to remove around 200 million, the equivalent of the budget of four legacy services, from the annual cost base of policing.

Reform is about using these great benefits to ensure the service is more agile, flexible and tailored to local needs.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: The people of Scotland are well-served by the officers and staff of their police and fire services, who work alongside communities and other partners to make our streets and homes safer.

Police and fire reform was one of the most significant public-sector reforms since devolution, which is why we commissioned a long-term, independent evaluation which both services, their governance boards and the Scottish Government continue to learn from.

The final report underlines how Scotland has not been unique in facing challenges in police and fire reform.

Other nations have faced issues, some similar to Scotland, some not, and we welcome all of the contributions towards this research work.

He added: The recent Justice Committee report on police and fire reform rightly recognised a number of the significant achievements across both services and we continue to support them, including with an annual budget of 1.2 billion for the Scottish Police Authority and 327 million for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

We continue to press the UK Government for a refund of the VAT paid by Scotlands police and fire services up to 2018.

Police officer numbers across Scotland have risen by 6.3% since 2007  an increase of more than 1,000  compared to a 13.8% drop in England and Wales over the last decade.
Manchester United will travel to Norway for a pre-season friendly against manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaers hometown team Kristiansund on July 30.

United were assured of a Europa League group stage place  so avoiding the headache of the qualifying phase which would start towards the end of July  following Manchester Citys FA Cup final win over Watford last weekend.

It has now been announced that Solskjaers side will take on Kristiansund at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo.

#MUFC are heading to Oslo this summer for pre-season friendlies!   Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 23, 2019

Uniteds newly-promoted womens side are also set to travel to the Norwegian capital, where they will face Valerenga at the Intility Arena the following day.

This match will be really important in terms of our preparation for the new season, Solskjaer said.

We want to hit the ground running and give ourselves a chance to challenge once the new campaign starts and the best way to do that is with some momentum behind you.

Oslos Ullevaal Stadium is the venue for Uniteds pre-season clash with Kristiansund. (Martin Rickett/PA)

Uniteds pre-season is scheduled to get underway in Western Australia when they take on Perth Glory on July 13 at the Optus Stadium before a clash against old rivals Leeds four days later.

They then travel to Singapore and Shanghai for fixtures against Inter Milan and Tottenham respectively on July 20 and 25.

After their brief trip to Solskjaers homeland, United are due to face AC Milan at Wales Principality Stadium on August 3.
The Education Secretary has issued a fierce condemnation of protests outside a primary school over LGBT teaching in its curriculum.

Damian Hinds branded demonstrations outside Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham unacceptable after the head teacher announced the site would close early on Friday over safety fears.

Protesters have been gathered outside the school, in Dennis Road, for several weeks despite criticism from authorities including the council and police.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds has issued a blunt criticism of the protests (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Mr Hinds said on Thursday: It is unacceptable that children at Anderton Park are missing out on education because of the threat of protests.

There is no place for protests outside school gates.

They can frighten children, intimidate staff and parents and, in the worst cases, be hijacked by individuals with a vested interest and no links to the schools.

It is time for these protests to stop.

The head teacher, Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, has decided to close the school at lunchtime on Friday for the half-term break ahead of a planned demonstration.

Mr Hinds added: I support and trust head teachers to make decisions in the interests of their pupils and its unacceptable that this school finds itself in a position where it feels it has no choice but to close early for the last day of term.

He said the Department for Education was working with authorities and taking steps to encourage further talks and dialogue between the school and a number of parents.

Tensions escalated on Sunday as police were called amid claims counter-protesters were egged while putting up banners in support of the school, including some with the message love is the answer.

Parents, children and protesters at Anderton Park Primary School (Aaron Chown/PA)

Welcoming the extremely difficult decision to close early, Birmingham City Council leader Ian Ward said the first priority was the safety of pupils, families and staff, as protests had escalated significantly over the past week.

He said the council was working with police to ensure the school was supported when it reopened on June 3, adding: I urge parents to engage with the school if they have concerns about equalities education.

The council has said it is looking into whether it could employ a public space protection order to move demonstrations away from the school.

On Tuesday, West Midlands Police Chief Constable David Thompson called for a halt to protests, and for fresh talks between school leaders and some parents who have objected to elements of Anderton Parks relationships education.

This followed what the senior police officer called a number of criminal offences near the school on Sunday night.

Protests have been going on for weeks (Aaron Chown/PA)

Police are also investigating claims Ms Hewitt-Clarkson was sent threatening messages.

Mr Thompson said: Frankly, a primary school is no place for the continuance of a large scale protest, however lawful.

The main organiser of the protests is Shakeel Afsar, whose children do not go to the school.

Mr Afsar, who has a niece and nephew who attend, said that without further mediation between parents, the school and the council, the latest pre-planned rally would be going ahead on Friday.

He has claimed demonstrations are continuing because the school is using children as pawns by teaching LGBT equality which is over-emphasising a gay ethos.

He has rejected allegations the protests are homophobic, claiming the school should respect the protesters moral beliefs.

In early May, he was given a legal warning by the council not to interfere with the schools operation, but he has continued to attend demonstrations.

In an exchange outside the school on Monday, Labour MP Jess Phillips told Mr Afsar that demonstrators could not pick and choose which equality they applied.

But constituency Labour MP Roger Godsiff has since said he understood parents concerns over whether all the material was age appropriate for four and five-year-olds.
A new child abuse compensation bid is to be launched in Northern Irelands courts.

The human rights action is for damages against Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley on the basis of her allegedly delaying the proposed Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) redress scheme, a solicitor has said.

Sir Anthony Harts public inquiry recommended the measure after finding that childrens homes run by religious orders, charities and the state were responsible for harm caused to youngsters over many decades.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley (Liam McBurney/PA)

Solicitor Kevin Winters said: This represents victims and survivors across the board and reflects the lengths to which people will now go to seek justice on a united front against the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

He said hundreds stood to receive compensation because of two test cases representative of all victims from the Survivors Together and Rosetta Trust groups.

The action will be based on an alleged breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights which protects against degrading and inhumane treatment.

Last month a judge at Belfast High Court ruled that Mrs Bradleys failure so far to implement a redress scheme was not unlawful.

The Secretary of State had asked the Stormont parties to answer additional questions on the matter before Westminster legislation could be drawn up.
Cameron Norrie gained the headline-grabbing draw among the British players at the French Open with a first-round tie against Nick Kyrgios.

It will be the Australians first match since being defaulted from his

second-round clash with Casper Ruud at the Italian Open in Rome on May 16 after throwing a chair across the court.

That came a day after Kyrgios said he could not stand Novak Djokovic and branded Rafael Nadal super salty in an appearance on the No Challenges Remaining podcast.

Kyrgios also caused a stir this week after saying the French Open sucks compared to Wimbledon as he practised with Andy Murray at the All England Club.

Norrie can put further pressure on Kyle Edmund for the British number one spot when the tournament starts on Sunday.

Edmund reached the third round here during a superb 2018 but 2019 has been hugely disappointing so far, and the 24-year-old goes into his first-round clash with Frenchman Jeremy Chardy trying to snap a five-match losing streak.

Cameron Norrie will play Nick Kyrgios in the first round of the French Open. (Ian Rutherford/PA)

Britains third male representative, Dan Evans, faces a major battle to win his first match at Roland Garros after drawing in-form 23rd-seed Fernando Verdasco.

There was confusion on the womens side at the presence in the draw of British number three Katie Boulter, who had previously been ruled out of the entire clay-court season with a back injury.

It is thought Boulter is not intending to play but she is yet to officially withdraw and was paired with 23rd-seed Donna Vekic in the draw.

Boulter could potentially be in line to receive half of the first-round prize money of 46,000 euros (approximately 40,000) should she pull out before her match, although she would need to be on site in Paris to qualify.

British number one Johanna Konta drew a qualifier as she looks to build on her superb run to the final in Rome last weekend.

That was particularly timely as it earned her a place among the 32 seeds in Paris as the world number 26.

Konta had previously demonstrated little form on clay and has never won a main-draw match at Roland Garros. She could face fourth-seed Kiki Bertens, whom she beat in the semi-finals in Rome, in round three.

Britain could yet have another main-draw entrant, with Katie Swan due to play her final qualifier on Friday against Slovakias Kristina Kucova.

The 20-year-old followed up her victory over second qualifying seed Jil Teichmann on Wednesday by coming from 5-3 down in the deciding set to beat Wang Xiyu 6-4 0-6 7-5.

There was heartbreak, though, for Heather Watson, who served for victory in the third set against Greek Valentini Grammatikopoulou and held two match points, only to lose 7-5 6-7 (6) 7-6 (3).

Back in the main draw, Roger Federer will play his first match at Roland Garros since 2015 against Italys Lorenzo Sonego.

Federer is in the same half of the draw as second-seed Rafael Nadal, who begins his bid for a 12th title against a qualifier.

Top-seed Novak Djokovic, who is aiming to win four grand slam titles in a row for the second time, takes on Polands Hubert Hurkacz in the other half.

Womens top seed Naomi Osaka is also aiming to continue her slam streak after winning in New York and Melbourne but faces a tough path.

The 21-year-old Japanese meets Slovakias Anna-Karolina Schmeidlova in the first round but would then face the winner of an enticing clash between Victoria Azarenka and former champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Serena Williams is also in the same section and will face Russias Vitalia Diatchenko provided she has overcome a left-knee problem while defending champion Simona Halep meets Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.

Three lucky losers are guaranteed to make the main draw following the withdrawals of Camila Giorgi, Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic.
Senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi has questioned Donald Trumps fitness to remain in office and suggested a family or staff intervention for the good of the nation.

The House Speakers call came after the Presidents dramatic walk-out from a White House meeting with Democrats.

Mr Trump responded by calling Ms Pelosi crazy.

Shes a mess, he told reporters at an afternoon news conference in which he lined up White House staff members to testify to his calmness at a meeting with Ms Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks back to the Oval Office (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Cryin Chuck, Crazy Nancy  I watched Nancy and she was all crazy yesterday, he said.

As for himself, he said: Im an extremely stable genius.

Mr Trumps spokeswoman added that it is the Democrats who are insane if they think he should work on legislation with them when they accuse him of engaging in a cover-up in the Trump-Russia election investigation.

Both the Republican president and Democratic leaders dug in a day after Mr Trump stalked out of the Cabinet Room demanding an end to all congressional probes before he would work with Congress on crumbling US infrastructure and other matters.

By Thursday as Congress prepared to recess for the Memorial Day break, both sides were questioning each others stability, with the President insisting on Twitter that he was calm when he left the White House meeting after just three minutes.

Ms Pelosi said Mr Trump has established a pattern of unpredictability, and at one point she even joked about the 25th Amendment, the Constitutions provision laying out the procedure for replacing a president.

I wish that his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country, Ms Pelosi said at her weekly news conference, adding that she prays for him and the nation.

Maybe he wants to take a leave of absence, she said. Asked whether she is concerned about Mr Trumps well-being, she replied: I am.

Ms Pelosi also said the White House is crying out for the Democrats to launch impeachment hearings  the idea being that such a move would help him politically.

White House aides believe that if Democrats move to impeach  and even if they win approval of articles of impeachment in the House  Mr Trump would be acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate, supporting his assertion that he is a victim of Democratic harassment and helping him toward re-election.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery (Andrew Harnik/AP)

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the comment by Ms Pelosi was irresponsible.

However genuine, accusations of infirmity dominated the exchanges on Thursday and raised questions about whether Ms Pelosi and Mr Trump could work together on vital tasks this year, such as raising the debt limit and funding the government.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said staff-level work on critical policy and spending continues.

Yet Ms Sanders also said on CNN that it was lunacy and insane for Democrats to think everyone could just proceed after Ms Pelosi accused Mr Trump of a cover-up just before the meeting on Wednesday.

Its very hard to have a meeting where you accuse the president of the United States of a crime and an hour later show up and act as if nothing has happened, Ms Sanders told reporters outside the White House.
The polls have closed after people cast their votes to elect Scotlands six MEPs, with candidates now facing a wait until Monday to discover the final results.

Voters had the chance to put a cross in the box next to their preferred candidate at polling stations around the country from 7am until 10pm on Thursday.

Party leaders were among those turning out to vote.

SNP leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon cast her ballot at the Broomhouse Community Hall in Glasgow on Thursday morning.

She was joined by her husband and SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, and SNP candidate Alexander Kerr.

Nicola Sturgeon voted early in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson voted in Edinburgh  leaving both her dog and baby son Finn at home when she went to the polls.

Afterwards she declared she had done her democratic duty, urging Scots to vote for her party to say no more referendums.

Ruth Davidson cast her vote in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said he had voted Labour to bring our country together.

Mr Leonard took to twitter after casting his ballot to urge people: Please use your vote and make your voice heard.

Ive just voted Labour to bring our country together. Copper couldnt but if you can, please use your vote and make your voice heard. #VoteLabour pic.twitter.com/nS5ELIfGcy  Richard Leonard (@LabourRichard) May 23, 2019

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie tweeted that he had voted for his party to stop Brexit.

With the election taking place amid heightened political tension, police had deployed extra officers to deal with any disturbances.

Police Scotland confirmed four units comprising about 100 officers were strategically placed to deal with any incident.

This was in addition to usual policing.

Deputy Chief Constable Will Kerr said: We would never normally need that sort of support, particularly for European elections.

We do now. The tone is just fundamentally different.

Scotland will send six MEPs to the European Parliament, although Brexit means it is unclear for how long they will have their jobs.

Two of the parties lead candidates have already served in Brussels and Strasbourg, with the SNPs Alyn Smith and David Martin of Labour both putting themselves forward again.

Baroness Nosheena Mobarik is also hoping to return as a Conservative MEP for Scotland after taking on the job when her Tory predecessor Ian Duncan went to the House of Lords.

At the last European election in 2014, Scotland returned two SNP MEPs along with two Labour representatives, one Tory and one Ukip MEP.

David Coburn, who was Scotlands first elected Ukip politician, is not standing for re-election.

With the polls showing a slump in support for the Conservatives and Labour compared to five years ago, both the Scottish Greens and Nigel Farages Brexit Party are hoping to see their candidates elected.

Votes will not be counted until Sunday in most areas.

Counting takes place in the Western Isles on Monday morning, with the full Scottish results to be announced after that.
Juventus are understood to be preparing a compensation package to prise Maurizio Sarri away from Chelsea.

The Italian giants want Blues boss Sarri to replace Massimiliano Allegri in Turin, and must now stump up in the region of 5million to secure their top target.

Chelsea are understood to have no plans to sack Sarri, who led the club to a third-place Premier League finish and Europa League triumph in his maiden Stamford Bridge campaign.

Maurizio Sarri, centre, lifts the Europa League trophy after Chelseas 4-1 win over Arsenal in Baku (Adam Davy/PA)

Juventus sent a delegation to Baku for talks with Chelsea bosses on Sarris situation, ahead of the Blues thrashing Arsenal 4-1 to lift the Europa League crown in style.

Sarri appeared delighted with the first major trophy of his managerial career, but had long since accepted he would talk to his Chelsea bosses about his future come the end of the campaign.

Former investment banker Sarri has polarised opinion around Stamford Bridge with his regimented tactics, drawing criticism from fans for taking time to hand home grown talents Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi central roles.

While Chelsea would be prepared to let Sarri take the helm for a second season, club bosses are also mindful that the 60-year-old may prefer to return to his native Italy.

Massimiliano Allegri, pictured, has left Juventus, who are now chasing Chelsea boss Sarri (John Walton/PA)

The outside criticism of his approach is said to have taken some toll on Sarri this term, and would in part explain his desire for a return home.

Sarri admitted in the wake of Chelseas Europa League triumph that he would be seeking talks with the club, insisting both parties would need to state their full intentions.

We need to know what the club can do for me, and what I can do better for the club, said Sarri, in Baku.

Also the club need to speak to me.

Frank Lampard, pictured, is the bookies favourite to replace Maurizio Sarri should the Italian leave Chelsea (John Walton/PA)

Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard heads the lengthening queue of those linked with stepping into the west London hot seat should Sarri depart.

The Derby manager remains hugely popular at all levels of the Stamford Bridge set-up, and has already worked with Chelsea loanees Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori this term with the Rams.

Lampard would be receptive to helping young talent blossom at the Bridge, especially should the club wind up subject to FIFAs two-window transfer ban. Chelsea can still appeal against that ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The unseated Juventus manager Allegri and former France and Paris St Germain boss Laurent Blanc are other names in the frame.
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Texas oil billionaire William 'Tex' Moncrief Jr. dead at 101

DALLAS (AP)  William Alvin Moncrief Jr., a Texas wildcatter who helped build a father-son venture into an oil and gas empire over more than 70 years in the industry, has died. He was 101. A spokeswoman for Moncrief Oil confirmed his death to The Associated Press Wednesday but could not immediately provide further details.

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Canadian Utilities Limited and its subsidiaries engage in the electricity, natural gas, and retail energy businesses worldwide. It operates through Utilities, Energy Infrastructure, and Corporate & Other segments. The Utilities segment provides regulated electricity transmission and distribution services in northern and central east Alberta, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories; and integrated natural gas transmission and distribution services in Alberta, the Lloydminster area of Saskatchewan, and Western Australia. It owns and operates approximately 9,000 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, 16 compressor sites, approximately 3,700 receipt and delivery points, and a salt cavern storage peaking facility located near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta in Canada. The Energy Infrastructure segment provides electricity generation, natural gas storage, industrial water, and related infrastructure development solutions in Alberta, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Australia, Mexico, and Chile. The Corporate & Other segment retails electricity and natural gas business in Alberta. The company was incorporated in 1927 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Canadian Utilities Limited is a subsidiary of ATCO Ltd.

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Ferguson plc distributes plumbing and heating products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Central Europe. It offers plumbing and heating solutions to customers in the residential, municipal, civil and industrial markets, and commercial sectors for repair, maintenance, and improvement (RMI), as well as new construction markets. The company also distributes pipes, valves, fittings, hydrants, meters, and related water management products, as well as offers related services, such as water line tapping and pipe fusion services. In addition, it distributes heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration equipment, and parts and supplies to specialist contractors in the residential and commercial markets for repair and replacement; and PVF products to industrial customers. Further, the company fabricates and supplies fire protection systems and bespoke fabrication services to commercial contractors for new construction and renovation projects, as well as offers products, services, and solutions to enable maintenance of facilities across various RMI markets. Additionally, it offers supply chain management solutions for PVF; and industrial maintenance, repair, and operations specializing in delivering automation, instrumentation, engineered products, and turn-key solutions. The company also sells its home improvement products directly to consumers, as well as through a network of online stores. In addition, it operates its B2B business primarily under the Ferguson brand; and B2C business under the Build.com brand. Further, the company provides products and services for maintenance of multi-family properties, government agencies, hospitality, education, healthcare, and other facilities. It operates a network of 2,194 branches and 19 distribution centers. Ferguson plc was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Wokingham, the United Kingdom.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Ecolab: AO Ecolab, Abednego Environmental Services, Abednego Environmental Services LLC, Abednego Mexico Holdings LLC, Abednego de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Alcide Corp., Anios America S.A., Anios Diffusion SAS, Anios Manufacturing SAS, Bioquell, Bioquell Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Bioquell Global Logistics (Ireland) Ltd., Bioquell Holding SAS, Bioquell Inc., Bioquell Limited, Bioquell SAS, Bioquell Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd., Bioquell Technology Canada Ltd., Bioquell UK Limited, Bioxyquell Limited, CALGON EUROPE LIMITED, CALGON LLC, CID LINES HOLDING NV, CID LINES INVEST NV, CID LINES NV, CID Lines, CID Lines Beijing Animal Hygiene Co Ltd., CID Lines France Sarl, CID Lines Iberica SL, CID Lines LLC, CID Lines Mexico S.A. DE C.V., CID Lines R&D NV, CID Lines Sp. z o. o., CORPAK MedSystems, Cascade Water Services, Champion Technologies, Chamtech L.L.C., Chemlawn, Chemstaff Inc., Chemstar Corporation, Cirlam BVBA, Copal Holding NV, Copal Invest NV, DERYPOL SA, DMD, E&M Bio-Chemicals LLC, ECOLAB NL 10 B.V., ECOLAB PEST FRANCE SAS, Ecolab (Antigua) Ltd., Ecolab (Aruba) N.V., Ecolab (Barbados) Limited, Ecolab (China) Investment Co. Ltd, Ecolab (Fiji) Pty Limited, Ecolab (GZ) Chemicals Limited, Ecolab (Guam) LLC, Ecolab (Proprietary) Limited, Ecolab (Schweiz) GmbH, Ecolab (St. Lucia) Limited, Ecolab (Taicang) Technology Co. Ltd., Ecolab (Trinidad and Tobago) Unlimited, Ecolab (U.K.) Holdings Limited, Ecolab A.E.B.E., Ecolab AB, Ecolab AP Holdings LLC, Ecolab AT 2 GmbH, Ecolab AU2 Pty Ltd, Ecolab Acquisition LLC, Ecolab ApS, Ecolab Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Ecolab B.V., Ecolab B.V.B.A./S.P.R.L., Ecolab Bahrain S.P.C., Ecolab CDN 2 Co., Ecolab CDN 4 ULC, Ecolab CH 1 GmbH, Ecolab CH 2 GmbH, Ecolab CH 3 GmbH, Ecolab CH 5 GmbH, Ecolab CH 6 GmbH, Ecolab Chemicals Limited, Ecolab Co., Ecolab Colombia S. A., Ecolab DE 1 GmbH, Ecolab Deutschland GmbH, Ecolab EOOD, Ecolab East Africa (Kenya) Limited, Ecolab East Africa (Tanzania) Limited, Ecolab East Africa (Uganda) Limited, Ecolab Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Ecolab Engineering GmbH, Ecolab Europe GmbH, Ecolab Export GmbH, Ecolab FR 1 SAS, Ecolab FR 4 SAS, Ecolab Finance Company Designated Activity Company, Ecolab Food Safety & Hygiene Solutions Private Limited, Ecolab G.K., Ecolab Global Business Services LLC, Ecolab GmbH, Ecolab Gulf FZE, Ecolab HK 1 Limited, Ecolab HK 2 Limited, Ecolab Hispano-Portuguesa S.L., Ecolab Holding Italy S.r.l., Ecolab Holdings (Europe) LLC, Ecolab Holdings Inc., Ecolab Holdings Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V., Ecolab Hygiene Kft., Ecolab Hygiene d.o.o., Ecolab Israel Holdings LLC, Ecolab JVZ Limited, Ecolab Korea Ltd., Ecolab LLC, Ecolab LUX & Co Holdings S.C.A., Ecolab LUX 1 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 2 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 4 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 7 Sarl, Ecolab LUX Sarl, Ecolab Limited, Ecolab Ltd., Ecolab Lux 10 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 12 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 13 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 14 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 15 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 9 S.a.r.l., Ecolab Lux Partner LLC, Ecolab MT Holdings LLC, Ecolab MT Limited, Ecolab Malta 1 Limited, Ecolab Malta 2 Limited, Ecolab Malta GPS, Ecolab Manufacturing IE Limited, Ecolab Manufacturing Inc., Ecolab Manufacturing UK Limited, Ecolab Maroc Societe a Responsabilite Limitee, Ecolab NL 11 B.V., Ecolab NL 15 BV, Ecolab NL 16 B.V., Ecolab NL 23 B.V., Ecolab NL 3 BV, Ecolab NL 4 BV, Ecolab Name Holding Limited, Ecolab New Zealand, Ecolab Peru Holdings S.R.L., Ecolab Pest Deutschland GmbH, Ecolab Philippines Inc., Ecolab Production Belgium B.V.B.A., Ecolab Production France SAS, Ecolab Production Italy Srl, Ecolab Production LLC, Ecolab Production Netherlands B.V., Ecolab Production Poland sp. z o.o., Ecolab Pte. Ltd., Ecolab Pty Ltd., Ecolab Quimica Ltda., Ecolab S. de R.L. de C.V., Ecolab S.A., Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Ecolab SAS, Ecolab SIA, Ecolab SNC, Ecolab SRL, Ecolab Sdn Bhd, Ecolab Services Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Services Poland Sp. z o o, Ecolab Sociedad Anonima, Ecolab Sp. z o o, Ecolab Spain Services S.L.U., Ecolab Temizleme Sistemleri Limited Sirketi, Ecolab U.S. 2 Inc., Ecolab U.S. 6 LLC, Ecolab U.S. 7 LLC, Ecolab US 1 GP, Ecolab USA Inc., Ecolab Viet Nam Company Limited, Ecolab Water Holding LImited, Ecolab a.s., Ecolab d.o.o., Ecolab s.r.l., Ecolab s.r.o., Ecolab y Compania Colectiva de Responsabilidad Limitada, Ecolab-Importacao E. Exportacao Limitada, Ecolabone B.V., Ecolabtwo B.V., Endoclear Equipamentos Medicos Hospitalares Ltda., Enviroflo Engineering Limited, Food Protection Services, GCS Service, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd., GallayTrac Pty. Ltd., Georgia-Pacific - Paper Chemicals Business, Gibson Chemical Industries, Green Harbour Mainland Holdings Ltd, Guangzhou Green Harbour Environmental Operation Ltd., HYDROSAN LIMITED, Henkel-Ecolab, Hicopla SL, Holchem Laboratories, Huntington Laboratories, Hydenet SAS, INDUSTRIAL) UNIPESSOAL LDA, INTERNATIONAL WATER CONSULTANT B.V., Immobiliare R.E.O.P.A. SRL, Instrunet Hospital SLU, Jianghai Environmental Protection Co., Jianghai Environmental Protection Co. Ltd., KATAYAMA NALCO INC., Kay BVBA, Kay Chemical Company, LHS (UK) Limited, Laboratoires Anios, Laboratoires Anios-Distribution SAS, Les Produits Chimiques ERPAC Inc., Lobster Ink, Lobster Ink Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Lobster International S.A., London & General Packaging Ltd, MALAYSIA SDN. BHD, MANUFACTURING S.R.L., MOBOTEC AB LLC, Master Chemicals OOO, Meratech Rus Group LLC, Microtek Dominicana S.A., Microtek Italy S.R.L., Microtek Medical B.V., Microtek Medical Europe Limited, Microtek Medical Holdings, Microtek Medical Holdings Inc., Microtek Medical Inc., Microtek Medical Malta Holding Limited, Microtek Medical Malta Limited, Midland Research Laboratories, Midland Research Laboratories UK Limited, NALCO (SHANGHAI) TRADING CO. LTD., NALCO AB, NALCO ACQUISITION ONE, NALCO ACQUISITION TWO LIMITED, NALCO AFRICA (PTY.) LTD., NALCO ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., NALCO BELGIUM BVBA, NALCO CHINA HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO COMPANY OOO, NALCO DANMARK APS, NALCO DE MEXICO S. de R. L. de C.V., NALCO DELAWARE COMPANY, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND MANUFACTURING GMBH UND CO. KG, NALCO DUTCH HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO EGYPT LTD., NALCO EGYPT TRADING, NALCO ESPANOLA MANUFACTURING S.L.U., NALCO ESPANOLA S.L., NALCO EUROPE B.V., NALCO FINLAND MANUFACTURING OY, NALCO FINLAND OY, NALCO FRANCE, NALCO FRANCE SNC, NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO HOLDING B.V., NALCO HOLDING COMPANY, NALCO HOLDINGS G.m.b.H., NALCO HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, NALCO HONG KONG LIMITED, NALCO INDUSTRIAL OUTSOURCING COMPANY, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (NANJING) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (SUZHOU) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (THAILAND) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES CHILE LIMITADA, NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO INVESTMENTS U.K. LIMITED, NALCO ISRAEL INDUSTRIAL SERVICES LTD, NALCO ITALIANA, NALCO ITALIANA HOLDINGS S.R.L., NALCO ITALIANA SrL, NALCO KOREA LIMITED, NALCO LIMITED, NALCO LUXEMBOURG HOLDINGS SARL, NALCO MANUFACTURING BETEILIGUNGS GMBH, NALCO MANUFACTURING LTD., NALCO NETHERLANDS B.V., NALCO NORTH AFRICA LIMITED, NALCO OSTERREICH Ges m.b.H., NALCO OVERSEAS HOLDING B.V., NALCO PAKISTAN (PRIVATE) LIMITED, NALCO PHILIPPINES INC., NALCO PORTUGUESA (QUIMICA, NALCO PWS INC., NALCO SAUDI CO. LTD., NALCO TAIWAN CO. LTD., NALCO TWO INC., NALCO U.S. HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO UNIVERSAL HOLDINGS BV, NALCO WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO ZAO, NALFLOC LIMITED, NALTECH INC., NANOSPECIALTIES LLC, NLC PROCESS AND WATER SERVICES SARL, Nalco (BN) SDN BHD, Nalco (China) Environmental Solution Co. Ltd., Nalco Anadolu Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Nalco Canada ULC, Nalco Company LLC, Nalco Contract Operations LLC, Nalco Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Nalco Gulf Response Corp., Nalco Japan G.K., Nalco Libya, Nalco Middle East FZE, Nalco Polska Sp. z o. o., Nalco Production LLC, Nalco Real Estate GmbH, Nalco Schweiz GmbH, Nalco US 1 LLC, Nalco Wastewater Contract Operations Inc., Nalco Water India Limited, Nalco Water Pretreatment Solutions LLC, Nalco Worldwide Holdings S.a.r.l./B.V., Nigiko, Nuova Farmec S.r.l., Oksa Kimya Sanayi A.S., Oy Ecolab AB, PT Ecolab International Indonesia, PT Ecolab Technologies and Services, Purate business - AkzoNobel, Quantum Technical Services LLC, Quimicas Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Quimiproductos S.A. de C.V, RP Adam Ltd, Research Fumigation Co., Royal Pest Solutions, Shield Holdings Limited, Shield Medicare Limited, Shield Salvage Associates Limited, Soluscope International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Soluscope SAS, Swisher Hygiene, Technical Textile Services Limited, Techtex Holdings Limited, Terminix, Ultrafab, Wabasha Leasing LLC, and vanBaerle Hygiene AG.
Oil States International, Inc. engages in the provision of specialty products and services to drilling, completion, subsea, production, and infrastructure sectors of the oil and gas industry. It operates through the following segments: Well Site Services, Downhole Technologies and Offshore or Manufactured Products. The Well Site Services segment consists of completion and drilling services such equipment and services that are used to drill for, establish, and maintain the flow of oil and natural gas from a well throughout its life cycle focuses on completion-focused equipment and services as well as land drilling services. The Downhole Technologies segment provides oil and gas perforation systems and downhole tools in support of completion, intervention, wireline and abandonment operations. The Offshore or Manufactured Products segment designs, manufactures, and markets capital equipment utilized on floating production systems, subsea pipeline infrastructure, and offshore drilling rigs and vessels, along with short-cycle and other products. The company was founded in July 1995 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Banco Santander: 2 & 3 Triton Limited, A & L CF (Guernsey) Limited (f), A & L CF June (2) Limited, A & L CF June (3) Limited, A & L CF March (5) Limited, A & L CF September (4) Limited, AFB SAM Holdings S.L., ALIL Services Limited (b), AN (123) Limited, ANITCO Limited, Abbey Business Services (India) Private Limited, Abbey Covered Bonds (LM) Limited, Abbey National, Abbey National Beta Investments Limited, Abbey National Business Office Equipment Leasing Limited, Abbey National International Limited, Abbey National Nominees Limited, Abbey National PLP (UK) Limited, Abbey National Property Investments, Abbey National Treasury Services Investments Limited, Abbey National Treasury Services Overseas Holdings, Abbey National UK Investments, Abbey Stockbrokers (Nominees) Limited, Abbey Stockbrokers Limited, Ablasa Participaciones S.L., Administracion de Bancos Latinoamericanos Santander S.L., Aduro S.A., Aevis Europa S.L., Afisa S.A., Albert., Aljardi SGPS Lda., Alliance & Leicester, Alliance & Leicester Cash Solutions Limited, Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments (Derivatives) Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments (No.2) Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments Limited, Alliance & Leicester Limited, Alliance & Leicester Personal Finance Limited, Altamira Santander Real Estate S.A., Alternative Leasing FIL, Amazonia Trade Limited, Amherst Pierpont, Andaluza de Inversiones S.A., Aquanima Brasil Ltda., Aquanima Chile S.A., Aquanima Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Aquanima S.A., Arcaz - Sociedade Imobiliaria Portuguesa Lda., Argenline S.A. (b), Asto Digital Limited, Athena Corporation Limited, Atual - Fundo de Invest Multimercado Credito Privado Investimento no Exterior, Atual Servicos de Recuperacao de Creditos e Meios Digitais S.A., Autodescuento S.L., Autohaus24 GmbH, Auttar HUT Processamento de Dados Ltda., Aviacion Antares A.I.E., Aviacion Britanica A.I.E., Aviacion Centaurus A.I.E., Aviacion Comillas S.L. Unipersonal, Aviacion Intercontinental A.I.E., Aviacion Laredo S.L., Aviacion Oyambre S.L. Unipersonal, Aviacion Real A.I.E., Aviacion Santillana S.L., Aviacion Suances S.L., Aviacion Triton A.I.E., Aymore Credito Financiamento e Investimento S.A., BEN Beneficios e Servicos S.A., BRS Investments S.A., BZW Bank, Banca PSA Italia S.p.A., Banco Bandepe S.A., Banco Madesant - Sociedade Unipessoal S.A., Banco PSA Finance Brasil S.A., Banco Popular, Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A., Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico como Fiduciaria del Fideicomiso 100740, Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico como Fiduciaria del Fideicomiso 2002114, Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico como Fiduciaria del Fideicomiso GFSSLPT, Banco Santander - Chile, Banco Santander Consumer Portugal S.A., Banco Santander International, Banco Santander International SA, Banco Santander Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Banco Santander Peru S.A., Banco Santander Rio S.A., Banco Santander S.A., Banco Santander Totta S.A., Banco Santander de Negocios Colombia S.A., Banco de Albacete S.A., Bansa Santander S.A., CCAP Auto Lease Ltd., Canyon Multifamily Impact Fund IV LLC, Capital Street Delaware LP, Capital Street Holdings LLC, Capital Street REIT Holdings LLC, Capital Street S.A., Carfax (Guernsey) Limited (f), Carfinco Financial Group, Carfinco Financial Group Inc., Carfinco Inc., Casa de Bolsa Santander S.A. de C.V. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Cater Allen Holdings Limited, Cater Allen International Limited, Cater Allen Limited, Cater Allen Lloyd's Holdings Limited, Cater Allen Syndicate Management Limited, Centro de Capacitacion Santander A.C., Certidesa S.L., Chrysler Capital Auto Funding I LLC, Chrysler Capital Auto Funding II LLC, Chrysler Capital Auto Receivables LLC, Chrysler Capital Master Auto Receivables Funding 2 LLC, Chrysler Capital Master Auto Receivables Funding 4 LLC, Chrysler Capital Master Auto Receivables Funding LLC, Cobranza Amigable S.A.P.I. de C.V., Community Development and Affordable Housing Fund LLC (g), Compagnie Generale de Credit Aux Particuliers - Credipar S.A., Compagnie Pour la Location de Vehicules - CLV, Comunidad Laboral Trabajando Argentina S.A., Comunidad Laboral Trabajando Iberica S.L. Unipersonal en liquidacion (b), Consulteam Consultores de Gestao Lda., Consumer Lending Receivables LLC, Crawfall S.A. (b), Cantabra de Inversiones S.A., Cantabro Catalana de Inversiones S.A., Darep Designated Activity Company, Decarome S.A.P.I. de C.V., Deva Capital Advisory Company S.L., Deva Capital Holding Company S.L., Deva Capital Investment Company S.L., Deva Capital Management Company S.L., Deva Capital Servicer Company S.L., Digital Procurement Holdings N.V., Diners Club Spain S.A., Direccion Estratega S.C., Dirgenfin S.L. en liquidacion (b), Ebury, El Corte Ingles, Elavon Mexico, Electrolyser S.A. de C.V., Entidad de Desarrollo a la Pequena y Micro Empresa Santander Consumo Peru S.A., Erestone S.A.S., Esfera Fidelidade S.A., Evidence Previdencia S.A., Financeira El Corte Ingles Portugal S.F.C. S.A., Financiera El Corte Ingles E.F.C. S.A., Finsantusa S.L. Unipersonal, First National Motor Business Limited, First National Motor Contracts Limited, First National Motor Facilities Limited, First National Motor Finance Limited, First National Motor Leasing Limited, First National Motor plc, First National Tricity Finance Limited, Fondos Santander S.A. Administradora de Fondos de Inversion (en liquidacion) (b), Fortensky Trading Ltd., Fosse Funding (No.1) Limited, Fosse Master Issuer plc, Fosse Trustee (UK) Limited, GTS El Centro Equity Holdings LLC, GTS El Centro Project Holdings LLC, Gamma Sociedade Financeira de Titularizacao de Creditos S.A., Gesban Mexico Servicios Administrativos Globales S.A. de C.V., Gesban Santander Servicios Profesionales Contables Limitada, Gesban Servicios Administrativos Globales S.L., Gesban UK Limited, Gestion de Instalaciones Fotovoltaicas S.L. Unipersonal, Gestion de Inversiones JILT S.A., Gestora de Procesos S.A. en liquidacion (b), Getnet Adquirencia e Servicos para Meios de Pagamento S.A., Global Vosgos S.L. Unipersonal, Grupo Empresarial Santander S.L., Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico S.A. de C.V., Grupo Financiero Santander SAB de CV, Guaranty Car S.A. Unipersonal, HQ Mobile Limited, Hispamer Renting S.A. Unipersonal, Holbah II Limited, Holbah Santander S.L. Unipersonal, Holmes Funding Limited, Holmes Master Issuer plc, Holmes Trustees Limited, Hyundai Capital Bank Europe GmbH, Iberica de Compras Corporativas S.L., Independence Community Bank Corp., Insurance Funding Solutions Limited, Interfinance Holanda B.V., Inversiones Capital Global S.A. Unipersonal, Inversiones Maritimas del Mediterraneo S.A., Isla de los Buques S.A., Klare Corredora de Seguros S.A., Landcompany 2020 S.L., Langton Funding (No.1) Limited, Langton Mortgages Trustee (UK) Limited, Langton Securities (2008-1) plc, Langton Securities (2010-1) PLC, Langton Securities (2010-2) PLC, Laparanza S.A., Liquidity Limited, Luri 1 S.A. en liquidacion (b) (e), Luri 6 S.A. Unipersonal, Master Red Europa S.L., Mata Alta S.L., Merciver S.L., Mercury TFS, Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.A. de C.V., Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.L., Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.p.A., Moneybit S.L., Mortgage Engine Limited, Motor 2016-1 PLC, Motor 2017-1 PLC, Mouro Capital I LP, Multiplica SpA, NW Services CO., Naviera Mirambel S.L., Naviera Trans Gas A.I.E., Naviera Trans Iron S.L., Naviera Trans Ore A.I.E., Naviera Trans Wind S.L. (b), Naviera Transcantabrica S.L., Naviera Transchem S.L. Unipersonal, NeoAuto S.A.C., Norbest AS, Novimovest  Fundo de Investimento Imobiliario, Open Bank Argentina S.A., Open Bank S.A., Open Digital Market S.L., Open Digital Services S.L., Operadora de Carteras Gamma S.A.P.I. de C.V., Optimal Investment Services SA, Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland Plc / Optimal Strategic US Equity Ireland Euro Fund, Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland Plc / Optimal Strategic US Equity Ireland US Dollar Fund, PBE Companies LLC, PECOH Limited, PI Distribuidora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., PSA Bank Deutschland GmbH, PSA Banque France, PSA Finance UK Limited, PSA Financial Services Nederland B.V., PSA Financial Services Spain E.F.C. S.A., PSA Renting Italia S.p.A., PagoFX Europe S.A., PagoFX HoldCo S.L., PagoFX UK Ltd, PagoNxt Merchant Solutions S.L., PagoNxt S.L., Parasant SA, Patagon.com, Pereda Gestion S.A., Pingham International S.A., Popular Spain Holding de Inversiones S.L.U., Portal Universia Argentina S.A., Portal Universia Portugal Prestacao de Servicos de Informatica S.A., Prime 16  Fundo de Investimentos Imobiliario, Punta Lima LLC, Punta Lima Wind Farm LLC, Retop S.A., Return Capital Servicos de Recuperacao de Creditos S.A., Return Gestao de Recursos S.A., Riobank International (Uruguay) SAIFE (b), Rojo Entretenimento S.A., SAM Asset Management S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, SAM Investment Holdings S.L., SAM UK Investment Holdings Limited (b), SANB Promotora de Vendas e Cobranca Ltda., SCF Eastside Locks GP Limited, SDMX Superdigital S.A. de C.V., SMPS Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A de C.V, Sancap Investimentos e Participacoes S.A., Santander (CF Trustee Property Nominee) Limited, Santander (UK) Group Pension Schemes Trustees Limited, Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 1 S.A., Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 2 S.A., Santander Alternatives SICAV RAIF, Santander Asesorias Financieras Limitada, Santander Asset Finance (December) Limited, Santander Asset Finance plc, Santander Asset Management - S.G.O.I.C. S.A., Santander Asset Management Chile S.A., Santander Asset Management LLC, Santander Asset Management Luxembourg S.A., Santander Asset Management S.A. Administradora General de Fondos, Santander Asset Management S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Asset Management UK Holdings Limited, Santander Asset Management UK Limited, Santander Back-Offices Globales Mayoristas S.A., Santander Banca de Inversion Colombia S.A.S., Santander Bank & Trust Ltd., Santander Bank National Association, Santander Bank Polska S.A., Santander Brasil Administradora de Consorcio Ltda., Santander Brasil Gestao de Recursos Ltda., Santander Brasil Tecnologia S.A., Santander Capital Desarrollo SGEIC S.A. Unipersonal, Santander Capital Structuring S.A. de C.V., Santander Capitalizacao S.A., Santander Cards Ireland Limited, Santander Cards Limited, Santander Cards UK Limited, Santander Chile Holding S.A., Santander Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Santander Consumer (UK) plc, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L4 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L5 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Bank, Santander Consumer Bank AG, Santander Consumer Bank GmbH, Santander Consumer Bank S.A., Santander Consumer Bank S.p.A., Santander Consumer Banque S.A., Santander Consumer Credit Services Limited, Santander Consumer Finance Benelux B.V., Santander Consumer Finance Global Services S.L., Santander Consumer Finance Oy, Santander Consumer Finance S.A., Santander Consumer Finance Schweiz AG, Santander Consumer Financial Solutions Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Finanse Sp. z o.o. (b), Santander Consumer Holding Austria GmbH, Santander Consumer Holding GmbH, Santander Consumer International Puerto Rico LLC, Santander Consumer Leasing GmbH, Santander Consumer Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.L., Santander Consumer Multirent Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Operations Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Receivables 10 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 11 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 3 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 7 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables Funding LLC, Santander Consumer Renting S.L., Santander Consumer S.A., Santander Consumer S.A.S., Santander Consumer Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Services S.A., Santander Consumer Technology Services GmbH, Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc., Santander Consumer USA Inc., Santander Consumo S.A. de C.V. S.O.F.O.M. E.R. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Corredora de Seguros Limitada, Santander Corredores de Bolsa Limitada, Santander Corretora de Cambio e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., Santander Corretora de Seguros Investimentos e Servicos S.A., Santander Customer Voice S.A., Santander Digital Assets S.L., Santander Drive Auto Receivables LLC, Santander Equity Investments Limited, Santander Espana Merchant Services Entidad de Pago S.L. Unipersonal, Santander Espana Servicios Legales y de Cumplimiento S.L., Santander Estates Limited, Santander F24 S.A., Santander Facility Management Espana S.L., Santander Factoring S.A., Santander Factoring Sp. z o.o., Santander Factoring y Confirming S.A. E.F.C., Santander Finance 2012-1 LLC, Santander Financial Exchanges Limited, Santander Financial Services Inc., Santander Financial Services plc, Santander Finanse Sp. z o.o., Santander Fintech Holdings S.L., Santander Fintech Limited, Santander Fundo de Investimento SBAC Referenciado di Credito Privado, Santander Gestion de Recaudacion y Cobranzas Ltda., Santander Global Consumer Finance Limited, Santander Global Facilities S.A. de C.V., Santander Global Facilities S.L., Santander Global Operations S.A., Santander Global Services S.A. (b), Santander Global Sport S.A., Santander Global Technology Brasil Ltda., Santander Global Technology Chile Limitada, Santander Global Technology S.L., Santander Global Trade Platform Solutions S.L., Santander Guarantee Company, Santander Holding Imobiliaria S.A., Santander Holding Internacional S.A., Santander Holdings USA Inc., Santander ISA Managers Limited, Santander Inclusion Financiera S.A. de C.V. S.O.F.O.M. E.R. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Insurance Agency U.S. LLC, Santander Insurance Services UK Limited, Santander Intermediacion Correduria de Seguros S.A., Santander International Products Plc. (d), Santander Inversiones S.A., Santander Investment Bank Limited, Santander Investment Chile Limitada, Santander Investment I S.A., Santander Investment S.A., Santander Investment Securities Inc., Santander Investments GP 1 S.a.r.l., Santander Inwestycje Sp. z o.o., Santander Lease S.A. E.F.C., Santander Leasing LLC, Santander Leasing S.A., Santander Leasing S.A. Arrendamento Mercantil, Santander Lending Limited, Santander Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Operations S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Services S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Uruguay S.A., Santander Merchant Platform SolucoesTecnologicas Brasil Ltda., Santander Merchant S.A., Santander Mortgage Holdings Limited, Santander Paraty Qif PLC, Santander Pensiones S.A. E.G.F.P., Santander Pensoes - Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Pensoes S.A., Santander Private Banking Gestion S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Private Banking UK Limited, Santander Private Banking s.p.a. in Liquidazione (b), Santander Private Real Estate Advisory & Management S.A., Santander Private Real Estate Advisory S.A., Santander Real Estate S.A., Santander Retail Auto Lease Funding LLC, Santander Rio Asset Management Gerente de Fondos Comunes de Inversion S.A., Santander Rio Trust S.A., Santander Rio Valores S.A., Santander S.A. Sociedad Securitizadora, Santander Secretariat Services Limited, Santander Securities LLC, Santander Seguros y Reaseguros Compania Aseguradora S.A., Santander Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., Santander Servicios Especializados S.A. de C.V., Santander Technology USA LLC, Santander Tecnologia e Inovacao Ltda., Santander Tecnologia Argentina S.A., Santander Tecnologia Espana S.L.U., Santander Tecnologia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Totta SGPS S.A., Santander Totta Seguros Companhia de Seguros de Vida S.A., Santander Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A., Santander Trade Services Limited, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, Santander UK Investments, Santander UK Operations Limited, Santander UK Plc, Santander UK Technology Limited, Santander Wealth Management International SA, Santander de Titulizacion S.G.F.T. S.A., Santusa Holding S.L., Services and Promotions Delaware Corp., Services and Promotions Miami LLC, Servicio de Alarmas Controladas por Ordenador S.A., Servicios de Cobranza Recuperacion y Seguimiento S.A. De C.V., Sheppards Moneybrokers Limited, Shiloh III Wind Project LLC, Sociedad Integral de Valoraciones Automatizadas S.A., Sociedad Operadora de Tarjetas de Pago Santander Getnet Chile S.A., Socur S.A., Sol Orchard Imperial 1 LLC, Solarlaser Limited, Sovereign Community Development Company, Sovereign Delaware Investment Corporation, Sovereign Lease Holdings LLC, Sovereign REIT Holdings Inc., Sovereign Spirit Limited (f), Sterrebeeck B.V., Suleyado 2003 S.L. Unipersonal, Summer Empreendimentos Ltda., Super Pagamentos e Administracao de Meios Eletronicos S.A., Superdigital Argentina S.A.U., Superdigital Colombia S.A.S., Superdigital Holding Company S.L., Superdigital Peru S.A.C., Suzuki Servicios Financieros S.L., Swesant SA, TIMFin S.p.A., TOPSAM S.A de C.V., Taxagest Sociedade Gestora de Participacoes Sociais S.A., Teatinos Siglo XXI Inversiones S.A., The Alliance & Leicester Corporation Limited, The Best Specialty Coffee S.L. Unipersonal, Time Retail Finance Limited (b), Tonopah Solar I LLC, Toque Fale Servicos de Telemarketing Ltda., Tornquist Asesores de Seguros S.A. (b), Totta (Ireland) PLC, Totta Urbe - Empresa de Administracao e Construcoes S.A., Trabajando.com Mexico S.A. de C.V. en liquidacion (b), Trabajando.com Peru S.A.C., Trans Rotor Limited (b), Transolver Finance EFC S.A., Tresmares Growth Fund Santander SCR S.A., Tresmares Santander Direct Lending SICC S.A., Tuttle and Son Limited, Universia Brasil S.A., Universia Chile S.A., Universia Colombia S.A.S., Universia Espana Red de Universidades S.A., Universia Holding S.L., Universia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Universia Peru S.A., Universia Uruguay S.A., Uro Property Holdings SOCIMI S.A., WIM Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., WTW Shipping Designated Activity Company, Wallcesa S.A., Wave Holdco S.L., Waypoint Insurance Group Inc., and Wirecard (Technological Assets).
Unum Group is engaged in providing financial protection benefits. It operates through the following segments: Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, Closed Block and Corporate. The Unum US segment comprises of group long-term and short-term disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment products, and supplemental and voluntary lines of business. The Unum International segment engages in the operations of UK business, which includes insurance for group long-term disability, group life, and supplemental lines of business that include dental, individual disability, and critical illness products; Poland business primarily includes insurance for individual and group life with accident and health riders. The Colonial Life segment includes insurance for accident, sickness, disability products, life products, and cancer and critical illness products. The Closed Block segment consists of individual disability, group and individual long-term care, and other insurance products no longer actively marketed. The Corporate segment refers to investment income on corporate assets and other corporate income and expenses not allocated to a line of business; and interest

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FedEx Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of a portfolio of transportation, e-commerce, and business services. It operates through the following segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Services, and Corporate, Other & Eliminations. The FedEx Express segment consists of domestic and international shipping services for delivery of packages and freight. The FedEx Ground segment focuses on small-package ground delivery services. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services across all lengths of haul. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology, communications, customer service, technical support, billing and collection services, and certain back-office functions. The Corporate, Other & Eliminations segment includes corporate headquarters costs for executive officers and certain legal and finance functions, as well as certain other costs and credits not attributed to the firm's core business. The company was founded by Frederick Wallace Smith on June 18, 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, TN.

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At Landsec, we strive to connect communities, realise potential and deliver sustainable places. As one of the largest real estate companies in Europe, our A11.8 billion portfolio spans 24 million sq ft (as at 30 September 2020) of well-connected retail, leisure, workspace and residential hubs. From the iconic Piccadilly Lights in the West End and the regeneration of London's Victoria, to the creation of retail destinations at Westgate Oxford and Trinity Leeds, we own and manage some of the most successful and memorable real estate in the UK. We aim to lead our industry in critical long-term issues A- from diversity and community employment, to carbon reduction and climate resilience. We deliver value for our shareholders, great experiences for our customers and positive change for our communities.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley  Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley  Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business.
The following companies are subsidiares of Iron Mountain: AB Archyvu Centras, AB Archyvu Sistemos, AB Archyvu Sistemos Estonia Branch, AS Archivu Serviss, Accutrac Software Inc, ArchivesOne, Archyvu sistemos, Arhiv-Trezor d.o.o., Ausdoc Group Pty Limited, Ausdoc Holdings Pty Limited, Bonded Services (International) B.V., Bonded Services Acquisition Ltd., Bonded Services Group, Bonded Services Group Limited, Bonded Services International Limited, Bonded Services Limited, Box Butler, Britannia Data Management Limited, Capital Vision Holdings SAS, Capital Vision SAS, Connected Corporation, Cornerstone Records Management, Crozier Fine Arts, Crozier Schweiz Ag, Custodia S.O.S. SA, DBJ Limited, DMS Storage s.r.o., DigiGuard, Disaster Recovery Services Limited, Docscan Cape Town Proprietary Limited, Docscan Proprietary Limited, Docu-File JHB Proprietary Limited, DocuTar Iratrendezo es Tarolo Szolgaltato Kft., DocuVault, Docufile (Pty) Ltd, EAC Invest, Eurospags Investments ApS, EvoSwitch, F.T.S. (Freight Forwarders) Limited, F.T.S. (Great Britain) Limited, F.T.S. (Road Transport) Limited, FTS Bonded Limited, Fairfield Fine Art, File Express Limited, Film Media Services Limited, First International Records Management AG, First International Records Management LLC, Fleet Freight Limited, Fontis International GmbH, Fortrust, G4S Secure Data Solutions Colombia, Glenbeign Records Mangement (GRM) DWC-LLC, Global Logistics Worldwide Limited, Haworth Group Holdings (UK) Limited, Haworth Group Limited, Hays IMS, Helcom Limited, IG2 Data Security, IM Mortgage Solutions LLC, IMI Investments Two Ltd, IMSA Peru SRL, IO.com, Information Storage Consolidation Co, Iron Mountain (Deutschland) Service GmbH, Iron Mountain (Espana) Services S.L, Iron Mountain (Gibraltar) Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain (Ireland) Services Limited, Iron Mountain (Nederland) Data Centre B.V., Iron Mountain (Nederland) Data Centre Holdings B.V., Iron Mountain (Nederland) Data Centre Services B.V., Iron Mountain (Nederland) Services BV, Iron Mountain (Schweiz) AG, Iron Mountain (UK) Data Centre Limited, Iron Mountain (UK) EES Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain (UK) PLC, Iron Mountain (UK) Services Limited, Iron Mountain A/S, Iron Mountain Acquisition Holdings Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Argentina S.A., Iron Mountain Arsivleme Hizmetleri A.S., Iron Mountain Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd, Iron Mountain Asia Pte Limited, Iron Mountain Australia Group Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Australia Group Services Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd, Iron Mountain Austria Archivierung Gmbh, Iron Mountain BPM SPRL, Iron Mountain Belgium NV, Iron Mountain Bulgaria, Iron Mountain Canada Operations ULC, Iron Mountain Ceska Republika S.R.O., Iron Mountain Chile S.A., Iron Mountain Chile Servicios S.A., Iron Mountain Cloud LLC, Iron Mountain Colombia S.A.S., Iron Mountain Cyprus Limited, Iron Mountain DIMS Limited, Iron Mountain Data Centers LLC, Iron Mountain Data Centers Services LLC, Iron Mountain Data Centre Pte. Limited, Iron Mountain Data Management (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain Data Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain Deutschland GmbH, Iron Mountain Do Brasil Ltda, Iron Mountain Document Holdings Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Document Storage Services LLC, Iron Mountain EES Holdings Ltd., Iron Mountain Enterprises Sdn. Bhd., Iron Mountain Espana SA, Iron Mountain Eswatini (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain Europe (Group) Limited, Iron Mountain Europe Ltd., Iron Mountain FZ-LLC, Iron Mountain Finland OY, Iron Mountain France S.A.S., Iron Mountain Fulfillment Services Inc., Iron Mountain Global Holdings Inc., Iron Mountain Global LLC, Iron Mountain Group (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Hellas SA, Iron Mountain Holdings (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Holdings (France) SNC, Iron Mountain Holdings Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Hong Kong Ltd., Iron Mountain Incorporated, Iron Mountain India Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Information Management LLC, Iron Mountain Information Management Services Canada Inc., Iron Mountain Information Management Services Inc., Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management Inc., Iron Mountain International (Holdings) Ltd, Iron Mountain International Holdings BV, Iron Mountain Ireland Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Ireland Limited, Iron Mountain Korea Limited, Iron Mountain Latin America Holdings Sociedad Limitada, Iron Mountain Lesotho (Proprietry) Limited, Iron Mountain Luxembourg Sarl, Iron Mountain Luxembourg Services S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain MDM Limited, Iron Mountain Macau Limited, Iron Mountain Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft., Iron Mountain Management Services GmbH, Iron Mountain Mayflower Limited, Iron Mountain Mexico Holding S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Iron Mountain Mexico Servicios S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance Holdings LLC, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance I LLC, Iron Mountain Nederland B.V., Iron Mountain Nederland Holdings B.V., Iron Mountain New Zealand Limited, Iron Mountain Norge AS, Iron Mountain Participations SA, Iron Mountain Peru S.A., Iron Mountain Philippines Inc., Iron Mountain Poland Holdings Ltd, Iron Mountain Polska Services Sp z.o.o., Iron Mountain Polska Sp. z.o.o., Iron Mountain Receivables QRS LLC, Iron Mountain Receivables TRS LLC, Iron Mountain Records Management (Puerto Rico) Inc, Iron Mountain Records Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain SRL, Iron Mountain Sdn. Bhd., Iron Mountain Secure Shredding (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Canada Inc., Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Inc., Iron Mountain Services Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Services S.A.S., Iron Mountain Shanghai Co Ltd, Iron Mountain Singapore Pte. Ltd., Iron Mountain Slovakia s.r.o., Iron Mountain South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Information Management (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Records Management (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South America Sarl, Iron Mountain Southeast Asia Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Taiwan Ltd., Iron Mountain UK Services (Holdings) Ltd, Iron Mountain US Holdings Inc, Iron Mountain Vietnam Company Limited, Iron Mountain d.o.o. 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In the Mueller report, 11 key events were examined on potential obstruction of justice. (Condensed)

Source: factcheck.org6

1 Trump campaigns response to reports about Russian support

WikiLeaks posted emailson July 22, 2016, that had been hacked from the Democratic National Committee. Trump, at the time, dismissed as crazy the suggestion that those emails had been hacked by Russia in an effort to help his campaign. At a press conferenceon July 27, 2016, Trump said of the suggestion, It is so far fetched, its ridiculous. Honestly, I wish I had that power. Id love to have that power.

Testimony given by Rick Gates the deputy campaign manager who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to investigators  says that shortly after the Wikileaks release, he was in the car on the way to an airport with Trump when Trump took a call. After he got off the phone, the report says, Trump told Gates that more releases of damaging information would be coming.

Roger Stone, an informal Trump adviser, communicated with members of the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks planned releases, according to his Jan. 24, 2019, indictment.

In the summer of 2016, the report says, the Trump campaign planned a communications strategy based on the possible release of Clinton emails by WikiLeaks.

2 Presidents conduct concerning the investigation of Michael Flynn

Trumps first National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty in late 2017 to making false statements to the FBI about conversations he had with a Russian ambassador during the transition regarding U.S. sanctions leveled by the Obama administration.

After learning about the FBIs questioning of Flynn, according to the report, Trump invited Comey to a private dinner meeting on Jan. 27, 2017  the one in which Comey saysTrump asked for his loyalty. The special counsels office, citing the Presidents Daily Diary, disputed Trumps previous public statement saying he thought Comey asked for the dinner because he wanted to stay on as FBI director. [S]ubstantial evidence corroborates Comeys account of the dinner invitation and the request for loyalty, the report states.

Likewise, former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed that Trump in February 2017 asked the attendees of a homeland security briefing to leave the Oval Office so he could speak with Comey alone. Comey has testifiedthat Trump brought up Flynn, who had resigneda day earlier, saying: I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.

Assessing that episode, the special counsels office wrote that the President later denied that he cleared the room and asked Comey to let[] Flynn goa denial that would have been unnecessary if he believed his request was a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.

3 Trumps reaction to the continuing Russia investigation

The Mueller report notes that Trump attempted to prevent Sessionss recusal, even after being told that Sessions was following DOJ conflict-of-interest rules. Similarly, the report states that following the recusal, the White House Counsels Office tried to cut off further contact with Sessions about the matter. The President continued to raise the issue of Sessionss recusal and, when he had the opportunity, he pulled Sessions aside and urged him to unrecuse.

Then-FBI Director James Comey had a congressional testimony on March 20, which made public for the first time the fact that the FBI was investigating Russias meddling in the 2016 election and looking into possible links between members of the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Under direction from Dana Boente, the acting attorney general for the Russia investigation, Comey declined to answer whether President Trump was under investigation.

After Comeys testimony, the president proceeded to ask multiple intelligence leaders, including Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and NSA Director Admiral Michael Rogers to refute the news stories and make a public statement clarifying that Trump was not connected to Russian interference in the election. All refused.

In Rogers case, the ask was concerning enough that Deputy NSA Director Richard Ledgett, who had been on the call with Rogers, wrote up a memorandum documenting the content of the call, which was then placed in a safe. According to the report, Ledgett also said it was the most unusual thing he had experienced in 40 years of government service.

4 The firing of FBI Director James Comey

At a May 5, 2017, dinner, Trump told advisers and family members he wanted to fire Comey. At a May 8 meeting between the president and White House officials, according to Hunts notes, the group discussed a letter and recommendation written by Sessions and Rosenstein on Comeys removal. And the next day, May 9, the president agreed that letter and memo from Rosenstein, citing Comeys actions in the probe of Hillary Clintons emails, should be the basis for a termination letter to Comey, McGahn recalled. Comey was fired that day.

On May 10, according to news reports and not disputed by the White House, Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office: I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia.

The Mueller report says theres some evidence Trump felt the investigation was hurting his ability to get things done, particularly with Russia. Trump also may have felt Comey was insubordinate.

Other evidence, however, indicates that the President wanted to protect himself from an investigation into his campaign, the report says, citing Trump asking Comey for loyalty and Trump saying he should be able to tell the attorney general who to investigate.

The president had a motive to put the FBIs Russia investigation behind him, the report says, saying that the evidence does indicate that a thorough FBI investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the President personally that the President could have understood to be crimes or that would give rise to personal and political concerns.

5 Trumps efforts to remove the special counsel

Rosenstein appointed Mueller the special counsel to oversee the Russia inquiry on May 17, 2017.

Trumps reaction to the appointment, according to the report, was to say, This is the end of my Presidency. He also became angry with Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation. Trump asked Sessions, How could you let this happen, Jeff, and then told Sessions he should resign.

On June 14, 2017, the Washington Post reportedthat the special counsel was, in fact, investigating whether Trump had attempted to obstruct justice by firing Comey. Trump responded to the news report by criticizing the investigation in a series of tweets over the next two days. Trump then called McGhan twice on June 17, 2017, and ordered him to call Rosenstein and have Mueller removed as special counsel based on the conflicts that Trump believed existed. Mueller has to go and Call me back when you do it, McGahn recalled Trump telling him on the second call, the report says. McGahn said he had no intention of relaying the presidents message to Rosenstein, and instead decided that he would resign if the president persisted.

Regarding the presidents intent, the report says there is evidence the president was aware that he should not have given McGhan those instructions.

The President made the calls to McGahn after McGahn had specifically told the President that the White House Counsels Office  and McGahn himself  could not be involved in pressing conflict claims and that the President should consult with his personal counsel if he wished to raise conflicts, the report says. Instead of relying on his personal counsel to submit the conflicts claims, the President sought to use his official powers to remove the Special Counsel. And after the media reported on the Presidents actions, he denied that he ever ordered McGahn to have the Special Counsel terminated and made repeated efforts to have McGahn deny the story.  Those denials are contrary to the evidence and suggest the Presidents awareness that the direction to McGahn could be seen as improper.

6 Efforts to curtail the special counsels investigation

In an Oval Office meeting on June 19, 2017, two days after Trump had tried to have the special counsel removed, the president dictated a message that he wanted Lewandowski to take to Sessions. The message was actually the outline of a speech that Trump wanted Sessions to give. According to Lewandowskis notes quoted in the report, it went like this:

I know that I recused myself from certain things having to do with specific areas. But our POTUS . .. is being treated very unfairly. He shouldnt have a Special Prosecutor/Counsel b/c he hasnt done anything wrong. I was on the campaign w/ him for nine months, there were no Russians involved with him. I know it for a fact b/c I was there. He didnt do anything wrong except he ran the greatest campaign in American history.

Now a group of people want to subvert the Constitution of the United States. I am going to meet with the Special Prosecutor to explain this is very unfair and let the Special Prosecutor move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections so that nothing can happen in future elections.

If that message had made it to Sessions and been accepted by him, it could have limited the scope of the investigation to only foreign interference on future elections, rather than the one that was being investigated.

But it didnt get to Sessions. Lewandowski told investigators that he didnt want to deliver the message over the phone and didnt want to meet at the Justice Department  it was Sessionss turf, according to the report  and scheduling conflicts kept them apart. So, for a month, the message stayed in a safe at Lewandowskis home, he told investigators.

The special counsels analysis of this evidence concluded that the president sought to limit the special counsels review to only future elections after he had learned that his own conduct was part of the investigation.

7 Efforts to prevent public disclosure of Trump Tower meeting

The Mueller report provides a detailed analysis of Trumps efforts to mislead the public or evade public disclosure about the now-infamous June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower between senior campaign officials, including Donald Trump Jr., and Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. According to the report, Trump repeatedly directed his communications staff not to publicly disclose information about the meeting, and he rejected a proposed public statement from Trump Jr. that acknowledged the meeting was with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign.

In written answers, Trump said he had no recollection of learning about the meeting until after the election.

8 Efforts to get the attorney general to take over the investigation

According to Sessions, the President asked him to reverse his recusal, and the gist of the conversation was that the President wanted Sessions to unrecuse from all of it, including the Special Counsels Russia investigation.

In July 2017, Trump asked Staff Secretary Rob Porter if Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand was on the team and would be interested in being the AG and in charge of the Russia investigation. Porter knew Brand, and Trump asked him to speak with her. But Porter told the special counsels office that he was uncomfortable with that, understood it to mean Trump wanted someone to end the Russia investigation, and didnt do it.

In August 2018, Sessions appeared to respond, saying, While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.

Trump firedSessions the day after the midterm elections, Nov. 7, 2018.

In assessing the presidents intent, the Mueller report says theres evidence the president wanted Sessions to take control of the Russia investigation and supervise it in a way that would restrict its scope.

9 Efforts to squash report that McGahn was ordered to have special counsel removed

According to the report, Trumps personal counsel called the attorney for White House counsel McGahn and relayed that Trump wanted McGahn to put out a statement denying a New York Times story that Trump had asked him to fire the special counsel. There was just one problem: McGahn said the story was accurate on that point, and he refused to do it.

McGahn told investigators that he was summoned to the Oval Office on Feb. 6, 2018, and that the president told him the Times story did not look good and McGahn needed to correct it. McGahn said Trump disputed that he told McGahn to fire the special counsel, and that he only wanted McGahn to raise conflict of interest issues with Rosenstein and let Rosenstein decide what to do. McGahn said he told the president his recollection of his marching orders differed, that he was told, Call Rod [Rosenstein]. There are conflicts. Mueller has to go. McGahn refused to do a correction, the report states.

According to McGahn, Trump also criticized McGahn for telling investigators that the president had asked him to have the special counsel removed, and for taking notes during their meeting. Lawyers dont take notes, Trump told him.

The report concludes that, Substantial evidence indicates that in repeatedly urging McGahn to dispute that he was ordered to have the Special Counsel terminated, the President acted for the purpose of influencing McGahns account in order to deflect or prevent further scrutiny of the Presidents conduct towards the investigation.

10 Trumps conduct toward Flynn, Manafort

After Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements, the press asked Trump whether he would pardon Flynn. Trump said, on Dec. 15, 2017, I dont want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet. Well see what happens. Lets see. I can say this: When you look at whats gone on with the FBI and with the Justice Department, people are very, very angry.

In January 2018, Manafort told former deputy campaign manager Richard Gates, who had been indicted along with Manafort on multiple felony counts at that point, that the presidents personal attorney had told him they would take care of us. Manafort told Gates they should sit tight and well be taken care of, though he said no one used the word pardon.

On June 15, 2018, after Manaforts bail was revoked, Rudy Giuliani, Trumps personal lawyer, floated the possibility of a pardon in media interviews. Two months later, before Manafort pleaded guilty to charges in Washington, D.C., Giuliani told the Washington Post that Trump had asked for advice on pardoning Manafort and other aides and had been told not to do it until the Russia investigation was over.

The report says that the presidents counsels statements to Flynns counsel could have had the potential to affect Flynns decision to cooperate, as well as the extent of that cooperation.

But with Manafort, there is evidence that the Presidents actions had the potential to influence Manaforts decision whether to cooperate with the government, and Trumps public statements during the trial had the potential to influence the trial jury.

As for intent, the evidence indicates that the President intended to encourage Manafort to not cooperate with the government.

11 Trumps conduct toward Cohen

In 2017, Cohen falsely stated under oath that the project had ended in January 2016, when in fact it had continued at least through June, when Trump had already become the presumptive Republican nominee. Cohen also inaccurately said that he had briefed Trump on the project just three times, and never considered travel to Russia. Cohen later reversed course after pleading guilty to lying to two congressional committees and cooperating with the government. The president, who had publicly and privately supported Cohen until this point, then began attacking his former attorney.

The report concludes that while there is evidence that Trump knew Cohen provided false testimony to Congress, it does not establish that the President directed or aided that false testimony.

As for the presidents actions having a natural tendency to prevent Cohen from being truthful, the report goes through Trumps initially positive public and private messaging to Cohen following an FBI search in April 2018. During this period, the Trump Organization was paying Cohens legal fees, and Cohen remembers discussing a possible pardon with the presidents personal lawyer. But after reporting of Cohens decision to cooperate with the government in July 2018, Trump quickly shifted gears, calling Cohen a rat and saying that Cohens family members might have committed crimes. The evidence concerning this sequence of events could support an inference that the President used inducements in the form of positive messages in an effort to get Cohen not to cooperate, the report says, and then turned to attacks and intimidation to deter the provision of information or undermine Cohens credibility once Cohen began cooperating.



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I hope people will think more critically about their historical landscape, said Reid, who is director of African American programs for Virginia Humanities and manager of the General Assembly African American Cultural Resources Task Force.

Were constantly entering spaces with no clue of what happened before we were here. We need to make sure Americans of all backgrounds are reflected in the landscape.

The exhibitions title connects Virginia to the Black Diaspora, concentrating on Virginians while addressing their efforts in the wider context.

Some sobering statistics point to the need for Reids work. Of almost 250,000 state-documented cultural and historic treasures, only 1% are connected to black history.

Reid said Afro-Virginia pays tribute not only to places, but also to people. The preservation projects are led by people in their 20s and in their 80s.

Some efforts in the exhibition are very grass-roots, retiree-driven preservation projects, Reid said. In another case, alumni who graduated from a segregated school are leading the efforts to protect it.
In arguing for co-counsel in the case  his colleague, attorney Hannon Wright  Rakness said his client is facing an overwhelming number of charges and possible incarceration of more years than any human has ever lived.

Durrer said it was entirely appropriate to request co-counsel considering the number of charges and theoretical incarceration of more than 1,700 years.

For the second motion, Rakness requested funding to hire an expert in digital forensics to aid with trial preparation.

The case against Champlin stems from an investigation by Lt. Becky Jones, of the Orange County Sheriffs Offices, who traced the IP address utilized to upload child pornography to an address in Lake of the Woods.

Durrer acknowledged the complexity of the Champlin case involving technical issues and forensic analysis of electronic devices. The judge approved $8,500 for the expert assistance and told Rakness he could petition the court for more funds in the future, if needed.
The process to be designated as a HIDTA is fairly involved, according to Tom Carr, executive director of the Washington/Baltimore-area HIDTA.

Petitioners must put together a set of separate requests for each locality seeking the designation that includes an assessment of the threat. Because HIDTA is a federal program, the petitioners must establish how drug trafficking is also affecting other states and by showing involvement from gangs, such as MS-13.

After the petition has been put together, it needs to be approved by an ONDCP panel of law enforcement experts. The process can take six months to a year, from start to finish, Carr said.

HIDTA designees can receive anywhere from $100,000 to $350,000 annually, Carr said, on top of a swath of equipment such as satellite trucks, surveillance equipment and analytical support.

Believe it or not, most recipients have a difficult time spending all the money, Carr said.

In an interview, Riggleman said he has been in contact with law enforcement officials in the area and they already have begun to put together a petition.
RICHMOND  A top equity priority for Charlottesville City Schools is to hire and support teachers of color, and for the next school year, 50% of the teachers hired identify as a minority, according to a presentation at Fridays School Board retreat in Richmond.

The division still has several vacancies, so that percentage could decrease by the start of the school year. So far, 30 teachers have been hired, and 15 are teachers of color. The division hired 40% of its minority applicants, per the presentation.

Gary Blair, the divisions director of human resources, said the division has implemented several recruiting tactics and tweaked the interview process.

We dont send old people like me out to recruit, he said.   We ask pointed questions. We do a lot of listening.

This year, applicants have been interested in the divisions work to improve equity, which has helped with hiring, said Beth Cheuk, coordinator of community affairs and development for Charlottesville, and Blair.
They need to be loved and cared for, and they need a place to sleep and they need food and they need to have those basic needs taken care of so they can come to school ready to learn, school counselor Don Landis says of his students.
After a lot of research, I finally found SERCAP, Reeder said.

After Vest applied for the plumbing program, her trailer was blown away by the storms that struck the area last summer.

We had started her in the process and as we were going through, her house was blown away. She was slated to get a new home then, said Kenneth Rodgers, a rural housing specialist and lead risk assessor for SERCAP. Through the program, SERCAP can either rehabilitate an old home or build a new one.

In April, SERCAP had completed all of the necessary title searches and inspections, and gathered the money needed to start building Vest a new house with running water.

She was a really big success story, said Cherry Wilson, housing manager for SERCAP.

By May 15, Vest had a new house, septic system and running water. The house has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room, along with a ramp and a handicap-accessible shower.

Its been a fun two and a half years, Reeder said.
The shooting sent shock waves through Virginia Beach, the state's largest city and a popular vacation spot in southeastern Virginia. The building where the attack took place is in a suburban complex miles away from the high-rise hotels along the beach and the downtown business area.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement he was devastated by the "unspeakable, senseless violence," and is offering the state's full support to survivors and relatives of the victims.

"That they should be taken in this manner is the worst kind of tragedy," the governor said during the news conference.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911 and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door.

"We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe," she said. "We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasn't real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots."
The quote is attributed to President Harry Truman, and Ronald Reagan kept it on his desk: "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

It is even more amazing what has been accomplished with the American economy; but Democratic presidential candidates, some in the media and some economists refuse to give President Trump any credit.

The Economist, a center-left British magazine that includes coverage of events in the U.S. and is no fan of the Trump administration, recently published a remarkable editorial. It included a strong rebuke to the contention of many Democrats that "working people" are still struggling and that the improved economy continues to benefit only the wealthiest 1 percent.

The bleak picture painted by Democrats, the editorial says, "is at odds with reality." The Economist refers to a worldwide "jobs boom" and (note to Bernie Sanders and others promoting socialism) asserts that, "Capitalism is improving workers' lot faster than it has in years ... the zeitgeist has lost touch with the data."

Noting that U.S. unemployment at 3.6 percent is the lowest in 50 years, the magazine says, "Less appreciated is the abundance of jobs across most of the rich world."
Maybe if military equipment were painted in bright, cheerful colors, everybody would feel too happy to go to war?

No?

Oh, well. Nice theory, anyway.

The theory almost got a practical workout in West Virginia recently. A Korean War-era tank owned by the National Guard in Bluefield suddenly went from olive drab to lemon-lime yellow. Hmm

In a letter to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, a Bluefield State College group took responsibility for the paint job. And, no, it wasnt a prank.

The U.S.S. Yeager Chapter of Starfleet International has been caring for the tank as a community service for about 20 years now. That includes cleaning and painting it as needed.

The crew took a paint sample to a store to obtain a matching color. They said they were a little concerned when they opened the paint cans they were given and the color looked to be too yellow.

But, they said, they assumed it would dry to the correct shade.

A copy of the receipt does in fact list the color as Tank Green.
The Miller Center held a superb three-day Presidential Ideas Festival at the University of Virginia May 21-23. It focused on the challenges our presidents face, how the Constitution shapes the presidency, and the responsibility of the public for ensuring our democracy continues to function as an example to the world. There were two dozen panel discussions that explored different dimensions of the challenge.

The conference brought together over 80 people from many walks of life who were knowledgeable about our democracy and how it works and are committed to making it better. They had worked in or studied the five prior administrations. Many were high-ranking appointees.

It was a delight to hear Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, women and men, and people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds discuss how we can form a more perfect union for all.

No person ever turned to another during a discussion and said they were evil or the enemy or stupid or corrupt. They might not have agreed with every point made by a fellow panelist, but they built on the ideas of others to suggest creative solutions.
Sales of mini cars comprising Alto and WagonR stood at 16,394 units as compared to 37,864 units in May last year, down 56.7 per cent.

New Delhi: The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Saturday reported a 22 per cent decline in sales at 1,34,641 units in May.

The company had sold 1,72,512 units in May 2018, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement. Domestic sales declined by 23.1 per cent to 1,25,552 units as against 1,63,200 units in the year ago month, it added.

Sales of mini cars comprising Alto and WagonR stood at 16,394 units as compared to 37,864 units in May last year, down 56.7 per cent.

Sales of compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, were down 9.2 per cent to 70,135 as against 77,263 units earlier. Mid-sized sedan Ciaz sold 3,592 units as compared to 4,024 units in the same month a year ago.

Sales of utility vehicles, including Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga, were down 25.3 per cent to 19,152 as compared to 25,629 units in the year-ago month.

Exports in May were down by 2.4 per cent at 9,089 units as against 9,312 units in the corresponding month last year, the company said.
Mumbai: The Millennium superstar, Hrithik Roshan whose film 'Kaabil' is set to release in China is receiving immense love from the Chinese audience. While in China, Hrithik talked about his most awaited film Super 30 which is set to release soon.

Talking to the Chinese media, Hrithik says, Super 30 is something that talks about the power and the value of education and teachers. And, I think that is another place where I think there is a similarity between China and India as both these countries give a lot of respect to teachers. The teachers form the top of the societal chain in both these worlds.

The film, Super 30 is based on the life of mathematician Anand Kumar who trains students for IIT-JEE in Bihar and Hrithik will be essaying the role of the teacher.

On his much-awaited visit to the Sino lands, the excited fans welcomed Hrithik as the actor arrived in the Beijing city and showered love all the way. The fans stood with Hrithik's posters, welcome placards and greeted the actor giving him a warm welcome. Hrithik clicked pictures with them and gave them autographs.

The actor who is popularly also known as Greek god in India, definitely has marked his presence in the hearts of his audience in the neighbouring country where he is being referred to as Da Shuai, the most handsome.

In one of the very first screenings, Hrithik Roshan's Kaabil has captivated the audience of China where the actor's power-packed performance in the film is being highly appreciated and is received a massive response from the audience.

Superstar Hrithik Roshan has always surprised the audiences and critics, alike with his portrayal of versatile roles in his various movies. The actor is currently gearing up for the release of his next film, Super 30 where he will be reprising the role of a mathematician.
Mumbai: Salman Khan has an army of fans but this fan just did what it takes to be a die-hard Salman fan! The fan just booked an entire theatre in Nashik for Bharat's first day first show. The fan base of the actor has always been unique and loyal to him.

A fan named Ashish Singhal from Nashik just booked an entire theatre to enjoy the first show of his 'Bhai'. The gestures of Salman's fans have been unmatched and continue to surprise each time.

Bharat has Salman Khans six different looks ranging from a young circus champion to a 60-year-old man who still has all the rage and energy of a young individual.

Salman Khan's upcoming Bharat has created a hype in the hearts of all the 'Bhai Fans'. The happiness of watching their favourite star on screen before anyone else has been a trend for movie lovers around the world and here, with superstar Salman Khan!

The film, Bharat stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Disha Patani, Sunil Grover and Jackie Shroff. It traces India's post-independence history from the perspective of a common man and follows his life from the range of 18 to 70 years of age, as a journey.

Bharat is produced by Atul Agnihotri, Alvira Agnihotri, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar under the banner of Reel Life Production Pvt Ltd. and Salman Khan Films, presented by T-Series. The film is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language historical period drama film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar which is set to release on June 5 this year.
Kareena Kapoor Khan is one of the most successful and highest paid actresses of Hindi cinema. She has now ventured into television as a judge on reality show Dance India Dance. And while there is a myth that actresses only take to the small screen after their film career fizzles, Bebo continues to shine in both arenas.

I think its a narrow-minded concept in the media, she says. We think okay now the actress has crossed a certain age like 40, so now she has to go on TV. But now we watch Netflix and other shows today The digital world and the entire medium has opened up so much that there is no barrier.

Kareena Kapoor Khan

She cites the example of Shefali Shah, whose latest show Delhi Crime is one of the most watched shows on Netflix. According to me Shefali has done a show like Delhi Crime and I think it is one of the best performances I have seen. And any top female star cannot beat that performance; what she has done is amazing, she said.

She is married, she is the mother of two kids, and today everybody is watching that show. I think our mindset is small; we should open up our mindset because it is not that television is smaller than the big screen. According to me, the kind of money that they spend I think its as big as a Karan Johar film, she added.

The 38-year-old, who will be seen as a judge on the dance reality show, has a fair share of great dance numbers under her belt. Yet, the actress does have regrets. My regret is that I couldnt dance with Birju Maharaj, because I have never learnt classical dance. I have always been an ardent admirer of classical dance. I enjoy watching it, but I am not professionally trained in that so that has been a regret, she said.

Bebo also touched upon the slew of unique dancers in her family, be it Raj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor etc. She said, I think dance runs in our blood. The way Raj Kapoor danced, he had his own unique style, which you couldnt compare with Shammi Kapoors. Thats the best part of our family: We have always adapted to different kinds of dance forms.

Speaking about her foray into television, the Talaash actress said her husband saif Ali Khan has been worrying about how she is coping with it. Saif has been extremely supportive. Yesterday, when I went back home, Saif asked me whats happening and if I was okay because he himself is nervous for me, she said. But I can say I went home very satisfied.

Nevertheless, the actress is still nervous to be a judge on a dance show. I am not a seasoned judge, so my journey is going to be like the contestants. I am going to judge from my heart, but will have to use my mind as well. My fans know that I am emotional, and I do whatever I do with my heart.
Worshippers, including Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world, sheltered under umbrellas as volunteers sprayed them with water around Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City compound, (Photo: AP)

Jerusalem: Tens of thousands of Muslims attended prayers at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem amid tight security on the last Friday of Ramadan, hearing a message of defiance against Israeli control of one of the most sensitive venues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Worshippers, including Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world, sheltered under umbrellas as volunteers sprayed them with water around Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount.

Security at the site was heavy after an earlier stabbing attack in the city, in which two Israelis were injured and a Palestinian teenager suspected of carrying out the attack was killed by Israeli security forces.

Later on Friday Muslims celebrate Laylat al-Qadr, or Night of Power, on which they believe that the sacred text of the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammad by Allah.

Israel captured the Old City and the rest of East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, occupying and later annexing it.

Palestinians do not recognize Israels authority in East Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of a future Palestinian state that also includes the West Bank and Gaza. They are extremely sensitive to the presence of Israeli security forces in and around the Noble Sanctuary.

Palestinian Muslims in the West Bank and Jerusalem have not traditionally marked the annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day initiated by Iran in 1979 and which coincides with Ramadans last Friday.

There was no mention of Quds Day by Ikrima Sabri, the preacher who delivered the Friday sermon. But he issued a message of defiance to the crowd, which religious officials estimated at 260,000.

This is a message to all those who wish to take over Al-Aqsa Mosque and to the attackers and those who storm it: dont exhaust yourselves, you will never have control over one inch of Al-Aqsa, it is a red line, he said in a message apparently aimed at Israelis following recent tensions with security forces. But in Gaza, where the Islamist militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad are backed by Iran, Quds Day was commemorated.

On Thursday Yehya Al-Sinwar, Hamass chief in Gaza, restated Hamass opposition to U.S. President Donald Trumps forthcoming Mideast peace plan. The first stage of that plan is due to be an economic conference in Manama, Bahrain, where Trump officials will encourage Arab countries to invest in the Palestinian Territories.

What audacity is Trump announcing? He wants to sell Jerusalem to the Zionist enemy, and he wants the Arabs to pay the price, Sinwar told a meeting north of Gaza City. This deal will not pass as long as we are alive.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, addressed the meeting by video-link from Iran.
Many of the features Vmate offers are similar to those offered by ByteDance's TikTok, which currently has more than 120 million active users in India.

In a step to fight back against local rival ByteDance, Google and Disney, Chinese tech giant Alibaba is planning to double down on India's video market. The company has announced that it is pumping $100 million into Vmate, a three-year-old social video app owned by its subsidiary company UC Web.

The company plans to use the profits gained through the subscriptions of Vmate by 30 million global users to scale up its business in India. Vmate was launched as a video streaming and short-video-sharing app in 2016.

Many of the features Vmate offers are similar to those offered by ByteDance's TikTok, which currently has more than 120 million active users in India. ByteDance has grown its business without taking money from either Alibaba or Tencent that have launched its own TikTok like app but with limited success.

UC Web also counts India as one of its biggest markets and has attempted to become a super app in India in recent years by including news and videos. In the last two years, it has been in talks with several bloggers and small publishers to host their articles directly on its platform. Though UC browser was once the most commonly used browser in the phone, the trend has been wiped away by smartphone wave as most of the Android smartphones have Google Chrome as their default browser.

The move comes as Alibaba revives its attempts to take on the growing social video apps market, something on which it has missed out completely in China. Vmate could potentially help it fill the gap in India.
Wife of Kadti Mukesh, who has killed during an encounter with Naxalites on February 18 last year. (Photo:ANI)

Chhattisgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first Cabinet decision to approve a major change in the 'Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme' under the National Defence Fund has garnered wide-scale support from the kin of those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

In his first decision after being sworn in for a second term, Modi increased the rates of scholarships from Rs. 2000 per month to Rs. 2500 per month for boys and from Rs. 2250 per month to Rs. 3000 per month for girls.

Speaking to ANI about the Cabinet decision, wife of Kadti Mukesh, who has killed during an encounter with Naxalites on February 18 last year, said, "I learned about this scholarship scheme. My daughter will get help in education with this scheme and I am happy about it."

Kadti has a three-year-old daughter who will soon start school.

Family members of another soldier, Kawasi Hunga, who lost his life in a bomb blast in the year 2014 also expressed delight over the announcement. The deceased soldier has three daughters aged five, eight and ten years.

The eldest daughter, a Class Five student said: "Scholarship will get us money to fund our dresses and books. It will be good for our education."

The ambit of the Scholarship Scheme has been extended to the wards of State Police officials who are or were killed during terror or Naxal attacks. The quota of new scholarships for the wards of state police officials will be 500 in a year.

"Our government's first decision dedicated to those who protect India! Major changes approved in PM's Scholarship Scheme under the National Defence Fund including enhanced scholarships forwards of police personnel martyred in terror or Maoist attacks," Modi said in a tweet later.

The National Defence Fund (NDF) was set up in 1962 to take charge of the voluntary donations in cash and kind received for promotion of the national defence effort, and to decide on their utilisation.

Currently, the fund is being used for the welfare of the members of the Armed Forces, paramilitary forces and Railway Protection Force and their dependents. The fund is administered by an Executive Committee with the Prime Minister as the Chairperson and the Defence, Finance and Home Ministers as Members.
Hyderabad: MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the newly-inducted Union minister of state for home affairs G. Kishan Reddy on Saturday for describing Hyderabad as a safe zone for terrorists.

Mr Owaisi said that peace had prevailed in Hyderabad for the last five years. Religious festivals are peacefully celebrated and there are no communal riots. Hyderabad is the second city after Bengaluru in software exports. What enmity does the BJP have with the city and state, and does he not want it to grow? he asked.

Mr Owaisi termed the ministers remarks as irresponsible and inappropriate. Before assuming charge of his portfolio, he had started speaking irrationally. This shows his hatred for Telangana state and Hyderabad, but it was not unexpected from him.

He alleged that the BJP sees terrorists whenever Muslims live. This proves that they do not like Hyderabad to grow. They are afraid that under the leadership of Mr Rao, investment is reaching here.

He wanted to know from his ministry how many written advisories were sent by the National Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing to the home ministry during the last five years that Hyderabad had become a safe den for terrorists.

He said that as far as the arresting of youths in the name of ISIS is concerned, was it not true that a large number of youths were arrested from Uttar Pradesh? Does this mean that UP has become the den of terrorists, he asked. Mr Owaisi defended his statement given on Friday about the constitutional rights of Muslims.

He asked whether they dared to declare that they will make Muslims second class citizens and deprive them of their constitutional rights just because they won 300 seats. You won 300 seats, but not the Constitution, he said.

Replying to a question, he said that one should observe the past five years what the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said and what had happened.

His regime started with Love Jihad, Ghar Wapsi and then mob lynching and attacks on Dalits.

After the PMs speech before assuming charge a second time, an incident of hate had occurred in Gurugram. In Begusarai too, a man was shot after being asked his name.

He hoped that the BJP does not succeed in coming into power in TS, a state which has a composite culture.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised his colleagues in the newly-inducted Union council of ministers to avoid going on leave in the near future and get to work diligently. They have also been told to desist from holding any pompous welcoming ceremonies after getting a berth in the cabinet.

The advise for the soon-to-be-ministers came at the occasion of tea hosted by the Prime Minister at his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence ahead of the oath taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on May 30.

The Prime Minister, during the meet, is also learnt to have asked his new colleagues in the council to be careful as one small mistake by them could bring the government into disrepute.

The Prime Minister insisted that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has been able to secure an even bigger mandate this time around than 2014 because of the work that it did and everyone should be working to meet peoples aspirations, sources added.

The ministers were also advised to avoid making any controversial statement and to get to know their respective ministries comprehensively.

This comes as the new government is set to face its first parliamentary session which begins from June 17.

The session would see important work and also the presentation of budget for the year on July 5.

The soon-to-be inducted ministers also had to share some flak for not heeding to his advise of the Prime Minister of avoiding the media.

He is learnt to have asked them why they had not stuck to the directive given by him during the NDA Parliamentary Party Meeting on May 25 and helped fuel speculation on cabinet berths.

The message was sent loud and clear to the soon- to-be ministers that such behavior would not be appreciated in the future, sources added.
This is a part of the case where Best & Crompton Engineering Private Limited defrauded a consortium of banks of Rs 364 crore during 2010-2013.

Hyderabad: The CBIs bank security and fraud cell personnel carried out searches at 12 locations including the Hyderabad residence of former Union minister and Telugu Desam MP Y. Sujana Chowdary. The searches are in connection with an ongoing investigation into the Sujana group defaulting Andhra Bank to the tune of Rs 71 crore.

This is a part of the case where Best & Crompton Engineering Private Limited defrauded a consortium of banks of Rs 364 crore during 2010-2013.

A source told Deccan Chronicle that Mr Chowdary was examined by the bank security and fraud cell of the CBI, Bengaluru, in April, in connection with Best & Crompton Engineering Pvt Limited cheating banks of `364 crore. On the basis of his statement, searches were conducted in Hyderabad and nearby at 12 locations.

This particular search pertains to the Sujana Group defaulting Andhra Bank of Rs 71 crore. Our personnel examined a few documents which they found incriminating, the source said. Last November, the office and residences of Mr Chowdary were raided by the ED and I-T department officials.

Sources alleged that the Rs 364 crore the Sujana Group borrowed from banks was transferred through bogus invoices and shell companies to Mahal Hotels which was found to be a fake company. Both Best & Crompton Engineering and Mahal Hotels are part of the Sujana Group whose promoter is Mr Chowdhary.

In 2017, the CBI filed a case against Best & Crompton Engineering. Last November, the office and residences of Mr Chowdary were raided by the Enforcement Directorate and income-tax department officials. Properties worth Rs 364 crore were attached by the ED.

Investigations by the CBI and ED revealed that former employees of the Sujana Group were appointed directors of the shell firms in question.

While the loan fraud revolves around Best & Crompton Engineering in Chennai, city-based firms Sri Ganga Steel Enterprises Pvt Ltd and Bhagyanagar Investments and Trading Pvt Ltd that are located at the same address at Nagarjuna Hills in Panjagutta are being probed. Tejaswini Engineering Pvt Ltd and Future Tech Industries are also being investigated.

The CBI has so far issued three FIRs  in February 2016, February 2017 and July 2018 against Best and Crompton Engineering and its directors, including former CBI director and TRS leader K. Vijayarama Raos son Kakulamarri Srinvas Kalyan Rao. A total of Rs 304 crore  Rs 124 crore of Central Bank, `60 crore of Andhra Bank and Rs 120 crore of Corporation Bank  was defrauded by Best & Crompton Engineering. Apart from Mr Kalyan Rao, the other directors are Mr Meka Ramakrishna Varma, Mr Ravi Narayanaswamy Balachandran, Mr Seshagiri Rao, Mr Bellary Murali and the chief financial officer is Mr Yogeswar R. Bajaj.
Guwahati: If documentary evidence presented before the Foreigners Tribunal by Md Sanaullah, from Assam, are to be believed, then a Bangadeshi national has served the Indian Army for 30 years, including in Kargil during the 1999 India-Pakistan war. The Foreigners Tribunal has, in its May 25 order, referred to various anomalies in the documents that Md Sanaullah presented before it and declared him a foreign national in an open court. Investigations by various agencies, including one by the government of Assam, have found

no anomaly in the tribunals order.

Mr Sanaullah had submitted a dozen documentary evidence, including his birth certificate, land documents, his sisters date of birth, mothers record of casting votes to the Foreigners Tribunal, but most of the documents and evidence were contradictory and failed to corroborate each other.

Referring to the constitutional status of declaring a foreign national, security sources pointed out that the onus of proving the nationality lies on the suspect.

Sources said that the case against Mr Sanaullah was registered in 2008,

and he was served a notice soon after the case was registered, yet till 2017 he did not inform the Army about the case registered against him in the Foreigners Tribunal.

Arguing that while serving in Army, he had an opportunity to present his case before the Army for justice, security sour-ces said that instead he tried to hide the notice from the forces.

He was commissioned as a JCO, in 2014 promoted to subedar and later made

Honorary Lieutenant. After his retirement in 2017, Mr Sanaullah joined the Assam Border

Police, security sources said, pointing out that he was once again guilty of not informing the border police about the ongoing proceeding against him in the Foreigners Tribunal.

Mr Sanaullah, who is now trying to present his case as that of mistaken identity after the order of the tribunal, has not only received the notice of the tribunal as well as border police but also defended the case before the superintendent of police of the border police.

Md Sanaullah who has been sent to the detention Centre also presented multiple certificates in his defence but most of them did not corroborate each other. The border police have discharged him from services since May 23, 2019, following the Foreig-ner Tribunals order.

When contacted, superintendent of police Patha Jyoti Mahanata said that they have sent him to the detention centre.
It proposes easing the pressure of the Class 10 and Class 12 exams by proposing subject-wise assessments.

Chennai: Political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the DMK, on Saturday strongly opposed the three-language formulas continuation with add-on features proposed in the draft National Education Policy (NEP) alleging it was tantamount to thrusting Hindi and wanted it junked.

In a major move, the NEP aims to eradicate the present system of universities affiliating colleges/ Universities and the autonomous colleges would be capable of awarding degrees on their own.

It also proposed to discontinue MPhil courses and to revamp the undergraduate courses to four years instead of three. This is a part of the proposal to introduce a 5+3+3+4 structure of education against the 10+2 that is currently prevalent. The first five years would last till Class 2, to be followed by three preparatory years, three years of middle school and four years of secondary education.

It proposes easing the pressure of the Class 10 and Class 12 exams by proposing subject-wise assessments.

Warning the Central government against attempts to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states, Tamil leaders denounced the Kasturirangan committees draft NEP recommending implementation of a uniform three-language policy throughout the country that would entail teaching Hindi from pre-school upwards as highly divisive and ahistorical. Twitter was also flooded with messages protesting the draft education policy submitted to the new government at the Centre on Friday.

#StopHindiImposition, #TNAgainstHindiImposition trended throughout the day on the microblogging site.

The committees report is truly shocking, a dangerous bid to belittle other classical Indian languages like Tamil in the guise of teaching Sanskrit the easy way, said DMK president M.K. Stalin.
Hyderabad: The state government has accorded permission to the police to attach 30 properties owned by Heera Group founder Nowhera Shaik.

They were arrested by the CCS police in connection with alleged fraud committed in the name of Ponzi schemes.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month took Shaik and her aides into custody to collect information on the accounts of suspicious persons who had links with foreign countries.

A petition was also filed in court to secure an absolute order to get approval.

With the consent of the court, the properties would be sold and the revenue generated would be disbursed among depositors, an official said.

A request would also be made to the sub-registrars concerned in Kochi, New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune asking them not to allow any transactions on the attached properties.

Since beginning of the investigation, the police has been sharing information with the ED and the I-T department to know about transactions carried out by Shaik in the country and abroad.

More than 240 bank accounts related to Shaik and her companies and directors have been identified so far in India and some abroad.

As much as Rs 25 crore was found in these accounts and frozen under Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc).

Investigators found that Shaik established 15 companies under the Heera Group, some of which were shell companies.

In all, seven cases in Telangana, three each in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, one in Kerala and eight in Maharashtra and other states are pending against her.

These properties, which are estimated to cost more than Rs 400 crore, include a five-star hotel in Kochi, a house in New Delhi, 20 flats in Pune and commercial complexes in Thane, Kurla and Mumbai.

The Detective Department (DD), which is investigating the case, has identified 80 properties owned by Shaik, which are valued around Rs 1,500 crore. In the first phase, the police has got permission to attach the 30 properties.

Shaik and her trusted aides Molly Thomas and Biju Thomas are lodged in the Chanchalguda prison here.

They were arrested by the CCS police.
Earlier, the Maradu municipal authorities had sought financial assistance in demolishing residential apartments as per Supreme Court directive.

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has decided not to file a review petition against the Supreme Court order to demolish five apartment buildings at Maradu, Kochi.

This was stated by local self-government minister A. C. Moideen at a meeting held with the flat owners association representatives and government officials at the Secretariat her on Saturday.

Neither the government nor the Kochi corporation can file a review petition, he said.

The government will initiate an environment study by Chennai IIT when the five flats are demolished, said Moideen.

The Supreme Court in its order on May 8 ordered the demolition of five apartments  Holy Faith, Kayaloram, Alfa Ventures, Holiday Heritage and Jain Housing  under the limits of Maradu Municipality by June 8.

Earlier, the Maradu municipal authorities had sought financial assistance in demolishing residential apartments as per Supreme Court directive.

Municipal chairperson P.H Nadeera, vice-chairman Boban Nedumparambil, standing committee chairperson Disha Prathapan and municipal secretary Subhash P.K. had met the local self-government minister A. C. Moideen on Friday seeking guidance in demolition of the residential apartments.

The municipal representatives told the minister that if the government wants them to take up the demolition, the government should arrange funds and technical assistance.

According to the municipality, scientific demolition of the apartments, which were constructed in violation of Coastal Regulation Zone norms will cost over `30 crore which it is unable to raise. It also expressed concerns about the safety of buildings in nearby area while demolition and treatment of the huge quantity of waste materials from the sites.

The municipality had already served a notice on the builders to demolish the buildings on their own based on the SC order. However, the builders are yet to respond to the civic bodys notice. The apex court has instructed to demolish the four skyscrapers before June 8.

Those who attended the meeting included local legislator M. Swaraj, local self -government additional chief secretary T. K. Jose, environment secretary Usha Titus, law secretary P.K. Aravinda Babu, and Ernakulam district collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla.
Bhopal: In a first of its kind initiative in the country, Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday decided to bring in a legislation in the coming monsoon session of the Assembly recognising access to water a human right.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath issued a directive to authorities concerned to draft a legislation on Right to Water aiming at ensuring adequate water for every person in the urban areas in the state, a spokesman of the state government told this newspaper here. The ensuing monsoon session of the house may see passage of the legislation, official sources said.

Madhya Pradesh would be the first state in the country to recognise access to water a human right if the house ensures passage of the proposed legislation in the ensuing monsoon session.

A senior officer of the department indicated that every household in urban MP would get pipe water connection and supply of at least 55 liters of drinking water would be ensured to each family daily.

The state government was mulling to undertake water conservation measures like renovation and preservation of traditional water sources such as ponds and water bodies in urban areas.

It may be recalled that Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) was recognised as human right by the United Nations General Assembly on July 28, 2010.

The HRWS obliges governments to ensure that people can enjoy clean, available, acceptable, accessible, and affordable water and sanitation.

Noted water conservation expert of the country, Dr Rajendra Singh, famously known as Water Man of India, described the decision by MP government to recognise access to water by people as human right through legislation a great initiative. He, however, demanded the state government to enlarge the scope of the proposed legislation.
Thiruvananthapuram: The Crime Branch (CB) has started a probe into the role of two gold smugglers in the accidental death of musician Balabhaskar, based on a charge raised by his father K.C. Unni. The CB has collected details of the gold smuggling through the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

Prakashan Thampi, who was arrested in the smuggling case, was Balabhaskars programme manager. Another accused Vishnu was his finance manager.

This has added to the mystery behind the accident that occurred at Pallipuram, near here, on September 25 last year, leading to the death of Balabhaskar in the hospital later.

However, Bala-bhaskars wife Lakshmi in a Facebook post said that Thampi and Vishnu were not her late husbands staff members. They had only arranged some of his programmes, she said.

Vishnu was Balab-haskars friend from a young age. Thampi who ran a canteen in a hospital earlier was befriended by the violinist a few years ago only. It was Thampi who introduced Arjun, the driver at the time of the accident, to Balabhaskar.

Thampi had first reached the accident spot. However, later he distanced himself from Balabhaskars family.

Balabhaskars father had also linked his sons death to a private ayurveda hospital in Palakkad. Its proprietor had close links with Thampi and Vishnu, he alleged.

Just before the accident, Balabhaskar had received several calls asking for his location, his father alleged.

The details of the calls to the four mobiles phones of Balabhaskar are being collected by the Crime Branch team.

Meanwhile, Kalabhavan Sobi, who travelled through the area just after the accident disclosed to television channels that he had seen some unusual things at the accident spot. A man ran away from the scene and another man pushed his bike away from the spot. He informed about the two men to his friend Madhu Balakrishnan who told this to Thampi. Thampi then called Sobi saying that the Attingal CI will call him to get further details.

Meanwhile, the DRI has been given three-day custody of advocate Biju, the main culprit in the gold case, who surrendered before the DRI on Friday.

The woman Sarina who was arrested in connection with the case has told the DRI that she had smuggled over 50 kg of gold through the airport. This was handed over to her by Jithu of Thiruvananthapuram who worked in Dubai. She was given 2000 dirhams and flight tickets each time she accompanied the gold carriers. She was asked to smuggle 25 kg of gold on May 13, the day she was arrested along with KSRTC conductor Sunil, saying that it was the last time Jithu was taking up the assignment as he was withdrawing from the smuggling job.
BJP president Amit Shah arrives to take charge as the Union home minister at North Block in New Delhi on Saturday. (Photo: Sondeep Shankar)

New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said countrys security and welfare of the people are the key priorities of the Modi government.

Mr Shah, who assumed the charge of the sensitive ministry on Saturday, also said he would try his best to implement all these priorities.

Countrys security and peoples welfare are the Modi governments priorities. Under the leadership of Modi, I will try my best to fulfil all these priorities, he tweeted after assuming the char-ge. Mr Shah also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bestowing the responsibility of the sensitive ministry.

Today, I have taken charge as Indias Home Minister. I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reposing faith in me, he said.

Mr Shah was received at the North Block office of the home ministry by Union home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Intelligence Bureau Chief Rajiv Jain and other senior officials.

Two newly appointed ministers of state for home  G.K. Reddy and Nityananda Rai  also took charge Saturday. Mr Rai is Bihar state president of the BJP. Mr Shah took charge two days after he was sworn-in following a landslide victory of the BJP-led NDA.

A home ministry official said Mr Shah is expected to prioritise the NDA governments policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and checking illegal immigration.

Three Governors, inclu-ding Jammu and Kashm-irs Satya Pal Malik, and the Uttarakhand chief minister called on home minister. Malik, Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam and Maharashtra Gover-nor C. Vidyasagar Rao met Mr Shah separately during the day. Official sources described the meetings as courtesy calls.
The government also issued orders to enhance the assistance of Rs 5,000 given under the Rythu Bandhu scheme per acre per season to all eligible farmers for 2019-20.

Hyderabad: To mark State Formation Day, the government announced 3.144 per cent increase in dearness allowance (DA) to employees and pensioners. The government issued orders to this effect on Saturday.

With this, the DA now stands at 30.392 per cent of the basic, up from 27.248 per cent. The revised DA will be implemented from July 1, and will be paid out in the salary for June. The DA arrears from July 2018 to May 31, 2019 will be credited in the GPF accounts of the employees.

The government also issued orders to enhance the assistance of Rs 5,000 given under the Rythu Bandhu scheme per acre per season to all eligible farmers for 2019-20.

The state government said the money will be transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries by way of electronic transfer through e-Kuber, the RBI payment platform. As it is a high priority scheme to be implemented involving various departments and stake holders, the government has constituted a state-level monitoring committee headed by the principal secretary, agriculture.

The committee will meet periodically to monitor the implementation of the scheme.

The government said the validity time period for re-submission of payment failure cases was extended from three to six months, keeping in view the huge number of beneficiaries.
After the debacle in the Assembly elections in Telangana state, the TD leadership decided not to contest in the Lok Sabha elections. With the defeat of the Telugu Desam in the AP Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the Telangana TD leaders lost their hopes in the TD and have decided to leave the party.

Hyderabad: Senior leaders of the Telangana Telugu Desam are looking towards the BJP, having lost confidence about their future.

Telangana TD senior leader and former minister E. Peddireddy and former MP Chada Suresh Reddy met BJP leaders at Delhi and expressed their willingness to join the BJP. It may be recalled that Mr Peddireddy was allotted the Kukatpally Assem-bly ticket in the recent elections but was replaced at the last minute by Nandamuri Suhasini, daughter of the late Nandamuri Harikrishna. For the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Peddireddy thought of joining the Congress and contesting from the Karimnagar seat, but dropped the idea later.

After the debacle in the Assembly elections in Telangana state, the TD leadership decided not to contest in the Lok Sabha elections. With the defeat of the Telugu Desam in the AP Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the Telangana TD leaders lost their hopes in the TD and have decided to leave the party. In Telangana state, the Congress too is not in a good position and cannot join the TRS. The only choice left to them is to join the BJP which is looking to strengthen its party base in Telangana. Telangana TD leader Peddireddy confirmed that he met BJP leaders at Delhi. Speaking to this newspaper, he said that keeping in view their political future, there was no other way except for joining the BJP. He said he will take a decision after discussing with party workers. He said that former MP Chada Suresh Reddy was also with him when he met BJP leaders. Telangana TD president L Ramana said that he has no plans to leave the party.

Meanwhile, Vijayawada TD MP Kesineni Nanis meeting with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari after the Lok Sabha results surprised political circles. On May 28, Mr Kesineni Nani went to Pune and met Gadkari at his residence. After this, he tweeted, Met and took blessings from Mr Nitin Gadkari, my favourite politician. He is the one who has given his 100 per cent support to me in the development of Vijayawada.
Singh held a held a meeting with Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and newly-appointed Navy chief Karambir Singh at the headquarters of the defence ministry at the Raisina Hills during which he was apprised about the security scenario, officials said. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Soon after taking charge as Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh on Saturday asked the chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force to prepare separate presentations on the challenges and overall functioning of their respective forces.

Singh held a held a meeting with Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and newly-appointed Navy chief Karambir Singh at the headquarters of the defence ministry at the Raisina Hills during which he was apprised about the security scenario, officials said.

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik, Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and several top officials of the ministry were also present at the meeting. Officials said separate wings of the ministry were also told to prepare presentations which will be reviewed at a meeting soon.

Singh, who was the Home Minister in the previous government, was accorded a grand welcome by the three services chiefs and senior officials when he arrived at the defence ministry around noon.

A defence ministry spokesperson said Singh urged all those who greeted him to give their best and work towards achieving the "targets". Earlier in the day, Singh visited the national war memorial and paid tributes to the fallen heroes.

As defence minister, Singh's most crucial challenge will be to speed up the long-delayed modernisation of the three services besides ensuring overall coherence in their combat readiness.

His another challenge will be to ensure peace and tranquillity along the frontier with China while developing required military infrastructure to deal with any possible Chinese hostility.

As he took charge of the ministry just three months after India carried out air strikes on a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot, it is expected that he will continue with the policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross border terrorism.

Containing infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan will be another key focus area. As the Defence Minister, Singh will face the challenge of strengthening the combat capabilities of the Army, Navy and the Air Force due to changing regional security matrix and geo-political dynamics.

The forces have been pressing for equipping them to deal with hybrid warfare and Singh will have to attend to this crucial demand. The government has been focusing on domestic defence production and Singh will have to carry forward a number of big-ticket reform initiatives, including implementing the ambitious "strategic partnership" model.

Under the new model, select Indian private firms will be roped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign defence majors.

Singh also faces the challenge of modernising the defence research organisations and various other defence public sector undertakings so that they can produce state-of-the art military hardware to match requirement of the forces.

He will also have to oversee implementation of major reforms in the 12-lakh strong Army. The Army has already finalised a blueprint for its reform including right-sizing of the force.

His predecessor Nirmala Sitharaman had taken on the opposition head-on with her fiery defence of the Rafale fighter jet deal and it will be interesting to see how Singh deals with the issue.
New Delhi: Shortly after taking charge, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with top officials of the ministry. When issues relating to Jammu and Kashmir came up, the state Governor Satyapal Malik called on Shah for decision.

Malik said it was a courtesy call during which he briefed Shah on the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir on the ensuing Amarnath Yatra.

Lt Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi also met Shah.

Kashmir is expected to be a focus area for Shah in view of the promises made in the BJP manifesto like abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution.

The Centre's muscular anti-terror policy pursued in Kashmir is likely to be continued under the new government.

Another prime area of focus would be to revitalise the security establishment to ensure that Pulwama like terrorist attacks, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, do not recur.

The task is cut for Shah to take care of other issues as well including Maoist violence, NRC and Article 370 in Kashmir.
Priyank, who is a Minister for Social Welfare in the Karnataka Government and son of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, attacked Shah a day after the latter was allotted Ministry of Home Affairs in the Narendra Modi Cabinet. (Photo: Twitter I Priyank Kharge)

Bengaluru: Launching an attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday suggested renaming the Ministry of Home Affairs as "Ministry of Providing Clean Chits".

Priyank, who is a Minister for Social Welfare in the Karnataka Government and son of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, attacked Shah a day after the latter was allotted Ministry of Home Affairs in the Narendra Modi Cabinet.

Now that we have a new Home Minister, I think it is better to rename the Ministry of Home Affairs as Ministry of Providing Clean Chits.  Priyank Kharge (@PriyankKharge) June 1, 2019

"Now that we have a new Home Minister, I think it is better to rename the Ministry of Home Affairs as Ministry of Providing Clean Chits," Priyank tweeted.

Replacing another political heavyweight Rajnath Singh in the ministry, Shah makes his debut at the Centre being given the crucial Home Ministry, a portfolio he has handled as a state minister in Gujarat under Modi.

Called 'Chanakya' for his organisational abilities, marked by a series of successes in elections as BJP president, Shah's entry into the north block gets a profile commensurate with challenges like terrorism, Maoists violence and problems in Kashmir.

Challenges grew for Shah in 2010 when he was jailed in Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Later, a special CBI court dismissed the case.

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Vijayan also assured that the Kerala government is making continued efforts to help the farmers and has also announced a moratorium on repayment of farmers' loans till the end of this year. (Photo: ANI)

Thiruvananthapuram: Responding to Congress President Rahul Gandhi's letter requesting for an inquiry into the "suicide" of a debt-ridden farmer VD Dinesh Kumar from Wayanad, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has stated that he has ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter.

In a letter dated May 31, the Chief Minister said: "I have asked District Collector, Wayanad, to conduct a detailed inquiry into the suicide of VD Dinesh Kumar and submit a report to the government at the earliest for taking further action including any financial assistance."

Vijayan also assured that the Kerala government is making continued efforts to help the farmers and has also announced a moratorium on repayment of farmers' loans till the end of this year.

Expressing concern over issues being faced by farmers in the country, the Chief Minister said they ought to be raised in the Parliament and urged Gandhi to join the movement.

"...As these loans from commercial banks come under the SARFAESI Act it is for the Government of India to take a considered stand with regard to the outstanding farmers' debt with the banks. This issue needs to be raised in the Parliament and I hope that you will join us in taking up the issue of relief for the debt afflicted families in Kerala as well as other parts in the country," he said in the letter.

The Congress chief, who has been elected as MP from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat for the first time, on May 28 wrote a letter to Vijayan requesting him to order an inquiry into the 'suicide' of Kumar.

Gandhi also urged the Kerala Chief Minister to extend financial support to the family of the deceased.

"I am deeply saddened by the suicide of VD Dinesh Kumar, a farmer in Neervaram, Panamaram Panchayat, Wayanad. On speaking with his wife Sujitha, I learnt that her husband had been under severe stress due to his inability to repay the loans he had taken and this pushed him to commit suicide," read the letter.

"Kumar's case isn't an isolated one. There has been a spate of farmers' suicides in Wayanad, due to an inability to repay loans. What is disturbing is that while the government of Kerala has announced a moratorium on repayment of farm loans till December 31, 2019, yet farmers are still being pressurized and hounded by a loan collection agent," said Gandhi in the letter.

"I write to request you to order an enquiry, into the circumstances surrounding Kumar's death and to extend financial support to his family. Moreover, given the devastating long term impact of the 2018 floods on agriculture in India, it is crucial to consider long term measures to free our farmers from the vicious debt trap thousands of them are caught in," stated the letter.

Rahul Gandhi will pay a two-day visit to his constituency from June 7 to thank the voters for his stupendous win.
New Delhi: Apparently comparing the BJP regime to the 'British period,' Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that no institution in the country was going to support the Congress and it was for the party MPs to fight 'hatred and cowardice' aggressively.

"You have to first understand, who you are. If you are going to fight, who you are fighting for? You are fighting for the Constitution of this country, that is who you are, you are fighting for the right of every single individual in this country regardless of the skin's colour, regardless of his religion, regardless of his gender, regardless of his State. That is, what you are fighting for. There is no institution that is going to support you in this country, no one is going to support you. It is like during the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress party. Yet we fought and won and we are going to do it again," he said while addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting here.

Stating that hatred, cowardice, and anger are fighting against Congress, he said that lack of confidence and self-belief was also fighting against the party.

"The people who are opposing us in the Parliament, they use hatred. They use anger to fight us. And as I said throughout the election, there is only one way to fight hatred and anger. There is no other way and that is the love and the affection and the compassion of the Congress party," he said.

"That is why the BJP sits and says that we want Congress-Mukt Bharat because without Congress they have a free run and no one to counter them. There is no opposition against the BJP other than the love and the compassion, the affection of the Congress party. Every single one of you...you are going to enjoy yourself, you are going to shout little more than usual. You are going to have to be little more aggressive," he told the newly elected members.

He went on to add, "Last time if the Speaker used to give us five minutes, this time it may be two minutes. But in those two minutes, we will put forth what the Congress party believes, we will put forth our defence of the Constitution."

Rahul said that Congress' 52 MPs are "going to fight the BJP every single inch, without giving this much and that applies to the Members from Rajya Sabha as well."

"I would also like to thank all the Congress workers who fought for this idea, who defended this idea and as ex-President said it is an opportunity for us to introspect, to look inwards, to try and see as to what went wrong, and to try to rejuvenate ourselves. I have no doubt that the Congress party is going to rejuvenate. I have to thank all of you, especially the seniors who are here. You have given a tremendous service in fighting for the Constitution and now you are fighting every single institution," Rahul said.

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the BJP registered a landslide victory by winning 303 seats.
New Delhi: Minority Affairs Ministry Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday hit out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his comments that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can visit the temple then Muslims can visit Mosque, saying some people talk like this for the sake of their livelihood.

Speaking to ANI here, Naqvi said, "Some people talk like this for the sake of their livelihood. Some people talk unnecessary things on the basis of religion, caste and region. This does not help anyone. Modi has the confidence of 130 crore people of the country. Under Modiji people know they are well secured."

Earlier Saturday, Owaisi had said, "If Modi can visit a temple we can visit our mosques, if Modi can go sit in a cave, we Muslims can also proudly say our prayers in mosques. Securing more than 300 seats is not a huge thing, Because India has a living Constitution, the 300 seats (of the BJP) cannot take away our rights."

Read: Dont worry about BJP's return to power: Owaisi to Muslims

Owaisi also said that Muslims need not fear by Modi returning to power and added that every citizen is respected in the country.

Slamming Owaisi's statement Chhawani Temple priest Pramhans Das on Saturday said in Ayodhya: ''Aatankwadiyon ka agar kahin network milta hai to usme kahi na kahi usme Owaisi ka hath hai (Owisi is, somehow, responsible for the terrorism.) People like Owaisi are behind the raising of anti-India slogans. People like him bring a bad name to Islam.''
She warned Mamata Banerjee saying that if the state government tried to come in the way of central initiatives from reaching people in her state, it will face severe backlash. (Photo: Twitter I Debasree Chaudhuri)

Mumbai: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday received a fair warning from Union minister Debasree Chaudhuri.

She warned Mamata saying that if the state government tried to come in the way of central initiatives from reaching people in her state, it will face severe backlash.

Chaudhuri was appointed as the Union Minister of State for Women and Child development in PM Modi's new cabinet.

"I want to work on the basis of mutual understanding with the state government, and expect no hindrance from the Bengal government when it comes to implementing central projects in line with the rest of the country. If the state government tries to hamper our flow of work, the people of the state will remove those impediments," Chaudhuri said.

She also spoke about women empowerment being a flagship project of the new government.

"The previous NDA government had also focused on development of women. Our aim will be to achieve our targets in terms of women development in the next five years," Chaudhuri said as reported by the IANS.

She said she would take up challenges and try to do as much work as possible.

The BJP leader was elected to the Lok Sabha seat from Bengal's Raiganj constituency. She defeated TMC's Agarwal Kanaialal.

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Bengaluru: Amid talks of cabinet expansion to save the coalition government, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy Saturday met Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah and held discussions.

Both leaders have met on cabinet issue and have held discussions. Whether it is expansion or reshuffle, it may take place only after June 4, official sources said.

The Congress over the last couple of days had gone into a huddle to avert a potential existential crisis to the one-year-old coalition ministry, and discussed about the possible cabinet rejig to address the dissent within.

Mr Kumaraswamy had also held discussions with Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. Coalition leaders were initially unable to reach consensus on whether to go in for cabinet expansion by filling three vacant posts or reshuffle by asking a few ministers to step down and make way for the disgruntled lawmakers. CLP leader Siddaramaiah, however, had indicated that reshuffle was on the cards.

According to party sources, there are talks about first filling three vacant posts and then going in for reshuffle if the need arises.

Meanwhile, Independent MLA Nagesh and KPJP MLA R Shankar also met Siddaramaiah on Saturday and held discussions. There are reports that in case of cabinet expansion they are likely to be inducted into the Ministry. During the meeting Siddaramaiah is said to have asked both legislators not to fall pray to any attempts by the BJP to woo them. On Wednesday reports and pictures of Nagesh and Shankar meeting rebel Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is allegedly hobnobbing with the BJP, had added to the coalition's worry. Shankar was inducted into Kumaraswamys cabinet, but was subsequently dropped during the reshuffle in December last year, following which both of them had withdrew their support from the government and sided with BJP.

Coalition worries have multiplied after the BJPs spectacular win with 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in its pocket, leaving a mere one seat each to the Congress and JDS, which, despite a joint fight, were swept away by the Modi wave. Also, growing unrest within the party and threat by Ramesh Jarkiholi to quit Congress along with other MLAs has worried the leadership as it would trigger a number game in the assembly.

The talk about cabinet reshuffle or expansion has also given rise to number of aspirants within the party. Of the total 34 ministerial positions in Karnataka, the Congress and JD(S) have shared 22 and 12 respectively. Currently, three posts are vacant, two from JD(S) and one from Congress. However, allaying fears that the BJP was trying to weaken the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka, the BJP's state president B S Yeddyurappa Friday had said central leaders have asked the state unit not to indulge in any activity to destabilise it.
This comes after the US enlisted Huawei and 68 affiliates in an entity list over national security concerns. (Photo: ANI)

In response to US' tough stance against Huawei, the tech giant's home country is reportedly looking at retaliating by blacklisting foreign firms operating in China.

China's commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said that the nation will create its own entity list of unreliable foreign companies that have stopped or curtailed their businesses with Chinese firms, Tech Crunch reported.

This comes after the US enlisted Huawei and 68 affiliates in an entity list over national security concerns after which several American firms including Google, Intel, and Qualcomm, have cut ties with the Chinese tech giant.

The government has announced a 90-day reprieve for companies to offer critical support to Huawei.

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Mr Assange shows all the symptoms of a person who has been exposed to psychological torture for a prolonged period of time. (Photo: ANI)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has suffered psychological torture from a defamation campaign and should not be extradited to the United States where he would face a politicised show trial, a UN human rights investigator said on Friday.

Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture who visited Assange in a high-security London prison on May 9 along with two medical experts, said that he found him agitated, under severe stress and unable to cope with his complex legal case.

Our finding was that Mr. Assange shows all the symptoms of a person who has been exposed to psychological torture for a prolonged period of time. The psychiatrist who accompanied my mission said that his state of health was critical, Melzer told Reuters in an interview in Geneva.

But my understanding is that he has now been hospitalised and that he is not able to stand trial, he said.

Assange was too ill on Thursday to appear via video link from a British prison in a hearing on an extradition request from the United States, his lawyer Gareth Peirce told Reuters. He is in a health ward.

Mr Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture, Melzer said in a statement.

The Swiss law professor declined to identify judges or senior politicians whom he accused of defaming Assange, saying dozens if not hundreds of individuals had expressed themselves inappropriately.

Here we are not speaking of prosecution but of persecution. That means that judicial power, institutions and proceedings are being deliberately abused for ulterior motives, he added.

British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, in a tweet posted within minutes of Melzers statement, said: This is wrong. Assange chose to hide in the embassy and was always free to leave and face justice.

The UN Special Rapporteur should allow British courts to make their judgements without his interference or inflammatory accusations, he said.

Assange made headlines in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified US military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

Washington is seeking the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11 after his seven-year asylum was revoked, for one of the biggest ever leak of classified information.

The Australian, now 47, had skipped bail and taken refuge there in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault investigation later dropped. Sweden reopened the investigation in early May. Assange denies the rape allegation.

The United States has charged Assange with espionage, saying he unlawfully published the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining access to classified information. He faces 18 US criminal counts and decades in prison if convicted.

I am seriously, gravely concerned that if this man were to be extradited to the United States, he would be exposed to a politicised show trial and grave violations of his human rights, Melzer said.

The main narrative in this affair really is the United States wanting to make an example of Mr Assange in order to deter other people from following his example, he said.

Melzer did not expect US authorities to subject Assange to physical torture such as water-boarding during interrogations.

I would much more expect him to be subjected to prolonged solitary confinement, to very harsh detention conditions and to a psychological environment which would break him eventually.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is the next big thing on the brand's radar and if history is anything to go by, the next 2019 flagship will launch in August. While the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 will come with a new radical design where the brand finally ditches the headphone jack; the big news about the smartphone is that it will come without any physical buttons. Instead of these keys, Samsung will add pressure-sensitive areas to denote where the volume rockers and the power key is located. This makes it an exciting device it itself.

Galaxy Note10 is Samsung's last 1/2.55-inch 1.4um CMOS flagship phone. Samsung has been using it for 4 years. Starting next year, Samsung S11 will adopt a new large-size large-pixel CMOS.  Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 29, 2019

While the above-mentioned news is the biggest leak about Samsung, noted industry tipster @IceUniverse who has in the past provided accurate information regarding Samsung handsets now claims that the next evolution of camera technology will make its way on the brands 2020 flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S11. The upcoming handset due next year will feature a new large-size large-pixel CMOS. With the handset coming with this new sensor size, the Galaxy Note 10 will be the last flagship from the brand to feature a .55um CMOS sensor which has been used for the past four years.

The same tipster goes on to share more information regarding the Galaxy Note 10 and claims that the handset will not feature optical zoom attributes that are found on rival smartphones like the Huawei P30 Pro. He states that Samsung tested adding a 10x optical zoom on the handset; however, it required a lot of space inside, thereby making it unfeasible for now. He also mentions that Samsung has developed its own 5x optical zoom sensors but will not be featured on the Galaxy Note 10. Instead, this sensor will make its way to the Samsung A-series devices; which has always been a platform where the brand adds cutting edge technology even before introducing it on its flagships.

Samsung has considered the 10x optical zoom phone project not long ago, which is stronger than the P30Pro's 5x, but it was eventually cancelled because it is too thick and doesn't look like a phone. If you give up the thin body because of this, this is what Samsung does not want  Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 29, 2019

Although Samsung has developed and mass produced 5x optical zoom camera, but Samsung will not use it for flagship phones, maybe the future A series will adopt, maybe. The greater possibility is for external sales to Chinese brands.  Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 29, 2019

Elaborating on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 thats out due in August, the handset will come with innovations that will make it a worthy upgrade over last years handset. The smartphone will come with a redesigned rear camera layout with a minimum of three shooters and as many as four rear sensors. As opposed to previous generation devices, this layout will be vertically stacked and not horizontally aligned like the Galaxy S10. Up front, the Galaxy Note 10 will come with a centrally located punch-hole camera that will fit up to two sensors. The handset is also expected to come with an S-Pen stylus with improved functionality and the battery will feature faster-charging technology. Lastly, you can expect the Galaxy Note 10 to have better photography capabilities in comparison to the S10.

Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Deccan Chronicle and/or other staff and contributors to this website.

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Currently there are nearly two dozen Democratic presidential aspirants. (Photo:AP)

Washington: US Senator Cory Booker has hired over a dozen Asian American Pacific Islanders, mostly Indian-Americans, for his 2020 presidential campaign which is said to be the largest among the Democratic aspirants.

The first African-American Senator from New Jersey, Booker, 50, announced his 2020 presidential bid on February 1.

Currently there are nearly two dozen Democratic presidential aspirants, who will be pitted against each other in the party's primary elections beginning early next year.

Prominent among them include former Vice President Joe Biden, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard; Senators Kamala Harris, Michael Bennet, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

From his national press secretary Sabrina Singh, State operations director New Hampshire Shwetika Baijal to Iowa political director Rishi Bharwani; Booker has hired more than half a dozen Indian-Americans for his presidential campaign.

"I'm proud to be building a campaign that reflects the rich diversity of our country. Being inclusive of the voices of members of the Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community have always been and will always be a top priority for me and my campaign," Booker, who represents New Jersey in the Senate, told PTI.

"From who we hire to how we engage with one another, we always seek to empower and uplift diverse voices and ensure everyone has a seat at the table. I'm extremely proud of the members of the AAPI community that make up this team," said Booker, who is a friend of India and Indian-Americans.

Among other AAPI members in his campaign team are Deepak Jonnalagedda, Iowa Field Organiser; Sobaika Mirza, Director of Human Resources; Jen Kim, States Chief of Staff; Philip Kim, Nevada State Director; Yash Mori, Videographer and Meena Yi, Director of Design.

"The makeup of the Cory 2020 campaign staff reflects the diversity of this country, and I'm really proud to be a part of it," campaign spokesperson Sabrina told PTI.

"It's an honor to work for someone who not only believes in inclusive policies for the country, but who hires and empowers a diverse group of people in his staff," she said.

Before joining Cory 2020, Sabrina worked at the Democratic National Committee as the deputy communications director. She is a first generation Indian-American.

Baijal previously was a vice president at 50+1 Strategies; while Bharwani was the campaign manager for Amber Gustafson in Iowa. Prior to Cory 2020, Jonnalagedda was a field organiser for the Iowa Democratic Party and Mirza most recently served as Senior Operations Officer at Avaaz.

Mori previously was a digital staffer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

There are presently more than 20 million people of the AAPI descent residing in the United States, which amounts to more than 6 per cent of the population. The AAPI population is the most rapidly growing ethnic group in the country and is expected to increase to over 40 million individuals by 2060.
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the companys founder, is accused of lying to banks about the companys dealings with Iran. (Photo:AP)

Beijing: China warned Canada that it needs to be aware of the consequences of aiding the US in an extradition case involving Chinese tech giant Huawei that is believed to have sparked the detentions of two Canadians in China. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuangs comments came after US Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

Both were arrested on December 10 after Canada detained a Huawei executive wanted by the United States on fraud charges. While China has denied they were taken in retaliation, it has repeatedly implied that there is a strong connection between the cases.

Korvig, a former diplomat and Asia expert at the International Crisis Group, and Spavor, a businessman, have been accused of colluding to steal state secrets. Canada has repeatedly urged their immediate release, calling their detentions arbitrary. Neither has been permitted access to lawyers or family members.

Also Read: Use Huawei and lose access to our data: United States warn Germany

We hope that the Canadian side can have a clear understanding of the consequences of endangering itself for the gains of the US and take immediate actions to correct its mistakes so as to spare itself the suffering from growing damage, Geng said at a daily news briefing.

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the companys founder, is accused of lying to banks about the companys dealings with Iran in violation of US trade sanctions. Her attorney has argued that comments by US President Donald Trump suggest the case against her is politically motivated.

Washington has pressured other countries to limit the use of Huaweis technology, warning they could be opening themselves up to surveillance and theft of information. China and the US are currently embroiled in a trade dispute that is weighing heavily on global financial markets.

Another Canadian held in China, Robert Schellenberg, was re-sentenced to death in a drug case following Mengs detention. His case is currently under appeal. In their joint statement, Pence and Trudeau said: The United States and Canada stand together to firmly reject the wrongful detention of two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and call for their immediate release.

Chinas actions are damaging its international reputation and a deep concern for all countries that uphold the rule of law. Canada and the United States welcome constructive, results-oriented engagement with China that concretely demonstrates respect for the rule of law, human rights, and fair and reciprocal trade, the statement said.
'I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent,' Trump told the Sun. (Photo:AP)

London: US President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Boris Johnson's campaign to be Britain's next prime minister and urged all candidates to pledge boost defence spending, in a striking intervention ahead of his state visit next week.

"I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent," Trump told the Sun newspaper about the former foreign secretary and leading Brexit campaigner, who is one of the front-runners to succeed Theresa May as head of the Conservative Party.

Trump arrives in Britain on Monday for a three-day state visit at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth before attending World War Two commemorations in France and visiting Ireland.

Also Read: Who wants to be Britains next prime minister?

He told the Sun other Conservative lawmakers have sought his endorsement - though not environment minister Michael Gove, who has criticised his stance on Iran.

Trump also praised Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt's pledge to increase British defence spending.

"Yes. I like him," Trump said when asked about Hunt. "The UK should be able to defend themselves. It's a great and very special place," he said, noting that higher British defence spending could boost exports of US military equipment.
Pompeo urged close ally Britain this month not to use Huaweis technology to build new 5G networks. (Photo:AP)

Washington: The United States raised the pressure on Western allies in a war of attrition over next-generation networks on Friday, saying countries that allow Chinas Huawei to build their telecoms infrastructure could be cut off from crucial intelligence data.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued the warning after meeting Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, which has so far stood with Britain and France in declining calls to ban the state-owned manufacturer from the 5G networks now being built.

In the latest sign of escalating trans-Atlantic tensions over trade and security, Pompeo, on the first leg of a five-day European tour, said that while countries would take a sovereign decision on which equipment to use, that decision would have consequences.

(There is) a risk we will have to change our behaviour in light of the fact that we cant permit data on private citizens or data on national security to go across networks that we dont have confidence (in), he told a news conference.

Pompeo later met Chancellor Angela Merkel for brief talks before flying on to Switzerland, describing Germany as a great, important partner and ally of the United States.

Merkel herself had just flown back from the United States the night before after delivering a speech to graduating Harvard students in which she exhorted them to tear down walls of ignorance and to stand for truth over lies  words widely interpreted as veiled criticism of US President Donald Trump.

The US is and remains our most important partner outside Europe, Merkel told reporters ahead of the meeting. We have many issues to discuss, since the world is not at rest, she added, mentioning the challenge of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and hindering Irans aggressive actions.

Pompeo urged close ally Britain this month not to use Huaweis technology to build new 5G networks because of concerns it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, responding to similar comments on Huawei made by US Vice President Mike Pence in Canada on Thursday, said the United States had yet to prove that Huaweis products presented a security risk.

We hope that the United States can stop these mistaken actions which are not at all commensurate with their status and position as a big country, said spokesman Geng Shuang.

The United States is at odds with its German allies on a host of issues, from trade to military spending and nuclear non-proliferation.

Pompeos visit had been scheduled earlier this month, but was called off at the last minute as tensions rose over Iran. Berlin and Washington differ on the best approach to Iran over its nuclear programme.

Under a 2015 nuclear agreement with major powers, which Washington withdrew from last year, Tehran accepted curbs on its uranium enrichment programme in exchange for the removal of most international sanctions.

Irans decision this month to backtrack from some commitments under the accord  in response to US measures to cripple its economy  threatens to unravel the deal.

The German Foreign Ministry said on its website: Germany and the US agree: For the security of the region, it is crucial that Iran does not come into possession of nuclear weapons.

Maas stressed during his talks with Pompeo that as long as Tehran adheres to the agreed rules, the agreement makes the region safer, the ministry added.

A German envoy seeking to preserve the nuclear deal visited Iran last week.

A senior State Department official said Pompeo and Maas had an incredibly productive discussion on Iran.

theres clearly an obvious effort by the Iranians to sort of pit the Germans against the Americans, the Europeans against the Americans, the State Department official said.

And Germany stood very strong, according to the foreign minister, the US official added.
Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia in the first two summits on Friday as it ratcheted up tensions with Iran. (Photo:AP)

Mecca: Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Saturday warned that "terrorist" attacks in the region could imperil global oil supplies.

"We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies," the king told a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the holy city of Mecca.

King Salman has called on Gulf and Arab leaders to confront Iran's "criminal acts" after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, in the Sea of Oman and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

Also Read: Saudi blame Iran for drone strikes; want US to launch 'surgical strike' on Tehran

"We will resolutely confront aggressive threats and subversive activities," King Salman said on Twitter just before the start of the OIC summit.

The OIC meeting is the third and final summit hosted by Saudi Arabia this week, aimed at galvanising support among Arab and Islamic nations against arch-rival Iran.

Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia in the first two summits on Friday as it ratcheted up tensions with Iran.

Tehran, which has strongly denied involvement in any of the attacks, expressed disappointment that Riyadh plans to level the same "baseless accusations" at the summit of the 57-member OIC.

"Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation calls for a position on the attacks on the kingdom" said OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen.
'Had I known it, I would not have left the country,' he said. (Photo:AP)

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday said he has not received any report that the suicide bombers involved in the Easter Sunday terror attacks had travelled to India.

Sirisena also said a clear report about a possible terror attack was sent by Indian intelligence agencies to their Sri Lankan counterparts 17 days prior to the April 21 bombings but he was not informed about it.

Had I known about a possible attack, I would have taken necessary steps to prevent it, Sirisena said during a media interaction. He was here to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modis swearing-in ceremony.

Sri Lanka was hit by a wave of bombings on Easter Sunday in which over 250 people were killed.

A clear report had been sent by Indian intelligence to the state intelligence agencies of Sri Lanka about the possibility of an attack. The Indian government sent the information on April 4, he said.

Sirisena said he left for a foreign trip on April 16 and till then he was not informed about the Indian intelligence report, though there had been exchanges on the issue between the defence secretary and the then inspector general of police.

Had I known it, I would not have left the country, he said.

This is a great shortcoming from our defence secretary and that is why I have removed defence secretary and inspector general of police from their respective offices, he added.

Sirisena said necessary disciplinary and legal action will be taken against the guilty based on findings of the ongoing investigation into the matter.

Asked about reports that the terrorists who carried out the attacks had travelled to India, the Sri Lankan president said he had not received any information about it.

I have not received any reports that say they travelled to India. My officers have not reported about any connection linking them to India uptill now, he said.

Sirisena said his government has received support from India, the UK, the US and few other countries in the investigation into the bombings.

The investigation has found that the perpetrators of the attack operated under an international organisation. The Sri Lankan terrorists had obtained training in countries where other terror groups are operating, he said.

The Sri Lankan president said the people involved in the bombings were from wealthy families and the suicide bombers included doctorate holders.

He said it was time for all the countries to come together and deal firmly with terror groups.
India just had yet another round of consultation with United States, Japan and Australia on Indo-Pacific, but refrained from joining them in not-so-subtly criticizing China  once again signalling its keenness to avert irking the communist country.

The diplomats of India, United States, Australia and Japan met in Bangkok on Friday, indicating a continuation of the 'quad'  as the consultation mechanism launched by the four nations in 2017 to counter China in Indo-Pacific is popularly known. New Delhi, however, did not join Washington, Canberra and Tokyo to stress on universal respect for international law and freedom of navigation and overflight  the jargons of diplomatese, which are often used by the international community to oppose hegemonic aspirations of the communist country in the region.

The four nations reaffirmed their shared commitment to preserving and promoting the rules-based order in the region, the US Department of State said in a press release issued in Washington D.C. after the meeting in Bangkok. They highlighted their efforts to maintain universal respect for. The press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Japanese Government on the four-nation consultation on Indo-Pacific was also almost similar to the one issued by the US State Department.

The press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, however, did not use the phrases like rules-based order and respect for international law and freedom of navigation and overflight, which have been often used by the international community to oppose expansionist moves of China.

China has been accused by the United States, Japan and other nations of undermining the rules-based order in Indo-Pacific.

Beijing's territorial disputes with its maritime neighbours in East and South China Sea and its reluctance to resolve the disputes in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) often prompted the other nations, not only to criticize it for not adhering to the international laws and flexing military muscles, but also to call for rules-based order in Indo-Pacific.

The US has been criticizing China for militarizing the South China Sea by building military installations on artificial islands and reefs. China claims it built military installations only for defending itself against any misadventure by the US or its allies.

Beijing blames the US for escalating tension by sending warships and military aircraft near the islands claimed by China

The US has been conducting Freedom of Navigation Operation or FONOP in East and South China Sea to counter expansionist moves by China. The US Navys missile destroyers, USS Preble and USS Chung Hoon, on May 6 sailed near Johnson and Gaven reefs of the Spratly Islands in South China Sea on May 6. China claims Spratly Islands as part of its own territory and built military installations on both the reefs, which are also claimed by Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. Chinas Peoples Liberation Armys Navy stated that it had detected and warned off both the US warships. The USS Preble conducted another FONOP on May 19, near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Philippines and Taiwan counter Chinas claim on Scarborough Shoal. China strongly protested the US moves on both the occasions.

New Delhi dropped the phrases to avert hurting the sensitivities of Beijing and any setback in the process that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping initiated during an informal summit at Wuhan in central China in April 2018 to mend the bilateral relations. Though India-China ties hit a new low over the 72-day-long military stand-off between at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan, the two nations have been trying to bring it back on track though a series of engagements, including at the level of the leaders. Modi is set to host Xi for the second informal summit later this year.

This was the second time this week India carefully avoided annoying China. New Delhi did not invite any official of the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGiE)), which is based at Dharamshala in India, to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday to witness Narendra Modi being sworn-in for his second term in the office of Prime Minister. When Modi Government had taken oath for its first term on May 26, 2014, the TGiE Sikyong (president) Lobsang Sangay had been among the guests in the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. China had served a demarche to India strongly protesting against the invitation to the political leader of the exiled Tibetans.

India, however, did join United States, Australia and Japan in reaffirming commitment towards a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region based on shared values and principles. The MEA in New Delhi also stated that the officials of India, Japan, US and Australia, who met in Bangkok, discussed cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; regional security, including counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; maritime cooperation; and cyber-security issues, with a view to promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

The quad reaffirmed strong support for centrality of the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) and for the mechanisms led by it in the regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific. It also welcomed the initiative of ASEAN towards a common vision for the Indo-Pacific.

The US State Department stated that the four nations underscored their intent to continue close coordination and collaboration in support of sustainable, private-sector led development, maritime security, and good governance. They also discussed initiatives undertaken by each country to encourage transparent, principles-based investment in quality infrastructure in accordance with international standards and leverage the potential of the private sector. They also expressed desire to work with like-minded partners and allies to promote a transparent, rules-based approach to trans-boundary challenges, according to the press release issued by the US State Department.
In a major success against illegal trafficking of endangered wild animals officials of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and the West Bengal Forest Department in a joint operation seized a lion cub along with two adult and one juvenile white-headed langurs in Kolkata on the wee hours of Saturday.

Sources in the states Forest Department said that the WCCB officials received a tip off on trafficking of the endangered wild animals from Bangladesh.

During the early hours of Saturday, the joint team chased and intercepted a vehicle on the Belgharia Expressway. The endangered animals were found inside the vehicle and seized from the possession of Wasim Rehman (29), Wajid Ali (36) and Md. Gulal Gaus (27). All the three persons have been arrested, a Forest Department official said.

He added that preliminary investigation revealed buying of animals in Bangladesh and sending them to western India.

Sources said that the animals including the lion cub, being transported in cages inside small bags, appeared to be under severe stress. During trafficking, these animals were transported through different persons, most of whom did not know where they will be delivered.

The person carrying the animals during one part of the trip was instructed over phone whom to handover the animals for the next part of the trip, said the Forest Department official.

He said that an international racket of animal smugglers was probably behind the act and the investigation is going on to identify the full structure.
Short on numbers, the Congress on Saturday made it clear that it will not make a formal claim to the post of the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Congress has 52 members in the Lok Sabha, two short of the required number of 54 for it to be eligible to lay claim to the post of the leader of the Opposition that comes with the rank of a Cabinet minister.

At the same time, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said 52 members of the Congress in the Lok Sabha will not give a walkover to the Modi government.

We are 52 MPs. I guarantee you that these 52 MPs will fight against BJP every single inch. We are enough to make BJP jump every day, Rahul said in brief remarks at the meeting of the Congress Party in Parliament on Saturday.

Every single one of you, you are going to enjoy yourself, you are going to shout a little more than usual. You are going to have to be a little more aggressive, Rahul said.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala noted that according to rules, a party needs to have 10% of the 545 members, the total strength of the Lok Sabha, to qualify for the post of leader of the Opposition.

We will not stake a claim for the post of leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha as we are two short of 54 members required for the status, Surjewala said.

Even in the previous 16th Lok Sabha, the leader of the Congress party in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, was not granted the leader of the Opposition status as the party had won only 44 seats in 2014.

Besides protocol issues, the presence of the leader of Opposition is a pre-requisite for selection committees for appointments to statutory bodies such as the Central Vigilance Commission and the Lok Pal. The leader of the Opposition is also part of the panel to select the CBI director.

In 1985, when the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had swept to power with a brute majority, the then Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar had not conferred the leader of the Opposition post to the Telugu Desam Party, which was the second largest party in the lower House after the Congress.
The four new union ministers from the state will meet once every fortnight to exclusively discuss issues pertaining to Karnataka.

Pralhad Joshi, who represents Dharwad in the Lok Sabha, was inducted as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines along with Bangalore North MP D V Sadananda Gowda (Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers) and Rajya Sabha member Nirmala Sitharaman (defence minister). Belgaum MP Suresh Angadi has been made Minister of State for Railways.

Once every 15 days, we four will meet in the house of one of us and discuss issues pertaining to Karnataka, Joshi told reporters in his maiden news conference as union minister on Saturday.

If any follow-up is required with the Centre on any state subject, we will do it, he said.

Expectation of people is very high. For the first time, pro-incumbency has clearly worked for a non-Congress leader. The PM has asked us to work hard on meeting the expectations of the people, Joshi said.

The first Parliament session of the newly elected 17th Lok Sabha is scheduled to start on June 17. I request Opposition parties to respect the decisive mandate of the people. Let us work together, debate and discuss. Lets not disrupt, he said.

Joshi said he would ensure Karnatakas coal needs are met. I want to assure you that not even one day or one hour, power production will be stopped for want of coal. This is my commitment to Karnataka and the entire country, he said.

The previous Congress government in the state had accused the Modi administration of not supplying enough coal.

Every state should have coal stocks to last 24-25 days. Karnataka has stock for 16-17 days. While availability of coal stock in other states is 84% of the national average, it is 86% in Karnataka. Were better, even if nominally. Whatever demand (for coal) will be supplied, he said.
On all my travels, my interest is in looking for any Indian connection in the places I visit. Surprisingly enough, I always manage to find it. My recent trip to Oman was no exception. What Indian connection can an Arab country have other than the many Indians who have made Oman their home, you may ask. Therein lies the story.

The wreckage of a Portuguese ship thats over 500 years old was discovered and excavated off the coast of Oman in 2013. Around 2,800 artefacts were found in the wreck, among which was a silver coin called Indio. This news piqued my interest as the ship in question was Esmeralda, part of Vasco da Gamas armada to India that had sank off the coast of Oman in 1503, and Indio was the coin believed to have been commissioned by the King of Portugal, Dom Manuel, in 1499, specifically for trade with India. This is the Indian connection I was talking about.

Lets start from the beginning. We all know Vasco da Gama as the Portuguese explorer who was the first person to sail directly from Europe to India. Born into a noble family around 1460 in Sines, Portugal, he learnt navigation after joining the navy.

Off he goes

His first long assignment was to seize French ships in the Algarve region of the country on King John IIs orders. In 1495, when King Manuel took the reins of Portugal, he was keen on finding a direct trade route to India, and hence appointed da Gama for the same.

Accordingly, on July 8, 1497, da Gama embarked on his expedition to find a sailing route to India. En route, he touched Mozambique and Kenya before dropping the anchor at Calicut on May 20, 1498, where the Muslim traders were not welcoming. Finally, in August, he and his crew began their homeward journey and reached Portugal on July 10, 1499 to a heros welcome.

Buoyed by this successful voyage, Portugal, in an effort to monopolise the trade route to India, despatched Pedro Alvares Cabral with a team of vessels to India.

Cabral managed to establish the first Portuguese trading post in India after fierce fighting with Muslim traders who offered stiff resistance.

In order to further secure Portugals dominance in the region, King Manuel asked Vasco da Gama to repeat his journey to India. So, in 1502, da Gama embarked on his second expedition to India, equipped with an armada of 20 ships, the largest Carreira da India fleet to date. His mission was to acquire spices, and destroy the Muslim shipping industry that had monopolised the spice trade.

Esmeralda was a part of the fleet, and it was helmed by da Gamas maternal uncle Vicente Sodre, who was instructed by King Manuel to assume the role of captain-major should anything happen to da Gama. After da Gamas return to Lisbon, Vicente Sodre was asked to protect Portuguese interests in the Indian coast, as also their allies in Cochin and Cannanore from possible Zamorin attacks. But, Vicente Sodre had other plans. He chose to sail towards the Gulf of Aden in search of rich Arab trading ships with their stock of pepper, cloves, sugar, textiles and rice to take home as prizes.

Along with his brother Bras Sodre, who helmed another ship named Sao Pedro, Vicente unleashed terror by plundering the vessels owned by Muslims, killing the crew and setting the ships afire.

However, in April 1503, though the locals warned the brothers of an impending storm, they chose to ignore it, with the result that Esmeralda sank in the northern coast of Al Hallaniyah, the largest of the Kuriya Muriya Islands, situated approximately 45 km off the southern coast of Oman. Cut to the present. In the year 1998, nearly 500 years after the ships sinking, divers discovered the possible wreck site on the island of Al Hallaniyah. And, in 2013, the shipwreck was discovered in the shallow waters of the Ghubbat ar Rahib Bay, which lay off the north-eastern coast of the island.

It was subsequently recovered and explored by a team led by David Mearns of Blue Water Recoveries, a British company that specialises in the recovery of sunken shipwrecks, ably supported by the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture.

And, in the archaeological excavations, about 2,800 artefacts were recovered including ceramics, navigation equipments, shot made of stone, trade goods, gold and silver coins, a fractured ships bell, and an astrolabe. Of the coins recovered was Indio.

I hadnt realised the importance of the coin till I visited the Omani National Museum, where the archaeologist Ahlam Al Hosni said, This is a great discovery. It is one of the oldest shipwrecks in known history. The Indio coin we have found is the rarest of the rare.

It wasnt an exaggeration as there are only two coins of this mintage. While one coin is in the National Historical Museum of Brazil, the other one, recovered from Esmeralda, is in the National Museum of Oman.

This coin is also known as the lost or ghost coin of King Manuel as it has always been rare owing to its limited mintage, for less than five years, when it was discontinued in favour of the tostao.

In detail

Details on the coin clearly state that it was minted for the sole purpose of trading with India. While on one side of the coin is the cross of the Military Order of Christ encircled by the Latin words I HOC SIGO VICES (in this sign you will conquer), on the other is the royal coat of arms encircled by the abbreviated form of PRIMUS EMANUEL REX PORTUGALIAE ALGARVE CITRA ULTRA IN AFRICA DOMINUS GUINEE, IN COMMERCII, NAVIGATIONE AETHIOPIAE, ARABIAE, PERSIAE INDIA (Manuel I, King of Portugal and Algarve and overseas of Africa and Guinea, and through commerce and navigation of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India).

Both Indio and the bell are on display at the National Museum in Oman. A true treat to history lovers, and a reminder of our countrys importance in the spice trade of yore.
Some are calling it Chinas nuclear option in the ongoing trade war with the United States. Cut off our supply of rare earth minerals, and suddenly Americans no longer can find relatively cheap smartphones, hybrid cars and computers. The U.S. military relies on these minerals, as well.

But there is ample reason to believe this option might prove more disastrous for the Chinese than for the Americans.

While we generally oppose tariffs and other barriers to trade as unnecessary taxes on American consumers and a drag on the economy, the Trump administrations dispute with China is not without merit.

China regularly requires American companies to hand over trade secrets in exchange for the privilege of doing business there. U.S. officials accuse Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company, of state-sponsored espionage in the development of 5G technology. In addition, China has been known to tolerate the wholesale counterfeiting of American products.

These are serious issues the United States has a right to address.

But with talks at a standstill between the two nations, its easy to understand why China would want to consider playing its rare earth card. U.S. businesses import far more from China than Chinese businesses import from the U.S. But China accounts for about 80 percent of Americas rare earth imports, and at a cost that makes electronics and other products affordable.

China does this largely by ignoring the kinds of environmental regulations observed by many other nations, and by using cheap labor.

The bottom line is that a protracted trade war with a partner as large as China would be good for neither side.

As Eamon Barrett wrote for fortune.com recently, rare earth minerals arent all that rare. They exist in large quantities elsewhere, such as in Japan, and even in the United States. If China begins to use its extraction of these minerals as a weapon in international trade, the rest of the world may decide to develop more reliable supply chains elsewhere. The result might be a slight increase in the prices of consumer goods, but it also could lead to a cleaner planet.

China tried this once before, in 2010, during a dispute with Japan. The World Trade Organization subsequently ruled that the Chinese could not put limits on their rare earth exports.

As Barrett notes, many American companies import finished rare earth products, such as magnets. Limiting these sales likely would hurt the Chinese economy more than the Americans. Also, as CNN reported, the United States has stockpiled many of these products for use by the military, fearing just such a scenario.

Chinas rhetoric in recent days is hard to ignore. An opinion piece in the Peoples Daily, the Communists official mouthpiece, said to the U.S., Dont say we didnt warn you. The ministry of foreign affairs accused Washington of using economic terrorism, economic hegemonism and economic unilateralism.

China, it should be noted, also has a debt problem that has been exacerbated by the trade war. The South China Morning Post said the debt ratio there was at a record 248.83 percent of GDP during the first quarter of the year.

The United States is not without its own debt problem, of course.

The bottom line is that a protracted trade war with a partner as large as China would be good for neither side. A quick and mutually beneficial, negotiated solution would be in everyones interest.

But in the meantime, the U.S. should not overreact to the rare earth bluster.
SALT LAKE CITY  If the measurement of a mother is how successful her children are as adults, Esther Wojcicki gets an A. She raised an epidemiologist out to end childhood obesity, plus the CEOs of 23andMe and YouTube.

Successful in her own right, Wojcicki, 78, has been married to a Stanford physicist for 58 years and is a journalist who built a legendary media arts program at Palo Alto High School, where she's known as the 'Godmother of Silicon Valley.'

But in her new book, How to Raise Successful People, Wojcicki reveals that when she first became a parent, she knew so little about what to do that she begged the hospital staff to let her stay an extra day, and that her own upbringing gave her no role models to consult as she raised her daughters.

In fact, her husband, Stanley, was away so much for work that Wojcicki largely forged the path on her own, with the help of a popular child-rearing book and an encouraging pediatrician.

In an interview with the Deseret News, Wojcicki, who lives in Palo Alto, California, talked about the five principles of child-rearing that she promises will deliver radical results for every family, what she wishes she'd done differently, and why she decided to include painful details about her own childhood in the book.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Deseret News: In How to Raise Successful People, you write frankly about growing up with a father who made clear that he valued boys over girls, the death of a young brother, and other challenges that made you want to leave your home as soon as you could. How difficult was it for you to make these stories public?

Esther Wojcicki: I probably wouldnt have done it if my parents were still alive.

The reason I did it is because I wanted people to understand that you have to really think consciously about your parenting, and you cant just go on instinct, especially if you dont want to repeat the way that you were brought up. A lot of people come from childhoods that are not as pleasant as they wish they had been, and you have to put parenting on a conscious level so you dont make the same mistakes. It was painful to write about it, but Ive come to peace with it. I accept it, and Im not mad about it. I just want to make it better for other kids.

DN: It appears that you have forgiven your parents, and your father in particular. How were you able to do that?

EW: I realized as I got older and more experienced that my father was just a product of his generation. He was dealing with a lot of his own demons, and also problems that he faced when he was a child. He did his best, although I think he could have done a better job controlling his temper.  When people are living with anger, the person who suffers the most is the person who carries the anger. No matter what your path is, to reach that conclusion is the smart way to live; otherwise youre just mad all the time.

DN: Some critical reviews of your book said you and your husband lived in a bubble of privilege in the Stanford community; you lived in the same house for more than 50 years, in an area known for being intellectually robust. Do you think the principles you lay out in your book using the acronym TRICK (trust, respect, independence, collaboration and kindness) can work no matter where people live?

EW: It works everywhere and with everybody. I've been criticized for having too simple of a solution. But simplicity is the gift; it is simple. Everyone wants trust and respect. It took me 35 years to come up with this acronym; it wasn't overnight. And we struggled.

We moved into this house  it's a big house, about 3,300 square feet, which felt enormous  and we had no furniture for years. The kids rode their bikes in the living room because there was nothing in the living room. We were not rich. We just accidentally, honestly, with the advent of Google and the fact that my daughters became connected to this incredible company, got rich. I could have moved to another house. But I've stayed in the same house. I'm still driving the same car (a 2006 Lexus). I don't see any reason to change. It still works great. Why would I want to get rid of it?

DN: It seems that loyalty is another one of your values, and you have spoken out against divorce, saying that people shouldn't do it except in the case of abuse, untreatable addiction or violence. Is this because of your experience with children going through divorce at your school?

EW: Its terrible for the people going through a divorce; its particularly terrible for the kids. I see the repercussions in school. Kids will change from one week to the next when theyre told their parents are getting a divorce; its like a death in the family. Their performance goes down; they dont care about things. Parents have this narcissistic attitude (saying) the kids will be fine, theyll figure it out. That is so self-serving. Those kids rely on you. You are their world. It results in a lot of unhappy children, a lot of unhappy adults.

You just have to work it out. I think loyalty and stability and sticking with your promises is important. Weve seen lots of ups and downs, but for the most part its up. If its (up) 51 percent of the time, youve done a good job.

DN: You have said that the late Dr. Benjamin Spock helped you learn to be a parent through his iconic book. Who else has influenced and inspired you?

EW: I read this book, called The Blessing of a Skinned Knee (by Wendy Mogel) that was very good. I didnt read it when my children were small, but it follows a lot of the same philosophy that I have.

Dr. Spock was really my bible, but the other person who played a big role was my pediatrician.

His name was Dr. (Marts) Beekley at the Kaiser Foundation in Redwood City, California. What I was impressed with was that it was a group of doctors, but they all worked as a team. Everyone knew you, and everyone knew your kids. They wanted to empower me as a parent; they didnt want me to just follow instructions blindly. I give them a lot of credit for helping me to be a good parent because I wasnt rushing into the doctor all the time. Doctors need to realize how important they are in the lives of young mother and fathers. Theyre like part of your family.

DN: Were you home full time with your daughters while they were young?

EW: I was home with them for about 10 years, and then I started substituting (as a teacher) for a few years in the Palo Alto school district. I was hired in 1984. Back in the early '70s, women basically didnt work unless they 'had' to work. I wanted to work and go back to teaching, but it was hard to find babysitters. The culture was very different back then. I stayed home until my kids were in school and they could handle me going to work.

DN: When she was 4, your daughter Susan (now CEO of YouTube) was one of the participants in the famous marshmallow study at Stanford University that examined self-control in children, and she apparently was among the children with the most self-control. What advice do you have for parents in teaching self-control, both as a means of combating the obesity epidemic, and being able to delay gratification to help with other things in life?

EW: There are a lot of things you can do to teach self-control. With little kids, for example, you can give them a candy, a gummy bear, in a plastic bag and say 'I want you to save that for a certain time, and then you can have it.' What youre doing is instilling a habit of waiting, (teaching them), that you have some control over what youre doing and eating.

Also, you can teach them self-control in habits like cleaning up after yourself. Close the door, close the cabinet, put your towel back on the rack. You teach self-control through all these little things, and also through saving money. You can say,OK, Im going to give you 25 cents today and 25 cents tomorrow and 25 cents the next day. You teach them to control themselves and to save up for something that matters to them.

Also, a lot of parents see food as a reward. That sets you up for a lifetime of problems, because whenever youre feeling bad about yourself, you reward yourself with food. Food should not be a reward.

DN: Were you raised in a faith tradition, and did you raise your daughters with religious faith?

EW: I was raised as a Jew, orthodox Judaism, and then I married a Catholic. So we blended both religions; the teachings are very similar. Two of them had a bat mitzvah. I gave them a choice; they got to pick whatever they wanted to do, they got to pick what they wanted to be. I felt that both of those religions offered a lot of the same spirituality, so I said you pick whatever you want to do. They picked at age 12. That follows my philosophy that it's their life, and it's my responsibility as a parent just to nurture them, to make sure they get what they need, and support them in their choices.

DN: With the benefit of hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently in your parenting?

EW: I think I would have emphasized gratitude more. I did emphasize it, but I might not have emphasized it enough. Were a society of consume, consume, consume, and I think weve all had enough.

My kids have shared a lot; they are very good about that, but I wonder whether or not we could have done even more, helped even more people. You feel happier and better when you help others. There is nothing more satisfying than helping other people.

You know we're a nation now where we arent very religious anymore, but I think one of the positive aspects of religion  and thats all religions  (is that) they all teach gratitude, and that has sort of gone out the window with the fact that we are not churchgoing anymore.
SALT LAKE CITY  A convicted Utah fraudster was jailed Friday, months ahead of his sentencing, after a judge found there's reason to believe he schemed to mislead an Oregon court.

U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Paul Warner said Rick Koerber has shown a pattern of deception that "has to end," and his time behind bars will help protect people financially.

"No more fraud, no more deception. This has been going too long and today ends that," Warner said just before ordering Koerber into custody of U.S. marshals. Koerber had been free pending sentencing in the case, and had been doing administrative work for law firms in the interim, according to testimony from his clients and others on Friday.

Koerber, a real estate investor, was found guilty of more than a dozen counts of fraud and money laundering last year, after nearly a decade of legal fights that included a mistrial. He is expected to be sentenced in September when the judge who oversees the case is available.

Prosecutors on Friday argued he created a company using an alias. The creation of the company allowed one of his attorney clients to have court documents filed in Oregon past a deadline, they said. Koerber registered the company with one start date, even though he'd received the filings days earlier, according to a receipt submitted to the court.

The move was "just the latest Koerber attempt to wriggle around the rules," they wrote in court documents.

Such a false statement is a criminal offense and violates the terms of his release, prosecutors argued. Alternately, if he backdated the receipt, that amounts to records tampering, the state argued, and either offense is a class B misdemeanor.

"Theres something just plain shady about whats going on," assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Clark said. "Upstanding members of society dont operate this way."

Koerber's attorney, Kathryn Nester, argued that using an alias to register a business is perfectly legal. A previous iteration of Koerber's business had its registration lapse before he signed up again with the Utah Department of Commerce earlier this year, Nester said. And while that lag opens a company up to legal liability, it doesn't bar it from doing business, she added.

Her client filed the paperwork after a probation agent identified the lapse in court documents and would not remove it, according to Nester.

"Theres been no evidence of a falsity" on Koerber's part, she said.

Nester must also tap into her client's vast knowledge of his business dealings in order to put together a good defense for his sentencing, she said, so jailing him could possibly drag out the case even more. She acknowledged the chain of events was odd but said her client did the job he was hired to do and has consistently showed up for court dates.

Its been a decade. Hes exhausted. Please let us just finish this and not make it any more complicated," Nester said.

Morgan Philpot, the attorney who employed Koerber in the Oregon case, testified that he paid Koerber about $200 to email a notice of appeal in a civil case to a woman in Oregon who Philpot had met at the trial of Ammon Bundy, the leader of the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge who was found not guilty of federal charges in Oregon. That woman then received $300 from Philpot's firm to print and deliver the notice in March, part of a case where $4 million and a family ranch were at stake, Philpot said.

The judge questioned why Philpot didn't simply use FedEx for such an important deadline.

"I wanted it hand-delivered by somebody I knew and trusted," Philpot said.

It has an odor to it," Warner said. "It just doesnt add up."

While Koerber is not violent or a flight risk, he's also "not a big deal" and not deserving of different treatment than others who have been convicted, Warner said. The judge determined there is probable cause to believe Koerber tried to deceive the court.

Im intersted in protecting people and the community right now, and right now the best way to do that is for Mr. Koerber to be detained," he said.

Koerber, 46, used his businesses  Founders Capital, and related companies Franklin Squires Investments and Franklin Squires Cos.  as a $100 million Ponzi scheme from 2004 to 2008. Prosecutors say an estimated 600 "indirect" investors lost a total of $45.2 million.

Government prosecutors say based on those numbers, Koerber should spend 20 years behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines. Koerber's defense has disputed the number of victims and the losses identified by the U.S. Attorney's Office and is set to argue for a lower number next month.
SINGAPORE  U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced China's efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarize man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a "toolkit of coercion," saying Beijing's bad behavior must end.

In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Korea's "extraordinary" threat with vows that the U.S. will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region and is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing its stability.

While he didn't specifically name China in early parts of his speech, he made clear who his target was, making pointed references to Beijing's campaign to put advanced weapons systems on disputed islands in the region.

"If these trends in these behaviors continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful," Shanahan said.

His remarks underscore America's frayed relations with China, as the Trump administration wages a trade war with Beijing, imposes sanctions on Chinese tech giant Huawei and approves a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory. And they reflect America's new national defense strategy that declared great power competition with China and Russia as top priorities.

Shanahan's speech on Saturday is also arguably an audition to both the world and U.S. top leaders in Congress, as his nomination for permanent secretary has still not been sent to Capitol Hill by President Donald Trump.

And listening closely in the audience were nervous allies and partners in the region who are worried about the economic impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute and the political blowback of America's complaints about Beijing's rapid progress in hypersonic weapons, nuclear technology and space launches.

Shanahan told reporters Friday that he would use his speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue conference to criticize Beijing's use of coercion to advance its interests. And after his remarks, during questions from the audience, he suggested that his speech was more directly critical than those of other U.S. defense secretaries in the past.

"I won't apologize for the way I framed some of my remarks, but we're not going to ignore Chinese behavior," Shanahan said. "I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that. It's not about being confrontational, it's about being open and having a dialogue."

He added that the U.S. is willing to cooperate with China and welcomes competition, but said behavior that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end.

"Competition does not mean conflict," he said. "Competition is not to be feared. We should welcome it, provided that everyone plays by internationally established rules."

He also rejected suggestions that the U.S. is in a "faceoff" or trade war with China and said economic negotiations with Beijing are ongoing and the Pentagon is building relations with the Chinese military.

But he went on to restate America's distrust of Huawei, the world's No. 1 network equipment provider and second-largest smartphone maker. The U.S. claims Huawei is legally beholden to China's ruling Communists, which could use the company's products, including its next-generation wireless network known as 5G, for cyberespionage.

Shanahan said Huawei is "too close to the government" of China, which has laws requiring data be shared.

"That's too much risk for the department," said Shanahan. "You can't trust that those networks are going to be protected.

China on Friday warned that it was drawing up a list of "unreliable" foreign companies, organizations and individuals for targeting in what could signal retaliation for U.S. sanctions on Huawei.

Much of Shanahan's speech centered on America's work with partners across the region.

"The Indo-Pacific is our priority theater," he said. "We are where we belong. We are investing in the region. We are investing in you, and with you."

But he also called on the Pacific nations to invest in their own futures.

On North Korea, Shanahan said the U.S. is focused on negotiations to achieve full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, adding that the North "has neared a point where it could credibly strike regional allies, U.S. territory and our forward-deployed forces."

He credited China for its cooperation on enforcing UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

In a departure from past conferences, however, Shanahan faced little backlash from the Chinese leaders in the audience during the question-and-answer session.

On Friday, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian was both conciliatory and challenging.

Speaking to reporters after Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe met with Shanahan, Wu noted that the U.S. has recently "had a series of negative words and deeds" on Taiwan issues.

"On the issue of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the U.S. should not underestimate the determination of the Chinese military, will or ability," he said.

But he also said Shanahan and Wei found room for agreement on the need for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and efforts to improve communication between the U.S. and China.

Shanahan told reporters Friday that the U.S. needs to do a better job of describing its level of commitment to the region, including military exercises, training and other activities.

___

Associated Press writer Annabelle Liang contributed to this report.
RIVERDALE  From the moment graduation party planning began, Anna Hinckley knew where she wanted to celebrate the end of high school: Sams Club.

And so on Friday evening, surrounded by family and friends, pink balloons, and a few surprised shoppers, thats exactly what she did.

For Anna, an 18-year-old graduating senior at Northridge High School with Down syndrome, the warehouse store has special sentimental value. Each Saturday, Anna and her parents make a weekly shopping trip to the Riverdale Sams Club after Anna finishes her Special Olympics bowling practice nearby.

"It's sort of our little ritual," Anna's father, Theron, said.

Collecting free samples and enjoying some post-bowling pizza are highlights of these visits, Anna explained between mouthfuls of said pizza at her party.

"I love Sams Club," Anna said, "because I come here with my family."

When their daughter first proposed holding her graduation party at the store, Anna's parents said, they were somewhat skeptical. They'd never heard of a social gathering held at a grocery store before, and weren't sure they would even be allowed to host a party there.

But Anna had made up her mind. She was having her graduation party at Sam's Club.

So her mother, Jill Hinckley, reached out to the store and the request was met with enthusiasm. Store management told the family they would be happy to host the party, supplying food, cake, decorations, and a television to display a slideshow of photos of Anna over the years.

After sending out party invitations, Jill Hinckley said she received a slew of bewildered responses. Sam's Club?

I said, What can I say? Jill Hinckley recalled with a laugh. She loves Sams Club.

The night before the party, Anna had collected her diploma at Northridge High School's graduation. She graduated with not only high honors, but a starring role under her belt: She recently played Ursula in her high school's production of "The Little Mermaid."

Next up, Anna is headed to the Vista Education Center in Farmington. She also wants to go on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, like her brothers did before her, Theron Hinckley said.

For the Hinckleys, seeing their daughter walk across the stage on Thursday was especially meaningful. When Anna was 1 1/2 years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia, resulting in nearly a year of treatment and chemotherapy.

On Friday, they watched as their daughter laughed, danced and sang along to Jason Mraz and Wham!, surrounded by friends, teachers and relatives. Earlier in the evening, she'd greeted her guests and other shoppers at the front of the store, wearing her high honors graduation ribbons over a Sam's Club vest.

This is amazing! Anna declared, beaming, between songs.

Performing comes naturally to Anna, her marketing teacher, Brent McKnight said. He fondly recalled a recent class in which Anna volunteered to get up and make a presentation in front of her classmates six separate times. They just love her, McKnight said of Annas peers.

McKnight does, too.

This is hard for me, he said, adding, Id say shes just about the closest thing to a perfect person Ive met.
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Plans are being finalized for an open house and fly-in at the Marianna Municipal Airport, Saturday, June 8.

Gates will open for the public Saturday morning at 8 a.m. There will be military and civilian aircraft, exhibits, vendors with food, and free aircraft rides for the young.

Pilots attending the fly-in will be treated to a free pancake and sausage breakfast at 8 a.m.

At 11:30 a.m. there will be an FAA-approved safety seminar and lunch for pilots. Those attending will receive WINGS credit.

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To sign up for this seminar, pilots should go to: http://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/event.

Also for those pilots wishing to top off their tanks, SkyWarrior Aviation, the Fixed Base Operator at Marianna Municipal Airport, will be offering a discount of $1 per gallon to those flying general aviation aircraft.

Beginning at 9 a.m., pilots from the Wiregrass EAA Chapter 1358 in Dothan will be offering free Young Eagle airplane rides for youngsters between the ages of 8 and 17. Parents who would like to register their children for a flight should go to: http://www.eaa1358.org/youngeagles.html.
A one-vehicle crash at approximately 7:25 p.m. on Friday claimed the life of a Dale County woman.

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Tanya Faye Hall, 39, was killed when the 2000 Toyota Tacoma she was operating left the roadway and struck a tree.

Hall died at the scene as a result of the injuries sustained during the crash. Hall was not using a seat belt.

The crash occurred on AL 27 near the Echo community. Nothing further is available as Alabama State Troopers continue to investigate.
I went to Lenovo Accelerate last week and feasted my eyes on one of the most innovative PCs Ive ever seen. However, as I absorbed the rest of Lenovos announcements, I realized I was looking at just the tip of what could be a significant coming change in personal computers  one that could eclipse every change we have seen so far.

Ill share my thoughts about that change and then close with my product of the week: the Lenovo Smart Tab  another innovative product from Lenovo that blends the features of an Amazon Echo with a tablet.

Foldable Screen Laptop

It is interesting that Lenovo is doing the old Jobs one more thing better than Apple is at the moment. I remain flabbergasted that Tim Cook effectively has thrown out virtually every practice that made Apple the power it was in the early part of this century and instead has been running that company into the ground.

That certainly has given companies like Lenovo an opportunity, and they have been stepping up with a series of laptop improvements that should, when complete, make tomorrows laptop so different from todays laptops that theyll likely have a different name.

Lenovos one more thing is a coming foldable screen laptop that is semi-hardened to military specifications, can fold down to something that is nearly in the size class of a smartphone. It gives up almost nothing in performance, while having all-day battery life and a persistent (likely 5G) connection.

Unfolded, it has a 13.3-inch OLED screen that has no visible seam when opened, making it the closest thing to a perfect e-book Ive every seen.

The presenters brought this out at the end of the Lenovo Accelerate keynote, and I doubt there was a single person in the audience who didnt want the damn thing. Theyll have to wait, though, because it isnt due until 2020.

This wasnt the only announcement at the event, however, and I think the blend of the things that Lenovo showcased eventually will result in an even more revolutionary result.

New Materials

Like the failed IBM TransNote and the impressive HP Spectre Folio, Lenovos new foldable laptop will be covered in leather. I now have two leather-covered notebooks  that HP Folio and a Microsoft Surface Book covered in leather. (Its from Toast, which also offers a wood cover that Ive used  I like the leather much more.)

Leather makes a notebook, particularly one you want to use as a tablet or e-book, far more comfortable to carry. It is a much bigger difference than you think, and having experienced it with two products, I have a hard time wanting to carry a notebook not covered in leather.

The one exception would be a notebook covered in open weave real carbon fiber like that used in high-end exotic cars. Im big car guy (we recently moved from a house that had a three-car garage to a smaller house with a six-car garage, because I feel I got my priorities straight).

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Other PC makers, including Lenovo, have used carbon fiber in the past, but they tend to paint over it, losing the carbon fiber cool factor. Well, Lenovo is going to get carbon fiber right in one of its coming Halo notebook products, and it wont be the last to do so.

Granted, this may play to a mostly male audience, but that same audience generally chases high-performance notebooks as well, and since Im in that group Im certainly excited.

Stepped-Up Security

Now one of the features that HP has made very popular is the electronic security screen. HP stepped out aggressively with what I still think is one of the most important security offerings brought to market. It recently improved that offering to reduce power and display a black screen to the unauthorized observer rather than a bright white screen.

What a security screen does is polarize the view so that only the person sitting directly in front of the screen can see what is on it. This is particularly useful if you are watching almost any current movie, and the obligatory but typically unnecessary sex scene pops up unannounced. However, it also prevents someone from seeing the confidential crap a lot of executives work on while flying or in public spaces.

There are folks who book seats on planes specifically to see what an executive is working on. The last time I checked, these efforts were mostly to try to get an illegal jump on the stock market, but with state players trying to steal intellectual property and large companies once again forgetting the risks of IP theft, this exposure is more problematic than most realize.

What Lenovo showcased was the first smart implementation of a security screen Ive seen. You see, a lot of folks who have the screen dont turn it on, because it reduces power and screen brightness. What one of the equipped Lenovo laptops does is watch for illicit viewers and then automatically fire up the screen  both protecting the data and privacy, and alerting the user that someone potentially is trying to steal the IP they are working on. This kind of active defense likely will define the next wave of personal computers and even smartphones, as we adapt to the world of state-funded IP theft and blackmail.

Wearable Computers

The Microsoft HoloLens is a wearable computer, if you think about it, and Microsofts Virtual Windows effort shifts much of the load from the device to the cloud, both anticipating a very different future.

Well, Lenovo was on that page with its own ThinkReality line of wearable AR computers. Just like Microsoft, it studied the initial users of the HoloLens solution and built an offering to address the resulting needs. You could argue that both Lenovos initial ThinkReality offering and HoloLens II are effectively second-generation offerings.

What makes the Lenovo offering different is that the company made both the battery and the controls remote, and it reduced the cost while bundling in a programing solution that is simple and will work with hardware other than Lenovos. This lowers the weight of the device and increases the amount of time you can use it (because you can swap out the four-hour battery).

Lenovo isnt as advanced as Microsoft with either its breadth of solutions (Microsoft has a collaboration solution with Spatial, for instance) or its gesture-based user interface (though this is coming).

Still, I think this is going to lead to a class of wearable computers that will let users define the size of the virtual display, wear the device for extended periods, increasingly use a voice interface (which certainly will promote office-based noise canceling headphones), and perhaps eliminate the need for smartphones, tablets and PCs as we know them. Other than Microsoft, Lenovo is the only PC company that is solidly on this merged path.

Wrapping Up

Im really only touching the tip of the iceberg of change, because behind this hardware is not only the coming wave of cloud-based personal computing and gaming, but a coming wave of virtual AIs that will be visible in these ever-more-common AR headsets.

This is one of the areas that Microsoft likely is going to jump on pretty hard, because it has been talking about rendering Cortana for some time, and it would be so cool to be able to talk to a physical rendition of your AI (not sure how Google is going to deal with this because talking to the Google logo isnt going to be anywhere near as much fun as talking to a rendered Cortana, Alexa or Siri). Lenovo works with both Amazon and Microsoft, suggesting it might give you your choice first.

The bottom line is that I saw the future of the PC at Lenovo Accelerate, and that future is exceeding cool.

I use my Amazon Fire tablet a lot, and it typically resides near my bed where I have it charging. I have an Echo right above it for questions and alarms. It would be nice to have just one device that does both so I could free up some real estate on my relatively small end table. That is basically what the Lenovo Smart Tab is. It is a tablet wedded to a base, which performs like an Amazon Echo Show when docked and a tablet when undocked. It gives you a decent-sized screen for videos, for music lyrics, weekly forecasts or news.

Lenovo Smart Tab M10

The base has enhanced Dolby Atoms sound, making this a decent source for music in the bedroom or kitchen (another ideal place for it). The only addition Id make is some kind of integrated leather cover to provide better protection from a drop and make it easier to hold for extended periods.

The Lenovo Smart Tab comes in two configurations with different core memory: the P10 and the M10. The P10 is the flagship with a 7000 mAH battery and up to 4 GB of memory, and four speakers in the base. The M10 has a lower-resolution camera (I dont use a tablet camera myself) a far smaller 4850 mAH battery, and up to 3 GB of memory.

The price difference is significant, with the M10 around $190 and the P10 around $300, or around $110 more. It may be worth it for the far larger batter and at least a GB more memory, though.

Oh, and both have a fingerprint sensor for secure login, something my Fire tablet currently lacks. Also, both will take up to a 256 GB micro-SD card, which should piss off Apple iPad users more than it likely does.

This product won the Best of Innovation award at this years CES. This is one of the few tablets with built-in GPS, making it handy if you want to use it in the car to navigate. Since it meets a need I didnt even know I had until I saw it, the Lenovo Smart Tab is my product of the week.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.
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Watchdog questions benefit of Island's tax regime

A finance watchdog has questioned what real economic benefits the Islands tax policies provide for the Manx people.

Alex Cobham, the chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, made the comment after his organisation placed the Isle of Man 17th on a list of 64 of what it claims are the most aggressive tax havens.

The chief minister has dismissed the index as an irrelevance, and says the Island is fully compliant with the latest international standards set by bodies such as the OECD.

Howard Quayle defended the Isle of Mans record in this area, citing leadership on tackling Base Erosion Profit Shifting.

Each jurisdictions rating on the list is calculated by combining two measures: A Haven Score assessed on how aggressive a countrys corporate tax haven laws and relevant policies are.

A Global Scale Weight, measuring the size of corporate investment activity as a proxy for the magnitude of the profit-shifting potential in that jurisdiction. The body advocates for the elimination cross-border tax evasion and limit tax.

Mr Cobham says despite Crown Dependencies having some of the highest GDP per capita, some citizens of these nations use food banks, highlighting stark inequality.

Local Democracy Reporter Ewan Gawne asked him why, if the Isle of Man is compliant with all the latest international standards, should policymakers here listen to his organisation:

Media

Alex Cobham
N.Korea's top nuclear representatives in Singapore

The chief nuclear envoys of S.Korea, the US and Japan held trilateral talks for the first time since meeting in March and discussed ways to resume stalled negotiations on N.Korea's denuclearization.

Three Korean peninsula nuclear negotiators representing the US, Japan and South Korea Friday met in Singapore on Friday.

TRILATERAL MEET ON KOREAN PENINSULA HELD

US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun met Kenji Kanasugi, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Lee Do Hoon, South Korea's special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs in Singapore, Kyodo news reported. The trio held talks on the Korean nuclear issue since negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang came to a standstill at a February summit in Hanoi.

Todays trilateral meeting comes after Donald Trump visited Japan early this week, and it is first since North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and May 9.

The three were expected to exchange views on how to pave the way for the resumption of denuclearization negotiations with Pyongyang, the report said.

The meeting was held on a day when a South Korea newspaper claimed that North Korea had executed its chief nuclear negotiator for the Hanoi summit's failure. The meeting is also significant since bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo are at a low ebb.

After Trumps guarded response to North Koreas missile tests, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is also planning to meet Kim Jong-un without setting any conditions. Japan is expected to reach out to Pyongyang diplomats next week to set the date and venue for the proposed summit.

Tokyo has accused North Korea of abducting 17 of its nationals since the late 1970s. Meanwhile, a three-day Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, is scheduled to take place in Singapore through Sunday.
Spain: Patriots missiles may stay in Turkey for six more months

Madrid in the process of deciding the extension of Patriot Air Defense missiles in Turkey for the next six months.

Madrid is in a process of deciding the extension of Patriot air defense missiles in Turkeys southern Adana province for the next six months, Spanish ambassador in Ankara said.

"WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF DECIDING EXTENSION FOR THE NEX 6 MONTHS"

Battery of Patriot missiles were deployed in Incirlik Airbase [in Adana province] at the request of Turkey through NATO. We are in the process of deciding extension for the next six months, Juan Gonzalez-Barba told Anadolu Agency.

Spains Patriot air defense missiles were deployed in Adana in 2015. The missiles were deployed as part of Turkey's request for NATO assistance.

Gonzalez-Barba said that a total of 25 Spanish soldiers are currently operating in the NATO Command in Turkey's western city of Izmir. He added Navantia a Spanish state-owned engineering and technology company was responsible for designing and constructing TCG Anadolu aircraft carrier.

Spanish ambassador said the EU would gain after Turkey's accession. "We think that not only Turkey but the EU would gain from such a newcomer, we believe Turkey has so much to offer to the EU," Gonzalez-Barba said. "Turkey should be treated equally as the rest of [EU] candidates," he said, adding Turkey, for its part, also needed to meet some criteria. He went on to say that he did not know when Turkey would make it to the union, however, "it will end success for all of us."
Trump will launch presidential re-election campaign

Donald Trump will formally launch his re-election campaign at a June rally in Florida.

Donald Trump said Friday he would announce his bid to run in the 2020 presidential election next month.

2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

"I will be announcing my Second Term Presidential Run with First Lady Melania, Vice President Mike Pence, and Second Lady Karen Pence on June 18th," Trump tweeted.

The announcement will take place at a rally in Orlando, Florida, a few days shy of his first election bid for the race four years ago.

Trump has raised more than $30 million dollars for his election, higher than any other Democratic candidate to announce a bid, in addition to the nearly $41 million dollars the president saved in the bank. The top fundraiser among Democratic candidates is Senator Bernie Sanders with $18 million. Despite not yet announcing his bid, Trump has already hit the campaign trail by hosting rallies in Pennsylvania and Florida states.

The president has also recently hit the highest approval rating of the past two years of his presidency, 48 percent, according to a poll by Harvard University.
Turkey's support for Venezuela mediation talks

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy says, Turkey welcomes talks held in Oslo between Maduro government, Venezuelan opposition.

Turkey on Friday voiced support for mediation talks between Venezuela's Maduro government and the countrys opposition.

"WE SUPPORT THE POLITICAL SOLUTION"

Turkey welcomes the talks held in Oslo between the Maduro Government and Venezuelan opposition with the mediation of the Norwegian Government, Hami Aksoy, Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a statement. "Turkey supports initiatives aiming for a political solution that can be accepted by all parties to the deadlock in Venezuela and does not believe that any method excluding dialogue and compromise will bring a lasting solution, he added. Aksoy also stressed that Turkey is ready to support dialogue in the framework of its principled approach and the Constitution of Venezuela.

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since January, when President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition. Tensions escalated days later when Juan Guaido declared himself acting president, a move supported by the US and many European and Latin American countries. Russia, Turkey, China, Iran, Bolivia and Mexico have thrown their weight behind Maduro.
Performing a procedure on the wrong side of a patient's body, although rare, may be more common than generally thought. More than 80 wrong side error (WSE) incidents were reported across 100 hospitals in Spain over the past decade, according to new research being presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia Congress (the annual meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology) in Vienna, Austria (1-3 June).

While this might be just the tip of the iceberg, the authors stress the opportunity for improvement. "The stark reality is that due to the lack of reporting to incident databases, these figures most likely represent an underestimate of the true situation", says Dr Daniel Arnal from the Hospital Universitario Fundacion Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain who led the research. "However, the reporting of wrong side errors have led to substantial corrective measures to prevent their repetition in our hospitals."

Further prevention of wrong side errors requires the correct implementation of surgical safety checklists (with every team member present), and the creation of a standardised surgical site marking protocol, while increasing reporting of case occurrence and reducing the shame felt by medical teams associated with these events, researchers say.

Although wrong side errors seem preventable, they continue to occur. Previous studies have estimated 1 wrong side surgery per 100,000 procedures and 1.3 wrong-side nerve blocks per 10,000 procedures [1].

To provide more information on how often and why they occur, and on the safety mechanisms needed to prevent them, Arnal and colleagues analysed WSE incidents reported to SENSAR (Spanish Safety Reporting System in Anaesthesia and Resuscitation), which covers 100 predominantly large hospitals across Spain between 2007 and 2018.

Overall, 81 incidents were reported in 11 years, with high numbers of WSEs noted in orthopaedic (48%) and ophthalmology (28%) surgery.

36 (44%) of these WSEs were related to the surgical procedure, and the surgery was actually performed in half of these cases. The remaining 45 (56%) WSEs involved the anaesthetic technique (the wrong side of the the body given anaesthesia), with an incorrect nerve block performed in 91% of cases. Severe harm was caused on three occasions.

Analysis of WSEs suggests several common causes and systemic failures. In two-thirds of cases, the absence or incorrect use of the surgical checklist was reported. Other factors included rushing and poor communication amongst the medical team.

"Our findings highlight the need for adequate training and appropriate use of surgical check-lists, as well the creation of a standardised surgical site marking protocol, the correct revision of clinical history and imaging tests, and involving patients in their own safety", says Dr Arnal. "While these serious wrong side events are extremely rare, our mission should be to drive them down to zero."

###
China will consider four factors when deciding whether to put a foreign entity on a list of "unreliable entities," the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Saturday.

A crane loads a container to be shipped abroad onto a cargo ship at the Port of Lianyungang in Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu province, 8 December 2018. [File Photo: IC]

The country will establish such a list based on relevant laws and regulations to safeguard national security, public interest and the rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the MOC announced Friday.

The Chinese government will consider first whether the foreign entity has adopted discriminatory measures on Chinese entities including a blockade or supply cut before putting it on the list, said Zhi Luxun, director with MOC's bureau of industry, security, import and export control.

It will also consider three other factors including whether the foreign entity violates market rules or contract spirit for non-commercial purposes, whether it causes actual damage to Chinese firms or related industries, and whether it poses actual or potential threats to China's national security, Zhi said.

China will take all necessary legal and administrative measures against the listed entities in accordance with China's foreign trade law, anti-monopoly law, state security law and other related laws and regulations, according to the MOC.

Enterprises or individuals on the list will go through certain investigation procedures and related stakeholders will be given certain rights to defend themselves. Detailed measures will be rolled out soon, said Wang Hejun, director of MOC's treaty and law department.

The decision to establish the list is made in line with international practice with the aim to safeguard the fair and reasonable international economic and trade order, and the rule-based multilateral trading system, Wang said.

The list will also work as an alert for Chinese enterprises to guard against certain foreign entities when doing businesses with them, Zhi said.

Zhi added the international industrial division is intertwined. Some countries' abuse of long-arm jurisdiction will deal a heavy blow to global economic growth and the security and stability of international industrial, supply and value chains.
A former Charles Manson follower linked to a string of gay hate crimes in the 1980s won an appeal and has been let off death row, but under a new plea deal will still spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Marlin Enos Nelson, a 50-year-old Harris County man who once professed a hatred of gay people, was originally sentenced to die for the 1987 murder of a telephone switchman who picked him up for sex, according to court records.

But in 2013, an appeals court decided that flawed jury instructions at his 1988 trial could have unfairly netted him a death sentence, so the judges overturned his punishment while leaving in place the guilty verdict.

In recent weeks, a Harris County criminal court judge approved a plea deal that includes a life sentence for the original slaying, plus 10 years, 20 years and a second life sentence for a trio of other decades-old crimes. The stacked sentences will keep him behind bars for life.

We dont want him to ever get out of prison, said Dane Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office.

Nelsons defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment, but Pat Hartwell  a death penalty abolitionist and one of Nelsons supporters  said the outcome was long overdue.

It is not a victory per se  a victory would have been to never put him on death row, she said. He came from an entirely screwed-up childhood. The man should have never been convicted in the first place.

History of hate

Born in Mississippi in 1968, Nelson had just turned 20 when he was sentenced to death for the killing of James Randall Howard.

In the summer of 1987, the 35-year-old telephone switchman brought Nelson back to his apartment in Montrose, where Nelson stabbed him 15 times in the back and beat him in the head with a 10-pound bar. Then, he ransacked the apartment, taking off with jewelry and fleeing in the slain mans new Honda.

During trial, prosecutors told the jury about Nelsons youth prison record, including claims in his Texas Youth Commission files indicating he was a follower of cult leader Charles Manson. The state attorneys also detailed a slew of alleged crimes in Nelsons past, including another murder, a stabbing and a few dozen assaults, mostly targeting gay people.

At one point, Nelson tried killing a 66-year-old gay man by lodging a steak knife in the back of his neck, records show

When I hit him I thought about what happened to me when I was 11 years old and I was molested, Nelson told police after the knifing. I been hating queers ever since that happened.

Aside from the childhood rape briefly referenced in trial, Nelson had a traumatic history of physical abuse, incarceration, neglect and drug use. The jurors, however, only heard some of the mitigating evidence that might have persuaded them to vote against a death sentence.

Though court records indicate Nelson admitted his guilt in Howards slaying, he never said he intended to rob the man  and it was that robbery that made the killing eligible for a death sentence.

Still, a Harris County jury found him guilty then sentenced him to die. For more than two decades afterward he continued fighting his conviction and sentence, claiming there wasnt enough evidence against him, that state courts didnt fully review his appeal and that his earlier attorneys hadnt effectively represented him.

Then in 2013, a state appeals court overturned his sentence as one of many so-called Penry cases named for Johnny Paul Penry.

Penry  a former Texas death row inmate now serving multiple life sentences  was spared the ultimate punishment after his case twice went to the U.S. Supreme Court, netting a pair of decisions that touched on flawed jury instructions. During the punishment phase of a capital trial, the courts said, juries needed to be specifically instructed on the role of mitigating evidence.

Its not enough that a defendant be permitted to present evidence that could spare his life, Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center told the Chronicle last year. The jury has to know what it can do with that evidence.

As with the other Penry cases, Nelson won consideration for new punishment. Its not clear why it took six years to resolve Nelsons case, even after the appeals court decision. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys on the case offered clarification.

Since life without parole wasnt an option in Texas when Nelson was first sent to death row, prosecutors had to stack a variety of charges  including escape, cocaine possession and aggravated robbery  to ensure that he would he would stay behind bars forever and not have a shot at parole.

The most serious of those  aggravated robbery  stems from another 1987 killing, just days before Howards murder. That August, a 42-year-old man picked up Nelson at a bus stop on Aldine Bender. Nelson, then 19, bludgeoned him to death at his apartment with a crescent wrench and a hammer.

In this months plea deal, Nelson agreed to a life sentence for that crime. He agreed to 20 years for the drug charge and 10 for the escape, and he waived his right to appeal those sentences.

Other cases impacted

Under her tenure, District Attorney Kim Ogg has agreed to life sentences for a handful of other former death row prisoners.

In April 2017, Randolph Mansoor Greer was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, also as a result of Penry issues. Three months later, Robert Campbell got a life sentence after courts decided he was too intellectually disabled to execute.

Next came Duane Buck, who was resentenced to life in prison after a U.S. Supreme Court decision reversed his punishment in light of allegations of racist expert testimony. Then Calvin Hunter was spared a death sentence over claims of false expert testimony, and last year Michael Wayne Norris was resentenced in another Penry case.

Even though Ogg ran as a reformer and has backed away from the use of capital punishment, she's still opted to pursue a death sentence in at least eight pending cases.

Her office has also asked for execution dates for four convicted killers, three of whom have already been executed. One, Dexter Darnell Johnson, is scheduled to die in August.
First of three columns

My grandfather and his wife (Francisco Alcoser Rodriguez and Carolina Guzman) had a restaurant that served Mexican food near what is now Interstates 35 and 10. I have a photo of people who work there, and my mother, Trinidad, (as a teen) was sitting on one of the chairs. Most of my relatives on my mothers side have passed away, but I believe that one said the restaurant was named The Browns and might have been founded in the 1920s or early 30s. My grandfather had to have a divided section for whites and blacks in those times. One of my aunts said Lydia Mendoza would sing for coins there and would eat there. Is it possible that you could find out where that business was?

 Leo Reyes

Chances are pretty good that your grandfather appears unnamed in a 1928 San Antonio Light expose that featured the restaurant where he worked, which had a name not likely to be used today: the Brownskin Cafe.

Located at 511 E. Commerce St., the restaurant was identified by a Light investigative reporter as the portal to a thriving underground private lottery or numbers game. The owner of the building was later convicted for not paying income tax on proceeds from the gambling business that was reached by going through the restaurant.

Your grandfather, who shows up in public records as Francisco Alcoser, is first found in the San Antonio city directory in 1924, when hes listed as a cook (no employer given), living at 2719 Lake View Ave., then on the near West Side. In the 1927 directory, hes listed with his wife, Carolina; theyre living at 109 Central, and hes the cook at the Brownskin Cafe, located on the East Side.

The one-story building at that Commerce Street address was built a few years before the turn of the last century and formerly had housed the Peoples Drug Store. It was identified as the office of Charles Bellinger, East Side mogul and political player, when the premises were burglarized, Sept. 13, 1924.

The name of the cafe alludes to neighborhood demographics, although its referring to African-Americans, not Latinos. From the late 1870s into the 1920s, according to a Dec. 14, 2017, story in the San Antonio Express-News, an area about 10 blocks square from Alamo to Goliad streets developed into the historically African-American East Side, with East Commerce as its main commercial thoroughfare. Many of these businesses were black-owned; all would welcome black patronage.

At this time and for decades to come in San Antonio, as in most Southern cities, African-American customers couldnt try on clothes in department stores, couldnt check out books from public libraries except at the colored branch (the Carver Library, now at 3350 E. Commerce St.), had to sit in the back of city buses, couldnt use most public parks and swimming pools, attended separate public schools and didnt get their social events covered in mainstream daily newspapers. There were only a few first-run theaters that would allow black patrons, and even in those, African-Americans could sit only in the colored balcony.

Desegregation began in the mid-1950s with public recreational facilities and continued with lunch counters, other restaurants and hotels into the mid-60s.

The separate dining sections in the cafe run by your grandfather made a special kind of sense for that location because his restaurant was the legal front for the headquarters of an illegal business, a so-called black and tan resort where whites and blacks mingle together as they gamble, according to news accounts of the day. So: business (legal and segregated) in front; party (illegal and integrated) in back. The restaurant was the gateway to the hub of a citywide numbers operation whose agents also sold lottery tickets in drugstores, grocery stores, barbershops or on the street, without much interference from law enforcement.

Following a tip from one of these agents about the 500 block of East Commerce, the Lights investigative reporter  identified only as The Stroller  asked a group of Negro men (standing) on the sidewalk where to play the lottery. Through the restaurant, he was told.

So he walked through the Brownskin Cafe, 511 E. Commerce St., and into the kitchen. In answer to my question, a cook pointed to the back door and resumed his potato peeling.

Trying a screen door on the building on one side of the Brownskins backyard, the Stroller found himself in the interior of the old Bellinger theater (and) entered by what had once been a fire escape.

Until a few years earlier, the theater had hosted plays, prize fights and charity events. As of the publication of the investigative reporters story July 8, 1928, its seats and boxes remain(ed) intact, but a short distance in front of the stage, (there was) a screen partition.

Behind this flimsy barrier, a well-groomed Negro was selling tickets. At his back, three other Negroes were busy at clerical work. With the quietness and efficiency of a group of bank clerks, they were calling numbers, working an adding machine and copying in a large ledger, the reporter recounted. Customers, about a third of whom were white, played nickel slot machines along one wall, he said. Bouncers of both races stood ready to pacify the unruly.

The Brownskin Cafe, according to its wall-posted menu, was serving short orders all hours  enchiladas, tamales, bacon and eggs, and liver and onions  for prices below the cheapest lottery ticket. Meanwhile, the lottery netted about $700 a day.

Next week: In the kingdom of the lottery monarch
As young patients and their families gathered at the Childrens Hospital of San Antonio for the rollout of the San Diego Zoo Kids Channel, 5-year-old Rose Musquiz was enchanted by animals brought from the San Antonio Zoo for the Friday morning event.

There was Twig, a small screech owl; Matilda, a tawny frogmouth; Legolas the Legless Lizard; Sumba, a Savu python; Cammo the Madagascan tree boa; and Hogan the white tamandua.

The little girl, wearing a Mermaid in Training T-shirt, urged her mother, Jewel Villanueva, to move faster as they approached the animals.

A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do, the precocious child said, smiling.

She was particularly taken with Hogan, a small species of anteater. But because she loves all things pink, she said, flamingos are still her favorite.

As the news conference began, Roses love for animals was evident on a video that will be broadcast on the new channel. In the video, which was played at the Friday event, Rose is in her hospital bed when shes asked about animals she likes. The chirpy Rose doesnt hesitate: Giraffes are tall and have long tongues like mine!

Television shows with creatures large and small lifted Roses spirits during chemotherapy treatment for a cancerous tumor at Childrens Hospital. Photos on her mothers cellphone show the bare-headed youngster in a pink nightgown.

Friday, Roses black, now shoulder-length hair swayed back and forth as she bounced on her toes and held up two fingers for her years of chemo cycles.

Her mother said the cancer is in remission.

Seeing that she can be a part of this and other kids can see her is amazing, Villanueva said. Shes gone through it, and she can help other kids now.

On ExpressNews.com: New Zoo channel debuts at University Hospital

The channels launch at the hospital is through a collaboration with the San Antonio Zoo, Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Antonio and San Diego Zoo Global. It started in January 2017 at University Hospitals pediatric wards.

Businessman and philanthropist Denny Sanford funded the channel, which debuted in 2013 at Rady Childrens Hospital in San Diego. Debra Erickson, the San Diego Zoos global marketing director, said the service is in 240 hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses in 42 states and 10 countries.

Erickson told the story of a 9-year-old girl who was despondent about losing a leg that was infected. Her attitude changed when she started watching the channel.

Animals lose arms and legs all of the time, and Im going to be just fine, Erickson recalled the girl saying.

Zoo members brought out the animal ambassadors Friday to the young patients, who sat anxiously in the front-row seats at the Goldsbury Foundation Lobby. Esperanza Soto, 14, lined up for a close encounter with the visitors, except for the python. She said shyly that she would like to see a bear.

Cris Daskevich, CEO of the Childrens Hospital, said the common thread was working with organizations that shared a like-minded vision.

Were dedicated to creating a nurturing environment, Daskevich said, If we can help kids and their families forget about their illness, thats going to help the healing process.

Tim Morrow, CEO of the San Antonio Zoo, said the partnership allows children in the hospital to experience the thrill that people visiting the zoo get.

Those of us who have pets understand the joy that animals bring to us, he said. Whether its the unconditional love when you go home and your dog meets you or having a cat sit next to you or on your lap and purr gently. There is a deep-rooted relationship between animals and humans.

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After the event, Villanueva recalled a conversation that Rose had with her grandfather about her role in the promotional video for the channel.

Are you going to be a star? he asked.

Rose replied, Im already a star, Grandpa!

Vincent T. Davis is a reporter in the Greater San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | vtdavis@express-news.net | Twitter: @vincentdavis
Mayor Ron Nirenberg continued to raise and spend more money than Greg Brockhouse in San Antonio's mayoral runoff, according to new campaign finance reports released Friday, but the challenger brought in his largest haul of the year.

Nirenberg raised $329,770 and spent $321,755 between April 25 and May 29, according to his form. He reported having $95,588 left on hand going into the campaigns final week.

Brockhouse raised $114,675 and spent $105,135 in that same span, with $28,531 left over as of May 29.

While he still trailed Nirenbergs campaign by a margin of 3-to-1, Brockhouses report represented an improvement from his fundraising numbers before the May 4 general election, when he was raising significantly less money than any serious mayoral contender of late.

He raised more money over the last month than he had in the four previous ones combined.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio mayors fundraising far outstrips his challenger, but unions could help narrow the gap

The police and fire unions, which are supporting Brockhouse, helped him narrow that financial divide during the general elections. Its not known yet how much they have spent on the runoff because they arent required to file another disclosure until Wednesday.

Other outside groups, including the Texas Organizing Project, will also report Wednesday. TOP endorsed Nirenberg in the runoff.

Separately on Friday, the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce called out the police union for what the chamber claimed was a misleading advertisement against Nirenberg.

The mailer shows a check made out to the mayor for $3 million from City Hall Insiders.

Why have special interest groups, lobbyists, PACs, and Fat Cats given Ron Nirenberg $3 million in campaign cash? the advertisement reads.

But the list of donations was made up of contributions to the Go Vote No campaign, not Nirenbergs re-election bid.

Go Vote No was an effort Nirenberg led last year to defeat a set of charter amendments pushed by the fire union that most city leaders warned would be harmful.

On ExpressNews.com: Police, fire unions have spent $268K during San Antonios election cycle this year

Chamber president Richard Perez said Friday he was duty bound to express my utter dismay at the grossly misleading content.

Conflating the campaigns and misconstruing where the listed entities designated their funds is blatantly false and offensive, Perez wrote in a statement.

The mail piece paid for by the police union is a disservice that uses confrontational language to confuse or merge the space between special interests and the truth. At its worst, it is a dishonest tactic that stains our system of elections.

Police union president Mike Helle acknowledged the $3 million sum quoted in the mailer includes the Go Vote No campaign but noted Nirenberg proclaimed himself its leader.

SAPOA is proud to support Greg Brockhouse for mayor and we make no secret of that fact, Helle said in a statement. We are glad to inform San Antonio voters of these facts (donations) because this election is not about whats important to Ron and City Hall insiders, its about whats important to San Antonio families.

Dylan McGuinness covers City Hall and local politics in San Antonio. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinness
As a contentious mayoral runoff commands most of San Antonio's political attention, negotiators with the city and the fire union continue to meet quietly in mediation sessions as they work on a new contract.

The two sides have met six times since taking their contract negotiations behind closed doors with mediator Deborah Hankinson, a former Texas Supreme Court justice. No details of any of the meetings have been made public; the next one is set for June 15.

The bargaining teams clashed in their last public meeting after failing to make progress on a deal.

On ExpressNews.com: Years-long contract stalemate for San Antonio firefighters reaches new crossroads

Firefighters have gone without a contract since 2014, when the previous one expired. Most of that deal remains in place under a so-called evergreen clause, but the relationship between the two sides has deteriorated.

The union finally agreed to return to the bargaining table in February when the city dropped a failed lawsuit that sought to invalidate the evergreen clause.

The two sides confronted a deep divide in their initial proposals for a new pact.

Firefighters representatives want an independent, union-controlled health care trust. Theyve also asked for 27.5 percent increases in compensation to pay for the trust and account for the pay freeze firefighters have seen since the last deal expired. That would cost roughly $200 million more than what the city already pays.

The city wants union members to contribute to their health care for the first time. Firefighters and their families currently get health care without paying monthly premiums, and they have low deductibles. The city has said thats unsustainable.

San Antonio negotiators offered a 2 percent bonus and a health care package similar to the one police agreed to in 2016.

On ExpressNews.com: Firefighters union and San Antonio officials finally talk money  and confront a deep divide

State law dictates the negotiating process. After 60 days, the two sides can agree to extensions of up to 15 days to continue the sessions. Theyve done that five times, and the latest extension would take them to June 20, one day after the new council will be sworn in. Theres no limit to the number of extensions.

At any time, the union could declare an impasse and force the negotiations into arbitration.

The fire union has endorsed Councilman Greg Brockhouse in the mayoral runoff and is actively campaigning for him. Brockhouse was a political consultant for the police and fire unions before he was elected to the council.

The ongoing contract negotiations have been a subject of occasional focus in the race. Mayor Ron Nirenbergs campaign has said Brockhouse will break the bank to give the union a favorable deal, a charge Brockhouse says is ridiculous.

Last weekend, someone vandalized the union hall and a church. The vandal spray-painted the words SAFD in bed next to the front door of the union hall and a similar phrase was put on a side wall of the church.

Brockhouse and the union blamed Nirenbergs rhetoric for the incident. Nirenbergs campaign said it was glad the perpetrator was caught.

Dylan McGuinness covers City Hall and local politics in San Antonio. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinness
At first glance, two events this week seemed to have no direct connection.

On Thursday, former Mayor Lila Cockrell was unable to vote early in the mayoral and City Council runoff election at Lions Field. She didnt have a state-approved identification card with her. State law requires it.

Also on Thursday, new evidence surfaced in the Trump administration campaign to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. That effort, we found out, misrepresented its intentions.

It wasnt about ensuring the rights for Latino voters under the Voting Rights Act. It was nefarious, as have been other attempts to restrict voting rights and gerrymander congressional districts.

These two events are also unrelated to special counsel Robert Muellers findings about Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election.

What they have in common are schemes to impact free and fair elections. All are or were strategies organized to favor Republicans, specifically white Republicans, and to hinder Democrats, specifically Latino voters.

Lets begin with Cockrell. Shes 97 and hasnt driven in ages. Thus, she has no drivers license and no state-issued ID card, now required by Texas law. That law didnt target her, a nice, elderly white woman who has made a significant political imprint on the city and whose African American art collection is highly valued.

Shes beloved in this old town, and opponents of Texas voter ID law couldnt have picked a better example of why the law is wrong.

Before the Texas Legislature passed it, polling officials had some discretion. In the past, they could have allowed Cockrell to vote, knowing full well shes an eligible voter, a resident and a mayor twice-over.

Polling officials did nothing wrong under state law, but the incident shows how wrong the state voter ID law is. It wasnt meant to target voters like Cockrell, but others who dont have ID cards, perhaps because they dont drive or cant afford a car, among them poor, minority voters.

Unlike Cockrell, they dont have passports either, nor likely to get a house call from the Texas Department of Public Safety, which was a hoot to hear. DPS officials came to her home to help her fill out a request for a state ID card.

The proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census, pending before the Supreme Court, would provide another tool to dissuade poor, minority voters. The question would discourage, even intimidate, Latino households, especially families whose members have mixed immigration statuses. Given the Trump administrations record of separating families, providing the government such data would be especially risky.

Ultimately, the biggest drawbacks to the citizenship question is that its unconstitutional, un-Democratic and un-American. That document requires that all residents be counted to determine congressional representation. It requires that every person be counted, regardless of their political persuasion, skin color, ethnicity, religion, age or gender.

The new evidence in the citizenship-census case is scandalous and validates the suspicions of its opponents. Trump officials argued the question would maximize the Latino communitys chances of getting full representation in redistricting. They used the Voting Rights Act to make their case.

The irony was breathtaking. So is the deceit. Its the kind of lying that has become customary in the White House.

The evidence found in files of the late Thomas Hofeller, a Republican redistricting expert involved in census case, shows he argued that it would give Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites an electoral advantage. The new evidence also contradicts sworn testimony by officials in the Commerce and Justice Departments.

Commerce oversees the Census Bureau. The Justice Department is supposed to be about justice.

The American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued against the citizenship question before the Supreme Court said the new evidence shows that these officials were part of a longstanding plan to weaponize the census to dilute minority voting power to try to forestall the electoral effects of the demographic changes that this country is undergoing.

What do these events have to do with the special counsels investigation into Russian interference in a U.S. election? The evidence collected in that case shows that fraud was committed, the kind of voter fraud that normally Republicans would denounce as unlawful or at least troubling.

Thats not what were hearing enough of in Washington, because the Russian hacking got their guy elected.

Elaine Ayala is a columnist covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala
Four years ago, a joint study by Rice University and the University of Houston took a close look at the impact of this states much-debated voter ID law.

The study zeroed in on how the law affected the 2014 election results in Congressional District 23  a sprawling district which stretches from South San Antonio to El Paso County.

The findings were illuminating because they reminded us that laws impact us in ways that cant be discerned from legislative text.

The 2011 Texas Voter ID law mandated that voters present a photo ID at polling sites and strictly defined which forms of ID were acceptable (handgun licenses  yes; college identification cards  no). Texas Republicans defended the bill as a reasonable way to protect against voter fraud while Democrats said it imposed an unreasonable burden that would disproportionately affect minority voters.

The District 23 study suggested that the voter ID laws biggest effect was not that it prevented ballot box cheating or that it disenfranchised a large segment of eligible voters. The study indicated that the law had been a source of confusion that scared off voters who actually met the standards required by the law.

The survey of 400 registered District 23 residents who sat out the election found that 5.8 percent cited the voter ID law as their primary reason for staying home. More than 90 percent of those nonvoters, however, actually possessed an acceptable form of photo identification.

Henry Flores, Ph.D., a San Antonio voting rights historian and former political science professor at St. Marys University, explained the phenomenon to me this way: Folks dont want to show up at a poll and be embarrassed and turned away because they dont have an ID.

Last Wednesday, Lila Cockrell, one of the true legendary figures in this citys history, was embarrassed and turned away from the Lions Field polling site because she didnt bring the required photo identification with her.

The 97-year-old former mayor entered the polling site with her voter registration card in hand but couldnt cast her vote because of the mindless rigidity of a state law that suppresses turnout at a time when were lucky to get 10 percent of eligible voters in this city to show up for a municipal election.

Eight years after the passage of voter ID in Texas, the law had reached the apex of absurdity.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonians outraged after Cockrell isnt allowed to vote

Thankfully, Cockrell has never been one to give up easily, and, after finding her passport, she returned to Lions Field on Friday, with Mayor Ron Nirenberg serving as her chauffeur.

If you werent absolutely infuriated to learn that the godmother of San Antonio politics was turned away at a voting site, you might be inclined to point out that the current version of voter ID is not as strict as the one passed in 2011. A 2017 amendment to the voter ID law allows some voters, in hardship cases, to use alternate forms of identification, such as utility bills and bank statements.

But the law still doesnt make room for common sense. It blocks election officials from using individual discretion in cases, such as the one involving Cockrell, where a little individual discretion would have delivered the most humane and sensible result.

Of course, when Texas GOP lawmakers started pushing in 2005 for voter ID, they werent aiming to suppress the vote of Lila Cockrell.

They were in the middle of a decade in which the states Latino voting-age population would grow by 43 percent. They heard rumblings that demographic changes were threatening to uproot their dominance of state politics.

After sponsoring an ultimately unsuccessful voter ID bill during the 2007 legislative session, then-state Rep. Betty Brown, R-Henderson, said her legislation was designed to keep illegal aliens, noncitizens and other people otherwise not qualified from voting.

Over the decade leading up to the 2011 passage of the Texas Voter ID law, there were only two in-person voter fraud convictions out of more than 20 million votes cast in this state.

Nearly a decade after the laws passage, we still havent seen credible evidence that a statistically significant number of noncitizens are risking criminal prosecution by trying to cast illegal votes.

We have, however, seen credible evidence  in the form of the Rice/University of Houston study  that a statistically significant number of eligible voters stay away from the polls because of the voter ID law.

Along those lines, its all but certain that voter ID laws across the country disproportionately have hurt elderly voters. In 2005, while Georgia lawmakers debated the merits of a voter ID law, the Georgia chapter of AARP found that 36 percent of that states residents at or above age 75 lacked drivers licenses.

Lila Cockrell is in that category. Thankfully, voting means so much to her that she refused to give up after getting turned away. But its a disgrace that this state made it so difficult for her.

Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
A reader recently asked me: Is the USA full?

This was no random survey. I had just asserted that legal immigration was the best thing about America.

The reader was not persuaded.

He asked: Have you spent time in Los Angeles and experienced the transportation gridlock  Bay Area, San Diego, San Bernardino, Sacramento, Orange County? What about Texas  traffic in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, San Antonio? Have you ever been to Arizona, been on the highway trying to get to work at 8 a.m. in Phoenix?

Yes. All of the above. Ive lived in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Dallas and Phoenix.

Do you ever consider the high cost of housing in California? What about the cost of education? Health care?

Yes. As a California native, I battle the rising cost of living in my home state every day.

But heres the truth from the front lines: Immigrants  legal or illegal  arent bankrupting the Golden State.

The culprit is the crushing cost of public-employee pensions, coupled with the fact that police officers, firefighters, teachers, prison guards, sanitation workers and their cohort are retiring earlier, collecting bigger checks and living longer. In this deep-blue state, Democrats run the show  and unions run the Democrats. The result is bureaucratic looting on a massive scale.

Not distracted by facts, the reader put me on the spot: I have a simple question to a man who seems to have all the answers, HOW MANY? Is there a limit to how many the USA can take? Please let me know the correct number, as I never hear any liberals come forth with a proposed number.

Dont ask me to explain liberals. They baffle me. They turn their outrage on and off like a light switch depending on who occupies the White House. During the eight years of the Obama administration, they fought me when I complained that immigrant families were separated, children were dumped into foster care, women were deported for selling tamales without a permit and local police were pressured to enforce federal immigration law through the program known as Secure Communities.

Still, the readers questions nagged at me.

Is the USA full?

Not even close. The United States isnt the Plaza Hotel during the holiday season. There isnt a sign out front announcing: No Vacancy. There is still plenty of room  depending on where you look.

As of 2015, there were as many as 13 states where the population density amounts to fewer than 50 people per square mile: Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, Kansas, Oregon and Maine.

The United States isnt all Times Square and Grand Central Station.

How many immigrants should the USA take in?

As for an exact number, thats not for me to say. Any more than its the job of everyday Americans to whiteboard their own immigration reform plan. These are matters for Congress, and the president, to sort out.

Still, I know this much: What immigration restrictionists consider a big number isnt that big. The United States takes in about 1 million legal immigrants annually; about half of those people are already in the United States and become legal due to a change of status.

Conservatives brag about that 1 million figure as if it were an accomplishment worthy of a Nobel Prize. Perhaps for a nation of 10 million people. Imagine taking in, each year, a number of immigrants equal to 10 percent of your countrys population.

But the United States has a population of 327 million. One million is fewer than one-third of 1 perfect of the total population. Thats a pathetic showing for a fabled land of immigrants.

America could take in 3.27 million legal immigrants each year  just 1 percent of the total U.S. population  and civilization would not crumble.

Yet my main concern isnt about numbers. Its about motives. Given the spotty history of U.S. immigration policy, we have to be careful that  when we settle on limits of any kind  we dont base those decisions on our fears or prejudices and camouflage them under a vague notion of occupancy rates.

The reader signed off: As I see it, the USA is full, nothing to do with racist, nativist, white people, just a matter of logistics.

Dont you believe it. Throughout history, weve seen this movie over and over again. Folks like these arent worried that the United States is taking in too many people. Theyre worried that were taking in too many of the wrong people.

ruben@rubennavarrette.com
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Elaine Mendoza of San Antonio is an excellent choice to chair the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.

She brings tremendous insight on education from her many years of service on high profile boards, committees and task forces that have grappled with improving educational opportunities in Texas.
BRIDGEPORT  Board of Education member Maria Pereira is set to be charged with breach of peace after city police issued a warrant for her arrest on Friday, officials said Saturday.

Police spokesman Terron Jones confirmed the warrant Saturday.

Yesterday (Friday), an arrest warrant for Maria Pereira was issued according to the BPD, charging her with breach of peace in an incident last week involving a member of the BOE administrative staff, Jones said via email.

Pereira did not return a request for comment Saturday afternoon.

There were no additional details about the incident provided by police. Since Pereira has not officially been processed and charged, there were no court records immediately available about the charges.

This is Pereiras second run in with Bridgeport police in less than a year.

Her last charges were related to an incident during a Success Village Apartments Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 11, 2018. For that incident, she was charged with creating a public disturbance and simple trespassing, according to court records.

The meeting back in September was about the removal of five Success Village board members. The meeting was unrelated to the school board. Pereira is not a resident of Success Village; city records show she lives on Nutmeg Road.

Angel Figueroa, who operates the Facebook page Success Village 411, said at the time that Pereira was at the September meeting in support of one of the board members about to be kicked off the panel.

Figueroa said Pereira had attended meetings at Success Village before, despite not living there, and that her showing up on Sept. 11, 2018, was the last straw. Thats when police were called.

When officers arrived, to a room filled with about 90 people, and asked the crowd to leave, Pereira refused, police said. The police report said she saidI have a right to be here. Then when she did leave, police said, she turned around and swung her arms, nearly hitting the arresting officer in the face.

But Pereira wasnt the only one arrested in that instance.

Lisa Moragne, of West Haven, who was one of the board members voters were considering removing, was charged with breach of peace and interfering with an officer. Police say she also refused to leave.

Court records show Pereira is expected in court on July 11 at 10 a.m. for a court trial for the September 2018 charges.
NEW CANAAN  Police have obtained DNA samples from Fotis Dulos, the estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five who has been missing for more than a week, sources told the Hartford Courant.

The Courant said investigators suspended a search at Farmington properties associated with Fotis Dulos, including his home on Jefferson Crossing, for the day and are expected to resume the search on Sunday.

Fotis Dulos was detained and questioned by police Friday night, a story from the Daily Mail said. Police returned to his home with a search warrant, the Hartford Courant reported.

The media has been kept out of the private Jefferson Crossing in Farmington, where Fotis Dulos residence is located. A Hearst Connecticut Media reporter was turned away by two police officers when he tried to approach the home.

Shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday, New Canaan Police Lt. Jason Ferraro issued a release indicating no arrests had been made, and that law enforcement would not comment on who they had questioned.

The criminal investigation into this case is continuing and it does involve securing search warrants. No comment at this time will be offered on details relating to locations of search warrants or details of what items are listed on the search warrants, Ferraro said.

Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend, Michelle Traconis, were seen outside his Farmington home around 6 p.m. Friday speaking with authorities, according to the Daily Mail. Authorities then entered the remained and remained inside for about an hour, the Daily Mail reported.

The couple left in their own car and was followed by police, according to the Daily Mail.

The Courant reported the Dulos was taken to Troop L in Litchfield Friday night after police showed up at his Jefferson Crossing home in Farmington. Detectives had a search warrant seeking DNA and hair samples, sources told the Courant. After providing the samples, the sources said, Dulos was allowed to leave and wasnt detained or questioned at the Troop L barracks.

Shortly before police arrived at Fotis Dulos home, authorities were seen searching for the first time in nearby Hartford. Some two dozen state troopers and firefighters searched the Upper Albany section of the city, first focusing on a storm drain outside of Scotts Jamaican Bakery. However, Hartford Deputy Fire Chief Harry Tulier told the Hartford Courant no evidence was found.

The Courant reported that investigators obtained surveillance footage of Dulos in a Hartford neighborhood where police did their extensive search for evidence Friday.

Search teams checked nearby backyards and looking in trash bins, which residents told state troopers were empty because the garbage had been picked up earlier in the day, the Courant reported.

Fotis Dulos, 51, declined to speak to Hearst Connecticut Media when a reporter knocked on his door Friday afternoon.

His estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos, 50, was last seen dropping off their five children at New Canaan Country School on May 24. Her SUV was recovered on Lapham Road near Waveny Park after she was reported missing later that night.

A source close to the investigation told Hearst Connecticut Media that investigators found blood in Dulos home last Saturday.

In an effort to find someone who may have witnessed something when Jennifer Dulos SUV was parked on the side of the road, police stopped motorists Friday morning on Lapham Road and handed out missing person flyers.

A statement from family and friends of Jennifer Dulos released Friday said they remain hopeful she will return home safely.

We miss her beyond measure  her five young children, her family, her friends, colleagues, and neighbors, as well as countless people who have never met her but who have responded to the spirit of grace and kindness that Jennifer embodies, the statement reads.

Dulos has been involved in a two-year divorce case with Fotis Dulos. In court documents, she said she was afraid of her estranged husband and was fearful he would retaliate against her for seeking a divorce.

Jennifer Dulos mother, Gloria Farber, has been in her own legal battle with Fotis Dulos. Farber and her late husbands estate have filed a lawsuit against Fotis Dulos, accusing him of failing to repay $1.7 million in loans he used to purchase properties and build homes for his business, The Fore Group.

When reached by phone on Friday, Gloria Farber declined to comment.

On Thursday, police searched a property on Mallard Lake Road in Pound Ridge, N.Y., which records show is owned by Jennifer Dulos late father Hilliard Farber. The home is about a 15-minute drive from Dulos New Canaan residence.

Ferraro said Friday morning the search of the Pound Ridge property had been concluded.

Two years ago, Jennifer Dulos abruptly left the Farmington home with her children and moved to New Canaan before filing for divorce the next day. Her sudden departure prompted Fotis Dulos to call 911, saying he was worried about my wife and kids, according to audio of the more than four-minute call obtained by the Hartford Courant.

The 911 call is referenced in the nearly 500 pages of divorce records. The records also mention how Fotis Dulos initially believed his wife left with the children for her parents home in Pound Ridge.

As part of the divorce proceedings, Jennifer Dulos filed for an emergency order for full custody that was denied in July 2017. While the divorce is still in litigation, Jennifer Dulos was awarded sole physical custody of the children, who range in age from 8 to 13, after a judge last year found Fotis Dulos to be an unhealthy influence on the children.

A status hearing in the divorce case that was scheduled for Wednesday at the Stamford courthouse was postponed. On Tuesday, a court-appointed guardian ad litem filed a motion for a hearing regarding the safety of the children. A date has not been set for the conference.

Fotis Dulos requested on Wednesday for a judge to allow him to see his children.

A motion filed by his attorney, Michael J. Rose, said the children have been staying at Farbers New York City apartment under the watch of an armed guard the family hired. Fotis Dulos was turned away by the guard when he tried to visit his children Wednesday night, a police source told the New York Post.

Late Friday, Fotis Dulos divorce attorney filed withdrawal of deposition notices and production requests. The notice was scheduled for Jennifer Dulos to be deposed on June 10, court records show.

Anyone with information can contact the New Canaan Police Tip Line at 203-594-3544.
FAIRFIELD  After serving as Sacred Heart Universitys assistant director of public safety since 2011, Edward Shea has been promoted to deputy chief of public safety at the university.

Edward Shea, of West Haven, also serves as an adjunct criminal justice professor.

Over the last eight years, the university said in a news release on Thursday, Shea helped lead the operations at the 48-member public safety department at SHU.

It has been so exciting to see the incredible growth of SHU over the last several years, said a prepared statement from Shea. We have become a model of change and innovation in so many ways. ... My goal is to see this agency emerge as a leader in our field, just as so many other aspects of our University are proudly doing.

The position of deputy chief is newly created, the university said. In his new role, Shea will advise and help the chief in development and administration of procedures, policies and programs, while also helping with budgets and capital expenditures.

He will seek and manage grants to enhance the department, implement and draft department policies, communicate with other departments to further public safetys mission and goals, oversee activities of special units and assume other duties to foster and maintain a safe and secure environment for the university, the news release said.

Before joining Sacred Heart, Shea worked at the Milford Police Department for 23 years. There, he started as a patrolman and worked up to captain of the patrol division.

Throughout his police career, Shea accomplished a lot.

The news release said he created the departments first community policing unit, instructed Regional Police Training Academy recruits, taught classes in the Milford Police Citizens Academy and managed special divisions, including the K9 unit, bike patrol unit and crime suppression unit.

Shea also was appointed by the mayor to serve as Milfords homeland security grant coordinator, the news release said.

Shea is also an alumnus of Sacred Heart University, having earned a masters degree in criminal justice from the school in 2017. Before that, he got a certificate in infrastructure protection from Texas A&M University and a bachelors degree in public safety administration from Charter Oak State College.

Shea said in his prepared statement that he looks forward to working alongside Gary MacNamara, executive director of public safety and government affairs at SHU. MacNamara said the SHU community is lucky to have Shea leading the men and women of the public safety unit.

MacNamara announced his retirement as chief of the Fairfield Police Department last year.
Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 6F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 6F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
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Ever since Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas got married, rumours of her being upset with the Duchess of Sussex, Maghan Markle have been doing the rounds. Several reports suggested that the actress was upset that the Royal couple didnt attend her wedding. While PeeCee and Nick havent cleared all these rumours yet, a report in UK tabloid, The sun stated that Priyanka and Nick visited the royal baby, Archie and showered him with expensive gifts. The report read, "Priyanka is said to have picked out a number of baby gifts from posh jewellers Tiffany to give to Archie. One of the items from the shop's infant collection is this 235 bubble blower.

Denying the report, Priyanka tweeted to The Sun saying, While these are great gift ideas... this story is untrue, and I was actually in town for work. I hope whoever this source is starts checking their facts more often.

While she did not say anything about the rumours of the riff between her and Meghan Markle, she sure made it clear that she hasnt met the royal baby.
After Judwaa 2s success at the box-office, David Dhawan is all set to make his third film with son Varun Dhawan. On Varuns birthday, he announced that he will be seen in fathers Coolie No. 1 remake and will start working on the film after he finishes Street Dancer. The film stars Sara Ali Khan opposite Varun.

Talking of the films location and screenplay, a source close to the filmmaker revealed that David Dhawan wants to shoot this 1991 classic in a foreign location. Just like Judwaa 2 was shot in London, the filmmakers were looking for an ideal location for Coolie No. 1 and seemed to have found it in Bangkok. The source reported, The idea this time too is the same as filming abroad gives the film a fresh vibe. The basic premise of a coolie caught between two girls remains the same but there are many new changes in the screenplay for it to appeal to todays audience.

The film is all set to go on floors after Varun Dhawan finishes Street Dancer and Sara Ali Khan wraps up Imtiaz Alis Love Aaj Kar 2.
It was yesterday that the official announcement regarding Mahesh Babu's next film to be directed by Anil Ravipudi was made. The 26th movie of Mahesh Babu has been titled a Sarileru Neekevvaru and the title poster of the film has gone trending straight away.

Meanwhile, it is being widely believed that Mahesh Babu will be seen donning the role of an army officer in Mahesh 26. Now, a few reports have come up regarding the storyline of this much-awaited film of the superstar.

According to a report by Telugu360.com, sources report that the storyline of Sarileru Neekevaru is inspired from the films like Varasuduvachudu and Athaadu. The former had featured Venkatesh in the lead role whereas the latter had Mahesh Babu in it.

According to the report, like in those films, the lead character will come to a village to help out his friend, who works in the military. The report adds that in Mahesh 26, Mahesh Babu will be seen solving the problems of his friend's family and the film will be narrated in a hilarious manner. The report also adds that popular actor Vijayshanthi will be seen essaying the role the mother of Mahesh Babu's friend in the film. Rashmika Mandanna will be seen portraying the leading lady in the film.
CALGARY, Alberta, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the protection and safety of our people and assets as the utmost priority, Canadian Natural Resources Limited ("Canadian Natural") is closely monitoring the wildfires in the Wabasca and Slave Lake, Alberta areas. In response to the wildfires, Canadian Natural completed on May 30, 2019 the evacuation of all 240 personnel in our Pelican Lake and Woodenhouse operations. Accordingly, Canadian Natural has completed the safe, temporary shut-in of approximately 65,000 bbl/d of crude oil production.



Canadian Natural personnel are working together with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry as well as local officials during their response to the wildfire. Canadian Natural is continuously monitoring the situation with officials, and we will provide a public update when operations can be re-started, once safe and permitted to do so.

We wish to thank our staff, firefighters and emergency responders for their tireless work in response to the wildfires. Our thoughts are with our employees, their families, and our neighbours in local communities during this challenging time.

Canadian Natural is a senior oil and natural gas production company, with continuing operations in its core areas located in Western Canada, the U.K. portion of the North Sea and Offshore Africa.
Conquer Cancer Foundation/Anna Braglia Endowed Young Investigator Award (YIA) in Cancer Supportive Care, supported by Helsinn, awarded to Dr. Allison Barz Leahy, MD, University of Pennsylvania

Lugano, Switzerland, June 1, 2019 - Helsinn, the Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care products, in conjunction with the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), today announces Allison Barz Leahy, MD, University of Pennsylvania, as the recipient of the Anna Braglia Endowed Young Investigator Award in Cancer Supportive Care for 2019.

Conquer Cancer's Young Investigator Award (YIA) funds physicians who are in the final years of training to aid their transition from a fellowship program to a faculty appointment. The YIA is a one-year $50,000 grant that aims to promote quality research in clinical oncology.

The recipient of this endowed YIA, Dr. Allison B. Leahy, received her medical degree from SUNY Upstate College of Medicine. She completed her Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Dr. Leahy is a recent alumna of the Pediatric Hospital Epidemiology and Outcomes Research Training program managed by the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness at CHOP and is currently finishing her thesis work for her Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Leahy's clinical interests include investigating the benefits and barriers of using patient-reported symptom monitoring for children with cancer in an attempt to examine the impact of this type of monitoring on the quality of life, hospitalization rate and illness severity in childhood cancer. Dr. Leahy's YIA project is entitled Symptom monitoring using patient-reported outcomes in newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients.

Established in 2016, the endowed YIA honors the life of Anna Braglia, the wife of Helsinn Group Founder and Chairman Gabriele Braglia and mother of Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO Riccardo Braglia, who passed away in 2015. Helsinn endowed this award, which is part of Conquer Cancer's 's Grants and Award's Program, to encourage more aspiring physicians to move into all areas of oncology by supporting them as they move from academia into research.

Riccardo Braglia, Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO, commented: "Dr. Allison Leahy is an exceptional candidate for this award. Her work on patient-reported outcomes in childhood cancer has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for cancer care in children. At Helsinn, we strive to improve the standard of living for individuals with cancer. Dr. Leahy's work aligns with our goals and visions to put the patient at the heart of the approach cancer care and we are delighted to be able to support her invaluable work. We wish Dr. Leahy the best with her project"

Dr. Allison B. Leahy, said: " I am greatly honored to receive the Anna Braglia Endowed Young Investigator Award in Cancer Supportive Care. This award will provide invaluable resources for the investigation of the use of patient-reported symptom monitoring in pediatric oncology care. Determining how best to incorporate the child's voice into their medical care is essential - and we are hopeful that this work lay the necessary groundwork to enhance communication with the treating team, increase patient and family engagement in care, and ultimately lead to better clinical outcomes for children undergoing treatment for cancer."

About the Helsinn Group

Helsinn is a privately-owned pharmaceutical group with an extensive portfolio of marketed cancer care products and a robust drug development pipeline. Since 1976, Helsinn has been improving the everyday lives of patients, guided by core family values of respect, integrity and quality. The Group works across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and nutritional supplements and has expertise in research, development, manufacture and the commercialization of therapeutic and supportive care products for cancer, pain and inflammation and gastroenterology. In 2016, Helsinn created the Helsinn Investment Fund to support early-stage investment opportunities in areas of unmet patient need. The company is headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, with operating subsidiaries in Switzerland, Ireland and the U.S., a representative office in China as well as a product presence in approximately 190 countries globally.

About Conquer Cancer

Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, funds research into every facet of cancer to

benefit every patient, everywhere. In 1964, seven oncologists created the American

Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), now a global network of nearly 45,000 cancer

professionals. As ASCO's foundation, Conquer Cancer helps turn science into a sigh

of relief for patients around the world by supporting groundbreaking research and

education across cancer's full continuum.

For more information, visit CONQUER.ORG .

For more information:

Helsinn Group Media Contact:

Paola Bonvicini

Group Head of Communication

Lugano, Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0) 91 985 21 21

Email: Info-hhc@helsinn.com
By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil slumped over 3% on Friday and posted its biggest monthly drop in six months, after U.S.

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil slumped over 3% on Friday and posted its biggest monthly drop in six months, after U.S. President Donald Trump stoked global trade tensions by threatening tariffs on Mexico, a key U.S. trade partner and major supplier of crude oil.

Brent crude futures fell $2.38, or 3.6%, to settle at $64.49 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $3.09 to $53.50 a barrel, a 5.5% loss.

Brent touched a session low of $64.37 a barrel, lowest since March 8. WTI hit $53.41 a barrel, weakest since Feb. 14.

Brent futures posted an 11% slide in May and WTI a 16% drop, their biggest monthly losses since November.

(Graphic - Oil prices monthly changes, https://tmsnrt.rs/2WujIcF)

Trump vowed on Thursday to ratchet up tariffs unless Mexico stopped people from illegally crossing into the United States. The plan would impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports starting on June 10 and increase monthly, up to 25% on Oct. 1.

That could hit the lucrative cross-border energy trade.

"U.S. refiners import roughly 680,000 barrels per day of Mexican crude. The 5% tariff adds an extra $2 million to the cost of their daily purchases," PVM analysts said.

The United States also exports more fuels to Mexico than any other country, according to the U.S. Energy Department. So far Mexico has not said whether it would retaliate.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday urged Trump to back down from the threats.

Investors were already worried that the U.S.-China trade war increased the danger of a recession.

Additional levies by Beijing on the majority of U.S. imports on a $60 billion target list are due to take effect on Saturday, in response to Washington's move this month to slap further tariffs of up to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods.

A Reuters survey showed Brent crude prices are likely to hold near $70 a barrel for the rest of the year as elevated supply risks in the Middle East offset risks to demand.

(Graphic - U.S. oil drilling, production & storage levels, https://tmsnrt.rs/2DxgF8W)

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia's increased output in May was not enough to compensate for lower Iranian exports, a Reuters survey found. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to meet in late June. At the beginning of the year, OPEC and allies agreed to cut production by 1.2 million bpd.

U.S. production has offset that decline, as output returned to a record 12.3 million barrels per day, and as U.S. crude stocks fell less than expected last week, according to weekly figures.

"This fresh tariff headline offers a 'pile on' effect to an oil market that has already been seeing downside pressure from some unexpectedly large U.S. crude supply increases that have been weighing on values across this month of May," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

U.S. energy firms increased the number of oil rigs operating for the first week in four, adding three oil rigs, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said. But in May the rig count was reduced for the sixth straight month.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut combined futures and options position in New York and London in the week to May 28 by 38,030 contracts to 212,080, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said.

(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla in London, Colin Packham in Sydney and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy, David Gregorio and Richard Chang)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The cheer so evident in military circles on Rajnath's appointment as defence minister has two aspects as its basis, the first of which relates to the allegation that the armed forces were perceivably ill-treated under the previous NDA government

Speculation that Rajnath Singh, former Home Minister (HM) in the NDA government, would probably be allotted the Ministry of Defence (MoD) this time in NDA-2 was already in circulation a few days prior. The news of confirmation of his appointment as Raksha Mantri (RM) (Defence Minister) brought considerable cheer on social media. Officers of the Indian Armed Forces, who are mostly indifferent to political appointments, took much interest in the speculation. The final announcement of Rajnath's name received applause from the Services community including the veterans, who are usually highly critical of the political class. So why are they happy with Rajnath as Raksha Mantri and what will be his challenges in one of the most difficult assignments awaiting the ministers of NDA-2.

Firstly, Rajnath has carried himself with considerable dignity in the last five years and even in the past. He is one of the most experienced politicians in the new Modi cabinet whose personal popularity has been extremely high. It somehow comes from the dint of his very cheerful and affable personality. He relates himself seriously to not just the duties and tasks at hand but also to the people who work for him. Although a fine speaker, he is also gifted with the power of listening and he is never hesitant about taking advice. He has no pretense about knowing it all and thats what probably makes him a popular superior. Admittedly, he ran the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with great aplomb. Under him the Red Corridor shrunk considerably in favour of the forces. Assam has stabilized enough for consideration of AFSPA to be removed after 31 Jul 2019. Very importantly it is under his charge of internal security and counter intelligence that the notorious Islamic State (IS) could not succeed in penetrating India, which attained one of the lowest per capita recruitment of international jihadi fighters fighting for the IS. He guarded his turf zealously promoting the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and their welfare in a most efficient way and won the admiration of the rank and file there. Their loss is the gain of the armed forces. His decision to conduct a couple of brainstorming sessions on Jammu and Kashmir, with representatives across the board, was a professional exercise in bringing better understanding among all on the challenges and how to overcome them.

The cheer so evident in military circles on Rajnath's appointment as defence minister has two aspects as its basis, the first of which relates to the allegation that the armed forces were perceivably ill-treated under the previous NDA government. Issues such as the implementation of 7th Pay Commission which has virtually downgraded their status, One Rank One Pension (OROP) which has far too many complexities of interpretation, the nonfunctional financial upgrade (NFFU) which is available to all other central government services except the Armed Forces, and the opening of cantonments to civilian traffic and movement with nary a thought to the security involved have created the perception that the government can only flog the military but not support it. The latest bombshell involving further restrictions on purchase of motor cars from the Canteen Stores Department may have many technical issues involving financial management. However, the significance of the fact that erosion of existing facilities is rapidly taking place lowers morale. With no such restriction on the CAPFs through their canteen system, the armed forces are clearly peeved by the comparison.

Secondly, they perceive that without a heavyweight political figure in charge of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) none of their grievances are going to be addressed by the government. Rajnath is the second senior most in the pecking order of the Cabinet and therefore his say automatically makes a difference.

Rajnath is familiar with all the internal security issues of the country. He will now have to familiarise himself with external security. More importantly, he is expected to give some impetus to the acquisition system and help reduce military imports, a field completely alien to him. In the MHA, he had the advantage of working with experienced police officers, who made up the majority of the bureaucracy. But that's not the case here.

A proposal to integrate the MoD on the basis of existing models in most of the significant countries around the world has been languishing for two decades. If implemented, it will bring officers of the armed forces to occupy appointments alongside bureaucrats in the MoD. It will also help to promote mutual trust and greater professionalism among the Services community and the bureaucracy. The restructuring of the armed forces to meet modern day threats is ongoing but larger decisions such as the one on the appointment of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), the theaterisation of field commands, restoration of the Indian Air Force to a 42 squadron force (from the current 32 ) and making the Indian Navy equipped and trained for its assigned new role in the Indo-Pacific are all issues that Rajnath is well aware of, having been a part of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) as the former home minister. As a member of the CCS, he has had more experience in five years than most ministers can boast of in a lifetime. The crisis situations in the tenure of the previous government were challenging enough: the Manipur ambush and response in 2015, the Burhan Wani killing and its aftermath leading to Uri 2016, ending with the surgical strikes, the Doklam stand off for 72 days in 2017 leading to the Wuhan summit 2018 and stabilization of Sino Indian relations, and finally the Pulwama suicide bombing, the response by the IAF at Balakote and the escalation spiral in 2019. No defence minister in the past appears to have come to office with such a rich exposure at the CCS, except perhaps Pranab Mukerjee in 2004.

Not to be missed out is the fact it is in his tenure as home minister that Jammu and Kashmir witnessed Operation All Out, the combined operation of the army, local police and the CRPF which has succeeded in good measure in neutralising a large number of terrorists since early 2017. It is unlikely that as HM he ever visited the establishments of the army in Jammu and Kashmir, which technically were outside his purview. He should change this policy and ensure that the home and defence ministers demonstrate joint efforts of the army and police forces, by frequent visits to establishments and organisations of both. Functioning in compartments, especially in Jammu and Kashmir has been the bane of the system which has marginally improved in recent years and could see better days under Rajnath.

The armed forces must prioritise well the issues they wish to familiarise the new defence minister with. The MoD is simply too complex and too mind boggling for any new entrant, including the raksha mantri himself. On his part, what Rajnath has to realise is that the armed forces are a house divided, where turf protection is high on the agenda of individual services. The level of confrontation between the bureaucrats and the armed forces fraternity has reached dangerous levels and it is now becoming counterproductive, weakening national security. A civil-military relationship of mutual respect is something he will have to work on and given his personality he is quite capable of achieving.

The key to success of a defence minister is also the ability to ignore certain issues of military culture and way of life which neither the political community nor the civilian bureaucracy can easily understand. The military community is proud of its apolitical approach and likes to maintain its strictly guarded value system through limited contact with the environment. The decision of the previous NDA government to open cantonments to civil traffic was a spoiler in chief which gave an impression to the military community that the government had little interest in the nurturing of military culture, away from influence of extraneous factors.

Hopefully it will be full five year tenure for Rajnath as raksha mantri and the MoD will witness momentous changes that have been expected for decades. He has great opportunities knocking at his doorstep. The cheer and positivity with which he is being welcomed by the military community augurs well for a highly successful tenure.
Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik gave a small briefing to Amit Shah on the prevailing situation in the state.

New Delhi: After Amit Shah assumed the charge as Union home minister on Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik gave a small briefing to Shah on the prevailing situation in the state.

Malik met Shah at Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today.

"I briefed him about the ground situation and also told him what the people think. I briefed him about the development work," said Malik.

He denied having any talks regarding the State Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, saying it is a subject related to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

"Election is not my subject, the election will take place when Election Commission will decide about it," said Malik.

"We are prepared for the Amarnath Yatra, with people's support, it will be successful as last year," he said.

Shah on Saturday took charge as home minister in the Modi government.

He will have to address issues like scrapping the special status of Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution, an issue dear to the party and the Sangh Parivar for long and a promise included in the manifesto during the recent elections.

Shah's first responsibility will be to ensure that Pulwama like attacks on security forces or on civilians, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, do not take place for which he has to take steps to revitalize the security establishment.

The other major issue that will come up for review in the home ministry will be whether to continue with the muscular anti-terror policy being pursued in Kashmir and whether the government would give an opportunity for internal dialogue with various stakeholders in the troubled state.
Former president Pratibha Patil was Saturday bestowed on the highest civilian award of Mexico for foreigners.

Pune: Former president Pratibha Patil was Saturday bestowed on the highest civilian award of Mexico for foreigners.

The ambassador of Mexico to India, Melba Pria, presented 'Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca' (Order of the Aztec Eagle) to Patil, who had served as the first woman president of the country from 2007 to 2012, at a special ceremony held in MCCIA Bhavan.

On the occasion, Patil said a mutual agreement was signed between Mexico and India when she was president, and that both the countries have emphasised on enhancing friendly relations.

"While doing all this I represented India. So this award is the honor of my country. Both countries have the honor of friendship. In 2007, President Felipe de Jazas Calderon Hinozosa visited India when he was the country's president. Then I visited Mexico in 2008. During this period, the relationship between the two countries was strengthened," said Patil.

Pria said, "the honorable foreign citizen who has strengthened humanitarian relations with Mexico is given this honor. She (Patil) is the first Indian woman to receive such an award. Earlier Dr Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II (2nd), Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Bill Gates were honored with this award".
Bengaluru, where summer temperatures rarely crossed 26 degrees, is presently seeing temperatures hovering at around 40 degrees as are other regions in central Karnataka

Two thirds of India is gripped by a severe heat wave. Mercury has breached 45 degrees celsius across several cities. These include Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. Even Pune, which was regarded as a hill station saw temperatures rise to 43 degrees on 27 May. The south has not fared any better and temperatures in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have also breached the 44 degree mark.

Vidarbha in Maharashtra remains one of the worst affected regions with the weather website El Dorado highlighting that 15 cities listed as the world's warmest in April end were from central India. Nine of these cities were from Maharashtra: Chandrapur recorded the highest temperature across the world in end April with mercury touching 48 degrees, followed by Nagpur at 47.5 degrees, and Brahmpuri witnessing temperatures as high as 47.8 degrees in May end.

Heat wave also affected normal life in Rajasthan, where Bikaner recorded the highest temperature at 45.6 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was above 45 degrees in several parts in the state including Ganganagar, Jaisalmer and Kota.

IMD expects temperatures to only rise further with summer showing its sting in the month of June. Long term data gathered from the IMDs 103 weather gathering stations show that there has been a dramatic increase in temperatures between 1961 and 2018. Not only has the temperature risen in the range of 0.8 degree C, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of hot days in India.

This increase in the number of hot days is now also found across famous hill stations such as Shimla, Mussorie, Darjeeling, and Manali where temperatures have risen by more than five degrees in the summer months according to IMD stats. Temperature in Mussorie this year has already crossed 38 degrees.

Residents of these hill stations blame rising temperatures to unregulated construction activities and increasing deforestation which is rapidly denuding the tree cover. Eighty-year old DN Khanna who retired from Solan Brewery blames the massive tree cutting to build the four lane road between Kalka and Shimla for the present heat wave. "We have lost thousands of trees in the name of development. Earlier, the drive between Shimla and Kalka was a joy, there were so many fresh water springs which have all dried up. Our homes, then called matkanda, were built with hollow walls and every house had a high ceiling with ventilators in all the rooms. Himachal supplies water to Delhi but the people here are getting water every fifth day. We have no choice but to suffer in this heat."

The situation in Pune is worse because this city was at one time considered one of the best hill stations of Maharashtra. Hutokshi Doctor who runs an NGO in Pune said, "Three days ago, the temperature crossed 43 degrees and the IMD send out a warning that this was the hottest day the city had witnessed in the last 50 years."

Since 1992, more than 22,000 people have died as a result of exposure to extreme heat. Most of these deaths are caused by heat stroke and extreme dehydration. Doctors point out that long exposure to extreme heat raises the body temperature to such a high level that it causes the overheating of an individual's protein cells adversely impacting the individual's brain.

This heat stroke figures are alarming. The state of Kerala was put on high alert after 288 cases of sunstroke were registered in the state since 1 March 2019. The northern district of Palakkad registered four deaths due to heat stroke.

The state of Tamil Nadu has also witnessed a spike in temperatures. Chennai based R Geetha who is heading the Nirman Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam points out, "The entire eastern coast is witnessing heat wave conditions and it is daily labourers who are the worst affected. Several districts are facing water scarcity with the capital city Chennai being the worst affected. The state government is planning to set up desalination plants thereby using sea water but that will take time," she said.

Bengaluru, where summer temperatures rarely crossed 26 degrees, is presently seeing temperatures hovering at around 40 degrees as are other regions in central Karnataka. Bengaluru- based writer of childrens books Srilata Menon said, "We did not use fans two decades ago. Today, we are all using ACs. There is a huge swing between day and night temperatures. During the night there will be a thunderstorm and then in the day time it becomes very hot."

Not that the situation along the western coast is any better. Mumbai saw a temperature of over 40 degrees C on 25 March 2019 which was seven degrees above normal for the city. Writer and journalist Sherna Gandhy blames excessive concretisation for Mumbais woes. "We are saved by the sea breeze but as you move north, Andheri onward, the heat gets trapped in these concrete multi-storeyed buildings which is causing temperature rise."

These events mirror those of the summer of 2018 which was declared the sixth hottest summer since 1901 according to a reply given by the Minister of Environment Harsh Vardhan in the Lok Sabha on 6 February 2019.

Dr DS Pai, a scientist at IMD, warned that severe heat wave conditions are resulting in the death of thousands of people every year. He cites the example of how 1,000 people were killed by a heat wave in Andhra Pradesh in 2002 while another 1,000 people died in the state in 2010. Pai warns that environmental health catastrophes will rise if they are not kept in check.

Parsa V Ramachandra Rao, who retired as a senior executive from Indian Oil in Hyderabad remembers how, "Hyderabad was a sleepy, easy going city akin to Mysore. It was in the early 90s after the software industry took off that the city saw an indiscriminate expansion with trees being felled mercilessly. The pressure on land saw the land mafia take over lakes and ponds which used to assist in ground water recharge. Plunging ground water levels has seen water shortages and the felling of the green cover has seen temperatures rise," said Rao.

To make matters worse, nearly two thirds of the country is facing drought though scientists at IIT Gandhinagar believe 16 per cent of the country presently falls under the extreme drought category. Data released by a real-time drought monitoring platform the Drought Early Warning System released information on March 26 2019 that showed that the footprint of drought had increased four times from last year. The worst affected states were Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and parts of the north east and are home to 500 million people.

A drought of this scale will pose a lot of challenges in water availability this summer. The IMD is releasing regular precipitation data which is being used by IITs to simulate soil moisture conditions across the states.

Private weather forecaster Skymet has muddied the waters further by claiming that 2019 will see a `below normal monsoon warning that the months of June and July will see a weak rainfall. This is especially dampening because the Indian economy is dependent on monsoon rains.

This lack of monsoon is further accentuated with the El Nino effect which occurs in the Pacific coast of South America and is known to result in less rain and corresponding higher temperatures.

This view is in line with the findings of the eighth assessment report of the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Chanel. Scientists who have contributed to the report warn that the last three decades have been the warmest since 1850 and the situation thanks to deforestation and glacial melt is only expected to get worse.

Environmentalist Prof Vikram Soni who has done extensive studies on sustainable cities believes, "master plans for every city must be built around the carrying capacity of a city. Every city must make itself sustainable and if our cities, as they tend to do, exceed the carrying capacity, the quality of life will get affected as is happening across the footprint of India.
The agency had arrested Punalekar and Bhave from Mumbai on 25 May in connection with the Narendra Dabholkar murder case

Pune: A Pune court on Saturday sent Vikram Bhave and advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, the two accused in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case, to CBI custody.

After hearing the arguments, Additional Sessions Judge AV Rotte sent the two accused to CBI custody till 4 June.

During the course of hearing, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Suryavanshi, appearing for the CBI, submitted before the court that Punalekar crossed all his limits as an advocate and advised Kalaskar to destroy the weapons used in the murder of Dabholkar, following which four pistols were thrown and destroyed.

SPP Suryavanshi contended that accused Vikram Bhave showed the way of escape to the assailants. "It is a big chain of conspiracy, hence, five days of time is not enough. Sanjeev Punalekar's custody is required. He is not cooperating in the investigation. He knows what he has done but is not sharing it during the interrogation. Hence we want more time investigate him," the public prosecutor told the court.

"A mobile phone and two laptops have been recovered from the possession of Punalekar. The data analysis for the same is on and we want to confront him on this data," Suryavanshi contended.

The investigation agency further submitted that forensic psychology analysis and statement analysis tests were conducted on Punalekar and the results of the same are still awaited.

Suryavanshi submitted, "We want to know from Vikram Bhave whether more people were involved in the reccee as the vehicle used in the killing is not yet recovered."

Concluding his arguments, the public prosecutor demanded for 14 days custody of the two accused. "It's a big conspiracy and as per the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, we are entitled to avail 30 days of custody, however, we need only 14 days custody of the accused persons," CBI's counsel contended.

Commencing his arguments, Sanjeev Punalekar through his counsel Subhash Jha submitted before the court that his advice to Kalaskar is not illegal. "If some client comes to me seeking advice, it's my right to have privileged communication under Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act and that is not illegal," he submitted.

While advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay appearing for another accused Vikram Bhawe told the court that both the accused persons were interrogated by CBI for two days before the arrest. In spite of that, they could not get any material for making any arrest.

"The investigation agency has got no justification to arrest the accused persons. The statement of Sharad Kalaskar based on which the duo is arrested is taken in some other case and is not related to this case," Upadhyay submitted before the court.

He added that the probe agency has issued summons to the two accused on Whatsapp and no legal summons were served to them.

The agency had arrested Punalekar and Bhave from Mumbai on 25 May in connection with the murder case. Punalekar is also an advocate for the case and has been advocating for many right-wing accused in different cases.

Founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), Dabholkar was shot by bike-borne assailants while returning home from a morning walk on 20 August, 2013.
The decisions taken within 24 hours after Modi and his Council of Ministers were sworn in have heightened expectations from the first regular budget of the Modi 2.0 government. If this much could be given by an executive order then people would surely hope for more to be contained in finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech

Modi government 2.0 hit the ground running. The first decisions of first Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, held in less than 24 hours of his Council of Ministers being sworn-in by the President, are pro-poor, pro-farmer, pro-unorganised labor and for welfare of families of soldiers killed in terror and Naxal attacks.

The range of decisions taken are significant in at least five counts  first, by doing so he has consolidated gains of massive mandate he got in these elections, current and potential support at the bottom of social and economic pyramid.

Second, it gives a sense of the direction in which the Modi government in its second term would be headed to. This completely reverses the charge made by Congress president Rahul Gandhi against Prime Minister Modi that it was suit boot Sarkar". Modi had earlier said his government was dedicated to the poor and by Fridays Cabinet decision he has given an indication to his resolve and intent.

Third, even as a month and half long election process was going on and the government formation took its own time, the process of policy making was on and the bureaucrats were accordingly directed to be ready with a Cabinet note to be approved in first meeting of the Union Cabinet. That shows the kind of confidence Modi had about the outcome of these elections, his return to power.

Normally a cabinet note is prepared by the ministry and the minister of the department concerned and goes to the Cabinet Secretary and the PMO for consideration and approval. There are instances when files moves back and forth for weeks and even months before it is put up to the Cabinet. In this case, the speed of file movement is noteworthy, essentially meaning that Modi was clear as to what he wants for the first Cabinet meeting. It wouldnt be wrong to say that it was a PMO driven exercise.

Fourth, in his first day of office, the prime minister has come true to four things listed at the top of the ruling BJPs 2019 vision document, which was released in the first week of April, days ahead of the first phase of polling. The vision document opened with nation first and the things listed as top priority were national security, welfare of farmers, animal husbandry and welfare of small traders.

Fifth, the decisions taken today have heightened expectations from the first regular budget of the Modi 2.0 government to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. If this much could be given by an executive order then people would surely hope for more to be contained in finance ministers budget speech.

Now, consider the decisions taken in the Cabinet meeting  it fulfilled the promise made by Modi in his election campaign that the two-hectare or five-acre ceiling would be removed for giving Rs 6,000 per annum to farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. It would now cover around 18.5 crore farmers and the government would now be spending a total of Rs 87,000 crore as against earlier outlay of Rs 75,000 crore. The scheme would now be universal for those engaged in agricultural activity.

Then a new pension scheme for small and medium farmers would be initiated. Similar scheme will be initiated for small traders, those having an annual income of Rs 1.50 crore, and those who are out of the GST purview. In the next three years, the government intends to cover five crore traders. The government has also come out with an animal husbandry scheme to deal with the diseases which trouble cattle in India. Though this is an ongoing scheme, the provisions till now were such that the Centre paid 60 percent and states had to pay 40 percent. Now the Centre would be paying the entire amount to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore.

Minutes before Modi walked into the conference room to chair the Cabinet meeting, he signed the very first file of his new term, an order dedicated to the welfare of families of those who live and die to defend the nation. He tweeted:

Our Governments first decision dedicated to those who protect India! Major changes approved in PMs Scholarship Scheme under the National Defence Fund including enhanced scholarships for wards of police personnel martyred in terror or Maoist attacks. https://t.co/Vm90BD77hm pic.twitter.com/iXhFNlBCIc  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 31, 2019

The words "enhanced scholarships for wards of police personnel martyred in terror or Maoists attacks" is important. The scholarship amount as increased from Rs 2,000 per month to Rs 2,500 per month for boys and from Rs 2,250 per month to Rs 3,000 per month for girls. The ambit of the Scholarship Scheme was extended to wards of state police officials who were killed during terror and Naxal attacks. So far, it was meant for personnel armed forces, para-military and Railway Protection Group forces only.

A note, the link to which was shared by the prime minister in his tweet, and published on his official website, said, As a nation, it is our duty not only to express gratitude but also do things that improve the welfare of the police personnel and their families. It is in this spirit that the prime minister has taken the decision. The availability of scholarship with enable more youngsters from police families to study and excel in different fields. It will have an empowering effect on several bright young minds."

Five years ago when Modi had chaired his first Union Cabinet meeting on 27 May 2014, the first decision he took was to constitute a Special Investigative Team (SIT) on black money headed by Justice MB Shah. Black money was a major issue of his poll campaign and on assuming office he was taking a step forward to fulfil that promise. On 31 May 2019, on initiation of second consecutive term, he was following the pattern he had set for himself in his his first term.
The draft of the new National Education Policy, proposed by the panel constituted by Javadekar when he was HRD minister in the previous Modi government, had suggested teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states.

New Delhi: In the wake of a controversy over the recommendation of an HRD Ministry panel to teach Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, Union minister Prakash Javadekar Saturday clarified that the committee had only prepared a draft report and no decision has been taken on implementing it. He asserted that no language should be imposed on anyone.

The draft of the new National Education Policy, proposed by the panel constituted by Javadekar when he was HRD minister in the previous Modi government, had suggested teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states.

"The committee has submitted its report. The draft has been prepared but government has not taken any decision. It is just a misunderstanding. We will only take a decision after feedback on the draft has been received," Javadekar told reporters.

His reaction came after parties in Tamil Nadu, including the DMK, Saturday strongly opposed the three language formula's continuation with add-on features proposed in the draft National Education Policy alleging it was tantamount to "thrusting" Hindi and wanted it junked. "The Modi government's policy has always been that all languages should be developed and no language should be imposed on anyone. There should be no unnecessary apprehensions about it, the Union minister added.

Javadekar is the Union minister for information and broadcasting in the second Modi government. The HRD portfolio has been allotted to Ramesh Pokhriyal this time. "Students will be required to attain proficiency in discussing their major in at least one Indian language through an appropriate written project or presentation in that language," as per the draft policy said.

Besides the DMK, the CPI and BJP's ally in the Lok Sabha polls, the PMK, also alleged that the recommendation on the three language formula was "imposition of Hindi" and wanted scrapping it.

The three language formula which bats for Hindi from "pre-school to class 12 was a big shocker," and the recommendation would "divide" the country, DMK chief MK Stalin said. Tamil Nadu education minister K A Sengottaiyan told Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamil news channel: "There will be no deviation from the two-language formula followed in Tamil Nadu. Only Tamil and English will continue to be taught in our state." Sengottaiyan's party AIADMK is an ally of the BJP. AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran said, "Imposing Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states will destroy pluralism. This would make non-Hindi speakers second class citizens."
Asserting that the Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha will 'work together like a pride of brave-hearted lions' to protect the Constitution, party president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday stated that even though the party was two MPs short of qualifying as the main Opposition party, 'the BJP will have no walkover in the Parliament'.

After keeping his distance from the media and social media after the recent poll defeat, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took to Twitter to congratulate his mother Sonia Gandhi on being elected the leader of the Congress parliamentarians. He also used the platform to assert that his party's strength may be small in the Lok Sabha but that doesn't mean they would allow the BJP to have a "walkover in the House."

Rahul said that all the 52 Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha will "work together like a pride of brave-hearted lions" to protect the Constitution, even though the party was two MPs short of qualifying as the main Opposition party.

The Congress Party may have just 52 Lok Sabha members, but we will work together like a pride of brave hearted lions to protect our Constitution & Institutions & to fearlessly do our duty as the leading Opposition party. The BJP will have no walkover in Parliament. pic.twitter.com/Rx8aUZcqn3  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 1, 2019

What Rahul meant was that the Congress, which "accepted people's verdict" in the recently conducted Lok Sabha election, might not have the strength to even claim the official position of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House, but it will make the right noises to remain relevant as India's primary alternative to the BJP. Congress still remains the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also said that the "onus" was on the ruling party to choose to formally designate the party as the "principal opposition". He said, "It's a fact that the (main Opposition party) should be 10 percent of the strength of House. Since we're two (MPs) short, officially we can't have a Leader of Opposition."

"However, the onus also lies at the doorstep of the government  whether they want to designate a party formally as principal opposition or not." Surjewala said.

His statement was an echo of the Congress party's long standing demand since the 16th Lok Sabha, when it failed for the first time to get enough MPs elected to the House to claim the position of the main Opposition party. Then Leader of the Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge had refused to attend key meetings, including the one meant to pick the Lokpal for India, on this ground that his party did not want a mere symbolic presence, if the government was not willing to give him the rights that the Leader of the Opposition exercises. The party had pointed out that in favour of the democracy, the BJP should legislate to remove the 10 percent strength bar to be designated as the primary Opposition party, and change the criteria to let the single largest Opposition party play the role.

Surjewala's comments were also a partial retraction, or a clarification of sorts, of the comments made by Congress leader K Suresh earlier in the day.

Suresh had told ANI that UPA chairperson Sonia will "nominate" a Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He had added, "We will claim the Leader of Opposition and Deputy Speaker posts."

Congress held the CPP meeting a day after the new Cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was assigned their portfolios on Friday.

Reportedly, the Congress Parliamentary Party authorised Sonia to pick the party's leader in the Lok Sabha and Chief Whip. Rahul also tweeted in congrats for his mother's election, and said, "Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong and effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India."

The meeting, which was held for the first time since the declaration of the results of the General Election, was attended by all 52 newly-elected Lok Sabha MPs of the Congress. The party's Rajya Sabha members were also expected to be present at the meeting, PTI reported. Members of the Congress Working Committee were also present at the meeting.
Allaying fears that the BJP was trying to weaken the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka, the saffron party's state president BS Yeddyurappa Friday said central leaders have asked the state unit not to indulge in any activity to 'destabilise' the HD Kumaraswamy ministry.

Bengaluru: Allaying fears that the BJP was trying to weaken the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka, the saffron party's state president BS Yeddyurappa Friday said central leaders have asked the state unit not to indulge in any activity to "destabilise" the HD Kumaraswamy ministry.

Yeddyurappa also asked the coalition partners to concentrate on the development of the state and made it clear that his party will not make any attempts to engineer the fall of the government. The JD(S)-Congress coalition dispensation has been trying to avert a potential existential crisis after the drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.

I want to tell you one thing. I'm coming from Delhi. Our Delhi leaders have told us not to indulge in any activity to destabilise this government, Yeddyurappa told reporters. He alleged Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah was behind the ongoing political circus in the state for self-gains.

We will remain silent for now. Anything may happen because of their infighting, but we will not make any attempts to pull this government down by making Congress-JD(S) MLAs to switch sides, this is the clear instructions from Delhi, he said.

The statement by Yeddyurappa gains significance in view of heightened activities by the alliance partners to save the coalition amid fears of BJP intensifying its onslaught on it.

The coalition's worries have multiplied after the BJP's spectacular win with 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in its pocket, leaving a mere one seat each to the Congress and JDS, which, despite a joint fight, were swept away by the Modi wave.

Also, growing unrest within the party and threat by rebel MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi to quit Congress along with other MLAs has worried the leadership, as it would trigger a number game in the assembly. In a bid to placate the disgruntled MLAs, the Congress has been mulling expansion of the one-year old ministry or a reshuffle.

The BJP and Yeddyurappa had earlier predicted the collapse of the coalition after the Lok Sabha poll results, claiming 20 odd Congress MLAs were unhappy and may take "a decision" anytime.

Asking the Congress and the JD(S) to focus on the development of the state and on drought relief measures, Yeddyurappa said: "Let them waive farmers' loan as promised. We are not craving for power; we are not in need of it also."

He said BJP had the strength to work as an opposition. "We have our government in Delhi. With honesty we will work as opposition. We don't have any reservations as long as they (state government) carry on the developmental works, Yeddyurappa added.
Newly-elected Lok Sabha MPs of the Congress will meet for the first time on Saturday and are likely to elect the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).

New Delhi: Newly-elected Lok Sabha MPs of the Congress will meet for the first time on Saturday and are likely to elect the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). The CPP is currently chaired by Sonia Gandhi. All 52 Lok Sabha MPs will be present at the meeting, besides its members in the Rajya Sabha, sources said.

The meeting will be held in the central hall of Parliament and MPs will also chalk out its strategy for the upcoming session of Parliament, they said.

In its first meeting after the constitution of the 17th Lok Sabha, the Congress MPs are also likely to elect their leader in the Lower House, the sources said.

They said this will be the first official meeting that Congress president Rahul Gandhi will attend after the meeting of the party's working committee held on 25 May, where he offered to quit as Congress chief.

The CWC has already rejected his offer to resign and unanimously passed a resolution authorising him to bring structural changes in the party at all levels in a bid to revamp it.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected as the chief of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the meeting held on Saturday morning.

Sonia, UPA chairperson, was re-elected as the chief of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the meeting held on Saturday morning. The Opposition party held the CPP meeting a day after the new Cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was assigned their portfolios.

Reportedly, the Congress Parliamentary Party authorised Sonia to pick the party's leader in the Lok Sabha and Chief Whip. She has convened a meeting of senior leaders on Saturday afternoon to decide on the matter, PTI reported.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted in congrats for his mother's election, and said, "Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong and effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India."

The meeting, which was held for the first time since the declaration of the results of the General Election, was attended by all 52 newly-elected Lok Sabha MPs of the Congress. The party's Rajya Sabha members were also expected to be present at the meeting, PTI reported. Members of the Congress Working Committee were also present at the meeting.

#Visuals Sonia Gandhi has been elected as Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). pic.twitter.com/hDapq8FkJ3  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

The meeting was held in the Central Hall of Parliament and the MPs also reportedly discusses the Congress' strategy for the upcoming session of Parliament, which is scheduled to begin on 17 June.

Sonia's name was proposed by former prime minister Manmohan Singh and seconded by Jharkhand MP Jothimani S and Kerala MP K Sudhakaran. Sonia, in her speech, lauded the role of Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the Lok Sabha polls.

Rahul led the "party from the front with dynamism", she said, adding that the party with its 52 MPs in Lok Sabha will play the role of the Opposition sincerely and raise people's issues.

This was the first official meeting that Congress president Rahul Gandhi attended after the meeting of the party's working committee held on 25 May, where he offered to quit as Congress chief. The CWC has already rejected his offer to resign and unanimously passed a resolution authorising him to bring structural changes in the party at all levels in a bid to revamp it. Rahul, however, has remained adamant on stepping down and has asked the Congress to elect a non-Gandhi president to helm the party.

On Friday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the slump in economic growth and unemployment are two important challenges before the country and expressed the hope that the new government would address these issues.

With inputs from agencies
The CPM secretariat in a report in regard to its Lok Sabha poll debacle in Kerala said a section of its traditional voters did not cast their ballot in favour of its candidates.

Thiruvananthapuram: The CPM secretariat in a report in regard to its Lok Sabha poll debacle in Kerala said a section of its traditional voters did not cast their ballot in favour of its candidates. The report was submitted before its state committee on Friday and the discussion on it will end Saturday.

"The report of the party secretariat was submitted before the state committee. The discussion on the report is going on. The discussion will continue tomorrow," a source said.

Sources said though the report states that devotees in general were misled, it does not mention Sabarimala. The ruling-Left, faced a massive defeat while the Congress-led United Democratic Front bagged 19 of the 20 seats in the state.

The report mentions that the concentration of minority votes in favour of opposition parties also resulted in the losing the 19 seats. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier categorically said that the Sabarimala agitation had not affected the election results in the state.

Vijayan had said that if Sabarimala was an election issue, then the votes would have gone to the BJP, who had tried to take advantage of the Sabarimala issue.

The state had witnessed widespread violence by a section of frenzied devotees led by right-wing groups and the BJP after the state government had decided to implement the 28 September Supreme Court order allowing entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala.

The BJP had pinned its hopes on the issue to open its account in the state to Lok Sabha but failed to gain any progress in that regard.
'The provisional voter turnout data reported on ECI website is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers,' the EC said.

New Delhi: The Election Commission Saturday described the reports about "ghost voters" in the Lok Sabha polls as incorrect, saying the claims were based on provisional turnout data uploaded on its website.

"The provisional voter turnout data reported on ECI website is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers. Therefore, it is incorrect inference to find ghost voters when there are none," according to a statement issued by the Commission.

The poll panel reacted days after a section of the media reported that there was discrepancy in the total turnout and the actual number of electors in some states.

Responding to the reports, the EC said two categories of votes are counted to arrive at the final result  those polled in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and those that are collected through postal ballots from service voters and also from the personnel deployed for poll duties outside their constituencies.

"The provisional voter turnout data is displayed as percentage figure on the EC website and Voter Helpline mobile app on the poll day as uploaded by the Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer based on the approximate percentage turnout figures obtained from sector magistrates, who in-turn get it periodically over phone/in person from about 10 presiding officers," the Commission said.

After scrutiny of documents by the Returning Officer, provisional number of general voters' turnout is compiled and uploaded on the ECI website based on the polling station wise tentative turnout data reported by the presiding officers.

"All these figures are provisional, based on estimates which are subject to change as is made clear from the disclaimer on the website..." it said.

The postal ballot count is added to the EVM general voters' count to give the final votes polled in every parliamentary constituency and the winning candidate is given return certificate in form 21E by the returning officers.

Based on both the EVM votes and postal ballots, the returning officer prepares Form 21E and Index Card in which the break-up of voter turnout, including tendered votes for the constituency, is tallied to get the final voter turnout for each constituency.

Since the index card takes months to prepare, the commission said it had directed all the Returning Officers on 26 March, 2019, to send the Index Cards within 15 days of the declaration of the result.

The commission said reconciliation of voters' data for all parliamentary constituencies have been completed in all the states and the Index Forms of all 542 parliamentary constituencies are expected to reach the ECI from Returning Officers shortly.
He has also been additionally given the junior ministry in the Commerce and Industry Ministry in which Piyush Goyal is the Cabinet minister

Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday took charge as the new Civil Aviation Minister under the second Narendra Modi cabinet. He has also been additionally given the junior ministry in the Commerce and Industry Ministry in which Piyush Goyal is the Cabinet minister.

Puri is among the few BJP leaders who lost the Lok Sabha polls 2019 despite the Modi wave. He contested from Amritsar parliamentary seat in Punjab and lost to Congress' Gurjeet Singh Aujla with a margin on 99,626. Puri's loss is credited to infighting within Punjab BJP.

Born on 15 February, 1952, Puri did BA (Hons) History from Hindu College, University of Delhi and was placed first in order of merit in 1971. He completed his MA (History) in 1973.

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. During a career spanning 39 years, he served in senior positions at the Ministries of External Affairs and Defence, held ambassadorial level posts in the United Kingdom, Brazil and served as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations both in Geneva and New York. He had earlier served in Indias Missions in Tokyo, and Colombo.

He was President of the United Nations Security Council in August 2011 and November 2012 and Chairman of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in 2011-2012.

He was inducted in the Union Cabinet on 3 September, 2017 and took over as Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 4 September, 2017.
Congress' complete whitewash in Rajasthan and Gujarat  besides Madhya Pradesh where the party has been reduced to a single seat  undercuts the carefully crafted narrative of the electorate's acceptance of Rahul as a Hindu leader and raises doubts over the sagacity of the party apparatchiks to take on Modi-Shah in their own turf

In the run up to Gujarat Assembly election in 2017 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had remarked, "BJP has always been a pro-Hindutva party and if someone wants to mimic us I do not have any complaints. But there's a basic principle in politics, if an original is available why would anyone prefer a clone?" The comment came at a time when Rahul Gandhi was resetting his image as a pious Hindu with his series of temple runs in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, including performing puja before the historically and symbolically important shrine of Somnath. Determined to shed the tag of a secular liberal that he was perceived or portrayed to be, the Gandhi scion thought it was the most prudent way to move ahead in Gujarat.

The initial signs were encouraging with the saffron outfit's relentless attempts to raising doubts over the Congress president's faith receiving a cold frown from the electorate as Congress increased its tally in the state from 61 to 77. The pattern of temple run and rediscovering of his Hindu roots was further given a boost during Karnataka elections and then came a pilgrimage made to Kaliash Mansarovar.

The Assembly elections to three Hindi heartland states at the fag end of 2018 saw little let up in the ostentatious display of the leaders faith. While the Congress left the BJP behind, gasping for breath in Chhattisgarh, the party barely scraped through the finishing line in Rajasthan while in Madhya Pradesh it only emerged as the single largest party stopping just short of the majority mark. The spin doctors and sycophants within the party claimed the victories to be a sure sign of Rahuls image makeover as a janeudhari Shiv Bhakt finding resonance within the Hindu voters who otherwise would have lined up to vote for Modi. The narrative was lapped up by the media, unchallenged by experts or political watchers till 23 May, 2019 when Modi completed a home run decimating the Congress in the very states where it claimed that Rahuls Hindutva image had reaped rich dividends for the party.

In Gujarat and Rajasthan ,where the saffron unit had maxed winning all the seats, the party has repeated its performance and even improved its vote share: an increase of 2.89 percentage points from 55.61 percent in 2014 to 58.5 percent in 2019 in Rajasthan and by 3.11 percentage points in Gujarat  from 59.1 percent in 2014 to 62.21 percent this time. In Madhya Pradesh the party has snatched one seat from the Congress taking its tally up to 28 out of 29 seats with an increase in vote share by 3.24 percentage points. Despite the party losing a seat to Congress in the naxal-affected Chhattisgarh the party managed to improve its vote share by 1.04 percentage points. Whether it's in Somnath, which falls under Junagadh seat, Bhopal, Ujjain, Varanasi or Pushkar, which falls under Ajmer, the party was left struggling to catch up with the BJP.

Congress' complete whitewash in Rajasthan and Gujarat  besides Madhya Pradesh where the party has been reduced to a single seat  undercuts the carefully crafted narrative of the electorate's acceptance of Rahul as a Hindu leader and raises doubts over the sagacity of the party apparatchiks to take on Modi-Shah in their own turf. So how did Rahul's carefully-crafted image makeover of rediscovering his Hindu roots and influencing voters went kaput?

First and foremost Rahuls decision to fight from Wayanad in Kerala, a seat which has a substantial concentration of minority voters, went against him. Compare it to Modis decision to fight from Varanasi in 2014 and 2019, a seat that resonates strongly with Hindu ethos and holds significant symbolism to Hindu pride and resurgence, and you will ascertain why Rahul cannot even challenge Modi as a symbol of political Hindutva, forget about unseating him. Rahuls decision to contest from Wayanad delivered a wrong message: when in doubt  as he was on a weaker platform in Amethi  the leader and party's default choice will always be to rely on the vote from minority community to see him through. It even allowed the Prime Minister to take a not-so-subtle dig at Rahul, "The Namdaar in Congress took out his microscope to select a safe seat where the majority is in minority."

Rahul falls drastically short when compared to the Prime Ministers long history of presenting himself as a Hindu mascot. Modi has had a long history of upholding Hindutva as a political weapon to woo voters. He had publicly refused to wear skull caps in full media glare; never threw an Iftar party and skipped scores of them. His convincing portrayal of Hindus as victims of attack from secular liberals and falsely blaming a section of the community for terror-related activities cut cord with the section of majority community who voted along religious lines.

The partys decision to field former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal, a known RSS baiter whose politically incorrect stance of questioning Batla House encounter also went against it. In fact Digvijayas nomination from Bhopal made things easier for the BJP as it fielded Malegaon-blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur against him with Modi publicly defending the Sadhvi in his rallies and press conferences. The Sadhvi's version of Hinduism  shrill, rabid and at times riddled with violent polemics - aggressively looks to confront the wrongs that has been afflicted on the Sanatana Dharma and restore its original glory. She was brought into the mainstream to test this idea's political legitimacy. The defeat of Digvijaya by three-and-half-lakh votes further established once and for all and sent an ominous signal to the Congress whose leader Rahul had put his political future on a pluralistic, progressive, all-encompassing version of the faith.

A parivar insider, who wished to remain anonymous said, "It was Rahul's father who opened the gates of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. But the party has shied away from taking the advantage of it politically, which the BJP exploited to the hilt. One cannot be as wishy-washy if one is dangling with religious sentiments for political gains." Even today, decades after LK Advanis barb of pseudo secularism got stuck around Congress' neck like an albatross, the party struggles to get rid of it." The grand-old party has been singed time and again from the ills of indecisiveness after being caught at sixes and sevens when it came to taking a clear-cut stance on controversial issues involving faith. The partys posture on Ram Temple is one such example. A party cannot remain neutral or its members cannot ask the apex court to defer the case as it might hurt it electorally. Issues like Ram Temple are of paramount importance for the votaries of political Hindutva.

The Congress president's stance on Triple Talaq is a reminiscence of what Rajiv Gandhi did post Shah Bano verdict. Checkmated by Modis pragmatism, the Congress took refuge in technicalities of the bill to oppose it. By allowing Sushmita Dev (an MP in sixteenth Lok Sabha) to oppose the bill on the floor of the house and later promising to withdraw it Rahul made the same mistake his father did when he upturned the Supreme Courts verdict on Shah Bano case through his brute majority in Parliament. The majority saw through his stratagem and the optics of temple visits fell flat.

The pattern was repeated with the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The careful maneuvering by the ruling dispensation in bringing in the Citizenship Amendment Bill that spoke about accepting and granting citizenship to displaced and migrant non-Muslims in South Asia left the Congress with no other option but to vote against it. In states like Assam and West Bengal, where it is a major issue, the party lost considerable ground among Hindus who were once migrants.

In fact, experts feel that the Congress party and its fellow travelers are yet to come to terms with political Hindutva as espoused by the BJP. Indira Gandhi did depict herself as staunch nationalist and never hid herself from visiting temples or heads of various Mutts. But then Jana Sangh wasnt as powerful as the BJP under Modi is and its influence to polarize voters was limited. The modern version of todays political Hindutva had its first genesis in the late 80s during the heady days of Mandal-Kamandal politics when BJP rose like a Phoenix riding on the back of Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Since then the Congress base has been slowly shrinking in the Hindi heartland and Gujarat with BJP eating away at its support base wherever there is a direct fight between them. The grand-old party has always fallen short of matching up or even negating the Parivars influence whenever elections have been fought along communal lines.

So where does Rahul or more precisely the Congress soft Hindutva go from here? Should it junk its soft Hindutva and aggressively embrace a belligerent version of the same emulating BJP and claiming credit for opening the gates of Ram Mandir during Rajiv Gandhis prime ministership? "Imitations or a sudden change doesnt work in politics. It takes a long time to build a brand and manage public perception. Will people accept a cool-Dhoni displaying aggression the way Kohli does or vice versa?" says Sriram Karri, author and political analyst. So can the party really return to its UPA days of secularism when Manmohan Singh had said that Muslims being minority have the first right on the countrys resources to counter Modi-Shah's political Hindutva? "The Congress has to engage with a new set of intellectuals and civil society and offer a counter narrative. It has to rebuild itself on a new set of tenets and give a new meaning to its ideas," says sociologist Shiv Visvanathan. For a party which in its pristine version had led India to its freedom the future looks bleak if it has to take on Modi-Shah duo on issues of Hindutva, unless its prepared to wait for the regime to fall under the burden of anti-incumbency.
The five persons from Madhya Pradesh who have been named as ministers are Narendra Tomar, Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Dharmendra Pradhan, Prahlad Singh Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inducted five Members of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh as ministers in his team. This may be seen as a reward for the BJP's performance in Madhya Pradesh, where it won all seats barring one, despite the state having a Congress government.

Although the BJP lost the Assembly elections in 2018, the party won 28 seats in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election (as compared to 27 seats in 2014). In fact, when the Lok Sabha polls were contested, the BJP held only 26 seats, as the Congress had won a bypoll and increased its tally to three seats.

In the 2019 election, the BJP proved speculations and calculations of political pundits wrong, and reduced the Congress to just one seat  Chhindwara. Although the Congress had wrested power from the BJP in the state after 15 years, the grand old party had failed to leverage its performance to increase its tally in the Lok Sabha election.

The five persons from Madhya Pradesh who have been named as ministers are Narendra Tomar (Agriculture, Farmers' Welfare and Rural Development), Thaawar Chand Gehlot (Social Justice and Empowerment), Dharmendra Pradhan (Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel), Prahlad Singh Patel (MoS, Independent charge: Culture) and Faggan Singh Kulaste (MoS, Steel). The first three of these are Cabinet ministers. Although Pradhan is from Odisha, he is a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh.

From the three states that the Congress had won from the BJP in last year's Assembly elections (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan), nine MPs have been given ministerial berths in the NDA 2.0 government. In all these states, issues of agraian distress and tribal welfare hold significance.

The three ministers from Rajasthan are: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Cabinet minister, Jal Shakti), Kailash Choudhary (MoS, Agriculture and Farmers welfare) and Arjun Meghwal (MoS, Parliamentary Affairs). From Chhattisgarh, Renuka Singh Saruta (MoS, Tribal Affairs) has been appointed as a minister.

What makes Madhya Pradesh important?

Madhya Pradesh has less than half the number of Lok Sabha seats (29) as compared to Uttar Pradesh (80). However, the number of ministers from the state (five) is half of the number of ministers from Uttar Pradesh (ten). This shows the political importance of the central state.

During the first NDA government, seven MPs from Madhya Pradesh had got ministerial berths, while one (Sumitra Mahajan) had become the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Earlier also, during the tenures of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, several notable MPs from Madhya Pradesh had become ministers, such as Vidya Charan Shukla, Madhavrao Scindia, Arjun Singh, Suresh Pachouri, Arvind Netam, etc. More recently, in the UPA years, Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Arun Yadav had become central ministers.

Shankar Dayal Sharma, who was the chief minister of the erstwhile Bhopal state from 1952 to 1956, had later become the President of India (1992-1996).

However, it is in the NDA regime that the maximum number of MPs from the state have been made ministers at the Centre.

By giving ministerial berths to Gehlot, Patel and Kulaste, Modi appears to have sought to reach out to people belonging to Scheduled Castes, OBCs and tribals respectively.

Gehlot, considered close to Modi, represents the Balai community, which is included among the Scheduled Castes, and has a significant presence in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Patel belongs to the Lodhi community, which is included among the OBCs. Patel has an image of a firebrand labour leader, and had also been a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Renuka Singh Saruta from Chhattisgarh's Surguja is one of the BJP's tribal faces. Parivesh Mishra, Chhattisgarh-based political commentator, said, "Saruta belongs to the Gond community, which has a presence throughout Chhattisgarh and is the single largest tribe in the state. Although she is a first-time MP, she had been a minister in the Raman Singh-led state government. This experience at the central level will help her to a certain extent. She has won with a margin of 1.5 lakh votes  the highest among the three tribal seats won by the BJP in Chhattisgarh. Her appointment as an MoS will send a strong positive message among tribals.

During the 2018 Assembly elections in the three Hindi heartland states, farmer distress had emerged as a major issue. In 2017, Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh had witnessed a farmers' agitation which saw large-scale mob violence. Six people were killed in police firing in the district.

It may have been a strategic move by Modi to appoint a Cabinet minister and Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively. Similarly, the appointment of two tribal Ministers of State (one each from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) may be seen as an attempt to consolidate the tribal vote bank.

The appointment of Tomar as a Cabinet minister for the second time in a row is a recognition of his strong organisational skills. He had been the Madhya Pradesh BJP chief for two terms. During his tenure, the party had won two consecutive Assembly elections.
The SDF has even alleged that family members of former Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling have been attacked.

Sikkim is reeling under post-poll violence after the state saw a change of guard in its Assembly election, the results for which were declared on 23 May. The ousted Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) has alleged that anti-social elements from Nepal have been hired to perpetuate violence against the Opposition.

The SDF, led by Pawan Chamling, had held power for five consecutive terms. In the recently-concluded election, it was ousted by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), and a new dispensation under the leadership of PS Golay was established.

Right from the day the result was announced, we have been attacked at various places by Sikkim Krantikari Morcha workers, alleges Rup Narayan Rai, convenor of the SDF. The SDF has even alleged that family members of Chamling have been attacked.

A relative of Chamling, who did not wish to be named fearing for his safety, told Firstpost, "On the night of 23 May, SKM workers attacked and vandalised my home."

He also said that apart from his home in Namchi, a town in South Sikkim district, a number of homes and institutions of other members of the former chief minister's family have been attacked.

A resort named Seven Hills Resort, owned by a relative of Chamling, a shop and the homes of a number of his family members were attacked and vandalised," he said.

Rup Narayan Rai further alleged that one of the biggest attacks took place in the Sikkim Eco-Tourism Hut, a co-operative run by SDF workers. He also added that a number of workers and party offices spread across South Sikkim district have been attacked.

Among the attacks were the vandalisation of the Namchi District Party office, an attack at the house of Namchi councillor Khusboo Verma, and assaults on a number of panchayat-level workers of the party, he added.

He also said that vehicles owned by SDF workers too were attacked or burnt and two police personnels were also injured in a tussle with the SKM workers.

He said that most attacks took place in South Sikkim, where the SDF has the strongest presence. It seems to be a design to scare away workers of the SDF before by-elections are held in three Assembly constituencies. If the SDF wins these by-elections, the SKM would lose power. It seems that they are trying to confine SDF workers to their homes, he said.

Bypolls in three constituencies are likely to take place soon. In the Assembly election, the SKM won by a slim margin of two seats. The party won 17 seats, while the SDF won 15 seats.

Many in the SDF believe miscreants were hired from Nepal to cause violence.

Sikkim is a small place and people know each other. But many miscreants who were involved in the violence do not seem to belong to Sikkim. We suspect that they were hired from Nepal, said Chamling's relative.

However, the police have termed these cases as minor incidents that occurred during post-poll celebrations. Manish Verma, Superintendent of Police in the South Sikkim district, said, "Most cases are related to stone-throwing which led to windows of homes and cars being broken. Two people involved in such activities have been arrested. A few preventive arrests have also been made. The situation is under control now.

Verma said that only three cases related to post-poll violence have been registered in the South Sikkim district headquarters. He also denied claims about the miscreants having been hired from Nepal, terming them as "rumours."

He said that a police constable sustained a minor injury in a scuffle with a group of intoxicated men.

On its part, the SKM denies all the allegations against it, saying that these are all false and fabricated cases.

Jacob Khaling, political secretary to the chief minister, said, Why would our party attack the SDF workers in South Sikkim district when we have a strong presence in other districts too? The SDF is not being able to accept the fact that it has lost the election, and so it is trying to defame us. The chief minister has instructed the police to take stringent action against anyone who violates the law and creates unrest. Peace is our main motto.
Reuters

By Tyler Choi

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Digital Charter lacks sufficient legal enforcement power to effectively protect privacy and regulate use of personal data, according to critics worried that a smart city project in Toronto by Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs unit could be misused for mass surveillance.

The Digital Charter was announced this month to guide Canada on data and the digital economy, and mentions concerns about smart cities. Sidewalk Toronto https://sidewalktoronto.ca is a data-driven urban development project that Sidewalk Labs has proposed for the city's harbourfront. The smart city development would use sensors in public areas to detect energy use, traffic and pollution.

The Digital Charter "is intended to provide comfort to citizens of Canada regarding privacy, but it's talk," said Ann Cavoukian, former information and privacy commissioner of Ontario.

Cavoukian resigned from her position as a privacy advisor for Sidewalk Labs last year after the project did not guarantee anonymity with a provision to let people remove their identity from a publicly viewable database called the Civic Data Trust.

"That would mean personally identified data would be the end of privacy," Cavoukian said.

Sidewalk Labs spokeswoman Keerthana Rang said in an email to Reuters that the project was pleased to see the Digital Charter provide for creation of data trusts and would keep working on the issue with Waterfront Toronto and the federal government.

She said Sidewalk Labs was committed to allowing anonymity but could not compel other companies and individuals to comply. Rang said Sidewalk Labs will submit a proposal for Waterfront Toronto in June.

Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff said in a talk at last week's Collision Conference that the project could open the first buildings in 2023. Rang said the 2023 date is possible, but they are focusing on the June proposal and public consultations currently.

Brenda McPhail, director of the privacy, technology, and surveillance project of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said the Digital Charter does not go far enough to protect citizens against potential abuses of data.

"What's lacking is the solid legal safeguards to the extent that our government is committed to addressing data protection going forward," she said. McPhail said the Civic Data Trust and data mobility are useful, but not effective substitutes for the law.

"Giving people more control over their data is something the Digital Charter promised, and is a part of how we control our private information, but it's not efficient as a privacy protection, she said.

Data mobility, the right to transfer one's data from one company or organization to another, is proposed under the charter, aligning Canada with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulations.

Despite the criticism, a majority of Torontonians remain in favour of Sidewalk Labs. A poll from Toronto Region Board of Trade (TRBT) released last week showed 54% of those polled were in support of the project, and a poll from February also commissioned by the TRBT showed 55% approved the project.

(Editing by Denny Thomas and David Gregorio)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Nikhil Pahwa

India's new government was sworn in yesterday. The question we've been asked several times over the past few weeks is: what will this government do when it comes to Internet policy? The feeling of uncertainty around Internet policy is not unwarranted, especially given frenetic activity in the space since the beginning of 2018, where many new policy consultations were begun, and at times, orders were sprung upon businesses unexpectedly. Here are the themes or trends, based on what has happened over the past couple of years, that I feel are going to define Internet policy in India going forward:

1. A Rights, but approach to policy making

as opposed to a Rights first approach to policy making.

Human rights, and indeed, fundamental rights, are an inconvenient obstacle for the government, and policymaking will give primacy to growth and security objectives over rights.

The whitepaper on data protection, at a time when privacy was a significant concern, seemed to highlight the importance of data for economic growth and AI development, trying to find a balance between privacy and economic imperatives; the data protection bill that followed avoided limiting mass surveillance, while largely excluding the government from restrictive provisions of the bill. So, it became common to hear: privacy is important, but what about economic growth and national security? While looking to amend the IT Rules for online platform safe harbor, the line we heard often from the bureaucracy that they dont want to remove encryption or harm privacy, but they need to mandate traceability. Remember what Ned Stark said in Game of Thrones about the word but? Read this.

Recommendations:

Civil society and members of the public will have to be prepared to litigate in order to ensure that rights are protected, but also need to ensure that theyre present at all forums, speaking up on every issue, in every consultation. They need to ensure that their voices are heard, and whenever needed, dissent is recorded, if not by the government, then publicly.

Businesses will have to examine their role in protecting the rights of their customers, and take appropriate action, whether independently, through industry bodies, or supporting rights-based organisations. Let's not forget that businesses and industry bodies have litigated before: both in favor of retaining Aadhaar and for strengthening safe harbor (Section 79). There might be a need to go to court in order to protect privacy and/or safe harbor.

2. Data as a national asset

as opposed to an individual right.

Data is the new oil is a phrase were hearing often, from ministers, industrialists and regulators. Ensuring that data remains in government control either directly or via Indian corporations, seems to be an area of focus for government policy. Analytical data, previously seen as a companys intellectual property, is now being deemed community data, and thus belonging to the Government of India. There are three related sub-themes emerging:

2a. The digitisation of everything: As opposed to the idea in some cybersecurity circles that data is a toxic asset, and the cost of loss of data for an individual far exceeds the value for business of retaining it, the Indian government is in data collection and data generation mode. Whether it is digitisation of government schemes and interactions, or digitisation of public and private activity through the National Health Information Network, the installation of RFID chips on all vehicles, the identification project Aadhaar, or the creation of a public credit registry, India is undergoing an exercise of taking personal information and converting it into a public asset, all linked to a single unique ID number in Aadhaar, which lends itself to public and private profiling of individuals. Thus, the digitisation of everything leads to an increase in data generation, collection, and profiling.

2b. Data localisation: The corollary to the idea that data is a national asset is the idea that a national asset cannot be allowed to leave the physical boundaries of the country. While the data protection bill drafted by the Srikrishna Committee favored data mirroring, the RBI has mandated data localisation for financial transaction data, and the draft e-commerce policy suggested data localisation for e-commerce companies within a period of three years. It wouldnt be surprising if the final version of the data protection bill will enforce data localisation instead of mirroring.

2c: Data access and sharing: Data, once localised, needs to be available for enabling economic growth. Thus, both the first (leaked) and second (public) draft of the e-commerce policy mentioned the need to share community data with Indian startups. In addition to this, there are various stacks being created, whether for financial data, Healthstack for health data, or Dronestack for drone related information. While consent mechanisms will be critical here, along with Aadhaar, these stacks will enable the conversion of personal information first into public assets, and then enable privatisation. Consent may not necessarily be voluntary here, as denial of services has been seen as a means to enabling data collection.

Recommendations:

The idea of data being the new oil and being a national asset seems to be deeply ingrained in bureaucratic thinking and government action, and this needs to be challenged by ensuring that individual rights are at the center of all discussions. Civil society organisations need to help address key government concerns around competition, network effects and law enforcement, which allow them to push for data localisation. Provide alternative solutions to these issues. Data portability is a probable solution for addressing competition concerns. Civil society organisations also need to ensure that consent is meaningful and limited to a specific purpose. Mass data collection needs to be challenged both from a rights and a security breach perspective, as and when breaches happen; profiling of citizens needs to be challenged from a rights perspective. The real challenge will be addressing unrestricted and disproportionate government access to data.

Businesses can ensure that meaningful consent and purpose limitations are a competitive force for good, and participate in consultations and regulatory processes to ensure that customer rights are protected. Privacy helps build customer confidence and offers economic growth.

Remember: the code is law. Thus, accountability, neutrality and transparency in operations of various stacks, especially in the framing of policies and design of these systems, to allow equal opportunity for all businesses, is in everyones interest, and the need for preventing monopolisation, for example in case of NPCI, is essential.

3. National Security as a driving force

Cyber security is now being seen as critical for National Security, and this includes not just protecting critical digital assets and an increase in interception and monitoring of communications, but also protecting citizen data from being sent overseas. This is largely applicable to the activities of foreign players. At a recent TRAI Open House, on a consultation regarding the regulation of OTT communication applications, there was a row of ex-armed forces personnel, some of them high ranking, of the level of a Lt General. They demanded that calling via services like WhatsApp be intercept-able, at one point, alleging that terrorism in Kashmir returned after such apps became popular. Were seeing National Security concerns being raised even at discussions on data protection, e-commerce, with economic security also being seen as a critical part of policymaking.

Recommendations:

While security is only being looked at from the perspective of law enforcement access to data, the point that backdoors will invariably be misused and are themselves a security concern is an argument that isnt being made by many. The focus on National Security has shifted focus away from individual safety, and the point that you can't make the country secure by making all citizens vulnerable is rarely made. At the same time, civil society organisations need to address legitimate government concerns around international misuse of data, by foreign governments, which is used to both justify data localisation and unrestricted law enforcement access to data.

Businesses need to highlight concerns around the security of their customer data and the safety of their customers. Trust in digital services ensures greater usage and freedom in usage.

4. Regulators gonna regulate

There has been a dramatic increase in regulatory activity, especially since early 2018. As more and more people start using the Internet in India, ministries and regulators seem to be under increasing pressure to draw boundaries around what they think is their regulatory turf. Some, like TRAI, appear to be going beyond their jurisdiction of telecom and Internet-access, by looking into privacy, online communications apps and now possibly online video streaming apps with an intent to expand their remit. Others, like the DPIIT has recently encroached on the jurisdiction of MeitY by looking at data protection issues in the draft ecommerce policy.

Un-regulated or even lightly-regulated sectors, companies and activities, whether cryptocurrency trading, online streaming of video and music, online news publications and blogs, ecommerce platforms, mobile wallets, VoIP calling and messaging, social media and even online pharmacies saw much greater regulatory interest and scrutiny over the last year. There almost seems to be a belief that nothing should be allowed to operate unregulated, and freedom to experiment should only be in a controlled and restricted environment, which is a regulatory sandbox. Especially in the first quarter of this year, weve heard from lawyers, civil society and public policy executives about how stretched they have been, dealing with various issues cropping up, many unexpectedly.

Recommendations:

Increased regulatory activity calls for greater capacity building in policy issues, whether among civil society or industry. It also means that regulators and ministries, given the pressure on them to do something, also need to increase interactions with a wider set of stakeholders, to help build their capacity, given the impact that regulations will have. Regulatory overreach and jurisdiction expansion need to be challenged, lest it continues unopposed.

5. Preference for national megacorps

Scale is scary for the Indian government if those large corporations dont belong to India. Facebook and its mess around privacy and misadventures with Free Basics havent helped either. The concern about potential digital colonisation is pervasive, even as nationalism replaces the internationalism that liberalisation and the Internet brought in. The idea that data gathering (like the creation of oil reserves) is a strategic national exercise hasnt just led to the push for the creation of large government datasets: it has also resulted in a strategic move towards strengthening Indian megacorps and weakening large global corps. Indian companies, even if foreign-funded, are using this opportunity to push the nationalist agenda: the politicisation of Indian startup rhetoric began largely with the Startup India conference in January 2016 and has now found its way into regulatory filings and public pronouncements. The China model is being used by Indian businesses to push government policy to favor them and hurt global competitors.

Recommendations:

Strong privacy regulations, and an active data protection authority, as well as a re-look at competition law to address growing concerns around the centralisation of the Internet are necessary, not just to address concentration of power and data with global megacorps, but also Indian megacorps. While larger entities might be easier to regulate, innovation has rarely been the preserve of incumbents on the Internet, and individual freedoms often have been preserved through the infinite competition that the Internet has allowed. Its important for industry and civil society to push for decentralisation of the Internet, even though this is unlikely to happen, and regulators are likely to support the idea of national oligopolies.

6. Process as an inconvenience in policymaking

The TRAI, despite lack of transparency in final decision-making (wherein dissent, if any, remains private and/or unrecorded), remains the gold standard for policy consultations in India: it often has pre-consultation discussions and papers, issues a consultation paper for comments, gives adequate time for participation, allows for a counter comment stage, while at all times, allowing for comments and counter comments to be public, and there being open house discussions post submissions. In contrast, other departments havent been consultative or transparent. The Reserve Bank of Indias dictat to localise digital payments data came out of the blue and involved no public consultation or transparency in decision making. The submissions made to the data protection bill were never made public by the committee, neither were the comments on the bill itself. The data protection bill consultations were hosted without giving adequate time for participants to prepare their responses, and indeed, before even the submission deadline. Submissions to DPIIT on the e-commerce policy are not public, and there have been no open house discussions. In case of changes to the IT Rules, the consultation process seemed to begin almost as an afterthought, after information about rules being amended leaked to the media. Due process is an inconvenience for many departments, and sometimes responses arent even available under the Right to Information Act, which itself is under threat of dilution.

Recommendations:

Due process and transparency in policymaking are critical for retaining both public and industry trust. A meaningful and sincerely run process is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for creating a meaningful outcome. Participation allows all stakeholders, especially citizens, to be heard, and their points noted or taken on record. It is essential for everyone, whether civil society organisations, citizens, the media, or businesses, to push for an open, consultative, fair and transparent process. Lack of due process will eventually impact investment, even though some might continue to throw good money after bad.

This article originally appeared on MediaNama.
tech2 News Staff

Spotify appears to be testing a "Social Listening" feature that lets friends control the music that's playing next together.

This new feature is somewhat similar to Spotify's very own collaborative playlist feature, but the difference here is that 'social-listening' adds a real-time element to it. The feature is essentially meant to let you join forces with friends, family to decide what plays next, regardless of whether the person is physically near or not.

Software engineer Jane Manchun Wong, who's kicked up quite a reputation for discovering unreleased app features by digging through code, recently spotted the feature and posted about it on Twitter. Manchun Wong found the feature buried in Spotify's Android app code, which she combs through to reveal what the feature is all about.

The link to control my music will only work for those with access to Social Listening, meaning only Spotify employees for now For those at Spotify, feel free to go wild   Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 31, 2019

The "Social Listening" feature is currently only available to Spotify employees as part of a test, but Wong does attach screenshots of the feature in her tweets.

When connected to Spotify's Social Listening, you will show up on the "Already connected" list The "Now Playing" UI will show the amount of friends listening (friend's identity here replaced with mine for privacy) pic.twitter.com/Fo5rdH3xGO  Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 31, 2019

How does the "Social Listening" feature work?

In Spotify, there's a button that takes you to your connected devices, which normally allows you to determine what device you're playing your music on. For those with the new feature, the option "Connect with friends" appears in that menu.

When you choose that option, Spotify generates a QR code for you along with a link, or an option to "scan code." You can either share your code or link with a friend or scan someone else's code. Once you do, the "Now Listening" section of Spotify becomes social! It will show who's listening in the "Connect with friends" module, and anyone connected can control the music.

Wong does, however, mention that she was not able to determine how real-time or interruptive the feature is, because of the feature still being in an unreleased state.
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frustrated at an unending flow of migrants across the southern border, President Donald Trump overruled the advice of his two top trade advisers in abruptly imposing tariffs on Mexico, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday. U.S.

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frustrated at an unending flow of migrants across the southern border, President Donald Trump overruled the advice of his two top trade advisers in abruptly imposing tariffs on Mexico, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were both "blindsided" when Trump made the decision, said one of the sources.

Lighthizer had expressed fears that slapping the tariffs on Mexico could complicate efforts to get Congress to approve a recently agreed trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.

Trump announced on Thursday that as of June 10 he would impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico and would continue to ratchet it higher until Mexico takes action to stop an increase in mostly Central American migrants crossing the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

Jeff Emerson, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office, said on Friday that Lighthizer "supports the president and supports what the president is doing."

But the sources said Lighthizer had disagreed with Trump on the tariffs.

Emerson said the USTR will not be administering the Mexico tariffs, as it has done for duties levied on some $250 billion of Chinese goods in Trump's trade war with Beijing.

Instead, he referred questions about the tariffs on Mexico to the Department of Homeland Security, which will be the lead agency in the effort.

Spokespersons for the U.S. Treasury and DHS could not immediately be reached for comment.

Trump had grown increasingly agitated in recent days about the situation along the border, frustrated that nothing his administration had tried was stopping the surge in migrant arrivals, two administration officials said.

In April, U.S. border officers apprehended nearly 99,000 people crossing the U.S. southern border, the highest monthly figure since 2007.

Trump has diverted money from government agencies to pay for a border wall, an effort that has been tied up in courts, and his administration has separated some migrants from their children, but the policies have not had a significant effect on reducing the number of people crossing illegally.

He is eager to use immigration as an issue for his 2020 re-election campaign, but is under pressure to show results that he promised during his 2016 presidential run.

Trump had in the past talked about getting tougher on Mexico with tariffs but advisers had talked him out of it. This time, however, he decided to go ahead, two sources close to him said.

"He's putting his foot down," one said.

Trump felt that tariffs had forced Mexico to respond to U.S. concerns over trade relations in the past and wanted to try the tactic again. The decision was supported by Stephen Miller, his hawkish immigration adviser, the administration officials said.

CNBC, which initially reported the opposition by Mnuchin and Lighthizer, quoted a source as saying Trump made the decision on immigration after becoming "riled up" by conservative radio commentary about the surge in border crossings.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said earlier on CNBC that he believed Mexico will respond "very favourably and very quickly" to Trump's tariff action.

In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador predicted that Trump would ease up on his demands and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said he had begun negotiating with officials in Washington.

Navarro praised Trump's tariff plan as a "brilliant move" to pressure Mexico to help secure its own southern border and break up criminal gangs that he said were profiting from facilitating migration from Central America and through Mexico to the United States.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Makini Brice, David Lawder and Jeff Mason; Writing by David Alexander and David Lawder; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) - Fourteen Democratic presidential hopefuls seeking money and support in California, the most liberal and populous U.S.

By Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters) - Fourteen Democratic presidential hopefuls seeking money and support in California, the most liberal and populous U.S. state, will descend on San Francisco this weekend for a state party convention - with front-runner Joe Biden notably absent.

Appearances by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and other candidates highlight California's growing importance in the Democratic nominating process. Its 500 delegates are up for grabs three months earlier than in prior years, which could set the tone for the rest of the 2020 race.

Biden, a moderate, will instead attend an event in Ohio, avoiding what may become a raucous convention dominated by the party's progressive wing. Still, some political experts and party members said Biden risks sending the signal that he is taking California for granted.

San Francisco Democratic Party Chairman David Campos, who supports Sanders, called Biden's plan "a mistake."

"He has been expecting some sort of coronation," Campos said. "But there are no coronations in California."

Biden's campaign declined to say why the candidate opted not to attend, and California party officials say they do not know either. Biden is scheduled to speak Saturday night at a Columbus, Ohio, dinner held by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.

"In the coming weeks, Vice President Biden is looking forward to returning to California to meet with voters, learn firsthand about their concerns, and ultimately, compete strongly in the state," Biden spokesman Jamal Brown said in an email to Reuters.

Senior Biden campaign aides will attend the San Francisco convention, Brown said.

Biden is one of 24 Democrats seeking the party's nomination to run against Republican President Donald Trump in 2020. The former vice president under President Barack Obama has led polls nationally and in California since announcing his candidacy in April.

But experts say the field in California remains wide open. Sanders does not have the state locked up despite his progressive bona fides, nor does Harris, who has won statewide elections in California for attorney general and senator. Her Oakland presidential campaign launch drew 20,000 people.

Sanders, Harris and the dozen other candidates attending the convention will speak in brief appearances on Saturday and Sunday to about 5,000 delegates, guests and journalists gathered in San Francisco. Most of the contenders also plan to address a nearby event by the progressive group MoveOn.org.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff and Governor Gavin Newsom also are expected to attend.

CHASING BIDEN

Despite the short speaking slots and the crowd of candidates, attending the convention will be worthwhile for most of the hopefuls, said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. The poll in April showed Biden leading in California with support from 26% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents, followed by Sanders with 18% and Harris with 17%.

"Any candidate right now is chasing Joe Biden," Malloy said. "And chasing money. And California is the best place to chase the money."

For Biden, however, the calculation may be different.

Skipping the convention allows him to sidestep potential uncomfortable questions from progressives, said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles.

Biden will miss an opportunity to reach out to the party's left flank but also avoids the risk of saying something that conservatives can use against him later, Sonenshein said.

"Its a very energetic convention with a lot of people with their own opinions," Sonenshein said. "What you say to make them happy may come back to haunt you later."

The move also keeps Biden from appearing to be just one in a crowded field jostling for attention, said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a retired professor of public policy at the University of Southern California.

Had she been working for Biden, Bebitch Jeffe said, she would have advised him not to attend.

"He doesn't have to be part of this beauty contest," she said.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; additional reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and David Gregorio)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Josh Smith SEOUL (Reuters) - The factories have innocuous names, but analysts say several ostensibly civilian facilities visited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently are also used to build ballistic missile launchers and other weapons. On Saturday North Korea state news agency KCNA released reports of Kim providing 'field guidance' at a number of factories and cities, without specifying when the visits occurred. While the reports only mentioned economic elements, the sites help form the core of North Korea's arms industry, and have played a major role in developing its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology, according to analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in California

By Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters) - The factories have innocuous names, but analysts say several ostensibly civilian facilities visited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently are also used to build ballistic missile launchers and other weapons.

On Saturday North Korea state news agency KCNA released reports of Kim providing "field guidance" at a number of factories and cities, without specifying when the visits occurred.

While the reports only mentioned economic elements, the sites help form the core of North Korea's arms industry, and have played a major role in developing its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology, according to analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in California.

"This is the heart of North Koreas defence industry," CNS researcher Jeffrey Lewis told Reuters. "These are the kind of visits we saw in 2016 and 2017 as North Korea moved toward ICBM testing."

Among the sites Kim visited was the February 8 General Machine Factory, which has been used to construct ballistic missile launchers.

The machine factory was the site of the July 28, 2017, launch of a Hwasong-14 ICBM, which Kim personally observed.

"North Korea has usually tried to hide this facility by not naming it," Lewis told Reuters. "Sometimes it is unnamed; in other cases only the name of the plant manager was given."

KCNA reported that Kim called for a "higher modernization plan" for the factory, while he watched "varieties of daily necessity goods" being produced.

In January Lewis authored a report listing the February 8 plant as one of several sites that North Korea's leaders had visited in the past without fully disclosing the location or full purpose.

In many cases the visits appeared to be linked to efforts to reduce North Korea's reliance on imported chassis for its missile launching vehicles, the report said.

Kim also visited the Kanggye General Tractor Plant and the Kanggye General Precision Machine Plant, according to KCNA.

Both of those factories are linked to the defence industry and may have played a role in the missile programme, the CNS analysts said.

Kim has declared his nuclear force "complete" and announced an end to tests of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.

At the same time, however, Kim called for more operational weapons. Negotiations with the United States aimed at convincing North Korea to surrender its existing nuclear weapons and missiles have stalled.

In May Kim oversaw the first flight of a previously untested weapon - a relatively small, fast missile experts believe will be easier to hide, launch, and manoeuvre in flight.

(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) has pulled out of a five-way battle to design the Navy's new frigate, deciding instead to focus on supplying combat systems and other components to the eventual winner. The move is a blow to the Navy's effort to diversify its supplier base, but a smart decision for the contractor.

The Navy in February 2018 awarded $15 million apiece to Lockheed, General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), Australia's Austal USA, Huntington Ingalls (NYSE:HII), and Italy's Fincantieri Marinette Marine to complete a conceptual design of a new Guided Missile Frigate FFG(X).

The eventual winner should take in more than $15 billion, assuming the Navy follows through with its plans to buy about 20 of the ships. The service asked for $1.3 billion for the first FFG(X) hull in its 2020 budget request but expects that price to fall to as little as $800 million each as the program matures.

Choose your battles

In a statement to reporters, Lockheed Martin said that instead of remaining in the competition to build the boat, the company has instead "decided to focus our attention on the FFG(X) combat system, delivering Lockheed Martin technologies such as the Aegis-derived weapon system, MK 41 Vertical Launching System, anti-submarine warfare processing, and advanced electronic warfare."

Given the Navy's goal for the FFG(X), Lockheed's weapon systems appear a good match. The Pentagon is seeking a warship more robust than its maligned Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that can be integrated into a carrier battle group or provide targeting and reconnaissance on its own.

Lockheed's Aegis program is a best-in-class system that is a mainstay of the Navy's fleet of Arleigh Burke class destroyers, and the company's platforms would offer seamless integration to the broader fleet.

And Lockheed appeared to be a long shot to win the FFG(X) competition. The company was offering an upgraded version of its Freedom-class LCS, which had to be stretched and modified to meet the Navy's frigate requirements. There was also potential added complexity and cost in the Lockheed bid, as the company does not own a shipyard and instead would have built its frigate at Fincantieri's Wisconsin yard, where the LCS is built.

The Navy needs allies

Lockheed Martin's decision is a blow to Navy efforts to expand its contracting base. The service has been pushing to increase spending to try to reverse a 60-year trend that has seen 14 defense-related new-construction shipyards close, leaving it reliant on two primary shipbuilders: Huntington Ingalls and General Dynamics.

Although Lockheed Martin doesn't have extensive shipbuilding capabilities, it's the most logical of the non-shipbuilding U.S.-based primes to enter the fray. Lockheed Martin, best known as the maker of F-35 fighters, seems interested in shipbuilding, saying it is exploring new opportunities in unmanned vessels and large surface combatants.

Huntington Ingalls' entry, a modified version of the U.S. Coast Guard's National Security Cutter (NSC), is a proven performer that figures to come in at an attractive price and could be viewed as the favorite in the FFG(X) competition. But given the FFG(X)'s relatively junior role compared with carriers, submarines, and destroyers, I view the program as an opportunity for the Navy to go beyond Huntington Ingalls and General Dynamics and try to nurture a viable third option for future ship competitions.

That would suggest either Fincantieri, which is working with Lockheed Martin to offer its FREMM-class frigate currently deployed by navies including those of Italy and France, or Austal, which is offering an upgraded version of its separate LCS design. Both could stand a good chance in this winner-take-all competition. The Fincantieri design in particular appears to be one to watch.

Focusing on strength

Lockheed Martin is one of the best buys among defense contractors because of the strength and depth of its portfolio, with exposure to a number of key Pentagon priorities including fighter jets, missile defense, and hypersonic technology. The company, which a decade ago was criticized for being overly dependent on the F-35, now has an arsenal of programs that should contribute to revenue and earnings well into the next decade.

There's a danger, even for the world's largest defense contractor, in chasing every deal and spreading itself too thin. Investors should cheer the company for focusing its resources here on the part of the program where Lockheed has strong competitive advantages.

The Navy, meanwhile, is likely to be disappointed by the decision, but as the service pushes to incorporate new technologies, there will be opportunities for additional contractors to come on board. And the FFG(X) remains a robust competition, relative to most warship battles, with four combatants remaining afloat.

No matter the outcome of the FFG(X) competition, don't expect Lockheed Martin to leave the Navy adrift.
Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) has been actively reshuffling its portfolio over the past year. While these sales have had a slightly negative near-term impact on its financial results, it's also starting to see the benefits of its wheeling and dealing. That was clear in the comments of CEO Alan Armstrong on the first-quarter conference call, as he ran through the positives of the company's recent string of moves.

Leverage is better than it looks

One of the first things Armstrong addressed on the call was the company's balance sheet; he stated that "the leverage story of the quarter-end requires some unpacking, since we have significant asset sale proceeds coming in post the quarter's end."

The CEO pointed out that the company ended the quarter with a debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) ratio of 4.92, which is above its initial 2019 target level of 4.75. However, Armstrong noted that this metric includes the roughly $727 million it paid out to purchase the remaining 38% interest in UEOM (Utica East Ohio Midstream), which it partially funded on its credit facility at the end of the quarter. The company will get that money back when it closes its joint venture with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) later this year. Thus, "if you adjust out that $727 million in cash we plan to receive at the closing of the JV, the leverage metric falls to 4.77 times," he said.

Furthermore, the CEO pointed out that "if you account for the approximately $600 million of additional proceeds we will receive from CPPIB at the closing of the JV, along with the $485 million we have now received from Crestwood Equity Partners in the Jackalope Gas Gathering transaction, the leverage metric falls to just over 4.5." While that number will tick higher as the company continues investing in expansion projects this year, Armstrong noted that "the effects of our portfolio optimization transactions along with our lower capital expenditure forecast [have] had a favorable effect on our 2019 year-end book-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA [ratio], which we now expect to be under 4.6 times."

Still on track in 2019

Williams' asset sales over the past year have had some negative impact on its financial results, since it's losing the cash flow those assets used to contribute. During the first quarter, for example, earnings in the company's West segment declined 15% year over year. That headwind from asset sales led investors to wonder whether they'd hinder the company's ability to achieve its full-year forecast.

CEO Alan Armstrong addressed that question on the call:

A lot has changed since we originally issued our 2019 guidance about a year ago. From a macro perspective, we've seen our producer customers pressured to pull back on capital investment, and we've seen a significant downward shift in NGL [natural gas liquids] margins. We've also had five important portfolio optimization transactions including the Four Corners of DJ Basin transaction, the Brazos JV transaction, the sale of our Gulf Coast purity business, our Northeast JV, and most recently the sale of our Niobrara business.

Even with all these moving parts, Armstrong said he was "pleased to confirm that despite these unforecasted changes, we are maintaining our guidance ranges for adjusted EBITDA, DCF [distributable cash flow], and dividend coverage ratio."

The long-term forecast also remains on track

Armstrong also said on the call that "looking beyond 2019, we are still expecting 5% to 7% annual adjusted EBITDA growth over the long term." The company believes it can achieve that growth rate by investing $2.5 billion to $3 billion on expansion projects each year. While that's slightly above 2019's range of $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion, Williams has a large inventory of expansions under construction and in development to support that view.

Furthermore, the company estimates that it can fund the bulk of those expansion projects with internally generated cash flow after paying its high-yielding dividend. As a result, Williams remains on track to get its leverage ratio down to its goal of 4.2, "which we target to hit by the end of 2021," according to Armstrong.

Same growth potential with a stronger financial profile

Williams' portfolio optimization efforts over the past year have accelerated the improvement of its balance sheet by quickly reducing its leverage ratio. While the company is seeing some near-term earnings impact, it's overcoming that by completing expansion projects.

As a result, Williams remains on track with not only its 2019 growth forecast but its longer-term outlook. The only difference is that the company now boasts a much stronger financial profile, which makes it a less risky investment.
Mission BBQ will open its 80th location June 10 in Spotsylvania Crossing Shopping Center on State Route 3.

It will be the 16th location in Virginia for the restaurant known for its traditional American barbecue served with a hefty side of patriotism.

Following company tradition, the new location will host charity nights throughout the week leading up to the grand opening.

Military Appreciation Night will be held from 69 p.m. June 7. It will be open to the public, and proceeds from all sales will be donated to the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia. The first 100 people to purchase an American Hero Cup during this event will receive free barbecue for a year.

Private, invitation-only parties will also be held to support the Spotsylvania Countys Sheriffs Office and the Fire and Rescue Foundation.

Bill Kraus, whod been a vice president of marketing for Under Armour, and Steve Newton, a regional vice president with Outback Steakhouse, opened the first Mission BBQ in a Baltimore suburb on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and are expanding throughout the eastern half of the United States. Their plan is to end 2019 with more than 95 locations.

Cathy Jett

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Weve found that people living in the same locality sometimes dont even know about the opportunities nearby, Sloan said. We heard from a man in Tazewell who had spent two decades working at Walmart. He didnt know that one mile down the road was an advanced manufacturing plant where he could make a better salary, with benefits.

At Fridays regional meeting, Healy told audience members that the unemployment level in Virginia is at 2.9 percent.

Were hearing from employers that there is a huge worker shortage and every day its getting worse, she said.

Build Virginias three main goals are to identify the demand for skilled workers at the state and local level, develop and endorse pathways that lead to career and business success and create and implement an outreach plan to attract new, mid-career and future workers.

Meeting attendees broke into small groups to discuss in more detail the regions employment needs, the barriers that keep them from being met and possible solutions.

One common topic was the need to remove the stigma around careers in the trades.
She said the county plans to replace the Thornburg wastewater treatment plant with a new facility with enhanced nutrient removal. The county will decommission the FMC wastewater treatment plant. That wastewater will then go to the Massaponax plant, which should improve nutrient removal by up to 50 percent.

The city of Fredericksburg, which partners with Spotsylvania on wastewater treatment, is facing an estimated $65.7 million in costs over the next six years for various upgrades or expansions to the system.

The Friends of the Rappahannock recently released a report on the status of the river. Similar to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the Rappahannock River seems to still need work, as the group gave the river a grade of C for 2018.

In the report, the human health category earned a B, but all other grades were lower, with land use coming in the lowest with a grade of D+.

Among the key findings, the report found that eight tributaries have human health issues including bacteria levels unsafe for human recreation and six tributaries had unhealthy aquatic communities.

The report noted that overall the river and its tributaries are doing OK, but are still heavily disturbed due to extensive suburban growth, with insufficient protections in place to deter future development.

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China has the world's largest number of world natural heritage sites, an official said.

A Tibetan antelope in Hoh Xil, northwest China's Qinghai Province [Photo: Xinhua/Wu Gang]

The country is home to 13 natural sites and four mixed sites, Zhou Zhihua, an official with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said Friday at a news conference regarding cultural and natural heritage day which falls on June 8.

This picture taken on September 9, 2016 shows a group of pandas eating bamboo at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China's Sichuan province. [Photo: AFP]

Natural sites include the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries and Mount Fanjingshan which was inscribed last year. Mount Taishan is one of the mixed sites which contain elements of both natural and cultural significance.

Since ratifying the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, China has had one of the fastest-growing countries in world heritage, Zhou said.

Mists flow through Mount Fanjingshan, situated in the city of Tongren in China's southwestern province of Guizhou, on Aug. 7, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua/Yao Lei]

The country has also enhanced legal, managerial and technological support of the protection of its world natural heritage, establishing a management system with Chinese characteristics, she added.

China's world heritage has contributed to the country's ecological and socioeconomic development and showcased its image to the world, with sites receiving over 12 million inbound tourist trips last year, she said.

Danxia Landform in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province [Photo: Xinhua]

World heritage sites refer to various natural areas and cultural legacies inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage List with outstanding universal value.

As of May, there are a total of 845 cultural sites, 209 natural sites and 38 mixed sites on the list.
When Jesus Christ . . . finally leads us out of this storm of our own making, may He not feel compelled to admonish us for exhibiting a collective lack of confidence in Him, but rather be proud of the undaunted, uncompromising faith that we never lost, Gregory said.

Many Catholics, of course, have lost faith, or been so hurt by their church that they have turned away. So many have left Catholicism since the sexual abuse crisis was first widely exposed in 2002 that the Pew Research Center reports 13 percent of all Americans are former Catholics. Those who still identify as Catholics are dissatisfied with many church teachings: 76 percent want permission to use birth control; almost half believe the church should accept same-sex marriage; about 60 percent think priests should be allowed to marry and women should be allowed to be priests.

The past year has brought a new wave of scandal, with intense scrutiny of the actions of bishops across the country. Nowhere has that been more acute than Washington, an archdiocese of more than 600,000 Catholics who live in the District and suburban Maryland.

The Washington Archdiocese remains healthier than many, with a growing population fueled by immigrants. But it has been sorely tested.
Recently, during a Bible study at a local correctional institution, a despondent young woman told a Christian Science chaplain that she couldnt stop thinking about death. Her life felt hopeless. What does it matter? she said. God doesn't really exist anyway.

The chaplain paused  the womans situation did indeed seem dire. But after a moment of prayer, she was led to share something from a deep moment of tribulation in her own life when she had gained the conviction she now had that God was the very source of her life.

Leaving the Bible study that day, the young woman said shed felt the words of the chaplain resonate deep within her. She took some resources for spiritual study with her as she left. Shortly after, the woman was released from the institution, and has not returned.

We may never know the end of her story, but the heartfelt exchange that took place that day, as shared by the chaplain, has prompted me to think about what it really takes to share something of Gods love and power in a way that can actually make a difference to someone in need, and aid in progress and healing.

As a Christian Scientist, I have found great comfort in knowing that helping others does not rest on my personal ability to create a compelling argument for Gods existence. Rather, it begins with seeking to know God in my own heart, and cherishing the ways I have seen God, divine Love, at work in my life and in the world. The Bible has many accounts of such love.

This week I was inspired by a line from I Peter: You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (I Pet 1:9). Of course, Peter is speaking from everything he learned as a follower of Christ Jesus. And for me, the life and teachings of Jesus illustrate the qualities and nature of God, and what it looks like to live a life in communion with Him  and the impact this can have not only on those around us, but on the whole world.

One thing I have appreciated about my church is that we gather together twice each week for this very purpose  to commune with God together and to feel His love, and to give gratitude for the ways we are seeing God at work in our lives. Sundays are devoted to worship services, while Wednesdays provide opportunities for all to testify to Gods healing power, to share what we are learning spiritually and the obstacles we have overcome through a growing understanding of Gods love for us, and ourselves as reflections of His nature. I always find these meetings encouraging, inspiring, motivating. I have found hope when I needed it, and the courage to go on in the midst of great trial. I have seen that each experience that causes us to grow is divine Love unfolding proof of Her presence. Sharing such experiences is a vital part of how we can help each other. We lift each other when we need it, and remind each other, through the conviction gained from our lives, that nothing is impossible to God.

Whether at church, on the street, in a school, office, or prison, meaningful encounters with our fellow beings provide us with glimpses of the depths of Gods love for all of us. They remind us that no one is left out. In fact, Gods love for us all is irresistible  and this love strengthens and heals us.

Sharon Poppleton is the Assistant Committee on Publication for First Church of Christ, Scientist, Albany.

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State regulators have fined an Ohio-based company for mishandling highly volatile hazardous waste at its Millersburg facility.

The Department of Environmental Quality issued a $12,300 civil penalty on April 4 against SRC Worldwide, which operates a waste-reprocessing plant at 2920 Arnold Road.

DEQ spokeswoman Katherine Benenati said on Friday that the company is negotiating a settlement with the agency and the amount of the fine will likely come down.

The facility purchases blocks of anhydrous magnesium chloride from the nearby ATI Wah Chang metals refinery and reprocesses the material for use in plastics manufacturing and metals refining. ATI Wah Chang is not accused of any wrongdoing in the matter.

The magnesium chloride comes in 2,000-pound sacks, which are stored in SRC Worldwide's fenced, open-air lot. Drums of waste zirconium and magnesium, known as "metal rejects," are generated as a byproduct of reprocessing.

"The metal rejects are capable, under standard temperature and pressure, of causing fire through absorption of moisture or spontaneous chemical changes, and when ignited, burn so vigorously and persistently that it creates a hazard," DEQ wrote in its penalty notice to the company.

"Additionally, the metal rejects can react violently with water."

Between January 2016 and August 2018, SRC Worldwide stored 39 55-gallon drums of metal rejects totaling roughly 18,000 pounds of material at the Arnold Road site, according to the notice.

A DEQ inspection last summer found the drums were not properly labeled or dated and that the company had not characterized or managed the material as hazardous waste. One of the drums had been left uncovered, and the company had failed to prepare a contingency plan for the facility.

In addition, SRC Worldwide did not have a permit to store hazardous waste at the Arnold Road site, the notice stated.

Benenati said DEQ considers the violations significant.

"This is reactive and ignitable hazardous waste. This is a Class 1 violation, which is our most serious violation, she said.

Although SRC has not historically had any issues managing this material, several fires and a fatality have occurred at similar facilities managing magnesium chloride.

In addition to assessing a fine, DEQ has ordered SRC Worldwide to provide detailed written information on its plans for managing the material in the future, including the amounts of magnesium chloride to be received from ATI, the amount of metal rejects to be sent back to ATI and a description of conditions for storage and transport of the metal rejects at the SRC facility.

Benenati said SRC Worldwide has taken a number of corrective measures since the inspection. Those include developing a contingency plan for the Arnold Road site and providing training for the four employees who work there.

DEQ believes the risk is lower now, she said.

The agency will not require SRC Worldwide to obtain a hazardous waste permit because the metal rejects are no longer being stored on site.

Brian Kucia, SRC Worldwide's chief executive officer, declined to address specific questions about the environmental violations and DEQs response, referring those questions to Whitney Boise, a Portland attorney representing the company. Boise did not return phone calls seeking comment this week.

However, Kucia did say he feels his company has been treated fairly by state environmental regulators.

"I want to work with them and not against them," he said.

Reporter Bennett Hall can be reached at 541-758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at @bennetthallgt.

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Communion celebrated: Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 2650 NW Highland Drive in Corvallis, will share God's Word and Holy Communion at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Pastor Eric Bohlmann's sermon topic will be "Jesus' Body, Our Joy and Our Foundation." Fellowship and refreshments will follow the service. The multigenerational Sunday school will start at 10:30. The study focusing on the Good Samaritan is the second of a three-part interactive series, "Loving Our Neighbor." Information: 541-753-2816 or www.svlc-corvallis.org.

Taoist meditation group: The group will meet at 9 a.m. Sunday at the First Alternative Natural Foods Co-op north store, 2855 NW Grant Ave. in Corvallis.

The event features Taoist Quiet Sitting meditation, also known as Preserving the Light of the One. Information: docneedlestcm@gmail.com.

Superheroes discussed: The 9:30 a.m. service on Sunday at First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Ave. in Corvallis, will focus on "Surprising Superheroes of Faith."

Superheroes of faith will be named and celebrated. Those attending are encouraged to wear superhero costumes and capes.

Baha'i devotions and discussion: O Questioning Lover" is set for 9:45 a.m. Sunday at 5006 SW Hollyhock Circle, Corvallis.

Contemplating the Divine raises more questions than answers. What is the nature of religion? What is the origin of creation? Does the soul continue to discover and learn in the next life? And any question sincerely asked brings a fresh perspective to contemplate. All are invited to join in stimulating discussion of Baha'i teachings on these and other subjects.

Taize: A contemplative ecumenical Taize worship service is set for 7 p.m. Sunday at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan, 333 NW 35th St. in Corvallis.

The service features singing and prayers, and is the last Taize service until fall. Information: 541-753-7622.

Centering Prayer: A Christian Centering Prayer group will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Marys Catholic Church, 706 SW Ellsworth St. in Albany.

Centering Prayer is a receptive practice of silent prayer in which Gods presence can be experienced within. This nonverbal method of prayer is not meant to replace other types of prayer but rather adds depth of meaning as practitioners slowly learn to rest in God.

Those attending are asked to enter by the side door on Ninth Street. Information: livinggreen@comcast.net.

Women's gathering: After 5 Connection, affiliated with Stonecroft, will present "Harmonious Hormones" at 6 p.m. June 11 at the Lobby, 661 S. Main St. in Lebanon.

Malinda Davis of Lebanon will speak on bioidentical hormone therapy, sharing how to keep looking and feeling fit, healthy and beautiful through all of life's stages. Nancy Gabert of Bend will present "What's in Your Backpack?" Gabert is a certified residential appraiser and an amateur dramatist.

Cost is $10, which includes dinner; no credit cards. Reservations: 541-258-6414 or nancypinzino@comcast.net.

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Warplanes from the same USS Abraham Lincoln, deployed to the Middle East in May 2019, dropped bombs on Iraq in 2003. They say history repeats itself, but I didnt realize it repeated itself this precisely. I hope it doesn't happen again in Iraq and/or Iran.

The invasion of Iraq was our country's first war almost immediately after Congress passed the Authorization Use of Military Force (AUMF) in 2001, emboldening U.S. presidents with unchecked, unilateral power to more nimbly fight terrorism. The results are dire: 18 years, 41 operations in 19 countries, $5.9 trillion in costs, and 500,000 people dead, including 15,000 American men and women in uniform.

No dialogue, no vote, no checks and balances. Our elected representatives did not debate if the gains from war outweigh its costs. Our soldiers deserve more; we deserve more. Let the representatives we elected to represent us, represent us. The question is not whether the United States should go to war, but whether our elected representatives should, at the very least, have a say in the matter. Our U.S. Constitution says they do. AUMF has been used to justify a broad and open-ended authorization for the use of military force thats inconsistent with the constitutional authority of Congress to declare war. Congress gave away its constitutional power and obligation, and now we ask that they take it back.

I am pleased to be represented by Rep. Peter DeFazio, who has cosponsored legislation to repeal 2001 AUMF.

Join us in imploring Reps. Kurt Schrader and Defazio to go the next step by releasing public statements and providing leadership in the U.S. House to support HR 2968, the House appropriations bill that should come to the House floor in mid-June to repeal AUMF.

Jonathan Stoll

Corvallis (May 29)

The author writes on behalf of the Corvallis Action Team, Friends Committee on National Legislation. The group is a Quaker lobby in the public interest.

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Mark Kellers recent letter to the editor is a great example of how Oregons media have failed its citizens. In it, Mark mistakenly bemoans the failure of Oregons schools and cites the infamous graduation rate statistics that have been widely broadcast by Oregons newspapers and other media channels. Most editors are smart enough to know that graduation rate is a terrible measure of school quality because graduation requirements can be easily manipulated. Indeed, better measures, like high school students SAT test scores that have been properly adjusted for test participation rate and students socioeconomic background, show that Oregons schools outperform the national average. Yet, the myth that graduation rate demonstrates Oregons education failure persists.

Why does this myth persist? Perhaps media reports of failure attract more attention and sell more advertisements than reports of competence do. Perhaps media owners would rather make more profit than spend a little extra on competent investigative reporting. Whatever the case, Mark Kellers wayward letter  in which he proposes that a 25% cut in education funding is justified by Oregons graduation rate - shows that the medias failure has real consequences. In fact, Oregon spends less per student on education than the national average, but apparently Mark is not aware of that (no thanks to Oregon's media). Dont get me wrong. I dont blame Mark. By failing to competently investigate the performance of Oregon schools, Oregons media disrespect Oregons educators and do a disservice to Oregons citizens. Oregons media must do better.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Nokia BH-705 True Wireless Sale  Available With Rs. 3,500 Discount On Amazon News oi-Sandeep Sarkar

Earlier in February this year, HMD Global introduced its wireless audio product in India. The Finnish giant launched the Nokia True Wireless earphones for a sub 10K price segment. The IPX4 rated wireless earbuds have been announced in a single black color option in the country. Now, the company has axed the price of the earbuds in the country.

Nokia True Wireless Earbuds discounted price and specifications:

The Nokia True Wireless originally debuted with a price label of Rs. 9,999 in the Indian market. The price of the earbuds has been axed by Rs. 3,500 here in the country. Following the discount, the wireless earphones can be purchased for just Rs. 6,499. The earbuds can be purchased with the discounted price online on Amazon.in.

Interested users can visit Amazon India's store to buy the wireless earphones by Nokia. It is available in Black color option. It is currently unknown if this is a permanent or a temporary price cut which the device has received.

The Nokia BH-705 True Wireless earbuds have been awarded iFdesign Award 2019. This was revealed by Edorado Cassina, Head of Social Media, HMD Global on Twitter. The Bluetooth earphones offer a standby of up to 70 hours with a single charge.

The earbuds' case doubles up as a charging case and can charge the earphones without connecting them to a socket separately. The device is claimed to deliver a music playback of up to four hours. Notably, the charging case can also charge the earphones up to three times.

For wireless connectivity, the Nokia True wireless earphones make use of Bluetooth v5.0 connectivity option. The earbuds are compatible with the device supporting this feature such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and others. There is a USB Type-C port using which one can charge the case.

What we think about the Nokia True Wireless earphones:

There are a number of Truly wireless earphones in India to choose from. Some of the popular brands offering true wireless earphones include Samsung, Jabra, and Sony among others. The Nokia True Wireless earphones are a decent offering which comes with a premium looking design and some good features.

With the device receiving this massive price cut makes it a lucrative deal. You get an IPX rated truly wireless earphones for a reasonable price tag of Rs. 6,499. If you want a hassle-free audio product with good audio and IP certification, make sure you check this deal.

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PlayStation Days Of Play Sale 2019 Heafty Deals Which You Dont Want To Miss A Gamer News oi-Karan Sharma Sony offering huge deals on its PlayStation, games titles, and accessories and more under PlayStation Days Of Play Sale. All you need to know.

Sony is back with its PlayStation Days of Play Sale to offer some exciting deals on a series of hit games. The sale not only offers discounts on games but it will also allow you a chance to grab PlayStation VR bundles, controllers, and PlayStation Plus Subscription in discounted price. The company is conducting this sale from June 7 and it will last till June 17. It will be an 11-days long sale so if you are planning to buy something then hold your purchase because the big sale is coming.

"We're pleased to announce that Days of Play is back! This annual global promotion celebrates the passionate PlayStation community, with a huge thank you from us for all of your support this past year. Because of you, PlayStation continues to be the best place to play, while driving success for games like God of War and Marvel's Spider-Man," reads the company's blog post.

The blog reveals that the sale will introduce a 1TB PS4 Days of Play Limited Edition for $299.99 USD / $379.99 CAD (MSRP) on June 7. The limited-edition console will be featured in Steel Black color variant with the iconic PlayStation Shapes embossed in silver on the top surface, alongside a matching DualShock 4 wireless controller.

Days Of Play Offers

Jet Black 1TB PS4 Pro - $349.99 USD (Rs. 22,894)

PlayStation VR bundles - starting at $249.99 USD (Rs. 16,399)

DualShock 4 wireless controller (all colors) - starting at Rs. 4,050

Days Gone, God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, MLB The Show 19 - starting at $19.99 USD (Rs. 1,311)

PlayStation Hits games - starting at Rs 999

PlayStation Plus will be available for Rs. 3,107

Here's The List Of Titles Available for Sale In India

Game Title Original Price Offer Price PS4 The Last of Us: Remastered Rs. 1,499 Rs. 999 PS4 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Rs. 1,499 Rs. 999 PS4 Uncharted Collection Rs. 1,499 Rs. 999 PS4 inFAMOUS Second Son Rs. 1,499 Rs. 999 Until Dawn Rush of Blood VR Rs. 1,499 Rs. 999 PS4 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Rs. 2,499 Rs. 1,499 PS4 Shadow of Colossus Rs. 2,499 Rs. 1,499 PS4 PlayerUnknown's Battleground Rs. 1,999 Rs. 1,499 PS4 Minecraft Rs. 1,999 Rs. 1,499 DRIVECLUB VR Rs. 1,999 Rs. 1,499 Marvel's Spiderman Rs. 3,999 Rs. 2,499 God of War Rs. 3,999 Rs. 1,999 Detroit: Become Human Rs. 3,999 Rs. 1,999 PS4 Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition Rs. 2,999 Rs. 1,499 PS4 Bloodborne Game of the Year Edition Rs. 1,999 Rs. 1,499 PS4 God of War Remastered Rs. 2,499 Rs. 1,499

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Xiaomi Mi 3 Launch: Major Turning Point For Indian Brands

While a number of factors contribute to the beginning of the end of Indian smartphone brands' reign, I believe the launch of Xiaomi's Mi 3 smartphone in the year 2014 was the key factor. The handset simply changed the Indian smartphone landscape overnight. Xiaomi Mi 3 offered the then flagship specs- Snapdragon 800 chipset, crisp 1080p screen and capable camera hardware at one-third of a price of 2014 flagship smartphones such as LG G3, Nexus 5, Sony Xperia Z3, Moto X, etc. As a result, Mi 3 took the Indian market by storm and was sold in huge numbers. Products from homegrown brands which once ruled the market just couldn't match the features and performance of Xiaomi's beefier Mi 3.

Xiaomi realized that the company has hit the sweet spot and thus kept the trend in motion with similar offerings. It was just a matter of time that other popular Chinese brands ventured into the Indian smartphone space, creating more troubles for local smartphone manufacturers. The data shared by Counterpoint Research mentions that Chinese brands garnered 51% market share in less than 3 years, pushing Indian brands down to 16%. Effective marketing skills, aggressive pricing models, online sale strategy and powerful spec-heavy products were the major driving factors of the Chinese company's dominance in the Indian market.

Today, Xiaomi rules the Indian smartphone market. As per the most recent reports by IDC (International Data Corporation) for the first quarter, 2019, Xiaomi managed to ship 9.8 million smartphones for a total of 30.6 per cent market share. The company also dominates the online channel with a market share of 48.6 per cent in Q1 2019. Samsung comes training at second and Vivo stands at the third position.

Where Do Indian brands Stand In Terms Of Market Shares In 2019?

We reached out to IDC and Counterpoint Research to understand the market share of Indian smartphone brands. Ms. Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager - Client Devices, IDC India informed us that the current combined market share of Indian smartphone manufacturers- Intex, Lava, Micromax and Karbonn in the smartphone category is just 7.6%. The Feature Phone market share of these brands is considerably higher and stands at 14.4% in CY 2018. Feature phones still account for a big market in India, especially in rural areas and tier III cities.

Smartphone Market Share- Indian Brands

Based on the data shared by CounterPoint Research, the individual market share of Indian brands in the smartphone market is as follows: Intex (0.1%), Lava (1.2%), Micromax (1.1%) and Karbonn (0.2%).

Feature Market Share- Indian Brands

For the feature phone category, Intex's share is 1.4%. Micromax and Karbonn cover 2.4 % and 4.4% respectively in the Q1 2019. Lava once again grabbed the top spot with a 12.9% market share in the feature-phone category.

As per CounterPoint Research's Q1 2019 report, Lava doubled its market share, becoming the Number 2 brand in the 2G feature phone segment. As per the reports, Lava was second to Samsung with a difference of only 2% in the overall market share in the homegrown market.

We also reached out to local smartphone brands for their current market share in the homegrown market. Intex, Micromax and Karbonn seemed unavailable to comment on the questions at the time of filing the story. As per our internal sources, Intex is entirely shutting down the smartphone division in the Indian market. However, we are yet to receive an official statement from the brand on the matter.

Tough times for Indian Smartphone Brands

Once a dominant player in the smartphone segment, Micromax is now gradually fading away from the homegrown smartphone space. We haven't got any response from Micromax for the company's current market share, future products and marketing strategies. However, the company responded for its after-sales service network, which you can read later in the story.

Lava actively responded to our queries. As per the Indian smartphone brand, the company still holds its sales below 5K segment by taking over 15% market share in this segment. Lava aims to be No.1 in this segment in the coming year. The company has set up two manufacturing facilities and a repair factory with approximately 300,000 square feet area in Noida itself. Lava claims that the two manufacturing plants have a production capacity of 40 million phones per annum.

Tejinder Singh, Head- Product, Lava International said, "We see a huge potential in the sub 10k segment. We know we can be the global leaders in this segment. In Feature Phones, we are the number 2 brand in 2G phones (Q1 results by Counterpoint Research) and will continue to dominate the segment with new innovative products planned during the year with a focus on high battery back up in the category along with the right audio experience for our consumers. In the smartphone segment, we will launch products customized for Indian consumer's need and target first-time smartphone buyers with a focus on battery, audio and region-specific features."

What About Local brands After-Sale Service Support In India?

The homegrown brands have a responsibility towards meeting after-sale service requests of their user base. We reached out to smartphone brands to seek some information on the after sale service support to their consumer base. Intex and Karbonn once again seemed unavailable to provide any details on the after-sales service.

Lava informed that the company's sales service network is one of the largest in the country with over 1,000 professionally managed service centres. These are not third party service checkpoints but the company-owned service centres to address consumer's requests. If you are a Lava user and have faced any issues with the company's after-sale service support, feel free to write to us.

As far as Micromax is concerned, the company also gave some information related to the after sales service support. The company mentioned, "Over the years, we have invested diligently and laid down a large service network of 650+ walk-in service centres pan India to ensure easy access for every user. These service centres are located even in some of the most interior parts of the country so that anyone with a Micromax phone can have a solution to their issues even after the purchase has been made. Majority of these are fully-enabled to handle any kind of hardware/software problems. On average, we ensure a consumer's complaint is responded to within 24 hours and the required repair/replacement is made in less than 7 days."

In the absence of other local brand's response over the after-sales service support, we again reached out to IDC. The research corporation informed that Indian smartphone brands were largely dependent on third-party platforms with multiple brands being serviced under one roof. Therefore, the service support will not be impacted much in the scenario of brand's being not responsive to serve queries of the consumers.

What Can Indian Brands Do To Regain Some Market Share?

It is quite evident by now that the Indian smartphone market is dominated by China-based vendors. It's almost impossible to trump the Chinese mobile devices in terms of specifications and performance. We believe Indian smartphone manufacturers will have to come up with a strong product portfolio to regain the lost market share. Let's understand how Indian brands can regain some of the lost market share in the homegrown market.

5G Enabled Low-Cost Phones Can Be A Good Start To Regain Lost Market Share

Chinese smartphone manufacturers focused on bringing faster 4G products while Indian brands were still pushing 3G smartphones to consumers. Now with 5G being the hot topic, the Indian smartphone brands have the chance to flip the coin. It's a daunting task; however worth considering when stakes are so high. The Government of India aims to kickstart the deployment of ultra-high speed 5G networks in the country by 2020. Smartphones is just one segment where Indian phone brands can focus to regain some lost market share. Additionally, local brands can also consider other use cases of 5G networks such as education, farming and next-gen manufacturing. 5G will also give a big push to the use of IoT enabled products in the Indian market, a segment that can be considered by the top local brands.

Lucrative Data Plans To New And Existing Consumers

Indian brands can collaborate with Jio, Airtel and other leading telcos to offer lucrative data plans to Indian consumers. Existing consumers should also be included in the list via some monthly benefits to maintain the consumer base.

Investment In R&D, India-Centric Content (Apps, Local Language Support, etc.)

While there's no shortage of Chinese branded phones that offer vernacular language support and India-centric content, local phone brads can dig in even deep to come up with even more interesting and useful content. Local content from regional markets can be included in the products along with regional languages support. Moreover, heavy investment in R&D is a must for Indian phone brands to formulate new strategies to tap a bigger market share.

Engage Audience Via Promotions And Advertisements On Digital Platforms

Nokia, the veteran brand is a very good case study to understand how the lost market share can be regained in a highly competitive market like India. The brand which almost vanished from the Indian smartphone space has once again managed to tap a good market share. This is achieved by focusing on promotions and advertisements on the top digital platforms. Local brands can also explore various advertising channels; however, a strong product portfolio is the first step to start with.

Multi-Channel Sale Strategy & Robust After Sales-Service Support

Buyers in India have the flexibility to move from offline to online and vice versa as per their requirement. The Chinese brands, which started as online-only sellers are now focusing more on building their offline channel presence (which accounts for 60% of the market) in order to tap the demand from smaller towns and cities. OPPO and Vivo are great examples. Indian brands are already very much active in the offline space. However, with big Chinese players such as Xiaomi now putting efforts in building and managing the channel ecosystem with heavy promotional activities at the retail front, things are destined to get even tougher for local brands. Having said that, local brands have to be much more aggressive now, both in online and offline space. Lucrative benefits to consumers in the form of easy EMI plans, launch offers, etc. also needs to be integrated within the product portfolio to regain some lost market share.

Moreover, Indian local brands also have to ensure a robust after sales-service network. Reports mention that consumers are not much happy with the service support offered by Indian brands. In addition to the company-owned service centres with good reach in tier II and tier III cities, brands can also offer some additional benefits to consumers like device Pick and drop' service, standby device support, one-day issue resolve, etc. Dedicated consumer request apps can be integrated in the mobile devices with 24x7 service support benefits.

Focus On Smartphones Which Will Cost Rs. 5,000 Or Less

As we are yet to get some concrete details on the Indian smartphone brand's future strategy to fight the Chinese counterparts, we again reached out to data and research agencies to understand what can work for the local manufacturers. As per IDC, the price bracket of INR 5K and below is one segment which has a lot of potential for FTBs - First-time buyers of smartphones and consumers shifting from feature phones to smartphones. IDC further mentioned, "New product portfolios equivalent to the other Chinese rivals in order to get registered in consumer mind back again along with pricing which can be matched to industry average can be a good start". CounterPoint Research states, "The only way for local smartphone brands to sustain in the market is to offer products at entry-level price segment with better specs."

Lava: The Only Local Brand To Show Positive Growth In Smartphone & Feature Phone Segment

Among the Indian smartphone brands, Lava responded to our query on future plans and strategies. The company sees a huge potential in the sub-14k price segment. The company stated that the affordable price bracket segment today stands at $113 billion (Rs. 11,300 crores) with a CAGR of 15% over the last five years and Lava can emerge as Global leader in this segment.

At present, only Lava seems to have the potential to take up the task. As per information shared by Lava, the company owns an SMT (Surface Mount Technology) plant dedicated towards local manufacturing of PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) units, which is a critical part of a smartphone manufacturing. Having an SMT plant is aimed at contributing further towards the Government of India's Make in India' initiative; by having a substantial part of Lava phones being made in India. It is worth mentioning that some components like battery are still sourced from overseas markets.

Another study conducted by IDC states that the demand for 4G Feature phones is already dampening the growth of 2G feature phones where these local vendors are operational. The report also mentions that the overall increased import duties in the past one year; along with currency fluctuation had already made small vulnerable players exit the mobile phone business. The same has further impacted vendors who are not manufacturing locally in India, thus increasing cost pressures. Resultant, none of the local vendors have any plans to launch 4G devices owing to the unmatched subsidy offered by Reliance.

Coming back to smartphones, the Indian market is highly competitive and demands thorough R&D and powerful product portfolio to establish a name. We at GizBot also believe that a good ecosystem of spec-heavy phones with India-centric software apps and services, along with compelling data plans, and robust after-sale service support can help Indian smartphone brands regain some market share.

As mentioned, the local brands have to make some big changes in their approach towards reaching the Indian consumers, which are now smarter than before and have better understanding of technology. Strong product portfolio, aggressive pricing, Multi-channel sale strategy, lucrative data offers and heavy investment in R&D are the ways forward. In the end, if the Indian phone brands manage to board the 5G train on time, they can survive in the highly competitive market like India. It will be interesting to see how Indian smartphone brands fight back the Chinese invasion in the homegrown market. We will keep a close tap on other local brands and will update the story as soon as we get concrete inputs from other Indian phone brands at various fronts.
Huawei P30, P30 Pro Android Update  Brings DC Dimming With Improved In-Display Scanner News oi-Sandeep Sarkar

Huawei debuted its premium P30 smartphone lineup back in March this year. The company announced the new lineup with the launch of P30 and the P30 Pro smartphones. Within few days of its official launch, the Chinese tech giant released a new firmware update for P30 Pro which improved the camera performance and brought some other features in the mix.

Since then, the device has received a couple of firmware updates with different new features and latest security patches. Now, both the Huawei P30 Pro and the standard P30 smartphones have received a new update which improves the performance of the display.

Huawei P30 Pro and P30 New Android update:

The latest update for the Huawei P30 lineup has been released in company's hometown China. The update weighs a total of 400MB and will be available on the Chinese units of the Huawei P30 series. It bounces the firmware build of the device to 9.1.0163D.

It is currently unknown when the update will be released for the Indian and remaining global market. However, with the respite given to the brand by Google suggests that the update could soon be released for the remaining regions.

What's New And How Will It Help?

The update for the Huawei P30 series comes with a new DC Dimming mode. The update will add a toggle using which you can enable or disable the DC Dimming feature on both the smartphones. The primary function of this feature is to dim the lights of the OLED display without any flickers in the process.

Basically, using this feature the OLED panels can tweak the display brightness using the DC current. Therefore, there will be no flicker when the brightness is lowered and the color accuracy will also be intact. This, in turn, will be less straining for eyes.

The update also improves the in-display fingerprint scanner. The update improves the speed as well accuracy of the fingerprint scanner on both the Huawei P30 and the P30 Pro smartphones. The update should enhance the viewing experience on the OLED display panel of the P30 lineup. We will keep you updates about the availability of the new update in India, so, stay tuned with us.

via

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NASA Releases An Astounding X-ray Image Of Space In High Detail News oi-Vishal Kawadkar

NASA has released a breathtaking X-ray image showing the entire night sky over a span of 22-months, showing a celestial fireworks display. The latest NASA image was chronicled using the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER).

The image is a result of 22 months of data, with bright spots, where the arcs of X-rays converge showing NICER's most observed locations during its mission. NICER is aboard the International Space Station (ISS) which is tasked with determining the size of neutron stars which is actually the dense remains of dead stars.

It maps out the cosmic sources every time the ISS orbits our planet. The new image reveals the nighttime activity of the NICER. It is believed that the extensive map will let the space agency better navigate the solar system and possibly uncover new sources which were overlooked previously.

Beyond Solar System

Besides, new images taken by NASA's Hubble Wide Field Camera (WFC3), gave the astronomers further peek into the complexities of the evolution of the galaxy.

The Hubble data shows that the NGC 4485 galaxy has been involved in a collision with a bypassing galaxy. Rather than destroying the galaxy, there's a possibility of a new generation of stars, and possibly planets.

The right side of the galaxy shows new star formation, while the left side looks unaffected. It shows the galaxy's old spiral structure, which was witnessing normal evolution at one point.

Both galaxies surpassed each other millions of years ago and are now 24,000 light-years apart. The gravitational pull among the two created ripples of higher-density gas and dust with both galaxies. This process also triggered the formation of new stars.

Complexities Of Space

NASA has placed a lot high-powered telescopes in space to hunt for new objects, galaxies, and planets. These telescopes provide important data that helps the astronomers to understand the complex nature of the universe and gives them more knowledge about origin of the heavenly bodies.

The space agency is planning to build an even powerful telescope that would be able to map out the universe like never before.

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May 31, 2019

News Release

Press Operations

Release No. NR-135-19

Readout of Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan's Meeting With Australia's Minister for Defense Linda Reynolds

Department of Defense Spokesperson LTC Dave Eastburn provided the following readout:

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan met today with Australia's Minister for Defense Linda Reynolds on the margins of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

The two leaders affirmed the "100 Years of Mateship" between Australia and the United States provided a strong foundation for deeper cooperation and further integration of defense priorities around the globe. The Acting Secretary expressed appreciation for Australia's concrete commitment to the U.S.-Australia Alliance, including contributions to counter the ISIS threat in the Middle East. Minister Reynolds expressed appreciation for the United States' measures of reassurance to the Indo-Pacific region, and reaffirmed Australia's strong support for the Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

Acting Secretary Shanahan stated that there is no gap between the United States and Australia, only opportunities to further integration on mutual priorities. Both leaders look forward to deepening their friendship and advancing discussions on bilateral defense cooperation at the next Australia-U.S. ministerial meeting.

https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1862329/

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May 31, 2019

News Release

Press Operations

Release No. NR-133-19

Readout of Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan's Meeting With United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Defence Penelope Mordaunt

Department of Defense Spokesperson LTC Dave Eastburn provided the following readout:

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan met yesterday with the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Defence Penelope Mordaunt on the sidelines of the International Institute for Strategic Studies' 18th Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major annual defense and security forum in the Indo-Pacific region.

The two leaders reaffirmed their mutual commitment to the special U.S.-U.K. alliance and discussed opportunities to strengthen defense engagement in the Indo-Pacific. Acting Secretary Shanahan thanked Minister Mordaunt for the United Kingdom's staunch support for the free and open Indo-Pacific and global United States presence operations.

Minister Mordaunt proposed a new multi-lateral, interagency dialogue on maritime security, and Acting Secretary Shanahan noted that the United States and the United Kingdom have much to offer across a range of resources to meet regional maritime security concerns. The two leaders agreed to meet again at the NATO Defense Ministerial next month, with a particular focus on alliance readiness.

https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1862306/

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SWRMC Employees Support USS Rushmore Docking

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190531-01

Release Date: 5/31/2019 10:57:00 AM

From SWRMC Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Employees from Southwest Regional Maintenance Center's (SWRMC) docking team coordinated with Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest (NAVFAC SW) to successfully dock Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship in the Naval Base San Diego (NBSD) graving dock on May 21.

"This effort was a win for the whole team," said Capt. David Hart, commanding officer, SWRMC. "It paves the way for better utilization of our docking assets in the San Diego area to support completing maintenance availabilities on our ships and returning them to the Fleet on time."

Rushmore is the largest ship to enter the graving dock since 1986 when SWRMC and Supervisor of Shipbuilding (SUPSHIP) San Diego docked USS Germantown (LSD 42), also a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship, for an emergent availability.

The plan to dry dock Rushmore at NBSD came into fruition after issues with execution of the FY19 docking schedule were identified by Ed Atwater, SWRMC member of the Fleet Availability Scheduling Team (FAST). After voicing his concerns, Atwater urged the FAST to develop a plan to support more dockings with the NBSD graving dock.

The evolution was led by Cmdr. (sel.) Nathan Beach, as the docking officer, and was supported by a number of SWRMC employees from Engineering, Waterfront Operations, and Safety as part of the docking team. External support from key stakeholders including the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Naval Surface Force Pacific staff teams was critical to realizing the event.

In addition to coordinating with NAVFAC SW to provide increased power, firefighting and water capabilities to the graving dock infrastructure, this effort required SWRMC's team to work with depot level contractors on stability and clearance calculations and developing an operational plan to ensure the contractor dockmaster could safely dock Rushmore. The SWRMC Docking Team validated the block build measurements per the drawings, provided independent stability calculations and verified the contractor findings to ensure Rushmore was docked without damaging the hull, able to withstand seismic and hurricane loading, and met minimum safety clearances in dock.

The team then worked with the contractor to train linehandlers in preparation for docking under tight clearances and using new methods. The team utilized an in-haul line from a capstan at the head of the graving dock, similar to those used by aircraft carriers, but it had not been used by SWRMC to dock a ship in some time.

Over the months leading to the docking, the SWRMC Docking Team scheduled and managed actions for multiple stakeholders to ensure that the operations and facility condition were ready. Communication was a key component to ensure linehandlers, divers, tug operators, ship's force and the dockmaster could successfully support the docking.

The docking process began late on May 20 and was successfully completed in the early morning hours of May 21.

SWRMC is meeting its mission to provide superior ship maintenance, modernization, technical support, and training for the Pacific Fleet.

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Palestine's al-Quds not up for sale: Iranian FM Zarif

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 04:25PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has criticized some Arab rulers for siding with the Israel regime on the status of Jerusalem al-Quds, saying the holy occupied Palestinian city is not up for sale.

In a post on his official Twitter account on Friday, Zarif added that no one has the right to cede Jerusalem al-Quds as the first Muslims' qibla (the direction toward which Muslims pray).

"A few Arab rulers believe that if they follow [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, they'll be able to achieve their illusions," he said.

The top Iranian diplomat; however, emphasized that the Israeli premier "has failed to protect Israel, despite his Iron Dome, so how can he protect THEM?"

Also on Wednesday, Zarif said that the occupied city of Jerusalem al-Quds belongs to Palestine and the Palestinian nation, stressing that neither the United States nor the Israeli regime can make decisions about it.

"Al-Quds (Jerusalem) is neither America's to give away nor Israel's to take. And NOT for brutal accomplices to try to buy. Quds belongs to Palestine & Palestinians: history shows that whomever ignores this is condemned to ignominious failure," he said in a post published on his Twitter page.

Signs of 'deal of century' defeat evident: Velayati

A senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei also said on Friday that the US-devised plan targeting the Palestinian nation, dubbed "the deal of the century", will lead nowhere.

"This year on the International Quds Day, we are facing a plot named 'the deal of the century' whose signs of its defeat are obvious," Ali Akbar Velayati told reporters on the sidelines of massive rallies held in Iran and many countries across the world to commemorate the day.

He added that recent developments in the region have improved motivation in the Muslim world to mark the International Quds Day more magnificently than ever.

Velayati noted that the Iranian nation participated in the rallies with more vigilance given the Israeli regime's vicious acts in the region.

In a Friday message to Muslim leaders attending an emergency summit in Islam's holiest city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that "the deal of the century" has "dangerous regional aspects" and urged leaders of Muslim countries to counter the plot and defend Palestine.

"At a time when the Muslim world needs maximum solidarity, convergence and cooperation in the face of a common enemy, we are unfortunately witnessing some divisive measures aimed at diverting the Muslim world's public opinion from the Palestinian issue as the main issue of the Muslim world," Rouhani said.

Muslims' vigilance will defeat 'deal of century': Iran defense minister

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said the Zionists have been pursuing a plot to deploy Daesh terrorists to the Middle East in order to engage Muslims in a war in Iraq and Syria near the Islamic Republic but their plans have been foiled thanks to the Leader's guidelines and resistance of nations, armed forces and governments of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Russia.

"'The deal of the century' is in the continuation of previous goals which will be defeated through the existing vigilance in Muslim countries and Palestine sooner than previous plots," he added.

The Iranian defense minister noted that economic problems, sanctions and restrictions are among other goals of 'the deal of the century' which would bear no fruit because the strong country of Iran with great capacities would use its power to preserve national interests.

Full support for Palestinians will continue: IRGC commander

A senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said massive participation of the Iranian nation in the International Quds Day rallies showed that Iran would continue its full support for the Palestinians.

"This presence and all-out support for the oppressed Palestinian people will be continued by the time that the main factor of occupation, i.e. the Zionist regime (Israel) exists," Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the second-in-command of the IRGC, said.

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Car bomb hits US convoy in Kabul; four killed, four injured

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 07:26AM

At least four Afghan civilians have been killed and four American troops injured as a car bomber attacked a foreign military convoy in the capital Kabul.

The bomber drove his explosive-laden car into the convoy of US forces in the busy Jalalabad road in eastern Kabul early Friday morning, said interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.

"Unfortunately in the attack, four of our countrymen were martyred and several others wounded  they were passers-by," he said.

"This is our initial information and the figures will likely change," Rahimi added.

The Taliban militant group said it was behind the attack, according to the group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who claimed the militants killed "10 officers and soldiers of invading forces."

The attack came only a day after an attack on a Afghan army military academy claimed the lives of at least six people.

The capital Kabul has been on high alert with security checkpoints reinforced in recent days.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks in their so-called spring offensive despite being involved in direct talks with the United States, rejecting calls by US chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad to lay down arms.

A sixth round of talks between the US and the Taliban ended recently in the Qatari capital Doha, with no progress. The Taliban have said peace negotiations were stumbling over the question of when foreign forces would leave Afghanistan.

On Thursday, the Taliban said "decent progress" had been made in talks between the group and senior Afghan politicians in Moscow, but that there had been no breakthrough towards ending two decades of the US occupation.

The Moscow meeting was opened on Tuesday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said his country sees peace as the only possible scenario of settlement in Afghanistan.

Taliban delegates reiterated their position that no ceasefire could be possible while foreign forces remained inside Afghanistan.

The announcement came amid speculation that the Taliban could agree to a temporary ceasefire over the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the fasting holy month of Ramadan next week.

The Taliban's five-year rule over in Afghanistan came to an end following the US invasion in 2001. However, 18 years on, Washington is seeking truce with the militants, who still control large swathes of territory.

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Iraq breaks with Saudi on Iran during Mecca summit

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 02:34AM

Iraq has opposed the final statement of an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia, which condemned what it called Iran's "interference" in countries of the Middle East region.

A statement by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council and the communique issued after a wider summit both underlined the rights of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to defend themselves against Tehran.

The statements mainly cited concerns about the recent sabotage attacks against several ships off the UAE.

Both Saudi and Emirati officials have blamed the mysterious "sabotage" attacks on Iran while Iran denies any involvement.

"The absence of a firm deterrent stance against Iranian behavior is what led to the escalation we see today," King Salman told the two consecutive meetings late on Thursday night.

He also pointed to Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs as sources of concern, and expressed concern about what he described as Iran's threats to cripple global oil supplies by closing down the Strait of Hormuz in case the US seeks to zero out the Islamic Republic's oil exports.

Iraq, however, which maintains close ties with neighboring Iran and has strong ties with Washington as well, objected to the communique, which required "non-interference in other countries" as a pre-condition for cooperation with Tehran.

Iraqi President Barham Salih asked the gathering to support his country's stability, arguing that rising tensions with Iran could cause war. He voiced hope that Iran's security would not be targeted.

"We are watching before our eyes the escalation of a regional and international crisis which can turn into war that will engulf all. If the crisis is not managed well, then we will be faced with the danger of a regional and international confrontation which will bring tragedy to our countries," Salih said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is a Muslim country that is a neighbor to Iraq and Arabs. It is certain that we do not wish the security of Iran to be targeted. We share a common border that is 1,400 km long and a long history and relations, and it is also certain that the security of a fellow Islamic country is in the interest of Arab and Islamic countries. The region needs stability based on a mechanism of joint security that guarantees non-interference in internal affairs and the rejection of violence and extremism," he added.

The Mecca communique also said the Riyadh regime had all the rights to defend itself against retaliatory drone strikes by Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah fighters, after a number of drones flew hundreds of kilometers into Saudi Arabia and targeted two of the kingdom's oil pumping stations earlier this month.

The oil-rich kingdom also accused Tehran of ordering the drone strikes against its oil facilities.

Iran has vehemently denied both charges.

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Houthi leader: Yemen will always remain pro-Palestine

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 12:54AM

The leader of Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement has reiterated his country's support for Palestine in the face of Israeli occupation, calling on Yemeni people to express their solidarity with Palestinians by partaking in International Quds Day rallies.

"The Yemeni people will always be against the United States and Israel. and will remain pro-Palestine and support its cause," Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi was quoted by Yemen's al-Masirah network on Thursday.

"I call on the dear Yemeni people to participate tomorrow in Quds Day," he added, referring to the last Friday of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

This year's Quds Day rallies come weeks before a high-profile summit in the Bahraini capital Manama, where the administration of US President Donald Trump is expected to unveil its so-called "deal of the century" to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The deal, which has been branded as dead on arrival by analysts due to overwhelming opposition from Palestinian groups, reportedly seeks to swap Palestinians' right to statehood with limited autonomy and basic economic incentives.

Houthi warned Thursday that elements within the Islamic world were promoting the deal.

"Trump's deal depend on roles played by some inside the Islamic ummah," he said, referring to reports that some Arab regimes have been pressuring Palestinian authorities to accept the deal.

The Ansarullah leader warned that resistance was the only way forward if Palestinians really sought victory against the US and Israel.

"The resistance proved fruitful and accomplished some victories against the Zionist enemy," he asserted.

He described the US and Israel as "a common threat to the Islamic world" and noted that America's role in tensions across the region had become more obvious over the recent weeks.

Citing a source who took part in a briefing in Washington on the so-called peace plan, Israeli Channel 13 TV reported that the bid provides for a Palestinian state in 85-90 percent of the West Bank, with the capital in "most of the Arab neighborhoods" of East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The plan also endorses the Israeli grip over parts of East Jerusalem al-Quds and the Holy Basin, which includes the Old City and its adjacent territories, according to the report.

Moreover, the initiative stipulates various land swaps and Israel's annexation of major settlement blocs.

However, the Israeli settlements, defined as isolated, would not be evacuated and expanded, but "dried out."

The International Quds Day is a legacy of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, who designated the day in solidarity with Palestinians.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the International Quds Day has been held worldwide on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

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Car Bomb Rocks Afghan Capital

May 31, 2019

A fatal car-bomb blast has struck the Afghan capital, Kabul, the second deadly explosion in the city in two days.

At least seven people were reported killed or injured in the May 31 explosion in the Yakatot area of eastern Kabul.

The bomb exploded as a U.S. military convoy passed through the area.

A spokesman for the U.S. military said four U.S. service personnel were slightly injured in the incident.

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi was quoted by AFP as saying four Afghan passersby had been killed and three were wounded.

Officials cautioned that the exact number of dead and wounded remains unknown.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the blast, claiming without evidence that 10 U.S. soldiers had been killed.

U.S. and NATO military forces, as well as the Afghan National Security Forces, maintain facilities in the area near the explosion.

On May 30, six people were killed when a suicide bomber struck near an Afghan Army academy a few kilometers away from the scene of the May 31 blast.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist organization claimed responsibility for the May 30 attack.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/at-least-seven- dead-as-car-bomb-rocks-afghan -capital/29973635.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.

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Saudi King, Arab Nations Denounce Iran At Emergency Summit In Mecca

By RFE/RL May 31, 2019

Saudi Arabia's King Salman issued a call at an emergency summit of Arab leaders in Mecca for the international community to use "all means to stop the Iranian regime from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries."

The king, in his May 30 speech, accused Iran of "harboring global and regional terrorist entities and threatening international waterways."

The summit in Islam's holiest city, which began on May 30 but stretched into the early morning of May 31 before concluding, came as tensions between Iran and the United States and its Arab allies are rising to new heights, raising fears of a possible armed conflict.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, backed by the United States, is an archrival of Shi'ite-majority Iran and competes for influence in the region.

Tensions have risen following attacks on oil-pumping stations in Saudi Arabia and against oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, which the United States and many Arab states have blamed on Iran or its proxies in the region. Tehran denies any involvement in the incidents.

A final communique by leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and one by the Arab League members attending the summit supported the right of Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. to defend their interests in the face of the attacks.

"Iran should respect the sovereignty of Arab states and stop interfering in the affairs of countries, which is threatening security and stability in the region," the leaders said in a statement read by Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

However, there was not total unanimity among the Arab states at the summit, with Iraq saying it objected to the Arab communique.

President Barham Salih of Iraq, which has good relations with both the West and Tehran, told Arab leaders that the security and stability of Iran is in the interest of all Muslim and Arab states.

"We do not hope that its security is targeted because we share 1,400 kilometers of border and a number of relations [with Iran]," he said.

"Honestly, the security and stability of a neighboring Islamic country is in the interest of Muslim and Arab states."

Iraq has offered to mediate between the United States and Iran to bring down tensions in the region.

Relations between Tehran and Washington have plummeted since the United States a year ago pulled out of a 2015 nuclear accord between world powers and Iran that curbed the country's nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions.

Since then, Washington has reimposed sanctions, stepped up its rhetoric, and beefed up its military presence in the Middle East, prompting growing concerns of a possible military conflict with Iran.

Nevertheless, U.S. President Donald Trump this week said the United States was not "looking to hurt Iran at all."

"We're not looking for regime change. I just want to make that clear," Trump said. "We're looking for no nuclear weapons."

Another summit of Arab nations is scheduled in Mecca on May 31, focusing mainly on Palestinian hopes for statehood and independence.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/saudi-king- opens-summit-assailing-iran-call-for -unity/29973513.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.

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EU's Tusk Continues Central Asian Tour With Kazakh Talks

By RFE/RL May 31, 2019

NUR-SULTAN -- European Council President Donald Tusk has continued his Central Asian tour with a visit to Kazakhstan, where he held talks with interim President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.

Toqaev said at the May 31 talks that his country will continue its "course toward a comprehensive and constructive partnership with the European Union," according to the Kazakh presidential website.

Tusk called Kazakhstan an "important and stable partner not only in the region, but also on the global level."

Tusk arrived in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan, from Tajikistan, where he discussed cooperation with President Emomali Rahmon.

After Kazakhstan, Tusk will wind up his tour with a stop in Uzbekistan.

The European Council earlier said that during his May 29-June 2 Central Asian tour, Tusk would hold talks with Rahmon, Toqaev, former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev.

The council statement said Tusk's trip is "a further expression of the EU's commitment to stronger partnerships with the region and the individual countries," adding that during his talks, Tusk would focus on regional and bilateral cooperation, climate change, the environment, border management, and regional security.

Tusk's trip to the three former Soviet republics comes two weeks after the European Union launched its new Central Asian strategy.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-s-tusk- continues-central-asian-tour-with -kazakh-talks/29974100.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.

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GCC Extraordinary Summit Kicks Off under Chairmanship of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

Saudi Press Agency

Friday 1440/9/26 - 2019/05/31

Makkah, May 30, 2019, SPA -- The extraordinary summit of the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) started at Al-Safa Palace here this evening under the chairmanship of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The leaders and heads of delegations of the GCC countries were received by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques received King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the Kingdom of Bahrain; Shehab bin Tariq Al Saeed, Advisor to the Sultan of the Sultanate of Oman; Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of the State of Kuwait; Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces; and Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar.

Following the reception ceremony, the GCC extraordinary summit was opened with a recitation of verses from the Holy Quran.

At the outset of the GCC extraordinary summit, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud delivered the following speech:

"In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah,

My brothers, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Your Excellencies,

I would like to welcome you to your second country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I thank you for accepting the invitation to attend this extraordinary summit, which is taking place under direct challenges that pose threats to regional and international security and stability.

In the past, we were able to overcome many challenges that targeted security and stability, and also preserve the gains and achieve economic and social development in our countries. We will work together to confront all challenges and threats with determination and firmness.

My brothers, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses,

The Iranian regime's interference in the internal affairs of the region's countries, its development of nuclear and missile programs, and threat to the freedom of international maritime navigation which jeopardize world oil supplies, are considered a flagrant challenge to the UN charters, principles and laws for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The Iranian regime's support for terrorism over four decades and threat to security and stability in order to expand its influence and hegemony are an act rejected by international norms and conventions.

The recent criminal acts targeting one of the world's most important trade routes through sabotage act against four commercial carriers close to the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates in addition to targeting two oil pumping stations and a number of vital installations in the Kingdom, do require all of us to work seriously to preserve the security and gains of the GCC countries.

My brothers, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses,

The Kingdom is keen on the security and stability of the region, sparing it the scourge of war, and achieving peace, stability and prosperity for all peoples of the region, including the Iranian people. The Kingdom's hand will always be extended to peace and will continue supporting all efforts to maintain security and stability in the region.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the lack of a deterrent and firm stance to confront the subversive activities of the Iranian regime in the region has led the Iranian regime to continue and escalate these activities as we see today. We demand the international community to shoulder its responsibilities towards the threat posed by Iranian practices to the international peace and security, use all means to stop the Iranian regime from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, sponsoring terrorist activities in the region and the world, and threatening the freedom of maritime navigation in the international straits.

May Allah's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you."

Then, GCC Secretary General Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani delivered a speech in which he thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, chairman of the meeting, for calling for this summit in Makkah. He also congratulated the GCC leaders and citizens on the occasion of 88th GCC anniversary.

The GCC Secretary General also hailed the GCC leaders' keenness on the GCC security and stability as well as the GCC march.

Al-Zayani affirmed that this emergency summit is held in light of very critical, sensitive and complicated circumstances which required more solidarity in order to maintain the GCC achievements and interests.

"In light of the continuing Iranian provocations and interference in the internal affairs of the GCC States and the recent terrorist threats and acts in the region, including threats on the safety of oil supplies through sabotage acts against the commercial vessels in the UAE territorial waters and two oil pump stations in Saudi Arabia as well as the firing of ballistic missiles at the holy sites and civilian areas in the Kingdom, this important meeting seeks to take serious and active stance to maintain the security and stability of this vital region," Al-Zayani concluded.

Then, GCC Secretary General announced the start of the closed session.

The Kingdom's delegation to the GCC Extraordinary Summit included His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense; Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Fahad bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet; Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior; Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Minister of National Guard; Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet; and Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Then, a number of speeches were delivered at the Arab Extraordinary Summit by Secretary General of Arab League Dr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, King Abdullah II of Jordan, President Barham Saleh of Iraq, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait, President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, President Ismail Omar Jila of Djibouti, Chairman of the Military Transitional Council Abdel Fattah El Borhan of Sudan, Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri of Lebanon and President Osman Al-Ghazali of the Comoros.

Then, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques announced the conclusion of the Summit.

Following the conclusion of the Summit, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques held Suhoor banquet in honor of the leaders and heads of delegations of Arab countries.

The Kingdom's delegation to the Arab Extraordinary Summit included His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense; Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet; Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior; Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Minister of National Guard; Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet; and Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

--SPA

04:25 LOCAL TIME 01:25 GMT

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Arab Leaders Condemn Terrorist Actions of Houthi Militias and Iranian Conduct in the Region

Saudi Press Agency

Friday 1440/9/26 - 2019/05/31

Makkah, May 30, 2019, SPA --Leaders and heads of delegations of Arab countries have condemned the actions of the Houthi terrorist militias and the conduct of Iran against the principles of good neighborliness, which threatens security and stability in the region.

This came in a final communique delivered by Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the conclusion of the Arab Extraordinary Summit held this evening at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah under the chairmanship of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Following is the text of the final communique:

"At the invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to his brothers the leaders of Arab countries to discuss the serious repercussions of the attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist militias on two oil pumping stations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the attack on commercial vessels in the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates.

In accordance with Article Three of the Charter of the Arab League for the periodic convening of the Summit, the Council of the Arab League held an extraordinary session in Makkah, on 25/9/1440AH corresponding to 30/5/2019, where the Arab leaders discussed these developments and their implications on the higher Arab interests. The deliberations concluded with the following positions:

1- The condemnation of the actions of the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militias, including crossing two oil pumping stations inside Saudi Arabia using unmanned aerial vehicles and the sabotage of commercial vessels in the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates.

2- Emphasizing that the Arab States seek to restore security stability in the region and that the only true way is for all states in the region to respect the principles of good neighborliness, refraining from the use or waving of force, interfering in the internal affairs of States and violating their sovereignty. Also, that the conduct of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region is contrary to those principles and undermines the requirements of confidence and thus directly and dangerously threatens the security and stability in the region, stressing that the cooperation relations with Arab countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran must be based on the principle of good-neighborliness, not interfering in the internal affairs of States and respecting their sovereignty.

3- Affirming the solidarity and unity of Arab countries with each other in the face of Iranian interference in their internal affairs, whether directly or indirectly, with the aim of destabilizing their security and stability, in addition to intensifying the means of cooperation and coordination among them in the face of resulted dangers.

4- Condemning the continued firing of Iranian-made ballistic missiles on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias, counting this as a threat to Arab national security. Also, emphasizing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's right to defend its territory in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and its support for its actions against such attacks within the framework of International legitimacy.

5- Condemning the continued Iranian support for the Houthi anti-government militias in Yemen.

6- Condemning and denouncing the continuing Iranian interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, supporting terrorism, training terrorists, smuggling arms and explosives, and inciting sectarian strife to destabilize security, order and stability.

7- Condemning the ongoing occupation by Iran of the three occupied islands of the United Arab Emirates and supporting all peaceful measures taken by the United Arab Emirates to restore its sovereignty over its occupied islands.

8- Continuing the limitation of satellite channels funded by Iran on Arab satellites.

9- Intensifying the diplomatic efforts between the Arab countries and countries and regional and international organizations to shed light on Iran's practices that endanger peace and security in the region, calling upon the international community to take a firm stand against Iran and its destabilizing activities in the region, standing firmly and strongly against any Iranian attempts to threaten energy security and the freedom and safety of maritime installations in the Arabian Gulf and other waterways, whether carried out by Iran or through its arms in the region.

10- Denouncing the Iranian interference in the Syrian crisis and its implications for Syria's future, sovereignty, security, independence, national unity and territorial integrity, and that such intervention does not serve the exerted efforts to settle the Syrian crisis according to the content of the Geneva Convention 1 and the relevant international resolutions. On the issue of Palestine, the main Arab issue, the summit affirmed its adherence to the resolutions of the 29th Arab summit in Dhahran (Al-Quds Summit) and the resolutions of the 30th Arab summit in Tunisia".

At the conclusion of their meeting, the Arab leaders expressed their thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their warm reception and generous hospitality and their excellent organization and preparation of the works of this summit.

--SPA

10:28 LOCAL TIME 07:28 GMT

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GCC Extraordinary Summit Issues Final Communique

Saudi Press Agency

Friday 1440/9/26 - 2019/05/31

Makkah, May 30, 2019, SPA -- The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Member States issued a final Communique today as follows:

"Makkah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,

At an invitation of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the GCC Supreme Council held an extraordinary session in Makkah on May 30, 2019, under the chairmanship of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and in participation of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates' Armed Forces; King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain; Shihab bin Tariq Al Saee, Advisor to the Sultan of Oman; Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah Nasser Al Thani of the State of Qatar; Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of the State of Kuwait, and Secretary General Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Member States.

The GCC leaders lauded the leading role played by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as well as his call to hold this extraordinary summit and the Arab and Islamic summits in order to unite ranks to face the challenges facing the region and maintain security and stability.

The Supreme Council reviewed the critical circumstances and serious challenges facing the region as a result of the recent attacks on the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These attacks have repercussions and represent a direct threat to peace and security in the region, the freedom of maritime navigation, international trade and the stability of oil markets due to some countries' attempts to destabilize security and stability in the region, support of terrorism and interference in the internal affairs of the countries of the region.

The Extraordinary Summit concluded the following:

1- The GCC Supreme Council condemns the terrorist attacks carried out by the Houthi terrorist militias through bomb-laden drones targeting two oil pump stations in Dawadmi and Afif provinces in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, affirming that these acts of terrorism pose a serious threat to the security of the region and the global economy. The Council expresses solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the face of these terrorist threats aimed at provoking unrest in the region. The Supreme Council supports all measures taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to protect its security, stability and territorial integrity.

2- The GCC Supreme Council condemns the firing of ballistic missiles by the Houthi militias, totalling more than 225 missiles towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks on Makkah, and more than 155 unmanned aerial vehicles.

3- The GCC Supreme Council condemns the sabotage acts on four civil commercial vessels in the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates, which affected UAE oil tanker, two Saudi tankers and Norwegian oil tanker, considering it a dangerous escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime navigation in this vital region of the world and negatively affects regional and international peace and security as well as stability of oil markets. The Council affirmed its solidarity with the United Arab Emirates and its support for all measures taken by the United Arab Emirates to protect its security, stability and territorial integrity, calling upon the international community and the international maritime authorities to shoulder their responsibilities to prevent such acts of sabotage.

4- The GCC Supreme Council emphasizes the strength and coherence of the GCC and the unity of its ranks to confront these threats.

5- The GCC Supreme Council reviews the GCC defense policy based on the principle of collective and integrated security for the purpose of defending the entity, fundamentals and interests of its countries, territories, airspace and territorial waters, affirming the principles contained in the GCC Joint Defense Agreement affirming that the security of the GCC States is an indivisible unit and any attack on any member state is an attack on all of them. The Council also asserted the contents of the principles of the Statute of the Cooperation Council and the decisions of the Supreme Council on integration and cooperation among the GCC States to maintain security, peace and stability in the GCC States.

6- The GCC Supreme Council emphasizes the stances of the Supreme Council and its firm decisions on relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, affirming the need for Iran to abide by the basic principles based on the Charter of the United Nations and the international laws, principles of good neighborliness, respect for the sovereignty of States, non-interference in internal affairs and non-use of force or threat. The GCC Supreme Council also affirms that Iran must stop supporting, financing and arming terrorist militias and organizations as well as feeding sectarian conflicts, calling upon the Iranian regime to prevail wisdom, keep away from hostilities and destabilizing security and stability. The Council calls upon the international community to shoulder its responsibility to maintain international peace and security, take a firm action against the Iranian regime as well as more effective and serious steps to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear capability and put more stringent restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program.

7- The GCC Supreme Council affirms the need that Iran spares the region the dangers of war by abiding by the international laws and conventions, stop interference in the internal affairs of the countries of the region, and stop supporting terrorist groups and militias and threatening the security of maritime navigation.

8- The GCC Supreme Council lauds the level of coordination and consultation with the United States of America and consolidating the US-GCC joint cooperation within the framework of the existing strategic partnership between the GCC and the United States of America and the bilateral agreements between the GCC States and the United States of America in order to achieve security and stability in the region. The Council reiterates its support for the USA's strategy towards Iran, including Iran nuclear program, ballistic missile program, Iran's activities to destabilize the region, its support for terrorism, and combating the hostile activities of Hezbollah, the Revolutionary Guards, Houthi and other terrorist organizations. The GCC Supreme Council lauds the actions taken by the United States of America to confront Iran.

9- The GCC Supreme Council affirms the GCC keenness to maintain stability, security and peace in the region, the growth of the world economy and the stability of oil markets. The Council denounces the Iranian threats to the freedom of maritime navigation and oil supplies, calling upon on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities in securing the freedom of maritime navigation, in light of these threats and attacks against the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The GCC Supreme Council expressed thanks to and appreciation of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is also Chairman of the Supreme Council's meeting, and the Saudi government and people for the warm reception, good hospitality and sincere brotherhood feelings during the meeting.

--SPA

04:08 LOCAL TIME 01:08 GMT

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Iran's Rouhani Accuses US of Plotting Against Palestinian Authority

Sputnik News

21:53 31.05.2019(updated 22:03 31.05.2019)

TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday decried the US "deal of the century" as a conspiracy that seeks to quash any possibility of a sovereign Palestinian state.

In a letter posted on the presidential website, Rouhani warned Muslim leaders gathering in Saudi Arabia's Mecca they should not be distracted by Washington's "divisive measures."

"The ominous conspiracy of Deal of the Century is after destruction of the Palestinian cause and promoting occupation aggression against all Islamic countries", he wrote.

Saudi Arabia has been hosting three emergency summits of Gulf Arab leaders in Mecca, attempting to address the escalation of US-Iran tensions in the Middle East.

READ MORE: Iranian Foreign Minister: US Cannot Decide Jerusalem's Fate

US President Donald Trump said at the start of his term he would present his roadmap for ending the decades-old row between Israel and Palestinians, who seek to create their own state with the capital in Jerusalem.

The economic part of the US plan is expected to be unveiled at a workshop in Bahrain in late June. It will reportedly encourage wealthy Arab states to pay for Palestinian projects but suggest that Israel keep the occupied Palestinian lands.

Commenting on the issue on Friday, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, said that Palestinians reject the "prosperity instead of peace" plan for the solution of the conflict with Israel.

 Sputnik

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Duterte Questions Beijing's Territorial Claims as US Laments S China Sea 'Militarisation'

Sputnik News

17:25 31.05.2019

Six states claim ownership over several parts of the South China Sea, but at the moment China controls the vast majority of the territory. The US is actively trying to contest Beijing's dominance in the region by sending military ships, sparking concerns that such moves could cause a conflict.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has called on China to actively participate in the development of a code of conduct for operations in the disputed waters of the South China Sea warning that "the longer it takes" the greater the chances that the region will become a "flashpoint of troubles". Duterte further noted that the US, UK, and France are already "testing the waters", threatening the fragile balance.

The Philippine president also reiterated his earlier statements that he and his country are not in power to affect China's behaviour at sea, but at the same time added that he is "sad and bewildered" by Beijing's actions. He also questioned the rightfulness of the Asian country's claims to the territory, disputed by five other states.

"I love China... but it behoves upon us to ask, 'is it right for a country to claim the whole ocean?'" Duterte said.

Duterte is often criticised in his country over allegedly backtracking after pressure from China following a major victory at the international maritime tribunal, which ruled Beijing's claims to islands that the Philippines dispute as ungrounded. However, in April the Philippine president warned China against hostile actions against its island Pag-asa, vowing to send the military on "suicide missions" to defend it.

Recently, acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan slammed China's military constructions on the islands in the sea, including runways and surface to air missiles as "excessive" and "overkill". Beijing insists that all the installations in the South China Sea are purely defensive.

Shanahan met with his Chinese colleague on 31 May to discuss pending bilateral issues in military sphere at an Asia security summit in Singapore. A Pentagon spokesman has called the talks "constructive and productive", adding that the two discussed ways to prevent a "misunderstanding and miscalculation between nations".

The two country's relations have been strained by tensions around the sea's status. Washington regularly sends its military vessels to the region to conduct Freedom of Navigation missions. Beijing considers such moves "provocations" and has called on Washington to stop the practice.

Apart from China and the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam claim rights to various swathes of territory in the South China Sea. The majority of the territory is still controlled by Beijing.

 Sputnik

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US Navy Ship Enters Baltic Sea For Drills as NATO Beefs Up Activities

Sputnik News

10:55 31.05.2019

The US-led BALTOPS exercises are set to take place in Russia's backyard. NATO has demonstrably beefed up its presence in the Baltic region despite Russia's concerns. Apart from the Spring Storm drills in Estonia, with 10,000 troops from over a dozen countries involved, naval exercises called Baltic Protector have kicked off.

The US Navy's USS Mount Whitney has passed through the Danish strait Great Belt and sailed into the Baltic Sea, according to the AIS naval monitoring resource. A day earlier, it became known that Canada's HMCS St. John's had sailed into the region, the Russian website Gazeta.ru reports.

Both ships are expected to participate in the annual US-led NATO BALTOPS drills along with ships, aircraft and landing forces from over a dozen other nations in mid-June.

Earlier in May, Baltic Protector, a series of NATO maritime tactical exercises across Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea region and shore-landing drills, kicked off. The multinational war games will involve a total of 3,000 military personnel and 17 vessels from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Baltic Protector is comprised of the UK's Amphibious Task Group, including flagship HMS Albion, a helicopter support vessel, a frigate and a military ferry, as well as the Danish command ship HDMS Absalon, a Dutch amphibious ship and two Norwegian missile boats.

NATO has demonstrably beefed up its presence in the Baltic region in recent weeks, with France and the UK recently deploying more troops, tanks and helicopters to the Baltics as part of their rotating deployment and drills. In April, NATO launched its annual Spring Storm drills in Estonia, with 10,000 troops conducting ground and air-based exercises in the country over three weeks.

Moscow has repeatedly voiced concerns over the expansion of NATO's forward presence along Russia's borders in the Baltic countries, Poland, and Romania, pointing to the risks of accidental escalation and warning that it would monitor the alliance's military operations in the region.

In May, the Russian military tracked a US Air Force Boeing RC-135V spy plane as it flew near the maritime borders of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad along the Baltic Sea. The country's military also conducted missile drills in the region, with a Baltic Fleet corvette firing off a pair of Uran anti-ship missiles at targets 30 km away.

 Sputnik

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Car Bomb Attack on Coalition Convoy in Kabul Kills at Least Four - Reports

Sputnik News

08:17 31.05.2019(updated 10:08 31.05.2019)

The blast comes just a day after a suicide bomber carried out an attack outside a military training academy in Kabul, killing six people, with the Daesh* terror group claiming responsibility for the deadly incident.

According to TOLOnews reports, a car bomb attack in the Qala-e-Wazir District of the Afghan capital has targeted a convoy of vehicles belonging to the US-led coalition, killing at least four and wounding several others. Later in the day, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident, the broadcaster reported.

"It was a suicide attack that targeted foreigners", an anonymous security official has told Reuters, stating that four residents of Kabul had been killed by the explosion as well as wounding several people in the convoy.

However, there is no official information about the casualties at the moment.

A series of attacks, committed by various militant groups comes amid new armed clashes between the government and Taliban radical movement. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani previously proposed a nationwide ceasefire due to the start of the holy month of Ramadan, but the Taliban rejected the offer.

* Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/IS/Islamic State) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia

 Sputnik

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Arab States Accuse Iran of Supplying Ballistic Missiles to Yemeni Houthi Rebels

Sputnik News

02:52 31.05.2019(updated 06:17 31.05.2019)

Gulf Arab states have declared unity in the face of "Iran threats" according to a communique of the summit in Mecca.

Gulf Arab states have accused Iran in Mecca summit communique of supplying ballistic missiles to Yemani Houthi rebels for attacking Saudi territory.

"We condemn the launch of ballistic missiles manufactured in Iran from Yemen into Saudi Arabia. We condemn the operations that the Houthis carry out against Saudi Arabia," the Arab states said in the communique.

The document also says that Arab states condemn Iran's interference in Syrian crisis as well as "negative effect" on Syrian territorial integrity.

"We condemn Iran's interference in the Syrian crisis and [Tehran's] negative effect on Syria's territorial integrity," the Arab states said in a communique of an emergency summit in Mecca, which was convened by Saudi Arabia.

Arab state leaders also said on Friday that they remained committed to the previously made agreements on the Palestinian issue settlement.

"We are stating our commitment to the decisions taken at previous Arab summits in relation to the Palestinian issue," the Arab states said in a final communique of their emergency summit in Mecca.

The statement was made in the light of the US plans to announce its long-anticipated "deal of the century," a peace plan for the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For years, the Arab world remains committed to the Arab Peace Initiative, originally agreed upon at the Beirut Summit back in 2002.

Earlier, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said said in an opening speech at the emergency Arab Summit that the Palestinian cause will remain the main priority for the Arab world until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

The Arab Gulf monarchies also called on the international community to prevent Iran from creating its nuclear weapons and to impose stricter restrictions on its ballistic missile program.

"The resolution called on the international community to implement its obligations in maintaining international peace and security and taking more effective and strong actions to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear arsenal and imposing stricter restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program," the states said in a communique of an emergency Gulf summit, convened by Saudi Arabia in Mecca.

In the same statement, the Gulf states "reaffirmed their support for the US strategy against Iran, including countering Iranian programs in the area of nuclear technologies and ballistic missiles; its destabilizing activities in the region; and its support for terrorism."

The countries also condemned Iran for creating alleged threats for maritime traffic and the Gulf oil exports to the global market. They also called on the international community to implement its obligations on ensuring the freedom of maritime traffic after the recent threats and attacks on the Gulf oil assets.

On May 12, four oil tankers  including two Saudi vessels and a UAE-flagged ship  were targeted in an attack off of the UAE's exclusive economic zone. US National Security Adviser John Bolton has claimed that Iran was most certainly behind the attack, while Tehran has denied the allegations.

 Sputnik

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World Food Programme accesses Yemeni frontline district for first time since conflict began

31 May 2019 - Amid the world's largest humanitarian crisis still unfolding in Yemen, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has gained access to the rebel-held northern district of Nihm, for the first time since the war between Houthis and the Saudi-backed Government coalition escalated in 2015.

During the four years of violence, many districts have remained inaccessible for humanitarians, causing conditions facing civilians wracked by hunger, cholera, and bombardment, to "significantly deteriorate", according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

WFP Spokesperson Herve Verhoosel, told journalists in Geneva that on Thursday the agency had succeeded in distributing food and aid to more than 5,000 people from "896 households living next to the frontlines of Nihm district in Sana'a governorate." He highlighted that this was "the first time WFP and a cooperating partner, Islamic Relief, (have) reached people living inside the militarized zone of Nihm."

According to WFP, a one-off distribution providing rations for two months, was conducted in two food distribution points, marking an important breakthrough as the district has been a frontline conflict area, which is very difficult to access, for a prolonged period. The area close to the Saudi border, north east of the Houthi-held capital Sana'a  has been in the hands of the movement, officially known as Ansar Allah, since 2014.

First aid in a year reaches Dhuraimi City

Mr. Verhoosel also reported that the agency has gained access to "the besieged area of Dhuraimi city in Hudaydah governorate, which has seen intense conflict and insecurity for a prolonged period." The city of Dhuraimi is also on a frontline between the warring parties, and WFP noted that both sides had helped with access.

Mr Verhoosel told journalists that "WFP provided two-month general food assistance rations, water, hygiene kits and dignity kits from UNICEF and UNFPA, and other food assistance." He reiterated that "this is the first humanitarian assistance to reach civilians in the city for a year."

While WFP's reach has been increasing since December, Mr. Verhoosel acknowledged that there is still more work to do. "WFP was reaching 7 to 8 million people a month. Since January, February, we are reaching 10 million people a month," he stressed, adding they hoped to extend that to 12 million.

"We are not there yet for the moment because of those distribution issues that we have." Even in Sana'a, reports by NGOs working in Nihm, indicate that although access to some areas was possible, some communities where fighting is on-going, remain out of reach.

WFP together with Islamic Relief has been working to open up access to these vulnerable populations by establishing two food distribution points and coordinating closely with other agencies.

WFP is committed to "working with both sides" of the conflict, said Mr. Verhoosel,"to try to facilitate as much as possible not only the security situation but also of course the access."

Future of key Hudaydah grain silo supplies still not clear

In an update from the key port city of Hudaydah, WFP also said that grain supplies held in a silo close to the former front lines of conflict, are still being fumigated, but it was still not possible to say how much of it was fit to eat.

The Red Sea Mills contained enough grain to feed 3.7 million for a month, but "the total quantity of wheat that will be fit for human consumption is still not determined at this stage", said Mr. Verhoosel.

Each of the 11 silos contain an estimated 3,500-4,000 metric tonnes of grain and 40 local workers from the area have been hired to finalize cleaning, and WFP is looking to bring in additional equipment.

"WFP appreciates the cooperation from all parties on the ground that has made this progress possible", added the WFP Spokesperson.



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Mozambique pledging conference hopes to soften devastating blow of back-to-back cyclones

31 May 2019 - As some 1.85 million people in Mozambique try to recover from back-to-back cyclones Idai and Kenneth, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Friday kicked off a two-day pledging forum to drum up funds to help get the vulnerable country get back on its feet.

The International Pledging Conference is taking place in the coastal city of Beira, one of the areas worst hit by the cyclones, hoping to raise $3.2 billion to "facilitate the reconstruction and building of resilience in the affected areas".

"I personally witnessed the results of the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai during my recent visit to the affected areas", said Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP's Regional Bureau for Africa. "UNDP fully supports the efforts of the Government of Mozambique to achieve sustainable recovery and resilience," he added.

Cyclone Idai made landfall in March, killing over 600 people and destroying nearly 240,000 homes. Kenneth, the second massive cyclone to hit southern Africa in six weeks, partially or fully destroyed nearly 35,000 houses, close to 200 classrooms and at least 14 health facilities.

Post-cyclone reconstruction will focus on restoring productivity, social services, and infrastructure in Sofala, Manica, Tete, Zambezia, Inhambane, Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces, according to the UN agency.

Over the course of the two days, about 700 participants from international organizations, development partners, private sector and civil society organizations are expected to participate in the conference as well as Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi and several senior ministers.

In a written message, the President of the General Assembly, Maria Espinosa she expressed her full support to Mozambique and called for concrete action to support the recovery efforts.

"We need to do more than express solidarity, by sending a strong and clear message that the international community stands by the people of Mozambique in word and in deed; that we will support the country as it mobilizes its own efforts to rebuild and achieve sustainable development", Ms. Espinosa said.

The basis for the pledges is the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA)  an in-depth technical study conducted by UNDP, the European Union, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

In parallel

In an interview with UN News in Maputo, Marcoluigi Corsi, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Mozambique, said he hoped that the event would serve to reflect and unify the country.

"It's an opportunity to create a climate of trust so that together we can help and support the people who are still suffering", said Mr. Corsi.

In everything we do, including humanitarian assistance, emergency aid and reconstruction, "we have to put people at the center of our work", he added.

He explained that the money pledged will be used "to recover and rebuild the health sector, transportation, education and social protection", all of which requires working "together with all partners".

Meanwhile, the chief of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) tweeted that Beira's destruction was "a clear warning that we must do much more to prepare and adapt for climate change in low- and middle-income countries".

"The people of Beira had no past experience as Cyclone Idai bore down on them, destroying their homes, schools, hospitals, public utilities, roads and bridges in a violent demonstration of what it means in this century to live on the water's edge" said UNISDR head, Mami Mizutori, in an opinion piece published on Sunday, prior to the conference.

"Beira is not alone", she added, saying that thousands of cities and towns across the developing world, where the sea is encroaching little by little, are "on a very visible front line".

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123rd Airlift Wing supports interoperability with exercise Immediate Response

By Staff Sgt. Joshua Horton, 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs / Published May 31, 2019

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AFNS) -- More than 90 Airmen and three C-130 Hercules aircraft from the Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Airlift Wing participated in Immediate Response 2019, a multinational exercise co-led by Croatian Armed Forces, Slovenian Armed Forces and U.S. Army Europe, at Aviano Air Base, May 9-22.

The purpose of the annual exercise is to build multinational readiness, enhance military-to-military relationships and improve interoperability between land forces to provide mutual assurance, deter regional aggression and support a balanced approach to security and stability in the Balkan region.

Maj. Trevor Sutherland, the 123rd AW's air mission commander, said the exercise provided invaluable experience working with multiple partners.

"It validates all of our strategic plans," said Sutherland, a pilot in the wing's 165th Airlift Squadron. "You have our people interfacing with the Army and all these different agencies, and they were very impressed with the way our unit leaned forward."

The exercise included approximately 6,000 participants from 15 nations including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In addition to improving relationships and interoperability with allies and partners, the exercise also provided a good training opportunity for newer Airmen, said Master Sgt. Hunter Hurd, a 123rd Maintenance Group flightline production controller and production superintendent for the mission.

"I think this was an excellent training experience; it really shows the younger folks why they went to school for as long as they did and why they worked those long hours," Hurd said. "They can see the fruits of their labor in the sorties that the aircrews are flying."

Airman Tanner Soward, a new 123rd Operations Group aviation resource management Airman, agreed.

"It was great being able to work with other units and countries," Soward said. "I learned a lot about doing my job without using the systems that we have back home."

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US Troop Levels in Syria 'Quite a Bit Lower' with Help on the Way

By Jeff Seldin May 31, 2019

U.S. officials are touting a "measurable decrease" in the number of U.S. troops in Syria, though they refuse to say just how many remain in the country to aid in the fight against remnants of the Islamic State terror group.

The director of the Pentagon's Defeat IS Task Force, Chris Maier, became the latest official to weigh in on troop levels, describing the withdrawal only in general terms.

"It's been a measurable decrease," he told reporters late Thursday. "The number of U.S. forces that are present now is quite a bit lower than when the drawdown began.

"U.S. force numbers will continue to draw down as conditions continue to, we hope, improve," he added.

Maier's comments come just over a week after the U.S. Special Representative for Syria, Ambassador James Jeffrey, told U.S. lawmakers the number of troops in Syria was "considerably fewer" than it was in December, when President Donald Trump first announced forces they would be coming home.

At the time, officials had said there were about 2,200 U.S. forces in Syria still actively engaged in helping the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight to destroy the last vestiges of the terror group's self-declared caliphate.

The SDF declared victory over IS in late March and, since then, the number of U.S. troops leaving Syria has accelerated, even as top U.S. officials have assured allies that a residual force will remain.

Maier, on Thursday, said it was also increasingly likely that the residual U.S. force would soon be bolstered by an influx of troops and capabilities from other members of the coalition to defeat Islamic State.

"We've talked to close to 30 coalition partners about their role  somewhere over two dozen that we're actively engaged with," he said, declining to share additional specifics. "Very few have told us no at this point."

In the meantime, Pentagon officials say they continue to operate in Syria without any set timeline for pulling out remaining troops, saying the drawdown remains dependent on conditions on the ground.

Nor have they been given what Maier described as "a direct ceiling" on the number of troops that the U.S. will maintain in Syria for the time being.

"We are under no delusions that ISIS is some sort of rag-tag pickup organization," he said, using an acronym for the group. He noted the ongoing threat from IS's clandestine insurgency is "largely steady."

"The trajectory and the trend lines are good, but this is a hard fight and a very capable enemy," Maier said. "I would never put a timeline on it."

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Taliban Bomber Targets US Military Convoy in Kabul

By Ayaz Gul May 31, 2019

Officials in Afghanistan say a suicide bomb attack Friday targeted a foreign military convoy in Kabul, killing at least four Afghan civilians and wounding four American soldiers.

The U.S. military confirmed the attack in the Afghan capital and said the service members received "minor injuries". It did not give further details.

The Taliban took responsibility for the bombing on a busy road linking Kabul to the eastern city of Jalalabad, saying a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed car near the foreign military convoy.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said several passerby were also among those injured.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid citing initial information claimed the powerful explosion destroyed two military vehicles and killed ten "invaders", a term insurgents use for U.S.-led NATO forces in the country. The insurgent group's claims are often inflated.

This was the second bomb attack in as many days in the Afghan capital.

On Thursday, an Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance gate of an Afghan military academy and training center in Kabul. That blast killed six security forces and wounded 12 others. Afghan officials said four civilians were also among those injured.

Meanwhile, fierce clashes were continuing in the northwestern province of Badghis where the Taliban fighters have taken control of the embattled strategic Bala Murghab district during overnight fighting with Afghan forces.

Azai Akazai, who represents the province in the Afghan parliament, confirmed the insurgent advances while talking to VOA and said overnight clashes killed around a dozen government forces.

The Taliban assault forced around 250 Afghan forces to retreat to a nearby Afghan military base, the lawmaker added.

The insurgent violence comes amid peace negations between U.S. and Taliban officials.

The dialogue has lately slowed down over Taliban's insistence it will not cease hostilities and engage in peace talks with the Afghan government until all foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

The insurgent group dismisses the Kabul administration as a puppet installed by "American invaders".

The Taliban, however, has engaged in informal discussions with Afghan opposition politicians and civil society groups. The latest round of such talks took place in Moscow this week.

A joint statement issued after the meeting on Thursday, however, offered no substantial outcome on issues such as a Taliban cease-fire during upcoming Muslim festival of Eid.

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US Secretary of State Discusses Iran, China While Meeting German Officials

By VOA News May 31, 2019

In his first visit to Germany as U.S. secretary of state, Mike Pompeo met Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin for talks that focused on Iran and China.

Merkel said ahead of the meeting that the United States continues to be Germany's most important partner outside of Europe, but on the issue of Iran, she made clear that Germany stands by the Iran nuclear deal despite the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement.

Pompeo highlighted common ground during his visit to Berlin, saying that Washington would not stand in the way of INSTEX  a system Europeans are developing to protect companies from American sanctions if they deal with Iran  as long as the focus is on providing humanitarian and other permitted goods.

INSTEX is not yet up and running, but Europeans hope to have it functioning by this summer.

Since the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement, the United States has been at odds with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, which are trying to keep the deal alive.

Merkel said that despite the differences between the United States and Germany the two sides agree that Iran must be prevented from taking "aggressive actions" and said the international community must ensure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.

During his visit to Berlin, Pompeo also cautioned Germany against engaging with China's telecommunications giant Huawei to help develop 5G networks.

"We've been pretty clear about how we view the risks connected to Huawei and 5G infrastructure. The internet of the future must have Western values embedded within it," the secretary of state said after meeting with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.

Pompeo's stop in Berlin makes up for a visit that he abruptly called off in early May to fly to Iraq. It is the first of his four-nation European trip, during which he also will visit Switzerland and the Netherlands before joining President Donald Trump on his state visit to Britain.

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South Sudan Reacts Angrily to Renewed UNSC Sanctions

By Dimo Silva Aurelio, Ayen Bior May 31, 2019

South Sudan's government is reacting angrily to the United Nations Security Council's move to renew sanctions on that country for another year, including an arms embargo. A South Sudan official warned continuing sanctions would weaken the government and embolden holdout groups that refused to sign the revitalized peace deal.

After repeated failed attempts, the Security Council imposed sanctions on South Sudan last year following five years of fighting that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and massive displacement of civilians.

The council said the decision will pressure the government to implement the accord.

South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei said Friday that the 10 Council members who voted in favor of the sanctions oppose peace in the country.

"These are people who do not want peace for South Sudan. The rebels are there, we have agreed but still there are rebels who are fighting the government and if you apply the arms embargo on the government of South Sudan, it means that you are actually paving the way for the rebels who have not signed the agreement," Makuei told VOA's South Sudan in Focus.

"It is being used as a weapon against the government of South Sudan so that it is weakened. Then definitely that is not acceptable because after all, not all the opposition groups have signed the agreement. Any arms embargo at this time is an anti-peace movement so that people go back into crisis again," Makuei also said.

Makuei said the government of President Salva Kiir is implementing the agreement and has rights as a sovereign country to acquire its own arms.

"When you talk of arms embargo, you don't just apply the arms embargo because you are fighting someone whether outside or inside but for your own protection and self-defense, you have the right to acquire arms as the government," said Makuei.

Juba resident Bidal Peter said continuing the sanctions will save innocent lives.

"South Sudanese are killing themselves with the guns that are bought, especially the finances [funding given to South Sudan] which are supposed to help the people of South Sudan are going for weapons and people are dying," Peter told South Sudan in Focus.

Five countries abstained from the vote, including three from Africa.

Aly Verjee, a researcher at the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace, said there clearly is a signal coming from the region.

"No IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] country is publicly in favor of the arms embargo and the African members of the Security Council tend to follow the regional organization's lead. They all cite the ongoing progress in the peace process but I think they ignored the symbolic value and the practical value of the sanctions regime," Verjee told South Sudan in Focus.

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African Free Trade Deal Takes Effect

By Mohammed Yusuf May 31, 2019

The African continental free trade agreement went into effect Thursday, with 24 of 54 countries ratifying it.

The plan was signed at the African Union summit in Kigali in 2016, after four years of negotiations, with Burkina Faso being the latest country to join.

The agreement aims to facilitate the free movement of goods and people across the continent.

Charles Kahuthu, head of the East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture, says African countries trading among themselves will benefit the continent.

"Africa continental free trade area, if we use that framework to increase or boost intra-Africa trade, would mean value addition for our raw materials," he said. "Those natural resources we have an abundance of instead of exporting them in raw form, we shall use the demand in the continent to be able to process them in a manner that our own consumers within Africa can use."

With imported goods flooding the African market from Asia, some African countries are implementing mechanisms and laws to protect their farmers and industries.

"Our infrastructure is outward looking," said Fred Muhunza, who teaches economics at the University of Makerere in Kampala. "We do not have transport byways of roads, airport and air travel that link Africa with Africa for purposes of trade. A lot of trade is looking beyond Africa, outside Africa."

Also, African countries have been looking at measures to block other goods, he added.

"We have a number of local laws that are coming against foreign free trade which is going to be detailed. We also have standards, much of African countries don't have a common standard. So a country decides to use non-tariff measures may have to decide and say your standard is not good, so that is not going to go through," Muhunza said.

Thirty African countries have yet to sign the continent's trade agreement. Signatories have until July to find ways to make the deal work.

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U.S. Judge Finds Alleged Russian Hacker Nikulin Competent To Stand Trial

By Mike Eckel May 31, 2019

A U.S. judge has ordered that Yevgeny Nikulin, a Russian man extradited from the Czech Republic and charged in one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history, is mentally competent to stand trial, paving the way for the beginning of formal proceedings.

The ruling, by San Francisco-based Judge William Alsup, concludes a months-long process of psychiatric evaluations that were ordered after he was shackled when he tried to escape U.S. Marshals' custody and had several physical altercations with officers.

"The government has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant's mental disorder does not render him incompetent and that any refusal to participate in his own defense is due to his own choice," Alsup wrote in the May 29 order.

Alsup set a June 11 date for a status hearing in the case.

Nikulin, 31, was arrested in Prague in October 2016 and extradited to the United States in March 2018.

He pleaded not guilty to charges that he hacked into the systems of LinkedIn and DropBox in 2012 and 2-13, allegedly accessing a database containing millions of account passwords.

Nikulin's case has raised suspicions that his hacking may be linked to the 2016 breach of servers belonging to the Democratic National Committee.

E-mails stolen from the committee were later leaked and published in July 2016 by Wikileaks, as the U.S. presidential election campaign was heating up.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, which fought to keep Nikulin from being sent to the United States, called his extradition as "a conscious, politically motivated step by the Czech side aimed at undermining the constructive basis of bilateral cooperation."

Moscow, also sought his extradition, saying he faced criminal charges in Russia. Russian officials also complained that Nikulin's detention and subsequent extradition was an example of U.S. authorities "hunting for Russian citizens across the world."

During court proceedings in Prague, Nikulin's Czech lawyer said his client claimed the FBI tried to force him to take responsibility for hacking of the Democratic Party's servers.

Nikulin's lawyer, Arkady Bukh, did not immediately return a phone message or an e-mail seeking comment.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/nikulin-hacker-trial -competency/29975018.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.

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Mexican President: US Coercion Won't Fix Migration Problems

By Victoria Macchi, Steve Herman May 31, 2019

exico's president responded to U.S. tariff threats with caution again Friday, urging "dialogue" over "coercive measures" in the latest conflict over the two countries' migration policies.

"I want to reiterate that we are not going to fall into any provocation; but we are going to be prudent, and we are going to respect the authorities of the United States and President Donald Trump," said Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"We think that any conflict and bilateral relations should be solved with dialogue, with communication. The use of coercive measures does not lead to anything good," he added.

His statement Friday morning followed a two-page letter to Trump made public late Thursday, similar in tone, responding to Trump's announcement on Twitter earlier in the day that the U.S. would begin imposing an escalating tax on imports from Mexico.

"On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP," Trump tweeted. Until "the illegal immigration problem is remedied" tariffs will continue to rise monthly, going as high as 25% by October 1.

U.S. border agents have apprehended an increasing number of people, largely from Central America, who crossed the southern U.S. border without authorization in recent months.

In contrast to previous spikes in arrivals, recent groups have included a large number of children, prompting U.S. officials to scramble to support families and children traveling without parents  some of whom are seeking asylum.

In an indication of the pressing demands at the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection solicited bids for the purchase of tens of thousands of baby diapers, wipes and bottles this past week, according to documents reviewed by VOA on a government contracting website.

Mexico has the "absolute ability and authority to do a lot more than they're doing," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Friday.

Reaction from Mexico

Lopez Obrador posted a letter to Twitter after Trump's announcement that said, "Social problems are not resolved with taxes or coercive measures."

Trump's announcement of the new tariffs came on the same day Mexico began the formal process of ratifying the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

Lopez Obrador said he was sending his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, to Washington to try to negotiate a solution.

Mexico's deputy foreign minister for North America, Jesus Seade, says such tariffs would be disastrous, expressing more alarm than the Mexican president.

"If this threat is carried out, it would be extremely serious," he told reporters. "If this is put in place, we must respond vigorously."

For one trade expert, who previously served as Mexico's ambassador to China  a top trading partner for that country and the U.S.  the timing of Trump's tariff statement raises questions about the future of the USMCA.

"By mixing two things  immigration and now, just lately, drug flow  with trade, I think it confuses the issue," said Jorge Guajardo, a senior director at the Washington-based international trade consulting firm McLarty Associates.

The trade deal "was a triumph for all three countries, and now, of course, that all comes into doubt," Guajardo added.

Marking progress

Some Republican members of Congress but no Democrats were consulted about the plan, according to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

Asked in a hastily arranged conference call with reporters about benchmarks Mexico would need to achieve to have the tariffs lifted, Mulvaney said there needs to be significant and substantial reductions in arrivals from Central America crossing into the United States.

"We're going to take this and look at it on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis," said Mulvaney. "We are interested in seeing the Mexican government act tonight, tomorrow."

Trump has repeatedly accused Mexico of not doing enough to stop Central American migrants from traveling through the country on their way to the United States.

The U.S. system, however, is not infallible. While the country has increased its apprehension rate at the border in recent years, U.S. border agents stop an estimated 65% to 80% of people crossing into the country without authorization, according to a 2018 DHS report.

VOA News Center Associate Producer Jesusemen Oni contributed reporting from Washington.

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NASA's Curiosity rover finds clay minerals on Mars

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:51, May 31, 2019

LOS ANGELES, May 30 (Xinhua) -- NASA's Curiosity rover has found the highest amounts of clay minerals since its landing on Mars in August of 2012, according to a release of NASA on Wednesday.

Two samples the rover recently drilled at rock targets called "Aberlady" and "Kilmarie" have revealed the highest amounts of clay minerals ever found during the mission, said the release.

Both drill targets appear in a new selfie taken by the rover on May 12, the 2,405th Martian day of the mission.

This clay-enriched region, located on the side of lower Mount Sharp, stood out to NASA orbiters before Curiosity landed in 2012.

Clay often forms in water, which is essential for life. Curiosity is exploring Mount Sharp to see if it had the conditions to support life billions of years ago, according to the mission team.

The rover's mineralogy instrument, called CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy), provided the first analysis of rock samples drilled in the clay-bearing unit. CheMin also found very little hematite, an iron oxide mineral that was abundant just to the north, on Vera Rubin Ridge, according to NASA.

It is likely that the rocks in the area formed as layers of mud in ancient lakes, something Curiosity also found lower on Mount Sharp. Water interacted with sediment over time, leaving an abundance of clay in the rocks there, said NASA.

Amid this new drilling and analyzing, Curiosity used its black-and-white Navigation Cameras to snap images of drifting clouds on May 7 and May 12, which are likely water-ice clouds about 31 kilometers above the surface, according to NASA.

The mission team has been trying to coordinate cloud observations with NASA's InSight lander, which is located about 600 kilometers away. Capturing the same clouds from two vantage points can help scientists calculate their altitude, said NASA.

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North Korea executes five envoys to failed US summit: Report

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 10:02PM

North Korea has executed its nuclear envoy to the United States and four other diplomats tasked with steering negotiations for a failed summit between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

Kim Hyok-chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, along with four foreign ministry officials after they were charged with spying for the US, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said on Friday.

"He was accused of spying for the United States for poorly reporting on the negotiations without properly grasping US intentions," the report said, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the situation.

The February summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, the second between Kim and Trump, failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over US calls for complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.

Previously, some North Korean officials who were reported to have been executed or purged reappeared later with new titles.

When asked about reports of a "shakeup" of Kim's negotiating team in a May 5 interview with ABC News, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it did appear that his future counterpart might be somebody else.

A diplomatic source told Reuters there were signs Kim Hyok-chol and other officials were punished, but there was no evidence they were executed and they may have been sent to a labor camp for re-education.

The newspaper reported that other officials had been punished, but not executed.

Kim Yong-chol, the North Korean leader's right-hand man and the counterpart to Pompeo before the Hanoi summit, had been sent to a labor and re-education camp in Jagang Province near the Chinese border, the Chosun Ilbo report added.

Officials who worked with Kim Yong-chol have been out of the public eye since the summit, while seasoned diplomats who appeared to have been sidelined, including Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, were seen returning to the spotlight.

A South Korean lawmaker told Reuters in April that Kim Yong-chol had been removed from a key party post.

North Korea's official party newspaper Rodong Sinmun warned on Thursday that "two-faced" officials would face the "stern judgment of the revolution".

"It is an anti-party, anti-revolutionary act to pretend to be revering the leader in front of him when you actually dream of something else," it said in a commentary.

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North Korea Reportedly Executes Special Nuclear Envoy Over Failed U.S. Summit

May 31, 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly executed his special envoy on nuclear talks with the United States in the wake of a failed summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi in February.

Envoy Kim Hyok Chol and four unidentified Foreign Ministry employees were executed in March at Pyongyang's Mirim Airport after being accused of spying for the United States, according to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.

The paper cited an unidentified North Korean source.

"[Kim Hyok Chol] was accused of spying for the United States for poorly reporting on the negotiations without properly grasping U.S. intentions," the source was quoted as saying.

In addition, Kim Yong Chol, the counterpart to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the nuclear talks, has been sent to a labor and "reeducation" camp in the northern part of the country, the daily reported.

The moves were apparently part of a sweeping purge of officials involved in the negotiations, several of whom have not been heard from since the summit.

Trump has made the negotiations with North Korea a centerpiece of his foreign policy and has repeatedly made approving statements about Kim Jong Un.

During a visit to Japan on May 26, Trump posted on Twitter that "North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me."

The post came shortly after the State Department said the May 4 and May 9 short-range missile tests violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Trump also expressed a willingness to hold a third summit with Kim in an effort to restrain North Korea's nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sanctions relief.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/north-korea-reportedly -executes-special-nuclear-envoy-over -failed-u-s-summit/29973650.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.

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North Korea's US Envoy Executed Following Failed Trump-Kim Summit - Report

Sputnik News

03:54 31.05.2019(updated 12:48 31.05.2019)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his government are said to have carried out a purge against at least five Foreign Ministry officials, including the country's envoy to the US, following the second official meeting between leaders of the US and Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim Hyok-chol, North Korea's special envoy to the US who acted as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's counterpart in discussions prior to the failed Hanoi summit between the two nations, has been dead for months, reported South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo Friday.

"Kim Hyok-chol was investigated and executed at Mirim Airport with four foreign ministry officials in March", an anonymous North Korean source revealed, according to The Chosun Ilbo.

The unnamed source added that Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea for South Korean affairs, was ordered into "forced labour" in Jagang Province.

The Chosun Ilbo goes on to assert Kim Jong-un's interpreter at the Hanoi summit, Shin Hye-yong, also found herself reprimanded and eventually detained in a "political prison camp" for reportedly undermining the DPRK leader through a mistranslation.

The source believes Kim Jong-un and his government are carrying out this "purge" to shift attention away from "domestic dissatisfaction". An "ideological education" programme is also mentioned as a requirement for those punished.

Reuters noted that in a Thursday release, Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official newspaper of the ruling party, included commentary saying "acting like one is revering the Leader in front (of others) but dreaming of something else when one turns around, is an anti-Party, anti-revolutionary act that has thrown away the moral fidelity toward the Leader, and such people will not avoid the stern judgment of the revolution".

In response to the reported executions, CEO of Korea Risk Group Chad O'Carroll took to Twitter, claiming he had communicated with a source earlier this week who contradicted The Chosun Ilbo's report.

The Chosun Ilbo concluded its report by highlighting that this is the first time the words "stern judgment" and "anti-Party, anti-revolutionary" have been used by the North Korean publication since the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle-in-law Jang Song-thaek in December 2013.

 Sputnik

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Narendra Modi Government's Council of Ministers Gets Portfolios

Sputnik News

18:41 31.05.2019

Notable portfolios among Modi's Council of Ministers is BJP President Amit Shah getting the Home Ministry, Rajnath Singh receiving the Defence Ministry, and Nirmala Sitharaman being given the Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministry, with former Diplomat S. Jaishankar becoming the external affairs minister.

New Delhi (Sputnik): A day after Narendra Modi was sworn-in as Indian prime minster for a second term, his new Council of Ministers was allocated portfolios on Friday.

While some of the top ministerial portfolios have been exchanged, there are some new faces who have been inducted into the Modi government 2.0.

The allocation of portfolios was directed by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on the advice of Prime Minister Modi as per the rules. Here is a list of some of the important portfolios and the people entrusted to take charge of them.

Union Cabinet Ministers

Minister of Home Affairs

Amit Shah  Having been a member of Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since his adolescence, Shah embarked upon his political career as a leader of the student wing of the RSS in 1983. As the president of governing Bharatiya Janata Party, he has so far been viewed as the second most powerful person in the party after Modi. He has been Modi's key aide throughout his political career. From 1989 to 2019, Shah has contested 28 elections at various levels without ever losing any of them.

Minister of External Affairs

S. Jaishankar  Having served as India's foreign secretary from January 2015 to January 2018, former diplomat Jaishankar is the biggest surprise in Modi's new cabinet for many. He has never been a part of the BJP. Holding a rich experience in diplomacy after serving as an Indian Foreign Service officer since 1977, he replaces former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Minister of Finance

Nirmala Sitharaman  Having served as the defence minister in the previous government, Sitharaman has now received the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs. She is a graduate in economics and has previously been the national spokesperson of the BJP. She replaces senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley in the new role. Jaitley has opted out of the new team, citing his health condition.

Minister of Defence

Rajnath Singh  A former president of the BJP, Rajnath Singh, who was the union home minister during the first term of the Narendra Modi government, has been given the Defence Ministry. The ministry drew major attention in the recently held parliamentary polls over the Rafale jet purchase. He will be overseeing the induction of 36 Rafale jets in the Indian Air Force. The purchasing of the jets created a furore in the parliament, with opposition party the Indian National Congress making claims of corruption in the deal.

Minister for Women and Child Development

Smriti Irani  A former TV actress, Smriti Irani has earned praise as the proverbial giant-killer for defeating Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition party Congress, on his home turf for the first time in a national election. She has received the Women and Child Development Ministry, as well as her previous Textiles Ministry. She has previously served as human resource development minister, textiles minister and information and broadcasting minister.

Among other notable Union Cabinet ministers, one of the heavyweight leaders of the BJP, Nitin Gadkari, a former BJP president, has been given the portfolio of minister for road transport and highways as well as minister of micro, small and medium enterprises. He has earlier served as minister for road transport and highways, shipping and water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation in the previous Modi dispensation, while Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior BJP leader from Bihar, who has been a chief spokesperson of the BJP, will look after the Ministries of Law and Justice, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology in the new scheme of things

Minister of State for MSME and Animal Husbandry

Pratap Sarangi  Sarangi, a social worker from the state of Odisha, has been known all over for his simplicity of life. However, he has reportedly opened many schools in tribal areas. For his commendable services to society, Sarangi is even being hailed as "Odisha's Modi". He is the one who received the loudest cheer at the swearing in ceremony on Thursday. Sarangi has been given the post of minister of state for the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Animal Husbandry.

 Sputnik

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US Warns India May Face Similar Problems as Turkey Over S-400s Purchase  Report

Sputnik News

17:01 31.05.2019

Turkey has experienced troubles in its relations with the US since it picked Russia's state-of-the-art air defence system over other alternatives, including America's Patriot systems. Washington has reportedly halted the delivery of parts for F-35s already ordered by Ankara and threatened the country with sanctions as well as exclusion from NATO.

India's decision to buy Russian S-400 air defence systems could hinder the country's future defence cooperation with the US, including the supplies of modern military equipment, India's NDTV reported citing an anonymous senior State Department official. The source argued the view that the purchase of S-400s "isn't a big deal" is erroneous.

"I disagree. The S-400 is significant because of CAATSA sanctions. It is also significant because of what it precludes, in terms of future high-tech cooperation", the official said.

The official noted that exemption from CAATSA sanctions are not automatically granted, but rather reviewed individually for each case; hence India is not entirely protected from falling under them.

The media's source further added that India is going to face the same "very serious conversation" that Washington is currently having with Turkey, who also decided to buy Russia's air defence system.

"We don't commingle highest technology systems. There are threats posed by the purchase of an S-400. So that conversation you are seeing played out in Turkey right now", the source said.

The State Department official also hinted that "certain choices" India makes, allegedly referring to the procurement of S-400s, could "preclude other" options for it. Namely, ongoing discussions between the two states on the sale of "combat aircraft" and other "advanced systems" might be affected.

India inked a $5 billion deal with Russia to procure S-400 air defence systems in October 2018, following China and Turkey. The latter's choice faced major opposition from the US, who threatened to halt supplies of F-35 jets already ordered. What is more, US officials have warned that Ankara might face sanctions and may even be booted from NATO over the decision to buy defence systems from Moscow.

Ankara slammed US rhetoric and noted that Washington had a chance to sell its Patriots to Turkey, but failed to make a lucrative offer. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly stated that his country will not back off on the S-400 procurement.

 Sputnik

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Russian State-Funded Pollster Changes Survey Questions -- And Putin's Ratings Soar

By RFE/RL's Russian Service May 31, 2019

MOSCOW  One week ago, the Kremlin was jolted by a new opinion poll that showed trust in President Vladimir Putin had fallen to the lowest level in nearly 20 years as Russia's preeminent political figure.

On May 31, however, one day after a Kremlin spokesman publicly questioned the results, a new survey was released by the same state-funded pollster that did the earlier one. It showed, instead, public trust in Putin at a markedly higher level.

The reason, it seems, is the pollster's decision to change how its questions are worded. And that's got Russians suspecting political meddling.

Valery Fyodorov, the general director of the company widely known as VTsIOM, told the Interfax news agency May 31 that the change in wording of the question asked of respondents resulted in a dramatically different result.

Previously, the pollster, whose formal name is the Public Opinion Research Center, asked an open-ended question: "Which of the following politicians do you trust?" Respondents were then given a list of well-known political figures, including Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and others.

Under the new methodology, the pollster asked close-ended questions -- "Do you trust or not trust?" -- followed by a similar list of figures.

Under the older methodology, Putin's trust rating fell to the lowest point of his nearly 20 years as the country's preeminent political figure, according to the poll released May 24.

A related question asked in the same poll found that a majority of Russians approved of Putin's job performance.

That result prompted a response from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who told Interfax that it didn't make sense that there were two seemingly contradictory results.

"To be honest, we are of course expecting an analysis from our respected specialists to understand how this data correlates: how, for example, trust can fall while his electoral rating rises," Peskov was quoted as saying.

Drastic Shift

With the new question, used in a survey conducted on May 29, Putin's trust rating was drastically higher. Putin's "distrust" rating, meanwhile, fell to even lower levels under the new methodology.

In an interview with the newspaper RBK, Fyodorov defended the shift in wording, saying it was easier for people to answer.

"I am confident that the picture of public sentiment obtained through this new innovation will be not only broader, but also more understandable to our audience and the journalistic community," he said.

The drastic shift led other Russian sociologists and pollsters to question the reliability of VTsIOM's data, and whether the results were being skewed for political purposes.

Denis Volkov, a top pollster at a respected private company Levada Center, told the newspaper that the results from the close-ended question were more acceptable to the Kremlin.

"When indicators change so much after criticism, it all looks quite doubtful," said Dmitry Rogozin, a researcher at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

"If previously someone had doubts about whether to trust or not hapless sociologists, now you can say for sure: don't trust data which begins to change after public discussion begins," he said.

With reporting by Interfax, RBK, and Novaya Gazeta



Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-state-funded- pollster-changes-survey-questions---and-putin-s -ratings-soar/29974840.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.

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US Claims of Russia's Illegal Nuclear Tests Disproved by Int'l Experts - Lavrov

Sputnik News

10:42 31.05.2019

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday refuted US claims suggesting that Russia has been illegally carrying out nuclear tests, stressing that international experts have already proven these allegations wrong.

"As regards the claims that Russia allegedly carried out nuclear tests, their delusional nature has already been noted by representatives of the CTBTO [Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation] and distinguished and respected experts in the United States", Lavrov told reporters at a press stakeout in the Russian Embassy in Tokyo.

The minister also suggested that the United States just needed to put forward some new accusations against Russia since it has become clear that Russia was not involved in the recent political scandal in Austria.

"It seems that after a Russian-speaking woman in Ibiza turned out to be Bosnian, they needed something else to come up with", Lavrov said jokingly.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Tuesday dismissed the country's government, led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, amid a scandal involving Kurz's coalition partner, the Freedom Party of Austria, whose former leader Hanz-Christian Strache was shown in a secret video, shot in Ibiza, pledging to fix public contracts for a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece. Allegations have emerged that Russia was involved in the situation.

However, Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported, citing sources, on Wednesday that the woman was actually a Russian-speaking student from Bosnia.

 Sputnik

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Damascus says Iran's presence in Syria 'legitimate, lawful'

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 03:45PM

The Syrian government has rejected a final communique issued following the 14th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi city of Mecca, describing the presence of Iranian military advisors in the conflict-plagued Arab country as "legitimate and lawful."

"Syria dismisses what was declared in the final statement of the emergency Arab summit in Saudi Arabia regarding the Iranian intervention in Syria's affairs, and considers what is mentioned in this communique as an unacceptable interference in the Syrian domestic issues," an unnamed source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said on Friday.

The source added, "Syria reiterates that the Iranian presence is legitimate because it came at the request of the Syrian government and contributed to Syria's efforts in the fight against terrorism sponsored by some participants in the summit."

"The summit was to condemn the interference of other countries in the Syrian crisis, which lacks legitimacy and is aimed at providing unlimited support to various terrorist groups and prolonging the Syrian conflict," the source pointed out.

Iran has been in Syria on an advisory military capacity since the conflict erupted in the country in 2011. Russia joined the battle late in 2015. The two countries intervened in Syria at the official request of the Syrian government.

Washington, which deployed troops in Syria in 2014 despite repeated criticisms by Damascus, has been critical of Iranian and Russian role in the country.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

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Onus is on Turkey to rein in militants in Syria's Idlib, Russia says

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 03:28PM

A high-ranking Russian official says Turkey carries the responsibility to stop Takfiri militants stationed in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib from launching attacks and firing projectiles on civilian facilities and Russian targets.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear on Friday that Moscow was unmoved for the time being by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call for a cease-fire in Idlib, emphasizing that militants were the ones, who had to implement a cessation of hostilities in the first instance to prevent more civilian deaths and a refugee influx to Turkey.

"We really do need a ceasefire in Idlib and what needs to be achieved is for the terrorists to stop firing on civilian targets and on certain facilities where our troops are located," Peskov told reporters when asked about Erdogan's request for a ceasefire.

"This is the responsibility of the Turkish side," the Kremlin spokesperson added.

On May 23, the Russian Defense Ministry said its surface-to-air missile systems had managed to foil an attack by foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants on its main airbase in Syria's western coastal province of Latakia.

The ministry announced in a statement that militants positioned in the de-escalation zone of Idlib province had launched four missiles at the strategic Hmeimim airbase.

The statement added that Russian air defense systems destroyed all the projectiles before they could strike the site.

The Russian Defense Ministry further noted that the missile launcher, which the Takfiri terrorists had used to fire the missiles at the Hmeimim base, was later detected and destroyed.

The development came only a day after foreign-backed militants fired a barrage of missiles at the same Russian military site.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that eight rockets launched by the extremists did not reach the Hmeimim airbase, while another nine were shot down by Russian air defense systems.

Russia has been helping Syrian forces in ongoing battles across the conflict-plagued Arab country.

The Russian military assistance, which began in September 2015 at the official request of the Syrian government, has proved effective as Syrians continue to recapture key areas from Daesh and other foreign-backed terrorist groups across the country with the backing of Russian air cover.

Under a deal reached following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on September 17, 2018, all militants in a demilitarized zone, which surrounds Idlib and also parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo and Hama, were supposed to pull out heavy arms by October 17, and Takfiri groups had to withdraw by October 15 last year.

The National Front for the Liberation of Syria is the main Turkish-backed militant alliance in the Idlib region, but the Takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, which is a coalition of different factions of terror outfits, largely composed of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, holds a large part of the province and the zone.

The HTS, which is said to be in control of some 60 percent of Idlib province, has yet to announce its stance on the buffer zone deal.

It is estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 members of different factions of armed groups, which Syria, Russia and Turkey consider terrorists, are active in the volatile province, which is home to around three million inhabitants.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

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Captured Daesh Bride Helping CIA Track Down Terrorist Leader Baghdadi - Report

Sputnik News

17:52 31.05.2019(updated 17:53 31.05.2019)

After months of speculation as to whether he was alive or dead, at the end of April a video was released in which Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first appearance in five years. Now, new information about the hunt for his location has been made public.

The most senior female Daesh prisoner has played a significant role in the CIA's manhunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, it has been revealed by the Guardian.

The Daesh woman, Nisrine Assad Ibrahim, better known by her doom-inducing nom de guerre, Umm Sayyaf, has reportedly helped in joint CIA-Kurdish efforts to track down Mr Baghdadi by providing detailed accounts of his movements over the years, including the locations of safe houses as well as the obscure traveling routes that he takes.

Miss Sayyaf, 29-years-old, and believed to be Iraqi, was captured in a 2015 US Delta Force raid in Syria, in which her husband, Daesh's then-second in command and the group's so-called oil minister, Abu Sayyaf, was killed.

Since being detained, Miss Sayyaf has reportedly spent many hours helping American investigators use maps to determine where Baghdadi may be bogged down.

"They were very polite [the American investigators] and wore civilian clothes," she told the Guardian, "I showed them everything I knew."

In February 2016, Miss Sayyaf is said to have provided the location of a house in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul where she believed Baghdadi was hiding out. Yet, despite being so close to bagging the world's most wanted man, Kurdish officials told the Guardian that the US did not want to carry out an airstrike on the home for fear of killing civilians in the tightly packed neighbourhood.

"I told them where the house was," Umm Sayyaf is reported as having said.

"I knew he'd been there because it was one of the houses that was provided for him, and one of the places he liked the most," she told the Guardian.

Kurdish officials also corroborated the Mosul story, reportedly saying that: "We told the Americans and asked them to act, and they said they had other things on. Baghdadi moved houses quite quickly and we missed him. Later, the Americans came back and said we were right."

The newspaper's revelation  which has allegedly been confirmed by American investigators involved in the operation  marks a significant moment in the ongoing hunt for Mr Baghdadi, who has managed to evade capture since he proclaimed the establishment of the caliphate in June 2014 from the pulpit of the al-Nouri mosque in Mosul.

Miss Sayyaf  who is now on death row in Iraq  is a magnet of controversy who is accused of presiding over some of Daesh's most hideous crimes, including the capturing and subsequent enslavement of American aid worker, Kayla Mueller along with several Yazidi woman and girls, many of whom are said to have been raped and killed.

The fact that Miss Sayyaf's family occupied leadership positions in Daesh, coupled with her marriage to a Baghdadi confidant, meant that she had rare access to the Daesh leader, she told the Guardian, and even claimed to have observed him recording propaganda messages in her home.

"He used to do that in our sitting room in Taji [a town in central Iraq]. My husband was the [Daesh] media chief then, and Baghdadi would visit often," she reportedly said.

"He visited us often in Syria. Sometimes he would come for a few hours. Sometimes he would stay longer. It was just a normal house, and I provided him and my husband tea. We would also go to Raqqa with him, I remember going twice. I told the Americans where the house was. They blindfolded us every time we entered the street, but I had been there before, and I knew what it looked like," Umm Sayyaf is quoted as saying.

A senior Kurdish intelligence official said of Umm Sayyaf's help: "she gave us a really clear picture of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's family structure and the people who mattered most to him. We learned about the wives of the people around him in particular, and that has been very useful for us. She identified lots of people and their responsibilities. And she gave us a sense of the real feelings of the leadership wives."

*Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/IS/Islamic State) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia

 Sputnik

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Militants Launch Attacks in Syria's Latakia, Hama, Aleppo  Russian Military

Sputnik News

03:01 31.05.2019

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Syrian militants attacked residential areas in the western provinces of Latakia and Hama as well as on the northwestern city of Aleppo, an official with the Russian Defence Ministry said Thursday.

"Over the past 24 hours, militants opened fire at the settlements of Safsara (thrice), Bsharfa, Roisset-Rushu, Nahsheba, Quljok, Kinsibba and Roys-Usleiman in Latakia  the city of Aleppo, the city of Hama, settlements of Skalbia and Shatkha Et-Tahta in the Hama province," Maj. Gen. Viktor Kupchishin said at a daily briefing.

He added that militants had also violated ceasefire in the northwestern de-escalation zone.

Meanwhile, local media reported that terrorists opened on Thursday rocket fire at the town of Kamkhanah in the Syrian province of Hama, leaving five people injured.

Terrorists fired several rockets that injured members of one family and caused material damage to residential houses, the SANA news agency reported, citing Hama Police Command. All the injured people were reportedly delivered to a nearby hospital.

Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with the government forces fighting against numerous opposition groups as well as militant and terrorist organizations. Russia, Turkey and Iran are guarantor of the ceasefire. Russia has been helping the Syrian government in its fight against terrorist groups.

 Sputnik

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Taiwan should be silent on Xi's unification formula: Taipei mayor

ROC Central News Agency

2019/05/31 20:42:32

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je () reiterated his stance Friday that Taiwan should remain silent on the topic of "one country, two systems," the unification formula Chinese President Xi Jinping () laid out earlier this year.

Ko, who is widely seen as a presidential hopeful, said Thursday that "it would be best to not say anything," as discussions regarding "one country, two systems" have formed an unmanageable vicious circle, after he criticized President Tsai Ing-wen ()'s China policy May 15 as "provocative."

In response to Xi's Jan. 2 unification proposal, Tsai said that "Taiwan will never accept the 'one country, two systems' formula, and the vast majority of Taiwan's people are firmly opposed to the approach designed by Beijing."

Rejecting Ko's comment, Tsai told reporters in Tainan Friday that it is important that Taiwan is clear on topics that concern the interests of the Taiwanese people.

It is equally important, she said, to avoid misjudgment and misunderstanding by members of the international community and China.

Tsai said that perhaps Ko prefers to ignore such topics. However, as president, she said, she represents the country and the will of people and has to be clear about what Taiwanese people will and will not accept.

Chen Ming-chi (), vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan's top China policymaking body, declined to comment on Ko's remark, but said that the majority of Taiwanese people do not agree with China's "one country, two systems" formula.

The 59-year-old Ko, a physician-turned-independent politician, bills himself as representing a third political force in Taiwan, distinct from the Kuomintang-led pan-blue and the DPP-led pan-green camps.

During a recent trip to Japan, Ko said he is "preparing" to run in Taiwan's 2020 presidential race, but indicated that he had not yet made a final decision.

(By Miao Zong-han, Wen Kuei-hsiang, Chang Jung-hsiang and Chen Yi-hsuan and Chung Yu-chen)

Enditem/J

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Taiwan passes bill for referendum on cross-strait agreements

ROC Central News Agency

2019/05/31 18:45:31

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) Any potential political accord with China will need not only the approval of lawmakers, but also of the people via a national referendum, according to an amendment passed Friday by the legislative Yuan.

The bill, which adds a clause to the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, requires that a national referendum be held before any cross-Taiwan Strait political agreement, including a peace treaty, can be signed and put into effect.

The purpose of the bill is to allow the public to participate in and monitor agreements between Taiwan and China, especially after opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih () said Feb. 14 that his party could sign a peace treaty with Beijing in accordance with the law if the KMT regains the presidency in 2020.

According to Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka in late March, the push to get the amendment passed also came after a Jan. 2 speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping () proposing the "one country, two systems" model for unification with Taiwan and calling for negotiations with representatives of various sectors in Taiwan on the issue.

In future, the government will have to submit any proposed political agreement with China, along with an assessment of its impact on Taiwan's constitutional system, to the Legislative Yuan 90 days before starting cross-strait negotiations.

The bill also stipulates that such a proposal must be approved by at least 75 percent of lawmakers present at a meeting consisting of at least 75 percent of the members of the legislative body before negotiations can be started.

The authority responsible for cross-strait negotiations on such an agreement must conduct talks in accordance with terms of the proposal and report to the Legislature.

If the Legislature decides that the talks have not followed the proposal's guidelines, it could demand a termination of the negotiations if voted on by at least half of the lawmakers.

If the Cabinet judges that such an agreement cannot be signed, it would also be required to halt negotiations and report on the situation to the Legislature.

In order for any such political agreement to take effect, it would have to be passed by at least 75 percent of the lawmakers present at a meeting consisting of at least 75 percent of the members of the legislative body and would then need to be approved via referendum with the support of at least half of the electorate.

The draft bill also stipulates that negotiations on any political agreement should not include issues such as the status of national sovereignty, and the destruction, abandonment, damage or alteration of a democratic constitutional order.

On Friday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling () applauded the bill, saying that any future cross-strait political agreements must be thoroughly reviewed and approved by a majority of lawmakers, and also by the people of Taiwan before they can be signed.

(By Chen Chun-hua and Ko Lin)

Enditem/J

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China warns US against 'playing with fire' through supporting Taiwan

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 05:34AM

China says the United States is "playing with fire" by a series of actions it has taken in the Taiwan Strait in support of the self-ruled island's secession bid.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian made the comment in a monthly news briefing on Thursday, saying Washington has recently been incessantly playing the "Taiwan card" in a futile effort to "use Taiwan to control China."

"This is deluded," he said. "The series of actions the US side has taken is playing with fire, seriously harms the development of military relations between China and the United States, and seriously harms peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait area."

China issued the warning as Taipei was conducting a live-fire drill on Thursday at a beach in southern Taiwan.

Beijing has accused Washington of making "a series of moves" on Taiwan and "other issues" that harm China's sovereignty.

Almost all world countries, including the US, recognize Chinese sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan. Beijing has pursued Taiwan's reunification ever since the island broke away from the mainland during a civil war in 1949.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has, however, been playing up the prospect of direct relations with Taiwan as an apparent bargain against China.

Washington  which has no formal diplomatic relations with Taipei by law  has extensive military ties with Taiwan, selling advanced military hardware to the island.

Beijing has constantly warned that it would not tolerate any activity, in any form or name, which attempts to separate Taiwan from the mainland.

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe is scheduled to meet Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan in Singapore, where the two are attending the annual Shangri-La defense forum amid an intensified trade war.

According to a senior US defense official, during the planned meeting, Shanahan is expected to bring up better communication between the two militaries to avoid the risk of confrontation.

On his first day as acting Pentagon chief in January, Shanahan said that his main priority would be "China, China, China."

Wei, however, is expected to discuss the trade dispute and the Trump administration's approaches to Taiwan and the South China Sea, according to security experts and regional diplomats.

Washington has escalated its trade dispute with Beijing over the past weeks, raising speculations that tensions could even extend beyond the trade sphere and affect other areas of contention, including Taiwan as well as the South China Sea.

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Chinese Minister Blasts US for Undermining One China Policy With Taiwan Actions

Sputnik News

19:26 31.05.2019(updated 21:54 31.05.2019)

Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan earlier in the day rejected China's claim that the continued militarisation of islands in the South China Sea is purely defensive, calling it overkill and excessive.

Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe has expressed protest against the US' Taiwan-related actions at a meeting with acting US Secretary of Defence Patrick M. Shanahan.

"Recently, the American side has made a number of statements and steps regarding Taiwan, which undermine the One China Principle. The Chinese side protests this", Wei said.

He stressed that the Chinese Armed Forces are firm in their determination to protect the sovereignty, security, and interests of China.

Wei Fenghe continued by saying that the US should not underestimate the determination of the Chinese side.

The statement comes after Shanahan earlier stated that building partnerships, deploying capabilities to the region, and assisting countries in developing their security capabilities are part of the US strategy to contain Beijing and achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific.

After the bilateral meeting in Singapore, China's Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters that while the talks were constructive, Defence Minister Wei Fenghe had flagged the US words and actions over Taiwan as "unconstructive".

The tense relations between the two countries have worsened over the last week since the US military reportedly sent two warships to sail though the Taiwan Strait in the South China Sea, with Doss saying that the transit demonstrated "the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific". China issued a representation to the United States about the passing.

China claims the South China Sea as its sovereign territory and has built military bases on artificial islands there. The United States views the sea as an international waterway and routinely defies China with patrols by US and allied warships in so-called freedom of navigation exercises.

 Sputnik

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Turkey's procurement of Russian S-400 systems going as planned: Foreign Ministry

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 12:44PM

Turkey has dismissed reports alleging that Ankara is considering delay in the delivery of advanced Russian built S-400 air defense missile systems in the wake of US pressure and threats of imposing sanctions over the purchase of the military hardware, emphasizing the plan is going on as planned.

"Reports of some media organs in recent days which say Turkey considers delaying S-400 procurement on US demand are baseless," Hami Aksoy, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said on Friday.

"Our procurement process of S-400 from Russia is ongoing as planned," he added.

Aksoy further noted that Turkey's offer to form a working group with the United States to discuss Ankara's pending procurement of Russian S-400 is still valid.

On Thursday, a top Pentagon official said consequences would be "devastating" for Turkey's joint F-35 fighter program and its cooperation with the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) if the country proceeded with its plan to purchase Russian S-400 missile defense system.

Kathryn Wheelbarger, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, said that Ankara's acquisition of the Russian system would damage its ability to work together with the Western alliance, and force Washington to slap the country with sanctions.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Turkish-language and nationwide Kanal 7 television network on May 5, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said US concerns as to Ankara's purchase of S-400 systems from Moscow were not reasonable and added that Turkey would not back down.

The US announced on April 1 that it would be suspending all "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of F-35 stealth fighter jets over Ankara's plans to purchase the S-400s.

On April 24, Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country will look elsewhere for an alternative to American F-35 fighter jets if Washington blocks the delivery of its advanced stealth warplanes to Ankara.

Moscow and Ankara finalized an agreement on the delivery of the S-400 in December 2017.

Back in April 2018, Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said in Ankara that they had agreed to expedite the delivery of the S-400. At the time, it was said that the delivery could be made between late 2019 and early 2020.

A number of NATO member states have criticized Turkey for its planned purchase of the S-400, arguing the missile batteries are not compatible with those of the military alliance.

They also argue that the purchase could jeopardize Ankara's acquisition of F-35 fighter jets and possibly result in US sanctions.

The S-400 is an advanced Russian missile system designed to detect, track, and destroy planes, drones, or missiles as far as 402 kilometers away. It has previously been sold only to China and India.

Ankara is striving to boost its air defense, particularly after Washington decided in 2015 to withdraw its Patriot surface-to-air missile system from Turkish border with Syria, a move that weakened Turkey's air defense.

Before gravitating towards Russia, the Turkish military reportedly walked out of a $3.4-billion contract for a similar Chinese system. The withdrawal took place under purported pressure from Washington.

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Pentagon warns Turkey about devastating consequences of buying S-400

Iran Press TV

Fri May 31, 2019 01:42AM

A top Pentagon official has warned Turkey about devastating consequences of buying advanced Russian made S-400 air defense missile systems.

Kathryn Wheelbarger, the acting US assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said at an event on Thursday that Turkey's purchase of the Russian missiles would damage Ankara's ability to work with NATO.

Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Wheelbarger threatened that the US would hit Turkey with sanctions if Ankara insisted on buying the Russian-made system.

The Pentagon official threatened that Ankara's status as NATO member and its participation in the US F-35 fighter program are on the line.

"Completion of this transaction would be devastating, not only to the F-35 program It would potentially rupture Turkish interoperability with NATO, a key aspect of the defense of the Alliance and let's be clear  the S-400 is a Russian system designed to shoot down an aircraft like the F-35. And it is inconceivable to imagine Russia not taking advantage of that collection opportunity," Wheelbarger said.

Ankara has repeatedly stressed that the S-400 agreement is a done deal and cannot be change.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said the delivery of the Russian system to his country "might be delayed until after June" irrespective of US pressure and threats of imposing sanctions on Ankara over the purchase of the military hardware.

"They may not catch June, but will arrive in following months. The process has started," Akar said in an interview this week.

The Turkish defense minister then refused to comment on "assumptions" when asked about measures Turkey would adopt in case of possible US sanctions over Ankara's procurement of S-400 missile defense system from Moscow.

"We are carrying out activities in a way that will completely fulfill the responsibilities given to us," Akar said, adding that Turkey has made full payment for F-35 fighter jets to Washington.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said earlier this month US concerns as to Ankara's purchase of S-400 systems from Moscow were not reasonable and added that Turkey would not back down.

The United States announced on April 1 that it would be suspending all "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of F-35 stealth fighter jets over Ankara's plans to purchase the S-400s.

On April 24, Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country will look elsewhere for an alternative to American F-35 fighter jets if Washington blocks the delivery of its advanced stealth warplanes to Ankara.

Moscow and Ankara finalized an agreement on the delivery of the S-400 in December 2017.

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Pentagon: Purchase Of Russian Missile System Would Be 'Devastating' For Turkey

By RFE/RL May 31, 2019

A top Pentagon official has again warned Turkey about the consequences of purchasing a missile-defense system from Russia, turning up the pressure despite Ankara's stated determination to go through with the deal.

Kathryn Wheelbarger, the acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, on May 30 said the purchase of the S-400 missile system would have a "devastating" effect on Turkey's participation in the F-35 jet-fighter program and its relations with fellow NATO members.

"Completion of this transaction would be devastating, not only to the F-35 program, on which the West has placed its modernized integrated air capability, but it would potentially rupture Turkish interoperability with NATO, a key aspect of the defense of the alliance," Wheelbarger said during an address to the Atlantic Council in Washington.

"Let's be clear. The S-400 is a Russian system designed to shoot down an aircraft like the F-35, and it is inconceivable to imagine Russia not taking advantage of that collection opportunity," she added.

"Once you introduce Russian systems, it really undermines our ability to continue helping them to defend themselves," she said.

Turkey, as a NATO member, is participating in the production of the fighter jet for use by alliance militaries and has plans itself to purchase 100 of the warplanes.

But the United States has demanded that Ankara call off the deal to purchase the Russian system, and NATO allies have also expressed concerns about the potential threat to U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets.

Washington has warned Ankara that it could invoke the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and impose financial penalties should Turkey go ahead with the deal.

U.S. officials have also said that Turkish firms would also likely be eliminated from production work related to the F-35 program.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to consider backing out of the missile purchase and called it a "done deal."

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said recently that Turkey has already sent personnel to Russia for training on the missile system.

With reporting by AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pentagon-official -warns-turkey-about-purchase-of-russian -missile-system/29973493.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.

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US Defence Chief Unaware of Plan to Create Working Group on S-400s With Turkey

Sputnik News

16:14 31.05.2019(updated 17:47 31.05.2019)

Ever since Ankara inked an agreement with Russia to buy S-400 defence systems in December 2017, Washington has been pressuring it into abandoning the deal. The US has threatened to halt the delivery of F-35 jets ordered by Turkey and even to boot it out of NATO, if it doesn't follow the demands.

Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on 31 May that he is unaware of plans to create a joint working group with Turkey on the S-400 issue, which were reported on earlier in the day.

"I haven't heard of the joint study group", he said during the Asia Security Summit in Singapore.

Shanahan reiterated his stance on the problem with Turkey's acquisition of Russian air defence systems, arguing that the S-400 is incompatible with the F-35 and that therefore the US shouldn't sell the latter to Ankara.

"The S-400 is designed to shoot down the F-35. They are natural enemies, that's the fundamental reason", he said.

US President Donald Trump has accepted an offer by his Turkish colleague Recep Tayyip Erdogan to create a working group on Russian S-400 air defence systems, which will be procured by Ankara this summer, Turkish NTV reported.

"Trump reacted positively to Erdogan's proposal to create a working group on S-400", the media's source said.

Erdogan earlier offered the US to form a joint working group to iron out Washington's concerns regarding the system being able to reveal the F-35's vulnerabilities to Moscow. He raised the issue of the working group on S-400 in a telephone conversation with Trump on Wednesday.

The US has been pressuring Turkey into abandoning the S-400 deal with Russia ever since it was inked in December 2017. Washington claims that the system will be incompatible with NATO equipment and that it will endanger F-35s, if they are operated by Turkey along with S-400s.

Under this pretext, Washington has repeatedly threatened to halt the procurement of F-35s by Ankara and even mulled moving the production of some of the jet's parts from Turkey to Europe. What is more, US officials have warned Ankara that it could fall under US sanctions over the deal with Moscow and may even lose NATO member status if it doesn't back off.

Ankara slammed Washington's actions, while at the same time assuring that S-400 won't pose any threat to NATO or F-35s. Erdogan has repeatedly insisted that Turkey will not abandon the deal and said that the deliveries of Russian defence systems will be made on schedule.

 Sputnik

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RAF Typhoons intercept Russian fighters in Estonia

Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jets based at Amari Air Base in Estonia launched to intercept Russian aircraft for the third time this month.

31 May 2019

The RAF jets scrambled yesterday (Thursday 30 May) to intercept two Russian SU-30 Flanker fighters, two SU-24 Fencer attack aircraft and an AN-12 transport aircraft flying off the north coast of Estonia.

Armed Forces Minister Mark Lancaster said:

"Our commitment to NATO and European security is unwavering and our brave RAF pilots have shown once again that we are ready to respond to any threat to the UK and its allies. Alongside our NATO allies, we must remain vigilant and aware of Russian military activity."

This was a routine NATO mission for the Typhoons which took over the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission from the German Air Force last month. The presence in the Baltics provides reassurance that the UK is here to work in partnership with Estonia.

A Typhoon pilot from XI(Fighter) Squadron, attached to 121 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW), was conducting Quick Reaction Alert duty when the scramble was called. He said:

"We were scrambled to intercept a group of four Russian fighters. The intercept was routine and we stayed with them for around 25 minutes during their transit from mainland Russia to the Kaliningrad oblast."

"Once complete with this task we hauled off and conducted a further intercept of a Russian AN-12 aircraft travelling much lower and slower along the same route. The intercept of all five aircraft was uneventful and conducted in a professional manner throughout."

This is the fourth Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) scramble since the RAF deployed in April 2019 as part of Baltic Air Policing. The RAF operates alongside its NATO allies to deter Russian aggression and assure NATO allies of the UK's commitment to collective defence.



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Dutch French English

Press Release

Outside trading hours - Regulated information*



Prague, Brussels, 31 May 2019  5.45 p.m. CEST

CSOB becomes sole owner of Czech building society CMSS after acquiring the 45% stake held by BSH

CSOB has received approval from the Czech anti-monopoly office and is thus able to close the transaction announced on 15 April 2019.

In this announcement , CSOB, the Czech banking division of KBC Group, and Bausparkasse Schwabisch Hall (BSH) confirmed that they had agreed on CSOB acquiring BSHs 45% stake in the Czech building society Ceskomoravska stavebni sporitelna (CMSS), subject to anti-trust approvals.

CSOB has acquired BSHs 45% stake in CMSS for a total consideration of 240 million euros, representing a 1.54 multiple of the 2018 standalone net book value and a 9.20 implied multiple of 2018 net profit including discounted 2024 synergies.

The transaction will have an impact of approximately 0.3 percentage points on KBC Groups strong Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, which stood at 16% (fully loaded, Danish compromise) at the end of 2018. This will in turn lower KBC Groups 2% M&A buffer to 1.70%. The revaluation of KBCs 55% stake in CMSS (in conformity with IFRS 3) will also lead to a one-off gain for KBC, estimated at approximately 80 million euros. The transaction makes CSOB the only shareholder of CMSS and consolidates its position as the largest home financing provider in the Czech Republic.

Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO, welcomed the successful closure of the transaction, stating: Closing this deal allows KBC to confirm its position as a strong market leader in the Czech Republic. This acquisition marks our ambition to grow in our core markets and is an excellent business opportunity in terms of strengthening our Czech retail franchise. Its also fully in line with our strategy to focus on our strong fundamentals: a healthy customer-driven bank-insurance business model, a strong risk profile, a robust liquidity position supported by a very solid and loyal customer deposit base in our core markets, and a comfortable solvency position that enables us to continue increasing lending to our customers and actively support the communities and economies in which we operate.

Petr Hutla, Senior Executive Officer for Credit Management (including CMSS), and Member of the Board of Directors added: CSOB Group has become a leading expert in home financing. This transaction further strengthens our leadership position. It also allows us to continue developing a strategy whereby comprehensive care of our customers financial affairs is offered in one place, using solutions that match our customers wishes and dreams. Closer collaboration within our group means our employees will be able to better share their knowledge, enhancing our ability to cater for our customers needs.





Notes for editors

Ceskomoravska stavebni sporitelna (CMSS), also known in the Czech Republic as the Fox (because of its mascot), is the largest building society in the Czech Republic. At the end of 2018, it had 4.5 billion euros (117 billion Czech koruny) in outstanding loans and 5.3 billion euros (137 billion Czech koruny) in deposits, representing a market share of 42% in building savings loans and 40% in building savings deposits.

For more information, please contact:

Patrik Madle, Spokesperson, CSOB

Tel.: + 420 602 530 639  E-mail: patrik.madle@csob.cz

Viviane Huybrecht, General Manager of Corporate Communication, Spokesperson, KBC Group

Tel.: + 32 2 429 85 45  E-mail: pressofficekbc@kbc.be

Kurt De Baenst, General Manager, Investor Relations, KBC Group

Tel.: + 32 2 429 35 73  E-mail: kurt.debaenst@kbc.be

* This news item contains information that is subject to the transparency regulations for listed companies.



KBC Group NV

Havenlaan 2  1080 Brussels

Viviane Huybrecht

General Manager of Corporate Communication

KBC Group Spokesperson

Tel.: + 32 2 429 85 45







Press Office

Tel.: + 32 2 429 65 01 (Stef Leunens)

Tel.: + 32 2 429 29 15 (Ilse De Muyer)

Tel.: + 32 2 429 32 88 (Pieter Kusse)

E-mail: pressofficekbc@kbc.be







KBC press releases are available at www.kbc.com or can be obtained by sending an e-mail to pressofficekbc@kbc.be



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Attachment
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- East Africa Metals Inc. (TSX-V: EAM) ("East Africa" or the "Company") announces voting results from its Annual Meeting of Shareholders held today in Vancouver, BC.



A total of 75,774,458 million common shares, representing approximately 42.20% of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares were voted in connection with the meeting. East Africa shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of all items of business, including the election of each director nominee as follows:

Dr. Jingbin Wang 99.99%

Mr. Andrew Lee Smith 99.96%

Dr. Antony Harwood 99.98%

Dr. Zhijun He 99.99%

Mr. Sean Waller 99.98%

Mr. David Parsons 99.98%

East Africa shareholders voted 99.98% in favor to appoint PricewaterhouseCooper LLP as auditors, 99.89% in favor of the amended stock option plan and 99.93% in favor of the proposed Tibet Huayu financing and development of the Terakimti, Da Tambuk and Mato Bula Projects in Ethiopia (See news release dated Feb. 8th, 2019).

Tibet Huayu Finance and Development

The transaction defined in the binding LOI includes terms that in exchange for 55% interest of Harvest and 70% interest in TRI, Tibet Huayu will:

Provide a cash payment of US$1.7M to EAM;

Finance, develop and operate the Terakimti, Da Tambuk and Mato Bula projects.

On completion of the proposed transaction:

Tibet Huayu will hold the rights (interest) to 55% post tax profits/Government distributions of Harvest and hold the rights (interest) to 70% of the post tax profits/Government distributions of TRI.

EAM will hold the rights (interest) to 15% post tax profits/Government distributions of Harvest and hold the rights (interest) to 30% of the post tax profits/Government distributions of TRI.

Closing conditions include: Ethiopian Ministry of Mines providing a formal letter confirming that the Terakimti Project mining license will not be in default if construction is not completed within the timeframe stipulated in the mining license or if the construction timeframe is extended; Ethiopian Ministry of Mines providing a formal letter confirming that it will issue the Adyabo Project mining licenses upon approval from the Ethiopian Council of Ministers; Receipt of all required approvals including and not limited to board, regulatory, and government approvals; Execution of definitive share purchase agreements and joint venture agreements respecting the Transaction; and Receipt by EAM from Tibet Huayu of the cash payment of US$1.7M.



EAM will retain the mineral rights, and all exploration obligations for the prospective targets not incorporated in the three mining licenses (EAM Mineral Resources). EAM shall give Tibet Huayu a right of first refusal of reasonable duration to acquire EAMs Mineral Resources. For consideration of the future Ethiopian Mineral Resources negotiations will be based on i) cash payment and ii) allocated % of post-tax profits of the new mineral resources. Tibet Huayu and EAM will use best efforts to finalize all conditions precedent and finalize the definitive agreement.

Management Changes

East Africa has, over the past several months, been engaged in the transition from a pure exploration company to a development and exploration company. As part of this transition we have been significantly cutting costs and have reduced the Companys G&A costs by nearly 55%.

Mr. Peter Granata (C.F.O.) and Mr. Jeff Heidema (V.P. Exploration) have tendered their resignations to pursue other opportunities. Both Messrs. Granata and Heidema have been instrumental in the growth of East Africa Metals during their time as Executives of the Company. The Board and Management of EAM are grateful for their contributions and wish them well in their future endeavours.

Effective immediately, Andrew Lee Smith, B.Sc., P.Geo. will be assuming the duties as the Companys Qualified Person, under the definitions of National Instrument 43-101 and will oversee the Companys upcoming drill program (See news release dated March 1st, 2019).

Ms. Jacqueline Tucker will replace Peter Granata, as the Companys Chief Financial Officer Ms. Tucker is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. Ms. Tucker has over 30 years experience in providing professional services to a number of listed entities. Ms. Tucker has served as an officer and a director of a number of public companies that include mining, oil and gas and life sciences.

Andrew Lee Smith stated, East Africas management and Board of Directors are pleased with the progress the Company has achieved over the past seven-years in Ethiopia. They are also thankful for the hard work and dedication the administrative staff and technical team have displayed in meeting difficult challenges in pursuit of the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.

Additional information about East Africa can be viewed at the Company's website at www.eastafricametals.com or at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Andrew Lee Smith, P.Geo.

For further information contact:

Nick Watters, Business Development

Telephone +1 (604) 488-0822

Website www.eastafricametals.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "forecast", "project", "budget", "schedule", "may", "will", "could", "might", "should", indicate or variations of such words or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by East Africa as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of East Africa to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: timing of receipt of approvals related to the LOI and Definitive Agreement; timing of receipt of mining permits; timing of mining development; projected heap leach recoveries ; engineering study assessments and results, metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the mineral resources for the Adyabo and Harvest; estimated timing of receipt of the Adyabo mining license applications and/or exploration license extensions, interest and exchange rates; mineral exploration and development; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the initial mineral resource for the Adyabo and Harvest; interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; foreign taxation risks; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; the speculative nature of strategic metal exploration and development including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves; contests over title to properties; and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, as well as those risk factors set out in in East Africas managements discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and for the year ended December 31, 2018, and East Africas listing application dated July 8, 2013 Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The contained gold, copper and silver figures shown are in situ. No assurance can be given that the estimated quantities will be produced. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the timely closing of the financing; the timely closing of the Handeni Property definitive agreement; the price of gold, silver, copper and zinc; the demand for gold, silver, copper and zinc; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; the renewal or extension of exploration Licenses; the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although East Africa has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not update or revise forward-looking information even if new information becomes available unless legislation requires the Company do so. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
CALGARY, Alberta, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Petrus Resources Ltd. ("Petrus" or the "Company") (TSX: PRQ) announces the completion of the 2019 annual review of its revolving credit facility ("RCF"), and provides an operations update.



REVOLVING CREDIT FACILITY

The 2019 annual review of the RCF has been completed. The RCF syndicate of lenders have reduced the Company's borrowing base of $110 million to $100 million. The revolving period has been extended to May 31, 2020 and the maturity date for repayment of the RCF is May 31, 2020. Borrowings under the RCF above $95 million are subject to an approved development plan under the RCF and subsequent to August 31, 2019, consent from each of the RCF syndicate of lenders is required for borrowings under the RCF to exceed $95 million. At May 31, 2019, Petrus was drawn $95 million on the $100 million facility. The terms of the RCF have also been amended to include enhanced compliance and reporting features related to Alberta Energy Regulator regulations regarding abandonment and reclamation activities and certain restrictions on acquisitions and dispositions to ensure compliance with liability management ratings.

OPERATIONS UPDATE

The Cardium light oil wells drilled during the first quarter of 2019 were brought on production in late March. With the 1.6 net additional wells, the Companys field estimated average April production was 8,873 boe/d, compared to 8,505 boe/d in the first quarter of 2019. Light oil and liquids production made up 85% of the increased volumes. To maximize drilling cost efficiencies, and in part due to weather conditions, Petrus has deferred additional drilling to the third quarter of 2019. Capital spending for the second quarter of 2019 is expected to be spent on the completion of 0.3 net previously drilled non-operated wells, as well to add an additional condensate/light oil stabilizer to the Petrus operated Ferrier processing facility. The additional stabilizer will help to increase the efficiency of processing and treating condensate and light oil volumes that are expected to be delivered as part of the 2019 capital plan. As a result of the lower capital spending in the second quarter, Petrus expects that its quarterly debt repayment will be $4 to $5 million which is in excess of the $1 to $2 million previously forecasted.

ABOUT PETRUS

Petrus is a public Canadian oil and gas company focused on property exploitation, strategic acquisitions and risk-managed exploration in Alberta.

For further information, please contact:

Neil Korchinski, P.Eng.

President and Chief Executive Officer

T: 403-930-0889

E: nkorchinski@petrusresources.com



ADVISORIES

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information regarding Petrus set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law, that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The use of any of the words anticipate, continue, estimate, expect, may, will, project, should, believe and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the expected second quarter debt repayment and the borrowing base under the RCF. Such statements represent Petrus internal projections, estimates or beliefs concerning, among other things, an outlook on the estimated amounts and timing of capital investment, anticipated future debt, production, revenues or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Although Petrus believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievement since such expectations are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause Petrus actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, Petrus.

These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond the Companys control, including the impact of general economic conditions; volatility in market prices for crude oil, NGL and natural gas; industry conditions; currency fluctuation; any future asset dispositions; and other risks. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this press release, Petrus has made certain assumptions, including in relation to future borrowing base reviews and Petrus' acquisition and divestiture program. Management has included the above summary of assumptions and risks related to forward-looking information provided in this press release in order to provide shareholders with a more complete perspective on Petrus future operations and such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Petrus actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that the Company will derive therefrom. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists of factors are not exhaustive.

These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.
CALGARY, Alberta, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the protection and safety of our people and assets as the utmost priority, Canadian Natural Resources Limited (Canadian Natural) is closely monitoring the wildfires in the Wabasca and Slave Lake, Alberta areas. In response to the wildfires, Canadian Natural completed on May 30, 2019 the evacuation of all 240 personnel in our Pelican Lake and Woodenhouse operations. Accordingly, Canadian Natural has completed the safe, temporary shut-in of approximately 65,000 bbl/d of crude oil production.



Canadian Natural personnel are working together with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry as well as local officials during their response to the wildfire. Canadian Natural is continuously monitoring the situation with officials, and we will provide a public update when operations can be re-started, once safe and permitted to do so.

We wish to thank our staff, firefighters and emergency responders for their tireless work in response to the wildfires. Our thoughts are with our employees, their families, and our neighbours in local communities during this challenging time.

Canadian Natural is a senior oil and natural gas production company, with continuing operations in its core areas located in Western Canada, the U.K. portion of the North Sea and Offshore Africa.
Conquer Cancer Foundation/Anna Braglia Endowed Young Investigator Award (YIA) in Cancer Supportive Care, supported by Helsinn, awarded to Dr. Allison Barz Leahy, MD, University of Pennsylvania

Lugano, Switzerland, June 1, 2019  Helsinn, the Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care products, in conjunction with the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), today announces Allison Barz Leahy, MD, University of Pennsylvania, as the recipient of the Anna Braglia Endowed Young Investigator Award in Cancer Supportive Care for 2019.

Conquer Cancers Young Investigator Award (YIA) funds physicians who are in the final years of training to aid their transition from a fellowship program to a faculty appointment. The YIA is a one-year $50,000 grant that aims to promote quality research in clinical oncology.

The recipient of this endowed YIA, Dr. Allison B. Leahy, received her medical degree from SUNY Upstate College of Medicine. She completed her Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Dr. Leahy is a recent alumna of the Pediatric Hospital Epidemiology and Outcomes Research Training program managed by the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness at CHOP and is currently finishing her thesis work for her Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Leahys clinical interests include investigating the benefits and barriers of using patient-reported symptom monitoring for children with cancer in an attempt to examine the impact of this type of monitoring on the quality of life, hospitalization rate and illness severity in childhood cancer. Dr. Leahys YIA project is entitled Symptom monitoring using patient-reported outcomes in newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients.

Established in 2016, the endowed YIA honors the life of Anna Braglia, the wife of Helsinn Group Founder and Chairman Gabriele Braglia and mother of Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO Riccardo Braglia, who passed away in 2015. Helsinn endowed this award, which is part of Conquer Cancers s Grants and Awards Program, to encourage more aspiring physicians to move into all areas of oncology by supporting them as they move from academia into research.

Riccardo Braglia, Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO, commented: Dr. Allison Leahy is an exceptional candidate for this award. Her work on patient-reported outcomes in childhood cancer has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for cancer care in children. At Helsinn, we strive to improve the standard of living for individuals with cancer. Dr. Leahys work aligns with our goals and visions to put the patient at the heart of the approach cancer care and we are delighted to be able to support her invaluable work. We wish Dr. Leahy the best with her project

Dr. Allison B. Leahy, said: " I am greatly honored to receive the Anna Braglia Endowed Young Investigator Award in Cancer Supportive Care. This award will provide invaluable resources for the investigation of the use of patient-reported symptom monitoring in pediatric oncology care. Determining how best to incorporate the childs voice into their medical care is essential  and we are hopeful that this work lay the necessary groundwork to enhance communication with the treating team, increase patient and family engagement in care, and ultimately lead to better clinical outcomes for children undergoing treatment for cancer.

About the Helsinn Group

Helsinn is a privately-owned pharmaceutical group with an extensive portfolio of marketed cancer care products and a robust drug development pipeline. Since 1976, Helsinn has been improving the everyday lives of patients, guided by core family values of respect, integrity and quality. The Group works across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and nutritional supplements and has expertise in research, development, manufacture and the commercialization of therapeutic and supportive care products for cancer, pain and inflammation and gastroenterology. In 2016, Helsinn created the Helsinn Investment Fund to support early-stage investment opportunities in areas of unmet patient need. The company is headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, with operating subsidiaries in Switzerland, Ireland and the U.S., a representative office in China as well as a product presence in approximately 190 countries globally.

About Conquer Cancer

Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, funds research into every facet of cancer to

benefit every patient, everywhere. In 1964, seven oncologists created the American

Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), now a global network of nearly 45,000 cancer

professionals. As ASCOs foundation, Conquer Cancer helps turn science into a sigh

of relief for patients around the world by supporting groundbreaking research and

education across cancers full continuum.

For more information, visit CONQUER.ORG .

For more information:

Helsinn Group Media Contact:

Paola Bonvicini

Group Head of Communication

Lugano, Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0) 91 985 21 21

Email: Info-hhc@helsinn.com
Toronto, ON, June 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Toronto community was revitalized today thanks to a new playground built at Glamorgan Park. In just six hours, more than 300 volunteers from Foresters Financial, the City of Toronto, Agincourt Community Services Association, and the national non-profit KaBOOM! created the new playspace, which will serve more than 13,000 children and their families in the local community for years to come.

"Foresters Financial has always been focused on our purpose  to enrich family and community well-being. We've been doing this for over 140 years, because helping is who we are," said Jim Boyle, President and CEO, Foresters Financial. "We are proud to partner with KaBOOM! on these builds that provide children with exciting new play areas and also give families the opportunity to spend quality time together."

The design for the new playground is based on drawings created by neighborhood children at a special Design Day event held in April when community members met with organizers from KaBOOM! and Foresters Financial to design their dream playground. The drawings inspired the final playground design.

Since 2006, Foresters Financial and KaBOOM! have built 154 beautiful play spaces across 93 cities in 31 states and provinces throughout North America and by the end of 2019, Foresters Financial will have funded more than 160 playgrounds. Thanks to the hard work of over 10,625 Foresters members, sales partners and guests for the last twelve years, Foresters is positively impacting the lives of more than 5.3 million children by providing them with access to play. Through each new playground, families are better able to spend quality time together right in their own neighborhoods, playing alongside Foresters members and community partners.

"Projects like this bring the community together from start to end. The new equipment at Glamorgan Park will have a lasting impact on the children and families who will enjoy it for years to come. At the City of Toronto, we welcome opportunities to collaborate with the private sector and non-profits to deliver services and infrastructure important to our residents. Thank you to our local volunteers, KaBOOM!, Foresters Financial, Agincourt Community Services Association and our City staff for making this possible," said Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson, Chair Economic and Community Development, Councillor, Ward 21.

Play is the business of childhood and is essential to the physical, cognitive, creative, social and emotional development of every kid. Its how kids build strong muscles and healthy bodies; its how they learn problem-solving, conflict resolution and creativity; its how they make friends and build strong bonds with adults. Play is critical to a kids ability to thrive.

Foresters Financial is a KaBOOM! Founding Partner and National Partner. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has been dedicated to ensuring that all kids get the balance and active play they need to thrive.

About the City of Toronto

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of more than 2.9 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/cityoftoronto, on Instagram at instagram.com/cityofto or on Facebook at facebook.com/cityofto.

About Agincourt Community Services Association

ACSA is a non-profit, multi-service agency addressing needs and empowering children, youth, newcomers, homeless and underserved communities to build a better tomorrow. ACSA. Serving the community since 1974, ACSA has been committed to working with communities to ensure everyone has the opportunities they need in order to thrive, and ensuring children have access to safe spaces (including playgrounds) has been an important piece of this work. For more information, please visit www.agincourtcommunityservices.com

About Foresters Financial

Since 1874, Foresters Financial has been providing socially responsible financial services to individuals and families. Foresters Financial includes The Independent Order of Foresters, the oldest non-denominational fraternal benefit society. Foresters is a purpose-driven organization that exists to enrich family and community well-being and offers insurance products to over three million members and clients in Canada, the US and the U.K. For 18 straight years, The Independent Order of Foresters has received an A (Excellent) rating from A.M. Best1. For more information please visit foresters.com

1The A.M. Best rating assigned on August 2, 2018, reflects the overall strength and claims-paying ability of The Independent Order of Foresters (IOF) but does not apply to the performance of any non-IOF issued products. An A (Excellent) rating is assigned to companies that have a strong ability to meet their ongoing obligations to policyholders and have, on balance, excellent balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile when compared to the standards established by A.M. Best Company. A.M. Best assigns ratings from A++ to F, A++ and A+ being superior ratings and A and A- being excellent ratings. See ambest.com for our latest rating.

About KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids  especially those living in poverty  the childhood they deserve through great, safe places to play. KaBOOM! inspires communities to make play the easy choice and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of PLAYces. KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build or improve more than 17,000 playspaces, engaged more than 1.5 million volunteers and served over 9 million kids. To learn why play matters for all kids, visit kaboom.org and join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom, facebook.com/kaboom and instagram.com/kaboom. #playmatters #PLAYceforKids

414828 CAN/US (04/19)

-30-

CONTACT:

City of Toronto Parks Forestry & Recreation: Trena Cesario | 416-338-6792 | tcesario@toronto.ca

Foresters Financial: Greg Hubert | 416-429-3000 ext. 4044 | ghubert@foresters.com

KaBOOM!: Tamara Grider | 202-464-6196 | tgrider@kaboom.org
Chinese President Xi Jinping has wished children nationwide a happy International Children's Day, which falls on June 1.

[File photo: VCG]

Xi extended the greetings in a letter dated May 31 to primary school pupils in Macao in response to a letter they sent earlier.



"At a young age, you already know that the motherland is Macao's strong backer," Xi said. "I am so glad about it."



Xi expressed his hope that the students can pass on the fine tradition of loving the motherland and loving Macao and make contributions to Macao's development and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation when they grow up.



In their letter to Xi, pupils from the Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School spoke of their understanding of the motherland and expressed their determination to make the motherland and Macao better when they grow up.



Established in 1932, the Hou Kong Middle School has the largest number of primary and secondary students among all schools in Macao.
(TNS)  The National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Security Agency (NSA) recently awarded a grant to Harford Community College to fund the Colleges GenCyber Smart Life, Smart Home, Smart Play (GenCyber Smart Camp), a one-week, non-residential cybersecurity summer day camp.The grant will enable HCC to offer two one-week sessions this summer to rising seventh- and eighth-graders, ages 11 to 14, at no cost to increase their interest in cybersecurity, help them understand safe online behavior, and teach them how to apply GenCyber Cybersecurity First Principles. The camps will run July 15 to 19 and Aug. 12 to 16, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.The GenCyber Smart Camps will help activate the next generation of cyberdefenders, helping them shift from being users to becoming makers, coders, developers, and programmers, according to a news release from the college.Each day at the GenCyber Smart Camp, students will investigate, program, and hack familiar Internet of Things (IOT) devices such as fitness trackers, Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, and Amazon Echoes through individual and small group hands-on projects. The projects will address safe digital behavior, cybersecurity ethics, data security, and privacy through experiments with common devices.HCC plans to recruit students who are new to cybersecurity activities and ideas, to support the broader aim of attracting students from underserved populations to STEM to create a more diverse program, according to the news release.Applications for the camp are due on June 3 and can be accessed by visiting Harford.edu/GenCyber. Only parents of selected applicants will be notified on or about June 17 as to their childs acceptance into the camp.For more information, contact Dawn Grissom at dgrissom@harford.edu or 443-412-2364.
Individual Interlocal Agreements

The Hub-and-Spoke Model

State Government Authorities

In 2019, state and local governments are expected to spend $107.6 billion on technology. The size of this figure reflects a growth in revenue streams to support new investments, according to the Center for Digital Government.* But IT costs are growing too, along with the need for cybersecurity and updating legacy systems.More importantly, expensive new technologies promise to improve how governments deliver services, and some agencies, especially smaller municipalities, are struggling to afford them. In turn, many state and local governments have shown a growing willingness to split this burden.Shared-service agreements between public agencies today are commonplace, and the idea of consolidating EMS or fire departments is familiar to city councils across the country. For new and evolving IT services, however, the concept can be a little more novel, and has taken many forms.Depending on how theyre defined, agreements for shared IT services have been around since governments and law enforcement agencies were using mainframe technologies in the 1960s. Today, with computer systems and telecommunications infrastructure in virtually every office of government, these agreements touch everything from consulting and cybersecurity services to shared radio systems, fiber and software.The terms of shared IT service agreements vary widely, but the benefits are fairly consistent: improved access to new technologies and expertise, shared costs, and better deals on bulk equipment and contracts. In talking to more than half a dozen offices across the U.S., Government Technology found some of the most visible examples of shared IT service agreements fall into three categories.You have to start somewhere. For small to mid-sized city, county or school agencies considering shared IT services, especially without an urban tech hub nearby, one place to start is a short-term, individual interlocal agreement. These typically involve a small city or agency receiving services from a more-equipped one of equal or greater size nearby.When municipalities initiate these contracts, they usually depend on proximity for logistical reasons and the elimination of redundant services, with cost savings passed to the taxpayer. One such agreement, past its halfway point, exists between the cities of Tyler and Whitehouse, Texas.Initiated in October 2018, the agreement stipulates that Tyler, a city of roughly 105,000 people, will administer end-to-end IT services for Whitehouse, a city of 8,000 people about 10 miles away. Its a one-year, $75,000 contract, with the option to renew. Services administered by Tyler employees include everything from installing software upgrades to troubleshooting, data backups, system administration and network monitoring.Whitehouse City Manager Aaron Smith said the agreement made sense because of proximity, Tylers staffing level and the changing landscape of IT. Hed seen firsthand the expectations of digital government outpace the budgets and capabilities of small towns, and he knew Whitehouses single in-house IT person, prior to the contract with Tyler, was no longer sufficient.We have a smaller budget, Smith said. In my opinion, the time of having one individual in total control of your IT is past. I dont think thats appropriate anymore. To protect that information and protect the system, you need to have backup. For us, that would mean literally doubling our IT budget.Although Whitehouse no longer has an in-house IT person, Smith said requests for service or repairs from Tyler havent been a problem, and he estimated that Whitehouse would spend $40,000 more per year for the same level of service if they were providing those services themselves.For Tyler, the prospect of shared IT services started 18 years ago with an agreement with Smith County, which they managed for five years before it was undone by politics, according to Tyler CIO Benny Yazdanpanahi.Three years ago, Tyler also started offering basic IT consulting to the nearby city of Jacksonville. This experience gave Yazdanpanahi the confidence to reach out to Whitehouse for a full-blown, end-to-end service agreement. For Whitehouse, he said, the benefits were many and obvious: a dozen IT staff instead of one, stronger and cloud-enabled infrastructure, no need to contract outside consultants, and the ability to borrow, share or inherit better equipment instead of buying new.For Tyler, the agreements short-term benefits include cost-splitting alongside greater purchasing and negotiating power of a combined entity, which reduces the need to raise taxes to buy new technology.If I need to hire someone to manage something that is using the revenue that I bring in, then I can add additional staff without putting a burden on our general fund for the city, Yazdanpanahi said. That becomes a win-win situation for both of us.In the long term, Yazdanpanahi said cooperation and building bridges are the way of the future for local government, not just IT. He said Tylers water utility department is starting talks with Whitehouse, too, and hes working on a marketing brochure to reach out to other cities if the Whitehouse contract is a success.For these agreements to work, Yazdanpanahi had two recommendations.No. 1, you have to have a good team that has a good understanding of the infrastructure, he said. Secondly, the infrastructure needs to be bulletproof. We have redundancy and continuity throughout the city, so if I want to become the cloud for an organization  I can house those things without them just being a single-point failure.With multiple agreements in the works, Tyler could become the center of a hub-and-spoke model. This generally entails a regions most-equipped city, with a data center, advanced infrastructure and trained staff, becoming the IT provider for many smaller government agencies around it. Most often this means interlocal agreements between cities, counties or school districts sharing fiber, radio networks or emergency services.Hampton, Va., which has been sharing a public safety radio system with more than 12 public entities since 2011, is collaborating with surrounding communities to build out broadband connectivity and installing a fiber connection with nearby Newport News, Va. Lees Summit, Mo., is the latest addition to the Metropolitan Area Regional Radio System (MARRS), a system of interconnected digital emergency service radios across the Kansas City metro area. Shawnee, Kan., has laid over 25 miles of fiber since 2006, allowing it to share technology with nearby De Soto school district, Johnson County and the cities of Overland Park and Lenexa, and to operate nearly 700 traffic signals across the region.In central California, an ever-expanding e-gov initiative from 2003 has linked the city of Fresno, Fresno County, the city of Clovis and other nearby schools and agencies in a fiber-sharing agreement that also involves information and data sharing. A vision statement from 2002 proposed five critical factors for success: strong and sustained leadership, solid budgeting support, accountability of management and staff in making changes, well-defined organizational priorities, and execution in incremental steps that can be tested and fixed.Fresno CIO Bryon Horn would add collaboration and relationships to that list, since parties must be able to work together, especially when crossing political boundaries for council approvals or other legal hurdles. He also said a shared-service agreement should benefit all involved.We had the fiber, we had an opportunity, we needed to share information between the city and the county and the city of Clovis, so for us there was a need for information sharing, he said. But Im not going to manufacture a sharing opportunity if its going to be too costly or I dont need to do it. Weve got to watch taxpayer dollars. For us its all about making sure were good stewards.One of the largest shared IT hubs is in Oakland County, Mich. The county provides e-commerce services to about 100 public entities across the state and is in the process of adding its first out-of-state partner, Vigo County, Ind.We saw mid-size to small governments not being able to take advantage of larger technologies, because the private sector saw no profit margin in these smaller communities and counties, said Oakland County CIO Phil Bertolini. Since we were already sharing internal to Oakland County, we thought we could broaden that base and provide that service for other governments that just werent able to get that on their own, or it wasnt profitable for a company to provide that for those governments.Bertolini said the county customizes interlocal agreements which are browsable on g2gmarket.com, a free marketplace exclusively for governments where they can find copies of contracts, GIS strategic plans and social media policies.He said the program is nonprofit, all cost-recovery through usage fees. Bertolini estimated g2gmarket.com transacts about $70 million a year, supported by a staff of eight.With so many partners, Oakland County can buy bigger contracts with tech companies that dont work with small to mid-sized governments. He described it as a three-way win:Theres a win for the large government, us, because of the volume of transactions and the ability to manage costs; the small government gets a win because they get to use bigger technology and dont have to worry about a company dropping them because theres not enough profit; and the third win is for the private-sector partners we have in our G2G marketplace, he said. A lot of the contracts we use to run these technologies are also available for the other governments to buy off of.In some states, legislation has created a public cooperative or other organization to accommodate basic IT services where needed. Such is the case with Digital Towpath, a government entity and shared service in New York formed in 1998 by an intermunicipal agreement.Project Director Jeanne Brown said Digital Towpath hosts a private community cloud with a suite of basic Web-based services, such as a website contact management system, an email system, electronic records management and a code enforcement actions tracking program. The cooperative has 161 participating agencies, mostly small towns with an average population of 3,000 and villages of less than 1,000.Digital Towpath is supervised by a nine-person executive board, elected by co-op members, which oversees four contractors and two technical support staff. It is also a member of MS-ISAC (Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center), a federally backed cybersecurity resource.There are two different ways to design a shared service in this state, and most of them are a larger entity that has excess capacity, and they share that with smaller entities that are related to them in some way, Brown said. Whats different about Digital Towpath is, its statewide and there is no larger entity. Every municipality has equal standing within the group. They each have one vote at the annual meeting where the big decisions are made.Brown said the cooperative is mostly funded by state grants and an $850 annual membership fee, supporting an annual budget of less than $200,000. For an operation that size to sustain itself, she recommended two things: a clear agreement describing how it will be run, who will make decisions and what members are responsible for; and active participation at the organizational level by all stakeholders.Theyre not customers, theyre members of the cooperative, and those that wanted to be treated as customers have kind of dropped off over the years, she said.Another statewide model is Colorados SIPA (Statewide Internet Portal Authority), a self-funded technology authority created by statute in 2004 to give state and local government agencies, special districts, K-12 districts and public universities support, security and tools to put more information and services online.SIPA is the oversight organization for the free Colorado.gov portal and employs about 50 people in the state between SIPA and its portal integrator, Colorado Interactive, which is a subsidy of NIC Inc.Spokeswoman Jamie Desrosier said besides its free portal services, Colorado SIPA was also created as a procurement entity for the state, contracting with vendors to deliver competitive contracts to members so they wouldnt have to put out RFPs for services. She said SIPA works with about 500 different entities across Colorado, the smaller of which use SIPA primarily for their free websites and payment processing.SIPAs Sales and Marketing Manager Beth Justice called the authority a unique model for IT services, because unlike models where the administration of these services is wrapped inside government and paid for by tax money, SIPA is not. The shift toward electronic service delivery may be inexorable, but who pays for it is the problem everyone must solve.Legislation has to be in place for this to work, and I think the hurdle is, is it OK to add a 75-cent transaction fee or whatever that amount is, and pass that fee on to your constituents? she said. We have very few entities to absorb that fee, but that is what pays for those things.Government Technology's
The former CIO for the Ohio Attorney Generals Office, Ervan Rodgers takes both a strategic and a tactical view of the statewide office that he assumed in January.Strategy means ensuring all agencies share a common vision and direction. Tactically he has his eye on data and analytics as a potential common bond, a tool that could be used across multiple agencies. Backing from the governor and lieutenant governor plays an important role: Its a big help for me as state CIO to have that kind of support, he said.One top priority is to engage with Innovate Ohio, an interagency effort to boost citizen service. The purpose is to take a look at the citizen journey, he said. They should be able to do things via mobile apps and websites and applications to save time, money and effort.In order to get government technologists all rowing in the same direction, Rodgers convened a think tank of agency CIOs within a month of coming on the job. We walked away with a number of key critical ideas that we can implement right away to improve efficiencies, he said. First on the agenda: Build customer portals to streamline access to government services. That process will take time, but we had some immediate synergies between different lines of business across various agencies. We can put that infrastructure in place.Another long-term goal involves the continued consolidation of governments IT infrastructure, which could be completed within the coming year. At the same time, Rodgers will be backing the Recovery Ohio initiative, leveraging technology to combat the opioid crisis.His big challenge will be to shift a culture in which agencies are used to going it alone when it comes to IT initiatives. Instead of agencies having the option to opt out, we want to emphasize the collaboration and cooperation. Assuming we meet all the regulatory requirements, there should only be very limited scenarios where data cant be shared, he said.
A former private-sector tech chief  he previously served as CIO for pharmaceutical benefit manager Express Scripts  Ron Guerrier took up the tech helm in Illinois this spring with a pragmatic mindset.First and foremost, my job is to ensure that we meet all the technology needs of my agency peers as well as the residents of the great state of Illinois. That is what I have done in the past: keep the trains running and make sure everything is operational so that people can do their jobs, he said.But Guerrier wears another hat here: Hes not only CIO but also secretary of Innovation and Technology. Things are evolving quickly when it comes to technology and I have to make sure we are looking three steps over the horizon, he said.Whatever he finds lurking over that horizon will have to pass a simple litmus test in order to make it onto his to-do list: Any new innovation will have to be practical and useful. We have to focus on things that add value, he said. Innovation has to meet that criterion.In the realm of innovation, he is, of course, eyeing AI, not as an end in itself but rather as a tech enabler. We want to use the AI to leverage existing investments, he said. Lets use AI to make the current technology work better, until we are able to secure funding for new technologies. Mainframes are not going away. Lets invest in the technologies and make them smarter.He also wants to put a human face on technology, literally. One of his immediate goals is to create avatars, animated embodiments of the different end users his department serves. I am trying to humanize technology as much as we can, he said. When you can visualize that person calling at 2 a.m. with a problem, see them as a real person, it gives a sense of urgency and a sense of connectedness.
The Guilford County Board of Education voted earlier this month to close Hampton, which has been co-located with Reedy Fork Elementary.

Superintendent Sharon Contreras has proposed that a new Hampton-Peeler Elementary School be built on the site of the current, empty Peeler building.

Theres one part of the Peeler building thats not as old as the rest, McCully said, so its possible that could be incorporated into a new school. Otherwise, it would be all new construction, and house students from both the Peeler and Hampton attendance zones. The two schools are close to each other.

School district administrators now are working on a new Master Plan proposal they hope will help guide school construction projects over the next five to 10 years. They are looking at bringing in some outside help with it.

It will be based on information from the facilities study completed by consultants for the district and county that was released earlier this year. However, it also will have some key differences, and different recommendations, stemming from some concerns Contreras has over how the study handled areas such as attendance zone boundaries, elementary school sizes and magnet programs.
There are inconsequential social media screw-ups.

And there are malicious lies.

President Donald Trump seems to have them confused.

The other day, an errant tweet  its author later said it was meant as satire  threw the president into a familiar-sounding uproar. Written by political scientist Ian Bremmer, the tweet put words in the presidents mouth that he never uttered. It gave the impression that while in Tokyo, Trump stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is smarter and would make a better President than former vice president and current Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Naturally, this brought forth cries of outrage weve heard before from the president: Change the libel laws! Fake news! Bremmer has apologized  as he should have, since the ill-advised tweet was circulated by Trump critics and people in media.

But Trump has yet to apologize for his own words and actions that  over decades  have been immeasurably more damaging. It was 30 years ago this month that Trump the real estate developer paid $85,000 for full-page ads in New York Citys newspapers, essentially calling for five black and Latino teens to be put to death.
Samsung Galaxy Note10 will come with physical buttons after all, but no headphone jack

A recent report stated that Samsung would ditch the physical buttons on the Galaxy Note10. But, the latest information that has surfaced says that won't be the case.

According to reliable industry tipster Ice universe, the Galaxy Note10 will retain the physical buttons like previous models. Ice says that Samsung did test a design sans the physical keys, but it did not pass the company's "rigorous testing."

That said, while the Galaxy Note10 will come with physical buttons, what it will be missing out on will be the 3.5 mm headphone jack. Something that this South Korean tech giant has retained on its flagships despite other brands ditching it in the name of bigger batteries.

The Galaxy Note10 is expected to go official in August, but you can expect to hear a lot more about it until then.

Source 1, 2
Civilians in Meluf-Kumbo caught up in gun exchanges between military and separatists Twitter

The population of Roo-Meluf, Kumbo in Built Division of the North West region, were in shock when two heads of some unidentified young men, were found around that area on Wednesday May 29.

Some of those who were at the scene earlier that day, reported that the heads were abandoned along with a male genital part and another body part. Few hours after, no one knew where the private part and other body part had gone to, or who could have taken them. Reports say the heads were later collected by separatists, for burial.

A local radio station in Kumbo reports that some two separatists were discovered dead in another village closer to Kumbo on that same day. The bodies of the said boys were mutilated but denizens couldnt find their heads, one genital part, and another portion of the body, around the armpit. It is unclear if both incidents are linked.

The ongoing violence in the North West and South West has exposed children to painful and bloody scenes as the rate if beheadings have increased these days. Heads are dumped in junctions or streets where children ply. Social welfare workers and counsellors have expressed great concern over the continuous exposure of children to the harsh scenes of the war.

The government had announced it is ready to dialogue on the current situation but without secession. Secessionists on their part are giving preconditions for dialogue to hold, amidst increasing violence.




Haiti - FLASH : The future of Parliament, in the hands of the deputies





While the Senate Bureau is appalled by the acts of destruction committed in the Senate sitting room by 4 opposition senators on Thursday, May 30, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27871-haiti-flash-ransacking-of-the-senate-national-and-international-reactions.htmlof public goods and condemns "this despicable act, which does not honor the Senate." 72 pro-government Deputies and allies of the majority group, gathered in an undisclosed place, consider in an ultimate strategy, to sacrifice their mandate by handing their resignation letter to the Speaker of the House, to end in a radical way to this crisis.



Information confirmed Friday by Gary Bodeau, who said he was informed early in the morning by those deputies who are ready to resign if necessary, indicating that he has not received a letter of resignation so far.



Deputy Bodeau said that if these deputies resign to allow "the release of the situation of the country" this will automatically make the Parliament dysfunctional, but whose socio-political consequences remain unknown



Gary Bodeau is convinced that such a decision could help to set up a new Government since no meeting will be able to oppose it by means more and more questionable...



However, it could also be that this is just one way to put pressure on the Senate by threatening the lapse of Parliament...



In addition, the Senate office invites its 4 opposition senators responsible for acts of vandalism, to reconcile and to promote conflicting debates to expose and support their positions during the plenary sessions and/or conferences of the Senate. Presidents say "this is the only way to help us find a way out of this crisis that is getting worse by the day."



Senate Speaker Carl Murat Cantave on Friday announced a Presidents' Conference for Monday, June 3, to which senators are invited to decide on the follow-up to this ratification session and attempt to resolve the crisi... hoping that Parliament will still be functional...



To be followed...



Read also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27871-haiti-flash-ransacking-of-the-senate-national-and-international-reactions.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27858-haiti-politic-cantave-asks-the-senators-to-demonstrate-ethics.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27807-haiti-flash-provocation-only-provokes-provocation-dixit-senator-beauplan.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27857-haiti-flash-a-session-under-high-security.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27849-haiti-flash-pm-jean-michel-lapin-in-the-senate-this-thursday.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27846-haiti-politic-the-new-government-still-blocked-by-the-opposition.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27798-haiti-flash-new-ministerial-cabinet-of-the-government-lapin-official.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27791-haiti-politic-ministerial-cabinet-the-government-yields-to-the-opposition.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27775-haiti-politic-the-senate-majority-group-rejects-the-demands-of-the-4-senators-of-the-opposition.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27747-haiti-flash-the-4-senators-of-the-opposition-pose-their-conditions.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27738-haiti-flash-president-cantave-apologizes-for-the-hideous-spectacle-in-the-senate.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27730-haiti-flash-violence-in-the-senate-the-opposition-wins-a-2nd-victory-the-pm-ratification-postponed.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27715-haiti-politic-the-opposition-minority-forces-the-senate-to-postpone-the-ratification-meeting-of-the-pm.html



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - WEATHER : Beginning of hurricane season





This Saturday, June 1st, 2019 officially begins the hurricane season 2019 on the North Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Basin, which will end on November 30th.



According to the hurricane season forecast of the University of Colorado, the 2019 season will be slightly below the 1981-2010 average. The current weakness of El Nino seems likely to persist and perhaps even strengthen this summer and fall. The average temperatures on the surface of the tropical Atlantic are slightly below normal and the North Atlantic is very cold. Our Multi-Decadal Atlantic Oscillation Index is below its long-term average. We expect a slightly below-average probability for major hurricanes hit the mainland coast of the United States and the Caribbean. These areas should be prepared in the same way for each season, regardless of the amount of activity planned.



The University of Colorado estimates that the 2019 season will include about 5 hurricanes (average 6.4), 13 named storms (average 12.1), 50 named storm days (average is 59.4), 16 hurricane days (average is 24.2), 2 major hurricanes (Category 3-4 or 5 with winds greater than 178km/h, average 2.7), 4 major hurricane days (average 6.2). The probability of impact of a major hurricane in the United States is about 90% on the long average.



As a result, the Alliance for Risk Management and Business Continuity (AGERCA), invites the Haitian population to take all necessary preventive and precautionary measures during this season, so as not to be a victim in case of emergency. The AGERCA advises you to be cautious about false alarmist information



Names of storms and hurricanes for the 2019 season : Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dorian, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Humberto, Imelda, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah , Sebastien, Tanya, Van and Wendy.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - DIGICEL : Call for applications 3rd Edition of Konbit Pou Chanjman





The Digicel Foundation launched the 3rd edition of its "Konbit Pou Chanjman" campaign, a community development initiative that was launched on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Digicel Foundation in March 2017.



Following the success of past editions and the impact of ongoing projects and those already realized in different communities, the Foundation has deemed it imperative to continue with the campaign and intends to subsidize up to 800,000 gourdes each of the 15 non-profit organizations finalist of country that will have the opportunity to submit a maximum of two projects in the following categories : education, culture, inclusion, livelihoods, access and disaster prevention.



During the press conference, The Digicel Foundation took the opportunity to make a symbolic check-off to 3 of the 16 winning organizations of the second edition of "Konbit Pou Chanjman".



At the same time, Digicel Regional Managers organized press conferences in the 9 other departments to symbolically deliver checks to other winning organizations.



List of 2nd Edition Winners : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27427-haiti-digicel-list-of-winners-of-the-2nd-edition-konbit-pou-chanjman.html



At the end of this event, the Foundation introduced HELP, Special Olympics Haiti and "Nos Petits Freres et Surs", three (3) of its many partners that it has funded for several years. HELP made a brief presentation of the guidance it gives to young people who have completed their classical studies by awarding them scholarships. Special Olympics and "Nos Petits Freres et Surs" did the same by outlining the work they do to support the integration of people with special needs.



Sophia Stransky, Executive Director of the Foundation said, "Haitian communities already know their weak points. We, at the foundation, want to give each of them the means to execute their projects "



"At Digicel, we encourage social involvement among our employees. That's how they all have at least one day off to volunteer. It is also in this context that we are launching "Kore Konbit Pou Chanjman" to allow two employees who support a non-profit organization to win a grant of 400,000 Gourdes each for the implementation of a community project" explained Sophia Stransky, Executive Director of the DIGICEL Foundation adding "We wish success to all the postulants of this new edition and look forward to meeting other organizations that are working hard for the progress of their communities. "



Requirements to participate :



Any organization wishing to participate must be at least 3 years old and provide the following:



Operating documents such as registration copies as a non-profit organization received from the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI) and Government Ministries (Ministry of Planning or Ministry of Social Affairs) or the town hall ;



Financial statements and bank statements of the organization;



Konbit Pou Chanjman grant application form from the Digicel Foundation (available in all Digicel stores and on the Foundation's website: www.digicelfoundation.org/haiti/fr/accueil.html



2 photos of the project.



Calendar :



July 31, 2019: registration deadline;

September 4, 2019: notification of the second phase;

January 15, 2020: notification of the final phase;

March 2020: award ceremony.



Through the first two editions, more than 750 grant applications have been received from the country's ten departments and already 20.5 million gourdes have been invested in the realization of the 27 winning projects.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - PetroCaribe FLASH : CSC/CA implicates Jovenel Moise in a case of embezzlement





Friday, Pierre Volmar Demesyeux, the President of the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSC/CA) has handed his final audit report (Volume 2) on the use of PetroCaribe funds to the Presidents of the two Houses of Parliament, Senator Carl Murat Cantave and Deputy Gary Bodeau who promised to submit this report in their respective assembly.



In addition to the projects authorized by the 14 resolutions adopted by the Council of Ministers under 6 different governments, the Court also decided to analyze investment projects and contracts related to the PetroCaribe fund, but not authorized by a resolution.



At the end of this second report the Court audited 77% of the total amounts voted by resolutions and transferred by the Office for Monetization of Development Assistance Programs (BMPAD), to the sectoral institutions for the implementation of development projects.



The conclusions of the audit work published in the two reports is that of January 31, 2019 https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/PETROCARIBE-31-01-2019.pdf and that of May 31, 2019 2019 https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/Rapport-final-2-CSCCA_31-mai-2019.pdf show that significant shortcomings have been associated with the planning and implementation of development programs and projects funded by the PetroCaribe Fund.



The Court made it clear that, overall, relevant documents were missing in most of the projects and contracts reviewed, so it was impossible to conduct a comprehensive audit of several projects.



In this 610-page report, the CSC/CA reports making a "troubling discovery" (in its terms). In 2014, for the same project to rehabilitate the Borgne - Petit Bourg de Borgne road section, the State signed two identical contracts worth more than 39 million Gourdes (39,990,399) with two separate companies, Agritran of which Jovenel Moise was the President in 2014 before his election as head of the country (pages 157 to 176) and Betexs (pages 162 to 182).



The CSC/CA notes "The two companies have made the same works separately on the same dates" and refers to "a misappropriation scheme". The CSC/CA mentions the 3rd level responsibility of President Jovenel Moise (page 169) in this stratagem.



Download the Petrocaribe Fund Management Report 1 (PDF in French) : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/PETROCARIBE-31-01-2019.pdf



Download the Petrocaribe Fund Management Report 2 (PDF in french): https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/Rapport-final-2-CSCCA_31-mai-2019.pdf



All you need to know about PetroCaribe : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26121-haiti-flash-everything-you-need-to-know-about-using-the-petrocaribe-fund.html



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27694-haiti-politic-deputiues-call-for-indictment-of-members-of-the-csc.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-27566-icihaiti-petrocaribe-the-csc-ca-explain-on-its-delay.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27545-haiti-petrocaribe-the-csc-ca-will-not-be-able-to-submit-its-audit-report-on-the-planned-date.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27293-haiti-flash-case-petrocaribe-personalities-and-companies-under-financial-investigations.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27215-haiti-justice-the-csc-ca-reveals-that-the-senate-also-managed-petrocaribe-funds.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27177-haiti-justice-the-petrocaribe-case-in-the-hands-of-the-instruction-judge.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26848-haiti-flash-the-state-filed-a-complaint-in-the-petrocaribe-file.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26812-haiti-flash-the-court-of-auditors-delivers-its-first-report-on-the-management-of-petrocaribe-funds.html



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Saint-Marc : accident, 11 victims

Thursday evening, an accident occurred on a public transport van on the Abricot bridge (4th communal section of Saint-Marc) heavily damaged and never rehabilitated. 1 death on the spot and a dozen wounded, several seriously



Exchange rate, the BRH will inject US 40 million

As part of the measures to stabilize the exchange rate on the local market, the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) informs the general public that it will intervene to the tune of 40 million US dollars on the foreign exchange market of which 25 million on 4 June and 15 million on 6 June 2019.



NOTICE : Passport ready (French Guiana)

The Consulate of Haiti in French Guiana informs the Haitian community in general and applicants in particular, that the passports of March 2019 are available at the Consulate. Thank you for returning your receipts and old passports for the recoveries during office hours: Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.



Launch of the Women's Polical Consultation Center

Thursday women leaders launched in Port-au-Prince, the Center for Political Consultation of Women (CCOFE-Haiti). By offering technical and strategic expertise, they want to promote women's participation in political life and decision-making in Haiti.



25 police officers will be training in the US

On Friday, the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince announced that 25 police officers from the Intervention and Maintenance of the Order (CIMO) Corps, the Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) and the Departmental Maintenance Unit of the Order (UDMO) will participate in Austin (Texas, USA) in training on human rights and leadership for leaders.



A donation container

This week took place the ceremony of handing over a donation container (shoes, ceramic gifts, clothes, batteries, footballs, etc...) offered by the SimplyHelp Foundation to the Town Halls of Jacmel, Leogane, Petion-ville and Tabarre.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















TRAINS passing through Shiplake no longer have to sound their horns at the villages two crossings in a safety trial.

Drivers have had to observe whistle boards as they approach the crossing immediately north of Shiplake station and the foot crossing just south of the village.

Now Network Rail has suspended the rules during a year-long trial.

It follows complaints from residents who said the noise was disturbing their sleep. Villagers claimed that trains having to sound their horns was excessive as they typically travel at slower speeds on that section of the Henley branch line than other parts.

The debate intensified in 2016, when the statutory quiet hours when drivers must remain silent  were cut in a bid to improve safety.

The horns previously stopped at 11pm and resumed at 7am but this changed to between midnight and 6am. This was compounded by the introduction of a new timetable last year which meant trains would pass through Shiplake every 30 minutes instead of every 45 minutes.

The issue came to a head in January when a driver refused to continue her shift after being asked by Vivien Pheasant, who lives in Lashbrook Road opposite the station, not to blow the horn so harshly.

Great Western Railway, which operates the line, said the driver was verbally abused and had been forced to sound the horn aggressively days before the incident because of drunk people leaning on her cabin.

But Mrs Pheasant, whose husband David is deputy chairman of Shiplake Parish Council, said she merely asked politely and the driver responded aggressively.

Two services were cancelled that evening while another driver was found.

Under the trial, which started earlier this month after being approved by the Rail Safety and Standards Board and the Office of the Rail Regulator, drivers must still sound the horn if pedestrians or drivers are in danger.

If it proves successful, it could be introduced in other towns and villages.

Mrs Pheasant said: Its brilliant news as its what weve been working towards for the last four years and I think people who live near the station are going to be very pleased.

It has been a long process because weve effectively changed the rule book but everybody involved has worked as hard and quickly as they could to find a solution.

When the train is approaching from Henley its going at about 20mph and when it leaves the station for Henley it goes through the crossing at about 5mph.

It was supposed to sound its horn before leaving but there was no sense in that.

A lot of people have made judgements about this situation without understanding the background.

This has gone to the very top of the organisations that make decisions on safety and drivers may still sound the horn at their discretion so there is no real difference to safety.

Network Rail and GWR said they understood peoples frustrations but they couldnt change the rules without permission from the higher authorities and they worked together to make this possible.

Network Rail would like to eliminate whistle boards nationally and is either closing crossings or replacing them with bridges but says this is not always possible.

It installed CCTV cameras and barriers at Shiplake level crossing in 2013 following a series of accidents in which cars were struck by trains.

A company spokeswoman for said: After working with the local residents, GWR and our partners in the wider rail industry, an operational trial at Shiplake station road level crossing has been initiated.

The first of its kind in Britain, the trial removes the requirement for train drivers to sound the trains horn when starting away from the station and passing over the level crossing.

The train horn was causing significant noise pollution and while our trial still gives drivers the flexibility to sound the horn if they believe it necessary to warn someone who might be on or near the line, it should result in a significant reduction in train horn noise.

We have already had a lot of really positive feedback from the local residents, who have welcomed the trial.

A spokesman for GWR said: Increasing the frequency of service on the line has unfortunately had a knock-on effect for local residents, so were pleased to have been able to work with the community and Network Rail to seek a resolution agreeable to all.
Report on crisis in Cameroon Twitter

A ground-breaking report on the crisis in Cameroons North West and South West Regions will be unveiled at 4:20pm on June 3, 2019 at Concordia University, Montreal Quebec in Canada.

The report seeks to expose the human rights catastrophe and evidence of crimes against humanity, organisers have said. The report is the joint effort of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA.

RWCHR is a Montreal-based non-governmental organisation dedicated to pursuing justice through the protection and promotion of human rights. Its name and mission is inspired by Raoul Wallenberg's humanitarian legacy and pursues justice by mobilizing advocacy and advising foreign policy in Canada and around the world.

The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa is the brainchild of Cameroonian-born human rights lawyer, Nkongho Felix Agbor Anyior alias Agbor Balla, Vice President of the African Bar Association.

The human rights report to be co-published by the aforementioned organisations is captioned Knowing The Agony In The Anglophone Regions Of Cameroon. It traces the start of the Anglophone Crisis and presents an evidence-based account of the human rights catastrophe and crimes against humanity.

On the June 3, 2019, the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa will be co-launching its groundbreaking human rights report with Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) pertaining to the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, the Founder/President of CHRDA said in a statement.

Crimes against humanity have been committed in Cameroon. Lets not turn away, Pearl Eliadis, Canadian lawyer and senior fellow of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights said in a statement.

The Canadian lawyer writes that Cameroon is experiencing a largely ignored human rights catastrophe in the North West and South West regions of the country, home to most of its Anglophone population. Ten percent of that population has been forcibly displaced, making the tiny country the unlikely sixth largest source of displaced persons in the world. More than 200 villages have been attacked and burned. UN sources say 1.3 million people are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance.

The co-author of the report Cameroons Unfolding Catastrophe goes on to write that: Noted author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie referred to it in The New York Times as Cameroons carnage. International and domestic civil society groups, media, and human rights defenders have been trying to get the international community to pay attention.

Until very recently, they have failed. The crisis has been shrugged off as the inevitable consequence of internal conflict.

As Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council said recently, there have been no systematic mediation efforts, no large relief programme, little media interest and too little pressure on the parties to stop attacking civilians. This conflict, like many on the African continent, has roots in European interference and risks garnering little attention until the worst happens.

This is the wrong response. The international community can and should be doing more. The evidence from Cameroon offers an opportunity to translate clear early warning signs into early action to prevent further escalation.

Canada should also be doing more. That is why the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights created a unique Cameroonian-Canadian partnership, culminating in the report Cameroons Unfolding Catastrophe, to be launched at #RightsCity 2019.

Significantly, the report concludes that reasonable grounds exist to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in Cameroon. We underscore the need for immediate action to prevent further atrocities, protect civilian populations and seek accountability. Mediated talks and independent investigations are critical components of any successful solution.
The senior counsel appointed to examine the Maria Bailey controversy is likely to probe why she did not pursue her case in the District Court where awards are lower.

The TD has withdrawn her claim against the Dean Hotel over injuries she is alleged to have suffered when she fell from a swing.

Fine Gael announced senior counsel David Kennedy had been appointed to undertake an internal review "to establish all the facts".

One issue likely to be probed is why, given her insistence she was seeking only 7,000, Ms Bailey did not pursue her case in the District Court, which has jurisdiction to award up to 15,000.

Instead, the case was taken at Circuit Court level, where personal injury awards can be up to 60,000. Also, the claim filed on the TD's behalf did not state she was seeking only medical expenses.

It outlined how, in addition to medical costs, she was seeking damages for personal injury, loss, damage and inconvenience. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was briefed about correspondence between Ms Bailey and the Dean Hotel before launching a probe into her compensation claim.

The briefing included references to how much compensation the TD was looking for in her now abandoned personal injuries action.

Substantial

In two interviews given by Ms Bailey since controversy flared over the case, she has claimed the most she was seeking was 7,000, for medical expenses.

However, this has not been confirmed by the Dublin hotel.

It said it offered to pay Ms Bailey's certified medical expenses, but when she asked for what was described as "a substantial sum", the matter was handed over to its solicitors.

The Herald has learned that a Fine Gael official sought to establish certain facts in connection with the matter, and that their findings were passed to members of the party hierarchy and the Taoiseach's office.

The information included details of a letter sent by Ms Bailey in January 2016, six months after the fall, in which she returned a cheque for 600 to the hotel. In the letter, the TD is understood to have outlined what in her view was the likely cost of medical treatment.

The briefing occurred prior to Mr Varadkar's meeting with Ms Bailey on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ms Bailey's standing in the party is at rock bottom after almost a fortnight of controversy.

Sources say there was "no clash" when she met Mr Varadkar on Wednesday - but he is known to be privately furious about the case.

He has asked TDs not to make the situation worse by publicly admonishing her, and said they should show her "respect". However, over the course of the week, a string of ministers - including Paschal Donohoe, Simon Harris and Heather Humphreys - tried to distance the Government from her actions.
Drapeau de l'Ambazonie Jean-Marc Soboth

Separatist movements, Ambazonia Liberation Army(A.L.A) has affirmed that it carried out an attack, alongside the Southern Cameroon's Liberation Army(S.C.L.A) on Cameroon's oil refinery company, SONARA on Friday May 31.

Residents of Limbe in the South West region, heard a thunderous sound around 9-10pm on Friday night, with a huge fire coming from the direction of the oil company, SONARA. It was reported that a tanker exploded at the oil company.

According to a document signed this Saturday June 1, by a certain Alex Anu Leke, who claims to be the Minister of Interior of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons also known as Ambazonia, their team carried out the attack based on the fact that those from the Anglophone regions don't benefit much from the company which is hosted by an English speaking town, Limbe.

" We would not allow our enemies to continue feeding fat on us. The time for economically benefitting from us is over. As your minister of interior (addressing separatists), I can also confirm this attack had been well planned and rehearsed by the above mentioned groups for several months", he boasted.

He further said those who carried out the act are safe and have been celebrating the unfortunate incident at the company. He also said anyone who claimed otherwise was an impostor.

Another separatist, Mark Bareta, on facebook, claimed the attack was carried out by a separatist group called the "Black Cats" of Victoria, stating in order to build a new country, they must destroy.

The announcement of the existence of a training school for SONARA recently, angered most English speaking Cameroonians,who accused the institution of operating on it's land, yet the school never operated any English section for over 20 years. Many saw it as a real proof of marginalisation.

The General Manager of SONARA, Jean Paul Simo Ndjomou however published a communique this Saturday announcing the indefinite suspension of activities at SONARA and regretted that the company couldn't keep up to demands and accords with partners.

Some persons have been blaming the explosion on the frequent power outage caused by the main supplier , ENEO.

However, investigations have been opened to discover the real cause of the incident.
At this time, a large number of plants with an estimated street value of 900,000 pending analysis.

A woman in her 20s has been arrested after gardai discovered an industrial-sized cannabis grow house in Co Clare.

More than 500 cannabis plants worth an estimated 900,000 were seized when gardai searched the sprawling property.

The period property is in Tinarana, on the shores of Lough Derg, near Killaloe.

The woman was arrested at the scene and is being questioned by gardai at Ennis Garda Station.

The Clare Divisional Drugs Unit was being supported by local uniform and plain clothes gardai and the Western Region Armed Support Unit.

Investigations

The Cork Garda Dog Unit was also involved.

Gardai reported that a significant grow house was discovered with evidence of the production of cannabis at all stages.

The haul included nursery plants, mature plants and dried plants.

Gardai said that a non-Irish national woman in her early 20s was arrested at the scene.

She was last night detained at Ennis Garda Station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.

The spokesperson reported that the search and investigations remained ongoing.

The grow house was understood to be a sophisticated operation with heat lamps.

The woman in custody was found hiding in the attic of the house by garda dog Lazer, a German Shepherd.

Pictures taken by gardai inside the grow house showed rows and rows of plants.
Specialist gardai are investigating a new type of organised crime called data harvesting that has already netted criminals millions of euro.

A countrywide operation targeting the crime, which gardai also describe as "account take over", is being co-ordinated by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB).

Gardai have secured charges against two foreign nationals who they believe are involved in the scam.

The fraud involves criminals stealing victims' bank account details, then taking money from their bank accounts.

Risk

Detectives suspect that in some cases the information is being sold over the so-called dark web.

"The suspects involved in this illegal trade of information in Ireland can work in financial institutions, insurance companies and even just mobile phone shops," a senior source said last night.

"Essentially, the risk can be any place of business where direct debits are set up, where someone provides their bank details."

In most cases, the victims do not know that they have become a victim of data harvesting until they notice suspicious transactions on their bank statements, or they are informed by their financial institution.

The financial institutions are obliged to refund the cash to affected customers.

The GNECB is investigating half a dozen cases, and more arrests are expected in the coming months.

Specialist officers from the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau are involved in the investigations.

In one case, a man is suspected of obtaining more than 200,000 after targeting more than 40 bank accounts.

In many cases, so called "mule accounts" are set up to facilitate the transfer of the funds.

"This is a very sophisticated type of crime. It is all about organised criminals taking advantage of the internet," a senior source said. "Gardai are making good progress and there have been some very significant arrests, but more will happen in the near future."

Data harvesting is different to invoice redirection frauds, which have seen 4.5m being stolen since the start of the year.

Invoice redirection fraud happens when a business falls prey to information, purporting to emanate from trusted suppliers or service providers, which suggests that a beneficiary's bank account details have been changed.

As a result, funds that are due to be paid out are transferred to a fraudulent account.
Scientist Helen Grogan is one of thousands of Permanent TSB customers who are still fighting the bank to be compensated for losing a tracker.

This is despite the lender being fined a record 21m this week by the Central Bank for the "unacceptable harm" it caused 2,000 customers.

Failure

But if the bank thought this would draw a line under the controversy, it has not reckoned with Dr Grogan (inset).

She estimates the failure of the bank to put her back on a tracker has cost her 40,000, and she is determined to keep fighting her case.

There are another 2,500 cases of customers claiming they have been wrongly denied a tracker by Permanent TSB, which is more than double the number of cases the bank has conceded.

And there are thousands more unresolved cases at the other banks.

So far banks have admitted to almost 40,000 cases, but the total could end up nearer 50,000.

Dr Grogan was one of four people who appeared before the Oireachtas Finance Committee two years ago.

The four told committee members their lives have been irreparably harmed by the mortgage scandal.

The biologist appealed her case to the Financial Services Ombudsman, but lost.

She is hopeful her case will be revisited now that the current ombudsman is looking afresh at tracker cases.

Yesterday she revealed that the higher mortgage rate is costing her 300 to 400 a month, and she has lost 40,000 up to now.

She intends to keep fighting.

Permanent TSB insisted that it has dealt with all tracker cases.
Former finance minister Michael Noonan is mourning the loss of his sister Mary, who was among three women killed in a road crash.

Tributes have also been paid to Mary Costello (73) and Mary Bradley (77) who were also killed in the two-car collision.

Mary Griffin (70), a passenger in 78-year-old Ms Noonan's car, was the only survivor.

Ms Bradley was the driver and sole occupant of one of the cars in the crash, which happened at about 6.30pm on Thursday on the N69 just outside Loghill village in west Limerick.

Ms Noonan, who lived in Loghill, was driving her friends Ms Griffin and Ms Costello to the Listowel Writers' Festival in Kerry.

Local parish priest Tomas Crawford said the accident had left the entire community shaken.

Fr Crawford told RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland programme he came across the scene of the accident shortly after it happened.

"All I could do in that kind of scene was pray over them as well as I could," he said.

"It seemed to have been a terrible accident. It was a straight stretch of the road."

Ms Griffin, who was Ms Noonan's back-seat passenger, was last night being treated at University Hospital Limerick. Her injuries are said not to be life-threatening.

Shock

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and other politicians expressed shock at the accident and offered their sympathies.

Mr Varadkar said the accident was "devastating news".

He said Ms Noonan and her former minister brother "went everywhere together".

"It's going to be very tough on him," said Mr Varadkar.

"The whole Fine Gael family is shocked and full of sorrow."

Limerick-based Senator Maria Byrne offered her "heartfelt sympathies" to the families of the victims. She said she had known Ms Noonan for 40 years.

Ms Noonan was a nurse who previously worked for Aughinish Alumina. Ms Byrne said her friend had been "a very kind and caring person" who was "enjoying her retirement".

"She was so good to an awful lot of people outside of her family circle," she added.

"She had a great interest in books and literature and she was on her way to the writing festival in Listowel when this tragic accident happened."

Ms Byrne said Loghill was a "very tight-knit community and people are just totally in shock".

"They all look out for one another and they're all so helpful to one another out there," she added.

"I think the shock of this horrific accident will be felt for quite a while."
Maurice Kamto et ses proches Archives

The Vice President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement(CRM) party has told the press in Yaounde that they would defy orders banning planned protests of their party, geared for Saturday, June 1.

Mr. Mamadou Mocta was addressing the press this Friday May 31, where he revealed that the government of Cameroon has banned 30 out of the 47 areas they declared their intention to protest. He said they are yet to get feedback on the remaining 17 parts of the country.

Mamadou Mocta insisted that they will defy the consequences and push through with the planned national protest. He sounded disappointed over governments actions on the CRM crisis, stating the party has always followed the laws of the land. He said they were going to march, despite these orders because, governments refusal go grant them permission as enshrined in the law, is an intimidating act.

We are not going to allow authorities abuse the law and liberties enshrined in the constitution, we are therefore demonstrating on the 1st and 8th of June., said the politician.

The weeklong protest is aimed at condemning the arrest and detention of their President Professor Maurice Kamto and at least 200 comrades arrested in January. They are asking for their immediate release and demand a consensual reform of the electoral code before any election.

We say no to disguised exclusion of the CRM and her allies from the political playground, he said.

However, administrative authorities in different parts of the country have been issuing communiques, banning the protests. Security has already been deployed along major streets in Douala, Littoral region, to foil the protest.

The first Vice President of the CRM has urged the General Delegation of National Security to shun violence but peacefully guard the demonstrations as the law requires them to do.
When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He gave them a model to go by. Commonly referred to as The Lords Prayer, it includes a phrase that, throughout the centuries, has been the subject of much discussion. In the English language, that part of the prayer is repeated in different words by different people.

Presbyterians and a few others, say,  forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

So does the King James Version of the Bible.

Many other Christian denominations use the words,  forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

However, the real issue is not the wording, interpretation or translation, but the difficulty in putting those very simple words into practice. Are any of us willing to pray that God would forgive us with an amount of forgiveness no greater than the forgiveness with which we forgive others? OUCH!

To illustrate my question and the point I hope to make, let me use two of my grandchildren for an example. Surprised? Probably not.
The Sullivan County Board of Education will vote Thursday to extend current Director of Schools Evelyn Rafalowskis contract by a month and to approve the contract of her successor, David Cox.

Rafalowski has been the director since 2015 and announced earlier this year that she will retire at the end of her four-year contract on June 30. The board selected Cox in May to fill the position with a proposed starting date of July 1, but he said he cant begin until Aug. 1, according to board attorney Pat Hull.

Rafalowski agreed to stay on until Cox takes over at the same compensation shes currently receiving but extending her contract requires a board vote. Her current salary is $129,700 plus benefits and stipends. When she was hired, her base salary was $124,800.

Board member Mark Ireson said he plans to amend Rafalowskis contract extension to match what Cox will make.

Hull and board Chairman Michael Hughes have been negotiating Coxs contract. During a work session earlier this week, Hull went over the proposed contract the board will vote on.
Militants MRC Archives

Militants and officials of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) have sworn to hit the streets Saturday, June 1, 2019 in nationwide anti-regime protests that have been banned by administrative authorities in some parts of the country. Speaking in Yaounde Saturday, the First Vice President of the CRM, Mamadou Mota called on security forces to accompany the masses in the protests he described as "republican".

Speaking in Yaounde Saturday, the First Vice President of the CRM, Mamadou Mota called on security forces to accompany the masses in the protests he described as "republican".

Hear him: "I am the vice president of the CRM party and I'm the one who runs the daily affairs of the CRM. I'll assume all my responsibilities tomorrow (Saturday) in relation to the law. I'm calling on the regime to protect protesters. They are Cameroonians and not only militants of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement.

"If tomorrow a Cameroonian thinks that the management of the money for AFCON projects was poorly managed, they should turn out tomorrow for the march. Those who are against the consensual transfer of power and vexed by the situation in the North West and South West Regions should join us."

On his part, Barrister Ndong Christopher Nveh, Secretary General of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement said they'll flood the streets Saturday come what may.

His words: "The march tomorrow (June 1) is a Republican march. It is not only for the Cameroon Renaissance Movement. It is for Cameroonians.

"We are calling on them to come out, to make sure we decry the fact that Maurice Kamto and the coalition leaders and the Anglophones are being locked up unjustly. Release them unconditionally!

"We want that the electoral code be revised. They should stop killing in the North West and South West regions and we go on for an inclusive dialogue.

"It is normal for every country to be able to check its government. All these issues of banning and banning is anti-democratic. It infringes on the political rights and the constitution of this country and the international instruments which Cameroon has ratified. Banning is against these values and we say No!"

Administrative authorities in Douala I, IV and V had banned the protests on grounds that it poses a threat to public law and order.

CRM National President Maurice Kamto was arrested in January along with his aides for anti-regime activities. Officially, Kamto emerged second in the October 7, 2018 presidential elections, but he has since claimed victory.
For Subscribers The Ritchie Boys to be featured again on CBS's '60 Minutes'

The CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes" plans to air another segment about the men trained in intelligence matters at Camp Ritchie during World War II.
Incendie SONARA - 31/05/2019 SONARA

Armed men fighting for the "restoration" of the independence of a country they call Ambazonia have claimed responsibility over the explosion and fire outbreak at Cameroon's lone National Refining Company, SONARA.

A document titled "the bringing down of SONARA in Victoria" and dated Saturday, June 1, 2019 has since gone viral on social media.

The said document is signed by Alex Anu Leke, Minister of Interior of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

He writes: "This is to confirm that the Ambazonia Liberation Army (A.L.A) with technical support from the Southern Cameroons Liberation Army (S.C.L.A) carried out the attack on SONARA last night.

"We would not allow our enemies to continue feeding fat on us. The time for economically benefiting from us is over.

"As your Minister of Interior, I can also confirm this attack had been well planned and rehearsed by the aforementioned groups for several months.

"The attack made use of the latest advanced technologies in such line of warfare. All fighters and technicians are safe and are having a nice time celebrating their well synchronised attack.

"Ambazonians, you must be proud of the brightest children God Almighty gave us. Any other claimants to the above attack are impostors and must be disregarded."

Investigations into the cause of the devastating fire outbreak at SONARA is ongoing. The company's General Manager Jean-Paul Simo Njonou has said in a statement dated Saturday, June 1, 2019 that they will be observing a shutdown until such a time things will normalise.

In the "declaration of force majeure", the SONARA chief executive said the indefinite shutdown comes after fire razed down portions of the refinery.

"We inform you of the occurrence of an explosion followed by a serious fire in our production units on May 31, 2019 around 9:30pm, causing damage and a production shutdown of all our units for a period to be determined," Simo Njonou said in a statement.

As a result of the unfortunate incident, the company declares a case of force majeure and a provisional suspension of all contractual engagements pending an evaluation of the situation.

The General Manager of SONARA says information on the end of the force majeure will be made available at the appropriate time.

"We are at your disposal for any further information and we assure you of all our efforts to resume our activities as soon as possible," he writes.

Force majeure is a legal term that refers to an unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.

Pictures show the extent of the damage with speculations that the company may take some time to recover.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  Matteo Guidicelli isn't backing down from the demands of his armed forces traning after revealing he is embarking on scout ranger training Saturday.

Philippine Army Spokesperson Lt. Col. Demy Zagala said Guidicelli will undergo a 30-day training period.

Guidicelli's most recent social media post shows him with a shorn head, wearing a t-shirt bearing the words "Scout Ranger Leadership Development Course PMA 'Masaligan' Class 2021."

The photo was taken at the First Scout Ranger Regiment at Camp Tecson, San Miguel, Bulacan.

Guidicelli captioned the photo, "Rangers lead the way. No backing down."

An earlier post on Instagram showed Guidicelli pre-haircut with the caption, "This is it! I'm about to undergo a 30-day scout ranger training, officially starting NOW! It's said to be one of the most gruelling programs in the Armed Forces."

Guidicelli first revealed that he joined as an Army reservist in April.

"I officially joined the Philippine ARMY today because I love my country. I would like to thank the people that have been very supportive. Exciting times ahead," he said.
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A Newton man is remembered by his friend Eddie Lusk as a bashful guy who loved motorsports and traveling.

Emden Lee Syres Jr. was found dead in his house off Sigmon Dairy Road Wednesday morning.

Justin Drew Dalton, 32, was arrested late Thursday and charged with murder in connection to Syres death. He is also charged with the larceny of Syres Honda Accord by the Catawba County Sheriffs Office, and misdemeanor child abuse and driving while license revoked by the Alexander County Sheriffs Office.

Alexander District Court Judge Deborah P. Brown appointed Herb Pearce as Daltons defense attorney during Catawba County District Court on Friday. Dalton was not given a bond for the murder charge, and his next court date is June 14.

Lusk said Syres and Dalton were a couple, and Dalton moved in with Syres about a year ago. While he knew Syres well, Lusk couldnt say he knew Dalton at all.

Catawba County Sheriffs Office Capt. Corina Fletcher said the sheriffs office couldnt confirm a relationship between Syres and Dalton.

We are still investigating the case and motive, Fletcher said.
Flying has become deadlier than it has been for years and its hard to pin it solely on Boeing Co.s infamous 737 Max.

Aircraft accidents occurred more frequently in almost every region worldwide in 2018 as the death toll climbed to a four-year high of 523, according to the International Air Transport Association. The fatal crashes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Aeroflot Flight 1492 ensure that this year will be another bad one.

So what happened to the safest form of travel? Its one of the biggest questions hanging over airline and aircraft executives as they congregate this weekend in Seoul at IATAs annual meeting for the industrys largest gathering since the two Boeing 737 Max disasters.

Whats clear is that demand for air travel is growing so fast  IATA expects it to double in the next 20 years  that airlines, plane makers and regulators are struggling to keep up. Meanwhile, the pressure to keep costs low has intensified with the proliferation of no-frills carriers catering to travellers obsessed with ticket prices.

And the reality is that safety, whether it be the training of pilots or add-on features in planes, costs money and theres a limit to how much the industry can spend safeguarding human life.

You get what you pay for, said Geoffrey Dell, a safety scientist at Central Queensland University in Australia whos been an air-safety investigator since 1979. Everyone is moving back to a minimum regulatory standard. Its designed to give you the best outcome for the cheapest price.

To be sure, flying is still relatively safe. Some 4.3 billion travellers, the equivalent of more than half the worlds population, flew safely in 2018. The chance of an accident is little more than one in a million. And its been more than a decade since fatalities topped 1,000 in a given year, something that would regularly happen from the 1960s until the turn of the century.

Yet that didnt stop Montreal-based IATA, whose member airlines represent more than 80% of air traffic worldwide, from painting an unusually bleak picture in its safety report for 2018, which was released in April. While the industry has made huge advances, its been too slow to address catastrophic events such as the loss of control in mid-flight, according to the association.

Safety is also under pressure because airlines are increasingly asking manufacturers for specific aircraft to tap travel trends.

Thats placing a burden on Chicago-based Boeing and European rival Airbus SE to deliver aircraft on time and on budget, said Ian Thomas, a senior aviation consultant at CAPA Consulting in Sydney. He noted Qantas Airways Ltd.s public request for both manufacturers to make a plane that can fly Sydney to London non-stop by 2022.

The 20-hour flight is coming. And it may have a gym and bunks.

Safety and quality are important but price continues to be the main driver, said Thomas.

Other pressure points have emerged. The surging demand for flights means that the world will need about three-quarters of a million new maintenance technicians and about the same number of new pilots by 2037 just to keep pace, according to Boeings projections.

In the twin Boeing Max tragedies, preliminary probes exposed some of the risks associated with the complexities of modern aircraft. In both the October crash in Indonesia and the March disaster in Ethiopia, which killed 346 people, evidence emerged that an on-board system known as MCAS took control of the aircraft from the pilots and repeatedly forced both planes to dive. The model  Boeings fastest-selling jet ever  has been grounded globally since the second crash.

Then theres the issue of pilot training. Flight-handling errors, such as incorrect power or flap settings, contributed to about one third of the 339 fatal and non-fatal accidents between 2013 and 2017, according to IATA.

Flight-simulator time is so expensive that piloting skills at some airlines that dont have their own machines have eroded, according to Central Queensland Universitys Dell.

While training levels vary depending on the airline, theres a clear need to prepare pilots to handle situations beyond syllabus items like landing-gear failure, according to Dirk Dahmen, Airbus training manager at Qantas and an A380 captain. As he puts it: We need to train our pilots to deal with the unpredictable stuff.

Reversing the deadly trend of accidents is likely to require progress on multiple fronts, beyond recreating unusual scenarios in simulators. Regulators around the world also need enough resources to do their jobs, isolated from unnecessary influence from plane makers, said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Fairfax, Virginia-based Teal Group.

Theres one tragic indicator when safety margins get too thin. Youve got a pile of wreckage that tells you you went too far, said Dell.

The views expressed are personal
At the recently concluded 72nd Cannes Film Festival, Deepika Padukone told me: You either come here with a film or you get the red carpet look right. Otherwise its pointless. Deepika did the latter  she walked the red carpet twice, creating headlines with her striking choices. On Day 2, she wore a lime green Giambattista Valli dress that inspired memes and raves. The Hollywood trade magazine Variety tweeted: Go big or go home: Deepika Padukone with another bold look.

Eight other Indian actresses walked the Cannes red carpet this year  among them Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who was the first to make an impact at the French festival (Devdas premiered there in 2002, and in 2003 she became the first Indian actor to serve on the main competition jury), Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Sonam Kapoor. Apart from red carpet duty, each one debuted multiple looks at official engagements. Some changed several times only for Instagram.

One actress confessed off-camera that she no longer wanted to attend because there was no exclusivity left. The fashion made big news in India  each look was dissected and analysed. Social media amplified the noise. Meanwhile there wasnt a single Indian film in official selection. Our closest connection was the Oscar-winning, Indian-origin British filmmaker Asif Kapadia, whose documentary Diego Maradona played out of competition.

The Cannes Film Festival has always been an irresistible cocktail of excellent films and outsized glamour, but I dont think any other country has such a skewed film to fashion ratio. Ironically, India had a promising start, with Chetan Anands Neecha Nagar winning the Grand Prix at the first edition of the festival in 1946. Over the years, leading art house filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali played In Competition in 1956, Devi in 1962 and Ghare Baire in 1984), Mrinal Sen (Ek Din Pratidin played In Competition in 1980 and Kharij in 1983), Shyam Benegal (Nishant played In Competition in 1976) consistently carved out an Indian presence at Cannes.

But the contemporary India-at-Cannes story is hit-and-miss. We havent had a film in the main competition section for 25 years (the last was Shaji Karuns Swaham in 1994). In 2010, Vikram Motwanes Udaan was selected for Un Certain Regard. In 2012, Anurag Kashyap made an impact with Gangs of Wasseypur, which showed at Directors Fortnight (a prestigious sidebar to the main festival). In 2013, also the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema, there was a slew of Indian films at the Croisette  including The Lunchbox in Critics Week, Monsoon Shootout as a Midnight Screening and Bombay Talkies as an out-of-competition screening. Last year, we had Manto in Un Certain Regard and Sir in Critics Week (also a parallel section). This year, nothing.

Of course many people ask why we should care so much about a film festival in France. To me, thats as myopic as asking, do the Oscars matter? The Cannes Film Festival, like the Oscars, is shorthand for quality. Its a benchmark for excellence.

Cannes may not be the platform for mainstream Indian cinema, which works on its own terms and commands a global audience. The narrative style is unique. I dont think Western festival programmers, critics and viewers have developed a taste for it yet and mainstream storytellers, understandably, have little interest in catering to their palate. But Indian independent cinema speaks a more universal language. We are the worlds largest filmmaking nation and it mystifies me that our cinema doesnt make the cut.

Mira Nair, who was the first Indian to win the Camera dOr at Cannes, for Salaam Bombay in 1988, told me that the agendas and tastes of the festivals programmers and the film industry dont always align. True, but could it also be that we dont consistently make films that are good enough to compete with the rest of the world?

Every year in May, Cannes becomes the global cinema capital. Indian actors on the red carpet fulfil a certain purpose. I enjoy the glamour and beauty as much as anyone else. But if the only conversation around India is about fashion, we will be reduced to lightweights. If we dont balance the fashion with films, we will become, as Anurag told me in 2011 in Cannes, the comic relief in the global film scenario. And that, given the talent that Indian cinema boasts of, would be a real shame.

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Actor Mouni Roy is no longer a part of Nawazuddin Siddiquis upcoming film Bole Chudiyaan, the makers and the actor announced Friday blaming each other for unprofessional behaviour.

The producer of the film, Rajesh Bhatia claimed that Mouni was being irresponsible, while the actors spokesperson alleged that the makers were unprofessional and not her.

We have invested big amount of money and if asking someone in a civil manner to be professional and committed to the role is being rude than sorry we are in the serious business of making movies with high stakes and its not a hobby.

The actor, director, me and Kiran (Bhatia) as content head and as producers did our best to reason out with her about lack of her professionalism and dedication but she suddenly lost cool and was ill tempered, Bhatia claimed in a statement.

The 33-year-old actor, who made her big screen debut with Akshay Kumars Gold, was roped in to play the female lead opposite Nawaz in March this year. However, in response to Bhatias claims her spokesperson has said the actor had not even signed the contract for the film because of discrepancies in it.

Also read: Priyanka Chopra met Meghan Markle and her son, gifted him a silver bubble blower worth $250: reports

Mouni Roy is no longer a part of the film. Mouni has done many films before and has had a successful career, where everyone has vouched for her professionalism. Mr. Rajesh Bhatia on the other hand, is making his second film. His first film (Motichoor Chaknachoor) has already run into many controversies, where he has even accused a senior actor of interference.

He is now claiming that Mouni is not a professional, whereas there are several emails and text messages proving otherwise, which we will be happy to share. Even the contract isnt signed because of the discrepancies in it, the statement read. The spokesperson further added that the actor has decided to maintain a dignified stance on the matter and will not indulge in mud-slinging.

We dont wish to say anything more to this . Anyone sensible can see whats going on. Mouni chooses to maintain a dignified stance and doesnt believe in mud slinging. She wishes them the very best.

The producers, Woodpecker Movies, said that they were going ahead as per the schedule with a new heroine. This is not the first time a female actor has quit a Nawazuddin-starrer. In 2016, actor Chitrangda Singh had left Babumoshai Bandookbaaz citing discomfort shooting intimate scene with the actor.

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Actor Priyanka Chopra has denied reports that her husband Nick Jonas and she met her friend and Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and her son Archie. It was extensively reported that the two also showered Meghans son with gifts.

Tweeting a report in The Sun, Priyanka wrote: While these are great gift ideas... this story is untrue, and I was actually in town for work. I hope whoever this source is starts checking their facts more often.

While these are great gift ideas... this story is untrue, and I was actually in town for work. I hope whoever this "source" is starts checking their facts more often. https://t.co/S2sDlEiLaZ  PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) May 31, 2019

The Sun had reported that not only did Priyanka and Nick meet Meghan and her son Archie, they also presented him a sterling silver bubble blower worth $250, picked from the posh jewelers, Tiffany & Co. It was part of many other gifts they gave Archie. It claimed the celeb duo met the duchess and her son at Frogmore Cottage, Berkshire in England.

Also read: Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor dance to Balam Pichkari as Ranveer Singh cheers them on. Watch video

The report also mentioned that the meeting ended the fued between the two actors. It was earlier rumoured that Priyanka had skipped Meghans New York baby shower, upset over the latter not attending her and Nicks December wedding in India.

Priyanka had, of course, rubbished the reports. Speaking on the American show, Watch What Happens Live!, when asked if she had been upset over the issue, Priyanka had said: Oh my God. No its not true.

Priyanka remains busy with work and other activities. She was in Ethiopia recently for her work as a Unicef ambassador. Prior to that, she made a spectacular debut at the Cannes Film Festival. Her appearance at the Met Gala 2019 too won her praise. She will begin work on a Hollywood film with Mindy Kaling, based on big, fat Indian weddings later this year. Priyanka has already completed shooting for Shonali Boses Bollywood film, The Sky Is Pink, where she co-stars with Farhan Akhtar and Dangal girl Zaira Wasim.

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Bollywood actor Salman Khan and director Ali Abbas Zafar reportedly decided to trim down their upcoming film Bharat despite the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) clearing the film without any cuts. According to a report in Mid Day, the duo did so following suggestions given by the actors father, scriptwriter Salim Khan. Bharat was given a UA certificate by the board.

Also read: Priyanka Chopra calls reports about meeting Meghan Markle untrue

The report has claimed that Zafar made 24 voluntary cuts in the film, which is an official remake of Korean drama An Ode to My Father, in the version cleared by the CBFC. Salim reportedly felt that at a runtime of three hours, Bharat was too long, and wanted it to be trimmed down to 165 minutes.

The tabloid quoted a source as saying, The original duration of Bharat was three hours and the makers felt that the story needed to be tighter. To get a second opinion, they arranged a special screening for friends and family members, including Salim Khan, three weeks ago. While they appreciated the movie, Salim ji pointed out that the duration should ideally be brought down to under 165 minutes.

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in a still from Aithey Aa.

It further claimed that Salman supervised the editing as Aithey Aa, Chashni and Turpeya received major cuts. Another scene featuring Salman and Sunil was also trimmed down to keep the runtime of the film at 155 minutes.

The director told the tabloid, Since one needs to submit their films well in advance to meet the Censor Boards deadlines, its better to provide the longer cut first. So, we submitted the work-in-progress version to them. Once they cleared it, we made the final edit, and then informed them of the cuts we have made, he said.

Salim had accompanied Salman recently for a promotional interview and the actor was happy to share a picture from the outing. Father + son... #bharat #promotions, he wrote as he promoted the film that revolves around an emotional father-son relationship.

Bharat, which also stars Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Grover, Disha Patani and Nora Fatehi, is set to hit theatres on Eid, June 5.

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Actor Shah Rukh Khans daughter Suhana was in Kolkata for the past few days with her mother Gauri Khan, attending her cousin Alia Chhibas wedding. Suhana is back in Mumbai and was spotted partying with friends on Friday.

In the party, all the new star kids in town including actor Ananya Panday, her cousin Ahaan Panday, Sanjay Kapoors daughter Shanaya were also seen. While Shanaya is working as an assistant director in actor Janhvi Kapoors Gunjan Saxena biopic, Ahaan is also expected to take the Bollywood plunge soon. Also seen in this lot was Shah Rukhs elder son, Aryan Khan.

Also read: Katrina Kaif tells Neha Dhupia that shes worried about Janhvi Kapoors very, very short shorts in the gym

Aryan Khan, Suhana Khan and Shanaya Kapoor on Friday.

Aryan Khan with friends.

After presenting her traditional side during Alias wedding, Suhana went western for the party. While her hands still looked fresh with mehendi designs from the Kolkata wedding, Suhana looked chic in an all-black combination. Wearing a pair of black shorts, matching t-shirt and a pair of sneakers, Suhana kept it simple yet classy. Ananya was seen in a pair of cargo pants with a beige ganji and brown boots. Shanaya, meanwhile, wore a figure-hugging jeans with a black sleeveless lacy top. Aryan was dressed casually in a pair of cargo pants and sweatshirt. Ahaan had his hand in a sling.

From Suhanas Kolkata outing, pictures made their way to the Internet and were shared by her fans. Her pictures from the mehendi ceremony and the main function were a big hit online. Suhana is yet to make her acting debut but boasts of an avid fan following on social media.

(All pictures by Varinder Chawla)

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It is 6.30am  peak hour at one of the busiest and largest wholesale fish markets and auction centres in Mumbai. Overflowing with fresh blood and steeped with a stiff stench, its not a place for the faint-hearted. But dressed in his chefs whites, world-famous Sri Lankan chef and restaurateur Dharshan Munidasa is right at home. He wanders about, clicking pictures, checking out the tuna and Bombay ducks and baby sharks. It takes us some time to catch hold of him for the shoot.

This is the kind of place I love! The worst fish markets are the ones in Hong Kong and Singapore where you have dead fish freezing in white-tiled AC rooms, he smiles.

The variety of fish here is mind-boggling! But sadly, the quality is not that good. You can have the freshest catch, but how we bring it to the shore dictates its quality. How you keep it in the trawlers, transport it to the markets, handle it, everything has an impact, explains Munidasa, who is known for his no-freeze policy.

For the love of nature

Born in Tokyo, Japan, to a Sri Lankan father, Dr Milton Munidasa, and Japanese mother, Nobuko Munidasa, Munidasas food ethos is shaped by Japanese cuisine as is his obsession with fresh ingredients.

For me, ingredients are everything, he says. Its a very Japanese way of looking at food. And its not just seafood. Even if you are making a dish with eggs, the quality and colour of the egg and even the height of the yolk will dictate the quality of the dish. We all know how important fresh ingredients are. Its really simple. But simplicity is sometimes the most difficult thing to control. My style of cooking and eating is to bring the core ingredients to the fore.

Up, close, personal

Though Japanese cuisine made him fall in love with fresh ingredients, it was when he moved to Sri Lanka while still a child that Munidasas love turned into passion.

For Munidasa food is sensual affair and how the ingredient looks and feels are also of utmost importance (Aalok Soni)

Japan is known for celebrating its love for nature through art, food, Ikebana, bonsai, everything. And then you put such people in a jungle country like Sri Lanka, where nature was always within five-minute distance. It was like living inside an amusement park! Back in Tokyo, going fishing would be a meticulously-planned annual affair. But in Sri Lanka, it was just a quick bicycle ride away. My brother and I would often go fishing and then slice the fresh catch with our Swiss knives and eat them!

Avoiding the melting pot

Munidasa is the founder of three flagship restaurants: Nihonbashi, a restaurant serving authentic Japanese food, which has the distinction of being the first Sri Lankan restaurant to have ever made it to Asias 50 Best Restaurants List, The Ministry of Crab, a restaurant that takes pride in serving fresh export quality Sri Lankan lagoon crabs and has been ranked in Asias top 50 restaurant list for the fifth consecutive year in 2019, and Kaema Sutra  the newest addition that specialises in contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine. But what is interesting is that Munidasa has never attempted to merge Japanese cuisine with Sri Lankan. People often ask me if I am more Japanese or more Sinhalese. Well, I am equally both! I even dream in two languages. I have two different palates and that is why one of my restaurants serves authentic Japanese and the other two are true to their Sri Lankan roots. Fusion food is about 30 years old, and it died 15 years back. I think the restaurant industry in India needs to wake up to this reality!

Accidental chef

It might come as a surprise that Munidasa is not a trained chef. In fact, he planned to graduate from Johns Hopkins University, USA, with a double degree in computer engineering and international relations. But he lost his father just before his final exams and had to come back to be with his family. His father had long toyed with the idea of opening a Japanese restaurant and Munidasa decided to give it a go. But ask him what brought him to this profession and he laughs, Hunger! I cant eat bad food!

If crab be the food of love

For Munidasa, the way food is served is also important. His Ministry of Crab has plates specially designed to serve crabs. It has nine ridges, exactly the same as that on a crab! he quips.

Aesthetics play a huge role in Japanese cuisine. If today chefs across the world are focusing on Instagrammable food, Japans been doing it for the past 300 years! says the chef.

Chef Munidasa with (right) chef Jerry Thomas, culinary head at The Ministry of Crab, Mumbai (Aalok Soni)

At the recently-opened Ministry Of Crab in Mumbai, the crabs weigh between half kg and two kgs. In other restaurants youll mostly have three bodies and five claws put in a pot and cooked. Theres no beauty or aesthetics in that. Also, it is a very different feeling when you are holding a big crab. The sensation of eating one is also different, he says.

Clawing for perfection

He points out that in countries like Sri Lanka and India, premium quality crabs are all exported. What the restaurants end up buying are export rejects, which would have uneven claws or may be even a claw missing. But for me, it is important to get hold of perfect crabs for my dishes. So we started getting those in Sri Lanka by paying the export rate. And we are following the same principle in India. Still, its not easy. Given the fact that crabs are cannibalistic in nature, it is rather difficult to get fully-grown crabs. The trick is to build that kind of trust with the sources.

Ask him why he is obsessed with crabs with perfect claws, and he says: Because if you dont care about the ingredients and how they look on the plate, you are not a chef but a cook.

And its not just perfectly symmetrical claws he is after, but also the pedigree. Munidasa has spent months ensuring they source best crabs from both coasts of India. We are using mud crabs which are wild-caught. Those taste better, he smiles.

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From HT Brunch, June 2, 2019

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday surprised markets by naming Nirmala Sitharaman, formerly the countrys defence minister, as the next finance minister at a time when Asias third-largest economy is stuttering.

Amit Shah, chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was appointed as the minister of home affairs, giving him responsibility for internal security with a control over the federal police.

Regarded as the architect of Modis landslide victory in the recently concluded general election, Shah replaces senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who will now be defence minister.

Shah had been tipped as a possible candidate for the finance ministry in recent days, but the job went to Sitharaman, who has an economics background. She was also the commerce minister and briefly the junior finance minister in Modis first term.

Unlike Shah and former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who opted out of this government due to ill health, Sitharaman is seen as a political lightweight.

Sitharaman, 59, will become the senior most woman minister in Modis cabinet and the second woman to head the finance department after late former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

It is a big surprise and very unexpected news, said Yogesh Nagaonkar, founder and chief executive of Rowan Capital Advisors in Mumbai. The initial expectation of the market from her would be to see how she addresses liquidity concerns. We need to have good liquidity in the market to achieve growth.

Nagaonkar said the ministry should have gone to Piyush Goyal, a chartered accountant who had stepped into the role twice in the previous government when Jaitley was out sick. Goyal will now be minister of railways and commerce, at a time when trade ties with the United States are straining.

Sitharaman will take over the finance ministry when there is pressure from industry for the government to provide some stimulus to halt a worrying slowdown in Indias $2.7 trillion economy.

India probably lost its spot as the fastest growing major economy to China in the January-March quarter as a chill in domestic and global consumer demand hit manufacturers and service providers. Data for the quarter is set to be released later on Friday.

The government is already considering rolling out a slew of big-bang economic reforms in the first 100 days of Modis second term, with a focus on privatisation of state assets and relaxation of labour and land rules for businesses, a top official at the governments main think tank told Reuters.

In its first meeting to be held later in the day, the new cabinet could discuss the BJPs election pledge to expand a programme to give 6,000 rupees ($85.93) a year to all farmers, according to local media reports.

Farm distress and a jobs deficit were two of the biggest criticisms of the last administration. The government is also expected to release much delayed unemployment data before the cabinet meeting.

Modi also named S. Jaishankar, a former foreign affairs secretary, as Indias new external affairs minister. He will take over from Sushma Swaraj, the ruling partys veteran leader and the previous most senior woman in the cabinet. She has also stepped aside due to poor health.

This is the first time that a diplomat has been appointed as Indias foreign minister.

It shows that the prime minister is serious about foreign policy, and secondly, that he is entrusting it in the hands of a professional, Lalit Mansingh, a former foreign secretary, told Reuters.

($1 = 69.8275 rupees)

(The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text, only the headline has been changed.)
Tesla Inc. started taking orders for Model 3 cars to be made in China, lowering prices for the vehicle as it seeks to double down on a market it expects to drive future growth and revenue.

The Palo Alto, California-based company set the base price at 328,000 yuan ($47,523), including value added taxes, according to a statement Friday. The sedans, to be built at Teslas Gigafactory in Shanghai, will have a range of 460 kilometers (286 miles) per charge and will probably be delivered in six to 10 months. The car is 49,000 yuan cheaper than the imported version.

The price drop makes Tesla more accessible, the company said in a Chinese-language statement. Tesla will introduce V3 Superchargers in China by the end of this year, it said. The new technology will cut charging times to around 15 minutes, Tesla said in a blog in March.

Tesla currently ships all its cars from the US, making them ineligible for Chinese government subsidies, and subjecting them to import tariffs. The company is counting on its Shanghai factory, which is slated to begin production this year, to bolster competitiveness in a country crowded with hundreds of electric-vehicle rivals.

The need for Tesla to expand beyond the US was highlighted by its latest quarterly results, which missed analysts projections. The halving of a federal tax incentive for Tesla purchases starting in January dragged on US demand in the quarter, and Tesla struggled to offset that drop by starting deliveries of the Model 3 in Europe and China.

Local production in China, the worlds largest auto market, will not only allow Tesla to avoid import duties amid trade war tensions, but also speed up deliveries, a priority flagged by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. A 31% quarter-on-quarter drop in deliveries in the first three months contributed to a 43% plunge in Tesla shares this year.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
In the early 1990s, the veteran Gandhian, Sushila Nayar, was in the temple town of Ayodhya on a mission to promote communal harmony. At an inter-faith prayer meeting, she led the singing of a hymn much beloved of the Mahatma, Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram. When she came to the line Ishwar Allah Tero Naam, a group of protesters marched to the stage and stopped the singing. The elderly Nayar, seeking to placate them, said: Hum Gandhiji ki taraf se aaye hain (We have come on behalf of the memory and legacy of Gandhi). The protesters answered: Aur ham Godse ke taraf se (We have come on behalf of Godse).

Back then, and for many years afterwards, commentators considered those who worshipped Nathuram Godse marginal and irrelevant. Things may be changing. A Member of Parliament (MP) in the last House, Sakshi Maharaj, praised Godse, and was yet renominated by the BJP. In this election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Bhopal, Pragya Thakur, praised Godse. Although the prime minister later distanced himself from her remarks, her sentiments were spontaneously endorsed by several other BJP candidates across the country. Notably, all these Godse bhakts won their seats, and by very large margins.

The cult of Nathuram Godse is no more marginal; but mainstream. Its members include not only BJP MPs but also prominent Sangh ideologues. In a recent television debate, the well-known Gujarati writer, Vishnu Pandya, called Pragya Thakur a saint, no less. Of her praise of the Mahatmas murderer, he commented: Godse was a patriot, and so was Gandhi. Pandya is no ordinary Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) worker; he is a Padma Shri awardee and the current President of the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi.

In the Mahatmas lifetime, the Hindutva hatred towards him had two prongs; they thought his non-violence weak and effeminate, and they opposed his asking for equal rights for Muslims. More recently, this animosity has acquired a third dimension; namely, his anointing Jawaharlal Nehru rather than Vallabhbhai Patel as his political successor. While Nehru lived, right-wing Hindus principally disliked him because, like Gandhi, he resolutely opposed India becoming a Hindu theocratic State, the mirror image of Pakistan; after his death, they disliked Nehru because of the dynasty which (illegitimately) claims his mantle.

That no one man could have stopped Partition; that Gandhi did more than anyone else to stem the wounds of Partition; that Patel and Nehru were comrades, not rivals; that a civilised society does not discriminate on the basis of religion  all these facts are suppressed or denied in the Hindu Rights perverse, paranoid, understanding of history.

Especially in the last year of the Mahatmas life, the RSS expressed a venomous hatred of him in public. (This is documented in detail in my biography of Gandhi). After he was murdered  by a former member of the RSS  they fell silent. In the 1950s and 1960s, they rarely referred to him. After the 1970s, they began to praise him, albeit in muted terms. For them, he was now a patriot, albeit one of many. They could never bring themselves to call him what Subhas Chandra Bose had memorably named him: the father of the nation.

Even while diminishing Gandhis role in the freedom struggle, the RSS was careful to distance itself from Godse. This may no longer be true. With the hubris produced by this resounding election victory, their real feelings about the matter seem to be manifesting themselves. Hence Pandyas remark: Godse was a patriot, and so was Gandhi. The Mahatma is here equated to his murderer, with the murderers patriotism mentioned first.

Godse was a deshbhakt; and so was Gandhi. That is the RSS view. The view of those to the Right of them is less equivocal; Gandhi was a traitor, and Godse was a deshbhakt, indeed a great deshbhakt because he eliminated a traitor. This view is contained in a rash of WhatsApp forwards, and in conversations among some sections of the Right, a widely held view (especially in North India) is not just that Godse was right in murdering Gandhi, but that he should have murdered him earlier, before the Mahatmas last fast asking Indians to give equal rights to those Muslims who chose to express their own deshbhakti by staying behind in our country, which was also theirs.

The RSS might dissemble and equivocate, but for the hardline Hindutvawadi the position is clear: Gandhi was the original anti-national  because he did not stop Partition, because he asked India to give back to Pakistan the money that India owed, because he loved Muslims (and Christians) as much as he loved Hindus. The man who eliminated this anti-national thus must be a true patriot.

Some of those who venerate Godse while simultaneously detesting Gandhi now sit in Parliament, sent there by Indians who find their views utterly congenial. That this is happening in the 150th anniversary of Gandhis birth is a grim and cruel irony that we have to live with.

I began this column with a few Godse worshippers in the 1990s in Ayodhya. The public servant who told me the story about them added this prophecy: that Indians had once kicked out the Buddha, and we would do the same to Gandhi. Twenty-five years later, the Godse worshippers do not any more number in the few thousands, but in the millions. Their representatives sit in Parliament.

India turfed out the Buddha because we found his ideas of social equality antithetical to our love of social hierarchy. Now, many Indians wish to turf out the Mahatma because they find his ideas of interfaith harmony antithetical to their love of majoritarian bigotry. Perhaps we should let the rest of the world own and affirm Gandhi, just as they have owned and affirmed the Buddha.

Ramachandra Guha is the author of Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World

The views expressed are personal

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From a tiny bottle of nail polish, a luxury fashion empire was born.Designer Christian Louboutin says he was experimenting in a factory one day when he suddenly seized his assistants bottle of red polish to blot out the usual black soles and try some bright color.

The experiment stuck, obviously. And now Louboutins red-soled stilettos, featuring sky-high heels and fetching sky-high prices, are utterly iconic as a symbol of erotic femininity, says Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT  explaining why Louboutin has been chosen as this years honoree of the museums Couture Council.

The prestigious honor, awarded each year at the beginning of New York Fashion Week in September, usually goes to a clothes designer. But, Louboutin told The Associated Press this week, fashion lovers have a special relationship with shoes  more than with clothes, or at least different.

The woman carries the clothes. But the shoes? They carry the woman, the Paris-based designer said Tuesday in a telephone interview. So its a very different interaction. The shoe, he said, is a pedestal. But this little thing on your feet is also making you a different person, in a lot of ways. Its affecting the entire silhouette and the way youre going to walk and move.

Theres another advantage, he adds, to footwear: The wearer can see it. If you have a dress, you cant see it unless you have a mirror. But if you have a pair of shoes, you can still look at your feet. All the time.

Steele, at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), says shoes have always been an important part of the museums voluminous collection, which includes some 4,000 pairs and counting.

People really obsess over their shoes, she says. She calls Louboutins red soles a stroke of genius  what a simple and yet effective thing, because red is coded for us as the color of passion and seduction and love ... but who would have thought to have put it on the sole of a shoe?

Louboutin also designs mens shoes, but its womens footwear he is famous for, including those closer to the ground. They range from hundreds of dollars per pair well into the thousands, depending on the adornment. Theyre loved by celebrities; Im throwing on my Louboutins, goes the chorus of a 2009 Jennifer Lopez song.

Louboutin, 55, says his career began with a childhood hobby of sketching shoes.

When adults asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I said I wanted to draw shoes, he says. But I didnt think it was a real job.

He had been designing for several years when he discovered the red-sole idea in the early 90s. A few weeks after the nail polish experiment, he says, he was in his Paris shop, watching a couple consider a pair of shoes with typical black soles. His female co-worker felt the man was very handsome, Louboutin says, and watched as he turned over a pair of shoes to find nothing interesting on the soles. When the couple left, the co-worker remarked that she should have put her phone number on the soles.

Louboutin took that as a sign, he says, that the sole should have its own identity.

He considered changing the color every season, but then realized that red  the color of blood, he points out  was unique. I had many customers who would only wear black, but they wore red on their lips or on their nails, he says.

Louboutins shoes are worn by fashionistas around the world  first lady Melania Trump seems to be a fan, often photographed in Louboutins like a towering yellow pair she wore recently in Japan.

Louboutin says only that he enjoys seeing who wears the shoes, and how. My job is designing shoes and producing an object of desire for women, he says. After that its no longer in my hands, and Im no one to judge who is wearing them or how you should wear them.

He adds that although celebrities are obviously good for business, his preference is to discover someone he doesnt know, looking good, in his shoes.

Im walking in the street, and I look at the shoes and they look good and Im almost jealous, he says. And then I look and its a red sole, and I go woo-hoo!

The Couture Council luncheon on Sept. 4 coincides with a new exhibit at The Museum at FIT: Paris, Capital of Fashion, running Sept 6 to Jan 4.

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In Tamil Nadu, where language is an extremely sensitive issue and an old slogan, English Ever, Hindi Never, still holds resonance, the draft national policy on education has incensed political parties by calling for the adoption of a three-language formula in schools  Hindi, English and the local mother tongue in non-Hindi states.

Parties of every political shade  from the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to the Left and actor Kamal Haasans fledgeling Makkal Needhi Maiam  slammed the report, which they saw as a precursor to the imposition of Hindi. Pro-Tamil parties projected it as a Dravidian versus Aryan fight.

The DMK will never allow imposition of Hindi. It will raise its voice in Parliament and outside and strive to stall it, DMKs newly elected Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi Karunandhi said.

Although the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was muted in its response, the Tamil Nadu government maintained that the state will persist with a two-language formula  Tamil and English.

Tamil Nadu will continue to have the two-language formula and there is no move to either change it or dilute it, AIADMK veteran and education minister KA Sengottaiyan said.

According to the draft National Education Policy that was made public by the new government, the three-language formula should be introduced at an earlier stage in schools.

Since children learn languages most quickly between 2-8 years, and multilingualism has great cognitive benefits for students, children will be immersed in three languages early on, from the foundational stage, the policy said. Suggestions of Hindis domination like a reference to the 54% of Indians who speak Hindi didnt go down well in Tamil Nadu.

In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English.

In response to the outcry in Tamil Nadu, a senior human resource development ministry official said: If anyone has any difficulty, they should express (it). We take all views into account when the policy is taken to the cabinet. 30th June is the date before which they can give views on the policy.

Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar wrote in a Twitter post: There is no intention of imposing any language on anybody, we want to promote all Indian languages. Its a draft prepared by committee, which will be decided by govt after getting public feedback 

Linguistic politics has been a feature of Tamil sub-nationalism since 1938, when protests erupted against a move by then premier of the Madras Presidency, C Rajagopalachari, to make Hindi compulsory in schools. Two men who were arrested for participating in the protests, Natarajan and Thalamuthu, and died in police custody were deified as martyrs to the cause of Tamil.

Rajagopalachari, known as Rajaji, himself became a convert and opposed the imposition of Hindi.

Massive protests erupted against Hindi again in 1965 and pro-Tamil activists committed suicide by self immolation and consuming poison. And riding on this wave of protests, the DMK rose to power in the 1967 assembly elections. No national political party has since emerged as an alternative to the Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu.

Even now, the slogans of those days, English Ever, Hindi Never, Let the body go to the grave, giving life to Tamil, find occasional resonance.

Conscious of the political overtones of language pride in the Dravidian land, MNM founder and actor, Kamal Hassan, who has also acted in HIndi-language movies, made it clear that the language shouldnt be imposed.

Imposing a language is wrong. The option should be left to the people and facilities should be provided to learn any language {they want to}. Imposition would be counterproductive, he told journalists.

Going a step further, Marumalarchi DMK (MDMK) leader Vaiko warned that Hindi imposition would lead to another language war.

If the Centre is bent upon imposing Hindi upon us, another language war would erupt in Tamil Nadu as it happened in 1965, he warned.

Incidentally, Tamil Nadu is the lone state in India where Navodaya Vidyalayas, residential schools meant for gifted students, havent been allowed on grounds that it would encourage the backdoor entry of Hindi. Both the DMK and AIADMK are on the same page on this issue.

Political parties in the state harp on late first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehrus assurance that Hindi would never be imposed on non-Hindi speaking states unless they accepted the language. They also invoke a similar assurance by late Prime Minister Lal Bhadur Shastri.

Widely spoken in the country, Hindi is one among the keys to political power at the Centre. But instead of thrusting it, the BJP government should facilitate its learning, reasoned C Lakshmanan, associate professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies.
As the face-off between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) takes centre stage in Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), is trying to recapture lost ground by re-opening or re-occupying old offices that were shut down or forcefully taken over by the TMC after 2011.

The CPI(M) has around 1,000 offices across Bengal. Combined with those of frontal organisations, the number is more than 3,000. Many of these stopped functioning after 2011. Recently, however, the CPI(M) has re-opened around 70 party offices across Bengal.

This has not gone down well with Bengals ruling party. TMC workers have started a campaign alleging that the BJP is repaying the Marxists for helping it win 18 of the states 42 seats.

The BJP and CPI(M) are helping each other in every district, said Jyoti Priyo Mallick, minister and TMCs North 24-Parganas district unit president.

Also read: Left Front voters ensured BJPs victory in Bengal, says Trinamool Congress

The BJP won seven of eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal and made substantial inroads in the western districts. But 39 of 40 Left candidates, most from the CPI(M), lost their deposits.

With no seat and only 7.46% vote share, the Bengal CPI(M) and its partners recorded their worst show in this general election.

While the Left parties lost a huge chunk of the 29.95% vote share recorded in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJPs vote share touched 40.25% against TMCs 43.28% and Congresss 5.61%.

The BJP did not help us re-occupy offices. Our men are taking over on their own strength, no matter how small the number may be at this time, CPI(M) state secretariat member Rabin Deb said.

Left leaders say that like the BJP and TMC, they too have to launch fresh political initiatives, save their party offices and ensure their survival till the 2021 assembly polls.

By trying to impose a ban on the Jai Shri Ram slogan and engaging in clashes, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is only making the BJP stronger. These clashes are harming Bengal. Our struggle on the ground is quite different. It is for the working class, Sujan Chakraborty, CPI(M)s Jadavpur MLA said.

Also read: On hearing Jai Shri Ram, Mamata Banerjee loses cool and yells at protesters

According to political commentator Suvashis Maitra, after the CPI(M) came to power in Bengal in 1977, some Congress offices were shut down or taken over by Left cadres.

But the CPI(M) never throttled the Opposition the way TMC did. During the Left regime, the Congress held on to several Lok Sabha, assembly, civic body and panchayat seats. The CPI(M) is recapturing its party offices because a void has been created, he said.

No matter how many offices it re-occupies, CPI(M) is unlikely to gain in the 2021 election. The voting pattern in the Lok Sabha polls makes it apparent that the concept of captive voters has become redundant in Bengal..., Maitra added.

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The construction of Kartarpur corridor on the Indian side will be completed by September 30, Punjab PWD minister Vijay Inder Singla said on Saturday. The corridor will link Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.

The construction of the passage will be accomplished by September 30, well in time before the 550th Parkash Purb (birth anniversary) celebrations of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak, Singla said in a statement after inspecting the site.

He said the length of the corridor on the Indian side was 4.2 km with 3.6 km being a linear stretch equipped with median lights, carriageway and raised footpaths on both sides. The remaining stretch comprises approach roads from the historic Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak and the BSF check-post on the international border.

To provide world-class infrastructure to devotees, approach roads to Dera Baba Nanak from Batala, Fatehgarh Churian and Ramdas are being upgraded. The project would cost 116 crore, for which 62 acres had already been acquired. Additional 50 acres would be acquired for the construction of an integrated check-post by the Land Port Authority of India, the minister said.

The corridor will be thrown open to pilgrims in November this year to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
Dalit activists hold dharna, urging Rahul continue as Congress chief

Members of various Dalit organisations in the national capital on Saturday organised a dharna, urging Rahul Gandhi to continue as the president of the Congress party, reported news agency ANI.

Urging Gandhi not to resign, former Congress MLA Jai Kishan said: Rahul might be correct in deciding to resign, but for the millions of people who have placed their faith in him and the party, it is not justifiable. He shouldnt let us down by resigning from his post.

He is not the only one who should be held accountable for the partys performance in the elections. All the party workers should take moral responsibility and work hard to strengthen the party ,he said.

Rahul Gandhi is the president of Congress, Surjewala clarifies

Rahul Gandhi remains the president of the Congress, there is no doubt about it ,Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

Everything but ones right to bread and butter can wait: Surjewala

The youth of the nation is saying, everything else can wait, but our right to bread and butter cannot ,Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

Govt did nothing to prevent US withdrawal of special status to India: Randeep Singh Surjewala

The withdrawal of the special trade status to India was announced on March 4, 2019. Yet, the government did nothing to prevent it. Sectors like agriculture and pharmaceutical will get affected significantly. The government should suggest a way forward, a way to recover from the economic crisis we are in ,Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

US withdrawal of special trade status a double whammy: Randeep Singh Surjewala

Withdrawal by US of the special trade status is a double whammy. India has decided to yield to the pressure of the US and stop purchasing crude oil from Iran. Now our special trade status with the US is gone ,Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

AICC press briefing by Randeep Singh Surjewala begins at Cong HQ

AICC press briefing by Randeep Singh Surjewala has begun at the Congress headquarters.

Rajnath Singh takes charge as Defence Minister

Rajnath Singh took charge as the Defence Minister. Union minister Shripad Yesso Naik was also present on the occasion. :ANI

Amit Shah takes charge as Union Home Minister

Amit Shah took charge as the Union Home Minister. G Kishan Reddy and Nityanand Rai were also present on the occasion. :ANI

Defeat in an election will not affect our ideology: Sonia Gandhi

We will remain firm on our ideals. Defeat in an election will not affect our ideology, said Sonia Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi congratulates Sonia Gandhi on Twitter

Congratulations to Smt Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong and effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India, Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Need for introspection in the party, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said there was need for introspection in the party.

Will fight govt till our last breath if it works against us: Sonia Gandhi

We will support the constructive work of this government, but if it works against us, we will fight it till our last breath,said Sonia Gandhi at the meeting.

Sonia Gandhi leaves the venue after CPP meet concludes

Sonia Gandhi has also left the venue after the conclusion of CPP meeting. :ANI

CPP meeting concludes, Rahul Gandhi leaves the venue

The CPP meeting has concluded and Congress President Rahul Gandhi has left the venue. :ANI

Rahul Gandhi thanks voters and Congress workers

Rahul Gandhi thanked the voters and Congress workers. Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the color of his skin or belief ,he said.

Rahul Gandhi did not meet Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot after resigning

Rahul Gandhi did not meet Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot who were at his 12, Tughlaq Lane residence for a meeting with his sister and Congress general secretary for east Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Rahul Gandhi had brief interaction with party leaders after quitting

Since the CWC meeting on May 25, Rahul Gandhi has had just a few brief interactions with party colleagues. He only met senior leaders Ahmed Patel and KC Venugopal and attended a prayer function in memory of his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, to mark his 55th death anniversary. On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi held brief but separate discussions with Venugopal and partys chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of CPP

Sonia Gandhi has been elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party during the CPP meeting.

Smt. Sonia Gandhi is elected as leader of Congress Parliamentary Party. She thanks the voters & workers for their faith in the party.  Congress (@INCIndia) June 1, 2019

Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi arrive for CPP meeting

Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi arrive for Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting. pic.twitter.com/sGf7d5l0Pr  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

Sonia Gandhi had also resigned from the post in 1999

On May 15, 1999, just before the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had faced a similar situation. The then Congress president Sonia Gandhi resigned from the post after senior leaders Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar opposed her being projected as the partys prime ministerial candidate, ostensibly on the grounds of her foreign origin.

Rahul Gandhi leaves for Congress Parliamentary Party meeting

Congress President Rahul Gandhi leaves for Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting. :ANI

Congress constitution says AICC has to ratify all CWC resolutions

As per the Congress constitution, all CWC resolutions have to be ratified by the AICC.

Leaders likely to discuss if an AICC session should be called

According to a senior leader who asked not to be named, one of the suggestions to discuss the matter further involves calling a session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) to give an opportunity to Rahul Gandhi to interact directly with 2,000-odd delegates from across the country.

First meet after Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to quit

The meeting would be the first interaction between Rahul Gandhi and party leaders since the fractious Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on May 25 when he announced his decision to quit before it was rejected by the partys highest decision-making body.

CPP may also elect a new chairperson in the meeting

There are speculations that the CPP may also elect a new chairperson, a post currently held by Sonia Gandhi.

Cong workers urging Rahul Gandhi not to quit post of president

Congress workers in several cities across the country have been holding demonstrations, urging him to rethink his decision to quit following reverses in the Lok Sabha elections.

CPP meet to be attended by all Cong MPs, including Rahul Gandhi

The meeting,which is scheduled to begin at 10:30 am, is going to be attended by all Congress MPs, including party president Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhis leadership to be focus of Congress meet

The focus of the CPP meeting, which is to be presided by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will be Rahul Gandhis leadership.

CPP to hold meeting today

The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) will meet at Parliament Annexe today morning, party functionaries said on Wednesday.
Members of various Dalit organisations in the national capital on Saturday organised a dharna, urging Rahul Gandhi to continue as the president of the Congress party.

Urging Gandhi not to resign, former Congress MLA Jai Kishan said: Rahul might be correct in deciding to resign, but for the millions of people who have placed their faith in him and the party, it is not justifiable. He shouldnt let us down by resigning from his post.

He is not the only one who should be held accountable for the partys performance in the elections. All the party workers should take moral responsibility and work hard to strengthen the party, he said.

As of now, there is no one who can replace Rahul Gandhi. It is not the right time to give someone else the responsibility to lead the party, he said.

It is worth mentioning that Rahul had offered to step down from the party president post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, taking the moral responsibility for the partys dismal performance in the recently held General Elections.

R Joshi, another activist, said: We firmly believe in the potential of Rahul Gandhi. We all know the sacrifices made by the Congress leaders since Pandit Nehrus period for the country. That is the reason why we urge Rahul Gandhi to continue.

He said: Election is more of like a game. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. It is not a big deal. We all believe that Rahul is capable of saving our country from the hands of those people who dont believe in the system of social inclusion.

While reports suggest that Gandhi remains firm on resigning, a number of leaders from the Congress party and its allies have urged him to continue as the party president.

In the recently held Lok Sabha polls, Rahul lost to BJPs Smriti Irani in Amethi, which he had been representing since 2004. However, he got elected from Wayanad in Kerala. The BJP won 303 seats in the polls, while the Congress could win just 52 seats.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
A Delhi court on Saturday granted bail to Sushen Mohan Gupta, an alleged defence agent in the AgustaWestland case, and stated that Enforcement Directorate (ED) had failed to point out a single incident when Gupta tampered with the evidence.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted bail to Gupta on a personal bond of 5 lakh along with two sureties of like amount.

The judge directed that the accused shall join the investigation as and when he will be called by the investigating officer (IO).

The judge also said that Gupta would not travel abroad without prior permission from the court. The court noted in its order that many co-accused having similar and greater role than Gupta have been enlarged on bail.

Some of the co-accused have not been arrested by ED et al, and complaint has been filed against these accused persons without arrest. The accused Sushen Mohan Gupta is not the accused in CBI case registered with predicate offences, the judge said in his 16-page order.

While granting the conditional bail, the court said the accused is a 44-year-old citizen of the United States, even though his wife is Indian and his three minor children are studying in Delhi.

It said the accused is having business in India and is an income tax assessee in India. It noted that Gupta had joined the investigation a number of times and the contention of the ED that the accused may abscond does not appear to have much substance. It said the earlier bail application was dismissed as the case was still in the investigation stage and since then circumstances have changed and a charge sheet has also been filed.

Meanwhile, special judge Kumar also allowed Rajiv Saxena to travel abroad for treatment.
I welcome you to the first meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party before the Constitution of the 17th Lok Sabha. Each one of you has fought one of the hardest elections of our career. We were up against an election machinery with all odds stacked against us  unlimited resources, ability to manipulate public opinion and the spread of mischievous propaganda. I congratulate you for standing up successfully for the values and ideals of the Congress party.

Our karyakartas are our front-line soldiers. They have worked selflessly for the last five years. They ensured that the India we stand for is spread far and wide, to every corner of our great country. I want to thank them for their innumerable sacrifices in the face of unprecedented hostility from the ruling party. It is their resilience that has led to 12.3 crore voters reposing their faith in the Congress party.

I want to thank each one of the 12.3 crore voters. Your vote to the Congress party is a vote for safeguarding our Constitution, a vote for economic and social progress, a vote for liberty, and for social justice.

I also take this opportunity to whole-heartedly thank Rahul Ji for his valiant and relentless campaign. As Congress President, he has given his all and toiled night and day for the Congress party. He demonstrated his fearless leadership, by taking the Modi government head on. He highlighted the injustices carried out against farmers, workers, traders and small businesses, against the youth, women and the marginalised sections of our society.

He has rejuvenated the Congress organisation in many states, and most recently lead us to victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. As Congress President, he earned the respect and love of every worker and crores of voters across the length and breadth of our country. Even as I speak, emotional messages are coming from all corners, vindicating his leadership. We all express our gratitude to him for his sincerity of purpose, his relentless effort, his hard work and leadership.

In this time of crisis, we must acknowledge the numerous challenges confronting the Congress party. The Congress Working Committee met a few days ago to deliberate the next steps and the way forward for us. Several decisive measures to strengthen the party are being discussed.

Even though we were only 44 members in the previous Lok Sabha, and about 55 in the Rajya Sabha, under Rahuljis leadership, the Congress party has fought bravely to expose the governments misdeeds. I want to congratulate all of them for their hard work. We were in the forefront of ensuring that some of the UPAs historic Acts were not diluted. At the same time, we cooperated with the government on a series of reforms, with constructive suggestions. This time too, we will support progressive and inclusive policies but oppose the government strongly whenever they undertake divisive and regressive actions.

We must remember that our numbers in the Rajya Sabha will be challenged, and therefore it is even more important to ensure better coordination and cooperation with like-minded parties. The issues we raise in Parliament, must resonate in the minds of our Party workers and with the public.

To be an effective Opposition, all of us Members of Parliament must have our finger on the pulse of the people, set the agenda in Parliament, ensure consistency and relentless follow-up of issues that matter, including through Standing Committees and other parliamentary forums.

We are not going to let our guard down. We must hold the Government accountable to their promises. Progress is currently being measured through manufactured data. Progress must be measured with truth. We will continue to fight for truth and transparency.

We must assure the people of India that we will fulfill the responsibility of an alert and responsible opposition to strengthen our democracy and safeguard our Constitution. We will hold the government accountable in Parliament. We will be at the forefront of the fight for the rights of the people, both in Parliament and on the streets.

In an unprecedented crisis, lies an unprecedented opportunity. It is up to us to grasp it with humility and self-confidence, drawing the appropriate lessons from our defeat. The people of India expect us to honour their mandate by renewing and reinvigorating ourselves. Undeterred by the many challenges that lie ahead, we will rise again.

Jai Hind.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday that monsoon rainfall this year is likely to be normal at 96% of the long period average (LPA), and indicated that they will be fairly evenly spread, in a forecast that should offer a degree of relief to farmers already hit by deficient pre-monsoon rain and residents of the plains enduring scorching summer heat.

IMD, in its monsoon update on Friday, stood by its earlier monsoon forecast issued on April 15. This time, IMD also provided regional forecasts for four zones--94% of LPA over north-west India, 100% of LPA over central India, 97% of LPA over the south peninsula, and 91% of LPA over northeast India, all with an error margin of +/-8%.

Private forecasters and independent experts expressed surprise that IMD was optimistic about a normal south-west monsoon despite the shadow of an El Nino, albeit weak, looming over the June-to-September monsoon months. El Nino is a weather phenomenon characterised by warm ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that is associated with weak monsoon rainfall and more episodes of heat waves in the subcontinent.

In April, too, IMD had forecast monsoon rainfall to be 96% of LPA, or 50-year average, in the monsoon months, but characterised it as near normal, introducing a new classification. Until last year, rainfall in the range of 96% to 104% had been termed normal  a classification to which IMD reverted in its latest forecast.

Also read | Central and northwestern India will continue to face heatwave this week: IMD

Rains are critical for farmers in India, where around 60% of the countrys net-sown area does not have any form of irrigation. For farm output, the rains also need to be evenly distributed across regions. Robust summer rains, which account for 70% of Indias total annual rainfall, spurs rural spending on most items and as well as increases demand in other sectors of the economy. Rural sales, for instance, account for about 48% of all motorcycles and 44% of television sets sold annually if the monsoon is normal.

Monsoon was set over the south Andaman sea and some parts of south Bay of Bengal on its normal date May 18. But thereafter there has been a delay in advancement. It is likely to advance further into extreme southern parts of Arabian Sea and some more parts of Maldives and Comorin area, southwest, southeast and east central Bay of Bengal during next 72 hours according to IMD. Thereafter, monsoon is likely to strengthen and set over Kerala on June 6.

IMD, in its monsoon update, said its own and global models had indicated weak El Nino conditions will continue during the monsoon season, but with reduced intensity. Some models even suggest neutral El Nino conditions during the latter part of the monsoon season.

But the World Meteorological Organization, in an update earlier this week, said weak El Nino conditions are likely persist for three more months through the monsoon season until August. Private forecaster Skymet Weather had forecast below normal monsoon at 93% of LPA.

IMD has predicted a normal monsoon at 96% of LPA with +/- 4% error margin. So the range is from 92% to 100%, which is quite wide. Skymet is expecting below normal rains. The onset is delayed, the westerly wind profile has not established till now. Rains may only pick up in July, said Mahesh Palawat, vice president (meteorology and climate change), Skymet Weather.

Also read: Red alert sounded as Delhi reels under agonising heat

Following a brief period of weakening during early May, El Nino has intensified once again. Central Pacific Ocean is witnessing maximum warming since the last few weeks compared to the eastern parts. Thus, this pattern is emerging to be a Central Pacific El Nino and such conditions are expected to continue during June-July and with a reduced intensity in August-September, said Akshay Deoras, a Ph.D researcher at the department of meteorology, University of Reading, UK. As the progression of monsoon is delayed, the overall rainfall in the first three weeks of June is expected to remain below average.

The monsoons progression is being delayed because the monsoon winds are weak and havent properly got organised in the Indian Ocean as a result of El Nino, he said. As per the latest forecast, monsoon is expected to reach Sri Lanka around 5th June, followed by a proper arrival in Kerala and the northeastern states around 9th June. We can expect a delay of around one week in the case of east and central India, he said.

IMD issued a two-week forecast on Friday in which it reviewed the pre-monsoon rain between March and May. According to the update, pre-monsoon is 24% deficient compared to the LPA. In south peninsula, the deficiency is as high as 48% and 29% in northwest India.

Agriculture experts have said that dry soil exacerbated by extreme heat due to lack of pre-monsoon showers will make soil preparation difficult for Kharif crops. Delay of each day in the onset of monsoon will have impact on yields. Farmers start preparing land in May and sowing by June second week, said GV Ramanjaneyulu, executive director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
Security forces have killed 101 militants in counter-terror operations in the first five months of the year, acting on intelligences inputs provided by their informants on the ground.

In 2018 and 2017, from January to May, security forces had managed to kill 70 and 57 militants, respectively.

Most counter-terror operations were executed in south Kashmirs four districts  Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag.

All four districts had seen a spike in militancy and militant recruitment after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by security forces in July 2016. This year, the pace of operations has increased, especially in the hinterland areas, compared to previous years. The situation has improved in the areas which were considered hotbeds of militancy, said a senior police officer privy to details of anti-terror operations conducted in south Kashmir, requesting anonymity.

A majority of the 101 militants killed in the first five months were locals, the police said. An average of 20 militants have been killed in each month so far. This includes 25 foreign terrorists and 76 locals, belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e- Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a J&K police spokesman said. On May 23, security forces gunned down the Valleys most wanted militant commander, Zakir Musa, 25, who had formed the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, in south Kashmir. Musa, who was active in South Kashmirs Tral area, was a close associate of Burhan Wani. After the killing of Burhan Wani, Musa parted ways with the Hizbul Mujahideen and formed his own group. After the killing of Musa, only a few militants of his groups still remain, the police said. Musa was killed in an operation launched on specific intelligence inputs. The killing triggered protests and stone throwing in the old city of Srinagar and in Pulwama, prompting the administration to suspend mobile internet services and impose a curfew in parts of the Valley for two days. In the past five months, up to seven militant commanders operating in various parts of south Kashmir were killed by security forces, the police said. One of them was Abid Manzoor Magray alias Sajju Tiger of the Hizb. The militant had been active since 2016.

A senior police officer said Hizbul operational commander Riyaz Naikoo was among the old guard of militants active in the south Kashmir. Other old guard militants or commanders have been killed in various operations, the officer said on condition of anonymity. In the first five months, 61 troopers were killed by militants, and they included the 40 CRPF personnel who died in a suicide car bombing in Pulwama on February 14, which was followed by IAF strikes on a JeM terror camp in Balakot. The Jaish had claimed responsibility fort the Pulwama attack.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has become the 30th home minister of India and perhaps in that honour, soon after the ministerial portfolios of the new Council of Ministers was published on Friday, the home ministry office in the nearly 100-year old North Block on Raisina Hill went through a round of cleaning.

The nameplate outside the ministers room was changed -- twice over -- and a new red carpet was vacuumed a few times during the day in anticipation of the minister reaching North Block. His taciturn, media-shy predecessor, Rajnath Singh, moved to across the road to the Defence Ministry in South Block. Shah, though, didnt visit the office on Friday and is expected to take charge at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday.

Amit Shah isnt new to the responsibilities of a home minister. He was the home minister of Gujarat and held other portfolios from 2002 to 2010.

Also Read | At first meet, PM Modis Cabinet clears 3 poll promises to farmers, traders

Soon after the news of Shahs appointment to the post reached North Block, joint secretaries in the ministry began putting together a presentation highlighting the challenges facing and progress made. . Formal briefings may be asked for. We are keeping things ready, a senior official who did not want to be named said.

WATCH: Opinion | Home Minister Amit Shahs focus: J&K integration, Assam immigration

Shah will have his plate full -- from handling the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which may go to the polls by November, to carrying through with the National Register of Citizens in Assam.

The Supreme Court-monitored NRC is likely to put out the final list of people who have qualified as Indian citizens in the state of Assam in July 2019. Updating the NRC was one of the key demands of the All Assam Students Union and other organisations that signed the 1985 Assam Accord with the government. The first draft of the NRC was released on July 2018, leaving out as many as four million of the states residents. The fate of those who fail to qualify as Indian citizens hangs in balance.

Also Read | First decision dedicated to those who protect India, tweets PM Modi

There are other challenges as well in the region. A half-done peace deal to end Naga insurgency  the oldest insurgency in India  is one.

Then theres Jammu and Kashmir. Sustained counter-terror operations by the military, paramilitary and the local police have pushed violence levels down but the BJP may want to push ahead with its articulated primise of doing away with Articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution giving special privileges and powers to the state.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shahs promotion to home minister means the party will have to find a suitable replacement, leading to speculation about his successor and the timing of his appointment.

Jagat Prakash Nadda, health minister in the previous Narendra Modi government, and Bhupendra Yadav, a Rajya Sabha MP, are among the front runners to replace Shah.

Shah took over from Rajnath Singh in July 2014, two months after Modi was sworn in prime minister and he appointed Singh as home minister. But there is a difference between then and now.

Also Read | J-K to NRC, home minister Amit Shah has his work cut out

Any BJP president has a tenure of three years. Singh had taken over as BJP president from Nitin Gadkari in 2013, and had over a year-and-a-half of his term left when he resigned from the party post in 2014.

Such a situation didnt need any election and Shah was chosen to lead the party for the remaining term, a senior BJP leader said, asking not to be named. The national council of the BJP ratified his election and he assumed charge.

Shah completed Rajnaths remaining term and got re-elected as BJP president in January 2016. His term ended in January 2019, but the party decided to give him an extension till the elections get over.

Once the term of a president is over, it is followed by a membership drive and organisational election from the mandal to the national level, a second BJP leader said, not wishing to be named. The election of the national president happens only when elections in at least 50% of the states are over.

The party will have to start its membership drive again, and it will take at least 2-3 months. The organisational election at the mandal, district and state levels will take another couple of months, the second leader said.

Also Read | First decision dedicated to those who protect India, tweets PM Modi

Given that, Shah continuing for a while, till this process is over, may not be ruled out, the first leader said.

The BJPs immediate challenge is the elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and possibly Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the Centres rule. The party may need a full-time president to take care of these elections, the second leader said.

A third BJP leader said the party was free to make an arrangement wherein Shah can continue as president but a successor is formally given charge, maybe as a working president, to help in the transition.

Whatever it is, it will take a couple of weeks to work out such an arrangement, he said on condition of anonymity.

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A 25-year-old man has been arrested in Kerala for allegedly sexually exploiting over 50 women, he had befriended over social media, by blackmailing them with their morphed obscene photos, police said Saturday.

Pradeesh Kumar from Areeparambu near Ettumanoor was arrested on Friday on the basis of a complaint by a woman, they said.

Explaining his modus operandi, police said Kumar used to target women over social media and got their phone numbers.

After establishing contact with the women, mostly housewives, and understanding their family problems, he used to create fake Facebook accounts posing as female and got in touch with the husbands of his potential targets, police said.

Also read| Civic hospital doctor held for molesting intern in Navi Mumbai

The accused used to take screenshots of the chats their husbands had with the fake accounts and forwarded it to their wives to convince them about their spouses illicit relationships. After being ensured that the women had started distancing themselves from their husbands, the accused grew very close to the victims and then invited them for video chats. He then allegedly blackmailed the women with their morphed obscene pictures and sexually exploiting them, police said.

He had reportedly developed code languages to ensure that the women themselves were chatting with him on various social media platforms. If they failed to type the code before chatting, Kumar allegedly hurled expletives at them.

Also read| 15-year-old detained for raping 9-month-old in Rajasthans Karauli

If the women refused to comply with his orders, the accused threatened to send their morphed obscene photographs to their husbands, police said.

Following his arrest, morphed obscene photos of many women have been recovered from the accuseds laptop, they said.
First-time cabinet minister Amit Shah took charge of the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Saturday afternoon, after which he met senior officials and sat through an extended briefing session.

Officials in each of the 19 divisions under the ministry briefed Shah, who continues to be Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, about projects and schemes being piloted and supervised by them. Some of these divisions are internal security, counter-terror and counter-radicalization, disaster management, freedom fighters pension and the Jammu & Kashmir wing. The minister patiently heard the briefs. He did ask for some clarifications, a senior official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media. Specific briefings on particular topics will start from Monday, he added.

A stream of governors and senior BJP functionaries called on Shah on his first day at the ministry. Kerala governor Palanisamy Sathasivam was among the first to do so. Jammu & Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik, too, called on him. I have briefed the home minister on the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Malik later told reporters. We have not discussed anything about the [Jammu & Kashmir] elections, it is for the Election Commission of India [to decide].

Jammu & Kashmir has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the BJP ended its three-year alliance with Mehbooba Muftis Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Shahs ministry will also be overseeing security arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra, which is scheduled to begin June end. The threat quotient for the Yatra remains high, though security agencies have eliminated about 100 militants since the beginning of this year, according to the Multi-Agency Centre.

Among others who called on Shah are Maharashtra governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Puducherry governor Kiran Bedi and Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. Shah, who is the 30th home minister of the country, reached South Block in the afternoon. Union home secretary Rajiv Guba and Intelligence Bureau director Rajiv Jain received him.

G Kishan Reddy and Nityanand Rai took over as ministers of state for home affairs too.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar dismissed on Saturday the speculation that his party was likely to merge with the Congress.

Pawar made the announcement during a general body meeting of the party convened to discuss the Lok Sabha debacle and review preparations for the Maharashtra Assembly polls. The reports of the merger of our party with the Congress were shocking for us as there was not discussion on these lines either in Delhi or in Mumbai...I want to clarify here that there are no such talk or plans of any merger with any party. We are a prime party in the state with independent entity and will remain to be so, he said.

Senior party leader Ajit Pawar, too, dismissed the reports and assured party workers that the party would not take any important decision without taking the state and district level leaders into confidence. The speculation about a possible merger had begun after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi met Pawar in Delhi after the Lok Sabha results.

Analysing the LS election debacle, the NCP chief highlighted the speeches made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during campaigning and how reiterations of the February 14 Pulwama attack and the retaliatory air strike on Balakot struck a chord. His (Modis) entire campaign was on the non-development issues, while we kept talking about the issues that were directly related to the common man. Nevertheless, the Assembly results will be different...

About the Maharashtra polls, which are due this year, the party leaders have decided to finalise alliance and seat-sharing talks and begin campaigning. Ajit Pawar said: We have hardly 100 days left... We have decided to finalise the seat sharing with the Congress and other smaller allies at the earliest. The party will fix responsibility of the regions.

The speculative reports about the merger of two parties were based on the meeting between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar two days ago in Delhi. Nothing is known about the discussion between the two leaders. Leaders in Maharashtra are not aware of any such development, said Sachin Sawant, Maharashtra Congress general secretary.
Apparently comparing the BJP regime to the British period, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that no institution in the country was going to support the Congress and it was for the party MPs to fight hatred and cowardice aggressively.

You have to first understand, who you are. If you are going to fight, who you are fighting for? You are fighting for the Constitution of this country, that is who you are, you are fighting for the right of every single individual in this country regardless of the skins colour, regardless of his religion, regardless of his gender, regardless of his State. That is, what you are fighting for.

There is no institution that is going to support you in this country, no one is going to support you. It is like during the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress party. Yet we fought and won and we are going to do it again, he said while addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting here.

Stating that hatred, cowardice, and anger are fighting against Congress, he said that lack of confidence and self-belief was also fighting against the party.

The people who are opposing us in the Parliament, they use hatred. They use anger to fight us. And as I said throughout the election, there is only one way to fight hatred and anger. There is no other way and that is the love and the affection and the compassion of the Congress party, he said.

Also read| We will fight BJP every day, Rahul Gandhi tells Congress MPs at CPP meet

That is why the BJP sits and says that we want Congress-Mukt Bharat because without Congress they have a free run and no one to counter them. There is no opposition against the BJP other than the love and the compassion, the affection of the Congress party. Every single one of you...you are going to enjoy yourself, you are going to shout little more than usual. You are going to have to be little more aggressive, he told the newly elected members.

He went on to add, Last time if the Speaker used to give us five minutes, this time it may be two minutes. But in those two minutes, we will put forth what the Congress party believes, we will put forth our defence of the Constitution.

Rahul said that Congress 52 MPs are going to fight the BJP every single inch, without giving this much and that applies to the Members from Rajya Sabha as well.

Also read| We will rise again, Sonia to Congress MPs at parliamentary party meet

I would also like to thank all the Congress workers who fought for this idea, who defended this idea and as ex-President said it is an opportunity for us to introspect, to look inwards, to try and see as to what went wrong, and to try to rejuvenate ourselves. I have no doubt that the Congress party is going to rejuvenate. I have to thank all of you, especially the seniors who are here. You have given a tremendous service in fighting for the Constitution and now you are fighting every single institution, Rahul said.

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the BJP registered a landslide victory by winning 303 seats.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) at a meeting of party MPs at the Central Hall of Parliament on Saturday, rallied her battered party saying it will rise again.

The parliamentary party meeting to elect the leader of the Congress was held a week after its president Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to quit the post following the drubbing in the recent general election that saw the Narendra Modi-led NDA storming to power with 352 of the 542 seats polled.

The meeting of the newly elected Congress Lok Sabha MPs took place ahead of the Parliament session beginning on June 17. Congress Rajya Sabha MPs and 52 newly elected Lok Sabha MPs attended the meeting. Sonia Gandhi is also the chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party in both the Houses.

Addressing the MPs, she said decisive measures to strengthen the party are on the anvil.

In this time of crisis, we must acknowledge the numerous challenges confronting the Congress party. The Congress Working Committee met a few days ago to deliberate the next steps and the way forward for us. Several decisive measures to strengthen the party are being discussed.

Sonia Gandhi also acknowledged that the Congress was facing an unprecedented crisis where lay an unprecedented opportunity.

In an unprecedented crisis, lies an unprecedented opportunity. It is up to us to grasp it with humility and self-confidence, drawing the appropriate lessons from our defeat. The people of India expect us to honour their mandate by renewing and reinvigorating ourselves. Undeterred by the many challenges that lie ahead, we will rise again, she said.

The meeting took place in the background of the stalemate over the resignation of Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) had rejected his offer to resign in a fractious meeting on May 25.and authorized him to overhaul the party despite Gandhis purported insistence on quitting.

At the CPP meet Sonia Gandhi also praised Rahul Gandhi for his valiant and relentless campaign.

As Congress President, he has given his all and toiled night and day for the Congress party. He demonstrated his fearless leadership, by taking the Modi government head on. He highlighted the injustices carried out against farmers, workers, traders and small businesses, against the youth, women and the marginalised sections of our society.

He has rejuvenated the Congress organisation in many states, and most recently lead us to victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. As Congress President, he earned the respect and love of every worker and crores of voters across the length and breadth of our country, she said.

The suspense over whether Gandhi will continue to lead his party lingered even as Congress workers in several cities across the country held demonstrations urging him to rethink his decision to quit following reverses in the Lok Sabha elections.

Saturday was the first occasion when Gandhi interacted with party leaders since the CWC meeting on May 25.
The Tripura High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail petition of IPFT MLA Dhananjoy Tripura who is accused of raping and deceiving a woman by not marrying her.

Justice Arindam Lodh on Friday rejected his bail petition, saying the accused was a powerful person.

Public Prosecutor Babul Chowdhury told reporters that the MLA is absconding.

The legislator had claimed that he was framed in the case and opposition parties were trying to malign his image.

In her complaint, the woman claimed that she was socially engaged to the IPFT MLA from Rima Valley constituency.

She said that the accused maintained an intimate relationship with her, but later refused to tie the knot.

The MLA was booked for raping and deceiving the woman.

The IPFT is an ally of the ruling BJP in the state.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
A day after his surprise inclusion in the Union cabinet, career diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar didnt raise quite as many eyebrows when he returned to the external affairs ministry on Friday as minister, ready to take on a slate that includes tricky trade issues with the US and building closer ties with China. It is widely known the former foreign secretary enjoys Prime Minister Narendra Modis confidence, and his inclusion in the Cabinet Committee on Security will add heft and strategic depth to Indias efforts to forge a robust foreign policy in the backdrop of the US-China trade war and rising protectionism.

Jaishankar, 64, is the second career diplomat to become foreign minister after Natwar Singh. His appointment means the government will have to either nominate him to the Rajya Sabha or he will have to be elected to one of the Houses of Parliament.

His elevation again sets up the troika of Modi, Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval that oversaw foreign policy during the NDA governments previous term, helping forge stronger ties with the US, end the military standoff with China at Doklam and embark on an ambitious outreach to West Asia.

Jaishankars approach fits in well with Modis pursuit of aggressive diplomacy that leverages Indias influence and stature as an emerging power. Given his stints as Indias envoy to China (2009-13) and the US (2014-15), Jaishankar is well placed to steer ties with the two major powers.

While India and the US have developed very close political and security ties, trade issues have emerged as irritants, with President Donald Trump repeatedly criticising New Delhi for what he describes as high tariffs. The suspension of benefits under the US Generalized System of Preferences programme is all but certain and US sanctions on Iranian oil imports have become a challenge.

Jaishankar played a key role in negotiating the end of the 2017 standoff with China at Doklam, but the two countries are grappling with a host of issues ranging from the border dispute to Indias trade deficit of over $50 billion. Jaishankar will also be involved in preparations for Modis second informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, expected to be held in India on October 11.

He (Jaishankar) knows the two poles of Indias foreign and strategic policy... hes been ambassador in both countries [US and China], he knows how they work, particularly the US, Neelam Deo, director of think tank Gateway House, told Reuters. China also welcomed his appointment. China is willing to work with India to implement the consensus of the leaders of the two countries and promote new progress in China-India relations, a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry read.

A senior official, who didnt want to be named, said the bigger challenge for Jaishankar would be protecting Indias strategic autonomy in decision-making at a time when world powers want the country in their corner at multilateral forums or in tackling pressing issues on the global stage such as the US-China trade war. That will be the real tricky issue for this year and Jaishankars reputation as a negotiator will be put to the test here, the official said. Jaishankar will also have to handle Indias troubled relationship with Pakistan against the backdrop of the tensions over the February 14 suicide attack at Pulwama.

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India has described as unfortunate the United States decision to terminate Indias designation as a beneficiary developing country.

India had offered resolution on significant US requests to find a mutually acceptable way forward. Unfortunate that this didnt find acceptance by US, the commerce ministry said in a statement.

Commerce Ministry issues a statement over designation of India as a beneficiary developing country being terminated by the US. "India had offered resolution on significant US requests to find a mutually acceptable way forward. Unfortunate that this didn't find acceptance by US." pic.twitter.com/sb0nejwcsp  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

The Congress described the American decision as a double whammy for India.

Withdrawal by US of the special trade status is a double whammy. India has decided to yield to the pressure of the US and stop purchasing crude oil from Iran. Now our special trade status with the US is gone, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference.

Washingtons decision is the first major challenge for new commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal who took charge of the ministry Friday afternoon.

On Friday, the US formally terminated Indias eligibility for a duty-free import scheme for developing countries. It said India has not given assurances it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets to US companies as required under relevant American trade laws.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday insisted that the Congress will continue to fight the BJP every day despite the hammering in the Lok Sabha elections.

Last time we were 44 in the Lok Sabha and we took on the BJP and now we have 52 and we will fight the BJP every day, Gandhi said at the meeting of the Congress parliamentary party.

We need to introspect in the party. We will try and rejuvenate ourselves and we can do it, he told Congress MPs at the meeting.

He also congratulated his mother Sonia Gandhi who was elected the Congress parliamentary party leader.

Congratulations to Smt Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong & effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India. pic.twitter.com/iUcdB51tHE  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 1, 2019

The Congress which won just 52 of 542 parliamentary seats this time fell short by three members to qualify it for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi had offered to resign as Congress chief on May 25 taking responsibility for the partys drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, but the Congress Working Committee rejected the offer although he has insisted that he is firm on quitting.

At Saturdays meeting of the parliamentary party, a Congress leader said there was no official talk on Rahul Gandhis continuation as party president.

Sources said that many Congress leaders told Rahul at the sidelines of the meeting that he should not step down.
A combative Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday vowed to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) every inch of the way and attempted to talk up the morale of his partys newly elected parliamentarians, saying they had emerged triumphant from a fight that had every institution of the country ranged against them.

His mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chief Sonia Gandhi, who was re-elected chief of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), told the MPs that in an unprecedented crisis lies an unprecedented opportunity, adding to the pep talk that prepared the way for the Congress to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

At the first meeting of the CPP after the April-May national elections, both leaders signalled that there would be no let-up in the fight against the BJP.

We are 52 MPs. I guarantee you that these 52 MPs will fight against BJP every single inch, Rahul Gandhi said in the first remarks he made at a party forum in the week since offering to quit.

Rahul Gandhi told the MPs that they are probably the first people in this countrys independent history, who have fought an election not against a political party but against every single institution in this country.

There is not one institution that did not fight you and tried to stop you from coming into the Lok Sabha and you fought every single one of those institutions and you forced your way into the Lok Sabha. And that is something you should be extremely proud of, Gandhi told the CPP amid applause.

You have given a tremendous service in fighting for the Constitution and now you are fighting every single institution. There is no institution that is going to support you in this country, not one is going to support you. It is like during the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress Party, yet we fought and won and we are going to do it again, he said towards the end of his speech.

They were Rahul Gandhis first remarks at a Congress forum since the Congress Working Committee meeting on May 25, when he took responsibility for the partys crushing defeat in the April-May general elections and said he wanted to step down as party president.Both the CWC and CPP meetings were closed-door events, but on Saturday, the party released a transcript of Rahul Gandhis remarks.

The Congress won 52 seats in the 2019 elections, improving its tally marginally by eight seats from 2014. The BJP won 303 seats, up from 282 in the previous election.

Sonia Gandhi was re-elected CPP president after her name was proposed by former PM Manmohan Singh and seconded by K Muraleedharan and Jyotsna Mahant.

Both Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi referred to 2014 to indicate that even with its current strength, the party is ready to fight. The Congress had taken on the BJP-led government even with those numbers, Rahul Gandhi said.

So, I am very confident that this time we have 52  we are 52 members  and I guarantee you, it does not matter what institutions are standing against these 52 members; it does not matter who is standing against these 52 members; these 52 members are going to fight the BJP every single inch...and that applies to the members from Rajya Sabha as well, Rahul Gandhi told the audience.

Sonia Gandhi urged the party MPs to not let their guard down. Even though we were only 44 members in the previous Lok Sabha, and about 55 in the Rajya Sabha, under Rahuljis leadership, the Congress party has fought bravely to expose the governments misdeeds.

We were in the forefront of ensuring that some of the UPAs historic Acts were not diluted. At the same time, we cooperated with the government on a series of reforms, with constructive suggestions. This time, too, we will support progressive and inclusive policies but oppose the government strongly whenever they undertake divisive and regressive actions, she said.

Sonia Gandhi asked the MPs to keep their finger on the pulse of the people and ensure that the issues they raise in Parliament resonate in the minds of our party workers and with the public.

Rahul Gandhi told the delegates: You are fighting for the Constitution of this country, that is who you are, you are fighting for the right of every single individual in this country regardless of the skin colour, regardless of his religion, regardless of his gender, regardless of his state.

Sonia Gandhi described the 2019 elections as one of the hardest elections of our career as the party was up against an election machinery with all odds stacked against us  unlimited resources, ability to manipulate public opinion and the spread of mischievous propaganda.

She praised Rahul Gandhi for his valiant and relentless campaign and said that as Congress president, he has given his all and toiled night and day for the Congress party.

He demonstrated his fearless leadership by taking the Modi government head on. He highlighted the injustices carried out against farmers, workers, traders and small businesses, against the youth, women and the marginalised sections of our society. He has rejuvenated the Congress organisation in many states, and most recently led us to victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, she added, Even as I speak, emotional messages are coming from all corners, vindicating his leadership.

Rahul Gandhi said he would have been happy to see some of the old faces win election, as there were 5-10 people in the last Lok Sabha who gave us tremendous support.

He added that every Congress MP will enjoy Parliament. You are going to shout a little more than usual. You are going to have to be a little more aggressive. Last time, if the Speaker used to give us five minutes, this time it may be two minutes, but in those two minutes, we will put forth what the Congress party believes, we will put forth our defence of the Constitution.

The issue of Rahul Gandhis resignation offer was not raised at the CPP meeting because it had been called to elect Sonia Gandhi as the chairperson. Had we raised the topic of Rahuljis resignation in the CPP meeting it would have been interpreted as the members not wanting Sonia Gandhi as CPP chairperson, said an MP, who declined to be named.

It was a meeting specifically called to elect a new CPP chairperson and we didnt want to deviate from that agenda, he added.

All the MPs, especially those from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, visited Sonia Gandhis 10, Janpath residence to request that Rahul Gandhi continue in the post. I heard you was his consistent reply to such appeals, according to an MP from Punjab.

Another MP, from Kerala, said pressure was building on Rahul Gandhi to reconsider his offer. If he does so, we will see a different Rahul Gandhi who will try to rebuild and restructure the party from the block level, the MP said, also on condition of anonymity. But we still dont know what he is going to do.

Rahul Gandhi will visit his Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency on June 7-8.

The Congress will not stake a claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, given that it does not have the required numbers, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, adding that it would leave the decision to the new Speaker.
In a bid to spread a humanitarian message, Bethune College in Kolkata included Humanity as an option in the Religion section of the college admission forms, an official said on Friday.

Established in 1879, the first womens college in Asia has taken a noticeable step by keeping Humanity as the first option in the Religion tab of their online application forms for the undergraduate admission process that started on May 27.

We have noticed that some youngsters dont want to disclose their religion. There were options like non-believer but we thought that humanity is something that all the religions talk about. Humanity is above every religion, Mamata Ray Chaudhuri, Principal of the college which functions under Calcutta University, told IANS.

She said it is better to have faith in humanity rather than becoming a non-believer at a young age.

The college alumni and students welcomed the step.

Being an ardent believer in humanity myself, I would really like to congratulate the college authorities for coming up with such a progressive initiative. Such a step will hopefully restore faith in mankind and help us accept the heterogeneity of views, Ananya Sasaru, a former student of the college, told IANS.
Days after its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, speculation about the merger of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with the Congress has created a buzz, even though leaders from both parties have denied the speculation, saying such a thing is not possible in the immediate future.

According to sources, the merger was to help the Congress claim the post of leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Congress, with its tally of 52 seats, is falling short of the required number of 55. With five seats won by the NCP, the merger could facilitate the claim for the post. NCP chief Sharad Pawars name was also making rounds for the post of leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, where Congress is the main Opposition party.

Pawar termed the speculation baseless and said that there were no such plans considered by leaders of both the parties.

Nawab Malik, NCP spokesperson, dismissed the talk of merger as mere rumours. State leaders from Congress too refuted any possibility of merger, but reacted cautiously. There is no reason for such rumours. These types of decisions are discussed at the highest level of leadership and are realised only after due deliberations, said Congress leader Manikrao Thakre.

Maharashtra has seen two such moves in the past. Late YB Chavan (Maharashtras first chief minister) had returned to Congress after floating a separate outfit. Pawar, who happens to be his protege, too had floated Congress (S), and had later merged it with the Congress, when Rajiv Gandhi was at the helm. If he does the same in his twilight years of his political life, it wont be surprising. There is no denying such a merger would strengthen the Congress in several parts of the state, said a top Congress leader from Maharashtra.

A senior NCP leader said Pawar is the final authority in the NCP and as a chief of an alliance partner, he can sit next to Sonia Gandhi or Rahul and discuss matters. If he merges the party, he would be one among the seniors. Is it acceptable to him?.

The merger would also not be easy because of the conflict of interests of the leaders in various regions and even at the state leadership. Political analyst Pratap Asbe said, Both the parties have their own entity, leadership and constitution. In an old party like Congress, where unanimity among leaders is rarely witnessed, such a significant decision may take months together.

Meanwhile, NCP has convened a meeting in Mumbai to review the party performance in the elections and chalk out a strategy for the Assembly polls.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that his party JD (U)s core committee did not find merit in BJPs proposal for a symbolic representation in the union cabinet and hence decided to stay out, but denied any rift in the alliance.

Speaking to reporters upon his arrival from Delhi, Kumar said his party had formed an alliance with BJP in the states interest and that participation or not in the union cabinet did not perturb them. We are with the NDA. Party workers are neither worried nor upset, he said.

Maintaining that the allies should have been provided a proportional representation, as in the case of NDA government in the state, Kumar said it was BJPs prerogative to take a decision on the issue as it had managed to get a majority on its own.

Kumar, who is the national president of his party, also ruled out JD (U)s future participation in the BJP-led union government in the future.

The CM, however, cited the Bihar government example to underline his views on the issue. When it came to forging alliances and government formation, the JD (U) ensured number of berths for each ally was clearly spelt out.We have ensured proportional participation every time, he said. Kumar also underscored the fact that his party had this time wrested eight of the seats lost by BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Apparently, the partys core committee has taken a strong view on being treated at par with allies like Shiromani Akali Dal and Lok Janshakti Party, which have two and six MPs respectively, and have been provided one cabinet berth each. We had not given any proposal for joining the ministry. JD (U) has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha and six in Rajya Sabha, Kumar said.

The JD (U)s decision to stay out of the union cabinet is being viewed as the first indication of the growing discomfort between the two allies in a changed scenario in which the BJP has a majority of its own and may try to take a shot at Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code.

The move is indicative that the JD (U) is not bound to accept all decisions of the Centre and may work for preserving its independent position and stand on contentious issues.

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Actor Rashmika Mandanna has been signed as the leading lady in Mahesh Babus 26th film Sarileru Neekevvaru, which had its official launch ceremony on Friday in Hyderabad. Mahesh Babu, who is holidaying in London with family, did not attend the launch event.

The Maharshi actor is expected to join the sets for shooting from July first week onwards. The film, which will be directed by Anil Ravipudi, is tipped be an out-and-out commercial entertainer with Mahesh to be seen in a different avatar.

To coincide with the 75th birthday of Mahesh Babus father, the makers unveiled the title poster on Friday. In the poster, next to the title one could see a rifle and an army hat. This led to speculation that Mahesh could be playing an army officer. The project, to be produced by Dil Raju and Anil Sunkara, also stars Rajendra Prasad and Jagapathi Babu among others.

Also read: Katrina Kaif tells Neha Dhupia that shes worried about Janhvi Kapoors very, very short shorts in the gym

The makers have also announced that the film will hit the screens next year during Sankranti festival. Devi Sri Prasad has been roped in to compose music. The rest of the cast and crew will be announced soon. The team hopes to go on the floors from the third or last week of June. They will complete the first schedule before Mahesh joins the sets.

Meanwhile, Maheshs latest outing Maharshi has crossed Rs 175 crore at the box-office. The film, which also stars Pooja Hegde, features Mahesh in the role of a multimillionaire who takes up farming for the sake of his best friend.

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President Donald Trump will avoid provoking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the US looks to defuse tensions following a failed summit in February, according to his administrations top nuclear envoy.

I want to emphasize the commitments we have made to the North Koreans, Stephen Biegun told the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major Asian security meeting in Singapore, on Saturday. And we have made these commitments directly and indirectly, privately and publicly -- to remain engaged, avoid provocations.

The United States is convinced that through continued negotiations, we can continue to close the gaps that separate our two countries and make further progress on all the goals that we committed to in Singapore, Biegun added.

Tensions have risen since the collapse of talks at second summit in Hanoi, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal. Kim, who conducted ballistic missile tests last month in a move seen as violating United Nations sanctions, has given Trump until the end of the year to ease sanctions choking his states moribund economy.

The U.S. said the summit fell apart when Kim asked for too much in sanctions relief and offered too little disarmament. U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said about a week ago that Biegun cant wait to talk to his North Korean counterpart, but they havent responded.

South Koreas Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Friday that North Korea executed Kim Hyok Chol, Bieguns counterpart in the talks, along with four other foreign ministry officials in March after the failed summit. Seouls presidential office suggested that reports of the envoys demise should be treated with some skepticism, and Biegun didnt comment on them on Saturday.

The Singapore summit in June 2018 resulted in a bare-bones declaration that contained four main items: Normalizing ties between the U.S. and North Korea, formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War, repatriating U.S. war remains and working toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The American photographer who shot the iconic image of a man standing in front of tanks at the 1989 Tiananmen protests says its time for the Chinese government to come clean about the bloody events.

Jeff Widener was an AP photo editor based in Bangkok when he was asked to cover a movement centred on Beijings Tiananmen Square. The day after the military crushed the protests on June 3-4, Widener took the shot of an unknown man holding shopping bags, facing a column of tanks. The photo of the tank man went on to become an iconic image.

Widener now says he doesnt understand why Chinas leaders wont admit to errors made and reveal the truth behind the crackdown.

The US and European countries have made mistakes throughout history and theyve reconciled those problems, Widener said.

The 62-year-old joined AP as Southeast Asia picture editor.

He flew to Hong Kong, where he got a tourist visa through a travel agency, and made it through customs in Beijing.

With the protests in full swing, he developed a daily routine of riding a bicycle early in the morning to Tiananmen Square.

Asked to get a shot of military forces occupying the square, Widener headed to the Beijing Hotel, which had vantage points close to the action.

There, he met an American college exchange student, Kirk Martsen, who would play a key role in the tank man tale. Martsen acted as if he and Widener were old friends, allowing him to enter the hotel.

Early on June 5, he rushed to the balcony upon hearing the sound of approaching tanks. A guy walks out with shopping bags... So I just watched him and waited. And they didnt shoot him, he said.

The man tried to block the tanks and climbed on the turret of one to converse with a crew member. Finally, he was whisked from the scene by two men in blue, whose identities, like that of the man himself, have never been known.
Donald Trump weighed into Britains domestic political turmoil by backing the pro-Brexit Boris Johnson to succeed Theresa May as prime minister, in a breach of convention on the eve of the presidents state visit to the U.K.

Trump insisted he wasnt giving a full endorsement of any one of the 12 candidates to become leader of Britains ruling Conservative party but said Johnson would be excellent and would do a very good job running the country.

I like him, Trump said in an interview with the Sun, the U.K.s best-selling newspaper, which is owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corp. I have always liked him. I dont know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person, Trump said.

The presidents intervention -- before banqueting with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace -- upends the usual diplomatic rules against commenting on allies internal political contests. It is potentially embarrassing for May for the president to be speculating in public about who will replace her just a few days before she welcomes him to London, where the pair will hold talks.

An endorsement from Trump could also cut both ways. Hes not a popular figure in the U.K. and will be met with thousands of protesters when he arrives in London. Whoever becomes Tory leader might decide not to use Trumps endorsement to win votes in a British general election campaign.

In the Sun interview, Trump also praised Johnsons rival, the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, while he was cooler on Michael Gove, another candidate for the Tory leadership who has criticized U.S. policy on Iran.

May will step down on June 7 after repeatedly failing to get Parliaments backing for the deal she negotiated to exit the European Union. The election to choose a successor as Tory party leader is due to begin formally on June 10.

Trump created a stir last July when he said Johnson would make a great prime minister, shortly after the former London mayor quit as foreign secretary in protest against Mays proposed Brexit deal.

In his interview in Saturdays edition of the British tabloid, the president said that while he liked Johnson -- and the fact he has been very positive about me -- his words shouldnt be construed as a full endorsement.

Other people have asked me for an endorsement, too, Trump said. He added that he believed his backing would help anybody, and that he also was a fan of Hunt and his plan to increase defense spending. Trump said he hadnt been approached by Gove, the environment secretary, who is also seeking to lead the Tories and has been critical of U.S. policy on Iran.

Trumps team are keen for the U.K. to have a clean break with EU trade rules and establish a sweeping free trade deal with the U.S. That fits with Johnsons vision for Brexit.

Leadership hopeful and Home Secretary Sajid Javid joined rivals including Johnson in backing a departure from the EU without any deal at all, if Parliament hasnt backed one by Oct. 31, the latest deadline, the Conservative-leaning Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday, citing allies of Javids.

At the last asking, a majority of lawmakers didnt support a no-deal Brexit, even if they couldnt rally behind Mays compromise either. Bridging that gap will be the next leaders central challenge.

When he arrives on Monday, the U.S. President is expected to meet with the Queen at Buckingham Palace as well as Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. Yet the forthcoming royal reception didnt stop the president from criticizing Harrys wife, Meghan, for calling him misogynistic and divisive during the 2016 presidential campaign.

What can I say? I didnt know that she was nasty, Trump said in the interview with the Sun, adding that she will be very good as a member of the royal family and that he hoped she succeeded in the role.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the newly formed Brexit Party, told the U.K.s Daily Express newspaper that Mays office had banned him from meeting Trump. The two share an anti-globalist stance, a populist turn of phrase and recent electoral success, and have championed each other. The Brexit Party was the U.K.s strongest party in the recent European Parliament elections.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte kissed five Filipino women on stage during a speech here, in front of his longtime partner, and said that beautiful women helped him get cured from being gay.

The 74-year-old leader was meeting the Filipino community in Japan on Thursday when he asked for women volunteers sitting near to the stage to kiss him to end the event.

The first woman giddily hesitated whether to kiss Duterte on the lips or on the cheek, and opted for the latter. She then left the stage immediately, CNN Philippines reported.

The second woman appeared overwhelmed and close to tears at the opportunity, introducing herself as someone from Davao. She thanked the leader after the brief kiss on the cheek.

Duterte pointed to the third woman, who went on stage after she was called. After the kiss, they took a photo together, with Duterte holding her hand, the report said.

The fourth and the fifth women also did the same while the press took photos.

During his speech, Duterte said that beautiful women helped him get cured from being gay, afterwards slamming his critic Senator Antonio Trillanes for allegedly being a homosexual.

He sparked a controversy in June 2018 when he kissed a married overseas Filipino worker in Seoul during a meeting with the Filipino community there.

Duterte was on a four-day visit to Japan that ended on Friday.
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The global multi-parameter patient monitoring market is projected to register a CAGR of 5% over 2019-2024, driven mainly by rapid growth of the aging population across the world that is directly contributing to the growth of these devices.Additionally, rising awareness about healthcare and increasing concern for the constant monitoring of health parameters of patients, pre-and post-surgery are also aiding the market growth. These are the latest findings of Research and Markets, (Dublin, Ireland), a global market research company.Declining mortality and fertility has resulted in a comparative decline in the proportion of children and an increase in the working as well as elderly population. Aged patients who are unable to reach out to hospitals are propelling the demand for multi-parameter patient monitoring devices and services.As a result, the market for remote patient monitoring, wireless devices and homecare healthcare services provided with the help of connectivity, such as Wi-Fi and cloud, is growing rapidly. The rising incidence of chronic diseases due to lifestyle changes, need to contain healthcare expenditure, demand for home-based monitoring devices, and ease of use and portability of devices are also driving the growth of the multi-parameter patient monitoring market.Based on type, the portable monitors segment is expected to dominate the global multi-parameter patient monitoring market during the forecast period, led by the growth in home healthcare, ease of monitoring post-surgical recovery patients, rising ambulatory care facilities, and increasing adoption of remote patient monitoring. Additionally, intensifying competition among the major market players due to growing technological advancements is expected to help the portable monitors segment maintain its dominance during the forecast period.Geographically, North America dominated the global multi-parameter patient monitoring market in 2017, with the US holding the largest share in the region due to the high quality of healthcare system and modern medical technology in the country. The North American multi-parameter patient monitoring market is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period, aided by the presence of a high percentage of elderly population in the region.
Appointment

1 June 2019

Hyatt today announced that Hyatt has selected Jim Tierney to serve as senior vice president of development and owner relations for the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands in North America, effective immediately. Tierney will report to Pete Sears, Group President, Americas for Hyatt.

"Jim has the leadership skills and requisite experience to continue the fantastic growth that our developers and owners have created with the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands," said Sears. "The Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands have their largest footprint in North America, and as they continue to grow around the world, it was clear we needed someone fully focused on the franchise and managed growth of these brands. With his extensive knowledge of the select service and extended stay products, as well as his broad range of owner and industry relationships, we're excited to have Jim lead this charge. He is a talented leader with outstanding instincts and a track record for driving brand development, and I am confident Jim's skills and expertise will raise the bar as Hyatt continues to rapidly grow the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands."

Most recently, Tierney served as Hyatt's vice president of development and owner relations where he led a team responsible for the development and growth of the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands on the Eastern half of the United States. Tierney has personally been responsible for more than 25 executed franchise and management agreements, including Hyatt Place New York City/Times Square, Hyatt Place New York City/Chelsea, Hyatt House Washington D.C./The Wharf, and Hyatt House Virginia Beach/Oceanfront. Prior to joining Hyatt in 2014, Tierney served as Director of Development for Cambria Suites at Choice Hotels International.
Event

The Cornell Hospitality Icon and Innovator Awards is the largest annual event for the School of Hotel Administration, attended each year by hundreds of influential leaders in the global hospitality and travel industries. The event is also a key fundraiser for SHA's annual fund, which provides critical need-based scholarships for students.

Cornell Hospitality Icon and Innovator Awards is organized by
External Article

1 June 2019

For your next travel adventure, why stay in a regular hotel when you can stay in a famous jail? Or a train station?

There's a new flock of hotels, in the U.S. and abroad, that are part of the adaptive re-use movement, where existing buildings are recycled and refurbished into something new. Here are some examples of adapted hotels, identified by room booking app HotelTonight.

Consider The Liberty in Boston, for example. A large city jail completed in 1851, the jail housed criminals for over 100 years until inmates revolted in protest over poor living conditions. The last inmates were moved out of the jail during Memorial Day 1990.
Press Release

1 June 2019

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), in partnership with the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA), will be providing a platform for the region to address some of the most pressing issues facing Caribbean tourism at the region's premier conference on sustainable tourism development in August.

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In what will be the first international tourism conference hosted in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), the 2019 Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, otherwise known as the Sustainable Tourism Conference (#STC2019) is slated for 27-29 August at the Beachcombers Hotel in St. Vincent.

Under the theme "Keeping the Right Balance: Tourism Development in an Era of Diversification," industry experts will address the urgent need for a transformational, disruptive, and regenerative tourism product to meet the ever-rising challenges.

"Caribbean economies are facing tremendous pressure to respond to changes that are impacting the business of tourism and innovations are required to address urgent matters such as climate risk, waste reduction, community involvement and the so-called internet of things," says Amanda Charles, the CTO's sustainable tourism development specialist. "STC 2019 will be pivotal in bringing to the fore such issues that impact on the future sustainability and growth of Caribbean tourism."

St Vincent and the Grenadines will host STC amidst an intensified national thrust towards a greener, more climate resilient country, including the construction of a geothermal plant on St. Vincent to complement the country's hydro and solar energy capacity and the restoration of the Ashton Lagoon in Union Island.

CEO of the SVGTA Glen Beache notes the importance of hosting the conference at a time when the United Nations is painting a grim picture of the earth's natural life support systems, including its ocean life and natural ecosystems.

"The need for Caribbean destinations to find development models that lean heavily towards destination sustainability is essential and so we must pay careful attention to the way we plan, manage and market our destinations' tourism development," Beache said. "St. Vincent and the Grenadines is pleased to be hosting STC 2019, at a time when we are seeking to maintain the balance and maintain SVG's reputation as an unspoilt destination."

A primary concern and priority for the Caribbean is enforcing greater preparedness and resilience to climate change. Of equal importance are the changes in consumer consciousness which require the region's tourism sector to be more astute as it relates to tourism planning and the management of resources.

Regional benchmarks and best practices in community-based tourism, financial technologies for medium, small and micro enterprises, business innovation and destination competitiveness will be in focus during the two days of discussion. Participants will also experience a full day of study tours to immerse themselves in local communities.

Speakers will address ways the region can respond to challenges and opportunities presented by increasing competition, shifts in consumer demands and purchasing preferences driven by social media and networking platforms, the sharing economy, and financial technologies.

The experts will explore how this can be done in a way that enhances local livelihoods through the creation of new, varied, and innovative tourism experiences using the natural and man-made assets of Caribbean society.

The Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development is part of the information dissemination and regional awareness component of CTO's strategy for sustainable tourism. It looks at how member states can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and programmes, offering a regional forum for information exchange on the successes and pitfalls of national, regional and international initiatives.
Three hotel company portfolios exceed 500,000 rooms in North America, according to census data from STR.

Three hotel company portfolios exceed 500,000 rooms in North America, according to census data from STR. As part of the STR 500, the company will release a combined list of more than 100 of the continents largest companies and brands during next weeks NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference in New York City.

Marriott International (886,308 hotel rooms), Hilton (703,238) and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (546,716) reported the largest room counts between the U.S., Canada and Mexico as of 28 May 2019. Using those same three countries and cutoff date, two brands showed more than 200,000 rooms in their existing supply: Hampton by Hilton (227,581) and Holiday Inn Express by IHG (203,792).

Those top three parent companies represent 34% of the almost 6.3 million rooms in North America, and just under 69% of the total inventory across the continent flies a brand flag, said Vail Ross, STRs SVP of global business development & marketing. Brands have been a favorite of lenders for the better part of the last three decades, and North America was the starting point for the brand proliferation that has occurred around the globe. With most of the development pipeline focused in the branded segments, especially in limited-service chains, brand presence is only going to grow. The concern of course will be on how much new inventory these industry segments can absorb without a negative impact on supplythe limited-service sectors in the U.S. are a good example of this right now.

Top 10 (ranked by room count in the North America)

Parent Company Parent Company Rooms Brand Brand Rooms Marriott International 886,308 Hampton by Hilton 227,581 Hilton 703,238 Holiday Inn Express by IHG 203,792 Wyndham Hotels & Resorts 546,716 Courtyard by Marriott 147,462 Choice Hotels International 482,743 Marriott 135,441 InterContinental Hotels Group 463,111 Quality Inn 134,796 Best Western International 185,609 Holiday Inn by IHG 119,698 Hyatt Hotels Corporation 139,391 Days Inn by Wyndham 117,789 G6 Hospitality 120,239 Hilton 111,591 RLH Corporation 80,544 Motel 6 107,634 Extended Stay America Hotels 69,318 Super 8 by Wyndham 103,075

Source: STR 500

Ross will be one of two STR executives to present at NYU on 3 June. During Statistically speaking at 11:05 a.m., President and CEO Amanda Hite will reveal STRs revised U.S. hotel forecast. At 12:00 p.m., Ross will be one of five panelists featured during Knowing the customer and the supremacy of data.

STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com.

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Donald Trump easily finds himself at odds with the public due to his offshore comments. The current US president holds a particular reputation when it comes to his treatment of women and him criticizing a specific woman caused him some trouble. Prior to embarking on a trip to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France, the 45th president sat down for an interview with the British newspaper, The Sun. Herein, the leader of the free world decided to call the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, former Suits actress, and wife to Prince Harry, "nasty." The insult resulted when a reporter discussed Markle's reluctance to meet with Trump. The Duchess previously called the president a "misogynist."

Trump responded to the reporter's comments by stating: "I didn't know that she was nasty." He must have realized what he said afterward because he attempted to backtrack by stating: "I am sure she will go excellently [as a royal]. She will be very good." Either way, social media was not happy with his comments and the latter enticed a Trump bash session. Folks brought up Trump's history of making inappropriate comments about women and defended Meghan Markle fully.

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[Via]
Time has passed and the Jussie Smollett hoax is slowly but surely being forgotten. That was until a judge ordered for the entire police investigation surrounding the ordeal to be made public. The 400-page internal documents were revealed to the public and raised a series of questions with regards to the authorities involved in the Jussie Smollett case. And now, amidst the numerous pages, was found a series of witness testimonies which appear to match the Empire actor's initial claims of violence at the hands of white supremacists.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtNZ1TIBL3-



According to the many files released by the Chicago Police, at least two eyewitnesses confirmed they saw men who perfectly fit Smollett's descriptions of his attackers. Apparently, the men were seen loitering near the scene prior to the incident based on documents obtained by BOSSIP. Even a hotel security guard shared with the authorities that three men dressed in dark clothing, which included a white male sporting a face mask, near the scene of the alleged attack. Moreover, the witness stated the white male appeared to be waiting for someone with what appeared to be slightly wet clothes.

This new evidence only makes us question what really went down that night.

[Via]
Ever since Meek Mill's release from prison, he's been working towards bringing reform to the justice system. As you know, he's been on probation for the better part of his adult life because of Judge Genece Brinkley. Along with Van Jones, Michael Rubin, Jay-Z and Robert Kraft, they've been working towards bringing change for probation and parole laws. Today, REFORM Alliance teamed up with bipartisan bill sponsors Rep. Jordan Harris and Rep. Sheryl Delozier to introduce the Smart Probation and Parole act to the legislature for consideration.



Moses Robinson/Getty Images

REFORM has introduced their first major legislative action towards probation and parole reform. The Smart Probation and Parole Act is meant to:

Incentivize good behavior and rehabilitation for people on probation and parole. Reverse damaging measures that led to Pennsylvania having the third highest percentage of its citizens on probation and parole in America.

The current component of the Smart Probation and Parole act includes.

Setting standards for probation term lengths according to the crime (2 years for misdemeanors, 5 years for felonies)

Standardizing good time credits in exchange for certified rehabilitative programming, i.e. GED courses and vocational training

Minimizing the types of technical violations for which an individual can be re-incarcerated

Increasing due process and effective communication when someone is suspected of a technical violation

Retroactive application for all components

Ive been on probation in Pennsylvania my entire adult life, for over a decade. Every aspect of my life is restricted," Meek said. "We need to pass HB1555 and make sure individuals in Pennsylvania never experience confining and oppressive barriers that make it nearly impossible to re-enter society, travel to a job or even provide for their families.
An exotic dancer from South Florida has been charged for killing three teenagers during a DUI crash in Miami, the Miami Herald+ reports. Police said that Mariam Coulibaly was driving with a suspended license when she drove at high speed into a sidewalk where she ended up killing three teenagers. She suffered a shattered hip among other injuries, sending her to Aventura hospital.

"Im very much depressed about everything going on, she said. I came from a blackout. When I woke up I didnt even know that I hurt people.

Toxicology reports revealed that she was driving under the influence. Police have been watching her during her hospitalization and will arrest her when she's discharged.

Coulibaly has a lengthy history with reckless driving. Since 2008, she's racked up 42 traffic infractions. At least seven of those stem from previous car crashes.

Following the crash that killed the three teenagers, the Miami police department refused to identify Coulibaly as the driver. Many outlets already revealed her identity but the department has continued to stay silent.

The world knows the names of these three boys that were killed, said Brett Rosen, the lawyer representing the three teenagers who were killed int he accident. But for some reason, were protecting the name of the murderer? That doesnt make any sense.

We'll keep you posted on updates about this story.
The woman whose arrest prompted T.I. to call for a boycott of Houston's restaurant in Georgia will not face charges. In 2018, a video surfaced of Brittany Marie Lucio being detained outside Houston's by the restaurant's security guard who just happened to be an off-duty police officer. The woman's friend recorded the incident and later shared images of Lucio's injuries that showed bruises and a black eye.

T.I. took to Instagram at the time to write, "Okay, so I've heard four different stories from four different sources about discrimination against us at two separate Houstons Steakhouse locations in my city...Tomorrow we get answers." Later, a crowd convened outside of a Houston's and protested while Lucio faced charges of criminal trespassing and willful obstruction. According to reports, Lucio was told that she couldn't use the restaurant's restroom but went inside anyway and was confronted by the security guard.

The guard, however, said that when he attempted to remove Lucio from the restroom, she became uncontrollable. He reportedly grabbed her by the wrist and she yelled for him not to touch her. He ushered her outside where things escalated.

TMZ now states that because Lucio has completed a pretrial intervention program that included classes about civics and citizen's rights, she's off the hook. Lucio and her friends said that their skin color was a factor in the altercation and she's hired an attorney, Gerald Griggs, who says that they plan to sue the company. "Ms. Lucios name has been cleared and she looks forward to pursuing a civil action against law enforcement for the damage and injuries she sustained," Griggs told TMZ. "She would like to thank all of her supporters in this matter including [T.I.] and others that stood up for her."
A Houston-based tech startup focused on artificial intelligence in the oil and gas industry is planning to expand its operations and go on a hiring spree after closing a $15 million Series B funding round.

Tachyus, which was founded in Silicon Valley but has since relocated most of its just 18-person team to Houston, closed the Series B round of funding last week, led by Cottonwood Venture Partners, a growth equity firm that partners with technology companies providing digital solutions for the energy industry.

Founded in 2014 by a former Microsoft developer Paul Orland, Tachyus has offices in the Galleria area and maintains some presence in Silicon Valley. It serves customers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Argentina, Norway and Thailand.

ROBOTS: Phillips 66s autonomous robot completes first diesel tank inspection

Weve been growing aggressively in last year, said Garrett Leahy, the companys vice president for North America. We need to grow our operational footprint to be able support that global client base.

Tachyus software products allow geoscientists and reservoir engineers to interpret the deluge of data collected from sensors and monitors in the oilfield at a fraction of the time it would normally take.

Leahy said engineers typically have two options for determining the future production rates and structure of an oil reserve: using mathematical computations to make predictions, which lacks certainty, or using more expensive and advanced 3D modeling that is more accurate but takes months to produce results.

More A-I: Backed by Big Oil, tech startup Maana launches partnership with Microsoft

Tachyus platform lies in the middle of those solutions, he said, allowing engineers to improve the accuracy of their predictions in less time. Its software products combine machine learning and artificial intelligence with the physics of how oil, water and injected fluids flow in the subsurface. It builds a predicative model of an oil reservoir, and optimizes the production plan based on the model to achieve a business goal.

The software also allows engineers to quickly predict mechanical equipment failure, relationships between completion design and initial production and how the reservoir will respond to the injection of water, steam and other substances used in oil production.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Big Tech aims for a piece of Big Oil

Tachyus customers range from small independent oil and gas companies, to state-owned oil companies and a large super major oil company.

The company will use the Series B funding to further develop its software based on feedback received from its customers, Leahy said.

The core of the engine everyone is excited about  this Series B funding is going to allow us to mature the platform, which is going to help us better fit into the market, he said.

The company can also expand its footprint and plans to increase its staff anywhere from 50 percent to more than doubling in the next year or so, he said. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. acted as exclusive financial adviser to Tachyus in closing the funding round.

FUEL FIX: Get energy news to your inbox daily

Leahy said the technologies that Tachyus and other artificial intelligence platforms provide frees up time for reservoir engineers to focus on solving bigger complex problems they could not tackle before.

Leveraging the strength of machine learning and AI are really expanding the scope of technical problems oil and gas operators can attack, Leahy said.

marissa.luck@chron.com

twitter.com/marissaluck7
MISSION MOON: Nearly 50 years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. Our special Apollo 50 anniversary coverage explores how the country came together to fulfill President John F. Kennedys goal of reaching the lunar surface by 1970, NASA's bold missions - and crippling tragedies - since that historic day, and the future of space exploration and Houston as America's "Space City.

***

With the thrilling maiden voyage of the Saturn V rocket now in the books, NASA was back to thinking about a sore subject -- the final piece of the lunar puzzle.

Both the big rocket and the expanded, more complex crew module had presented myriad challenges. But the trickiest task -- and ultimately the most crucial -- was building a new sort of contraption that could take a pair of astronauts to the lunar surface and later lift off, leaving its bottom half behind. At that point it would rendezvous with the orbiting portion of the spacecraft for the trip home.

It wasn't hard to imagine the descent going haywire and scattering parts and bodies across the lunar dust. Or just as bad, the ascent engine failing to fire and leaving the astronauts stranded, offering grim farewells from their techno-tomb just before their air ran out.

In the Hollywood version of a moon mission, a much simpler rocket ship -- think B-movie fat cigar -- would simply blast off, head straight to the moon, then slow down at the last second for a routine landing. In reality, a "direct ascent" method would have required a supersized multi-stage rocket, far more capable than the Saturn V, to send a complete Apollo craft on its way. Only a small section that controlled the descent would have been left on the moon.

Early on NASA seriously considered this approach. Many believed it could work -- eventually. But time was the most serious of all the obstacles. Had Apollo continued down that path, space historians later concluded, the 1969 deadline probably would not have been met.

Instead, agency officials signed off on a lunar orbital rendezvous, an idea first advocated by a lone engineer who saw its potential for saving a lot of weight and development time. The concept was sound, with three basic elements, but certainly not easy. The third element, the lander, was an engineering nightmare.

As large as the Saturn V was, the smaller 21-foot diameter of its third stage -- right below the location of the lander -- made for a tight fit, even tighter near the top where the lander's protective sheath tapered. And every pound was crucial.

About Apollo 5 - Launched in January 1968, nearly nine months after its originally scheduled date. - Mission objectives were to test the lunar module in a space environment, in particular its descent and ascent engine systems, and its ability to separate the ascent and descent stages. - The mission also performed a simulation of a landing abort, in which the ascent stage engine would be fired while still attached to the descent stage. This, referred to by engineers as the "fire in the hole" test, was depicted in the mission's insignia patch. - The launch vehicle for Apollo 5 was the Saturn IB, a smaller rocket than the Saturn V, but one that was capable of launching an Apollo spacecraft into Earth orbit. - About a month before the launch, the windows on the lunar module were replaced with solid aluminum plates after a series of problems during testing. See More Collapse

Each step of the lander's creation demanded compromise. The astronauts would have to stand except when sleeping (when hammocks were used). The walls of the craft were paper thin. The spindly legs had to be kept folded for most of the flight. There was only enough air for 48 hours. And it was cramped: the usable space was less than that of two porta-potties.

The engines had to be very small yet robust enough to abort a landing attempt in an emergency. The frame had to be extremely lightweight yet sturdy enough to withstand the shock of impact. And the all-important guidance system could not be so demanding that a standing, swaying pilot would have difficulty controlling the craft.

Construction of the lander was repeatedly delayed. Tests went badly. Parts failed. The engines burned inconsistently. Windows shattered and had to be redesigned. Even the simulator that astronauts used to practice landings was troublesome: three of the five built crashed.

For all that, Apollo 5 was ready to go in January 1968, nine months behind schedule. The mission was the first for Chief Flight Director Gene Kranz. And he as much as anyone understood its importance. If the lander didn't work, the entire project and its deadline were in jeopardy.

Kranz recalled spending hundreds of hours studying the spacecraft so that he could figure out ways to accomplish the mission if something went wrong. In the worst-case scenario, he might have only a few seconds to make a decision.

The flight lifted off as dusk settled over the Florida coast on Jan. 22. The Saturn IB rocket -- the more powerful Saturn V configuration wasn't necessary for this mission -- performed perfectly and placed the lunar vehicle in the nominal low-Earth orbit. But from that point on, nothing went as planned.

A suspected fuel leak and related computer programming glitch led to an unintended quick shutdown of the first engine burn. Plans called for descent engines to burn for a specified time, stop, then restart. When those engines shut down for the final time, the ascent engine had to immediately kick in to simulate an aborted landing -- the so-called fire-in-the-hole test. If that test failed, the spacecraft would not move to a higher orbit and would fall prematurely into the ocean.

Kranz and his team quickly came up with on-the-fly changes requiring manual instructions from Mission Control, and they could only be relayed for that short period while the lunar lander was passing over the United States. There would be only one chance to get it done. Making matters worse was an iffy communications link.

We had to get the engine testing and the fire-in-the-hole objective completed in the next orbit or the mission was a failure," Kranz recalled in his autobiography. The fact that the schedule for the lunar landing was now hanging in the balance never entered our minds. Time no longer had a meaning; we were locked into orbits, elapsed time, targets, and command sequences."

The satellite link held and each engine burn went off as planned as the commands were transmitted. The controllers held their breath as the descent engines were about to shut off for the last time. Then came the report from one of the controllers.

Abort stage ... we are stable."

Bingo.

You could feel the collective sigh of relief that we had not splashed into the Atlantic," Kranz wrote. The lunar module had showed the resilience, the flexibility, the margin we would need to go to the moon. We had dodged bullets before, but this time we caught one in midair and spit it out."

The much accursed lunar lander, for all its problems and issues, had done its job. Now it was time to put all the pieces together for one last dress rehearsal.
Although flooding continues to happen around the city and some residents remember Hurricane Harvey like it was yesterday, according to the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston is well past its initial recovery period for the large storm.

During the latest Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce general membership luncheon, Patrick Jankowski, senior vice president of research for GHP, gave a presentation on the progression and history of the Houston economy. Jankowski said Houston, in general, is doing well economically despite Hurricane Harvey, and is on its way to more improvement.

According to the presentation given by Jankowski, Houston payroll enrollment has been steadily increasing since the months following Harvey, reaching peak payroll employment in the fall of 2018 at 130,000 jobs according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

Harvey did have an impact on the economy in September, October and November of 2017 but after that weve pretty much recovered, Jankowski said.

Home sales also increased from approximately 90,000 homes sold in 2017 to nearly 100,000 predicted for 2019 according to the Houston Association of Realtors. Jankowski said large purchases and an increase in employment are signs of confidence in an area and its economy due to the long-term commitment associated with them.

Vehicle sales are picking up, thats another indicator of consumer confidence, he said. Most rational consumers will not go out and sign a four-year or five-year note on a vehicle if they think theyre going to lose their job.

Diversity of economic enterprises was also a strong point of the Houston economy, Jankowski said, specifically the energy industry and trading. Exports out of Houston have increased significantly from lower than $100 billion in customs exports in December 2016 to approximately $140 billion according to WISERTrade.

It goes to show that there are a lot of other sections out here that grow even when oil and gas isnt, he said. Thats another way to look at diversification. Oil and gas is still important but were able to grow other sections of the economy.

Kelly Violette, executive director of the Tomball Economic Development Corporation, said the Tomball business community was not significantly impacted by Harvey.

However, the downturn in the economy, particularly the energy sector, did negatively impact our businesses, she said. There were layoffs due to loss of contracts and work volume, however it appears that most of the companies have recovered and have even moved forward with expansion projects.

Violette said the overall Tomball economy is experiencing positive growth.

I think the Houston economy is doing very well, with significant investments in the Port region and announcements in refinery expansions, there are very positive signs of recovery, she said. Tomball has seen an uptick in business relocations and expansions, which is a stark contrast to 2016-2017.

chevall.pryce@chron.com
The first thing white people did after Nat Turner's violent slave insurrection in 1831 was round up more than 120 black people and kill them.

But the next thing white people did was surprising.

Hundreds of them sent petitions to the Virginia General Assembly calling for an end to slavery.

Richmond's newspapers argued fiercely in favor of abolition. Thomas Jefferson's grandson pushed a plan to free slaves and help them settle in the new African nation of Liberia. Even a leader of the militia that put down Turner's rebellion called for a gradual end to slavery.

In other words, the insurrection almost worked. More than 50 white men, women and children had died in the bloodiest slave revolt on U.S. soil. It forced Virginians to confront the evil that was at the root of their society, and it just plain scared a lot of people. Thanks to public pressure, the General Assembly considered taking radical action.

But the votes fell short. Instead, lawmakers passed harsher laws that made African Americans' lives even worse. And they aggravated divisions that erupted, 30 years later, in the Civil War.

"It's like one of the saddest moments in American history," historian Erik S. Root said, "because of the missed opportunity."

This year, Virginia marks the origins of slavery in the English colonies. The first captured Africans arrived at Virginia's Point Comfort in August, 1619. Though few remember them now, the debates prompted by Turner's insurrection were "the most public, focused, and sustained discussion of slavery and emancipation that ever occurred in...any...southern state," historian Eva Sheppard Wolf wrote.

The process laid bare how deeply conflicted white Southerners were about the topic. There were slave owners who favored abolition and abolitionists who just wanted to get rid of black people. Petitions poured out from every corner of the state -- about 40, signed by more than 2,000 people.

In Charles City County, between Williamsburg and Richmond, a group of Quakers sent an eloquent plea for Virginia to remember the ideals that sparked the Revolution.

Slavery was "a system repugnant to the laws of God, and subversive of the rights, and destructive of the happiness of man," the Quakers wrote. "We, therefore, solemnly believe that some efficient system for the abolition of slavery in the Commonwealth and restoration of the African race to the inalienable rights of man is imperiously demanded by the laws of God, and inseparably connected with the best interests of the Commonwealth at large."

In Loudoun County, a group of women wrote that they were now afraid for their safety, with so many slaves around who might mean them harm. They called for a gradual end to slavery, but also the removal of all blacks from Virginia, free and enslaved. A group in Buckingham County wanted an end to slavery out of fear that blacks would soon outnumber whites.

About 30 of the petitions aimed to get all people of color out of Virginia, Root found as he researched his dissertation on the subject. But not all of them wanted to end slavery; several called for purging the state only of free blacks so that enslaved workers wouldn't be influenced by them. Root found most of the petitions in contemporary newspaper coverage and compiled them in a book called "Sons of the Fathers."

The sentiments were so strong and so numerous that the General Assembly appointed a select committee to consider them. Pro-slavery legislators fought to keep the committee from taking up the issue of abolition, and tried to stop the Quaker petition, in particular, from getting a hearing.

But the House of Delegates voted 93-27 to refer the Quaker petition to the committee. And so for two weeks in January 1832, the Virginia legislature toyed with the idea of abolishing slavery and emancipating people of African descent.

Thomas Jefferson Randolph, a delegate from Albemarle County, invoked his famous grandfather in calling for a plan to resettle freed slaves in Liberia. President Jefferson, of course, had been shamefully contradictory on the subject. His first act as a young Virginia delegate had been to seek an end to slavery, but he later wrote in his "Notes on the State of Virginia" that blacks were an inferior race. Jefferson also wrote that blacks had been degraded by their treatment by whites, and while he maintained in letters that slavery was wrong, he deferred action to future generations.

Randolph proposed letting the people of Virginia (well, the white males) vote on whether to consider abolition. His plan called for a gradual emancipation; the first slaves wouldn't go free until 1858. But as Wolf noted in her book "Race and Liberty in the New Nation," the emancipation would begin on July 4, a proposal that "unmistakably recalled Virginians' attachment to the ideal of universal liberty and the glowing words of Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence."

One Jeffersonian sentiment that carried power during the 1832 debates was the idea that bondage corrupted master and slave alike. Many of the calls to end slavery argued that it had weakened the work ethic among whites and that it hamstrung Virginia's economy.

William Brodnax, a delegate from Dinwiddie County who led the militia that put down Turner's rebellion, owned more than 100 slaves but argued to the Assembly that the institution had caused "the decay of our prosperity, and the retrograde movement of this once flourishing Commonwealth."

Brodnax submitted a detailed plan for abolition and resettlement. He would have charged a tax of 30 cents per white person and used the proceeds to relocate 6,000 free and formerly enslaved black people from Virginia every year. He calculated that "in less than 80 years there would not be left a single slave or free negro in all Virginia."

As racist as the Randolph and Brodnax plans were, they were benign compared to the rhetoric that flowed from the other side. The Revolutionary ideals of freedom and equality that flowered in Virginia had become twisted and gnarled.

William Roane, a delegate from Hanover County and the grandson of Patrick Henry, argued that slavery was an inescapable fact of human society. "I think slavery [is] as much a correllative of liberty as cold is of heat," he said. Or if that's not stark enough for you: "The torch of liberty has ever burnt brightest when surrounded by the dark and filthy, yet nutritious atmosphere of slavery."

Root, the historian, said that kind of sentiment was what drew him to study the Virginia debates. "I was looking at the drift from the American founders, the drift from the Declaration," he said. "And in Virginia in this one moment you had a prime chance to do something that may have staved off the Civil War."

But this was not the founding generation of Virginia leaders. Slave owners from Tidewater held most of the power in the legislature. West of the Blue Ridge mountains, whites were much more indifferent toward or even opposed to slavery - leading to the eventual separation of West Virginia during the Civil War.

Instead of rising to the founding principles of freedom for all, Virginia's lawmakers stooped to a new idea of slavery as a positive good. Thomas Dew, who at the time was a professor at the College of William and Mary, wrote an essay called "Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature" arguing that blacks and whites could never live together, that slavery was just part of human existence and that everyone was better off because of it.

Over the next 30 years, his essay became a major underpinning of the case for secession.

Ultimately, the General Assembly passed a resolution that was impotent with compromise. While it acknowledged "the great evils arising from the condition of the coloured population of this commonwealth," it concluded that it was "inexpedient for the present, to make any legislative enactments for the abolition of slavery."

Having come so close and failed, the legislature followed up by passing a slate of harsh restrictions on people of color, free and enslaved. They cracked down, for example, against preaching, gathering to worship and learning to read.

The outcome managed to "put Revolutionary-era dreams of a free Virginia firmly in the past," Wolf wrote.

With that passing, of course, the way was cleared for Virginia's role as the capital of the Confederacy.

In Southampton County, where Nat Turner carried out his rebellion, generations of residents have struggled with how to regard the bloody chapter of their history. Rick Francis, who is white and who lost several ancestors to Turner's men, said it's important to remember the impact of the rebellion. That gives him a sense of pride mixed with tragedy.

"Insurrection got it close, got it tight, but nobody could carry it across the finish line and end slavery," Francis said. "We became in tune with the hardcore slave states from that point on. And we lost our opportunity to end slavery. But the insurrection got us to a point closer than we'd ever been before."
WASHINGTON - House Democrats agree that special counsel Robert Mueller has a duty to testify publicly about the findings in his report, despite his clear reluctance to do so.

But how far they are willing to go to force him into the witness chair remains to be seen.

In the wake of Mueller's only public statement about the investigation he led into Russian interference, party leaders are now grappling with whether to engage in another potentially drawn-out fight for his appearance at a time when they are fighting the Trump administration on multiple fronts.

At stake is the singular testimony of a man who remained silent throughout his 22-month investigation, someone who Democrats say can uniquely draw attention to the president's efforts to undercut the investigation.

So far, after two months of negotiations over a possible appearance before Congress, his staff and Hill investigators are at an impasse. On Wednesday, Mueller made his preference clear, saying: "I hope and expect this to be the only time that I will speak to you in this manner."

While some senior Democrats have considered the idea of subpoenaing Mueller, lawmakers also are reluctant to issue a compulsory measure that could make them look overly aggressive toward a nonpartisan figure - or make Mueller look as if he's done something wrong.

Still, the prospect of just letting Mueller step away from his post without answering a single question is viewed as untenable by many Democratic lawmakers.

"I'm not surprised that he wants this to be the end of it because it's been a tiring road for him, I'm sure - emotionally draining," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who insists Mueller must testify. "But the issue at stake here is one of really transcendent importance in terms of our elections being undermined and/or our president having committed obstruction of justice."

Hoyer said that a subpoena may be just what Mueller needs so he can argue that his back is to the wall: "From my perspective, a subpoena is nothing adversarial."

Democrats say Mueller has an obligation to Americans to answer questions about Russia's interference in the U.S. election and the 10 potential episodes of obstruction of justice he laid out in his report.

The public overwhelmingly wants Mueller to testify. A CBS poll released May 22, a week before his public statement, found that nearly three-quarter of Americans - including 56% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats - believe he should answer questions before Congress.

After Mueller's nine-minute news conference dominated news coverage Wednesday, many Democrats are more certain now than ever that his appearance before Congress would, at minimum, put renewed focus on his findings.

"We will have Mr. Mueller's testimony," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., in an interview with WNYC radio Friday. "I think it's very important that he testify before the American people even if he doesn't say anything beyond what was said there, because the attorney general and the president and others are lying all the time about what was in the report. And it's very important that he, to a television audience and to the American people, state it, that he answer questions about it - even if there is no new information."

The decision appears to be up to the former special counsel, who is no longer a Justice Department employee. Attorney General William Barr has said repeatedly he would not stop Mueller from testifying.

In early May, the White House asserted executive privilege over the full, unredacted version of Mueller's report and underlying materials. But Mueller said publicly this week if he were compelled to testify, he would not discuss anything beyond the contents of the report that has been publicly released.

His apparent antipathy to addressing lawmakers has created a conundrum for House Democrats, who had hoped Mueller would be the one bright spot in an otherwise stormy and frustrating battle with the White House over oversight, given his status as special counsel and the interest of some Republicans in hearing from him.

"We don't want to re-victimize the victim here, right?" said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a Judiciary panel member and 2020 presidential candidate, of subpoenaing Mueller. "He's been victimized by the president for the last two years and you don't want to treat him like he's done something wrong, but we do need to hear from him."

The debate in the party comes as Trump has renewed his personal attacks against Mueller, repeating discredited allegations of conflicts of interest to accuse him of being biased.

Mueller associates have conveyed to Hill investigators that the former FBI director's reluctance to testify is driven in part by his unwillingness to appear in any way political, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Hill Democrats appear likely to take their time in deciding how far to go in forcing Mueller's public appearance. Aides say they are continuing to negotiate with Mueller through the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs, as recently as Friday. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Meanwhile, they are pursuing separate investigations without him. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is spearheading a new oversight strategy that will include legislative fixes meant to hold Trump accountable for his actions as president that will be rolled out as soon as next week. Democratic aides from several committees met over the Memorial Day recess to discuss legislation that will address "Trump's abuses and safeguard our democracy from future attacks," according to a leadership aide.

Before Mueller made his statement on Wednesday, negotiations between House Democrats and his team had been inconclusive. At one point, Mueller asked that his testimony be entirely in closed session, according to people familiar with the conversations. Then he was willing to do a 20-minute opening statement in public before moving to a closed session with members - and would allow the transcript be released.

But Democrats wanted Mueller to answer questions in an open session, and are even more determined to seek that after seeing how his brief statement resonated.

"It proved there is merit in his testimony," said one Democratic aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity to describe internal thinking. "He said almost nothing that hadn't already been said in the report, and yet the power of him saying it out loud on camera is just undeniable."

At the same time, however, some Democrats privately worry that Mueller's testimony could be a bust. Expectations, some aides say, are riding so high that the headlines could easily shift to focus on how Mueller failed to deliver the punch Democrats needed.

Still others simply contend the box for Mueller's testimony was partially checked when he spoke publicly on Wednesday.

Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a law enforcement veteran on the judiciary panel, said she sympathized with Mueller. "In law enforcement, nothing's worse than speaking out in public," she said.

But Demings added that, for many Americans who do not have time to read the 448-page report, hearing directly from the special counsel would have an impact.

"It is important for the American people who are busy. They're trying to just make a living and keep a roof over their head. They're not going to read the report," she said. "But I think it's important for them to hear in special counsel Mueller's own words" his findings.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has echoed the demand for Mueller to deliver public testimony, arguing on NPR this week that "it's vitally important the country hear from all the significant witnesses and that includes Mueller."

But a decision about a subpoena, he said, "will be made above my paygrade," Schiff said, deferring to Pelosi to settle on a strategy.

Swalwell predicted Mueller would appear voluntarily eventually and that a subpoena wouldn't be needed: "He's a patriot and he's not going to disobey a request for Congress."

Rank-and-file Democrats on Schiff's panel say that, if all else fails, they can compel the special counsel and his deputies to appear for private meetings to discuss the counterintelligence that went into the report - something that, given its classified nature, would have to happen behind closed doors.

"It would help a lot more to testify, especially before the intel committee, so we can talk about classified material," Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said in an interview this week. "Special counsel, with all due respect, there's more there, there."

Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee also want to hear from Mueller as their panel's bipartisan probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election is nearing an end.

"Whether it's Mueller or one of his top assistants - the main thing is to get the counterintelligence evidence that went into the report," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the committee's vice-chairman in an interview. "Did Mueller have access to sources and access to tools that we didn't have? The more we can see that evidence, the more we can hopefully better refine our recommendations in terms of how Congress can act."

- - -

The Washington Post's Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - Dozens of Homeland Security agents and investigators will deploy to Guatemala as part of the Trump administration's desperate attempt to slow unauthorized migration to the United States from Central America, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the plans.

The Department of Homeland Security personnel will work as "advisers" to Guatemala's national police and migration authorities, and they will aim to disrupt and interdict human smuggling operations, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a plan that has not been made public. U.S. authorities hope that the effort will cut off popular routes to the United States and deter migrants from beginning their journeys north through Mexico.

Plans call for at least several dozen DHS agents and investigators, and one DHS source briefed on the plans said approximately 80 U.S. law enforcement personnel will deploy as part of the mission.

Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan has advocated for the more muscular DHS presence and finalized the agreement with president Jimmy Morales and top Guatemala officials during meetings this week in Guatemala City.

"The U.S. and Guatemala are formalizing a number of initiatives to improve the lives and security of our respective citizens by combating human trafficking and the smuggling of illegal goods, helping to limit 'push' factors that encourage dangerous irregular migration to the U.S., perpetuating the ongoing crisis at or border," McAleenan said in a statement, after signing a "Memorandum of Cooperation" with Guatemalan officials.

President Donald Trump, who threatened Thursday to impose severe tariffs on Mexican imports if its government doesn't crack down on migration through its country, has vowed to cut off aid to Central America in an effort to pressure the region's leaders.

But McAleenan has urged more - not less - cooperation with Central America, and his plan to assign personnel from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations to work alongside Guatemalan police amounts to an attempt to put more weight behind the approach.

According to DHS, the agreement allows for "concrete actions" including "law enforcement training and collaboration to improve criminal investigations."

The U.S. agents likely would deploy to Guatemala and its border with Mexico for weeks at a time in an "advisory" role. U.S. security personnel assigned to Guatemala are typically authorized to carry weapons.

"Other areas of cooperation include increasing the security of the Guatemalan border to stem the flow of irregular migration while ensuring proper preparation to improve the ability of both countries to identify and better understand their root causes," according to DHS.

While the scale of the deployment and the location - the Guatemala-Mexico border - would be unusual, there are precedents for U.S. law enforcement presence in Central America. Armed DEA agents conduct operations in the region, and CBP advisers work with Mexican officials to improve immigration screening procedures and to upgrade technology.

One of the areas they will target is the department of Huehuetenango in Guatemala's destitute western highlands, where emigration levels are among the highest in the region.

Villages along the Pan-American Highway through Huehuetenango have been emptying out, and in some places, residents say half the population has left for the United States in the past two years. Coffee fields have been abandoned. Many families have used their houses as collateral for the trip, taking out loans to pay their smugglers.

According to DHS officials, three percent of Huehuetenango's entire population has left for the United States in the past seven months.

In the border city of La Mesilla, just south of the Mexican state of Chiapas, some migrants arrive at night at the local bus terminal, where they look for smugglers to hire. Nearby hotels - including the Texas Hotel, named for some of the migrants' destination - cater to families on their way north. Many leave La Mesilla by truck and van, arriving at unmarked border crossings, not far from main highway corridors.

U.S. authorities have apprehended more than 100,000 migrants crossing the border from Mexico for the past three consecutive months, and unauthorized border crossings have soared to their highest levels in at least 12 years. McAleenan told reporters Thursday that border agents are processing an average of 4,500 people each day, an increase of more than 30 percent since March, when he declared that U.S. agents and infrastructure had hit "the breaking point."

In rural Guatemala, there is a widespread belief that bringing a child on the journey to the United States will make it easier to avoid detention and deportation. U.S. courts have limited the amount of time children can be held in immigration jails to 20 days, and because U.S. authorities can't process their asylum claims that fast, the families are typically issued a court appointment and released into the U.S. interior.

"That's the thing everyone knows now. If you go, you need to bring a child," said Juan Vasquez, from La Libertad, who is considering migrating with his two daughters in coming weeks. "You can bring someone else's child, but they say they are now doing DNA tests on the border, which make it difficult."

Many Guatemalans say they have been told the ability to enter the United States with a child is part of an official U.S. policy that is due to expire in about a year; such rumors are often spread by smugglers trying to drum up business. "It's something that they say is going to expire," said Anselmo Torres, 58, also from La Libertad, whose two daughters migrated earlier this year with children of their own.

The United States has no such policy, but President Trump last year ordered an end to family separations after his "Zero Tolerance" crackdown triggered a ferocious backlash. He has since insisted the family separations would have worked as a deterrent if he had kept them in place.

At least nine people accused of human smuggling were arrested in Guatemala City on Wednesday, part of a joint operation between DHS and Guatemalan authorities, according to Guatemalan officials. It was the first such joint operation after the signing of the memorandum.

At the scene of the arrest, officials wearing jackets emblazoned with the acronym for "Homeland Security Investigations" - a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - were seen standing next to Guatemalan police officers.

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Tex) said he met with Guatemala's ambassador to the United States, Manuel Espina, and Espina told him Guatemala would welcome United States troops to help secure its northern border. After the meeting, Gonzalez wrote a letter to President Trump, urging him to accept the offer. The letter, asking for the U.S. to send military personnel, was obtained by The Washington Post.

"Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales has indicated that he would welcome the introduction of U.S. troops on Guatemala's northern border," Gonzalez wrote on April 16. "If you want to see fewer apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, I would strongly encourage you to seriously consider President Morales' offer."

Gonzalez said he believes sending 100 U.S. agents to Guatemala would be insufficient, and he would continue pushing to send U.S. military forces to Guatemala, with Morales' approval, "on a humanitarian mission to help secure Guatemala's border."

Gonzalez said he did not receive a response from the White House.

- - -

The Washington Post's Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report from Mexico City. Sieff reported from Huehuetenango, Guatemala, and Mexico City.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 31)  President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday downplayed global efforts against climate change, calling conferences on the issue a waste of time and money.

During the final day of his Japan visit, Duterte momentarily drifted away from his prepared keynote speech at the 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo to share his thoughts on the phenomenon.

The chief executive recalled a recent conversation he had with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. While he earlier said the country joins the consensus to fight climate change, he also questioned the system of its global talks.

I love him, hes a smart guy. But during his time he was talking, ever complaining about climate change, Duterte said of Guterres. After the talk I intervened, you know Mr. President, we are talking about deaths. We talked about destruction, we talk about dislocation. The Philippines has been there.

I said to the body, lets stop kidding each other. We are just wasting the time and the money of the people coming back and forth to these conferences, which (have) not improved a bit since we started to talk about it, the President shared.

Duterte said climate change may not matter in the long run due to other global issuesincluding threats of war.

There are so many countries with so many bombs, atomic hydrogen and all. If any one of them would start to send one into the air, theres a chance that it will be end of the world. Thats why climate change does not really matter to us at all, he said.

The President added he has fired several members of his Cabinet for going on numerous out-of-the-country trips just to attend climate change conferences.

He stressed the absence of an entity which would enforce laws governing climate.

Duterte in March 2017 signed the Paris deal on climate change, which mandates member countries to curb the effects of the phenomenon. The agreement, signed by over 195 countries, seeks to pursue efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C above preindustrial levels.
The 3-year-old son of a state trooper is recovering after being shot in the stomach on Saturday in Montgomery County, officials said.

It's not clear where or when the child was shot, but Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Erik Burse described it as an "accidental" shooting and said the boy's father did not pull the trigger.

"We are investigating the circumstances surrounding the accidental shooting of a 3-year-old child of a DPS trooper," Burse said Saturday evening, as he drove to The Woodlands Medical Center to see the boy's family.

On Sunday, Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said the child would survive.

"As a parent, my first thought is for the kiddo," Ligon said. "I got word early this morning that he was going to make it."

He said the Texas Rangers would be taking the lead in investigating the shooting and that any charges would be pending their findings.

Officials did not release the name of the tot or his parents, and declined to say whether it's believed the child shot himself or whether someone else fired the weapon.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office are also investigating the incident.

Less than six months ago, the 2-year-old child of a Montgomery County Sheriff's Office deputy was similarly wounded in an accidental shooting in Conroe.

Staff writer Nicole Hensley contributed to this report.
Published June 1, 2019

When MacArthur Elementary School Principal Maria Munoz tells her students that their potential is limitless, she speaks from experience.

As a child, Munoz lived in a shabby brick apartment complex across North Main Street from MacArthur, in a close-knit Galena Park neighborhood with strong community support but little money. Despite the odds against her, Munoz graduated from the University of Houston, rejoined her hometown district as a paraprofessional and worked her way into the top job at her childhood elementary school.

We let the teachers and students know from the very, very first day that we have high expectations for them, that college is a reality for them, Munoz said. We tell them its OK to be a reader, a mathematician, a scientist, that theres nothing holding you back.

The always-present belief in every MacArthur child, echoed by Munoz and her staff, has helped build the Galena Park ISD campus into a high-performing school, earning a Gold Ribbon designation from the Houston education nonprofit Children At Risk.

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MacArthur Elementary School principal Maria Munoz, left, talks with 2nd grade teacher, Kimone Singleton, during Career Day at MacArthur Elementary, a Gold Ribbon campus in Galena Park ISD, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Munoz attended MacArthur as a student, and represents part of the "homegrown" program that brings back former students. less MacArthur Elementary School principal Maria Munoz, left, talks with 2nd grade teacher, Kimone Singleton, during Career Day at MacArthur Elementary, a Gold Ribbon campus in Galena Park ISD, Thursday, May 23, ... more Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close Children At Risks blueprint for success: 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

This year, as Children At Risk prepared to unveil its 14th-annual school rankings, the nonprofit organization embarked on a 10-school tour of Gold Ribbon campuses - traditional public schools that receive an A or B grade while serving predominantly lower-income, neighborhood students - to identify how some educators are shrinking performance gaps across the region. The research and advocacy nonprofit drafted a Blueprint for Success in High-Poverty Schools, highlighting five common practices echoed by principals and their staff.

In turn, the Houston Chronicle visited five of those schools, to see how educators are putting these principles into practice. At each school, campus leaders agreed the nonprofits five core tenets have proved vital to their success - while also adding echoing another all-important priority.

1. Set a culture of high expectations

MacArthur Elementary sits along the western edge of Galena Park ISD, an area populated by small, old houses and the occasional apartment building. Although wealth is rare - about 80 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged by the state - family ties run deep, with multiple generations often sharing the same home.

While Children At Risks rankings are strongly correlated with the wealth of students families, MacArthur Elementary students have bucked that trend, earning three consecutive B-level grades for performance. (The nonprofits rankings are largely based on raw achievement and student growth in math and reading on the states primary standardized test, known as STAAR.)

Campus and district staff said high expectations permeate the school, largely through a culture driven by Munoz and her administrative team.

Munoz said she encourages healthy competition among the classes, which helps keep students and teachers engaged. Administrators also mix holding staff and students accountable for performance with lighthearted, positive reinforcement.

Our teachers really have a sense of family, where they see all of their students as our students, Munoz said.

Terri Moore, a Galena Park ISD assistant superintendent, said MacArthur Elementary students see daily models of their potential in the six campus staff members who attended the school as children.

Theyve walked in the shoes of our children. They were our children, Moore said. They dont let them have any excuses for not performing.

2. Communicate continuously with families

Throughout the school year, Meador Elementary School in Pasadena ISD often serves as place to be for family events: Rodeo Day, square dancing, Christmas programs, track-and-field day.

The way we get parents to come see what we do is to have an event, said Meador Elementarys seventh-year principal, Beverly Bolton. We involve parents as much as possible. Many of them dont come up and just volunteer during the day, but they do support us.

Meador Elementary serves one of the most transient student populations among Houstons Gold Ribbon schools, with families frequently moving in and out of the eight apartment complexes located within the campus zone. As a result, parent engagement proves crucial in ensuring students come to class and remain enrolled at Meador, Bolton said.

The constant communication has helped Meador produce high attendance rates - about 97 percent, better than the state average - and test scores in recent years. Meador annually receives an A or B rating from Children At Risk, climbing in the 2019 rankings to 159th out of 905 schools in the Houston region.

Bolton said her campus, where shes worked since 2001, has an open-door policy with family members, allowing them to visit children during class or lunch. Relatives know to check students backpacks on Tuesdays, when folders containing key communications should be checked. Staff members send messages to parents through a technology platform called ClassDojo. And Facebook updates are common during events, including a recent live-streamed field day.

3. Use data to drive instruction

After 14 years leading Milton Cooper Elementary School, the campus founding principal, Leticia Gonzalez, has her routines down pat.

Every month, a campus attendance committee gathers to ensure plans are in place to assist students missing school. Every six weeks, various staffers gather for a data quality meeting, double checking that children are coded property and receiving needed services. Every nine weeks, Gonzalez personally reviews each students report card, checking with teachers when a grade goes awry.

We have a lot of systems to help us check ourselves, Gonzalez said.

While Spring ISD historically has lagged in the Children At Risk rankings, Milton Cooper Elementary has been a bright spot, receiving five consecutive A- or B-level grades. The campus serves about 800 students  about 60 percent Hispanic and 30 percent black  on the districts south side.

Gonzalez said teachers employ multiple assessment tools, including the commonly used screening program Renaissance 360 and tests developed by campus educators, to track students progress.

4. Support the whole child

At Houston ISDs De Chaumes Elementary School, home to about 850 students on the districts north side, every employee feels responsible for ensuring students feel safe and welcomed, Principal Elizabeth Garcia said.

Everybody in this building is about kids, from the clerks at the front to our custodians, Garcia said. They feel this school is their family.

De Chaumes Elementary students struggle with family issues consistent across many high-poverty, predominantly Hispanic campuses: housing instability, immigration-related issues and family members who lack education themselves. While the campus doesnt yet have a wraparound coordinator  Houston ISD is dedicating staffers to each campus to address students non-academic needs  Garcia said teachers and administrators coordinate plans for each student.

The challenge, Garcia said, is to keep employees motivated in the face of students constant home-life turmoil. To combat burnout, administrators constantly tell stories of victories  both small and large  by current and since-graduated students.

Teachers who start out believing that they can make an impact can lose that belief if were not careful, Garcia said. One of the jobs of leaders and administrators is to keep that belief alive.

5. Reach outside the box for resources

When Hurricane Harvey flooded Pasadena ISDs Frazier Elementary School and about half of its students homes, campus staff made several new contacts that helped the community recover.

Using gifts from across the country, employees and volunteers operated a donation site for about three months, doling out food and supplies to needy families. Teachers tapped the website Donors Choose, raising about $400,000 for replacement items in classrooms. A partnership blossomed with the large Sagemont Church, located about a mile up the road.

The effort followed Frazier Elementarys habit of seeking outside funding to supplement programs and purchase student-friendly items, recognizing the impact they can have on achievement.

Its been really teaching us to invest in the family if we really want to get everything we can out of students, Frazier Elementary Principal Wendy Wiseburn said. Were kind of on the front end of that, because weve been doing it for several years.

As she walks through her southwestern Pasadena campus, Wiseburn ticks off the creative ways in which Frazier Elementary has benefited from outside sources. Grant money helped fund unique seats designed to calm fidgety children. An active parent-teacher organization supports holiday events. The school nurse clips coupons and hands out information about local health care providers, noting which ones take Medicaid.

We have to go beyond what we think our role is, Wiseburn said.

6. Hire dedicated, competent employees who love children

While it didnt make Children At Risks blueprint, educators at all five schools said high-quality, hard-working staff drive student achievement more than any other factor.

The challenge, then, becomes hiring and retaining the districts best employees. When interviewing potential staff members for De Chaumes Elementary, Garcia said her top priority remains identifying educators with a passion for children.

I cant overemphasize the importance of that, Garcia said. You can teach people how to teach. You can grow peoples content knowledge. But you cant teach people how to love kids, to advocate for kids, to believe in kids that look different from them.

In turn, staff members said the culture created by the principal drives retention of high-performing employees. Tara Merida, a counselor and parent coordinator at Meador Elementary, said Bolton supports staff by valuing their time, showing interest in their needs, keeping an open-door policy and working hard.

"She's approachable, she helps, she encourages us, she's always showing us how much she appreciates all the staff," Merida said. "If you've got to work, you've got to enjoy who you work with and have fun. We do that here."

Jacob Carpenter covers K-12 education for the Houston Chronicle. Prior to arriving in Texas, he spent a year as an investigative reporting fellow for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow him on Twitter @ChronJacob or reach out to him via email at jacob.carpenter@chron.com.

Design by Jordan Rubio and Jasmine Goldband

***
For the first time since four Houston firefighters died and another was mortally wounded at the Southwest Inn, the late firefighters loved ones were welcomed on the property where the doomed hotel once stood.

Friday marked the six-year anniversary of the fire that killed engineer operator Robert Bebee and Capt. Matthew Renaud, both from Houston Fire Department Station 51, as well as probationary firefighter Anne Sullivan and firefighter Robert Garner, both from Station 68. Capt. Bill Dowling, also from Station 68, died in 2017 from injuries he suffered in the blaze.

Nearly 100 uniformed firefighters, family members and loved ones gathered at the site - 6855 Southwest Freeway - for a moment of silence at 12:07 p.m. Friday, the time when Houston fire crews were dispatched to the hotel restaurant fire. Retired Houston Fire Department District Chief John Seamans, who was in charge of crews that day, offered a short prayer and led the gatherers in a moment of silence.

The fire at the Southwest Inn started around 9 a.m. Firefighters werent called to the scene for nearly three hours, the first of several mistakes noted by state and federal agencies. Crews from Stations 51 and 68 entered the hotel as flames tore through the roof. Less than 15 minutes later, a portion of the roof collapsed, instantly killing the four and injuring four others, including Dowling.

It was the deadliest day in HFDs almost two-century history.

The charred building has since been demolished, leaving only the inns concrete slab and a few two-story detached buildings on the property. In June 2014, Robb Harris and Tom Kha, co-owners of SW Auto just across the freeway, purchased the property in a $3 million deal.

The previous owners, however, had a change in heart and tried to back out of the deal, Harris said. Harris and Kha were determined to make the purchase, he said, so they took the previous owners to court over the botched deal.

A Harris County jury sided with Harris and Kha earlier this year, giving them the rights to the property after years of litigating, court records show. The new owners have brought a new attitude toward the fallen fireghters, Harris said.

The fire department wasnt allowed on the property to do any sort of memorials, Harris said hours before nearly 100 people gathered to remember the five fallen firefighters Friday. Weve changed that. Since day 1 of our lawsuit, weve been in contact with the Houston Fire Department, letting them know that were going to be good neighbors and good friends of theirs.

Harris gave the Houston Chronicle an exclusive walkthrough tour of the property Friday. The buildings that remain standing on the property are torn up from trespassers, and every inch of copper wire was stolen, Harris said.

Now Playing: Houston firefighters gather to remember five members lost in Southwest Inn fire Video: Houston Chronicle

Between the broken glass and punctured doors, there are holes in the roof and walls. This is damage from firefighters who Harris and Kha have allowed on the property for much-needed training.

They wanted to do training here, because the buildings are dilapidated, No. 1, and they need to go, Harris said. It was a good place for them to train their new cadets as well as their experienced guys on more dangerous buildings.

Firefighters can train at their stations or at the Val Jahnke Training Facility near Hobby Airport from time to time, but the property at 6855 Southwest Freeway has something that those other places dont have: A history that Harris hopes will make the training more solemn for newer cadets and even experienced HFD veterans.

It sunk in a little more and had more meaning to them that they did lose their brothers and sisters here, Harris said. We always need to keep this in the forefront of everyones memory, that this did happen here. They can train here in the future and whatever theyd like to do  to prevent this thing from ever happening again.

Harris wants to find a way to honor those firefighters who lost their lives on the property.

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Firefighter Anthony Abbott, who works on HFDs Heavy Rescue 11, helped pull Dowling from the blaze back in 2013. He came to Fridays memorial to pay his respects.

It was chaotic at first, Abbott said of that day. We had lost communications and knew we had trapped firefighters. Rescue 10 located Capt. Dowling, and we showed up afterwards and started extricating him from the building. It only took maybe 20 minutes at the most - it seemed like hours. It was a bad situation.

Abbott hoped that the new owners would find a way to permanently honor the firefighters, even in a small way. Harris said hes working with current and former firefighters on a path forward, including carving tract on the plot with a new address: 6851 Southwest Freeway, in honor of Stations 68 and 51.

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said hes grateful that Harris and Kha are working to commemorate the firefighters.

The community as a whole lost five firefighters, beautiful souls who were brothers, sisters, fathers, Pena said. Its something that they cant replace. The fact that firefighters can come in here and honor them and pay their respects is truly appreciated.
Children at the Chinese Community Centers preschool have recently taken interest in how eggs develop into chickens.

So, last month, a teacher showed students an incubator and eggs. Another brought in baby chicks.

Thats par for the course at the Early Learning Center, director Stephanie Yau explained. Our teachers observe the students interests and develop their lesson plans based on that, she said.

The school, located near Sharpstown, follows the Reggio Emilia approach, a self-directed, student-centered philosophy founded in Italy. The idea is that children can guide curriculum, explore their creativity and develop their personalities in the process.

The only thing is were not Italian, Yau said with a laugh. Were Chinese.

Learning languages early on, including Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Spanish, is at the core of the schools mission.

Children are exposed to language on a daily basis, Yau said. They learn a lot from the teachers, who have constant conversations with the kids. The children are very bilingual when they graduate, fluent in English and fluent in Mandarin.

Students are 18 months to 5 years old. Student-to-teacher ratios are kept low, with each classroom having two teachers at all times. Tuition tops out at $850 a month, and, there is often a waiting list to enroll.

Like other pre-K programs, snacks are served and nap times, exercise, circle times, arts and crafts and singing are routine. The main difference is that teachers are bilingual and the language for activities changes.

Its much easier for a child to learn a language at a very young age, Yau said. At an early language they learn a language conversationally. They are more capable.

By strengthening language skills at a young age, Yau said critical thinking is also sparked.

We want to provide an optimal learning environment for children to grow, she said. We want them to develop creativity. We want them to be independent thinkers.

In addition, students learn about Chinese heritage, the community centers CEO Chi-mei Lin explained.

Recently, the community center finished construction on a new area for seniors. In addition to that upgrade, a playground was built for children on the campus.

The renovation shows the community centers commitment to all ages.

Lin said there will be more opportunities for intergenerational activities in the future. Already, students adopt a senior for the holidays.

Our first parents understood that communication and heritage is really important, Lin said. Quite a few come because they know this is a place for their children to learn their heritage.

Children know from a young age that they are part of the Chinese community. There are also children who are not Asian who come to the school to learn Chinese. She explained that often international families, bi-cultural parents or individuals who have adopted Chinese children enroll.

Theyre here, because they want to learn the language, Lin said.

The Chinese Community Center has long been a central gathering place, she explained. It was established in 1979 as a Chinese language school and since then expanded its social and educational services to benefit immigrant families and the Asian community.

In 2010, the community center became the second Financial Opportunity Center in Houston, where families could access employment counseling, job training and assistance.

The center is also a HUD-certified counseling agency - the only in the state that can provide services in Chinese and Vietnamese. In addition, the Chinese Community Center is a Benefits Enrollment Center, helping seniors sign up for needed public services.

As a place where all ages go for assistance, Lin explained, the center realized a need to provide childcare in the 1990s.

A lot of new immigrant families couldnt find a licensed childcare facility where teachers could communicate with students and parents, Lin said. The need was very high. And since weve always been in the heart of Chinatown, the location is very convenient for new immigrant families.

Since a lot of the families worked two jobs, Lin added, the Early Learning Center operates from 7 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. In addition, the school accepts subsidies for lower-income families to ensure equal opportunity for childcare.

Once the school was established at the community center, leadership decided to seek accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. In 2011, the center became part of an elite group of only 10 percent nationwide to earn the distinction.

When looking to obtain the certification, Lin explained that the status set the school apart but would also require doubling the budget to provide two teachers in each classroom that previously had only one.

Should we go for it? Our board decided we should, Lin said.

The childcare center is also part of the United Way Bright Beginnings program, which offers staff training.

Now all of the teachers have degrees and have earned their child development associate credentials as well.

In recent years, Lin said the school joined with Early Matters Houston, a campaign to increase pre-K enrollment.

Starting young is important, she insisted.

If children dont have quality education by the third grade, there is a higher risk of being a drop out, Lin said. Early childhood education is really the key to success.

She added that research indicates that early education leads to better cognitive, language and social skills for students. For example, the Rauch Foundation shows that 85 to 90 percent of brain development occurs before age 5.

That means that early child development is critical - the teachers, the learning environment, the message from teacher to child, Lin said. We encourage children here, and we offer a very stimulating environment.

Students from diverse backgrounds attend. Our early childcare center is for all, Lin said. Its a fabulous space to let children know about culture. This is a place to really build a good foundation.

West University resident Minjie Jiang said she would recommend the program to all families.

Its for anyone - Chinese or not - who want to expose their kids to another culture, she said. They really live it day to day. I think its fabulous. I only have positive things to say.

She found the school when her oldest son Kai was 18 months old. Im Chinese, and my husband is not, she said. I wanted my kids to be bilingual. I was speaking Chinese at home, but I wanted to keep it up while they were in school.

Jiang was surprised when she learned about the school at the Chinese Community Center.

I didnt even know there was a school there, she said. I got the tour, and I was amazed.

Now Kai is 8-years old and attends the Mandarin Immersion School. It was a seamless transition, Jiang said. He never had a break in bilingual education, and I think that is crucial.

Now her 3-year old Ari attends the school. He has also been going since he was 18-months. She enjoys watching her youngest go through the same program that served her oldest so well. They even have some of the same teachers.

Its like a family, Jiang said. I know the teachers very well. The students get a lot of individual attention.
Ninety-one fifth-graders from Park Place Elementary School got off a plane at William P. Hobby Airport last week, returning from the schools annual fifth-grade trip to Washington D.C.

The trip, which the school made for the first time this year, is the kind of equalizing opportunity teachers and staff at Park Place, located off Interstate 45 in southeast Houston, want to provide for students.

The students, after all, face challenges that not every kid in the district does, Principal Gerardo Leal said.

I can tell you that my mission and my vision is to provide the same type of education here that other schools have, he said. And this trip is a clear example. We knew that other schools take this trip  why not us? I want our teachers to know and our students to believe that you can get the same kind of opportunity here that you can get anywhere else. Its one of the things Im very moved by.

At Park Place, nearly 96 percent of the 949 students are considered economically disadvantaged, according to data provided by Children at Risk, a non-partisan research and advocacy organization.

Its a statistic that represents a major challenge to teachers, said Veronica Trevino, who teaches fifth grade. Students are coming from home lives that arent necessarily conducive to learning, she said, and sometimes are actually the opposite.

A lot of students come from a single parent and others are facing extreme emotional or social challenges, she said. Some of the students dont have the attitude that they want to work because theyre facing so many obstacles at home. Some of these kids are learning to be adults an early age.

Despite the challenges, there have been tremendous successes. In 2018, Park Place made the Top 10 of Gold Ribbon Elementary Schools in greater Houston with a 75 percent or more economically disadvantaged student body that scored high academic marks. And according to Children at Risk, the school earns an A rating.

Its an achievement that Leal chalks up to not only striving to provide the same opportunities for Park Place students, but also to the tremendous effort of Park Places teachers to overcome the challenges they face at home.

When you teach students where a kids mom got burned by the dad or a dad was deported over the weekend  how do you educate a kid like that? You dont welcome a kid with a textbook the next day, he said. You have to make them feel like theyre part of our school, you have to be someone who cares and nurtures for them.

Trevino, who attended elementary school in Houston herself and has been a teacher in the district for 32 years, said that her childhood wasnt easy either. Her mother cleaned houses and she couldnt always afford the opportunities other students had.

That background allows her to see the world how her students see it, she said, and teach accordingly.

Sometimes kids might be sitting down and looking at the teacher, but you dont know whats going on through their minds, she said. As a teacher you can tell if theyre motivated or if there is something thats bothering them. We take the time to be their counselors, someone they can trust to talk to us.

Building a sense of unity is also important, she said. At Park Place, where 81 percent of the students are Hispanic and 14 percent are Asian, Trevino said its important to create an atmosphere of inclusivity in the classroom so that students can learn from one another.

Thats part of the idea behind bringing them to Washington last week, she said  to show everyone they belong here. And, of course, to give the students an experience they might not have otherwise.

The trip was busy, basically non-stop, said Trevino. But it will be very remarkable for our students  something theyll never forget.
Photo: BC Gov't A Rocky Mountain ridged mussel

Several municipalities up and down the valley have joined the Okanagan Basin Water Board in asking for a resumption in milfoil eradication efforts.

The municipalities of Spallumcheen, Osoyoos and Summerland, along with the Vernon Chamber of Commerce, have written both the province and the federal government, asking that rototilling near popular beaches be allowed to resume.

The decades-old practice has been restricted this year to protect the endangered Rocky Mountain ridged mussel.

The mussel is native to the Okanagan and is found nowhere else in Canada.

Earlier this year, the list of beaches in the Okanagan where the mussel has been spotted grew substantially to include several high-use public areas that are traditionally rototilled.

Those include Kin and Paddlewheel Park Beaches in Vernon, Crescent and Rotary Beaches in Summerland, both ends of Skaha Lake, and Haynes Point in Osoyoos.

Municipalities in those areas argue the milfoil eradication program has helped clean waters of invasive milfoil, a benefit to the thousands of tourists who travel to the valley each year.

While they support protection of the mussel, the municipalities suggest studies show that milfoil de-rooting does not have a negative effect on populations, and that mussels continue to live and reproduce in de-rooted areas.

The letters will be introduced at the water board's monthly meeting in Penticton next week.
As an American, I think its always nice when the president offers an eloquent defense of our nations values.

Granted, its a bit strange when the president who does so is president of Mexico. But I was nonetheless moved by the letter Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sent to President Donald Trump Thursday after our head of state attempted to strong-arm him into cracking down on illegal immigration.

On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP, Trump tweeted.

The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, he added.

It was unwise to issue this particular threat on Twitter. Trump, as the president of the United States, has more power than most of the people he picks fights with. But Obrador, who was elected in 2018, is in a relatively strong negotiating position  a stronger one than most Americans realize, perhaps. And Mexico is culturally similar to Texas, in certain ways, so I wouldnt necessarily expect its president to respond to a provocation like this one as politely as the prime minister of Canada might.

On HoustonChronicle.com: A trade war will take a toll on Texas

In any case, Obrador responded to Trumps threat by declining to cooperate with him. In an aggressively courteous two-page letter, he explained in Spanich that Trumps plan is both ridiculous and at odds with the values of the United States.

La Estatua de la Libertad no es un simbolo vacio, Obrador wrote. The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol.

Some Americans would object to his implication  and its possible, of course, to have concerns about illegal immigration, even if you support the legal variety. In my view, though, the outright nativists whove been emboldened by Trumps ascent are a greater threat our nation and its culture than the migrants at our southern border.

The migrants, most of whom are from Central America, are entering the country illegally because theres no other way for them to enter the country. Thats suboptimal, perhaps, but it doesnt make them a threat to our national security. And, to Obradors point, we shouldnt forget their humanity.

Trump, unfortunately, is prone to doing so and he doesnt seem to understand the factors that drive migration. He likes to impose tariffs so much that at one point he nicknamed himself Tariff Man. He believes that trade wars are good and easy to win. Still, imposing tariffs on Mexico could easily exacerbate the border crisis.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas is doomed to lose Trumps trade war

Another thing that should be obvious about Trumps plan to slap tariffs on Mexico is that such tariffs would have a disproportionate impact on Texas. All Americans would be affected in their capacity as consumers, of course, and those in certain industries are now at risk of retaliatory tariffs. But the risk to Texass economy is singular because of its integration with the Mexican economy.

Since NAFTA took effect in 1994, our respective manufacturing sectors have grown and become intertwined; many imports from Mexico have parts made in Texas. We should therefore expect tariffs imposed on Mexico to result in job losses in Texas, in addition to everything else.

Its traditional for the governor of Texas to pick fights with the federal government, even if the president isnt bothering us  as this president is.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Americas farmers probably arent convinced that trade wars are easy to win

But Gov. Greg Abbott hasnt had much to say in response to Trumps threats.

The crisis at our southern border is at a breaking point, Abbott said in a statement released Friday. Ive previously stated my opposition to tariffs due to the harm it would inflict on the Texas economy, and I remain opposed today. Nevertheless, the President is trying to address this emergency. Now, Congress must do its job and start passing laws to fix our broken immigration system.

Abbott makes his own decisions. As Texans, we live with the consequences.

It was nice of Obrador to speak up for us, though, after Trump's ham-handed attempt to bully him. Im glad that he took the opportunity to remind us of our nations values.

erica.grieder@chron.com
AUSTIN  The new mothers contracted infections. They overdosed on drugs. Their hearts failed. They committed suicide.

The women died in different ways, but all perished within a year of giving birth. Rising rates of maternal mortality spurred Texas leaders in 2017 to reauthorize a special task force to study the deaths and figure out what to do.

But at the end of this years legislative session, public health advocates are frustrated that lawmakers left Austin without adopting the task forces top recommendation: giving women access to health care for a full year after they give birth.

The Legislature agreed to spend $15 million over the next two years on postpartum depression and substance abuse treatment for some low-income women. But a far more sweeping and higher cost plan to expand Medicaid coverage for all eligible new mothers failed, despite having support from Republicans and Democrats.

Were disappointed state leaders basically ignored the needs of uninsured moms and uninsured low wage workers this session, by not taking action on bills to extend postpartum coverage, said Adriana Kohler, a senior health policy associate for the Austin-based advocacy group Texans Care for Children.

On ExpressNews.com: Most pregnancy-related deaths preventable, state report finds

Texas had been considered worst in the country for maternal mortality, until a recent study revealed the numbers were inflated due to bad data. Still, the states task force found roughly 80 percent of pregnancy deaths in 2012 may have been prevented with proper intervention.

Roughly half of births in Texas are paid for by Medicaid, but new mothers lose the government-subsidized coverage two months after delivery  a critical time to have access to health care, according to the 2018 report by the states Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force.

More than half of pregnancy-related deaths occurred two months after delivery, according to the task force, which studied deaths from 2012 to 2015.

Women with private insurance werent immune and accounted for roughly 20 percent of the fatalities, the report found. But nearly 60 percent of new mothers who died had been on Medicaid when they gave birth, the task force found.

The bill on its way to Republican Gov. Greg Abbotts desk would give the states Health and Human Services Commission $15 million to develop a postpartum benefit package for an estimated 10,000 low-income women, according to the bills fiscal note. The package could include treatment for depression, substance abuse, asthma and smoking cessation, but would be provided through the states Healthy Texas Women program. It remains to be seen exactly what the benefits will include and who will receive them.

At this point, we are hopeful that there will be sufficient funding and a significant benefit package for these women once they drop off Medicaid, said Dr. David Fleeger, president of the Texas Medical Association.

The bills sponsor, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, didnt respond to request for comment. At a hearing in March she called Senate Bill 750 a potential solution to what we have seen, in giving more coverage to women after the two months they have Medicaid.

Related: Texas pregnancy-related deaths inflated, new study finds

The funding, however, will likely cover only some of the roughly 136,000 pregnant women on Medicaid in any given month. And pregnant women who relied on Medicaid for their diabetes medication or other prescription drugs could still lose those benefits in the transition, some public health advocates said.

Other bills filed by Republicans and Democrats to expand the states Medicaid coverage for new mothers from two to 12 months, post delivery failed. The change would have cost the state upwards of $75 million a year, according to a fiscal note. The legislation passed the House, but died after not receiving a public hearing in the Senate.

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, chalked it up to politics. Republicans dont want to be viewed as expanding Medicaid, he said.

Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, and Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, who filed bills to extend Medicaid for new mothers, didnt respond to requests for comment.

Allie Morris covers politics and policy in Austin. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | amorris@express-news.net | Twitter: @MorrisReports
Update: June 11. As the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting gets underway today, we republish this editorial calling for leaders to take action to restore trust, which was originally published June 1.

Southern Baptist missionary George Thomas Wade, Jr., had been molesting his own daughter for years before officials within the Christian denominations mission board learned of the abuse. When they did, his daughter later said in court documents, they told her to forgive him. Having secured Wades promise that hed change, the officials kept the abuse secret.

By the time her mother, also a Southern Baptist missionary, learned of the continuing abuse of her daughter, two other children had become victims. Wades daughter, who by age 15 had attempted suicide, later testified that the abuse she suffered at her fathers hands was just one way she had been damaged. The silence of the mission authorities had left its own mark.

I felt stupid for having told anything to anybody, she told a court later. The concern was for my father  It didnt matter what happened to me.

Her heartbreaking and infuriating story was repeated in dozens of other cases unveiled by reporters at the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News in the fourth and latest installment of a six-part investigation into sex abuse by Southern Baptist ministers and accompanying denial and coverup by officials within the Southern Baptist Convention.

Three stories published in February and another, published online Friday and in print Sunday, have revealed repeated examples of abuse by faith leaders. At least 10 churches hired or retained abusers even after the allegations, and in some cases convictions, were known.

More than 350 readers wrote to the newspapers following the initial stories, eager to add their own stories to the tale of treachery. Based in part on leads shared by those readers, Fridays installment revealed how the same patterns of abuse and cover up worked oversees, too. Reporters identified more than two dozen victims of abuse by a small number of missionaries such as George Wade who were protected for years by an unwritten code that put the interests of the preachers above that of the children and others they were abusing.

Together, the stories reveal human tragedies to break the heart and shatter ones faith. Its possible they also may do some good.

In response to a national outcry, SBC leaders have promised to take forceful action when the group gathers for its national meeting June 11-12 in Birmingham, Ala. If they dont, then the Baptists, like the Catholics before them, will emerge with tremendously reduced moral authority. Proposed changes to its bylaws and the constitution are already under consideration.

Leaders shouldnt settle for anything less than concrete reforms that stop SBC churches from hiding abuse allegations once and for all.

At the meeting, the delegates from among the more than 47,000 member churches will wrestle with two issues perhaps more than any other: authority and forgiveness.

Governance of Southern Baptist churches is different than in most other Christian denominations. There is no higher authority - not even the convention itself -- over an individual church that can reverse a hiring decision or order it to follow a policy.

Each church is the final authority.

Southern Baptists have worked out this polity over centuries and it represents our deepest theological understanding, the Rev. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., told the Editorial Board.

There is one power the convention does have, Mohler noted: It can define for itself what is required for membership in the convention.

Mohler said it has used this power in recent years to expel churches who adopted favorable stances toward homosexuality, which traditionalists view as biblically proscribed. He said it must use that same power to expel churches that tolerate sexual abuse.

Hes right. Words wont be enough. Action is the only acceptable response.

On the issue of forgiveness, SBC leaders must cast aside an outmoded belief among older members that knowingly hiring or retaining a pastor accused of abuse is an act of forgiveness. Mohler said that idea is not theologically sound and should no longer be be accepted as an excuse.

We do hold to the gospels promise of full forgiveness of sins, he added. But there is no promise of restoration to a place of leadership within the church. It is the job of every church to protect its vulnerable members and there is simply no place for anyone who has been convicted or even credibly accused of sexual abuse to be allowed any position of ministry.

Those two changes  expelling churches that tolerate abuse and eliminating forgiveness as an excuse  will take courage and deft maneuvering on part of the thousands who gather in Birmingham.

At stake are the very foundations of trust in the churches core mission.

Students training to become ministers, Mohler said, are taught that one mistake is too many when it comes to sexual abuse. There are no second chances to gain trust, he said theyre told.

Whats true for seminarians should be doubly so for the Southern Baptist Convention itself.
Photo: Contributed

The Penticton Fire Department is holding a fire drill this morning on the 300 block of Main Street in the midst of the downtown community market.

The community market, with its congestion of business and vendor tents and visitors, has never had a drill of this kind since Ive been here, so this was new ground for us, said Lynn Allin, DPA executive director. Public safety is our top priority so we embraced the chance to participate and learn valuable lessons during the fire departments controlled exercise today.

The Penticton Fire Department visits and inspects the market annually, running drills that focus on navigating vehicles through the market.

Saturdays drill, however, is the first that will see lights and sirens flashing and hoses deployed to deal with staged smoke.

Having a drill that closely approximates what could happen if there were a true emergency during a market is critical for knowing if you have a solid and reliable response plan, said Allin. This process has allowed us to also communicate with our vendors about how an emergency response may unfold at the Community Market; including them in the communication process will be an important part of any future plan that is developed.

Emergency planning is underway for the July 1 long weekend, which will see the Elvis Festival, RibFest, Canada Day and the Downtown Community Market all taking place at once.

Thats a lot of people in one place, so we broached with RCMP and the Fire Department the topic of the City preparing a coordinated emergency response strategy in the downtown core that combines all of these July long weekend events, said Allin.
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State Sen. Adam Hinds earmarked a number of funds in the Senate budget eyed to help the Berkshires.

Hinds Secures Funds For Flyer, School Aid, in Senate Budget

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  State Sen. Adam Hinds secured money for the Berkshire Flyer, his rural school aid, and for numerous local organizations in the Senate budget.

The Pittsfield Democrat said on Thursday his budget will help "get the fundamentals right" for Berkshire County. Those "fundamentals" this year, according to Hinds, is primarily education and transportation.

"This was a big budget for us especially when it came to transportation and education," Hinds said.

The Berkshire Flyer has been a project he's been working on for a few years. Last year, a Department of Transportation feasibility study determined that a train service on the weekends from New York City to Pittsfield could work. Now, Hinds has secured funding to pilot it, hoping to increase tourism in the area modeled after the successful Cape Flyer.

"It is starting as weekend, seasonal service but the objective is to make sure it goes to daily, year-round service and to add additional stops including one in West Stockbridge," Hinds said.

Hinds said the budget allocates $240,000 for operations, another $100,000 for marketing it, and $30,000 for a project manager who will oversee the operation.

"There is a bit of a resurgence in rail right now. We also this week passed a study for the Northern Tier rail, basically North Adams to Greenfield to Boston. Interestingly, it says that that will not start until the east-west rail on the Southern Tier, that study is done," Hinds said.

There are now four Western Massachusetts rail studies or pilots in the works, including the so-called "Knowledge Corridor" pilot. Hinds said rail is a way to connect regional economic centers and is better for the environment than vehicle travel.

The Flyer's pilot may take more than one year and Hinds said determining what qualifies as a success is still be decided.

In education, the big piece is a significant increase in Chapter 70 school aid. The Senate raised that funding by $268 million and the increases are particularly targeted to help educate low-income students.

"It is largely viewed as a down-payment for the Foundation Budget Review Commission recommendations," Hinds said. "The big headline here is Pittsfield alone gets over $5 million more money in this budget than last year, which is tremendous."

The Foundation Budget Review Commission had recommended the state significantly increase support to districts for low-income students, health insurance, English language learners, and special education. Hinds said he and Pittsfield state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier focused on low-income students because that will have an impact on Pittsfield.

"There was a recognition from the Legislature that there were some schools in dire need," Hinds said.

The other aspects of the recommendations are expected to be addressed this summer when lawmakers take on a full review of the Chapter 70 formula.

For those outside of Pittsfield, Hinds also secured a $1 million increase in rural school aid. The program was started last year and give rural districts of a certain size a little bit extra. Hinds said by upping that to $2.5 million this year will give those small districts even more.

"We hope that gives us the ability to expand who is eligible and also increase the amount schools are receiving," Hinds said.

He said the Senate was also able to increase the regional school transportation reimbursements to 82 percent and fully fund the special education circuit breaker.

"These are things that mean a lot to superintendents, principals, and school committee members because those are the major buckets of money where you can make a difference outside of Chapter 70," Hinds said.

The combination of those illustrates what Hinds said is taking different approaches to help different school districts.

Meanwhile, he said the Senate allocated $50,000 to support the Berkshire Education Task Force.

"The state really likes this group is doing this work and it can be a model across the commonwealth," Hinds said.

Hinds said the budget also includes a number of local projects such as $50,000 for the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, $50,000 for MCLA Gallery 51 in North Adams, $50,000 for the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Park in Adams, $25,000 for the Norman Rockwell Museum to renovate the old Stockbridge town hall, and $10,000 for the Pittsfield Fourth of July Parade.

The budget also includes $150,000 for Berkshire homeless shelters to provide emergency housing in the winter.

"In the winter months there is an influx and a need for bringing folks in during cold nights and the funding for that has always been a challenge," Hinds said. "It is challenging to balance all of these demands but this is one that is just a bit of a no-brainer."

Hinds said the budget also includes a look at the formula determining payment in lieu of taxes to towns for state-owned land. Hinds said there are towns in his district with a significant amount of state-owned land -- in Clarksburg, it's half the town -- and the funding levels are hampering those towns' ability to develop and maintain value.

"We've seen it devalue large blocks of land and guess what? We have large blocks of land in Western Mass. We've seen it be drastically different between two towns that own the same amount of acreage in one state forest, in particular, I'm thinking of Washington and Lenox and they get a vastly different amount of money per acre. It is just one issue after another in terms of how the state determines where the money goes," Hinds said.

The senator estimates that his towns are "losing" $78,000 per year because of the formula. He said it is taking land off of the tax rolls while at the same time serving as a way to sequester carbon generated in the eastern part of the state. The budget calls for a deeper look at the formula to recognize both of those aspects.

Overall, Hinds said the Berkshires did well. The state entered the process with a $900 million surplus and Hinds is chairing a group looking at possible restructuring the revenue system in the future. The budget now goes to a conference committee consisting of representatives from both the Senate and the House that will balance the two budgets. It then goes to the governor's office who will likely veto a number of items. The Legislature then gets a chance to override those vetoes.

"It feels like there is an acknowledgment for the need for regional equity and putting your money where your mouth is," Hinds said. "We do expect some pushback from the governor on some issues but I think we are in a good position."
Photo: Contributed

Kelowna-Lake Country MP Stephen Fuhr is part of a Canadian delegation that will commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

Fuhr, Prime Minister Trudeau and six other members of Parliament will travel to France for the June 6 ceremony.

Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

On D-Day alone, 359 Canadian soldiers were killed and 13,000 wounded, the most of any division in the invading group. In all, 5,000 more Canadians were killed over the next two and a half months of fighting.

"It is an honour to join the prime minister and the minister of veterans affairs to represent Canada and to pay homage to the Canadians who served our country and changed the course of history," said Fuhr.

"I will be especially honoured to be in the company of members of the Canadian delegation who are veterans of the Second World War, and some of our most decorated Canadians."

The delegation will attend the main ceremony at Juno Beach Centre, Canada's Second World War museum.

The museum is a memorial to the 45,000 Canadians who gave up their lives during the war.

They will also travel to the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery and the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery, where most of the fallen heroes killed in Normandy are interred.

Fuhr said his thoughts will also be with families of the fallen from communities in the Okanagan, many of whom are remembered on local cenotaphs.




iciHaiti - PNH : 60 women train for physical tests





While waiting for the results of the intellectual test of May 5, the 60 young women of the joint project of "Preparatory Class" of the PNH (through the Coordination of Women's Affairs) and UN Women Haiti, are actively preparing to undergo physical tests soon for the recruitment competition



Three days a week, they are accompanied by instructors to be ready for the physical tests. They motivate each other to win this challenge to integrate the police institution. Because, according to them, the police is also the business of women.



Recall that the rate of representation of women in the PNH is only 9.9% (1,483 women policeofficers out of 14,911) while the constitution requires at least 30%. With this preparatory classroom pilot experience, UN Women and police authorities are working with funding from the Minujusth Community Violence Reduction Program (VCR) to reduce this gap.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27539-haiti-security-intensive-training-for-60-women-for-the-recruitment-contest-of-the-pnh.html



IH/ iciHaiti


















Photo: The Whale Centre

A Tofino whale-watching company has spotted a new calf swimming with a pod of endangered southern resident killer whales.

Jennifer Steven of The Whale Centre announced on the companys Whale Report blog today that she and co-owner John Forde observed the calf swimming with J-pod on Thursday.

We were both really excited to see the calf was very orange and still had fetal folds, Steven writes. We observed the new calf with J41 and J19.

She said whale-watching companies stopped observing the orcas once they realized they were southern residents.

The Whale Centre, however, took several photographs of the new calf to send to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Centre for Whale Research in Washington.

Its the second reported birth this year among southern residents and boosts their numbers to 76. The population had dwindled to 74 whales last year after three deaths.
Photo: Contributed Mike Jacobs & Patrick Murphy

The Hunters Hill subdivision in Summerland is close to fruition with an announcement Friday that sees Emil Anderson Construction sign onto the project in a joint venture agreement.

The Hunters Hill project has been working its way through the planning and regulatory process for more than 5 years, evolving into a 141-lot, 68-acre development across from Sumac Ridge Winery.

Our group is very pleased to move forward with this exceptional project. The small-town atmosphere of Summerland is the perfect setting for a development of this nature. The land, the location, and the planning have all come together for an inspired housing opportunity we can all be very proud of, said Emil Anderson chairman Mike Jacobs.

Developer Patrick Murphy says they are nearing final approval for the project through the District of Summerland and hope to get to work in the late summer or early fall.
Imperial Valley News Center

First Lady Melania Trump on Gold Star Families

Washington, DC - Statement from First Lady Melania Trump on Gold Star Families:

"Thank you to the families who joined us at the White House today in honor of our Nations fallen heroes. The American people grieve alongside all the families who have lost loved ones in service to our country. Our Administration fully supports our military men and women, as they are the protectors of our freedom. We continue to pray for all those currently deployed. To our Gold Star families everywhere  the husbands and wives, the mothers and fathers, the sisters and brothers, and the daughters and sons, we remain indebted to the selfless sacrifices made by these heroes. Thank you to all those who have served or are currently serving in our Armed Forces. May God bless you, your families, and may God bless the United States of America." ~ First Lady Melania Trump
Assistant Secretary Fannons Travel to Silicon Valley

Washington, DC - Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Francis R. Fannon will travel to Silicon Valley in California from June 2  5, 2019.

During his trip, Assistant Secretary Fannon will meet with energy and technology business leaders to discuss a range of issues, including energy resource minerals. He will also visit the Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Religious intolerance is un-American

Washington, DC - Vice President Mike Pence stirred up quite an uproar over his remarks claiming prejudice against people of faith is on the rise. But, as Professor James Finck of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, noted in a recent Opinion Article: What is most interesting about religious intolerance today is that it is the last socially acceptable form of intolerance.

Remarks by progressives in Congress certainly appear to underscore the validity of Mr. Pences warning that its become acceptable, and even fashionable to ridicule and discriminate based on an individuals belief in God.

Remember when Senator Dianne Feinstein D-CA told Amy Coney Barrett during her circuit court hearings that The dogma lives loudly within you, and thats of concern, implying that her religious beliefs might make her unsuitable to serve.

And then there was the incident last December when progressive Democrats, Senators Kamala D. Harris and Mazie Hirono, targeted judicial nominee Brian Buescher for his faith based convictions.

The growing acceptance of religious bigotry is a global issue of concern. But, it has a particularly disquieting impact in the U.S. at a time when it is becoming trendy to promote ideologies such as socialism as a viable alternative to our constitutional federal republic.

Some conspiracy theorists might perceive the newfound love of a godless socialist system of government as designed ultimately to put the progressive left in charge of Americas future. But, the fact is that the anti-religion movement got started when Americans began losing faith, something that has been happening for some time, according to Pew Research. In a report released a year ago Pew noted that the number of Americans who have doubts about Gods existence  or that they do not believe in God at all continues to grow.

A number of other recent surveys seem to confirm that more than half of Americans dont consider religion important to them anymore. Just 43% of Americans viewed religion as a core component of their identity in 2018.

Meanwhile, anti-Semitism is on the rise in America. The Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism released new data recently, noting that 2018 was the third-highest year on record for attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. There were 1,879 such incidents representing a dangerously dramatic increase in such hate crimes.

Finally, in what is perhaps one of the most blatant assaults on Freedom of Religion, a bill has been introduced in the California Senate, SB 360, that seeks to directly interfere with an historic religious tenet. It would require a Catholic priest to report what a penitent reveals to him during confession. Confession is one of the most important sacraments in the Catholic faith. And, its confidential nature has been well recognized throughout history.

It might appear to be a one-off piece of legislation that would not impact the general right of Americans to practice their religions, whatever their beliefs. But the proposed law has insidious, more profound implications for all religions, according to Father Pius Pietrzyk, a professor of canon law. As he put it an Opinion Article published in USA Today: If this bill passes, no religion is safe. If a core principle as deeply ingrained in Catholic tradition and doctrine can be wiped away this easily by the state, no fundamental rights of religion or conscience are safe.
Oh what a time to be in the airline industry. Especially if you're Southwest Airlines.

With the past year, the airline weathered intense scrutiny after a passenger, Jennifer Riordan, was partially sucked out of the window of a Southwest 737 airplane and killed. And just as the airline was regaining confidence, the Boeing 737 Max crisis came to the forefront.

Southwest is by far the largest 737 Max customer. Even setting aside safety concerns and consumer skepticism, the plane's grounding has played more havoc with Southwest's schedule than other airlines.

But every time I find myself wondering if we're about to see a crack in the veneer of Southwest's enviable image, the airline seems to get some good news that rescues its brand.

Tied for first

This week was no different, with the release of the J.D. Power 2019 North America Airline Satisfaction Study.

Southwest was tied for number-1 in terms of overall satisfaction among low cost carriers with its competitor JetBlue. It's Southwest's third year at the top of the rankings, and while the tie might take away a bit of the luster, it's still incredibly good news.

The J.D. Power study is based on interviews with 5,966 passengers, who judged the airlines in seven categories: cost and fees; in-flight services; aircraft; boarding, deplaning, and baggage; flight crew; check-in; and reservations.

J.D. Power separates low cost carriers and traditional carriers into different groups, even though they're judged on the same scale. That distinction means Alaska Airlines sits at the top of the traditional carrier rankings, for the 12th year in a row.

All 10 together

I've combined the rankings below, including both low-cost and traditional carriers.

JetBlue Airways, low-cost carrier, 817 points

Southwest Airlines, low-cost carrier, 817 points

Alaska Airlines, traditional carrier, 801 points

Delta Air Lines, traditional carrier, 788 points

American Airlines, traditional carrier, 764 points

WestJet, low-cost carrier, 758 points

Air Canada, traditional carrier, 729 points

United Airlines, traditional carrier, 723 points

Spirit Airlines, low-cost carrier, 711 points

Frontier Airlines, low-cost carrier, 702 points

Why Southwest ranks so high

Southwest had a big milestone earlier this year, when it started flying to Hawaii. There's no word on how many passengers surveyed were on that route, which I'm going to guess would yield a higher percentage of happy responses anyway.

But it really is remarkable when you think about the fact that Southwest has only a single class of seating, doesn't let you reserve a seat ahead of time, and doesn't even provide real meal service.

Passengers don't seem to penalize it for that. (In fact, some find the open seating to be a feature, not a bug.)

What really seems to give Southwest an edge however, has to do with the intangbles.

Judging by the stories that cross my desk almost every week since (like this one, this one, and this one), its crew are adept at manifesting that old Maya Angelou quote:

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

The one thing to worry about

If there's one thing for the airline to worry about however, it's this.

The passengers in this survey were questioned between April 2018 and March 2019. So that means that while they were 100 percent within the time period after the accident that cost Riordan her life, they were also almost entirely polled before the 737 Max controversy.

So while Southwest ranked at the top of the list on airlines for passengers with families last year, and took home the top prize for U.S. airlines (and sixth among all airlines in the world) at TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Awards, you have to wonder:
A little Bach, surely. Or perhaps Tubular Bells. Getty Images

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.

Some people, including those in positions of power, are obsessed with intelligence.

But there are so many ways to see it and judge it.

How can you begin to categorize those with brains and those with mere smoke and mirrors?

Is there any behavior that intelligent people gravitate to that could, at least, offer a signal?

Well, I've just collapsed into a fascinating piece of research that has made me consider -- and reconsider -- the essence of intelligence.

The research, performed by Elena Racevska, a PhD student at Oxford Brookes University and Meri Tadinac of the University of Zagreb, enjoys the magical title Intelligence, music preferences, and uses of music from the perspective of evolutionary psychology.

Racevska told PsyPost that she was fascinated by the idea, hypothesized by Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics, that intelligence sprouted in humans because they were desperate to deal successfully with things they'd never seen before.

So she and her fellow researcher devised a nonverbal intelligence test and a music questionnaire, got hold of 467 high school students in Croatia and wondered what they'd discover.

In Racevska's words:

Individuals with higher intelligence test scores are more likely to prefer predominantly instrumental music styles.

There you have it. All those Bach-listening, Kraftwerk-loving, ambient-adoring strange people in your life are actually the brainy ones.

Are you ready for the twist? (No, not the song.):

There are no differences in the preference for predominantly vocal or vocal-instrumental music that can be predicted with intelligence test scores.

That's a little annoying. I was rather hoping we could begin to segment the people in our lives according to their musical inspirations.

But then there was this:

We revealed the significant role of cognitive use of music as a predictor of the preference for instrumental music.

In essence, those who delved more deeply into the craft of a piece of music were more likely to listen to Philip Glass than Van Halen.

Racevska was keen to stress limitations and the need for more research. She wouldn't be a researcher if she didn't.

Still, research around music is a truly fascinating area.

Recently, I wrote about research that suggested depressed people listen to sad music because it actually makes them feel better.

Not because it made them wallow in their misery, but because it's low energy level was soothing.

At the other end of the emotional spectrum was neuroscience research that tried to name the 10 most uplifting songs in the world.

Queen's Don't Stop Me Now was the winner.

For now, though, we merely have a new excuse to delve more deeply into what people are listening to.
Before you accept a job, you need to know whether the people you'll be working for are trustworthy. While it's impossible to read minds, it's actually quite easy to tell if an organization can be trusted. All you need do is answer these three questions:

1. Do they demand a non-compete agreement?

A non-compete agreement is not to be confused with a non-disclosure agreement, which is an entirely reasonable expectation that you won't share corporate secrets. Nor is it to be confused with an agreement that you won't work for their competitor while you are working at their firm.

A non-compete agreement or clause makes it impossible for you to work for a competitor, or go into business for yourself in the same industry, after you've left the company. Such aggrements lock you into being unemployable and unfinanceable (if you're starting your own business) in the industry where you've gained experience.

Such clauses make it difficult or impossible for you to negotiate salary increases, benefit increases, or work-life balance because you don't have the alternative of leaving the company without simultaneously having to start your career over from scratch.

2. Do they demand a non-disparagement clause?

A non-disparagement clause penalizes you if you say anything bad about your employer, either while you're working for them or after you've left.

Now, I'm not a big fan of burning bridges and I also believe that it's best to leave and stay on good terms with any company where you've been employed. I think it's unprofessional and a bit stupid to become a public critic of a former employer.

That being said, it's fair to wonder: why any company would insist upon silencing the complaints of former employees if there weren't plenty to complain about?

3. Do they have salary transparency?

The only reason companies insist upon keeping everyone's salary secret is because it allows them to pay as little as possible for everyone's labor. Once the salary cat is out of the bag, however, employees can demand pay equity.

CEOs know that this would be money out of their profits, because CEOs benefit hugely from having their compensation packages be public knowledge. With everything on the table, even 3rd rate CEOs can demand to be paid the "prevailing wage."

You see, trust works both ways. If the company want your trust, they can't, or shouldn't simultaneously try to manipulate you into working for less than you're worth.
Octavia Spencer had a fantastic reason for signing up to star in new horror film Ma.

The Oscar-winning star, best known for roles in The Help and The Shape of Water, plays against type in the Jason Blum-produced release that follows a lonely woman who befriends a group of teenagers.

Though the original draft was written with a white woman in the title role, director Tate Taylor told CinemaBlend that the decision to cast Spencer was inspired by a conversation in which she told him she was sick of only being offered the same role and never getting to be a lead.

Spencer had one question before agreeing to star in the horror film: Am I the black person who gets killed first?

Taylor said: I go, No, you get to kill the people. She goes, F*** yes, I dont need to read it, I trust you.

37 horror films that are genuinely scary Show all 37 1 /37 37 horror films that are genuinely scary 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Funny Games (1997) Directed by: Michael Haneke. Funny Games places the horror in the familiar setting of home. It follows two young men who hold a family hostage and torture them with sadistic games. The result is far scarier than anything featuring ghosts, witches or demons. Concorde-Castle Rock/Turner 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Amityville Horror (1979) Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg. The Amityville Horror is based on the true story of the Lutzes, a family who were run out of their home after being terrorised by paranormal phenomena in 1975. Just one year before, Ronald DeFeo Jr shot and killed six members of his family in the same house. James Brolin and Margot Kidder lead this film, which became one of the biggest hits of 1979. American International Pictures 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Audition (1999) Directed by: Takashi Miike . Japanese horror Audition (1999) follows a widower who meets a woman named Ayoma after staging auditions to meet a potential new partner. Soon, though, her dark past begins to surface, which equates to a pretty disturbing climax. Omega Project 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Blair Witch Project (1999) Directed by: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez . Although parodied to death, The Blair Witch Project popularised the found-footage format to terrifying degrees in 1999. People genuinely believed they were watching real clips of three student filmmakers being terrorised by a Maryland legend known as the Blair Witch. Artisan Entertainment 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) Directed by: Robert Wiene . Black-and-white silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) is considered the quintessential work of German Expressionism, but also one of the scariest films in cinema history. It follows a hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist to commit murders, and Wiene's shadowed sets and striking visual style combines to unsettle the viewer in ways most filmmakers only dream of managing. Decla-Bioscop 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Candyman (1992) Directed by: Bernard Rose. A contemporary classic of horror cinema, 1992 film Candyman  which spawned two sequels and has a Jordan Peele-produced remake in the works  follows a graduate student whose studies lead her to the legend of a ghost who appears when you say his name three times. TriStar Pictures 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Cannibal Holocaust (1980) Directed by: Ruggero Deodato. Extreme enough to warrant a ban in Italy and Australia, Cannibal Holocaust (1980) was one of the first films to embrace the found-footage format  so much so that Deodato found himself charged with multiple counts of murder due to rumours that several of the film's death scenes were real. He was later cleared. United Artists Europa 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Descent (2005) Directed by: Neil Marshall. Released in 2005, The Descent follows six women who, upon exploring a cave, battle to survive against the creatures they find inside. It's these creatures that earn this British horror film's placement on this list. Pathe Distribution 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Exorcist (1973) Directed by: William Friedkin. One of the most controversial films of all time, The Exorcist  which tells the story of the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl named Regan (Linda Blair)  became the first horror to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars in 1974. Warner Bros 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Halloween (1978) Directed by: John Carpenter. Sure, it may be dated, but John Carpenter's original Halloween film  released in 1978  remains the daddy of all horrors. It re-defined the rule book and has been emulated in everything from Scream (1996) to Trick 'r Treat (2007). The tension, as babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) attempts to evade masked murderer Michael Myers, only heightens with every new watch. Compass International Pictures[ 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Hereditary (2018) Directed by: Ari Aster. Proving that horror is a force to be reckoned with, Hereditary became independent distributor A24's highest-grossing film around the world upon its release in 2018. It tells the story of a family who find themselves haunted after the death of their secretive grandmother and features a final act that left many of its viewers with sleepless nights. A24 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The House of the Devil (2009) Directed by: Ti West. The House of the Devil (2009) follows a student named Samantha who is hired to guard an isolated house with one rule: don't go upstairs. For most of the film's runtime, not much happens, which is what makes the action-packed final third so terrifying. Spoiler: she goes upstairs. MPI Media Group 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Innocents (1961) Directed by: Jack Clayton. Based upon Henry James' chiller The Turn of the Screw, the plot of 1961 psychological horror film The Innocents concerns a governess who watches over two children and comes to fear that their large estate is haunted by ghosts and that the youngsters are being possessed. 20th Century Fox 37 horror films that are genuinely scary It (1986) Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace. Forget the effects-laden remake  this version of It, released as a miniseries in 1986, is the most terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's beloved novel to date. It follows a shapeshifting demon who takes the form of a sadistic child-killing clown named Pennywise (Tim Curry). Lorimar Productions 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Ju-On: The Grudge (2002) Directed by: Takashi Shimizu. Japanese horror maestro Takashi Shimizu  who also directed the pretty scary 2005 remake starring Sarah Michelle Gellar  balances mystery with horror in Ju-On: The Grudge, a story based in a cursed house in Tokyo. Lions Gate Films 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Kill List (2011) Directed by: Ben Wheatley. To describe the horrors of Kill List is to ruin the film's surprises, but let's just say this: the final 20 minutes of Ben Wheatley's violent drama from 2011 features some of the most unsettling scenes in any film from this decade. Optimum Releasing 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Lake Mungo (2008) Directed by: Joel Anderson. Taking the form of a mockumentary, the little-seen Australian drama Lake Mungo may have received a limited release in 2008, but its story of a family attempting to come to terms with the drowning of their daughter stays with viewers long after. Arclight Films 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Martyrs (2008) Directed by: Pascal Laugier. The polarising 2008 film Martyrs, often associated with the New French Extremity movement, is the kind of horror that leaves you needing a shower once the credits roll. It follows a young woman's quest for revenge on the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child. Anchor Bay Films 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Night of the Living Dead (1968) Directed by: George A Romero. Younger viewers may be desensitised by the more extreme horror films to have been released in recent decades, but the scares featured in Romero's Night of the Living Dead  including the young girl zombie reveal  remain some of the most chilling committed to celluloid. Continental Distributing 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Nosferatu (1922) Directed by: FW Murnau. Alongside Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), the character of vampire Count Orlok in 1922 film Nosferatu  played by Mac Schreck  remains one of the most spine-tingling in cinema history. Film Arts Guild 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Orphanage (2007) Directed by: JA Bayona. Produced by Guillermo del Toro, this acclaimed 2007 chiller follows the disappearance of a young boy in an orphanage, which brings many of the building's terrifying secrets to the fore. Warner Bros Pictures de Espana 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Others (2001) Directed by: Alejandro Amenabar. The Others (2001) is a towering achievement for Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar who wrote, directed and scored this Nicole Kidman-fronted tale about a woman trying to protect her children from supernatural forces. It's perhaps the scariest 12-certificate film of all time. Warner Sogefilms 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Paranormal Activity (2009) Directed by: Oren Peli. Could Paranormal Activity be the scariest film of all time? It's certainly one of them. Just when you thought found-footage had had its day, Oren Peli's small-budgeted festival favourite became one of 2009's biggest hits. Audiences lapped up the story of a couple who capture supernatural presences on a camera in their own home. Paramount Pictures[ 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) Directed by: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman. Paranormal Activity 3 earns its place on this list for its final 10 minutes. Set 18 years prior to the events of the first two films, we see the cause of the curse that follows characters Katie and Kristi for the rest of their lives  and it's down to a coven of witches led by their grandmother. Paramount Pictures 37 horror films that are genuinely scary [REC] (2007) Directed by: Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza. Played out in real-time, the claustrophobic Spanish horror film [REC] is one of the better examples of found-footage cinema. Released in 2007, it follows a reporter and her cameraman who follow firefighters to a Barcelona building and soon find themselves locked inside with its occupants who are displaying murderous behaviour. Filmax International 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Ring (1998) Directed by: Hideo Nakata. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know the story of Ring by now: viewers of a cursed videotape die seven days after watching it. While the inevitable Hollywood remake in 2002 was better than it had any right to be, Nakata's original is as terrifying as horror films come. Toho 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Rosemary's Baby (1968) Directed by: Roman Polanski. Released in 1968, Rosemary's Baby follows a pregnant woman who suspects that an evil cult want to take her baby for use in their rituals. Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes and Ruth Gordon's performances tip this psychological chiller into classic status. Paramount Pictures 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Shining (1980) Directed by: Stanley Kubrick. Forget the iconic "Heeeeere's Johnny" or that bath scene  it's the smaller moments that make Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining a terrifying watch, notably the trippy final act that sees Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) lose his mind to the Overlook Hotel. Warner Bros 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Sinister (2012) Directed by: Scott Derrickson. Of all the Blumhouse horror films, 2012 release Sinister  which features the demonic character Bughuul  is the spookiest of them all. It stars Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who discovers a box of home movies depicting grisly murders in the attic of his new house. Momentum Pictures 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Sleep Tight (2011) Directed by: Jaume Balaguero. This little-seen Spanish horror follows a concierge who, believing he was born without the ability to feel happiness, decides to make life hell for everyone around him. Filmax 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Directed by: Tobe Hooper. The fictional Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), marketed as a true story, follows a group of cannibals  including Leatherface  who relentlessly hunt down a group of friends. Vortex 37 horror films that are genuinely scary 28 Days Later (2002) Directed by: Danny Boyle. Many might not reflect upon 28 Days Later (2002) as one of the world's scariest horror films, but its desolate depiction of a viral outbreak seems more real than any other. When merged with the fast-paced infected and the usage of John Murphy's song "In the House  In A Heartbeat", it's hard to deny it such status. Fox Searchlight Pictures 37 horror films that are genuinely scary V/H/S (2012) Directed by: Various. Directed by six filmmakers, including Adam Wingard and Ti West, 2012 anthology film V/H/S is grimy horror of the tallest order. Look no further than David Bruckner's section "Amateur Night" following three friends who meet a mysterious girl who says nothing other than three small words: "I like you." Magnet Releasing 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Wailing (2016) Directed by: Na Hong-jin. Twist-filled horror drama The Wailing follows a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illness in the mountains of South Korea. If the journey fails to scare you, its destination will leave you lying awake at night. 20th Century Fox Korea 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Wicker Man (1973) Directed by: Robin Hardy. The Wicker Man is deemed the best British horror film of all time for a reason. It tells the story of a Police Sergeant who travels to an isolated island in search of a missing girl, only to find its inhabitants practising a form of Celtic paganism. British Lion Films 37 horror films that are genuinely scary The Witch (2015) Directed by: Robert Eggers. For the most part, it's not what you see in The Witch that terrifies, it's what you don't see. Eggers unsettlingly holds his camera a fraction too long in places as he retells the story of a Separatist family who encounter supernatural forces in the woods beyond their farm. A24 37 horror films that are genuinely scary Zero Day (2003) Directed by: Ben Coccio. The horrors are all too real in Zero Day, a film inspired by the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. The majority of the film is portrayed through the video diaries of two students who are planning to attack their high school. Avatar Films

The filmmaker, who also directed The Help, added that the pair worked on fleshing out the script so that Spencers character, Sue Ann, was a monster that audience members could also sympathise with.

There was no back story [in the original script], Taylor said. The shifts in the script came from me creating her backstory, which has empathy, and as it came in some of the scenes just had to reflect that.

Ma is in cinemas now
A hunting group that says members are conservationists has wielded excessive influence over the worlds key wildlife watchdogs, Cites and the IUCN, a report claims.

Conservation Force (CF), which is run by a veteran hunter who once said nothing else in life is more satisfying than an elephant hunt, has argued successfully for protections for endangered species to be rolled back and has blocked measures that would curb sport hunting, the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting says.

CF members, who are opposing moves to protect threatened giraffes under US law, fought and won a drive against giving African lions the highest level of protection, according to the report seen by The Independent.

The document claims CF also drafted a resolution for Cites applying hunting quotas, so enshrining trophy hunting as an acceptable activity in the case of threatened species.

The organisation is believed to have been involved for about two decades in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which aims to ensure trade in animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Trophy-hunt opponents say the species most popular with hunters are declining rapidly and are now so vulnerable that any killing may mean irreversible declines.

CFs own website highlights how:

In the 1990s it led a campaign for importation of polar bear trophies;

It has lobbied for the importation of cheetah trophies into the US;

The organisation lobbied for a US big-game hunter demanding trophies from endangered lions in Tanzania be allowed into the country;

In 1992, it won a lawsuit that reopened elephant trophy imports from South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Cameroon; and

In 2016, when US environmentalists called on the government to reclassify African leopards as endangered, preventing importation of their parts, CF opposed the plan.

The group has official observer status at Cites, and last year two of its documents were submitted to Cites Animals Committee at the hunting organisations request.

The Surprising Benefits of Lion Safari Hunting stated: The benefits of tourist safari hunting counter the foremost threats to lion, while Benefits of Regulated Hunting for Leopard argued that regulated hunting of leopards benefited the species by reducing threats such as habitat loss.

The organisation has filed more than a dozen challenges to the US Endangered Species Act, demanding the conservation status of wildlife be downgraded to make it easier for hunters to kill and bring animal trophies home, the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting (CBTH) says.

Members also sued Delta Airlines for refusing to carry hunting trophies, and sued the state of New Jersey for refusing to allow hunting trophies through its ports.

While poaching is illegal, trophy hunting  where gun owners bring home a wild animal or body parts, such as the head, paws or tail  is allowed by Cites.

Since the 1980s Cites has issued permits for the import of trophies from animals including hippopotamus, bears, leopards, zebras, and lions.

The CBTH says large numbers of primates  including various species of baboon and monkey  have also been killed.

The loss of a single male lion or bull elephant can mean the loss of vital genetic resources that can put an entire local population at risk, impacting the species viability as a whole, campaigners say.

CFs website sets out successes against proposed curbs on trophy hunting and imports, including a lawsuit that re-established hunting import permits for Zambian elephants.

World's most endangered animals Show all 17 1 /17 World's most endangered animals World's most endangered animals Amur Leopard Endemic to the far east of Russia, the Amur Leopard has a population of around 84 and is critically endangered. Here follows every species that the WWF lists as critically endangered. Getty World's most endangered animals Sumatran Elephant The Sumatran elephant population now stands at only 2400-2800 Getty World's most endangered animals Yangtze Finless Porpoise Endemic to China's Yangtze River, the Yangtze finless porpoise has an estimated population of 1000-1800 Kenichi Nobusue World's most endangered animals South China Tiger When discovered in the 1950s, the South China tiger population was estimated to be 4000, by 1996 it was estimated to be only 30-80. Scientists consider the tiger to be "functionally extinct" as one has not been sighted for over 25 years World's most endangered animals Sumatran Orangutan The Sumatran orangutan was once found across the island of Sumatra and even further south on Java. Today it is found only in the island's north and its population stands at 14,613 Getty World's most endangered animals Western Lowland Gorilla Though it is the most populous of all gorilla subspecies, the western lowland gorilla is still critically endangered and its population has declined by 60% in the last quarter century Getty World's most endangered animals Sumatran Rhinoceros The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest of the surviving rhinoceros species. Only 80 are known to be living today. The last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia died on 28 May 2019 Willem V Strien World's most endangered animals Sumatran Tiger There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left today. They are severely threatened by deforestation and poaching Getty World's most endangered animals Eastern Lowland Gorilla Half of the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo in which these gorillas live has been destroyed the past 50 years. There were 17,000 Eastern Lowland gorillas in the 1990s but scientists estimate their population has declined by over 50% since then Getty World's most endangered animals Vaquita The world's rarest marine animal has a population of only 30. They were discovered in 1958 and are endemic to Mexico's Gulf of California Paula Olson / NOAA World's most endangered animals Javan Rhino The most threatened of all rhino species, there are only an estimated 58-68 Javan rhinos left Reuters World's most endangered animals Saola The saola was first sighted in 1992, being the first large mammal to be discovered in over 50 years. Scientists have only sighted saola in the wild four times and it is considered critically endangered World's most endangered animals Malayan Tiger The Malayan Tiger population now stands at only 250-300 Getty World's most endangered animals Hawksbill Turtle The population of the Hawksbill Turtle has declined by more than 80% in the last century. They are threatened by black market poachers who kill them for their shell Getty World's most endangered animals Black Rhino The population of the black rhino dropped by 98% in the years 1960-1995 due to poaching, it stands today at around 5000 Getty World's most endangered animals Cross River Gorilla The population of the Cross River gorilla has been damaged by deforestation and poaching, it now stands at 200-300 Julie Langford World's most endangered animals Bornean Orangutan The population of the Bornean orangutan has been reduced by over 50% in the past 60 years, now standing at around 104,700. Their habitat has been reduced by at least 50% in the 21st century Getty

CF founder John Jackson III told National Geographic in 2014 that elephant hunting was the most intimate, real relationship one can have with elephant. Nothing else in life is more satisfying than an elephant hunt.

He is credited by hunters with having prevented the African elephant from being listed as endangered, according to both the report and CF itself.

Terry Pierson, of the International Professional Hunters Association, said: IPHAs thanks must also go out to John and the Conservation Force for keeping an eye on our welfare as far as Cites and all things of governmental nature is concerned. Without his constant diligence the future of our industry could be changed dramatically.

In the past the group has been on a review committee of Cites, which it has campaigned to reform.

CF has been heavily involved in IUCN over the past 15 years. Three CF board members have been on the African lion working group, according to the CBTH paper, which added: They have planned, co-authored and presented primary papers at African lion workshops.

Members are also on various IUCN specialist groups, the report says.

According to CFs website, its purpose is to expand and secure conservation of wildlife, wild places and our outdoor way of life.

Eduardo Goncalves, of the CBTH, said: How does any of this equate with conservation? There are serious questions to be answered by Cites and IUCN about how trophy hunting interests have been allowed to work their way into decision-making processes.

Were facing a global extinction emergency with up to a million species under threat. They include some of the hunting worlds favourite targets. Thanks to the industrys lobbying efforts a cruel colonial pastime is compounding the crisis facing endangered animals.

An IUCN spokeswoman said the organisation was globally regarded as an impartial supporter of wildlife conservation and denied that Conservation Force, one of IUCNs 1,376 members, had disproportionately any more influence than others.

Wild lion populations in South Africa have plunged but they do not have the highest level of protection (AFP)

IUCN also has anti-trophy hunting organisations among its membership. IUCN commissions, including specialist groups of the Species Survival Commission, accept members on the basis of their individual experience and expertise, not as representatives of an organisation, she said.

IUCN firmly believes that sustainable use of wildlife  of which regulated hunting is one form  is a key component of sound and effective conservation, as outlined in IUCNs Policy Statement on Sustainable Use of Wild Living Resources, adopted by IUCN Members in 2000.

This is aligned with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity which has three key pillars: conservation, sustainable use, and equitable benefit sharing.

Referring to IUCNs briefing paper on the subject, she added: Well-regulated trophy hunting  while it may be ethically unacceptable to some  is not a major threat to any species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species clearly shows that the major threats to the species that are of concern to anti-hunting groups are loss of habitat, loss of prey, and retaliatory killing.

Yes, trophy hunting is badly run in some sites by some unscrupulous individuals and has caused problems. We need to root out these problems and improve the industry, but trying to demonise hunting diverts much needed attention from real conservation problems.

Mr Jackson said CF was a member organisation of the IUCN, and added: With few if any exceptions, species populations are stable or growing at our project sites.

The Independent also asked Cites to comment but has received no response.
The royal coat of arms is affixed to a sign on the front of the Axminster Carpets factory, near the train station in this town of 6,000 in southwest England. Beneath the seal are the words By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen/Carpet Manufacturer.

Known as a royal warrant, the seal and text are the ultimate product endorsement, an honour currently bestowed on 816 businesses in Britain, from dry cleaners to fishmongers.

Axminster Carpets, which was founded in 1755, became part of this elite group by the producing plush, colourful carpets that are in Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and other royalty-owned addresses. Just dont expect to see photos of these bespoke works in any promotional material. The warrant comes with plenty of rules.

Wed like to be shouting from the rooftops, but were not allowed, says Jonathan Young, Axminsters managing director. We cant show any pictures of the carpets we make for the royal family on any of the social media platforms, or any of our own marketing, which is really unfortunate.

As it happens, there are plenty of Axminster carpets on Twitter. Just not the ones the company would like to highlight.

Through a series of improbable events, Axminster Carpets is now closely linked with a corporation that, image-wise, is the opposite of aristocratic. Namely, JD Wetherspoon, a chain of just under 900 pubs selling cut-price beer, 12-ounce rump steaks and other affordable fare throughout Britain and Ireland.

The story of the publics association of Axminster Carpets with JD Wetherspoon begins in 2015. That year writer and lager enthusiast Kit Caless started Wetherspoons Carpets, a blog that catalogued the floor coverings of the companys pubs. Initially, he assumed that most of the carpets would turn out to be identical.

But when friends and Twitter followers started to post photos from their local Spoon, more than 700 images poured in, and Caless made an amazing discovery.

Every carpet was different.

The weird thing is that no one knew about this, Caless says. It was even news to the head of PR at JD Wetherspoon when I called him.

Why would a chain of pubs commission an original carpet for each pub, at a cost of about 24,000, no less? JD Wetherspoon sells roughly 1 million discounted pints of beer a week to hordes of drinkers. Few of them seem concerned with quality furnishings.

The Thomas Ingoldsby in Canterbury (Alamy)

I used to have people stub out their cigarettes on the carpet, says Tim Martin, the founder and chair of JD Wetherspoon. The new Axminster! Occasionally theyd do this while talking to me.

Martin explains that when he created JD Wetherspoon in 1970 he decided that every pub needed its own atmosphere and soul. That meant lots of local art, photographs and an original, singular carpet.

Not until 2016, when Caless published a book called Spoons Carpets: An Appreciation, did the public learn that the barely noticed rugs were one-off designs, meticulously crafted.

Grand Designs Live 2019 Show all 5 1 /5 Grand Designs Live 2019 Grand Designs Live 2019 Grand Designs Live 2019 Grand Designs Live 2019 Grand Designs Live 2019 Grand Designs Live 2019

Axminster Carpets, as it happens, had the JD Wetherspoon contract for only two years, during which it produced about 100 pub carpets. The rest of the Axminsters in JD Wetherspoons were made by rival companies.

Thats because nobody ever patented Axminster, and now, like Xerox and Thermos, the word has evolved from brand name to generic term in Britain. Today, Axminster is a style of carpet, one defined by detail and brilliant hues, and sold by manufacturers around the world.

It doesnt matter. Ever since the blog and the book, Axminster Carpets has been known as the company that makes carpets for JD Wetherspoon, an impression reinforced with Twitter accounts (Wetherspoons Carpet of the Week, Wetherspoon Carpets), an Instagram account (Wetherspoons Carpets) and a Facebook fan site (Wetherspoons Carpet Appreciation Society).

A worker makes progress on the carpet for Brightons pavilion (Alamy)

Its as though a boutique company in the US sold drapes to the White House, but all anyone knew about was its work with Ruby Tuesday.

This is hardly ideal for Axminster Carpets. Its administrative offices, which are attached to the factory, are filled with framed photographs of expensive hotels and stately mansions, each featuring what employees here like to call an Axminster from Axminster. There is not a pub photograph in sight.

On a recent afternoon, a handful of looms in the factory churn out carpets, and the building pulses with a noisy, arrhythmic heartbeat. The largest loom is a vast and elaborate contraption that sprawls across two cavernous rooms and is operated with computers and cameras. Hundreds of bobbins attached to wooden beams feed thread through tubes and into a mechanical weaver. With each eardrum-vibrating second, another fraction of the carpet comes to life.

This one is 72 tufts per square inch, a production manager, Barry Searle, shouts over the din. Its like high-definition telly. You get a better picture.

In a few more hours, a finished carpet festooned with red dragons and blue trim emerges, containing 2.9 million tufts of yarn.

Axminster carpets have made an impression worldwide

Subtract the modern technology and the process is nearly identical to the one used more than 250 years ago when the company was founded by Thomas Whitty.

Whittys rise to carpet greatness is celebrated in the Axminster Heritage Centre, housed on the site of his original factory. Through a number of exhibition galleries and artefacts, the towns history is chronicled from its Stone Age beginnings, with a heavy emphasis on carpetmaking and Whittys life.

In 1754, he was a local clothmaker with more ambition than status. That year, he travelled to London to visit a friend and ironmonger who had recently imported a batch of seamless and very pricey Turkish carpets. Whitty spotted a business opportunity. He would produce similar carpets at a fraction of the cost.

Through an ad in a newspaper, he discovered a high-end carpet factory in London run by a French refugee, Peter Parisot. Back he went to the nations capital, this time hoping for a sneaky, up-close look at Parisots looms and methods. Whitty befriended the father of an apprentice in the factory and, over a pot of coffee, persuaded him to arrange a tour of the premises, under the pretence that Whitty was a relative.

It was an early and effective example of corporate espionage. Once he had opened his own factory, his approach to underselling his rivals was both simple and, by todays standards, criminal. Many of his employees were children, some paupers, hired at one-sixth the cost of the typical male worker.

Within a few decades, Whittys carpets were renowned, initially for their value and later, after his competitors went out of business, for their beauty. King George III visited the factory, as did the future US president John Adams. Adams wife, Abigail, seemed smitten by Whittys productions. The carpets are equally durable with the Turkey, she wrote, but surpass them in colours and figure.

International acclaim followed. When the first US Senate met in 1790, in Philadelphia, a specially commissioned Axminster, with the new countrys Great Seal, covered the floor.

The company went bankrupt in 1835. For a century, the brand lay dormant until a businessman, Harry Dutfield, revived it. Soon enough, Axminsters from Axminster were sold to places like the Royal Albert Hall, which commissioned 43,000 square feet of carpet for rooms, corridors and landings.

Naturally, the owners of Axminster Carpets would love for Britons to think of the monarchys imprimatur whenever they hear the companys name. A royal warrant isnt easily acquired. A company must sell products or services to the Windsors in order to qualify, but that isnt enough. A thumbs-up is needed from Queen Elizabeth; her husband, Prince Philip; or her son, Prince Charles  who are somewhat momentously dubbed the grantors on the royal website.

The work with JD Wetherspoon began in 2008. While the contract was relatively brief, it has come with one enduring upside.

If you Google JD Wetherspoon and carpet, what immediately comes up is Axminster Carpets, says Young, the managing director. Up to 10 times a year, a fan of JD Wetherspoon carpets calls to order something similar.

We never signed an exclusive design agreement with the company, he said. So, we could make it again.

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 New York Times
The US Justice Department has taken early steps towards opening a federal antitrust investigation into Google, according to three people familiar with the matter, marking a new chapter in the tech giants troubles with regulators around the world who contend the company is too large and threatens rivals and consumers.

The move thrusts Google back under the regulatory microscope in the United States roughly six years after another federal agency probed the search and advertising behemoth on grounds that its business practices threatened competitors  though the government spared the company from major punishment at the time.

The exact focus of the Justice Departments investigation is unclear.

The department began work on the matter after brokering an agreement with the governments other antitrust agency, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to take the lead on antitrust oversight of Google, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are confidential.

The probe could threaten Google with a harsh examination of its sprawling digital empire, which includes its dominant position in search and advertising, its Android mobile operating system and newer gambits such as self-driving cars and drones.

Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Show all 15 1 /15 Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct New York, US Google employees hold signs outside 14th street park after walking out as part of a global protest over claims of sexual harassment, gender inequality and systemic racism at the tech giant Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Dublin, Ireland Google employees at its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, join others from around the world PA Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct London, Britain Google staff stage a walkout at the company's UK headquarters in London AFP/Getty Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct New York, US Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Zurich, Switzerland People gather next to the Google office to attend the Google Walkout in Zurich Googlewalkout/Tedonprivacy/Twitter/Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct New York, US AFP/Getty Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Dublin, Ireland PA Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct New York, US Getty Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Dublin, Ireland Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct New York, US Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Dublin, Ireland Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct New York, US Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct Dublin, Ireland A man wearing a Google slogan T-shirt hands out doughnuts to workers standing outside Google's European headquarters Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct New York, US Reuters Google staff stage walkout over handling of sexual misconduct London, Britain Google staff stage a walkout at the company's UK headquarters in London AFP/Getty

Its expansive, data-hungry footprint increasingly has drawn the attention of Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who say that Google  and some of its peers in Silicon Valley  have become too large and should potentially be broken up.

The Department of Justice declined to comment, citing its policy against confirming or denying investigations.

The FTC did not respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Some Democrats seeking the presidency in 2020, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have explicitly threatened more oversight of the tech industry if they win the White House.

Google and other big tech companies have too much power and theyre using that power to hurt small businesses, stifle innovation, and tilt the playing field against everyone else, Ms Warren said in a statement late on Friday. Its time to fight back.

The Trump administration has also studied Silicon Valley  the Justice Department convened state attorneys general last year to explore the competition concerns posed by Google and other big tech companies.

Some of those state attorneys general expressed their own interest in banding together and opening an antitrust investigation of Google at the time.

In Googles previous tangle with antitrust regulators, FTC officials sought to determine whether the companys search algorithms  and its practice of devoting better screen real estate to its services over those of rivals  threatened competitors.

The FTC also investigated Googles advertising practices, as well as the means by which the company licensed to its rivals some of the critical patents involving mobile phones.

But the FTC opted in 2013 against forcing Google to alter broad aspects of its business, including the way it displays search results.

The agency also decided not to pursue a breakup of Google.

The decision by the agency, at the time under President Barack Obama, drew the ire of critics who felt the agency should have challenged Google in a way similar to when the government sued Microsoft in the 1990s in one of the last major US antitrust cases.

The government at the time alleged that Microsoft broke federal antitrust laws to protect its dominant operating system, Windows, and crush competitors.

 Google keeps record of everywhere you've been - but reveals tool to automatically delete data

In contrast, Google has faced greater antitrust scrutiny abroad.

The European Union has been a leading force in actions against the tech giant, and regulators there have imposed roughly $9bn (7.12bn) in fines against the company in the past three years.

Those rulings include findings of violations of competition rules in the way Google presents search results.

EU rulings also faulted the company for how it licenses its Android smartphone operating system to device makers. EU officials also have threatened additional investigations and potential penalties, spurred on by allegations from some of Googles competitors, such as the reviews site Yelp.

At the Justice Department, a full-fledged antitrust probe of Google could present another major test for an agency that has most recently been scrutinising the tech and telecom industries.

Last year, the department unsuccessfully challenged AT&Ts purchase of Time Warner, and in recent weeks, antitrust lawyers there have raised concerns about the proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile.

Makan Delrahim, who currently leads Justices antitrust division, is on his second tour of duty at the agency.

Mr Delrahim previously represented corporate clients including Google during its purchase of the ad giant DoubleClick in 2007.

The Washington Post
Photo: Twitter

UPDATE: 4:35 p.m.

A longtime, disgruntled city employee opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 11 people before police fatally shot him, authorities said.

Six other people were wounded in the shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera.

Five patients were being treated at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital and a sixth was being transferred to the Trauma Center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Sentara Healthcare tweeted.

The shooter opened fire in Building 2 of the municipal centre, which is adjacent to City Hall. The building houses the city's public works, public utilities and planning departments, according to City Councilwoman Barbara Henley, who arrived at City Hall building about 4 p.m. Friday just after the shooting.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911 and barricaded a door.

"We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe," she said. "We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasn't real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots."

She said she texted her mom, telling her that there was an active shooter in the building and she and others were waiting for police. Banton works in an office of about 20 people that is part of the public works department.

"Thank God my baby is OK," Banton's mother, Dana Showers, said.

Cervera identified the shooter as a disgruntled employee of the Public Utilities Department. He did not release his name.

Christina Pullen, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Norfolk, said the bureau is assisting.

ORIGINAL STORY: 4 p.m.

Multiple news agencies say at least 11 people are dead and six injured during a shooting at a municipal centre in Virginia Beach on Friday.

Police have a suspect in custody. They believe the person was acting alone.

Police tweeted that there were "multiple injuries," but did not elaborate on the exact number or extent. Sentara Healthcare tweeted that five patients were being treated at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital and a sixth was being transferred to the Trauma Center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Christina Pullen, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Norfolk, said the bureau is responding to assist Virginia Beach police. She did not have specifics on how many people were hurt.

A police spokesman told The Virginian-Pilot that the shooter opened fire in Building 2 of the municipal centre, which is adjacent to City Hall. The building houses the city's public works, public utilities and planning departments, according to City Councilwoman Barbara Henley, who arrived at City Hall building about 4 p.m. Friday when she saw a crowd of people standing outside.

"Somebody told me there had been a shooting and they were told to leave. Afterward, I heard a loud male voice say, 'Get down!' so I did," Henley told The Associated Press.

"When the person said to get down, then everybody dispersed pretty quickly," she said.

"I'm just sick," she said. "All these people that I work with all the time. They are such really fine people, and I just hope they're all safe."
We were sitting in the green room, waiting to review the papers on Sky television, when Nigel Farage asked if Id like to join him outside, for a fag.

I said I didnt smoke, but that Id join him anyway. So there we stood, skulking outside the studio on Millbank, in Westminster, while Nige had a crafty one. Meanwhile, the floor manager for the show must have been having kittens that the two guests had upped sticks and vanished.

Nobody else would have done that. Plenty of talking heads on TV enjoyed a cigarette, but its impossible to think of one who would just have absented themselves in such a fashion. We came back through the door, grinning like naughty schoolboys. It was par for the course for Farage.
Binyavanga Wainaina was the award-winning Kenyan writer whose humorous, incisive books and essays explored themes of post-colonialism, gender and sexual identity.

Wainaina chose to come out as a gay man in a country that has long demonised homosexuality.

With his trademarked short-cropped, rainbow-dyed hair, Wainaina was considered one of the finest African writers of his generation and a pivotal figure in Kenyas modern literary history.

He received the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story Discovering Home, a semiautobiographical tale of a young man returning to Kenya from South Africa. The next year, he founded the English-language literary magazine Kwani? (Sheng, a Swahili/English dialect, for so what?), which spurred a wave of artistic creativity just as Kenyas autocratic president, Daniel arap Moi, left office after 24 years in power.

Binyavanga was unbound in his imagining  reminding us with art and characteristic playfulness what English can look like when its an African language, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, a Zimbabwe-born editor and literary critic, said in a tribute after Wainainas death.

As an editor and writer for publications in Africa and abroad, including Vanity Fair and The New York Times, Wainaina spent much of his career working to dismantle stereotypes against gay Africans and the continent as a whole. He acquired international renown with his 2005 essay How to Write About Africa, a satirical response to more than a century of overgeneralised, condescending works about the dark continent.

Always use the word Africa or Darkness or Safari in your title, he began, before advising western writers to treat Africa as if it were one country. He added: Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and avoid mentioning school-going children who are not suffering from yaws or Ebola fever or female genital mutilation.

Africa is the only continent you can love  take advantage of this, he added. If you are a man, thrust yourself into her warm virgin forests. If you are a woman, treat Africa as a man who wears a bush jacket and disappears off into the sunset. Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated. Whichever angle you take, be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.

Wainaina giving a TedX talk in London in 2015 (YouTube/TedXEuston)

The essay was originally published in Granta, which said that Wainainas article was one of its most popular pieces. As a student, he sent the magazine a strongly worded letter condemning our 1994 Africa issue, Granta tweeted on Wednesday. His ironic critique was so incisive and true that we published it.

Wainaina drew glowing reviews for his 2011 memoir, One Day I Will Write About This Place, and three years later released what he described as a lost chapter from that book, I Am a Homosexual, Mum.

With its release online, the essay became a gay bombshell in Kenya, the Daily Nation wrote, and made Wainaina one of the most prominent openly gay men in Africa.

The story imagined his coming out to his mother on her deathbed  because of visa issues, he was unable to fly from South Africa to reach her in time  and his decades-long struggle to embrace his sexuality. He had known he was gay since he was five, he said, but did not act on his feelings until five years after his mothers death in 2000, when he received a massage and some brief, paid-for love in London.

Wainaina said the article was inspired in part by increasing penalties against LGBT+ people in Africa. Last Friday, Kenyas high court upheld the countrys ban on homosexuality.

Three months after he published the essay, Wainaina was named as one of Time magazines 100 most influential people.

He felt an obligation to chip away at the shame surrounding homosexuality, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote in Time. By publicly and courageously declaring that he is a gay African, Binyavanga has demystified and humanised homosexuality and begun a necessary conversation that can no longer be about the faceless other.

Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina was born in Nakuru, in Kenyas Rift Valley in 1971. His father was the managing director of an agricultural company, and his mother was a Ugandan-born hair salon owner.

By 11, Wainaina recalled in his memoir, he found himself engrossed in storybooks. If words, in English, arranged on the page have the power to control my body in this world, he wrote, this sound and language can close its folds, like a fan, and I will slide into its world, where things are arranged differently.

While in school, Wainaina preferred writing plays and novels over studying. He attended the University of Transkei in South Africa but dropped out and moved into a one-room outhouse to devote his life to reading.

He came to support himself through a catering and food consultancy business in Cape Town, where he developed a collection of more than 13,000 African recipes, worked as a freelance food and travel journalist, and began writing short stories. He later received a masters degree in creative writing from the University of East Anglia in England.

By 2001, when he was back in Kenya, he was urging almost everyone he knew to write, write, write  developing a roster of photographers, poets and short-story writers who ultimately contributed to Kwani?, considered the countrys first literary journal.

He told us that in the new Kenya, you can talk about real issues, writer Alvas Onguru told The Washington Post in 2003. You can talk about race and express yourself politically. So many friends and friends of friends who dreamed of being writers came out of the woodwork.

Since colonialism, we have been told how to think, Wainaina tod that newspaper. I think most people are thrilled that those days are gone. Its time for Kenyans to bring out their work and define themselves.

In 2016 he revealed he was HIV-positive. He died of a stroke, aged 48, on 21 May.

Last year, he announced that he was engaged to his partner, a Nigerian whom he did not name publicly, saying they planned to marry and live in South Africa.

Wainaina served as the director of the Chinua Achebe Centre for African Writers and Artists, based at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. But for all his lectureships, speaking appearances and magazine honours, he resisted being viewed as a world-changing activist  notably when he declined the World Economic Forums 2007 Young Global Leader award.

The problem here is that I am a writer, he wrote in a letter to the organisation. And although, like many, I go to sleep at night fantasising about fame, fortune and credibility, the thing that is most valuable in my trade is to try, all the time, to keep myself loose, independent and creative  It would be an act of great fraudulence for me to accept the trite idea that I am going to significantly impact world affairs.

Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan author and civil rights activist, born 18 January 1971, died 21 May 2019

 The Washington Post
Brexit Party supporters are flocking to join the Conservative Party to help elect the next prime minister, new analysis has revealed.

A study of social media posts found dozens of supporters of Nigel Farages party boasting that they had joined the Conservatives to support Eurosceptic leadership candidates.

They include people who had previously been reported to the Conservative Party for alleged Islamophobia, including one who endorsed the idea of a total ban on Muslim immigration and another who shared a joke about Muslims being wiped out in America.

The dossier, compiled by the Peoples Vote campaign and seen by The Independent, revealed dozens of Facebook posts from Brexit Party supporters who had successfully signed up to join the Conservatives.

A YouGov poll last week found that 59 per cent of current Tory members voted for Mr Farages party in last months European Parliament elections.

But the revelation that Brexit Party supporters are actively signing up as Conservative members to vote in the leadership contest is likely to fuel fears of entryism  an issue that has already been raised by several prominent Tory MPs.

Conservative Party rules state that members must have been in the party for at least three months to be eligible to vote, but many Brexit Party supporters claimed they had signed up for Tory membership months ago in anticipation of a leadership contest.

One wrote on Eurosceptic ringleader Jacob Rees-Moggs Facebook page: I joined so I could vote when the time came.

Another said they had signed up just to be able to have a voice in who I want as next leader. One said: I joined the Conservative Party to get rid of May and her cronies.

Phillip Lee, the former justice minister and a supporter of the campaign for a second referendum, told The Independent: I have long since feared that some are joining [the Conservatives] now at the instigation of rivals now who do not have either our partys interests or those of our country at heart. This dossier makes disturbing reading for all of us who love the Conservative Party.

Our party members, most of whom remain some of the most sensible and decent people in Britain, will have the chance to pick not only our next leader but our next prime minister. It is vital that we choose someone who represents our partys great traditions, who will fight for business and families, not the extreme and entryist agenda of the narrow nationalists behind Nigel Farage.

Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Show all 3 1 /3 Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Boris Johnson - 157 votes PA Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Michael Gove - 61 votes Getty Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Jeremy Hunt - 59 votes PA

On Saturday Mr Lee was the subject of a no-confidence vote by Tory members in his Bracknell constituency. He has previously claimed that more than half of those behind the move had only joined his local party in the last year.

Last year, Leave.EU chair and former Ukip donor Arron Banks said he wanted to use his groups 90,000 members to recruit 50,000 new members to the Conservatives to make a real difference ... and help install a true Brexiteer such as Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg to the top job.

Since then, Leave.EU has spent thousands of pounds on online adverts urging its supporters to join the Tories.

Despite widespread anger at the governments handling of Brexit and the party plummeting in opinion polls, the Conservatives membership increased from 124,000 in March 2018 to more than 160,000 today.

The party has claimed this was a result of a recruitment drive introduced by Brandon Lewis, the party chair, but the new analysis is likely to lead to concerns that it is also a result of entryism.

The Conservatives have been contacted for comment.
Border Force agents have intercepted a dozens of migrants off the Kent coast as they attempted to cross the English Channel into Britain.

Authorities said some 74 people, including several children, were found on eight vessels on Saturday morning.

Eight men wrapped in blankets next to an inflatable dinghy were spotted on Winchelsea Beach.

Charlie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover and Deal, said that the incident would mark a record number of boats arriving in a single day.

Last month, 140 migrants were found trying to cross the Channel. This was the highest number since Sajid Javid, the home secretary, declared a major incident in December.

Eight men were seen on Winchelsea Beach after apparently crossing the Channel (Sean Winchelsea/ Twitter) (Sean Winchelsea/Twitter)

Mr Javid said the number of migrants attempting to cross the Channel was deeply concerning, and that he was speaking with his counterparts in France about it.

Those who choose to make this dangerous journey across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world are putting their lives in grave danger and I will continue to do all I can to stop them, he said.

"It is an established principle that those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and since January more than 30 people who arrived illegally in the UK in small boats have been returned to Europe.

"We will continue to seek to return anyone who has entered the UK illegally."

Mr Elphicke added: This crisis was meant to have been dealt with at Christmas, yet numbers continue to rise.

It looks set to surge to record levels through the summer. The Home Office needs to get a grip on this crisis.

This is about much more than simply border security. It is about the exploitation of vulnerable people by criminal trafficking gangs  gangs that Britain and France must work together to catch and bring to justice.

These journeys are also incredibly dangerous. Overcrowded boats with men, women and children aboard. The risk of a tragedy in the middle of the English Channel resulting in loss of life is very real.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 27 December 2021 A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London Getty UK news in pictures 26 December 2021 Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham PA UK news in pictures 25 December 2021 Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip PA UK news in pictures 24 December 2021 People stand inside Kings Cross Station on Christmas Eve in London Reuters UK news in pictures 23 December 2021 Christmas shoppers fill the car park at Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester PA UK news in pictures 22 December 2021 The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge. Getty UK news in pictures 21 December 2021 People take part in a winter solstice swim at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh to mark the solstice and to witness the dawn after the longest night of the year PA UK news in pictures 20 December 2021 An auction employee displays poultry to buyers and sellers attending the Christmas Poultry Sale at York Auction Centre in Murton PA UK news in pictures 19 December 2021 Joao Moutinho of Wolverhampton Wanderers looks on during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea at Molineux Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 December 2021 Freight lorries queuing at the port of Dover in Kent PA UK news in pictures 17 December 2021 Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, bursts 'Boris' bubble' held by colleague Tim Farron, as she celebrates following her victory in the North Shropshire by-election PA UK news in pictures 16 December 2021 Brussels sprouts are harvested by workers as they prepare for the busy Christmas period near Boston in Lincolnshire PA UK news in pictures 15 December 2021 Lewis Hamilton is made a Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 14 December 2021 The Royal Liver Buildings surrounded by early morning fog in Liverpool PA UK news in pictures 13 December 2021 People queue outside a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centre at St Thomas's Hospital in Westminster Getty Images UK news in pictures 12 December 2021 People take part in the Big Leeds Santa Dash in Roundhay Park, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 11 December 2021 People arrive at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Elland Road in Leeds, PA UK news in pictures 10 December 2021 Stella Moris speaks to the media after the US Government won its High Court bid to overturn a judges decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange PA UK news in pictures 9 December 2021 Camels are lead around Salisbury Cathedral during a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Service PA UK news in pictures 8 December 2021 Margaret Keenan and Nurse May Parsons, a year after Margaret was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer vaccine PA UK news in pictures 7 December 2021 Snowfall in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire as Storm Barra hits the UK with disruptive winds, heavy rain and snow PA UK news in pictures 6 December 2021 A person tries to avoid sea spray on New Brighton promenade in Wallasey as the UK readies for the arrival of Storm Barra Getty UK news in pictures 5 December 2021 People release balloons during a tribute to six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes outside Emma Tustin's former address in Solihull, West Midlands, where he was murdered by his stepmother PA UK news in pictures 4 December 2021 People walk through a Christmas market in Trafalgar Square Reuters UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 2 December 2021 Duchess of Cambridge inspects a Faberge egg at the Victoria and Albert Museum Getty UK news in pictures 1 December 2021 Meerkats at London Zoo with an advent calendar PA UK news in pictures 30 November 2021 Workers put the finishing touches to the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree ahead of the lighting ceremony later in the week PA UK news in pictures 29 November 2021 Home Secretary Priti Patel is greeted by a police dog at a special memorial service for Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana Getty UK news in pictures 28 November 2021 Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City battles for possession with Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during a match at the Etihad during snow Manchester City/Getty UK news in pictures 27 November 2021 Residents clear branches from a fallen tree in Birkenhead, north west England as Storm Arwen triggered a rare red weather warning AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 An aerial picture shows a worker using a quad bike and trailer to transport freshly harvested trees at Pimms Christmas Tree farm in Matfield, southeast England AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 26 November 2021 A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 November 2021 A murmuration of hundreds of thousands of starlings fly over a field at dusk in Cumbria, close to the Scottish border PA UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 November 2021 Migrants are helped ashore from a RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) lifeboat at a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel. AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 23 November 2021 The coffin of Sir David Amess is carried past politicians, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the requiem mass for the MP at Westminster Cathedral, central London PA UK news in pictures 22 November 2021 The scene in Dragon Rise, Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset where police have launched a murder probe after two people were found dead Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 21 November 2021 London-based midwife Sarah Muggleton, 27, takes part in a 'March with Midwives' in central London to highlight the crisis in maternity services PA UK news in pictures 20 November 2021 Police officers monitor as climate change activists sit down and block traffic during a protest action in solidarity with activists from the Insulate Britain group who received prison terms for blocking roads, on Lambeth Bridge in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 19 November 2021 A giant installation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson made from recycled clothing goes on display at Manchester Central, as part of Manchester Art Fair, in a 'wake-up call for the Prime Minister to tackle textile waste' PA UK news in pictures 18 November 2021 The scene at a recycling centre in Stert, near Devizes in Wiltshire after a large blaze was brought under control. The fire broke out on Wednesday night the fire service has said and local residents were advised to keep windows and doors shut due to large amounts of smoke PA UK news in pictures 17 November 2021 The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 16 November 2021 ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 15 November 2021 Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool Reuters UK news in pictures 14 November 2021 Wreaths by the Cenotaph after the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London PA UK news in pictures 13 November 2021 Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is ending his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Ratcliffe has spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London without food. He began his demonstration on 24 October after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, saying his family was caught in a dispute between two states PA UK news in pictures 12 November 2021 Peter Green protesting outside the Cop26 gates during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow. PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2021 Seagulls fly around the statue entitled 'Tommy', a first World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale at dawn in Seaham, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 10 November 2021 Climate activists dressed as characters inspired by the Netflix series Squid Game protest as they ask Samsung to go 100% renewable energy, outside the venue for COP26 in Glasgow Reuters

A Home Office spokesperson said: Border Force is currently dealing with ongoing small boat incidents off the Kent coast.

Further details will be provided once the situation has been resolved.

It comes a week after eight migrants were found in a boat heading towards the Kent coast and were taken to immigration centres.

In April, 36 migrants were intercepted by border officials in the English Channel while attempting to reach the UK.

Last year, more than 500 refugees tried to travel to the UK on small vessels with four in five of them attempting the journey in the last three months of the year.
An array of imposing US military helicopters has been spotted over central London, believed to be preparing for Donald Trumps impending state visit.

At least five aircraft were spotted over the River Thames, Regents Park and Kings Cross St Pancras station on Friday afternoon, prompting confusion among Londoners.

Maybe Ive been watching #hbochernobyl too much, but a fleet of military chinook helicopters circling around London at the mo is not very reassuring, said one social media user.

But the detachment also reportedly flew further south, to Portsmouth, where Mr Trump will visit for D-Day commemorations. I think I have just seen Marine 1, a Sea King and two police helicopters fly over my house in Portsmouth. You dont see that every day, a resident tweeted.

Among the craft appeared to be two Sea Kings  one of the types used as the presidential Marine One transport  painted with white upper fuselages, resembling the iconic green-and-white livery associated with the US commander in chiefs helicopter.

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was 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 AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

Alongside were at least one Black Hawk-type aircraft and two massive twin-rotor Chinooks.

Some helicopters in the Marine One fleet are known as White Hawks, versions of Sikorskys UH-60 Black Hawk that have been modified for presidential service.

The Independent understands all the military aircraft belonged to the US, while reports on social media suggested one further helicopter was from the UKs National Police Air Service.

The Department of Defence has been contacted for comment.

Twitter users speculated the display was related to Mr Trumps state visit next week.

One said: Loads of military helicopters including chinooks flying around over south London. They must be practising for you know whos arrival next week!

Another complained: Bloody pre-Trump preparations mean London is turned into a ruddy helicopter highway  noise & pollution...

Later, separate footage showed a larger group of Chinooks and three other helicopters conducting a new sortie.
Clearing up after Boris Johnson's gaffes as foreign secretary was a "full-time activity", one of his former ministers has said.

Sir Alan Duncan, the Europe minister, said there were "quite a lot of consequences" of Mr Johnson's failure to display a "conventional diplomatic manner" during his two years at the Foreign Office.

He claimed that one country's foreign minister had suggested he was Mr Johnson's "pooper scooper" because he had cleared up his mess so many times.

Mr Johnson's two years as foreign secretary were marred by a series of gaffes, including wrongly claiming that a British citizen imprisoned in Iran had been training journalists in the country, describing Africa as "that country" and suggesting Libya had a bright future if it simply "cleared the dead bodies away".

Despite his record, he has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to succeed Theresa May as prime minister.

Recommended Trump backs Boris Johnson for prime minister

Sir Alan admitted that his former boss was ahead in the contest and called on a third of the current 12 candidates to quit, saying it was "embarrassing" that so many had put themselves forward.

The Rutland and Melton MP, who has previously suggested that Mr Johnson is "not fit to govern", told BBC Radio 4's Today: "Boris as foreign secretary was very controversial and did not necessarily win friends for Britain everywhere."

He suggested that Mr Johnson did not have "a conventional diplomatic manner", a problem which led to "quite a lot of consequences", and said his support for Brexit had angered other countries.

He added: "There was an amusing moment when one foreign minister said to me, 'Alan, what is it like being Boris Johnson's pooper scooper?'. Clearing up after him was quite a full-time activity."

Sir Alan admitted that Mr Johnson was "the man to beat" in the race but said there were "doubts about personal qualities".

He predicted that the former foreign secretary and all the other leadership candidates would have to accept in the future that Ms May had been right about Brexit.

Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Show all 3 1 /3 Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Boris Johnson - 157 votes PA Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Michael Gove - 61 votes Getty Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Jeremy Hunt - 59 votes PA

The large number of candidates vying to succeed the current prime minister has prompted calls from some senior Tories for party rules to be changed to narrow the field.

Sir Alan backed the idea, saying the current number of contenders was "a bit embarrassing" and "a bit silly" and calling on contenders to withdraw if they fail to secure the support of at least ten Tory MPs.

He named Mr Johnson, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove as being in the "top league" of candidates, ahead of the "next layer" of Sajid Javid, Dominic Raab and possibly Andrea Leadsom. He also praised "young thrusters" Matt Hancock and Rory Stewart, who he said had "great qualities, but probably for the next generation"

But he added: "Everybody else should just admit to themselves that this is perhaps a cry for attention or a cry for 'excuse me can I be a minister when this is all over?' and I think they ought to have a bit more self-realisation and stop now."
Sajid Javid has said he would be prepared to take Britain out of the EU without a deal if he became prime minister.

The home secretary, who is one of 12 candidates vying to succeed Theresa May, said he hoped to be able to secure MPs backing for a Brexit deal but claimed that if this was not possible, Britain should with great regret, leave without one.

Mr Javid set out a five-point plan for taking Britain out of the EU, including a fresh attempt to secure parliaments approval for a deal.

He said he would also ramp up preparations for no deal, saying: This isnt because I want it, but we have to accept the reality of our situation.

The EUs insistence that negotiations happen under a ticking clock mean, come 31 October, that is what we face if we dont have a deal.

Writing in the Daily Mail, he added: As prime minister I would have a clear position. We should leave on 31 October. And if we cannot get a deal we should, with great regret, leave without one, having done everything we can to minimise disruption.

The EU has said repeatedly that it is not willing to reopen negotiations on the current deal, but Mr Javid insisted he would try to negotiate directly with Ireland to find a way to keep the Northern Ireland border open after Brexit.

He insisted Home Office analysis had concluded that there could be a technological solution to the problem, meaning the controversial Northern Irish backstop, which is hated by many Conservative MPs, would not be needed.

He said: Ive looked at this in the Home Office, tasking a team from Border Force to look at what wed need in place. They were clear the technologies already exist to avoid a hard border, and important work in being undertaken by the Alternative Arrangement Commission on this front. What we need is the trust and will on both sides to make this work a reality.

A Home Office document leaked earlier this year said the analysis had concluded that such a solution was at least a decade away.

Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Show all 3 1 /3 Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Boris Johnson - 157 votes PA Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Michael Gove - 61 votes Getty Who is standing to be the next prime minister? Jeremy Hunt - 59 votes PA

Mr Javid also ruled out a fresh referendum, saying: The voters have been asked their opinion more than enough times. Never in this countrys history have we asked people to go to the polls a second time without implementing their verdict from the first.

Another vote before we leave would be disastrous for trust in politics, and cause the kind of chaos that risks handing Jeremy Corbyn and his hard-left supporters the keys to No 10.

The candidates position on no deal has become a key issue in the contest.

Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, was seen to have damaged his chances after suggesting that a no-deal outcome would be political suicide for the Conservatives.

Several of the candidates, including frontrunner Boris Johnson, have said they would try to secure a better deal but would be willing to leave without an agreement if that proves impossible.

One, former cabinet minister Esther McVey, has said she would favour leaving without a deal.
Donald Trump has risked sparking a diplomatic row ahead of his state visit to the UK by declaring that Boris Johnson would be "an excellent" prime minister.

Wading into the Conservative leadership contest, the US president described the foreign secretary as a "very good guy" who would "do a very good" as the successor to Theresa May.

Mr Trump arrives in the UK on Monday for a three-day state visit. It is highly unconventional for a sitting US president to involve themselves in a UK political leadership contest.

His comments came as Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party, said he had been banned from meeting the US president.

In an interview with The Sun ahead of his visit, Mr Trump said: I've actually have studied it very hard. I know the different players. I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.

He added: I like him. I have always liked him. I dont know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.

He has been very positive about me and our country.

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

Mr Trump also claimed that other candidates in the Tory leadership race had asked him to endorse them.

He said: Other people have asked me for an endorsement too. I have been asked for endorsements.

He added: I could help anybody if I endorse them. I mean, weve had endorsement where they have gone up for 40, 50 points at a shot.

Now that is here, but I understand over there it would be a great endorsement.

Mr Trump has previously spoken of his admiration for Mr Johnson and Mr Farage.

According to The Times, senior White House officials are preparing for a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Johnson.

 Tory leadership race: Boris Johnson in profile

Mr Farage, however, said he has been banned from meeting Mr Trump during his visit.

He told the Daily Express that the US president's team had been told by No 10 not to arrange a meeting.

Mr Farage said: Isnt that absolutely bizarre? Doesnt it sum up why British politics needs to change?
Thousands of Canadian women and girls were murdered or disappeared over nearly half a century in a genocide, according to a leaked report of a government inquiry.

Indigenous females face disproportionate violence largely because of state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies, the document states.

Rights groups have for decades pointed to cases of women and girls vanishing or being killed. A study by the National Institute of Justice found 84 per cent of Native American and Alaska native women have experienced violence in their lifetime and more than half have endured the violence at the hands of an intimate partner.

The inquiry report, due out on Monday but seen in advance by CBC News, says: We do know that thousands of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) people have been lost to the Canadian genocide to date.

It adds: The fact that First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples are still here and that the population is growing should not discount the charge of genocide.

Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Show all 11 1 /11 Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Alaya McIvor Alaya McIvor lost two women close to her as well as experiencing human trafficking, and now speaks out about indigenous rights Alaya McIvor Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Roberta McIvor Roberta McIvor, cousin of Alaya, was killed in Manitoba, Canada, in 2012 Alaya McIvor Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Laney Ewenin memorial A memorial for Eleanor 'Laney' Ewenin who was found dead in 1982 Danielle Ewenin Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Canada inquiry Families at the National Inquiry in Canada Danielle Ewenin Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Canada inquiry Families at the National Inquiry in Canada Danielle Ewenin Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada LA MMIW protest Activists march for missing and murdered indigenous women at the Women's March California 2019 Sarah Morris/Getty Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada LA MMIW protest Activists march for missing and murdered indigenous women at the Women's March California 2019 Sarah Morris/Getty Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Seattle MMIW protest Erandi Flores and Nadia Bucio, both from Mexico and from a group raising awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women, join thousands at a rally at Cal Anderson Park prior to the Women's March on January 20, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. Karen Ducey/Getty Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada LA MMIW protest Activists march for missing and murdered indigenous women at the Women's March California 2019 Getty Images Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada Seattle MMIW protest Thousands listen to speakers raising awareness of missing and murdered indigenous women at a rally at Cal Anderson Park prior to the Women's March on January 20, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. Across the nation hundreds of thousands of people are marching on what is the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump's swearing-in Karen Ducey/Getty Murdered and missing indigenous women in US and Canada LA MMIW protest A young activist at the Women's March in California, 2019 Sarah Morris/Getty

The report, entitled Reclaiming Power and Place, says that due to the gravity of this issue, the inquiry is preparing a supplementary report on the Canadian genocide of indigenous peoples according to the legal definition of genocide, which will be posted at a later date on the inquiry website, CBC News reported.

Running to over 1,200 pages it carries at least 230 recommendations.

It comes after two and a half years of work by the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, ordered by Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.

Estimates have put the number of indigenous women and girls who have disappeared or been murdered in Canada since the 1970s at up to 4,000, but the inquiry report says the true number may be impossible to establish.

From 2005 to 2010, the Sisters In Spirit Initiative said it confirmed 582 cases of missing and/or murdered indigenous women and girls over 20 years.

The murder of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine in the summer of 2014 gave fresh impetus to calls for a national inquiry. By 2015, the UN backed a public inquiry.

To produce the new report, the inquiry held 24 sessions, attended by at least 2,380 people, including family members of those killed or missing.

The missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW) issue involves indigenous people in Canada and the US, including the First Nations, Inuit, Metis and Native American communities.

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The inquiry website says: Shining a light on all the causes of violence, murders and disappearances is a daunting task. But it is a necessary one. We are exposing hard truths about the devastating impacts of colonisation, racism and sexism  aspects of Canadian society that many Canadians are reluctant to accept.

Robert Pickton, one of the worlds most notorious serial killers, who was jailed in 2007, said he butchered 49 women at his farm near Vancouver.

It was claimed that police had not taken the disappearances seriously because the women were sex workers and mostly from Canadas indigenous community.

The death in 1971 of Helen Betty Osborne, 19, a Cree Aboriginal woman who was abducted and murdered in the street in Manitoba, prompted the wave of campaigning that finally culminated in the inquirys launch.

In her wake came thousands of cases of deaths and disappearances that activists say were not properly investigated.

They range from the deaths of Gloria Moody, 27, in 1969 to that of 14-year-old Aielah Saric-Auger in 2006. The Sisters in Spirit movement published a report in 2009 of the personal stories of the women and girls.

CBC News has a database of 308 cases, including 66 since 2019.
The massacre of 12 people in Virginia by a disgruntled worker is the 568th known American mass shooting in the past two years.

At least 802 people have died in shootings involving four or more people in this period, data collected by the Gun Violence Archive shows.

The citys mayor described the Virginia Beach atrocity as the most devastating day in the history of the city.

Despite widespread protests, calls for tighter gun laws and major controversies within the National Rifle Association, politicians face an uphill battle to introduce new rules.

However, the issue of gun legislation looks set to become a major one for candidates in the 2020 election, with presidential hopeful John Hickenlooper already endorsing tighter laws.

Here The Independent looks at some of the the deadliest mass shootings in the United States over the past two years.

Mass shootings in America Show all 8 1 /8 Mass shootings in America Mass shootings in America Camden shootings  1949 Howard Unruh killed 13 people, including three children, during a 12-minute walk through his neighborhood on September 6, 1949, in Camden, New Jersey, when he was 28 years old. The incident became known as the "Walk of Death". Unruh was found to be criminally insane and died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of 88, following 60 years of confinement. Alamy Mass shootings in America University of Texas tower shooting  1966 Charles Whitman killed 17 people and injured 31 others in Austin, Texas. After stabbing his mother and wife the night before, he headed to the University of Texas, where he opened fire on people in the campus and streets from the observation desk. He was shot dead after a policeman and civilian reached the scene. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library Mass shootings in America Easter Sunday Massacre  1975 James Ruppert killd 11 family members in his mother's house, which included his mother, brother and his wife, as well as their eight children. He used a magnum, two handguns and a rifle. Mass shootings in America Wilkes-Barre shootings  1982 Former prison guard, George Banks, shot dead 13 people in Pennsylvania, including five of his own children. AP Photo/Times Leader Mass shootings in America Wah Mee massacre  1983 Three men, Kwan Fai Mak, Wai-Chiu Ng, and Benjamin Ng, killed 13 people who were in Seattle's Wah Mee gambling club. YouTube/KIRO 7 News Mass shootings in America San Ysidro McDonald's massacre  1984 James Huberty killed 21 people and injured 19 others after he walked in a McDonald's in San Diego. He was shot dead by a sniper after 78 minutes of him entering the restaurant. Alamy Mass shootings in America Palm Sunday massacre  1984 Ten people were shot dead from handguns at close range in a New York home. A baby girl was the only survivor after convicted dealer, Christopher Thomas, shot three women, one teenage girl and six children in their Brooklyn home. Thomas was convicted of manslaughter and cleared of murder. He was released from prison after 32 years. Mass shootings in America Edmond post office shooting  1986 Patrick Sherrill, a postal worker at the Edmond post office in Oklahoma, killed 14 co-workers and injured 6 others, before he shot himself. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Collection

 15 Feb 2019: Gary Martin killed five co-workers at a manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois, during a disciplinary meeting where he was fired. He wounded one other employee and five of the first police officers to arrive at the suburban Chicago plant before he was killed in a shootout with police.

 7 Nov 2018: Ian David Long killed 12 people at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, California, before taking his own life. Long was a Marine combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

 27 Oct 2018: Robert Bowers is accused of opening fire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during Shabbat morning services, killing 11 people and injuring several others. Its the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.

 28 June 2018: Jarrod Ramos shot through the windows of the Capital Gazette offices in Annapolis, Maryland, before turning the weapon on employees there, killing five at the Capital newspaper. Authorities say Ramos had sent threatening letters to the newspaper prior to the attack.

 18 May 2018: Dimitrios Pagourtzis began shooting during an art class at Santa Fe High School in Texas. The 17-year-old killed eight students and two teachers and 13 others were wounded. Explosive were found at the school and off campus.

 14 Feb 2018: Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It surpassed Columbine High School as the deadliest shooting at a high school in US history.

 5 Nov 2017: Devin Patrick Kelley, who had been discharged from the US Air Force after a conviction for domestic violence, used an AR-style firearm to shoot up a congregation at a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing more than two dozen people.

 1 Oct 2017: Stephen Paddock opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip from the 32nd floor of a hotel-casino, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500. SWAT teams with explosives then stormed his room and found he had killed himself.
As wildfire season looms in B.C., mitigation efforts are underway in more than 180 locations across the province, several right here in the Okanagan.

On Friday, the Forest Enhancement Society of British Columbia. and Tolko gave a tour of the ongoing work in Kelowna's Joe Rich area.

In 2016, FESBC was formed and funded by the provincial government to fund wildfire mitigation projects across the province, while helping to improve wildlife habitat, improve greenhouse gas management and support the use of wood products from damaged forests.

Tolko began looking into the Joe Rich project in the spring of 2017, before the wildfire that summer burned 465 hectares in the area.

The following year, FESBC approved the project, and this past winter, treatment began in the area.

They take the ladder fuels on the trees like the branches, take them up as far as they could. They get rid of a bunch of the fuels on the ground like the old windfalls, branches, those type of things that have accumulated over the years, and pile and burn them, said Michael Bragg, woodlands manager of forestry at Tolko.

The thought process is that the fire will got through and burn the needles and branches and won't get high enough, won't be intense enough, to get up into the canopy which is where it becomes a challenge to fight.

This hand treatment" work is conducted near homes, in co-ordination with more conventional timber harvesting farther away from properties.

David Conly, FESBC operations manager, says they've funded 187 proposals across the province since 2016, to the tune of about $180 million.

Joe Rich resident Louise Abbott attended Friday's tour. As the chairperson of the community's Forestry and Trails Committee, she said residents in the area are happy with the mitigation work, and with Tolko's consultation with locals.

The residents really feel that this is an important part of the Joe Rich forest to keep it healthy and safe and to have a good collaborative voice with the people who are looking after this project, Abbott said.

Wildfire mitigation work is also underway in East Kelowna.

The Joe Rich project is expected to be completed in 2020.
A serial killer who has confessed to murdering 93 women over 40 years has been charged with two more murders.

Samuel Little is already serving life for killing four women  three in California and one in Texas.

Now the 78-year-old has been charged by a grand jury with the murders of 21-year-old Mary Jo Peyton in 1984 and 32-year-old Rose Evans in 1991.

Both women were strangled to death in Cleveland, Ohio.

FBI detectives have now closed more than half of all the other killings Little has confessed to  but, since he has no chance of ever being released from his current sentence, it is expected he will not be charged with most of them.

The Most Notorious Serial Killers Show all 20 1 /20 The Most Notorious Serial Killers The Most Notorious Serial Killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were found guilty of murder, in the sensational 'Bodies of the Moor' trial. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers Harold Shipman Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 of his elderly patients in Hyde, Greater Manchester but an inquiry later concluded he probably murdered 250 people over the course of his career as a GP. Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers Ted Bundy Ted Bundy confessed to killing 30 young women and girls across the US in the 1970s. He was executed by electric chair in 1989. AP The Most Notorious Serial Killers Fred and Rosemary West Serial killers Fred and Rosemary West who committed at least 12 murders between 1967 and 1987 in Gloucestershire. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers Charles Manson Charles Manson, a hippie cult leader, orchestrated the murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles during the summer of 1969. Rex The Most Notorious Serial Killers Andrei Chikatilo Notorious Ukrainian cannibalistic serial killer Andrei Chikatilo who was charged with the murders of 53 people. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper murdered female prostitutes who lived and worked in the East End of London. Their throats were cut prior to internal organs being removed from the bodies. The killer was never caught. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Beverley Allitt Nurse, Beverley Allitt, murdered four children and injured others during her time at the children's ward at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire in 1991. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers Edmund Kemper Kemper murdered his paternal grandparents aged 15 and was sent to a maximum-security facility that housed mentally ill convicts. However, was released after convincing the psychiatrists that he had been rehabilitated aged 21. He went on to murder several women, including his mother in the 1970s, where he engaged in necrophilia after the killings. Bettmann Archive/Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Dahmer confessed to murders of 17 men lured to his apartment. He kept the skulls of his victims after eating parts of some of them. Channel 4 The Most Notorious Serial Killers Gary Ridgway Gary Ridgway received 48 life sentences, with out the possibility of parole, for killing 48 women in the Green River Killer serial murder case. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Peter Sutcliffe Peter Sutcliffe, became known as the Yorkshire Ripper after he murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980. Most of his victims were prostitutes. Express Newspapers/Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers The Zodiac Killer The Zodiac Killer murdered several victims between the 1960s and 70s. He sent a series of letters to the local press in Northern California which included cryptograms to help solve the murders. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Most Notorious Serial Killers Joanna Dennehy Joanna Dennehy stabbed three men to death and attempted to murder another two people during the 'Peterborough ditch murders'. She carried out the crime over a 10-day period in 2013. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers Tsutomu Miyazaki Tsutomu Miyazaki who was sentenced to death in 1997 after carrying out the gruesome killings of four young girls. He abducted, killed and indulged in sexual activities with their corpses, as well as keeping body parts of the victims and sending postcards to their families describing the murders. AFP/Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Aileen Wuornos Aileen Wuornos murdered six men whilst she was working as a prostitute. She shot them all at point-blank range between 1989 and 1990. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Dennis Nilsen Nilsen, the 'Muswell Hill Murderer', is a serial killer and necrophiliac. He murdered at least 12 men between 1978 and 1983. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and men between 1972 and 1978. Rex Features The Most Notorious Serial Killers Dennis Rader Dennis Rader, 'the BTK murderer', killed 10 times between 1974 and 1991. His first victims were all from one family. The pattern of systematic torture, lead him to be called the Bind, Tie, Kill (BTK) murderer. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Mary Ann Cotton Mary Ann Cotton was believed to have had as many as 21 victims. She is thought to have used arsenic to poison and kill three of her four husbands, possibly as many as eight of her own children, seven stepchildren, her mother, a lover and an inconvenient friend. She was hung on March 24, 1873, after being found guilty of murdering her stepson. Rex Features

Michael O'Malley, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor behind the Cleveland charges, said: "There are no words to describe the pure evil that exists within Samuel Little.

Revealing details of the two cases, he said the one-time ambulance attendant and cemetery worker had met Ms Peyton in a city bar before driving her to an abandoned factory and strangling her.

He had picked Ms Evans up on the side of a road and killed her in a deserted property before leaving her body in a car park.

His heinous disregard for human life is incomprehensible, said Mr OMalley.

It is possible the full extent of Littles savageness will never be known but, over 43 years, from 1970, and across at least nine states, he specifically targeted lone females.

He is said to be able to recall most in almost photographic details. "I remember all my girls," he told authorities at one point.

FBI agents say he especially went after vulnerable women who were often involved in prostitution and addicted to drugs".

And, although he was charged with two killings in the 1980s, both cases collapsed.

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He was only finally caught after a random DNA test linked him to several killings in California in 2013. After being found guilty of three murders in 2014, he admitted another 90 shortly afterwards.

Among his confession, Little, who is originally from Reynolds, Georgia, told authorities he killed five women in Ohio, including three who lived around Cleveland.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Office's Cold Case Unit was able to identify Ms Peyton and Ms Evans as Little's victims, but is still trying to identify the third woman.
A teacher in Texas has been placed on administrative leave after sending tweets to Donald Trump reporting undocumented students in her school district.

Georgia Clark, a teacher based in the Fort Worth area of Texas, sent a series of messages to the presidents Twitter account on 22 May, which complained that Fort Worth Independent School District had been taken over by illegal students from Mexico. The tweets have since been deleted.

Carter-Riverside High School has been taken over by them, she continued in a tweet addressed to Mr President. Drug dealers are on our campus and nothing was done to them when the drug dogs found the evidence.

She added that the president was elected on the promise that a wall would be built to protect our borders.

The president did not appear to respond to her concerns.

Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Show all 20 1 /20 Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The prototypes for President Trumps border wall are being demolished. AP Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The US Customs and Border protection had built the eight 30-foot tall steel and concrete models near San Diego on the US-Mexico border. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office found that the construction challenges presented by the four concrete models would be extensive and those presented by two of the other models would be substantial. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California It was intended that Mr Trump would choose his favourite of the designs after testing had been completed. AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The President is yet to comment. AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Each prototype cost $300,000 to $500,000 to build and they are being knocked down in order to make way for the San Diego Secondary Wall project which will see up to 14 miles of barrier being built to support the existing steel border fence. AP Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The new barrier will not employ the design of any of the prototypes, instead being built of the favoured steel bollards which make up the current section of the wall at San Diego. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The new secondary barrier being built near San Diego. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The rubble of one of the demolished prototypes. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A steel wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A wall prototype made from a mix of steel and concrete AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A wall prototype made from a mix of steel and concrete AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A steel wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A digger approaches the prototype wall AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Aerial view of the wall prototypes at the US-Mexico border after they were torn down AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California An aerial view showing Tijuana, Mexico on the left and the demolished wall prototypes on the right AFP/Getty

NBC News reports Ms Clark is still listed as an English teacher at Carter-Riverside High School.

Our school year ends today. The Board of Education will discuss, and possibly take action on, her case on Tuesday, June 4, Clint Bond, executive director of external and emergency communications at the Fort Worth Independent School District, said in a statement.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that nearly 63 per cent of the students population in the district are Hispanic. According to the same numbers, 88 per cent of the student at Ms Clarks high school are Hispanic.

In 2017, just ahead of the Trump administrations beginning, Fort Worth school trustees voted in favour of a resolution that declares the district would strive to create the safest possible environments for its students and employees  free of insecurity and fear.

The resolution references Plyler v. Doe, the 1982 US Supreme Court decision that all children, including those without an immigration status, are entitled to a public education.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez returned to her old job behind the bar to promote increased wages for restaurant servers and other tipped workers.

The New York politician, famously worked as a bartender before being elected to US Congress last year, took lunch orders, served pizza and cocktails at the Queens restaurant where she used to work.

Any job that pays $2.13 an hour is not a job, she told restaurant workers, customers and reporters at The Queensboro restaurant in her New York City district, referring to the lowest possible wage before tips.

Its indentured servitude. All labour has dignity and the way that we give labour dignity is by paying people the respect and the value that they are worth... We have to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Taking to Twitter after her stint behind the bar, she wrote: I was nervous that I may have lost my touch - still got it! That muscle memory doesnt quit."

Ms Ocasio-Cortez was campaigning for the Raise the Wage Act 2019, a bill introduced by members of her Democratic Party in January which would prevent tipped workers from being paid less than the federal minimum wage.

US law exempts restaurants, nail salons and car washes from paying their tipped staff the minimum wage of $7.25 (5.93) per hour. It has not risen from that rate since 2009.

Instead they are allowed to pay just $2.13 per hour. Employers in 43 US states, including New York, are allowed to pay workers below the federal minimum wage if they earn the full minimum wage counting tips.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets fellow lawmakers ahead of the State of the Union address Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participates in an event with Democratic members of Congress EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures The Democrat senator speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 30, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrat Rashida Tlaib AP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Senate chamber to watch two votes on January 24, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrives with Chellie Pingree at a House Democratic Caucus meeting Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez during Donald Trump's State of the Union address Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures New York State Assembly member Catalina Cruz with Ocasio-Cortez AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Nydia Velazquez talks with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez casts her vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez poses with a campaign worker during a whistle stop in the Queens borough of New York Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez outside the US Capitol AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez after casting her ballot in the 2018 midterm general election at a polling site in New York EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks on during a march organised by the Women's March Alliance in Manhattan Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio Cortez looks on at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019 AFP/Getty

The minimum wage in the UK is currently 6.15 for those aged 18 to 20, 7.70 for those aged 21 to 24 and 8.21 for anyone over 25.

The National Restaurant Association, a US industry lobbying group, has opposed the Raise the Wage Act, saying it would harm restaurants that typically rely on margins between 3 percent and 6 percent.

They claim the tip credit allows tipped employees to earn far more than the minimum wage.

The Raise the Wage Act would also increase the national minimum pay rate to $15 by 2024, and has more than 190 co-sponsors (all Democrats).

Ms Ocasio-Cortez said she worked in restaurants since she was 16, where she was forced to endure sexual harassment, such as inappropriate comments or touching from customers.

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When she was elected to Congress in 2018, she famously said she could not afford a house in Washington DC.

Twenty states raised their minimum wages at the outset of 2019, including California, New Jersey and Washington.
The US is attempting to confirm reports that North Korea has executed its special envoy to America, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

Weve seen the reporting to which you are referring, Mr Pompeo told a news conference in Berlin. Were doing our best to check it out."

South Korean media reported that the secretive communist state had executed Kim Hyok-Chol and other foreign ministry workers who steered negotiations for a failed summit between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

The pair met in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in February to discuss the denuclearisation of North Korea in exchange for some possible sanctions relief. But the talks stalled and the summit was abruptly cut short by several hours.

North Korea has reportedly executed several officials who carried out talks after charging them with spying for the US.

North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits Show all 16 1 /16 North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, portraits of former supreme leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are required by law to be hung in the home, the classroom, the factory and all manner of other private and public places Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the classroom AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the living room AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the maternity ward of the hospital Alamy North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On board the ship Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the ballot box Mannen av bord North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the office AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On the bridegroom Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On the Pyongyang subway Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On a government building Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the teacher training facility AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the home AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the military parade Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the hall Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the Chinese border AFP/Getty

Kim Hyok-Chol, North Koreas special representative for US affairs, was executed by firing squad in March, South Koreas largest daily Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an anonymous source.

It quoted the unnamed North Korean official as said that Mr Kim "was investigated and executed at Mirim Airport with four foreign ministry officials".

Shin Hye-Yong, the interpreter for Kim Jong-un at the meeting, is also said to have been detained in a political prison camp for undermining the authority of the leader by making a critical interpretation mistake, the newspaper reported.

Mr Kims sister, Kim Yo-jong, who aided the leader in Hanoi, is also said to be lying low.

Kim Yong-Chol, Kim Jong-uns right-hand man and a senior Workers Party vice chairman who visited the White House as the main point man for diplomacy with the United States, has reportedly also been subjected to forced labour and ideological education in a remote province near the Chinese border.

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Some previous South Korean reports of North Korean purges and executions have later proved inaccurate.

Asked about reports of a shakeup of Kim Jong Uns negotiating team in a 5 May interview with ABC News, Mr Pompeo said it did appear that his future counterpart would be somebody.

However, he added: "We dont know that for sure.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will formally launch his 2020 re-election campaign on 18 June in Orlando, Florida.

In a tweet, Trump said he would hold a rally with his wife, Melania, Vice President Mike Pence and Mr Pence's wife Karen at 8 pm at the 20,000-seat Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

Trump has already been raising money for his re-election and holding political rallies for many months.

But the official roll-out for his campaign for the 2020 presidential election will take place around the four-year anniversary of the day in 2016 when announced his candidacy at Trump Tower, New York City.

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was 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 AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

Mr Trump, who considers Florida to be something of a second home, won the state in 2016.

But as is the case for the president in many battleground states, his victory is not assured there in 2020, and he will likely face a fight to win it again.

The Trump campaign has privately expressed concern about Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the trio of upper Midwest swing states that provided his 2016 margin of victory.

Since Mr Trump took over as president in early 2017, unemployment has remained low and the US economy has kept growing. Typically, when the economy is vibrant, presidents would be strong bets for re-election.

But Mr Trumps polarising presidency has given Democrats hope that one of them can deny him a second term. Republican strategists see Democratic front-runner Joe Biden posing a problem for the president in the Midwestern swing states.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
A gunman has killed 12 people and injured four others when he indiscriminately opened fire in a municipal building in Virginia Beach, US.

DeWayne Craddock, described by law enforcement as disgruntled government employee opened fire indiscriminately upon his colleagues on Friday afternoon.

He was later killed by police.

Here The Independent looks at what we know so far about the massacre.

What do we know about the shooting?

The shooting happened shortly after 4pm on Friday afternoon when city employee DeWayne Craddock entered a Building two of the Virginia Beachs Municipal Center wielding a .45 calibre handgun with a sound suppressor.

Situated next door to city hall, the the facility has office space for more than 400 employees and houses information technology, public works, planning and utilities departments.

The first victim was shot in a vehicle outside the public works and utilities building at the city municipal centre.

Mass shootings in America Show all 8 1 /8 Mass shootings in America Mass shootings in America Camden shootings  1949 Howard Unruh killed 13 people, including three children, during a 12-minute walk through his neighborhood on September 6, 1949, in Camden, New Jersey, when he was 28 years old. The incident became known as the "Walk of Death". Unruh was found to be criminally insane and died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of 88, following 60 years of confinement. Alamy Mass shootings in America University of Texas tower shooting  1966 Charles Whitman killed 17 people and injured 31 others in Austin, Texas. After stabbing his mother and wife the night before, he headed to the University of Texas, where he opened fire on people in the campus and streets from the observation desk. He was shot dead after a policeman and civilian reached the scene. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library Mass shootings in America Easter Sunday Massacre  1975 James Ruppert killd 11 family members in his mother's house, which included his mother, brother and his wife, as well as their eight children. He used a magnum, two handguns and a rifle. Mass shootings in America Wilkes-Barre shootings  1982 Former prison guard, George Banks, shot dead 13 people in Pennsylvania, including five of his own children. AP Photo/Times Leader Mass shootings in America Wah Mee massacre  1983 Three men, Kwan Fai Mak, Wai-Chiu Ng, and Benjamin Ng, killed 13 people who were in Seattle's Wah Mee gambling club. YouTube/KIRO 7 News Mass shootings in America San Ysidro McDonald's massacre  1984 James Huberty killed 21 people and injured 19 others after he walked in a McDonald's in San Diego. He was shot dead by a sniper after 78 minutes of him entering the restaurant. Alamy Mass shootings in America Palm Sunday massacre  1984 Ten people were shot dead from handguns at close range in a New York home. A baby girl was the only survivor after convicted dealer, Christopher Thomas, shot three women, one teenage girl and six children in their Brooklyn home. Thomas was convicted of manslaughter and cleared of murder. He was released from prison after 32 years. Mass shootings in America Edmond post office shooting  1986 Patrick Sherrill, a postal worker at the Edmond post office in Oklahoma, killed 14 co-workers and injured 6 others, before he shot himself. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Collection

The suspect then entered that building and immediately and indiscriminately fired upon all the victims, according to police chief James Cervera.

Police entered the building and got out as many employees as they could, then exchanged fire with Craddock.

He then engaged in a long gunbattle with four officers inside the building.

Mr Cervera emphasised that the crime scene is most horrific and can best be described as a war zone.

How many people were killed?

Eleven people were killed in the initial attack. A twelfth died on the way the hospital.

Four others were wounded, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life.

Was the suspect caught?

He died in the shooting. Mr Cervera said the officers shot the suspect, then gave him first aid, but he didnt make it.

Who was the gunman?

DeWayne Craddock has been named as the one and only suspect in the shooting.

Mr Cervera said he would mention the name only once.

Then he will be forever referred to as the suspect because our focus now is the dignity and respect to the victims in this case and to their families, he said.

He added that the longtime public utilities employee was disgruntled with his employer.

What was the motive?

Mr Cervera declined to say more about what may have precipitated the attack.

We have more questions than we really have answers, he told reporters about two hours after the shooting.

How was the public reaction after the shooting?

The shooting sent shock waves through Virginia's largest city which is a popular holiday spot in the south-east of the state.

The shooting was believed to be the deadliest act of workplace gun violence in the United States since February, when a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.

This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, Mayor Bobby Dyer said at an evening news conference.

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Virginia governor Ralph Northam said in a statement he was devastated by the unspeakable, senseless violence and is offering the state's full support to survivors and relatives of the victims.

That they should be taken in this manner is the worst kind of tragedy," the governor said during the news conference.

The White House said Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.

Additional reporting from agencies including Associated Press.
The president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has told a crowd at an event in Japan that he had been cured of being gay by beautiful women.

Speaking to members of the countrys Filipino community in Tokyo, the controversial leader reportedly said he became a man again after meeting his first wife Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Mr Duterte attempted to mocked one of his strongest critics, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, by implying he was gay.

The president claimed someone told him the way Mr Trillanes moved suggested he was a homosexual, in remarks quoted by the Philippines-based news site Rappler.

Good thing Trillanes and I are similar. But I cured myself. When I began a relationship with [ex-wife Elizabeth] Zimmerman, I said, this is it. I became a man again.

The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Show all 9 1 /9 The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On killing drug addicts These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, dont go into that, even if youre a policeman, because I will really kill you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Message to China I will go there on my own with a Jet Ski, bringing along with me a [Phillipino] flag and a pole, and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, Kill me  AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Christmas message to law-breakers If you do not want to stop, and just continue committing crimes, then this would be your last Merry Christmas AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On sex life I was separated from my wife. Im not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On the drugs trade None of my children are into illegal drugs. But my order is, even if it is a member of my family, kill him'" AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting the Pope We were affected by the traffic. It took us five hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They answered, the pope. I wanted to call him: Pope, son of a wh**e, go home. Do not visit us again AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Joke about rape I saw her face and I thought, 'What a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first AFP/Getty The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting Barack Obama "Mr Obama should be respectful and refrain from throwing questions at me about the killings, or son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum" REUTERS The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants "If I have to face them, you know I can eat humans. I will really open up your body. Just give me vinegar and salt, and I will eat you. If you annoy me to the fullest... I will eat you alive. Raw" EPA

Mr Duterte ended the speech by inviting several women up on stage to kiss him.

First, you shouldnt be married, okay? Second, youre not a minor, he said, according to CNN Philippines. The 71-year-old leader then pointed out four particular women and had them brought up onstage.

The presidents current partner, Honeylet Avancena, was with him during the event. He had earlier referred to her as his one and only.

Mr Duterte has a history of using homophobic slurs to insult political opponents, according to Rappler. Although he had appeared to be a supporter of LGBT equality, in 2017 the president said marriage should only be between a man and a women.

In January this year, Mr Duterte attacked the countrys Catholic bishops and claimed most of them were gay after the church criticised his war on drugs.

Only I can say bishops are sons of b*****s, damn you  Most of them are gay. They should come out in the open, cancel celibacy and allow them to have boyfriends.

He has also made a series of offensive remarks about rape. Last September he said: As long as there are many beautiful women, there will be more rape cases.
An artist has erected an inflatable tank display in Taiwans capital to mark the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in China.

The balloon installation, which stands in front of Taipeis famous Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, depicts the iconic encounter between a Chinese citizen and the military tanks in Beijing.

The tank man standoff  captured by several photographers on 4 June, 1989  has become a global symbol of political defiance. Hundreds of people in Taipei came to look at the installation on Saturday, with many taking selfies and photos of the artwork.

An inscription for the artwork, reportedly the work of Taiwanese artist Shake, states that Taiwan stands with the people who have never ceased to resist the gigantic autocracy.

While public remembrances of the Tiananmen protests remain strictly forbidden in mainland China, there are regular commemorations in democratically governed Taiwan  which split from China in 1949, though Beijing still claims the island as part of its territory.

Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Show all 12 1 /12 Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Man blocks tank A tank driving down a road nearby Tiananmen Square is blocked by an unidentified man on 5 June. The picture is seen around the globe as a protest against the previous days events, when tensions that had been building for months came to a head... Bettmann Archive via Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Hu Yaobang dies - 15 April Former general secretary of the Communist Party Hu Yaobang dies aged 73 of a heart attack. He was a leading reformer of the Chinese system who the public saw to be unfairly removed from government. Citizens flock to Tiananmen Square to mourn him. Mourning soon turns to anger as they dwell on the state of China. AFP/Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Protests spread - 17 April In the days after Hu's death, university students around China are organising. On 17 April, thousands of students march on Tiananmen Square to demand democracy and greater freedoms. AFP/Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events "We must a clear stand against disturbances" - 26 April So begins the editorial on the front page of the People's Daily, the Chinese state newspaper, on 26 April. The editorial goes on to attack the protesters as anti-party and anti-government. Protesters read a clear message that the government is against them and call for the editorial to be retracted. Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Protests spread further - 4 May Thousands more students in five cities across China join the protests. Head of the Communist Party Zhao Ziyang tells a meeting of bankers that the protests are sure to subside. Pictured are journalists from the China Daily newspaper showing support in Tiananmen Square. Protesters were calling for freedom of the press, among other rights common to democracies Reuters Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Hunger strikes begin - 13 May Hundreds of students begin hunger strikes, upping the stakes of the protests. Pictured: Paramedics remove a student protester who has been on hunger strike on 17 May 1989 AFP/Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Zhao visits Tiananmen Square - 19 May Now doubting that the strikes will subside without intervention from the government, party head Zhao Ziyang visits Tiananmen Square and urges students to end the hunger strike. Chinese premier Li Peng briefly joins Zhao but leaves soon after arriving. Zhao was removed from office later in the day. AFP/Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Martial law declared - 20 May Chinese premier Li Peng declares martial law. Soldiers move in on Tiananmen Square but many are held up by protesters. Soldiers are ordered not to fire on civilians. AFP/Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Protests continue - 22 May to 1 June On 22 May, a military helicopter drops leaflets above Tiananmen Square that instruct protesters to leave immediately. Despite this, protests continue while the army withdraws. Reuters Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Soldiers move in to clear the square - 3 June On the evening of 3 June, soldiers advance with force. Protesters are warned that the troops have the right to use any methods necessary to clear the square. AFP/Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Soldiers open fire - 4 June In the early hours of the morning, some troops begin to shoot dead protesters who defy their efforts to clear the square. Pictured: A man is covered in blood after the People's Liberation Army open fire on protesters in Tiananmen Square Getty Tiananmen Square massacre: Timeline of events Man blocks tank - 5 June A tank driving down a road nearby Tiananmen Square is blocked by an unidentified man. The picture is seen around the globe as a protest against the previous days events. Bettmann Archive via Getty

Tuesday will mark 30 years since the infamous crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests, led by students based in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing.

The government sent armed troops and armoured military vehicles into the city centre to enforce martial law and forcibly clear the streets of demonstrators overnight from 3 June into 4 June.

The death toll from the crackdown has been estimated from several hundred to thousands of people, but the Chinese authorities have never provided official figures.

The ruling Communist Party punishes citizens who dare to speak publicly about the events of 1989. While some people inside China are unaware of the protests, others have learned about it through smuggled DVDs and software used to scale the internet firewall.

Chinese dissident Wu Yenhua, who left China for the US following the protests in 1989, is now a scholar in Taiwan and paid a visit to the inflatable tank. Mr Wu witnessed the crackdown on student activists and has been researching the massacre.

I want to record history so that Chinese [people] in future will know that on their land, this disaster occurred, he said.

Chinese dissident Wu Yenhua next to artwork in Taipei (EPA)

Earlier this week Amnesty International claimed China had detained or threatened dozens of people seeking to commemorate the victims of the Tianamen massacre, calling on the authorities to end the wave of persecution.

A US photographer who shot one of the iconic images of the man standing in front of tanks has said it is time for the Chinese government to acknowledge the events of 30 years ago.

Jeff Widener, an Associated Press photo editor covering Chinas student-led pro-democracy at the time of the Tiananmen protests, took the tank man shot showing the unknown citizen holding shopping bags while facing a row of tanks.

The United States and European countries have made mistakes throughout history and they've reconciled those problems, said Mr Widener.

I think its time for China to move forward and just come clean on what happened, report to the family members what happened to their loved ones so that they can put this to rest, he added. I think thats the right, decent thing to do.

The man captured in the tank man photo moved at least twice to block the tanks and climbed on the turret of one to converse with a crew member.

Eventually, he was whisked from the scene by two men in blue, whose identities, like that of the man himself, have never been revealed.

Additional reporting by AP
Thirty-two people were injured when a fire broke out at a migrant centre in northwestern Bosnia.

Police said the blaze is likely to have started accidentally from a cooking device in a dormitory at the Miral camp in Velika Kladusa.

Videos posted on social media showed some of the migrants jumping to safety out of the windows.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze on Saturday morning. Thirteen migrants remained in hospital for treatment to burns or fractures.

The camp, which is run by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), held 247 migrants and refugees at the time of the fire.

Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Show all 17 1 /17 Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Nagan, 12, is one of 180,000 Syrian refugee children Unicef has identified as OOSC (Out Of School Children) who have been forced into work in Lebanon Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The majestic snow capped mountains overlooking al-Wafa refugee camp in Arsal, Lebanon. It is home to 700 refugees who fled their homes at the outbreak of civil war in 2012 Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Fuda al-Bareesh, 92, spends her days in solitude at Alsalam 2 camp in Arsal, Lebanon. She made the journey from Syria across the mountains alone on a donkey Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Kareemah, 21, mother of two from Chebaa, southern Lebanon. She is unsure how her family will be able to afford basics like food and fuel if aid is cut off Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Exercising patience in the cold, men and women wait to collect winter fuel at Alsalam camp, Arsal. Gifted by Muslim Aid UK donors, each family receives 20 litres  enough for two days of continuous heat Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The view to the snow covered mountains through the cracked pane of glass at al-Wafa camp Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year At al-Wafa refugee camp in Arsal, Abdul Al Moamen, 10, sits in tears Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed, 3, helps his eldest brother to move the empty plastic jerry cans along the line as they get refilled at a fuel distribution centre Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Qaram, 8, was orphaned when her father was killed by Isis. She is in desperate need of an operation to save her sight. Instead of going to school, she works eight-hour shifts each day on a nearby farm Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed Fawzi, Lebanon country director for Muslim Aid, comforts Abdul al-Moamen Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Bisan, 5, plays with friends in among puddles of rainwater from recent storms Norma and Miriam Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Amina Safadi is a beneficiary of the Primary Healthcare Centre in Chebaa, Lebanon. The ICRC-accredited facility welcomes the most marginalised Lebanese residents as well as Syrian refugees. Safadi says she has no idea what she would do if the service was unavailable Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The queue for fuel at a fuel distribution centre in Arsal Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Hadi, 6, waits with aid workers whilst his mother collects heating fuel for the familys stove Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Fuel bowser delivers aid to the 700 residents at al-Wafa camp Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The child workers of Lebanon. Unicef says 180,000 children are working on farms and in factories Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed Slabi and his five children. What are my choices now for me and my family? It's bad here or worse in Syria. He feels dependent on international aid, a social pariah and beggar in a country that is not his own Paddy Dowling

IOM staff, who are present in the centres 24/7 and are trained to respond to such events, quickly responded and successfully evacuated the migrants from the burning part of the building, the organisation said in a statement.

Thousands of migrants pass through Bosnia along the Western Balkans route an attempt to seek refuge in western Europe.

Recommended Up to 70 refugees feared drowned as migrant boat capsizes

Last year, around 25,000 people from Asia and North Africa entered Bosnia from Serbia and Montenegro.

About 6,000 have arrived in the Balkan country so far this year, according to Bosnias security agencies.

Only around 3,500 of those have been accommodated in transit centres, leaving thousands sleeping rough.

Most of the new arrivals are from Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco and Afghanistan, according to the latest UN statistics.

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Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press
The Italian government is blocking plans by former White House strategist Steve Bannon to set up a political training academy for budding populist leaders.

The country's culture ministry said it was revoking the lease on the state-owned medieval monastery in the mountains outside of Rome.

The Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI)  a right-wing think tank affiliated with Mr Bannon - had been using the 800-year-old property.

But the ministry said the institute had not paid concession fees and had also failed to carry out maintenance work on the Trisulti monastery in Collepardo. It also denied political considerations were part of the decision to kick the group out of the monastery.

Benjamin Harnwell, the institutes founder, rejected the ministrys claims and said the academy would fight to stay on at the 800-year-old abbey.

Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right Show all 6 1 /6 Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right Newcastle says "no thanks Farage" Brexit Party leader Nigel farage is led away by security after being hit with a milkshake at a campaign event in Newcastle Reuters Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right Tommy Robinson covered in a milkshake... While out on the campaign trail for the European Elections in Warrington, a man threw a milkshake in Tommy Robinson's face. Frame 1: Man throws milkshake. Frame 2: Robinson and Co. beat man. Frame 3: Robinson covered in milkshake @AzTheBaz/Twitter Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right ...the day after being covered with a milkshake The day before in Bury, a suspected child threw a milkshake over Robinson before running away Paul Ryder/Youtube Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right Gerrard Batten's image Amy Thompson from Plymouth greeted the Ukip tour bus by throwing a milkshake over the image of leader Gerrard Batten McCoys Media/SWNS Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right Carl Benjamin milkshaked Ukip candidate Carl Benjamin aka Sargon of Akkad was met with a milkshake while campaigning in Totnes, Devon PA Milkshaking: New tactic emerges in fight against far-right Aftermath The remains of the milkshake that struck Carl Benjamin Cornwall Live/SWNS

Opening The Academy for the Judeo-Christian West in Italy has been part of Mr Bannons plans to further spread the nationalist, populist politics of his former boss Donald Trump across Europe.

Mr Harnwell, who also serves as director of the institute, revealed last year that the US strategist was helping develop the curriculum for a leadership course aimed at right-wing activists.

Mr Bannon, who has been open about his desire to build a populist movement across Europe, has also been raising funds for the institute, its director said.

The Trisulti Monastery Certosa di Trisulti in Collepardo (AFP)

Last month, The Independent revealed that the fledging academy has links with Tory politicians and advisors in the UK. Mr Harnwell set up the DHI while working for Conservative MEP Nirj Deva at the European Parliament, before leaving that role to focus on the institute.

DHI listed Ben Harris-Quinney, the director of the Tory think-tank the Bow Group, as a consultant.

The institute also had Sir Christian Sweeting, a former Tory parliamentary candidate, listed among its trustees.

An official at Italys culture ministry, Gianluca Vacca, said in the statement that recent inspections ordered by authorities had found violations of various contractual obligations that allowed the institute to use the property.

Proceeding with the revocation is thus a duty, Mr Vacca said.

The project for a right-wing leadership academy had been criticised by Italys left-wing parties and local media had raised doubts over whether Harnwells institute fulfilled the requirements of its agreement with the government.

Mr Vacca, a member of the anti-establishment, populist 5-Star party which has been ruling Italy in a coalition with the far-right League since last year, insisted there were no political motives behind the decision to revoke permission for the institute.

He said the procedure to grant the lease to Mr Harnwells association  whose board of advisers is chaired by Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading Vatican conservative  had been completed under the previous, centre-left government

Additional reporting by Reuters
Photo: CTV News Christian Sarile

A former Calgary teacher who pleaded guilty to 17 counts of sex crimes against children has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Christian Sarile, who is 29, was originally charged with 49 offences including sexual assault, sexual interference, accessing child pornography, distributing child pornography, luring and extortion.

He showed no emotion as the judge read his decision to a full courtroom.

Justice Earl Wilson described Sarile as evil, manipulative, and a danger to children and the community.

Court heard that Sarile used fake names to pose as a high school student and make contact with girls between the ages of 12 and 16 online.

He then convinced them to perform sexual acts in exchange for money, gifts and alcohol.

In total, 26 victims came forward who all claimed to have had contact with Sarile.

Court also heard that he used nude photos and videos of his victims as leverage to coerce them into more illegal activity.

Two of the victims spoke in court last month about their inability to be happy about anything and how the loss of trust in their teacher affected their ability to get help.

Police were first notified about Sarile when the family of a 14-year-old girl contacted police in December 2016, concerned about their daughter meeting a man in his 20s.

"This was a concerned grandfather who called in some suspicious activity with his granddaughter, which started this whole investigation," Sgt. Mark Weir said outside court Friday.

"Thankfully he made that phone call that got this all started or we may not even be here right now."

The Crown had sought 18 years in jail for Sarile. During a previous sentencing hearing, Sarile's lawyer asked the judge to consider his guilty plea and his financial hardships. (CTV Calgary)
When Abdul-Raouf Beit al-Mal, the mayor of central Tripoli, was abducted last year, and held by militiamen for 24 hours, he presumed that would be the worst moment of his career  perhaps his life.

But the biggest test was yet to come. With a new war encroaching upon Libyas capital, the crumbling, cash-starved city is once again engulfed in a chaotic armed conflict that is swelling the ranks of the displaced and straining Tripolis limited resources.

On 4 April, Beit al-Mals city came under attack by the so-called Libyan National Army of rebel warlord Khalifa Haftar.

Whats happening is really hurting us, he says. The city needs everything. We need to fix the roads, the infrastructure, sewage, water, electricity, parks, garbage collection.

Greater Tripoli is home to 3 million, spread out across 13 municipalities. After the collapse of Muammar Gaddafis regime in a 2011 armed uprising backed by Nato, there were plans to unify the disparate parts of the city under one local government, but they came to naught.

Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Screengrab from a video published on the LNAs War Information Divisions Facebook page on 16 April shows a fighter running while firing a machine gun reportedly in a southern suburb of Tripoli AFP/Getty Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Smoke rising from an airstrike behind a tank belonging to forces loyal to Libyas Government of National Accord during clashes in the Tripoli suburb of Wadi Rabie AFP/Getty Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Fighters loyal to the government run for cover during clashes with forces loyal to Khalifa Haftarsouth of the capital Tripoli's suburb of Ain Zara, on 25 April 2019 AFP/Getty Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Forces loyal to the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) take aim during clashes with forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar south of the capital Tripoli's suburb of Ain Zara on 23 April 2019 AFP/Getty Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures A displaced Libyan family, who fled their house because of the fighting in Tripoli, sits at the industrial complex, which is used as a shelter, in the capital on 16 April 2019 Reuters Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures A technical (pickup truck mounted with a turret) firing reportedly during clashes with forces loyal to Libya's UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli on 24 April 2019 AFP/Getty Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Government forces look out from a destroyed building in the Khallat Farjan area of Tripoli on 20 April 2019 Reuters Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures A Libyan fighter loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) fires a machine gun during clashes with forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar south of the capital Tripoli's suburb of Ain Zara, on 10 April 2019 AFP/Getty Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Two men stand at the scene of an overnight rocket attack, which no group claimed responsibility for so far, in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on April 17 Photos AFP/Getty Battle for Tripoli: In Pictures Libyan National Army members, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, head out of Benghazi to reinforce the troops advancing to Tripoli on April 7 2019 Reuters

Central Tripoli is the biggest of the 13. It has about half a million people, and perhaps a million or so more a day flooding in for work, school or in desperate attempts to seek meetings at the many central government offices including the national oil company and the central bank.

Beit al-Mal, an engineering graduate from Utah State University who speaks flawless English, was elected in 2014 municipal elections, before the start of the civil conflict that has pitted Haftar against various other armed forces. His mandate was set to expire last year, but because of the chaos, no new elections have been held.

Beit al-Mal graduated from Utah State University with an engineering degree, and was optimistic his tenure would see a development boom in the capital

He had hoped to bring his engineering skills and problem-solving acumen to help fix the city. Instead, hes been plunged from one crisis to the next, as various armed groups battle each other for control  over turf and resources.

The mayors jurisdiction includes the ancient but crumbling medina built by Phoenicians, Romans, and Ottomans  the citys oldest quarter  and the elegant but fraying downtown built by Italian colonisers a century ago. It includes Martyrs Square, the heart of the city, and lively districts of hotels and cafes where much of Tripolis nightlife unfolds.

The damage to Tripolis Rixos hotel, which was hit by rockets last month (Reuters) (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)

Until Haftars offensive, it appeared Tripoli might be heading towards better times. Just six months ago, under pressure from the UN, Tripoli militias agreed to withdraw from the city, and to be folded into the army and interior ministry, or to demobilise and return to civilian life.

In March, civic leaders organised a small business conference at the Radisson Blu hotel along the waterfront. And in April, a peace conference was supposed to bring all the countrys various factions to the table in the city of Ghadames.

But the countrys latest war has halted all such plans, and quashed any nascent sense of optimism.

The city needs everything. We need to fix the roads, the infrastructure, sewage, water, electricity, parks, garbage collection Abdul-Raouf Beit al-Mal, mayor of central Tripoli

We need to focus on developing schools and launching start-ups, says Salah Taqhi, 54, a Tripoli developer.

Instead of paying attention to ways to improve the economy, were again in war. Now were talking about refugees.

As the war came to the citys edges, thousands of residents began leaving their homes, crowding into a city centre already clogged with traffic and residents. Nearly 80,000 people have been displaced by the eight-week conflict, the number rising every day, according to the United Nations.

We have 250 families that are registered, Beit al-Mal tells The Independent in an interview in his city hall office.

Most of the people are living in either rented houses or are staying with their friends and family. We dont have much information on them, but we know there are thousands of them.

The displaced need shelter, blankets, food, and medicine, as well as medical care.

The war has created other problems. Rubbish collection has crawled to a halt, with some companies complaining that the citys landfill sites are too close to the front line. Heaps of rotting rubbish pile up along the streets.

The shelling and rocket attacks have damaged infrastructure, including schools and mosques, as well as residential buildings in areas that have been largely evacuated. The destruction accumulates daily.

The interior ministry of the Tripoli-based government announced on Tuesday that four homes and a hospital were struck by a barrage of missiles fired by Haftars forces on the Ain Zara district of the capital.

Beit al-Mal worries about the coming summer months, when power outages will add to already strained services if the war continues.

Theres going to be a crisis beyond our abilities if this war continues, he says. Were already suffering from electric power cuts. If the temperature rises and the fighting continues, that will damage power lines. Were already in a crisis. During peaceful times we can deal with that. But during a war its much more difficult.

 Footage allegedly shows forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar battle fighters defending Tripoli

The UN is helping to provide some food and resources to the displaced, as well as to African migrants stuck in Libya  often at detention centres. Resources are scarce.

We cannot provide services for our own people, Beit al-Mal says. Its eight years after the revolution and you still have all this chaos. Garbage is everywhere. Healthcare is not functioning. We dont have money to provide services for the our own people.

During his kidnapping, he says he refused to give in to the gunmens political demands, which he declined to elaborate upon, but was released under local and international pressure after 24 hours.

Men pray at a now shuttered school near central Tripoli, which is being used to house internally displaced people

He hopes international pressure will convince the warring parties to stop, even if its just to prevent migrants from travelling to European shores and Libyan refugees from fleeing the country.

If the international community is really worried about this problem they should look at the problem of Libya as a whole, he says. If the war continues for a longer time, we will see a lot of big problems on all fronts.

Read the first parts of the The Battle for Tripoli series here, Libya: UN-backed government defending capital from warlord Haftar now using drones on front lines; On the front lines in Libyas latest war, a proxy battle is leaving the civilians to suffer
Donald Trump sent an official State Department map to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, showing the long-disputed Golan Heights as part of Israel.

The US president sent his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner to deliver the map to Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Mr Trump had drawn an arrow on the map pointing to the Golan Heights and scribbled a single word: Nice.

This map had not been updated since the Six Day War, Mr Netanyahu said in an address to the nation, referring to the 1967 Middle East war, after which Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria and later annexed in 1981 it in a move which has not been internationally recognised. Well, it has been updated, it just got an update ... That is to say, there are very important developments here.

He pointed to Mr Trumps note and added: Here is the signature of Trump, and he writes nice. I say, very nice!

Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights Show all 7 1 /7 Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights An Israeli soldier stands next to signs pointing out distances to different cities on Mount Bental, an observation post in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Reuters Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights Druze people take part in a rally in Majdal Shams near the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria Reuters Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights Israeli Druzes sit together watching the Syrian side of the Israel-Syria border on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Reuters Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights A European member of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) using binoculars to look towards the Syrian side of the Golan Heights AFP/Getty Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights A file photo taken on October 19, 1973 shows Israeli Defence Minister General Moshe Dayan (R) looking towards the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, four days after the beginning of the Yom Kippur War AFP/Getty Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights A file photo taken on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on September 5, 2014 shows members of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone (UNDOF) using binoculars to look towards the Syrian side of the Golan Heights AFP/Getty Trump backs Israels annexation of Golan Heights Members of the United Nations peacekeepers standing on a watch tower during a visit by the Israeli Defence Minister in 2018 AFP/Getty

Mr Netanyahu is mired in political chaos after he failed to assemble a governing coalition.

During his bid for re-election, he repeatedly leveraged his relationship with Mr Trump and showed off political gifts from the White House to court voters.

His campaign received a huge boost when the Trump administration upended decades of US policy and formally recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.

Israels parliament has voted to dissolve itself and call a second election just a month after the last polls.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to the Golan Heights on a map of Israel signed by Donald Trump (EPA/ATEF SAFADI)

Mr Trump later claimed he made the snap decision after receiving a quick history lesson on the Middle East.

Speaking in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition, Mr Trump recounted a meeting with his top advisers on the Middle East: I said: Fellows, do me a favour. Give me a little history, quick. Want to go fast. I got a lot of things Im working on: China, North Korea. Give me a quickie, he said, according to Reuters.

He said he then continued: How do you like the idea of me recognising exactly what were discussing?

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The US president claimed David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel and an arch supporter of Israeli policy, was shocked, like a wonderful, beautiful baby, and asked if Mr Trump would actually do it.

Mr Trump added: I went  bing!  it was done. We make fast decisions. And we make good decisions.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims have travelled to Mecca for the last days of the fasting month of Ramadan.

An influx of worshippers have descended on the Saudi Arabian city - the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad - for the last 10 days for what believers consider the holiest month of the year.

Worshippers gather around Islam's holiest shrine, the Kaaba - a black square building at the Grand Mosque in Mecca which determines the direction of prayer for Muslims around the world.

The holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which is expected to fall on 4 June this year, celebrates the end of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting.

Here The Independent has collated some of the best images from this years event, of worshippers who have made the journey to Mecca for the religious celebration.
If I said to you I wasnt a racist, but I didnt believe in civil rights, what would you call me? How about if I said I wasnt ablest but I didnt think disabled access should be a concern? Or, that I wasnt homophobic but Id prefer it if gay couples didnt kiss in public? You see where Im going with this.

Every couple of years, the same debate arises: someone claims they believe in gender equality but they couldnt possibly go as far as to call themselves a feminist. Most of the people who have said this in recent times have been female celebrities  and usually the ones who have spent their careers advocating for female empowerment.

So I think its fair to say it surprised the grand total of zero people when the former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab revealed he does not call himself a feminist. Speaking to ITV, the Tory leadership candidate said that, instead of feminist, he would describe himself as someone whos a champion of equality and meritocracy. To most people with a dictionary to hand, his words echoed the very definition of feminism. But Raab wasnt professing to reject gender equality; he was rejecting the word feminist itself.

Of course, feminism isnt a loaded word because feminists have made it so; it has become one because misogynists have spent centuries laying down the groundwork to undermine it, labelling it as a threat to family values, the hatred of men, the desire for women to take over the world.

The reframing of liberal movements to brand them as anti-freedom is a tactic that has been adopted by those at odds with insurgent social movements for centuries. Now, instead of just being people fighting for rights, feminists are the militantly PC, anti-free speech brigade. But we know, really, that the idea any movement seeking equality could be militant is downright laughable.

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

Language has long been weaponised by the far right. Anti-abortion became pro-life, pro-choice became anti-life, anti-immigration became about taking back control, racism against Mexicans became about making America great again. Pro-gender equality became anti- men. The most repugnant of these is the incel favourite: feminazi.

Just look at some of the women who have rejected the feminist label  and their reasons for doing so. Sarah Jessica Parker, whose role as Carrie in Sex and the City personified third-wave feminism, once proclaimed: Im not a feminist, Im a humanist (sorry SJP, thats something else entirely). Joni Mitchell has always rejected feminism, on the grounds she doesnt want to get a posse against men. Geri Halliwell  the girl power instigator herself  said feminism is bra-burning lesbianism, and Susan Sarandon deemed feminism too alienating, as people viewed it as a load of strident bitches.

Polls, too, have shown a widespread reluctance by women who desire gender equality to self-identify as feminists. A 2018 YouGov poll found that just 38 per cent of women call themselves feminists.

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There is an undeniable and specific problem with gender inequality across the globe. Women are the ones who have been oppressed for centuries  if we dont acknowledge that how can we even begin to solve the problem? We have to acknowledge that rape is a misogynist crime; that the gender pay gap and all the complications surrounding it are a result of sexism; and that the bloody, inhumane act of FGM is purely to control women. The only people who benefit from a reluctance to utter the name of the one movement that seeks to protect women, are the men who oppose it.

Because, yes, levelling the scales could mean that some men need to turn down a massive pay package if it means his female counterpart being treated equally. It might mean that another mediocre man doesnt end up sitting around the boardroom table, taking the place of a qualified woman. It might mean that women are no longer subjected to having to bear a child after being raped, like some will be forced to after the recent ruling in Alabama.

Raabs statements about wanting equality and meritocracy were undermined with every sentence that followed. He defended having referred to feminists as obnoxious bigots in 2011, saying that, although he thinks sexism is wrong  whether its said about a woman or about a man, equality is too precious for us to put up with hypocrisy.

Its unclear what Raab is referring to here. Is women fighting to be paid equally hypocritical? Is it hypocritical to share the domestic burden or even demand justice for their abusers?

He also claimed to be so pro-equality that he is all for women having their own careers. How progressive. Im a believer in meritocracy, he said, but then went on to lambast positive discrimination and imply that quotas to bring more women into male-dominated sectors would be done by paying no heed to qualifications.

This kind of attitude is grounded on the position that those currently in positions of power are there because of skill alone  not bolstered by privilege, race or gender. A curious approach when half of the population is represented by an all-time high of just 32 per cent of female MPs.

Feminism cant be sugar-coated to soften the message and appease the patriarchy. Yes, it is a threat to male supremacy, to female oppression and to the very tangible inequalities that women face worldwide  theres no denying that. But the word is inseparable from the movement itself  we cannot afford to temper our message to appease those against it. So sorry, Dominic Raab, you have only two choices: youre either a feminist or a sexist  there is no in between.
Dublin restaurateur Robbie Fox has put the brakes on plans to demolish his Belluci's restaurant in Ballsbridge and put a new restaurant in place in a large redevelopment of the site.

Earlier this month, Dublin City Council gave Knockanore Properties the go-ahead to demolish a high-profile mixed-use building at 20 Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, in order to replace it with a development more than four times its size.

Mr Fox, director of Bel and Bellucci (Ballsbridge) Ltd, has appealed the grant of permission to An Bord Pleanala. Mr Fox operates a lease at the building for his Belluci's restaurant.

In his appeal, Mr Fox said the proposal, "which is predicated on the demolition of the entire Sweepstakes Centre, would require the extinguishment of the Belluci's business which is completely unacceptable from our point of view".

He added: "We have no objection in principle to the redevelopment of the site, particularly with the replacement of a suitable restaurant within which we would be happy to relocate our existing business, subject to agreement and terms."

Mr Fox told the appeals board that he has issues with the physical layout, profile and operational constraints of the proposed alternative restaurant, "which we believe should be taken into account by the board in deciding whether to grant, refuse or modify the terms of the decision to grant".

Mr Fox argues that the new restaurant would be split between ground and basement levels "which is less efficient and substantially less desirable from an operational point of view".

The property is situated beside the Horse Show House pub and opposite the RDS.

Under the redevelopment plans, the existing two-storey building would be replaced by a 111,890sq ft structure ranging in height from four to six storeys. Consultants for Knockanore Properties RPS said the application proposes "a well considered development of the site".

The council gave the plan the go-ahead after concluding that the proposal would provide a more defined urban form to the prominent corner in Ballsbridge.
The one-time billionaire head of Quinn Group said he had not been made aware of loan agreements entered into by subsidiaries of the insurance arm before its collapse.

Sean Quinn ended a morning of testimony at the public inquiry into the 2010 collapse of Quinn Insurance Limited (QIL) yesterday saying: "Now I can go for a pint".

Earlier, Mr Quinn said he relied on his executives to manage administrations, including loans, as he had to run a large business and focused on profits.

"I started the business in 1973, finished school at 15, didn't have very much education," he told the inquiry. He said the business had been built up "bit by bit, week by week, month by month, year by year".

The inquiry was set up to investigate the collapse of QIL in 2010.

The inquiry heard that two executives, Liam McCaffrey and Kevin Lunney, signed off on board meetings that likely never occurred, were not notified to other directors and did not have full quorums of directors when assets of the insurance company's subsidiaries were pledged as collateral against loans.

These assets were supposed to be part of the regulatory capital of Quinn Insurance, whose collapse means that all policyholders pay a 2pc levy on non-life insurance products to meet liabilities that were taken on by the Government.

"Resolutions of boards were communicated to the outside world as if they were resolutions of boards under circumstances where they weren't passed at properly convened board meetings and in fact even those who were directors were never told that the board meetings were intended to take place," Senior Counsel Eoin McCullough told the inquiry.

Mr Quinn said he believed the assets in question were not part of the loan guarantee. He said he first learned that they were, when the insurance company collapsed.

"That's my understanding of it; that Quinn Direct and anything belonging to it could not be taken as security," he said.

The main focus of Mr Quinn's own work was the manufacturing business of the Quinn Group, he said.

"We had a lot of stuff going on at the time, In manufacturing we had maybe 20 manufacturing plants... I was the only director responsible for manufacturing.

"I thought that was a big enough job to do," he said.

As a result, Mr Quinn said he would scan pages of documents presented to him, and trusted senior company officials like Mr McCaffrey and Mr Lunney.

"Why would I read it if I trusted the men?" he said.

"The documents were just put in front of me and I signed them."
Scientist Helen Grogan is one of thousands of Permanent TSB customers still fighting to be compensated for losing a tracker mortgage.

This is despite the lender being fined a record 21m this week by the Central Bank for the "unacceptable harm" it caused 2,000 customers.

If the bank thought this would draw a line under the controversy, it has not reckoned with biologist Dr Grogan.

She estimates the failure of the bank to put her back on a tracker has cost her 40,000, and she is determined to keep fighting her case.

There are another 2,500 cases of customers still claiming they have been wrongly denied a tracker by Permanent TSB - more than double the number of cases the bank has conceded.

And there are thousands more unresolved cases at other banks, including 200 staff and former staff at Bank of Ireland who claim they are entitled to trackers.

So far banks have admitted to almost 40,000 cases, but the total could be nearer 50,000.

Dr Grogan was one of four people who sparked the push to sort out the scandal when they appeared before the Oireachtas Finance Committee two years ago.

The four told committee members their lives have been irreparably harmed by the mortgage scandal, and their testimony was so strong it prompted a massive drive to sort out the debacle, which had been going nowhere up to then.

Despite appearing before the committee, Dr Grogan is still waiting for satisfaction.

She originally took out a mortgage to buy her Dublin home in 2006 with EBS. A Permanent TSB advert for a lower tracker rate then prompted her to switch lenders.

The bank was advertising a tracker set at 0.8pc over the European Central Bank rate.

When she sat down to sign the contracts she was told the bank was offering a one-year tracker discount rate of 0.6pc over the ECB rate.

But at the end of the one-year discount period she was told the margin would be 2.25pc over the ECB. Dr Grogan says Permanent TSB had inserted a clause in the mortgage contracts allowing it to decide what rate it charges.

She appealed her case to the Financial Services Ombudsman, but lost.

However, she is hopeful her case will be revisited now that the current ombudsman is looking afresh at tracker mortgage cases.

She told the Oireachtas Committee: "The one thing is the rage, frustration, and anger that I was ripped off and duped by the bank into thinking I had a product I could count on."

Yesterday, she revealed that the higher mortgage rate is costing her 300 to 400 a month, adding up to a total loss of about 40,000.

She intends to keep fighting. "Permanent TSB just changed the name and said I no longer had a tracker. It did not look after my interests," she said.

Financial adviser Padraic Kissane, who represents Dr Grogan, said the tracker issue was far from over at Permanent TSB.

"This is still not sorted," he said. "People did not sign up for a discounted tracker rate for a year, and then see what happens after that.

"The banks and Central Bank would like this tracker controversy to be over, but it is up to them to finish it properly."

Mr Kissane added that a tracker mortgage case settled out of court by Permanent TSB this week will likely be a key test case in relation to the tracker margin and discount rate affecting 2,500 customers.

After receiving compensation of some 30,000 for having been part of the original redress scheme at the bank, the couple involved in the case questioned if it was "appropriate" to be put on a rate of 2.25pc above the ECB rate.

It was argued that they were entitled to a tracker rate margin of 1.1pc above the ECB rate, and should be entitled to further compensation.

The terms of the settlement are not known.

Permanent TSB insisted it has dealt with all tracker cases.

Asked if customers would end up footing the bill for the tracker fine, the Permanent TSB spokesman would only say that the bank had made provisions for the costs of the tracker scandal.

Asked if any individual bankers will be held responsible for the tracker theft, a Central Bank spokesperson said it was "considering all possible angles, including individual culpability".
Question: We're regular readers of your Saturday column and are 80 year olds and use Nokia 3310 mobile phones. Can you please recommend smartphones that are simple to use for basic texts, calls, family photos and good battery life? We have some experience with touchscreen devices - I have a Lenovo IdeaPad and my wife has an iPad. Separately, I have a standby laptop with Windows 7. - John Mullins (via email)

Answer

You don't mention your budget, but I'm going to assume that you're not looking for the kind of flagship models that cost around 1,000, given what you say you're seeking from it. I'll advise you on decent models that cost under 500.

I'll give you three options, although I'm going to recommend something different for you and your wife.

At the budget end, it's hard to beat Motorola's G6 Play (169 from Argos). This has a nice big (5.7-inch) HD screen, an acceptable minimum of 32GB of storage and a reasonable camera (13 megapixels rear and 8 megapixels selfie). But the reason I recommend it above other budget models is its incredible battery life.

This phone's 4,000mAh battery is almost twice that of some phones in its price range. It even breezes past most top-end flagship devices on this score. In fact, only Huawei's top-end P30 Pro (950), Samsung's Galaxy S10 Plus (1,000) and one or two other top models match or top it. (Huawei's previous flagship phone, the P20 Pro, also has a 4,000mAh battery and this can be bought now for 499 from Three on a tied prepay basis. But it's an uncertain time to buy a Huawei phone at present due to Google's announcement that it may soon cease providing software for Huawei phones.)

Unless you're using it an awful lot every day for photos, video and web browsing, the extra-long battery effectively means that you only need to charge it every second day.

A bonus is that it retains the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack that all phones used to have, but which has largely been dispensed with in modern models.

While the G6 Play will do the job, the next phone I'm going to recommend is a serious step up and is arguably the best phone you can buy right now if you want to maximise overall functionality for your hard-earned euro.

Google's Pixel 3A XL (479) is new and is easily the most impressive new phone under 500 launched so far this year.

Its camera is superb, its operating system is top-notch and the overall package is something that is on par with some flagship models. I can't think of another Android phone I'd recommend under the very top flagship models I referred to above.

Its 6-inch display is superb, it feels great in-hand, it has fantastic power, it yields a good amount (64GB) of storage and it has - hands down - the best camera I've ever used in a non-flagship smartphone.

I'm not sure whether or not this is important to you, so I won't go on about it. But if taking the odd snap with your phone is even of passing interest, this is the very best you can get (by a long way) in this price bracket. For more on why, look up my recent review of this handset on independent.ie.

I also found its 3,700mAh battery life to be very good and, like the Motorola, it has a 3.5mm headphone port.

The other significant perk of choosing a Pixel phone is the 'pure' Android operation system you get. This tends to speed things up and give you a best-in-class Android experience.

All that said, I'm going to recommend something different for your wife for one reason: you say she uses an iPad.

This means that it's a good bet she will take to an iPhone quicker than an Android device. They're not actually that different, but there are some differences. If your wife is used to the names, shortcuts and terminology on an iPad, she'll recognise them straight away on an iPhone.

Unfortunately, iPhones tend to be a little more expensive than Android models. So the model I'd recommend is the iPhone 7, currently Apple's entry-level handset. From Apple, it's priced at 539, but you'll get it from a vendor like Mint (a refurbished model) for closer to 450.

The iPhone 7 has a nice 4.7-inch high definition screen that's bright and vivid. It still packs plenty of power via its A10 chip. While you'd normally expect more than 32GB of storage for 500, this shouldn't be a problem if your wife isn't downloading too many things or taking lots and lots of photos and videos.

The 12-megapixel camera on the back remains very good. It beats plenty of mid-range rivals from the likes of OnePlus while not quite being at the level of Google's Pixel 3a XL that I referred to earlier.

As a bonus, the iPhone 7 is almost fully waterproof, being able to withstand up to 30 minutes at a water depth of one metre and still come out working.

Recommendation: Google Pixel 3a XL (479), iPhone 7 (539), Motorola G6 Play (169)

Email your questions to  caomahony@independent.ie

Tech Two

HP Chromebook X2

799 from store.hp.com

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Chromebooks have always been, in my opinion, an underrated option for laptops. This model is especially nicely done, even if it comes at a bit of a premium price (for a Chromebook). The 12-inch detachable screen can either be a standalone tablet or a laptop with full keyboard. It's well powered and comes with a stylus pen.

Lenovo Ego

30 from Amazon

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Here's something worth looking at: an ultra-budget smartwatch. Lenovo's newly-announced 'Ego' model has a 42mm touchscreen, Bluetooth, sleep tracking, a heart rate monitor and is water-resistant to 50 metres. But it costs about one tenth the price of an Apple Watch.
China said it will establish a list of "unreliable" entities it says damage the interests of its domestic companies, a sweeping order which could potentially affect thousands of foreign firms as tensions escalate after the US blacklisted Huawei Technologies.

China will set up a mechanism listing foreign enterprises, organisations and individuals which don't obey market rules, violate contracts and cut off supply for non-commercial reasons or severely damage the legitimate interests of Chinese companies, said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Fen.

It is seen as a response after the US effectively banned American firms doing business with Huawei. "Necessary measures will be taken" against those on the list, he said, adding that specifics would be released soon. Washington has moved to curb Huawei's ability to sell equipment in the US and buy parts from American suppliers, potentially crippling one of China's most successful, but controversial, global firms. The vague wording of the Chinese state media report opens the door for Beijing to target a broad swathe of the global tech industry, such as US giants like Google, Qualcomm and Intel or even non-US suppliers. Bloomberg
New Zealand has unveiled a 2.2bn spending package under a much-hyped Well Being budget, prioritising mental health and alleviation of child poverty, but it expects a smaller surplus and slower economic growth over the next year.

Much of the excitement around the budget, touted as the world's first to measure broader living standard goals, was dampened amid a furore over hacking accusations after details were leaked ahead of its release.

The opposition has called for heads to roll over the blunder - including that of incoming Irish Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf (pictured) who as Treasury Secretary ushered in New Zealand's new style Well Being budget, but was also at the centre of this week's leaking scandal. Photo: Bloomberg

The opposition has called for heads to roll over the blunder - including that of incoming Irish Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf who as Treasury Secretary ushered in New Zealand's new style Well Being budget, but was also at the centre of this week's leaking scandal.

He initially claimed the budget had been hacked after opposition politicians got their hands on it, but it later transpired the document had been accessible through the Department of Finance's own website.

It has left a cloud over his nine years in New Zealand and the new-style budget that should have crowned that term and points to what may be his priorities in Ireland.

"Today's budget shows you can be both economically responsible and kind," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said after the budget was released on Thursday. It increases the annual operating allowance for new spending to NZ$3.8bn (2.2bn) per year over the four-year forecast period, from a forecast NZ$2.4bn in the previous budget.

About NZ$1.9bn was slated for mental health services over that period, a key issue for the government with New Zealand still having one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

NZ$1.1bn was set aside toward reducing child poverty. The Labour-led government also allocated funds for tackling domestic violence, and for infrastructure projects like rail, hospitals and schools.

"We are measuring our country's success differently," said Finance Minister Grant Robertson. "We are not just relying on gross domestic product, but also how we are improving the wellbeing of our people, protecting the environment and strengthening of our communities." The national rail service, KiwiRail, was given a NZ$1bn boost.

The Treasury Department, however, downgraded its GDP forecasts to 2.1pc in the year ending June 30, 2019, compared to 2.9pc predicted in December, hurt by a cooling global economy and slackening domestic consumption.

GDP was forecast at 3.2pc in fiscal 2020, and was seen averaging about 2.6pc over the forecast four-year period.

Net debt was also forecast to rise slightly above 20pc of GDP, before dropping to 19.9pc in 2022. Mr Robertson warned that the economy faces continuing risks from the US-China trade disputes and Brexit.

The budget forecast an operating surplus of NZ$3.5bn for the year ending June, up from NZ$1.7bn forecast in December, but is then expected to narrow to NZ$1.3bn in the 12 months to June 2020. Ratings firm S&P said the new spending on health, housing, education, defence and general welfare will increase core expenses by about 1pc of GDP per year compared to the treasury's forecasts in December.

The budget also included NZ$150m for a gun buy-back scheme that was introduced after a mass shooting at mosques in Christchurch earlier this year.

Despite enjoying a 'rock star' economy for years, some New Zealanders have felt left behind due to the rising inequality.

Ms Ardern, the popular 38-year-old Prime Minister, came to power in 2017 with an agenda of social justice and promising to make the economy "work for all New Zealanders".

Some questioned whether the budget had lived up to stated goals to transform the economy and pointed out that the spending increase was still relatively modest as the government stuck firmly to its targets of paying down debt.

Referring to the leak of budget details, the opposition National Party called it a "botched budget", and questioned allocations for defence that do not come under the Well Being approach.

"Families want more money in their weekly budgets for food, petrol and rent. Instead, their taxes are going toward rail, the defence force and trees," said National Party leader Simon Bridges.

Critics, many in Labour's left-wing base, already felt the government has missed key opportunities to fulfil its transformative goals.

"They have spent on their priorities that they stated they would but I just don't get the sense that its the transformation that we have been promised," said Ganesh Nana, chief economist at Wellington economic think tank BERL.

Ms Ardern made a surprise U-turn in April by ruling out a capital gains tax during her tenure, long a Labour policy to tackle wealth inequality.

Tens of thousands of New Zealand teachers staged the country's largest strike on Wednesday, and doctors, nurses and others also threatened action this year for higher pay and shorter hours.

"Moving the dial, meaningfully, on Kiwi wellbeing may take five to 10 years, and they'll be quizzed every budget," said Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr. "The aspirations in the budget are grand, and respected. But it's all about long-term execution in a short-sighted political world."

Reuters
Engaging with the Twitterverse for the first time, newly appointed External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar paid homage to his predecessor Sushma Swaraj on Saturday.

"My first tweet. Thank you all for the best wishes! Honoured to be given this responsibility. Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji," Jaishankar's first tweet read.

A surprise addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest Union Cabinet, the former Foreign Secretary succeeds Swaraj in helming the Ministry of External Affairs for the next five years under the NDA government.

Swaraj opted out of contesting in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections citing her health. She spearheaded various rescue operations during her term, including those in Libya and Yemen. The former EAM was much-loved by people for being one of the most approachable ministers, known for hearing out and solving grievances on Twitter.

Jaishankar pledged to follow the precedent set by her, and tweeted, "We at Team @MEAIndia continue to be at your service 24x7. Happy to be leading the effort with my colleague MoS Muraleedharan ji."

The EAM went on to express his gratitude for the wishes extended by his counterparts from Australia, France and Indonesia, who tweeted their greetings for the former top diplomat.

Both Jaishankar and the new Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, assumed office on May 31, following the official announcement regarding portfolio allocations.

"Back at South Block, in a new role! The new External Affairs Minister of India @DrSJaishankar assumes office," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Friday.

A former career diplomat, the 1977-batch IFS officer and Padma Shri awardee served as the Foreign Secretary for three years - from 2015 until his retirement in 2018 - under Modi's previous term as Prime Minister.

He had earlier served as India's Ambassador to China and then to the US. The incumbent EAM has previously been India's Ambassador to the Czech Republic and High Commissioner to Singapore as well. He was also the First Secretary and Political Advisor to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka.

It is believed that Modi first met Jaishankar when he travelled to China as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2012.

The former diplomat played a critical role in handling tough negotiations with Beijing, following the incursion in Doklam and Ladakh's Depsang.

He is also known as the Indian government's key strategist for China and the US. In 2008, Jaishankar was a member of the team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal under the UPA government headed by then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Until the late 1960s, Chile was seen as one of the most functional democracies in Latin America. But political stability quickly turned to violent chaos on September 11, 1973, when Salvador Allende's democratically elected Marxist government was overthrown in a coup d'etat led by Augusto Pinochet. The Chilean Army commander-in-chief's accession to power was achieved through mass fear, kidnapping, and state-sponsored murder.

Following the military coup, the Chilean National Stadium in Santiago was turned into a concentration camp, where thousands of suspected dissidents were arrested, interrogated, tortured and executed. By 1976, 1pc of the Chilean population were in prison. While many were eventually released, others simply "disappeared".

Shocking as these events appear, they were more the rule than the exception in the region during the Cold War: when the fight against global communism got especially sneaky, lawless, and underhanded. By the late 1970s, 15 of the major 21 states in Latin American were ruled by military dictators. Much of the meddling, fixing, financing and supplying of weapons that brought these far-right juntas to power came from the clandestine activity of the CIA. Chile's recent traumatic history takes up an entire chapter in Jared Diamond's Upheaval: How Nations Cope With Crisis and Change: a book that essentially provides a litmus test for a nation state in political calamity and its subsequent survival.

Since Pinochet stepped aside from power in 1990, Chile has made a peaceful transition to democracy. It leads Latin America economically, and the percentage of Chileans living below the poverty line has rapidly decreased.

But inequality remains rampant in Chile, which is still ruled under many legal clauses put in place in Pinochet's constitution. For the sake of peace and posterity, however, the country has collectively drawn a line in the sand and moved on from its painful past: despite the fact that cold-blooded murderers still living in the society have never been brought to justice.

Why, then, didn't left-wing opposition take up arms, fight a civil war and seek revenge? Diamond, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Professor of Geography at UCLA, and noted polymath, feels Chile's citizens firmly believe in two powerful words that sum up what this book is all about: political pragmatism.

Other examples we read of here come from a motley crew of nations as diverse as Finland, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Australia and the United States. Each nation has responded differently to its own moment of crisis.

Germany, for instance, presently doesn't try to disguise its shameful Nazi past that led to the genocide of six million Jews; Japan, conversely, has not been as forthcoming in admitting its brutal treatment of the Chinese and Koreans during the same period. Some examples Diamond cites are more extreme than others.

The national identity crisis Australia played out at snail's pace with its big brother, Great Britain, over the course of the 20th century feels more like a drunken pillow fight in comparison to, say, the massacre Indonesia inflicted on half a million of its own citizens during its genocidal anti-communist purge during the mid-1960s.

Bloodshed, it appears, is usually the driving impetus for lasting political and historical change; money, meanwhile, often trumps morality in the long game of nation state survival.

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War is indeed devastatingly cruel to those who survive. But do the moral victories and economic benefits that emerge from its horror ensure posterity gains where their ancestors lost out? In a word: yes.

Here, Diamond uses Finland as a good case in point. Before its 'Winter War' with the Soviet Union during WWII, the country was seen as poverty-stricken and insignificant in the greater spectrum of global politics. But reparations it was forced to pay to the Soviet Union to broker peace paradoxically forced Finland to adapt to the global capitalist economy rapidly and with flexibility in a short-time span. The benefits were enormous. What was once considered a Scandinavian backwater is today one of the wealthiest, technologically sophisticated and educated nations on the planet.

Here we might remember Hegel's sobering analysis that: "War has the higher significance that through it the moral health of peoples is preserved in their indifference towards the stabilizing of finite determinations."

For the most part, Diamond's central thesis - that war followed by peace followed by trade equals prosperity and progress - is a convincing one. But when gaps in his argument appear, they are more like sink holes. Here is one particularly egregious clanger: "Only in poor countries where much of the population [feels] desperate and angry, is there toleration or support for terrorists." Such a reductive analysis makes a huge distinction between state violence vs non-state actors taking up arms in cases when human rights are worth going to war for. In reality, those demarcation lines are not so clear-cut. No irony is lost here, since Diamond spends much of his book explaining instances where state-sanctioned violence normalised and promoted genocide, rape and torture.

This shouldn't put the reader off, though. More broadly, Diamond's book is vast in scale and ambitious in scope. He takes on global history over the last three centuries, while also dedicating significant time to predicting future threats to our planet: nuclear war, climate change, global resource depletion, and rising global inequality.

His tone is informal, conversational, laid-back, centrist, heavy on detail and measured, and mixes geography, politics and history into a sharp, lucid narrative where realpolitik takes preference over moral finger-waving histrionics.

It's a Machiavellian school of thought where the premise is cruelly realistic: eternal justice-seeking won't get one very far in a global world order where fairness isn't always forthcoming. Diamond essentially sees political affairs as a shrewd game of poker. If you want to survive at the table, having an expertise in trade, arms, the swift movement of capital, and the psychological games of power will serve you well. It's certainly a seductive argument, even if a somewhat morally repugnant one.
Why would I want to read a fictionalised account of the lives and fortunes of Dracula author Bram Stoker, Victorian actor-manager Henry Irving and leading actress Ellen Terry?

That was my reaction when starting out on Joseph O'Connor's new novel. Indeed, in an end note, the author himself confesses that, though the book is based on real events, "many liberties have been taken with facts, characterisations and chronologies, even with the publication dates of Stoker's lesser-known works".

So what's real here and what's invented? Only those with a scholarly knowledge of these three people and their milieu will know for certain, so if that's where your interest lies, why not read biographies of them instead?

In the event, the novel answers that sceptical question with considerable panache, evoking its principal characters so vividly that you feel you know these people in all their aspirations and foibles - and evoking, too, the times and places they inhabited.

O'Connor's flair for conjuring up the past will be familiar to readers of his 2003 breakthrough bestseller Star of the Sea, which was set against the backdrop of the 1847 Irish Famine, and to readers of the 2011 Ghost Light, which concerned the later London life of actress Molly Allgood and her memories of her love for John Millington Synge in the distant past.

In Shadowplay, O'Connor is back in London, though in an earlier era. Its opening chapters are set in the Dublin of Stoker's birth, where the young petty sessions clerk and budding writer first meets Florence, a "thoughtful, watchful, funny, shrewd girl", who will spend the rest of her life with him in an uneasy and often strained, but loving, marriage.

And it's in the Dublin of the late 1870s where, as a part-time drama critic, he first encounters Irving, who's on tour with Hamlet and who, after a rave review from Stoker, praises his young admirer as the "wizard of kind words", though brutally dismissing him as "not a creator" when Stoker shows him an early short story.

Still, he inveigles his new-found acolyte into taking up the post of general manager of the ramshackle Lyceum Theatre in London, which the imperious and extremely volatile Irving runs as his personal fiefdom, throwing tantrums and shouting at underlings, especially Stoker, who endures his wrath with heroic stoicism.

Indeed, throughout the novel, he has to contend with Irving's put-downs, describing the 1897 stage version of Dracula as "filth and tedious rubbish from first to last. A bucket of piss and schoolboy vulgarity".

Ellen Terry, for her part, thinks Stoker "a darling man, rather obsessive, exquisitely serious", while she regards her on-off lover Irving as "a scenery-chewer" in his big Shakespearean roles: "If I want to hear a fellow roaring, I'll get married". As for the phoniness of play openings: "The best acting at a First Night is never on the stage. It's always at the party afterwards."

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As readers of his journalistic pieces down through the years will know, O'Connor is a very witty writer and there's much here to chuckle over.

Being a vampire, we learn, "is not easy. The hours are unsociable. The clothes are old-fashioned. Opportunities to meet girls are limited". And the chapter headings are amusingly archaic: 'In which two gentlemen of the theatre set out from London for Bradford'; 'In which a young man receives counsel on the avoidance of sinful occasions'.

There's also a vividly atmospheric sense of time and place, with mention of the Wilde trial, of the fear created throughout London by Jack the Ripper, as the storyline gradually moves from the 1870s to the early years of the 20th century - much of it narrated either by Stoker or from his perspective, with some of it told by Ellen Terry through diaries and recordings.

She outlasted her mercurial, and often monstrously egotistical, fellow thespian by 23 years, Irving having died in 1905 at the age of 67. And she outlasted Stoker, too, who died at 64 in 1912, having found international fame with the 1897 publication of Dracula - though even then he is unable to extricate himself from the pull of his often tortuous relationship with Irving. And his adoration of Terry remained unexpressed to the end.

Indeed, there's a bittersweet feeling to the book as it nears its close: all those once flamboyant lives and how the inexorable march of time undoes them. As the creator of a vampire whose name is known throughout the world, Stoker's reputation has endured and will continue to endure, if mainly though movies, from Nosferatu in the 1920s through to the 1950s Hammer cycle, and beyond.

But the fame of Irving and Terry belongs to a pre-movie age, and anyone who witnessed them on stage is long dead, so we can only guess at the stature of their performances and the impact they had on their audiences.

This absorbing book, which evolved from a BBC Radio 3 play by the author, makes me wish I knew - but then its persuasive quality is such that somehow I feel I do.
John Cleese has continued commenting on Twitter following controversy over claims he made about London being not really an English city.

The Monty Python and Fawlty Towers star made the claim in a Twitter post on May 29 which drew criticism from others online.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan joined the condemnation claiming Cleese was acting like Basil Fawlty.

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Cleese has commented further following the incident, and countered accusations of prejudice.

He wrote: Theres a psychological mechanism called Denial and Projection Christ spoke of it when he referred to mote and beam.

So someone who is a racist, but who is in denial about it, will project their feelings onto others, and see them in those others.

There's a psychological mechanism called " Denial and Projection ' Christ spoke of it when he referred to ' mote and beam '



So someone who is a racist, but who is in denial about it, will project their feelings onto others, and see them in those others  John Cleese (@JohnCleese) May 31, 2019

He added: Theres a view that any kind of colonialism was and is wrong The trouble is that nearly everyones been up to it ! The Romans colonised England for 400 years, and then the Normans colonised us for another 300 I put it down to the fact there will always be power hungry folk.

Celebrities including Caitlin Moran and Rick Edwards were quick to condemn Cleeses claims about London.

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The Fawlty Towers stars initially wrote: Some years ago I opined that London was not really an English city any more.

There's a view that any kind of colonialism was and is wrong



The trouble is that nearly everyone's been up to it ! The Romans colonised England for 400 years, and then the Normans colonised us for another 300



I put it down to the fact there will always be power hungry folk  John Cleese (@JohnCleese) May 31, 2019

Since then, virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation.

So there must be some truth in it

I note also that London was the UK city that voted most strongly to remain in the EU.
She was a vivacious young woman who was born into one of America's most famous political dynasties as the sister of John F Kennedy. But after a fateful decision by her father Joe, Rosemary Kennedy vanished from public view - and was not seen for decades even by members of her own family.

To outward appearances, the childhood and youth of Rosemary Kennedy seemed normal enough for a girl with a privileged background. She kept diaries, wrote letters to friends, went to tea dances, and led a gilded life as the daughter of Joe Kennedy Sr, the wealthy US ambassador to London.

A photo from the Evening Standard in 1938 shows her cheerfully holding a bouquet next to her younger sister Kathleen and her mother Rose before she was presented to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The caption read: "Miss Rosemary Kennedy... in her picture dress of white and tulle embroidered with silver."

But at the age of 23, Rosemary suddenly disappeared from the public gaze after Joe Kennedy, worried about her erratic behaviour, instructed doctors to give her a lobotomy, a brain-scraping procedure that was becoming popular at the time.

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She was left permanently incapacitated, and her plight was not publicly acknowledged until after John F Kennedy became president.

The story of Rosemary Kennedy is to be tackled in a new opera, Least Like the Other, at the Galway Arts Festival this summer, written by the Northern Irish composer Brian Irvine.

The plight of the nine Kennedy siblings and some of their children inevitably led to talk of a Kennedy curse. The eldest sibling, Joe Jnr, was killed in action in World War II; Kathleen died in a plane crash in 1948; and JFK and Bobby were both assassinated.

Less attention has been paid to Rosemary, the third sibling who was hidden away for much of her life in an institution in Wisconsin.

Accounts of her life suggest that her difficulties started from the moment she was born. The story went that when her mother Rose went into labour, the baby's head started to emerge, but the doctor was delayed. According to an account in the New York Times, by ordering Rose to keep her legs closed and forcing the baby's head to stay in the birth canal for two hours, the nurse caused a harmful loss of oxygen.

The extent of Rosemary's intellectual disabilities before she was lobotomised as a young woman are a matter of some debate. A brief biography page on the website of the JFK Library says she was slower to crawl, walk and speak than her brothers. She had learning difficulties when she reached school age.

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Nevertheless, with special family tutors, she developed a limited grasp of reading, writing and arithmetic. In the diary she kept as a teenager, she described people she met, and dances and concerts she attended. In a typical entry she says: "Walked with Peggy. Also went to horse races with her, and bet and won a dollar and a half. Went to the English Movie at five. Had dinner at 8:45."

In another entry, she tells of a visit to the White House: "Went to luncheon in the ballroom in the White House. James Roosevelt took us in to see his father, President (Franklin D) Roosevelt. He said, 'It's about time you came. How can I put my arm around all of you? Which is the oldest? You are all so big.'"

The Kennedy parents seemed keen to cover up her intellectual disabilities, and when her father was ambassador in London, she attended social events, carefully chaperoned by her brothers.

For a time she was reported to be training as a Montessori teacher and Joe Kennedy wrote to his wife Rose : "She is contented completely to be teaching with Mother Isabel. She is happy, looks better than she ever did in her life, is not the slightest bit lonesome"

Events took a much darker turn when she returned to the US, however.

Unsettled by the move, Rosemary is said to have regressed. In her book, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, Doris Kearns Goodwin tells how her customary good nature gave way to "tantrums, rages and violent behaviour".

She was confined to a convent school in Washington, but her cousin Ann Gargan said: "Many nights the school would call to say she was missing, only to find her out walking the streets at 2am."

The highly ambitious Joe Kennedy was keen to further the political careers of his sons, and there is some suggestion that he feared that his daughter, seen by the father as increasingly wayward, could damage the family name by becoming pregnant.

In 1941, when Rosemary was 23, he turned to the surgeons James Watts and Walter Freeman, who were performing lobotomies as a cure for a variety of psychological disorders and what was termed at the time 'retardation'.

Watts later recalled how Rosemary was awake as he made a surgical incision into her brain through the skull, and cut away tissue with an instrument that looked like a butter knife. While Watts was scraping around, Freeman asked Rosemary to perform verbal tasks such as reciting the Lord's Prayer or counting backwards. When she began to become incoherent, they stopped cutting.

Freeman described the procedure as "soul surgery", but it quickly became apparent that the operation had left a devastating impact. Reverting to an infant-like state, Rosemary could no longer walk, could barely speak and was incontinent.

Joe Kennedy had apparently ordered the surgery without consulting his wife.

Some Kennedy observers believe that for the domineering father, it was not simply a matter of dealing with Rosemary's intellectual disabilities, which may have been exaggerated. Did he destroy part of her brain rather than allow her to follow her own path in life, which may not have been the conventional route expected of a Kennedy sister?

Once the operation had happened and turned out to be disastrous, Joe was keen to move her away from the family. Rosemary was taken to several private institutions before her father placed her in the St Coletta home in Wisconsin, where she spent the last 57 years of her life.

According to the author Jack El-Hai, Rose Kennedy did not see her daughter for 20 years, and no family member seems to have visited her there until 1958, when JFK secretly paid a call while campaigning in Wisconsin.

It was not until JFK became President in 1961 that the family acknowledged that Rosemary had any kind of disability at all - and her problem was attributed to "mental retardation", rather than her lobotomy. Her mysterious absence had previously been put down to "reclusiveness".

Gradually, as the domineering Joe Kennedy exerted less of an influence, Rosemary was re-integrated into the family, largely at the behest of her sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

The plight of Rosemary was said to be the driving force for Eunice championing the cause of people with intellectual disabilities. When Rosemary died in 2005 at the age of 86, a Kennedy family statement described her as "a lifelong jewel to every member of our family".
EastEnders star Zack Morris called for an end of the knife crime crisis as he arrived on the red carpet at the British Soap Awards.

The 20-year-old, who plays stabbing victim Keegan Baker in the BBC soap, said he wanted to change the publics perception with the acclaimed storyline.

Morris, who is nominated for best male dramatic performance, said solving the crisis was one for the politicians but that actors could also play a part.

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Speaking at The Lowry theatre in Salford, Greater Manchester, on Saturday, he told the Press Association: Thats one for the politicians. Im not a politician. Im an actor.

All I do is read the words from the paper. Its a crisis that we are going through and it needs to stop.

All we can do as actors  as part of EastEnders  is try and change peoples mindsets. The episode is being shown in schools. Thats what we are trying to do.

Perception is the main thing. If that changes a lot of things will follow.

Todays the day! We are so excited for the show! Dont forget to tune in at 8pm on ITV! #soapawards pic.twitter.com/W9BG3mCNSK  British Soap Awards (@SoapAwards) June 1, 2019

EastEnders is also in the running to scoop the award for scene of the year for knife crime victim Shaki Kazemis funeral.

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Morris added: With any serious storyline youve got to tread carefully and work on the details. Thats the main thing, just work on the details.

We covered not the actual stabbing but the aftermath. We worked closely with people who have been through similar things.

I was chatting to them and just learning from them. I admire their courage.

Its not just the people who get stabbed  its the families and friends. It affects everyone. We wanted to show that. It was more impactful to the viewer.

EastEnders and Hollyoaks lead the nominations with 14 nods each.

Hollyoaks star Nadine Mulkerrin revealed some good news ahead of the ceremony as she shared she is expecting her first baby with fiance and fellow Hollyoaks star Rory Douglas-Speed.

Mulkerrin, who is nominated for the best female dramatic performance award for her role as Cleo McQueen, announced the news on Instagram.

Alongside a photograph of the couple showing her cradling her baby bump, she wrote: Thats us three ready for the @thebritishsoapawards.

Meanwhile, former Coronation Street star Shayne Ward said all of the soaps nominated in the best storyline category are worthy winners.

Ward played Aidan Connor in Corrie from 2015 until his departure in a male suicide storyline last year.

Corrie is nominated for The Impact of Aidans Suicide storyline, and also in the best single episode category for Aidans Suicide and the Aftermath.

Ward told Press Association: Im a guest tonight so Im quite relaxed, and normally Id be really nervous all of the soaps that are nominated in this category are all worthy winners.

The actor, who sported a new look with a full head of hair and a beard, said a dream role for him would be to star in a series like Peaky Blinders.

Good luck to all my @itvcorrie fam tonight @SoapAwards and have a few drinks for me!!!   Kym Marsh (@msm4rsh) June 1, 2019

The cast of Corrie were big winners at the event last year, taking home the award for best British soap.

The ceremony is being hosted by Phillip Schofield and aired live on ITV1 from 8pm.
Canine crusader Lazer has taken another bite out of crime after the Garda hound located a woman hiding in a busted cannabis grow house.

For the second time this week, the crime-fighting dog barked up the right tree, this time sniffing out a woman hiding in the attic of a grow house in Co Clare containing cannabis worth 900,000.

The woman, a foreign national in her 20s, was arrested at the scene after Lazer found her in the crawl space of the attic at the premises.

She was arrested and detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 by the Clare Divisional Drugs Unit who were supported by local uniform and plainclothes Gardai, the Western Region Armed Support Unit and the Cork Garda Dog Unit, from which Lazar comes.

More than 500 cannabis plants at various growth stages were found at Tinarana House on the edge of Lough Derg, near Killaloe.

Lazer deserves a lot of treats - earlier this week, he was hailed a hero for helping locate a car jacker in Cork, who held a 40-year-old woman at knife point.

It's understood the alleged carjacker (25) approached the female driver while she was stopped at a traffic light, and ordered her out of the car.

The man is said to have panicked when the lights changed however, and after fleeing on foot, Lazar later located him hiding in a ditch and assisted in his arrest.

Gardai have tweeted that Lazar, who is attached to the Cork Dog Unit - will be off- duty this weekend.

Lazer having a well-earned rest after a tough week in the spotlight.

It's dog eat dog out there, they continued.

We're sure they're treating him to a well deserved bone.
Facebook has lost its Supreme Court appeal in the so-called Max Schrems data case.

The social media giant wanted to stop a referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) about EU-US data transfer channels.

The referral was made by the High Court in proceedings by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) arising from complaints by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems.

Mr Schrems claimed the transfer of his personal data by Facebook to the US breached his data privacy rights as an EU citizen. The core issue the Supreme Court had to decide in Facebook's appeal was whether there is any actual right to appeal over a referral decision.

The Schrems case was taken against Facebook Ireland as Facebook's European headquarters is based in Dublin.

Facebook appealed against the referral, meaning the Supreme Court had to decide whether there is any actual right to appeal over a referral decision.

The five judge court ruled yesterday while the court can, with limitations, judge on an appeal of a High Court decision which includes a referral, it cannot judge on an appeal of the actual referral itself.

The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, said: "It seems to me that it is open to this court to entertain an appeal against a decision of the High Court in circumstances where the High Court has made a reference to the CJEU.

"However, there are significant limitations on the issues which this court can properly consider on such an appeal.

"I do not consider that this court can entertain any appeal against the decision of the High Court to make a reference or against the terms of that reference.

"I am also satisfied it is not appropriate for this court to entertain an appeal which is directly concerned with the analysis of the High Court leading to a decision by that court to the effect that it shared the concerns of the DPC. That analysis is inextricably linked with the decision to refer and is not a matter which can properly be pursued on appeal."

Mr Schrems opposed the appeal with his lawyers arguing Facebook had failed to identify an error by the High Court.

He released a statement after the ruling, saying he was pleased by the judgment.

"Facebook likely again invested millions to stop this case from progressing.

"It is good to see that the Supreme Court has not followed Facebook's arguments that were in total denial of all existing findings so far.

"We are now looking forward to the hearing at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg next month."

The ECJ hearing will be held in Luxembourg on July 9.
EAMONN Barnes was on holidays in Spain reading the Irish Times online in 2011 when he came across an article about Ian Bailey. The article mentioned Mr Bailey's proposed extradition to France on foot of an international arrest warrant.

It was also clear, according to Mr Barnes, that the proposed extradition was based on information the French had received from An Garda Siochana.

"I felt that perhaps not the whole story of the Bailey case was being made known to the French authorities," Mr Barnes told the High Court on Friday. "And it was important that it should be."

Mr Barnes was giving evidence in Mr Bailey's legal action against the State. The former journalist is suing the State for damages for alleged wrongful arrest arising from the Garda investigation of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in December 1996.

The State denies the allegations and says he was lawfully arrested.

As a retired DPP, Mr Barnes had some familiarity with what he called the Bailey case, the court heard. Mr Bailey was the Garda's suspect for the murder of the French film producer found beaten to death outside her holiday home in Schull, West Cork, and was twice arrested. Mr Barnes decided not to charge him. In his considered opinion, there was not a "prima facie" against him.

Mr Barnes told the court how he gave the Bailey case "a lot of anxious thought" while on holidays. He rang the Director's office on his way home, in Paris, and "explained my anxiety about it", he said.

Back home, he took advice from friends and decided to contact James Hamilton, his successor as DPP. Mr Hamilton asked him to put his concerns in writing. Mr Barnes "went straight away to a computer" and put his concerns in an email, which he read out.

The gist of it was this: in 1997, to the best of his recollection, he got a phone call from the State solicitor in West Cork, Malachy Boohig. According to Mr Barnes, he told him that a senior gardai asked him to contact the Minister for Justice in order to get the DPP to charge Mr Bailey with the murder.

Mr Barnes wrote that he was well aware of the anxiety of the gardai to charge Mr Bailey - "strong and persistent advocacy" having been applied to the DPP's office for some time. And while gardai regularly advocated their cases, Mr Barnes said what he "took exception" to was this "extra step that was disclosed by Mr Boohig".

Now in its ninth week, Mr Bailey's legal action has heard from various witnesses, including Mr Bailey and his partner, Jules, an actress, a Garda whistleblower, a fisherman, a shopkeeper, a Garda chief superintendent, a former British soldier who claimed gardai tried to stitch up Mr Bailey, and a photographer.

On Friday, the jury heard from three serving or former legal officers of the State: Mr Barnes, the former DPP; Robert Sheehan, the senior legal professional officer in his office who dealt with the Du Plantier case; and Malachy Boohig, the State solicitor for West Cork.

First up was Malachy Boohig. He was driving home from court in Cork one evening in 1997 when he got a phone call from the local chief superintendent, Dermot Dwyer, asking him to drop into Bandon Garda Station.

"It was clear that gardai were unhappy that the Director had opted not to charge Mr Bailey at that point," he said. It was suggested that "certain pressure should be brought to bear on the DPP that a charge was appropriate". Afterwards, Mr Boohig said he was followed out by the late detective superintendent Sean Camon, and chief superintendent Dwyer.

"Superintendent Camon said to me he understood I had been to college with the then justice minister, John O'Donoghue, and would I contact the minister and ask him to approach the Director to get him to profer a charge...," said Mr Boohig. "I told him absolutely no way was I going to do that, it was completely inappropriate."

He told Eamonn Barnes by phone the following morning, and also told Robert Sheehan. While Mr Barnes' recollection was that Mr Boohig came to Dublin to tell him of this approach in person, Mr Boohig disagreed. He met Mr Barnes months later in Dublin and didn't believe there was "any mention of that Bandon meeting".

Robert Sheehan was the senior legal professional on the Du Plantier case who did most of the talking to gardai, the court heard. He considered the very large Garda file over a number of years, but did not believe it contained what was necessary for a murder charge "or any charge".

He made it clear to gardai that the evidence of shopkeeper Marie Farrell was "absolutely unreliable", he said. She had first made a statement saying she saw a man of "average height and thin build", he said.

"Low and behold, when gardai wanted Mr Bailey as a suspect, she changed her statement to a very big man, so big was Mr Bailey," he said. "Not only was it unreliable, on reflection, it was perverse."

Gardai were "very anxious to have charges directed against Mr Bailey. They said if he were not charged, he would kill someone again immediately," said Mr Sheehan. "They were very concerned about that."

Their "certainty" that he would "kill again" was "striking", he said.

Mr Sheehan will continue his evidence on Tuesday,
A man has been charged by gardai with threatening to kill another man.

The man (20s) was arrested by Drogheda gardai yesterday and charged with one count of a threat to kill under Section 5 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

Earlier today he appeared before Dublin's Criminal Court of Justice and has been remanded in custody with consent to bail with strict conditions.

The case was adjourned until June 6 at Cloverhill District Court.
Garda pictured conducting a finger tip search at the scene of a shoot near the Lidl on the Blakestown Road in Mulhuddart.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 1/6/19

Garda pictured at the scene of a shoot near the Lidl on the Blakestown Road in Mulhuddart.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 1/6/19

Garda pictured conducting a finger tip search at the scene of a shoot near the Lidl on the Blakestown Road in Mulhuddart.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 1/6/19

A man has been injured after being shot in West Dublin this afternoon.

Gardai and emergency services are at the scene of the incident on Blakestown Road, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15.

It's understood the man was shot twice - once in the chest and once in the arm - as he was making his way into Lidl.

He is currently in Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, but his injuries are not life threatening.

Gardai search the proximity around Lidl in Blakestown where a man was shot this afternoon @Independent_ie pic.twitter.com/leXFfx3ODS  Ian Begley (@IanBegley_) June 1, 2019

It's understood the injured man is a close associate of Lee Boylan - who was shot in rush hour traffic also on the Blakestown Road in March.

Lee Boylan was left with life-altering injuries as a result of the shooting.

The shooting took place at around 5pm.

A garda spokesman said no arrests have been made.

"Gardai are at the scene of a shooting on Blakestown Road, Blanchardstown that occurred at approximately 5.20pm today 1st June 2019," he said.

"A male in his 40s has been taken to hospital. No arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing."

More to follow...
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 31)  President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday assured Japanese and other foreign governments that donations they sent for the Marawi rehabilitation are intact and safe in the bank.

Construction is ongoing. Do not worry, all the donors of the country-- your money is in the bank, Duterte said during his speech at the 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, Japan.

The money that Japan and everybody contributed are all accounted for. We have not spent the foreign aid assistance. We spent first our own money, he added.

The chief executive assured the foreign assistance and donations are safe in the countrys central bank.

At the tail end of his state visit, Duterte likewise thanked Japan for its decades-long support for the Philippines, particularly for the development of Mindanao.

I thank the government of Japan for its enduring commitment over many decades to build a peaceful and resilient Mindanao, the President said.

Government officials were in hot water recently after the Commission on Audit (COA) reported that millions of donations never reached Marawi siege victims.

READ: OCD: Unused 36M donations for Marawi victims to fund city's rehab

More than 900 terrorists, 47 civilians and 165 government troops were killed during the May 2017 siege. Some 300,000 residents were displaced, while houses and buildings were turned to rubble.

The government has set aside 67.99 billion for the city's comprehensive rehabilitation. As of February, the Finance Department said over 40 billion has been raised through concessional loans as well as international grants.

Duterte, in a previous speech, has hinted at leaving Marawis full restoration to businessmen.
Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli has extended an invitation to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for a visit to his country and strengthen bilateral relations through regular exchange of visits. Oli was on a two-day visit to New Delhi along with leaders of other BIMSTEC countries to take part in Modi's swearing-in ceremony on Thursday as the country's prime minister for the second term.

Besides India, BIMSTEC comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. According to the statement by the Nepal foreign ministry, Modi has accepted the invitation. Oli, who returned to Nepal on Friday, also met Modi during the visit where the two leaders expressed commitment to take bilateral relations to a new height.

"He (Oli) extended best wishes for the successful tenure of Modi," the statement said. "Both prime ministers expressed happiness over the progress made in Nepal-India relations under their respective leadership," it added. The two leaders underlined the importance of regular exchange of high-level visits between the two countries in order to further strengthen bilateral ties and advance cooperation in all possible areas for the mutual benefits of the two countries, the statement said.

During his first term in office, Modi visited Nepal twice in 2014- in August for a bilateral visit and in November for the SAARC Summit.

-PTI
Sophisticated criminals are "taking over" bank accounts of unsuspecting consumers then stealing their money.

Specialist gardai are investigating the new type of organised fraud known as 'data harvesting' - which has already netted criminals millions of euro here.

It is described as an "account take-over" because it involves criminals stealing victims' bank details and then siphoning money from their accounts.

Detectives suspect that in some cases the information is being sold over the so-called 'dark web'.

A special countrywide operation targeting criminals involved in this type of fraud is being co-ordinated by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB).

Gardai have secured charges against two foreign nationals who they believe are involved in this crime.

"The suspects involved in this illegal trade of information in Ireland can work in financial institutions, insurance companies and even just mobile phone shops," a senior source said last night.

"Essentially the risk can be any place of business where direct debits are set up - where someone provides their bank details," the source added.

In most cases the victims do not know that they have become a victim of data harvesting until they notice suspicious transactions on their bank statements, or if they are informed by their financial institution.

The financial institutions are obliged to refund the cash to affected customers.

The GNECB is currently investigating around half-a-dozen separate cases of 'account take-over' and more arrests are expected in the coming months.

Specialist officers from the GNECB are involved in the detailed investigations.

In one case, a man is suspected of obtaining over 200,000 after data harvesting over 40 bank accounts.

In many cases, so-called 'mule accounts' are set up to facilitate the transfer of the funds. "This is a very sophisticated type of crime and it is all about organised criminals taking advantage of the internet," a source said.

"Gardai are making good progress and there have been some very significant arrests but more will happen in the near future."

The data-harvesting scam is different to invoice redirection fraud, which gardai said last month had led to almost 4.5m being stolen since the start of the year.

Invoice redirection fraud happens when a business falls prey to requests, purporting to be from trusted suppliers or service providers, that a beneficiary's bank account details have been changed.
Leaving Cert students who suffer a close family bereavement during the exams will be allowed to sit alternative papers in July.

Education Minister Joe McHugh announced the initiative in response to a moving interview by 2019 Leaving Cert candidate Rhona Butler about her mother's death.

Ms Butler, who told her story on the RTE radio's 'Ryan Tubridy Show' in January, had no option but to sit the exams last year.

But now the change, which will operate on a pilot basis this year, will allow for a student to be absent from exams for a period of time during the June timetable.

It will allow a student to be absent from exams for three days, starting from the date of the death of a close relative, up to and including the day after the funeral. These three days do not need to be consecutive.

The measures will apply in cases where the death of the close relative occurs during exam time, or in the two days prior to the exams, which start next Wednesday.

Under the rules, a close relative is defined as a father, step-father, mother, step-mother, legal guardian, brother, step-brother, half-brother, sister, step-sister, half-sister, grandfather or grandmother.

The scheme will also provide for the death of a son or daughter, wife or husband or civil partner of a Leaving Certificate candidate.

The alternative sittings will take place over five days, between Monday July 8 and Friday July 12 and all exams will be held in Athlone.

Mr McHugh thanked Ms Butler for highlighting the issue and "demonstrating how we should look after and support students who have suffered a loss".
Gardai are investigating if the latest gangland victim was shot dead with a handgun owned by drug dealer Sean Little, himself murdered just over a week ago.

A massive investigation was continuing this weekend by officers in north Dublin into three fatal shootings over recent days.

The latest was Hamid Sanambar (41) who was shot dead outside Little's family home in Kilmore, at 3.30pm on Tuesday.

Last night, senior sources revealed that two handguns were recovered from the burning getaway car that was used in the murder.

One of these is a Makarov pistol and the other is understood to be a Glock handgun.

Sources said that gardai are aware of information that one of these guns was actually owned by Little, who gardai think was lured to his death on Tuesday night of last week by Sanambar.

As the investigation into the three murders continues, detectives are probing if a "reckless teenager" from Darndale was involved in two of the three slayings.

This teenager was a very close associate of David 'Fred' Lynch (26) who was shot four times in the head with a 9mm calibre semi-automatic pistol in March, 2009, by a gangland figure who is currently in jail for other offences.

Sources have revealed that the teenager's behaviour has become "increasingly erratic" over recent months, and that he is suspected of shooting a young man in the leg over a 25 drugs debt earlier this year.

Gardai have information that the young man is "absolutely intent" on getting revenge for the murder of 'Fred' Lynch.

They suspect that he is one of the three balaclava-wearing men who shot dead Sanambar after the order for a "retaliation hit" was given by a very close associate of Little.

It also emerged last night that gardai are also probing whether the teenager was the gunman who shot Jordan Davis dead just 17 hours after Little.

Gardai still insist that the Davis murder was part of a separate dispute than the other two slayings, and that he was shot dead on the orders of a secretive local crime boss who has links to the arch criminal known as 'Mr Big'.

Tensions remain extremely high in the capital's northside with the funerals of the first two murdered men expected to happen within the next few days.

Gardai believe there will be more murders to come, with no sign of an end to the brutal bloodletting.

The latest victim, Sanambar, had been regularly sighted with a suspected gangland hitman who is suspected of the attempted murder of James 'Mago' Gately.

The Iranian was also very close to a number of other gun-for-hires linked to the north Dublin drugs gang he worked with.
A poster opposing the development hangs on railings at the site. Photo: Doug OConnor

Rejected plans to build 500 homes in Raheny have been resubmitted to An Bord Pleanala.

The development - in Sybil Hill Road, adjacent to St Anne's Park - would consist of 104 houses and 432 apartments.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close File photo of people supporting the action against the development pictured taking part in a protest at St Anne's Park earlier this year. Photo: Gerry Mooney People supporting the action against the development pictured taking part in the protest. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook

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Whatsapp File photo of people supporting the action against the development pictured taking part in a protest at St Anne's Park earlier this year. Photo: Gerry Mooney

The application is at the consultation stage with Dublin City Council and An Bord Pleanala (ABP).

If the application is successful, people will be invited to lodge observations.

The decision on whether the formal planning permission process can go ahead will be made by July 25. The project was first approved in April last year by ABP.

That decision was referred to the courts, then back to ABP, which in June overturned its original decision.

Expand Close Paul and Jack Maher (7) from All Saints Park during a protest walk over the proposed housing development next to St Annes Park in Raheny. Picture: Collins / Facebook

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Whatsapp Paul and Jack Maher (7) from All Saints Park during a protest walk over the proposed housing development next to St Annes Park in Raheny. Picture: Collins

Crekav Trading, which is part of developer Marlet, has appealed this also, and the case is still before the courts. It is understood that the company intends to exhaust all avenues to get planning permission.

Senator Aodhan O'Riordain has been vocal in his opposition to the build.

He told the Herald the new submission "signals the developer's intent to lodge an application", despite the on-going case.

"The eight-storey buildings would overlook the park and destroy the ambience of the place. Every northsider loves the park - it is the lungs of the city."

Expand Close Annie Spence (9), from Killester, at the St Annes Park protest. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook

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"People want to enjoy the amenities, and it shouldn't be destroyed."

Clontarf Residents Association committee member Deirdre Tobin said she was "disappointed" to see the pre-planning submission go in because the case was still on-going.

"We just have to wait, then we will take whatever action we deem is necessary depending on the decision from ABP," she said.

One issue that arose previously was that migratory Brent geese graze on the site.

It is understood that Crekav Trading has studied the land over the winter, and claimed geese do not graze there.

Some 10pc of the build would be social housing as required by planning laws and include two all-weather pitches and a gym.
Ian Bailey who was convicted in absentia of the murder of the French film producer, Sophie Toscan du Plantier pictured at his house outside Schull in County Cork shortly after the news came through to him. Pic:Mark Condren 31.5.2019

A former journalist convicted of the murder of a French director's wife in Ireland more than 20 years ago has said he is praying the truth will come out.

Ian Bailey, 62, was found guilty in a Paris court in his absence on Friday of killing Sophie Toscan du Plantier, 39, following a trial of only three days after Irish authorities twice refused to extradite him.

Bailey told RTE: "I know there are people in this country who know that it was not me that was the culprit.

"And I know that, sitting on that, my prayer has been that the truth will come out."

Expand Close Surreal: Ian Bailey at his house near Schull in Co Cork shortly after the news came through that he had been convicted in the Paris trial. Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook

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Whatsapp Surreal: Ian Bailey at his house near Schull in Co Cork shortly after the news came through that he had been convicted in the Paris trial. Photo: Mark Condren

He added he was continuing with life in Co Cork, business as usual, and the trial outcome was "water off a duck's back".

He said Ms du Plantier's family was told a "bundle of lies from the beginning", that somehow he was the culprit.

"They chose to believe that and they still have my sympathy."

Mr Bailey faces the prospect of a new arrest warrant seeking his extradition after being found guilty by a French criminal court of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996.

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A panel of three judges in the Parisian Cour d'Assises handed down a 25-year custodial sentence, with a demand for compensation to come.

The judges also recommended a new warrant be issued for Mr Bailey's arrest - although Irish courts have rejected two previous extradition warrants from the French authorities, the latest in 2017.

However, the trial has been labelled a "farce" by his lawyer Frank Buttimer.

Mr Buttimer said he had anticipated the verdict.

"I am not surprised, I predicted this would be a rubber-stamping exercise," he said, also branding it a "gross miscarriage of justice".

Mr Bailey was convicted in absentia of the murder of the French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Mr Buttimer criticised authorities here for "allowing foreign police" to come to Ireland and "access our files".
Newly elected Fine Gael MP, Maria Walsh, said that being a member of the LGBT community does not mean that you cant also express your faith, as she attested to being a devote Roman Catholic.

Speaking on The Marian Finucane Show, the Midlands-North-West MEP said that, so strong is her connection to the Catholic church, her local Parish Priest led the celebrations after her election to the European Parliament.

I am a spiritual person I always have been, she said.

I guess like anybody living in Ireland, National and Secondary school was very much built on the Catholic church. I always had a great rapport with my parish priest.

Expand Close Well-known: Former Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh celebrates her election as an MEP with her parents Vincent and Noreen. Photo: Michael McLaughlin / Facebook

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Whatsapp Well-known: Former Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh celebrates her election as an MEP with her parents Vincent and Noreen. Photo: Michael McLaughlin

Actually, my parish priest last night was the leader of the celebration we ad yesterday evening. I have friends throughout the country involved in the church and for me I always looked for something bigger and better and I always knew that there is a guiding force.

Ms Walsh said that despite the Catholic churchs staunch conservative views on homosexuality, she has never been stopped expressing her faith. Unless she is given an ultimatum, she said, she will avoid having to choose between leaving the religion or adopting the churchs doctrine, that same-sex relations are a violation of their Divine law and Natural law.

I am an LGBTQ community member and I'm still happy to call myself Catholic. My sexual orientation is just one thing about me, as are my religious beliefs, she said.

Do they work together? Not necessarily in terms of the Pope or higher-beings, but it I've never been turned away by any church. For me, perhaps it would change if I ever got turned away from a church. I would hope that my parish priest would give me a blessing, maybe he cant or maybe he wont.

My conversation with the man above is my own. When I get to the pearly gates, myself and himself, if it is a him, will have a chat and based on the merits that I hope to achieve, hell say come on in.

The former Rose of Tralee was the subject of a derogatory website designed to undermine her European campaign because of her "homosexual lifestyle".

Voters who searched for the Fine Gael representative were being directed toward the page by Google advertisements, before the search engine giant removed the ads.

Speaking to Marian Finucane, Ms Walsh hit out at the site, which accused her of promoting LGBT values to teenagers and trying to strip young people of their morals.

The website, which was extremely homophobic was targeted specifically at me, she said.

It was called Maria Walsh for Europe, so it looked very legitimate and a lot of my own photographs were utilised. Facebook ads and Google ads were purchased on behalf of this family, or this individual in the West of Ireland.

There was phrasing that Im brainwashing young people, that I've no morals or values. Anybody who knows that I'm the most authentic (person) and very protective of never pushing any sort of agenda.

As a person regardless of if you are black or white gay or straight catholic or protestant, gay or straight, we all have an immense amount of opportunity to be whatever or whomever we want to be and to love whoever we want to love. So, this website was ridiculous.
Maria Bailey's fall from grace has been harder than any fall from a swing. In less than two weeks, she has gone from relatively unknown backbench TD to infamy.

The Dun Laoghaire representative has been the subject of radio sketches, online memes and pub gossip.

Her nemesis, the swing in the Dean hotel, is likely to be the most photographed object in Ireland this weekend.

There is growing sympathy both inside and outside of politics due to how the scandal has engulfed her career.

No doubt when the dust settles, Ms Bailey will reflect on the numerous opportunities she had to make it all go away.

Based on the evidence, it was a grave error of judgement to take the case in the first place.

Nobody disputes that she was injured - but she should have applied the logic her colleague Minister Heather Humphreys expressed in the Dail this week.

"So if you trip or you fall you have to ask yourself why it happened and more often than not the answer is because of your own carelessness," Ms Humphreys said in a damning assessment of Ms Bailey's behaviour.

Ms Bailey had a bottle of beer in one hand and was "reaching" for a friend's bottle of wine before finding herself on the floor. Understandably she was "mortified" and jumped up immediately.

The next morning she was in severe pain and was brought to the private Beacon Hospital where she had a pelvic X-ray, but no bone injury was detected. However, it is claimed she was diagnosed with soft-tissue injuries, contusions and concussion. She went on to receive dental treatment and required intense physiotherapy.

According to the TD, all she ever wanted from the hotel was 6,000-7,000 to cover her medical costs because "your private medical doesn't cover the entire medical costs".

Feeding the narrative that Fine Gael is out of touch with the common people, she added: "Everybody knows that." Ms Bailey engaged Madigan Solicitors to pursue a compensation claim. At the time, she was serving on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council with Josepha Madigan, a partner in the firm.

Both women were elected to the Dail in February 2016 and seemed to be on a similar career trajectory - until they took opposite sides in the Fine Gael leadership contest.

Ms Bailey backed Mr Coveney while Ms Madigan went with Mr Varadkar. The latter was rewarded by being put on the fast-track to a Cabinet position.

One of the big outstanding questions in this controversy is whether Ms Madigan provided any advice on the case to her colleague before she stepped away from the business in 2017.

Ms Bailey obviously had some awareness that the case would attract media interest because she asked somebody on her legal team when the details would become public.

"I was told 'you have nothing to fear', and I distinctly asked 'when will this information become public?' so I can prepare myself for it being out there. And I was told 'this will not be public until you are before the courts'," she said.

It seems at that point the TD was not overly perturbed by the idea of getting some attention - but obviously didn't grasp the PR disaster that was being set in train.

Perhaps that was because somebody told her she had a "clear-cut case", part of which was a claim that the hotel was negligent because the swing was "unsupervised".

The Dean had other ideas and lined up CCTV as part of its defence.

When the Irish Independent first revealed 11 days ago that the case was listed before the Circuit Court, where payouts can be up to 60,000, Ms Bailey declined to comment.

The following day she made page one as details emerged of the hotel's claim that she was reckless or careless about her own safety. At this stage senior figures in Fine Gael intervened to try to get her to drop the case - but she went to ground. As the week went on and the stories gathered more interest, Ms Bailey largely disengaged from party headquarters.

Then on Friday with a lull in the election coverage, the Irish Independent began to investigate what Ms Bailey was up to in the weeks after the incident.

In the first week alone, she appeared on TV and spoke at two conferences. It wasn't actually very difficult to find this out because it was all on her Facebook.

Then we found that three weeks after the fall she'd run a 10km race in less than 54 minutes. "Not for me," was her response when it was put her that this was an impressive time. The revelation was the final straw for many in Fine Gael. Her claim had stated that she couldn't run "at all" for three months.

Finally, Ms Bailey moved into crisis management mode, starting with an interview in the 'Sunday Independent' where she outlined some details of what happened on that night.

Had she stopped there, the news cycle might have moved on to focus on the results of the local and European elections. But instead she popped up on RTE's 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' where she told the presenter: "I'm not a big social animal, I rarely go out... I'm quite happy to sit at home, pyjamas on, on the couch with the kids but I went out that night."

What followed was an unmitigated disaster. In Government Buildings the Taoiseach was caught totally unawares. Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty, who was lined up to be on the programme afterwards, had to respond on the hoof.

A "tremendous pity" is how she kindly summed up the now infamous interview.

Ms Bailey blamed the media, the internet, the lawyers and the Opposition - but never once admitted to having done anything wrong herself.

Colleagues have scapegoated her as the reason Fine Gael underperformed in the local elections. Close allies like Kate O'Connell and Simon Coveney jumped out of the way rather than to her defence.

And rather than a 'kick to touch' exercise, party sources say the internal review is a definite trawl for evidence of why she should be sanctioned.

Like many before her, Ms Bailey may well find a way back but right now it looks like a very long road.
The cheque: In the aftermath of Ms Bailey's fall from a swing at the Dean hotel on July 10, 2015, the hotel offered to pay her vouched medical expenses.

Ms Bailey claimed to have suffered injuries to her head, lower back and hip in the fall, and that she needed hospital treatment the following day and physiotherapy and Pilates thereafter.

A cheque for 600 was issued to the then councillor.

The letter

A problem arose in January 2016 when Ms Bailey returned the cheque to the hotel.

In correspondence attached to the returned cheque, the TD is understood to have outlined what in her view was the likely cost of medical treatment into the future.

At that stage, Ms Bailey was not legally represented. The hotel has stated that when the TD asked for what was described as "a substantial sum" the matter was handed over to its solicitors. In interviews with the 'Sunday Independent' and RTE's Sean O'Rourke, Ms Bailey said the height of what she was asking for to cover her medical costs was 7,000. This has not been confirmed by the hotel.

Legal advice

With the hotel referring the issue to its solicitors Lemans, Ms Bailey sought her own legal representation.

It is unclear precisely when this happened, but she chose Madigan Solicitors, the firm of her Fine Gael colleague Josepha Madigan, who is now the Culture Minister.

Defending her decision to sue the hotel, Ms Bailey told Sean O'Rourke: "Mine was legitimate. I took clear legal advice on this. I am not a legal expert. I followed the legal advice that I got." Whether Ms Madigan was the person in the firm who initially advised her is still unclear. Ms Bailey would not be drawn on this, while the minister has also refused to say. The minister stepped away from the firm after joining Cabinet in 2017.

PIAB

Before a personal injury case can proceed into the courts system, it must first be authorised by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB).

In most cases, court can be avoided if the PIAB can come up with an assessment of damages acceptable to all parties. However, this did not happen in Ms Bailey's case.

An application was made to the PIAB in February 2017 and it issued an authorisation to proceed to court under Section 17 of the PIAB Act that July. Under the section invoked, there are a number of possible technical reasons why the PIAB did not take carriage of the case.

The section tends to be invoked in cases where it may take longer than two years to assess the seriousness of the injury, by which point a claim would be statute barred.

A further authorisation was issued by the PIAB in April 2018 under Section 46 of the PIAB Act. Again, there are a number of possible reasons why this was issued. One possibility is that the claim was initially inadvertently filed against the incorrect entity.

The summons

A personal injury summons and indorsement of claim was filed with Dublin Circuit Civil Court in May 2018 by Madigans Solicitors. The indorsement was drafted by a barrister and set out what Ms Bailey was claiming as part of her action.

This is the document in which she claimed the hotel was negligent because the swing was "unsupervised" and there were no signs to instruct patrons how to safely use it. It also contained the incorrect claim Ms Bailey was unable to run for three months after the incident. In reality, she completed a 10km race just three weeks later in under 54 minutes.

The document outlined how she was seeking general damages for personal injury, loss, damage and inconvenience. In addition, she was also seeking special damages, or out-of-pocket expenses, for her medical costs. These were listed as hospital fees of 1,200, dental fees of 280 and yet to be ascertained bills for physiotherapy and Pilates.

The defence

A robust defence was filed by the hotel in November 2018. It accepted the swing was unsupervised, but said any injury the TD may have suffered was due to her own negligence or contributory negligence. The defence filing said Ms Bailey had items in both hands, restricting her ability to balance and stopping her from holding rope grips properly.

The motion

In April, the hotel issued a notice of motion saying it would be applying for an order for discovery of Ms Bailey's medical and dental notes and records for the three years prior to the incident and arising from her visit to accident and emergency the day after the fall.

The motion was granted on consent on Monday, May 20, and the following day the Irish Independent published the details of the TD's claim.

By Saturday, May 25, after days of controversy over the lawsuit, Ms Bailey announced she was withdrawing it.

Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey's ill-fated compensation claim against a Dublin hotel was not a rushed affair. There were several stages along the way at which it is not unreasonable to assume the merits of the claim could have been reflected upon. SHANE PHELAN reports
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was briefed about correspondence between Maria Bailey and the Dean hotel before launching a probe into her compensation claim over a fall from a swing.

The briefing included references to how much compensation the TD was looking for in her now-abandoned personal injuries action.

In two interviews given by Ms Bailey since controversy flared over the case, she claimed the most she was seeking was 7,000 for her medical expenses. However, this has not been confirmed by the hotel. It has said it offered to pay Ms Bailey's certified medical expenses, but when she asked for what was described as "a substantial sum", the matter was handed over to its solicitors.

The Irish Independent has learned a Fine Gael official sought to establish certain facts in connection with the matter and the official's findings were passed to members of the party hierarchy and the Taoiseach's office.

The information included details of a letter sent by Ms Bailey in January 2016, six months after the fall, in which she returned a cheque for 600 to the hotel. In the letter, the TD is understood to have outlined what in her view was the likely cost of medical treatment into the future.

The briefing occurred prior to Mr Varadkar's meeting with Ms Bailey on Wednesday.

Shortly afterwards, Fine Gael announced senior counsel David Kennedy had been appointed to undertake an internal review "to establish all the facts".

One issue likely to be probed is why, given her insistence she was only seeking 7,000, Ms Bailey did not pursue her case in the District Court, which has jurisdiction to award up to 15,000.

Instead the case was taken at Circuit Court level, where personal injury awards can be up to 60,000.

The indorsement of claim filed on the TD's behalf also did not state she was only seeking her medical expenses.

It outlined how in addition to medical costs, she was seeking damages for personal injury, loss, damage and inconvenience.

Ms Bailey's standing in the party is at rock bottom after almost a fortnight of controversy. Sources say there was "no clash" when she met Mr Varadkar on Wednesday - but he is known to be privately furious about the case.

He has asked TDs not to make the situation worse by publicly admonishing their colleague and said they should show her "respect".

But over the course of the week a string of ministers, including Paschal Donohoe, Simon Harris and Heather Humphreys, tried to distance the Government from Ms Bailey's actions.

Despite saying in Monday's radio interview that she would be back in the Oireachtas this week, Ms Bailey failed to appear at two committee meetings she was due to chair.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy was quizzed at the first of those meetings, while Mr Varadkar was at the second.

A number of ministers told the Irish Independent the Government is feeling the heat over rising insurance costs.

The consensus is that Ms Bailey has totally undermined efforts to convince businesses that action is being taken.

"It's horrendous. Everybody is talking about the swing. What was she thinking?" one minister said.

But the intense focus on the TD has garnered some sympathy too. A Fine Gael senator said the online abuse she has suffered "is outrageous".

"It's gone too far. No matter what she did or didn't do, she doesn't deserve that."

The internal review ordered by the Taoiseach is expected to take around two weeks to complete.

It will be submitted directly to Mr Varadkar, who must then decide whether to take action himself or refer the findings to Fine Gael's national executive.

Sources said senior counsel Mr Kennedy has been asked "to make all necessary enquiries".

This is likely to include conversations with Culture Minister Josepha Madigan as to whether she had any knowledge of the case or ever offered advice on it.

Ms Madigan's family's law firm, which she stepped away from in 2017, submitted the court papers on behalf of the Dun Laoghaire TD which inaccurately stated she was unable to run for three months after the fall.
Life-saver: Maureen Sweeney, at just 21, prevented the loss of thousands of soldiers lives on the beaches of Normandy

A 96-year-old retired Irish postmistress has recalled how she unwittingly helped to save the world - by pinpointing a storm which could have devastated the D-Day landings.

On June 3, 1944, the night of her 21st birthday, Maureen Sweeney, was taking pressure and temperature readings at Blacksod weather station on Ireland's west coast as part of her duties as a post office assistant.

Her extraordinary - and largely unknown - role in altering the course of World War II is detailed in a new RTE documentary - 'Storm Front in Mayo - The Story of the D-Day Forecast' - which will be shown on Thursday, June 6, at 10.15pm.

Although Ireland was neutral in the war, the documentary sheds light on how Eamon de Valera sanctioned the passing of weather readings to the allies.

The readings from Mayo were crucial as they were the first sign of weather coming across the Atlantic two days in advance.

General Eisenhower had planned D-Day for June 5 but it was delayed after Maureen reported a dramatic drop in pressure pointing to a coming storm over the beaches.

In the documentary, Maureen examines her notes, commenting: "I'm very, very happy about it that we did give the right readings. I felt proud that it was from Blacksod."

One of the country's best known weather forecasters, Ger Fleming, reveals how Maureen took down the crude readings at 1am. "She's out on her 21st birthday at one in the morning doing a weather observation and what does she spot but the change in pressure, the pressure falling away was the red flag."

The documentary reveals how Eisenhower had no choice but to stall the invasion force of 160,000 troops on nearly 7,000 ships, along with thousands of airmen, as stormy conditions and poor visibility would have played havoc with their landing.

D-Day veteran Joe Cattini (96), said: "We owe a lot to Maureen of the west of Ireland, us who invaded France on D-Day, because if it hadn't been for her reading of the weather we would have perished in the storms."

Maureen reveals in the documentary that she answered an ad for a post office assistant in Blacksod but she only realised when she got to Mayo that part of her duties was to carry out weather observations.

"It was only every six hours pre-war but then they found out our weather reports in (Blacksod) were the first indication of good or bad weather coming in and they made it hourly," she said.

Maureen had to record the pressure, the temperature and the water vapour and transmit it from Blacksod to Ballina. It then went to the meteorological office in the UK.

Maureen's updated readings were passed to Eisenhower, who gave the signal to invade on June 6. Critically, the Germans' information was not as accurate.

"The information they had basically suggested a big storm was coming and it would be impossible for any allied armada to land anywhere in northern France," said Robert Gerwart, professor of modern history at UCD.
PROBE: Gardai at the scene of the shooting in north Dublin. Picture: Frank McGrath

A man was shot and injured as he made his way into a busy supermarket yesterday in what gardai suspect is the latest round of feud-related violence unleashed in north Dublin.

Bystanders rushed to help the victim seconds after he was shot outside the entrance to Lidl on the Blakestown Road in Mulhuddart just after 5.20pm, a peak time for Saturday shopping.

He was pulled to safety inside the store and treated for his injuries beside the checkout desks, to the alarm of customers who were doing their shopping.

Crowds of onlookers, including children on bicycles, gathered outside, and photographs of the injured man slumped inside the store were circulating on social media within minutes of the attack.

He was shot in the stomach, but his injuries are thought to be non-life threatening. He was later rushed to the nearby Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.

Gardai cordoned off the busy shopping centre last night, as detectives moved in to investigate potential links to the surge in recent shootings in the capital.

The injured man is linked to another man who was shot in his car in rush-hour traffic in April.

In a statement, gardai said: "Gardai are at the scene of a shooting on Blakestown Road, Blanchardstown, that occurred at approximately 5.20pm.

"A male in his 40s has been taken to hospital. No arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing."

The motive for the gun attack was not known last night, but a feud between crime gangs in the area has escalated in recent months.

The shootings have terrorised families and the north Dublin communities caught up in the crossfire.

Four men have been murdered since January, one of them gunned down as he wheeled his baby in a pram.

The murders are linked to group of young drug dealers called the Gucci gang, known for their taste in designer clothes and holidays.

Gardai have opened dozens of lines of inquiry to establish the motives for the murders. These include unpaid drug debts and turf wars among gangs jostling to fill the openings left by other gangsters jailed or forced to flee abroad by the Garda clampdown since the Kinahan/Hutch feud.

In January, Zach Parker (23), a barber, was shot in the head and chest as he drove his BMW X5 from a gym in Swords, where he had been working out.

Last month his friend Jordan Davis (23) was shot dead in Darndale, just 17 hours after his close friend Sean Little (22) was murdered on a back road that leads from Walshetown in north County Dublin to the M1.

The fourth victim, Hamid Sanambar (41), an Iranian granted asylum in Ireland, was murdered last week.

On Tuesday at 3.30pm, he called to Little's family home in Coolock to pay his respects, but a gunman lay in wait.

Gardai believe that he was suspected of luring Little to his death in north Dublin and was murdered by Little's associates in revenge.
This old man came into our pub in the company of a matchmaker. The old man was a well-off farmer. The matchmaker was a bad man. My parents were wary.

They had cause to be. In came a young girl in her school uniform. She had been taken out of school that morning. I'm not quite sure who was supposed to be looking after her. My dad wrote his first play 'Sive' after that encounter in our pub.

The young girl never knew her father and her mother died. She was vulnerable. The Church and the government looked down on children born out of wedlock. They were sent off to mother and baby homes. As most of you know, they were treated like prisoners and thousands of the little babies died due to neglect.

Dad and Mam tried to stop the horrible match that was being made in our pub. The girl was legally old enough to marry. Her guardians were bought off and I am fairly certain the priest was well paid for solemnising the mismatch.

When Dad and Mam objected, the whole sordid business was moved on to another bar. Mam had Dad write about the story of the young girl. So far as I know, this was the first time an Irish writer told the story of the abuse of kids whose dads weren't around to back them up. That was nearly 60 years before #metoo.

One of the regrets is that I didn't put more time into asking Mam and Dad more about the history of the plays. My Mam's people had a country shop and I have many of the stories of the goings-on.

We are lucky in that Dad was on television so much. He was some performer. Mam didn't give any interviews until she was in the last few years of her life.

Anne Cassin, Deirdre Walsh, Ryan Tubridy, Mickey Mac Connell and Miriam O'Callaghan interviewed my Mam. Their archive is of the finest quality. Mam had hundreds of stories, though, and I'm sorry now I didn't film or tape her. I kind of hated asking her to do it then when she was dying. I know Mam wouldn't have minded. Her energy levels were low. I was afraid we would wear her out.

It's only lately that I have been able to look at my Dad on YouTube. I was too lonesome. I have had trouble dealing with grief. I'm writing this on the Thursday, and it is Dad's anniversary. He died in 2002 and the years have passed as quickly as if we were scrolling through an online calendar.

Nowadays I'm able to enjoy him. I give thanks for that. For a good many years, I had to run out of the room when he came on TV.

But now Dad puts me in good form as he did when he was living here with us up over our little pub. But it is one of the great regrets of my life that I didn't start filming or taping Mam in time.

A word of advice from a man who puts things off; get out the phone, or better again a good camera, and shoot the stories of the older people.

The younger generation could do the recording and so there would be a master class in life skills.

We are all the sum of the parts who came before us.

There could be a nationwide project with the aim of establishing a national archive based on the stories of parents and grandparents. The resource would be there forever for historians and the families of those who take part. Assistance in direction, sound and filming techniques should be offered.

The plan could be extended to the families of the Irish living abroad whose families would be made more aware of their Irishness and the keeping of their stories would lead to more visits to the homeland.

History is not just about big battles. The film makers would learn social history and how it is they are the way they are.

There would be life lessons and a shared experience between young and old.

We entertain a good many tour buses from CIE in our pub. You have to think of something new in pubs these days or the doors will close.

It's a constant source of worry to me. I'd hate to be the one who lost John B's.

I tell the Americans about 'Sive'. The Irish-Americans in particular have a passion for our history and culture. More so than many of our own who curiously enough are more immersed in American culture. I give it to them straight and tell the story of how it was the women used to come in to the little shop at the front of our pub, and tell their secrets to my Mam who was great to give advice.

I tell the Americans Dad was able to write funny about sad stories. There was the woman who told him she was expecting her 19th child. Dad was shocked. The woman was only skin and bone. "Ah sure John B," she said, "I love having the babies. It's the only holiday I get all year long."

I tell the Americans my Mam's mam died in childbirth. My nana had only four children but every time one of Mam's customers died after having a baby too many, a little bit of my mother died too. There was no contraception in Ireland and this was a death sentence passed by the Church and State.

The Americans are here for the real Ireland. I have never heard mention of a leprechaun. They too could be part of the project of recording the stories of our older people. There would be a massive tourism pay-off, but most of all, the struggles of their ancestors would be acknowledged.

The lawyer Robert Pierse is well in to his 80s and last week he published his autobiography. The story of an independent thinker is there forever now.

My favourite part is his mother's account of the burning of her home by the Tans and the British army. Robert's mother was only a child but she never forgot the night Woodfield was destroyed. Woodfield was the family home of Michael Collins, her uncle.

Many of the older people can see just how busy we all are and they do not want to impose. Go ask. My guess is those who came before us will only be too delighted to give an account of their lives and times. The story gathering could be done in small bits, and before long all the pieces will come together.

And if you think about it, our loved ones will never die as long as their story is told.
It's a tale of two women; they both happened to be called Maria. As the election-fest gathered pace, their fortunes diverged in ways they could hardly imagine. While her compatriots were fighting it out at the polls, Maria Bailey was trying to extricate herself from her bizarre 'swing-gate' scandal. Meanwhile, Maria Walsh almost overnight propelled herself from Rose of Tralee winner to frontline politician.

Details of Ms Bailey's escapade in a Dublin hotel made for the juiciest soap opera in a long while.

The fallout from sitting on a swing, a bottle of beer in one hand and bottle of wine somewhere nearby, transfixed the nation. A gamut of questions following the Fine Gael TD's claim for personal damages hang in the ether.

But be that as it may, it was Maria Bailey's subsequent radio interview which plunged a simmering controversy into a possible career-destroying crisis. The core problem is not so much what she said, but how she said it.

Quite simply, her tone of hectoring self-righteousness meant residual sympathy for her plight ebbed away.

She would do well to study how public relations consultant Gordon Reece shaped Margaret Thatcher's image back in the day. A key part of his approach was persuading her to tone down her mode of speaking.

Thatcher did her best to heed his advice - with some notable lapses - and restrain her instinct for stridency.

Circumstances meant Maria Bailey was already battling a very sticky wicket. But in trying to get herself back on track, she threw petrol on a raging fire. There are lessons to be learned for all politicians in our image-fixated age.

The European elections were yet another reminder that being an adept performer on television and radio is ever more important in the creation of a public persona.

Granted, this is an electoral contest when 'bread and butter issues' are put to one side by many voters; they indulge themselves by plumping for a candidate outside their comfort zone. But what provokes support for somebody who is essentially an unknown quantity?

Such is the case with Maria Walsh. Apart from her Rose of Tralee success, as a member of the LGBT community she has been direct and courageous in expressing her views. Also a member of the Defence Forces Reserve, in pre-election jousting she was well able to defend her patch against party colleague Mairead McGuinness.

But we will have to wait and see how things work out when her political mettle is really tested. Brexit has certainly sexed things up in the European Parliament, but making a mark during grey and amorphous days in Brussels is difficult.

Operating away from their home patch will be uncharted territory for even seasoned warriors like Claire Daly and Mick Wallace. Over the past few years, these two lone rangers were sure-footed in the Leinster House cauldron.

They siphoned off certain issues - most famously the Maurice McCabe saga - and by dogged research and preparation kept sundry Government ministers on the back foot.

Over in Brussels, who to attack is all too often a problem. Taking on a vast bureaucracy can be mentally draining and at times rather pointless. Maybe the new cohort of populist right-wing MEPs from across the continent will be enough to stir the ire of the Irish duo.

But apart from the story of the two Marias, there is another woman for whom the election signalled a fork in the road.

The upswing in the fortunes of Sinn Fein has come to a shuddering halt south of the Border. It could be the politics of the whine-fest have plateaued.

All those easy answers to head-wrecking problems - like health and housing - are a declining currency. And so the next election will be pivotal for the fortunes of its leader.

Perhaps Mary Lou McDonald should learn a thing or two from the Maria Bailey drama.

What the Sinn Fein leader has to say all too often sounds like designer outrage - always on tap no matter what's at stake. Shock horror.

But should she also learn a lesson from the life and times of Margaret Thatcher? There's come a time to tone things down a bit.
Who will be the next president of the European Commission?

This is a decision that could set the European Council of heads of government on a collision course with the recently elected European Parliament, and France on a collision course with Germany. The present system is flawed in that it only gives voters an indirect, rather than a direct, say in who is Commission president.

Article 17 of the European Union Treaty says: "Taking account of the elections to the European Parliament, and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council shall propose to the Parliament a candidate for President of the Commission."

It goes on to say the nominee must then obtain a majority in the European Parliament and if he or she does not, the council must, within a month, propose a new name.

In 2014, and again in the recent European elections, the parliament decided to go further.

It endorsed a process whereby the major parties would nominate a "lead candidate", who would then be supported as commission president.

In a sense this pre-empted to role of the European Council in picking the nominee.

In 2014 Jean-Claude Juncker was the nominee of the EPP and when the EPP emerged as the biggest single party (219 out of 751), he was nominated.

Only Hungary and the UK opposed him in the European Council. He was then elected by a majority vote in the parliament.

This "lead candidate" system was devised so as to allow each voter to have a say, through their choice of party in the election, in who would be president of the commission. It was a form of indirect democracy.

For the 2019 election the same process was followed.

The EPP proposed Manfred Weber as their nominee.

The Social Democrats nominated Frans Timmermans.

The Greens nominated Ska Keller.

The Liberals group, who do not like the lead candidate process, put forward a "team" of candidates including Guy Verhofstadt and Margrethe Vestager.

Weber won last week, in the sense his group has most MEPs (180). So he has a good case to be the nominee. But 180 is even further from an overall majority of the 751 member Parliament than Juncker was with 219 MEPs in 2014.

A system which says the party with the most MEPs shall have its nominee as commission president has the deficiencies of the British straight vote, a "winner takes all" system.

Second preferences do not count. All one needs to be is the biggest party to claim the job. Like the British electoral system, that is polarising by its nature.

Some argue the lead candidate system also upsets the balance of power between the parliament and European Council, in that it purports to tie the hands of the council on who it may nominate, and also it politicises the commission unduly.

Under the Treaty, the council must "take account" of the results of the European election in choosing its nominee, but the lead candidate system is not in the treaty. It does not oblige the council to pick the nominee of the biggest party.

On the other hand, credibility will be at stake if the council now rejects Manfred Weber.

The council cannot simply ignore the fact that the election was fought on the basis of the lead candidate system, and many voters were genuinely led to believe that in voting for a particular party they were also voting for that party's nominee for president of the commission.

Presidential debates took place between the lead candidates on the assumption that one of them would become commission president.

To replace that open, if flawed, system with a backroom deal to put forward someone whose name was not before the electorate at all would be a hard sell, no matter how well qualified the new nominee might be.

And that alternative nominee would still have to win a majority in parliament, to be elected. The outgoing parliament, in a formal resolution, said parliament would be "ready to reject" a nominee who had not been a lead candidate.

So the council would be taking a big risk if, at this stage, it decides to reject the lead candidate system.

There is a wider argument.

Despite the improved voter turnout, many EU citizens still feel EU decision-making is remote.

The European Council would need to come up with something much better if it decides to go against the lead candidate method of selecting the president.

In 2001, the EU heads of government asked the Convention on the Future of Europe (of which I was a member) to look at new ways to create a "Europe-wide democratic public opinion" when it drew up a new EU Treaty.

They specifically asked the convention to consider the direct election of the president, not by the parliament, but by the voters themselves.

They also asked the convention to consider whether some MEPs should be elected in Europe-wide, rather than in national, constituencies.

This would have given voters an opportunity to vote on European policies rather than just on the national ones that tend to predominate in European elections at present.

I regret to say neither of these proposals got serious consideration by the convention.

I argued strongly for the direct election by the people of the President of the Commission on the same day, but on a different ballot paper, to MEPs. Separating the two votes would preserve the vital separation of powers between parliament, commission, and the council.

The proposal failed to get support because many members of the convention felt a president of the commission, directly elected by the people, would be politically too powerful, even if his or her legal prerogatives were no more than those of the existing commission president.

The other idea, electing some MEPs on a Europe-wide list, did not get support either, chiefly because some of the existing seats would have had to be given over to the Europe-wide list and some existing MEPs might have lost out.

The looming impasse over the commission presidency shows we need to devise a better system.

I believe the best solution would be to have the commission president directly elected by the people of the EU under a proportional representation system with a single transferable vote (PR.STV). It is a simple system, once you get the hang of it.

It is used in by-elections in Ireland. It was considered as the replacement for the present UK system, in a referendum in the UK during the Tory/ Lib Dem coalition, but unfortunately rejected. If it had been accepted Brexit might never have happened.

Under PR.STV, people's second and third preferences are taken into account if their first choice does not win.

The importance of second preferences encourages candidates to appeal to as broad an electorate as possible. This reduces the sort of destructive polarisation we now see in UK and US politics.

I believe it would be the best way forward for European democracy.
A t-shirt can't win or lose someone an election but it takes some beating as a messenger. Doing the radical-chic look in her 'Free Julian Assange' top at the count centre, Clare Daly had the edge over other candidates in promoting her values.

Her election was a reversal for Sinn Fein because she unseated Lynn Boylan - and that was far from being the only setback the party experienced. Currently, it has just one guaranteed voice in Europe, while the best Liadh Ni Riada can hope for is a cold-storage Brexit seat if a recount overturns Grace O'Sullivan's 327-vote lead for the Greens. That's a big 'if'.

From any perspective, it's a lacklustre result for the Sinn Fein MEPs. And in the locals, the party halved its seats, 78 councillors down.

Some Sinn Fein representatives who left over bullying allegations were re-elected as Independents and that sends another message to the leadership. Sinn Fein erred in losing people valued by the electorate rather than address internal issues. Quality candidates are not so ubiquitous that a party can afford to be profligate with them.

The party has discovered voter loyalty cannot be counted on in the Republic, although its vote largely held in the North. While people behave differently in general elections compared with the Europeans, the locals provide a gauge of what's likely to happen in a general election. On that basis, Sinn Fein ought to be nervous.

However, it has had an alarm call. There is a little time - until early next year possibly - to learn from the results and begin repositioning itself. But the turnaround is too tight to effect all the necessary changes - of policies, tone and differentiation from rivals. The party's strategy is out of step with the public and strategy takes time to develop. Still, a start can be made.

A multiplicity of reasons exists for its disappointment. Among them is public dismay at its non-engagement in Westminster because of the Brexit crisis. The abstentionist policy should be reconsidered, even temporarily.

Those seven MPs in the House of Commons could have made a difference during several narrow votes and would have provided an alternative voice to the DUP's. Just showing some flexibility would signal to the Southern electorate Sinn Fein is in the business of constructive politics.

Such a move may well broaden its support base. The party faithful would dislike any change to this long-standing policy but a case could be argued on the ground: it's an interim measure to deal with an island-wide crisis.

So, why else was Sinn Fein punished by voters? The absence from government at Stormont was unpopular with some, again because of the risks posed by a hard Border. The crowded left-wing field is another issue. Sinn Fein's fiscal policies don't endear it to centre-inclined voters so it needs to occupy the left space, but that vote is competitive and the party didn't differentiate itself sufficiently.

Sinn Fein was voted in on a wave of protest politics but the market for those has diminished. It has overplayed austerity at a time when the economy is returning to health and unemployment is comparatively low at 5.4pc.

Internally, its relatively recent adherence to the liberal agenda has led to tensions within the party - and some losses. Push and pull between long-standing members and newcomers became apparent, and not all were on board with the Repeal the Eighth campaign.

Aontu, which emerged as a result of the party whip being applied on abortion reform, won three council seats in Cavan, Meath and Wexford. When a party modernises, it needs to do so carefully or risk losing some of its base.

No party can be discounted because of one set of election results. Nevertheless, the scale of these latest reversals was unexpected and Sinn Fein must take a clear-eyed look at itself. Some questions to address include why it isn't transfer friendly and why it didn't get its vote out (a failure, too, in the presidential election). Low turnout in some urban constituencies hit home particularly hard.

Sinn Fein needs to reflect on its confrontational style which permeates the party. Passion and feistiness are engaging - Clare Daly is proof - but sometimes they can tip over into something closer to belligerence.

If it wants to position itself as a progressive party, it must stop circling the wagons whenever valid issues are highlighted. It has to be more receptive to criticism, internal and external.

For example, after his re-election to Europe, Matt Carthy was questioned on RTE's 'Morning Ireland' about a culture of authoritarianism - and immediately rejected it as media hype. The list of those who have left the party, citing bullying, speaks for itself. A more convincing answer would have been: no party is perfect, the leadership is prepared to listen and learn.

Other factors for Sinn Fein include the calibre of some of its councillors. In recent times, a number of Sinn Fein representatives have failed to impress their electorates. That's why the party lost out on Dublin and Cork city councils. Has the party machine stopped working in some areas? Were some councillors no longer prepared to put their backs into the job?

Several decades ago, Sinn Fein made inroads into working-class Dublin communities, tackling the drugs issue when nobody else was willing to help. But what has it delivered for those areas lately? The drugs issue hasn't gone away.

Sinn Fein under Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill is not aligned as it was under Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. Its vote held up reasonably well in the North in both elections, while in the Republic its message has failed to resonate.

Granted, voting patterns are less volatile in the North. One emerging trend there is increasing Alliance support.

Nationalist votes helped to elect Alliance leader Naomi Long to Europe and this can be interpreted in various ways: that an alternative to Orange and Green binaries is appealing, which will reduce Sinn Fein and DUP vote shares; or as tactical voting to keep out a second unionist MEP. Interesting the vote didn't go the SDLP's way, mind you.

In the Republic, Ms McDonald noted left-wing parties didn't capitalise on anger over the housing crisis. Yet the SocDems, vocal on this matter, won three seats in their first outing as a party at local level. So gains are possible.

My view is she's an able leader but should have taken care of the bullying issue by now rather than let it fester.

Oddly, many believed Gerry Adams was limiting party support - but Sinn Fein was in more robust shape under his leadership. That doesn't mean a job for life. But if Ms McDonald is to move the party forward, perhaps she should start wearing T-shirts, too. 'Message Received' works for me.


On Saturday night I headed for the Lisdoo where a class reunion for the leaving cert class of 1979 was taking place and by the time I got there the place was packed with ladies who were renewing friendships from 40 years ago.

Although this was the biggest reunion the ladies had over the years, the event had started with a tour of the school earlier in the day and was brought to a conclusion with a meal in the popular Newry Road complex.

With some of the ladies travelling from such far flung locations as Canada, USA, Germany, France, Canary Islands and UK as well as all over Ireland and the work put in by Margaret Roddy, Patricia Dunne, Ide McCourt, Patricia McGeough and Jacinta Hamilton meant the place was packed with old classmates.

I wasn't too long in the door when I met up with Fionnuala McCabe from Knockbridge, Patricia Kilgallen from Ballinasloe and Mary Dunne from Wicklow who told me the school hadn't changed a bit and one of the ladies could have sworn she recognised some of the desks from when she was there!

Not too long later I got talking to Joanne Cartwright from Blackrock who was chatting to Grainne Murphy from Dublin Road who had come from Canada specially to be there on the night were delighted to see all their old mates again.

They were then joined by Margaret Roddy from Bellurgan who was keeping alcohol free on the night, could it have been she had an early date with the local election count in the morning I wondered?

After this I was introduced to Noeleen Treanor originally from Bridge Street but now living in Connecticut who was having a laugh with Riona Woods from Greenmount and Patricia Dunne from Ard Easmuinn who told me it was a bit of a shot in the dark looking for Patricia Kilgallen and after googling her name found someone with the same name as a principal of a school in Ballinasloe and it turned out to be her! They agreed all the girls looked the same, but were still having trouble putting names to faces, that's where the name badges came into their own! I then headed over for a quick word with Katherine Duffy from Dublin who was struggling to remember everyone but said it was great to be all back together again.

Making my way through the crowds I then met up with a group of ladies who included Fiona Wiseman from Mount Avenue, Eithne Kearns from Avenue Road, Ide McCourt from Blackrock, Bernie McCabe from Stabannon and Eileen McGeary who has been living in Germany for the last 27 years and was delighted to be in amongst the old crew again.

Heading for another table I got a quick word with Frances McArdle from Ard Easmuinn, Maureen Traynor from Blackrock and Louise Haughey from Dublin who had no problem remembering their friends from 40 years ago, but the skeletons in the closet might by a different matter, but they were delighted to see all the familiar faces again.

At an adjacent table I caught up with Hillary Moore, Ita Jordan and Kate Cartwright all from Blackrock which they called the feeder town for St. Vincents and they were definitely up for making it a real night to remember.

I then made my way over for a quick word with Grainne McArdle from Monkstown who was enjoying a time with Fiona Lambe who was over from Lanzarote specially for the night who had taken the school tour and were surprised how well the place was maintained. Although they did say the night was nearly over and could see them calling for a cab to get them to the Vinegarmans around 11.00.

Next, I got talking to Annette McQuillan from Dunmahon who said she recognises everyone, more or less and said it was just great for them all to get back together.

Checking out some of the old photos brought in specially were Leone Smyth from Point Road, Liz O'Connell from Navan and Eileen Corcoran from Knockbridge who tried to tell me they were never part of the rowdy crew from the Vincents and were easily one of the best years the school ever had, I thought maybe I had slipped into a parallel universe at this point.

Not too long later I got talking to Margaret McAdam from Dublin Road, Josephine Sloan from Dublin Road and Winifred McCourt from Dublin who assured me it was going to be a very good night from a very lively bunch.

After this I caught up with Anne Devlin from Cavan, Mary McEntegart from Lislea and Siobhan Kennedy who also had come from Germany specially for the night and the ladies where having an excellent night together after their tour of the school.

Not too long after this I met Joan Lynch form Monasterboice who told me that no one had changed, the only strange party of the entire day was the classrooms had gotten smaller.

Finally, before I departed, I got talking to Mary Curran from Greenwood Drive and Miriam McDermott from Belfast who were in great form, one had enjoyed the tour and both were delighted to be back amongst friends after such a long time.
Menahal Fatima Naqui a pupil at Castletown Girls School scooped a prize in the ceal Eile creative writing competition organised by An Post and the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO).

Sadie Callan, Postmistress at Castletown Road Post Office congratulated Menahal Fatima Naqui npting that with over 30,000 children taking part in the Sceal Eile competition it is a huge achievement for Menahal Fatima Naqui, her school, Castletown Girls School and her family. An Post is running this schools' competition for over 35 years and children from every community in Ireland take part.

'Menahal has done Castletown and Louth very proud and we congratulate Menahal's great success.'

This year's competition asked students to twist the tale of their favourite book, as a fun way to promote literacy and learning for Irish students.
Lecture in the Green Church: The first lecture in Old Dundalk Society's summer series of talks takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7pm in St Nicholas's Parish Church (Green Church). The event will include, a tour of the church and graveyard. The church was built circa 1226 but has been altered and repaired many times over the years.

A plaque inside the church states it was restored in 1707 after the wars of the seventeenth century. The spire was erected in 1787 to the design of Francis Johnston. The graveyard was closed for burials in 1896.

The oldest tomb is that to Thomas Field who died in 1536 and the graveyard includes a number of monuments of note .This is a rare opportunity to visit this historic church and graveyard, please assemble inside the church on arrival. Patrons are advised to come early, as there is limited capacity available at the lecture venue.

Note early time of lecture.

Info session on ADHD in library

An information session on ADHD with the Genesis Programme takes place tomorrow (Wednesday)from 10am until 11am in Dundalk Library.

A psychologist from the Changing Lives Initiation will deliver a free talk to parents who are concerned about their children's attention, impulsive and hyperactive behaviour. To book a place go to www.eventbrite.com or call 9502220.

Poker classic for annual cycle

A poker classic takes place in The Lisdoo on Sunday, 2 June, at 6pm. It's in aid of the Garda Tony Golden annual charity cycle. Admission includes refreshments. Tickets from Jim McEneaney (087-9718272) or at the door.

Imperial to host VDP meeting

An Information Meeting will be held by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the Imperial Hotel to-night (Tuesday) at 7.30.

All interested in the work of the Society in Dundalk are welcome to attend, and while the Society is seeking new volunteers, there is no obligation on anyone attending the meeting to commit.

Fr Meehan's Month's Mind

The 10.00 a.m. Mass in St. Mary's, Marist Church on Sunday next, June 2nd will be the Month's Mind Mass for Fr. Paddy Meehan, S.M., who was organist and choirmaster in the church for many years and holds a special place in the memory of worshipers attending St. Mary's.

The Mass will also be offered for deceased members of the choir and family members are especially welcome.
St Mary's College celebrated their annual prize night in style this year before a packed attendance of students and their parents.

They were welcomed to the evening by sixth year student Lauren Mathews Mc Guinness who spoke about her years in the college.

The keynote speaker on the night was former student Sharon Lennon, who is currently Deputy Director, United Nations Policy Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Sharon hails from Jenkinstown and attended St Mary's College 17 years ago. The students and guests in attendance were in awe at all she has achieved in that short time. Her words were inspiring in particular to the sixth years who are about to embark on their future careers. Sharon described herself as a typical student who loved sport and chatting to her friends albeit with an avid interest in history and current affairs.

The two most prestigious prizes on the night are the Marist Education Award and Student of the Year. This year saw two of the most worthy winners in our school's history step up to collect these prizes. They were Lauren O'Hare and Israel Olatunde respectively. Both students have displayed huge commitment generosity and humility in their many achievements. Israel is one of the country's leading athletes and yet is willing to share his time with younger students. The school community looks forward to watching his rising star.
A new era in the history of St Fursey's NS, Haggardstown was marked with the official opening of the Feileacain autism unit recently.

The school welcomed six pupils to the classroom last September, providing them a space where they can reach their potential with the help of teacher Mary Brennan and two special needs assistants.

Mary, who is also the school's deputy principal, explains that the school was delighted to be asked to provide the autism unit which provides a safe learning environment for six pupils from the local community.

She had previously worked in the area of learning support for a number of years and was thrilled to be asked to take over the role of teaching the pupils in the new unit.

'We chose the name Feileachain as it's the Irish for butterfly - a creature which evolves from a caterpillar into a beautiful insect which takes flight.'

The brightly coloured unit is a valuable resource for children with autism as they follow an educational programme which has been developed to meet their needs.

There is an emphasis on visual learning and the pupils also take part in activities such as horse -riding, massage therapies and yoga.

'The main aim is that they learn go become independent,' says Mary.

There are already autism units in Realt na Mara, Dundalk, and Kilsaren NS, but as the number of pupils is limited to six in each unit, Feileacain provides a much needed resource for children with autism and their families, enabling them to attend a mainstream primary school in their community.
Two Dundalk businesses have achieved a quality mark signifying they meet the highest standards of service and trust.

Architectural and engineering business ECC Group and HR firm Servisource were awarded coveted All-Ireland Business All-Star accreditation at Croke Park.

This is an independently verified standard mark for indigenous businesses, based on rigorous selection criteria.

The accreditation is overseen by the prestigious All-Ireland Business Foundation, whose adjudication panel is chaired by Dr Briga Hynes of the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick and Kieran Ring, CEO of the Global Institute of Logistics.

Dr Hynes said the accreditation, which is now held by over 350 firms, is needed by the thousands of small and medium businesses which operate to their own standards, but have nothing to measure them by.

'We evaluate a company's background, trustworthiness and performance, and we speak to customers, employees and vendors,' she said.

'We also anonymously approach the company as a customer and report back on the experience.

'The business goes through at least two interviews and is scored on every part of the process against set metrics."

The All-Ireland Business Foundation is responsible for overseeing the All-Ireland Business Summit and All-Star awards, ongoing All-Star accreditation, Thought Leader awards and promoting peer dialogue among members.

The process to select the next group of Business All-Star accredited companies has begun and further information is available at businessallstars.ie
The customs haul from a raid of a residential premises in the Dundalk area

A major diesel laundering operation was smashed by a joint raid by Revenue's Customs Service and An Garda Siochana acting under the auspices of the Cross Border Joint Agency Taskforce last week.

Revenue Officers who carried out the search at a residential premises in Dundalk as part of an intelligence led, joint operation also seized a large haul of contraband tobacco and vodka.

During the course of the search, officers discovered a massive illegal factory with

14,000 litres of illicit mineral oil, two tonnes of bleaching earth, which is used in the laundering of prescribed markers from rebated mineral oil, two vans containing equipment for using n oil laundering, one bowser (a mobile oil tank constructed for towing behind a vehicle with a capacity of 3,000 litres).

They also found 54 kilograms of unstamped roll your own tobacco, with a market value in excess of 30,000 and duty and tax liability of more than 25,000; eleven litres of counterfeit vodka.

Following the search, three industrial bulk containers (IBC's) of diesel sludge were removed to Dundalk County Council Environment Unit.

Fuel tank offences were detected in two private motor vehicles at the residence resulting in the imposition of a 2,000 penalty in lieu of forfeiture.

A man in his 50s was interviewed and investigations are ongoing.
Renowned naturalist and leader of the Loch Ness and Morar Project, Adrian Shine pictured at the Natural Museum of Ireland

The thought provoking question as to whether a monster similar to Lough Neagh's famous Nessie is lurking below the surface of Carlingford Lough emerged last week as the Carlingford Lough Ferry launched a promotional video in Dublin's National History Museum.

The video features Adrian Shine, the renowned naturalist and leader of the Loch Ness and Morar Project who was invited to Carlingford Lough by Carlingford Lough Ferry.

In a recent visit to the iconic Carlingford Lough on board the ferry which links Co.Louth with Co.Down, Adrian explored ancient myths, legends and Irish folklore on his quest to discover the majestic horse eels that are believed to lie within the waters of the historic Lough given its current name by the Vikings.

Speaking at the launch of the video, he said 'I was only too delighted to take up Carlingford Lough Ferry's offer to come to this ancient part of Ireland and look into the fable of the horse eel that has been passed on from generation to generation. Crossing the Lough and looking out onto some of the most beautiful landscape that Ireland has to offer, I truly felt the history of the place'.

Paul O'Sullivan, Managing Director of Frazer Ferries Group, which also owns and operates the Passage East Ferry, linking Co Waterford and Co. Wexford, and Lough Foyle Ferry, linking Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula with Magilligan, Co Derry, said 'Carlingford Lough is imbued with legend and myths and there is no-one better placed than Adrian who has spent decades studying Loch Ness to bring our very special part of Ireland to life.'

'Over Easter those that took our ferry spotted pods of bottlenose dolphins amongst other wonders of the water - so who is to say that the mythical horse eel doesn't exist?'
Dundalk school principal Michelle Dolan made international headlines this week after she raised concerns about Brexit with Britain's Prince Charles during his visit to Ireland.

Michelle, who is principal at St. Louis Secondary school attended an event at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, in Enniskerry with local students taking part in a cross border project.

Also at the centre was the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, with President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina Higgins.

'Our school has been involved in a project with Newbridge Integrated College outside Banbridge,' Michelle told the Argus.

'We also linked up with a school in Dublin, and the students have been meeting on a regular basis to talk about all sorts of issues, including the border and Brexit.'

One of their meeting locations was the centre at Glencree, and they were duly invited to take part in a cross border meeting which co-incided with the British royals visit.

'Myself and three students from our own school travelled up with those from Newbridge. The panel met earlier that day, and then welcomed Prince Charles and the Duchess, along with President Higgins and Sabina.'

The students spoke with the royals about their project, and principal Michelle was given the opportunity to speak with the Prince.

'I told him how I had done my teacher training in Wales. But also about my work in Newbridge school.

Michelle had actually taught in the Co. Down integrated college for twelve years before she moved to work at St. Louis.

'I just explained to him how important it was to maintain the communications we had cross border. He agreed actually that it was important to keep lines of communication open.'

Michelle had also raised the importance of free movement across the island.

Some doubt has been cast over the ongoing free movement across the border if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.

'My concern is that Brexit will cut into that and it wouldn't allow us that freedom, our cousins are there, our neighbours, our friends, our relations.

'It's really important that (the border) stays open and the relations are positive and there's respect and we don't go back to the days of being afraid of each other, and concerned about where people come from and what their agenda might be - we don't want that again.'

The visit was a hugely historic day for the young students, added Michelle, 'even if they were a little star struck at the beginning!'

She added that the cross border project is ongoing, with students continuing to meet and strengthen their ties.
In an ideal world, every townland should have a Margaret Connolly. The author of 'Aghowle - Where the Divil Ate the Tinker' has done the place of her birth a considerable service. The townland of which she writes, by the way, is not to be confused with the bigger and more heavily populated Aghowle in the neighbourhood of Shillelagh.

The Aghowle where Margaret spent her childhood is somewhere that most people pass by without stopping on their way from Ashford to Rathdrum, or maybe going from Glenealy to Moneystown. Less than 900 old-style acres in size, it is a pleasant but generally unremarkable patch of land at the foot of Carrick Mountain. Yet in Margaret's hands, it becomes the centre of a compelling universe on which are played out many of the forces which have shaped modern Ireland. The book, which weighs in at 370 pages, presents a wonderfully readable portrait of a place and its people, though the writer insists it was something of an accident.

'I only set out to record the local history,' she insists. 'I never set out to write a book at all.'

The original plan, if plan there was, involved chatting to some of the old people in Aghowle and maybe chasing up a few documents. The chatting and the chasing, which started in 2012, turned out to be a six-year process which extended around the world in pursuit of emigrant families. Along the way she opened up lines of communication with folk as far away as California and New Zealand.

Her own journey has not taken her quite so far as the United States or Australia or England or any of the other overseas destinations mentioned in the book.

Reared on the Connolly family's small farm in Aghowle, Margaret attended primary school a couple of miles walk away in Moneystown. Secondary education was received a short bus ride away at the 'Tech' in Rathdrum, followed by Leaving Cert studies in Wicklow town on the roll of the Vocational. She went on to study science in Carlow before finding work in Dublin where she lives to this day, with her husband Brian Mathews.

Brian must take considerable credit for bringing his wife's writing into the spotlight. Credited as editor, he was essential when it came to turning the years of research into something so pleasantly readable. Together, they set up Applefield Publishing, which so far has just the one title to its credit. The Applefield name was devised simply by translating Aghowle from the old Irish 'achadh ubhall' into English.

The book first saw the light of day during 2018 and Margaret laughs in acknowledgement of the suggestion that she is not the diligent of promoters. It took more than a year after publication before she and 'Aghowle - Where the Divil Ate the Tinker' were featured on Newstalk Radio's history programme. And she hopes that the 'Irish Times' will take an interest some time in later summer. As publicity blitzes go, this has been the slowest of slow burners, but then this was never intended to be a commercial best seller. It was always a labour of love, charting the heritage of a townland which has seen dramatic social transformation since her childhood in the 1960s.

'I can milk a cow,' Margaret says proudly, recalling a skill which she is certainly not called upon to exercise in Rathgar, 'and I did deliver lambs.' The townland where she grew up featured seven farms set out in a warren of small fields with quaint names - The Bog, The Bank Field, The Clover Field, The Brow and so on. But the 1970s marked a turning point as the families involved moved out of agriculture.

Some of the holdings reached the end of the line as bachelor farmers or childless couples had no one to take over. In the case of the Connollys, May and Patsy were blessed with three daughters, none of them interested in assuming stewardship of the land. Besides, farming was taking a fresh course, mechanised and intensified, making units of 40 acres unsustainable as commercial businesses. So it is that the land of Aghowle is now hidden beneath forestry or worked by operators who are not resident in the townland.

Some of the families who resided there in 1959 - when Margaret was born - are still represented but none may be described as farmers. And the houses in which they reside are generally a far cry from the humble tin-roofed cottages which were the norm just half a century ago.

These days there are 20 homes in Aghowle, about as many as in pre-Famine times, though family size in the new millennium is much smaller than it was in the 1840s. All are private dwellings and, though there are a few sheep to keep the grass down, none may be described as a farmhouse.

The Connolly connection was severed in 2017 when May passed away, some 23 years after the death of her husband Patsy. Margaret maintains an interest and occasionally shows member of the Aghowle diaspora around when they come to examine their County Wicklow roots. The latest guests were Ruttledges who came from not so distant Meath while others have made longer trips from the USA or Australia.

One particularly poignant stop along the route of the guided tour is located deep in the woods where a simple plaque marks the scene of a disaster. In 1905, a fire destroyed the cottage of John and Mary Doyle, claiming the lives of their children, Mary junior (aged 6) and John (2). The two youngsters were left in the building for just a short time while there mother went down to the main road to buy bread from a passing van.

Other families mentioned in the book include Shannon, Reilly, Short, Bradshaw, O'Brien, Smith, Farrell and Dempsey, all of them illustrated. The work of telling their story began when Margaret, who works as a holistic therapist, decided to trace her own family history. The hobby led on naturally to taking a wider interest in the annals of Aghowle as she started to become a regular caller to the National Library and the National Archive. She also found the staff at the public library in Bray very helpful on occasion.

Interviews were arranged with the survivors of the older generation, the net spread to those who enjoyed childhood holidays in Aghowle. However, genealogy is becoming more and more an exercise which may be conducted at home via computer. Census material is now readily accessible online and it was through the internet that research took a great leap forward.

Margaret was frustrated as she delved into the fate of the Hattons, a family of tenant farmers, only to be caught in a series of dead ends. Then, through the wonders of the web, contact was established with Elizabeth Barratt of the Carmel Historical Society in California.

It emerged that William Hatton, born in 1849, the fourth of a family of eight children born in Aghowle, made quite a name for himself in America. Heading west, he became a highly successful businessman and dairy farmer - his 2,200 acre spread quite a contrast to the tiny holding in the Wicklow hills where his father probably had no more than half a dozen cows.

For those abroad attempting to track down their ancestors online, Google can be a false friend. Key in the word Aghowle and the search engine inevitably throws up references to the Shillelagh townland, with its smaller East Wicklow namesake buried in an avalanche of false leads.

As she assembled her magnum opus, Margaret Connolly was able to help out her foreign counterparts caught in this trap, in return for some tasty titbits. Take, for instance, the mystery of the disappearing Croughals, or maybe Croghals, or possibly even Crohills. Spell it how you will, the evidence was that they were thick on the ground in Aghowle during the 1830s but that they had vanished by the 1850s.

It remained completely baffling and frustrating until a message popped up on Margaret's computer from a lady called Croughwell (ha! a fourth version) on the scent of forebears who departed from Ireland in Famine times. Soon, pieces of the jigsaw were pinging back and forth across the Atlantic until a full picture of the life of George Croughwell emerged, from his birth in Aghowle in 1827 up to his interment in Fairview cemetery, Massachusetts in 1877. A picture of his handsome gravestone is included in the book.

Stories of those who left mingle in 'Aghowle - Where the Divil Ate the Tinker' with tales of what occurred close to home - the scandal of the romance between John Doyle and Sarah Jane Haughton, the shamful eviction of the Carey family, the great snow of 1947, to name a few.

The lengthiest chapter is a meticulous building by building section devoted to the ten houses identified in the townland by the 1901 census before the final chapter reveals, also in fine detail, how one by one each farmhouse ceased to be the nerve centre of a working farm.

'I am up and down to Aghowle nearly every week,' says Margaret, who has come to make friends with many of the newcomers now living in the townland.

Life goes on.
I saw a Wood Mouse the other day while on the nature trail. Nothing strange about that, you may say. Maybe not, but I thought it was unusual as the rodent was out in broad daylight in the middle of the day.

When I say I saw it, what I mean is that it saw me first and what I saw out the corner of my eye was the sudden movement as with explosive acceleration it darted from a standing start to the safety of cover in the undergrowth. That said, I did get enough of a fleeting glimpse to know it was a Wood Mouse.

We have two species of mouse in Ireland: the Wood Mouse and the House Mouse. The names suggest that the former is found in woods and the latter is found in houses, but it is not as simple as the names suggest.

The Wood Mouse is very widely distributed and is a generalist, found in all habitats including houses. It has orange-brown fur on its sides and back and a white belly. Its eyes are large and jet black. Its ears are also large and are almost hairless. Its nose is pointed, and it has long whiskers.

The big dark eyes, the large ears and the golden fur give it an appealing appearance. The fact that is clean and odourless adds to its appeal as an attractive little creature.

The distribution of the House Mouse is poorly understood but it is known that it is closely associated with people and their buildings. It is found in cities and towns and in rural buildings. Its strong association with people is evidenced by the fact that House Mouse populations on offshore islands die out very quickly when people abandon their island homes and relocate to the mainland.

The fur of the House Mouse varies in colour, but it is generally grey. Its eyes and ears are small, and its head is narrow giving its face a 'mean' expression. It uses its urine to scent mark its surroundings, so it is smelly. Consequently, houses with an infestation of mice are non-smelly if the invader is the Wood Mouse but have a distinctive 'mousey' smell if the culprit is the House Mouse.

The House Mouse is an introduction that arrived in Ireland with immigrating people. Genetic studies show that our stock has closest genetic affinities with populations in Scandinavia, Scotland and England.
Anne was desperately upset. 'Finn has never done anything like this before. It's so unlike him!' Her five year old Black Labrador had just snapped at her three year old son.

Finn had been the 'baby before a baby', a common syndrome with young couples who don't yet feel ready to have a baby together, and who decide to get a pet. Myself and my wife did this pre-children: we even went so far as calling our new kitten 'Baby' because he was a tiny, vulnerable, baby-like creature. If anyone at the time had told us that he was some sort of baby surrogate, we'd have scoffed at them. Yet two years later, we had our first child. There was definitely something going on there that we weren't fully aware of.

Anyway, Anne and her husband Jim adored Finn: he was a classic Black Labrador, intelligent, friendly, good-looking and good-natured. He had become the centre of their lives, until, of course, their first baby arrived a couple of years later.

They took the usual precautionary steps to make sure that Finn adapted to the new situation. In the weeks leading up to the birth, they played the sound of a baby crying on their sound system at home , they introduced Finn to babies belonging to friends, and they tweaked his daily routine to make it more like it would be when the baby was born. He went for fewer walks, he was given a bit less attention, and his daily activities were less one-on-one than they had been before. Finn didn't seem to mind this: he ambled through his life, happy with his lot.

And when the baby was born, Jim came home before Anne, with some bedding that had been in contact with the baby, to let Finn sniff it. This allowed him to get used to the scent before actually meeting the baby, and it reduced the risk of him reacting in any negative way.

Everything went very smoothly: as they'd hoped Finn accepted the baby boy into their home, wagging his tail in pleasure whenever Anne came into the room carrying the baby, and never reacting in any negative way to the presence of the small bundle. The perfect family set up seemed to have developed, just what Anne and Jim had hoped for. They went on to have a second baby, eighteen months later. Life was busier than ever, and Finn had become a safe, reliable part of that contented picture.

And now this. Suddenly, Finn had caused a commotion. Their three year old son had been playing in their kitchen/dining area, the baby had been in a cot close by, while Finn had been lying near the patio door. Anne had been preparing dinner, when suddenly, she'd heard a loud 'yip' from Finn, and their son was clutching his hands to his face, screaming. Finn had snapped, catching the boy on the side of his face, causing a visible mark. It didn't need medical attention, but Anne and Jim were filled with horror: what if the snap had been a couple of centimetres deeper? Their son could have been badly injured. Or what, even, if Finn had been even more aggressive: they had seen the stories in the papers about dogs savaging young children. How could they ever trust Finn again?

When I asked Anne what, specifically, had happened, she couldn't answer. She hadn't been looking across at the time that Finn snapped. The boy had been tottering around, close to Finn, but that's all she knew. The boy was too young to explain, but anything could have happened: he could have grabbed Finn's ear, stood on his tail, or even just tried to give him a big hug. Young children can't understand dog body language, and they tend to move very close to an animal when the dog is really uncomfortable. Dogs never snap randomly: something must have happened that pushed Finn to a place where he felt that he had to do something to defend himself.

This incident highlights a common issue that the Dogs Trust charity is currently trying to address: they take a 'prevention is better than cure' approach to responsible dog ownership. A dog's body language can give people an insight into how a dog is feeling and could potentially prevent an unfortunate incident arising. If humans learn to read this canine body language more effectively, problems can be prevented.

Dogs Trust runs a specific workshop on how to help ensure their children are safe around dogs both indoor and out and about. Parents and guardians, and expectant parents and guardians are all invited to attend. In particular, the charity warns parents to always supervise play time between children and dogs. The charity also runs classes for children, teaching them to be gentle when playing with dogs, and showing them the warning signs that a dog might display if they are unhappy.

Anne and Jim went to one of the workshops, and they now have a new understanding of how to integrate Finn into their family. They have new routines, with new precautions. They know that life with this lovely dog and their gorgeous children is now far safer than it had been before.

Around 40% of Irish homes have dogs, so most children will encounter dogs at some stage. It makes sense that all children should be taught how to understand them.

Visit www.learnwithdogstrust.ie to learn more about Dogs Trust workshops.
Cllr Michael Creed (FG) was the biggest polltopper at the Macroom local elections and got 2,954 first preference votes, exceeding the quota which was 2,474. Photo: Jim Coughlan

A "proud Fine Gael" councillor etched out a slice of electoral history for himself when he topped the poll in the Macroom Electoral area.

In a previous local election, Cllr Michael Creed bagged the highest vote in the entire country with over 4,600 first preference votes and just after 8pm on Saturday night at the count centre at County Hall, he nailed the highest first preference vote of 2,967 which was well above the quota of 2,474.

The smile was wide but even wider on his many supporters' faces as he was the first past the post in the six-seater constituency.

In an interview with The Corkman he said: It has been a good day for us here  I dont think you will win an election in four or five weeks, you win it for the work which you did for the last five years. I am really thrilled and delighted, I really am.

When asked about his campaign trail, he said that the people at the doors were "very nice" to him and he wanted to thank the people who put their trust in him.

He gushed about his campaign team and said there were 25 people out canvassing with him in all sorts of weather.

"I have to thank my canvassers who went and supported me when I started out on the campaign seven weeks ago. We went out every evening and they stood by me the whole time. They are an amazing bunch of people and I want to truly thank them," said Cllr Creed.

He also said he wanted to thank all the people that he met and who voted for him.

"People at the doors were very nice to me and I want to thank them for that. The one thing that I would say is that the amount of people that are missing when you are out canvassing was huge and I could see in the next number of years that social media will take over from canvassing," he said.

As people began to take snaps and social media took off, he said with a smile, that he "wasn't a fan of social media".

"I don't engage in it at all or with Facebook or Twitter or any sort of thing but I suppose a lot of the younger candidates do and I think that is the way that they will go in the future," he said. However, he readily agreed it was here to stay but was quite content to stick to his ways on his trusted road - meeting the people face to face.

"You don't win seats by promoting yourself on Facebook and Tweeting for five weeks before an election, it's the five years' work you do on the ground beforehand," said Cllr Creed.

"We were out canvassing seven days a week at all hours and I can put that down to the economy doing so well and unemployment being so low, people are out working and are just not at home. For all the people that I did meet, you wouldn't meet nicer, they were just lovely," he added.

Asked if he was surprised at the national upswing for the Green Party, he said that in the Macroom constituency there wasn't a green candidate. He said while he has "no problem" with some of the Green Party's issues, he does on more of them.

"However, global warming has become a huge issue and we have to do something to rectify that - that is a challenge," he said.

Cllr Creed equally tipped his hat to his fellow FG candidates who ran, Eileen Lynch, Aine Collins and Ted Lucey. "We had a divide between the four of us and I have to say this and to be fair, all the four stuck to that divide and so I want to compliment each of the candidates for that," he said.

He explained that he canvassed very hard in Clondrohid, Carriganima, Ballyvourney, Coolea, Reaniree, Kilnamatrya, Kilmichael, Ballingeary and Inchigeela and knocked on almost every door in that area.

While councillor Creed readily admitted, he wasn't a fan of Social Media but as he left for his hometown of Macroom he was #outthegapawinner.

* For comprehensive coverage of the local election results, see this week's edition of The Corkman
EPS managing director Patrick Buckley and communications manager Sara McMahon with the Manufacturing and Engineering trophy at the Energia Family Business Awards

The multi-award winning Mallow-based international water solutions giant EPS has made another addition to its already bulging trophy cabinet after scooping a prestigious national double.

In addition to being named the winner of the Manufacturing and Engineering gong at the inaugural Energia Family Business Awards the company, which this year is celebrating 50 years since its foundation, also took silver in the Fastest Growing Family Business category.

The new awards celebrate the efforts of family run enterprises in helping to shape the Irish business landscape, with more than 200 businesses vying for accolades across 18 different categories.

EPS was the most nominated company at the awards ceremony in Dublin's Mansion House, with six nominations, going up against stiff opposition from some of the country's biggest and most recognisable industry names, an accomplishment not lost on EPS managing director Patrick Buckley.

"It was wonderful to hear EPS Group being mentioned alongside such well-known brands as Dawn Meats, Flahavans, Height for Hire and Ballymaloe House. It was also a great opportunity to meet other family business owners, hear their stories and share in their successes", said Mr Buckley.

He said that winning the top award on the night was recognition that the company's recent investment decisions were reaping rewards.

"Our strategy during the downturn to invest in our Centre for Design and Manufacturing Excellence has proven to be a worthwhile and essential decision to ensure the future sustainability of the business. It's a constant challenge for companies in the manufacturing, engineering and construction space to remain competitive," said Mr Buckley.

He said that with constant downward pressure on margins, an increasing number of competitors in their market and the imminent challenges of Brexit, having modern technology and facilities help to future proof business, secure jobs and "keeps us in a position to add value to our customers."

"The award is great recognition for the entire team and their efforts in this regard and we are particularly thrilled to have these efforts recognised at national level. It's especially great timing for us to win an award focussing on the family element of the business as we mark our 50th anniversary," said Mr Buckley.
In 2010, a group of motor dealers in Drogheda came together to display their cars in one location for the benefit of the car buyer.

Nine years later, the award winning show is finally to arrive in the heart of the town, on Laurence Street.

The Drogheda Motor Show, Brand New Drive 192 event, will run from 10am until 5pm on Saturday 15th June on the street.

All 10 local franchised motor dealerships have partnered up with the Laurence Street Businesses and Traders to bring a special motoring event to the general public. There will be over 60 new cars on display from 14 motor brands.

'Music At The Gate' will be joining the party too from 12 noon until 5pm. The theme of the event this year is road safety and responsible driving so the dealers will focus on sharing information with the public about the sophisticated safety aspects of their shiny new cars for this one-day-only event.

Prospective car buyers are invited to get down to the show where they can expect lots of colour, music and fun for all the family to enjoy. This is a unique opportunity for car buyers to look at, sit in, smell and experience the features of a variety of different new 192 reg cars in thesize that interests them-all in one location. "When we looked back at the success of the event over the last eight years, we realised that the show really was of benefit to everyone. Certainly for us as car dealers but also for car buyers who could browse, get advice and buy with no fuss. Together we brought to life our common idea of helping ourselves and each other." Said Simon McCormack, Western Motors (Volkswagen and Skoda) "It's very exciting to bring the show into the centre of town for the first time. The fascinating history of Laurence Street makes it even more special and we're so pleased to be working alongside other local businesses, with the great support of Louth County Council and the Gardai, to deliver this positiveeventfor the town.".

With the 192 registrationplate coming out in July, there will be superb finance offers available on the weekend. The finance partner for the show is First Citizen Finance, an Irish company that launched in the Irish Market in 2014 and offers a suite of products for Consumers and Non-Consumers includingHire Purchase and Leasing. Itoffersflexible finance solutions that are available across new and used vehicles.

The 2019 show is supported by First Citizen Finance, Drogheda & District Chamber, Society of the Irish Motor Industry, LHK Kelleher Insurance, Louth County Council and the Laurence Street Businesses and Traders. Stay informed by following @BrandNewDrive on Twitter and Facebook. Visit the newly launched website, www.BrandNewDrive.iewhere test drives can be booked right away online across all the 14 brands.
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and iconic Olympic athlete Dr Ronnie Delany are coming to Drogheda this week to help the campaign for a new Alzheimer Day Care centre.

They will be among the guest speakers when the Drogheda branch of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI) holds a big event on(Wednesday, May 29that the West Court Hotel at 8pm.

The night will mark the re-launch of the branch's funding campaign to make its day centre dream a reality.

The chief executive of the ASI, Pat McLoughlin, is also expected to attend to lend his support to the drive by the local branch.

Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Liam Reilly, and Drogheda Mayor, Cllr Frank Godfrey are also due to speak at the re-launch. But the event is open to all and the branch says everyone is welcome. A major announcement about plans for the new centre is to be made at the event.

For over two decades, fund-raising for a purpose-built centre has been going on and the current tally stands at just over 600,000.

But there is now a new urgency in getting to the final figure of 950,000.

After a number of years at a premises beside Laurence Gate, the temporary home of the Alzheimer centre re-located to the Donore Road a few years ago.

But this premises will only be available to the Drogheda branch until the middle of next year.

At that stage, the branch will have to vacate the premises and they are hoping that the next move will be the final one - to a new permanent centre.

So, rather than having to move to another temporary premises, they hope to be able to look forward to moving into their brand new centre on a site at Greenhills.

But to do that, they will need to get to the target total so that shovels can go into the ground at the site as soon as possible.

''The people of Drogheda and district have been enormously generous in helping us get to our current total, '' says branch chairman Noel Heeney.

''But now we have to move up another gear to get some major donations which could push us towards the money we need to build the centre,'' he says.

''We are hoping that we can encourage some businesses and corporate interests to come on board and give us a helping hand,'' he adds.
A familiar wave of the hand and he turned and left. Frank Godfrey's days as a councillor ended in a battling defeat on Sunday.

The tallies had left him with an uphill struggle and that kept constant as the hours passed.

But his typically upbeat mood maybe overshadowed the gut wrenching taste of an election loss.

He had spent the last year as mayor and while he dedicated himself to that role, he simply found it impossible to get the time to hit the doorsteps to the degree he wanted.

'I stood on my track record. Even on election day, I had the honour of handing out awards to the students from DIFE. That's what I loved', he stated.

He looked back on the time he won three seats in Drogheda in 1979 and the fact that Kevin Callan won two this time. 'I'd consider taking one of them', he quickly added.

He lamemted the fact that estates in Drogheda were split up between rural and urban and it did nothing to help voters.

'For a town the size of it, you'd need 15 councillors. Voters were disgruntled.'

He says he may have been defeated this time, but it's not the end and he vows to return in five years time, cnavassing beginning this week.

Indeed, he ended up about 200 votes behind Paddy McQuillan for the last seat in Drogheda Urban.

'I needed a few more to really make a difference,' he stated. 'Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but the people have spoken.

'I think true Droghedeans will appreciate the work I have done and what I've done has been well documented.'

His final comment as he left the Redeemer centre on Sunday was pretty clear - 'I'll be like the Phoenix, I'll rise again.'

With that, he left the stage, one of the town's greatest performers.

Where it began

It was a June day in 1974 when Frank Godfrey assumed the title of Alderman and councillor, something he dearly held onto in the decades since.

He was a 28-year-old independent and his rise to power within the council was nothing short of sensational.

Frank, alias Franklin Dee, a local DJ -swept in with 986 votes-360 votes above the quota.

Chart topper Frank attributed his success that night to "hard work and sleepless nights," pointing out that his intensive and colourful campaign had kept him out of bed for almost 24 hours a day.

Most observers were viewing this as a massive protest vote against the major political parties, which have controlled the Corporation for a number of years. Also elected on the first count was the Mayor, Alderman Peter Moore with 720 votes.

Mr. Godfrey, the first independent to be elected to the Corporation since 1960. said the electorate had clearly voted for a candidate who would stick by his word and not for the 'faceless men' whom he repeatedly refered to during his campaign.

The new alderman was attached to a number of local organisations including the Drogheda Youth Society and the Civil Rights Association, of which he was chairman, said he would promise nothing but would work on behalf of all the people.

He revealed during the count that he had only canvassed about 70 houses in the town.

As word spread of his success, bonfires blazed in Frank's home district of Yellowbatter, where he received a tumultous welcome from hundreds of fans and local well-wishers. And on the Saturday afternoon, he led a victory parade from Mary Street to the Boyne Centre accompanied by the local Lourdes Boys and Girls.

He also revealed that as the votes began to be counted, he was at home in bed, fast asleep, having given everything in his election bid.

There was much debate over his win, a letter to the Drogheda Independent remarking, 'It was good to see a shift from party politics in the recent Corporation elections. Frank Godfrey, a progressive man with new ideas. He took on the power and might of the big party machine and succeeded.'

1979 treble

Frank pulled off one of the most amazing feats in political history when elected in 1979.

He was elected in three wards - and that left the town's political system spinning. With 1,942 first preference votes - more than 20 per cent of the valid poll - the colourful Alderman romped home with a seat from each ward under his sleeve.

His biggest victory was in his home base, Saint Laurence Gate Ward, where, with 866 votes, he was 270 over the quota and a clear leader from Alderman Peter Moore.

His massive win there meant that for the first time since he entered the Drogheda political arena, Moore did not carry the title Alderman.

In West Gate Ward, Godfrey scored a dead heat with Fianna Fail front runner, Alderman Johnny Connor, when both gained 446 first preferences.

But transfers worked very quickly for Connor who was first elected on the third count, while Godfrey came in on the sixth after capturing a sizeable proportion of Dermot Kierans' votes.

Godfrey made it the triple in St Mary's, but in doing so did not dethrone the King of Duleek Gate, Con O'Brien, a clear and popular leader.

Godfrey also hit back at allegations that he had disfranchised the people who voted for him in the Corporation elections.

In a victory speech, Mr Paddy Donegan, who topped the poll for Louth county council in the Drogheda Electoral Area, said Mr Godfrey's votes had only been distributed in one ward and in the other two the people had been disfranchised.

Alderman Godfrey said he resented Deputy Donegan's remarks and was surprised he had tried to take the credit from him for winning three Corporation seats.

He added: "The people have spoken and Mr Donegan should remember that for the next General Election. I didnt introduce the Ward system. All I can say is that it sour grapes on his part."

Alderman Godfrey said the people had responded to his call for an end to the ward system and he would like to ask Mr Donegan what democracy was about after that.

"Maybe Mr Donegan sees that his days are numbered" he said.
Mairead McGuinness MEP and first Vice-President of the European Parliament visited Our Lady's College, Greenhills, Drogheda to present a new school award recognizing students who have made a difference to the school community.

As part of the school's prize giving ceremony, the award for 'making a difference' was presented to Ms Hanratty's transition year maths class for their project to improve the bathroom facilities in the school.

McGuinness praised the school for acknowledging those students who made a difference to the school, saying that in society everyone contributes in a different way and it's important to acknowledge this.

The MEP spoke to students about her work as an MEP and first Vice-President of the European Parliament.

She spoke of the divisions in society and in politics which makes it increasingly difficult for progress to be made for the common good.

She urged the young women to continue their work serving their community. She said: "I have no doubt your work is both personally rewarding and uplifting for the school community, it's the very essence of what makes any community great," she said.

The MEP said it was a pleasure to meet students who are so enthusiastic about school and learning.

She thanked Principal Geraldine Mulvihill, Teacher Tim O'Connell and all the staff in Our Lady's College for facilitating her visit.
Balbriggan Educate Together NS 3rd class students students Euan, Jonathan, Diana and Robyn who were awarded by Dublin City University for their project on Sustainable Development

It has been a month of great success for the children from Balbriggan Educate Together NS in national academic competitions.

At the national Philosopher of the Year Awards in UCD recently, Eniola Ojo, Adam Coyle and Sean Cairns from 5th class wowed the judges with their engaging project entitled 'Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking'.

They were awarded first prize in the 'Philosophy of Mind' category which was an unbelievable achievement for children who are still only in fifth class.

Their presentation prompted the head judge to declare that she wished they could deliver their findings to teachers and trainee teachers in the future.

The judges were most impressed with their passion for the promotion of critical thinking across the curriculum and their assertions as to how this vision of learning can have benefits to the wider community.

All of the pupils in the school's Astrocoders Club took part in the Bebras Challenge in November. Bebras are logical puzzles that help develop problem solving and logical thinking. Two pupils from sixth class, Chris Li and Doran Ayub achieved exceptional scores and were selected from these participants to attend the National Final of the competition in NUI Maynooth. After a really tough competition and tie breaker, Doran emerged as the overall winner of the competition for his age group.

The fifth class Global Citizenship Group is made up of Yusra Madane, Arsh Hasan, Eoin Maguire, Faith Ikoli, Muhammed Butt and Konstantinos Marakis.

They created a project to encourage their peers, families and wider community to take positive steps to help achieve the Global Goals.

They researched extensively, created posters, filmed and edited a video and designed a Global Goals themed board game as well as delivering presentations to classes in the school.

Their game was showcased as part of the National Finals of the Trocaire Game Changers competition in DCU. The wider project was selected as one of the fifteen top projects in the regional finals of the Our World Irish Aid Awards and just last week was selected to progress to the national finals to be held in June.

The school was was also presented with a Special Distinction Award for the continued high levels of global awareness shown by entries over successive years.

Third class were awarded a distinction and a trophy by Dublin City University for their work on the Sustainable Development Project 2019.

Suzanna Curtis, Gavin Howard and Cillian McIntyre Barnett were winners in an national slogan/poster competition run by the Department of Children, Family and Youth affiars on issues of LGBTI and the senior classes in the school won a national award from Leargas for a project they submitted to the European Language Award scheme aimed at promoting and celebrating linguistic diversity. Finally, the school was ranked 2nd in the country in the recent 'Walk in My Shoes' competition.
A Skerries student is to have an asteroid named after him, in recognition of his scientific achievements.

SciFest national champion, Adam Kelly from Skerries Community College, Dublin represented Ireland at Intel ISEF 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona last week where he has claimed the Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award, which is considered one of the competition's top five most prestigious accolades.

He also received a first prize in his category, Systems Software. Adam earns $3,000 in prize money and will have an asteroid named after him as a result. Adam also achieved a Best in Category Award, earning $5,000 for himself and $1,000 for his school.

Intel ISEF is the world's largest international pre-college science competition, involving some 1,800 students from over 80 countries competing for a prize fund totalling $5million. The SciFest programme is funded primarily by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Boston Scientific, Intel Ireland and Specsavers.

Adam secured his place at the international competition when he won the top award, the Science Foundation Ireland Intel ISEF award, at the SciFest 2018 National Final last November. Adam claimed first prize for his open source solution to simulating quantum computing.

Adam's work is a combination of physics, computing and maths, and has huge potential. Unlike a traditional computer that uses bits represented either by one or zero, a quantum computer works off 'qubits', meaning an action can be a one, zero or both at the same time. This means a quantum computer can work at an unprecedented speed on vast calculations with applications in fields such as astronomy and climatology.

Large-scale quantum computers are set to be the next frontier in advanced computing, but they are not yet widely available, which is why Adam developed an open source solution to simulating quantum computing that is up to 15 times faster than conventional simulations.

Speaking about attending ISEF, Adam said: 'I was very excited to have the opportunity to travel to Phoenix and to present my work to some of the top STEM professionals in the world.

'I really enjoyed meeting young people from all over the world and seeing the different projects that they are working on.

'This was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and to learn, and I am so thankful to my family, friends, teachers and everyone at SciFest who have supported me up to now.'
A man who took Ryanair to court over his flight being delayed due to Storm Ali had his claim dismissed after a judge ruled the stormy weather was 'extraordinary circumstances'.

Conor Browne took the claim against Ryanair Designated Activity Company of Ryanair Dublin Office at Airside Business Park in Swords for an amount of 250.

He claimed his flight FR6394 from Barcelona to Dublin arrived more than three hours after its scheduled departure on September 19, 2018.

Ryanair had claimed the flight departing at 9.15pm from Barcelona was affected by exceptional weather events in Dublin.

Mr Browne, of Cedar Hurst Road, Phoenix Park Racecourse in Castleknock in Dublin claimed that Storm Ali occured that morning in Dublin but he claimed this did not fit the criteria for exceptional circumstances as the weather events did not jeopardise the safe operation of the scheduled flight from Barcelona.

He claimed the delay was 'caused by a backlog in the Ryanair network'.

'Ryanair declined my claim so I submitted a dispute to the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA),' Mr Browne told the Small Claims Court sitting at Swords District Court.

'They determined after an investigation that Ryanair had not demonstrated exceptional circumstances and 250 is payable to me,' said Mr Browne.

A solicitor for Ryanair said: 'It is well established that the decisions of the Spanish are non binding decisions. It is of no value to Mr Brown that they did or didn't find in his favour.'

The solicitor said a judgement by the European Court of Justice stated that where there are complex weather issues, it not only applies to the flight concerned but to subsequent flights for the knock-on effect which he said in this case flows on through to flights from Barcelona on the day.

Lauren Heffernan, Flight Operations for Ryanair told the court that Ryanair were due to operate six flights on the day Storm Ali hit Dublin.

However, six flights were either cancelled or diverted that day.

'The Dublin to Tallinn flight was delayed that morning as there were winds of 40 to 60 knots and it was too dangerous for passengers to board,' she said.

'There was a significant storm in Dublin and major disruption was caused,' said Ms

Heffernan, adding Ryanair 'aims to get passengers to their destinations on time'.

'But', she said 'on the day as knock-ons increased slots got worse and even if we had a spare plane we couldn't use it that day. The only option was flight delays'.

On hearing all of the evidence Judge Dermot Dempsey dismissed the case claiming the weather on the day was an exceptional circumstance.
Gardai are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shocking fatal shooting of a man at Rowans Little, Walshestown, following the discovery of a body in the area last Wednesday evening (22nd).

The victim, believed to be in his early to mid-twenties has since been named as Sean Little from Coolock and was found dead beside a burnt out car in the area.

He was shot a number of times, and sustained injuries to his head and chest.

Gardai were attending the scene of a burned out car when they discovered the man's body.

Gardai at Balbriggan Garda Station are appealing for any member of the public who may have been in the area, or who were travelling on the M1 between the hours of 10pm and midnight, Wednesday May 21 to come forward.

A post-mortem has been carried out on the body, and a technical examination has also been carried out at the scene.

Supt Tony Twomey of Balbriggan Garda Station said at a media briefing at the scene of the fatal shooting: 'We are appealing for anyone who may have been in the area from 10pm to 12am (on May 21) who may have seen anything suspicious in the area.

'We are particularly interested in anyone who may have seen a black Vauxhall Insignia, registration number 181D46743.

'We are also interested in talking to anyone who may have been on the M1 at that time, who may have dashcam footage, or may have seen anything suspicious.'

Gardai were yet to establish if the man was shot at the scene, as the incident is currently in the early stages of investigation but reports suggest the shooting may have taken place elsewhere.

Superintendent Twomey said last Wedensday: 'What I know at this point in time, is that the victim is a male in his early twenties; we haven't yet identified who the victim is, so we're not one hundred percent sure as to the background and the circumstances surrounding this incident.'

Asked whether Gardai believed there may be reprisals over the incident, Supt Twomey said, 'until we establish what the circumstances are and the background is, we can't actually determine whether there will be reprisals.'

Gardai are currently waiting for witnesses to come forward to determine the circumstances of the incident, and to determine if a getaway vehicle was used.

Since that media briefing at the scene, Gardai have established that the victim's name was 22-year-old Sean Little from Coolock.

The gangland-style shooting is not believed to be connected to a second murder that took place subsequently on Thursday, May 22, in Darndale where another young man, since named as Jordan Davis, a close friend of Mr Little's, was shot dead while wheeling a pram on a public street .

Members of the public who believe they may have some information relating to the incident at Walshestown specifically should call Balbriggan Garda Station at: 01-8020510
Chino, CA (91710)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 47F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..

Tonight

Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 47F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.
Skillnet Ireland, the national agency responsible for the promotion and facilitation of workforce learning in Ireland has launched six new networks to address the growing skills needs in the film, television, retail, health and fitness sectors.

The six new networks are Fingal Dublin Chamber Skillnet (Dublin), Screen Skillnet, SFA Skillnet, Dundalk Chamber Skillnet (Louth), CSNA Skillnet and Leisure, Health & Fitness Skillnet. All six were unveiled yesterday (May 13th 2019) at the Virgin Media Television studios in Ballymount, Dublin.

Fingal Dublin Chamber Skillnet is an enterprise-led training network for companies in the Fingal region who want to work collaboratively to respond locally to skill needs within their business. The network's objective is to support member companies to develop and grow, through the provision of relevant and flexible training. Membership of the network is open to private enterprises based in the Fingal region. The Network is promoted by Fingal Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

'There are over 8,000 companies based in the Fingal region, employing over 100,000 people. Our aim is to upskill over 290 people in our first year and provide many opportunities for businesses to network and engage,' said Noreen Fitzpatrick, Network Manager of Fingal Dublin Chamber Skillnet.

'Training will be provided for a wide variety of sectors including hospitality, transport and logistics, tech, manufacturing, biopharma, agri-food, construction and retail. We've already conducted two training programmes in anticipation of Brexit - 'Exploring the Opportunities from Brexit' and 'Customs Clearance Procedures',' she added.

With a proven track record in developing innovative learning networks, Skillnet Ireland through its 65+ strong community currently supports over 16,000 companies, particularly SMEs, in sectors and regions across the country.

Skillnet Ireland works closely with these networks to address emerging skills needs, by designing bespoke programmes and qualifications across multiple sectors such as; manufacturing, agri-business, ICT, engineering, pharma, medtech, hospitality and construction related disciplines.

Speaking at the launch Paul Healy, Chief Executive, Skillnet Ireland said: 'In order to remain competitive, businesses need to invest in their greatest asset, their employees. Promoting continuous learning and upskilling will not only improve productivity; all the evidence shows it actually increases employee engagement and staff retention.

'These new networks will drive greater levels of training and management development within a wide variety of sectors. By facilitating industry led collaboration with training and education providers Skillnet Ireland will address the specific skills gaps and shortages that employers face. This will ensure Ireland has the breadth of skills needed for businesses to grow, which is a key element of the Government's economic and employment strategy.'
The Minister for Education has committed to providing extra classrooms at Ardgillan Community College for this September and commended the school's management as the project advances to address structural issues in one of the school's buildings which has been closed since last October.

Minister for Education, Joe McHugh was responding in the Seanad to questions on the issue from Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

He said: 'Specifically, regarding Ardgillan community college, I thank its leadership - Mr. Michael O'Leary, who has shown excellent leadership throughout this process, and his team - and also the students.

'The scheduled detailed investigation phase has been undertaken and a programme of works to remediate the building is being put in place for implementation.

'This is an education and training board school. Pending the delivery of the remediation work, my Department will ensure, in continued consultation with the ETB, that any interim accommodation needs at the school are met.

'In this regard, two additional temporary classrooms, a woodwork room and preparation area together with a disabled access toilet have been approved for September 2019.'

Senator Clifford-Lee welcomed the response saying that the school had previously received no response to its request for the provision of more temporary classrooms for its students.

The response as to when the school's 'phase one' building would re-open was less clear.

Senator Clifford-Lee said: 'Now that we are coming into the summer months, it is vital that as much work as possible be done in Ardgillan community college in order to bring it up to scratch for September. The situation is very difficult for all the students concerned, their parents and the teaching staff despite the best efforts of the school principal, Michael O'Leary, and all the staff. People in Balbriggan, Balrothery and the Naul are very concerned about the school.

'I have been out canvassing with Niall Keady in Balbriggan and this issue comes up very regularly on the doorsteps. It is a very real topic now that we are coming into the local elections. People are asking Mr. Keady and me about what is happening, which is why I have raised it here today.'

Minister McHugh said remediation works would begin in the summer and that 'all efforts remain on track to achieve this objective'.

He said: 'When the works programme is available, the details will be first shared at meetings with the patrons and the schools involved. Arrangements are being put in place for such meetings...'
While all around them uncertainty reigned there was a general air of calm surrounding the Kilmuckridge corner of the count centre throughout the weekend. There was no nervous pacing here, no wringing of hands, just the occasional flutter of nerves as each box was unloaded, its contents picked apart by the waiting counters.

A newly-created district, comprised of two sitting councillors from Enniscorthy, two from Gorey, four first-time candidates and the nomadic Jan Van de Ven, there were just four seats up for grabs in Kilmuckridge, with the identity of their grabbers the worst kept secret in Wexford.

Far too coy to proclaim victory prematurely, the four sitting councillors, Willie Kavanagh, Mary Farrell, Oliver Walsh and Pip Breen, chose their words carefully, ruling nothing out, nor in, as they advised everyone to just wait and see.

Their opponents however, were less cautious. First-time candidate Peter Mernagh (Renua) was downbeat from the off, conceding defeat almost before the contest had begun. Replete in his Monageer/Boolavogue GAA Club gear, Mernagh set out his stall as early as Saturday evening. 'I have no regrets at all,' he said, 'I started from a base of zero with a very small party with no established support in the area which is a very difficult thing to do.'

This low-key attitude didn't quite extend to the count zone. There, among the interested onlookers, invested parties and the four kingpins, stood a studious Nicky Wafer. Unlike his fellow first-timer, the Labour candidate was a picture of concentration, his eyes fixed firmly on the prize, on the polling cards and their valuable, life-altering digits. Too busy to talk, to disengage for but the briefest of chats, Wafer did not look like a man who had given up the ghost.

Yet, as the pigeon-holes slowly began to fill, and the inevitable became apparent, he drifted away, accepting his fate, the undeniable truth laid bare in its most brutal form.

Sinn Fein's Colette Nolan was more defiant. Acknowledging her own impending elimination, she offered support and solace to her party members, to those enduring travails in neighbouring districts mere feet away. Yet you sensed there was something brewing in Colette, that she was biding her time, waiting to unburden herself in one grand act of catharsis.

And so it proved. Fresh from her defeat, she called out the begrudgers and the non-voters and informed those laughing at her demise that they hadn't seen the last of her, that she would be back in 2024. Far from being over, her journey had only begun.

As for Jan, there was not telling where his journey had taken him. Certainly not to St Joseph's Community Centre. And with 53 votes it wouldn't be taking him to the Kilmuckridge Electoral District either. Perhaps he was in Cork, awaiting the outcome of the European elections there, although a quick look at those polls suggested a journey wasted.

Ultimately it was a case of when, not if, the fab four would return to their respective thrones. And for one, the news broke while she was otherwise engaged. With family commitments taking precedence, Independent candidate Mary Farrell spent Sunday morning at a communion. While her rivals loitered with intent - ensuring the biggest lads with the biggest muscles were on call lest anyone need lifting - Mary was with God, her spirit pure, unhindered, at least momentarily.

A quick text and Mary's reverie was broken. She'd made it. But there would no whooping or hollering, at least not until Mass was over, at which point the priest, clearly an understanding sort, announced the joyous news to the rest of the flock.

Arriving in time for her ordination, Mary was also lucky enough to witness the Three Wise Men being raised to the skies, only gravity bringing them back down to earth. Their joy was unrestrained, the hard work had paid off, they could relax, all of them, at least until the morning.
Two weeks ago a friend of mine related to me the hoops that she had to go through to make a small simple change on her phone account. She is a wise calm and articulate person who seldom gets annoyed or frustrated. But her ongoing problem with her phone provider had certainly frustrated her.

What was annoying her most was that she found it impossible to get them to listen to her and then take action. 'It was impossible to get speaking to a human voice at the other end of the phone. An I still have not heard from them,' she said.

It seems we are all subjected to a new form of slavery. These global corporations are holding us to ransom and we are allowing them get away with it. In the meantime, they are making millions on us. They seem to have the power, money and ability to wear us down. And the sheer brass-neck too.Only last week Conor Pope told a story in his column in 'The Irish Times' of the appalling treatment a passenger received at the hands of Ryanair.

My friend's saga with her phone provider and Conor Pope's story remind me of my own personal saga with Eir. Indeed, I wrote about it in this column in mid-March and the problem has not yet been resolved.

I am not going to bore the reader with a detailed account of my running row with Eir. But it is a frustrating and seemingly never-ending saga. I was a customer with Eir for 30 years and my parents before me for another 30 years. One thing is certain these corporations place no importance or value in loyalty. 'Back in the day' we placed great importance on loyalty.

My current skirmish with Eir has clearly demonstrated that loyalty counts for nothing. And then the PR speak they use in an attempt to fob off the customer.

On one occasion Eir emailed me informing me that I had written to the wrong department and gave me a phone number which would deal with my problem. On phoning the number, I was asked for my account or phone number. When I told them that I had closed my account I was told via a recorded message they could not deal with my problem.

On March 1 I wrote a hard copy letter to Eir and so far they have not had the good manners to reply. I have a file of silly PR-speak, meaningless emails from Eir. Since late February I have been asking Eir to give me a breakdown on the account that I have closed. Not a word from them and it seems they have no intentions.

Is this the company to whom our government is going to pay millions to use their infrastructure in the rolling out of broadband to rural Ireland? After my experience with Eir I'd be slow to 'phone home' ever again with them.

I may well over the years in this column have criticised State-owned companies but these days I am beginning to think when it comes to customer service, efficiency and simple good manners they are light years ahead of many of the large private corporations who are making millions on us.

On a train from Dublin to Galway on Friday I observed a member of Irish Rail staff organise a ramp for a wheelchair passenger. All done with friendliness and at no extra cost. And the train arrived on time at Galway Ceannt Station.
There was great sadness felt throughout the Enniscorthy and Gorey areas at the passing of retired garda, John O'Gara (89), from Courtown, on April 21.

John was originally from Carrick, Co Donegal, and his passing was met with feelings of deep regret over a very wide area.

He was a long serving member of An Garda Siochana up to the time of his retirement in 1984.

Having joined the gardai in 1953, he served in the Dublin/Wicklow Division for a period of time before transferring to the Wexford Division in 1964, where he served the remainder of his years in the force.

He served first in Glynn and later in Courtown where he proved himself to be an efficient and courteous officer.

His passing at such an advanced age brought feelings of deep regret not only in the greater Courtown area but also in his home county of Donegal where he was a frequent visitor and where he maintained many lifelong friendships.

A man of high principles and strong integrity, John served for many years on the joint Garda Representative Body, before the establishment of the Garda Representative Association on which he also served for a number of years.

His years of service were marked by his involvement in efforts to improve pay and conditions for serving officers and in this regard he was very successful. He was a noted negotiator and gave freely of his time and talents for the betterment of the colleagues with whom he served.

A member of Courtown Parish Council, John joined the organisation shortly after arriving in Courtown with the specific aim of having a new parish school constructed to replace the outdated structure which was in place up to then.

Through his sustained efforts, combined with those of others, a state-of-the-art structure was eventually built which today stands as a proud monument to their collective endeavours.

Not content to rest on his laurels, John then set about having the old school converted into a community centre where the young people of the parish could congregate for all types of social activities.

Again, his efforts proved successful with Courtown Youth Club becoming a leading centre of activity for the youth of the area for many years from the late 1960s.

Married to his beloved wife, Rosanna, for a staggering 56 years, together they raised a family of five boys and two girls, all of whom are very successful in their respective fields of endeavour and to whom deep and heartfelt sympathy is extended.

John's wife, Rosanna, predeceased him in 2013 after an illness during which he nursed her with tender and loving care.

A man with a keen interest in sport, John loved horse racing in particular and regularly attended meetings here in Ireland.

He also attended Newmarket and two years ago, at the age of 87, made the journey to Cheltenham where he cheered many Irish horses to victory.

Such outings brought him great joy when his minimal 'flutters' brought desired results.

A man with a very creative imagination, John took a keen interest in all things associated with north Wexford and also, of course, with his beloved Donegal.

Proud of his native county he returned regularly to visit old friends and family members.

John enjoyed excellent health up to his final illness and even when admitted to Gorey Hospital in the weeks before his passing regaled staff and family members with his quick wit and good humour.

The esteem with which John and his family are held in the greater Gorey area was reflected in the huge attendance at his removal to the Star of the Sea Church, Riverchapel, Courtown Harbour, on Thursday, April 25, and at his Requiem Mass the following day after which interment took place in the adjoining cemetery. Retired members of An Garda Siochana provided a Guard of Honour from the church to his final resting place with the tricolour, Garda Cap and Gloves adorning his coffin.

It was a fitting tribute to a man who served his country to the best of his ability for over 30 years.

John is survived by sons, Paul, John, Michael, Niall and Anthony, daughters Carolann and Rosemary, three sisters, eight grandchildren, relatives and large circle of friends.
The first Indo-Irish cultural society has been been formed in County Wexford to enhance social and cultural relations between the two countries and enrich the artistic talents of its members.

The first president is Dr George Leslie, a GP and writer based in Enniscorthy who said the society will try to bring the two communities together through a sharing of culture and heritage.

One of the first events is a special free performance at the Enniscorthy Rhythms and Roots Festival in the Market Square on Sunday, June 2 at 4.30 p.m. by the internationally acclaimed Indian violinist and composer Manoj George who won a Grammy Award in 2015 for his album 'The Winds of Samsara'.

Dr Leslie, who has lived and worked in Ireland for the past two decades, said it is the first ever organisation aiming to unite the Irish and Indian communities through cultural endeavours.

A writer in his own language, Dr Leslie was involved in literary activities in his native Kerala and is currently translating some of Seamus Heaney's poetry into the Malayalam language.

The society's secretary is Rejith Thomas, also from Kerala, and a HSE employee based in New Ross, who described it as a voluntary, non-profit organisation free of race, religion and political affiliation.

'The society's mission is to preserve, promote and encourge the positive attributes of Indian and Irish culture, to encourage public gatherings and enhance social, cultural and community services in Ireland', he said.

Mr. Thomas said the committee has sought the support and co-operation of the Indian diplomatic mission in Ireland and members recently met with the Indian Ambassador during his first visit to the county.

'We will be liaising with the mission for our future initiatives in this line', he added.

There are nearly 37,000 Indians living in Ireland, including about 800 people in County Wexford.
Over 850 students, staff and parents of children who are attending Bunscoil Loreto primary school came together to deliver a petition containing 1,000 signatures which seeks the immediate reinstatement of Bunscoil Loreto as priority feeder to Gorey Community School.

The united protesters did this in the form of a human chain to illustrate the close proximity of the two primary and secondary schools.

Principal of Bunscoil Loreto primary school, Aileen Kennedy, said that is was important not to go down the route of placards and demonstrations, and rather have a peaceful protest.

'Our aim is that they would reverse the decision of the board of management to reinstate Bunscoil Loreto as a main feeder school in time for our current fifth class students to enrol and not be part of a lottery. The human chain demonstrated the proximity of the two schools to show that our pupil body with some parents, can actually bridge door to door the two schools,' said Aileen Kennedy.

The petition was delivered to Gorey Community School Principal Michael Finn, with the hope that the petition will be discussed at an upcoming board of management meeting of Gorey Community School.

'Enrolment is always discussed at board of management meetings, but the petition and the issues raised will certainly be brought up at the next meeting,' said Michael Finn.

He explained that in terms of reversing this decision, that any deciding factors on this will be up to the board of management.

At the moment, Bunscoil Loreto is one of sixteen feeder schools to Gorey Community School, which contains primary schools in the Gorey area and the surrounding areas.

This school enrolment policy means that students are placed into a lottery system if they are not a staff members child or have a sibling already in Gorey Community School.

Sinead Fox of Bunscoil Loreto's parent association said that the protest was needed because both children and parents are very concerned and worried.

'When we enrolled our children in Bunscoil Loreto, we had the legitimate expectation that they would continue on to Gorey Community School, that is always what we understood and expected. We were caught on the back foot, we had no indication that our position was ever going to be changed, and we built our lives here in Gorey around it,' she said.

'We believe that our children should continue to be entitled as a town school with such strong links to have places there. The children have presumed for their whole school lives that they'd be going there, they want to attend that school,' she said.

Previously, Bunscoil Loreto had held priority feeder status on the grounds of proximity but Michael Finn said that with substantial and dramatic increases in demand for school places, that the lottery system was chosen to give every child in Gorey town and the surrounding hinterlands a chance to get into the school.

'To date, only three children from Riverchapel National School, who don't have siblings in the school or aren't staff members' children, have been allocated a place in the school. Applications have been increasing steadily, and rather than allowing a situation going forward in that a school outside the town haven't a hope of a place, every school has feeder status,' said Michael.

Sinead expressed concern that as Bunscoil Loreto is a mainstream school, parents may not be able afford to pay for transport out to more rural schools if it so happened that their children didn't get a place at Creagh College or Gorey Community School.

'It's a real challenge from a practical perspective, when you look at how close the two schools are, it's crazy that these children can't get in there. Some children, unless they can get up in the morning and walk to school, they won't get to school. That's why we're here,' said Sinead.

Parents of fifth class students as well as the more junior years, all came out together in support of the protest.

'As a parent you're very anxious. When I got my child into Bunscoil Loreto, we were so happy because it was known as a priority feeder school. You think to yourself job done and your children are more secure,' said Maebh Hornsby, parent of a fifth class student.

'Right now, the children don't know and they want to go to the community school and it's not fair on them,' she added.

'We came out to support and fight for our kids, that they have a place to go when they need it,' said Stephanie Hara, who has two young children at Bunscoil Loreto.

'Parents are understandably very concerned and feel very strongly about this, the Minister for Education is aware of the issues too. There are fears all around for children as numbers increase, as there is going to be a school placement issue under these circumstances if they continue. Those in fifth and fourth class should be okay, but there will be difficulty in two years time, from those in third class back,' said Michael.
Fighting words celebrated ten years of young peoples' creative writing and its latest edition included published works from three students at Gorey Community School.

Sixteen year old students Amy Cahill, who is in transition year, and Blathnaid Kenny in fifth year, and fourteen year old student Amanda Redmond in second year, completed their pieces at Fighting Words centres, where young writers were encouraged to come together to create ideas in an open space.

Originally co-founded by author Roddy Doyle, at the fighting words centres, teenage writers explore subjects that they feel impact them, like love, loss, relationships, body images, prejudice, gender and homelessness.

Theses topics were explored by Amy, Blathnaid and Amanda in their works.

Blathnaid Kenny's story takes us into the mind of a young paralysed wheelchair user, exploring her favourite place, the beach.

While staring out to sea, she envies those around her who have the ability to swim and enjoy being there unaided.

On returning from the beach, the character in the story is 'waiting for the day I am set free from this paralysing life' but also realises that she is the same as other teenagers.

'On the inside I am exactly like them, on the outside I am nothing like them, unique but the same underneath it all,' Blathnaid writes.

Amy Cahill wrote the short story 'My mammy lives in a box' and it has become one of the most read pieces on the Irish Times website after an extract was published there.

The story was also shared on Twitter by Irish Times Journalist Rosin Ingle, who tweeted 'I can't get this story out of my head'.

Amy's writing tells a heartbreaking story of a young child, who experiences her mother's suicide but cannot fully comprehend what is happening.

The concluding line 'My Mammy lives in a box' is hard hitting.

Amanda's work also tells the story of a mother and daughter relationship, as the mother suffers from addiction problems.

'Mom had three moods: drunkenness, anger and sadness' Amanda writers and the child in the story is comfortable with rebelling against authority, as her authority, her father, has left the family home.

It explores the importance of friendship when parental guidance is not available.

The Gorey Community School students have all been taught English by published author, Eleanor O'Reilly, who said she was not shocked by the success and ability of these students.

'I'm immensely proud of them. Fighting Words allows students to see how their creative work is valued and for those who want to write it provides a wonderful platform of opportunity,' said Eleanor.

Eleanor explained that the students had their work selected by a tough panel of judges.

Ria Murphy from Enniscorthy Vocational School also had her poem entitled 'Studying a poem' published.
The topic of vacant houses was brought up at the May meeting of Gorey Municipal District by Cllr Mary Farrell, as she explained that she had been seeing a lot of vacant properties during her local election campaigning.

'We talk about the shortages of houses all the time, but going around the districts and seeing vacant houses was a wake up call. Is there nothing more concrete we can do, as there are houses out there it's just difficult to obtain them,' said Cllr Farrell speaking about the widespread nature of the issue.

Councillors heard the monthly report on housing, and it was suggested that Cllr Farrell visit the government website vacanthomes.ie, where empty houses whether public or private can be registered, as part of the Rebuilding Ireland action plan for housing and homelessness.

'There are going to be hard cases, where it's a big job to find the occupant, I know it's a long process,' said Cllr Hegarty.

'You can have a case where the neighbours don't know anything, there's no family and the occupant can't be tracked down. It's like looking for owners is longer than the compulsory purchase order process, have we any way of speeding things up,' said Cllr Hegarty.

Cllr Hegarty was told that data to identify properties is gathered during the process, from eircodes to cso, but a lot of this relies on local knowledge.

Councillors were told to send an email to the housing department of Wexford County Council when they come across a vacant property as the gathering of information was a key step in solving this problem, but to be aware that this is a slow process.

'There is a lot of work involved, all the chasing up is time consuming. There are a lot of properties listed as vacant, which turn out to be either for sale or occupied,' councillors heard.

'A lot of houses abandoned are in possessions of banks and vulture funds. It's a scandal that they're left there, these would be relatively new houses that are deteriorating a lot, as people have left them. It attracts rubbish, I've particularly seen this in Ballygarrett and Ballycanew,' said Cllr Breen.

Cllr Hegarty thanked the housing department of Wexford County Council saying that he feels progress in the last five years has been remarkable.

'We are on the right track, we are not there yet but we will get there,' he concluded.
Prosecutors have been given a date in December to argue that the five year jail term given to Kerry farmer Michael Ferris, who drove the prongs of a teleporter into his neighbour after a decades-long row about a noisy bird-scarer, was "unduly lenient".

Dairy farmer Ferris (64) of Rattoo, Ballyduff, Co Kerry, had denied murdering his neighbour Anthony O'Mahony (73) over the use of a crow-banger for scaring birds at Rattoo on the morning of April 4, 2017. The two-week trial was told that the noise from the crow-banger "would wake the dead".

The Central Criminal Court heard evidence that tillage farmer O' Mahony suffered "catastrophic injuries" after he was repeatedly stabbed with the prongs of the teleporter while he sat in his car.

A jury sitting in Tralee found Ferris not guilty of murder but guilty of Mr O'Mahony's manslaughter by a majority verdict of 10 to two.

Sentencing Ferris to six years imprisonment with the final year suspended, Ms Justice Carmel Stewart said Ferris had inflicted "horrific and horrendous" injuries on the deceased which defied belief and imagination.

She backdated Ferris' sentence to April 4, 2017 when he first went into custody.

The Director of Public Prosecutions are seeking a review of Ferris' sentence on grounds it was "unduly lenient".

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham fixed December 2 next as the date for the hearing. He also listed the DPP's appeal for hearing in Cork.
Over one hundred years since their antecedents left North Kerry and the Argentinian Cantillons were home to meet their long-lost relatives as part of the clans big reunion at Ballyheigue Castle. Photo by Joe Hanley

Ballyheigue Castle has seen many strange sights in its time, most lost in the murk of its often dark history.

But it was the appropriate setting for a joyous occasion in modern times when a family with long and deep links to the site were reunited there on Thursday.

The Cantillon clan proudly returned to their one-time seat of power for a wonderful celebration of the family history made immeasurably more special by the presence of certain relatives, all the way from Argentina: Claudia Yelmini Cantlon and Alex Cantlon, and Alex's wife Choli.

Their first trip to the old country marked a moving reunion; well over 120 years after their great-grandfather Patrick Cantillon emigrated from Dromkeen in Causeway on a voyage in which he met and married Cork woman Elizabeth Cotter Quilter!

One of the reunion organisers from this side of the Atlantic, Mary Cantillon Moran, set it all out in a moving speech at the Castle on Thursday. She began by providing an overview of the Cantillon story in Ireland; originally the Norman De Cantaloupe, who became land-owning old gentry in North Kerry with Ballyheigue their principal seat of power - until Cromwell and usurpation by the Crosbies.

Mary explained that Alex and Claudia's great grandfather Patrick Cantillon became a dairy farmer in Argentina, with Claudia telling of a much-loved family heirloom from that time: "Elizabeth had hidden inside her clothes, a fine pin-cushion, I saw it, fitted into a very small shoe made of silver. This has been passed down to the women in the family since then. When they arrived in Argentina they worked hard and did very well and remained strongly attached to their Irish tradition. Growing up we were always told by my mother Mary Cantillon about our Irish roots. We were brought up in the Irish and Argentine tradition and went to school to the Sisters of Mercy," Claudia explained.

The family went on to great heights in Argentina, from industry to medicine. And the reunion had Noranne O'Connell to thank. She was researching her mother Mary Cantillon's line when she got a response from Bernebe (Barnaby) Cantlon in Buenos Aires, sparking the renewal of the clan.
What a tribute President Michael D Higgins paid the people of Listowel on his visit marking the town's achievement of becoming Ireland's Tidiest Town.

"That you have achieved the award of Ireland's Tidiest Town is testament to the massive effort put in by your active, vibrant and energetic community," was one plaudit among many delivered by the President in the course of his address to Listowel at St John's Arts Centre on Saturday morning.

And how Listowel responded to President Higgins' recognition as the visit electrified the town all week, impelling it to an even tidier appearance if possible with the Square resurfaced for the big arrival.

First for recognition were the tireless efforts of the small core group chiefly behind the success: the Tidy Towns volunteers. Under the likes of founder member Mary Hanlon and chairperson Julie Gleeson - both of whom spoke as part of the ceremony - Listowel was, year-by-year, transformed into a model heritage showcase. And they didn't do it by staying in bed, as President Higgins even pointed out.

"There were a record 833 entries in 2018 across four categories in this the 60th year of the competition, and Listowel fought off fierce competition from many places who had the advantage of far higher numbers of volunteers, thus making this achievement even more impressive," the President said.

"Indeed, the judges remarked that Listowel's victory was 'a tribute to all the people of the town and to the local authority'. Tidy Towns is based on community mobilisation around a shared vision, a mobilisation that draws active engagement by citizens. I wish to commend the Chair of Listowel Tidy Towns, Julie Gleeson, for her team's hard work and dedication. For example, I understand that you marshalled a 'dawn crew' - a group of volunteers who met at 7am during the summer to pick up litter and water the flower baskets," President Higgins said. He said the win would put Listowel firmly on the tourist map. "I believe that this win should put Listowel on the tourist map, making it a potential destination for both our overseas visitors and Irish tourists," describing the North Kerry jewel as a special place in a 'stunningly beautiful landscape'.
All six sitting councillors who sought re-election in the new Sligo - Strandhill electoral area held on to their seats on Sligo County Council in a nail-biting contest.

Independents 4 Change candidate and political elder of Sligo Declan Bree topped the poll and was the only councillor out of 18 elected in total, to both top the poll and be elected on the first count.

It was apparent from early on Saturday when the tallymen and woman lined the boarding in the Count Centre at Summerhill College, that Bree had a huge lead right from the start. Fianna Fail's Tom MacSharry and Rosaleen O'Grady and Sinn Fein's Chris MacManus also looked to be on safe ground.

Things were distinctly shakier for Fine Gael's Sinead Maguire and People Before Profit's Gino O'Boyle all day Saturday when Fine Gael's Blaine Gaffney was looking strong. The count proper began at 10am on Sunday morning and the first count was called out shortly before midday: Bree romped home easily past the quota of 1,217 with 131 votes to spare. MacSharry and O'Grady were both over the thousand vote mark in second place on 1,042 and 1,011 respectively while MacManus was in fourth place with 957 first preference votes. Gaffney was snapping at his heels with 921 number 1s with party rival and sitting councillor Maguire just below him with 915 first preferences. The man from the 'Hill', Gino O'Boyle surprised the naysayers with 899 first preferences putting him in contention with Maguire and Gaffney for that last seat. Ireland may be enjoying a Green moment nationally but it didn't translate to Sligo, where the Green Party's Miranda O'Donnell polled just 175 first preferences and was the first candidate to be eliminated after the first count.

Renua's Finbarr Filan polled 315 first prefences and was eliminated on the second count. Independent and former councillor Jimmy McGarry polled 464 votes and was eliminated on the fourth count. Bandon native and the only Labour candidate Neasa Cosgrove polled 470 first preferences and was eliminated on the fifth count. In the scramble for the last two seats her transfers would prove crucial to Maguire. At 5.30pm Sunday afternoon MacSharry was elected on the fifth count on 1,232 votes. The remaining four seats were filled in one go some 45 minutes later on the sixth count. Cosgrove's transfers brought O'Grady exactly up to the quota of 1,217 votes. The remaining three seats were filled without the candidates having reached the quota, with Maguire securing 181 votes from Cosgrove bringing her up to 1,203.

MacManus got 68 votes off the Labour candidate bringing his final vote up to 1,167 while O'Boyle also secured 103 left-wing votes to bring his final vote up to 1,164. Gaffney gained 84 votes from Cosgrove transfers but it wasn't enough, leaving his final vote at 1,100, just 64 votes below O'Boyle. He was eliminated on the sixth count and the race was over.

Result Sligo/Strandhill:Declan Bree (INdp) 1,348; Tom MacSharry, (FF), 1,232; Rosaleen O'Grady,(FF), 1,217; Sinead Maguire, (FG), 1,203; Chris MacManus, (SF) 1,167; Gino O'Boyle, SPBP, 1,164.
Fianna Fail candidate and Streedagh man Donal GIlroy has said the votes he secured to get elected in the Sligo Drumcliffe electoral area was 'beyond my wildest expectations'.

Gilroy, who failed to take a seat in the 2014 local election said he set out a target of securing 1,000 first preference votes, and to receive 1,275 was 'just amazing'.

GIlroy was elected on the sixth count along with Marie Casserly (Ind) and Thomas Walsh (FG) securing 1,534 votes, 23 votes over the quota.

"I got 54% of the voters in Grange, I got 38% in Cliffoney and 30% in Maugherow which is just unheard of for anyone to get those sort of figures. I was backed by my own people, which is the greatest honour of all."

He continued, "If strangers back you because they read a manifesto or read something that you've written or listen to something you've said, that's one thing, but the people who know you and have known me all my life backed me and I'm humbled by that."

Asked what made the difference to his campaign this time around, Gilroy said it was the experience he gained from losing out in 2014.

"I believe, and I said it to one of the unsuccessful candidates that ran, I learned more on the day of the count five years ago than any of the six successful candidates. You look deeply at what happened and what went wrong and you look at your own strengths and you also throw a critical eye at some of the other things. You magnify what the public see that is not right. I think I learned so much and stayed working for the five years at community organisations and I've had some success."

GIlroy said his use of social media through is campaign also had a positive impact on his performance.

"I used social media in a different way this time. I got three magnificent endorsements from three very influential people."

Through his work in the community games, Gilroy got an endorsement from world champion swimmer Mona McSharry, along with a well known Grange community man and in recognition of his work with Diabetes Ireland, Gilroy said he got a 'resounding endorsement' from Professor McHugh, the consultant from Sligo University Hospital.

"I think those videos really carried huge strength. I also made it my principle that I was going to try and shake hands and knock on the door of almost every house from Bunduff House to Drumcliffe Bridge and that was a huge undertaking but I got to most of them."

Asked how long of a campaign Gilroy put into securing his seat, he laughed replying, 'five years', adding that the next campaign started the moment he was elected.Asked what he is most looking forward to as a local representative for the Sligo Drumcliffe area, Gilroy said 'fighting for rural Ireland'.
Sligo woman, Valerie Ward and Leitrim native, Hubert McHugh have been named official 'Hospice Heroes' for their many years of fundraising service on behalf of their local hospice, North West Hospice.

Valerie and Hubert along with 25 others were honoured with the title of 'Hospice Hero' at a special ceremony in St. Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown to coincide with the official launch of this year's Hospice Sunflower Days campaign.

Valerie has been supporting the North West Hospice and volunteering her time and efforts for over 20 years.

She is one of the founding committee members of the very successful Lough Arrow Swim, which is now in its 19th Year and has raised over 200,000 for the North West Hospice.

Valerie has also worked tirelessly over the past two years to help the hospice build links with the Diaspora in the US to raise funds for the vital in-patient unit build.

Hubert has also been involved in volunteering for the North West Hospice for over 20 years and has supported fundraising events in his local community on an ongoing basis.

Hubert has also worked to help build links with the Diaspora in the US and internationally to help the hospice raise funds for the in-patient unit build.

Hubert is very generous in giving his time to help the hospice and he uses his many contacts to help promote the work of the hospice and highlight the importance of fundraising for its services.

Valerie and Hubert were presented with their plaques at the ceremony by Mary Kennedy, Hospice Sunflower Days Ambassador and RTE Broadcaster.

This year's Hospice Sunflower Days, which marks the 29th year of the campaign, is taking place on Friday, 7th June and Saturday 8th June 2019 with every euro raised locally, staying locally

Speaking at the launch of this year's campaign and the official 'Hospice Hero' ceremony, Mary Kennedy, said: "I am delighted to get involved once again with Hospice Sunflower Days.

"This is a very worthy cause and with all funding raised locally staying in the local area it offers a great opportunity for people to support their local hospice or specialist palliative homecare service.

"You can support by buying sunflower merchandise on Hospice Sunflower Days, making a donation or you can help by volunteering your time to fundraise over the two days."

Hospice Sunflower Days aims to raise much needed funds for hospices and specialist palliative home care services across the country enabling them to continue to provide person centred, holistic and loving care to patients and their loved ones free of charge. Funds raised through the campaign will be used to directly support hospices and specialist palliative home care services allowing them to purchase new equipment, support frontline posts, upgrade current facilities and continue to provide their vital service.

Hospice care is about helping people of all ages to live well with an illness which is life-limiting and supporting them to achieve the best quality of life possible as well as providing support for their relatives and loved ones. Care is provided in either specialist in-patient units or in people's own homes through trained specialist palliative home care nurses.

If you would like to volunteer or donate, please contact your local hospice or specialist palliative home care service today, log onto www.sunflowerdays.ie or show your support by purchasing some sunflower merchandise on Hospice Sunflower Days this June.

Alternatively, you can make a donation by texting 'SUN' to 50300 to donate 4 to support local hospice groups across Ireland. Texts cost 4. Hospice Sunflower Days will receive a minimum of 3.60. Service Provider: LIKECHARITY. Helpline: 076 680 5278.
There was excitement in Enniskerry Library last Wednesday evening, for the launch of 'The Shaking Bog' nature writing festival, taking place in the Glencree Valley on June 22 and 23.

This brand new midsummer festival of nature writing will be awakening and enlivening the valley with a diverse offering of events. From poetry readings to conversations, workshops to nature trails, creative writing for children to musical interludes - this festival will offer an immersive and enriching experience for literature and nature lovers alike.

National and world renowned artists and writers will participate at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Fighting Words Wicklow and Knockree Hostel.

'I am extremely excited to curate a festival within my own local community,' said festival director Catherine Nunes, who also founded the acclaimed Dublin Dance Festival. 'Living here in such extraordinarily beautiful landscape has been both my sustenance and my inspiration for this event. I wanted to do something that would reawaken our connection to the natural world in an intimate and meaningful way. But I also hope that The Shaking Bog will reflect the serious quality and excellence of the nature writing that is being published today and for the festival events to be both thoughtful and thought-provoking.'

Among others, names worthy of note include: Britain's favourite nature writer (and farmer) John Lewis-Stempel, award-winning poet Pascale Petit, poet and official 'national treasure' Paul Durcan, celebrated writer Carlo Gebler, Wicklow-based author and naturalist Declan Murphy, Emmy award-winning wildlife cinematographer Theo Jebb and superstar children's author Shane Hegarty.

There will be a feast of opportunities for children with a very special 'Young Shakers' day-long event at Aurora House Glencree, presented in association with Fighting Words. This event includes song-writing, graphic fiction and creative workshops as well as storytelling, bird and bat box building, scavenger hunts and a special grand finale event. Children will also feature in their own Budding Writers Reading Event at Curtlestown School.

A special tribute is also planned for the Bray resident, the extraordinary poet Shirley McClure who died recently, with readings and contributions by poets Jane Clarke and Katie Donovan.

To top it all off the festival finale will be a concert of music and readings at St. Kevin's Church, Glencree featuring the wonderful Liam O'Maonlai with guests including Mary Coughlan, The Square Pegs, Diarmuid Gavin; Katie Donovan; the Fugato Quartet and others.

The festival is funded by Wicklow County Council and County Wicklow Partnership Leader Programme, with support from Poetry Ireland, Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Fighting Words, and local sponsors King Tree Services and Greenking Composting.

Go to shakingbog.ie for a programme of events.
Sinn Fein's vote in last week's local election was decimated across Wicklow and the party only managed to elect two candidates despite running six, one in each district.

A far cry from 2014 when the party managed to return six seats at the expense of the major parties.

However the party has been besieged with problems and following a bitter row, party stalwarts John Snell of Rathnew, Gerry O'Neill of Blessington and Oliver O'Brien of Bray were expelled.

Earlier this year, despite having announced she was contesting the local elections for the party, sitting councillor, Arklow's Mary McDonald dramatically left the party.

In Friday's election sitting councillor Nicola Lawless of Greystones, sitting councillor Dermot 'Daisy' O'Brien of Greystones, Muireann Dalton of Newtownmountkennedy, Aidan Kinsella of Carnew, John Kelly of Arklow and Grace McManus of Bray all contested the election for the party.

Sinn Fein saw its first preference vote drop by a whopping 8.7 per cent dropping from 16.5 per cent in 2014 to 7.8 per cent on Friday which must surely be a blow to both the party and Deputy John Brady.

In a further blow two of its former councillors, Gerry O'Neill and John Snell both were elected on the first count in their respective districts and both of them polled better than in 2014.

This would seem to indicate that O'Neill's and Snell's vote pulling power is very much based on them personally rather than the party.

In O'Neill's district the Sinn Fein candidate Aidan Kinsella put in a solid performance but was some distance off Fine Gael's Avril Cronin and Fianna Fail's John Mullen who took the last two seats.

In Arklow John Kelly received 473 first preference votes, far shy of the 746 Mary McDonald had received in 2014 when she ran for the party.

In Wicklow, where John Snell was contesting the election, newcomer Muireann Dalton from Newtownmountkennedy put in a solid performance with 661 first preference votes putting her in the middle of the pack but she was never in the hunt for a seat. Again her vote, though solid, was less than half that than what John Snell received in 2014 when he picked up 1,577 first preference votes.

In Greystones sitting councillor Nicola Lawless lost her seat and was eliminated after the sixth count. She received a first preference vote of 427 which was 259 votes less than she received in 2014 which was the first time she contested an election.

It was in Bray that the party saw success, electing a candidate in both Bray East, newcomer Grace McManus, and sitting councillor Dermot 'Daisy' O'Brien in Bray West.

The seat in Bray West was the one won by Deputy John Brady back in 2014. After his election to the Dail Michael O'Connor was co-opted onto it and Dermot O'Brien was co-opted for him a number of months back.

O'Brien received 911 first preference votes and ended up taking the third seat after he was deemed elected after the seventh and final count.

In Bray East newcomer Grace McManus did very well for the party taking 975 first preference votes, just 290 short of the quota of 1,265. She was elected to the second seat in the district.

The lack of support for the party across the board in Wicklow must surely be a concern for Deputy John Brady who could be going to the polls in the next couple of months given the instability of both the Government and the uncertainty around Brexit.

Deputy John Brady said that the Sinn Fein vote was 'down across the board and not just in Wicklow. It's really disappointing and we had some fantastic candidates.

'There was a considerable fall off from where the polls were putting us two or three weeks out from the election. They were five or six per cent out. Voter turnout was down too and there was a number of different factors impacting on our vote.

'It's disappointing obviously for us here in Wicklow. I'm particularly disappointed for Nicola Lawless of Greystones who did trojan work for the district of Greystones.

'But we are Republicans. We might have lost this little battle but we are not down and out. We are back out working in the community where we work and live.'

Deputy Brady said that he stands over the Sinn Fein policies when questioned about the lack of support.

'I'm not sure policies are our issues. Any political party who suffers a blow must look at their message and how the message is delivered and Sinn Fein is no difference.

'I stand over all our policies. They are the best policies for people who face homelessness, housing crisis and inequalities in society. How we deliver that message needs to be looked at and that has already begun.'

He said he didn't feel that Mary Lou McDonald's leadership is under any threat given the slide in support.

'I think that right across Europe you can see that there is a shift to the right. That's happening in a lot of elections at the moment. Mary Lou has done a great job and she is only in the position a little over a year. I don't think there is any threat to her leadership.'

Deputy Brady said that despite the fall in support for Sinn Fein across Wicklow he will be ready to contest the next General Election regardless of when it is called.

'If any election comes, it comes. We will be ready. We will present a clear message of change from the Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum politics and are ready to take on a challenge.'

In the 2014 election both John Snell of Rathnew and Gerry O'Neill of Blessington took a seat for Sinn Fein but following a bitter split the pair were expelled from the party.

This time out they ran as Independent candidates and both were elected on the first count having improved on their 2014 vote.

Had the split not happened the party would have four seats on the council rather than two. However Deputy Brady was pragmatic.

'These things happen unfortunately. I've always said that John and Gerry are very good councillors. The falling out happened at national level and we can't turn back the clock.'
Wicklow voted overwhelmingly in favour of the referendum on divorce as did the rest of the country.

Every single constituency in the country voted for the amendment to the divorce legislation resulting in a final result of 82.07 per cent voting in favour and 17.93 per cent voting against. In Wicklow 85.89 per cent of voters were in favour of the change while 14.11 per cent were against it.

The referendum proposed two changes to the restrictions on divorce which are currently written into the constitution.

It will remove from the Constitution the requirement for couples to be living apart for four years before qualifying for a divorce.

Instead it will now be a matter for which the Oireachtas will legislate.

The Government has indicated it will reduce the time period through legislation to two years by amending the Family Law (Divorce) Act of 1996 which up to now contained the same provisions as the Constitution.

Because the current four-year period was written in to the Constitution, it could only be changed by a referendum.

The second change will make it easier for foreign divorces to the recognised.

The 1995 referendum, which removed the ban on divorce, did not alter this constitutional provision on the recognition of foreign divorces.

Although some foreign divorces are recognised, different rules apply depending on where the divorce was obtained.

The change to the Constitution will insert new wording explicitly recognising the power of the Oireachtas to legislate for the recognition of foreign divorces.

Nationally the total electorate was 3.397,636 while the total poll was 1,727,056 putting turnout at 50.83 per cent which was disappointing and perhaps indicates voter apathy in general. There were 40,545 ballot papers deemed invalid nationally giving a valid poll of 1,686,511.

1,384,192 voters were in favour of the change while 302,319 were against it.

In Wicklow there was a turnout of 56.04 per cent while the total electorate was 95,847 and the valid poll was 53,715. There were 886 invalid ballot papers.

85.89 per cent of Wicklow voters (45,375) were in favour of the change while 14.11 per cent or 7,454 voters were against it.

The declaration was made at Dublin Castle in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The highest Yes vote was in the Dublin constituency of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, where 86.7 per cent voted in favour of the proposal followed by Fingal which was on 86.4 per cent.

The highest No vote was in Monaghan where 24.96 per cent voted against the proposal followed by Leitrim where the No vote was 23.59 per cent.

Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan was at Dublin Castle for the declaration of the referendum result, who was announced shortly after 4.30am.

Minister Madigan, who was the Fine Gael Director of Elections for the Referendum, said she was surprised by the extent of the vote but not by the 'kindness and compassion' of the Irish people.

She said the vote reflected that people felt compassion had to be shown to those going through marital breakdown and that the four-year wait was too long.

"I think there is a deep well of kindness in the Irish people, this ultimately wasn't about rocking the system it was about humanising it. People have shown that they have a solidarity with people going through marital breakdown, though separation and divorce.

'I think people felt it was a reasonable proposal, it was a moderate proposal, it will mean significant reform for those thousand of people out there who are locked and trapped in a legal limbo-land. So it's a great day for those people,' she said.

The Government Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Geoffrey Shannon, called for priority to be given to legislation required to give effect to the referendum result.

He said the reduction of the waiting period from four years to two would reduce the cost and the hardship of separation on families and children.

'The legislation enjoys not only political consensus, but also the overwhelming support of the Irish people,' he said.

'This will greatly assist vulnerable citizens in reducing legal expenses as it may help avoid the need for separate judicial separation proceedings with the added benefit of reducing the trauma caused to children by protracted family law proceedings.'

He predicted that there would be a spike in the number of divorces due to artificially depressed figures, but that it would then return to a lower level, with fewer legal battles ensuing.

Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, said that the referendum 'was essential to address our punishing divorce laws'.
Students from Scoil Chaoimhin Naofa showing HRH the different types of animals that live in Glendalough National Parks

The Royal couple's visit to the Garden County last week placed Wicklow firmly on the international stage as images of the Prince and Duchess were viewed worldwide.

Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were afforded a warm Wicklow welcome upon their arrival last Monday at Powerscourt House, where a lavish reception was laid on for the guests by Wicklow County Council.

Pam Beacom, the founder of the Blue Dolphins Special Olympics Club in Wicklow town, was in attendance along with her daughter Aisling, who achieved gold and bronze medals at the Special Olympics World Games held in Abu Dhabi during March. Also present was fellow Special Olympian and Blue Dolphins member Rukky Atiyota.

'It was really a great day and Prince Charles came across very normal and really down to earth,' said Pam her meeting with Royalty.

'He greeted al the athletes and took time out to speak to everyone. It was a great honour and a privilege and it's something the athletes will be able to treasure forever.'

The Prince and the Duchess also visited the estate's climate change attraction, Planet Cool. They watched a children's workshop and met local schoolchildren who were learning about climate change. Electrifi, an Irish car manufacturing company based at Powerscourt House which specialises in electrifying high-end cars, showcased an electrified 1983 Range Rover for the Prince.

Cllr Mary Kavanagh decided to take some time out from her election campaign to attend the reception.

She joked: 'I thought this could be my last event as a Councillor before the elections so I might as well go out on a high.'

She feels the Royal visit should help boost Wicklow's tourism numbers and was pleased to see the Prince take such an interest in tackling climate change.

'I'm thrilled Wicklow was so involved and it can only help tourism. You had press from all over the world present. It was great Wicklow played such a pivotal role as often these sort of events are usually held in Dublin. The County got great coverage from former President Obama's visit in 2011 and the Royal visit has just as much of a reach. It was also encouraging to see the Prince take such an interest in the environment.'

St Kevin's NS pupils make presentation to Prince

There are many benefits to being set so close to Wicklow Mountains National Park for pupils attending Scoil Chaoimhin Naofa, but last Tuesday the children from sixth class received an extra little bonus.

The National Park's Education Centre played host to HRH Prince Charles and the pupils were given an opportunity to present activities carried out by them throughout the year. Divided into three groups working on mammals, invertebrates and moths, the children talked about what they were learning.

Scoil Chaoimhin Naofa Principal Anne Savage said: 'It was a wonderful occasion filled with excitement when Prince Charles arrived at the Upper Lake. He moved from group to group chatting to all the children about what they were doing and about life in sixth Class.

The children told him about moving onto Secondary School and about living in Wicklow Mountains National Park.'

During the year the children in fifth and sixth classes had been involved in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme. They had set up a company called Glendarock and produced framed pictures with scenes of Glendalough using drawings and stone.

A presentation was made of one of these pictures to the Prince depicting a Glendalough scene with the Round Tower. He happily talked about the Round Tower to the children and asked if he was taking from the profits of the company by accepting the gift.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the school children and staff received a 'royal wave' as they cheered Prince Charles as he was being driven to his destination.
The winner of RuPauls Drag Race season 11 has been crowned after a finale containing a memorable lip-sync sudden death match (PA)

WARNING: Contains spoilers about RuPauls Drag Race season 11.

The winner of RuPauls Drag Race season 11 has been crowned after a finale containing a memorable lip-sync sudden death match.

AKeria C Davenport, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Silky Nutmeg Ganache and Yvie Oddly all made it to the final four and were in with a chance of being named Americas Next Drag Superstar.

It was whittled down to the final two, with Yvie and Brooke going head-to-head to win the crown.

After an intense final lip-sync battle to Lady Gagas Edge Of Glory, Yvie walked away with the title  and the 100,000 US dollar prize money.

Fans were quick to send their congratulations on Twitter.

One said: I LOVE YVIE ODDLY WITY MY WHOLE HEART #dragracefinale.

I LOVE YVIE ODDLY WITY MY WHOLE HEART #dragracefinale pic.twitter.com/9IE18n4K3g  cubone (@17tshirt) May 31, 2019

Another said: You earned it! You belong to the champions @OddlyYvie.

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One wrote: Im so happy for Yvie Oddly winning! She deserves it.

Im so happy for Yvie Oddly winning! She deserves it. #DragRaceFinale pic.twitter.com/7XIbrxWP4p  Bryan Boggiano (@Bryan_KnowsBest) May 31, 2019

And another commented: YVIE WON DRAG RACE AND EVERYTHING IS GOOD IN THE WORLD.

YVIE WON DRAG RACE AND EVERYTHING IS GOOD IN THE WORLD #DragRaceFinale #DragRace pic.twitter.com/yIgbe27MzW  Internet Participant (@MrLazerPants) May 31, 2019

Brooke also sent her congratulations and wrote: Guys I got second! Thats first in Canadian! Congratulations @OddlyYvie.

Guys I got second! Thats first in Canadian! Congratulations @OddlyYvie   Brooke Lynn Hytes (@Bhytes1) May 31, 2019

RuPauls Drag Race defied a tricky start to become one of the most popular shows on TV. It has been nominated for 23 Emmy Awards and won nine.

It airs on Netflix in the UK.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have declared their support for the LGBTQ+ community at the start of Pride month in June.

The British royal couple used their official Instagram account to help "shine a light on Pride", saying they believe "love is love".

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son Archie, during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/Pool via REUTERS Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the unveiling of The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy in Redvale on October 30, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son Archie, during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/Pool via REUTERS

Their post, which went online on Saturday morning, has already been liked more than 200,000 times.

It features a collection of nine images which come from Instagram accounts Harry and Meghan are now following, and by the artist Ruben Guadalupe Marquez.

The couple's post explained that they have a tradition of rotating Instagram accounts they follow based "on causes and social issues that matter to us".

Expand Expand Previous Next Close The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the premiere of Cirque du Soleils Totem, in support of the Sentebale charity, at the Royal Albert Hall (Paul Grover/Daily Telegraph) Meghan Markle. Photo: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the premiere of Cirque du Soleils Totem, in support of the Sentebale charity, at the Royal Albert Hall (Paul Grover/Daily Telegraph)

One old photo features Harry's mother Diana, Princess of Wales sat by the bedside of a patient at Aids hospice London Lighthouse.

More than 30 years ago, the then 25-year-old Diana was credited for challenging the stigma against those affected by HIV and Aids.

At the opening of the UK's first purpose-built HIV/Aids unit that cared exclusively for those suffering with the disease, she shook hands with an Aids patient without wearing gloves - dispelling myths that it could be passed from person to person by touch.

Other photos in the Instagram post depict a smiling Harry and Meghan, a pair of holding hands and people embracing and flying the rainbow flag.

Video of the Day

An accompanying message from Harry and Meghan said: "For the month of June we "proudly" shine a light on PRIDE.

"This month we pay tribute to the accounts supporting the LGBTQ+ community - those young and old, their families and friends, accounts that reflect on the past and are hopeful for a deservedly more inclusive future.

"We stand with you and support you. Because it's very simple: love is love."

A number of LGBTQ+ supporting charities and organisations were tagged in the post include akt, Stonewall, The Trevor Project, Human Rights Campaign, It Gets Better Project, Sage, and Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Harry and Meghan's post, and the beginning of Pride month, coincides with the controversial visit of US President Donald Trump to the UK - starting on Monday.

Advocates for LGBTQ+ people in the US argue the Trump administration has been undermining non-discrimination protections, including revoking healthcare discrimination protections for transgender people.

But in recent tweets, the president backed Pride month and paid tribute to "the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation".

"Let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation," he said on Twitter.

Meghan has been a vocal critic of former reality TV star Mr Trump, backing his former rival Hillary Clinton and suggesting before the 2016 election she would leave the US if he won.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, President Trump branded Meghan's comments about him as "nasty".

LA-born Meghan will not be present as the president meets other members of the royal family during his state visit after giving birth to her son Archie almost four weeks ago.
North Korea's nuclear envoy to the US has been executed as part of a purge of officials who organised the failed summit with Donald Trump, it was claimed yesterday.

Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, according to the South Korean newspaper 'Chosun Ilbo'.

Four foreign ministry officials who were also charged with spying for the US were executed with him, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the situation.

"He [Kim Hyok Chol] was accused of spying for the United States for poorly reporting on the negotiations without properly grasping US intentions," the source was quoted as saying.

The February summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, the second between Kim Jong-un and Mr Trump, failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over US calls for denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.

Reuters was unable to confirm the report of the execution. Previously, North Korean officials have been reported executed or purged only to reappear with a new title.

A diplomatic source said there were signs Kim Hyok Chol and other officials were punished, but there was no evidence they were executed and they may have been sent to a labour camp.

South Korea's Unification Ministry declined to comment and an official at the presidential Blue House in Seoul said it was inappropriate to comment on an unverified report.

The US is attempting to check on the reports of the execution, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday.

Hong Min, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said it was possible Kim Hyok Chol and other officials faced some penalty but verification was needed.

"Executing or completely removing people like him would send a very bad signal to the US because he was the public face of the talks and it could indicate they are negating all they have discussed," Mr Hong said.

When asked on May 5 about reports of a "shake-up" of Kim Jong-un's team, Mr Pompeo said it appeared his future opposite number would be somebody else "but we don't know that for sure".

The 'Chosun Ibo' reported other officials punished, but not executed, included Kim Yong Chol, the leader's right-hand man and counterpart to Mr Pompeo.

He is reported to have been sent to a labour camp.

Other penalised members of the team included Kim Song Hye, who led the preparations, and Sin Hye Yong, a newly elevated interpreter. They were said to have been detained in a camp.

The diplomatic source said Kim Song Hye's punishment seemed inevitable because she was a "prime author" of the plan to secure sanctions relief in return for dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Kim Song Hye has worked closely with Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's sister.

Kim Yo Jong has also been lying low, the 'Chosun Ibo' reported.

Interpreter Sin Hye Yong was charged with making critical mistakes that included missing a "last minute offer" the North Korean leader supposedly made as Mr Trump was about to walk out, it was claimed.

Official mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun warned that "two-faced" officials would face the "stern judgment of the revolution".

"It is an anti-Party, anti-revolutionary act to pretend to be revering the leader in front of him when you actually dream of something else," it said in a commentary.
Donald Trump has defied diplomatic norms by backing Boris Johnson to be the next prime minister.

The US president said the former foreign secretary would be "excellent" in the role, just days before MPs start voting to replace Theresa May as Conservative Party leader.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close US President Donald Trump. Picture: PA A graffiti mural of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson / Facebook

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Whatsapp US President Donald Trump. Picture: PA

In an unprecedented intervention, Mr Trump said he also liked Jeremy Hunt, who is among those vying for the top job, but appeared to criticise Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

Mr Trump told The Sun newspaper: "I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent...

"I like him. I have always liked him. I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.

"He has been very positive about me and our country."

Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Front runner: Boris Johnson is hot favourite to become the next leader of the Conservatives. Photo: PA Household name: Boris Johnson has the appeal and recognition to drag the Tories back from the brink. Photo: REUTERS Boris Johnson. Photo: BIBA 2019 CONFERENCE/Handout via REUTERS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Front runner: Boris Johnson is hot favourite to become the next leader of the Conservatives. Photo: PA

The American president claimed other candidates had approached him in a bid to secure his endorsement.

"I could help anybody if I endorse them. I mean, we've had endorsement where they have gone up for 40, 50 points at a shot," he added.

"Now that is here, but I understand over there would be a great endorsement."

Mr Gove last week accused the 72-year-old president of "sabre rattling" over his policy towards Iran, but Mr Trump suggested he was wrong criticise him over the issue.

He said: "I'm trying to make it so that Iran does not have nuclear weapons. Very simple. And I can't think of anybody other than us that would benefit more than the UK, so he should be all for that.

"Nuclear weapons is the single biggest problem that the world has and we can't allow them to proliferate. We just can't allow it."

Commons Leader Mel Stride, who is supporting Mr Gove, said it was not up to Mr Trump to select the next Tory leader.

"The president of the United States of course is entitled to his opinion, but it's not the case of him picking the next prime minister of our country," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"That process as you know will be one involving the parliamentary party and then the membership itself."
'A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "Peter Willsman has been suspended from the Labour Party, pending investigation."' Photo: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Britain's Labour Party has suspended a senior official after a tape emerged of him saying anti-Semitism has been "whipped up" by the Israeli embassy working within the party.

The move to suspend Peter Willsman, who sits on the party's National Executive Committee (NEC), had been demanded by Labour deputy leader Tom Watson.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "Peter Willsman has been suspended from the Labour Party, pending investigation."

Mr Watson said: "The fact that a member of Labour's governing body feels he can continue to make such offensive remarks after being warned for similar outbursts previously shows how serious the problem of anti-Semitism is in our party.

"The general secretary must make good on the promise that was made following Mr Willsman's previous outburst, that he would face disciplinary action if he engaged in similar conduct again."

The suspension means Mr Willsman cannot attend NEC meetings or perform any other functions as a member of the committee.

In a recording obtained by LBC, a man said to be Mr Willsman talks about how people will "move heaven and earth" to "avoid paying taxes", before claiming Israeli agents are at work within the party.

He said: "One of these things about anti-Semitism is they will use anything to whip people up - they will use anything, any lies, it's all total lies, they just whip it up.

"This is off the record, it's almost certain who is behind all this anti-Semitism against Jeremy [Corbyn], almost certainly it's the Israeli embassy.

"Yeah, because they caught somebody in the Labour Party and it turns out they were an agent of the embassy."

Mr Willsman then apparently claims 68 rabbis who complained of "widespread and severe" anti-Semitism in Labour were organised by the Israeli embassy.

He asked: "Is 70 out of 600,000 widespread and severe?"

Labour MPs, including Stella Creasy, condemned the remarks and said Mr Willsman should go.

She tweeted: "Anyone who supported Willsman for the NEC after the first revelations needs to hang their head in shame they indulged this hatred *eyeballs WF momentum*.

"He must now surely be gone from Labour and we have to have an independent complaints system now."

Labour MP Liz Kendall said Mr Willsman's alleged views have "no place in our party".

She tweeted: "Appalling and totally unacceptable. These views have no place in our party, let alone on our ruling body."

Jewish groups joined forces to call for the expulsion of Mr Willsman for the "anti-Semitic slur" in a letter signed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust.

"It is racist by any measure," they said.

"It is also, ironically, one of the behaviours described as anti-Semitic in the definition of anti-Semitism that Labour's leadership very grudgingly adopted last year, but have still failed to include anywhere on the Party's website.

"Pete Willsman must be immediately dismissed from Labour's National Executive Committee and expelled from the Labour Party."

Fiona Sharpe, spokeswoman for the Labour Against Anti-Semitism group, said the alleged comments were "grossly offensive and unarguably anti-Semitic".

She demanded there should be zero tolerance after figures like shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Mr Willsman should be "given the benefit of the doubt".

Ms Sharpe added: "There should be no place for him in mainstream British politics and he should be kicked off Labour's ruling body, the NEC, and out of the Labour Party.

"This is not the first time Mr Willsman has reportedly made anti-Jewish remarks.

"There can be no such latitude given now."
'Drivers currently face fines for blocking emergency services and photographing the injured without their consent, as well as using mobile phones at the wheel.' (Stock photo)

Road crash ghouls who film accidents on mobile phones should be banned, politicians in Germany say.

MPs have called for those who block emergency services by trying to film to have their driving licences suspended and their phones confiscated.

"Gawpers who enjoy accident misery and block police and rescue workers by filming the suffering of others must be punished with a one-month driving ban," Alexander Graf Lambsdorff of the opposition Free Democrat party (FDP) told 'Bild' newspaper.

Drivers currently face fines for blocking emergency services and photographing the injured without their consent, as well as using mobile phones at the wheel.

The German government is considering changes in the law to ban photographing the dead. But government and opposition MPs argue the changes don't go far enough.

"Anyone who films accidents and is intoxicated by the suffering of their fellow human beings, lacks any decency and respect," said Marc Henrichmann of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat party.

"In such cases, driving bans or the confiscation of their mobiles as a signal of the rule of law should not be taboo."

The call comes after a number of incidents in which police and rescue workers have accused onlookers of blocking them.

In one incident, a senior police officer in Bavaria was hailed as a hero after he shamed drivers into stopping filming the aftermath of a motorway accident in which a lorry driver was killed.

Stefan Pfeiffer told motorists who had stopped to film to get out of their cars if they wanted a close-up of the dead man.

"We have to make it clear that it's not a game out there," he said.
The Kremlin yesterday told Turkey it must stop rebels in Syria's Idlib province from firing on civilian and Russian targets.

Russia rejected protests from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan over its backing for a Syrian government offensive in Idlib, the last significant stronghold of anti-government rebels.

Mr Erdogan called on Thursday for a ceasefire in the month-long offensive, the biggest escalation of the war between President Bashar al-Assad and his enemies since last summer.

The Kremlin made it clear yesterday that it was unmoved by Mr Erdogan's calls, saying the rebels were the ones who had to implement a ceasefire in the first instance.

"We really do need a ceasefire in Idlib and what needs to be achieved is for the terrorists to stop firing on civilian targets and on certain facilities where our troops are located," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"This is the responsibility of the Turkish side."

Mr Erdogan's office said he had asked Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire to prevent more civilian deaths and a refugee influx to Turkey.

He also told Mr Putin by phone that Syria needed a political solution. The Turkish leader has repeatedly complained to Moscow about the Russian-backed offensive.

People displaced by the fighting protested yesterday at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing into Turkey, calling for an end to the strikes and for Ankara to open the frontier, something it refuses to do.

Russia has complained of rocket and drone attacks against its main Hmeymim air base being launched from Idlib, which Peskov called "a highly dangerous tendency".

The fate of the province has strained relations between Russia and Turkey, which is keen to retain influence there because of its geographical proximity.

Russia, one of the Syrian government's staunchest allies, and Turkey brokered a deal in September to create a demilitarised zone in Idlib that would be free of all heavy weapons and jihadist fighters.

But Moscow, which is keen to help Mr Assad retake territory, has complained about escalating violence in the area and said that militants who used to belong to the Nusra Front group are in control of large tracts of territory.

It has blamed Turkey for not doing enough to hold its side of the bargain, while Ankara, worried about refugees crossing from Idlib into Turkey, has repeatedly urged restraint.

The UN said last week that more than 200,000 people had fled the violence since the government offensive began.

Many of those who have fled had already been displaced from their homes earlier in the war, sometimes fleeing time after time.
Rescue boats float on the Danube river where a sightseeing boat had capsized in Budapest (Marko Drobnjakovic/AP)

Hungarian prosecutors said a judge has ordered the formal arrest of a captain whose cruise ship collided with a sightseeing boat on the Danube River in an incident that killed seven South Koreans.

The judge ordered the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn to be formally arrested for 30 days after the incident in central Budapest.

He said the captain could be released on bail  subject to him wearing a tracking device and remaining in Budapest  but prosecutors are appealing that decision.

Expand Close Black flags fly on Margaret Bridge, at the site of the accident (AP) / Facebook

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On Wednesday evening, the Viking ship collided with a smaller sightseeing boat carrying 35 people, most of them South Korean tourists, in the capital Budapest.

Seven people were rescued and 21 others remain missing.

Efforts to salvage the 88ft tour boat have been hampered by the rivers fast flow and limited visibility under water.

The Viking ship captain has been in custody since Thursday.
Aftermath: Afghans look at the bomb wreckage. Photo: REUTERS/ Omar Sobhani

Four Afghan civilians were killed by a car bomb targeting a US convoy in the east of Kabul yesterday.

Four US troops suffered minor injuries in the bombing, the second suicide attack in two days in the Afghan capital.

The convoy was targeted as it passed through the Yakatot neighbourhood, where US and Nato forces maintain complexes.

Facilities operated by the Afghan National Security Forces are located nearby.

Police spokesman Firdous Faramaz said four civilians were killed and three wounded.

In a telephone interview, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid took responsibility for the attack, claiming 10 US soldiers were killed.

Witnesses said the explosion was powerful, blowing out windows in neighbouring buildings.
On the fence: A supporter of Trumps migrant policy holds a placard on the border. Photo: REUTERS/Adria Malcolm

Donald Trump yesterday demanded Mexico act to fix problems with immigration, or face escalating tariffs on its goods.

The US president's call for Mexico to "finally do what must be done" was announced on Twitter and in a later statement.

The direct challenge to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took the Mexican government by surprise on a day when it had started a formal process to ratify a trade deal with the US and Canada (USMCA).

"If the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico, to be determined in our sole discretion and judgment, the tariffs will be removed," Mr Trump said.

The tariff measures against Mexico open up a new front on trade and if implemented are bound to trigger retaliation that would hit heartland, Trump-supporting farming and industrial states.

Higher tariffs will start at 5pc on June 10 and increase monthly up to 25pc on October 1, unless Mexico takes immediate action, Mr Trump said.

Mr Lopez Obrador said he would respond with "great prudence" to the threats to slap tariffs on Mexican goods entering the US, and called on Mexicans to unite to deal with the challenge. He said his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, would be in Washington tasked with convincing the US government that Trump's measures were in neither country's interest.

The new crisis rattled investors who fear friction between the US and its biggest trade partner for goods could hurt the global economy. The Mexican peso, US stock index futures and Asian stock markets tumbled on the news.

In a letter posted on Twitter, Mr Lopez Obrador responded, calling Trump's policy of America First "a fallacy" and accusing him of turning the United States into a "ghetto" that stigmatised migrants.

He pushed back against Mr Trump's assertion that Mexico let immigration happen, saying: "You know we are fulfilling our responsibility to stop (migrants) moving through our country, as much as possible and without violating human rights."

Determined to avoid a break down in Mexico's most important trade relationship, its government has drastically tightened controls on movement of migrants, detaining and deporting thousands in recent months.

Despite Mr Trump's assertion that Mexico could easily end Central American immigration, its relatively small security forces, struggling with a record level of gang violence and homicide, are having a hard time controlling the flows.

In the biggest migrant surge on the US-Mexican border in a decade, officials say 80,000 people are in custody with an average of 4,500 mostly Central American migrants arriving daily.

Before unveiling his tariff threat, Mr Trump posted a video purporting to be of 1,036 migrants illegally crossing from Mexico on Wednesday. Officials said it was the largest group since October.

A source close to him said there had been a debate inside the White House over whether to go forward with the policy. Mr Trump sided with the hawks.

"The last thing he wants is to look weak," said the source.

Mr Trump's directive also means potential chaos in his efforts to get Congress to approve the USMCA deal.

Doug Ducey, the Republican governor of Arizona, which shares a 595km border with Mexico, said on Twitter that he had spoken to the White House and it was time for Congress to act on border security.

Mr Ducey, normally an outspoken supporter of free trade, faced criticism for the potential damage to his state's economy.

"Everyone knows I am opposed to tariffs and deeply value Arizona's relationship with Mexico," he wrote on Twitter. "I prioritise national security and a solution to our humanitarian crisis at the border above commerce."

Mr Trump said he was acting under powers granted to him by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Jaime Serra, Mexico's former trade minister who negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement which USMCA replaces, said Mr Trump's announcement was "unacceptable".

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney asked which products from Mexico could be affected by the tariffs, said: "All of them."
US President Donald Trump has angrily attacked special counsel Robert Mueller's motives, after Mr Mueller bluntly rebuffed Mr Trump's repeated claims that the Russia investigation had cleared him of obstructing justice.

The US president also offered mixed messages on Russia's efforts to help him defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign.

Early on Thursday, Mr Trump tweeted he had "nothing to do with Russia helping me get elected". That was the first time he seemed to acknowledge that Russia tried to help his campaign.

Then on the White House lawn, Mr Trump told reporters: "Russia did not help me get elected. You know who got me elected? You know who got me elected? I got me elected. Russia didn't help me at all."

Mr Mueller's report said Russia interfered in the election in hopes of getting Mr Trump elected, but his findings and intelligence officials have stopped short of saying the efforts contributed to Mr Trump's victory.

Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, is defending his short summary of Mr Mueller's report, telling CBS yesterday he was "just trying to state the bottom line".

Critics have accused Mr Barr of spinning the report's findings to favour Mr Trump.

Mr Trump's 20-minute eruption on Thursday underscored that he remains deeply distressed over the probe that has shadowed his presidency for nearly two years, even after Mr Mueller announced his resignation and the closure of his office. Democrats are mulling the possibility of impeachment proceedings.

Mr Trump insisted that he's been tough on Russia and that Moscow would have preferred Ms Clinton as president.

But that's not what Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. When asked last year in Helsinki whether he wanted Mr Trump to become president, Mr Putin replied: "Yes, I did."

On Wednesday, Mr Mueller, in his first public remarks on the Russia investigation, pointedly rejected Mr Trump's claims - repeated almost daily - that the special counsel's investigation cleared him of criminal activity and was a "witch hunt".

Mr Mueller emphasised that he had not exonerated Mr Trump on the question of whether he obstructed justice, but said charging Mr Trump with any crime was "not an option" because of Justice Department rules.

"If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," Mr Mueller declared.

Mr Barr, however, said Mr Mueller could have reached a decision on whether Mr Trump obstructed justice. Mr Barr said in an interview with 'CBS This Morning' that though Justice Department rules prevent the indictment of a sitting president, Mr Mueller could have decided whether Mr Trump had committed a crime.

Mr Trump repeated his baseless claims that Mr Mueller is "conflicted", contending that Mr Mueller, who served as FBI director under George W Bush, wanted his old job back, but that he had told him no. He said Mr Mueller, a Republican, was "a true never Trumper" and "didn't get a job that he wanted very badly".

Mr Mueller had been considered for the FBI director position shortly before being named as special counsel.
A police officer blocks an entrance to the Virginia Beach Municipal Center off of Princess Anne Road following a shooting Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. Kaitlin McKeown/The Virginian-Pilot via AP

A police canine unit stands by in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Police enter a building in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Police evacuate people from a building in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Rescue workers unload a stretcher from a helicopter following a shooting incident at the municipal center in this still image from video in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Paramedics prepare a staging area for victims in this still image from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Police evacuate people from a building as a stretcher stands by in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Police evacuate people from a building as a stretcher stands by in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Evacuees walk away from a building in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

A disgruntled public utility employee opened fire with a handgun on co-workers at a municipal building in Virginia on Friday afternoon, killing 12 people and wounding at least four before he was fatally shot by police, authorities said.

The mass shooting in the coastal resort of Virginia Beach was the deadliest instance of US gun violence since November 2018, when a dozen people were slain at a Los Angeles-area bar and grill by a gunman who then killed himself.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close People embrace after being evacuated from a building by police in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS Police work the scene of a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot via AP / Facebook

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Whatsapp People embrace after being evacuated from a building by police in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. WAVY-TV/NBC/via REUTERS

Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said the suspect in Friday's carnage was armed with a .45-caliber pistol equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and "extended" ammunition magazines he used to reload repeatedly during the attack.

Survivors recounted scenes of pandemonium and fear that erupted as gunshots rang out, and workers scurried frantically for cover.

"We just heard people yelling and screaming to get down," Megan Banton, a public utilities worker, told television station WAVY-TV, recalling that she and co-workers barricaded themselves in their office.

"We put the desk up against the door because we didn't know if they were coming in. We were just hoping that it would be over soon, and then we heard the cops yelling up the steps."

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Women wait by an entrance to the Virginia Beach Municipal Center on Princess Anne Road following a shooting in the public works building Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. Kaitlin McKeown/The Virginian-Pilot via AP Virginia Beach Chief of Police James Cervera speaks during a press conference about a shooting that left eleven dead and six injured at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center on Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. (Kaitlin McKeown/The Virginian-Pilot via AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Women wait by an entrance to the Virginia Beach Municipal Center on Princess Anne Road following a shooting in the public works building Friday, May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Va. Kaitlin McKeown/The Virginian-Pilot via AP

The first victim was shot in a vehicle outside the public works and utilities building at the city municipal center before the suspect entered that building and "immediately and indiscriminately fired upon all the victims," Cervera said.

The chief said the suspect engaged in a "long-term gun battle" with four police officers who confronted him inside, preventing the gunman from "committing more carnage in that building."

One officer was wounded in the shootout, but his bullet-proof vest saved his life, Cervera said. Authorities said the gunman ultimately was shot by police and was declared dead at a hospital.

'MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS'

Cervera said the suspect was a longtime public utilities employee, and described him as "disgruntled," but declined to say more about what may have precipitated the attack.

"We have more questions than we really have answers," he told reporters about two hours after the shooting.

The shooting was believed to be the deadliest act of workplace gun violence in the United States since February, when a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.

Authorities have determined the suspect's identity but are not ready to make the name public, Cervera said.

"We will release his name once," the chief said. "Then he will be forever referred to as 'the suspect,' because our focus now is on the dignity and respect of the victims and their families."

The bloodshed unfolded, according to police, at Building Two of the municipal center complex, where office space for more than 400 employees houses information technology, public works, planning and utilities departments next door to City Hall.

The complex lies several miles inland from the town's popular seashore, situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Southeast Virginia's most populous city has roughly 450,000 year-round residents.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dyer said at a news conference with the police chief. "The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues."

Arriving in town a short time after the shooting, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said: "This is just a horrific day."

"Our hearts ache for victims of the senseless violence that has been inflicted on the community," he told a news conference hours later.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting and "continues to monitor the situation."
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Complaints at the Department of the Interior , the federal agency with the most responsibilities in Indian Country, have increased dramatically during the Trump era, according to an internal watchdog.

In the first two years of the Trump presidency, complaints of wrongdoing, corruption, fraud and misuse of funds rose 16 percent, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) disclosed in a report released on Friday. That was double the rate seen during the Obama transition, the data showed.

But even though more employees at the Bureau of Indian Affairs , the Bureau of Indian Education , the Office of he Special Trustee for American Indians and other Interior entities are coming forward with allegations, the OIG is unable to look into the vast majority of their complaints. Due to stagnant funding and reduced staff, a situation that has worsened amid meddling from the Trump administration , the number of opened investigations has fallen 50 percent in the last three years, the report stated.

Despite the challenges, the BIA remains the second-most audited agency at Interior, according to the report. A total of 13 audits, inspections, and evaluations were completed in fiscal year 2018, compared to 17 at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mary Kendall, the former Deputy Inspector General at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Photo:House Committee on House Oversight and Reform

The report, however, notes that the FWS total is higher only because the OIG is required by audit grants made to states under a particular program. When those 12 audits are taken into account, the BIA was in fact the most audited agency by far at Interior.

Additionally, the BIA is also the second-most investigated agency, according to the report. A total of 21 investigations into wrongdoing at the agency were completed in fiscal year 2018, compared to 30 at the National Park Service.

The numbers, though, are more striking considering that the NPS has about three times as many employees as the BIA. That means the BIA, which has about 6,800 full-time employees, had a disproportionately higher rate of completed investigations, based on the size of its workforce.

And even though the OIG is unable to open investigations into every complaint, the report shows that most allegations end up being confirmed. During fiscal year 2018, 73 percent of completed reports focused on substantiated complaints, according to the data.

"Our investigative work, which reviewed allegations of sexual harassment, misconduct, retaliation, conflicts of interest, ethical violations, arson, and embezzlement, resulted in 190 months of imprisonment or probation and more than $900,000 in criminal fines, restitution, or special assessments and civil settlements," the semi-annual report to Congress stated.

"The department took various actions to address the misconduct identified in our reports, to include removal, reassignment, counseling, and reprimand," it continued. "Several other employees either retired or resigned rather than face potential adverse action against them."

It was a great honor to serve as the commencement speaker at the 2019 @HaskellU Commencement Ceremony. Thank you to the Haskell Community of Indigenous Scholars for the warm welcome and making me feel at home! #OnwardHaskell pic.twitter.com/INVm5Ng6nm  Assistant Secretary Tara Sweeney (@ASIndianAffairs) May 10, 2019

One reassignment occurred following a completed investigation. Venida Chenault, the former president of the Haskell Indian Nations University accepted a different position within the BIE after the OIG substantiated allegations of an "abusive" environment at the tribal college and uncovered mishandling of sexual assault and sexual harassment incidents.

Only in this case, Chenault didn't go very far . She was transferred to an upper-level management position at the BIE, and is based in an office located on Haskell's campus in Lawrence, Kansas.

"They've just given her a new title and it's going to be business as usual," Aaron Circle Bear, a former Haskell student who complained about Chenault's behavior, told Indianz.Com. He was expelled a month after he spoke to the OIG about the former president and now works in law enforcement in Kansas.

The Trump administration has boasted of a "zero tolerance" policy regarding harassment and misconduct in the workforce. But officials at Interior remain tight-lipped about cases within the BIA and the BIE, often declining to talk about certain matters due to personnel and privacy considerations.

"There is no place in Native society for this mental, physical, sexual or domestic abuse," Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney , a Trump administration appointee who oversees the BIE, said at Haskell's commencement ceremony earlier this month in what was her first visit to campus. During her speech, she praised students for holding a series of events during a "healing week" this spring.

Another completed OIG investigation focused on "misconduct and mismanagement" at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute , an institution also overseen by the BIE. It confirmed that a manager at the tribal college in New Mexico had a sexual relationship with a student and engaged in behavior that was seen as "confrontational, abrasive, and argumentative" by colleagues and subordinates.

The manager wasn't named in the OIG report but Native journalist Mary Annette Pember , as part of a comprehensive investigation into sexual harassment in Indian Country, confirmed it was Eric Christensen. In her report for Indian Country Today , she said he remains employed by SIPI as the vice president of college operations, in a role in which he oversees a program that handles student complaints.

In addition to the Haskell and SIPI investigations, other completed BIA/BIE and OST investigations include the following, with text coming from the OIG's semi-annual report:

The OIG investigated an allegation that BIA Administratively Determined firefighters intentionally set wildland fires for profit on the Cherokee Reservation in Cherokee, NC.

We found that firefighters Raymond Swayney, Grady Davis, Zachary Winchester, and three others caused or participated in several wildland arsons for profit between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, impacting hundreds of acres in Cherokee and costing the Federal Government thousands of dollars

The OIG investigated allegations that a BIA manager had used his position for the private gain of a friend, overruled decisions made by an employees supervisor regarding the employees leave and telework requests, and improperly influenced the award of a contract because of a personal relationship.

We found that the BIA manager created the appearance of using public office for the private gain of a friend when he participated on the interview panel that recommended the friend, who was also his former fiance, for a position within the BIA.

The OIG investigated allegations that two former employees of a tribally controlled school funded by the BIE did not repay payroll advances. We found that one employee failed to repay the school for more than $77,000 in payroll advances and the other failed to repay the school for more than $16,000 in payroll advances. Both employees admitted to owing the funds and that they made no attempt to repay the money when they were no longer employed by the school.

The OIG investigated allegations that two propane delivery contractors, one of which was American Indian-owned, conspired to improperly obtain U.S. Government contracts that are restricted to Indian economic enterprises under the provisions of the Buy Indian Act. Specifically, we investigated to determine if the Indian-owned company subcontracted 100 percent of contract performance to the non-Indian-owned company. We found that the Indian-owned company was awarded approximately 17 contracts, with a combined value of about $350,000, under the Buy Indian Act. We also found that though the Indian-owned company received approximately 51 percent of the net profit, it had little or no involvement with the actual performance of the propane supply contract: the non-Indian contractor provided all the fuel and made all the physical deliveries, thus violating the Buy Indian Act.

The OIG investigated allegations that a tribe had improperly removed funds from the bank account of a tribally controlled school funded by the BIE. We investigated whether the tribe exceeded its authority in removing the funds and whether any of the funds had been stolen. We found that the tribe did not exceed its authority by removing the funds and that no funds had been stolen. We found that the tribe removed the funds as part of an effort to spend down a $3 million surplus that had accumulated in the schools account over several years.

The OIG investigated anonymous complaints that a BIA supervisor showed favoritism toward employees with whom she had personal relationships and allegedly made unwelcome and offensive comments of a sexual nature in the workplace. The complainant also alleged that the supervisor falsified time and attendance records.

We found insufficient evidence to conclude that the BIA supervisor showed favoritism toward any employee or made unwelcome and offensive comments to subordinates. We also did not find any evidence that the supervisor falsified time and attendance records.

The OIG investigated allegations that an Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) employee and a tribal member agreed to disguise the purchase of tribal land as a gift conveyance from the tribal member. We also investigated allegations that the OST employee attempted to add allotments to the transaction without the tribal members knowledge and that a BIA employee forged the tribal members name on BIA documents filed in connection with the gift conveyance.

We confirmed the OST employee and the tribal member agreed to disguise the sale of ownership interests in multiple allotments as a gift conveyance to the OST employees minor son. The OST employee paid the tribal member $2,700, but the tribal member canceled the transaction before it was executed. We did not find evidence that the OST employee altered the agreements to add allotments or that the BIA employee forged any documents.

Thank you, @HaskellU #AlaskaNative Student Dance & Drum Group, for the very special welcome for @ASIndianAffairs Sweeney at the 2019 Haskell Indian Nations University Commencement Ceremony.#OnwardHaskell pic.twitter.com/PgpdmX6fGd  Indian Affairs (@USIndianAffairs) May 10, 2019

of interest include:

2017-ER-018 Indian Affairs Offices Poor Recordkeeping and Coordination Threaten Impact of Tiwahe Initiative (09/28/2018)

2016-CR-036 Stronger Internal Controls Needed Over Indian Affairs Loan Guarantee Program (11/09/2017)

2016-ITA-021 Information Technology Security Weaknesses at a Core Data Center Could Expose Sensitive Data (02/15/2017)

2017-WR-024 The Bureau of Indian Education Is Not Ensuring That Background Checks at Indian Education Facilities Are Complete (02/08/2018)

C-EV-BIE-0023-2014 Condition of Indian School Facilities (09/30/2016)

C-IS-BIE-0023-2014-A Condition of Bureau of Indian Affairs Facilities at the Pine Hill Boarding School (01/11/2016)

CR-EV-BIA-0002-2013 BIA Needs Sweeping Changes to Manage the Osage Nations Energy Resources (10/20/2014)Better Use: $97,000

NM-EV-BIE-0003-2008 School Violence Prevention (02/03/2010)

2016-CG-030 Audit of Incurred Costs of Contract Associated with Public Voucher No. PV08C55091 Between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Chippewa Cree Tribe (08/28/2017)Questioned Costs: $2,000,000

2016-FIN-075 Audit of Agreement No. A13AP00009 Between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Chippewa Cree Tribe (08/21/2017)Questioned Costs: $1,503,191

2017-FIN-041 Audit of Agreement No. A13AP00043 Between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Crow Tribe (06/21/2018)Questioned Costs: $14,492,813

2017-FIN-042 The Wind River Tribes Misapplied Federal Funds for the Tribal Transportation Program (07/12/2018)Questioned Costs: $6,194,167

2017-FIN-065 The Blackfeet Tribe Generally Complied with Bureau of Indian Affairs Agreements (09/28/2018)Better Use: $50,366

2017-FIN-039 Audit of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agreement No. A12AV01171 with the Crow Tribe on the Methamphetamine Initiative Program (12/11/2018)Entire Claim of $150,000 Questioned

was the subject of these completed reports:

2018-FIN-036 Independent Auditors Reports on the Tribal and Other Trust Funds and Individual Indian Monies Trust Funds Statements for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2017 (11/09/2018)

2016-ITA-062 Independent Auditors Performance Audit Report on the U.S. Department of the Interior Federal Information Security Management Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (03/10/2017)

Then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, left, is greeted by Chief Lynn Malerba of the Mohegan Tribe and then-Chairman Kevin Brown of the Mohegan Tribe, at the National Congress of American Indians mid-year conference at Mohegan Sun on the Mohegan Reservation in Connecticut on June 13, 2017. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The semi-annual report was presented to Congress by Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall, who noted that she has retired from the Department of the Interior following a botched attempt by the Trump administration to replace her with a political pick of its own choosing. She will be serving in a similar watchdog role for Amtrak , the government-owned transportation corporation.

"Our dedicated workforce, made up of auditors, investigators, attorneys, analysts, and various support staff, contributed to our successful efforts to promote excellence, integrity, and accountability within the programs, operations, and management of the U.S. Department of the Interior," Kendall wrote in a signed message in the report. "The impact of our work can be seen through greater financial accountability and transparency at the department."

The report focused on completed actions. It notably does not include the results of an investigation Kendall opened into former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke in connection with his handling of a stalled tribal gaming development in Connecticut.

As part of the internal inquiry, Zinke submitted himself to interviews with the OIG. So did leaders of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe , as well as the then-governor of Connecticut.

The interviews included questions about a meeting Zinke held with Mashantucket and Mohegan leaders in June 2017. The former Connecticut governor was also present.

According to multiple sources, Zinke told the tribes that he was going to approve their gaming agreements with Connecticut, in order for them to proceed with a new establishment in the state. The meeting took place on Mohegan homelands , at the same time as the mid-year conference of the National Congress of American Indians

Indianz learned from multiple sources of a grand jury that was looking into Ryan Zinke's activities at the department. After he learned of possible action against him on Friday, he chose to resign, according to the sources.  indianz.com (@indianz) December 15, 2018

During the conference, Zinke was honored for his integrity as a veteran of the U.S. armed forces. Once back in Washington, D.C., however, he failed to follow through on his pledge to the tribes, for reasons that remain unexplained almost two years later.

Only after the Mashantuckets won a decision which allowed them to proceed with a lawsuit in federal court did the Trump administration finally settle the dispute by approving the tribe's agreement in March. The Mohegans had won approval of their agreement in June 2017 -- no explanation was provided for the delay either.

Whether or not Zinke was honest about his dealings with the tribes remains an unanswered question. OIG employees are considered federal investigators and lying to them is considered a federal crime.

President Donald Trump has since nominated Mark Greenblatt to serve as Inspector General of the Department of the Interior. A confirmation hearing took place on May 2

"We are going to do our investigations in a fair, objective, independent way," Greenblat told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Were going to follow the evidence wherever it goes, were going to do thorough exhaustive investigations and we will close them when theyre closed.

The committee subsequently advanced Greenblatt's nomination at business meeting on May 21 . If confirmed by the full U.S. Senate, he would be the first permanent Inspector General of the Department of the Interior in 10 years.

"The department should not be run by acting officials. Our laws and our Constitution require Senate confirmation of its principal officers," said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), the top Democrat on the committee.

Trump Era Office of Inspector General Semi-Annual Reports

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Out of the 56 ministers in the newly-formed Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 22 ministers have criminal cases against them according to the self-sworn affidavits filed by them. Of these, 16 have grave criminal charges registered against them.

These criminal cases include, terrorism, treason, arson, murder, rape, robbery, burglary, communal disharmony, electoral violations, and kidnapping, among others.

Six ministers - Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Babul Supriyo, Giriraj Singh, Nityanand Rai, Amit Shah and Pralhad Joshi - have declared cases related to encouraging hostility between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A) and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs (IPC Section-295A).

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Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Nitin Gadkari and Giriraj Singh have declared cases related to illegal payments in connection with an election (IPC Section-171H), bribery (IPC Section - 171E) and undue influence or personation at an election (IPC Section-171F).

BJPs V Muraleedharan, has declared a case related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against himself. He has been appointed as the Minister of State for External Affairs and for Parliamentary Affairs.

51 out of 56 ministers are crorepatis

Out of the 56 ministers in the Modi government, 51 are crorepatis. Harsimrat Kaur Badal -- Shiromani Akali Dal lawmaker from Bathinda in Punjab is the richest with assets over Rs 217 crore, according to National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

BCCL

Maharashtra Rajya Sabha Member Piyush Goyal is at the second spot with assets worth over Rs 95 crore.

Rao Inderjit Singh, elected from Gurugram, is the third richest with total declared assets worth Rs 42 crore followed by BJP President and Gandhinagar lawmaker Amit Shah having assets worth over Rs 40 crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranked 46th in the list with declared total assets totalling over Rs 2 crore.
This story definitely has all the ingredients of being turned into a film. There are innumerous movies that showcases sibling love and this particular reunion tale will surely evoke a sense of accomplishment and feeling of not giving up. This is a story of two sisters who were reunited after 32 years of separation.

It dates back to 1986, when Neha Holmgren, (who is now a Swedish national) was separated from her little sister, a report in Storypick quoting Pune Mirror said.

bccl/representational image

Neha was only 14 months old when she was adopted by a Swedish family from Shreevatsa, which is a care centre for the family deprived children located in Pune, Maharashtra.

10 years ago Neha had attended a child adoption conference in Sweden where she got to know about her biological Indian family. Neha, who was then married, got to see a few documents that had information about her parents' whereabouts. She shared the details with her husband.

unsplash/representational image

Her husband came across a woman named Purnima Gosavi last year in November who was instrumental later on to help Neha find her sister.

Purnima had spoke about a child adoption forum that she was a social worker with Shreevatsa in 1986  the year when Neha was lodged there. This prompted Neha's husband to get in touch with Seema Waghmode, who runs an NGO Kayakalpa in Pune, through Purnima.

reuters/representational image

After much research, Neha came to know about her biological mother's demise but there was hope as she came to know that she had a biological sister.

The day finally arrived when Neha found out that her younger sister is a sex worker. After this, Neha flew down to India after getting to know about her sister. Both the sisters finally met and are looking forward to live the rest of their lives together.
Summers are here and the whole of North India is reeling under extreme weather conditions. Heatwave has gripped the entire country and it is becoming tough for people staying in villages where there's less access to water. The residents of Room village in Shankargarh near Prayagraj are facing a huge water crisis. The condition there is so severe that they're digging pits to get access to water.

Residents of Room village in Shankargarh near Prayagraj face acute water crisis, say,' There's severe water crisis, people here dig pits to get access to water.The water is unclean & people tend to fall ill often. People who don't even have food can't possibly afford treatment.' pic.twitter.com/98BjO4Hdvc  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 1, 2019

"There's severe water crisis, people here dig pits to get access to water. The water is unclean and people tend to fall ill often. People who don't even have food can't possibly afford treatment", a villager said.

Not only in Uttar Pradesh, the water scarcity problem exists in Maharashtra. The need for water increases exponentially during summers. Last week, over 305 villages in Maharashtra were added to the list of habitations to be taken care of with the help of water tankers.

The stress over access to clean water is increasing as more and more villagers are coming forward complaining about water scarcity.

A total of 6,209 tankers have been put to task of supply water to these villages and hamlets and this number is highest in Maharashtras history. Last year around this time, only 1622 tankers were used to supply water and around 6,000 tankers were used in 2016 which was a monsoon deficient year.
The pushback came  because we were asking people to play by the same rules, she told me about her work with Dempsey in the Purchasing Department. Not special rules for donors, not special rules for friends. Then we started getting calls from the fifth floor. You dont ask a former federal prosecutor to clean something up if you dont want me to do my job.
Katrina Kaif says among all her co-stars, Ranbir Kapoor is the one who she cannot trust with a major secret. (IANS photo)
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Indian American actor, author and activist Maulik Pancholy hosted a Twitter takeover May 22 to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Using the hashtag #HRCTwitterTakeover, he called out for the normalization of the LGBTQ community. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Point Honors Gala New York 2019)
The 2017-18 fifth grade class at the Mount Madonna School in Watsonville, Calif., has won the Presidents Environmental Youth Award for their work to fight environmental threats faced by humpback whales. (photo provided)
Sixty is the new 45, 80 is the new 60, and 100 is  well, really dang old. But even centenarians know that once you stop learning, you star...
12 persons have been confirmed dead a shooter opened fire indiscriminately in a Virginia Beach city building on Friday afternoon.

According to reports, the said shooter killed at least 11 people and sent six others to the hospital.

A Virginia government source who spoke with CNN said the shooter is a disgruntled employee adding that he died after a gunfight with police.

Police Chief James Cervera told reporters Friday night that;

This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, said Mayor Bobby Dyer. The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbour, colleagues.

Cervera added that the shooter was confronted not long after he opened fire on multiple floors. There was an exchange of gunfire with officers, the chief said.

Edward Weeden, one of the staff in the building, said people heard someone falling in a stairwell and upon investigation saw a woman down, blood all over her face.


President Muhammadu Buharis aide on social media, Lauretta Onochie has asked members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to stop wailing about how the president chooses to address Nigerians.

The presidential aide wrote on Saturday via Twitter that the presidents interview on the Nigerian Television Authority(NTA), a day to his inauguration for a second term in office was from his heart  And that she believes he would do that again on June 12th, which is the new Democracy Day.

She urged the opposition members to stop comparing the country to America as it isnt an extension of that country.

She wrote:

Dear Wailers,

Pres Muhammadu Buhari spoke to Nigerians, candidly, a day before the Inauguration.

I believe he will speak again on Democracy day.

He chooses when and how to communicate to Nigerians.

Theres nowhere in our constitution where it says the days he must address Nigerians.

As with other world leaders, he can also choose to use Social Media to communicate with Nigerians.

We are quick to draw comparisons with America and the West, but we do not insist that our lawmakers earn the same as their lawmakers earn or support our government the way they do.

I do not know when Nigeria became an extension of America. Any time theres a small change to how we do things, the Landlords and their cronies throw a tantrum.

Therell be more changes to the ways we do things. Nigerians voted for change.

And change they will have. Thank you
Emily and I appreciate each and every one of you, the people who have made HB what it is. All of this is leading up to the fact that our time here has come to an end. My dream, for a very long time now, has been to return to my hometown of Cleveland and open up a place that embodies Home Bistro there. We are finally turning that dream into a reality.
The Christian Association of Nigeria has raised an eyebrow over President Muhammadu Buharis recent trip to Saudi Arabia for the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation(OIC).

This was made known in a statement signed by the special assistant on media and communications to the CAN President, Samson Ayokunle on Saturday.

It said: With all the cries we have made about the unconstitutionality of Nigerias membership of OIC, going for such conference was still the first assignment of President Buhari after being sworn in. Are the government officials listening to those who voted them into power at all? Is the government not heating up the polity? We wonder if the President is ready to attend the meeting of the World Council of Churches or be asking the Vice President to represent him whenever the members meet.

As President Buhari begins another term, we appeal to him to have a blueprint for the security challenges facing the country. He should avoid lopsided appointments in every facet of the government, especially, the appointment chief security officers. The security councils and other agencies of the government must not be dominated by people who share the same faith and ethnicity with him. The preponderance of the Fulani people at the corridors of power is what Chief Olusegun Obasanjo refers to as fulanisation agenda.

We have many states in the North where churches are being denied of Certificates of Occupancy. This is a ploy to allow excuses to be given later for these churches to be pulled down whenever religious fanatics are in government in those states. As we rejoice with all the Northern State governors as they assume office, let them revisit this ungodly policy of discrimination against fellow Nigerians.
A part-time student of Lagos Polytechnic, Ikorodu campus has allegedly committed suicide after he had a quarrel with the girlfriend, Police reports.

The death of 34-year old Joseph Mayowa was confirmed in a statement by Bala Elkana, the Lagos police spokesperson on Friday.

According to the police statement, Mayowa allegedly took his own life by ingesting a poisonous chemical(sniper) at his residence at the Eyita area, Ikorodu.

Mayowa, who was a part-time student of the Department of Hospitality Management Technology died in the early hours of Friday.

The police station at Shagamu road, Ikorodu, received information that Mayowa had committed after a quarrel with his girlfriend, Bolaji Olokodana, police spokesperson said.

The girlfriend(24) a graduate from LASPOTECH was said to have been with the deceased when he died  He was quickly rushed to a hospital by his neighbours after the girlfriend raised an alarm but he died nonetheless.

In the statement of his girlfriend, she told police investigators that herself and the deceased dated for nine years, Mr Elkana said.

The deceased is fond of beating her. While she was with the deceased in his room, they had a quarrel and he, as usual, resorted into physical violence.

Miss Olokodana ran into the restroom to avoid a further beating from the deceased. On her return, she found him gasping for breath with an empty bottle of sniper beside him.

Mayowas corpse has been deposited at the General Hospital mortuary for autopsy, while police are conducting an investigation to determine the true cause of death.
A former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Oyegun has described former president Olusegun Obasanjo as the kind of leader that Nigeria needs.

The former military governor of Edo state, said this while reacting to the Islamisation and Fulanisation comments credited to the ex-president

He also asked the ruling party to expunge godfathers because they have done a lot of damage to internal democracy.

Oyegun said these recently during an interview with New Telegraph.

I think the basic problem we have all over is the godfather thing. Internal democracy simply means that if 10 people want to vie for an office, so be it. Let the electorate decide. But when party leaders are the ones deciding who is fit or who is not fit, that becomes a problem, he said.

That is the decision of the electorate. And when they start displacing persons with their friends and other undesirable inducements, that is totally unacceptable. The damage it does is that you are destroying the belief of the electorate in due process. So, it becomes more difficult to accept the result of an election.

So, the damage is intense and I pray that our politicians will see the need for a proper internal democracy and allow due process and allow the people to thoroughly decide.

On Oyeguns reaction to the former presidents comment on Islamisation and Fulanisation, he said, maybe dramatized, but he is addressing an issue that is with us.

According to Oyegun, although he might not necessarily tag the crisis as Islamisation, there is no question at all that it calls for worry because these people exist virtually in every state of the federation and, very soon, it would lead to unpleasantness in all over the country.

Well, I respect him. Every nation needs a man like that just like the peoples SAN, Chief Gani Fawhemi and a lot of activists. What is happening is that because of his status, his experience, his background, what he says becomes infinitely weighty and cannot be ignored, Oyegun said.

I just told you that this issue of so-called Fulani herdsmen and the copy cats that have followed it has to be addressed. So, the issue has to be addressed. I wouldnt give it the kind of Islamization tag that is given to it, but there is no question at all that it calls for worry because these people exist virtually in every state of the federation and, very soon, it would lead to unpleasantness in all over the country.

So, the issue has to be addressed and, as I told you that as far as I am concerned, it would be one of the first priority of the next level administration.
Controversial Nollywood actor, Uche Maduagwu, has slammed actress, Uche Ogbodo, for sharing her nude on social media to mark her birthday.

Uche who spoke in an Instagram post asked the actress to just apologize and move on instead of giving reasons for her actions.

He wrote;

@ucheogbodo No amount of EXCUSES can justify a woman going NUDE on social media, apologize and move onIf there is a CULTURE most celebs dont have in Nigeria, it would be an APOLOGY. @ucheogbodo Nobody is PERFECT, and we all LEARN everyday from past mistakes. So instead of trying to give reasons as to why you allegedly display nudity on social media before #BIRTHDAY,just apologize to your fans, it wont take anything to do that, will it?Its bad enough that a GROWN woman go nude,coming out to allegedly give reasons why she display such in this part of the world is laughable, to say the least @ucheogbodo Just because @kimkardashian go nude doesnt mean such nonsense will be embraced over here in Naija,noma, we have good CULTURE, and our MOTHERS didnt teach us such rubbish.I have already gotten the attention of an A-list American celebrity, I am international, so listen to me when I give advice.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has been spotted in Kubwa where he went to thank Baba Alagazhin Gazazhin who predicted that Buhari would re-emerge as Nigeria president.

Osinbajo who spoke via his Twitter handle shared that he met with the old man and they used the opportunity to discuss some of the challenges facing the community where he lives with a view to looking into it.

In his own words:

A few months ago, I visited Baba Alagazhin Gazazhin in Kubwa. In our conversation, he predicted a win for President Muhammadu Buhari. I gave him my word that if his prediction came true, I would be back to say thank you to him and the community.

Baba used the opportunity to discuss some of the challenges and issues of the community. President Muhammadu Buharis administration will continue to listen to the challenges of the Nigerian people and work hard for the majority. Together, Nigeria will prevail!

Photos below:
Ad on a Septa train serving Delaware County for Goldman Sachs. The Wall Street investment bank, sees Philly commuters' savings as a cheap source of funding and is using its new online Marcus bank accounts to try to lure customers away from local banks Read more

Goldman Sachs, the famously lucrative financial adviser to governments and corporations, whose boss once described its investment strategy as long-term greedy, is now going after the middle class.

Youre way above average, why not save like it?" urges a Goldman ad on Septa commuter trains. Just put one dollar in front of the other, urges another, all promoting the companys Marcus deposit accounts, named for Marcus Goldman, who founded the firm in 1869.

The company is also reaching out to the working and saving masses through direct mail, print and video ads, and even billboards, reversing a long period in which, if you had to ask where Goldman Sachs was, you didnt belong there.

Like Vanguard Group, the $5 trillion-asset Malvern money manager which has expanded faster than its rivals, Goldman is going mass market by relying on technology and attractive pricing -- without an expensive network of brick-and-mortar retail branch offices.

Thats in contrast with its New York rival, JPMorgan Chase & Co., which has pledged to build 50 branches in the Philadelphia area by 2024 and hundreds in other targeted cities in a bid to sell more stuff to its mortgage and credit-card borrowers. (New York-based Citigroup tried a similar effort in the late 2000s, then shut the branches down, writing off milllions in sunk costs.)

Of course, Vanguard has been burnishing its reputation for low-fee retirement savings since its founding in 1975. But for Goldman, whose longtime Philadelphia branch chief, the late George Ross, grew rich from government bond fees (and led the charity campaign to build the citys National Museum of American Jewish History), seeking a rep as banker-to-the-people marks a big expansion, and even a reversal, of its image.

Indeed, at Goldman Sachs, traditionally we dont advertise, says Rosss successor, managing director Nicole Ross (no relation to George), who among other duties oversees the companys century-old Philadelphia wealth-management office, now based in the BNY Mellon Center on Market Street.

For Goldmans wealth-management and investment-banking businesses, no logos adorn its buildings, let alone billboards. When we do a great job, they will tell their peers, Ross added.

For Ross end of Goldmans business, which helps millionaires and private-equity financiers buy into such investments as Facebook or Uber before they are publicly traded, and fields 3 a.m. calls from heirs with tax questions, our average client has about $50 million with us," and knows how to put his or her own advisers in touch with the firms reps without having to copy the Web address on public transit.

Goldmans mass-market move was made possible by its agreement 10 years ago, after a $10 billion government bailout amid the mortgage-finance crisis (which it repaid, with interest), to seek bank-funded, federally administered FDIC deposit insurance and a commercial banking charter. That made Goldman more like JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and local banks that can raise money cheaply by paying low rates to depositors in need of safe places to stash cash.

However, the bank moved slowly to exploit that power: It took the firm several years to come to the conclusion that we really are a [commercial] bank," said Dustin Cohn, newly promoted brand-marketing chief for Goldman Sachs Consumer and Investment Management Division.

(Marcus head of product, Michael Cerda, was recruited from Facebook in early 2017, among a wave of high-profile bank recruitments of Silicon Valley talent -- but departed in April for a job at Disney, closer to his California home, according to the Financial Times.)

Goldman started its populist move in 2016 by offering small personal loans, similar to credit card loans, from $3,500 to $40,000. Like Wilmington-based Best Egg (corrected) and other fintech companies that offer fast, low-hassle lending to people whose credit can be checked from their consumer data, Goldman sought to design a business that could be profitable even in its early stages, and which solved what Cohn called consumer pain points, such as deposit limits and withdrawal penalties, by not requiring any.

We see ourselves as a technology company, and knew we could build it from scratch for a good user experience, without bricks and mortar, said Cohn. Goldmans deposits group is in Chicago (corrected), its tech group in California.

Marcus listed unsecured loan rates currently start at about 6 percent. Thats competitive with standard credit card rates, which average from 17 percent to 26 percent -- even for borrowers with excellent credit and top Fair Isaac & Co. (FICO) scores, according to Bank Rate Monitor. In three years, the company has built up a portfolio of $5 billion in small loans, Cohn said.

In the last two years, the company has also solicited deposits, paying 2.25 percent a year, with no minimum balance and no term -- with slightly higher rates for longer-term commitments, but no penalties for early withdrawal -- and attracted $45 billion in the U.S. and U.K.

The Marcus accounts also allow users to arrange automatic bill payment -- unlike Vanguard, which recently discontinued that service for most investors.

While banks and investment firms such as Vanguard have been upgrading their automated customer service, Marcus brags about human customer service, from call centers in Utah and Texas. To be a digital business, people need to trust you, and that means having the opportunity to speak to a live person, not a machine, said Cohn.

Goldman even tries to turn its lack of retail branches into a virtue: Cohn insists, in contrast with JPMorgan data showing that millennials actually visit bank branches almost as often as old people, that most people hate bank branches.

Goldman recently scored a coup over its mass-market rivals when it beat out JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and other lenders to issue MasterCards for Apple. Goldman said it could offer a simple card with attractive rates and limited fees.

The history of the credit card business is littered with retailer card programs that grew fast but proved unprofitable as borrowers stopped paying. Goldman Sachs now gets a chance to show whether it can transfer its high-end expertise at handling wealth, and its recent success at attracting deposits, to mass-market credit decisions -- and make enough money to please Apple as well as its own shareholders.
Abudwaris Ablimit points to a photo of his brother during a gathering to raise awareness about loved ones who have disappeared in China's far west, in Washington on Feb. 24, 2019. The western region of Xinjiang has been subject to a severe security crackdown in recent years that has made surveillance cameras and police checkpoints ubiquitous. Read more

Its been more than three decades since Gulbahar Mamut and her husband left the remote corner of Earth that her Uighur people call East Turkestan and the ruling Chinese government calls Xinjiang for Southern California, where they attended universities and stayed to raise their two sons. But Mamut always went back every few years to visit her six brothers and sisters and her large extended family thats stayed behind in the mostly Muslim region, despite increasing persecution.

The last time she went was 2015, and she could see how Chinas totalitarian surveillance state was becoming increasingly intolerable, Mamut and her fellow Uighurs couldnt walk more than 100 yards or so down the streets of Ghulja in far northwestern China without hitting a police checkpoint where she was asked to produce ID. When she tried to drive with relatives to visit a tourist site on the Kazakhstan border, she endured an hour and a half of often hostile questioning before she finally got her U.S. passport back.

Two years later, in early 2017, she stopped hearing from her relatives altogether. The popular Chinese messaging app, WeChat, no longer worked. Mamut tried calling her sister and the phone cut off after a few seconds. So she called her older brothers phone and his wife picked up to say she was at a police checkpoint and would call back.

That was her final contact. Friends tell Mamut that intercepted phone calls or messages from the United States could cause the ever-watching Chinese authorities to target her loved ones  at a time when as many as 1 million Muslims or more and other ethnic minorities have been rounded up and sent to what Beijing calls education centers and the rest of the world calls, justifiably, concentration camps.

Its just horrible, Mamut told me by phone from a Los Angeles suburb this week, more than two years since shes heard from her family. I read articles about Never again!"  the mantra that emerged from the Jewish Holocaust during World War II  and this is happening in the 21st century and nobody can do anything ... How can we be not able to stop this?

Gulbahar Mamut is right. The irony is heartbreaking. It was just four months ago that hundreds of thousands of American schoolchildren observed the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day intended to instill the message that the world can never again stand by idly and do nothing about such large-scale crimes against humanity. But the crisis in Xinjiang is showing a generation born long after the Nazi horrors of the 1930s and 40s that Never again! is easier said than done.

The escalating campaign of ethnic cleansing that Chinas totalitarian government has been waging against the Uighur Muslims  not just a frightening level of surveillance, including dozens of cameras on every street and massive phone and internet monitoring, but now the growing numbers rounded up, detained and indoctrinated at a gulag of concentration camps  isnt getting nearly the attention it deserves.

The U.S. government hasnt minced words in calling out the mass detention centers as concentration camps," with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying the facilities are reminiscent of the 1930s. But the Trump administrations deeds havent been nearly as tough as its language. President Trump decided against bringing up the plight of Chinas Muslims in his talks seeking a massive trade deal with his counterpart President Xi Jinping, and aides deep-sixed suggestions for economic sanctions against officials involved in the concentration camps.

Does the flow of cheap Chinese goods really trump wholesale humanitarian crimes? Some Jewish-American groups that are committed to preventing a 21st century holocaust  not just for the Uighurs but in other global crises like Myanmars crimes against its Rohingya people  are starting to make more overt comparisons to what once happened under Adolf Hitler, in the hope that more people will pay attention.

For us, it is a Never Again! moment, and we are seeking to educate and activate Jews nationwide, Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub of The Jewish Board of Family and Childrens Services, told me by email. He said Chinese actions such as crackdowns on reading the Quran or speaking their native Turkic are for American Jews following the story  a painful echo of the murderous persecution by the Nazis just 75 years ago.

Ann Strimov Durbin, director of advocacy and grant making for the California-based Jewish World Watch, has called Chinas crackdown on its Muslims a form of cultural genocide and is working with U.S.-based Uighurs like Mamut to aggressively lobby members of U.S. Congress to back pending bills that could lead to economic and travel sanctions against Chinese officials and companies linked to the camps.

China is a difficult adversary to go up against, said Durbin, expressing her alarm at reports of offenses from razing mosques to forcing Uighurs to eat pork to even diluting the gene pool by pressuring Muslim women to mate with the growing number of ethnic Han Chinese who are moving into Xinjiang.

After all, it took nothing less than a devastating world war to stop Nazi genocide in 1945. China is an economic and, increasingly, a military superpower thats resistant to outside leverage, especially when its a major trading partner of most developed nations. Coincidentally, this week will mark the 30th anniversary of Chinas massacre of political dissidents in and around Tiananmen Square  a horrific event met largely with a collective shrug. In the case of the Uighurs, its been appalling that the worlds largest Muslim nations  led, of course, by their own murderous dictators  have made it clear theyd rather do business with Beijing than stand up for people of their own faith.

Activists like Durbin refuse to believe that the Uighurs are a lost cause. Shes busy lobbying lawmakers and arranging for California-based Uighurs like Mamut to meet with top aides to their Sen. Kamala Harris, now a leading presidential contender. She told me a lot of it is about expressing solidarity and amplifying their voices  adding that action by Congress on the sanctions bill would also send a powerful message of America standing with the Uighurs.

Mamut told me shed like to see everyday Americans organize to boycott Chinese products in response to the crackdown and the concentration camps. There are very few people fighting this fight right now, she said. We need everybodys help.

We shouldnt let things like the vast distance between the United States and East Turkestan, the unyielding behavior of Chinas dictators or worries about whether prices will keep falling at Walmart to so demoralize us to keep us from speaking out against human rights abuses. We can, and should, pressure Congress and the Trump administration to do a lot more. Never again? Again is happening right now, on our watch. What are we going to do?
Artist's rendering of Iovance Biotherapeutics cancer-treatment facility planned at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. Read more

Cancer-therapy firm Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. plans to open a sprawling office and laboratory complex in South Philadelphias Navy Yard, adding to the citys growing clout as a biotechnology research-and-development hub.

Iovance, which specializes in the development and commercialization of cancer immunotherapies using cells known as tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, will occupy a three-story, 136,000-square-foot building that will span about a block of the Navy Yards core business and research park.

The San Carlos, Calif.-based firm joins current Navy Yard occupants Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC and WuXi AppTec Co., as well as Spark Therapeutics Inc. in University City, in selecting Philadelphia to develop and manufacture high-tech therapies for what have been mostly irremediable conditions.

Iovance president and chief executive Maria Fardis said in an interview ahead of Wednesdays announcement that Philadelphia was chosen for the project in part because of its deep talent pool, fed by institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania.

"We know there are certainly trained employees in the region who have worked in cell therapy and have deep roots in cell therapy," she said.

Work on the roughly $125 million facility at 300 Rouse Blvd., just south of the Navy Yards Central Green landscaped recreational space, is expected to begin as soon as next month and is scheduled to last about two years. Some of a planned $75 million investment at the site by Iovance will go toward those construction costs.

The project is the first to be undertaken by Gattuso Development Partners, a new firm spearheaded by John Gattuso, who had led work on most of the Navy Yard Corporate Centers existing office and lab buildings as regional director of Wayne-based developer Liberty Property Trust.

The project is a really great way to kick off our new venture and also continues the momentum at the Navy Yard and continues to reaffirm Philadelphia as a major center for this new, very important industry, Gattuso said.

Iovance plans to use the new facility to manufacture its tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte-based treatments, which use patients own cancer-inflicted cells to produce personalized therapies.

Clinical trials involving patients with advanced melanoma are ongoing, putting the company on a path to begin marketing the therapy in about a year and a half, Fardis said. It is also conducting trials for an advanced cervical cancer treatment while devising therapies for other cancers.

The firm plans to employ several hundred at the Navy Yard facility, producing treatments for thousands of patients around the world, Fardis said.

The Navy Yard was seen as a prime location for its production labs because of its highway access and proximity to Philadelphia International Airport, allowing afflicted cells to quickly reach the facility and treatments to be speedily sent to patients, she said.

This product, being a cell therapy, it really is very personalized: Every patient is a separate batch, she said. The logistics of the facility were important.

The Navy Yard was also chosen because of the tax advantages that come from being within a Keystone Opportunity Zone, which can qualify companies for city and state tax breaks, as well as other financial incentives.

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. (PIDC) president John Grady said Iovance is receiving a $1 million loan from the city that is to be forgiven if job-creation goals are met after five years and a $3 million low-interest loan to finance capital investments.

The Navy Yard Corporate Center section is home to such companies as pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC and investment bank FS Investment Solutions LLC, as well as Adaptimmune and WuXi AppTec.

WuXi produces cancer treatments as a contractor for Iovance and will continue to do so until its own Navy Yard facility is up and running, Fardis said.

Liberty Property Trust announced last year that it was getting out of the office-building business to focus on industrial projects, but continues to hold development rights to an approximately 100-acre section of the Navy Yard that includes the Corporate Center through a deal with PIDC, which manages the publicly owned property on the citys behalf.

PIDC has approved the Iovance sites transfer from Liberty to Gattuso as a one-off project, but plans to soon begin seeking a new master developer for the remaining Navy Yard acreage that Liberty will be relinquishing as part of its pivot to industrial properties, Grady said.

Gattuso said his deal with Liberty for the Iovance site includes reimbursing the property trust for its past expenditures preparing it for development.

Gattusos new venture also includes former Liberty vice president Anne Cummins, who joins the firm as chief operating officer. The Iovance project is being completed with landscape architecture and infrastructure firm Synterra Ltd., which had partnered with Liberty on previous Navy Yard projects, and Phoenix-based developer Ensemble Investments LLC, which built the Navy Yards Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

We are thrilled that the Gattuso firm, which includes several of our friends and former colleagues, will be developing this important new facility, Liberty chairman and chief executive William P. Hankowsky said in a statement. We wish the Gattuso team continued success moving forward.
Tim Conheeney, a bike courier, waits in line at the First Judicial District's Civil Filing Center in Room 296 of Philadelphia City Hall on Wednesday. He has been here more frequently since the city court's eFiling system has been down. Read more

A shutdown of Philadelphia court computers was in its second week Wednesday with no answers as to why it happened, when it will be fixed, or how much it will cost.

Officials said the websites and computer programs were shut down May 21 as a precaution after a virus was found on a limited number of computers, but they have not linked the shutdown to cyberattacks that reportedly have hit municipal computer systems in other U.S. cities.

The First Judicial District continues to work closely with City OIT [Office of Innovation and Technology] to ensure the safety of our systems after being alerted of potential malware, according to a statement by courts spokesperson Gabe Roberts. As a precautionary measure the FJD website, employee email accounts, and electronic filing (e-file) have been temporarily suspended.

While there is no definitive timetable for when systems will be fully operational, IT professionals are working diligently to restore services, the statement said, noting that all of the citys courts remain open as scheduled.

The statement did not explain what type of malicious software may have been found.

To safeguard other systems, the city court system and the Office of Innovation and Technology shut down certain court IT functions to fully review and clean the operating systems, a city spokesperson said last week. This is a necessary step to contain the virus.

The shutdown has had a greater impact on civil cases than criminal ones. Online criminal dockets, which are on a statewide portal system, are still accessible.

But the online civil docket search is not functioning and law firms that handle civil cases have had to send employees or bike couriers to City Hall to file motions and other documents with regularity this week and last.

Outside Room 296 in City Hall, where filings are done in civil Trial Division cases, Tevin Heilig, a mail room clerk at a Center City law firm, said Wednesday that things were calmer than Tuesday.

It was hectic, Heilig said, describing a line that stretched out the door and had people complaining.

Amber Iannuzzi, a paralegal at another Center City law firm, hurried out of the City Hall filing room Wednesday after trying to attach a legal document to a pretrial motion she filed Tuesday.

But they cant find the original motion, she said, apparently because it was in a pile among other hand-delivered documents. The stacks are ridiculous, she said.

Its affected everything, she said of the computer shutdown. We have a trial beginning Monday.

Roberts said it was not known whether what is affecting Philadelphias court computer systems might be related to what has been happening in other cities.

In Baltimore, the New York Times reported, a cyberattack has frozen thousands of computers and disrupted citywide services. The Baltimore attack, on May 7, was a classic ransomware assault, the Times wrote.

A key component of the malware used by the cyberattackers on Baltimore came from a cyber tool developed by the National Security Agency, which was stolen in 2017 and has been used by hackers around the world, the newspaper said.

Hackers seem to have found a sweet spot in Baltimore, Allentown, Pa., San Antonio, and other local American governments, where public employees oversee tangled networks that often use out-of-date software, the Times reported.

According to the First Judicial District, Trial Division civil filings are being accepted in person in Room 296 of City Hall; Municipal Court civil filings at the Widener Building, 1339 Chestnut St., 10th floor; Family Court filings at 1501 Arch St., eighth and 11th floors; and criminal filings in the Stout Center for Criminal Justice, second floor.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  Just days before the opening of classes, some teachers in a public school in Cavite were forced to convert a comfort room into makeshift faculty quarters.

Maricel Herrera, president of the teachers' association in Bacoor National High School, gave CNN Philippines video footage of the cramped faculty room.

Old toilet cubicles now contained teachers' tables.

Herrera said it was "too small" for 11 teachers.

Herrera said that on May 27, a week before classes resume on June 3, the teachers were informed that their faculty rooms will be used as classrooms.

"Walang problema doon kasi kung talagang kakailanganin ng bata, priority ang bata. Ang problema doon ay walang ibinigay na maayos na room, walang ibinigay na maayos na lugar para sa mga teachers," Herrera said.

[Translation: There's no problem with that because the children need it. They are the priority. The problem there is that the teachers are not given a proper room.]

Pressed for time, some teachers made an office out of the school's restroom, while others used the space under the staircase.

"Sabi nga ng isang teacher, CR yun eh. Wala namang matinong drainage na nandiyan eh. So pag sumingaw yun o umulan, mainit yun pag umulan, ang singaw noon nasa teacher," Herrera told CNN Philippines.

"Hahanapin ka ng mga parents... Nandoon baka sa building ng CR na yun... 'Di ba nakakadegrade? she added.

[Translation: A teacher said that's a comfort room. There's no proper drainage, so if it rains, the air would be humid for the teachers there. When the parents look for them, it's degrading to find them in the comfort room.]

Herrera is also a regional leader of militant group Alliance of Concerned Teachers.

To make matters worse, she said the teachers had to spend their own money for the repairs, shelling out at least 1,000 each.

CNN Philippines tried to verify the authenticity of Herrera's video but was not allowed to enter the school. The school's personnel also refused to give the principal's contact details when asked for comment.

In an interview with CNN Philippines' Newsroom Weekend, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said they will look into the situation, but stressed it is an isolated case.

"We thank media for calling our attention to these things ... yung mga kulang sa facilities, meron pa ring mga ganyang istorya [lack of facilities, there are still stories like that]. But that does not speak about the entire picture of education itself," Briones said.

She cited that the department has been ready for the school year since last year, having addressed problems of classroom shortage.

CNN Philippines' Rex Remitio and Eimor Santos contributed to this report.
Around 2:35 a.m. Sunday in Lawndale, two shooters approached a group standing on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Millard Avenue and opened fire, hitting six people. A 17-year-old girl shot in the face was pronounced dead on scene. A 14-year-old boy shot in his left leg was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and stabilized, as was an 11-year-old boy also shot in the left leg. A 21-year-old woman shot in the right arm and back was also taken to Sinai, where she was in critical condition. A 17-year-old boy shot in the right leg was taken to Rush University Medical Center and was stabilized. A 17-year-old girl shot in the right arm was taken to Stroger and stabilized.
Mayor Jim Kenney signs an executive order instituting a new policy aimed at creating a better environment for reporting sexual harassment at City Hall on Thursday, July 19, 2018. Read more

The City of Philadelphia spent at least $2.2 million to settle sexual misconduct claims in the last six years, though the city controller suspects that number could be much higher.

In an audit of the city's sexual harassment policies and payouts released Thursday, City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart also indicated that Philadelphia's current sexual harassment prevention policy is a "one-size-fits-all document that does not adequately meet the needs of its employees."

The controller found that supervisors have not been given thorough instructions about what to do if an employee reports sexual harassment, and dozens of city departments don't comply with sexual harassment policies, creating an environment that can stifle sexual harassment reporting and foster unequal discipline for harassers.

Overall, the current process for reporting sexual harassment is "opaque and complicated," and the procedures present a "significant potential for financial liability," the controller's audit found.

Officials from Mayor Kenney's administration say they've already taken steps to address the problems. Kenney signed an executive order Thursday instituting a new sexual harassment prevention policy that his administration claims will improve sexual misconduct reporting systems within city government.

The changes include a revamped training regimen, the addition of an electronic database for tracking claims, a new online form to file sexual harassment complaints, and a new investigatory oversight system.

Those changes don't address the controller's top recommendations outlined in the audit. Rhynhart said the city should create a "centralized" unit of personnel who would investigate all sexual harassment complaints across city government and codify a citywide discipline schedule to show how punishment should be doled out. The administration has not established either.

"What's being presented right now, to me, is not what eventually needs to happen," she said.

Kenney said Wednesday that the policy would be reviewed annually, and that his administration is committed to further implementing the recommendations.

Lawsuits, payouts, and elected officials

As part of the controller's audit, the city Law Department produced documents showing sexual harassment lawsuit settlement payouts between July 2012 and April 2018 totaled about $2.2 million. That includes a $1.25 million payment last year to settle a lawsuit bought by a former police officer who said a commander sexually assaulted her.

But auditors found the Law Department has "inadequate" internal systems meant to track litigation, making it nearly impossible for officials to identify all sexual misconduct cases.

Rhynhart said she "absolutely" believes the payout figure over six years is higher than $2.2 million.

In addition, Rhynhart's office opened a phone line for city employees to report issues related to sexual misconduct. Many of the incidents reported by callers through the phone line weren't in any documentation provided by the city, even though some of those callers indicated they had reported the allegations or filed formal complaints.

The Law Department provided the Controller's Office with 121 sexual misconduct case files spanning between July 2012 and April 2018. Of those cases, 63 were investigated and substantiated while 53 were deemed unsubstantiated. The controller did not audit the quality of those investigations.

But it did find that the city has no procedure for handling sexual misconduct allegations against elected officials, as was the case in November when multiple allegations of sexual harassment by Sheriff Jewell Williams surfaced. He has denied the allegations and remains in office.

The controller's audit found that earlier this year, Williams, as the head of his department, was the recipient of the final case file in a complaint lodged against him  and deemed "substantiated" by a city investigator  and was responsible for taking "appropriate measures."

The Kenney administration says its new sexual harassment policy applies only to executive branch employees, and it can't cover elected officials outside that scope.

Inconsistent handling of complaints and investigations

Currently, there are several ways for city employees to file sexual misconduct complaints, one of which is to go through the Employee Relations Unit (ERU) in the Mayor's Office of Labor Relations. Though, in most cases, sexual harassment complaints are dealt with at the departmental level.

The problem is, the processes for handling those complaints  as well as the discipline dispensed in response  aren't consistent across departments. For example, the audit found that several departments had suspended employees for having "inappropriate conversations" while another issued only a written warning for an employee found to have groped a coworker. It found several cases in which discipline was more severe for lower-level employees than for supervisors in the same department who'd committed similar infractions.

Monica Marchetti-Brock, director of the Mayor's Office of Labor Relations, said in the future, all complaints will go through the ERU, which will itself investigate only particularly "sensitive" matters. In most cases, that office will refer the complaint to the respective department's human resources officer and will then review the case after an investigation is complete. (The ERU is currently staffed by three employees tasked with reviewing employment-related complaints across city government, which employs roughly 30,000 people.)

Marchetti-Brock said the city hasn't standardized discipline across departments, as recommended by the controller.

"It's very hard to standardize discipline across departments," she said, "because there are different disciplinary matrices within each department and they are unionized employees."

The new sexual harassment policy doesn't include written guidelines for how supervisors should conduct such investigations, though Marchetti-Brock said the city hopes to standardize the process through improved training of supervisors and managers. It's unclear how that process will be reconciled in departments that already have ingrained investigatory methods like, for example, the Police Department, which runs investigations through its Internal Affairs branch.

The city will also roll out a new case management database, making it easier to track complaints over time.

Will the training system be improved?

The controller also probed how often sexual harassment training has occurred. Under current city policy, supervisors are required to undergo sexual harassment training. But auditors found that more than 70 percent of employees working in a human resources capacity  the people responsible for overseeing sexual harassment complaints  either had never been trained or had "noncurrent" training.

In May, Philadelphia voters approved a ballot measure to require all city employees to receive sexual harassment training every three years.

City officials say they're revising policies and developing new training materials in addition to increasing the regularity of training. Administration officials said all supervisors and managers will receive instructor-led training beginning in January, and by spring of next year, it will implement an online training module for all employees with access to a city computer.

Some experts say all sexual harassment training should be in-person. Chief Administrative Officer Christine Derenick-Lopez said the city is choosing to train some employees online because "it's about reach."

"We want to get the information out to employees as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that is to leverage technology," she said, adding that "doesn't mean that there's not going to be some in-person training" in addition.

Chief of Staff Jane Slusser said the city expects to train all employees  whether that's in-person or online  by the end of next year. The training for rank-and-file employees is expected to be tailored by department and will address reporting procedures, in addition to bystander intervention and LGBTQ sensitivity.
Farmers and their co-ops have called on the next leaders of the EU to keep agriculture and forestry at the top of all agendas.

The call came as the dust settles on the European Parliament elections and the process begins to nominate and elect the next Commission president in succession to Jean-Claude Juncker.

Copa and Cogeca stressed in an open letter to the future EU leaders that a strong EU needs strong agriculture, and a strong agriculture needs Europe. The umbrella bodies represent over 23 million farmers and their families (Copa) and the interests of 22,000 agricultural co-operatives (Cogeca) Copa and Cogeca predicted that the coming political cycle has the potential to define the shape of Europe for generations to come. There will be difficult debates on generation renewal, on low farm income, market volatility and climate change.

The letter stressed that farmers and their co-ops want to deliver the type of agriculture that European citizens expect and demand.

It defined that as an agriculture that provides a high level of food security and high standards of quality, welfare, sustainability and environmental protection.

The letter asked how can Europe become a bio-based economy and a carbon sequestration champion without its agricultural and forestry sectors.

How can we keep rural Europe vibrant and ensure a dynamic trade balance without the farmers and co-operatives of Europe?

It stressed that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is, and must continue to be, the policy that supports European farmers in delivering these objectives.

Family farms, agricultural co-operatives and other agricultural and forestry undertakings in all their diversity play a key role in this process. The CAP, as a cornerstone of the EUs policies, is a partnership between agriculture and society, and between Europe and its farmers.

Copa and Cogeca said DG AGRI should retain its strategic responsibility for EU agricultural and rural development policies and continue as the lead department in all aspects of the CAP.

Its role and responsibilities should be strengthened to enhance the co-ordination of policies that impact European farmers and the activities of agri-co-operatives.

Indeed, DG AGRI contributes significantly to several of the Commissions political priorities, including trade, jobs, growth and investment, and the internal market.

Copa and Cogeca appealed to the future EU leaders to deliver the institutional and policy framework that will feed Europes future.

For the past 60 years, the CAP has been the glue that holds the European project and agriculture together, added the letter, which was signed by the respective presidents of Copa (Joachim Rukwied) and Cogeca (Thomas Magnusson).

Meanwhile, Agriculture, Food and Marine Minister Michael Creed chaired the inaugural meeting of the new CAP post-2020 Consultative Committee in Ireland.

It will provide a forum to allow stakeholders express their views and remain updated as the CAP reform discussions progress.

Minister Creed said he sees the Committee as having an important role in considering how to deal with the challenges ahead and lead the development of one of the most efficient and sustainable agri-food sectors in the world.
In the citys most recent homicide, 29-year-old Christopher Walton was shot in the chest around 4:10 a.m. Saturday in the 7700 block of South Morgan Street in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, police said. Walton, of the 7300 block of South Morgan Street, was pronounced dead at 5 a.m., the medical examiners office said.
Update - Sunday, June 2: John Donovan has been found safe and well.

Earlier: Gardai appeal for help in finding boy, 16, missing in Dublin

Gardai are seeking the public's assistance in locating a 16-year-old boy who is missing in Dublin.

John Donovan is missing from Ballymun, Dublin 11 since around 11pm on May 28.

He is described as 510" in height, of medium build, with brown hair, brown eyes and has a scar on the back of his neck.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts are asked to contact Gardai in Ballymun on 01 666 4400, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
A man in his 20s has been arrested in Drogheda for allegedly threatening to kill a man last year.

The alleged threat was made against a man in his 30s on July 19, 2018.
The highs and lows of growing old in Ireland are identified in a new report out today.

A Government survey on positive ageing finds satisfaction with life remains high among older people.

However, levels of medication are a worry, and levels of unmet 'end of life care' are running at 30%.

Minister of State for Older People Jim Daly said it is important we understand how we age so that we can support people to age well, and live independently where possible.

Today's report finds nine out of 10 older people are confident they have someone they can rely on with 88% taking part in social activities every week.

96% of people over 40 with an intellectual disability are involved in weekly social activities, but on the downside 85% are under-active.

58% of Irish Travellers over 40 have a chronic disease and almost a third report difficulty in dressing or bathing.

The Minister said today's report is an important platform for the voices of older people and he has urged all involved to do what they can to make ageing in Ireland a positive experience.
So there was not to be one last comeback, another dramatic late goal to keep Tottenham in the cup, which did not have their name written on it after all.

A Mo Salah penalty inside 90 seconds, and a strike from Divock Origi against the run of play in the dying minutes meant it was Jurgen Klopp who finally won his first trophy with an English side, not Mauricio Pochettino.

There was no disgrace for Spurs, only a sense of what might have been if they had played the opening 45 minutes they way they did after the break, when they outplayed Liverpool and forced Alisson into a string of fine saves.

The damage was already done though, a moment of madness from Moussa Sissoko as he handled a Sadio Mane chip inside 30 seconds giving Liverpool a penalty that Salah was never going to miss.

That gave Liverpool something to hold on to, and left Spurs playing catch-up from the start, something they failed to do. But it was not for the want of trying. Their best attacking efforts were simply too little, too late.

The final half-hour was one-way traffic as Pochettino threw caution to the winds and threw on Fernando Llorente and Lucas Moura, the hero of Amsterdam. But there was to be no hat-trick for the Brazilian this time, as his compatriot Alisson stopped everything Spurs sent his way.

And when Liverpool subsitute Divock Origi ended a rare Reds attack with a clinical finish in the 88th minute, it was all over for Spurs and the thousands of fans who had waited so long for their first appearance in the final of this competition, and had come from all parts of the world to support them.

Madrid was full of them, fans who had come from as far away as New Zealand, Singapore, Hong King and Canada to see if Spurs could upset the odds.

At the final whistle, Liverpool's fans roared in delight that they had made up for last year's failure in the final, but moments later, Tottenham's fans sang one last chorus of support for their team, many of whom were in tears.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp lifts the UEFA Champions League Trophy. Photo: Joe Giddens/PA.

They had started poorly and never got going in a turgid first-half in which both sides seemed to be suffering from the effects of a long season, the heat and humidity of Madrid, or maybe an element of nerves.

Pochettino had done his best to ensure Tottenham's players would not freeze in the final, taking them for unusual bonding sessions that involved walking on hot coals and holding arrow tips against each other's throats this week. His pre-match message was clear  play the match not the occasion.

But whatever the tone of the team talk, it was gone inside 60 seconds. Mane has been Liverpool's main man this season, and as soon as they worked the ball to him on the left, Spurs should have sensed danger.

Sissoko looked like he was directing traffic as he pointed his arms in the air, and when the ball hit him, he could have no excuses. The big Frenchman had been one of the stories of Tottenham's season with his powerful presence in midfield, but this was not his night. Injured, he was replaced by Eric Dier in the 74th minute.

But it could have been any number of Spurs players taken off if Pochettino had decided to make a half-time substitution, so poor were they in that costly opening 45 minutes.

The journey was incredible, the memories will live with us forever. It wasnt to be this time, but were only just getting started.



Thank you for your incredible support, we hope youre as proud as we are.



We are Tottenham, we will be back. pic.twitter.com/sIytWMPJLy  Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) June 1, 2019

Dele Alli failed to sparkle, Heung Min Son rarely had a sight of goal, and Christian Eriksen failed to dictate play the way he can. Harry Kane was playing his first game in seven weeks and looked below par, but the service to him left a lot to be desired too.

They were much better after the break, though, as Pochettino made them play at a faster pace, and run at Liverpool's back line.

Suddenly the nerves belonged to the red half of the Estadio Metropolitano, as Alisson was forced to repel shots from Son and Moura in quick succession, watch Dele Alli and Jan Vertonghen head over from close range, and then save from Eriksen and Kane.

Tottenham's supporters roared on their side, and given their history of coming from behind in this run to the final, it would not have been a shock to see Pochettino's men get something. But it was not to be, Origi hammered the final nail in their coffin, and it is Liverpool who are Champions of Europe once more.
Don't be fooled by this so-called Green Wave. And climate change deniers and delayers neednt busy themselves ridiculing those Vega-wearing, Tesla-driving vegans just yet.

Of the 949 seats in our local councils, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael still reign supreme; we gave them 279 and 255 seats respectively. It was Sinn Fein next, who we delivered 81 seats to and then Labour came in fourth, with 57 chairs at local council level.

And next, in fifth place, was the Green Party, who we gifted 49 seats to. A 5.6% representation for the Greens isnt exactly a wave, despite media headlines warning you to hide the Range Rover and batch-cook those beef burgers.

At European level, even though we are recounting in Ireland South, so far we only gave one of our possible 13 seats to the Green Party. Fine Gael got four and Fianna Fail got two. We get who we vote for, and just like people who fall off swings, voters, too, must take responsibility for their actions.

.@tedcruz if youre serious about a clean bill, then Im down.



Lets make a deal.



If we can agree on a bill with no partisan snuck-in clauses, no poison pills, etc - just a straight, clean ban on members of Congress becoming paid lobbyists - then Ill co-lead the bill with you. https://t.co/AZTbmdSexv  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2019

This week, amid wall-to-wall coverage of swing falls and green waves and pinks waves, new Green Ireland missed a trick. Legislation to ban the exploration of fossil fuels in Ireland was due to pass through the Houses of the Oireachtas in the next few weeks. However, on Tuesday it was discovered that the Climate Emergency Measures Bill, put forward by opposition TDs, was being put on ice. Why?

Sean Canney, minister of state for natural resources, told opposition TDs that a money message was needed before the bill could advance. A money message is a recommendation signed by the Taoiseach of the day, approving legislation that would cost the State money.

Basically, there could be financial implications to the implementation of such a bill, so we are holding our horses. There are now fears, from organisations such as Friends of the Earth, that this entire bill could be killed.

Now, that runs slightly contrary to the remarks from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last weekend.

The public have sent us a message which is that they want us to accelerate action on climate, he said.

Its going to require a lot of changes at individual level, community level and also at Government level in terms of policy, but the statement from the public is they are up for that and want us to do it. We are acting on climate but they want us to act faster. Weve got that message.

A week is a long time in politics, as they say, but long enough to go the full 180 on a position?

Asked about the stalling of the fossil fuel ban bill, Mr Varadkar played the sensible line. He said he wanted to take serious climate action that works but also sensible climate action.

It should be climate action that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, but not climate action that makes us poorer, costs jobs, or threatens our security, said Mr Varadkar.

I am sorry to say, but if the climate scientists at the United Nations know what theyre talking about, we have 11 years to take serious action before our planets entire sense of security is seriously and irrevocably threatened.

US presidential candidate Joe Biden ran into trouble when he played that sensible, moderate line in relation to climate action. He called for a middle ground policy when it came to saving the planet. His rhetoric was not well received. Political analyst Naomi Klein wrote Joe the riot act.

No Joe, there is no middle ground on climate breakdown  there is bold, transformative action or there is sinking ground, burning ground and churning ground, she said.

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, considered a radical States-side, but whod be middle of the road here, called Mr Bidens plan a dealbreaker.

Were not going to solve the climate crisis with this lack of leadership. Our kids lives are at stake, said Ms Ocasio-Cortez.

Moderate positions have always got in the way of change. And it is hard to know if its politicians seeking to keep their jobs that push for the moderate position, so as to appeal to the masses, or if its the masses that vote for and cling to this moderate position. I cant tell the cart from the horse in this case.

Martin Luther King called it out first, in a letter from Birmingham Jail dated 1963, that the moderate person is more devoted to order than justice.

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion, King wrote, that the Negros great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is  the white moderate, who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another mans freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a more convenient season.

In 11 years time, there will be no more time for a more convenient season when it comes to climate justice.

Dear leaders, the time for moderate action was 30, 40, and 50 years ago when research around climate change emerged, but which we, corporations, politicians, and voters chose to ignore.

This week another US presidential candidate, Marianne Williamson, was quite astute in her observations about who brings about change and how it is never the political establishment, but the people themselves.

The political establishment didnt wake up one day and decide to abolish slavery; the Abolitionist movement began when the people stepped in, said Ms Williamson.

The political establishment didnt wake up one day and decide to dismantle segregation; the Civil Rights movement began when the people stepped in.

The change will only happen when we ourselves have had enough  and the people step in.

Like all change, what we need is a movement led by an energised base to mobilise a moderate middle. Thats the only thing the political establishment has ever listened to.
They do things differently in France. Yesterday, in his closing speech to the Ian Bailey murder trial in the Cour dAssises in Paris, prosecutor Jean Pierre Bonthoux had a cut at the Irish Director of Public Prosecutions office.

In assessing a case against Bailey, the DPPs office did not look at the big picture and reviewed the Garda case on a segmented basis, M Bonthoux said. The French, in their inquisitorial system, do take the bigger picture into account.

The Irish common law system, which also operates in countries like the UK and US, isolates a crime and examines the facts associated with it. This is considered the best way to get as close as possible to finding out whether an individual is responsible for a particular crime.

For the French big picture read contamination in the Irish system and accordingly a heightened chance that an innocent person may be convicted. The failure of the DPP to prosecute Bailey was raised a number of times at this weeks trial. In each instance, it was with a sense of frustration.

Yet anybody who examined the DPP analysis of the evidence gathered against Bailey would have no problem understanding the decision. The DPPs position was laid out in a judgment by Adrian Hardiman in the Supreme Court in 2012, rejecting an application to extradite Bailey to France.

Mr Bailey has been very thoroughly investigated in Ireland in connection with the death of Madame du Plantier.

There was certainly, as will be seen, no lack of enthusiasm to prosecute him if the facts suggested that there was evidence against him.

He has been subjected to arrest and detention for the purpose of questioning The fruits of the investigation have been considered not once, but several times by the DPP who has concluded and reiterated that there is no evidence to warrant a prosecution against him.

The DPPs office is not infallible. Nor is the official who compiled the analysis in 2001. Some might make the case  as was made by many attending the trial this week  that a decision on guilt or innocence should have been put in front of a jury to let it decide.

Grave dangers would have attached to such a development. If a case is prosecuted just to satisfy police, political or public pressure, irrespective of the quality of the evidence, justice is likely to run and hide.

Lets say a banker was put on trial on flimsy evidence at the height of the economic crash. Would the jury have been contaminated by the prevailing public anger? Even within the constraints of the existing system, there have been miscarriages of justice.

The railroading of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four was directly related to public and political currents at the time. The case against Bailey, in terms of the alleged crime and context, is from a different planet to those wrongly convicted of bombings, but the principle remains the same.

As things stand, conviction rates for serious crime stand at over 90% so any argument that its too difficult to prosecute a suspect doesnt hold water. What was obvious in the trial in the Palais de Justice this week is that the standard of proof required in the French system has a much lower threshold.

Some might say thats no bad thing. Until perhaps, one finds oneself caught up in such a system and then all bets are off. The prosecutor M Bonthoux also questioned the decision of the Supreme Court to reject the European arrest warrant for Bailey.

The Irish Supreme Court thought the warrant was not valid in their law, the prosecutor told the trial.

We have different views on how to process the law.

He went on to point out to the judges at the murder trial that a guilty verdict could be the basis for a fresh mandate for extradition.

I want to see Ian Bailey making a defence and to condemn him face to face, M Bonthoux said.

That raises another disturbing aspect to this weeks trial. Following the guilty verdict there will inevitably be, once more, an attempt to extradite Bailey. This time the application will have the ballast of a murder conviction.

If Bailey were to be extradited he would then be subjected to another murder trial so he could present a defence. This second murder trial would be decided by three judges  as per this weeks trial  but also a jury of six.

What if that trial were to find Bailey not guilty? Would he then be freed or would he have the verdict in absentia hanging over him? In terms of due process its not only confusing but troubling. One might posit the theory that this weeks conviction was merely a tool to use in the next attempt to extradite him.

There was a positive aspect to the trial in the Cour dAssises. The victims family were front and centre of the whole process with full representation and effectively taking the role of a parallel prosecutor. Sophie Toscan du Plantiers spirit was present in the room as her life was unspooled in some detail and her closest relatives all made statements to the court.

The Irish process does not allow for that kind of direct legal representation for victims or bereaved families, and with good reason. However, the victim and their bereaved family have practically no voice whatsoever. More needs to be done to find a way to recognise their plight.
Bonjour. This column comes to you from Paris, France, as the Americans might say, in case you mix it up with Paris, Texas or any other Paris. The weather is fair to middling. Sunny spells and scattered showers were not invented by the Irish met office.

As you may have seen on other pages this morning, I was covering the Ian Bailey murder trial in Paris. The only observation to make about the case on this page is that French judges are mad for work. On Monday last, the trial opened at 2.30pm and the court sat until 10.30pm.

On Tuesday, it kicked off at the normal sitting time of 9.30am and motored all the way to 8pm. By Wednesday everybody was sagging and judge Frederique Aline had mercy and rose just before 6pm. It was exhausting, and the judge herself was doing most of the talking throughout the day. I mentioned to a French journalist that youd have a job getting a judge in Ireland to sit past 4pm.

She smiled and replied: Thats why we all want to move there.

The French public service has a reputation for being obstinate and heading for the pickets at the drop of a hat. But unless they were in a fierce hurry to get this case out of the way, the approach to the Bailey trial demonstrated that courts can function on more than four or five hours sitting a day.

They have their own way of doing things in Paris, France. One morning during the week, out for a crack-of-the-dawn-walk down by the Seine to prepare for a long days scribbling, I passed a jogger. He was togged out in luminous running gear apart from a red woollen scarf he wore around his neck.

The scarf is something of a status symbol in these parts. But this chap couldnt go for a morning run sans the scarf in case hed be mistaken for a commoner. Class snobbery is a feature of Irish life as it is in most societies. But, in that respect, the French and particularly Parisians, are out on their own.

As in Ireland this week, they were rummaging through the European election results in France. Marine le Pens new National Rally party won one more seat than Emmanuel Macrons centrist outfit. While this showing for a right-wing immigrant-baiting entity might be alarming back home, they are relatively relaxed about it here. Some commentators had expected the National Rally to sweep the boards. Le skids have been put on Le Pen.

Still, she can rally to her standard around a third of the vote on a good day in France, which is not something to be sniffed at.

Back home, the only thing anyway approaching a right-wing immigrant-baiting entity in the European elections was the former dragon and Presidential contender, Peter Casey. To be fair to him there is nothing to suggest he is personally anyway ill-disposed towards immigrants or minorities. He just stumbled on a gap in the market.

What was highly entertaining was to listen to his pitch in the election debates. A radio presenter or moderator might ask the candidates about the size of the national beef herd or climate change or the prospect of a European army. And whenever it was Peters turn, irrespective of the topic, it appeared as if he had a few stock answers which he was programmed to repeat.

If asked would he be in favour of reducing the herd, he might reply: Freeloader. When the topic of a European army came up, he could just say open borders. And as for climate change, there was only one answer to that: native Irish.

While he has a nose for a gap in the market, policy detail didnt appear to be a strong point, or even a concern at all, with Peter. He did garner around 70,000 votes and declared that he will contest the next general election. Although at one point he left open the possibility that he might run to be the first elected mayor of Limerick. Perhaps he could take his caravan on the road, move to France and hook up with Marine. She could do with a little softening of her image and Peter has a lovely smile.

France also turned out for the Greens in the election. As in Ireland, the party is surfing the heightened concern over climate change. Pre-election polls put them at around 8% of the vote but they pulled in 13.5%.

This surge for the Green Party was not replicated in Southern Europe. In Italy, Spain and Greece, the Greens only managed around 2-3%. What this will mean in terms of the EU taking on a deeper shade of green remains to be seen.

Also as in Ireland, other left-wing parties in France  particularly the Socialists  suffered losses. The result has been that the Socialists have already begun to woo the Greens to form a loose alliance.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, this week, in the aftermath of the elections, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, made a major announcement. In the name of curbing pollution, she revealed that she intends to reduce the speed limit of Pariss ringroad to 50km/h.

The ringroad is known as Le Periph. Can you imagine the reaction if plans were announced to reduce the speed limit on the M50 in Dublin or the N25 to Cork to 50km/h?

Yet in the grand scheme of saving the planet this kind of thing is among the more benign measures that might be required. Everybody now likes to feel green. Living green is going to involve disruption and it will be interesting to observe the reaction if the body politic tries to walk the walk.

Madame Hidalgo got a taste of that on Wednesday when negative reaction to her proposal came fast and hard. She said shed modify things by proposing that the limit could apply to one lane and she mentioned measures to free up a lane for car-sharing.

One thing that has not yet been tried at home is car-sharing. The concept has been around in some countries for more than 30 years. Allow vehicles with more than one occupant to use the bus lanes. As an incentive, it could certainly free up traffic and cut down on volume and emissions. Every little helps, even when it hurts a little.

The only logical reason why car sharing hasnt kicked in at home is that it would be too much bother to police it and would therefore quickly end up in disrepute. Its either that or begin contemplating the lowering of speed limits on major motorways around the country. One way or the other, change is on the way and we better get used to it. Au revoir for now as they say in Paris, France.
I regret that my attempts to this end created confusion outside the office, she said. The publics trust is paramount to our work. That is why today I am releasing material above and beyond what is required.  I am sorry that despite the best intentions, our efforts were less than what was required of the moment.
Saturday, June 1st, 2019 (7:57 am) - Score 2,850

The troubled Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) project has announced that it is looking for ISPs to help support the launch of a new funding scheme, which is due to launch later in 2019 and will help rural communities to get a faster broadband network built. Meanwhile Gigaclear has been given a deadline to get their FTTP plan sorted.

The Community Challenge Fund has already been piloted in Harford and Lower Combe in Devon with Openreach and Airband, while a third pilot with Openreach is currently being built in Yatton (North Somerset) and should complete sometime this summer.

Overall CDS provided 70,000 of public funding to help these areas rollout a Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network and some 138 premises now have access. We assume other funding was also harnessed as 70k alone seems rather cheap for that number of premises.

The CDS team intend to officially launch the new scheme later this year and this should help them to tackle those remaining communities in the final 5% of premises that may not benefit from their existing contracts with Openreach, Airband and Gigaclear.

Councillor Rufus Gilbert, Devon County Council, said: The pilots have proved really effective at enabling local people in communities with different needs to co-produce a great broadband solution that works best for them with CDS support. Each community has had different characteristics and challenges, ranging from deeply rural areas and protected landscapes to urban fringes. We want to apply the good practice learned from these pilots to help other communities co-produce their own solutions. This will add a new dimension to complement our existing broadband programme and support the Governments full fibre policy.

Shaun Dale, Senior Project Manager for BT, said: Its been a journey but weve extended fibre into a place where the main programme wasnt going to go and Harford is probably one of the more remote areas on the edge of Dartmoor. Bringing fibre here has helped the immediate community go from zero broadband to Gigabit speeds if thats what they wish. Its a process that works really well and it delivers broadband to places that otherwise would be waiting a long time to get very, very good speeds.

The public take up of broadband services as a result of CDS related deployments is nearly 55%, in line with the UK average, and the 6m of gainshare from this (i.e. public investment returned by BT for reinvestment to further boost coverage) is already set to help Openreach (BT) boost superfast broadband to a further 2,000 premises in the hardest to reach areas (further reinvestment sums are expected up until 2024).

Meanwhile we also got an update on Airbands wireless and fibre network rollout in the region, which has now expanded its coverage to reach 7,000 rural premises. By June 2020 its expected that around 16,000 properties across mid, north and west Devon will be able to get superfast broadband as part of the CDS programme. Airband is also providing a network to serve around a further 5,000 hard to reach properties in the Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks.

Finally, CDS issued a much needed update on the controversial Gigaclear contracts (see here and here for details if you need a recap), which in some CDS areas is now running 2 years behind schedule. The ISP is currently still conducting the deployment at their own risk (no public funding) and in the meantime CDS have continued to keep Gigaclear on notice of default until they receive a satisfactory plan.

Interestingly the latest update starts by copy and pasting some now all too familiar statements but this time it ends by setting a clear deadline. Residents and businesses have been let down as a result of these delays and CDS has made it clear to Gigaclear that this uncertainty cannot continue indefinitely. CDS has allowed the company additional time to evaluate and cost alternative methods of network construction. The company is on notice of default pending receipt of a revised plan by the end of July that is acceptable both to CDS and the Government. CDS will not shrink from taking further tough action if that is deemed necessary.

The Government has already given provisional approval for CDS to extend 18.7m of related public funding for Gigaclear until March 2023, although this will only become official once HM Treasury has finalised an agreement with DCMS as part of the Spending Review process. However its conceivable that the review could still be delayed by Brexit and the current leadership contest for PM. CDS may also choose to scrap Gigaclears contract but we still view that as being unlikely.
Saturday, June 1st, 2019 (7:13 am) - Score 1,968

Scotland-based business ISP Commsworld, which this year aims to light up over 2,000 km+ of fibre optic cable in a figure of eight around the UK (one of the largest privately funded long distance Optical Core Networks in the country), has moved down south and opened a new office in London ahead of its expansion.

At present Commsworlds network, which includes 10,000km of metro dark fibre and 2000km+ of long distance fibre, passes through 25 UK towns and cities via 82 Points of Presence (PoPs), 52 exchanges, 26 data centres and they have 130Gbps of peering and transit capacity (1.6Tbps of core optical capacity and 25Tbps of on-net edge port capacity).

The latest move comes shortly after the broadband provider, which has also hooked-up with Cityfibre to harness their existing Dark Fibre network in Edinburgh and Glasgow, reported a 41% increase in annual revenues to break the 20 million mark.

Ricky Nicol, CEO of Commsworld, said: Having a base in London is fantastic for us and a major step forward in our bid to cement ourselves as a truly UK-wide organisation. It means we can meet with our valued customers and partners more easily and efficiently, without the early morning flights or having to schedule many meetings into one day. Its an incredibly exciting time for our business and this move represents the next step on our journey. Weve invested millions to ensure our network is market-leading and continually growing and being able to sell and share this from a new base in London is very powerful.

The provider will now use their new London base to encourage other ISPs to utilise their ultra-fast carrier network.
Matthews took the broken statue home and put it back together. But the cracks and fractured hands remain. He believes the defects of the statue, which he calls Broken Mary, are symbolic of a flawed people, a people in constant need of healing.
Alexandria, Ind. (May 31, 2019) Multi-Grammy Award winning recording artist, Bill Gaither , along with Premier Productions, will present the We Have This Moment Tour to 23 cities during the Fall of 2019, as he brings his multi-award winning group, The Gaither Vocal Band to 16 states during September, October and November (complete Tour dates listed below).



For nearly half a century, Gaither, a multiple Grammy and Dove award winner, has been a musical trailblazer. His reputation as a performer, songwriter and mentor for newly-discovered artists is known world-wide. His beloved series of Homecoming CDs and DVDs continues to top the sales charts and attract an ever-increasing audience. There are few things in this world I enjoy more than leading an audience through an evening that leaves them inspired, encouraged, hopeful - perhaps introducing them to songs or ideas they can hold onto when life gets tough, Gaither shares. It is always my goal that a Gaither concert lasts much longer than one evening, but that it stays with folks long after they walk out the door of the concert venue.



Taking the stage with Gaither and the Gaither Vocal Band, featuring Wes Hampton, Adam Crabb, Todd Suttles and Reggie Smith, will be popular female vocalist, Charlotte Ritchie and talented male vocalist, Gene McDonald, as well as Gaithers four-piece musical entourage, comprised of Kevin Williams, Matthew Holt, Greg Ritchie and Kevin Moore.



The 2019 Fall Tour affords Gaither the opportunity to introduce new music to concert attendees with the release of the brand new Gaither Vocal Band recording. I cant remember a project that I am more proud of artistically, psychologically or spiritually than I am about this group of songs, Gaither states. This present Vocal Band has three years under our belts. We have worked hard to polish a sound that I think is absolutely one of the best sounds.



Tickets for the 2019 Fall We Have This Moment Gaither Tour go on sale June 10, 2019. To purchase tickets or obtain additional details visit www.gaither.com

September

5  Cincinnati, OH

6  McMurray, PA

7  Fort Wayne, IN

19  Bourbonnais, IL

20  Memphis, TN

21  Bentonville, AR

26  Columbus, OH

27  Flint, MI

28  South Bend, IN



October

10  Buffalo, NY

11  Williamsport, MD

12  Warren, OH

23  Boise, ID

24  Spokane, WA

25  Happy Valley, OR

26  Seattle, WA



November

7  Aiken, SC

8  Kingsport, TN

9  New Bern, NC

14  Gainesville, GA

15  Montgomery, AL

16  Knoxville, TN

22  Murfreesboro, TN

About Premier Productions:

Pollstar Magazine ranks Premier Productions as the largest producer of live Christian events both nationally and internationally. Over 18 million people have attended a Premier event in over 4,000 concerts worldwide. Premier promotes tours for Hillsong UNITED, Hillsong Worship, Young & Free, Kari Jobe, Jesus Culture, Lauren Daigle, Gaither Homecoming, Sadie Robertson, The Newsboys, comedian John Crist, Rend Collective, as well as their annual Winter Jam Tour Spectacular and OUTCRY Tours. Premier Festivals promotes 10 of the largest Christian Festivals in the U.S., and over 80,000 Passengers have sailed with them through their Cruise Company.

Get Connected With Premier Productions:

https://www.premierproductions.com

https://twitter.com/premproductions

https://www.instagram.com/premierproductions/

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LOS ANGELES (May 31, 2019)  GRAMMY nominated Hillsong Young & Free announces the release of their brand new single Every Little Thing featuring Christian hip-hop artist Andy Mineo. Originally released on Young & Frees III studio album, and re-presented on their live III (Live at Hillsong Conference) project, the latest rendition of the hit single is available today with accompanying video. You can listen to and watch the song here.

A dynamic and upbeat track that highlights the groups signature electronic pop sound, Every Little Thing also delivers a simple yet poignant message. This song sets our eyes on the Hope we have in Jesus for our future, and we couldnt be happier with how its turned out, says Young & Frees Laura Toggs.

Andy Mineo is one of the most talented voices in Christian hip-hop and hes taken this song to another level, adds Young & Frees Aodhan King. It feels even better than what we imagined.

In support of their new music, the Australian-based youth worship movement will return to the United States this fall for their highly anticipated Hillsong Young & Free III Tour with special guests We Are Messengers. Tickets will be available through pre-sale exclusives beginning June 4, followed by a public on-sale date of June 7, and can be purchased at hillsong.com/youngandfree .

Weve seen incredible things touring our latest album around the world, says King. Prayers answered, radical revival, and the most incredible celebrations of an incredible God. But, we genuinely believe that God is not finished yet - and theres still so much more that He wants to do. Were believing that our tour across the USA will be a party like no other and a moment in time that we can look back at and sayGod, thank you.

Hillsong Young & Free continues to redefine Christian music to the masses with their projects and sold out shows across the globe. With over 386 million YouTube channel views, a combined social following of 3 million plus, over 500 million global career streams and 700,000 global unit career consumption, the group has earned five No. 1 career singles and eight Top 5 singles at Hot AC radio. Their debut album We Are Young & Free landed in the Top 25 on Billboard 200 while Youth Revival garnered the group its first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (2017).

2019 Hillsong Young & Free III U.S. Fall Tour:

September 10  Green Bay, WI

September 12  Kansas City, MO

September 13  Peoria, IL

September 14  Pittsburgh, PA

September 16  Baltimore, MD

September 17  Reading, PA

September 19  Knoxville, TN

September 20  Virginia Beach, VA

September 23  Cincinnati, OH

September 24  St. Louis, MO

September 26  Longview, TX

September 27  Corpus Christi, TX

September 28  College Station, TX

About Hillsong Young & Free:

GRAMMY nominated Hillsong Young & Free is a youth movement born out of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. In this 30-year story, they have seen generations of people serving, leading and pioneering movements. Young & Free is comprised of a collective of young people who come together to make music for youth and young adults everywhere. Their first album We Are Young & Free (2013) and EP, This Is Living (2015), garnered a No. 1 spot on Billboard Top Christian /Gospel Albums Chart. Their Youth Revival (2016) album spawned multiple No. 1s, landed in the Top 10 on Billboards Digital Albums Chart, and garnered the band its first GRAMMY nomination. Breakout singles P E A C E and Love Wont Let Me Down received positioning on Spotifys New Music Friday playlist reaching over 2.4M followers and Love Wont Let Me Down hit #1 at Hot A/C. With millions of followers engaging in the social conversation and support from the most prominent music outlets around the world, Young & Free has scored five No. 1 radio singles and eight Top 5 singles at Hot AC radio. Their latest studio album III, has already amassed over 75 million streams and 75,000+ units in global consumption.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/hillsongyoungandfree

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HillsongYoungAndFree/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/youngandfree

Website: https://hillsong.com/youngandfree/

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Landmark Development is proposing a 34-acre development over train tracks between McCormick Place and the Field Museum. Under Landmarks proposal, the company and investors would cover the upfront costs of building the transit center, and the developer and the state would together pay off the remaining costs over 20 years using new tax revenue, leasing income and other funds. The state then would assume ownership of the center, which would bring together CTA, Metra and Amtrak trains, and collect all the revenue generated.
Were really thrilled that we were able to get the bill out of the House, and I really have to give credit to Rep. (Kathleen) Willis, Sances said of the bills House sponsor. We ran out of time in the Senate.  So moving forward well just be talking with both chambers and well see what we can do to get enough votes to pass it in the Senate.
Burkhead United Methodist Church , 5250 Silas Creek Parkway, will have its Music on the Hill music series at 6 p.m. June 9 in the fellowship hall. Sweet Dreams from Greensboro will be performing. Admission is free. Simple refreshments will be for sale or you may bring your own.

Union Cross Moravian Church, 4295 High Point Road, Winston-Salem, will have a Community Yard Sale from 8 a.m. to noon today. A 12 x 12 space is available for $20, call or text 336-817-2048 to reserve a space. You may also donate unwanted items and the church will sell them for you. All items not sold will be donated to the Union Cross Thrift Store or the Rescue Mission. Breakfast will be available. All proceeds will benefit the church building fund. There will also be a car wash and document shredding in the church parking lot. The car wash is by donation and the shredding is $5 per box. For more information, call the church office at 336-769-2411.
Thiel said it is usual for businesses downtown to come and go.

The question is, are we seeing more than usual, and the answer to that is that we are seeing more than usual, Thiel said. Thankfully, the road will be open sooner than expected. We are doing our best to do marketing and advertising on behalf of the businesses.

Hamlin said she met with only frustration when she looked for ways to offset the impact on her business. When she complained that it was too hard for people to make their way to her business, it took them three months to put up a sign that said Liberty Street is open, Hamlin said.

By that time, the nail is in the coffin, she said. Similarly, Hamlin said, her appeal for the ability to put a sign on Research Parkway got no response. City officials told her they have promoted bus use as a way for people to get around the closure, she said, but shes never seen a bus go by her shop.

Ed McNeal, the the citys director of marketing and communication, said he believes the city has done a respectable job of educating the public on how to get around the project. He said that hes saddened that Hamlins business is closing, but doesnt think the city bears the blame.
Last year, organizers added beer and live music to the event, rebranding it as the Spirits of Summer festival.

The atmosphere is wonderful. Weve worked out our strategy, starting with the beers and working our way to the wines to avoid the crowds, said Winston-Salem resident Kofi Goolsby, who has attended the festival the past three years. The last two years have had 90-degree days, so today is just perfect.

In its 14th year, the afternoon festival  on Fourth Street between Marshall and Spring streets  attracted an estimated 5,000 people who perused the different booths amid the temperate 80-degree temperature with wine glasses in hand.

The festival included food trucks, wine and beer tastings and alcoholic beverages for purchase, including the ever-popular wine slushies.

The crowds make it a lot of fun. We get to meet people from here to Tennessee, said Scott Young, event coordinator for Weathervane Winery, which has participated in the festival every year. Its been busy, but fun.

Throughout the six-hour event, cooking demonstrations were held at one of the festival tents, attracting the attention of many of the thousands of festival-goers.
NcNaull, who is vice chair for patient safety & quality improvement, said the hospital for years has refined its practices, always asking, 'How can we care for these very complex kids?'" she said.

McNaull said she could not respond to specific concerns from doctors in the recordings the Times obtained because she did not know the context.

"We had a lack of trust among our team members," she said. "We feel strongly that UNC responded in the best way. We worked hard to rebuild our team."

The New York Times reported that the hospital does not make public its mortality data for congenital heart surgeries on a Society of Thoracic Surgeons website. About 74 percent of hospitals that perform those surgeries make their statistics public.

UNC recently posted some information on patient deaths on its own website. The data is not adjusted to account for various patient risk factors, as is the STS reported data.

UNC posted its information in raw numbers, but does not include percentages or the expected mortality rate, making it difficult to know how Children's Hospital compares to others.

Schiller said the UNC data is easier for patients to find and interpret.
Wall said he created the stamps with a 3-D printer and laser cutters. He used the image of the young Harriet Tubman, which was jointly acquired in 2017 by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture.

It was sort of by coincidence that I began designing this stamp shortly after that photo of her was discovered, Wall said. I think its a really beautiful image and is significant in that it is the earliest known photograph of her. It also happened that her face lined up very nicely with Andrew Jacksons features when superimposed on the bill, so I decided to go with that rather than use any of the older portraits of her that Id seen in other proposed designs.

Initially, Wall funded about 100 of the stamps on his own. In 2018, he applied for and received a grant from the Awesome Foundation, which defines itself online as a global community advancing the interest of awesome in the universe, $1,000 at a time.

Last October, Wall began selling the stamps on ETSY. Since then, hes sold more than 600.
From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: My son returned from a military tour in Afghanistan and severely struggles with PTSD. He served our country fighting one battle only to return and fight a greater battle that he is not winning. It is so discouraging to watch his struggles that often lead to raging fits and other anxiety symptoms. Is there any hope for him to overcome this terrible battle? -- W.M.

A: There is always hope. When the world tells us to "Give up," hope whispers. Perhaps the greatest psychological, physical and spiritual need all people have is the need for hope that builds our faith and points us beyond our problems.

Louis Zamperini, a former American Olympic distance runner and WWII POW lived to tell about how he survived 20 months in a Japanese prison camp, only to return home and find himself depressed because of his nightmares and his dependency on alcohol. His story is worth listening to in the documentary "Captured by Grace." This message will shed light on the struggles and ultimate victory that so many military personnel experience.

The Bible says, "Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad" (Proverbs 12:25). This is exactly what turned Louis around: God's Good News. Nothing is more healing than reading God's Word and believing it to the point of submitting completely to its truth. The Bible says, "(God's) word is my source of hope" (Psalm 119:114, NLT). No situation is beyond God's control.

There are many who have made great sacrifices that have benefitted the American people and we must faithfully lift them up to the Lord, praying for their comfort in sorrow, light in darkness, peace in turmoil, rest in weariness and healing in sickness and disease. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ gives all of this to us in great measure.

(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)

(c)2019 BILLY GRAHAM LITERARY TRUST DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
Here are short profiles of key military figures involved in the D-Day landings:

 General Dwight Eisenhower 

As Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, future US president Ike Eisenhower was in charge of overall preparations for Operation Overlord, the Allied plan to open a western front against Adolf Hitlers Nazi forces that was launched with the D-Day landings.

Eisenhower gave the order for the massive D-Day assault in Normandy and oversaw the successful completion of the entire operation, with Paris liberated by late August.

The free men of the world are marching together to victory, he said in a short address to hundreds of thousands of troops on the eve of D-Day, June 6, 1944. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

Eisenhower monitored the landings alongside British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at a fortified bunker at a Royal Air Force base outside London.

After the war he became NATOs first Supreme Commander in Europe before winning the 1952 and 1956 US presidential elections.

 US General Omar Bradley 

The US Army field commander led the US troops who landed on Normandys Utah and Omaha beaches, and planned the subsequent break-out that finally opened the path to Paris.

As head of the 12th Army Group, Bradley then advanced into Germany and met up with Russian forces in mid-April 1945. His troops also liberated the Austrian concentration camp at Mauthausen.

Nicknamed the GIs General by reporters because of his concern for the soldiers, Bradley in 1949 became the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the most-senior military officer in the United States.

 Winston Churchill 

Churchill became Britains political leader in 1940 as the Nazis were launching attacks on The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and London.

His bulldog spirit was epitomised by a speech days after taking office in which he promised nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat and victory at all costs.

In 1943 he approved, along with US President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the Allied landings in Normandy. On D-Day he announced the invasion to parliament at noon.

Prone to deep depressions but also reputed for his determination and humour, Churchill loved Havana cigars and whisky.

He was voted out of office at the end of the war but returned as prime minister from 1951 to 1955.

 Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery 

The commander of Allied ground troops, Britains Monty was a hero to his men because of his victory at El Alamein, northern Egypt, where his Eighth Army routed German forces on November 2, 1942.

His experience enabled him to play a key role in the planning of D-Day and he was successful in arguing for much a bigger landing deployment than had initially been envisaged.

His strategy of massive force proved successful in the face of tougher-than-expected German resistance.

 Charles de Gaulle 

Frances exiled leader was largely sidelined from preparations for the Normandy landings and the snub irked him for years.

From London, De Gaulle led the Free French Forces and a government in exile while France was being run by the pro-German Vichy regime.

He met Churchill and Eisenhower prior to the landings but refused a provisional administration of France by the Allies.

De Gaulle returned to France more than a week after the invasion was launched. I had been ready for this voyage for several days. But the Allies were in no hurry to facilitate it, he would write later.

He re-established national sovereignty after Paris was liberated.

De Gaulle became president from 1959 to 1969, and snubbed ceremonies that marked the landings, notably the 20th anniversary in 1964.

 Field Marshal Erwin Rommel 

Dubbed the Desert Fox for tactical victories in North Africa, Germanys greatest general was in charge of resisting the Allied invasion but had by that time already concluded Germany was destined for defeat.

On D-Day itself Rommel was on leave in Germany for his wifes birthday. He sped back to France and was seriously wounded when a British plane strafed his car on July 17.

As a result, he did not participate directly in an attempt on Hitlers life that was made three days later and about which he had been contacted by officers involved in the plot.

Gestapo investigators later discovered the link but Hitler knew he could not execute the popular officer and instead Rommel was ordered to commit suicide. He did so on October 14 and was buried following a national funeral.

 Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt 

The German commander in chief in western Europe was one of Hitlers ablest leaders and stood out for opposing the dictators disastrous strategy of invading the Soviet Union in 1941.

Dismissed, von Rundstedt returned to duty in July 1942 and fortified France against the expected Allied invasion.

Unable to repel the D-Day assault, he was replaced but returned to direct the Ardennes offensive that held up the Allies for several months.

He was captured by US troops in May 1945 and charged with war crimes. Rundstedt was disdainful of Nazism and Hitler but refused to participate in plots against the Nazi leader.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -- For the third year in a row, Klamath County's Henley High School has the highest graduation rate in the state.

Last year, only one student didn't graduate from Henley and the year before that their graduation rate was 100%. NewsWatch12 spoke with staff and students to find out how they're keeping their graduation rate so high.

Sophia Gomez, a senior at Henley, said, "I think Henley is more than just a school with used books and ripped binders and gum under the desk. It's home and I think it's more our family."

Gomez isn't the only one who feels that way.

Cate Hepper, a Henley senior, said, "It's a very positive atmosphere which I think is created by our teachers."

NewsWatch12 spoke with several seniors graduating on June 9th, trying to find out what the secret is: how has Henley High kept the highest graduation rate in the state for the last three years.

"We shoot for 100%," Henley's Principal Jack Lee said.

Both the Principal and Vice Principal revealed what they think the secret is.

Andrea Armantrout, the Vice Principal, told NewsWatch12, "I will tell you it is 100% our staff and the connections our staff makes with the kids."

"And not just a name in their classroom, they make actual connections like 'Hey how's it going at home?'" Principal Lee said.

Students agree. When asked what their favorite part about Henley High is, they all agreed on one thing:

"The student teacher connection. Some of my biggest role models have been teachers from the school," Jubal Rasmussen, a Henley senior, said.

Staff say together they all focus on pushing students to their next step after high school and getting that diploma is step one.

Macy Hullman, a Henley senior, said she's gone to Henley since kindergarten. Hullman said thanks to her teachers over the years she feels more than ready for life after high school.

"They stay after late to help us and prepare us for college," Hullman said. "I definitely feel like I'm ready."

138 students will graduate from Henley High on June 9th giving them about a 96.5% graduation rate for 2019.
PORTLAND, Ore. 

UPDATE: At a somber press conference on Monday, Desiree Young announced that she will be releasing a book about the search for her missing son, Kyron Horman. Young spoke at the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Station #72 near Portland.

Young said that she had been working with bestselling author Rebecca Morris to produce the book, and had anguished over the decision to give her account.

All proceeds from the book will go toward a missing childrens' nonprofit organization of Young's choice, she said. The book is to be called Love You Forever, the Search for Kyron Horman.

Young said that she would also be launching a website for updates on the case. She said that there had been recent searches by law enforcement for Kyron, and they had narrowed in on an area of "less than 100 acres."

If you have any information on where Kyron Horman may be, please contact the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office tip line at (503) 261-2847.

This is a developing story, and NewsWatch 12 will be updating this article with more details as they emerge.

(Updated 6/4/19 at 10:30 a.m.)

INITIAL REPORT: The mother of missing child Kyron Horman says that she will hold a special press conference and community event on Tuesday, June 4.

"I welcome media, Kyrons supporters and the community that have dedicated so much time and support to Kyron, sharing his story this past nine years," said Desiree Young, Kyron's mother. "I will be announcing something exciting that we are doing to bring more awareness to Kyrons story and keep up the search for him."

Kyron Horman was last seen at Skyline Elementary School in Portland on June 4, 2010. Police say he was seen attending his school's science fair, but has not been seen or heard from since. He was 7-years-old when he disappeared.

Kyron's disappearance was an explosive story in the media at the time of his disappearance, and has sustained ever since  due in large part to Young's continued efforts.

"I will be hosting a press conference where I will make an important announcement, after which I will take time to answer questions and provide updates on the case and continued search. I welcome anyone who would like to meet me and share your own Kyron stories about how you have come to know my son and how you continue to help us search for him," Young said.

Young has lived in Medford and has never given up on finding more information that could lead to her son.
LINCOLN  Nebraska feedlots with capacities of 1,000 or more head contained 2.56 million cattle on feed on May 1, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The inventory was down 4 percent from last year.

April placements of 435,000 head were up 4 percent from 2018, while fed cattle marketings of 440,000 head were up 2 percent.
The first step for any oil or gas development is securing mineral leases from landowners.

Patton said Thoroughbred has contracted with other Kansas-based land companies  Torpco and J. Fred Hambright and Associates  to seek leases in Harlan and Franklin counties.

Because of the initial economic risk, Patton said, payments were $1 per acre per year during the first five years for leases that started in 2009 and included options for extensions up to another five years. Payments increased to $10 per acre over two to three years for sites where Thoroughbred officials decided to use the extension options.

Patton said that for many projects, the area of interest for which extensions are used is significantly smaller than the original leased area because of what was learned during the first five years.

The intention, we were told at that time, was to do some more seismic tests, Woollen said about discussions for mineral leases on his property.

Thoroughbred contracts with Paragone Geophysical Services of Wichita for those surveys.
LINCOLN  Nebraska lawmakers headed home for good Friday after passing a few last bills, overriding a gubernatorial veto and receiving thanks from the governor.

The 2019 session was marked by relatively easy passage of a $9.3 billion state budget but major disappointments over property taxes and business incentives.

The budget included a 23% increase in the state's property tax credit fund, which boosted the total to $275 million a year. The credits offset a portion of each property owner's tax bill.

Gov. Pete Ricketts touted the record amount in the fund, but many rural lawmakers had argued for bigger reductions in property taxes. As in past years, they came up empty in their search for a solution that could win majority support.

The governor fought two major proposals that would have increased sales and other taxes and used the revenue to cut property taxes. They also faced opposition from groups that would have been affected by the increases.

In frustration, the rural senators joined with some progressives to sink a new business tax incentive program pushed by state business groups. Nebraska's current incentive program expires at the end of next year.
Alle's bedroom was scrubbed and bleached before she came home. They installed air purifiers and put up signs saying they weren't accepting visitors. It was key that Alle stayed healthy before a transplant.

Alle didn't have a match in her family, so she was put on transplant list. In early February, the family learned about a possible match.

Oswald, 31, signed up to be a donor about eight years ago at a booth in college. It was a simple process. He filled out some papers, submitted a cheek swab and went on his way.

In December 2017, he got the call saying he and a handful of other donors were possible matches.

After preliminary tests, Oswald learned he was the best match. At the time, he had a 1-year-old daughter and his wife was pregnant with a second. Would side affects from the procedure hang him up? Would he still be able to play with his little girl?

Then he learned that the donation was for a baby.

"I couldn't imagine being in their shoes, going through these struggles and somebody not helping. To be able to give that gift, as a dad, it was second to none," Oswald said.
The Nebraska Press Women group imagined a day as bright as a crocus when it held its spring conference April 27 in Broken Bow. The agenda included a trip to a wind farm, but Mother Nature didnt get the memo.

Despite the wind, it was an unforgettable afternoon, not only being sequestered inside a turbine, but being immersed in the prairie, too.

On that bitter, grumbling afternoon, we headed north from town to a sprawling ranch owned by Matthew Haumont. Wind turbines were splayed across his prairie for miles, their white blades turning in that wind like white kayak oars.

As we got out of our cars, we gripped our windbreakers with icy fingers, fearing that the ax-sharp wind might fling us away like stray tumbleweeds. We tightened our daisy-yellow hard hats and slipped on clunky safety goggles.

Then Haumont and Craig Sheridan, an on-site technician for Broken Bow area wind projects owned by Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, led us into the guts of a turbine. Sheridan led us up the steps of a tiny substation underneath those Goliath-sized blades  it was turned off for safety  and unlocked the door. We crowded inside, all 18 of us, but Sheridan left the door open, so we had to scrunch into the interior corners to escape the wind.
Grazing summer annual grasses is a great way to add flexibility to an operation and your grazing or haying objectives will help determine what types to plant.

There are six different types of major summer annual forage grasses: sudangrass, sorghum-sudan hybrids, forage sorghum (often called cane), foxtail millet, pearl millet and teff. Each has strengths, weaknesses and unique growth characteristics.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Forage Specialist Bruce Anderson suggests making the choice based primarily on how the forage will be used.

For pasture, use sudangrass or pearl millet. Both are leafy, regrow rapidly and have less danger from prussic acid poisoning than other annual grasses.

For hay or green chop, select sorghum-sudan hybrids or pearl millet because they yield well and have good feed value when cut two or three times.

For haying, especially in sandy soils, foxtail millet may be a better choice. It dries fast, doesnt regrow after cutting and handles dry soils well.

Cane hay is grown in many areas and produces high tonnage, but its lower in feed value and dries more slowly after cutting than the hybrids or millets.
Visitors to this years Kenosha County Dairy Breakfast will see a high-tech operation aimed at being sustainable in the modern farming era.

Mighty Grand Dairy was established in 1997 by Dave and Myron Daniels and Gene Weis. The name of the farm borrows an initial from each of their names.

Each of us was faced with either getting bigger, or getting out, Myron said. You cant sustain a farm on 40, 50 or even 70 cows. We decided to pool labor and resources and do the job more efficiently.

Since that time, Gene has retired. Myrons son Chad Daniels, 38, Nick Abel, 27, have joined the operation.

The arrangement has allowed each member of the partnership to specialize in one area. Dave takes care of finances; Chad is in charge of field operations and maintenance. Myrons specialty lies with the young stock, and Nick manages the herd work and hoof trimming.

The family also grows 600 acres of corn and 300 acres of hay to feed the herd.

Those who tour the farm during the Dairy Breakfast on June 15 will get to see one of most modern calf barn operations around. The calf barn, constructed in 2015, features an automated calf milking system.

Myron said each calf is fitted with a radio frequency collar around its neck that tells a computer at the feeding station the quantity of milk that calf should get and when it should get it.

The milk the calves get is non-consumable for human use and is pasteurized to kill e-coli bacteria. The animals are free to roam about the calf barn and approach the feeding station at will.

They grow to be healthier because they get the right amount of milk and get more exercise, Myron said.

Chad said the computer keeps detailed records of how much milk a calf is consuming as well as other details which help them determine if a calf is sick or not developing the way it should.

Before, you might not have known a calf was sick until you could visibly notice the signs, Chad said.

The calves that are only a few days or weeks old are kept in a separate barn for observation, and Myron said there will be plenty of newborns in time for the event.

The breakfast

The farm is expecting some 3,000 visitors for the annual event.

In four hours and with the help of about 75 volunteers, visitors will be fed a big farm breakfast in support of Kenosha County Dairy Promotion.

The menu includes scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, pancakes, fresh bread and butter, yogurt, muffin, milk, juice and ice cream.

The breakfast is $6 per person and is free for children age 6 and younger. Touring the farm is free.

There will be milking demonstrations, a Wisconsin products tent with items for purchase, an Agriculture in Action tent that showcases ag-related business and industry, old-fashioned childrens games, and plenty of opportunities to see the animals.

Due to wet field conditions, there will be no on-site vehicle parking.

Complimentary shuttles (school buses) will run from Central High School, 24617 75th St., in Paddock Lake, and the Kenosha County Center, at the intersection of highways 45 and 50, in Bristol.

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iStock/Pierdelune(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is setting up a commission at the State Department to redefine human rights as based on what the department is describing as "natural law and natural rights."

The move has alarmed human rights activists, especially those focused on LGBT rights and women's rights, who fear it will mean an end to promoting protections for both groups around the world.

"It's an important review of how we think about human rights inside of our efforts in diplomacy," Pompeo told reporters Thursday, adding the effort is focused on "how do we make sure that we have a solid definition of human rights upon which to tell all our diplomats around the world how to engage on those important issues."

The State Department has declined to comment beyond Pompeo's remarks. But it did issue a public notice in the Federal Register on Thursday that says the body, named the Commission on Unalienable Rights, will provide Pompeo "advice and recommendations concerning international human rights matters" and meet about once a month.

"The Commission will provide fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights," according to the notice.

Use of the term "natural law" has concerned some advocacy groups and department staff, as it is interpreted in this case as "God-given" or religiously-based rights that affect issues like sexuality, abortion rights, and more. In particular, the phrase has been prominent in the work of Princeton professor Robert George.

George has played a prominent role in the creation of the commission, according to a source familiar with the plans for the commission. George, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage, a nonprofit that advocates against same-sex marriage, is among the 15 academics recommended to make up the panel, according to the source.

Author of the 1999 book "In Defense of Natural Law," where he argued against homosexuality and abortion rights and in favor of religious liberty, George also wrote the original concept note that outlined a vision for the commission, the source said.

The commission "is absolutely about those issues, but it's not explicit in the paper," the source said. "It questions whether and which human rights are universal."

George did not respond to a request for comment.

Dr. Kiron Skinner, Pompeo's director of policy planning, is listed as the top official on the Federal Register notice. Skinner, who leads the department's long-term foreign policy strategy team, recently raised eyebrows by describing the U.S. rivalry with China as a clash of civilizations and "the first time that we will have a great power competitor that is not Caucasian."

Along with George and Skinner, the full list of participants has been recommended to the Secretary, but he still has to approve the final list. As part of the process, however, the department had to publish the Federal Register notice, which is dated May 22.

Igniting further concern about the project is the fact that the department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor was not consulted in the process, two sources told ABC News.

"The wording of the Commission's mandate raised eyebrows with human rights advocates and congressional staff. The fact that it was announced with no prior outreach to or input from the human rights community immediately raised concerns over its motives... [and] the State Department already has a well-defined understanding of how to advance human rights and maintains several offices dedicated to various human rights issues," said Rob Berschinski, who served as deputy assistant secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, or DRL, in the Obama administration.

Pompeo said Thursday the project is "separate" from DRL, but "deeply connected to the work that not only DRL does, but that the entire State Department does around the world."

Promoting the right to religious freedom has been a high priority for Pompeo, who will host his second summit on the topic this July. But he and the Trump administration, in general, have been criticized for pulling punches on U.S. partners over their human rights abuses. Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for example, have been embraced by the top Trump officials despite their crackdowns on political opposition, women's rights activists, and NGOs.

"If the administration truly wants to engage in a meaningful dialogue about respecting human rights, then we are happy to have that discussion. But the fact that this panel was announced without details or consultation with human rights experts suggests that this may be just another instrument to negate rights, rather than protect them," said Tarah Demant, director of Amnesty International's Gender, Sexuality, and Identity program.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  The country's top diplomat on Saturday ordered consuls in Europe to make sure that all donations to non-government organizations in the Philippines are cleared with the government.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin, Jr. said the Philippine embassies in Europe should comply with the memorandum he had issued last month for them "to tell their host governments to clear any and all donations to their NGOs in the Philippines with the Department of Foreign Affairs."

"Or we will deregister them in the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)," Locsin said in a tweet.

"If that hasnt been done, do it now," he added.

The government in March urged the European Union to stop funding certain groups in the Philippines, alleging that the money is being used for terrorism.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. in a March 26 letter said Belgian NGOs have "indirectly and unwittingly partnered" with groups acting as legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New People's Army. The CPP-NPA has waged a five-decade armed insurgency, the longest-running in Asia.

The EU has since committed to conduct a financial audit. "Should the allegations be established, the EU immediately would take full legal action," the EU earlier said.

The CPP-NPA is in EU's list of terrorist organizations. But in the Philippines, the government's move seeking to tag communist rebels as terrorists is still pending before a local court.

Meanwhile, groups named by the government as communist fronts have secured court protection against the red-tagging. The Supreme Court granted their petitions for a writ of amparo and writ of habeas data, which are legal remedies for protection from threats.
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These are trying times for health care optimists. Despite all the hype surrounding breakthroughs in clinical practice and technology, American medicine is stuck in in neutral. Though the engine is revving loudly, little progress is being made.

This unfortunate truth came into clearer light last week when I was preparing lesson plans for the health care strategy course I teach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. During the first class of the semester, I offer a summary of health care-system successes over the previous year. This year, the pickings were slim: New developments in artificial intelligence and progress with Haven, the much-discussed Amazon-Berkshire-Chase venture, offered some glimmers.

The bulk of industry movement, however, was heading in the wrong direction. Dozens of scandals, from generic-drug price fixing to gross conflicts of interest, plagued some of health cares biggest players. Even more discouraging, there was no concrete evidence that U.S. medical care has become more affordable, more accessible, more convenient or better (as measured in quality outcomes) since this time last year. Life expectancy in the United States fell for an unprecedented third year in a row. Americans still spend 50% more on health care than any other nation (as a percentage of GPD). And, to rub salt in the wound, the United States slipped again in the latest global health rankings.

Wanting to introduce a ray of optimism, and to stoke the possibility of positive change, I thought about the following question.

What could our nation realistically do to improve patient health and reduce medical costs in the next year?

With the operative word being realistically, this query proved difficult to answer.

Congress could cap drug prices or legalize the importation of effective biosimilars like insulin. But how likely is either action, given that the pharmaceutical industry spends hundreds of millions each year to influence legislation?

What about health cares outdated information technology platforms? Six in 10 physicians think electronic health records (EHR) need a complete overhaul. That could achieved if the leading manufacturers were forced to open their application processing interfaces (APIs) to third-party developers. But, once again, how likely is that? EHR vendors are just as protective of their profits as drug industry reps.

One solution: Pay people for their kidneys

The idea of paying people for their organs is not new, but it is currently illegal. Back in 1984, the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) outlawed the buying and selling of human organs.

Prior to the U.S. governments involvement in the transfer and transplantation of organs, one doctor in Virginia had attempted to establish a company for the express purpose of buying and selling kidneys commercially. And because there were no laws in place to stop him, NOTA made sense. Today, it doesnt.

We should let the government purchase kidneys and continue to use an independent agency to decide exactly which individuals should receive these organs.

To understand why this solution makes sense now, its helpful to look at how far weve come in the past 35 years. In the 1980s, transplantation was an inexact science and often dangerous. At the time NOTA was signed into law, only 80% of kidney transplant recipients survived the operation and the associated immunosuppression. Today, transplant success rates exceed 95% among experienced surgeons and transplant teams.

Back in the 80s, the lack of diagnostic tests for infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis stoked fears that people might lie about their health status to sell an organ, thus increasing the risk of disease transmission for organ recipients.

Finally, proponents of NOTA felt an ethical obligation to uphold the goodwill of organ donation. They didnt want to see it tainted by those seeking personal, financial gain. In 1983, Dr. David A. Ogden, president of the National Kidney Foundation, told The New York Times, It is immoral and unethical to place a living person at risk of surgical complication and even death for a cash payment to that person.

With advances in both science and society, NOTA needs to be modernized for the 21st century. We can realistically save tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars if Medicare were allowed to purchase kidneys for appropriate recipients and if it paid for transplantation, rather than dialysis.

To highlight the benefits of this approach, two sets of numbers are worth considering. The first set pertains to the discrepancy between kidney need and availability, courtesy of The Kidney Project at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF):

More than 100,000 patients in the United States are currently waiting on the kidney transplant list.

Just over 21,000 donor organs were available for transplant last year.

The need for donor kidneys in the United States is rising at 8% per year.

The other important set of numbers, also from UCSF, are financial:

Americans living with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) comprise 1% of the U.S. Medicare population but account for 7% of the Medicare budget.

Dialysis comes with an average treatment cost of $89,000 per patient annually.

The average cost of a kidney transplant is $32,000 for the surgery and $25,000 per year in post-surgery care.

Armed with these numbers, lets calculate how much money would be saved by providing 100,000 people on the kidney transplant list with new kidneys, versus keeping approximately 100,000 people on dialysis.

Knowing the annual dialysis expense for this population is $89,000 per patient, the total expense for all 100,000 people over the next five years would be $44.5 billion.

The expense for this same population to receive new kidneys would be $32,000 for the procedure itself, plus $25,000 for post-op care annually, which over the same five-year period would equal $15.7 billion.

Thats a savings of nearly $25 billion.

Of course, these latter calculations assume we can find 100,000 new kidneys donors. Finding living donors would be best for a couple of reasons. First, kidney transplantations that involve living donors are more successful than when organs are harvested from the deceased. And second, there are millions of Americans who could contribute.

To find 100,000 donors, the United States government could offer to pay $50,000 for a kidney (plus all surgical costs and follow-up care expenses) for about $5 billion. Doing so would not only improve the health and life-expectancy of the recipients, it would still result in a total health care savings of $20 billion over the next five years.

The savings could then be used to fund programs that improve medical prevention, help manage the nations high blood pressure problem and lower the rates of adult-onset diabetesall of which would go a long way toward preventing kidney disease and lowering future health care costs.

So, if the proposal has the potential to improve American health, lower medical costs and fund future programs to help more Americans avoid kidney failure, what are the potential pitfalls?

Legalizing the sale of organs, some say, would lead to the wealthy taking advantage of the poor. This concern, however, isnt based in fact. According to UCSF data, kidney disease disproportionately affects the nations minority and low-income patients. Therefore, a government-run kidney purchasing program would disproportionately benefit the poor, not the rich.

Others fear that amending NOTA would create a black market. In fact, implementing this proposal would eliminate the need for a black market, since organs would be readily available and controlled by a federal agency.

Theres also the concern that low-income individuals would be coerced by economic factors to donate kidneys at the expense of their personal health. Here too, the argument is specious. Science has proven that a donors remaining organ compensates for the loss. Following removal, the twin kidney enlarges and becomes just effective as when there were two.

Furthermore, science has mastered screening for communicable diseases, rendering historical concerns that poor people might lie about their existing diseases for the donor money both outdated and culturally insensitive.

Finally, what about the risk of the donor losing the remaining kidney from trauma or cancer? Currently, people who anonymously donate kidneys are automatically placed at the top of the transplant list should they need one in the future. By making this same promise to the paid donors, the small risk associated with having a single kidney would be offset by the certainty of receiving immediate access to transplantation should it prove necessary.

There is no silver bullet for solving our nations health care crisis, and every solution has its risks and downsides.

Using money to incentivize kidney donations carries certain dangers, but also tremendous upside. Those willing to donate would earn $50,000, which would go a long way toward a college education, a home or other family expenses. And those receiving the organs would have a better and more productive life. This solution is realistic. And, done well, the programs biggest problem might be having to turn away potential donors due to popular demand.

Robert Pearl is a physician and CEO, Permanente Medical Groups. He is the author of Mistreated: Why We Think Were Getting Good Health CareAnd Why Were Usually Wrong and can be reached on Twitter @RobertPearlMD. This article originally appeared in Forbes.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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This article is about learning to protect yourself and your standard of living as a nurse. Now that I am considered a seasoned nurse, I have concluded that there are many essential aspects of the nursing profession that are not discussed during nursing school. It is a shame because many of these topics should be discussed so that new nurses can prepare themselves for issues that may and often occur in the bedside nursing world. I would like to take this opportunity to discuss one topic that I have recently learned about in a first-person manner.

Nurses are human beings, and we get hurt and sick. Before I was a nurse, I never comprehended the depth of that comment; however, after years of working at the bedside with other nurses, I see that nurses seem to get hurt a lot. Sometimes we get hurt intentionally by a confused patient, sometimes we get hurt unintentionally as we are trying to move a patient, and sometimes, we become hurt outside of the job, or we are struck with an illness. What do we do if all of a sudden, we are unable to work at the bedside?

The first and foremost thing that is vital to understand is that we must protect the patient, ourselves, and our licenses. We should never go to work at the bedside if we feel that our health or the patients welfare is at risk. Should I repeat that? We should never go to work at the bedside if there is a risk that we will not be able to care for our patients. If we are hurt physically or not able to care for the patients mentally, we are better served to stay home and recuperate. The motto, first do no harm, rings loud and strong.

If we are hurt at work, as nurses, we are usually covered by workers compensation. It is vital that you follow your companys policy if this ever happens. One wrong move can mean a breach of contract and no benefits. Some hospitals may also offer to have you work on light duty. This is your decision to make. Are you able to perform the tasks that they want you to perform? You can always talk to a lawyer and your medical doctor before making a decision. I will caution you that many hospitals want you to see their medical professionals for this type of injury. The good news is that it is covered 100 percent if you followed company procedures. However, through the years, I have heard many nurses complain about many aspects of the care. You may want to keep your personal doctor in the loop through the process. Your health and wellbeing are at the forefront.

What if we get hurt outside of the job or we are so worn down mentally that anxiety/depression comes calling? First, we can use our sick pay if we are a part-time or full-time employee, and we have not used it all. If we believe that we are going to be sick for a while, then this is when we are able to submit a short-term disability claim, if we opted for that coverage. The thing that I recently learned about short-term disability claims is that it is up to the nurse to show that he/she took steps right from the beginning to get better. It is therefore important to know that you must go see your doctor as soon as possible in these instances. It is also important to collect the records from the doctor(s) that you see so that you can show that you are trying to get better. If you see a specialist (or a counselor) make sure that you also keep those records. The short term disability company will make you prove this and the longer it takes you to get all of this information together, the longer you need to wait for your money. Also keep in mind that you will get forms from the short term disability company. When the professionals you see fill these out, they will often charge you a fee.

This brings me to my next point. You must save money so that you can pay your bills and keep your life afloat. It is best to save six months of salary. I beg of you to do this. Short-term disability is not a for-sure thing and getting the claim can take time. It is best if you have some money set aside so that you do not have the added stress of trying to pay your bills on top of trying to feel better. This must come before vacations, dining out, or those new scrubs.

The fact is that nurses get hurt. Nurses who work at the bedside get hurt more. We are exposed to so many illnesses, dangers, and stressors, that new nurses learn quickly that we are all human. We must all learn to protect ourselves financially and create a support network that includes an accountant, a lawyer, medical professionals, and counselors. We must learn to care for ourselves by maintaining our insurance (health, short term, and long term), and caring for ourselves.

Anne Naulty is a nurse.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
LEABURG, Ore. -- Time is running out for the Leaburg Fish Hatchery: if lawmakers stop funding it, the popular tourist destination will close on June 30, and documents show it's currently not on the proposed budget for Oregon Fish and Wildlife.

Since 1953 the fish hatchery has raised Rainbow Trout and Summer Steelhead that are then brought to rivers and lakes across the Willamette Valley.

Jennifer Hulett-Guard works at the hatchery for Orgon Fish and Wildlife. She said in 2017 the state took control of the hatchery, which was being run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Leaburg Fish Hatchery was scheduled to close June 30, 2018, but lawmakers provided $350,000 in bridge funding to operate the hatchery through June 30 this year.

Hulett-Guard said they are not sure what's in store but said they are preparing for the closure.

"We don't know, but we've gone through all the easy funding ideas and people are packing their things and moving," Hulett-Guard said.

Records show Sen. Floyd Prozanski and Rep. Cedric Hayden have tried to fund the hatchery for another two years with a $1.7 million amendment. But with the hatchery not on the proposed budget, Sean Davis, who founded the group Save the Leaburg Fish Hatchery, is worried the closure could devastate the Mckenzie River economy.

"If it were to go away, it would just be like the timber dollars going away," Davis said. "70 to 90,000 people a year go there. It brings in $1.5 million a year into our local economy."

Davis said he plans to go to Salem on Monday to meet with lawmakers during a work session to make his voice heard.

Hulett-Guard said the hatchery has three full-time employees, and ODFW is offering them transfers if the hatchery closes. The fish will be transferred to a different facility.
As another year marked by the global pandemic comes to an end, our photojournalists remain challenged  and, frequently, awed - by the constant state of change.



We documented our ever-evolving world in ways few photo staffs could as we all worked to regain normalcy amid COVID-19s seemingly unbreakable hold on our communities. We showed the relieved faces of people receiving a coveted vaccine, telling the story of a scientific breakthrough with images of those benefitting from it. We covered new workplace policies, school protocols and policing practices. We traveled half-way across the world to an Olympics where the athletes couldnt hug each other, masked medalists step atop the podium and no one came to watch.



The Chicago Tribune faced its own series of changes, too. We have new owners. New bosses. Endured another move. Gained new talented journalists and lost many others from the newsroom ranks. The one constant has been our dedication to providing photography on a daily basis that is relevant to the communities we cover: The joy of picnicking at the lakefront on a summer afternoon, the pain of children, police officers and neighbors all falling victims to violent crime. Documenting whos in and whos out in the political landscape, escaping to your favorite cultural event or sports competition.



We hope this installment of the annual Photos of the Year project reminds us of the moments that shaped our lives and the thoughtful way we portray them. Its also a platform for acknowledging the talent and dedication of Tribune photographers, and all photojournalists, who make change a way of life.



The Chicago Tribune staff photographers for 2021: Brian Cassella, Erin Hooley, Terrence Antonio James, Vashon Jordan Jr., John J. Kim, Youngrae Kim, Jose M. Osorio, Antonio Perez, Armando L. Sanchez, Chris Sweda, Abel Uribe, E. Jason Wambsgans, Stacey Wescott and Raquel Zaldivar.



Tribune visual editors: Mark Hume, Andrew Johnston, Marianne Mather, Steve Rosenberg and Peter Tsai.

- Todd Panagopoulos, Director of Content/Visuals
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexicos Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that he had started negotiating with officials in Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports of Mexican products. Ebrard said on Twitter that he had spoken to Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the phone, and that he was about to board a plane to Washington to continue the negotiations. Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadas military began evacuating by airplane 1,600 vulnerable people from a remote indigenous community in Northern Ontario due to a wildfire and concern about the smoke, the public safety ministry said on Friday.

Were trying to get as many aircraft into the area as we possibly can. Weve got to make sure those people are out of harms way, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

So far, three planes have flown 226 people to the city of Thunder Bay on Lake Superior, approximately 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Pikangikum First Nation, a community of 4,000 people, said Scott Bardsley, a spokesperson for Goodale.

Another 1,374 vulnerable individuals, including senior citizens and those with respiratory issues, had been identified for evacuation, he said. Pikangikum, which has declared a state of emergency because of the blaze.

Thirty rangers with the Canadian Armed Forces were on the ground to assist with the evacuation and additional military personnel were ready to assist in the efforts as needed, Bardsley said.

Wildfires are also raging in Northern Alberta where lack of rain has led to multiple blazes that have forced about 10,000 people from their homes, prompting the capital of the province to issue an air quality warning on Thursday.
To be eligible for the latest awards, the work had to be completed in the calendar year 2018, on property at least 50 years old or designated by the city has historic.
According to the BNSF website, engineers are required by federal law to sound train horns at all public crossings to warn motorists and pedestrians of an approaching train. However, communities can look into what is required to qualify for a quiet zone under rules established by the Federal Railroad Administration.
The Virginia Beach shooting comes more than three months after an employee of the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora shot five co-workers dead and wounded five police officers after being told he was fired. That workplace shooting also occurred on a Friday, and the gunman was killed during a shootout with police.
He met his best friend here at Roslyn in kindergarten, and it has always been a close knit group of teachers, parents and staff, she said.Of which you can see by the fact that were all here today. The whole thing is very important to us.
Its very unusual from my standpoint, Anderson said of moving from policing to financial management. It gives you a strong foundation building relationships. You are the contact people may have in their relationship with the village. It can be negative but you have to do it in a professional manner.
The cottage, originally built in 1913, was recently sold and the new owners began the demolition application process last week. With the official completion of the application, the cottages owners now have to wait at least 180 days, or after Nov. 30, to demolish the home in the Ravine Bluffs subdivision.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  President Rodrigo Duterte's trip to Japan has netted more funds for the development of Mindanao.

In a joint press event Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, Duterte announced that Japan has pledged 25 billion, or approximately 12 billion, for the region.

"I am grateful for Japans fresh commitment of around 25 billion yen for the development of Mindanaos road network, vocational training facilities and equipment, and other projects," Duterte said.

He added that Japan has been a partner in achieving peace in the region.

"I thanked Prime Minister Abe for the importance his government attaches to Mindanao and its commitment to achieve just and lasting peace and a sustainable development for the people of Mindanao," he said.

Abe for his part said with the establishment of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, the priority lies in strengthening the BTA's administrative capacity and the facilitation of disarmament of Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters.

"Japan will strengthen our support attuned to the progress of the peace process so that the people of Mindanao can truly feel and enjoy the peace dividend at the earliest possible time," he added.

The two leaders reaffirmed the close ties of Japan and the Philippines, with Duterte calling the country "a friend closer than a brother."

The two also talked about maritime security, peace in the Korean Peninsula, free trade, rule of law, and "non-traditional threats."

Abe said Japan and the Philippines are both maritime nations with shared basic values and strategic interests.

""During the course of the meeting this afternoon, we confirmed plans to strengthen our partnership as we confront such challenges as the realization of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law, full implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions towards the denuclearization of North Korea and early resolution of the abduction issue."

While he did not mention China, both the Philippines and Japan have maritime rows with Beijing -- in the South China Sea in the case of Manila and in the East China Sea in the case of Tokyo.

Those areas, where China's aggressive behavior have prompted calls from the international community for it to abide by the rule of law, are part of the Indo-Pacific region.

The abduction issue refers to Japan's longstanding demand for the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
We expect kindergarten and first-grade teachers to love their students, right? he asked rhetorically. By the time students get to high school, their teachers are content experts. So, if you have highly skilled teachers  content experts  and the thing that comes out most is the care they have for their students, that is something special. What cant you accomplish when you have that?
He got to know you, and when you walked in the door, he called you by your name, Longmire said of King. I guess Ill have to go to one of the bigger box stores now for furniture, but it wont be the same. Its kind of sad.
The Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned President Muhammadu Buharis trip to the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a day after his inauguration, noting that it was unconstitutional and confirmed worries about the alleged Islamisation agenda.

CAN added that as Buhari began his second term in office, he should have a blueprint for the security challenges facing the country as well as avoid lopsided appointments in every facet of the government, especially in the appointment chief security officers.

In a release on Saturday by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, the Special Assistant on Media and Communications to CAN President, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, the Christian body noted that Nigeria was smuggled into OIC during the military, and wondered if the President would be ready to attend the meeting of the World Council of Churches or ask the Vice President to represent him whenever the members meet.



CAN said, With all the cries we have made about the unconstitutionality of Nigerias membership of OIC, going for such conference was still the first assignment of President Buhari after being sworn in. Are the government officials listening to those who voted them into power at all? Is the government not heating up the polity? We wonder if the President is ready to attend the meeting of the World Council of Churches or be asking the Vice President to represent him whenever the members meet.

As President Buhari begins another term, we appeal to him to have a blueprint for the security challenges facing the country. He should avoid lopsided appointments in every facet of the government, especially, the appointment chief security officers. The security councils and other agencies of the government must not be dominated by people who share the same faith and ethnicity with him. The preponderance of the Fulani people at the corridors of power is what Chief Olusegun Obasanjo refers to as fulanisation agenda.

We have many states in the North where churches are being denied of Certificates of Occupancy. This is a ploy to allow excuses to be given later for these churches to be pulled down whenever religious fanatics are in government in those states. As we rejoice with all the Northern State governors as they assume office, let them revisit this ungodly policy of discrimination against fellow Nigerians.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
President Buhari on Thursday, 30th of May, departed Abuja for the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Its the 14th session of the conference and was hosted by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and attended by heads of state and government of member-states.

The summit theme is Makkah al-Mukarramah Summit: Hand in hand toward the future. It seeks to develop a unified stance on events in the Islamic world.

Anyway, Political activist, Deji Adeyanju however feels it was unnecessary for President Buhari to attend saying Nigeria is not an Islamic nation. Recating to it on Twitter, he said;



Why is President Buhari dragging Nigeria into an alliance with Organization of Islamic Nations? Is Nigeria an Islamic nation? Why is this Saudi Arabia alliance necessary? This shit irritates me. Section 10 of our constitution is clear. Nigeria is a secular state.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
Teens from the La Jolla chapter of the National League of Young Men (NLYM) went to Mexico on April 13 to build a house for a family living in Tijuana.

Established in 2007, NLYM is a mother-son organization dedicated to educating youth as leaders and showing them the importance of community, philanthropy and charity. For this project, NLYM teamed with the non-profit Project Mercy, which is dedicated to building up the impoverished places in the world, one community at a time.

NLYM received a grant for $5,300 from the Kiwanis Club of La Jolla to cover the cost of the construction materials needed to build the house. Ten young men and their parents arrived in Tijuana early in the morning, along with a few members of Project Mercy, and went straight to work building the framework for the walls. After the walls were built, the team painted them and nailed them into place on the concrete foundation.

Next they began building the loft area for children to sleep in. After the loft flooring was complete, the team proceeded to put up the framework for the roof, nailing the roofing to the framework after it was done.

For the young men of NLYM, this was a very moving experience to see such poverty and so many people in need, so close to home. Not only did the teens learn many skills in carpentry and construction, they learned that need is universal, as is gratitude, respect and community.

Learn more about the La Jolla chapter of the National League of Young Men at nlymlajolla.org

Installing the loft floor ( Courtesy Photos )
Lake Forest firefighters who responded at 4:22 a.m. May 31 to the report of a home on fire in the southeastern portion of the city used a ladder to rescue the homeowner from the roof, said Deputy Fire Chief Michael Gallo.
Tehran, May 28: A semi-official news agency in Iran says a wife of an adviser to President Hassan Rouhani has been shot and killed at her home. Tuesday's report by the ISNA news agency says Mitra Najafi was killed in northern Tehran. She is the second wife of Mohammad Ali Najafi, a former reformist mayor of Tehran and a Rouhani confidant.

The report did not elaborate. Such gun violence is incredibly rare in Iran, especially in the tony neighborhoods of northern Tehran, home to the country's political and economic elite. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani Says Country Could Hold Vote Over Nuke Deal.

Najafi resigned as mayor in 2018, after hard-liners criticized him over a video showing he attended a dance performance by young girls at a school show. Polygamy is legal in Iran, though some criticized Najafi on social media after he married Mitra Najafi.
Almost as soon as an attorney stood up in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware last week and announced that a tentative $44-million deal had been struck between Harvey Weinstein, his former film studios board and a number of women who have accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexual misconduct, the squabbling began anew.

Rather than a round of handshakes, various parties to the negotiations circled the wagons. At once, the proposed settlement was denounced as offering inadequate compensation to the victims while enabling Weinstein and the directors of Weinstein Co. to evade accountability or liability. The Hollywood producer behind such Oscar-winning hits as Shakespeare in Love, Chicago and The Kings Speech was fired from his company in October 2017 after dozens of women accused him of sexual misconduct.

For the record: A previous version of this article misspelled Paz de la Huertas surname as De la Heurta.

Attorneys for two of the accusers rejected the proposal outright; while another questioned whether this was an attempt to derail the deal and maximize their clients position and grab the lions share of compensation. Victims expressed disgust at the entire process; one called it absolutely re-traumatizing.

The sniping and brinkmanship being played out in public exposed months of behind-the-scenes infighting as negotiations lurched forward. It also revealed several issues and pressure points that have threatened to torpedo the deal at numerous junctures, raising questions about the difficulties inherent in achieving any kind of meaningful settlement for the victims.

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Its very difficult, in a very high-profile case involving a very large company with significant assets and liabilities, to have everyone come to an agreement, said Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. County deputy district attorney who is a partner at the Los Angeles-based law firm Eisner Gorin. But that is what bankruptcy court is designed to do. Not everyone is going to be satisfied, but youre limited by what the assets are.

At stake is a dwindling pot of money, largely put up by insurance companies, to be divided among a growing number of plaintiffs  and paid to lawyers. Under the proposed terms, $30 million would be allocated to the accusers, unsecured creditors and former Weinstein Co. employees; the remaining $14 million would go to pay legal fees of the studios directors and officers. The company filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 and later sold off most of its assets to private equity firm Lantern Capital Partners for $289 million.

Underscoring the challenges, a court hearing scheduled for Tuesday to approve the deal was canceled on Friday, giving the parties more time to hash out their differences, some speculated.

From the start, according to various parties involved, the negotiations have always been fraught and complex. The settlement is contingent upon all of the plaintiffs being in alignment. In this case, there are numerous accusers across multiple jurisdictions, each with their own claims and agendas.

In addition to a class-action suit of alleged victims and former Weinstein Co. employees, there are at least 18 women with individual suits against Weinstein for sexual misconduct, assault or harassment. (Weinstein faces separate criminal charges in New York over multiple accusations of sexual assault.)

The mediator conducted at least 11 sessions, some of which were described as highly adversarial, according to court filings during the last year.

While numerous hurdles have threatened to scuttle the deal throughout the process, they have also jeopardized the amount of any potential payout. The current sum on the table is less than half of what was initially proposed when an investor group sought to buy the Weinstein Co. assets last year. That deal, which eventually collapsed, included a victims fund of up to $90 million.

Last December the parties agreed to a $60-million deal  $50 million of which would go to the victims, according to an individual familiar with the confidential negotiations. Eighteen women pursuing individual lawsuits would each receive $1 million. Then, Harvey Weinsteins insurance company refused to contribute 5% to the fund. Some of the attorneys wanted to proceed despite the shortfall, while holdouts refused, and the agreement collapsed.

In April, a judge dismissed the former directors and officers of Weinstein Co. from a federal lawsuit in which several women alleged the directors enabled the producers misconduct. The compensation dropped from $1 million to $500,000 since the directors were no longer on the hook to contribute to the victims fund.

From the very beginning, I never thought wed see a penny. Zoe Brock, New Zealand-born former model

A continuing point of contention is whether to accept the amount on offer with the individual suits receiving $500,000, and the remainder to be split among the so-called class-action lawsuit applicants. The class payout will be determined based on suffering and severity of the claim. Insurance companies, potentially including Chubb Ltd. and AIG, are expected to make the payment on behalf of Weinstein Co.

But consensus about what path to follow remains elusive.

While some victims are outraged that Weinstein is not personally contributing to the settlement, others say they are willing to sacrifice if it means a settlement for some.

A small number of attorneys, including those with clients whose allegations are the subject of a criminal investigation, said they would seek to pursue Weinstein individually for a settlement or a jury verdict and are waiting for a resolution of criminal proceedings before moving forward.

Its problematic the way its being approached by people trying to orchestrate a settlement, said Thomas Peter Giuffra, attorney for Alexandra Canosa, a producer on the Netflix series Marco Polo, who alleges that Weinstein raped her.

He finds it particularly distasteful that former board members will have their legal fees reimbursed. It doesnt sit well with me. Singling out Weinsteins brother Bob, he said, Im hard-pressed to think he didnt know this was going on and to take money out of the pockets of the actual victims is just wrong.

A representative of Bob Weinstein could not be reached. Harvey Weinstein has denied claims that he engaged in nonconsensual sex. A spokesman for the former mogul declined to comment.

Attorneys Douglas Wigdor and Kevin Mintzer said their client Wedil David, who alleges that Weinstein raped her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2015, also rejected the deal. They released a statement calling the process fundamentally flawed and unfair, and criticized the terms as inadequately compensating victims while providing millions of dollars to the ultra-wealthy directors of the Weinstein Company  and their big firm lawyers.

Aaron Filler, a lawyer representing actress Paz de la Huerta, said he believes the settlement is a fair compromise. Its been a long, complex process, and we do feel this settlement provides a measure of justice, though its not everything one might hope for, he said.

A person familiar with the negotiations who was prohibited from discussing them publicly said the agreement could still go forward even if several victims oppose the settlement, though a deal will be harder to reach if enough people oppose it.

While the settlement, no matter how large, will never erase the trauma for some, it is the only means they have to receive a measure of justice.

Zoe Brock, a New Zealand-born former model who was one of the six women who filed a class-action suit against Weinstein and the studio he co-founded in 2017, wants the deal to go through, but she doesnt think it sends a strong enough signal.

From the very beginning, I never thought wed see a penny, Brock said. But I still wanted a landmark judgment that would change the world. I did this as a civil rights case to create real change. Its not the amount of money I might get that Im complaining about, but I wanted to see an amount that corporations would think twice about before they harbored another Harvey Weinstein or Les Moonves.

Everyone told us victims that we were changing the world, she added. Looking back at the last two years, she said that the system is broken. The process shows that nothing has changed.

Times staff writers Richard Winton and Ryan Faughnder contributed to this report.

stacy.perman@latimes.com

@stacyperman
Airlines are calling on aviation regulators worldwide to work together to get Boeing Co.s grounded 737 Max back in the skies and to prevent the regulatory response from splintering and slowing the jets return.

As aviation bosses met in South Korea for their biggest gathering since the two recent 737 Max disasters that killed almost 350 people, Ed Bastian, chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines, led calls for coordinated regulatory action on Boeings bestselling aircraft.

Combined approval from authorities across the globe affirming that the jet is safe to fly would help restore bruised consumer confidence in the Max, he said.

Its very important that the regulators around the world unite and make a unified determination regarding the safety of the Max, Bastian told reporters in Seoul. Keeping politics out of safety matters is important.

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The Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines, whose members include Max customers Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, warned that a fractured set of assessments of the Maxs airworthiness by individual bodies risks prolonging the process. The 737 Max, a 2-year-old model that has racked up thousands of orders, was grounded in March after the second crash triggered a wave of no-fly orders that started in China and ended with the U.S.

The threat posed to Boeing and the Max by separate approval processes by different watchdogs is clear: Even if the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration signs off on Boeings proposed safety upgrade, the planes international reach would be limited if other countries havent cleared the jet to fly. Additional months of groundings in Europe and China, key markets for intercontinental travel, would be particularly damaging.

The challenge is, just as we saw a cascade of shutdowns, it might be more drawn out in terms of the ungroundings, Andrew Herdman, director general of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines, said in an interview in Seoul. Herdman wasnt confident that regulators could set aside their individual differences. Desirable? Yes. Achievable? No.

Bastian said a swift resolution would be the best outcome for the industry and for Delta, which doesnt even fly the Max.

The fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which killed 346 people, have shaken confidence in an aircraft certification process that for decades has taken its lead from the U.S. The FAA last month hosted dozens of counterparts from around the world to discuss the steps required to resume Max flights.

Its not yet clear that everyone is on the same page. Before the meeting, Indonesia, where the first Max crashed in October, said it might keep the plane grounded until 2020 in order to ensure its safety.

Officials from China, Canada and the European Union have also signaled they intend to independently review changes to the Boeing planes before restoring flights. South Korean authorities are also said to be making their own decision, after closely monitoring steps taken by regulators in Europe and China.

SpiceJet Ltd., one of Boeings biggest customers for the 737 Max, said every regulator needs to come to the same verdict on the aircraft. But it may take some time, said Chairman Ajay Singh.

Some people will get to the satisfaction level faster and some people will take some more time, Singh said in an interview in Seoul. But eventually everybody has to come along.

There will be no Max flights at Ethiopian Airlines, which lost Flight 302 in March, until every regulator has approved the plane and other airlines have resumed flights, Chief Executive Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters in Seoul.

Since we decided to be the last one, it means that all of them have to approve first, he said.

Benjamin Katz contributed to this report.
China is reportedly launching an investigation into FedEx Corp. for the wrongful delivery of packages, escalating the growing trade war between Washington and Beijing.

The U.S. express delivery company violated Chinese laws and industry regulations by failing to send packages to correct addresses, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. That seriously harmed the legitimate rights and interests of its customers, and authorities decided to initiate an investigation, according to the report.

Earlier this week, FedEx apologized for delivery errors on Huawei Technologies Co. packages following reports that parcels were returned to senders. Two packages containing documents being shipped to the company in China from Japan were diverted to the U.S. without authorization, Reuters reported, quoting a company spokesman.

Huawei said it was reviewing its relationship with FedEx.

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Now that China has established a list of unreliable entities, the investigation into FedEx will be a warning to other foreign companies and individuals that violate Chinese laws and regulations, China Central Television said in a commentary read on its flagship evening news program.

China welcomes foreign companies on condition that they abide by Chinas law, regulation, market rules and the spirit of contract, and cant harm Chinese customers legitimate rights.

China said Friday that it would keep a tally of unreliable entities that harm the interests of domestic companies, which could affect foreign enterprises as trade tensions escalate.

Chinas retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. officially kicked in Saturday, affecting more than 2,400 products that face levies of as much as 25%, compared with the previous charges of 10%.

China will lay out its position on trade talks with the U.S. in a white paper and Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen will take questions at a rare news conference on the issue on Sunday in Beijing, according to an official statement.

Xinhua used two hashtags in the two Weibo posts on the FedEx announcement: #RetaliateAgainstUSTradeBullying and #ChinaUSTrade.
Post-breakup, what could be more therapeutic than ripping out your exs dreaded ditsy-print curtains? HGTVs Unspouse My House finesses such decor purges, while helping those devastated by divorce and other splits to boldly claim personal design styles.

The healing transformations begin June 6.

The revenge renovations are mastered by lifestyle guru and self-proclaimed breakup artist Orlando Soria, author of the Hommemaker decor blog and 2018 lifestyle advice book, Get it Together! His irreverent yet chipper demeanor keeps the Southern California-based show balanced between despair and fresh-start reveals.

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We spoke with Soria as he drove to Yorba Linda, where an ex-husband was longing to banish red laminate flooring from a 1980s tract house.

The genesis for your show came from a breakup with your boyfriend of three years. As you say, you were dumped.

I like to use the phrase got dumped because sometimes you just need to be honest, so that others experiencing rejection dont feel so alone in it. It was a horrible time  sitting at home drinking wine, crying and watching sad movies. We lived in a Silver Lake condo overlooking the reservoir. I never had the opportunity to renovate my own home, and it was exciting to do that with a partner. I felt like it was going to be the forever relationship.

HGTV Unspouse My House host Orlando Soria, right, and homeowner Kille Knobel burn sage in her bedroom while testing out new paint colors. (Matt Harbicht / Getty Images / HGTV)

Ouch. You speak of how designing your new West Hollywood apartment helped you mend. In what ways can design heal?

Designing and caring about your space is a way of showing self-care. Taking the time to make your space beautiful is a way of telling yourself that you are actually worth that  it also shows respect to people who enter your home. Its a way of asserting self-esteem. That can be really vital during a time when your self-esteem is suffering.

There can be a design split between the genders  once a partner splits, theres gotta be some fractured aesthetics to sort out, right?

The house Im driving to now, this guys wife designed the kitchen in this 80s French-country style. Every time he goes into that space he thinks of his ex-wife. He went along with the design but never liked it. The kitchen is now going to be contemporary and streamlined. He wanted something modern and sleek, but also warm and inviting.

The Danish lifestyle trend hygge, which centers on comfort and coziness, would seem well-suited to heartbreak decor makeovers.

Hygge also recognizes the importance of balance. In one episode, I brought in wood flooring and a stone finish on the countertop to bring in warmth, because if you go really streamline with your lines in kitchen design, it could go cold. Natural finishes are one way to incorporate that hygge feeling.

HGTV host Orlando Soria helps the heartbroken heal via fresh-start makeovers on Unspouse My House. (HGTV)

When couples split, they pitch all manner of past reminders. On your show, furniture seems to be the go-to toss.

I dont know what it is with chairs, but we just got rid of another chair that belonged to a clients ex-husband. It was an oversize faux leather recliner with a cup holder. It reminded her of her husband sitting there and waiting to be waited on. She was letting go of a lot of sadness with that chair, a real emotional moment for her. She donated it; it felt healing for her to know that it would be useful to someone else.

Youre gifting the brokenhearted with fresh new surroundings  those metamorphoses can be packed with emotion.

On one episode, a woman had a home office that she shared with her husband. They had double desks. I completely transformed it into an office that was very executive and cozy for one person, a place where she could go sit and read. It just sparked joy for her, an excitement about the future that she hadnt been having. Basically, she was weeping in every room, so thankful for everything.

hotproperty@latimes.com

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The Justice Department is preparing to open an antitrust investigation into Alphabet Inc.s Google, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The move comes after the Justice Department reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that scrutiny of the company would fall to the departments antitrust division, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people declined to be identified in order to discuss a confidential matter.

Representatives of Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday night.

American antitrust officials are under pressure from lawmakers in both parties and advocates of tougher enforcement to step up scrutiny of technology giants like Google and Facebook Inc. While European officials have aggressively pursued antitrust cases against American tech firms, the U.S. has been mostly hands-off.

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That may be changing amid continuing criticism that lax enforcement in the U.S. has allowed tech platforms to dominate their markets. The FTC earlier this year set up a task force to examine the conduct of tech companies and their past mergers. Trump and many Republicans have complained that Facebook, Google and Twitter Inc. suppress conservative views.

Last year, then-Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions met with state officials about technology companies. His replacement, William Barr, said at his Senate confirmation hearing that said he wanted to learn more about about how huge behemoths in Silicon Valley have taken shape under the nose of the antitrust enforcers.

The FTC previously investigated Google for skewing search results. The agency decided to close that case in 2013 without taking action, a decision criticized by those who said the search giant was using it dominance to harm competition.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the U.S. plan to open an investigation.
Tony DeLap, the Orange County artist who helped to define West Coast minimalism through his meticulous exploration of the intersection of sculpture and painting, has died. He was 91.

DeLap died Wednesday at his home in Corona del Mar, said his studio assistant and archivist, Robin Johnson.

DeLap rose to prominence in 1964 when an illustration of his work was featured on the cover of Artforum magazine alongside a glowing review by then-Editor-at-large John Coplans. The work, exhibited at San Franciscos Dilexi Gallery, was a series of two-sided glass boxes with edges that descended inward toward the center.

By the late 1960s, DeLap was among artists including Billy Al Bengston, Craig Kauffman and Larry Bell who were pioneering what came to be known as the Finish Fetish, with an emphasis on clean lines, simple shapes and bright, monochromatic colors.

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He is apart from and yet entirely amidst the whole trajectory of geometric abstract art in California, said longtime friend, curator and critic Peter Frank. Hes not quite a minimalist, hes not quite a traditional abstract artist, but he relates to all of them and did so early on.

As the first art professor to be hired at UC Irvine, DeLap influenced generations of artists including Bruce Nauman, Chris Burden, John McCracken and James Turrell.

The Tony DeLap retrospective at the Laguna Art Museum last year. (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

He is apart from and yet entirely amidst the whole trajectory of geometric abstract art in California. Curator and critic Peter Frank, on Tony DeLap

Edges  what they are and what they arent, as well as the ways they can trick the eye into perceiving something other than what is there  were central to DeLaps work. So was a fascination with magic, which played out in the form of objects and shapes that seemed to float or defy architectural logic.

A longtime member of the Hollywood magicians club the Magic Castle, DeLap often incorporated illusion into his exhibitions.

The subject of his art was perception, said Frank, adding that his emphasis on how viewers perceive art was underscored not only by his training as a magician, but by his application of the artistic equivalence of magic tricks into his work.

DeLap became fascinated with magic at age 9 after sending away for a magic kit in the mail, Frank said.

I love the stories of card hustlers and card cheats and the way they would design and invent sleights-of-hand, DeLap told The Times in a 1994 interview regarding his Cal State Fullerton exhibition The House of the Magician: An Installation of Reconstructed Works from 1967-1979.

There is no way in the world I would want to lead that kind of life, but I find it fascinating. I love the terminology, the slang, the technical information on how cards are palmed, he said.

LACMA: Concrete walls of the future museum are chic, but they come with consequences 

Born in Oakland on Nov. 4, 1927, DeLap studied art and graphic design in the Bay Area and attended the San Francisco Academy of Art. He later enrolled in Claremont Graduate School before returning to the Bay Area, where he taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, UC Davis and California College of Arts and Crafts.

DeLap claimed Orange County as home beginning in 1965 when he was invited to become a member of the founding faculty at UC Irvine, where he taught until 1991.

His work is held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Tate Modern in London.

The most recent retrospective of DeLaps work, curated by Frank, ran last year at the Laguna Art Museum. It included 60 paintings and sculptures, plus more than 80 works on paper.

Malcolm Warner, executive director of the museum, remembers DeLap as a warm and delightful presence who took interest in every aspect of the staging of the exhibition.

He had such a gift for friendship, and he was a great raconteur, Warner said. Everybody who knew Tony loved him.

In an admiring review of the show, Times art critic Christopher Knight wrote: One pleasure of the show is the abundance of his early works, dated between 1961 and 1974, when DeLaps well-known shaped hybrids of painting and sculpture began to emerge.  Double-sided tabletop boxes are fronted in glass. Inside are layered planes of thin, painted chipboard stepping down toward the center, often mysteriously suspended in space. The design is like an aerial view of an amphitheater.

DeLap reveled in the sense of mystery his art could conjure. In many ways it is his ability to combine artistic sleight-of-hand with matter-of-fact minimalism that best defines his legacy.

Art today is more pluralistic than it used to be, DeLap said in a 1999 interview with The Times about his penchant for geometric legerdemain. Theres a lot of mixing up, and I think theres nothing wrong with having these diverse elements get together.

DeLap is survived by his wife, Kathy, and their two children, Kelly DeLap Evans and Jack DeLap, as well as three grandchildren.
Catch-22 falls flat

Regarding Meredith Blakes article on the making of the Hulu series Catch-22, How Absurd [May 19]: The novel by Joseph Heller is one of Americas greatest modern comic novels. And possibly one of the greatest antiwar novels ever written. Its madcap humor and biting satire dissect and elucidate the horrors of war.

When Hulu first announced it would be adapting the Heller masterpiece I was thrilled. But after watching it on Hulu last Friday I have one huge question. What happened to the humor?

The whole point of the book is that war is tragically absurd. Mans final joke against his fellow man. I know in these PC times filmmakers may be wary to tread into satire and broad humor when dealing with the subject of war, but to strip out the brilliant humor of Hellers novel for fear of disrespecting the victims of war is doing a disservice to the original material and literature itself.

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My father was an AF pilot stationed in England during WWII. The book never blemishes my respect for his service.

In the article, George Clooney states that he originally turned down the job. He was right the first time.

Please take the time to read Hellers brilliantly subversive book. Written by a man, by the way, who actually fought in the war and knew the horrors first hand.

Greg Clausen

Northridge

Game over, but not the talk

Lorraine Ali may presume too much when she says Sam Tarlys words were describing democracy hundreds of years too soon [Shades of 2020 as Game Ends, May 22].

Id say Game of Thrones takes place not in the past but in the distant future, when Starbucks cups and plastic water bottles are rare, ancient artifacts that only royalty can afford.

That gives us a few centuries to destroy our current civilization and create dragons.

Dave Suess

Redondo Beach

::

Regarding Game of Thrones: The Final Days [May 15]: Much has been written about the motivation for the burning of Kings Landing in Game of Thrones.

Aside from the psychological explanations for Daenerys actions, I must remind you of the Feb 7, 1968 destruction of the South Vietnamese village of Ben Tre by American bombs.

In the Associated Press article, reporter Peter Arnett, quoting an American major, wrote these famous words: It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.

This was the explanation of the American decision to bomb the village, which had been overrun by the Viet Cong, despite the presence of 35,000 civilians. Today we would say they were human shields, and so said Daenerys in her own assessment. They did not revolt against Cersei and Daenerys did not think of them as so innocent.

Lauraine Effress

Oxnard

Time to salute Chinese workers

Regarding Divining True West by Liesl Bradner [May 26]: While the famous photo taken 150 years ago by Andrew Russell captured the historic moment when the East and West halves of the Transcontinental Railroad met at Promontory Summit, Utah, it reflects the bias of its day toward the Chinese railroad workers who made up 90% of the Central Pacific Railroads labor force. The photo did not include even one Chinese worker.

According to Gordon H. Chang, professor of history at Stanford University, initially the Central Pacific Railroads directors wanted a whites-only workforce, and the railroads president, Leland Stanford, also advocated for keeping the Asians out. Only after not enough white men signed up for the backbreaking labor did the railroad begin hiring Chinese men. In time the railroad barons came to consider them superior to the other workers. Stanford himself became a great admirer of the thousands of Chinese migrant workers, telling President Andrew Johnson that the Chinese were indispensable to building the railroad, and the Chinese workers were paid 30% to 50% less than their white counterparts and were given the most dangerous work.

Just like the black soldiers fighting in the Civil War were often left out of the official account but are now being recognized for their bravery and heroism, its time we acknowledged the contributions and sacrifices of the Chinese railroad workers who helped connect the United States and bring it into the modern age.

Dienyih Chen

Redondo Beach

Barry loses its way this season

My jaw dropped upon reading the recommendation of the second season of HBOs Barry [Underrated / Overrated, May 26]. My husband and I enjoyed the first season but found the second so disappointing that we are unlikely to continue with the show. It just didnt come together despite the terrific cast.

Perhaps because the violence and duplicity surrounding the main character was too much to absorb under the guise of dark humor. We especially hated the episode that featured a vengeful girl. It was gross while at the same time boring due to endless physical fighting and a creepy feral child scampering around. I will turn my attention to other shows.

Robin Pittman

Manhattan Beach

Aladdin and the Thief

Justin Changs review of Aladdin [It Has Its Charms, May 24] did not mention that this films story, characterization, acting and production was not so reminiscent of the animated Disney offering of 1992, as it was by the 1940 classic Thief of Baghdad produced by the brilliant Korda brothers.

Will Smiths blue genie had none of the charm and wit of Paul Robson as the genie; the joyful innocence of Sabu as Abu, the thief, or the chilling menace of Conrad Veidt as Jafar, a character originally invented by name for the 1940 film. The review, and the Disney production, owe at least a word of praise for the old thieves who charmed us in the Korda film and for the original classic starring Douglas Fairbanks in 1924.

Sheldon Willens

Los Angeles

Echo location

The L.A. Times is the paper of record for Angelenos. You lost a brilliant opportunity to highlight a fine documentary about one of our greatest creative musical times, the era that launched the California Sound and the people who gave our city this cultural gift. By not putting the review of Echo in the Canyon [Jingle Jangle Days Echo in Canyon, May 24] on the front of the Calendar section you lost a great opportunity to showcase a fine film and a very important era for those of us who loved music and lived it. Both Andrew Slater and Jakob Dylan deserve better, as they too are part of the musical zeitgeist of Los Angeles along with the originators of the music that indeed echoed from Laurel Canyon and reverberated all over the world. Please, next time have more respect (and better placement) for Los Angeles, its music, creators and musicians.

Jeff Ayeroff

Pacific Palisades

calendar.letters@latimes.com
In a just world, President Trumps recklessness and lawless behavior would have led to impeachment hearings long before now. But in our world, the debate on impeachment centers not on the presidents impeachable offenses but on the political implications of holding Trump accountable. Meanwhile, the president who once bragged about being able to shoot someone in public without losing any support looks increasingly prescient.

But in an op-ed article, James Reston Jr. points out that the Democrats have yet to use their most formidable weapon against Trump: actual impeachment hearings. According to Reston, the Democrats strategy of investigate, investigate, investigate wont win over Republicans as effectively as impeachment, and the final days of Richard M. Nixons presidency prove that :

What happened in Washington in the summer of 1974 is a template for what could and perhaps should happen in the summer of 2019. The behavior of Republicans back then holds important lessons for the current situation. [U.S. Rep. Lawrence] Hogan and his like-minded colleagues did not step forward at the outset of the impeachment process, but only at the very end, when historic votes loomed, votes that would force upon them the most profound personal consideration about what they valued and what they stood for.

Yet todays House leader, Nancy Pelosi, and her group are demanding that Republicans step forward now, at a preliminary stage in judging President Trump, as a condition of proceeding with impeachment. No formal process should even be initiated, she says, without significant Republican buy-in. This position is untenable. It forecloses the possibility, strange as it may seem to some, that there are decent and thoughtful Republicans who are deeply troubled by the revelations of the Mueller report, but who would come forward only when they were forced to do so because of a vote to decide the presidents fate....

Just as investigating endlessly without conclusion lets politicians off the hook, so is it an abrogation of responsibility to lob the scandal of the Trump presidency over to the court system. Time is now of the essence. Waiting for weeks and even months for the courts to deliberate and decide questions of obstruction and abuse of power ensures that impeachment will die by October. In the fall, the nation will be turning its attention to the 2020 election with the Iowa caucuses only a few months away.

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In the enduring battle over Airbnb and similar rentals in Los Angeles, perhaps no turf has been more hotly contested than Venice.

Tenant activists complain that apartment buildings here have mutated into beachside hotels for a revolving door of tourists, who flock to this bohemian stretch of the California coastline and its eclectic boardwalk.

The losers, they say, are longtime renters pressured out of their homes to make way for travelers paying steeper rates.

Now a new law is supposed to put a stop to what City Councilman Mike Bonin dubbed rogue hotels.

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But critics argue that it cannot be enforced in Venice and other coastal parts of Los Angeles. And they plan to go to court to stop it.

L.A.s rules, which go into effect in July, allow Angelenos to rent out only their own primary residence for short stays, barring them from offering up a second home or investment property to travelers.

The rules are intended to prevent apartment buildings from being bought up and run like hotels, exacerbating the housing crisis.

Critics have argued that the new rules will eliminate lodging options for families and other vacationers who do not want to go to a hotel, dealing an economic blow to neighborhoods.

As July draws near, some charge that the city has failed to properly vet its plans with the California Coastal Commission, which regulates coastal areas across the state.

Two and a half years ago, the commission chair warned cities that although it supported reasonable and balanced regulations on short-term rentals, banning such rentals entirely in coastal areas could violate the Coastal Act. The concern was that an outright ban could put beach vacations out of financial reach for many Californians.

The Coastal Commission urged cities to make sure that such regulations were either incorporated in a comprehensive plan called a Local Coastal Program  which L.A. is still working on  or authorized with a coastal development permit.

Attorney Thomas Nitti, who represents building owners, said L.A. did not appear to have done that.

It seemed that no one at the city considered that they had to collaborate with the Coastal Commission, said Nitti, who said he is preparing a lawsuit for several rental operators.

Its a very serious issue, he said. The city is putting an obstacle in the way of low- and moderate-income people who would like to stay in the coastal zone.

Dozens of Venice residents, advocates and affordable-housing supporters rally on the Venice Beach Boardwalk to call on the Los Angeles City Council to regulate short-term rentals in August 2015. (Christina House / For The Times)

People walk or cycle along the Venice Beach Boardwalk, also known as Ocean Front Walk, in June 2018. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

In reaction to questions about the issue, Coastal Commission spokeswoman Noaki Schwartz said commission staffers do not believe that the L.A. rules are legally enforceable in the coastal zone without some kind of authorization under the Coastal Act, which the city has yet to obtain.

However, commission executive director Jack Ainsworth added that our intent is not to punish our local government partners as they grapple with the challenging issues and competing interests surrounding such regulations.

Ainsworth said that commission staffers had been working with L.A. to incorporate its rental rules into a Venice Local Coastal Program that is being developed.

Los Angeles officials, in turn, said that the city was on track to start implementing the ordinance citywide in July.

We are working closely with Coastal Commission staff to memorialize our home-sharing regulations through the ongoing [Local Coastal Program] process, planning department spokeswoman Agnes Sibal-von Debschitz said in a statement. In the meantime, we believe we will be able to implement the ordinance as planned.

L.A. officials pointed to a court battle over Hermosa Beach, which banned renting out homes for short stays in residential zones.

Rental operators went to court to block the rules, arguing they were preempted by the Coastal Act, but an appellate court concluded last year that the Hermosa Beach law did not fall under the auspices of the Coastal Commission.

But in Santa Barbara, similar rental restrictions were halted along the coast after Theo Kracke, whose business manages vacation rental properties, challenged them in court.

In his decision, a Superior Court judge found that unless Santa Barbara got a coastal development permit or a certified amendment to its coastal plan to authorize the restrictions, the city was not operating in line with the Coastal Act when it took action to nearly eliminate such rentals from the coastal zone.

Santa Barbara City Atty. Ariel Calonne said the city strongly disagrees with the decision, arguing that the city merely stepped up enforcement of a long-standing rule, but has not yet decided whether to appeal. It plans to update its Local Coastal Program to regulate such rentals in coastal areas.

Robin Rudisill, a Venice resident who ran unsuccessfully against Bonin for City Council, said she had raised the issue with Coastal Commission staffers, asking them to talk to L.A. city officials and make sure the new rules could go into effect along the coast.

The issue worries Keep Neighborhoods First co-founder Judith Goldman, whose group advocated for tighter regulations on short-term rentals.

Lets hope the city has a plan and that this isnt an oversight thats coming up at the 11th hour, Goldman said.

One resident of the Ellison, a Venice building being rented out for short stays, lets a window do the talking. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Tenants Bruce Kijewski and Kelly Day talk about their apartments in the Ellison in Venice in September 2018. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The legal dilemma could have big implications for tenants and rental operators in Venice, one of the hottest spots for short-term rentals in L.A.

At the Ellison, a brick building steps from the beach, Brian Averill and other tenants have accused their landlord of trying to pressure them out with an ongoing stream of travelers renting rooms for a few nights, neglected repairs, and noisy shows in the courtyard.

Bonin has denounced the Ellison as the poster child for the problem the city is trying to solve.

The company that owns the Ellison, Lance Jay Robbins Paloma Partnership, has denied such claims and argues the Venice building had been wrongly categorized decades ago by the city as an apartment house.

The firm argued that the building had a vested right, based on its historic use, to be rented out for short stays.

At a hearing last month, the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission rejected those arguments.

But the building owner, who is represented by Nitti, has since sued the city over that decision  the latest step in a long battle over the Ellison. Fewer than a dozen tenants remain at the rent-stabilized building, which is advertised online as the Ellison Suites.

If L.A. cannot enforce the new rules in Venice, it would be heartbreaking, Averill said. Its like getting the rug yanked out from under us.

L.A.s soon-to-be-effective rules impose several restrictions on renting out homes for short stays. In addition to limiting hosts to renting out their own primary residence, the regulations prohibit such night-to-night rentals in apartments covered by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance.

They also cap the number of nights that homes can be rented out to travelers annually, although Angelenos can exceed that cap if they meet specific requirements.

We crafted these regulations to allow people to rent an extra room to help make ends meet, while still putting in place smart and enforceable rules that protect neighborhoods, and keep affordable housing from becoming exclusive short-term rentals, Bonin said in a statement, adding that his understanding is that the planning department is working to ensure that the new rules go into effect citywide in July as planned.

Philip Minardi, director of policy communications for the vacation rental company HomeAway, argued that although L.A.s ordinance was not an outright ban, barring people from renting out a second home or investment property for short stays would nonetheless raise a red flag for the Coastal Commission.

The reality is that youre banning a huge swath of this industry, particularly in those coastal zones, Minardi said.

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlpertReyes
The top food stories from this week at the Los Angeles Times:

Guests talk over dinner during the evening service at Casita del Campo, a popular Mexican restaurant in Silver Lake. (Silvia Razgova / For The Times)

A GAY OLD TIME

Ben Mims finds his tribe at some of L.A.s gay bars and restaurants. Or: where to celebrate Pride Month.

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Derry Brown showcases one of four dishes he and fellow inmates prepared for their graduation dinner. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

QUENTIN COOKS

John Birdsall reports on a cooking class for inmates at San Quentin State Prison.

Dishes at Tartine Bianco include, clockwise from left, grilled chicken oysters and hearts with XO sauce; butter bean hummus; marinated olives; lamb shank; rotisserie chicken; and chicken liver toast. (Silvia Razgova / For The Times)

THE BREAD LINE

Patricia Escarcega gets in line at Tartine Bianco, the new bakery-driven project from Chad Robertson and Chris Bianco at ROW DTLA.

Salads, sea bass, oysters, cannoli, ravioli and asparagus at Alameda Supper Club. (Silvia Razgova / For The Times)

BIANCO WEST

Bill Addison sits down at Alameda Supper Club, Biancos restaurant in the Manufactory.

A map of where to eat in the San Fernando Valley. (Rachel Sender / For the Times)

IN PRAISE OF THE SFV

Amy Scattergood tours the San Fernando Valley and finds 24 places to eat very, very well.

Our 101 Restaurants We Love list for 2018 is out. The list incorporates restaurants and trucks from around Los Angeles and Orange County, in alphabetical order (no rankings this time). Plus theres a bonus list of 10 classic restaurants.

Check us out on Instagram at @latimesfood.

And dont forget the thousands of recipes in our California Cookbook recipe database.

Feedback? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.
Los Angeles philanthropic community must be in a sorry state.

Last month, the Los Angeles City Council considered a proposal that would ban elected officials from soliciting charitable donations from developers, lobbyists and companies with city contracts. Its the second half of a major political reform effort that aims to stamp out the pay-to-play culture  whether real or perceived  that has dogged City Hall for years.

The council appeared willing at the meeting to move forward  finally!  on the first half of that effort: a long-stalled ordinance barring candidates from accepting campaign contributions from real estate developers with projects needing city approval. But council members reacted with alarm, skepticism and even downright hostility to the idea of reining in behested payments, which are charitable donations made at politicians request.

To hear some council members tell it, if they were no longer allowed to solicit contributions from (or to put it more plainly, to shake down) lobbyists, city contractors and developers to fund their favorite nonprofits, then charitable giving would practically dry up. Some community groups also raised concern that they couldnt raise as much money without their council members drumming up behested payments. Transactional politics are, apparently, the lifeblood of philanthropy.

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Its no secret that elected officials solicit contributions from companies and individuals with business in the city.

Councilman Greig Smith said the proposal would make it harder for elected officials to use their status in the community to raise money for worthy organizations. The head of a homeless services agency said politicians use their personal gravitas to support local groups.

Lets be clear what council members status and personal gravitas really are. Their status is their vote and their power in City Hall. Their gravitas is their ability to block projects or policies they dislike.

Its no secret that elected officials solicit contributions from companies and individuals with business in the city  or that companies give heavily to local officials. Not to sound too cynical here, but its safe to assume fewer dollars would flow if donors did not believe that the money helps them get their projects approved or favorable policies adopted.

Whether its a campaign donation or a behested contribution, the intent typically is to curry favor with an elected official. Thats why more than half of behested payments reported by L.A. politicians over the last five years came from donors with business before City Hall. Those are the people with the greatest incentive to say yes when council members urge them to give a few thousand dollars to charitable fundraisers in their districts.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

Nothing in the current proposal would prevent civic-minded companies from donating to nonprofits or supporting community events on their own initiative. For the sake of their own reputations, they would still have a responsibility to be good neighbors and corporate citizens. Nor would the proposal stop elected officials from trying to help their favorite charity by making a broad appeal for donations via email or social media. Elected officials could still add their name to an invitation for a nonprofits annual fundraiser, and they could even call people and ask them donate  as long as they are not hitting up a source that the ordinance would place off-limits, such as a lobbyist or developer with an application pending before the city.

The ban isnt designed to curb charitable giving; its supposed to help lift the cloud of pay-to-play politics in City Hall, which is already under investigation for possible corruption. Last year, FBI agents raided the offices and home of Councilman Jose Huizar. The Times reported that Huizar had personally asked companies that do business with the city to donate to a private high school that employed his wife as a fundraiser. He didnt report any behested payments. A federal search warrant showed the probe went beyond Huizar, with investigators looking for information from multiple City Hall insiders, including Councilman Curren Price, current and former members of Mayor Eric Garcettis administration and a senior aide to Council President Herb Wesson.

Yes, banning behested payments from a select group of donors with business pending before City Hall probably would reduce donations to a few favored charities. However, the ban would be an important step toward removing the appearance of quid pro quo city decision-making and restoring public trust in government.

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Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who advocates the impeachment of President Trump, held a rousing town hall in his home district Tuesday.

He spoke about Trumps many breaches of public trust. He described the constitutional obligation of Congress to check abuses of power by a president who has shamelessly violated his oath of office.

I want to salute your courage, said a self-identified Vietnam War veteran. At this, applause erupted in the hall. A standing ovation.

In photographs, the crowd looked largely white. Women could be seen in head coverings: Two wore Mennonite doilies, and at least one, Diane Luke, had on a red cap marked Make America Great Again. In a confrontation with Amash, Luke ended up stealing the show.

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When Luke got her hands on the question mic, groans greeted her headgear. A big man stood and shouted. Nevertheless, she persisted.

If you want to go along with the violating the public trust, how far does that go? she asked Amash. Her syntax was faulty but her point was clear: What about accountability for the Democrats, who have done the same thing? Then came the telltale earworms that mark American minds lost to reason: deep state, Hillary Clintons silent coup.

Amash demonstrated the one way out of bewilderment: Ignore propaganda, inform yourself and speak up.

Silent coup is a favorite phrase of Mark Levin, a gonzo conspiracy theorist on Fox News. That wacko meme is further traceable to Russian propaganda from 2016 and a 1991 book, Silent Coup, that argued that President Nixons downfall was set up by Democrats trying to hide  you guessed it  a Democratic National Committee prostitution ring.

It was sorely tempting to tune out Luke while she waxed a tinfoil hat at the town hall. But she was worth listening to. In her halting way she eventually managed not just to get a point across, but to embody that point. In short, she was baffled. She was hoping right-wing folklore would get her out of her bafflement. But it only made her more baffled.

Luke put her confusion on display in the room, which took a measure of courage. For her to pick up political earworms right off the pop charts suggested a certain cognitive vulnerability.

This vulnerability is definitely not confined to town hall audience members. A prominent case is Atty. Gen. William Barr, who echoes Fox News and Russian botnets when he alludes to spying by the Obama administration and Uranium One, a farrago that makes as much sense as leprechaun stories.

As Robert S. Mueller III reminded us Wednesday, American democracy can be infected by scary ideas configured to rile us up. Some people fall so hard for crazy lies, according to former Trumpist troll David Weissman, they enlist in hostile foreign troll armies, repeating and spreading nutcase memes even when it costs them social ties, professional standing and their own sanity.

But others recover or resist. And at Amashs town hall, Lukes common sense, the best inoculation against propaganda, seemed to rally. In her telling, the deep state came down to the bureaucrats.

Suddenly, she was out of Fox News talking points and into her own lived experience.

I dont know if youve ever dealt with a bureaucrat, but its just mind-boggling that we have to deal with them, she said. I have a lot of experience.

Bureaucrats. No kidding. Paperwork and red tape are the day-to-day manifestations of the frayed systems  in healthcare, banking, education, housing, the IRS  that bedevil us all. Think: rejected claims from insurance companies, brief enrollment windows, out-of-network charges, unintelligible terms and conditions. For any American without a coterie of personal lawyers and accountants, life routinely involves demoralizing roadblocks. Mind-boggling is right.

Amash didnt address bureaucracy, which is too bad; its a kitchen-table issue. But he did model a brisk, energetic, focused way of sorting signal from noise with ones full mental capacities. For an infuriated nation that often seems close to moral and intellectual disintegration, Amashs commitment to keeping his mind unboggled is right on.

Luke had accused Amash of turning into a Democrat, in spite of the fact that his voting record is reactionary and straight-up Freedom Caucus. But, even if his votes reflect the worst of libertarianism, Amash at his town hall was an advertisement for thinking for yourself. He had studied the Mueller report and concluded the president had committed impeachable offenses. He was immune to being spoon-fed lies from outlets like Fox News.

Just as Luke had demonstrated bewilderment, Amash demonstrated the one way out of bewilderment: Ignore propaganda, inform yourself and speak up. This should be considered the square-one duty of citizenship. The fact that so many Republicans have shirked that duty is  mind-boggling.

Twitter: @page88

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

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Our letter writers tend to be a generous bunch, often offering their empathy or even donations to the subjects of articles who have hit hard times. But like anyone else, they have their limits  and theyve been hitting those limits a lot lately.

Most recently, in response to an article on the poor jail conditions endured by a man who had been in and out of incarceration most of his life, plenty of unsympathetic readers suggested that the real problem was people who re-offend. Not one expressed much concern about the treatment of inmates.

This actually fits with a pattern lately, with articles on homeless ride-share drivers and a Trump voter whose wife was deported drawing similar reactions.

Mike Lockridge of Mission Viejo believes prison ought to be a terrible place to go:

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I sympathize with and support anyone who made a mistake in life and tries to become a productive citizen. However, anyone who has been to prison numerous times and complains about the conditions does not deserve compassion.

We all have choices to make in life, and some habitual criminals have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars that could have funded higher education, job training and other worthy endeavors. Instead, they have ruined lives or even taken the lives of innocent people.

In my opinion, if some jails or prisons are too crowded, we should build more of them, providing jobs for construction workers, guards and others. I am tired of reading about weight rooms, libraries and recreation facilities for some habitual criminals who will never contribute in a positive way to society.

Prisons are supposed to be a bad place to go.

Lori Coy of Rancho Cucamonga has some advice for a re-offender:

Maybe poor Cody Garland  who has spent much of his life behind bars and who has served at eight different California prisons and who is not happy with his hardest stint at the Sacramento County jail  should try a new approach to life.

Heres my suggestion: Dont break our laws.

Los Angeles resident Paula Del worries about the victims of crime:

So, Garland started his career in crime at age 10 by stealing a car, and now, at age 35, after spending most of his life behind bars for many other convictions, he is disappointed with his lodgings.

Garland is getting substandard medical and psychological care? So are millions of other Americans who happen not to have committed car theft, burglary or identity theft.

In fact, I dont think it would be far-fetched to imagine that the identity theft, one of the numerous crimes which Garland has committed, has caused some of his victims to have to leave their own glaucoma untreated.

When this man says that a spell in solitary caused him to hear voices, all I can say is I hope the voices he heard were those of his victims over the last 25 years.

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Chanting, clapping and occasionally squabbling among themselves, thousands of Democrats on Saturday turned San Francisco into a festival of dissent aimed at driving President Trump from office.

The difference from any other day in this famously liberal bastion was organization and a formal agenda: The gathering was hosted by Californias Democratic Party, which attracted 5,000 delegates and guests and a small platoon of presidential hopefuls to its spring convention.



For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that Beto ORourke focused on a compassionate education system at a MoveOn event in San Francisco. ORourke focused on a compassionate immigration system.

Kamala Harris, the states junior U.S. senator and a presidential contestant, set the fist-shaking tone early on.

Democrats, we have a fight on our hands, she said, and its a fight for who we are as a people. Its a fight for the highest ideals of our nation. And Democrats, with this president, its a fight for truth itself.

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She brought delegates to their feet declaring, We need to begin impeachment proceedings and we need a new commander in chief  a view not shared by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had addressed her hometown San Francisco crowd a short time earlier.

Other White House hopefuls eagerly piled on the president.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called Trump a coward, saying, Hes tearing apart the moral fabric of this country and turning our most cherished principles inside out.

Bay Area Rep. Eric Swalwell said Trumps reality TV presidency was destined for cancellation.

In all, 11 contestants sounded familiar partisan themes, calling for expanded healthcare, protecting a womens right to choose abortion, enacting labor-friendly policies and pursuing vigorous efforts to stem climate change.

A fiery New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker decried the normalizing of mass murder in our country a day after a gunman killed 12 in Virginia Beach, Va. He called for redoubled efforts to pass nationwide gun control legislation. Former Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas proposed a national assault weapons ban.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who along with Booker drew the days most enthusiastic responses, laid out a lengthy and detailed policy plank.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts laid out several planks in her lengthy policy platform. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

We will break up big ag, she vowed. We will break up big banks. We will break up big tech. We will make it easier for workers to join in a union.

In one of the few seeming swipes at a rival, Warren took issue with former Vice President Joe Bidens assertion that GOP lawmakers may come around to compromise under a new Democratic president.

Some say if we all just calm down, the Republicans will come to their senses, Warren said. But our country is in a time of crisis.

The partisan crowd cheered loudly.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg drew a contrast of his own. Comparing himself with his many Washington-based opponents, Buttigieg suggested Trump could be reelected if Democrats offer too much more of the same in 2020.

We better come up with something completely different. And thats where I come in, said the 37-year-old openly gay chief executive of South Bend, Ind. Why not someone who represents a new generation of leaders?

But the sharpest distinction was presented by former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who was roundly booed when he declared that socialism is not the answer to beating Trump. He was booed again when he expressed skepticism about government-run healthcare and the Green New Deal program to fight climate change  proposals that are sacrosanct to the left-leaning activists who made up the bulk of convention delegates.

If were not careful, he chided over the hooting and hollering, were going to end up reelecting the worst president in American history.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee offered a crisp rejoinder when he spoke immediately after Hickenlooper. Im a governor who doesnt think we should be ashamed of our progressive values, he said.

The gathering was the first since the midterm election, when California Democrats ran the table on statewide offices and picked up seven congressional seats, a good chunk of the gains that gave the party control of the House.

Former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas told the crowd in San Francisco that President Trump seeks to divide an already polarized country. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Some presidential hopefuls waited well over an hour during the morning session while statewide officers and legislative leaders took turns at the podium; Gov. Gavin Newsom jokingly referred to himself as the undercard when he spoke.

He held up California as the nations political counterweight to Trump, urging the presidential contestants on hand to pay heed.

We are nothing less than the progressive answer to a transgressive president, Newsom said. Californias what happens when rights are respected, when work is rewarded, when natures protected, when diversity is celebrated and free markets are fair markets.

Pelosi, who drew a rapturous response, portrayed the Democratic-led House as a central player in a watershed moment of history as it investigates the Trump administration.

Recapping the findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III  that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and Trump was not exonerated of obstruction allegations  she pledged that the president will be held accountable for his actions. In the Congress, in the courts and in the court of public opinion, we will defend our democracy.

The response was repeated calls from the crowd for impeachment.

Outside the downtown convention hall, the sidewalks swarmed with delegates, identifiable not just by their credentials but the T-shirts and buttons promoting favored causes: the right to abortion, universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage and opposition to involuntary circumcision.

They posed with cardboard cutouts of Pelosi in fashionable sunglasses and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in an all-white pantsuit and clamored for selfies with Harris, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and other presidential hopefuls.

At a separate event just down the street, the progressive advocacy group MoveOn hosted eight of the candidates to offer one big idea that would reshape politics and society. Most of those who took the stage at the Warfield Theatre showcased proposals they had previously unveiled.

Sanders vowed to bring a halt to endless wars and shift spending on the military toward his plan to vastly expand social services and the safety net. Harris presented her proposal for equal pay, which would heavily tax companies that fail to pay the women in their workforce as much as men doing equal work. In a startling moment, an animal rights activist grabbed Harris microphone before being hustled off the stage.

Gillibrand talked up her plan for universal family leave, ORourke focused on his vision for a compassionate immigration system, and Booker promoted his baby bond proposal that would have the government contribute to a savings account for every American from birth through childhood.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota called for a federal law that would register every American to vote when they turn 18, and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro previewed a plan he will soon unveil to reform police forces nationwide.

Biden, who was notably absent Saturday as he campaigned in Ohio, sought to steal a meager slice of the limelight by announcing that he had received the endorsement of Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who served as Labor secretary in the Obama administration.

One potential presidential candidate used the convention to opt out: Joe Sanberg, the Los Angeles-based entrepreneur who flirted with a poverty-focused campaign, announced he would not pursue the Democratic nomination.

Delegates in San Francisco also elected labor leader Rusty Hicks as California party chairman, succeeding Eric Bauman, who resigned last year following a series of sexual harassment allegations.

Hicks, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, bested Bay Area activist Kimberly Ellis, who narrowly lost to Bauman in 2017.

With 3,162 votes counted, Hicks dominated with 57% of the vote. Ellis received 36% of the votes, and Daraka Larimore-Hall, the partys current vice chair, trailed with just 6%.

Times staff writers Evan Halper in Washington and Christine Mai-Duc and Phil Willon in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Democratic presidential candidates have focused on healthcare, student debt and climate change, but few have given the same level of attention to immigration.

That started to change Friday, as the 2020 hopefuls poured into California, where immigration has been a front-and-center issue for decades.

Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee promised hundreds of immigrant rights advocates at a Pasadena forum that they would push through immediate legislative and executive action if elected.

They railed against President Trumps actions, such as trying to build a border wall and his efforts to ban visitors from several Muslim-majority countries.

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We have a president who is a racist, who is a pathological liar, who thinks that he can win reelection by dividing the American people up based on the color of our skin, or where we were born, or our religion, or our sexual orientation, Sanders said.

At a nearby rally earlier in the day, Sanders told hundreds of supporters that America must never be a country where babies are snatched from the arms of their mothers.

The moderators and questioners from the forum audience pressed the quartet to pursue comprehensive immigration reform  including a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally  within the first 100 days of taking office. Harris, Sanders and Castro agreed; Inslee said he would pursue such legislation as soon as humanly possible.

Harris said Trump built his candidacy on vilifying immigrants, on this multibillion-dollar vanity project of his called the wall. Since then, she said, fear of deportation has affected immigrant families lives: children terrified a parent wont return home from work; a parent avoiding seeking medical care for a child; a rape victim not reporting the crime to law enforcement.

There are real consequences to real human beings, she said. Thats why the first 100 days is important to me.

In committing to pursuing change quickly, Castro obliquely criticized his former boss, President Obama, whom he served as HUD secretary. Obama said he would push for immigration reform in the first year of his tenure  at a time when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress  but instead launched his signature healthcare overhaul.

I think that 2009, 2010, what we learned is dont wait, Castro said. We cant wait this time to push immigration reform.

The candidates pledged to take executive action immediately after taking office to undo many of Trumps policies, including those that ended protection for young people who were brought into the country illegally as children as well as the temporary protected status for immigrants whose home countries are grappling with war or natural disaster.

The forum took place less than 24 hours after Trump announced that he would impose a 5% tax on Mexican imports unless the country stopped Central American migrants from crossing into the United States. The tariffs, which would start in two weeks and escalate monthly until they hit 25%, are expected to cause economic upheaval in the U.S. and Mexico; the plan was panned by some of the presidents Republican allies.

What to watch for at this weekends California Democratic Party convention 

Yet the tariffs were not discussed onstage at the immigration event. Castro later told reporters backstage that Trump has engaged in an erratic trade war with Mexico.

These tariffs are a terrible idea. Theyre going to hurt jobs all over the country, particularly in places like Arizona and Texas, Castro said. They have nothing to do with the end goal that the president has stated.

Although the Democratic field has been vocally opposed to Trumps actions on immigration, few have released detailed policy proposals, a point the forums moderators hammered.

There are 23 candidates. I have only seen three [policy proposals]. That is unacceptable, said Dorian Warren, president of Community Change Action, one of the forums three sponsors. We must demand it from all of the candidates who want to be president of the United States.

Castro, the only Latino in the Democratic field, was the first to unveil a plan in April. In addition to providing a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally, his plan would increase refugee admissions, reimagine border security, end raids targeting asylum seekers and repeal an act that makes crossing the border without permission a criminal violation rather than a civil infraction.

Former Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas released a plan Wednesday that would rescind Trump administration immigration policies; seek a legislative pathway to citizenship for people in the country illegally; cut off federal funding for private, for-profit detention centers; overhaul the immigration court system; send 2,000 attorneys to the border; and invest $5 billion in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to address the root causes of migration.

Inslee released a plan Friday morning that would exceed the target of resettling 110,000 refugees in the U.S. set by the Obama administration in its final year. It would also restore foreign aid to Central American countries to address the causes of migration, including climate change, Inslees signature issue.

At the forum, Inslee attacked the Trump administrations proposal to shift from a family-based to a merit-based immigration system.

What he means by that is, merit means looking like Donald Trump,  Inslee said. That is not what this country means, OK? I believe this: Being a father has merit. Being a mother has merit. Being an uncle has merit. Being an aunt has merit.

The four candidates appeared in Pasadena before heading to the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, where they will court thousands of activists, power brokers and delegates who could be crucial allies in the states March 3 primary, which was moved up from June.

At the Friday forum, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who flirted with a run for president but decided against it, noted how unusual it was to see so many candidates in California.

Isnt this amazing to see presidential candidates come here and talk to us? he said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday called for nationwide background checks on people purchasing ammunition, saying it would be the next phase in the heated debate over gun control.

Newsoms comments came a day after a shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach left 12 people dead and six others wounded.

Talking to reporters after a Saturday morning speech at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, Newsom also criticized President Trump for tweeting his condolences to the Virginia Beach community, saying he had failed to do anything to stem the epidemic of gun violence in America.

Grow up. Recognize and reconcile that we live in the only country in the world where anything like this happens, Newsom said of the president. He has completely failed to address this issue in any meaningful way. The words become insulting the more they are repeated [with] no action to follow them up. His positions are extreme.

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Newsom was the official proponent in 2016 of Proposition 63, which mandated background checks for ammunition purchases, outlawed high-capacity magazines and levied fines for failing to report when guns are stolen or lost. It also created a process for removing guns from people who are convicted of a felony, which puts them in the states Armed Prohibited Persons System.

We just dont need background checks on guns, we need background checks on every single ammunition purchase, Newsom said. We need to get serious about keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous and previously convicted felons, we need to make sure we address the issue of people who are dangerously mentally ill.

California Democratic convention turns into Trump-bashing festival 

The National Rifle Assn. has challenged Proposition 63s gun restrictions in court. Newsom called the NRAs opposition disgraceful and said it will lead to more gun-related deaths. The governors focus on gun control policy was heightened by the mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks that left 12 people dead in November, just a day after he was elected governor.

In his proposed budget, Newsom has incorporated funding increases for a state program to seize guns from thousands more people who are ineligible to possess firearms because of criminal convictions or mental illness, as well as for the Firearms Violence Research Center at UC Davis.

Newsom helped kicked off the state Democratic Partys spring convention in San Francisco, where the governor served two terms as the citys mayor. With 14 Democratic presidential candidates scheduled to address the party delegates, Newsom joked about being the undercard and kept his speech brief.

The governor said the presidential candidates would be wise to embrace the progressive policies and ideals of California, instead of only turning to the state for campaign donations.

Its not just about the ATM now. Its about policy. Its about values. Its about what were framing, not just in the context of resistance but framing a positive alternative to Trump and Trumpism, Newsom said.

Newsom also criticized Trumps vow to impose escalating tariffs on goods imported from Mexico until authorities there stop migrants from entering the U.S. illegally. Newsom said that no state has more to lose economically from the policy than California, a top trading partner with Mexico.

This is a tax on the American people, Newsom said. I hope he comes to his senses.

phil.willon@latimes.com

Twitter: @philwillon
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday it is launching an investigation into the high number of gray whale deaths reported on the West Coast this year to determine whether environmental, human or disease-related causes are to blame.

The investigation was triggered by NOAAs official declaration of an unusual mortality event for the eastern North Pacific population of gray whales, a designation the agency defines as an unexpected and significant die-off of any marine mammal group. More than 60 of these events have been declared since 1991.

Seventy gray whale carcasses have been spotted along the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska since January, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Thats the highest number since 2000, when more than 100 gray whales were reported dead.

Thirty-seven deceased whales have been found in California, including in Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay.

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A dead whale lies near the shore in Pacifica. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

Most whales sink when they die or succumb in remote areas, so the sightings represent only a small fraction of the total number of deaths that may be occurring. Scientists said they expect to see whale deaths increase even more throughout the summer as the animals continue their migration from warm breeding lagoons in Mexico to icy feeding grounds in the Arctic.

NOAAs investigative team will include gray whale experts, oceanographers and scientists who study the Arctic ecosystem, officials said.

The significant die-off of these animals weve seen this year demands an investigation, said Dr. Deborah Fauquier, a veterinary medical officer with the national fisheries services Office of Protected Resources in Silver Spring, Md.

Gray whales are starving to death in the Pacific, and scientists want to know why 

John Calambokidis, a research biologist who tracks gray whales in Washington state, served on the panel that recommended the unusual mortality event designation. However, he emphasized that the uptick hasnt yet reached a level that threatens the entire population of gray whales along the West Coast, which is estimated to number around 27,000.

Calambokidis pointed out that the population rebounded from an unusual mortality event in 1999 and 2000 that was estimated to have resulted in about 6,000 whale deaths.

This is really important to investigate, both to understand the scope of it and to better understand the causes, but Im not alarmed, he said. Were dealing with a population that overall has been very healthy and doing well.

Scientists this year have seen dozens of gray whales showing signs of emaciation, with less muscle mass behind their heads.

Dozens of gray whales have been found dead along the Pacific coast between California and Washington since the beginning of the year, many exhibiting signs of malnutrition. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

When gray whales begin to swim north in late winter  a migration that continues through the spring and summer  their bodies are already under nutritional distress because they havent eaten for months, said Dave Weller, a research wildlife biologist with NOAAs Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla. But this year has been unusual.

We expect animals to be on the thin side, but not necessarily emaciated, he said.

Weller said he suspects the whales might not have gotten enough to eat last summer when they were in the Arctic.

Among other things, NOAAs investigative team will look at whether ecological conditions in the Arctic region, including the retreat of sea ice, are affecting the whales food supply.

Sue Moore, a biological oceanographer at the University of Washington who served on the panel that designated the unusual mortality event, said scientists are studying the relationship between sea ice and the tiny crustaceans called amphipods that gray whales eat.

The whales may have to shift to other prey, such as krill, she said.

Fauquier said determining the cause of the gray whale deaths could take several months to a year, if not more. Scientists were never able to determine a cause for the die-off in 1999-2000, partly because they lacked diagnostic samples from the whales, she said.

Barbie Halaska, necropsy manager with the Marine Mammal Center, removes sections of baleen from a juvenile gray whale that washed up on Limantour Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Back then, researchers conducted fewer than 10 necropsies of gray whales. This year, theyve already conducted at least 20.

Weve been much more successful at being able to necropsy animals and collect samples for this event, she said.

Fauquier asked the public to report sightings of dead or distressed gray whales to NOAAs West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network hotline at (866) 767-6114.
A nine-day survey conducted with potential local voters regarding a possible parcel tax for the Burbank Unified School District has left district officials at a familiar crossroads.

For the second time in just over a year, the Los Angeles-based research firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, known as FM3, presented the local school board with plenty of polling data about a possible tax during a special meeting Tuesday.

District officials are hoping a new tax would succeed where Measure QS failed. The districts previous 10-cents-per-square-foot fee on real property would have generated around $9 million annually at a cost of $170 per year for the average Burbank property owner.

Measure QS fell short of the Proposition 13-mandated two-thirds majority, or 66.7%, by 938 votes in November. The proposed tax received 25,413 votes in support.

FM3 projected last year the measure would receive 65% yes votes and would not pass.

Burbank Unified officials now must decide whether or not to push for another parcel tax and then whether that measure would go on a ballot in either the upcoming March primary or November general election in 2020.

Theres a lot of information to digest before we make our next move, said Roberta Reynolds, president of the Burbank Unified school board. We need to dig into the information.

While Burbank residents acknowledged a need for more local school funding, protecting teachers and preventing cuts, only in one instance did enough voters indicate they would pay to support such issues.

FM3 interviewed 813 registered voters in Burbank from April 30 through May 8 using online surveys, cellphones and landlines.

The interviews were conducted in English, Spanish and Armenian and asked residents about their attitudes about several topics, including the general community, a potential parcel tax, ballot measure wording and a possible sunset clause for the tax.

Like last year, FM3 asked residents recently if they would prefer a $365 flat-fee-per-parcel tax or a return to the 10-cents-per-square-foot tax.

Neither option crossed the 66.7% threshold as 65% of residents said they would either definitely, probably or lean in favor of the 10-cent option, while that percentage was 58% for the flat rate.

FM3 asked the same question last year in the run-up to Measure QS, with 65% wanting the 10-cent tax and 60% choosing the $365 option.

In focus groups, we find a sense of fairness with this with many voters, said FM3 representative John Fairbank, who presented the findings, about the 10-cent measure.

The small guys are paying based on square footage compared to the larger properties, he added.

The percentage of voters leaning toward, probably or definitely voting no was 36% for $365 a year and 30% for the 10-cents option.

While there was a 5% to 6% undecided vote in both polls, Fairbank said he did not think those voters would swing to yes.

They probably are going to trend closer to the nos, Fairbank said.

Since Measure QSs defeat, one of the beliefs held by several backers, including school Supt. Matt Hill, was a lack of information about the districts financial needs ultimately hurt Burbank Unifieds chances.

That theory was behind an awareness campaign in April.

However, knowledge of the districts financial status didnt appear to sway voters much.

Those in favor of the $365 flat tax saw their percentage increase from 58% to 62%, while the 10-cent camp only rose by three percentage points to 68% after voters were informed about the districts financial problems. But that 68% does surpass the two-thirds requirement.

What could be damaging again, however, is a spirited opposition campaign.

Last year, a trio of former board presidents, led by Larry Applebaum, urged voters to not support the proposed parcel tax.

FM3 estimates a similar opposition campaign against a future parcel tax bid could cause a 2%-to-6% drop in the polls in the 2020 elections.

What voters in FM3s most-recent polling did agree upon was the quality of Burbank Unifieds job and the need for more money.

Though the numbers dropped 1% from last year, 63% of possible voters still thought the district was doing an excellent or good job.

Voters overwhelmingly recognized the need for additional funding in the recent polling, with 71% identifying either great or some need, which was up from 65% the year before.

In terms of priorities, providing a science, technology, engineering and math education, otherwise known as STEM, was most important to those interviewed, with 93% supporting that education option.

Retaining and attracting quality teachers came in second at 91%, while 88% wanted their students prepared for college or careers.

FM3s polling also disputed a lack of a termination date or sunset clause, listed as a main reason Measure QS just missed passing during a dissection meeting in February, was negative.

FM3 asked residents in its recent nine days of polling if they preferred a parcel tax that could be ended by voters or one with a 12-year sunset, as is the case with Los Angeles Unifieds proposed Measure EE parcel tax in a special election on Tuesday.

Interviewees told FM3 they preferred no sunset clause compared with a 12-year clause, coming in at 50% and 35% respectively.

Last years Measure QS defeat cost district employees a one-time 3% pay raise, while the district also made cuts to several programs, eliminated three positions, including two directors, in an attempt to close a $3.5-million structural deficit.

Herculean fundraising by several community charities helped save the three teaching jobs, but those efforts only secured funding for the upcoming school year.

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The former fiancee of convicted murderer Daniel Wozniak was sentenced Thursday to 32 months in jail for being an accessory after the fact in two slayings he committed in 2010.

Rachel Buffett, 31, was convicted in September of two counts of being an accessory related to the crimes.

For the record: The original version of this article misspelled Rachel Buffetts last name as Buffet.

She was accused of lying to and misleading investigators about what Wozniak had done and what she knew. Authorities said he confessed to both killings after he called Buffett from jail.

Buffett received a sentence of two years on the first count and eight months on the second. She will receive credit for time already served and for good conduct. The last six months of her sentence will be served on probation.

Buffett is expected to serve between one and two years in Orange County Jail, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy.

At Buffetts sentencing hearing in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Judge Sheila Hanson heard statements from the parents of Wozniaks victims, Sam Herr, 26, of Costa Mesa and Juri Julie Kibuishi, 23, of Irvine, as well as a statement from Buffett.

Rachel Buffett lied to the police, she lied to her friends, she lied to the local and national newspapers and she lied to the nation when she appeared on national television, on the Dr. Phil show and Dateline, proclaiming her innocence, said Herrs father, Steve.

Steve Herr implored the judge to levy the maximum sentence under California law, which is 44 months.

Rachel knew exactly what she was doing. She could have saved us eight years and six months of grief, Herr said.

Our child didnt have to be taken away, said Kibuishis mother, June. She had so much she wanted to accomplish.

All these years, have you shown remorse? June Kibuishi said to Buffett. No, none.

Buffett read a statement saying, Ive always wanted to express my condolences to the Herr and Kibuishi family, adding that she didnt extend her sympathy earlier because she didnt believe they would want to hear from her.

I hope my silence hasnt been interpreted as callous, Buffett said. I wish Sam and Julie were still here. I wish I had never met Daniel Wozniak.

Hanson said she took into consideration that, while Buffett had no previous arrests, she also never acknowledged lying to investigators.

Im struck by feeling that you have never appreciated the gravity of the crimes that you committed, Hanson said.

You lied, she said, adding that the evidence leads the court to believe you planned those statements to investigators.

Wozniak, a community theater actor from Costa Mesa, was found guilty in December 2015 of murdering Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi in May 2010.

Prosecutors said Wozniak was desperate for cash to cover rent and his upcoming wedding, so he hatched a plan to kill Herr and access the bank account where Herr had saved thousands of dollars from his Army service.

After shooting Herr in the attic of a Los Alamitos theater before a scheduled show, Wozniak used Herrs phone to lure Kibuishi to Herrs apartment, where Wozniak shot her twice in the head, authorities said.

After performing in a play, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body so he could hide the pieces at El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach, prosecutors said. He then staged Kibuishis body to appear that Herr had lured her to his apartment and raped her before fleeing.

Police arrested Wozniak at his bachelor party days after the killings, after ATM withdrawals from Herrs bank account led them to him.

Wozniaks brother, Timothy Wozniak of Long Beach, pleaded guilty in December 2016 to being an accessory after the fact. He was sentenced to three years informal probation as part of a plea deal offered by prosecutors in exchange for cooperating with investigators, Murphy said. He also was sentenced to 10 days in jail  time already served  and mandatory enrollment in an anger management program.

julia.sclafani@latimes.com
China has been on the defensive in its tariff fight with the United States, and such restraint is based on the knowledge and confidence of its own economic strength.



For three consecutive years, the contribution of foreign trade to the Chinese economy, measured by the ratio of net export increment to gross domestic product, has been negative. It is domestic demand that has propelled the country's economic expansion.

Last year, the contribution rate of domestic demand amounted to 108.6 percent, Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told Xinhua in an interview.

Specifically, consumer spending contributed 76.2 percent as a major engine. The days when the Chinese economy mainly relying on the troika of export, consumption and investment for growth have been the past.

READY-MADE BUFFER

As the economy has been evolving into a consumption-led model, the Chinese have the confidence to weather the trade war headwind and remain cool and collected, Ning said.

Guo Shuqing, Party chief of the People's Bank of China and chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said the negative effects on China's economy were limited and "completely controllable" since domestic consumption had become the strongest impetus for economic growth.

"Most of the Chinese exports to the U.S. are very suitable for domestic consumption," Guo said. "A large portion of them will be consumed in China's rapidly-expanding market, thanks to the country's ongoing consumption upgrading."

Boosted by improved business environment and enterprises' innovation, China keeps releasing its enormous market potential and propelling consumption upgrading, Ning said.

NON-STOP EFFORTS

In face of external uncertainties and challenges, the country is launching a string of measures to seek progress on the basis of ensuring stability in all fields.

To stabilize employment, the country will continue to encourage entrepreneurship, offer more support to emerging industries, and conduct vocational training for university graduates and those with employment difficulties, Ning said.

Meanwhile, Ning urged the acceleration of investment within the central government's budget to step up infrastructure construction, enhance public services, and promote the upgrading of manufacturing technologies and facilities.

Central budgetary investment is also encouraged in building new infrastructures in the telecommunication and Internet industries, while more measures will be unveiled to attract private investment in key fields.

Vowing to create a more open and friendly environment for foreign investors, China will introduce a shortened negative list for foreign investment by the end of June, and make moves to boost foreign investment in the central and western regions.

More efforts will be made to better serve significant foreign investment projects in new energy vehicle and new petrochemical industries, with investment scales up to more than 10 billion U.S. dollars, Ning said.

Ning stressed that although the temporary volatility in external environment could affect market expectations, in the long run, the positive prospect on the Chinese economy would boost business morale.

"Confidence in the Chinese market will definitely be growing given the stable, healthy and sustainable development of the economy," he said.
A former Marine suspected of killing a 30-year-old woman after she left a Costa Mesa restaurant has been charged with murder 43 years later, authorities said Friday.

Eddie Lee Anderson, 66, is charged with one count of murder with a special allegation of rape, according to the Orange County district attorneys office. The criminal complaint was filed in Orange County Superior Court on May 24, the day Anderson was arrested at his home in River Ridge, La. The file is under seal pending his extradition to California, the district attorneys office said.

Anderson is in the custody of the Plaquemines Parish Sheriffs Office in Louisiana and was scheduled for an extradition hearing Friday, authorities said.

Anderson is accused in the death of Leslie Penrod Harris, who disappeared the night of May 17, 1976, and was found strangled hours later.

Harris argued with her husband before leaving a Costa Mesa restaurant alone around 8:30 p.m., saying she would take a taxi back to the hotel where they were staying, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. But she never made it there. She was found dead at about 4:30 the next morning near Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, The Times reported. Military police found Harris nude body lying on a roadway just outside the air bases perimeter.

The Marine base has since been decommissioned, and Irvines Great Park was built on part of it.

The Times reported that Harris and her husband, John, were staying at the Airporter Inn in Irvine. They had recently moved to the area, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Department. Its unclear where they moved from.

The Times reported that Harris husband filed a missing-person report with the Costa Mesa Police Department, leading to Harris identification.

At the time, investigators believed the killer was connected to the air base because Harris body was discovered in an area unknown to the general public, the Sheriffs Department said in a news release Thursday announcing Andersons arrest. However, authorities had no suspects and the case went cold.

Investigators tried to revive the case in 1997 and 2016 following advancements in DNA analysis, but no matches to the evidence collected were found, authorities said.

In 2018, the Orange County Homicide Task Force began using genealogy tools to try to identify a suspect in Harris killing. Genealogical DNA testing seeks to find a persons genealogical relationships or estimate his or her ethnic mixture.

Earlier this year, a lead enabled investigators to build a genealogy profile, and county homicide investigators, with the help of the FBIs Investigative Genealogy Unit, were able to identify Anderson as a person of interest. FBI officials declined to comment Friday about the methods used to identify Anderson.

Eddie Lee Anderson (Courtesy of Orange County Sheriffs Department)

Further investigation led authorities to determine that Anderson had been enlisted in the Marines and lived at the El Toro base in the early 1970s. At the time Harris was killed, he lived less than a mile from the restaurant she visited the night of her death, officials said.

Further information about Andersons military service was not immediately available Friday.

Orange County sheriffs officials traveled to Louisiana last week to interview him. He was arrested after volunteering to provide a DNA sample, authorities said.

Through both traditional DNA and genealogical DNA, we now have the opportunity to solve decades-old cases that would have otherwise been left unsolved, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement Thursday. These victims and their families have been waiting for justice for decades, and the addition of genealogical DNA is now helping us to advance our efforts to achieve justice for crime victims.

Genealogical DNA techniques also were used this year to identify James Alan Neal as the suspect in the 1973 killing of 11-year-old Linda Ann OKeefe in Newport Beach.

Investigators asked that anyone with information about the Harris case call Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6227.

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The daughter of a 92-year-old Huntington Beach woman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing her, according to police.

The arrest of Cynthia Strange, 64, of Irvine came after weeks of investigation, police said. Stranges mother, Ruth, was found dead at her home in the 6800 block of Vista del Sol Drive on Sept. 4.

Officers went to Ruth Stranges home just before 11 a.m. that day after getting a call from someone saying she could not be reached, police said. The caller had tried to pick her up for a doctors appointment, officials said.

When Ruths body was found, detectives began a homicide investigation because of suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, police said.

The investigation led to evidence linking Cynthia Strange to the case, according to police. She was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into Huntington Beach Jail. She was being held without bail.

Her arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, according to the Orange County district attorneys office.

Police did not release other details, as the investigation is continuing.

Neighbors said Wednesday that Ruths body was found in the pool, though police would not confirm that or discuss other circumstances of her death.

Residents said authorities have been to Ruths home repeatedly since Sept. 4, talking to neighbors and inspecting the scene.

Neighbors said Ruth used to sell Mary Kay cosmetics but in recent years wasnt very mobile and wasnt often seen leaving the house. Her husband, Bob, who died a few years ago, was much more active and would walk the neighborhood and put birdseed on the lawn to attract ducks, neighbors said.

Since her husbands death, neighbors said, a car belonging to a daughter of Ruths was seen in the driveway nearly every day.

Some neighbors who had seen the daughter come and go said they didnt recognize the police mugshot of Cynthia. It was unclear how many daughters Ruth had. Family members could not immediately be reached Wednesday, and police had no comment.

UPDATES:

1:50 p.m. Oct. 3: This article was updated with additional details from neighbors and authorities.

This article was originally published at 8:45 p.m. Oct. 2.
While news of Pete Buttigiegs run for president generated headlines this year, the lineage of openly gay political candidates stretches back decades  and its roots are in Laguna Beach.

Before South Bend, Ind.s Mayor Pete became a household name, there was Mayor Bob Gentry, a soft-spoken but aggressively progressive politician who served on the Laguna Beach City Council from 1982 to 1994. Gentry has carried the mantle of being Californias first openly gay mayor since he assumed the role in 1983, the first of three one-year mayoral terms.

Gentry, in turn, inspired the political aspirations of another Laguna Beach resident, Fred Karger, whose 2012 bid for the Republican nomination made him the first openly gay presidential candidate.

Now, Karger, 69, a former political strategist, has thrown his support behind Democrat Buttigieg, whom he sees as carrying the torch from Gentry, through Karger.

This guy  all you have to do is see him once and he just kind of pulls you in, Karger said of Buttigieg. Its a unique kind of charisma.

In a few weeks, Karger and his partner, Joe Wagner, will co-host a sold-out fundraiser for Buttigieg in Beverly Hills. He reached his own $2,800 maximum campaign contribution weeks ago.

I think hell make a wonderful president insomuch as he is a great conciliator, said Karger, who added that he has not voted Republican in the past several elections. He gets along with people. Hes not a shoot-from-the-hip, attack kind of person.

Karger does have one bone to pick with Buttigieg, though: Everyone keeps calling him the first openly gay presidential candidate.

For the past several months, Karger has set out on a campaign to correct any media outlet that makes that claim. He put Buttigiegs name and first openly gay candidate for president on Google alerts so he could immediately fact-check articles. So far, Karger said, he has contacted more than 20 outlets for corrections, including the New York Times, Fox News, Business Insider and Newsweek.

Karger doesnt hold it against Buttigieg or the reporters. He understands he was not the greatest-known candidate and never made it to a presidential debate. The self-described student of LGBTQ history just wants to set the record straight.

My historic candidacy will not be erased, Karger said.

In many ways, Kargers candidacy could not have been more different than Buttigiegs. Karger, a self-titled Rockefeller Republican, curated a by-the-book conservative career, working on the presidential campaigns of Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and rising through the ranks as a political strategist.

The times were different too. In 2012, gay marriage hadnt become legal nationwide. President Barack Obama had just overturned the Dont ask, dont tell policy, allowing LGBTQ people to serve openly in the military. There werent as many laws banning conversion therapy.

But like Buttigieg, who harked back to his closeted youth in his candidacy announcement, Karger wanted to inspire the LGBTQ communitys next generation with his run.

I really wanted to let these younger people know that anything you want to do, you can do  even run for president, Karger said. And that message that Pete, with his huge, huge platform that he has now, is resonating. You cant imagine the impact that has.

Despite their opposing parties, Karger said Buttigieg charmed him immediately. The two met briefly in February at the Brooklyn Library, where Buttigeig was holding a book signing for his newly released memoir, Shortest Way Home.

Buttigiegs inscription on the front page of Kargers copy reads: For Fred Karger, a trailblazer who made it a little easier for those who follow your path.

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg signed Fred Kargers copy of his recently released memoir, Shortest Way Home. (Courtesy of Fred Karger)

Yet, Karger may have never run for office without Gentrys example or support.

Growing up, Karger said he never had any openly gay political role models. He was already an adult when San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk became Californias first openly gay elected official in 1977.

So when he read as a 32-year-old in 1983 that Laguna Beach had chosen its first openly gay mayor, Karger was just in awe and disbelief.

I never thought it was possible for me, Karger said. This is now a possibility ... far beyond Laguna Beach.

Gentry announced his sexual orientation a year after his election. He made protecting the LGBTQ community a pillar of his time on the council.

Laguna Beach had always been a safe haven for artists, hippies, yippies, whatever group was kind of on the margins, Gentry said. And the gay and lesbian community was one of those on the margins.

Gentry proposed an anti-discrimination clause that passed the City Council, as did a domestic partnership ordinance he proposed to recognize same-sex couples.

We were able to correct legislatively ... and kind of set a new standard for the city, Gentry said.

Gentry also led Laguna Beach through a difficult period when it had one of the nations highest per capita rates of AIDS. He lost his partner of 15 years, Michael Gary Burdick, to the disease. He became a staunch advocate for AIDS awareness and education.

There have been plenty of openly gay politicians  but they just kind of went along with things, Karger said. They were not Bob Gentry  they were not aggressively  passing important laws and being visible and doing the kinds of things he did.

Bob Gentry, third from right, served three terms as Laguna Beachs first openly gay mayor. (Courtesy of BC Space Archives)

Karger finally met his role model in 2006 during the heart of Kargers effort to save the Boom Boom Room, an iconic gay bar that closed a year later. Karger reached out to the retired mayor at his home in the desert.

I told him I was very scared because I had been very closeted and suddenly I was going to be saving a gay bar. People put two and two together, Karger recalled. He told me, Dont be afraid, youre doing the right thing. Just do it. And that for me, when I was kind of determining how active I wanted to get, was life-altering.

Gentry was one of the first people Karger called when considering a run for president.

I was just blown away that somebody gay and open ran  and then became a very, very effective, aggressive, accomplished mayor, Karger said of Gentry. Now I think of Pete on the stage with that message for the world to LGBTQ youth.  Thats so impactful, so important.

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Nearly 46 years after the lifeless body of 11-year-old Linda Ann OKeefe was found among the cattails in Newport Beachs Back Bay, Orange County prosecutors announced Wednesday that theyve charged a Colorado man in the girls death.

James Alan Neal, 72, faces one special circumstances murder count  making the case eligible for the death penalty  along with proposed sentencing enhancements for kidnapping and lewd and lascivious acts.

The significant arrest for the brutal sexual assault and murder of Linda OKeefe is an affirmation to never give up on solving cold cases, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

If convicted, Neal faces a minimum of life in prison without parole. Spitzer is assessing whether to pursue capital punishment.

Death may be a consideration in this case, he said at a Wednesday morning press conference in Santa Ana. There is a process in place to consider death, and I will follow that process.

Linda Ann OKeefe, an 11-year-old Newport Beach girl, disappeared July 6, 1973, while walking home from summer school in Corona del Mar. Her body was found a day later in Newport Beachs Back Bay, police said. (Newport Beach Police Department)

Genetic material run through a genealogical website, Family Tree DNA, pointed investigators to Neal in January, Spitzer said, however he would not comment on whether the DNA directly matched the suspect or belonged to a relative.

As a result of genealogical submission they got an indication that James Alan Neal might be the suspect, Spitzer said.

Through good, old-fashioned police work, officers pursued Neal as a suspect and, during surveillance, collected a DNA sample from him, Spitzer said.

Neal was arrested without incident Tuesday by local authorities in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he remains in custody and, barring any legal challenges, awaits extradition to California, Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said.

The charges against Neal are sealed.

Neal, previously known as James Alan George Layton, lived in the Newport Beach area with his family at the time of the OKeefes death, the district attorney said.

He left the area shortly after this particular murder, Spitzer said.

Layton moved to Florida and changed his surname to Neal following an incident there, though Spitzer declined to elaborate.

At this time we are not discussing his criminal history, Spitzer said.

Neal later moved to Colorado.

Linda vanished on July 6, 1973, while walking home from summer school at what was then Lincoln Intermediate (now Lincoln Elementary) in Corona del Mar. Her body, still clad in a white dress adorned with blue flowers that her mother had sewn, was found the next day in a ditch along Back Bay Drive. She had been strangled, her body discarded in the brush.

Her parents are deceased, though her two sisters are still alive and have been notified of the arrest, Lewis said.

OKeefes case is fresh on the minds of law enforcement and area residents because it was the topic of a 2018 media campaign on Twitter called #LindasStory, where Newport police revisited the case on its 45th anniversary, narrating the events that preceded her death in OKeefes imagined voice.

The Twitter campaign coincided with the release of a video overview of the case and a computer-generated profile of the suspect based on DNA.

A DNA profile of a possible suspect in the 1973 slaying of 11-year-old Linda Ann OKeefe in Newport Beach shows what the man might have looked like then, left, and what he might look like now. (Courtesy of Newport Beach Police Department) (Courtesy of Newport Beach Police Department)

Parabon NanoLabs, a medical laboratory based in Virginia, used DNA evidence to create a facial composite and calculate information about gender, ancestry, freckles, skin tone, and eye and hair color. The lab provided two profiles: one of a man in his mid-20s and another detailing what he might look like today in his late 60s or early 70s.

Police said that when they released the profile they hoped it would provide a break in finding Lindas killer after an investigation spanning four decades. The suspect snapshot did not lead to Neals arrest, authorities said.

While the Twitter campaign did not directly lead to the identification of the suspect, the anniversary of the murder and the public awareness campaign reinvigorated interest and urgency to crack the cold case, Newport Beach police said. Lindas photo hangs on the wall of the police departments detective unit.

Retired Newport Beach Police Officer Stan Bressler was on duty when OKeefes body was discovered. A patrol officer in 1973, he remembers responding to Back Bay Road and spreading out across the road while searching the crime scene.

Bressler lived in Costa Mesa at the time and had three school-aged kids, so the case resonated.

Things like that just didnt occur in Newport Beach back then so it was a shock to everybody, Bressler said. It hit the department really hard.

Id always hoped that theyd get the guy, Bressler said.
Timothy Wozniak  older brother of Daniel Wozniak, a Costa Mesa man convicted of murdering two people in 2010  was sentenced Thursday to three years of informal probation after he pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in his brothers crimes.

Timothy Wozniak, 42, of Long Beach had previously pleaded not guilty to the felony charge in connection with the shooting deaths of Samuel Herr, 26, of Costa Mesa and Herrs friend Juri Julie Kibuishi, 23, of Irvine.

On Thursday, Timothy Wozniak also was sentenced to 10 days in jail  time already served  and mandatory enrollment in an anger management program, according to Orange County Superior Court records.

His decision to change his plea was part of a deal offered by prosecutors, Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said Friday. He could have faced up to 18 months in prison if convicted at trial, Murphy said.

He cooperated with police, he had excellent representation and he did the right thing and apologized to the families during Thursdays hearing, Murphy said.

Daniel Wozniak, 32, was convicted this year and sentenced to death for the two killings and a gruesome cover-up that included beheading Herrs body and staging Kibuishis body to look like Herr had sexually assaulted her.

In interviews with police after his arrest, Daniel Wozniak confessed to the slayings on video after calling his then-fiancee, Rachel Buffett, from a jailhouse phone.

During the recorded phone conversation, Buffett told Daniel Wozniak that she planned to tell police about evidence that Timothy Wozniak had mentioned in passing. Prosecutors said the evidence included the murder weapon Daniel Wozniak had given to his brother to hide or burn.

Daniel Wozniak, a community theater actor seeking money to cover his rent and fund his upcoming wedding and honeymoon, hatched a plot to kill Herr, his neighbor in the Camden Martinique apartment complex off Pinecreek Drive. He sought to steal $62,000 that Herr had saved from his military service in Afghanistan.

On May 21, 2010, Daniel Wozniak lured Herr, an Orange Coast College student, to an attic at a Los Alamitos theater under the guise of needing help moving furniture, prosecutors said. In a recorded interview with police presented during his trial, he said he shot Herr in the back of the head.

Later, Daniel Wozniak  who at the time of the murders was performing as the lead in the musical Nine at the Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton  used an ax and a saw to remove Herrs head, hands and a tattooed forearm from his body before dumping the parts in a Long Beach park, authorities said.

As part of an attempt to deceive detectives, he used Herrs cellphone to send messages to Kibuishi, who was tutoring Herr, shortly after midnight May 22 to lure Kibuishi to Herrs apartment, where he shot her twice in the head. He then partially removed Kibuishis clothes and staged her body to look like Herr had sexually assaulted her and fled, according to prosecutors.

Police arrested Daniel Wozniak on May 26, 2010  two days before his scheduled wedding  while he was at his bachelor party in Huntington Beach. ATM withdrawals from Herrs account had led police to him.

He was able to acquire only $2,000 of Herrs money before his arrest, authorities said.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
Dont stop them now, because come Monday night, members of the UC Irvine community are gonna have a good time when the universitys 20th annual student film festival, Zotfest, opens at the Irvine Barclay Theatre with the musical short film Dont Stop Us Now.

The film, directed by senior Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp and inspired by the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, is the first of 10 student films that will be showcased at the Barclay. This is the third year the festival has featured an opening musical film but the first year it has been formally held at the theater.

Zotfest began in 1999 with the campuss Film-Arts-Drama Alliance and is the oldest student-run film festival in the University of California system. The 2019 festival is directed by senior Sarah Brandenburg in coordination with Desha Dauchan, an assistant professor of film and media studies at UCI.

Brandenburg, who also was the student director for last years Zotfest, will be graduating from the university in a few weeks.

Ive been really interested in film festivals, she said. I saw there was an opening two years ago and didnt know if I was going to get it, but I ended up getting it and was kind of thrown into hot water. But Im really glad that I did.

Its really given me a lot of experience and I really have enjoyed doing it. But I cant wait to pass the torch off.

Students can be awarded in one of eight categories: Best Director, Peoples Choice, Best Performance, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound Design and the coveted Golden Anteater award for Best Picture.

Zotfest also will include a panel of industry professionals who graduated from or are associated with the Irvine campus, including Dauchan, cinematographer Allen Ho, writer and director Sahar Jahani, producer Ivan Williams and director and producer Roxy Shih. Discussion will focus on the changing landscape of film and television creation and distribution.

The festival includes students from all over the campus, not just the film and media studies department.

We want to give a platform to our students. We have a lot of diverse, unique voices and we want their stories to be told, Brandenburg said.

We have students from all schools submitting films, and we open [the festival] to the public to demonstrate to members of the community and film industry representatives, she added. Weve really reached out to the community and are having people not necessarily involved on campus to be involved [in Zotfest].

What sets Zotfest apart from other film festivals is the big musical film project, Brandenburg said. The films are typically based on recent movies. Last years was spun out of The Greatest Showman. Two years ago, it was based on La La Land.

[The musicals] gained views not just at the festival but as promotion for the campus and showing how big the arts are here, Brandenburg said. At UCI, the arts are overshadowed because its a research school, so its very science-oriented. People dont realize how much talent is at UCI.

Having this festival  gives a voice to that side of campus, because now people are also coming to UCI because of the arts.

IF YOU GO

What: Zotfest

When: 6 p.m. Monday

Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive

Cost: Free, but tickets are required

Tickets: bit.ly/2KkwMee

Information: Opening remarks and Dont Stop Us Now will begin at 6:15 p.m. Other screenings of student films will follow. Panel discussions are slated for 9 p.m., and awards are expected to be handed out at 10. Parking is available at the Student Center parking structure for $2 per hour or $10 for the day.

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The local organization called Associates of Brand Cultural Arts Center was formed 50 years ago this month, during the final stages of an expansion of Brand Library in 1969.

The library had opened its doors to the public 13 years before, in 1956, in a house constructed for Leslie and Mary Louise Brand.

Inspired by the East Indian Pavilion during an 1893 visit to the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the Brands commissioned local architect Nathaniel Dryden to build their home in a somewhat similar style.

It was completed in 1904 and named El Miradero.

Brand later deeded nearly 500 acres of his northwest Glendale property to the city for a public park. He also gifted the house, upon the death of his widow, with the stipulation that it be used as a library.

Mary Louise Brand died in 1945 and, four years later  after a lot of legal wrangling  the city appropriated funds to develop the library and the park, according to the Oct. 3, 1969, edition of the Glendale News-Press.

By 1956, the mansion had been converted into a library.

Designated as the art and music section of the Glendale Public Library, it opened with 824 books, 15 periodicals, 196 art prints and 45 frames, along with 1,294 phonograph records, as noted in a Brand Library leaflet found in a scrapbook maintained by the associates.

The leaflet also stated that both the park and the library were immediately popular, and that it quickly became obvious to city administration and civic-minded residents that the library was too small to quell the cultural thirst in Glendale.

In 1965, the city allocated funds to construct a 21,000-square-foot addition to provide art galleries, an assembly room and studios, also according to the Oct. 3, 1969, News-Press.

A local architectural firm, Charles Walton Associates, was hired for the addition.

Early in 1969, anticipating a spring opening, Jack Ramsey, chief librarian, asked several prominent citizens to plan the opening festivities.

Committee members were Mrs. Donald P. Hunter, Mrs. Charles Walton, Mrs. Robert Hull, Mrs. Charles Reinhart, the Elliot House, Eric Schneirsohn and Paul Galleher.

Soon realizing that interest in the new facility was great and that all residents should have the opportunity to share in the excitement, the committee proposed forming themselves into a nonprofit group to raise money.

Funds would be used for activities and equipment for the Library and art center, according to the June 18, 1969, edition of the News-Press.

The City Council ratified formation of the Associates of Brand Cultural Arts Center on June 17 of that year.

To kick off the librarys opening, the associates planned a glamorous black-tie affair with a $5 per-person donation.

Delays pushed the dedication date to the fall and, on Oct. 4, the associates celebrated their formation and the opening of the new art center with a series of events.

The Associates of Brand Library & Art Center (as the organization is now known) will celebrate 50 years with several events highlighting the groups role in developing the Brand into a significant regional resource.

A public event called Party Like Its 1969 will be held on Oct. 4, with a commemorative $5 per-person donation to enter the retro-1960s celebration  1960s-style clothing is optional.

In an email, Arlene Vidor, president of Brand Associates, wrote, Well have music of that era, and itll just be a fun and free-wheeling evening at Brand, appreciating what a jewel of a cultural landmark we are so fortunate to have in Glendale.

Readers Write:

Marilyn Chrisman emailed to say that she enjoyed the column about the Los Angeles Breakfast Club that ran on April 20.

It brought back a lot of memories. The family had been members since its beginning and used to take me along sometimes when I was just young, and I went later as well, she wrote.

I would sit with the grown-up ladies by ourselves, while the men would be at the Rooster table. The Ham and Egg song was always a favorite with me, she added.

Diane Dixon, who provided information about her great-grandfather, L.E. Behymer, for the above-mentioned story, said in an email that she had given me the wrong date for her parents wedding.

If there were one date I should get right, it would be the wedding date, she wrote.

It was not on Nov. 27 as printed, but on Nov. 28. She added that four generations of her family have been married on Nov. 28  her fathers parents in 1900, her parents in 1947, Dixon and her husband in 1980 and their younger daughter in 2013.

Glendale News-Press columnist Joylene Wagner emailed that she enjoyed the column about Diane Dixons family.

Everybody has history, and we know so little of it, she wrote.

Katherine Yamada can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o Glendale News-Press, 453 S. Spring St., Suite 308, Los Angeles, CA 90013. Please include your name, address and phone number.

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Glendale Adventist Medical Center on Friday brought community leaders and physicians together to introduce an official name and brand change coming this summer.

Starting at the end of July, the Glendale hospital will be known as Adventist Health Glendale. It is part of a larger 21-hospital ministry system known as Adventist Health, which will change its name to One Adventist Health. The rebranding is part of an effort to better align all of the hospitals under a more uniform mission, hospital officials said.

The changes are not the result of a sale or merger.

In an earlier statement announcing the plans, Glendale Adventist officials said everyday operations at the medical center will remain essentially unchanged. However, there will be new signage and logos throughout the hospital.

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At the Friday event, Kevin Roberts, chief executive of Glendale Adventist, addressed the upcoming transition to a small room full of city leaders and hospital staff that included Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge), Glendale Mayor Paula Devine and other members of City Council.

Roberts said the hospitals mission will now be more aligned with the One Adventist Health vision, where coming together under one strategy will lead to benefits such as better clarity, efficiency and accountability.

Our health system is now focusing on being more aligned, more consistent and more reliable in terms of all the different ministries and how they function, Roberts said.

He added that the new name already fits because community members often refer to the hospital as simply Adventist anyway.

Before the close of the event, Portantino presented the hospital with a congratulatory award for the unveiling of the new brand on behalf of the state Senate.

This isnt the first name change for the 112-year-old medical center. When it first opened in 1905, it was known as Glendale Sanitarium. It was later called Glendale Hospital and Sanitarium until 1977, when it adopted its current name after joining the Adventist Health system of hospitals.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda
The year 2020 will ring in the 100th anniversary of the clause arbitrated by a U.S. president in the Treaty of Sevres that called for what became known as Wilsonian Armenia. What better way for our city to honor and celebrate that history and elevate its importance than with participation in the 2020 Rose Parade?

If the city of Glendale could once again support a float for the Rose Parade, or work in tandem with the American Armenian Rose Float Assn., this would be an opportunity for those of Armenian and also of American heritage to collaborate and honor our shared history. We have an unrivaled friendship between us, so lets combine our efforts to share our historical pride with the world.

Many people do not know about President Woodrow Wilsons legacy to Armenia, but we can present the treaty and Wilsons legacy with pride. Lets use this unique opportunity to teach the world about Wilsons vision of Wilsonian Armenia. Its time to float!

Rachel Melikian

Glendale
June 1 marks World Reef Day, created by a partnership of Hawaiian businesses. Their goal? To bring awareness to the declining health of the oceans coral reefs.

Although reefs occupy less than 1% of the ocean floor, they are home to more than 25% of marine life. Worldwide, coral is dying because of rising sea temperatures, industrial pollution, plastic pollution, overfishing, sewage, chemical sunscreens and unmanaged high-density tourism.

Hawaiis coral reefs, which edge up close to the shore, are particularly endangered. This vulnerability explains the action that local lawmakers, businesses and organizations are taking to protect the states marine environments. Heres what you can do  as a traveler and citizen  to help.

Use reef-safe sunscreen

A severely bleached branching coral among minimally bleached boulder coral. After two consecutive years of marine heat waves, scientists say that some corals in the Great Barrier Reef off Australia may never return to their previous state. (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)

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Several chemicals commonly used in sunscreens, including oxybenzone and octinoxate, have been shown to cause bleaching in coral. Based on these findings, Hawaii has banned the sale of sunscreens using these chemicals starting in 2021.

But locals arent waiting until then. In April 2018, Raw Elements USA, a reef-safe sunscreen company and a founder of World Reef Day, began a partnership with Hawaiian Airlines to tell Hawaii-bound passengers of the chemical dangers to reefs.

Use a water-resistant, non-nanotized (with ingredients 100 nanometers in diameter or more) mineral-based formulation, which will keep your skin protected and coral reefs safe. Make sure the ingredients include zinc oxide, which provides UVA and UVB broad-spectrum sun protection.

Wearing a long-sleeve, sun-safe rash guard provides excellent protection, too, and reduces your need for sunscreen.

Keep off coral

Although it may resemble rock, reef structures are alive with tiny coral polyps. When they are touched, stepped on or used to moor a boat, the creatures can be harmed.

Use the snorkeling mantra, Two fins up for coral, and keep your body and items off coral anytime you visit.

Choose reef-safe activities and tour operators

Booking activities with a Certified Sustainable Tour Operator will help ensure you arent contributing to environmental degradation. The nonprofit Hawaii Ecotourism Assn. is a third-party entity that supplies such certifications.

More than 40 operators have been certified on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii Island, and the list is growing.

Requirements for certification include training guides in local culture and natural resources as well as sustainable practices of waste disposal, water conservation, energy efficiency and education. Feeding and swimming with marine life are never permitted.

Look for the blue sustainability tourism certification seal or ask a concierge for reef-safe activity options. If you are uncertain about an outfit, question operators about their practices.

Consume sustainably sourced seafood

Overfishing can cause imbalances in the delicate ecosystems surrounding coral reefs. Fishing implements, such as lines and traps, can cause physical harm to reefs and the surrounding marine habitat.

To help make informed choices about seafood purchases, download the Monterey Bay Aquariums Seafood Watch app. This resource is user-friendly and convenient and offers other choices for fish or shellfish listed as Avoid.

Through the Find Seafood Near You function, you can access a list of restaurants and seafood purveyors committed to sustainable seafood. If a restaurant isnt listed, ask whether the establishment uses a sustainably sourced catch.

Avoid single-use plastics

Wrapped plastic straws at a cafe in San Francisco, where tiny coffee stirrers and cup pluggers are banned. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

In Hawaii, single-use plastic bags are banned, and Maui and Hawaii counties (as of July 1) have bans on the use of polystyrene (a.k.a. Styrofoam) food containers.

Although a proposed ban on plastic straws did not pass in 2018, many businesses are voluntarily phasing them out. San Francisco and Seattle have banned their use, and several cruise lines are phasing them out as well.

Hawaii lawmakers are considering an outright ban on all single-use plastics common in the food and beverage industry, including plastic bottles and utensils.

This may seem extreme, but plastic pollution may cause significant damage to marine ecosystems. Additionally, the cost to locals to clean up this waste, found all over the islands, is becoming increasingly significant. The less plastic people use, the less plastic is likely to end up on beaches, in the water and in the stomachs of marine life.

Consider buying your own reusable utensils, bottles and food containers and carrying them with you.

All these considerations come down to the idea to travel pono. In the Hawaiian language, pono means to do what is right, said Lauren Blickley, program director of the Hawaii Ecotourism Assn. To travel pono is to travel consciously and with respect for the local community, environment and wildlife.

This includes giving space to wildlife, not touching coral, respecting private property and supporting local businesses.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
You are here: China

China made solid steps in 2018 toward the goals of ecology and environment under the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), according to a recent communique.



The country's ecological and environmental quality improved continuously last year, with pollutant discharge and carbon dioxide emissions being further reduced, said the communique issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

County-level areas with good air quality accounted for 44.7 percent of the country's total land size, up 2.7 percent year on year, while carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP dropped about 4 percent, 0.1 percentage points higher than the annual target.

Some 338 cities enjoyed more good air in 2018, with average number of good air quality days up 1.3 percentage points and the density of PM2.5 declining 9.3 percent from the previous year.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region reported good air quality on 50.5 percent of days, up 1.2 percentage points from one year earlier, while the share of good air quality days in the Yangtze-River Delta increased 2.5 percentage points to 74.1 percent.

Water quality also improved last year, seeing an increase of 3.1 percentage points in surface water cross sections categorized as good-quality.

The MEE also reported a notable improvement in the marine ecosystem and environment. Inshore waters of good quality accounted for 74.6 percent, up 6.7 percentage points from 2017.

Sea areas with the highest level of water quality expanded by about 20,000 sq km last summer, MEE data showed.

Bai Qiuyong, an official with the ministry, attributed such improvement to the country's effective measures on protecting marine ecosystem and environment.

According to the 13th Five-Year Plan, China aims to see a more than 80-percent annual average share of good quality days by 2020, and improve the share of surface water of the third quality level or higher to at least 70 percent.

To achieve such ecological and environmental targets, the central government provided fiscal support worth 255.5 billion yuan (about 37.03 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018.

China should continue its tough battle against pollution and seek further improvement of ecological and environment quality, Bai said.




Su Chii-cherng, head of the Taiwan government office in Osaka, committed suicide in September after he was criticized in mainstream news reports for not having made arrangements to rescue Taiwanese tourists temporarily stranded at a typhoon-flooded Japanese airport.

As it turned out, the foreign ministry in Taipei said, the 61-year-old diplomat was not allowed to send in vehicles, which meant the criticism, based on an unidentified travelers tip, was not justified. High-level Taiwanese officials are now citing the incident as they seek to strengthen penalties for the spread of what they deem false reports on natural disasters and food safety.

Taiwan is one of at least seven countries across eastern Asia that have recently enacted or are considering laws to limit or gain access to information about internet reports that officials claim are false, speculative, exaggerated, or truthful yet hurtful. As does President Trump, they often lump such reports under a vague, and often misleading, heading: fake news.

RELATED: How WhatsApp is battling misinformation in India, where fake news is part of our culture 

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For nations with one-party rule, regulations squelching false or sensitive stories emanating from social media would result in an expansion of longstanding controls over the traditional mass media.

Such efforts have been on the rise over about the last two years due in part to the difficulty of identifying the authors of encrypted messages sent on social media, said Cedric Alviani, east Asia bureau director with the French-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders.

In these nations, the dramatic rise of smartphones has sent social media and overall internet use spiraling. Smartphone shipments to six emerging Southeast Asian countries tracked by market research firm IDC totaled 100 million in 2017, up from 22.5 million in 2012.

Government officials in Southeast Asia are focusing on social media commentary that causes reputation harm to themselves and their institutions, said James Gomez, board chair with the nonprofit human rights group Asia Centre in Bangkok.

Unlike in the U.S., where Trump is attacking to do reputation damage to the fact-based traditional media, he said, in Asia, government representatives are focused on discrediting critics.

In Thailand, authorities, citing fake news, have been strengthening their 12-year-old Computer Crimes Act to stop anti-government criticism, regardless of whether the statements are true. The law, initially aimed at stopping slights to the monarchy, has expanded to discourage criticism of the military government that took power in 2014, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

In Cambodia, a regulation issued in June authorized an inter-ministerial working group to control all dissemination of information that threatened security, the economy or foreign relations.

A Vietnamese law that took effect Jan. 1 required foreign and domestic internet services to hand over user data so authorities could probe the spread of any report and the identity of its author. The Cyber Security Law calls for providers including Facebook and Google to supply user information and delete content at the governments request. Individual senders of what is deemed false information can already be sentenced to prison under existing law for attempting to undermine state security.

Authoritarian governments in Vietnam and China have more muscle to fight what they brand fake news because they already own or censor the major media outlets, Gomez said.

Chinas 2017 Provisions for the Administration of Internet News Information Services require that online news providers reprint information from government-approved organizations without changing the content.

Vietnamese officials worry that social media, which is not proactively censored as it is in China, will spread reports that damage their reputation, said Trung Nguyen, international relations dean at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

The Thai provision helps the military government prosecute those they say are threatening national security, Pongsudhirak said. Violators face up to 15 years in prison, he said, and the draconian law has led to rising self-censorship.

Cambodian officials believe false reports undermine the government, cause social unrest and pose a genuine threat to national security, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. The government, run by the party of former Khmer Rouge commander Hun Sen since 1985, has long repressed radio and print, Thayer said, so now it wants to hobble social media used by political opponents.

Some Asian governments have found that libel codes and other existing laws do not cover acts they deem actionable. The Taiwanese tipster was charged under the countrys Social Order Maintenance Act. But a judge threw out the case for lack of evidence that the defendant had caused a social disturbance.

In Vietnam, officials will probably sparingly enforce their new law to avoid making citizens angry, Nguyen predicted. Malaysian officials, meanwhile, repealed legislation enacted in August after finding that a 1998 law already covered much of its content.

In Singapore, a city-state with a strong ruling party known for being tough on crime, legislators are considering regulations to strengthen media controls that are already in place. Journalists can now be jailed for libel, threats to national security or ill will against religious or racial groups, Reporters Without Borders said.

Even as governments rush to strengthen their laws, some continue to spin their own false reports in media outlets they control in order to discredit critics, said Gomez of the Asia Centre in Bangkok. Critics are finding themselves on the back foot, he said, becoming victims of governmental fake news that is then amplified by the compliant traditional media, and being vilified online by government-aligned trolls and anonymous social media accounts.

Jennings is a special correspondent.
Its been six weeks since Indonesian President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, appeared to comfortably secure a second term against challenger Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces general.

But the aftermath of one of the worlds largest democratic elections has been anything but stable.

Prabowo, who also lost to Jokowi in the last presidential election in 2014, has rejected the results of the April 17 contest, claiming rampant election fraud.

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Blood flowed when several thousand of his supporters took to the streets of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta last week after the countrys General Elections Commission officially declared Jokowi the winner with 55.5% of the 154 million ballots cast, a record turnout.

Two days of violent riots resulted in the deaths of eight demonstrators. Hundreds more were injured as police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons at protesters hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails. More than 400 people were arrested.

This week, police accused Prabowo supporters, including a retired two-star general, of plotting to assassinate four of the presidents top security officials  his chief security minister, the head of the nations intelligence agency, the presidential intelligence advisor and a minister for maritime affairs.

Authorities said the plot was aimed at sowing chaos to undermine Jokowi as he embarked on a second five-year term.

The president will preside over a country thats been divided over religious identity. Prabowo, who is not particularly religious himself, represents hardline Muslim conservatives. Jokowi, the former mayor of Jakarta, champions a more inclusive and progressive Indonesia  though he selected a conservative cleric as his running mate to boost his religious credentials.

Questions abound about how quickly the Southeast Asian nation of 250 million, the worlds fourth most populous, will rebound. Here are four:

Indonesias election focuses on: Who will be more Islamic? 

1. Why is Prabowo contesting?

Prabowo, the former son-in-law of Indonesian dictator Suharto, has accused the election commission of fraudulent tabulations, alleging vote-rigging in favor of Jokowi. Prabowo filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court, which will decide the case in June.

Experts say Prabowo, 67, is contesting the election results largely because he can and has nothing to lose. Hes also making a tradition of it. Prabowo rejected the outcome of the 2014 election when he lost to Jokowi by a slimmer official margin.

In putting up a fight, Prabowo can maintain his coalition of conservative Muslims, extract more concessions from Jokowi and maintain some semblance of face after losing an election by 17 million votes.

2. Is there evidence of voter fraud?

Yes, but nothing on a scale that could explain the lopsided election outcome. Analysts say there will always be isolated examples of vote-buying and voter roll chicanery in a developing country as large as Indonesia.

In one such case, thousands of ballot papers destined for Indonesians living in Malaysia were discovered to have already been checked in favor of Jokowi.

However, the claims by the Prabowo camp of massive irregularities that would have swayed the overall results appear to be unfounded. Indonesias election watchdog dismissed complaints by Prabowo supporters of cheating, citing insufficient evidence.

There was very, very little evidence in 2014 and theres very little evidence now, said Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS  Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. The claims are baseless.

3. Will Indonesia plunge further into violence?

The riots naturally sparked fears of a repeat of 1998 mass unrest that resulted in more than 1,000 deaths of mostly Chinese-heritage Indonesians and the toppling of President Suharto after three decades of rule.

But conditions were far different back then. Discontent in Indonesia at the time was widespread and hinged on deep-rooted economic problems. Jokowi remains a popular president stewarding an economy thats growing at a clip of 5% or more the last five years.

Analysts say the recent riots were contained to hardcore Prabowo supporters and didnt suggest a much wider popular movement against the president that could trigger further bloodshed.

The Jakarta riots were driven by a few thousand determined troublemakers who do not reflect the views of most Prabowo supporters, said Ben Bland, director of the Southeast Asia project at Sydney-based think tank Lowy Institute. Many may be disappointed with the outcome of the election, but only a tiny minority support the idea of mass protests, let alone violent action. Exit polling shows that more than 90% of voters thought the process was free and fair.

4. What can Jokowi do to ease tensions?

Jokowi, 57, will have to temper the growing influence of his security advisors, who, if given more power, could inflame tensions further with the Prabowo camp, experts say.

Jokowi doesnt have the mandate to completely dismiss his presidential challenger and will also probably have to offer some of his supporters positions in government or business opportunities to ensure a detente.

Prabowo got 44% of the vote, Supriatma said. He has influence. You cant just dismiss him.

To heal the national divide, Jokowi will need to summon skills he hasnt exhibited all that much in the past  namely an oratory flair that can inspire a broader coalition. Jokowi, analysts said, is more of a doer than a talker.

In lieu of that, Jokowi can inject more transparency into the countrys police force to combat its reputation as a political tool for the ruling government.

Democracy is under pressure in Indonesia because of the rise of a bitter form of identity politics and an increasingly intolerant approach to resolving political disputes, from the government and the opposition, Bland said. But despite these problems, Indonesia has still done far better than most countries that have tried to transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Regional neighbors Thailand and Myanmar, for example, are case studies in how not to do it.

david.pierson@latimes.com | Follow me @dhpierson

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Gabons government thwarted an attempted military coup on Monday, retaining control of the oil-rich West African nation after two plotters were killed and other army officers were arrested, the government said.

Authorities regained control of state broadcasting offices and a major thoroughfare in the capital, Libreville, which were the only areas taken over by the officers, government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told Radio France International.

He said five army officers who took over state radio were arrested. Two other coup plotters were killed when security forces took over and freed some hostages, according to a presidential statement reported by RFI.

A curfew was imposed in Libreville, and the internet was cut. The city on the Atlantic Ocean coast was being patrolled by military tanks and armed vehicles.

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In a TV image, the self-identified commander of the Republican Guard announces the coup. (Associated Press)

Earlier Monday a soldier who identified himself as Lt. Obiang Ondo Kelly, commander of the Republican Guard, read out a statement saying the military had seized control of Gabons government in order to restore democracy. He was flanked by two other soldiers holding weapons; all were dressed in camouflage uniforms and green berets.

Those soldiers have been taken into custody and President Ali Bongos government remains in control, government spokesman Mapangou said.

Bongo, who has been in power since 2009, has been out of the country since October amid reports that he had a stroke. He recently addressed the country in a New Years message that was filmed in Morocco, where he has been receiving medical treatment.

Gabon, sub-Saharan Africas third-largest oil producer, has been ruled for more than half a century by Bongo and his father, Omar, who died in 2009. Critics have accused the family of profiting from the countrys natural resources while not investing enough in basic services for the population of more than 2 million. About one-third of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

As news of the coup reverberated through the international community, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attempted coup and called on all in the country to follow its constitutional laws, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The African Union also affirmed its support for the Bongo government.

The African Union strongly condemns the coup attempt this morning in Gabon, the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said on Twitter. I reaffirm the AUs rejection of all anti-constitutional change.

In his brief New Years address, the 59-year-old Bongo declared that the country was indivisible and acknowledged his health problems without giving details. A difficult period, he called it, and a challenge that he surmounted thanks to God. He promised to put all of his efforts into improving the daily quality of life for Gabons people.

The French-educated Bongo, who was the countrys defense minister before becoming president, narrowly won reelection in 2016 in a vote opposition rival Jean Ping claimed was plagued by irregularities. Ping continues to call himself the countrys real president.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Saturday that he expected good results from high-level talks scheduled in Washington next week aimed at dissuading President Trump from imposing punitive tariffs on all Mexican goods exported to the United States.

There is an atmosphere favorable to dialogue in our country as well as in the United States, Lopez Obrador said at a news conference in the gulf state of Veracruz.

The Mexican president, who took office Dec. 1, is facing his first international crisis following Trumps announcement on Thursday that Washington would impose escalating tariffs starting at 5% on all Mexican imports until Mexico moved to shut down U.S.-bound migration  mostly of Central Americans traversing Mexican territory en route to the border.

Trumps actions caught Mexican officials off guard and stirred fears of a prospective financial crisis in Mexico, where a long-sluggish economy is heavily dependent on cross-border trade. A plunging peso and economic distress in Mexico could also revive illicit migration to the United States from Mexico, which has declined in recent years even as Central American arrivals have soared.

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The Mexican president quickly dispatched a top negotiating team, including Marcelo Ebrard, the foreign minister, to Washington for talks scheduled for Wednesday with Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and others.

The 5% surcharge on all Mexican imports to the United States would go into effect June 10, Trump said, and escalate to 25% by Oct. 1, remaining in place until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory.

Mexican officials have expressed confidence that they can change Trumps mind on the tariff issue, noting that he has previously backed down on other pronouncements  such as repeated threats to shut down border crossings between the United States and Mexico. Their apparent hope is that the tariff threat is a negotiating marker, not a fait accompli.

President Trump sends out a lot of tweets and many are overruled by another tweet the following day, Jesus Seade, the foreign ministrys sub-secretary for North American affairs, told Mexicos Milenio newspaper.

I prefer to be guided by actions, said Seade, who is scheduled to be part of the delegation slated to meet with U.S. officials.

The optimism voiced in official circles here is based in large part on the belief that U.S. manufacturers, farmers, auto makers and others heavily dependent on Mexican trade will object. There is also the unappetizing prospect, from a U.S. consumer perspective, that the tariffs would ultimately be passed on to U.S. purchasers, who are avid buyers of many Mexican products, including vegetables, fruits, autos and TV sets.

The tariffs, if implemented, would likely also trigger retaliatory surcharges by Mexico on U.S. exports here  though Lopez Obrador stressed Saturday that he doesnt want to enter into a commercial war, a war of tariffs, of taxes with the United States.

Mexico is the United States third largest trade partner, after China and Canada, with $671 billion in binational commerce in goods and services in 2018, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Still many observers are skeptical that Trump will change his mind, whatever Mexico offers in return. Trumps perceived serial Mexico-bashing to gain domestic votes for his reelection campaign leaves many here with doubts that Mexico can prevail.

Trump operates thinking about himself and his popularity, nothing else, Esteban Ilades, a columnist with Milenio, wrote on Twitter. The problem of engaging with an irrational actor, like the president of the United States, is that no situation is favorable. If you surrender to his demands, you lose. If you keep quiet, you lose. And if you respond, you run the risk that he will raise the level of threats.

Next week, Mexican officials are expected to present U.S. authorities with a detailed plan to help thwart the migrant flow. Since April, following Trumps most recent threats to shut border crossings, Mexican authorities have initiated a crackdown on migrants traversing southern Mexico, increasing detentions and deportations.

But Mexicos ill-staffed immigration agency  which has been hit by deep budget cuts  can hardly keep up with the escalating flow of migrants, mostly nationals of Honduras and Guatemala, through the countrys porous southern border with Guatemala. More than 300,000 U.S.-bound migrants, including many women and children, entered Mexican territory between January and March, Mexican authorities say, roughly double the number from a year ago.

We are doing all we can, but we have to realize that this is a migratory flow that we havent seen in recent times, said Lopez Obrador.

Mexicos 600-mile border with Guatemala is largely unguarded and is a historical hub for smugglers ferrying migrants and contraband. Most experts agree that Mexico lacks the resources and manpower to shut down its southern frontier, which includes rivers, jungle and mountain terrain.

The leftist Lopez Obrador has repeatedly emphasized the human rights of migrants. He came to office offering residency permits and working papers to Central Americans, moves that may have helped encourage more to come.

Along with vows for heightened enforcement, Mexican authorities are expected to renew their push for what Ebrard, the foreign minister, has called a Marshall Plan for Central America, named after the post-World War II U.S. aid strategy for conflict-battered Europe. Lopez Obrador has repeatedly said that improving economies and reducing violence in Central America is the best way to stem the surge in migration.

Just last week, Ebrard was in Washington seeking to push the aid plan, which would focus on the so-called northern triangle countries  Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador  that are the homelands of most U.S.-bound migrants.

The Mexican-backed plan calls for Mexico and Central American nations to invest some $30 billion in infrastructure and other development projects during the next five years, with Washington kicking in another $10 billion. Thus far, however, the Trump administration has been cool to the plan and has moved to cut aid to Central America.

McDonnell reported from Mexico City and Wilkinson from Washington. Cecilia Sanchez in The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.

Is Mexico City the PDA capital of the world? 
It is no doubt that Nigerians are a talented group of people who always find a way to achieve commendable feats wherever they find themselves.

Such is the case of 18-year-old Daniel Obaji, who has become the youngest graduate in the New York University, Abu Dhabi.

In a post shared by @Diasporaq, it was disclosed that the young genius does not intend to hang his boots just yet, as he plans to enroll for his PhD in biology, come September 2019.

The young Nigerian graduate will be focusing on computational biology, which is a combination of computer studies and biology.

See the post below:

READ ALSO: Meet Joshua Beckford, the 12-year-old genius who hopes to change the world

Reacting to Obajis story, some Twitter users commended the young man for his achievement, but also pointed out the case of a 15-year-old Nigerian kid, Ekene Francis Ezeunala, who scored the highest mark at the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), but was denied admission into the University of Lagos, because of his age.

See tweets below:

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng gathered that a Ghanaian based university came through for Ekene and offered him a scholarship to fund his education. The scholarship by the Academic City College, a private university in Accra, was said to worth N14 million.

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- A group has accused the opposition parties of desperation o oust the current government led by President Muhammadu Buhari

- The group alleged that the opposition is heating up the polity by calling for a change of service chiefs

- According to the group, the opposition is attracting unnecessary attention to the military with propaganda

A pro-democratic group has accused opposition and 'enemies' of democracy of being desperate to oust the current government led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The National Democratic Front warned the opposition parties against heating up of the polity by those attracting unnecessary attention to the military with propaganda.

NDF reacting to the report in some quarters which claimed President Buhari had fired all the security chiefs said the claim was a clear indication that the oppositions were not tired on their quest to topple the current government.

The secretary general of the NDF, Bolaji Abdulkadir, in a statement on Saturday, June 1, said the report of change of Service Chiefs was another coup plot by opposition elements to infiltrate the military for their sinister motive of destabilizing Nigerias democracy.

READ ALSO: Mixed feelings as govs are barred from accessing LG funds

Abdulkadir said the NDF is alarmed at the unnecessary attention being directed at the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in recent day.

He said the group believes that such development cannot be good for Nigeria's democracy.

Abdulkadir said: "This, for us, is indication that the hoax is part of an elaborate plan that predated the general elections, which calls for concern knowing the extent of acrimony the opposition had displayed at that time."

Also alleging that the opposition had been named in a plot to pressure President Buhari to drop the service chiefs so that a new crop of military chiefs that are sympathetic to the opposition will be appointed, Abdulkadir said the group is aware of sponsored unwarranted protests.

"We are equally concerned that even if the opposition has no design to overthrow the government, the twentieth anniversary of our transition from military dictatorship to civil rule is not the best time to focus unnecessary attention on the military," Abdulkadir said.

"Obsessing about the military chiefs and their tenure at a time when there are other pressing issues of national development amounts to saying that some people want the military back in the saddle of leadership or that they are nostalgic about losing the civil rights that many Nigerians died to secure for the country.

Such mind-set goes beyond irresponsible and is squarely in the territory of criminality," Abdulkadir added.

Abdulkadir further warned that the group does not want anything that will degrade Nigerias democracy or security, which unfortunately now appears to be the life goal of the opposition.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the service chiefs and heads of other security agencies met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Thursday, March 28.

The agenda of the closed-door meeting was not made public; though the president holds regular meetings with heads of the security agencies, during which, he gets briefings on developments within their areas of responsibility.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

Nigerians set second term agenda for President Buhari - on Legit TV:

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The 12 people who were fatally shot in a Virginia Beach government building were remembered Saturday during a somber news conference as officials sought to put the focus on those who died and not the gunman.

Police Chief James Cervera identified the assailant as DeWayne Craddock, who was employed for 15 years as an engineer with the city's utilities department. He declined to comment on a motive for Friday's rampage, which ended with Craddock's death in a gun battle with police. City officials uttered his name just once and said they would not mention it again.

City Manager Dave Hansen said he had worked for years with many of the dead, 11 of whom were city employees. The 12th was a contractor trying to get a permit.

Their names and photos were projected on a screen as Hansen read aloud biographical information that included their hometowns and years of service.

"They leave a void that we will never be able to fill," he said.

Fridays massacre followed two fatal municipal building shootings in recent years in the Lehigh Valley region, both in Monroe County.

On Aug. 5, 2013, disgruntled Ross Township resident Rockne Newell opened fire during a meeting of the township board of supervisors, killing township zoning officer David Fleetwood and residents Gerard Kozic and James LaGuardia. Newell pleaded guilty in May 2015 and is serving three consecutive life sentences plus up to 122 years at the Rockview state prison in Centre County. He is now 65 years old.

Then last Nov. 27, Paradise Township employee Michael Tripus was shot to death in that communitys municipal building, allegedly by a man who had been having township permit issues. Suspect David Green, now 73, of Henryville, Pennsylvania, remains in the Monroe County prison without the possibility of bail, awaiting trial on a charge of homicide.

In Virginia Beach, chaplains and family assistance workers worked through the night to notify relatives  a job that Hansen described as the most difficult task anyone will ever have to do.

One of the dead employees had worked for the city for 41 years. Six worked in the same department as Craddock, though authorities have declined to say if anyone was specifically targeted or if the suspect had issued threats before. The victims were found throughout the building, on three floors, police said.

Authorities have said Craddock opened fire indiscriminately. Four other people were wounded, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life.

The suspect was armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a noise suppressor, police said. Cervera said Saturday that more weapons were found at the scene and at his home, but he declined to elaborate.

The building was open to the public, but security passes were required to enter inner offices, conference rooms and other work areas. As a current employee, Craddock would have had the pass to enter the inner offices, Hansen said.

Asked how secure the building was, the police chief said that government buildings must balance access with security.

"It's an open government building. Citizens have the right to access open government buildings. Employees have a right to access their work site," he said.

Craddock, 40, was a professional engineer who had graduated from Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News in 1996 and joined the Army National Guard, according to a newspaper clip from the time. He received basic military training and advanced individual training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He later graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

The 11 city employees who were killed were identified as Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine A. Nixon, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua A. Hardy and Michelle "Missy" Langer, all of Virginia Beach; Laquita C. Brown and Robert "Bobby" Williams, both of Chesapeake; and Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk and Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan. The 12th victim, Herbert "Bert" Snelling of Virginia Beach, was a contractor filling a permit.

Craddock appeared to have had no felony record, which would have made him eligible to purchase guns.

Joseph Scott, an engineering technician with the department of public works, said he had worked with Craddock before and had a brief interaction with him Friday. Scott said he saw him in the men's restroom about five minutes before the shooting.

"He was in there brushing his teeth, which he always did after he ate," Scott said. "I said 'Hey, how you doing? What are you doing this weekend?' It was just a brief conversation."

Scott said he left for the day right after and learned of the shooting when a co-worker and then his son called him asking if he was OK.

"I couldn't believe that it happened," he said.

Scott said he worked in a different division from Craddock, whom he described as quiet, polite and a "nice guy." Scott said he thought Craddock was in good standing at work and had never heard negative reports about him.

Craddock's neighbors said police swarmed the neighborhood of modest townhomes Friday in Virginia Beach. Some said he had lived there for at least 10 years.

Several neighbors said Craddock was a clean-cut member of the neighborhood association board whose wife had left him some years ago.

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Pennsylvanias Republican senator from Lehigh County joined a chorus of criticism over President Donald Trumps threat to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports.

In a surprise announcement that could derail a major North American trade deal, Trump said Thursday he is slapping a 5 percent tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

He said the percentage will gradually increase -- up to 25 percent -- until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., in a statement Friday said he agrees there is a crisis at the Southern border.

However, a blanket tax increase on everything Americans purchase from Mexico is the wrong remedy, Toomey stated. Tariffs are a dangerous and risky economic tool. They raise the cost of products for American families, reduce market share abroad for U.S. exporters, and make our economy less competitive globally. History has shown us time and again that nobody wins a trade war: Trade is mutually beneficial, and trade restrictions, like tariffs, are mutually harmful."

Toomey has criticized the trade policies of his fellow Republican in the Oval Office before, including blasting $12 billion in emergency relief awarded last summer to farmers hit by the ongoing trade war with China.

Since Trump announced the Mexico tariffs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it's exploring legal action to block what it calls "exactly the wrong move." Other critics say the tariffs undercut negotiations that led to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal designed to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

That new deal is the cornerstone of Trump's legislative agenda and seen as beneficial to his re-election effort. It also risks further damaging the already strained relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, two countries whose economics are deeply intertwined.

"The tariffs certainly put the USMCA on ice," said Gary Hufbauer, an expert in trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who panned the move but said Trump does have the legal authority to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by citing a national emergency.

"The drama is legal, but it's preposterous," he said.

Trucks wait April 9, 2019, to cross the border with the U.S. in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. In a surprise announcement that could compromise a major trade deal, President Donald Trump announced May 30, 2019, that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.AP File Photo/Christian Torres

Toomey says using tariffs to force policy changes in Mexico is "misguided" and called for Congress "to step up and reassert its Constitutional responsibility on tariffs."

The American economy is the best its been in 50 years -- due in large part to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," the senator stated. "However, the presidents latest unilateral tax hikes put at risk these advances. This decision also threatens to upend 25 years of duty-free treatment for products that cross the U.S.-Mexico border, and violates longstanding American commitments under NAFTA and at the World Trade Organization.

"For the past quarter of a century, American manufacturers have benefitted from NAFTAs zero tariff treatment to build highly integrated supply chains that span the North American continent, including in the auto industry."

Trump says Mexico has been taking advantage of the United States for decades because of ineffective U.S. immigration laws.

In a tweet Friday, Trump blamed Democrats for what he called "BAD" laws and said it was time for Congress to pass legislation to address illegal immigration.

Asked what Mexico can do to avoid the tariff, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that a very big first step would be for Mexico to send home Central American migrants crossing through Mexico to get into the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The only scandalous thing about the recent spate of so-called co-living housing proposals in Dublin  a city currently crucified by a housing shortage while in the midst of a huge economic boom  is the price the developers want to charge those who would live there.

Co-living, in case you havent heard of it, is a notion imported from other high-rent, high housing demand cities such as New York and London. Its based on the premise that a co-living tenant will have a smallish ensuite studio bedroom all to themselves, but will be have shared usage of facilities such as a kitchen, a laundry and common living and leisure areas.

Plans for such developments which have been welcomed by housing minister Eoghan Murphy have been slammed by some TDs, and the housing charity Threshold has weighed in, calling such developments 21st century bedsits with a glossy makeover.

But its not like glossy bedsits would necessarily be a bad solution to the housing crisis for a certain sector of the population.

The co-living developments proposed for Dublin are not aimed at families. Theyre not supposed to be permanent homes for single people or childless couples.

Theyre part of a solution to house a segment of the population that needs short-term housing, on rolling six- or 12- month contracts. These people want painless lock-up-and-leave accommodation where they dont have to worry about fixing gutters or mowing the lawn, and if its near the tech firms in the city, where they may work, and all bills and amenities are included, then all the better.

And the high prices that the developers plan on charging for this swish, all-mod-cons, but ultimately small dwelling  up to 1,500 per month, by some reports  reflects what that well-off, time-poor segment will bear.

Will building those living spaces change the plight of the homeless family or single mother? Not directly  and its utterly true that the State needs to do more to ensure that affordable housing is built for everyone.

However, Ireland has a huge problem with its housing stock, and with the cultural mindset that prioritises three-bed semi-detached houses in suburbs or commuter towns over more innovative and unusual places and ways to live.

Not everyone needs or wants a three-bed home. The single man-or-woman about town may not. The young worker whod rather be in the thick of things in town, than stuck in Nappy Valley with young families, doesnt. Older empty nesters whose children have flown and who personally want to downsize dont.

Students certainly dont. The bizarre Irish practice of renting family homes near universities to groups of students  which is unsuitable for them and potentially a nightmare for neighbours  is much rarer elsewhere. In the UK, on the continent and, especially, in colleges in the States, this cohort lives in dorms or simple student residences with individual or shared rooms and common areas.

Co-living needs to be appreciated for what it is  a housing fix for one particular type of housing need. Simpler, cheaper and less glossy co-living blocks could house undergraduates or post-graduate students; or a wider range of people working in Ireland short-term to earn money or progress careers before returning home. Taking all the people who dont need the three-bed semi out of those homes, and providing them with housing that actually suits their needs, would free up traditional houses for those who want to put down roots and establish permanent residences and grow families. Home means different things to us at different stages of our lives  we cant all be shoehorned in to cookie-cutter suburbia.
EIGHT sitting councillors in the metropolitan area who stood for re-election lost their seats, as the winds of change blew through the local authority.

And while some members were clearly devastated and distressed at being eliminated, some preferred to look back with pride on their time as a councillor.

One of these was Independent councillor John Loftus, who saw his vote collapse from almost 650 in 2014 to just 44 now. On the back of that 93% cut, he was eliminated on the third count.

But speaking this week, he reflected on his time on the council as being one of the greatest honours of my life.

I looked after the people the best I could. I made so many friends, I met so many people. It is one of the greatest achievements of my life. Ive made Limerick City my home. Limerick means the world to me and Zsusi. I'll keep on going. Ill always be who I am and fight the fights I think which are right, he said.

Reflecting on his campaign, the former Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor admitted he probably didnt put enough into it.

But, he pointed out that he has still only lost one of four elections  taking into account polls he stood in while at school.

Solidarity as a party were wiped out in Limerick City, their sitting councillor Mary Cahillane conceding defeat early on Saturday once tallying had been done.

She did remain in the hunt for a northside seat until the 12th count, however.

She blamed the Green wave.

We have been victims, as have all the small left parties, of the Green surge. Also I think people have worked locally on the ground have played a huge factor, particularly the likes of Frankie Daly who has been active on the ground.

Obviously, its disappointing for us. At the end of the day, for Solidarity, its not about electoral politics. Its about the campaigning politics we are involved in, whether we are on the council or not, the outgoing City North councillor said.
EMMA Ryan from Askeaton is a woman determined to leave her mark. Not willing to sit at home in her wheelchair, Emma decided she wanted to do something constructive and positive for her community when she was allocated personal assistant hours last year.

Since then, she has been volunteering on two afternoons a week in the local Tourist Office, a service which is provided by the Askeaton Civic Trust.

Now, in a further positive initiative, she has decided to put together Welcome Packs for the visitors who come to the tourist office.

I noticed that not all visitors are tourists, Emma said, explaining the thinking behind the initiative. Some people are visiting friends, some people are visiting family and people come here for many other reasons. People may be attending a wedding or a social event, some people may live in neighbouring towns and villages, other people may be thinking of moving to the locality. We need to show all of these visitors what we have to offer.

The welcome pack will include business cards, flyers or contact details for any services people may require while visiting the area. People get toothache while on holidays, they break their phones, they may need a doctor, all of these things will be included, Emma continued. She would also like to include places to go as well as things to do, where to eat and stay, where to shop. We have so much to offer as well as our beautiful castle, friary and Hell Fire Club, Emma continued with enthusiasm.

And enthusiasm would appear to be Emmas middle name. Born prematurely, she was left with Spastic Quadraphlegic Cerebral Palsy meaning that all her limbs are affected. However this does not prevent me from speaking my mind and having an appetite for learning, she pointed out. She got a good Leaving Cert from Colaiste Mhuire, Askeaton where, she said, she got tremendous support, before going on to get a secretarial qualification.

A chance visit to a disability fair in Limerick in 2008 was to totally change my pathway in life, Emma explained.  The University of Limerick had a stand advertising for mature students. I was lucky enough to get a place and then followed six years of hard work and great fun as I was awarded a joint honours degree in Politics and Sociology followed by a Masters in Gender, Culture and Society. Without the support of disability support services and an amazing bus driver I would not have succeeded in this phase of my life

However education is not a guarantee to employment and as I need a certain amount of support to be in the workplace, for the first time I found my disability to be a real barrier to living a normal life, she continued. Unfortunately, she said, a lot of people are not open to giving people with disability a job.

But Emma refused to sit at home or go shopping and turned to volunteering, firstly at West Limerick Community Radio where she is researcher for the County Views programme. Then last year, when she was allocated personal assistant hours, she wanted, she said, to do something constructive and help the community as much as possible and approached Kevin Sheahan, chairman of Askeaton Civic Trust and a great ambassador for Askeaton and for West Limerick found her place.
CRITICALLY-acclaimed and award-winning folk sensation Emma Langford will headline this years Limerick Summer Music with an exclusive collective of musicians, her biggest hometown concert to date.

The Caherdavin songstress, who just completed her Quiet Giant tour in Germany, will bring an orchestra-like line-up to the stage at the Rosbrien Pavillion, Old Crescent on July 12, and will perform  for the first time ever  her 2017 debut full-length album with a full band.

The 29-year-old RTE Radio 1 Folk Award-winner will also launch her new single, which forms part of her sophomore album, on July 12.

The highly-anticipated sequel is being produced by Grammy-nominated The Production Suite in Dublin.

Looking forward to the summer concert, she said: I cant wait. Weve had the experience of playing the songs across Europe over the past year and a half now, and I feel like weve really grown into them a bit more as a band. Weve put together some beautiful new arrangements, plus well be joined by some very special guests, so thats going to add a whole new dimension to the show.

It's finally officially out there in the big wide world - news of my homecoming, my biggest Irish show yet.



12th July - Limerick Summer Music - Rossbrien Pavilion



The launch of my new summer single.



Tickets 20 available now from this link: https://t.co/j96JLIWq3u pic.twitter.com/qzSipuWNmN  Emma Langford (@ELangfordMusic) May 30, 2019

During the concert, Emma will be joined the Quiet Giant band, comprising Tadhg Murphy, Hannah Nic Gearailt, Alec Brown, Peter Hanagan and Ray Yrure. Emma will also share the stage with Kealan Kenny, violin duo Lucia MacPartlin and Maria Ryan, the Clef Choir, and the Soul and Body Dance Quartet.

Ahead of the hometown gig, the folk musician said she admits that she feels out of her depth at times, with no record label, manager or agent to take on some of the workload.

Its hard seeing huge shows run by huge promoters that sort of squash independent artists into smaller venues... Its a big undertaking, coordinating and promoting a show like this, but I think its important to show that it can be done. I have really excellent support in the Limerick Summer Music committee - Michael Murphy is my man on the inside there, hes known me since I was a kid, when I worked at the University Concert Hall. Plus my friends, my bandmates, my family - and Limerick almost always have my back! So Im never really on my own with any of it.

Limerick Summer Music now in its third year takes place at the Rosbrien Pavilion on the grounds of Old Crescent RFC, Rossbrien, Limerick. Tickets for Limerick Summer Music (20) are available from eventmaster.ie.
While 1.2 million Americans currently live with AIDS, the incurable disease is no longer a death sentence and has become a chronic, manageable condition.

The introduction of protease inhibitor drugs in 1996 was a game changer in the treatment of the disease, and now with early treatment, people with AIDS can live about as long as those without the disease, said Dr. Alysse Wurcel, an infectious disease specialist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

First reported in the United States in 1981, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) destroys the body's ability to fight infections and other life-threatening illnesses, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The virus that causes AIDS is called HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus.

HIV can be spread through unprotected sexual intercourse; while sharing needles and syringes; or from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding, according to NIAID. HIV attacks the immune system by damaging CD4 cells (T cells), a type of white blood cell important for fighting off infection.

HIV is different from other diseases in that there is still a stigma linked with it. People with HIV may be afraid to let others know they have the disease because they're concerned about being treated differently by friends or facing discrimination at work, Wurcel said.

Symptoms of HIV and AIDS

When a person is first exposed to HIV, they may not show symptoms for several months or longer. Typically, however, they may experience a flu-like illness two to four weeks after becoming infected. People in this early stage of infection have a large amount of HIV in their blood and are very contagious, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This early illness is often followed by a "latency" phase, in which the virus is less active and no symptoms may be present, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Although symptoms may be absent, people can still transmit HIV to others during this stage. This latent period can last a decade or more.

Left untreated, HIV infection will progress into AIDS, which severely damages the immune system. A weakened immune system makes it harder for the body to fight off other diseases, such as cancer, liver disease, cardiovascular disease and kidney disease, according to the CDC.

It can also make people more susceptible to opportunistic infections, which are infections that occur more frequently and severely in individuals with weakened immune systems. Infections may affect the brain, eyes, gastrointestinal tract, skin, mouth, lungs, liver and genitals, according to the University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF).

According to the UCSF Medical Center, HIV and AIDS may cause the following symptoms:

Rapid weight loss or "wasting."

Extreme fatigue.

Dry cough.

Recurring fevers or profuse night sweats.

Swollen lymph glands in the armpits, groin or neck.

Prolonged diarrhea.

Sores in the mouth or bleeding from the genitals or anus.

Pneumonia.

Blotches on or under the skin or inside the mouth, nose or eyelids.

Depression, memory loss and other neurological effects.

Diagnosis & tests

The CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 be tested for HIV at least once, and those at increased risk for infection be tested at least yearly.

According to the CDC, three types of tests can confirm an HIV infection:

A NAT, short for nucleic acid testing, looks for the actual human immunodeficiency virus in the blood. But this expensive test is rarely used for routine screening.

An antigen/antibody test looks for HIV antibodies, which are proteins produced by the immune system after exposure to bacteria or viruses. The blood test also detects HIV antigens  foreign substances that activate the immune system.

The third type is an antibody test that looks for HIV antibodies in blood or oral fluid. These tests can be done with a kit at home and provide results usually within 30 minutes.

However, it may take weeks or months after someone is first infected with HIV for the immune system to develop enough antibodies to the virus for those proteins to be detectable in an HIV test. And the results of conventional HIV tests that are sent to a laboratory for analysis may take a week or more to be reported. Another rapid HIV test, which may involve swabbing a person's gums, is also available and offers results in about 20 minutes. A positive result on any HIV test should be confirmed with a second, follow-up test.

A blood test to look for HIV antigens or antibodies can help doctors diagnose the disease. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Treatments & medications

While AIDS remains incurable, patients are living much longer  even decades after infection  because of the development of medications to suppress the virus.

The most effective treatment is known as antiretroviral therapy (ART), which has typically been a combination of at least three medications meant to prevent the patient from becoming resistant to any one drug.

Modern medications for AIDS are more potent and less toxic than in the past, and people take fewer pills, less frequently, Wurcel told Live Science. In fact, most people on ART take only one pill a day, and the treatment is well tolerated with few side effects, she said.

ART can help slow the spread of the virus and lower its amount in the blood, which is known as the "viral load." With daily treatment, that viral load may decrease so much that it becomes undetectable. A person with undetectable HIV can't transmit the virus to their sex partners, even though HIV is still present in the person's body.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the most common antiretroviral drugs fall into three categories:

Reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which keep the virus from reproducing.

Protease inhibitors, which interrupt the replication of the virus at a later step in the virus life cycle.

And, fusion inhibitors, which prevent the virus from entering and replicating in healthy cells.

Researchers are developing new treatments as alternatives to taking a daily pill, such as long-acting injectable HIV drugs given once a month or every few months, Wurcel said. In the future, there may be an implantable device placed under the skin to deliver ART, so people don't forget to take their medications, she said.

Prevention

More than 56,000 Americans become infected with HIV each year, according to HHS. Preventing infection means avoiding behaviors that lead to exposure to the virus.

Prevention measures include:

Knowing your HIV status as well as your partner's.

Using latex condoms correctly during every sexual encounter.

Limiting the number of sexual partners.

Abstaining from injectable drug use and never sharing needles or syringes.

Seeking treatment immediately after suspected HIV exposure, since newer medications known as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) may prevent infection if started early.

Reducing the chance of becoming infected by obtaining pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which is a daily pill taken by people at high risk for HIV because of their sexual behavior or from injecting drugs.

Additional resources:

This article is for informational purposes only, and is not meant to offer medical advice. This article was updated on May 31, 2019 by Live Science Contributor Cari Nierenberg.
In 2014 and 2015, pilots with the U.S. Navy reported multiple UFO sightings during training maneuvers.

UFOs are very real, as we have recently seen  but that doesn't mean E.T. has been violating our airspace.

"UFO" refers to any flying object an observer cannot readily identify. And pilots with the U.S. Navy saw fast-moving UFOs repeatedly off the East Coast throughout 2014 and 2015, in one case apparently nearly colliding with one of the mysterious objects, The New York Times reported earlier this week.

Those incidents were reported to the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), whose existence the Times and Politico revealed in December 2017. (Interestingly, those 2017 stories cited Pentagon officials as saying that AATIP had been shut down in 2012.)

Related: 7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs

Former AATIP head Luis Elizondo, by the way, is involved with a new six-part series called "Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation," which premieres tonight (May 31) on The History Channel.

The Navy pilots said some UFOs reached hypersonic speeds without any detectable exhaust plumes, suggesting the possible involvement of super-advanced propulsion technology. Still, Defense Department officials aren't invoking intelligent aliens as an explanation, according to this week's Times story  and they're right to be measured in this respect, scientists say.

There are multiple possible prosaic explanations for the Navy pilots' observations, said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California.

He pointed out, for example, that the sightings occurred off the coast, as did a similar 2004 observation unveiled in conjunction with the December 2017 stories. (That previous sighting occurred near San Diego).

Coastal regions are where you might expect to find a rival nation's advanced reconnaissance craft, Shostak said, because incursions over the continental United States would be more obvious and easily detected.

He also noted that, according to the recent Times story, the Navy pilots began spotting the UFOs after their jets' radar system was upgraded. That detail suggests the sightings might stem from some sort of software bug or instrument issue, he said.

"As anybody who uses Microsoft products knows, whenever you upgrade any technical product, there are always problems," Shostak said.

Such reasoning is bolstered by the current tendency of UFOs to manifest as blobs or blurs on the displays of advanced instruments rather than as crisply defined objects in cellphone photos.

"The sightings always recede to the edge of what technology allows you to do," Shostak said. "The aliens are kind of keeping pace with technology."

Common sense also argues against jumping to the E.T. conclusion. If these UFOs are indeed alien spacecraft, what exactly are they doing? Why were they sent here, across the vast gulfs of space and time?

"If the aliens are here, you gotta say they're the best houseguests ever, because they never do anything," Shostak said. "They just buzz around. They don't address climate change; they don't steal our molybdenum."

Related: UFO Watch: 8 Times the Government Looked for Flying Saucers

But such skepticism should not be taken as a dismissal of the E.T. possibility, Shostak stressed.

"It's not trivial to say what these things are," he said. And Shostak applauded a newly enacted classified Navy policy, as reported by the Times, instructing pilots on how to report UFOs (which the military, and many other people, now call "unexplained aerial phenomena," likely in an attempt to dodge the tinfoil-hat stigma associated with the term "UFO.")

"That's a good policy," he said. "Let them do it."

After all, we've learned over the past decade or so that our Milky Way galaxy is home to huge numbers of potentially habitable worlds. Observations by NASA's Kepler space telescope, for example, suggest that at least 20% percent of the galaxy's 200 billion or so stars likely harbor a rocky planet in the "habitable zone," that just-right range of distances where liquid surface water could exist.

So, while the odds may be long that any UFO witnessed to date was an extraterrestrial craft, it's far from crazy to suspect that intelligent aliens are out there somewhere (or at least were out there somewhere, at some point during the Milky Way's 13-billion-year history). That's why people like Shostak keep listening for signals from the sky.

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
During each of my trips to Israel I have spent part of my visit staying with families in their homes. This is not inherently unusual; many people stay with family when they travel. What made these visits to family noteworthy was that I had never met any of these people before, had never spoken to most of them before, and technically speaking we were not family, at least not in the way you generally think about family.

Like many Jews who travel to Israel, and even among many who have not yet had the opportunity to do so, Israel is about being with family, about exploring branches of the family tree. The connection is palpable and visceral, going far beyond a shared history, religion, and culture.

Yes, we share much in common. All that common ground is ultimately not what binds us together at the core of our beings. That happens through a sense of being part of a large and extended family.

We sit at the kitchen table and catch up with each other's lives; our successes and challenges at work, how the kids are doing in school, in what sport or activity they are especially engaged.

We reflect on what they are hoping to study after high school, or after the army for those in Israel with all the trepidation that means. We share pictures showing how they have grown. Family stuff. It's late at night, "goodnights" are exchanged, and I get a quick tour of the kitchen, where I am sleeping and where to go if the siren sounds during the night warning that rockets are inbound.

On my most recent visit, I found myself standing at a T intersection of two small dirt roads at the border of the Eshkol Region, just a mile from the Gaza Strip. My eyes follow the long, narrow road that stretches into the distance, a gray-brown swath cutting through verdant, green fields. I have been here before, decades ago, when the region was still in its adolescence, not as developed as now.

The region also bears scars that have accrued over the years, broad squares of stone covered ground marking the exit points of tunnels dug by terrorists that have been destroyed interrupt the pattern of crops growing.

Funny how our own life's path intersects itself. This part of the Negev was one of the first places in Israel I ever visited; spending a month working as a volunteer on Kibbutz Be'eri. With youthful zeal we stacked bales of hay, pulled weeds from the cotton fields (the big, tall stuff were the weeds, we learned after pulling up only a few plants), and finished with a week in the chicken coops.

Now, our Albany-area Jewish community is the partner community to that region. We visit and bring our youth to visit, to work, and to meet the family.

Leaving the intersection, I rejoin my fellow travelers as we visit the Eshkol Region's Town Center complex, the remarkable high school, the magnificent Seniors Center which we helped create, and the decorated concrete outdoor bunkers to provide shelter when the sirens wail their 15 second warning before a rocket impact. We see these, the physical safety measures and the variety of programs providing comfort and counseling, and we worry.

In the days since I first wrote these words, the necessity for the aforementioned was driven home by more than 600 rockets fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip, causing incalculable fear and trauma. The need for children and adults to race for shelter becomes real again and we watch and worry from a distance.

We worry about family, the ones we have met and the ones we have yet to meet.

We worry about their physical and emotional wellbeing.

We worry about what stories we will hear when we next sit together at the kitchen table and who might not be at the table.

You know, family stuff.

Rabbbi David M. Eligberg of Temple Israel is on the Jewish Federation's Israel Action Committee and the Religion-Labor Coalition of New York State representing the New York Board of Rabbis. He's written plays, short stories and created board games.
After 115 years, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School held its last ever school day on Friday, but not without students, teachers and the priest planting a tree out of remembrance.

May this tree have deep roots and grow wide branches to bear witness to your abundant love and grace, Our Lady of Guadalupe Rev. Leszek J. Waclawik said. Today we especially remember the life and work of the students and teachers.

The school has faced financial hardship and debt to the Diocese of Laredo due to dwindling enrollment and fundraising money. The diocese in January abruptly told parents it would close the school and consolidate it with St. Peters Memorial School.

The diocese chose Our Lady of Guadalupe as the new schools campus, and it will be renamed to San Juan Diego Catholic School. Although the physical campus will remain, the Our Lady of Guadalupe school will no longer exist after changing its name, colors and uniforms.

READ MORE: End in sight for school after 115 years

During the tree planting ceremony, Waclawik and Principal Herlinda Martinez said a few words about the schools lasting impact on generations of families. The priest sprinkled holy water over the students and the tree, and students lined up to place colorful rocks they decorated near the tree.

Its been since 1904, first Catholic school here in the community of Laredo, so it holds a lot of memories, but those memories will always be in our hearts, Martinez said during the ceremony. When you pass by and see this tree please say a prayer for everyone who walked through those halls of this marvelous school.

Martinez also bestowed medals to the seventh graders who are the last class, since this year was also the first year the school had seventh graders. When the talking and ceremony settled, students, teachers and parents sang Immaculate Maria.

Pre-K through seventh grade students huddled in the courtyard area talking, with some taking pictures with each other on their phones after the ceremony. Some teared up and hugged each other and said goodbye to Waclawik .

One student hugged Waclawik and said I will miss you before hurrying to catch up with the the line of classmates going back inside.

The diocese planned to have the Lady of Guadalupe students go to the new school and join the St. Peters Memorial School students, but many Guadalupe students are going to other Catholic schools or elsewhere.

READ MORE: Bishop Tamayo responds to letter sent by concerned parents

Seventh grader Leeana Esparza told LMT it is a sad day because she will see her friends go to other schools.

Ive been in this school since I was three, she said. Most of us are leaving to different schools so I dont know when Ill see them again. It doesnt feel like this is the last day, like Ill just come back next week

Seventh grader William Solis was taking pictures with his classmates and talking to the teachers and students. He told LMT hes close friends with all of his classmates, and that the teachers and principal gave so much to the students.

Im going to miss all these wonderful people and all the friends I made , he said. Ill miss all these wonderful teachers. Theyre all some of the best teachers weve had for so long.

Gabriela Valdezs first year teaching was at Guadalupe. She taught sixth and seventh grade and said the moment is bittersweet.

Its bittersweet, were all looking forward to summer vacation but its sad not being able to come back, she said. My first year of teaching experience couldnt have been as amazing as it was if I didnt have the support of the parents and of the other teachers and the love of my students.

The school is located in a strong community, but families from all over Laredo as well enrolled their students. Alumni and parent Sarah Hernandez said it is sad to watch her daughter follow in her footsteps by attending the school only for it to close suddenly.

She also said she wished the diocese gave the school another chance to raise money, and that the alumni and those from the school will continue serving the community as they were taught to.

What we really wanted was a chance to save our school, she said. I wouldve been ok with the merge. I guess now its not really a true merge because a majority of the children are leaving.

Parent Linda Leza told LMT although the school closing is sad, the ceremony was a beautiful and uplifting way to end the schools long existence.

Its a very emotional day, she said. I think that planting of the tree and the placing of the rocks signifies an end to wonderful years of bonding. But what is in our hearts will never be taken away from us.

Lisa Dreher can be reached at 956-728-2567 or lisa.dreher@lmtonline.com
Raina the German Shepherd met her forever family, Sheila and John Oswain of Massachusetts, at Bethlehem Public Library's Forever Home pet adoption event on May 18.

Usman Khan of Colonie, a nurse at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady, with his mother Qamar Khan, a retired nurse herself, at a Salute to Nurses event on May 10 at the Albany Marriott. He was a finalist for Nurses of the Year.
HONG KONG - Sitting on a bus in Boston, thousands of miles from her home in Hong Kong, college student Frances Hui crossed paths with an inquisitive fellow passenger.

Where are you from? the passenger pressed.

When she eventually replied "Hong Kong," the man started to get aggressive, Hui recounted. He insisted that she should define herself as "from China" - which was handed control of the former British colony in 1997.

"He kept telling me, 'You are Chinese, you need to fix your identity,' " Hui, a junior at Emerson College, said in an interview. "I felt really insulted. Identity is really personal. It is my thing."

Hui penned a column at Emerson's student paper, titled "I am from Hong Kong, not China." She opened with the line: "I am from a city owned by a country I don't belong to."

It was soon followed by an intense and, at times, threatening backlash from mainland Chinese students at her college.

The squabble was far from Hong Kong, but one that reflects wider questions playing out in the ex-colony over identity amid the rapid erosion of the territory's autonomy and promised "one country, two systems" relationship.

Five years after massive street protests in Hong Kong over Beijing's controls, China has steadily tightened its grip over the territory and its young pro-democracy movement. Many now worry they are witnessing an accelerated end of Hong Kong's special status, including its political and business freedoms.

And they wonder how to respond - raising the possibility of more protests.

The terms of Britain's handover were meant to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, allowing the territory to keep its own political, judicial and economic systems until 2047.

But Beijing's controls stepped up after the 2014 street protests, which saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets for months in one of the biggest acts of defiance against China's Communist Party in decades. Protesters hoped to extend democratic rights and end plans for China to vet candidates for the city's top job.

In recent months, Hong Kong courts have charged and imprisoned the pro-democracy movement's leaders for up to 16 months despite the protests being overwhelmingly peaceful. An appeals court on Thursday ruled that 22-year-old Joshua Wong, one of the movement's symbols, will return to prison.

Last year, a party that advocates for Hong Kong's independence was banned, and a senior Financial Times editor was expelled. No official explanation was given for the editor's expulsion, but he had hosted a talk with the founder of that independence party just weeks before at the Foreign Correspondents' Club.

The Hong Kong government also is pushing through a bill that would make insulting the Chinese national anthem a criminal offense. All over Hong Kong, advertisements and posters market the "Greater Bay Area," a Beijing-driven plan that will draw the city closer to the mainland.

Most controversially, the Hong Kong government is pushing for an extradition bill that would allow fugitives to be transferred from the enclave to any jurisdiction in the world, even without a formal agreement - effectively extending Beijing's powers into Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's legislature descended into chaos on May 11 over the bill. Scuffles broke out between lawmakers, and one was taken to a hospital.

A congressional commission in Washington said the extradition law, if it were to pass, "could create serious risks for U.S. national security and economic interests in the territory" and could violate a U.S.-Hong Kong act that allows Washington to treat the city as separate from China.

"At the heart of every one of these projects and efforts is a political calculation on the part of Beijing, who is asking: What can we do to diminish Hong Kong as a place," said Jeffrey Ngo, a Hong Kong democracy activist and PhD candidate at Georgetown University. "It is really sad, but it has certainly motivated people to assert, even more strongly, the Hong Kong identity."

Earlier this month in Washington, a congressional hearing was held on the future of Hong Kong's independence and how the U.S. government should respond. Live-streamed on YouTube, commenters flooded a chat box while the live video was streaming with comments such as "Hong Kong is not China" and "free Hong Kong."

Against this backdrop, Hui's piece published in late April on the website of the Emerson College newspaper, the Berkley Beacon. It cited experiences of students like her from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and other places that have struggled to assert themselves against China.

A Taiwanese friend, she wrote, felt compelled to adopt a "Chinese" identity despite her love for Taiwan, too afraid to "fight over her identity" with her Chinese friends.

Articles in the student paper usually get anywhere between 20 to 40 views. Hui's piece quickly went viral - attracting hundreds of comments and thousands of readers.

"I got a lot of attention, which I really did not expect," Hui said.

Students from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places like Singapore reached out with messages of support and encouragement, she said. Among them was Natalie Law, a 22-year-old Hong Kong student at Boston University, who connected to Hui over Instagram. They have since become friends.

"She can speak up for all of us, or maybe a majority of us [who are worried about Hong Kong]," Law said.

The article started appearing all over Chinese forums including the messaging app WeChat, shared on Facebook and Instagram pages and distributed among students far from Boston. Chinese students started tagging her social media accounts, with comments like "shame on you" and "your parents should be ashamed of you."

Someone in a WeChat group with over 200 Chinese students called her a "psycho," and another said they had seen her around campus and noticed she was "a short girl" who did not have any real power.

"It made me feel really uncomfortable, like I was being monitored," she said.

The most jarring comment came from a Chinese student at Emerson, who made Hui's personal Facebook posts public. In one post, he wrote a comment that translates to: "Whomever opposes my greatest China, no matter how far they are, must be executed."

"I was panicking," she said.

Hui has not been physically harmed in any way since her article's publication.

Her experience, however, mirrors that of other Hong Kongers at overseas universities.

Kacey Wong, a visual artist in Hong Kong, remembers pockets of protests at an exhibition he participated in last year at the University of Essex outside London. Works on display centered around Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Revolution - named for the umbrellas carried by many protesters - and showed photos of police hostility.

"They said my exhibition was biased. They asked why we only showed students beaten up by the police officers and not the other way around," Wong said. "They created Facebook groups in protests. It seems like pretty standard procedure."

Hui was a student activist when she was in Hong Kong, along with countless other young people who were inspired by leaders like Joshua Wong, who was only 17 at the time of the protests.

"It was the moment of renaissance," Wong said.

Yet, the pressure on Hong Kong and its quest for greater freedoms has only intensified.

"It is like trying to fight the weather," Wong said. "What can you do? Maybe you can bring an umbrella or wear a raincoat, but you can't shout at the sky and tell it to stop raining."
WASHINGTON - The House freshmen marched across the Capitol to stage made-for-TV protests blaming the Senate majority leader for blocking the agenda they ran on and that swept them into the majority in the midterm elections.

At one point the newcomers even taped a letter to the Senate door addressed to the recalcitrant majority leader. "We do not accept your failure as our own," several dozen freshman lawmakers wrote. "The American people did not send us here to fail."

No, these aren't the frustrated voices of today's freshman Democrats who flipped the majority last fall and have been leading protests the past few weeks against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Instead, that letter landed in the spring of 2011, addressed to then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and signed by more than two dozen freshman House Republicans just months after they led the GOP takeover of the House in the 2010 midterms.

Eight years later the dynamic is similar - one party controlling the House, the other running the Senate and holding the presidency - but the roles are reversed. Democrats, particularly the freshmen, have been leading a chorus against McConnell for brushing aside their agenda, right down to holding similarly staged protests in the Senate.

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is searching for ways to be more successful in pressuring McConnell to allow votes on their key items.

Just Wednesday, after Robert S. Mueller III stepped down as special counsel, Pelosi jumped on the former FBI director's call for strengthening the nation's electoral security given the Russian cyberattacks in 2016.

"We call upon the Senate to pass H.R. 1, the 'For The People Act', to protect our election systems," Pelosi said in her statement, citing her top legislative priority.

But McConnell has virtually ignored that proposal, approved by the House on a party-line vote almost three months. He cited other changes in campaign laws such as federal funding for campaigns as "the far left's sprawling effort to seize more control of the political process."

Pelosi outlines a path to victory for House Democrats in 2020 - and guarantees it

It's been this way over and over again in Congress.

Democrats have passed bills to combat gun violence and expand background checks for purchases; to reassert insurance protections for those with preexisting conditions; and to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.

They have received only token Republican support on most of these measures, about a handful of GOP lawmakers who barely survived last year's elections in their swing districts, though 33 Republicans broke ranks to support the Democratic version of VAWA.

So far Senate Republicans have stood behind McConnell's strategy of ignoring the Democratic bills, even those like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., both of whom are up for reelection next year in states that Trump lost.

"The Senate is a virtual graveyard," the House Rules Committee's Democratic aides wrote on Twitter. "Leader McConnell, these bills deserve a vote!"

Democrats believe their best strategy is an outside-in approach, in which they apply political pressure back home against Collins, Gardner and a few more GOP candidates in the 22 Senate seats Republicans will defend in November 2020. They want to organize liberal interest groups to work those states, so the Republicans then plead with McConnell to let them vote on Democratic proposals.

The House-Senate tension is always on a knife's edge, but it peaks amid divided power, as was the case from 2011 through 2014.

Back then House Republicans, swept into power during the 2010 midterms amid promises of balancing budgets, saw their ambitious agenda thwarted by Reid and Democrats who still controlled the Senate. Just weeks into the new majority, Republicans drew up plans that generated "blame Reid" headlines for the Senate's refusal to vote on initial GOP efforts to undo pieces of the Affordable Care Act.

"Somehow the Senate can be a place for legislation to go into a cul-de-sac or a dead end," Eric I. Cantor, R-Va., then the House majority leader, told reporters at the time.

Just before government funding expired in April 2011, freshman Republicans blew their tops in another letter to Reid. "If you do not plan to fulfill your responsibilities as Senate Majority Leader, perhaps it is time to step aside," they wrote.

Sometimes Reid allowed for a cursory procedural vote on Republican proposals that year, doomed to fail, but mostly he just ignored the sniping and ran the chamber as he saw fit.

He practically relished the role and urged his candidates to run in 2012 against what he considered a far-right, tea-party driven agenda. Indeed, despite early talk of Democrats losing the majority, Reid's caucus gained seats in those elections as Barack Obama won a second term, validating the Senate leader's approach.

Against the odds, select committee aims to push Congress into the 21st century

McConnell is running a very similar playbook eight years later, embracing his role as the caretaker of the "legislative graveyard" for today's liberal ideas.

"Think of me as the Grim Reaper. None of that stuff is going to pass," he told his constituents in April.

He is urging his candidates to run against the "socialist" views espoused by prominent lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Democrats believe they need to pile up as many bills as possible that have popular support, leaving the more controversial ideas to continue brewing in committees and unlikely to see votes in the full House.

They want to keep sending these bills to the Senate, which under McConnell has been moving at a very glacial pace this year on legislation.

"We've got to keep doing what we are doing, so we at least take away the excuse that we haven't sent anything to them," Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa., said.

In particular, Democrats point to VAWA as a bill that will put Republicans in a political box. The House version has language opposed by the National Rifle Association, a key Republican ally, but GOP candidates need to do better with women at the polls to win in 2020.

Democrats want to replicate that as often as possible, with more bills that have broad appeal and put Republicans on the defense.

But, for now, they continue to sound like their Republican predecessors earlier this decade, frustrated by an inactive Senate.

"They have an entire agenda that we have sent over there," Evans said.
BEIJING - China's vice president, Wang Qishan, was in no mood for questions when a group of American economists went to see him in a pavilion at Communist Party headquarters in Beijing recently.

Instead, Wang, wearing a tracksuit and slippers, delivered a philosophical, hour-long lecture to scholars from the Peterson Institute for International Economics in which he asserted the supremacy of the Chinese way over Western traditions.

After reminding them that the lives of Socrates and Confucius overlapped, he talked about how Europe ended up as small splintered states while China became a vast and powerful empire. There was no doubt his critique of the West's perceived weaknesses also included the present-day United States.

This is the China of today: supremely confident, richer than it could have imagined three decades ago, and more convinced than ever of its repressive model of authoritarian political control.

In many ways it's a direct result of a seismic event that took place 30 years ago Tuesday. On June 4, 1989, unknown numbers of Chinese - hundreds or perhaps thousands - were killed by their own military in response to a huge gathering in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to call for change.

As many as 1 million people - first students from Beijing's most prestigious universities, joined by Chinese from all walks of life - had made their way to the heart of capital. That sparked smaller supporting demonstrations around the country. They were calling for greater transparency, less corruption and, ideally, the opportunity to elect their own government.

The Communist Party of China, which had been in power for 40 years by that stage, viewed it as an existential challenge. Its leaders ordered the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army to clear Tiananmen Square, using whatever means necessary. The soldiers beat people, shot people, ran people over with tanks.

"The powerful figures in the country were meant to serve the people, but they turned out to be the enemy of people," said He Weifang, a Peking University law professor and public intellectual who was involved in the 1989 movement and continues to call for greater freedoms.

After the blood had been washed from the streets, the Communist Party began the great reshaping of the country. It created an implicit compact with the people: you can have economic growth but you can't have political freedom.

This bifurcation is more apparent than ever as President Xi Jinping enters his seventh year at the helm of China.

"My generation had so much hope and enthusiasm," said Liu Suli, who was a 29-year-old university lecturer when he joined the protests in 1989. "We wanted elections, freedom of speech, freedom of association, the ability to demonstrate, education for all."

Today, however, many academics are banned from talking to foreign media. Officials from government departments and state-owned enterprises are allowed to travel abroad only if they go in pairs. Think-tanks and historical journals have been shuttered.

Ideological education has been revved back up in scenes reminiscent of the Mao Zedong era 50 years ago. Students at the top universities are finding Marxist lessons woven into their curriculum. Human rights lawyers have been detained by the scores.

Religion is repressed, none more than Islam. The authorities have razed mosques and locked millions of Uighur minorities in indoctrination centers in an attempt to instill loyalty to the Chinese state.

Social pressures are building because Xi's China does not offer a release valve for dissent. "If you're beating a child, you should allow it to cry," said He, the intellectual, citing an old Chinese saying. "They should let us cry."

Meanwhile, China has flourished into world's second-largest economy, a global power with 400 million middle-class consumers and a military budget only exceeded by the United States. It is going toe-to-toe with Washington when it comes to trade and able to project its influence worldwide by dispersing $1 trillion in loans through its "Belt and Road" infrastructure project.

It is building high-speed trains to rival Japan and next-generation telecommunication products that alarm American intelligence agencies. It's the largest market in the world for everything from Louis Vuitton bags to Hollywood movies.

It's a reality few would have foreseen in 1989. Except maybe Deng Xiaoping, who, as chairman of the Central Military Commission, was ultimately responsible for the massacre.

A decade before the Tiananmen protests, Deng had set out a vision for a more open, free-market economy that also ushered in a wave of foreign, liberal ideas. After he crushed the 1989 protests, Deng quickly tried to forge an altogether more positive legacy for himself and his country.

In 1992, Deng, then 88, set off on a famous campaign to accelerate the special economic zones in Shenzhen and Guangzhou that were powering China's transformation into a manufacturing powerhouse.

"It was a shock. Deng came out of nowhere on his 'Southern Tour,'" said Xu Youyu, a former researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Everyone was rushing in to get rich. Deng was determined to push through his economic reform vision no matter the cost."

"But it was apparent: there would be no political reform, only economic reform," Xu added.

On one level, the sheer figures have backed up Deng's vision: Income per capita has soared from $311 in 1989 to $8,826, according to latest World Bank figures.

But the party couldn't just present its economic accomplishments as justification for its rule. It has also actively sought to erase its darkest moments, creating the kind of "memory hole" that George Orwell only imagined in his classic dystopian novel, "1984."

"China has been surprisingly successful in erasing the memory of June 4," said Louisa Lim, the author of "The People's Republic of Amnesia."

"They have so many different tools at their disposal, like censoring the Internet, removing any kind of material that mentions June 4 from the bookshops, and making sure that the narrative, when there has to be on, parrots the party line," Lim said. "Wherever possible, they've just removed it."

High school students, if they learn anything at all, learn only that there was an "incident" between the spring and summer of 1989, and few Chinese under the age of 30 recognize the Tank Man photo, the quintessential image of the protests in which a man carrying two shopping bags, as if he'd been out shopping for vegetables, stood in front of a column of tanks.

In the National Museum of China on the edge of Tiananmen Square, there is no mention of the protests or of the response, only a photo of a Communist Party meeting that was held soon after.

Today, a history textbook assigned at Peking University - whose students led the 1989 Tiananmen occupation - states that "throughout the student protests and hunger strikes, the party and government exercised great restraint" to deal with "those plotting riots."

Several students said in interviews they were cautioned by parents and teachers about discussing the taboo event.

"Even if you know about it, you can't say anything about it," said one woman who is about to graduate from one of China's best universities. The Post granted her and other Chinese anonymity to protect them from official reprisal.

There has never been a public reckoning about that day. There has never been an official death toll. Most parents received no explanation about how, let alone why, their child died. Some parents never even found their child's body.

"It's 30 years now, but we have never been told the truth: how many people died, who they were, and why?" asked Zhang Xianling, whose 19-year-old son, Wang Nan, was found dead a few hundred yards from Tiananmen Square in the morning of June 4, with bullet wounds in his head.

Authorities have been on particularly high alert ahead of this year's 30th anniversary.

Automated censoring software is blocking any mention of the event on China's parallel Internet. Activists and dissident ex-government officials who typically reside under house arrest have been altogether sent away on enforced vacations during the sensitive period.

"Even if people remember, they have no way of actively expressing that memory," Lim said.

While China's leaders smothered dissent and acts of remembrance, they have presented their economic accomplishments as justification for heavy-handed rule. Precisely as China boomed in the 2000s, the West was crippled by the 2008 financial crisis. It was proof, party officials said, of their authoritarian efficiency and the shortcomings of the chaotic liberal democratic model.

As China gained its swagger, Xi Jinping, the son of a political moderate Communist Party elder statesman, was rising to the top of the Communist apparatus.

"When Xi became leader in 2012 and president in 2013, many people hoped that he would be like his father, a very open leader," said He, the public intellectual. "People thought Xi would be amenable to reform. But there's an Arabic saying to describe what happened instead: 'A man can be more like his era than like his father.'"

Under Xi, the sense of Chinese preeminence quickly morphed into outright hostility toward Western values. The Communist Party's central office in 2013 distributed a watershed document warning that seven dangerous Western ideas, from democracy to media freedoms to free market system, must be forbidden from classrooms.

If the Tiananmen incident marked a turning point in the Communist Party backing away from political opening, then the 2013 communique was the definitive repudiation, said Gao Yu, the dissident journalist who was jailed in 2015 for obtaining and leaking the document.

"Document No. 9 almost cuts off all Western politics and economics, it completely cuts off China's connection with world civilization," Gao, whose seven-year prison sentence has been reduced to house arrest, said by email.

Months after the communique was distributed, Xi personally drove his point home. In what became known as his "August 19" speech in 2013, Xi warned Communist Party cadres that their rule could end if they loosened controls on thought.

But China's intellectuals increasingly wonder about the cost and sustainability of the ideological firewall.

Every year, more than 360,000 Chinese students attend American universities - including Xi's daughter, who graduated from Harvard in 2014. At China's top universities, many leading professors and administrators have studied overseas.

Chinese who spend time abroad "bring back not only the specific skills, but also the whole package, a changed framework of social values," said a senior professor at Peking University, the Harvard of China. "It's getting difficult for the Chinese leadership to maintain ideological discipline."

Anecdotally, some well-educated or rich Chinese say they have had enough. Data also suggest they are voting with their feet. In 2018, twice as many millionaires - about 15,000 - immigrated out of China than out of any other country, according to the consultancy New World Wealth.

Those who remember 1989, when China seemed a more hopeful country, doubt the cycle of repression can hold.

As Liu, the protester-turned-bookstore-owner, puts it: "You can build a dam higher and higher but the water just rises higher, too."
Learning about a nation begins first with knowing its people and getting to know their names is always the first step in this process. The way of writing names is also a reflection of a nation's culture and language.



Many Japanese people, when writing their full names in English, now face the issue of whether to put their given name or their family name first.

Like other East Asian cultures, such as the Chinese, Vietnamese and Koreans, Japanese people write or say their family name before their given name. This is a common feature in many East Asian civilizations. But while most of these East Asian cultures still write their family names first when writing them in English, Japanese names are written with their given name first in English. What is the reason for this difference?

For almost one and a half centuries, Japan has been following the English format by putting the given name before the family name. That was part of Japan's national reform and westernization policies, which started in 1868 during the Meiji Era.

In Japan, however, there have been calls to change the order of writing Japanese names in English. About 20 years ago, Japan's National Language Council issued a report to urge the adoption of the Japanese format when writing Japanese names in English. These voices have become louder and the Japanese government says it now wants to settle the matter once and for all as the country enters the new Reiwa Era in May.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on May 21 that the government hoped that the Prime Minister's name "would be written Abe Shinzo" in the same way that China and South Korea do when writing their names in English.

Kono also said that he hoped Japanese English-language media would follow suit.

At present, both the Japanese government and English-language media still write the Japanese Prime Minister's name as Shinzo Abe, with Abe being his family name.

It might not be easy to change the way of writing names since Japan adopted the English format some 150 years ago. But China and South Korea have set a good precedent in this respect. Both countries use their own traditional formats when writing names in English and have made them universally acknowledged around the world.

Kicking off this process might be hard, but the eventual result is good. Over the long period of contact between China and Western nations, Chinese names were written in different ways in English, some used the family name first and others wrote the given name first. This often led to confusion. China finally settled the issue in the late 1950s by creating the standard Chinese phonetic alphabet and adopting the Chinese format in English, with the family name being written first. After years of promoting and using this method, the Chinese phonetic alphabet was finally adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the international community. Today, the Chinese standard has become the international standard.

The Chinese phonetic alphabet and adopting the Chinese format when writing names in English are a combination of distinctive Chinese culture and the English language, which is the most commonly used language in the world. For example, Li Lei and Han Meimei are two well-known characters featured in China's middle school English textbooks and Li and Han are the family names. This format is generally used by Chinese people and is helpful when identifying a Chinese person by their name in English.

In addition to this standard format, there are special use cases too. If a Chinese person has a Western first name, it is natural to use the English format when referring to him or her, such as Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, one of China's most successful online business giants. And in Hong Kong, many people like to put their English given name first, followed by the family name and the Chinese given name last.

Both East Asians and Westerners value their family name although the order of writing names is opposite. Whether to put the family name first or last, mostly depends on grammar structure. In English, Black Smith, for example, means Black [of] Smith. In other Western languages such as French and Italian, this is even more apparent. In French, in the name Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), the first French President after World War II, "de" means "of." Looking at another example in Italian, in the name Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), the famous Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect and engineer during the Renaissance, "da" is akin to "of" in English.

So the difference between the East and the West in the format of writing names is an interesting contrast of language structure which distinguishes one civilization from the other. In this sense, Japan has good reason to restore the Japanese name structure format in English as it enters its new era.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  The Philippines strategic partnership with Japan has been on an even stronger footing after President Rodrigo Duterte's four-day working visit to Japan, the Palace said Saturday.

The President capped his visit on a high note, the Palace said in statement, citing the cooperation agreements between the two countries during the recently concluded 25th Nikkei International Conference on The Future of Asia.

Malacanang said Duterte lauded the Philippines-Japan partnership as one that empowers rather fosters dependency and is the kind of relationship that we (Philippines) seek with other countries.

Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in infrastructure development, trade and investments, agriculture, labor, defense, maritime security and maritime domain awareness, people-to-people exchanges, and the pursuit of just and lasting peace and progress in Mindanao, the Palace said.

Malacanang cited that both leaders also discussed advancing the rule of law, including in the South China Sea. The President questioned Chinas sweeping claims in the contested waters, making the remark as he veered away from his prepared speech at the conference. I love China, it has helped us a bit. But it behooves upon us to ask, is it right for a country to claim the whole ocean?"

Duterte and Abe also exchanged views on regional maritime security, non-traditional threats, on-going efforts to secure peace in the Korean Peninsula, and supporting free trade, the Palace said.

The country's Asian neighbor renewed support for the governments Build, Build, Build program.

Japan also pledged worth 12 billion development projects for Mindanao. "I am grateful for Japans fresh commitment of around 25 billion yen for the development of Mindanaos road network, vocational training facilities and equipment, and other projects," Duterte said.

More than $5 billion dollars (or 288.804 billion) worth of business deals, which are expected to generate 82,737 jobs were signed during a business forum organized by the Department of Trade and Industry between Filipino and Japanese businessmen.
 Flash

An emergency Arab League summit called for by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has commenced on Thursday evening in Mecca amid rising tensions in this region, Al Arabiya TV reported.



The Arab emergency summit was held due to "exceptional challenges" that the region is facing, said King Salman, noting that his country would like to cooperate with the countries of the region to promote development.

Earlier this month, four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, was attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and a key oil installation was damaged in a drone strike in Saudi Arabia.

Also in this month, Yemen's Houthi rebels said they launched a drone attack on an arms depot at Najran airport in Saudi Arabia's border city of Najran.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said recent regional developments require joint coordination among Arab states, and the latest attacks threaten the security of the region and global trade.

"Arabs do not turn others into enemies, but they also do not accept injustice," said the Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, adding that "Houthi militias have crossed the red line".

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi linked the security of the Gulf to his country's national security. "All means should be used to deter the perpetrators of the attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf," he said.

King Abdullah II of Jordan reaffirmed that the security of the Gulf states is a fundamental pillar of the region's stability.

Iraqi President Barham Salih said that the region is witnessing a crisis that foretells a war that will "destroy everything," and that the principle of non-interference in internal affairs needs to be respected.

Echoing Salih's remarks, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah expressed his concern that the escalation facing the region could add to "previous wounds."

Leaders from members of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Gulf Cooperation Council are gathering in Mecca this week in response to the intensifying situation in this region after a spike of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) held its annual Gold Drop and Porcelain Pelican Awards Ceremony for the North-East, Midlands region on Friday, May 10.

The event took place in the Headfort Arms Hotel in Kells, Co Meath, with one hundred and twenty six 50 time Donors receiving their Gold Drop and seven 100 time Donors receiving their Porcelain Pelicans at the ceremony.

Donors and their guests attended from counties Meath, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth, Westmeath, Longford, and North County Dublin.

Finbar Gethins, Area Manager  Ardee Centre was MC for the ceremony and welcomed everyone and congratulated all the Donors on their wonderful achievements.

Andy Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of the IBTS then performed the opening address and thanked the Donors for their commitment on behalf of all the patients who are extremely grateful to all blood donors.

He commented on the great atmosphere in the room due to all donors being part of a special community and told them that they should be justly proud of their achievements.

He then presented each of the 50 Time Donors with their Gold Drop awards and the Porcelain Pelicans to the 100 Time Donors.

Among the Longford people commended were Raymond Farley of Aughnacliffe, Karl Bleakley of Aughnacliffe, Thomas McGivney from Granard and Thomas Mimnagh of Moyne, all of whom donated 50 times.

Aughnacliffe's Joe Mulligan was also commended, receiving an award for being a 100-time donor.

Mr Paul McKinney, Director Operations of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) thanked all the donors on their fantastic accomplishment of donating 50 and 100 times.

He also thanked the Local Voluntary Organisers, the Red Cross, the Order of Malta, Na Cailini in Ballybay, Civil Defence, ICA, Scouts, G.A.A. and the many individuals who organise, promote and assist the work of the IBTS in the community.
Local News, Crime, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 01 2019

NCPD: A 16 year-old approached the victim and began punching, kicking, and making sexual orientation comments.

The Fifth Squad reports the arrest of a male juvenile, 16, for a Bias Incident that occurred in Elmont.

According to detectives, a 24 year old male victim was inside of a McDonalds located at 1420 Hempstead Turnpike. The victim heard a group of individuals yelling comments about his sexual orientation. The victim asked them to stop at which point the male juvenile started to argue with the victim and spit on him. Both parties were separated by employees at which time the male juvenile approached the victim again and began punching, kicking, and making more sexual orientation comments towards the victim. The suspect fled scene on foot but soon after was located by fifth precinct Police and was placed under arrest without incident.

Detectives request anyone with information regarding this incident to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.

The juvenile subject is charged with Assault 3rd degree as a Hate Crime. He will be arraigned on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at First District Court, 99 Main Street Hempstead.
The retired Navy captain from Virginia Beach who took it upon himself to raise questions about the quality of health care in Martinsville, Danville and two other cities indicates he is frustrated by lack of response to his efforts.

James Sherlock wrote to state officials in late March about what he described as dangerous hospitals and poor public health in Danville, Martinsville, Portsmouth and Petersburg he had discovered after investing years and thousands of hours and thousands of dollars studying Virginias health care system.

As you can see, the VDH [Virginia Department of Health] refuses to answer my question of what they will do to improve public health and the hospitals in Danville, Martinsville, Portsmouth and Petersburg, Sherlock wrote in a recent email. I am now going to quit asking.

In his report, he had cited the 1-star (out of 5) Hospital Compare ratings that the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services had given to Sovah Health (with campuses in Martinsville and Danville), Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth and Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg.

Sherlock has said that the 1-star ratings could indicate that patients are infected, injured, suffer or die (or some combination of those hospital failures) at much higher rates than normal not because of the conditions for which they were admitted but because of the poor treatment they receive while there.

He also suggested that the health of citizens was threatened by decades of state misfeasance, bad hospital management and other factors, long-standing unchecked predatory behavior by some of the nonprofit health-care corporations awarded regional dominance by VDH [Virginia Department of Health] in its administration of the Certificate of Public Need law.

And, based on correspondence he shared from state officials, the maladies he identified have gone undiagnosed.

Joseph Hilbert, deputy commissioner for governmental and regulatory affairs, Virginia Department of Health, wrote to Sherlock that the Virginia Department of Health Office of Licensure and Certification is responsible for licensing and inspecting health care facilities in Virginia, including hospitals, and is the designated state survey agency for Medicare and Medicaid in Virginia. He said that agency works closely with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on its inspections programs, which are used to satisfy both state licensure and Medicare/Medicaid requirements.

He said that office has updated its website to provide a link to the Hospital Compare data, to make it more available to the public, including the star ratings that Sherlock had used in is assessment.

However, reproducing the information that is already compiled and available on CMS website, as well as continually updating that information as CMS updates its data, is not cost-efficient, Hilbert said in his email.

New laws needed?

He said the Department of Health defers to the Department of Medical Assistance Services for issues outside its authority and that the Department of Health Professionals regulates training and continuing education of health care practitioners, including mandating minimum levels to maintain competency.

Typically, the cost of training and continuing education is borne either by the practitioner or through some form of cost sharing, cost reimbursement, or other arrangement with the practitioners employers, Hilbert wrote. State funding or state assistance in funding the training you proposed would be a public policy decision made by the General Assembly through the adoption of new laws or amendments to existing law.

We want all residents in Virginia to have safe and high quality health care.

In a separate email, Hilbert wrote that the four hospitals Sherlock mentioned  Martinsville, Danville, Portsmouth and Petersburg  are accredited and that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services does not assign federal surveys (other than complaint and validation surveys) for those facilities to the Office of Licensure and Certification.

That essentially means their health and safety standards meet or exceed those of Medicare.

State law presumes that a hospital having undergone a federal survey performed by an accrediting organization has met the requirements of Virginia Code. A new law also limits the frequency of licensure inspections, Hilbert wrote, unless OLC has completed at least one licensure inspection of all other licensed hospitals.

He said changes would be up to the General Assembly but that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is aware of the need for additional oversight of accrediting organizations and has proposed the public posting of accreditation organization performance data.

There is a large range of factors that contribute to health status at the individual and population levels, Hilbert said in the email. VDH [Virginia Department of Health] is extremely committed to approaching population health improvement through multisector collaborations and partnerships, including those with hospital systems, that will lead to improvements in the safety and quality of health care for all Virginians.

What could be done?

Sherlock has suggestions. Many of them.

He said the state should provide a list of problem areas in 1-star hospitals and provide Medicaid patients served by one-star hospitals a process for being treated by 4-star or 5-star hospitals.

I recommend that local physicians, nurses and operating room technician teams practicing in one-star hospitals be paid to travel to better hospitals to participate in the listed procedures for training, he wrote. Once a one-star hospital has upgraded the training of its staff and its list of doctors with admitting privileges in those specialties, then the list of conditions could be modified or eliminated.

He has suggested the Hospital Compare findings should be incorporated into state licensing and that plan for corrective action be required, followed by an on-site inspection.

He said that a 1-star rating for three consecutive years should be cause for license revocation and that legislation should be drafted to require accurate reporting and felony charges for violating those rules. He also would put the State Corporation Commission in charge.

A spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services did not respond to a request for comment about Sherlocks suggestions. However, Sherlock shared an email he had received from Dr. Jennifer S. Lee. director of DMAS.

She wrote that DMAS does not have independent authority to make the changes Sherlock requested in the absence of state and federal approval.

The department adheres to applicable state and federal regulations and its own rigorous internal policies in order to ensure Medicaid members are receiving high quality, cost-effective care driven by innovation, Lee wrote. DMAS requires the care provided to Medicaid members to meet a wide range of standards developed to improve the Medicaid member experience, in areas including quality of care and services, access, transition of care, health disparities, and timeliness of care.

In turn, DMAS managed care organizations monitor provider quality through regular member surveys, quality outcome metrics such as HEDIS scores, credentialing and re-credentialing of the provider network, site visits, medical record reviews, grievance and appeals, audits, and other processes.

Lee wrote that resources are available to help patients make informed health care choices, including hospital performance data at Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services

Fortunately, Medicaid enrollees are able to choose their hospital, Lee wrote. Non-emergency medical transportation is available for Medicaid members, and I am pleased to report that progress is being made on telehealth access for members in rural and under-served areas. Ultimately, the strategies you propose would require additional funding, and the General Assembly alone has the authority to direct funding for the Medicaid program.

Legislative views

The Bulletin recently sought from the four state legislators who represent this area comments about Sovah Healths 1-star rating, a number of concerns and suggestions that Sherlock expressed and what the legislature could or should do to address those issues.

They cant do a whole lot about making a private business more effective, Del. Danny Marshall (R-Danville) said. What could we do? Im not sure. Ive reached out to the people with LifePoint [Sovahs parent company] and havent gotten a reply yet.

If you look at rural Virginia, a lot of the hospitals in rural Virginia are Level 1.  I dont know where he [Sherlock] bases his information from. Let me look at it. Ill get back to you.

Del. Charles Poindexter (R-Franklin County) said he didnt know anything about Sherlocks qualifications to make the observations he did.

A lot of times when you get those kind of things, you get somebody that had a bad experience somewhere.  I havent heard any other information, Poindexter said.

Del. Les Adams (R-Chatham) said he brought up Sherlocks assessment with the CEO of LifePoint.

They said they were aware of this. He indicated they would have a response, Adams said.

Adams said he would have to look at Sherlocks exact complaints outside of the ranking. Obviously were always looking at how to improve our health care and how it is delivered, he said

State Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Franklin County) did not respond to a request for comment.

The Virginia Department of Health is a failed organization, Sherlock wrote in an email. They have been responsible for the administration of COPN [certificate of public need] since 1973 and have both created regional monopolies and failed to express any interest in what they have done with the market power that they have been granted.

They are responsible for the oversight of the rural health system, which is failing in plain sight. They are responsible for the oversight of public health, which  is utterly unequal in Virginia without it even being officially noted much less acted on by VDH.

VDH is responsible for the licensing of hospitals in Virginia, and express no concern about the ones of terrible quality as defined by the federal government. The culture is such that someone will need to clean house.

Sovahs response

Michael Ehrat, CEO of Sovah Health-Martinsville, and Alan Larson, market president and CEO of Sovah Health-Danville, have written in response to Sherlocks report that Sovah Health is committed to delivering high-quality, safe and compassionate care, and we are continuously working to ensure that all patients, visitors and employees have positive experiences at our hospitals in Danville and Martinsville.

They wrote they feel the one-star rating doesnt tell the stories of the lives that have been saved at Sovah Health, or adequately represent the safe high-quality care we regularly provide to our communities, and does not reflect our recent quality initiatives and performance improvements.

They wrote that Sovah Health is hard at work to move the ratings forward. Since the last CMS data release in 2017, we have implemented numerous initiatives aimed directly at enhancing patient safety and improving the overall patient experience. This includes measures like implementing bedside shift report and the formation of our patient family advisory council to improve patient communication and engagement and introducing daily leader safety briefs and team safety huddles to help us more quickly identify and proactively address quality concerns.
Total births in the United States fell last year to about 3.79 million, the smallest number in 32 years. The fertility rate hit a record low of 59 childbirths per 1,000 women. Americans are not having enough children to replace themselves.

This supposedly is bad news. Headlines are crying about a Shortage of Americans and Demographic Decline.

I dont know. There seem to be plenty of Americans to go around. If population growth were the mark of national greatness, Oman, Equatorial Guinea and Angola would be the stars.

Of course, a sharply falling population would be cause for concern, but thats not the situation here. The United States has been below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman for decades. The total continues to grow because of immigration.

Fewer workers, we are told, can be problematic for an aging society. An expanding elderly population needs more taxpayers to support its health care and, in many cases, more caregivers to make meals. This is true, but these demographics were totally predictable. Its odd to see handwringing over the need for more tax revenues shortly after our leadership pushed through deep tax cuts that will drain the Treasury of said revenues.

As for who will fill caregiving jobs, the answer may be those whose previous work was taken over by robots. And if caregiving pays too low to attract workers, the answer is to pay more.

Meanwhile, there are nuggets of very good news embedded in the U.S. population numbers. The birthrate among teens and unmarried women has plummeted. More women are having children when theyre older and, presumably, better able to support them. Also interesting, women with college degrees are having more children.

And thank you, Affordable Care Act, for making birth control, especially the long-acting kind, more available to women. That, not abortion, is behind the drop in unwanted pregnancies. Abortions are now at their lowest number and rate since around 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Roe v. Wade.

Some causes of falling births were expected. The birthrate among Hispanic women  once high relative to the rest of the population  is now more in line with that of other groups.

Fewer Americans would be a welcome relief for those living in our highly congested urban corridors. One can argue that Americas big, open spaces provide room galore for a far bigger population, but somehow natives and the foreign-born alike choose to shoehorn into densely populated areas.

Sadly, the habit of associating a dipping headcount with decline still plagues city leaders unable to deal with the numbers they already have. New York Mayor Bill De Blasio was so upset by the census report showing that his citys population shrunk by 40,000  a mere drop in a sea of 8.4 million souls  that he questioned its methodology. At rush hour, some of the subway trains get so overcrowded the doors wont close because passengers cant get their hands and legs inside. And we can light a candle for the drivers consigned to the flames of perpetual gridlock.

Some take falling birthrates as a sign of lost confidence in the future. But those fretting about the millennials lack of enthusiasm for reproducing might investigate deeper. They might start addressing the onerous burden of student debt. Babies are expensive.

They might look into todays crazy work schedules and, for those without college degrees or specialized skills, low pay. There was a time when parents could come home at 5:30 in the afternoon.

What makes for a strong society is healthy people, prosperous people and happy people  not more people. Americans can put low birthrates at the bottom of their worry list.

Harrop is a syndicated columnist. Email her at fharrop@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @FromaHarrop.
A combined law enforcement operation has arrested more than 140 people in a five-month long investigation into violent crime in the Lawrence area.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and Lawrence Police Chief Roy Vasque issued a joint statement Friday announcing the completion of Operation Triple Beam to round up violent offenders.

The U.S. Marshals Service, along with Massachusetts State Police and Lawrence police officers arrested 146 suspects in crimes such as rape, firearms violations, narcotics sales and gang violence.

Todays announcement is the culmination of months of hard work and dedication to root out dangerous violent criminals and fugitives, bringing them to justice, said U.S. Marshal John Gibbons for the District of Massachusetts. We want to thank our partners in the Lawrence Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police for their cooperation and invaluable assistance.

Operation Triple Beam is a national effort by the Marshals Service to provide individual communities assistance in addressing gang-related violence by targeting gang members and organizations responsible for committing violent crimes.

Over the course of the investigation, authorities seized more than two kilos of drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana. They also confiscated 10 firearms.
GateHouse Media will consolidate 50 of its weekly newspapers in Massachusetts into 18, according to a memo posted online Friday night.

The plan, set to begin Monday, will affect weekly papers, according to an internal memo posted online by Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University professor and Media Nation blogger.

The new, larger weeklies will cover the same market areas and total circulation will be largely unchanged. Readers will enjoy the same news coverage and advertisers will reach the same audience. The difference is that we are grouping some very small weeklies into geographic clusters that make sense for readers and advertisers, Peter Meyer, the president and publisher of The Providence Journal and publisher of GateHouse Media New England wrote in the memo dated May 31.

Many of the newspapers being grouped together currently cover one town, like the Shrewsbury Chronicle, The Westborough News Village News, Tewksbury Advocate and the West Roxbury Transcript which are all part of the restructuring. These papers will be merged under new titles to report on smaller regions.

The memo did not say whether staff cuts would also come with the changes.

GateHouses parent company is publicly traded New Media Investment Group Inc., which is run by Fortress Investment Group LLC. The company owns 156 daily newspapers and 464 weekly papers across the country.

GateHouse has a reputation for purchasing newspapers and immediately cutting staff and downsizing operations. Last week the company laid off about 200 employees, which New Media Investment Group CEO Mike Reed called a small restructuring.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that GateHouse is in talks with Gannett about a potential merger. Gannett owns USA Today and other local papers.
Pittsfield police are searching for a 66-year-old man who they said suffers from dementia, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Carl Dawson, Jr. hasnt been seen since about 9 p.m. Friday night when he was home. Family members said he was wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants and a purple Pittsfield Elks Jacket.

Dawson is believed to be driving a 2005 silver, Toyota Matrix with a Massachusetts registration of 8JB-P50. Authorities said Dawson may be headed toward Brattleboro, VT.

Anyone seeing Carl or his vehicle is asked to contact Pittsfield police immediately at 1-413-448-9723.
Webster police said a 12 -year-old girl told them she was kidnapped from the May Street Park in Webster Friday by a scruffy man, driven to Connecticut and may have been sexually assaulted. Local police and Connecticut State Police are investigating the incident and are asking for public assistance

According to release from Webster police, the girl and her parents came to the Webster police station Friday afternoon to report the 3:30 p.m. incident. Some details are not being released to maintain the integrity of the ongoing investigation, but police said the girl told them she was taken from the park by a white, scruffy man, and driven in a small black, two-door sedan out of Webster to another town. Investigators said they believe the destination was across the state line in Connecticut.

Authorities did not say how the girl escaped her kidnapper or how she returned to Webster, but she and her parents came to the Webster Police Department headquarters at about 4:44 p.m.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Webster Police Detective Chris Trainor or Officer Joe Reed at 508-943-1212. Anonymous tips can be called into 508-949-3874 or left on the department website at: www.websterpublicsafety.com

Police commanders said they will be assigning more frequent patrols of the park area in upcoming shifts.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she has supported legalization of marijuana since Massachusetts voted to decriminalize the drug in 2008, but a New York Times fact check says this claim is exaggerated.

The Times fact checked a number of Warrens comments on the trail, as the Massachusetts Senator continues to rise in the polls for the 2020 race for the White House.

At a CNN town hall in April, a student asked Warren about her position on marijuana legalization and her evolution in thought since she was first elected in 2012.

So, actually, I supported Massachusetts changing its laws on marijuana. Massachusetts had decriminalized at that point and I thought it made a lot more sense for Massachusetts to go ahead and legalize marijuana, and I now support the legalization of marijuana, Warren said, according to a transcript of the event.

The Times says Warren overstated her past support here.

In 2011, during a Senate primary debate at UMass Lowell Warren said she supported medical marijuana legalization, which was a ballot issue that year, but not recreational use, the Times notes.

In April 2012 Warren declined to take a position on that same ballot initiative when asked by the Associated Press. Then in September 2012 she told hosts of Bostons WTKK-FM she did supportmeical use of marijuana.

You know, I held my fathers hand while he died of cancer, and its really painful when you do something like that up close and personal. My mother was already gone and I was very very close to my father. And it puts me in a position of saying, if theres something a physician can prescribe that can help someone whos suffering, Im in favor of that, Warren said in that interview, according to Think Progress. Now, I want to make sure theyve got the right restrictions. It should be like any other prescription drug. That theres careful control over it. But I think its really hard to watch somebody suffer that you love.

In 2015, ahead of the Massachusetts ballot initiative that would eventually legalize the drug for recreational use, Warren told the Boston Globe she was open to it.

I think weve learned a lot, Warren said, adding that Massachusetts should study other states that recently legalized marijuana recreationally.

In August 2016, Warren would not commit to voting yes to the ballot question that legalized marijuana in Massachusetts that year in an interview with MassLive.

"What I just said is that I would be open to it because I think that the problem we've got right now in Massachusetts is that we've decriminalized it which makes marijuana available but there's no regulation over it for safety, she said at the time.

During her run for president, Warren has said repeatedly said she voted yes on the initiative and thinks the country should legalize marijuana.
Education leaders and generous donors from across North Carolina have recognized the value of the Global Teachers program since it began in 1991, and their support of teachers continues this year.

"We are excited that Pedroza is getting the opportunity to participate in the Go Global NC program to Mexico. She is an outstanding educator who puts students first, said Mark Garrett, superintendent of McDowell County Schools. This adventure will not only enrich her professional growth but will also provide a greater understanding of many of her students' native cultures. We look forward to having her share her experiences with McDowell County Schools."

"Nebo Elementary is very excited for Ms. Pedroza to have the opportunity to experience another culture and then return back to share with our school community, said Desarae Kirkpatrick, principal of Nebo Elementary School. Ms. Pedroza already does a great job of collaborating with other teachers to promote global awareness, but this travel opportunity will open more doors for additional learning experiences for students, staff and our community. We are very appreciative of this partnership and elated that Ms. Pedroza has been selected to represent McDowell County Schools."
VEHICLE BID DOCUMENT

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PROCUREMENT AND PURPOSE:

Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) intends to implement Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) activities under the Breakthrough ACTION Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo funded by USAID. These activities include Democracy and Governance, Education, Nutrition, Malaria, Family Planning and Reproductive Global Health, Security Program on Maternal and Child Health and Safety. During its first year, the program will establish offices in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, necessitating the procurement of three vehicles duty free to transport staff across multiple health areas and including the surrounding districts. We anticipate having One or two vehicles in Kinshasa and one in Lubumbashi. In so far, these vehicles are for conducting programmatic health activities such as training and transport of teams and workshop materials in the surrounding target districts.

Specifications/Requirements

Based on the programmatic needs of the DRC Breakthrough ACTION Team, these identified specifications will serve as the basis in procuring the vehicles in question:

US Manufactured Preferred

Type of vehicle: SUV

Number of seats: 6-7 passengers including driver

Transmission: Four Wheel Drive (4WD) or All Wheel Drive (AWD)

Vehicle specification: Left-Hand Drive

Fuel type: Diesel, Gasoline or Petrol

Tank capacity: at least 60L

Engine: 6-Cylinder

Cargo space

Air conditioning

Manual transmission

Raised air intakes

The vehicles proposed should be 2019 or 2018 models.

Vendor needs to include any warranty information.

Vendor should be licensed and have to include the letter from the manufacturer indicating that they are licensed.

Vendor should include the country of manufacture for each vehicle, and if the vehicle is not available in country at the moment, we need to know the country from which it will be shipped.

Vendor will include their proof of registration in the country.

Validity period of the bidQuotation must be valid for a period of 90 days.

Delivery lead-time in the event of advance payment

All vehicles must be brand new. Warranty and repair/maintenance plan must be stated clearly for Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and other state locations.

All vehicles must be delivered to JHU offices (Kinshasa and Lubumbashi) within 90 days following the signing of a contractual agreement.

Two vehicles will be deliver in Kinshasa and one in Lubumbashi.

Proposals must identify availability of service facilities and parts for the vehicles. The number and location of all affiliated service facilities in addition to the availability of obtaining genuine spare parts.

Vendors must include in country proof of registration(RCCM) and all administrative document

Please note that the project is exempted from VAT payment, so quotations should show clearly the duty free amount

Applications: Interested applicants must send your proposals to Admin@breakthroughactiondrc.org before 5PM Kinshasa time June 14, 2019, with the subject line: BA-DRC Vehicle Quotation
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, May 31, 2019

Walmart and Target are both taking bold steps into the advertising world, with aggressive pitches to both advertisers and agencies, offering ad services and platforms that rival Amazon's.

But while observers are impressed with how slick and well-packaged these new businesses seem to be, there are still many questions about how well they will do.

To be clear, in some ways these retailers have been in the ad biz for a long time. Both companies, and many other stores, have always sold ads -- from old-fashioned circulars to sophisticated digital offerings.

Retailers have had media networks for some time, says Sucharita Kodali, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. Its not a new thing. Its more attractive now that Amazon has shown how big that business can be, but it was always a good idea and a great way to monetize a retail property that attracts a lot of consumers.

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Big is an understatement. eMarketer forecasts Amazon will take in $11.33 billion in ad revenue this year, and $15.01 billion in 2020.

What is new, though, is how fervent Target and Walmart both seem to be about getting their share of retail ad dollars. Their presentations have been very sophisticated events, coming from organizations that typically arent that sophisticated about branding in terms of outreach to media partners, says Amy Lanzi, executive vice president and commerce lead, Publicis Media. They were very clear talking about their vision.

Lanzi says these pitches are inherently appealing to both advertisers and media partners. At their core, they are retailers, and say, 'if we dont sell more products, we are not successful.

Walmart Media Group, which called its New York event 5260 after one of its test stores, invited hundreds of companies, according to a report from Reuters, in its first-ever direct pitch to the ad community. It recently acquired Polymorph Labs, a startup, to help build the business.

The article quotes Stefanie Jay, vice president and general manager of Walmart Media Group, who says Walmarts ad offerings will be shaped by online purchase behavior, but also by what customers buy in stores before and after they see an ad. Thats an approach online rivals like Amazon cant take.

Lanzi says Jay told those at the Walmart gathering that it intends to hire some 300 people to support the new business. And, in more proof that it hopes to challenge Amazon in just about every arena, the retailer just announced it has hired Suresh Kumar as chief technology officer and chief development officer, reporting directly to President and CEO Doug McMillon. Kumar has held high-level roles at Google, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM.

Target Corp., which the Wall Street Journal says is considering buying Triad Retail Media from WPP, the media agency Walmart split with back in February, rechristened its media division Roundel earlier this month. It promises to use the chains rich insights to create smart, personalized campaigns that connect our guests to information and offers theyll find most relevant.

Lanzi says the retail industrys challenges, which many observers have been calling the retail apocalypse, is also fueling the change. Retailers are really thinking about what digital transformation means to them.

Both companies are very focused on being able to partner more deeply with the brands to help them build their businesses. How well they can collaborate with brands, rising above the basic merchant-manufacturer relationships theyve always had, will be key to their success.

Still there are still crucial details missing from both companies offers. It isnt yet clear exactly what they're doing in terms of changing their offering, Lanzi says. Both are talking about closed-loop attribution and tracking end-to-end sales. And if they can do that, she says, it will be a genuine game-changer.

Thats the Holy Grail, and would make us say, 'Wow, this is worth shifting dollars, because we can really see the benefit.
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Although wrong side errors seem preventable, they continue to occur. Previous studies have estimated 1 wrong side surgery per 100,000 procedures and 1.3 wrong-side nerve blocks per 10,000 procedures [1].To provide more information on how often and why they occur, and on the safety mechanisms needed to prevent them, Arnal and colleagues analysed WSE incidents reported to SENSAR (Spanish Safety Reporting System in Anaesthesia and Resuscitation), which covers 100 predominantly large hospitals across Spain between 2007 and 2018.Overall, 81 incidents were reported in 11 years, with high numbers of WSEs noted in orthopaedic (48%) and ophthalmology (28%) surgery.36 (44%) of these WSEs were related to the surgical procedure, and the surgery was actually performed in half of these cases. The remaining 45 (56%) WSEs involved the anaesthetic technique (the wrong side of the the body given anaesthesia), with an incorrect nerve block performed in 91% of cases. Severe harm was caused on three occasions.Analysis of WSEs suggests several common causes and systemic failures. In two-thirds of cases, the absence or incorrect use of the surgical checklist was reported. Other factors included rushing and poor communication amongst the medical team."Our findings highlight the need for adequate training and appropriate use of surgical check-lists, as well the creation of a standardised surgical site marking protocol, the correct revision of clinical history and imaging tests, and involving patients in their own safety", says Dr Arnal. "While these serious wrong side events are extremely rare, our mission should be to drive them down to zero."Source: Eurekalert
BAD AXE -- The Bad Axe fine arts team of sixth and seventh graders placed 22nd out of 83 teams from around the world at the Destination Imagination Global Finals held this month in Kansas City.

Their instant challenge performance placed in the top 10. The high school technical team placed 30th out of 50 teams.
CASS CITY -- Thumb Area MEA-Retired will meet June 11 at the Charmont Restaurant in Cass City.

There is a social hour at noon where members may purchase their lunch. At 1 p.m., guest speaker, Kate VanAuken, director of the Rawson Memorial Library in Cass City, will explain services available at the library.
It took Sen. Chris Murphy about an hour on Friday to ride between his home in Cheshire and a speaking engagement before the Mystic Chamber of Commerce. So it seemed like more than enough time to issue tweets on the state of the world today and U.S. foreign policy, in easy-to-digest thread bites.

Let us stipulate here that Murphy was not driving, so he had both his hands and presumably a full attention span to accomplish the task at hand.

For a liberal Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a Republican Senate and President Donald Trump at the helm of U.S. foreign policy, this was not going to amount to a pretty picture.

In fact, Murphy said in tweet # 1 that his aim was to list all the current foreign policy disasters caused by Trump.

North Korea? Murdering politicians left and right under the cover of praise from the American President.

Israel? Further away from peace than ever. And a two-state solution seems to be disappearing forever before our eyes.

Iran? Restarting their nuclear weapons program and threatening to attack American forces in Iraq.

Impending climate-change disaster? The US government no longer believes climate change exists or cares to do anything about it.

China? 1 million Muslim Uighurs and Kazakhs (are) in detention camps as the US withdraws from global human rights leadership.

Russia? Election interference operation is kicking into higher gear, as US government sits idly (and purposely?) by doing virtually nothing.

Murphy was just getting warmed up, with Syria, Ukraine, Canada, U.S.-Mexico border and other hot spots left to go.

But eventually the destination in Mystic drew near and Murphy had to relax his fingers and come back down to local ground.

I feel like Im halfway through the list, he said in #13 of the thread. The point is - things are worse than ever and Congress needs to stop sitting on its hands. We can put a check on a foreign policy that has gone off the rails.

===================

Robert Muellers brief statement before the cameras on Wednesday provided two or three times the daily dosage of catnip to liberal Democratic antagonists like Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

Among other things, Mueller appeared to contradict Attorney General William Barrs statement last month about the now-infamous opinion from the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, which stipulated that a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Barr on April 18, hours before release of the full (albeit redacted) 448-page Mueller report, said that Mueller had assured him that the OLC policy was NOT the determining factor in Muellers decision to sidestep prosecuting President Donald Trump for obstruction. (And thats why Barr, stepping into a perceived vacuum, made the decision himself not to go forward against Trump on obstruction.)

Fast forward to Wednesday: Mueller, the ever-careful chooser of his own words, essentially said the OLC report is precisely what brought the curtain down on him.

The special counsels office is part of the Department of Justice and, by regulation, it was bound by that department policy, Mueller said. Charging the President with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.

For Blumenthal and other Democrats, this is the but for question, as in Trump would have been indicted for obstruction but for the OLC policy against indicting a sitting president.

And it was a Bingo! moment.

Muellers message to American people is the long-standing policy that there can be no indictment of a sitting president prevented him from indicting Trump, Blumenthal said.

So notwithstanding Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declaring case closed, the Democrats theater of operation now shifts decisively to Congress. The market may be in decline but stock in the i word is on the rise.

As a potential interrogator on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blumenthal said his first order of business is summoning Mueller to testify. Easier said than done, since Republicans who control the committee have expressed little interest, and Mueller himself said such an appearance would be pointless (and that the report itself is my testimony.)

Why does it make such a difference? Like them or not, the facts (as far as we know them) are there in the report, right? So why must Mueller appear himself, against his wishes?

Most Americans will never read the report, and many will not see or hear his nine-minute statement (made on Wednesday), he said. Most Americans wont read the book, but theyll see the movie. And Robert Mueller is the movie.
ESSEX  Through mid-October, the Connecticut River Museum hosts the Onrust, a re-creation of the vessel Adriaen Block built in 1614. Now in its third year of visiting Essex, Onrust is available for public cruises as well as private charters.

The Onrust, which is Dutch for unrest or restless, was a Dutch ship built by captain and explorer Adriaen Block and his crew to replace the Tyger, which was destroyed by fire during the winter of 1613 in New York Bay. Onrusts construction took place near Manhattan during the winter of 1614. The ship was Americas first yacht.

His voyage was used as the basis for the Dutch claim to the territory of New Netherland, an area that included parts of what are now the states of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and to pursue developing trade partnerships with Native Americans. In 1614, Block became the first known European to travel up the Connecticut River to just north of Hartford (a distance of approximately 60 miles from Long Island Sound). Block was immortalized as namesake of the small island in Long Island Sound that is perennially popular with modern visitors to these waters.

The re-created Onrust was launched in 2009 by The Onrust Project, an all-volunteer non-profit out of New York, which built the vessel after painstakingly researching traditional Dutch shipbuilding techniques. The Museum and the Project have again partnered to host this vessel in Connecticut.

The Onrust is a floating exhibit at the Museum through early October. She is open for dockside tours, school and Scout programs, along with public cruises and charters. For more information on the Connecticut River Museum and the Onrust, please visit the Museums website.

The Connecticut River Museum is located on the Essex waterfront at 67 Main Street in Essex and is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. The museum, located in the historic Steamboat Dock building, offers exhibits and programs about the history and environment of the Connecticut River. For a full listing of Museum programs or to buy tickets for the Onrust, RiverFare, and many other events go to www.ctrivermuseum.org or call 860-767-8269.

I-Park offers hikes, music, art on CT Trails Day

EAST HADDAM  I-Park artists-in-residence program will open its scenic campus to lovers of nature, art and music in observance of Connecticut Trails Day on Saturday, June 1. The grounds will be open from 2 to 6 p.m., joining 250 other events in this annual statewide celebration. Rain date is Sunday, June 2.

Normally closed to the public to ensure the privacy of its resident artists, I-Parks campus and its 26 trails will be open for strolling, hiking and exploring. Visitors can discover the propertys woods, fields, waterways and stone walls, as well as the abundance of site-responsive artworks that have been installed on the property since I-Parks founding in 2001.

Landscape painters from throughout the region will be stationed around the grounds, capturing the beauty of the setting and representing the merger of art and nature that has been a hallmark of I-Parks residency program.

The Grays, a percussion-based improvisational quartet from Chester that performs original compositions, will be playing from 2 to 4 p.m. Guests are welcome to sit and listen to the music and bring a picnic lunch.

Since 2002, Mie Preckler has been working on a large-scale, ongoing site intervention, A Conversation with the Gravel Pit. Over time she has persuaded the landscape to bend gently to her will, creating Mie's Trail and exposing the site-specific topography of this previously barren industrial site. Mie returns to I-Park every year to maintain this work and document the subtle changes that have taken place since her last visit. She will lead a guided walk of the trail at 4:30 pm.

This is a free, family-friendly event and reservations are requested. To reserve your space, go to i-park.org. For additional information, write events@i-park,org or call 860-873-2468. Pets are not permitted on the grounds.

Take a Hike at the Independent Day School

MIDDLEFIELD  The Independent Day School campus is home to a nature trail that winds through woodlands, wetlands, and a pond, a perfect place for a family hike including even the youngest members of thefamily. The IDS Nature Trail is part of the CT Trails Day Celebration this year, and will be open for a hike on June 2, 12 p.m. An interactive Trail Guide is available via your mobile device and helps you explore each location's unique plants, animals, insects, and more, including descriptions and pictures, Think Questions for different grade levels, links to resources, activities, games, and books to extend the learning experience including a glossary section for quick reference for vocabulary words,

Find the Trail Guide at www.idsnaturetrail.org.

This event is free and open to the public. trail is also open to the public outside of regular school hours.

The Independent Day School is located at 115 Laurel Brook Road, Middlefield.

For informatio, call 860-347-7235 or visit independentdayschool.org.

Fiddling lessons offered at library

MIDDLETOWN  Fiddling workshops will be held July 17-Aug. 21 in the Hubbard Room, Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown.

The Connecticut Bristol Old Tyme Fiddlers Club (CBOTFC) are sponsoring a 6-week, hands-on fiddling tutorial.

The classes are free, but students must have some experience playing the violin.

Students can learn to play traditional fiddle tunes by ear. CDs and sheet music will be provided. Violins will be available on loan, but if you own a violin, bring it with you.

Register at 860-347-2520. Students must be 18 or older. For information, call Ed Rosado at 860-345-2654, or email edymarge@aol.com.
A multipronged health reform bill is awaiting floor votes in the General Assembly, as supporters wonder whether it would have been stronger if state Comptroller Kevin Lembo hadnt declared the heart of it dead on Wednesday.

The measure was known as the public option bill, so named because it contained a health insurance plan, the Connecticut Option, that would be designed and directed by the state. An earlier version of the bill contained a so-called pooling option, under which small businesses would have been able to buy into the state employees health plan, or a plan similar to it.

The goal here, as it is across a nation mired in a health coverage crisis, was to expand coverage at lower prices on the market for individuals and small companies  those not covered by corporate or public employees plans.

Insurers all along opposed the sweeping bill, which contained other, somewhat less controversial parts. Cigna, the giant, Bloomfield-based health management corporation, organized a write-in campaign for employees to let lawmakers know they opposed it.

Now the public option portion of the public option bill is out because on Wednesday, Lembo  without consulting with Gov. Ned Lamont or the bills main sponsors  declared it was out, citing threats to exit the state from Cigna, in comments to The Hartford Courant.

A diluted but still important version of the sweeping bill is on the docket, expected to win approval if lawmakers have time to debate it in the closing days of the session.

But its tempered by frustration and anger over two things: First, Lembos move has supporters of the bill scratching their heads. Lembo has offered no explanation, and he did not return calls to his phone and his office seeking comment.

And second, everyone agrees its nearly impossible to enact meaningful health care reform in the post-Obamacare scene, as one or another powerful interest  such as Cigna  always cries foul.

We were at the negotiating table and we were making progress, said Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, the main sponsor along with Sen. Matthew Lesser, D-Middletown. Whether we would have gotten there, I dont know.

Gov. Ned Lamont, heavily invested in the bill, said, when a couple of us in the media asked him Friday whether a public option could have been salvaged in ongoing talks with Cigna and other industry companies, They just needed a little more time, didnt they?

Lamont also said he didnt think Cigna had made a threat to leave.

Thats a matter of interpretation. Late on Tuesday afternoon, Deb Hutton, a lawyer and ranking lobbyist for Cigna, called three people at the state Capitol: Lesser, Scanlon, and Ryan Drajewicz, Lamonts chief of staff. She clearly tried to exercise muscle, according to multiple accounts that Ill describe in a minute.

Wide reforms remain

As for whats left of the reform, Lesser and Scanlon described it as a bill that would be viewed as major advancement in its own right if it had been proposed as it stands now, without the public option.

It doesnt have everything I want but health care is hard and big changes take time, Scanlon said. Im still really proud of this bill and its going to make a difference in a lot of peoples lives.

After Wednesday, many people believed the whole bill was dead. Along with the public option, known as the Connecticut Option, a provision to bring back the individual mandate for people to buy health insurance was removed Wednesday. That had been part of the federal Obamacare reform, but was removed by the Trump administration.

The parts of the health reform that remain include:

An aggressive program through a Cost Containment Commission to beat down medical costs. The idea is to set a benchmark for price increases by insurers or providers. Were going to stop the blame game of everybody saying its somebody elses fault that costs are going up, Lesser said. If you blow through the cap, youre going to be required to come up with a plan for improvement. ... Were going to be holding hearings on it, were going to name them and shame them. Massachusetts has such a commission, and apparently it works.

A plan to import pharmaceuticals from Canada at lower prices that local pharmacists could distribute. That idea reignited earlier this year when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested it and President Donald Trump said hed support it. Big Pharma, of course, would oppose it vehemently, saying the drugs shipped to Canada are meant for Canadian customers. It may work, it may not, Lesser said. Well see what Washington comes up with, said Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, an opponent of the bill.

A restoration of Medicaid to 26,000 parents who were cut off two years ago. That component would be partially financed through a surcharge on opioids. Its now part of the state budget.

Additional subsidies beyond the Obamacare schedules for moderate-income people to buy coverage. That would be financed through three sources, including a new tax on health plans and the opioid surcharge.

A move for the state to bring reinsurance coverage to private carriers. In that part of the plan, the state would be able to funnel federal aid under a waiver program to insurance carriers to backstop their claims, thereby allowing lower prices. That reinsurance waiver is a really big deal, Lamont said. It brings down the cost of health insurance for everybody.

The debate never ends

A public option would have delivered savings of at least 20 percent, the bills authors and Lamont promised. As it stands now, theres no savings figure.

Republicans and central Connecticuts health insurers say the added taxes and fees, combined with meddling in the market by the state Comptrollers office, which would administer the plan, would cause more harm than good.

One big problem: The bill has constantly evolved, with the Connecticut Option rolling out in a press conference in late May, long after public harings and committee votes. This whole process I felt like the sand moving under my feet, said Kelly, who, like other Republicans, was not part of the planning.

Republicans in Connecticut want to solve the problems of the Affordable Health Care Act that were caused by its design, Kelly said. It wasnt properly funded.

The industry was mainly opposed to the public option.

We principally believe that any advancement of a government-run insurance program is the wrong direction for the state, the economy, and our locally based health plans of Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, ConnectiCare, Harvard Pilgrim and United, who contribute significantly to the regions livelihood and employment, said Susan Halpin, head of the Association of Connecticut Health Plans. The health plans have successfully worked with the state before to build Access Health, the exchange program for ACA, and going forward we should focus on improving that exchange instead of adding another government-run insurance plan.

An industry lobbyist sent an email to legislators saying the association had some issues with remaining parts of the bill, but would not fight it.

So what happened?

Even if the bill passes, supporters will long remember the weird events of this past week and wonder what might have been. Lembo, formerly the state health care advocate, is an ardent fighter for expanded coverage, and to be sure, the public option was on shaky ground with time running out when he declared it dead for the year.

Talks with Cigna and others in the industry were underway when Hutton made the calls to Lesser, Scanlon and Drajewicz, on Tuesday.

She expressed her displeasure with the bill, Scanlon said. She talked about how they would have to make some business decisions depending on whether or not this bill was to pass.

Business decisions is code, of course, for whether a locally based, global company will keep its headquarters and full staff in place, or erode its presence. Lesser declined to give specifics but suggested that Hutton, whom he did not name, in essence threatened to threaten that Cigna would reconsider some of its 4,000-plus staffing in Connecticut.

After those calls, the key backers  including Lembo  huddled together immediately. They asked Cigna to keep talking and they promised not to hold votes on the bill for at least a couple of days. They said yes, Scanlon said.

Then the next day, without warning, Lembo talked with The Courants editorial board, saying the key section of the bill was dead. There was probably a healthy dose of miscommunication on all sides, one person familiar with the talks said.

Lembo talked with Lesser the next morning in a phone call. He expressed regret for the lack of communication but he felt it was important to call out one specific corporation and he thought it was necessary, Lesser recounted. Every person in elected office fancies himself a master tactician. Im no exception. We just disagree.

Now, even on the cusp of a significant bill passing, advocates and sponsors are looking ahead.

The setback that we experienced in the public option part, I think is temporary, said Tom Swan, head of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group and a key health care reform advocate, who said Lembos move took a lot of courage.

Scanlon said he was bummed about the loss of the public option but will come back to it. Lamont echoed that, with a broader remark: Well be revisiting how we can bring down the cost of health insurance for small businesses.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  Darwin Ramos, a Filipino teenage boy who continued to inspire until his last breath, is a step closer to sainthood.

The Vatican has declared Ramos a "Servant of God," allowing the local diocese of Cubao to start the process for beatification and canonization, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said.

The Vatican has given us the go signal to go deeper in his life how he lived his faith and how he gave witness to Jesus to whom he was very close, Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco said in a statement on the CBCP News website Friday.

During the process for sainthood, church officials examine if a candidate indeed lived a devout Catholic life. Once found to be holy, the person will be beatified upon verification of a miracle attributed to that person. The canonization as a saint comes after a second miracle is verified.

Devotees have praised Ramos for keeping his faith even while battling Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease characterized by muscle weakness which bound him to a wheelchair.

Darwin is an example of holiness. Being a street child, afflicted with myopathy, he is closely united with Christ in his suffering and joy, Ongtioco said.

Ramos, born in 1994, lived in a slum community in Pasay City. At the age of 12, he volunteered to help street children through the foundation Tulay ng Kabataan. He died in 2012 at the age of 17.
Fasting has become trendy in some circles. Scientists are touting it as the new treatment for cancer and other illnesses. Intermittent fasting helps with weight loss. In the 60s, there were sanctuaries where people would go to cleanse their bodies of disease during month long, monitored fasts.

For people of faith, fasting it is a way to gain access to Allahs mercy and forgiveness. According to the Gospels, Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights after he was baptized by Prophet John. Prophet Musa fasted for 30 days preparing himself spiritually to meet with Allah on Mount Tur.

Muslims believe that Allah commanded Prophet Muhammad to fast from food and drink during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. From the Quran we read, Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain God consciousness." Chapter 2, verse 183. The time period for the fast is either twenty nine or thirty days depending upon the sighting of the new moon.

This directive to fast was revealed two years after Prophet Muhammad was chosen by Allah as the Prophet of Islam. Since the first verse of the Holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad during the last third of Ramadan, in 610 CE, reading a thirtieth of Quran daily is an essential feature of the month.

Prophet Muhammad said: It (Ramadan) is the month, whose beginning is mercy, its middle, forgiveness and its end, emancipation from the fire (of hell).

Allahs mercy for His creation is not bound by its actions. His mercy can be seen in our mere existence, our breath, in those we hold near and dear, etc. For those who are devoted to praising and worshipping Him, His mercy flows to them via His response to their supplications in times of need.

When we seek Allahs forgiveness, with sincere faith and hope, for the wrongs weve done, He opens the gates of awareness of His power and creates a means for us to see our way through our darkest moments of despair. As humans, we are bound to commit sins but Allah reassures the believers that He will forgive all of their sins, if they but ask.

Emancipation from the Hellfire means to seek avoidance of the eternal punishment of hell after death. During the last ten days of Ramadan, there is a night that is considered to be as valuable as a thousand months of worship. Worshippers expend all of their energy in the last third of the month hoping to reap the rewards of that one night.

As the month of Ramadan ends, Muslims will be better positioned to serve humanity with a greater commitment to being merciful and forgiving. The lasting effect of fasting is accomplished through good words and deeds.

Jamilah Rasheed, member of the Muslim community, New Haven, in4truth@comcast.net
How to Absorb the Marine Corps into the Army and Navy

For decades, the U.S. Marine Corps has attempted to tweak its force structure to enhance performance within a constrained...
U.S. Army weapons officials recently invited defense firms to design and build prototypes of an advanced fire control system that could equip the service's Next-Generation Squad Weapon with wind-sensing as well as facial-recognition technology.

The Prototype Opportunity Notice for the NGSW-Fire Control is intended to develop a system that "increases the soldier's ability to rapidly engage man sized targets out to 600 [meters] or greater while maintaining the ability to conduct Close Quarters Battle," according to the solicitation posted May 30 on FedBizOpps.gov.

The Army plans to award up to two five-year prototyping agreements, which will include 115 NGSW-FC systems, spare parts and other necessary items for initial prototype testing that's scheduled to take 14 months, according to the solicitation.

Up to two follow-on production awards worth up $250 million are planned for fiscal 2021, the solicitation states. Initial production quantities of 200 or more total fire control systems per month are expected to be delivered within six months of award, with plans to ramp up to up to 3,350 or more total systems per month within three years.

The Army's Next-Generation Squad Weapon program involves two weapons systems under development, chambered for a special 6.8mm round, that will replace the M249 squad automatic weapon and the M4/M4A1 carbine.

Both the rifle and automatic rifle versions of the weapon would be equipped with a sophisticated fire control designed with the following characteristics:

An adjusted aiming point that considers range to target, atmospheric conditions, and ballistics of weapon and ammunition.

A ballistic calculator that runs on Government Ballistic Software -- Small Arms.

Wireless communication, capable of transmitting fire control data such as range to target, ballistic solution and temperature.

A wired port that will send and receive data and allow for software updates.

A start time within "1.0 seconds" from off to fully active, using common batteries such as AA, CR123 or CR2032.

Interested firms have until Nov. 4 to respond to the solicitation.

The Army may request iterative prototyping efforts to achieve higher-level performance capabilities such as:

Advanced camera-based capabilities such as automatic target recognition, target tracking and facial recognition.

Weapon stabilization and wind sensing such as local wind data, down-range wind sensing and wind compensated shooting solutions.

Advanced ruggedization such as abrasion resistant lenses and hydrophobic lenses that repel sweat and require less cleaning to remove smudges.

Each prototype will undergo a 14-month evaluation period that includes technical testing and user evaluations known as soldier touch points, the solicitation states.

The NGSW's fire control will be designed to work with the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, a program Microsoft is developing for the Army under a $480 million contract the service awarded in late November.

IVAS is intended to replace the service's Heads-Up Display 3.0 effort, featuring an advanced digital system that allows soldiers to view their weapon sight reticle and other key tactical information through an advanced goggle or eyepiece.

The Army began working with gunmakers last year to develop prototypes for the NGSW program. Last July, the service awarded contracts to AAI Corporation/Textron Systems, General Dynamics-OTS Inc., PCP Tactical LLC and Sig Sauer Inc. and FN America LLC to develop prototypes of the automatic rifle version.

In January, the Army also released a separate prototyping opportunity notice inviting gun makers to develop prototypes of both the rifle and auto rifle versions of the NGSW to ensure both work the common, government-produced 6.8mm projectile.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Retired Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Colin Powell recently pitched a free online cloud computing and sales course for veterans and military spouses, with emphasis on former enlisted personnel.

Powell, now a board member of Salesforce, said the issue is "to get many more companies involved with a focus on enlisted people. We have a lot more enlisted people than officers."

"Officers are going to be OK" in finding career opportunities in civilian life, he said. "They can get a job." But it's the young former enlisted service member "who came in trying to find out what to do with his life that needs help," he added.

"It's all about giving them a sense of service," and the training that can "mold them into a civilian skill," said Powell, a 35-year Army veteran and former secretary of State.

Powell spoke at an event in May to promote Vetforce, the job training and career program for service members, veterans and military spouses set up by Salesforce, which bills itself as the "world's No. 1 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution" for businesses through cloud computing.

The Salesforce website describes CRM as "an approach to manage a company's interaction with current and potential customers. It uses data analysis about customers' history with a company to improve business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on customer retention and ultimately driving sales growth."

At the event in Washington, D.C., former Airman 1st Class Lauren Zolp, who went through the training, said she was having a difficult transition until she found Vetforce.

The main advantage is that "you can work remotely, the training is portable, the job is portable," said Zolp, who said she moved eight times in five years with her Marine husband.

Former Army Sgt. Jesse Grothaus said he was in between jobs when he heard about Vetforce from another veteran. Through learning the basic CRM skills, it took him 2 to 3 months to get certified as a basic data administrator, he said.

"A lot of people say 'thanks' to veterans for their service, but this is a way to show it," retired Army Maj. Gen. George Franz, the former operations director for U.S. Cyber Command, said of Vetforce.

Through Vetforce, "we're not pigeonholing veterans to a particular set of skills," but allowing them to grow according to their abilities and ambition, said Franz, now the cybersecurity lead for Accenture Federal Services.

To learn more about Vetforce and how to sign up, go to its website at https://veterans.force.com/

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
USGS, DGGS develop tool to help guide geologists, explorers

Rare earths consist of 15 lanthanides, yttrium and scandium, elements that are increasingly important to a growing number of high-technology applications. Clockwise from top center: praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium.

Geologists familiar with Alaska already know the Far North State is a great place to explore for critical minerals and metals such as graphite, rare earths, platinum metals, cobalt and tin. A new report published by the U.S. Geological Survey, however, indicates that Alaska may be richer in these and other minerals and metals vital to the economy and security of the United States than previously realized.

Working alongside the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, USGS developed a new geospatial tool that integrates and analyzes a massive load of geologic information and applies this data to estimating the resource potential for six deposit types that host a large array of critical minerals.

After crunching all the data, this new tool has turned up new and expanded areas of Alaska with the potential for a wide array of minerals and metals vital to modern living  many of which are not currently mined in the United States.

"Some of the areas that showed high potential were already known, but many of these areas had not previously been recognized," explained Sue Karl, an Alaska-based USGS research geologist and lead author of the study. "Areas identified by this method that have high resource potential based on limited data indicate both understudied and underexplored areas that are important targets for future data collection, research investigations and exploration."

New REE hunting grounds

The new geospatial tool worked particularly well for identifying new areas of Alaska to explore for rare earth elements, or REEs, a group of 17 minerals that possess unique characteristics that make them important ingredients to many high-technology devises used by both civilians and the military.

While high-tech applications make rare earths vital to America's strategic and economic security, the fact that more than 90 percent of these metals used by manufactures in the U.S. every year come from China elevates their status to critical.

Ucore Rare Metals' Bokan Mountain project at the southern tip of Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska has already been identified as one potential domestic source of rare earths. The USGS geospatial tool, however, has identified eight large swaths of the Far North State worth checking out.

One such region extends 200 miles northwest from Bokan Mountain and encompasses other known rare earth prospects such as Dora Bay and Salmon Bay, both also on Prince of Wales Island. While this region is worthy of additional exploration, it does not light up USGS's Alaska REE potential map like some other areas of the state.

A 15,000-square-mile region at the west end of the Alaska Range, however, did light up the map with high-potential areas.

The few small REE occurrences previously identified in this area, which covers Mount Estelle and the Revelations Mountains, do not account for the high potential the USGS geospatial tool has given to a large portion of this region  a sign that this area is exceedingly underexplored and a great place to hunt for rare earths.

 The other regions were the USGS identified high REE potential are:

 Northern Alaska Range, an area arcing about 220 miles west from Tok;

 Yukon-Tanana, a large swath of Interior Alaska extending from the Yukon-Alaska border to the Roy Creek REE prospect north of Fairbanks;

 Kuskokwim-White Mountains, which stretches about 500 miles southwest from Yukon-Tanana;

 Kokrines-Hodzana, a 200-mile-long area of Interior Alaska just north of the Yukon River that includes known REE hunting grounds like Ray Mountains and Kokrines Hills;

 Darby Hogatza, an area of know uranium and REE occurrences that arcs 200 miles east from the Seward Peninsula; and

 Porcupine, an area centered on Spike Mountain in far northeastern Alaska.

 The same areas that show promise for REEs are also great places to look for uranium, according to the data churned out by the new USGS geospatial tool.

Critical mineral-bearing granites

For the most part, specialized granites containing tin, indium, tungsten, titanium, tantalum, and fluorspar can be found in the same regions of Alaska as you would seek REEs.

The United States is near 100 percent import-reliant on all of these critical metals except for tin, in which case it imports roughly 80 percent of what it needs.

Tin and indium are important ingredients for architectural glass, flat screens, solar cells, semiconductors, smartphones, lead-free solders and alloys for superconductors.

Tungsten and titanium are primarily used for high-strength metals alloys.

Tantalum is an important ingredient for automotive electronics, mobile phones, personal computers, and light but high-performance glass lenses.

Fluorspar is used to make specialty glass, ceramics, and enamelware.

The geospatial tool developed by USGS and DGGS found that the specialized granites that host tin and its associated critical minerals are found in the same areas of Alaska that are good hunting grounds for rare earths.

Beyond the REE prospective areas, the USGS geospatial tool identified the Lost River-Kougarok region on the Seward Peninsula and a stretch of the central Brooks Range as other good places to look for the granites that host this group of critical minerals.

Elusive PGMs

The geospatial tool also proved to be effective in turning up new areas of Alaska to explore for the elusive platinum group metals  platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium and ruthenium.

The largest use for this suite of metals, especially palladium and platinum, is as a catalyst to help scrub harmful emissions from internal combustion automobiles and petroleum refineries. These metals also are used in modern electronics, such as increasing storage on computer hard disks, and as an alloy for restorative dentistry. Platinum, palladium, and rhodium are used as investments and are commonly minted into physical bars and coins.

The United States currently relies on foreign sources for about 90 percent of these critical metals.

Though an economic lode-source of PGMs has yet to be discovered in Alaska, about 650,000 ounces of these obscure metals have historically been mined from Salmon River placer deposits in the Goodnews Bay area. This region of Southwest Alaska continues to be an intriguing place to look for PGMs, according to the USGS geospatial tool.

Other areas of the state, however, show higher potential. The best known of these is the Wrangellia terrane, a distinct belt of rocks along much of the southern slopes of the Alaska Range eastward through southern Yukon and into western British Columbia. While intriguing signs of rich deposits of PGMs are found in the Alaska portion of the Wrangellia, such as the Man property about 165 miles southeast of Fairbanks, an economic deposit has yet to be identified here.

The other regions where the USGS identified high PGM potential are:

 Angayucham terrane, a belt of rocks found along the northwestern slopes of the Brooks Range and south of the Brooks Range;

 Peninsular terrane, which stretches along the Chugiak Mountains in Southcentral Alaska; and

 most of the Southeast Alaska panhandle.

Carbonate-hosted critical minerals

As part of its critical minerals and metals investigation, USGS also looked at carbonate-hosted copper deposits, which often also host the critical minerals cobalt, germanium and gallium.

Cobalt is an important ingredient of super-alloys used to make aircraft turbine engines. This application makes up nearly half of the United States consumption of this critical mineral.

Germanium and gallium have properties that make them important minerals in a number of modern applications including solar cells, infrared optics, LEDs, semiconductors and smartphones.

The best known carbonate-hosted copper deposit in Alaska is Bornite, also known as Ruby Creek, in the Ambler Mining District along the southern slopes of the Brooks Range. While renowned for its high copper grades, Bornite also hosts significant quantities of cobalt and potentially other critical minerals.

To gain a better understanding of the distribution of cobalt at bornite and to study the carbonate-hosted deposit's potential for gallium, germanium and rhenium, USGS has entered into a technical assistance agreement with Trilogy Metals.

Interestingly, the USGS geospatial tool found that almost the entire length of the Brooks, especially the underexplored northern slopes of this range that stretches the entire width of Alaska, is prospective for the style of copper deposits known to host cobalt, germanium and gallium.

In addition, the USGS study identified two areas of the Seward Peninsula and a long stretch of the Wrangellia terrane as prospective for carbonate-hosted copper deposits that may have associated critical minerals.

Gold as critical mineral pathfinder

The USGS also applied the geospatial tool to the rich placer gold deposits Alaska is renowned for.

While gold itself is not a critical mineral, the erosion process that deposited gold into streams across Alaska also happened to concentrate other heavy critical minerals into placer deposits.

USGS points out that in addition to gold, these alluvial deposits in Alaska sometimes hosts valuable concentrations of platinum group elements, tin, tungsten, silver, rare earths and titanium.

Having the material already broken down to sands and gravels and concentrated into stream beds or other placer deposits means nature has completed the first stages of mineral processing, making the recovery of the precious and critical metals easier and less expensive.

The best known critical minerals bearing placer deposits in Alaska may be found along the Tofty tin belt, a 12-mile-long area of tin- and gold-bearing gravels in Interior Alaska's Manley Hot Springs district. Other gold mining districts in Alaska also have interesting quantities of tin, as well as tungsten.

When it comes to a wide array of critical minerals, the Ray Mountains area about 50 miles north of the Tofty belt may be the richest.

Ucore Rare Metals holds mining claims covering placer deposits in this area with potentially economic concentrations of REEs, tin, tungsten, tantalum and niobium.

Using gravity methods, Ucore concentrated placer samples from the property.

Assays of these concentrates returned up to 50 percent tin; as much as 10 percent rare earths; and 0.01 to 1 percent tungsten, tantalum and niobium.

USGS and DGGS identified 17 major areas of Alaska to seek the placer deposits that host gold, many of which could also carry critical minerals.

Broadened potential

Overall, the geospatial tool seems to have broadened Alaska's critical mineral potential, while narrowing the search to the hottest areas across the 663,000-square-mile minerals-rich state.

"Using this process, we have identified the potential for critical minerals in new areas such as the northern Brooks Range, and have expanded the area with potential for resources around known mineralized areas like the Seward Peninsula and east-central Alaska," the authors of the study wrote in a summary of their findings.

For explorers, the new and under-explored areas turned up by the geospatial tool may provide enough data to make critical mineral discoveries in areas where no one has thought to look.

The authors of the report offer a tidbit of advice for such intrepid explorers: "Future geologic investigations should focus on areas that have relatively high potential scores but for which available data are limited."

Avalon Development Corp. This chromite-bearing outcrop on New Age Metals' Genesis project in Southcentral Alaska is rich in both platinum and palladium.

Given the results of the critical minerals investigation, USGS believes the geospatial tool shows promise for identifying other deposits across the expansive Far North State.

"This study will help guide our minerals-focused geologic investigations for many years to come. We have so much left to learn about the basic geologic framework of Alaska, and now we have a great new geospatial tool to help make our research efforts more efficient and effective," said Jamey Jones, research geologist, USGS, and co-author of the study.

The full report  complete with source information, datasets and maps  can be found under the title "GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for critical minerals in six selected groups of deposit types in Alaska" in the publications section of the USGS website.
3:30pm: Sandoval will receive limited no-trade protection as well as a variety of annual award incentives, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (Twitter links).

11:29am: Third baseman Pablo Sandoval has officially signed with the Red Sox, kicking off a fascinating offseason for Boston. Hell earn a guaranteed $95MM over five years, with a club option for a sixth season.

Sandoval will receive a $3MM bonus, then earn $17MM annually over 2015-17 before taking home an $18MM salary in both 2018 and 2019. The club option is for $17MM and comes with a $5MM buyout.

Sandovals addition immediately addresses Bostons need for a third baseman in the wake of Will Middlebrooks disappointing 2014 season, and the switch-hitting Sandoval also adds some balance to a predominantly right-handed hitting Red Sox batting order. While Sandoval never had much trouble hitting at AT&T Park (a career .853 OPS in San Francisco), it stands to reason that the move to hitter-friendly Fenway Park will only help his production.

With Sandoval in the fold and Hanley Ramirez reportedly also close to finalizing a deal, the Red Sox may have landed the two biggest infield bats on the free agency market. It remains to be seen how the Red Sox will deploy their talent given Xander Bogaerts presence at shortstop, though Sandoval is the obvious choice at third base given that he has posted above-average UZR/150 numbers in three of the last four seasons.

The Red Sox were one of three reported finalists for Sandoval along with the Giants and Padres. (The Blue Jays and White Sox also showed some interest in Sandoval earlier this winter.) This interest didnt result in Sandoval finding his desired six guaranteed years, though if the contract does pay him a $20MM average annual value, it will be the second-highest AAV ever given to a third baseman, topped only by Alex Rodriguezs deal with the Yankees. San Francisco assistant GM Bobby Evans tells Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter) that Sandoval informed him he was looking for a new challenge, and he apparently found that in Boston.

Sandoval, 28, had spent his entire seven-year Major League career with the Giants, becoming a fan favorite due to his Kung Fu Panda persona and his clutch bat. Sandoval owns a .344/.389/.545 slash line in 167 postseason plate appearances, most notably being named MVP of the 2012 World Series. Losing Sandoval is a big blow to the Giants, who may be looking to replace his production by signing Cuban outfielder Yasmany Tomas. Since Tomas could be deployed as a third baseman, he might end up as a direct replacement for Sandoval should he indeed wind up a Giant. FOX Sports Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Giants are interested in Tomas as a left fielder and would likely pursue Chase Headley to fill their third base vacancy if Sandoval went elsewhere.

The Giants offered Sandoval a five-year, $95MM contract and showed some willingness to go to $100MM if necessary, tweets Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com hears the same and adds that there was an understanding that the $95MM wasnt necessarily a final offer.

San Francisco will now receive a bonus pick between the first and second rounds of the 2015 draft as compensation for Sandoval signing elsewhere, since he rejected the teams one-year qualifying offer. Bostons first round pick (7th overall) is protected, so the Sox will instead give up their second rounder as a result of the signing.

Oscar Prieto Rojas reported direct confirmation of the signing (Twitter links). CBS Sports Jon Heyman reported that a deal was complete (Twitter link).

The contract breakdown comes from Alex Speier of WEEI.com, on Twitter. Heyman reported the final guaranteed figure, in a tweet. Manolo Hernandez Douen was first to report that the deal included a sixth-year option (via Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
FLINT, MI -- Students from Saginaw, Genesee and Lapeer counties in grades 6 through 12 came together on Thursday, May 30, at Kettering University to present water quality data they collected at a student summit as part of the Flint River Watershed Coalitions Flint River GREEN program and participate in various educational sessions.

The Flint River Watershed Coalition coordinates a citizen science learning program for young students to learn more about the watersheds around them.

When students are first asked what they think of when they hear about the Flint River, their responses are typically negative such as lead or dead bodies, but that changes very quickly, Education Program Manager Autumn Mitchell said.

During the Flint River GREEN program, students used chemistry kits to test the water quality of their local streams and the Flint River with help from their teachers.

They learned about the health of their local streams by researching potential causes of any low test scores and then any possible solutions.

Participating Flint River GREEN schools included:

Armstrong Middle School in Kearsley

Atherton Jr. High School

Bentley High School

Carman-Ainsworth Baker Career Academy

Chatfield School in Lapeer

Carter Middle School in Clio

Davison Middle School

Genesee Career Institute

Genesee High School

Grand Blanc East Middle School

Grand Blanc West Middle School

Hamady in Westwood Heights

Holmes STEM Academy

Kuehn-Haven Middle School in Montrose

LakeVille Middle School

Marshall Greene Middle School in Birch Run

Mount Morris Junior High School

North Branch High School

Powers Catholic High School

Ruth Fox Middle School

Swartz Creek Middle School

Marshall Greene Middle School and Grand Blanc West Middle School were just two of the 14 of the schools that presented their findings throughout the day.

Student Jessa Davis of Marshall Greene said this was her first time doing a project such as the Flint River Watershed Coalition, like many of the students.

It was really fun like going to the different locations and if you brought boots, you got to play in the water, so it was really fun, she said. It was a little muddy and flooded there, so we didnt get to go in some of the locations. We got to go really deep out so we can look at fish and organisms in there.

Fellow classmate Samantha Ursuy said it took all trimester to do the class project.

We had to go test the and then go figure out what all the numbers went and how we can fix [the water].

Data gathered from the program is then reported to professional agencies to determine if further testing may need to be conducted.

Other than presenting their findings, students were able to join any breakout sessions they wanted. Some of the sessions titled: Incredible, Edible Aquifers, Rats in Your Drinking Water, and Stash the Trash.

The breakout sessions consisted of hands-on activities and lectures from various experts on environmental science.

Its impressive to see how the students perceptions of the Flint River evolve over the course of the program, Mitchell said.

The student summit is held each year in May as the capstone of the Flint River GREEN program.
PORTAGE, MI  Visitors looked up to the sky as the Yankee Lady descended on the Air Zoo on Friday afternoon.

The pristine Boeing B-17G will be at the Air Zoo from Friday, May 31, until Sunday, June 2. The World War II Flying Fortress will be offering 25-minute rides throughout the weekend.

Upon reaching a cruising speed of 150 mph at an altitude of 1,200 feet, passengers will have the ability to move to several positions throughout the plane including the Plexiglas nose, flight deck, bomb bay, radio room and waist gunnery section.

The rides cost $450 per person. Those who want to purchase a ticket can schedule their flight on the Yankee Air Museum website.

When the plane is on the ground, visitors can purchase tours of the plane for $8/adult and $3/child age 6-15.

In addition to the Yankee Lady, the 101st Airborne (Dog Company Reenactment Unit) will be on-site May 31 and June 1. The platoon-sized unit is comprised of 13 veterans from Kalamazoo, Metro Detroit, and Ohio who serve or served in the armed forces.

The Air Zoo, the Kalamazoo areas own Smithsonian-affiliated aerospace and science museum, is located at 6151 Portage Road in Portage, near the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport. The museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Unique aviation exhibits include an SR-71B Blackbird stealth airplane, the only remaining example of the plane still in existence, as well as the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, an F-18 and the F-14 Tomcat.

Operating out of the Air Zoos Flight Discovery Center, 3101 E. Milham Road, Air Zoo partner business Waldo Wrights Flying Service offers rides in a New Standard D-25 biplane and a flight instruction experience in Waldos Stearman biplane from May-September, weather permitting. Rates range from $69.95 per person (plus tax and a fuel surcharge) to $229 (plus fuel and tax) for a full flight instruction experience.

To honor the 75th anniversary of D-Day the Air Zoo opened a special exhibit on Thursday, May 30 called D-Day 75: En Route by Plane and Parachute. The exhibit explores the invasion of Normandy through the lens of all things air. The Allied invasion of northern France n June 6, 1944, was the largest seaborne invasion in world history that required airpower and defense for the success of the mission.
SANILAC COUNTY, MI -- Two people are in custody after bullets pierced a Brown City home, police said.

Deputies with the Sanilac County Sheriffs Office, Lapeer County Sheriffs Office, and Sandusky police officers responded shortly before 4 p.m. May 27 to the 4000 block of Main Street in Brown City to investigate a shots fired complaint to a residence.

An initial investigation indicated the house had been hit by several bullets and the suspects fled the scene, police said.

The residence was occupied by five people at the time of the shooting incident. No injuries were reported.

A search for the suspects ensued by the responding law enforcement agencies and continued throughout the day, but the suspects were not located at that time.

Sanilac County Sheriffs detectives took over the lead on the investigation and obtained multiple videos and tips, which led to the suspects vehicle description and the possible suspects involved.

The suspects were later spotted leaving a residence of interest in Lapeer County and were stopped around 2 p.m. May 30 in Imlay City by local police and Lapeer County Sheriffs deputies.

Two females were questioned by police and later released at the scene.

A 20-year-old man was arrested on an unrelated felony warrant and is being held in the Sanilac County Jail. A 19-year-old Imlay City man was arrested on a probation violation and is lodged in the Lapeer County Jail.

Police obtained a search warrant for a Goodland Township home in Lapeer County.

A search of the home conducted on May 30 produced a firearm possibly used in the shooting, a truck used in the shooting, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, police said.

The incident remains under investigation. There was no immediate word on charges and the suspects names have not been released.

Members of the Sanilac County Drug Task Force and Brown City Police Department assisted in the matter.
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- A 56-year-old woman was injured when a semi-truck crashed into the back of her vehicle on I-96 as traffic slowed for construction.

The crash comes after a 62-year-old West Olive man died in rear-end crash just east of Coopersville on May 18, also in traffic that had slowed for construction.

In the crash on Friday, May 31, a westbound semi-truck driver just west of Coopersville did not see the slowed traffic and crashed into the rear of two other vehicles.

The 56-year-old Haslett woman had back injuries and was taken to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital. She was last known to be in good condition.

The other driver struck from behind, a 28-year-old Muskegon woman, was not injured.

The semi-truck driver, a 45-year-old Ohio man, also was not injured.
TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- A 62-year-old man found dead near Boardman Lake in Traverse City was the victim of sharp force injuries to the neck, police said Friday, May 31.

He was identified as James Clair Chisholm following an autopsy.

Chisholms body was discovered May 29 along a foot path to Boardman Lake. A couple was walking on the path when they made the discovery on the east shore of the lake near Centre Place and Sheffer Street.

Traverse City police Capt. James Bussell said the man was believed to be homeless and staying at a camp near the lake.

In an update Friday, police said Chisholm had multiple address from various sources that included Oregon, Washington, Tennessee and the cities of Flint, Davison and Novi in Michigan.

Anyone with information about Chisholms recent activities and associations are asked to contact the Traverse City Police Department Detective Bureau at 231-995-5012 or to email tipsTCPD@traversecitymi.gov
JACKSON, MI  Michael Christopher Glance, who allegedly shot his 2-year-old son in the face intentionally, was found mentally incompetent to stand trial by a State of Michigan forensic examiner.

In 12th District Court, Judge Michael Klaeren did not decide on Friday, May 31, whether Glance, 32 of Blackman Township, will stand trial. The forensic examiner will be called as a witness to testify to Glances competency before Klaeren makes a decision, he said.

Klaeren ordered Glance to undergo a mental evaluation on April 26 by the state-run Center for Forensic Psychiatry to determine if he could be held criminally liable for the crimes he is accused of committing. Glance is charged with three counts of assault with intent to murder and two counts of felony firearms.

Jackson County Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kati Rezmierski argued Glance was faking his symptoms to be declared incompetent.

It is a rather low bar to be deemed competent and it is rare someone is deemed incompetent, Klaeren said.

The people at the forensics center, this is what they do, Klaeren said. They deal with people that are mentally ill. They deal with people that are trying to scam the system to avoid responsibility for criminal charges.

Klaeren said he is trying to find the truth while avoiding needless delays. He said he does not want the prosecution trying to buy time because they blew it in providing police reports to the examiner before the examination occurred.

If he is malingering, this is a pretty odd way to go about it, because Im not sure that many people want to be housed at the forensic center being fed significant psychotropic medications, Klaeren said.

Glances attorney Andrew Kirkpatrick said he deferred to the courts decision.

During an argument on April 16, with Nicole McCarthy, Rykers mother, Glance held a pistol to his sons head and pulled the trigger, but it did not fire, prosecutors previously said.

McCarthy strapped Ryker in his car seat and was getting ready to drive away when Glance came out of the house with a shotgun and shot his son in the face, prosecutors previously said.

Glance then chased the mother while trying to shoot her before fleeing the scene, police previously said.

Ryker left Ann Arbors C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital after spending 27 days there. Hes gone through multiple surgeries and a California-based charity, Face Forward International, reached out to the family to provide free reconstructive surgery to remove or lessen the scars, according to previous reporting.

The greater Jackson community rallied to help McCarthy and her son. Art Moehn Auto Group gave her a free three-year lease on a new Chevrolet Equinox SUV. A GoFundMe raised $82,586 for the family before it was closed Thursday, May 30.

The competency hearing is scheduled to continue ar 2 p.m. June 14. If the examiner is unavailable that day, it will be rescheduled.
VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI -- A head-on crash between a pickup and semi-truck near Decatur killed a 29-year-old man, state police said.

The crash happened about 1:20 p.m. Friday, May 31 on M-51 near 45th Street.

The pickup driver, a Dowagiac area man, died in the crash. The semi-truck driver had minor injuries.

Police did not release other details about the crash.
CASS COUNTY, MI -- A 53-year-old man working at a substation under construction south of Dowagiac was electrocuted in an accident Friday, May 31, police said.

Cass County sheriffs deputies said Steven E. Smith of Michigan City, Indiana died after receiving a severe shock while working on overhead power lines.

The substation, operated by American Electric Power, is in the 2700 block of White Street in Howard Township. The accident happened about 11:30 a.m.

Police said first-aid was given immediately to Smith, but he died from his injuries.
MUSKEGON, MI -- Muskegon Public Schools Superintendent Justin Jennings is leaving the district two months ahead of schedule.

Jennings employment with the district effectively ended Friday, May 31 -- though a letter to district parents and staff put his official end date as Saturday, June 1.

Jennings and the Muskegon Board of Education came to a mutual agreement during a special meeting on Thursday, May 30, to expedite his departure, according to the letter sent by the board.

Jennings originally was expected to remain on the job through July 31. He could not be reached for comment.

It was agreed upon, board President Cindy Larson when asked about the change. Justin has a transition to make, as do we.

The board expects to name a new superintendent in July. The search is underway.

In the meantime, the district will contract with the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District for interim services, according to the letter.

The agreement for Jennings early departure came at the same meeting that the board voted to keep open Moon Elementary School, the closure of which Jennings had announced in a May 1 press release.

The transition in leadership comes during the campaign for a 30-year continuation of a 7.36-mill bond that would raise $77 million to upgrade school buildings. It is expected to come before voters in May 2020. The current bond expires in 2021.

It also comes in the midst of right-sizing efforts that would close school buildings. Jennings had a plan for school closures and consolidations that included closing Moon.

The superintendent job posting will remain up until Friday, June 14. The board is expected to select candidates for public interviews on Thursday, June 20. Interviews would be held June 24-26. Final candidates would then be named for second interviews to be held July 8-9. The board would hold a separate meeting later in July to officially hire the next superintendent.

Jennings, who has had a turbulent tenure in Muskegon, submitted his resignation on Tuesday, May 14. He initially informed the board of his intention to resign on April 25. The board formally accepted his resignation on Thursday, May 30.

Jennings will start his new job as CEO position at Youngstown City School District in Ohio on Aug. 1.

We understand how hard it must be for Mr. Jennings to continue working here while an important challenge awaits him in Ohio, the letter states. We want to thank Mr. Jennings for his service to Muskegon Public Schools and wish him the best in his new position.

Jennings signed a 3-year contract with the Ohio district. The contract ending July 31, 2022, includes an annual salary of $190,000 plus bonus compensation of up to $10,000 annually.

Jennings salary at Muskegon was about $188,000 in 2018, according to transparency reporting. With all benefits, his total compensation was about $283,000.

Jennings is a first-time superintendent. He was promoted from within the district during January 2017 after the retirement of former Superintendent Jon Felske. He previously was an assistant superintendent for the district.

The district came under fire repeatedly since Jennings took the job, especially for an increase in administrative salary spending that was revealed in fall 2017 and plans for school building realignment in spring 2018.
BIRCH RUN TWP, MI  A celebration for President Donald Trumps birthday and Flag Day has been moved after the Saginaw County venue where it was planned was threatened with a boycott.

Debra A. Ell, mid-Michigan director of Michigan Trump Republicans, had organized the event at Unos Pizzeria and Grill, 4960 Towne Centre Road, in Saginaw Township, from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, June 14, which is Flag Day and President Trumps birthday.

However, after seeing a backlash on social media and demands to boycott the venue, Ell said she called Unos to give them a heads up that they may be receiving some calls. Thats when she was told she could no longer have her event there.

Ell said she confirmed the restaurant was disinviting them."

We were doing a patriotic event which was honoring the United States flag and veterans, Ell said. This was not a campaign for President Trump. He just happens to have a birthday on the same day.

Randy Sonnenberg, general manager of Unos who spoke with Ell was not available for comment but later replied by email.

The email read: The original event we agreed on, was for about 50 people inside the restaurant. On 5/30/2019 there was a posting on Mlive and in it was the statement that the public is welcome to join in a rally after 7pm. This rally could overwhelm the restaurant and impact our guests. We then decided to remove ourselves from the event."

Ell, who also serves on the executive committee for the Saginaw County GOP and was a national delegate for Trump in 2016, said that Sonnenberg knew of her plans and had plenty of time to communicate with her.

I had to call him, she said. He didnt even call me.

Ell said that she is upset and is encouraging those who had planned to attend to let Unos know in a respectful way.

Ell has found another venue and said the celebration is still on.

The event will now take place at the Fireside Lounge, inside of the Best Western of Birch Run, 9087 Birch Run Road.

Which is much better than the other location, Ell said.

The new location holds upwards of 100 people, whereas Unos space was capped at 60.

Former state Rep. Gary Glenn is the keynote speaker. Keith Rolph, a U.S. Army veteran, retired law enforcement officer and member of Bikers for Trump, also will speak about What the U.S. flag means to me.

All of our speakers were veterans talking about their service and the flag, Ell said.

The flag rally will be held at Birch Run Road and Interstate 75. Those planning to attend are encouraged to bring U.S. and Trump flags.

Tickets cost $22 for adults and $10 for children and can be purchased at eventbrite.com.

Trump was the first Republican running for president to win Saginaw County since 1984.

With 45,469 votes throughout the county, Trump took 47.97 percent of the vote while Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received 44,395 or 46.84 percent.
Beijing has warned the US not to underestimate its resolve to protect its sovereignty, just as the acting Pentagon chief effectively accused China of undermining regional stability and urged allies to boost their defense budgets.

Amid unprecedented tensions between US and China, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan held brief talks with Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Friday in Singapore to discuss an array of security issues. The Chinese side used the opportunity to slam Washingtons repeated 'freedom of navigation' trips through the Taiwan Strait and urged the US to abide by the 'one-China principle,' which views the island nation as an integral part of the mainland.

The Chinese side resolutely opposes the recent series of negative actions by the US on Taiwan issues, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian said after the meeting.

The US side should not underestimate Chinas determination and ability to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

While Shanahan firmly disagreed with Beijings assessment that US military endeavors half a world away from home are deliberately testing its patience and violating China's sovereignty in the region, including the South China Sea, the two military leaders did agree to work on reducing tensions in the Pacific during their 20-minute discussion on the sidelines of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue security summit.

Also on rt.com 2 US warships sail through Taiwan Strait amid tensions with China

Addressing regional defense chiefs during his speech the following morning, Shanahan was diplomatic in his approach and did not name names when slamming Chinas growing influence in the region.

Perhaps the greatest long-term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules-based international order, the Pentagon's chief, said without specifically naming China.

Also on rt.com The US just invaded an island in the East China Sea & no one noticed

Shanahan explicitly warned Asian allies that their own sovereignty depends on whether they increase their security spending and purchase more (whose else?) American military tech, all in the name of curbing the supposed Chinese threat.

Amid the rising tensions in the Pacific, exacerbated by the Sino-American trade war, Chinese president Xi Jinping recently ordered his army to be prepared for a potential war. For now, the summit attendees eagerly await Wei's speech on Sunday, where he is reportedly expected to slam United States bullish behavior in the Indo-Pacific.

Also on rt.com Prepare for war & boost training, Chinese military tells troops

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Facebooks lawyer has denied the social media platform invaded American users privacy when it allowed their personal data to be slurped up by Cambridge Analytica, claiming they had no privacy to begin with. No crime, no victims?

There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy, attorney Orin Snyder argued in a motion to have a class-action lawsuit against Facebook dismissed in Californias Northern District Court this week. The suit alleges Facebooks failure to protect user data from predatory third parties like Cambridge Analytica constitutes invasion of privacy, breach of contract, and negligence and violates other privacy statutes.

Also on rt.com Anybody buying this? Twitterati attack Zuckerberg privacy roadmap for Facebook

You have to closely guard something to have a reasonable expectation of privacy, Snyder explained, claiming that Facebook is merely a digital town square where users voluntarily dispense with any notion of privacy and any reasonable Facebook user would have been aware that third-party app-makers could access their data through friends activity.

US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria pointed out that just last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was rapturously declaring the future is private! and announcing the companys privacy-focused new direction  a far cry from Snyders scornful dismissal of the concept. Nor did Chhabria agree with the Facebook lawyers assertion that users were explicitly informed of the limits of their privacy through the platforms terms of service, suggesting that a user who signed up 10 years ago probably hadnt read those terms every time the company changed them.

Also on rt.com Facebook helps phone companies gather user data, including their 'creditworthiness'  report

Facebook, which had previously described the class-action suit filed earlier this year as a kitchen sink-like lobbing of 50 claims - all in the hopes that something, anything, sticks, complained that if the plaintiffs are so anxious about privacy and digital life in general, they can stop using Facebook at any time. Chhabria was not amused.

The California suit is dwarfed by the pile of legal issues currently facing Facebook, including an FTC probe that the company expects to top $5 billion, criminal probes over its secret (and possibly illegal) data-sharing deals with third-party corporations, and government sanctions from multiple countries.

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The first charter train to Russia's Arctic region will set off with more than 90 tourists from St. Petersburg on June 5, said the press-service of the Far East Investment and Export agency.

Currently, we are launching our first project. Foreign tourists will get an opportunity to see St. Petersburg's white nights, admire Russia's northern regions and visit UNESCO heritage sites, said the agency's director Leonid Petukhov.

During an 11-day trip, the train will make stops in Russia's Petrozavodsk, Kem, Murmansk, Nikel, as well as Norway's Kirkenes and Oslo. Travelers from seven countries (Germany, Switzerland, Norway, the USA, Austria, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands) will visit one of the largest open-air museums in Russia, the Kizhi Museum. They will also travel to Solovetsky Islands, or Solovki, an archipelago located in the Onega Bay of the White Sea. Tourists will be provided with professional guides during sightseeing.

READ MORE: Ice fields & polar bears: Icebreaker voyages around Russias Arctic sea route sold out

Also on rt.com Russias Franz Josef Land in the Arctic may become major tourism alternative to Spitsbergen

According to the agency, train services comply with the highest standards to guarantee a comfortable journey. During the trip, meals will be prepared by chefs who were trained in Switzerland.



READ MORE: Russias Arctic shipping route to attract over $11 billion in investments

In March, the Far East Investment and Export agency inked an agreement with German tour provider Lernidee Erlebnisreisen in order to attract investment that would be directed into the tourism industry.

Lernidee Erlebnisreisen said there are already reservations for the Arctic train tours for 2020 - 2021, and the demand is growing.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg will take a year out of school and travel to the US to continue her campaign to promote environmental protection.

The teen kicked off the hugely popular school strike movement last year for kids to push their elders into taking a serious stand to tackle the devastating effects of climate change and safeguard their future.

Millions of schoolchildren around the world have marched or held events as part of the movement.

Thunberg, 16, told Swedish outlet Dagens Nyheter that it was a difficult decision to take more time off school, but that while her education wont suffer by being delayed for a year, fast action is crucial in tackling climate change.

As part of her commitment to the cause of reducing carbon emissions, Thunberg does not travel by plane. Accepting an invite to the UNs special climate change meeting in New York in September means a lengthy transatlantic voyage ahead, so shes decided to take a sabbatical year to make the journey.

Also on rt.com Energy watchdog warns aging nuclear power plants spell doom for green future

Thunberg also plans to attend the UN Cop25 climate change summit in Santiago, Chile in December.

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Slamming India for its refusal to provide American companies with unlimited access to its markets, President Trump has announced that New Delhi is set to lose its preferential trade status with the US next week.

I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets, Trump said in a statement on Friday, announcing that India will be excluded from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program on June 5.

Under GSP, India has been annually importing to the US some $5.6 billion worth of products duty-free. The program, designed for developing nations, especially facilitated the exports of textiles, leather, engineering goods, gems and jewelry.

Also on rt.com No knee-jerk reaction: India says impact of US withdrawal of trade benefits will be limited

The US-Indian tensions escalated last year when Washington slapped the country with 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent levies on aluminum, all while seeking import trade concessions from New Delhi.

While India threatened tariff hikes on 29 American products, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government decided to postpone the retaliatory measures pending negotiations. The American officials are seeking to reduce the US' $21-billion deficit with India, after Trump as usual accused the country of unfair trade practices and refusal to buy more American products.

Also on rt.com They have to keep us happy: Trump brandishes his powerful tariff stick at India

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Representative image

A Delhi court Saturday granted bail to Sushen Mohan Gupta, an alleged defence agent arrested in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VVIP choppers scam case.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted him the relief on a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

The court put various condition on the accused, including that he will not tamper with the evidence and not leave country without court's prior permission.

Senior advocate Siddhartha Luthra, appearing for Gupta, had said the accused had always cooperated with the investigation and will be available as and when required by the probe agency as he has deep roots in India.

The application was opposed by ED's special public prosecutors D P Singh and N K Matta, who said the probe was at a initial stage and if granted the relief, the accused may flee from justice and hamper the investigation.

The agency on May 22 had filed a supplementary charge sheet against Gupta, who was arrested by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is currently in judicial custody.

There was clinching evidence of Gupta's role in the chopper scam as well as in various other defence deals, agency's advocate Samvedna Verma told the court.

According to the ED, Gupta's role in the case came to light on the basis of disclosures made by Rajeev Saxena, who turned approver in the case after he was deported from the UAE and arrested by the agency.

It is suspected that Gupta has payment details of the Rs 3,600-crore deal to purchase AgustaWestland VVIP choppers.
Representative Image

The new government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been sworn in. While the objectives of the skill development ministry under the government are still being finalised, what needs an immediate revamp is the Skill India mission.

The National Skill Development Mission was approved and launched in July 2015. The aim of the mission was to create convergence across sectors and states in terms of skill training activities.

Further, the National Skill Development Mission was responsible for consolidation and coordination of skilling efforts. The idea was that it would be implemented through a streamlined institutional mechanism driven by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

The initial idea was to skill 500 million people in relevant skills by 2022. However, the ministry later clarified that they would not be chasing any numbers and the output will depend on the demand.

It is an open secret that India is in midst of a skills crisis. Companies across sectors have expressed concerns about the quality of talent passing out of Indian educational institutions and how their skills are not relevant for the workplace.

The first step would be to redraw a list across sectors and identify the skills that the largest recruiters in those sectors are looking for. Once a list of 30-35 skillsets are identified in each sector, job aspirants can also train appropriately for that dream employer.

Having a target to train people is a good start, but the real measure will be how many of the candidates skilled under government schemes get relevant jobs.

More private sector participation in this process would be a welcome change. Rather than the process being a top-down one, making the employers take the decisions would ensure that the skills featured exactly match what the demand in the industry is.

The second step would be to have a coordinated effort with the Ministry of Labour and Employment. This would enable skilled candidates to find relevant jobs in a fixed time period through the employment bureaus and job fairs. Having a formalised process similar to the private job portals would be a good start.

The final step could be to have more trainers to impart relevant skills. Shortage of teachers could be addressed by incentivising them under the skilling initiatives.

India has the demographic dividend. It is time to nurture this manpower strength, train them and utilise these resources for the country's economic development.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Saturday warned that "terrorist" attacks in the Gulf region could imperil global oil supplies, as he sought to galvanise support among Islamic countries against arch-rival Iran.

The king was speaking at a meeting of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the third and final Tehran-focused summit in the holy city of Mecca, marked by the notable absence of Iran and Turkey's leaders.

The world's top oil exporter has ratcheted up tensions with Iran after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

Tehran has strongly denied involvement in any of the attacks.

"We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies," the king told OIC member states.

In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the king vowed to confront "aggressive threats and subversive activities".

"Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation calls for a position on the attacks on the kingdom" said OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen.

In the previous two back-to-back summits on Friday, Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia, which drew accusations from Iran of "sowing division".

The summits came after Trump's hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday that Iranian naval mines were "almost certainly" responsible for the damage to the four ships off the United Arab Emirates on May 12.

The findings of a five-nation inquiry into what happened have yet to be released. Tehran dismissed Bolton's accusation as "laughable" and accused him of pursuing "evil desires for chaos in the region".

Regional tensions have grown since US President Donald Trump's administration reimposed sanctions against Iran after Washington unilaterally pulled out of a multilateral 2015 nuclear accord signed with the Islamic republic.

But Trump appeared to soften his hawkish tone towards Tehran, saying during a visit to Japan on Monday that his government does not seek "regime change".

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was notably absent from the key OIC summit, an AFP photographer said.

A regional heavyweight, Turkey was instead represented by its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani was also not present.

Erdogan's visit would have been his first to the kingdom since the brutal murder last October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which tarnished the international reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi, a Saudi royal insider and Washington Post contributor was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a "rogue" operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed.

Saudi prosecutors have absolved the prince and said around two dozen people implicated in the murder are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men.

But attention has remained focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder despite the kingdom's denials.

Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. (AFP)
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The day after a grand swearing-in ceremony, the Modi government alloted portfolios to its key cabinet ministers on May 31 and these ministers have taken a charge of their sectors immediately.

Among key ministries, Nirmala Sitharaman became Finance Minister which was a surprise to everyone on Dalal Street while BJP President Amit Shah is now Home Minister.

Rajnath Singh is the Defence Minister and Piyush Goyal holds the Commerce and Railway Ministry. Nitin Gadkari retained the Roads, Transport and Highways Ministry and got the MSME Ministry as well.

After a lot of reforms announced in the first term and as the new cabinet got down to work in PM Modi's second term, the Street is hopeful that the NDA government will address issues including the liquidity crisis, consumption and economic growth, farmers' distress, infrastructure spending and the ongoing jobs crisis.

Any potential growth could result in stronger earnings and ultimately spark a rally across sectors. Hence, there are stocks which could benefit from these reforms in the coming years.

Here is a list of key stocks to watch out for after cabinet portfolio allocation highlighted by Sameer Kalra, Equity Research Analyst and Founder Target Investing:

Bharat Electronics, Larsen & Toubro: Positive

Minister: Raj Nath Singh

The ministry gets another strong leader who has experience and was involved with critical decisions when he was the Home Minister. We expect big movements in terms of order executions and new orders as the next five years have a delivery scheduled of many critical orders.

PNC Infratech, Larsen & Toubro: Positive

Minister: Nitin Jairam Gadkari

The progress made will only increase as road and highway remain with the same minister who is aware of the requirements. MSME ministry, which takes care of the backbone of the country in terms of labour employment, will address the issues more quickly.

Deepak Nitrite, Coromandel International: Positive

Minister: D V Sadananda Gowda

As the focus of the government is to increase exports, the chemical industry will be a crucial part of this strategy. Since farmer income is also in focus, the main input, i.e. fertiliser output, and prices are critical.

Axis Bank, Canara Bank: Positive

Minister: Nirmala Sitharaman

According to us, Sitharaman is the best replacement of the previous FM as she has been a strong minister in the previous cabinet and welcomes all stakeholders' view in deciding critical policies for example when the defence procurement policy was to be changed.

ITC: Negative

Minister: Harsh Vardhan

He was first appointed at this position in 2014 and removed in the re-shuffle. Healthcare is a focus of the new Modi government and one of the most important sectors which needs a big push.

Praj Industries, Petronet LNG: Positive

Minister: Dharmendra Pradhan

The Oil and Gas Ministry got the same minister, as the policy to lower oil imports is a top priority that needs continuity and a focus on ethanol blending. The steel sector has the biggest problem of under-utilized capacity with lower demand due to global tensions and local slowdown along with dumping by China.

Balrampur Chini Mills: Positive

Minister: Narendra Singh Tomar

One of the key promises of the Modi government is to double farmers' income by 2022, along with recent income distribution scheme which needs corrections. The new Minister has a good execution history under the previous ministry of urban development.

NBCC: Positive

Minister: Hardeep Singh Puri

The ambitious scheme of the Modi govt to get housing for all by 2022 would see closure with Puri's second stint in the ministry. As MoS for Ministry of Aviation Puri will report directly to PM Modi. This is critical as airports and airlines are going to be a lifeline of the citizens. Air India divestment and Jet Airways crisis are the short term targets.

Torrent Power: Positive

Minister: Raj Kumar Singh

Renewable energy and power is important as India is in the middle of taking a big jump towards sustainable power and power generation to provide supply 24x7. The receivable issues of companies and debt concerns will be the short term targets for the ministry.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari (Image: Reuters)

icro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Nitin Gadkari on June 1 said he would work with full strength to increase job opportunities in the sector.

Gadkari, who has also been given charge of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said that he has set a new target of laying 40 kms of road everyday over the next one-and-a-half years.

The minister was speaking to reporters at his residence here.

On his new responsibility of the MSME Ministry, he said, "This portfolio is associated with the most important issue - the country's growth rate and employment potential. And it is the PM's expectation that employment should increase from this sector, which is very low now and there should be creation of employment".

"I will work with my full strength on this factor," he added.

The minister also said that he has decided to create roadside amenities across the country.

"I got an opportunity to work on road transport...this time, I have decided to plant 125 crore trees, as much as the country's population, along the roads in the next five years.

"I am thinking to work on creating roadside amenities in a big way and 2,000 such amenities would be set up. Work has started on the Mumbai-Delhi Expressway and 12 other expressway projects will be completed in next three months," he said. PTI CLS NPBAL .
The creation of an all-India judicial service to recruit judges for the lower courts of the country is among the priorities of Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has returned to the Law Ministry for the second time.

The ministry has also been consistently working on improving the judicial infrastructure with more courtrooms and appointment of judges.

Over 5,000 vacancies of judicial officers/judges in the lower courts have resulted in a massive backlog of cases.

Another priority would be the finalisation of memorandum of procedure to guide appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and high court judges.

The issue had now been pending for over two years now with the SC collegium and the government failing to reach a consensus.

Successive governments have also been working on making India a hub of international arbitration. It has taken several steps to change laws dealing with commercial disputes.
Rajnath Singh takes oath. (Image: ANI)

As India's new defence minister, Rajnath Singh's most crucial challenge will be to speed up the long-delayed modernisation of the three services besides ensuring overall coherence in their combat readiness. His another challenge will be to ensure peace and tranquillity along the frontier with China while developing required military infrastructure to deal with any possible Chinese hostility.

As he takes charge of the ministry just three months after India carried out air strikes on a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot, it is expected that he will continue with the policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross border terrorism.

Containing infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan will be another key focus area.

As the Defence Minister, Singh will face the challenge of strengthening the combat capabilities of the Army, Navy and the Air Force due to changing regional security matrix and geopolitical dynamics.

The forces have been pressing for equipping them to deal with hybrid warfare and Singh will have to attend to this crucial demand.

The government has been focusing on domestic defence production and Singh will have to carry forward a number of big-ticket reform initiatives, including implementing the ambitious "strategic partnership" model.

Under the new model, select Indian private firms will be roped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign defence majors.

Singh also faces the challenge of modernising the defence research organisations and various other defence public sector undertakings so that they can produce state-of-the-art military hardware to match requirement of the forces.

He is expected to focus on simplification of the acquisition process as majority of the military modernisation programmes are delayed due to administrative hurdles.

Singh, who was Home Minister in the previous government, will also have to oversee carrying out of major reforms in the 12-lakh strong Army.

The Army has already finalised a blueprint for its reform including right-sizing of the force.

His predecessor Nirmala Sitharaman had taken on the opposition head-on with her fiery defence of the Rafale fighter jet deal and it will be interesting to see how Singh deals with the issue.

Officials said Singh will take charge as defence minister on June 1.
Industry body Ficci Saturday hailed the Centre's decision to extend benefits under PM-KISAN scheme to all farmers, saying Indian agriculture is yet to realise its full potential. The government Friday decided to extend the PM-KISAN scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country costing Rs 87,000 crore a year and also announced over Rs 10,000 crore pension scheme for five crore farmers, thereby fulfilling the BJP's poll promise.

The industry body also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a new pension scheme for five crore farmers as one of the first decisions of his new administration.

With agriculture as top priority, Ficci has been advocating the extension of PM- KISAN to all farmers in its 100 days agenda to government.

The government had announced Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Siddhi (PMKSS) in the interim Budget to provide Rs 6,000 per year to about 12.5 crore small farmers holding land up to 2 hectares.

The revised scheme will now cover 2 crore more farmers increasing the coverage to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries.

Ficci also said that Indian agriculture is yet to realise its full potential and welcomed the government's resolve to address challenges in the sector in a comprehensive manner.

Direct income transfer is recognised as one of the most effective ways of targeting support to the farm sector, it said.

The body supports a gradual shift from loosely targeted input subsidies to direct benefits transfer to enable farmers to make choices in expenditure based on local priorities and exigencies.

"We urge the Prime Minister to follow up this excellent decision with further reform measures in a time bound manner to kick start a virtuous cycle of growth and value addition in the agriculture sector," Ficci President Sandip Somany said.
Representative image

In a signal to Pakistan to open its airspace for commercial airlines, Indian Air Force has announced that all temporary restrictions imposed on Indian airspace post Balakot airstrike have been removed. Earlier this week, Pakistan civil aviation authorities had extended the closure of its airspace till June 14.

Pakistan had fully closed its airspace on February 27 after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot. Pakistan opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.

Indian Air Force tweeted on Friday evening, "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed."

Pakistan had given a special permission to India for then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly through Pakistani airspace to attend the SCO meet in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on May 21. However, the airspace for other commercial airliners remains closed.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.
Representative Image

Amid allegations of mismatch, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer on June 1 released data, which shows a total match between the actual voting and the electronic voting machine countduring the Lok Sabha election.

Polling for the Lok Sabha in the state had taken place on April 18 and April 23. The Karnataka State Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao had Friday alleged that there was a 'glaring mismatch' between the actual voting and the EVM count.

To allay doubts, the CEOs office Saturday released the data afresh. According to the data, there is a total match between the actual voting and the EVM count.

Rao had earlier tweeted "Glaring mismatch in EVM machines figures and Election Commission of India doesnt seem to have any answers. In a democracy, transparency in the electoral process is of paramount importance. ECI needs to clarify quickly and clearly."

Following the Congress outstanding performance in the urban local body elections Friday, Rao tweeted "#KarnatakaUrbanLocalBodiesElections, winning almost 42 % of the seats, it clearly shows that the people of Karnataka are with the Congress.

What surprises me is how did BJP lose after winning by huge margins in the Lok Sabha. Needs investigation." The BJP had won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats, leaving a mere one seat each to the Congress and JDS, which, despite a joint fight, were swept away by the Modi wave.\
Newly-appointed Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani met her predecessor Maneka Gandhi on Saturday to discuss important issues in the ministry and the way forward in tackling them.

Sharing a picture with Gandhi on Twitter, Irani said she is "grateful" to the former Women and Child Development minister for "sparing her valuable time and blessing her".

"It was extremely kind of her to highlight important issues in the WCD Ministry and guide me on the way forward," Irani tweeted.

She is yet to formally take charge of the WCD Ministry. Preparation has already begun at the Women and Child Development Ministry to welcome Irani, who is likely to assume office on Monday, sources said.

From tackling malnutrition and stunted growth among children to drafting the regulations for sexual harassment at workplace, a host of challenges await Irani, who was appointed as the WCD Minister on Friday.

Among several issues that await the Union minister are completing the registration of child care institutions and ensuring that the anti-trafficking bill passes the Rajya Sabha hurdle.

She emerged as a 'giant slayer' after defeating Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi. Irani has retained the charge of Textiles Ministry, a portfolio she held during the first term of the Narendra Modi government.
South Korea's Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo on Saturday fended off calls to step up pressure on North Korea after it test-fired missiles last month. Jeong told an annual security conference in Singapore that the tests were being investigated and a conclusion is within reach.

"There are discussions whether or not it is a short-range ballistic missile. There is a perspective that it is a Russian Iskander missile, or it is a new tactical ballistic missile," he said.

"There are data that we can verify, and we are working off those data to make sure we have a verification." Jeong was responding to a question on whether the tests were a violation of a military agreement between South and North Korea last September to halt acts of aggression against each other.

He said the North was "in fact acting within the boundaries" of the agreement and tensions between their militaries "have been lowered to a significant extent." "So currently the actions done by the North Korean regime have the intent to carry out the peace process through dialogue and talks. And I believe that's the hidden intent behind the lines in terms of their missile launches." Jeong called on the international community to "assure North Korea that the decision to denuclearize is indeed the right decision."

He said that South Korea sees humanitarian aid and the lowering of military tensions as ways "to lead North Korea into conversation and away from ... the ways of the past." North Korea itself has defended the launches, saying it was exercising its right to self-defense.

The U.S. and Japan say the short-range ballistic missile tests on May 4 and 9 were a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The tests ended a pause in launches that began in late 2017, and came amid deadlocked negotiations to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons.

Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who spoke at the same session on Korean security, stressed that a strict implementation of sanctions against North Korea was necessary.

He specifically directed his comments at South Korea, China and Russia.

"We need to enhance surveillance on a global scale while strengthening effort locally to ensure the full implementation of sanctions," Iwaya said.

Earlier Saturday, U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told the Shangri-La Dialogue conference that North Korea "remains an extraordinary threat" and has "neared a point where it could credibly strike regional allies, U.S. territory, and our forward-deployed forces.
Youre distracted.

Youre sitting in one room, but your mind is in another. Maybe youre in the Bahamas with an Instagram model, some beauty whose entire career relies on enticing envy in others.

Or you might be teleporting into the minds of hot-headed strangers by reading the comments on a particularly controversial post.

Or perhaps, youre escaping the frigidly cold Melbourne weather by reading this article.

Screens are portals to other worlds  worlds that are infinitely more engaging and glamorous than the stained tram seat or drab office cube that youre currently occupying. Theyre always there, beckoning us to look. And we do, constantly and obsessively.

Were all racing through the technological age  busying ourselves with buying, scrolling and updating. Our heads are down while we scurry through the concrete maze, avoiding eye contact to our own detriment.

Free Guide: How to Invest in the Massive Infrastructure Boom. Download now.

As a testament to our distraction, according to a study by the US Global Health Security Agenda, 5,984 pedestrians were killed in the US while texting and walking in 2017 alone. It also caused over 11,100 injuries during the same timeframe.

More pressing however, is the fact that all this screen time is making us sick.

According to a new study by the American Psychiatric Association, over one-third of American adults view social media as harmful to their mental health, with only 5% saying it had a positive impact.

The overriding consensus was that persistent social media use contributed to feelings of isolation, loneliness, depression and low self-esteem.

This screen-sickness is now a pervasive phenomenon which all of us are dealing with. When it comes to how we interact and consume, technology and automation are forcing us to adapt in ways we never envisioned.

This is particularly true when it comes to industries which once relied heavily on human touch and interpersonal relations. Industries such as retail and hospitality.

As with each new advancement, slowly but surely were falling deeper down the rabbit hole of a fully automated, tech-dominated world. And the jobs which we thought could never be taken away by a machine, are disappearing before our eyes.

No need for small talk

Giving us a glimpse into the future of retail, Amazon is just about to open its fourth high-tech convenience store, Amazon Go, in San Francisco, and its twelfth in New York.

If you arent familiar, the basic idea is that its a 7/11-esque convenience store where you can just walk out. Instead of having to interact with a shop clerk or even a self-serve machine, customers can just grab what they want and leave. The store will monitor them with cameras and charge them through the Amazon Go app.

As the first trial store only opened in September last year, the rapidly expanding franchise is testament to the success of this new retail model. The overwhelmingly positive feedback Amazon has received indicates that consumers like the streamlined, non-human experienceand they want more of it.

Of course, this is only one example of the ways automation is changing our workforce. There are numerous other industries (particularly in manufacturing and customer service) where technology has snatched the jobs of human employees. And when you consider the benefits, its really no surprise.

According to a study by McKinsey and Company (quoted by Forbes), automation will:

eliminate less than five percent of total occupations. But automation will be able to accomplish about one-third of current activities in roughly 60% of all occupations.

The jobs automation will affect belong predominantly to the middle class, which could have a significant effect on the economy as workers become redundant.

The McKinsey study also estimated that 15% of the global workforce (400 million workers) could be displaced by automation in the period from 20162030.

The prospect that you may be replaced by a machine is a scary one. A machine never gets sick, rarely makes a mistake, and never needs to be paid.

However, there is still hope.

I for one am confident that there will always be a need for warm-blooded human connection and hospitality. Something that machines can attempt to replicate, but will never fully replace.

If anything, the human race is vastly better off with the help of machines. Were smarter, more efficient, and connected in ways that would have seemed impossible 100 years ago. And although there is the possibility that one day your job may become redundant, many new opportunities are likely to spring up in its place.

Overall, theres no need to fear automation. Change is coming, but there are ways to prepare  whether your job is in jeopardy or not.

For starters, you can protect your wealth by investing in the companies which will be the largest innovators and facilitators in the AI space.

Perhaps the most crucial tech stocks in this space will be 5G.

No modern technology can run smoothly without a powerful network to back it up. And the companies working to create the infrastructure for this are set to benefit.

Thats why Money Mornings own Harje Ronngard has found two ASX-listed stocks that will be instrumental in the coming 5G revolution.

Harje believes both stocks could balloon a small stake four times over in the next 1218 months. To read his latest research report and potentially make 2019 your best investing year yet, click here.

This week in Money Morning

Last week, we found out why ScoMo defeated the Bill Australia couldnt afford. Voters went with the Liberals for economic reasons. In a JWS Research survey of 1,000 voters, 39% of them said economic issues were a key factor for their vote. And as Harje wrote on Monday, the RBA is very happy with this result.

To learn more, click here.

In the last decade, the rich have gotten richer, while the poor have barely seen their wealth increase. In some cases, like for the poorest Australians, net wealth has actually declined. So how does this happen? How, in the lucky country, do the poor get poorer while the rich get richer?

Harje answers these questions and more in Tuesdays Money Morning.

Have you heard of El Petro? It was Venezuelas solution to restore the faith. The oil-backed crypto was going to be their trustworthy currency. Its something Venezuela sorely needs, even today. And as Harje explained on Wednesday, even though it was a flop overall, the idea behind it could revolutionise Venezuela  and the world  in the coming years.

To read the full story, click here.

For billionaire Tim Roberts, making money is somewhat pointless. He doesnt really need it. The man is worth $2.38 billion and sits in 73rd place on the Financial Reviews Rich List. But who doesnt love the problem-solving detective work of finding new opportunities and then watching them work out? And as Harje wrote on Thursday, one of his biggest opportunities came from investing.

To learn his secret, click here.

Infiniti, like most other car brands, is pursuing their electric vehicle (EV) and autonomous driving dreams. But as Harje questioned on Friday, what good will that do if China locks up future technologies by hoarding their rare earths?

To find out, click here.

Until next week,

Katie Johnson,

Editor, Money Weekend
Come to think of it, as nice apartment houses as you will find in any mans burg.

You see green grass in other trade areas, but when you get there, the grass isnt so green. The moral is, trade at home and build a bigger trade center. No, it isnt so smart to trade out of town.

Bufor Oakley secured a permit to build on Bouchelle Street. Good business. The more new homes we have, the more we can say, Morganton will grow whether we like it or not.

The lights at the parking lot at the former First Baptist Church make the spot almost bright as day. Yes, we have plenty of parking spaces in Morganton. If you care to walk a few steps, you will find them.

We hear another self-service laundry is to be built here. Well find out all about it and tell you.

Work is going right ahead on the buildings in the Wes-Mor Trade Center.

The citys sanitation department really does a good job. Garbage is collected regular as clockwork. Dont see how the guys make the rounds, but they do.

Retrospection: Do you remember the two small lakes in Hunting Creek bottoms, below the depot, remains of the old Wilson mill? And when the Katz store opened opened for business in Morganton, in the building now occupied by Dave Raders cafe? Whatever became of that vacant spot on the south side of Collett Street? Oh yes, sure - the spot is now the site of the handsome News Herald building. Did you know that Morgantons A & P store has been in five different locations? Growth!
A citizen advocate for seat belts on school buses spoke to Amherst City Council on May 28 concerning the need for improved safety measures on the vehicles.

Rudolph Breglia said he has spoken to 26 different school boards of education in the state about this issue since a fatal rollover crash killing six elementary school students in Chattanooga, Tenn., in November 2016.

Breglia said while he always has been safety-oriented, the crash caused him to take action and educate himself and others on the issue.

These kids didnt really have a chance without seat belts, he said during the meeting.

Breglia included a sample school bus seat equipped with seat belts to the meeting and provided a packet of information to Council about other school districts that have implemented them in their buses.

The current Ohio school bus safety features are inadequate to protect children fully, and I can say this because, on average, five to six children are killed every year and more than 11,000 have been injured in school bus accidents, he said.

Safety features

The current safety features include a padded seat back in lieu of a seat belt, which Breglia said only is safe when students are seated upright and facing forward, the bus is moving slowly and in forward crashes.

The padded backs are made to absorb the impact of childrens bodies during a crash, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Side crashes and rollovers, which account for one third of accidents in buses, leave students with little to no protection, Breglia said.

This is a cruel and vile means of protection, he said concerning the padded seat backs. Its meant to minimize injuries, but not to prevent them.

Seat belts on school buses, which are the same as those found in passenger cars, are recommended by agencies such as the transportation safety board.

The installation of seat belts is a recognized, substantial and credible improvement to school bus safety and should be a priority for all of us, Breglia said.

In his experience, Breglia said the most common reasons for school districts to be cautious about implementing seat belts on buses is the cost, need for new policy and training and misinformation.

The addition of seat belts will add between 8 and 10 percent to the cost of the bus on average, he said.

Some also worry that students could use the seat belt as a weapon against other students, Breglia said.

However, he said seat belts could potentially reduce staff time in resolving behavioral issues and student conflict.

In the case of an accident where students are not buckled into seat belts, Breglia said the most successful districts that have implemented seat belts do not fault drivers for injury.

Drivers only are required to advise students to wear seat belts when entering the bus and check all students seat belts before leaving the school.

Councilman Martin Heberling said that although he believes seat belts wouldnt decrease conflict, they are needed.

I personally think its a great idea, Heberling said. Its sorely needed and a long time coming.

Council did not state whether the issue would be under further discussion or review.
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Are the margins between the average gas prices in Midland and Odessa and the rest of the state beginning to expand?

This weeks AAA Texas report on average prices in larger metropolitan areas begs the question.

This week, the state average for regular unleaded dropped 5 cents compared to last week -- $2.51 -- while the averages in Midland and Odessa stayed the same -- $2.76 and $2.72, respectively.

Midland and Odessa were two of the five metropolitan areas where the price didnt decrease. If last years average price in Midland is any indication, drivers could be facing an increase, compared to the state average.

Last year, Midlanders paid more than the state average during the spring: 19 cents higher near the end of March, 21 cents near the end of April and 27 cents near the end of May. The price eventually climbed during the summer driving season to 43 cents higher than the state average near end of June and 48 cents higher near the end of July.

This year, AAA Texas reports the difference was 16 cents near the end of March, 17 cents near the end of April and 25 cents during the final week of May.

Distributors have told the Reporter-Telegram there are many complexities in the fuel business that impact pricing. They pointed to the high cost of transportation from Gulf Coast refineries and Midlands distance from pipelines. There are also issues with the high cost of living, at least in Midland and Odessa, where rents are climbing at rates incomparable around the nation.

The MSAs that experienced the greatest week-over-week declines were Dallas, El Paso and Arlington-Fort Worth -- 9 cents each.

In West Texas, the declines included: 4 cents in San Angelo and 2 cents in both Lubbock and Abilene. Amarillo was the lone MSA in the state to report a week-over-week increase -- 2 cents.

Gas price report Mid-Odessa Texas Thursday $2.692 $2.492 Previous week $2.703 $2.548 Last month $2.713 $2.600 Last year $3.055 $2.751 Source: TexasGasPrices.com See More Collapse

The average prices around the region are $2.52 in Lubbock, $2.53 in Amarillo, $2.54 in San Angelo, $2.57 in El Paso and $2.59 in Abilene. The lowest average in the state can be found in $ McAllen -- $2.34.

Last year, the average price in Midland was $3.10 a gallon.

AAA Texas reported Thursday that stable crude oil prices are helping to push prices down at the pump despite tight domestic gasoline supply and robust demand. A bump in demand could push prices back up.

Gas prices have declined, on average, by a dime for many areas of Texas since the beginning of May and thats a trend drivers can expect to continue into early June, said Daniel Armbruster, AAA Texas spokesman. However, if demand for retail gasoline increases further, that bump could cause prices to go back up slightly.

Gas price report

Cheapest gas: $2.49 (Sams Club, SH 191/Tradewinds)

Cheapest gas (non-membership store): $2.54 (Shoppers stop, Indiana Ave./South C)
A year ago, Kalahari Resorts and Conventions broke ground on what they billed as "America's largest indoor water park" in Round Rock, Texas.

Kalahari Resorts celebrated the growth and progress at the new location Wednesday, releasing photos and videos of what the site looks like in mid 2019.

The resort pegs its business as providing "authentically African-themed all-under-one-roof experiences."

READ ALSO: Schlitterbahn is celebrating 40 years this summer with freebies and other special deals

The site, which is located off US 79 just across from Dell Diamond, will be home to a $550 million, 350-acre complex that will include nearly 1,000 guest rooms, a water park, convention center, five restaurants, a spa and more.

According to the main resort Facebook page, the Round Rock location is expected to open in November 2020.

The company, owned by Todd Nelson and his family, announced its plans to built its first property in the Southwest back in 2016.

Check out the latest photos in the gallery above to catch the progress being made, and get a look at the features at other Kalahari resorts.

Priscilla Aguirre is a breaking news reporter and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  Over 600 tons of tilapia worth around 42.9 million were lost to a fish kill that hit Taal Lake in Batangas, authorities said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said some 121 fish cages have been affected in the villages of Buso-Buso and Gulod in Laurel town and Banaga in Agoncillo.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources issued warnings as early as May 26 that the lake water had reached a dangerously low level of oxygen. By the evening of May 27, around 10 cages of fish have been destroyed. Three days after, over 200 metric tons of fish turned belly-up. Some 33 cages of dead fish have yet to be retrieved and buried.

The DENR on Friday gave fish cage owners 24 hours to remove all the dead fish, warning of sanctions if they fail to do so.

Maria Paz Luna, head of DENR in the Calabarzon Region, however admitted that "not all fish cage owners are capable harvesters, since they do not own large boats for hauling."

"The harvesters are currently hauling dead fish from their own cages. Existing boats will also temporarily serve as aerators until water quality improves, she added.

She assured that the fish kill will not jack up prices, saying it only comprises a small percentage of the total supply.

Journalist Ron Lozano contributed to this report.
You dont necessarily have to go far, far away to have a memorable vacation: there are plenty of U.S. cities worth exploring. One option is Charleston, a top travel destination in the American South. The oldest and largest city in South Carolina, Charleston is known for its history, architecture, food culture and hospitality. The city sits on a harbor at the nexus of three rivers, and it boasts a vibrant music and arts scene, along with numerous museums and family-friendly attractions.

Thankfully, there are plenty of regular, relatively-inexpensive flights between San Antonio and Charleston. We pulled from travel site Skyscanner to provide you with a short list of flights and hotels handpicked with the trendy adventurer in mind. (Prices and availability are current as of publication and subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Cheapest Charleston flights

The cheapest flights between San Antonio and Charleston are if you leave on June 15 and return from South Carolina on June 18. Delta currently has roundtrip, nonstop tickets for $342.

There are also deals to be had in July. If you fly out of San Antonio on July 15 and return from Charleston on July 18, American Airlines can get you there and back for $354 roundtrip.

Top Charleston hotels

To plan your accommodations, here are some of Charlestons top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do and customer satisfaction.

The Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel (115 Meeting St.)

For an all-around top recommendation, consider The Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel. The hotel has a 4.6-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $123.

Set in the heart of Charleston, this reconstruction of an 1853 hotel is close to the Gibbes Museum of Art, the Charleston County Courthouse and all that Meeting and King Streets have to offer.

The Market Pavilion Hotel (225 E. Bay St.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

If you're looking to splurge on top quality, try The Market Pavilion Hotel. Rooms are currently set at $199/night. It checks in with 4.7 stars.

Belmond Charleston Place (205 Meeting St.)

A pricier alternative is the Belmond Charleston Place. The 4.6-star hotel has rooms for $249/night.

Featured Charleston food and drink

If you're looking to snag a bite at one of Charleston's many quality eateries, here are a few popular culinary destinations from Skyscanner's listings that will help keep you satiated.

The FIG (232 Meeting St.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

If you're looking for a local favorite, head to The FIG, which has an average of 4.9 stars out of 40 reviews on Skyscanner.

"This is a great place to eat if you can get a reservation ahead of time. You will not be disappointed," wrote visitor Wythe.

Halls Chophouse (434 King St.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Another popular dining destination is Halls Chophouse, with 4.9 stars from 31 reviews.

"Absolutely delicious!" wrote reviewer Maria.

Slightly North of Broad (192 E. Bay St.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Also worth considering is Slightly North of Broad, with 4.9 stars from 22 reviews.

"I had the sweet potato tamale and my friend had beef carpaccio. They were recommended by the bartender as favorites and both were very good," wrote Joleen.

The Charleston Grill (224 King St.)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Finally, there's The Charleston Grill, with five stars from eight reviews.

"This is definitely one of the finest culinary experiences in all of Charleston," wrote 19 Broad Charleston.

Featured Charleston attractions

Not sure what to do in Charleston, besides eat and drink? Here are a few recommendations, provided by Skyscanner.

Downtown Charleston (King Street)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

First up is Downtown Charleston, with 4.9 stars from 133 reviews.

The historic area of Downtown Charleston is an experience not soon forgotten by the thousands of tourists who visit each year. The main feature are the historic row homes, many of which have been renovated and restored to their original Revolutionary War appearances.

Shem Creek Park (Shrimp Boat Lane)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Then, there's the Shem Creek Park, with five stars from 14 reviews.

"You will see sea birds and local seagrasses and marsh wildlife," wrote visitor Tracy.

Pitt Street Bridge (Pitt Street Bridge)

Photo: Trip by Skyscanner

Lastly, spend some time at the Pitt Street Bridge, with five stars from 12 reviews.

"The bridge is now a walking and fishing pier reaching into the marshes of the intracoastal waterway with fantastic views, wildlife, palm trees and breezes!" wrote visitor Lynn.

This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
The house that Tony Soprano called home is listing for sale 20 years after its television debut.

The roughly 5,600-square-foot home in North Caldwell, New Jersey, where Americas favorite fictional mobster scooped up his morning newspaper and swam with ducks, is being listed for sale by the owners, Patti and Victor Recchia, at a starting price of $3.4 million.

Set on a 1.5-acre lot, it includes the main house with four bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a powder room; two two-car garages; and a detached one-bedroom guesthouse. The property taxes are $34,005 a year.

The price is ambitious for a neighborhood where comparable homes have sold for between $1.5 million and $2 million, according to Zillow. But Recchia, 65, the owner of Fourth Generation Construction, which built the house, as well as more than 20 in the development where its located, said the value exceeds the brick and mortar.

Those things can be quantified, said Recchia, but I dont think you can quantify the intrinsic value of this home.

The house, where Tony Soprano pulled into the long, curving driveway in the opening credits of The Sopranos, was both a frequent filming location and the inspiration for a meticulous replica of the interiors at Silvercup Studios in Queens, New York.

STEFANO UKMAR/NYT

Scenes in the pilot episode were filmed in the homes kitchen, where viewers first met Tonys long-suffering wife, Carmela, and their children, A.J. and Meadow. Tony, the sullen gangster with mommy issues, waded into the backyard pool with a family of ducks and had a panic attack on the patio in the same episode.

While later indoor scenes were mostly filmed on a Silvercup soundstage, the production crew returned to the Recchias home year after year for exterior shots. So do some die-hard fans.

I was pulling out of the driveway and I noticed a few fellas on their motorcycles coming down the cul-de-sac, said Recchia, about a recent interaction. So I open my car window just to acknowledge them, and they say, Hi, Mrs. Soprano! Were not going to mess anything up, just want to take a couple photos.

Theyll pull up in like a limo or something, get out in a robe, and pick up a newspaper, said Recchia, who encountered a father and son who said the photo op was part of a Fathers Day present.

An unofficial Facebook page for the house has more than 1,200 visits at the address, along with dozens of selfies by grinning fans posed in front of the driveway. When the actor James Gandolfini, who played Tony, died suddenly in 2013, fans left flowers, candles and a bag of dried ziti near the curb.

Weve met a lot of great people, Recchia said.

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The house was one of 150 considered for the Sopranos home, Ilene S. Landress, a producer for the series, told The New York Times in 2002. And from then on, the Recchia house determined the look of everything, she said, while noting that the couples real decor was far more tasteful.

Today the home, which was built in 1987, has undergone some cosmetic changes, but retains much of what made the property a character in its own right. Gone are the pickled oak cabinets in the kitchen that defined a certain vision of late 1990s suburbia, but the long kitchen island that anchored the shows domestic drama still stands.

STEFANO UKMAR/NYT

In the dining room, with pink wallpaper and a grand tray ceiling, Carmela, played by Edie Falco, once pulled an assault rifle from inside a decorative column on the wall, because she thought someone was jimmying a window. It turned out to be her teenage daughter, Meadow, trying to sneak into the house through her bedroom window.

The great room, with an octagonal vaulted ceiling, a bar and a white stone fireplace, has matching sets of French doors with gold-trim curtains that lead out to the frequently filmed patio, which has a cabana and breezeway access to the guesthouse.

This was also the Recchias home for 32 years, and the real and imagined converge in all corners of the house. In the family room, with a skylight and green carpet, is a tall promotional poster for The Sopranos, signed by the actors and crew. Over six seasons, the crew used the property somewhere between 30 and 50 times, the couple said. They declined to say how much they were paid for use of the space.

On a recent tour, Recchia played home videos of the cast filming the pilot episode in his kitchen. In another video, Gandolfini joked poolside about not wanting to leave. Ill be here every Thursday at 7, he said with a smile.

As the show became a critical darling and commercial juggernaut for HBO, the Recchias hosted still more celebrities. There was Steve Buscemi, who played Tony Sopranos cousin, Tony Blundetto, and also directed some episodes. Annie Leibovitz, the famed photographer, shot a portrait of Gandolfini looking somber in the sitting room. Yogi Berra, the legendary New York Yankees catcher and manager, swung by once to watch the filming. The crew was mesmerized, Recchia said.

The Recchias are selling because their adult son moved out many years ago and they dont need as much space. They plan to stay in New Jersey.

STEFANO UKMAR/NYT

Because the couple eschewed working with a real estate agent on the sale, Recchia is asking qualified bidders to submit offers and proof of funds by June 21 to the email address sopranoshouseforsale@gmail.com. They are bracing for a flood of emails, but said they believe this is the best way to market a home with this kind of cachet.

As for the price, he believes the home has more in common with movie memorabilia or exotic cars than it does with other houses.

Perhaps the right buyer will feel the same way. On a recent morning, a Maybach with tinted windows was parked outside the Recchias home. As another car approached the cul-de-sac, the unseen driver sped off.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Police are asking the publics help in locating a man accused of fatally stabbing his nephew at a Southwest Side apartment last month.

Joe Cano Rodriguez, 45, was reportedly staying with Ruben Solis the morning he was attacked on May 19 at the Roselawn Apartments, 3346 Roselawn Road, according to San Antonio police.
A single-engine plane crash-landed Friday afternoon just after taking off from an airport in Bulverde.

The pilot, a 60-year-old man, told investigators that he was taking off from Bulverde Airpark when he ran out of runway and wasnt able to gain enough momentum to fully lift off, according to the Bexar County Sheriffs Office.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Friday identified the Bexar County Jail inmate who was killed in a fatal assault Thursday.

Shandrick Van Anthony Buckley, 31, is accused of killing Alexander Wise, a 29-year-old inmate who was a former member of the Aryan Brotherhood.

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Both inmates were in a maximum security area of the jail for separate incidents they were involved in, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said Thursday.

Wise was in jail on charges of fraudulent use of identification, credit card abuse, abuse of a controlled substance and theft. His criminal record also includes a prior conviction for arson, court records showed.

Buckley, who was in jail on a murder charge in connection to a stomping death in 2017, will now face an additional murder charge for Wise's death. Buckley is accused of stomping Jose Gustavo Hernandez, 55, in August 2017 near the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

READ MORE: Inmate faces new charges following fatal assault inside the Bexar County Jail Thursday

Salazar said a detention deputy noticed blood pooling out from a living unit while making cell checks at about 1:28 p.m. in the maximum security area of the jail.

Upon entering the cell he found Wise with "severe" facial and head injuries and Buckley asleep on another bed, Salazar said.

Deputies took custody of Buckley and administered first aid to Wise, who was later pronounced dead.

Salazar said the Texas Rangers are now investigating the inmate's death, which is a requirement of the Sandra Bland Act.

Reporter Jacob Beltran contributed to this report.

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
After resigning Monday from his post as interim secretary of state, David Whitley will return to Gov. Greg Abbotts payroll at his previous salary of $205,000 a year, officials said Friday.

Whitley resigned after the Senate refused to take a vote on his confirmation after a botched voter roll purge led by his office that called into question the citizenship of tens of thousands of Texas voters based on faulty data.

David Whitley has been an exemplary public servant to the state of Texas for many years and the governor is proud to welcome him back to our organization as a Special Advisor, John Wittman, an Abbott spokesman, told the Dallas Morning News, which first reported Whitley's hiring Friday.

Wittman did not respond to the Chronicles requests for comment.

The new salary is an increase from what Whitley was making as secretary of state at $197,415 a year, the state comptrollers office confirmed Friday. Its also the same salary he made before leaving Abbotts office to become secretary of state.

Sam Robles, advocacy director for Progress Texas, on Friday expressed her disdain for the move by the governors office.

While Democrats chose to effectively fire Whitley for his actions, Republicans chose to give him a promotion and a raise, Robles said in a statement. Whitleys return to the governors office clearly demonstrates Abbotts priorities.

For subscribers: Texas Secretary of State David Whitley resigns

The Senate stalled a vote on Whitleys confirmation this legislative session after he faced harsh rebuke from civil rights groups and legislators for wrongly calling for nearly 100,000 suspected non-citizens to be removed from the voter rolls.

Top Republicans and President Donald Trump immediately upheld the initial advisory as evidence of voter fraud, but just days later, county election officials found thousands were erroneously flagged.

A lawsuit from civil rights groups put an end to the program in April under terms of a settlement agreement. But the next secretary of state could continue efforts to identify and remove non-citizens from the voter rolls once the office revises its screening criteria to ensure more accurate results.

Abbott will have to name a replacement secretary of state, who likely wont face confirmation hearings at the Legislature until after the 2020 election.
For sheer hypocrisy, its hard to match the European nations that are refusing responsibility for dozens of their nationals who became jihadist foreign fighters over the past five years and are now warehoused in makeshift prisons in northeast Syria.

U.S. officials say that about 2,000 foreign fighters from more than 50 nations are among the roughly 10,000 captured Islamic State fighters held in several dozen ramshackle prisons in Syria. The detention facilities are run by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish militia that partnered with a U.S.-led coalition to defeat Islamic State. The other 8,000 captives are Syrian and Iraqi fighters.

The Pentagon and State Department have implored European nations to repatriate their nationals for trial and imprisonment, or at least pay the SDF to hold them temporarily. But so far, most European nations have refused. The SDF warns that it cant imprison them indefinitely and doesnt have laws that would allow formal prosecution in the Kurdish-controlled zone.

The Europeans protest that they dont have adequate laws to try their nationals who committed terrorist offenses on foreign soil, and that they dont have evidence that would stand up in court. They worry, too, that jihadists in European prisons would radicalize other Muslim prisoners, and then be released back into society in a few years, perhaps to commit new terrorist acts.

Its a political problem for Europe, too, explained one European who has talked extensively with officials there about the repatriation issue. The European Union is in denial, he told me. The Europeans feel that a government that takes them back has no chance for reelection.

The problem isnt just the foreign fighters in the prisons, but their wives and children living in camps. Experts estimate that of the 74,000 people at a huge camp known as Al Hol, about 11,000 may be related to fighters who arent Syrian or Iraqi.

The European desire for self-protection was epitomized by Ben Wallace, British security minister, who told The Guardian: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go looking for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

The International Committee for the Red Cross, which visits prison and civilian camps in northeast Syria, said in a statement: Countries of origin cannot turn their backs. People  especially children  cannot be made stateless. Faced with this complex problem, moral inertia is not an option.

What peeves some U.S. officials is that the European nations shunning responsibility for Islamic State prisoners have for years been lecturing the United States about its immoral treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

European castigation of Guantanamo abuses included German Chancellor Angela Merkels statement that an institution like Guantanamo can and should not exist and the European Parliaments demand that the U.S. close Guantanamo without delay. (These criticisms were gathered by the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas.)

President Trump tweeted about the problem on April 30, as the last holdouts of the Islamic State were being routed and sent to the overcrowded, underfunded SDF prisons: European countries are not helping at all, even though this was very much done for their benefit. They are refusing to take back prisoners from their specific countries. Not good! For once, Trump was right.

But U.S. pleas have yielded little response, especially from Europe. The only countries to accept significant transfers from the SDF prisons are Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Kosovo, Morocco and Bosnia, a Pentagon official said. Some prisoners have also been transferred to Iraq, which has offered to take thousands more, but only if paid.

The SDF, which has limited resources and faces a Turkish threat of attack, has kept holding the prisoners but warned it cant do so indefinitely.

European nations talk of some sort of international tribunal for the jihadist prisoners, but theres been no significant movement to make that happen.

Defeating the Islamic State was a worthy goal. Ignoring the prisoners who were captured in that war, and leaving the problem to others, is reprehensible.

@IgnatiusPost
President Donald Trump may be guilty of many things, but a cover-up in the Mueller probe isnt one of them.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attempting to appease forces in the Democratic Party eager for impeachment, is accusing him of one, with all the familiar Watergate connotations.

The charge is strange, not to say incomprehensible, in light of the fact that Congress is in possession of a 448-page report produced by the Trump Department of Justice cataloging the alleged obstruction that Congress now wants to investigate. The report is so exhaustive that many members of Congress havent had the time to read it.

If this is a White House cover-up, its too late. Its a cover-up of an alleged crime that has already been extensively exposed, not by whistleblowers, not by Jerry Nadler, not by hostile journalists, but by a DOJ prosecutor who worked under the supervision of Trumps handpicked deputy attorney general.

Pelosi has rehearsed the cliche, As they say, the cover-up is frequently worse than the crime. Or in this case, a substitute for the crime.

Mueller found no Russia collusion or coordination and didnt even accuse the president of obstruction, instead bizarrely pronouncing him not exonerated.

Pelosi hasnt deemed the alleged obstruction detailed in the Mueller report worthy of impeachment, but now insists that Trumps resistance to congressional probes is itself obstruction and could be impeachable.

This is an alleged process crime on top of an alleged process crime, all stemming from an investigation that Trump had the power to stop but never did (even as he openly hated it and came up with various schemes, never effected, to crimp it).

The Mueller report is chock-full of direct accounts of private conversations with the president, which would ordinarily be considered the most sensitive White House communications most likely to trigger a claim of executive privilege. The White House never tried to block any of the testimony. Mueller often writes in such compelling novelistic detail exactly because everyone talked.

The only exception was the president himself, who only took written questions about the Russian portion of the probe (remember that?). But Mueller stipulates in the report that he didnt try to subpoena the president, in part, because he had gotten the relevant information from everyone else.

After going through this investigation for two years, run by a prosecutor with considerable resources and powers, and a well-demonstrated willingness to nail anyone not telling the truth, the White House is balking at repeating the experience with Congress.

It has zero political interest in abetting high-profile hearings with former White House officials such as Don McGahn, and legitimate privilege claims to make over the presidents communications with his advisers and over the vast amount of unreviewed underlying material of the Mueller report.

This is a high-intensity version of the typical jousting between the two branches. Some of it will surely be negotiated out, and some of it will be decided by the courts.

Congress obviously has its own legitimate claims here, although the fact-finding authorized by Pelosi is largely a charade to avoid grasping the nettle of impeachment.

The Democrats could slap together a couple of hearings with law professors and former prosecutors and impeach Trump tomorrow if they wanted to.

This is what makes the current situation so crazy. Trump, let alone Attorney General William Barr or McGahn, isnt the one stopping Congress from pursuing impeachment. They have no control over it whatsoever. Impeachment is entirely a matter for the House, which is entirely under the control of Pelosi.

She, not the president, is obstructing an impeachment inquiry in the literal sense of not letting one go forward, despite many of her members wanting one and despite the Trump DOJ handing her a potential road map in the form of the 448-page report.

If this is a cover-up, it is the worst executed cover-up of all time.

comments.lowry@nationalreview.com
Dreaming big for UTSA means dreaming big for San Antonio. Big dreams, after all, have always been part of our shared history.

As we commemorate June 5, 1969, the day that Texas Gov. Preston Smith signed the legislation to create UTSA as an institution of the first class under an imperative public necessity, we honor the leaders who dreamed big for San Antonio, championed UTSA into existence and ensured the city would no longer be the largest in the nation without a public university.

Our dreams today  for the university and San Antonio  are even bigger than they were when UTSA was founded. In overseeing our citys largest university, I take to heart UTSAs role as a public urban-serving institution. That vision provides the framework for everything we do, and it keeps us firmly focused on our students journeys toward earning their degrees. When we ensure their success, we ensure our citys success.

Our founders recognized UTSAs potential to create prosperity and to drive socioeconomic mobility for South Texas. In essence, they laid the groundwork for San Antonio to become what it is today: one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, a city that people are drawn to for its history, culture and way of life as much as for its career and educational opportunities. Its fitting that the founders vision is reflected in UTSAs reputation.

UTSA has a list of achievements that rivals institutions twice its age. UTSA is ranked in the top 3.6 percent of universities in the world, according to the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Last year, the publication also named UTSA one of the top five young universities in the nation  the sixth time UTSA has made the list. An emerging research powerhouse on the cusp of attaining Carnegie R1 status, indicating the highest level of research activity for a doctoral university, UTSA draws brainpower from 47 states and 86 countries.

Yet these accomplishments tell only part of the story.

Our trajectory to excellence is steep for such a young university  and in terms of university years, UTSA is indeed young. Yet in so many ways we are continuing to fulfill the purpose our founders intended 50 years ago: to be an engine for opportunity. Nearly half of our students will be the first generation in their families to earn a college degree, and nearly 70 percent are eligible to receive financial aid.

UTSAs primary job is to provide affordable education of the highest quality to those pursuing their dreams. To paraphrase University of Texas System Chancellor James Milliken, talent is equally distributed in our society while opportunity is not. We take great pride in our efforts to serve San Antonios diverse population as a military-friendly environment and as a leading Hispanic-Serving Institution.

Our razor-sharp focus on maximizing opportunities and our physical environment is key to fostering excellence for all students. In fact, weve launched a number of initiatives over the past two years to meet our aggressive goals to become a model for student success. One initiative, Classroom to Career, aims to have at least 75 percent of our students graduating with some professional experience by placing them in local businesses, nonprofits or other organizations.

Simultaneously we are developing our capacity to compete with the finest public research institutions in the nation. UTSAs research capabilities are strengthened by faculty with recognized expertise in areas with life-changing potential, including human health, smart infrastructure, advanced materials, and social and economic transformation.

We are also leveraging our strengths to build a national security powerhouse for San Antonio, armed with the most powerful cyber, computing, cloud and data analytics teams of highly recruited faculty and government and business professionals, along with our student scholars. Our plans for a new National Security Collaboration Center and School of Data Science on our Downtown Campus will further boost San Antonios identity as Cyber City, USA.

With more than 6,000 graduates receiving UTSA degrees each year and two-thirds remaining in Texas after graduation to enter the workforce, we are fueling the knowledge economy to meet the needs of our growing society. And our goal to expand our Downtown Campus  to better serve the urban core of the city and to grow our overall enrollment to 45,000  will not only answer the national call for a highly skilled workforce but will attract government and industry partners to San Antonio.

Our trajectory will make us an even more impactful university in the future. We will grow to serve more students. We will be driven by excellence through a more profound discovery enterprise. We will become more globally relevant and urban engaged.

Our strategic destinations drive our path forward as a model for student success, a great public research university and an exemplar for strategic growth to best meet the needs of our community.

All these plans  in tandem with the ascent of San Antonio  tell a striking story about the city were destined to be. UTSA is uniquely positioned to tackle San Antonios grand challenges because of its deep integration in a region that reflects the demographic forecast for the United States. We are living in the city of the future. UTSA shares that destiny as the university of the future.

UTSAs success and San Antonios success go hand in hand.

Taylor Eighmy is president of the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has bemoaned the increasing partisanship of the court. Yet Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has described the court as nonpartisan, dedicated to the protection of the U.S. Constitution from partisan and political movements or concerns.

We will know which justice is correct soon as we read the courts opinions in decisions on partisan gerrymandering, the census citizenship question, and the controversies over presidential authority to resist congressional efforts to investigate President Donald Trumps financial history and allegations related to the 2016 elections and obstruction of justice.

This March, the court heard two cases on partisan gerrymandering.

Partisan gerrymandering occurs when districts are drawn to minimize one groups chances of electing a person of their choice and maximize another groups chances. In one case, Republican state lawmakers gerrymandered areas of Democratic strength in North Carolina, resulting in a plan for congressional elections that was designed to  and did  elect 10 Republicans and three Democrats in a state that is split 50-50 on party lines in the overall vote.

The other case came from Maryland, where Democrats gerrymandered Republicans, decimating the one GOP district in the state.

The Supreme Court has heard partisan gerrymandering cases over the past 15 years and has been unable to decide on a standard to use in such cases. Studies of redistricting of congressional districts around the United States have shown that after the 2010 census, most of the partisan gerrymandering was performed by Republican majorities in state legislatures. These plans resulted in the overall shift of scores of seats, as well as state House majorities, from Democrats to Republicans.

The last two Supreme Court cases on partisan redistricting, in 2018, reflected divisions on the court among Democratic-appointed justices and Republican-appointed justices, with the Democrats generally in favor of and Republicans generally against developing and applying a nonpartisan redistricting standard.

The Supreme Court also heard a case in April opposing inclusion in the U.S. census of a citizenship question for all people in the United States. Historically, the census only asked a small sample of people about their citizenship. Trumps administration proposed that the citizenship question be added to the census form for everyone.

Those who support the citizenship question argue that the country must know who is a citizen and who is not. Those opposed to the question, including the U.S. Census Bureaus experts, argue that the question will discourage many from completing census forms and lead to a significant undercount, especially in areas  such as San Antonio and much of Texas  with concentrations of people concerned about their familys immigration status.

In times of such intense anti-immigrant fervor, immigrants are afraid to fill out a form admitting their status or that might be considered fraudulent. An undercount on the census will hurt any state where significant proportions of the population are uncounted. States with significant undercounts will receive fewer federal funds and will have less information upon which to project future needs for schools, streets, parks and social services.

A significant undercount of undocumented people will almost surely lead to an undercount of Latinos and other populations of recent immigrants. This will lead to a decrease of districts in areas of large Latino and immigrant populations and an increase in districts in areas with very low concentrations of undocumented people. The undercount of Latinos and recent immigrants will almost surely benefit Republican candidates and hurt Democratic candidates.

As might be expected, Democratic-leaning organizations oppose the census question on citizenship and Republican-leaning organizations support the citizenship question. This case almost certainly will be decided this summer because the census must start printing forms and educating people and census employees.

One other upcoming set of cases with strong partisan implications is the inevitable disputes over documents requested by Congress from Trump, government agencies or his business associates. The strong disagreements between the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and the Republican president on requests for information on the presidents finances, as well as the details of the Mueller report, are sure to lead to federal court litigation.

One U.S. District Court has ruled against the president and held that a private accounting firm must produce documents about the presidents finances that a U.S. House committee subpoenaed. Several U.S. House committees, all chaired by Democrats, have requested documents, and the enforcement of those subpoenas will surely reach the courts and, eventually, the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court will deal with the issue by hearing a case and clarifying the powers of a congressional committee to request, temporarily reversing a lower court opinion or temporarily affirming a lower court opinion.

How can partisan leanings enter into Supreme Court decision-making?

Supreme Court justices have lifetime appointments. They do not have to run for office, and they are not officially designated as Republican or Democrat. Certainly, every Supreme Court justice will argue that she or he is nonpartisan and decides cases only on their merits. However, like any other individual making a difficult decision, justices must consider a range of issues when they decide a case. Each justice has a philosophy of interpretation of the Constitution and statutes. Each has an understanding of facts and politics surrounding any issue that comes before them. We do not know all of the bases for any Supreme Court justices decision in any one case. Yet we know that both justices appointed by Democrats and justices appointed by Republicans write opinions that appear to be quite partisan.

None of the members of the present Supreme Court have held elective office. However, every one of them has been appointed by a president who was elected in a partisan election and confirmed by a Senate that is controlled by one political party. Since the Democratic Senates defeat of Judge Robert Borks nomination to the Supreme Court in 1989, and the Republican Senates refusal even to consider the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland by Democratic President Barak Obama in 2016, the nomination process has become increasingly partisan and polarized.

To some extent, every opinion by a Supreme Court justice has some partisan effects. The two political parties hold very different positions on social issues  such as same-sex marriage, abortion and even funding for health programs. However, the issues of partisan redistricting, census questions on citizenship and enforcement of Democratic committees requests for documents from a Republican president will tell us much more about the partisan nature of decision-making in the court than even would decisions on these other very important, yet not quite as partisan, issues.

The Supreme Court must decide the census issue this term, which ends this month. The Census Bureau must make final decisions on the census form and produce millions of copies of it.

There is great pressure on the court to decide the partisan gerrymandering issues as well, because lower courts have found several states redistricting systems unconstitutional as a partisan gerrymander. In addition to the Maryland and North Carolina cases, lower courts have found partisan redistricting in Ohio and Michigan. The court must decide these cases so that representatives or members of Congress can be elected under constitutional systems in time for the next round of redistricting.

And there will be tremendous pressure on the court to get involved in the fights over documents, which will become more heated as the clear differences between the Democratic congressional committees and the Republican administration are presented.

All we can do is to watch the results of the decisions and be educated about the extent to which the individual members of the court, and the court as a whole, decide these cases on a basis other than their partisan effects.

I predict that the court will decide all of these cases on clearly partisan lines, benefiting the Republican Party that led to their nominations and confirmations. I hope I am wrong.

Al Kauffman is a professor of constitutional law at the St. Marys University School of Law.
The numbers are heartbreaking.

They start with 28. Thats how many people died from domestic violence in 2018 in Bexar County.

This is according to Marta Pelaez, president and CEO of Family Violence and Prevention Services. She recently lingered over this number  28  at a fundraiser for the Battered Women and Childrens Shelter.

They continue with 1. Thats Bexar Countys ranking among major Texas counties in 2017 for the family violence homicide rate for women. One.

They continue to the steady uptick in family violence incidents and homicides reported to the San Antonio Police Department in recent years.

In 2016, there were 21 family violence homicides, according to city police. In 2018, there were 25 such homicides. In 2016, there were 692 felony family violence reports. In 2018, there were 939 felony family violence reports. In 2016, there were 10,459 misdemeanor reports for family violence. In 2018, there were 11,381 misdemeanor reports.

Whether these numbers reflect a true increase in family violence in San Antonio or simply better reporting is in many ways immaterial. One case of family violence is one too many. One death is one too many. San Antonio, we have a lot of work to do. Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales has said his office has been working around the clock to move through a backlog of family violence cases.

These numbers are all the more startling given the initial lackluster response to the issue of domestic violence in this years mayoral race. City Councilman Greg Brockhouse has been dogged by past allegations of domestic violence  allegations he has denied, but at least in one instance not fully explained. But just as disappointing has been the communitys initial response to the issue, reflecting a failure to see a crisis before our eyes. There was that head-smacking comment from San Antonio Chamber of Commerce President Richard Perez that domestic violence is not a business issue. And there was that threat from Brockhouse to leave a debate in April if reporters asked him about domestic violence, so reporters did not ask.

Perez has since apologized for his comment, and reporters and community activists have since asked Brockhouse about his past. But just as domestic violence is more than a business issue, it is also more than a political issue. As the numbers show, it is life and death.

Thats why we support a push by City Council members Shirley Gonzales and Manny Pelaez (whose mother is Marta Pelaez, CEO of the Battered Women and Childrens Shelter) for increased funding to organizations that serve survivors of domestic violence. Manny Pelaez has worked with the shelter for two decades. The proposal is vague at the moment, but the idea is to develop an optimal plan to respond to domestic violence and prevent it. To create a model for prevention and intervention and get that haunting number  28  down to zero.

Domestic violence rears its head in many ways. Abuse can keep victims, mostly women, from attending work. Victims can be saddled with coerced debt, making it difficult to leave an abusive partner or rent a new home. These are very much business issues, but they are also the stuff of basic humanity and decency. This is about fractured families and shattered lives.

Thats essentially what Gonzales said after Perezs unfortunate comment.

Policy ideas have been bandied about to reduce domestic violence. Some ideas include better police training, increased felony prosecutions and requiring offenders to undergo drug treatment. But at its root, domestic violence is about lacking personal control and not valuing the inherent dignity in ones partner.

The race for mayor will soon be over, but domestic violence will still be an issue in San Antonio. What are we going to do about it? The community conversation cannot stop with the election.
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will not attend liberation struggle icon Dr Dumiso Dabengwas burial today in the spirit of respecting the bereaved familys request for privacy.

This was said by Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba in a brief interview soon after President Mnangagwa officially opened the Zimbabwe Annual Mining Conference in Victoria Falls yesterday.

Mr Charamba said President Mnangagwa will be represented at the burial set for today at Dr Dabengwas home area in Emanxeleni, Ntabazinduna in Matabeleland North.

If a national heros family accepts the designation of national hero but opts for private burial, immediately the State President cannot participate directly except through delegated authority. The moment the President gets to that, it means we take over and that breaches the privacy and control of the family. So he will be represented at an appropriate level, said Mr Charamba.

He said a similar scenario has been used with other national heroes who were declared national heroes but their families opted for private burials.

In short the President doesnt go. This is for the purpose of upholding the privacy and control preferred by the bereaved family but more critically to also protect the National Heroes Acre because the moment we allow people to have a bite of the cherry then we are undermining the national shrine, said Mr Charamba.

President Mnangagwa left Victoria Falls soon after officially opening the mining conference because of other commitments in Harare.

Last week he mourned the death of Dr Dabengwa saying the former Zipra intelligence supremo was and will always remain a hero.

Dr Dabengwa died in Nairobi, Kenya last week while en-route to Zimbabwe from India where he had been taken for medical treatment. The late national hero who died from a liver related illness, was 79.

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FOUR Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) officers have been dragged to court charged with stealing inmates rations worth more than US$7 000.

Rukudzo Konje, Rodha Mawadze, Avellino Muchawa and Margaret Chikwature who were all stationed at Harare Central Prison at the time they brazenly committed the offence, in full view of inmates.

The court heard the quartet went on to stage manage a break in to cover up for their offence.

It is the States case that, the four allegedly stole 1447.8kgs of sugar, 166.87kgs salt, 217.58kgs chicken and 3023.3kgs beans before they were exposed through an internal audit.

The suspects were at one point removed from remand after the State failed to furnish them with a trial date.

Now the State says its ready to proceed to trial. Appearing for the State Delight Mauto said the trial will commence on June 18.

Allegations are that on a date unknown to the State but between August 1 and December 2018 the four prison officers hatched a plan to steal prisoners rations from the storeroom.

On several occasions, Konje, Mawadze, Muchawa and Chikwature stole various prisoners rations in full view of inmates and shared them amongst themselves, the court heard.

It is the States case that the officer in charge at the prison, Never Kambizi got a tip off to the effect that prison officers were stealing rations from both the kitchen and rations office. Kambizi immediately instituted investigations.

During investigations, the accused stage managed an unlawful entry into the rations office in aggravating circumstances in a bid to cover their tracks, alleges the State.

On December 13, Kambizi reported the unlawful entry case at Harare Central Police Station under CR1444/12/18 and requested an internal audit on the kitchen books and rations office.

The auditors discovered that rations worth US$7 524.15 were missing and nothing was recovered.

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Zanu PF officials and military commanders squirmed through Dumiso Dabengwas memorial service at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Friday, as speakers took turns to attack government failings.

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa was barred from a VIP tent in which sat Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, Prisons boss Commissioner General Paradzai Zimondi, Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu, Deputy Defence Minister Victor Matemadanda and Bulawayos provincial affairs minister Ruth Ncube.

Chamisa finally found a seat at the front of an adjacent tent, where he was joined by his deputy Welshman Ncube, former Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo and the Ndebele king Bulelani Lobengula.

Dabengwas brother, Jabu, fired the first salvo, saying the former intelligence chief of ZAPUs armed wing, ZIPRA, died when Zimbabweans were in deep suffering.

He was a principled man, he loved people. He wanted to see prosperity in this country, he wanted see people free and happy, Jabu told thousands of mourners at the politically-charged event.

He recalled how Dabengwa, having been acquitted on charges of treason, was held indefinitely under colonial-era emergency laws by the new government after Zimbabwes independence.

I visited him at Chikurubi, after he was arrested. One day I said to him when are they saying you will come out of prison? He said, I dont know. They said if I dont join Zanu I will never come out. He told me he had his principles, he would have to die first before anyone could force him to leave ZAPU, Jabu recalled.

Mtshana Ncube, a history researcher and former ZAPU representative to the United Nations, said Dabengwa had looked forward to discussing with comrades the task of bringing justice, reconciliation and peace for the victims of Gukurahundi.

That was one of his next tasks, had he lived, Ncube said, referring to the massacre of thousands of minority Ndebeles and supporters of ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo shortly after independence.

Dabengwa, who died in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 23, also yearned for the return of ZAPU properties and ZIPRA files from the war, which were seized by the government during Gukurahundi.

Despite suffering the pain of being put in jail without being found guilty of a crime, he never gave up his belief that this country needs a leadership that rises above hatred, racial intolerance, tribalism and revenge, Ncube said.

Jeremy Brickhill, a white ZIPRA veteran who named his son Dumiso, turned up the temperatures with a rousing speech, extolling the virtues of the liberation war hero before adding to loud cheers: In his last days, Dumiso always tried to find solutions. Dumiso always sought a way forward. He was engaged in dialogue even with those who would not listen.

Today, more than ever, we need to find solutions to the problems in our country; we need to complete our quest for true liberation. To the young people here, I say pick up the spear and free yourselves as Dumiso did!

The discomfort levels rose even further when Mthulisi Hanana, the director of the Dumiso Dabengwa Foundation, gave a barnstorming speech, at one point praising Chamisa as mature and sober while hectoring Dabengwas former colleagues in Zanu PF for walking out of the ZAPU leaders life to maintain their privileges.

He was passionate about young people. He believed that their time is now. Dabengwa and others altered the course of this country at a young age, this generation must do the same, Hanana said, reading from a prepared speech.

Describing Dabengwa as one of Gukurahundis most prominent victims, he recalled the many hours spent with the Russia-trained intelligence supremo in which he looked back with disappointment at his treatment by his former war colleagues.

I must say that he was scarred by that genocide until the day that he passed on. Till the day he died, he never understood why comrades who fought the colonial government side-by-side with him turned against him and others. He did not understand why civilians were butchered by an army that was supposed to be professional, Hanana said.

He appealed that Gukurahundi must never be a closed chapter, just like the liberation struggle. We must always remind our people that people died for being ZAPU, they died for being Ndebele and died for supporting Joshua Nkomo. The next genocide can only be avoided when this one subject is spoken about.

As General Sibanda, a ZIPRA veteran who was also commanded by Dabengwa looked on from behind him, Hanana challenged Zimbabwean youths to please rise up and be counted.

In a final flourish, he called on Dabengwa to get to the other side and speak of the misery of the people.

Tell [Josiah] Tongogara and [Solomon] Mujuru that the army now assists in political transitions, and now shoots innocent civilians. Tell Lookout Masuku that your names do not appear in any of the history books. Tell Jimmy Ntuta that his murderers have not faced justice. Tell Thenjiwe Lesabe that shes a national heroine and well do our best to preserve her legacy and tell Chief Khayisa Ndiweni that umntanakhe uthwelenzima (his son is being persecuted), Hanana said.

ZAPUs acting president Isaac Mabuka said Dabengwa stood up against conformity, pointing to his decision to leave Zanu PF and revive ZAPU in 2008.

That Dabengwa breathed his last on foreign soil, on his way home, is an indication that he had not yet fulfilled his mission of truly liberating this country. It must have weighed heavily on him as he reflected on the irony of seeking medical help very far from his people, something that has become a privilege of the very few in this country as the rest of the population cannot access adequate health facilities, Mabuka blasted.

Zimbabwe was experiencing unprecedented levels of hardship for the common man, he said, adding: Young people are in the streets, unemployed, because the country has been plundered.

To honour Dabengwas legacy, said Mabuka, those who believe in his vision should commit to push through devolution and proportional representation which were close to Dabengwas heart.

Resident Minister Ncube was given an opportunity to speak, and she carefully avoided the topics that had whipped the crowd into a frenzy. She hailed Dabengwas commitment to development, particularly his fight to bring water to Bulawayo as a one-time patron of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project.

Dabengwa, who was 79, will be laid to rest in Ntabazinduna on Saturday after snubbing burial at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.

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By Jeff Bryant, a writing fellow and chief correspondent for Our Schools, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He is a communications consultant, freelance writer, advocacy journalist, and director of the Education Opportunity Network, a strategy and messaging center for progressive education policy. His award-winning commentary and reporting routinely appear in prominent online news outlets, and he speaks frequently at national events about public education policy. Follow him on Twitter @jeffbcdm. Produced by Our Schools, a project of the Independent Media Institute

For years, the safe havens for education policy debate in the Democratic Party have been expanding pre-K programs and providing more affordable college, but in the current presidential primary contest, another consensus issue has been added to the partys agenda: salary increases for K12 classroom teachers. Kamala Harris has gotten the most press for coming out strongly for raising teacher wages, but other frontrunners including Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and Bernie Sanders have also called for increased teacher pay.

But what will happen when a consensus issue like teacher salary increases comes into conflict with a lightning rod issue like charter schools? Thats a scenario currently playing out in Florida.

A recent law passed by the majority Republican Florida state legislature and signed by newly elected Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will force local school districts to share portions of their locally appropriated tax money with charter schools, even if those funds are raised for the express purpose of increasing teacher salaries in district-operated public schools. (Charter schools in Florida, as in many states, do not receive funds that are raised through bond referendums, mill levies, or other forms of local funding initiatives.)

Florida teachers have openly opposed the new law, and local school districts have taken it to court to have it overthrown. But given this new law, its not at all hard to imagine a scenario, even at the national level, where Democrats pushing to increase funds for teacher pay will have to confront an expanding charter school industryand now voucher programsthat would claim their portion of that money to use as private institutions for whatever purposes they wish.

An Effort to Redefine Public Schools

The problem with charter schools isnt that theyre competing with public schools; its that theyre supplanting public schools, says Justin Katz in a phone call. Katz, who is president of the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association, recently helped organize a rally in West Palm Beach where more than 200 teachers and public school advocates showed up to voice their opposition to distributing funds raised by local tax increases to charter schools.

The protest was very specific, local, and personal, Katz explains, because voters in the county had approved $200 million in funding for their schools in a measure that specified increases could be used for teacher raises in traditional public schools and not for funding charter schools.

The referendum was overwhelmingly approved by more than 72 percent of voters. But under the proposed new law, a proportional share of 10 percent, or about $20 million a year, would have gone to the countys 49 charters. Only a final hour amendment in the states Senate averted the loss, when the bill was altered to apply to future bond referendums only.

The language of the referendum that was passed was crystal clear, Katz says, that money raised by the bond efforts would not go to charter schools. But the loophole being used to argue for charters to get their share is the use of the term public schools.

The new law is an effort to redefine what are public schools, he says, in order to give charter schools a right to claim a portion of any publicly raised education funds, regardless of the intent for raising the money. He fears that once charters claim that right, private schools in the states school voucher programs will claim it too.

What Katz fears aligns to Governor DeSantis recent comment that if the taxpayer is paying for education, its public education, which seems to mean that virtually any education providercharter schools, private schools, and even homeschoolingis public education and therefore has rightful claim to public funds meant for teachers, local schools, and any initiative voters approve, regardless of the intent.

Public Money to Non-Public Schools

Our objection to sharing bond referendum money with charter schools is that its not what the money was intended for, says Anna Fusco, the president of the Broward Teachers Union.

Broward, the county immediately to the south of Palm Beach, also recently passed a local referendum that raised $93,000, enough funding to boost teacher salaries by as much as $8,000. Like the Palm Beach initiative, the Broward referendum funds were intended not to go to charters, although the language was not as specific. Broward has over 90 charter schools educating 45,919 students, over 20 percent of the districts students.

Fusco says, it was fair to not include charters in the referendum for several reasons. Because nearly half the charter schools in the state are managed by for-profit companies, new funding voters had approved for teachers could instead be used to expand profits for charter management companies.

Fusco also believes many charter schools are non-public because they get to choose their students. Studies have shown Floridas charter schools, compared to public schools, serve significantly lower percentages of low-income students, students with disabilities, and students who struggle with English.

She also points to other recent legislation that gave charter schools access to state funding for building leases and executive pay and big new loopholes for bypassing local school boards and employing uncertified teachers. She contends the law undermines the charter industrys argument for needing local referendum money. And because of the new loopholes, bond referendum money would now go to charter schools even though they can bypass the very school boards that pushed for the bonds, and even if the money was earmarked for wage hikes for certified teachers, charters could use the money to hire uncertified teachers who lower the status of the teaching profession.

A Long Game People Havent Noticed

This is part of an incremental and deliberate effort to take apart our public school system, says Karen Castor Dentel in a phone call. Castor Dentel is a board member of Orange County Public Schools and former Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives. A native of Florida and graduate of the states public schools, she taught in an elementary school last year, and her mother was Florida Education Commissioner from 1987 to 1994.

Castor Dentel sources the assault on the states public schools to former Governor Jeb Bush, who initiated a series of reforms he called the A+ Plan that included imposing a school grading system based on test scores. Gradually the test-based system was used to evaluate teachers tooincluding evaluating teachers based on the scores of students they dont even teach.

Bushs plan also called for changing teachers salary increases from a traditional step plan based on seniority and continuing education to a system of bonuses and merit-pay schemes based on test scores and other measures. The most preposterous of these schemes based teacher bonuses on scores they earned on their college entrance exams. Districts are now rushing to abandon these plans.

The purpose of this was to shame schools and teachers, Castor Dentel insists. We already knew which students needed help and which schools and teachers needed more support. But its easier to label schools and teachers failing and hand everything over to a private charter operator than it is to do what these schools and communities actually need.

While Bushs plan cracked down on teachers, it loosened the regulatory environment for charter schools and provided them with new funding sources. By the time Bush left office in 2007, charter schools across the state had grownfrom a modest 30 to well over 300. Today there are 655.

The educational success of the A+ Plan continues to be hotly debated, but its undeniable that the welfare of public school teachers in the state suffered significantly under its regime.

The state has dropped to 46 on a national scale of average teacher salaries, and at least one credible analysis has deemed the state the fifth worst state in the nation to be a teacher.

Due to low pay, deteriorating employee benefits, and demoralizingworking conditions, Florida teachers have refused to work beyond school hours, increasingly called in sick, and are leaving their jobs at higher rates. The state now has an acute teacher shortage and struggles to fill vacant positions. And in whats being called a silent strike, experienced teachers are leaving the profession early, and people who would be highly qualified for teaching are choosing other employment opportunities.

In the meantime, charter schools have flourished and now account for nearly all the states growth in student enrollment.

Its been a long game, Castor Dentel says. The agenda has been imposed so slowly over the past 20 years that people dont notice. Its a cancer that started in Florida and is now spreading everywhere.

Have Democrats Found Their Way?

If the Florida model for education is a disease, Democrats have certainly been infected. Much of what was in Bushs A+ Plan formed the policy agenda of the Obama administration, which also pushed for evaluating schools and teachers based on test scores and expanding charter schools.

Democrats have been promoting a conservative school reform agenda for the past three decades, education historian and bestselling author Diane Ravitch observed. Whatever the motivations, the upshot is clear: The Democratic Party has lost its way on public education.

But because presidential hopefuls are rallying around teacher salary increases, have Democrats found their way back?

No doubt, what got Democrats to pay attention to the plight of school teachers was the series of teacher protests staged across the country last year and into this. The highly visible strikes emboldened candidates running in 2018 midterm elections to campaign for increasing investments in public schools. The teacher uprisings also took the schools issue away from Republicans and made it less about accountability and more about the massive cuts political leaders in both parties have enacted to the system.

In Florida, teachers are forbidden to strike by law and the state constitution. Any teachers engaging in such action would endanger their professional status, explains Fusco. They could lose their licenses and jobs for life and lose their pensions too. Our union will never, ever encourage a walk out.

However, the laws havent stopped teachers from speaking out against efforts to divert local tax dollars for teacher pay to charter schools. Their protest messages are about educating voters on the impact of charters rather than opposing them outright.

Teachers who protested in Palm Beach County, according to Castor Dentel, made their protests more about the responsible use of tax dollars.

Parents and voters are just starting to get engaged, but they arent always clear on the issues, she says. They dont understand that charter schools arent really like public schools.

For now, our effort to push back has to rely on educating people on what these bills in the state legislature are really doing, says Fusco. We hope people who arent in education and dont even have children in schools listen to us.

This obsession with crushing public schools to promote privately operated things that are being called public is not universally accepted, says Katz, and people are just starting to sour on it.

Maybe Democrats will too.

To learn more about school privatization, check out Who Controls Our Schools? The Privatization of American Public Education, a free ebook published by the Independent Media Institute.

Click here to read a selectionof Who Controls Our Schools? published on AlterNet, or here to access the complete text.
Biophysicists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have joined forces with colleagues from France and Germany to create a new fluorescent protein. Besides glowing when irradiated with ultraviolet and blue light, it is exceedingly small and stable under high temperatures.

The authors of the paper, published in the journal Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences, believe the protein holds prospects for fluorescence microscopy. This technique is used in research on cancer, infectious diseases, and organ development, among other things.

Fluorescence microscopy is a method for studying living tissue that relies on induced luminescence. After being exposed to laser radiation at a particular wavelength, some proteins emit light at a different wavelength. This induced "glow" can be analyzed using a special microscope. Researchers append such fluorescent proteins to other proteins via genetic engineering to make the latter ones visible to the microscope and observe their behavior in cells. Fluorescence microscopy proved so scientifically valuable that one Nobel Prize was awarded for its discovery, followed by another one for radically improving the method's accuracy.

Up until now, the fluorescent proteins used for such observations had several flaws. They were vulnerable to heat, fairly bulky, and only glowed in the presence of oxygen.

"For one thing, our protein is more thermostable than its analogues: It only denaturates at 68 degrees Celsius," said the paper's lead author Vera Nazarenko from the MIPT Laboratory of Structural Analysis and Engineering of Membrane Systems. "It is also miniature, while most of the currently used fluorescent proteins are rather bulky. On top of that, it can emit light in the absence of oxygen."

The team originally identified the protein with these remarkable properties in the cells of a the thermophilic bacterium -- that is, one which lives in high-temperature environments, such as hot springs. The researchers then genetically engineered a DNA sequence that reproduced the protein's fluorescent segment but not the other parts, which would make the molecule larger.

By introducing the gene that encodes the protein into the cells of another bacterium, Escherichia coli, the team turned it into a factory mass-producing the fluorescent protein with unique properties.

Researchers studying the processes that occur in living cells have been waiting for a protein combining these crucial features for a long time. By introducing it into cells, they can now obtain essential data on cell life and death. To name a few applications, fluorescence microscopy is seen as one of the best tools for investigating the mechanism behind malignant tumor genesis and development. It is also useful for research on cell signaling and organ development.

The proteins previously used in fluorescence microscopy were bulky and thermally unstable, putting limitations on the method. Thanks to the MIPT team, that obstacle has been eliminated.
Kim Kardashian West, who is studying to become a lawyer, met with a death-row inmate at San Quentin Prison Thursday.

Kardashian met with inmate Kevin Cooper, who has been accused and convicted of murdering Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter Jessica and 11-year-old neighbor Chris Hughes.

She later tweeted out a photo of him, describing their meeting.

"I had an emotional meeting with Kevin Cooper yesterday at San Quentins death row. I found him to be thoughtful and honest and I believe he is innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted," Kardashian tweeted.

"I am hopeful that Kevin will be exonerated since DNA testing has now been ordered on Kevins case and I remain grateful to Governor Newsom for ending capital punishment in California."

The "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star started a four-year apprenticeship at a San Francisco-based law firm last summer.

Kardashian West played a role in the release of 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, who had been jailed in an Alabama prison on non-violent drug charges, even meeting with President Donald Trump, who eventually granted Johnson clemency. Trump even invited Kardashian West to the State of the Union address.

Information from NBC News was included in this report.


Update: Investigators in the Dominican Republic announced the cause of death of a couple on vacation, but the couple's family isn't satisified with the explanation. Read the latest story here.

A couple from Prince Georges County, Maryland, were found dead while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, relatives said.

The bodies of Cynthia Day, 50, of Upper Marlboro, and her fiance, Nathaniel Holmes, 63, were found Thursday in their room at the Bahia Principe hotel at the resort Playa Nueva Romana, in the southeast coast of the island, The Dominican Today, a local newspaper, reported.

Sonya Jackson, Cynthias sister, told News4s Shomari Stone that the U.S. Embassy confirmed the couple was found dead in the resort.

Day and Holmes, who according to relatives were engaged, had been staying at the vacation spot since May 25, The Dominican Today reported. They were supposed to fly back home on Thursday.

Holmes sister said she talked to him a couple of days ago, and he told her he was having a great time.

The bodies showed "no signs of violence," according to The Dominican Today. Investigators have not determined the cause or manner of death.

Dajuan Holmes-Hamilton, Nathaniel Holmes' daughter, said she wants the mystery solved.

"It should have never happened," she said.

In April, the State Department raised the threat level in the Dominican Republic and urged travelers to exercise increased caution because of high crime rates. Armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault are among top concerns, the State Department says.

They say resorts are typically policed better than urban areas like the capital, Santo Domingo. But Day and Holmes are not the first U.S. tourists whose trip to the island ended in tragedy.

In January, a Delaware woman says she was brutally beaten for hours at a resort in Punta Cana. In March, a New York couple was found dead in the country after failing to return home on their scheduled date.

CORRECTION (June 1, 10:37 p.m.): An earlier version of this story said Cynthia Day was 49. Her family says she was 50.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker hugged and congratulated sponsors of legislation to protect abortion rights in Illinois after the Senate approved the plan 34-20.

The Democratic governor has pledged to sign the bill sent to him Friday night. It makes Illinois' abortion law among the nation's most sweeping in response to action in at least six Republican-controlled states in recent weeks that sharply restricts access to the procedure.

The measure sponsored by Grayslake Democratic Sen. Melinda Bush would rescind prohibitions on some late-term abortions and 45-year-old criminal penalties for performing the procedure.

The Illinois House approved legalizing recreational marijuana on Friday, and now the bill heads to the governors desk. NBC 5s Mary Ann Ahern has the details.

The restrictions adopted after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion have never been enforced Illinois because of court injunctions.

Republicans and others opposed to abortion rights have worked furiously against it. They staged a rally in March that stuffed 4,000 protesters into the Capitol.
If a new Mississippi law survives a court challenge, it will be nearly impossible for most pregnant women to get an abortion there.

Or, potentially, in neighboring Louisiana. Or Alabama. Or Georgia.

The Louisiana legislature is halfway toward passing a law  like the ones enacted in Mississippi and Georgia  that will ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they're pregnant. Alabama is on the cusp of approving an even more restrictive bill.

State governments are on a course to virtually eliminate abortion access in large chunks of the Deep South and Midwest. Ohio and Kentucky also have passed heartbeat laws; Missouri's Republican-controlled legislature is considering one.

Their hope is that a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court will approve, spelling the end of the constitutional right to abortion.

"For pro-life folks, these are huge victories," said Sue Liebel, state director for the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion advocacy group. "And I think they're indicative of the momentum and excitement and the hope that's happening with changes in the Supreme Court and having such a pro-life president."

For abortion rights supporters, meanwhile, the trend is ominous. Said Diane Derzis, owner of Mississippi's sole abortion clinic, the Jackson Women's Health Organization: "I think it's certainly more dire than it ever has been. They smell blood and that's why they're doing this."

Already, Mississippi mandates a 24-hour wait between an in-person consultation. That means women must make at least two trips to her clinic, often traveling long distances.

Other states have passed similar, incremental laws restricting abortion in recent years, and aside from Mississippi, five states have just one clinic  Kentucky, Missouri, North and South Dakota, and West Virginia. But the latest efforts to bar the procedure represent the largest assault on abortion rights in decades.

Lawmakers sponsoring the bans have made it clear their goal is to spark court challenges in hopes of ultimately overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Those challenges have begun. Derzis' attorneys are scheduled to go before a judge on May 21, seeking to prevent Mississippi's heartbeat law from taking effect July 1.

A judge in Kentucky blocked enforcement of that state's heartbeat ban after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of the clinic in Louisville.

Similar legal action is expected before bans can take effect in Ohio and Georgia, where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the latest heartbeat bill into law Tuesday. Kemp said he welcomed the fight, vowing: "We will not back down."

Georgia's ban doesn't take effect until Jan. 1. But the impact was immediate.

An abortion clinic operated by The Women's Centers in Atlanta began receiving anxious calls from patients soon after Kemp signed the law. Many callers had plans to travel from outside the state for abortions. Georgia's heartbeat ban would have a wider impact because the state has 17 abortion clinics  more than the combined total in the other four Southern states that have passed or are considering bans.

"On a typical day we will see people from North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina  all over the region," said Dr. Lisa Haddad, the Atlanta clinic's medical director. "And my thought is we're not going to see those people coming here because they assume it's already illegal in Georgia."

Dr. Ernest Marshall, co-founder of Kentucky's last remaining abortion clinic in Louisville, said in an email that banning abortions before most women know they're pregnant would "have a disproportionate impact on poor women and communities of color throughout the South."

Advocates for abortion rights expect judges to halt enforcement of any new bans while lawsuits work their way through the courts. That could take years.

"These laws are blatantly unconstitutional," said Elisabeth Smith, chief counsel for state policy and advocacy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which also has filed suit over Mississippi's ban. "But if they were allowed to go into force, they would have devastating consequences for the residents of all of these states."

If heartbeat bans are upheld, many women who are poor and have limited means to travel would have few options other than to try to terminate their own pregnancies, Haddad said, possibly using abortion drugs purchased online.

Others would have to drive or fly across multiple states, said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

"People would go to Florida, people would continue to go to Memphis," Nash said. "How many states do you have to cross before you can access abortion services? It exacerbates all the issues we've already seen around taking time off from work and having the money to travel."

Proposed heartbeat bans failed to pass this year in several Republican-led states, including Texas. There, GOP lawmakers lost ground to Democrats in the 2018 elections, and some abortion foes were wary after courts struck down prior abortion restrictions in the state. Such efforts also fell short in Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Alabama lawmakers postponed until next week a vote on a proposal that would make performing nearly all abortions a felony. The measure has passed the state House, and the Senate suspended debate Thursday amid a heated dispute over whether exemptions for rape and incest should be stripped from the bill.

"You can't put a price on unborn life," Eric Johnston, president of the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition, said Wednesday, as a legislative committee heard testimony on the state's proposed ban. "What you have to do is protect the people that live in this state and that includes unborn children."

But Jenna King-Shepherd told Alabama lawmakers she believed the abortion she had at age 17 allowed her to finish college. She said her father, a part-time Baptist preacher furious about her pregnancy, drove her to the abortion clinic because he trusted her to make the right choice.

"I'm not asking you to support access to abortion," King-Shepherd said. "I'm only asking you to let women, their families, their physicians and their God make this decision on how they want to start their families in private and trust them to do that."
Four people were wounded by gunfire Saturday in a shooting near Northwestern Universitys Gold Coast campus on the Near North Side.

Two men were standing outside a red van about 2 a.m. in the 300 block of East Chicago Avenue, Chicago police said. They heard gunfire, saw several vehicles drive away and realized they were hit.

The 28-year-old was shot in both legs, and the 26-year-old was struck in the buttocks, police said. Both went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where their conditions were stabilized.

A new effort to curb gun violence and drug trafficking has been undertaken, as a slew of new cameras have been installed on the Eisenhower Expressway. NBC 5s Ash-har Quraishi has the story.

Two other men who were in the area were also shot, police said. A 28-year-old was grazed in the head, and a 25-year-old was struck in the head. They drove in a silver-colored Toyota sedan to Cermak Road and State Street where they flagged down an ambulance.

The man with the graze wound was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the other man was taken to Stroger Hospital, police said. Both of their conditions were stabilized.

No one is in custody as Area Central detectives investigate.
At least 51 people were shot, eight fatally, and two others stabbed to death during a violent weekend across Chicago, according to police.

The weekends first fatal shooting occurred late Friday night, at around 8:45 p.m. in the 1700 block of West 79th Street. A 35-year-old male was walking down the street when an unknown male offender exited a gangway, produced a weapon and fired shots, according to police. The man was shot multiple times in the head, chest and shoulder and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

At around 10:45 p.m. in the 1500 block of North Keeler, authorities said a 31-year-old man was standing on a sidewalk when a person in a red sedan opened fire, striking him in the chest. The man was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Then just before midnight Friday, a 24-year-old man was standing on a sidewalk in the 900 block of North Karlov when a person walked up to him and opened fire, striking him in the neck and right arm, according to Chicago police. He was taken to Norwegian American Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Early Saturday morning, authorities responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the 7700 block of South Morgan and found a 29-year-old victim lying next to a vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest, according to police.The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

At around 6:29 a.m., a 20-year-old man was found in a vehicle in the 4300 block of North Mozart with a fatal gunshot wound to the neck, according to police. Further details were not immediately available.

A 26-year-old woman was outside near the 4900 block of S. Princeton around 4:10 a.m. Sunday when shots were fired and the victim was fatally struck in the chest. She was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

In the 100 block of North Avenue at around 5:55 a.m. Sunday, two vehicles were driving westbound on North Avenue when occupants of one of the vehicles began shooting at the other vehicle. The driver and passenger were shot multiple times. Both victims - a 22-year-old man who suffered from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper back, and a 25-year-old with multiple wounds to the body - were pronounced dead at the scene.

There were also two fatal stabbings that took place over the weekend, bringing the total number of people killed in Chicago to at least 10.

"Weekends like this all our officers take this very personally," Area North Deputy Chief Al Nagode said during a press conference Monday.

Chicago police said a large portion of the weekdn violence centered on "gang factions settling conflicts" or drugs.

"Our incidents on the West Side were not random but rather could be tracked to gang conflicts in the area," he said, adding that officers were sent to saturate areas where retaliation was expected.

Similar situation was reported on the city's South Side, where 12 shootings and two murders were reported.

"While the motive is unclear, gang violence remains at the heart of our most serious calls for service," said Area South Deputy Chief Elgin Holt.

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in several cases, shootings took place with police officers just blocks away.

"That just shows how bolden these criminals are," he said, echoing his repeated calls for stricter penalties for gun offenders.

"Its ridiculous to me that we know that when we arrest these gun offenders half of them get out and are back on the street in a week or less," he added.

The rest of the weekend's non-fatal shootings occurred as listed below. Unless otherwise noted, no one was in custody in connection with any of the incidents, which remain under investigation, according to Chicago police.

Friday:

Two people were shot as they were driving in the 100 block of North Lorel at approximately 6:28 p.m., police said. A 23-year-old man was shot in the chest and arm, and is in serious condition at Mount Sinai. The other victim, a 24-year-old man, is in serious condition at Mount Sinai after being shot in the abdomen and leg.

Just before 10 p.m. in the 9400 block of South Normal, a 29-year-old man was sitting on his porch when a person in a white Chevy Sedan drove up and fired shots at him, striking him in the hip and groin according to police. The man was taken to Christ Hospital in stable condition.

Two men were shot while standing in the backyard of a home in the 10600 block of South Lafayette at approximately 10:25 p.m., police said. A 26-year-old man was taken in stable condition to Roseland, and a 42-year-old man was taken to Roseland with gunshot wounds to both legs. The man is in serious condition, according to police.

A 36-year-old man was standing inside a restaurant in the 2400 block of East 72 nd Place at approximately 10:32 p.m. when a man walked inside and opened fire, striking him in the back. The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, police said.

Place at approximately 10:32 p.m. when a man walked inside and opened fire, striking him in the back. The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, police said. A 22-year-old woman was riding in a vehicle in the 4800 block of West Van Buren at approximately 10:35 p.m. when she was shot in the right knee, according to police. The woman realized shed been shot after she fled the scene and crashed her car. She was taken to Mount Sinai in stable condition.

In the 4800 block of West Quincy at approximately 10:40 p.m., two groups of people became involved in a verbal altercation, and one of the involved individuals opened fire, striking a 58-year-old man in the lower back, police said. The man was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he is listed in serious condition.

Just before midnight, two people were shot in the 6300 block of South Rockwell, according to police. The victims told authorities that they were standing on a sidewalk when they heard gunfire. A 27-year-old man was shot in the upper right thigh, and an 18-year-old woman was shot in the buttocks. Both victims were taken to Holy Cross Hospital in stable condition.

Saturday:

A 24-year-old man was driving a vehicle in the 400 block of North Pulaski at approximately 12:02 a.m. when a black Dodge Challenger pulled up alongside his car and opened fire, striking him. He was taken to Mount Sinai, where he is listed in critical condition, police said.

In the 3700 block of West Diversey at approximately 12:19 a.m., a 33-year-old man was shot in the chest and the right leg, according to police. No further information on the shooting is available, and the victim is in critical condition at Illinois Masonic.

Two people were shot in the 4000 block of West Wilcox at approximately 12:30 a.m., police said. A 31-year-old man, whom authorities found hiding in an alley, told police he was shot in the right arm while trying to break up a fight, and he was taken to Stroger Hospital in stable condition. Another man, a 23-year-old, was shot in the legs and was listed in stable condition at Stroger. He was uncooperative with police, according to authorities.

At approximately 1:30 a.m. in the 9900 block of South Halsted, a 35-year-old man was standing on a sidewalk when two men got out of a red tow truck and assaulted him, according to police. The man then fled the scene, and the red tow truck chased him, with one of the occupants opening fire and striking him in the left leg. He was taken to Christ Hospital in stable condition.

In the 3900 block of West Grenshaw at approximately 1:35 a.m., a 17-year-old boy was shot in the right leg and was listed in stable condition at Mount Sinai. Police were alerted to the scene by ShotSpotter technology.

A 32-year-old woman was shot in the right arm at approximately 1:45 a.m., police said. She is in stable condition at St. Bernard after the shooting, which took place in the 9400 block of South King Drive.

At approximately 1:45 a.m., a 28-year-old man was approached by a group of five men in the 400 block of North State Street, and one of them opened fire, striking him in the leg. He was taken to Northwestern Hospital in stable condition, and declined to provide more information to authorities on the incident.

In the 1600 block of West Jonquil at approximately 1:46 a.m., a 53-year-old woman was shot in the right side of her torso as she was entering a building, police said. She was taken to St. Francis Hospital in stable condition.

Four men were shot in the 300 block of East Chicago, near Northwesterns Chicago campus, according to police. Authorities say that two of the victims were standing outside a red van at the location when they heard shots and saw several vehicles flee the scene. Both victims were taken to Northwestern Medical Center in good condition. Two other men were shot while driving a silver Toyota at the location, and they flagged down an ambulance after fleeing the scene. Both of those men are in stable condition at area hospitals.

At approximately 3:45 a.m. in the 8800 block of South Union, a 28-year-old man exited his home believing that his rideshare vehicle had arrived, and a person inside the car fired shots at him, striking him in both legs. He was taken to Christ Hospital in stable condition.

Three people were shot while driving southbound in the 1200 block of South Kostner at approximately 3:49 a.m., police said. The victims were driving when a red Chevy Impala pulled up alongside them and opened fire, striking the three victims. All three victims, a 19-year-old man, a 20-year-old woman, and a 21-year-old woman, are in stable condition at area hospitals.

Two people were shot in the 3000 block of West Flournoy around 6 p.m. A 19-year-old woman sustained a gunshot wound to the left leg and was transported to Stroger Hospital in stable condition. Another 26-year-old woman sustained a gunshot wound to the ear was transported to the same hospital in stable condition.

Four people were all standing in a parking lot in the 5600 block of W. Madison around 9:47 p.m., when an unknown offender(s) fired shots from across the street, striking all four victims. It is currently unknown if the victims were all congregating together and who was the intended target however one of the victims is known to the police while the other victims do not appear to be. Victims included: a 17-year-old girl shot in the lower backside and in stable condition at Stroger, a 17-year-old boy shot in the lower backside and in stable condition at Mount Sinai, an 18-year-old man shot in the neck and in critical condition at Stroger, and a 22-year-old man shot in the arm and in stable condition at Mount Sinai.

Sunday:
The stepfather of a girl who has been missing since Friday and who is the subject of an Amber Alert is now considered a person of interest in her disappearance, Houston police said.

Maleah Davis' stepfather, Darion Vence, was the last person to see Maleah before she went missing, NBC affiliate KPRC reported.

He told police that he, his 2-year-old son and Maleah were abducted Friday evening and he reported Maleah missing Saturday night while he was hospitalized in Sugar Land.

He told investigators she was abducted more than 24-hours earlier by men in a pickup truck who beat him but then let him and his 2-year-old son go free, according to Houston police.

Houston police Sgt. Mark Holbrook said Vence told authorities he was driving to George Bush Intercontinental Airport around 9 p.m. Friday to pick up the girl's mother when he heard a popping sound that made him think his tire was flat. He veered to the side of the road to check it, then men in a pickup truck pulled up behind him, he said.

Vence told police that one of the men knocked him out and they abducted him, his 2-year-old son and Maleah. Vence told police he was in and out of consciousness until coming fully awake almost a day later, on the side of the road with his son but not Maleah, Holbrook said.

In his initial interview with Sugar Land police, Vence's "story changed several times," according to a department spokesman.

"His story just didn't add up," Sugar Land police spokesman Doug Adolph told The Associated Press. [[509512291,C]]

Police said it was different elements that changed, such as how he got to the hospital, KPRC reported.

The case has since been turned over to Houston police since it was a crime that happened in the city.

Child Protective Services confirmed to KPRC that the agency received a report of allegations of physical abuse in August after Maleah suffered a head injury.

According to police, Maleah has had multiple brain surgeries.

Searchers are focusing on finding Maleah and a silver Nissan Altima that surveillance video showed she and her stepdad were in on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In suburban Philadelphia, it took a little more than eight minutes into the question-and-answer session at freshman Rep. Madeleine Dean's town hall before someone asked about impeachment.

The topic was broached in Southern California as Rep. Katie Porter fielded other questions on health care, homelessness, border security and the minimum wage.

In military heavy Yorktown, along coastal Virginia, another newly elected Democrat, Rep. Elaine Luria, never got asked about it at all.

Since House Democrats swept to power last November, the seams of their big tent majority are being stretched over the difficult issues surrounding whether to start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

For those lawmakers and others, the town hall sessions in their districts revealed how much or how little impeachment is on voters' minds. Lawmakers were at home the same week that special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his first and potentially last public statement on the matter.

The differing opinions expressed to lawmakers offer a snapshot of the challenges facing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the many conversations to come.

"I actually wondered whether anybody would bring it up," Dean told the crowd of about 150 in a Montgomery County Community College auditorium.

It was Wednesday, the night after Mueller's rare public remarks. Dean drew applause and whistles and hoots of support as she laced into Trump, calling him "the most indecent president of our lifetime."

Dean serves on the House Judiciary Committee, which is steeped in the impeachment debate, and she is among those calling for an impeachment inquiry. But the new congresswoman also acknowledged that in other conversations with voters around the district recently, they did not raise the subject.

The night before Mueller's spoke at the Justice Department, Luria said she, too, was only asked about impeachment at one of her three stops Tuesday, during a visit with seniors at a retirement community.

The former Naval officer, who is also new to Congress, said it came up as more of a question, asking what she makes of it all.

"I talked about how I think Congress has an important duty, oversight, and we have a big responsibility to get to the bottom of the facts," she recalled in an interview later that evening after the town hall in Yorktown.

Luria said she also brought the question back to the seniors for their advice. "I wasn't alive when Watergate happened ... I understand it was very divisive as a country," she recalled telling them, "and kind of asked them, 'How do you feel about it?'"

The seniors nodded in agreement, she said, responding, "Yes, it's something that would be very divisive."

These are the considerations Pelosi is taking into account as she considers the House's next moves. Despite increasingly vocal voices among her colleagues for the start of an impeachment inquiry, Pelosi has made it clear she's in no rush to impeach. Such proceedings would start in the House before the case would shift to the Senate for a trial.

Pelosi prefers a more measured approach, saying she wants to have the country's support, whatever the House's ultimate decision.

Democrats last year won the majority in so many districts that had voted for Trump in 2016, basing their campaigns on promises of lowering health care costs, creating jobs with infrastructure investment and cleaning up the government. So Pelosi is wary of taking on an impeachment inquiry that would overpower that agenda.

Pelosi worries impeachment would split the country. She remembers how the proceedings against President Bill Clinton helped propel Democrats, and warns it could help Trump's re-election in 2020.

But that might not be enough for some voters.

About 15 people waited at a library in Memphis to meet with Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat who was one of the earliest House proponents of impeachment

One constituent, Lloyd Brown, 62, told The Associated Press that he is watching the impeachment process closely.

"I do think that Congress should proceed with impeachment hearings, because I believe that will bring out some of the facts that haven't become public yet," Brown said.

Cohen, also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, discussed the possibility of impeachment, expressing his hope that Mueller will testify before the House. The congressman said that even if Trump is impeached, he does not think that the president will be convicted in the Republican-controlled Senate.

"But I do think he should have his day of reckoning," Cohen said, adding later that Trump "makes Richard Nixon look honest."

At a town hall in western Michigan on Tuesday, a woman told Rep. Justin Amash, the only Republican to accuse Trump of impeachable conduct, that she has been calling Pelosi's office nearly every day because "we need to change her mind" about an impeachment inquiry.

Amash agreed it's time to start an inquiry. But Amash, who has drawn criticism from his party, said Pelosi's "sort of playing it both ways."

On Thursday, about 100 people packed into a small room at a library in Tustin, California, as Porter spoke briefly then drew from random questions attendants had written down on cards.

They covered various topics including one about what should happen to those who refuse to appear for testimony before a congressional committee, leading Porter to briefly address the issue of impeachment.

The new congresswoman from what had been a Republican-held district told the crowd her goal is to do her job, not stoke a crisis. But she said the refusal to comply with the subpoenas was a turning point, in her view.

"You didn't hear me ever talk about impeachment. It's not why I went to Washington," she said. "But I will not shirk my duty if the time comes, and the time is nigh."

After the event, Barbara Colter, 66, said the last time she saw Porter speak the congresswoman didn't seem to want to move in that direction. But her comments on Thursday made Colter think that's changed. And she agrees.

"After yesterday, I think that we need to move in that direction," Colter said.

Associated Press writer David Eggert contributed.
Boeing said Sunday that it discovered after airlines had been flying its 737 Max plane for several months that a safety alert in the cockpit was not working as intended, yet it didn't disclose that fact to airlines or federal regulators until after one of the planes crashed.

The feature was designed to warn pilots when a key sensor might be providing incorrect information about the pitch of the plane's nose.

But within months of the plane's debut in 2017, Boeing said, its engineers realized that the sensor warning light only worked when airlines also bought a separate, optional feature.

The sensors malfunctioned during an October flight in Indonesia and another in March in Ethiopia, causing software on the plane to push the nose down. Pilots were unable to regain control of either plane, and both crashed, killing 346 people.

It is not clear whether having the warning light would have prevented either the Lion Air crash or the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max near Addis Ababa. Boeing's disclosure on Sunday, however, raised fresh questions about the company's candor with regulators and airline customers.

Boeing said again that the plane was safe to fly without the sensor alert, called an angle-of-attack disagree light. Other gauges tell pilots enough about the plane's speed, altitude, engine performance and other factors to fly safely, the company said.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency was notified of the non-working warning light in November, after a Lion Air 737 Max crashed on Oct. 29 in Indonesia. He said FAA experts determined that the non-working cockpit indicator presented a low risk.

"However, Boeing's timely or earlier communication with (airlines) would have helped to reduce or eliminate possible confusion," the spokesman said in an emailed statement. He declined to give more details.

In manuals that Boeing gave to Southwest Airlines, the biggest operator of both the Max and 737s in general, the warning light was depicted as a standard feature just as it is on older 737s, according to Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King.

After the Lion Air crash, King said, Boeing notified Southwest that it had discovered the lights didn't work without the optional angle-of-attack indicators, so Southwest began adding the optional feature too. That allowed the airline to activate the sensor-disagree warning lights on its 34 Max jets earlier this year, she said.

King described both features as "supplemental" and "advisory" to other information provided to pilots during flights.

The indicator was supposed to tell pilots when sensors that measure the pitch of the plane's nose appear to conflict, a sign that the sensor information is unreliable. Boeing told airlines that the warning light was standard equipment on all Max jets.

Boeing engineers quickly learned, however, that the warning light only worked if airlines also bought an optional gauge that told pilots how the plane's nose was aimed in relation to the onrushing air. Boeing said the problem stemmed from software delivered to the company. A Boeing spokesman declined to name the software vendor.

Boeing said Sunday that because in-house experts decided that the non-working light didn't affect safety, the company decided to fix the problem by disconnecting the alert from the optional indicators at the next planned update of cockpit display software.

Boeing didn't tell airlines or the FAA about this decision.

Boeing hopes to win approval from the FAA and foreign regulators to get the Max flying again before summer is over. When it does, the company said, the sensor warning light will be standard.

Nearly 400 Max jets were grounded at airlines worldwide in mid-March after the Ethiopia crash. Boeing is working to fix the software that pitched the planes' noses down based on faulty sensor readings, and to provide pilots with more information about the plane's automation.

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into whether Boeing misled regulators about features on the plane including flight-control software at the heart of the crash investigations. The company is also under scrutiny by congressional committees and the Transportation Department's inspector general, and it faces a growing number of lawsuits by families of the dead passengers.
A bank robbery in New Haven is under investigation on Saturday morning.

Officers were called to the Webster Bank branch on Whalley Avenue in the Westville Village around 9:30 a.m.

Investigators were on scene and were canvassing the neighborhood, police said.

Authorities did not release a description of a suspect or say how much money may have been taken.

Witnesses are asked to contact the New Haven Police Department Detective Bureau at (203) 946-6304.
To help make sure you stay informed on the most shared and talked about stories, each Saturday and Sunday we'll revisit 5 stories from the previous week, including the most recent updates.

Breaking His Silence

For the first time since being appointed special counsel, Robert Mueller spoke publicly about the Russia investigation on Wednesday. In a prepared statement, Mueller said that charging President Donald Trump with a crime was "not an option" because of federal rules, but he used his first public remarks on the Russia investigation to emphasize that he did not exonerate the president. He did emphasize that Russia did conduct an attack on our election system. President Trump said Mueller's statement means the case is closed. See more on what Mueller said here.

As Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's path to victory looked more imminent on Election Night, the Canadian government's immigration and citizenship website began to experience sporadic outages. An error message on the website stated, there is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed. Meanwhile, Google searches for "How can I move to Canada" had surged on election night. Twitter users suggested it was the result of Americans flooding the site to inquire about packing up for a life in the Great White North.

Memorial Day Tragedy

Searchers found the body of a 17-year-old who presumably drowned in Candlewood Lake on Memorial Day. Police said Joshua DaSilva was swimming with friends on Monday when he became distressed, disappeared and went under the water as they were swimming from one island to another. Divers recovered his body on Wednesday. For more on the incident, click here.

Divers found the body of a teen Wednesday who went under the water in Candlewood Lake on Memorial Day.

Jon Snow's Struggle

"Game of Thrones" star Kit Harington has reportedly been at a Connecticut retreat working on "some personal issues," according to a representative. Harington was recently spotted at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison. He spoke with staff and said he was on holiday. Staff reported he was very pleasant and bought some books. See more on Harington's time in Connecticut here.

Malloy's New Gig

Former Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy will lead the University of Maine system. The university announced Thursday morning that the board of trustees unanimously voted to appoint him the next Chancellor of the University of Maine System. For more on Malloy's new job, click here.

Former Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy will lead the University of Maine system. The university announced Thursday morning that the board of trustees unanimously voted to appoint him the next Chancellor of the University of Maine System.

A Star Is Born

Kodi Lee, a California musician with autism and who is blind, brought the house down on the Season 14 premiere of NBC's 'America's Got Talent" on Tuesday. The 22-year-old singer and pianist rocked "A Song for You" by Leon Russell, bringing some of the judges to tears. Click here for more on Kodi's big night and watch his amazing performance below.
The search for a missing New Canaan, Connecticut mother continues more than a week after she disappeared and police said they are securing search warrants related to her disappearance.

New Canaan Police said officers from their department and troopers from Connecticut State are continuing the search for Jennifer Dulos and for evidence related to her disappearance. The search has expanded beyond New Canaan into other towns and cities across the state.

Police said the criminal investigation into the case is continuing and does involve securing search warrants. Authorities did not release details about the locations of the search warrants or what items may be listed.

According to officers, no arrest has been made.

Dulos, a 50-year-old mother of five, disappeared on Friday, May 24, after dropping her kids off at school and after missing several appointments that day.

She was reported missing around 7:30 p.m. on Friday and she had been driving a black 2017 Chevrolet Suburban, which was later found on Lapham Road, near Waveny Park.

Jennifer Duloss five children go to the New Canaan Country School. The school released a statement saying that the community is heartbroken and praying for her safe return. A week later, theres still no sign of the missing mother as police continue seeking help from the public to solve this mystery.

On Thursday, investigators searched at the New Canaan park and also checked a home in nearby Pound Ridge, New York. On Friday, detectives from Connecticut State Police assisted officers from New Canaan with multiple searches in the Hartford area.

Multiple state police cruisers were parked on Milford Street in Hartford on Friday night and investigators were seen going in and out of a home.

Neighbors said police were looking at their security camera and said that investigators were looking to see if a specific vehicle had passed through the area.

Investigators also searched nearby dumpsters in the area.

There was also a police presence in other areas of the city including near Albany Avenue and on Homestead Avenue and Sigourney Street.

Detectives have not released details about what they are looking for or if they have found anything.

Police have called this an active and ongoing investigation and all theyre saying publicly is this a missing persons case  though as is typical in these situations -- theyre also looking to see if theres a possible crime involved.

Dulos previously lived in Farmington and moved to a home in New Canaan after filing for divorce from her husband Fotis nearly two years ago.

The children are safe with family in New York City.
Rick Sorrells is a disgraced former school administrator, an admitted criminal, a soon-to-be resident of the federal prison system and, despite all of that, he is eligible to receive his full state pension.

Sorrells, who admitted taking $3 million in bribes in a scandal that destroyed the agency he once led, is facing a maximum 10 years behind bars for wire fraud.

But his pension is protected by Texas laws that allow the benefits to stay in place even if serious financial crimes have been committed, NBC 5 Investigates has learned.

That is different from other parts of the country -- New York City, California, Oklahoma, Louisiana for example -- where officials said pensions are stripped from school administrators who cheat taxpayers.

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas confirmed that Sorrells is a "retiree," meaning he is already receiving his pension.

Under privacy rules the TRS cannot release the amount Sorrells is currently receiving.

However, using the TRS pension formula, NBC 5 Investigates did the math and found that Sorrells -- who made more than $200,000 a year as superintendent of Dallas County Schools -- is likely eligible to receive a yearly pension of about $60,000.

The TRS confirmed that other school administrators continue to receive pensions even after committing serious crimes.

That includes Carolyn Foster, former chief financial officer for the Grand Prairie Independent School District, who was sentenced last year to three years in federal prison for embezzling $600,000 of taxpayer money.

Some of the cash was delivered to her in armored cars.

The federal judge who sentenced her made note of that and told her it was "one of the worst cases, with the most amount of money I've seen, from a person in a position of trust."

The TRS also confirmed former El Paso school superintendent Lorenzo Garcia continues to receive a pension, despite serving time in federal prison for manipulating student test scores which increased his performance bonus.

Garcia, who also steered a $450,000 contract to his girlfriend's company, receives a pension of about $5,000 a month, court records show.

Foster declined an interview request, when reached in prison by NBC 5 Investigates, and Garcia's lawyer said his client would have nothing to say.

"They are violating every fiduciary responsibility, every moral responsibility, they have. And they should not be rewarded at the end of all of this with a pension," said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican.

During the last legislative session, Bettencourt helped pass a law that takes pensions from teachers convicted of sexual misconduct with students.

He said the same should happen to school administrators who swindle taxpayers.

"If you steal money of this magnitude from the state -- $600,000 embezzlement or take bribes of $3 million -- you (should be) on your own," Bettencourt said.

But Dallas lawyer Robert Clark, who is representing Sorrells in a civil case involving the financial crash of Dallas County Schools, said it would take a "glacial change in our society" to take pensions away from people like his client.

Clark said Sorrells is sorry for what happened, but remains entitled to his pension because he put money into it each time he received his paychecks as superintendent of DCS while taxpayers only provided matching contributions.

Taking away a pension would also punish other people more than the person who committed the crime, the lawyer said.

"Well, if somebody has a wife and children, (with) expenses, do we want as a society do we want the people to be on welfare? Do we want them to be on the public dole?" Clark said.

But former employees at DCS told NBC 5 Investigates they were disgusted that Sorrells continued to receive a pension, even though the crime he committed cost them their jobs and cut off the pensions they had hoped for.

"Sickening," said Tim Jones, director of projects who had worked for DCS for 20 years.
The residents of Mosby, Missouri  a small riverside town about 30 miles north of Kansas City, Missouri  have become accustomed to watching floods swamp their streets, transform their homes into islands and ruin their floors and furniture.

Elmer Sullivan has replaced his couch, bed and television. He's torn up water-buckled floorboards. And he put a picket fence against the front of his house to cover up a gap left when waters washed out part of the stone foundation.

"I just don't want to mess with it anymore. I'm 83 years old and I'm tired of it, and I just want to get out of it," Sullivan said.

Finally fed up, Sullivan and nearly half of the homeowners in Mosby signed up in 2016 for a program in which the government would buy and then demolish their properties rather than paying to rebuild them over and over. They're still waiting for offers, joining thousands of others across the country in a slow-moving line to escape from flood-prone homes.

Patience is wearing thin in Mosby, a town of fewer than 200 people with a core of lifelong residents and some younger newcomers drawn by the cheap prices of its modest wood-frame homes. Residents watched nervously this past week as high waters again threatened the town.

"It really is frustrating, because here we are, we're coming through a wet season. There's a chance that we could possibly flood, and we're still waiting," said Jason Stooksbury, an alderman who oversees the town's efforts to curb flooding. "It's not a good situation, but what are you going to do  it's the government process."

Over the past three decades, federal and local governments have poured more than $5 billion into buying tens of thousands of vulnerable properties across the country, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The AP analysis shows those buyouts have been getting more expensive, with many of the costliest coming in the last decade after strong storms pounded heavily populated coastal states such as Texas, New York and New Jersey. This year's record flooding in the Midwest could add even more buyouts to the queue.

The purchases are happening as the climate changes. Along rivers and sea coasts, some homes that were once considered at little risk are now endangered due to water that is climbing higher and surging farther inland than historic patterns predicted.

Regardless of the risks, the buyouts are voluntary. Homeowners can renew taxpayer-subsidized flood insurance policies indefinitely.

With more extreme weather events, flooding "is going to become more and more of an issue, and there will be more and more properties that are at risk of total loss or near total loss," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has jurisdiction over FEMA. "Then the question is: Are we just going to keep selling them insurance and building in the same place?"

DeFazio wants to expand and revamp a buyout process that he describes as inefficient and irrational. He's backing a proposed pilot project that would give homeowners a break on their flood insurance premiums, as long as they agree in advance to a buyout that would turn their property into green space if their homes are substantially damaged by a flood.

Buyout programs rely on federal money distributed through the states, but they generally are carried out by cities and counties that end up owning the properties.

Most buyouts are initiated after disasters, but Congress has become more proactive. Appropriations for FEMA's Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program which funds buyouts and other precautions, such as elevating homes before disasters strike  have risen from $25 million in 2015 to $250 million this year.

A recent study for the National Institute of Building Sciences found that society as a whole saves $7 in avoided costs for every $1 spent through federally funded grants to acquire or demolish flood-prone buildings. Yet it's harder to gauge the benefits for the individuals who move.

After Superstorm Sandy pummeled New Jersey and New York in 2012, Duke University graduate school student Devon McGhee researched what happened to hundreds of Staten Island homeowners who took buyouts. She found that all but two of the 323 homeowners she tracked relocated to areas with higher poverty levels. Three-quarters remained on Staten Island, and about one-fifth moved to homes that still were exposed to coastal flooding hazards.

"When people take the buyouts, sometimes the money they are given on their home is not enough to buy a comparable home in a lower-risk area," said McGhee, who now works as a coastal management specialist for an engineering and consulting firm.

The prolonged buyout process also can take an emotional toll on people who are uprooted.

"Maybe they find a home, and it's a good home, but it's not their home where their kids grew up and had birthday parties and that sort of thing. There are these losses that occur in that transition process that can have implications for years," said Sherri Brokopp Binder, an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based consultant who researches disaster buyouts.

Multiple layers of government bureaucracy can slow the buyout process. So can the typical hiccups that come with property sales.

In Kingfisher, Oklahoma, officials are still working to complete a buyout prompted by Tropical Storm Erin in 2007. The city initiated a buyout in 2010, then received additional money to buy more homes about five years later. It's purchased more than 80 so far, with about 10 more to go, said Annie Vest, a former Oklahoma state hazard mitigation officer who now works for an engineering firm administering Kingfisher's grant.

The process is just getting started in some Texas communities swamped by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Officials in Liberty County, northeast of Houston, held a meeting with residents last month to discuss a $6.7 million HUD grant to buy out homes near the Trinity River. The county still must get appraisals of the homes, conduct asbestos inspections and take bids for a demolition contractor.

Local officials hope to start taking buyout applications by the end of the year, said David Douglas, the Liberty County engineering administrator and flood plain manager.

Formal discussions of a federally funded buyout likely are a long way off in Hamburg, Iowa, which was inundated in March by a breach of a Missouri River levee.

But local officials aren't waiting around. Mayor Cathy Crain said they are looking into the potential for a private developer to relocate some houses and to acquire higher land where new homes and businesses could be built.

Relocating to higher ground isn't likely in Mosby, unless residents are willing to go elsewhere. The entire core of the town is in a floodway, which means that new development is limited.

Located just northeast of Kansas City, Mosby began as a railroad town in 1887 and expanded with coal mines in the early 20th century. At one time, it had a school, bank, grocery store and lumber yard. Those are gone now, and the trains merely pass by. In 2015, financial strains led the town to eliminate its small police force.

Mosby experienced some of its worst flooding that same year, with three floods in less than six weeks. The next year, city officials began pursuing the buyouts, and more than 40 homeowners signed up. They've been in limbo ever since. Local officials sought nearly $3 million in funding, submitted a revised application, obtained property appraisals and conducted environmental reviews.

Some residents have been scouting for new housing. Others are waiting to see the bids, which are expected this summer.

Sullivan hopes to get $28,000 for his home. He would move near his sister in southeastern Missouri, but he's getting impatient.

"I'm just about ready to tell them, 'Take it and shove it,"' he said.

Sitting on the concrete porch of the white wooden house where she's lived for the past 36 years, Tammy Kilgore explains that "everybody's just really on edge and ready to leave."

"The floods, I'm tired of dealing with them, I really am," Kilgore said. "I think they should have bought out this town a long time ago."
Dallas Police announced Friday they have shifted detectives to boost the homicide squad in response to a rash of killing in the month of May.

As of Friday evening, there had been 40 May murders, the most for a single month in decades. There were four killings in less than a 24 hour period between Thursday night and Friday morning.

Assistant Police Chief Avery Moore issued a message to families of the victims.

"We want you to know that the police department mourns with you and we grieve with you. And we do not tolerate this type of behavior. So we will be in pursuit of the perpetrators," Moore said.

The police department increased its homicide squad to 22 detectives from 13 earlier this month, by shifting people from the cold case squad and non-fatal shooting cases, Moore said.

Despite the heavy work load, Moore said the homicide clearance rate so far in 2019 is 67.4%, compared with a national average of 59%. The four most recent homicides had not been solved as of Friday afternoon.

"I would like to ask the community for their help, the community leaders. We need your help in solving these homicides," Moore said.

Police said there were 41 homicides in May, but only 40 were considered murder.

The latest four murders include:

No. 37 at the Villa Apartments at 8441 La Prada Drive around 7 p.m. Thursday night. Joshua Ford, 27, was shot during an altercation with an unknown suspect.

No. 38 at Evan Village Apartments at 3011 Park Row Avenue. Michael Rodriquez, 17, was shot while sitting in his vehicle just before midnight Thursday night.

No. 39 at the Brandon Mills Apartments at 8081 Marvin D. Love Freeway, KeAaron Taylor, 17, was shot during an argument.

No. 40 at a business in the 2300 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard, an adult male was found dead in the parking lot around 3:30 a.m. Friday morning. A suspect was seen running from the location.

The Dallas Police Department currently has about 700 fewer officers than at its manpower peak of 3,690 in 2011.

The leaders of two different Dallas police unions applauded the change in homicide unit staffing Friday, but cautioned that taking people from any part of the Dallas Police Department leaves other areas that still need police attention.

"Taking folks from anywhere is going to have an impact," said Terrance Hopkins, president of the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas. "You're stretched right now, but you've got to do it, kind of roll up the sleeves and get it done."

The rash of murder comes even before the traditional summer spike in crime.

"When it gets hot, crime gets hot," said Sheldon Smith, Dallas chapter president of the National Black Police Association. "We have the best training, the best officers, but we've got our work ahead of us. We've got to manage the number of officers in each unit. We can't wait until it becomes a crisis."

Moore said other changes were planned in a summer crime fighting initiative.

"Would I like to have more officers? Absolutely. Is that an excuse? No it's not," Moore said.

A police academy class of 31 new cadets graduated Friday.

Dallas police are pushing hard to recruit more officers. Starting pay increased this year to $60,000. Hiring standards were relaxed to allow lateral transfer of sworn Texas Peace officers from other departments, even if they do not have the previously required college or military experience.
Millions knew him as Jonathan Bower in the popular 1980s and 1990s TV series "Who's the Boss," in which he starred alongside Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano.

The Austin American-Statesman reports photographers snapped him on red carpets. Magazines like Tiger Beat featured him. He was even interviewed by Oprah.

But as glamorous as it all might sound, former child actor Danny Pintauro, now 43, said he's only now living out his true dream job -- as a vet tech and cat care attendant at Austin Pets Alive.

"He's something of a wonder around the animals," said Katera Berent, communications and events manager at Austin Pets Alive, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides resources, education and programs to eliminate the killing of companion animals. "You can sense the love he feels for each cat and dog he's caring for."

On a recent afternoon at Austin Pets Alive's Town Lake Animal Center, Pintauro -- sporting a man-bun, a beard and scrubs that read "It's all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone" -- ducked into a small room to check on a group of cats diagnosed with feline leukemia virus.

"As a very young kid, this is literally what I wanted to do when I grew up. Even though I was on TV, every summer I would work at this vet office near my house in LA and clean kennels or whatever they would let me do," he said. "I loved it."

When he attended Stanford University, he initially planned to study to be a veterinarian but ultimately majored in drama with a directing focus. But while he enjoyed acting, Pintauro said he didn't like "the business of being an actor."

"I'm sure if I had really persevered for years and years to suffer through it, maybe I would have gotten somewhere," he said, adding that he's still open to acting if a role is the right fit. "But I always used to say when you sit in a windowsill and you think about your life, and you think about everything you love to do, it wasn't acting for me. Especially for me being a gay child celebrity, it just wasn't worth it."

Pintauro was living in Las Vegas with his husband, William Pintauro-Tabares, a couple of years ago when they both realized they needed a change.

"You can only have so much Vegas before you're just done," he said.

They made a list of three cities where they'd like to relocate.

"Austin was the one that won out by far," said Pintauro, who had visited Austin only once before deciding to move here. "We had one month to move everything from Vegas. We literally made the decision on a whim."

His husband got a job working at the now-closed resort Travaasa, and Pintauro briefly owned a bonsai tree business. Then, he saw an ad for an opening at Austin Pets Alive.

"I was totally willing to just be like the kennel cleaner," he said. "Here, at 40 years old, like, 'I'll do it! I'll clean up the poop!' If it gets me in the door, let's see!"

Pintauro soon worked his way up from kennel tech to cat care specialist and then, a few weeks ago, was promoted to vet tech.

"This is the thing I always thought I was supposed to do, so it fits that this is where I should find myself. It is the one thing that really has felt the most completing, the most natural and has had the least amount of drama," he said. "I worked really hard to get to a place where they felt I could step in and do it."

He also made a point not to tell his co-workers about his star-studded past.

"I wanted them to learn who I was just as me, doing a good job. One of the front desk girls at the clinic, she just found out yesterday. I think it's good, because nobody's going around making a big deal about it," he said, adding that he gets recognized every couple of weeks around town. "Nobody cares anymore. And half the people in Austin are all too young to have even been alive for the reruns, never mind the actual series."

On any given day, Pintauro could be helping to care for dozens of animals, doing everything from administering medications to syringe-feeding to inserting microchips.

"At one point earlier this year I was taking care of over 80 cats a day. (In most places) the shelters in whatever city you live in have set protocols and rules on what they can keep alive and what they can't," he said. "We created a program and said, 'Just give them to us. We'll figure it out.'"

Berent said Austin Pets Alive, which has been instrumental in making Austin a no-kill city, is lucky to have an employee, and supporter, like Pintauro.

"We recently (took in) a few dogs who were going to be shot and killed if we hadn't intervened, and even though Danny was all focused on cats that day, he still came over to check on the dogs," she said. "That's the kind of person he is. Kindhearted, dedicated and a true animal advocate."

Pintauro said Austin has been incredibly welcoming to his family. His husband, Pintauro-Tabares, currently works at a bank but is also a flamenco dancer and was asked to be part of a company, and Pintauro hosts a popular karaoke night at the downtown club Rain on Mondays. Although they rent a duplex in Allandale that they share with their three rescue dogs -- including one, Bacon, who was adopted from Austin Pets Alive -- they're also looking at houses to buy in Round Rock.

"(In Austin) you've got this random collection of people who just know they're going to be in a place where people are going to be accepting of them," he said. "They can take a breath and get their crap together. You see those success stories with all of our friends. It's a very open and welcoming group, especially the gay community. We've had no trouble making friends, better than we've had at any other city that I've lived in."

Austin, Pintauro said, is a place where people, and animals, can find a second chance.

"I used to say New York City, the city itself, goes out of its way to make your life as difficult as possible. The city, not the people, the actual city," he said. "Austin as a city goes out of its way to make you feel like you can get it together and find yourself and find what you need and find what you want. It allows you to feel like you can do all the things you've always wanted to do growing up."
Police say Amarillo officers shot and killed a 22-year-old man suspected of earlier shootings after he opened fire on them.

A city police spokesman says officers had been looking for Isaac Ray Ruiz after he shot at people Tuesday evening, seemingly at random, without injuring anyone.

Cpl. Jeb Hilton says police pulled a car over Wednesday with Ray and two other people inside. Hilton says Ray shot at the officers as he ran from the car and they returned fire, hitting him. Ray was pronounced dead at the scene. The police weren't hurt.

Three officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid leave. It is being investigated by Amarillo's special crimes unit and the Texas Rangers.

Police recovered a handgun from the scene that they say was reported stolen in 2017.
A Texas teacher is currently on administrative leave after reporting undocumented students in her school district through a series of tweets addressed at President Donald Trump, NBC News reported.

Georgia Clark, who is still listed as an English teacher on the Carter-Riverside High School website, tweeted that the school she worked on had been "taken over" by "illegal students from Mexico," adding that Trump was elected "on the promise that a wall would be built to protect our borders."

Clarks tweet, which were published on Tuesday, have been deleted from the social platform.

"Our school year ends today. The Board of Education will discuss, and possibly take action on, her case on Tuesday, June 4," Clint Bond, executive director of external and emergency communications at the Fort Worth Independent School District, told NBC News in a statement.

The Hispanic student population in Fort Worth Independent School District is nearly 63 percent. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that about 88 percent of the students at the school Clark had been teaching are Hispanic.
As North Texas grows in population, conservationists are concerned about the disappearance of natural prairie land. Researchers at the University of North Texas are working to preserve the prairies, one small step at a time.

For Dr. Jaime Baxter-Slye, the one acre of land at UNT Discovery Park is also a little slice of heaven.

"I just come out here and be a part of nature," said Baxter-Slye, who is the instructional lab coordinator for the UNT Department of Biological Sciences. "It's good for my health. I have to be in nature every day."

The land is part of an important project to save natural prairie land.

"We used to have over 2,000 species of natives plants," she said. "But those are hard to find nowadays."

More than 200 species of native Texas plants can be found at the Pecan Creek Pollinative Prairie. It's a student-led project that preserves a circle of life, which through factors like massive development is disappearing, conservationists said.

"It was just open land and now it's just developments," Baxter-Slye said. "Even in my lifetime, I've seen it happen and I worry about the future."

"The main thing we're trying to do with the prairie is increase biodiversity," said Molly Burke, a UNT senior who is involved in a research plot on the land. "So we're trying to bring back some of those native species that are important for the area."

It's not just plant species, either. Insects, fungi, snakes and birds -- like the kestrel, the smallest species of North American falcon. Their numbers are dwindling, but researchers are encouraged to see little ones nesting in a bird box on the property.

Baxter-Slye said donations are being sought for their project. Volunteers are also welcome to learn more at an upcoming work day at the site.

A scientist, Baxter-Slye said the environmental benefits of open prairie land are undeniable. She said anyone can make a difference, by planting their own small prairies at home.
What to Know Central American families have reached the border in growing numbers since October, creating what is widely considered a humanitarian crisis

Each day at each crossing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials alert Mexican counterparts how many people they will take

A federal lawsuit says the administration is violating U.S. and international law by refusing to take asylum seekers when they arrive

For thousands of asylum seekers, there are many ways to wait  and wait, and wait  at the threshold of the United States.

Parents and children sleep in tents next to bridges leading to Texas for weeks on end, desperately hoping their names and numbers are called so they can be let in.

Some immigrants complain of shakedowns and kidnappings by gangs and corrupt officials, particularly across the border in Texas. Others have paid to jump to the front of the line; the rest, determined to enter the country legally, wait patiently, even if it takes months.

This is what has happened since the Trump administration placed asylum in a chokehold.

The Associated Press visited eight cities along the U.S.-Mexico border and found 13,000 immigrants on waiting lists to get into the country  exposed to haphazard and often-dubious arrangements that vary sharply.

The lines began to swell in the last year when the administration limited the number of asylum cases it accepts each day at the main border crossings, leaving it to Mexican agencies, volunteers, nonprofit organizations and immigrants themselves to manage the lines.

Central American families have reached the border in growing numbers since October, creating what is widely considered a humanitarian crisis.

In some cities, days pass without anyone being processed, the AP found. In San Diego, up to 80 are handled each day, but the line in Tijuana, across the border, is the longest anywhere  about 4,800 people.

Each day at each crossing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials alert Mexican counterparts how many people they will take  a system that U.S. authorities call metering. Then the keeper of the list lets immigrants know who can go into the U.S. for asylum interviews.

It is impossible to predict how many. Migrants pick their route based on a best guess of which city will offer the fastest crossing, and which will offer the safest stay in the meantime.

A federal lawsuit says the administration is violating U.S. and international law by refusing to take asylum seekers when they show up at a crossing, even temporarily. U.S. authorities argue that processing capacity dictates how many people it can handle.

"It's not turning people away, it's asking them to wait," then-Customs and Border Protection Commissioner and current acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said in October.

But some feel they cannot. They try to enter illegally, sometimes with tragic consequences.

A Honduran family, arriving at Piedras Negras, Mexico, decided the line was too long. Crossing the Rio Grande, they were swept away; a father and three children, including a baby, are believed to have died.

CIUDAD JUAREZ: Black ink, wristbands, and thousands in line

A government employee emerges from an office building around 9 a.m. and stands atop a short stairway. A large group of Cubans push forward, eager to learn about their progress in line. "Move back, move back!" she says.

Another official shouts the numbers of asylum seekers at the top of the list.

"7,449!" he yells, and a man steps forward with identification to join 19 others who will be escorted across a bridge to El Paso, Texas.

The sprawling industrial city began its waiting list in October when many Cuban asylum seekers began sleeping on the narrow sidewalk of a busy international bridge. Mexican authorities decided they had to go.

Casa del Migrante, the city's largest migrant shelter, is located about a half-hour drive from the bridge. It began registering asylum seekers and writing numbers on their arms with black ink. After widespread criticism, migrants were given numbers on plastic wristbands instead.

Some sold wristbands to people eager to skip the line or gave them to others when they decided to cross illegally, said Enrique Valenzuela, executive secretary of Chihuahua state's Migrant Services Center. Others made fake bracelets to cut in line. Arguments would erupt when two people showed up with the same number.

"Opportunists made a business out of it," he said. "It was easy to make money from it."

In late March, the state government took over from the shelter, taking custody of four notebooks with handwritten names paired with numbers, up to No. 10,221. Names and photos are now entered into a computer; the government created a closed Facebook group that is updated twice a day, so asylum seekers can check how many people the U.S. will take that day.

There are currently about 4,500 names on the list.

REYNOSA: 'River owners' run the show

The challenges faced by asylum seekers waiting in Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas, are compounded by rampant violence.

There were 1,472 murders recorded last year in the state of Tamaulipas, where Reynosa is located. Gunfights between cartels and police occur daily, and the U.S. State Department has warned Americans not to travel there. Few Americans are willing to visit the shelter that maintains the list of asylum seekers, or the other churches and hotels where asylum seekers wait.

Jennifer Harbury, a longtime human rights advocate based in Texas, spoke recently to a large group of asylum seekers at the Senda de Vida shelter and met with people who had been kidnapped by cartels.

"The owners of the river, you know who they are," Harbury said. Several nodded.

Rather than stopping the cartels, Harbury alleges, some Mexican government officials shake down migrants. She said she's spoken to two people who were detained in the basement of a Mexican government office by security who demanded ransom payments to release them.

One woman from Central America told the AP that she and her two children had been smuggled from southern Mexico to the Rio Grande for $3,000. But when they arrived in Reynosa, she says, the coyote demanded $1,000 more.

She was held with her 2-year-old son in one room of a house, and her 4-year-old son was detained in another. The smuggler released them after six days after she didn't produce the extra money and left them at the international bridge. They were told to say they had been robbed and had nowhere to go.

A man on the street gave her a few pesos for a taxi to Senda de Vida. She and her children now wait with hundreds of others, some of whom have been there since January.

"I'm still afraid," said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she fears retribution from the smugglers. "I'm afraid they will see me, they will recognize me, and they will grab me."

Reynosa's list, handled by shelter director Hector Silva, has 370 people. Standing next to Harbury, Silva told asylum seekers that he wanted Senda de Vida to be a refuge from the organized crime and bribery outside its white concrete walls.

"There is no corruption in this house," he said.

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, MEXICO: The WhatsApp List

When asylum seekers arrive at the Frontera Digna migrant shelter in Piedras Negras, they are given a phone number to text on the messaging service WhatsApp. They're supposed to send the names and photos of everyone in their group. Then they're told to wait.

Managing the list is a local restaurateur named Hector Menchaca, who also serves as the local government's liaison to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Sitting in the dark lobby of his Piedras Negras steakhouse, Menchaca said U.S. officials call him daily to tell him how many people they would accept at one of the bridges heading to Eagle Pass, Texas. He then sees who's at the top of the list and sends them a WhatsApp message.

About 360 people are on the list, with another 200 people waiting to join it because the government has closed it to new entrants for the time being, Menchaca said.

"I tell everyone: Live with your telephone. Keep it in your hand," he said. "If I call you and you don't answer, I'm not going to search for where you are."

The list includes people from Central America, Mexico, Brazil, and countries an ocean away like Cameroon. They aren't told how close to the top they are, only that they might wait for two or three months.

Bernardo Blanco Romero said he left Mexico's southern state of Guerrero because of drug cartel violence and a lack of jobs and chose to go Piedras Negras because it is considered safer than other cities on the border.

"I'm going to wait; I have no other option. I don't have money to return," he said. With him were his wife and four children.

Obed Cuellar, a subdirector at the shelter, said a typical family stays two nights and three days before having to seek lodging elsewhere. Churches across the city have opened shelters, and advocates rely on a loose network of boarding houses.

But many people say they can't wait  among them the four who are believed to have drowned in the Rio Grande last week. Cuellar said he met the father weeks earlier when he and his family were at the shelter and decided to cross the river. Cuellar tried to persuade the family not to go.

"He said, 'God will help me to cross the river with the kids,'" he said.

The Border Patrol later rescued four people from the river, including two children, and recovered the body of a baby. The missing father and two children have not been found and are presumed dead.

NOGALES: A family affair

Ninoska Marisol Martinez Ortiz cradles her 15-month-old baby in her arms, occasionally wiping the child's runny nose, as she describes the time she has spent in Nogales. She had spent 45 days on the Mexican border town's wait list, which has about 1,000 names on it.

She was among several dozen immigrants, mostly from Central America and Mexico, who gathered at a chapel adorned with images of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"How many people have been here 30 days?" a reporter asks. About half of the hands go up.

Sheyla Matamoros has been there 48 days. Carlos Quintero doesn't know how long his wait has been.

Brenda Nieblas, whose family manages another local shelter, keeps the list of new arrivals.

Before she was involved, Nieblas says hundreds of migrants would wait at the border crossing and many would try to rush in when U.S. authorities called people for processing.

Now, she keeps track of names and assigns numbers. Most days, only a few migrants are admitted. Some days, no one gets in.

When they first arrive, some of the migrants are sent to a Red Cross first aid station  like the mother whose 3-year-old wouldn't stop crying. A medical staffer found no infection but said she was dehydrated from the journey north.

They are then connected with Nieblas, who puts them on the list, assigns them to a shelter in Nogales and notifies them when their time comes.

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO: 'There really is no schedule'

Darwin Mora manages two giant white boards with hundreds of numbers in black marker, each one representing a family or single adult. When CBP tells Mexican authorities how many people it wants, it falls to Mora to have them ready. Each family that crosses or cancels is marked with an X.

Mora, a towering figure and fast talker who prides himself on attention to detail, says CBP can call any day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. During those hours, he never strays far from the boards under a green canopy, which are divided in neat columns and rows. In the lower left corner of each box is a number to represent the number of people in the family.

"There really is no schedule," he said. "It would be so good if we had a fixed schedule but, in reality, it could be at 7 at night, 3 in the afternoon. There is no regular number. 'Hey, I need a group of two. I need a group of five.' Nothing is the same."

After a large encampment of asylum seekers was shut down earlier this year  with more than 200 families lined up under tarps on a strip of dirt and breathing exhaust fumes from cars  Mora enforces a new rule that limits camping on the border to six tarps and 15 families. Those slots are for families about to be called, allowing them to be ready on a moment's notice.

There are about 900 people on the list, assuming three people per family. Recent arrivals are expected to wait at least five months.

Isabel Mola, 29, fled an abusive marriage in central Mexico two months ago with her three sons, ages 8, 5 and 1. A friend told her San Luis Rio Colorado was safe and the waits to cross the border were tolerable. She is No. 306 on the white board and doesn't know how long she will be there.

"Some days they take people, then they don't, then it's every third day," she said after preparing a large pot of vegetable soup for at the migrant shelter for women and children where she stays.

Mora knows his ownership of the list is temporary. The Venezuelan immigrant is waiting with his wife and two sons and hopes to settle with family in Phoenix after claiming asylum.

Mora is training a Mexican asylum seeker to manage the list when his number, 181, is called.

"When the time comes for me to cross, he knows everything," Mora said of his successor. "I have total faith in him. You have to pick the right replacement because the list is a big, big, big responsibility."

TIJUANA and MEXICALI: A notebook, and waiting for the phone call

Tijuana is most experienced with a numbering system, having established one in 2016 when Haitians had to wait in Mexico for a chance at refuge in the United States. Its waiting list stands at about 4,800.

Grupos Beta, a unit of Mexico's immigration agency that provides food, transportation and aid to migrants, keeps guard at night over tattered notebooks and hands them over to volunteers during the day to register new arrivals. On a recent Saturday, there were nearly 100 people in line to get a spot in the notebook  almost exclusively Cameroonians who arrived the previous day.

A volunteer with a bullhorn then ran through 110 numbers to fill 70 slots to cross that day.

In nearby Mexicali, Grupos Beta employees in bright orange shirts call out those whose numbers are up. Mexicali  a city of about 1 million across from Calexico, California  has about 800 names on its list.

Two migrant shelter managers said they get a day's notice of the next numbers to be called, but Heidy Lainez and her 3-year-old son, Gonzalo, got only a half-hour warning that their slots  2,155 and 2,166  were up. She had waited a month.

"You have to have your suitcase packed," said Lainez, 29, of Honduras. "If you're not ready, you lose your turn. You always have to have your telephone in reach."

MATAMOROS: A long wait and 'no space' for families

At the foot of the bridge connecting Matamoros, Mexico, to Brownsville, Texas, more than 20 sheets of paper have been taped to a large board with the typewritten names of more than 800 people. The migrants waiting in Matamoros check the board daily to see whose names have been crossed off with a black marker.

Some of the names have a line next to them with the word "rio," Spanish for river, denoting that they were believed to have crossed the Rio Grande to enter the U.S. without authorization.

Around 50 people can sleep in tents closest to the bridge if they are at the top of the list. The rest stay in nearby hotels, boarding rooms, or shelters.

Many who had questions about the list relied on Cynthia Mayrena, a 29-year-old woman from Nicaragua who had been on the list since January with her husband and 4-year-old son. She said she sees single adults and teenagers pass through far more quickly than families.

"Sometimes 20 days go by without a single one passing," she said. "They say there's no space there for families."

There are frequent allegations that Mexican government officials or security agents demand bribes to let people join the list or move up the list. Several migrants waiting at the bridge said they had not been solicited for a bribe, and that the list was seemingly run fairly, but very slowly.

The people who wait in the tents by the bridge have formed their own enclosed community. On a recent weekday morning, a woman from Honduras braided the hair of a woman from Venezuela. A child swung his hips with a hula hoop. Whistles and cheers went up when volunteers from a group called Team Brownsville arrived with a breakfast of milk, cereal, and boiled eggs.

But the encampment is a harsh place, especially in temperatures that already hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) a month before summer starts. Some people scrape together 4 Mexican pesos  about 25 U.S. cents  to use the bathroom on the international bridge, and then come back.

One man climbed into the Rio Grande to bathe. The country he was waiting to enter was a short swim away, but he stayed close to the bank on the Mexican side.

And then he went back toward the tents. To wait.

Associated Press writer Cedar Attanasio contributed to this report.
Texas' former elections chief who resigned ahead of being forced out of office this week over wrongly questioning the U.S. citizenship of scores of voters is returning to a job under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, his office told a newspaper Friday.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Whitley's new job as a special adviser will pay him a salary of $205,000.

David Whitley served less than six months as secretary of state. He stepped down Monday as it became clear that Democrats in the Texas Legislature would deny him the confirmation vote needed to continue serving.

Whitley is a longtime Abbott aide who had previously been his deputy chief of staff before the governor picked him in December to become the state's chief election officer.

"David Whitley has been an exemplary public servant to the state of Texas for many years and the Governor is proud to welcome him back to our organization as a Special Advisor," Wittman told the newspaper.

Wittman did not return messages from The Associated Press on Friday.

Whitley was in charge when the state wrongly questioned the U.S. citizenship of scores of voters without properly vetting a list of nearly 100,000 names. His office claimed that 58,000 of the voters flagged were shown to have voted in at least one election since 1996, prompting President Donald Trump to renew unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud.

In April, Texas settled a federal lawsuit over the botched search that required the state to pay $450,00 in fees to civil rights groups.

News of Whitley getting a job back in Abbott's office drew swift criticism from opponents.

"In the Abbott Administration, being incompetent and malicious gets you a cushy new gig with a fancy job title. In the rest of the world, it gets you fired," said Manny Garcia, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party.
A man has been sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole for killing a witness to a California shooting  a woman whose children were later kidnapped and abandoned.

Thirty-one-year-old Alex Valdez was sentenced Friday in Los Angeles for the 2016 killing of Kimberly Harvill.

Her body was found in a remote area of Gorman.

Prosecutors say Harvill was killed because a few days earlier she'd witnessed a shooting in Fresno involving Valdez and another man, Joshua Robertson.

Authorities say Robertson and the victim's half-sister then kidnapped Harvill's three children, ages 2, 3, and 5.

They were later found abandoned in a New Mexico hotel. Robertson is serving a life sentence for murder and kidnapping.

Brittney Sue Humphrey is serving 13 years for kidnapping.
A family wept outside a West Covina home after learning their 18-year-old nephew who they called "Papas" who had just graduated high school was shot to death after a fight broke out at a house party.

Three teens were also hurt in the shooting at the home in the 300 block of North Hollow Avenue Friday evening.

West Covina Police Department officers responded to the home at 10:30 p.m. to find more than 60 people scattering after a report of gunshots, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and neighbors said.

Neighbors said they saw teens hopping over fences and running for their lives after three to five shots were fired.

Officers found the 18-year-old, who had not yet been identified, dead in backyard when they arrived.

"He was always smiling and always trying to help. If there was an old lady walking down the street with bags, he be there to help," said Jeannette Garibay, the victim's aunt, who also said he had just graduated from high school.

A fight broke out during the party and let to a shooting in the backyard, deputies said.

A teen girl and two teen boys suffered gunshot wounds to their legs, deputies said.

The shooter was still at large, but authorities did not provide a detailed description.

Neighbors said the house is sometimes used as a rental home.
Three South Korean nationals have been charged with attempting to illegally export to Asia more than $600,000 in live Dudleya succulent plants that they pulled out of the ground at remote state parks in Northern California.

The two-count indictment, filed Friday in Los Angeles federal court, charges Byungsu Kim, 44, who operates a nursery in Vista and is a fugitive; Youngin Back, 45, who also is a fugitive; and Bong Jun Kim, 44, who is in federal custody, with conspiracy to knowingly export plants from the United States that had been taken in violation of California law, and attempting to export those plants, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the indictment, the defendants arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from their native South Korea in October to harvest wild Dudleya plants from coastal habitats in Northern California and ship them back to South Korea. Native Dudleya plants from coastal habitats in Northern California are particularly valuable in Asia due to their unique physical features, including the color and shape of their leaves.

Because growing the plants in nurseries takes years, smugglers are known to harvest wild, living Dudleya plants from the ground in Northern California and export the live plants to Asia, where they are sold on the black market.

Upon his October arrival in Los Angeles via a one-way ticket from South Korea, Byungsu Kim allegedly displayed records stating that his nursery had shipped 5,731 Dudleya plants -- weighing 501 pounds -- to South Korea on or about September 12, and that the purported "place of origin" of the plants was San Diego County, according to federal prosecutors.

Since 2009, Byungsu Kim had traveled to the United States from South Korea more than 50 times, and in 2013 had 80 plants seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, federal prosecutors allege.

After their October arrival in Los Angeles, the trio allegedly drove to various state parks where Dudleya plants grow, including DeMartin State Beach in Klamath, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, and Russian Gulch State Park in Mendocino County.

Law enforcement allegedly observed the defendants pull the plants out of the ground and then transport the harvested Dudleya plants to a nursery that Byungsu Kim operated in Vista, court documents state.

Prior to the plants' shipment, Byungsu Kim scheduled an inspection with a county agriculture official at the Vista nursery and falsely told her the government-issued certificate necessary for the plants' exportation should list 1,397 Dudleya plants -- weighing 259 pounds -- for export to South Korea and that the "place of origin" of the plants was San Diego County, the indictment alleges.

The defendants then transported the plants to a commercial exporter in Compton, to whom Byungsu Kim intended to present the fraudulently obtained certificate so the Dudleya plants could be shipped to South Korea, the indictment alleges.

The defendants were arrested in Compton last year and currently face state criminal charges in Del Norte County Superior Court.

Law enforcement seized about 3,715 Dudleya plants -- weighing 664 pounds -- in 34 boxes at the Compton location and the value of the seized plants in Korea would be roughly $602,950, court papers state.

Two of the defendants, Byungsu Kim and Youngin Back, have since fled the United States, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

If convicted on all counts, the defendants face up to 10 years in federal prison.
Police in Pennsylvania have identified two suspects accused of stealing $21,000 worth of Victoria's Secret underwear last month.

Lower Allen Township police say an 18-year-old woman and a juvenile they aren't naming entered the store at the Capital City Mall near Harrisburg on April 7. Police say the juvenile acted as a lookout as Aida Melcado took panties from a table and from drawers and stuffed them in a bag.

Police tell WPMT-TV that they took about 2,000 pairs.

Police say the two were identified by officers performing a drug investigation in Fairfax, Virginia, less than two weeks later. Melcado and the juvenile also were in possession of stolen merchandise from a Victoria's Secret store in Bethesda, Maryland, and both were charged.

An arrest warrant was issued Friday for Melcado involving the Pennsylvania theft. A contact number for her wasn't listed. It wasn't clear if she has a lawyer to comment.
A Phoenix long-term care facility where an incapacitated woman was raped and then gave birth now has a state license to operate.

Hacienda HealthCare on Tuesday said the Arizona Department of Health Services approved the license last week and it is valid for 11 months.

Hacienda is the first intermediate care facility in Arizona to be licensed since the 1990s, when lawmakers approved an exemption for them.

But the Legislature reversed course in the wake of a female patient's sexual assault.

The facility is now under state oversight as part of an effort to overhaul its operation, policies and procedures.

Authorities say Hacienda staff had no idea the 29-year-old woman was pregnant until she gave birth in December.

A male nurse has pleaded not guilty to raping her.
The Pentagon may send about 300 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in roles that could put them in contact with migrants and thus mark a break from current practice, officials said.

Charles Summers, a spokesman for Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, said Shanahan was expected to approve the proposal, which was developed as a response to a call from the Department of Homeland Security for additional military assistance.

The new troops would be in support roles such as driving buses with detained migrants and providing meals to them. It would also include Department of Defense lawyers helping to process the migrants.

There currently are about 2,900 active-duty troops operating in support of DHS at the border, plus about 2,000 National Guard troops. A key aspect of the policy governing military involvement at the border has been a prohibition on direct contact with migrants. This is meant to emphasis that the military is not in a law enforcement role.

Summers said the proposal being considered by Shanahan would include an "amendment" to the current policy on avoiding contact with migrants. This would be necessary in order to carry out tasks such as providing meals, legal assistance and transportation, he said.

"We have Border Patrol stations where (they) are literally overwhelmed with migrants, so we're merely delineating the fact that we will have some of our troops handing out meals and therefore would come in contact with migrants," Summers said.

The proposal was first reported by The Washington Post.
Four were engineers who worked to maintain streets and protect wetlands. Three were right-of-way agents who reviewed property lines. The others included an account clerk, a technician, an administrative assistant and a special projects coordinator. In all, they had served the city of Virginia Beach for more than 150 years.

These 11 city employees and one contractor were wiped out Friday when a fellow city worker opened fire inside a municipal building. A day after the shooting, city officials sought to honor them by sharing their job titles and years of service in a somber slideshow.

"They leave a void that we will never be able to fill," said City Manager Dave Hansen, who had worked for years with many of the dead.

Police Chief James Cervera identified the assailant as DeWayne Craddock, who had been employed for 15 years as an engineer with the city's utilities department. He declined to comment on a motive for the rampage, which ended with the shooter's death in a gun battle with officers. City officials uttered his name just once and said they would not mention it again.

Joseph Scott, an engineering technician with the utilities department, said he had worked with Craddock and had a brief interaction with him Friday, passing him in the men's restroom about five minutes before the shooting.

"He was in there brushing his teeth, which he always did after he ate," Scott said. "I said 'Hey, how you doing? What are you doing this weekend?' It was just a brief conversation."

Scott said he left for the day right after and learned of the shooting when a co-worker and then his son called him asking if he was OK.

"I couldn't believe that it happened," he said.

One of the dead employees had worked for the city for 41 years. Six worked in the same department as the suspect, though authorities have declined to say if anyone was specifically targeted or if the suspect had issued threats before. The victims were found throughout the building, on three floors, police said.

The municipal building was open to the public, but security passes were required to enter inner offices, conference rooms and other work areas. As a current employee, Craddock would have had the pass to enter the inner offices, Hansen said.

In response to a reporter's question, Cervera said the gunman had not been fired.

One of the dead, Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan, enjoyed Scottish music and joined a pipe band last fall. He played with the group in October during a Celtic festival in Virginia and marched with bandmates on St. Patrick's Day.

"Chris was reserved but very friendly, quietly engaging members one-on-one after our weekly practices," the band, Tidewater Pipes & Drums, said in a statement.

Another victim, Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach, was described as a "super sweet lady" who always had a big smile. "She would always be out there in the yard, working on something and talking to my daughters," John Cushman, Gayle's next-door neighbor, told The New York Times.

The other employees who were killed were identified as Tara Welch Gallagher, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine A. Nixon, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua O. Hardy and Michelle "Missy" Langer, all of Virginia Beach; Laquita C. Brown and Robert "Bobby" Williams, both of Chesapeake; and Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk. The 12th victim, Herbert "Bert" Snelling of Virginia Beach, was a contractor who was in the building to seek a permit.

The police and fire departments were to assign members of their honor guards to help each victim's family.

Authorities have said the shooter fired indiscriminately. At least three other people who were wounded remained hospitalized Saturday.

Craddock appeared to have had no felony record, making him eligible to purchase guns.

Government investigators identified two .45-caliber pistols used in the attack, said Ashan Benedict, the regional special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

All indications were that the shooter purchased the weapons legally, one in 2016 and one in 2018, Benedict said. The police chief said at least one had a noise suppressor.

Craddock, 40, graduated from Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News in 1996 and joined the Army National Guard, according to a newspaper clip from the time. He received basic military training and advanced individual training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He later graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

Scott said he worked in a different division from Craddock, whom he described as quiet, polite and a "nice guy." Scott said he thought Craddock was in good standing at work and had never heard negative reports about him.

A handwritten note was posted Saturday at the suspect's home expressing condolences to the shooting victims on behalf of his family.

Hundreds of people attended Saturday prayer vigils for the dead. Scott said he, his wife and several others prayed for the shooter too.

"He was a human too, and his family is hurting too," Scott said. "He's not evil ... he was just another guy who had problems."

Neighbors described Craddock as a car enthusiast and bodybuilder.

Amanda Archer, 22, and Cassetty Howerin, 23, lived in a Virginia Beach townhome beneath Craddock for the past year and only got to know him in passing, exchanging the occasional greeting.

"He wasn't much of a talker," Archer recalled. "He's a mystery to us. He's a mystery to everybody, apparently."

Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano, Michael Biesecker, Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker, Michael Kunzelman and Jonathan Drew contributed to this report.
Despite pushback from U.S. businesses, Mexico and Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threat to slap a 5% tariff on Mexican imports unless America's southern neighbor cracks down on Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

U.S. manufacturers said the tariff, set to take effect June 10, would have devastating consequences on them and American consumers. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wall Street in response to Trump's planned action.

"Imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico is exactly the wrong move," said Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is exploring legal action in response to the tariffs. "These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border. Instead, Congress and the president need to work together to address the serious problems at the border."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dispatched his foreign secretary to Washington to try to negotiate a solution. He said social problems are not solved with coercive measures, but also seemed convinced that Trump just needed to be informed about all the steps Mexico has taken to slow illegal migration.

Mexico has stepped up raids on migrant caravans traveling through the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca this year. It has deported thousands of migrants and frustrated thousands more who wait endlessly for permits that would allow them to travel legally through Mexico.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with his Mexican counterpart via telephone Friday, said State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, who's traveling with Pompeo in Bern, Switzerland. Ortagus said the department doesn't comment on details of diplomatic conversations.

"We maintain an ongoing dialogue and close cooperation with Mexico on a wide range of issues, including border security efforts," she said. "The United States and Mexico recognize that managing our shared border is a challenge common to both countries."

Administration officials told reporters in a briefing call Thursday evening that Mexico could prevent the tariffs from kicking in by securing its southern border with Guatemala, cracking down on criminal smuggling organizations and entering into a "safe third country agreement" that would make it difficult for those who enter Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the U.S.

"We fully believe they have the ability to stop people coming in from their southern border and if they're able to do that, these tariffs will either not go into place or will be removed after they go into place," said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Trump said the percentage will gradually increase  up to 25%  until the migration problem is remedied.

"Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades," Trump said in a tweet Friday. "Because of the Dems, our Immigration Laws are BAD. Mexico makes a FORTUNE from the U.S., have for decades, they can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!"

Trump's decision showed the administration going to new lengths, and looking for new levers, to pressure Mexico to take action  even if those risk upend other policy priorities, like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that is the cornerstone of Trump's legislative agenda and seen as beneficial to his reelection effort.

Keeping the economy rolling is also critical to Trump's reelection, and businesses were not happy with the president's planned tariff on Mexican imports.

"These proposed tariffs would have devastating consequences on manufacturers in America and on American consumers," said Jay Timmons, chief executive officer of the National Association of Manufacturers. "We have taken our concerns to the highest levels of the administration and strongly urge them to consider carefully the impact of this action on working families across this country."

The stock market's tumble Friday all but guarantees that May will be the first monthly loss for the market in 2019. The news hit automakers particularly hard. Many of them import vehicles into the U.S. from Mexico.

"The auto sector  and the 10 million jobs it supports  relies upon the North American supply chain and cross border commerce to remain globally competitive," said the Auto Alliance, which represents automakers that built 70% of all cars and light trucks sold in U.S. "Any barrier to the flow of commerce across the U.S.-Mexico border will have a cascading effect  harming U.S. consumers, threatening American jobs and investment and curtailing economic progress."

Some of Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress opposed the tariff. Republican senators have made almost weekly treks to the White House to nudge the president off his trade wars, and this latest move sent them scrambling again to signal their displeasure in hopes of reversing Trump's actions.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn supports the president's commitment to securing the border, an aide said, but he opposes the across-the-board tariff, "which will disproportionately hurt Texas."

Key trade senators also spoke up. Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, who has questioned the administration's ability to invoke national security threats for some other imports, called the tariffs a "blanket tax increase" on items Americans purchases from Mexico and "the wrong remedy."

The tariff threat comes at a peculiar time, given how hard the administration has been pushing for passage of the USMCA, which would update the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a usual Trump ally and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, slammed the president's action, saying it was a "misuse of presidential tariff authority" that would burden American consumers and "seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA."

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the livelihoods of farmers and producers from her state are at risk and so is the USMCA.

"If the president goes through with this, I'm afraid progress to get this trade agreement across the finish line will be stifled," she said.
U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced China's efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarize man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a "toolkit of coercion," saying activities by Beijing the U.S. perceives as hostile must end.

In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Korea's "extraordinary" threat with vows that the U.S. will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region and is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing its stability.

While he didn't specifically name China in early parts of his speech, he made clear who his target was, making pointed references to Beijing's campaign to put advanced weapons systems on disputed islands in the region.

"If these trends in these behaviors continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful," Shanahan said.

His remarks underscore America's frayed relations with China, as the Trump administration wages a trade war with Beijing, imposes sanctions on Chinese tech giant Huawei and approves a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory. And they reflect America's new national defense strategy that declared great power competition with China and Russia as top priorities.

Shanahan's speech is also arguably an audition to both the world and U.S. top leaders in Congress, as his nomination for permanent secretary has still not been sent to Capitol Hill by President Donald Trump.

And listening closely in the audience were nervous allies and partners in the region who are worried about the economic impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute and the political blowback of America's complaints about Beijing's rapid progress in hypersonic weapons, nuclear technology and space launches.

Lt. Gen. Shao Yuanming, a senior Chinese officer, said he welcomed deeper communication between China and the U.S., but he expressed strong opposition to some of Shanahan's comments on U.S. relations with Taiwan and China's operations in the South China Sea. He said China has strong legal claims to the waterway, and that Beijing has put necessary "deterrent facilities" there in response to U.S. provocation involving military exercises in that region.

Shanahan told reporters Friday that he would use his speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue conference to criticize Beijing's use of coercion to advance its interests. And after his remarks, during questions from the audience, he suggested that his speech was more directly critical than those of other U.S. defense secretaries in the past.

"I won't apologize for the way I framed some of my remarks, but we're not going to ignore Chinese behavior," Shanahan said. "I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that. It's not about being confrontational, it's about being open and having a dialogue."

Shanahan, however, is one of several Pentagon chiefs to take aim at China during the Singapore conference. In 2014, for example, then-Secretary Chuck Hagel used the podium to slam China for cyberspying and said the U.S. would not look away while Beijing's territorial claims destabilized the region and threatened Asia's long-term progress.

Still, Shanahan said the U.S. is willing to cooperate with China and welcomes competition, but said behavior that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end.

"Competition does not mean conflict," he said. "Competition is not to be feared. We should welcome it, provided that everyone plays by internationally established rules."

He also rejected suggestions that the U.S. is in a "face-off" or trade war with China, and said economic negotiations with Beijing are ongoing and the Pentagon is building relations with the Chinese military.

But he went on to restate America's distrust of Huawei, the world's No. 1 network equipment provider and second-largest smartphone maker. The U.S. claims Huawei is legally beholden to China's ruling Communists, which could use the company's products, including its next-generation wireless network known as 5G, for cyberespionage.

Shanahan said Huawei is "too close to the government" of China, which has laws requiring data be shared.

"That's too much risk for the department," said Shanahan. "You can't trust that those networks are going to be protected."

China warned Friday that that it was drawing up a list of "unreliable" foreign companies, organizations and individuals for targeting in what could signal retaliation for U.S. sanctions on Huawei.

Much of Shanahan's speech centered on America's work with partners across the region.

"The Indo-Pacific is our priority theater," he said. "We are where we belong. We are investing in the region. We are investing in you, and with you."

But he also called on the Pacific nations to invest in their own futures.

Several U.S. senators attending the conference gave Shanahan high marks for his speech, saying his criticism of China hit the right tone. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said Shanahan "distinguished himself" in his remarks, including assertions that conflict with China is not inevitable.

King stopped short of saying he would vote for Shanahan when his nomination hits the Senate, but Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said she was impressed and is now more inclined to support him.

On North Korea, Shanahan said the U.S. is focused on negotiations to achieve full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, adding that the North "has neared a point where it could credibly strike regional allies, U.S. territory and our forward-deployed forces."

He credited China for its cooperation on enforcing U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.

In a departure from past conferences, however, Shanahan faced little backlash from the Chinese leaders in the audience during the question-and-answer session.

On Friday, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian was both conciliatory and challenging.

Wu told reporters that the U.S. has recently "had a series of negative words and deeds" on Taiwan issues.

"On the issue of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the U.S. should not underestimate the determination of the Chinese military, will or ability," he said.

Associated Press writer Annabelle Liang contributed to this report.
What to Know The former NYPD officer accused of wanting to hire a hitman to kill her estranged husband and a child pleaded not guilty Friday

Valerie Cincinelli allegedly asked her now ex-boyfriend to pay a hitman who would kill her estranged husband and boyfriends own daughter

Following Fridays hearing, her attorney said she would be exonerated

The former NYPD officer accused of wanting to hire a hitman to kill her estranged husband and a child pleaded not guilty Friday.

Valerie Cincinelli allegedly asked her now ex-boyfriend to pay a hitman who would kill her estranged husband and the boyfriends own daughter.

Cincinelli, 34, is charged with two counts of murder for hire and one count of obstruction of justice after she allegedly altered, destroyed, mutilated and concealed records, documents and object on two iPhones, according to indictment documents.

Following Fridays hearing, her attorney said she would be exonerated.

The essential accuser in this case is an individual whose credibility will be very strenuously and very credibly, very credibly attacked, defense attorney James Kousouros said. He also confirmed Friday that Cincinelli has been fired from the police department.

Kousouros wants Cincinelli out on bail, but for now she will stay behind bars until the next court hearing.

Cincinelli was arrested earlier this month by the FBI following a sting operation. NYPD Internal Affairs assisted in her arrest.

A source familiar with the investigation previously told NBC 4 New York the child was her current boyfriend's 14-year-old daughter.

The officer's father spoke out following Cincinellis arrest, defending his daughter saying he doesn't believe she did it.

"I haven't seen anything, and until I do I really shouldn't be saying anything," Lou Cincinelli said at his Long Island home. "But I guarantee you my daughter is innocent of this."

However, in an interview Cincinelli's estranged husband said he found out about the alleged plot from federal authorities who told him to fake his own death.

The officer previously worked out of the 106th Precinct in Queens, before being placed on modified duty in 2017 for an unrelated domestic incident, the police official said.

Before that though, she was an award-winning officer, including a "cop of the month" award from the Jamaica Rotary in June 2017.

Cincinelli, who joined the NYPD in 2007, was most recently in a unit known as VIPER that monitored security cameras.
President Donald Trump is distorting the findings of the Russia investigation, claiming exoneration and a possible case against him "closed" based on remarks from a special counsel who did not make either statement.

"Robert Mueller would have brought charges, if he had ANYTHING, but there were no charges to bring!" Trump tweeted Thursday.

"CASE CLOSED," he said in another tweet.

Special counsel Robert Mueller this past week announced the end to his work in the Russia probe and said he would return to private life. But Mueller specifically declined to vindicate Trump on obstruction charges, indicating it was up to Congress to decide whether to take up continued investigations and bring charges of wrongdoing against a sitting president.

Trump is also asserting that Mueller was hopelessly biased and "conflicted," broadly dismissing his two-year investigation as a hoax and witch hunt. Trump's own aides, however, have previously rejected his complaints about Mueller as groundless. And the Mueller investigation produced a number of guilty pleas, convictions and criminal charges as part of a review that ultimately concluded Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was "sweeping and systematic."

The statements helped cap a week of unsupported assertion by the president on trade, the economy, North Korea and more.

A review:

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

TRUMP: "There was no crime. There was no obstruction. There was no collusion."  remarks Thursday to reporters.

TRUMP, on Mueller's statement on finishing his work as special counsel: "There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed! Thank you."  tweet Wednesday.

SARAH SANDERS, White House press secretary: "The Special Counsel has completed the investigation, closed his office, and has closed the case. ... The report was clear_there was no collusion, no conspiracy_and the Department of Justice confirmed there was no obstruction. ...After two years, the Special Counsel is moving on with his life, and everyone else should do the same."  statement Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Mueller did not fully exonerate Trump or declare that a possible case against Trump to be "closed." While announcing his work was now finished, Mueller specifically left it open for Congress to decide on possible charges of wrongdoing. Mueller also did not say there was "insufficient evidence" as to possible crimes of obstruction, making clear that his report did not draw a conclusion.

Mueller said his team declined to make a prosecutorial judgment on whether to charge Trump, partly because of a Justice Department legal opinion that said sitting presidents shouldn't be indicted.

As a result, his detailed report factually laid out instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, leaving it up to Congress to take up the matter.

"If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," Mueller said Wednesday. Based on that department's legal opinion, Mueller said, "the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing."

Attorney General William Barr wrote in a March 24 letter that ultimately he was deciding that the evidence developed by Mueller was "not sufficient" to establish, for the purposes of prosecution, that Trump committed obstruction of justice. But Mueller explicitly declined to say that.

It's true the Mueller report did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, saying it had not collected sufficient evidence "to establish" or sustain criminal charges. However, the report did not assess whether "collusion" occurred.

___

TRUMP, on Mueller's relationship with former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump: "He loves Comey. You look at the relationship with those two. So whether it's love or deep like, but he was conflicted."  remarks Thursday to reporters.

THE FACTS: Though Comey succeeded Mueller as FBI director and though they served together in the Bush administration, the men are not known to be social friends. There is certainly no evidence, as Trump has repeatedly suggested, that they are "best friends" or have a relationship that is "love or deep like."

___

TRUMP: "I think he's totally conflicted. ...Robert Mueller should've never been chosen because he wanted the FBI job and he didn't get it. And the next day, he was picked as Special Counsel. So you tell somebody, 'I'm sorry, you can't have the job.' And then, after you say that, he's going to make a ruling on you? It doesn't work that way. Plus, we had a business dispute."  remarks Thursday to reporters.

THE FACTS: Trump makes a groundless charge that Mueller was "totally conflicted." Mueller, a longtime Republican, was cleared by the Justice Department's ethics experts to lead the Russia investigation.

According to the special counsel's report, when Trump previously complained privately to aides that Mueller would not be objective, the advisers, including then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, then-White House counsel Don McGahn and Reince Priebus, chief of staff at the time, rejected his complaints of an alleged business dispute and possible bad feelings over the FBI job as not representing "true conflicts." Bannon called the claims "ridiculous."

Bannon told Mueller's investigators that while the White House had invited Mueller to speak to the president about the FBI and thought about asking him to become director again, Mueller did not come in looking for a job. Mueller was previously FBI director from 2001 to 2013.

___

TRUMP: "There's no nothing. It's nothing but a witch hunt."  remarks Thursday to reporters.

TRUMP: "They don't talk about Russia anymore because it turned out to be a hoax. It was all a hoax."  remarks Thursday.

THE FACTS: A two-year investigation that produced guilty pleas, convictions and criminal charges against Russian intelligence officers and others with ties to the Kremlin, as well as Trump associates, is not a hoax. Mueller's report concluded there was "sweeping and systematic" Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Mueller charged 34 people, including the president's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and three Russian companies. Twenty-five Russians were indicted on charges related to election interference, accused either of hacking Democratic email accounts during the campaign or of orchestrating a social media campaign that spread disinformation on the internet.

Five Trump aides pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with Mueller, and a sixth, longtime confidant Roger Stone, is awaiting trial on charges he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering.

ECONOMY

TRUMP: "Employment numbers are the best. We have close to 160 million people working today, which is more than we've ever had before."  remarks Thursday to reporters.

THE FACTS: It's true that more people are working now, but that is driven by population growth. A more relevant measure is the proportion of Americans with jobs, and that is still far below record highs.

According to Labor Department data, 60.6 percent of people in the United States 16 years and older were working in April. That's below the all-time high of 64.7 percent in April 2000, though higher than the 59.9 percent when Trump was inaugurated in January 2017.

The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate dropped in April to 3.6% from 3.8%. That drop reflected a healthy economy for sure, but also an increase in the number of Americans who stopped looking for work.

NORTH KOREA

TRUMP, on limited progress by North Korea to "denuclearize": "So I think that he is  he is going to try, at some point. I'm in no rush at all. ...We, as you know, are getting the remains  continuing to get the remains."  news conference Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

THE FACTS: U.S. efforts to recover additional remains of American service members have stalled amid souring relations with North Korea.

Last month, as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea spiked again, the Pentagon said it had suspended its efforts this year to arrange negotiations on recovering additional remains of American service members killed in the North during the Korean War. The Pentagon said it remained hopeful they can reach agreement with the North for recovery operations in 2020.

The Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency said it has had no communication with North Korean authorities since the Vietnam summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last February. That meeting focused on the North's nuclear weapons and followed a June 2018 summit where Kim committed to permitting a resumption of U.S. remains recovery; that effort had been suspended by the U.S. in 2005.

The agency said it had "reached the point where we can no longer effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct field operations" with the North during this budget year, which ends Sept. 30. The North, it said, never agreed to face-to-face negotiations to work out details for the recovery operations, such as payments required for the provision of support services by the North Korean army.

Last summer, in line with the first Trump-Kim summit in June, the North turned over 55 boxes of what it said were the remains of an undetermined number of U.S service members killed in the North during the 1950-53 war. So far, six Americans have been identified from the 55 boxes.

U.S. officials have said the North has suggested in recent years that it holds perhaps 200 sets of American war remains. Thousands more are unrecovered from battlefields and former POW camps.

TRADE

TRUMP: "We're taking in billions of dollars in tariffs. China is subsidizing products. So the United States' taxpayers are paying for very little of it. "  remarks Thursday to reporters.

TRUMP: "You know, foolishly, some people said that the American taxpayer is paying the tariffs of China. No, no, no  it's not that way. They're paying a small percentage, but our country is taking in billions and billions of dollars."  news conference Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

THE FACTS: That's not true. U.S. consumers and the public are primarily if not entirely paying the costs of the tariffs, as his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, has acknowledged . That's how tariffs work: Importers pay the taxes and often pass on the cost to consumers. The U.S. is not "taking in" billions from China as a result.

A sustained trade dispute is not painless for China, either. Its goods become pricier and therefore less competitive. But China is not paying a tab to the U.S. treasury in this matter.

As Kudlow said, accurately: "Both sides will suffer on this." But in his view, "this is a risk we should and can take."

MARS

TRUMP: "Prime Minister Abe and I have agreed to dramatically expand our nations' cooperation in human space exploration. Japan will join our mission to send U.S. astronauts to space. We'll be going to the moon. We'll be going to Mars very soon."  news conference Monday.

THE FACTS: Not very soon. The U.S. will almost certainly not be sending humans to Mars in his presidency, even if he wins a second term.

The Trump administration has a placed a priority on the moon over Mars for human exploration (President Barack Obama favored Mars) and hopes to accelerate NASA's plan for returning people to the lunar surface. It has asked Congress to approve enough money to make a moon mission possible by 2024, instead 2028. But even if that happens, Mars would come years after that. International space agencies have made aspirational statements about possibly landing humans on Mars during the 2030s.

IRAN

TRUMP: "If you look at the deal that Biden and President Obama signed, they would have access  free access  to nuclear weapons, where they wouldn't even be in violation, in just a very short period of time. What kind of a deal is that?"  news conference Monday.

THE FACTS: That's a misrepresentation of what the deal required . Iran would not have access to nuclear weapons capability in a "very short period" without violating the terms of the 2015 accord. The U.S. withdrew from the multinational agreement last year.

During the 15-year life of most provisions of the deal, Iran's capabilities were limited to a level where it could not produce a nuclear bomb. Iran was thought to be only months away from a bomb when the deal came into effect.

After 15 years, Iran could have an array of advanced centrifuges ready to work, the limits on its stockpile would be gone and, in theory, it could then throw itself into producing highly enriched uranium. But nothing in the deal prevented the West from trying to rein Iran in again with sanctions. The deal included a pledge by Iran never to seek a nuclear weapon. In return, partners in the deal eased sanctions on Iran.

Associated Press writers Cal Woodward, Christopher Rugaber, Robert Burns, Lolita C. Baldor and Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
The father of a slain black teenager pleaded for peace Saturday after the acquittal of a white police officer triggered an apparent retaliatory shooting at the defense attorney's office and touched off protests in the streets of Pittsburgh.

Police put officers on 12-hour shifts until further notice.

The verdict late Friday in the deadly shooting of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II angered his family and civic leaders and prompted hundreds of people to gather Saturday afternoon at an intersection called Freedom Corner in the Hill District neighborhood, the historic center of black cultural life in Pittsburgh. One man held a sign with the names of black men killed by police around the U.S.

"It's very painful to see what happened, to sit there and deal with it," Rose's father, Antwon Rose Sr., told the crowd. "I just don't want it to happen to our city no more."

Afterward, he told reporters: "I want peace, period, all the way around. ... Just because there was violence doesn't mean that we counter that with violence."

The mostly white crowd then marched through downtown Pittsburgh and other city neighborhoods, periodically blocking streets as they chanted, "Who did this? Police did this!" The protest soon moved onto the University of Pittsburgh campus. Police reported no immediate arrests or injuries.

Early Saturday, five to eight shots were fired into the building where the officer's attorney, Patrick Thomassey, works, police in nearby Monroeville said. No one was hurt. Police said they had been staking out the place as a precaution, and the gunfire erupted after they left to answer another call around midnight.

Former East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael Rosfeld had been charged with homicide for shooting Rose as the unarmed teenager ran away from a traffic stop in June. Rosfeld testified that he thought Rose or another suspect had a gun pointed at him and that he fired to protect himself and the community.

"I hope that man never sleeps at night," Rose's mother, Michelle Kenney, said of Rosfeld after the verdict, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I hope he gets as much sleep as I do, which is none."

Rose's family is now pressing ahead with a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Rosfeld and East Pittsburgh, a small municipality about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from downtown Pittsburgh, where the trial was held.

Attorney S. Lee Merritt, who represents Rose's mother in the litigation, said the verdict was based on Pennsylvania law regarding the use of force that he considers unconstitutional.

"The protest is an appropriate response to injustice," Merritt said, adding that he believes the state law is why jurors reached their verdict of acquittal.

He also called the shots at Rosfeld's attorney's office "an act of cowardice and barbarism that does nothing but perpetuate the stereotypes often used to justify police brutality."

Thomassey told reporters after the verdict that Rosfeld is "a good man, he is." The defense attorney said he hopes the city remains calm and "everybody takes a deep breath and gets on with their lives."

The leaders of two major Pittsburgh charities issued a statement expressing "shock and outrage" over the verdict.

"Pittsburgh now sadly joins a disturbing and ever-growing catalogue of cases across the United States where law enforcement or security officials have walked free after the killings of young black men under questionable circumstances," wrote Maxwell King, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation, and Grant Oliphant, president of the Heinz Endowments.

"We have asked the question, 'Would Antwon Rose be alive today if he had been white?' We, his family and African American community leaders believe that more than likely he would be."

Pittsburgh was in the spotlight less than five months ago, when a gunman ranting about Jews killed 11 people at a synagogue.

Rose was riding in an unlicensed taxi that had been involved in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier when Rosfeld pulled the car over and shot the teenager in the back, arm and side of the face. Neither Rose nor another teen in the taxi was holding a weapon when the officer opened fire, though two guns were later found in the vehicle.

Rosfeld had worked for the East Pittsburgh Police Department for only a few weeks and was sworn in just hours before the shooting.

The 12-person jury  including three black members  saw video of the fatal confrontation. The jury took less than four hours to reach a verdict.

Prosecutor Jonathan Fodi argued that the video showed there was no threat to the officer. But a defense expert testified Rosfeld was within his rights to use deadly force to stop suspects he thought had been involved in a shooting.

The prosecution did not call its own use-of-force expert, a decision the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania questioned. But Mike Manko, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said prosecutors were confident they had what they needed to make their case.

Shortly before the traffic stop, another person in the taxi, Zaijuan Hester, rolled down a window and shot at two men on the street, hitting one in the abdomen. Hester, 18, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault and firearms violations. He said he, not Rose, did the shooting.

Prosecutors had charged Rosfeld with an open count of homicide, meaning the jury had the option of convicting him of murder or manslaughter.

Associated Press journalists Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania, Ramesh Santanam in Pittsburgh and Keith Srakocic in Pittsburgh contributed to this story.
Hands-on activities are an essential part of learning at Martin Kellogg Middle Schools Biomedical Sciences Academy in Newington, Connecticut, but the final project of the school year required the seventh and eighth graders to use their minds and their hearts.

Its been quite a process, but I think its going to be great, said eighth grader Steven Blazuk.

The goal of the academy is to steer students toward futures in math and science. Blazuk said he wants to be a biomedical engineer when he grows up.

Its been a great experience being able to use wires and figuring out how things go together and work, he said.

Friday, students took to the task of building a better future for children with special needs. The kiddie cars they built will be donated to toddlers with cerebral palsy and other mobility challenges for a national program called Go Baby Go.

I feel like its a great chance for us to show off our skills and help kids in need, Breone Lewis, who is also in eighth grade, said.

This will give them a chance to go out in the world and play with other friends, play with their siblings and just have independence that they just havent experienced in the past, their teacher, Ashley Klopfer, said.

Michelle Dischino is the driving force behind Central Connecticut State Universitys CAREs club, which has taken this project to classrooms across Connecticut and donated 135 cars to children with special needs.

One of the things we need to do is move the accelerator function to a button and that button for some children might be placed in the middle of the steering wheel, for other children it might be placed on the side, said Dischino, a professor in the universitys technology and engineering department.

She and other program leaders also hope students learn an important lesson about how to treat others with differences.

We get them to understand the culture change thats going through, to accept kids or young people with disabilities in their school and in their classrooms, said James DeLaura, chair of CCSUs Technology and Engineering Education department.

He said the earlier that lesson is learned, the more likely kids are to treat others with kindness and respect.

Its really important for them to learn this now and be able to carry it throughout their lives, Klopfer added. Having this experience will imprint on them forever and hopefully give them a good basis for the future.

The students will get to see the smiles on those kids faces when they receive their cars June 1.

Learn more about Go Baby Go or how to donate a car here.
The fastest way for federal judges facing investigation by their peers to make the inquiry go away is to utter two words: "I quit."

That's how appellate judges Maryanne Trump Barry and Alex Kozinski ended investigations into complaints that Barry participated in fraudulent tax schemes and Kozinski sexually harassed women. Barry is the older sister of President Donald Trump.

And because they're older than 65, and with more than 15 years as federal judges, Barry and Kozinski can collect their annual salary, roughly $220,000 when they retired, for the rest of their lives.

Panels of judges across the country have concluded that they have no authority to investigate a judge who has stepped down from the bench. Similar reasoning led judges to dismiss complaints against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh stemming from his confirmation hearing last year, while he was an appeals court judge. The complaints challenge the accuracy of his testimony, including his angry denial of an allegation he sexually assaulted a woman when they were teenagers. Supreme Court justices are not covered by the 1980 law governing judicial misconduct. The Kavanaugh dismissals are being appealed.

The dismissals have led to calls to change the law to bolster faith in the judiciary and provide a full accounting that would either show complaints to be valid or poke holes in them. Other lawyers believe the law already allows investigations to continue and that judges are misreading it.

Gabe Roth, head of the court transparency group Fix The Court, said he is trying to persuade members of Congress to take on the issue.

"The idea that there's a way to game the system doesn't give you faith in the impartiality of the judiciary. It's the opposite of what we expect in our judges and justices," Roth said.

But Arthur Hellman, an expert on judicial ethics at the University of Pittsburgh, said that often the most pressing concern is to get a judge out of the courtroom. The current arrangement serves that purpose, Hellman said.

"It's understandable that people are unhappy when they see a resignation that leaves the matter really unresolved in many ways, or at least without an investigation that tells us what happened. But in many of the instances, the present system...does have an important virtue in that it gets judges in whom the public has lost confidence off the bench," Hellman said.

Allowing investigations to continue after retirement could create a perverse incentive, he said. "If there's going to be an investigation anyway, why not fight it through to the end?" Hellman said.

Kozinski, a prominent judge who served more than 30 years on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has said he initially resolved to do just that after several female former law clerks and colleagues accused him of sexual misconduct that included touching, inappropriate sexual comments and forced viewings of pornography in his chambers. But he retired abruptly, after an inquiry was launched and more women came forward with accusations. His retirement ended the investigation.

Barry's retirement in February ended her 36-year career as a federal judge and the inquiry into complaints that were based on a New York Times report that she participated in Trump family schemes to dodge taxes. An April 1 order from a panel of federal judges looking into the complaints said the complaint process was meant to deal with problems that could interfere with the "effective and expeditious" administration of court business. Barry's retirement means she can no longer perform any judicial duties and thus can no longer be investigated, the order said. She had already stopped hearing cases in 2017, when her brother became president.

Both Barry and Kozinski were old enough and experienced enough to retire with their full salary.

Richard Cebull, at one time the chief federal district judge in Montana, was less than a year shy of his judicial pension when the Great Falls Tribune in 2012 revealed that Cebull had sent a racist joke involving President Barack Obama from his official email account.

The outcry was immediate, and Cebull was among those requesting an investigation, but the judge waited more than a year before he retired, by which time he had become eligible to receive his judicial salary for life.

An investigation by judges in the Western U.S., led by Kozinski, found that Cebull had sent hundreds of inappropriate emails, dealing with race, religion, gender and sexual orientation. "Whether cast as jokes or serious commentary, the emails showed disdain and disrespect for African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics, especially those who are not in the United States legally," the judges wrote. Other emails "showed disdain for certain faiths" or "were disparaging of women," the judges wrote.

Even though the investigation had been completed, the investigative panel initially decided to keep the results secret, reasoning that Cebull's retirement was the end of the matter.

But the ethics committee of the Judicial Conference, the governing body for the federal judiciary, ordered the results made public.

Barry, Cebull and Kozinski did not respond to requests for comment.

Among those who complained about Cebull and then objected to the decision not to make the results public was another federal judge. Judge Theodore McKee of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia was also a longtime colleague of Barry's.

McKee said he was satisfied with the outcome in Cebull's case because the matter was investigated and the public could see the results. But McKee said he is opposed to any changes in the misconduct law.

"In this day and age, even with the best of intentions I get incredibly nervous with tinkering around with anything that could be deemed to be interference with judicial independence," McKee said.

But Jeremy Bates, a New York lawyer who filed a complaint against Kavanaugh, said judges are mistakenly saying they have no authority to investigate when a judge retires or, in Kavanaugh's case, is promoted. Bates is appealing the dismissal of his complaint to the main governing body of the federal judiciary. Bates argues that in many areas of the law, courts look at the facts at the time a lawsuit is filed to decide if they have the authority to hear it. Lawyers can't avoid misconduct investigations merely by resigning, and there's no reason judges should, either, Bates wrote.

In the Kavanaugh, Barry and Kozinski dismissals, the public "sees a pattern of high-ranking federal judges (and their partisans) evading misconduct complaints by altering the jurisdictional facts," Bates wrote in an April 19 letter to the Judicial Conference's committee on misconduct. Investigating a complaint even if a judge's status changes would "prevent such evasions and abuses," Bates wrote. The National Law Journal first reported appeals by Bates and others.

Cornell law professor Michael Dorf also has written that the investigating judges took too narrow a view of their authority. A full investigation also would reveal if other judges played any role in covering up misconduct by one of their peers. He noted in a posting on the justia.com website that many people described Kozinski's alleged conduct toward women as an open secret.
The Louisiana House of Representatives passed an abortion ban on a 79-23 vote Wednesday that would prohibit women from terminating a pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat has been detected, NBC News reports.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has indicated that he would break with his party and sign the ban if it crosses his desk. The Senate already approved the bill with amendments that include language to require an ultrasound and clarified that abortion did not include medically necessary terminations.

The House rejected an amendment Wednesday that would have provided an exception to the bill for women and girls who had been impregnated through rape or incest.
Police say a woman was apparently ambushed after she was found shot dead inside her still-running car Saturday in Philadelphia's Oak Lane neighborhood.

The 39-year-old woman had been shot five times when police found her after responding to a call around 2:25 a.m. on the 400 block of W. 65th Avenue, Philadelphia Police Capt. George Fuchs said. Distraught family members were the ones who found her body and called police, Fuchs said.

The gunman shot the woman three times in the head, once in the neck and once in the cheek as she was parking her car, the captain added. The vehicle was still running when police arrived.

"It appeared to be an ambush. The shots were fired at point-blank range," Fuchs said.

Investigators found surveillance video that showed the gunman committing the murder. He appeared to be a male in his late 20s to early 30s, the captain said. He was wearing a light-colored hoodie, dark pants and light sneakers and was last seen running away eastbound down 65th Avenue.

Police have not made any arrests or determined a motive for the shooting.
Pope Francis braved a rain-soaked, twisting drive through the mountains of Transylvania on Saturday to visit Romania's most famous shrine, urging Romanian and ethnic Hungarian faithful to work together for their future.

Storms forced Francis to change his travel plans and add in a three-hour car ride through the Carpathian mountains that he had planned to traverse via helicopter. The steady rains doused the estimated 80,000-100,000 people who gathered for the Mass at the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The showers let up as Francis arrived and he made a quick run through the poncho-clad crowds in his popemobile. But the 82-year-old seemed unsteady after the long trip and held onto the arms of aides as he negotiated a mud-slicked path to get to the altar for Mass.

In his homily, Francis praised the multicultural and multilingual tapestry that makes up Romania and urged its people to put aside past divisions for the sake of "journeying together."

The rights of around 1.2 million ethnic Hungarians who live in Romania have been at the center of political disputes between the two countries for decades. Hungary lost Transylvania in the peace treaties after World War I yet the region remains heavily Hungarian in both culture and language.

Those tensions are often reflected in the uneasy relationship between the predominantly Hungarian Roman Catholic community and the Romanian-speaking Greek-Catholic communities. The two rites make up Romania's Catholic minority in the overwhelmingly Orthodox country.

"Complicated and sorrow-filled situations from the past must not be forgotten or denied, yet neither must they be an obstacle or an excuse standing in the way of our desire to live together as brothers and sisters," Francis said.

The pope delivered the homily in Italian, and it was translated into Romanian and Hungarian.

After Mass, with the weather improved, Francis was able to fly by helicopter back to the airport for a flight to another corner of Romania, the university city of Iasi in the northeast. There he had an appointment with young Romanians and their families.

"It is a joy, it is a joy," said 71-year old Elisabeta Balan, the mother of 11 children who was among those chosen to address the pope in Iasi. "We are very happy that he comes in Iasi and for this occasion we succeeded in bringing our big family together."

Francis was travelling across Romania to visit its far-flung Catholic communities. His trip aimed to make up for the fact that St. John Paul II was only allowed to visit the capital, Bucharest, in 1999 in the first papal visit to a majority Orthodox country.

On Sunday, Francis travels to the Greek-Catholic stronghold of Blaj to meet with people from the disadvantaged Roma minority. He also plans to beatify seven bishops who were martyred during a brutal period of communist persecution in Romania, then return to Rome.

Olimpiu Gheorghiu contributed.
The U.S. Navy has acknowledged that a request was made to hide the USS John S. McCain during President Donald Trump's recent state visit to Japan, NBC News reports.

"A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President's visit," Rear Admiral Charlie Brown, chief of information, said in a statement to NBC News.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Friday hed asked his chief of staff to look into the reported request from the White House to move the ship "out of sight" during Trump's visit.The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that it had reviewed an email to Navy and Air Force officials dated May 15 that included the direction "USS John McCain needs to be out of sight" for Trump's Japan visit. CNBC has also obtained the email. NBC News has not reviewed the email.

Trump said Wednesday night on Twitter: "I was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan." Trump again denied any involvement on Thursday, but said whoever made the request was "well meaning."
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will nominate Patrick Shanahan to be his second secretary of defense, putting an end to months of speculation about the former Boeing executive's standing in the administration.

Shanahan has been leading the Pentagon as acting secretary since Jan. 1, a highly unusual arrangement for arguably the most sensitive Cabinet position. He took over after Jim Mattis resigned.

"Acting Secretary Shanahan has proven over the last several months that he is beyond qualified to lead the Department of Defense, and he will continue to do an excellent job," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Moments later, Shanahan spoke to reporters outside the Pentagon, saying he was very excited about the nomination and looking forward to a job he said requires him to "spin a lot of plates."

"The biggest challenge is balancing it all. For me it's about practicing selectful neglect, so that we can stay focused on the future," Shanahan said, adding with a grin, "I called my mom. She was super happy."

Indeed, in Shanahan's tenure at the department he's had to deal with a wide array of international hotspots, ranging from missile launches by North Korea to the sudden shift of military ships and aircraft to the Middle East to deal with potential threats from Iran.

The announcement comes close on the heels of an investigation by the Defense Department's inspector general over accusations that Shanahan had shown favoritism toward Boeing during his time as deputy defense secretary, while disparaging Boeing competitors. The probe appeared to stall his nomination, but the IG wrapped up the investigation rapidly and cleared Shanahan of any wrongdoing.

The IG interviewed Shanahan as well as 33 witnesses under oath, including Mattis and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"We did not substantiate any of the allegations. We determined that Mr. Shanahan fully complied with his ethics agreements and his ethical obligations regarding Boeing and its competitors," the report said.

Shanahan wields none of the star power of Trump's first defense secretary. And that may be just the thing for a commander in chief who seemed to resent Mattis for his reputation in Washington as a superior strategist and a moderating influence on an impulsive president.

Two months before Mattis resigned, citing policy differences, Trump publicly questioned whether he was "sort of a Democrat." After the former Marine general quit, Trump spoke more harshly, calling Mattis a failure, and insisted he had fired him, even though Mattis had resigned first.

Shanahan, 56, has a lifetime of experience in the defense industry but little in government. In more than four months as the acting secretary, he has focused on implementing the national defense strategy that was developed during Mattis' tenure and emphasizes a shift from the resources and tactics required to fight small wars against extremist groups to what Shanahan calls "great power" competition with China and Russia.

The Shanahan nomination is not known to face any organized opposition in Congress, although some members have been lukewarm on him. Sen. James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has questioned why Trump was taking so long to seek the Senate's consent but has indicated he would support Shanahan. Others have questioned whether Shanahan might be more willing to endorse plans or policies coming out of the White House.

This is only the third time in history that the Pentagon has been led by an acting chief. The last was William H. Taft, who served for two months in 1989 after President George H.W. Bush's first choice to be defense secretary, John Tower, became mired in controversy and ultimately failed to be confirmed by the Senate. Dick Cheney, the future vice president under President George W. Bush, then was nominated and confirmed.

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.

Shanahan, who grew up in Seattle, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and two advanced degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He 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. Trump also has publicly lauded 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.

Although a few members of the Senate have rhetorically roughed up Shanahan, he has not generated broad opposition during his months of auditioning for the nomination. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, butted heads with Shanahan over the administration's Syria policy, but that confrontation quickly faded after the White House partially reversed course by agreeing to keep a few hundred troops in Syria rather than withdrawing all 2,000.

Shanahan was the deputy secretary of defense during Mattis' two-year tenure. No one thought of him then as a potential No. 1 since he had never previously served in government and carried little political sway in Washington or in foreign capitals. Aides say that during his 17 months as deputy, Shanahan was deeply engaged in the full range of policy issues and briefed on military operations. He shares Mattis's conviction that the Pentagon needs to shift its focus from fighting insurgent wars to preparing for and deterring armed conflict with big powers like China.

"China, China, China," was his message to senior department officials the day he took over from Mattis, aides said.
Feelin' hot hot hot? You're about to be, because Guns N' Roses are playing Tijuana's Estadio Caliente on Sunday, Oct. 20, for Fronterizo Fest.

While the Los Angeles-based hard rock seven-piece outfit have certainly toured Mexico extensively throughout the years -- dating back all the way to the early '90s, in fact -- as far as we can tell, this is the first time they've ever played our sister city just across the border.

"Mexico we're coming for you," the band's most recent Facebook post reads, "TWO shows this October."

Just before their local Oct. 20 show, Guns N' Roses will be at Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara on Oct. 18. If you want to head all the way down to the state of Jalisco, then tickets go on sale starting June 14. However, tickets are already on sale for Fronterizo Fest, so no need for patience to see 'em in Baja.

It's been just two years since "the most dangerous band in the world" was in San Diego, but before the Not in This Lifetime ... Tour and Slash and Duff McKagan's reunion, it looks like 1992 was their most recent local appearance.

For Tijuana locals, this is a long time coming. For San Diegans, hop on the trolley and welcome back to the jungle.

Guns N' Roses play Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday, Oct. 20, for Fronterizo Fest. Get tickets here.

Rutger Ansley Rosenborg is an editor and digital marketer at NBC's SoundDiego. Find out more here.
A former U.S. Border Patrol agent will spend two and a half years in prison for smuggling a quarter of a million dollars worth of endangered sea cucumber and trafficking enough precursor to produce millions of deadly doses of fentanyl.

U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel sentenced former BP Agent Cesar Daleo, 49, of Chula Vista, Thursday to concurrent sentences of 30 months and 24 for months, respectively, for his roles in the fentanyl precursor and sea cucumber smuggling conspiracies.

The U.S. Attorneys Office said Daleo paid someone to smuggle dried sea cucumber into the U.S. from Mexico at least 80 times between late 2014 and late 2016. The value of the smuggled sea cucumber is estimated at over $250,000.

The specific species of sea cucumber Daleo smuggled (Isostichophus fuscus) is native to Mexico and is internationally protected. Certificates from the country of origin are required for sea cucumber to be imported.

Daleo also admitted to conspiring to distribute 4-anilino-N-phenethyl-4-piperidine (4ANPP), which the court says is the primary ingredient in the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Authorities at the border arrested Daleo August 29, 2017, when he tried to drive into the Mexico with a package containing what he thought was 4ANPP. The package had been shipped from China to a post office in San Ysidro where Daleo received 13 other shipments, court documents said.

Unbeknownst to Daleo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the Los Angeles International Airport intercepted a shipment of 4ANPP headed for San Ysidro about two weeks earlier. Agents replaced the narcotics with a harmless substance, put the package back in transit, and waited for someone to pick it up in San Ysidro.

The amount of 4ANPP seized by CBP agents at the airport, 1 kilogram, was enough to produce about 25 kilograms of fentanyl.
DNA analysis "conclusively proves" the mountain lion killed by wildlife officials this week was the animal that attacked a boy in Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials confirmed Friday.

Results from the mountain lion matched the genetic profile of the animal that attacked the 4-year-old boy on Memorial Day, wildlife officials said.

The boy was hiking with a group of six adults and five children in the Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, in an area known as Carson's Crossing at the center of the preserve, when the animal attacked at about 2:30 p.m., SDFD Battalion Chief Rick Ballard told NBC 7.

The child escaped with non-life threatening injuries. He was rushed to Rady Children's Hospital for treatment. His family has requested that updates on his condition not be released to the media.

NBC 7's Dave Summers saw hikers and cyclist enter the trail after caution tape and warning signs were put up.

The day after the attack, wildlife officials spotted tracks of a mountain lion and were then approached by a mountain lion in the same area of the attack.

"The lion appeared to have little fear of humans, which is abnormal behavior for a mountain lion," officials said in a written release Friday.

The female mountain lion was shot and killed by wildlife officers.

Samples from the clothing of the child as well as scrapings from underneath the mountain lion's claws were sent for testing.

The boy's father "threw rocks and the animal left the scene," said CDFW spokesperson Lt. Scott Bringman.

The boy was, "Extremely lucky, I mean an 80-pound lion could really did some damage and luckily the dad was there and fended off the animal," he said.

Bringman said it was unusual that the animal returned to the same area just hours after the attack. Mountain lions are not typically spotted, even though they live in the area.

"Once it attacks somebody, and based on the evidence that this animal being habituated, wasnt scared of the wardens, it is a problem. We do not relocate them because that animal will be a problem somewhere else," he said.

Officials said the four-year-old boy was "extremely lucky" after a possible mountain lion attack.

The last time a mountain lion attacked in San Diego County was in Dec. 1994, when a 56-year-old woman was killed at Cuyamaca State Park, according to the DFW. The only other attack dating back to 1986 was of a 10-year-old girl in Sept. 1993.

The preserve is located between Rancho Penasquitos and Sorrento Hills, just north of Mira Mesa. It covers seven miles between the merge of Interstates 5 and 805 to just east of Interstate 15.

Bobcats and coyotes are known to live in the preserve. Residents hike through the area to see a waterfall, a freshwater marsh and a grove of sycamore trees.

With the addition of housing into the foothills in San Diego County, there have been an increasing number of reports of wildlife spotted in yards and near homes.

In October, one resident in Chula Vista contacted the state and the federal government when she noticed four bobcats in her Eastlake neighborhood.

One Poway homeowner shared video with NBC 7 after she said she spotted two mountain lions in her yard in July.

That same month two bobcats activated a Carmel Valley resident's home-security motion lights and could be seen jumping around playing with their dinner. The woman said they were in their backyard for about three hours overnight.

Some of the most striking video NBC San Diego received in 2018 showing a big cat near humans was the curious bobcat captured outside the Anza Borrego Desert Research Center.

In all of these reported incidents over the last two years, no humans were injured in the interaction.

In September 2016, a Carmel Valley woman was bitten by a bobcat that she had picked up when she saw it was injured.
President Donald Trump says he is placing a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border. These tariff threats will be impacting San Diego businesses.

Businesses like LiVa Market, in Otay Mesa, sells papayas, tomatoes, and other brand products from Mexico.

It imports about 75 percent of its goods from across the border. And if the price to bring those items into the country goes up, the owner said he'll have to raise his prices.

Some who advise companies on imports believe its going to happen.

"In my view, I think the tariffs are a done deal. I think they're coming, said Juan Moreno, from Western Trade Maquiladora Association.

Moreno helps clients follow trade rules when importing their goods and he said business owners are panicking.

My email was blowing up this morning. I had 12-15 different emails with clients saying these 'tariffs are going to kill us', said Moreno

That's not just on products that sell at Mexican markets like fruits and vegetables there are many other goods that are produced in Mexico.

Moreno predicts that prices will rise on imported goods, just like they did when the US imposed tariffs on China.

It's really the US consumer at the end of the day. It's you and me that are buying their computer, the iPhone, that piece of clothing and that shoe. Whatever that item is, prices are going to go up for us, said Moreno.

One example that Moreno pointed out was TVs. Many are made in Mexico and some only cost $300 now. He anticipates that by the end of the year, that cheap television will cost $500 if high tariffs are imposed.
When most of us think about retirement, we imagine ourselves in our 60's and 70's. For Scott Rieckens, he will have the option to retire in about six years. He's currently 35-years-old.

"My wife and I are making small decisions on a daily basis that make huge changes for our future," said Rieckens.

Rieckens quit his job in San Diego and moved with his wife to Bend, Oregon. They now travel around the country promoting the FIRE method (financial independence and early retirement).

Rieckens said that anyone can apply FIRE to their lives. His documentary, Playing With Fire, shows his journey to financial independence.

He said for those living in San Diego, it is important to cut down housing, transportation, and food costs.

"If you're a bit younger and single you might want to consider house hacking," said Rieckens in Coronado on Friday. "Maybe you purchase a duplex and rent out the other half so someone else is paying half the mortgage."

He also advises attempting to save 40 to 60 percent of your income.

"I had to walk in and quit my job," said Rieckens about making the decision to fully accept the FIRE life style. "The goal was to set myself up with a remote job so I could have flexibility."

Finally, Rieckens said you should invest in low-cost options like index and mutual funds so that your money works for you.

"It's those types of mental shifts that the FIRE framework really champions," he said.
A powerful earthquake rattled coastal townships in Papua New Guinea late Tuesday and authorities say there have been no initial reports of major damage or injuries.

The magnitude 7.5 quake struck in the ocean about 28 miles northeast of Kokopo, a town with a population of about 26,000, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed by several large aftershocks.

Chris McKee, the acting director of geohazards management, said there was some damage in Kokopo as items were shaken from shelves and the power had been cut. He said there had been a small tsunami although it was dark at the time and information about it remained sketchy.

McKee said the earthquake was a strike-slip event along a fault line, a type of quake that doesn't usually trigger major tsunamis.

The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 6 miles, according to the USGS. Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage on the Earth's surface, but the USGS estimated that damage and injuries would be low because of the area's sparse population.

Garfield Tarabu, a spokesman at the National Disaster Centre, said a disaster coordinator was on the ground assessing the situation in and around Kokopo but they hadn't yet gotten an update on the extent of the damage.

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had said tsunami waves of up to 3.3 feet were possible along coastal areas up to 620 miles from the epicenter, including Papua New Guinea and the nearby Solomon Islands.

Papua New Guinea is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, to the east of Indonesia.

It sits on the Pacific's "Ring of Fire," the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where much of the world's earthquakes and volcanic activity occurs.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in February 2018 in the nation's central region killed at least 125 people and forced another 35,000 from their homes. That quake hit areas that are remote and undeveloped, and assessments about the scale of the damage and injuries were slow to filter out.
An infant child who survived being left in a towel on a garbage can by his mother in a Chicago alley and then dropped off at a nearby firehouse by his grandmother now has a name.

Patrick Casey Doe was named after the firefighter, Patrick, and police officer, Casey, who helped take him to the hospital for treatment, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

Langford said Patrick Fitzmorris was the chief paramedic the day the baby was dropped at a Chicago firehouse in the 1700 block of North Pulaski Road in the city's Hermosa neighborhood. The full name of the officer involved wasn't immediately known.

The teenage parents and grandmother of the newborn baby were charged early Friday, according to police.

A 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were identified as the baby's parents and each charged with one felony count of first-degree attempted murder, Chicago police said in a statement. They were not identified, as they were charged as juveniles.

Karla L. Antimo, 37, was identified as the newborn's grandmother and charged with one felony count of disorderly conduct in making a false report of an offense, authorities said.

According to police, the girl gave birth on Tuesday and wrapped the newborn boy in a towel, placing him on top of a garbage can in an alley in the 3500 block of North Pulaski Road in the South Old Irving Park neighborhood on the city's Northwest Side.

The 17-year-old boy then went to the alley, put the baby and towel into a bag and called Antimo, authorities said.

Antimo took the newborn to a Chicago firehouse in the 1700 block of North Pulaski Road in the city's Hermosa neighborhood, according to police, who said there she reported finding the baby at around 3:30 p.m. on top of a garbage can in a nearby alley in the 1700 block of North Keystone Avenue.

Paramedics took the baby to Norwegian American Hospital in critical condition just after 4 p.m., officials said. The baby was "crying and kicking," according to a fire department spokesman, and his condition was upgraded to stable before he was then transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital.

Police said Thursday that a 16-year-old girl came forward the previous night and had been positively identified as the mother of the child. On Friday, officials said Antimo admitted during the investigation that she was the grandmother of the newborn. All three were expected to appear in court Friday.

The newborn was the first baby to be illegally abandoned in Illinois this year, according to Dawn Geras, who lobbied to pass Illinois' "Safe Haven" law.

Under the law, infants 30 days or younger may be dropped off with no questions asked at a hospital, fire or police station, according to the state's Department of Child and Family Services.
Two bomb experts were among the suicide attackers who struck churches and hotels on Easter in Sri Lanka and all those directly involved in the bombings are either dead or under arrest, police said.

Acting police chief C.D. Wickramaratne also said in a statement late Monday that explosives the Islamic State-linked group stacked for use in more attacks have been seized.

The bombings killed 257 people and wounded hundreds at three churches and three hotels. Seven suicide bombers died at their targets while another exploded his device later at a guesthouse after his device failed at a leading tourist hotel. A ninth killed herself to avoid capture by police at her home.

Police have detained 73 suspects for investigations since the bombings and have seized stocks of explosives, improvised explosives devices and hundreds of swords. Also they have found $140,000 in cash in bank accounts connected to the group and another $40 million worth of assets in land, houses, vehicles and jewelry.

Authorities had repeatedly said another attack from the extremist group was possible.

Sri Lanka's Catholic church hierarchy closed churches for a second weekend on Sunday as the faithful celebrated Mass from home watching live on television.

But on Tuesday, one of the churches targeted in the attacks, St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, opened a section of the church to the public for the first time since the bombing, enabling devotees to pray in the church as was customary every Tuesday.

Catholic schools remain closed until further notice after reports said two of their locations were to be attacked last weekend.

Government-run schools reopened for students of higher classes Monday but fewer students attended out of fear.

Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake on Monday urged the public to resume normal activities trusting in the security forces.

"I ask the people not to fear unnecessarily, not to believe rumors...believe in the tri-forces and police that defeated one of deadliest terrorist organizations in the world," he said of the ethnic Tamil separatists who fought a 26-year civil war. The conflict ended 10 years ago.
Li calls for efforts to move forward with South China Sea code of conduct talks

China and Cambodia should better align development strategies and move forward with pragmatic cooperation in key areas to jointly build a community with a shared future between the two countries, Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

Li's remarks came as he met with Prak Sokhonn, Cambodia's deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing.
Amanda Knox is returning to Italy for the first time since she was convicted and imprisoned, but ultimately acquitted, in the murder and sexual assault of her British roommate in the hilltop university town of Perugia.

The American was invited to attend a conference June 14-15 organized in Modena by the Criminal Chamber of the northern city and the Italy Innocence Project, which seeks to help people who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Knox, 31, will be speaking on the role of the media in judicial errors on the last day of the conference.

"The Italy Innocence Project didn't yet exist when I was wrongly convicted in Perugia. I'm honored to accept their invitation to speak to the Italian people at this historic event and return to Italy for the first time," Knox, who is from Seattle, said Tuesday on Twitter.

Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were initially convicted in the slaying of student Meredith Kercher in 2007.

Their convictions were annulled by the country's highest court in 2015 after a yearslong series of flip-flop higher-court decisions. Judges in that final ruling cited flaws in the investigation and said there was a lack of evidence to prove their wrongdoing beyond reasonable doubt, including a lack of "biological traces" connecting them to the crime.

Italy's highest court did, however, confirm a conviction against Knox for falsely accusing a Congolese bar owner in the case.

An Ivorian immigrant is serving a 16-year sentence for the murder.
What to Know President Donald Trumps threatened tariffs of 5% on Mexican imports will affect key electoral states such as Arizona, Michigan and Texas

The duties potentially jeopardize approval of the presidents updates to the North American Free Trade Agreement

The tariffs would hit a variety of industries, from transportation equipment to computer and electronic inputs

A handful of U.S. states  including some that will play big roles in the 2020 election  will feel the brunt of the pain from President Donald Trumps new tariffs on imports from Mexico.

On Thursday night, the president said the U.S. would put 5% duties on all Mexican imports on June 10 to push its southern neighbor to curb illegal immigration. The tariffs will gradually increase to 25% in October, the White House said.

If Trump goes through with the duties, their effects will ripple across the country. America imported $346.5 billion in goods from Mexico last year, 10% more than in the prior year, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. But several key 2020 electoral states would take a particularly sharp blow from the tariffs.

Border state Arizona gets about 40% of its imports from Mexico, the highest share for any state. About 38% of Michigans imported products come from Mexico, while about 35% of Texas imports are from its southern neighbor.

Trumps surprise tariffs on Mexican goods could raise costs for companies and consumers in those three states, which the president carried in the 2016 election.

Michigan is a swing state that had voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Texas is a reliably red state, but nonetheless has several Republican lawmakers facing tough reelection campaigns next year. Arizona has been trending toward favoring Democrats.

The duties could have broader effects. They raise questions about whether the U.S. and Mexico can ratify updates to the North American Free Trade Agreement, a top Trump priority. Only Thursday afternoon, the Trump administration took a formal step to speed up congressional approval of the deal, dubbed the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA.

The Republican senators from Iowa  an electoral swing state reliant on agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada  warned of dire consequences from the tariffs. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley called Trumps plan a misuse of presidential tariff authority that would seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA, a central campaign pledge of President Trumps. Sen. Joni Ernst, who is up for reelection next year, also said that if the president goes through with this, Im afraid progress to get this trade agreement across the finish line will be stifled.

Sen. Martha McSally, an Arizona Republican who will run to keep her seat in one of next years most important Senate races, said in a statement that she does not support these types of tariffs, which will harm our economy and be passed onto Arizona small businesses and families.

Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat up for reelection next year, said in a statement he is concerned about the impact of the presidents proposal on Michigan workers and our auto industry. He added that its unclear how this will strengthen security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The most powerful Republican in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, gave a more tepid response. In a statement, the Kentucky lawmaker said a healthy and vibrant economic relationship with Mexico is a vital source of our joint prosperity.

Any proposal that impacts this relationship deserves serious examination and I look forward to discussing this plan in greater detail with my colleagues and the administration, he said.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas  both of whom could face tough reelection bids next year  did not immediately respond to CNBCs requests for comment.

The tariffs would affect a range of products and industries. The top imports from Mexico include transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, and chemicals.

Business interest groups, from the National Association of Manufacturers to the National Pork Producers Council, criticized the tariff plan, raising fears about the prospects for USMCA ratification and retaliatory tariffs on American exports to Mexico.

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Webster police are looking for a suspect who may have kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl Friday afternoon.

The girl went to the police station with her parents to report the incident, police said.

The girl reported that she was in the May Street Park in Webster that afternoon when a man in a small black, two-door sedan abducted her. Police said the man may have taken her over the Connecticut border and assaulted her.

Detectives from the Webster Police Department, as well as detectives from the Connecticut State Police immediately began an investigation, which remains very active at this time," police stated in a news release. "As such there is limited information as to what can be released, so as not to jeopardize the ongoing criminal investigation."

Webster Police Officers will conduct more frequent patrol checks of the public parks during their respective patrol shifts.

the suspect was described as Caucasian, possible 5 feet, 10 inches tall and was "scruffy." Police said due to the "sensitive and complex" nature of the investigation, they could not release more details.

Anyone with information is advised to contact the Webster Police Department at 508-943-1212, and ask for Detective Chris Trainor or Officer Joe Reed. Anonymous tips may be left at 508-949-3874, or through our website www.websterpublicsafety.com.
Its a weekend of division across New England, with cool air near the coast and warm air inland.

Early fog on Saturday will burn off to partly cloudy skies, allowing temperatures to warm close to 80 in parts of Western and Central Massachusetts, as well as Southern New Hampshire. The sky will appear hazy, as more smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts overhead.

At the coast a cooling east wind will keep temperatures in the 60s to around 70. Here fog will flirt with beaches, especially on the Cape and Islands, during the day.

A spot shower or storm is possible in parts of far Northern and Western New England during the day, but most towns stay dry.

Fog redevelops overnight Saturday into Sunday, with temperatures in the 50s for many, and then that gradually burns off during the day.

By Sunday afternoon highs will again climb into the 70s inland with 60s to near 70 at the coast.

Showers and storms will be more widespread during the afternoon on Sunday, first in Western New England, and then they gradually slide east. A few strong to severe storms are possible west of Worcester. Expect the storms to arrive in Central Massachusetts and much of New Hampshire around or after 5 PM in many cases. As the wet weather continues to ride east, it will run into stable marine air, meaning storms weaken to just showers for Boston at night.

The next work-week starts cool, in the 60s, but then gradually warms back up into the 70s to near 80 by mid-week.
Police say a Maine man who'd just purchased a motorcycle suffered fatal injuries in a crash while riding it home.

The Somerset County Sheriff Department said 66-year-old Barry Morriss, of Madison, Maine, was pronounced dead Friday at Redington-Fairview General Hospital.

Investigators say Morriss had just purchased the motorcycle and was riding it back to his residence when he crashed in Anson. He was being followed by his step-son in a vehicle.

Officials say Morriss was flung into a ditch after losing control of the motorcycle. Investigators believe speed and inexperience are to blame, but the crash remains under investigation.
The Pawtucket Police Department announced they fired a probationary officer accused of sexual assault.

Thomas Cahill, 24, of Johnston, Rhode Island was charged by the Johnston Police Department with second-degree sexual assault while he was off-duty.

According to Johnston police, the victim reported that Cahill touched her inappropriately while inside Bar 101.

Chief Tina Goncalves said in a news release that Cahill was fired immediately.

"The Pawtucket Police Department does not condone or tolerate any criminal behavior," Goncalves said.

Cahill was arraigned before a Justice of the Peace, with bail set at $10,000. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim and is scheduled to face a judge in June.
One person is under treatment for life threatening injuries following a multi-vehicle crash in Sharon.

The accident, which occurred just before 10 p.m. Friday, occurred in the area of 337 Main St., according to Sharon fire officials.

Two other people were taken to a local hospital for treatment of what appeared to be minor injuries. Another occupant was transported with critical injuries, a fire official said.

Sharon police, the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office are assisting Massachusetts State Police in the investigation.
(CNN)  Months of intense trade negotiations between the United States and China may, once again, come down to a meeting between the leaders of the world's two economic superpowers later this month, and no one is quite sure what will happen after that.

Deadlock with the Asian giant comes as President Donald Trump is expanding his trade fights on multiple fronts. On Thursday, he threatened to hit Mexico with new tariffs, escalating his immigration fight with the country's largest trading partner and jeopardizing ratification of his top legislative priority, a revised North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Trump administration has repeatedly used tariffs as a punitive measure to drive a hard bargain in its negotiations, but executives representing the nation's most influential business lobbying group warned the latest move by the White House against Mexico will send the wrong message to other US trading partners, like the European Union, Japan and China, all currently engaged in talks.

"What happens in Mexico doesn't happen without the rest of the world seeing it," said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on a call with reporters on Friday. "At some point that begins to weaken your ability to negotiate deals around the world."

The collapse of talks between the United States and Beijing earlier this month has triggered an indefinite suspension of trade negotiations after the Trump administration escalated tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods over Beijing's failure to keep previously held commitments as part of a trade deal. China has responded with its own set of penalties on U.S. goods, which went into effect on Friday.

But Trump has shown no signs of relenting, threatening to impose further tariffs that "could go up very, very substantially, very easily."

"I think they probably wish they made the deal that they had on the table before they tried to renegotiate," Trump said at a joint press conference in Tokyo alongside Japanese leader Shinzo Abe during his visit there. "They would like to make a deal. We're not ready to make a deal."

Meanwhile, Beijing has also drawn its own "red lines" for any prospective trade deal accusing the U.S. of committing "economic terrorism."

On Friday, China escalated tensions by announcing it was preparing to blacklist foreign companies, individuals and organizations just as its own set of retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of US goods went into effect at midnight in Beijing.

Details of the blacklist have yet to be announced but the move comes after the U.S. hit Huawei with an export ban, effectively barring American companies from doing business with the smartphone and telecom equipment maker.

The White House has "brought huge damage to the economy of other countries and the U.S. itself," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. China has pushed backed on any deal that would leave US tariffs in place and bar Beijing from taking retaliatory action if the U.S. imposes punitive measures should the country fail to keep its commitments.

"We're in a period where both sides think they have the upper hand in the negotiations and are sending public signals to that effect," said Wendy Cutler, a managing director for the Asia Society and a former diplomat and negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative under President Barack Obama. "At this point, both sides think they can outlast the other in this current situation."

The latest impasse closely resembles weeks of deadlock between U.S. and Chinese negotiators in the lead up to a dinner encounter between the two leaders in Argentina last December.

The next possible meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping could come at the end of June on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in Japan. No official meeting has been set, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has signaled there are no immediate plans for the US delegation to head to Beijing for further talks.

Former trade officials expect that both countries will meet even on an informal basis so it doesn't appear that the two countries have stopped talking to each other entirely.

But former negotiators also said that China's abrupt reversal on commitments in part of a 150-page trade deal with the US was not an unusual tactic.

"It's too early to know whether what just happened is a short-term negotiation tactic by the Chinese or a longer-term play," said one former senior US trade official. "It would be really bad if the U.S. caved right now. We shouldn't look like we really want it that badly."

But veteran trade negotiators said it's clear China had underestimated the U.S. response, assuming that Trump wanted the deal to close and miscalculated what his response would be.

"Both sides have made miscalculations in this negotiation," said Cutler. "President Xi Jinping thought Trump probably wanted the deal so badly he could send text crossed out and it would be OK because he wanted the deal so much. He miscalculated the U.S. and the U.S. had miscalculated China as it looks to the Chinese economic slowdown and concludes quickly that it has the advantage in the negotiations without appreciating all the tools that China has in hand to cause pain to consumers and exporters."

Before the Mexico move, Trump had backed away from his trade war, agreeing to lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, a critical hurdle cleared for ratification of Trump's replacement for NAFTA.

He also delayed a decision to impose new tariffs on foreign automobiles as the Trump administration seeks to negotiate new trade deals with the European Union and Japan.

Trump administration officials are talking to Mexican leaders, and Trump hasn't closed the door entirely on the ability of the U.S. and China to reach an agreement eventually without offering a deadline.

"I think sometime in the future China and the United States will absolutely have a great trade deal, and we look forward to that," Trump said in Japan. "Because I don't believe that China can continue to pay these, really, hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs. I don't believe they can do that."

Earlier this week, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman responded to the President's comments on trade negotiations, arguing Washington has been inconsistent with its message claiming senior officials within the Trump administration have made "all kinds of remarks."

"Sometimes they said a deal was within reach and sometimes they said it was very difficult to reach a deal," Lu told reporters in Beijing on Monday.

"When you review remarks from China, our stance has been consistent," he added.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "China talks remain in limbo as Trump turns attention to Mexico."
TEHERAN - Thousands of Iranians rallied on Friday to mark Quds, or Jerusalem Day, which will see demonstrations across the Middle East as the Trump administration tries to offer an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

The annual protests, also being held in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere, come on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Iran has marked Quds Day since the start of its 1979 Islamic Revolution by late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, and Iran says the day is an occasion to express support for the Palestinians.

Israel views Iran as its archenemy in the region. Iran does not recognize Israel and supports the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

In Teheran, rallies began across the city. They all headed to Teheran University, where the ceremony ended at Friday noontime prayers. Similar rallies took place in 950 cities and towns across the country.

This year's protests come as the White House is promoting the June 25-26 meeting in the Gulf state of Bahrain as the first phase of its long-awaited Middle East peace plan. That plan, whose specifics have yet to be released, includes large-scale investment and infrastructure work in the Palestinian territories, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries.

Palestinian leaders say they won't attend the summit. US officials say the Bahrain conference will not include the core political issues of the conflict: Borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands.

On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US and its allies will fail to impose the so-called "Deal of the Century" on Palestinians.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has described the peace plan as "shameful".

"If the deal is implemented, it will be an eternal loss for Palestine and a major gain for its occupiers," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, embroiled in political chaos after failing to assemble a governing coalition, attempted on Thursday to divert public attention with his signature strategy: Political theater.

Addressing a nation bewildered by the prospect of an unprecedented second election campaign in the same year, Netanyahu brandished an official US State Department map that had been updated to incorporate the long-disputed Golan Heights as part of Israel.

He said that US President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner gifted him the map during his visit to Israel. Kushner and other architects of the US administration's Middle East peace plan are visiting the region to build momentum for the long-awaited proposal.

"This map had not been updated since the Six Day War," said Netanyahu, referring to the 1967 Middle East war, after which Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, and later annexed it in a move not internationally recognized. "Well, it has been updated, it just got an update. ... That is to say, there are very important developments here."

The US delegation is on a trip in the region this week, seeking support for the Middle East peace plan that the US plans to roll out soon.

The delegation arrived in Israel on Wednesday, after meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman. The king reiterated his support to the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

AP - Reuters - Xinhua

(China Daily 06/01/2019 page7)
THE HAGUE - Vice-President Wang Qishan paid a visit to the Netherlands from Tuesday to Thursday, pledging to cement bilateral ties and achieve common development.

During his stay in The Hague, Wang met with Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Mark Rutte separately.

Wang conveyed best regards from President Xi Jinping to King Willem-Alexander, saying the China-Netherlands relations have seen a rapid growth in recent years in the spirit of mutual respect and seeking common ground while putting aside differences.

The facts prove that the two countries can achieve common development and prosperity despite their different social systems, cultures and development stages, said Wang.

China welcomes the Netherlands to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, Wang said, hoping the Dutch side would create a fair, nondiscriminatory and transparent business environment for the Chinese investors.

Stressing the historical trend of economic globalization, Wang said China has always insisted on mutual benefit and win-win cooperation based on consultations on equal footing in a bid to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

King Willem-Alexander said the Netherlands values relations with China, and expressed his satisfaction with the recent development of bilateral ties.

While meeting with Rutte on Wednesday, Wang said his visit to the Netherlands was aimed at enhancing communication and mutual trust and implementing consensus reached by leaders of the two countries during their mutual visits.

He urged the two sides to enhance bilateral trade, facilitate investment and deepen cooperation in financial and innovative sectors.

China supports the European integration, said Wang, adding that China will work with the European side to safeguard and uphold the free trade principles and jointly build an open world economy.

The Netherlands is Wang's second stop of his Asia-Europe tour, which will also take him to Germany. Wang had visited Pakistan starting from May 26.

Xinhua

(China Daily 06/01/2019 page8)
Students from St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Brookfield have been raising trout in the classroom for the past several months.

The students released the trout on Friday into Lake Lillinonah, on the north shore of the lake on the east side of Route 133.
BEDFORD  An ex-lieutenant and paramedic with the Bedford Country Department of Fire & Rescue was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for having sexual contact with two 17-year-old girls.

One of the victims, now 18, testified at Larry Scott Hawkins' sentencing hearing in Bedford Circuit Court. He pleaded guilty in February to one count of soliciting a minor in relation to that victim and one count of assault and battery in relation to a second victim.

Reading from a prepared statement from the witness stand Friday, the victim said she's suffered from PTSD, severe anxiety and depression since Hawkins had sexual conversations with her online for a four-month period starting in late 2017.

She said she's also sleeping poorly and having trouble communicating with her father after her contact with Hawkins.

As a fire & rescue volunteer in Bedford County, she said she's encountered tensions in that circle since the case has progressed.

I can't go to any fire functions without being stared at or called names, she said.

Bedford County Administrator Robert Hiss said Friday that Bedford County Department of Fire & Rescue employees went through mandatory discrimination and harassment training in June 2018, in response to investigations and about four months after Hawkins' arrest. Jack Jones, chief of Bedford County Department of Fire & Rescue, was unavailable for comment Friday.

The victim told Hawkins from the stand that she forgives him and won't let his actions keep her from pursuing her dreams of being a police officer like her father.

I do not like you, but I do not hate you, she said.

Other witnesses who've responded to calls with Hawkins from the Montvale Volunteer Fire Company, where he was chief for 10 years, spoke of all the people he's helped and lives hes tried to save as a first responder. They said he has mentored a number of young people involved with fire and rescue, both male and female; one said Hawkins is one of the best paramedics I've ever seen.

Hawkins, 53, was terminated from county employment weeks after his arrest in February 2018. He said Friday hes been working as a truck driver after he was granted bond.

He apologized to the victim and insisted he wasn't grooming her or the other victim to lower their inhibitions toward sexual contact.

It's just one of those things of being misled, he said.

When needled by Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Stacey Stickney on that statement, Hawkins said the victim told him she was 18 on multiple occasions. He also acknowledged he knew she was a high school student in late 2017 when he met her and learned she was taking college courses.

He claimed their relationship was just a friendship, thats all it was.

The second victim also interactedwith Hawkins in a fire & rescue setting: Stickney said Hawkins rubbed her thighs, kissed her neck and rubbed up against her sexually in a vehicle bay. Search warrants indicated his conduct with her was caught on camera.

Stickney called him a predator wearing a uniform who would prey on the girls by gaining their trust.

Dirk Padgett, who represented Hawkins, said no other young people his client has mentored have made similar allegations against him. He asked for suspended time for Hawkins so he can continue to take care of his mother, who lives next door to him in Montvale.

After the hearing, Padgett said Hawkins is not a predator and merely experienced a lapse in judgment. He said he expects Hawkins to do well once he gets out of incarceration and return to being a productive member of society.

Hawkins will be required to turn himself in on June 7. After he serves three years in prison, he'll be on supervised probation for four years and need to be on good behavior for 10 years or else face more prison time that Updike suspended.

Hes forbidden from unsupervised contact with any minor, any contact with the two victims and will need to register as a sex offender.
Joi and her husband wanted a baby.

We wanted to be pregnant in the worst way, she says.

For more than a decade, they tried. So many tests, and then more tests. Blood draws and injections. In 2002, it happened.

They were expecting a daughter. They would call her Jordan.

Joi was in her early 40s with a high-risk pregnancy, but everything seemed to be fine until the 20th week, when she underwent amniocentesis. The test revealed no genetic abnormalities, but something wasnt right. Their babys abdomen was swelling.

I was in a panic, but I was laser-focused on figuring out the problem, Joi says. Im a physical therapist by training. I believe the science. I also over-research.

She called her sister to postpone the baby shower. She and her husband quit going to work. This was the next two weeks of their lives, as described by Joi in a letter to her congressman, 15 years later:

Fearing something was dreadfully wrong, we began the gut-wrenching quest to determine what the future held for our child. Specialist after specialist, test after test, bloodwork, ultrasounds  both vaginal and transdermal  palpation, measurements of every one of her body parts, scan after scan, doctor visits from Morristown to Manhattan, and towns in between to find out all of the answers.

In the 22nd week of Jois pregnancy, a doctor sat them down. There is nothing we can do to save your baby, he said.

Jois options, as described by one parent in their bereavement group, were horrible and terrible.

Do I let that child disintegrate inside me, and any time it could fall out? On a floor? While Im driving? Did I want to fish her out of the toilet? What if Im home alone when it happens? Its unfathomable.

The other option broke their hearts, but felt more humane. She and her husband agreed to a process to induce early labor.

I didnt know the abortion restrictions in my state at that time, she says. I knew I was having a medical emergency. This is what a late-term abortion  I hate that term  is. Its not a choice. You have no choice.

I wanted to deliver her and meet her. You know, you get that one chance to meet them and hold them, and then in the same minute, almost, you have to say goodbye.

She went into the hospital on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. It would take 12 hours, they were told. It didnt work out that way, she says. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. She was in labor for 45 hours.

Jordan was born on the morning of Memorial Day. They held her, and then handed her over for an autopsy and cremation.

I was in a black hole for a long time, Joi says. My eyes never stopped crying for weeks, Joi says. Sometimes, I was sobbing. Other times, I was sitting and tears were just streaming down my face.

I have never met Joi, who has asked that I not use her full name in syndication because she fears harassment from anti-abortion extremists. I heard from her after I shared a story quoting Pope Francis, who said last Saturday that abortion is unacceptable, even when the fetus is fatally ill.

Is it legitimate to take out a human life to solve a problem? the pope said at a Vatican conference on the issue. Is it permissible to contract a hitman to solve a problem?

A hitman, Joi says in a phone interview. This procedure is so rare. And to equate devastated parents who get this medical diagnosis, who face this medical emergency in the hope that they can save this baby... Her voice trailed off.

It reminded her of Donald Trump, who lied about abortion at a Wisconsin rally in late April.

The baby is born, Trump said. The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby; they wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.

If a lie can be evil, this is it. There is no bottom to Trumps desire to demonize women, and too many people willing to believe him. That is why Joi is increasingly speaking out. Donald Trump knows how to speak to an emotional trigger in people, and they do his bidding.

She saw this in some of her friends. Some of them are fundamental Christians, she says, and they started posting this garbage. They knew about my experience, but I was not their first thought.

She started sending them private messages, but it didnt feel like enough. She had to do more. She shared a helluva status update on my Facebook wall. She has been writing more often to legislators, too. And now shes talking to a columnist.

For a lot of years, I couldnt talk about this, she says. Its very isolating. Its in the shadows.

Joi and her husband have a 14-year-old daughter now. Were lucky, she says. We have a family. That doesnt always happen for couples who go through this.

Had Jordan lived, she would have turned 17 this past Memorial Day. It feels like yesterday, Joi says, and forever ago.

Each year, she remembers Jordan in her own way. I try to plant things, Joi says. I try to make things grow.

Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and professional in residence at Kent State Universitys school of journalism. Email her at con.schultz@yahoo.com.
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(Newser)  Frank Lucas, the former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 movie American Gangster, has died, a relative said Friday. Lucas, who was 88, died Thursday in New Jersey, nephew Aldwan Lassiter said. Lucas had been in declining health, according to his former lawyer. Raised in North Carolina, Lucas climbed the ranks of crime in Harlem in the 1960s and '70s, becoming a major drug dealer known for supplying huge amounts of particularly potent heroin, per the AP. He said it netted him millions, and authorities seized over $500,000 in cash when they raided his house in Teaneck, NJ, in 1975. He was convicted and sentenced to decades in prison, but he turned informant and was released after about five years. Lucas was quickly arrested again for drug dealing, on a much smaller scale. He served seven more years, getting out again in 1991.

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Lucas' story became the basis for the Ridley Scott-directed American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington as Lucas and Russell Crowe as Richard "Richie" Roberts. The film got awards buzz but also brought scrutiny of claims about Lucas' legend, particularly a portrayal of him smuggling drugs in US soldiers' caskets during the Vietnam War; he said in 2008 he transported heroin via coffin just once. There was also pushback on an assertion that Lucas rooted out law enforcement corruption, but a suit on that was thrown out. As for Lucas' unquestioned role in supplying heroin that killed some users, he told the AP in 2007 that he regretted it. "I did some terrible things. I'm awfully sorry that I did them. I really am," he said. Lucas had another brush with the law in 2012: He pleaded guilty to lying to try cashing in twice on a $17,000 federal disability benefit check. He was sentenced to five years' probation, with prosecutors saying they agreed to it due to his poor health and age. (Read more obituary stories.)
(Newser)  As Virginia Beach tries to make sense of the country's latest mass shooting, which took 12 lives at a municipal building there Friday and injured at least four, more details are trickling out. Officials at a Saturday morning press conference IDed the gunman, who died after being shot by police, as DeWayne Craddock, per the APand they say this is the only time we'll hear them call the gunman by his name. Mayor Bobby Dyer calls the shooting "the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," the state's largest city and a popular vacation destination, the Richmond Times-Dispatch notes. Meanwhile, a local whose husband works in the building next to City Hall where the shooting took place and survived the tragedy says what happened is "unbelievable." "By and large, it's a pretty calm and peaceful place to live," a shocked Cheryl Benn says. More on this story:



The 12 victims were IDed at the Saturday morning presser, and 11 of the 12 were city employees who worked for either the Department of Public Works or the Department of Public Utilities, per the Washington Post and WRAL. The last victim was said to be a contractor. Gov. Ralph Northam tweeted a list of the victims' names. "They leave a void we will never be able to fill," City Manager Dave Hansen told reporters.

Meanwhile, more on Craddock, a 40-year-old who police Chief James Cervera said engaged in a "long gunbattle" with cops before he was fatally shot, per CNN. Craddock was said to be a certified professional engineer with the public utilities department, and a 1996 news report noted he'd served in the Army National Guard. His record on first search seems to be mostly clean, with just a 2013 motor vehicle infraction.

Law enforcement officials tell the Wall Street Journal Craddock was a disgruntled employee bent on revenge, noting that he'd been accumulating firearms in recent weeks. The .45 handgun and rifle he used were legally purchased.

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(Read more Virginia Beach shooting stories.)
(Newser)  President Trump will be meeting with Queen Elizabeth on Monday during his visit to the UK, and Buckingham Palace says Prince Charles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton will also be in attendance, per USA Today. Prince Harry will also reportedly meet Trump during a tea with his father, per Town and Country, but Harry's wife, Meghan Markle, isn't expected to be there. The official line is that Markle is still on maternity leave from her official duties to tend to her new son, Archie, though there are whispers that her absence may be tied to her vocal dislike of Trump: She said during a May 2016 interview that Trump was "divisive" and "misogynistic," the Independent notes.

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Trump just apparently got wind of these comments for the first timethe Sun filled him in in advance of his visitand the president seemed to be surprised. "I didn't know that," he told the paper. "What can I say? I didn't know that she was nasty." He added he didn't know Markle might not be meeting with him during his visit, but that despite all that, he thinks she'll make a "very good" American princess and he wishes her well. "I am sure she will do excellently," he said. "I hope she does [succeed]." Trump also hopes his four adult children, whom he's bringing with him on the trip, will get to meet Prince William and Prince Harry. "I think my children will be meeting them," he said. "It would be nice." (Read more President Trump stories.)
(Newser)  China's state media says the country is investigating FedEx after it allegedly diverted packages sent by Chinese tech giant Huawei, the AP reports. The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday that FedEx "severely harmed clients' legitimate rights and interests and violated China's delivery industry regulations." Four packages containing paperwork sent out by Huawei were found to have been either diverted, per Huawei, or were attempted to be diverted, to FedEx headquarters in Memphis, Tenn., instead of being delivered to Huawei offices in Asia. Huawei tells Reuters two of the packages were sent from Japan and two from Vietnam.

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One package sent from Vietnam did arrive at its destination Friday, the company acknowledged, while another appears to be on its way, per tracking info. FedEx apologized and said the packages were misrouted accidentally. It added the company wasn't told by anyone to divert the packages. "This is an isolated issue limited to a very small number of packages," says a FedEx spokeswoman. "We are aware of all shipments at issue and are working directly with our customers to return the packages to their possession." The missed deliveries drew unusual attention because of speculation that they're related to rising US-China trade tensions and US sanctions on Huawei.

(Read more Huawei stories.)
(Newser)  Another death linked to a picture-taking session, this time in California. Fire officials say the body of a "young woman" was found Friday in a bay at Emerald Bay State Park, which is in South Lake Tahoe, per Fox News. "Crews from the Tahoe Truckee Regional Rescue Team responded ... to recover the body of a young woman who was taking photos at the falls, lost her footing, and went over," a statement from the North Tahoe Fire Protection District read. The woman was said to have been taking pictures at Eagle Falls.

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NBC News notes it's not clear when the woman fell, but the fire protection district's social media accounts started posting word about her death Friday evening. Officials also put out a warning on selfie-taking. "This is a sad reminder to be cautious when taking selfies and other photos in dangerous areas," the fire protection district noted. "Don't [underestimate] the power of [waterfalls], rivers, and cold water temperatures." (Read more death by selfie stories.)
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New Delhi:

Admission officials and student counsellors of Delhi University were flooded with queries on Friday about Mathematics being mandatory in the Best of Four subjects for BA (Hons) in Economics. Many angry parents, who were present at the first Open Day, questioned admission officials why Mathematics was made a mandatory subject in the Best of Four.

Till last year, if a student had 50 per cent in Mathematics, he could apply for BA (Hons) in Economics, but this year it has been made mandatory for Best of Four, which means it has to be part of the top four subjects, aggregate of which will be considered for admission.

Why was it not done last year? Why was it done this year? questioned a parent.

Admission officials told them that for the Best of Four, one language subject, Mathematics and combination of best two other elective subjects are necessary. If the student does not include Economics in Best of Four, he will have to undergo a deduction of one per cent in the aggregate.

A counsellor said he had answered several queries about it and also complained that they were being queried about things that are already there in the admission bulletin.

Some student counsellors said many students and their parents had not read the bulletin of information and were making queries, the answers to which were already there in the bulletin.

A DU aspirant, Mehak, said, They have provided us handouts about eligibility criterion for various courses but I still have queries.

I want to pursue Bsc (Home Science) but I passed my Class 12 in Humanities. I do not know whether I will have to undergo a deduction in the aggregate if I apply, she said.

The online registration process for Delhi University began at 8pm on May 30. The online registration will end on June 14 and the first cut-off is likely to be declared on June 20.

The second cut-off list will likely be out on June 25, while the third cut-off list will be out on June 29. The fourth and fifth cut-offs are likely to be announced on July 4 and July 5, respectively.
New Delhi:

Amid widespread backlash over the reported proposal of three-language formula in schools, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday clarified that the Centre was not intended to impose any language on anybody, and the final decision would be taken only after getting public feedback. Dismissing apprehensions over the new education policy, Javadekar said only a report has been submitted regarding the formula so far and the government was yet to take any decision on it. Therefore, the misunderstanding that the government has decided on the new education policy is not true.

"After we will get the public feedback, then only it will come up before the government. More importantly, the Modi government has always promoted all Indian languages and therefore there is no intention of imposing any language on anybody," the Information and Broadcasting Minister was quoted by ANI as saying.

I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar on reported proposal of 3-language system in schools: There is no intention of imposing any language on anybody, we want to promote all Indian languages. It's a draft prepared by committee, which will be decided by govt after getting public feedback pic.twitter.com/t16JC3P8bf  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

"Committee has submitted its report to Ministry, it's not the policy. Public feedback will be sought, it's a misunderstanding that it has become a policy. No language will be imposed on any state," HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said.

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on reported proposal of 3-language system in schools: Committee has submitted its report to Ministry, it's not the policy. Public feedback will be sought, it's a misunderstanding that it has become a policy. No language will be imposed on any state. pic.twitter.com/hFhJLvAFHF  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

The draft prepared by a panel led by eminent scientist K Kasturirangan was unveiled on Friday, triggering a massive controversy in several parts of India, especially in Tamil Nadu as regional parties, including DMK, warned of a language war on the issue.

Recalling the anti-Hindi agitations beginning as early as 1937 in Tamil Nadu, the DMK chief MK Stalin in a statement said since 1968 the state was following the two-language formula of learning only Tamil and English, adding that the party would never tolerate imposition of Hindi and strongly oppose it.

Parties including the CPI and BJP's ally in the Lok Sabha elections, the PMK too alleged the recommendation on the three-language formula was "imposition of Hindi" and wanted scrapping it. Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan said "be it language or a project, if we do not like that, it should not be forced on us". He said his party would pursue legal options against it.

READ | Maths made mandatory in 'best of four' subjects for admission to BA (H) in Economics at DU

Tamil Nadu Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan told local media, "There will be no deviation from the two-language formula followed in Tamil Nadu. Only Tamil and English will continue to be taught in our State".

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram in a series of tweets in Tamil said, "What is the meaning of three language formula in schools? The meaning is they will make Hindi a compulsory subject..." In another tweet, he said, "If Hindi language is a compulsory subject its import is imposition of Hindi". "The BJP governments real face is beginning to emerge..." the former finance minister wrote.

Seeking to cool frayed tempers, the Tamil Nadu government also said it would continue with the two-language formula in the state.

What is three-language formula?

The draft National Education Policy, 2019 available on the government website said the three-language formula will need to be implemented in its spirit throughout the country, promoting multilingual communicative abilities for a multilingual country. Schools in Hindi speaking areas should also offer and teach Indian languages from other parts of India, it added.

The three-language formula, followed since the adoption of the National Policy on Education 1968 and endorsed in subsequent years will be continued.

Since research now clearly showed that children picked up languages quickly between the ages of 2 and 8, and moreover that multilingualism has great cognitive benefits to students, children will now be immersed in three languages early on, starting from the foundational stage onwards, it said.

READ | Quality and Quantity Paradox in Admissions in Higher Education

"...students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, ... while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English".

Also, every student will take a fun course on "The Languages of India" sometime in Grades 6-8.

The draft policy said India also has "an extremely rich literature in other classical languages, including classical Tamil, as well as classical Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia, in addition to Pali, Persian, and Prakrit; these classical languages and their literatures too must be preserved for their richness and for the pleasure and enrichment of posterity".

A choice of foreign languages like French and German, would be offered and available to interested students to choose as electives during secondary school.
New Delhi:

The temporary restrictions that were imposed on the Indian airspace since February 27 in the aftermath of the Balakot strikes were lifted on Friday, the Indian Air Force said. "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed," the IAF tweeted on Friday.

Earlier, Pakistan, for the second time, extended closure of airspace along the Indian border till June 15. "It has been more than two-and-a-half-months but there is no progress in the lifting of the ban either by Pakistan or India. It is surprising that no back-channel diplomacy is used to show flexibility on this matter that is causing huge losses to both Indian and Pakistani flag carriers as well as foreign airlines," a Pakistani official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.



Due to the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from US and Europe flying in and out of New Delhi are the worst hit. Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.





The Pakistan International Airlines' (PIA) operations for Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi have been suspended since February 26, causing a loss of millions of rupees per day. Before the airspace ban by India, PIA operated four flights to Kuala Lumpur, two to Bangkok and two to New Delhi per week. Similarly, the foreign airlines who were operating on these routes had to suspend their operations.

For Pakistani passengers to reach these destinations - Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok -, they have to take connecting flights from the Gulf.Airlines from central and west Asia now take much longer routes. For example, Delhi-Astana flight now takes three extra hours while Delhi to Moscow flight takes more than two additional hours.

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Srinagar:

Displaying the true traditions of 'Kashmiriyat', a tourist guide sacrificed his own life to save five people, including two visitors from West Bengal, after their raft capsized in Lidder river flowing through the picturesque South Kashmir resort town of Pahalgham. Rouf Ahmed Dar, a registered professional rafter, cared a little about his life and jumped into the river when the raft overturned near Mawoora after it was caught in a sudden gusty winds.

The five people, three locals and a couple from West Bengal, were onboard the raft when the tragedy struck it on Friday evening at the rafting point in Pahalgham, 96 kms south of Srinagar.

Quoting eyewitness, officials said that Dar, who was escorting the couple as a tourist guide, had initially swam to safety. But on seeing the others getting drawn into the water, wasted no time and jumped into the water again and managed to save them, they said.

A search and rescue operation was launched immediately afterwards and teams of State Disaster Response Force were joined by the police and locals. The searches continued until late hours, but were abandoned due to darkness, they said.

The body of the brave tourist guide was retrieved on Saturday morning near Bhawani bridge and was handed over to his relatives after medico-legal formalities, they said.

"It was actual demonstration of Kashmiriyat, which teaches love brotherhood and care, displayed by Dar, who successfully saved five people including two domestic tourists, in the true spirit of trademark Kashmiri hospitality," said Deputy Commissioner (Anantnag) Khalid Jehangir.

On directions of chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh has been sanctioned for the 32-year-old Dar's kin, who is survived by his parents, brother and wife.

The two tourists -- Manish Kumar Saraf and Sweta Saraf hailing from Nandan Nager, Kolkata -- were taken to Srinagar. They said they have got a second life thanks to Dar, a senior police official said.

Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, has recommended Dar for bravery award, the officials said, adding the chief secretary also hailed his bravery and directed the district administration to support his family.

State tourism in-charge and the advisor to Governor Satya Pal Malik Khursheed Ganai offered his condolences on loss of Dar's life. "Without caring for his own life, Dar braved strong currents of river Lidder to save five people from drowning. It was an ultimate sacrifice one can offer."

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah also expressed condolences. "My salute to this braveheart Rauf Ahmad Dar. He saved the tourists from his capsized raft but lost his own life in the process. May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannat."

My salute to this braveheart Rauf Ahmad Dar. He saved the tourists from his capsized raft but lost his own life in the process. May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannat. https://t.co/VYUd4nTrzz a Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 1, 2019

Pradesh Congress chief GA Mir described Dar as a symbol of true Kashmiriyat.

BJP State General Secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul expressed grief over Dar's death and offered his deepest condolence to the family. Koul appealed the Governor's administration to provide full support to Dar's family.

Former minister and chairman of People's Conference Sajad Lone also paid tributes to Dar.

"A very sad incident. My tributes to the exemplary courage bravery and dedication of Rouf Ahmed. He sacrificed his own life to save the lives of our guests. He is the real hero who will be an inspiration in selflessness and our tradition of hospitality.A

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New Delhi :

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday hit out at Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy for his statement that Hyderabad is a "safe zone for terrorists". Asserting that there is peace in the city since past 5 years, the Hyderabad MP said that itas unfortunate that the minister has stooped so low.

Owaisi, who was re-elected to Lok Sabha from Hyderabad for fourth consecutive term, asked Reddy to spell out as to how many written advisories were sent by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to the Home Ministry during last five years that Hyderabad had become a safe heaven for terrorists.

aSince past 5 years there is peace here, there are no communal riots, religious festivals are peacefully celebrated, it is a growing city and he is speaking like that. What enmity do they have with Telangana, Hyderabad? Do they not like that it is growing?a he added.

Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM: Since past 5 yrs there is peace here, there are no communal riots, religious festivals are peacefully celebrated, it is a growing city and he is speaking like that. What enmity do they have with Telangana, Hyderabad? Do they not like that it is growing? https://t.co/s6fveylyVj a ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

Kishan Reddy, an MP from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, had said on Friday that Hyderabad had become a safe zone for terrorists as any terror incident in the country would have a link to the city.

"The statement shows how much they hate Telangana and Hyderabad. They don't want to see the state and the city grow because major companies are investing here due to the efforts of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao," Owaisi said.

Despite the controversy over his remark, Reddy stood firm on it saying he didnat say anything wrong, ANI reported.

aThere are places in country where terror activities are on a rise. If an incident takes place in Bengaluru, Bhopal, its roots are traced to Hyderabad. State police, NIA have arrested terrorists in Hyderabad every 2-3 months. I didn't say anything wrong,a Reddy said.

MoS (Home) G Kishan Reddy: There are places in country where terror activities are on a rise. If an incident takes place in Bengaluru, Bhopal, its roots are traced to Hyderabad. State police, NIA have arrested terrorists in Hyderabad every 2-3 months. I didn't say anything wrong. pic.twitter.com/EWvQiHJ8V9 a ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

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New Delhi:

Days after a Kargil War veteran was declared a foreigner in Assam, the Indian Army has finally issued a statement that wont be of much help to the troubled soldier. According to report by The Hindu, the Army said that it was not appropriate to intervene in the case as it has now become a legal matter. It also added that it had big heart for Mohammed Sanaullah, but cant help much The soldier in army for over three decades, Sanaullah was also awarded the Presidents Medal in 2014. On May 29, he was taken into custody and taken to a detention centre in Assams Goalpara after a tribunal declared him a 'foreigner'.

We discussed his case with the Rajya Sainik Board too. They said he has to fight this out through lawyers. But we will definitely extend help during the course of the legal process, if needed, an army officer was quoted as saying by The Hindu. Several former officials have come out in support of Sanaullah and said that the Army must back him.

Honorary Lieutenant Mohd Sanaullah arrested & sent to Detention Center for foreigners & illegal immigrants in Gauhati. Arrest follows an order of a Foreigners tribunal. Army needs to investigate & save the retired officer from harassment, retired Brigadier V Mahalingam had tweeted.

As per the Foreigners Tribunal order dated 23 May, Sanaullah failed to prove that he is an Indian citizen by birth and hence declared a foreigner.

Mohammad Sanaullah, a resident of Kolohikash village under Boko police station in Kamrup district and now serving as assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in border police, was declared a 'foreigner' by the Foreigners Tribunal, Kamrup. This came following a case registered there in 2008 after Sanaullah's name was listed as a 'D' (doubtful) voter in the voters list, according to Kamrup district Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjib Saikia. After the verdict of the tribunal, Saikia said police according to laid down procedure, picked up Sanaullah and took him to the detention camp in Goalpara district to be lodged there.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi :

Amid reports of a rift between the Congress-JDS alliance government in Karnataka following a rout in the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections 2019, the top leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked BS Yeddyurappa not to disturb or attempt to topple the government in the state.

aWe will remain silent for the time beingaWe've been clearly informed not to disturb or attempt to topple the government in the state,a Yeddyurappa, who has already claimed that state government will fall because of their infighting, said.

aI have just returned from Delhi. Our leaders have instructed me not to involve in any move that will scuttle the govt in the state. I believe that Siddaramaiah is sending some of his MLAs to me and is trying to take political leverage,a the former Karnataka chief minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

BS Yeddyurappa, BJP: We will remain silent for the time being. They (Congress) may fight with each other and anything can happen. We've been clearly informed not to disturb or attempt to topple the government in the state. #Karnataka (31.05.2019) https://t.co/svOAkefdUa a ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

Earlier, Yeddyurappa hit out at the ruling alliance for creating an "atmosphere of confusion" and asked them to perform or "resign and go home".

"We don't have any feeling that we have to go for elections. It is certain that they (Congress and JDS) will go home fighting each other. We will wait. We are 105 (MLAs), we are ready to wait," Yeddyurappa said.

"Let them (Congress-JDS) work efficiently or resign and go home. Instead of that by creating an atmosphere of confusion and loot they are indulging in, they cannot be forgiven," he added.

Boasting about the BJP's performance in the state in the Lok Sabha polls, Yeddyurappa had said on Tuesday it would be "better" if the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state dissolves the assembly and goes for fresh polls.

The ruling party at the Center had won 25 of 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state and an independent candidate supported by it in Mandya.

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New Delhi:

Posters ridiculing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for not attending the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have appeared in the national capital. The posters mocking the West Bengal chief were placed at several locations in the national capital by Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga.

aMamata's U-turn at the last moment, says sorry Modi ji, I won't come for the swearing-in ceremony,a the poster read. aSorry Modijia. canat find any clean saree,a it read.

In the poster, Mamata Banerjee can be seen wearing her trade-mark white saree with blue border. The Saree is soaked in blood to depict the alleged political killings of BJP workers pre and post-poll violence in West Bengal.

Reason for not coming to Oath Ceremony pic.twitter.com/eVtXLTz8hw a Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) May 31, 2019

The West Bengal chief minister had decided to skip the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi on May 30 after the BJP confirmed invitation to the family members of its deceased activists.

"The oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party which uses it as an opportunity to score political points," Banerjee had said in a tweet.

Mamata Banerjeeas TMC was given a stiff challenge by the BJP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party won 18 seats in Bengal and reduced the TMC to just 22 seats, in a state tipped as its citadel.

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Pithoragarh:

An eight-member mountaineering team, including seven foreigners, has gone missing on its way to the 7,434 metre high Nanda Devi East peak, prompting a massive search and rescue operation amid bad weather. The team led by well-known British mountaineer Martin Moran includes three other climbers from the UK, two from the US and one from Australia, besides an officer from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi.

The team had left Munsiyari near Pithoragarh on May 13 to scale the peak but did not return to the base camp on May 25 as scheduled.

The missing climbers are Martin Moran, John McLaren, Richard Payne and Rupert Havel from the UK, Anthony Sudecam and Rachel Bimmel from the US, Ruth Macrain from Australia and IMF's Chetan Pandey, said Pithoragarh District Magistrate V K Jogdande.

The team leader Martin Moran is a well-known climber who has already scaled the peak twice in the past, he said.

The district administration launched the search operation after people at the base camp alerted authorities late on Friday night.

The team is said to have been missing since May 25 when it was supposed to return to the base camp, Jogdande told reporters on Saturday. The route to the peak begins from Munsiyari about 132 km from the district headquarters.

Besides the Indo-Tibetan Border Police search teams, a 14-member search and rescue team from Munsiyari too has been sent to the spot this morning, said the district magistrate.

The team comprises men from State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), medical profession, revenue police and local villagers, he said.

Another SDRF team left Dehradun in a helicopter on Saturday morning to conduct an aerial survey of the area but inclement weather hampered the operation, Jogdande said.

"It has been raining in the district. The helicopter which arrived from Dehradun to conduct an aerial survey could not take off due to bad weather. An air search will be conducted tomorrow if the weather permits," he said.

An ITBP search team has reached Martoli village about 21 km from Nanda Devi base camp," he said.

"We have also sought helicopter sorties from neighbouring districts of Chamoli and Rudraprayag to trace the exact location of the mountaineers, he said.

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New Delhi:

The turf war between the Centre and the West Bengal state government seems to intensify with each passing day. Now, to add to this simmering tension, a minister in the new Narendra Modi government has issued a warning to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "If the state government tries to hamper our flow of work, people of Bengal will remove those impediments" Union Minister Debasree Chowdhuri was quoted as saying by IANS. Chowdhuri said this as she assumed the charge of the Women and Child Development Ministry in New Delhi on Friday. Chaudhuri had defeated Trinamoolas Kanaialal Agarwal by 60,574 votes in Raiganj, which was once a bastion of the Congress. The BJP, which won 18 seats in the eastern state in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, has said that the Mamata Banerjee government will not survive till 2021.

Sushri Debasree Chaudhuri takes charge as the MoS for @MinistryWCD, in New Delhi pic.twitter.com/fWKwVS0095 a PIB India (@PIB_India) May 31, 2019

"I want to work on the basis of mutual understanding with the state government. The work should be done in Bengal the way work is done across the country," Chowdhuri added. The comments come as Banerjee continues to maintain a firm distance from the Centre. Banerjee had turned down the invite for Modias swearing-in ceremony saying, aThe oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party.a

On Thursday, the chief minister had lost her cool when some men shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' as her motorcade passed through Bhatpara area of North 24 Parganas district. The video clips showing her getting off her car and scolding the unidentified men in the group have gone viral. "What do you think of yourself? You will come from other states, stay here and abuse us? I will not tolerate this. How dare you all abuse me? All of your names and details will be noted down," she could be heard saying in the video.

After she got back into her car, the men again chanted "Jai Shri Ram", prompting her to disembark from the vehicle once more. Threatening her rivals, the Chief Minister even improvised an iconic Mithun Chakraborty dialogue from movie aMLA Fatakeshtoa and said, aI know all of them. I am challenging you all. Do you remember the dialogue of Mithun Chakraborty? 'marbo ekhane.. laash porbe... (Will thrash you here, corpse will fall) no I cannot talk about corpse, I will say 'marbo ekhane ... bichar hobe okhane ( I will thrash you here and you will get justice there).a

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the more Trinamool Congress chief protests against the chant the more public support she would lose in the state.A

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Lucknow:

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked his ministers not to bring mobile phones during Cabinet meetings. According to sources, the chief minister has taken this decision keeping in mind the threat of hacking and espionage of electronic equipment.

As per reports, ministers will now have to submit their mobile phones outside the Cabinet meeting venue. Earlier, ministers were allowed to bring mobile phones with them. However, they would keep them on silent mode or preferably switched off.

Sources said that CM Yogi wants all ministers to focus on discussion during the Cabinet meeting.

People privy to the development said that token arrangements have been put in place for the ministers to avoid any inconvenience. The responsibility of this token system has been given to the general administration department. Ministers will now get tokens after submitting their phones before going for meetings convened by the CM. They will be able to take them back by returning tokens.

Earlier in 2016, Union Ministers were asked not to carry mobile phones in Cabinet meetings to stop any possibility of leakage of information through hacking of communication devices.

"It has been decided that smartphones/mobile phones will henceforth not be permitted inside the meeting venues of Cabinet/Cabinet Committees," a directive issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said. Official sources said the measure will ensure that the discussion, which is mostly sensitive, during cabinet meetings remains secret.

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New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned senior NCP leader and former aviation minister Praful Patel next week as part of its money laundering probe related to alleged losses suffered by national carrier Air India in a multi-crore aviation scam during the UPA-era, officials said Saturday.

They said Patel, a Member of Rajya Sabha, has been asked to appear before the investigating officer of the case on June 6 in New Delhi. This is the first major action against a political leader in the alleged multi-crore aviation scam that is stated to have taken place during the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh.

Officials sources said Patel needs to be put through certain revelations made by arrested aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar and certain evidence unearthed by the agency in pursuit of this case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency had recently filed a charge sheet in the case naming Deepak Talwar. It has said that Talwar was in regular touch with Patel.

"I will be happy to cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate to help them understand the complexities of aviation sector," news agency ANI quoted Patel as saying.

Meanwhile, the NCP leader said in Mumbai that he will be happy to cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) so that the agency understands the "complexities" of the aviation industry.

The agency had recently filed a charge sheet in the case naming Deepak Talwar. It has said that Talwar was in regular touch with Patel. The ED claimed in the charge sheet that Talwar, who has been arrested, allegedly finalised various communications addressed to Patel on behalf of Emirates and Air Arabia.

"There is evidence including e-mail conversations between Deepak and Patel," the probe agency told the court. According to the charge-sheet, the investigation revealed that Talwar obtained undue favours for the private airlines using his contacts.

The ED had told the court earlier that it was trying to find out the names of officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL) and Air India, who favoured foreign airlines, including Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia, by making the national carrier gave up profit-making routes and timings.

"It has been alleged that officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation, NACIL and Air India, by abusing their official position as public servants and receiving illegal gratification, in conspiracy with other public servants, private domestic and foreign airlines, made the national carrier gave up profit making routes and profit making timings of Air India in favour of national and international domestic and foreign private airlines.

"This resulted in a huge loss of market share to the national carrier and also led to pecuniary benefits to private domestic and foreign airlines," ED's advocate A R Aditya had told the court.

India held bilateral meetings with Dubai, Sharjah and Qatar after which there has been an increase in the seat entitlements for both the contracting countries and increase in points of call for foreign carriers, it said.

Deepak Talwar has been charged with criminal conspiracy, forgery and under various other sections of the FCRA for allegedly diverting Rs 90.72 crore worth of foreign funds meant for ambulances and other articles received by his NGO from Europe's leading missile manufacturing company.

His role in some aviation deals during the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) regime at the Centre is under scanner as well.

Talwar was booked by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in criminal cases of corruption, while the Income Tax Department charged him with tax evasion. He was arrested by the ED early this year after he was deported from Dubai.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

Day after taking charge of the Ministry of External Affairs, S Jaishankar made his Twitter debut today and his very first tweet was dedicated to his ex-boss Sushma Swaraj. aMy first tweet. Thank you all for the best wishes! Honoured to be given this responsibility. Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji (sic),a Jaishankar posted on Twitter. Within hours of his Twitter debut, Jaishankar garnered 99.8K followers. His first tweet was retweeted 5.4K times and got 33K aLikesa. So far, Jaishankar has tweeted just 10 times. Most of his Twitter interaction is about thanking his well-wishers and acquaintances. A

A

My first tweet.



Thank you all for the best wishes!

Honoured to be given this responsibility.

Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji a Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 1, 2019

Jaishankar has some very large shoes to fill. His predecessor was not just a Twitter darling but a social media rockstar who changed the way Ministry of External Affairs. Sushma Swaraj joined Twitter in November 2010. As of today, she has 12.8 million followers. She has tweeted 6,336 times and liked 10 tweets as on date. Swaraj continued with her Twitter outreach even from hospital.

Vikas Swarup, the then foreign ministry spokesman while speaking to the Washington Post had said the ministeras apersonal interventions on social media are really an extension of her personalityaempathetic and caring to those in distress, wherever they may be." Jaishankar is the first foreign secretary to head the MEA as minister.

Jaishankar, who takes charge of the ministry nearly 16 months after he retired as foreign secretary, will also have to deal with overall expectations of expanding India's global influence and stature, particularly in key multilateral forums like G-20, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS.

However, a major focus of the ministry under his leadership is likely to be on further boosting India's trade and defence ties with the US, Russia, France, Japan and the European Union as well as with the countries of the neighbourhood. Another challenge for him will be to further strengthen India's ties with China, badly hit by the Doklam standoff in mid 2017. The 64-year-old -- who is not a member of either the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha at this point -- is also likely to push for deepening cooperation with the African continent where China is fast expanding its influence and presence.

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New Delhi:

Sonia Gandhi has been elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party at a crucial meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. aWe thank the 12.13 crore voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party,a Gandhi reportedly said after she was chosen as chairperson of the Congressa elected parliamentarians. Gandhi, who represents Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, is the chairperson of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposed Sonia Gandhias name during the Congress meeting at the Central Hall of Parliament. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala took toTtwitter to announce the development. The decision comes even as the suspense continues over Rahul Gandhias resignation. Now all eye will be on who will be chosen by Sonia Gandhi to be next leader of the Congress in Parliament. Things are bit confusing as her son Rahul Gandhi is adamant on stepping down as Congress chief.A A

A

Smt. Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party!



She says, awe thank the 12.13 Cr voters for reposing faith in the Congress Partya. pic.twitter.com/H4z9i3dN8B a Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 1, 2019

At the meeting, Rahul Gandhi thanked the voters and Congress workers. He said, aevery Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the colour of his skin or beliefa. aIn 2014, BJP was 280 and we were 45... But very quickly that 45 members defeated every single agenda against constitution of BJP. Again 52 members and I guarantee will fight against BJP every single inch. You have to understand that u r the constitution of this country and have to fight for this country across gender, religion, hatred and hate politics,a Gandhi added in an emphatic appeal to the new Congress lawmakers.

It should also be noted that this was the first official meeting that Rahul Gandhi attended after the May 25 meeting of the party's working committee, where he had offered to quit as Congress chief. The CWC has already rejected his offer to resign and unanimously passed a resolution authorising him to bring structural changes in the party at all levels in a bid to revamp it.

In the Lok Sabha Elections, the Congress didnat even manage to open an account in states and Union Territories like Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadar Nagar Haveli, Daman Diu and Lakshadweep. Though it did better its 2014 tally, but the Congress will not be the face of Opposition, if thereas one now. Reduced to just 52 seats in the Lok Sabha, the present situation of the Congress is far cry from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.A

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Kolkata:

After a gap of almost six years, suspended Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Saturday met party supremo Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence in Kolkata. Ghosh said it was a "very nice meeting" and that he had discussions on several subjects with Banerjee.

The former Trinamool Congress MP also met party leader and Banerjee's nephew Abhishek. "It was nice meeting the chief minister after six long years. It was an open meeting. We had talks on several subjects," Ghosh told PTI.

Asked whether the meeting was a step towards him resuming party work, he said, "I do not want to get into all that... Though I had some differences with the party over certain issues, I have not changed my political affiliation."

Ghosh, was arrested by a special investigation team headed by the then Bidhannagar Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar in November, 2013, when he was a Rajya Sabha MP of the TMC, in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.

He was granted bail in 2016.

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Indore:

A 14-year-old girl underwent a rare procedure at the government hospital in Indore in Madhya Pradesh in which doctors created an artificial vagina by using a part of her intestine. The surgical procedure, called as vaginoplasty, had lasted for five hours. Vaginoplasty is any surgical procedure that results in the construction or reconstruction of the vagina.

A week after the surgery, the girl, who was admitted in the Maharaja Yeshwantrao Holkar Hospital attached to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, walked home Saturday.

Dr Ashok Laddha, Associate Professor, Paediatric Surgery Department, told PTI that a team of ten doctors had performed the rare surgery.

"The girl didn't have the vagina since her birth. Doctors cut a part of her intestine to create the vagina," said Dr Laddha.

The girl, who was born in 2005, has been under severe stress in the absence of a reproductive organ, Dr Laddha said. Besides vagina, the girl did not have anus as well.

Doctors had conducted three surgeries to create that organ within a year of her birth, he said.

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New Delhi:

Reciprocating to India's decision to remove all the temporary restrictions on all air routes, a senior Pakistani government official on Saturday said they will also lift the airspace ban along its eastern border with India anytime soon. Reacting to India's decision, a senior official of the Pakistan government said, "Once the Indian government lifts the air restriction on Pakistani flights, Pakistan is likely to reciprocate it".

The official told PTI that India has yet to inform Pakistan about lifting of airspace ban for its flights. "We only heard about this through the media as no communication in this respect has taken place as yet. We may follow the suit once India lifts air restrictions on our flights, he added.

The statement from Pakistans side comes hours after the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday announced on Twitter, "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed".

The IAF said it had removed restrictions that were imposed on all routes a day after its 12 Mirage 2000s crossed over to Pakistan and attacked a Jaish terrorist training camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan fully closed its airspace on February 27 following an IAF strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot. On March 27, it opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. On May 15, Pakistan extended its airspace ban for flights to India till May 30.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.

(With inputs from agencies)

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London:

The captured widow of an Islamic State group leader helped the CIA in its hunt for the organisation's elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a British daily said Friday. In an interview with The Guardian, Nisrine Assad Ibrahim also claimed not to have played a willing part in the detention of US hostage Kayla Mueller at her home. She has been accused of helping to forcibly hold Mueller and other captives at the home, where the American woman was sexually assaulted by Baghdadi.

But when she herself was detained by the US military, the 29-year-old helped the CIA and Kurdish intelligence gain a detailed overview of the extremist supremo's hideouts and networks, investigators told the daily. In February 2016, Ibrahim identified a house in the Iraqi city of Mosul in which Baghdadi was believed to have been staying, but the United States did not call in an air strike.

"I told them where the house was," she told The Guardian at a jail in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil. "I knew he'd been there because it was one of the houses that was provided for him, and one of the places he liked the most." Baghdadi declared a self-styled "caliphate" across large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014.

But he kept a low profile as the group steadily lost territory to multiple offences. Last month he made his first appearance in five years, surfacing to acknowledge the group's territorial defeat a month earlier. Ibrahim was captured in May 2015 from the Al-Omar oil field in eastern Syria, The Guardian said, in a US military raid that also killed her husband, a top IS official known as Abu Sayyaf.

She has been sentenced to death by a court in Erbil, the paper added. Ibrahim said US aid worker Mueller was brought to her home in the eastern Syrian town of Shadadi in September 2014, around the same time girls from the Yazidi minority abducted to be used as sex slaves arrived.

"She was treated differently from the Yazidis," Ibrahim said of Mueller. "There was a budget for her, pocket money to buy things from the shop." "She was a lovely girl and I liked her. She was very respectful and I respected her," she claimed.

"One thing I would say is she was very good at hiding her sadness and pain." Ibrahim said she last saw Mueller in late 2014, when Baghdadi arrived from Iraq. "He took her with him in a simple car, a Kia. He was driving, and they went to Raqa." Three months later, she saw a news report about Mueller's death.

ISIS fighters claimed that Mueller, who was kidnapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013, was killed in a February 2015 coalition air strike that buried her in rubble.

US officials say the circumstances of her death remain unclear. She was 26.

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New Delhi:

At least eleven people were killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at a government building in the US state of Virginia on Friday. The identities of the 11 people killed were not released by authorities.The building where the shooting took place in Virginia Beach, a city on the east coast of the US about 200 miles (320 kilometres) southeast of Washington, housed the city's public works and utilities offices.

The gunman, a long time public utilities employee, was also killed after trading fire with responding officers, police chief James Cervera told a news conference on Friday.

The shooting happened just after 4 pm (local time), when the gunman entered one of the buildings at the Virginia Beach municipal complex and "immediately began to indiscriminately fire on all of the victims," Cervera said.

The wounded included a police officer, who was saved by his bulletproof vest.

A White House spokesman said President Trump had been briefed about the shooting.



According to New York Times report, all over Virginia Beach, residents were trying to process such horror on what had been the close to a normal week. It is an awful, awful day for our wonderful city, said Will Sessoms, the former mayor of Virginia Beach, who retired last year. We will get through it. We will get through it.



Virginia Senator Tim Kaine said on Twitter he was "devastated to learn of the tragic shooting tonight in Virginia Beach". "My heart is with everyone who lost a loved one, and I'm praying for a swift recovery for all those who have been injured," he said.

Virginia governor Ralph Northam described the incident as a "tragic day" for the city and the state. "My heart breaks for the victims of this devastating shooting, their families, and all who loved them," he said on Twitter. "I am on my way to Virginia Beach now and will be there within the hour."





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Firm stances are required to end the threats posed by Iran-backed terrorist groups in the region, said His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. HM, the King was speaking during the extraordinary Arab summits held at Al Safa Palace in Makkah along sides leaders and heads of delegations from around the world.

Citing the recent attacks in the region, HM the King warned the conference that state-sponsored terrorism has become a major threat not only to the region but also to the whole world. This represents a challenge that is rejected by the international community, said His Majesty citing the global condemnation of the grave violations committed by terrorist groups in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The attacks, King Hamad pointed out, were intended to endanger the safety of navigation and international energy corridors in the Arabian Gulf.

This has pushed the region to the brink of dangerous tension and instability. In this regard, HM the King said Bahrain affirms its unwavering support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in all measures to protect security and stability. We stand with them against all desperate attempts to disrupt the development and prosperity in the two countries. To deal with such threats, HM the King said, there is a need to strengthening cooperation and solidarity between countries.

This strengthens our fraternal relations as well as achieve an integrated vision and comprehensive strategy that sustains Arab national security. We must continue our efforts to strengthen regional and international security in cooperation, coordination and joint action with our allies and friends, HM the King stressed reminding such efforts would take the region towards further development and prosperity
DANBURY - Adam Lanzas psychiatrist is facing 18 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenaged female patient.

Paul Fox, 66, who previously had an office in Brookfield, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge William Lavery to one count of second-degree sexual assault under the state statute forbidding psychotherapists from having sex with their patients.

Under the plea agreement the judge said he would impose seven years, suspended after Fox serves 18 months and followed by 10 years of probation when he is sentenced July 10.

Fox would also have to register as a sex offender.

States Attorney Stephen Sedensky confirmed Friday that Fox had pleaded guilty but declined comment.

Fox could not be reached for comment.

Fox had treated Adam Lanza five years before the 20-year-old Newtown man on Dec. 14, 2012, went on a shooting spree in the Sandy Hook Elementary School killing 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members.

Before driving to the school, he had shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the school, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

State police detectives investigating the Sandy Hook tragedy later interviewed former patients of Fox and uncovered sexual allegations against the psychiatrist, according to court documents.

A then 18-year-old Western Connecticut State University student, identified as Jane Doe in court records, had begun seeing Fox in 2011 for treatment of depression and an eating disorder, authorities said, and at some point, he began having sex with her.

The woman told investigators about the sexual relationship, saying she was drugged up and out of my mind on a cocktail of prescription drugs Fox prescribed, court documents state. The sexual encounters occurred at his Brookfield office and on a sailboat, he kept at Candlewood Lake, documents show.

Fox later surrendered his medical license and moved first to New Zealand and later Maine.

A report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate in November 2014 said that Lanza had Asperger's syndrome and as a teenager suffered from depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but concluded that they had "neither caused nor led to his murderous acts."

Fox told detectives in a Dec. 17, 2012, telephone interview that he had destroyed any records he had of his treatment of Lanza but recalled last seeing him when Lanza was about 15. He said the teen was very rigid  resistant to engagement and recalled that he had aggression problems, police said.

An assessment by the psychologist at Newtown High School refers to an evaluation Fox did of Lanza in September 2005, according to police reports.

Fox was first licensed to practice in 1988, according to health department records.
For many of us, having clean drinking water is something we take for granted.

Overall, the United States has one of the safest supplies of drinking water in the world.

But water crises in cities such as Flint , Michigan, and Pittsburgh have thrust water supply woes into the spotlight.

In fact, a recent study found that there are sites in 43 states where water is contaminated with toxic fluorinated compounds .

As part of an Infrastructure Report Card released in 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Americas drinking water a D.

In its research, the agency cited aging pipes  with many of the 1 million miles of pipes well past their lifespan. About 240,000 water main breaks happen each year.

In order to maintain and expand water service to meet demands for the next 25 years, $1 trillion is needed to maintain and expand service, according to the American Water Works Association.

From bathing to laundry and cooking, Americans use about 42 billion gallons of water each day.

Most (about 80 percent) of the countrys drinking water is sourced from areas such as lakes, rivers and oceans.

The remaining water is sourced from groundwater aquifers.

About 300 million Americans get their drinking water from a municipal water system.

The American Society of Civil Engineers report says a majority of systems are primarily funded through rate payers.

The investment has been inadequate for decades and will continue to be underfunded without significant changes as the revenue generated will fall short as needs grow, the report says.

But the report says that drinking water infrastructure doesnt stop at updating pipes, reservoirs and plants.

As watersheds continue to be impacted by shifting migration patterns, land use changes, consumption trends, and extreme weather, water infrastructure upgrades will be required to meet new demands. With proper planning, education and conservation utilities are making strides to ensure demand is met for decades to come, the report says. Water conservation and improvements in water-use efficiency appear to have gained a general acceptance among water utilities as a sensible practice of water management.
- 22% year-over-year growth in TotalSocial revenue

- EBITDA improved by 21% from Q1 2018

- Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA improved by 41% from Q1 2018

MONTREAL, May 31, 2019 /CNW/ -- Engagement Labs Inc. (TSXV: EL) released results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2019. Condensed interim consolidated Financial Statements and Management Report are available on SEDAR's website at www.sedar.com.

First Quarter Financial Highlights

Total company revenue was $911,368 for Q1 2019, of which $878,302 is TotalSocial revenue, representing a 22% increase in TotalSocial revenue vs Q1 2018 ($720,364) .

for Q1 2019, of which is TotalSocial revenue, representing a 22% increase in TotalSocial revenue vs Q1 2018 . Operating expenses have decreased to $1,394,357 in Q1 2019, down 17% or $291,366 from $1,685,723 in Q1 2018.

in Q1 2019, down 17% or from in Q1 2018. Gross margin decreased to 43% in Q1 2019, from 48% in Q1 2018.

Net loss before income taxes has decreased to - $1,269,136 in Q1 2019, down 11% or - $155,077 from - $1,424,213 in Q1 2018.

in Q1 2019, down 11% or - from - in Q1 2018. EBITDA loss of - $851,591 for Q1 2019, representing an improvement of $221,700 , from - $1,073,291 for Q1 2018.

for Q1 2019, representing an improvement of , from - for Q1 2018. Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA loss of - $545,096 for Q1 2019, representing an improvement of $380,673 from - $925,769 for Q1 2018.

for Q1 2019, representing an improvement of from - for Q1 2018. Basic and diluted income per share was ($0.01) for Q1 2019 compared to ($0.01) for Q1 2018.

for Q1 2019 compared to for Q1 2018. As at March 31, 2019 , the Company had cash (excluding restricted cash) of $434,280 , compared to $906,455 as of December 31, 2018 .

"In 2018, we began to focus 100% of our efforts and resources to our TotalSocial platform and transitioning away in the short-term from legacy products and revenues," said Ed Keller, CEO. "That investment and long-term strategy is paying off with decreases in our operating expenses and growth in our TotalSocial revenues."

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSXV: EL) is an industry-leading data and analytics firm that provides social intelligence for Fortune 500 brands and companies.

To learn more visit www.engagementlabs.com

Disclaimer in regard to Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Engagement Labs does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For media inquiries please contact:

Vanessa Lontoc / Ed Keller, CEO

Engagement Labs

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Engagement Labs

Related Links

https://www.engagementlabs.com


Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 31)  Tons of mixed plastic waste dumped in the country early this year will be returned to Hong Kong on June 3.

This was confirmed by Mindanao International Container Terminal (MICT) collector John Simon in a statement on Friday.

"The Bureau of Customs is pleased to announce that the re-exportation of the e-waste from Hong Kong will push through this coming Monday, June 3, 2019 at 9 a.m.," read the statement inviting the media to cover the event.

Over 25 tons of trash, misdeclared as assorted electronic accessories, have been stuck at the MICT in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental since January 2, environmental group EcoWaste Coalition said. The group called on the Chinese government to look into the case.

READ: Philippines to send back Hong Kong trash  Palace

A spokesperson for the Environment Bureau and Environmental Protection Department of Hong Kong told CNN Philippines last Monday that it will get in touch with Philippine authorities to investigate the trash shipment.

The impending repatriation of the trash from Hong Kong comes as 69 container vans of garbage were shipped back to Canada on Friday.

Reports of shipments of trash from Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea have cropped up amid the Philippines' row with Canada over nearly 2,500 tons of garbage illegally shipped to the country in batches from 2013 to 2014. President Rodrigo Duterte last month threatened to go to war with Canada if it fails to pull out the waste soon. Manila also recalled its diplomats in the North American country, but they were ordered to return on Friday, as the garbage finally left the Philippines.
A woman who admitted to causing her husbands death in a crash that flipped her car will head to state prison for five years, authorities said Friday.

Tameka Lawson, 38, pleaded guilty in March to vehicular homicide, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said in a statement.

Lawson, of Mount Laurel was driving on Hartford road in Delran the night of Nov. 12, 2017. The car she was driving left the road, went airborne, struck a telephone pole and flipped over in a wooded area.

The crash killed her husband and front-seat passenger, Jamar Rentie, 38. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Lawson was pulled from the vehicle and released after a hospital evaluation.

She was later charged when toxicology tests showed she had cocaine in her system and a blood alcohol content of .109 at the time of the crash.

Prosecutors sought a seven-year prison sentence as part of her plea agreement. Judge Gerard Breland sentenced Lawson Friday. She must serve 85 percent of it before parole eligibility.

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A plan to resurrect a throwback, drive-in burger joint is still on. Its just going to take a little more time than planned.

The new owner of the Webers Drive-in on the White Horse Pike, Route 30 in Stratford was planning to have his first burgers on the grill and the signature root beer flowing by Memorial Day. But now it looks like the smoke from grills wont start rising until after the July 4th holiday. But the way Darren DeSumma figures it, it will be worth the wait.

Im in it for the long haul, DeSumma said this week. Id rather put the extra time in now to make sure its great.

DeSumma is promising super, high-quality burgers at an inexpensive price.

While the exterior of his drive-in near the corner of White Horse Road will look a lot like it did when the place opened in the late 1950s, just about everything else will be new.

DeSumma said he plans to grind his own burger meat at the restaurant and will also offer fresh-cut fries.

He couldnt stop talking about a butcher he found to give him just the right cut of meat.

Its like the scene in Rocky, DeSumma said. There are whole sides of cows hanging down on hooks.

The Cherry Hill native was in the clothing business with a designer mens shop in Philadelphia before diving into fast food. He plans to still keep his clothing business while logging hours at his drive-in, as well.

Locals are looking forward to the reopening of a classic spot that served generations from 1959 to 2015.

It will bring a little fun into our lives, said Chris Conroy, Stratfords borough administrator who remembers taking her children there years before they became adults. Its a fun place to go. All of us could use a little bit of fun.

There is only one other Webers grill operating in New Jersey. A third location is in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The other Webers in Pennsauken  about 10 miles up the road from Stratford  is a retro throwback with a swooping Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired, space-age roof car port. It is reminiscent of the age of waitresses on roller skates delivering food to your car after flicking on your headlights.

The Pennsauken location has also been known to feature an Elvis impersonator, complete with a one-piece white, rhinestone-studded jumpsuit.

DeSumma said his new location will get a makeover but keep true to the carport roof and retro look. Food will be delivered on car-door trays

Webers locations resemble Stewarts All American Grills. There are 19 Stewarts locations in New Jersey and a total of 29 from as far west as Ohio. They also feature their own root beer blend.

The Oklahoma Webers claims to be the original.

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On paper, their names are Jakir Taylor, 28, and Alonzo Leary, 37, and on Thursday and Friday they admitted their roles in a Trenton drug operation federal and local authorities disrupted last fall with 25 arrests.

On the streets, they are known as Jak and J-Buck,' who have prior convictions for dealing or possessing drugs and are known to veteran drug investigators.

They were part of drug dealing, concentrated in Trentons west and north sides, that authorities said last fall was a collaboration of sorts between rival neighborhood gangs, which they also tepidly linked to the tension that led to the Art All Night festival shooting last June that left one dead and wounded nearly 30.

Taylor, a leader in the effort, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Trenton to two counts conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and possessing and conspiring to possess one or more firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Leary pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute multiple controlled substances, including heroin, oxycodone, and alprazolam.

The case against them and others stemmed from a wiretap of cellphones, from about October 2017 until the arrests, in October 2018.

Federal investigators have said they intercepted their phone calls and text messages and allege Jerome Righteous Roberts, David Papi Antonio and Wayne K. Bush were also shot callers.

One text Taylor sent to a buddy in prison, authorities alleged, included a photo of three handguns, and the message: War ready.

In announcing the guilty plea against Taylor Friday, the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Jersey said Taylor and Roberts obtained regular, large anount of heroin - hundreds of bricks at a time from Antonio.

Calls and texts among the three showed in one instance how Taylor and Roberts agreed to obtain from Antonio a motherlode supply of as many as 1,500 bricks  approximately 1.5 kilograms of heroin  in a single delivery.

Taylor said that he intended to flood the streets with it, the office said.

Records show Taylor served a state prison sentence from about 2015 to 2017 for gun and drug charges, and in 2008, as an 18-year-old, he made minor headlines with he arrived at the Mercer County Courthouse in Trenton with heroin and cash in his pockets.

Stories do not say why he was there, but his belongings set off the metal detector, and when sheriffs officers asked him to empty his pockets, he balked, and the officers, after a brief struggle, found him with $462 in cash and 103 bags of heroin, packaged for individual sale.

He was arrested and charged with numerous drug counts.

Taylor and Leary are scheduled to be sentenced in the fall and face considerable time in federal prison.

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Authorities on Friday identified the pilot of a single-engine plane that plunged into the ocean off Cape May Point as efforts to recover the 58-year-olds body continued.

Lawrence Klimek, of Howell, was flying the Mooney M20J propeller plane when it went down around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to officials. The aircraft remained submerged in the water near Cape May Lighthouse.

The cause of the crash was under investigation. New Jersey State Police said troopers were working to recover the pilot while a private salvage company would retrieve the plane.

Both recovery operations are active and ongoing, the State Police said in a statement.

Klimek was the only person onboard the plane, which took off from Trenton-Robbinsville Airport around 8 a.m. that morning, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Heidi Pontoriero, the airports general manager, told NJ Advance Media the plane was rented from Air-Mods, a company that provides lessons and aircraft rentals.

Hes used the plane before. Hes licensed and all up to date, Pontoriero said Wednesday. I have no idea what happened. Its a very sad situation and our prayers go out to the family.

Melissa Martell, director of Airmods, said the plane was in sound working condition and called the pilot an avid renter.

State Police asked anyone with information about the crash to call its Marine Services Bureau at 609-449-1472 or Lower Township police at 609-886-2711.
Make no mistake about it, Richard Roberts knows his dear friend Frank Lucas, one of Americas most notorious drug lords, did things that ruined families and ravaged communities.

But in the same breath, he also chuckles at the absurdity of their friendship, which was so pure that Lucas asked Roberts to be the godfather of his youngest son, Ray.

When Roberts, who oversaw the Essex County Prosecutors Bureau of Narcotics in the 1970s, was first introduced to the man who was trafficking pure heroin from Southeast Asia into Harlem and Newark in the 1970s, his fighting desire was to lock Lucas up.

He eventually did, nabbing an indictment of Lucas after shutting down a heroin market run by Lucas brother, Vernon. After Lucas was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison, the kingpin had a change of heart and agreed to cooperate with the government, prompting a lifelong friendship with the man who ended his reign of terror.

No one is all good. No one is all bad, Roberts said in a phone interview Friday. You try to see the good and you try to forget the bad."

Frank Lucas died at the age of 88 Thursday night in New Jersey. While Lucas health had been declining, Roberts still finds it hard to believe he is gone.

You expected him to live forever, Roberts said.

As unconventional as their friendship was, the way Roberts reflects on Lucas life may be just as complicated. The former prosecutor often talks about Lucas in glowing terms but frequently has to preface or conclude his thought with: What he did was horrible.

But to Roberts, Lucas was driven by money and greed, and failed to recognize the harm he was doing  until he did.

During Lucas trial, a young mother, whose daughter overdosed and died from the Blue Magic heroin Lucas crew sold, was called to the stand. As the mother relived the horrifying moment, there wasnt a dry eye in the courtroom, Roberts recalled.

It was the most dramatic testimony I have ever witnessed, Roberts said. It killed him.

When the court went into recess, Lucas attorney approached Roberts and said Lucas wanted to speak with him alone. As they sat in a tiny room inside the courthouse, Lucas  with the thought of the mother on the stand describing her dead daughter  came to a realization.

I never thought of it that way, he told Roberts.

Lucas, who Roberts said continue to deal with issues throughout his life, carried that damage with him later in his life.

I probably did more damage than I did good. I probably did, and thats a fact, Lucas told The Star-Ledger in 2013. At that time, I wasnt aware of what I was doing. All I knew is, I was making big dollars. A bad business was a good business. It was a horrible business, put it that way. I was in the heroin business ... the worst you can get. You cant get no lower than that, and I was in it. Up to my head. If you wanna put that I was a no good son of a bitch, be my guest. 'Cause thats what I was.

After being convicted, Lucas soon flipped, helping the government arrest a number of drug dealers. (He served seven years of his sentence before moving to Newark in the 80s.)

Roberts saw that as a sign of remorse from Lucas, and a reason to give to him a second chance as a person.

I am not one to condemn anyone for anything that they do, Roberts said. Everyone gets a second a chance in my world. Frank did the right thing (by cooperating). Did he cause a lot of pain and hardship? Yeah. But that is all business. On a personal level, he was very charismatic. He could be very likable, but I wouldnt want to, well, I was on the wrong end of him. There was a contract on me at one time.

The two were portrayed in the hit 2007 movie American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington as Lucas and Russell Crowe as Roberts.

He loved it, Roberts said with a laugh, adding it wasnt bad to have Russell Crowe portray him.

Roberts, too, has faced some troubles in his time since bringing down Lucas. He pleaded guilty to multiple tax crimes in 2017 and was sentenced to three years probation, including 10 months of home confinement. He lives in Bloomfield.

Roberts said he spoke to Lucas a few weeks ago and knew his friend was nearing the end.

Bye, Frank. See you at the end of the line, Roberts said after a long pause.

NJ Advance Media reporter Alex Napoliello contributed to this report.

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(CNN)  President Donald Trump set the stage for his upcoming visit to the United Kingdom, Ireland and France next week during a wide-ranging interview with the British newspaper The Sun, weighing in on everything from outgoing UK Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit to the contenders vying to replace her to Meghan Markle's dislike of his politics.

May will formally step down as Conservative Party leader after Trump visits on June 7.

Trump, during his Oval Office interview with the Sun published Friday, criticized May's efforts on Brexit, saying he thinks "the UK allowed the European Union to have all the cards."

"I had mentioned to Theresa that you have got to build up your ammunition. ... I am sure that you could have built up a big advantage for your side and negotiated from strength," he said.

"And it is very hard to play well when one side has all the advantage," he continued. "They had nothing to lose. They didn't give the European Union anything to lose."

However, he acknowledged, "at the same time, I respect Theresa and she would certainly know the facts a lot better than I know them."

The royal family

During his interview with The Sun, Trump was confronted by comments made by Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, ahead of the 2016 election.

Speaking on "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" in 2016, Markle called Trump misogynistic and said his politics are divisive, saying she would move to Canada if he won the presidency.

Trump responded, "I didn't know that she was nasty. I hope she is OK. ..." He seemed to bury the hatchet saying, "I am sure she will go excellently (as a royal). She will be very good."

The U.S. President also previewed his meeting with Prince Charles in the UK, where talks of climate change are expected.

"Well, we will be talking, we will be talking. I can say we have among the cleanest climate in the world right now. Our air and water are doing very well," Trump said.

However, despite Trump's claim, the 20th annual State of the Air report, supported by the American Lung Association, found that pollution in the US has gotten measurably worse over the last three years.

Boris Johnson and contenders to replace May

May's June resignation will trigger a party leadership contest, and once a new party leader is in place she will no longer be Prime Minister, a process that could take weeks, if not months.

The Tory leadership contest that will decide May's successor will be an internal party vote. The Conservative Party leadership will narrow it down to two candidates and then it goes to party membership.

Trump expressed his support for Boris Johnson, calling him "a very good guy, a very talented person."

"I think Boris would do a very good job," the President told The Sun. "I think he would be excellent."

Earlier this week, Trump also said he "may" meet Johnson and Nigel Farage during the trip.

He also showed favor for British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

"Yup, I like him," he said.

The President criticized contenders such as Environment Secretary Michael Gove for accusing him of "sabre rattling" over Iran and called out Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for not attending the Queen's state banquet, saying Corbyn is "making a mistake."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Trump tells The Sun: Meghan Markle is 'nasty,' Boris Johnson would do a 'very good job' as Prime Minister."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 31)  Senator Panfilo Ping Lacson has drafted a resolution now circulating among his colleagues to keep Senate President Vicente Tito Sotto III in his position, amid talks of a possible leadership change supposedly initiated by incoming senators.

Para magkaalaman na this early kung totoo yung sinasabi naming lahat na suportado namin ang liderato niya. Kung hindi, magkaalaman na rin kami kung sino ang alanganin na sumuporta, Lacson said in a text message.

[Translation: So that we would find out this early if it is true that we all support his leadership. If not, then we will find out whose support is uncertain.]

Lacson said the resolution will be a vote of confidence on Sotto. He said in a radio interview that the resolution is undated to allow both incumbent and incoming members of the Senate to sign it before it is filed on the first session day of the 18th Congress.

Lacson said the idea was proposed by Senator Manny Pacquiao, who is also said to be part of the bloc allied with regional partty Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) of reelected Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. The group has been rumored to be planning the ouster of Sotto over disagreements on committee chairmanships.

READ: PDP-Laban president to push for Sotto to stay as Senate leader

Some incoming senators are said to be eyeing committee chairmanships, but incumbent senators want them to adhere to the chamber's tradition of keeping incumbents in their posts.

Pacquiao, however, has denied the existence of an HNP bloc and expressed his support for the leadership of Sotto.

Of the incoming senators in the next Congress, Senators-elect Ramon Bong Revilla, Pia Cayetano, Ronald Bato dela Rosa, Christopher Bong Go, Imee Marcos and Francis Tolentino are allied with HNP. The regional group also backed by reelected Senators Juan Edgardo Sonny Angara, Aquilino Koko Pimentel III and Cynthia Villar.

Pacquiao hosted a dinner meeting among top Senate leaders and Dela Rosa, Go, Pimentel, Revilla, and Tolentino two weeks ago, where the incoming senators reportedly pledged support for Sottos leadership.

However, Marcos revealed in a television interview that she has heard of some kind of move to replace Sotto with Villar, who topped the senatorial elections.

Villar said no one has asked her to seek the Senate presidency, but is not closing the doors on the top post in the chamber.

READ: Grace Poe to join minority if Sotto is ousted as Senate President

Senators have reaffirmed their support for Sotto, praising his leadership. Senators Lacson and Grace Poe even said they will leave the majority bloc and join Sotto in the minority if he is ousted.

Sotto himself is confident that he enjoys the support of majority of his colleagues, saying the minority bloc will support him in the event that the new senators push through with their plan to oust him.

"There are nine or 10 of us [in the majority] and there are four in the minority. So what does that add up to? Eh 'di 'yun ang magiging [then that would become the] majority," he said.

Sotto only needs 13 votes to keep his seat, while the supposed ouster plotters would also need the same number of votes to elect a new Senate president.

CNN Philippines Correspondent Joyce Ilas contributed to this report.
A man admitted Friday that he struck and killed a vice principal in October 2018 while he was illegally street racing in Piscataway, and then abandoned the car and reported it stolen.

Freddy Garcia, Jr., 22, of Piscataway, plead guilty to vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, hindering apprehension and other charges, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said in a release.

Tyrone Harrison, 49, of Somerset, the vice principal of McKinley Community School, a PreK-8 school in the New Brunswick School district, was killed in the Oct. 16, 2018 accident.

Harrison, a former Ohio State fullback, was walking to a relatives house in Piscataway after getting off at the Edison train station about a mile from the town border at 9:17 p.m. when he was hit by Garcia who lost control of his 2003 Honda Accord while street racing with multiple other cars," Carey said.

Harrison was pronounced dead at the scene.

Garcia then abandoned his car, fled the scene and later falsely reported that his car, which was not registered or insured, was stolen, officials said.

He was arrested a few days later after an investigation by the Piscataway Police Department and prosecutors office.

Another man was arrested in the case after investigators learned he altered social media posts to make it harder to learn who was driving the car that hit Harrison.

Under his plea agreement, Garcia will be sentenced to 13 years in prison and will be subject to a 3-year loss of license upon his release, authorities said.

He was scheduled to be sentenced in New Brunswick Superior Court on Aug. 23.

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A man was seriously injured early Friday morning after he was hit on I-80 by a tractor trailer that did not stop.

The unidentified driver of the tractor-trailer was traveling west on the highway in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township when he hit Roger Hill, 54, of Dover at 3:05 a.m. near milepost 42.3, according to a Facebook post from the New Jersey State Police.

Hill was in the road when he was hit, and the driver of the truck drove away immediately after hitting him, police said.

He was taken to Morristown Medical Center with serious injuries.

The state police are investigating and asked anyone who witnessed the accident or could help identify the truck driver to call the Netcong Station at 973-347-1001.

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An Ocean County man was sentenced to 31 years in state prison (including 18 before parole eligibility) for a slew of drug and weapons charges, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced on Friday.

Anthony M. Simpson was found guilty in February of 16 charges, including first-degree possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, second-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute, four counts of unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a firearm during commission of a drug crime, possession of a weapon as a convicted felon, three counts of receiving stolen property, possession of prohibited large capacity firearm magazines and possession of prohibited hollow-point bullets.

Simpsons prior criminal record led to a 26-year sentence, including 13 without parole, for the cocaine charge. He received a consecutive sentence of five years without parole for having a firearm during commission of a drug crime, and concurrent sentences for the other charges.

Simpson was arrested in March 2015 after The State Police Gangs & Organized Crime Central Unit learned he was selling heroin from a Lakewood residence and a Brick motel room. State Police found three stolen handguns, 10 ounces of cocaine, 1.4 ounces of heroin, marijuana, ammunition that included more than 100 hollow-point bullets, drug packaging materials and a scale at the Lakewood residence. An AK-47 assault rifle, three large capacity magazines and a 9-mm semiautomatic handgun were found at the Brick hotel room.

The heroin, cocaine and guns seized from this defendant starkly illustrate the threat he posed to the public, Grewal said in a press release. This lengthy prison sentence reflects our commitment to protect the people of New Jersey by aggressively targeting the drug dealers who are fueling addiction and bringing illegal firearms into our communities.

Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Schneider. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Can Americans still have a sensible and friendly political discussion across the partisan divide? The answer is yes, and we intend to prove it. Julie Roginsky, a Democrat, and Mike DuHaime, a Republican, are consultants who have worked on opposite teams for their entire careers yet have remained friends throughout. Here, they discuss the weeks events, with prompts from Tom Moran, editorial page editor of The Star-Ledger.

Q. Robert Muellers statement Wednesday didnt go one inch past his written report. Will his statement change anything? Does it matter that he refuses to absolve President Trump of obstruction?

DuHaime: It has changed things a bit. His choice of words made it clear that he did not absolve the President of wrongdoing, which puts more pressure on the Democrat-led House to act. Everyone is reading whatever they want into what Mueller did (and didnt) say. There were new calls on the left yesterday for impeachment, so thats new pressure on Speaker Pelosi to decide.

Roginsky: I agree that Mueller was selective in choosing the parts of his report he highlighted during his press conference. To me, both the report and the press conference were a clear impeachment referral and it does ratchet up the pressure for Speaker Pelosi to act.

Q. Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-7th, became the first New Jersey House member to call for impeachment hearings, saying Trumps stonewalling of Congress put him over the top. Will that help or hurt him in 2020, when hes likely to face state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., R-Union?

DuHaime: Its too soon to tell but taking bold stances that get noticed is smart for a House member. It is difficult to get noticed in the press because almost 10 percent of the House of Representatives lives in the New York and Philadelphia media markets. Standing out is generally good. That said, this is not currently a mainstream position in the New Jersey delegation. If all other Democrats someday come along, Malinowski will look like a leader. If not, he will look out of step with his party and his district. Kudos for taking a tough stance, though thats not always rewarded in politics.

Roginsky: I dont think it could possibly hurt him. Those who think Trump is innocent arent voting for Rep. Malinowski anyway. He won a Republican district because of his constituents disgust with this president. I cant imagine that disgust diminishing in light of what Robert Mueller said yesterday.

Q. Weve heard a lot about the risk that impeachment hearings could backfire on Democrats. But is there a risk on the other side, too, that failing to hold impeachment hearings could depress Democratic turnout in 2020?

DuHaime: Yes, theres risk, but I dont think it will show itself in 2020 turnout. The far left is rabid in its hatred for Donald Trump, so theyre coming to vote. The risk is that if the Democrats do not act, their activist base will try to throw the moderate Democrats out next cycle in primaries.

Roginsky: The greatest risk of all is forever taking impeachment off the table going forward, a tool that the founding fathers created for a reason. If the presidents clearly obstructive actions dont rise to the level of impeachment, what else possibly could?

Q. Gov. Phil Murphys conditionally vetoed a bill requiring disclosure of dark money contributions, and several leading Democrats tell me an override is likely. If that happens, would it do any lasting damage to Murphy?

DuHaime: By itself, no, it will not do any lasting damage. Most voters do not care much about political fundraising or the politics of vetoes in Trenton.

Roginsky: The damage would not be because of this issue alone but cumulatively, it wont help. This would be the first override in more than two decades. Coming on the heels of what will likely be a difficult budget battle and the Katie Brennan mess, it doesnt create a narrative for positive momentum or collaboration going forward.

Q. Murphy has used his veto pen 62 times, a huge number considering that fellow Democrats control the Legislature. Legislators say Murphy is out of touch and fails to consult them. The governors aides deny that. Whats your take?

DuHaime: Politics craves a two-party system, even when only one party is in control. First, there is an ideological schism between the executive and legislative branches. The governor is simply farther left than the more centrist Senate and Assembly, so there will be legitimate policy disagreements. But its also personal. The leaders of our state dont really like or respect each other very much (diplomatic understatement), so theres no trust, which is often necessary to hammer out differences in advance.

Roginsky: The sponsors of the dark money bill have said publicly that they were never consulted by the governor or his staff as it was winding its way through the legislative process. One of them apparently found out about the veto when a reporter called to ask him about it. Thats no way to run the Navy.

Q. Murphys senior advisors used their dark money fund to launch a TV ad campaign calling for a hike in the millionaires tax, a tactic that drew criticism from Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, and Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, who both adamantly oppose the hike. Is the TV campaign a smart tactic, or an expensive mistake?

DuHaime: I just saw a new ad this morning. Its well done. I dont think the governors team really cares if it passes. They are positioning the governor as fighting for the middle class by taxing the rich. Most voters like taxing other people instead of themselves, and most voters wont really know or care who wins or loses the budget battle in Trenton, so long as there isnt a shutdown. Millions of dollars in TV ads go a lot farther than a news article on July 1st detailing the budget details. Dont get me wrong  its bad public policy, but its good politics for the governor. He wins politically even if he loses in Trenton.

Roginsky: This ad has nothing to do with the legislation, since the governors aides must realize by now that there wont be a millionaires tax in this budget. Its one of the opening salvos in the 2021 election. The governor is attempting to use this ad to consolidate the progressive base early in the event of a primary in two years. But the larger question is this: when do you stop fighting with everyone and finally decide to govern?

Quasi-campaign ads in the middle of a budget negotiation do nothing more than hinder the governors policy agenda. They make money for his political team but create headaches for his legislative team. There were factions in the Democratic Party before this administration, to be sure, but the constant warfare does not do anyone good, least of all when the missiles are being fired so indiscriminately and carelessly.
NEW YORK  In less than a week, the Yankees expect Didi Gregorius to be back at shortstop.

On Saturday, manager Aaron Boone said the team was targeting a Friday return for Gregorius, who has been on the injured list all season, recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The Yankees will be in Cleveland when Gregorius gets back, if all goes to plan.

Until then, Gregorius will continue to play at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Its been so far, so good for the 29-year-old, Boone said, though hes hitless in his first at-bats over two games there. Gregorius also played two games at High-A Tampa.

Good, Boone said when asked what the reports were on Gregorius before a game against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. He made a couple good plays (Friday) night.  hit the ball hard. Hes doing great. Now its just continuing to get that everyday mode again.

Boone said Gregorius was expected to play nine innings at shortstop on Saturday and then to DH on Sunday before Mondays off day. Then Gregorius will play Tuesday and Wednesday before flying to Cleveland on Thursday and coming off the injured list Friday.

The Yankees leave for Toronto on Monday for a three-game set that starts Tuesday.

Last season, Gregorius hit .268 with 27 home runs and 86 RBI in 134 games.

Hell be a free agent at seasons end.

Gregorius tore his ulnar collateral ligament while making a throw against the Red Sox in last Octobers American League Division Series. He had Tommy John days after the Yankees were bumped from the postseason.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.
St. Tammany Parish sheriffs deputies arrested a South Carolina couple after finding about nine ounces of heroin and a pistol in their car. Deputies discovered the contraband after making a traffic stop on eastbound Interstate 10 near the Interstate 12 interchange at Slidell but did not disclose the reason for the stop.

Antonio Fuller, 34, and his girlfriend, Asia Gregg, 31, were booked into the parish jail with possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of marijuana, possession of a gun by a convicted felon and possession of a gun in the presence of drugs. Fuller also was booked with resisting an officer and improper lane use.

The Sheriffs Office said deputies signaled the car to stop on Friday (May 31) at about 10:30 a.m. After Fuller and Gregg admitted to having a small amount of marijuana, deputies searched their car and said they found 8.6 ounces of suspected heroin, 3.7 grams of suspected marijuana and a .40-caliber pistol. Fuller ran away as deputies tried to arrest him but was quickly caught, the Sheriffs Office said.
A New Orleans firefighter and two contract workers suffered smoke inhalation in a two-alarm blaze aboard a ship docked on the Mississippi River Friday (May 31), according to fire officials.

The fire, likely sparked by welding work, began about 4:22 p.m. on the Cape Knox, a Merchant Marine ship docked at the Poland Avenue Wharf in the Bywater.

Firefighters arrived within five minutes to find a smoldering fire below deck, inside a roughly 100-square-foot container filled with diesel fuel sludge near the ships engine room, according to the New Orleans Fire Department.

Firefighters requested a second alarm at 5:03 p.m. as they experienced extreme difficulty in reaching the blaze, NOFD officials said. Firefighters were forced to remove gear and crawl one by one through a small access space to reach the fireand once there, had just minutes to work before their air tanks were depleted.

More than 40 firefighters in 16 fire vehicles brought the blaze under control by 7 p.m., the NOFD said in a news release.

The injured firefighter was taken to a local hospital for observation. The two contractors, injured while trying to extinguish the fire before the NOFD arrived, were treated at the scene by paramedics.

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
The principal of a private Catholic school in Port Allen has stepped down after police in Washington, D.C., arrested him early Friday (May 31) at a strip club during a school-sponsored trip, The Advocate reports.

Officers called to the club regarding an intoxicated customer refusing to pay found Michael Comeau, principal of Holy Family Catholic School, standing in a roadway and refusing to move, according to the news site.

For the full story, click here.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1)  The Navy is planning to buy at least 25 more vessels in the next decade, and it need not look very far.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, in a recent online interview, said that he prefers that these assets be built here in the Philippines to spur the local economy and generate employment.

This was supported by Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad of the Philippine Navy, who said that the Defense chief had made his guidance clear.

"If as much as possible we can build our ships here ... so we generate employment, we transfer technology," Empedrad said.

As a part of the Navy modernization, the government plans to buy at least 6 offshore patrol vessels, which could cost around P30 billion.

Austral Philippines, an Australian company that has a shipyard in Cebu, has been in talks with the Navy for future projects. It proposed the construction of 80 meter patrol vessels that have helipads and are capable of being fitted with modern weapons systems.

"We are in the position where we've got the talent and the workforce within the country, so we are actually bidding to build all the vessels in country, for the government support," Austral Philippines President Wayne Murrary said in an interview last month.

Murrary added that building locally has the advantage of easy access to repair and maintenance.

The project is still under study, as well as the mode of procurement.

CNN Philippines correspondent David Santos contributed to this report.
It feels pretty on-brand for me that, in my final column for The Times-Picayune, I would borrow the words of a little-known moment in a less-often quoted movie: Good people, I missed my introduction!

I usually end up just telling the people in our newsroom when Im quoting a movie because more often than not, its Ever After or Never Been Kissed and theres just no reason any sane person should recognize anything from them, so Ill tell you this one, too: Its from A Knights Tale.

In the movie, a man says these words as hes buying a little time before the films big, final moments.

And let me tell you, Id love to buy some extra time, and were about to have some big, final moments.

Not for The Times-Picayune, exactly, because thats not going anywhere, but for the 161 people who have worked like hell to bring you award-winning, daily coverage of the stories and characters that make this weird, beautiful, mixed-up place we call home as weird, beautiful and mixed-up as it is.

We were told May 2 that we wouldnt get to do that anymore. Theres not much more to it than that, but then theres so much more. There always is.

When I was named metro columnist of The Times-Picayune  the papers first since Chris Rose  I knew I had big shoes to fill. I somehow had to figure out if there was a way to continue that immense legacy, one that had me, as a teenager, ripping out one of Rose's paragraphs and keeping it in my wallet until the newsprint crumbled. And I had to start by introducing myself to my own hometown.

Except, I never did. The news cycle moved on, I couldnt figure out what to say and I ended up skating past the moment. I got a pass. Turns out, I shouldnt have taken that opportunity for granted. So, while I still have your attention, let me introduce you to the newsroom I grew up wanting to be a part of, and somehow got lucky enough to join.

New Orleans readers will still get their news, of course, and itll still say The Times-Picayune at the top, but the family we built over months and years of spending long nights making phone calls, fact-checking, photographing, videoing and quietly building the blocks of the newspaper youve picked up at your doorstep or checked breaking updates from on your phone or swiped through on an Instagram Story  the family that made that will soon be gone.

There are often newsroom jokes about how no readers ever want to know how the sausage gets made, how we end up with the words, photos and videos that tell the story of a place or the ads that help us pay for them, so Ill spare you the details. But know these 161 people really loved making them happen.

Andrea Shaw loves when folks on the West Bank know whats going on in their community, so she wrote stories about them even when she was technically off the clock.

Quo Vadis Hollins looks forward to The Times-Picayune Doll and Toy Fund so much every Christmas, she starts recruiting people in January.

Beau Evans likes burying his nose in thousands of pages from a public records request, just because he might find something.

Frankie Prijatel always looks thrilled to be there in live video from festivals around the city. Thats because she is.

Michael DeMocker rushes to a crime scene, cameras in hand, because he knows sometimes the most important reflections of ourselves are also the most painful ones to see.

Wil Nobles wants you to know whats going on in New Orleans schools because hes a graduate of them, too.

Terri Troncale wrote something every single week. You wouldnt know it though, because it never carried her name. But she knew the voice of the institution was bigger than her.

Tim Givens is so proud of the work the print team puts together, hes shared it every night on Twitter before it even hits the presses.

Mark Schleifstein knows what the strength of a big storm can do to our city, so he sends every single National Weather Service alert to the staffers covering them, just in case theres something you need to know.

Katherine Sayre sometimes stays up late, stressing over getting the words exactly right, because she knows when she figures out what they are, she has the power to improve the lives of thousands.

Doug MacCash loves his job so much, he makes sure you know every time he writes his byline.

There are 150 other stories I could tell you, but whatever they are, know they will change now. Well be scattered across dozens of other businesses, cities, states.

But theres one thing that will never change: We, the people who crafted The Times-Picayune up til now, we will never, ever stop rooting for New Orleans to be a stronger, safer, healthier, more equitable place for every single person who calls it home.

We love you, New Orleans, and were still with you.

For now, Chelsea Brasted is a columnist on the Latitude team at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Write to Chelsea at cbrasted@nola.com. You can also call or text with story ideas, tips and complaints 225.460.1350.
As a scientist at LSU, Dr. Catherine O'Neal knew the COVID-19 vaccines had undergone rigorous safety testing before they were made available for children. But when the time came to sign her own kids up for the jab, the mother of three experienced 
SATURDAY

 River City Farmers Market  8 a.m. until 1 p.m., west side of The Centers parking lot, 714 S. Main St. Through Mid-October.

 Overeaters Anonymous  8:30 a.m., Douglas County Health Center, town hall meeting room, first floor, 42nd and Woolworth Streets, Omaha. Call Tracy at 402-551-9711. 10:30 a.m., Unity Church, 3424 N. 90th St., Omaha. Wheelchair accessible and child care provided. Call Dala at 402-210-3755.

 Southwest Iowa Narcotics Anonymous  5 p.m., Saturday Serenity, St. Pauls Episcopal Church, 812 Farnum St., Harlan; 6 p.m., On the Right Track, 515 E. Broadway; 8 p.m., Living Clean, 303 Walnut St., Shenandoah; 8:30 p.m., Rebellions, New Litehouse, 200 16th Ave.

 Gamblers 12-Step Program  7 p.m., 354 N. 76th St., Omaha. For 24-hour hotline, call 402-978-7899.

 Electric Music Jam  Noon to 4 p.m., Western Historic Trails Center.

 Treynor Optimist Club  8 a.m., Treynor Community Center.

 Underwood Optimist Club  7:30 a.m., UMBA Hall.

 My Fair Lady  7:30 p.m., Chanticleer Theater, 830 Franklin Ave. Known as the perfect musical, My Fair Lady is based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. Join classic characters, Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, as we watch a poor flower girl rise from her low station to a princess with the help of a linguist who changes her speech.Tickets are: $20 for adults; $16 for seniors ages 60 and older; $10 for students and children. For reservations, call 712-323-9955 or email chanticleertheater@gmail.com.

SUNDAY

 Al-Anon Family Group  10 a.m., The 500 Club, 410 S. 16th St.

 Southwest lowa Narcotics Anonymous  11 a.m., Spiritual Breakfast Meeting, New Litehouse, 200 16th Ave.; 6:45 p.m., New Way Group, Broadway United Methodist Church, east door, Room 210, 11 S. First St.; 8:30 p.m., Rebellions, New Litehouse, 200 16th Ave.

 Gamblers 12-Step Program  2:30 p.m., 12-Step House, 7306 Grant St., Omaha. For 24-hour hotline, call 402-978-7899.

 Overeaters Anonymous  3 p.m., 309 Elm St., Atlantic. Rear door, wheelchair accessible. Contact Karen W. at 712-774-5620; 4 p.m., St. Matthews Church, 60th and Walnut Streets, Omaha. Call Kathleen at 402-556-7877.

 Fraternal Order of Eagles No. 104 Bingo  6 p.m., North 16th Street and Avenue F. Public welcome.

 Carter Lake Volunteer Fire Department Monthly Pancake Breakfast  7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cost is $6 for adults; $5 for seniors; and $5 for children ages 6 to 12. Seconds cost $3. Delivery available; call 712-347-5900. All proceeds benefit the fire department.

 White Shrine of Jerusalem Pancake and French Toast Breakfast  8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Masonic Temple, 130 S. 6th St. Call 712-322-0539.

 My Fair Lady  2 p.m., Chanticleer Theater, 830 Franklin Ave. Known as the perfect musical, My Fair Lady is based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. Join classic characters, Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, as we watch a poor flower girl rise from her low station to a princess with the help of a linguist who changes her speech.Tickets are: $20 for adults; $16 for seniors ages 60 and older; $10 for students and children. For reservations, call 712-323-9955 or email chanticleertheater@gmail.com.
Editor's Note: This story first ran in print on June 1, 2019, as part of our annual Faces of the Community series, which highlights the unsung heroes of southwest Iowa.

The HERO (Happy Explorers Reaching Others) club celebrated a second year of leadership and growth at Lewis and Clark Elementary for the students and faculty.

Martha Bonine, paraeducator, started the club last year to help students learn how to better communicate and grow as leaders.

During summer I was thinking about what we can do to bring leadership skills to students, Bonine said. I reflected on it and thought about my past experiences teaching and what I would want to see young people know before they get to high school, and that is the nucleus of how that started.

As the HERO Club reaches its second year, Bonine has seen growth in both the club and students already.

I enlisted teachers to enlist students the first year, and we went from there. We started organically, and its started to changed and grow in the two years since, she said.

As the clubs grown, students have picked up more responsibility and shown those leadership skills. One example of that is the HERO Hands ceremony.

The first meeting of the month students look back through the previous few weeks and use examples of why someone should be nominated. Bonine explained this is to teach students about their surroundings and to make informed decisions in their choice.

Originally students would be called over the intercom to put paperhands called HERO hands onto a pin board in recognition of the good work they had done. Bonine explained the students without prompting had asked that teachers be involved in this tradition as well.

The two largest activities the club takes part in are International Day of Happiness on March 20, and Random Act of Kindness Day on Feb. 17.

On International Day of Happiness, the students gave out coins to individuals seen as kind or a leader. At the end of the day these coins could be turned in for Yoyos, wristbands, stickers and other smaller item. Some students decided to keep their coin as that meant more than the prizes to them.

On Random Act of Kindness Day, members of HERO club went to different classes at Lewis and Clark Elementary and performed a random act of kindness.

Bonine explained students are largely in charge of these events, and are responsible for whatever role they have.

Once they gain confidence in their own voice and that their ideas have merit, its fun to watch how they blossom, Bonine said. Instilling confidence in them is one thing I work on, so they know their voice is important and their ideas matter.

The club meets about two Thursdays every month for an hour after class. Club activities could include journaling, games to improve communication or teamwork, planning events or other activities.

Weve done a scavenger hunt before and we worked as a team to find where everything was. We had to find clues around the room as a team, said fifth grader Trenton Griffin.

To join the club students needed to apply earlier in the year.

This month fifth grade club members will go through applications for next years members. Last year nine students were members of the HERO club, but this year the number increased to 12.

Bonine passes out applications in the classrooms for students to apply, and each student has their own reason for joining.

The reason I joined the hero club is because I wanted to be more kind and be more helpful to everybody and set an example for my classmates and my friends, fourth grader Lucas Knowles said.
HAMBURG  With grim determination, the Finnell family emptied more inventory from their downtown antique store Wednesday as the small Iowa town prepares for what could be Round 2 of flooding.

Several feet of water poured into the Main Street store during record flooding in March that left a portion of Hamburg underwater. Now, the rapidly rising Missouri River threatens the town again.

Large amounts of rain, saturated soil and runoff in the Missouri Basin are forcing higher releases of Missouri River water from Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota.

Gavins Point releases went from 65,000 cubic feet per second on Tuesday to 70,000 on Wednesday. A jump to 75,000 is expected Saturday.

Discharges in a normal year are around 30,000.

The releases and the recent heavy rains in Nebraska and Iowa are expected to worsen the flooding problems in such downstream Iowa cities as Hamburg, Percival and Pacific Junction.

Wednesday, Glenn and Melanie Finnell and their son Dallas grabbed cuckoo clocks, glass jars and boxes full of other antique pieces, all of which are headed for higher ground.

Angry. Depressed. Sad, 24-year-old Dallas Finnell said, summing up his mood. Were not sure if this is going to take more stuff from us. We can only lose so much.

Behind them, workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were assembling a double-layer flood barrier across E Street to try to prevent the kind of flooding that already crippled the town once this year.

According to the corps, one of the levees that protects Hamburg breached in seven places in mid-March. Repairs are ongoing, leaving the town increasingly vulnerable as rain continues to fall and the Missouri and Nishnabotna Rivers continue to swell.

This month alone, more than 10 inches of rain has fallen in the area, Fremont County Emergency Management officials said.

The barriers lining Main Street are meant to keep the north side of town dry, said Mike Crecelius, the countys emergency management director. The Ditch 6 levee has been built up to protect the western and southern portions of town from floodwaters. Earthen berms were added to each end of the levee for added strength.

Eleven local guys brought in their bulldozers and built the levee back up (Tuesday), Crecelius said. The corps gave us elevation readings, and we added 3 feet all along the levee.

Im hoping what weve done will be enough, but its really out of our hands now, he said. Its up to Mother Nature. It will depend on the river levels.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, the Missouri River was carrying less than half as much water at Nebraska City as it did during the peak of flooding in March, according to Kellie Bergman, chief of the hydrologic engineering branch for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

However, the levees still have holes in them, so the valley floods at a lower river level than it would have prior to the March flooding. Additionally, some of the flooding behind the levees is being caused by runoff from recent heavy rains, she said.

Bergman cautioned that people should not take river conditions for granted. Even where levees havent broken, they have been weakened, so fresh breaks are possible.

Downtown Hamburg was a virtual ghost town Wednesday  only a handful of businesses have reopened since March. City water and sewer service was restored only a few weeks ago, and piles of flood wreckage  soggy insulation, couches and floorboards  remain heaped outside affected homes and businesses, waiting to be hauled away.

Three dozen mattresses are stacked outside the Hamburg Inn, and 5 inches of mud still coats the floor of some motel rooms. A pyramid of moldy corn sits outside a grain company on the outskirts of town.

All that debris will be floating if water rushes in again, said Hamburg City Councilman Wille Thorp.

Thorp estimated that about 400 Hamburg residents are displaced and living elsewhere, including the campground at nearby Waubonsie State Park. Prior to the March flood, the citys population hovered around 1,000.

Wednesday morning, Thorp and Chipper Fyfe, a worker with GoServ Global, a faith-based nonprofit that has been helping residents muck out houses in Hamburg, checked on an earthen city dike east of Interstate 29 that stands 11 to 12 feet high. On the other side, water lapped against it, in some places only a foot or so from the top.

If it comes in, Thorp said, weve lost people already who are moving away.

Cleanup also is ongoing in Pacific Junction, which evacuated for nearly a month in March. Wednesday, contractors with St. Louis-based Environmental Restoration, LLC collected so-called orphan tanks  stranded oil tanks and hazardous material containers  from floodwaters outside the city via airboat.

The March flooding hit several buildings owned by the Finnells and ruined much of the familys classic car collection. Volunteers seemed to focus on helping those with flooded homes, they said, leaving business owners to fend for themselves.

Crecelius said Hamburg also faces danger from the rising Nishnabotna River on the citys east side.

Thats another concern, he said. Were not working there yet, but the road to Riverton was cut off (by the river) at 11 p.m. (Tuesday).

Glenn Finnell, 78, lived through floods in 1952, 1993 and 2011, when Hamburg was largely spared.

Im not going back, he said about reopening the antique business.

Finnell said hed like to sell his buildings. But I dont know who would buy them.
If its parishioners saw fit, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in North Platte could celebrate silver and golden anniversaries at the same time.

The parish at West Walker Road and Echo Drive will officially celebrate its 25th birthday next weekend as former pastors and parishioners and the Lincoln Dioceses current and retired bishops arrive to share in Masses and meals.

But its also seven months shy of a half-century since the diocese bought the parishs 10-acre site in January 1970, believing the Lake Maloney area and the population south of Interstate 80 would support a parish in time.

None of us can predict the future, said the Rev. Mark Seiker, St. Elizabeth Ann Setons pastor since 2007, of the 24 years that passed before now-retired Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz created the parish on June 13, 1994.

But I would say a bishop has an understanding and a sense of his people and really of the general area of the state in choosing when to launch a parish, he said.

Bruskewitz, who dedicated the parishs three buildings during his 1992-2012 tenure, will celebrate next weekends regular Masses at 5 p.m. June 8 and 10 a.m. June 9.
Before a packed cathedral, Hying administered the sacrament of Holy Orders on the two candidates. Following a formal presentation of the two men, Hying accepted the candidates, electing them to be ordained, after which the two vowed obedience to the church, its people, the bishop and his successors.

Following a litany during which McNicholas and McDaniel laid prostrate before the altar as a sign of humility, the bishop laid his hands on each candidate.

In his ordination to the transitional diaconate, McDaniel was dressed with the stole and dalmatic as a visible sign of his office in the community. The communal ministry, going back to the first deacons in the New Testament, is to serve the needs of the poor and to encourage others to do likewise.

As a sign of the deacons commitment to lead a gospel-based life, McDaniel was entrusted with the Book of the Gospels.

The bishop and all the assembled priests laid hands on McDaniel as a sign of unity. The laying of hands is an ancient Christian symbol of someone being set aside for a particular work in the church.
Calumet Township Board President Darren Washington has made peace with the idea of Griffith leaving for another township, but he says state finance officials have left the town without options in the event its divorce plans dont work out.

In an interview on Friday, Washington was sympathetic to Griffiths frustration with having to pay more than $2 million to Calumet Township each year while receiving just a fraction of that amount in services.

But he criticized the Department of Local Government Finance for passing the buck on helping Griffith reduce its tax obligation while remaining in the township.

If they are not allowed to leave, there are parties above my pay grade that need to sit down and look at what went wrong, Washington said, calling out both the DLGF and state lawmakers from the Region. Why is Griffith paying so much?

Although Griffith residents voted overwhelmingly to secede from Calumet Township in September, the town has yet to finalize the split. Indiana law gives a seceding town one year to join a new township, but Griffith was rejected twice  first by St. John Township in December and then by North Township later that month.
Morrison grew to teach three generations of students in some families throughout her career at Columbia and became a major draw to the school with parents specifically requesting her to teach their children.

Morrison has taught more than 1,500 students in her career, including her first year teaching when she split her days between Columbia and Lafayette Elementary School  the second Hammond elementary slated to close this summer.

Morrison had been considering retirement before school closures were announced this month, but when the rumors became reality, she said she knew it was time.

I started here when I was 21, Morrison said. Ive got a lot of memories.

As students took their seats in the theater Friday morning, Columbias teachers handed each student a red, white or pink carnation.

She has been wonderful and such a great Columbian for 43 years, Lange said, calling Morrison up to the front. So many kids have gotten their great start in education because of Mrs. Morrison, so we are going to pay tribute to her right now.
CROWN POINT  Former Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington turned himself in Friday at the Lake County Jail to complete a sentence for an assault on a female cousin in 2017, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.

Washington, 46, was booked into the jail just before 6:30 p.m., spokeswoman Pamela Jones said.

Special Judge Jeffrey Thode in April found Washington violated his probation and sentenced him to serve a 150-day sentence, which the judge previously had suspended in favor of probation.

Washington was expected to serve about 17 days in jail, after receiving credit for 43 days served earlier this year and good behavior.

Washington's attorney, Michael Lambert, did not return a call Friday seeking comment.

Washington served four years on the County Council before stepping down at the end of 2018.

He had been a Democratic candidate for Gary City Council this year, but was removed from the ballot in late February after the county elections board found he hadnt lived in Gary long enough to run for office in the city. Washington had been living at LaVetta Sparks-Wade's home in Gary before his arrest.
HAMMOND  Two men from Hammond were arrested following vandalism to the Faith United Church of Christ, according to a Facebook post by the Hammond Indiana Police Department.

According to the post on Friday night, Hammond police don't believe the vandalism was a hate crime, but rather a "very juvenile crime of opportunity."

At this time, the identity of the suspects is being withheld pending formal criminal charges, the post said.

Hammond police responded to the Faith United Church of Christ for reported vandalism at the church around 7 a.m. Wednesday, finding significant damage to the interior of the facility. Investigators believe the incident may have occurred late Tuesday night.

Unknown subjects broke into the church and caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to the building and items within. The restrooms, display case, office, electric organ and altar were all damaged during this vandalism, Hammond police spokesman Lt. Steven Kellogg said.

Friday, police offered a $1,000 reward for information related to the crime.
CEDAR LAKE, IN - LaVerne Pokornik, 86, of Cedar Lake, Indiana and Mineral Springs, Arkansas went to be with the Lord on Sunday, May 26, 2019.

A memorial service will be held Friday, June 14, 2019 at 1:00 PM in the Moody Room of the Oaks Building at Cedar Lake Ministries. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Cedar Lake Ministries.
Legislators rushed to deliver on hardening schools  better doors, windows, and technology. Even medical kits to stop wounded children from bleeding out. This is low-hanging fruit  relatively free of political risk. They checked the box. But what about the hard stuff?

Even though the governors report contained the words "mental health" over 100 times, the legislature largely rejected these proposals. Reps. Wendy McNamara and Anthony Cook, as well as Sen. Mike Crider, who are educators and law enforcement officials in their day jobs, understand the challenges our youth face today. They worked very hard to get more resources focused on mental health. But in the end, extreme ideological interests smothered efforts to identify troubled children and intervene before violence occurs. They did what extremists always do  spread fear. Fear that surveys would promote promiscuity and homosexuality, or that educators would exclude parents from efforts to support students. All of this was, of course, false. But there werent enough legislators with the courage to tell the extremists they wont be allowed to block action needed to protect our kids.
Documents released on Friday showed that the day before they dropped all charges against the actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of staging a hate crime, prosecutors deliberated over the precise wording of their explanation, cognizant of how the public might perceive their sudden withdrawal from the case.

According to correspondence released by the Cook County States Attorneys Office, prosecutors had been discussing the resolution of the case with Mr. Smolletts lawyer in the days leading up to March 26, when the office dropped all 16 felony counts against him. Mr. Smollett, 36, had been accused of paying two acquaintances to stage a racist and homophobic attack against him, during which they shouted slurs and placed a noose around his neck.

On March 25, Mr. Smolletts lawyer, Patricia Holmes, emailed proposed language for the states attorneys office to use when announcing in court that it would be dropping the case. Ms. Holmes suggested that prosecutors say that Mr. Smollett is a dedicated citizen of Chicago who volunteers and contributes regularly in the Chicago area community. Mr. Smollett had agreed to forfeit the $10,000 bond paid to release him from jail, and Ms. Holmes suggested prosecutors mention that, too.

The proposed statement also suggested that the prosecutors should say that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration announced on Friday that it was stripping India of a special status that exempts billions of dollars of its products from American tariffs, part of a deepening clash over Indias protections for its market.

The White House said that it would terminate Indias preferential market access to the United States as of June 5. The notice claimed that India had not given the United States equitable and reasonable access to its markets.

The administration said that it would also apply to India tariffs on solar panels and washers that President Trump announced last year, suspending an exemption it had granted to certain developing countries.

The measure will hit some Indian exporters of products like textiles, jewelry, auto parts and agricultural products, and aggravate tensions between the United States and a country the Trump administration has described as an ally to counter China.
Her entire appearance was carefully controlled, with most of the crowd made up of nail salon and restaurant workers wearing matching T-shirts and demanding one fair wage  the name of the campaign by Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a group that is fighting to raise the wage for tipped workers to the full minimum wage.

The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour; only seven states require tipped workers to be paid the same as other workers. Tipped workers are predominantly women. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has co-sponsored a bill to double the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024. New York State is also weighing a proposal to bring the tipped wage in line with the minimum one.

In individual conversations with diners as well as remarks to the whole room, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez consistently emphasized how her personal biography had informed her political one  a winning tactic from the campaign trail. (Even President Trump has invoked her back story, dismissing her as a young bartender). She shared stories of experiencing sexual harassment and economic uncertainty as a bartender reliant on tips.

It is so real, the amount of exploitation and harassment and labor violations that you will endure, she said.

The event was tightly choreographed to keep attention on the issue at hand. Before Ms. Ocasio-Cortez spoke, several workers shared their stories: Glenda Sefla, a nail salon worker, described working in poorly ventilated spaces, with no lunch hours and no certainty about how much money she would earn each week. Aesha Polanco, a massage therapist and restaurant server, recounted being shown lewd photos by customers and tolerating it for the sake of tips.

But it was undeniable that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was the main draw, so much so that as she left the restaurant through a back door, the crowd chanted Alexandria! Alexandria! before turning to One fair wage!
Over the past 60 years, tens of thousands of black and Latino New Yorkers have been arrested for carrying so-called gravity knives  small, easy-to-access blades that are used by everyone from stagehands to steelworkers.

But on Thursday, in another demonstration of New Yorks surging progressive wings influence, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ended that practice, signing a bill to remove such knives from the category of deadly weapons, a designation reserved for guns, daggers and switchblades, and allow their possession.

New York law defines a gravity knife as a knife with the blade in the handle that can be opened with a onehanded flick of the wrist. They differ from switchblades, which use a spring to propel the blade into an open position automatically with the push of a button.

But critics of the old law said common folding knives and tradespeoples knives could be deemed gravity knives if an officer was able to flick them open with centrifugal force, and some people had been arrested for possessing ordinary knives they needed for work.
The thing about Louisiana farmers and our people is were very resilient, but its a hard thing to tell a man that youre going to destroy his crops, said Michael G. Strain, the Louisiana agriculture commissioner.

The last time the Corps opened the spillways floodgates, in 2011, an epic flood inundated nearly 100,000 acres of agricultural land, forced a cattle evacuation and reduced production of oil and natural gas. In St. Mary Parish, about 100 miles southwest of Baton Rouge, nearly 50 homes and businesses were flooded. And it wreaked havoc on local wildlife, killing an estimated 1,600 whitetail deer and displacing the Louisiana black bear, a federally listed threatened species.

Mr. Strain praised the Army Corpss handling of the current situation, saying that not opening the spillway would threaten the structures integrity and thousands of acres downstream. If we did not do this, the flooding would be worse. It would be catastrophic.

At the church in Sand Springs, flooded neighbors and some officials came up to Mr. DesBarres when the meeting was over and thanked him for speaking out. He said his three-bedroom ranch-style home has about seven feet of water inside.

He said he would work with elected officials to pursue an investigation into the Army Corps and its policy of waiting for rain on the ground that prevented it from lowering the reservoir long before the storm. They failed miserably in their mission of flood control, he said. I get it that they had to do something so the water wouldnt come over the dam. But thats kind of late, isnt it?

Karen Keith, the Tulsa County commissioner who coordinated the meeting, said local officials also want answers about the agencys policy.

I would like to see an examination of the policy, she said. If we are in a spring where the weather pattern looks like its going to be a very wet spring, then lets bring down that flood pool.
Severe overcrowding at an immigration facility in El Paso presents an immediate risk to the health and safety of hundreds of migrants being held there, with some of those detained standing on top of toilets in crowded rooms just to find air to breathe, a federal watchdog said this week.

In a report issued Thursday in which it calls for immediate action, the United States Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General detailed several striking observations about the conditions at the El Paso Del Norte immigration processing center gathered during unannounced inspections in early May.

Despite federal standards saying that people should generally not be detained for more than 72 hours, some people were held in standing room only cells for weeks, the report said. Investigators found that there was limited access to showers and clean clothes, the report said. Some people were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks, the report said.

Investigators found 155 people in a cell that was supposed to hold 35, and 41 people in a cell that was supposed to hold eight. Nine hundred people were being held at the center on one day in May  far exceeding its capacity of 125.
BALTIMORE  A Maryland congressman said on Friday that the National Security Agency had denied that one of its hacking tools, stolen in 2017, was used in a ransomware attack on Baltimores government that had disrupted city services for more than three weeks.

The statement, made by Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, came in response to an article in The New York Times last weekend. The Times was told by people directly involved in the investigation in Baltimore that the N.S.A. tool, EternalBlue, was found in the citys network by all four contractors hired to study the attack and restore computer services.

Investigators are still trying to determine the exact chronology of the attack. The leading theory is that hackers broke in through an open server in Baltimores network, installed a back door and then used EternalBlue to move across the citys computers searching for valuable servers to infect, said the people involved in the investigation.

This week, the contractors discovered an additional software tool, called a web shell, on Baltimores networks. They believe the web shell may have been used in conjunction with EternalBlue and another hacking technique known as pass-the-hash, which uses stolen credentials, to spread the ransomware.
WASHINGTON  Federal prosecutors rebuffed a judges order to release by Friday highly classified transcripts of discussions that Michael T. Flynn, the presidents former national security adviser, had with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition.

The transcripts between Mr. Flynn and Sergey I. Kislyak, formerly Russias top diplomat in the United States, were expected to show that they talked in December 2016 about sanctions that the Obama administration had just imposed on Russia. Mr. Flynn initially denied those exchanges about sanctions both to Trump administration officials and the F.B.I. in the weeks after the discussions.

The conversations prompted concerns among senior Obama administration officials about whether the Trump transition team was flouting norms about holding off on making policy until after taking office. The phone calls were also at the center of the scandal that eventually prompted Mr. Flynns ouster just weeks into President Trumps term.

The order last month from the judge, Emmet G. Sullivan of the Federal District Court in the District of Columbia, was unusual. The transcripts came from a secret F.B.I. wiretap of Mr. Kislyak, and their release would have provided an extraordinarily rare look at the fruits of the governments eavesdropping. Agents routinely listen to wiretaps of foreign officials, but they remain among the governments most closely held secrets.
WASHINGTON  The last time President Trump vowed all-out retaliation against Mexico for the illegal immigrants crossing the border, he backed off. In April, he gave Americas southern neighbor a year to fix the problem.

It turns out he cannot wait that long.

As he ratchets the pressure back up with threats of a tariff war, Mr. Trump once again finds himself grasping for ideas to deliver on his signature campaign promise: ending illegal immigration, no matter how incendiary or legally dubious. With an election year approaching, he appears increasingly anxious to get a handle on the problem and show results.

Time and again, the president has engaged in a game of geopolitical chicken with Mexico, warning darkly of radical measures that even his own advisers caution him against. His latest scheme would impose escalating tariffs on all imports from Mexico, a move that could blow up the economic relationship with one of Americas closest neighbors. But there was no more guarantee that will be any more effective than his past efforts, or that he will even necessarily follow through with his threat.

This is yet another flailing about in an effort to effect a change hes failed to bring about, said Roberta S. Jacobson, a former career diplomat who served as ambassador to Mexico for the first year of Mr. Trumps presidency. Every time he sees something like highest total in one week in X years, he demands something, and his advisers come up with something even more extreme, and he goes for it.
The article included discussions among doctors that were captured on secret audio recordings provided to The Times, in which the physicians talked openly about their concerns, including that some might not feel comfortable allowing their own children to have surgery at the hospital. The physicians also discussed unexpected complications with lower-risk patients.

While the doctors could not pinpoint what might be going wrong, they considered everything from inadequate resources to misgivings about the chief pediatric cardiac surgeon to whether the hospital was taking on patients it was not equipped to handle.

Its a nightmare right now, Dr. Tim Hoffman, the hospitals chief of pediatric cardiology, said in a 2016 meeting. We are in crisis, and everyone is aware of that.

In a later meeting, Dr. Kevin Kelly, the head of the hospital at the time, told cardiologists to do what your conscience says when considering where to refer patients, according to one of the recordings.

But, he warned, performing fewer surgeries at UNC could hurt revenues and could cost the cardiologists their jobs. If it reduces the volume of things, he said, Ill just  well just reduce the number of people that we have.
Welcome to June. Hopefully there will be some quiet afternoons in your future this summer, or at the very least, plenty of moments for you to grab a book. Weve put together a list of exciting new titles coming out this month that will make any reader happy.

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Image

Big Sky, by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown, June 25)

Atkinson introduced the private investigator Jackson Brodie in her 2004 crime novel Case Histories, and followed up with three more Brodie novels in quick succession before turning her attention to other projects, most recently the World War II spy novel Transcription. Now she returns to Brodie for the first time in a decade, with a case about an unfaithful husband that turns into something much darker.
SEATTLE  The fatal flaws with Boeings 737 Max can be traced to a breakdown late in the planes development, when test pilots, engineers and regulators were left in the dark about a fundamental overhaul to an automated system that would ultimately play a role in two crashes.

A year before the plane was finished, Boeing made the system more aggressive and riskier. While the original version relied on data from at least two types of sensors, the final version used just one, leaving the system without a critical safeguard. In both doomed flights, pilots struggled as a single damaged sensor sent the planes into irrecoverable nose-dives within minutes, killing 346 people and prompting regulators around the world to ground the Max.

But many people involved in building, testing and approving the system, known as MCAS, said they hadnt fully understood the changes. Current and former employees at Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration who spoke with The New York Times said they had assumed the system relied on more sensors and would rarely, if ever, activate. Based on those misguided assumptions, many made critical decisions, affecting design, certification and training.

It doesnt make any sense, said a former test pilot who worked on the Max. I wish I had the full story.
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Happy June! And sorry about your stock portfolio, which probably isnt looking too hot after President Trumps latest tariff threats. Heres what you need to know about the weeks business news.

MAY 26-june 1

Whats Up?

Not All Losses Are Bad

Uber has taken some knocks lately. Less than a month after the ride-hailing companys lukewarm initial public offering, its shares have fallen more than 10 percent . And according to its first-quarter earnings report, released on Thursday, Uber is seeing its slowest growth in years and lost more than $1 billion so far in 2019. But it still wont tolerate rudeness. Uber also announced that riders with significantly below average ratings (yes, the rating system goes both ways) will get thrown off the app. (The announcement came after a Lyft passenger was caught on camera attacking a driver for not going faster.) Its unclear how bad a rating would merit expulsion, but Uber says riders will get a couple of warnings before theyre officially banned.

Merge Right

Its a rough world out there for car manufacturers, what with all these tariffs and ride-sharing apps flying around, so why not band together? At least thats what Fiat Chryslers chairman might have been thinking when he officially invited Renault to merge with his company last Monday after several weeks of private talks. The trans-Atlantic coupling would create the worlds third-largest automaker, second only to Toyota and Volkswagen. The elephant in the room? That would be Nissan, Renaults formal partner. The companies relationship has frayed since Nissans chairman, Carlos Ghosn, was arrested last year. If they can all mend fences, the resulting juggernaut would be the worlds largest car manufacturer by a wide margin, and force other players in the industry to rethink their business strategies.

Equal Opportunity for Diaper Duty

As of this week, one less group may have cause to complain about their terrible parental leave policy. JPMorgan Chase reached a tentative settlement with a father who sued the bank for denying him the 16 weeks of paid leave that it offers to new mothers. The bank also agreed to create a $5 million fund to compensate up to about 5,000 dads who were shortchanged in the past. The case sets an important legal precedent for corporate parental-leave policies to become more gender neutral.
SHANGHAI  Three days before the most sensitive political anniversary on the Chinese calendar, Twitter suspended the accounts of Chinese political commentators in what it said was an accident. The move showed starkly the global political ramifications of Silicon Valley slip-ups.

Twitters action, which one human rights worker said affected more than 100 users, came over several hours late Friday and early Saturday. It hit human rights lawyers, activists, college students and nationalists, who use workarounds to get access to Twitter, which is banned in China. Just about every part of the raucous, if small, Chinese-language Twitter world was affected.

The accounts began rapidly disappearing just days before the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on a student-led pro-democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Many online assumed the worst: a coordinated attack by Beijing to project its suffocating internet censorship outside its own digital borders. Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, tweeted about his concern.

Yet the culprit was not Chinese censors but Twitters own overactive filters.

In a statement, Twitter said that as a part of its routine efforts to stop spam and inauthentic behavior, it had inadvertently gone after a number of legitimate Chinese-language accounts.
Its not just avocados.

President Trumps threat to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports could affect prices for cars, televisions, clothing, alcohol and the fuel that Mexico regularly sends to the United States.

The tax, which is meant to take effect on June 10, would start at 5 percent and gradually increase unless the flow of undocumented immigrants across the United States border is stemmed, Mr. Trump said Thursday while announcing the tariff on Twitter. It could rise to 25 percent.

Several business groups  including corn growers, pork producers and retailers  pushed back. The United States Chamber of Commerce called it exactly the wrong move. The head of the National Association of Manufacturers said it was a Molotov cocktail of policy.

Mr. Trump also recently threatened to close the border entirely, jeopardizing nearly $1.7 billion in products and services that traverse it each day. Many items are made in Mexico using materials or parts first produced in the United States. And no country supplies the United States with more agricultural products.
Anand Giridharadass say-so is not persuasive. More compelling is the reasonable answer to this question: Am I glad or not glad that the Sacklers have given generously to the Met? I am glad. Im sorry the money carries a cloud  but so did Carnegies, Fricks and Rockefellers by todays measure.

If only the world as we know it were as unblemished as we wish it to be.

Polk Laffoon IV

Cincinnati

The writer is the treasurer for the board of trustees of the Cincinnati Art Museum.

To the Editor:

The article says the Met wont rename the Sackler Wing. It should rethink that decision. As the Sackler name is tarnished, it will threaten the integrity of the Mets own brand. Does the Met want its reputation sullied by association?

Patricia Kidd

Lumberton, N.J.

To the Editor:

If museums, universities, opera houses and symphony halls stipulated that all donations had to be anonymous, the morality of the donor  or the need to assess whether ill-gotten gains lurked beneath a specific donation  would be a moot point. Of course, the threat of de-identification would likely send shivers down the spines of both donors and recipients. After all, current naming practices at these cultural institutions can, at times, result in a high-end form of money laundering, by turning tainted earnings into improved social standing for all to see and admire. Ending that practice could turn the donation hose from gusher to trickle.

Paul E. Greenberg

Brookline, Mass.

To the Editor:

With important museums and institutions rightly refusing to accept donations from the Sacklers, the family has the opportunity, the means and the moral imperative to donate their ill-gotten funds to treatment and recovery centers that serve the obscenely large numbers of people whose lives have been destroyed by the opioid crisis.

What the Sacklers have done is unforgivable; the least they can do is make a significant financial effort to right the wrongs, inasmuch as it is possible. For the countless number of addicts who have died, it is already too late.

Deborah Hautzig

New York

To the Editor:

It is ironic that the Metropolitan Museum of Art will stop accepting gifts from the Sackler family because of its links to OxyContin. Will it similarly spurn gifts or return gifts from oil robber barons, sugary drink moguls, banking institutions with devious practices and foreign potentates who stone their own citizens? Great philanthropy, which supports museums and other cultural activities, too often has its roots in evil.
But talking to Crawford, Barr took the knife he had already stuck in his old friend and twisted it, using St. Muellers prestige against him. He said Mueller, in fact, was not barred from reaching a conclusion, and this is why a surprised Barr and his former deputy, Rod Rosenstein, had to step in and reach a conclusion on obstruction, one ending up favoring Trump.

After indicating that Mueller was derelict and misguided, Barr went ahead and belittled him and his dream team as inept.

Dismissively noting he and Rosenstein did not agree with a lot of the legal analysis in the Mueller report, Barr said he applied what he considered to be the right law, though he confusingly said he didnt rely on that when pronouncing Muellers evidence deficient on the 11 instances of potential obstruction laid out in the report.

When Barr moved on to his investigation of the investigators who worked on the case of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, he really bared his claws.

About the F.B.I. team that did the investigating, Barr backed up all of Trumps deep-state rants, saying: Republics have fallen because of Praetorian Guard mentality where government officials get very arrogant, they identify the national interest with their own political preferences and they feel that anyone who has a different opinion, you know, is somehow an enemy of the state. He added, ominously, Things are just not jiving.

Just as Barr enables Trump, Mueller enabled Barr.

Muellers argument seems to be that he cant report on what his facts mean because the president has immunity from prosecution. But that doesnt follow. If you believe Trump committed a crime, even if you cant indict him now, why not say so? Otherwise, what was the point of the investigation? All Mueller was asked to do was to describe what he found and give his conclusions; then the Justice Department and Congress could do what they wanted.

As Walter Dellinger, an acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration, tweeted: Everyone agrees a president can be indicted once he is out of office. That (in addition to impeachment) is a reason to gather the evidence now while docs are available and memories fresh.
The 1820s saw myriad start-up periodicals, hoping to woo an expanding base of literate, culturally aspirational consumers, and boosted by technological advances in printing. Many quickly collapsed in the eras boom-and-bust economy. But The Gazette kept going, largely thanks to the work of Letitia Landon.

Jerdan took on the ambitious 18-year-old poet as an unpaid intern, training her to be his unacknowledged deputy and giving her control of the poetry column. It was there that she began using her initials to sign her poems. Her anonymity drew readers curiosity, which she further stoked by dropping hints that she was a lady yet in her teens. Readers bought The Gazette week after week in the hope that the mysterious poet would reveal more of herself.

In the fantasy figure of L.E.L., Landon seduced her audience by creating a poetic brand that both was and was not herself. She frequently used the first-person voice in seeming to confess her deepest feelings, but her tone was slippery. Some readers imagined her as an innocent ingenue; others found her writing subversively erotic. She could ululate with agonized passion, but she could also swoop from syrupy to cynical in a single lyric, imagining, say, sharing a leafy couch on an island paradise with her beloved, only to end in mocking bathos: I thought thus of the flowers, the moon,/This fairy isle for you and me;/And then I thought how very soon/How very tired we would be.

Behind the scenes, Jerdan was not only helping her career, but, as he quaintly put it in his autobiography, cultivating the divine organisation of her being. Their workplace affair was based on a power imbalance she could never escape. A married man 20 years her senior, he went on to father three children with her, all of whom she kept from the public and had to give away  a fact that only came to light in 2000.

By 1824, Keats, Shelley and Byron were all dead. That year, with one secret baby already behind her, Landon stepped out from behind the veil of L.E.L. to become an acknowledged celebrity with the publication of her best-selling first poetry collection, The Improvisatrice.
During my weeks in hiding, I watched on television as my fellow activists were captured one by one. I decided to go back to Beijing, knowing that I, too, would be caught. The police found me on July 2, and arrested me after a car chase. Little Wang has been caught! one officer phoned his boss in excitement.

I spent three years and seven months in prison. My heart was often laden with guilt and sorrow. A large number of students and Beijing residents had died during the bloody crackdown. I felt partly responsible.

In 1993, when China made its first bid to host the Olympics, I was released in a show of political relaxation. I was arrested again two years later, and sentenced to 11 years, for work in support of political prisoners and for signing a petition calling on the government to apologize for the Tiananmen massacre. I was again released early, in 1998, in another moment of political thawing, just before President Bill Clintons visit to China. After that, I came to the United States, and I have been shut out of my native China ever since.

Our movement failed 30 years ago because we lacked support and experience in promoting democratic change. Many of us had pinned our hopes on the liberal factions of the Communist Party leadership to initiate changes from within the system, but we underestimated the power of the party elders. The massacre shattered our illusions, helping us see the brutality of Chinas one-party rule.

We students were not the only naive ones. Within a few years of the Tiananmen massacre, many Western governments lifted their sanctions against China. The Wests engagement policy  based on the hope that trade and investment would bring about democratic changes in China  prevailed.

But instead of instigating liberalization, Western capital fattened the pockets of the Communist Party leaders, giving them the power to prolong their rule by silencing dissent at home and expanding the countrys global clout.

Despite our failure, I believe that we protesters made a difference. CNN reported live on what happened in Tiananmen Square, and the Chinese government realized that it could no longer butcher its citizens with the whole world watching. We raised the publics awareness of democracy; many of the lawyers and human rights activists who have challenged the legitimacy of the Communist Party in the years since the massacre were participants in or supporters of the 1989 movement. And today, the West has finally recognized the dangers of Chinas totalitarian regime.
Thirty years ago in the spring of 1989, as the worlds most populous country teetered on the edge of freedom, I received a late-night phone call in my apartment in Beijing: The Chinese Army was invading its own capital.

Students and workers had made roads impassable by setting up barricades to block the army, so I jumped on my bicycle and pedaled furiously toward the gunfire. I reached Tiananmen Square shortly before the army, and then I watched as soldiers fired their automatic weapons directly at the crowd that I was in.

I was then the Beijing bureau chief of The Times, and I ran around that evening, the notebook clutched in my hand stained with the sweat of fear, to document horrors that remain seared into my memory. You never forget watching young people, some of the nations best and brightest, full of passion and idealism, stand up to machine guns  and then in an instant crumple bloody and lifeless on the ground.

Until that evening, millions of Chinese had marched freely for seven weeks in hundreds of cities across the country, denouncing corruption and seeking greater democracy. Sculptors had created a huge Goddess of Democracy, a Chinese version of the Statue of Liberty. Hope filled the air.
Given all that, who could be against a measure taken in the name of safety?

The note about the cameras even offered some reassurances. The footage, it said, will be stored locally, not on the cloud.

And after all, really, whats a few dozen more cameras? All of us are already videotaped endlessly on our trek to and from the office. On sidewalks and in restaurants. In waiting rooms and in the park. At the theater. In the lobby of this building. In the elevators. And now in the newsroom.

Writing in The Privacy Project, Kara Swisher, a Times contributing Opinion writer, summed up the response of many in the tech industry to people who lament the boundless incursions into their private lives: Get over it!

I dont intend to, she wrote, and I dont think anyone else should, either.

Ms. Swisher was talking about corporate data snatchers, but its pretty good advice all around.

[If you use technology, someone is using your information. Well tell you how  and what you can do about it. Sign up for our limited-run newsletter.]

Again and again, people who are scared show a reluctance to question measures taken in the name of security, even when they strike some as excessive, or even senseless. After the Sept. 11 attacks, people lined up dutifully at newly installed metal detectors to enter a skating rink in Central Park  never mind that they then went outside to skate in open view.

The new cameras at The Times were not, in the end, a Privacy Project experiment. But you may still be wondering how all those supposed troublemakers here reacted.
Update: June 1, 2019

This article has been updated to reflect estimates of satellites potentially appearing in images taken by a telescope that were revised after it was published.

Last month, SpaceX successfully launched 60 500-pound satellites into space. Soon amateur skywatchers started sharing images of those satellites in night skies, igniting an uproar among astronomers who fear that the planned orbiting cluster will wreak havoc on scientific research and trash our view of the cosmos.

The main issue is that those 60 satellites are merely a drop in the bucket. SpaceX anticipates launching thousands of satellites  creating a mega-constellation of false stars collectively called Starlink that will connect the entire planet to the internet, and introduce a new line of business for the private spaceflight company.

While astronomers agree that global internet service is a worthy goal, the satellites are bright  too bright.

This has the potential to change what a natural sky looks like, said Tyler Nordgren, an astronomer who is now working full-time to promote night skies.
American Royalty?

Although paparazzi flare-ups arent unheard-of in Washington (just ask Dick Morris, Monica Lewinsky and Hope Hicks), this sustained stakeout is very TMZ for the land of C-Span.

So why, two years in, is The Daily Mail still so invested in Ms. Trump, even as some polls find that her approval numbers have sunk, particularly among the millennial American women who make up a key demographic for the Daily Mail website?

Maybe the tabloid, which is besotted with Meghan Markle, thinks it has locked onto the closest thing Americans have to a princess. Centuries after the break from the Crown, is The Daily Mail tapping into a strand of Yankee D.N.A. that yearns for erstwhile royalty?

Whatever the reason, Ms. Trump seems to be getting good ratings  to put it in Trumpian terms.

The Daily Mail did not return requests for comment, but former staffers said it was part of a strategy to increase web traffic. The Daily Mail was founded in 1896 and its print paper remains focused on British readers. Its website (officially known as the Mail Online), however, was started in 2003 and, according to comScore, within a decade became one of the most highly trafficked news sites worldwide, thanks in part to a cascade of celebrity click bait and lurid crime stories.

Former staffers attested to Ms. Trump as a traffic driver, with clicks coming primarily from the United States. Its a classic Daily Mail guilty pleasure, said Taylor Lorenz, the former head of social media for The Daily Mail, about the nonstop coverage of Ms. Trumps comings and goings. If those posts werent doing well, they wouldnt be running them.

Mr. DAgostino had another theory. The Daily Mail has carved out a niche, he said, speculating that the real value of his photos was to feed the maw of search engines and the 24-hour news cycle, so that if youre looking for a story about Jared and Ivanka, youre going to end up on The Daily Mail.
The Location

The new resort is down a winding and tree-lined boulevard in Sullivan County, about 90 miles northwest of New York City. It is in former Borscht Belt country: this area of the Catskills was once dotted with hotels, resorts and restaurants catering to Jewish vacationers, but decades ago it fell out of fashion and into disuse. The Resorts World Casino is nearby, about a half-mile down that landscaped road, but there was little information on how guests could hike or otherwise enjoy the surrounding great outdoors. We were certainly made to think that the main attractions were inside.

The Room

We arrived a few hours before the 4 p.m. check-in (guests are allowed to hit the park early), and we were thrilled to hear that a junior-king suite would be available within 30 minutes. While it was ready in less than an hour, we had been shooed to the water park and didnt receive the email notification until later. After a little juggling of wet towels and roller bags, we entered an immaculately clean yet bland hotel room with gray carpeting, gray-painted walls and dark-wood modern furniture. The pops of color came from bright checkered ottomans and orange and neon-green throw pillows, but it didnt seem to be decorated with children in mind.

For anyone attempting a B.Y.O.B. after a long day of wrangling children, beware: The room did not have a corkscrew or a bottle opener, and when we called down for the latter, we were told to take our adult beverages to one of the bars for opening. No one wants to do that.
The actor and comedian Kenan Thompson has been a star on Saturday Night Live for a record-breaking 16 seasons. In July, hell also be a judge, along with Chrissy Teigen and Jeff Foxworthy, on Bring the Funny, a new television series where comedians will compete in a talent show for fame and money. Next season, he will start in a new family sitcom, "The Kenan Show."

Based in New York, Mr. Thompson almost always brings his family  his wife, Christina, and their two girls, Georgia, 4, and Gianna, 9 months  when he travels.

Youre their main protector so its the best when you have them with you, he said. And it keeps you somewhat normal in what you can do. When youre traveling for work, and youre worried about your kids, its hard for you to focus on work.

Travel with children isnt all that different from travel before children, he said. The family went to Las Vegas for New Years Eve, where the vibe was more cozy than crazy. They took a road trip to Utah to see the sights, rather than party all night at the clubs.
The man who called himself Prince Khalid al-Saud of Saudi Arabia liked the finer things in life: Rolex watches and Cartier bracelets, a Miami penthouse with a door buzzer labeled Sultan and expensive outfits for his Chihuahua, Foxy, whose life he chronicled on Instagram.

Sometimes he drove his Ferrari, equipped with diplomatic license plates, to fashionable department stores, where he spent thousands of dollars at a time, prosecutors said. But his charmed life came to a screeching halt in 2017 when he was arrested and charged with using a fake identity to defraud investors.

It turns out he was not a Saudi prince at all.

On Friday, the man, Anthony Gignac, 48, was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for posing as a member of the Saudi royal family and pulling off one scam after another, culminating in a scheme to defraud dozens of investors out of more than $8 million  money that prosecutors said was used to finance his lavish lifestyle.

It was not the first time Mr. Gignac, a Colombian orphan adopted by a Michigan family in 1977, used the al-Saud name to get what he wanted.
Colorado on Friday became the 18th state to ban conversion therapy for minors, a discredited practice that aims to change a persons sexual orientation or gender expression.

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, who is gay, signed the bill into law a day before the start of Pride Month for the L.G.B.T. community. He also signed a bill making it easier for transgender people to change the gender listed on state-issued documents.

On Wednesday, Maine outlawed conversion therapy, and New York and Massachusetts have also enacted laws banning the practice this year.

Conversion therapy has been around for more than a century. Its most common technique is talk therapy, although it is not uncommon for practitioners to use aversion treatment such as inducing nausea, vomiting or paralysis when a person is aroused by same-sex images, according to a 2018 study by the Williams Institute of the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. In some cases, electric shock has been used, the study said.
In the Democratic primary, Andy Beshear, the state attorney general, pulled out a win with 38 percent of the vote, beating out a more conservative candidate and a more liberal one. Not all Democrats agreed that Mr. Beshear would be the best candidate to beat Mr. Bevin. But Mr. Beshear can make the case that he has already battled with the governor as much, and as fiercely, as anyone.

As attorney general, Mr. Beshear has filed multiple lawsuits against the Bevin administration, over service cuts, the pension overhaul and the governors attempts to find and punish teachers who staged sickout protests. Mr. Bevin, meanwhile, has frequently attributed the states problems, like the drastically underfunded pensions, to the neglect and mismanagement of previous administrations  and even ordered an investigation of the administration of Steve Beshear, his immediate predecessor, a Democrat who served two terms and also happens to be Andy Beshears father.

It would be difficult to imagine a starker contrast, one that will surely be drawn in a campaign that many expect to be nastier and more divisive than any in recent memory. That, to many, is the conundrum.

Sometimes I feel like a man without a party, said Reggie Dickerson, 54, a pipe fitter from eastern Kentucky. Mr. Dickerson, as a strong union man, was a longtime Democrat, but switched his registration to Republican over the issue of same-sex marriage. Then he switched back to support the conservative Democrat in this years primary. And he is now switching back again, largely over the issue of abortion.

An east Kentucky Democrat is not even close to a Louisville or Lexington Democrat, he said, contrasting his evangelical convictions with the secular outlook of many Democrats in the states big cities.

And how close does he see himself to a Republican like Mr. Bevin, who champions right-to-work laws and the privatization of government services? Not real close either, Mr. Dickerson said.

The current era of all-or-nothing partisanship is an awkward fit for Kentucky. It would be easy to take the state these days for an unquestioned stronghold for Republicans, given their supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature and the fact that Republicans hold all but one of the states seats in Congress.
In the past, candidates chased big donors and endorsements, said Donna Brazile, the former Democratic chairwoman. Now theyre chasing individual donors and trying to make sure they can get on the stage where it all matters, she added, referring to the televised debates.



The traditional early nominating states are hardly being ignored by the two-dozen candidates, and are still poised to play their usual role of winnowing the field. But they no longer have what was effectively a stranglehold on the time, money and attention of the White House aspirants in the year leading up to the primaries. And states like California that were once mere A.T.M.s for presidential hopefuls  who would fly in, raise money and leave  are welcoming candidates for traditional campaign events.

That is in part because of the increased importance of Super Tuesday, which has moved up on the calendar. That one day alone may offer more than 38 percent of all delegates and could include such large, racially diverse states as California and Texas. Early voting will take place in both states in the weeks usually dominated by the whiter states of Iowa and New Hampshire. This new focus on places whose demographics reflect the Democratic coalition, the partys drift left and President Trumps stunning election and divisive presidency have also elevated a different set of priorities in the campaign.

If youre looking at that calendar, and you know you cant just win this with white voters, then you have to go to other states, said Jess Morales Rocketto, a Democratic strategist, referring to the states with significant Hispanic and African-American populations that will cast ballots on Super Tuesday, which is taking place three days after heavily black South Carolina.

This approach represents a reversal from 2008.

In that race  the last Democratic contest with such a competitive, multicandidate field  Barack Obama was determined to prove to white and nonwhite voters alike that he had appeal in states with little diversity. He spent 89 days in Iowa leading up to his triumph at the caucuses, which demonstrated to skeptics that an African-American from Chicago could win over a heavily white and rural state.

This time, the Democratic contenders of all races want to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion and racial justice in hopes of winning over white progressives and people of color  while also showing that they can capture the states and voters that tipped the White House to Mr. Trump in 2016, especially in the industrial Midwest.
This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

WASHINGTON  With the military putting a new focus on the health care needs of aging detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison, Congress is considering again whether to allow the Pentagon to move wartime prisoners temporarily to the United States for emergency or complicated medical care not available at the base in Cuba.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved a provision in a larger military authorization bill that would allow temporary medical transfers to the United States. The panel in the Republican-controlled Senate has pushed the provision for seven years, only to see it stripped from final legislation over still-strong objections from both parties to bringing foreign terrorist suspects to American territory for treatment.

The political dynamic has shifted since last year, with Democrats having taken control of the House. Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has consistently advocated closing of the prison and relocating some detainees to the United States. A committee spokeswoman said Mr. Smith had not decided about the provision, but advocates of the proposal are hopeful that he will include it in the House version of the military authorization bill.

Even if the provision were to be included in the final bill, it is not clear that it would win approval by President Trump. The White House declined to comment. Congress has for a decade prohibited the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States for any reason.
The other side of the ledger could be off as well. For example, the $707 billion figure for universal child care factors in economic growth generated by the plan, but under static scoring  without assuming any changes in growth  the cost is closer to $1.1 trillion. Similarly, the $470 billion estimate for free college tuition assumes that states would be willing to contribute the remaining one-third that the federal government does not fund.

What Ms. Warren Said

My 2-cent wealth tax on the top one-tenth of 1 percent of the fortunes in this country, if we use just a piece of that money to forgive student loan debt for about 95 percent of those who have student loan debt, that has huge support among Democrats, independents and Republicans.

 Fairfax, Va., in May

True.

Several polls have found that Ms. Warrens wealth tax plan has broad support, though huge is a slight overstatement.

Of the respondents, 61 percent supported the proposal in a January survey commissioned by Data for Progress, a left-leaning think tank. More Republicans supported the wealth tax than opposed it, 44 percent to 37 percent, while 61 percent of independents and 76 percent of Democrats also endorsed it.

In a Morning Consult/Politico poll in February, 61 percent of all respondents were in favor of the wealth tax, including 74 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Republicans.

Polling that month from Survey Monkey for The New York Times produced similar results: 61 percent approval among all respondents, 75 percent among Democrats, 57 percent among independents and 51 percent among Republicans.

An April poll from Quinnipiac University found similar or higher levels of support among all respondents (60 percent), Democrats (82 percent) and independents (63 percent) but notably lower approval from Republicans (32 percent in support and 60 percent in opposition).

Past stance on pot

What Ms. Warren Said

So, actually, I supported Massachusetts changing its laws on marijuana. Massachusetts had decriminalized at that point and I thought it made a lot more sense for Massachusetts to go ahead and legalize marijuana, and I now support the legalization of marijuana.

 CNN town-hall-style meeting in April

This is exaggerated.

When a student asked about her evolving position on marijuana legalization, Ms. Warren overstated her past support.
From escalating trade wars to Mueller, its been a busy week in American politics. Here are some of the biggest stories you might have missed (and some links if youd like to read further).

___________________

Mueller breaks his silence.

In his first public characterization of his investigation into Russias interference in the 2016 election, Robert S. Mueller III again declined to clear President Trump of obstruction of justice on Wednesday. The most notable part of Mr. Muellers 10-minute news conference was his reiterating that while Justice Department policy prohibits charging a sitting president with a crime, the Constitution provides another way to formally allege wrongdoing  a clear reference to impeachment.

Mr. Mueller stated clearly that he hoped his public statement Wednesday would be his last on the matter, but with impeachment fever rising, some Democrats want him on a witness stand. Others see the I-word as political peril.

Amid his criticism of the special counsels investigation, President Trump offered an extraordinary admission Thursday in a tweet: He acknowledged, for the first time, Russias helping me to get elected. He then abruptly denied it again.
WASHINGTON  President Trump has said that his administration would lead an effort to decriminalize homosexuality around the world, eliciting condemnation from activists who pointed to the administrations moves to dismantle protections for gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The administration also stood in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation, Mr. Trump said on Friday on Twitter, nodding to Pride Month for the first time since he took office. In remarks that were circulated a day later as an official statement from the White House, he added, My Administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invites all nations to join us in this effort!

The president was referring to an initiative championed by Richard Grenell, the American ambassador to Germany, that was introduced in February. His tweets seemed to signal that he had come a long way in supporting the plan. Asked about the initiative at the time, Mr. Trump told reporters he did not know about it. But this time, critics immediately seized on the presidents comments, saying the administration had undermined civil rights at home.

You cant celebrate Pride and constantly undermine our rights  including attacking #TransHealth, discharging #TransTroops, refusing to protect LGBTQ youth, and cozying up to dictators who brutalize & marginalize LGBTQ people, Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said on Twitter. This is gross hypocrisy, with an emphasis on gross.
WASHINGTON  President Trump pushed ahead with plans to impose tariffs on Mexico over the objections of several top advisers, including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, opting to side with hard-line officials who were advocating the move, according to multiple administration officials and people briefed on their plans.

For several weeks, Mr. Trumps top economic advisers have been urging the president not to use tariffs to punish Mexico for failing to stop the flow of migrants into the United States. Mr. Kushner, along with Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Robert Lighthizer, Mr. Trumps top trade negotiator, has warned the move would imperil the presidents other priorities, like passage of a revised North American trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.

But in recent weeks, Mr. Trump, whose anger toward Mexico had steadily grown, suggested the idea of using tariffs, and the issue had been raised in a number of meetings on trade or immigration, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

His frustration had been building since January, when Democrats refused to fund his wall along the southwestern border. In March, Mr. Trump moved to cut off all foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and then threatened to close the border entirely, before being talked down by advisers who said the disruption in the flow of goods and people could have severe consequences for the economy.
WASHINGTON  President Trump plans to throw his full weight behind Benjamin Netanyahus campaign to save his job as prime minister of Israel. But to do that, analysts and former diplomats said, the president will have to sacrifice any last hopes of proposing a peace plan that is acceptable to both Israelis and Palestinians.

Mr. Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met Mr. Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss the status of the plan on Thursday, hours after the prime minister failed to form a governing coalition. Mr. Kushner emerged with a longer timetable and a narrower diplomatic mission, these people said.

Rather than make concessions to the Palestinians, Mr. Kushner will be under pressure to tilt the plan ever further in Israels favor. Far from being a bold effort to break decades of enmity between the two sides, it could end up becoming a vehicle to resurrect Mr. Netanyahus political fortunes and to protect Mr. Trumps.

The plan, which Mr. Kushner has drafted under a veil of secrecy for more than two years, was already looking like a doomed effort. Though its details remain unknown, Mr. Kushner has suggested it will not call for the creation of a Palestinian state, jettisoning decades of American policy toward the conflict. The Palestinians have vowed to reject it out of hand, branding it a blueprint for Israeli domination.
A public works employee opened fire in a Virginia Beach municipal building on Friday, killing 12 and injuring at least four. All but one of the dead were city workers.

[Read the latest on the shooting.]

Here are their names:

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Laquita C. Brown

Worked in the public works department for more than four years. She was a right-of-way agent and a resident of Chesapeake, Va.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Ryan Keith Cox

Worked in the public utilities department for over 12 years. He was an account clerk and lived in Virginia Beach.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Tara Welch Gallagher

Worked in the public works department for over six years and was an engineer. She was a resident of Virginia Beach.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Mary Louise Gayle

Worked in the public works department for over 24 years. She was a right-of-way agent and lived in Virginia Beach.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Alexander Mikhail Gusev

Worked in the public works department for more than nine years. He was a right-of-way agent and a resident of Virginia Beach.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Joshua O. Hardy

Was an engineering technician at the public utilities department for four years. He was a resident of Virginia Beach.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Michelle Langer

Was an administrative assistant at the public utilities department for 12 years. She resided in Virginia Beach

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Katherine A. Nixon

Worked at the public utilities department for more than 10 years. An engineer, she lived in Virginia Beach.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Richard H. Nettleton

Was with the public utilities department for over 28 years. He worked as an engineer and also served in Germany as a lieutenant in the United States Armys 130th engineer brigade. He was a resident of Norfolk, Va.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Christopher Kelly Rapp

Was employed as an engineer at the public works department for 11 months. He was a resident of Powhatan, Va.

Image Credit... via Associated Press

Herbert Snelling

Was a contractor trying to talk about a permit when he was killed. He was a resident of Virginia Beach.

Image Credit... City of Virginia Beach

Robert Williams

Worked for more than 41 years at the public utilities department as a special projects coordinator. He was a resident of Chesapeake, Va.
Overall, administrators say, the hospitals mortality rate has declined from 14 percent in the early 2000s to nine percent now.

Dr. Gody wants to replicate the hospital throughout the countryside. Doctors Without Borders operates a hospital in the capital and several clinics in rural areas, but only 35 local health centers exist in 230,000 square miles of territory.

One of them is in Bakala, far outside the capital, across a muddy river and past a sprawling camp for people who fled their homes because of violence. The barren clinic serves 12,000 people. It has no electricity and no doctor. The workers in charge include a nurses aide, one person who took a first aid course and a self-taught midwife.

The clinic has no water supply. A nearby well became unusable a year and a half ago after 10 corpses were dumped inside during a battle between militias. A worker travels by bicycle to the river to get water, sometimes three times a day, depending on the patient load.

Patients, including women in labor, who suffer complications must board motorbikes and travel across bumpy dirt roads for four hours to a clinic with better care, said Mathias Danga, deputy director of the center.

Dr. Gody knows it will be challenging to staff clinics like the one in Bakala. He can promise doctors financial incentives to move there, but even getting paychecks to them is a problem. Most areas have no banks, and round-trip travel by taxi to Bangui from places like Bakala costs almost two months salary.
President Trump announced a harsher approach on the same day that Mr. McAleenan left Guatemala City. Unless Mexico did more to stop the flow of migrants headed north from Guatemalas border, Mr. Trump said, the United States would impose a 5 percent tariff on all Mexican imports.

More Guatemalans than migrants from any other country  and many of them traveling in families  are seeking to enter the United States along its southwestern border. In April, a majority of 109,144 migrants who were stopped at the border  the highest monthly total since 2007  were from Guatemala. The increasing flow of migrants has overwhelmed American immigration facilities, where more than 80,000 people are being held.

Situated directly south of Mexico, Guatemala is also a crucial transit point for migrants headed to the United States from Honduras or El Salvador. Most people leaving the region are hoping to unite with relatives already in the United States, searching for economic opportunity to support their families or fleeing from gangs, corruption or extortion.

Over the last three summers, the Trump administration has struggled to curb the migrant surge.

As recently as March, the homeland security secretary at the time, Kirstjen Nielsen, met with leaders of the three Central American countries in a similar appeal to halt what she described as a humanitarian crisis. The next day, Mr. Trump undercut her efforts by saying Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador do nothing to stop the migrants from heading north. He also cut millions of dollars in annual aid to the countries.
Scores of emergency workers were battling bad weather Saturday to locate eight climbers missing on Indias second-highest mountain, an official said.

Four Britons, two Americans, an Australian and an Indian were set to climb the 25,675-foot Nanda Devi East peak  near the border with China  and return to their base camp last weekend.

But the group, led by the British climber Martin Moran, who has successfully climbed the worlds 23rd-highest peak several times in the past, failed to report back to the Munsiyari base camp after starting the ascent on May 13.

We have activated resources to trace the climbers after they failed to return to the base camp, but bad weather is hindering the operation, said Vijay Kumar Jogdande, a local magistrate.
MUMBAI, India  President Trump has made India the latest target in his widening global trade war, but the countrys newly re-elected prime minister, Narendra Modi, has bigger problems to address.

On Friday  the first day of Mr. Modis second term, and the same day the White House terminated a special trade status for India  the Indian government had reported that the countrys economy was growing at the slowest rate in five years and that unemployment was at a 45-year peak.

Mr. Modi and his new ministers responded with two acts that illustrated their top priority: reinvigorating the Indian economy.

With farmers suffering across the country, the first act of the new cabinet was to extend a program of cash handouts to cover 20 million more farm workers  a sector that Mr. Trump wants to open to more competition from American growers.
TIVAT, Montenegro  Several dozen protesters had gathered on the promenade of the coastal town of Tivat, wedged between Montenegros rugged mountains and a sparkling Adriatic Sea. Behind them, as if in cue, a superyacht was pulling into port.

They want to turn this place into the next Monte Carlo, a local journalist and activist, Antonela Rajcevic, told the group. It is great if you are a billionaire or a millionaire, but it is not a good place for the citizens of Montenegro.

Ms. Rajcevic and other organizers were traveling across tiny Montenegro, in late April, trying to keep alive weeks of protests against the government of President Milo Djukanovic.

But with summer fast approaching, and tourism season arriving, hopes for a Balkan Spring seem likely to be disappointed in Montenegro, as they have so far elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia.
LONDON  A British businessman known as the King of Retail Fashion and dogged by claims of sexual harassment and racist abuse has been charged in the United States with four counts of misdemeanor assault after a fitness instructor in Arizona accused him of unwanted groping and sexually inappropriate behavior.

The woman, Katie Surridge, 37, who teaches Pilates at a luxury resort in Tucson, told the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that the retailer, Sir Philip Green, whose company, Arcadia Group, is behind such major brands as Top Shop, touched her repeatedly and made sexual comments on several occasions between 2016 and 2018.

She said his behavior made her feel almost like a prostitute.

A hearing in the case was scheduled for June 19, but Mr. Green was not planning to attend, according to an emailed statement from Arcadia, which said that he strongly denied the allegations.

In Britain, Mr. Green, 67, carved out a reputation as a gregarious social force who was often photographed in the company of models, movie stars and musicians like Beyonce. But then five former employees accused him of systemic sexual harassment and racist abuse, revelations that turned into one of the biggest #MeToo scandals in the country, prompting a debate over press freedom, the right to privacy and the validity of nondisclosure agreements.
The pope reached the pilgrimage site on Saturday after something of a pilgrimage of his own. Bad weather forced his plane to be rerouted to Targu Mures, from where he drove for more than two hours across the Carpathian Mountains on winding roads.

A major goal of Francis three-day trip here is to help mend an open wound between the two churches that ultimately goes back to centuries-old theological and political clashes. Improving relations with the Orthodox, as well as the Muslim, world  where so many Christians live in peril  has been a hallmark of Francis papacy and a driver of much of his recent travel, from Egypt to Morocco, Bulgaria and Romania, where in his three-day trip he has warned of the dangers of populism.

But for all Francis free movement and speech around Romania, tensions still linger between Romanias majority Orthodox Church and its Catholic communities, which represent about 5 percent of the countrys population. The Great Schism, caused by differences in liturgy and theology, eventually led to a split and mutual excommunications between the western church, loyal to the pope, and the eastern church, loyal to a patriarch. After centuries of division, and then decades of Communist rule that imprisoned, killed and otherwise persecuted Catholics, hard feelings remain.

They are still a few people who are afraid of the popes visit, who try to manipulate, said the Rev. Francisc Dobos, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest. Generally, there is a good relationship, but Id like to have a much more closer relationship.
TEL AVIV  Hes a magician! Hes a magician!

It was nearly 2 a.m. on April 10, and supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had packed a sporting arena in Tel Aviv, were cheering his apparent election victory.

Facing a stiff challenge from a former military chief and the prospect of criminal indictment on corruption charges, Mr. Netanyahu, whose unrivaled political instincts had him on track to become Israels longest-serving prime minister, had pulled another rabbit out of his hat.

Less than two months later, after his failure to assemble a governing coalition forced the country into an unprecedented do-over election, Israeli pundits are asking whether even magic can save him now.

With the new election still more than three months away, no one is foolish enough to write him off altogether. But the math and the calendar are unforgiving.
Colvin conducted her research on a grave inscribed "William Norman Dowdell," but like many of the deceased, there was no record of his existence, she said.

I couldnt find out much about him, and its sticking in my head," Colvin said. "I really want to know what his past was like, how he got here and what he did. He was a veteran. Its important to get this information out. People dont care about it, their past or what happens. They just live life.

Digging deeper

Presenting their findings and passion to preserve history, Morgan and his students attended the Preservation of African-American Cemeteries conference in May, and Colvin said the experience has encouraged her to interact with others.

I was shy, she said. I didnt talk to anyone. I didnt know what it was, and I just kind of stayed in the back. It changed most of the people in here. Now, we are communicating with each other and speaking out. Its good and amazing because we are changing a lot and doing a lot for these people.

The history teacher said next semester, his students will conduct personal interviews to encourage more community involvement.
A three-vehicle crash on Interstate 85 claimed the life of an Auburn man Saturday morning.

Akiethain Jamal Dennison, 29, died when the 2005 Mercury Marquis he was driving collided with a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria, according to a news release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Dennison was not wearing a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 2019 International tractor-trailer also was involved in the crash. The drivers of the International and the Ford were injured, according to the news release.

The crash occurred at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday, on I-85 near the 15-mile marker, about four miles north of Montgomery.

Alabama state troopers continue to investigate.
The family committee formed the primary goal of effectively strengthening the family unit, McEachern said.

Next, we identified the problem that we had, the police chief said. The problem that we saw was actually the deterioration of the family unit as you and I would probably define it.

Weve got several individuals throughout the city of Opelika, as any other city, children who are coming from broken homes. So were trying to address the concerns and the needs of all of the different families.

To combat the problem and meet its goal, the committee plans to work alongside existing resources in Opelika, including churches and other organizations that try to strengthen families.

In summary, were hoping to really come up with a common unity or a thread that binds us all together, McEachern said.

The worst thing we could do is not do anything. I think were all committed to reaching out and helping and serving, and doing the very best that we can.

The mayor emphasized that the commissions plans are a work in progress and can develop to fit the needs of the community.

This is just a start, Fuller said. We had to start somewhere, and weve started. Its going to take a lot more work. Weve got some things now to work on. Now weve got to keep it at top of mind awareness and do those things, and then there will be other things that develop."
(CNN)  The shooter who opened fire indiscriminately in a Virginia Beach city building Friday afternoon, killing at least 12 people and sending at least four others to the hospital, was a disgruntled employee, a Virginia government source briefed on the investigation told CNN.

The shooter died after a gunfight with police.

Four people were in surgery Friday night, Police Chief James Cervera told reporters. He said the gunman was a public utilities worker.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," said Mayor Bobby Dyer. "The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbor, colleagues."

Cervera said the shooter was confronted shortly after opening fire on multiple floors. There was an exchange of gunfire with officers, the chief said.

A police officer who was shot was wearing a ballistic vest that saved his life, the police chief said.

The shooting suspect was identified as DeWayne Craddock, according to a law enforcement official and a Virginia government source.

Craddock, 40, worked as a certified professional engineer for the city of Virginia Beach in the Public Utilities Department. He is listed on department news releases as a point of contact for information on local road projects over the past several years.

'The guy's got a gun'

Edward Weeden, who works in the building, told CNN affiliate WAVY that people heard someone falling in a stairwell and went to investigate. He and his coworkers saw a woman who was down, blood all over her face.

One of Weeden's coworkers went up to the next floor and came right back. "Get out of the building. The guy's got a gun," the woman said.

Weeden said he was unsure at first how to react.

"In a way you want to stay, in a way you don't want to stay," he said.

Gordon Rago, a reporter at The Virginian-Pilot, said witnesses described the scene as "frantic."

He said the shooting occurred when people were still visiting the municipal center to conduct business.

Witnesses told him that SWAT officers were running down the street, directing them to get inside.

"I've talked to people who said that they were hiding under their desks," Rago said.

Police found a pistol and a rifle at the scene that investigators believe were used in the shooting, according to a law enforcement official.

The suspect is thought to have purchased the firearms legally, according to initial information that investigators have, the source says.

The chief confirmed that a .45 caliber pistol and several empty extended magazines were found near the gunman but wouldn't comment on the presence of a rifle.

Virginia Beach Vice Mayor James Wood said people can take guns into public buildings, but not schools or courts.

The mass shooting took place in Building 2 of the municipal center, according to police.

Building 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center houses the operations building for the city, which include multiple departments.

Six people were hospitalized after the shooting, hospital officials tweeted.

Virginia Beach General Hospital said there were five patients there. A patient who was at Princess Anne Hospital was being transferred to Norfolk General Hospital, a Level I trauma center.

The FBI is also responding to the incident to aid local authorities, an FBI spokeswoman told CNN.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since November.

In that shooting, 12 people were killed at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California. Officials said that gunman, Ian David Long, shot an unarmed security guard outside the bar, went in and continued shooting, injuring other security workers, employees and patrons. Long died by suicide.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine tweeted that he was devastated by the news Friday.

"My heart is with everyone who lost a loved one, and I'm praying for a swift recovery for all those who have been injured," he said.

Sen. Mark Warner wrote: "Praying for all involved as we learn more."

"We are praying for our city, the lives that were lost, their families and everyone affected," singer Pharell Williams, who grew up in Virginia Beach, tweeted. "We are resilient. We will not only get through this but we'll come out of this stronger than before we always do."

President Trump has been briefed on the shooting, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "At least 12 dead after disgruntled employee opens fire at Virginia Beach municipal center."
All of a sudden Sinn Fein's backs are to the wall and it appears Fianna Fail is stalking the wounded animal in Laois and plotting the downfall of Brian Stanley.

However, the Laois TD insists that he has been written off before and will face down any challenge Fianna Fail mounts to win his Dail seat.

Within minutes of local election tallies being completed in Portlaoise, one of Fianna Fail's most senior members in Laois had seized on the fact that the Sinn Fein vote had dropped across the county.

It was also pointed out that the party's Portarlington stronghold would not be in Laois Offaly when the General Election takes place.

The prospects for Deputy Stanley seemed to deteriorate further when it emerged that the party's vote had collapsed in Offaly. The SF local election vote in Tullamore crumbled from more than 2,500 to just over 200. Tullamore votes were vital to Stanley when he ousted Laois Fianna Fail TD John Moloney in 2011.

There will be five seats up for grabs in Laois Offaly at the next election with one county certain to lose a representative.

Deputy Stanley spent much of his time at St Mary's Hall, Portlaoise, crunching the numbers as tallies revealed how his councillors fared.

Speaking later in the Kea Lew Business Park where the local election count took place he was defiant about a FF challenge. He replied sharply.

At local level, people might not be voting for a party that bankrupted the country on more than one occasion. They may think separately in terms of thinking local for a Fianna Fail candidate. When it comes to a General Election people might look at it differently.

Nobody gave me a hope in 2011 of taking a seat. I was given very little hope of holding the seat in the Laois Sth Kildare constituency in 2016. In Laois-South Kildare we now have three very effective councillors, he said.

He insisted that his performance would stand up to voter scrutiny.

I would have a good reach and work rate in the constituency and I would be raising issues right across the constituency.

I know I will have a fight on my hands but as I often said before I will be up for the fight, he said.

He insisted that there were 'no splinters' in his local organisation that might further damage the defence of his seat.

He said the party is very happy with the outcome in Portlaoise and Portarlington but disappointed with the Borris Mountmellick one despite running a good campaign. He said the party was boosted by taking a seat in Monasterevin and in the Ireland South vote.

As for Offaly, he admitted that personnel issues meant the party hadn't done well. 2014 poll-topper Brendan Killeavy stepped aside in Tullamore, while the Edenderry poll-topper in 2014, Martin O'Reilly had also walked away from the council in the interim. The co-opted Sean Maher stood in Birr but was eliminated relatively early-on before the shake-up for seats.

Rumours abound for a date for a General Election with the spring of 2020 looking most likely.
The Tyrannosaurus rex is enshrined in pop culture and, well, natural history as one of the most fearsome beasts to ever walk the earth.

So its no small thing to say youve seen the most terrifying member of the most terrifying species.

Next week, the Durham Museum opens its newest exhibit, Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family, which explores the unique T. rex characteristics and showcases the dinosaurs newly revised family tree. The centerpiece of the exhibit is Scotty, a replica skeleton of a beast scientists are calling the largest T. rex ever discovered.

Now, seeing the cast in place, I think its astonishing to see that something that large once roamed freely around the Earth, said Jessica Brummer, spokeswoman for the Durham.

The fossilized Scotty skeleton, named after the celebratory scotch paleontologists drank after finding the bones, was first discovered in Saskatchewan, Canada, in the 1990s. Earlier this year, in a paper published in The Anatomical Record, scientists declared the dinosaur had a higher body mass than all other known T. rex specimens.
Saline County District Judge Vicky Johnson set a court hearing on the motion for June 7, which is 10 days before his trial is set to begin in Wilber, the county seat, which is about 35 miles southwest of Lincoln. If he was allowed to remain housed in Lincoln, he would have to be transported back and forth to Wilber everyday during the trial, which is scheduled to last four weeks.

Murray said he filed the motion to help ensure that Trail can physically make it through the legal proceedings. He has been hospitalized at least twice since being arrested, his attorney said, is taking multiple medications and has weakness in his left side because of the stroke.

A report from a prison physical therapist provided to the judge says Trail cannot stand without help and needs an elevated hospital bed with handrails to transfer to his wheelchair. Murrays request says the Saline County Jail cannot meet Trails physical needs and would put him in contact with jail guards who may testify at the trial.
Last month, he told a caller seeking a massage at Sol System Massage that he couldnt give it but that he employed three other massage therapists who could. The setup has prompted attorneys who have worked with the women to question why the state allows masseurs to continue to run their businesses, even after theyve been stripped of their licenses.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and Omaha City Prosecutor Matt Kuhse have noted that lawyers who lose their law licenses cannot own law firms. Likewise, doctors who lose their medical degrees cant run clinics.

Yet the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said nothing precludes Sampson from running Sol System Massage.

The establishment itself must be licensed, but the owner isnt required to be a massage therapist, said HHS spokeswoman Leah Bucco-White.

As recently as a few weeks ago, Sampson was still answering the phone listed on Sol System Massages website.

The latest police report concerned alleged misconduct in February 2017, just five months after the state decided to allow Sampson to continue to hold a massage therapy license.
The origin of the religious yearbook cover causing controversy in Elkhorn is a little more clear.

But questions remain about how it ended up on the Manchester Elementary School yearbook  if only temporarily.

Leaders of the public schools Parent Teacher Organization voted to remove a cross from the cover after fifth-graders voted to put it on, officials say.

The initial cover featured inspiring words, including faith, hope and dream, in the shape of a cross. The design is one of the covers available from Memory Book Company, a yearbook vendor.

The cover is one of at least 50 free covers on the companys website. The covers vary from cartoonish to dreamy, abstract, patriotic and religious.

The cross cover, which the company calls Love & Faith, is described on the website as a beautiful cover perfect for parochial schools.
OMAHA  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to increase releases of water Saturday from the Gavins Point Dam into the Missouri River.

Missouri River Basin Management Chief John Remus said Thursday the corps is increasing releases because of water on the ground and runoff into the Oahe and Fort Randall reservoirs in South Dakota from recent rains.

He said the releases would increase by 5,000 cubic feet per second, to 75,000 cfs. The corps also increased releases Wednesday.

Remus said the corps is keeping its releases at the Garrison Dam in North Dakota at 15,000 cfs to offset other water flowing into the Oahe and Fort Randall reservoirs. He said the melting of mountain snow also has slowed.

The river has been high for months, and increased releases could lead to more flooding.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Right now, MAT has an appointed board and can levy only as much taxes as approved by the City of Omaha and Douglas County  currently a levy of 5.6 cents. And that tax levy must fall within the levy limits imposed on cities and counties.

Wayne said such a regional authority was sorely needed to improve bus service in the region and help resolve workforce shortages in areas like Sarpy County and Fremont by getting workers to unfilled jobs.

Public transit is the lifeline of every community, he said. In order for Omaha to move forward, we need this.

The senator pushed back on Ricketts comments about a tax increase, saying that it was just as likely that the City of Omaha and Douglas County would lower their levies since MAT would no longer be part of their property tax requests.

Under the bill, communities would have to vote to join the regional authority. Currently, suburban cities can contract for bus service, which is done by Bellevue, La Vista and Papillion. Wayne said those contracts could continue under his bill.

Senators voted 33-16 to override the governors veto, which is three more than the 30 votes required.
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LUXI Group

Wynca Group

Lianhetech

Long Ping High-Tech

Nantong Jiangshan

Hefei Fengle Seed

Winall Hi-tech Seed

Shandong Denghai

Gansu Dunhunag Seed

Hainan Shennong Gene

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Chapter 7 Europe

Chapter 8 Asia Pacific

Chapter 9 Central & South America

Chapter 10 Middle East and Africa

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But many lawmakers, especially rural ones, had pushed for bigger reductions in property taxes. As in past years, they came up empty in their search for a solution that could win majority support.

The governor fought the two major property tax proposals, both of which would have increased sales and other taxes and used the revenue to cut property taxes. The proposals also faced opposition from groups that would have been affected by the increases. One drew additional concerns over its complex revamp of the state school aid formula.

In frustration over the property tax proposals, rural senators joined with some progressives to sink a new business tax incentive program pushed by state business groups. Nebraskas current incentive program expires at the end of next year.

Some rural lawmakers also voted against the motion to adjourn for the year to emphasize the issues left unresolved.
An Omaha police officer was injured in a crash in north Omaha on Saturday morning.

The Omaha Police Department said Officer Adam Fisher was driving a cruiser west on Sorensen Parkway when an eastbound 2000 Cadillac Escalade tried to turn left onto northbound 42nd Street, striking the cruiser nearly head-on, about 5:14 a.m.

Fisher, an 11-year-veteran of the department, was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition Saturday afternoon.

The driver of the Cadillac, 34-year-old Laghe Andrews of Omaha, declined transport to a hospital. She was cited on suspicion of driving under suspension and having no proof of insurance.

Omaha police said neither excessive speed nor alcohol appears to have been a factor in the crash.
The annual Taste of Omaha celebration, which showcases the food of more than 50 of the citys restaurants, pits chefs against one another in head-to-head battles of cooking skill and features demonstrations on food preparation and ice carving, is back for its 22nd year.

The festival, which takes place on Omahas riverfront, also will feature multiple stages of live music, including a 9 p.m. Friday performance by Rick Derringer, one of the best-known stars to emerge from the Ohio-based rock scene of the 1960s and 70s.

Events begin at 11 a.m. Friday and conclude at 8 p.m. Sunday. Taste of Omaha activities take place at Lewis & Clark Landing and Heartland of America Park. Admission to Taste of Omaha is free.

Derringer might be best remembered for singing lead vocals and playing guitar during the McCoys 1965 hit Hang On Sloopy, a song that reached No. 1 on the charts. The tune is perhaps as popular today as its ever been. Recognized as the official rock song of the state of Ohio, its played at every home game of the Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Indians.
Omahas reputation as a hub for warehousing and material distribution predated the arrival of the railroad. In the 1850s and 60s, materials poured into Omaha by a different, quite colorful transportation method: The steamboat.

Arrivals in Omaha were major community events. One traveler reported 1,500 persons at the land to welcome his boat, write historians Lawrence H. Larsen and Barbara J. Cottrell. Captains frequently allowed visitors aboard for a formal dance in the grand salon.  With two to seven arrivals weekly, Omaha surpassed Council Bluffs and Florence as a steamboat port.

Last week, we examined the characteristics and history of the Niobrara River, and today we look at some other examples of Nebraska river heritage. Rain-swollen rivers have brought heartache to many communities this spring. At the same time, Nebraskas rivers have been a key in community development across the state. Omahas Missouri River steamboat history provides a good example.

One of the first steamboats to move up the river was the Western Engineer in 1819, carrying explorer Stephen Long. In the late 1840s, steamboats brought Mormons to the Winter Quarters and California gold seekers to Council Bluffs. By 1854, Council Bluffs had regular steamboat service.
Biehn answered questions from the audience and entertained us with stories of growing up in Lincoln and about his career of more than 30 years in the movies.

I have attended more than a dozen of Bruces salutes to the classics that benefit the Nebraska Kidney Association. We look forward to his next screening in the fall. Thanks again, Bruce.

Gary Chance, Cedar Creek, Neb.

Methodist youths teach us

In the May 18 Public Pulse, Renwick Adams quoted some Bible verses in praise of the United Methodist Conference for not straying from the clear teaching of Scripture regarding choice of lifestyle  by restricting church ministry for LGBTQ people.

I am an old First Methodist man, so I read with some interest what Adams wrote about this years confirmation class at Omahas First United Methodist Church. He seems sure they have been mistaught about how Christians should love their neighbor but not accept that neighbors sinful behavior.
The Biblical Truth on Faith Alone, Good Works, and Salvation 5/31/2019 Christianity , Faith 24 Comments

LUKE 23:42-43

42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

ISAIAH 64:6

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.





ROMANS 10:3

For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 If I give all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:

That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good purpose.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw thee an hungred, or athirst, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

Perhaps one of the most remembered personalities in the New Testament is the thief that was crucified alongside the Lord Jesus Christ, not for anything else but, because of the enviable assurance of salvation which no less than the Lord Jesus Christ gave him in his final hour.Remember, before the thief died, he believed that Jesus was the Savior, and he even asked Him to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. And Christ told him that instance that he would be with Him in paradise.Sadly, lots of preachers have capitalized on this particular incident to convince people that, to merit salvation, it is enough to just believe and have faith. They would even add that salvation is Gods gift to man, so there is no need for man to do good works anymore to obtain it. Again, they would make reference to that particular thief who didnt do anything good in his life and yet he earned Christs assurance that he would be with Him in paradise simply because he believed.Besides, according to those preachers, mans righteousness is like filthy rags to God, citing the prophet Isaiah. So, no amount of good works could ever make a person appear righteous in the sight of God because his righteousness is just like filthy rags for Him.Of course, those are all very wrong teachings. Please, allow me to clarify this matter.First of all, let us go over what Isaiah 64:6 says and see for yourselves how those preachers had grossly misinterpreted the verse.The verse states the words of people who were buried in iniquities; they were doing their own righteousness.We must realize that there are two kinds of righteousness in the Bible. There is what the Bible mentions as the righteousness of God, which isin Greek, meaning; on the other hand, there is also the so-calledThere are people who are ignorant of Gods righteousness. Instead of submitting themselves to the righteousness of God, they establish their own righteousness.Isaiah 64:6 was referring to themselves, the Israelites, who were transgressors of Gods law. They said,They were very, very far away from God. They have no record of any good deed so they compared themselves to leaves that fade and wind that passes but leaves no mark.Now, let us compare it with the words of the Apostle Paul in the book of ROMANS 3:10-12, which says,They were among the people who had forgotten God in their lives. None of them sought God, and there was none of them that understand (not including the Apostle Paul, of course). They were the kind of people whose righteousness was like filthy rags in the sight of God.BUT IF you are doing Gods righteousness and IF you are submitting yourself to the righteousness of God, will it still be like filthy rags?MATTHEW 6:33 says,Your righteousness is valuable in the sight of God if what you are doing is His righteousness, instead of your own righteousness.There is a great difference between mans own righteousness and the righteousness of the Lord. There is a heaven and earth difference between the two.How does God regard a person who is doing his own righteousness, and not His righteousness?LUKE 16:15 says,It is abomination; it is just like filthy rags in His eyes.EPHESIANS 6:6 says,There are men-pleasers who do their righteousness to be seen by men. Yet, what is in their hearts is abomination in the sight of God.To arrive at a correct interpretation of Gods word in the Bible, you have to consider the spirit from within the entire Bible itself. You should not take anything out of context. You must be within the context of the verse, of the chapter, of the book, and of the entire Bible.There are religious leaders, especially the Baptists, who interpret the Bible out of context. So, they say, We do not have to do good works anymore; good works are no longer necessary because, even if you do good works, they are just like filthy rags in the eyes of God. Such is an erroneous interpretation of the Scriptures! It is NOT the truth, and it will NEVER be the truth.It is true that faith could save us, just like what happened to the thief on the cross  although a criminal, he was justified because of the faith that sprang in his heart a few minutes before he died. It was only a few minutes before his death, not an hour or two hours before his death, when he started believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, during their first and second hours on the cross, together with the other thief, he was also mocking the Lord Jesus Christ.MARK 15:32 says,There were only two thieves that were crucified together with the Lord Jesus Christ. One was on His left and the other one on His right. Based on the account of Mark, he said they, meaning, both of them mocked and reviled Him. But before they finally died, one of the thieves saw and experienced things which eventually opened his mind.In LUKE 23:39-42, it says,That was the moment when the thief professed his faith. He said,That utterance was an expression of faith. And that was sufficient for him to be saved because he had but a few minutes more to live; and he would not be able to do anything good anymore.BUT for us, who are not crucified, will it be enough to just have faith and not do good works anymore to be saved? If you had but one hour left to live after you started believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, then your faith will be sufficient for your salvation. BUT IF you are going to live for another day, or another week, or another month, or another year, after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, your faith would no longer be enough to merit salvation. You have to do something aside from having faith only.2 PETER 1:5-9 says,After having been purged from our sins, our faith must be followed by obedience. To our FAITH we need to add; to virtue; to knowledge; to temperance; to patience; to godliness; and to brotherly kindnessSo, if you are going to live for another day, or more, your faith wouldnt be sufficient for you to be saved. Your FAITH should be coupled with works of obedience to the Lord.1 CORINTHIANS 13:13 (KJV) says,In the Revised Standard Version it says,It did not say that the greatest of these is faith. No! Love is greater than faith; and love must not be absent in faith. Faith must be coupled with love and hope. If you are going to take away love, even if you have faith, you will not be saved still.1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-3 (RSV) says,Faith is not enough for a person to be saved. Insofar as the thief on the cross was concerned, yes, his faith was enough. He couldnt do anything anymore but just have faith. He couldnt show love anymore; he couldnt do good works anymore because there was no more time left for him. He couldnt join the congregation anymore so that he could sing hymns and praises to the Lord. Remember, singing praises to the Lord is a good thing in the sight of God.PSALMS 92:1 says,The thief on the cross, with a broken leg and with nailed hands and feet, could not do that anymore as he was enduring severe pain and he was dying. But given another day, or another month, surely, that thief would do good works.2 TIMOTHY 3:17 says,Given the time and the opportunity, you have to do good works. And your good works, as a man of God, are not filthy rags in His sight. Why? Because you do good works with God; you cannot do them by yourself alone.PHILIPPIANS 2:13 says,The purpose of God is His will. To be able to do the will of God, God must be with you; Christ must be with you. Otherwise, you will fail.As written in JOHN 15:5,Therefore, if you are able to do the good works that God commanded you to do, that is a manifestation that God is with you. We can do good work because God is with us; apart from Him we cannot do anything.So how dare those people say that our good works are just like filthy rags in the sight of God when we are doing those good works with Him! If the righteousness that we are doing is the righteousness of God, and we are doing it with His help, such would never ever be like filthy rags in His sight.HEBREWS 6:10 says,Good works done with love could not be like filthy rags in the sight of God.The Baptist Church, whose pastors and leaders do not want to do good works, had grossly misinterpreted the Scriptures in teaching their members that, and thatIf it is true that faith, minus the good works, is enough to be saved, why, then, are you requiring your members to give tithes? Isnt the giving of tithes a good work? How come you are accusing your members of robbing God if they would not give tithes? This only shows how wrongly you interpreted the Bible. Your interpretation is an interpretation of the anti-Christ. Because what Christ wants is that we do good works as long as we live. And it is our good works that will qualify us to inherit eternal life.MATTHEW 7:24-25 says,It is imperative that we do what the Lord Jesus Christ said. You know that everything that the Lord Jesus Christ said and all the examples that He set are all good works. He said,Those are good works. And because of those good works that you do, the Lord Jesus Christ said,Meaning, anyone that does His work.If those who do His works, which are all good works, are likened to wise men, those who do not want to do them are likened to foolish men.MATTHEW 7:26-27 says,(like the Baptist pastors),So there is a great fall that is forthcoming to those who do not want to do good works. Instead, they just say,Those are merely the teachings of the Baptist pastors but they are not the real truth in the Bible! The real truth in the Bible is that we have to work; we have to do good works in order to be saved by our faith.JAMES 2:22 says,Faith without works is dead, as written in JAMES 2:26,How can you be saved by a dead faith? The faith of the Baptist Church is dead because they do not want to do good works anymore.Good works should be accompanied by faith, and faith should be coupled with good works. It is the good works that you are doing that would make your faith perfect. How?PHILIPPIANS 2:12 says,What doesmean? They had worked them out; they had put into action his words, his commandments, admonitions, and teachings.We really have to work, and the works that we have to do are the good works that God wants us to do. You will not be saved if you are not going to do good works.Your faith may be enough for salvation if you are going to live for just a couple of minutes more, when you no longer have the chance to do any good work anymore. But if you are still to live for another day, another month, or another year, after you received the faith, then you have to GROW in Christ. And growing in Christ is learning how to do good works  the good works that had been exemplified by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the good works you have done will qualify you for salvation.MATTHEW 25:32-40 says,So, those who would be made heirs of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ are those who did good works. How now would you say that good works are no longer necessary?Actually, doing good works can be a way to salvation of men who do not have faith. They have no faith because they werent given a chance to listen.ROMANS 10:17 says,Nonetheless, THEY will be accepted as righteous in the sight of God come judgment day because of the good works that they have done.ROMANS 2:13-15 says,The Apostle Paul was talking about the people who have no faith because they had NOT heard the law. (As we know, faith is born out of listening to the word of God. Romans 10:17 says,And because they have not heard the law, they had NOT known Jesus. They died without hearing Jesus; they died before the Bible was printed; they died in a place and time that the Bible was not yet available.But DESPITE that, they, that is, they do the goodness that is in the law. And because of that, they are justified.The Apostle Paul explained this further in 1 TIMOTHY 4:10, which says,Therefore, there is a possibility that those who do not believe could be saved IF, despite the fact that they did not hear any law, they are doing the good things contained in the law. So, even if they had neither seen Christ nor heard His teachings, they are still considered justified because of the good works they had done, like feeding the hungry, giving something to drink to the thirsty, clothing the needy, etc. Because of these good deeds they were found worthy of inheriting the kingdom of God.How about those who refuse to do good works, like the Baptists? What will Christ tell them?MATTHEW 25:41-45 says,That is the penalty for those who do not want to do good works. Clearly, refusing to do good works will disqualify you from inheriting the kingdom of God, even if you claim that you have faith. Faith alone is NOT enough for salvation. Do not liken yourself to the thief that was nailed on the cross and was promised of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ because his condition was different from yours. His hands and feet were nailed and he had a few minutes to live, while your hands and feet are free, and you have your whole lifetime ahead of you to do good works.If you have faith, couple it with good deeds for you to merit salvation and be an heir also of the kingdom of God.
Online recruitment of Muslims: Why the radicalisation scenario in Bengal is worrisome

Abysmally low Muslim representation in Lok Sabha: A cause of worry

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, June 01: India is home to 170 million Muslims, the world's second-largest Muslim population but there are very few lawmakers from the community.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi became BJP's only Muslim minister in new Modi cabinet. A long-time member of the BJP, he has been a minister in the previous government too but this is his first cabinet post. He has been appointed minister of minority affairs.

Muslims have always been under represented in Indian Parliament, but they are currently at a 50-year low. In the 1980 election, almost 10% of those elected were Muslim. In 2014, it was less than 4%.

Consequently, the gap between their proportion of the population (which rose from 11.1 to 14.2%) and that of their elected representatives in the Lok Sabha (which dropped from 9 to 3.7%) increased fivefold, jumping from two to ten percentage points.

Party-wise representation in 17th Lok Sabha:

The new Lok Sabha has 26 Muslim members of Parliament (MPs), only three more than in the previous legislature. Most of the winning candidates are from opposition parties while only one candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which won 303 out of 542 seats across the country, could make it to the Lower House.

Saumitra Khan is the lone BJP MP in the current Lok Sabha while Mahbub Ali Kaiser is the Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) winning candidate from Khagaria in Bihar. Both will be representing the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Lok Sabha.

Owaisi won the Lok Sabha election from Hyderabad by 2,82,186 votes for the fourth time and will became the longest serving Muslim candidate.

Most of the elected Muslim candidates belong to the Congress (5) and Trinamool Congress (5), followed by the Samajwadi Party (3), Bahujan Samaj Party (3) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (3).

A look at the data:

The rise of the BJP has been blamed for the electoral marginalisation of Muslims, with their representation in democratic institutions gradually falling down.

The outgoing Lok Sabha had 23 Muslim MPs, the most being from Congress and TMC. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, no Muslim candidate had won from Uttar Pradesh as the BJP had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.

In the 2014 election, Congress contested 464 seats but fielded just 31 Muslim candidates - of those, only seven won. Much hasn't changed in this election - only 32 of the party's 423 candidates are Muslim.

[Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi who brought sweeping reforms in Haj policy is lone Muslim face in Modi cabinet]

The highest number of Muslim MPs were in 1980 when as many as 49 MPs from the community which constitute nearly fifth of Indian population present in the Lok Sabha.

The previous 14th and 15th Lok Sabha had 30 and 34 Muslim MPs each when Congress-led UPA was in power. In 1984 when Rajiv Gandhi swept to power following the assassination of his mother and then prime minister Indira Gandhi as many as 42 Muslim MPs were there.

The lowest number of Muslim MPs were in 1952 when just 11 were present in the Lok Sabha.
Amit Shah takes charge as Home Minister

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, June 01: Amit Shah on Saturday took charge as the Union Home Minister, two days after he was sworn-in following a landslide victory of the saffron party-led NDA.

Shah was welcomed at the ministry of home affairs by Intelligence Bureau director Rajiv Jain and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, amid airtight security.

The home minister is also holding a meeting with the officials to familiarise with the issues concerning the ministry, an official said.

Two newly appointed Ministers of state for home - G K Reddy and Nityananda Rai - also took charge on Saturday.

Why appointing a career diplomat as External Affairs Minister can yield rich dividends?

Shah, who is also the current president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , takes over as the Union home minister replacing Rajnath Singh, took over as the Union Defence minister.

Shah takes over the ministry while it has been grappling with issues of rising militancy in the Kashmir valley, especially in the wake of the Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers.
Big ISI plan to target Hindu leaders and disturb communal harmony busted

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, June 01: A terror module in Punjab backed by the ISI was busted in the nick of time. The module was being run by the ISI backed Babbar Khalsa International.

The police said that the two men who were arrested were providing weapons and funds to the sleeper cells that the Babbar Khalsa International, which were set up in Punjab. The duo arrested were identified as Jagdev Singh and Ravinderpal Singh. They have been booked under the provisions of the Arms Act, Explosive Substances (Amendment) Act 2001 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Singh, according to the police worked at an auto agency. A resident of Fategarh Sahib, he played an active role in receiving funds and weapons from his handlers and then supplying it to the sleeper cells. Ravinderpal on the other hand is a resident of Moga.

Lured by explicit chat, this Army clerk shared info with ISI for Rs 15,000

The intelligence had told the police that the duo were acting at the behest of one Kulwinderjit Singh. They had planned on targeting leaders of the Hindu community and spreading communal tensions across Punjab. Kulwinderjit, the mastermind of several attacks had recently shifted to Malaysia.

In the past two years, the Indian Agencies have cracked down heavily on Khalistan terror modules. At least 18 Khalistan terror modules were busted and over 95 persons were arrested.

Several forces from other countries would use the Khalistan and other terror modules to meddle with the Indian elections. The idea would be to cause an extreme amount of instability ahead of the elections, the NIA had said.

The Khalistan forces are known to have support in several countries such as Italy, Canada, United Kingdom and even in the United States. However the primary support for the terror modules comes from Pakistan an NIA official informed.

Get ready, we need the heat on JeM to settle, ISI tells Lashkar

In a bid to gain traction, the Khalistan terrorists have not only used Punjab, but held events in other parts of the world as well. One of the most spoken about events was the one held in London in August last year.

IB officials say that while the ISI backs this movement heavily, most of the funding has come from countries such as UK, Canada and even Italy.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 16:27 [IST]
Vaccination for children in Karnataka: We'll organise drives at schools, says CM Bommai

Night Curfew in Karnataka from Today: Timings, Rules, What is Open, What is Closed

Congress wins big in Karnataka civic polls

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Bengaluru, June 01: Congress won the highest number of seats in civic polls in Karnataka on Friday, in some good news for the beleaguered party which was routed in the state in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections.

While Congress bagged 509 of the total 1,221 wards in 56 urban local bodies (ULB) for which results were declared, the BJP got 366 wards, the state poll panel said.

The JD(S), which fought the polls alone, won 174 wards. Independent candidates emerged victorious in 160 wards, the BSP got three, CPI(M) two and other parties secured seven.

The Congress and JD(S) who are in alliance in the state had decided to go to the polls separately and had asked their local leaders to decide on tactical arrangements at the ground-level depending on the local situation.

Results were declared for 217 wards of seven municipal councils, 714 wards of 30 town municipal councils and 290 wards of 19 town panchayats.

Congress won 90 wards in the municipal councils, while the BJP and JD(S) won 56 and 38 wards, respectively.

The Congress bagged 322 of 714 wards in 30 town municipal councils, where the BJP has won 184 and the JD(S) 102.

7 skip Congress meet in Karnataka: Is the crisis deepening?

However, of the 290 wards in 19 town panchayats, BJP won the most with 126 seats, while the Congress and JD(S) won 97 and 34 wards, respectively.

The results of the civic body elections, which were held on Wednesday, gave a much-needed breather to the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state where it was battered by the BJP, which won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress and the JD(S) had managed to win one seat each, indicating that neither arithmetic nor chemistry had worked for the two as its local leadership failed to reconcile at the ground level during the national elections.

The results were said to be the worst-ever performance by the Congress in Karnataka and a record of sorts by the BJP for which the state had emerged as a bright spot in the South with other neighbouring states bucking the trend.

The civic poll win, however, has rekindled the workers of the Congress and the JD(S), which were battling fears of defection in the state legislature.

Sounding upbeat, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said the results indicate that the party was strong at the local level.

However, he raised apprehensions about voting machines used in the Lok Sabha polls, saying "such difference in public mandate in such a short gap needs to be verified."

"Whatever it may be, people have supported us and has installed confidence in us after Lok Sabha results," he added.

Rao said, in the civic bodies where the Congress has got majority, it will form administration on its own, and wherever there is no majority, local leaders have been asked to either seek JD(S) support or to support the regional party, depending on the situation.

When 105 civic bodies went to polls last year, the Congress had won 982 wards, while the BJP and the JD(S) won 929 and 375 wards, respectively.
Not the way to treat people says Sadhvi Pragya after court appearance

Malegaon case: Purohit trying to prolong trial by hook or crook says Special Court

30 years on, martyred IAF officials to get justice as trial against Yasin Malik is set to begin

Court grants bail to alleged middleman in AgustaWestland case

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, June 01: A Special Court has granted bail to Sushen Mohan Gupta, alleged middleman in AgustaWestland money laundering case. He has to furnish two surety bonds of Rs 5 Lakh.

The agency on May 22 filed a supplementary charge sheet against Gupta, who was arrested by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is currently in judicial custody.

There was clinching evidence of Gupta's role in the chopper scam as well as in various other defence deals, agency's advocate Samvedna Verma had told the court.

AgustaWestland: Court pulls up ED for chargesheet leak

According to the ED, Gupta's role in the case came to light on the basis of disclosures made by Rajeev Saxena, who turned approver in the case after he was deported from the UAE and arrested by the agency.

It is suspected that Gupta has in his possession payment details of the Rs 3,600-crore deal to purchase AgustaWestland VVIP choppers.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 14:45 [IST]
Dont destabilise Cong-JDS govt, BJP tells Yeddyurappa

India

oi-Deepika S

Bengaluru, June 01: In a big blow to the ambitions of BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa's ambitions of becoming the chief minister yet again, the party's central leadership has instructed the State leaders against making efforts to bring down the Congress-Janata Dal (S) government.

"The BJP is not eager to come to power and there is no need for that," Yeddyurappa said on returning from New Delhi.

"The BJP is not eager to come to power and there is no need for that," he said, adding that the party would function efficiently by sitting in the Opposition.

"On the outset, it looks like Siddaramaiah is sending four legislators and playing a game to prove his importance in the party. Understanding this, the party high command has directed us not to destabilise the government," he said.

Congress wins big in Karnataka civic polls

With the Congress-JD(S) alliance suffering a rout in the Lok Sabha polls, managing to win one seat each, and growing disgruntlement within the parties blaming the partnership for their "worst-ever" performance, coalition leaders fear that BJP may poach its MLAs.

The BJP had won 25 of 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state and an independent candidate supported by it in Mandya.

The saffron party had predicted the collapse of the coalition and increase in its tally in the assembly after the Lok Sabha poll results, claiming that 20 Congress MLAs were unhappy and may take "a decision" anytime.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 12:29 [IST]
Adorable lost Dog walks into local police station to report himself 'missing', then returns home

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Foreign climbers go missing on way to Nanda Devi peak, search ops begin

India

oi-PTI

Pithoragarh, June 01: An eight-member team of mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, has gone missing on its way to Nanda Devi East peak in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district.

The team, which includes seven mountaineers from the UK, US and Australia besides a liaison officer from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering, left Munsiyari on May 13 to scale the 7,434-metre Nanda Devi peak, and was scheduled to return to the base camp on Friday, May 31.

The district administration has sent a rescue team in search of them after they failed to return to the base camp.

The district administration sprang into action after people at the base camp informed the authorities late on Friday night about the team going missing en route to the peak.

The route to the Nanda Devi peak begins from Munsiyari, about 132 km from the district headquarters. From Munsiyari to the Nanda Devi base camp, mountaineers have to traverse a distance of about 90 km on foot.

Uttarakhand: CRPF jawan who was returning home for Holi goes missing, phone not reachable

The rescue team comprising State Disaster Response Fund or SDRF, police, and medical personnel has been sent to the Nanda Devi base camp in search of the climbers, Munsiyari sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) RC Gautam said.

The team was scheduled to reach the Nanda Devi base camp on Friday and Munsiyari on June 1, he said.

The sub-divisional magistrate said the rescue team will reach the base camp late on Saturday night and start rescue operation with the help of expedition team members at the base camp.

PTI
Wouldn't like to pre-empt any findings of Court of inquiry as it is a very fair process: IAF chief on chopper

IAF removes post-Balakot restrictions on the Indian airspace

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, June 01: The Indian Air Force lifted temporary restrictions that were imposed on the Indian airspace since February 27 in the aftermath of the Balakot strikes.

The move comes immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his second term in office. It is also being viewed as a gesture to allow flights from Pakistan to overfly and thus reduce the distance to Indian as well as South Asian destinations.

"Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed," the IAF tweeted on Friday.

Closure of airspace caused inconvenience to flyers and affected flights from Europe to South Asia. Flights from the US and Europe to New Delhi were worst affected as they were compelled to take longer routes to reach destinations.

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"It has been more than two-and-a-half-months but there is no progress in the lifting of the ban either by Pakistan or India. It is surprising that no back-channel diplomacy is used to show flexibility on this matter that is causing huge losses to both Indian and Pakistani flag carriers as well as foreign airlines," a Pakistani official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

According to the PTI report, before the airspace ban by India, PIA operated four flights to Kuala Lumpur, two to Bangkok and two to New Delhi per week. Similarly, the foreign airlines who were operating on these routes had to suspend their operations. With Indian airspace opening, the flights may be able to resume their original, shorter routes.
J&K Guv Malik calls on HM Amit Shah, apprises him about situation in Valley

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, June 1: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Saturday called on Amit Shah and apprised the new Home Minister about the security situation in the valley. Shah also briefly explained the general situation in Kashmir which is under the President's rule.

Jammu and Kashmir is under the central rule since June 2018 and the assembly election is expected to be held later this year. Shah assumed charge as Home Minister on Saturday.

"I briefed him about the ground situation in the state, the development and the circumstances. I briefed him about the ground situation in the state, the development and the circumstances," Malik told the media after the meeting.

[Amit Shah takes charge as Home Minister]

During the 15-minute meeting, the Governor apprised the home minister about the preparation for the Amarnath Yatra. The 46-day-long yatra will begin on July 1, the day of Masik Shivratri, and would conclude on August 15, the day of Shravan Purnima. Discussions were also held between the two on the law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley and the border areas besides various development issues.

The Governor, however, said that the issue related to holding assembly elections in the state was not discussed as the matter was under the purview of the Election Commission of India.

Amit Shah on Saturday took charge as the Union Home Minister, two days after he was sworn-in following a landslide victory of the saffron party-led NDA. Shah was welcomed at the ministry of home affairs by Intelligence Bureau director Rajiv Jain and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, amid airtight security.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 19:49 [IST]
Kashmiri Pandits pin high hopes on Modi 2.0 Government

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, June 01: As Modi 2.0 government has started functioning, the Kashmiri Pandits have demanded justice for community's martyrs who were killed by Islamic jihadis in Jammu and Kashmir.

A Kashmiri Pandits-run media organisation has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reopen murder cases of Kashmiri Pandits.

It has shared a list of those Kashmiri Pandits who were killed in the month of May from 1990 to 1996 on Twitter.

According to the list, 58 Kashmir Pandit men, women, and children were killed by Islamic Jihadis in May 1990. The list also contains names of three killed Kashmiri Pandits who were killed in May 1992, May 1994, and May 1996.

JKLF was instrumental in killing of Kashmiri Pandits, Govt says while imposing ban

Many Kashmiri Pandits and other Indians have backed the demand.

A Twitterer also demanded Modi government to ensure that the Kashmiri Pandits are able to return to their homeland that they were forced to leave due to terrorism.

"Everytym a new govt. Is formed, #KashmiriPandits become Sanguine & hope that this time our Voices won't go Unheard, that this time we shall get our Rightful, that this time we wont be Neglected, that this time our Plea would be Respected, that this time we shall return HOME (sic)," tweeted Natasha Koul.

"But we have been doing it for 27 years now and that's quite a long time.I Appeal to @AmitShah ji to kindly ensure that in this new tenure of @BJP4India, A Kashmiri Pandit mustn't Feel like a Refugee in its own country. We deserve #Justice, We Deserve Home (sic)," she said in another tweet.

A Kashmiri Pandit living in Delhi tells this scribe that the community has become hopeful that by the time Prime Minister Modi completes his second term; he, new Home Minister Amit Shah, and Ajit Doval will break the backbone of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The way top militants were killed and the noose was tightened around the neck of separatists during Prime Minister Modi's first term is unprecedented. It's a fact that militancy and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir had become a high profile profession in the era of erstwhile Union Governments where the top brass of militants and separatists enjoyed undeclared impunity. Modi government changed everything in the last five years. I hope that in the next five years the militants and their masters will not find a place in Jammu and Kashmir to survive," says the Kashmiri Pandit, who was forced to leave Kashmir Valley way back in 1990.

It all started in July 1988 when the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) began a separatist insurgency for independence of Kashmir from India. The group targeted a Kashmiri Hindu for the first time on September 14, 1989, when they killed Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, an advocate and a prominent leader of Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu & Kashmir in front of several eyewitnesses.

Reports say that after Taploo's killing, Justice N K Ganju of the Srinagar High Court was shot dead. Pandit Sarwanand Premi, 80-year-old poet, and his son were kidnapped, tortured, their eyes gouged out, and hanged to death. A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working at the Soura Medical College Hospital in Srinagar was gang-raped and then beaten to death. Another woman was abducted, raped and sliced into bits and pieces at a sawmill.

Around 300 Kashmiri Pandit men and women were killed till January 1990. Young women were raped before being killed. A slogan in Kashmiri language had become famous in Srinagar whose English translation is: "We want Pakistan along with Hindu women but without their men."

No initiative to bring back Kashmiri Pandits to Valley: Shah Faesal

On January 4, 1990 two prominent dallies- Aftab and Al Safa, published a press release issued by Hizb-ul Mujahideen asking all Hindus to pack up and leave.

On January 19, 1990; Farooq Abdullah led government resigned as Jagmohan arrived in Srinagar to take charge as new Governor. Under his supervision, tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits across the valley left their homes with a hope that one day they will return to their homeland. That one day hasn't arrived till date.

As many as 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits are living the lives of refugees in their own country. Two-thirds of them are camping in Jammu. The rest are in Delhi and in other Indian cities.
Kerala nurse attacked, ear cut off by stalker

India

oi-Deepika S

Kochi, June 01: In one of the horrifying incident reported from Kerala, a 39-year old nursing assistant has been attacked and her ear cut off in Thiruvananthapuram.

The victim, Pushpa was attacked by the 35-year-old man with a sharp weapon in broad daylight. The victim was rushed to the medical college hospital where she is currently admitted.

The woman is from Pathanamthitta and works as a nurse at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram city where she came in contact with Nithin who later became an auto rickshaw driver.

Uttar Pradesh: Shoot, rob and flee; Miscreants loot trader in Muzaffarnagar

An FIR has been lodged and the accused has been booked under Section 307 of the IPC - attempt to murder. Investigations in the case are ongoing and the sections will be updated based on further details.

This isn't the first time that a woman was harmed by a stalker in Kerala. Earlier this year, a woman was set ablaze by a stalker in Thiruvalla, Pathanamthitta, in broad daylight. She succumbed to her injuries a week after the incident.
Not fully vaccinated? No entry to malls, restaurants in Haryana from Jan 1: See Covid-19 guidelines

Khattar called 'useless animal'; CM hits back, says "Chautala ji, people taught you a lesson"

India

pti-PTI

Chandigarh, Jun 1: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday hit back at former chief minister and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala for equating him with a "useless animal", saying people have taught his party a lesson for using "such undignified" language.

Khattar took to his Twitter handle to express his displeasure over the Indian National Lok Dal president's remarks against him.

"Om Prakash Chautala ji, people have taught you a lesson for using such undignified language. You can violate dignity but my education is not like that. Will pray to the Almighty to give you good sense and bless with a long life," Khattar said.

Chautala, in a meeting with party workers on Friday after being released on furlough, made stinging remarks against the Haryana chief minister.

"We call animals, be it milch ones or others, who turn ineffective and useless 'Khatter'. This 'nakara' (useless) has come to Haryana. Never thought he would get a chance (to rule the state). It was the state's misfortune. It was like a heavy loss to the state," he said.

The Chautala-led INLD suffered its worst ever drubbing in the recently held Lok Sabha election as the party's all ten candidates forfeited their security deposits. Its vote share dropped to 1.89 per cent.

['Unfortunate': India on US decision to preferential trade status]

The INLD, which won two seats in 2014, had then increased its vote share to 24.4 per cent from 15.78 per cent in 2009 when it lost all the five seats it contested. After a split in the party following a feud in the Chautala clan, its political graph nosedived. Chautala's grandsons Dushyant and Digvijay floated a separate outfit  the Jannayak Janata Party.

Chautala, serving a jail sentence in connection with the teachers recruitment scam in Haryana, was released on furlough on May 28. Since then, he had been meeting party workers in the state.

PTI
"No language will be imposed on any state": HRD ministry amid uproar in Tamil Nadu over Hindi

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Jun 01: "No language will be imposed on any state" said the Union HRD Ministry on Saturday amid uproar in Tamil Nadu over the three language formula reportedly proposed in the draft National Education Policy.

The three-language system requires schools to include Hindi, English and a regional language in the curriculum. It was announced on Friday as part of the draft New Education Policy.

"Committee has submitted its report to Ministry, it's not the policy. Public feedback will be sought, it's a misunderstanding that it has become a policy. No language will be imposed on any state," HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal told ANI.

"There is no intention of imposing any language on anybody, we want to promote all Indian languages. It is a draft prepared by committee, which will be decided by govt after getting public feedback," said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar who was the HRD minister in previous government.

Parties in Tamil Nadu including the DMK on Saturday strongly opposed the three language formula. DMK strongly opposed the three language formula's continuation proposed in the draft National Education Policy alleging it was tantamount to "thrusting" Hindi and wanted it junked. DMK chief MK Stalin said his party would wage a war if the BJP government 'imposes' Hindi in the state.

DMK Lok Sabha member Kanimozhi said her party would oppose any such move. The sentiment was echoed by actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan. "No language should be imposed and those who are interested can learn any language of their choice," said the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM).

S Ramadoss, founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), said Hindi should not be imposed in Tamil Nadu.

['Unfortunate': India on US decision to preferential trade status]

The Dravidian party also said recommendations like "Gurukula" mode of education, teaching Sanskrit and sending Hindi teachers from Hindi speaking States to non-Hindi speaking States would in due course cause a "big danger" to non-Hindi speaking people. The recommendations, the DMK said rather than lifting the standards of education has led to doubts that it had "ulterior motives" like imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States and thrusting Sanskrit in schools.

Recalling Jawaharlal Nehru's assurance that English would continue to be in use till such time desired by non-Hindi speaking States, he also pointed out that the State had enacted years ago a Compulsory Tamil Learning Act. Demanding the Centre to reject the draft recommendations which was "imposition," of Hindi under the garb of three-language formula, he said his party MPs would voice their strong opposition in Parliament as soon as the House was convened.

With PTI inputs

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 21:15 [IST]
Centre renames 2 prominent institutes after Sushma Swaraj on the eve of her birth anniversary

Proud to follow in Sushma Swarajs footsteps: Jaishankar in first tweet as foreign minister

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, June 01: In a move that surprised many, S Jaishankar was appointed as the Minister for External Affairs in Narendra Modi's second cabinet. The new foreign minister, in his first tweet after assuming the charge said he was proud to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Sushma Swaraj as he thanked everyone for their good wishes.

During Jaishankar's three year term as foreign secretary between 2015-18, he was seen as a bureaucrat close to Modi - the Prime minister's "go-to person" and crisis manager.

Taking to twitter, Jaishankar wrote,

My first tweet.



Thank you all for the best wishes!

Honoured to be given this responsibility.

Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 1, 2019

The 64-year-old seasoned diplomat was welcomed at the headquarters of the ministry by his former colleague Vijay Gokhale, who succeeded Jaishankar as foreign secretary in January last year.

He is the first foreign secretary to head the MEA as minister.

Considered an expert on China and the US, the new External Affairs minister's moves will be keenly watched to see whether he brings any changes in India's approach in dealing with a hostile Pakistan.
Samajwadi Party leader shot at in Greater Noida, case not registered

India

oi-PTI

Lucknow, June 01: A Samajwadi Party politician Brajpal Rathi has been shot at by unidentified men in Greater Noida on Friday night, within 12 hours of the killing of a local party unit chief in Gautam Buddh Nagar, police said today.

The incident took place when Brajpal Rathi, the party's district secretary was returning to his house in Eta sector in an SUV accompanied by a friend and driver, the police said.

"Rathi (Samajwadi Party leader) was sitting in the second row of the Toyota Fortuner when the unidentified assailants targeted him near the Tilpatta chowk and he got a bullet injury in one of his hands. The men then fled and Mr Rathi was taken to a hospital where he was treated and said to be out of danger," a police spokesperson said.

Surajpur police station, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, has not registered any case so far in the case as it has not received any complaint, the official said.

Uttar Pradesh: Shoot, rob and flee; Miscreants loot trader in Muzaffarnagar

Official sources, requesting anonymity, told PTI that it appears to be a "self-hatched" episode by Mr Rathi to get police security again.

Rathi was previously given police security, which was withdrawn with the model code of conduct for the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections coming into effect, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the office bearers of Samajwadi Party (SP) will be meeting Gautam Buddh Nagar police chief to take up the matter with him.

"We are scheduled to meet the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) this afternoon where senior party workers, including former Gautam Buddh Nagar lawmaker, Surendra Nagar, will be present," party's district unit chief Veer Singh Yadav said.

PTI

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 15:38 [IST]
Madhya Pradesh: Ruckus in school over 'religious conversion' of eight students in Vidisha; rioting case filed

Settling political score in Madhya Pradesh intensifies

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, June 01: As the Lok Sabha elections are over; the process of settling political score in Madhya Pradesh has intensified.

Last year, the Congress ended the 15-year-rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress leaders allege that since the party has assumed power in Madhya Pradesh the BJP-led Centre is trying to destabilise Kamal Nath government.

After the Lok Sabha elections were announced, the BJP put all its might to repeat the success of 2014 in the state wherein it had won 27 seats out of 29.

Name of Chief Minister Kamal Nath caught headlines on April 07 when the Income Tax (IT) department conducted multi-city raids at the premises of his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Praveen Kakkar, nephew Ratul Puri and associated companies. The IT department says it has unearthed "widespread and well-organised" hawala racket of about Rs 281 crore.

Is it time for Kamal Nath to pave way for Jyotiraditya Scindia in MP?

It also says that the cash was meant to be used as black money during the elections.

It's notable that Ratul Puri is already under the scanner of probe agencies for allegedly receiving kickbacks in AgustaWestland deal through his companies. Ratul Puri, has been grilled by the Enforcement Directorate at several occasions.

In response, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Madhya Pradesh Government on April 10 registered a case against concerned officers and employees of four departments of the state government, seven infrastructure companies and four Information Technology (IT) companies in connection with the multi-crore e-tendering scam.

The FIR mentions certain unknown politicians. The e-tendering scam took place during the previous BJP government and names of certain bureaucrats, considered close to the previous dispensation had come up in connection with it.

Kamal Nath government has also hinted at reopening 1200 pending Vyapam scam complaints.

More than 180 of these complaints name former ministers and political bigwigs of previous BJP-led Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

In an another development, BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government has cancelled land allocated to the Ghaziabad-based Institute of Management Technology (IMT), which is run by Kamal Nath family.

Meanwhile, the IT department is likely to summon top officials of the Madhya Pradesh government, politicians and relatives of Chief Minister Kamal Nath as part of its probe into an alleged hawala racket unearthed during Lok Sabha polls.

Though Kamal Nath has termed IT raids and cancellation of IMT land allocation politically motivated, Congress is concerned about the further probe into the IT raids.

Buzz is that nine Congress candidates from Madhya Pradesh had received hawala money.

Sources say that the Congress is concerned that the Central government may use pressure tactics to force at least six Congress candidates to give statement against Kamal Nath and party high command. They are sure about Digvijaya Singh, Ajay Singh, and Meenakshi Natrajan by terming them as hard nuts to crack.

I-T dept to summon top MP officials, relatives of Kamal Nath

They also allege that as the Central agencies had been tapping phones senior Congress of the state and their staff since long so they might have some information that could be used as a proof in the court of law.

In this Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has won 28 seats out of 29 in Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath's son won family bastion Chhindwara seat for the Congress.

The only priority of Kamal Nath and Congress is to save its government in Madhya Pradesh, which is being run with the support of two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one Samajwadi Party, and four Independent MLAs. The Congress has 114 MLAs in 230-member Assembly while the BJP has 109 MLAs.
Shillong's Punjabi Lane residents to prove legality of stay

India

oi-PTI

Shillong, June 01: The authorities have clamped prohibitory orders in Punjabi Lane area in Shillong and served notices to its residents directing them to furnish documents within a month to prove that they had settled in the area legally.

Punjabi Lane is inhabited by people from Punjab, who were brought to Shillong around 200 years ago by the British to work as cleaners and sweepers. An incident of assault in the area in May last year had resulted in group clashes following which it was put under curfew for over a month.

Following the direction of a High Level Committee of the state government, Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) officials served the notices to the people on Friday.

Prohibitory Orders under Section 144 CrPC were clamped in Punjabi Lane before the notices were served as there were intelligence inputs apprehending trouble in the area, a senior official of the East Khasi Hills district administration said.

The prohibitory orders will remain in place till further notice. "Most of the residents received the notice in person. Officials pasted the notices on the front doors of the houses which were under lock and key," an SMB official told PTI.

In the notice, the residents of the Punjabi Lane were asked to furnish documents regarding their possession of either land or house and the period of their stay.

The notice said the information will be helpful for preparing both long and short term policies by the government for resolving the issue at Punjabi Lane.

Of the hundreds of people at Punjabi Lane, only 184 employees of the SMB and government departments and their families have earlier been identified as legal settlers, official sources said adding that there was a demand from various quarters to relocate the Punjabis from the area.

"They have been requested to come forward and furnish the information to the SMB office between June 3 and July 3," SMB Chief Executive Officer S B Sohliya said.

The SMB will wait for a month and submit a report about the matter to the High Level Committee (HLC) constituted to find out a feasible solution for relocation of the people of Punjabi Lane, also known as Sweeper's Colony.

As per the inventory survey conducted by the SMB last year, there are over 300 households in Punjabi Lane, Sohliya said.

The settlers had refused to cooperate with the authorities during the survey conducted last year and "this is their second and the last opportunity," Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, who is the head of the HLC, had said earlier this month.

The local Punjabi community in December last year had urged Governor Tathagata Roy to disband the HLC for allegedly issuing orders with an intent to displace them.

On May 29, 2018, clashes erupted when a bus driver and his friend were attacked at the Punjabi Lane area and they received injuries. As rumours of the assaulted victims dying in hospital spread on social media, people attacked the settlers following which the entire area was put under curfew for over a month.

Following this, a delegation of the Punjab government visited the city and interacted with the settlers. The delegation members also met Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.

However, the Meghalaya administration expressed unhappiness after the Punjab government sanctioned Rs. 60 lakh as compensation to the community members who were affected by the violence.

PTI

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 12:36 [IST]
Slowing GDP, US scrapping preferential trade status a 'double whammy': Congress

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, June 1: The Congress on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the country about how his government would handle 'grave trade and economic crisis'.

The Congress was reacting to the US government's decision to terminate special trade status for India and also on India's economic growth which grew slower than expected to a 20-quarter low in the January-March period, dragging overall growth to a five-year low in FY19.

"Already, unemployment is at a five-year high of 6.1 pc (NSSO) and GDP growth has slumped to a five year low at 5.8 pc. At this juncture, withdrawal of the special trade status by the US is a double whammy," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

Surjewala said it is a "double whammy" for India which has "succumbed to US pressure" of not buying crude oil from Iran and has also lost the special trade status and alleged that the government did "nothing to preempt it" despite being informed of the decision in March.

['Unfortunate': India on US decision to preferential trade status]

"On behalf of the people of India, we urge upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a comprehensive statement on the issue to the nation and place before the public a way forward to overcome this grave trade and economic crisis," he told reporters.

"The Prime Minister should take the nation into confidence," he also said.

The US President has terminated India's designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key GSP trade programme, with the proclamation stating that New delhi has not assured the US that it will provide "equitable and reasonable access to its markets."

The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

"I have determined that India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India's designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019," President Donald Trump said in a proclamation on Friday ignoring a plea by several top American lawmakers.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 18:51 [IST]
Why appointing a career diplomat as External Affairs Minister can yield rich dividends?

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, June 1: Retired from service as Foreign Secretary and now back in office as the External Affairs Minister (EAM) of India, Subramanyam Jaishankar, who has over three decades of diplomatic experience, can truly be an asset for Prime Minister Modi's government. Unlike political appointees for this coveted cabinet post who may require time to get familiar with foreign policy matters, Jaishankar will be at home.

Jaishankar's role as the Foreign Secretary was appreciated, and he played a key role in the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and handling of the Doklam standoff. Now that he is back in the ministry with more power, a lot more would be expected from him.

Given India's hostile neighbourhood and yearning to be among top economic and military powers in the world, New Delhi needs to be very astute in dealing with challenges of foreign policy.

The way Modi has been posturing India as a 'strong' country that would brook no intrusion to its sovereignty, foreign policy and dealing with other nations become extremely crucial. If a bold stance has to be taken, it must be ensured that it is not met with a resistance and that's where diplomats play a role. The geopolitical environment should be such that India's posturing is acceptable to superpowers.

Full list of portfolios: Shah gets home, Rajnath Defence, Jaishankar MEA, Nirmala Finance

Jaishankar's appointment is a shift from tradition. There have been External Affairs Ministers who were from Foreign Service, but India has not had a foreign secretary who has been given the position of External Affairs Minister.

A political appointee as foreign minister may not be familiar with the nitty-gritties of diplomacy and geopolitics. They may have to be briefed extensively before any engagement with a foreign country. They may not be familiar with the working of Indian Missions abroad or the powers that an Indian embassy can exercise if an Indian citizen needs help. In case of Jaishankar, these can not be the impediments.

Some were initially apprehensive, reports also emerged that Jaishankar may not be given the ministry of external affairs as it would show a conflict, considering he had already served as part of the ministry for more than three decades. He would know personnel working there and that leaves a room for prejudice. But, PM Modi seems have seen a positive side in appointing him as the minister.

Jaishankar knows the 'game of diplomacy' well, and that is what seemed to have mattered for PM Modi.

Former diplomats and international affairs experts have in fact hailed Jaishankar's appointment as the Minister of External Affairs, saying he is entering the political arena with a wealth of diplomatic experience.

Vivek Katju, former secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, said Jaishankar has an "outstanding record" as a diplomat and he will prove to be "great assistance" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he formulates his policy, as per a PTI report.

"He is a fine professional. Track records of India diplomats being good public men and good political personalities have been very good... Nonetheless, it is one thing to be professionally competent. But, when you enter a political arena, there is a new dimension.

Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan at PM Modi's first cabinet meeting

"Jaishankar would have to prove himself as a fine political figure. I think he will do that well," he said.

Jaishankar took charge of the External Affairs ministry on Friday, a rare instance of a career diplomat handling the key portfolio as minister. Considered an expert on China and the US, the new External Affairs minister's moves will be keenly watched to see whether he brings any changes in India's approach in dealing with a hostile Pakistan. The 1977-batch IFS officer was a surprise pick in the Modi Cabinet, whose members took oath on Thursday, and he will succeed Sushma Swaraj in the ministry, where he had served as a foreign secretary from 2015-2018.
Will always be with you to fight injustice: Rahul Gandhi to media

'We have 52 lawmakers, will fight BJP every day': Rahul Gandhi

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, June 01: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi today said that the party has "52 lawmakers" and it will fight the BJP everyday.

Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party meet Rahul said "Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the color of his skin or belief."

"You have to understand who you are first. You are fighting for every single Indian. Hatred cowardice and anger is fighting against you... You have to be more aggressive," he said.

Gandhi added, "I would be happy if the old faces were here and they are ideologically with us. We will try and rejuvenate ourselves and we can do it".

However, the question whether Rahul Gandhi will be the Congress's leader in parliament remained unanswered

This is Rahul Gandhi's first meeting with party leaders since he announced his decision to step down as the party chief and asked them to choose a non-Gandhi member to succeed him, at the meeting of the Congress' top decision-making body exactly a week ago.

After poll debacle, Congress MPs choose Sonia Gandhi as their leader

The party has refused to accept the decision and there has been an impasse over it since.
Afghanistan: Suicide car bomb hits Kabul, kills 4

International

pti-PTI

Kabul, May 31: A car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy exploded early on Friday in an eastern Kabul neighbourhood, leaving four Afghan civilians dead and three wounded and lightly wounding four American forces, authorities said.

It was the second suicide attack in as many days to rattle the Afghan capital. The suicide bomber struck as the convoy passed through Kabul's eastern Yakatot neighborhood, where US and NATO forces maintain complexes. Facilities operated by the Afghan National Security Forces located nearby. Firdous Faramaz, Kabul police chief spokesman, said four Afghan civilians were killed and three wounded in the attack.

Bob Purtiman, public affairs officer with the U.S. military in Kabul, said four U.S. service members received minor injuries. The one-line statement did not elaborate. In a telephone interview, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid took responsibility for Friday's attack on the US convoy in Kabul, claiming 10 U.S. soldiers were killed. Taliban claims are often exaggerated. Witnesses said the explosion was powerful, blowing out windows in neighboring buildings. Traffic on the streets was light because the bombing occurred on a Friday, the weekly day off.

On Thursday, six people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Afghan army academy and training center, also in the same area but several kilometers (miles) away from Friday's explosion. The Interior Ministry on Thursday said a soldier had noticed a suspicious person, and as he approached him the attacker detonated his explosives near the academy. The soldier's action likely saved lives. Both the Taliban and an Islamic State affiliate have infiltrated the capital in the past.

[Afghanistan: 10 injured after IED blast targets bus in Kabul]

In a series of coordinated attacks by Taliban fighters late Thursday in Charchino district in southern Uruzgan province, 11 soldiers and five police were killed, said Mohammad Karim Karimi, deputy provincial council chief. Karimi said he had repeatedly requested the government in Kabul to send additional security forces to the district, which has a strong Taliban presence.

Attacks by the Taliban have continued unabated despite peace talks with the United States as well as a fresh round of talks with Afghan notables this week in the Russian capital Moscow. Following the Moscow talks, Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, said "spectacular progress" was made on some issues, without elaborating.

PTI
Global Fumaric Acid market size will increase to 620 Million US$ by 2025, from 490 Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of 3.0% - Valuates Reports

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Global Fumaric Acid market size will increase to 620 Million US$ by 2025, from 490 Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of 3.0% 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 Fumaric Acid.Fumaric acid or trans-butenedioic acid is a white crystalline chemical compound. Fumaric acid is used in the manufacture of medicines, drinks, food, animal feed, cleansing agents, unsaturated polyester, alkyd resins, printing inks, and many others.View Full Report:Key Trends:The technical barriers of fumaric acid are not high, and the major players are Yantai Hengyuan Bioengineering, Fuso Chemicals, Jiangsu Jiecheng Bioengineering, Changzhou Yabang Chemical, Sealong Biotechnology, Changmao Biochemical Engineering, Suzhou Youhe Science and Technology, and XST Biological. These companies mainly concentrate in Japan, China, and Europe. China is the largest consumer, almost 30% of total consumption in 2015, followed by Europe with 20% of sales share.As the same time, companies are focusing on technological innovation, equipment upgrades, and process improvements, to reduce costs and improve quality. With the snatch for market share in emerging regions, the competition in fumaric acid industry will become more intense.The study objectives are: To analyze and research the global Fumaric Acid capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast; To focus on the key Fumaric Acid 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.Request for Sample:The following manufacturers are covered in this report: Yantai Hengyuan Bioengineering Bartek Ingredients Polynt Thirumalai Chemical Isegen Fuso Chemicals Jiangsu Jiecheng Bioengineering Changzhou Yabang Chemical NIPPON SHOKUBAI Sealong Biotechnology Changmao Biochemical Engineering Suzhou Youhe Science and Technology XST BiologicalFumaric Acid Breakdown Data by Type Food-Grade Technical-GradeFumaric Acid Breakdown Data by Application Food & Beverages Rosin Paper Sizes Unsaturated Polyester Resin Alkyd Resins OthersFumaric Acid Production Breakdown Data by Region United States Europe China Japan Other RegionsInquire for Discount:In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Fumaric Acid :History Year: 2014-2018Base Year: 2018Estimated Year: 2019Forecast Year 2019 to 2025Our aim is to collate unparalleled Market insights and notify our customers as and when it happens. Valuates is curating premium Market Research Reports from the leading publishers around the globe. We will help you map your information needs to our report repository of Market research reports and guide you through your purchasing decision. We are based out of silicon valley of India (Bengaluru) and provide 24/7 online and offline support to all our customers and just a phone call away.View Similar Reports:Fumaric Acid Market -Contact Us:Valuates Reportssales@valuates.comFor U.S. Toll Free Call +1 (425) 388-2538For IST Call +91-8040957137To know more visit us on:Website:Linkedin:Facebook:Twitter:Instagram:Youtube:
Smart Home Medical Device Market 2019-2030 - Landscape of Therapeutic with Top Players ViVO Smart Medical Devices., Health Care Originals, Hocoma AG, VitalConnect, Proteus Digital Health, Cyrcadia Health, Qardio

Smart Home Medical Device

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The state has changed its mind, agreeing to release convicted killer Frank Gable under federal supervision and with certain conditions while it appeals a judges ruling ordering his retrial, according to the Oregon Federal Public Defenders Office.

Gable, now 59, has served nearly 30 years in prison since he was convicted of murder for the 1989 stabbing death of Oregon prison chief Michael Francke in one of the most notorious and debated murder cases in modern state history.

If U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta agrees, Gable would be released from the prison in Lansing, Kansas, where hes been held since 2014, and placed under federal supervision in that state, according to a proposal outlined in a court filing Friday by Assistant Public Defender Nell Brown, who is representing Gable.

"Mr. Gable has served nearly thirty years in prison for a conviction that is, at worst, the wrongful conviction of an innocent man, and, at best, the product of a trial rife with highly suspect evidence and marred by errors of a constitutional magnitude,'' Brown wrote.

Her motion for Gables release is unopposed by the state, according to court records.

Brown wrote that shes continuing to confer with Assistant Attorney General Samuel Kubernick on the appropriate conditions for Gables release.

Rainy Storm, Gables wife of several years, lives in Kansas and has agreed to have him live with her. She has indicated she would help him find a job, according to the court records. Gable also has been in regular contact with his sister and her husband, who live nearby.

"Release there will provide support and continuity for Mr. Gable during his transition from incarceration to life in the community, all of which is in the public interest,'' Brown wrote.

If released from custody, Gable would begin three years of supervision for an unrelated 1991 federal conviction for possessing a gun as a felon. He was sentenced to eight years and nine months for that charge, to run consecutively to the state murder case.

Attorneys from both sides are working to have Gables lengthy time in state custody credited for his federal sentence.

The state has changed its mind and is no longer opposed to convicted killer Frank Gable's release to federal supervision, pending its appeal of a federal judge's order for a retrial.Court document

Gables attorneys would support the states motion for the court to delay any retrial in the Franke case until the states appeal of a recent ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta is heard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Francke was 42 and the director of the Oregon Department of Corrections when he was attacked near his state-issued Pontiac outside the Dome Building, the agencys headquarters in Salem, on Jan. 17, 1989.

He was found dead by a security guard on a covered porch of the building. Marion County prosecutors argued at trial that Francke had come upon Gable as Gable was breaking into the prison directors car. They said Gable, a small-time methamphetamine dealer and ex-con, stabbed Francke three times and then fled. Francke staggered to the porch and died.

In his stunning ruling last month, Acosta found that the state judge in the Gable case was wrong to exclude another mans confession to the crime from the trial and that Gables defense lawyers at the time should have asserted Gables federal due process rights in light of that error. Acosta ordered Gable be released or retried within 90 days of his order.

Acosta ruled after he found Gables lawyers made a showing of "actual innocence'' based on new and old information. He cited eight material witnesses in the case who have now recanted their testimony and pointed to what he said was a record of improper interrogation and flawed polygraphs used to question the witnesses and shape many of their statements to police.

While the state has given notice of its intent to appeal Acostas ruling, it also has taken steps to appoint a lawyer who would be in charge of any potential retrial in Marion County. Oregon State Police also in recent weeks have contacted several of the witnesses in the case who recanted their statements linking Gable to Franckes murder, according to Brown.

In their motion to put Acostas ruling on hold while they appeal, attorneys from the Oregon Department of Justice argued that the confession by the other man, Johnny Crouse, was unreliable because he made multiple inconsistent statements and later withdrew the confession.

Gables federal public defenders wrote that theyre confident Acostas ruling will be upheld. "Factually, the State simply ignores that parts of Crouses confession, such as his claim that he punched the victim in the face, were directly supported by the physical evidence and included information that likely was only known by the actual murderer,' Brown wrote in Fridays filing.

Kristina Edmunson, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Justice, did not immediately respond to a message for comment on the proposed Gable release plan Friday afternoon.

Before he was transferred to the Kansas prison, Gable served time for the Franke murder in prisons in California, Florida and Nevada. Hes had no disciplinary issues in prison the last three decades, according to Brown, and was recently described by a supervisor in the Kansas prison as a "model inmate.''

While Gable is prevented from earning money for any work behind bars, hes held a maintenance job for the prison yard and mows the lawn. Hes also precluded from most of the programming offered in prison, but has completed some courses voluntarily. Those include courses on anger management, "Thinking for the Future'' and "Prison Mindfulness Institutes "Path of Freedom'' curriculum, according to court records.

Gables lawyers submitted certificates of completion from those courses to the court, which carry Gables new name, Franke Different-Cloud. Though Gable changed his name while in custody, his lawyers continue to identify him in court records as Gable.

Acosta had scheduled a hearing for June 26 after the state earlier this month moved to keep Gable in custody and put a hold on any retrial until its appeal is heard. That hearing might not be necessary if lawyers for Gable and the state reach an agreement on Gables release conditions.

-- 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.
The Oregon Supreme Court on Friday threw out the nearly 67-year sentences given to two twins who were 15 years old when they murdered an elderly couple in Salem in 1993.

The court said the sentences amounted to a life term without parole issued without a finding by the judge that the killings reflected the twins irreparable corruption and not their youthful immaturity.

The sentences for Lydell Marcus White and Laycell Tornee White amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment under the 2012 landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama, the court said.

It marked the first time the Oregon Supreme Court has applied the Miller decision to sentences that arent true life but essentially add up to life through the number of years, said Ryan T. OConnor, who represented the twins.

That brings Oregon in line with other states, OConnor said. Its really exciting and a great decision that recognizes the scope of Miller and the reality of juvenile brain development.

The brothers murdered a couple in their 80s and stole their car. They were charged with aggravated murder and murder. They challenged their 800-month sentence on the murder conviction, which would have allowed their release when they reached 81. The two are now 41.

The sentencing judge described the beating of the couple during a home break-in as a heinous crime and found the teens lacked internal controls. He speculated that their loss of control might be genetic, caused by their fathers treatment or their gang affiliations.

But the judge didnt pinpoint why they lost control, the high court noted.

In a unanimous ruling, Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha L. Walters said the sentencing record didnt conclude that the twins were the rare juvenile offenders who are irreparably depraved.

Why they lacked control at age 15 is clear today based on the evolution of studies into the juvenile brain, their lawyer said. A big answer to that is now known  its because theyre kids and the brains dont allow them to control their impulses, OConnor said.

He argued that their long sentences amounted to de facto life sentences because their life expectancy as African American men is 75 to 76 years.

Lawyers for the state had argued unsuccessfully that the sentencing judge had considered the brothers ages at the time of the murders, but, nevertheless, imposed the lengthy sentences, finding the crimes were premeditated and particularly brutal.

Walters distinguished this decision from an Oregon Supreme Court ruling last May that upheld the nearly 112-year sentence given to mass school shooter Kipland P. Kinkel. The 15-year-old killed his mother and father before killing two students and wounding 25 others in the cafeteria of Springfields Thurston High School in May 1998.

She wrote that Kinkel represented the rare juvenile offender whose murders and attempted murders resulted from his irretrievably depraved character. Kinkels sentence followed a six-day hearing where testimony showed he suffered from a mental health disorder and his crimes reflected a deep-seated psychological problem that will not diminish as he matures, Walters wrote.

Kinkels lawyers, though, had argued that Kinkel never got the opportunity to show hes not irreparably corrupt before the state essentially imposed a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. They also argued that Kinkel was never allowed to present evidence of his mental health condition, how its been treatable as evidenced by his record in prison or how hes reformed and matured.

The brothers case will return to Marion County Circuit Court for a new sentencing.

The Marion County District Attorneys Office will comply with the Supreme Court decision, but its unclear when a resentencing will occur, Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver said.

Attorney Aliza Kaplan, who serves as director of Lewis & Clarks Criminal Justice Reform Clinic, had filed a friend of the court brief in support of the twins petition, representing herself and four other law professors or law school deans.

Kaplan praised Fridays ruling and how it distinguished the case from Kinkels.

We cant put all kids in one category, she said. We have to treat them like the kids they were at the time of the crimes.

-- 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.
Some weeks, we just cant get to everything. (Actually, thats every week.)

So were trying something new.

Every Saturday, well round up some of the education stories we didnt have time to cover at The Oregonian/OregonLive. Sometimes, theyre scholarship announcements that land in our inbox. Other times, theyre stories from other news outlets that stood out.

Expect a lot of graduation pieces next week  Portland Public Schools alone celebrated its 163 valedictorians during Tuesdays board meeting.

Here are some of this weeks stories:

From the inbox:

Sandy High School freshman Cinthya Bautista was selected as the Oregon finalist for this years Google Doodle competition with an ode to reading she calls Escape. Voting will begin on the 53 regional entries June 3. The top five vote getters move on to the second round and the eventual winner will nab a $30,000 scholarship.

From around Portland:

A pair of Oregon students made it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week, earning themselves a little screen time on ESPN. Agatha Chang, an eighth grader at Winterhaven Middle School in Portland, and Arcadia Corn, a Nyssa Middle School sixth-grader, made it to the third round of the contest before getting dropped. OPBs Elizabeth Miller has the story. (In the end, eight students from across the country shared the mantle of champion.)

Just a note: Links to Pamplin Media sites, which owns The Portland Tribune, will count toward your count for free articles for the month.

A Centennial High School student took first place in the inaugural Verslandia East Side Slam at Mt. Hood Community College, a poetry slam that draws talent from beyond the boundaries of Portland Public Schools. The Portland Tribunes Teresa Carson has the story.

A former Lincoln High School teacher will serve as grand marshal of the Portland Rose Festivals Starlight Parade on Saturday. The Oregonians Tom Hallman wrote about David Bailey retiring in 2018 after 50 years on the job. You might recognize at least one of his students: Bailey taught The Simpsons creator Matt Groening in the 70s. The Rose Festival made the announcement last month.

Here are some of the other education headlines from this week:

From The Oregonian/OregonLive:

After shaky start, Oregon House passes PERS reform

Turn anger into action, Wyden and Merkley tell Jefferson High students in Portland

Portland high school students walk out, say theyre fed up with lackluster responses to racist incidents

Portland school board approves $694 million budget: 5 things to know

Business group moves to put multibillion-dollar tax hike before Oregon voters

Oregon schools will be required to teach about the Holocaust (via The Associated Press)

A most glaring case of pay inequity at the University of Oregon (via Inside Higher Ed)

From other Portland-area media:

Gun bill demise angers students in fight for our lives (The Portland Tribune: Pamplin)

Vancouver Public Schools plans cuts to cover $8 million deficit (The Columbian)

Lead paint, mold found at Hough School (The Columbian)

Oregon Dept. of Education honors Woodburn educator as regional teacher of the year (The Woodburn Independent: Pamplin)
Society gives short shrift to older age. This distinct phase of life doesnt get the same attention thats devoted to childhood. And the special characteristics of people in their 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond are poorly understood.

Medicine reflects this narrow-mindedness. In medical school, physicians learn that people in the prime of life are normal and scant time is spent studying aging. In practice, doctors too often fail to appreciate older adults unique needs or to tailor treatments appropriately.

Imagine a better way. Older adults would be seen as different than, not less than. The phases of later life would be mapped and expertise in aging would be valued, not discounted.

With the growth of the elder population, its time for this to happen, argues Dr. Louise Aronson, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, in her new book, Elderhood.

Its an in-depth, unusually frank exploration of biases that distort societys view of old age and that shape dysfunctional health policies and medical practices.

In an interview, edited for clarity and length, Aronson elaborated on these themes.

Q: How do you define elderhood?

Elderhood is the third major phase of life, which follows childhood and adulthood and lasts for 20 to 40 years, depending on how long we live.

Medicine pretends that this part of life isnt really different from young adulthood or middle age. But it is. And that needs a lot more recognition than it currently gets.

Q: Does elderhood have distinct stages?

Its not like the stages of child development  being a baby, a toddler, school-age, a teenager  which occur in a predictable sequence at about the same age for almost everybody.

People age differently  in different ways and at different rates. Sometimes people skip stages. Or they move from an earlier stage to a later stage but then move back again.

Lets say someone in their 70s with cancer gets really aggressive treatment for a year. Before, this person was vital and robust. Now, hes gaunt and frail. But say the treatment works and this man starts eating healthily, exercising and getting lots of help from a supportive social network. In another year, he may feel and look much better, as if time had rolled backwards.

Q: What might the stages of elderhood look like for a healthy older person?

In their 60s and 70s, peoples joints may start to give them trouble. Their skin changes. Their hearing and eyesight deteriorate. They begin to lose muscle mass. Your brain still works, but your processing speed is slower.

BC-WV--BC-PRI--Older Drivers--Eighty-seven-year-old Dorothy Wulfers, who learned to drive a Model T Ford at age 15, prepares to pull out of her parking space Friday, June 4, 2004 in Morgantown, WV. Wulfers said only her and God will decide when she stops driving. (AP PHOTO/DALE SPARKS) ORG XMIT: WVDS101 Third-Party-SubmittedThird-Party-Submitted

In your 80s and above, you start to develop more stiffness. Youre more likely to fall or have trouble with continence or sleeping or cognition  the so-called geriatric syndromes. You begin to change how you do what you do to compensate.

Because bodies alter with aging, your response to treatment changes. Take a common disease like diabetes. The risks of tight blood sugar control become higher and the benefits become lower as people move into this old old stage. But many doctors arent aware of the evidence or dont follow it.

Q: Youve launched an elderhood clinic at UCSF. What do you do there?

I see anyone over age 60 in every stage of health. Last week, my youngest patient was 62 and my oldest was 102.

Ive been focusing on what I call the five Ps. First, the whole person  not the disease  is my foremost concern.

Prevention comes next. Evidence shows that you can increase the strength and decrease the frailty of people through age 100. The more unfit you are, the greater the benefits from even a small amount of exercise. And yet, doctors dont routinely prescribe exercise. I do that.

Its really clear that purpose, the third P, makes a huge difference in health and wellness. So, I ask people, What are your goals and values? What makes you happy? What is it you are doing that you like best or you wish you were doing that youre not doing anymore? And then I try to help them make that happen.

Many people havent established priorities, the fourth P. Recently, I saw a man in his 70s whos had HIV/AIDS for a long time and who assumed he would die decades ago. He had never planned for growing older or done advance care planning. It terrified him. But now hes thinking about what it means to be an old man and what his priorities are, something hes finally willing to let me help him with.

Perspective is the fifth P. When I work on this with people, I ask, Lets figure out a way for you to keep doing the things that are important to you. Do you need new skills? Do you need to change your environment? Do you need to do a bit of both?

Perspective is about how people see themselves in older age. Are you willing to adapt and compensate for some of the ways youve changed? This isnt easy by any means, but I think most people can get there if we give them the right support.

Dr. Louise Aronson(ANNA KUPERBERG PHOTOGRAPHY)

Q: Youre very forthright in the book about ageism in medicine. How common is that?

Do you know the famous anecdote about the 97-year-old man with the painful left knee? He goes to a doctor who takes a history and does an exam. Theres no sign of trauma, and the doctor says, Hey, the knee is 97 years old. What do you expect? And the patient says, But my right knee is 97 and it doesnt hurt a bit.

Thats ageism: dismissing an older persons concerns simply because the person is old. It happens all the time.

On the research side, traditionally, older adults have been excluded from clinical trials, although thats changing. In medical education, only a tiny part of the curriculum is devoted to older adults, although in hospitals and outpatient clinics they account for a very significant share of patients.

The consequence is that most physicians have little or no specific training in the anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and special conditions and circumstances of old age  though we know that old people are the ones most likely to be harmed by hospital care and medications.

Q: What does ageism look like on the ground?

Recently, a distressed geriatrician colleague told me a story about grand rounds at a major medical center where the case of a very complex older patient brought in from a nursing home was presented. [Grand rounds are meetings where doctors discuss interesting or difficult cases.]

When it was time for comments, one of the leaders of the medical service stood up and said, I have a solution to this case. We just need to have nursing homes be 100 miles away from our hospitals. And the crowd laughed.

Basically, he was saying: We dont want to see old people; theyre a waste of our time and money. If someone had said this about women or people of color or LGBTQ people, there would have been outrage. In this case, there was none. It makes you want to cry.

Q: What can people do if they encounter this from a doctor?

If you put someone on the defensive, you wont get anywhere.

You have to say in the gentlest, friendliest way possible, I picked you for my physician because I know youre a wonderful doctor. But I have to admit, Im pretty disappointed by what you just said, because it felt to me that you were discounting me. Id really like a different approach.

Doctors are human beings, and we live in a super ageist society. They may have unconscious biases, but they may not be malicious. So, give them some time to think about what you said. If after some time they dont respond, you should definitely change doctors.

Q: Do you see signs of positive change?

Absolutely. Theres a much larger social conversation around aging than there was five years ago. And that is making its way to the health system.

Surgeons are thinking more and more about evaluating and preparing older adults before surgery and the different kind of care they need after. Anesthesiologists are thinking more about delirium, which has short-term and long-term impact on older adults brains. And neurologists are thinking more about the experience of illness as well as the pathophysiology and imaging of it.

Then you have the age-friendly health system movement, which is unquestionably a step in the right direction. And a whole host of startups that could make various types of care more convenient and that could, if they succeed, end up benefiting older people.
President Donald Trump sparked a new debate in Britain this past week, after calling comments made in the past by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, nasty, in an interview with the Sun tabloid.

During the 2016 election campaign, the duchess - then Meghan Markle - called Trump "misogynistic" and "divisive." The American actress also said she might move to Canada if Trump was elected president. Instead, two years on, she married Britain's Prince Harry and became part of the royal family.

Suggesting that he had been unaware of the duchess's 2016 remarks ahead of preparations for his upcoming state visit to Britain and his royal reception on Monday, Trump said in an audio recording released by the Sun: "I didn't know that she was nasty."

Trump had previously used the word to describe his Democratic opponent during the 2016 campaign, calling Hillary Clinton a "nasty woman" - words that later became a rallying cry for the anti-Trump movement.

But this time, Trump refrained from provoking a full-blown spat, quickly emphasizing in the same interview with the Sun that "I am sure she will do excellently" as a duchess.

Trump's remarks ahead of the trip echoed concerns voiced in the lead-up to Meghan's wedding with Harry: that her past political activism may make things awkward for the royal family, which is not supposed to voice public political views. She started to speak out against sexism as a child and never hid her other personal convictions throughout her acting career, including thoughts on U.S. politics. As member of the British royal family, Meghan has already strayed further into political territory than others, for instance by speaking out against racism, which she herself has faced in recent months.

While her past comments are a nightmare for those knowing the ins and outs of royal protocol, the British public may have a different take. "You know, we don't care what he thinks about us," British lawyer and political activist Shola Mos-Shogbamimu told Sky News on Saturday. "Women are going to stand up together and speak out against the lunacy of his presidency," she said of Trump.

The president has faced major resistance in Europe in the past, and a "Trump Baby" balloon greeted the president when he visited Britain last July during a four-day working visit, to the cheers of bystanders.

Trump's state visit, which begins Monday, has been repeatedly delayed. He was originally invited shortly after taking office in 2017. Trump also plans to attend ceremonies commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings while visiting Britain and France.

Meghan, who is still on maternity leave, and Trump will not meet during the president's visit to Britain. Harry is expected to attend, according to British media.

As a biracial and divorced American, Meghan's biography has vastly differed from the life experiences that have so far dominated the halls of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. Opening up traditions and acknowledging that even royals can have opinions, her supporters said, has infused royal traditions with a more human and natural touch.

When Harry and Meghan launched their Instagram account in early April, the handle immediately broke records, reaching 1 million followers within less than 6 hours. Many of the couple's fans are from the United States, where almost 30 million watched their wedding last year, compared to about 23 million who watched Kate Middleton wed Prince William back in 2011. The birth of Harry and Meghan's first baby, Archie, was celebrated by fans around the globe this May.

Meghans popularity in the United States could prove to be an opportunity for a royal family, as evidence that the expensive traditions remain a cornerstone of British influence abroad. But it could also become a pitfall, given that not everyone across the Atlantic agrees with her political views.

-- The Washington Post
Desiree Young, the mother of Kyron Horman, said Friday that she will be holding a news conference next week to make an important announcement about the search for her missing son.

I will be announcing something exciting that we are doing to bring more awareness to Kyrons story and keep up the search for him, she said in a public Facebook post.

Kyron Horman of Portland went missing June 4, 2010, and the resulting search and rescue operation was the largest Oregon has ever seen. Kyron was 7 years old when he was last seen at Skyline Elementary School in Portland. No arrests have ever been made in his disappearance.

The case has drawn national attention over the years, but investigators have failed to draw any conclusions despite several detailed searches around the area. The most recent was a 2017 search in the West Hills that yielded no new information.

Young will hold the news conference Tuesday at the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Station at 11646 N.W. Skyline Blvd. in Portland. Shell speak at 9 a.m., then take questions from local media, she said.

Read our previous coverage of the Kyron Horman case here.

Kyron Horman's photo is displayed at Kyron's Wall of Hope.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
A judge this week ordered the state to house a transgender female inmate in a cell separate from male inmates and to protect her from harassment.

The decision for inmate Brandy Hall is believed to be a first in Oregon at a mens prison, both state officials and Halls attorney said.

It paves the way for other transgender inmates to make the same request unless the Oregon Department of Corrections creates an overarching housing policy for transgender and intersex prisoners, said attorney Tara Herivel.

Hall is a woman in a male prison and I think at a very basic level, that is understood as being extremely dangerous and problematic by most people, Herivel said.

But this is an area where as were expanding our ideas as a culture of what gender identity is, its also really expanding in the legal arena and I think this is a very important first step.

Hall filed a habeas corpus complaint in June 2018 challenging her incarceration at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, contending the state was violating her constitutional rights by refusing to address physical and sexual harassment she endured.

She also sought to receive medical care via gender reassignment surgery and to be in a prison that corresponds with her gender identity.

An order Wednesday by Circuit Judge J. Burdette Pratt in Umatilla County calls for Hall to be housed either in a single cell, have a transgender cellmate or one who doesnt identify as their sex assigned at birth.

The Corrections Department showed a deliberate indifference to Halls safety by placing her in a cell with male inmates, he said.

[READ THE RULING]

Since April, Hall, 34, has been at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, where she initially had a transgender woman as a cellmate but now has no cellmate. She first entered Two Rivers in 2009 and has had male cellmates.

Hall was convicted of sex crimes in 2007. She transitioned while in prison. Her earliest release date is in May 2021.

Hall was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition when people identify as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth.

Hall has presented as a woman since 2014 and has been on hormone therapy since 2016, according to court records.

One of the treatments for gender dysphoria is gender reassignment surgery, Halls complaint said. She was approved for the surgery

by a corrections review committee last September, but the surgery hasnt been arranged.

The judge said corrections officials must do everything within their ability to stop other inmates from verbally or sexually harassing Hall and to prevent staff from doing the same.

But Pratt also found that Hall didnt prove the Corrections Department violated her constitutional rights. He stopped short of overturning the states decision to deny Halls request to be transferred to the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, the states only womens prison.

The judge determined that prison officials werent indifferent to her safety in that instance because a Corrections Department committee that addresses the needs of transgender and intersex inmates considered her request and factored in Halls 2007 criminal convictions, which included sexual abuse of girls.

Pratt said Hall can make another request for a transfer to Coffee Creek in the future.

Halls case is similar to that of another transgender woman, Michalle Wright, who was transferred to Coffee Creek from the Oregon State Correctional Institution in January 2018.

The transfer was part of a settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by Wright arguing the state had denied her essential medical care, subjected her to harassment by corrections officers and denied her requests to be moved to Coffee Creek.

The settlement led the state to make some policy changes, including providing inmates with hormone therapy and access to doctors with experience treating transgender people.

But the state has no policy to automatically house transgender women prisoners at Coffee Creek and makes decisions case by case.

The judges order in Halls case said Wrights settlement did not provide a written and incorporated basis for requiring the Corrections Department to move Hall to Coffee Creek.

Hall said she plans to continue pursuing a transfer to Coffee Creek.

I feel their reluctance as a whole in DOC to change is because they run on an old system that hasnt dealt with trans inmates until recently, Hall said. I would assume that they just feel it is so much work to redo all these rules that they would rather not do it.

She said shes found the LGBT community at the Oregon State Correctional Institution more supportive than at Two Rivers, but she still runs into challenges.

For instance, she said, despite legally changing her name, her prison ID card lists her name and gender at the time of her arrest and she must answer to that name when prison staff members use it.

Jennifer Black, a corrections spokeswoman, said the department is pleased the judge found that the state didnt violate Halls rights by denying her transfer.

The department is developing more comprehensive policies to address the safety, health care and housing of transgender people in custody, she said.

It assesses, reviews and manages individual cases of transgender or intersex inmates in a respectful manner, considering each inmates individual circumstances, including the persons physical sexual characteristics, gender identification, physical presentation, behavior, and programming needs, she said.

The state has 77 people in prison custody who identify as either transgender or intersex, people born with genitalia, chromosomes or reproductive organs that dont fit typical definitions for males or females at birth. Twelve are housed in the Oregon State Correctional Institution and eight at Two Rivers.

Herivel said while Oregon has made some improvements, other states are doing better. She cited Connecticut, where inmates by law are housed based on their gender identity.

It shouldnt have to take a large-scale problem to occur for the system to change, she said.

-- 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 longtime Republican lawmaker from central Oregon was named Friday to the bench in Jefferson and Crook counties, an announcement that drew criticism from a district attorney who alleged the appointment was a reward for helping pass a sweeping juvenile justice reform bill.

The flap over Gov. Kate Browns appointment of Rep. Mike McLane of Powell Butte offers a look into the politics and process of judicial appointments in Oregon.

Brown tapped McLane to fill a vacancy created earlier this year by the retirement of Judge Daniel J. Ahern. McLane was elected to the Oregon House in 2011 and was the Republican leader from 2012 through last year.

In a statement announcing the appointment, Brown said McLane is known in the Capitol for his sharp mind, personal integrity and respect for the rule of law.

While we havent always seen eye-to-eye on policy, Mikes deep commitment to promoting the public good is never in doubt, the governor said. These qualities have served the Oregon Legislature well and will now enrich our state court bench.

Clackamas County District Attorney John Foote, however, viewed McLanes appointment to the $140,776-a-year job as payback for his role in passing Senate Bill 1008.

The bill, which is headed to Browns desk for her signature, represents the most significant reform to the juvenile justice system in decades, giving judges a critical role in determining whether juveniles accused of serious crimes should be tried in adult court.

It garnered support from a wide range of interests, from corrections officials to the ACLU of Oregon. The Oregon District Attorneys Association opposed the bill and proposed referring the policy changes to voters.

Foote characterized McLanes appointment to the bench as the result of a backdoor deal.

This is not the way our citizens expect our judges to be selected, Foote said. If Senate Bill 1008 had been defeated, Mike McLane would not be appointed by this governor.

Norm Frink, a retired Multnomah County chief deputy district attorney who lobbied against the bill, said McLane played a key role. He said McLane arranged a meeting among leading Democratic lawmakers and a representative of the district attorneys association to get the DAs to back down from their opposition.

McLane and Browns staff vigorously rejected the idea that the job was political payback.

McLane said the suggestion has no factual basis. He said he went through the screening process just like everyone else who was considered.

It is patently false to assert that I had accepted any appointment or any benefit or anything with regard to Senate Bill 1008, he said.

He voted against the bill and on Friday emphasized that he delivered the minority report on the House floor in opposition. He said he presented arguments to his colleagues on behalf of the district attorneys association.

I did my best to get the DAs argument to the table and that is just outrageous, he said of the suggestion that he was rewarded for his efforts. I have been in politics a long time. I have had people lie about me, but this is a new benchmark.

Misha Isaak, Browns general counsel, is steward of the governors process for filling judicial vacancies. Isaak called the idea that McLane was appointed in exchange for his help on a bill he voted against preposterous.

This suggestion appears to have been made only to denigrate the representatives years of service to Oregonians, Isaak said in a statement released through Browns press office.

House Republican Leader Carl Wilson on Friday said the allegation of a payoff doesnt make sense. He said McLane was ultimately unsuccessful in finding an amendment that would be acceptable to prosecutors and the Democratic sponsors of the bill.

Despite his best efforts, no compromise was accomplished and the bill came to the House floor unamended, Wilson said in a statement Friday. Because of the lack of such an amendment, Rep. McLane was a no on the bill.

Its not the first time Browns judicial appointments have raised eyebrows.

In 2017, she appointed her then-general counsel, Ben Souede, to the Multnomah County bench and Rep. Ann Lininger, a Democrat from Lake Oswego, to the Clackamas County bench.

Their appointments departed from the process the governor typically uses to fill judicial vacancies.

For instance, Souede skipped the application process followed by other candidates for openings on the Multnomah County Circuit Court. Lininger underwent vetting and submitted the usual judicial interest paperwork but interviewed with a different panel of lawyers from the other candidates.

In McLanes case, the lawmaker said the governor told him before the session began that there would be an opening on one of the central Oregon circuit courts. He said she asked if he was interested. He said he told her that he would think it over and wanted to get through the session.

He said after Aherns retirement was announced in late March, Isaak contacted him to gauge his interest. McLane said he told Isaak that his attention was focused on the session.

He said well, one idea is given your qualifications is that we can have you go through the screening panel and then if the screening panel recommends you and the governor agrees, then you can decide, he said. I went through the screening panel, I went through interviews and they recommended me.

Judicial candidates typically fill out application forms and interview with panels of lawyers selected by the governor's office before the governor personally interviews finalists.

That was the case with three central Oregon lawyers who expressed an interest in the opening.

But McLane, the fourth candidate, didnt submit the form, which poses a series of detailed questions about a lawyers background, experience and education.

McLane said the interest forms are public records and he was not sure he would take the job.

I was elected and representing my district in a legislative session, he said. He said interest forms are for lawyers who are applying for the job and I had not decided if I would take it or not.

Isaak said the forms arent required for judicial appointment.

It is simply a tool to increase access to the appointment process to those who may not be known by the governors office or panel members, he said in the statement. It is not essential to the appointment process in which Rep. McLane and others were considered.

The interview panel forwarded three names, including McLanes, to Brown for consideration. Among those serving on the interview panel was Wade Whiting, the Crook County district attorney. Whiting, reached Friday, declined to comment.

The selection process is controlled by the governors office, Whiting said. I would defer to her office for official comment.

Isaak called McLane uniquely well suited to be a trial court judge.

In 2017, McLane was vetted for the U.S. attorney position, which ended up going to Billy Williams. McLane is a lieutenant colonel in the Oregon Air National Guard, where he serves as a staff judge advocate.

Brown then met with all three candidates, Isaak said. Her public calendar shows she conducted the interviews on May 15 and made the announcement public Friday. His appointment is effective immediately.

McLane said he plans to finish the session and will be sworn in as judge this summer.

Under state law, McLanes replacement in the Legislature will also be a Republican. That person will be selected by commissioners from the five counties McLanes district covers: Crook, Deschutes, Jackson, Klamath and Lake.

Oregonian staff writer Hillary Borrud contributed to this report.

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184

ncrombie@oregonian.com

@noellecrombie

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill Thursday requiring tech companies to install reasonable security features on connected devices and appliances to prevent hackers from gaining access to steal information or manipulate the devices.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum proposed the bill last winter and it won broad support in the Legislature. The House approved it 53-5 last month and the Senate voted in favor last week by a margin of 19-9.

House Bill 2395 could apply to anything from streaming video devices to digital cameras, garage door openers and connected microwaves. Though such devices are relatively new to the market, already there are many instances of digital intruders using the devices to snoop or to repurpose the gadgets to engineer larger digital attacks.

Shipping devices without reasonable security is now a violation of Oregons consumer protection laws, which gives the state authority to sanction companies that dont meet the standard. Oregons new law echoes a similar law passed in California last year.

Critics complain that Oregons law is too vague.

The bill is currently drafted so that after an attack occurs, manufacturers and the Attorney General can debate in a courtroom, possibly 10 or 20 years after a product was manufactured, what is reasonable, Kevin Messner, vice president at the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, said in written testimony on the bill last month.

The new internet security law is one of several technology-related bills Oregon lawmakers considered this spring.

On Tuesday, Brown signed a bill repealing Oregons gigabit tax break. Lawmakers approved the property tax exemption in 2015 in hopes of luring Google Fibers fast internet service to Portland. Google never came but Comcast and Frontier used the law to secure millions of dollars in tax savings.

Still under consideration is a proposed fee on cellphone service that would cost subscribers between $4 and $12 a year to fund $10 million in rural broadband projects. A right to repair bill, which would require electronics manufacturers to make tools and information available to fix their gadgets, died in committee.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
Mid Michigan College and Davenport University have signed an agreement to offer Mid nursing students, graduating with an associate degree, an opportunity to earn an expedited bachelor of science degree in nursing at Davenport.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for nursing students to quickly advance their degrees and increase their earning potential with Michigan's highest performing hospitals," said Richard J. Pappas, president of Davenport University. "This partnership is a perfect example of Davenport's ongoing commitment to support our local community colleges and make it more convenient for students to earn a bachelor's in nursing degree in as little as three years."
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka.

Thursday, May 30

10:59 p.m. -- Deputy responded to the area of westbound US-10 and Eastman Avenue in reference to a report of a possible intoxicated driver. Upon deputy arriving in the area, the complainant said that the erratic driving had ended and the vehicle was traveling fine now. Deputy checked to the county line and did not locate the vehicle.

9:15 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to an Ingersoll Township residence in reference to a 13-year-old girl who was being disorderly and throwing things. The woman was having psychological/emotional issues and was transported to the emergency room voluntarily by her 31-year-old mother for a mental health evaluation.

9:09 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Hope Township residence in reference to a complainant reporting that a male subject was hunting beaver on their property. The deputy spoke with both parties and it was agreed that the man would not enter onto the complainant's property any longer. Further, he was going to contact the Department of Natural Resources to clarify the legal hunting practices allowed for hunting/trapping beaver.

8:44 p.m. -- A 59-year-old Edenville Township man reported issues with his 48-year-old roommate. The 59-year-old said the 48-year-old was highly intoxicated and said he was going to "sick his dog" on him. Contact was made with the 48-year-old, who said that he just wants his roommate to move out. He was advised to go through the eviction process and told not to touch the 59-year-old's property. The 59-year-old said that he would be staying at a friend's house in Ingersoll Township for a few days.

8:44 p.m. -- Deputies responded to an ongoing property line dispute in Porter Township. A 57-year-old woman reported that her neighbor cut a cable on her property. This property is currently going through civil court to determine the property line. The 57-year-old was ordered to have her property surveyed before a final judgement could be ordered. Contact was made with the 52-year-old neighbor, who said that she cut the cable because it was nailed on her tree. Both parties were advised to contact their lawyers to bring the matter up in court.

8:29 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a property damage accident in Jerome Township.

7:30 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence for a report of a 66-year-old woman and her 55-year-old husband arguing. There was no assault. The woman also said she was bitten by her dog. The deputy completed an isolation notice and it was filed with Animal Control.

5:24 p.m. -- A deputy responded to a complaint of harassment via telephone involving two Porter Township residents and their 32-year-old St. Louis daughter-in-law. The complainants, ages 52 and 56, were upset that their daughter-in-law called numerous times that day after she spoke with her grandchildren in Breckenridge. The complainant did not want their daughter-in-law contacting them anymore. The complainants and the daughter were advised to discontinue contacting the other parties.

5:18 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a single-vehicle property damage accident in a parking lot of a business in Edenville Township. There was no damage to the vehicle and minimal damage to the business. No injuries were sustained. A UD-10 crash report was completed but no citation was issued because it was on private property.

5:03 p.m. -- Officers responded to a crash resulting in property damage in the area of Waldo Avenue and Cobb Street.

3:58 p.m. -- Officers responded to a crash resulting in property damage in the area of West Carpenter Street and Ashman Street.

10:59 a.m. -- Officers responded to a crash on private property in the 2500 block of North Saginaw Road.

9:13 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a vehicle crash resulting in an injury in Lincoln Township.

2:04 a.m. -- A 34-year-old Lee Township man reported his 38-year-old ex-girlfriend was at his residence and threw a cigarette roller at his head. There was also a bond condition stating she may not have any contact with the man. She was located an hour after the initial call and arrested. After a brief stop at the hospital for clearance, she was lodged at the Midland County Jail. A report is being forwarded to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
EDITOR'S NOTE -- OWI means operating while intoxicated. DWLS means driving while license suspended. (MC) is for Judge Michael D. Carpenter. (L) is for Magistrate Gerald Ladwig. (B) is for Circuit Judge Michael J. Beale. (SC) is for Circuit Judge Stephen P. Carras. Sentences may vary based on previous offenses committed by the defendant. Some sentencings include other fees imposed by the state. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka.

Midland

Kerry Day Collins, 65, Brown Court, littering and drunk and disorderly conduct on March 26, 2019, 58 days in jail with credit for 57 days, $125 in costs and fines. (MC)

Ronnie Louis Frederickson, 33, Eight Mile Road, license plate unlawful use on March 9, 2019, 65 days in jail with credit for 65 days, $75 in costs and fines, defendant wanted to represent himself, Dan Duke stepped down as his attorney. (MC)

Arianna Marie Hartley, 28, North 10-1/2 Mile Road, faillure to report accident on April 14, 2019, $325 in costs and fines. (MC)

Sanford

Jeffery Lee LaLonde, 31, driving while license suspended/revoked/denied on Feb. 28, 2019, $75 in costs and fines. (MC)

Clifford Arthur LaMonte, 30, driving while license suspended/revoked/denied on April 5, 2019, $725 in costs and fines. (MC)
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - About 75 illegal migrants were rescued Friday by an oil tanker after their boat broke down in Tunisian international waters, the president of the Tunisian human rights observatory, Mustapha Abdelkebir said
Dosso, Niger (PANA) - The Niger police arrested 242 traffickers and dismantled 27 national and 29 international networks related to trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants and documentary fraud over the past two years
Lome, Togo (PANA)  Togos constitutional court has rejected the request made by the National Alliance for Change (ANC) demanding the cancellation of 26 of the 29 articles related to the institutional and constitutional reforms adopted by Members of Parliament on 8 May, according to a ruling issued by the court
Bamako, Mali (PANA)  The World Bank has granted the Malian government funds totalling 60 million dollars, or about 30 billion CFAF, for the implementation of the programme towards the universal health cover (CSU), following the signing on Friday in Bamako of a deal with Mali, official sources told PANA on Saturday
Breast cancer screening at 40

Women should start their annual breast health screenings at age 40 and have a risk assessment for breast cancer completed by their doctor by age 30, the Partnership for a Healthy Community affirmed this week. The partnership includes several organizations in Woodford, Tazewell and Peoria counties, including those counties' health departments and Hopedale Medical Complex. "In reviewing local and national data, the (partnership's breast cancer) action team recognized the need to promote a common set of community screening age guidelines," said action team chair Greg Eberle of the Hopedale Medical Complex Wellness Center. "The team chose the recommendations for screenings following those outlined by the American College of Radiology, The Society of Breast Imaging and The National Comprehensive Cancer Network."

Multiple ways to get alerts

As thunderstorms, tornadoes and flooding continue in Illinois, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) urges residents to monitor local weather forecasts. "In this day and age of families on the go, it is critical that you have multiple ways to receive notifications and updated information about severe weather," said Acting IEMA Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau. Common means for receiving alerts include a NOAA Weather Radio, newspaper websites, radio and television stations and the National Weather Service on Twitter. Wireless emergency alerts are available on most smartphones. Check your phone's notification setting under "Government Alerts" and turn on "Emergency Alerts." FEMA offers a free mobile app that provides alerts from the National Weather Service. If a tornado warning is issued for your area, seek shelter immediately, preferably in a basement.

Contact Paul Swiech at (309) 820-3275. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_swiech

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NORMAL  Patricia M. Pat Littlefield, 98, of Normal, passed away at 7:10 a.m. Tuesday (May 28, 2019) at Heritage Health, Normal.

Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Epiphany Catholic Church, Normal, where visitation will be from 10 to 11 a.m. The Rev. Joseph Baker will officiate. Interment will immediately follow services at Holy Cross Cemetery, Normal.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the McLean County Historical Society or the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

She was born March 17, 1921, in Bloomington, daughter of John J. and Leota Mary Allen Million. She married Louis E. Littlefield on Nov. 6, 1943, in Peoria. He preceded her in death on Sept. 30, 2002. She was also preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Mary Lou Frey.

Surviving are two children, Lou Ann Jacobs, Normal, and John Patrick Littlefield, Bloomington.

Pat was a 1939 graduate of University High School and she attended ISNU for one year before enrolling in St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, where she graduated in 1943. After graduation she worked at St. Joseph Hospital and the ISSCS (Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Children's School). She was one of the first nurses hired at the ISU Health Center in 1951, and worked there until 1969. She worked at Brokaw Hospital from 1969-79, and she retired in 1986 from Mennonite Hospital, extended care.

She was a former member of the McLean County Genealogical Society, McLean County Historical Society and St. Joseph's Alumni Association.

To express condolences, visit www.carmodyflynn.com.
The governor and his top staff showed again last week that they can make things happen under the Statehouse dome.

To corral 73 votes for a graduated income tax constitutional amendment in a 74-member House Democratic caucus accustomed to extreme coddling and over-protecting its more politically vulnerable members was quite something. Nobody was left off the hook.

The one they missed remains a mystery to pretty much everybody. Rep. Andre Thapedi (D-Chicago) left the chamber during the "fair tax" debate and never returned, vanishing into thin air. He didn't tell the governor's office that he'd be skipping the vote and some of his colleagues didn't even realize he'd left while others could only hazard a guess as to why.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker's effort to make Illinois a progressive Midwestern oasis took a huge leap forward with the passage of that constitutional amendment. Generations of Illinois politicians have tried and failed to get the issue onto the ballot. One of Bruce Rauner's top priorities when he decided to run for governor was stopping a graduated income tax. Now, not even five months after the near-billionaire Rauner's involuntary departure, the voters will soon be given a choice, courtesy of the billionaire Gov. Pritzker.

Both Rauner and Pritzker had and have sweeping, even radical visions of how they wanted to change their state. Where Rauner mostly failed, Pritzker has mostly succeeded. That doesn't mean Pritzker has chosen the right path, mind you. The Republicans warn (and some Democrats privately fret) that his economic agenda of a $15 an hour minimum wage, a progressive income tax, higher taxes for infrastructure construction and a blizzard of pro-union laws will make the state uncompetitive with its neighbors. But it's too late to turn back now.

Pritzker vowed to make Illinois law the most pro-choice in the country, and he is succeeding. The Reproductive Health Act is ostensibly designed to wipe out the state's abortion laws that were knocked down by courts in years past to make sure they couldn't somehow be reactivated if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

You can probably gauge how pro-choice the Pritzker-backed RHA is by looking at the intensity of the opposition. It's reviled by pro-life activists to the point where a conservative southern Illinois minister giving the morning invocation in the House chambers last week actually called on God to "judge Illinois for the sanctioned destruction of the innocent unborn" two days after the House passed the bill.

The measure even caught the eye of President Donald Trump, who posted a link on his Facebook page to an article about the bill and wrote "The Democrat Party is unhinged! Their radical position on abortion is horrible!"

Yeah, I'm thinking that's a pretty solidly pro-choice bill.

And then there's the cannabis legalization bill, which unlike all the others listed above had some bipartisan support in both chambers last week.

Not only is possession of up to 30 grams of weed legalized, but the law will grant clemency to people who were busted for possessing up to that same amount in the past. It contains programs for communities that have been hit hard by the ridiculously punitive "war on drugs." There's also a grant and loan program for people in those communities who want to become involved in the cannabis business. And a community college program is created to help folks, including minorities, train for jobs in the industry.

No other state that has legalized cannabis has done anything like this.

None of the above could've happened without this particular governor's support.

Democratic legislators know that Pritzker will have their backs should any of this spring session's votes haunt them in the next campaign cycle. He has enough money under his couch cushions to fund their campaigns.

Pritzker also truly believes in this stuff. Where others settled for tiny increases in the minimum wage, Pritzker is nearly doubling it. When his most recent Democratic predecessors either rejected income tax hikes or insisted they be "temporary," Pritzker went all out and proposed permanently raising taxes on the top 3 percent of earners. Gov. Pat Quinn reluctantly signed a way too restrictive medical marijuana bill into law. Pritzker enthusiastically pushed for legalization.

This much change this quickly can frighten people. So, we'll see what the future holds. But for now, the governor and his supporters can bask in a bit of glory.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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Coming your way in November 2020: the option to change Illinois' flat income tax to graduated rates.

Not coming your way in November 2020: a chance for tax relief and government spending reform. Not yet. And not likely unless voters demand it.

Democrats in Springfield have voted to put a referendum question on the ballot next year that, if approved by voters, would switch Illinois' constitutionally protected flat income tax to a graduated one. Under the current proposal, rates would increase on those earning more than $250,000 a year. More important, the constitutional change would empower the legislature and future governors to change tax rates and income brackets whenever they wish. Which direction do you think those rates will head?

Supporters of the idea including the amendment's House sponsor, Rep. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, portray the change as a rescue operation. Hitting higher-income earners with a tax hike will fix Illinois' problems and put the state "on a path to fiscal prosperity for this generation and for the next," Martwick said during debate on the amendment. Gov. J.B. Pritzker made the proposal his top priority this legislative session. He'll likely pour millions of his own dollars into a marketing campaign to convince Illinoisans to vote yes.

Funny how that amendment zoomed through the Senate, then the House, on a fast track when other proposals to term-limit politicians or fairly draw district maps have gotten buried year after year. When politicians want to reach into your pocketbook, things move at lightning speed.

But make no mistake: Switching to a graduated income tax is not going to save this state. Not even close. New revenue generated under the rates proposed  optimistically, $3.4 billion per year  doesn't come close to paying down the massive debts Illinois lawmakers have piled up, including a $133.5 billion unfunded pension obligation that's still rising. Worse, hitting high-income earners will have the reverse effect of driving more residents and businesses to flee Illinois. Why should they get soaked as punishment for decades of financial mismanagement in Springfield? Boca Raton, in income-tax-free Florida, beckons.

The good news is that this fight isn't over. Lawmakers have until May 2020 to put a companion referendum on the ballot: Change the constitution's pension clause, which the Illinois Supreme Court has interpreted so rigidly that even pensions acquired under questionable circumstances have been ruled constitutionally protected. Substitute teaching for one day helped qualify a union lobbyist for a state pension. Voters should be screaming to open up that pension clause.

The way out is real reform and it's hiding in plain sight. The pension clause needs to be loosened. Benefits earned so far should and would be protected. But going forward, the legislature should be empowered to tweak those costly guarantees, such as 3% compounded cost-of-living-adjustments. The state of Arizona, with similar contractual language in that state's constitution, managed to tie annual raises for pensioners to the local cost of living  closer to 1% or 2%, not compounded.

Arizonans did this with an eyes-wide-open legislature and in partnership with public employee unions. Arizona didn't solve its pension crisis, but the state is on more solid footing.

Why should Illinois voters be denied the chance to vote on pension reform while they're voting to raise billions of dollars in new income tax revenue? With great fanfare the governor demanded that the tax question be decided democratically. "Let the people vote," Pritzker said.

Don't forget that demand: "Let the people vote," Pritzker said.

That same principle should be applied to reforming the pension clause of the constitution. Lawmakers have until May 2020 to do the right thing. They've put a graduated income tax on the ballot.

Tell your legislators you really do want to fix Illinois: When you vote on the income tax, you want to vote on a pension amendment too.

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President Trump said Thursday that he would impose a 5 percent tariff on all imported goods from Mexico beginning June 10, a tax that would gradually increase until the flow of undocumented immigrants across the border stopped. The tariffs would climb every month until October when it would reach 25%. After that, the tariff would be "permanent." The tariffs could be used to pay for additional security at the border if not for additional funds to pay for the security wall along the southern border.

The tariff announcement caused Mexico to call for a high-level meeting in Washington next week in the hopes of resolving the issue of the migrant surge at the U.S  Mexican border. Trump has asked for Mexico to assist them with the migrant issue and it has always fallen on deaf ears. Adding tariffs has gotten Mexico's attention.

With that being said, if the tariffs go into effect in June because nothing nothing was resolved at the Washington meeting, a Bloomberg report on the issue points to tech companies that could take a hit with consumer PCs and printers likely to pass on the added costs of the tariffs.

While Dell and HP may take some of the biggest hits, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman points to a few Apple suppliers that could be affected.

"Apple, one of the worlds largest sellers of technology products, lists three suppliers with ties to Mexico on its list of top component sources: KEMET Corp., Skyworks Solutions Inc., and CCL Design. All three companies make components for Apple that go inside its devices, with Skyworks having long been a key supplier of wireless components."

The Bloomberg report adds that "The companies also have manufacturing outside of Mexico, including in Asia, and its unclear if Apple actually sources any of their components directly from Mexico."

The issue could be resolved as quickly as next week if Mexico announces that they will send in their military to intervene and stop the migrant surge from South America. If not, the pain begins on June 10th.

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 Wednesday arrested a man from Jharkhand in connection with the May 13 murder of Deena Gope, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) operative and the husband of former Deputy Mayor of Patna Amravati Devi, and recovered several firearms from his possession.

The man was identified as one Vikas Singh who is said to have arranged for an AK-47 rifle and other firearms for the killers.

Based on his statements to the police, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said that it was an old enemy of Deena Gope, also named Deena Yadav, who planned Deena Gope's murder over an ongoing land dispute.

"The victim and his Deena Yadav were involved in a dispute involving 25 kattha of land in Harnichak under Gardanibagh police station in Patna. Deena Yadav then contacted one Bhola Rai to kill Deena Gope. He offered him Rs. 30 lakh to carry out the crime. Rai then rented an AK-47 rifle, an American-made automatic revolver and other firearms for a price of Rs. 8 lakh from Vikas Singh," Maharaj said.

On the morning of May 13, Bhola Rai and his men waited near Manikchand Talab and when Deena Gope's Mahindra Scorpio arrived there, they opened fire on the vehicle. At least 25 rounds were fired six of which hit Deena Yadav killing him on the spot. Other passengers in the car were also injured but survived.

The SSP said efforts were on to nab Deena Rai and others who were involved in the killing of Deena Gope.
Patna: The two nominees for the Bihar Legislative Council seats, Janata Dal  U's Sanjay Jha and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Radha Mohan Sharma, on Friday took the oath of the office after they were declared elected in the absence of any other claimant.

Following the expiration of the 3:00 pm withdrawal deadline, Jha and Sharma were inducted into the Bihar Vidhan Parishad by returning office and Assembly secretary Bateshwar Nath Pandey.

The two seats were lying vacant following the death of two legislators.

For Jha, this is the second time in the Legislative Council while for Sharma, it's the first time.

The term for Jha expires on May 6, 2024 while Sharma's term ends on May 6, 2020.

Later, the two new entrants in the Legislative Council met with Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chowdhary and Legislative Council chairperson Haroon Rashid at their respective offices.
Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Friday escaped major injuries when his car driven by his driver collided with another car in Patna sending all the occupants of both cars to the hospital.

The accident took place near Gate #2 of the Eco Park around 1:30 pm when the elder son of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi was on his way from his home to the party office on Birchand Patel Marg.

Eyewitnesses said both cars were moving way above the posted speed limit and going by the damage to both cars, it appeared Yadav's Hyundai SUV side-swiped a Maruti Suzuki SUV with only the driver in it.

The impact was so strong that the air bags of both vehicles inflated likely saving the lives of all the occupants.

There were two other men in Yadav's car. While all three in his vehicle were rushed to the nearby Paras Hospital, the driver of the other car who also suffered serious injuries was taken to another hospital.

Yadav complained of injuries in his arm, leg, and neck, and after being checked up by the doctors for nearly two hours, he was allowed to leave.

Other victims were also allowed to leave the hospital after the doctors administered first aid to them.

Police are investigating the case to determine who was at fault for the accident. No report was Both cars were impounded and towed to the Gandhi Maidan police station.

After hearing the news of the accident, several RJD leaders including Tejaswi Yadav's sister Misa Bharti and RJD state president Ramchandra Purvey arrived at the hospital to enquire about the condition of the former Bihar Health Minister.

Later, Yadav's mother and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi also visited him at his official residence.
A boy died in hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning following a stabbing in York City, the York County Coroners office said Saturday.

In a statement, the York County Coroner office said it was dispatched to York Hospital at 3:31 a.m. for a reported death of a juvenile male. The juvenile was reportedly involved in stabbing incident at approximately 1:30 a.m. at a residence in the 1000 block of E. Philadelphia St., York City.

The juvenile was transported to York Hospital with critical injuries. He was pronounced dead at 3:17 a.m.

York City Police are investigating and an autopsy has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown.
Inside the former Gettysburg home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower hangs a portrait of his son, John, when the younger Eisenhower was enrolled at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Of course, Ike was not able to be there for his sons West Point graduation, said Dan Vermilya, a park ranger at the Eisenhower National Historic Site. In his letters to [his wife] Mamie in the days and weeks leading up [to the graduation], one thing he mentioned was how much he wanted to be there. But he made mention that, sadly, he was a bit too busy with work.

That was because John Eisenhower graduated from West Point on June 6, 1944 - the same day that his father, serving as the Supreme Allied Commander for the Allied Expeditionary Force, had ordered the Allied invasion of Normandy against Nazi Germany, commonly referred to as D-Day.

Following Ikes retirement from service, the Eisenhowers bought the house and adjoining 189 acre farm in Gettysburg in 1950 - the first home that the couple had ever owned since their marriage in 1916. They agreed to donate the home to the Department of the Interior in 1967, though they continued to live there until their deaths - Ike in 1969, and Mamie in 1979. It opened as a National Park in 1980.

Interestingly enough, the home has relatively few items on display relating to Eisenhowers military service. Despite his preference to be called General Eisenhower rather than President Eisenhower after his stint in the Oval Office, and despite the flag of a five-star general still adorning the flagpole at his home, he preferred to show off his herd of award-winning Angus cattle that he kept on the property to visiting guests, rather than military trappings.

When they bought this property they were intending to use it as their retirement home, Vermilya said. But first they ended up using it quite a bit while they were President and First Lady. Ike had lived [in Gettysburg] once before, when he was the commander of Camp Colt, a tank training camp out on the Gettysburg battlefield in 1918. Ike was a big Civil War history buff, so of course buying a farm right next to the battlefield was very appealing for him.

But ultimately, like his sons graduation coinciding with D-Day, Eisenhowers life was too intimately connected to the military for his home to not be of interest to those commemorating World War IIs most famous invasion. His bookshelves include numerous books on the war, and on D-Day itself, as well as a collection of books given to him by Winston Churchill, the British prime minster, who visited the Eisenhower home during Ikes presidency. Another famous World War II ally, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, visited Eisenhower there in 1957, and the former president gave his British counterpart a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield.

I would encourage visitors who are looking to connect to Eisenhower the general would still come and visit us, Vermilya. Here youre getting a sense of who this man really was, getting to tour his home, see the books that he read. Here, as a site, we do programs discussing his military career.

Commemorating D-Day in Gettysburg

This year is the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, and the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg will mark the occasion with several events leading up to the June 6 anniversary.

On June 1, the site will host a Living History Day, with living historians representing soldiers and sailors who participated in the Normandy landings giving presentations to visitors, and with equipment on display from the battle.

That same evening, historian Jared Frederick will host a program at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center. Frederick, a former park ranger at Gettysburg and current professor of history at Penn State Altoona, has written a book titled Dispatches of D-Day: A Peoples History of The Normandy Invasion," and will present a lecture and book signing.

Also beginning daily on June 1, Vermilya said, the rangers of the Eisenhower National Historic Site will give talks focusing on General Eisenhower and the men who participated in D-Day, discussing some fo the equipment the soldiers carried, discussing their connection to Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander. Well have special programs on Gettysburg during the Second World War, discussing the impact of D-Day on the home front. The talks will be held through June 6.

At 7:30 p.m. on June 5, the site will host a presentation titled A Great and Noble Undertaking: Prelude to D-Day. The talk will focus on the lead-up to D-Day, rather than the battle itself.

Well be talking not just about Eisenhowers role in the planning of the Normandy invasion, and everything that went into that - the gears of war turning as they prepared to cross the English channel and break Hitlers Atlantic Wall," Vermilya explained. But also discussing some of those who actually took part in it, and highlighting some quotes from soldiers who were involved in the Normandy invasion.

A walking tour of the Gettysburg National Cemetery will be held on June 6, beginning at 5 p.m. and led by historian Ralph Siegel, a licensed battlefield guide.

I think a lot of visitors maybe dont realize that the story [of the National Cemetery] goes beyond the Battle of Gettysburg and President Lincolns famed Gettysburg Address," Vermilya said. "There are several thousand graves in that cemetery of those who served the United States in 20th century conflicts. There are actually a fair number of those who were killed in the Second World War, in battles such as D-Day, buried there.

Finally, another program will be held at the National Cemetery on June 8, with a playing of taps at 7 p.m.

Visitors to the Eisenhower National Historic Site must arrive through the shuttle provided by the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. Tickets are $9, $5 for ages 6-12 and free for children under 6.

The visitors center also has an exhibit dedicated to Eisenhower and the D-Day invasion, as well as how the town of Gettysburg responded to war events and the D-Day invasion. For details, check out the visitor centers website.
WILLIAMSPORT  A federal judge has dismissed a third suit that challenged the method Penn State adjudicates sexual misconduct complaints.

However, U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann Friday gave the male student, identified only as Joe Doe, until June 27 to file an amendment complaint.

Does attorney could not be reached to learn if an amended complaint will be filed.

Brann rejected Does arguments he had limited opportunity to cross-examine the victim, the hearing panel was biased, his advisers participation was limited and Penn State did not adhere to its own procedures.

Doe also contended his due process rights were violated by requiring the hearing panel to determine guilt by preponderance of the evidence instead of the clear and convincing standard.

The suit arises out of what began as a Nov. 12, 2016, consensual sexual encounter in Does bedroom on the Altoona campus.

The female, identified as Jane Roe, claims it eventually exceeded the bounds of consent, which Doe denies.

Branns opinion gives the following account of what occurred after Roe reported the incident:

A Title IX compliance specialist investigated Roes complaint and prepared a report he gave to Doe and Roe to review and respond.

Doe responded in a timely fashion but Roe did not until after the investigation was closed and the investigator had forwarded his report to the Office of Student Conduct.

The investigation reopened, Roe was allowed to explain perceived discrepancies and a revised report was submitted to the Office of Student Conduct.

Office director Karen Feldbaum denied Does request to respond to the revised report but he was allowed to file a written response to the charges against him.

In April 2018 following a hearing, a three-member Title IX panel found Doe was responsible for nonconsensual intercourse. Suspension through this springs semester was among the sanctions imposed.

Penn State reached out-of-court settlements in the other two cases that challenged the way it adjudicates sexual misconduct complaints. Terms were not disclosed in either.

Those incidents occurred on main campus, one during the 2014 summer session and the other in September 2016.
A pair of Mechanicburg Area School District buildings were placed on lockdown Friday afternoon after a suspicious person was seen near an elementary school about the time of dismissal.

Thats according to district Business Director Greg Longwell, who said police were called to investigate.

They didnt find a threat, Longwell said.

The suspicious person was spotted about 2:30 p.m. near the district campus that houses Broad Street Elementary and Mechanicsburg Area Senior High schools.

Because of the reported suspicious person, students and staff at the schools were placed on lockdown and told to remain indoors, Longwell said.

The elementary school was scheduled to dismiss at 2:30 p.m., so the lockdown delayed the students release, Longwell said.

The high school dismisses at 3:20 p.m. By that time, the lockdown had been lifted, and students were expected to dismiss as scheduled, Longwell said.
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is now said to be leaning towards challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Perry for Pennsylvanias 10th Congressional District seat in 2020, according to sources familiar with his thinking.

DePasquale, currently in the third year of his second term as the states top tax dollar watchdog, did not respond to messages from PennLive for this story.

But one source who asked not to be identified in order to speak about what he knows of DePasquales current thinking, said Friday that the auditor general is seriously leaning towards a run for Congress, and will likely make a decision by the end of June.

The very possibility of a current statewide office holders potential entry in the race shows just how the new district maps imposed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last year have changed midstate Democrats attitudes toward seeking U.S. House seats.

That court-ordered redraw came as the result of a gerrymandering lawsuit brought by the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters and a group of aggrieved voters.

Where once these races were actively avoided by top-tier Democrats, Lutheran pastor and retired Army officer George Scott showed the political world Democrats can be viable in the new 10th, which covers all of Dauphin County, the eastern half of Cumberland County, and the northern half of York County.

Running as a first-time candidate, Scott garnered 48.7 percent against Perry, signaling to Democrats who were hanging back last year that the 10th is much more competitive than the districts it replaced - in fact, only one of Pennsylvanias 18 districts was closer.

There is one announced candidate in the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination so far.

Hershey native Tom Brier, an attorney who last year gained notice regionally and beyond for his book While Reason Slept" on what he sees as Americas gradual slide away from its founding Constitutional objectives, jumped into the race in March.

Scott, meanwhile, told PennLive Friday he has been encouraged to give, and is giving, very serious consideration to reprising his 2018 campaign. He said he expects to make a decision by the end of the summer.

There may be others.

Attempts to reach Perry, a Republican from northern York County now in his 4th term, for comment on the Democrats early jockeying were not immediately successful.

DePasquale has acknowledged in the recent past that he is considering a range of political options for life after his current term as auditor general, which expires in January 2021. As per the state Constitution, he is not permitted to seek a third straight term in that office.

In the past, many observers had felt that that consideration leaned more toward statewide office, like potentially seeking to succeed Gov. Tom Wolf in 2022.

But Democrats reached for this story said the facts of the new lines; that DePasquale has represented York city - the hub city in the southern end of the district - in the Pennsylvania State House before; and that he would have a chance to be joining a Democratic majority in the U.S. House have all caused him to take a harder look at Washington.

Theres also this: While DePasquale also has shown some fundraising prowess - raising and spending nearly $1 million for his auditor general re-elect in 2016 against little-known opposition - thats a level that makes him very viable in a Congressional race. But DePasquale would have to significantly raise his fund-raising game to compete for what would likely be hotly-contested races for governor and U.S. Senate in 2022.

Speculation about a Congressional bid steadily increased through the just-closed primary season, as DePasquale made the lions share of his political appearances, according to his personal Facebook page, in 10th District communities.

He has also been running a series of periodic ads on that same page on issues like high prescription drug costs.

Republicans are taking notice too; the state Republican Party Committee has recently attacked DePasquale for what its leaders have argued amounts to use of his current office as a publicity springboard for the next.

If this does indeed become DePasquales choice, Franklin & Marshall political scientist G. Terry Madonna said, a bid for Congress makes political sense as an achievable goal.

There isnt any doubt that this is a reasonably competitive district, Madonna said, so if hes looking to continue his political career in many respects that seems to be a logical progression for him.

The only direct comment for this story from DePasquales camp came from Bud Jackson, a spokesman for the auditor generals state campaign committee. He said, via email:

"Ever since he was re-elected Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale has been encouraged by people and organizations from across Pennsylvania to extend his public service career at the end of his term by serving in another capacity.

He is grateful for the outpouring of support and expects to have more to say sometime in July.
Without any reservations, it is very obvious that more dairy farmers must start making more calls to our U.S. Congressmen in Washington DC if we want to allow whole milk back into our schools.

Why do we only have 25 co-sponsors on Congressman GT Thompsons bill HR 832, that would allow all school children to have access to whole milk (both flavored and unflavored)? Of the 25 co-sponsors, 19 are Republicans and only 6 are Democrats, even though the Democrats have the majority in the House of Representatives.

However, the big question is, of the top 10 dairy-producing states in the United States, six of them collectively have only one representative who is a co-sponsor, and that is Congressman Michael Conaway (R-TX), former chairman of the House Ag Committee.

These six states produce 92 billion pounds of milk annually with California leading the way with 40 billion pounds (with a Class I utilization of approximately 16 per cent of their production). Idaho has 15 billion pounds; Texas 12 billion pounds (one co-sponsor), Michigan has 11 billion pounds, New Mexico 8 billion pounds, and Washington with six billion pounds. Yes, 92 billion pounds of milk, with only one co-sponsor to allow whole milk back into our schools.

On the plus side, Wisconsin produces 30 billion pounds annually, with four co-sponsors. New York produces 14.8 billion pounds with five co-sponsors. Pennsylvania with 10.6 billion pounds with six co-sponsors, and Minnesota with nine billion pounds and three co-sponsors.

These four states produce 63 billion pounds of milk annually, with 18 co-sponsors, and we expect the newly elected Congressman from Pennsylvania, Congressman Fred Keller to sign on very soon. Right now, its an 18 to one ratio, totally unacceptable.

Earlier this year as I spoke to some dairy farmers and consumers in Washington DC (and later at other meetings) I stated, Allowing whole milk back into our schools should not be considered a Republican or Democratic issue. It is our school childrens issue.

All dairy farmers must step up to the plate and call our U.S. members of Congress and strongly urge them to support HR 832.

Believe me, the majority of our children would like whole milk back in our schools. Lets not continue to lose more milk drinkers.

You must know who your US member of Congress is, you may not know their phone number, but please call 202-225-3121 and ask the operator to connect you to your appropriate Congressmans office. When you reach them, insist that you talk to someone about the whole milk bill, HR 832.

Recently, Sherry Bunting wrote that dairy farmers must call their local schools, and urge them to support HR 832. Yes, this is a must. The Elk Lake School in Susquehanna County (PA) passed such a resolution to support whole milk in schools several years ago!

I am now a Board member of the Northeast Intermediate Unit (NEIU), consisting of 20 schools in Northeast Pennsylvania. Recently this Board unanimously passed a resolution which would allow whole milk back into our schools.

Please call your local school district and urge them to call their local members of Congress to support HR 832.

Two things: HR 832 was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, not the Ag Committee. This was not Congressman GT Thompsons fault. In my opinion, if we dont get this bill passed, we may not have the opportunity to consider it again.

Pro-Ag can be reached at 570-833-5776.

Arden Tewksbury is Manager of the Progressive Agriculture Organization.
Perry County voters rejected incumbent Commissioner Brenda Benner and went in a new direction in the May 21 primary, as well as ousted the countys sitting treasurer, according to unofficial vote tallies.

Besides generally going in a new direction, voters seemed to prefer commissioners candidates who either have connections to the countys fire and EMS companies or believed the county should make their financial wellbeing a priority.

Benner, the only incumbent running for re-election, was defeated in the Republican primary, as was Harva Owings Baughman, the incumbent Republican treasurer.

Tuscarora Twp. Supervisor Brian Allen won the most votes with 2,871 (27.5 percent), followed closely by Gary Eby of New Bloomfield with 2,619 (25.1 percent). Both Republicans move on to November.

Its sobering, Allen said. It makes you want to do that much better by the people.

Frank Campbell, the retired trucking executive and county civic leader, took third place with 2,260 votes. Benner received 1,660 votes and Robert Nulton got 925 votes.

On the Democratic ticket, Karen Anderson, the grass-fed beef rancher from Loysville, received 1,073 votes (38.31 percent) winning a spot in the general election along with New Bloomfield surveying business owner Brenda Watson. She received 907 votes or 32.4 percent. William Lyons, the dairy farmer from Loysville, received 705 votes.

The winners have fire and EMS connections. Allen was a firefighter for 15 years. Eby and Watson are connected with New Bloomfield Fire Company, and Anderson has expressed support for emergency services at the county level.

Candidates said it was a prominent issue, but they wanted to look at non-taxing means of support.

Especially the townships, Allen said. The cost of support is too great a burden for any one township.

Anderson said emergency services are important, but didnt necessarily hear it as an issue from average voters at the polls.

Voters who are not involved may assume that emergency services will always be there when needed, but municipal officials and fire/ambulance members know that its difficult to afford good equipment and respond to emergencies with trained people, she said. I dont think that the voters want a county takeover of emergency services, but the county may have a role in acquiring equipment and advocating for helpful state-level changes.

Watson said emergency services are important to communities, and shes willing to listen and learn more about whats needed. But she isnt making promises on how to address issues if elected.

Eby said he has concerns about county government involvement. Funding should remain at the municipal level, but he agreed the county could support them in other ways.

I have always held that for county government to be involved in funding leads to having our citizens being subjected to being unnecessarily taxed twice, he said.

Treasurer

Jan Gibboney, a former local bank executive, defeated incumbent Baughman in the Republican primary for county treasurer by 472 votes, according to the unofficial results. Gibboney got 2,987 votes (54.2 percent) to Baughmans 2,515 (45.7 percent).

Gibboney said he spent the entire day at the polls and it wasnt until he got home he realized he had a shot at winning.

As I pulled in my driveway, my phone started pinging, he said. It was friends asking me for my reaction. I didnt realize the totals were coming in and that I was leading. I felt surprise and extremely grateful to everybody involved.

Coroner

Robert Ressler, the Shermans Dale resident and incumbent coroner, fended off a primary challenge from fellow Republican Amber Fegley, an emergency medical technician and assistant chief of the Millerstown Fire Department. Fegley also is a deputy coroner.

Ressler received 3,934 votes (63.5 percent) to Fegleys 2,989 votes (42.9 percent).

Write-in role

As in past elections, write-ins could play a role in who appears on the November ballot. Several county positions had significant write-ins. It takes just 10 write-ins for a person to be listed in the November election if no one was on the ballot for that office, or there were fewer candidates than spots to win. And that could mean cross-party listings, too.

There were many write-ins for several county row offices on the Democratic side where no candidates were on the ballot. County coroner received 148 Democratic write-ins and treasurer received 250.

Those positions were contested races on the Republican side and only one candidate could win the primary so the Republican write-ins are moot.

Two uncontested row offices received a large number of write-ins, too. Prothonotary had 88 on Democratic side, where there was no candidate. Potentially, Republican Zoe Burd could have a challenger. Running uncontested, she took 99.8 percent of the votes.

There were 46 Democratic write-ins for district attorney, too. That means Republican incumbent Andrew Bender (99.7 percent uncontested) could have a fall challenger.

Republican Wendy Wefley received 99.8 percent of the votes and looks likely to keep her position as register and recorder of deeds, but there were 19 write-ins on the Democratic ticket.

For county auditor, Democrat Kathy Hoover is through with 98 percent of the vote, but there were 28 write-ins. Voters could select up to two from each party. There could be a full slate of candidates for the three open positions in the fall.

For Republicans, Nancy Pote won with 56.5 percent to Arthur Hartzell Jr.s 42.9 percent. Both advance with thousands of votes, making the 44 write-ins moot.

Local offices

Millerstown Borough had three council seats up for grabs and five Republicans on the ballot. Richard Fegley and Robert Shipp III will retain their seats with 29.4 percent and 25.1 percent of the vote, respectively. They will be joined by George Clegg who received 19.9 percent.

Penn Twp. had 112 Republican write-ins, so its likely Democrat Jesse Boyer III could have a challenger in November.

Marysville Borough had 117 write-in votes on the Republican side. It has four seats up for election. Stephen Copp will keep his seat, and Michael McCreary is headed to council. They were the only candidates on the ballot.

Nicholas McAlicher defeated fellow Republican Tammy Troutman for a six-year seat on Miller Twp. board of supervisors.

Watts Twp. has one supervisor seat open and two Republicans on the ballot. Darren Miller won that contest with 84.2 percent of the vote to Brian Reifsnyders 14.4 percent.

Newport School Board had six candidates for five seats. All listed candidates will move on to November because voters could select up to five candidates on each side.

On the Democratic side, incumbents Pat Dorman and Robert H. Folk Jr. (both cross-filed) received 36.7 percent and 32.05. Michelle Jones received 29.9 percent. Dorman received nearly 21 percent on the Republican side. Folk received 19.1 percent there.

Republican incumbents Charles Brown and Patrick Shull got 17.6 percent and 21.1, respectively. Shane McNaughton received 20.7 percent.

Even if races were uncontested, third-party or write-in candidates could emerge between now and November.

Congress

Republican state Rep. Fred Keller won the special election for the 12th Congressional District, which includes all of Perry County, against Democrat Marc Friedenberg. Keller received 68 percent of the vote district-wide, according to the Pennsylvania Department of States unofficial results.

In Perry, Keller received 74.5 percent to Friedenbergs 25.4 percent.

Jim T. Ryan can be reached via e-mail at jtryan@perrycountytimes.com
New 'biosphere region' seeks to foster ecological collaboration in Northern Michigan

The University of Michigan Biological station will renew its status as a UNESCO "biosphere reserve," along with several other area partners.
This illustration shows how the lettering of the new Philadelphia Inquirer logo compares to the old. The major differences include adjustments to the P and I, with smaller changes to the T, d, p, and q. Read more

The Philadelphia Inquirers logo has changed many times since 1829, when the first edition published under the flag The Pennsylvania Inquirer.

Every incremental tweak or major redesign has been an attempt to modernize The Inquirer brand to keep pace with our changing region and the greater media landscape.

With The Inquirers journalism being published and shared on more platforms than ever, it was time to again update our logo in a way that represented the brands past, present, and future. Here are four things to know about the change:

Why Was an Update Needed?

We wanted a logo that would capture the life of our brand, speak to new audiences, and integrate seamlessly into all of our products, said Sara Pfefer, an Inquirer graphic designer. She was part of an in-house design team that worked on The Inquirers first logo change in decades.

After more than six months of research, analysis, revisions, internal feedback, and reader focus groups, Pfefers logo design emerged as the best choice to represent The Inquirer.

We like that the new logo maintained the unique characteristics of the original, iconic design, but made subtle yet recognizable changes for a better experience across all formats," said Jen Strauss, Associate Director of Design at The Inquirer.

Whats New?

The new design preserves the visual connections to its original typeface, while being optimized to work across digital and print platforms. These small changes will have a big impact on the way the brand is represented on Inquirer.com, mobile apps, social media channels, in print, and throughout the Philadelphia region.

What was the Biggest Challenge?

As the company looks toward its digital future, it was important to create a logo that will function well not just on the top of the newspaper, but also on icons for apps and on social media.

One of the biggest obstacles with the original logo design was the ambiguous look of the I in Inquirer. The team focused significant effort on making the I more readable so it could stand alone as an icon.

What Do the Experts Say?

When the design team had developed a handful of strong logo options, they brought in an expert with deep connections to our brand: Matthew Carter, a world-renowned type designer and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, had digitized The Inquirers previous masthead in 1997.

Matthews inclusion was no accident, Strauss said. He helped us identify all the issues around making a recognizable capital Gothic letter I. He acted as a catalyst to energize our team to find a solution that worked for us now and well into the future."
On Saturday morning, 190 years to the day since The Philadelphia Inquirer published its first edition, we changed our web address from Philly.com to Inquirer.com, along with some other updates throughout our digital and print platforms.

Why? We want readers to know  whether theyre engaging with our indispensable journalism online, in the newspaper, or in the community  that we are The Inquirer: one brand, one mission.

Heres what youll see, and what to know:

Online

The new Inquirer.com contains all of the ambitious and innovative journalism youve come to expect from The Inquirer. The web address and logo at the top of the site may have changed, but the navigation and display features remain the same.

If youre used to typing Philly.com into your browser or have it bookmarked, dont worry  those links will automatically redirect you to Inquirer.com. Your login information wont change, but you may need to sign in with your username and password the first time you visit Inquirer.com. Forget your info? Click the Dont remember your password link to get it back.

Our official social media accounts  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn  all have The Inquirer in their names. If you already follow those pages, you wont have to do anything to continue seeing our timely and engaging social content. Click here to read more about those updates.

In Print

We also redesigned the look of The Philadelphia Inquirer flag that runs atop the front page and our website, and the iconic Inquirer I logo. Its the first design change to The Inquirers logo in decades.

A team of in-house graphic artists collaborated with world-renowned type designer Matthew Carter to come up with a modern logo that functions well not just on top of the newspaper but across our digital products as well. The Daily News also received a refreshed logo, visible on its daily and weekend print editions.

In the Community

Along with the cosmetic upgrades, weve also changed our company name from Philadelphia Media Network to The Philadelphia Inquirer, a public benefit corporation. The Inquirer is a for-profit entity owned by the nonprofit Lenfest Institute for Journalism.

While were excited about these changes and hope that you are, too, its important to note what isnt changing around here. Subscribers will continue to receive printed editions of The Inquirer and the Daily News, single copies of both papers will still be available at newsstands throughout the region, and all of our content is always available at Inquirer.com.

Our commitment to impactful, public-service journalism remains the cornerstone of everything we do. Our mission  to serve the Philadelphia regions diverse community with a sustainable, growing business  depends on the trust and support of readers like you.

Wed love to hear what you think of the changes and to answer any questions you have. Email AMA@inquirer.com or call Customer Service at 215-222-2765.
George Clinton will play with Parliament Funkadelic for the final time on June 6, 2019 at the Franklin Music Hall. Read more

George Clinton has one more tour in him.

The Parliament-Funkadelic mastermind, the genius bandleader and Afro-Futurist conceptualist also known as Dr. Funkenstein, is now 77.

The two collectives that Clinton dually led  the psychedelic rock Funkadelic and otherworldy funkateers Parliament  were at their zenith of popularity in the 1970s.

Thats when the P-Funk Mothership  now in the National Museum of African American History and Culture  was the centerpiece of the most outrageous arena show in pop music and Clintons experimental and irresistible James Brown-in-outer-space vision found a mass audience.

Much of the music Clinton made with principal players like keyboardist Bernie Worrell and bassist Bootsy Collins formed the foundation of hip-hop hits from De La Souls Me, Myself & I to producer Dr. Dres bass-heavy G-funk sound.

In recent years, Clinton has lost his trademark multicolor hairdo, but hes still been leading a vital, unstoppably funky (and funny) version of P-Funk, playing three-hour shows in mostly smaller venues.

Now hes set to hang up his touring shoes, planning to retire to Tallahassee, Fla., with his wife, Carlon, and to concentrate on visual media projects, while promising to still occasionally drop in at P-Funk shows as the band tours without him.

But first, the One Nation Under a Groove Tour will come to Franklin Music Hall on Thursday, topping a bill with Fishbone, Dumptaphunk, Galactic, and Miss Velvet and the Bluewolf. The nonmusician who is one of the great musical innovators of the second half of the 20th century spoke on the phone from Springfield, Ill., on the day the tour was set to begin.

Its the beginning of the end. How are you dealing?

You get mixed feelings. All the shows are getting sold out, so thats nice. And Ive got plenty to do. Movies to make and cartoons.

People dont realize how good the band is now.

They slept on it for a while, but its really hot now. Weve had two new albums a couple of years ago, and my grandkids, my kids, and the kids of the other members of the bands are out there. So its a whole new show.

We did a tour with the Chili Peppers in Australia and had 90,000 people at one show. Its happened on the internet instead of the radio.

I started looking at the internet and social media as the new underground. So we actually clowned making the album, doing it on Periscope while we was writing the songs. People saw us writing the songs and watched us record it. Then when it came out, a lot of people felt a close connection to it.

How many people are in the band now?

Twenty-four. I got like six grandkids in there.

How many on stage at one time?

A couple of times all 24. But mostly theyre going on and off. Its like a play. We usually play three hours, but on this tour more like two because we got all these other bands. Its gonna be a funky night. Everybodys goin to be funkin.

You were born in North Carolina before moving to Plainfield, N.J,, right?

First we moved to Virginia, then New Jersey when I was about 10.

What was the first music you loved?

Doo-wop. Frankin Lymon and the Teenagers. And then the Flamingoes. The Dells. The Moonglows. All that in 1956 and 57.

Lee Andrews and the Hearts?

Thats Questloves dad. That was one of my favorites. When I found that out, I couldnt believe it.

I was influenced by all of it. The whole rock-and-roll thing. I worked in a record store. Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley.

We started singing when I was about 15 years old. And by the time I was 18, I was into all kinds of music. I was into Motown cause they started to have hits.

When were you cutting hair in Plainfield?

All at the same time. You used the barbershop to take care of yourself and your family. And then youd rush to New York to cut demos and leave somebodys hair straightening there  burning  when you were gone. And trust somebody else to finish it for you.

Howd the customer feel about that?

All your fans, they didnt mind you doing it because they knew you were going to be famous. We did it so convincingly that they knew we were meant to be.

Did you think that?

Yeah. I met the Motown people early in my life and I saw how they was working. I came back and got a songwriting job in New York with Berry Gordys wife. You couldnt tell us we wasnt going to make it.

I worked in the Jobete office in the Brill Building. I was babysitting Kerry Gordy. Later, he worked with me on Paint the White House Black [on his 1993 solo album Hey Man, Smell My Finger]. The P-Funk Family was based on Motown. We just played louder.

When did it go from being commercial R&B to psychedelic funk and rock and roll? Did the drugs do that? Or the music?

The music did it first. When we had a hit record with (I Wanna) Testify [in 1969], we had dreamed of being a Temptations-type group. We did our own hair, we was in the barbershop. So we knew that style. And then everybody was coming out of the suits, and rock and roll was taking over. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and all that was No. 1.

Everything changed, so we had to go psychedelic. I remember Sgt. Pepper, Creams Disraeli Gears, Jimi Hendrix, Axis: Bold as Love and Are You Experienced?, Sly, A Whole New Thing. I bought all of them at one time.

We decided the Parliaments need to make a change. We took the suits and ties off and we did did Music for My Mother, which was intentionally loud and psychedelic. The songs were long. They were dark. There was mid-tempo music between the blues and rock and roll that nobody was messing with, with the exception of New Orleans people.

We did that with Funkadelic, and then Free Your Mind ... And Your Ass Will Follow and Maggot Brain. We built it up slowly until we got to do Up for the Down Stroke with Neil Bogart at Casablanca [in 1974]. Bootsy [Collins] had come around, along with Fred Wesley and Maceo [Parker, both from James Browns band]. And we had Bernie Worrell, a keyboard player with classical training.

Have you ever played an instrument?

Nah. I can hum the parts. I can tap it out. No, no. Dont play nothing.

What gave you the confidence to boss these guys around?

I started with them when they were kids. I was a songwriter with Motown, and they would listen to me. Bernie taught all of us because he was classically trained. Eddie Hazel had so much soul that he could do anything he wanted on the guitar. So I had a lot of different musicians from then they were kids and as they grew, that was their education.

Which bandleaders do you respect the most?

The Duke Ellingtons, the Count Basies. Those kind of people. Thats basically what I did was direct the band, then clown and do the records. Then I think Sun Ra. I really respect what James did with that band, what Sly did with his band. What Prince did. He worked peoples asses into the ground so every inch of that was perfect, from morning to night. Maceo is one of the best. He did it for James, for Prince, for us, for himself. Hes the king of that [stuff].

What did drugs do for the music, and when did it become a problem?

It always does both of those things. In the beginning, it opened up that Are You Experienced? s. But I think it has more to do with the time, because it dont work for everybody and wasnt working for us after a period of time.

When?

It was over after the Vietnam War was over. Once the goal line to stop that war had become a reality, it wasnt even cool to even do acid anymore. People wanted to spit in the soup that they used to leave for the hippies. The whole thing changed. What used to be about love turned out to be, Watch out for the brown acid. It turned into drugs you cant even get off, like crack.

You used crack for a long time, didnt you?

Too long! That was the worst part of it. I wasnt even getting high and I couldnt stop using it.

When did you get off it?

When I was 70.

Youre lucky youre alive.

I am lucky. And I feel good. I feel positive. Everythings going great.

Are you totally clean?

I got my medical marijuana card. No meds, no legal drugs, no illegal drugs.

What are you being treated for with medical marijuana?

Getting off crack!

P-Funk was huge in the 1970s. You played arenas everywhere.

We took it to Europe, all over the place.

Its amazing that music that was so adventurous and crazy could also be so popular.

Yeah. And its getting more popular now.  Funk is the DNA for hip-hop. And techno, and pretty much all the R&B stuff. You have people who were into it in college, and now their grandkids are into Kendrick Lamar or Flying Lotus. I just did a record with them.

Did you make money and blow it? Or not make money?

I made money, but I always tried to put it into the group. We had 40 or 50 people that traveled all the time. I was always trying to put it into the next album, the next show. I never look back, cause you always find out everybody stealin and robbin from you. Id rather clean up later. Get the Mothership off the ground and into outer space, and then clean up later when youre older.

How about when hip-hop started sampling you?

No, I didnt get paid then, either. But thats what were doing now. Copyright termination is coming up. Im getting a second bite of the apple. One Nation Under a Groove, Atomic Dogg, Electric Spanking of War Babies, I got all that back. I own those now.

Do you have regrets?

Not really. I could have taken some advice when I was young. But what I had to go through got me to where I am now. I like doing what Im doing, and I pretty much did it on my own terms.

Must one start by freeing ones mind? Can you do it the other way around?

I think you have to free your mind first. If you follow your body, its going to get you into trouble. Its going to relate to all good-feeling things. And that aint necessarily the best thing for you. You got to take care of the mind first. Otherwise, youre going to be twerkin your way through life.

George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic with Dumpstaphunk, Fishbone, Galactic, and Miss Velvet and the Blue Wolf, 7 p.m. Thursday, Franklin Music Hall, 421 N. Seventh St. $72-50-$77.50. 215-627-1332. bowerypresents.com.
In this photo provided by the United States Coast Guard, a pair of Sea Tow boats joins another vessel off Cape May Point, N.J., in the search for a single engine airplane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, Wednesday, May 29, 2019. The aircraft's owner says the male pilot was a regular customer who flew recreationally. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Keegan/United States Coast Guard via AP) Read more

New Jersey State Police have identified the pilot of a plane that crashed Wednesday off the coast of Cape May Point.

Lawrence Klimek, 58, of Howell, Monmouth County, flew the Mooney M20J aircraft, police said Friday. The small plane left Trenton-Robbinsville Airport in Mercer County on Wednesday morning and crashed in the ocean around 11:30 a.m. Police said Wednesday that one person was known to be on board the aircraft when it departed.

Police found the plane under roughly 18 feet of water using sonar. Klimek is presumed deadn and state police have been searching for his body. A private salvage company is handling the recovery of the plane.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Jim Hogan, 84, of Mt. Laurel, NJ stands near the intersection of Tuckerton Road and Route 206 in Tabernacle, NJ. He has donated the parcel of real estate on the northeast corner of the intersection to the Sandhill Lenape Cherokee Tribe, ancestors of which lived in he area for 10,000 years until the arrival of European settlers in the early 17th century. The site Hogan donated once was part of Brotherton, New Jersey's first and only Indian reservation. Read more

Jim and Margaret Hogan bought a historic piece of rural Burlington County for $9,000 in 1973. The wooded 1-acre lot on Route 206 at Tuckerton Road had once been part of a storied community called Brotherton  the first and only reservation for indigenous people ever established in what is now New Jersey.

We didnt know that when we bought it, said Jim Hogan, 84, a retired construction-equipment salesman who lives in Mount Laurel. A family from Pennsylvania sold it to us. It was all commercially zoned and we thought this area, on a major highway, would be the next Cherry Hill.

Boy, were we wrong, Hogan, an avuncular father of five and grandfather of seven, told me when I met him at the site. The surrounding area is still mostly rural, and his former piece of property remains verdant and vacant, except for the farm stand on wheels he built and operated for a couple of summers.

We tried to sell this land on and off, and after the last sale fell through in 2017, we decided to donate it to the Indians for a dollar," said Hogan, who uses a walking stick he crafted from a fallen branch he found there and painted black. The history of the United States and the Indians is not too good, and we wanted to do something for them.

Burlington County records show that the Hogans conveyed their deed to the lot in Tabernacle Township to an organization called the Brotherton Indian Reservation, in Denville, Morris County, as of Sept. 5, 2018.

The original reservation of 3,000 acres in what are now Tabernacle and Shamong Townships was established in 1758. In his well-researched 2005 book Brotherton, retired South Jersey historian and archaeologist George D. Flemming wrote that setting aside the land was part of an effort to persuade indigenous groups to relinquish claims on land elsewhere in the colony, and maintain peace.

Told of Hogans efforts, Flemming, who now lives in South Carolina, said: "Thats good. Im all for helping the Indians, thats for sure.

At its peak, Brotherton was home to perhaps 200 Leni-Lenape, or Delaware, people, who had hunted and fished in the region for thousands of years. But the Revolutionary War, the death of a major benefactor named John Brainerd, and disagreements among residents about leasing or selling land to white settlers disrupted life on the reservation, which became smaller and more deeply impoverished.

In 1802, New Jersey sold off pieces of the reservation to private buyers. Most of the remaining residents left for other indigenous communities outside New Jersey, including that of the Oneidas, in Upstate New York.

Joseph Barton, the mayor of Tabernacle  a 50-square-mile township, incorporated in 1901, that has about 6,800 residents  said he was not aware of the transfer of the deed. Unless the [new owners] have some sort of federal exemption, they would have to come before our zoning and planning board, as well as the Pinelands Commission, with any plan for building something there, he said.

I called the reservation group in Denville several times during the week, but the voicemail was full. An email also went unanswered. I was able to get in touch with Joseph Littlefeather, who said he is the recently elected chief of a New Jersey group called the Sandhill Lenape Cherokee Tribe.

I want to thank him [Hogan] for doing this, said Littlefeather, a 71-year-old Denville resident. We want to put a farm stand on the land, and eventually open an office there, so people who live down there dont have to travel so far.

Although there are no federally recognized Native American tribal groups in the state, in March the office of New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced it had reached settlements affirming the state-recognized status of the Powatan Renape and Ramapough Lenape nations.

We dont receive any money from the State of New Jersey and we dont have anything to do with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said Littlefeather, adding that his organization represents hundreds of descendants of what are sometimes called the Brotherton Indians, including perhaps 30 who live on or near the reservation site.

It still is the Brotherton Reservation, Littlefeather said. They [New Jersey authorities] sold property that wasnt theirs to sell.

If native people reestablish a presence on even a little piece of their former homeland, non-Indian residents and property owners have nothing to fear, said Littlefeather.

Were not going to go down there and throw everybody out of their houses, he said.

I would certainly hope not. And Hogan feels the same way.

I would love to see them be able to come back, he said. The Indians were here before anybody else. They should be able to use this ground.

I couldnt agree more.
Now owned by online retail behamoth Amazon, this Whole Foods supermarket, in Wynnewood, Pa., has begun delivering to doorsteps through Amazon Prime Now. Read more

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Especially if its an online order that comes with speedy delivery from Amazon.

Just ask the independent operator of the West Philadelphia ShopRite that will be closing in a few months. The longtime supermarket is just a mile away from an Aldi store, a discount grocer on the Montgomery County border that has been eating competitors' profits with the bargain-basement prices that Americans are demanding.

Or ask the contract workers lugging bags of online-ordered groceries from the Whole Foods in Wynnewood to their cars Tuesday afternoon, rushing to deliver them to online customers. One told me he is a recently laid-off accountant. He pockets $24 an hour if he gets the goods out of the once-super-ritzy chain fast enough to satisfy the stores online-behemoth overlord, Amazon. Internet orders have been surging, I heard from someone else, since the rapid-delivery service Amazon Prime Now launched there in recent weeks.

For many of us, long gone are the days when we bought most of our food from a traditional supermarket. We are intoxicated by newer, cheaper, and faster alternatives. But we may not be getting the great deal we think. Because this could lead to the end of some of the neighborhood supermarkets we adore having as anchors of property values and livability in our communities.

Conventional supermarkets are losing business to the Walmarts, the Amazons, the Trader Joes, and even the drug stores. Because profit margins in the food business can be as thin as a slice of American cheese, this spells danger for the standbys we love to have around even while we cheat on them daily by sending our business to the competition.

Look no further than the ShopRite closing in March in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia, or the Acme closing in the Gladwyne section of Lower Merion, for proof of how this is changing our communities. The Acme is closing due to lower-than-desired business.

The Haverford Avenue ShopRite, meanwhile, run by super-operator Jeff Brown, is shuttering after decades in one of Phillys working-class enclaves. And Brown is no corporate slouch.

He was invited to President Barack Obamas first State of the Union address as praise for having found a way, of opening supermarkets across Philadelphia in lower-income neighborhoods that other operators had abandoned. Now, his Overbrook location is going dark. Brown is blaming the citys costly new soda tax.

I can understand why. Losing that soda revenue in the food business, while youre also facing unprecedented competitive pressure, can be a final straw.

The Aldi that opened in the past few years is a mile away on the line between Philly and far more affluent Montgomery County. It is a killer.

In its crowded parking lot Tuesday, I saw a Lexus, a Kia, a Honda. Inside, a man in spotless penny loafers browsed the produce, a mom with two toddlers grabbed cupcakes, and elderly shoppers, Spanish speakers  a full demographic rainbow  filled their carts in the very small store.

One customer told me she used to shop at Browns ShopRite until Aldi opened. Shes worried about a friend wholl be losing a job at Browns supermarket. I asked if she knew that Aldi, unlike ShopRite, is a nonunion shop. Same with Walmart, Giant, Whole Foods. She shrugged. The lines are shorter, she said, and the food is cheaper.

We can thank the Great Recession for some of this. When it clobbered us a decade ago, it took a huge (and in many ways permanent) bite out of middle-class spending power. Americans are now drawn to discount groceries like vultures to roadkill. Wages for even middle-class people have been largely stagnant.

At Aldi, you pay a quarter just to borrow a locked shopping cart, but walk out of the place expecting someone to handcuff you, the assortment is so cheap and yet so fresh.

Even Walmart, the once-reviled discount merchant, is transforming its stores into grocery-delivery meccas. We should cheer Walmart for this. It is giving borderline-monopoly Amazon a run for its money after Jeff Bezos acquired Whole Foods with a plan to do for groceries what he did to other retailing: Own It All.

An old source from my days on the business news beat, food industry maven Jeff Metzger, agrees with my analysis.

I think the traditional supermarkets in general, whether theyre urban, suburban or exurban, stand to be the biggest losers," Metzger said.

Supermarkets used to offer good wages and benefits to even part-time workers. The jobs from all the new competition? Crummier, for sure. And so we lose not just stores, but jobs that sustained households.

Be careful what you wish for, Metzger says. "The American consumer has demanded lower prices, more value, more deals. And this is what theyve gotten. "
WASHINGTON  The Justice Department has taken early steps toward opening a federal antitrust investigation into Google, according to three people familiar with the matter, marking a new chapter in the tech giant's war with regulators around the world who contend the company is too large and threatens rivals and consumers.

The move thrusts Google back under the regulatory microscope in the United States roughly six years after another federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, probed the search and advertising behemoth on grounds that its business practices threatened competitors  yet spared the company from major punishments.

Two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that the Justice Department had reached an agreement with the FTC that scrutiny of the company would now fall to the departments antitrust division. The people declined to be identified in order to discuss a confidential subject.

The exact focus of the Justice Departments investigation is not known. The agency, led by Makan Delrahim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the potential investigation earlier Friday.

American antitrust officials are under pressure from lawmakers in both parties and advocates of tougher enforcement to step up scrutiny of technology giants like Google and Facebook. While European officials have aggressively pursued antitrust cases against American tech firms, the U.S. has been mostly hands-off.

That may be changing amid continuing criticism that lax enforcement in the U.S. has allowed tech platforms to dominate their markets. The FTC earlier this year set up a task force to examine the conduct of tech companies and their past mergers. Trump and many Republicans have complained that Facebook, Google, and Twitter suppress conservative views.

This article contains information from Bloomberg News.
Feb. 15, 2019: Gary Martin killed five coworkers at a manufacturing plant in Aurora, Ill., during a disciplinary meeting where he was fired. He wounded one other employee and five of the first police officers to arrive at the suburban Chicago plant before he was killed during a shootout police.
Emergency vehicles fill the parking lot at the Princess Anne Middle School in Virginia Beach, Va, on Friday, May 31, 2019. Read more

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.  A longtime city employee opened fire in a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 12 people on three floors and sending terrified coworkers scrambling for cover before police shot and killed him following a long gun battle, authorities said.

Four other people were wounded in the shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who visited the scene, called it a horrific day for Virginia.

The shooting happened shortly after 4 p.m. when the veteran employee of the Public Utilities Department entered Building 2 in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center and immediately began to indiscriminately fire upon all of the victims, Cervera said.

Police entered the building and got out as many employees as they could, then engaged in a lengthy gun battle with the gunman, who was killed, the chief said. Police initially said the gunman shot and killed 11 people, including one who was found inside a vehicle outside the municipal building. Cervera later said one more died on the way to the hospital.

He said police had identified the gunman but have not released his name because they havent been able to notify family members. When he does release the name, Cervera said, it will be only once. After that, the chief said, he will be forever referred to as the suspect because our focus now is the dignity and respect to the victims in this case and to their families.

The shootings sent shock waves through Virginia Beach, the states largest city and a popular vacation spot in southeastern Virginia.

This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, Mayor Bobby Dyer said.

>> Reading on mobile and not seeing the map above? Click here to view the full version.

Fridays killings added another city to the growing list of places affected by a mass shooting. It is the deadliest since February, when a warehouse employee in Aurora, Ill., opened fire after being told he would lose his job. That gunman killed five people and injured five police officers before dying in a shootout with law enforcement personnel.

Virginia Beach, a resort city with an population of about 450,000, is the most populous city in the state. It has nearly twice as many residents as Richmond. The municipal center is a sprawling compound of more than 30 buildings and annexes that includes City Hall, courts, and offices for multiple city departments, a city directory shows.

The three-story Building 2, where the shooting occurred, has about 200 workers who inspect properties, issue building permits, handle zoning issues, and deal with the complex issues of public works, from trash pickup to water distribution.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911, and barricaded a door.

We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe, she said. We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasnt real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots.

The sound of gunshots continued as about 20 people huddled on the floor after they barricaded the door with a desk. We kept hearing gunfire, Banton said. We were trying to keep as quiet as possible.

She said she texted her mom, telling her that there was an active shooter in the building and she and others were waiting for police. Banton works in an office of about 20 people that is part of the public works department.

"Thank god my baby is OK," Banton's mother, Dana Showers, said.

Paul Swain, 50, was among those who arrived at the Princess Anne Middle School to reunite with loved ones who were in the building during the shooting.

He said he saw his fiancee from across the parking lot, clearly in an agitated state.

I think she knew some of the people, he said.

Outside the school, Cheryl Benn, 65, waited while her husband, David, a traffic engineer with the city who was in the building where the shooting happened, gave a written statement to detectives.

She said her husband initially called her from a barricaded room and said it sounded as if someone had been working with a nail gun. Then he saw the bodies.

This is unbelievable for Virginia Beach, Cheryl Benn said. By and large, its a pretty calm and peaceful place to live.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who visited the scene, said it was a horrific day for Virginia. He said the state was devastated by the tragic shooting, and he decried the unspeakable, senseless violence. Northam offered the states full support to shooting survivors and relatives of the victims.

City Councilman Aaron Rouse tweeted, Pray for our City!

This article contains information from the Washington Post.
Police work the crime scene of a double shooting at 32nd and Montgomery in the 22nd police district Friday night about 9pm. A handgun was recovered at the scene. May 31, 2019 Read more

A street shooting in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city Friday night has left one man dead and another in critical condition, police said.

The shooting happened around 9 p.m. on the 3200 block of Montgomery Avenue, where an unidentified man was shot three times in a leg and once in the chest, police said. Responding officers took him to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:26.

A 26-year-old man was shot multiple times in the same incident. Police took him to Temple Hospital, where he was in critical condition.

Police said they recovered a weapon at the scene, but no arrests have been made.

No other details were immediately available.
FILE - This Nov. 2, 2007, file photo shows Frank Lucas, the man Denzel Washington portrayed in the film "American Gangster," in New York. Read more

NEW YORK  Frank Lucas, the former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 movie American Gangster, has died, a relative said Friday.

Lucas, who was 88, died Thursday in New Jersey, nephew Aldwan Lassiter said. Lucas had been in declining health, according to his former lawyer.

Raised in North Carolina, Lucas climbed the ranks of crime in Harlem in the 1960s and '70s, becoming a major drug dealer known for supplying huge amounts of particularly potent heroin.

He said it netted him millions, and authorities seized over $500,000 in cash when they raided his house in Teaneck, N.J., in 1975. He was convicted and sentenced to decades in prison, but he turned informant and was released after about five years.

Lucas was quickly arrested again for drug dealing, on a much smaller scale. He served seven more years, getting out again in 1991.

Lucas story became the basis for the Ridley Scott-directed American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington as Lucas and Russell Crowe as Richard Richie Roberts, a composite of various detectives and prosecutors. The real-life Roberts is a former prosecutor who helped convict Lucas but later became his lawyer and friend, even godfather to Lucas son.

Lucas was a fixture on the film set, giving Washington advice on such details as how he carried his gun.

The movie got awards buzz but also brought scrutiny of claims in Lucas' legend, particularly a portrayal of him smuggling drugs in U.S. soldiers' caskets during the Vietnam War.

A coauthor of a book about Lucas, Ron Chepesiuk, said he never any evidence or court records to substantiate the so-called cadaver connection. Lucas, however, continued to say in 2008 that hed transported heroin via coffin  but only once.

The film's assertion that Lucas rooted out a heap of law enforcement corruption also was called into question, and a group of former federal drug enforcement agents claimed in a lawsuit that the movie grossly misrepresented the truth and defamed them. That lawsuit was tossed out.

As for Lucas unquestioned role in supplying heroin that killed some users, he told the Associated Press in 2007 that he regretted it.

"I did some terrible things. I'm awfully sorry that I did them. I really am," he said.

Lucas, who lived in Newark in recent years, had another brush with the law in 2012: He pleaded guilty to lying to try cashing in twice on a $17,000 federal disability benefit check. Lucas, who came to court in a wheelchair, was sentenced to five years' probation, with prosecutors saying they agreed to it because of his poor health and advanced age.

Roberts told NJ.com on Friday that Lucas health was failing when the two spoke a few weeks ago.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Barbara Breitman sing songs in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square during a vigil for the victims of the shooting at The Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. Read more

Hours after shots first rang out Saturday morning at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, many Philadelphia-area Jews had not even heard the news.

Their phones had been turned off as they gathered for Shabbat service. Told for the first time, some reacted with sadness, anger, and despair upon learning of the shooting that left a reported 11 people dead and six others injured.

"It's tragic," Rabbi Jonathan Bienenfeld from Young Israel in Cherry Hill said. "It's just frightening. Unfortunately, these shootings have become common. We're sad whenever there is loss of life."

Bienenfeld, who was told of the shooting by a reporter, was leading a group of adults and children on a half-mile walk in the rain along Cooper Landing Road to services at Congregation Sons of Israel, an Orthodox synagogue also in Cherry Hill.

It particularly hits home when victims are targeted from the same religion, he said.

At Sons of Israel, a large sedan blocked the driveway entrance during services. Bienenfeld said that the congregation has worked for years with Cherry Hill police on security.

"We have extra security already," he said.

>> READ MORE: New Jersey church adds armed police for Mass following school shootings

At the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the security director was in constant contact Saturday with Philadelphia police, suburban agencies, and the Secure Community Network  a security coalition funded by Jewish federations nationwide and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Though the immediate threat seemed to have passed, security remained on high alert, said Steven Rosenberg, the group's chief marketing officer.

"But they're taking every precaution because you just don't know," Rosenberg said.

At Temple Beth Sholom, also in Cherry Hill, a security guard patrolled outside as services were ending. But the extra security was nothing new for the synagogue.

Barry Sherman was leaving services and was angered by the news.

"Let me just say there's been a rise of anti-Semitism the past two years," Sherman said.

He cited the violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 as an example, and what he said was the president's failure to more forcefully condemn the leaders of the Unite the Right rally.

Trump condemned the Pittsburgh shootings in comments to reporters.

"It's a terrible, terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country, frankly, and all over the world, and something has to be done," the president said.

Jewish members of the Pennsylvania House quickly condemned the violence.

"We are shocked, horrified and deeply saddened by the tragic shooting today at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh," said the statement by State Reps. Robert Freeman, of Northampton, Michael Schlossberg, of Lehigh, and Jared Solomon, of Philadelphia. " And for it to occur in a synagogue on the Sabbath is all the more heartbreaking, that someone would take the holiest of days to murder innocent worshipers."

Rabbi Deborah Waxman, of the Wyncote-based Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, whose 95 affiliates include the Dor Hadash congregation at the site of the Pittsburgh shooting, believed some members of that community might be among the victims.

"I am waiting to hear. This may unfold even more terribly," she said Saturday evening.

Waxman bemoaned what she considers a deteriorating discourse in the country, adding that "racists and white supremacists have been emboldened, and we see that online and in speech."

Nancy Baron-Baer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia, said, "There is a divisiveness in our society today that was greater than existed a number of years ago."

Baron-Baer said there was a 57 percent leap in anti-Semitic incidents nationally from 2016 to 2017, and 43 percent higher in Pennsylvania.

"Certainly an event like this increases the fear that Jews feel for their safety when they go to religious services or other Jewish community events," Baron-Baer said. "But I also think it strikes fear in the hearts and minds of people of other faiths and beliefs."

Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFire PA., who is Jewish, said she knows a lot of people in the Squirrel Hill community where the shootings took place. CeaseFire PA focuses on preventing gun violence.

"It did hit me in a different way," Goodman said. "But it's no different than the church shootings and movie-theater shootings we've seen. It doesn't have to be this way. "

Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein, a public relations professional in the Philadelphia area, said she had posted on Facebook on Saturday, wondering how people were dealing with "the horror that's been going on in this country." That was before she had learned of the Pittsburgh shootings.

Once she knew of them, "I felt horror, an intense, intense sadness. And I think it's grown from that into shock and disbelief," she said. "The synagogue is where you go to feel peace and warmth and to connect with God, your community, and yourself."

Staff writers Patricia Madej and Tom Avril contributed to this article.
An artist's conception of the surface of the planet Proxima b, which Villanova University scientists say might have the right conditions for the existence of liquid water. Read more

The Navy caused a bit of a sensation this spring when it implemented a formal process for pilots to report unexplained aerial phenomena  what most people call UFOs  after being accused in the past of not taking such reports seriously.

Alas for those who might be tempted to make the leap, such sightings are not evidence of life on other planets.

No one doubts that the pilots are seeing something, but psychologists and specialists in aviation medicine say there are plenty of reasonable explanations for such sightings other than extraterrestrial beings. Earthly sources of light reflected by clouds or haze, for example, or optical illusions wrought by fatigue after staring through a cockpit window for hours on end.

Another possibility is that the pilots were seeing some sort of experimental drone or other advanced technology about which they had not been briefed. Or, the objects were simply satellites, such as those launched in May by the Elon Musk-founded company SpaceX, which prompted a flurry of UFO reports from puzzled observers, the news agency AFP reported.

That does not mean scientists doubt the existence of life elsewhere in the universe. On the contrary, they say there is a good chance we are not alone. That is the view of astronomers who search for other planets that might have water  an essential substance for life as we know it  and geologists who study the conditions on Earth when life arose more than 3.5 billion years ago.

But it would not be the sort of complex organism that could communicate with us, much less send a spaceship our way. Think instead of microbe-like organisms  possibly something that derives energy from a chemical process other than photosynthesis, said Alexandra Davatzes, an associate professor of earth and environmental science at Temple University.

The odds of extraterrestrial life are reasonably good even in our own solar system  given the ample evidence that liquid water has existed on Mars and is present today beneath the icy surface of Europa, one of Jupiters moons, Davatzes said.

I am optimistic, she said.

But first, some explanations for what those pilots might be seeing.

Seeing and believing

Though we treat our sense of vision as if it provides an exact representation of our surroundings, it is far from perfect in many respects, said Alan Stocker, a University of Pennsylvania associate professor of psychology who studies the neuroscience of perception.

First, most objects do not emit light, so we see them only because they are reflecting light from another source.

Its an indirect signal, Stocker said. Its not the object itself.

Additional uncertainty arises from the fact that the brain must process and interpret the two-dimensional signals that are projected onto the retina, converting them into a representation of the actual three-dimensional world.

Humans get by with their imperfect eyesight pretty well, using knowledge of prior experiences and context from other senses to fill in the gaps, but there are times when it breaks down.

Among the earliest to document that fact was Aristotle, who found that if he stared at a moving stream for a while, then shifted his gaze to some rocks nearby, they appeared to move in the opposite direction. This phenomenon, now called motion aftereffect, occurs because the neurons that detect motion in a certain direction will adapt after being stimulated for a period of time, temporarily slowing their firing rate, Stocker said. That response results in the illusion of stationary objects moving in the reverse direction.

Its very clear that people dont see the world the way it is in all kinds of ways, Stocker said.

Another biological factor that can skew the vision of airborne personnel is fatigue  no surprise given that some long-range crews stay aloft more than 24 hours at a time, said Brian S. Pinkston, director of the aerospace medicine center at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Extreme fatigue can cause the brains visual cortex to register something that is not there, he said.

Equally potent is a phenomenon called autokinesis: the illusion that a stationary point of light is moving when it is viewed against a dark, featureless background.

Your eyes have some inherent movement in them, and it will make it appear as if the object is moving, said Pinkston, a former Air Force flight surgeon. You can have stars in the sky, and it will appear as if theyre moving.

Harder to explain are the occasions when similar sightings are experienced by multiple people, as in the case of Navy pilots interviewed by the New York Times. But there is some evidence that the culprit is advanced government technology of which the pilots were unaware, according to the Drive, a media outlet focusing on military affairs.

Whatever the true explanation, the key to analyzing new phenomena is a scientific principle called parsimony, said Scott Engle, an assistant professor of astrophysics and planetary science at Villanova University. In everyday English, parsimonious means being frugal with money. To a scientist, it means being frugal in making unwarranted assumptions.

The explanation that requires the fewest assumptions or modifications to your understanding is usually going to be true, said Engle, who studies the habitability of planets outside the solar system.

In the case of unexplained aerial sightings, that means  absent some extraordinary evidence  that the notion of alien spaceships simply does not hold water. There are so many questions. Among them: Wouldnt we detect communication signals or some other sign of advanced beings before they traveled the vast distances needed to get here? And how would such a spacecraft even work?

Proxima b, a planet Engle has studied, is considered one of the nearest where conditions might be right for liquid water to exist on the surface. Yet it is 25 trillion miles away, a distance that would take thousands of years to travel with available technology. There is no reason to think some other life form has cracked the code of interplanetary travel.

So they have the type of technology to visit us and are doing so in secret, but they accidentally slip up every once in a while and get spotted and then turn away?" Engle said. "Versus humans are imperfect and our eyes are imperfect and our optical processing is imperfect.

No surprise: he goes for door No. 2.

Where is everybody?

Still, that has not stopped scientists from looking.

The modern quest for signs of extraterrestrial life is said to have been launched about 1950, when Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi posed a provocative question to some colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Where is everybody? he asked.

Others at the table immediately understood what he meant. Given the sheer size of the Milky Way and the billions of years that have elapsed since its formation, surely there must be someone else out there. Why are we so special?

A decade later, astronomer Frank Drake expanded Fermis observation into something called the Drake equation, which seeks to calculate the probability that other advanced civilizations exist in the galaxy. Among the variables it includes are the rate at which stars are formed, the estimated fraction of those stars that have orbiting planets, and the still-smaller fraction with conditions that might harbor an ecosystem.

It is a thought experiment, tantalizing but fraught with lots of uncertainty.

Davatzes focuses on a more concrete problem: the conditions that gave rise to life on Earth.

In her office at Temple, she has a 3.5 billion-year-old hunk of rock called a stromatolite  a rusty-red specimen from western Australia that contains fossils of some of the earliest known forms of life on Earth.

The rock is interspersed with wavy layers of pinkish sediment revealing the activity of long-ago microbial mats  communities of microbes. The rock was formed as layers of sand were deposited on top of the mats. The microbes grew upward through each successive layer, giving them their wavy, crinkly appearance, she said.

Conditions on Earth were far different back then. The atmosphere contained little or no oxygen, for one thing, and it would not for a billion years more.

Yet life began. Whos to say it cant happen somewhere else?
Aria Dealer Nicholas Haynes Wins WSOP $500 Casino Employees Event

May 31, 2019 Brandon Temple

Nicholas Haynes, a Michigan born, Florida raised dealer at Aria for the last year and a half, navigated a field of 686 players to take down Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event. Haynes took home $62,345 and his first WSOP gold bracelet after defeating WSOP Media Director Isaac Hanson in heads-up play.

"There's a lot of incredible players. I watch them and just pick up little bits here and there."

"I'm thankful for my job and the players [at Aria]." Haynes said after his victory. "There's a lot of incredible players. I watch them and just pick up little bits here and there. Over time, you just become better; you sharpen your edges. I feel like they were very instrumental in my play today. That's why I'm thankful for my job and the players there."

Haynes, who was overcome with emotion after receiving his gold bracelet, described his poker playing experience humbly.

Definitely recreational. I wouldnt ever call myself any kind of pro or anything like that. I play a lot in spurts. I traveled for a year and a half playing in major tournaments. I turned out ok, nothing great. Ive had a couple of cashes throughout the years, but nothing monstrous like this. This is the biggest cash, for sure.

"Ive had a couple of cashes throughout the years, but nothing monstrous like this. This is the biggest cash, for sure."

Hanson, who usually works on the other side of the felt with the WSOP, was still in good spirits after coming one spot shy of a bracelet of his own.

"It was crazy; Ive seen it four or five hundred times now, but I didnt think Id ever be there. It just never ran across my mind that this would even be a possibility, so it was pretty cool."

Hanson had one of the more raucous rails at the final table. "It was probably the best part of the whole experience, just seeing all the texts coming, and everyone coming here. It was just really cool to have everyone cheer me on."

Hanson isn't planning on quitting his day job any time soon, however: "I probably will work in a few hours. Id rather just get back to it, I enjoy what I do. I dont want to go home and sit around and do nothing, because thats what I would end up doing."

2019 WSOP Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Nicholas Haynes Canada $62,345 2 Isaac Hanson United States $38,503 3 Jorge Ruiz United States $26,681 4 Jesse Kertland United States $18,785 5 Adam Lamers Canada $13,441 6 Jeffrey Fast Canada $9,776 7 Christopher Bowen United States $7,229 8 Joseph Appler United States $5,438 9 Travis Williams United States $4,161

2019 WSOP Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event Final Table Action

The final six players returned to action Friday to battle out for the $62,345 top prize and the WSOP gold bracelet.

The first hand of the final table provided the first elimination, as Fallsview Casino dealer Jeffrey Fast, who started the final table as the short stack, got his last chips in with king-five of hearts. Isaac Hanson called with queen-nine of hearts and found a nine on the flop to direct Fast to the rail.

PokerNews Live Reporter Adam Lamers was the next to fall when he jammed with king-queen, and Jorge Ruiz woke up with ace-jack suited behind him and put him at risk. Lamers and his supportive rail called for a king to help pull him in front, but an eight-high board left Lamers out the door in fifth-place for $13,441.

Adam Lamers on the rail awaiting the outcome of his final all in

Jesse Kertland, a Casino Carribean pit dealer, got his last nine big blinds in from the cutoff with king-five, but ran into a monster when Nicholas Haynes woke up behind him with pocket aces. Kertland paired his five on the flop, but improved no further, sending him back home with $18,785 for his fourth-place finish.

Next to go was Montego Bay poker dealer Jorge Ruiz, who lost a big flip with king-queen of hearts to Haynes and his pocket tens to be left with just two big blinds. He got those last chips in the very next hand with eight-four of diamonds and would fail to catch up to the ten-eight of Hanson. Ruiz, who was all smiles even after being eliminated, received $26,681 for third place.

WSOP Media Director Isaac Hanson finished in second place

Hanson started heads-up play with Haynes holding a little over ten million of the 17,150,000 chips in play. Haynes was able to turn the tide by taking down a healthy pot on Hand 4 of heads-up action. Haynes' jack-ten found top pair on the flop and got two streets of value from Hanson.

On Hand 156 of the final table, Hanson called off his remaining 4,100,000 with ace-nine, and Haynes was live with his king-eight. The latter found an eight on the flop, and while Hanson picked up a gutshot on the turn, he failed to improve, leaving the WSOP Media Director as the runner-up, taking home $38,503.

Nicholas Haynes, winner of the $500 Casino Employees event at the 2019 WSOP
Marchetti and Iordache Among Big Stacks on Day 1b; Pons Advances

June 01, 2019 Christian Zetzsche

The second of three starting days of the 2019 888poker LIVE Barcelona 1,100 Main Event is in the books and attracted a field of 163 entries. After 12 levels of 45 minutes each, that number has been whittled down all the way to just 45 survivors and Maksims Gorbacs from Latvia topped the counts when all players had bagged and tagged their chips at Casino Barcelona.

In a tight race for the Day 1b lead, Gorbacs claimed 268,500 to his name, edging past Frederik De Linde Farrington (245,500) and Italy's Luca Marchetti (233,000). Especially Marchetti seemed poised to take the chip leader honors after spending the last few levels of the night on the same table as fellow big stacks Simone Rosano (183,000) and Giuseppe Carbone (100,000), but fell short and had to settle for the third-biggest stack.

Another player that surged towards the top of the leader board at the very end was Romania's Andrei Iordache, who advanced to Day 2 with a very healthy stack of 204,000. Iordache won a big flip with jacks against ace-king suited to knock out a player in the penultimate level of the night and added more chips with ace-queen to earn himself a top 10 stack on Day 1b.

Other notables that secured their seats for Day 2 already include Samuel Hernandez (146,000), Teunis Kooij (129,500), Salvatore Camarda (126,500), Marcello Miniucchi (100,500), Marius Stancescu (97,000) and 2018 888poker LIVE London finalist Christos Xanthopoulos (52,500).

Estonia's Siiri Saar, who is usually part of the live stream crew, won the Ladies Event in Bucharest and earned a Main Event package for Barcelona that way. Despite being down to as low as 5,000 mid-way through the day, Saar also advanced to Day 2 and may have to postpone her work commitments by turning 87,500 chips after Day 1b into another cash of the popular mid-stakes circuit.

Fernando Pons

Another big name that will be back for Day 2 is Fernando Pons. The Spaniard came to fame back in 2016 when he reached the final table of the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas and scored a $1,000,000 payday for his 9th place finish. Pons quickly doubled his stack in the first levels of the day and cruised with an above-average stack for most of the day. However, he experienced a setback in the last level when his gutshot straight flush draw was unable to crack pocket aces. Nonetheless, Pons secured made it through and bagged up 80,000.

Other notables were less fortunate and will have to take another shot at the guaranteed prize pool of 550,000 in the final starting day such as Antonin Teisseire, Sergio Alonso, Francois Evard, Tom-Aksel Bedell, Silviu Baltateanu, 2,200 High Roller runner-up Sonny Franco, Diego Gomez, Claudio Di Giacomo and Carmen Zainescu.

In the final levels of the night, Evard first busted when he jammed with king-nine on the button into the pocket tens of online qualifier Daniel Constantinescu in the big blind. The Swiss returned for another shot and flopped top pair with jack-ten, however, Erik Ostergaard turned a wheel with ace-deuce.

The third and final flight is expected to be the biggest and kicks off at 3 p.m. local time. Expected to be among those to take part are the 888poker ambassadors Martin Jacobson and Kara Scott, defending champion Adrian Costin Constantin and plenty of other poker enthusiasts from near and far. They all have another incentive to enter the tournament, as the winner can also look forward to a package for the 2019 WSOP Main Event worth $12,600, courtesy of WSOP sponsor 888poker.

Tournament Room at Casino Barcelona

After the first break of Day 1c, the action will also be streamed on the 888poker YouTube channel and Facebook page with hole cards displayed on a security delay of 30 minutes. The PokerNews team will provide all the action from the floor here at Casino Barcelona until a champion is crowned on Monday, June 3rd, 2019.
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Franklin Graham warned that millions of Trump supporters would start a civil war if Trump is brought down for any reason.

Franklin Graham Threatens America With Civil War

Graham told The Christian Post:



I think what is going on in Washington has something to do with [my call to prayer]. It has bothered me and it has been a burden on my heart because this president is being attacked more than any president in modern history; attacked by the press more than Abraham Lincoln.

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So he is the president of the United States. You had two years of investigation that came up with nothing. Now the media and his opponents in Washington are doing everything they can to destroy him. What we need to remember is that he is the president. That doesnt mean that he is a perfect person. He is flawed like all of us. He has made plenty of mistakes but he is the leader of this nation. We have got huge problems in front of us.

.

If the president was brought down for whatever reason, it could lead to a civil war. There are millions of people out there that voted for President Trump that are behind him that are angry and they are mad. We are just living in a very dangerous territory, and we need Gods help.

Trump Supporters Are Threatening America

Graham has already called for a national day of prayer for Trump because he thinks that Jesus can help Trump avoid impeachment. Jesus turned water into wine, but it is uncertain if even Christ himself could fix the level of corruption and stupid in this White House.

Franklin Graham denies endorsing Donald Trump, but he pulled out of the far-rights favorite threats. In hiding behind the Bible mob style Graham warned that if anything happens to Trump the country gets it.

This is the same threat that Trump supporters have been throwing out there for years, and nothing ever happens. Trump supporters, just like their president, appear to be all talk and no action. The threats arent going to work. The nation is ready to call Grahams bluff and get rid of Trump.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg called Trumps ego and fragile and White House priorities out of whack after they hid the USS McCain from Trump.

Buttigieg said, It sends the message that once again our troops are going to be treated as props. Were talking about an active duty United States military asset, a naval vessel, and the sailors who serve on it, and to hold it against them. For the White House to believe the presidents ego is so fragile that for his protection  for his emotional protection  they have to basically mask the fact that [USS McCain] is in service shows you just how far out of whack the priorities of this White House are. Its also upsetting that troops were reportedly turned away if they served on board the McCain. It just puts a lie to the idea serve our troops, if support out troops comes with an asterisk that says you dont support them if they are serving on a vessel that named after a war hero who service is as a reminder of your own embarrassing failure to rise to this countrys call for service.

Video:

Having served his country, Pete Buttigieg is one of the Democratic candidates who can speak with authority on the duty of service and the embarrassment of having a president who used his familys wealth to dodge military service. Pete Buttigieg is a strong voice who is lending credibility to an important criticism of Donald Trump. This president doesnt love the troops. He doesnt respect their service.

Trump views the men and women who serve our country as a set for a special episode of his White House reality show.

Donald Trump and his White House are an embarrassment to the troops and to the entire nation.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Iowa corn growers issued a statement opposing Trumps Mexico tariff and calling for an end to his trade war.

Iowa Corn Growers Oppose Mexico Tariff

The Iowa Corn Growers Association said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:

In light of President Trumps tweet regarding his announcement of tariffs on all Mexican imports, the trade hits keep coming on Iowa corn farmers. Yesterday, President Trump tweeted he will declare a five percent tariff on Mexican imports beginning June 10 that will gradually climb higher over the coming months to force Mexico to address border issues.

With the recent positive announcement related to dropping steel and aluminum tariffs this is not the news we want to hear as Mexico is our top market for U.S. corn. In 2017/2018, corn and corn product exports to Mexico were valued at $3.3 billion. Corn exports to Mexico reached 618 million bushels, 15.7 million tons, up nearly 13 percent from 2016/2017. Add in U.S. distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGs), an additional 2.13 million tons of corn bushels are exported to our neighbors.

The Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) policy established by our members outlines that we oppose tariffs and embargos as a means to change trade policy and supports working with other countries for free trade. Therefore, we work to defend this policy, and we need trade wars to stop for some type of certainty to the marketplace. ICGA will continue to advocate for free trade including the passage of USMCA and a positive trade resolution with China.

Trumps Trade War Could Cost Him Iowa In 2020

President Obama won Iowa twice. If former vice president Biden is the Democratic nominee, he will be strong and competitive in Iowa. Trumps approval rating has already plunged to a net (-8) in Iowa as just 44% of voters approve and 52% disapprove of the job he is doing as president. The door is wide open for Democrats to take back the Hawkeye State.

Iowa farmers who supported Trump in 2016 have been rewarded with nothing but pain. If Iowa goes back into the Democratic column in 2020, Trumps trade war will be one of the biggest reasons why.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Democrats are clearly divided on the issue of initiating an impeachment process against President Donald Trump.

At last count, fifty-one House Democrats and one maverick Republican, Michigans Justin Amash, favored moving forward with impeachment.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to focus the medias attention on the other 187 Democrats still proceeding cautiously.

Hesitations persist among Democrats, despite the indisputable evidence that Trump put his own narrow self-interests and those of foreign powers ahead of the nations by taking actions to obstruct an investigation into Russias effort to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election and subvert U.S. democracy.

What are these hesitations?

Some fear pursuing impeachment will only help Trump by energizing his base, especially since the effort would seem doomed to die in the Republican-led Senate.

Others, such as Jerry Nadler, argue that pursuing impeachment requires the support of the American people. Impeachment is a political act, and you cannot impeach a president if the American people will not support it, Nadler opined in a recent radio interview.

Nadlers position raises some thorny issues inherent in the concept of a representative democracy and in the ideal of a government by, of, and for the people.

Are our representatives simply supposed to advocate the will of their constituents? Is that what representation means?

This issue surfaced at Amashs recent town hall meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when a constituent accused him of not doing his duty as their representative: You have spent the last two years failing to do your job, which is to directly represent the popular will of your constituents.

Amash responded by articulating a competing understanding of his representational duty: My job is to uphold the Constitution.

So, which is it? Are members of Congress supposed to represent the popular will of the American people, or the Constitution?

The history of civil rights in the United States might provide some guidance here.

In 1957 and 1960, Congress enacted Civil Rights Acts designed to protect the right to vote, especially for African Americans facing discrimination and, frankly racial terror and violence, in their attempts both to vote and to register to vote.

Of course, the Fifteenth Amendment had previously granted voting rights to African Americans, but in 1957 only twenty percent of African Americans in the South eligible to vote were actually registered because of the combination of discriminatory practices in the registration process, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, and the threatening environment of racial terror.

1957 also witnessed Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus calling in the state National Guard to prevent nine African American students from attending high school in Little Rock. President Eisenhower had to call in federal troops so the now-famous Little Rock Nine could attend Central High School under armed guard.

Faubus, of course, acted in defiance of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

This brief example from U.S. civil rights history underscores that the obligation of Congressional representatives is to enforce the law, enact legislation, and uphold the Constitution.

It also shows us, importantly, that in enacting legislation and fulfilling its obligations, the representative role of the legislative branch is not simply to enact or advocate for the popular will of the people.

When it comes to civil rights, in fact, these episodes illustrate the often-articulated understanding that Congressional legislative action needed to move ahead of popular will to advance the nations ideals and uphold the Constitution.

Civil rights history teaches us that legislative action is not or need not be directly linked to popular will. In fact, such a direct link, history shows, threatens democracy, as when the popular will wants to deny citizens the right to vote or the right to equal access to public education.

So, does it make sense to say you cannot impeach a president if the American people will not support it?

The larger issue involved in a proposed Trump impeachment is, of course, the threat his governing poses to our national security and well-being.

Should our representatives wait to do all that they can to address the threat Trump poses to the nation until the popular will has processed the evidence investigations have uncovered making clear Trumps bad and endangering behaviors?

The Mueller report detailed ways Trump obstructed efforts to investigate the extent to which Russia interfered in the 2016 election, arguably swaying the results and elevating the worry that Trump is therefore compromised such that his governing decisions are also influenced by Russia.

The report called this interference, of course, sweeping and systematic, emphasizing the threat Russia poses to our democracy and Trumps desire to prevent the truth of this ongoing threat from coming to light.

And, as Ive written about elsewhere, Trumps penchant for serving foreign powers is not limited to Russia, and his pattern of endangering the country to serve his own narrow economic self-interest is well-documented.

The invocation of Americas civil rights history here is not by accident. African Americans are among the most vociferous voting bloc supporting the initiation of impeachment proceedings. Certainly, Trumps assaults on women and people of color are beyond obvious. And we know Russias use of social media during the 2016 election was geared toward sowing racial and social discord and division, riling the prejudices that threaten to undermine civil rights and to destabilize our nation, which is Russias objective.

Overall, the reality of the sweeping and systematic interference by Russia and Trumps attempt to hide, as well as his refusal to address it, makes us question whose interests he serves when making governing decisions.

As our farmers go bankrupt in record numbers because of the trade war he initiated with China, we have to question if he is serving the national interest, or if he is involved in pushing policies wanted by other nations, as weve seen him do.

We need to know, and the nations knowing depends on Congress taking the lead, not waiting for the peoples will to catch up.

History shows thats not how we realize our ideals and uphold the Constitution.
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William Barr may officially hold the post of U.S. attorney general, but counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance suggested on Saturday that its time to stop calling him that.

During a discussion with MSNBCs Joy Reid, Nance said that since he has taken his position at the Justice Department, Barr has been nothing but a lap dog for Trump.

This man is not the Attorney General of the United States, Nance said. This is Donald Trumps political commissar.  Its a shame.

Video:

This man is not the Attorney General of the United States. This is Donald Trumps political commissar. He is there as the party chieftain who is there to enforce ideological loyalty. Its a shame. @MalcolmNance #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/FeeNRUWDXC  La Femme USS John McCain Nikita (@LaF3mm3Nikita) June 1, 2019

Nance said:

[Barrs] whole mindset is that the American experiment  this entire process of three separate but equal branches of government  shouldnt exist and that all the powers should exist in a unitary executive who is like a supreme soviet and that anyone that takes any time to look into any malfeasance of this particular player, Donald Trump, is the problem. This man is not the attorney general of the United States. Im going to put it on the table. It is very obvious. This is Donald Trumps political commissar. He is there as the party chieftain who is there to enforce ideological loyalty and he will not hold Trump for any investigations. Its a shame.

William Barr is a MAGA loyalist, not an attorney general

We have already seen William Barr use his job as the attorney general to defend Donald Trump, not the rule of law. His intentional stunt to mislead the public on the Mueller report made that clear.

But his in-depth interview with CBS took it to another level as Barr didnt just continue to lie about Muellers report, but he said that Democrats  not the president  are destroying American institutions by using their oversight authority to hold Trump accountable.

As New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait wrote, Barrs fresh comments show that he isnt an impartial attorney general, but that he instead has drunk deep from the Fox News worldview of Trumpian paranoia.

Ultimately, William Barr is free to take a job with Fox News or as one of Trumps personal lawyers, but his conduct and rhetoric show that he has no business being the attorney general.

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Donald Trump said this week that the stunning report that his White House pushed the military to keep the USS John S. McCain out of sight during his trip to Japan was fake news or an exaggeration.

The Navy put out a disclaimer on the McCain story. Looks like the story was an exaggeration, or even Fake News  but why not, everything else is!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019

But on late Friday, the Navy itself pushed back and completely shattered Trumps damage control attempt to label yet another unpleasant story as fake news.

In a statement to CNN, chief of Navy information, Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, said, A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the Presidents visit.

More proof that the military sees this commander-in-chief as a petty child

On two fronts, the controversy surrounding the USS John S. McCain shows that Donald Trump is seen by his own military and staff as a petty child.

First, the fact that the White House made this request at all shows that they view the president as an unstable toddler.

Instead of seeing Trump as a commander-in-chief who could set aside politics on the world stage, White House staff genuinely believed the mere sight of a Navy warship named for the father and grandfather of a political opponent would send the president into a tantrum that would blow up his entire trip to Japan.

On the second front, the Navys statement suggests that, yes, they received a request from the White House to keep the USS John S. McCain out of sight during Trumps visit to Japan  but they refused to fulfill it.

In short, the initial White House request shows just how childish and unstable they believe their boss is, and the fact that Navy apparently just ignored it indicates just how little they seem to respect this commander-in-chief.

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In a Facebook post on May 21, exiled politician Mikhail Khodorkovsky said Russia had a plan for the next presidential election in the U.S. and the plan was to aggravate racial discord in the country.

A day earlier, NBC News published documents, which the agency said it had obtained from a London, U.K.-based team of Russian investigative journalists, working for the Dossier Center  established and financed by Khodorkovsky.

The documents  communications between associates of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked oligarch indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for previous influence operations against the U.S.  laid out a new plot to manipulate and radicalize African Americans. The plans show that Prigozhins circle has sought to exploit racial tensions well beyond Russias social media and misinformation efforts tied to the 2016 election, NBC reported.

The plans, according to NBC, included a blueprint, entitled Development Strategy of a Pan-African State on U.S. Territory, which floated the idea of enlisting poor, formerly incarcerated African Americans who have experience in organized crime groups as well as members of radical black movements for participation in civil disobedience actions.

The infrastructure for this project is already prepared. The American society is not immune to this project. The objective is to stage a certain number of interracial clashes with a good TV footage, which later will be sold to the Russian public, as well as to the American, European, etc., Khodorkovsky said later in an interview to the Voice of America Russian Service.

Khodorkovsky said, designing such conflicts artificially with the kind of technology and money available to the team working under the brand of Mr. Prigozhin is quite realistic.

In his Facebook posting, the subject of this fact check, Khodorkovsky said Prigozhin's efforts in the U.S., Ukraine, Syria, Africa and elsewhere "are not just plans but reality."

Polygraph.info finds the claim is likely to be true based on the following facts:

In February 2018, the U.S. Justice Department indictment against Yevgeny Prigozhin, companies controlled by him and persons employed by his companies alleged that Prigozhin engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful function of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes.

The indictment alleged that these organizations received funding for their operations from Yevgeny Prigozhin and the companies he controlled, and that he spent significant funds to further their operations.

The Internet Research Agency (IRA) employed hundreds of individuals for its online operations and its annual budget totaled the equivalent of millions of U.S. dollars, the document said.

A former IRA employee Lyudmila Savchuk, who said she infiltrated the place to expose its disinformation activities told Polygraph.info that thousands worked at the troll factory on shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Savchuks account confirmed the allegations from the U.S. indictment that the IRA operators had been assuming or stealing identities of U.S. persons or creating false identities.

Polygraph.info video by Nik Yarst

A job at the troll factory offers people an opportunity to live the life of their dreams: in virtual reality, they can become anybody they want to be, Savchuk told Polygraph.info. Some start living the identities they have assumed in order to perform their trolling tasks, and some start believing the lies they have been tasked to create.

The verifiable information published by multiple sources about Prigozhins firms and companies also confirms Khodorkovskys assessment of their technical capabilities.

The U.S. indictment, for instance, outlines a sophisticated and well-resourced organization, stating that the IRA is organized into departments, including: a graphics department; a data analysis department; a search-engine optimization department; an information-technology department to maintain the digital infrastructure used in the operations

Polygraph.info video by Nik Yarst

Since the release by the U.S of incriminating information about Yevgeny Prigozhin, there has been no sign that the Russian government is curtailing his companies operations or shrinking them. To the contrary  the troll factory has moved into a new much more expensive office building and expanded its networks, many of its creations posing as authentic media outlets, Prigozhins footprints had been reported in Russias hybrid wars and shadow operations from Ukraine to Syria, to Africa, to Venezuela, and he allegedly keeps his contracts with the Kremlin.

Finally, Khodorkovskys statement that Moscows goal may be to sew a racial discord is also likely to be true as based on data provided to the U.S. Congress by Facebook.

According to Facebook, more than 3,000 ads addressing social and political issues targeting U.S. audiences between 2015 and 2017 appear to have come from accounts associated with a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency.

An estimated 10 million people in the U.S. saw the ads, purchased by the Russians for their influence campaign, Facebook said. Most of the ads appear to focus on divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.

An Oxford University study of the IRAs activities in the U.S. from 2012 to 2018 showed a sustained effort to manipulate the U.S. public throughout that period, pointing to even higher audience engagement than the Mueller investigation established  more than 70 million reactions on Facebook alone during that time.

Surprisingly, these campaigns did not stop once Russia's IRA was caught interfering in the 2016 election, the report The IRA, Social Media and Political Polarization in the United States, said. Engagement rates increased and covered a widening range of public policy issues, national security issues, and issues pertinent to younger voters. The University used data provided by social media companies to a U.S. congressional committee.

Some of the most divisive ads capitalized on the political movement Black Lives Matter and hot-button political issues including immigration, gun control, the religion of Islam and LGBT-centric topics. The ads also promoted events organized by Americans who were unaware their political rallies and protests were being fueled by a Russian disinformation campaign, NBC reported on the matter.
A dispute over a nearly $10 million cancer center prompted a judge to find the Medical University of South Carolina misrepresented a business deal on an application with health regulators.

On May 14, the state Administrative Law Court reversed a decision by the S.C. Department Health and Environmental Control allowing MUSC to establish an extension of its Hollings Cancer Center at an undisclosed location in Berkeley County.

The new radiation treatment center would be called the MUSC Cancer Care Network.

MUSC partnered with Delaware-based Alliance Oncology to set up and finance the clinic, which would feature a multimillion-dollar piece of equipment called a "linear accelerator."

But after a competitor filed a legal challenge, a judge determined the joint venture was a for-profit entity, which MUSC, as a state agency, is forbidden from participating in under the state constitution.

"The intent to better serve the citizens of South Carolina is admirable," Judge H.W. Funderburk Jr. wrote in his decision. "The business plan by which to accomplish that objective is not."

In a strongly worded rebuke of the plan, Funderburk also called out MUSC for a lack of transparency "that should be fundamental to a public, nonprofit state agency."

An MUSC spokeswoman declined to comment because the dispute is still moving through the court system.

Health care companies in South Carolina that want to invest in expensive equipment and facilities are required to undergo an approval process through DHEC. The idea behind the "certificate of need" program is to limit any unnecessary overlap in medical services.

MUSC applied for permission to open its new clinic in 2017 under a plan to establish a statewide franchise of radiation therapy centers, which Funderburk criticized because that detail was not made clear on the application. The Berkeley County expansion would bring the number of linear accelerators at MUSC to six, according to DHEC documents.

The devices are well-known to cancer patients who require radiation treatments. A linear accelerator can deliver high-energy X-rays in a beam tailored exactly to the size and shape of a tumor. The precision-focused robotic arm delivers the radiation at different angles, without hurting other tissue.

North Charleston-based Trident Health has three of the sophisticated machines. In 2017, it challenged rival MUSC's application for the cancer center but was overruled by DHEC. So Trident, which is owned by health care giant HCA Corp., took its appeal to the Administrative Law Court last year, resulting in a five-day hearing in January of this year.

Court documents show that Alliance would have controlled a 51% ownership stake in the jointly owned cancer clinic, though MUSC listed itself as the operator on the application.

MUSC lawyers explained during the hearing the planned partnership made sense because the oncology company operates across the world and can negotiate better prices on equipment.

Funderburk said MUSC sought to sidestep the state's joint-venture restrictions through a nonprofit group called "MUSC Strategic Ventures" that it set up in 2015 to enable it to form partnerships with private companies. By doing so in this instance, it had attempted to "circumvent the restrictions placed on it as a governmental entity," the judge wrote.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 75F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Rain showers early with overcast skies late. Low 64F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The Sullivan's Island Lighthouse, also known as the Charleston Light, went dark in November. Half a year later, and we're still a little bit in the dark as to whether it's out or officially shining once more.

According to the Coast Guard, which is in charge of maintenance, and the National Parks Service which owns the land it sits on, the light was shining for a brief moment at the end of April since the old equipment broke down last year.

Last week, the Coast Guard and Parks Service offered conflicting reports about the current status of the beam, first saying it was working, then saying it wasn't. As of May 23, it was confirmed by the Coast Guard as back on.

"It was out for quite some time, down for at least two months," said Coast Guard LTJG Phillip H. VanderWeit on May 14.

The Post and Courier reported in December that the light had been disabled since early November. For nearly seven months, the lighthouse has been dark.

"I heard it was out again," said Paula Ogden-Muse, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie chief of interpretation, on May 15. "I heard yesterday at a meeting. And one of our rangers was tasked with chasing down the Coast Guard folks who have worked on it and replaced the light."

The following day, that message was relayed to the Coast Guard, which consulted with lighthouse experts in Virginia to troubleshoot the problem, according to VanderWeit.

"We have gone out to look at it and are working to get it fixed right now," he said May 21. "We re-did the entire operating system, replaced the light and upgraded the technology, and there were some things that were not talking with the old system."

Later that same day, he received a report that the light had been fixed, but Sullivan's Island residents and boaters said they haven't been able to see the rotating light from land or sea since it went out in November.

Caroline Knopf, who lives in a beach house with a clear view of the light, said she hasn't been able to see it, even during the time the Coast Guard reported it was operating. She did notice the temporary, weaker, stationary light, though.

"Its just a totally different type of light they have up there right now," she said. "Before, there were these sentinel looking beams that were a hallmark of the island. ... They cant let that lighthouse go dark. Its a part of the island's history."

When properly functioning, the new light is set to shine 24 hours a day with a flashing group of two white beams every 30 seconds visible at a range of 20 nautical miles. The rotating beam, which is just over two feet tall and weighs 48 pounds, is fueled by commercial shore power routed through a battery charger.

According to VanderWeit, the light is still used to this day as a navigation aid to boats in the Charleston area.

"It's part of a larger, more complex network of aids to navigation used by commercial or recreational vessels," he said, adding that residents who notice that the lighthouse is not working should contact the Coast Guard so they can be made aware.

The Charleston Light was first illuminated in 1962 and could be seen glowing as a guiding beacon up to 26 nautical miles from shore for over 50 years.
"Do I have a witness?" A witness is someone who offers testimony in a court of law. A witness is someone who observes an incident or a happening and then speaks "on the record" about it. Witnessing is all about evidence; noticing and, under oath, reporting.

Jesus proclaimed a promise to his disciples on the occasion of his heavenly ascension: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses." Jesus promised his disciples the power of the Holy Spirit for witnessing. The promise is not just a perhaps or a maybe. The promise is full of certainty and God-given purpose.

Perhaps youve heard or spoken the phrase, "Its all Greek to me." Permit me to offer definitions for two very important Greek words found in the Book of Acts, Chapter One. The Greek word for "power" is dunamis, from which we get our English word dynamite. Jesus is promising his disciples an explosive gift.

The Greek word for "witness" is marturion, from which we get our English word martyr. A martyr is someone who lays down their life for their beliefs. The explosive power of the Holy Spirit is for the expressed purpose of sharing the faith of Jesus in human words and deeds.

Jesus commissions his disciples to go and witness to unbelievers everywhere, both next door, around town, and globally. Jesus gives the command and provides the necessary power. The explosive lives of Christ-followers testify to the saving work of God. Christians are called to be observers and keepers of the teachings of Jesus: "Love others as I have loved you!"

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Someone once asked, "If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Good question. Will we lay down our lives for the faith of Jesus?

Recently, I was asked by Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) to pray for three Christian brothers in India. Surjan, Kolah and Krishna are members of a village church in eastern India. They prayed for the wife of a friend who was ill. Instead of getting better, the woman died, and the villagers blamed the three Christians who had prayed for her.

The three men were handcuffed and placed in prison awaiting trial. They had no idea if they would ever see their families again. Kolah mostly worried about 27-year-old Krishna. The young man had been a Christian for only a month. What would time in prison do to his young faith?

In prison, the guards called the three men the "Halleluiah people"  followers of a strange religion. Surjan, Kolah and Krishna met every morning for prayer, and to encourage each other.

As the months passed, these three men shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with fellow prisoners. Thirteen prisoners came to know the Lord. A VOM-sponsored lawyer was able to get the three Christians released on bail after 11 months in prison, but they still face a trial.

Surjan, Kolah and Krishna may yet face life in prison for the crime of "murder" by prayer. Prison hasnt killed the growing love these men have for Jesus. They continue to worship, pray and witness.

You shall be my witnesses! Filled with the Holy Spirit, we are dynamite martyrs for Jesus!
Dear Answer Man: My husband and I winter in Arizona. We noticed this year, in TV ads, the Mayo Clinic location was referred to as Phoenix. It was our understanding it was located in Scottsdale and always was called that. When we returned to Minnesota and saw TV ads, we see it is referred to as Phoenix also. Has something changed? We drove by the building many times and it has not moved.  Lantha Stevens, Harmony

Dear Mrs. (and Mr.) Stevens: Unlike the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Mayo Clinic of Arizona is not trying to pull some sort of branding bait-and-switch on you.

While I am sure you did drive by a Mayo Clinic building or two in Scottsdale, there are Mayo Clinic buildings in Phoenix as well. However, even Answer Man understands your confusion, so to get a straight answer, I pitched the question to Jim McVeigh of Mayo Clinic Public Affairs in Arizona, and he knocked this one out of the park.

In the greater Phoenix metro area, Mayo Clinic has two campuses located 14 miles apart. The Scottsdale location is the primary campus for outpatient care, research and the Arizona branch of the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. The Phoenix campus is where the 280-bed Mayo Clinic Hospital is located.

"We see it all as one campus," McVeigh said. "Its definitely confusing to people from the outside. But the building in the commercial is the Phoenix location."

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I hope this clears up your desert dilemma. If not, theres probably a Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist who can help you see things clearly.

Side note: While Answer Man might be all-knowing (how do you think I got this job?), my fingers are occasionally slightly bumbling. In Thursdays Answer Man, I claimed that Mazeppa, the town in Wabasha County, was founded in 1877. Well, I was only off by 22 years. Mazeppa was founded in 1855. Now, please excuse me while I go practice my typing.
If youre eager to jump into real estate investing, look before you leap, recommends Oliver Somoza, the founder of Turnkey Property Pro in Philadelphia. The best thing you can do is to take your time and do a lot of research on your local market conditions for home prices and rentals before you spend your money.

Somoza suggests:

 Buy low and sell high. That may seem obvious, but its crucial. Find the lowest-priced property in the best possible neighborhood or find property in up-and-coming neighborhoods. Dont buy a home in the best neighborhood at top of the market with the hope that it will keep appreciating. Buy close to the expensive neighborhoods where you can get a good deal.

 Add value by renovating. Make improvements to the property. Small renovations as well as big ones can make your property more valuable, produce additional income and attract buyers who will pay more. Add a half bathroom, upgrade appliances, fix what needs to be fixed and, if you are going to do more extensive renovations, make sure you have a good contractor who can execute your project on time and on budget. Make sure that your purchase price plus renovation costs will be lower than the highest comparative sales in the area.

 Make sure your income covers expenses. Even if you plan to sell it rather than rent it, the income that you would make if you were to rent the property at a minimum should cover all your monthly expenses. Should you not be able to sell your investment property because of market conditions, you want to make sure that you can always rent it and that you are not personally paying every month to own the asset.

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 Expect the unexpected. Make sure you have a financial cushion for unexpected expenses and unforeseen circumstances. You will go over budget, you will get a repair you werent expecting, it will take you longer than you thought to rent or sell. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And if you need help, dont be afraid to ask for it.
The Rochester food scene is changing fast. Take Rochester Magazines list of best restaurants:

"Up until, like, five years ago, Texas Roadhouse was still winning the best restaurant. Its a gigantic chain. Green Mill won a few years before that," said Abe Sauer, owner of Old Abe Coffee & Co. "And since then, restaurants like Tonic have won, Porch and Cellar, Bleu Duck  all places that somebody coming into town would expect to be an actual best restaurant in town."

Sauer said the shift is in part because of a new generation of "trailing spouses" whose partners have taken a job at Mayo Clinic and they cant find a job in Rochesters broader job market. Fed up, many take a chance on their passions.

In Sauers case, it was coffee. The marketing professional and writer followed his wife to Rochester. When he couldnt find a job in his field, he decided to open a mobile coffee cart. Five years later, Old Abe Coffee & Co. is a brick-and-mortar coffee shop and vegan restaurant.

"It used to be that the Alice Mayo Society existed for spouses  and they were almost all women  to do volunteer work in the community. They did great things, but it wasnt expected that they would really join in the local economy," Sauer said.

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"Now, medical schools are graduating half women, and the spouses who come are professionals themselves. Theyre going to want to contribute and, in their mind, have a fulfilling professional life," he said. "Those jobs right now are few and far between in Rochester."

So, many spouses create them, Sauer said. James Beard Award-winning chef Paul Berglund moved with a significant other to Rochester and brought fine dining to Fiddlehead Coffee Co. earlier this year. Adam Frederickson, also a "trailing spouse," is opening a brewery this summer called Thesis Beer Project. Theyre just a couple of examples.

But it isnt just desperation making these ventures work. Sauer said entrepreneurs in Rochester tend to have the stability needed to take a risk  health insurance and household income from their spouse. And the citys food scene is still nascent enough that you dont have to get it right on opening day, like in the Twin Cities where competition is fierce.

Sauer said the city could stand to be a bit more flexible when it comes to commercial zoning for new businesses, and build more affordable housing to serve lower-wage workers in the restaurant business. But he said, for right now, Rochester is a place where ideas can still take off.

"One of the great opportunities of Rochester is that for so long people didnt pay attention to investing in the city from outside and bringing their ideas here, or people left to take their ideas elsewhere," Sauer said. "Now you have this great unpainted landscape where you can take chances."
A plan to purchase land outside city limits for the construction of future Rochester schools could come with a $22 million price tag for infrastructure.

Plans for a new school site emerged after years of discussion regarding current and future space needs at the districts elementary and middle schools.

The Rochester City Council is expected to weigh in on the Rochester School Districts proposal Monday.

In March, the Rochester School Board approved a 150-acre land purchase, contingent on the success of a bond referendum this fall.

"Following this announcement, representatives from the city, county planning and RPS have been meeting to discuss the proposed development and provide information related to the project scope, particularly land use and infrastructure issues related to the proposed site," Rochesters community development director, Cindy Steinhauser, stated in a memo to the council.

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In that memo, she cites estimated expenses for connecting the site, known as Hart Farms, to public utilities, as well as building new streets in the area.

The property sits north of 40th Street Southwest, between the Hart Farms addition and Bamber Valley Road. In the citys recently updated comprehensive plan, a portion of the area has been identified for city expansion by 2040, but expansion into the westernmost section isnt anticipated until after 2050.

Estimates predict connecting the site to the citys sewer system would cost $2 million.

Road improvements for 40th Street Southwest, between 18th Avenue and Bamber Valley Road, are expected to cost $12 million to accommodate the added bus traffic, and to prepare the way for students who would walk to the school.

In addition to city improvements, Steinhauser said Olmsted County would likely require upgraded traffic controls and improvements near intersections with county roads and highways, costing $8 million to $10 million.

Potential funding sources for new infrastructure were not outlined.

The school district has identified the site as an ideal location for future growth. Initial plans call for building a middle school on the property. The school would open in 2022. The added space would make room for a future elementary school and a high school when growth demands more classroom space.

Before the proposed $2.9 million land purchase can be finalized, voters will be asked to approve a two-question bond referendum in November.

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In a memo to the City Council, Rochester Superintendent Michael Munoz, along with consultants on the project, note the process for identifying the potential school site dates back to discussions that started in 2015. The recommendation was made earlier this year by a facilities task force.

"I appreciate the work that has been done by our community-led facilities task force which frames the scope of the referendum designed to meet the districts needs," Munoz said in a statement addressing Mondays meeting. "I also appreciate the flexibility and willingness to collaborate with the city so that we can achieve the best solution for our entire community."

Rochester Deputy City Administrator Aaron Parrish said city staff is committed to working with the school district as it continues to address its facility needs.

"It is the role of the city to ensure that we utilize tools like the comprehensive plan and make sound investments into our infrastructure, to meet the needs of the community," he said in a statement. "A strong educational system is critical to Rochester, and this presentation will be an important step in the districts process."

Several planning steps and reviews will be needed at the city level as the plan moves forward, including annexation, zoning and developing a site plan.

The City Council will be asked during its 3:30 p.m. meeting Monday whether it supports continued exploration of the site for a new public school.

At this point, Steinhauser said city staff doesnt expect to make a recommendation to the council, regarding the proposed site.

"We are just presenting information," she said.

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Meetings during the week of June 3 include:

Rochester

 Mayo Civic Center / Destination Marketing governing board orientation, 10 a.m. Monday at the Mayo Civic Center, 30 Civic Center Drive SE.

 City Council committee of the whole, 3:30 p.m. Monday in the council chambers of the city-county Government Center, 151 Fourth St. SE.

 City Council meeting, 7 p.m. Monday in the council chambers of the Government Center.

 Rochester Public Library Executive Committee, 8 a.m. Tuesday at Bravo Coffee, 111 S. Broadway No. 219.

 Park Board, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in room 104 of City Hall, 201 Fourth St. SE.

 Personnel Advisory Committee, 3 p.m. Wednesday in room 320 of City Hall.

 Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers of the Government Center.

Olmsted County

 Administrative Committee, 8 a.m. Tuesday in administrative conference room of the government center.

 Physical Development Committee, 8 a.m. Tuesday in conference room 2 of the government center.

 Board of County Commissioners, 9 a.m. Tuesday in the board chambers of the government center.

 Health, Housing and Human Services Committee, 10 a.m. Wednesday in conference room 4 of the government center.

 Youth Commission, 4:45 p.m. Wednesday in the government center cafeteria.

 Public Health Services Advisory Board, 5:30 a.m. Thursday in the Whitewater/Cascade Conference Room of 2100 Campus Drive SE.

 SEMREX Joint Powers Board, 9:30 a.m. Friday at 721 N. Main St., Mantorville.

Rochester Public Schools

 School Board, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom of the Edison Building, 615 Seventh St. SW.
On July 1, Mayo Clinic employees in Rochester will have a different firm at the wheel of their city shuttles.

Virginia-based Groome Transportation will take over the contract as Mayo Clinics intracampus shuttle provider from First Student Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The change to a new shuttle provider was an important choice as we listened to feedback from staff and volunteers about convenient and reliable transportation," Mayo spokeswoman Kelley Luckstein said in a prepared statement. "The new service will provide low-riding buses on the most heavily used routes, such as between downtown and Mayo Clinic Hospital  Rochester, Saint Marys Campus, and the East and West lots. These buses will feature a platform closer to the ground to make the boarding process easier for staff and volunteers."

The Groome buses will be equipped with GPS tracking, so riders can track the shuttles location and arrival time.

Groome will replace First Student Inc., which has been driving Mayo staff shuttles since 2009.

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The Groome contract is through June 30, 2026.

Groome arrived in the Med City in 2017, when it took over the Go Rochester Direct shuttle service.

It revamped the former Beer Bellyz/Freight Yard bar site at 821 Civic Center Drive NW to serve as its Rochester hub to run the airport shuttle business.
The Rochester Police Department is launching its Safe City Nights community initiative from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in East Silver Lake Park.

"RPD believes that community engagement is critical to the success of protecting and serving the Rochester community," Rochester Police Chief Jim Franklin said in a statement announcing the program in April. "The department believes that it is the responsibility of all to be engaged with the community, not just a select few. This includes the chief, sworn officers, and civilian staff."

He added that such engagement is strengthened through strong partnerships built through trust, collaboration and respect in the community/

Tuesdays event will feature free food and activities in an effort to provide community members the opportunity to connect with neighbors and law enforcement officers who patrol their areas.

The program will continue each Tuesday throughout the city.

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Events are scheduled for:

 June 18 at George Gibbs Elementary School, 5525 56th St. NW.

 July 2 at Longfellow Elementary School, 1615 Marion Road SE.

 July 16 at Franklin Elementary School, 1801 Ninth Ave. SE.

 July 30 at Watson Field, 1000 Essex Parkway NW.

 Aug. 20 at Harriet Bishop Elementary School, 406 36th Ave. NW.

Mayor Kim Norton and members of the Rochester City Council will also be present during the six gatherings.

"The Safe City Night events will provide community members an opportunity to come together with their neighbors and celebrate the summer season," Norton said. "We look forward to each of the six gatherings. The residents of Rochester are the reason we have such fantastic neighborhoods and a vibrant community."
MOORHEAD  Meet Minnesotas new state bee: The rusty patched bumblebee, an endangered species you might be able to see in your own backyard.

Once widespread and abundant, the bumblebees population experienced a precipitous population decline in the early 2000s  and Minnesota is home to a significant part of the remaining population.

"Its been lost in 90 percent of its historical range," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Tamara Smith, who studies endangered species. "Now its only in 10 states, including Minnesota."

Gov. Tim Walz made the state bee designation official, when he signed state budget bills into law this week. The designation comes along with a pledge to protect the bee, which in Minnesota is found primarily in and around the Twin Cities. Scientists say regular Minnesotans can help the population recover.

"This is the first bee in the contiguous United States to be listed as endangered," said Elaine Evans, a bumblebee expert with the University of Minnesota Bee Squad. "Because of that, we really need to raise awareness and do everything we can do to help this bee."

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The bee  officially Bombus affinis  is called the rusty patched bumblebee because of the small rust-colored patch, surrounded by yellow, on its back.

Its not clear what caused the population crash in the early part of the century, but experts believe it was prompted by a combination of disease, habitat loss and pesticides.

"Its really hard to figure out what went wrong with a population, when the population has become so small," said Evans. "Im not sure if we really do have a chance of ever solving that mystery."

Wild bees like the rusty patched bumblebee are more difficult to study than domesticated honey bees. But Smith thinks this bee deserves more attention.

"You can kind of look at it as one of the canary-in-the-coal-mine type of species, where their loss might indicate that something else is going wrong within the ecosystem in which they live. Were also noticing similar patterns with other bees and butterflies," said Smith.
Writings on the Wall

As we move forward into the new year, we have a lot to be thankful for. One key advantage of the pandemic is that it has made us focus on our  Read more
I cannot recommend Jan Crawfords interview of Attorney General William Barr for CBS News highly enough. Here is the whole thing in podcast form. I plucked my favorite quote from the interview yesterday here.

This morning I intended to comb through the CBS News transcript of Jan Crawfords interview of Attorney General William Barr to highlights its greatest hits, but I find that Don Surber has done the work for me. My favorite quote, by the way, is included in Dons compilation of Barrs greatest hits. Here is Dons compilation (omitting only one of Dons comments):

On Mueller, Barr said, He couldve reached a conclusion. The opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office but he couldve reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity but he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained and I am not going to, you know, argue about those reasons but when he didnt make a decision, the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I felt it was necessary for us as the heads of the Department to reach that decision. That is what the Department of Justice does, that is why we have the compulsory powers like a grand jury to force people to give us evidence so that we can determine whether a crime has committed and in order to legitimate the process we felt we had to reach a decision.

On obstruction of justice Barr said, We have to determine whether there is clear violation of the law and so we applied the standards we would normally apply. We analyzed the law and the facts and a group of us spent a lot of time doing that and determined that both as a matter of law, many of the instances would not amount to obstruction.

Crawford responded, As a matter of law?

Barr replied, As a matter of law. In other words, we didnt agree with the legal analysis  a lot of the legal analysis in the report. It did not reflect the views of the department. It was the views of a particular lawyer or lawyers and so we applied what we thought was the right law but then we didnt rely on that. We also looked at all the facts, tried to determine whether the government could establish all the elements and as to each of those episodes we felt that the evidence was deficient.

***

I would say the evidence was non-existent, but he knows more than me.

***

CRAWFORD: When you see some of the criticism and youve gotten quite a bit of it that youre protecting the president that youre enabling the president, whats your response to that?

BARR: Well, we live in a hyper-partisan age where people no longer really pay attention to the substance of whats said but as to who says it and what side theyre on and what its political ramifications are. The Department of Justice is all about the law, and the facts and the substance and Im going to make the decisions based on the law and the facts and I realize thats intention with the political climate we live in because people are more interested in getting their way politically. so I think it just goes with the territory of being the attorney general in a hyper-partisan period of time.

CRAWFORD: The four page summary that you wrote, did you ask in that March 5th meeting for the special counsel to kind of redact all the grand jury material?

BARR: Yes, not redact it but highlight it so we could redact it, we would, so, you know, the report was over 400 pages, I knew that it was voluminous and coming our way in a few weeks. My intent was to get out as much as I could as quickly as I could. To do that I would have to, as a matter of law, make sure that grand jury material was redacted because regardless of the political posturing thats going on its not lawful for me to just make that public.

CRAWFORD: Not even to Congress?

BARR: Not even.

***

On saying it was spying, Barr said, I guess its become a dirty word somehow. It hasnt ever been for me. I think there is nothing wrong with spying, the question is always whether it is authorized by law and properly predicated and if it is, then its an important tool the United States has to protect the country.

On the legality of spying on candidates, Barr said, Whether its adequately predicated. And look, I think if we  we are worried about foreign influence in the campaign? We should be because the heart of our system is the peaceful transfer of power through elections and what gives the government legitimacy is that process. And if foreign elements can come in and affect it, thats bad for the republic. But by the same token, its just as, its just as dangerous to the continuation of self-government and our republican system, republic that we not allow government power, law enforcement or intelligence power, to play a role in politics, to intrude into politics, and affect elections.

On spying on candidates, Barr said, In my mind, they are, sure. I mean, republics have fallen because of Praetorian Guard mentality where government officials get very arrogant, they identify the national interest with their own political preferences and they feel that anyone who has a different opinion, you know, is somehow an enemy of the state. And you know, there is that tendency that they know better and that, you know, theyre there to protect as guardians of the people. That can easily translate into essentially supervening the will of the majority and getting your own way as a government official.

On U.S. attorney John Hubers investigation, Barr said, Huber had originally been asked to take a look at the FISA applications and the electronic surveillance but then he stood back and put that on hold while the Office of Inspector General was conducting its review, which wouldve been normal for the department. And he was essentially on standby in case Mr. Horowitz referred a matter to him to be handled criminally. So he has not been active on this front in recent months and so Durham is taking over that role. The other issues hes been working on relate to Hillary Clinton. Those are winding down and hopefully well be in a position to bring those to fruition.

CRAWFORD: So he wont be involved in this really at all then?

BARR: No.

CRAWFORD: This is his role, its done?

BARR: Right.

CRAWFORD: And now Durham is going to pick up

BARR: Yes, right.
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TOKYO, May 28, 2019 - (JCN Newswire) - TRENDE Inc., a Tokyo Electric Power Company group company, Toyota Motor Corporation and the University of Tokyo will conduct a joint experiment with a next-generation peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity system that enables homes, businesses, and electric vehicles (EVs) connected to the electricity grid to trade electricity using a blockchain. The test will run from June 2019 at Toyota's Higashi Fuji Technical Center and the surrounding area.Japan's electric supply system is in the process of transforming from a centralized large-scale one-way system reliant on fossil fuels into an autonomous distributed two-way system incorporating renewable energy in which individuals and companies own the power supply. The objective of the joint experiment is to assess the feasibility and scalability of a two-way electricity supply system that allows direct trading among prosumers and consumers and will incorporate solar panels, batteries, and EVs.The parties also aim to verify the economic advantage of having electricity consumers and prosumers trade electricity through market transactions. The experiment will also simulate electricity consignment fees based on distance, and verify an algorithm for predicting the electricity demands of EVs, which have varying electrical consumption levels based on cruising range.Jeffrey Char, Co-Founder and Chairman of TRENDE, said, "We are excited to be working with Toyota and The University of Tokyo on this important experiment. We hope that the results will be beneficial, not only in terms of delivering low-cost, low carbon energy to consumers in Japan, but for others also working on solutions for the climate crisis." TRENDE Inc. ( http://trende.jp/) is an online renewable energy retailer selling electricity to residential customers in Japan via its Hot Denki ( https://hotdenki.jp) and Ashita Denki ( https://ashita-denki.jp/) service websites. TRENDE's goal is to accelerate the widespread adoption of solar power and redefine the energy ecosystem in Japan with a customer-centric business model and innovative P2P platform. The company's investors include Tokyo Electric Power, Showa Shell and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.
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Electrical Contractor RFG Electrical Update its Range of Residential, Commercial and Industrial Electrical Services Across the Windsor-Essex County. The Professional Electricians are Committed to Providing in a Timely Manner the Highest Quality Products and the Highest Levels of Service the Area.ESSEX, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 31, 2019 / RFG Electrical, an Essex, Ontario based electrical contractor announced the launch of an updated range of residential, commercial and industrial electrical services across the Windsor-Essex County and surrounding area. The company's electricians have over 20 years of experience providing quality, safe and environmentally responsible services and products.More information can be found at https://www.rfgelectrical.com As a leading Windsor-Essex electrical contractor, the expert team provide electrical system installation, maintenance, inspection and repair services to building and home owners, property management companies and business owners.The team makes certain that their clients receive high-quality repair and maintenance results. From troubleshooting an existing systems to replacing parts or to managing new construction installations, the electricians at RFG Electrical are skilled in all areas of electrical services.RFG Electrical can provide a wide range of lighting solutions, including ballast and bulb replacement, light dimmers and timers, recessed and retrofit lighting, lighting controls, motion sensors.In addition, the expert team specializes in electrical safety, such as child proof outlets, electrical inspections, wiring upgrades, grounding rods, circuit breaker replacement, carbon monoxide, and security alarms.The electricians at RFG Electrical are also experts in electrical panel upgrades, circuit installations and upgrades, ceiling fan installation, exhaust fan installation, and tankless water heaters.No matter the job, the experienced professional electricians will do the work correctly the first time and deliver exceptional service at competitive rates. All of their products and work are 100% guaranteed. Should an issue arise, the team will promptly arrive, complete the task at hand, and make sure clients are completely satisfied.A spokesperson for the company said: "At RFG we have high standards when it comes to taking care of our customer's needs. And it shows. We have a reputation for delivery of timely, professional, high-quality solutions. RFG strives for a proactive approach to service during and after customer requirements have been met. Going the extra mile is what we do best and it's allowed us to build long-term relationships with customers and our community." Find more by visiting the above-mentioned website or calling +1-519-817-7117.Contact Info:Name: Ryan GilesEmail: Send EmailOrganization: RFG ElectricalAddress: 13007 Hyland Side Road, Essex, ON N8M 2X6, CanadaWebsite: https://www.rfgelectrical.com/ SOURCE: RFG Electrical
The Nigeria Association of Dermatologists have warned that using mixed skin creams, commonly known as organic creams, constituted more danger than good.

The dermatologists raised the alarm at a public sensitisation exercise at Bodija market, Ibadan, on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the medical doctors held the campaign to commemorate the 2019 World Skin Health Day, tagged Skin Care and Sun Protection.

A consultant dermatologist, Ngozi Akueme, said that many of the organic skin products, which have become major beauty trends, contain high doses of steroids and harmful chemicals including hydroquinone.

There are a lot of people who market this beauty trend of mixed cream and are quote clever on how they label it, they dont call it bleaching cream but organic whitening or lightening creams.

They tell you they mixed their skin products from the scratch, saying it is all-organic and natural, however, that those creams contain are steroids, hydroquinone and mercury at a very high level.

For instance, the hydroquinone in the ideal over-the-counter skincare creams shouldnt be above two per cent, but you will be amazed that we are finding organic creams containing as high as 13 per cent in Nigerian markets.

Studies are ongoing to determine what each of these creams contain and in the nearest future we are going to come out with our findings and the facts to back it up, she said.

Ms Akueme, who works at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, said that skin bleaching also known as skin lightening and whitening could result in devastating effects including skin cancer, thinning of the skin, diabetes, hypertension, kidney failure and abnormalities in an unborn child.

According to her, skin bleaching depletes the skin of melanin which is supposed to protect from the harmful effects of sun exposure.

While we dont often see cases of skin cancer in the hospital, it is becoming increasingly common and some of the causes have been linked to skin bleaching.

We are being faced everyday with the side effects of skin bleaching, we see many cases patients who come every day with very bad unwanted side effects.

Skin bleaching also results in poor wound healing and thinning of skin. Surgeons have problem with such skin during surgery, she said.

She called on regulatory agencies to take firm stand on skincare regulations, saying these creams are causing more damage than good to our people.

Aderonke Edun, a member of the association, advised people to avoid going out when it is sunny without wearing protective clothing and sunglasses.

The skin is the largest and one of the most important organs of the body. It is therefore important to take proper care of it.

You can protect yourself from the effects of sunlight by applying sunscreens on the body, avoiding the sun at its peak which is between 10 am and 3 pm.

When you go out in the sun, wear wide brim hats, stay under shades and umbrella and keep your skin hydrated by drinking lots of water and using moisturisers.

Check the contents of the cream to make sure it has basic moisturising and sunscreen properties not lightening chemicals, she said.

Grace Adekoya, an Assistant Director of Public Health Nursing at UCH, said that the depletion of the ozone layer made it more important than ever to protect the skin when going out to avoid the adverse effects of chronic sin exposure.

According to her, exposure to sunlight causes damage to human tissue and higher incidence of skin conditions, including skin cancer.

Report any skin abnormality to a skin doctor, eat lots of fruits and vegetables and avoid skin lightening and bleaching products, she said.

The association noted that many unregistered skin lightening and whitening skin products are widely advertised on Instagram and Facebook with labels, including Half Cast Fluid, Hot Chocolate, Egyptian Glow Oil, Baby Glow Butter, Moroccan Whitening Cream and Soft Tone Fluid with 100 per cent organic creams, among others.

(NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari did not surprise a few of us last Wednesday when he failed to deliver an inauguration speech as envisaged. It indeed would have been a rude surprise if, at that occasion, the president inspired hope and allayed the fears of Nigerians, many already battered by poverty and brutalised by insecurity. The big consolation is that Nigerians were not treated to the next level of (un)presidential boo-boos!

For those of us who have always criticized the president in the area of empathy, it was a delight watching Mr Buhari deliver no speech. Those who envisaged an Obama-like speech apparently do not understand the favour the president did Nigerians by strategically keeping the speech, according to grapevine sources, inside that bag he had clutched firmly to his side. Pray, how else does a president show empathy except by firmly refusing to unleash oratory mayhem on innocent citizens already gasping for air under the crushing effect of governance-induced mayhem?

Yet a few days before the inauguration day, the president had given us an idea of the exact shape the next level government would take. In a carefully choreographed interview with NTAs Adamu Sambo, the president told us without really telling us who he is: a suffering Nigerian. And when a recalcitrant Sambo asked him, Who is President Buhari?, the president took him on a long but aimless journey through Nigerias coups and counter-coups-which he, in his epic manner, put as Ku, Katanku!

The lifelessness of that interview notwithstanding, there was a major takeaway: Mr Buhari would retain some of his ministers. For those who have peddled that silly idea that this is Nigerias worst set of ministers since 1999, that may be bad news.

But for some of us impressed with the immense works being done by this group of selfless Nigerians, the news sounds refreshing and scary: refreshing because the president appreciates the indispensability of this set of ministers; scary because the ministers have done so well that, in saner climes, they would all be retained without questioning. So, unlike what Mr Buhari thinks, a case must be made for the need to retain not just some but all of themI mean ALL, but one.

First off: In his interview with Sambo, Mr Buhari did not give reasons why he would return (some of) the ministers but anyone who has studied the president so well in the last four years would understand the reasons. The president is a very keen observer and builder of talents; he sees awesome talents in places where others with no foresight see incompetence and cluelessness. That perhaps explains why each of his ministers who left did so on their own terms; he never sacked them. Even when they consider themselves failures, Mr Buhari still saw success. What a visionary leader!

But, more importantly, there are numerous reasons why all of the ministers MUST be returned.

Lets take, for instance, the case of Ogbonnaya Onu, the minister of science, pencil and technology. The man has a huge dream and indeed promised to put Nigeria on the world map via a ground-breaking invention: pencil. Four years afterwards, due to logistic concerns, Mr Onu has not delivered on his promise. But his dream remains alive and kicking, fellow Nigerians. Would it now not amount to snuffing life out of a beautiful dream if he is not allowed to spend another four years and shock the world with this game-changing invention called pencil? Im convinced Mr Buhari is no dream killer; he would retain Mr Onu and allow Nigerias pencil dream flourish.

If any ministers return should not be questioned at all, that person is the long-suffering Adebayo Shittu. Having been schemed out of the governorship race in Oyo, how would anyone with a conscience communicate to the minister that he would be relieved of his job? By email-which an aide once alleged that he does not even know how to operate? Or by traditional means like Aroko, which he may perhaps prefer? Its near-impossible.

Lai Mohammed, the cicero of Oro, is one minister we cant afford to lose too. At least if others do not want him, I am very sure Nigerian journalists would love to have him again, especially those in the field of fact-checking and fake news verification. To ease Lai out is to throw fact-checkers and fake news/half-truths verifiers out of job. Mr Buhari is a provider of employment; he would not do that.

The one other minister every Nigerian would really, really love to see again is the agric minister, Audu Ogbeh. Mr Ogbeh has in recent time shared from Lai Mohammeds inspiration. But he has equally promised us so much, things we cant afford not to witness.

Aside from the desire to ensure that rice pyramids across the world are brought down due to the impact of Nigerias never-seen-before rice revolution, he has also taken a very tough battle to the homes of Pizza loversespecially those who import it from London. This battle with London-chauffered pizza and its importers is one we would love to see the minister win because of its strategic impact on Nigerias fluctuating naira, our foreign reserves, the sovereign wealth fund and the balance in our ECA accounts.

Babatunde Fasholas return is non-negotiable: Mr Buhari loves and trusts him, like a certain Tunde before him. And no amount of paid-for darkness (literal and figurative) could darken the light of love between the duo. Having performed so well, he may get two additional ministries, even. Ditto Rotimi Amaechi, the minister for railway-no, transport.

Chris Ngige once promised to organise a programme where Nigerians would be exposed to how Mr Buhari actually laughs and shares jokes and raises legs. More than his (mis)management of labour disputes, that is one major reason why he should be returned. Ditto his doctor-colleague, Isaac Adewole, who once advised doctors to go practice carpentry but did not show how. It would be beautiful giving these folks another chance, allowing them to articulate their points better and providing support for them to organise these two highly anticipated programmes: How President Buhari does gbese (raises legs) and How doctors can diversify their economies into carpentry and vulcanizing. Its one huge debt they both owe Nigerians.

More than anyone else, Solomon Dalung is a huge asset to this government. A veritable source of comic relief in moments of tension, his return is self-evidently justifiable. Let no one talk about the controversial IAAF fund and how it was SPENT. That money was properly spent and Mr Buhari himself knows this. No more, no less.

Abubakar Malami, Abdulrahman Dambazau, Zainab Ahmed and Adamu Adamu would return; regional affinity is thicker than, er, competence. And this has nothing to do with a former presidents recent unusual coinage, really. Udoma Udoma, Ibe Kachikwu and Okechukwu Enelamah have strategically stayed out of major controversies. They have got decent table manners and should return.

Hadi Sirika has an inconclusive plan to make NigeriaAir give British Airways a good run for its money. It matters not if the strategy, plan and infrastructure on the ground may not compete well if placed against that of Iyare Motors or Ekeledilichukwus. He must be returned.

Meanwhile, President Buhari must never, never retain the minister for petroleum. Clearly, President Buharis policy of hard work and service delivery appear radically contrasting to this particular ministers do-nothing posture. For four years, he has consistently remained taciturn and aloof. Without being sacked by the president. And because this minister wields so much power, his demystification may be all that is needed to have a decent cabinet. It would be heart-warming to see the president summon the courage to sack this particular minister.

Anthony Onwuka, Heineken Loikpoibiri, Omole Daramola, Ibrahim Jubril and other ministers have done nothing in a way that remains enviable. I remember they are still ministers now only because I googled the phrase Buhari Cabinet. But I know Mr Buhari loves quiet people-folks otherwise known as people of integrity. In the Buhari school of integrity, myth is key and competence is an addendum. These guys are good examples of such people and would be retained too: for staying off the news, off service, and, ultimately, doing practically nothing. For God and country.



Oladeinde tweets via @Ola_deinde
A long-time public employee shot dead 12 people at the building complex where he worked before being killed by police in Virginia Beach, in south-eastern Virginia, authorities said.

The shooter on Friday killed one person outside a municipal building complex in the afternoon and then entered the structure and immediately began to indiscriminately fire upon all the victims, Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said.

He was armed with a .45 calibre handgun, equipped with a sound suppressor and multiple extended bullet magazines, Cervera said.

After he started shooting four police officers entered the building and engaged in a long-term gun battle with the man.

It was numerous shots fired by the individual, shots were fired from various places down the hallway at the officers, Cervera said, adding that the attacker was given first aid but died of his injuries.

One person died during travel to the hospital. Another four people were hospitalized, according to the latest police figures, which may increase, the police chief said.

This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, said Mayor Bobby Dwyer. The people involved are our friends, co-workers neighbours colleagues.

The suspect was employed by the citys public works department, which manages public infrastructure in the coastal city.

His identity is known to authorities but will not be released until all the victims are identified and their families notified, authorities said.

We must take care of these families. These horrific tragedies test our souls, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said.

My deepest condolences and prayers go to the families of those who left home this morning and will not return home tonight, Northam added. They were all someones child and many were someones parent.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a tracking website, this is the 150th mass shooting in the US in 2019.

(dpa/NAN)
US President Donald Trump has said Boris Johnson would be an excellent choice to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May, days ahead of a state visit to London.

I actually have studied it very hard. I know the different players, he said in an interview with the Sun tabloid published late Friday.

But I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.

I like him. I have always liked him. I dont know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.

The U.S. president also said other candidates in the race to replace May, who will step down as leader of the Conservative party on June 7 after failing to push her Brexit deal through parliament, had also sought his endorsement.

I dont want to say who but other people have asked me for endorsements, yes.

I could help anybody if I endorse them. I mean, weve had endorsements where they have gone up for forty, fifty points at a shot, Trump claimed.

The president also criticised May for playing a weak hand in her Brexit negotiations.

I think that the UK allowed the European Union to have all the cards. And it is very hard to play well when one side has all the advantage.

I had mentioned to Theresa that you have got to build up your ammunition.

The U.S. president gave a similarly controversial interview before his first official visit to Britain 2018, when he said May had ignored his advice on Brexit negotiations and again said Johnson would make a great prime minister.(dpa/NAN)
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and a contender for the speakership position in the 9th Assembly, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Friday took his campaign to Borno State.

Accompanied by over 100 members of the House, the lawmaker arrived Maiduguri late Friday afternoon and was received at the Government House by the Governor of Borno, Babagana Zulum.

The lawmakers were hosted to lunch at the Government House during which Mr Gbajabiamila spoke about his mission to the state.

Mr Gbajamiala thanked Borno for the first support that came through one of the lawmakers from the state, Muktari Betara, one of the contenders who stepped down for him.

He said he considered Borno as his stronghold because all the ten members of the federal house of reps from the state are backing his candidacy.

He congratulated Governor Zulum on his inauguration even as he promised to work closely with him.

We assure you that the 9th National Assembly will certainly be much better than the 8th Assembly, he said.

I also want to assure your Excellency of the full support of the National Assembly towards the rebuilding of Borno State.

Mr Gbajamiala also donated medical relief materials to the displaced people of the state, which has been rocked by insurgency.

Meanwhile, the governor said he was delighted to receive the over 100 members of the House who accompanied the aspirant.

According to him, the support for the speakership bid of Mr Gbajabiamila was a long concluded deal.

Weve had an extensive deliberation with my predecessor, Governor Kashim Shettima, who is now senator-elect and we have all agreed to align our interests with that of the party at the national level and the federal government.

We are all aware of how the Boko Haram insurgency had dealt Borno a great blow and we are grateful for the support we have so far enjoyed from the Federal Government.

We are also grateful to the National Assembly for passing the North-east Development Commission Bill which has been signed into law by Mr President.

That Act means a lot to us the people of the North-east and Borno State in particular, and we assure you that Borno is going to return this gesture by supporting the popular interest of the National Assembly.

He, however, called on Mr Gbajabiamila to ensure the lawmakers from Borno State are carried along when he eventually emerged Speaker of the 9th Assembly.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of a book Nation Building by Femi and Wase, as well as the presentation of the relief materals donated by Mr Gbajabiamila.

The lawmakers, who arrived Maiduguri via a chartered flight, departed the town at about 6 p.m.
Oando Plc said on Friday that it would challenge the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruling on the outcome of its forensic audit.

The company made the disclosure in a statement issued in Lagos by its Head of Corporate Communications, Alero Balogun.

Mrs Balogun said that the company would take all legal steps to protect its business and assets, while remaining committed to act in the interest of its shareholders.

The company reserves the rights to take all legal steps to protect its business and assets whilst remaining committed to act in the best interest of all its shareholders, she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SEC on Friday barred Wale Tinubu, the companys Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), and Omamofe Boyo, the Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (DGCEO), from being directors of a public company for five years.

These were outcomes of the forensic audit of the company instituted by the commission in March 2018.

SEC noted that it appointed Deloite Nigeria to proceed with the forensic audit.

It said that the audit revealed infractions.

The commission in a statement also directed the resignation of the affected board members, and called on the company to convene an extra-ordinary general meeting on or before July 1, to appoint new directors.

Mrs Balogun, however, described as unsubstantiated, the commissions call for resignation of the affected board members of Oando Plc and convening of an extra-ordinary general meeting on or before July 1, 2019, to appoint new directors.

According to her, payment of monetary penalties by the company and affected individuals and directors, refund of improperly disbursed remuneration by the affected board members to the company were also unsubstantiated.

Mrs Balogun said that the companys attention had been drawn to a statement issued by the commission on Friday, barring its GCEO and DGCEO from being directors of public companies for a period of five years.

She said that Oando was of the view that the alleged infractions and penalties were unsubstantiated, ultra vires, invalid and calculated to prejudice the business of the company.

The company has not been given the opportunity to see, review and respond to the forensic audit report and so is unable to ascertain what findings (if any) were made in relation to the alleged infractions, and defend itself accordingly before the SEC, she said.

(NAN )
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is still being practised in parts of Oyo State despite the global outcry against the practice, a report issued by a Nigerian organisation working on youth and environmental health has said.

The outcome of the findings, acknowledged by a local and an international body, was made available to PREMIUM TIMES by the Executive Director, Value Re-orientation for Community Enhancement (VARCE), Ademola Adebisi.

It showed the prevalence of FGM in Ibadan North-east, Ibadan North, Akinyele and Afijio local government areas of the state.

It was in the course of my investigation that I discovered that those who hide their children or even run away with them so as not to undergo this barbaric act are compelled to bring the children back home to carry out rites or risk being excommunicated and ostracised or even called bastards.

A community leader also told me with confidence that some are brought back from wherever they are, diabolically, just to carry out genital mutilation on their girl child as that is the custom.

These are ignorant of the fact that some children get infected due to the usage of one blade for all the children which can eventually lead to their death, Mr Adebisi said.

Though I was also told that some community leaders in Oyo West, Orelope and Kajola Local Governments of Oyo State due to the prevalent rate of FGM in their respective LGAs separately and independently made a public declaration against FGM in December 2018, this evil act has not subsided in the area as they still do it secretly, he added.

The report also stated that urgent action is also required in the state, especially in the local government areas where this practice is going on unabated to save the future of many innocent girls.

For instance, in Aroro Village, Idi Obi, a lady, Adeagbo Adebimpe, said she was tricked into coming home from the northern part of the country to see her ailing mother with her two daughters. And the girls were forcefully mutilated without her knowledge and consent.

People who have suffered the same fate started sharing horrible experiences of their girls who were cut, some with the consent of their ignorant father and some without. While it was later established that FGM is secretly being carried out with or without the consent of the parents, survivors of this dastardly and barbaric act all have only tales of woes to tell, he said.

Strains of FGM

The report also explains the technicality of the types of FGM practised.

FGM varies and is classified into four types namely, the Clitoridectomy, which involves the removal of the prepuce, with or without cutting all or part of the clitoris; Excision, where the clitoris is removed, and there is total or partial removal of inner lips of the vagina; Infibulation, which involves the removal of part or all of the external genitalia and the vagina opening is stitched after narrowing it allowing for a small space where urine and menstruation can pass through.

Infibulation is the most dangerous FGM type, because later surgeries are usually done on the women before and after sexual intercourse and childbirth to open and close the vagina; Unclassified type, which includes piercing, scrapping, pricking or making incision on the clitoris or/and the vagina lips, using harsh substances and herbs on the vagina or into it and stretching of the clitoris or lips of the vagina, the report read.

The report said unlike male circumcision, this act causes physical injury and leaves a life-long emotional scar and pain for girls and women who survive it.

Alarming

In the 2018 fact sheet of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the prevalence of FGM in Nigeria, Osun State is 1st with 77 per cent, Ebonyi, 2nd with 74 per cent, Ekiti 3rd with 72 per cent, Imo 4th with 68 per cent and Oyo State 5th with 66.

In December 2018, PREMIUM TIMES reported that 13 per cent of women  about one out of every ten  who have been genitally mutilated in Nigeria was cut by medical professionals.

This new trend is being referred to as the medicalisation of FGM.

Despite the increasing campaigns against the barbaric act, many medical professionals have been engaging in the act, thus causing a setback to the eradication process of the practice, Acting Country Representative, UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Eugene Kongnyuy, said.

What The Law Says

Section 6 of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, also known as the VAPP Act, prohibits harmful traditional practices like FGM.

It was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in May 2015.

Also, section 26 of the Oyo State Child Rights Law signed in 2006 dictates that anyone who subjects a female child to genital mutilation is liable to pay a fine of N20,000 and a jail term not exceeding two years.

Moreover, Section 9 of the Oyo State Violence Against Women law (VAWL) of 2016 states that anyone who performs FGM is liable to pay a fine of N100, 000 or a jail term not exceeding four years or both.

Also, according to VAWL, anyone who attempts the act or anyone who incites, aids, abets or encourages the process is liable on conviction to two years imprisonment or N80, 000 fine or both.

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FGM in all LGAs but were trying our best- NOA

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the NOAs Assitant Director of programmes in Oyo, Olatunji Samuel, confirmed VARCE findings but said the agency is trying all it could to reduce the rate in the state.

According to him, the act is practised in every local government, but recently, the rate is waning due to the level of intervention by the agency.

For now, the government has signed into law the bill for violence against women, so it has been passed into law, and it has been signed. So, we are only waiting now that it has to be domesticated in all local governments.

The next thing now is for them to print the copies for circulation, the copies are those laws where Female Genital Mutilation is meant to be an offence, and whosoever violates it now, there are sanctions for it, there are penalties.

Mr Olatunji said the state government had commenced partnership with United Nations International Childrens Emergency Funds (UNICEF) to aid its fight against FGM.

Also, speaking on the indicted communities in the VARCE report, the official explained that there are ongoing plans for a public declaration there.

Ibadan North, we have not done declaration there. We are left with Ibadan North, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa North those are the six prevalent local governments in Oyo State. But out of those six now, we have done three, so, we are hoping that with more support, we will get to all the local governments.

The NOA is the body saddled with the responsibility of communicating government policy, promoting patriotism, national unity, and development in Nigerian.

Judges, ignorant- UNICEF

Meanwhile, the Oyo State team leader for UNICEF/UNFPA, Dare Olagoke, said the ignorance of the judiciary is a factor in the prevalence of the unsafe practice.

Dissemination of the law is the issue in Oyo. The last state technical committee meeting that we had, we discovered that most judges in Oyo State do not even know that there is a law that prohibits FGM in the state.

We had big issues with them because the police will tell you that it is a civil case and that the civil defence officers should be the ones to make the arrest. The civil defence will push it back to the police. We dont know who handles who, the jurisdiction and all of that.

Speaking on the stance of the law, Mr Olagoke explained that there are two different laws against FGM in Oyo with two different penalties.

That one (Violence Against Women Law of 2016) states punishment for the perpetrators, circumciser, parents and anyone that supported the process, he explained.

He called for the harmonisation of the two laws to help combat the inhumane act.

The two laws are owned by the state, talking about a single offence with different punishments. So, how do we argue it out? One says one N100,000 fine or four years imprisonment. The other is saying two years imprisonment or N20,000 fine.
In order to curb the menace of impersonation experienced in the conduct of its examinations, the National Examination Council (NECO) has procured 8,000 biometric machines and 20 Toyota Hilux Vans worth over N800 million to resolve some of its challenges.

The acting registrar of NECO, Abubakar Gana, said the equipment were procured to enhance operations in the areas of logistics and overall security of its examination in Minna on Friday.

Mr Gana said this procurement makes it the first time NECO is deploying biometrics for the conduct of its Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).

Mr Gana said the board generated about N2 billion through the sale of scratch cards to candidates and returned same to the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government.

The last time the council bought vehicles was in 2013. We have also bought 8,000 units of biometric capture machines, which can verify the identity of candidates, as well as record attendance, he said.

In the last year, we were able to save money and seek approval from the board and Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). The essence of the biometric is to deal with impersonation to help sanitise the system thereby having quality standards.

Breakdown

In the past, NECO has been making use of scratch cards to register candidates. Some Nigerians argued that the use of scratch cards remain the reason for high malpractice in conduct of the examination.

However, the recent procurement of the biometrics machines cost the council N500 million while the 20 Toyota Hilux cost N327.8 million.

Each of the vehicle cost N16.3 million while a unit of the biometric machine cost N62,500.

We have been borrowing vehicles

Meanwhile, NECO board Chairman, Abubakar Saddiq, said the procurement of the equipment was necessary as the council had in the past been borrowing vehicles to enable it run its examinations.

Mr Saddiq said impersonation had become a major problem in the conduct of its examination.

Last year, we went to INEC to beg for vehicles to enable us run our examinations. We learn from our mistakes and decided that this year we are going to organise a hitch-free exam.

He said examination materials will reach their point in time now, impersonation has become a major problem.

I monitored exam last year and was not happy because I saw those who did not register but sat for the examination. With this improvement, we can now go round with the machine and get to book anyone who impersonate.

Mr Saddiq explained that the councils ICT unit would now be improved and effective for the conduct of any of its examination.

When asked on how the board intends to use biometric certification in over 10,000 centres, Mr Saddiq said the procedure is fast and two schools can share a machine.

A machine belongs to a school but two centres can use one machine, it doesnt take time. We have already mapped out our logistics.

According to him, you know why we have to deal with the scratch card issue, it became a source of leakages financially in NECO and also racketeering.

Cards are hoarded and students find it difficult to get the card and precisely because of that, prices go up, what is realised is going straight into our TSA account. As youre registering, as youre paying, it is recording on our TSA account. So it improves transparency also, he said.

While commissioning the equipment, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, said the procurement was aimed at boosting the operations of the council.

Mr Echono, who was represented by the Director, Human Resources in the ministry, Abubakar Koko, advised the management of the council to ensure that the equipment were well maintained for the benefit of humanity.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has said he would host leaders of the Lake Basin Commission to an informal security summit during his forthcoming second term inaugural ceremonies slated for June 12 in Abuja.

President Buhari made this known during a bilateral meeting with the Chadian president, Idris Deby, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, on the sidelines of the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Saturday.

Mr Buhari said since the elections are over he would have the time to pursue the threat of terrorism with full force.

According to him, the summit is to come up with new strategies to bring to a permanent end to the Boko Haram terrorism being faced by the countries of the Lake Chad region.

Garba Shehu, the presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement said the two presidents agreed that the time has now come for the regional leaders to sit down to agree on how to change the unwinding nature of the war.

This is to achieve a sustained operation, to continue until the threat is brought to a permanent closure.

The Nigerian leader said that now that elections are over and he is now back in full force, it was time for a new way forward that removes completely the threat of terrorism from the Lake Chad sub-region.
The first lady, Aisha Buhari, has challenged security agencies to quickly end banditry and other insecurity challenges in parts of the country.

Mrs Buhari, who made the call on Saturday in Katsina while distributing relief materials to over 25,000 victims of bandits attacks, said it was necessary to degrade the criminals before they end the civil population.

The security agents should either assist to take action or allow the situation continue until bandits finished killing our people, she said.

Mrs Buhari said all well-meaning Nigerians should talk on things that were going wrong in the country, so as to elicit necessary action.

We are not supposed to be here giving rice, milk and others items to victims of an incident during Ramadan period.

We should not keep silent while things are happening, thinking that if something happens today it will not happen tomorrow.

What happened today, will happen tomorrow, it will also happen next tomorrow if we keep silent.

It is compulsory to speak the truth, it is not proper for us to give highest number of votes during the general elections and allow bandits continue killing people and keep quiet.

We must speak on whatever is going wrong in the country, she said.

Mrs Buhari said she and wives of the former governors of Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom (Godswill Akpabio), were among those who donated the relief materials to the victims.

Earlier, the district head of Katsina, Aminu Abdulmumini, thanked Mrs Buhari for the gesture.

He called on the government to intensify efforts toward addressing the menace.

These people need assistance, but they want the government to address the situation to enable them continue with their normal life.

Almost on daily basis, we hear sound of Nigerian Air Force fighter jets, yet, bandits are killing people, we dont know what is happening, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that items distributed by Mrs Buhari included rice, milk, sugar and clothes among others to no fewer than 25,988 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The IDPs were from Batsari, Kurfi, Faskari, Danmusa, Jibia, Safana, Kankara local government areas among others.

(NAN)
At least 60,000 candidates on Saturday sat for the Computer Based Test (CBT) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recruitment exercise in the country.

Isaiah Inuwa, Chief Operating Officer Corporate Services, said this to reporters while monitoring some of the CBT centres in Abuja.

He said the exam was ongoing in about 94 centers in 22 states.

This is fantastic, you can see everything is going on well. We have two centres here and you see the orderly way people are being screened for accreditation.

What you see here is ongoing in about 94 centres in 22 states across the federation.

This is another way the corporation is showing transparency in carrying out its activities and this has also given Nigerians the opportunity to hold their leaders accountable.

All the candidates are scheduled with time. Some 8 a.m., some 9 a.m., and the questions are not the same because they are computer generated, he said.

He said that the corporation, in collaboration with some institutions, worked to ensure the success of the programme.

NAN observed that at the various centres while some had finished the test, others were waiting and some were being accredited.

Some of the candidates who spoke to NAN said the process had been transparent so far.

Nkwouh Charles, a candidate at Sascon International School center in Maitama said: The process was smooth, we were identified and given accreditation. There was no confusion here and they started in good time.

I wrote for graduate category and I am just coming out from the exam hall. I am very hopeful, he said.

Abraham Joshua, at JC Best International School centre Life camp, said that apart from not starting in good time, accreditation was fast and okay.

I commended the NNPC for this, this is the first time I have been invited for an interview since I have been applying for jobs.

I do not know anybody but short listing me in the first place gave me hope that this process will work.

I believe that since I have gotten to this stage that I will be successful. I am very hopeful, he added.

But Tunji Ade at the same centre who was supposed to write at 10 a.m. but as at 11.30 a.m. had not gotten accreditation frowned at the delay.

Nobody had told us anything but I learnt that they did not start early here.

I will wait until it is my turn but I am not happy with the delay in time, he said.

Armed security personnel were present at the various centres visited within the FCT.

(NAN)
The United States Embassy, on Friday, honored a 83-year-old Muslim cleric, Abdullahi Abubakar, who saved many Christians during an attack in Yelwan Gindi Akwati, Swei and Nghar villages in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State

The U.S. government awarded Mr Abubakar the Ambassadors Peacemaker Award for Heroism in an interfaith dialogue at the U.S. Embassy Consular, Abuja.

Mr Abubakar is now widely celebrated as a hero and peace-builder, together with his deputy, Nghar Yelwa. They both saved over 200 Christian neighbours on June 23, 2018.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, received the clergy at the Presidential Villa, on Thursday, describing him as a hero and deserving of honor.

Mr Osinbajo also urged politicians to avoid using religion and tribal sentiments to cause havoc and division among the people.

In his remarks, the American Ambassador, Stuart Symington, said the people of Barkin Ladi got protection from the mosque which was built on the piece of land they voluntary donated.

Years ago the people of a village in Plateau gave a piece of land freely to the Muslims to build a mosque,

They planted in their love that moment a seed, and that seed grew into a tree and in the arms of that tree, when the winds blew and when the storm came, the people had a shed.

The U.S Ambassador said the lesson learned from the clergy is for all mankind.

The lesson from this Imam the people is not just for Nigeria, but for all mankind. One family, one race and love, he added.

The U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, David Young, who announced the end of his three years service in Nigeria, urged Nigerians to turn peace to reality and translate peace from words to action.

Imam Abdullahis Award from U.S. Ambassador. (Photo credit: US Embassy Abuja)

There are things to learn from the story, that peace should be turned to reality and also translate peace from words to action.

Imams Experience

In his remarks at the reception with Mr Osinbajo, Mr Abubakar, who spoke through an interpreter, Sani Muhammed, thanked the vice president, noting that he did not want it publicised.

He added that God chose him to do what he did.

His interpreter narrated what happened on that day.

It happened on a Saturday, after the mid-afternoon prayers at about 4 pmthat was when the attack occurred.

After the prayers, we started hearing some gunshots, we encouraged people to come in, women men and children to all come in, we closed the doors so everyone can come in, we then opened just one door.

The attackers surrounded the mosques, they were trying to force the door open, we then overheard them (attackers) saying there are Berom and Christians who were in the mosque.

Imam Abdullahis Award from U.S. Ambassador. (Photo credit: US Embassy Abuja) Imam Abdullahis Award from U.S. Ambassador. (Photo credit: US Embassy Abuja)

After we heard the attackers were targetting the Beroms and Christians in the community, we came out of the window and asked why do they want to harm the people who kept refuge in the house of God.

Soon we heard some of the attackers had gone to the imams house; trying to gain access to his home because some people were also taking refuge at that time, the Imam told his son to guard the mosque.

And when I got to the Imams home, I met him, trying to protect his home from being attacked by the perpetrators, I saw him fall on the ground  it had rained during the day and the ground was muddy

The Imam risked his life. He told the attackers at some point that they had to kill him first before harming his guests and it went on for about four hours  we also informed them not go ahead and destroy the peoples crops.

The attackers asked all the women to come out, that they did not want to harm them, but the Imam said No. The ploy was to know who was a Muslim and who was a Christian.

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The wives then donated their clothes and hijab to the people, saying if it comes to that, we would all go (die) with them. When that did not work, they said they were going to set the house ablaze that was when the Imam went down and said kill me first.

Those that were in the mosque had to stay there for five days, they were fed and taken care of.

Mr Muhammed said when officials of the U.S. mission visited the home of the Imam, they interviewed his wives, who corrobated the account.
President Muhammadu Buhari has passed a vote of confidence on the intervention programmes of the various institutions under the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for the impact they are making on Nigeria and other African countries.

President Buhari, who read the collective statement of African countries at the 14th Summit of the OIC in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, commended the interventions of the Islamic Development Bank, IDB, in key sectors such as agriculture, trade and investment.

In the statement read in the early hours of Saturday, President Buhari said:

The robust interventions of the various OIC Institutions and principally the Islamic Development Bank Group, have been effective in such key sectors as trade and investment, agriculture, rural development and food security, science, technology and innovation, poverty alleviation as well as women and youth empowerment.

In the specific case of Nigeria, the President acknowledged the support of OIC Member States in countering the menace of terrorism and armed criminality in West Africa, the Lake Chad area and the Sahel Countries.

In particular, Nigeria acknowledges the support of OIC Member States in countering the menace of terrorism and armed criminality in West Africa, the Lake Chad area and the Sahel Countries. We appreciate their contributions in the alleviation of the humanitarian crisis arising from the insurgency but urge them to do more.

We appreciate their contributions in the alleviation of the humanitarian crisis arising from the insurgency but urge them to do more, said the President.

President Buhari also commended OIC institutions for supporting development projects aimed at achieving rapid socio-economic development in Nigeria.

He highlighted the Inter-Water Basic transfer, aimed at recharging the Lake Chad, the National Food Security Programme, the Second Niger Bridge, various roads and school rehabilitation projects as some projects in Nigeria that have attracted the support of OIC institutions.

On issues of concurrent global significance, President Buhari said the African members of the OIC were pleased with renewed efforts by the organization for the restoration of the national rights of the Palestinians and other long-standing unresolved conflicts.

The president, however, noted that many OIC member states were grappling with serious security problems, including terrorism, violent extremism and armed criminality.

The Nigerian leader said some of these challenges have assumed grave dimensions in recent times and required serious and coordinated approach for lasting solutions.

In addition to the core issue of the restoration of the national rights of the Palestinians and other long-standing unresolved conflicts, we now grapple with serious security problems, represented by the destructive activities of terrorists, violent extremists and armed criminals in many of OIC Member States.

This situation has also been compounded by a series of political crises, which continue to affect a number of our countries.

In this regard, we support the actions of the OIC in seeking an early resolution to the lingering Palestinian question and the rights of the Palestinian people to an independent homeland. We equally subscribe to the various actions of the OIC in resolving the crises in Syria, Yemen and Libya.

We commend OIC engagement with other international actors in addressing the various political conflicts in the OIC region and the plight of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, he said.

President Buhari also used the occasion to express confidence that the on-going political transition in Sudan and Algeria would be concluded smoothly and peacefully.

He thanked King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud for hosting and chairing the 14th OIC Summit and the Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, whose tenure just ended for his commitment to the ideals of our Organization and his efforts in ensuring that the OIC achieves its set goals and objectives, throughout his tenure as Chairman.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that many Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states are grappling with serious security problems, including terrorism, violent extremism and armed criminality.

The president stated this when he read the collective statement of African countries at the 14th Summit of the OIC in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

In the statement read on Saturday, Mr Buhari said the situation had been compounded by a series of political crises in the affected countries.

The Nigerian leader said some of these challenges had assumed grave dimensions in recent times and required serious and coordinated approach for lasting solutions.

The president, however, noted that African members of the OIC were pleased with renewed efforts by the OIC for the restoration of the national rights of the Palestinians and other long-standing unresolved conflicts.

In this regard, we support the actions of the OIC in seeking an early resolution to the lingering Palestinian question and the rights of the Palestinian people to an independent homeland.

We equally subscribe to the various actions of the OIC in resolving the crises in Syria, Yemen and Libya, he added.

Mr Buhari commended the OICs engagement with other international actors in addressing the various political conflicts in the OIC region and the plight of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

He said: In addition to the core issue of the restoration of the national rights of the Palestinians and other long-standing unresolved conflicts, we now grapple with serious security problems, represented by the destructive activities of terrorists, violent extremists and armed criminals in many of OIC Member States.

This situation has also been compounded by a series of political crises, which continue to affect a number of our countries.

Mr Buhari commended the interventions of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in key sectors such as agriculture, trade and investment.

He also acknowledged the contributions of the OIC institutions in the alleviation of the humanitarian crisis arising from the insurgency but urged them to do more.

The president also commended OIC institutions for supporting development projects aimed at achieving rapid socio-economic development in Nigeria.

He highlighted the Inter-Water Basic transfer, aimed at recharging the Lake Chad, the National Food Security Programme, the Second Niger Bridge, various roads and school rehabilitation projects as some projects in Nigeria that had attracted the support of OIC institutions.

The Nigerian leader also used the occasion to express confidence that the ongoing political transition in Sudan and Algeria would be concluded smoothly and peacefully.

He thanked Saudi Arabias King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud for hosting and chairing the 14th OIC Summit and the Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, whose tenure just ended.

Mr Buhari saluted Mr Erdogans commitment to the ideals of the organisation and his efforts in ensuring that the OIC achieves its set goals and objectives, throughout his tenure as Chairman.

(NAN)
INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, ALHAJI MUHAMMADU INUWA YAHAYA, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS SWEARING-IN AS GOVERNOR OF GOMBE STATE ON WEDNESDAY, 29TH MAY, 2019

PROTOCOLS

I am immensely grateful to Allah (SWT) for preserving us to witness this day. I stand in humble appreciation to you all having just been sworn in as the Governor of our great state.

The journey from 2015 when we first contested for elections has been both interesting and challenging. We have been confronted with numerous hurdles but we did not despair because of our firm belief in Allah (SWT) as depicted in our campaign slogan Nasara daga Allah. We, therefore, wish to express our special thanks to the Almighty Allah for His mercies and blessings by giving us the opportunity to assume the mantle of leadership of our dear state from this moment.

Our unending gratitude goes to the good people of Gombe State who clearly spoke through the ballot and entrusted us with the onerous task of steering the affairs of the State for the next four years. We particularly salute their steadfastness and resolve by waiting for many hours in the hot sun to cast their votes and waited tirelessly to ensure that their votes counted.

I salute the leadership of our great party, APC, at all levels for the total support which led to our success in all the elections.

Let me once again thank the members of our Gubernatorial Campaign Council, the Transition Committee and the Inauguration Committee for the wonderful work they did in their various assignments that have successfully seen us reach todays milestone.

I am gratified by the united support and resilience of my fellow gubernatorial aspirants and contestants from all political parties after the primary elections and through the general elections. Your solidarity during and after the elections is truly unprecedented. May Allah reward you all.

I strongly appreciate the neutrality shown by most of our revered traditional rulers during the elections as fathers of the land. We are aware, however, that some allowed themselves to be manipulated into being partisan and therefore took sides in the elections. While this has passed, we shall take steps to ensure non-occurrence.

The prayers of our clerics have been answered as God, in His infinite mercy, made it possible for the conduct peaceful, credible, transparent and fair elections in Gombe State.

The advisory roles, moral support and guidance we received from our elders and is highly appreciated.

I must, more importantly, recognise the wholehearted support of our teeming youths who deployed everything lawful at their disposal to ensure our victory. At this juncture, permit me to particularly acknowledge the exceptional courage, commitment and enormous contributions made by our women who defied all odds by coming out en-masse to vote for the APC in spite of intimidation and threats of violence. This will remain indelible in our minds.

I would like to assure everyone that contributed in one way or the other to our success that your efforts would never be in vain as we remain determined to pull our people out of the current state of hopelessness. Let us look beyond the pain and hardship we all endured. Together we shall move our state to the next level.

Gombe State is truly endowed by the Almighty Allah in all spheres of human endeavour. We have enormous human and material resources that could be harnessed for the benefit of our people. Despite these it is sad to note that the majority of our people are living in abject poverty, devoid of the basic necessities of life.

In this era, while other states in the country are taking advantage and exploring possibilities and opportunities, we are still battling with lack of portable drinking water, inadequate medical care, epileptic power supply, dysfunctional educational system and total failure of governance thereby leaving the citizens to fend for themselves.

The report of the Transition Committee presented on 11th May, 2019, has further revealed the unpleasant picture of our state of affairs. The committee enumerated a number of worrying developments such as: huge interest-bearing debts estimated at over 110 billion naira; high drug abuse index ranking the Gombe State among the top three in the country; absence of maternal and child care; unacceptable high rate of out of school children; poor performance in basic education placing Gombe State as the 34th state in school examinations index.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we are not unmindful of our promises to the good people of Gombe State. All of us must realise, however, that our journey forward in the face of these daunting challenges will not be an easy one. But with the help of Almighty Allah we shall overcome.

This administration is determined to confront head-on all the issues bedevilling our state. We shall take advantage of all available opportunities in order to achieve the goals as outlined in our manifesto.

We shall carefully formulate policies and programmes that can easily dovetail into other interventions aimed at creating jobs for our people. Let me use this opportunity to solicit the cooperation and understanding of our people to appreciate that it is no longer going to be business as usual.

Many state and federal interventions were given in the past and a majority of the managers and beneficiaries were reported to have diverted the funds or inputs made available to them to unproductive use. The resultant effect is failure of such programmes to make any meaningful impact on the lives of the citizenry. I would, therefore, call on all of us to take up the challenge with dedication and honesty whenever these programmes are launched.

Gombe State is well known for its commercial activities. Nevertheless, over the last eight years, business activities have witnessed a downturn primarily due to the nonchalant attitude of the government. For example, benefits derivable from the local production of commodities and the value chain addition associated with this have not been encouraged despite enormous potentials. This trend must be reversed. We, therefore, call on our vibrant business men and women to take advantage of our resolve to stimulate production.

We shall also seize this opportunity to assure all investors within and outside the State of our readiness to provide an enabling environment that would make investment in Gombe State very attractive and profitable. We shall pursue meaningful and mutually beneficial public-private partnerships with the private sector in order to achieve our aims and objectives.

We are aware of the multiplicity of issues militating against the optimum performance of our civil servants. The civil service is veritable machinery for the implementation of government policies, projects and programmes. Quite a number of issues have been highlighted in the report submitted by the Transition Committee. We shall make concerted efforts to remedy the situation in order to derive the maximum benefits from a performing and functional civil service. To this end, workers welfare, promotion and provision of conducive working environment would all be addressed accordingly. However, civil servants must reciprocate this gesture by being dedicated, patriotic, selfless, prudent, honest and professional in their respective assignments. This is because they are the engine room that drives government policies, programmes and projects.

We shall overhaul the education sector to meet up the desired standard. Adequate attentionshall be given to provision of infrastructure, teaching materials and qualified teaching staff in our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. The recent deliberate proliferation of tertiary institutions in the state requires a critical assessment of their viability and their sustainability vis-a-vis the huge debt over-hung worth N110 billion.

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Therefore, we shall constitute a high-powered committee to critically review the level of establishment of the institutions with the intent of assessing their potentials and relevance to our states educational development.

Our administration will frontally tackle the perennial shortage of water supply in Gombe metropolis and other parts of the State. We would work hard to increase the capacity of the Dadin-kowa water supply scheme and enhance supply to other local government arears across the state. We shall exploit full potentials of the Balanga Dam as regard to water supply, power generation and irrigation activities.

In the meantime, the State Water Corporation is hereby directed to ensure that water is pumped and supplied to Gombe metropolis and all connected surrounding communities on a daily basis. The Ministries for Rural Development and Water Resources are to commence immediate the repairs of all broken down boreholes and hand pumps in all rural areas of the state.

Our healthcare delivery system is in a pitiable condition. We would, therefore, commence building of additional healthcare institutions, provision of medical facilities, equipment, training and retraining of healthcare personnel for better service delivery.

While provision of electricity is not an exclusive responsibility of the state government, we have noticed a steady drop in electricity supply to the state. We intend to immediately engage the Jos Electricity Distribution Company vigorously for the improvement of electricity supply all over the state.

In the meantime, we hereby implore the Company to see to the improvement of power supply as a gesture of extending the hands of friendship to us.

As the mainstay of our economy that engages over 75 per cent of our population, we would accord priority to agricultural development in efforts to diversify the economy and ensure food security. Consequent upon this, we shall ensure a timely and adequate supply of farming inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, seeds, etc. as well as provide agricultural credit facilities to our farmers.

From available information, the immediate past administration has deliberately refused to procure fertiliser and other necessary farm inputs for distribution to our farmers. I, therefore, direct the Ministry of Agriculture to work out modalities to promptly address the issue to avoid a looming but avoidable catastrophe. I urge all of us to embrace agriculture, the surest way to employment and poverty reduction in our society.

Our administration is passionate about the youth and we are determined to address all issues affecting them. The recent upsurge in unemployment, drug abuse and other delinquencies have thrown up a greater challenge to the state and its people. The administration shall deliberately address the root causes of these challenges.

No doubt, women constitute the majority of our population and they form the solid block of our electoral victory. Therefore, we shall initiate policies and programmes that would improve their skills and enhance their economic capacity.

Government would review the security architecture in the state and support our security agencies to effectively deal with security threats and ensure that law and order prevail which would guarantee the security of life and property of our citizens. I, therefore, call on the good people of Gombe State to support our security agencies in carrying out their statutory responsibilities.

Our traditional institutions and leaders are highly revered. Besides being custodians of our rich cultural heritage, traditional rulers play a vital role in the socio-economic development of the state. We shall work closely with them to promote peace and development in the state. Government would improve their welfare and statuses to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the overall development of their domains.

My fellow citizens, we are all aware of the dwindling revenue accruable to the state. I am sure you are also aware of the poor internal revenue generation coupled with bad financial management by the previous administration led to the huge debt profile. As a responsible government, we are committed to settling all legally verifiable commitments.

We must, however, enjoin ourselves to employ all costs saving measures in addition to improving the level of internal revenue generation. I will, therefore, urge all of us to be ready to make sacrifices in the days ahead.

I urge all our people to embrace the spirit of self-help, hard work, patriotism and honesty. All communities must henceforth endeavour to treat government projects and properties located in their area as their own.

Evidently, our people have learnt their lessons over the past eight years. This has been demonstrated in the way and manner they craved for change and also worked tirelessly to actualise that. We cannot, therefore, afford to go back to those dark days. It is for these reasons that I call on all our citizens to join hands with us to enable our administration actualise its programmes tailored towards making their lives more meaningful.

I would particularly like to call on our teeming youths to give us their maximum cooperation and support. You are the leaders of tomorrow. You are to prepare yourselves for that tomorrow. Nobody can do it for you. But be rest assured that we shall give you all the necessary encouragement and support in order to assist you achieve your dreams.

My dear people of Gombe State, our administration believes in cordial working relationship between the three arms and the three tiers of government. I wish to use this opportunity to assure the soon-to-be-inaugurated honourable members of the Gombe State House of Assembly of our administrations commitment and support to the legislature. I call on the honourable members to cooperate with us in our quest to develop the State.

Our administration would support the judiciary to ensure timely dispensation of justice. Those days are gone when judicial officers carry out their duties under harsh and unbearable working conditions. We will provide conducive working environment for judicial officers and staff to carry out their duties effectively.

As part of the resolve to re-engineer the local governments for purposeful service delivery, we shall take appropriate steps to ensure that local government elections are conducted to usher in elected chairmen and councillors at the earliest appropriate time in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In the meantime, in order to avoid any vacuum, secretaries of local government councils are hereby directed to take charge of the affairs of their respective local governments. We will ensure that only responsible, credible and committed men and women are appointed or elected to take charge of local government affairs. This will bring sanity in local government administration and speedy development to the rural areas.

We shall operate an open-door policy and run an all-inclusive government that would engage all parties with genuine intention to contribute to the development of the State. The geographical spread of the support and votes we have garnered is a testimony that this administration was brought by all, and for all.

We would extend our hands of friendship to all irrespective of party affiliations, so as to forge a collective and cohesive society for the benefit of the entire State. We shall pursue inclusive and transparent policies that would guaranty equal opportunities for all. We shall tolerate all shades of opinions and welcome constructive criticism from all corners.

Let me assure our people that we are aware of the last-minute massive employment into the state and local government services. We are equally aware of the reckless award of contracts embarked upon recently. We have also been alerted of the massive illegal disposals of government properties. We know of the irresponsible carving out, allocations and sale of plots of land to cronies. We know of all the atrocities being committed. Be rest assured that we shall take steps to address all illegalities. Perpetrators and illegal beneficiaries will be held to account.

In the meantime: all appointments, contracts and allocations made or entered into by the state government and local government councils from the 10th day of March, 2019 to today are hereby suspended.

On a final note, let me sound my utmost displeasure with the attitude of the immediate past administration for failing and refusing to give our teams the desired cooperation during the transition process leading to the event of today.

The arrogant behaviour was unbecoming for an administration that was supposed to serve the people. Our Transition Committee sought for interaction with government officials. It was refused. They sought for relevant documents. They were denied. The Committee had to rely on other sources of information for its report. Upon receipt of hand-over notes from the out-gone administration, we shall dig to find out the accuracy of their contents.

Your Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, l shall not conclude this address without registering our profound appreciation and thanks to our friends and well-wishers from all over the country that have found time to come and share with us this joyous occasion. Once again, I thank you all for your presence and attention.

May Allah continue to bless us all.
Ahead of Eid-el-Fitr celebration, the Plateau State Police Command says it has deployed 2,181 personnel across the state to ensure a hitch-free celebration.

Terna Tyopev, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in the state disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Jos.

Mr Tyopev, a deputy superintendent of police, said the deployment of the personnel was to ensure crime detection and prevention during the period.

To ensure a hitch-free sallah celebration in Plateau, the state police command on May 31, held a meeting with some religious leaders and other critical stakeholders.

Part of the decision reached at the meeting is the deployment of 2,181 personnel to detect and prevent crime, as well as control traffic, to ensure peaceful celebration in the state, he said.

The PPRO said the command had placed a ban on the sale and use of fireworks, knockouts, bangers and other explosives during the period.

Mr Tyopev also announced that the command had banned the operation of commercial tricycles within Jos and Bukuru metropolis during the period, adding that violators would be made to face the law.

He said plans had been concluded to divert traffic during the break to ensure free movement and therefore called on motorists to park their vehicles 100 meters away from the Eid grounds.

The PPRO called on residents of the state to cooperate with the police to ensure peaceful celebration, just as he urged them to report any suspicious movements in their communities. (NAN)
The Kaduna State Police Command said it had arrested no fewer than 12 members of the Shia Islamic Movement in Nigeria, for allegedly staging unlawful procession in Kaduna.

The Command Public Public Relation Officer, Yakubu Sabo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday that the suspects conducted the act in spite of total ban on public procession imposed by the Kaduna State Government.

According to Mr Sabo, the alleged illegal action took place at about 2:30 p.m. along the central area of Kaduna metropolis.

The command mobilised operatives to disperse the unlawful assembly, however, on sighting the police, they instantly became riotous and started pelting the security agents with catapults, using some sharp lethal iron bolts to attack our operatives.

This gives the impression that the procession was planned to be violent from the onset.

The police succeeded in dispersing the group and have arrested about a dozen who are now being investigated at the Commands SCIID.

We have maintained normalcy and will not allow any person or group of persons to take law into their hands, he said.

He noted that the Kaduna State government had proscribed the organisation, as such it is the responsibility of police as an enforcement agency to ensure compliance in accordance with the extant laws.

(NAN)
The management of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has appointed Ibrahim Shawai as its new head of corporate communication.

The company said the appointment is part of its plan to rebrand the image of the company through strategies aimed at giving maximum satisfaction to all KEDCO stakeholders.

Mr Shawai, a member of five professional bodies including the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, was appointed through a letter signed by Jamilu Gwamna, the managing director of the company on Friday.

The KEDCO boss tasked Mr Shawai as the new head of the corporate communications unit to map out strategies to reshape the image and identity of the company.

Mr Shawai, who was born on Feb 26, 1974, graduated from Bayero University, Kano with a degree in Mass Communication in 1999. He bagged a masters degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy in 2010 from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The new KEDCO image-maker was also trained at the DW Radio Academy, Germany, where he obtained an International Certificate for Journalism in 2002.

Mr Shawai has operated as a media consultant and analyst.

He has worked with several organisations both at the national and international levels.

Prior to his appointment, Mr Shawai served in the following capacities: as Senior Special Assistant to the Kano State Government on Societal Re-orientation Programme; Gombe State Correspondent, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN); Information Officer, Kano State Ministry of Information; News Editor, Programme Producer/Presenter, DW Radio Bonn, Germany; Senior Manager, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); Executive Assistant, Dantata Foods and Allied Products Ltd; Media Consultant with Compass Media and Communication Consult.

Mr Shawai has undertaken several leadership training courses and attended a number of local and international conferences on image making, peace and development, radio and television production and good governance.

Reacting to his appointment, Mr Shawai said he was happy with the decision of the management of KEDCO for deeming him worthy of the position.

He pledged to leverage his experience to better the image of KEDCO through image re-branding measures.

Having been a believer of team work for years, I hope to work with everyone in a team-like manner to achieve the objectives of the company and mandate, as expected. So, I look forward to working with highly motivated and team-oriented individuals to energize our efforts of growing KEDCOs revenue through good communicative means.

In an ever-changing world like ours, we would strive as a team to maintain the credible reputation of KEDCO as well as create a favorable working environment for the company to grow its potential according to the companys set vision and objectives.
The chairman of the Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission, Perekeme Bertola, has resigned his appointment.

The local council election in Bayelsa is scheduled to take place on August 10, less than two months from now.

Mr Bertola is said to have suddenly tendered his resignation letter on Friday to the state governor, Seriake Dickson.

The Bayelsa government confirmed the development through a press statement issued by the state commissioner for information, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, who said Governor Dickson has accepted Mr Bertolas resignation.

The statement quoted Mr Iworiso-Markson as saying that the local election would still go on despite Mr Bertolas resignation.

The commission are in quorum to carry on with the business of conducting a hitch-free council polls, the statement said. The most senior member of the commission will take charge in acting capacity, pending the appointment of a substantive chairman.

The information commissioner said Mr Bertola and members of his family were harassed, intimidated, and threatened by opposition politicians in the state.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bayelsa, similarly said the head of the election commission resigned because of threats from opposition politicians.

Investigations our party conducted into this sudden development revealed shockingly that Dr. Perekeme (Bertola) and members of his family were threatened by members of the opposition political parties who lack the capacity to win any free and fair electoral contest in Bayelsa, the state PDP chairman, Moses Cleopas, said on Saturday in a statement.

Mr Cleopas urged the state government to go ahead with the scheduled election.

He also asked security agencies in the state to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mr Bertolas resignation.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is the main opposition party in the oil-rich state.

Meanwhile, the second term administration of Governor Dickson comes to end soon as a general election in Bayelsa is scheduled for November 16, about five months from now.
The Imo State governor, Emeka Ihedioha, has appointed Uche Onyeagocha to serve as Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

The information was contained in a release signed by the governors Chief Press Secretary, Chibuike Onyeukwu, and made available to journalists in Owerri on Saturday.

Mr Onyeukwu said the governor also appointed Chris Okewulonu and Chima Nwana to serve as Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff respectively.

Also appointed was Chinemerem Madu, a lawyer, to serve as Chief of Protocol.

Mr Onyeukwu, who said that the appointments were made on merit, added that all the appointees had significant cognate experience in management and administration.

Onyeagocha, a lawyer, studied at the University of Calabar as well as Rivers State University of Science and Technology where he graduated with degrees in History and Law respectively. He is also certified by various foreign institutions.

He was a member of the Federal House of Representatives (2003  2007), where he represented Owerri federal constituency, a pro-democracy campaigner and ardent human rights activist.

He has held the position of Special Adviser on Policy and Strategic Matters to the Imo State governor. He was one of the leaders of Campaign for Democracy, Democratic Alternative, Civil Liberties Organisation and United Action for Democracy that led to the return of democracy in 1999.

Chief Okewulonu, a legal practitioner by training, has held key positions of trust in government. He was a member of Imo House of Assembly, former commissioner in the state and former Secretary to Imo State government.

He was later appointed the federal commissioner representing the South-East in Fiscal Responsibility Commission Abuja. A tested and experienced public administrator, he hails from Obowo LGA.

Barr. Nwana was trained in the leading institutions, including the University of Nigeria, (LL.B); Thames Valley University U.K.,(Post Graduate Certificate); the Management School London, ; ILO Training Institute, Turin Italy.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC), a Maritime Law Consultant, chartered mediator and governance expert.

He has diverse public service experience, previously serving variously as Special Assistant to the Federal Ministers of Commerce & Industry as well as Employment, Labour & Productivity.

He has also been a member of key Federal Government Committees including Presidential Committee on Maritime Security, Ministerial Committee on Cabotage, Trade Policy Review and Ministerial Committee on National Transport Commission. He hails from Ideato North LGA.

Mr Chinemerem Madu holds a B.Sc and MBA Degrees from the University of Lagos. He was the 2nd Best Graduating Student (MBA 2006) and President, MBA Students Association.

He became the PDP Chairman, Ezinihitte LGA in 2009, and was re-elected in 2016, a position he holds till date.

He also has robust experience from his stint in the banking sector and at various levels of corporate executive management, the statement read.

Mr Onyeukwu expressed hope that the appointees would bring their vast experience to bear in their respective positions, while urging Imo residents to cooperate with the Ihedioha administration.

(NAN)
The police in Lagos have confirmed the death of a 34-year old student of Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu Campus, Joseph Mayowa, who allegedly committed suicide after a misunderstanding with his lover.

Bala Elkana, the Lagos police spokesperson, said in a statement Friday that the deceased took a poisonous chemical called sniper in his house at the Eyita area, Ikorodu.

Mr Mayowa was a part-time student of the Department of Hospitality Management Technology. He died in the early hours of Friday.

According to Mr Elkana, the police station at Shagamu road, Ikorodu, received an information that Mr Mayowa drank sniper after a misunderstanding with his lover, Bolaji Olokodana

Ms Olokodana, 24, who graduated from LASPOTECH, was with the deceased when he died, the police said.

He was rushed to hospital by his neighbours following an alarm raised by his girlfriend, but eventually died.

In the statement of his girlfriend, she told police investigators that herself and the deceased dated for nine years, Mr Elkana said.

The deceased is fond of beating her. While she was with the deceased in his room, they had a quarrel and he as usual, resorted into physical violence.

Miss Olokodana ran into the rest room to avoid further beating from the deceased. On her return, she found him gasping for breath with an empty bottle of sniper beside him.

The corpse of Mr Mayowa has been deposited at the General hospital mortuary for autopsy.

Investigation is still on to determine whether the death is a suicide case or murder, the police said.
Some members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State have recommended sanctions for the immediate past governor of the state for allegedly orchestrating the poor performance of the party in recent elections in the state.

They said Mr Fayoses alleged domineering posture and high handedness in running the affairs of party without consultation caused the partys defeat during the July 14, 2018, governorship election and the general elections in 2019.

The call has met a strong opposition from the state working committee which has distanced itself from the decision of the stakeholders.

The state working committee has insisted that the conclusions and recommendations of the meeting were ineffective since it was not involved in calling the meeting.

Mr Fayose had supported his deputy, Kolapo Olusola, to succeed him, against the wishes of some stakeholders of the party in the run up to the governorship election won by the APCs Kayode Fayemi.

Some members of the PDP had to abandon the party for the APC, thereby weakening the strength of the party in contending for the office.

The stakeholders who met Ifaki Ekiti on Friday, comprising former members of the house of representatives under the party, serving house of assembly members and party members across the 16 local government of 177 wards in Ekiti State, reached the decision, after considering a report of the State Repositioning Committee of the PDP set up to reappraise the situation of the party and how to move it forward.

The party leaders said that Mr Fayoses divide and rule tactics to maximise his selfish interest destabilised the state assembly, resulting in the partys loss of control of the local governments.

They called on the partys National Working Committee to check and sanction Mr Fayose, for his alleged campaign against the partys senatorial candidate, Biodun Olujimi, during the last National Assembly election.

The allegations were also contained in the report of the State Repositioning Committee presented to the partys stakeholders, which was signed by its chairman, Kehinde Odebunmi and secretary, Oladipo Ebenezer.

They blamed the state working committee for allowing itself to be controlled by the former governor to the detriment of the collective interest of members, and urged aggrieved members to return with a promise that they would henceforth be treated fairly.

In the communique signed by Jimi Oke, they also accused Mr Fayose of imposing candidates on the party.

We submit that imposition of candidate in our party, PDP, is inimical to the progress our party, the communique read.

That this has bred indiscipline among members and has caused low morale among the discipline members.

That the former governor, Ayo Fayose, campaigned against the PDP and its candidate in the last election and he has not been checked or sanctioned by the partys NWC.

That the stakeholders resolved that the status of the party secretariat which is under construction should be disclosed by the SWC of our party to all party members in Ekiti State.

That the PDP, as all are aware, is the party to beat in Ekiti State but has to be restructured and allow discipline to remain supreme.

But the state working committee has denounced the meeting, saying the stakeholders meeting was not properly constituted.

There cannot be a stakeholders meeting unless it is called by the state working committee, the state Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, said.

The state working committee is the only organ of the party in the state that can call a stakeholders meeting, so that decisions reached at the meeting could be implemented.

We are aware of the meeting, but unless they transmit to us the opinion expressed at the meeting, there is no way it can amount to anything.

Mr Adebayo disagreed with the decision of the stakeholders to blame Mr Fayose for the woes of the party in the state.

He said the partys critical stakeholders had been carried along with several meetings held to iron out the issues facing the party, adding that the conclusions of the meeting were wrong.

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It is true that those who met are members of the party, but the basis of the meeting will not make meaning unless the state working committee is involved, added Mr Adebayo.

He denied that the party was divided given that there is only a single state working committee as the organ of leadership of the party in the state.

Meanwhile, some members of the PDP in Ekiti State have left the party to join the All Progressives Congress.

Olakunle Ojo, a House of Representatives aspirant of the PDP in the last election, on Friday led his supporters to the APC.

He said he took the decision because the PDP had betrayed the people and could no longer be a good vehicle to advance his political ambition and that of his followers.

The politician was received by the APC State Deputy Chairman, Sola Elesin; the APC chairman, Ado Local Government, Mike Akinleye and the chairman of Ward 11, Adegoke on behalf of the State Working Committee.

Speaking on behalf of the SWC, Mr Elesin said the 2022 governorship election would be a walkover for the party when Mr Fayemi completes the implementation of his 4-cardinal agenda.

He said the governor could only achieve this if the ruling party enjoyed stability and unity of purpose among members .

The leader of the defectors is an illustrious son of Ado Ekiti. His father served Ado Ekiti and Ekiti in general. So, he will add value to us, he said.

We dont recognise factions in APC. We are one and indivisible entity, so dont create crisis, because we are all equal.

Dont discriminate against anybody, the new and old members are one. Our government has begun youth empowerment like; the Ekiti State Peace corps, Social Security Scheme for the elderly, among others, we want to tell you that all the new joiners will enjoy the same privileges like the old members.
Irate students of the Osun State Polytechnic at Iree on Saturday set the school clinic and medical equipment ablaze over the death of one of their colleagues.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the timely intervention of the schools security officials prevented the fire from spreading to other buildings in the school.

It was learnt that one Aminu Hammed, a Higher National Diploma student of the institutions Department of Applied Chemistry, slumped in the examination hall on Friday and was rushed to the school clinic, where he later died.

The protesting students, who stormed the clinic on Saturday morning, alleged that there was no medical personnel at the clinic to attend to Hammed when he was rushed to the clinic.

During the protest, the schools ambulance, drugs, and equipment in the clinic were set ablaze by the students.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the school, Tope Abiola, said that apart from the burnt clinic, property worth millions of naira were also destroyed by the students.

Mr Abiola said drugs, equipment, vehicles as well as medical facilities were razed.

Defence

He, however, said it was not true that there was no medical personnel to attend to Hammed when he was brought to the clinic.

Mr Abiola said that when Hammed was rushed to the school clinic at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, medical personnel on duty made frantic efforts to resuscitate him but to no avail.

He said that Hammed was immediately referred to another hospital in the town where he later died.

It is very shocking to us that the institution would lose such a precious soul.

He slumped shortly after writing his examination in the hall and he was immediately rushed to the school clinic.

He was a Muslim and he was observing the Ramadan fasting.

He would have slumped, due to loss of stamina. He was buried on Friday evening in his hometown, Obaagun, community close to Iree. We sympathise with his family and we pray to God to console them.

Mr Abiola said to forestall breakdown of law and order on campus, the schools management had ordered the immediate closure of the institution.

He said that all students had been directed to vacate the campus with immediate effect.

(NAN)
West Bends Aluminum Penquin Hot and Cold Server with wood trim, initially patented in 1941 and again in 1944, was designed by West Bend employee Alfred F. Ramsthal and later updated by R. N. Kirchner. Throughout its history, the servers name has been associated with its embossed band of parading penguins.

Production stopped during World War II and returned in the 1950s, when the server was also offered in chrome and stainless steel with wood or plastic handles.

Although frequently described as an ice bucket, the penguin server was advertised as a party piece that could be used to keep hot dishes hot as well as frozen deserts and ice cream frozen. From the 1940s through the 1960s, it often was considered a necessity at cocktail parties, buffets, barbecues and picnics.

Popular with folks who reminisce about their family and childhoods, many Penguin Hot and Cold Servers are passed down as treasured heirlooms or searched for at collectibles markets.

Buyers look for a like-new, functional server with its original rubber seal intact. Although most present asking prices range from $20 to $60, many servers can be purchased for $30 to $40. Chrome-plated models in excellent condition often bring $50 to $95.

Alyce Hand Benham is an antiques broker, appraiser and estate-liquidation specialist. Send questions to: Alyce Benham, Living section, The Press of Atlantic City, 1000 W. Washington Ave., Pleasantville, NJ 08232. Email: treasuresby alyce81@hotmail.com. Letters may be used in future columns but cannot be answered individually, and photos cannot be returned.
VINELAND  City officials are warning residents about the consequences of illegal dumping after a delivery business was fined $2,500 for leaving its trash on West Chestnut Avenue.

During a May 22 hearing in Municipal Court, Lynell Collins of Infinity Loads took responsibility for dumping the trash from deliveries he had made in the area, according to a news release from the city. He also has to pay court fees.

Authorities investigating trailer fire at Dennis Township campground DENNIS TOWNSHIP  Authorities are investigating after two trailers caught fire Wednesday mor

In late April, a load of cardboard and other packing material was found on West Chestnut Avenue, according to the release, and officials determined several of the items had been delivered to a home in Pleasantville.

The residents at the Pleasantville location were sent a summons and fully cooperated with the investigation, Vineland Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bordley said. As a result, two companies were subsequently issued summonses for dumping violations, FSA Logistics of Swedesboro and Innovel Solutions of Logan Township.

Complaints against Innovel Solutions and the Pleasantville homeowner were dismissed, according to the release.

Vineland Mayor Anthony Fanucci said vigorous enforcement is important to stop illegal dumping.
PLEASANTVILLE  State Police arrested four local residents this week they believe burglarized multiple Dunkin locations across the state.

Aaqib James, 40, and Altovise James, 40, both of Pleasantville, Rasheedah Blackwell, 40, of Atlantic City, and Naeem Reynolds, 28, of Egg Harbor Township, were charged with burglary, theft, criminal trespass, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy.

Troopers linked the group to the criminal activity after a three-week investigation that began with a burglary May 7 at the Upper Pittsgrove Township Dunkin' on Route 40 in Salem County.

Troopers say the suspects broke in through the drive-through window and stole cash. Video surveillance of the incident also showed a black SUV police believe was involved.

Pleasantville man injured in apartment fire PLEASANTVILLE  A city man was airlifted to the hospital after a fire broke out in a first-f

State Police said video surveillance shows the same suspects and SUV at burglaries of several other Dunkin' stores in Salem, Gloucester, Ocean and Morris counties.

Police said Blackwell is the registered owner of the SUV.

On Tuesday, authorities executed multiple search warrants in Pleasantville, Atlantic City and Egg Harbor Township and arrested all four suspects, seizing cash and other items.
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  Atlantic City International Airport is getting $400,456 in grant money for a de-icing facility.

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker announced Friday afternoon that the airport will receive a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration for the construction of the facility.

The money is in addition to $8 million the airport will receive in federal funding for the facility, which was announced May 14.

SJTA approves plan to move endangered bird grassland from airport HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  The South Jersey Transportation Authority moved one step closer Friday t

These important federal investments not only help ensure the safety of air travelers but stimulate our local economy and create new jobs, Menendez said. Modernizing our aging infrastructure helps keep our state economically competitive.

Morristown Municipal Airport also will receive $7,021,659 for runway safety improvements, the senators said in a news release.

This federal investment is another example of our shared commitment to restoring New Jerseys aging infrastructure, Booker said.

By investing in the Morristown and Atlantic City airports, we are not only keeping travelers safe and moving, but also strengthening New Jerseys economy.

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Trafficking victims could come into a hospital or doctors office for any number of reasons, from assault, prenatal care and routine checkups to mental health services and addiction treatment, Hunt said. And 87.8% of victims report having contact with a health care provider while they are being trafficked.

Mays Landing human trafficking case to go before grand jury HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  A grand jury will decide whether the Mays Landing man accused of holding

However, of the almost 5,700 hospitals across the U.S., only 60 have a plan for treating patients who are being trafficked and 95% percent of emergency room personnel arent trained to treat trafficking victims, he added.

Asking the right questions, like what type of work they do, whether theyre being paid and whether they could leave their job if they wanted to are all ways for providers to figure out whether their patient is a victim, according to the state human trafficking website, which Hunt had blown up to poster size and positioned around the room.

They also can look for patients who dont speak on their own behalf, instead looking at an uncle to speak for them, bruises or other signs of physical abuse, and fear or depression.
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.




Grow-NY is an unprecedented business competition focused on enhancing the emerging food and agriculture innovation cluster currently present in the Finger Lakes, Central New York, and the Southern Tier regions. It will attract high-growth food and agriculture startups from around the world and engage them in the region's rapidly expanding startup and innovation ecosystem. Entrants will compete to win up to $1 million each year during the program's initial three-year run, with finalists pitching their ideas and business plans in November as they compete for the grand prize.

"New York's agricultural industry is one of the best in world, and the Grow-NY competition will attract innovative start-ups focused on this industry to put down roots in Upstate New York," Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said. "By bringing in new companies to find new ways to transform our state's food and agricultural industry, we are continuing to bolster these regional economies and foster growth in this critical industry statewide."

Empire State Development is funding the competition through its Upstate Revitalization Initiative, and Cornell University's Center for Regional Economic Advancement will administer it. Winners will be required to operate in the Grow-NY region, grow jobs, connect with local industry partners and contribute to a thriving Upstate economy.

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul helped share the news today with the official launch of the program. Applications are open for the start of its year-one application period, which runs through July 15.

"New York has among the best food products in the world, and the agricultural industry is an important part of our upstate economy," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, who made today's announcement. "Continuing to build on our investments in agriculture, we've launched the Grow NY competition to fund and support startups in the industry. We are committed to fostering innovative ideas, boosting job growth, and promoting our farms and agricultural products that will further strengthen the economy."

The Grow-NY region includes a broad swath of Upstate New York's most vibrant farmlands as well as several major urban centers, including Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca and Binghamton.

In all, it includes 22 counties, broken down into three regions, as follows:

Finger Lakes  Genesee , Livingston , Monroe , Orleans, Ontario , Seneca , Wayne , Wyoming and Yates

, , , , , , and Central New York  Cayuga , Cortland , Madison , Onondaga and Oswego

 , , , and Southern Tier  Broome , Chemung , Chenango , Delaware , Schuyler , Steuben , Tioga and Tompkins

The competition is anticipated to produce up to 20 finalists who will receive:

Dedicated mentorship from a hand-selected business advisor;

Additional pitch training to hone their live pitches for the judges;

An expenses-paid, three-day business development trip to the Grow-NY region for up to two finalists per team; and

Networking introductions, business tours with potential partners, and valuable appointments for finalist team representatives.

Finalists will pitch their ideas and business plans at the Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit on Nov. 12 and 13 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center.

In each of the next three years, Grow-NY will award a total of $3 million in prize money to seven winners, all payable in stages, based on business milestones. This includes a $1 million top prize, two $500,000 prizes, and four $250,000 in prizes. Tax incentives will also be included.

"A panel of judges will review all of the applications, and all finalists will pitch their business ideas and plans to a live audience and judges during the final competition phase," explained Tom Schryver, executive director of Cornell University's Center for Regional Economic Advancement. "Each pitch will be followed by a brief question-and-answer period. After all pitches are complete, the judges will announce the winners."

Judges will base award decisions on the following five criteria:

Viability of Commercialization and Business Model  the potential for the entrant to generate revenue and maintain a cost structure that allows for a competitive and sustainable business, demonstrate technological readiness, or innovate to fulfill its value proposition;

Customer Value  the degree to which the entrant is providing something for which customers are willing to pay, and addressing a substantial market;

Food and Agriculture Innovation  the extent to which the entrant is pushing what's considered state-of-the-art in the food and agriculture industries, and contributing to Upstate NY's status as a global leader in innovation in these markets;

Regional Job Creation  the potential for creating high-quality jobs in the Grow-NY footprint; and

Team  the quality and completeness of the team and its readiness to deliver.

Many of the region's top food and agriculture leaders were part of today's announcement, including Wegmans Food Markets, Constellation Brands and the Farm Bureau of New York, along with LiDestri Food and Drink, whose widely acclaimed Innovation Center served as the host site for the event.

"It is a great opportunity for our organizations to come together to support an innovative approach on reaching agricultural entrepreneurs. The farm community has long relied on Cornell's cutting-edge research and business development to support what we do, and this region's startups will benefit from this unique competition. Innovation will drive the future of agriculture, and today's event is a welcomed effort to capitalize on that potential," said David Fisher, New York Farm Bureau President.

To learn more about the competition's details, including timeline, prize details, eligibility and residency requirements, visit grow-ny.com

About Empire State Development

Empire State Development (ESD) promotes a vigorous and growing state economy, encourages business investment and job creation, and supports diverse, prosperous local economies across New York State through the efficient use of loans, grants, tax credits, real estate development, marketing and other forms of assistance. To learn more about ESD visit esd.ny.gov.

About the Cornell Center for Regional Economic Advancement

The Cornell Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) supports economic impact in Upstate New York through entrepreneurship and innovation. We help people advance ideas that will create jobs in all fields in our region, to enrich the area's economic diversity. To learn more, visit crea.cornell.edu.

Media Inquiries:

Contact Alyssa Weir, The Martin Group, [email protected], 585.433.2549

SOURCE Center for Regional Economic Advancement, Cornell University
WILSONVILLE, Ore., June 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Avamere Family of Companies, a leading senior living and healthcare company, is pleased to welcome a short-term skilled nursing community in Albuquerque, New Mexico as of June 1, 2019.

"We're thrilled to offer Avamere's services to the people of Albuquerque," said Matt Hilty, Executive Vice President of Avamere Living. "We're excited to offer seniors with the highest level of care they need, as we work to fulfill our mission to enhance the lives of every person we serve."

The Avamere Family of Companies, a leading senior living and healthcare company, is pleased to welcome a short-term skilled nursing community in Albuquerque, New Mexico as of June 1, 2019.

The community, which will be called Avamere Rehabilitation at Fiesta Park, offers a 24-hour staff and engaging activities to keep residents physically and mentally active. Some of these activities include exercise classes and group games.

The building features 75 private rooms, outdoor patios, a large therapy gym, a salon, and a bistro that serves a variety of beverages, including Starbucks coffee.

Avamere Rehabilitation at Fiesta Park is adjacent to the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, offering residents a view of the hot air balloons during this nine-day event.

The Avamere Family of Companies is proud to welcome the current residents and employees at Avamere Rehabilitation at Fiesta Park. Avamere is also welcoming many therapy staff currently serving the facility to their partner company, Infinity Rehab. Residents will have access to Infinity Rehab's therapy services, including occupational, physical, and speech-language therapy.

Please contact Avamere Rehabilitation at Fiesta Park to schedule a tour.

About the Avamere Family of Companies

Founded in 1995 and based in Wilsonville, Oregon, the Avamere Family of Companies provides assisted living, independent living, memory care, rehabilitation, home care, transitional care and more. Today Avamere operates 64 communities with more than 8,800 employees. Avamere is proud to be considered one of Oregon's most admired companies as they continue to serve their valued patients and residents. For more information, please visit avamere.com.

Avamere Family of Companies

25115 SW Parkway Ave, Suite B

Wilsonville, OR 97070

For press inquiries, please email [email protected].

Related Images

avamere-at-fiesta-park.jpg

Avamere at Fiesta Park

The Avamere Family of Companies, a leading senior living and healthcare company, is pleased to welcome a short-term skilled nursing community in Albuquerque, New Mexico as of June 1, 2019.

Related Links

Website

Facebook

SOURCE Avamere Health Services

Related Links

http://www.avamere.com


VANCOUVER, May 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (the "Company") - (TSX: ITH) (NYSE American: THM) announces the results from its 2019 Annual General Meeting of shareholders held in Vancouver, B.C. on Thursday, May 30, 2019 ("Meeting").

At the Meeting, the Company's shareholders fixed the size of the board at seven and elected the following individuals as directors of the Company, with all receiving a majority of the votes cast, as follows:

Director Votes For Votes Withheld Damola Adamolekun 101,567,177 (76.68%) 30,894,559 (23.32%) Anton J. Drescher 94,272,585 (71.17%) 38,189,151 (28.83%) Karl L. Hanneman 102,381,153 (77.29%) 30,080,583 (22.71%) Stuart A. Harshaw 131,898,249 (99.57%) 563,487 (0.43%) Marcelo Kim 101,518,153 (76.64%) 30,943,583 (23.36%) Stephen A. Lang 102,331,176 (77.25%) 30,130,560 (22.75%) Thomas S. Weng 131,876,803 (99.56%) 584,933 (0.44%)

The shareholders re-appointed the current auditors, Davidson & Company LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditors of the Company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019 and authorized the directors to fix their remuneration.

The shareholders approved, on an advisory non-binding basis ("Say on Pay"), the compensation paid to the Company's executive officers (94.25% majority) and a 99.23% majority of the shareholders were in favor of holding Say on Pay votes every year.

The detailed proxy voting on all resolutions submitted to the shareholders at the Meeting is contained in the "Report of Voting Results" for the Meeting which will be available under the Company's profile on SEDAR and on the Company's website or upon request by contacting the Company at 1-855-428-2825.

About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. controls 100% of the Livengood Gold Project located along the paved Elliott Highway, 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

On behalf of

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

(signed) Karl L. Hanneman

Chief Executive Officer

This news release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

SOURCE International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.towerhillmines.com


DUBLIN, May 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "An Introduction to Pharmaceutical Packaging" conference has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This course provides an essential overview and will be valuable for newcomers to this field. It will also act as a good refresher for those with more experience

Pharmaceutical packaging is a very specialised area with its own unique issues and problems. This course will provide delegates with a good basic grounding and appreciation of what is required for the packaging of pharmaceutical and healthcare products. Whether you are new to the industry, have a basic understanding or are familiar with the area, this course will provide you with useful knowledge and insights from an expert who has worked in the industry for over 25 years.

Benefits of attending:

Gain a solid overview of packaging component and material selection

Learn key properties of various packaging materials/systems

Appreciate pack testing and evaluation

Better understand packaging component specifications nHear about printing processes and controls

Hear about printing processes and controls

Gain knowledge on artwork generation and control

Comply with the regulatory requirements

Learn about transit packaging

Consider trade/supply chain requirements

Who Should Attend:



This course provides an essential overview and will be valuable for newcomers to this eld and will also act as a good refresher for those with more experience.

Account managers

Artwork producers

Auditors

Business developers

Clinical trial suppliers

Logistics personnel

Packaging design/Labelling personnel

Project managers

Purchasers

Quality assurance and control personnel

Regulatory personnel

Suppliers to the industry

Technical writers

Agenda:



Programme Day One



The role of packaging



Special aspects of pharmaceutical packaging



Regulatory overview

Agencies, guidelines and legislation

Dossier requirements

International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH)

Common Technical Document (CTD)

Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC)

Regulatory overview (continued)

Differences between submissions in the EU and USA

Bar coding (briefly) - EAN, 2D - datamatrix, QR



Counterfeiting and product security



Drug Quality and Security Act



Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD)

Choice of pharmaceutical packaging

Compatibility and ICH testing

Testing and evaluation

Extractables and leachables

Programme Day Two



New Product Development (NPD) process and role of packaging



Main pharmaceutical packaging formats and materials

Primary - key properties - glass, plastics, metals, blisters, laminates, tubes, aerosols, closures

Secondary - pharmaceutical labelling - labels, leaflets (PILs), cartons

Manufacture, benefits, potential Issues, testing

Trade/transit requirements



Specifications



Environment



Artwork requirements



Some special requirements for packaging

Medical devices - briefly: Categories, CE Marking requirements

Child resistant closures

Tamper-evidence

Readability

Braille

Patient compliance

For more information about this conference visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/siexa6

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

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SOURCE Research and Markets

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TORONTO, June 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - JHI Associates, Inc. ("JHI") and Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas, Inc. ("MOGI") wish to clarify the details concerning the award of the Canje Block offshore Guyana in 2015. As a statement of record, the block was awarded on March 4, 2015, using the standard Guyana Model Production Agreement. The Liza-1 well on the adjacent Starbroek Block was very high-risk and did not begin drilling until after the Canje Block licence was signed. Prior to this, there were no discoveries anywhere offshore Guyana. JHI and MOGI followed all applicable laws and regulations in their application for the licence for the Canje Block.

Neither JHI nor MOGI has received any request for information, and neither company has been notified of any pending investigations into the award of the licence for the Canje Block. Both companies welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter with duly authorized agencies of the Government of Guyana at any time.

JHI and MOGI value our reputations as good corporate citizens and are committed to operating all aspects of our businesses in an open, cooperative and transparent manner. We recognize the importance of this resource to the people of Guyana and take our responsibility to explore for oil and gas offshore Guyana very seriously.

The founders of JHI, Mr. John Cullen, and MOGI, Dr. Edris K. Dookie, each have over 20 years' experience exploring for oil offshore Guyana as the original co-founders of CGX Energy. Through CGX, they both served Guyana exceptionally, through the drilling of several offshore wells, and especially in relation to the pivotal role they played in the successful resolution of the maritime boundary dispute with Suriname.

For the Canje Block licence application, Cullen and Dookie brought a technical team with over 130 years of offshore petroleum exploration experience, and significant financial capabilities based on prior successes in raising USD$100's of millions of dollars for oil and gas exploration projects in Guyana and elsewhere. JHI's and MOGI's qualifications certainly met the Guyana Government's requirement that licence applicants must demonstrate technical expertise and financial capabilities.

Additional information regarding our technical expertise and financial capabilities can be found on our website www.jhiassociates.com.

Below is a timeline of events surrounding the Canje Licence:

Negotiations for the Canje Block began in March 2013 .

. The Canje Block licence was awarded on March 4, 2015 .

. The Liza-1 well began drilling on March 5, 2015 .

. On May 20, 2015 , the Liza-1 well was announced as a "significant discovery."

, the Liza-1 well was announced as a "significant discovery." Over 40 wells had been drilled offshore in the Guyana-Suriname Basin prior to Liza-1, and none encountered commercial quantities of oil or gas.

SOURCE JHI Associates, Inc.

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https://www.jhiassociates.com/


HONG KONG, May 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd. (HKEx: 0460) the largest cardio-cerebral vascular ("CCV") drug manufacturer in China's prescription drug market, announced that the Group has completed the post-launch clinical trials of "Cinepazide Maleate Injection (Kelinao)" for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. By the completion of the Studies, the Product has obtained post-launch large clinical trials verification, which could demonstrate that the Product can improve the prognosis of stroke patients, lower disability rate and improve cerebral circulation for stroke patients.

The Group responded proactively to the injection re-evaluation requirement of the China Food and Drug Administration (the "CFDA") and commenced post-launch large clinical trials verification in 2016. The Studies took three years to complete and the Group has invested nearly RMB100 million on the Studies and successfully completed the supplementary application prior to the specified time limit, so that the Product can be continually available for sale on the market, thus ensuring the persistent treatment for patients using the Product.

The Studies were led by Professor Cui Liying, who is the chairman of committee of the neurology branch in Chinese Medical Association and works in the department of neurology in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The Studies involve multiple top hospitals nationwide, including nationally renowned Class III hospitals. The Studies was a high standard of evidence-based research and was designed as a randomized, double-blinded and randomized control trial (RCT) clinical trial, aiming at evaluating the efficacy and safety of the Product for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. A total of 1,301 patients (between age of 18 to 80) suffering from moderate to severe acute ischemic stroke with acute onset within 48 hours have been enrolled in the Studies. The subjects were arranged to receive a 14-day study medication therapy and to complete a follow-up visit and evaluation on the 90th day thereafter.

Dr. Che Fengsheng, Chairman and CEO of Sihuan Pharmaceutical, said, "Acute stroke is a disease with high incidence, high disability rate, high mortality rate and multiple complications. It has become a major threat to the health of Chinese residents. Results of the Studies showed that the Product is effective in promoting the function recovery after 90 days in stroke patients. The effective treatment with this Product, greatly decreases the disability rate of stroke patients, thus enabling more patients returning to society. The Studies verified the efficacy and safety of the Product for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke through scientific design and strict management. The Product will also reshape the landscape for stroke treatment while benefiting more patients, families and society with its proven therapeutic efficacy."

The results demonstrated that the Cinepazide Maleate group significantly outperformed the control group in terms of mRS on the 90th day of the primary efficacy endpoint. The endpoint reflects a patient's disability and prognosis, and is the globally common-used standard in assessing the prognosis of stroke patients. The results suggested that the Product significantly decreases disability rate, thus greatly reduces the economic burden of patients' families and the society. The assessment results based on Barthel index  the secondary efficacy endpoint, also showed that the Cinepazide Maleate group significantly performed better than the control group. This endpoint, which reflects a patient's self-care ability, suggested that the Product is able to significantly restore the patients' social abilities. Based on the NIHSS, another secondary efficacy endpoint of the Studies suggested that there is no statistically significant difference between the Cinepazide Maleate group and the control group. Researchers analyzed the cause and concluded that the NIHSS score is applied mainly to assess the degree of neurological impairment at the time of onset, and its objectivity is not as good as mRS index in reflecting the prognosis of a patient, resulting in inconsistent results between NIHSS and mRS indexes.

In addition, in terms of safety, no new adverse events were found in the Studies, and the incidence of adverse events of the Product was not significantly different from that of the control group. In 2016, Professor Guo Daihong, from the Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center of the People's Liberation Army, was authorized by the Center of Drug Evaluation to conduct an automated safety monitoring study on the Product. The research data from 11,665 patients also showed that the Product has good safety profile. The results of the Studies are expected to be published on authoritative international journals in the area of stroke.

According to the Summary of Health Statistics in China in 2018, patients deaths due to cerebrovascular diseases accounted for 23.18% of the Chinese residents deaths in rural areas in 2017 and the rate in urban area was 20.52%, which means that at least one out of every five deaths was caused by stroke. Besides, the mortality/disability rates of acute stroke at 3 months and 1 year were 37.1% and 33.8%, respectively. In the United States, the mortality rate of heart diseases is 4 to 5 times that of stroke, while the case is the opposite in China, where the incidence of stroke has increased year-on-year over the past 20 years, with its mortality rate 2 to 3 times that of heart diseases. Currently, there is a shortage of drugs for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke in the domestic market and abroad, and existing drugs are lack of clinical evidence-based verification. "Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke in China in 2018" also suggested that conducting further clinical studies could help to discover drugs or treatment methods that are constructive to improve cerebral blood circulation. Results of the Studies showed that the Product is effective in promoting the function recovery after 90 days in stroke patients. The effective treatment with this Product, greatly decreases the disability rate of stroke patients, thus enabling more patients returning to society.

SOURCE Sihuan Pharmaceutical
Virginia Beach : , June 1 (IANS) Eleven people were killed and six others injured early on Saturday in a mass shooting at a government building in the US state of Virginia, police said.

Police said the suspect, a long-term and current Virginia Beach city employee, fired "indiscriminately" in a public utilities building.

The gunman, whose identity was not released, was killed when police responded to the incident.

Reports of the shooting started shortly after 20:00 GMT on Friday, the BBC reported.

Police Chief James Cervera said the gunman returned fire on police officers but was killed in the exchange.

A police officer was among the six wounded after a bullet struck his vest, Chief Cervera told reporters. Police said they believed the gunman had acted alone, but the motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," the mayor, Robert Dyer, told reporters at a press conference.

The area around the building, which contains a range of city government buildings, was put into lockdown and employees were evacuated.

"We just heard people yelling and screaming at people to get down," Megan Banton, an administrative assistant in the building, told local television news station WAVY.

Another employee said she and others heard shooting, but didn't think the gunfire was close.

"I just thank god they were able to alert us in time, because if it had been 10 minutes more we would have all been outside," Sheila Cook said.

Virginia governor Ralph Northam described the incident as a "tragic day" for the city and the state.

"My heart breaks for the victims of this devastating shooting, their families, and all who loved them," he said on Twitter. "I am on my way to Virginia Beach now and will be there within the hour."

The FBI was at the scene helping local authorities investigate the shooting, reports said.

According to US tracking website Gun Violence Archive, the incident is the 150th mass shooting incident in the US this year.
New Delhi, June 1 : The representation of Rajya Sabha members in the second Narendra Modi government has dropped from 19 to 11 as those who fought tough battles in the Lok Sabha polls have been rewarded handsomely.

In the newly-formed Council of Ministers, out of 11 RS members, six are Cabinet Ministers, two are Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and three are Ministers of State.

In the previous term of Modi, 19 ministers belonged to the Rajya Sabha. Out of these, 12 were Cabinet Ministers, two were Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and five Ministers of State.

In the new Modi government, Rajya Sabha MPs Thawarchand Gehlot, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi have been made Cabinet Ministers.

Hardeep Singh Puri and Mansukh Mandaviya are Ministers of State (Independent Charge), while Ramdas Athawale, Parshottam Rupala and V. Muraleedharan have been selected as Ministers of State.

In the previous Modi government, the 12 Rajya Sabha members in the Cabinet were Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu, Ravi Shankar Prasad, J.P. Nadda, Chaudhary Birender Singh, Gehlot, Smriti Irani, Javadekar, Pradhan, Goyal, Sitharaman and Naqvi.

Out of these, Jaitley, Prabhu, Nadda and Birender Singh have been dropped, while Prasad and Irani are Ministers again but as Lok Sabha members.

In the last Council of Ministers, the Ministers of State (Independent Charge) from the Rajya Sabha were K.J. Alphons and Puri.

While Alphons has been dropped, Puri has maintained his place in the ministry despite the fact that they both contested the Lok Sabha elections from Kerala and Punjab, respectively, but lost.

In the last Union Council of Ministers, Rajya Sabha members M. J. Akbar, Shiv Pratap Shukla, Athawale, Parshottam Rupala, and Vijay Goel were Ministers of State. However, only Athawale and Rupala retained their positions in the current Cabinet.

In the current Union Council of Ministers, Javadekar has been given charge of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as well as Information and Broadcasting, while Sitharaman is the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister.

Gehlot and Naqvi will continue to head the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry and the Minority Affairs Ministry, respectively.

Goyal continues his charge as the Minister of Railways with additional charge of the Commerce and Industry Ministry and Pradhan too is continuing as Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, with additional charge of the Steel Ministry.

Among the Ministers of State (Independent Charge), Puri will continue to head the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry along with additional charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry. He will also be Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.

Mandaviya will hold the Shipping Ministry as an independent charge, along with being Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers.

Among the Ministers of State, Athawale will continue with Social Justice and Empowerment while new addition Muraleedharan will be Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs.

Rupala will continue to be the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

However, the number of RS members in the Council of Ministers may go up as External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan are not Lok Sabha MPs.

(Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 1 : If caught smuggling gold at an international airport in Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow and Varanasi), the accused will now lose their passports, according to the Customs Department.

The department is coordinating with the UP Passport Office for such an action to curb growing smuggling of gold at Lucknow and Varanasi international airports.

The move initiated by the Customs will allow the passport office to issue show-cause notices to the alleged smuggler and later cancel passports if the reply is found unsatisfactory, top Customs officers told IANS.

According to the Commissioner Customs (Preventive) Lucknow, V.P. Shukla, the decision to cancel passports was taken after the department observed that most of the smugglers are turning into habitual offenders in the absence of strict legal provisions.

"These accused would easily find ways to escape law. So, we took the measure to create fear in the minds of the smugglers," Shukla told IANS.

He said his department would identify the accused and based on the inputs, the UP Passport Office will issue show-cause notices.

The accused would be given time to reply to the notice, and if it is not found satisfactory, the person's passport would then be cancelled immediately.

"We will identify repeat offenders or anyone who is found to be carrying more than the value of gold. The person will face action on two fronts: one in the court and another by the passport office," said Niharika Lakhra, the customs' Deputy Commissioner.

In 2018-19 the UP customs wing recorded 46 cases of smuggling where the seizure was worth Rs 9.30 crore. In 2017-18, there were 50 such cases with seizure value of Rs 5.21 crore.

The seizure during 2018-19 included around 20 kgs of gold valued at Rs 6.42 crore, foreign currencies worth Rs 1.74 crore.

The customs also arrested 16 persons during 2018-19 as against 13 arrests in the year 2017-18. According to officials in UP customs the number of arrests has gone up to 22 this year.

-- With inputs from IANS
New Delhi, June 1 : After a brief interval, high-quality Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) are again being printed across India's eastern borders and are being pumped into the country at an alarming rate.

An ongoing investigation of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed that nexus between Pakistan's ISI and the D-Company has resumed to supply fake currency notes into the Indian economy.

The nexus was uncovered after the police in Nepal arrested kingpin of the fake currency notes racket, Yunus Ansari, following a tip-off by Indian intelligence agencies.

According to Indian officials, Ansari is considered to have close links with the ISI and Dawood Ibrahim who is said to be the biggest player in the fake currency notes racket.

Along with Ansari, three other Pakistani nationals identified as Muhammad Akhtar, Nadia Anwar and Nasiruddin were also arrested.

At the time of arrest, Ansari and his associates had fake currency notes with face value of over Rs 7 crore, an official added.

However, Ansari's arrest has also highlighted that Nepal, once used as the prime conduit to pump in fake currency notes into India, is no longer being used by Pakistan for the purpose. The fake currency is now being sent into India across its eastern border with Bangladesh.

This was highlighted by NIA's investigations in various cases of fake currency circulations. The most recent was a case in January where a man from West Bengal was arrested from Anand Vihar railway station here with fake currency notes with the face value of Rs 10 lakh.

During investigation, the accused had revealed that the notes were printed in Bangladesh and he was supposed to circulate them in busy markets and shops in the national capital.

In another case, the NIA filed a chargesheet in a Gujarat court in May against three accused involved in a case of circulation of fake currency notes, who had been utilising their contacts in Bangladesh.

Sanjay Kumar Mohanbhai Devadiya was arrested from Gujarat's Junagadh by the state police's Anti-Terrorism Squad in October last year and on being interrogated revealed that two other accused - Mavajibhai Lathidadiya alias Guruji and Tahir Saikh - were also involved in the racket and were operating from West Bengal, where they could easily get fake currency from Bangladesh. While Guruji is already lodged at Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata, Saikh was arrested from Malda in February this year.

The latest case of the arrest of two people - Wasim (20) and Qasim (44) - from Gurugram's sector 48 area by the NIA and the Gurugram Police on Wednesday night and seizure of a cache of fake currency from them, has made it clear that the nexus behind the spread of fake currency has been able to achieve a very high quality of printing and the eastern border has become a new gateway for the counterfeit currency to enter India.
Jodhpur, June 1 : A week after the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat on all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan for the second time in a row, party workers accused Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of neglecting grassroots workers and promoting dynastic politics.

Several party workers have demanded a change of guard in the state.

Speaking to IANS, Anand Purohit, a Vice President of the legal cell of the Congress and a former District President of Youth Congress from Jodhpur said, "Many communities turned their back on the Congress. These include Brahmins, Rajputs and the Jats.

"Even the team of the Chief Minister from Jaipur did not have faith in the local party workers. District Congress workers were neglected by the Jaipur team; they were not told to participate in the party's campaign programme. Many times they were not even aware of the campaign schedule in the area."

He alleged the Jaipur team betrayed party President Rahul Gandhi.

Voicing his anger, Purohit said, "We are born as Congress soldiers and will die as Congress soldiers. But we feel bad when we see the party dying in this way".

Echoing similar opinion, Rajesh Sharaswat, Congress Seva Dal general secretary, said the problem for the party's rout in the state lies with the Chief Minister.

"After the dismal performance in 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the party could not win a single seat in the state, the party made a comeback under the leadership of Sachin Pilot in the local elections as well as Assembly polls held last year and formed the government," Sharaswat said.

He said most castes are angry with the Chief Minister. That was the reason why they voted for the BJP in the election.

Sharaswat said, "Pilot should be made the Chief Minister of the state and Gehlot be given a bigger role in the party in Delhi."

He pointed out that had Pilot been the Chief Minister, the party would have managed to win at least four seats in the state.

Another party worker and former Krishi Mandi Chairman, Kalu Singh said that dynasty policy of Gehlot hurt the party a lot in the elections.

He said most of the party leaders' sons, daughters or relatives are occupying plum posts in the party at every level. "This has not gone down well with the people. That's why even the son of Ashok Gehlot, Vaibhav Gehlot, lost the election," Singh said.

After the party's dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi offered to step down from the post during the Congress Working Committee. But his offer to step down was rejected by the CWC members unanimously.

During the party's top decision-making body meeting, Rahul Gandhi was forthright in targeting senior leaders for preferring their sons.

Party sources said Rahul Gandhi had taken the names of Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and former Finance Minister and senior party leader P. Chidambaram for preferring their sons in the general election.

Targeting the senior leadership of the party, Singh said, "The state government believed only in show-off while nothing was visible on the ground. If this was not the case, then how did the people get so much annoyed with the state government within five months?"

Singh also pointed out differences between Gehlot and Pilot. "They came together on public platforms, but there were differences between them."

Singh said party workers who work hard must be rewarded.

When asked if a change in the state party leadership is required, he said, "Yes, it should happen if the party wants to win in the next assembly elections."

Shravan Bishnoi, block Vice President of Congress from Osian area of Jodhpur said the senior leadership completely neglected the grassroots workers during the elections.

He said, after the defeat in 2014, under Pilot they worked hard and connected with every family at every booth.

"And we made a comeback in the Assembly polls last year. But during this election (2019 Lok Sabha elections) the grassroots workers were completely neglected, resulting in the people voting for the BJP," Bishnoi said.

He said the party leadership needs to repose its faith in the grassroots workers which is its main strength instead of relying on a team which has no knowledge of the area and the caste calculation.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 1 : The fallout from the Congress party's second consecutive general election rout is coinciding with Rahul Gandhi's obstinacy about not withdrawing his resignation to give shape to a presidium-like apparatus that could lead the party from now on.

Sources in the Congress have indicated that the crisis has thrown up several suggestions on the future leadership structure in the party. The one that has got the most tickmarks relates to the presidium.

In continuing discussions on the issue, the sources said there could be three working presidents, one each from north, east and south India. There could even be a fourth working president, from western India.

As part of the preparations to instal the new leadership, Rahul Gandhi has called the party's Young Turks to Delhi for consultations. These are leaders he associates with, the ones close to him.

This comes against the backdrop of an open war between the Congress old guard and Rahul Gandhi's handpicked generals. The old guard, which is accused of being status quoist and entitlement seeking, believes that the Congress party is their turf.

The Young Turks are convinced that the Congress party of old has to metamorphose into something more agile, action-oriented and in tune with the times to take on an all-conquering Bharatiya Janata Party by presenting a rival discourse.

Rajasthan Congress party chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot is already in the capital. The sources said that he is a certainty as one of the working presidents if the presidium-like apparatus is finally put in place.

Jyotiraditya Scindia is also said to be a candidate. However, he could have scuppered his own chances having lost the election to the Guna Lok Sabha seat. His mentors are aware that in an era of searing political competitiveness that acknowledges only winners, someone who has lost an election cannot be so quickly elevated to the top party position.

Among the other names being suggested for working president is K.C. Venugopal. Milind Deora is also in contention, the sources said.

Adjustments are also likely to be made keeping caste combinations in mind. Which means that Brahmins -- in caste-conscious Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, for instance, the Congress is mainly seen as an upper caste party -- and 'banias' could find a place in the new setup on the basis of their caste.

The old guard, naturally, is resisting the changes aware that should the new leadership structure take root, they would be pushed out into the cold.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is adamant that the old guard must not take pole position in the party. He also wants them to be out of key positions in the states as he insists that the party needs an overhaul. He could be speaking from experience -- his own elevation as party president took a while, as the old guard dug its heels in during Sonia Gandhi's presidentship and refused to let go.

The Congress president is also determined that his family should distance itself from the party leadership -- a move also opposed by the old guard because it hinges its own fortunes with the Gandhis.

One of the tasks before the new presidium will be to find ways to lift the party of its present situation. But, in the new fit, dynasty will not be a solution. For Rahul Gandhi, that means going beyond his own family to include other dynasts within the Congress.

A special pain point for the Congress is said to be Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The party president had named him among other chief ministers for not working hard enough in their states. These were also chief ministers who had fielded their sons to the dislike of the party high command.

Sources said that there is a possibility that Gehlot might have to pay a price for fielding his son from Jodhpur -- he lost the election -- spending time campaigning for him when he should have campaigned for the party across the state. If it happens it would mark the beginning of the purge of the old guard.
Beijing, June 1 : Chinese authorities have announced implementing a new daily quota of 65,000 visitors, starting from June 1, to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, aimed at limiting overcrowding of both local and foreign tourists.

"The number of tourists visiting the Badaling Great Wall Scenic Area is enormous," Chen Fei, deputy director of the Badaling District Office, told the media on Friday.

"About 10 million visitors came to Badaling last year."

Although 10 million is around the population of Sweden or Austria, it averages out to about 27,000 visitors per day -- much lower than the new limit. The problem, however, lies in the unbalanced distribution of that number, reports CNN.

"Visitor numbers during weekdays and holidays varies largely," Chen was quoted as saying.

"(Badaling) recorded a maximum of 100,000 visitors on one day while weekday visitor numbers average around 10,000 per day. The number can be only a few thousand visitors during the off-season."

In addition to the quota, there is a new online ticketing system -- both on Badaling's official website as well as its official Wechat page.

Admission tickets have to be purchased under each individual traveller's name, up to seven days in advance.

There will also be a three-grade warning system to indicate the congestion level of the Badaling section. Various crowd control procedures will be deployed when each of the signals is hoisted.

The yellow warning signal is flagged when visitor numbers reach 39,000 in one day; the orange warning signal is issued when there are 52,000 visitors on the wall; and the red signal is flagged when the wall has hit full capacity -- 65,000 visitors.

Other Chinese destinations like the Three Gorges Dam and Beijing's Palace Museum have also implemented visitor limits.
Paris, June 1 : Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal continued their own history as they reached French Open round of 16 for a record 14th time, while women's second seed Karolina Pliskova became the latest potential title contender to be knocked out following a loss to Petra Martic in the third round here on Friday.

Contesting his 400th Grand Slam match, Federer won the first two sets against Norwegian promise Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1, before being pulled into a tie-break in the third set, but managed to go through with a score of 10-8, Xinhua news agency reports.

"The third set could have gone either way. He had chances early, then later, and then again after," admitted Federer. "It was nice to see him hang in there."

Federer will face Leonardo Mayer from Argentina for a quarter-final spot, and a potential semi-final clash with Nadal looms ahead.

Nadal, in quest for a record-extending 12th French Open title, overcame Belgian 27th-seeded David Goffin 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

He said: "I played against a top player that had injuries, and he's a little bit lower in the ranking now, but when he's playing well, he's a player that already showed to everybody that he can win against every player in this world."

His next opponent will be another Argentinian Juan Ignacio Londero.

Pliskova lost 6-3, 6-3 to Martic, and her exit means that Naomi Osaka is set to maintain her world No. 1 status after the tournament.

She conceded 28 unforced errors, double that of her Croatian opponent, and also lagged behind in points won on first and second serves.

Prior to Pliskova, other challengers to Osaka's throne have fallen by the wayside, as fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber was eliminated in the first round, fourth seed Kiki Bertens was laid low with an illness, and No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova withdrew through injury.

"The court is pretty slow, so you just have to play some extra shots. She has this kind of game which you don't feel good about, and she played well," she added.

Elsewhere, the 2016 winner Garbine Muguruza upset ninth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3. No. 7 seed Sloane Stephens also marched on with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Polona Hercog.

The Chinese women's pair of Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai won their doubles second round match over Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs 6-3, 6-2.
London, June 1 : British retail mogul Philip Green has been charged with four counts of misdemeanour assault in the US, after a Pilates instructor accused him of repeatedly slapping and touching her body during classes.

The billionaire chairman of Arcadia group, the retail empire that includes Topshop, was charged on Friday with "knowingly touching another person with the intent to injure, insult or provoke" in 2016 and 2018, Deputy County Attorney Lauren E. Deakin for Pima County, Arizona, told CNN.

Each count of misdemeanour assault carries a potential sentence of up to 30 days in jail, a fine of not more than $500 and up to one year of probation.

The allegations of assault were made by Pilates instructor Katie Surridge who told police in Arizona that Green touched her inappropriately at the Canyon Ranch resort in Tucson.

In a statement given to CNN on behalf of Green, the businessman "strenuously denies these allegations and is disappointed that the charges have been filed in his absence and they are minor categories of misdemeanour in the US".

The statement also denied "any allegation of any sexual assault or misconduct made by the prosecution".

In a police interview, Surridge told Pima County Detective David Stivers that the "creepy old man" had "vigorously" slapped her bottom in January 2016. Surridge told resort staff, who said they spoke to Green and reassured her it wouldn't happen again.

However, in January 2018, Green took another class with Surridge and allegedly assaulted her again, according to the interview.

"Katie is aware charges were filed and trusts justice will take its course," Surridge attorney Peter Limperis told CNN on Friday night.

A spokesperson for Canyon Ranch told CNN they would not comment on the allegations but said they "do not condone or tolerate inappropriate behaviour towards our employees".

An arraignment date is set for June 19 in Tucson where Green will be represented by his lawyer.
San Francisco, June 1 : A US judge has asked Facebook to hand over data privacy records related to the massive Cambridge Analytica scandal.

According to a report in Engadget on Friday, Facebook shareholders in September 2018 sued the social networking platform to obtain information pertaining to the data leak of 87 million users.

"Today, a US judge sided with shareholders, ordering Facebook to release the documents," said the report.

According to the judge in Delaware Chancery Court, the shareholders have a "credible basis" to suspect that Facebook board members may have committed wrongdoing.

The shareholders had sued Facebook to obtain records related to the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and other privacy breaches.

The irony is that Facebook argues that privacy doesn't actually exist on Facebook.

At a separate hearing in a class-action lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder argued that there is "no expectation of privacy" on the platform.

"There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy," Snyder told the US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria, arguing that users had given consent to share their data with third parties.

"You have to closely guard something to have a reasonable expectation of privacy," he was quoted as saying in a Digital Trends report.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg survived a leadership vote at the social networking giant's annual general meeting on Thursday to step down as Chairman.

-- With inputs from IANS
Ahmedabad, May 31 : Gujarat Forest Department officials found 14 turtles dead in a dried up pond in the desert district of Kutch, officials said on Friday.

Forest officials said that they rushed to the pond in Gagodar village in Rapar taluka (tehsil) on Thursday evening and rescued 15 other turtles, while recovering the 14 carcasses.

Officials said the turtles must have perished after the pond had dried up due to extreme heat conditions with temperatures hovering around 45 degrees Celsius. This was the first time that this pond had dried up because the authorities did not pump water in it.

The rescued turtles were shifted to another pond in Thanisara village, which had sufficient water. Water from the Narmada dam was recently pumped into this pond.

-- With inputs from IANS
New Delhi, June 1 : UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will continue as the Congress Parliamentary Party leader as the newly elected members of the party in Lok Sabha once again elected her as the leader of the CPP during their first meeting on Saturday here.

Gandhi won the Rae Bareli seat from Uttar Pradesh by defeating the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes.

"Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party! She says, 'we thank the 12.13 crore voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party'," tweeted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The CPP met here at the central hall of Parliament, amid continuing upheaval in the party as current President Rahul Gandhi insists on stepping down following a mammoth debacle faced by the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

Sonia Gandhi was party president till 2017 for 19 long years before passing the baton to son Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi, also present in the meeting, thanked the voters and addressed the Congress party workers, saying, "Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the colour of his skin or belief", Surjewala added.
New York, June 1 : As he hardens his stand on trade, US President Donald Trump is ending India's $5.6 billion trade concessions under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences programme with effect from June 5.

"I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets," he said in a proclamation issued Friday night.

"Accordingly", he said, "it is appropriate to terminate India's designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019."

The end to GSP comes ahead of the meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Japan later this month during the G20 Summit. Trade issues are likely to come up during their meeting.

Trump is on a mission to end the massive US trade deficits and has imposed or proposed higher tariffs on imports from several countries while involved in a trade war with China.

On Wednesday, he announced punitive tariff hikes on imports from Mexico over its leniency towards immigrants from Central America.

Turkey was also stripped of its GSP trade concessions along with India on Friday.

India, which came under the GSP programme in 1975, is its largest beneficiary in the US. However, India's GSP exports of $5.6 billion were only a small part of the total exports worth $76.7 billion in 2017, according to the US Trade Representative (USTR).

Total India-US trade was $126.2 billion in 2017, with a $27.3 billion deficit for the US.

The GSP programme is limited to certain categories like apparel and footwear with the aim of alleviating poverty by promoting exports by poor craftspeople and artisans in those sectors.

At a hearing held by the USTR last June on withdrawing India's GSP, the Minister in-charge of Commerce at the Indian embassy in Washington, Puneet R. Kundal, said that withdrawing GSP benefits to India "would be discriminatory, arbitrary, and detrimental to the development, finance and trade needs of India, which is a vast and diverse developing country with unique challenges."

Trump had notified Congress in March of his intent to end the GSP preferences as required by law.

Trump has been on a warpath against what he said were high tariffs on US imports to India.

While pushing for the Reciprocal Trade Act in January, he brought up India's duty on American whiskey, which he said was 150 per cent, and on Harley Davidson motorcycles that he asserted he had gotten reduced from 100 per cent to 50 per cent.

The decision to end the GSP may not entirely be influenced by high tariffs imposed by India on US imports. The two countries have had differences over the restrictions placed on e-commerce by Amazon and on Walmart subsidiary Flipkart and on data housing by Visa and Mastercard.

In retaliation for the US raising tariffs of steel and aluminium imports from India, New Delhi has threatened to increase duties on agricultural products like walnuts, apples and other fruits imported from the US.

A trade group has warned that ending GSP for India could ironically end up helping China on which the Trump administration has launched a trade war.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association said in written testimony to the USTR that if GSP benefits are withdrawn for India as well as Indonesia and Thailand, US "companies will have no choice but to return to sourcing from China".

But the US dairy industry made a strong submission to the USTR to end the GSP for India citing its difficulties in exporting to India.

Shawna Morris, Vice President of the National Milk Producers Federation and the US Dairy Export Council in oral testimony at the USTR hearing in June accused India of refusing to provide them equitable and reasonable access to its markets through "unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary requirements."

These requirements by India were that the exports should not come from cows that have been given cannibalised feed that includes offal or other meat products.

Kundal countered that it was not an issue of market access but of "certification given the religious, cultural and moral sensitivities" and India provide unimpeded market access to dairy products from all countries that met the criteria.

Another opposition came from the medical sector based on price controls on medical devices imposed by India. Kundal said that these were necessitated by India's need to provide affordable healthcare to its citizens.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
Los Angeles, June 1 : Actor Robert De Niro has urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller to leave his "comfort zone" and testify before Congress about the findings of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

De Niro pleaded his case in an open letter titled, 'Robert Mueller, We Need to Hear More', published by the New York Times.

The actor, who has portrayed Mueller on "Saturday Night Live", has argued that the Special Counsel's 400-page report does not speak for itself as Mueller has said it does, because it is not written plainly enough for the average American to understand, reported dailymail.co.uk.

"Your life has been a shining example of bravely and selflessly doing things for the good of our country. I urge you to leave your comfort zone and do that again," De Niro wrote, addressing Mueller.

"It (your report) may speak for itself to lawyers and lawmakers who have the patience and obligation to read through the more than 400 pages of carefully chosen words and nuanced conclusions (with all due respect, as good a read as it is, you're no Stephen King)," he added.

He further said that President Donald Trump's statements are so loud and persistent that they need to be refuted.

After his redacted report was released last month, Mueller held a press conference on Wednesday where he stated that he did not clear Trump of wrongdoing, but that his office would not offer additional commentary on the subject, while announcing his resignation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

During the conference, Mueller asked Americans to read his full report, saying "it speaks for itself" and requires no additional comment from him.

Throughout the course of Mueller's two-year investigation into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, he and his office endured a barrage of attacks from Trump, who repeatedly called the probe a "witch hunt".

De Niro, in his letter to Mueller, further said: "While I and so many Americans have admired your quiet, confident, dignified response in ignoring that assault, it allowed the administration to use its own voice to control the narrative.

"And those voices are so loud and so persistent that they beat even reasonable people into submission. The loudest, most persistent voice belongs to the president himself, and under most circumstances, we want to believe our president."
New Delhi, June 1 : After UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), party President Rahul Gandhi said under her leadership the Congress will prove to be a strong opposition.

"Congratulations to Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong and effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.

His remarks came soon after Sonia Gandhi was elected as CPP leader unanimously as the newly-elected Lok Sabha members of the party elected her to the post once again during their first meeting here on Saturday.

The CPP met here at the central hall of Parliament, amid continuing upheaval in the party as Rahul Gandhi has been adamant on stepping down following a huge debacle in last month's Lok Sabha polls.

However, suspense over the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha continued as the party has authorised Sonia Gandhi to decide on it.

Sonia Gandhi won the Rae Bareli seat from Uttar Pradesh by defeating the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes.

According to party leaders, Sonia Gandhi's name was proposed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Sonia Gandhi was party president till 2017 for 19 long years before passing the baton to son Rahul Gandhi.
Jaipur, June 1 : Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday rejected the resignation of state Minister Lal Chand Kataria who had resigned a few days back taking moral responsibility for the Congress party's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in his constituency by over one lakh votes.

Rejecting his resignation, Gehlot said that at the time when the election results have not been in favour of the Congress, the moral responsibility of party members increases to unitedly face the challenges ahead and contribute in providing good governance in Rajasthan.

"In the past, you have rendered your duty as a Union Minister, also you have been MLA many times and hence your experience shall benefit the state," he said.

Kataria had reportedly resigned as state Agriculture Minister, citing the rout of the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

In a press release, Kataria said he had sent his resignation to the Governor through Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who has come under attack from Congress President Rahul Gandhi after the Congress failed to win even a single seat in Rajasthan.

However, the offices of neither the Chief Minister nor the Governor could confirm that Kataria had quit.

Kataria himself could not be reached on telephone to confirm if he had resigned.

However, on Friday, Kataria confirmed that he had gone to Uttarakhand after submitting his resignation.

His press release, which had gone viral on social media, said he considered it morally inappropriate to continue as minister after the party's defeat.

"This resignation should not be connected to any other factor," he said, adding he would remain a member of the Assembly and continue to articulate people's grievances.
Srinagar, June 1 : Five Kashmiri youths gave up arms and returned to their families on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, police said.

They surrendered before the police on Saturday morning.

"The youths had joined different militant outfits and it was because of the efforts of their families and the police that they returned to lead a normal life," an officer said.

Their identities have not been disclosed for security reasons.
Mumbai, June 1 : Actress Katrina Kaif says there was a phase in her life when she was "consumed" by something else instead of work, and she has no regrets about it.

Katrina expressed her views when she appeared on "BFFs with Vogue - Season 3" along with Anaita Shroff Adajania. The show is aired on Colors Infinity, read a statement.

"There has been a major shift in a way that I have started approaching my work and characters. I think I have worked very hard, been very passionate and very focused, in certain ways and about certain things.

"I think the kind of way I worked in 'Raajneeti', 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' and in 'New York' was a different me and I love those films," Katrina said.

But there was a phase where she was "taken over by something else".

"There was another phase which came, which was also great and it was a phase where I think I kind of let go a bit and I was really consumed and taken over by something else in my life which was not my work.

"Basically the relationship that was in my life became my focus and I was happy. I don't say that in a regretful way. What I did in that, maybe which in retrospect you learn from is I probably let a lot of things in the way I was working slide a bit," added the actress, without taking any names.

Katrina, who refrains from talking about her personal life in public, was in a relationship with actor Ranbir Kapoor in the past. They reportedly dated for a couple of years before parting ways in the beginning of 2016.

During the signature BFFs game round, 'Say it or Strip it', when host Neha Dhupia asked Katrina to name a co-star from all her co-stars who she cannot trust with a major secret, she took Ranbir's name.

The episode will air on Saturday.
Kolkata, June 1 : Three white-headed langurs and a lion cub were rescued on Saturday from the northern suburbs of Kolkata by wildlife officials who arrested three smugglers, an official said.

Based on prior information, officers of the West Bengal Forest Directorate, Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) in a joint operation chased and intercepted a vehicle on the Belgharia Expressway near Kendriya Vihar Housing Complex at 2 a.m. on Saturday. The endangered animals were found inside the vehicle.

Image Source: IANS News

"One (Panthera leo) cub along with two adults and one juvenile white-headed langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus) have been seized from the possession of Wasim Rahman, 29, Wajid Ali, 36 and Md. Gulam Gaus, 27. All three persons have been arrested," a statement said.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that the consignment was brought in from Bangladesh and seemed destined for Western India, it added.

Image Source: IANS News

"The animals have been rescued safely and they are fine," Somnath Chatterjee, Assistant Wildlife Warden said.
New Delhi, June 1 : The US will withdraw the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits extended to exports from India from June 5, 2019. India calls it "unfortunate".

The GSP benefits are envisaged to be non-reciprocal and non-discriminatory benefits extended by developed countries to developing countries.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry: "India as part of our bilateral trade discussions, had offered resolution on significant US requests in an effort to find a mutually acceptable way forward."

"It is unfortunate that this did not find acceptance by the US. India, like the US and other nations shall always uphold its national interest in these matters."

Earlier in March, the US had given a 60-day withdrawal notice to India on the GSP benefits extended by it.

Subsequently, the US commenced a review in April 2018 on India's GSP benefits, while both the countries were discussing various trade issues of bilateral interest.

In India's case the GSP concessions extended by the US amounted to duty reduction of only $190 million per annum.

-IANS

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New Delhi, June 1 : National security strategy, military and equipment modernisation, defence reform besides garnering more funds for the ministry are the areas of challenge for the new Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to analysts here.

Defence experts are also of the view that the helicopter fleet of all three services require extensive replacement.

Singh, on Saturday, took charge as the country's Defence Minister. He is the fourth face to head the ministry in five years after Arun Jaitely (who had two stints), Manohar Parrikar and Nirmala Sitharaman.

He was received by Minister of State for Defence Shripad Yesso Naik who took charge on Friday, as well as by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa and Navy Chief Karambir Singh.

"The main challenge for Rajnath Singh is the preparation of a National Security strategy which was to be prepared by the newly constituted Defence Planning Committee. This will provide new guidelines to the services to prepare strategies," former Brigadier and defence expert S.K. Chatterjee told IANS.

"The country also has to decide on the induction of S-400 defence systems of the Russians keeping in view its impact on our relationship with the Americans," he said.

The analysts felt that with the government giving more emphasis to the Make in India initiative, the focus should now be on production rather than on buying hardware.

"Defence production with other countries need to be sorted out. We should enter into production with Russia, America, Israel and other countries," defence expert Qamar Agha said.

According to the experts, for Singh, who has been a successful Home Minister, the road ahead won't be that tough as he is a team leader and will take along all the three services.

Chatterjee said that the military and equipment modernisation is in progress currently, following a rather slow decade in this regard. The requirement is to push the pace in major areas of concern, including on air power resources, he added.

The experts were also of the opinion that the Assam Rifles should continue under the Army's operational control, otherwise it would lead to a steep decline in their combat capability.

Earlier in the day, the new Defence Minister visited the National War Memorial and paid homage to the martyrs.
New Delhi, June 1 : As the investigation unfolds in the multi-crore 'maternity leave scam' at the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), the number of cases of fraud have gone up from the initial figure of 600 to over 1600.

The scam involves hundreds of female employees from the private sector who allegedly connived with the officials of the ESIC to exploit monitory benefits provided under the maternity leave scheme of the Union government.

The Vigilance Department, which is carrying out a massive audit of the ESIC, also discovered that in several cases, female employees availed the benefits of maternity leave multiple times, placing on record the delivery of babies four times in a year, which is biologically impossible.

The ESIC comes under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment. The scam was unearthed at the Faridabad regional office during routine internal audit.

"As of now, benefits obtained through fraudulent means worth over Rs 8 crore have been traced. The scam seems to be of a higher scale and could have been committed in other parts of the country as well," a senior official of the Ministry told IANS.

Maternity leave is paid holiday of 26 weeks.

The preliminary probe in the scam was launched after an internal audit of the ESIC revealed a dozen such cases in a year. The case, unearthed by IANS last week, is being probed by the Vigilance Department at the ESIC headquarters in Delhi.

The scope of the inquiry has been expanded from three years to cover the past six years. Sources said so far six employees and three officials have been suspended and a task force has been set up to probe the scam.
Chandigarh, June 1 : Punjab Public Works Minister Vijay Inder Singla on Saturday said the construction work of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor will be completed by September 30.

After detailed inspection of the site towards India, the Minister said 25 per cent of the construction work of the passage that will link India's Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district and Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan's Punjab province has been done.

An official statement quoting the Minister said the construction of the 4.2-km-long corridor will be over before the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539) will be observed in India and Pakistan.

A large portion of the corridor falls in Pakistan's territory.

Keeping in view the heavy movement of pilgrims, all approach roads to Dera Baba Nanak from Batala, Fatehgarh Churian and Ramdas are also being upgraded, the Minister said.

He said 62 acres have been acquired for the project at a rate of Rs 42 lakh per acre with the total cost amounting to Rs 26.04 crore. Besides, civil works of Rs 90 crore are also under progress.

Fifty acres of additional land is also being acquired for the construction of an Integrated Check Post by the Land Port Authority of India, the Minister added.

Officials from India and Pakistan met at the Zero Line along the international border in Punjab's Dera Baba Nanak sector on May 27 and discussed the technical aspects to construct the Kartarpur Corridor.

Media reports said technical experts from both the countries at the meeting could not reach a consensus on building a bridge over the Ravi's floodplain.

India expressed keenness to construct a km-long bridge on the Ravi river, while Pakistan stressed the need to construct a road.

This was the third meeting with the last one held on April 16 focusing largely on the security aspect of the corridor.

Officials say that security is important as the corridor is expected to cater to the daily movement of hundreds of pilgrims from India who will be visiting the Sikh shrine inside Pakistan under a visa-free arrangement.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been demanding visa-free "khula darshan" at the gurdwara for Indians of all faiths, from India and overseas, all days of the week.

The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and is his final resting place.

The governments of India and Pakistan are trying to facilitate the travel of pilgrims to offer prayers at the gurdwara, a demand made by the Sikhs for over 70 years.
Kolkata, June 1 : Police carried out a baton charge to disperse a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters shouting "Jai Shri Ram" at a demonstration at Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas district on Saturday, ahead of a Trinamool Congress meeting in the area.

The police officers tried to keep the BJP workers, who were trying to block the road, away from the area through which the convoy of Trinamool leaders including some ministers were scheduled to pass, before forcibly dispersing them.

The Rapid Action Force (RAF) has been deployed to control the situation.

Explaining the reason for the protest, a BJP worker said: "The party office in Kanchrapara Thana More belonged to Shubhrangshu Roy (BJP leader Mukul Roy's son). After he joined the BJP, Trinamool is trying to occupy the party office but we will not let that happen."

State Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick whose car crossed the area termed the BJP activists "uncivilised and barbaric".

About Subhrangshu Roy, Mullick told reporters: "He is a traitor, I will say this hundred times. Traitors have no character. We will keep fighting.

"He is a kid and still not mature. He is just seeing 2019 and not looking ahead till 2022..... 2024. His father is encouraging the son to fight, but in this way they cannot finish Trinamool Congress."

According to him, the Trinamool will fight to get back their party offices in Kanchrapara and Halishahar in the district.

Mullick sais Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee will visit Kanchrapara on June 14.

"Mamata Banerjee's government will continue in Bengal. Some win and some lose elections, which is a common thing in a democratic system. But if people act like rowdies, it won't be tolerated," Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose said.

He said people can chant "Jai Shri Ram" slogan as the "culture we believe in, is inclusive of all people" but on the police baton charge, added: "If people misbehave and block roads then the police will do their work."
New Delhi, June 1 : The Election Commission on Saturday made it clear that there were no ghost voters during the recently held Lok Sabha polls as the provisional voter turnout data reported on the EC website is only the tentative number of voters.

"The provisional voter turnout data reported on EC website is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers. Therefore, it is incorrect inference to find ghost voters when there are none," the poll panel's Under Secretary Pawan Diwan said in a statement.

He said that the provisional voter turnout data was displayed as a percentage figure on the EC website and Voter Helpline Mobile App on the poll day as uploaded by the Returning Officer (RO), Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) based on the approximate percentage turnout figures obtained from sector magistrates. The sector magistrates get these data periodically over phone or in person from about 10 presiding officers.

The EC said that two categories of votes are counted to arrive at the final result of the general elections.

First was votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) by general voters from over 91.1 crore electors at various polling stations while the second category is postal ballots returned from over 18 lakh service voters and also from the polling personnel deployed for the poll duties, outside their Parliament Constituency (PC).

"After scrutiny of documents by the RO, provisional number of general voters' turnout is compiled and uploaded on the EC website based on the polling station wise tentative voter turnout data reported by the Presiding Officers, with male/female voter break up, added together to get the PC wise provisional voter turnout," the EC said.

All these figures are provisional, based on estimates which are subject to change as is made clear from the disclaimer on the website that "the data is estimated and subject to change".

This provisional voter turnout data is made available by ROs at regular intervals, which is collated by Chief Electoral Officers and the EC on the website for wider dissemination and to ensure transparency in information dissemination.

At the time of counting, postal ballots received up to 8 a.m. on counting day are first pre-counted and valid postal ballots are then taken up for actual counting.

Based on both the EVM votes and the postal ballots counted, the Returning Officer prepares Form 21E and Index Card in which the break up of voter turnout, including tendered votes for the constituency, is tallied to get the final voter turnout for each constituency.

Form 21E is the return of election as specified under rule 64 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, for which the sole authority is the Returning Officer concerned. Also, the Index Card in use since the last over five decades, is prepared by the Returning Officer to furnish the voting data (including postal ballot data), polled and counted, after the declaration of the result, which becomes the final authenticated data for all purposes including analysis and research.

For general elections 2019, the Commission directed all the Returning Officers on March 26 to send the Index Cards within 15 days of the declaration of the result.

In earlier elections, it used to take months to collect such authenticated election data from all the ROs. Even in 2014, it took between 2 to 3 months after the declaration of results to collect and collate such data in authenticated form.

Due to the innovative IT initiatives taken by the Commission this time, the final data on votes counted has been made available within a few days of the declaration of results.

The recently held Lok Sabha elections registered a turnout of 67.11 per cent, according to tentative data released by the EC after the polls.
"We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose." - President Eisenhower, First Inaugural Address
Ranchi, June 1 : Maoist guerrillas shot dead a man in Jharkhand's Lohardaga on Saturday, the police said.

According to the police, the Maoists had abducted Dileep from his house in Bulbul village in Lohardaga district on Friday night. His bullet ridden body was found on Saturday morning.

Terming Dileep a police informer, the Maoists had threatened him earlier. Following the threats the victim had taken shelter in a police station and had returned to his village only four-five days ago.
Gurugram, June 1 : A 46-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a youth on the pretext of helping her in getting a job in a multi-national company here, the police said on Saturday.

According to Shamsher Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (crime), the woman, a resident of Ghaziabad, met Amit Kumar through Facebook. Kumar offered her a lucrative job in a Gurugram-based multi-national firm and asked her to come here on Friday.

"Kumar met the victim near Gurugram bus stand and took her to a nearby hotel, located under the Sector 14 police station, and raped her," said Singh.

The accused also threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed it to anyone. Though earlier she was terrified, but later filed a complaint with the police, Singh said.

"The victim just knows the Facebook name of the accused. Based on her information, we are scanning Kumar's social media account and the CCTV footage of the hotel to know his actual identity," he said The medical examination confirmed the sexual assault, he said.
New Delhi, June 1 : The Congress on Saturday said that it will not formally stake claim for the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha as it is two seats short of the required number of 54.

The party also said that Rahul Gandhi will continue to be the Congress President.

According to the rules, a party needs to have 10 per cent of 545 members, the total strength of the Lok Sabha, to qualify for the post of Leader of Opposition, which is a Cabinet-rank position. But the Congress has got only 52 members in the Lower House, two short of the required numbers.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "We will not stake claim for the post of LoP in the Lok Sabha as we are two short of the 54 members required for the status. However, the onus also lies with the government... whether it wants to designate a party formally as the principal opposition."

Even in the previous Lok Sabha, the leader of Congress in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, was not granted the status of Leader of Opposition as the party had won only 44 seats in the 2014 general elections.

When asked if the party was looking at a merger with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Surjewala said that he had no information about any such merger between the two parties.

When asked if the Congress could stake claim for the LoP status as an Opposition block along with other opposition parties, he said, "The newly-elected Parliamentary party will decide the party's strategy."

The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) met earlier in the day for the first time after the Lok Sabha elections where UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected the leader of the Congress parliamentarians.

However, the suspense over the post of leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha continues. The party has authorised Sonia Gandhi to take a decision on this matter.

When asked if Rahul Gandhi was still insisting to step down from the post of Congress President, Surjewala said: "Rahul Gandhi continues to be the Congress President. The naysayers will say what they have to. The media has to wait rather than trying to jump to any conclusion. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has urged him (Rahul Gandhi) to continue as the party President."

When asked about nationalism and other important issues which were used by the BJP to consolidate support ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Surjewala pointed fingers at Doklam, where Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a two-month standoff in 2017.

"Even today Chinese army is deployed in Doklam just 10 metres from the Indian post where a road has been constructed. It is a diplomatic failure on the part of the Indian government," he said.
Kohima, June 1 : Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday promised the state's full support and cooperation in achieving common goals of nation building and improving the welfare of citizens.

"The people of India have given the BJP-led NDA, under your leadership, an overwhelming mandate and I am confident that under your visionary leadership, the country will scale greater heights," Rio said in his letter congratulating Modi on being sworn in as the Prime Minister for the second consecutive time.
New Delhi, June 1 : New Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy courted controversy on the first day in office as he called Hyderabad a "safe terror zone" inviting strong objection from Hyderabad MP All India Majlis-e Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

Reddy, who was elected from Secunderabad, one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in the Hyderabad city, had said on Friday that any terror incident in the country would have a link to Hyderabad. Following the controversy, Reddy clarified that he did not say anything wrong.

"There are places in country where terror activities are on the rise. If an incident takes place in Bengaluru or Bhopal, its roots are traced to Hyderabad. State police, NIA have arrested terrorists in Hyderabad every 2-3 months," Reddy spoke to media after assuming charge.

Soon after his statement went viral, sources said, Union Home Home Minister Amit Shah Shah pulled up Reddy for the remark.

However, it could not be conformed what exactly Shah told Reddy.

"I would like to ask him (Reddy) that in the last five years, how many times did NIA, IB and RAW gave in writing that Hyderabad is a safe zone for terror? It is unfortunate that he is saying such things," Owaisi said, terming the minister's statement "irresponsible".

The AIMIM chief also said for the last five years, there was complete peace in Hyderabad as no communal took place in the city and all religious festivals passed off peacefully.

He also accused the BJP of having "hatred" for Muslims and targeting them. "An MoS speaking like this! This shows their hatred for Telangana, Hyderabad. Such irresponsible statements don't suit a minister, but we expect this from him. Wherever they see Muslims, they take them for terrorists. We can't cure them," Owaisi said.
Bengaluru, June 1 : State-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is diversifying into more civilian areas to spur its corporate growth in fiscal 2019-20, a top company official said on Saturday.

"As diversification into non-defence opportunities will drive our growth, we are entering into more verticals in the civilian sector, including space electronics, solar, homeland security, smart cards, telecom, railways, civil aviation, fuel cells and lithium batteries," BEL Chairman M.V. Gowtama told reporters here.

Though the city-based defence behemoth caters largely to the Indian armed forces, including the army, Navy and Air Force, it has been foraying into more civilian space for diversification and broad-basing its business, rolling out electronic voting machines (EVMs), solar panels for intelligent traffic management signals and set-top boxes for direct-to-home digital broadcasting services.

"We supplied over a million EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units to the Election Commission for conducing the recent Lok Sabha elections across the country. Our machines were used in 400 of the 542 parliamentary seats. The order contributed Rs 2,600 crore business in fiscal 2018-19," Gowtama said.

"The poll panel also used EVMs and VVPATs made by the Hyderabad-based state-run Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) in the remaining 142 parliamentary seats," he said after presenting the financial performance of the 'Navaratna' company.

The company will supply more EVMs and VVPATs to the states where assembly elections are due later this year or early next year. The orders will be for new machines and upgraded versions to replace the older voting machines.

"We expect orders worth Rs 600 crore from the states to supply EVMs and VVPATs in this fiscal (2019-20) and more orders from other states where assembly elections are due."

Of the Rs 51,798-crore order book value the company has for this fiscal, around 50 per cent of it (Rs 25,000 crore) is from the Navy, Rs 9,000 crore from the Army, Rs 7,000 crore as annual management contracts (AMCs) and upgrades and Rs 3,000 crore from civilian sector.

"Our capital expenditure for this fiscal will be Rs 660 crore for new facilities in Hyderabad plant, Palasamduram in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district, Bengaluru, Bhatinda in Punjab and Jodpur in Rajasthan," said the Chairman.

A portion of the capex will also be spent on modernising the plant machinery to overcome obsolescence, which is rapid in the electronics domain.

In the defence business, the company received orders for supplying the long range surface-to-air (SAM) missiles for the Navy's Project-17A class Shivalik stealth frigate, integrated perimeter security system for the air force, home land security system for naval airfield and naval equipment (war reserves) and setting up of weapon repair facility at naval shipyards.

"We have also got export orders valued at $117 million (Rs 807 crore) for making vacuum interrupters, X-ray parts, transmitting tubes and EMI (electro-magnetic interference) filters," added Gowtama.
Jaipur, June 1 : Congress MLA and former Director General of Police (DGP) Harish Meena began an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday protesting against his own government in Rajasthan for the death of a tractor driver who was allegedly beaten up by policemen in Tonk district on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the state President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Madanlal Saini, has formed a three-member committee to probe the matter.

Harish Meena alleged that the state government did not pay heed to his demands even after he sat on a dharna for the last three days demanding justice for Bhajanlal Meena, who died under suspicious circumstances after being allegedly beaten up by police officers in Laxmipura village in Tonk district.

While Bhajanlal's family members claimed that he was killed after being thrashed by the cops, the police termed it an 'accidental death'. The protesters alleged that Bhajanlal was chased and thrashed by the police which led to his death.

The protestors, who are sitting on a dharna in Nagarfort village with the body of Bhajanlal along with Harish Meena, are demanding action against the accused police officers and job for a dependent member of Bhajanlal's family.

Speaking to the media before beginning his hunger strike, Harish Meena said that he had communicated his message to the state government, but it took no initiative in the last three days. "Hence I had to resort to hunger strike," he said.

On Saturday, BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Kirorilal Meena also arrived at the venue of the dharna and said that a huge protest will be launched on June 5 if the demands of the protestors were not met.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA and deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore said on Saturday that the state government's days were numbered as even its own MLAs were sitting on dharna against their own government.

BJP state unit chief Saini alleged that the Ashok Gehlot-led government was intentionally trying to suppress the matter. He also said that a three-member panel has been constituted to probe the incident, which includes Tonk MP Sukhveer Singh Jaunpuriya, Tonk district President Ganesh Mahur and former MLA Kanhaiyalal. The committee will submit its report within three days.
Kolkata, June 1 : Several persons were injured as clashes between workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling Trinamool Congress continued in West Bengal, police said on Saturday.

Activists of both sides were beaten up while incidents of ransacking houses and damage to vehicles were reported across districts.

Over a dozen people were injured in a clash between workers of the BJP and Trinamool in North 24 Parganas Madhyamgram area after supporters of the saffron parties were allegedly forced not to raise slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram', police said.

Trinamool supporters held a protest demonstration against the alleged "hooliganism" against the BJP in front of the local police station.

In South 24 Parganas' Canning area, a couple was threatened and beaten up by some miscreants backed allegedly by Trinamool for supporting the BJP during the campaign of the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

BJP Mahila Morcha supporters in Hooghly's Tarokeswar on Saturday accused local Trinamool leaders of attacking them during a meeting, held in front of local municipality office.

"They attacked and abused our members during a meeting. They were angry because the BJP took lead from Tarokeswar, falling under Arambag Lok Sabha constituency which was though retained by Trinamool by a slender margin," said a local member of BJP's Mahila Morcha.

Trinamool, however, denied such allegations.

A Trinamool party office was vandalised allegedly by BJP activists in East Medinipur district's Khejuri, notorious for political violence, and police vehicles were damaged by the agitators.

"Clashes between two groups erupted intermittently and two our vehicles were attacked. Two persons have been arrested," police said.

State ruling party supporters alleged that bombs were hurled while houses of their activists and party offices were vandalised and flags were torn allegedly by the BJP supporters on Friday night in Birbhum district's Parui.
Mumbai, June 1 : A Mumbai woman IAS officer's tweet virtually making a call to erase Mahatma Gandhiji from everywhere in the world, including Indian currency notes, sparked a controversy, forcing her to backtrack, on Saturday.

Nidhi Choudhari, currently Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Special) in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, had made the tweets on May 17.

"What an exceptional celebration of 150th birth anniversary year is going on... High time, we removed his face from our currency, his statues from across the world, rename institutions/roads named after him! That would be a real tribute to all of us! ThankU #Godse for 30.01.1948."

Terming the IAS officer's tweets as "derogatory to Mahatma Gandhi," Nationalist Congress Party legislator Jitendra Awhad demanded that Choudhari should be immediately suspended for glorifying Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Bapu.

"We seek immediate suspension of the IAS officer for her derogatory tweets against Mahatma Gandhi. She has also glorified Godse. This is shocking and such things should not be tolerated," Awhad told mediapersons today.

Under fire from various quarters, Choudhari said on Friday she had deleted her controversial tweet.

"I have deleted my tweet of 17.05.2019 w.r.t. Gandhiji beause some people misunderstood it. If only they had followed my timeline since 2011, they would've understood that I would NEVER even dream of insulting Gandhiji. I bow before him with deepest regard and will do so till last breath," she tweeted.

Awhad pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has categorically said that he would not tolerate any kind of insults to Gandhiji or any attempts to glorify his assassin.

On Friday, Choudhari posted a tweet on new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but without directly taking her name: "A proud moment. Women are best at managing budgets... hope Indian economy achieves greater heights under her leadership."

Adding in a lighter vein, Choudhari also demanded that Goods and Services Tax (GST) on sanitary napkins, garments and beauty services would be reduced and said: "I would want it to be zero."
New Delhi, June 1 : Rahul Gandhi, who met partys newly-elected MPs on Saturday, did not appear to have given any indication that he has relented from his insistence on resigning from the post of party president, party sources said.

They said he appeared not to have changed his mind over his offer to resign made at the meeting of Congress Working Committee last week in the wake of party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi had also suggested at the CWC meeting that his successor could be from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Party MPs are learnt to have urged him to continue as party chief.

"All are working on it so that he does not step down," a party leader told IANS.

At the regular party briefing, Congress Communications In-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala reaffirmed that Rahul Gandhi is the party chief and there were no two opinions or doubts on this.

"I would request all the naysayers to hold their breath. The Congress Working Committee has authorized Rahul Gandhi to do a complete overhaul of the organization from top to bottom... I would request all my friends in the media whom we respect so much to wait for a while rather than fall prey to speculation," he said.

Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu told IANS that Rahul Gandhi should continue as party chief.

"Rahul Gandhi will have to listen to every worker, every state. And the message is that in this difficult hour, he cannot leave, he has to continue as president," he said.

Bittu said if Gandhi leaves the post at this juncture, the party can disintegrate and Congress workers would get disappointed.

"We also ruled for 10 years. If they have (BJP-led NDA) come to power again, what is so big in this? We will come to power again. But party leadership, Gandhi has to keep, this is the responsibility of Rahul Gandhi," he said, adding no one has lost faith in him.

Bittu said Congress has been moulded by the Nehru-Gandhi family and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had brought it out of a difficult phase.

Apart from Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi met the newly elected MPs, interacted with them and posed for photographs.




By National Review, May 29, 2019





Hollywood has threatened boycotts in Georgia before. When the producers of Gone with the Wind wished to hold the premiere in Atlanta, Clark Gable was outraged that black cast members would not be able to attend the event with the white cast owing to the Jim Crow laws then in effect. Did Gable, or anyone else, actually boycott the event, though? Nah. When Hollywoods moral values collide with dollar values, its usually no contest. Neither Gable nor anyone else important connected with Gone with the Wind was willing to go to bat against racism if they felt it might cost them.
Overview of the System Collaboration

AsiaYo is a booking site listing accommodations such as vacation rentals and hotels. StayList is a service travelers can search vacation rentals listed on multiple sites at a clip.

This collaboration enables travelers to search for accommodation on AsiaYo via StayList. The languages targeted for collaboration this time are; English, Korean and Traditional Chinese. More languages are planned to be available in the future.

English version: https://stay-list.com/

Korean version: https://stay-list.com/ko/

Traditional Chinese version: https://stay-list.com/zh-tw/

Purpose of the System Collaboration

AsiaYo has over 60,000 rooms available, with accommodation options in 60 cities across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Collaborating with AsiaYo, a hotel booking site with a dominating presence in Asia, will help further strengthen StayList's inventory and brand in the Asian market. We believe that this collaboration will also provide travelers with a more convenient and reliable service.

About StayList

StayList is a Vacation Rental bulk search service. By using StayList, travelers can search vacation rentals all over the world listed on the major vacation rental sites as well as hotel booking sites at a clip. It is an efficient way to find the ideal accommodation. Our website is currently available in six languages: English, Korean, traditional Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and Japanese.

About StayList Inc.

StayList Inc. is a start-up company established in October 2018. Our mission is to provide the best travel platform for Asian travelers in the rapidly-changing tourism industry due to the spread of sharing economy and mobile devices, and the development of technologies.

Corporate website: https://stay-list.com/company/

Company name: StayList Inc.

Establishment date: 3 October 2018

Location: Shimizu Building No.1 2F, 1-20-2, Jinnan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0041, Japan

Representative: CEO Yosuke Homma

Capital:  40.4 million (including capital reserve)

Contact

Company name: StayList Inc.

E-mail: company(at)stay-list(dot)com
GoMarketing PR-ConejoValleyAir-Richard Uzelac The Results from GoMarketing's online marketing and advertising programs have been amazing!

We have worked with many home services companies and our results are second to none for our Clients, said Richard Uzelac, CEO of GoMarketing.com

We approach online marketing for, say, an HVAC company with a multi-pronged strategy. We usually need to design and build a new website for new Client. Their current websites are usually quite old, not mobile friendly, or they cant accept the new software needed for success. While building the site we incorporate proper SEO optimization for search engine placement to build more traffic and generate more calls and leads. Once the site is launched, we constantly add more content and blog posts to capture more and more Google, Bing and Yahoo traffic of people searching for HVAC services, Richard Uzelac added.

We have been working with GoMarketing.com for over two years now. The results are excellent! said James Devos, Manager of Conejo Valley Air. The communication with Richard Uzelac and his team is very strong. GoMarketing suggests changes and new marketing strategies all the time and we can see great results. The site is always well maintained, and we are on the first page of Google in over a dozen locations in our service area for many of our services! We couldnt be happier with the results. They also offered exclusive service in our areas and will not work with any other HVACs that can compete with our company, DeVos added.

GoMarketing Works with the Following Home Services Providers, and more:

HVAC, Plumbing, Painters, Movers, Pest Control, Electricians, Flooring, Roofing, Solar, Window Installation, Home Cleaning, Landscaping, Remodeling, Building, Carpet Cleaning, Real Estate, Furniture,Pet Care Tree Care, Closet & Storage, and more.

GoMarketing offers a full spectrum of online services for their Clients and create a custom program to meet their business goals. These services include SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Local Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, Geo-Targeting Customers, Pay Per Click Google Advertising, Facebook Advertising, Social Media Management, Website Design and Development, Maintenance, Website and Reputation Management and Security

About GoMarketing

Based out of Thousand Oaks, California, GoMarketing uses the following mission statement to deliver digital marketing results to their clients: Understand. Engage. Succeed. Grow. Acting as online marketing professionals within a wide range of industry sectors, the GoMarketing team specializes in SEO, content strategy, website design and development, and more--providing a full suite of marketing solutions that generate online leads and sales to Southern California businesses. For more information on their custom marketing plans, contact GoMarketing directly at 805-413-7893 or visit http://www.gomarketing.com.
San Diego serviced apartments Any time is a great time to comes to Southern California in general and San Diego in particular for business or pleasure as there is so much to see and do, explained Robert Lee, President of Key Housing.

Key Housing, the leader in helping Europeans and Brits to locate hard-to-find furnished apartments in Southern California including San Diego, is proud to announce a renewed focus on so-called "serviced apartments" as it selects it prestigious featured property for June, 2019. The designee for the first month of summer is the "Avalon Fashion Valley," of San Diego, an apartment complex that offers fully furnished, short term rentals to busy business and leisure travelers who are coming to Southern California and San Diego county.

Any time is a great time to comes to Southern California in general and San Diego in particular for business or pleasure as there is so much to see and do, explained Robert Lee, President of Key Housing. Europeans and Brits, however, may be befuddled in their search for so-called 'serviced apartments' in San Diego, as Americans refer to these as furnished apartments or short-term listings. By designating a complex that speaks their language, so to speak, we're highlighting a complex that caters to Europeans and Brits who are coming to San Diego, California.

Interested persons can view the newly chosen listing at http://www.keyhousing.com/rightside.asp?action=form3&ID=853. It should be noted that "Avalon Fashion Valley" is one of the most sought-after addresses in San Diego's Mission Valley neighborhood. These luxury San Diego apartments boast new one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans designed to be a perfect fit for anyone's lifestyle. Spacious and open floor plan features plenty of room to entertain or relax, and a plethora of features from a gourmet kitchen with granite counters and pecan finish cabinetry to extra-large walk-in closets to accommodate the latest shopping spree. Also included are electrical heating and central air conditioning, crown molding and a full-size washer and dryer in each home. Some of the signature community amenities include a spectacular sparkling outdoor pool and lounge with fireplace, barbecue area, lush courtyards, a state of the art fitness center and resident lounge with a full game room. This community has the laid back California atmosphere Europeans and Brits crave, but is also near the best of everything to make it easy-to-understand why this complex garnered the prestigious SoCal featured listing for June, 2019.

INFORMATION RESOURCES TO PREPARE FOR SAN DIEGO

Here is background on this release. British and European citizens who'd like to prepare on the in's and out's of finding hard-to-find short term, corporate, and serviced apartments in San Diego are encouraged to check out the company's lively blog and specifically the new posts on San Diego at http://blog.keyhousing.com/tag/san-diego/. Key Housing works hard to disseminate information for persons looking for short term housing via the blog. And, finally, persons who are ready to engage with a consultant to find their dream serviced apartment can visit the master San Diego rentals page at http://www.keyhousing.com/rightside.asp?location=San%20Diego. In summary, Europeans and British citizens may not realize a) just how difficult the SoCal rental market is, b) how Americans do not use the term "serviced apartment," favoring instead terms like "short term rentals" or "furnished apartments, and c) how helpful it is to have "boots on the ground" in terms of California's #1 short term housing service, Key Housing.

ABOUT KEY HOUSING

Based in Folsom, California, Key Housing Connections Inc. specializes in corporate housing and serviced apartments in large cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego as well as smaller cities like Fresno, Burbank, and Carlsbad. Key Housing is a leader in affordable, friendly, short-term and corporate housing in places like Bakersfield, Encinitas, Hermosa Beach, and just about every city in California. Whether it's a San Diego serviced apartment or a San Francisco furnished rental, just search, click or call today!

Key Housing

(800) 989-0410

http://www.keyhousing.com/
San Jose Serviced Apartment San Jose is the center of Silicon Valley living, and by selecting Villa Torino we want to draw attention to an apartment complex that is 'European friendly.

Key Housing Connections, the NorCal leader in locating hard-to-find corporate apartments in San Jose and other major Northern California cities, is pleased to announce the second part of its focus on so-called "serviced apartments" in both Northern and Southern California. As Europeans and British citizens, both tourists and business travelers, flock to California during the summer months, the company is designating two properties (one in San Diego, and one in San Jose) as the designees of its prestigious "featured listing" awards for June, 2019. The San Jose winner is the Villa Torino at https://www.villatorinoapts.com/, which is an incredible complex that bills itself as a "Modern Italian Villa in the Heart of an Jose."

The complex offers Europeans and Brits, short term, furnished rentals in the so-called "serviced apartment" category, making it an ideal fit for Germans, French, Brits, or other Europeans who are coming to Silicon Valley either for business and/or pleasure.

"San Jose is the center of Silicon Valley living, and by selecting Villa Torino we want to draw attention to an apartment complex that is 'European friendly,'" explained Robert Lee, President of Key Housing. "Whether one calls it a serviced apartment or a furnished apartment, the reality is that Villa Torino offers foreigners a way to enjoy Silicon Valley without having to pack their furniture."

Interested persons can learn more about the NorCal featured listing for June at http://www.keyhousing.com/rightside.asp?action=form3&ID=148. There, they can read about Villa Torino, or use the navigation features to browse up and down California to learn about short term rental opportunities. For example, to browse availabilities throughout all of Silicon Valley, they can click up to http://www.keyhousing.com/silicon-valley-furnished-rentals.asp. They can also reach out to Key Housing for personalized help on finding hard-to-find short term rentals in San Jose for the summer months. Indeed, those who want to read up on the San Jose apartment marketplace can check out the company's spirited blog at http://blog.keyhousing.com/tag/san-jose-corporate-rentals/ which shares tips, tricks, and insights on how to find one of the hardest things to find on God's green earth: an available short term rental in Santa Clara county, California.

THE WAY TO A SAN JOSE SERVICED APARTMENT: KEY HOUSING

Here is a background on this announcement. While Dionne Warwick made San Jose famous with her 1968 song, Europeans may not know that Americans use the term "furnished apartment" for what Europeans and Brits call "serviced apartment," namely an apartment that has the basic furnishings. Indeed, Europeans and non-Californians may not know that finding a short term rental in Silicon Valley is harder than finding a person who doesn't have the Uber or Lyft app on their phone. By identifying a leading apartment complex that understands Europeans, Brits, and the terminology that they use to find short terms rentals, Key Housing is helping bridge not only the linguistic gaps but the real estate gaps between Europe and California.

ABOUT KEY HOUSING

Based in Folsom, California, Key Housing Connections Inc. specializes in corporate housing and corporate rentals in large cities like San Diego, San Francisco or Los Angeles as well as smaller cities like Carlsbad, Studio City, and Glendale. Key Housing is a leader in affordable, friendly, short-term serviced apartments in places like San Francisco, Ontario, Costa Mesa and just about every city in California. Whether it's furnished apartments or serviced corporate housing, search, click or call today!

Key Housing

(800) 989-0410

http://www.keyhousing.com/


We need to guard ourselves because its so easy to be caught up in the world and lose sight of the One who died for us and gave us life and instructions on how to live that life. No one said it would be easy not to follow the world. It wasnt easy to pack out the moose. But it was worth it.

Alaskan Bush Adventures is a collection of personal anecdotes that talks about different times in his life. Each chapter chronicles his experiences living in the bush of Alaska, surviving tough environmental conditions, preaching to local villagers, traveling cross-country, learning to fly a plane, and many more. As Ernst shares his daily joys and struggles with his readers, he reflects on every experience by turning to the Word of God for guidance.

Throughout the book, Ernst quotes Bible verses to better express his feeling towards situations he encounters. While he is an educated preacher, he isnt afraid to talk about his shortcomings as a person, and he uses these moments to teach readers important lessons to live by. One of these lessons is how worldly matters will lead us astray from the will of God. We need to guard ourselves because its so easy to be caught up in the world and lose sight of the One who died for us and gave us life and instructions on how to live that life. No one said it would be easy not to follow the world. It wasnt easy to pack out the moose. But it was worth it.

To add to Ernsts lesson about looking to Christ, his book tells us that even someone as simple as a fisherman or tax collector can be chosen to spread the Good News. Your background, according to Ernst, is not the deciding factor that tells us whether or not you are worthy of sharing Gods Word of Love to others. If you feel doubt creeping into your mind and heart, you must learn to focus on the Lord so that you wont be tempted by the enemy into living a life ruled by worldly pleasures and material possessions.

In the storms of life, I need to be like the disciples and learn the lessonI need to be reminded that my hope, my anchor, is in Christ. He has given me His word and He will give me strength in time of need. He will give me grace for the situations I face. He will always be with me and never leave me. He will, as promised, be my unfailing anchor in life.

Author Don Ernst is a preacher who lives with his family in a small village located in the bush of Alaska. A man of many gifts, he studied to be a missionary, learned to pilot aircraft, and opened a snowmobile shop in the village where he lives. These were done in an effort to continue growing his ministry and share his knowledge about God to the local community.
Online school students celebrate graduation during traditional commencement ceremony There is nothing more fulfilling as an educator than to see student goals transform into student achievements, because we all know that those successes never come without hard work and commitment.

Utah Connections Academy, a statewide, online public school that serves about 1,200 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, will celebrate its senior class later today with a traditional in-person graduation ceremony in Salt Lake City. The schools largest graduating class to date, with 126 seniors, will travel from all corners of the state to celebrate their collective achievements.

The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. at Lifetime Activities Center at SLCC, 4700 S. Redwood Road, in Salt Lake City.

There is nothing more fulfilling as an educator than to see student goals transform into student achievements, because we all know that those successes never come without hard work and commitment, Erin Taylor, Utah Connections Academy principal, said. Graduation is a special time, and we look forward to hearing about the great things our new graduates accomplish in the future.

Utah Connections Academys graduation ceremony will include addresses from salutatorian Jarence Adair of Tooele, and valedictorian Veneita Bustin of Salt Lake City, who earned a $25,000 scholarship to Weber State University.

Adair will study civil engineering at the University of Utah, a path she chose after having a number of discussions with her dad about the importance of developing infrastructure and solid foundations.

Civil engineers help define a good society, Adair said. I want to be part of that.

Bustin, an avid traveler, has plans to visit Iceland and Australia over the summer before beginning her criminal justice studies at Weber State in the fall. She also intends to study abroad.

Our graduates have diverse plans for the next chapters of their lives, including military service, entering the workforce and continuing their education, Taylor said. Regardless of their chosen paths, we can say with confidence that these self-disciplined young adults are prepared to tackle the challenges in front of them and find success for themselves.

Utah Connections Academy families enroll for a variety of reasons, including a need or desire for a flexible schedule, a need for a safe environment, or to accommodate health issues. The schools annual Parent Satisfaction Survey revealed that a majority of families chose UCA because they were looking for greater flexibility. Others simply wanted a change from their neighborhood school, or desired a learning environment that they felt was safer.

Enrollment for the 2019-20 school year is going on now. More information about the school, its personalized approach to learning, and the enrollment process is available at http://www.UtahConnectionsAcademy.com or by calling (801) 298-6660.

About Utah Connections Academy

Utah Connections Academy is a tuition-free, online public school that serves students in grades kindergarten through 12. Utah Connections Academy provides students with the flexibility to learn from anywhere there is an Internet connection and with an innovative online school curriculum that meets rigorous state education standards. The combination of state-certified teachers, a proven curriculum, unique electives, technology tools, and community experiences creates a supportive and successful online learning opportunity for families who want an individualized approach to education. For more information, call 800-382-6010 or visit http://www.UtahConnectionsAcademy.com.
God  is the only one who truly knows it and can judge me. The real question should be, Does my soul, which only God  knows, acknowledge the soul of Gods  Messiah?... Its not a question of faith or belief. Its a question of my soul responding to Gods soul regarding the Messiah.

Trial is a first-person novel that depicts a Sephardic Jewish man learning more about who Jesus Christ was as a Jew. The book was written based on a short film of the same name which starred the author, Jose Antonio Rivera-Garcia. Trials protagonist, Jose Antonio Sanes, shares with readers the turbulent history of Judaism as he learns more about what it means to be a man from his experiences as a son, brother, husband-then-widow, adoptive father, professor, and Rabbi.

Jose Sanes was born in the province of Andalucia in Spain, but his family immigrated to Puerto Rico and eventually settled in Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States. He narrates to the readers that the country hes from was deeply rooted in Judaism but was eventually converted to Catholicism by the monarchs. He shared the bravery and unity shown by members of the Jewish community from all social and economic classes despite the threat of persecution by the countrys leaders. Many Jews chose death over conversion to Catholicism, which Jose used as inspiration in times of adversity.

Guided by the Lord as well as inspired by his mentors and ancestors, the protagonist attended Hebrew school to be a Rabbi, graduated law school, married and started a family, and eventually worked as a professor of constitutional law for his alma mater. His faith, however, was challenged when he lost his wife to cancer. I would cry out to God many times for Him to fill that void. Sometimes I could feel His presence; others I felt like He didnt care about me. The latter more frequently. I felt alone, lamented Jose. Was this a question of faith or belief? I didnt know. All that I did know with certainty was that I had a hole in my soul and it wasnt getting better; the pain wasnt getting any less.

While everyone lives his or her own life and has varying perspectives on certain matters, the persistent question about religion and spirituality has endured for ages. Joses faith is continually tested throughout the book, and he is presented with opportunities for spiritual growth as well as temptations to forsake his faith.

A powerful example of Joses influence and another surprising source of his strength is his adopted son, Jeremiah. God  is the only one who truly knows it and can judge me. The real question should be, Does my soul, which only God  knows, acknowledge the soul of Gods  Messiah?... Its not a question of faith or belief. Its a question of my soul responding to Gods soul regarding the Messiah.
Service providers that implement REDCOM software not only get a proven STIR/SHAKEN solution, but also a best of all worlds toolkit that includes reputation scoring, white and blacklists, and audio CAPTCHAs.

REDCOM Laboratories, Inc., the leading provider of solutions for the network service layer, announced today that it has successfully completed interoperability testing with the ATIS Robocalling Testbed that demonstrates the interoperability of the companys STIR/SHAKEN implementation within the REDCOM Personalized Call Screening software. These tests are part of a broader industry effort to help service providers protect consumers against unwanted robocalls and caller ID spoofing.

Nuisance calls are one of the biggest pain points affecting consumers today. The U.S. government has made it clear that solving this problem is a top priority this year, said Shannon Chevier, Director of Product Management for REDCOM. Our Personalized Call Screening solution will allow service providers to offer consumers real protection against the onslaught of robocalls. Service providers that implement REDCOM software not only get a proven STIR/SHAKEN solution, but also a best of all worlds toolkit that includes reputation scoring, white and blacklists, and audio CAPTCHAs.

The virtualized testing facility, hosted by the Neustar Trust Lab, supports a joint effort from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) called STIR/SHAKEN, which gives service providers the ability to authenticate, digitally sign, and verify calling party numbers. This testing confirms REDCOMs successful implementation of both the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) standard and the Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs (SHAKEN) framework.

Neustar is committed to supporting the industry in combating illegal robocalling and call-spoofing, said James Garvert, Communications Solutions General Manager for Neustar. One of our efforts in support of this commitment, since early 2017, is hosting and operating the ATIS Robocalling Testbed and supporting participants, such as REDCOM, with their STIR/SHAKEN interoperability testing.

Service providers interested in REDCOMs robocall and nuisance call blocking software can visit https://www.redcom.com/capabilities/call-screening/ for more information.

About ATIS

As a leading technology and solutions development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) brings together the top global ICT companies to advance the industrys most critical business priorities. ATIS 150 member companies are currently working to address 5G, the all-IP transition, network functions virtualization, big data analytics, cloud services, the ICT implications of Smart Cities, emergency services, M2M, cyber security, network evolution, quality of service, billing support, operations, and much more. These priorities follow a fast-track development lifecycle  from design and innovation through standards, specifications, requirements, business use cases, software toolkits, open source solutions, and interoperability testing.

ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding Partner of the oneM2M global initiative, a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit http://www.atis.org.

About Neustar

Neustar, Inc., is a leading global information services provider driving the connected world forward with responsible identity resolution. As a company built on a foundation of Privacy by Design, Neustar is depended upon by the worlds largest corporations to help grow, guard and guide their businesses with the most complete understanding of how to connect people, places and things. Neustars unique, accurate and real-time identity system, continuously corroborated through billions of transactions, empowers critical decisions across our clients enterprise needs. Neustar is the industry leader in Caller Identification solutions, co-author of the STIR standards, key contributor to the SHAKEN framework, and serves as the exclusive host of the industry's Robocall Testbed. More information is available at http://www.home.neustar.

About REDCOM

REDCOM Laboratories, Inc. is a woman-owned small business that specializes in the design and development of advanced communications solutions for service providers. REDCOM offers a full suite of highly flexible, standards-based Carrier-Class Service Layer solutions and softswitch platforms. Our products enable service providers to cost-effectively converge wireline, IP, and wireless services with a common service delivery environment; migrate legacy switching; roll out VoLTE; and deploy enhanced network services such as Personalized Call Screening, Intelligent Call Routing, Real-Time Call Rating, and Mass Notification. All REDCOM products are proudly designed, built, and supported in the United States.
Cannabis use, for wellness, is growing across the country and, for many, is a part of a daily regimen. As a result, Patients, as well as Cannaseurs, add Cannabis-friendly to their list of needs when seeking vacation accommodations and experiences to alleviate consumption and privacy concerns while traveling. Answering the call in the Windy City is the exciting new Spark Clubs.

Spark Clubs offers first-class rentals where Guests can completely customize the perfect cannabis experience in the privacy of their unit. Accommodations sleep from ten to 14 people, comfortably, while event spaces hold up to 400, all smoke friendly. Rentals are available currently in South Shore, Hyde Park, and Wicker Park, Evanston and the South Suburbs, expanding throughout the Chicago Metropolitan Area. The excitement surrounding the new business is high (no pun intended).

We supply everything except cannabis. Our Members infuse their vacations with curated experiences they can only get through Spark Clubs, says business owner Holly DuPart. Guests can rent dab rigs, or Magical Butter oil making machines or schedule a Canna-oil massage. In-unit cannabis-infused alcohol classes were Winter hits, but Holly believes the All inclusive Weed Weddings starting at $1000 and Vape Friendly boat rides will be summer hits, for sure.

To celebrate the opening of their newest location in Wicker Park, Spark Clubs is waving the $100 annual membership fee for a limited-time-only for new members. Spark Clubs can be found on Airbnb and HomeAway but go directly to the company site for more information about experiences and to check availability.

The early feedback for Spark Clubs, led by Managing Broker Holly DuPart, known for her Project Management skills in acclaimed Cabrini Green and Kennedy-King redevelopment projects, is consistently positive across the board. By partnering with other businesses in the community such as Connect Gallery, Avents by August and The Silver Room, we can expand The Spark Clubs reach and provide services to our guests that we would not otherwise be able to offer.

Alex W. recently stayed May 4th and said, This place was perfect and fit our needs. Very spacious, updated, and modern interior. LOTS of room. Beds are either new, or close to it, and very comfortable.  the neighborhood was absolutely fantastic, quiet, and very safe feeling. Highly recommend this place!

To maintain great air quality and overall wellness, Spark Clubs has a strict No tobacco policy, including blunts and other cigar wrappers. Media are invited to attend an exclusive private event on Wednesday, June 26th at The Connect Gallery in Hyde Park. There will be swag bag full of cannabis-friendly items, you wouldnt want to miss this event. To learn more check out https://thesparkclubs.com.
Left to right: WesternU COMP Dean Paula Crone, former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, and WesternU President Daniel R. Wilson. (Jeff Malet, WesternU)

Two Oregon governors provided encouragement and inspiration to the 104 graduates of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest Class of 2019.

The ceremony concluded Western University of Health Sciences 2019 Commencement exercises, presided over by President Daniel R. Wilson, MD, PhD. WesternU awarded 1,071 degrees to graduates of nine colleges, raising the Universitys alumni total to 16,469.

The WesternU Commencement ceremony in Lebanon, Oregon brought together current Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and the first female governor in the states history, Gov. Barbara Roberts.

This morning represents a truly historic moment, as we are honored by having the only two female governors of the state of Oregon on our stage together today, said COMP Dean Paula Crone, DO 92. In fact, this may be the first time this has occurred on any university commencement stage across the country. Both of these women have served as role models and as examples to many of us. Their influence and their impact are far-reaching.

Brown earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She moved to Oregon to attend the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, where she received her JD degree and a Certificate in Environmental Law. Prior to serving as Oregons 38th governor, she was Oregon Secretary of State, where she was a leader in increasing government transparency and accountability. Her niece, Meagan Smith, is a member of the DO Class of 2019.

COMP-Northwest has impressed me as a truly special place, and Im not just saying that because my niece is among todays graduates, Brown said. This is a place where, through a potent mixture of caffeine, adrenaline and perspiration, you are transformed from a regular person into a doctor of osteopathic medicine. The way forward is illuminated by this noble calling: to preserve and improve the life and health of people.

The graduates training has taught them that sitting on that crunchy exam table paper is a whole person, someone with a job, a family, and their own worries and dreams, Brown said.

Maybe they come to you in pain. Maybe they carry scars from a complex past, but they come, as all human beings do, seeking hope. For the future, for themselves, for their loved ones. They are looking at you, she said. You depart these halls today into a world that desperately needs your brains, your energy and your dedication to create a more ethical, compassionate, and inclusive world. Health care is a huge part of that.

A shining example of someone who changed the world is Oregon State Sen. Alan Bates, DO, Brown said. He was tireless, working Monday through Thursday in the Legislature and then tending to patients Friday through Sunday.

Bates, who died in 2016, worked diligently to pass a bill creating Oregons Coordinated Care Organizations (CCO), which work to mend gaps in the health care fabric and stitch them back together, Brown said.

Preventative care is cheaper, its easier and its smarter, Brown said. In addition to being the right thing to do to serve our patients, the CCO model saved taxpayers an estimated $2 billion over the last five years. The number of ER visits has plummeted, and the number of prenatal visits has jumped to 95 percent, which is unheard of. There is no question that one dedicated person with good ideas can change the world. Senator Bates was that person. And so are you.

Senator Bates showed us that a doctor can be many things. Most importantly, he showed us what can be done when we pay attention. When we listen to each other. When we care for one another, Brown said. So go out there and relentlessly inflict good.

Oregons 34th governor, Barbara Roberts, gave the keynote address. Roberts was elected in 1990, becoming the first woman governor in Oregon and one of the first 10 female governors in the nation. She had previously held public office for 24 years, including as a school board member, community college board member, county commissioner, Oregon State representative, and Oregon Secretary of State.

Her address focused on the issue of personal courage. Her older son, Mike, who is autistic, grew up in the mid-1960s during a time when his disability meant he had no right to a public school education.

Every week, Roberts took one day off to travel to the Oregon capitol to advocate for her son. After six months, her hard work resulted in Oregon passing the first special education rights law for children with emotional disabilities in the U.S.

I had changed my sons life and changed his future. My new law - Oregons new law - changed the lives of hundreds and eventually thousands of Oregons children and their families. And my own life was never the same, she said.

Democracy is not a spectator sport, Roberts said, and although most of us dont necessarily sense much courage buried within ourselves, an opportunity to demonstrate courage might be waiting just around the next corner. She then quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy.

Believing those words has changed my life. So - I speak out. I advocate. It is not because I am a former governor. Its because Im a current citizen, Roberts said. So today, I encourage you, I urge you, to be ready and willing to stand up and speak out, and when needed, to take a risk. Take a risk to create a community, a state, a nation that is more humane, more safe, more inclusive, and more honest. Dont be afraid to rock the boat a little. Dont fear to color outside the lines occasionally. Understand what it means to have history be your judge.

As I said in my inaugural address as governor: Each generation has but one chance, one chance, to be judged by future generations, and this is our time. And now - this is your time, Roberts told the graduates. Make a difference. Make us proud. Be the finest of doctors. Be the finest of citizens.

Its special that we have the opportunity to see both of them here, said COMP-Northwest graduate Shauyaun Azimi, DO 19.

Azimi grew up in the Portland area and wanted to come to WesternU-Oregon because of its family atmosphere. Reaching this milestone was hard to describe, he said.

Its really tough to put into words, just because of the amount of work you put in for four years, all culminating in matching into residency and one day of graduation. Its over all of a sudden, Azimi said. Seeing faculty and classmates here one final time and knowing what weve all gone through together makes it really special.

Lebanon resident Morgan Wimmer, DO 19, was recognized as the 500th graduate of COMP-Northwest. She left Lebanon to attend State University of New York at Potsdam, graduating in 2014. Leaving for college and then returning after WesternU-Oregon opened allowed her to see the difference the university made in the community.

I see the economy booming. I see kids becoming interested in science, Wimmer said. I see so many more charity activities. Its wonderful. I dont think they even realize how much theyve done for Lebanon.

Her grandfather, Robert Wimmer, MD, was a huge inspiration for her.

Watching him throughout his practice years, and even now in retirement, how much he contributes to the community, I look up to him a lot, Wimmer said. I always knew I wanted to do something that helps other people. This is the chance for me to do that directly.
Like many in the U.S., author Debbie Rigaud watched the televised 2018 British royal wedding with great interest. To hear the ululations when Meghan and Harry came out gave me chills, she says. That excitement fueled her forthcoming YA novel Truly Madly Royally (Point, July), a rom-com that pairs a black American teen with a white European prince when they meet at a summer college prep program.

Had you read much contemporary royal romance before writing one of your own?

Ive been following Alyssa Coleher covers are amazingand Ive read Shannon Hales Princess Academy series, but I hadnt sought it out before. I did live in Bermuda for a few years, and the queen visited when I was there. Because its a small placethere are about 66,000 people on the islandyoure not seeing her as a tiny spot in the crowd. Youre actually kind of close. And so I got a sense of how they view royalty in Bermuda, in a predominantly black society. Being American born and raised, I dont have the same view and understanding of it, so I borrowed from those experiences for this book.

Zora, the heroine of your novel, has a strong sense of self and is not particularly impressed by Owens royal status. Why is that?

Black people come from a community that always tells us were kings and queens. I didnt want the girl to be gaga over the idea of European royalty, because she was crowned in a way herself. I wrote with that idea in mind: In the book, theres a ceremony where shes crowned by her community [as a local leader]. I wanted Zora to feel that support from within. But I also wanted to acknowledge that some of us were excited about Meghan Markle. Black Twitter was cracking me up with the reactionswhen Meghan became part of the narrative, we all stood up.

How did you reconcile those conflicting sentiments in the book?

Zoras thinking is, How will I focus on my goals and not have this media circus [around Prince Owen] affect what Im trying to do with my life? Its an inconvenience. I think thats realistic and mature. There are also the feelings of inadequacy that Zora felt from being on the prestigious campus and feeling out of place there. Shes shouldering a lot. But he notices her first. I know the narrative, that people dont look to us as standards of beauty. Its not all about looks, but were fly and Owen picks up on that. So it was kind of: We are fabulous. Black girls are awesome. We can catch someones eye.

Would the relationship between Owen and Zora be the same if he werent royalty?

I think so, because theres an earnestness about him thats endearing. He has a humility and a curiosity. He wants to learn about her world. When two people from different races are there to listen and learn when appropriate, that willingness goes a long way.

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Epic stories have never been more popularor more epic. Except todays epic heroes often start out their journeys as regular kids or teens, and grow to bear the awesome weight of their stories. We talked to four authors of some of the best contemporary epics about what makes someone an epic hero in 2019.

Tony Adeyemi

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the follow-up to the blockbuster Children of Blood and Bone, going deeper into the adventures of Zelie and Amari, and introducing a whole new cast. We talked to Adeyemi about how her heritage affects her writing and the advice she gives to young writers.

On how her Nigerian heritage informs her writing: Its really gratifying for me because I get to make magic out of the wonderful culture I was born into. The kingdom is obviously named after the Orisha of West African religion and mythology, but seas and mountain ranges are named after my late grandparents. The characters wear dashikis, geles, and headdresses as they eat jollof rice and fried plantain.

Her advice for young writers: Read, read, read! The best way to learn how to write well is by reading the work of great writers. Its the most fun way to learn how to become a good storyteller yourself. Write, write, write! No matter what it is! I didnt think my 300 pages of Naruto fan fiction would amount to anything, and now I realize how incredible that training was for me. It doesnt matter if its good, it doesnt matter if its finished, it doesnt matter if its fan fiction or original ideas. Just do it!

Favorite books as a teen: The Outsiders and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Favorite books now: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

Favorite Word: Pico de gallo. Im not jokingits very fun to shout.

Epic YA: Tomi Adeyemi, Jason Reynolds, Julie Murphy, and Cassandra Clare 3:304:30 p.m. // Main Stage

Leigh Bardugo

Bardugos Shadown and Bone and Six of Crows series have won her legions of fans. She talked about her new book, Ninth House, and more.

On what she hopes readers take away from Ninth House: I hope the lines between our real and imagined worlds will blur a bit for them, that theyll see magic and power in a different light. Deep down, I hope theyll want to visit New Haven [Conn.] and that theyll fall in love with it, too.

On what a 2019 epic hero looks like: The real heroes look the same as ordinary peoplemainstream culture is just starting to acknowledge them. Adventure and romance and magic dont just belong to straight, white, square-jawed, able-bodied dudes who shut up sexy physicists while saving the world, and now our movies and our books are beginning to reflect that. Probably because the people getting to tell those stories to a wide audience are different now, too.

Favorite book as a kid: As a little kid, I was obsessed with a book called Catwitch by Lisa Tuttle and Una Woodruff.

Favorite books as a teen: My touchstones were probably Frank Herberts Dune, Stephen Kings It, and everything by

Louise Erdrich.

Favorite word: Toothsome.

Leigh Bardugo in Conversation with Jeff VanderMeer 12:451:30 p.m. // Room 1E14

Soman Chainani

Chainanis series, the School for Good and Evil, follows a pair of students dropped into a magical school populated by characters from fairy tales. We talked to him about watching his heroes grow up.

How the world of the School for Good and Evil has changed: In Book 1, theyre young teenagers. By Book 5, theyre old enough to be running kingdoms and planning marriages and moving beyond their years at school into their real-life fairy tales. Its a delicate balance writing a series that has to satisfy both new eight-year-old readers bingeing through the series, as well as 17- and 18-year olds who have grown up with it, year by year. By the fifth book, therere 145 characters, 30 kingdoms, and 70 plotlines. Sometimes it feels like Im managing a fantasy corporation, or at the very least living two lives in two worlds. One of the decisions I made, early on, was to divide the series into two trilogies: the School Years and the Camelot Years.

His advice for young writers: Often with young writers, theyre told Keep writing. Its my least favorite advice. Writing 10 mediocre stories wont get you any closer to being better. Instead, I urge writers to focus on one story and keep revising again and again. Show it to friends, to teachers, to your parents: push yourself far past your original level. Then when you start your next story, that higher level will be your new baseline.

On what a 2019 epic hero looks like: The epic hero of 2019 can look beyond the cult of me and the moment and see that the present is just history in disguise. Its why the greatest epic heroes are timeless.

Favorite book as a kid: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basel E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.

Favorite book as a teen: Interview with a Vampire, by Anne Rice.

Favorite Word: Diva.

The Very Best in Middle Grade: Soman Chainani, Meg Medina, Raina Telgemeier, and Tracey Baptiste 1:302:05 p.m.

// Choice Stage

Cassandra Clare

YA superstar Clare is the author of the Mortal Instruments and Shadowhunter series. She talked about her new series, collaboration, and more.

On how Chain of Gold fits into the Shadowhunter universe: Chain of Gold is the first book in the Last Hours trilogy. Its set in London in 1903 and is a companion series to the Infernal Devices trilogy, which took place in Victorian London. Ive always loved writing historical fantasy, and once the Infernal Devices wrapped up, I missed it. Ive been looking forward to writing about Shadowhunters in the Edwardian era.

On how she researches her books: I read a lot of nonfiction about the eras Im writing in, and I also read fiction that was popular at the time, to get a feel for the nuances of language. Whenever possible, I travel to the setting and walk around, taking photos and notes.

On what a 2019 epic hero looks like: Shes on her way to the polls, and shes gonna kick ass at the voting booth.

Favorite books as a kid: The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Favorite books as a teen: I was obsessed with Jane Austen.

Favorite word: Crepuscular.

Spotlight on: Cassandra Clare 11 a.m.noon // Main Stage
Nearly 30 million people in the U.S., according to Nielsens count, watched Meghan Markle and Prince Harry exchange vows last May, and a year later, it seemed that at least that number were eagerly awaiting the birth of the royal baby. To many, the romance between the American actor/entrepreneur and the man sixth in line to the British throne resembled a fairy taleone thats in part responsible for a new wave of contemporary royal romances.

The rom-com is taking off, and people have this ever-present fascination with royals, says Vicki Lame, editor at St. Martins Press and Wednesday Books. Especially now that Meghan Markle is a royal, were very hungry for it.

Leah Koch, co-owner of the Ripped Bodice romance bookstore in Los Angeles, says contemporary royals have a draw thats distinct from that of another glamorous character type: the billionaire. In royal romance you have the fantasy, you have the opulence, but its often presented as a burden, she says. I think thats what makes it appealingit doesnt have the same greed issue that billionaire romances have.

PW spoke with authors and editors of recent and forthcoming contemporary romances about how these stories are evolving and why they are resonating with readers.

Subverting the Monarchy

Koch is among those who are eager to see contemporary royal romances that better reflect the modern world. Im much more interested in people who are envisioning a more inclusive monarchy, she says. One author she mentions is Alyssa Cole, who recently completed her Reluctant Royals series with A Prince on Paper (Avon), which PWs starred review called deeply satisfying. A Reluctant Royals spin-off series, Runaway Royals, launches in 2020.

Each book in the Reluctant Royals series (three novels, two novellas) stars a black woman as a main character. Cole says that when she began writing the series in 2014, she drew on a variety of ideas and influences: The scam emails that seemed to be everywhere a few years back, lack of media showing black women in STEM, lack of media showing black princesses, and a long-standing love for Coming to America, among other things. In book one, 2018s A Princess in Theory, Naledi, an epidemiology grad student, learns via email that shes the long-lost betrothed of an African prince.

A Prince on Paper, the series finale, is a romance between Johan, a white European prince, and Nya, first cousin to her African nations royal family. Cole started planning the book before Markle met Prince Harry, although, she says, there are definitely some Harry-esque aspects to Johan (hes a bad boy whose mother died when he was young). As the couple begin to open up to each other, they have to navigate popular opinion in addition to their own feelings.

In royalty romance, Cole says, one or both of the protagonists are constantly in the public eye and have public expectations to live up to that require them to hide aspects of who they are.

That tension between the public and the private recurs in Casey McQuistons recently released debut, Red, White & Royal Blue (Griffin), which PWs starred review called outstanding. Ive always loved stories about royal romances, McQuiston says, offering as examples the 2004 Julia Stiles movie The Prince & Me and 2015s The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. Her sister, she says, had a collage on her bedroom door that included a photo of Prince William.

In Red, White & Royal Blue, Alex Claremont-Diaz, the biracial, bisexual son of the U.S. president, falls for Prince Henry, the not-quite-out heir to the British throne. There are five million versions of the Prince Charming trope, McQuiston says. When romance sticks with what she calls that straight, going-to-produce-a-million-heirs type of prince, I really feel like theres an obvious subversion youre not doing.

Alex and Henrys relationship morphs from orchestrated bromance to international romance complete with email love letters, Snapchat sessions, paparazzi, and a reelection on the line for the first female president of the United States. Im fascinated by worlds that are incredibly high-profile and incredibly private at the same time, McQuiston says. In April, Amazon Studios won rights at auction to adapt the book for film.

Readers can look forward to more variations on the theme: Berkley v-p and editorial director Cindy Hwang recently acquired another contemporary royal M/M romance: Paul Rudnicks Playing the Palace, slated to publish in 2021. Contemporary royal romance sets a basis in reality for the romance, Hwang says. So even if its a situation that most people arent going to find themselves in, the [contemporary] setup makes it much more real-world.

Ashlyn Kane updates the typical Cinderella narrative in Fake Dating the Prince (Dreamspinner, June), a sparkling contemporary royal romance, PWs starred review said, between Crown Prince Antoine-Philippe of fictional Lyngriathe only European royal of Indian decent and the only one whos openly gayand flight attendant Brayden Wood. The prince, known as Flip, asks Brayden to be his escort to one of the biggest holiday parties in his region. What begins as a fake relationship develops into a real one, albeit one with some hiccups along the way.

Dreamspinner Press acquiring editor Sue Brown-Moore says the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sparked her interest in contemporary royal romance; specifically, their wedding prompted her to think, We need more prince romances. She reached out to Kane, already a Dreamspinner author, about the premise that developed into Fake Dating the Prince.

Royals give people hope, Brown-Moore says. You can relate to the people in the story once you get to know them, but also its a fantasy escape. Its not your normal life. So when Ashlyn and I started talking about doing a prince romance and she came up with these characters, I was like, Yesa thousand percent yes. Because I want more stories like that.

The escapist appeal of a fictional royal family can extend to those who work alongside them, as in Jasmine Guillorys Royal Holiday (Berkley, Oct.). Vivian, a middle-aged American woman, meets Malcolm, the private secretary to the Queen of England, while on holiday with her daughter in Britain. (Maddie, the daughter, is mentioned in Guillorys Reese Witherspoon book club pick The Proposal and is the heroine of Julys The Wedding Party.)

After writing a few books with millennial leads, Guillory found Vivian and Malcolms romance refreshing. I know so many people who are that age who have dated, who have found love, she says. It was really fun to write people who have been through the nonsense before and realize that it doesnt help in any way. Neither of them has time for dealing with any of that. (For more from Guillory, see Fantasy and Reality.)

Oh, Baby

Contemporary romance novels often shuffle the traditional love, marriage, baby carriage sequence, and royal contemporaries are no exception, with several forthcoming titles offering twists on the pregnancy trope.

In Angelina M. Lopezs debut, Lush Money (Carina, Oct.), Mateo, a Spanish prince and viticulturist, and Roxanne Medina, a self-made billionaire, enter into a contractual marriage agreement: theyll meet for regularly scheduled sex, hell provide her with the royal baby she very much wants, and shell pay him enough money to take his country out of debt. Meeting Mateo is just another business deal for Roxanneuntil, inevitably, the arrangement turns personal.

Roxanne has faced discrimination, not only for being a woman but for being a woman of Latinx descent, says Kerri Buckley, senior editor at Carina Press, of the lead character, an orphan raised in poverty who grew up to become a highly educated, successful woman. Roxannes struggles caused her to steel herself while she focused on her own desires, including having a child. Lush Money is the first book in the Filthy Rich series, which will follow Mateos noble family.

Lucinda Rileys recently published romantic thriller, The Royal Secret (Atria), was originally released in the U.K. in 2000 as Seeing Double. As Riley writes in her authors note introducing the rerelease, An early trade review suggested that St. Jamess Palace wouldnt like the subject matterjournalist Joanna Haslam looks into a scandal involving an earlier generation of the British royal family and an illegitimate childand the book was left to quietly fade away. Riley, who has gone on to write several works of romantic historical fiction, emphasizes in her note that The Royal Secret is a work of fiction, bearing no similarity to our beloved queen and her familys life. PWs review called the book gripping.

Haley Weaver, assistant editor at Atria, says the book will resonate with contemporary U.S. readers even though it was written a couple of decades ago. Americans are always fascinated by the British royal familyin some ways, were more fascinated with them than the British are, she says. Meghan Markle having just married into the royal family has brought that interest to a high that we havent seen in some years. Theres also the idea that rather than being put on a pedestal, the royals have come to be seen as fallible and more human. Theres a tinge of dark excitement that The Royal Secret taps into, she notes. It brings them down a level.

Contemporary royal romance has a natural home with the Harlequin Presents category line, pitched as alpha males, decadent glamour, and jet-set lifestyles. New titles that also center on babies include His Two Royal Secrets by Caitlin Crews (June), in which an heiress and a prince spend a passionate night together that leaves her pregnant with twins, and Clare Connellys recently released Shock Heir for the King. In Shock Heir, an artist named Frankie has a brief affair with a man named Mattwho in reality is Matthias, a prince who is about to ascend to the throne as king. He disappears, and Frankie only learns his identity three years later, when Matthias visits her shortly before choosing a woman of nobility to marry. During their reunion, Matthias finds not only an irate Frankie but his toddler son.

If the Crown Fits

In the forthcoming Harlequin category romance Surgeon Prince, Cinderella Bride by Ann McIntosh (Harlequin Medical Romance, July), a physician learns that shes a princess when shes asked to consider a marriage proposal from a fellow doctor who also turns out to be royalty, and who is looking to preserve his title by wedding another noble. Writing a commoner who not only marries royalty but is herself a secret royal offers another way for authors to make the monarchy relatable.

Starting with an American woman, and having her find her way, is a great way to pull readers into the royal family, says Christi Barth, author of The Princess Problem (Entangled, Nov.). In the novel, which launches the Unexpectedly Royal series, Kelsey Wishner starts a new chapter of her life in Manhattan only to learn two days later that shes a long-lost princess from the fictional European country of Moncriano. Two sequels are planned, one following Kelseys princess sister and one centered on a potential royal romance for Kelseys American sister.

Barth, a contemporary romance author delving into royalty for the first time, sums up the appeal of contemporary royal romance for her, and perhaps for readers, too: Its so much fun to put strong 21st-century women in the position of wrestling with centuries of tradition.

Jennifer Baker is a writer, podcaster, and the editor of the 2018 short story anthology Everyday People (Atria).

Below, more on the subject of romance novels.

Fantasy and Reality: PW Talks with Jasmine Guillory

In Royal Holiday, the author of The Proposal imagines a courtship between a middle-aged American woman and the private secretary to the Queen of England.

Heirs Apparent: YA Romance Novels 2019

Call them Princess Diaries 2.0: New books spin the royal romance trope in different ways.

Queen and Community: PW Talks with Debbie Rigaud

Rigauds rom-com Truly Madly Royally pairs a black American teen with a white European prince when they meet at a summer college prep program.
For an earlier generation of YA readers, Meg Cabots The Princess Diaries was the archetypal contemporary royal romance: an American girl suddenly finds herself immersed in the world of titles and tiaras. New novels spin the trope in different ways, imagining an interracial romance a la Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, a relationship between two teenage girls, and an alternate contemporary United States whose first family is royalty.

American Royals

Katharine McGee. Random House, Sept. Ages 12up.

McGees debut series, The Thousandth Floor, took place in a 22nd-century New York in which all of Manhattan resides in an impossibly high skyscraper. In her new book, set in a reimagined contemporary U.S. that saw George Washington gain a crown instead of the presidency after the Revolutionary War, Washingtons descendants still reign. McGee lays out the stakes for one heir in the first chapter: Beatrice had always known that she couldnt date the wrong personcouldnt even kiss the wrong person, the way everyone else at college seemed to. After all, no one wanted to see their future monarch walk-of-shaming home from a college party. A sequel is planned for 2020.

Her Royal Highness

Rachel Hawkins. Putnam, out now. Ages 12up.

In this companion novel to 2018s Prince Charmingwhich was originally titled Royals and whose paperback reissue features a cover look that ties both books togetherMillie Quint has just had her heart broken and is eager to get away from Houston. She lands a scholarship to spend a year studying abroad at Gregorstoun boarding school in Scotland, and ends up rooming with Flora, a tabloid celebrity and Scottish princess. (Floras the younger sister of a character in Prince Charming.) They start out wary of each otherMillies thrilled to be at the school and Flora is scheming to get kicked outbut their feelings evolve into friendship and eventually romance.

Truly Madly Royally

Debbie Rigaud. Point, July. Ages 12up.

Inspired by the real-life Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Rigauds new novel follows the budding romance between Zora Emerson, a community organizer and high school overachiever, and Owen Whittelsey, whom she meets while both attend a prestigious summer college prep program. She soon learns that hes actually the prince of a small (fictional) European country, and as they get to know each other, the two try to maintain a normal life amid the glitz, glamour, and speculation that comes with dating a royal. (For PWs conversation with Rigaud, see Queen and Community.)

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Global anime brand Crunchyroll and pop-culture branded collections firm Bioworld Merchandising have launched authentic lifestyle gear for the anime community.





Bioworld will collaborate with Crunchyroll on a slate of anime IP including Dr STONE, Black Clover, Mob Psycho 100, Yuri!!! on ICE, Bananya, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, The Rising of the Shield Hero, DARLING in the FRANXX, Re:ZERO and Goblin Slayer.Crunchyroll and Bioworld say that together they are making a commitment to meet anime fans wherever they are, and to engage this fan community throughfresh, unique fashion and lifestyle products. With the content associated products, fans can outfit themselves from head to toe for Crunchyroll's slate of popular anime series across North America and Europe. Crunchyroll has the worlds largest collection of anime, and continuing to work closely with Bioworld will improve our speed to market and will bring the anime community an even broader selection of goods for both our new and long-running series, said John Leonhardt, head of consumer products, Crunchyroll.Our collective teams are passionate fans themselves, and were so grateful for Bioworlds continued dedication and creativity as we work to better serve the global anime fandom.
U.S. military pilots who head to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, will soon find out what it's like to go up against an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The service earlier this month announced that it is reactivating the 65th Aggressor Squadron and moving 11 F-35A Lightning IIs to the base to serve as aggressor air, or "red air," training. The move is part of a larger initiative to give pilots the experience they'll need in a high-end conflict.
As the seemingly endless barrage of violent tornadoes continued to pummel a large swath of the United States this week, lawmakers and concerned citizens declared on social media that the storms offered a front-row seat to the unfolding climate crisis.

During a presidential campaign stop in disaster-stricken Iowa, Sen. Elizabeth Warren posted a video in which she says planetary warming is helping drive severe weather events, including tornadoes, and blasts those who deny the reality of climate change for putting us all at risk.
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Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The special counsel's office on Friday released the full transcript of a voicemail one of President Donald Trump's lawyers left for Michael Flynns lawyer asking for a "heads up" about the former national security advisers cooperation with investigators, a call government prosecutors have described as a potential effort to hinder Robert Muellers probe.

The transcript, now disclosed in its entirety, starts out, "Hey, Rob, uhm, this is John again," and shows how Trump's attorney John Dowd reached out to Flynn's attorney Rob Kelner to request "some kind of heads up" about the nature of the former security adviser's cooperation with investigators.

"If, on the other hand, we have, there's information that. .. implicates the President, then we've got a national security issue, or maybe a national security issue, I don't know ... some issue, we got to-we got to deal with, not only for the President, but for the country," Dowd tells Kelner in the voicemail. "So ... uh ... you know, then-then, you know, we need some kind of heads up. Um, just for the sake of ... protecting all our interests, if we can, without you having to give up any ... confidential information."

Prosecutors noted in Friday's new court filing accompanying the transcript that portions of the transcript were included in the special counsel Robert Mueller's report released last month. The full transcript is consistent with the overall narrative of the incident described in the report.

The call from Dowd to Kelner, dated Nov. 22, 2017, came on the same day when an NBC News report indicated that Flynn's former business partner Bijan Kian was under FBI investigation for lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey, a sign the government was encircling Flynn and exerting pressure on him to cooperate with Mueller.

Kian last year pleaded not guilty to charges of acting as an illegal agent for a foreign government related to his Turkish lobbying operation with Flynn and is awaiting trial in July.

It's unclear what prompted Dowd to call Kelner, but the voicemail suggests that the president's lawyer was fishing for information on whether Flynn was cooperating with the special counsel investigators in the Russia probe.

In court documents filed earlier this month, government prosecutors described the contact from Trump's attorney, as one of many "potential" efforts by those close to the president to thwart the investigation -- an effort exposed because of Flynn's 18 month-long cooperation with the special counsel's team.

The court earlier this month also ordered prosecutors to disclose details of communications between former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, including transcripts of phone calls.

Prosecutors, however, haven't released the transcripts of Flynn's conversations with Kislyak in the new filing. The document does mention the judge's order related to Flynn's conversations with Kislyak but doesn't address the order in its response.

Releasing transcripts of collected phone surveillance approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court such as Flynn's phone calls with Kislyak, is unheard of, according to Seamus Hughes, an expert on national security court cases at George Washington University.

The court had also ordered the government to release an unredacted version of parts of the Mueller report related to Flynn's case, but the government responded that only limited remaining redactions were in the report, such as sourcing of information, such as references to grand jury subpoenas.

Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to a charge of lying to federal investigators about his transition-period discussions with Kislyak. Flynn has not been sentenced, as his his cooperation in another federal investigation remains ongoing. A sentencing date has not been set.

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From PhonePe to Jio, everyone wants to be a Super App but it is still unclear if they will actually work in India.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

A Business Standard news report recently stated that Jio is preparing to launch 100 services soon including e-commerce.

The report hinted it would be a super app.

Meanwhile, PhonePe, for a while, has been talking about the need to be a super app.

It wanted to imitate the likes of WeChat in China or rather be an Indian version of the very popular chat and commerce unicorn.

So serious was Sameer Nigam, founder of PhonePe, about his vision to create Indias first super app that he flew his team to China.

They surveyed the market, tried to understand the nuances and will now use those learnings to replicate it in India.

PhonePe got in Oyo, Faasos, Gaana, Ola and Flipkart all within the same ecosystem.

Does this sound familiar?

In fact, in March this year, Paytm, too, tried to replicate this.

Paytm got Zomato and MakeMyTrip as part of its subscription platform.

Two different ways to skin the cat. But does the concept of super app work in India?

On paper, yes. The reason a super app works is frequency of using it.

There is a need for a super app.

"Think about it, you take cabs twice a day, you order food thrice a week, you order groceries once a week, you shop online once in two weeks, you pay bills and watch movies once a month and you travel once in two months, says K Ganesh, founder, GrowthStory.

All of this changes the way the customer behaves. It also gives the company immense information about the customer.

GPS tells it where the customer took the cab to, restaurant reservation tells the company where the customer ate.

Payment tells it how much it all cost.

Now, at this crucial juncture when the customer is heading home, if there was a notification of the phone, which asked the customer to order groceries because it knows this is idle time, you may be able to convert a purchase, he adds.

Apart from its own services, this fabled super app could also promote out of super app services, which would be extremely local.

For example, if the customer went to a restaurant next to a mall.

It could give the customer coupons to shop next door.

This locks the customer in the super app universe.

But in reality this doesnt translate.

A better parallel to PhonePe would be Grab, says Ganesh.

He explains that Grab started with a big use case in cabs, added new services, new layers and then became a giant in its own right.

But, he says, there are nuances that need to be considered in why these companies take off.

First you need to start with a use case that defines your company, something that is so basic that everyone comes on to that app every day a few times a day, says a senior executive from Tencent who asked not to be identified.

This senior executive is talking about WeChat.

He explains that WeChat was an instant messaging platform, which evolved into payments and then commerce.

The primary use case is still chat. People want to talk to one another, he adds.

This, he says, is missing with PhonePe or Paytm.

Their primary use case is payments and just for the top 50 million people, he adds.

He explains that for PhonePe or Paytm, people get on their apps to pay bills or do mobile top-ups.

Whatever they do, they cant change it. It is a challenge in this market, he says.

Paytm, for example, did try to introduce mobile gaming like ludo and chat to replicate that texture but abandoned chat in December 2018.

But why are payment companies trying to be super apps?

They are taking their cues from banks. Who first sell savings account then insurance and then a demat trading account.

"These are services that people may find interrelated, adds Ganesh.

Hike, a unicorn run by Kavin Bharti Mittal, came closest to replicating WeChat.

It started with chat and then tried to add other services.

But that didnt work either, and he changed tack in early 2019.

In 2019, we continue to double down on both Social and Content but were going to do it with an evolved approach.

"Were going to do it across multiple apps. That means, in 2019 were going to go from building a Super App that encompass everything, to Multiple Apps solving one thing really well, he said in January this year.

The reasons for Hikes failure were several.

But the key was that it just missed the bus when it came to chat.

WhatsApp had taken over in every which way possible.

It was the most popular chat engine in the country spreading across demographics.

And even when Hike tried to offer services it didnt quite agree with its audience. Because Indians like choice.

K Ganesh agrees. He says that Indians like width in their options even for the top 50 million.

Customers want to check Amazon and Flipkart. BigBasket and Grofers. Swiggy and Zomato.

There is very little loyalty, he says.

And because all options compete so heavily with each other for the quality of service there is no need for one solution.

But there is one that has the ability to be a super app.

But in a different way. Reliance Jio.

The thing about Jio is that it is the first time people were exposed to the internet. Jio is the internet for many people, Ganesh adds.

For 300 million people, Jio will be what introduces them to e-commerce.

Arvind Singhal, chairman and managing director, Technopak agrees.

Jio closes the loop that none of them has been able to before, Singhal says.

It doesnt have to be an app, he argues, it can be a service.

Now, the question is: Does PhonePe or Paytm fall into the heap of those who have failed before it or will they manage to find a different answer?

India may well be ready for the answers and if the answers are right.
The PM's choice of ministers is interesting, to say the least, says Jyoti Punwani.

IMAGE: President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi along with newly inducted ministers at Rashtrapati Bhawan on May 30, 2019. All Photographs: ANI Photos

The man who declared that astrology is superior to science is the HRD minister.

Here's Ramesh Pokhriyal's full quote: 'Science is a dwarf in front of astrology. Astrology is the biggest science. It is in fact above science. We should promote it. We speak about nuclear science today. But Sage Kanad conducted nuclear test one lakh years ago. We had the knowledge of transplants.' (December 2014)

Then there are those facing criminal cases: Sanjeev Balyan, minister of state, animal husbandry, is an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

IMAGE: HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

Pratap Sarangi, minister of state for MSM industries, has seven cases against him, including 4 for criminal intimidation, two for promoting communal enmity and one for obscenity.

Sarangi was head of the Bajrang Dal when Dara Singh, a Dal member, burnt missionary Graham Staines and his two little sons alive in 1999.

Apart from Giriraj Singh, now minister for animal husbandry, and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, minister of state for rural development, both known for their communal remarks (Jyoti had called the Delhi 2015 election as a battle between 'Ramzade and haramzade', Singh has more than once asked Modi opponents to go to Pakistan), Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi said this about Kashmiris after the Pulwama incident: 'There are apprehensions that there is a terrorist in every house in Kashmir.'

IMAGE: Minister for Heavy Industries Arvind Sawant.

Arvind Sawant, minister for heavy industries, was among the 11 Sena MPs protesting against the bad quality of food being served in Maharashtra Sadan in July 2014.

The protest climaxed in one of them, Rajan Vichare force feeding a Muslim staffer who was observing roza.

Two ministers were in the news for intimidating government servants: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Kumar Choubey.

'This is not the last election. I have details of all officials. The government would change after five years. I would hang all of them upside down then,' Shekhawat reportedly said when government officials videographed his election vehicles during his campaign in April.

He is now the Jal Shakti minister.

IMAGE: Ashwini Kumar Choubey. Photograph: PTI Photos

Ashwini Kumar Choubey has an FIR filed against him for threatening a sub divisional magistrate who who stopped his convoy in Buxar during the election campaign in April.

The number of vehicles in his convoy violated the model code of conduct, 'Khabardar,' Choubey warned SDM K K Upadhyay.

He is now minister of state, health and family welfare.

The BJP's Maharashtra President RaoSaheb Danve, now minister of state for consumer affairs, has an FIR against him for his unforgettable advice to Maharashtra's voters during the 2016 municipal elections in Paithan, Aurangabad district:

'Today is December 17 and tomorrow is December 18, the voting day. I know all of you are impatient to go home.'

'The eve of the election is important, as suddenly you get darshan of Laxmi. If such Laxmi comes to your door, please welcome it.'

'But, whatever you have decided, stick to your voting decision.'

And who can forget Vijay Kumar Singh coined the word 'presstitute'. He is now minister of state in the road transport ministry.
A disgruntled veteran public utilities employee stormed a government building in the United States State of Virginia and fired indiscriminately on multiple floors at his co-workers, killing at least 12 people and wounding six others, police said Saturday, in the latest incident of mass shooting in the country.

The gunman was killed when police responded to the shooting in the southeastern coastal city of Virginia Beach.

The suspect, a long-term and current Virginia Beach city employee, fired "indiscriminately" on multiple floors in a public utilities building, police said.

Police Chief James Cervera told reporters there was an exchange of gunfire with officers and a police officer whose ballistic vest stopped a bullet was injured.

The shooting suspect was identified as DeWayne Craddock, according to a law enforcement official and a Virginia government source, CNN reported.

Craddock, 40, worked as a certified professional engineer for the city of Virginia Beach in the Public Utilities Department. He is listed on department news releases as a point of contact for information on local road projects over the past several years.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach. The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbour, colleagues," Mayor Bobby Dyer said.

The shooter was a disgruntled employee, the report said, quoting a Virginia government source.

"The President has been briefed on the shooting in Virginia Beach, VA and continues to monitor the situation," White House said.

"This is a horrific day for the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are devastated by the tragic shooting in Virginia Beach," said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam after visiting the scene.

The shooting took place shortly after 4 PM within the sprawling Virginia Beach Municipal Center, a campus of city offices and agencies, including the Police Department, when the gunman entered the public works department building of the city's municipal center.

The attack unfolded on multiple floors in Building No. 2, which includes offices for planning and public works, among others, and is adjacent to City Hall.

Police found victims on every floor of the building, the police chief said, adding the identities of the victims were not immediately released nor was the motive of the attack.

According to local Virginian Pilot newspaper, the shooter came armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor on it and shot one victim in a vehicle outside before entering the building. The rest were shot inside.

The FBI is helping the city police in investigating the shooting incident.

Senator Mark R Warner said that he is horrified by what has happened in Virginia Beach.

"I am thankful to law enforcement for their swift and courageous response. My heart goes out to all the victims of today's senseless violence, their families, and the entire community that has been affected by these awful events. I will be praying for the swift recovery of those injured," he said.

"My heart breaks for Virginia Beach. For the victims, their families, the community, everyone impacted by this terrible act of violence. But the moment we resign ourselves to be just onlookers to such carnage, we lose our soul. We can and will take action," Senator Ed Markey said.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the US since November.

Twelve people were killed at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California in November.

Officials said that gunman shot an unarmed security guard outside the bar, went in and continued shooting, injuring other security workers, employees and patrons.
Tamil Nadu, which boasted of as many as nine ministers in the UPA-II government in 2009, did not get any representation in Modi 2.0 government.

IMAGE: the first cabinet meeting, at the Prime Ministers Office, in South Block, New Delhion May 31, 2019. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

As the new Narendra Modi dispensation began its second innings in Delhi, a perception took shape in southern India that the region, particularly Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, has been given a raw deal in ministerial berth allocations.

Karnataka has been given three Union ministerial berths in addition to Finance portfolio for Nirmala Sitharaman, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from that state, while one minister each hail from Kerala and Telangana.

Tamil Nadu, which boasted of as many as nine ministers in the UPA-II government in 2009, did not get any representation in Modi 2.0 government.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party drew a blank this time, its ally All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam managed to win one (Theni) seat and the rest (37 Lok Sabha constituencies) went to the kitty of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress combine.

DMK chief M K Stalin said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "slighted" Tamil Nadu by not appointing anyone from the state in the cabinet, since he was "angered" that people did not elect even a single MP from his party.

Congress's TN president K S Alagiri said the exclusion could be only construed as boycott of not only the AIADMK but Tamil Nadu as well.

Alleging a raw deal, he said "due to an anti-Modi wave" witnessed during polls, Tamil Nadu has been sidelined.

He said Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar have no links to Tamil people and could not be regarded as representatives of Tamil Nadu.

He wondered what stopped the BJP from naming at least one of its leaders from Tamil Nadu to the Council of Ministers (and elect them to the Rajya Sabha).

Political commentator M Bharat Kumar said while Nirmala Sitharaman was a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, S Jaishankar was Delhi based.

"They have no links whatsoever to Tamil Nadu as of now. How do you expect them to protect the interests of our state?" he asked.

Analyst Ravindran Duraisamy, however, said it was wrong to say TN been given a raw deal. "Both Sitharaman and Jaishankar hail from Tamil Nadu and they have their roots here."

Though Sitharaman may have been elected to the Upper House from Karnataka, she was a native of Tamil Nadu and similar was the case with Jaishankar, he added.

Political observer D Jagadheeswaran said the difference of opinion within the top leadership of the AIADMK was the reason for no MP (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) from Tamil Nadu getting a berth.

Senior BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha MP, L Ganesan, said the present Union Cabinet was not a full-fledged one, adding there were more openings, apparently indicating that Tamil Nadu stood a chance during future expansion.

"The AIADMK should have been given (a berth), but we do not know what happened during the talks and what transpired."

Similar was the perception about representation of Andhra Pradesh in the Cabinet.

Andhra-based political commentator P Naveen said, "Seeing the Modi Cabinet, it appeared as if the Centre did not have any connection with Andhra Pradesh."

The BJP has only one MP in AP, Suresh Prabhu, who was elected to the Upper House in 2016.

However, he did not find a place in the Cabinet this time.

The BJP did not win any of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in AP in the recent general election.

In 2014, the Telugu Desam Party's (which was an ally of the BJP then) two MPs -- P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y S Chowdary -- found place in the Modi government.

During the UPA rule, the Congress had more than 30 MPs in undivided Andhra Pradesh and there were more than seven ministers from the state with leaders like S Jaipal Reddy and M M Pallam Raju having Cabinet rank.

In Telangana, where the BJP had won four LS seats, analyst Telakapalli Ravi said people would have been happier if G Kishan Reddy had been given independent charge at the least, leave alone a Cabinet rank.

Though Karnataka has been represented in the Cabinet, Narayana A, who teaches political philosophy at Azim Premji University, said it would be "a bit premature" to say if adequate representation has been given to the state in the Modi cabinet, because full cabinet was not yet in place.

He, however, expressed surprise over no representation for SCs, STs and OBCs for now.

"It is a little surprising that there is no representation for SCs, STs and OBCs, because SCs and STs have been with the BJP for some time now and the OBC is new addition to BJP's support base in Karnataka," he added.

The induction of Sadananda Gowda (Vokkaliga) and Suresh Angadi (Lingayat) is being considered as a balancing act to accommodate the two dominant communities of Karnataka.

Another minister from Karnataka, Pralhad Joshi is a Brahmin.

The previous Modi ministry had five members from Karnataka, including Sitharaman.

The BJP's Kerala unit chief, P S Sreedharan Pillai, argued that though the southern states have given fewer MPs for the party, the Prime Minister has given good consideration to the south.

Another BJP leader S Suresh said it was not about the number of ministers in the cabinet (from every state), but the Union government's attitude towards the states that mattered.

He said the Centre had always and would continue to give all states a fair deal irrespective of the number of ministers.

Though the BJP drew a blank in Kerala, V Muraleedharan, a former state party chief, has been made Minister of State for External Affairs. He is a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra.

During the tenure of Congress-led UPA II, there were eight ministers from Kerala.
In a signal to Pakistan to open its airspace for commercial airlines, Indian Air Force has announced that all temporary restrictions imposed on Indian airspace post Balakot airstrike have been removed.

Earlier this week, Pakistan civil aviation authorities had extended the closure of its airspace till June 14.

Pakistan had fully closed its airspace on February 27 after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot.

Pakistan opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.

Indian Air Force tweeted on Friday evening, "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed."

Pakistan had given a special permission to India for then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly through Pakistani airspace to attend the SCO meet in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on May 21. However, the airspace for other commercial airliners remains closed.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.
He dropped those perceived to be non-performers or whose integrity came into question, and also where it was felt they needed to learn a lesson or two in humility.

Archis Mohan reports.

The story of portfolio distribution of a council of ministers is as much in who the prime minister picked for a particular portfolio as it is in those he did not.

On Friday afternoon, Rashtrapati Bhavan released the list of portfolios allocated to 57 ministers -- 24 of Cabinet rank, nine ministers of state with independent charge, and 24 ministers of state.

The list of ministers sworn in on Thursday revealed that the prime minister rewarded MPs who won their respective Lok Sabha seats against heavy odds or included those known to hail from humble backgrounds.

He dropped those perceived to be non-performers or whose integrity came into question, and also where it was felt they needed to learn a lesson or two in humility.

It is, however, possible that some of the 37 dropped, especially those who have returned to the Lok Sabha, will make a comeback when the prime minister expands his ministry.

In 2014, Narendra Damodardas Modi expanded his ministry in November, when he added 21 ministers to the 40-odd who had taken oath of office on May 26 that year.

The message from portfolio distribution was that of a mix of continuity and change.

As many as seven economic ministries will now see new leaders -- the ministries of finance, commerce and industry, agriculture, telecommunications, civil aviation, and tourism.

In contrast, those in charge of the infrastructure ministries of railways, surface transport, roads, shipping, power, coal and petroleum in the previous government continue to remain part of the new Cabinet.

Significantly, the imprint of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley, who is unwell and not part of the Cabinet, is evident in portfolio distribution.

Several ministers who count him as their mentor are in charge of key portfolios, including Nirmala Sitharaman, Hardeep Puri and Anurag Thakur.

Portfolio distribution ended speculation on whether Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Anilchandra Shah or party Treasurer Piyush Goyal could get finance.

The prime minister opted to transfer Nirmala Sitharaman from defence to finance and corporate affairs.

As in the ministry of defence, so in the finance ministry, Sitharaman follows in Indira Gandhi's footsteps.

She is only the second woman to be finance minister of India. Thakur is her minister of state.

Shah is the new home minister of the country. He was minister of state for home in Gujarat when Modi was chief minister of the state.

Rajnath Singh, number two in the government, will now helm the defence ministry. He was home minister in the previous government.

Former foreign secretary Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is the new external affairs minister.

Goyal will continue as railway minister and replaces Suresh Prabhu as minister for commerce and industry.

Nitin Gadkari will continue to handle the road transport and highways portfolio, but loses the ministry of shipping.

The prime minister, however, has decided to rely on Gadkaris experience and expertise as an entrepreneur by handing him the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) portfolio.

With the Centre releasing the jobs data on Friday, the ministry would be crucial to spurring job growth.

Agriculture is another sector of concern. Narendra Singh Tomar replaces Radha Mohan Singh, who is no longer part of the Cabinet, as agriculture minister.

Tomar, rural development and panchayati raj minister in the previous government, will continue with that portfolio.

Dharmendra Pradhan will continue as oil minister while Mahendra Nath Pandey, the BJP's UP state unit chief, is the new minister of skill development and entrepreneurship.

The Shiv Sena, the BJP's oldest ally, retains the heavy industries and public enterprise ministry, but with the change in personnel. Arvind Sawant has replaced Anant Geete here.

The prime minister has reposed faith in some ministers of state with independent charge, particularly those who implemented key schemes of his previous government.

Former bureaucrat R K Singh continues to be power minister. Hardip Puri will not only continue to handle the housing and urban affairs portfolio, but also has the additional responsibility of the ministry of civil aviation with independent charge.

Mansukh Mandavia has independent charge of the ministry of shipping. In the previous government, he was junior minister to Gadkari in the ministry of shipping, road, transport and highways.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who retained his Jodhpur seat by defeating Vaibhav Gehlot and is considered the BJP's new star in Rajasthan, is the new Cabinet minister for Jal Shakti, which comprises water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation.

Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress President Rahul Gandhi, is now the minister handling not just textiles, but also women and child development.

Ministers like Harsh Vardhan and Prakash Javadekar have returned to their initial portfolios of Modi government 1.0.

Javadekar has returned to environment and forest and will also handle information and broadcasting, while Harsh Vardhan has returned to the ministry of health, but also continue to handle the science and technology portfolio.

Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', who won from Hardwar, is the new human resource development minister.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has debuted in the Lok Sabha after long years in the Rajya Sabha, retains his portfolios of law and justice, communications, electronics and information technology.

D V Sadananda Gowda, in recognition of the BJP's good performance in Karnataka and with an eye on the state's caste balance, is minister of chemicals and fertilisers, while state colleague Pralhad Joshi is the new Cabinet minister for coal and mines as well as parliamentary affairs.

The late Ananth Kumar, who was also from Karnataka, was minister for both chemicals and fertilisers as well as parliamentary affairs in the previous government.

Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, three states scheduled for assembly polls by October, have representation in the council of ministers.

With an eye more on optics, several known to hail from humble backgrounds are ministers of state, including Odisha's Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Assam's Rameswar Teli and Rajasthan's Kailash Choudhary.

According to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms, the electoral watchdog, the number of ministers facing criminal cases has increased from 31% in 2014 to 39% in 2019.

Sarangi, associated with the Bajrang Dal, whose activists had killed Christian missionary Graham Staines in Odisha's Keonjhar in 1999, leads the way. He faces seven cases of what the ADR terms 'serious' Indian Penal Code sections, and 15 other cases.
Gov. Ned Lamont and Democratic legislators resolved their intra-party differences over legislation creating a state-mandated paid family and medical leave program, clearing the way for the House of Representatives to vote 79-69 for final passage Friday night.

Lawmakers and Lamont agreed on changes in the size, makeup and operating policies of the quasi-public authority that will oversee the program, giving the governor control over the authority and prompting him to drop a veto threat made last week as the Senate took up the measure.

We do have an agreement, Lamont said at midday. Im ready to see that go.

Under the legislation, benefits would become available on July 1, 2021. It would provide up to 12 weeks of replacement wages, payable on a sliding scale ranging up to a maximum of 95 percent for minimum-wage earners, capped at $900 a week. Workers incapacitated by pregnancy could get an additional two weeks.

Workers would fund the program with a payroll tax of one-half of one percent. Benefits would be cut if the revenue proves insufficient to meet demand.

Advocates say the program would offer some of the strongest benefits and job protections for workers who take extended time off for personal illness or to care for a child, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and anyone else related by blood or affinity who has a close association with the employee.

Connecticut has long had a family and medical leave law that guaranteed time off, but not with pay, shutting out the working poor, said House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford. The bill, he said, rectifies that inequity.

Our humanity should not come down to how much we make for a living, Ritter said.

Labor progressives and their allies celebrated reaching the end of a six-year campaign for passage.

Paid leave is a critical step forward for womens economic security, especially for low-wage workers and women of color who are an increasing number of primary breadwinners for their families, said Catherine Bailey of the Connecticut Womens Education and Legal Education Fund. We are proud to join the rest of the world and become just the seventh state in the U.S. to create a system of paid leave.

Nine Democrats joined all 61 Republicans to oppose passage.

Connecticut is among the most expensive places to live, its one of the most expensive and difficult places in the nation to run a businessstone cold facts that people who voted yes tonight blatantly ignored, said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby. On top of that, they forced this through on the eve of rolling out a two-year state budget thats heavy on not just middle class tax hikes, but one that also includes an insidious plan to burden the very people we need to help fire up economic recoverysmall business owners.

Setting aside the 11th-hour threat of a gubernatorial veto, the state Senate voted 21-15 last week to pass a Democratic bill that would achieve a long-sought objective of labor progressives: State-mandated disability insurance.

Lamont, who ran on a pledge to pass a paid family leave law, demanded changes to encourage private insurers to bid on providing the disability insurance.

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, declined to call the bill for a vote in the House until the administration and bills sponsors agreed on changes that would avert a veto. Those changes will be made in a separate bill.

With an agreement in hand, the House opened debate at 2:45 p.m. Friday on one of the Democrats top priorities  giving the working poor the ability stay home with sick family members without financial ruin. But Republicans say the bill is an unwanted mandate on employees, who would be compelled to pay for the disability insurance via a payroll tax of one half of one percent.

Passage came nearly eight hours later at 10:27 p.m. House members facing a constitutional adjournment deadline of midnight Wednesday return on Saturday, but debate on the budget will not come until Monday. The Senate adjourned until Monday.

Lamont issued no statement at passage, but he reiterated earlier in the day his intention to sign the measure.

Susan and I ran on paid family and medical leave, Lamont said at an event with Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. We know how important it is to the workplace of the 21st Century to a lot of single parents who desperately need that in order not to choose between a job and a child who is sick.

Republicans say although the benefit would be financed by employees, it still would be a blow to small businesses by giving workers an incentive to take up to 12 weeks of leave.

Rep. Terrie Wood, R-Darien, who described her own struggles caring for a family member, was one of the Republicans who say they understand the push for the program. She said she wished the private sector would step up, especially offering better coverage for low-wage workers.

I just dont believe our economy can grow with this heavy hand of government, and this is the heavy hand of government, she said.

Rep. Richard Smith, R-New Fairfield, called the measure an overreach as the program would apply to the smallest businesses, who could not afford for an employee to leave for 12 weeks. But Rep. Joe Polletta, R-Watertown, undermined that argument, saying he knew of no small business that would stop an employee from taking time for a family emergency.

A Republican amendment would limit the program to companies with at least two dozen workers, Smith said.

It has to be sustainable, and it has to be fair, he said.

Ritter said that Republicans seemed concerned that workers would abuse the program, while there is no evidence of significant fraud in states that offer paid leave. The bill provides for penalties for abuse of the benefits.

This distrust of workers is just shocking to me, he said.

On the assumption that the working poor could not afford any significant loss of income, low-wage workers would get the highest rate of wage-replacement. A worker earning $600 a week would receive benefits equal to 95 percent of wages, or $570 a week.

The payroll tax would impose an annual cost of $156 for minimum-wage workers and a maximum of $664.50 for those with six-figure incomes. Payroll subjected to the new tax would be limited to the amount of annual earnings subject to Social Security taxes, currently capped at $132,900.

The bill passed by the Senate creates an authority with 15 voting members. Under the new version, there will be 13 members, with the governor having seven appointments and the legislature six. The governor also will name the chair.

Previously, most contracts that the quasi-public agency entered into would require a two-thirds vote of the board, to be taken only after a three to four month waiting period. Now, professional staff at the agency will score and award the contracts using criteria agreed upon by a two-thirds vote of the board, without a waiting period.

The early hours of the House debate Friday offered a reprise of the six-hour debate in the Senate.
FEROZ KOH, Afghanistan -- Centuries of neglect and frequent floods are threatening the Minaret of Jam, one of Afghanistan's archaeological treasures.



Last week, the 800-year-old structure in the remote, western province of Ghor was left on the verge of collapse after a flood triggered by torrential rains. Muddy floodwaters inundated the archaeological site and smashed against the base of the minaret.

Located in a river valley flanked by soaring mountains, the tower was saved from imminent danger after the government deployed hundreds of workers, many barefoot and armed with shovels, who diverted the floodwaters.



But the UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back to 1190 remains in danger, this time from the Taliban, the fundamentalist group that has destroyed the country's archaeological relics in the past.



Minaret In Taliban Hands



Dozens of government troops and progovernment militiamen had been stationed in security checkpoints near the minaret to protect workers toiling to save the landmark.



On May 29, dozens of Taliban militants stormed and seized control of several of the checkpoints, cutting access to the historic site and killing at least 18 government security personnel.

Abdul Hamid Nataqi, a member of the provincial council, said the security personnel protecting the minaret were forced to flee after the Taliban attack.



"In order to prevent casualties to the workers and prevent damage to the minaret, the security forces left," Nataqi told RFE/RL.



Nataqi also said work to protect the minaret from floods was halted as the workers were evacuated.



'Grave Danger'



The Taliban's control of the archaeological site has alarmed activists.



"The minaret is in grave danger," said Mohammad Wazir Noorani, a cultural activist in Feroz Koh, the capital of Ghor Province. "If the government does not launch a serious attempt to seize back control of the area, the [archaeological] site could be in danger."



"The security situation in the area is very worrying," said Shah Mahmud Shoab, a civil activist in Feroz Koh. "The Minaret of Jam is under the control of the Taliban."



Ghor, a mountainous and remote province in the central highlands, is one of the poorest and most unstable areas in the country.



The provincial government's power extends little beyond Firoz Koh. Dozens of illegal, armed groups run by former warlords and militia leaders are active in Ghor, a key transit route for arms and drugs, and the resulting clashes are seen as the source of much of the violence in the province.



History Of Destruction



The leaning minaret is thought to be the world's second tallest made of bricks, towering at a height of 65 meters. The tower is famous for its decorations and Islamic inscriptions.



The Minaret of Jam was built by the Ghurids, rulers who carved up an empire that consisted of modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and parts of Central Asia, Pakistan, and India. The rulers converted from Buddhism to Islam in the 12th century.

Afghanistan has been plagued by decades of civil war and foreign invasions and the country's antiquities and historic sites have suffered years of destruction and looting.



In 2001, the Taliban shocked the world when it demolished the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan, a testament to Afghanistan's pre-Islamic history.



Over the course of three weeks in the spring of 2001, the militant group dynamited and shelled the 53-meter and 35-meter statues carved into the sandstone cliffs overlooking the Bamiyan Valley.



The militant group branded the 1,500-year-old Buddhist monuments as "idols" that Muslims had a duty to destroy.



In 1996, when the Taliban seized control of Kabul following a devastating civil war, militants rampaged through the National Museum and systematically destroyed scores of ancient relics.

Written by Frud Bezhan, based on reporting by Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Qadir Ghafori in Ghor.
A Hungarian court has ordered the arrest of the Ukrainian captain whose cruise ship collided with a pleasure boat on the Danube, capsizing the boat and killing at least seven South Korean tourists.



The Budapest court on June 1 ordered the 64-year-old captain, identified as Yuriy C. from the Black Sea port of Odesa, for one month.



The captain, who was detained on May 30, one day after the collision, has denied any wrongdoing, and no formal charges have brought against him yet.

Balazs Toth, the captains lawyer, told AFP that the court had granted bail, but that prosecutors were appealing forcing his client to remain in detention.



"He is devastated by the number of victims and is asking constantly that condolences are conveyed to their families," Toth said.



It is so far unclear what caused the accident, in which the 135-meter cruise ship hit the smaller pleasure boat in Budapest, causing it to sink.



Officials say seven South Korean citizens survived the crash and seven are confirmed dead. Nineteen South Koreans and two Hungarians are listed as missing and all are feared dead.



Hungarian efforts to recover bodies have been hampered by high water levels.

Serbia and Croatia, which are on the Danube south of Budapest, have been asked to help in the search.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned decisions by the United States and other countries to move their Israeli embassies to Jerusalem, the divided city that Palestinians hope to make the capital of their future state.

The group of 57 countries, meeting at a summit in the Saudi holy city of Mecca, on June 1 also blasted the March 25 U.S. move to recognize Israels annexation of Syrias Golan Heights, which was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Israel also captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 war and has declared the entire city its capital. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital for their proposed independent state.

In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and ordered the U.S. Embassy to relocate there from Tel Aviv, sparking international criticism as well as Palestinian and Arab anger.

A small number of other countries, including Guatemala, have also indicated similar plans.

In its final communique, the OIC summit condemned the "transfer of embassies of the United States and Guatemala to Jerusalem" and urged all members to "boycott" countries that have opened diplomatic missions in the city.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman, who hosted the summit, also reiterated his support of the Palestinians.

In 1981, Israel extended its laws to the 1,800-square-kilometer Golan Heights that it captured from Syria in the Six-Day War, effectively annexing it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Trump in March signed the formal proclamation recognizing Israels sovereignty over the strategic heights.

The OIC consists of countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) will stop utilizing commercial satellites launched with Russian rockets beginning in 2023 as relations between the two countries deteriorate.



The order, published on May 31 in the U.S. Federal Register, could deal a blow to Russia's industry while also helping U.S. startups like SpaceX and Blue Origin founded by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respectively.



The move highlights the growing distrust between Washington and Moscow since Russia seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 and U.S. attempts to use its economic influence to penalize the country for its actions.



The United States "realizes that Russia is not going to be a friend and that anything we do that helps their aerospace sector can possibly come back to bite us because they are trying to undermine our security in every way they can," Todd Harrison, the director of the Aerospace Security Project at the CSIS think tank in Washington, told RFE/RL.



"They are trying to steer satellite operators away from using Russia. It is not a sanction, but it is in the same vein," he added.



The Pentagon already limits launches of dedicated U.S. military satellites to U.S. companies. However, it contracts with commercial satellite operators to use some of their capacity for military needs.



Some of those commercial satellites may have been lifted into space by Russian rockets. The DOD rule will end that practice as of 2023.

'Unacceptable' Risk



International Launch Services (ILS), a U.S.-based subsidiary of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, told RFE/RL that Soyuz and Proton rockets have been used to launch satellites for operators, including the U.S. government.



The Pentagon said the rule was necessary to protect national security.



"The objective of the rule is to prohibit award of contracts for commercial satellite services to a foreign entity if entering into such [a] contract would create an unacceptable cybersecurity risk, the Pentagon said in a statement e-mailed to RFE/RL.



International Launch Services, which markets the Russian-built Proton and Angara launch vehicles to U.S. companies, dismissed the impact that the new order would have on its business.



"While a significant subset of ILS customers either have, or plan to, provide commercial satellite services under [Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement], this has been somewhat mitigated due to the presence of long-term legally binding contracts that were put in place before the rule," the company said in a statement to RFE/RL.



This is not the first time the U.S. has sought to squeeze Russias space industry. Washington already announced it will stop the use of Russian-made engines to launch military satellites beginning in 2023.

Some U.S. military satellites have been put into space aboard American Atlas rockets that utilize Russian engines, an arrangement overseen by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of defense contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin.



The ban was a reaction to Russia's recent foreign policy, including the 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and its support for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.



The new rule will indirectly help private U.S. companies, such as Blue Origin and SpaceX, said Harrison,

Those companies have been moving quickly to build viable launch vehicles that would replace Russian rockets, not only for satellite launches but also for servicing the space station.



The satellite launch vehicle market is expected to grow quickly in the coming years and reach $2.4 billion by 2024, according to an August report by research firm Global Market Insights.



Russian rockets recently carried satellites into space for U.S. companies Planet Labs, a provider of Earth imagining services, and OneWeb, a communications startup.



Neither company responded to an RFE/RL request for comment on whether the new DOD rule will have an impact on their launch plans.
The genius of The Naturalists Notebook is the five-year calendar-journal that makes entering and analyzing observations quick, painless, and easy. Heres a section of the Naturalists journal noting the appearance of Pinxter flowers and other firsts.
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Caliente owner Franquin Rovezno outside of the restuurant located at the University of Rhode Island emporium. Rovezno works hands-on in the establishment and has opened a second location near Brown University.
The Rhode Island Congressional Delegation, along with several other honored guests, stand alongside Matthew Augusts family and friends outside the Saunderstown Post Office, now the Captain Matthew J. August Post Office, during the dedication ceremony.
Members of the public began to drop off flowers Saturday afternoon for an unofficial memorial outside police headquarters.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Saturday that two weapons were used in the attack. Both were .45-caliber pistols and were purchased legally in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Two other guns were found at Craddocks home, Cervera said.

Cervera said the suspects name just once on Saturday, and vowed to never utter it publicly again.

He will be forever referred to as the suspect because our focus now is the dignity and respect to the victims in this case and to their families, Cervera said.

Crime scene tape still surrounded the building Saturday as police  now led by the FBI  collect evidence inside and outside. About 40 FBI agents are here overseeing evidence collection.

Some people attending the vigils said they didnt know any of the victims but wanted to show up for their community. For others, though, the shooting hit close to home.
Mary Louise Gayle had worked for the city for decades. She had been looking forward to receiving a free day at a spa as a reward for her work in the right-of-way section of the Public Utilities division, friends and neighbors told The New York Times.

She was a super sweet lady; she always had this big smile, her next-door neighbor John Cushman, 33, a firefighter for the nearby city of Portsmouth, told the paper. She would always be out there in the yard, working on something and talking to my daughters.

Alexander Mikhail Gusev came to the U.S. from Belarus in 2003 and earned a civil engineering degree from Old Dominion University, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Gusev, who had worked for the city for nine years as a right-of-way agent, had wanted to get married and have kids and had talked of moving out of his town house in Virginia Beach to a neighborhood with better schools, a friend told the paper.

Richard H. Nettleton worked 28 years as an engineer in the Department of Public Utilities and was remembered as a level-headed leader. A Boston Red Sox fan who sometimes played golf, according to the Pilot, Nettleton lived in Norfolk with his wife, Sarah.
On the evening of our arrival in Normandy, we drove through farmland along narrow winding roads to the coastal town of Vierville, on the western edge of Omaha Beach. On that beach, at low tide with a glowing sunset at 10 p.m., two travel-weary high school runners jogged for miles.

The next day, we visited the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. It was a sunny, warm June day. The cemetery sits on the bluff above Omaha Beach with views of the English Channel. For our kids to have a meaningful purpose during their time there, I suggested that we look for Frank Peregorys grave marker amidst the thousands of white marble markers in the cemetery. I was hoping to make a connection to their lives in Charlottesville. Here was a young man not much older than they and his life is memorialized there for his service, courage and sacrifice.

Prior to entering the cemetery, a building containing displays, pictures and videos effectively conveys the significance and reverence of the location. As I rounded one display, my eyes caught another that had pictures, medals and a story about a particular soldier. That particular soldier, whose medals were on display happened to be Frank Peregory from Charlottesville.
For most of the past decade, Danville has had the ignominious distinction of being one of Virginias most violent cities.

Situated along the banks of the Dan River just north of the North Carolina border  and much closer to Greensboro and Durham than the state capital of Richmond  Danville, population 43,000, was, until the late 1990s, the economic anchor of Southside Virginia.

But changing trade policies and the attendant decline of U.S. textile manufacturing decimated the regions largest employers and led to a sharp increase in unemployment, which rose from 3.5% in 2000 to nearly 13% in 2010.

With rising unemployment and poverty came an increase in crime, including gang-related violence.

Between 2014 and 2016, the murder rate in Danville increased by 400%. The city had the highest per-capita murder rate in Virginia in 2016, and also one of the highest in the country. In 2017, the murder rate remained at an alarming level, as did the number of robberies, shootings and aggravated assaults.

But in 2018 the tide began to turn. Homicides decreased that year by approximately 8%, and there were significant reductions in burglaries and aggravated assaults.
Of even greater concern are proposals to expand the Chesapeake Bay Act and its related mandates to farms west of Interstate 95; boost mandatory use of nutrient management plans on all cropland; and mandate those plans for all farms over 50 acres.

I have dairy-farmed and raised beef cattle, and the benefits of fencing animals away from streams and stream banks are not lost on me and my fellow farmers. But anyone whos ever bought fencing knows its not cheap; on a farm, it can cost up to $100,000. And animals that cannot get to a creek or river require pump-fed watering stations. Stream exclusion fencing and other conservation practices are on many farmers to-do lists for when funds are available. But not every farm can make those improvements without assistance. And a mandate to do so could push some families to the point where their businesses are no longer viable.
For seven years in the 1980s and 1990s, Richard Marx was as hot as a performer could be. He sold millions of albums, and such chart-topping singles as Hold On to the Nights and Right Here Waiting packed nightspot floors with slow dancers.

Decades later, having made more marks producing and songwriting for others, Marx is still game to play his own music. He hits Rocky Mounts Harvester Performance Center on Sunday for a solo show.

It is the Chicago natives first Southwest Virginia show since he played a co-headlining bill with Rick Springfield at Berglund Performing Arts Theatre in January 2017. In a conversation with The Roanoke Times before that concert, Marx said that playing solo, acoustic shows has provided him with some of his favorite performance memories.

Marx said in that interview that his father wrote commercial jingles for his own advertising company, and his mother sang on most of the jingles. He took after them, writing or co-writing 14 No. 1 hit songs for himself and acts in multiple genres, according to biographical information at his website. Among them are Keith Urbans Long Hot Summer and Luther Vandross Dance With My Father. The latter led to Marx sharing the 2004 Grammy Award for song of the year.

His most recent album was a 2014 release, Beautiful Goodbye.

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The company that won a contract to deliver broadband service to Roanoke City Public Schools in 2017 is about to piggyback from that network to expand coverage for businesses.

Shentel Communications said the company laid about 40 miles of fiber to reach each of the citys schools. That network happens to run past about 2,500 businesses, all of which are now potential customers.

The Virginia-based company isnt committing to lay a certain amount of new fiber, but instead says its making its first major push to find fiber customers, expand its support team and grow its network in Roanoke.

When new customers sign up, the company will build a branch off the existing network to reach the sites, whether thats a one-mile expansion or 10.

Shentel Senior Vice President Willy Pirtle says Roanokers can expect to see billboards and advertisements for the service starting now.

If we get another customer that big, he said, referring to the school district contract, then we could justify another 40-mile build.

Pirtle said Shentel has been in the Roanoke market for years, but this new effort marks a major expansion of its fiber business. He said prices will vary, based on the bandwidth and services requested. For now, the company is only targeting business customers, not residential.

The news marks the latest investment by an internet service provider in the Roanoke market.

For years, city leaders and local business owners complained about what they called a broadband donut hole. Roanoke was too big to qualify for federal grants that help rural communities expand broadband access, but too small to incentivize private investments by telecommunication companies.

Fearing the region would be left behind, a group of localities around the region came together in 2013 to form the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority. Local governments would create their own business, build their own network and deliver service to their own customers.

The idea was for that venture to become self-sustaining from service revenues, while at the same time attracting more competition and private sector investment.

Since then, the RVBA has laid 80 miles of fiber across the region. New providers, like ABS Technology in downtown and MtnNet on Bent Mountain, have come to town aboard that fiber.

Separately, Cox Communications last summer announced upgrades to its own network in Roanoke. The company now offers its superfast service, called GIGABLAST, to all residential customers in the Roanoke Valley.

RVBA CEO Frank Smith said in a Friday statement that the organization was formed to jumpstart this kind of investment.

Now, based on the collaborative vision of those forward thinking business and community leaders, we are starting to see clear infrastructure and economic development gains, he said. When businesses and citizens have more options, everyone wins.
A juvenile male was shot to death Friday night in Roanokes Virginia Heights neighborhood.

About 10 p.m., Roanoke police were called to the 2100 block of Denniston Avenue where they found the juvenile with a gunshot wound, a police news release said.

Emergency responders from Roanoke Fire-EMS declared the person dead at the scene, according to the release. No arrests have been made. No other information was available.

Police ask anyone with information about the death to call 344-8500 or text 274637 with RoanokePD at the top. You can remain anonymous.
The saddest, most horrifying part of Fridays mass slaughter in the municipal offices in Virginia Beach is this: The only thing really remarkable about this shooting is that its happened in our state.

Its not as if we should be surprised by this sort of thing, because it happens with alarming frequency. The last time there was a shooting of this magnitude? Last November, when 13 people including the gunman  were shot and killed at a nightclub in Thousand Oaks, California.

Do you remember that one? If not, you probably wont remember this one, either, except for its proximity to us.

Before that, lets see, there was the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in October 2018 that killed 11 people.

Does anyone even remember the shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in May 2018 that killed 10 people?

Or were we still too pre-occupied by the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people? We remember the name of that school but not the one in Santa Fe.

And those are just the shootings in the past two calendar years that killed 10 or more people  because we dont have room to list all the other mass shootings that killed only less than 10 people at a time. Nor, apparently, does America have enough memory for that kind of thing.

And that list doesnt even get us to the other big shootings that do stick in our memories  in Las Vegas, in Orlando, in Sandy Hook, and yes, in Blacksburg, and before that, Columbine. How many can we remember at a time? The threshold keeps rising  and this one will soon be forgotten, except by those family members whose lost loved ones. Thats a terrible thing to say but it seems to be true: Do you remember the Geneva County Massacre that killed 11 people in Alabama in 2009? No? There you go.

Friday night, after the death toll became known, every Virginia politician of note issued a statement. One that caught our eye came from Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax County, the minority leader in Virginias House of Delegates. Among the things she said was this: Unspeakable acts of violence like Virginia Beach experienced today cannot be our new normal.

And yet they are the new normal. We have a mass shooting that kills 10 or more people every few months. If you want to lower the threshold, then it happens even more often. If thats not the definition of the new normal, then what is?

Heres the point that Americans dont seem to have sufficiently absorbed: The regularity of such mass shootings (outside a wartime setting) is a purely American phenomenon. This kind of thing doesnt happen in Canada. It doesnt happen in Great Britain. It doesnt happen in Australia. It doesnt really happen anywhere else  except here. Why is that? Hold that thought.

Mind you, mass murders happen everywhere  but not with this regularity. There are terrorist attacks, of course, but they are a different flavor of horror and depravity. Those are politically motivated, which certainly doesnt excuse them, but does help us understand them. They are committed by people whose ideology has twisted their minds so that they see innocents as combatants to be gunned down. But how are we to understand the more random kind of slaughter? We cant, really. But we can understand this: The last time 10 or more people were killed in a mass shooting in Great Britain? 2010. In Australia? 1996. In Canada. 1989.

These are countries very much like our own, yet they are clearly very different from our own. Why is that? Hold that thought.

Now think about this: This didnt use to happen. We can have the usual debate about guns but weve always had guns in this country, but we didnt always have spasms of random violence like this. Whats changed? Is it simply that guns are more powerful, more capable of killing more people at once? Or is it some sickness in our culture? Or both? Laws but change the former but what can change the latter? What lessons will we learn from the shootings at the Virginia Beach Municipal Building? Honestly, probably none. After all, we have yet to even deal with all the lessons that we supposedly learned from the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, and that was a dozen years ago.

In the aftermath of that shooting, then-Gov. (and now U.S. Sen.) Tim Kaine did some extraordinary. He ordered a study of what happened and what could be done to prevent another such mass shooting. Kaine put together an all-star commission. It was led by Gerald Massengill, the retired superintendent of Virginia State Police. It included a 20-year-veteran of the FBI and an expert in violent behavioral problems and a professor of psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University. It included Diane Strickland, a retired circuit court judge from Roanoke and an expert on mental health commitments. Kaine, a Democrat, cast politics aside when he put together the panel. He recruited Tom Ridge, the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, and the first secretary of Homeland Security in the administration of George W. Bush. Some wondered whether the panel would really ask the hard questions. The 260-page report that the panel issued put those concerns to rest for most people. It was an exhaustive account that did not spare criticism. Nor did it echo what others had already said; a sign of intellectual independence. The panels report made 72 recommendations  on everything from the role of police on a college campus to how Montgomery County should operate its emergency services. In between, there were more controversial recommendations on gun laws, privacy laws and Virginias mental health system. How many of those were ever acted on?

We dont know. Some were, but nobody really knows how many because 12 years later, theres never been any kind of formal check-up to find out. On the 10th anniversary of the Tech shooting, we called on then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe to either reconvene the commission or appoint a new one to conduct an audit of those 72 recommendations. He did not. After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last year, we called on Gov. Ralph Northam to do the same thing. He did not.

Today, we again call on him to do so. The circumstances of a workplace shooting  which Virginia Beach was  are different from those of a school shooting. But at some level, theyre all the same.

Why does this keep happening? Its time to stop holding that thought.
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One of the San Joaquin Valleys most tenacious opponents of the California bullet train has decided to settle its lawsuit against the project, convinced that the state will operate slower-speed Amtrak trains on its future network in the Central Valley  not the long-promised 220 mph electrically powered ones.

Kings County has long rallied resistance to the project, but local officials say they finally want out of the litigation. They have been discussing a settlement with the California High-Speed Rail Authority since last summer. Now they say they have a verbal agreement on settling an environmental suit and dropping the countys participation in a suit challenging the projects use of bond funds.

Under the informal deal, the county will remove itself as a plaintiff in the bond lawsuit and drop its environmental suit in exchange for $11 million, said Doug Verboon, a Kings County supervisor who has recently led negotiations.

High-speed rail spokeswoman Annie Parker declined to comment on the pending litigation.

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Verboon also serves as a board member of the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which operates Amtrak service in the Central Valley and is assuming an increasing role in future planning for the Central Valleys rail system.

The agency disclosed at a board meeting Friday that it is in discussions with the state bullet train authority on a plan to alter construction designs in the Central Valley to accommodate slower trains, Verboon said. The joint powers authority is also buying eight new diesel train sets to operate the Amtrak service, even as the high-speed rail authority asserts that it will be operating electrically powered trains in just eight years.

It is not going to be high-speed any more, Verboon said. In reality, it is going to be a slow-speed train. And we need to keep Amtrak alive. It will be the same people, riding in the same direction but on a different track.

State officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, insist they have not backed away from a commitment to operate high-speed trains in the Central Valley and ultimately across the state. Newsom has a plan to focus on building a partial system from Merced to Bakersfield at a cost of $20.4 billion by 2027, though it is uncertain whether the state has enough funding to complete that challenging vision.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently terminated a $929-million grant made in 2010 to help build the bullet train system, an action based in part on its assessment that the project will not meet its original goals of a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system that would operate at 220 mph.

The project has always had a backup plan  known under the euphemism of independent utility  that would allow Amtrak to use high-speed track to operate conventional diesel trains if the state could not complete the bullet train.

The Amtrak system is a transportation mainstay in the Central Valley, shuttling passengers at low fares among stops in Bakersfield, Wasco, Corcoran, Hanford, Fresno, Madera and Merced  more stations than the high-speed system ever intended to serve. The Amtrak service operates on busy freight lines, so moving to dedicated track would speed up the schedule, though it could make fewer stops.

Verboon said it no longer made any sense to press the environmental lawsuit, because the rail project is already tearing up the county. The $11-million settlement would cover the countys costs, including having to move a fire station. Verboon said the state would not settle the environmental suit unless the county dropped out of the bond suit, which alleges that the state has violated the terms of the Proposition 1A bond act that voters approved in 2008.

If a settlement is reached, the bond-measure lawsuit would still go forward with other parties, including lead plaintiff John Tos, one of the largest growers in the agriculture-heavy county, according to Stuart Flashman, an attorney on the case.

It is just going to keep going, Tos said in an interview. This was a common effort to stop the project. But now we will become the lone bird on the power line.

Flashman said he was never told about the informal agreement between Kings County and the rail authority. The attorney said he filed an appeal of a lower court ruling just two weeks ago. He expects oral arguments before an appeals panel in about a year, he said.

The appeal asserts that a lower court erred in November when it rejected arguments that the Legislature acted unconstitutionally in modifying the bond act under Assembly Bill 1889 in 2016.

Proponents said the legislation simply clarified the meaning of the bond acts terms. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Richard K. Sueyoshi ruled the legislation did not change the central purpose of the project.
For the first time in nearly two decades, a Los Angeles County law enforcement official has been ordered to stand trial for a fatal shooting.

Sheriffs Deputy Luke Liu is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the Feb. 24, 2016, shooting death of Francisco Garcia at a Norwalk gas station.

After a hearing that stretched over three days, Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor on Friday rejected a motion by Lius attorney to dismiss the manslaughter charge and a special allegation of intentionally discharging a firearm, which caused death.

When Liu, 40, was charged in December, he became the first officer to face prosecution for an on-duty shooting since 2000, when LAPD Officer Ronald Orosco was accused of shooting an unarmed motorist in the back in September of that year during a dispute over a traffic citation. More than 1,500 shootings by officers have occurred since then without charges.

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Liu was on patrol in 2016 when he approached Garcia at a gas station in the 10900 block of Alondra Boulevard to investigate a potential stolen car, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Oscar Plascencia.

When Liu asked Garcia whether the vehicle belonged to him, Garcia responded, Its none of your business, according to a sheriffs report.

Court documents indicate Liu stood near the drivers door before walking to the rear of the car. As Liu returned to the front of the car, Garcia, 26, began slowly driving away at approximately 5 mph. Liu said he saw Garcias right hand reaching into the back seat and feared he was grabbing a firearm, according to sheriffs records.

Prosecutors say that as Garcia pulled away, the car struck Liu along both knees. The deputy drew his service weapon, ran alongside the vehicle and fired seven shots at Garcia, who was struck four times.

An estimated 20 seconds elapsed from when Liu approached Garcia until he fired his weapon, prosecutors said. Several civilians witnessed the incident, a portion of which was captured on video.

Sheriffs Department policy states that deputies should not fire at stationary or moving vehicles unless a person in the vehicle is imminently threatening someone with deadly force using something other than the vehicle itself.

After the shooting, Liu pulled Garcia from the car and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, according to witness testimony. Garcia was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Michael D. Schwartz, Lius attorney, told the judge there was insufficient evidence to prove the shooting was unlawful. Liu received minor injuries when Garcias car struck him, the lawyer said.

But Plascencia argued that the killing was completely unnecessary and that the deputy had many, many other options when Garcia tried to drive away.

Liu will be arraigned June 14. In the meantime, the 10-year department veteran is free on a $1.1-million bond. He has been on administrative leave since last year.

The county has already settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with Garcias family for $1.75 million.

L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, who was elected in 2012, has faced repeated criticism for declining to bring charges in police shootings. In an unusual move, former LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck called on Lacey to prosecute one of his officers this year, but her office declined.

When Liu was charged, Lacey said the use of force, in this case, was not reasonable  the critical factor that often determines whether an officer is charged in a fatal shooting.

We believe the officers use of deadly force was unjustified and unreasonable under the circumstances, she said. There is an inherent danger for law enforcement officers every time they put on the uniform. We applaud their dedication and bravery to make split-second decisions in potentially life-threatening situations. But we also must hold them accountable when their conduct is unlawful.

The filing has infuriated deputies, who at an earlier arraignment of Lius packed the courtroom in support of their colleague.

Lius attorney has insisted the evidence shows Garcia ignored the deputys orders to put his hands on the wheel and drove into his client, prompting Liu to believe that his and others lives were threatened by the fleeing suspect.

City News Service contributed to this story.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: @lacrimes
A former Marine has been charged with the rape and murder of a 30-year-old woman in Orange County 43 years after her death, authorities said Friday.

Eddie Lee Anderson, 66, is charged with one count of murder with a special allegation of rape, according to the Orange County district attorneys office. The criminal complaint was filed in Orange County Superior Court on May 24, the day Anderson was arrested at his home in River Ridge, La.

The file is under seal pending his extradition to California, the district attorneys office said.

Anderson is in the custody of the Plaquemines Parish Sheriffs Office in Louisiana and was scheduled for an extradition hearing Friday, authorities said.

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Anderson is accused in the death of Leslie Penrod Harris, who disappeared the night of May 17, 1976, and was found strangled hours later.

Harris argued with her husband before leaving a Costa Mesa restaurant alone around 8:30 p.m., saying she would take a taxi back to the hotel where they were staying, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. But she never made it there. She was found dead about 4:30 the next morning near Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, The Times reported. Military police found Harris nude body lying on a roadway just outside the air bases perimeter.

The Marine base has since been decommissioned, and Irvines Great Park was built on part of it.

The Times reported that Harris and her husband, John, were staying at the Airporter Inn in Irvine. They had recently moved to the area, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Department. Its unclear where they moved from.

The Times reported that Harris husband filed a missing-person report with the Costa Mesa Police Department, leading to Harris identification.

At the time, investigators believed the killer was connected to the air base because Harris body was discovered in an area unknown to the general public, the Sheriffs Department said Thursday in a news release announcing Andersons arrest. Authorities had no suspects, however, and the case went cold.

Investigators tried to revive the case in 1997 and 2016 following advancements in DNA analysis, but no matches to the evidence collected were found, authorities said.

In 2018, the Orange County Homicide Task Force began using genealogy tools to try to identify a suspect in Harris killing. Genealogical DNA testing seeks to find a persons familial relationships or estimate his or her ethnic mixture.

Earlier this year, a lead enabled investigators to build a genealogy profile, and county homicide investigators, with the help of the FBIs Investigative Genealogy Unit, were able to identify Anderson as a person of interest. FBI officials declined to comment Friday about the methods used to identify Anderson.

Further investigation led authorities to determine that Anderson had been enlisted in the Marines and lived at the El Toro base in the early 1970s. At the time Harris was killed, he lived less than a mile from the restaurant she visited the night of her death, officials said.

Additional information about Andersons military service was not immediately available Friday.

Orange County sheriffs officials traveled to Louisiana last week to interview him. He was arrested after volunteering to provide a DNA sample, authorities said.

Through both traditional DNA and genealogical DNA, we now have the opportunity to solve decades-old cases that would have otherwise been left unsolved, Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement Thursday. These victims and their families have been waiting for justice for decades, and the addition of genealogical DNA is now helping us to advance our efforts to achieve justice for crime victims.

Genealogical DNA techniques also were used this year to identify James Alan Neal as the suspect in the 1973 killing of 11-year-old Linda Ann OKeefe in Newport Beach.

Investigators asked that anyone with information about the Harris case call Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6227.

carlos.lozano@latimes.com
The 12 people who were fatally shot in an attack on a Virginia Beach government building were remembered Saturday during a somber news conference and prayer vigil as officials sought to put the focus on the victims and not the gunman.

Police Chief James Cervera identified the assailant as DeWayne Craddock, who was employed for 15 years as an engineer in the citys utilities department. He declined to comment on a motive for Fridays rampage, which ended with Craddocks death in a gun battle with police. City officials uttered his name just once and said they would not mention it again.

City Manager Dave Hansen had worked for years with many of the dead, he said. Eleven of them were city employees; the 12th was a contractor seeking a permit.

Their names and photos were projected on a screen as Hansen read aloud biographical information, including their hometowns and years of service. They leave a void that we will never be able to fill, he said.

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Chaplains and family assistance workers notified relatives through the night  a job Hansen described as the most difficult task anyone will ever have to do.

One of the slain employees had worked for the city for 41 years. Six worked in the same department as Craddock, though authorities have declined to say whether anyone was specifically targeted or whether he had issued threats before. The victims were found throughout the building, on three floors, police said.

Authorities say Craddock opened fire indiscriminately. Four people were wounded, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest may have saved his life.

The suspect was armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a noise suppressor, police said. Cervera said more weapons were found at the scene and at his home.

Two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that the gunman had made multiple legal firearm purchases recently, and that the guns recovered at the scene were purchased legally. The officials were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Asked how secure the building was, the police chief said that government buildings must balance access with security.

Its an open government building. Citizens have the right to access open government buildings. Employees have a right to access their work site, he said.

Security passes were required to enter inner offices, conference rooms and other work areas. Craddock would have had a pass for the inner offices, Hansen said.

The 11 city employees who were killed were identified as Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine A. Nixon, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua A. Hardy and Michelle Missy Langer of Virginia Beach; Laquita C. Brown and Robert Bobby Williams of Chesapeake; Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk and Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan. The contractor killed was Herbert Bert Snelling of Virginia Beach.

From left, top row: Laquita C. Brown, Ryan Keith Cox, Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle. Middle row: Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Joshua Hardy, Michelle Langer, Richard Nettleton. Bottom row: Katherine Nixon, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Herbert Snelling, Robert Williams. (City of Virginia Beach)

Craddock, 40, was an engineer who graduated from Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News in 1996 and joined the Army National Guard, according to a newspaper clipping. He received basic training and advanced individual training at Ft. Sill, Okla. He later graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelors degree in civil engineering.

Craddock appeared to have had no felony record, which would have made him eligible to purchase guns.

Joseph Scott, an engineering technician with the Department of Public Works, said he had worked with Craddock before and had a brief interaction with him Friday. Scott said he saw him in the mens restroom about five minutes before the shooting.

He was in there brushing his teeth, which he always did after he ate, Scott said. I said, Hey, how you doing? What are you doing this weekend? It was just a brief conversation.

Scott said he left for the day right after and learned of the shooting when a co-worker and then his son called to ask whether he was OK. I couldnt believe that it happened, he said.

Scott said he worked in a different division from Craddock, whom he described as quiet, polite and a nice guy. Scott said he thought Craddock was in good standing at work and had never heard negative reports about him.
On May 30, 2019, powerful Chicago Ald. Edward Burke was indicted on expanded federal racketeering and bribery charges.

Thirty Chicago aldermen have pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes related to official duties since 1972. Several other former aldermen, including Edward "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak and Democratic stalwart William Beavers, were convicted of crimes after leaving the City Council.

Charges related to aldermanic duties

Pleaded not guilty 2019 Edward Burke 14th ward After his office was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Nov. 29, 2018, federal prosecutors charged Burke in January 2019 with attempted extortion. A 14-count indictment on May 30, 2019, expanded the corruption allegations against the 75-year-old, accusing him of abusing his City Hall clout to extort private legal work from companies and individuals doing business with the city. In his 50 years in politics, the 75-year-old Southwest Side alderman had been under federal scrutiny several times before, but never previously convicted or indicted.

Pleaded guilty 2019 Willie Cochran 20th ward In return for the guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped 14 of the 15 counts against Cochran, including the most serious charges alleging the alderman shook down businessmen in exchange for his supports on deals in his 20th Ward. He could be sentenced to anywhere from probation to between 1 to 1 1/2 years in prison. A former Chicago police officer elected to the City Council in 2007, Cochran was indicted in December 2016 on an array of charges, including extortion and bribery. Prosecutors also allege he looted his ward's charitable fund -- meant for children and poor seniors -- to spend the money on college tuition for his daughter, trips to Indiana casinos, accessories for his Mercedes-Benz and other personal splurges.

Pleaded guilty 2010 Isaac "Ike" Carothers 29th ward To bribery and tax charges in a zoning case. His alderman father, William, was convicted 27 years earlier.

Pleaded guilty 2008 Arenda Troutman 20th ward To fraud after admitting she solicited donations from developers seeking to do business.

Convicted 1999 Percy Giles 37th ward Pocketing $10,000 in bribes from a government mole and extorting an additional $81,200.

Convicted 1998 Virgil Jones 15th ward Pocketing two payoffs totaling $7,000.

Pleaded guilty 1998 Lawrence Bloom 5th ward To filing a false income tax return and admitted pocketing $14,000 from an FBI mole.

Convicted 1998 John Madrzyk 13th ward Paying $33,764 to his daughter-in-law, who didn't work for Madrzyk's committee.

Sentenced 1997 Jesse Evans 21st ward Accepting $7,300 in bribes, extorting $10,000 and a new basement floor.

Convicted 1997 Joseph Martinez 31st ward Accepting pay for three no-work, ghost-payroll jobs at City Hall.

Pleaded guilty 1996 Allan Streeter 17th ward To taking $37,020 in bribes from a government mole and an undercover FBI agent.

Pleaded guilty 1996 Ambrosio Medrano 25th ward To taking $31,000 from a mole and placing two associates in no-work jobs on a city committee. Medrano was found guilty in 2013 in a separate corruption scheme.

Convicted 1993 Fred Roti 1st ward Taking $10,000 to influence a court case and $7,500 to support a ward zoning change.

Pleaded guilty 1989 Marian Humes 8th ward To taking $6,000 from Hutchinson to help contractors and $5,000 from an FBI mole.

Convicted 1988 Perry Hutchinson 9th ward In an insurance-fraud scheme. Then, in 1989, he pleaded guilty to taking $42,200 from an FBI mole.

Pleaded guilty 1987 Chester Kuta 31st ward To income tax evasion, fraud and civil rights violation.

Convicted 1987 Wallace Davis Jr. 27th ward Accepting a $5,000 bribe, forcing his niece to pay $11,000 in kickbacks and extorting $3,000.

Pleaded guilty 1987 Clifford Kelley 20th ward To charges that he accepted $36,500 for lucrative city work.

Convicted 1983 Louis Farina 36th ward Conspiring to extort $7,000 from contractors to help them obtain city building permits.

Convicted 1983 Tyrone Kenner 3rd ward Accepting $15,500 to help more than a dozen people become sheriff's deputies or electricians.

Convicted 1983 William Carothers 28th ward Extorting as much as $32,500 from Bethany Hospital builders to remodel his ward office.

Pleaded guilty 1980 Stanley Zydlo 26th ward Paying $1,000 to alter two relatives' test results for a Fire Department physical entrance exam.

Pleaded guilty 1975 Edward Scholl 41st ward Taking $6,850 in bribes from a contractor to permit zoning changes in his ward.

Pleaded guilty 1975 Donald Swinarski 12th ward Accepting $7,800 in three bribes to approve zoning changes in his ward.

Convicted 1974 Paul Wigoda 49th ward Taking a $50,000 bribe in exchange for his support for a zoning change in a nearby ward.

Convicted 1974 Thomas Keane 31st ward Fraud and conspiracy for aiding a scheme to buy and sell tax-delinquent property at inflated prices.

Convicted 1974 Frank Kuta 23rd ward Accepting a $1,500 bribe on a zoning case (Preceded Potempa).

Pleaded guilty 1973 Joseph Potempa 23rd ward Accepting $3,000 for zoning changes and failing to report $9,000 on income tax returns.

Convicted 1973 Casimir Staszcuk 13th ward Accepting three bribes totaling $9,000 to back zoning changes.

Convicted 1973 Joseph Jambrone 28th ward Accepting payoffs of $4,000 and $1,000 to support zoning changes.

Pleaded guilty 1972 Fred Hubbard 2nd ward Embezzling nearly $100,000 from a federally funded jobs program.

Charges not related to aldermanic duties

Pleaded guilty 2013 Sandi Jackson 7th ward Prosecutors say she was involved in most of her husband's, Jesse Jackson Jr.'s, illicit spending and did not declare about $600,000 in taxable income. She pleaded guilty to one felony count of filing false U.S. income tax returns.

Convicted 2013 William Beavers 7th ward Failing to pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars he took out of his campaign fund and used for gambling and other personal expenses.

Pleaded guilty 2008 Ed Vrdolyak 10th ward Pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud but didn't agree to cooperate with federal authorities in a scheme to collect a $1.5 million fee when Rosalind Franklin University went to sell a Gold Coast property. In 2016, Vrdolyak pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he obstructed an IRS investigation into a secret deal he cut in the 1990s to pocket millions of dollars from the massive tobacco lawsuit settlement without doing any work.

Pleaded guilty 2006 James Laski 23rd ward For taking nearly $50,000 in bribes to steer city business to trucking companies run by his friends. Laski, a former City Clerk, also told federal investigators he was involved in ghost payrolling while an alderman in the early 1990s.

Sources: Tribune reporting, International City/County Management Association, news reports
Key stakeholders for the digital trade standardization in Vanuatu who have participated in the round-table discussion. Photo: Kizzy Kalsakau
A fire engulfed a migrant center in northwestern Bosnia on Saturday, injuring 32 people and forcing some to jump out the windows to escape the blaze, police said.

The blaze erupted early in the morning in the center in Velika Kladusa, which hosts some 500 migrants who have become stuck in the impoverished Balkan country while trying to move toward wealthier nations in Western Europe.

The blaze likely started accidently from a cooking device, said local police spokesman Ale Siljdedic.

It spread swiftly, sending the migrants fleeing the building, with some jumping to safety out the windows, Siljdedic told The Associated Press.

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Thirteen migrants remain hospitalized with injuries such as burns or fractures, he said. The fire was put out after several hours.

Several thousand migrants fleeing war and poverty in their countries have been passing through Bosnia toward the West. They mostly flock to the northwest, which borders European Union member Croatia.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Hungarian judge on Saturday ordered the formal arrest of a captain whose Viking river cruise ship collided with a sightseeing boat on the Danube River, sinking the tourist boat and leaving seven South Koreans dead and 21 other people missing.

Authorities said water levels in Budapest are expected to fall quickly in the coming days, helping efforts to salvage the wreckage that may still contain victims bodies.

The judge ordered the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn cruise ship formally arrested for 30 days. He said the captain could be released on bail  subject to him wearing a tracking device and remaining in Budapest  but prosecutors are appealing that decision.

The Viking ship collided Wednesday evening with a much smaller sightseeing boat carrying 35 people, most of them South Korean tourists, in Budapest, the capital. Seven people were rescued.

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Divers so far have been unable to even approach the wreckage of the 27-meter (88-foot) tour boat due to high water levels, strong currents and murky waters. A Hungarian military ship has been anchored at the site to help the salvage operation.

The captain is suspected of endangering water traffic causing a fatal mass disaster, which carries a sentence of 2 to 8 years.

The substantiated suspicion is supported by the report from the scene, photographs, video recordings and more, the court said, adding that the suspect must be available for authorities investigating the deadly crash.

The captain, identified only as Yuriy C. in line with Hungarian laws, has been in custody since Thursday. His lawyers dispute that their client made any mistakes leading to the collision, which took place under a heavy rain and with restricted visibility on the river.

Defense lawyer Gabor Elo said there are no grounds to consider his client a suspect in the case, arguing that the prosecutions request for the arrest was motivated only by the fact that the captain is a Ukrainian citizen.

Elo said his client is very sorry that he was involved in such an accident in which so many people lost their lives or are missing.

Hungarian police spokesman Kristof Gal said the seven confirmed victims, all South Koreans, have been identified with the help of South Korean authorities by using finger and palm prints and showing photos to relatives.

Some victims relatives and friends on Saturday visited the site of the collision under the citys Margit Bridge, one of the seven main bridges over the Danube in Budapest, close to the neo-gothic Hungarian parliament building. Flowers tributes and candles have been placed along the bridge.

High spring water levels have so far hampered recovery efforts for the missing but Hungarian authorities hoped that would soon change.

Water management authorities said Saturday the Danube Rivers water levels will soon peak at around 5.9 meters (19 feet, 5 inches) and fall to about 4 meters (13 feet) by the middle of next week. It added that no rainfall affecting water levels was expected in the next six days.

___

AP Writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Ankara and Moscow are again facing an escalation of violence in Syrias last rebel-held territory, a development that puts their cooperation to the test even as they support opposing sides in the eight-year war that has devastated Syria.

An all-out offensive by Syrian government forces to capture Idlib in northwestern Syria from insurgents could unleash an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, for the area is home to 3 million people.

Turkey, which is already hosting more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, is facing strong pressure from Syria, Iran and Russia to deliver on its pledge to control the armed rebel factions in Idlib.

But Turkey also needs Russia to rein in Syrian President Bashar Assad to prevent a massive outflow of refugees and to keep Turkish soldiers on the ground safe.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have an incentive to cooperate and ensure that nobodys interests are totally trampled, says Aaron Stein, the director of the Middle East program in American think-tank Foreign Policy Research Institute.

In September, the two leaders brokered a cease-fire for Idlib in the Russian resort of Sochi, preventing a bloody onslaught, despite the fact that Russia has firmly backed Assad and Turkey supports opposition forces. Nine months later, the truce has failed.

The agreement called for a 15-to-20 kilometer (9-to-12 mile) demilitarized zone free of insurgents and heavy weaponry and for two key highways crossing through Idlib to be reopened. The demilitarized zone has been breached and the highways are at the center of the current government offensive.

Syrian ground forces have been advancing from the south of the rebel stronghold under the cover of Syrian and Russian airstrikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 291 civilians and 369 fighters have been killed since April 30 in the rebel stronghold. In the same period, 269 government troops and 22 civilians were killed in government areas by rebel fire. The U.N.'s childrens agency said more than 130 children have reportedly been killed.

Already, more than 200,000 people from the stronghold have been displaced, according to the U.N., with some seeking safety near the border with Turkey while others crammed into crowded camps in Syria.

Turkey has accused the Syrian government of violating the cease-fire and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the country has told Russia the regime must be controlled.

Russia has launched airstrikes in Idlib and is providing air cover in the Syrian government offensive. It has complained that the militants have increasingly been targeting its military base in the nearby coastal province of Latakia.

But for now, Moscow is unlikely to support an all-out Syrian operation in Idlib because the benefits of a long-term alliance with Turkey outweigh one military battle.

Russia doesnt want to ruin its relationship with Turkey because of Idlib, says Kirill Semenov, a Moscow-based Middle East analyst and expert at the Russian International Affairs Council.

In late April, Putin said he would not rule out a large-scale assault but together with our Syrian friends, we believe that this would not be advisable due to humanitarian issues.

Still, Russias patience is wearing thin with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which it accuses of targeting its military base. HTS is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Russia and Turkey, despite its claims it has disassociated from al-Qaida.

Top Russian officials have often called Idlib a breeding ground for terrorists.

Despite the cease-fire deal, Turkey has been unable to neutralize the extremists. Much of Idlib has come under the control of HTS, which has defeated Turkey-backed armed groups.

Emre Ersan, an associate professor of international relations and political science at Istanbuls Marmara University, believes Turkey may have overestimated its influence over HTS. He says Turkeys plan to split the group and absorb its more moderate members has not worked.

Instead, HTS has used Turkey as leverage against Russia and Assad-supporter Iran, according to Ersan.

Adding to the risks, Turkish troops are in the line of fire. Two Turkish soldiers were wounded in early May in a Syrian government artillery attack on an observation post. Three other attacks have been cited by Turkeys official Anadolu Agency, raising questions if the attacks were accidental or designed to pressure Ankara with Russias knowledge.

The Turkish Armed Forces will not take a single step back from where it is, Akar, Turkeys defense minister, said last week.

Erdogan and Putin have talked on the phone, agreeing to continue working along the lines of the cease-fire agreement to prevent civilian deaths and a refugee flow. They also agreed to meet on the sidelines of next months Group of 20 conference in Japan.

Apart from this dialogue and cooperation, there is nothing on the ground that can prevent a catastrophe in Idlib, Ersan says.

The presidents have become close since 2016, rebuilding their relations after a dramatic crisis in 2015 when Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border. Their rapport comes amid Turkeys fragile relations with NATO ally United States, especially over Washingtons support of Syrian Kurdish-led forces who control large swaths in eastern Syria. Ankara considers them an extension of a Kurdish insurgency operating inside Turkey.

Erdogan is so far sticking to his promise to buy Russian-made S-400 missiles despite U.S. warnings the system would jeopardize Turkeys participation in the F-35 fighter jet program and compromise its safety. Stein calls this a big win for Russia. Turkey is angling for a way to have both the S-400s and the F-35s.

Turkey is also talking with the U.S. about a safe zone in northeastern Syria and has repeatedly asked for the U.S. to end its military support for Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. Erdogan will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the G-20 as well.

Ersan believes Russia may allow Turkey to grab the northern town of Tel Rifaat from the Kurdish fighters, the last town they control in western Syria. Russian support could help Turkey put pressure on the SDF, widen Turkish influence and strengthen its hand in ongoing negotiations with the U.S.

In exchange, he argues, Turkey could be open to some limited Syrian operation toward Idlib.

_

Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed from Moscow and Sarah El Deeb contributed from Beirut.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The American photographer who shot the iconic image of a man standing in front of tanks at the 1989 Tiananmen protests says its time for the Chinese government to come clean about the bloody events of 30 years ago.

Jeff Widener was an Associated Press photo editor based in Bangkok when he was called in to help cover a growing student-led pro-democracy movement centered on Beijings Tiananmen Square.

The day after the military crushed the protests on June 3-4, Widener took the shot of an unknown man holding shopping bags facing a row of tanks. The photo of tank man became one of the most famous images of defiance of the 20th century.

In an interview, Widener said he doesnt understand why Chinas leaders wont admit to errors made and reveal the truth behind the crackdown.

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The United States and European countries have made mistakes throughout history and theyve reconciled those problems, Widener told AP.

I think its time for China to move forward and just come clean on what happened, report to the family members what happened to their loved ones so that they can put this to rest, he said. I think thats the right, decent thing to do.

The 62-year-old Californian developed a love of photography at a young age, eventually joining AP as Southeast Asia picture editor.

Rejected for a journalist visa at the Chinese Consulate in Bangkok, he flew to Hong Kong, where he got a tourist visa through a travel agency, and made it through customs in Beijing with a mobile darkroom in his luggage.

With the protests in full swing, he developed a daily routine of riding a bicycle early in the morning to Tiananmen Square, where thousands of students were camped out.

His May 30, 1989, photo captured the Goddess of Democracy, the students version of the Statue of Liberty, facing the portrait of Communist Chinas first leader, Mao Zedong, on the massive Tiananmen gate.

So you had this democracy facing off with Communism that was quite striking, Widener said.

Soon, the mood began to change. After the government declared martial law, Beijing residents blocked roads to prevent troops  at that time unarmed  from moving toward the square.

That enraged party elders led by Chinas paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, steeling their determination to end the protests by military means.

On the night of June 3, Widener rode to the square with AP reporter Dan Biers, just as the Peoples Liberation Army began fighting its way eastward through barricades and crowds of protesters.

He suffered a serious head injury from a flying piece of asphalt, but made it back to the AP bureau and his hotel.

Widener emerged the following afternoon to find rock-strewn streets, burnt-out vehicles and a population dazed by the violence deployed against them by the government.

Asked to get a shot of military forces occupying the square, Widener headed to the Beijing Hotel, which had vantage points close to the action, even as gunfire continued to pop from parts of the city.

There, he met an American college exchange student, Kirk Martsen, who would play a key role in the tank man tale. Martsen acted as if he and Widener were old friends, allowing the photographer to slip past security men guarding the hotel entrance.

Martsen had a room on the hotels sixth floor facing the street, to which he gave Widener access. The problem though, was film. Widener had run out and there was no way to go back to the AP bureau to get more.

Martsen went hunting among the frightened tourists in the lobby, returning two hours later with a single roll that would prove crucial in the events that followed.

Widener stayed overnight, and early on June 5, he rushed to the balcony upon hearing the sound of approaching tanks.

I started to take a photograph and a guy walks out with shopping bags and Im thinking to myself, you know this guys going to mess up my photograph, he said. I mean it really was like I wasnt thinking clearly.

So I just watched him and waited. But they didnt shoot him. So I thought you know I need a closer shot, he said.

The man moved at least twice to block the tanks and climbed on the turret of one to converse with a crew member. Eventually, he was whisked from the scene by two men in blue, whose identities, like that of the man himself, have never been revealed.

At least five photographers as well as videographers shot the scene, but Wideners version became by far the most famous. The photo made him a Pulitzer Prize finalist and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential images of all time.

___

Bodeen reported from Beijing.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
For nearly two centuries, the federal government has repeatedly assured a Native American tribe in North Dakota that it has rights to a reservation river and the issue stayed relatively quiet until oil companies figured out a way to drill under the waterway, which is now a man-made lake.

With an estimated $100 million in oil royalties waiting in escrow to be claimed and future payments certain to come, the state has become more involved in seeking ownership rights. It successfully lobbied the U.S. Interior Department to suspend a last-minute Obama-era memo stating that mineral rights under the original Missouri River bed should belong to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, which is also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.

The Interior Department put the minerals issue on hold last summer and ordered a review of the underlying historical record. The state maintains that it assumed ownership of the riverbed when North Dakota became a state in 1889, citing a constitutional principle known as the equal footing doctrine.

The states immersion in the issue isnt sitting well with tribal members, who say its between them and the Trump administration.

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They obviously didnt care that much before, the tribal chairman, Mark Fox, recently told The Associated Press. Now that there might be $100 million there, all of a sudden the state really cares, right?

The January 2017 memo by former Interior Department Solicitor Hilary Tompkins, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, is one of numerous federal declarations since the 1820s that have confirmed the tribes ownership of the river, which was altered when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the Garrison Dam in the 1950s and created Lake Sakakawea.

In her ruling, Tompkins cited both a 1936 opinion by the Interior Department that granted the tribes ownership of a Missouri River island and a wider-ranging 1979 conclusion by the Interior Board of Land Appeals that the entire bed of the river within the reservation boundaries didnt pass to North Dakotas control when it became a state. The state didnt appeal the 1979 decision, which Tompkins said rejected the relevance of the equal footing doctrine.

Tribal officials have recently taken to social media and penned op-eds asking state leaders to come out in support of the tribes ownership rights, much like they did during the last legislative session regarding an oil and tax agreement with the tribes.

I hope our elected officials will join us once again in supporting our lawful property rights to the minerals under the Missouri River on the Fort Berthold Reservation, Fox wrote in an op-ed kicking off the campaign.

The opinion by Tompkins, who said her conclusions are backed by a 2001 Supreme Court opinion giving an Idaho tribe ownership of submerged lands, came out two days before President Donald Trumps inauguration. Although Trump held a meeting later that year to pledge his support to Native American leaders in oil country, including Fox, state government officials in Republican-dominated North Dakota have found receptive ears at the Interior Department.

State Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem wrote a letter in October 2017 to James Cason, associate deputy secretary in the Interior Department and longtime conservative operative, stating that the Tompkins opinion has flaws and asking that it be withdrawn or suspended. I wholeheartedly support a re-set and encourage discussions that have as their objective an amicable resolution to the title question, Stenehjem wrote.

Principal Deputy Solicitor Daniel Jorjani complied with that request in June 2018, after which the National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution urging the Interior Department to complete title and mapping work of the riverbed and scrap Jorjanis opinion.

Stenehjem told the AP that Foxs op-ed focusing on strong relationships between tribal and state governments should be a means to resolve any of these issues. Asked if that meant sharing some of the royalties, the attorney general said, Conceivably, yes. He added that those conversations would go through Republican Gov. Doug Burgum.

Burgums spokesman, Mike Nowatzki, said in a statement that Burgum is committed to partnering and engaging in productive dialogue with all tribal nations for the benefit of all North Dakotans, but added that any public statements on the riverbed minerals issue would be premature. The Interior Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Fox said tribal elders have told him to fight and fight hard for what our people died for over hundreds of years. He said he believes its his responsibility to right some of the wrongs, including one of the greatest devastating blows to our people, the construction of Garrison Dam.

We have a connection to the river that goes back thousands of years, Fox said. Its not just cultural, its not only spiritual, it has also historically been our economic foundation of who we are.

Fox said the tribes have spent their oil money wisely. He cited a new courthouse, $130 million worth of road repairs, construction of more than 400 homes, a new drug treatment facility, health insurance for 7,000 enrolled members, improvements in law enforcement, a $20 million education fund for students, and $200 million in infrastructure upgrades, among other things.

Tribal elder Austin Gillette, 72, who was in first grade when his town of Elbowoods was flooded out by Lake Sakakawea, and 90 percent of reservation residents were forced to relocate, remembers it as the first time he saw adults cry.

Water is life, said Gillette, a former tribal chairman and council member. We just want the state to go away on this issue.

___

Follow Dave Kolpack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveKolpackAP

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Chanting, clapping and occasionally squabbling among themselves, thousands of Democrats on Saturday turned San Francisco into a festival of dissent aimed at driving President Trump from office.

The difference from any other day in this famously liberal bastion was organization and a formal agenda: The gathering was hosted by Californias Democratic Party, which attracted 5,000 delegates and guests and a small platoon of presidential hopefuls to its spring convention.

Sen. Kamala Harris, the states junior senator and a presidential contestant, set the fist-shaking tone early on.

Democrats, we have a fight on our hands, she said, and its a fight for who we are as a people. Its a fight for the highest ideals or our nation. And Democrats, with this president, its a fight for truth itself.

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She brought delegates to their feet declaring, We need to begin impeachment proceedings and we need a new commander in chief  a view not shared by the speaker of the House, San Francisco Rep.Nancy Pelosi, who spoke a short time earlier.

Other White House hopefuls eagerly piled on the president.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called Trump a coward, saying, Hes tearing apart the moral fabric of this country and turning our most cherished principles inside out.

Bay Area Rep. Eric Swalwell said his reality TV presidency was destined for cancellation.

Former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas, a 2020 presidential candidate, addresses the California Democratic convention in San Francisco on Saturday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

In all, 11 contestants sounded familiar partisan themes, calling for expanded healthcare, protecting a womens right to choose abortion, enacting labor-friendly policies and pursuing vigorous policies to stem climate change.

A fiery New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, decrying the normalizing of mass murder in our country, called for redoubled efforts to pass nationwide gun control. Former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke proposed a national assault weapons ban.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who drew one of the days most enthusiastic receptions, laid out a lengthy and detailed policy plank.

We will break up big ag, she vowed. We will break up big banks. We will break up big tech. We will make it easier for workers to join in a union.

In one of the few seeming swipes at a rival, Warren took issue with former Vice President Joe Bidens assertion that GOP lawmakers may come around to compromise under a new Democratic president.

Some say if we all just calm down, the Republicans will come to their senses, Warren said. But our country is in a time of crisis.

The partisan crowd cheered loudly.

Contrasting himself with his many Washington-based opponents, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg suggested Trump could be reelected if Democrats offer too much more of the same in 2020.

We better come up with something completely different. And thats where I come in, said the 37-year-old openly gay Navy veteran. Why not someone who represents a new generation of leaders?

But the sharpest contrast was presented by former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who was roundly booed when he declared that socialism is not the answer to beating Trump. He was also booed when he expressed skepticism about government-run healthcare and the Green New Deal program to fight climate change  proposals sacred to many on the political left.

If were not careful, he chided over the hooting and hollering, were going to end up reelecting the worst president in American history.

The gathering was the first since a midterm election in which California Democrats ran the table on statewide offices and gained seven congressional seats, a good chunk of the gains that gave the party control of the House.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts addresses Democrats in San Francisco. The presidential candidate spoke in trademark detail, laying out several planks in her length policy platform: (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

The presidential hopefuls were forced to wait well over an hour while half a dozen statewide officers and legislative leaders took turns at the podium; Gov. Gavin Newsom jokingly referred to himself as the undercard when he spoke.

He held up California as the nations political counterweight to Trump, urging the presidential contestants on hand to pay heed.

We are nothing less than the progressive answer to a transgressive president, Newsom said. Californias what happens when rights are respected, when work is rewarded, when natures protected, when diversity is celebrated and free markets are fair markets.

Pelosi, who drew a rapturous response from the hometown crowd, portrayed the Democratic-led House as a central player in a watershed moment of history as it undertakes investigations of the Trump administration.

As she recapped the findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III  that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and Trump was not exonerated of obstruction allegations  she pledged that the president will be held accountable for his actions. In the Congress, in the courts and in the court of public opinion, we will defend our democracy.

The response was repeated calls from the crowd for impeachment.

2020 Democratic candidates vow to undo Trumps immigration actions 

Outside the downtown convention hall, the sidewalks swarmed with delegates, identifiable not just by their credentials but the T-shirts and buttons promoting favored causes: the right to abortion, universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage and opposition to involuntary circumcision.

They posed with cardboard cutouts of Pelosi in fashionable sunglasses and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in an all-white pantsuit and clamored for selfies with Harris, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and other presidential hopefuls.

Hours before the convention convened at the George R. Moscone Center, named after the citys assassinated mayor, presidential hopefuls made the rounds of different interest groups.

Several of them addressed roughly 150 union activists  brothers and sisters  gathered for breakfast at a taproom across the street, where they took turns lavishing praise on the labor movement.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar boasted that her grandfather, mom and dad were union members. Sanders touted bills he introduced to raise the national minimum wage and create a government-run universal healthcare system.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee boasted of his states high minimum wage and its labor-friendly laws, saying they have boosted its strong economy.

We have blown up the trickle-down myth of Donald Trump and the Republicans, Inslee said.

At a standing-room-only gathering of the partys womens caucus, Harris pitched herself as a defender of abortion rights and crusader for gender pay equity.

Let us not despair, she exhorted the crowd. Let us not ever throw up our hands when its time to roll up our sleeves.

Harris was greeted warmly as a native daughter, drawing mobs of fans as she strolled the convention hall corridors.

Biden, who was notably absent Saturday as he campaigned in Ohio, sought to steal a meager slice of the limelight by announcing that he had received the endorsement of Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who served as Labor secretary in the Obama administration.

One potential presidential candidate used the convention to opt out: Joe Sanberg, the Los Angeles-based entrepreneur who flirted with a poverty-focused bid, announced he would not pursue a White House bid

Delegates in San Francisco also heard from candidates vying to be the state partys next chair in a special election prompted by the resignation of Eric Bauman, who quit last year amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Kimberly Ellis, a progressive Bay Area activist who narrowly lost to Bauman two years ago, is running again. So are half a dozen other candidates, including Los Angeles labor leader Rusty Hicks, who has garnered endorsements from many prominent elected Democrats in the state.

Times staff writers Christine Mai-Duc and Phil Willon contributed to this report.

2020 Democratic presidential candidates: Whos running and whos not 


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Miscarriage of justice is nothing new in Missouri.

After the state last week became the latest to enact an abortion banfor all intents and purposesdenying half of American citizens the basic human right of enjoying sovereignty over their own bodies, faithful reader Tony Galati offered this timely contribution to the blog, these stunning photographs of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, where the infamous Dred Scott case was first heard in 1847 and 1850 on its way for its infamous date with the United States Supreme Court.

Scott was a slave, born in Virginia about 1799, taken to Missouri in 1830 with his owners, the Peter Blow family. He was sold to an army surgeon, Dr. John Emerson, who took him to the Illinois and Wisconsin territories, which were designated free by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

Upon his return in 1842 to slave-owning Missouri, abolitionist friends encouraged Scott, who was illiterate, to petition the court, arguing that his time as a free man in the territories made him free permanently.

Scott's case was filed in the then-unfinished St. Louis courthouse on April 6, 1846. He lost the first trial on a technicality, but was allowed to petition again.

The Missouri courts, in a bit of ominous foreshadowing for proponents of the latest law depriving Americans of liberty, sided with the notion of "once free, always free," and Scott won his freedom in this building in 1850.

But the case was appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court by the widow of the surgeon.

The U.S. Supreme Court, to its undying shame, decided in 1857 that no black person could be a citizen of the United States, a ruling whose wrongness is echoed today in the notion that no woman can decide when she wants to have a baby. It took the Civil War to correct the court's error; who knows what national fissure will be required to put this question to rest? Future generations will no doubt view the current machinationsthe dying gasp of compulsory religion in this countrywith the same sense of sorrowful bafflement that Americans today view the Dred Scott case.

Unless they don't. The side of justice always assumes it will win in the end but, if we look around at the world today, we can see that just isn't so.
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Permit me a question to every truly fair-minded person in our country.

Imagine that one party packs the Supreme Court with ideologues and the other party does absolutely nothing in response. Isnt this abject surrender to an unscrupulous power grab?

This inquiry can no longer be ducked. Even those in the deepest denial can no longer ignore Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells nakedly political aim of cramming the Supreme Court with justices who will undo more than seven decades of precedent. Theyll do the bidding of corporate interests, undercut voting rights and empower billionaires to buy elections.

What McConnell said in 2016 to rationalize his decision not even to hold hearings on President Obamas nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the court is now, to appropriate the word from the Nixon era, inoperative.

Back then, McConnell waxed all bourbon-and-branch about tradition. He made the misleading claim that keeping a court seat open in an election year until a new president took office dated back to 1880. The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue, so lets give them a voice, he told us.

He piously insisted that this was about a principle, not a person.

Some principle.

What he embraced all along was what we can now call the Paducah Principle, named after the venerable Kentucky community whose Chamber of Commerce meeting McConnell graced on Tuesday.

Under the Paducah Principle, McConnell will use any method available to stuff the Supreme Court with young, right-wing nominees who will do the bidding of conservative interest groups regardless of what voters say in the next election  or the one after that, or the next one, or the next.

An attendee at the Chamber of Commerce event put an admirably unvarnished query to McConnell that created an exact parallel to 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia passed away: Should a Supreme Court justice die next year, what will your position be on filling that spot?

Oh, wed fill it, McConnell said quickly, with that small smile of his. Court-packing  excuse me, loading the court with your ideological friends  is the one way you can set the nations political course no matter what voters decide year to year.

You want to have a long-lasting positive impact, he explained. Everything else changes.  What cant be undone is a lifetime appointment to a young man or woman who believes in the quaint notion that the job of a judge is to follow the law.

Of course, follow the law for conservatives means the law back before the mid-1930s. Conservatives have long dreamt about salvaging what they call the Constitution in Exile, a reading that lets courts eviscerate the ability of the legislative and executive branches (and state governments) to protect workers and regulate the economy  back to the days before Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade and the one-person, one-vote decisions.

McConnell enunciated the Paducah Principle a week after an exceptional investigative report by The Washington Posts Robert OHarrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg about the battle for conservative justices that will shape the nation for decades. The operation has been spearheaded by Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, and a network of organizations that brought in more than $250 million in mostly dark money between 2014 and 2017.

Were going to have to understand that judicial confirmations these days are more like political campaigns, Leo told members of an influential conservative group.

Thanks to the efforts of Leo, McConnell and those friendly anonymous benefactors, the courts are being packed, politicized and pushed hard to the right.

So what are we going to do about it? Mention the words court packing and many liberals and moderates wring their hands and fret about the Supreme Courts legitimacy. But the courts legitimacy is already shot to hell. Remember the words Oh, wed fill it the next time the justices hand down another reactionary ruling. The only relevant issue is what might be done to restore the court to something closer to, well, judiciousness.

Of the Democratic presidential candidates, Pete Buttigieg has the most articulated suggestion. It would involve enlarging the court to 15 members, with five justices chosen by each party and the last five picked unanimously by those 10 from the lower courts. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Beto ORourke and Kirsten Gillibrand are among the other contenders declaring themselves at least open to court enlargement.

Good. Giving in to McConnells manipulation of the judiciary is not principled restraint. Its cowardice.

E.J. Dionne is on Twitter: @EJDionne.
He said he was disappointed the bill did not get more traction.

Alexander also said he was glad to see teachers get raises, the General Assembly begin work to reduce class sizes, and begin work on putting more school resources officers in schools.

He said the General Assembly still needs to look at the structure of education financing in the next session.

Education, Alexander added, would be his top priority heading into next January.

State Rep. Phillip Lowe said the House had gotten a lot of things done but some issues were not resolved in the Senate, namely the K-12 education bill. He added that some of the reforms in the bill were enacted in the state budget.

Lowe also mentioned the Santee Cooper issue.

He said that the just-concluded session featured educators asking for and receiving raises and that maybe next year it would be the turn of law enforcement and correctional officers.

Lowe is chairman of the Houses Ways and Means Justice and Public Subcommittee.

State Rep. Roger Kirby said the session was very productive.
FLORENCE, S.C.  The Rotary Club of Florence is hosting its third Forget Me Not 5K Color Run/Walk for Alzheimers awareness on Aug. 3. Runners will start at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology Center on the Florence-Darlington Technical College campus. The run will begin at 8 a.m.

The Forget Me Not race, a color run, was organized by the Rotary Club to raise money for the local Alzheimers Association. Runners will be sprinkled with colored powder as they run.

"One of our members passed away from Alzheimer's a few years ago, said Jonathan Edwards, president of the Rotary Club of Florence. Many of us have a loved one suffering from it, and we all know someone in our community that's affected by it. That's why it was important for us to raise money to support local families who are coping with this devastating disease."

While some runners/walkers participate for the exercise or competition, others participate in memory of loved ones who battled or are still battling Alzheimers.

Funds for the event are going to the local Alzheimers Association, said Blake Branham, the chairman of the event.
The Aquarium of the Pacific is at 100 Aquarium Way in Long Beach. Holiday season hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 29-30; and Jan. 1-9, 16, 22-23, 30: Visit www.aquariumofpacific.org/.
2 1 of 2 North Tahoe Fire Protection District Show More Show Less 2 of 2 North Tahoe Fire Protection District Show More Show Less



Editors note  This story has been updated to correct information. Original reporting based on a statement from fire officials incorrectly said that the deceased woman fell while posing for a photo.

A 35-year-old Bay Area woman died Friday after losing her footing and plunging over the edge of Eagle Falls near Lake Tahoe, officials with the North Tahoe fire department and El Dorado County Sheriffs Office said.
Former Special Counsel Robert Muellers nationally televised goodbye was a disappointment for the Democrats.

The rock-jawed Mueller left the stage without offering any new clues or insights into what was redacted in his 448-page report into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and Donald Trumps possible collusion or obstruction.

Mueller made it clear that he wanted his cameo appearance to be his last words on the subject and that his report  finding insufficient evidence of a conspiracy but possible examples of obstruction  spoke for itself. He said he wouldnt go beyond his report if he had to testify before any congressional committees, probably robbing the Democrats of what could have been great TV.

The only option now for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler and Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff is to grill a parade of current and former B-team White House staffers.

Maybe those witnesses will contradict the record or get caught in lies and generate more accusations and allegations of an attempted White House cover-up. But none will generate the attention Mueller would have brought to the hearings.

Still, let Nadler and Schiff have at it. Hearings will at least keep the subject alive, if not vibrant, and theyll let Pelosi do one of the things she does best  bring out the worst in Trump.

And thats a show worth watching.

Joy for Joe: President Trumps out-of-the-gate attacks on Joe Biden have cemented the former vice presidents status as front-runner among the 2020 Democrats.

The insults have played perfectly for the low-key Biden, increasing his credibility as the candidate Trump fears most.

Any one of the nearly two dozen other Democratic candidates would give their eye teeth to star in these attack ads on Trumps Twitter feed.

Hall talk: The San Francisco NAACPs recent membership meeting should have been mandatory for the people calling for closing the citys juvenile hall.

Speaker after speaker got up and talked about the beneficial role juvenile hall plays in the lives of teenagers in our city, particularly teenagers of color.

Yes, the hall is expensive to run. Yes, there are a disproportionate number of African Americans inside its walls. But it is also easily available to families and support groups to help the teens get back on track. That wont be the case if the teens wind up in a facility in Antioch or Stockton.

Instead of closing it, the NAACP memberships consensus was for the hall to be remodeled along the lines of a group home where teens can get the mental health attention and treatment they need  close to home.

It was truly an educational experience that elected officials of every political persuasion could use.

My recommendation is that the city put the proposal to close juvenile hall on the ballot and let all the citizens have their say. Not just a collection of special interest groups, which is what you usually get in City Hall hearings.

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.

Movie time: Aladdin. The Will Smith version of this classic tale is fun for both kids and adults. Smith plays the same genie Robin Williams gave voice to so fabulously nearly 30 years ago. Its a ride on a magic carpet  check it out.

Off the rack: I was in one of our finer Union Square stores the other day when I spied a beautiful deep-pink sport coat on display.

The salesman brought out one in my size. It was stunning.

The price was high, but I was already reaching for my wallet when I asked: Say, how would you describe this color?

Watermelon, he said.

So much for that sale.

Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com
If you missed it ...

In a week when organizers of the National Spelling Bee were at a loss for words, this also happened:

 The IRS proposed an update to the W-4 form that it says will increase its accuracy and reduce its complexity. But experts said it will feel different to employees and may prove a bit more difficult for some. Employees would still face a one-page form with a more simple default option. But for those who have second jobs, spouses who work, income from other sources or have dependents, they will need to do a bit of legwork that is a bit different.

 The U.S. Department of Energy plans to expand exports of liquefied natural gas from a new plant off the coast of Texas. Its calling the product freedom gas.

 After a big earthquake hit Peru last weekend, Alphabets Loon unit was able to use its balloons and restore temporary internet access within 48 hours, according to Axios.

 Disney CEO Bob Iger said it would be very difficult for the company to continue filming in Georgia if the states highly restrictive abortion law is carried out. Igers comments, made in an interview with Reuters, were the strongest sign yet that Hollywood could pull back from Georgia, which has lured television and film producers with generous tax breaks, but has also at times repelled the industry with its politics. Leaders of Netflix, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia, the parent company of HBO, CNN and other major channels, made similar comments.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

 Googles self-driving vehicle division says its bringing autonomous trucks to the Phoenix area. Waymo announced that its self-driving tractor-trailers are starting to drive on freeways and will expand to more routes over time. Waymos self-driving passenger vehicles are ubiquitous in eastern Phoenix and its suburbs, where the company conducts extensive testing and runs a taxi service.
Koln/Bonn Unnoticed by many fans, the huge Antonov 124 freighter landed at Cologne/Bonn Airport on Saturday morning. The arrival time had shifted several times.

Is she coming or not? And if so, when exactly? The arrival of the "giant freighter" of the Antonov 124 type at Cologne/Bonn Airport this weekend was to be one of the highlights for aircraft fans - but the arrival time had been postponed again and again. In the end, the plane landed on Saturday morning at 7.39 a.m. in the Wahner Heide, unnoticed by many mockers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi likes to invoke the words of Abraham Lincoln as one of her guiding principles: Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

Those of us who have followed her through the years have heard her use that quote in myriad contexts, from health care to gun control to marijuana legalization. Sometimes it drives her determination to forge ahead on an audacious goal; other times, it instructs her to go slower than she would prefer on a priority.

Her adherence to that mantra will be put to the test as rarely before with the growing anxiousness within her Democratic caucus to begin the impeachment process against President Trump.

That clamor to impeach received a jolt of adrenaline Wednesday with Special Counsel Robert Muellers first public comments about his two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In his spare but searing words, Mueller said, If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.

The special counsel made plain that Justice Department policy prevented him from even considering an indictment of a sitting president. That responsibility, he noted, lies with Congress.

Some House Democrats and presidential candidates seized on what they took as Muellers challenge to fulfill their constitutional obligation.

What Mueller basically did was return an impeachment referral, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., tweeted right after his statement. Now it is up to Congress to hold this president accountable.

Pelosi knows the public sentiment simply is not there, at least not yet. She has insisted nothing is off the table but wants to first continue investigations that could make a very compelling case to the American people.

Polls show a majority opposes impeachment. Only a few dozen of the 235 House Democrats have called for a formal impeachment inquiry. There is no chance that the Republican Senate would vote to convict the president  a two-thirds vote is required  if an impeachment resolution were to pass the House.

Speaker Pelosi likes to say the times have found us  actually, theyve found her, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told me backstage Friday night before a Commonwealth Club talk. She is the key figure right now, both in terms of how to stand up to this president and how to keep our diverse caucus together. I dont know anyone else who could do what shes doing to approach this in a methodical way, not rush into any decision, and to do whats right for the country.

Even before Muellers public statements, advocates for impeachment have become more vocal as the Trump team has defied subpoenas, blocked former White House counsel Don McGahn and others from testifying, and otherwise frustrated congressional investigations.

All the while, Pelosi has been trying to keep the issue at bay by imploring House committees to keep working on their investigations toward an ironclad case. Her strategy seemed to be paying off in a legal sense with recent court rulings that upheld congressional subpoenas for Trump documents.

From a political standpoint, Pelosis skillful salvos against the president showed her partys base that she is second to none at standing up to Trumps bullying. She out-postured him when he abruptly aborted a meeting on infrastructure with House and Senate Democrats because of his pique at Pelosis accusation earlier that day that he was engaging in a cover-up.

Pelosi called out his temper tantrum and suggested, I wish that his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country. That exchange put Trump on the defensive, even at extreme lengths, such as his awkwardly asking his subordinates to vouch before TV crews that he actually was quite calm as he walked out of that White House meeting with Democrats.

Many Democrats are wary that an acquittal in a Senate trial could boost Trumps 2020 re-election bid and imperil House Democrats who voted for impeachment. President Bill Clinton reached the highest approval rating of his presidency  73%  right after his Senate acquittal in February 1999.

But politics is neither the only nor the most consequential consideration in waiting for public sentiment to grasp the extent of the damning evidence of Trumps defiance of the rule of law.

Schiff drew raucous applause at every reference to impeachment during his talk at the Sydney Goldstein Theater. It was no surprise in deep-blue San Francisco. He even drew a few shouts of lock them up when he spoke of arresting Trump loyalists who resisted subpoenas.

But the audience paused for silent contemplation when he spoke of the enduring damage that would result from a Trump acquittal in the Senate.

It would, he cautioned, send the message that such presidential behavior is acceptable.

That would extend the degradation of our democratic institutions well beyond what should become  must become  the aberration of the Trump presidency.

John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. Email: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnDiazChron
California subjects all manner of serious policy matters to extreme forms of local rule  allowing, for example, sweeping and persistent prohibition of apartment buildings despite a crushing housing shortage and of marijuana sales despite the will of voters. Parking and the associated penalties make up another arena delegated to the states cities and counties, with consequences that can range from merely arbitrary to personally ruinous.

State law gives local governments remarkably broad leeway to seize the vehicles on their streets and tow them to public or private yards to rack up confiscatory storage and other fees. A car that remains in the same spot for more than 72 hours, for example, may be towed despite being legal in every other respect. Whether and when it will be towed depends mostly on the particular enthusiasm or malice of ones neighbors and the local bureaucracy.

A recent study by the Western Center on Law & Poverty and other legal aid and advocacy groups found that about a quarter of the estimated 1 million vehicles towed by California governments in a year were guilty of overdue registration, unpaid parking or traffic fines, or a violation of the 72-hour rule. It argues persuasively that such towing tends to serve no public-safety purpose and to disproportionately hurt lower-income Californians. In San Francisco, for example, 9% of the vehicles towed in 2016 were subject to lien sales  meaning the owners could not pay the fees and fines  but that was the fate of more than a third of those towed for exceeding the 72-hour limit and half of those towed for registration or tickets.

Recovering a towed vehicle typically means paying more than $300 in towing and administrative fees plus an average storage fee of more than $50 a day. The study points out that tow yards charge multiples of local parking rates for the questionable privilege of storage  more than five times the going cost of overnight parking in Berkeley, for example, and 12 times the market rate in Oakland. Recovering a towed car in San Jose costs at least $600 after three days and nearly $1,000 after a week.

Legislation by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would stem what often amounts to a poverty penalty by eliminating state provisions that allow municipalities to tow vehicles for having at least five unpaid parking or traffic tickets, going more than six months without current registration, or lingering in the same spot for over 72 hours. Passed by the Assembly in May, the bill is expected to be considered by a Senate committee in the coming weeks.

The legislation has drawn predictable opposition from the League of California Cities, a zealous guardian of all sorts of dubious local government prerogatives. But the legislation affects only three of more than 30 reasons for which vehicles may be towed in California, according to the study, leaving in place such reasonable justifications as obstruction of traffic, driveways, fire hydrants and more, as well as abandonment. The study also found that cities generally lose money on towing and particularly on vehicles subject to lien sales, which usually go for a small fraction of the costs, fees and debts associated with them.

The repercussions of such sales can be devastating for individuals and families who rely on a vehicle to keep or find work  or, in a sadly proliferating number of cases, for shelter. The latest count found a 45% increase over the past two years in the number of people living in vehicles in San Francisco. The rationale for seizing what is often a persons most valuable piece of property on pain of exorbitant fees for minor infractions, which has never been obvious, becomes even harder to discern under the circumstances.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. just got some great news about its bankruptcy proceedings.

On Tuesday, the judge in PG&Es bankruptcy case decided that millions of ratepayers will not have a committee to represent their interests during the companys bankruptcy proceedings.

How did we get here?

The states biggest utility is facing billions of dollars worth of debt for its role in the deadly wildfires that have scorched California over the past several years.

In January, it made the controversial decision to file for bankruptcy. Interim CEO John Simon said at the time that the companys goal was to create a more sustainable foundation for the delivery of safe, reliable and affordable service.

What went unsaid in the companys harmonious statements is the fact that the company expects to create that foundation by increasing costs for ratepayers.

Thats what happened in 2001, the last time the utility went through a bankruptcy process.

At that time, the bankruptcy judge approved a plan requiring consumers to shoulder the costs for the majority of the companys $12 billion debt load. Thanks to that judges decision, each PG&E ratepayer wound up paying an additional $1,300 to $1,700 in above-market prices.

Coincidentally, the judge for PG&Es 2001 bankruptcy is the same judge for PG&Es 2019 bankruptcy  Dennis Montali. If thats not enough to convince you that an unfortunate chapter in California history is at high risk for repeating itself, consider this story.

In 2001, San Francisco consumer group The Utility Reform Network asked the courts to name a ratepayers committee for PG&Es bankruptcy process. (In bankruptcy proceedings, committees typically consist of parties that hold large claims against the debtor. Committees can investigate the debtors business behavior and participate in the creation of a repayment plan along with the judge.)

There had been very few utility bankruptcies at the time, and TURN was concerned that PG&E would get together with its big creditors and decide to force ratepayers to foot the bill.

TURN convinced a federal trustee that ratepayers deserved a seat at the table, but PG&E lobbied against it, and Montali reversed the trustees decision.

TURN turned out to be right. The end result of the 2001 bankruptcy was satisfied PG&E creditors, skyrocketing bills for electricity customers and an eventual path to profitability for PG&E.

Nearly two decades later, California is facing the same scenario.

Earlier this year, TURN filed for a ratepayers committee. It noted that ratepayers are a major source of income for PG&E. Because of the utilitys near-monopoly status in the regions it serves, these ratepayers have few choices and cannot switch to competitors easily for lower prices.

Finally, these ratepayers have no voice in the companys bankruptcy. TURN noted that this formula will almost certainly result in a wildly unfair bargain for customers.

Montali rejected TURNs perfectly sensible request. His argument? Ratepayers are not creditors. Thats a shock to the millions of PG&E customers who served as the utilitys creditors in 2001.

Its an eye-opener to the millions of PG&E customers who reacted with outrage after the state Legislature passed a bill to make it easier for the utility to borrow money from the state to pay off its liabilities for wildfire damages in 2017  with the expectation that those bonds would be repaid via higher customer charges.

Last but certainly not least, Montalis argument is a surprise worth celebration among PG&Es creditors  a most welcome one. Now they know they wont have to take the haircut they deserve for taking the risk of investing in PG&E.

Montali made one excellent point in his decision. He said that its the responsibility of the California Public Utilities Commission to regulate PG&Es rates. The PUCs role is to act as a check on PG&E  so that (among other things) the utility doesnt gouge its customers.

Unfortunately for PG&E ratepayers, the PUC has historically fallen far short of that mission.

The commission certainly didnt prevent rate hikes after PG&Es 2001 bankruptcy. It took a full decade to adopt new regulations on fire safety, passing them only after the devastating fires of 2017. It stood by while Sacramento approved its ratepayer-financed bailout last year.

With Montalis decision to reject a ratepayer commission, the PUC should assure the public it will be working hard to ensure that any solutions for PG&Es bankruptcy are fair and equitable, and wont fall solely on ratepayers.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
Any Democratic presidential candidate hoping to win the nations most populous state needs the grassroots backing of organized labor.

All seven of the candidates who spoke Saturday to a breakfast gathering of 150 Service Employees International Union employees in San Francisco for the California Democratic Partys convention could be considered union-friendly. But they offered different appeals to win over the activists, from Sen. Bernie Sanders fiery call for a national $15-an-hour minimum wage to Mayor Pete Buttigiegs appeal to their shared values.

Landing SEIUs support is key, as the unions 700,000 California members do the political grunt work  knocking on doors and phone banking  that are the life blood to a campaign, especially for out-of-state candidates who havent already built networks in California. SEIUs support is also an inroad to Californias Latino community, as 40 percent of the unions members are Latino.

Former Rep. Beto ORourke brought the audience to its feet, speaking mostly in Spanish, by promising to end the bondage that undocumented immigrants face by giving them a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

The nearly 11 million undocumented, working some of the toughest jobs in America today ... their immigration status is being used to keep them in a modern-day bondage, ORourke said. Were going to free them from any fear from deportation and let them come out into the light.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar played up her background as the granddaughter of a union iron worker and the daughter of two union-member parents. She said she could help Democrats win those hard places in the Midwest that they lost in 2016.

When I am leading this ticket, were not going to leave the Midwest behind. Were not going to leave our workers behind, Klobuchar said. If you think we cant win those hard states and take back the White House in 2020, Ive got four words for you: Former. Governor. Scott. Walker of Wisconsin, the Republican who was defeated in a re-election bid last year.

Now Playing: Sen. Amy Klobuchar urges Democrats not to abandon midwestern voters while speaking to 150 SEIU activists at the California Democratic Convention in San Francisco Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee focused on his championing of paid family leave, gender pay equity and a public option for health care. He barely mentioned climate change, the centerpiece of his campaign.

And because weve done these things, weve got the best economy in the United States, Inslee said of his home state. We have blown up the trickle-down myth of Donald Trump and the Republicans because were building a middle class in Washington.

Now Playing: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has made climate change the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. But he barely mentioned it during his speech to an SEIU breakfast at the California Democratic Convention in San Francisco. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Buttigieg said that even though this president is deservedly unpopular, it is going to be critically important for us to have the right strategy or he could win again. And that is why weve got to organize around our values. The values that anchor this campaign are the ones youve been fighting for all along, like freedom like being able to organize a union.

California Sen. Kamala Harris, who has been endorsed by SEIU in her previous campaigns, reminded the union activists of how they fought together during the mortgage meltdown.

When she held out as state attorney general for a bigger settlement with banks than what they had agreed to in a national lawsuit involving several other states, you stood with me, Harris told the audience. Even when top newspapers were opining against me saying, Kamala Harris needs to take the deal. You stood with me and we got back $20 billion from lenders.

Yet again, Im asking you to stand with me in a difficult fight, Harris said. Its not going to be easy.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
Gov. Gavin Newsom threw cold water Saturday on state legislation that would tighten Californias rules on providing medical exemptions for childhood vaccinations.

I like doctor-patient relationships. Bureaucratic relationships are more challenging for me, Newsom told reporters at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco. Im a parent. I dont want someone that the governor appointed to make a decision for my family.

Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, has proposed a bill that would require the state Department of Public Health to approve every request for a medical exemption to a childs immunization schedule.

Newsom did not explicitly say he would veto the bill, SB276, which passed the state Senate last month and moves now to the Assembly. But he cast serious doubts on its prospects should it reach his desk.

With respect, as a father of four that goes through this on a consistent basis, thats just something we need to pause and think about, Newsom said.

A measure that Pan carried in 2015 eliminated Californias personal-belief exemption that parents could claim to excuse their children from shots for measles, chicken pox, whooping cough and other infectious diseases. Children without a medical exemption must be fully vaccinated to attend public or private schools. California is one of three states where that is the case.

Pan contends that more oversight is necessary because unscrupulous doctors are providing bogus medical exemptions, putting some schools at risk of spreading contagious disease because not enough students are vaccinated to provide community immunity. Opponents of his bill, who have descended on the Capitol by the thousands, argue that the government should not be involved in a decision best left to families and their doctors.

Newsom said he was a strong supporter of the 2015 vaccine law. He also rejected any notion that he was parroting that mantra from anti-vaccine skeptics who believe immunizations are linked to autism and other health problems.

I believe in immunizations. I do not subscribe to their point of view broadly, he said. However, I do legitimately have concerns about a bureaucrat making a decision that is very personal.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: akoseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim will be Bay Area regional director for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders run for the Democratic presidential nomination, the campaign announced Friday.

Kim served on the Board of Supervisors from 2011 to this past January and was known as one of its most progressive members. Before being elected to the board, she was a community organizer and civil rights attorney, as well as a member of the San Francisco school board.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosis call Saturday for national unity was virtually shouted down by activists cries of Impeach! at the California Democratic Partys convention in San Francisco, highlighting the rifts plaguing even her own party.

We will go where the facts lead us, Pelosi told delegates who gathered to hear 14 presidential candidates make their case for taking back the White House. President Trump will be held accountable for his actions  in the Congress, in the courts and in the court of public opinion.

She added that we will strive to unify, not divide, our country as we protect and defend it. But for many in the crowd filled with progressive party activists, nothing but an immediate effort to oust Trump will do.

With Democrats in the majority, we will legislate, Pelosi told the convention, as cries of Impeach! grew louder. But we will also investigate and litigate to protect our democracy.

Pelosi recognized that her slow but steady position wasnt popular with the crowd.

I told you this was like coming home for me, the San Francisco Democrat said, her only acknowledgment of the shouting from the floor of Moscone Center.

Pelosi has steadfastly insisted on sticking with House inquiries into the Trump administration on several fronts before beginning any impeachment proceedings. She has left open the possibility of such proceedings but has shown little enthusiasm for them.

Facing polls that show impeachment to be a mixed bag at best for the Democrats in 2020, and a disaster at worst, Pelosi has warned that Trump is goading her party into trying to oust him, knowing the GOP-controlled Senate is unlikely to convict him.

The calls for impeachment werent coming only from the convention floor. In her speech to delegates, California Sen. Kamala Harris got her biggest reaction when she said, We need to begin new impeachment proceedings, and we need a new commander in chief.

Pro-impeachment forces were hoping for a dose of red meat from billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who has spent millions on Need to Impeach, the group he founded to push toward ousting Trump.

But Steyers speech went on so long that by the time he got to his point about impeaching Trump, he was forced off the stage. The end of his remarks were drowned out by music.

Those attending the convention were split on Pelosis approach.

Over her decades, Nancy Pelosi has proven that she knows how to read the Democratic Party, said Eric Kingsley, 47, an attorney from Encino (Los Angeles County) and first-time delegate.

He said there is plenty of evidence to impeach Trump, but no point in doing so if the Senate is just going to acquit the president: We cant be doing it just to make ourselves feel better.

Others were starting to lose patience with Pelosi.

There needs to be the start of an inquiry, said Cathy Kennedy, 62, a nurse from Carmichael (Sacramento County).

Kennedy said she understands that Pelosi is trying to build a case against Trump, but without an impeachment inquiry, Democrats would not be able to get the evidence they needed.

Talk is cheap, she said.

For most delegates, the conventions spotlight was on the presidential candidates, who each had just seven minutes to sell themselves to the crowd.

Harris was the first presidential hopeful to speak, giving an address that was heavy on criticism of Trump.

She called the tariffs he has imposed on Chinese products Trumps trade tax, and argued that the presidents behavior, including his tweets, were distracting from how he is quietly deregulating and deconstructing our government and our democracy.

The response for former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke was more muted as he focused on ending the chaos that Donald Trump has created at the U.S.-Mexico border. He promised to bring 11 million undocumented Americans out of the shadows and make them citizens in this, their true home country.

One crowd favorite was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who received a rapturous cheer as she walked out to Dolly Partons 9 to 5. Warren, an outspoken progressive, took some shots at unnamed Democrats running more to the center.

When a candidate tells you about all the things that arent possible, about how political calculations come first, about how you should settle for little bits and pieces instead of real change, theyre telling you something important, she said. Theyre telling you they will not fight for you.

One of those running to the center is former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, but his message wasnt what many convention delegates wanted to hear. He drew loud boos when he warned the crowd, If we want to beat Donald Trump and achieve big progressive goals, socialism is not the answer.

Moments later, he broke with his prepared remarks to warn, If were not careful, were going to end up helping to re-elect the worst president in American history.

Hickenlooper was followed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who received a big reaction when he opened with, I am the governor who doesnt think we should be ashamed of our progressive values.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wasnt scheduled to speak until Sunday morning, so he took a road trip to San Jose to find an audience.

Speaking to a crowd at Guadalupe River Park near downtown, he warned that he is the only presidential candidate who can truly challenge the power of Americas economic elite.

Unless the country elects someone like him, who doesnt need to depend on special interests like the health care and fossil fuel industries for campaign cash, only modest progressive wins will be possible, Sanders said.

The 1 percent is 1 percent, he said. In other words, they have the money, they have the power. We have the people.

Harris is the hometown favorite. As the former district attorney of San Francisco, a two-term state attorney general and now Californias junior senator, she has a connection with the state and its voters that none of the other candidates can match.

As the second morning of the weekend convention kicked off, more than 100 Harris supporters staged a show of force outside Moscone Center, then marched in chanting, Whose house? Our house!

Chronicle staff writers Joe Garofoli and John Wildermuth contributed to this report.

Alexei Koseff, Dustin Gardiner and Tal Kopan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com, dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle, tal.kopan@sfchronicle Twitter: @akoseff, @talkopan, @dustingardiner
In an environment in which they see themselves as under attack, Democratic women felt little need to hold back at Saturdays gathering of the California state partys womens caucus.

This womens caucus is so damn badass, presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris said as she took the stage at Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Darn. I said darn, she joked.

Harris was not the only politician to bend the rules of decorum onstage at the event, and far from the only one who fit the groups early morning meeting into their busy schedule at the California Democratic Partys convention.

It was a sign of how seriously the Democratic Party is taking the womens vote in 2020, particularly with abortion rights as a resurgent campaign issue. Lawmakers in several states have passed severely restrictive abortion laws this year, with the hope that a U.S. Supreme Court now controlled by Republican-appointed conservative justices will overturn the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that made abortion legal nationwide.

That was the topic of the day at the standing-room-only womens caucus meeting, chaired by Christine Pelosi and co-sponsored by Planned Parenthood. Pelosi was re-elected as chair unopposed, but there was one incumbent among the groups leadership who was ousted  by a doctor who performs abortions.

Yesterday, I was a little late to registration because I was performing abortions, Dr. Pratima Gupta said in her nominating speech. I am an abortion provider and a parent, and I want to be sure everyone knows those things are not mutually exclusive.

She instantly had the crowd on her side and was elected legislative chair over incumbent Alex Zucco on a loudly lopsided voice vote.

Presidential candidates Sens. Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Bernie Sanders of Vermont made their pitches to the caucus, as did three leading candidates to chair the state party. A parade of prominent women in California politics gave speeches, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

The themes were consistent: womens rights need to be at the forefront of the Democratic platform, including equal pay for equivalent work and abortion access as part of universal health care.

Harris and chair candidate Kimberly Ellis were favorites of the room, taking the stage to loud cheers. Ellis also joined Harris in using a bit of colorful language.

I got to say, I love me some women, because women get s done, Ellis said. It is time for California to do what California does best: lead, lead, lead.

Entering with a phalanx of supporters into a room that had already been decorated with Kamala Harris signs, the California senator talked about her plan to give women equal pay by requiring corporations to prove they are paying workers equally. Companies that couldnt do so would be fined under her plan, with the proceeds going to pay for family and medical leave.

Womens rights are under attack by people who do not understand womens brains and womens strengths and womens abilities to make their own decisions about their own bodies and their own lives and their own families, Harris said. And we are here to tell them: We will not take it. And we will fight.

Harris was preceded by Klobuchar, who offered herself as a candidate who has prevailed in red districts in a state, Minnesota, that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton barely won in the 2016 presidential race.

If you dont think a woman can beat Donald Trump, just look at Nancy Pelosi, Klobuchar said. We always like to joke, as my friend Kamala comes in, may the best woman win.

Sanders entered at the tail end of the caucus meeting, after many of the delegates had streamed out to catch the main convention session. He also brought along his coterie of supporters, trailed by a few Kamala signs.

Sanders noted he had recently been to Alabama to demonstrate against that states newly passed law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

In general, Im not a great fan of litmus tests, but I do have a litmus test in regards to this issue, and that is I will never nominate one nominee to the Supreme Court who is not 100% in favor of defending Roe v. Wade, Sanders said.

He also highlighted his support for equal pay and his Medicare for All plan, which would cover reproductive health.

The issue of choice is seen as a womens issue, Sanders said. I dont see it that way  I see it as a human issue, and it is absolutely imperative that at this critical moment in American history, every man stand with the women.

Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
When it comes to frequent flier programs, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is in a league of its own, and proves that going global differently works.

How? Well, for one, it has not followed the pack into one of the big three airline alliances (Oneworld, SkyTeam or Star). Instead, it boasts strong ties (and remarkably low mileage redemption rates) with a long list of first-rate global airline partners including Aer Lingus, British Airways, Condor, Cathay Pacific, Hainan, Icelandair, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, and Singapore Airlines. Its members as well as most points and miles experts cherish the broad reach of its partner networks and the ease with which they can earn and redeem their Mileage Plan miles.

Plus, the program is rich with benefits including the rare ability to earn frequent flier miles based upon distance flown (instead of dollars spent). Its broad range of global partners provides plenty of opportunities to earn and burn those miles, which is what really separates it from the crowd.

While the options are plentiful, award prices vary depending upon the partner and its published award chart for Mileage Plan, which can be confusing for new members, so let's take a look at some examples of how earning and redeeming Mileage Plan miles beats the competition.

Fly to Asia, Africa or Oceania on partner Cathay Pacific

You can snag a one-way flight on Cathay Pacific from the mainland U.S. and Alaska to Asia for only 50,000 Mileage Plan miles in business class and only 70,000 miles in first class. Economy class is 30,000 miles in each direction. That is an incredible deal when you consider the quality of Cathay Pacific and the distance flownfor example, flights between San Francisco and Hong Kong can last 12-14 hours.

What's even better is that Alaska permits a stopover in Hong Kong en route to your final destination in Asia. Unlike other airlines, Alaska does not divide Asia into zones, which simplifies things. In comparison, American charges 60,000 AAdvantage miles to Japan and Korea and 70,000 to the rest of Asia each way in business class. Alaska is even more of a bargain when compared to American when traveling in first class. AA charges 80,000 miles one way to Japan or Korea and 110,000 miles each way to the rest of Asia. United recently announced that it is following Delta with dynamic pricing (and the elimination of an award chart), which means it will be harder to know how many miles you need for an award flight. As of now, United charges 70,000 miles one way to Japan or Korea in business class and 120,000 miles in first class on its Star Alliance partners.

Alaska miles can be also used to get to Oceania and Africa on Cathay Pacific flights. To Australia and New Zealand, it's 60,000 miles in business class or 80,000 miles one-way in first class. You'll burn just 62,500 miles one-way in Cathay Pacific business class to South Africa.

Miles cannot be redeemed on Cathay partner Cathay Dragon, however. Still, when you look at the

insane mileage prices that Delta SkyMiles charges on flights to Australia in business class (sometimes over 500,000 miles per person roundtrip), Alaska looks like a hidden gem. And it is.

Fly to the Middle East or India on partner Emirates:

Ever dreamed of sipping a cocktail in a lounge at a stand up inflight bar? (See the photo in the slideshow at the top of this post!) Alaska can make it happen with 82,500 miles each way in business class from North America to the Middle East or India on Emirates. You guessed it; you can make a stopover in Dubai (worth the stop for quick look!) on the way, too. In economy class, it is 42,500 Mileage Plan miles each way when traveling on Emirates- on some routes from the West Coast, Emirates flies the big A380 double-decker to DXB.

By comparison, United charges the same amount for economy and a little less for business class (75,000 miles each way), but there won't be an onboard bar and lounge on any of its partner flights.

Take a sojourn to the South Pacific on Fiji Airways or Qantas:

Many South Pacific islands are tough to reach using miles, and even though American has a partnership with Fiji Airways, Alaska charges less for the same flights. It's 40,000 Alaska miles each way from the continental U.S. to the South Pacific in economy and 55,000 miles each way in business class (Fiji Airways does not have first class). These award prices include connecting domestic flights on Alaska Airlines if award space is available.

What's really nice (if you have the time for a longer South Seas adventure) is that you can use the same award to fly to Fiji and stay a few days before continuing onto Australia or New Zealand at the exact same price. United charges 35,000 miles (5,000 less than Alaska) to the South Pacific in economy each way, but has stricter routing rules. Business class to the South Pacific is 70,000 miles. If you are bound for Australia or New Zealand, the mileage amounts for United flights jump to 80,000 miles each way in business class. Alaska Mileage Plan for the win.

Another way to get to the South Pacific is with Alaska's partner Qantas, with award seats costing just 55,000 miles each way in business class. The more elusive first class award (since many Qantas flights no longer offer first class) is only 70,000 miles each way if you can find them. Both of these prices are significantly less than what Qantas' Oneworld sibling American charges. On top of that Alaska elite members (MVP Gold or MVP Gold 75K) and Alaska Lounge members can access Qantas lounges, even when traveling in economy!

Take a deep dive into Latin American on LATAM:

Headed to South America? Economy flights using Alaska miles on LATAM cost 30,000 miles each way (25,000 miles during off-peak periods like southern hemisphere spring and fall). Business class in each direction costs just 45,000 miles, and of course, you can take an interesting stopover in a LATAM hub like Lima, Santiago, or Sao Paulo, before continuing elsewhere. (See LATAM's sprawling network here.) By contrast, United charges 60,000 miles for business class in each direction.

Jim Glab

One of the last mileage program goldmines

Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan website does a nice job displaying partner award availability making it easy to search for award space although not all airlines are listed (namely Cathay Pacific and LATAM). Another caveat when redeeming Alaska miles is that not all partner airline routes are eligible for mileage redemption (although the vast majority are). For example, right now you can only earn miles when flying to Israel on Alaska's newest partner El Al. The same goes for Aer Lingus, but both should be on board with redemption opportunities later this year, according to the airline.

Keep in mind that you can only use one partner for an award (plus any available connecting Alaska

flight), and all award space is subject to availability. You can, however, book one-way awards meaning you can travel out on one partner and back on another. If you're headed to Europe, British Airways charges hefty taxes and fees, making it less enticing. Condor and Icelandair flights are cheaper alternatives to Europe although their networks are more limited.

Don't forget that Marriott Bonvoy points can be transferred to Alaska, and you can also purchase miles directly but it's best to wait until Mileage Plan runs one of its sporadic promotions offering a bonus on top of what you purchase.

Whether you live in a city served by Alaska Airlines, or pile up miles through the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card, if you overlook this program, you could be missing out. Alaska Mileage Plan is a gold mine when it comes to traveling internationally with often cheaper award prices than what its competitors charge on their partners. The ability to have a stopover on most award tickets (even one-way awards) is one of the hallmarks of Alaska Mileage Plan. The hardest part is deciding where you want to go!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Alaska Airlines. We will periodically publish posts like this one from commercial partners about topics relevant to frequent travel. Would you like to sponsor a TravelSkills post? Contact Chris McGinnis.

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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.
TOPCROFT, England  David Woodrow, 95, raises the American flag beside a memorial on his farm in eastern England every morning, weather permitting.

He makes sure that memorial is tip-top, too. Dedicated to the U.S. Army Air Forces 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), it is surrounded by irises and geraniums Woodrow planted himself. The grass is trimmed to the millimeter. The granite gleams.

Theres one thing for certain: If Americans hadnt come over here and went to Normandy with us in 44 and the Germans had pushed us back into the sea, we couldnt have gone back again for another two or three years, Woodrow, a D-Day veteran himself, said when asked why he put it there. By that time, Germany would have had the bomb first and they would have won the war. They would have won the war then  if Normandy had failed.

As the wartime allies prepare to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, people around Britain are also remembering the Americans who paved the way for the invasion, including sailors who helped keep supplies flowing across the North Atlantic and air crews that flew bombing missions over occupied Europe.

From 1942 to 1945, more than 2 million U.S. military personnel were stationed in Britain. People across the country still commemorate that friendly invasion, which bolstered the nations defenses and gave many their first taste of America. From Portpatrick on the west coast of Scotland, where a plaque marks the site of a plane crash that killed 22 American airmen, to the Norfolk farm where Woodrow raises Old Glory, Britain is dotted with memorials to U.S. servicemen.

Some are formal affairs funded by public money, like the Cambridge American Cemetery, which houses the remains of 3,811 war dead, and the American Air Museum a few miles away, where the silhouettes of 7,031 lost aircraft are etched into a curving wall of glass.

But most are impromptu shrines built and tended by local people to honor those who died and to remember the thousands of others they drank and danced and fought with.

There was no government master plan to make this happen. The memorials just sprang up organically, particularly in southeastern England, where most of the U.S. air bases were located because of the proximity to occupied Europe.

Volunteers look after memorials in village squares, on corners of former airfields, at crash sites. Museums have been placed in former control towers. World War II memorabilia collections are preserved in pubs.

Woodrow, who served in the Royal Air Force during the war, landed at Normandy to scout out locations for landing zones in northern France. Soon after leaving the RAF in the early 1950s, he bought the Hardwick Airfield and built his farm on it. The sergeants mess now houses his pigs and other wartime buildings hold a greenhouse and community hall.

Veterans of the 93rd started trickling past in the 1960s, anxious to revisit the place they had served. By the 1970s, the flow of unannounced visitors had become a steady stream, but Woodrow always invited them in.

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.

When the memorial was dedicated in 1987, some 500 people came from the United States. There was, of course, a big party afterward.

One of Woodrows proudest possessions is a plaque that the bombers group gave him in 1995 in gratitude to him and his wife, Jean, for providing the staging post for men who wanted to remember.

Fewer veterans visit the memorial these days. There arent many left. But their children do, and their grandchildren as well.

Woodrow and his family still do what they have always done for the Americans: They open the door and say Welcome!

Danica Kirka is an Associated Press writer.
MEXICO CITY  The mother of convicted drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman said Saturday that the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City granted her a visa so she can visit her son in prison.

Sitting in a wheelchair in front of the embassy, Consuelo Loera said that she and two daughters were both approved Saturday for visas to travel to the United States.

Thank God, the U.S. Embassy gave me the permission, she said in a feeble voice while surrounded by a throng of journalists.

Loera said she hasnt seen her son in more than four years. She added that she has yet to receive the actual visa or set a date for her trip.

If she could bring him anything, she said, it would be his favorite Mexican dish: enchiladas.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lobbied for the visa to be issued after receiving a letter in February from Loera asking for assistance. In the letter, passed to Lopez Obrador while he was in Guzmans home state of Sinaloa to announce a highway project, Loera described herself as suffering and desperate to see her son.

The president said he intervened out of empathy for the mother. When Guzman was convicted in the U.S. in February, Lopez Obrador said: Let this serve as a lesson to show that money doesnt buy true happiness.

Guzman, who led the Sinaloa drug cartel and twice escaped from Mexican prisons before he was extradited to New York, was convicted of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation. The three-month trial heard tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans and jewel-encrusted guns.

Guzmans lawyers did not deny his crimes but argued that he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than their client.

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.

He is due to be sentenced this month and faces a life term in a maximum-security U.S. prison selected to guard against another of the jail breakouts that made him a folk hero in Mexico.

Guzman escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 after having served eight years. He moved between hideouts for years until being imprisoned again in 2014, only to escape a year later through an expertly dug tunnel leading to his prison cell shower.

Marcelo Viano and Amy Guthrie are Associated Press writers.
MONTREUX, Switzerland  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday joined Jared Kushner at a closed-doors meeting of the Bilderberg Group in the Swiss resort of Montreux, with many attendees uneasy about what one protester called the wrecking ball that President Trumps administration has taken to the postwar international order.

The annual gathering of high-profile participants from business, politics, intelligence and defense saw a visit from Americas top diplomat just as freshly announced Trump tariffs on Mexico rattled world markets and U.S. tensions with Iran raised world concerns.

The four-day meeting that ends Sunday comes as Trump critics argue that his rhetoric and policies are a threat to the globalist postwar stability that was largely born of U.S. leadership. Trump supporters counter that the United States has been taken for granted for too long and its needs must now come first.

Private security and Swiss police cordoned off sidewalks and limited traffic near the bright-yellow Fairmont Le Montreux Palace overlooking Lake Geneva, where the meeting was taking place this year. A handful of placard-waving protesters voiced their opposition peacefully outside the gates.

The event, which seeks to foster dialogue between experts from North America and Europe, is closed off to the public, and attendees are encouraged to keep quiet about what is said inside. On the agenda this year were topics like Europe, China and Russia, climate change, the future of capitalism and cyberthreats.

The meetings theme this year  A Stable Strategic Order  was something that Trump critics said the U.S. leader and his advisers should ponder.

Many at the meeting have championed cooperation in tackling international issues and have bemoaned Trumps America First approach, which has broken with decades of U.S. policy.

Among the notable Europeans attending this year are NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and the British and Danish intelligence chiefs, Jeremy Fleming and Lars Findsen.

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.

In addition to Kushner and Pompeo, both of whom are on major diplomatic missions, at least two senior Pentagon officials and two senior members of the National Security Council were at the forum.

Attendees from media outfits such as Bloomberg, the Economist and the Washington Post were rubbing elbows with political leaders such as rising Democratic Party personality Stacey Abrams and chiefs of international organizations like the U.N. cultural agency and animal rights group World Wide Fund for Nature.

Kushner, Trumps son-in-law, arrived from Tel Aviv after a three-nation Middle East tour aimed at building support for his yet unreleased Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

Matthew Lee and Jamey Keaten are Associated Press writers.
ISTANBUL  Ankara and Moscow are again facing an escalation of violence in Syrias last rebel-held territory, a development that puts their cooperation to the test even as they support opposing sides in the eight-year war that has devastated Syria.

An all-out offensive by Syrian government forces to capture Idlib in northwestern Syria from insurgents could unleash an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, for the area is home to 3 million people.

Turkey, which is already hosting more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, is facing strong pressure from Syria, Iran and Russia to deliver on its pledge to control the armed rebel factions in Idlib.

But Turkey also needs Russia to rein in Syrian President Bashar Assad to prevent a massive outflow of refugees and to keep Turkish soldiers on the ground safe.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have an incentive to cooperate and ensure that nobodys interests are totally trampled, says Aaron Stein, the director of the Middle East program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.

In September, the two leaders brokered a cease-fire for Idlib in the Russian resort of Sochi, preventing a bloody onslaught, despite the fact that Russia has firmly backed Assad and Turkey supports opposition forces. Nine months later, the truce has failed.

The agreement called for a 15- to 20-kilometer demilitarized zone free of insurgents and heavy weaponry and for two key highways crossing through Idlib to be reopened. The demilitarized zone has been breached and the highways are at the center of the current government offensive.

Syrian ground forces have been advancing from the south of the rebel stronghold under the cover of Syrian and Russian air strikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 291 civilians and 369 fighters have been killed since April 30 in the rebel stronghold. In the same period, 269 government troops and 22 civilians were killed in government areas by rebel fire. The U.N. childrens agency said more than 130 children have reportedly been killed.

Already, more than 200,000 people from the stronghold have been displaced, according to the United Nations, with some seeking safety near the border with Turkey while others crammed into already crowded camps in Syria.

Turkey has accused the Syrian government of violating the cease-fire and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the country has told Russia the regime must be controlled.

Russia has launched air strikes in Idlib and is providing air cover in the Syrian government offensive. It has complained that the militants have increasingly been targeting its military base in the nearby coastal province of Latakia.

But for now, Moscow is unlikely to support an all-out Syrian operation in Idlib because the benefits of a long-term alliance with Turkey outweigh one military battle.

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.

Russia doesnt want to ruin its relationship with Turkey because of Idlib, says Kirill Semenov, a Middle East analyst at the Russian International Affairs Council.

In April, Putin said he would not rule out a large-scale assault but together with our Syrian friends, we believe that this would not be advisable due to humanitarian issues.

Still, Russias patience is wearing thin with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which it accuses of targeting its military base. HTS is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., Russia and Turkey, despite its claims it has disassociated from al-Qaida.

Top Russian officials have often called Idlib a breeding ground for terrorists.

Zeynep Bilginsoy is an Associated Press writer.
For years, scholars, activists and mothers have criticized policies that place the burden of child-rearing overwhelmingly on women. Increasingly, fathers are joining the criticism of these policies  and asserting their legal rights to challenge them.

On Thursday, JPMorgan Chase announced it has reached a tentative settlement in a class-action case initiated by a father who was denied the 16-week paid parental leave that the company began offering in 2016. He was offered only two weeks, on the grounds that he was not the primary caregiver.

As part of the proposed settlement, the company will take steps to ensure that its policy is administered in a gender-neutral way. And it will create a $5 million fund to compensate up to about 5,000 fathers who were shortchanged in the past.

Other companies have seen their parental leave policies for new fathers challenged in recent years. A suit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission produced a settlement last year with the cosmetics giant Estee Lauder.

But now class-action litigation is bringing even more pressure to bear. Experts said the settlement with JPMorgan Chase, if approved by a judge, would be the first to result from a class-action case brought by employees.

This gives an incentive for other workers to come forward at other companies, said Peter Romer-Friedman of the firm Outten & Golden, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs. Without a settlement here, workers wouldnt receive the benefit of learning about behavior that we believe is unlawful and needs to be reformed.

Under the law, employers can justify longer parental leave for biological mothers only on the basis of medical necessity. Any paid leave beyond the time it would take a mother to recover from childbirth  which courts have typically recognized to be around six weeks, though the length can vary in individual cases  must be offered to fathers as well.

In 2015, CNN reached a settlement with a correspondent who had complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the companys policy of granting biological fathers two weeks of paid leave  compared with 10 weeks for mothers  was discriminatory. CNN changed its policy to make it more equitable.

In the case against Estee Lauder, the commission said the company had similarly discriminated against fathers of newborns. The agency put the number of affected men at around 200; the company agreed to change its policies.

Unlike the policy at CNN, the JPMorgan Chase policy appeared to be gender-neutral on its face, offering 16 weeks of paid leave to primary caregivers and two weeks to other caregivers.

But the lead plaintiff in the case, an Ohio investigator at the company named Derek Rotondo, contended that the company made it difficult for biological fathers to qualify as primary caregivers.

When Rotondo consulted with the companys human resources department in May 2017, a few weeks before the birth of his second child, he was told in writing that per our policy, birth mothers are what we consider as the primary caregivers, according to his legal filings.

There were two exceptions, the response said: if his spouse returned to work before the end of 16 weeks, in which case he could use the balance of the time, or if the mother was medically unable to provide child care.

In an interview, Rotondo said he had assumed he would be eligible to serve as his childs primary caregiver. He contacted a hotline at the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law, which put him in touch with lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union.

According to Cynthia Thomas Calvert, a senior adviser at the Center for WorkLife Law, Rotondos experience was not unheard-of. Policies assigning different lengths of leave to primary and secondary caregivers began as an attempt by some employers to do the right thing and to not view caregiving in the roles of motherhood and fatherhood, she said. The policies were typically part of an effort to accommodate employees in same-sex relationships.

But it quickly took on a different meaning, Calvert added. It became code for mother and father.

Shortly after Rotondo filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the company granted him the full 16-week leave. By the end of 2017, it changed its policy so that other men could easily claim the full 16 weeks as well. JPMorgan Chase said it hadnt altered its policy but had merely clarified it.

But Rotondos lawyers kept the case alive in order to reach a settlement that would both provide financial compensation for fathers at the company who would otherwise have taken the longer leave and ensure that the company applied the policy equitably going forward.

We had input into the training module the company is adopting for those who administer its parental leave policies, said Galen Sherwin of the ACLU, another one of Rotondos lawyers. We wanted to make sure that theyre not sending a message inadvertently that dads are discouraged from taking caregiver leave.

Reid Broda, the companys associate general counsel, said in a statement, We are pleased to have reached an agreement in this matter and look forward to more effectively communicating the policy so that all men and women employees are aware of their benefits.

Some companies offer long leaves to all new parents  Hewlett Packard Enterprise recently announced that new mothers and fathers would both receive at least six months of paid leave. Others continue to offer substantially longer leaves to primary caregivers.

Since Rotondos case began, JPMorgan Chase has increased the parental leave available to nonprimary caregivers to six weeks. The company allows any new parent to claim either primary or nonprimary leave after signing a notice that includes a date of birth or adoption. Workers can change their status from nonprimary to primary if new circumstances arise.

Sherwin said that the ACLUs interest in cases like Rotondos dated back to the early work of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the issue. Ginsburg, who founded the groups Womens Rights Project in the early 1970s, has long argued that women would not achieve equality in the workplace as long as men were discouraged from taking on caregiver roles.

Romer-Friedman said that a $5 million settlement was not likely to deter a company as large as JPMorgan Chase from a practice it was determined to pursue, but would help make men whole if they had been treated unfairly.

The fund is meant to benefit men who were parents of newborns while working at the company between 2011 and 2017 and attest in writing that they would have taken the full leave available to mothers if they hadnt been deterred from doing so. The amount awarded to each man could come to several thousand dollars.

Only a minority of employers offer paid parental leave, but the percentage appears to be rising rapidly. In a 2018 survey of employers by the Society for Human Resource Management, about 35% of respondents offered paid maternity leave, up from 26% two years earlier. Just under 30% offered paid paternity leave, up from 21% two years earlier.

Among employers offering paternity leave, however, there appear to be vast differences in the numbers of fathers taking advantage of the policies.

Calvert, who also advises companies on their leave policies, attributed that difference largely to the extent to which employers make fathers of newborns feel comfortable taking time off. She said that best practices include encouraging men to take their leave by, for example, circulating accounts of very senior men who did so, or men who received significant promotions after a leave.

Rotondo, who took two weeks off after his wifes first pregnancy, said the impact of his 16-week paternity leave after the birth of his second child was huge. He was able to take charge of settling the baby down late at night, sparing his wife from sleep deprivation. He was able to bond with his older son, who was adjusting to becoming a brother.

He even managed to pioneer a much-needed hygienic practice. I figured out a system to change diapers when hes standing up, Rotondo said. If hes busy and running around, I can get it done.

Noam Scheiber is a New York Times writer.
MIAMI  A man who repeatedly impersonated Saudi royals to con investors and live lavishly has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for a ruse that fell apart when a victim saw him eating pork, which is prohibited in Islam.

Anthony Gignac, 48, received the sentence Friday in Miami for stealing at least $8 million while pretending to be Sultan Bin Khalid Al-Saud. He bought a Ferrari, Rolex watches and rented a condo on an exclusive South Florida island with his loot. He pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud, impersonating a diplomat and other crimes.

The Miami Herald reported that U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga called him a mastermind. Prosecutors said it was at least the 11th time Gignac, 48, had been arrested for impersonating a Saudi prince.

He was the so-called Saudi prince. He enveloped himself in the trappings of Saudi royalty. He had everyone believing he was a Saudi prince, Altonaga said.

Gignac was born in Colombia but was adopted by a Michigan family as a young child. He is an American citizen.

He told Altonaga on Friday that while he accepted responsibility, other people were involved and should have been charged.

I am not a monster, he said.

In Gignacs latest scam, he and a now-dead business partner, Carl Williamson, created a fraudulent investment company, Marden Williamson International, in 2015.

They told investors that Gignac was Saudi royalty and that he had access to exclusive deals. A Swiss victim invested $5 million.

In 2017, he convinced Jeffrey Soffer, the owner of Miami Beachs Fountainebleau hotel, that he wanted to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into his famed resort. Soffer gave him $50,000 in gifts.

Soffer caught on when he saw Gignac wolfing down bacon and other pork products at meals. He alerted authorities.
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EL PASO, Texas  A group of 1,036 migrants that crossed the border illegally at El Paso, Texas, is the largest the Border Patrol has ever encountered, the agency said Thursday.

The crossing was the latest sign that migrants are increasingly coming in large groups. The Border Patrol said it has found 180 groups of more than 100 people since October, compared to 13 in the previous 12-month period and two the year before.

A Border Patrol surveillance video that President Trump shared on Twitter shows people filing under a chain-link fence to a spot on the U.S. side, where they waited for agents to pick them up. Authorities said it took about five minutes for all to cross around 4 a.m. on Wednesday near downtown El Paso.

The group included 934 people in families, 63 unaccompanied children and 39 single adults, authorities said. The majority are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Large groups began appearing last year in the southwestern corner of New Mexico known as the Boot heel and are increasingly common along the border. U.S. authorities are unsure why but speculate that smugglers may be trying to draw agents from other areas, hoping to create openings.

The Border Patrol has encountered 46 groups of more than 100 people in May alone, authorities said.

Since Oct. 1, there have 48 groups of more than 200 people, 10 over 300 and two over 400. The Border Patrol arrested a group of 430 on Monday in the same area of El Paso as Wednesdays group.

Migrant families who claim asylum are typically released in the United States with notices to appear in immigration court.

The U.S. has increasingly been forcing migrants to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration court, shuttling them back and forth from the border for hearings. The policy has been introduced in El Paso and throughout California.

Also Friday, an inspection at an El Paso Border Patrol station where detained migrants are held found this month that there were 900 people crammed into the 125-person facility at one point.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images

WASHINGTON  The Justice Department is exploring whether to open a case against Google for potential antitrust violations, putting renewed scrutiny on the company amid a growing chorus of criticism about the power of Big Tech, according to two people with knowledge of the deliberations.

An investigation into how Google arranges search results could revive a case closed in 2013 by another government agency, the Federal Trade Commission. The five FTC commissioners voted unanimously at the time to close the investigation without bringing charges against the company. Google agreed to make some changes to search practices tied to advertising.
Calgary, Alberta, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

A specialized emergency care space for children is expected to open this summer at the South Health Campus  a $3.9-million project fully funded by an anonymous donor to Calgary Health Trust through the Calgary Foundation.



The new space, or pod, will have capacity for 14,500 patients annually. It will have nine beds and child-friendly murals to help make the hospital setting less intimidating for young patients. The pod will enable front-line staff to care for pediatric patients in a dedicated space that does not expose them to the environment of an adult emergency room.



Currently, about one of five patients seen at the South Health Campus emergency department is under the age of 18.



This is a great example of how communities and health foundations often work in close partnership with the Government of Alberta to make this province a great place to live and raise a family, says Health Minister Tyler Shandro. The development of a specialized pediatric emergency care space will support families not just in Calgary but throughout southern Alberta.



With a 40-kilometre distance between South Health Campus and the Alberta Childrens Hospital, the southeast Calgary hospital sees pediatric patients from south Calgary communities, Okotoks, High River, Strathmore and other surrounding towns.



It is a great honour for Calgary Health Trust to work with the Calgary Foundation in representing a donor who wants to build community legacy and make a lasting, tangible impact in our very own city, says Mike Meldrum, President & CEO, Calgary Health Trust. This project is an exciting opportunity to bring donors to the table to respond to our citys growing health needs faster and ensuring that what we build is truly world-class.



For a child and their family, a trip to the emergency room is one of the most stressful, fragile moments of their lives, adds Calgary Foundation President and CEO Eva Friesen. What a privilege for us at Calgary Foundation, thanks to the extreme generosity of an anonymous donor, to help provide a safe, calm, welcoming space for these young patients. As part of our ongoing commitment to mental health and community well-being, Calgary Foundation is so proud to support Calgary Health Trust through this impactful grant.



Alberta Health Services President and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu says the new pod will help improve the healthcare experience for young patients and their families.



As a pediatrician, Im aware how much a welcoming space can ease the stress parents and children feel when they come to a hospital for care, says Dr. Yiu. This new space will help comfort families during a difficult time, while helping AHS meet the demand for pediatric emergency services in south Calgary and surrounding areas.



-- 30 --



Calgary Health Trust is a Calgary-based charity focused on fundraising that will transform health care in Alberta. The incredible generosity of our donors has helped to raise more than $459 million for healthcare since 1996. Funds raised benefit Foothills Medical Centre, Peter Lougheed Centre, Rockyview General Hospital, South Health Campus, many community health programs and 12 Carewest care centres in our community. For more information about Calgary Health Trust and its strategic priorities, visit calgaryhealthtrust.ca

Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.






VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rebel Capital Inc. (Rebel or the Corporation) (TSXV: RBL.P), a capital pool company, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent dated May 30, 2019 (the Letter of Intent) with Chief Commercial Construction L.P., a Pennsylvania limited partnership (the "Vendor"), to acquire a property located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania containing a 91,790 square foot data center with a three-story connected 43,800 square foot office property on an approximately 7.65 acre site (collectively, the Property) for a total purchase price (the Purchase Price) of US$32 million (the Proposed Transaction).



The completion of the Proposed Transaction will be subject to requisite regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV), and a number of additional conditions precedent, including the negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement, and the completion of a brokered private placement financing to fund a portion of the Purchase Price. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed on the terms proposed in the Letter of Intent or at all.

The Proposed Transaction is intended to constitute Rebels Qualifying Transaction in accordance with TSXV Policy 2.4 - Capital Pool Companies. On closing of the Proposed Transaction, Rebel anticipates being classified as a "Tier 1" real estate issuer that will meet the TSXV's initial listing requirements applicable therefor. The Proposed Transaction will not be a Non-Arm's Length Qualifying Transaction (as that term is defined under the TSXV policies), and as a result, it is anticipated that the approval of the shareholders of Rebel to the Proposed Transaction will not be required. However, depending on the ultimate structuring of the Proposed Transaction, Rebel may be required to obtain shareholder approval under corporate law to approve certain matters ancillary to the Proposed Transaction.

Earnest Money Deposit and Proposed Non-Brokered Private Placement Financing

Pursuant to the Letter of Intent, Rebel has a 60-day period from the date of the Letter of Intent to conduct due diligence on the Property. In connection therewith, Rebel is required to deposit US$640,000 (the Deposit) as earnest money with Chicago Title Insurance Company within five days of the date of the Letter of Intent. The Deposit will be held in trust pending completion or termination of the Proposed Transaction. If the Proposed Transaction proceeds, the Deposit would be credited on account of the Purchase Price on closing of the Proposed Transaction.

It is anticipated that a newly created entity to be acquired by Rebel on completion of the Proposed Transaction will, as soon as possible, complete a non-brokered equity private placement (the Non-Brokered Financing) for gross proceeds of no less than C$1 million to fund payment of the Deposit and certain other diligence-related costs and expenses in connection with the Proposed Transaction. The actual size of the Non-Brokered Financing (subject to a minimum of C$1 million) and the issue price will be determined in the context of the market.

Proposed Brokered Private Placement Financing

It is also anticipated that Rebel will complete a brokered private placement of subscription receipts (the Brokered Financing) for gross proceeds of approximately C$34 million to fund a portion of the Purchase Price. The actual size of the Brokered Financing and the issue price will be determined in the context of the market.

Rebel has engaged Canaccord Genuity Corp. (Canaccord) to act as the lead agent in connection with the Brokered Financing. In connection with the Brokered Financing, Canaccord will be paid a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds of the Brokered Financing and, subject to regulatory approval, compensation options exercisable at any time up to 18 months following the date of closing of the Brokered Financing to purchase up to that number of common shares of Rebel as is equal to 6.0% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold pursuant to the Brokered Financing, at an exercise price equal to the issue price of the Subscription Receipts.

The gross proceeds of the Brokered Financing will be held in escrow pending satisfaction of certain specified escrow release conditions, including the satisfaction of all conditions precedent to the completion of the Proposed Transaction (other than the payment of the Purchase Price).

The Non-Brokered Financing and the Brokered Financing are both subject to TSXV approval.

Appointment of Shant Poladian and Anish Chopra to Rebels Board of Directors

Rebel is pleased to announce that Shant Poladian and Anish Chopra have been appointed to Rebels board of directors, subject to TSXV approval. In addition, Mihalis Belantis has agreed to resign as a director of the Corporation. Messrs. Poladian and Chopra bring significant experience in real estate and capital markets. For additional information see Messrs. Poladian and Chopras biographies under Proposed Management and Directors below.

Proposed Management and Directors

Subject to TSXV approval, on completion of the Proposed Transaction, it is currently anticipated that the board of directors of Rebel will consist of the following five directors and the management will consist of Mark MacDonald, Shant Poladian, Joe Damiani and Wilbur Wong.

Mark MacDonald, Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer

Mr. MacDonald is founder and Chief Executive Officer of C15Edge Data Centers, which has developed and operates a highly secure, redundant 24/7 colocation facility in Toronto, Ontario. In addition, Mr. MacDonald has over 30 years of experience in broad investment, corporate development and restructuring, including co-managing Ontario Teachers Pension Plans $4.5 billion portfolio of private investments.

Shant Poladian, Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Poladian has over 20 years of experience in real estate and capital markets, including as the founding Chief Executive Officer of FAM REIT which developed, leased and financed a 3 MW 64,000 square foot mission critical data center in Winnipeg, Manitoba for Bell MTS. In addition, Mr. Poladian has acted as a director of Amica Mature Lifestyles Inc., Equity Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity and Managing Director  Investment Banking at Eight Capital.

Joe Damiani, Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Damiani is a data center and cloud service professional with over 25 years of international experience in Service Provider, IT Outsourcing and Financial Services verticals. Most recently Vice President at C15Edge Data Centers, Mr. Damiani assisted with the launch and growth of the organization. Mr. Damiani was formerly VP & GM, Capris Data Center, Director, ThinOffice at Ceryx and Director, Product at Bird on a Wire Networks (acquired by AT&T Canada).

Wilbur Wong, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Wong has over 10 years of experience in real estate and capital markets, including VP of Investments for FAM REIT. Mr. Wong is a former VP of Investment Banking at Eight Capital, Director of Asset Management at KEYreit, Asset Manager for GWL, and Real Estate Analyst for Delta Hotels and Blackwood Partners.

T. Richard Turner, Independent Director

Mr. Turner currently serves as Board Chair of ViveRE Communities Inc. He has acted as chair and/or director of many public real estate companies/REITs, including Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust, Invesque Inc., HealthLease Properties Real Estate Trust, IAT Air Cargo Income Fund and Sunrise Senior Living Real Estate Trust.

Andrew Oppenheim, Independent Director

Mr. Oppenheim is a partner and corporate lawyer at Gowlings WLG and has acted as the lead independent director of Amica Mature Lifestyles Inc.

Anish Chopra, Independent Director

Mr. Chopra is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Portfolio Management Corp. Mr. Chopra has acted as a Managing Director and Head of the Innovative Solutions Group at TD Asset Management.

Details of insiders of Rebel will be disclosed in a further news release.

Filing Statement and Information Circular

In connection with the Proposed Transaction and pursuant to the requirements of the TSXV, Rebel will file a filing statement or a management information circular on its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com , which will contain details regarding the Proposed Transaction, the Brokered Financing and the Property.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship of a qualifying transaction of a capital pool company is required by the TSXV unless an exemption from the sponsorship requirement is available. The parties will be seeking a waiver of any requirement for a sponsor, but in the event a waiver is not available, the parties will update the markets accordingly.

Trading Halt

Trading in the Rebel Shares has been halted in compliance with the policies of the TSXV. Rebel anticipates that trading will remain halted pending the review of the Proposed Acquisition by the TSXV.

General

Rebel will issue additional news releases relating to the Proposed Transaction, including information relating to transaction structure, the Brokered Financing and summary financial information of the Property, if and when the parties enter into the definitive agreement. For further information, please contact:

Craig Lindsay

(604) 218-0559

craig@otisgold.com

Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance and if applicable pursuant to TSXV, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Proposed Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Proposed Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding the terms and conditions of the Proposed Transaction, the terms of the Non-Brokered Financing and the Brokered Financing and the composition of the board of directors of the resulting issuer upon completion of the Proposed Transaction. Although Rebel believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Rebel cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by Rebel is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: Rebel's ability to complete the Proposed Transaction; the expected timing and terms of the Proposed Transaction and the related private placements; the state of the financial markets for Rebel's securities; the state of the real estate sector in the event the Proposed Transaction is completed; recent market volatility; Rebel's ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risks and factors that Rebel is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to Rebel's initial public offering prospectus for a more complete discussion of applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through Rebels issuer page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. Rebel 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.

About Rebel

Rebel is incorporated under the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) with its registered and head office in Vancouver, British Columbia. Rebel is a reporting issuer in the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. The Rebel Shares are listed for trading on the TSXV under the symbol RBL.P.

SOURCE: Rebel Capital Inc.
Switchfoot surprised fans with the release of 'Live from The NATIVE TONGUE Tour' EP. The record is now available on Spotify, Apple Music and everywhere else music is streamed. The first video from the EP, 'TAKE MY FIRE' recorded live in Atlanta, has also been unveiled.

"Singing along with all of you, night after night is why we make music, it's why we tour", said the band. "Every night of The NATIVE TONGUE Tour brought something special, new, and unforgettable... The Tabernacle in Atlanta was no exception."

Switchfoot will be opening for Bon Jovi this Summer in stadiums across Europe. The 5 date tour sees them supporting Bon Jovi in Switzerland, Poland, Belgium and Austria from 10th to 19th July. Switchfoot will also be headlining a show in London, UK, at the Electric Ballroom on 8th July.

To purchase the EP on iTunes, click here!

The EP's track listing includes:

NATIVE TONGUE (Live At The Tabernacle / 2019) (5:21) VOICES (Live At The Tabernacle / 2019) (3:52) LET IT HAPPEN (Live At The Tabernacle / 2019) (4:58) TAKE MY FIRE (Live At The Tabernacle / 2019) (4:27) ALL I NEED (Live At The Tabernacle / 2019) (3:51) NATIVE TONGUE (4:38)

Switchfoot European Tour 2019:

7.5 Gullbranna Festival, Sweden

7.6 Seaside Festival, Norway

7.8 London, England (Headlining)

7.9 Cologne, Germany

7.10 Zurich, Switzerland (With Bon Jovi)

7.12 Warsaw, Poland (With Bon Jovi)

7.14 Werchter, Belgium (With Bon Jovi)

7.15 Amsterdam, Netherlands

7.17 Vienna, Austria (With Bon Jovi)

7.19 Klagenfurt, Austria (With Bon Jovi)

Tags : Switchfoot bon jovi switchfoot news 'Live from The NATIVE TONGUE Tour
BERKELEY (BCN)  One woman died and four others were injured in a fiery crash that involved five vehicles Friday night near downtown Berkeley, police said.

The crash, reported at 11:47 p.m., was triggered when a speeding Tesla headed westbound in the 2200 block of Haste Street hit a Ford Fiesta and a Dodge pickup truck, according to police.

The Fiesta, with four people inside, caught fire after it was pushed into two parked cars, said Officer Byron White.

ALSO READ: Woman dies while taking photos near Lake Tahoe

All four people inside the Fiesta were hospitalized, but one 36-year-old woman who was sitting in the back seat died, according to police. A 32-year-old sitting next to her was in critical condition. The two women had to be extricated from the car, White said.

In addition, one of five people inside the Tesla was also hospitalized.

The driver of the Tesla, a 22-year-old San Leandro man, remained at the scene and was cooperating with investigators, White said.

Alcohol and drugs aren't considered a factor in the collision, but police say speed was a factor.

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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Six Democratic presidential candidates made pitches to a boisterous union crowd in San Francisco on Saturday morning, cramming their stump speeches into a brief five minutes.



The crowded field of candidates hoping to take on President Donald Trump in 2020 have been arriving in San Francisco this week to attend the state Democratic Party convention, which runs through Sunday.



Service Employees International Union invited all the candidates to attend Saturday morning's breakfast forum at Table Top Tap House, across the street from the convention. Six candidates took them up on the offer.



U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, drew the strongest reaction from the union crowd for his worker-centric campaign that focuses on income inequality and providing universal healthcare.



But U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris also drew an enthusiastic response in the city where she was district attorney from 2004-2011. Harris has raised her stature considerably since then as she was elected state Attorney General and then Senator.



All the candidates were warmly received, however. They included South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigeig, former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



An Antioch man has been indicted on charges of possession and receipt of child pornography, U.S. Attorney David Anderson said Friday.



Henry Obdulio Cordon has been charged with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.



Prosecutors said several email accounts controlled by Cordon contained images of young children being sexually abused.



He is also accused of emailing himself images of young children being sexually abused, participating in sexually explicit conduct with a 2-year-old or 3-year-old girl in 2011, and taking a photograph of the girl while engaging in the conduct, prosecutors said.



Cordon was arrested at his residence in Antioch and made his initial appearance in federal court on May 20.



His next court appearance is scheduled for June 11.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Two people were injured Saturday afternoon after a vehicle crashed into two other cars before colliding with a building in San Francisco's Mission District, police said.



Officers responding to the wreck at 1:53 p.m. found a vehicle had crashed into a vacant building at 17th and Mission streets. The driver of the vehicle was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.



Before hitting the building, the vehicle hit two other cars. One other driver sustained minor injuries in the crash, but no other injuries were reported.



The crash is under investigation, police said.





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SANLINAS (BCN)



A 20-year-old Madera man pleaded guilty in a Salinas courtroom Thursday to several criminal counts related to his sexual relationships with seven underage girls, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.



Angel Vasquez pleaded guilty to eight counts of unlawful sex with a minor, one count of oral copulation with a minor and one count of violating a court order, according to prosecutors.



Between 2017 and 2018, prosecutors say Vasquez had sex with the girls, who were between the ages of 14 and 15 while he was 18 and 19 years old.



Four of the girls became pregnant and three had miscarriages, according to district attorney's officials.



Also, even after Monterey County Superior Court Judge Mark Hood ordered him to stay away from the victims, Vasquez continued to contact three of them.



Vasquez faces up to four years and four months in prison when he's sentenced on July 18 and he will have to register as a sex offender.





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BELMONT (BCN)



A 30-year veteran of the Belmont Police Department will take over as police chief next month, city officials said Friday.



Capt. Tony Psaila will replace retiring Police Chief Dan DeSmidt, who has served as chief since 2012, according to Belmont City Manager Greg Scoles.



Psaila has served as one of the Belmont police seconds in command for the past six years. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia and advanced through the Belmont police ranks. He served as narcotics special agent, motorcycle officer, detective, patrol sergeant, detective sergeant, SWAT Team leader and operations captain.



Psaila has managed the department's recruitment and retention efforts and is credited with keeping staffing levels and moral high, the city manager said in a news release.



The appointment is effective July 14. Psaila, a resident of Belmont, knows the community, Scoles said.



"Tony's close relationship with this community, coupled with his strong qualifications and connections within the law enforcement community make him a great fit to be Belmont's next Chief of Police," said Scoles.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



The Oakland Public Library system will stop charging overdue fees beginning July 1, following a move by dozens of libraries locally and nationwide.



The Oakland City Council voted to eliminate overdue fines for library materials earlier this month. Jamie Turback, the library's director of services, said the change will increase access for all readers. The system includes the main library, 16 branch locations and special collections.



"We want to spend our time serving people - not nickel-and-diming them because they are late in returning materials," Turbak said in a statement. "Our library is now easier to access and we want everyone to feel confident and welcome to use their Oakland Public Library."



A replacement fee will be charged if materials are missing 30 days past the due date, but the fee can be waived if the item is returned in good condition. Overdue fines will still be charged for tools through the Oakland Tool Lending Library, but the amount will be reduced.



The library system collected $77,600 in overdue fines between 2017 and 2018, but the amount of staff required to manage the system cost more than twice as much, according to the library.



A zip code analysis also showed that overdue fees were disproportionately impacting communities of color in Oakland. An adult in a non-white zip code was 5 percent more likely to have a blocked record due to fines, 26 percent more likely to owe fines, and 45 percent less likely to use their library card, according to the study.



"Removing overdue fines reduces the significant economic barriers to the free public library resources for all of Oakland, Piedmont and Emeryville's communities," the library said in a news release.



The move will be paired with an automatic renewal system, meaning any item without a hold can be automatically renewed up to three times. Patrons will receive updates at a registered email address, or via text message.



The library already has some evidence that the elimination of overdue fees will be effective. After removing fines for children members in 2017, the library saw the amount of youth cardholders increase by 17 percent, circulation of materials increase by 12 percent and no impact to the amount of unreturned items.



Libraries in San Mateo and Contra Costa counties have also eliminated fines, and Berkeley launched a program similar to Oakland's last July.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



A former San Pablo resident has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison and has been ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution for filing false tax returns, U.S. Attorney David Anderson said Friday.



Marcus Wilson, 32, currently of Sacramento, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for filing false claims with the government.



On Jan. 31, Wilson admitted to filing numerous false tax returns on behalf of others during 2011 and 2012, prosecutors said.



He was initially indicted for several crimes, but he ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false claim, prosecutors said.



Wilson falsified information regarding individuals' wages and business income, so he could obtain refunds from the IRS.



He caused the IRS to fund more than $1 million worth of refunds to numerous individuals for tax year 2011 by presenting tax returns he knew contained false information.



In total, he will have to pay just over $1 million in restitution. He will also have to serve 36 months of supervised release following his prison term.





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San Franciscans may soon be able to bounce their way around town, if a Swedish-based mobility company has its way.



Earlier this month, start-up company Cangoroo announced plans to deploy hundreds of pogo sticks in select cities to directly compete with electric scooters as a transportation option.



Cangoroo officials said they plan to first launch their pogo sticks in the Swedish cities of Malmo and Stockholm sometime this summer. After that, they would deploy the sticks in both London and San Francisco.



On Friday, Cangoroo CEO and co-founder Adam Mikkelsen said his company chose San Francisco as one of its launch cities because of its reputation as place of innovation.



He added that Cangoroo could start deploying anywhere between 100 and 200 pogo sticks in San Francisco as early as late Summer or possibly in the Fall.



Additionally, Mikkelsen said that Cangoroo is currently working on prototypes for other micro-mobility vehicles as alternatives to e-scooters.



The pogo sticks, he said, could be used to get around, but could also be used as a fitness product, as it counts each jump to keep riders motivated.



The launch of hundreds of e-scooters last year in the city by a handful of companies quickly drew the ire of residents who complained the dockless scooters were being thrown on sidewalks and blocking walkways.



Following the launch, the SFMTA created a permit policy for the scooters, in which SFMTA officials ultimately chose two out of 12 applicants, Scoot and Jump, to operate e-scooters in the city.







San Francisco police allegedly monitored a journalist's phone calls in the weeks before they raided his home and office on May 10 to investigate a leaked police report, according to documents released Friday.



Journalist Bryan Carmody shared on Twitter a copy of a search warrant, dated March 1, obtained by police that sought to seize his "subscriber information, call detail records, SMS usage, mobile data usage and cell tower data."



Carmody said he only learned of that warrant on Friday. His attorney, Ben Berkowitz, said the warrant was unlawful, as were two previous ones used to search his home and office.



The raid on Carmody occurred as part of an investigation by police into a leaked report with details of the Feb. 22 death of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, including that Adachi died while accompanied by a woman who wasn't his wife. Carmody somehow obtained a copy of the report and sold it to three Bay Area television stations.



According to Carmody, during the raid, officers handcuffed him for nearly six hours as they seized several laptops and cameras, among other items, and tried to get him to reveal his source.



Carmody and his attorney have filed motions in court to unseal the two search warrants issued for the raid.



Several free-speech organizations have condemned the raid, citing the state's Shield Law that prohibits law enforcement from forcing journalists to hand over unpublished material or reveal confidential sources.



Police Chief William Scott initially claimed the raid was conducted lawfully as officers were investigating Carmody as a possible co-conspirator in the theft of the police report.



However, last week, Scott admitted he was "concerned" that police investigators may have failed to properly inform the judges that Carmody was a journalist before they signed the search warrants for the raid.







The Oakland Public Library system will stop charging overdue fees beginning July 1, following a move by dozens of libraries locally and nationwide.



The Oakland City Council voted to eliminate overdue fines for library materials earlier this month. Jamie Turback, the library's director of services, said the change will increase access for all readers. The system includes the main library, 16 branch locations and special collections.



A replacement fee will be charged if materials are missing 30 days past the due date, but the fee can be waived if the item is returned in good condition. Overdue fines will still be charged for tools through the Oakland Tool Lending Library, but the amount will be reduced.



The library system collected $77,600 in overdue fines between 2017 and 2018, but the amount of staff required to manage the system cost more than twice as much, according to the library.



A zip code analysis also showed that overdue fees were disproportionately impacting communities of color in Oakland. An adult in a non-white zip code was 5 percent more likely to have a blocked record due to fines, 26 percent more likely to owe fines, and 45 percent less likely to use their library card, according to the study.







There will be a new ring to the aging Oakland Coliseum's name, as the board that oversees the Coliseum complex's operations voted unanimously on Friday to approve an agreement calling it the Ring Central Coliseum.



The deal approved by the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority calls for Ring Central, a communications firm based in Belmont, to pay $1 million a year for the next three years and gives it the option to renew the deal for a fourth year.



The Coliseum, which is the home of the Oakland A's and the Oakland Raiders, has been without a corporate name since Overstock.com, an online retailer, ended its naming rights deal with the Coliseum in 2016.



The Raiders plan to move to a new stadium in Las Vegas in the next few years, but the stadium hasn't been completed yet.



In March the Raiders signed a new lease agreement with the Coliseum Authority, which calls for them to play nine home games in Oakland during the 2019 season and have the option to renew the deal for the 2020 season if the new stadium in Las Vegas isn't ready.



As part of the new lease agreement with the Raiders, the Coliseum Authority gets the full $1 million from Ring Central. Under previous deals the naming rights revenue was split between the Raiders and the authority and the A's didn't get anything.



Ring Central will have its name for as long as the A's continue playing at the Coliseum. The A's currently are negotiating a contract to build a privately-financed waterfront ballpark at Howard Terminal, near Jack London Square, and hope to be playing there in 2023.







Three people died in a wrong-way DUI crash early Friday morning near Watsonville, the California Highway Patrol reported.



A brown Chevrolet Malibu was traveling the wrong way southbound in a northbound lane of San Miguel Canyon Road north of Hambey Lane when it crashed into a white Chevrolet HHR traveling north in the same lane.



Three passengers of the Chevrolet HHR suffered major injuries from the impact and were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the CHP. The driver of the car suffered serious injuries and was transported to Natividad Medical Center in Salinas.



The Monterey County coroner's office will identify the victims once their family members are contacted. The CHP said it is unknown if the four occupants of the Chevrolet HHR were related.



The driver of the Chevrolet Malibu, 27-year-old Hilda Valencia Flores of Salinas, was also taken to Natividad Medical Center with major injuries. The CHP said she will be booked into jail on suspicion of DUI upon her release.







Saturday will be mostly cloudy in the morning before becoming sunny. There will be a chance of patchy drizzle in the morning. Highs will be in the upper 50s to the mid 60s. Southwest winds will be 10 to 20 mph.



Saturday night will be partly cloudy. Lows will be in the mid 50s. Southwest winds will be 10 to 20 mph.



Sunday will be partly cloudy with highs in the 50s to the upper 60s. Southwest winds will be 10 to 20 mph.









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Six Democratic presidential candidates made their pitch to a boisterous union crowd in San Francisco on Saturday morning, cramming in their stump speeches into a brief five minutes.



The crowded field of candidates hoping to take on President Donald Trump in 2020 have been arriving in San Francisco this week to attend the state Democratic Party convention, which is taking place in San Francisco until Sunday.



There are 24 notable Democratic candidates for president already with the election still 16 months away. Most planned to speak at the convention later Saturday. Six joined the Service Employees International Union for a smaller event prior to the convention.



An SEIU representative said the union invited all the candidates to speak at Saturday morning's breakfast forum at Table Top Tap House, across the street for the convention, but only six took them up on the offer.



U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, drew the strongest reaction from the union crowd for his worker-centric campaign that focuses on income inequality and providing universal healthcare.



Sanders credited the union with helping raise wages for low-paid workers and organizing fast food employees through the Fight for 15 campaign.



"You told this country that people cannot live on seven and a quarter or eight bucks or nine bucks. You told the world that that is a starvation wage not acceptable in the United States," he said. "I was proud to be on picket lines around the country with those who were fighting for fifteen."



But U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris also drew an enthusiastic response in the city where she was district attorney from 2004-2011. Harris has raised her stature considerably since then as she was elected state Attorney General and then Senator.



Harris proposed giving families making less than $100,000 per year a monthly tax credit and undoing the tax cuts implemented by Republicans in 2017. She also emphasized the gender pay gap, that women on average earn 80 percent as much as men for the same work and even less for minority women.



"I'm done with having this conversation because we don't need to debate the statistics." she said. She proposed requiring that companies compile and publish gender pay statistics. Companies with pay gaps should be fined, she said.



All the candidates were warmly received, however. They included South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigeig, former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.







A 36-year-old woman killed in a crash Friday night in Berkeley has been identified as Luvette Monarque of North Hollywood, the Alameda County Coroner's Office said Saturday.



The crash, reported at 11:47 p.m. in the 2200 block of Haste Street, was triggered by a speeding Tesla that hit a Ford Fiesta and a Dodge pickup truck, police said.



The Fiesta was pushed into two parked cars and caught fire. Monarque was one of four passengers in the Fiesta and was sitting in the back seat, officials said.



Both Monarque and a 32-year-old woman sitting next to her had to be extricated from the car, authorities said. The other woman was in critical condition on Saturday.



The two other passengers in the Fiesta were also hospitalized.



In addition The Tesla had five people inside and one was hospitalized after the crash, according to police.



Alcohol or drugs were not considered factors in the crash, but police said speed contributed to the collision.



The driver of the Tesla was cooperating with investigators.







West Oakland residents rolled, strolled, bused and biked Saturday to an opening celebration for the first full-fledged grocery store in their neighborhood in more than four decades.



The Community Foods Market, a group effort initially funded with $2.2 million in seed money from neighborhood residents who purchased stock in the store, opened Saturday at 3105 San Pablo Ave.



The site is centrally located to the McClymonds, Hoover-Foster and Clawson neighborhoods of West Oakland.



"We opened in response to community needs," Brahm Ahmadi, the store's founder and chief executive, said in an interview at the 14,000-square-foot store as shoppers poured inside Saturday morning. "This area has long been a food desert."



Ahmadi was alluding to the fact that the lone grocery in the area, a Safeway, closed in the mid-1970s, forcing the approximately 9,000 residents to travel elsewhere to shop for food or buy at liquor stores.



With a pounding beat from Catch the Vibe Ensemble, a student group from the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, in the background, shoppers sampled free salami, juice and cake and visited booths from community agencies including Alameda County Diabetes Education and Advocates For Health.







The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Tuesday will consider a plan to scrap the county's 26,000-household wait list for a federal housing voucher and replace it with 500 voucher applicants selected by a lottery.



The Sonoma County Housing Authority is proposing that change and others to its Administrative Plan. The changes include eliminating preferences for veterans who are served by other housing programs, county residents and families with minor children.



With 300 vouchers available each year, the Housing Authority says it will take 90 years to serve every household on the current list. Converting to the lottery, the authority says, will limit the wait list to the number of households that can be served within two years.



The Housing Authority, part of the county's Community Development Commission, held a public hearing on the proposal in May. Fifty-five of the 105 people who spoke at the hearing were against the switch to a lottery. Many said it is unfair to people who have been on the voucher waiting list for years, and a lottery would make them start over.



If the changes to the Housing Authority's plan are approved, a new waitlist will open on July 1 for one month. The waitlist will remain closed until all 500 households are served, then the waitlist will reopen and the lottery will repeat. Those who aren't selected in the lottery can try again during the next open application period.



Housing Authority leaders recommend returning to the original national preferences for seniors and people with disabilities until further analysis is complete under the new system.







Voters in Vallejo selected nine projects totaling $1 million for inclusion in the city's sixth participatory budgeting process.



The projects will be included in the fiscal year 2019-2020 proposed city budget and presented to the City Council in June. City staff will help develop contracts for the approved projects.



Vallejo residents requested $300,000 for street safety for bicycles that includes street repair and $45,000 for basic needs resources for the homeless as their two top priorities.



Also on the top nine list was spending $270,000 to upgrade hand-held radios for the Vallejo Police Department, $44,000 for mobile cameras to catch illegal dumping, $75,000 for an after school study and enrichment program for middle schools and $74,000 for the Vallejo Foster Youth's Striving for Success in Our Community Program.



Voting for Cycle 6 of the participatory budgeting program started April 1 and ended May 22. Residents 14 and older were eligible to vote on up to two projects, and 4,605 votes were tabulated.



In 2012, Vallejo became the first city in the country to implement a city-wide participatory budgeting process that solicits ideas from residents and stakeholders on items they would like to see funded in the city's budget. More than $8.3 million has been allocated for 47 projects over the first four cycles.



The participatory budgeting process is funded by a 1-percent sales tax approved by voters in 2011.







An Antioch man has been indicted on charges of possession and receipt of child pornography, U.S. Attorney David Anderson said Friday.



Henry Obdulio Cordon has been charged with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.



Prosecutors said several email accounts controlled by Cordon contained images of young children being sexually abused.



He is also accused of emailing himself images of young children being sexually abused, participating in sexually explicit conduct with a 2-year-old or 3-year-old girl in 2011, and taking a photograph of the girl while engaging in the conduct, prosecutors said.



Cordon was arrested at his residence in Antioch and made his initial appearance in federal court on May 20.



His next court appearance is scheduled for June 11.









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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



San Francisco police allegedly monitored a journalist's phone calls in the weeks before they raided his home and office on May 10 to investigate a leaked police report, according to documents released Friday.



Journalist Bryan Carmody shared on Twitter a copy of a search warrant, dated March 1, obtained by police that sought to seize his "subscriber information, call detail records, SMS usage, mobile data usage and cell tower data."



Carmody said he only learned of that warrant on Friday. His attorney, Ben Berkowitz, said the warrant was unlawful, as were two previous ones used to search his home and office.



In a statement, Berkowitz said, "Mr. Carmody received today a previously undisclosed search warrant obtained secretly and illegally by the San Francisco police Department on March 1, 2019. The SFPD appears to have used the illegal warrant to spy on Bryan's movements, phone calls and communications.



"This is an alarming and deeply disturbing attack on the free press in an attempt to unmask Mr. Carmody's confidential source. The warrant provided for surveillance of a journalist," he said.



"The SFPD's actions are plainly illegal under the First Amendment and California's Shield Law. We are calling on city officials to hold the SFPD accountable," he said.



The raid on Carmody occurred as part of an investigation by police into a leaked report with details of the Feb. 22 death of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, including that Adachi died while accompanied by a woman who wasn't his wife. Carmody somehow obtained a copy of the report and sold it to three Bay Area television stations.



According to Carmody, during the raid, officers handcuffed him for nearly six hours as they seized several laptops and cameras, among other items, and tried to get him to reveal his source.



Carmody and his attorney have filed motions in court to unseal the two search warrants issued for the raid.



Several free-speech organizations have condemned the raid, citing the state's Shield Law that prohibits law enforcement from forcing journalists to hand over unpublished material or reveal confidential sources.



Police Chief William Scott initially claimed the raid was conducted lawfully as officers were investigating Carmody as a possible co-conspirator in the theft of the police report.



However, last week, Scott admitted he was "concerned" that police investigators may have failed to properly inform the judges that Carmody was a journalist before they signed the search warrants for the raid.



He said an outside agency would be taking over the police department's criminal investigation into the leaked police report.



Scott added that the whole incident "has raised important questions about our handling of this case and whether the California shield law was violated."



The day after Scott's admission, the San Francisco Police Officers' Association called for Scott to resign, calling the apology a "pathetic, deceitful and shameful display of self-preservation."



Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP, said in a statement Monday, "We urge the city's elected leadership to reject the comments by the SFPOA and be mindful that their attack on Chief Scott is emblematic of everything that is wrong with the backwards thinking of some police officers who reject civil and human right reforms in our police ranks."





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SAN CARLOS (BCN)



A Daly City man was arrested Wednesday in connection with several crimes related to a Tuesday burglary in San Carlos.



Mark Puzon, 38, was arrested on suspicion of identity theft, fraudulent use of an access card and commercial burglary, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.



On Tuesday, at approximately 9:48 a.m., a woman returned to her residence in the 1000 block of McCue Avenue in San Carlos to find a burglar walking out of her driveway with some of her personal property.



The victim confronted the suspect, but the suspect threatened the victim and then fled the area.



About an hour later, the victim's stolen credit cards were used several businesses in San Bruno.



Investigators were able to identify Puzon as the suspect through surveillance video obtained from these businesses that showed him using the victim's stolen credit cards.



On Wednesday, Daly City police arrested Puzon.



Puzon's involvement in the actual residential burglary and robbery in which the items were stolen is still being investigated, according to the sheriff's office.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



San Franciscans may soon be able to bounce their way around town, if a Swedish-based mobility company has its way.



Earlier this month, start-up company Cangoroo announced plans to deploy hundreds of pogo sticks in select cities to directly compete with electric scooters as a transportation option.



Cangoroo officials said they plan to first launch their pogo sticks in the Swedish cities of Malmo and Stockholm sometime this summer. After that, they would deploy the sticks in both London and San Francisco.



On Friday, Cangoroo CEO and co-founder Adam Mikkelsen said his company chose San Francisco as one of its launch cities because of its reputation as place of innovation.



He added that Cangoroo could start deploying anywhere between 100 and 200 pogo sticks in San Francisco as early as late Summer or possibly in the Fall.



Additionally, Mikkelsen said that Cangoroo is currently working on prototypes for other micro-mobility vehicles as alternatives to e-scooters.



The pogo sticks, he said, could be used to get around, but could also be used as a fitness product, as it counts each jump to keep riders motivated.



"We've been following the micro-mobility market and seen the demand. However, we also found that existing players are very generic when it comes to brand loyalty and making a statement and contributing to something beyond taking you from point A to B," he said, emphasizing the sustainability and fitness aspect to the pogo sticks.



Mikkelsen said Cangoroo would be ready to work with city officials, including the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, on regulations and safety before launching the product.



"We don't have specific details about this company, but we will review any new transportation service to ensure compliance with existing laws," SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose said in a statement.



The launch of hundreds of e-scooters last year in the city by a handful of companies quickly drew the ire of residents who complained the dockless scooters were being thrown on sidewalks and blocking walkways.



Following the launch, the SFMTA created a permit policy for the scooters, in which SFMTA officials ultimately chose two out of 12 applicants, Scoot and Jump, to operate e-scooters in the city.





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BCN13)



SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Six Democratic presidential candidates made their pitch to a boisterous union crowd in San Francisco on Saturday morning, cramming in their stump speeches into a brief five minutes.



The crowded field of candidates hoping to take on President Donald Trump in 2020 have been arriving in San Francisco this week to attend the state Democratic Party convention, which is taking place in San Francisco until Sunday.



There are 24 notable Democratic candidates for president already with the election still 16 months away. Most planned to speak at the convention later Saturday. Six joined the Service Employees International Union for a smaller event prior to the convention.



An SEIU representative said the union invited all the candidates to speak at Saturday morning's breakfast forum at Table Top Tap House, across the street for the convention, but only six took them up on the offer.



U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, drew the strongest reaction from the union crowd for his worker-centric campaign that focuses on income inequality and providing universal healthcare.



Sanders credited the union with helping raise wages for low-paid workers and organizing fast food employees through the Fight for 15 campaign.



"You told this country that people cannot live on seven and a quarter or eight bucks or nine bucks. You told the world that that is a starvation wage not acceptable in the United States," he said. "I was proud to be on picket lines around the country with those who were fighting for fifteen."



But U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris also drew an enthusiastic response in the city where she was district attorney from 2004-2011. Harris has raised her stature considerably since then as she was elected state Attorney General and then Senator.



Harris proposed giving families making less than $100,000 per year a monthly tax credit and undoing the tax cuts implemented by Republicans in 2017. She also emphasized the gender pay gap, that women on average earn 80 percent as much as men for the same work and even less for minority women.



"I'm done with having this conversation because we don't need to debate the statistics." she said. She proposed requiring that companies compile and publish gender pay statistics. Companies with pay gaps should be fined, she said.



All the candidates were warmly received, however. They included South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigeig, former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.



"I've come here to talk about how I'm going to beat Donald Trump," Inslee said. "I've beat him 21 times in a row every time I've sued him."



Inslee touted the policies of the state of Washington, including its high minimum wage and paid family leave policies, and said the policies had helped grow the state's economy.



Klobuchar told the story of her family's union pedigree, saying that her mother was a union teacher who went on strike for better working conditions and her father worked at a newspaper and was a member of its union.



"We should have the right to organize and get rid of the right to work that is going around this country," she said, referring to legislation enacted in many states which prohibits being a union member as a condition of employment.



O'Rourke, who nearly defeated Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 election, spoke extensively in Spanish to the appreciation of the union members, some of whom spoke little English. He rapidly bounced from issue to issue, touching on abortion, climate change, voting rights and immigration.



"I am running to serve you and I am running with you," O'Rourke said. "All of us want to be the largest grassroots campaign this country has ever seen that makes no distinction based on our differences, involves every single one of us into our democracy and lifts everyone up who is helping to build this country right now."



Buttigieg, a former naval intelligence officer and the mayor of a city of 101,000 people, remarked on his lack of experience and youth. At 37, he is barely old enough to run for president.



"I don't have quite as much gray hair as you might expect from someone stepping up and running for president, but I'm here to make the case for a new generation of American leadership," he said.





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The family of Chinedu Okobi sued San Mateo County on Friday alleging that sheriff's deputies conducted an illegal stop and used excessive force resulting in Okobi's death last October when they stopped him for jaywalking and used a Taser, batons and pepper spray.



"This was a shocking example of racial profiling and the devastation that can occur when a minor stop, an illegal stop, results in someone's death," said John Burris, an attorney for Okobi's mother, Amaka Okobi, at a news conference in Oakland to announce the lawsuit.



Separately, Los Angeles attorney Carl Douglas filed another suit on behalf of Okobi's daughter, 12-year-old Christina Okobi.



Chinedu Okobi, the 36-year-old son of Nigerian immigrants, died after sheriff's Deputy Joshua Wang attempted to stop him while he was walking in the 1400 block of El Camino Real on Oct. 3, 2018.



Video of the encounter released in March showed Okobi crossing the street to avoid Wang, who called for backup. When more deputies arrived, the confrontation quickly escalated, and Wang Tased Okobi multiple times.



San Mateo County, which has continually declined to discuss the case and did not respond to requests for comment Friday, has retained outside counsel with the firm Conrad & Metlitzky to represent it.



An attorney with the firm, Warren Metlitzky, provided a written statement that read, "The County recognizes the tragic nature of this unintended loss of life, and its impact on everyone involved and on the community. The County intends to defend itself in federal court against these claims and will not litigate the matter in the press."



District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced in March he would not pursue criminal charges against the five involved deputies, identified as Wang, John DeMartini, Alyssa Lorenzatti, Bryan Watt and Sgt. David Weidner.



An internal review, which would determine whether the deputies acted within department policy, is ongoing, and the sheriff's office has declined to provide a timeline for its conclusion.



San Mateo County Deputy Counsel David Silberman declined to say whether he would release the internal review at its conclusion, as required under a new transparency law that took effect in January.



The sheriff's office issued a false statement immediately after Chinedu Okobi's death, saying that Chinedu Okobi had punched a deputy before he was Tased.



Chinedu Okobi's sister, Facebook executive Ebele Okobi, wrote a long Facebook post in November after she was allowed to view video of the encounter. She accused the sheriff's office of lying, but the sheriff's office did not correct the false statement until March.



Sheriff's spokeswoman Detective Rosemerry Blankswade said at the time that the sheriff's office conducted no internal investigation and did not interview the involved deputies until after the criminal investigation was complete.



Despite that, the deputies returned to duty as of Oct. 31 and Weidner was assigned to a contentious county Board of Supervisors meeting where Chinedu Okobi's family and friends attended in protest.



Burris again reiterated that the video contradicts the version of events initially described by the sheriff's office, including that Okobi was "running in and out of traffic" as the initial justification for the stop. In the video, Okobi was walking on the sidewalk when first approached by Wang.



"Police did not have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe he committed a crime," Burris said. But despite the lack of justification for the initial stop, when Okobi continued walking, Wang called for backup on an emergency code.



"What was the emergency?" Burris said. "They were like a pack of wolves on him."



Burris has called for a moratorium on Taser use in San Mateo County, as Okobi's was the third death that involved the use of stun guns last year.



He said it appeared the deputies were not trained in proper use of Tasers, as Wang deployed one seven times, despite that multiple deployments of Tasers can increase the risk of cardiac arrest.



Ebele Okobi said at Friday's news conference that the decision not to prosecute "shocks the conscience."



"It should not be that a human being can be killed, can be violently killed, can be tortured to death with impunity," she said.



Ebele Okobi extensively described the pain of her family, how her mother had to watch her child "brutally executed" on video.



"Imagine being told that the life of your child doesn't matter," Ebele Okobi said, adding that if the deputies had taken similar action against a dog, more would have been done about it.



Douglas said Chinedu Okobi's daughter lives in Nashville, but that she spoke to her father regularly and he had traveled by bus to visit her last summer. Then, she had to travel back to San Mateo to attend his funeral.





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BERKELEY (BCN)



A 36-year-old woman killed in a crash Friday night in Berkeley has been identified as Luvette Monarque of North Hollywood, the Alameda County Coroner's Office said Saturday.



The crash, reported at 11:47 p.m. in the 2200 block of Haste Street, was triggered by a speeding Tesla that hit a Ford Fiesta and a Dodge pickup truck, police said.



The Fiesta was pushed into two parked cars and caught fire. Monarque was one of four passengers in the Fiesta and was sitting in the back seat, officials said.



Both Monarque and a 32-year-old woman sitting next to her had to be extricated from the car, authorities said. The other woman was in critical condition on Saturday.



The two other passengers in the Fiesta were also hospitalized.



In addition The Tesla had five people inside and one was hospitalized after the crash, according to police.



Alcohol or drugs were not considered factors in the crash, but police said speed contributed to the collision.



The driver of the Tesla was cooperating with investigators.





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Houston police believe the remains of a child found in a black garbage bag on an Arkansas roadside could be missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis, officials said Friday.

"Do we believe that its possibly her? Yes," HPD Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner said. But can we confirm it right now? No."

A road crew noticed the bag two days ago as they were cleaning up the interstate, but decided to leave it alone, Hempstead County Sheriff James Singleton said. Mowers ran over the bag at some point Friday.

The body hasn't been identified.

"It's going to be a child," HPD Capt. Michael Skillern told reporters at the scene.

Law enforcement officials began combing areas along Interstate 30 after community activist Quanell X met with Houston police earlier Friday to discuss information he said he obtained from Derion Vence, the suspect in Maleah's disappearance. Vence confessed to killing the girl and dumping her body in Arkansas, Quanell X said.

"He says it was an accident. And he confessed to me where he dumped her body, " the activist said.

The confession reportedly happened during a jailhouse conversation he had with Vence, who is the ex-boyfriend of Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens.

"He felt like he was just totally overwhelmed, because Brittany wasn't being the mother she should be being," Quanell said Vence told him.

Vence remained in Harris County jail Friday afternoon, according to the local sheriff's office.

A CITY MOURNS: A month after her disappearance Houston has questions, at HoustonChronicle.com.

Vence was engaged to Maleah's mother, and was tasked with caring for the girl from April 30 to May 3 while her mother was out of town. Maleah was reported missing May 3.

Quanell X would not give any other details about how the girl died, or where in Arkansas her body was dumped. But he said the description of the location was accurate.

"He was very specific with the amount of distance and time. When I was able to leave and look it up on my phone, he was to the point on the distance and time, " said Quanell X.

"He said that he pulled over in Arkansas, got out of the car, walked to the side of the road, and dumped the body off the road."

Authorities can't identify the contents of the black garbage bag in Fulton until official autopsy reports are returned. Singleton said the bag contained blood and worms and had a foul odor.

Deputies first searched near the city of Hope but arrived at Fulton after getting a lead from a road crew that contracts with Hempstead County. The bag was found near exit 18 of Interstate 30.

"One of the machines hit the bag and tore it open," Singleton said.

Some of the bag's contents scattered.

"It's over an area," he said.

Fulton is approximately 20 miles from the Texas-Arkansas border. The FBI is at the scene, along with Houston homicide detectives and the local sheriff's office.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said that her office is continuing to work with Houston police to bring justice for Maleah.

"Lets let search teams do what search teams do," she said. "We have spoken with the defendants lawyer and there is no agreement."

Finner said during the news conference Friday that he does anticipate murder charges.

"Who and when, I dont know right now," he said.

Vence has already been charged with tampering with a corpse in connection with the case.

The break in the case came after Houston detectives met with Tim Miller, founder of Equusearch, and Quanell X at a strip mall near NRG Stadium on Friday afternoon. They later confirmed that they were en route to an undisclosed location in Arkansas.

"I think it's true enough that I have an airplane lined up at 3 p.m. to fly a detective, and several officers to go up there and go ahead and start the search," Miller said.

Miller also said he'd spoken with law enforcement officials in Arkansas.

Quanell X had been speaking for Bowens in the wake of Maleah's disappearance. He appeared with her in multiple interviews and in a court hearing on May 13 for Vence, her former live-in boyfriend.

He recently said he is no longer representing Bowens.

Friday morning, Vence's attorney Dorian Cotlar filed a motion prohibiting Quanell X from visiting Vence after learning the familys former representative had beat him to the Harris County Jail. The facility at 701 San Jacinto Street does not generally allow inmate visits on Fridays, except for lawyers, ministers and sometimes community leaders.

We know Quanell X as a community leader, Harris County Sheriffs Office spokesman Jason Spencer said. When a community leader asks to visit an inmate, we generally allow it, as long as the inmate agrees to the visit.

Quanell X claims that his visit with Vence  which Cotlar says happened around 9 a.m.  garnered a supposed confession.

Quanell X completely misled my client, Cotlar said. I dont know how he was able to get into the jail.

He said he was going to provide lawyers, that everything was going to be fine, he said.

Cotlar added that details that Quanell X alleged to have learned from Vence did not happen.

My client did not confess to Quanell. He did not use the word accident with Quanell, Cotlar said. Im not sure why the DAs Office and Texas Equusearch are giving validity to anything (Quanell) says.

Quanell makes his living off of reward money, he continued.

Cotlar is the second attorney to represent Vence after Thomas Burton withdrew as counsel this week because the family could not pay for his services.

"It's too complex of a case to be working on for free," he said, adding that he was privately attained. He said he received some compensation, but it wasn't enough.

Burton also said that when he represented Vence, he told him not to speak to anyone. Burton also questioned Quanell X's role in the case.

"It certainly appears he's attempting to practice law without a license," Burton said.

Quanell X also told Vence that he was "going to be representing him," Cotlar said.

Vence was under the impression that his family had sent Quanell X after Burton withdrew and that Quanell X was taking over representation, according to Cotlar.

In a phone call, Quanell X said he was not representing Vence or his family at the time of his visit.

He said he went to see Vence at the jail because I wanted to.

I felt like I needed to, he said.

Julian Gill and Danny Hermosillo contributed.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The 5,600-square-foot house that mob boss Tony Soprano called home on the HBO hit series The Sopranos is on the market, according to the New York Times.

The house, located in North Caldwell, N.J., has a starting price of $3.4 million, the report said.

The homes exterior appears at the end of the shows opening credits, when Soprano -- played by the late James Gandolfini -- pulls into the driveway.

The kitchen and backyard were also featured in the pilot. However, later indoor scenes were mostly filmed on a Silvercup soundstage in Queens, the Times reported.

That said, The Sopranos production crew returned every year for more exterior shots of the house, the report said.

The homes real-life owners, Victor and Patti Recchia, who built the house in 1987, said they have decided to sell and downsize since their adult son moved out years ago, according to the Times.

Since the house is for sale by owner, the couple has asked qualified buyers to submit their offers and proof of funds by June 21 to sopranoshouseforsale@gmail.com.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A supervisor at the state Department of Motor Vehicles office in Travis lost his job and has a felony conviction to boot for unlawfully passing along a womans confidential DMV records to her estranged spouse against whom she had an order of protection, authorities said.

Anthony Cataldi, 54, of Honey Lane in Tottenville, pleaded guilty Thursday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to computer trespass.

He simultaneously resigned his position with the state, said officials.

Cataldi, then a supervising motor vehicle representative at the DMV office on South Avenue, was busted in October of last year.

Authorities said Cataldi used DMVs unique internal computer program on May 29 and June 15, 2018, to access the victims vehicle records.

The COMPASS computer system requires special log-ins given solely to DMV employees and is meant strictly for official DMV business, said officials. The system cant be accessed remotely.

Cataldi passed along the information to the victims estranged spouse, authorities said. A court had previously issued a protection order against the man, said authorities.

Afterward, the victims estranged husband told her he had specific information on her vehicles, authorities said.

The woman knew her husband and Cataldi were acquainted and that the defendant worked for DMV, said officials.

The victim filed a complaint with DMV, which led to an investigation and Cataldis arrest.

He was indicted on two felony counts of computer trespass, along with misdemeanor counts of unauthorized use of a computer and official misconduct.

In exchange for his plea, Cataldi was sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge.

His lawyer, Joseph Mure, could not immediately be reached Friday afternoon for comment.

In a statement, Letizia Tagliaferro, the state inspector general said, The defendant abused his position and disregarded his obligation to protect sensitive and confidential information, potentially compromising the safety of an individual who had obtained a court order of protection.

Tagliaferro thanked the DMV and the district attorneys office for aiding the probe.

My office will not tolerate such egregious violations of an individuals privacy and safety, and we will continue to work together with the New York state inspector generals office to hold bad actors accountable at every turn, said District Attorney Michael E. McMahon.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Now we see why its been such a battle to get Congress to re-authorize and fully fund the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

The disgraceful fact is that 9/11 is fading into the mists of history. At least for some people.

Hard to imagine that we can forget the day that Al Qaeda terrorists flew hijacked airliners into targets in the U.S., killing 3,000 of our fellow Americans. But there it is.

There was a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Manhattan on Thursday, to dedicate a new area honoring those who died following exposure to Ground Zero toxins. This includes the first responders who were told that the air was safe as they spent months on the pile cleaning up the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo were no-shows at the ceremony.

No, de Blasio wasnt on the presidential campaign trail that day. He was in town, according to the New York Post, hitting up his favorite Brooklyn gym and coffee spot in the morning. He was in a meeting at Gracie Mansion during the actual dedication ceremony.

I bet de Blasio would show up for a 9/11 memorial ceremony in Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina or Nevada or some other presidential primary stomping ground.

Cuomo, meanwhile, was expected to give a speech at the dedication ceremony, the Post said, but bailed at the last minute.

Cuomos usually got better instincts than this. He understands optics. But Cuomo was in Albany, the paper said, tending to late-session legislative business.

His office said the gov never planned to attend the event, but organizers said differently.

Cuomo didnt even send his usual stand-in, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, in his place. Isnt this exactly what a lieutenant governor is for? And it may be my fevered imagination, but youd think that Machiavellian Cuomo would have ferreted out that de Blasio wasnt going to the ceremony, all the better to show the mayor up by attending himself.

But what were seeing with 9/11 goes deeper than taking attendance at a dedication ceremony. Seventeen-plus years later, the flame of remembrance is flickering. Remember when people around the world said We are all New Yorkers? You dont hear that much anymore.

Some of its understandable. A whole generation has grown up having never known the pre-9/11 world. They werent born at the time of the attacks. They dont remember the terror of that day. The anger. The thirst for vengeance. To them, 9/11 is literally something that theyve only read about in history books, like Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination and the fall of the Soviet Union.

They cant forget something they never knew in the first place.

And were seeing the result: Muted or non-existent outrage as lawmakers drag their feet when it comes to taking care of those sick first responders. Memorial services that are more low-key. The fact that John Walker Lindh, an American who saddled up with Al Qaeda and the Taliban and who took up arms against his own country on the battlefield, is freed from federal prison.

9/11 is shamefully becoming just another day.

But those of us who lived through that day in New York City should never forget. That includes our top lawmakers. And even if our feelings have calmed over time, we must still honor those who died that day and those who continue to die years later. Osama bin Landens victim count continues to rise. We need to take care of those victims and their families.

If it takes attending a short dedication ceremony, that shouldnt be too taxing. The victims gave their all. We should be able to give them a bit of our time.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After almost a half-century of playing hit music, 95.5 WPLJ went off the air at 7 p.m. Friday.

The rumors youve been hearing are true, PLJ announced in a video posted to Twitter earlier this month. "As hard as it is to believe, WPLJ will be going away on Friday, May 31. The format and personalities youve come to love over the years will no longer broadcast on 95.5.

The Manhattan-based station was sold to Christian broadcaster Educational Media Foundation in February, and the station will now be home to contemporary Christian music as part of the national K-Love network, RadioInsight reports.

WPLJ first went on the air in 1971, playing classic rock before transitioning to Top 40 contemporary hits in the 1980s and, eventually, a hot adult contemporary format (a hybrid of pop hits and adult contemporary).

Todd Pettengill, who has hosted the morning show at WPLJ for the last 27 years, took to Instagram on Thursday to thank the fans.

One more day with my radio fam. ... Love our listeners so much and hate that youve been let down, posted Pettengill, one half of the popular Todd and Jayde in the Morning."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The landscape of Staten Island is shifting -- quite literally -- from the development of St. George to new businesses and housing on the South Shore.

Local community boards give residents an opportunity to offer input in the decision-making process for many of these long-term projects.

Community Board meetings are open to the public and afford a great way to learn more about whats going on in your neighborhood and to get involved.

If you have something you would like to speak out about, all you need to do is sign up -- before the meeting is called to order -- to speak in the public session.

The following meetings are scheduled for the week of June 3 to June 7.

COMMUNITY BOARD 1

Arlington - Castleton Corners - Clifton - Concord - Elm Park - Fort Wadsworth - Graniteville - Grymes Hill - Livingston - Mariners Harbor - New Brighton - Port Richmond - Randall Manor - Rosebank - St. George - Shore Acres - Silver Lake - Stapleton - Sunnyside - Tompkinsville - West Brighton - Westerleigh

There will be a Youth Committee Meeting on Tuesday, June 4, at 7 p.m. at the Community Board 1 office, 1 Edgewater Plaza, Suite 217, Stapleton.

There will be a Land Use Hearing on Wednesday, June 5, at 7 p.m. at the Community Board 1 office, 1 Edgewater Plaza, Suite 217, Stapleton.

On the agenda:

Board of Standards & Appeals Application No. 2019-82-A  Application submitted to permit the development of a five story, eight dwelling unit, mixed use building (office and residential) on a lot that is located partially within the bed of a mapped but unbuilt portion of Victory Blvd. contrary to General City Law.  The address is 430 St. Marks Place.

Staten Island Bronx and Special District City Planning Application No. C -140429 ZMR. Click here to read the proposal.

The board office is located at 1 Edgewater Plaza, Suite 217, Stapleton. The office phone number is 718-981-6900. The board chairman is Nicholas Siclari; the district manager is Joseph Carroll.

COMMUNITY BOARD 2

Arrochar - Bloomfield - Bulls Head - Chelsea - Dongan Hills - Egbertville - Emerson Hill - Grant City - Grasmere - High Rock - Lighthouse Hill - Midland Beach - New Dorp - New Springville - Oakwood - Ocean Breeze - Old Town - Richmond - South Beach - Todt Hill - Travis

There will be an Traffic/Transportation & Public Service Joint Committee Meeting on Monday, June 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Regina McGinn Education Center, Room A, 475 Seaview Avenue.

On the agenda:

NYC Department of Transportation will make a presentation about the Expanded Dockless Bike Share Pilot Program.

There will be a Land Use Hearing on Tuesday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. at New Dorp Moravian Church Hall, 2205 Richmond Road.

On the agenda:

Staten Island Bronx and Special District City Planning Application No. C -140429 ZMR. Click here to read the proposal.

Land Use Review Appilcation for "Site Selection and Acquisition of a vacant lot on Whitlock Avenue, Block 908, Lot 16, by the NYCDEP Bluebelt Program for the purpose of constructing Bluebelt BMP NC-34.

ULURP Application C 190399 PCR

ULURP Application C 190400 PQR & ULURP Application C 190401 PPR

All committee and full board meetings are in the board office, which is located in the Lou Caravone Community Service Building on the campus of Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, 460 Brielle Ave., Sea View. The office phone number is 718-317-3235. The chairman of the CB 2 board is Dana T. Magee; the district manager is Debra A. Derrico.

COMMUNITY BOARD 3

Annadale - Arden Heights - Bay Terrace - Charleston - Eltingville - Great Kills - Greenridge - Huguenot - New Dorp - Oakwood - Pleasant Plains - Prince's Bay - Richmond Valley - Richmond - Rossville - Tottenville - Woodrow

There will be a Quality of Life Committee Meeting on Tuesday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Board 3 office, 1243 Woodrow Road, 2nd floor.

On the agenda:

YMCA Counseling Services will speak about a wide variety of Prevention Programs. These programs have research based evidence for improved academic performance, improved classroom management and improved skills for self-regulation.

There will be a Traffic and Transportation Committee Meeting on Wednesday, June 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Board 3 office, 1243 Woodrow Road, 2nd floor.

On the agenda:

NYC Department of Transportation will make a presentation about the Expanded Dockless Bike Share Pilot Program.

All committee meetings take place at the Community Board 3 office, located on the second floor of 1243 Woodrow Rd. All general board meetings take place at the Woodrow Methodist Church Hall located at 1075 Woodrow Rd. The office phone number is 718-356-7900. The CB 3 board chairman is Frank Morano; the district manager is Charlene Wagner.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- City officials recognized the contributions of a pair of deceased Staten Islanders at two street renaming ceremonies Saturday.

Oakwood Avenue in West Brighton was renamed in honor of Joseph Jody Haggerty, while Bascom Place in Willowbrook was renamed in honor of former NYPD Chief of Detectives William Bill Allee.

This is truly an honor that we will never forget at all, Terence Haggerty said at the ceremony honoring his father. I think I can speak for everybody and say that my father left a tremendous legacy on Forest Avenue and West Brighton.

Haggerty was the founder and longtime proprietor of Jodys Club Forest bar and restaurant, located a few doors from the street sign that now bears his name at the intersection of Oakwood and Forest avenues. He died in April 2016 at the age of 67.

Jodys Club Forest, which opened in 1976, has long been a focal point for North Shore politics and civic life. It serves as the de facto starting point for the annual Staten Island St. Patricks Parade; Haggerty served as grand marshal in 2004.

Rep. Max Rose, who attended the event with fellow elected officials Assemblyman Michael Cusick, District Attorney Michael McMahon and Councilwoman Debi Rose, joked that hes had more meetings at Jodys Club Forest than at his district office in New Dorp.

Also at the event were dozens of Haggertys friends and family, including his five children -- Terence, who now operates Jodys Club Forest, Joseph Jo Jo Haggerty, Neil Haggerty, Brianne Winters and Maureen Bodiford. He was also survived by his wife of 44 years, Mary Haggerty, who died in April, and 10 grandchildren.

McMahon, along with fellow law enforcement officials, including NYPD Commissioner James ONeill, also attended the ceremony a few miles away honoring Allee for his 40 years of service with the NYPD. The former chief of detectives died in May 2018 of leukemia linked to the time he spent at Ground Zero following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He led the (Detectives) Bureau by taking meticulous care in the collection of evidence ... making sure that we preserved objects of great significance to surviving family members," ONeill said of Allees service following the attacks. It was the largest crime scene in our nations history, and the American people were fortunate to have Bill in charge.

Allee was survived by his wife of 52 years, Diane; his two daughters, Diana Allee-Fulton and Christine Allee-Escandon, and five grandchildren.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Add another to the list of diseases people will need to worry about when they come into contact with ticks.

Medical researchers in northeastern China have found a new fever-causing virus carried by the tiny arachnids, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A total of 86 people from Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang have been identified as patients for the disease called Alongshan virus, or ALSV, for the initial patients hometown.

Apart from causing fever and headaches, the disease does not appear to be particularly dangerous, according to the report.

Neither permanent clinical complications nor death occurred among patients with confirmed infection, the authors of the report wrote.

In 2017, Americans reported 59,349 cases of tickborne disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The arachnids are most commonly responsible for infecting humans with Lyme disease, but the CDC keeps a list of 15 other diseases linked to ticks, including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Bourbon Virus.

The National Institute of Health puts bite prevention as one of its top priority in dealing with tickborne illness.

Wearing clothes that cover the extremities and being sure to check yourself and family members for ticks after spending time outdoors are some of the institutes recommendations.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in July 2018 that an additional $600,000 would be allocated annually to help Staten Island tackle its own problems with ticks.

From 2012 to 2016, Staten Island saw a 250 percent rise in cases of Lyme disease -- the sharpest jump in the disease of the five boroughs over the last five years, according to data the Advance compiled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

De Blasio called it the most aggressive tick control policy of the history of New York City.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Patients that are admitted to one of Staten Islands two hospitals could wait at least 12 hours before theyre brought up to their room, according to a new report.

At Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) in Ocean Breeze, the report states an average of 16 hours and 11 minutes from the time a patient arrives at the emergency room until theyre brought up to their hospital room after being admitted.

Th average time at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) in West Brighton was slightly less, at 14 hours and 10 minutes, according to the report.

ProPublica analyzed data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which was last updated in March, however most of the data it collected was between April 2017 and April 2018.

It used the data to launch a news application called ER Wait Watcher, which used hospital data from across the country to give patients statistics about each.

Both borough hospitals also had longer than average admission time -- 8 hours and 14 minutes at RUMC and 10 hours and 30 minutes at SIUH compared to the national average of five hours and 32 minutes and the New York average of seven hours and 50 minutes.

Dr. Harry Kopolovich, director of RUMCs emergency department, and Dr. Nicole Berwald, chair of emergency medicine at SIUH, both agreed that their respective emergency departments could improve in certain areas -- and have implemented new procedures to do so  the report paints a fairly accurate snapshot of each hospitals emergency department.

Fifty-seven percent of patients said they would recommend SIUH in Ocean Breeze and 49 percent said they would recommend RUMC.

STATEN ISLAND UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

According to ER Wait Watcher, patients wait an average of 18 minutes in the emergency room at SIUH before theyre seen by a doctor, which is less waiting time than the New York average of 34 minutes and the national average of 25 minutes.

Berwald said the wait times and treat and release averages are on par with current times at the hospital, referencing the 2017-2018 data used by ProPublica.

However, she did dispute the 16 hours and 11 minutes it says patients wait from the time they enter the emergency department until theyre brought up to their room.

She said a patient waits an average of four hours from the time that they enter the emergency department until a decision is made to admit a patient. From that point, she said, it can be up to an additional six hours until a patient is brought to a room, making the average time around 10 hours, not 16.

We have seen a dramatic improvement, especially in the last few months, in the amount of time people are waiting, Berwald said.

SIUH ranked lower-than-average when looking at the amount of time a patient spends in the emergency room before theyre discharged, an average of two hours and 33 minutes.

However, in addition to longer-than-average admission time, patients on average wait two hours longer from time of admission until the time they reach their room  five hours and 41 minutes.

In New York, that average is three hours and eight minutes and two hours and 20 minutes nationally.

She echoed Kopolovich, stating that wait times are generally higher in different seasons.

We expect for there to be more of a wait in January than in June, but when we look at our numbers for the whole year, we get a better idea of what the numbers really are, she said.

Overall, SIUH is heading in the right direction, she said.

All of the statistics are improving and weve been seeing a trend in the right direction -- patients are having decreased boarding time, she said.

Earlier this year, Dr. Brahim Ardolic, SIUHs executive director, acknowledged that patients have been dealing with long wait times in the emergency departments and lack of admittance beds, but told the Advance that the upcoming changes to the hospital will alleviate that.

RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

RUMC has lower-than-average wait time, 12 minutes, before a patient is seen by a doctor in the emergency department, as well as time before theyre sent home with an average of two hours and 39 minutes.

Those are fantastic numbers  nobody gets better sitting in a waiting room. Our goal is efficiency and getting people treated and/or sent home right away, Kopolovich said.

Like SIUH, RUMC also had longer-than-average wait time before a patient is admitted with an average of eight hours and 14 minutes, as well as the transfer time, which counts the time between an admittance and being brought to a room, at five hours at 56 minutes, according to ER Wait Watcher.

Kopolovich explained that the wait times also include winter months when the emergency department sees a higher number of patients.

Additionally, those patients typically have more complex medical conditions and could be waiting for a specialty bed  intensive care unit, critical care unity, or surgical intensive care unit  which are limited it 12 each and could mean a longer wait time for a patient getting to a room.

This does not dictate the level of care, Kopolovich said.

RUMC is in line with the national average of 49 minutes for time spent waiting for pain medication after suffering a broken bone.

One percent of patients said they left the emergency room without being seen by a doctor, which is lower than the national and New York average of two percent.

Kopolovich said the one percent was inaccurate and .5 percent is a more accurate number.

I am proud of this number because it means patients are being seen, he said.

Overall, Kopolovich said many of the hospitals average numbers are stellar and those that arent, will benefit from the new emergency department.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island motorist was injured in a four-vehicle crash in New Jersey that authorities say might have been caused by road rage, according to a report on our sister site, NJ.com.

According to authorities, Corey J. Hamilton, 29, of East Windsor, N.J., was driving Wednesday afternoon on Route 33 in Middlesex County when he applied his brakes while cutting off a pick-up truck, NJ.com reported. As a result, the vehicle swerved and struck a parked traffic control equipment truck, the report said.

A car driven by the Staten Islander then struck both those vehicles while Hamilton drove away, the report said.

The 37-year-old borough resident suffered an arm injury, Monroe Police Sgt. Sergeis Jangols told NJ.com. A girl in her car was not injured.

The driver of the pick-up truck suffered internal injuries and a broken leg, according to the report.

Police tracked down Hamilton and charged him with assault by auto, according to the report. He also received summonses for leaving the scene of an accident which resulted in serious injuries, reckless driving, careless driving and making an unsafe lane change, NJ.com reported.
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Renowned chef Heston Blumenthals Australian restaurant, run through a notorious tax haven and embroiled in a wages scandal, is being propped up by its landlord Crown Melbourne.

Accounts for the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal restaurant show it has reported persistent losses since opening in 2015 and as a result has never paid company tax.

Heston Blumenthal's Melbourne restaurant is run through a tax haven

The restaurant is owned by Tipsy Cake, a company based in the Caribbean tax haven of Nevis, where companies pay zero tax on worldwide earnings.

Its accounts state it is dependent on interest-free loans from a related Nevis-based company as well as Crown Melbourne ''to continue operating''.
Late last month, a teacher accused of pinching, pushing and punching four students went all the way to a criminal court before the magistrate found the children's evidence against her was unreliable and, in some instances, implausible.

Yet in another case, two teachers were quickly stood down for allegedly abusing a student after the child's parents secretly bugged her with a recording device.

It's incidents like these, as well as growing concern over the amount of time being taken to investigate allegations against teachers, that has led some to conclude that it's time to install closed-circuit television in classrooms.

But the idea horrifies others, who argue that teachers deserve to be trusted and that surveillance would alter the character of schools which are fundamentally happy, safe places where children are treated well.
It starts like any other unboxing video you see on the internet, where someone films themselves unwrapping and assembling a coveted new toy, usually something digital.

Except in this video, Simon Zoric unboxes a ventriloquists dummy - one that looks just like him.

The artist carefully dresses his mini-me in matching clothes and props him on a chair, then puts earbuds around its head. As David Bowies Sound and Vision kicks into gear, the doll gently springs to life, as if contemplating what it sees and hears as if for the very first time.

I thought it was very rich idea: If we could talk to each other, what would I say to myself? says Zoric.

His is one of many works showing at the annual Octopus exhibition at Gertrude Contemporary, with this year's theme Ventriloquy. As curator Joel Stern explains, that doesnt strictly have to mean a talking dummy on a knee.
Authors R.A. Spratt and Oliver Phommavanh were both stand-up comedians before they became doyens of the upper primary school set.

Phommavanh was a teacher by day, stand-up comic by night, while Spratt got her start writing 100 jokes a day for Good News Week and comedy sketches for Backburner and Comedy Inc, often crossing paths with Anh Do, the hugely popular children's author, on the stand-up scene.

All three have taken their skill for the one-liner and witty repartee to craft stories that crack up their young readers.

The national conference of the Children's Book Council of Australia this weekend in Canberra celebrates the humour and heart of authors and books that make children laugh, an oft understated literary quality capable of engaging reluctant readers and empowering them to conquer their own fears.
Before he sold his first novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, for a hefty advance, Ocean Vuong was writing poetry. He was making $8 an hour cleaning toilets. If you worked your way to regional manager, you could make 60 grand a year. "That would be considered fancy where I'm from," Vuong says.

It's not clear what he means by where he's from. There's Ho Chi Minh City, where he lived until he migrated to the US at age two. Or Hartford, Connecticut, where he was raised by his mother and grandmother. Or he could simply mean people who didn't grow up with much.

Ocean Vuong saw no point in writing another collection of poetry, so turned to fiction. Credit:Celeste Sloman/ New York Times

As an undergraduate at Brooklyn College, Vuong worked on what would eventually be collected in Night Sky With Exit Wounds. The poems are intensely personal, wrestling with Vuong's understanding of his own race, queerness and memory. For that vulnerability, he won the T.S. Eliot Prize and Whiting Award.

After the accolades, people asked Vuong when he would write his next collection. "For what?" Vuong would say. "There's nothing left." The novel that would become On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous started as an experiment, one Vuong never set out to finish.
Luke Davies has known plenty of lows in his life, but right now the Sydney-raised, LA-based writer is in what he describes as "absolutely a sweet spot".

His miniseries Catch-22  starring, produced and directed (in part) by George Clooney  has just been released. His feature Angel of Mine will screen at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August. His adaptation of Paulette Jiles' exquisite novel News of the World is due to start shooting in September, with Tom Hanks in the lead and Paul Greengrass directing.

He's written the script for Sherpa filmmaker Jennifer Peedom's Tenzing, about the 1953 assault on Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. And he's just about to start work on an adaptation of The Most Dangerous Man in America, which is slated to star Woody Harrelson as an on-the-run Timothy Leary in the early 1970s.

"Yes, it's a nice sweet spot," the 57-year-old repeats. "But this town is weird and crazy and ageist and intense. I don't take it for granted. I'm just enjoying the nice things at the moment, and I'm very focused. I've become very good at being a methodical, orderly, hard worker."
So now the likes of Barnaby Joyce want to get through legislation that would enshrine the protection of religious freedom, most particularly as it pertains to employment law. You can't bring people's faith beliefs into a contract, Mr Joyce said. Your own views on who God is, where God is or whether there's a god should remain your own personal views and not part of any contractual obligation. Loading Joyce wants to call such legislation the Folau law, after the Wallaby who had his contract torn up by Rugby Australia after he had faithfully promised not to post more biblically based homophobic slurs. (Oh stop it. If saying youre going to hell for eternity because of your sexuality is not a slur, what does it take?) He was at least partially supported by his LNP colleague Senator Simon Birmingham on The Today Show on Friday noting they wanted to protect those with religious beliefs from discrimination. But let me ask you this, Mr Joyce and Senator Birmingham. What if those very beliefs are discriminatory against, say, gays? Who wins? And why does the right to religious freedom automatically trump the right to not be vilified for, say, your sexuality, and even dismissed from your employment?

On the one hand you want every employee in Australia to have the right to wear badges, at work, saying Gays are going to hell, so long as that view is religiously based? But on the other hand, those same employees can be dismissed because of their sexuality, if it doesnt fit in with their employers religious beliefs, as in a religious school? You mean you want it to be quite legal for religious schools to employ only people who project their values, but illegal for all other employers to insist their employees project their own values of inclusion and diversity  if  the employees views have a foundation in religious bigotry? Is that really the kind of Australia you want? Is it the kind of Australia we want? Have you actually thought this through? Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce want bolder changes on religious freedom laws. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Down the back Well I never. Your humble correspondent boarded a Qantas flight in Melbourne on Monday evening, bound for Sydney Town, in the company of Todd Greenberg and Geoff Jones, the chief executives of the NRL and Ticketek respectively. But while I took my place in a business class seat  which I particularly value for the ability to have space to write on my laptop, not to mention stretch my legs and think without being squeezed on all sides  they both shuffled down the back to economy class seats. What the . . ? You two are running businesses with a turnover of billions of dollars, but youre flying economy? Yup, they both noted proudly, they are simply doing themselves what they have asked their staff to do  not spending unnecessary dollars on what is only a short flight in any case. I sent them both some business class chocolates, but am not sure they got through. Joke of the Week

This bloke walks into a bar and asks the bar tender for a double entendre, so she gave him one. Quote of the Week They do not care. All they care about is the money going into their machines and into their coffers. Clubs have become so much like casinos that you cant tell the difference. Now they are building a new whopping great building down there from the tax breaks and the gambling money. It is not what clubs are meant to be. - Joy Van Duinen about the Dee Why RSL Club, which faces a disciplinary hearing following an investigation into allegations of irresponsible gambling practices after the suicide of one of its customers, Mrs Van Duinens son Gary, last year. Id rather take a paper cut to the scrotum than talk to some bimbo & fat lard on the radio about any topic  let alone that cockroach Ivan, who is about as important/interesting to me as dried dogs**t. - Adrian Milat, grandson of Australias notorious serial killer, in response to an invitation to be interviewed on the Kyle and Jackie O radio show. We need to make sure people are well aware of the history of Australia and what has happened with the stolen generation and genocide since colonisation. I think if we can start doing that more at a school level and really opening up our eyes to the rest of the country about how bad it was and how far we've come as a culture, a lot of people might have a different view of the First Nations people. - Former Australia, Queensland and North Queensland halfback Johnathan Thurston, who wants more recognition of Australias history.

Water restrictions are an important drought response because they target the outdoor water use of all households. Regional NSW has been experiencing a record drought. Water restrictions in Sydney mean that households across NSW are doing their bit to conserve water. - Water Minister Melinda Pavey announcing that Sydney will have its first water restrictions imposed in almost a decade (starting June 1) to help stem a rapid decline in the city's reservoirs amid the state's ongoing drought. Thank you to the Prime Minister and the people of Australia for this honour - to become the first Aboriginal person to be Minister for Indigenous Australians. I am committed to honouring our people, our cultures, our shared heritage and all Australians. - A tweet from Ken Wyatt after he was sworn in as the first Aboriginal Minister for Indigenous Australians, and first Aboriginal member of cabinet. After five years of operation, it makes sense for us to now take stock and examine whether any further changes should be made. We have always sought to strike a balance between limiting alcohol-related violence and maintaining a vibrant night-time economy. During this period, we have also worked to relax certain aspects of the laws, such as extending trading hours for bars and clubs for major events, and making it easier for small bars, restaurants and cafes to start up and operate. - Premier Gladys Berejiklian ordering a review of the controversial lockout laws. "This government has committed to a sensible and achievable emissions reduction target. We have a strong track record of meeting and beating our targets. Australia has overachieved on our commitment under the Kyoto Protocol, something few countries have done." - Angus Taylor, who had emissions added to his energy portfolio following the Coalition's election win earlier this month, as a government submission to the United Nations shows that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 rose for a fourth year in a row, an increase at odds with the country's Paris climate pledge. We were up against corporate leviathans, a financial behemoth, spending hundreds of millions of dollars telling lies, spreading fear, he said. Powerful vested interests campaigned against us. Through sections of the media itself, and they got what they wanted. - Bill Shorten, former Labor leader.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size On January 24 in Proserpine, a small Queensland town midway between Mackay and Townsville, two words were uttered that would have a profound impact on the federal election just four months later. "This government is running a needless scare campaign," Bill Shorten told a journalist who had asked about Labor's plans to clamp down on negative gearing. "I mean, I don't know what they are going to dream up next. I wouldn't put it past this government this year, because they are so desperate, to say that Labor wants to introduce death taxes." Two-and-a-half thousand kilometres away in Treasurer's Josh Frydenberg's Melbourne electorate office, a staff member started typing one of the election campaign's most potent press releases. The release - titled "DEATH TAXES - YOU DON'T SAY, BILL!" - pounced on Shorten's off-the-cuff remark in Proserpine. Labor was already proposing to tax Australians "from the cradle to the grave", the document claimed, and so "it is certainly not out of the question that Labor would consider taxing people beyond the grave." The release triggered an extraordinary chain of events. Over the coming months, the death taxes rumour would spread like a wildfire beyond the control of both major parties. Tens of thousands of posts would appear on social media, boosted by hundreds of conservative Facebook pages. In the days after their election loss, shell-shocked Labor MPs complained of being bombarded with questions from voters about things that were not included in their policy manifesto - like introducing an inheritance tax. How the death tax claim went from Shorten to social media The death tax claim made the transition from Frydenberg's press release to the world of Facebook via two Queensland Liberal National Party MPs.

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On January 31, senator Ian Macdonald pasted part of the release onto a post headlined "Death Taxes under a Shorten government!". It was shared 280 times. A week later, conservative backbencher George Christensen shared a photo of a seven-month old article about the ACTU endorsing an inheritance tax, with the caption: "Is Labor going to bring in a death tax as their union bosses want them to do?" That was shared more than 2000 times. Christensen's post landed on at least a dozen conservative Facebook pages that cumulatively boast more than 200,000 followers. Christensen was following a path finessed by US President Donald Trump. In past elections, mainstream media was the gateway between politicians' thoughts and their audience. As Trump demonstrated with great effect, there are now several avenues for that information to be disseminated. Christensen's post was the start of a prolonged death tax campaign, spinning furiously across Facebook even as the Liberal Party moved on from the line of attack. By the middle of April, the phrase "death tax" was being searched online nine times more often than "retiree tax". Every few days a new death tax post would go viral. Three weeks out from the election, the posts changed tone. Courtesy of one little-known independent candidate, the Facebook community found a symbol it could tie to Labor's phantom policy with chilling effect: the grim reaper.

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Sandy Turner, who was running an independent bid for Labor frontbencher Shayne Neumann's Queensland seat of Blair, posted an image of Neumann and Shorten in front of a black and white grim reaper with the words: "Death taxes were abolished in 1978 Bill and Shayne want to bring them back". "I did it on Microsoft Publisher," Turner now says proudly. "And people pushed it left, right and centre - it was fantastic." His original post was shared over 700 times - considerable for the Facebook page of a fledgling candidate who received a little over 2 per cent of the vote on May 18. But it was also distributed across over a dozen major conservative pages. A Liberal Party campaign truck in the Australian Capital Territory. Shorten spoke up days after grim reaper imagery appeared to accuse the Coalition of spreading "fake news" and demand Facebook remove incorrect claims surrounding a death tax. Morrison responded by doubling down, suggesting Labor had "struck a deal" with the Greens, who were "up for death taxes". "Even [former Labor frontbencher] Andrew Leigh is up for death taxes, let alone the union movement," the Prime Minister said.

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The Liberal Party soon woke up to the potency of the viral death tax campaign and commissioned paid advertisements on Facebook likening Shorten's death tax denials to Julia Gillard once ruling out a carbon tax. By election eve, for every person typing "retiree tax" into Google there 30 were searching the term "death tax". Facebook: we don't have a policy against lies Facebook argues it should not delete posts that spread lies because it sets a dangerous precedent about censorship. "We don't have a policy that prevents individuals from sharing false information," a spokesman said. "If John Smith wants to make a false claim on Facebook and it's shared we wouldn't prevent people from doing that." The spokesman added that Facebook set up fact-checking infrastructure in Australia ahead of the federal election, signing an agreement with Agence France-Presse to have a reporter monitor misleading content online. Facebook expanded its anti-fake news operation to Australia amid international pressure over the platform's role in 2016 US presidential election, in which Russia allegedly used Facebook to spread lies in the hope it would change the result.

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Under the agreement with AFP, Facebook flags content using a combination of algorithms, user reports and its own employees and sends potentially false posts to the external company, whose South-East Asia division also fact-checks Facebook content in India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Pakistan. "We get hundreds of pieces of content coming through the claim check feed each day," says AFP's Hong Kong-based fact-check editor Catherine Barton. "If something is going viral that does tend to come up in the feed and then we can choose to fact-check it on merit." On April 30, AFP wrote that Labor had not signed an agreement with the Greens to implement a 40 per cent inheritance tax once in government, flagging two Facebook posts from private accounts appearing to belong to two Australians. "People who shared the post were notified that it had been fact-checked and rated as false," the Facebook spokesman said. "As a result, the original post and thousands of similar posts received reduced distribution in news feed." One of the viral Facebook memes that spread like wildfire during the election campaign. Credit:Facebook According to Facebook guidelines, once a post is declared false it loses 80 per cent of its predicted future views. But the social media giant ultimately believes the buck stops elsewhere.

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One week ago, I sent out two tweets describing my deep concern about patients and their families turning to crowdfunding to cover the costs of surgical treatment.

Together, these tweets triggered a storm of abuse and name calling through social media, email and even telephone calls.

Professor Henry Woo criticised Dr Charlie Teo over his charging practices and choices about surgeries.

My first tweet read: Something must be seriously wrong if a terminally ill girl with a brain tumour has to raise $120,000 to have surgery Dr Charlie Teo has offered do for $60-80K. If it was valid surgery, it could/should be performed in the public system under Medicare.

I had just read an article about the Lucas family who were raising money for urgent surgery with Charlie Teo for their 12-year-old daughter, but it was also disturbing to see increasing crowdfunding to meet the out-of-pocket costs of cancer treatment.
On a recent Friday, eight strangers met for dinner at Loluk Bistro in Surry Hills. A veteran and her friend came together; another duo  one working in IT, one in sales  recognised each other from a previous event. Wine flowed and dishes circled the table. Conversation traversed world crises; religion in one's childhood; and if the new Queer Eye was a quality Netflix experience.

It was the fourth such dinner Sanyu Mugambwa, a senior international advisor at a Sydney university, attended. Organised by start-up SocialTable, the dinners are a way for strangers seeking connection to meet and  potentially  leave as friends.

Strangers meet for a SocialTable dinner at Platform 818 in Sydney in May. Credit:Christopher Pearce

You show up and get past that messy, Do you want to be my friend? thing and just chat, Ms Mugambwa says. The people I have connected with are in a similar situation: I tend to assume that everyone who comes is interested in the program because it offers a way to meet new people, which is not an easy thing to do in Sydney.

Despite an abundance of "social" mediums, one in four Australians feel lonely, according to a 2018 study by the Australian Psychological Society and Swinburne University. A quarter of respondents said they do not feel they have a lot in common with the people around them. Nearly 55% said they lack companionship at least sometimes.
"When I close my eyes and see Jessica's face, I see a pretty, good-natured girl with these beautiful freckles. Like most girls her age, she was fashion-conscious and trying to be all grown up, but when she spun around as she crossed the road at about 7.30pm to shout 'I won't be home late', I could still see the little girl who once adored fairies and played with imaginary friends. I had no reason to believe it would be the last time I'd see those freckles. It was 3am when the police called around asking for photos and time just stopped. The girls had jumped into a car with a guy who'd offered them a lift. Once the car started heading in the opposite direction of where they wanted to go, there had been a struggle. Her friend managed to escape, but Jessica never made it out. When your child goes missing, you can't help but endlessly think about the worst things that could be happening to her. You think, 'Has someone got her? What is he doing to her?' As the investigation rolled on to day two, week two and then month two, I found myself walking through life in a state of shock and disbelief, but also having to deal with vicious gossip that she'd run away from home. It was a lot to take and it still is. I'm not sure when I accepted Jessica would never be coming home  it may have been weeks after her disappearance  but an inquest in 2014 found that even though we have no suspects or a body, Jessica had likely been murdered. It hurt to hear those words, but in my heart I know there's no other fathomable reason for her not to have contacted the family in the years between. I don't have any hope of seeing my baby again, or holding her in my arms, but I still carry the hope that we'll find out what happened to her and be able to bring her home.

Sometimes I dream of leaving Bathurst and trying to start a new life, but I can't because I'd feel like I was leaving her behind. That's the reality when a loved one goes missing. You always feel guilty if you have a laugh, or if you move on in any way. I involve myself with my grandchildren and that keeps me busy [Ricki has a son and another daughter], but all I can do is hope someone will contact the family with the information we need to get the crime solved." In 2018, the NSW government announced a $1m reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people involved in the likely murder of Jessica Small. "I MISS HIM EVERY DAY" Jacinta Jackson's younger brother Donny Govan went missing, aged 16, during a camping holiday in Echuca, Victoria, in September 2012. Jacinta is now 24 years old. Donny Govan went missing in 2012, aged 16.

"When I look back at my life, most of my memories feature Donny because we did everything together  we went to school together and hung out together within the same circle of friends on the weekend. We were close in age  less than two years apart  and I adored him for his cheeky personality. One of the hardest things to accept is that are no new memories to make; this is how it might always be. Everything seemed normal the day Donny went camping with our sister Rachael and her friends  until night fell and he suddenly became paranoid that two other campers wanted to hurt him. The following day he was back to normal, but when the paranoia returned that night, Donny shot off into bushland and never came back. The group searched for him but as time wore on and the temperature dropped below zero, the police were soon called in. It wasn't until I heard the words 'water searches' that I began to fear the worst. Up until that point, I assumed he'd be found, but once the choppers were replaced by divers, the idea that Donny might not be alive any more began to crystalise in my mind. Police stopped searching for him after two weeks, explaining that if he was in the bush, he would have been found. So we continued to search ourselves, combing through bushes and dams and telling each other, 'Even if we find him floating, we'll still have found him.' It's a terrible way to think; it's an even worse way to live. The smallest things bring you to your knees after someone you love goes missing. Donny had a collection of Lynx deodorant, for example, and I've had some pretty dark moments walking past a display of them in the supermarket, and I struggle when I see his friends post birthday and Christmas messages on his Facebook page. When you see so much love expressed openly it's hard to imagine he's okay and wanted to leave everything behind on purpose.

Our older brother died when Donny and I were very little, but even though that was tragic and very hard for Mum and Dad, we still got that opportunity to lay him to rest and to grieve, but this is a different kind of hell. With Donny, we each lie awake at night wondering what happened to him. Did he fall? Did someone kill him? Was he held alive and tortured? You can drive yourself crazy thinking about the possibilities and that's been difficult to take. It's hard at times to humanise people who disappear because they quickly become statistics. Donny isn't a statistic  no missing person is. Donny is my brother and I love him and miss him every day." "MY LIFE FEELS EMPTY" John, who went missing in October 2017. When Christine Forster, 54, left her home in Diamond Creek, Victoria, in October 2017, she had no idea it would be the last time she'd see her 58-year-old husband of over 24 years, John.

"John's car was found at Sugarloaf Reservoir at Christmas Hills [35km north-east of Melbourne's CBD], an area we had driven past a week earlier, and John and I had talked about checking it out for future walks. Up until that point, it had been a normal day. I left early with our two boys, they were 17 and 15 at the time, due to a dental appointment. John was brushing his teeth when we left. Loading When we returned after shopping the car was gone, but he'd left his wallet and phone at home, which he would often do when he went out for a run or a walk. Some friends dropped by and it got to early evening with still no sign of John. I began to worry and reached for the phone. When your life partner goes missing, all the plans you made and dreams you created together for the future vanish. I was on my own, floundering in my fears. But with the boys looking to me for guidance and answers, I couldn't fall apart; they needed their mum to keep it together. All I could do was keep their lives as normal as possible and stick to routines as best as I could, yet protect their privacy. One of the things no one could ever expect when someone goes missing is the financial effect it has. You're grieving and searching for answers and also having to ask, 'How are we going to survive when we've just lost 75 per cent of our income?'
Satisfying Australias energy needs while simultaneously putting the country on firmer national-security footing is a lofty goal.

That sort of energy for democracy is what Melbourne architect Serdar Baycan hopes to help create.

Tectura Architects MD Serdar Baycan has high hopes for a series of orbiting solar power stations. Credit:Jason South

Baycan has teamed up with one of the worlds foremost experts in space-based power to design and build a new system to supply energy for the country.

Their proposal is to test and then launch a series of orbiting solar power stations to capture sunlight, convert it to radio waves and send the energy down to terrestrial receivers to provide a source of endless clean electricity.
Prime Minister John Howard says he is content that "broad justice" had been served in the case of confessed terrorist David Hicks.

Hicks, 31, last week pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorism in a plea bargain deal his lawyers negotiated with the US military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

Adelaide-born Hicks spent more than five years in a US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before his short trial and plea bargain.

He will be returned to Australia to serve nine months in an Adelaide prison, with the rest of his seven-year sentence suspended.

"I think broad justice has been done," Mr Howard told the ABC's 7.30 Report.
A man's body has been found after a fire, which police are treating as suspicious, broke out at a house in Sydney's south-west.

Fire crews were called to Crank Place in Elderslie after reports the house was ablaze shortly before midnight on Saturday.

The body was found after the fire was extinguished. It has not been formally identified, but police believe the man did not live in the house.

Detectives believe the fire was a "targeted incident", and police are treating the incident as suspicious.
Illicit warehouse parties are flourishing across Sydney in defiance of the official crackdown on nightlife, as the state government prepares to review the controversial lockout laws.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian last week ordered a review of Sydneys lockout laws, which have been blamed for the closure of scores of nightclubs and live music venues in the inner-city that were already under siege from neighbours over noise.

Heavy-handed regulation has led to an increase in warehouse parties. Credit:Photos by Boaz

There have been 12 breaches of the 1.30am or 2am lockout restrictions since the laws were introduced in 2014, and none for the 3am or 3.30am last-drinks restrictions, according to Liquor & Gaming NSW.

But parties are flourishing in makeshift venues that might not comply with planning regulations and where patrons bring their own alcohol, face minimal security and drugs are often present. Parties are being held in laneways, tunnels, national parks, beaches as well as warehouses in industrial areas on both sides of the harbour.
As the song goes, the Silva sisters are "doing it for themselves". They're ringing bells to champion female Indigenous role models on Instagram.

Marlee Silva, 23, started the account Tiddas 4 Tiddas (sisters for sisters) with her younger sister, Keely Silva, 21, to maintain momentum after last year's NAIDOC Week showcased women's achievements.

Marlee Silva is one of two sisters behind a rapidly growing Instagram account Tiddas 4 Tiddas, showcasing Indigenous women's achievements across the nation. Credit:Louie Douvis

"We wanted that to continue by sharing the stories of Indigenous women across the country, and also reach non-Indigenous people," said Marlee Silva from Sydney's Sutherland Shire.

The account was the first on Instagram to create a community of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, said Ms Silva, instead of being centred on a single issue or personality.
When the State Theatre opened in 1929, the sumptuous Butterfly Room's lavish French Louis XIV furniture and butterfly shaped lamps and mirrors were considered the epitome of refinement for a ladies powder room.

Women would go there to touch up their lippy, powder their nose or light a cigarette, while marvelling at the splendour of this gilded ground floor lounge, which marked an entirely new departure in ancillary theatre adornment, the Theatre's opening night program boasted.

The State Theatre's newly renovated Butterfly Room, which has been painstakingly renovated to take it back to how it was in 1929. Credit:Louise Kennerley

But five years after the Butterfly Room opened, the warm tones of its textured plaster walls and original linen and oil butterfly paintings were whited out because they were considered tacky. They remained white until 1980, when they became beige in a renovation that closed the theatre for six month. The butterfly panels were wallpapered over with a busy beige and red butterfly print.

But now the powder room has been restored to its original pink and apple green of 90 years ago. It's taken 18 months of painstaking work with a heritage architect and a team of conservation specialists who stripped back 14 layers of paint and peeled off one layer of wallpaper with tiny razor blades.
In the world of mass production, there is little that is pretty about the process of getting food from the grower to the plate.

Despite the growth of the slow food movement, and the growing market penetration of organic produce, few of us can expect culinary purity. Most of us will sit down tonight to a meal that has been subject to chemical intervention.

A big part of the chemical equation is the pesticide, which represents the ugly side of our convenience-hungry lifestyle.

Lawyers in Australia are considering a class action lawsuit over Roundup, a popular weedkiller, following verdicts in the US. Credit:AP

And a big part of the pesticide picture over the past four decades has been glyphosate, the key ingredient of the weedkiller Roundup, developed by the US chemical giant Monsanto (now owned by German conglomerate Bayer).
"But I am a stranger. I don't speak English and I don't know where to go or how to make an appointment."

"When l came to Australia l told myself to be happy," the 20-year-old said.

Yazidi refugee Nihad Barakat al-Awsi with her niece at their home in Toowoomba. Credit:Latika Bourke

Speaking only a smattering of English, she arrived in Queensland with three siblings, her aunt and niece along with four other Yazidi families.

Twelve months ago Nihad Barakat al-Awsi boarded a flight to Australia, hopeful of making a new life and finding a new home.

Nihad was determined that Australia would be her final home, having fled her native Iraq, where she was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery by Islamic State fighters when she was just 15 years old.

She has still not heard from two of her brothers who were captured from the village where she lived outside Sinjar before Islamic State wreaked its murderous havoc on her life and genocide on her people.

She was captured and sold as a sex slave twice. She managed to flee from Mosul but was forced to leave behind her baby, Issa, who will turn four this year.

Growing up in Iraq, she hoped to study and be a teacher, and that remains her dream in Australia.

But it means learning a new language, integrating with a new culture and establishing a life far away from her parents and her homeland.
Asked whether NSW would follow Victoria's lead at a press conference on Sunday, Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean said the Berejiklian government would be "closely monitoring" Victoria's findings. Roundup is among the chemicals being used by WaterNSW near the Fitzroy Falls in the Southern Highlands catchment area, south of Sydney. Opponents of Roundup have seized on science linking glyphosate with several diseases including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pancreatic cancer and leukemia. Sydney firm LHD lawyers is now considering a class action against Bayer, and personal injury firm Maurice Blackburn is evaluating individual cases. Principal at Maurice Blackburn, Jonathan Walsh, said the firm had fielded hundreds of inquiries over Roundup in recent months, mainly over workplace exposures.

"We're actively investigating a small number," he said, adding the first would be a "test case" under Australian law. Jason Reynolds, a science lecturer at Western Sydney University, said the risks were likely to centre on people whose work resulted in extensive exposure, such as council employees. Loading The manufacturer of Roundup, Bayer, has lost three major US court battles against people suffering cancer in just 12 months. It described the latest $US2 billion verdict as "excessive and unjustifiable". A Bayer spokesperson said the jury verdicts conflicted with a recent interim decision of the US Environmental Protection Agency, which found glyphosate was not a carcinogen and there were no risks to public health where it was used in accordance with label instructions.

While the company had "great sympathy" for the plaintiffs, the Bayer spokesperson said there was a consensus among health regulators worldwide that glyphosate is not carcinogenic, following 40 years of extensive scientific research LHD Lawyers special counsel Michael Hyland said his firm was "most interested" in progressing its investigations into the potential class action in Australia. But any case was likely to hinge on the issue of medical causation, he said, with the judge to decide whether it was "more probable that not" that the plaintiff's cancer was caused by Roundup. The Victorian review will examine glyphosate is being stored and handled, and whether risks "are being controlled so far as reasonably practicable". Four years ago, the World Health Organisations International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared glyphosate "probably carcinogenic to humans".

Joanna Immig, co-ordinator of the National Toxics Network, warned about 600 products in Australia carry glyphosate as the active ingredient. "Numerous studies now show glyphosate residues in everything from breast milk to beer," Ms Immig said. Loading "With the recent court cases youd think the national regulator would be taking a closer look at the top selling herbicide thats used to grow our food  were all being exposed". Sutherland Shire Council commissioned an urgent review of its Roundup use after it was presented with a petition from concerned local residents in April.

In a letter to the council, industry lobby group CropLife Australia argued the scientific evidence supporting glyphosates safety was "clear and overwhelming" and it would be "irresponsible ... to make decisions on misleading and incorrect media reporting". But councillor Barry Collier, who raised the matter, was "in no doubt" a review was necessary. "Im sorry for being sceptical but this kind of response is reminiscent of the cigarette and fibro manufacturers who, for decades, kept assuring us that their products were safe," he said. Other big users include authorities managing drinking water catchment areas, where signs alerting visitors of Roundup use are not uncommon. Wingecarribee Reservoir, which supplies water to towns in the Southern Highlands, is one dam known to have "massive weed issues around its shoreline", according to Ian Wright, also a lecturer at Western Sydney University.

WaterNSW, which manages the catchments, said it "stores, handles and applies chemicals in line with strict internal procedures", consistent with the advice given by APVMA. Sydney Water says it collaborates with WaterNSW to monitor drinking water for chemicals such as glyphosate. "Sydney Water has never detected glyphosate near or above the limits set in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines," a spokeswoman said. The biggest users of glyphosate outside government are farmers. National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said any ban of the chemical would result in a "monumental" cost to the industry, because glyphosate enables farmers to control weeds from above the ground, doing away with the need to plough. "Currently, there is no product approved for use in Australia that is as safe or as effective as glyphosate for weed control," Ms Simson said. "The productivity of, especially grain growers but also graziers, would decline dramatically, with a key tool in the weed management tool box gone."
The smell was unmistakable as Chelsea Woolston drew up at the family farm, 6000 acres of grazing land hemmed in by the spectacular sandstone cliffs of the Grampian Ranges.

"I'd say 'Mum, you've been spraying again' and she'd say 'yes, yes I have'," Ms Woolston recalled.

Bernie Dunn believed it was the responsibility of all people to try to make a difference  no matter how small  to the wellbeing of humanity and the world around them.

"She sprayed Roundup excessively by hand  spraying the garden out, all the edges, around the laneways and around the shearing sheds."

At the age of 63, Dot Dunn was vigorously healthy, shouldering her share of the physical labour at the farm in western Victoria where she lived with her husband Bernie.
Isabella Lee Pin Loong lives in Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation with her mother Huyen Tran. Picture: Rebekah Holt Credit: Picture: Rebekah Holt In its 18-page report on the case, the UN working group  established by the UN Commission on Human Rights to report to the Human Rights Council  said it was of the opinion that Isabella's situation undoubtedly qualifies as detention and that she should not be detained due to the migratory status of her parents. The UN report states that in January 2018 the department attempted to deport Ms Tran to Vietnam when she was about seven months pregnant, despite her having gestational diabetes and a psychiatric condition. She was removed from the plane several minutes before take-off and returned to MITA. Ms Tran believes that as a Catholic in rural communist Vietnam she faces discrimination and threats of violence. Ms Battisson alleges that Ms Tran does not have adequate access to basic parenting equipment or health support for Isabella at MITA. The UN report says Ms Tran is not receiving appropriate nourishment to be able to effectively breastfeed her baby and is dealing with severe depression.

It also notes that Isabella has been hospitalised, and shows signs of anxiety that potentially stem from the "unavailability of positive emotional interactions in detention". Ms Battisson said she called a number of ambulances to the centre last weekend to treat Isabella's fever, which had spiked to about 38.6 degrees at 2am, after Ms Tran contacted her to say she couldn't get access to a thermometer or paracetamol. When paramedics finally took Isabella's temperature about 12 hours later, it was still over 38 degrees, which "is why they were concerned, Ms Battisson said. Her brain was too hot." Rebekah Holt, a journalist who has spent time with families in MITA, alleged parents' access to basic items such as playpens required substantial negotiations with management, and that the units had choking hazards such as blind cords. "They have small children in an environment thats not appropriate for small children," she said.

Sri Lankan Tamils Priya and Nadesalingam and their two Australian-born children, from Biloela in Queensland. Credit:AAP Australia was given a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, a supervisory body of the working group, to serve on from 2018 to 2020. The federal government was trying to have it both ways", Ms Battisson said. "You cant claim you are a good international citizen and then detain children," she said. This way of defining children in detention as just 'guests' has been exposed as what it is  a total ruse. The UN working groups report criticised the Australian government for not having Isabella's detention assessed and authorised by an independent judicial authority in Australia, and called for a review of her case.

While Ms Tran's detention would not be in contravention of domestic law, the working group pushed to bring the Migration Act 1958 into line with international law, and referred the case to the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants, for appropriate action. This is the ninth report released by a UN working group on arbitrary detention in Australia in two years. The same detention facility is also housing a Tamil family who were transferred from their home in Bileola, Queensland, about 15 months ago. Tharunicaa, who lives in Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation with her parents, Priya and Nades and her sister Kopika, has rotting teeth. Picture: Rebekah Holt Credit:Picture: Rebekah Holt A community campaign has called for the release of Priya, Nades and their two children Tharunicaa, who is almost 2, and Kopika, 3, who are suffering health issues including decaying teeth, vitamin D deficiencies and behavioural issues.

Angela Frederiks, who has been campaigning for the family's release, made a complaint to Victoria's child services about the alleged deteriorating health of the two girls. "We got feedback from the child protection unit basically saying that as a state department they will work closely with the federal government for the best outcome for the kids," she said. Last week Victoria's Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan said the agency's concerns over children in immigration detention had escalated in recent months. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians has also appealed to the Morrison government to release children and their families into the community due to the serious health impacts of detention on children. A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said it could not comment on individual cases but was reviewing the contents of the UN working group's opinion, and would respond to its request for follow-up.

"Australia has a long history of engaging co-operatively with the United Nations and its mandate holders, and welcomes open and constructive engagement with the human rights system," the spokesperson said. The department said it had embedded the consideration of the best interests of children into internal procedures and policies, and its commitment to safeguarding the wellbeing of children was set out in its Child Safeguarding Framework. It was making arrangements to provide access to the Commissioner for Children and Young People and other oversight bodies. The department said welfare and support arrangements were available to children and young people in detention, including recreational activities and services and to provide "educational, physical or social benefit". "We remain committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all children while in our care, including providing opportunities to engage in play with other children.
A blind man and his guide dog have been killed in one of two pedestrian fatalities over the weekend, bringing Victoria's road toll to 139 - 51 more than the same period last year.

Ray Meadows, 63, was walking with his dog along the Calder Highway in Wedderburn, near Bendigo, on Sunday morning when he was fatally struck by a Toyota Corolla.

Ray Meadows.

Mr Meadows had only 10 per cent vision but the one-kilometre walk from his house to the local gym was part of his daily routine.

He set out on the 100km/h stretch of road just before 7am with his guide dog Gerry, which he had only acquired a couple of months ago.
The unveiling of the new Coalition cabinet was a soul-destroying spectacle for true believers and for non-believers.

After his miracle election win, Scott Morrisons ministers were beaming in their resurrection. Gone was the weary and depleted crew who had limped to the polls with the smell of death hanging over them.

In the aftermath of Malcolm Turnbulls knifing, some were predicting a civil war in Australian conservatism to rival the 1955 Labor split. Last Christmas, people were jeering the party of stale, white, angry men.

Illustration: Matt Davidson

Now Morrisons cabinet boasts a record-breaking seven female ministers. Bill Shorten thought hed be appointing Pat Dodson as the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous affairs. The biblical twist of fate saw the Liberals Ken Wyatt sworn in, kangaroo skins draped around his shoulders.
Wahconah Regional High Names Top Students for 2019

DALTON, Mass.  Anna E. Duquette and Holden M. Nelson have been named valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, for the 2019 graduating class at Wahconah Regional High School.

Both students will speak at graduation ceremonies on Sunday, June 2, at 1 p.m. in the school gymnasium. The valedictory speech is titled, "When an Opportunity Comes Knocking ... " and the salutatory address, "The Importance of Hard Work."

Duquette is the daughter of Dale and Lynn Duquette, both of Dalton. While at Wahconah, Duquette's academic program included Honors and Advanced Placement coursework. She is active in the many service projects sponsored by the National Honor Society and serves as the Wahconah Chapter's president. She is a morning news announcer, percussion section leader in the band and piano accompanist for chorus, and a member of the Apollonian Players.

Outside of school, she dances at Dalton Ballet and assists with Buddy dancers, volunteers at Stages Summer Theater

Camp, participates in a variety of church activities, plays piano at area nursing homes, and fundraises for the Western Mass Food Bank.

Duquette received the St. Anselm's College Book Award, the Current Topic Club of Dalton Book Award, and the Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award from the University of Rochester of New York for her leadership and dedication to difficult social issues. She has been recognized with schoolwide awards in English, Math, Social Studies, and Spanish, as well as for Leadership, Mock Trial, and Drama. She received the John F. Kennedy Make a Difference

Award, and her essay "Breaking Down Walls" was the chosen winner of the Berkshire Eagle / Berkshire Bank Martin Luther king Jr. Essay Contest. She was named a John and Abigail Adams Scholar and received the Stanley Z. Koplik Certificate of Mastery with Distinction from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2018.

She also has shadowed medical professionals in the Doctor for a Day program, and plans to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to study Nursing, where she has been accepted into the Commonwealth Honors College.

Nelson is the son of Michael Nelson and Angela Cantoni of Dalton. He also pursued an Honors and Advanced Placement college preparatory curriculum. A member of the National Honor Society, and the Triad musical honor society, he has also participated in Quiz Team and represented Wahconah on the "As Schools Match Wits" television program, Mock Trial and the Apollonian Players. He is involved in Wahconah's band, choir and pep band. Additionally, he is a runner on the cross country team and swims with the YMCA Polar Bears.

In the community, Holden has served on the Rotary Interact Club, has participated in a number of service projects and fundraisers through the National Honor Society, enjoys piano and musical theater, and has volunteered in the Stages Summer Theater Camp for the past two summers.

Holden received the Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award from the University of Rochester of New York, as well as the Clarkson University (Potsdam, N.Y.) Achievement Award for leadership and for contributing to school and community, and is a Quest Bridge Scholar. Holden has received the department awards for Math, Science, Social Studies, Drama, Latin, Quiz Team, and Chorus. He was named a John and Abigail Adams Scholar, and received the Stanley Z. Koplik Certificate of Mastery with Distinction from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2018.

Holden also participated in the Doctor for a Day program and plans to attend Westfield State University in the fall to study chemistry.
Don Farrell, the South Australian factional boss, also gave up his position as Senate deputy leader in order to give it to Keneally. (Over the course of many years and leadership changes, Farrell really has become the unrecognisable-to-the-public posterboy of the faceless men. One hopes he is honoured somehow for this peculiar service  maybe with a nice portrait?) Looking forward ... Labor's Ed Husic will be on the backbench in the near-term, but has pledged to keep up his advocacy for the emerging technology industry. Credit:Ryan Stuart Farrell did the right thing. Given the Labor Party has made a virtue of its good female representation, it would have been a bad look if there was only one woman (Penny Wong) in its leadership team. Now it has two. Given Keneallys rapid ascension to the front bench, there have been various reports that she is under-qualified and/or overly ambitious  not commentary you see about her male counterparts, many of whom have never served at a high level in actual government, as Keneally has. Other commentary has it that Keneally has had the way gilded for her. But imagine the headlines if she had back-stabbed or head-kicked to land her position, as is the usual way of these things? That didnt play out so well for Julia Gillard, to nominate a case study.

All that aside, there is no escaping the sheer transactionalism of the Husic-Keneally people-swap. The NSW Right has 17 members. The faction gets six positions on the front bench and if Husic had not stood aside, all of them would have been occupied by lower-house members. Loading Also, the resulting vote would have split the faction and resulted in conflict, and the messy headlines that accompany it. Husic deemed that it would be better if he took a hit now, parking his ambitions but banking the credit to fulfil them later. The factional system is not a bad way to manage the carve-up of power in a large organisation dominated by egos and claustrophobic with ambition.

Loading But it does lead to perverse results which work against any claim Labor has to be the party of promotion by merit. Husic is a superior performer to some members of, say, the Victorian right, who will get positions on the front bench over him, just by virtue of filling a quota. Most importantly, Labors rigid factionalism gives an impression to voters that it is self-focused and dominated by unaccountable, unrepresentative interests. The last person in Labors recent history to win government for it was Kevin Rudd, who famously lacked the backing of a firm factional alliance. It cost him. It was the heft of the factions that enabled him to be cut down, and the result, directly or indirectly, has been 10 years of policy paralysis and hobbled prime ministers.

This strange power-sharing system also led to the elevation of Bill Shorten as opposition leader after the 2013 election. The parliamentary party, largely voting along factional lines, preferred him. The membership preferred Anthony Albanese. Shorten appears to have been the wrong choice, if electoral victory is the aim. Shortens decision not to go to the back bench, or leave politics, could be disastrous for Labor. Even if he keeps his game tidy and his opinions to himself, there will be endless headlines about his renewed leadership ambitions. Many in Labor believe he should be treated respectfully but that he should also do what is right for the party  namely, leave Parliament. All of this means we are talking about Labor, and watching its factional machinations, when we have just elected a government that is claiming a large mandate, even though it did not secure a large victory, and does not have a policy agenda beyond leftover tax cuts. Nature abhors a vacuum, and something, or someone, will rush to fill it.
A Sydney woman is among eight climbers missing in India's Himalayas after an avalanche occurred during the group's attempt to reach the summit of an unclimbed peak.

Indian authorities are searching the area around Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India, after the group did not return to base camp last Sunday, and their tents at a higher camp were found empty.

Australian mountaineer Ruth McCance is believed to be missing in India. Credit:Facebook

The eight adventurers were part of a 12-member expedition attempting to summit a previously unclimbed route up Nanda Devi East.

One of the missing people is Sydney woman Ruth McCance, a British-born mountaineer in her late 40s.
London: Brexit offers a chance for Britain to become a "strong and independent country" that will have a positive impact on the rest of the world and play a vital role in Nato.

That is the considered view of John Bolton, the US national security adviser, who is a committed advocate of Britain leaving the European Union.

John Bolton Credit:AP

Speaking ahead of US President Donald Trump's state visit next week, Bolton said the outcome of the 2016 referendum represented a "triumph of democracy". He also backed Trump's pledge of a trade deal that will be mutually beneficial to the US and Britain.

"We have agonised with you throughout this process," said Bolton. "The US preference is for Britain to follow the course of what the people asked for and leave the EU. It is a lesson for everyone in the triumph of democracy.
New York: Donald Trump's threat to impose a new tariff on Mexican imports is the US President's most impulsive, incoherent and reckless decision since he forced the federal government into a shutdown just before Christmas.

As with the 35-day shutdown, which was designed to force Democrats to support a border wall, Trump has unleashed chaos by fusing together two totally unrelated issues. And he has again started a war without first devising a strategy for victory.

US President Donald Trump has threatened a new 5 per cent tariff on Mexican imports unless the country reduces the number of migrants crossing the border. Credit:AP

On Thursday night, local time, Trump announced on Twitter that he would implement a 5 per cent tariff on all goods coming into the US from Mexico from June 10 and maintain it "until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied".

The tariff rate will rise steadily, reaching 25 per cent in October, unless Trump is satisfied that Mexico has taken appropriate steps to stop migrants crossing into the US.
If Minister Cornelius Deweever Concealed Information he should also resign or be fired by Parliament

State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security (VVD) has resigned during the debate in the second chamber on the political fuss that has arisen about crimes perpetrated by asylum seekers. ' Super bureaucrat ' Mark Harbers seemed to be the  cat with the nine lives. In his more than a year and a half as secretary of State for asylum and migration, he was more likely to escalate crises, but at the last moment he started dancing. But now, while there is no migration crisis, it is due to a seemingly small but a very serious fraudulent issue. This issue is about ' concealing ' figures on crime among asylum seekers. More action not only questions need to be asked on the Justice System as a whole even on St.Maarten. Its a fact now again that concealing vital information has become a norm for the Dutch and St.Maarten Justice Ministry.

The way in which Harbers announced his resignation, is first time shown in The Hague: he announced his mistake at the beginning of the afternoon at a press conference and asked the second chamber to debate this afternoon on the issue. "I am assuming that this will be my last debate in this position," he announced.

That did indeed happen at the end of the debate, which lasted almost two hours. It remained unclear why, despite the warnings of Justice Officials, the figures were not adjusted.

For the largest government party VVD the stepping down of the Harbers is again a painful issue. For several reasons. He Left two days before the European elections. While the Liberals prefer to attack the Forum for Democracy, including the migration viewpoint, it is now about their own government. In addition, he is the seventh VVD'er to resign in the three cabinets-Rutte since 2010. And then asylum is also a sensitive subject, which the Members of this House demanded transparency.

Part Source: NRC May 2019

Article on Mark Harbers.
BCC valedictorian Starr Williams gets some help from classmates to inspire graduates on how to be a hero at the colleges 59th commencement at Tanglewood on Friday night. PreviousNext

Heroes Unite to Graduate From Berkshire Community College



U.S. Sen. Edward Markey calls on the graduates to be the revolution. See more photos from commencement here. LENOX, Mass.  Heroes unite.

Perhaps a hero is a Harvard graduate improving and changing the world of social work and policy or perhaps it is the two children sitting in the Shed at Tanglewood watching their mom delivering the valedictory address for Berkshire Community College's commencement.

But whomever it is, Soncere "Starr" Williams believes anybody can be a hero every day.

"Heroes can come in different forms. Each one of us can become a hero as we embark on the adventure of life. Being a hero does not necessarily mean you have super powers like the ability to fly or super strength although that would be amazing," Williams told her fellow classmates from the stage.

"Being a hero simply means doing what we can in our daily lives to make the world a much better place even if it is just the world of a single person."

Williams came to Berkshire Community College in the non-traditional way. She dropped out of high school as she became a teen parent. Her background is filled with trauma, poverty, addiction, and loss. With bright dyed-red dreadlocked hair, tattoos covering her arms, and multiple piercings, and she may not look like what comes most to minds when they think about the who is a hero.

But if you asked her clients at Berkshire County Arc, they might tell you she is.

Williams didn't see the world as being full of heroes. So she decided to become one. After 15 years in retail, she made the decision to go to BCC, earn her high school equivalency diploma and then continued on with her studies and got a job in the field of social work, where she felt she could make a positive change on the lives of others.

She graduated on Friday after achieving a perfect 4.0 grade point average. She has already been accepted to Elms College and her professor, Stacy Evans, has promised a recommendation letter to her alma mater, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, in hopes Williams will go for her master's there.

Williams listed  as she pulled a red cape from under her gown and let it drape onto her back the qualities she sees in the hero she wants to be. She had help from other graduates who stood in front of the crowd with large signs stating the qualities as she read them out loud because  heroes unite.

Courage . Williams called on the students to have the courage to stand up for what is right, speak out against what is wrong, and challenge other's thinking.

. Williams called on the students to have the courage to stand up for what is right, speak out against what is wrong, and challenge other's thinking. Passion. She told the graduates to be passionate about whatever they choose to do in life. Integrity. She said to do the right thing even when no one is looking.

She told the graduates to be passionate about whatever they choose to do in life. Integrity. She said to do the right thing even when no one is looking. Honesty. She said if there a problem it can always be solved if you are honest about it but if not, the problem will never be known.

She said if there a problem it can always be solved if you are honest about it but if not, the problem will never be known. Confidence . Williams wasn't sure she could even graduate from college at first but she gained it and gave it to others and that's what heroes have.

. Williams wasn't sure she could even graduate from college at first but she gained it and gave it to others and that's what heroes have. Patience. She said success takes time and encouraged her classmates to be patient with themselves and with others.

She said success takes time and encouraged her classmates to be patient with themselves and with others. Selflessness . Williams said heroes volunteer their time, donate to others, and advocate for those who can't advocate for themselves.

. Williams said heroes volunteer their time, donate to others, and advocate for those who can't advocate for themselves. Caring . Williams called on the students to care about everything and everyone because it makes the world more beautiful.

. Williams called on the students to care about everything and everyone because it makes the world more beautiful. Humility. She said everybody makes mistakes, that it is part of the human condition, and the only way to learn from them is by accepting them.

She said everybody makes mistakes, that it is part of the human condition, and the only way to learn from them is by accepting them. Supportiveness. She called on her classmates to support others just as others had supported them to get them to the Tanglewood stage on Friday.

And then she looked at her son and daughter, and thanked them for being heroes to her.

"The world needs more heroes and I challenge you all to become one regardless of the path you choose after today," Williams said.

The college's 59th commencement celebrated 297 students receiving degrees in a variety of fields. Led by Sheriff Thomas Bowler, the graduates cloaked in their gowns walked, some jumping for joy, others waving to family, others more serious, into the Shed as the Berkshire Highlanders played the bagpipes.

It was a moment of happiness, just as college President Ellen Kennedy wanted it to be.



Salutatorian Jessica Levy is recognized. Kennedy asked the students first to think of three people who helped get them there. And then, she asked them to think about the three traits they had that helped them get to this point.

"Over the rest of your life, when your situation is difficult or even dire, when in doubt you have the ability to complete, participate, or achieve, remember these traits or these reasons. Remember the happiness they engendered on this day at Tanglewood. Remember the people who came here to celebrate your accomplishment, the faculty that invested in you, and remember that you, likewise, invested in yourself," Kennedy said.

"Remember the happiness you feel right now, right here. May this happiness be never far no matter what you face in your life."

Kennedy focused on happiness as she believes it is an experience that becomes fleeting in today's age of social media.

"When we realize happiness is with reach, we realize no, there is something more to want, to aspire to, to covet. Social media has us comparing our life, our moments, to thousands of others who define happiness differently. Maybe some of us feel we haven't done enough, we haven't suffered enough, we haven't achieved enough to warrant the gift or please of happiness," Kennedy said.

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey served as the commencement speaker. The senator had started his college education as a commuter, living at home with his parents all the way through law school. He, too, called on the students to thank those who supported them.

Markey's background is similar to many of the students walking across the stage Friday. His father was a truck driver and his mother, while a class president in high school, hadn't pursued higher education because her mother had died and she had to raise her sisters.

Markey said he'll never work as hard as his father did nor will he be as smart as his mother. But what they did is provide him an opportunity to became the first college graduate in his family and do anything he wanted with his life, just as the BCC students now have.

"You get to choose because they sacrifices, they fought, they had a vision for their families," Markey said.

He called on the students to help others get that same opportunity. In his role, he said he's introducing a bill that will allow high school students to also attend community college for free to help expand that opportunity.

Markey said something needs to be done to reduce student debt, which is nationally at $1.5 trillion. He wants to allow people to renegotiate their student loans, to expand Pell grants, and to provide those who work in public service assistance in paying off education loans.

"The big dreams of college should not be thwarted by the small print on student loans," Markey said, later adding, "when we expand financial aid it means more people sitting where you are now, people who worked hard, and people who will feel the same sense of accomplishment that you are feeling now."

He wants the students to also go forth into the world and help solve the climate change problems. The co-author of the Green New Deal Resolution said the world can't survive rising sea tides and warming climate and it is up to the next generation to create the revolution into green energy.

"Our energy future will not be found in the dark of a mine but in the light of the sun," Markey said. "You are the revolutionaries and your job is to continue this revolution."

He encouraged the students to embrace technology. He said technology provides more opportunity and mobility to create new products, companies, and discover different ways to do thing. He said when the telecommunications laws were written in the 1990s, there was no broadband but now everybody has a massive amount of power.

"Today, only 20 years later, you all have a device that you are carrying more powerful than the computer that sent the Apollo to the moon," Markey said.

And, he called for helping fighting income inequality. He said the median Fortune 500 CEO makes $12.4 million while the kindergarten teacher makes around $50,000. Who contributed more to society? he asked. The senator said women still make 79 cents to a man's dollar. And he called on the graduates to fight the corporate money being infused into politics.

"So there it is. Save money, save the planet, save democracy, and save your parent's Netflix login so you don't have to pay," Markey joked as he wrapped up his series of advice.

After Markey's speech, the graduates got what they came for  the degrees. After they walked across the stage,

Darlene Rodowicz, chairman of the board of trustees, in her last act for the board, conferred the degrees giving the graduates the right to move their tassels.

But before they could leave and celebrate with their families on the lawn, Kennedy echoed Williams' words and reminded them to "go be a hero."
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches NASA's TESS mission in April 2018. That launch was one of several that may have used hardware produced by a supplier that forged inspection reports.

WASHINGTON  Federal prosecutors have charged a man with falsifying inspection records for hardware his company produced for SpaceX, highlighting an issue about the overall aerospace industry supply chain.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York filed charges May 22 against James Smalley, a former employee of PMI Industries, a Rochester, New York-based company that specialized in high-tolerance machining for "flight critical" aerospace parts for a number of companies, particularly SpaceX. Prosecutors allege that Smalley, who was employed by the company as a quality inspection engineer, falsified inspection reports for components produced by the company and then shipped to SpaceX for use on the company's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

According to the complaint filed in court by prosecutors, Smalley started work at PMI Industries in March 2017. In early 2018, an audit performed by another company, SQA Services, on behalf of SpaceX discovered "multiple falsified source inspection reports and non-destructive testing (NDT) certifications" by PMI Industries for parts it produced for SpaceX.

Related: SpaceX Dragon Accident a Bump in the Road for Commercial Crew

The specific parts are not identified in the court complaint, but are described as "ITAR restricted," meaning they are on the U.S. Munitions List of items whose export is controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The complaint does refer to structural parts for the rocket's payload fairing described as "fracture critical," which it states means that if it failed "it could result in catastrophic failure of the mission."

NASA's Office of Inspector General became involved in the case in February 2018 at the request of the NASA Launch Services Program, which was concerned about the possibility faulty components could be on the Falcon 9 rocket scheduled to launch NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) that April. The FBI and other agencies were also brought into the case.

Smalley later told investigators and company officials that he forged signatures of inspectors from SQA Services on reports because "he wanted to ship more product for the company," according to the court complaint. Smalley, acting alone, developed what prosecutors described as a "sophisticated scheme" to get around inspections of hardware, forge inspection reports and then ship the hardware to SpaceX.

Prosecutors said that Smalley falsified at least 38 reports, resulting in the shipping of 76 piece parts to SpaceX that either failed inspection or were never inspected as required. That hardware was intended for use on at least nine missions for the U.S. government, including some yet to launch. It's not clear from the complaint if any of the hardware was actually flown on the vehicles. The TESS spacecraft, for example, launched without incident in April 2018.

"The success of America's reinvigorated space program depends not just on American ingenuity but on American integrity as well," said U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. in a statement. "Such fraudulent conduct jeopardizes no only the success of the program but the lives of the brave men and women who rely on the integrity of not just the space vehicles themselves but all those who help to design and build them."

If convicted, Smalley could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. SpaceX terminated its business with PMI Industries, valued at about $200,000 per month, upon discovering the forged reports, causing PMI to go out of business.

The announcement of the charges comes only a month after the Justice Department reached a settlement with another company that allegedly forged test results for components built for launch vehicles . Oregon-based Hydro Extrusion Portland, Inc., formerly known as Sapa Profiles Inc. (SPI), paid $45 million to NASA and others for altering test results on aluminum extrusions it produced.

Those parts included those used on back-to-back failed launches of the Taurus rocket from Orbital Sciences Corp. (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems) carrying NASA satellites. NASA, the Justice Department stated, "identified SPI's out-of-specification extrusions as the cause of two failed rocket launches, which resulted in the loss of important scientific missions," a claim that SPI denied.
A skyrmion can be described as a swirling quasi-particle, a knot of twisting field lines, or a subatomic hurricane. They're also one of the most difficult physics concepts for humans to understand. That's because these nano-size disturbances are easiest to describe mathematically and, despite being known about for nearly 60 years, physicists have only recently started to find practical applications for skyrmions.

History of skyrmions

Skyrmions are named for British nuclear physicist Tony Skyrme, who first proposed their existence in 1961. His idea was to model subatomic entities like protons and neutrons using convoluted twists in the quantum field that all particles possess, according to the American Physical Society . While the concept was useful in many ways, such as accurately predicting some of the properties of fundamental particles like quarks and gluons, it struggled with other aspects of nuclear behavior.

The idea was eventually superseded by a theory known as quantum chromo-dynamics, which was more successful at modeling subatomic particles. But skyrmions have been revived by researchers working on magnetic fields, which can also be coaxed into forming vortex-like swirls.

In a magnetic skyrmion, the knotted magnetic field lines wrap around one another like key rings hooking into other key rings, creating a nanometer-scale shape that is impossible to pull apart without breaking the rings. In a magnetic field, the formation can drift from one spot to another, with the skyrmion making itself anew from lines at any given location.

What are skyrmions good for?

Because skyrmions are so small and stable, physicists are interested in controlling these particle-like entities for use in futuristic computers and electronic memory storage, according to Physics Today . Initially, researchers could only induce magnetic skyrmions in materials that had been cooled to very cold temperatures, but they are now routinely produced in room-temperature objects.

Since it takes relatively little power to maintain and electronically access data stored in magnetic skyrmions, engineers think these particles could make for very efficient memory-storage devices . An emerging field called skyrmionics is now dedicated to creating such next-generation appliances.

Skyrmions might also explain a weird and mysterious phenomenon known as ball lightning  a rare glowing orb that can appear during thunderstorms and skitter through the air, far outliving the more well-known jagged lightning. In 2018, a team proposed that the natural processes that somehow create the swirling knots that arise in skyrmions are the same ones that produce ball lightning.

Other researchers have begun reviving Skyrme's original models and have modified them to better explain concepts in nuclear physics, such as predicting the behavior and shape of nuclei .

Additional resources:
Critical fluorescence

Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy have been used to test the mettle of two novel fluorescent anthracene-decorated cyclotri- and cyclotetra-phosphazenes in detecting nitroaromatic compounds. Critically, the fluorescence intensities of both compounds are demonstrated to be quenched selectively only by the explosive compound 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, known colloquially as TNT. The quenching mechanism involves non-covalent pi-pi stacking interactions between the anthracene-substituted cyclophosphazenes and TNT. "The proposed fluorescent sensor systems are critical in terms of practical detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene," the research team writes in the journal Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc.

Chemists Emrah Ozcan, Sureyya Oguz Tumay, Gurkan Kesan, Serkan Yesilot, and Bunyemin Cosut of Gebze Technical University, in Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey explain that some researchers in the realm of supramolecular chemistry have focused on the development of its molecular tools for the detection of explosive nitrogen compounds including TNT and picric acid. Novel fluorescent chemosensors have been the target because they offer huge potential for sensitivity as well as selectivity for specific explosives even in a complex sample matrix that might contain other nitrogen compounds that are not problematic in the global security and environmental sense.

Testing on the cheap

Of course, chromatographic techniques, electrochemical detection, chemiluminescence detection, fluorescent monitoring, gas chromatography, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) have all been used in the past for the detection and determination of nitroaromatic compounds with varying degrees of success and ease. The Gebze team hopes to preclude the need for experts in expensive laboratories with sophisticated equipment by developing molecular sensors that can be used with minimal training and less costly equipment, in the field, rather than back in the lab.

The team concedes that, to this end, others have successfully developed organic and inorganic polymeric materials, metal organic materials, covalent organic polymers, and dendrimers, and quantum dots. They point out that such approaches do have limitations and so the researchers turned their attention to small molecules instead. "Small molecules as a fluorescent sensor are attractive because of their high quantum yield, straightforward synthesis, better reproducibility and easy purification," the write.

Compounds assessed

In this context, they have examined commercially available hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene and octachlorocyclotetraphosphazene, which they refer to as "fascinating compounds". These two substances have high thermal stability and are extremely sensitive to nucleophilic reactions under basic conditions, the team reports. They synthesized two derivatives: hexakis(4-hydroxyphenylanthracene-9-carboxylate) cyclotriphophazene and octakis(4-hydroxyphenylanthracene-9-carboxylate) cyclotetraphophazene. They confirmed structures using proton, carbon-13, and phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. They had used X-ray crystallography to obtain the structure of the precursor compound.

Related Links Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 2019, online: "The novel anthracene decorated dendrimeric cyclophosphazenes for highly selective sensing of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT)" Article by David Bradley Read more about David 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.

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Hospital lullaby

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to observe changes in the brains of premature babies as when different musical instruments are played to them. The research suggests that music might help promote brain development in these infants. Music of the Indian "punji", a type of flute, seems to have the most calming effect in the stressful environment of intensive care, the researchers found.

In most industrialized countries, almost one in a hundred babies are born before the 32nd week of gestation, a critical time. While advances in neonatal medicine mean such very premature infants have a good chance of survival, there are risks of developmental problems and neuropsychological disorders. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland have tested whether a simple and original therapy for the neonates might improve their chances and reduce the risks; they suggest playing them gentle music. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team explains how fMRI shows positive changes in a particular brain network involved in many sensory and cognitive functions, for those premature infants to whom music was played.

Sensory calming

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the HUG sees approximately 80 premature infants annually; most born between 24 and 32 weeks of pregnancy. Most of them do survive but half of them will later develop neurodevelopmental disorders, including learning difficulties, attentional or emotional disorders.

"At birth, these babies' brains are still immature," explains team leader Petra Huppi. "Brain development must therefore continue in the intensive care unit, in an incubator, under very different conditions than if they were still in their mother's womb." The fact that the brain is immature, sometimes four months immature and the disturbing and putatively stressful sensory environment in which the baby finds itself might explain why neural networks do not always develop as they should.

The team had a simple, practical idea: the neural deficits of premature babies are often due, at least in part, to unexpected and stressful stimuli as well as to a lack of stimuli adapted to their condition, their environment should be enriched by introducing pleasant and structuring stimuli. A baby's hearing becomes functional early in development, so perhaps music might be a gentle and calming stimulus. The team met with composer Andreas Vollenweider to create suitable music for the premature infants.

Charming

"It was important that these musical stimuli were related to the baby's condition," explains team member Lara Lordier. "We wanted to structure the day with pleasant stimuli at appropriate times: a music to accompany their awakening, a music to accompany their falling asleep, and a music to interact during the awakening phases." The researchers also had to choose which instruments would be most suitable for their very young patients. Vollenweider played various instruments to the babies, in the presence of a nurse specialized in developmental support care. Intriguingly, the instrument that generated the most reaction from the infants was what one might think of as the Indian snake charmers' punji, Lordier adds. "Very agitated children calmed down almost instantly, their attention was drawn to the music," she says. Vollenweider composed three sound "environments" of eight minutes each, with punji, harp, and bells. The team then carried out a double-blind study, with a group of premature infants who listened to the music, a control group of premature infants, and a control group of full-term newborns to see how the music might affect brain development.

Without music, premature babies generally had poorer functional connectivity between brain areas than full-term babies, confirming the negative effect of being born prematurely. "The most affected network is the salience network which detects information and evaluates its relevance at a specific time, and then makes the link with the other brain networks that must act. This network is essential, both for learning and performing cognitive tasks as well as in social relationships or emotional management," says Lara Lordier.

Related Links Proc Natl Acad Sci 2019, online: "Music in premature infants enhances high-level cognitive brain networks" Article by David Bradley Read more about David 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.

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Hemp supplied the paper on which the founding documents of American indepedence were written and was a reliable cash crops for generations of American farmers from colonial time until the plant was effectively outlawed as a result of big money politics during the Great Depression. Now that hemp is once again legal, it is again a lucrative cash crop during hard times in rural America.

What's different is that now it is not fiber but cannabinoids, and specifically CBD, that make hemp valuable. But what's the same is that farmers worry just as hemp fiber was muscled aside by big money invested in synthetic fibers in the 1930s, the big money of today will rush biosynthetic cannabinoids to market and squelch the potential of hemp to bring new economic vitality to farm country.

Today the FDA is holding a daylong public hearing on Scientific Data and Information about Products Containing Cannabis or Cannabis-Derived Compounds, which is really a daylong discussion about CBD, though it will have big implications for all cannabinoids as their potential is realized. The hemp industry will be amply represented and has a blunt message for regulators: CBD and all other cannabinoids, other than THC, are legal only when derived from American grown hemp.

Related: Facebook: Stop Censoring Hemp

The source matters, said Steve Bevan, chairman of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable and president of GenCanna, a fast growing hemp processor igniting an agricultural renaissance among Kentucky tobacco farmers seeking a new crop. That is the crux of the congressional intent. It is very clear this (CBD) is supposed to be an agricultural product for the benefit of Americas farmers. This is about developing an industry from the ground up that compensates farmers better than for other crops, where farmers are growing using organic and healthy techniques because they have. It's about a chance to reinvent things, to get in front of all the really big corporate interests so that a bunch of small folks, individual farmers and small emerging brands, have some room to grow.

Hemp was essentially outlawed by the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act (yes, they spelled marijuana with an h) at the successful conclusion of a well-documented power play by the paper industry and the emerging synthetic fiber industry. The resilient plant has been making a major comeback since 2014 when Congress allowed state supervised pilot programs. Hemp was fully legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill, which distinguished hemp with trace amounts of THC, the cannabinoid demonized for its intoxicating effects, from marijuana, which is basically the same plant but with much greater amounts of THC.

By legalizing hemp, Congress opened the door to a legal source of CBD. Bevan argues Congress intended for American hemp farms to be the sole source, to the exclusion of both CBD derived from marijuana containing more than 0.3 THC and from laboratories synthesizing it from yeast.

Related: Why Synthetic CBD Is (Probably) the Future of Cannabis Pharma

The Farm Bill carved hemp out from the Controlled Substances Act and allocated the legal production of hemp to American farmers, Bevan said. The main driver of the modern American hemp business is the cannabinoids derived from it, not including THC. Our message is that Congress intended this legalization of hemp to benefit the American farmer.

Unlike all other agricultural products, no government agency is systematically collecting data on how many acres of hemp are planted or what amounts are harvested, and there is no commodity market or futures exchange posting hemp prices. Nonetheless, hemp is widely seen as immense new opportunity that farmers are seizing, as exemplified by GenCanna itself. The company moved to Kentucky, historically a major hemp producer, after the 2014 Farm Bill allowed a hemp pilot project to be established.

In 2018 GenCanna contracted with about a dozen Kentucky farmers who grew hemp on a bit more than 900 acres. Its 2019 goal is to contract with roughly 50 Kentucky in hopes of getting at least 10,000 acres of hemp planted. The company is building a $40 million hemp processing facility that will create at least 80 new jobs in in Graves County, Kentucky, and has developed, in cooperation with the University of Kentucky, a hemp strain with zero THC that it intends to patent.

While the boom is all about CBD right now, hemp is rich in many other cannabinoids and the rest of the plant has countless uses, all of which Bevan sees as eventually driving even more rural economic development.

"As soon as we and the rest of the industry scales a little more we will take advantage of the fibers, the protein from hemp seeds, the hemp oil rich in essential fatty acids, but first there needs to be that agricultural base," Bevan said. "If you let the farmers grow the floral material for the CBD, you get the fiber for free, you get the seed for free, you get all of the ancillary benefits of that economic potential."

Other companies are making similiar investments in hemp processing and signing deals with farmers in other parts of the country. The industry taking root in farm country need the legal protection that Congress intended, Bevan argues.

Related: Pulling the Cork Out of the Processing Bottleneck Slowing the Hemp/CBD Boom

"The economic intent of this legislation is not to help some pharmaceutical development or Wall Street financial model," Bevan said. "The intent is very simple, to give farmers a new healthful crop that people want and understand. It seems pretty obvious to me those who step outside that clear intent are attempting to profiteer in a way that isn't in the best interests of the majority of people."

Related:

Farmers to FDA: Only CBD From American-Grown Hemp Is Legal

Facebook: Stop Censoring Hemp

Is There Actually Any CBD in That CBD Oil You Bought?



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DANBURY  A Stamford man faces charges of sexual assault after an investigation into an incident at the Danbury mall earlier this year, police said Friday.

Kevin Hassan, 60, of Stamford, was charged with three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, three counts of breach of peace and first-degree criminal trespass.

Lt. Bryan Bishop said on Feb. 16, an officer responded to the Danbury Fair Mall for a sexual assault complaint. Bishop said an unknown man, who claimed he was a barber, walked up to the victim and complimented the victim on their hair while also inappropriately touching them without their consent.

During the investigation, the officer reached out to local media to spread a photo of the suspect to try to identify him. Bishop said photos in the media helped lead police to identify the suspect as Hassan.

Another victim also came forward to report they previously experience a similar interaction with Hassan  who, Bishop said, had previously been told to not go back to the locations where these incident(s) had occurred.

The investigating officer submitted an arrest warrant application to Danbury Superior Court and it was approved.

On Wednesday, Hassan was taken into custody at his home by Stamford police and was transferred into the custody of Danbury police.

Hassan was released after posting a $25,000 bond. Hes expected in court on June 17.
M ore than 30 people have been arrested as thousands of Hells Angels bikers take part in a three-day event to mark the club's 50th anniversary in the UK.

Surrey and Sussex Police said a total of 34 people had been detained on suspicion of drugs offences and possession of offensive weapons in connection to the Hells Angels Euro Run.

The event, which has included a private celebration at a hotel in East Surrey, commemorates the anniversary of the first branch of the California-based motorcycle club being set up in the UK.

It culminates in a mass "ride out" from Pease Pottage, near Crawley, to Brighton on Saturday, with more than 3,000 bikers expected to take part.

At least 34 were arrested ahead of their 50th Anniversary Euro Run. / PA

Earlier this week, officers were granted powers to stop and search people within a designated area across Surrey and Sussex in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour.

A total of 12 people - five Germans, three Hungarians, one Swiss, one French, one Czech and one Greek man - have been charged.

Seven appeared in court on Friday and were given suspended prison sentences, while five more are due to appear in court on Saturday.

Three others remain in custody and the rest were either cautioned or released without charge.

Assistant Chief Constable of Surrey Police Nev Kemp, who is leading policing operations across both counties this week, said: "We have been very clear with those attending the Hells Angels event, many from overseas, that we will not tolerate criminal and anti-social behaviour.

"Our activity over the last few days has been about keeping people safe, which is why I put the Section 60 order in place.

"The fact that we have had seven people go through the courts and be sentenced so far, as well as the numerous arrests, has justified our actions and use of Section 60 this week.

"This weekend, especially Saturday, sees one of the busiest for both forces in the last 12 months and we continue to work hard to keep our residents and those visiting safe.

"Officers will be out in high numbers so expect to see us on patrol responding and responding quickly to any incidents. We have well prepared plans in place with officers from both forces, plus mutual aid support on hand."
A second teenager has been charged with murder of a father who died after he was attacked in south-west London.

Iderval de Silva, 46, was found by emergency services with a head injury on Charlotte Despart Avenue, Battersea, at around 4.30pm last Saturday.

The Brazilian died in hospital on Tuesday, Scotland Yard said.

Jaden Richards, 19, of Strasburg Road, Wandsworth, will appear in custody at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Saturday in connection his murder.

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to his age, was previously charged with murder and appeared at Wimbledon Youth Court on Friday.

He was remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey for a bail application on June 4.

Another 16-year-old boy who was arrested near to the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm was bailed until a date in early June pending further inquiries, police said.

Friends of Mr da Silva, who had a 26-year-old son, said he arrived in London three months ago and had been working for Uber Eats.

He was from Sao Paulo and had served in the Brazilian army and taught capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art.

His friend Silva Rodge, 41, told the Standard: He was the friendliest man Ive ever met. He helped people and asked for nothing back.

"He was alone and came to London to be close to his friends."

A 19-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the incident, police added.

Former boxer Ian Tomlin, 46, was killed after confronting drug dealers on the same street last October.
S ajid Javid has said he is not afraid of taking Britain out of the EU without a deal despite warnings that it would be disastrous for British business.

The Tory leadership hopeful set out his plans to tackle the challenges facing Theresa May's successor, ruling out holding a second referendum, an early general election or revoking Article 50.

Writing in the Daily Mail, the Home Secretary said: "The voters have been asked their opinion more than enough times. Never in this country's history have we asked people to go to the polls a second time without implementing their verdict from the first.

"Another vote before we leave would be disastrous for trust in politics, and cause the kind of chaos that risks handing Jeremy Corbyn and his hard-left supporters the keys to No 10."

Mr Javid vowed to ramp up preparations for a no-deal Brexit because "we have to accept the reality of our situation".

Tory leadership race: Who are the contenders so far?

This would include drawing up a "bold" no-deal Budget, and showing the EU that Britain is not afraid of walking away from negotiations.

But Mr Javid said he will still work to secure a deal and promises to focus efforts on working with Ireland to amend the backstop and come up with a "credible solution".

"I would take every step possible to ensure we leave with a deal by October 31," he said.

But he added: "If we cannot get a deal, we should, with great regret, leave without one, having done everything we can to minimise disruption."

Mr Javid is among a crowded field in the race to replace Mrs May, with other contenders including fellow cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt, Rory Stewart and Michael Gove.

On Friday, former chief whip Mark Harper became the latest to announce his intention to stand for the top job after Mrs May resigns as Tory leader on June 7.

Tory leadership race: Mark Harper

All the candidates have been warned of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit by the Confederation of British Industry.

The organisation's director-general Carolyn Fairbairn used an open letter to say the next prime minister must seek an agreement with Brussels as the "vast majority of firms can never be prepared for no-deal".

She said: "The next prime minister can only claim the Conservatives are the party of business if they secure a Brexit deal that protects the economy, jobs and living standards.

"Firms large and small are clear that leaving the EU with a deal is the best way forward.

"Short-term disruption and long-term damage to British competitiveness will be severe if we leave without one.
N igel Farage has accused Downing Street of being "petty" and "small minded" after he was allegedly banned from meeting Donald Trump next week.

The Brexit Party leader said Number 10 had told the US president's team not to meet him during his state visit - a move he branded "absolutely ludicrous".

Mr Farage said that a friend in Washington had informed him that Theresa May's office had told Mr Trump's entourage: "Don't meet this guy."

"It's absolutely ludicrous," Mr Farage said.

Mr Trump has openly backed Boris Johnson for Tory leader. / REUTERS

"I know they're worried about their Conservative Party but given that I've got good connections to him and many of the team around him and that they're our biggest military ally, intelligence ally, and very important investor in each other's countries - why would you want to prevent a meeting between someone who knows the president well?

"It's just extraordinary, it's small minded, petty and it's not putting the interests of the country first."

A Downing Street spokesman said: "Who the President meets during his visit is of course a matter for him."

Asked about Mr Trump's comments that Boris Johnson would be an "excellent" choice to replace Mrs May as Conservative Party leader, Mr Farage said: "He obviously likes Boris, and he obviously thinks Boris believes in Brexit.

"Trump is clearly a Brexiteer - he's never made any bones about that, so yeah he likes Boris.

"He quite likes Jeremy Hunt by the sounds of it too."

Mr Trump will be in the UK for a three-day visit from 3-5 June, and earlier this week said Mr Farage was a "friend of mine" and a "good guy".
T he UK Border Force has said it is responding to a "record" number of incidents following reports of boats carrying migrants arriving off the Kent coast.

The coastgaurd has assisted border police with at least 13 different reported incidents on Saturday morning, an HM Coastguard spokeswoman said.

Earlier, it was reported four boats with 30 people had been intercepted. Eight men in an inflatable dinghy have also been seen on Winchelsea Beach, in East Sussex.

Images of men being given blankets by emergency service workers on Winchelsea Beach have been shared on Twitter.

Emergency services responded to at least 13 reports of migrant boats. / @sjedmb/Twitter

Border force vessels, RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Dungeness and Rye and coastguard rescue teams from Folkestone, Langdon and Rye Bay have been involved in the response.

A Border Force spokeswoman confirmed it was dealing with ongoing small boat incidents.

A spokesman for Kent Police said it had provided support to the Border Force.

MP Charlie Elphicke called on Britain and France to tackle criminal trafficking gangs. / @sjedmb/Twitter

Responding to reports of eight boats being dealt with, Kent MP Charlie Elphicke claimed it would mean "a record number of boats arriving in a single day".

He added on Twitter: "This crisis was meant to have been dealt with at Christmas, yet numbers continue to rise.

"It looks set to surge to record levels through the summer.

"The Home Office needs to get a grip on this crisis."

Later he said: "This is much more than simply border security. It is about the exploitation of vulnerable people by crinimal trafficking gangs - gangs that Britain and France must work together to catch and bring to justice.

"These journeys are also incredibly dangerous," he continued. "Overcrowded boats with men, women & children aboard. The risk of a tragedy in the middle of the English Channel resulting in loss of life is very real."

An HM Coastguard spokeswoman said it is "committed to safeguarding life around the seas and coastal areas of this country".

Emergency services responded to at least 13 reports of migrant boats. / @sjedmb/Twitter

She added: "We are only concerned with preservation of life, rescuing those in trouble and bringing them safely back to shore, where they will be handed over to the relevant partner emergency services or authorities."
C ambridge University discriminates against white, conservative men, an Oxford academic has claimed.

Professor Nigel Biggar said Cambridge has done serious damage to its reputation as well as intellectual freedom.

A spokesman for the university said it utterly refuted the claims.

Prof Biggar's controversial work on the legacy of colonialism has previously been the subject of protests by fellow academics.

The University of Oxford academic incited fresh anger on Friday after comparing Cambridges handling of Professor Jordan Peterson with that of one of its own academics, Dr Priyamvada Gopal.

Prof Biggar called the university's treatment of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson (pictured) as "grossly discourteous". / EPA

Writing in the Oxford Magazine, Prof Biggar said the Canadian psychologist was treated in a grossly discourteous and humiliating way.

Prof Peterson was awarded a visiting fellowship by Cambridge before having it rescinded in April.

At the time, the psychologist accused Cambridge of being unprofessional after he found out he was being stripped of his fellowship due to complaints from the student union.

In the past, Prof Peterson has argued for enforced monogamy, the view that men are victims of gender discrimination, and said that the idea of white privilege is a Marxist lie.

Prof Biggar, who is head of Oxfords McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life, is currently leading a study on Ethics and the Empire which analyses the impact of Britains imperial past.

He said that he complained to the Master of Churchill College about Dr Gopals attacking of the project on social media.

However, he said the university stood by her right to make the remarks on social media.

Prof Biggar then compared the two episodes, claiming it showed that Cambridge does in fact discriminate on the unjustifiable grounds of race, gender, and above all morals and politics.

He said: If youre non-white, female, and aggressively woke, then youll be accorded maximal benefit of doubt, given a pass on official norms of civility, and let free to spit hatred and contempt on social media.

However, if youre white, male, culturally conservative, and given to expressing reasoned doubt about prevailing mores, youll be given no benefit of doubt at all.

And, should you do so much as appear to transgress ill-conceived norms of inclusiveness, youll be summarily and rudely excluded.

Dr Gopal called the article a tedious bore on Twitter, adding that she was not available for comment.

She also wrote: These power imbalances are so profoundly built in to bullying, harassment, stalking, racism, sexism ect.
T he Duke and Duchess of Sussex have paid tribute to Princess Dianas work with HIV in support of the LGBTQ+ community on the first day of Pride Month.

Harry and Meghan shared a photograph of the prince's late mother to their eight million Instagram followers as part of a photo collage promoting a deservedly more inclusive future.

Princess Diana had been a prolific advocate in changing the stigma around AIDS and HIV.

Among her work, she opened the UKs first ever HIV/Aids unit at Londons Middlesex Hospital in 1987.

In front of reporters, she shook the hand of a man suffering with the virus without wearing gloves to challenge the assumption that HIV/Aids was contagious by touch.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex paid tribute to her work by sharing the photograph of Dianna talking with patient Gerard McGrath at London Lighthouse in 1996.

Mr McGrath told reporters last year: When she came in, she was shining.

The Princess of Wales visted the London Lighthouse in 1996. / PA

That smile, it just beamed when she smiled. She beamed.

I sound like a sycophant but thats how it was. Im not a royal person really. Im a republican, but she was an exception.

The photo was part of a collage on the Sussex Royal account, which showcased images taken around the world and throughout history, that were posted by different Instagrammers that support the LGBTQ+ rights.

Meghan and Harry tagged users like Human Rights Campaign, Pride, Pflag, Sageusa, mattshepardfdn, stonewalluk, and itgetsbetter.

The tribute is the latest in the royal couples new monthly tradition of promoting social media accounts which they follow based on causes and social issues that matter to them.

In a caption they wrote: For the month of June we proudly shine a light on PRIDE.

This month we pay tribute to the LGBTQ+ community  those young and old, their families and friends, accounts that reflect on the pasty and are hopeful for a deservedly more inclusive future.

We stand with you and support you.

Because its very simple: love is love.

The pair explained that the images posted were from accounts Sussex Royal Instagram are now following, as well as the artist Guadalupe Marquez.

The post racked up nearly 200,000 likes in just four hours.
P olice in Hungary have identified seven South Koreans who died in a boat crash in Budapest.

35 people were on board a small sightseeing boat when it was hit by a cruise liner in the River Danube during a rainstorm on Wednesday night.

The captain of the cruise ship was taken into custody on Friday suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly accident.

He was identified as Yuriy C from Odessa, Ukraine.

The larger tourist vessel Viking Sigyn was reportedly involved in the collision which caused the Mermaid to sink / REUTERS

Police spokesman Kristof Gal said on Saturday that they had identified the victims but did not release their names.

He said: "We could do that first using finger and palm prints taken from them, the corpses, and cooperating with South Korean authorities, and second, using photographs shown to victims' family members, who identified their relatives.

Seven South Korean citizens survived the crash, while 19 South Koreans and two Hungarians have been officially listed as missing for three days, all of them feared dead amid hostile conditions on the river.

CCTV video footage showed the two vessels travelling in the same direction, side-by-side, as they approached a bridge in central Budapest. It was not immediately clear what caused the collision.

Flowers are placed near the site of the fatal crash, which killed several people, on the Danube river in Budapest / REUTERS

Officials said the hull of the Mermaid, a 27-metre (89-ft) double-decker river cruise boat, had been found on the riverbed a few hundred metres from its usual mooring point.

Survivors have given accounts of the ordeal, describing how they wept and watched in horror as others around them struggled to stay afloat. Officials have said they were not wearing lifejackets.

"The people plunged into the river in the darkness and shouted `Help me!' while floundering in the waters. But I couldn't do anything for them," a 31-year-old survivor surnamed Jeong told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Ms Jeong and her fellow survivors said their small sightseeing boat had almost finished its hour-long night tour of the Hungarian capital when it was hit by the larger cruise ship under a bridge near the riverbank parliament building.

Hungarian officials are preparing to raise the wreck of the sunken Mermaid. / AP

They said about 20 people were on the deck taking photographs or getting ready to disembark, while the others were in the cabin, when the cruise ship struck.

"I saw that big cruise ship coming closer to us but I had never imagined it would ram our boat," said Ms Jeong.

She said she and others on deck were thrown into the cold water by the impact.

Another survivor surnamed Yoon, 32, said: "Our boat was turned over in an instant and began sinking."

Candles and flowers have been left under the Magrit Bridge where the sightseeing boat sank on Wednesday. / AP

"All those on the deck fell into water and I think those staying in the cabin on the first floor couldn't probably get out of the ship swiftly," Ms Yoon told Yonhap.

Police said it took only seven seconds for the boat to overturn and sink.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered his condolences to Seoul.
A search is underway after seven climbers went missing a week ago during an expedition in the Indian Himalayas, local authorities have said.

Four Brits, two Americans, an Australian and their Indian guide are feared to be trapped by an avalanche as they attempted to scale Nanda Devi, the second highest peak in India at 25,000 ft tall.

The group has reportedly been missing since May 25, after it failed to reach its base camp at 19,685 ft on May 26 as expected.

Local Uttarakhand District Magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande told CNN that the Himalayan Treks - the agency which arranged the expedition - waited a few days after the team went missing before alerting authorities of the disappearance on May 31.

Heavy traffic of mountain climbers line up to stand at the summit of Mount Everest. / AFP/Getty Images/Project Possible

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said: "We are in contact with the Indian authorities following reports that a number of British nationals are missing in the Indian Himalayas.

"We will do all we can to assist any British people who need our help."

The Australian department of Foreign Affairs also said it was providing assistant to a victims family but declined to give further details.

A released statement said: "'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian that may be among a group of trekkers missing in the Nanda Devi area of India.

"Due to privacy obligations, we are unable to provide further information."

11 climbers have died on Mount Everest this year. / AP

It follows the deaths of 11 climbers on Mount Everest this year.

In May, extraordinary pictures of people queueing to reach the summit sparked concerns over the increased commercialisation of mountaineering expeditions.
P olice in Virginia Beach have named the 12 victims of a mass shooting in a local government building.

The shooting happened at about 4pm local time on Friday when an employee of the Public Utilities Department entered a building at the Virginia Beach Municipal Centre, and opened fire.

He was identified as DeWayne Craddock, a disgruntled city engineer and co-worker of most of the victims.

Police said he used a .45 calibre handgun equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and extended ammunition magazines that he used to reload during the attack.

Crime scene tape is strung between trees near the perimeter of the Municipal Center / Getty Images

They said more weapons were found at the scene and at Craddock's home.

Eleven of the twelve were city employees, while one was a contractor.

The victims were named as Laquita C. Brown, Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev and Katherine A. Nixon.

Richard H. Nettleton, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua A. Hardy, Michelle "Missy" Langer, Robert "Bobby" Williams and Herbert "Bert" Snelling were also killed.

Police work the scene where 12 people were killed during the mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building / AP

Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said two police supervisors from a building across the street arrived within minutes of the first shots, and the suspect was killed after a lengthy gun battle.

He said the gunman "immediately and indiscriminately" fired on his victims, but declined to comment on any possible motive.

According to local media, Craddock was 40 years old and had no serious criminal record.

The rampage in Virginia Beach was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were slain at a Los Angeles-area bar and grill by a gunman who then killed himself.

Twelve killed in Virginia Beach shooting

Mr Cervera has said he will only give the gunman's name once because city authorities want to focus on his victims.

Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen identified the victims during the news conference and said that, except for the contractor, they had worked for Virginia Beach for between 11 months and 41 years.

"They leave a void that we will never be able to fill," Hansen said.

The four people who were seriously wounded in the shooting were still being treated at local hospitals. They included a police officer whose life was saved by his ballistic vest, Cervera said.
A tentative deal is close to settling lawsuits brought against the television and film company co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by scores of women.

Adam Harris, a lawyer for studio co-founder Bob Weinstein, told a bankruptcy court judge Thursday that "an economic agreement in principal" has been reached. The amount of the settlement wasn't provided.

A person familiar with the negotiations, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal isn't final, said it would be worth $44 million.

The New York Times said under the proposed terms, about $30 million of the $44 million would go to a pool of plaintiffs that includes alleged victims, creditors of Weinsteins former studio and some former employees. The newspaper's sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement was private.

More than 15 lawsuits have been filed accusing Harvey Weinstein or the company of misconduct. The settlement would cover many of them, including a class action by alleged victims and a suit by the New York attorney general.

The scandal forced the studio into bankruptcy.
April 13

11:27 a.m.  In the 100 block of S. Beltline, police stopped a vehicle on a traffic violation. Jose Campos, 19, and a male juvenile were both cited on charges of possession of marijuana less than an ounce.

1:54 p.m.  In the 900 block of W. 36th Street, police investigated a report of credit card fraud.

5:10 p.m.  Police investigated a report of child abuse. Additional details were not available in the media report.

April 14

1:30 a.m.  Police stopped a vehicle in the 000 block of W. Eighth Street. Anesis Moreno-Arvizu, 26, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.

8:44 a.m.  A woman reported her property had been vandalized overnight. Eric Condon, 25, was cited on a charge of criminal mischief.

5:51 p.m.  At the intersection of E. 15th Street and Fourth Avenue, Rosa Gonzalez, 22, was cited on charges of driving under suspension and failure to yield the right of way.

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SCOTTSBLUFF  Western Nebraska Community College has unveiled a redesigned wncc.edu.

The redesign process for the new website took around 18 months, which included the addition of a new design, a new content management system, updated photography, and re-developed content. Ultimately, the new website was created as a recruitment tool with prospective students as the primary audience.

Im so pleased with the revamped website, said WNCC President Dr. Todd Holcomb. Updating our website has been on the to-do list for several years, as the last website update came in 2012. Now, we have a website that matches who we are as an institution and will hopefully resonate with our students.

Throughout the redesign process, we talked extensively with our faculty, staff, administration, students, and design consultants, said Public Relations & Marketing Director Allison Judy. In those conversations, we commonly heard the same desires out of our new website a fresh new look that caters to our students, and intuitive navigation. Looking at the end product, I think our staff worked incredibly hard to accomplish that.
It is likely that the Nebraska Legislature will end its 2019 session without any meaningful action on an issue that was heralded as a top priority: high property taxes.

There are two principal reasons why the problem has remained so intractable. One is the War on Poverty and its successors, and the other is the way Nebraskans pay for local government.

Over 50 years ago, a prosperous nation turned its attention to a segment being left behind: the poor. Thus was born the War on Poverty of the 1960s.

In rapid order, President Lyndon Johnson presided over an avalanche of social legislation. Included was the establishment of Food Stamps in 1964, then Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Other initiatives included the Job Corps, federal funding for education, and a variety of other anti-poverty programs. In addition, the 50 states began to spend their own money to combat poverty and its effects.

These efforts have produced both successes and failures, as expected. But not expected were the billions and billions of dollars now spent annually by all levels of government, as they address a host of social needs and ills ... some old, some new.
There wasn't any rain on Friday but skies in the region were hazy because of wildfires in Canada.

David Eastlack, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Valley, said the air quality is in the "moderate" range. That means the air quality is generally acceptable, but for people who are sensitive to some pollutants, it could be a problem.

Friday's hazy skies capped off the seventh wettest May on record for Eppley Airfield, the weather service tweeted.

Looking ahead, Eastlack said it should be a good weekend to be outside. Highs on Saturday are expected to be in the upper 70s and 80s. Highs on Sunday are expected to be in the mid 70s.
Pellegrinos Trattoria, a family style Italian restaurant is known for being the home of the biggest meatball in North Carolina. This week, it takes on another role as it plans to provide a free lunch to local police departments.

The Troutman restaurant will be providing free pizza on Monday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to local police departments, including the Troutman Police Department, Mooresville Police Department, Statesville Police Department and Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

The free meal was inspired by the community support of the officers after the loss of Mooresville K9 Officer Jordan Sheldon, who was shot on May 4 after a traffic stop.

When this happened I didnt know how big it would be  I saw the hearts go out  it put chills in my body to see, said Giovanni Pellegrino, co-owner of Pellegrinos Trattoria.

This led Pellegrino to want to do something to help show support for the community police officers.

People dont understand that when they kiss their wives and kids in the morning, they might not know if they will make it home, Pellegrino said. They dont know what to expect, they put themselves out there and there could be danger.
Two North Carolina residents were sentenced in Greensboro on Tuesday for drug trafficking in Rowan County, according to a release from the office of U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin.

Fifty-three-year-old Alfredo Arias Bello, aka Alfredo Arias Vello, of Yadkinville, and Rodolfo Vargas-Benitez, aka Luciano Varga Benitez, 37, of Mocksville plead guilty to distributing approximately 1.8 ounces or more of methamphetamine, the release said.

Bello was sentenced to a 60-month term, while Vargas-Benitez received a 72-month sentence, Martin said. Both were ordered to report to immigration authorities after discharge from the Bureau of Prison and to serve a term of supervised release once their sentences were completed.

The release cited court documents from late 2017, stating a confidential informant told law enforcement he could purchase large quantities of methamphetamine from a suspect later identified as Bello. Documents said Bello was contacted by the CI on Jan. 16, 2018, and set up a purchase for two ounces of methamphetamine.
More than 150 proud Pine Lake Prep graduates marched their way down the aisle to the sound of bagpipes and Pomp and Circumstance as friends and family cheered them on Saturday morning.

The graduation ceremony was held at The Cove Church. The ceremony began with the National Anthem, followed by Pine Lake Preparatorys Executive Director Andrew Moceri welcoming students, family, friends and staff members.

I would like to welcome you to the 2019 Pine Lake Preparatory graduation ceremony, Moceri said. We recognize and congratulate what is our 11th graduating class and our largest graduating class.

MOST OFF TO COLLEGE

A majority of the graduates will be attending college. While most students will be attending college in North Carolina at schools such as UNC- Charlotte, Appalachian State University, NC State and UNC- Chapel Hill, some students will be traveling further. One student will be traveling as far away as the West Coast to attend UC Berkeley.

A couple of students will also be joining the military, with one student committed to the United States Military Academy-West Point.

CLASS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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Srinagar, Jun 1 (UNI) Expressing serious concern over the plight of Muslim in Uighur China, chairman of hardline Hurriyat Conference (HC) Syed Ali Geelani said the media reports are not only disturbing but alarming also as thousands of Muslim have been imprisoned and made captive for years together in large camps and godowns.

He said Muslims, who should have been united and acted as one, is fragmented in the name of sects, sub sects and geographical boundaries, making themselves an easy prey and a testing species for the deadly weaponry and artilleries of the anti-Muslim forces.

He said, although international media is almost silent about what is happening in Uighur community of China, but whatever little information, trickles down through social media and a few media houses, is not only disturbing but alarming as well. Thousands of Muslim have been imprisoned and made captive for years together in large camps and godowns and are deprived of any humanely treatment, Geelani alleged.

He said that recent reports of ill-treatment of Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan is heart wrenching. Muslims are forced to eat and drink during the day time at their work places. They are compelled to keep their hotels and eateries open despite their resistance. They are not allowed to perform their religious obligations like Salah and Fasts.

Hurriyat chairman said this is the worst form of majortarian oppression and religious hatred, which is enough to send shock waves down the spine of every conscious human.

Geelani appealed to the world bodies especially United Nation and OIC to take these disturbing reports from Uighur China very seriously and rescue this helpless minority of Muslims.

He appealed to government, its opposition and people of Pakistan to use its good offices of the Pak-China friendship' to help their brethren out of this suffocating situation.

Image: UNI
Second class corporal Anton Florin, who was injured on May 24 in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device blast, was transferred on Saturday to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center - Germany, for additional medical investigations and specialist treatment, the Ministry of National Defence announced.

According to the cited source, the Romanian serviceman is in stable condition.

"The other four servicemen who sustained injuries in the same incident have been discharged from hospital and continue their treatment and recovery at their subunits, under the care of the medical team of the 300th 'Sfantu Andrei' Mechanised Infantry Battalion in Kandahar," the Defence Ministry said in the release.

Second class corporal Anton Florin of the said battalion was injured on May 24 as he and fellow servicemen were conducting a joint patrol mission with US soldiers in their area of responsibility in Afghanistan.

AGERPRES
More than 10,800 firefighters, policemen and gendarmes have been deployed to and are taking action this Saturday at the sites under weather and hydrological warnings, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) said in a release.

The National Meteorological Administration has issued a new countrywide warning of atmospheric instability that is likely to produce tornadoes, heavy downpours, squalls and hail, effective as of Saturday at 10:00 hrs till June 4 at 10:00 hrs. A Code Orange alert of heavy rain and temporary atmospheric instability has also been issued for four counties in northern Moldavia: Botosani, Iasi, Neamt and Suceava, effective until Sunday at 6.00 am.According to the Interior Ministry, the effects of the extreme weather still persist in 44 localities in the counties of Arges, Bacau, Bistrita-Nasaud, Buzau, Calarasi, Cluj, Dambovita, Galati, Giurgiu, Hunedoara, Ilfov, Iasi, Mures, Neamt, Prahova, Vaslui and Vrancea, and in Bucharest, where a total of 243 houses, 100 courtyards, nine cellars / basements and two public institution buildings have been affected.A family of five - a mother and four young children - was swept away by a flash flood in Sangeru - Prahova County, on Friday. The mother was rescued, but three of the children were later found dead and one is still missing; firefighters, policemen and gendarmes continue searching for the fourth child, the MAI said.Personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs continue working in Bucharest and in 14 counties (Arges, Bacau, Bistrita-Nasaud, Buzau, Calarasi, Cluj, Dambovita, Hunedoara, Ialomita, Iasi, Ilfov, Prahova, Vaslui and Vrancea) to drain the water from homes, remove the trees fallen on cars or roadways, unclog wells, supply drinking water to communities where necessary.The MAI National Integrated Management Center stays activated, complemented by the Task Force of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations. All categories of means and equipment are kept operational for a fast response and permanent service was ordered at the mayoralties in the areas covered by warnings of dangerous hydrological and weather phenomena; accommodation space for people in difficulty is also being identified, the MAI states.On Friday the Prahova Inspectorate for Emergency Situations upped its operational capacity to Level IV - Red alert, three subunits of the Arges Inspectorate for Emergency Situations also went to Level II - Blue Alert.Operational groups are activated at the Inspectorates for Emergency Situations in 23 counties (Alba, Arges, Bacau, Braila, Botosani, Brasov, Buzau, Caras-Severin, Covasna, Dambovita, Gorj, Giurgiu, Harghita, Ialomita, Iasi, Neamt, Olt , Prahova, Sibiu, Suceava, Teleorman, Valcea and Vaslui).The County Intervention Management and Coordination Centers are activated in 13 counties (Arges, Bacau, Braila, Buzau, Caras-Severin, Covasna, Dambovita, Giurgiu, Ialomita, Neamt, Prahova, Suceava and Teleorman).The County Committees for Emergency Situations convened in extraordinary meetings in three counties (Botosani, Neamt and Suceava) and warning messages have been sent through the RO-ALERT system to the population of the Buzau, Botosani, Neamt and Prahova counties, the MAI release also states.
Pope Francis arrived Saturday afternoon in Iasi, where more than 60,000 faithful were eagerly waiting for him, braving the pouring rain; the Pontiff is due to visit the 'Our Lady Queen of Iasi' Roman Catholic Cathedral and further attend a Marian meeting with youth and families at the Culture Palace.

Pope Francis, accompanied by Bishop Petru Gherghel, was greeted at the airport by Auxiliary Bishop of Iasi Aurel Perca, as well as by City Mayor Mihai Chirica; he left the airport, heading in a Dacia Logan for the 'Our Lady Queen of Iasi' Cathedral, where he is to meet 800 children, elderly and sick.The Pope will then travel by Popemobile to the Palace of Culture, where he is awaited for by more than 60,000 pilgrims from the entire northeastern part of the country, as well as from the Republic of Moldova.Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, Government members, Republic of Moldova Prime Minister Pavel Filip will also attend the event at the Palace of Culture, that will see the Pope addressing the audience and then engaging in dialogue with the young people and families.A highlight of this event is the meeting with a woman from Sipote, mother of 11 children who have left their homeland and are now scattered in various corners of the world, who will tell Pope Francis about the joys of a large family, but also about the pain of separating from the loved ones.The Pope will also bless a mile marker in the Iasi Culture Square, symbolically showing the distance of 4,500 kilometers from Iasi to Santiago de Compostela, and serving as the starting point for those who want to go on pilgrimage to this Spanish city which is said to be the resting place of the apostle St. James the Great.A statue representing Jesus, carved in Ruschita marble by an Orthodox artist, will be blessed by Pope Francis and will then be offered to the Iasi community to be set in a public place.The event will end with a concert performed by pan flute maestro Gheorghe Zamfir accompanied by the Bucharest Metropolitan Orchestra.
Thousands of believers from all over the country and abroad are waiting on Saturday for Pope Francis in Sumuleu Ciuc and Iasi, where the Sovereign Pontiff will be on the second day of his visit Romania.

The Pope's visit began in Bucharest on Friday, and will end on Sunday at Blaj.

The Pope landed on Friday at Henri Coanda International Airport, welcomed by President Klaus Iohannis. Following was the official reception at the Cotroceni Palace, where he had a meeting with state authorities, representatives of the civil society and the diplomatic corps. Also on Friday, Pope Francis had a private meeting with Patriarch Daniel and the Permanent Synod at the Patriarchal Palace. Subsequently, the Pontiff went to the National Cathedral, where he said in Latin the "Our Father" prayer, from where he left with Popemobile to St. Joseph's Cathedral to attend the Divine Liturgy.

On Saturday, at Sumuleu Ciuc, the Sovereign Pontiff will be met with Papal Hymn, but also with an old church song. The sermon that Pope Francis will utter during the liturgy at Sumuleu Ciuc will be translated simultaneously into the Romanian and Hungarian languages.

At the liturgy celebrated in the famous Marian shrine, His Holiness will wear liturgical clothing made by a well-known church designer in Satu Mare, Cristina Sabau-Trifu.

The organization of the great event at Sumuleu Ciuc involved more than 300 concelebrate priests as well as dozens of priests. There will also be 60 bishops, four deacons, and some information shows that four cardinals will take part.

For the first time after the Second World War, the wonderworking statue of the Virgin Mary of Sumuleu Ciuc, carved in lime wood, with a height of 2.27 meters, the largest of its kind in the world, over 500 years old, will be climbed up the mountain and adorn the altar from where the Sovereign Pontiff will officiate on Saturday.

From Sumuleu Ciuc, Pope Francis will go to Iasi, where he will arrive after 17:00 hrs, where he will visit the "Holy Virgin Mary, Queen" Cathedral.

There he will meet with about 800 sick and elderly people. After this meeting, he will go by the Popemobile to the Cultural Palace Square to attend the "Marian Meeting with Young People and Families". Pope Francis will hold a speech on the stage in the Culture Palace Square, erected for this event.

On the last day of his visit to Romania, the Holy Father will be on Sunday in Blaj, where he will attend the Divine Liturgy with the beatification of seven Greek Catholic martyrs.

Under the title "Let's Go Together!" 20 years after John Paul II's historic visit, Pope Francis's state, pastoral and ecumenical visit to Romania, has a strong Marian imprint.

AGERPRES
President Klaus Iohannis visited the 'Step by Step' alternative education school in Bucharest this Saturday, on the International Children's Day; the students presented him with a cat made from recyclable materials.

Iohannis said he very much liked the open and outspoken way of the children who learn at this education unit.

"Let me start by congratulating you on the various occasions at hand. I came here today to visit your school, 'Step by Step'; the children proved to be very skilled guides, we had discussions in several classes, they showed me their workshops, they told me how lessons unfold and then I had a little more hands-on conversation with the school management. I am very impressed with the way they work in this school, I very much like the way the children react, they are very open, highly communicative, and they are also great artists," the President said after seeing the exhibition of items crafted by the students from recyclable materials.

He also congratulated the parents who had the courage to enroll their children at a school with an approach that is slightly different from the beaten path.

"I also congratulate the parents, the parents who are here today, let me congratulate you for having had the courage and the openness to come with your children to this school that has a slightly different approach, but whose results I find very good, remarkable, and this method is worth trying in many other schools in Romania. About the materials you worked with, dear children, you explained to me that they are recyclable, that you brought them from home and it seems to me you did a great job with them. I think this also mirrors your and your parents' concern for nature, for the Earth, and I congratulate you on this too. The Earth belongs to all of us and we must take care of it," Iohannis said.

The head of the state offered each child a badge with the tricolor banner, like the one he wore on his lapel. The children offered the President a cat they made with their own hands from recyclable materials.

Iohannis took photos with the kids, shook hands with them and offered them autographs on the books he authored.

The 'Step by Step' school uses an alternative education method which complies with the curriculum of the Ministry of National Education, but the children don't get homework and are not pushed to compete with one another, in order to avoid negative psychological effects; the students are continuously assessed according to their individual capacity. AGERPRES
The River, a novel about two Dartmouth College students on a canoe trip gone badly awry, is partly an ode to the Northern wilderness, partly a survival how-to, and mostly a thriller  suspenseful and gut-wrenching.

Best friends Wynn and Jack take a late-summer trip to Canada, paddling down a river that winds through lakes and over rapids on its way to Hudson Bay. Like the river, author Peter Hellers plot often takes its time, digressing to describe how the boys fillet a fish or make camp, or what the Northern Lights look like. But dont get lulled: Theres action around the bend.

The two friends, both country boys, are experts in the woods and on the water, where they are self-proclaimed minimalists  no phones, no frills. They also share a literary way of looking at the world and frequently see it through the lenses of Edgar Allan Poe, Virgil, James Dickey and more.

Their leisurely trip turns into a harrowing dash toward safety when both nature and other people turn violent. Nature dishes up a massive forest fire that bears down on them. The boys smell and hear the blaze long before they see it  the fleeing animals, the drifting smoke, the popping and hissing of trees.
This time, it was an accident.

At least, that's what Air Force officials said in an official statement Thursday after yet another drawing resembling male genitalia appeared in the sky, this time over Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

During a training exercise on Tuesday, F-35 fighter jet pilots inadvertently created a condensed air trail in the shape of a penis -- images of which caused a stir on social media.

But unlike previous incidents involving the use of military aircraft to create phallic images, base officials insist that this suggestive depiction was an accident and the result of normal flight maneuvers as the fifth-generation jets engaged in a simulated dogfight.

"We've seen the photos that have been circulating online from Tuesday afternoon. 56th Fighter Wing senior leadership reviewed the training tapes from the flight and confirmed that F-35s conducting standard fighter training maneuvers ... resulted in the creation of the contrails," a spokesperson from Luke AFB told CNN.

"There was no nefarious or inappropriate behavior during the training flight," the spokesperson added.
Julian Assange subjected to psychological torture, UN expert says

By BBC

May 31, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Julian Assange has suffered "prolonged exposure to psychological torture", the UN's torture expert has said.

Nils Melzer urged Britain not to extradite the Wikileaks founder, warning that his human rights would be violated and that he is not fit to stand trial.

He also accused "several democratic states" of a "concerted effort to break [Assange's] will".

The UK government said it "disagreed with a number of his observations".

A justice ministry spokesperson said the UK did not participate in torture. Judges were independent of the government and anyone convicted had the right to appeal, the spokesman added.

Assange, 47, is fighting extradition to the US over charges related to leaking government secrets.

He sought political asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012, where he stayed until his arrest earlier this year.

Mr Melzer, who met Assange earlier in May, told the Washington Post that he was initially reluctant to get involved in the case, as he is not a fan of Wikileaks and considered its founder to be a bad actor.

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What did Nils Melzer say?

The UN's special rapporteur on torture said that Assange had been subjected to sustained collective persecution - including threatening statements and incitement to violence against him.

"I've worked in many areas of war in my life, in situations of violence, and I've talked to victims of persecution around the world and I've seen very serious atrocities," Mr Melzer told the BBC.

The UN's special rapporteur on torture, has warned that Assange is not fit to stand trial

"But [what] I have never seen is that a single person has been deliberately isolated and, I would say, persecuted - not prosecuted, but persecuted - by several democratic states in a concerted effort to eventually break his will."

He added that he believes Assange "has a very strong case, and a very reasonable fear, that if he gets extradited to the Unites States he has no chance to get a fair trial with the level of public and official prejudice that exists there for him".

Mr Melzer added that, because of his treatment, his health was at serious risk.

"We could see that Assange showed all the symptoms that are typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture," he said.

Assange, he said, needs access to a psychiatrist who is "not part of the prison service - someone he can fully trust" - to avoid his health deteriorating further.

What is the latest with the Julian Assange case?

Assange is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison in south east London for bail violations.

He had been due to appear at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday - the second in his extradition case. However, his lawyer Gareth Peirce said that he was "not very well".

A spokesman for Wikileaks later said that he had been moved to the medical ward in jail, adding that he had "dramatically lost weight" while in prison.

Media captionPamela Anderson: "This is misrule of law"

"Defence lawyer for Assange, Per Samuelson, said that Julian Assange's health state last Friday was such 'that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him'," he added.

The US Justice Department has charged Assange with receiving and publishing thousands of classified documents linked to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US wants the UK to extradite him, but Assange has formally refused consent.

Earlier this month, Swedish prosecutors also reopened their investigation into rape allegations against Assange, which he denies.

-

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here

==See Also==

If only Belmarsh Prison hospital were in Moscow, the Western media would be outside, conducting a 24-hour vigil, singing "We Shall Overcome" and lighting candles. For some unfathomable reason, they are extraordinarily preoccupied with press freedom in Russia, but not at all here.  George Szamuely (@GeorgeSzamuely) May 30, 2019

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But in January 2018, news broke that Greitens had been having an affair at the same time he was launching his bid for office. Within five turbulent months, he would be gone.

Greitens admitted he had an affair, but denied an allegation that he threatened the woman with a compromising photograph.

Besides the affair, Greitens faced allegations of campaign finance violations, including using a charity donor list to raise campaign contributions  and then lying to the Missouri Ethics Commission about how he obtained the list.

In announcing his resignation, Greitens said he did not deserve the onslaught: I have not broken any laws or committed any offense worthy of this treatment.

Although its been a year since he left office on June 1, investigations continue related to his downfall.

The Missouri Ethics Commission has not completed its report into a complaint filed by the chairman of the legislative investigatory panel. The complaint alleged multiple campaign finance violations.

That has resulted in Greitens tapping his once formidable campaign fund for more than $1 million to pay teams of attorneys to defend him.
WEST ALTON  Near the flooded confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, the elevated ribbon of U.S. Highway 67 formed a rare, continuous stretch of dry ground Saturday.

Amid near-record flooding in the region, much of the flood plain around West Alton is now an open expanse of murky water, dotted by archipelagos of stranded trees and buildings. Over the bridge in Alton, some buildings are surrounded by the encroaching water, while other parts of the hillside town are shielded by an emergency flood wall and temporary safeguards.

In both towns, some residents said theyre in better shape than in 1993  the only other time in recorded history that water has gone higher.

But that doesnt mean the ongoing flood fight is without considerable challenges, particularly with water expected to rise nearly 3 additional feet at Alton by Wednesday.

St. Charles County police warned Saturday against trying to enter West Alton, Portage des Sioux or Orchard Farm by car or boat. The communities are under a voluntary evacuation order.

Around West Alton, people navigated the water in aluminum fishing boats and kayaks, with some bound for flood-afflicted homes in the distance.
UPDATED in September with name of victim

ST. LOUIS  A woman was charged with murder Saturday for the shooting death of a man outside her home in the O'Fallon Park neighborhood.

Carliss Cordell, 39, was arrested Saturday and charged with one count of first degree murder and one count of armed criminal action. The St. Louis police homicide division is investigating.

The shooting occurred shortly after 1 p.m. Friday in the 4200 block of Clay Avenue.

Police said the man who died was Johnny Aikins, 54, of the 4200 block of Clay Avenue.

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The NRA and other "gun rights" proponents claim that if guns are restricted, only outlaws and bad guys will have guns. But if it were harder to buy guns, they would also stay out of the hands of irresponsible men and women, whose negligent treatment of their weapons results in a great number of deaths and injuries every year, many of which involve children. Many criminals, too, aren't the plotting masterminds we imagine them to be. A tougher road to gun ownership would mean that impetuous gun crimes, or crimes of passion, would simply be less likely to happen.

We, as a country, face a choice. Every gun owner and gun proponent faces a choice. We can allow easy access to guns and the fun they bring, and let people enjoy the sense of power and control and masculinity guns offer. In exchange for that pat emotional comfort, thousands upon thousands of Americans will continue to die unnecessarily. Or we can agree that the only way to prevent gun violence and gun deaths is to regulate guns; sacrificing the illusion that a gun equals freedom is probably worth it.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador responded in a public letter late Thursday, telling Trump that social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures and alluded to the United States history as a nation of immigrants. The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol, he wrote. He also said he was dispatching his foreign relations secretary to Washington on Friday to try to negotiate a solution.

In his growing fury over an increase in border crossings that he has likened to an invasion, Trump has blamed Mexico for failing to stop the flow of asylum seekers from countries like El Salvador and Honduras who pass through its territory. And he has been itching to take increasingly radical, headline-grabbing action on the issue, which he sees as critical to his 2020 campaign because it energizes his base.
By WSWS

May 31, 2019 "

Information Clearing House

" -

I am here to show support for a distinguished fellow journalist and someone whose one crime was free journalism. As a journalist myself of many years and actually as a friend of Julian Assange as well, I am here to support that. I think the level of public support for Julian Assange is very high, you should never judge public support by media. Thats a completely false reality, a false impression.

My understanding is in this country, in the United States, certainly in his home country of Australia, there is enormous public support for Julian Assange. People understand that he has been singled out as an example, of a concerted assault on freethinking, free speech and certainly on free-journalism.

He couldnt appear today because he was unwell, hes in the prison hospital. When I saw him a couple of weeks ago he wasnt very well then. But then hes been in an embassy, in a confined space, without natural light for almost seven years. He needs a great deal of diagnostic care and rehabilitation. Hes gone through an extraordinary physical and mental ordeal, and now he has to go through this.

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This is so shameful, so shameful that we are even here today to consider the extradition of a journalist for trying to protect his sources. Or even the extradition of Julian Assange to Sweden to an entirely bogus case when much of it has been suppressed. Thats what is shameful. But thats what I think many people understand.

Asked if he had a message for readers of the World Socialist Web Site, Pilger said. Your website has done some of the best reporting, best analysis [on Assanges case].

This is one of the most serious attacks in a society that considers itself to be free. George Orwell says you can have totalitarianism in a free society; it doesnt have to be totalitarian. And thats what we are seeing with this kind of ordeal that Julian Assange is going through. It was a totalitarian act. All those who believe in freedom, it doesnt matter really what political affiliation they have, if they believe in true freedom, should be supporting Julian Assange.

Giving further details on Assanges extensive health problems, Pilger added, When I saw him, he was unwell; he was having difficulty keeping food down. But he was extraordinarily resilient at the same time. We spoke for a couple of hours. Now I think his conditioned has worsened.

He couldnt appear today because he is in the prison hospital. None of this ought to be surprising. He spent seven years in a confined space without natural light. For many years, he had a terrible cough. He hasnt been able to have the kind of diagnosis that all of us would take for granted, to have an x-ray or whatever, because he was denied free passage out of the embassy.

-

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==See Also==

Every Journalist In The World Should Be Very Concerned About What's Happening To Assange pic.twitter.com/0FUpqyQYSK  Ron Paul (@RonPaul) May 30, 2019

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A New York teacher singled out African-American students and cast them as slaves in a mock "auction" as part of a social studies lesson in March.

An investigation by the New York Attorney General's office found that the reenactment had a "profoundly negative effect on all of the students present -- especially the African-American students."

"Every young person -- regardless of race -- deserves the chance to attend school free of harassment, bias, and discrimination," Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

"Lessons designed to separate children on the basis of race have no place in New York classrooms, or in classrooms throughout this country."

The incident happened in two fifth-grade social studies classes at The Chapel School, a private school in Westchester County A teacher asked all of the African-American students in each class to raise their hands and then instructed them to go stand in the hallway, where the teacher placed imaginary chains on their necks, wrists and ankles. Those students were then instructed to walk back into the classroom and line up against the wall.
The indictment cites specific examples of sources WikiLeaks burned inside China, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Moreover, Assanges decision to release 90,000 Afghanistan war-related activity reports also revealed the identities of at least 100 Afghans who were informing on the Taliban. The indictment quotes a New York Times interview with a Taliban leader who told the paper, We are studying the report. We knew about the spies and people who collaborate with U.S. forces. We will investigate through our own secret service whether the people mentioned are really spies working for the U.S. If they are U.S. spies, then we know how to punish them.

Assanges stolen classified documents didnt just find their way to the Taliban; the indictment points out that WikiLeaks copies were also found in Osama bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. During the raid that killed the al-Qaida leader, U.S. forces recovered a letter from bin Laden to another member of the terrorist organization al-Qaida in which bin Laden requested that the member gather the DoD material posted to WikiLeaks as well as a response from that al-Qaida operative providing him with the secret U.S. government documents Assange had provided.
The Missouri legislative session was filled with mixed results, but the Legislature should be commended for passing important reforms regarding seat belts, venues and e-discovery legislation. I applaud Gov. Mike Parson; Sens. Ed Emery, Caleb Rowden, Tony Luetkemeyer and Dan Hegeman; as well as Reps. David Gregory, Nick Schroer, Glen Kolkmeyer and Rob Vescovo for championing these important efforts.

Despite these successes, work remains to be done. The Legislature again failed to pass much-needed consumer protection reform, refusing to address the trial bars blatant abuses of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. Such reform was introduced five years ago, yet lawmakers continue to manufacture reasons for inaction. It is beyond dispute that cases come from all over the country to St. Louis because of lax venue rules and lucrative damages available under this act. Excessive tort costs in Missouri result in $1.6 billion in annual direct costs to the states economy.

The Legislature also failed to advance an asbestos trust transparency bill and punitive damages reform. The Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys lobbied against these efforts and the Senate succumbed to the pressure.
One of the disturbing discoveries made as the last ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) bases in Syria were captured in late 2018 was the new technologies ISIL had developed for setting off bombs. For example, ISIL had developed portable, battery-powered wi-fi signal extenders but had also come up with a gadget that extended a wi-fi signal up to a kilometer. This is much more than commercial wi-fi signal extenders provide. In part that is because pushing the wi-fi signal out that far is rarely needed by commercial users. Worse, some of the ISIL bomb builders familiar with this new technology escaped Syria and found refuge outside the Middle East. In early 2019 Indonesian police discovered this technology when they raided a local ISIL affiliate. Counter-terrorism organizations worldwide are now developing new jammers to deal with this threat. Some military and police signal jamming equipment has already shown up that will jam wi-fi signals and such capabilities are being added to widely used military grade jammers.

One of the most widely used military jammers, the American JCREW (Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare) devices, introduced a new generation of jammers in 2018 and planned to continue production into 2020 before coming up with another upgrade. The current JCREW prevents most wireless bombs from detonating, but not those using wi-fi. The new JCREW is standard equipment with American forces overseas as well as those of some allies. Special jammers for wi-fi are available and already carried by some police counter-terrorism teams. Wi-fi detection and eavesdropping and jamming capability is already present in some of the airborne systems used by manned and unmanned intelligence collection aircraft. This makes it easier to detect that wi-fi detonators are being used. Troops can assemble an interim collection of wi-fi jamming gear until such capabilities can be added to JCREW.

The wi-fi bomb detonators are not yet widely used but the tech is widely available from commercial sources while how to documents are showing up on Islamic terrorist Internet sites. These Internet sites are constantly monitored by counterterrorism agencies for the latest developments. This is a major effort in itself because the best of these Islamic terror how-to sites are kept hidden. Data from these sites has shown that Islamic terror groups have known about various types of jamming for over a decade. The Islamic terror groups often do not have people who can do much with this knowledge to foil the military efforts to develop and upgrade military signal jammers. Sometimes these upgrades dont arrive quickly enough. For example, the 2011 plan to upgrade the JCREW jammers, which are essential for disabling IEDs (improvised explosive devices) detonated wirelessly, was delayed until late 2017. This update was delayed because, well, because of a lot of things. One of these was the appearance of ISIL and the continued popularity of terrorists using remotely detonated bombs. These jammers were very popular after 2001 when remotely detonated bombs became more common after so many new commercial wireless devices came on the market and were easily obtained by Islamic terrorist bomb builders. But the first jammers nullified most of those remote triggering techniques.

By 2011 the proposed JCREW 3.1 upgrade proposal was recognized as a major improvement in jammer design because it enabled the users to easily add new frequencies to jam and was available in several size and weight versions. This included one that could be carried by foot patrols. More upgrades had been ordered but by 2013 it was obvious that work on completing and delivering JCREW 3.3 was in trouble. The project had been modified so much by new developments by 2013 that the new JCREW design was now called 3.3. To break the development logjam the project was assigned to another company. By 2017 that second development effort apparently succeeded and JCREW 3.3 went into production. Details of what caused the delays are kept secret as are details of how 3.3 works internally. This is standard for electronic weapons that the enemy is constantly trying to duplicate or work around. All that is known about 3.3 is that it is even easier and quicker to upgrade to add or delete frequencies as well as know exactly when certain frequencies are employed. One of the potential problems noted then was the use of the many wi-fi frequencies for detonating bombs. But until 2018 that capability was not seen much by those who track the technology used by terrorist bomb builders.

JCREW 3.1 arrived in 2011 after the United States had spent eight years (since 2003) and $17 billion to reduce the effectiveness of IEDs, especially roadside bombs. By 2011 that effort could be considered a qualified success, but the enemy kept adapting so IEDs still inflicted casualties. IEDs had been around for over a century but had become much more frequently encountered decade by decade. For example, in Vietnam (1961-72) only 14 percent of combat deaths were from IEDs (especially roadside bombs), compared to 50-60 percent in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was mainly because U.S. combat troops were a lot more deadly and the Iraqis and Afghans found that fighting the Americans directly was suicidal. So use of roadside bombs and suicide bombs was seen as a more viable approach. But the Americans responded with several generations of jammers that have made IEDs more difficult and risky to use. There were also new training and road security techniques developed along with computer simulators so troops could practice under realistic conditions without getting killed.

Meanwhile, the enemy adapted and continues to do so. By 2011 most roadside bombs in Afghanistan used pressure plates or wire controlled devices to detonate these weapons because American jamming technology had made wireless detonation of the bombs so difficult. The Taliban had another advantage in that there was not a lot of old artillery ammo to use for bombs, so they had to use fertilizer bombs and all sorts of improvisations which created new and unfamiliar (to the Americans) IED designs, that negated some of the techniques developed for Iraq. Still, the roadside bombs remained a last-ditch weapon of terrorists who had no other alternatives. While wi-fi became more common in urban areas of Afghanistan, it was also showing up in remote compounds owned by the drug gangs who finance the Taliban and make it easier for those Islamic terrorists to obtain new commercial electronic technology. This was also the case with ISIL in Syria and Iraq where for several years (2014-17) that Islamic terrorist group was quite wealthy (from looting banks and commercial operations) and smugglers would deliver whatever the Islamic terrorists wanted. But not much was seen of wi-fi bomb triggers until 2018, when news of the new tech had become widely available to terrorists via the Internet.

By 2011 the U.S. Department of Defense had developed a third generation of jammers to make sure the terrorists had to rely on less effective means of detonating their bombs for the foreseeable future. There was also an effort to make the jammers capable of collecting and analyzing electronic information (to locate the terrorists) or even prematurely detonate some bombs. It is believed that some of these requested features are what derailed and delayed the completion of JCREW 3.3. Back in 2011, it was obvious that Islamic terror groups had specialists who tracked these new technologies and were able to adapt it to the needs of bomb builders. These specialists were often not active Islamic terrorists but rather supporters in Moslem or Western nations who were either formally trained in electronics or capable amateurs.

Nevertheless, JCREW 3.1 was adequate for troop needs. That was because since 2003 the developers had all the money they needed as long as they came up with and shipped solutions as quickly as possible. There was a war on and peacetime delays and mucking about were not an option. For example in 2006 a major jammer innovation entered service as the JCREW dismounted (wearable) jammer. These cost about $99,000 each and had been frequently requested as soon as vehicle-mounted jammers became available. The wearable JCREW jammers are more useful in Afghanistan where more of the patrolling is on foot. Since 2006 the wearable JCREW jammers had gotten lighter, more reliable and more capable. But after 2011 additional capabilities proved difficult to implement, and getting from JCREW 3.1 to 3.3 took a lot longer and cost a lot more to develop and get into production.

JCREW began as a further development of the first (2003) Warlock jammer, which was not for the foot soldier and mounted in vehicles. The jammers quickly went through many revisions, mainly to add more frequencies and better software. By 2011 rolling along in a convoy, with one or more jammers broadcasting, the troops had an electronic "bubble" that made them safe from any wireless IED they had not spotted. It was not uncommon for vehicles to have had an IED go off behind them, the result of the IED detonation crew continuing to send the signal, believing that there might be something wrong with their equipment. In those cases, the patrol often turned around and went looking for the enemy team. Supply convoys just continued on their way.

In addition to jammers like JCREW and Warlock, several of the U.S. Air Force and Navy electronic warfare aircraft were tweaked so they could perform the same jamming functions, but over a wider area. This was often used when American troops were in action against the enemy, shutting down IED detonation over the entire combat area, as U.S. troops moved around seeking out and fighting the enemy.

One problem with the jamming was that it killed cell phone operation, as well as the use of many other remote electronic devices local civilians might be trying to use. New jammers could also shut down some local wi-fi service. The locals complain to each other, but asking the U.S. troops to shut it off would be futile, so they didn't. JCREW 3.3 was apparently working to do something to make this less of a problem.

JCREW 3.0 and 3.1 had lots of new features that frustrated terrorist efforts to develop jammer countermeasures. As a result, after 2011 most roadside bombs were set off via a wire connection between the detonator and the guy pressing a button. This caused more terrorist casualties and generally made it more difficult for the bombers. Pressure plate detonation was less popular because the terrorists had no control over when the bomb goes off, and when civilian vehicle were blown up by mistake, the Islamic terrorists involved dropped further in the opinion polls.

The big (non-secret) improvement in JCREW 3.0 was it was even easier to add a wider range of new frequencies, and the jammer interfered less with other military communications and sensors. Not all wi-fi frequencies were included in 3.3 but that capability is apparently being added soon. JCREW was also lighter and 3.1 (which initially was just referred to as the portable version) showed up because new versions of JCREW could be sent out for testing in a combat zone. For example, a hundred or so lightweight JCREW jammers were first sent to Iraq in 2008 for testing. These proved very popular with troops who did a lot of their patrolling on foot. It's become increasingly common for troops to make long movements on foot, to conduct raids or just patrol. The enemy has lookouts who are on the alert for U.S. vehicles, but not for dismounted American infantry sneaking up on them. For a while, JCREW 3.2 referred to the heavier version mounted in vehicles. Early on 3.3 had various names, all of them more difficult to remember. Because of all the delays, 3.3 just came to be known as the New JCREW.

The experience with Warlock and JCREW has been preserved by keeping the development group that designed, developed and later modified several generations of jammers. The jammer effort is much less intense now because the fundamental tech has proved flexible enough to be easily and quickly modified. Thus it was a surprise that ISIL developed new types of wi-fi detonators, but dealing with that possibility had already been built into JCREW, along with a lot of other new enemy capabilities the enemy had not mastered, or even thought of, yet.
FRANCE 06.01.2019 - A Lockheed C-130 Hercules arrives at the Cherbuorg-Maupertus Airport carrying the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team on June 1, 2019. More than 1,300 U.S. Service Members, partnered with 950 troops from across Europe and Canada, have converged in northwestern France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Overlord, the WWII Allied Invasion of Normandy, commonly known as D-Day. Upwards of 80 ceremonies in 40 French communities in the region will take place between June 1-9, 2019, the apex being held June 6th at the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Richard Barnes, 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

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Fox misrepresents the facts

Mexican president lashes out at Trump in angry letter, says he turned U.S. into anti-immigrant country 'overnight'

By Elizabeth Llorente

May 31, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has

In a pointed letter released Thursday, Lopez Obrador

Lopez Obrador said that social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures, and alluded to the United States history as a nation of immigrants: The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol.

He added in the letter, which he provided a link to on his Twitter account, that in contrast to Trump's approach, Mexico is doing its part to avoid migration through its territory as much as possible, without violating human rights.

People dont leave their homelands for pleasure but out of necessity," the Mexican leader said.

Lopez Obrador said in the letter that his foreign relations secretary was leading a delegation to Washington D.C. to speak with Trump administration officials in order to seek a peaceful and negotiated solution to Trumps threat to impose stiff tariffs on goods from Mexico if the country doesnt do more to slow irregular migration.

He noted that his outreach was not to be interpreted as a sign of weakness.

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"Im not a coward or timid, but act out of principles. I believe in politics which, among other things, was invented to avoid confrontation and war."

President Trump on Thursday abruptly announced a new 5 percent tariff on Mexico beginning in early June, saying the levy will "gradually increase" until the ongoing illegal immigration surge at the southern border is "remedied" and illegal migrants "STOP."

"On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP," Trump wrote. "The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, ... at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow."

Fox News was told the tariff on all goods by land, sea, and air from Mexico will hike to 10 percent on July 1 -- and potentially increase substantially from there.

"If Mexico still has not taken action to dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens crossing its territory into the United States, Tariffs will be increased to 15 percent on August 1, 2019, to 20 percent on September 1, 2019, and to 25 percent on October 1, 2019," Trump said in a statement released later by the White House on Thursday. "Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 percent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory."

This article was originally published by "Fox" -

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Taurangas Phil Campbell heads to the third round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, the Lone Star Rally Canterbury.

He is looking to boost himself back towards the front of the national championship standings.

Phil made a great start to the season, coming home third at the season opening Otago Rally and was well in the hunt to repeat that podium finish after the opening day, but an unfortunate clutch problem saw him retire at the start of the second day. That would see him drop to seventh in the standings, although just 20 points away from second place.

The Christchurch-based event has offered up mixed results for Phil and his team, with a podium finish mixed in with a couple of failures to make the finish. Last year saw a troubled debut for the teams new Ford Fiesta AP4, which resulted in engine failure after four stages.

This year, with a season under their belt and a change in event format, Campbell is confident he and co-driver Mal Peden can stand on the podium again. The event will offer up plenty of challenges, with a mixture of fast flowing public roads, forestry roads and even a pair of night stages.

Its certainly going to be a challenging event, thankfully we love public roads and weve done plenty of forest driving at the local TECT park as well, says Phil. We took the chance to give the car a good test last weekend and check the lights wont give us any drama, so now weve just got to get on with it.

Its a little depressing seeing my name so far down the points table, thankfully its all pretty tight at the moment and hopefully a good result should put us closer towards the top.

The Lone Star Rally Canterbury gets underway with a ceremonial start outside the Lone Star in Manchester Street, Christchurch, from 5pm on Saturday June 1.

On Sunday, teams will tackle 162 kilometres of special stages, travelling as far north as Cheviot, before returning to the ceremonial finish at Lone Star from 7.14pm.


A fascinated audience were suitably intrigued when Duo Col Legno teamed up to celebrate a sense of place at Pyes Pa Auditorium.

Demonstrating an enthralling, natural synergy that exists between their two instruments, marimbist Yoshiko Tsuruta and cellist Heleen du Plessis presented a programme of diverse international repertoire celebrating culture and identity.

Merging romantic era yearning with contemporary freshness last weekend, the duo cleverly re-imagined Tchaikovskys Andante Cantabile and Faures Apres un Reve; Heleens warmth at the bow complemented beautifully by subtle accompaniment from Yoshiko.

The thrill of edgy, passionate, wry and dramatic performance drove the remainder of the programme with stunning renditions of works by Farr, Part, Ourkouzounov and Klatzow.

The exciting use of extended performance techniques, divergent harmonies and melodies saw the audience treated to a living masterclass in the disruption such repertoire offers and the inspiration felt when it is brought to life.

The unquestionable gifts of Yoshiko and Heleen were evident throughout, not least in the passion with which they spoke about works with which they had connections; their unfailing energy echoing the endless energy exuding out of international contemporary composition and arrangement.
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UTICA, N.Y. -- A 16-year-old was shot in the stomach Thursday evening in Utica, according to Utica police.

The boy suffered non-life threatening injuries, police said.

At 5:30 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 1100 block of St. Vincent Street after a man reported being shot, police said. Officers found the man, who told police a group of individuals fired shots at another group of people. The man was not directly involved in the incident and it was later learned that the mans injuries were not from a projectile, but that he was injured trying to evade the stray rounds, police said.

The 16-year-old who had been shot arrived at St. Elizabeths Hospital with the gunshot wound to his stomach, police said. He had been on St. Vincent Street at the time of the shooting, police said.

Officers are still investigating the incident and ask that anyone with information call the Criminal Investigations Division at 315-223-3510. All calls remain confidential.
Far from quiet on the US vs Russia-China front



Kazakhs fear impacts of new cold war, but Putin is adamant Eurasian integration will go ahead



By Pepe Escobar

June 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Lets start in mid-May, when Nur-Sultan, formerly Astana, hosted the third Russia-Kazakhstan Expert Forum, jointly organized by premier think tank Valdai Club and the Kazakhstan Council on International Relations.

The ongoing, laborious and crucial interconnection of the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasia Economic Union was at the center of the debates. Kazakhstan is a pivotal member of both the BRI and EAEU.

As Valdai Club top analyst Yaroslav Lissovolik told me, there was much discussion on the state of play in emerging markets in light of the developments associated with the US-China trade stand-off. What emerged was the necessity of embracing open regionalism as a factor to neutralize the negative protectionist trends in the global economy.

This translates as regional blocks along a vast South-South axis harnessing their huge potential to counter protections pressures, with different forms of economic integration other than trade liberalization having preeminence. Enter connectivity  BRIs premier focus.

The EAEU, celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, is fully into the open regionalism paradigm, according to Lissovolik, with memoranda of understanding signed with Mercosur, ASEAN, and more free-trade agreements coming up later this year, including Serbia and Singapore.

Sessions at the Russia-Kazakhstan forum produced wonderful insights on the triangular Russia-China-Central Asia relationship and further South-South collaboration. Special attention should focus on the concept of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) 2.0. If a new bipolarity is emerging, pitting the US against China, NAM 2.0 rules that vast sectors of the Global South should profit by remaining neutral.

On the complex Russia-China strategic partnership, featuring myriad layers, by now its established that Beijing considers Moscow a sort of strategic rearguard in its ascent to superpower status. Yet doubts persist across sectors of pivot to the East Moscow elites on how to handle Beijing.

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Its fascinating to watch how neutral Kazakh analysts see it. They tend to interpret negative perceptions about a possible Chinese threat as impressed upon Russia, including Russia media, by its notorious Western partners  and from there proceed to Kazakhstan and other post-Soviet countries.

Kazakhs stress that the development of the EAEU is always under tremendous pressure by the West, and are very worried that the US-China trade war will have serious consequences for the development of Eurasian integration. They dread the possibility of another front of the US-China fight opening in strategically positioned Kazakhstan. Still, they hope the EAEU will expand, mostly because of Russia.

Andrei Sushentsov, program director of the Valdai Discussion Club, had a more lenient explanation. He reads the current chaos not as a Cold War, but rather a Phony Cold War  with no pronounced aggressor, no ideological component in the confrontation, and even a desire to relieve tension.

NAM 2.0 or Eurasia integration?

In a crucial speech to the Valdai Club, President Putin made it clear, once again, that the BRI-EAEU interconnection is an absolute priority. And the only road map ahead is for Eurasian integration.

That interlinks with the advance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose annual summit is next month, in Kyrgyzstan. One of the key goals of the SCO, since it was founded in 2001, is to create an evolving Russia-China-Central Asia synergy.

Its not far-fetched to consider that what happens next may include a clash between the inbuilt logic of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) 2.0 and the massive Eurasian integration drive. Moscow, for instance, would be in an intractable position if it came to either align with Beijing or NAM 2.0.

Putin has had a crack on how to solve the problem. Historical experience shows that the Soviet Union had quite trust-based and constructive relations with many countries of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is also clear that if pursued in a too radical and uncompromising way, the logic of the new non-aligned movement can become a challenge to the consolidation and unity of Eurasia, which is the top priority for the SCO and other projects.

Putin has arguably dedicated a lot of thought to the case of a new rupture in Russia-China relations, toward which many are pushing us. He recognizes that quite a large part of Russian society will receive it as a quite natural and even positive development. Therefore, to avoid this scenario (to reiterate, consolidation and unity of Greater Eurasia is the key value of the SCO and the EAEU-BRI association), not only diplomatic work outside of Russia is required but also a lot of work inside the country. In this case, the work needs to be done less with elites by way of expert papers, than directly with the people in entirely different media formats (which, by the way, not all traditional experts can do).

The ultimate target though remains set in stone  to achieve the purported goal of consolidating Greater Eurasia.

The US three-war front

Maximum pressure from Exceptionalistan wont relent. For instance, CAATSA  the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act  now in overdrive after the adoption of a European Recapitalization Incentive Program, will continue to economically punish nations that purchase Russian and Chinese weapons.

The logic of this extreme military diplomacy is stark; if you dont weaponize the American way, you will suffer. Key targets feature, among others, India and Turkey, two still theoretical poles of Eurasian integration.

In parallel, from US Think Tankland, comes the latest RAND Corporation report on  what else  how to wage Cold War 2.0 against Russia, complete with scores of strategic bombers and new intermediate-range nuclear missiles stationed in Europe to counter Russian aggression. Santa Monicas RAND arguably qualifies as the top Deep State think tank.

So, its no wonder the road ahead is fraught with Desperation Row scenarios. The US economic war on China  at least for now  is not as hardcore as the US economic war on Russia, which is not as hardcore as the US economic siege or blockade of Iran. Yet all three wars carry the potential to degenerate in a flash. And were not even counting the strong possibility of an extra Trump administration economic war on the EU.

Its no accident that the current economic wars target the three key nodes of Eurasian integration. The war against the EU may not happen because the main beneficiaries would be the Russia-China-Iran triumvirate.

Obviously, no illusions remain in Beijing, Moscow and Tehrans corridors of power. Frantic diplomacy prevails. After the BRI forum in Beijing, Presidents Putin and Xi meet again in early June at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum  where discussion of BRI-EAEU interconnection will be paramount, alongside containment of the US in Central Asia.

Then Russia and China meet again at the SCO summit in Bishkek. The head of Russias Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, went on the record stating that as many as 5,000 ISIS/Daesh-linked jihadis fresh from their moderate rebel Syrian stint are now massed in Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with the possibility of crossing to Pakistan and China.

Thats a major security threat to all SCO members  and it will be discussed in detail in Bishkek, alongside the necessity of including Iran as a new permanent member.

Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan is visiting Pakistan, which is a key BRI member with the CPEC corridor, and after will visit the Netherlands and Germany. Beijing wants to diversify its complex global investment strategy.

Meanwhile, from Istanbul to Vladivostok, the key question remains: how to make NAM 2.0 work to the benefit of Eurasian integration.

-

This article was originally published by " Asia Times

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 42-year-old Syracuse man has been arrested in a May 21 homicide, according to Syracuse police.

Ernest Johnson, 42, of Syracuse, was arrested Friday and charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

On May 21st, officers responded to the 100 block of West LaFayette Avenue after a 911 call for shots fired, police said. Officers found casings in the road, between 156 and 160 West LaFayette Ave. and Shondell Days, 43, arrived at Upstate University Hospital in a private vehicle, police said.

Days died on May 25.

Johnson is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center.
Heres something youre not going to see every day: a 1961 Corvette, still with the owner whos had it since 1969.

Plus, its a car with 94,591 miles on the odometer. The significance of that last fact is that most Corvette owners like to gloat about how few miles their cars have been driven.

But not Norm and Barb Hoy, of Lysander. Theyve enjoyed the car over the decades. As Norm Hoy likes to say, the car survived the wear and tear from his and Barbs three sons, and that was just while the car was parked in the garage.

You know, door dings, bicycles hitting the car, things like that, he said.

Heres another way to look at it: only 10,939 Corvettes were manufactured during 1961, and the price was a healthy $3,934. Who knows how many remain.

To put the price into focus, consider that the most expensive full-size Chevy was the Impala Convertible Coupe, at $2,954.

While a student at Clarkson University in Potsdam, Norm Hoy had a roommate named John Baldwin, who was something of an entrepreneur - even as a student.

Baldwin bought and sold many Corvettes, Norm Hoy said. Sometimes he would do repairs, minor and extensive. He would do whatever was needed to get the car in its best possible shape and then sell, he said.

Being the roommate of a guy who was heavily into Corvettes must have rubbed off, because Norm Hoy wanted one too.

So he got one from Baldwin, of course, and it was a car that Baldwin had purchased and painted himself. Norm Hoy recalls, It was in good shape.

I wanted a Corvette and this was the easy way to get one, he added.

Baldwin did one other thing to the car before he sold. He pulled the original 283 C.I., V-8 and replaced it with a 327 C.I., 300-HP V-8 that he took out of a 1963 Corvette, the first car of the second generation (C2) Corvettes.

This next point is something that was more common then than one might guess, the Corvette was Norm Hoys only car, which meant it was driven daily. Yes, winter and summer, something that rarely if ever happens today with a Corvette, unless the owner is desperate.

At that time, Norm Hoy had three years of college ahead of him. The Corvette remained his only transportation for a few more years.

Norm Hoy also had a girlfriend, Barb, at St. Lawrence University in nearby Canton. On the day she graduated in May 1972, they were married. But, the Corvette was still going to be driven daily, including during the winter.

Barb Hoy drove the car in the winter, and, even though it was equipped with snow tires, it slid into a ditch one wintry December morning, her husband recalls.

It turns out the car wasnt damaged, but the wise decision was made to let the Corvette be a Corvette, you know, show itself only during warm, dry weather; and Barb Hoy would get another car.

While the car was in dry dock and over time, Norm Hoy touched up the paint occasionally and later replaced the interior. The Hoys wisely kept the blue interior color, because its exclusive and pretty. Only, 1,331 Corvettes left the factory that year with blue interior.

So now the old Vette has nearly 95,000 miles on the odometer, although Norm Hoy admitted that he is much more careful these days when and where its driven.

Like all Corvette owners say, he refuses to drive it in wet weather.

The Hoys also like the fact that the cars a survivor; it has a bruise here and there, but each ding carries a memory.

Are there plans to do the car over again? Not now, they say. Theyre content with the car, and the Corvette speaks for itself. Its been faithful and reliable for decades.

Why change things now?

The 1961 Corvette

First Corvette without so-called heavy teeth in the grill

First year for restyled rear, welcoming the duck-tail look with four taillights

First year for exhaust pipes to exit below the rear bumper, instead of through it or the body work as with all previous Corvettes

First and only year for Jewel Blue interior

Last year for 283 C.I., V-8 engine

Last model with wide whitewall tires

Last year for contrasting cove colors

The car is a survivor, meaning it has most of its original equipment and has never been restored.Photo by Kenn Peters

This 1961 Chevrolet Corvette

Owners: Barb and Norm Hoy, Lysander

Owned car: Norm bought it during Woodstock, Aug. 1969

Color: Ermine White/Jewel Blue cove

Originally: Ermine White/Sateen Silver cove

Interior: Chevy called it Blue; 1,331 Corvettes left the factory that year with the blue interior.

Production: 10,939. Of that number, 3,178 were Ermine White, but only 385 had Sateen Silver cove. Likely none had blue cove.

Price new: $3,934

Wheelbase: 102 inches

Length: 176.7 inches

Weight: 3,108 pounds

Signal seeking radio: $137.95

Heater: $102.28

Two-tone paint: $16.15

Whitewall tires: $31.55

Hardtop: $236.75

Engine: 327 C.I., 300-HP V-8, not the engine in the car when it was manufactured

Four-speed standard transmission: $188.30

A demo film made about the 1961 Corvette:

Like old cars? Check out Kenn Peters other articles about car lovers.
Ken Schmidt, of Baldwinsville, is president of Steel in the Air, a consultant to public and private landowners and municipalities on matters related to wireless infrastructure valuation. A version of this commentary originally appeared on Steel in the Airs blog.

By Ken Schmidt | Special to Syracuse.com

As a resident of the Syracuse area, I am excited to see Verizons interest to bring 5G via 600 small cells to our fair city. When the city was originally considering a small cell policy, I contacted the Planning Department, offering to share my expertise in small cells at no charge to the city. I have been retained by other cities across the U.S. regarding municipal small cell policy, and have been retained as an expert witness on small cell valuation. The city did not return my call. Had it done so, perhaps Syracuse would have entered into a more equitable agreement with Verizon.

However, in its rush to become the first fully 5G city, Syracuse seems to have bent over backward for Verizon. Make no mistake, there are benefits to becoming a 5G city, but this agreement does no more for Syracuse than it does for other cities where Verizon promised the same thing. At least some of the other cities didnt enter into such a one-sided agreement. For example, Sacramento, San Diego and San Jose negotiated better terms and conditions than Syracuse did, and will have a similarly robust small cell deployment.

Syracuse didnt have much choice 

It is important to realize that Syracuse really didnt have much choice of whether to give Verizon access to the public rights-of-way and structures due to the FCCs Third Order regarding small cells. While the city could have negotiated a higher amount for the pole access rights or permit fees, it would have had to demonstrate that its actual costs in reviewing small cell applications and maintaining the rights-of-way were higher than the nominal fees allowed by the FCC. The city had to reduce its annual fee for small cells from $950/year to the FCC mandated $270/year. Over the next 10 years, that means that the city will receive $1.6 million from Verizon instead of $5.4 million. And as other wireless providers sign their own agreements, the city will lose out on even more revenue. This isnt the citys fault; the FCC decided that it was more important that large wireless providers get low-cost access to public rights-of-way in its effort to push 5G services.

 but the city could have made a less one-sided deal

Our concern isnt that the city entered an agreement for 5G, or that the city lost revenue, or that the deal is with Verizon. We object to the actual agreement. There are several obvious issues:

Syracuse granted rights to Verizon for upward of 45 years when it didnt have to. The city signed a master license agreement for 20 years, which allows Verizon to install poles under individual pole licenses that run up to 25 years from the date the pole was installed. Thus, if a pole is installed in year 20, it will be there for another 25 years. In short, the city is entering a possible 45-year agreement even though there is no legal requirement to do so by the FCC or any other agency. While Verizon surely prefers a much longer agreement, other cities are entering much shorter, 10-year agreements with Verizon. Verizon retained the right to terminate at any time for any reason or no reason by written notice to the city, but the city does not have the same right. So, the city is now committed to this specific agreement legally, regardless of what happens with technology in the future. The agreement entered into by the city concedes unnecessary rights to Verizon under contract law. The agreement is substantially the same as other agreements proposed by Verizon to other cities. It attempts to incorporate many of the standards from the FCC Order into the license agreement. From a legal perspective, these clauses did not need to be in the license agreement. If Verizon felt the city was not adhering to the FCC order, Verizon by default has the option of requesting relief from the FCC or filing in federal court for injunction or damages. However, by adding the language in the license agreement, Verizon can now file in state court on a civil claim if Verizon believes the city is in breach of the agreement and collect monetary damages. This is absolutely of no benefit to Syracuse. Other cities have received additional compensation in the form of public safety or internet of things monitoring and services, and higher fees to help pay for additional staff to review small cells applications. Syracuse received nothing. In fairness, the other cities are bigger and more important to Verizon than Syracuse. Nonetheless, the only concession Verizon appears to have made to Syracuse is the requirement for Verizon to monitor a limited set of small cells for compliance with applicable radio frequency emission standards. Verizon did not commit to deploying a certain number of small cells by any date. It is not required to deploy in the poorer areas of the city. And it did not commit to smart city initiatives or research on how 5G can benefit the residents of Syracuse. The agreement gives the city limited rights to terminate, even if health risks are identified and proven. The city, in what appears to be an effort to appease its citizens that small cells are safe, inserted language that requires Verizon to test up to 5% of the small cells annually to confirm that they meet the minimum applicable health, safety and radio frequency regulations. The city could also test on its own, but only to confirm compliance with applicable FCC standards. By agreeing to a long-term license with limited rights to terminate, the city could be legally committed to Verizon small cells in the public right of way even if there is ample evidence that they should be removed, unless the FCC revokes its order. By agreeing to such a one-sided agreement, the city has condemned itself to agree to similar agreements with any company providing wireless services who want to deploy in the right-of-way. Under the FCC Order and previous case law regarding the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the city may not discriminate between similar providers of wireless services. By agreeing to the terms with Verizon, the city will have a difficult time agreeing to different terms with other providers.

In its haste to push this through quickly, the city willingly made concessions to Verizon that it didnt have to make. While 5G coverage over the city is an admirable goal, this particular agreement is overreaching and, ultimately, a bad deal for Syracuse.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  A judge issued an order Friday to keep Missouris only abortion clinic operating over the objections of state health officials, delivering abortion-rights advocates a courtroom victory after a string of setbacks in legislatures around the U.S.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer said Planned Parenthood's St. Louis clinic can continue providing abortions despite the Missouri health department's refusal to renew its license over a variety of patient safety concerns. He said the temporary restraining order was necessary to "prevent irreparable injury" to Planned Parenthood.

With the abortion license set to expire at midnight Friday, Planned Parenthood pre-emptively sued this week and argued that the state was weaponizing the licensing process. Planned Parenthood said that absent court intervention, Missouri would become the first state without an abortion clinic since the U.S. Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide.

The clinic's license will remain in effect until a ruling is issued on Planned Parenthood's request for a permanent injunction, Stelzer's ruling says. A hearing is set for Tuesday morning.

"Today is a victory for women across Missouri, but this fight is far from over," Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Dr. Leana Wen said in a statement. "We have seen just how vulnerable access to abortion care is here  and in the rest of the country."

Republican Gov. Mike Parson said in a written statement that state regulators still have "serious health and safety concerns regarding Planned Parenthood's abortion facility in St. Louis."

Parson's administration drew support from Missouri Right to Life Executive Director Susan Klein, who backed a 2017 state law requiring unannounced annual inspections of abortion clinics. Klein said abortion-rights advocates are trying "to play the victim and blame others for their deficiencies."

In refusing to renew the license, Missouri's health department cited "failed surgical abortions in which women remained pregnant" and legal violations, while insisting that it first needed to interview several clinic physicians who had been reluctant to talk. Planned Parenthood said two staff doctors agreed to interviews, but that others who are contractors or no longer work at the clinic would not talk.

The fight over the clinic's license comes as lawmakers in many conservative states are passing new restrictions that take aim at Roe. Abortion opponents, emboldened by new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, are hoping federal courts will uphold laws that prohibit abortions before a fetus is viable outside the womb, the dividing line the high court set in Roe.

Louisiana , Georgia , Kentucky , Mississippi and Ohio have enacted bills barring abortion once there's a detectable fetal heartbeat, as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. Parson signed a Missouri bill last week approving an eight-week ban on abortion, with exceptions only for medical emergencies. Alabama has gone even further, outlawing virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. None of the bans has taken effect, and all are expected to face legal challenges.

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Sarah Felts said the St. Louis clinic continued to perform abortions Friday, including on patients who moved up appointments that had been scheduled for next week. The clinic also provides other services that were not jeopardized by the license dispute.

The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to preliminary statistics from the state health department.

Missouri women also seek abortions in other states. In Kansas, about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in 2018 were for Missouri residents, according to the state's health department. Illinois does not track the home states of women seeking abortions.

An abortion clinic is located just across the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis. Planned Parenthoods abortion clinic in the Kansas City area is in Overland Park, Kansas, just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the state line. State figures show a handful of Missouri hospitals also perform abortions, but those are relatively rare.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Despite pushback from U.S. business, Mexico and Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threat to slap a 5% tariff on Mexican imports unless America's southern neighbor cracks down on Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

U.S. manufacturers said the tariff, set to take effect June 10, would have devastating consequences on them and American consumers. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wall Street in response to Trumps planned action.

"Imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico is exactly the wrong move," said Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is exploring legal action in response to the tariffs. "These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border. Instead, Congress and the president need to work together to address the serious problems at the border."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dispatched his foreign secretary to Washington to try to negotiate a solution. He said social problems are not solved with coercive measures, but also seemed convinced that Trump just needed to be informed about all the steps Mexico has taken to slow illegal migration.

Mexico has stepped up raids on migrant caravans traveling through the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca this year. It has deported thousands of migrants and frustrated thousands more who wait endlessly for permits that would allow them to travel legally through Mexico.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with his Mexican counterpart via telephone Friday, said State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, who's traveling with Pompeo in Bern, Switzerland. Ortagus said the department doesn't comment on details of diplomatic conversations.

"We maintain an ongoing dialogue and close cooperation with Mexico on a wide range of issues, including border security efforts," she said. "The United States and Mexico recognize that managing our shared border is a challenge common to both countries."

Administration officials told reporters in a briefing call Thursday evening that Mexico could prevent the tariffs from kicking in by securing its southern border with Guatemala, cracking down on criminal smuggling organizations, and entering into a "safe third country agreement" that would make it difficult for those who enter Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the U.S.

"We fully believe they have the ability to stop people coming in from their southern border and if they're able to do that, these tariffs will either not go into place or will be removed after they go into place," said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Trump said the percentage will gradually increase  up to 25%  until the migration problem is remedied.

"Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades," Trump said in a tweet Friday. "Because of the Dems, our Immigration Laws are BAD. Mexico makes a FORTUNE from the U.S., have for decades, they can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!"

Trump's decision showed the administration going to new lengths, and looking for new levers, to pressure Mexico to take action  even if those risk upending other policy priorities, like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that is the cornerstone of Trump's legislative agenda and seen as beneficial to his reelection effort.

Keeping the economy rolling also is critical to Trump's reelection, and business was not happy with the president's planned tariff on Mexican imports.

"These proposed tariffs would have devastating consequences on manufacturers in America and on American consumers," said Jay Timmons, chief executive officer of the National Association of Manufacturers. "We have taken our concerns to the highest levels of the administration and strongly urge them to consider carefully the impact of this action on working families across this country."

The stock markets tumble on Friday all but guarantees that May will be the first monthly loss for the market in 2019. The news hit automakers particularly hard. Many of them import vehicles into the U.S. from Mexico.

"The auto sector  and the 10 million jobs it supports  relies upon the North American supply chain and cross border commerce to remain globally competitive," said the Auto Alliance, which represents automakers that built 70% of all cars and light trucks sold in U.S. "Any barrier to the flow of commerce across the U.S.-Mexico border will have a cascading effect  harming U.S. consumers, threatening American jobs and investment and curtailing economic progress."

Some of Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress opposed the tariff. Republican senators have made almost weekly treks to the White House to nudge the president off his trade wars, and this latest move sent them scrambling again to signal their displeasure in hopes of reversing Trump's actions.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn supports the president's commitment to securing the border, an aide said, but he opposes the across-the-board tariff, "which will disproportionately hurt Texas."

Key trade senators also spoke up. Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, who has questioned the administration's ability to invoke national security threats for some other imports, called the tariffs a "blanket tax increase" on items Americans purchases from Mexico and "the wrong remedy."

The tariff threat comes at a peculiar time, given how hard the administration has been pushing for passage of the USMCA, which would update the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a usual Trump ally and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, slammed the president's action, saying it was a "misuse of presidential tariff authority" that would burden American consumers and "seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA."

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the livelihoods of farmers and producers from her state are at risk and so is the USMCA.

If the president goes through with this, Im afraid progress to get this trade agreement across the finish line will be stifled, she said.
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The United States Supreme Court on Monday gave thumbs up for a class action antitrust lawsuit to proceed against Apple for alleged monopolistic practices at its App Store.

In the case, Apple Inc. v. Pepper et al., the consumer plaintiffs maintain the Cupertino, California, company has monopolized the retail market for the sale of apps, and that it used its position to charge higher-than-competitive prices for the software it sells in its App Store.

Apple tried to keep the case from advancing in the courts by arguing that it doesnt set the prices for software it sells at the App Store. The developers of the software set the prices, so the company has only an indirect relationship to pricing.

In a previous decision, Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, the Court ruled that antitrust lawsuits could be filed only against a company that had direct control over prices paid by a plaintiff.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, didnt buy Apples logic.

The plaintiffs purchased apps directly from Apple and therefore are direct purchasers under Illinois Brick, he wrote.

At this early pleadings stage of the litigation, we do not assess the merits of the plaintiffs antitrust claims against Apple, nor do we consider any other defenses Apple might have, Kavanaugh continued. We merely hold that the Illinois Brick direct-purchaser rule does not bar these plaintiffs from suing Apple under the antitrust laws.

Supply Chain Logic

In the 1977 case, Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, the Illinois Brick Company made and distributed concrete blocks that it sold to masonry contractors who sold them to general contractors who used them in projects for the State of Illinois.

When the state sued the brick company for an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of concrete blocks, which resulted in the state paying more for the building material, it was rebuffed by the Court.

The justices at the time ruled that the state could not bring an antitrust lawsuit against Illinois Brick because the state had not purchased concrete blocks directly from the company.

While its true that Apple doesnt set the prices for apps, it does sell apps directly to consumers and collect a 30 percent commission on every app sale.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

In this case, unlike in Illinois Brick, the iPhone owners are not consumers at the bottom of a vertical distribution chain who are attempting to sue manufacturers at the top of the chain, Kavanaugh wrote.

There is no intermediary in the distribution chain between Apple and the consumer, he continued. The iPhone owners purchase apps directly from the retailer Apple, who is the alleged antitrust violator. The iPhone owners pay the alleged overcharge directly to Apple.

Apple Gerrymandering

Kavanaugh maintained that the Illinois Brick case sought to ensure an effective and efficient litigation scheme in antitrust cases.

The Court drew a bright line that allowed direct purchasers to sue but barred indirect purchasers from suing, he wrote. When there is no intermediary between the purchaser and the antitrust violator, the purchaser may sue.

Kavanaugh also attacked Apples we dont set the price arguments.

Apples effort to transform Illinois Brick from a direct-purchaser rule to a who sets the price rule would draw an arbitrary and unprincipled line among retailers based on retailers financial arrangements with their manufacturers or suppliers, he wrote.

Apples line-drawing does not make a lot of sense, other than as a way to gerrymander Apple out of this and similar lawsuits, Kavanaugh added. In sum, Apples theory would disregard statutory text and precedent, create an unprincipled and economically senseless distinction among monopolistic retailers, and furnish monopolistic retailers with a how-to guide for evasion of the antitrust laws.

Dissenting Opinion

Not all of the justices agreed with Kavanaughs reasoning for the Courts majority.

Justice Neil Gorsuch who, like Kavanaugh, was appointed to the Court by President Donald J. Trump, argued in a dissenting opinion that the majoritys view could open a nasty can of worms.

If the 30 percent commission Apple charges to sell through its platform is a monopolistic overcharge, Gorsuch noted, the developers are the ones injured by it.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Plaintiffs can be injured only if the developers are able and choose to pass on the overcharge to them in the form of higher app prices that the developers alone control, he wrote.

Because this is exactly the kind of pass-on theory Illinois Brick rejected, it should come as no surprise that the concerns animating that decision are also implicated, Gorsuch continued.

Like other pass-on theories, plaintiffs theory will necessitate a complex inquiry into how Apples conduct affected third-party pricing decisions, he added. And it will raise difficult questions about apportionment of damages between app developers and their customers, along with the risk of duplicative damages awards.

Whats more, it is easy to evade the majoritys test for standing in an antitrust case. All Apple has to do is have consumers pay developers directly, then take its 30 percent cut, Gorsuch pointed out.

No antitrust reason exists to treat these contractual arrangements differently, and doing so will only induce firms to abandon their preferred  and presumably more efficient  distribution arrangements in favor of less efficient ones, all so they might avoid an arbitrary legal rule, he wrote.

Kavanaughs Obamacare Moment

With its decision, the Court has sent a message to the tech sector, maintained Jerry Flanagan, litigation director for Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group based in Los Angeles.

Todays decision is a major victory for consumers and will open the door to litigation against corporations where the public is the end user of products and ultimately pay more or are harmed by market manipulation, he told TechNewsWorld.

Apple and other tech giants will need to be focused on how their business practices affect consumers, not just app developers who can pass costs on, added Flanagan.

Consumers could benefit from an expansion of the Apple app market, but they could be harmed by it, too.

Consumers would have access to more third-party apps outside of Apples controlled ecosystem, noted Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in Campbell, California.

But they do that at their own risk, he told TechNewsWorld. It could uncouple the apps from Apples stellar security and expose peoples devices to more malware and security threats. 

Although Apple is at the center of the Pepper case, the litigation could have ramifications for other online outlets using a business model similar to Apples, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, a technology advisory firm in Hayward, California.

At the least, the ruling is likely to make the companies involved in those online outlets rethink and probably revise the way payments are made and managed, he told TechNewsWorld.

Along with Apple, the ruling was also a slap at the Trump administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and a raft of politically involved tech industry titans, King observed.

That the ruling hinged on the vote of Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, probably shocked quite a few folks, he said.

This is Justice Kavanaughs Obamacare moment, said Consumer Watchs Flanagan. Kavanaugh is making a clear statement he shouldnt be counted as a rubber stamp for big business.
We've known that NASA wants to bring humans back to the moon for some time now, but the organization has finally started to take concrete steps toward making that a reality lately. Indeed, NASA has just chosen its first three commercial partners for the "Artemis" Moon return program.

These partners will deliver NASA-mandated "science and technology payloads" that will perform investigations and "demonstrate advanced technologies" on the Moon's surface. Eventually, this will pave the way for astronauts to return to the planet by 2024 -- if NASA's plans go well, that is.

The three companies in question are Astrobiotic of Pittsburgh, Intuitive Machines of Houston, and Orbit Beyond of Edison. Astrobiotic will be receiving $79.5 million in funding from NASA, and they intend to fly "as many as 14 payloads" to Lacus Mortis by July 2021, which is a large crater on the "near side" of the Moon.

Orbit Beyond of Edison, New Jersey, will be awarded the highest sum of the three organizations: $97 million. That money will be used to help the group fly up to four payloads to Mare Imbrium, a "lava plain" in a Moon crater. Their deadline of September 2020 is a bit tighter than the other two partners listed here.

Intuitive Machines is being given slightly less cash; $77 million in total. They will be flying five payloads to Oceanus Procellarum, a "scientifically intriguing" (whatever that means) dark spot on the Moon's surface, by July 2021.

Time will tell whether or not NASA and its new partners will be able to achieve their goals, but one thing is certain: after what feels like years of relative stagnation, the space industry is finally exciting again.
By RT

June 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Its been a busy few days for American diplomacy, with three dozen nations ending up at the receiving end of threats, ultimatums and sanctions this week alone. And its only Friday.

Mexico is the latest target, slapped with 5 percent tariffs on each and every export, gradually increasing to 25 percent until it stops the flow of Latin American migrants into the US, thus fulfilling one of President Donald Trumps election promises. Most of those migrants arent even from Mexico.

On the other side of the world, India is reportedly about to be forced to face a choice: ditch the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems or face sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA, Washington's go-to cooperation enforcement instrument).

Turkey is facing a similar ultimatum: abandon S-400s (something Ankara has repeatedly refused to do) or lose access to the F-35 fighter jet program. This threat was repeated on Thursday by Kathryn Wheelbarger, US acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. Ankara has already invested some $1.25 billion into the super-expensive American fighter, but with a lot of its parts being made in Turkey, its still an open question who would be the bigger loser.

The entire European Union could be facing punishment if it tries to trade with Iran using its non-dollar humanitarian mechanism to bypass the American embargo. Having worked hard on the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, which has repeatedly been confirmed to be working, EU member states are not ready to ditch trade at Trumps whim  and US Special Representative to Iran Brian Hook on Thursday reaffirmed the threat of CAATSA sanctions.

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Cuba, the rediscovered scapegoat of the Trump administrations newfound anti-socialist drive, is being called out for supporting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. On his Thursday visit to Canada, US Vice President Mike Pence said Ottawa must stop Havanas malign influence on Caracas affairs  despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus meek objections that it could play a positive role in settling the crisis there.

Thats 32 countries bullied, threatened or sanctioned in one day (counting the 28 EU members). Years worth of gunboat diplomacy, packed into a busy few hours in Trumps signature my way or the highway style.

Mentioning Iran (which was almost certainly behind a recent inept attack on oil tankers near the Persian Gulf), China (which dares to buy Iranian oil), Russia (which has probably restarted low-yield nuclear tests) and Venezuela (where the ouster of its elected president is the only result of long-awaited talks with the opposition that Washington will accept)  is almost an afterthought. Theres hardly a week passing without the Trump administration churning out half-a-dozen accusations and threats against one or all of those  and this week, the gears were grinding as hard as ever.

Heres a visual aid: every nation the US has threatened this week, colored in on a map.

American influence, built up over decades, is undeniable: even its adversaries depend on the US dollar and are arguably at the mercy of its myriad military bases all over the globe. Trump and his hawkish inner circle have been more than willing to spend that credit by shouting at everyone to get in line.

In the worst-case scenario, he is dragging the world into devastating wars. In the best case, he is throwing that influence away, showing allies and rivals alike that an ugly divorce could be the only way out of this abusive relationship.

This article was originally published by "RT" -
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has aced another critical test, this time to evaluate its ability to perform its role in the vacuum of space.

On Thursday, May 30, the U.S. space agency announced that the upcoming successor to the Hubble Space Telescope has completed its final thermal vacuum test.

"The teams from Northrop Grumman and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center are to be commended for a successful spacecraft thermal vacuum test, dedicating long hours to get where we are now," stated Jeanne Davis, the program manager behind the observatory.

Northrup Grumman is NASA's lead industrial partner for the project.

One Step Closer To Launch

During the most recent environmental test, the space observatory was placed inside a special thermal vacuum chamber. The technicians and engineers removed the atmosphere from the chamber to replicate the vacuum of space. Then, they exposed the telescope to extremely hot and extremely cold temperatures ranging from -235 degrees Fahrenheit to 215 degrees Fahrenheit.

This, according to NASA, will determine whether the hardware of the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to withstand temperature variations it will encounter throughout its mission.

One-half of the observatory  the spacecraft element  completed testing at the facilities of Northrup Grumman. Meanwhile, the other half, which consists of the telescope and science instrument, has undergone testing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The next step will be to connect both halves of the powerful observatory together. The space agency said that the James Webb Space Telescope, which is said to be the largest and most complex space telescope ever, will still have to undergo a final round of testing and evaluation before launch.

NASA Sets Launch Date For James Webb Space Telescope

After a series of issues and delays, NASA has committed to launching the James Webb Space Telescope on March 30, 2021. The observatory, originally conceived in 1996, has been in development for the past two decades.

The James Webb Space Telescope will study the history of the Universe. The observatory is born out of the collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.

"The more we learn more about our universe, the more we realize that Webb is critical to answering questions we didn't even know how to ask when the spacecraft was first designed," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator at NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a statement last year. "Webb is poised to answer those questions, and is worth the wait."

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When Saybie was born as a premature baby girl, she only weighed just as much as a particularly large apple.

Weighing a mere 245 grams or 8.6 ounces, she was born at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns in San Diago, California in December 2018.

After five months in the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Saybie, a nickname given to her by hospital staff, was finally released from the hospital in the middle of May 2019, according to a news release from Sharp Mary Birch.

By the time her parents took her home, she weighed 5.6 pounds or 2.5 kilograms.

The World's Tiniest Baby Ever

A typical pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. However, due to Saybie's mother experiencing severe pregnancy complications, doctors had to perform an emergency cesarean section 23 weeks and three days into the pregnancy.

With her weight, Saybie is officially the world's smallest newborn ever to survive, according to the Tiniest Babies Registry by the University of Iowa. The previous smallest baby was born in Germany in 2015 and weighed 7 grams more than Saybie.

Initially, the family was warned about the risks with doctors telling them they only have an hour with Saybie. Their baby girl survived, though, and the hour stretched into hours, days, and weeks.

"No one expects their baby to be born with complications," explained Trisha Khaleghi, senior vice president and chief executive officer at Sharp Mary Birch. "But when the unexpected occurs, Sharp Mary Birch is equipped with the latest technologies, equipment, research and specially trained experts to care for even the world's smallest baby."

About Micro Preemies

Babies who are born before 28 weeks of gestation are known as micro preemies. These infants weigh extremely light and are very fragile, often facing long stays in the NICU section of the hospital.

According to Very Well Family, the earlier a micro preemie is born, the lower their chances of survival become. Born at 23 weeks, like Saybie, only 50 to 66 percent of babies survive.

While there are plenty of immediate medical conditions that doctors and parents need to watch out for after the birth of micro preemies, there are also a number of potential long-term health issues.

Cognitive problems occur in 40 percent of micro preemies, while 10 percent go on to have moderate to severe cerebral palsy. Other long-term health problems include respiratory problems, digestive issues, and vision or hearing loss.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
England just made another significant move to help protect marine life. In its widest expansion yet, 41 more locations were added to Englands "Blue Belt."

Blue Belt Expansion

On May 31, Englands Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced 41 new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) from Cornwall to Northumberland. This means that about 4,633 square miles (12,000 square kilometers) of marine habitat are now protected. That is an area that is nearly eight times the size of Greater London.

The move is in line with the governments commitment to creating a Blue Belt of marine protection to protect its own coast as well as overseas territories. Furthermore, it helps build on Britain's 25 Year Environment Plan, which sets out to improve the environment within a generation. With the current expansion, creatures such as the stalked jellyfish and short-snouted seahorse, and habitats such as blue mussel beds will benefit from the protection.

Marine Conservation Zones

To date, there are now 91 MCZs in England waters, the first 27 of which were announced back in 2013. In 2016, 23 more were announced, and the most recent addition of 41 more locations marks the most significant expansion.

In total, the United Kingdom now has 355 different types of Marine Protected Areas, covering about 220,000 square kilometers, or nearly double the size of England. In fact, Gove said that England is actually leading the world by protecting 30 percent of the planets oceans, but he also noted that there is still more that can be done for future generations.

Today really does mark a major step forward for the conservation of our precious marine environment, but there is still much to be done, including putting in place more of the good practices that we know are needed to secure the long-term health of our seas and their wildlife, said the Chair of Natural England, Tony Juniper.

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In January, Google announced Manifest V3, a proposal that would change how extensions on Chrome would function. In the process, it would prevent ad blockers among the current brood from working properly.

To no one's surprise, plenty of users aren't happy about it, and they voiced out their negative reactions to it. Despite that, however, the Mountain View company will be continuing with its plans.

Chrome Blocking Ad Blocking

As reported earlier by 9to5Google, Google has received negative feedback over its proposed change, and it has now responded to the clamors of the community.

"Chrome is deprecating the blocking capabilities of the webRequest API in Manifest V3, not the entire webRequest API (though blocking will still be available to enterprise deployments)," the company said.

Just to be clear, this means that ad blocking capabilities on Chrome aren't going away for good. They'll just be limited to paid, enterprise users of the browser moving forward.

A Google spokesperson also reached out to the news outlet, saying that "Chrome supports the use and development of ad blockers." They also added that the company is working with developers to "get feedback and iterate on the design of a privacy-preserving content filtering system that limits the amount of sensitive browser data shared with third parties."

However, 9to5Google explains that the proposal and its changes will render most ad blockers on Chrome to be unusable for regular users of the browser.

Better Ads

Google has been implementing one measure after another in a bid to combat abusive ads, though it has been rolling out ads to various platforms, such as the Google app and Android TV.

At any rate, it's trying to put an end to the kinds of ads that users typically want to block. The company is a member of the Coalition for Better Ads, after all.

Google's move is more or less expected, considering it makes most of its revenue from advertising, but for those who can't live without ad blockers, it might be time to switch to, say, Mozilla's Firefox, which recently got an update that made it "faster than ever."

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google is now rolling out a Material Design look for the Play Store, which is one of the only few major apps that until now hasn't yet received the visual upgrade. It joins Gmail, Drive, Photos, Messages, and practically all Google apps and services to adopt the new design language, which is cleaner, less cluttered, and more coherent.

Play Store Material Design Revamp

This new Play Store look sheds away almost all the signature colors  green, red, and blue  in favor of an almost all-white theme. The tabs on top are now gone, replaced instead with a new sleeker and lower bar.

The entire app also features the same new font used in Google's other apps, called Googled Sans. The "Other" button in the various carousels have now been replaced by an arrow. In another modern touch, new Material Design elements were added in as well, including new tab indicators and rounded buttons.

Other changes include updated app pages, with ratings and stats pushed to the top and an install button that covers the entire horizontal length of the page. When downloading an app, a progress bar will encircle the app logo, compared to a horizontal progress bar that appears beneath in the previous iteration.

There are no longer cards, lines, or even drop shadows, the lack of which may be a con for some but sure goes a long way to making the whole visual experiences cleaner and easier on the eyes.

Check out some screenshots below to get an idea of the overhauled Play Store:

To get this version, make sure Play Store is updated to 15.1.24. It's also possible to download an APK of the app, as AndroidPIT notes. If the latest version is installed but the redesign still isn't showing, try clearing the cache in the app settings.

Other Play Store Updates

Beyond design, Google is also working on a number of changes to the Play Store regarding content. For starters, it's expected to roll out major updates to Play Store policies that address sexual content, hate speech, loot boxes, and even the sale of marijuana on the platform. Make sure to check back with Tech Times as we learn more about Google's plans for its digital store.

Do you have the redesigned Play Store already? If so, how has the experience been so far? Is it much better-looking than the old one? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound them off in the comments section below!

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
By Andre Vltchek

June 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Europe, an old colonialist continent, is decaying, and in some places even collapsing. It senses how bad things are going. But it never thinks that it is its own fault.

North America is decaying as well, but there, people are not even used to comparing. They only feel that things are not going well. If everything else fails, they simply try to get some second or third job, and just survive, somehow.

On both sides of the Atlantic, the establishment is in panic. Their world is in crises, and the crises arrived mainly because several great countries, including China, Russia, Iran, but also South Africa, Turkey, Venezuela, DPRK and the Philippines, are openly refusing to play in accordance with the script drawn in Washington, London and Paris. In these nations, there is suddenly no appetite for sacrificing their own people on the altar of well-being of Western citizens. Several countries, including Venezuela and Syria, are even willing to fight for their independence.

Despite insane and sadistic embargos and sanctions imposed on them by the West; China, Russia and Iran are now flourishing, in many fields doing much better than Europe and North America.

If they are really pushed any further, China, Russia and their allies combined, could easily collapse the economy of the United States; an economy which is built on clay and unserviceable debt. It is also becoming clear that militarily, the Pentagon could never defeat Beijing, Moscow, even Teheran.

After terrorizing the world for ages, the West is now almost finished: morally, economically, socially, and even militarily. It still plunders, but it has no plan to improve the state of the world. It cannot even think in such terms.

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It hates China, and every other country that does have progressive, internationalist plans. It smears President Xi Jinping and his brainchild, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but there is nothing new and exciting that the West is able to offer to the world. Yes, of course, those regime changes, coups, military interventions and theft of natural resources, but anything else? No, silence!

During my two weeks long working visit to Europe, in the Czech Republic (now renamed to Czechia), a country that enjoys a higher HDI (Human Development Index defined by UNDP) than Italy or Spain, I saw several young, decently dressed men, picking through garbage bins, right in front of my hotel, looking for food.

I saw young Europeans kneeling and begging in Stuttgart, the second richest city in Germany (where both Mercedes and Porsche car are produced).

What I observed in all seven countries of the EU that I visited, was confusion, but also indifference, extreme selfishness and almost grotesque idleness. In great contrast to Asia, everybody in Europe was obsessed with their rights and privileges, while no one gave a slightest damn about responsibilities.

When my plane from Copenhagen landed in Stuttgart, it began to rain. It was not heavy rain; just rain. The Canadair jet operated by SAS is a small aircraft, and it did not get a gate. It parked a few meters from the terminal and the captain announced that ground staff refused to bring a bus, due to lightning and the downpour. And so, we stayed inside the plane, for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour. The lightning ended. The drizzle continued. 40 minutes, no bus. One hour later, a bus appeared. A man from the ground staff emerged leisurely, totally wrapped in plastic, protected hermetically from rain. Passengers, on the other hand, were not even offered umbrellas.

I love myself, I later read graffiti in the center of the city.

The graffiti was not far from the central train station, which is being refurbished at the cost of several billion euros, and against the will of the citizens. The monstrous project is marching on at an insanely lazy pace, with only 5-6 construction workers detectable at a time, down in the tremendous excavations.

Stuttgart is unbelievably filthy. Escalators often do not work, drunkards are all over, and so are beggars. It is as if for decades, no one did any face-lift to the city. Once free museums are charging hefty entrance fees, and most of the public benches have disappeared from parks and avenues.

The decay is omnipresent. The German rail system (DB) has virtually collapsed. Almost all trains are late, from the regional; to the once glorified ICE (these German bullet trains are actually moving slower, on average, even in comparison to some Indonesian inter-city expresses).

The services provided everywhere in Europe, from Finland to Italy, are grotesquely bad. Convenience stores, cafes, hotels  all are understaffed, badly run and mostly arrogant. Humans are often replaced by dysfunctional machines. Tension is everywhere, the bad mood omnipresent. Demanding anything is unthinkable; one risks being snapped at, insulted, sent to hell.

I still remember how Western propaganda used to glorify services in the capitalist countries, when we were growing up in the Communist East: The customer is always treated like a god. Yes, right! How laughable.

For centuries, European workers were subsidized by colonialist and neo-colonialist plunder, perpetrated in all non-white corners of the world. They ended up being spoiled, showered with benefits, and unproductive. That was fine for the elites: as long as the masses kept voting for the imperialist regime of the West.

The Proletariat eventually became right-wing, imperialist, even hedonistic.

I saw a lot this time, and soon I will write much more about it.

What I did not witness, was hope, or enthusiasm. There was no optimism. No healthy and productive exchange of ideas, or profound debate; something I am so used to in China, Russia or Venezuela, just confusion, apathy and decay everywhere.

And hate for those countries that are better, more human, more advanced, and full of socialist enthusiasm.

Italy felt slightly different. Again, I met great left-wing thinkers there; philosophers, professors, filmmakers, journalists. I spoke at Sapienza University, the biggest university in Europe. I lectured about Venezuela and Western imperialism. I worked with the Venezuelan embassy in Rome. All of that was fantastic and enlightening, but was this really Italy?

A day after I left Rome for Beirut, Italians went to the polls. And they withdrew their supports from my friends of the 5-Star-Movement, leaving them with just over 17%, while doubling the backing for the extreme right-wing Northern League.

This virtually happened all over Europe. UK Labor lost, while right-wing Brexit forces gained significantly. Extreme right-wing, even near-fascist parties, reached unexpected heights.

It was all me, me, me politics. An orgy of political selfies. Me had enough of immigrants. Me wants better benefits. Me wants better medical care, shorter working hours. And so on.

Who pays for it, no one in Europe seems to care. Not once did I hear any European politicians lamenting about the plundering of West Papua or Borneo, about Amazonia or the Middle East, let alone Africa.

And immigration? Did we hear anything about that nuisance of European refugees, millions of them, many illegal, that have descended in the last decades on Southeast Asia, East Africa, Latin America, and even Sub Continent? They are escaping, in hordes, from meaninglessness, depressions, existential emptiness. In the process, they are stripping the locals of land, real estate, beaches, everything.

Immigrants out? Fine; then European immigrants out from the rest of the world, too! Enough of the one-sidedness!

The recent EU elections clearly showed that Europe has not evolved. For countless dark centuries, it used to live only for its pleasure, murdering millions in order to support its high life.

Right now, it is trying to reshuffle its political and administrative system, so it can continue doing the same. More efficiently!

On top of it, absurdly, the world is expected to pity that overpaid and badly performing, mainly right-wing and lethargic European proletariat, and sacrifice further tens of millions of people, just in order to further increase its standard of living.

All this should not be allowed to happen. Never again! It has to be stopped.

What Europe has achieved so far, at the expense of billions of lives of the others, is definitely not worthy of dying for.

Beware of Europe and its people! Study its history. Study imperialism, colonialism and the genocides it has been spreading all over the world.

Let them vote in their fascists. But keep them away. Prevent them from spreading their poison all over the world.

They want to put the interests of their countries first? Wonderful! Let us do exactly the same: The people of Russia first, too! China first! And, Asia, Africa, Latin America first!

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Four of his latest books are China and Ecological Civilization with John B. Cobb, Jr., Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism , a revolutionary novel Aurora and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: Exposing Lies Of The Empire. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky On Western Terrorism. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter . His Patreon

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MORGAN CITY  As authorities prepare to open the Morganza Spillway for only the third time in its 65-year history  and for the second time this decade  experts are warning changing weather patterns could make it a more frequent occurrence.

Thats bad news for residents and property owners along the Atchafalaya River, like Roy Bergeron, who face the prospect of flooding as the Morganzas gates are opened to relieve pressure on the rain-swollen Mississippi River.

Since the 1960s, Bergeron had operated a variety of businesses from a building he owns on the riverfront in Morgan City. But he had to move his office out of the structure years ago because of flooding and now has an electronics business elsewhere in the city.

Bergeron said flooding on the Atchafalaya used to happen only occasionally. But thats changed.

Now its happening every year, he said. Its destroying the property. Its being taken from us.

Edwin Theriot, executive director of the Institute for Coastal and Water Research at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said changing weather patterns are dumping more rain on areas like the Midwest, which means it's likely this wont be the last time the Morganza Spillway has to be opened.

"I think you can expect it to happen more often," said Theriot, who spent nearly 30 years working with the Corps of Engineers.

The Mississippi River Valley drains about 41 percent of the country, Maj. Jordon Davis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said last week, and this has been the wettest period in the eastern U.S. in the past 124 years.

That water rushes down the Mississippi River towards Baton Rouge and New Orleans where it presses against levees built to protect businesses and homes and keep the river high enough for large vessel usage when it's not flooding.

To try to mitigate the flood risks along the Atchafalaya, a barge was sunk last week in Bayou Chene near Morgan City to stop water from wrapping around and flooding communities from the south, some of which have been battling high water since February and March.

+9 Morgan City told barge sinking means 'worst is behind them' even before Morganza opens MORGAN CITY  Morgan City-area residents Wednesday saw their first ray of hope in whats been a historic flood season: the worst is likely beh

This year, the flooding started early due to heavy snow and rainfall to the north.

In March, the Atchafalaya River at Morgan City was above flood stage, which is 6 feet, cresting at 8.29 feet March 15. The river has been on the rise again, reaching 8.41 feet May 28 before dipping slightly in recent days, according to the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That's expected to worsen when the Corps begins opening gates to the Morganza Control Structure Thursday, sending water from the swollen Mississippi River into the Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya River to relieve pressure on levees protecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Morganza Spillway opening delayed until later next week; here's why The much-anticipated opening of the Morganza Spillway has been postponed as authorities juggle changing forecasts, a river elevation threateni

Morgan City, officials said, can expect another 1-2 feet of water, possibly enough to challenge the highest crest recorded on the Atchafalaya River, 10.53 feet on May 28, 1973. The flood wall along the river and earthen levees surrounding Morgan City have been heightened and enforced since 1973, they said.

Twice this year the Corps opened the Bonnet Carre Control Structure to relieve pressure on levees protecting New Orleans.

"They open the Morganza when the Bonnet Carre doesn't relieve enough pressure," Theriot sad.

In 2011, the last time the Morganza was opened, water from the Mississippi River came perilously close to topping the levee at New Orleans, Theriot said.

"People didn't realize how close it came," he said. "That's a lot of pressure on those levees."

If relief valves like the Morganza aren't opened in time, disaster can strike.

+2 Once Morganza Spillway opens, how high will water rise? 7 feet predicted around Krotz Springs At its peak, the water in parts of the Morganza Spillway will be high enough to cover professional basketball players.

Last week, the Arkansas River, running high and fast, crashed through a levee, flooding one community, while the Mississippi River topped a levee in northeast Missouri and the Missouri River topped another one in central Missouri, the Associated Press reported.

In the case of the Morganza, if the control structure isn't opened in time, water can flow over the structure, rendering it useless for purposes of control.

Theriot said he feels for people who use land in the Morganza Spillway for camps, farming and cattle grazing, but they know they're in a spillway and are notified every year that the control structure may be opened during high water periods.

"The river only has so many relief valves," he said. "The Corps is using everything they can and watching the water, and they don't do it unless they have to."

State Climatologist Barry Keim with the LSU Department of Geography said areas south of the Morganza structure in 2011 didn't see nearly the amount of flooding as was expected because Louisiana was in a drought.

+24 Morganza Spillway preparations: Here's the history of sinking barges to control backwater flooding MORGAN CITY  Lee Dragna was born in 1973, the first time the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway control structure to allevi

"The landscape was so parched it soaked that water up," Keim said. "I dont think well have quite that benefit as we had then."

But unless Louisiana gets some heavy rain soon, and it's not expected to, he said, "Were creeping closer and closer and closer to that drought."

There's speculation among some scientists that the excessive rainfall and subsequent river flooding are a result of climate change, but they can't be sure at this point, Keim said. The sample size is too small to say with any certainty.

"Weve had major floods like this in past," he said, in 1927, 1973, 2011, 2016 and 2019. "Is that just dumb luck? I dont know."

Hurricane season starts with dry Louisiana forecast, but northern floodwater impacts Water-weary Louisiana entered the 2019 hurricane season Saturday already dealing with record-high floodwaters and eyeing a potential tropical 




"This is insane. Not only can they not move, they can't breathe, they can't eat, they can't do anything like this. Children have died and will continue to die if this is not stopped now."



By Jake Johnson

Beyond Barbaric': Internal Govt Report Reveals Migrants Forced to Stand on Toilets for Breathing Space at Overcrowded US Detention Center

June 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - A federal immigrant detention facility in El Paso, Texas is so unsanitary and overcrowded that migrants held by the Trump administration were forced to wear "soiled clothing for days or weeks" at a time and stand on toilets to find breathing space in their cells.

That's according to a not-yet-released report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, which was obtained exclusively by CNN on Friday.

"The administration's continued treatment of immigrants is beyond barbaricand shows exactly how racist and xenophobic Trump is."

Rep. Barbara Lee

According to CNN, the inspector general visited the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center unannounced earlier this month and found that the Border Patrol facilitywhich has a maximum capacity of 125 peoplewas holding around 750 migrants on May 7 and 900 on May 8.

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The reportwhich observers described as "absolutely appalling" and "horrific"also detailed overcrowding in the detention center's individual cells.

CNN, citing logs from the inspector general, reported that a "cell with a maximum capacity of 12 held 76 detainees, another with a maximum capacity of eight held 41, and another with a maximum capacity of 35 held 155."

"We also observed detainees standing on toilets in the cells to make room and gain breathing space, thus limiting access to the toilets," states the report.

When Trump administration officials were notified of the watchdog's findings, they appeared to place blame on the immigrants themselves.

"The current situation on the border represents an acute and worsening crisis. Our immigration is not equipped to accommodate a migration pattern like the one we are experiencing now," DHS said in a written response to the inspector general obtained by CNN. "The speed with which illegal migrants are transiting through Mexico to reach our southern border is frustrating our best efforts to respond quickly."

This is outrageous on at least two levels: 1) The treatment of human beings by the US govt is absolutely appalling. 2) When caught, DHS officials had the gall to blame the problem on the migrants (@adamserwer's "the cruelty is the point" comes to mind) https://t.co/9kQFqkKvzS  Gady Epstein (@gadyepstein) May 31, 2019

RAICES, the largest immigration legal services non-profit in Texas, expressed outrage at CNN's report on the inspector general's findings.

"This is insane. Not only can they not move, they can't breathe, they can't eat, they can't do anything like this," RAICES tweeted. "Children have died and will continue to die if this is not stopped now."

Children have died and will continue to die if this is not stopped NOW.



This kind of treatment and detainment is completely and utterly INHUMANE and we will not stand by as it happens.  RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) May 31, 2019

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), in a tweet responding to the watchdog's findings, called for the resignation of every Trump administration official "involved in this horrific, cruel, and inhumane policy."

Every single person involved in this horrific, cruel, and inhumane policy needs to resign. The administrations continued treatment of immigrants is beyond barbaric  and shows exactly how racist and xenophobic Trump is. https://t.co/Trw4qn5Suc  Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) May 31, 2019

"The administration's continued treatment of immigrants is beyond barbaric," said Lee, "and shows exactly how racist and xenophobic Trump is."

-

This article was originally published by " Common Dreams

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A bid to expand Uber and Lyft ride-sharing services statewide moved within one step of final approval Saturday when the state Senate passed it 34-1.

The measure, House Bill 575, now returns to the House for consideration of Senate changes.

Uber, Lyft bill approved in Senate committee; it would set up uniform rules, expand accessibility A Louisiana House-passed bill aimed at expanding Uber and Lyft ride-sharing services statewide won approval Tuesday in a key Senate committee 

Backers in the House may go along with the alterations and put the issue before the full chamber for a final vote, where it has won lopsided approval in various forms for the past three years. This year's version breezed through the House 92-0 in April.

The legislation would set up statewide, uniform rules to govern ride-sharing services.

Backers of the bill say policies to oversee Uber and Lyft today vary from parish to parish, making easy travel impossible and especially outside of Baton Rouge, New Orleans and other cities.

Sen. Rick Ward III, R-Port Allen and Senate sponsor of the measure, said Louisiana is one of just a handful of states nationwide that lack statewide rules.

Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, said today's arrangement hurts one of the state's key industries  tourism. "Tourists expect to be able to use this (Uber/Lyft) as they do everywhere else," Mizell told the Senate.

"It looks like we have not caught up with the rest of the country," she said of the current regulations that would be changed if the legislation is approved and signed into law.

Similar legislation has been pushed for the past three years.

However, the plans have consistently won lopsided approval in the House only to die in a Senate committee.

Even in metro areas, supporters of the bill say, there are problems freely using Uber and Lyft.

Ward has said traveling between West Baton Rouge Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish can mean one-way trips because drivers sometimes cannot return to pick up riders.

Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, urged senators to back the legislation "so the rules aren't changing for drivers as they pass parish boundaries."

Hewitt also noted that the PSC regulates some but not all taxicabs in Louisiana.

The key dispute, as it was in the Senate Judiciary A Committee, focused on which state agency would oversee Uber and Lyft.

Who should regulate Uber, Lyft in Louisiana? That question could kill ride sharing expansion effort After three years of trying, the effort to expand Uber and Lyft statewide in Louisiana may hinge on one seemingly arcane point: Which state ag

Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, insisted the rules should be enforced by the Louisiana Public Services Commission, not the state Department of Transportation and Development, which is in the bill.

Martiny noted that the PSC regulates some taxicabs and he argued Uber and Lyft are common carriers, like cabs.

The Republican, who helped kill similar bills for the past two years, repeatedly questioned why backers of the legislation are opposed to being placed under the PSC.

"There is just something here that does not smell right," Martiny said.

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Ward disagreed.

He said putting ride-sharing services under the PSC means the agency would run afoul of home rule charters in 26 of the state's parishes, resulting in the same patchwork of rules that exist today.

Ward said the PSC "simply can't govern this."

Ward also said that, if it was clear that Uber and Lyft belonged under the PSC, officials of that agency would have taken action.

"They have never knocked on Uber's door, they have never knocked on Lyft's door," he said.

"There is a reason," Ward added. "They are not common carriers."

Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, backed the bill.

"I think the thing to do is defeat the amendment and pass this bill," Donahue said.

Martiny's bid to put Uber and Lyft under the PSC failed on a 12-22 vote

Some PSC members have said they are eager to oversee ride-sharing services.

DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson has said he is willing to tackle the job.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has indicated he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, said while he shares Martiny's concerns about why bill backers oppose the services being placed under the PSC the pros of the bill outweigh any negatives.

Leaders in central Louisiana are among the most vocal supporters of the legislation.

Despite lopsided approval for the bill Martiny predicted that even final passage will not end the arguments.

"Some cab company is going to challenge it," he told the Senate.

Cab drivers in the New Orleans area have complained that Uber and Lyft would enjoy less stringent rules under the bill.

Ward said tourists are not the only ones who suffer under the current setup.

"It is very disappointing not only to our tourists but to our citizens who live here," he said.

The session ends on June 6 at 6 p.m.
Early College Academy senior Normandie Cormier was accepted into 139 colleges, at last count, and has received almost $9 million in scholarshi
New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno and Vice President Jason Williams will introduce a resolution June 6 condemning the abortion measure signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards this week that would ban abortions in Louisiana once an embryo's heartbeat is detected  around six weeks.

The law does not contain exceptions for rape and incest. Both exceptions were heavily discussed on the House floor but the majority of lawmakers voted against them.

Louisiana House sends fetal heartbeat abortion bill to Gov. Edwards in a 79-23 vote I am not man enough to tell a woman thats had her insides ripped apart and been raped, You know what? Live with it.  State Rep. Ted James, who dissented.

Moreno said the law would negatively impact women's health care and stressed the need for sex education in reducing unplanned pregnancies.

"This dangerous abortion ban will not prevent abortion, but it will trample on women's rights, their agency and their health care," she said in a statement. "We do have to prevent unplanned pregnancies  through comprehensive sex education and broad access to birth control, not a heartless ban that doesn't even provide any exceptions for rape or incest."

Williams said the law was "dangerous and unjust" and part of a "nationwide war being waged against reproductive rights" as similar restrictive abortion measures have passed through state legislatures this year.

"I am deeply disappointed by the decisions our state officials are making that could have long-lasting negative impacts on the health of our city and our state," he said in a statement. "I trust women and follow their lead as we all say together, 'Keep abortion safe and legal, stop the bans.'"

Federal judge blocks Mississippi's six-week abortion ban  what that means for Louisiana A federal Mississippi judge temporarily blocked today a law the state passed in March banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected  a

The law only will go into effect if the courts uphold Mississippi's version of the law passed in March. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law May 24, keeping it from going into effect starting July 1.

The same judge struck down Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban last year, preventing Louisiana's law from taking effect thus far.
As a shrimper, Kim Chauvin has certain standards when she eats seafood in restaurants. She also has questions.

I always ask where the seafood is from, whether it's domestic or imported, and a lot of times the servers look like deer in the headlights, said Chauvin, who runs a family seafood business in the Terrebonne Parish bayou town of Dulac.

They dont know," she said. "I ask to see a manager, and theyll say they dont know. Thats when I ask them to show me the box it came in. I want to know.

For shrimp and crawfish, two staples of the Louisiana table, restaurants will soon be required to provide that information right up front.

On Friday, state lawmakers gave final legislative passage to a bill that will require Louisiana restaurants to disclose whether the shrimp and crawfish they serve come from another country.

The bill won unanimous approval in both houses of the Legislature, and Gov. John Bel Edwards has indicated he will sign it into law (update, Edwards signed it June 19 at the Houma seafood restaurant the Shack).

Facing increasing market pressure from lower-priced, imported seafood, Louisiana fishermen and seafood processors have for years sought such a measure to differentiate their product. This time, advocates framed the proposal as a health and consumer protection issue, zeroing in on concerns over the production methods of imported seafood.

The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Jerry "Truck" Gisclair, D-Larose, the son of a commercial shrimper whose coastal district is lined with fishing docks.

His bill states that imported seafood "may pose a health risk due to antibiotics, radiation, and numerous toxins found in seafood products, including but not limited to crawfish and shrimp, that originate outside of the United States.

The measure requires restaurants to list whether the seafood they serve comes from a foreign country next to the name of the dish on their menus. Restaurants that don't use menus would have to post a sign or have staff explain that the seafood comes from another country. Restaurants that don't comply would be in violation of the state sanitary code.

Grocery stores are already required to disclose this information under federal law.

The National Fisheries Institute, a trade group, reports that roughly 90% of the shrimp consumed in the U.S. are imported, and the majority are farm-raised. The group lists China, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and Ecuador as leading suppliers of shrimp.

The methods and oversight of such overseas producers have long been a concern for environmental and human rights advocates.

Oceana, an ocean conservation organization, released a 2014 study documenting widespread fraud and misrepresentation of shrimp in the American marketplace.

With shrimp, it is almost impossible to know what you are getting, the report concluded. High demand has led to many environmental and human rights abuses in the fishing, farming and processing of shrimp.

A 2011 study found that as little as 2 percent of all seafood imported to the U.S is inspected by the Food and Drug Administration.

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Supporters of the restaurant disclosure requirement hope that given more information, consumers can make more informed choices.

Chauvins family operates fishing boats, a shrimp processing facility, a retail market and a small eatery. She is deeply invested in the issue and minces no words about her support for the labeling requirement.

Most people in our area think every restaurant has local seafood, and thats a lie, Chauvin said. Too many restaurants just dont care. But now theyre going to have to care, because theyll have to label if the crawfish in that crawfish pie is imported or domestic, if the shrimp in their etouffee is imported or domestic.

Early in the legislative session, the Louisiana Restaurant Association urged its members to oppose the bill. In a letter circulated to restaurateurs in April, the group described the bill as an unfunded mandate that would burden your restaurant and confuse your guests.

A spokeswoman for the LRA said this week the organization would not comment on the issue.

Gisclair, however, indicated lawmakers had worked with the LRA on the bill during the legislative process.

As state representatives took their final vote on the measure Friday, Gisclair said the amended bill addressed issues we worked out with LRA to make changes with sizes to fonts of (lettering on) menus of restaurants."

The measure, as passed, requires the foreign origin notice to appear in the same size, font and shade (of lettering) as the product being offered.

Louisiana leads the nation in shrimp harvests, and the state produces practically the entire American crawfish harvest, according to fisheries data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Shrimp brought in $137.7 million in 2016, according to the latest data available. Crawfish accounted for $11.9 million that year.

The bill has been cheered by many Louisiana fishermen, who have watched the prices commanded by their local catch dwindle for years in the face of frozen seafood imported from abroad.

However, David Veal, director of the American Shrimp Processors Association, a Mobile, Alabama-based trade group that supported the labeling bill, downplayed any immediate economic impact the new rules might bring.

My guess is people who dont mind ordering imported shrimp will continue to do what theyve been doing," he said, "and that most restaurants wont change what they do either."

Advocate staff writer Sam Karlin contributed to this report.
The 2019 hurricane season begins Saturday, and the National Hurricane Center is keeping an eye on the far southern portion of the Gulf of Mexico.

"A broad area of low pressure accompanied by cloudiness and showers centered over the Yucatan Peninsula is forecast to move westward over the southern Bay of Campeche during the weekend," NHC forecasters said Friday night. "Some gradual development of this system is possible through early next week as long as it remains over water."

In the next five days, the tropical wave has a 30 percent change of formation.

This hurricane season has already seen Subtropical storm Andrea form in the Atlantic Ocean.

The next named storm will be Barry.
A Catholic priest has labelled the church's legal tactics against a clerical sex abuse victim as "gobsmacking" after a landmark judgment was handed down in a Victorian court.

The firm Judy Courtin Legal is suing the Diocese of Ballarat for negligence on behalf of a survivor of serial paedophile priest Gerard Ridsdale.

Gerald Ridsdale giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.

Ridsdale raped him in a confession box in Mortlake in 1982 when he was nine years old.

Ridsdale, who is in prison, is one of the countrys most notorious paedophile priests, having been sentenced five times since 1983.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese will unveil his next-generation shadow ministry on Sunday as party stalwarts prepare for demotion and new talent steps up.

Mr Albanese was still finalising his team late on Saturday as he consulted colleagues and sought to balance his shadow cabinet along gender, factional and state lines.

Factional deals dictate who sits on the frontbench of 30 MPs, however, Mr Albanese will allocate portfolios and decide the 20 colleagues to serve in shadow cabinet.

New Labor leader Anthony Albanese is due to reveal his shadow ministry on Sunday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Queensland rising star Jim Chalmers, of the partys right wing, is expected to take the coveted Treasury gig. Labors disastrous primary vote in Queensland cruelled its election chances and Dr Chalmers appointment to the prominent role is likely to help rebuild support in that state  especially in the absence of Queensland representation in Labors leadership team.
Coalition MP Warren Entsch has backed a plan to bulldoze 2000 hectares of pristine forest near the Great Barrier Reef despite being appointed to a role championing the natural marine wonder.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison appointed the veteran Liberal MP, who represents the seat of Leichhardt in north Queensland, as special envoy to the Great Barrier Reef in last months ministerial reshuffle.

Mr Entsch once owned Olive Vale station, a large Cape York farm north-west of Cairns, and has been a vocal proponent of land clearing on farming properties in north Queensland. Land clearing can create sediment and nutrient run-off and is the main driver of serious water quality problems on the Great Barrier Reef.

Liberal MP Warren Entsch is a strong advocate of land clearing, despite the possible effects on the Great Barrier Reef's water quality.

In particular, Mr Entsch lobbied his government on behalf of a highly contentious proposal to clear 2000 hectares of forest at Kingvale Station on Cape York Peninsula.
East Nusa Tenggara Governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat. Credit:Jewel Topsfield Viktor would like to see management of the park handed over to the East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration. He wants Komodo Island to be replenished with populations of Timor deer - the dragons main food source - which he said were being illegally poached. While the island was closed, Viktor said he wanted to work with universities to monitor the dragons, and to undertake some genetic engineering to make them bigger. Loading

But the head of the Komodo National Park, Lukita Awang, said there was a stable population of about 2900 dragons in the park. Lukita said it was not true that there were declining numbers of deer, although he acknowledged there was some poaching. Six per cent of Komodo food is eating each other, he said. Lukita said the size of the dragons varied depending on the size of the island on which they lived. Dragons on the bigger islands of Komodo and Rinca could grow up to three metres long but those on the smaller islands of Nusa Kode and Gili Motang, which had less deer, were smaller.

Komodo dragons: worth a premium to see them. Credit:Shutterstock More than 100,000 tourists visit Komodo National Park every year, the majority are foreigners. Lukita agreed the number of tourists should be limited. We must consider the environmental capacity, he said. Viktor said he wanted to restrict visitors to Komodo Island to 50,000 a year. I hope if a [foreign tourist] comes to Komodo Island, they have to pay $US1000 [$1450] a year, Viktor said. (He previously suggested $US500 according to local media reports.)

Either would be a hefty increase on the current price of a ranger-guided tour of Komodo or Rinca islands - up to about $45 for foreign tourists. Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar will make a decision on the temporary closure of Komodo Island by the end of the year. It will be based on the recommendation of a government team, which will conduct a field trip in June and meet with stakeholders. Journalist Jewel Topsfield with a Komodo dragon. Credit: Under Viktors plan, the 2000 locals who live on the island would also be temporarily relocated to another island.

Tour guide Ikhsan Abdul Amir, who lives on Komodo Island, said the plan had caused anxiety among locals, many of whom relied on tourism for their livelihood. It is not easy to change us to fishermen again, Ikhsan said. If we are relocated, will the government help us get a job for instance? He believed Viktor had seen an old dragon when he visited Komodo Island, which had looked thin and small. I think the size of the dragons has stayed the same all these years, he said. Marta Muslin, from the West Manggarai chapter of the Association of Indonesia Travel Agencies, said she supported a hike in fees. The money could be used for conservation works and for police to patrol the island so there would be no illegal poaching of deer, she said. How much the increase would be should be based on a study.

A Komodo dragon, or Varanus komodensis, on the beach on Komodo Island, Indonesia. Credit:Shutterstock However Marta said she opposed the idea of temporarily closing down Komodo Island, which many people thought was already a fait accompli. I was told that 600 trips from Asia, Europe and the US to Komodo Island this year were cancelled, she said. The governors statement has directly affected 4550 workers in the tourism industry in West Manggarai regency. Under the plan the dragons on Rinca Island would be transferred over time to Komodo island, so there would be only one main dragon destination. Deakin University ecologist Dr Tim Jessop has researched Komodo dragons for decades as the scientific advisor to the Bali-based Komodo Survival Program.

Komodo dragons in Rinca island could be transported to Komodo Island under the controversial plan. Credit:Shutterstock Jessop said regulating tourism numbers was a worthwhile exercise and noted the success of the Galapagos Islands, which charges foreign tourists $US100 to visit the archipelago to help protect the fragile ecosystem. However he warned that dragons on Rinca and Komodo islands had been separated for 70,000 years and had different genetic make-ups. Translocating dragons would only ever be an option if there was evidence of a very large population crash, he said. Translocating the dragons from Rinca to Komodo could bring diseases and do more harm than good. Jessop welcomed initiatives to protect the species but said it was possible they could be achieved without temporarily closing Komodo Island.
Miami: A man who impersonated a Saudi prince to con investors and live a lavish lifestyle has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Anthony Gignac received the sentence on Friday in Miami for stealing at least $8 million ($11.5m) while impersonating Sultan Bin Kahlid Al-Saud, buying a Ferrari, Rolex watches and renting a condo on an exclusive South Florida island.

The Miami Herald reports that US District Judge Cecilia Altonaga called him a "mastermind."

Gignac was born in Colombia 48 years ago but was adopted by a Michigan family as a young child. He is an American citizen. He pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud, impersonating a diplomat and other crimes.

He told Altonaga on Friday that while he accepted responsibility, other people were involved and should have been charged.
Matheys ran, with the killer in pursuit, investigators say. He caught and raped her, then shot her twice in the chest. Her body was found 182 metres from where Schuldes lay. Investigators were stumped: They didn't know why the couple was targeted, the killer took no money, and leads were scant. The house where Raymand Vannieuwenhoven lived in Lakewood, Wisconsin. Credit:AP DNA profiling in the '90s brought new hope, but detectives got no matches when they submitted the semen from Matheys' shorts to the FBI's national database. Then last year, detectives contacted Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company whose work with genetic genealogy analysis has helped police identify 55 suspects in cold cases nationwide since May 2018, according to the company. Parabon uploads DNA from crime scenes to GEDmatch, a free, public genealogy database with about 1.2 million profiles, all voluntarily submitted by people who've used consumer genealogy sites.

California law enforcement used GEDmatch to capture the Golden State Killer last year by finding distant relatives and reverse-engineering his family tree. Using that technique, Parabon's experts concluded in December that Vannieuwenhoven's parents had lived in the Green Bay area. Now detectives needed DNA samples from Vannieuwenhoven and his three brothers. Two were ruled out with DNA samples collected from one brother's trash and another's used coffee cup. On March 6, two sheriff's deputies knocked on Vannieuwenhoven's door, asking him to fill out a brief survey on area-policing. They told him to put the survey in an envelope and seal it with his tongue. Detectives didn't need to visit the fourth brother. Eight days later, Vannieuwenhoven was in custody. At Vannieuwenhoven's first court appearance, on March 22, bond was set at $1 million.

"Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty," Vannieuwenhoven said, when the judge asked him if he understood the charges. His next court date is June 19. Shocked: Neighbour Wayne Sankey sits on the front steps of his Lakewood home. Credit:AP Kurt Schuldes, 68, a cousin of David Schuldes in Green Bay, welcomed the news of an arrest, but lamented the time it took: "He just got away with it for way too long, unfortunately." "It was a long time coming," said Cynthia Chizek, Matheys' 53-year-old niece, who lives in Henderson, Nevada. "It's just something that always hangs over your head, knowing that there's someone out there who did this heinous crime." Prosecutors and Lakewood residents, meanwhile, were left with the question: Who is Raymand Lawrence Vannieuwenhoven?

Richard Leurquin, twin brother of Vannieuwenhoven's dead wife, Rita, said his brother-in-law was "a very loving father to his wife and kids." He's convinced Vannieuwenhoven is innocent. After Rita died in 2008, Sankey said Vannieuwenhoven spent his days fishing, hunting, and going on weeks-long camping trips. But Vannieuwenhoven had a dark side and has been jailed before. In 1957, already married and going by the name Lawrence Vannieuwenhoven, he received a six-month sentence for an unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old girl. She was walking with three friends when Vannieuwenhoven struck her on the back, face, and shoulder. In 1960, he pleaded guilty to not providing financial support to his wife and their 1-year-old daughter, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported then. He was on probation for a year.

More recently, some neighbours caught glimpses of a menacing side when he drank. He stopped only a few years ago, for his health, they said. "I know this much - when he was drinking he was one son of a bitch," said Fred Mason, 66, who works at the town dump where Vannieuwenhoven was seen frequently, rummaging through scrap piles. Robert Ganzell, 86, and his wife sometimes dined out with Vannieuwenhoven. He heard from others that he had a temper when he drank, but Ganzell said he never witnessed it. Sankey, 68, said he and his wife are still coming to terms with the allegations against their neighbour. "People had the impression that he was a very good, normal person, just a retired guy," Sankey said.
It takes about two and a half years, $100,000 and 50,000 km of travelling to breed and train an RCMP service dog in Canada.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It takes about two and a half years, $100,000 and 50,000 km of travelling to breed and train an RCMP service dog in Canada.

Now, thanks to pressure from Steinbach RCMP Staff Sgt. Harold Laninga, Steinbach has a new 115-pound dog of its own.

RCMP Cpl. Garfield Henderson became the handler for Gainer, a five-year-old German shepherd, after the dogs previous handler stepped down for health reasons.

Henderson said the Steinbach area has become their main focus due to high levels of crime in the Southeast.

There are only seven RCMP dogs in Manitoba, which makes Gainer a valuable resource for locating missing people, finding evidence at crime scenes and sniffing for explosives.

Because of this, the pair gets called all over Manitoba, even travelling as far as Thompson and Churchill.

Henderson said Canadas service dogs are world-renowned for their tracking abilities.

Countries all over the world regularly contact the RCMP about their state-of-the-art breeding and training program.

Henderson said the RCMP used to buy service dogs from other countries, but they became hard to get after 9/11 because the United States would buy all available dogs.

Now, German shepherds are bred and trained in Innisfail, Alberta. They start training as young as eight weeks.

The first things the dogs learn is to be "imprinted" with everything in the real world.

This means they get used to being in public places and learn how to do basic things like not jump on tables.

Once the dogs finish imprinting, they begin learning more skills specific to the RCMP. They start by tracking in rural areas, where there are fewer distractions that could overwhelm their senses.

From there, the trainers teach the dogs to track in industrial parks and towns and eventually in urban areas like schools and yards.

At the end, every dog specializes in sniffing for either narcotics or explosives. Although Hendersons last two dogs were trained for narcotics, Gainer is an explosives dog.

A big part of the training process involves forming a bond between dog and handler.

Although Gainer was already trained when Henderson got him, the pair spent three weeks learning how to work together.

"Dogs are like human beings," said Henderson. "Everyones got their own quirks that you have to figure out."

In Gainers case, Henderson said hes very independent and has a bit of an edge.

At the same time, Henderson emphasized Gainer is as playful and fun-loving as any dog.

"People have misconceptions that RCMP dogs are these big mean animals," said Henderson. "But he wont just bite people for no reason."

The bond between the dog and handler extends past work. Gainer also lives with Henderson and stays in a state-of-the-art kennel in Hendersons backyard.

"Theyre treated like Olympic-class athletes," said Henderson. "We give them the best of the best."

Henderson said taking care of Gainer is a full-time job, one he never really gets away from.

Not only does Gainer have to go for multiple runs a day, there are other daily training sessions Henderson does with the dog.

"You dont get days off from the police dog," said Henderson. "But I love it. I think I have the best job in the RCMP."

Henderson is a second-generation dog handler, taking after his father Bill Henderson.

Yet, even after 14 years on the job, Henderson said he is regularly impressed with what RCMP dogs can do.

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The progress of one assault case was completely changed after Gainer discovered a small clothing clasp that belonged to the victim.

Or in another case, Hendersons previous dog Enzo, who had to retire after injuring his leg, located a 4-year-old girl two kilometres away.

"At the end of the day, these dogs are invaluable to what we do," said Henderson. "My standing joke is that if these dogs could drive, talk on the radio and type on the computer, I would be out of a job."

Its common for people to want to pet the excited jet-black dog, but Henderson has gotten used to explaining to people Gainer is a working police dog.

"Most people understand and respect that," he said.

Occasionally, if Henderson and Gainer are at schools or community events, Henderson will let a few lucky people give Gainers massive head a few strokes.
A Houston man was arrested early Friday after police say he broke into the J.C. Penney store at Post Oak Mall.

According to College Station police, around 2:10 a.m., authorities received a call that a witness saw a man inside the J.C. Penney location at the mall. Officers responded to the store and saw a suspicious vehicle leaving.

Authorities stopped the car and found the driver matched the description of the man inside the store, as well as property from J.C. Penney inside the vehicle.

Demond Finister, 43, was arrested and charged with burglary of a building, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in a state jail and a fine up to $10,000.
Legislation that would have created a fourth district court in Brazos County failed to make it through the Texas Legislature, which just completed its 86th Legislative Session.

Texas House Bill 1134, which would have created the 463rd District Court, was read in the House chambers on Feb. 26 and was then filed to the chambers Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee. No official action was taken; the session ended Monday.

According to previous reporting from The Eagle, county officials differed over whether the county needed another district court. There are, at present, three district courts in Brazos County and two county courts-at-law.

The 85th District Court was created in 1917. The 272nd District Court came in 1979, and the 361st District Court followed in 1985. County Court-at-Law 1 was created in 1977 and County Court-at-Law 2 in 1986.

If a future state legislature passes a new court for the county, that court would have concurrent jurisdiction with the statutory county courts of Brazos County in misdemeanor cases.
The governors office did not respond to a request for confirmation on Friday, but a spokesman for the comptrollers office, which oversees state employees, said Whitley was hired by the governors office under the title of deputy director II. The Texas Tribune had filed a records request for personnel documents on Thursday.

A longtime aide to the governor, Whitley left that office in mid-December when Abbott appointed him to serve as secretary of state. But his tenure was cut short after Democratic senators blocked his confirmation over a bungled effort to review the voter rolls for noncitizens that instead jeopardized the voting rights of tens of thousands of naturalized citizens.

A federal judge halted that review in late February over concerns that perfectly legal naturalized Americans were targeted in ways those born in the country were not. Whitleys office eventually agreed to scrap the review to end the three federal lawsuits that were filed against the state. But the debacle left taxpayers on the hook for $450,000 in costs and attorney fees for the lawyers of the naturalized citizens and civil rights groups that alleged the review was unconstitutional and violated federal protections for voters of color.
American Couple Found Dead at Dominican Republic Resort

A Maryland couple has been found dead at a resort in the Dominican Republic, a discovery that came during the same week a Delaware woman said she was severely beaten at a resort in the Caribbean nation.

Cynthia Day, 49, and her fiance, Nathaniel Holmes, 63, were found dead in their room at the Bahia Principe hotel on May 30, reported the Dominican Today. The hotel is inside the Playa Neuva Romana resort.

An official told the local outlet that the cause of death for both victims has not been pinpointed as of yet, but that the bodies showed no indications of violence.

The couple arrived at the resort on May 25 and were due to leave the day they were found deceased.

The deaths were confirmed by the United States Embassy, Sonya Jackson, Days sister, told NBC Washington. Holmess sister said that shed spoken to her brother as he was on vacation and he told her he was having a great time.

The U.S. State Department currently has a level 2 travel advisory for the Dominican Republic, which sits on an island in the Caribbean bordering Haiti.

Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide, and sexual assault is a concern throughout the Dominican Republic. The development of a professional tourist police corps, institution of a 911 system in many parts of the country, and a concentration of resources in resort areas means these tend to be better policed than urban areas like Santo Domingo. The wide availability of weapons, the use and trade of illicit drugs, and a weak criminal justice system contribute to the high level of criminality on the broader scale, the State Department stated.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley nearly died after being assaulted at the Majestic Elegance all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana. https://t.co/W04IMPhcSx  KFI AM 640 (@KFIAM640) May 31, 2019

The deaths of Day and Holmes came as a Delaware woman revealed that she was brutally assaulted while on vacation in the Dominican Republic earlier this year.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley, 51, shared the details with people on Facebook, warning them to be cautious while traveling.

She said she went to get a snack, telling her husband shed be back soon. As she walked in a resort, she was attacked by a man wearing a hotel uniform and shoved into a maintenance room, where he severely assaulted her, leaving her with nerve damage, a ripped open mouth, and a broken nose, among a slew of other injuries.

Police in the Dominican Republic say the missing couple from New York who mysteriously vanished while vacationing in the country are believed to be dead. Orlando Moore and his girlfriend, Portia Ravenelle, havent been heard from in two weeks. https://t.co/22ShuQCWwU  NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) April 10, 2019

This man thought he killed me, but he failed. He is still out there, a predator, waiting for his next victim, she wrote, while she urged people to be smart, be safe in unfamiliar places.

She said it didnt seem likely that the perpetrator would be found. A Dominican police spokesman told The Associated Press that investigators are still probing the attack, months after it happened in January.

There is a lot of conjecture about the case, a lot of information that doesnt match some of the statements, Col. Frank Duran said. We have to wait for the investigation to end.

The bodies of a New York couple vacationing in the country were found in April. Orlando Moore, 43, and his girlfriend, Portia Ravenelle, 32, were reported missing after they suddenly disappeared during a romantic getaway; the bodies were from a car accident.
A memorial of flowers, balloons, a cross, and photo of victim Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, in Chicago on May 17, 2019. (Teresa Crawford/AP Photo)

Baby Cut From Dead Teen Moms Womb Breathes Without Help From Machine For First Time

The baby who was cut from a young teenage mothers womb before she was murdered in Chicago, Illinois, is now breathing on his own and continues to recover in the hospital, the family said.

The family of the baby told Fox 32 News on May 31 that it is the first time he has managed to breathe on his own, without the help of a machine at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Frank Avila, an attorney for Yovani Lopez, the husband of murdered Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, told WLS that the babywhose first name is the same as his fathershas been able to breathe on his own intermittently.

Its still a long way to go for the baby, but the baby is fighting and surviving, Avila said.

Earlier, baby Yovani was reported to have been in grave condition with no brain activity. Doctors said that when Yovani was cut from his mothers womb, his oxygen supply had been cut off and caused him brain damage.

Julie Contreras, a family friend, asked the public to continue praying for him, WLS reported.

Slain teen Marlen Ochoas newborn to undergo brain activity tests, spokesperson says https://t.co/T3W3THawpN pic.twitter.com/eBmDzoQAUK  NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) May 21, 2019

Deceived and Strangled

Last week on May 25, the family held a funeral for the babys mother, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez.

Ochoa-Lopez was murdered in April. Police said the 19-year-old mother, who was nine months pregnant, was strangled to death and her baby was forcibly removed from her body.

Ochoa-Lopez went missing on April 23 after she was lured to a meeting that had been arranged over Facebook to a Southwest Side home to supposedly pick up free baby items.

Police said that 46-year-old Clarisa Figueroa murdered Ochoa-Lopez and then cut the baby out of her womb.

After cutting the baby out of the 19-year-old mothers womb, Figueroa then allegedly phoned 911 to say she had just given birth to a baby who wasnt breathing, according to police.

Paramedics transported Figueroa to the hospital in Oak Lawn, a suburb of Chicago, where she reportedly underwent a physical exam that determined she had not given birth.

Police announced May 16 that three peopleFigueroa, her 24-year-old daughter, Desiree Figueroa, and Figueroas boyfriend, 40-year-old Piotr Bobakhad been arrested and charged in connection with Ochoa-Lopezs death.

Ochoa-Lopezs family is thrilled about the babys improved state, but they continue to question why Figueroa was able to pretend the baby was hers before police intervention, Fox 32 News was told.

Officials Not Alerted

Prosecutors said that when Figueroa was brought with the baby to the hospital, she had blood on her upper body and her face, which a hospital employee cleaned off. They also said Figueroa was examined at the hospital and showed no physical signs of childbirth.

Police and Illinoiss child welfare agency said staff at Advocate Christ Medical Center didnt alert them after finding that Figueroa did not give birth to the baby boy as she claimed.

Family Of Marlen Ochoa Wants To Know Why Alleged Killer Was Allowed To Stay With Baby At Hospital https://t.co/zJWQ93ISoO pic.twitter.com/rcjLPHYNHM  CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) May 21, 2019

On May 18, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesman Jassen Strokosch said that the agency had been alerted on May 9 that there were questions about who had custody of the child in order to make medical decisions. He said he couldnt speculate about why the agency wasnt contacted sooner.

We dont know what was happening at the hospital, he said.

Legal Action in the Works

Avila told WLS that his team is trying to access records that are protected by HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Avila indicated that he anticipates legal action but was not at liberty to discuss details.

Meanwhile, Ochoa-Lopezs family is pushing for lawmakers to enforce DNA testing for newborns, including other measures.

The law is being called Marlens Law and is sponsored by Batavia state representative Karina Villa, WGN9 reported.

If passed into law, it would require hospital staff to check the identification of an adult who presents with a newbornsomething that was lacking in baby Yovanis case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD.com
Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on May 1, 2019. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Barr Says Official Explanation for Trump Surveillance Isnt Adding Up

Attorney General William Barr says official statements about the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation are just not jiving with information he has learned during his short stint in office.

I assumed Id get answers when I went in and I have not gotten answers that are well satisfactory, and in fact probably have more questions, Barr said in an interview with CBS News, adding that some of the facts that  Ive learned dont hang together with the official explanations of what happened.

[T]heres some questions that I think have to be answered, and I have a basis for feeling there has to be a review of this, he told CBS.

Barr is investigating government agencies surveillance activities against the Trump campaign, as well as the FBIs rationale for opening a counterintelligence investigation against Trump associates in July 2016.

Barr caused a stir during a Senate hearing on April 9 when he said that he believed spying did occur against the Trump campaign. He has since defended using the term spying, saying that there is nothing wrong with intelligence agencies spying. But he said he wants to find out whether there was a proper predicate for the surveillance and whether it was conducted legally.

The FBI used at least one informant, Stefan Halper, to make contact with Trump campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos. It has also been reported that a woman who presented herself as Halpers assistant during the Papadopoulos operation was actually a government investigator.

It is still not clear which agency employed the investigator, who went by the alias Azra Turk. Barr is also looking into the FBIs use of the infamous and unverified Steele dossier to obtain surveillance warrants against Carter Page.

Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to lead his investigation. President Trump granted Barr the authority to declassify materials he obtains during the investigation.

Barr suggested that one area he is looking at is the timeline of government agencies interest in the Trump campaign.

Things are just not jiving, he told CBS.

Current and former FBI officials have claimed that the bureaus counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign began on July 31, 2016, after receiving a tip from the Australian government regarding Papadopoulos.

But as The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported, Halper, the FBI informant, established contact with Carter Page three weeks before the counterintelligence investigation officially opened.

Here is a partial transcript of Barrs remarks, from CBS News:

WILLIAM BARR: Well, Ill say at this point is that it, you know, Ilike many other people who are familiar with intelligence activities, I had a lot of questions about what was going on. I assumed Id get answers when I went in and I have not gotten answers that are well satisfactory, and in fact probably have more questions, and that some of the facts thatthat Ive learned dont hang together with the official explanations of what happened.

JAN CRAWFORD: What do you mean by that?

WILLIAM BARR: Thats all I really will say. Things are just not jiving, and Im not saying at this stage that

JAN CRAWFORD: Was it a timeline?

WILLIAM BARR: There was a timeline, theres some timeline

JAN CRAWFORD: I mean, theres a concern that this may have happened before we realized that the investigation was initiated in July. I mean, what 

WILLIAM BARR: I dont want to get into those details at this point. I would just say that, you know 

JAN CRAWFORD: But you said theres a timeline concern.

WILLIAM BARR: Well I wont, I wont confirm that, but Ill just say that, you know, theres some questions that I think have to be answered, and I have a basis for feeling there has to be a review of this.

By Chuck Ross

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From The Daily Caller News Foundation

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Bikers participate in the annual Rolling Thunder First Amendment Demonstration Run in Washington on May 29, 2016. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Bikers Will Descend on Washington if Democrats Try to Impeach Trump, Says Rolling Thunder Head

Organizers of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle ride predicts bikers will descend on Washington if Democrats try to impeach President Trump.

I think hes doing a great job, and I wish Nancy Pelosi and her cronies would get off his back, Rolling Thunder executive director Artie Muller told the Washington Examiner.

3 days & 18 hours until they KNOW were there. Are YOU ready to make some noise? @codeofvets will be riding with us and well be posting pictures and video! pic.twitter.com/nrV1peZQzN  Rolling Thunder DC (@RTWashDC) May 22, 2019

Rolling Thunder First Amendment Demonstration Run participants recently had their final ride through the nations capital this past Memorial Day weekend, the Examiner reported. They have been gathering yearly for the ride since 1988.

Muller said that if Democrats ever managed to move into impeachment proceedings, other patriotic Americans would descend along with bikers on Washington, the Examiner reported.

Hanging at Thunder Alley. pic.twitter.com/sRMc5WreSU  Rolling Thunder DC (@RTWashDC) May 25, 2019

The purpose of the yearly Rolling Thunder event is to bring awareness and accountability for POWs and MIAs left behind, according to the organizations website, which says that there are still 86,521 military personnel that remain unaccounted for from wars and military conflicts that go back to World War I.

Muller is a 74-year-old former Army sergeant. He served during the Vietnam War, the Examiner reported. He said he feels that President Trump speaks the truth and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is an arrogant little [expletive].

He said that certain Democratic Party leaders need to be investigated, not Trump.

Same with Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi should open up their closets and put some charges against them, he added, via the Examiner.

Trump thanked the bikers on Twitter, wishing them many more runs in the years ahead.

The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder WILL be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, & hopefully for many years to come. It is where they want to be, & where they should be. Have a wonderful time today. Thank you to our great men & women of the Pentagon for working it out! Trump wrote.

The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder WILL be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, & hopefully for many years to come. It is where they want to be, & where they should be. Have a wonderful time today. Thank you to our great men & women of the Pentagon for working it out!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2019

Muller said the event wont end, but instead of having only one huge event in Washington, he is planning to hold multiple smaller events across the country, the Examiner reported.

The 2019 ride attracted more than one million participants, according to the Examiner. The group has had trouble coordinating the event with people in the Pentagon parking lot. The lot was used as a gathering site for ride participants.

As federal police officers, Pentagon Force Protection Agency personnel consider all relevant safety and security-related information while facilitating access, said Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough, via the Examiner. Effective preparation for an event the size and scale of a Rolling Thunder ride is a complicated and lengthy process.

Trump offers to help Rolling Thunder get permits for DC motorcycle ride https://t.co/8p6BEcDDP7 pic.twitter.com/QuQHGqwD4b  The Hill (@thehill) May 25, 2019

The group was unable to find an alternative to the Pentagon parking lot with the necessary accommodations, the Examiner reported. Despite this, he plans to continue with some of the D.C. events the group organizes for the yearly ride.

The Rolling Thunder board of directors are all veterans, according to the organizations website. The organization was started by Ray Manzo, a Vietnam veteran who was frustrated about the lack of accounting for the many prisoners of war and missing in action personnel from that war. He organized veterans in Washington D.C. to gather and protest via a motorcycle ride. On its first run, the event had 2,500 people. Now it has over a million people and has become the countrys largest single-day motorcycle event.

Embracing my brother Ray Manzo. Ray is the founder of the Rolling Thunder Run. It came from his mind and I am forever thankful. pic.twitter.com/GgxSe2hzof  Rolling Thunder DC (@RTWashDC) May 29, 2019

From NTD News
Congressman Calls on Barr to Aggressively Investigate Those Responsible for Russia Probe

Alabama Rep. Morris Jackson Mo Brooks Jr. (R-Ala.) recently weighed in on special counsel Robert Muellers statement on his investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, saying that the federal employees responsible for initiating the probe should be investigated for alleged crimes.

Brooks made his comments during an appearance on AL radios The Dale Jackson Show on WVNN on May 31. The host Dale Jackson and the congressman discussed Muellers May 29 press conference amid recent calls from Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump.

During the interview, Brooks claimed Mueller allegedly knew shortly after he was appointed as special counsel that there was no evidence of collusion but continued with the investigation for political reasons. He said one recourse for the investigation that took over two years is for Attorney General William Barr to investigate how the probe went on for so long and to uncover any crimes from the people involved.

Dale and Congressman Mo Brooks discuss Muellers press conference and Trumps tariffs on Mexico   https://t.co/dHDlZxwXDi via @Audioboom  Dale Jackson (@TheDaleJackson) May 31, 2019

On the executive branch side, Barr on his own can be and should be investigating how this got that far wasting this amount of taxpayer dollars. At some point in this process, there was somebody who made false statements about alleged Russian collusion to someone in the executive branch, Brooks said.

That is obstruction of justice. That is making false statements to law enforcement officers. And those people, whoever those people are, they need to be uncovered, and they need to be prosecuted because theyre the ones who are responsible for this two-year debacle, this two-year investigation, this waste of $35 million investigating a non-event, he added.

Jackson then asked whether they were ever going to catch those people involved, to which Brooks replied, I do not know.

I certainly hope so. And I hope that this attorney general will be aggressive and get to the bottom of it because the people who are engaged in these kinds of lies, this kind of wasting of taxpayer money, should not get away with it. We should catch them, he said.

We should put them in jail to the maximum term allowed by law, because we should never allow federal government employees to go rogue, to try to engage in what in effect a coup detat against a sitting president of the United States. That is serious, and that needs to be dealt with seriously, he said.

Previously, Barr had vowed to look into the origins of the Russia interference probe and the extent of the FBI surveillance on Trumps campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

At the Senate hearing on May 1, Barr said he was currently working closely with FBI Director Christopher Wray on trying to reconstruct exactly what went down.

Many people seem to assume that the only intelligence collection that occurred was a single confidential informant and a FISA warrant. Id like to find out whether that is in fact true, Barr said, when asked whether other improper conduct took place apart from the alleged misconduct with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

It strikes me as a fairly anemic effort if that was the counterintelligence effort designed to stop a threat as its being represented, he added.

Mueller formally announced an end to the Russia investigation as well as his resignation at the department during a press conference at the Justice Department on May 29. He added that he would not make further comments about the investigation and said anyone with further inquiries about the probe should refer to his more than 400-page report as his testimony.

The special counsels report concluded that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. Moreover, Mueller did not make a determination as to whether the president obstructed justice, later saying it was due to a DOJ policy which prohibits charging a sitting president with a federal crime.

Barr argued in a recent interview that Muellers reason for not making a determination was not true.

I personally felt he couldve reached a decision, Barr said during an interview with CBS on May 30. Barr said Mueller had his reasons for not making a recommendation but declined to explain, adding: Im not going to, you know, argue about those reasons.

Barr said the offices opinion was relevant but didnt prohibit what Mueller thought it did.

The opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office, but he couldve reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity, Barr said.

NTD reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
Supporters of increased security along the U.S.-Mexico border make a human wall to demonstrate their support for a border wall, at Sunland Park, N.M., on Feb. 9, 2019. (Hericka Martinez/AFP/Getty Images)

Florida Launches Probe Into Group Behind Private Border Wall

Consumer complaints have prompted the state of Florida to open an investigation into the nonprofit group that raised more than $20 million to build a private border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The investigation into the Florida-based group, We Build The Wall, was launched in mid-May, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said in a statement Thursday.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services can confirm that in response to consumer complaints referred by the Office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the Department opened an investigation into this charity on May 17, the spokesperson said. As this matter is now an active investigation, the Department cannot comment further. No additional information is available at this time.

The group was launched in January by triple-amputee Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage after he shifted the goalposts of his viral GoFundMe campaign from funding the federal governments border wall to building one of his own.

Kolfage told The New York Times in January that We Build The Wall hoped to break ground on its piecemeal border wall within weeks, but the group kept mostly quiet about its construction efforts until Monday, when it revealed it began construction on a $6 to $8 million half-mile barrier in Sunland Park, New Mexico, near El Paso, Texas.

Some of Kolfages donors grew uneasy during the long period of silence and started questioning in early May what was being done with their money.

Kolfage and his team insisted they had to remain silent in the lead-up to breaking ground in order to avoid lawsuits from groups like the ACLU.

Remember powerful people want to stop our progress, so to not tip anyone off we are radio silent!! Kolfage wrote in a Facebook post in May.

Former White House chief strategist and We Build The Wall director Steve Bannon told Yahoo News on Monday that the group hastily purchased the rights to the private land where their wall was built over Memorial Day weekend.

We had to catch them by surprise, Bannon said, adding that local residents are gonna freak out when they see the hastily constructed wall.

WINNING!! @WeBuildtheWall was given the green light yesterday afternoon by the city of Sunland Park to resume construction, and our permits were re-issued. From the start We Build The Wall, Inc complied with all regulations as required by law as we stated.@JackPosobiec #Trump pic.twitter.com/XcUnMKvK3i  Brian Kolfage (@BrianKolfage) May 30, 2019

Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea was also caught by surprise. He announced Tuesday a cease and desist order to the private landowner where We Build The Walls barrier was built, alleging a permit wasnt obtained prior to construction and that the structure was built in violation of a city ordinance.

Kolfage said his organization received the green light to build prior to breaking ground.

Kolfage announced Thursday morning that Sunland Park rescinded its order and authorized his group to resume construction.

We Build The Wall did not return a request for comment.

By Andrew Kerr

Follow Andrew on Twitter

From The Daily Caller News Foundation

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Actor Jussie Smollett talks to the media before leaving Cook County Court after his charges were dropped, in Chicago, on March 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)

Foxx Releases Jussie Smollett Files, Says She Recused Herself Due to Rumors

CHICAGOChicagos top prosecutor has released more than 2,000 pages of documents in Jussie Smolletts case and explained why she had recused herself from an investigation into the Empire actors claim that hed been the target of a racist, anti-gay attack: because of false rumors that she was related to him.

The statement on Friday, May 31, (pdf) from Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx comes two months after her office suddenly dropped all charges against Smollett accusing him of staging the January attack on himself.

The move was widely criticized.

Foxx says rumors circulated as suspicions grew about Smolletts account of an attack that she was related to Smolletts family, so she recused herself to avoid even the perception of a conflict.

Earlier explanations focused on communications between Foxx and a family member of Smolletts.

The release of documents late evening on May 31 came as offices closed for the weekend. A court last week lifted an order barring their release.

Foxxs statement reads as follows:

This has been a unique case from the very beginning, where the victim became the suspect during the investigation. Allegations of a vicious homophobic and racially motivated attack shook our city and the nation with understandable anger and fear. I did not have a conflict of interest in this case; only a sincere desire to serve the community. I spoke with Mr. Smolletts family and others while he was still considered to be the victim of a hate crime in an effort to streamline the case and alleviate any concerns about the integrity of the investigation. False rumors circulated that I was related or somehow connected to the Smollett family, so I removed myself from all aspects of the investigation and prosecution and delegated my authority and responsibility to my First Assistant so as to avoid even the perception of a conflict. I regret that my attempts to this end created confusion outside the office. The publics trust is paramount to our work. That is why today I am releasing material above and beyond what is required. It is my sincere hope that this transparency and the ongoing investigation of the Cook County Independent Inspector General will provide guidance and lessons on how to serve you better. I am sorry that despite the best intentions, our efforts were less than what was required of the moment.

Chicago police officials had said that Smollett staged the attack on himself, committing the crime of filing a false police report and tying up a number of police resources for weeks. Prosecutors said they largely agreed but still dropped all 16 felony counts against the actor in March in exchange for $10,000 and a day of community service.

Smollett did not have to admit any wrongdoing.

A state prosecutors association said that prosecutors violated the law by dropping the charges and police and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel slammed the move.

Smollett is still being probed by federal authorities for allegedly sending himself a threatening letter.

By Michael Tarm. NTD staff contributed to this report.

From NTD.com
State Highway 3 is swallowed up by flood water where the Marys River meets the Mississippi River at Chester, Ill., on May 30, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Hundreds of Roads Under Water as Historic Flooding Breaches Levees and Threatens Communities

Heavy rains in the Midwest are causing levees to breach along the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, which may eventually put thousands of homes in danger.

The Dardanelle Levee along the Arkansas River breached early Friday near the community of Holla Bend, sending water gushing into farmland that already had been saturated by leaks in the levee a day earlier, video from CNN affiliate KARK shows.

About 75 homes around Holla Bend, just downriver from the city of Dardanelle, have so far been impacted by flooding in a three-mile area, Yell County Emergency Management Director Jeff Gilkey said Friday. Yell County Judge Mark Thone told CNN affiliate KATV that he urged everyone in the area to evacuate immediately.

The rushing water is expected to spread to Smiley Bayou, an area of about 500 people. Because the terrain is hilly, only an unspecified number of people in low-lying areas are expected to evacuate, Gilkey said.

Just upriver, Dardanellea city of about 4,700 peoplewas preparing for flood waters eventually to encroach from the bayou side, Mayor Jimmy Witt wrote Friday morning on Facebook.

I ask you to please not panic, we have time to prepare for this, Witt wrote in the Facebook post.

The Arkansas River at Dardanelle was nearly 2 feet above its record crest before the breach.

More than 500 homes have been directly impacted by flooding in Arkansas already, state emergency management spokeswoman Melody Daniel told CNN.

If more levees along the swollen Arkansas River breach, many more could be in the path of flooding.

Floodwater from the Mississippi River cuts off the roadway from Missouri into Illinois at the states border in Saint Mary, Miss., on May 30, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Thousands of Homes Affected

The biggest concern is in the unprecedented pressure the flooding has put on the levees: They have never held back this much water for this long, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said Wednesday

Flooding could affect thousands of homes in 14 counties near the river, ranging from minor damage to destruction, Daniel said. Two leveesone of them in Logan County along state Highway 309have overtopped so far, but none have failed, Daniel said.

This is looking to be record-breaking all along the Arkansas River, and this is something we have never seen before, she said.

The Arkansas River was at or near record levels in several locations Friday morning, including at the Arkansas communities of Fort Smith and Ozark. Record crests for the Arkansas River have already been set in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and in the cities of Van Buren, Dardanelle, Morrilton, and Toad Suck in Arkansas. More record crests are predicted downstream, including the city of Pendleton, Arkansas.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting that he declare a state of emergency for 15 counties in the state, but that number is expected to increase.

Mandatory Evacuations in Missouri

A street sign, marking the edge of town along Kaskaskia Street pokes out of floodwater from the Mississippi River in Chester, Ill., on May 30, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Arkansas isnt the only state worried about the overflow of its rivers and levees. States along the Mississippi are experiencing their own threats from the rising water levels. In fact, 80 flood gauges running through 10 different statesfrom North Dakota to Louisianaare indicating major flooding, the highest category.

A levee failure on the Mississippi River has caused a mandatory evacuation of residents in West Quincy, Missouri, the Marion County Sheriffs Office told CNN.

And according to the Missouri Department of Transportation, more than 300 roads are under water, with the potential for more to come.

The Mississippi River in St. Louis is expected to crest next Tuesday around 46 feetthe second-highest level on record behind the 1993 floods. It would also be the second Top 7 crest of all time just this yearwith the previous being 41.7 feet on May 6.

Some of the high water has come from heavy rains: CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller says portions of northern Oklahoma through central Kansas have seen 15-20 inches of rain during the month of May, which is 300 to 400% of the normal amount.

Theres a brief break in the rain this weekend, but heavy rain is forecast for parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, with another 4-6 inches possible next week.

Emergency Flooding

The Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans district announced that while it will be later than expected, they plan to operate the Morganza Floodway on June 9.

The floodway is designed for emergency flooding and when operated, diverts excess floodwater from the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya Basin, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The operation of the floodway itself can cause damage to properties surrounding it, the department said.

It was only operated twice before: once in 1973 and once in 2011.
A diver prepares to dive to the wreckage under Margaret Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on May 31, 2019. (Laszlo Balogh/AP Photo)

Hungary Needs Extended Search for 21 Missing in Boat Sinking

BUDAPESTAs divers descended Friday into the Danube, Hungarian authorities predicted it would take an extended search to find the 21 people still missing after a boat carrying South Korean tourists was rammed by a cruise ship and sank into the river in Budapest.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, visited the site of Wednesdays accident and met with rescue and search officials before holding talks.

We have to prepare for a protracted search, Szijjarto said he was told by Budapest river police, adding that authorities were also expecting help from Serbia, where the Danube flows after leaving Hungary. It is not unimaginable that we will need to depend on them in the coming days.

Divers in full equipment went into Danube but were unable to inspect the wreckage of the boat due to the extremely murky waters and heavy currents from recent rains. Officials said it could take days to recover the 70-year-old boat, which was built in the former Soviet Union.

Just hours after Wednesday nights collision, the body of one victim was found nearly 12 kilometers (7 1/2 miles) downstream from the site of the collision, near the Hungarian capitals neo-Gothic parliament building.

The wreck is located more than six meters (20 feet) deep and the water level continues to rise because of the expected rainfall, Szijjarto added.

The Interior Ministry said some 60 experts were experimenting with theoretical models and test dives to find a unique method to salvage the sunken tour boat or rescue any bodies trapped inside. It said the adverse conditions dont allow for the use of any traditional methods.

Hungarian police have detained and questioned the captain of the Viking Sigyn river cruise ship that collided with a sightseeing boat. Szijjarto said the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain protested being considered a suspect. Identified only as Yuriy C., he is suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly mass accident.

Prosecutors said they had asked a Budapest court to place the captain under arrest, which they considered necessary to ensure his presence during the proceedings. A decision about the arrest is expected Saturday.

The Viking Sigyn has been allowed to sail on to Germany but Kang said the ships owner has promised to fully cooperate with the investigation.

If the investigation finds the ships owner responsible, there will be a thorough legal response, she added.

The ministers agreed to search for every missing person.

We shared our firm resolve  to search for survivors to the last person, Kang said.

Nineteen South Koreans and two Hungarian crew membersthe captain and his assistantremain missing.

A crew member from another tour boat who helped rescue two South Korean women, said one of them was in shock.

I announced Man overboard on the radio in Hungarian and German and we started the rescue, Norbert Magyar told broadcaster RTL Klub. We threw out two life preservers which were caught by two Korean ladies and with the help of our colleagues we lifted them out of the water. The passengers helped too, because  the two womens clothes absorbed a lot of water and it would have been very difficult to lift them out.

The boats sinking has touched a nerve in South Korea, where many are still traumatized over a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people, mostly students.

Survivors say they were lucky to grab onto a drifting lifeboat Wednesday evening while looking in horror as others around them struggled in the dark, rainy waters, shouting for help. Their small sightseeing boat had almost finished its tour and was almost at a stop when the larger cruise ship hit it under a bridge near the riverbank parliament building. They said about 20 people were on the deck taking photographs or preparing to disembark. The others were in the cabin.

I saw that big cruise ship coming closer to us but I had never imagined it would ram our boat, a 31-year-old South Korean surnamed Jeong told the Yonhap news agency.

Jeong said she and others on the deck were thrown into the cold Danube by the impact of the collision, while police said it took only seven seconds for the tourist boat to overturn and sink. Jeong said she grabbed a lifeboat drifting by and managed to throw a rope to another tourist surnamed Yoon.

Our boat was turned over in an instant and began sinking, Yoon, 32, told Yonhap. All those on the deck fell into water. I think those staying in the cabin on the first floor couldnt probably get out of the ship quickly.

The South Korean government said no one was wearing a life jacket.

Video released by Hungarian police showed the sightseeing boat, identified as the Hableany (Mermaid), traveling closely side-by-side and in the same direction as the German-built Viking cruise ship as they approached the Margit Bridge.

The Hableany then appears to steer slightly to its left, into the path of the 135-meter (443-feet) long cruise ship, which continued to sail on at the same speed. The two collided and the sightseeing boat then tipped over on its side between the bridges two supports.

Police Col. Adrian Pal said it was unclear what caused the Hableany to steer into the path of the Viking.

By Pablo Gorondi
Jennifer Dulos, 50, has been missing since May 24, 2019, according to police. (New Canaan Police)

Husband of Missing Mother Jennifer Dulos Questioned by Police

The estranged husband of a missing mother was questioned by police several days after court documents revealed that she was afraid of him.

Police officers went to the Connecticut home of Jennifer Duloss estranged husband on May 31 to question Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend, the Daily Mail reported.

Dulos was seen speaking to officers around 6 p.m. outside his mansion in Farmington. They then entered the house with Dulos and his partner, Michelle Traconis.

After about an hour, Dulos exited the house and departed in his car with Traconis.

New Canaan Police Lt. Jason Ferraro said the case is still considered a missing persons investigation.

Sources told the Hartford Courant that police officers obtained a search warrant for the Farmington house and went back there early Saturday to search it.

The search came about a week after traces of blood were found in Jennifer Duloss home. Law enforcement sources told the outlet that it looked like the blood had been cleaned.

Divorce documents obtained by the Stamford Advocate showed that Dulos was afraid of her husband. The couple had five children together, all between the ages of 8 and 13, during their 14 years of marriage.

JUST IN: New court document JUST filed on behalf of Fotis Dulos, husband of missing woman, Jennifer Dulos. The couple is going through a divorce. Jennifer has been missing for 1 week. @WFSBnews #missingpersons #missing #missingmother #NewCanaan pic.twitter.com/no53UYo2gc  Courtney Zieller (@courtneyzieller) May 31, 2019

Dulos said that her husband was upset that she was filing for divorce.

I am afraid of my husband, reads an affidavit tied to an order of custody filed in June 2017. I know that filing for divorce and filing this motion will enrage him. I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.

She said that Fotis Dulos had exhibited irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening, and controlling behavior.

The document added, I am afraid for my safety and the physical safety and emotional well-being of our minor children.

Fotis Dulos said what his wife claimed was not true and said she was not fit to be the childrens caretaker, alleging that she had lost the children on multiple occasions. However, Jennifer Dulos said that her husband had told her he would kidnap the children and flee to his native home of Greece with them, adding, You will never find us.

NEW: A lot of people are asking, Where is her husband? @FOX61News went to find out.

Fotis Dulos called the police on our news crew when we went to his Farmington home to get a comment on Jennifers disappearance.

Click the link to hear the 911 call!https://t.co/ToGzB5jAch  Erika Arias (@ErikaAriasFOX61) May 31, 2019

She said that she bought a gun because of her fear of her husband. Fotis Dulos wrote that he turned the gun over to the police.

According to NBC, the mother of Jennifer Dulos filed a complaint in 2018 alleging her son-in-law borrowed $1.5 million from her and her late husband and had only paid back $500,000.

Gloria Farber, 85, the mother, filed a motion this week requesting financial records for the Fore Group, Fotis Duloss company.

Fotis Dulos had submitted a filing trying to regain custody of the five children, who he alleged were taken to New York City to live with Farber by their nanny after the disappearance of their mother.

Search for New Canaan mother Jennifer Farber Dulos continues as police obtain warrant to search husbands Farmington home https://t.co/DX8OUHQTDD pic.twitter.com/n2xXqtKFgA  Hartford Courant (@hartfordcourant) June 1, 2019

Farber has an armed guard keeping watch at her apartment, Dulos claimed.

Jennifer Dulos, 50, went missing on May 24. She was last seen driving a 2017 black Chevrolet Suburban in New Canaan. The vehicle was found later that day.

Anyone with information is asked to call the New Canaan Police Tip Line at 203-594-3544.
Man Buys Motorcycle, Dies in Crash on His First Ride Home

A man in Anson, Maine, purchased a motorcycle and died a few hours later in a crash while on his first ride home on May 31.

Barry K. Morriss, 66, of Madison purchased a motorcycle on Friday morning and died in a crash half a mile from Campground Road near Cousineaus Mill, reported WFMY News 2.

The Somerset County Sheriffs Office received a report of the crash at 11:56 a.m. and upon their arrival at the accident spot, found a seriously injured driver.

The Somerset County Sheriffs Office received a report of a single motorcycle crash on Valley Road in Anson around 11:56 a.m. on Friday, May 31. https://t.co/L79PKYlMvw  WFMY News 2 (@WFMY) June 1, 2019

The Sheriffs office said that speed and inexperience led to the crash. The driver, who was not wearing a helmet, lost control of the motorcycle and went into the shoulder of the road and was thrown from the vehicle into a ditch.

He was transported to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in an ambulance where he died later.

Morrisss stepson was following him in a car. The case is under investigation.

Man Charged in Motorcycle Hit And Run That Left 4-Year-Old in Hospital

Toronto Police have arrested and charged a 31-year-old man in connection with a hit and run that put a 4-year-old child in the hospital in critical condition.

Early on the afternoon of Sunday, May 26, a man riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle with a female passenger struck the child after he ran out into Victoria Park Ave., which borders Toronto and Scarborough. The rider and passenger fled the scene, according to a Toronto Police news release.

Police say the motorcycle pulled over after hitting the boy, the passenger got off, then the bike continued on.

Weve got information that the female got off the bike and walked away on foot. The motorcyclist continued northbound on Victoria Park and out of the area, Toronto Police Traffic Services Sergeant Brett Moore said in a Twitter video Monday morning.

Motorcycle driver and passenger to ID in Fail To Remain collision. Four year old boy critical injuries. Info call Toronto Police 416-808-1900. Anonymous Crime Stoppers tips 1-800-222-8477. News release: https://t.co/SOgJYsj6BZ ^sm pic.twitter.com/4gKYxsVgdg  Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) May 27, 2019

The man was arrested on Monday about 24 hours after the accident, but according to the news release police did not release his name in order to protect the integrity of the investigation. The initial release describes the man as white, with a black half helmet and black pants. A 2016 Harley Davidson Road Glide Motorcycle was also seized.

The man has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident that caused bodily harm, driving a motor vehicle with an improper license, and operating a motor vehicle without insurance.

In a video Monday afternoon, Moore said investigators have identified the female passenger whom they believe to be involved as well.

He also said that in the 24 hours between the accident and arrest, investigators received 32 tips through Crime Stoppers as well as dozens of calls from community members asking questions and providing help where they could. Police canvased, collected, and looked at videos that people in the community provided.

Motorcycle Crashes

Motorcycles are far less crashworthy than other vehicles and are more prone to the hazards posed by weather and road conditions, according to the Insurance Information Institute (iii).

Motorcycle crashes claimed 5,286 lives in 2016, and in the same year motorcycle riders were 28 times more likely to die in a crash than people in cars.

Motorcycles are by their nature far less crashworthy than closed vehicles. They are also less visible to other drivers and pedestrians and less stable than four-wheel vehicles, said iii.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that helmets saved the lives of 1,859 motorcyclists in 2016 and that 802 more lives could have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets.

Margaret Wollensak contributed to this report.
Mourners pay their respects at Royal Park in Melbourne, Australia on May 31, 2019. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Melburnians Gather for Vigil Following Murder of Courtney Herron

Courtney Herron might not have thought people cared about her in life but mourners gave an outpour of love to remember the 25-year-old woman slain at a Melbourne park.

Flowers, messages of support and photographs adorn the makeshift memorial site where her body was found in Royal Park by dog walkers a week ago, on May 25.

A poem by Louise Karch reads: Night owls shocked by an unexpected angel calls no, as Courtney rises suddenly. Sacred, we come to blood-soaked ground to cradle grief, yearning to birth better. No accidentthis was inevitable.

It comes as family and strangers gathered at the Parkville site for a vigil late May 31 with her mum Maxie Herron pleading be happy baby as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She is not crying, she is watching down. She is at peace. She is in the arms of her papou saying its okay Mum Ive shed my tears, she told the crowd.

This outpouring of love is unexpected. My baby in life thought people didnt care, and that people were staring at her. But she is in heaven watching down, saying I am loved.

Herrons death sparked has widespread calls for action.

The safety of women is something that must concern us all, federal Minister for Women Marise Payne said, noting Herrons death.

Vigil co-organiser Jessamy Gleeson begged for political action to stop more deaths.

Its already May and we have done over 20 (vigils for women killed) so it is very real. Women feel unsafe, she said.

You deserved so much better

Courtney Herron

Fiona Warzywoda

Natalina Angok

Preethi Reddy 

Aiia Maasarwe

Laa Choll 

Qi Yu

Eurydice Dixon

Masa Vukotic

Renea Lau 

Jill Meagher 

And so many more.

This is a national emergency.  Bethany Atkinson-Quinton (@bethanyaq) May 26, 2019

There is a big crisis happening, she said. The message I want politicians to hear is that we are tired of doing these vigils and there needs to be a big structural change in how we address violence against women.

Homeless man Henry Richard Hammond, 27, has been charged with Herrons murder. He has faced court and remains in custody.

Key points: Henry Hammond, 27, made a brief appearance in the #Melbourne Magistrates Court and was remanded in custody Magistrate Donna Bakos ordered a medical assessment after the court was told he may have a delusional disorder pic.twitter.com/jNbDbpe9p3  Brandi News Update (@brandilmelb) May 27, 2019

More than $13,000 has been raised in an online appeal to pay for Herrons funeral.

By Christine McGinn
Men Pretending to Be Police Officers Forced Their Way Into Womans Home and Shot Her

A Texas woman said that three men pretending to be police officers barged into her house and shot her.

The situation unfolded in Houston around 10 p.m. on May 30, the woman, who was not named, told KTRK.

She said that the men shouted police! When she saw one of them had a pistol, she retrieved her firearm.

The men barged into the house, leading to a shootout between them and the resident.

The men eventually fled while the woman, who was hit in the arm, was rushed to a hospital.

Men impersonating police force their way into womans home and shoot her in SE Houston https://t.co/vGf32wSKR5 pic.twitter.com/IXNjH9cMPA  ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) June 1, 2019

A nearby incident may be connected, officers said.

Just moments after the men fled the scene, a 23-year-old man driving nearby narrowly avoided hitting a man who was sprinting across the street. The driver stopped. Then, someone inside of a parked car shot at him.

The man who was sprinting across the street then hopped in the car, the man said.

Police are exploring a possible connection.

According to the Texas penal code, impersonating a public service, such as a police officer, is a third-degree felony.

The law states: A person commits an offense if he: (1) impersonates a public servant with intent to induce another to submit to his pretended official authority or to rely on his pretended official acts; or (2) knowingly purports to exercise any function of a public servant or of a public office, including that of a judge and court, and the position or office through which he purports to exercise a function of a public servant or public office has no lawful existence under the constitution or laws of this state or of the United States.

Police Investigating Impersonation in Alabama

An Alabama woman said this week that she was pulled over by a man who claimed to be a police officer.

Grace Stockton said that she was driving on May 30 when she saw flashing blue lights behind her. Because she knew she was not speeding, she took precautions.

He got out and came up to my window, and I kept my door locked and just cracked it a little bit, she told WHNT.

The man impersonating the officer was dressed all in black and wearing a gun belt and what appeared to be a fake badge.

It had like a white sticker across the badge that said Johnson on it and I was like, that doesnt look right at all, Stockton told WAAY.

He also had a radio.

A woman reported being pulled over by a man impersonating a police officer. https://t.co/nC3RQGWq7j  WAAY 31 (@WAAYTV) June 1, 2019

SCARY: The woman said the man was in an unmarked car, wearing all black and a gunbelt. https://t.co/iFGojrni8q  WHNT (@whnt) June 1, 2019

He said, I ran your tag and you have a warrant out for your arrest,' she told WHNT. And I said, Well this is my moms car that Im driving, and Im pretty sure that neither one of us have a warrant.'

Police told WAAY that after Stockton asserted there was no warrant, the suspect replied, Okay, have a good day.

He was described as a middle-aged white male with dark hair wearing black clothing with a white sticker that had the name Johnson on it.

Anyone with information was asked to call Muscle Shoals police at (256) 383-6746. Police said that anyone who is ever stopped by an unmarked vehicle can dial 911 and request verification that it is a police agency conducting the stop.
Mom Pleads Guilty in Case of Naked, Chained Alabama Boy

PRATTVILLE, Ala.An Alabama woman has pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse of her son, who authorities say was found naked and chained up.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports the 32-year-old woman entered the plea Thursday, saying she made bad decision [sic] and bad judgments. Autauga County Sheriff Joe Sedinger has said deputies responding to an anonymous report of child abuse in September found the boy chained to a door in a Prattville home.

Autauga County Sheriff Joe Sedinger told reporters that the chained-up boy was discovered by deputies Thursday afternoon after receiving an anonymous tip of possible child abuse there. https://t.co/m0tNgFF4gT  KFI AM 640 (@KFIAM640) September 22, 2018

An Alabama woman has pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse of her son, who authorities say was found naked and chained up. https://t.co/CWudcf2ddf  WHNT (@whnt) May 31, 2019

The sheriff said the boy had apparently been chained for several hours that day. Prosecutors say evidence shows the malnourished boy had also been forced to sleep in a dog crate for years.

The boys mother is set to be sentenced in August. His stepfather and grandmother were upgraded from torture/willful abuse of a child. Two uncles are accused of aiding and abetting the abuse.

An Alabama woman has pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse of her son, who authorities say was found naked and chained up. https://t.co/CWudcf2ddf  WHNT (@whnt) May 31, 2019

His stepfather, grandmother and two uncles charged in the case are set to go to trial in July.

The boy and his siblings, aged 3 and 12, were removed from the home.
Mom Who Survived Brutal Dominican Republic Attack: This Is My Fault

A Delaware woman who survived a brutal attack in the Dominican Republic said that what happened was her fault.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley, 51, said she was beaten and left for dead while on vacation at an all-inclusive resort in the country, which borders Haiti in the Caribbean.

I internalize this. This is my fault, I got myself into this situation, she told People magazine. I feel horrendous that I put my husband and my friends through this situation. Their lives are changed forever, as well as mine.

Because I internalize everything and blame myself for the situation, I want to make sure that others who have gone through similar situations dont blame themselves, Lawrence-Daley added. That they realize that we didnt ask for this, we didnt cause this. This was somebody else deciding to do this and we have to find ourselves blameless in this whole situation.

The mother spoke out after sharing her story on Facebook about five months after being attacked.

She said that she wrote the post to warn others to keep their guard while walking alone in unfamiliar places.

Lawrence-Daley said that the incident happened while she, her husband, and their best friends were on vacation at the Majestic Elegance resort in the Dominican Republic.

She said after a night out with her friends she became hungry and called for room service but was unsuccessful. So she decided to head downstairs to her buildings lounge to get a snack.

I ended up bypassing the lounge in our building and opted to go to the lounge in the next building, which was on the beach, she wrote. I thought I could get some pictures of the moon on the water, but I never made it to the beach.

HE AT THAT POINT BEGAN CHOKING ME A Delaware woman is sharing her agonizing story of a vacation attack. Tammy Lawrence-Daley says she was brutally attacked at the Majestic Elegance, an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana in January. https://t.co/Ib6HP0iPhC pic.twitter.com/SV2In2rRFX  Action News on 6abc (@6abc) May 31, 2019

She said while she was going through the rotunda between the building she noticed that it was eerily quiet. She then heard footsteps and was suddenly grabbed from behind before she was attacked.

His arms wrapped around me and he started pulling me immediately into an unlocked maintenance room, Lawrence-Daley wrote.

The next 8 hours brought me pain and fear. I was strangled multiple times to unconsciousness, she said. My lifeless body was [dragged] down concrete stairs to an underground wastewater area. I was kicked in the head, I was beaten with a club. And then strangled again for the kill.

The Facebook post later appeared to be removed from the website.

She told People that the area where she was dragged was a hole.

Tammy Lawrence-Daley says she was brutally beaten while on a vacation to the Dominican Republic in January. https://t.co/Y8qpfQBVaP  Delaware Online (@delawareonline) May 30, 2019

I call it a hole because thats what it felt like when I was in it, she said. I couldnt go anywhere. I couldnt stand up and I couldnt find my way out I had no clue where I was. All I knew was I was in this hole basically buried alive.

She was there for about eight hours while her husband and friends frantically searched for her, later saying hotel staff insisted that she was somewhere passed out from drinking too much.

Lawrence-Daley said that the attacker left her for dead. At some point, her survival instinct kicked in.

Its a crazy thing when youre in that mindset. Its the survival mechanism kicks in and says, Im not going down without a fight, Lawrence-Daley added. When she finally heard voices, she called for help and they found her.

She was rushed to a local clinic for treatment. Her injuries included a broken nose, a fractured hand, and a ripped apart mouth. She told ABC 6 that shes undergone six surgeries since the attack.

Lawrence-Daley urged people to be smart, be safe in unfamiliar places.

This man thought he killed me, but he failed. He is still out there, a predator, waiting for his next victim, she said.

Its not safe. Not safe for women to walk alone, walk with somebody else, she told ABC 6.

pic.twitter.com/tX9rcHLiu5  Majestic Resorts  5* star luxury hotels (@MajesticResorts) May 31, 2019

Majestic Resorts said in a statement that, Since the occurrence of this regrettable event, we have treated Mrs. Lawrence-Daleys situation with due diligence and attention.

Majestic Resorts condemns and rejects any type of violence and, in pursuit of resolving this isolated case, we refrain from making any comment out of respect for Mrs. Lawrence-Daleys dignity and integrity.

Lawrence-Daley said that the man who assaulted her was wearing a hotel uniform.

The resort said that it was working with local law enforcement but the victim told People she was told the case would not be resolved.
Attorney General nominee William Barr testifies on the first day of his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 15, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

New Details on Spygate, Mueller & Ongoing Investigations Revealed in Barr Interview

US Attorney John Huber Looking Into Issues Relating to Hillary Clinton

In an hour-long, wide ranging interview with CBS News Jan Crawford, Attorney General Bill Barr provided a significant amount of new information regarding the Mueller Report, the Russia Investigation, and his examination of the events surrounding the 2016 presidential election.

Barr addressed the actions taken by the leadership of the FBI and other agencies, and noted the dangers of allowing government power, law enforcement or intelligence power, to play a role in politics, to intrude into politics, and affect elections.

He also addressed declassification, his ongoing investigation into surrounding matters, and the involvement of U.S. Attorney John Huber, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and U.S. Attorney John Durham.

Barrs Apolitical Positioning

Barr, who had served as Attorney General in the early 90s, came out of private practice to take the current Attorney General position, and as such appears to be a perfect choice by President Trump. During the interview he addressed the partisan attacks made upon him, allowing that he was fully aware they would occur prior to taking the position:

I realize we live in a crazy hyper-partisan period of time and I knew that it would only be a matter of time if I was behaving responsibly and calling them as I see them, that I would be attacked because nowadays people dont care about the merits and the substance.

Barr continued, noting that Any attorney general in this period is going to end up losing a lot of political capital, and I realize that, and that is one of the reasons that I ultimately was persuaded that I should take it on because I think at my stage in life it really doesnt make any difference.

Barrs Declassification Request

On May 23, 2019, President Trump issued a Memorandum giving declassification authorization to Attorney General William Barr. The memo noted that AG Barr has full authority to declassify, downgrade, or direct the declassification or downgrading of information or intelligence that relates to the Attorney Generals review.

President Trump himself sent out a related release from his Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, that included a reference to the genesis of the declassification orderAt the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States. AG Barr apparently asked President Trump for the declassification authority.

This was confirmed by Barr himself who told Crawford the same during his interview:

CRAWFORD: So did you ask the president for authority to declassify?

BARR: Yes.

CRAWFORD: You asked the president?

BARR: Yes and also you know, the direction of the intelligence agencies to support our efforts.

Barrs admission that he had asked the President for declassification authority provided a clarification to earlier responses from President Trump who had somewhat cryptically told Fox News Catharine Herridge regarding declassification, Whenever they need it, Ill be doing it. But I will be declassifying it. Everything.

Barr also confirmed that he had the ongoing support from our intelligence agenciesand specifically named Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel:

CRAWFORD: So did you discuss this with the DNI and head of the CIA?

BARR: Yes.

CRAWFORD: And whats their response?

BARR: That theyre going to be supportive.

Barrs response seems to put to bed media claims that both Coats and Haspel might have been hindering Barrs investigative efforts.

On Matters of Obstruction

There has been much made of Muellers recent press conference, particularly his comments on not reaching a decision on obstruction. Barr addressed this issue, noting that Mueller took the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that a sitting president could not be indicted into account but also included a number of other prudential judgments about fairness and other things and decided that the best course was not for him to reach a decision.

Notably, following the confusion from Muellers press conference, the DOJ and the Special Counsels office released a joint statement:

The Attorney General has previously stated that the Special Counsel repeatedly affirmed that he was not saying that, but for the OLC opinion, he would have found the President obstructed justice.

The Special Counsels report and his statement today made clear that the office concluded it would not reach a determinationone way or the otherabout whether the President committed a crime. There is no conflict between these statements.

Barr previously said that Mueller had told him his conclusions on obstruction would be same with or without the OLC opinion. During Muellers somewhat confusing press conference, many interpreted Muellers comments to mean that the OLC opinion was the singular issue. In the joint statement, both Muller and the DOJ stated that there would be no conclusion on obstruction even without the OLC opinion.

Despite the joint statement, Barr said that he believed Mueller could have reached a conclusion on obstruction, and stated both he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were surprised when Mueller did not do so.

Barr said that he and Rosenstein did not agree with much of the legal analysis contained in the report and felt it represented the views of a particular lawyer or lawyers and so we applied what we thought was the right law, but then we didnt rely on that.

Barr pointed out that in order for the determination of a crime, the DOJ would have had to prove corrupt intent noting that the report itself points out that one of the likely motivations here was the presidents frustration with Comey saying something publicly and saying a different thing privately, and refusing to correct the record.

Lack of Grand Jury Redactions

Barr addressed his issuance of a four-page summary of Muellers findings, noting that he was forced to do so because Mueller had not identified which material in his report was actually underlying grand jury materialalso known as 6E informationdespite repeated advance requests from Barr:

because we were not involved in the investigation we would have no way of looking at the report determining what was grand jury material and what wasnt, so we had for a period of weeks been asking the special counsels office to highlight the stuff so we could quickly process it for release.

Barr noted that My intent was to get out as much as I could as quickly as I could. To do that I would have to, as a matter of law, make sure that grand jury material was redacted because regardless of the political posturing thats going on its not lawful for me to just make that public.

For unknown reasons, Mueller failed to identify the grand jury information, information so sensitive it could not be released to Congress, in the report that he delivered to the attorney general. Barr said he was surprised this had not been done by Mueller, and noted that it immediately meant that you know it was going to be a period of weeks before we could get the report out.

In other words, it was Muellers failure to identify grand jury information within his own report that forced Barr to put out his four-page summary, as he and Mueller went about the laborious process of identifying the grand jury details prior to a broader release:

CRAWFORD: You expected the special counsels office to redact that material, so to point out what should be redacted

BARR: Right. Right.

CRAWFORD: So the four-page summary would have been unnecessary?

BARR: Correct.

On Election Interference by Russia

Barr noted that Mueller did some impressive work in his investigation, you know, identifying some of the Russian hackers and their influence campaign, and noted that if this sort of effort had begun earlier, things could have been a lot different. This shifted the focus back to the Obama administrations lack of focus in this regard:

CRAWFORD: [I]ts just hard to understand why it wasnt taken more seriously.

BARR: Right.

CRAWFORD: Why do you think it was not?

BARR: I have no idea. Thats one of the things Im interested in looking at.

Barr said that there were warnings about Russias efforts being made in April of 2016, but these warnings failed to result in the proper level of countermeasures and responses from our intelligence community. As Barr noted, Surely the response should have been more than just, you know, dangling a confidential informant in front of a peripheral player in the Trump Campaign.

Counterintelligence Activities & Spying

Barr spent a fair amount of time during the interview discussing the counterintelligence activities undertaken by the FBI. As he noted, much of this activity appears to have fallen outside of normal practices and procedures.

Barr observed that These counter-intelligence activities that were directed at the Trump Campaign, were not done in the normal course and not through the normal procedures as far as I can tell. And a lot of the people who were involved are no longer there.

Barr was also asked about his testimony that he believed spying on the Trump campaign had occurred. He reiterated his belief that this had taken place, but noted that he needed to understand the reason behind the activity:

CRAWFORD: Youre saying that spying occurred. Theres not anything necessarily wrong with that.

BARR: Right.

CRAWFORD: As long as theres a reason for it.

BARR: Whether its adequately predicated.

Barr noted that its just as dangerous to the continuation of self-government and our republican system, republic, that we not allow government power, law enforcement or intelligence power, to play a role in politics, to intrude into politics, and affect elections.

A Serious Red Line

In particular, the role of intelligence agencies in the 2016 presidential election, both foreign and domestic, were a specific cause of concern for Barr who noted that the use of foreign intelligence capabilities and counterintelligence capabilities against an American political campaign to me is unprecedented and its a serious red line thats been crossed.

Barr explicitly stated that there were counterintelligence activities taken against the Trump campaign, and while allowing that there may have been valid reasons for some of the actions, he also said that he wanted to see what were the standards that were applied. What was the evidence? What were the techniques used? Who approved them? Was there a legitimate basis for it?

As he noted, one of the core responsibilities of the Attorney General is to make sure that government power is not abused and that the right of Americans are not transgressed by abusive government power.

The Investigators

Barr noted that he selected US Attorney John Durham to investigate the origins of the Russia probe that officially began during the Obama administration with the FBIs opening of their July 31, 2016, counterintelligence investigation. In reality, the origins of the intelligence communities efforts likely extend back into at least 2015.

Notably, Durham is already involved in the criminal leak investigation involving former FBI General Counsel James Baker.

Barr noted that both he and Durham, who was going to conduct a thorough and fair review, were working closely with the various intelligence agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, to reconstruct what happened.

Barr explained that Inspector General Horowitz, who is currently investigating FISA abuse surrounding the FISA warrant on Trump campaign member Carter Page, does not have the power to investigate beyond the current, active employees of the Department of Justice. A frequent tactic used by those who have come under investigation is to simply resign, thereby removing themselves from the IGs authority. Nor can the IG exert much, if any, control over officials outside the DOJ.

Is Huber Looking into the Clinton Foundation

US Attorney John Huber had been assigned by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to act as an outside prosecutor working in tandem with IG Horowitz. Barr made clear that there had been a transition in Hubers responsibilities.

As Barr noted, Huber had originally been asked to take a look at the FISA applications and the electronic surveillance but then he stood back and put that on hold while the Office of Inspector General was conducting its review.

In Barrs words, Huber had been on standby waiting for IG Horowitz to refer matters to him to be handled criminally. Durham is now taking over this role from Huber.

But it appears that Huber has been engaged in another line of investigation during this time. In a comment that was nearly passed over, Barr stated that Huber had other issues hes been working on [that] relate to Hillary Clinton. Barr noted that [t]hose are winding down and hopefully well be in a position to bring those to fruition.

There have been previous reports that the Clinton Foundation has been under investigation by Huber, but Barr did not elaborate on which issues were being worked on by Huber and what, exactly, he meant by fruition.

Barrs Remaining Questions

Barr, who was asked about his basis for having Durham continue his investigation, appears to have some healthy skepticism for what transpired during the 2016 election, noting that I had a lot of questions about what was going on. I assumed Id get answers when I went in and I have not gotten answers that are satisfactory, and in fact probably have more questions, and that some of the facts thatthat Ive learned dont hang together with the official explanations of what happened.

Barr, while being careful with disclosure of information, said that [t]hings are just not jiving, and seemed to indicate that he was looking at events that transpired prior to the FBIs initiation of their counterintelligence investigation.

When questioned over timeline concerns, Barr said that I wont confirm that, but Ill just say that, you know, theres some questions that I think have to be answered, and I have a basis for feeling there has to be a review of this.

The Small Group

Barr was careful to note he did not feel there was a problem throughout the entire FBI, noting that activities were undertaken by a small group at the top which is one of theprobably one of the mistakes that has been made instead of running this as a normal bureau investigation or counterintelligence investigation. It was done by the executives at the senior level. Out of head quarters.

Barr again noted that he did not see this as a bureau-wide, or agency-wide issue, and said that all the intelligence agencies were being very cooperative in helping us.

Barr was asked about President Trumps tweets regarding treasonand if he agreed with that assessment. Barr responded that he looked at the term from a purely legal perspective, noting I dont think its actually implicated in the situation that we have now.

But he did note the level of bias exhibited, calling it appalling and rightly noting that if the shoe was on the other foot we could be hearing a lot about it. If those kinds of discussions were held you know when Obama first ran for office

Media Complicity and Complacency

The medias role during the last several years has been particularly notable. In some respects, the media has played the most disingenuous of roles. Areas of investigation that historically would have proven irresistible to reporters of the past have been steadfastly ignored. False narratives have been all-too-willingly promoted, and facts have been ignored.

The New York Times and the Washington Post have been the go-to outlets for leaks from the intelligence community, and most major news organizations for over two years have promoted the Russia-collusion narrative.

Despite ample evidence to the contrary, they have not admitted they were wrong, likely because doing so would mean they would have to admit their complicity.

Barr voiced similar concerns during his interview, noting The fact that today people just seem to brush aside the idea that it is okay to you know, to engage in these activities against a political campaign is stunning to me especially when the media doesnt seem to think that its worth looking into.

Barr returned to this a bit later in the interview, noting The media reaction is strange. Normally the media would be interested in letting the sunshine in and finding out what the truth is. And usually the media doesnt care that much about protecting intelligence sources and methods. But I do and I will.

Shredding Our Institutions

As he closed out his interview, Barr noted that he did not regret taking the job of attorney general, despite a hyper-partisan response from the Left:

BARR: I think its important that we not, in this period of intense partisan feeling, destroy our institutions. I think one of the ironies today is that people are saying that its President Trump thats shredding our institutions. I really see no evidence of that, it is hard, and I really havent seen bill of particulars as to how thats being done.

BARR: From my perspective the idea of resisting a democratically elected president and basically throwing everything at him and you know, really changing the norms on the grounds that we have to stop this president, that is where the shredding of our norms and our institutions is occurring.

CRAWFORD: And you think that happened even with the investigation into the campaign, potentially?

BARR: I am concerned about that.

It was an amazing interview from a man placed at the nexus of investigations into a series of amazing events. Lets hope that he is able to get to the bottom of what transpired to ensure that it can never happen again.
Plane From Arkansas Arrives in Houston With Remains Believed to be Maleah Davis

A plane carrying remains believed to be of missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis were transported to Texas from Arkansas.

Law enforcement in Arkansas said that a black bag with bones inside was found by a road crew in Fulton, reported KTRK. The plane arrived in Houston late May 31.

Officials are working to confirm the remains belong to the missing girl. Houston police officials said the remains are from a child but arent sure theyre from Maleah.

The planes arrival came after community activist Quanell X, who was representing Maleahs mother until recently, said that the girls stepfather Derion Vence confessed to taking the body to Arkansas.

He told me it was an accident, and that she is dead and where he dumped her body, Quanell X said, according to KTRK. He said he pulled over in Arkansas, got out of the car, walked off the side of the road, and dumped her body off the side of the road.

Quannell X was representing Maleahs mother, Brittany Bowens, until this week, when he said he dropped her because her story about what happened to Maleah contained inconsistencies. She knows what happened, he told KHOU.

Vence was arrested on May 11 after police found blood in his apartment and discrepancies in his story. Vence was also seen carrying a laundry basket from the apartment with a black trash bag inside, police said. That basket was later found in the trunk of a Nissan hed been driving, along with a gas can.

Vence said he was driving in Houston to pick up Bowens on May when he was forced to pull over after he heard a noise that sounded like he got a flat tire. When he got out of his car, some men approached him and knocked him out. When he came to, he was in Sugar Land and Maleah was gone.

Vence told police that the men stole his vehicle; the car was found on May 9 in a parking lot in suburban Houston. The next day, surveillance pictures showing Vence carrying the black bag prior to Maleahs disappearance were released.

Police said in a statement announcing the arrest, Although Vence reported his silver Nissan Altima was taken in the abduction, surveillance video showed someone in that Nissan Altima dropped Vence off at the Methodist Sugar Land Hospital on May 5.

Also, blood evidence obtained from Vences apartment has been linked to Maleah. Vence was also observed carrying a full laundry basket from the apartment, the department added.

Police officials previously said that there were holes in Vences story and said he changed his story multiple times.

Neighbors Speak

Neighbors reacted after the remains thought to be Maleah were found.

I pray that justice will be served where it should be served, said Jermaine Miller, a neighbor, reported KHOU. Because this little girl didnt bother nobody.

You know, its a horrible story and situation, said another, Joan Brown. But he thought if he got rid of the body, theyd be no evidence, and thats what he did.

Its a tragedy to hear that occurred and he finally confessed to something, added another, Ricardo Villareal. So, its sad.
President Donald Trump speaks during the 2019 United States Air Force Academy Graduation Ceremony at Falcon Stadium, at the United States Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colo. on May 30, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

President Trump to Launch His 2020 Re-Election Campaign in Orlando

President Donald Trump has revealed that he will be announcing his 2020 presidential run at a rally in Orlando, Florida, on June 18.

Writing on Twitter on May 31, he said he will hold the rally with First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Second Lady Karen Pence at the Amway Center, which can seat 20,000 people.

I will be announcing my Second Term Presidential Run with First Lady Melania, Vice President Mike Pence, and Second Lady Karen Pence on June 18th in Orlando, Florida, at the 20,000 seat Amway Center. Join us for this Historic Rally! Tickets: https://t.co/1krDP2oQvG  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2019

Join us for this Historic Rally! he added while posting a link to the registration page.

Trumps announcement to run for a second term will come as no surprise. He has conducted political campaign rallies for many months and has raised money for his campaigns.

Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary for the Trump 2020 campaign, told The Epoch Times in a previous interview that the president, along with highlighting his achievements in the past two years, plans to focus on exposing the alarming trend of Democratic candidates embracing socialism.

Every single member of the 2020 Democratic field will emerge with the scourge of socialism attached to them. They all want government takeover of health care, of energy, and with the Green New Deal. They want these radical proposals, she said.

Along with McEnany, Trump Communications Director Tim Murtaugh has described the Democratic field of candidates as one big socialist organism with 22 heads, which was later changed to one big socialist organism with 23 heads when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his presidential bid.

Make that one big socialist organism with 23 heads.https://t.co/bk7kDZv6gy  Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) May 16, 2019

Several Democratic presidential candidates are openly pushing for socialist policies as their leading agenda in the 2020 race like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

As part of his campaign, Sanders is promoting a range of socialist policies like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, free college tuition, and the $15 minimum wage. These policies are being endorsed by other Democratic candidates including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

McEnany said these socialist policies would cost our economy tens of trillions of dollars, raise everyones taxes, completely explode our debt.

Speaking to a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, Vice President Mike Pence said American voters will essentially be choosing between freedom and socialism at the 2020 election. He warned that if a socialist candidate rises to power, domestic and foreign policy successes under the Trump administration could be reversed.

Will we let the Democrats take America on a hard left turn and lose all the gains that weve fought so hard to make? Pence asked the audience. If we lay out a choice between freedom and socialism, the American people will choose freedom every single time.

Trumps sweeping tax reforms and deregulation, which are both antithetical to socialism, have led to an economic boom. Moreover, his America-first stance on the world stage has also provided a push to U.S. industry, adding 480,000 manufacturing jobs.

Earlier in the year, several analysts forecast Trump was on track for a 2020 landslide victory, based on economic models that have successfully predicted the right presidential victors in the past.

These economic models found that the flourishing U.S. economy coupled with the historic advantage for running again as the incumbent president is the main factor that would lead Trump to a successful re-election.
In this aerial image provided by Yell County Sheriff's Department water rushes through the levee along Arkansas River in Dardanelle, Ark., on May 31, 2019. (Yell County Sheriff's Department via AP)

Record Floods Breach Arkansas Levee, Overtop 2 in Missouri

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.Relentless flooding in the central U.S. on May 31 inundated communities and damaged or spilled over levees on three major rivers in two states, and authorities discovered the body of a drowning victim at a Missouri lake.

The fast-flowing Arkansas River smashed a 40-foot hole in a levee in rural western Arkansas, causing water to spill into a nearby community. In northeast Missouri, a levee was overtopped on the Mississippi River, and another levee was topped on the Missouri River in the central part of the state.

The flooding has been building for days because of heavy rainfall upstream. In Arkansas, officials were warning of more potential problems on an already strained levee system.

These levees were not built to sustain this high a flow for this long, and we are seeing problems and there more than likely will be more, said Laurie Driver, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District.

In eastern Missouri, the state Highway Patrols Water Division reported that the body of 57-year-old Lane Panasuk, of Butte, Montana, was recovered Thursday evening from Harry S. Truman Lake in Henry County, but the patrol said it did not know why he was in the water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had warned visitors about high water levels that had closed most of the campgrounds around the lake and a road over its dam.

In Arkansas, the levee breached at Dardanelle, about 60 miles northwest of Little Rock. Yell County officials had anticipated the breach and urged residents in the nearby Holla Bend area to evacuate Thursday.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said crews went door to door to recommend evacuation for about 160 homes.

Yell County Emergency Manager Jeff Gilkey told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that rapid currents from the river ripped a 40-foot section from the levee. Aerial video posted by the sheriffs office Friday showed water pouring through the hole.

There was nothing we could do to stop it, Gilkey said.

National Weather Service data showed a dip in the water level at Dardanelle, likely due to the breach. A flash flood warning was issued early Friday for the area, and forecasters said residents should be prepared for rapidly rising water. Local officials said they were uncertain where the water would end up.

Water is going to do what it wants to do, Yell County Judge Mark Thone told reporters at a news conference. Were just trying to head this off.

The levee breached because of ongoing flooding along the Arkansas River, which began in Oklahoma. Late Thursday night, President Donald Trump approved the Arkansas request for a disaster declaration in 16 counties affected by the flooding. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the declaration will help the state minimize the loss, but added that this is far from over.

Hutchinson said emergency officials were working on getting ahead of the flooding as it continues southeast, trying to identify and strengthen any other pressure points or weak spots in the levee system.

Obviously the breach in Dardanelle is a sign that there could be more of these breaches that will happen as pressure continues to mount in the coming days, Hutchinson said.

Entergy Arkansas said Friday that it does not anticipate any impact to its nuclear plant near the Arkansas River in Russellville.

In Fort Smith, the states second-largest city, the river levels held steady at above-record levels Friday. Officials there said they wouldnt know the extent of the damage until the water receded, which could take days, if not longer.

The National Weather Service in Little Rock originally reported late Friday night that a levee near the capital city had failed, but later updated to say that a containment berm at a riverside petroleum facility had instead been breached. The North Little Rock levee is intact and not in danger of failing, according to the National Weather Service. A flash flood warning for Pulaski County was canceled.

Officials in Missouri issued a mandatory evacuation order for some residents of Howard County, where the Missouri River topped a levee. County Emergency Management Co-Director Bill John said the levee near Petersburg was expected to fail soon, KRCG reported. Levees in Lewis County along the Mississippi River in northeast Missouri were overtopped Thursday, flooding several thousand acres of farmland. Lewis County Emergency Director David Keith said no homes or businesses were impacted.

In northeastern Oklahoma, residents forced from their homes by flooding made plans to return as the river recedes. The National Weather Service said Friday the Arkansas Rivers level at Tulsa has dropped almost 4 feet from Wednesdays crest and will continue to recede through the weekend. Forecasters say river levels were also dropping in Muskogee, Oklahoma, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa.

Earlier this year, about two dozen levee systems were breached or overtopped during Missouri River flooding that devastated parts of Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri.

By Andrew DeMillo and Jill Bleed
Don Morgan, then-deputy premier of Saskatchewan, speaks to reporters following the speech from the throne at the Legislative Building in Regina on October 25, 2017. (Mark Taylor/The Canadian Press)

Saskatchewan Takes Federal Carbon Tax Fight to Supreme Court of Canada

SASKATOONThe Saskatchewan government has filed notice that it is taking its challenge of the federal carbon tax to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Justice Minister Don Morgan says the province will ask the high court to rule on whether the tax is constitutional and whether Ottawa has the jurisdiction to impose it.

Saskatchewans Court of Appeal ruled in a split decision earlier this month that the tax is constitutional.

It also said that establishing minimum national standards for a price on greenhouse gas emissions falls under federal jurisdiction.

Thank you to the intervenors that stand with Saskatchewan and support our approach to greenhouse gas emissions that does not  and will not  include a carbon tax on Saskatchewan families and businesses. pic.twitter.com/oDH3P3OeFT  Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) May 7, 2019

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who has said the tax hurts his province economically, promised there would be an appeal.

Morgan said the province has two months to file a factum to the Supreme Court.

Our government will continue to stand up for Saskatchewan people against what we believe is an unconstitutional tax on their families, communities, and businesses, Morgan said Friday in Saskatoon.

He added that if the Liberals lose the federal election in October, there may be no federal tax left to fight. The Conservatives have promised to scrap the tax.

The Supreme Court could say its moot, its not worth hearing because the government has changed the law, said Morgan. Or they could say, No, this is a matter of import. We want to create a precedent.'

A government spokesperson said in an email that the province does not have to ask for a leave to appeal in this case.

The federal tax has been imposed on provinces that have not implemented their own carbon levies: Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

Ontario and Manitoba are also fighting the federal tax in court and Alberta has said it will join the legal battle.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenneys government officially killed the provinces carbon tax on Thursday. Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said Ottawas tax would be imposed on the province as soon as possible.

Kenney said Friday that Alberta has not yet received a formal notice from the federal government on its tax.

If and when we receive that, I will instruct our lawyers to proceed with filing a judicial reference to the Alberta Court of Appeal.
Stepmother Set 5-Year-Old Daughters Face on Fire With a Lighter: Police

A stepmother in North Texas intentionally set her 5-year-old daughters face on fire by pouring rubbing alcohol on it and lighting it with a lighter on May 27, said police.

Dalia Jimenez, 20, was arrested and charged with felony injury to a child by Grand Prairie police, reported Fox 4 News.

The crime came to light when police responded to a call about the 5-year-old girl needing medical attention for burns on her face.

Police: Stepmom intentionally set 5-year-olds face on fire https://t.co/7PnnxMoQKe pic.twitter.com/JtzxTEnPrr  FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) May 31, 2019

Police questioned the stepmother and found inconsistencies in Jimenezs story. At first she said the child got too close to a candle and burnt her face a couple days earlier. Later, she confessed that she was trying to punish the child for yelling and intentionally burnt her face.

The childs father was not at home when the crime was committed and is not expected to be charged in the case.

The child and her siblings were taken from the home by Child Protective Services and are reportedly with other family members, reported Fox 4.

Mother Fakes Daughters Illness

In another bizarre case involving child abuse by a mother, a woman in Oklahoma City was charged with physical abuse of a child after she faked to medical practitioners that her 10-year-old daughter was ill.

The mother, Alisha Newman, 34, was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on May 28 for her behavior, which caused unnecessary and potentially deadly treatments for her daughter, reported the Journal Sentinel.

The case came to the authorities attention after Newman took her severely ill daughter to the Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin to see a pediatric gastroenterologist on May 7, according to CBS 58.

Mom faces charges after her 10-year-old received unnecessary medical procedures based on false health information https://t.co/1nJy8bsmBO via @journalsentinel   Heather morge (@MorgeHeather83) May 29, 2019

Doctors found the child to be under shock and suffering from acute renal failure, organ damage, and acidosis. According to the criminal complaint, the child was in a hospital in Oklahoma for another severe infection five weeks prior.

While the child was in the Milwaukee hospital, Newman told doctors that her daughter suffered from various ailments. She also told them that the child had a pacemaker, an IV port, and a feeding tube.

The doctors were alarmed by what the mother shared because the child was treated earlier in the same hospital in 2016, and some illness that Newman described were found to be misleading.

There is a high degree of concern on the part of multiple medical providers that the (initials redacted) girl is the victim of factitious disorder by proxy on the part of the defendant (Newman), Alyssa Stephany, medical director of Pediatric Hospital Medicine for Children, told the Journal Sentinel after reviewing the childs medical records.

Woman charged with child abuse, neglect after repeated unnecessary medical procedureshttps://t.co/GtjJSE86PF  CBS 58 News (@CBS58) May 29, 2019

The concerned doctors analyzed the childs previous health records and saw that Newman had taken the child to various health care providers in Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Tennessee, leading to various unnecessary treatments.

According to the court documents, the child didnt suffer from any rare or fatal illness and didnt need a pacemaker. The documents also said that the child does not need a port, which has exposed her to various infections, reported CBS 58.

The mother faces 27 years in prison and $75,000 in fines.
The Northern California Taiwanese Community held a press conference on May 19 to criticize China's effort to block Taiwan from participating in the WHA. (Tom Yu/The Epoch Times)

Taiwanese Americans Criticize China for Blocking Taiwan From World Health Assembly

SAN JOSE, Calif.Chinas efforts to block Taiwan from participating in the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva from May 2028 were criticized by the Taiwanese community in Northern California.

The WHA is an annual forum by which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member states.

Health and medical services shall be without borders, said Cathy Li, commissioner of Taiwans Overseas Community Affairs Council and president of the Northern California Taiwanese Community Care Network (NCTCCN) of San Jose.

Li spoke at a press conference in San Jose on May 18, protesting the WHAs denial of Taiwans observer status.

The press conference was held by the NCTCCN and the Northern California South Bay Taiwanese Association (NCSBTA).

Li said in Chinese that the WHA has excluded Taiwan from its annual meeting for three consecutive years. Health and medical services for the 23 million people in Taiwan have been ignored by the WHA under the influence of the Chinese communist regime.

She pointed out that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) says that Taiwan is part of China, so it says the CCP is the only one that can represent Taiwan.

There is a long-standing controversy between the CCP and Taiwan about whether or not Taiwan is part of China.

Taiwan doesnt belong to the CCP government. Taiwan is not part of China. Taiwan is Taiwan, Li said in her speech.

Taiwan attended the WHA from 2009 to 2016 as an observer, when Taiwans relations with China were better. However, Beijing has blocked the WHO from inviting Taiwan to the WHA since the current pro-independence president, Tsai Ing-wen, was elected in Taiwan in 2016.

Beijings efforts to keep Taiwan out of the WHA have met with resistance from the countries that have good relations with Taiwan.

The United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom spoke out in Geneva on May 20, the first day of the forum, in support of Taiwans participation in the WHA, according to a report by Focus Taiwan.

We regret that once again Taiwan was not invited to observe at this assembly as they were from 2009 to 2016. The 23 million people in Taiwan deserve a voice just as much as anyone else does, said Alex Azar, Secretary of the United States Health and Human Services.

Article 1, Chapter I of the Constitution of the World Health Organization states: The objective of the World Health Organization shall be the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.

Fourteen of Taiwans diplomatic allied countries made a late proposal to try to invite Taiwan to the WHA, but the proposal failed to make it onto the agenda for discussion.

According to Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the proposal stated that Taiwans absence from the WHA since 2017 has jeopardized its peoples rights to health and created a serious gap in the global health security system.

Li Wenxiong, a commissioner of Taiwans Overseas Community Affairs Council, also spoke at the press conference. He said that the only way Taiwan can participate in the WHA is to have a separate identity from China.

Samuel Zhou, president of the NCSBTA, said that Taiwan already possesses very advanced medical technology, and it is very sad to see that Taiwans healthcare industry cannot contribute to the world because of political reasons.

In recent years, hospitals in China have been increasingly making high-paying offers to attract Taiwanese medical professionals to accept medical jobs in China. Meanwhile, each year, more patients from China go to Taiwan to receive medical treatment.

Zhou Xingjie, a member of the Taiwan Forum, said that China not only steals technology from the West, but also hides the true health and medical situations in China from the rest of the world.

It is the country with the least qualification to be a part of the WHO, Zhou said in Chinese.

China has been known to hide information related to serious health crises from the rest of the world, including WHO members.

In 2003, the Beijing government reportedly covered up the SARS outbreak in China. The outbreak had already spread to different regions, causing hospitals to shut down because their medical staff had become infected by the virus; however, Chinas health ministry still stated that it was safe to travel in China.

President Tsai tweeted on May 21, The representation of the 23 million people of Taiwan in WHO should not be subject to a single countrys one-sided interpretations.
China Communist Party leader Xi Jinping (L) speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump during a business leaders event at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

The Chinese Regime Aims to Vanquish Capitalism With Socialism, but Whats Really at Stake?

Amid intense trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington on April 1, General Secretary Xi Jinpings 2013 speech to the new members of the Chinese Communist Partys Central Committee was published.

It was an important speech, as evidenced by its appearance in QiuShi (Seeking Truth in Chinese), an official journal of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). And soon thereafter, Xis speech was simultaneously published by Peoples Daily and Xinhua News Agency, which are two other prominent mouthpieces of the Party.

The simultaneous publication of Xis years-old speech indicated something significant: a deep concern by the CCP pertaining to the current standoff between China and the United States. The speech was notable especially for a prophecy by Xi. Citing Marx and Engels doctrines, Xi claimed that socialism would inevitably vanquish capitalism, despite the fact that the fall of capitalism is a very distant prospect.

Indeed, the timing of this publication appears to be no accident. Multiple media sources have reported that Xi called an urgent meeting on Jan. 21, summoning top provincial leaders to Beijing to hear his stern warnings about mounting risks the CCP faces in this Year of the Pig.

In addition to the economic slowdown prompted by the trade dispute with the United States, and by Chinas rising debts, the CCP is gravely concerned about grassroots rumblings stemming from acute social and political threats.

CCP Leaders Showing Anxiety, Worry

The tone of the government at the highest levels is one of heightened alert. There is a palpable fear that the foundation upon which the Party relies may be crumbling.

At the January meeting, Xi raised seven risks: 1) politics; 2) ideology; 3) economy; 4) technology; 5) society; 6) the external environment; and 7) Party-building. Xi urged his subordinates to resort to tough measures to avert these risks, which he said are both real and pressing.

In his government report at the Peoples Congress on March 5, Premier Li Keqiang was visibly nervous on camera, bringing up the word risk 24 times; the word difficulty 13 times; and the word stability more than 70 times.

In terms of the economy, Li anticipates that local debts in 2019 will grow to 2.15 trillion yuan ($320 billion)800 billion yuan more than in 2018which will surpass the new tax reduction amount. This year, the total government expenditure will be some 23 trillion yuan, an increase of about 6.5 percent from 2018.

Economists questioned the validity of Lis claim that the reduction of 2018s corporate tax amounted to 1.3 trillion yuan, while the annual tax revenue increased by 8.3 percent, reaching some 15.6 trillion yuan. With the governments tax reduction plan, the 2018 tax revenue should be decreasing, not increasing.

Based on 2018 data from the International Monetary Fund, the United States ranks No. 8 in terms of GDP per capita ($62,606), while China is No. 67 ($9,608). Chinas economy simply isnt where it needs to be in order to mount a serious challenge to the United States.

Following in the footsteps of Google, Microsoft, and UK-based ARM, Japans Panasonic announced that it would suspend its business with Huawei on May 23.

Prominent academic institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of CaliforniaBerkeley, and Oxford University have all ceased to cooperate with Huawei as well.

The Trump administrations ban on Huawei, along with the 25 percent tariff on $200 billion of annual Chinese imports, has caused sharp pains with enormous potential to affect Chinas economy.

Bringing Red China to Terms

Trumps top trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, was a member of President Ronald Reagans team that addressed the U.S. trade deficit with Japan in the 1980s. The Plaza Accord, signed by West Germany, the UK, France, Japan, and the United States, coupled with a 100 percent tariff on $300 million worth of Japanese imports in 1987, played a critical role in averting the tide of Japanese goods flooding into the U.S. market.

However, while a trade agreement with a democratic country such as Japan will likely work, as such countries tend to honor the rule of law and international norms and covenants, any agreement (trade or otherwise) with the deceptive communist regime in China will not, based on its past record, lead anywhere.

In response to Beijings tariff retaliation, on May 23, Washington was set to offer $16 billion in an effort to help U.S. farmers hit by the trade conflict with Beijing. The decline in exports to China has actually been offset by the increase in exports to Mexico and other countries.

Despite the temporary hardships that may occur, the Trump administration is prepared to bring about structural change in doing business with China, in addition to ending, once and for all, Beijings theft of U.S. technological know-how.

Whats Really at Stake

The current trade dispute between China and the United States, after all, isnt only about the trade deficit. More significantly, it is about whether the United States and the rest of the world can afford a rising communist superpower that is reminiscent of the former USSR in terms of both military and ideological threats.

The Red Dragon is set to disrupt the world order and undermine every code of morality or law around the world that helps form our humanity. As bluntly stated in Xis speech, his totalitarian socialism aims ultimately to vanquish capitalism and democratic institutions.

Rational longtime China-watchers would hope to see the trade war weaken, if not vanquish, the communist regime in Beijing and thereby bring about fundamental social changes that are long overdue inside that Orwellian state, replacing it with an open society governed by the rule of law.

As pointed out by Winston Churchill in his speech at the House of Commons on Oct. 22, 1945: The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

The modern world simply cannot afford a USSR-styled communist China in the 21st century.

Peter Zhang is a researcher on political economy in China and East Asia. He is a graduate of Beijing International Studies University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and the Harvard Kennedy School as a Mason fellow.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Tom Fitton: Robert Mueller Needs to Be Investigated

What important details are missing from special counsel Robert Muellers report, and how are the Mueller investigation and the Hillary Clinton email scandal connected?

Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek sat down with Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a watchdog group that uses Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as well as litigation, to expose government corruption.

They discussed, among other topics, how President Donald Trumps granting of declassification powers to Attorney General William Barr is a historic move, but one that doesnt necessarily mean a trove of new public information is forthcoming.

Jan Jekielek: Lets jump right into it. Attorney General Barr has been given broad declassification powers by the president. Why is this needed? Whats your take on this?

Tom Fitton: Well, its a historic move by the president that could lead to significant accountability for the American people, and it could accelerate the internal Justice Department investigations of the targetingthe elicit targetingof candidate Trump and other Americans and obviously even the president of the United States. Its pretty clear that Attorney General Barr got into office, saw there was something up, began investigating, and ran into internal roadblocks within the administration from other agencies and getting access to the information that could explain the Spygate targeting.

So he sought this approval, I would suggest, from President Trump to overcome the roadblocks hes getting from the Deep State and even his colleagues in the Cabinet, in terms of getting these documents out about the targeting of President Trump. You know, when you think about the spy operation against President Trumps campaign adviser at the time, George Papadopoulos, that had Stefan Halper and some other unnamed government operator  you had the FBI involved, you had the Justice Department involved, Halper was paid with Pentagon money, so he was a contractor for the Pentagon, and obviously, any overseas operation wouldnt need the approval of the State Department.

So you had at least four agencies, I would suggest, and maybe five, if the CIA was involved, in targeting this one man working, associated with the Trump team for one spy operation. So if youre trying to get a feel for what went on, the attorney general has to get all this information from all these different agencies, and Im sure hes been running into roadblocks, hence the historic declassification order.

Mr. Jekielek: So the attorney general has these powers. Should we be expecting something soon? Why havent we seen anything yet?

Mr. Fitton: Well see. Were asking for documents that will be subject to declassification, so hopefully, well get a signal that hes taking a new tack here. Just because theyre declassified doesnt mean the American people will see them, because they could be subject to secrecy under criminal-investigation exemptions, where its like, This is in the middle of an investigation. Its related to that and you cant see them. We hope that wont be the case. It could lead to significant transparency, or it could lead to just more of the same.

Mr. Jekielek: Do you feel theres [a possibility] of ongoing intelligence activities being endangered, as some are saying, by this declassification order?

Mr. Fitton: No, no, no, no. Look, Ive been doing this job for 20 years, and in my experience, classification fights on politically sensitive matters like this have nothing to do with national security or protecting sources, methods, or lives. Its about protecting the corruption of the agencies who dont want you to see what they were really up to. And they use the classification excuse as a way to protect themselves from accountability and having to explain other misconduct.

Mr. Jekielek: So, [at] Judicial Watch, youve been encountering some roadblocks or slowdowns to your FOIA requests with the existing agencies. Can you talk a little bit about that and maybe how thats connected with declassification?

Mr. Fitton: Well, in the State Department, we asked for the unmasking requests of Obama official Samantha Power, the U.N. ambassador who allegedly made hundreds of requests that were unusual, where American citizens identities were disclosed to herarguably, improperlyAmericans who were caught up in this intelligence-gathering overseas. And the response back from the State Department: We cant even tell you one way or another whether such requests were made, because to do so would harm national security. So they cant even confirm or deny.

Thats all because of the classified nature of any such requests. They cant even confirm it one way or another. So if theres a declassification move, maybe we can start getting answers there. On the FISA warrants, only portions of the applications used to target President Trump were released. There are other portions that those who have seen them have said, It would be scandalous if it was already out there. Well, thats classified. We cant get it, and the court [isnt] going to let us get it until its declassified. So weve asked for the documents again, with the hopes that theyre now being declassified. Well see what happens.

But the attorney general needs to understand that this is more than just prosecutions or administrative review. Im not sure what hes doing one way or another. The American people need to be let in on the Deep State secrets.

Mr. Jekielek: The last time we talked, I think you said that this is the biggest scandal in American historybar none. And, so lets talk about the Steele dossier for a second. Youve said that Christopher Steele is actually a cutout. I remember you saying that. Who is he a cutout for?

Mr. Fitton: Well, I dont remember that specifically, but it sounds right. You know, Christopher Steele was working for the DNC. He was working for the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton campaign, and, as Judicial Watch disclosed, he was also being paid by the FBI in 2016 during the campaign, evidently for information on then-candidate Trump. So, it was a joint operation. Steele was also using Russia intel sources by their own admission, to provide to the FBI and DOJ, who used that as a pretext to target Trump.

So who was Steele working for? Was he still working for British intelligence? He was a former spy. Was he really retired? And was he a cutout for the Russians, who used him as a vehicle to try to disrupt our elections?

Its just amazing to me that Robert Mueller is charged with investigating Russian attempts to influence our elections, and he ignores that one of the presidential campaigns was directly working with Russian intel to target President Trump. And, in fact, he used that informationMueller didto investigate others, targeted as a result of the dossier and the other garbage information that was being used to justify charges against Flynn, and continued harassment of President Trump.

Mr. Jekielek: So youve actually mentioned also that theres a tight connection between this whole scandal and the Clinton email scandal, and thats not necessarily obvious to folks. People will say, Hey, why are you still talking about those Clinton emails?

Mr. Fitton: Well, its pretty clear that the targeting of Trump was designed to protect Hillary Clinton from the consequences of her email misconduct. And it wasnt just Hillary Clinton who [could have faced] consequences. It would have been the Obama administration, the Obama White House, the State Department, the FBI, the DOJ who were involved in that cover-up.

Judicial Watch just uncovered, through discovery, a big Clinton email case discovery of gathering evidence. The top FBI official managing her case admitted they found Clinton emails in the Obama White House executive office of the president. We just found new documents they had to disclose to us, involuntarily. Again, this is a court-ordered discovery where the Obama White House was guiding the FOIA responses of the State Department, which lied about the existence of the Clinton emails. So you had Clinton emails hiding out over at the Obama White House that the FBI had to go and try to recover.

And we also have the Obama White House involved in the cover-up directly of the Clinton email scandal. So you have all of that potential corruption and criminality, eventually, potentially coming to the fore in the middle of the presidential campaign. What better way than to keep the focus off of that, not only in 2016 but in 2017, once you had a new Justice Department, than to create and manufacture this false defamatory and, knowingly false, allegation that Trump colluded with Russia. So the same Justice Department that was bending over backward to protect Hillary Clinton was going full bore, the rules and the rule of law be danged, against Trump and his team. Unbelievable. No corruption scandal like it in American historybar none.

Mr. Jekielek: So [about] the Mueller report, were there any stark omissions that you noticed from the recent work that youve done in the Mueller report?

Mr. Fitton: Hillary Clintons collusion with the Russians to target President Trump.

I dont know how you could have an investigation into that issue without that being discussed: the dossier. To the degree, the dossier is mentioned directly, I think its mentioned twicethe unverified dossier. So that is, you know, kind of the big dog that didnt bark.

Mr. Jekielek: Bizarre, right? I mean this was a central thing that allowed for the investigation in the first place.

Mr. Fitton: Mueller doesnt talk about the circumstances of his appointment. He doesnt talk about [former FBI Director James] Comey stealing the FBI records of President Trump and then leaking them, in order to get him appointed. Dont you think that would be part of the obstruction investigation? You know, Mueller has been compromised. That whole special counsel operation, if youre talking about investigating the investigators, surely the attorney general probably hasnt had to do this, but he needs to figure out how that Mueller operation got so off-kilter.

We kind of know, because Judicial Watch just exposed, that all those Democrats that were hired by Mueller, it looks like his No. 2, Andrew Weissmann, was involved in the hiring process. And weve confirmed hes an anti-Trumper, supportive of that Sally Yates that I talked about (the Obama holdover), a Hillary Clinton activist. He went to Hillary Clintons election night party in New York. A top-level DOJ official going to a political campaign, election-night party? Why was he anywhere near this investigation? He was doing the hirings. You want to know where all those angry Democrats came in? Thats how they came in.

Mr. Jekielek: So you feel Barr and the Justice Department and the people hes appointed are investigating these things that youre describing now?

Mr. Fitton: I would if I were he, but this is  we dont rely on the attorney general to do it. We hope he does; were hopeful he does. We hope to be pleasantly surprised. But Judicial Watch has 50 lawsuits, both into the Mueller investigation and the Deep State targeting of President Trump. Were not gonna rely on the Justice Department to do the right thing. We hope they do, but were going to take independent action. In our experience, the Justice Department has obstructed our efforts both on Hillary Clinton and the Deep State scandals. The FBIs obstructed our efforts, State Department. And so weve just got to keep on pushing for accountability because, you know, Barrs going to have his own difficulties. And so weve got to keep the pressure on.

Mr. Jekielek: So prior to 2016and I am not even sure we know exactly howbut there were a bunch of private contractors that had access to some of this raw intel that was being gathered. And [former National Security Agency head] Admiral [Michael] Rogers, you know, ostensibly in 2016, cut that off. The question thats been on a lot of peoples minds is, how much was the creation of the Steele dossier an attempt to actually cover up or hide what was happening prior to this time?

Mr. Fitton: Well, I think one way to think about it is tying it to the unmasking requeststhe unusual numbers of unmasking requests that allegedly took place at the end, during the presidential campaign season. And the issue with FBI contractors before thenthose were folks who were involved in the special programs that presumably were accessing intelligence about Americans gathered secretly. And so that was being done improperly, according to reports. Then, you have senior-level Obama officials requesting unmaskings directly of Americans caught up in intelligence-gathering. So Rogers is correcting the contractors, but the bosses are doing something inappropriate.

Mr. Jekielek: What do you make of all these, what was described as endless investigations? You know, the Mueller report [found] no collusion, the attorney general found no obstruction, but, hey, theres a whole bunch of investigations that still need to be done. What do you make of that?

Mr. Fitton: Its about harassing the president. Trying to remove him from office. Trying to jail people around him. All bets are off, in terms of the rule of law. You have the Democrats involved in the elicit targeting; they were partnering with the FBI and DOJ to do this against then-candidate Trump. Remember, Barack Obama had an unusual role in the presidential election campaign to replace him. Youd have to go back 100 years to see an incumbent president participate in an election campaign in a way that Obama did on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

He was not a disinterested party. He was much a political operative, guiding the spying. The White House wanted to know everything, the text message famously says.  And remember before, just the day or two before, James Comey went and ambushed the then-candidate or President-elect Trump with that dossier. They had a meeting about it with Barack Obama in the Oval Office, Comey did. Joe Biden was there, Susan Rice was there, all the top people were there. Obama is intimately involved in this; you must presume hes intimately involved. Hes doing his job with this unprecedented spying on Trump world.

Mr. Jekielek: Tom, were going to finish up fairly shortly. I wanted to find out, you have a number of these FOIA lawsuits going on. You mentioned one of them. What else is on the table? Is there any news in any of these?

Mr. Fitton: Well, were always having to file new Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. The corruption continues, and the cover-up continues in these agencies. And I appreciate the presidents declassification order. We should recognize thats the tip of the iceberg because there are other secrecy movesillicit, mind youby the agencies that are still going to be used to cover all of this up. For instance, the FBI, and the president retweeted my concerns about this recently.

The FBI is refusing to search their text messages under FOIA of people like Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page. So youve got the FBI in cover-up mode for the very people who corrupted the top levels of the FBI, both in the Clinton email and Russian investigations. Christopher Wray is  he may not be the problem in terms of FBI corruption, but he certainly isnt the solution. He needs to step up.

Mr. Jekielek: So what is the rationale behind not  clearly, I think by any standard there was

Mr. Fitton: They think text messages are Post-it notes, equivalent to Post-it notes and shouldnt have to be searched. The Peter StrzokLisa Page text messages show thats obviously a lie. They just dont want to search the records because they know whats in there. And they know [that] we know whats in there about the Clinton email scandal and the targeting of Trump.

Mr. Jekielek: Are they afraid the agency will collapse as a result of it? Isnt this just a matter of cleaning house?

Mr. Fitton: I think Wray sees this whole issue as an existential threat to the agency, and thats why he refuses to call [it] spying, and is a stonewaller. Hes clearly not cooperating with the attorney general. Why would he be seeking classification authority, if Wray were helping them appropriately?

Mr. Jekielek: So what do you think the next best steps are for President Trump and for the attorney general?

Mr. Fitton: Broaden the transparency effort. The attorney general should be looking to release this material publicly, as opposed to just for internal and a criminal review. The American people want to know what went on as soon as possible, and theyve been unlawfully delayed from learning the truth about what their corrupt governments been up to.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

American Thought Leaders is an Epoch Times show available on Facebook and YouTube.
Trump Administration to Require Social Media Disclosure for US Visa Applicants

The Trump administration is set to implement a new policy requiring that most applicants for U.S. visas share information about their social media use.

A U.S. Department of State official said that the new requirement will serve as a vital tool to screen out terrorists, public safety threats, and other dangerous individuals from gaining immigration benefits and entering the United States, the Hill reported.

This is a critical step forward in establishing enhanced vetting of foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States, the official told The Hill.

As weve seen around the world in recent years, social media can be a major forum for terrorist sentiment and activity.

Most foreign nationals seeking a U.S. visaincluding non-immigrant, employment, student, tourist, and business visaswill be asked by the State Department to share about their social media accounts in a drop-down menu, the official said.

The current drop-down menu currently contains major social media websites, but in the future applicants can list all sites they use. There is also the option to indicate if they do not use social media.

The official said that if an applicant is found to have lied about their social media use, they could face serious immigration consequences.

NEW: Trump administration to ask most US visa applicants for social media information via @HillTVLive https://t.co/xaia0onyZp pic.twitter.com/LpHgjRmBfd  The Hill (@thehill) May 31, 2019

In the case of when a visa applicant claims they dont have a social media account but is found to have one, they could be permanently banned from getting a U.S. visa, a State Department official told Breitbart.

The applicants would undergo a background check that incorporates the social media information they disclose. Their identities would also be checked against U.S. government watchlists.

Part of the new policy will also require that applicants disclose a more detailed history of where they have previously traveled for the same reasons, according to The Hill.

In March 2018, the State Department proposed to implement the policy to collect social media identities. Reuters reported at the time that such a policy would affect about 14.7 million people annually.

According to Reuters, the department said last year that applicants may also be required to submit five years of previously used telephone numbers, email addresses and their international travel history. They may be asked if they have been deported or removed from any country and whether family members have been involved in terrorist activities.

However, the department also said it doesnt intend to routinely ask most diplomatic and official visa applicants for the additional information.

In December 2015, two terroristsPakistani national Tashfeen Malik and her U.S.-born husband Syed Farookmurdered 14 people in a deadly shooting in Bernardino, California.

Tashfeen Malik discussed jihad on social media before San Bernardino shooting | Daily Mail Onlinehttps://t.co/90ocgHV8Si  maureen hills (@SafetyB0nes) May 26, 2019

One of the terrorists, Malik, was able to enter the United States as a legal immigrant through the K-1 visa.

The State Department had failed in three background checks to find Maliks social media posts, where she had written about jihad.

From NTD.com
Police work the scene where 11 people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building in Virginia Beach, Va., on May 31, 2019. (L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

Virginia Beach Shooter Identified as Disgruntled Employee DeWayne Craddock

The man who killed 12 people in Virginia Beach on May 31 was identified as DeWayne Craddock, a longtime city employee.

At least four people were wounded in the attack, which took place at Building Two, a municipal building in the city.

Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera told reporters at a news conference that the suspect was a longtime public utilities employee, and described him as disgruntled, but declined to say more about what may have precipitated the attack.

We have more questions than we really have answers, he said about two hours after the shooting. Authorities released the identity on Saturday morning along with the identities of the victims.

A law enforcement official and a Virginia government worker told CNN that Craddock, 40, worked as an engineer. Press releases from recent years list him as someone to contact with questions about road projects.

Craddocks parents told the broadcaster they didnt know of any issues he was having with his job.

Craddock, who was killed by police during a firefight after the mass shooting, had no criminal record apart from a traffic infraction in 2013. He served in the Army National Guard after graduating from a high school in Newport News. No pictures of Craddock have been made public.

Neighbors told WAVY that Craddock rarely interacted with them. They also said that he was often awake at odd hours and often left his apartment with a book bag.

You heard him walking around; he would drop stuff at like 2 a.m., and me and my roommate would try to figure out what he was doing, said Cassetty Howerin, 23, who lived below Craddock. In the year Ive been there, weve maybe had three conversations and thats about it, she added.

I never saw him take trash out, never saw him bring groceries in, never saw people coming in or out. He was very to himself, the neighbor said. Craddock looked like a jacked guy, he stood maybe 6 foot and he always carried a book bag with him. Thats all I really know, Howerin added.

Terrified

The shooting was believed to be the deadliest act of workplace gun violence in the United States since February, when a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.

Arriving in town a short time after the shooting, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said, This is just a horrific day.

Our hearts ache for victims of the senseless violence that has been inflicted on the community, he told a news conference hours later.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting and continues to monitor the situation.

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911, and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door.

We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe, she said. We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasnt real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots.

She texted her mom, telling her that there was an active shooter in the building and she and others were waiting for police. Thank God my baby is OK, Bantons mother, Dana Showers, said.

David Benn, a traffic engineer for the city, was inside Building Two when the shooting happened. Cheryl Benn, 65, waited outside a nearby building while he gave a statement to detectives.

She said her husband initially called her from a barricaded room and said it sounded as if someone had been working with a nail gun. Then he saw the bodies. This is unbelievable for Virginia Beach, Benn said. By and large, its a pretty calm and peaceful place to live.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Eagle Falls where a young woman fell to her death while taking a selfie. (North Tahoe Fire Protection District)

Woman Taking Selfie at a Waterfall Loses Her Footing, Falls to Her Death

A woman in California fell to her death over the edge of a waterfall while taking a selfie on May 31.

Crews from the Tahoe Truckee Regional Rescue Team recovered the body of the young woman from Eagle Falls in Emerald Bay, according to a statement released by the North Tahoe Fire Protection District on their Facebook page.

Crews from the Tahoe Truckee Regional Rescue Team responded to Eagle Falls in Emerald Bay to recover the body of a young woman who was taking photos at the falls, lost her footing, and went over, the statement said.

Please avoid the area while emergency personnel complete the investigation. This is a sad reminder to be cautious when taking selfies and other photos in dangerous areas, said the statement.

Authorities didnt provide any information about the identity of the deceased or the specific circumstances of the death or any other details.

Dont underestimate the power of water falls, rivers, and cold water temperatures, the Tahoe Truckee Regional Rescue Team wrote.

In a similar incident, a woman in Russia who allegedly climbed onto an electricity transformer to take a selfie ended up electrocuted and burned to death.

Witnesses cited in a report by The Sun said local police near the village of Kuznetsy were still trying to identify the womans badly burned body.

The only description of the victim released by police is that the woman was 5 feet 6 inches tall.

A phone was found near the scene, which is located about 50 miles east of Moscow, according to the report.

Woman electrocuted and burned alive trying to take the perfect selfie https://t.co/lKIRA48epN  The Sun (@TheSun) May 9, 2019

Olga, a witness, was cited in the report as saying: Most likely she decided that she wouldnt touch anything and nothing bad would happen. But it is enough only to climb on the transformer structure to get a severe electric shock.

Police said there have been no reports of women missing in the area that fit the victims description. They have appealed to the public for help identifying the mystery woman.

Selfie Related Deaths

Selfie deaths are an epidemic, according to a report in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care that says 259 people died in selfie-related 137 accidents from 2011 to 2017.

The study says women take more selfies than men but since men take more risks, they report more injuries and deaths153 of the total selfie-related deceased were men.

The highest number of selfie-related deaths, about 50 percent, have been reported from India, followed by Russia, the United States, and Pakistan.

Termed killfies by some social media researchers, these accidental deaths have involved social media personalities and, of course, adventurers, said a report on Outside Online.

Jon James McMurray, a Canadian rapper, died last year while taking a selfie at the wing of a Cessna while filming a music video.

Gigi Wu, an experienced celebrity hiker from Taiwan, fell to her death while taking a selfie in Taiwans Yushan National Park, home to a series of 10,000-plus-foot peaks. She was trying to take a selfie while attempting a summit and fell 60 to 100 feet and landed in a remote ravine, according to Outside Online.

For each of these recorded deaths, there are also thousands of near misses (misfies?), the Outside online report said.

The report in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care says the enhancement of phone features is also leading to increasing selfie-related deaths.

Usually the youth and tourists are frequently affected because of the desire of being cool, posting photos on social media, and getting rewards in forms of likes and comments. Selfies are themselves not harmful, but the human behavior that accompanies selfies is dangerous, said the report.

The report highlights the need for educating people about where selfies should and shouldnt be taken. No selfie zones areas should be declared across many tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths, it said.
5 1 of 5 Nathaniel Grauel / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Thane Grauel / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Nathaniel Grauel / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5









NORWALK  If you were driving on Route 7 or Route 1 on Friday evening and thought you saw an Army tank getting a police escort, you werent seeing things.

The World War II Sherman tank, all 33 tons of it, was on its way by flatbed truck the Hudson Valley to the American Legion post across from Norwalk High. As the truck made its way down Route 7, it was escorted by police in Wilton and Norwalk. Officers shut down intersections to let the truck going and make wide turns. The convoy was on Westort Avenue about 7:30 p.m.
European voters turned their backs last weekend on mainstream political parties that had controlled their nations for much of the past century. Impressive numbers voted instead for populist (i.e., hate-mongering) outfits that make immigration and cultural conflict their main issues, or for Green parties that focus on ecology and the dangers of climate change. Conservatives and Social Democrats became, at least for now, statistical remnants of a fast- receding past in which arguments about capital, labor and taxes were dominant political messages.

As we have begun to see in U.S. elections as well, the issues that mobilize voters today are cultural instead of economic, bread-and-butter ones. Republican candidates and surrogates who appeared on talk shows during the long Memorial Day weekend suggested that whomever the Democrats nominate in 2020, President Donald Trump & Co. will be running hardest against Barack Obama. They hope to solidify supporters who cannot get over their outrage that a black man was once elected president. Race, abortion and a cultural panic sparked by falling birthrates and identity politics now rule the political roost, and Democrats will be hard-pressed to keep the elections from being fought, and won, on these issues.

Trump's tirades against trade have a real economic component, of course. But the foreign factor - the feeling that American and European workers have been cheated out of their due by foreigners aided by stupid or treacherous Americans - has grown into the dominant political force of the day on both sides of the Atlantic. The new tech-dominated economy is difficult for traditional political organizations to explain to their followers. Running against the so-called other -whether foreign or domestic- is much easier.

Xenophobia and racism are not new to U.S. or European politics, of course. What is new, I think, is the scale of the social disruption caused by the ubiquitous and seemingly instantaneous arrival of social media, the communications revolution, and other new technology globally.

Traditional political parties have been hollowed out by many of the same challenges that have forced traditional media to either come to terms with the digitalization of information or perish. Party bosses no longer monopolize fundraising. Organizing public rallies, spreading information (and disinformation), or forging union alliances happens on the Internet now. The institutions of governance and of politics lag behind the rush of technology.

That, I think, is one of the reasons for the surge of the Greens past traditional, economics-based parties in France, Germany and other countries of the European Union (and why American politicians will want to pay attention to those results).

A major cultural shift, for instance, is underway as younger citizens begin to abandon ownership of the car, once a mighty symbol of affluence and independence but today is increasingly seen as part of a wasteful, polluting lifestyle. The Green vocabulary on this issue may make more sense culturally to younger voters, as they watch governments grapple unsteadily with rules and laws for ride-sharing, autonomous vehicles and, in the years to come, municipal air taxis.

Disruption on this scale also spreads fear, and resentment, particularly among the less young and the less mobile. Brexit's false promise of ridding Britain of evil foreign forces rallied about 30 percent ofvoters behind Nigel Farage's Brexit Party in a vote for the EU parliament that shredded the antiquated leadership structures of both the Labour and Conservative parties.

Trump as always goes further. His ultimate target is nothing less than the global supply chain that multinational corporations and trade agreements have created over the past 40 years to ease the passage of capital, goods and ideas. That is quite a lot to bite off, chew and explain in electoral terms, so he uses Mexican rapists, Muslim terrorists and Huawei's secret-stealing technology as his symbols of the dangers of a more open and welcoming world.

The scale and destructiveness of Trump's intentions in his trade war with China were hinted at duringan interview with former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon published on May 22 by the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Driving Huawei, which has pioneered 5G cellphone technology, out of the United States and Europe is, according to Bannon, "10 times more important" than reaching a trade deal with China. Calling for a return to Cold War institutions such as the Committee on the Present Danger to fight China, Bannon - who said he talks to White House officials every day - said he has vowed to devote himself now to shutting Chinese companies out of U.S. capital markets. And Trump's threats to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico hit at immigrants and target the supply chains that U.S. manufacturers have created to take advantage of cheap labor south of the border.

If your best message is just another version of "Back to the Future," no wonder you need all the boogeymen you can imagine.

- - -

Hoagland is a Post contributing editor.
St. Thomas F. Cramer was sentenced Wednesday to 10 to 15 years in prison for two sexual assault offenses in Hall County District Court.

A Hall County District Court jury found Cramer, 22, guilty of two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a minor in February. The crimes occurred in 2017.

Cramer, who lives in Ackley, Iowa, was found guilty of twice sexually penetrating a female who was at least 12 but less than 16 years of age. The jury concluded that the crimes occurred in Hall County between April 1 and Aug. 31 in the laundry room of her house or her bedroom.

Cramer was cleared of a third charge. He was found not guilty of penetrating the victim in a siblings room.

On both offenses, Judge Mark Young sentenced Cramer to 10 to 15 years in prison, with credit for 303 days already served. He must also register as a sex offender. The sentences will be served concurrently.
Thomas Oldfield, who was on probation, allegedly tried to destroy drug evidence that was to be used in an official proceeding, according to Grand Island police.

On Thursday, District 9 probation officers, with the assistance of the Grand Island Police Department and members of the Central Nebraska Drug and Safe Streets Task Force, contacted Oldfield at his address on South Lincoln Street.

A search of his residence turned up a controlled substance (Xanax) and drug paraphernalia, police say. It was also determined that Oldfield attempted to destroy drug evidence with the intent to impair its availability in a pending official proceeding, said the Police Departments Friday media report.

Because Oldfield, 28, allegedly committed those crimes while on probation, he was determined to have violated the terms of his probation and to have committed a probation violation.

Friday in Hall County Court, Oldfield was charged with possession of a controlled substance, tampering with physical evidence and possession or use of drug paraphernalia.

Judge John Rademacher set Oldfields bond at $3,500 and scheduled his preliminary hearing for 11:30 a.m. July 30.
Jerabek said the employees decided to raise funds to help area farmers impacted by the floods. It was their way to show appreciation for the support the company received from area and state farmers.

Many of our area farmers have been impacted by the recent floods, Jerabek said.

Also at Fridays ceremony was Lona Thompson, director of development for the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation. She said the disaster relief fund has so far raised nearly $3 million. Thompson expressed Farm Bureaus gratitude to the AGI employees who contributed.

Our disaster fund is still very active as we are getting ready to do our second round of funding, Thompson said.

She said the funds raised by the AGI employees is a huge help for the continuing disaster relief campaign.

The need is still there, Thompson said. The scope of the devastation is huge.
Roe has been involved in Hear Grand Island all four years. He was production manager the second year and managing director the last two years.

This years bands come from Massachusetts, Oregon, Colorado and Montana, as well as Nebraska. Some of the out-of-state bands have Nebraska ties, Roe said.

Three bands performed Friday night. It was the fourth Hear Grand Island appearance for Freakabout, a Lincoln rock band whose guitarist is Grand Island native Aaron Galvan. The son of Doug and Carrie Galvan, he graduated from Central Catholic in 2007.

Galvan remembers playing the first year of Hear Grand Island, when everything was on the ground and there was a tiny little PA system and no lighting.

But the group was glad to be a part of it, and still is, he said. Its good to see the concert series is getting a response. People are seeing how much talent can actually be brought out to these things, Galvan said.

So for me, its awesome to continually be a part of it, he said. Its also an excuse for me to get back home to where I have a hundred family members, too.
 Zachary Utley, 33, was stopped Thursday morning because of a brake light defect in the vehicle he was driving at Cedar and West Charles. He admitted to drug paraphernalia being inside the vehicle, which was found and seized, police say. Later, he was determined to be in possession of a plastic bag containing a white crystalline substance, which was believed to be methamphetamine. Friday in Hall County Court, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession or use of of drug paraphernalia and improper or defective vehicle lighting. Preliminary hearing set for 1:30 p.m. July 30.
The cause of the explosion was never determined. Howard Uhrich of Wood River, a local historian, said the cause was investigated but the reason for the explosion could only be speculated. He will speak about the history of the plant later this month in Wood River.

This is the 23rd historical marker in Hall County, the third to be put up as an Eagle Scout project.

Paul deserves a salute for his efforts to preserve this piece of Hall County history, ensuring that county residents always remember the role this area of Nebraska played in World War II.

Volunteers turn out on Loup

We also salute all the volunteers who helped with efforts to find Brett Swantek, a member of the Genoa Volunteer Fire Department, who fell from a kayak on May 25 while attempting to go over the Loup Public Power diversion dam on the Loup River.

The search went on for days, with volunteers lining the banks of the river to help rescue personnel when, due to extremely fast currents and dangerous conditions on the river, rescuers were not able to use watercraft.

This was a very sad situation, but so many people came out to help, hoping to give Swanteks family peace of mind.
When Nebraska voters chose to expand Medicaid coverage last November, they recognized not only the health benefits of expanded insurance coverage, but also the economic impact of it. Expansion is estimated to stimulate nearly $1.3 billion in economic activity in the first three years of implementation. Yet, Nebraska remains nearly a year and a half away from realizing these benefits.

Enrollment for the 90,000 Nebraskans in the insurance coverage gap is not scheduled to begin until August 2020, with coverage set to begin in October 2020.

State senators, too, recognized the economic value of expansion by appropriating $49 million in the recently-approved biennial budget, to be matched by more than $380 million in federal dollars. However, even with full funding, the delayed implementation timeline will leave hundreds of millions of federal dollars on the table.

Open Sky Policy Institute recently estimated the delayed implementation of Medicaid expansion would cause Nebraska to lose about $460 million in federal funds  foregoing dollars that could be making an immediate difference in our health care system.
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Linkedin Primastuti Handayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019 12:47 943 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873ac006b 1 Opinion #IdulFitri,#commentary,polarization,cebong,kampret,Idul-Fitri,Indonesian-politics,#2019PresidentialElection,2019-presidential-election Free

This years Idul Fitri comes on the heels of a grueling political contest, which regretfully has bred an outbreak of violence in a few parts of Jakarta and elsewhere, leaving eight dead and hundreds  protesters and police officers  injured.

Apart from the fact that Jakarta is licking its wounds following the May 21 and 22 riots and the police are investigating those behind the postelection unrest, Idul Fitri, which falls on June 5, looks to be as festive as it was in the past.

Like in yesteryears, people flock to shopping malls in the last week of Ramadan to buy new clothes and shoes, thanks to their Idul Fitri bonuses (THR), which are mandatory for employers in this predominantly Muslim country. The government has asked employers to distribute the THR to their employees a week ahead of the holiday at the latest.

Civil servants, military personnel, police officers and state officials alike, including the President, receive the THR too, costing the state Rp 20 trillion (US$1.39 billion).

As Idul Fitri is approaching, homebound holiday makers have started to flock to airports, seaports, bus terminals and railway stations. Millions of others have opted to travel by car, with the 993-kilometer trans-Java toll road from Merak in Banten to Pasuruan in East Java their favorite route to reach their home towns.

To facilitate the exodus, the government has again announced a week-long holiday from June 3 to 8, which applies to all civil servants who celebrate Idul Fitri. This practice has been in place for years to reinvigorate the national tourism industry. It dates to 2002 when terrorists attacked Bali, the countrys most favorite tourist destination.

In one way or another, however, this years Idul Fitri is to be different from last years. First, the soaring airfares for domestic flights since last December have forced holidaymakers to switch from planes to other modes of transportation.

The airfare hike prompted an online petition that calls on President Joko Jokowi Widodo, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and the CEOs of Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air to reduce the fares of domestic flights. A number of students of Java-based universities expressed their sadness at missing Idul Fitri get-togethers at their homes in North Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara as the airfares spiked beyond their reach. Furthermore, ticket prices naturally go up in peak seasons like the Idul Fitri holiday.

Budi has estimated that about 22 million people across the nation  14.9 million of them living in Greater Jakarta  would join the Idul Fitri exodus this year. The figure is 4.14 percent higher than that of last year. Most of the homebound travelers stop in Central Java (37.68 percent), West Java (24.89 percent) and East Java (11.14 percent).

The rise in airfares has consequently increased the number of travelers who choose private cars, a Transportation Ministry survey has found. Private car passengers are to surge to 3.76 million from 3.19 million last year, while those who ride motorcycles are to increase to 6.85 million from 6.19 million last year.

Second, trans-Java and trans-Sumatra connections would attract most travelers. Moreover, the government is offering a 15 percent discount on the tolls along the trans-Java toll road.

Traffic congestion looks unavoidable on the trans-Java toll road, especially because of the construction of an elevated toll road on the Jakarta-Cikarang section. Construction work has been suspended temporarily to prevent worse gridlock.

To further ease traffic, the government is applying a one-way system on the trans-Java toll road. All the lanes from Cikarang in West Java to East Brebes in Central Java are to be allocated for travelers going eastward from May 30 to June 2. The reverse arrangement is to be in place from June 7 to 9 when the holidaymakers drive back to their places of residence.

Third, Idul Fitri is a perfect moment to forgive and seek forgiveness. This time around it should mark an ideal end to the political divides resulting from the presidential election. The contest between incumbent President Jokowi and contender Prabowo Subianto has split the nation between cebong (tadpoles), which refers to Jokowi supporters, and kampret (little bats), Prabowos supporters. There has been a clear-cut us against them rivalry.

We have heard stories of husbands and wives, siblings, friends, parents and children, arguing over their political choices. We heard of people unfriending others because they support different candidates, and friends becoming foes, simply because of politics, which actually they are not directly involved in.

Both cebong and kampret are to be heading to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri. They may travel in the same plane, train, bus or even car. They are to take the trans-Java toll road and share a space in rest areas along the way.

Idul Fitri should therefore heal the division.

In fact, as a nation, Indonesia embraces Unity in Diversity as its philosophy. Indonesians are what we are today because we are different, rich in culture, language, cuisine and tradition and lately because we are diverse in terms of political affiliation.

It is our long tradition to ask for forgiveness and to forgive on Idul Fitri. It is the opportune moment that we do so with our parents, children, friends and even those who are different in political stance. May Idul Fitri reconcile the nation, be they cebong or kampret

Happy Idul Fitri everyone and stay united.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Moscow, Russia  Sat, June 1, 2019 14:05 942 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873ac3259 2 Entertainment Rocketman,Taron-Egerton,Elton-John,Russia,Hollywood,biopic,biopic-movie Free

Gay sex scenes have been cut from the Russian version of Elton John biopic "Rocketman", critics who saw a preview said Friday, as the local distributor said it had made edits for legal reasons.

Russia has a dire record on LGBT rights and a controversial law bans the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relationships" to minors, though it is not clear why this would apply to the 18-rated film.

Film critic Anton Dolin wrote on his Facebook page that all the sex or kissing scenes had been cut out, adding that it had been "very obvious" cuts had been made.

The film, which is set for general release in Russia next week, addresses the British pop icon's struggles with his sexuality, drugs and alcohol.

Another journalist who attended the screening, Misha Kozyrev, wrote that scenes featuring drugs were also cut out from the film.

"Yes, the film has been amended to comply with the laws of the Russian Federation," distribution company Central Partnership told the TASS news agency, without providing details.

Russia's culture minister Vladimir Medinsky told state agency RIA Novosti that his ministry had nothing to do with the edits and that "everything is decided by the distributor."

"We do not cut anything, I don't even understand what this is about," he was quoted as saying.

Read also: From 'Your Song' to your movie: 'Rocketman' builds on new music biopic

Dolin also said the text that ends the film was changed.

In the original, viewers learn that Elton John eventually found love and is raising two children with his same-sex partner.

In the Russian version, it says only that he founded an NGO to fight AIDS, according to Dolin.

Amnesty International called the censorship of the film "an insult for the rights of LGBTI people."

In a statement on Friday it said the editing of the film was an example of Russia's anti-gay laws "undercutting freedom of expression and encouraging homophobia in Russia."

Other films that included gay scenes, including the recent biopic about British rock star Freddy Mercury, "Bohemian Rhapsody", were shown in Russian cinemas.

Elton John is popular in Russia, where he first performed during the Soviet era in 1979.

But he has been a vocal critic of Russia's anti-gay laws.

"Rocketman" premiered on May 16 at the Cannes film festival where it received a standing ovation.
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Linkedin Arifin Panigoro (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 31 2019

In the next few years, Indonesia is expected to jump from a lower-middle to an upper-middle economic position, according to its gross national income per capita. However, beneath the economic growth, there is an iceberg of a threat from a triple burden of diseases: infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases (NCD) and reemerging diseases.

Without significant intervention, in the long run the burden will become a plague that hinders the growth of human resources and economic growth as a whole.

Tobacco has been one of the issues over which the government is still in limbo choosing between economic growth and the quality of human resources. As a country with the largest prevalence of male smokers in the world, tobacco is a commodity that contributes to the state revenues. On the other hand, tobacco consumption has a very broad impact not only on health, but also on other socioeconomic aspects.

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Linkedin Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019

Kristiani Herrawati met Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the early 1970s, when Yudhoyono was a military cadet and her father, Lieut. Gen. (ret) Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, the governor of the Military Academy (AKABRI).

Many say it was bold for Yudhoyono to have approached Ani, as she was fondly called. Ani said in a recent interview with Kompas TV senior journalist Rosiana Silalahi that it was love at first sight for her.

To me, he looked different [compared] to most of my friends. He was tall and very charismatic. I thought to myself, this guy will do, she said, smiling.

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Linkedin Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019 23:03 942 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873acd16e 1 National Ani-Yudhoyono,Kalibata-heroes-cemetery,SBY,Agus-Harimurti-Yudhoyono,Funeral Free

The remains of former first lady Kristiani Herrawati, known to the nation as Ani Yudhoyono, arrived at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Halim Perdana Kusuma Air Base in Jakarta.

The flag-draped casket containing her body was transported from Singapore, where she had been treated for blood cancer since February, on board an Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft. Former president and Democratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his two sons accompanied Ani on her final journey back to Indonesia.

The former president and his family were welcomed by ministers, regional leaders and party members at the airport.

The funeral service will take place at the Yudhoyono family home in Cikeas in Bogor, West Java.

Ani will be buried with military honors in a ceremony led by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta on Sunday.

The Yudhoyono family has expressed its appreciation for the outpouring of support by all sections of the nation following the news of Ani's passing.

Read also: Condolences pour in following former first lady Ani Yudhoyono's passing

In a written statement, Anis eldest son Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono thanked friends of the family and the Indonesian people for their condolences and sympathy following the death of his mother.

"On behalf of my mother, I would like to ask for your forgiveness if she ever hurt your feelings with her words or actions. We ask for you to pray that God may forgive her sins and welcome her," he said.

Agus added that while she had been battling blood cancer, Ani continued to think only of her family and the Indonesian people.

"Until the end of her life, she always kept up with news regarding the country. She was happy when the people were happy and she was sad when the people were in sorrow," he said.

Ani died at 67 years old in Singapore at 11:50 a.m. local time on Saturday. (swd)
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Linkedin Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019 12:05 943 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873abac1d 1 National death,Ani-Yudhoyono,Indonesia Free

Former first lady Kristiani Herrawati, better known as Ani Yudhoyono, passed away in Singapore at 11:50 a.m. local time on Saturday after battling blood cancer since February.

Her death was first announced by Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Andi Arief on his Twitter account on Saturday.

Innalillahi wainnailaihi rojiun, bu Ani telah meninggal dunia pada 11.50 waktu singapura  andi arief (@AndiArief__) June 1, 2019

Prior to her death, Ani had undergone blood cancer treatment at the National University of Singapore Hospital in Singapore. Her health condition had begun deteriorating on Thursday and she was admitted to intensive care for a high fever.

Ani was known as an outspoken supporter of her husband and sons political endeavors.
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Linkedin Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019 14:12 942 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873ac422b 1 National Ani-Yudhoyono,death,Indonesia Free

The body of first lady Kristiani Herrawati, or also known as Ani Yudhoyono, will be flown to Indonesia on Sunday morning, according to former National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Hatta Rajasa.

As for now, her body will be laid out at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore, where we will conduct a proper Islamic funeral for her, he said through a written statement on Saturday.

Read also: Former first lady Ani Yudhoyono passes away at 67

Hatta also stated that the body would be transported to Indonesia on a Hercules plane at 7 a.m. local time. The Yudhoyono family will organize another funeral for her at their Cikeas home. Ani will be buried at Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta.

I would like to extend my thanks to all Indonesians who had been praying for her health, as well as to her relatives and friends who visited her in the hospital. Please pray for the family so they can get through this difficult time, Hatta said.

Ani died at 67 years old in Singapore at 11:50 a.m. local time on Saturday after battling blood cancer since February. She is survived by her husband, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, two sons, two daughters-in-law and four grandchildren. (swd)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019 18:17 942 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873ac9521 4 City anies-baswedan,Jakarta-riots,Jakarta-administration,medical-cost,BPJS-Kesehatan,jakarta,victim,victims Free

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has said that medical treatment for victims of the Jakarta riots is mostly covered by the National Health Insurance (JKN), with only a small number of victims covered by the city budget.

He said most Jakarta residents were members of the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), which manages the JKN.

Most of the victims are apparently registered with the BPJS, he said at City Hall on Friday as reported by tempo.co.

Anies said the city administration had allocated funds for those who came from outside of Jakarta and were not registered with the BPJS. The funds would come from the Jakarta Health Agency, he said, without disclosing the exact figure.

There are procedures for everything in the administration. When we arranged the medical treatment costs for riot victims, we did not set aside a new budget. It had been allocated earlier. The number was not big either, he said.

The two-day riots on May 22 and 23 broke out following post-election protests in front of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta. The riots, which saw protesters clash with police personnel, then spread to other areas, including Tanah Abang, Jl. Sabang in Central Jakarta and Slipi in West Jakarta.

According to data from the health agency, at least eight died and 737 others were injured in the riots.

The victims were taken to several hospitals, including Pelni Hospital, city-run Tarakan Regional Hospital and Dharmais Hospital.

The administration's plan to cover the victims' medical costs was met with controversy by some residents who accused Anies of siding with the rioters.
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019 13:17 942 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873ac1011 1 National referendum,aceh,Wiranto,Free-Aceh-Movement Free

The government has asserted that there is no room for any call of referendum in any region of Indonesia, amid reports that some groups in Aceh are demanding referendum on independence for the countrys westernmost province.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said on Friday that the countrys laws no longer accommodated acts of referendum and therefore there was no legal basis for any party to demand such a thing.

A 1983 decree issued by the Peoples Consultative Assembly on referendum was revoked in 1998. At the same time, Law No. 6/1999 has also annulled Law No. 5/1985 on referendum, the security chief said.

There is no room for any referendum in Indonesias law, so [the call for independence] is no longer relevant, Wiranto told journalists on Friday.

Wiranto went on to say that calls for a referendum were somewhat typical in regions that had seen separatist movements seeking independence in the past, such as in Aceh and Papua.

Pro-referendum calls in Aceh surfaced recently following a statement by Muzakir Manaf, a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) military commander and the chairman of local Aceh Party, that insinuated a call for a referendum in the autonomous region.

The calls came shortly after the 2019 general election, when incumbent Joko Jokowi Widodo defeated presidential challenger Prabowo Subianto but failed to win majority votes in the sharia-based province.

The former Army general secured 85.59 percent of the vote in Aceh, mostly thanks to a coalition between Prabowos Gerindra Party and the Aceh Party, which is powered and run by former GAM combatants at the local level.

Wiranto suspected that Muzakirs call for referendum in the province might be related to a political motive, including the former Aceh deputy governors disappointment following defeat in the 2017 Aceh gubernatorial election.
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Linkedin Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 1, 2019

The United States and Indonesia have agreed to improve their defense cooperation, especially in medical rehabilitation and ways to resume ties with the Armys Special Forces Command (Kopassus).

It is my personal request so that Kopassus can resume training with American soldiers, Defense Minister Ryamiard Ryacudu told a joint press conference with acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Michael Shanahan on Thursday.

Insya Allah [God willing] quite soon.

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Image courtesy of Unico 20 87

As one of the worlds most buzzed-about 5 star, all-inclusive resorts, UNICO 2087 in Mexico's beautiful Riviera Maya, has raised the standard and exceeded expectations for all-inclusive fine dining. Since opening in 2017, UNICO 2087 has remained at the forefront of culinary trends, by immersing its guests into the culture of the Yucatan (and points beyond) through regionally inspired cuisine and cocktails that represent some of the more flavorful aspects of Mexicos contemporary and indigenous culinary traditions.

Images courtesy of Unico 20 87

This summer the resort plans to out-do itself yet again by curating the ultimate foodie experience for its guests. , the resort's aptly named seasonal event returns to UNICO 2087 from July 17th - August 25th and will feature 6 restaurant takeovers by several of the culinary worlds most renowned Michelin ranked and 5 Star Diamond Award winning chefs. Guests will enjoy a plethora of food and drink options, including chef curated menus, pairings, expert tequila tastings, handcrafted cocktails, and bar takeovers by some of the industrys most well-respected mixologists.

The lineup of nothing short of stellar with an international roster of rising and established culinary world luminaries, including Chef Roberto Ruiz of Madrids Punto Mx, which is celebrating its 5th year as one of the few Michelin-starred restaurants in the world serving traditional Mexican cuisine. Also hailing from Madrid, is Chef J. Antonio restaurant, ABarra, boasts 2 Michelin Stars and is known throughout Europe for its inventive menu consisting of elevated Spanish cuisine, special tasting menus and a gastronomic bar. Another exciting addition to the line-up is Maria Jose San Roman of Monastrell Restaurant in Alicante, Spain. As part of a select group of female chefs who have placed Alicante on the international foodie radar, Romans has led Monastrell to its first Michelin star by pairing natural and recipes with fresh seafood. Jesus Sanchez, also from Spain will represent Restaurant El Cenador Amos. Established in 1993, El Cenador Amos has earned its place on the international gastronomic map with 2 Michelin Stars and 3 Soles (Suns) from the Spanish Repsol Guide. The highly acclaimed restaurant nestled in an 18th Century mansion, is where dedicated foodies will find Chef Sanchez cooking up traditional Spanish dishes with expert flair and meticulous attention to both taste and texture.

Superbia will also host prominent Mexican and American chefs, including Abel Hernandez from Mexico City whose restaurant, Eloise Chic Cuisine with a 5 Star Diamond Award and incorporates elements of French culinary technique and preparation to create dishes full of flavors that honor the traditional flavors of Mexico City. A recent addition to the lineup is Chef Noah Sandoval a bright new culinary star from Chicago restaurant, Oriole, who was recently named 'Best New Chef' at 2017s Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, and was nominated as 'Best Chef 2019' by the James Beard Foundation. Sandovals accomplishments and inventive take on American fine dining have helped set the tone for a new era of fine dining in the elegant and intimate 15-course meal at Oriole has earned the restaurant two Michelin Stars and a 5 Star Diamond rating.

The libations will be flowing as well, with some of Mexicos most sought after mixologists bringing their masterful skills to the annual event. One of Riviera Mayas leading mixologists and 21 Tequila Brand Ambassador, Edson Arzate will help guests beat the Caribbean summer heat with his unique interpretations of classic cocktails, offering up the perfect way to enjoy an afternoon at one of UNICOs 4 swimming pools. To kick off the second week of UNICOs very own Executive Mixologist, Luis Vallejo will set up a residency at the resorts Bar Balam with a menu centered around organic ingredients and local flavors to craft unique cocktails made 100% by hand from start to finish. Also joining the group is Bose Echeverria, ambassador of Moet Hennessy, 1st place winner of National Vodka Belvedere and 2nd place in the International 007 Martini contest. Known for his inventive specialty cocktails, Bose has designed cocktails for internationally recognized brands such as Swarovski, Fendi, Dior, Chanel, and Kenzo.

Of course, what trip to the Yucatan would be complete without a taste of Tulum-based mixologist Diego Valencia brings to his extensive knowledge of -based cocktails. Valencia refined his passion for Mexican upon arriving to Tulum, where he began to learn the process of production from some of the best in Mexico. Diego currently studies and develops new techniques using different ingredients as the head bartender at ARCA, Tulum. Mexico City's thriving bar scene is represented by Distefano Martinez whose mastery of contemporary cocktails will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to the festivities. Martinez currently serves as an ambassador for Vodka and is a leading bartender at Mexico Citys Licoreria Limantour, rated 'Latin Americas Best Bar' by The Worlds 50 Best Bars. Rounding out the dream team is Lorena Seligson. As an ambassador for Campari Group and certified sommelier, Seligson will be making sure palates are pleased with expert wine and cocktail pairings.

As if this werent enough, all 4 restaurants at UNICO 2087 and its several poolside eateries will offer the internationally inspired gourmet cuisine that has become one of UNICOs many claims to fame. If you are craving Japanese, Mura House offers a sophisticated and a menu to match. With a full sushi bar and a menu comprised of dishes such as Tuna Tataki, Red Curry Beef and Toriyaki just to name a few, even of Japanese fusion cuisine will be delighted. If you have a taste for Italian look no further than the elegant Mi Carisa. As UNICOs most elevated dining experience, the Coastal Italian inspired Mi Carisa serves a variety of mouth-watering pasta dishes, along with unexpected offering such as Tuna Carpaccio with Grana Padano, and the ever-popular grilled Mushroom Crusted Beef Filet paired with savory Mushroom and Truffle Risotto. With local flavor at the heart of UNICOs ethos, guests should plan for a dinner (or two) at the wonderfully authentic Yucatecan restaurant, Cueve Siete, which offers Aguachile Camaron, Rib Eye with Hibiscus and Sal Flor, and Cerdo Pelon Yucatan.

For more casual cravings, there is a buffet style breakfast and relaxed dining at Restaurant 20.87 which offers a wide variety of classic bistro style fare and the only place at the resort where you will find the (very Instagram friendly) UNICO 2087 Ice Cream Cart. The tabletop-sized serving vessel arrives fully equipped with handles, wheels, and several flavors of decadent ice creams  along with all of the necessary toppings, including: toasted nuts, sprinkles, and fresh berries. For guests on-the-go, the charming Cafe Inez serves small bites, pastries and coffee from 6:00 a.m. 2:00 a.m. Guests also have the option of ordering a la carte as part of the in-room dining feature with operates using an app that allows guests to choose from a range of menu items and snack options, including the famous (and highly addictive) UNICO which arrive piping hot and served with dulce de leche, a perfect way to end (or start) the day. At UNICO 2087 this summer, the possibilities for are endless.

Find out more about Summer 2019 and other amenities and offerings available at UNICO 2087 at www.unicohotelrivieramaya.com
In his news conference Wednesday, special counsel Robert Mueller explained why he would not testify before Congress. Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report, he said. It contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself. The report is my testimony.

This is precisely why Mueller should not have held a news conference.

President Trumps critics are now picking apart his statement, looking for discrepancies with the carefully chosen words in his report, and searching for hidden meaning and secret messages urging them to impeach the president. Like with a verbal Rorschach test, they are reading between the lines to hear what they want to hear.

For example, in his report Mueller definitively declared his investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government. But in his news conference, Mueller said that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy. Aha! the Trump-Russia collusion truthers cry, Hes saying there may have been a broader conspiracy, but he just found insufficient evidence to bring charges. No, sorry, that is not what the report says. It says that The investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons knowingly or intentionally coordinated with [Russias] interference operation.

The same is true when it comes to obstruction of justice. In his report, Mueller carefully explains both sides of the argument and makes clear that the evidence we obtained about the Presidents actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. He presents exculpatory arguments on the presidents behalf. For example, he notes that unlike cases in which a subject engages in obstruction of justice to cover up a crime, the evidence we obtained did not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference and the absence of that evidence affects the analysis of the Presidents intent and requires consideration of other possible motives for his conduct.

Moreover, Mueller also wrote that for the president to have obstructed justice, he must have acted with a corrupt intention and the term corruptly sets a demanding standard. It requires a concrete showing that a person acted with an intent to obtain an improper advantage for himself or someone else, inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. Its not an easy case. And since Justice Department rulings prohibit the prosecution of a sitting president, Mueller did not come to a conclusion one way or another. His report does not exonerate him but also does not conclude that the President committed a crime.

All that nuance flew right over the head of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who suggested that the reason Trump escaped indictment was Department of Justice policy prevented the Special Counsel from bringing criminal charges against the President and so it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump.

But Attorney General William Barr has testified, under oath, that special counsel Mueller stated three times to us  in response to our questioning, that he emphatically was not saying, but for the [Office of Legal Counsel] opinion, he wouldve found obstruction. Barr also stated in April that Rod Rosenstein and I asked Robert Mueller when we met with him on March 5, whether he would have made obstruction a crime but for the OLC opinion. He made it clear several times that it was not his position.

Mueller did not refute Barrs testimony in his news conference, or say that the OLC opinion was the only reason he did not find that Trump obstructed justice. Indeed, spokesmen for Barr and Mueller told The Washington Post that his and Barrs statements were not in conflict. Besides, the fact is the Mueller investigation was not obstructed. He was allowed to complete his work, with unprecedented cooperation from the Trump administration. And Muellers report concluded that Trump was telling the truth all along: He did not conspire with Russia in its assault on our democracy.

In his statement, Mueller noted that the Russians he indicted are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Apparently, for congressional Democrats, that presumption of innocence does not extend to Trump. All Muellers news conference did is muddy the waters. Any congressional testimony would do so 10 times over. He should have heeded his own advice, left the building quietly, and, as he put it in his statement, let the offices written work speak for itself.

Marc Thiessen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush.
No matter how bleak things may look for President Donald Trump (and right now, with record-low unemployment and a base of supporters who would drink battery acid if he asked them to, things dont look all that bleak), he will always have an ace up his sleeve.

The Democrats.

With the next election now in full swing, it appears more than possible  likely, even  that the party is going to wage an internal war over whether to spend precious months on impeachment proceedings.

Proponents of impeachment come from three blocs: progressive pundits who have no idea what it takes to win office; occupants of safe seats in gerrymandered Democratic districts; and the Justin Amash wing of the Republican Party, population: one.

They make a very reasonable moral argument that people who transgress the law should be held accountable. However, Congress is not a seminar in moral philosophy, nor has Donald Trump ever shown any interest in the subject. Congress is a political institution, and the political argument in favor of impeachment boils down to a scene from the classic film Animal House.

This situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebodys part, says the suave and cynical Otter. To which earnest Bluto replies: And were just the guys to do it!

Morality is much too important to be left to the righteous. They have a tendency to turn it into crusades, jihads, purges and cults. Instead, societys moral tenor is best maintained by pragmatists who know enough not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good.

In this case, the perfect outcome for Democrats would be the chastisement of Trump, the cleansing of the White House and the humiliation of complicit Republicans. The good outcome: winning in 2020. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her team are the pragmatists struggling to avoid a fatal collision.

Having heeded Robert Muellers advice to read the special counsels report (or to have key staff members read it),Pelosi and company understand all of its parts. In Volume I, investigators documented efforts by the Russian government, including computer hacking by the Russian military, intended to undermine the United States by exacerbating internal conflict. However, the investigation did not find that Trumps campaign conspired with this effort.

In Volume II, the Mueller team traced a series of largely unsuccessful attempts by Trump to undermine and even obstruct the investigation. Because Justice Department policy holds that a sitting president cannot be charged with a federal crime, the team never decided whether these attempts added up to a crime.

Thus the question is whether to impeach Trump for trying (but mostly failing) to interfere with an investigation of a non-conspiracy. Whats the high crime here? Buffoonery?

Pelosi is making the political judgment that this is not a winner for her party. Say what you wish about Nancy Pelosi. She is the daughter of a successful machine politician. She learned vote counting at her daddys knee. As an adult, she engineered her own machine in an entirely different city on the other side of the continent. She scrapped her way upward and for more than 15 yearshas reigned as the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history.

She knows a thing or two about politics.

Meanwhile, who is goading the Democrats to impeach with every trick and prod in his arsenal of provocation? Donald Trump. His outrageous tweets and flamboyant defiance of Congress are designed to turn the next six months into all-out war in which Democrats hound him into the U.S. Senate to stand trial-and he prevails. (Its nuts to think that Democrats could not only rally all of their 47 senators to convict but also pick up the 20 Republicans needed to reach the required two-thirds.)

Claiming exoneration, he can go to the voters as an unbowed victim of, to borrow from one formerly impeached president, the politics of personal destruction.

This is Trumps best option. Hes heading into his reelection campaign minus the trade deal with China that he promised; minus the big infrastructure program that he promised; minus the Mideast peace that he promised; minus the big, beautiful wall that he promised; minus the money from Mexico that he promised; minus the good, clean government that he promised; minus the balanced budget that he promised; minus the revived coal industry that he promised.

To win, he needs a villain to blame for these unfulfilled promises and he is casting impeachment-mad Democrats for the role. Surely, by now, even his most righteous opponents can see that Trump is a master of this game.

In listening to Muellers sober, straightforward statement reviewing his actions and his report, the pro-impeachment crowd took heart from his allusion to constitutional means for holding the president accountable. But are they forgetting the most obvious one?

You know: winning a majority of the electoral votes.
20 passengers rescued from bus after accident en route from Phuket to Hat Yai

THAILAND: A bus carrying 20 passengers skidded off the road and landed sideways in a ditch on its journey from Phuket to Hat Yai in the early hours of Saturday morning (June 1), reported Thai online newspaper Matichon.

accidentspolicetransport

By The Phuket News

Saturday 1 June 2019, 05:54PM

The bus skidded off the road and landed sideways in the dividing ditch between the two sides of the highway. Photo: Asian Rescue Unit and Rattaphum Hospital emergency medical team

The bus skidded off the road and landed sideways in the dividing ditch between the two sides of the highway. Photo: Asian Rescue Unit and Rattaphum Hospital emergency medical team

Police Capt Pitiphat Yorddum of Rattaphum Police was notified of the accident at 2am and arrived at the scene on the Asia Highway in Songkhlas Rattaphum district to find the bus on its side in the dividing ditch between the two sides of the highway. A total of 20 passengers were trapped inside, seven of whom had suffered head injuries.

The Asian Rescue Unit and Rattaphum Hospital emergency medical team helped the trapped passengers out of the bus through the drivers door and emergency exit. Some of the injured passengers required medical treatment whilst still inside the bus. The injured passengers were then taken to Rattaphum Hospital.

The driver of the bus told Rattaphum Police that a pick-up truck overtook the bus and cut sharply in front, forcing him to break and swerve out of the pick-ups way. He subsequently lost control of the bus and crashed into the dividing ditch.

Matichon added that police are continuing to investigate the accident.
Back on board with record-breaking sailor Yassine Darkaoui

The name Yassine Darkaoui might ring a bell. Thats because the Moroccan sailor, entrepreneur and Phuket expat graced the Life cover in January this year, sat in lotus on the bow of a boat against the backdrop of Phang Nga.

CommunityExploreTravel

By Amy Bryant

Saturday 1 June 2019, 10:00AM

At the time, Yass was one sponsor away from heading to Hua Hin to attempt to set a world record sailing his Laser dinghy 800 kilometres in the Gulf of Thailand. (Read story here.)

Time escaped me, and before I knew it, there was a message from Yass in my inbox.

Done. Im still flying. I didnt land. Amazed and confused. I saw magic, danger, connection with everything. Better to talk. I dont want to write.

Interest piqued, I arranged to meet him in Phuket Town in a cafe lined with canvas tepees, faintly reminiscent of the shisha lounges of his hometown of Tangiers, and settled in for another afternoon of stories from the sea.

A mere two days after securing his third and final sponsor in February, Yass was on a plane to Bangkok.

I went to the embassy to meet the Moroccan Ambassador to Thailand, His Excellency Abdelilah El Housni, Yass explains. He welcomed me with flags, gifts and traditional food and we had lunch together in Sukhumvit. It was a great pleasure to talk to him and get his advice.

Diplomatic mission complete, he travelled back down the coast to Hua Hin for a fortnight of daily sailing practice and brain training using his self-produced meditation tracks ahead of the world record-breaking attempt. But, as they say, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and a trio of unforeseen circumstances forced Yass to rethink the attempt almost entirely.

I found out that the guy that holds the current record was having breaks every evening to sleep on shore, so my attempt [without breaks] was crazy. Then the wind direction changed. Then the insurance company modified the contract saying I could only sail a few kilometres from the shore. It was a nightmare, Yass says.

Determined to make something of his trip, Yass registered a record in another category: the furthest distance sailed in a Laser dinghy in a loop without assistance and with the best average speed. This might sound a little convoluted at first glance, but sailing a Laser requires a great deal of physical and mental strength. Continuously adjusting the position of the body to improve upwind speed  known as hiking  makes the core work overtime, while long sailing periods without sleep and in the dark of night wreak havoc with sensory perception.

Whats more, behind the boundary set by the insurance company, the bay was a minefield of fishing boats, nets and sandbanks, barely visible in the moons half light. Yass plays me a video of him sailing in the early hours. I can hear much more than I can see, making out the occasional facial feature in the glint of his torch while waves break against the boat and he shouts Come on! to the wind.

In the evening, fishing boats leave the port and turn off their lights. It gets darker, darker, darker. Visibility was less than five metres. Its more about feeling where you are, feeling the waves. They will remind you that you are not just floating, explains Yass.

With buoys marking the boundary, turmeric and moringa powder for fuel and a will stronger than the waves, Yass successfully completed his attempt in 30 hours, covering 220 kilometres.

I dont like that people ask Who did you beat? instead of What did you learn? Yass says. The most important lesson I learned from my journey was the choice. When battling with the elements, I asked myself why I put myself in a situation where everything could go wrong in a fraction of a second. I was there because of conscious and probably unconscious choices.

We have the choice most of the time. We can choose what our life will look like. We can control our reactions, and by developing a healthy thinking process, most of our problems are not problems anymore. So I am always looking to make choices in the most conscious way.

Yass thanks his sponsors  Homeless to Billionaire author Andres Pira, Andaman Leisure Phuket and Batik Surf  for their own choices to take that risk with him.

In the spirit of his project Always Higher 4.0, Yass will return to Hua Hin once again in September and attempt to sail 560 kilometres to Koh Pha-ngan and back. This time things will be different. He will sail in a straight line in the light of the full moon, using the southwesterly winds to reach maximum speed.

And Ill wait patiently for the next enigmatic message in my inbox.

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/alwayshigher4.0, www.alwayshigher.asia or email extremdinghy@gmail.com
Keep up with the online payment revolution, urges expert

PHUKET: A leading figure in global online payments systems has urged Phuket businesses to keep pace with the rapid changes unfolding in the online payments sector to ensure they dont miss opportunities or access to key markets simply because of the ability or convenience to pay.

tourismtechnologyeconomics

By Chris Husted

Saturday 1 June 2019, 11:30AM

Dwight Willis speaks at the AustCham event last Friday (May 24). Photo: Courtesy of AustCham

The message came from Dwight Willis, the head of the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) Digital IT & Innovation Committee, during a business briefing held before the AustCham Phuket Sundowners at Le Meridien Phuket last Friday (May 24).

Mr Willis is CEO of DollarSmart Global, a global online money transfer company with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

The most important things to know is that international payments in the tourism industry are rapidly changing, Mr Willis told The Phuket News.

Make sure you know your customer base, where they come and what is their preferred payment channel, he added.

The next step is to approach your local Thai financial institution and find one that covers these key channels, Mr Willis urged.

Mr Willis was in Phuket to relay the findings from a panel discussion held in Bangkok Wednesday last week (May 22) on Leveraging new and emerging Payment methods in your business.

The focus of the session in Bangkok was specifically on revenue opportunities as well as transactional cost savings to improve profit, for small and large hotel operators alike, using established global payment/banking institutions including Paypal, TicketMelon, Dollarsmart, Visa and Agoda.

In Phuket, Mr Willis updated AustCham members on developments in innovative payments methods for the hotel and tourism industry on the island.

The interactive session with the AustCham members provided a great opportunity for the members to discuss their payments issues and what solutions are available to meet their needs, noted AustCham Executive Director Brendan Cunningham.

Of his key point Know your customers and where they come from, Mr Willis explained, There are multiple different payment channels developing in different countries and different tourists will bring with them needs to make payments through these different channels.

Citing as examples, Mr Willis elaborated, [There is] PayTM for Indian customers, Wechat and AliPay for Chinese inbound tourism market and Paypal/Visa for Europeans, Australians, US and some parts of Asia.

The customer data is all important. Your payment partners should be able to provide you with spending data to augment your data and understand how to get more of the customer spend in Phuket, he added.

Mr Willis also highlighted how different banks offer different online systems, and the need to identify which ones offer the types of services best suited for each business.

Thai banks have lots of different payment solutions that can help you connect to automated payment systems. You need to find the right expert in the bank to discuss your requirements and find the right solutions, Mr Willis said.

Also important is to negotiate hard on costs and compare bank offerings for most cost-effective option, he added.

Collections of payments and making payment to suppliers was an important topic to the members.

To this Mr Willis mentioned a few new solutions, such as QR payments and online credit card gateways, that can help members receive monies online from their customers.
Pressure mounting for alliance ahead of PM vote on Wednesday

THAILAND: Pressure is mounting on the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) and the Democrats to thrash out their differences and finalise a deal over the formation of a coalition government ahead of the prime ministerial vote in parliament scheduled for Wednesday.

Saturday 1 June 2019, 10:56AM

House Speaker Chuan Leekpai (centre) is greeted by MPs as he arrives at the new parliament building to receive a royal command endorsing the appointment of the House speaker and two deputies. Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattaraill

The two parties remain at loggerheads over the distribution of certain ministerial positions, especially the Agriculture and Cooperatives portfolio, which is a bone of contention between the PPRP's Sam Mitr (Three Allies) group and the Democrat Party, sources said. Even though a source earlier said the PPRP had agreed to let the Democrat Party take the helm of the ministry.

House Speaker Chuan Leekpai on Friday said that a joint meeting of MPs and senators will be held to vote for a prime minister on Wednesday at the auditorium of TOT Plc's head office on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok.

Mr Chuan, a former prime minister and current Democrat list-MP, made the remark after the Royal Gazette on Friday published his appointment as House speaker. Two deputy House speakers  Suchart Tancharoen of the PPRP and Supachai Phosu of the Bhumjaithai Party were also royally endorsed.

The appointments of Senate Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, and two deputies  Gen Singsuek Singphrai and Supachai Somcharoen also received royal endorsement.

With all the 250 regime-appointed senators guaranteed to vote for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who is the PPRP's prime ministerial candidate, the path is clear for him to reclaim the premiership during Wednesday's joint meeting.

However, the sources said that even if the PPRP forms a coalition government with Gen Prayut as its leader, the next government's stability will be in doubt without the support of the Democrat Party's 53 MPs.

Democrats have held back on making a decision about whether to join the coalition as they insist that the PPRP must clear up "its own problems" first, the sources said.

The party reportedly asked for the agriculture portfolio as one of its conditions to join the alliance after the PPRP made a formal invitation for it to join a coalition earlier this week.

Thai media have reported that the Sam Mitr group has also had its sights set on the Agriculture Ministry and perhaps might have been promised it by PPRP executives.

Democrat leader Jurin Laksanavisit on Friday said that the Democrats cancelled their meeting last Tuesday to decide whether to join the coalition because they wanted to give the PPRP some time to restore its "coherence".

Asked if the make-up of a coalition government should be clear before the prime ministerial vote is held in parliament, Mr Jurin said: "To be honest, this is a problem for the PPRP. That's why the Democrat Party had to cancel the meeting. Now, we'll have to give the PPRP some time to sort out their own problems and make a decision."

Mr Jurin also stressed that the party's demand for constitutional amendments and the incorporation of its election campaign pledges, especially income guarantees for farmers, into the next government's policy portfolio are key conditions for aligning with the PPRP.

Mr Jurin said that the current constitution makes it difficult to push for amendments. An amendment requires the support of more than half of the members of both houses, including at least 20% of MPs on the opposition bench.

This almost certainly shuts the door on the chance to amend the charter, he said.

The Democrats have proposed that charter amendments be initiated by the government itself to guarantee success, Mr Jurin said.

He added that the party would push for its election pledges to be included in the next government's policies.

The meeting of these two conditions is crucial to the Democrats deciding whether to join the PPRP coalition, Mr Jurin said.

Somsak Thepsuthin, leader of the PPRP's Sam Mitr group, yesterday dismissed rumours he would lead 30 MPs in defecting to the Pheu Thai Party unless his group gets the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry portfolio.

He insisted he had never made such a threat and was willing to accept the PPRP's decisions involving the allocation of cabinet seats among the coalition.

However, when asked by reporters if the post of deputy agriculture minister would suffice, Mr Somsak said: "I'm not aiming for a deputy minister post." Mr Somsak also scotched rumours of a defection.

"I entered politics by joining the Social Action Party and I stayed there for a long time. When I joined the Thai Rak Thai Party, I was also with it until it was dissolved. Now that I'm with Palang Pracharath, I've never thought of leaving," said the veteran politician.

During the joint sitting, four MPs will also be sworn in before the sitting proceeds to vote for the new prime minister.

Three of them were endorsed by the Election Commission on Tuesday  The Future Forward Party (FFP)'s Srinuan Boonlue who won the re-run in Chiang Mai's Constituency 8, Watanya Wongopasi, a candidate on the PPRP party's list, and Chitpas Kridakorn, a Democrat party-list candidate.

The other is an FFP MP for Nakhon Pathom Jumphita Chantharakachorn, who was absent from the first House sitting on May 24 when the other 496 MPs were sworn in due to health problems.

Read original story here.
Samui Regatta: Getting close at the top after Day 4

SAMUI: The Premier and Cruising classes got to stretch their legs yesterday (May 31), racing along the southeast coastline to Lamai Beach and back, while IRC Zero and IRC 1 added windward/leewards to their race card bringing their series totals up to seven and six races respectively, with just one day to go.

Sailing

By Press Release

Saturday 1 June 2019, 10:20AM

Ray Roberts and his team worked hard on Thursdays Lay Day to get Team Hollywood (AUS) back on the racetrack after their unfortunate incident with WindSikher (SIN) on Day 3. Sadly, WindSikher have retired from the regatta and it's now a five-boat shoot out in IRC Zero.

Team Hollywood didn't help their chances of of knocking the Whitfcraft THA72 off their regatta winning streak (four consecutive Samui Regatta wins) in race one today when they sailed into a hole and lost ground. Trying to make up ground proved tough and they had to settle for third. Zannekin (HKG) saw the opportunity and sailed a clean race to claim second behind THA72. Zannekin's second place splits the points and helped open up a gap in the standings between THA72 at the top and Team Hollywood in second.

In the second race, the softening breeze proved tricky for all but it was Team Hollywood who sailed the course best to finish with a double  line honours and win corrected time. THA72 claimed second ahead of Zannekin in third.

A 1, 2 for THA72 and 3,1 for Team Hollywood today give THA72 a 0.5 point overall lead with just one day to go.

Mandrake III (HKG) are building a picket fence in IRC 1. Comfortable leaders coming into yesterday, they added another win in the only race of the day and extended their unbeaten run to six races. Meanwhile, Fujin (AUS) went a long way to securing second overall with a second place finish yesterday. Their nearest rival, Tenacious (AUS), slipped back to finish fourth yesterday behind Over There (THA) and they now sit six and seven points behind Fujin respectively in the overall standings.

At the beginning of the regatta, one of the crew on Bella Uno (MAS) said it was their regatta to lose, adding that light airs were their forte. It appears the crewman was right as Bella Uno added another bullet (four from four) to their IRC Premier Monohull Division tally today and look unbeatable. Moonblue 2 (HKG) and Lawana (THA) have traded places over the week and after yesterday's coastal race it was Lawana who placed second and now leapfrogs Moonblue 2 in the overall standing.

Scallywag Fuku Bld 60 has been patiently waiting to unleash their power all week and finally yesterday we got to see a glimpse of her potential. It wasn't long before they were leading the pack as she chewed up the coastal course and crossed the finish line almost 50 minutes ahead of the next boat in NHC Premier Open Division. This corrected out to a win by more than 20 minutes, Scallywag Fuku Bld 60's first of the series.

A win in yesterday's IRC Cruising for Graffiti (THA) see them go into the final day today with a two point lead. MoonShadow2 (THA) have an uphill task to claw back two points on the final day today, meanwhile SailQuest Hi Jinks (USA) will be looking to return their first race of the series winning form.

Racing finishes today off Chaweng Beach, Samui.

For more information:

Website: www.samuiregatta.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SamuiRegatta

Twitter: www.twitter.com/samuiregatta

Videos: www.samuiregatta.com/media/video
Teenager dies in close-riding collision

PHUKET: One teenager was killed and another taken to hospital with minor injuries on Friday (May 31) after the pair collided in front of Krungsri Bank, Cherng Talay Branch, in Thalang.

accidentsdeathtransport

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Saturday 1 June 2019, 12:29PM

Police wave traffic past the scene. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Yarnphat Malai of Cherng Talay Police was notified of the accident at around 9pm and arrived at the scene on Srisoonthorn Rd to find two teenagers lying in the road.

The first teenager, 17-year-old Thai national Daranphop Panjarak, was unconscious with blood draining from his mouth and ears. Cherng Talay Municipality rescue workers administered CPR at the roadside and called for an ambulance. Mr Daranphop was rushed to Thalang Hospital but later died.

The second teenager, 16-year-old Thai national Sitsanok Hongkum, was also taken to Thalang Hospital for minor injuries.

Police reported that the two teenagers, both driving Honda motorcycles, one Click and another Scoopy, had been driving closely to one another. When Mr Daranphop made a sudden and unexpected turn, Mr Sitsanok went into the back of his motorbike. It was not reported whether or not the teenagers were wearing helmets.

Police are checking CCTV for further evidence.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. High 72F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Rain ending early. Remaining cloudy. Low 59F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Watertown resident looks back on the changes seen in her 105 years
Donald Trumps threat to impose tariffs against Mexico over illegal immigration has pushed the S&P 500 Index down by about 1%.

And while any day in which the U.S. stock market retreats by more than 1% is nothing to sniff at  today would be only the seventh time the S&P 500 has declined as much this year  how does it actually stack up to other milestone days during the tariff standoff?

March 22-23, 2018: S&P 500 slumps 2.5% after Trump orders tariffs on $50 billion (U.S.) of Chinese imports for alleged intellectual-property abuses. The index falls 2.1% the following day after China hits back.

May 29, 2018: Stocks decline 1.2% after the U.S. moves ahead with tariff plans against China following a brief truce. May 13, 2019: The S&P 500 plunges 2.4% after China announces that it would boost tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods as of June 1.

May 31, 2019: The index slips 1% (as of 2 p.m. in New York) to a 12-week low after Trump threatens Mexico with escalating tariffs until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico comes to an end.

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On May 24, Bloomberg News interviewed Huawei Technologies Co. founder Ren Zhengfei at the companys headquarters in Shenzhen. The following excerpts, translated by Bloomberg, have been condensed and edited for clarity:

Bloomberg: President Trump has suggested that Huawei could be a factor in any trade deal between the US and China. How likely is that, do you think, from your perspective?

Ren: The U.S. has never bought products from us, so how can they negotiate with us? Even if the U.S. wants to buy our products in the future, I may not sell to them. Theres no need for a negotiation.

I will ignore Trump, then who can he negotiate with? If he calls me, I may not answer. But he doesnt even have my number.

I see his tweets and think its laughable because they are self-contradictory.

Bloomberg: President Trump has described Huawei as a dangerous company, he said Im quoting  from a security standpoint, and from a military standpoint, this is a dangerous company. How do you respond to that?

Ren: 5G is not the atomic bomb. 5G is just a tool to transmit information. The content transmitted has nothing to do with the transmission tool. Its just like a microphone  you cant say a microphone is a dangerous tool because it can transmit voices. But the content of the voice, the person who speaks into the microphone, could be dangerous. How come the tool is considered dangerous?

Bloomberg: You have said in the past that you think President Trump is a great president. Do you still think he is a great president?

Ren: Trump is a great president because he tells the whole world that Huawei is a great company and not to sell components to us, which is a promotion for us. We cant even keep up with supplies as orders have been increased. I think he is a great president as he promotes how great Huawei is.

Bloomberg: The decision to blacklist Huawei by the U.S. is being framed by some U.S. lawmakers as essentially a death sentence for the company, do you see this as a question of life and death for Huawei?

Ren: Huawei now is like a plane with so many holes after being attacked. But we still dont want to die, we want to fly home. So thats where we are. The U.S. has put us on the banned list, so we might have some difficulties. But we want to fix the holes and adjust the route while we are flying. We will definitely be able to survive, and be able to lead in areas like 5G technology.

Bloomberg: The list of companies that supply Huawei with components, but also software, that are now cutting off those supply, is growing. Of course Qualcomm, Intel, ARM Panasonic, Google as well. So I guess the question is for how long can Huawei survive without those supplies, both components and software?

Ren: The U.S. has taken very extreme measures to target Huawei. The U.S. is so powerful, but why are they so scared of us? I think they overestimate Huawei. Such a small company, how come its been paid so much attention around the world? Im excited that we have so much attention but I think they exaggerate our role in the world. We havent done any promotion yet, but someone has already done such a great job of promoting us. Im so grateful.

Bloomberg: Are you looking to change your supply chains at all to ensure that you have the components that you need? Is that a process that youre looking at now?

Ren: We will maintain our existing supply chain and will continue to place orders with U.S. companies. But if they can no longer supply us, the portion of our own in-house products will increase. We will find our own way to solve our problems.

Bloomberg: The critics of Huawei would say that youve got to where you are through intellectual property theft and government support. What is your response to that?

Ren: The U.S. has not developed that technology, so from where should I steal it? Its more likely that they steal our technology, now we are leading the U.S. If we were lagging behind, Trump would not need to make so many efforts to attack us. He attacks us because we are now more advanced than them.

Bloomberg: In the past you faced the legal challenges from Cisco, from Motorola, and from T-Mobile. What does that say about the culture of the company, and what steps have you taken to address those issues that came up as a result of those legal cases?

Ren: First of all, I think all these cases have been heard in court. We should respect the courts judgments. We require all of our employees not to do anything wrong in this regard. We have a huge amount of technology. If asking us what contributions weve made for human beings, we would say that we have over 90,000 patents, many of them are patents weve obtained recently for information technology. Weve made huge contributions to the information foundation of the whole society. Among those, over 11,500 core patents were filed in the U.S. And the U.S. government has approved them. So we have patents in the U.S. If they could understand the contribution Huawei has made for humanity, the dispute may be resolved.

Bloomberg: If at a moment of a national crisis, the government came to you and said  we need your help, we need your cyber skills, we need access to your network, because its for the good of the country, for good of the government, for the good of the Chinese people, how would you respond?

Ren: We absolutely would never install any back doors, we would never do that. We serve human beings, we dont serve intelligence services. Why should we install back doors?

Bloomberg: What are the practical steps for denying a request like that in China?

Ren: Weve never done that. A German newspaper released an article saying they could not find any back doors in Huaweis systems. In the UK, Huawei was under the worlds strictest scrutiny, so we could earn the countrys trust. Under such scrutiny, it was as if we took off all our clothes to prove we have nothing to hide. So the UK agreed to use our equipment.

Bloomberg: How did you go from being an engineer in the Peoples Liberation Army to building and setting up Huawei as a company in 1987?

Ren: My history can be divided into two parts. The first part was when I served in the military when China was a planned economy before the big military layoffs. I was in the military elite, but we all got laid off out of the blue, throwing us into the ocean of the market economy. I didnt understand the market economy at all.

We choked on tons of water in that ocean. We didnt understand what the market economy was. We lost lots of money because we trusted people too much. We couldnt afford to hire a lawyer, so I read law books. Afterwards, I realized two important things about the market economy  one is the supplier, and one is the customer.

Bloomberg: What were you ambitions for the company back in 1987?

Ren: I didnt have any goals. At that time, we didnt even have enough food. I clearly recall when my daughter was very little, her mother often told me that she needed to go to market at around 5 a.m. to buy stale fish and shrimp. The dead fish and shrimp were sold at a very cheap price in Guangdong. She cooked it for our daughter to provide protein. She said without enough protein, children cannot grow healthy. We could only maintain the minimum standard of living. So we did not have any goals. The goal was only to survive  we didnt even know whether we could survive. My most famous slogan at the company is survive, survive and survive. Even today, when we are like a damaged airplane, our slogan is still to survive, rather than any great ambition.

Bloomberg: Did you ever image that you will be sitting here today in this position?

Ren: Actually if people dont desire much, they can be more capable. I dont desire much. As you can see, I dont want to take too much money. I only hold a small portion of company shares. People say Im rich, but back in 2000, I didnt even own an apartment. The apartment I rented with my wife was only half the size of this room. It faced west and had no air-conditioner.

There was no turning back for us. If we went backwards, it would be poverty, if we went forward, it would be still poverty. But, if we kept going, there might be a slim chance of hope, while there was absolutely no hope if we went backwards. So we had to keep walking forward, walking and walking. All of sudden, we saw the sunshine, we suddenly realized we were at the top of the Himalayas.

Bloomberg: How did you manage to go from behind your competitors, like Ericsson, like Nokia to being the leader in 5G? What steps were implemented? How did you manage to make that leap?

Ren: First of all, we spent time at work when others were spending time having coffee. In general, we worked harder than others. Secondly, we distributed what we earned to everyone rather than keeping it in our own pockets. So we could attract many good scientists and talented people to join us.

Bloomberg: Do you succession plans in place?

Ren: Weve had a succession plan for a long time. We wont give the company to one single person, we will give it to a group, with subgroups. Its like giant succession plan, not a single-person succession plan.

Bloomberg: Your daughter faces extradition to the U.S from Canada and she is facing charges in the U.S. of fraud and breaking sanctions, those the allegations from the U.S. side. President Trump has suggested he could intervene in to help your daughter, presumably you would be welcome that kind of intervention.

Ren: Canada violated the law with this arrest. We will point out these violations during the court hearings. Meng Wanzhou has never committed any fraud, which weve already made clear. Two sides can present evidence at the court, we have evidence. Mengs case is politically motivated.

Bloomberg: Do you think the legal action against Canada and the U.S. is helping your cause, or is there a risk that it inflames tensions?

Ren: The problem is that its the U.S. and Canada who sued us first, then we countersued. Why are we, the ones who followed suit, considered to be the ones disrupting the social order? If you knew it would disrupt the social order, why would you sue us? Why shouldnt we file a counterclaim after you sued us? They cant be that arbitrary. The U.S. is a fair, open and transparent country. I have my right. You have your right to sue me, I have my right to defend myself.

Bloomberg: Have you spoken to your daughter recently?

Ren: Yes.

Bloomberg: Hows she?

Ren: She is studying her PhD while under house arrest.

Bloomberg: I just want to also bring it back to some of the original topics we talked about at the beginning around the supplies. We talked about how some of the major suppliers like Intel, like Qualcomm, like ARM, Panasonic and Google are restricting their supply of components and software to Huawei. Just explain to us how you weather that storm.

Ren: The U.S. manages its own companies, the U.S. is not the international police. They cant manage the whole world. The rest of the world decides whether they should work with us based on their own business interests and positions. If some companies dont want to work with us, its like a hole in the airplane. Were working to fix the hole but the airplane is still able to fly.

Of the chips weve been using, half are from U.S. companies and half we produce ourselves. If the U.S. imposes further restrictions on us, well reduce our purchases from the U.S. and use more of our own chips. If American companies have permission from Washington to sell to us, we will continue to buy from them.

Bloomberg: What extent of damage, how much damage do you expect to be felt in the consumer division of the business, so smartphones and laptops, which depend on U.S. chips but also U.S. software?

Ren: We might miss our expected growth target, but we are still growing. Being able to grow in the toughest battle environment; that just reflects how great we are.

Bloomberg: Does the actions that the U.S. has taken, does that mean youre going to have to ramp up that R&D spending even more to develop your own in-house products and components?

Ren: We set our sale prices relatively high. Our current prices are higher than Ericsson and Nokia. So we can make lots of money.

As long as we can afford to live and as long as we can survive, we would like to invest more in R&D. Even during the most difficult time, we still need to invest in the future, otherwise we dont have a future.

Bloomberg: You had bragging rights earlier this year, you overtook apple as the number 2 smartphone maker, you saw smartphone sales in the first quarter jump by about 50%, and of course you do have that goal of becoming the number one smartphone maker in the world. Does that goal now have to be shelved?

Ren: An apple is as big as this. We became a peach over the past few years, a bit bigger than an apple. We might become a plum in coming years, smaller than an apple. But still edible. A plum is just a little bit sour and bitter. We can become bigger or smaller. We are not a public company, we are not only pursuing growth or profit. Its good enough for us to just survive.

Bloomberg: There have been calls by some in China for Beijing to retaliate against Apple. Is that an action that China should be looking at taking?

Ren: That will not happen, first of all. And second of all, if it happens, Ill be the first to protest. Apple is the worlds leading company. If there was no Apple, there would be no mobile internet. If there was no Apple to help show us the world, we would not see the beauty of this world. Apple is my teacher, its advancing in front of us. As a student, why should I oppose my teacher? I would never do that.

Bloomberg: Youve talked about having a 2-year lead in terms of 5G, on your competitors. Does that lead get eroded?

Ren: Definitely. If we slow down its because the wing of the airplane has lots of holes. If we fly slowly but others fly fast, of course they can catch us up. But we will keep fixing the holes. We will fly fast again once all the holes are fixed.

Bloomberg: A lot of this, maybe all of this, comes down to a question of trust, and from the U.S. side  a mistrust  of Huawei and of China. Do you think there are additional steps, beyond the steps youve already taken here, additional steps you could take to improve that trust? Whether that is restructuring the company, listing the company, is there anything you could do to build on that?

Ren: We dont need to go public, we are very clean. So we dont worry about what other people say. We wont go public. You can wait, I think it wont take long for Huawei to go public  maybe 3,000 years.

Bloomberg: What exactly have you put in place in terms of contingencies? Can you just give us a few more details around the contingencies that have been put in place?

Ren: We might have contingency plans for the core of the airplane, the engine and fuel tank, but we may not have a plan for the wings. We need to review the situation all over again and fix those problems. You can come back to interview us in two or three years to see if we still exist. If we are gone in two or three years, please remember to bring a flower and put it on our grave.

-With assistance from Gao Yuan.

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Canadas oil capital woke up to smoke that made eyes sore and breathing uncomfortable, an earlier-than-usual sign of summer as wildfires burn in the forests north of Calgary.

After 8 months of cold, Calgary residents were unable to fully enjoy blue skies and warm temperatures Friday because of a white haze that blanketed the city with a strong smell of burnt wood. The governments air quality health index for the city was at very high risk, suggesting people reduce or reschedule any strenuous outdoor activities.

While Calgary is no stranger to smoke from Alberta wildfires, the haze more often appears in August, when the season is at its peak. Three years ago, blazes razed entire neighbourhoods in the oilsands town of Fort McMurray and disrupted nearby operations. Wildfires in northern Alberta have so far spared production facilities, but its the third year in a row that Calgary, where most of the industry has its highrise headquarters, is suffering severe smoke issues.

Some pedestrians walked around the city with surgical masks on, while further north in the province thousands of people were evacuated from remote communities where dry conditions have spawned the forest fires.

CTV Edmonton reported that around 14 homes were destroyed and dozens others are in danger in the Metis settlement of Paddle Prairie, about 965 kilometres (600 miles) north of Calgary. The nearest big fires are about 500 kilometres away from Calgary. The town of High Level has been under an evacuation order since May 20. Evacuations have also been ordered for other areas including Keg River and Wabasca.

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Canada is extremely disappointed that China continues to detain two of its citizens, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said, as tensions escalate over a case that has roiled ties between the nations for months.

Canada was respecting the rule of law when it arrested Huawei Technologies Co. chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver last December on an American extradition request, Sajjan said in an interview on Saturday. Meng has denied wrongdoing and has continued to fight the extradition in Canadian courts.

In our democracy, the political system does not interfere with the judicial system and thats where this process is, Sajjan said in Singapore, where hes attending a regional security forum. Were extremely disappointed with Chinas reaction, having two Canadians arbitrarily detained in this regard. And we seek their immediate release.

China has repeatedly defended the arrest of Michael Kovrig, who works for the International Crisis Group, and entrepreneur Michael Spavor. Kovrig was arrested on suspicion of spying on state secrets for foreign entities and other intelligence crimes, while Spavor was held on suspicion of stealing state secrets for foreign entities.

Canada has insisted on their release, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence voiced support for the detained Canadians at an appearance on Friday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Held in isolation, the two Canadians were questioned multiple times a day and unable to turn off the lights in their cells, Bloomberg reported in December.

For us, this is extremely black and white, Sajjan said. When you sign a treaty, and things happen, you do not politically interfere in the judicial system  it undermines our democracy.

China has accused Canada of violating a bilateral agreement in arresting Meng, and called for her release.

I would just remind Canada to realize the consequences of being the cats paw for the U.S., Geng Shuang, a spokesman for Chinas foreign ministry, told reporters in Beijing on Friday. We hope it will correct its wrongdoing by taking prompt actions to avoid further harm.

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U.S. President Donald Trump made clear that hes prepared to impose tariffs on Mexico over a surge of migrants at the southern U.S. border. What he didnt specify was what he wants Mexico to do to avoid the penalties.

Nonetheless, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hes optimistic of achieving good results from a high-level meeting next week in Washington following Trumps threat to levy tariffs.

AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, discussed the upcoming talks at a press conference on Saturday. And while he called the U.S. leader his friend, he said seeking international arbitration is still an option.

Details of what Trump is asking of Mexico will be the centrepiece of talks next week in Washington, where Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard plans to meet with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

So far, the Trump administration has given only broad-stroke explanations. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that one of the biggest things they can do is the repatriation of the thousands of people coming from Central America, and stop these massive caravans from coming through their country into ours.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told reporters on Thursday that Mexico needed to step up their security efforts on their southern border, align better with the U.S. on asylum seekers, and crack down on transnational criminal organizations operating within the country.

The lack of specifics gives the administration broad leeway to decide whether Mexicos efforts are measuring up. For one, Ebrard will likely have to defend his governments decision to slash spending at the agency in charge of detaining undocumented immigrants at Mexicos southern border.

Ebrard tweeted Friday afternoon that hed just spoken with Jared Kushner, a presidential adviser and Trumps son-in-law, and Pompeo, whos currently in Europe, and that he was flying to Washington to speak with American officials.

In an earlier tweet, he said that Mexico wasnt responsible for the flow of Central American migration to the U.S., or for high drug consumption in that country. He called the treatment of his country unfair and that it makes no economic sense to anyone.

On Saturday, AMLO said at the Mexican port city of Veracruz that Mexico shouldnt be used as a pawn in U.S. political fights.

Jesus Seade, Mexicos undersecretary of foreign relations for North America, said Thursday he had no idea that the tariff threat was coming, and that his government hadnt been warned by the U.S. Embassy before Trumps tweet announcing his decision.

Trump is determined to impose the 5 per cent tariff set to kick in on June 10, people familiar with the matter said. He sees it as a way to help pay for construction of the a wall on the border that he promised during his 2016 campaign, and to claim that Mexico paid for it, according to the people.

While Trump has repeatedly argued that the countries he penalizes bear the cost of tariffs, its U.S. importers that pay the duties and some of that gets passed to consumers in the form of higher prices.

The administrations know-it-when-you-see-it definition of action by the Mexican government has left outsiders grasping to interpret the presidents intentions  and sincerity. And theres reason to believe Trump could be deterred.

In late March, the president said he would shut down the southern border, only to abandon the threat after Mexico took modest actions to return some migrants to their home countries. And hollow threats of economic disruption date to the earliest days of the Trump administration, when then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced during Trumps first Air Force One trip his intent to seek a 20 per cent tax on Mexican imports, only to retreat hours later.

White House officials are declining to say what metrics theyd use to decide whether to proceed with the tariff  or additional increases the president has threatened at a series of checkpoints over the summer, culminating in a 25 per cent tax on all goods by October 1.

The White House is going to handle this on an ad hoc basis and is judging success simply by border crossings into the U.S. decreasing by a significant and substantial number, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters.

We did not set a specific percentage, did not set a specific number, Mulvaney said. Its a very fluid situation.

Officials within the administration  including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer  opposed the tariff decision, worrying that it could poison the prospects of Trumps proposed trade deal to replace Nafta in both the Mexican legislature and among Democrats in the U.S. House who will be central to approving the pact. Lighthizers office said in a statement he supported the presidents move.

Trump made the decision to publicly threaten the tariffs on a day that he was travelling to Colorado with only a small cadre of lower-level aides.

Allies on Capitol Hill and in the business community have expressed concern.

A diverse group of Republican senators, including Arizonas Martha McSally, Ohios Rob Portman, Iowas Joni Ernst, and Pennsylvanias Pat Toomey issued statements criticizing the proposal. National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons, a frequent Trump cheerleader, warned in a statement that the proposed tariffs would have devastating consequences on manufacturers in America and on American consumers and said he had taken his concerns to the highest levels of the administration.

Seade warned of a forceful response if Trump goes forward with the tariffs. That could mean retaliatory steps that would amplify the effect of the levies on U.S. citizens, who are already likely to bear the brunt of the costs.

The big question now is how long Mexico can continue with a policy of no confrontation.

Asked about the tariffs, Seade said: Im not saying well sit on our hands and do nothing until June 10 to see if its real or not, but I trust that its not something that will be put into action because it would be very serious. If it happens, in my opinion we need to respond in a strong way.

Trump seemed to leave himself a little wiggle room in a tweet on Friday, saying of tariffs that if they start rising it could push companies to move back to the U.S.

Nevertheless, theres a sense among some White House aides that hes not bluffing.

He cast the tariffs as a way to drive manufacturing back to the U.S. An action that he can depict as both tough on immigration and a boon to blue collar workers has a visceral appeal to the president, who sees the two themes as driving his re-election chances in 2020.

Anybody in this country or frankly in the world that says that theyre surprised by this has been living under a rock and not paying attention, Sanders said. The presidents been crystal clear that we have to have to take action.

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I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS

People just submitted it.

I dont know why.

They trust me

Dumb f--s.

Roger McNamee, onetime Facebook ally, now critic, understands the power of pairing revealing quotes with grim facts. So in McNamees Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe, we get to hear man-child Mark Zuckerberg in a long ago exchange with a college friend. This was in the infant days of the blue menace.

From his time at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg showed a persistent indifference to authority, rules, and the users of his products, McNamee writes. He hacked servers at Harvard, took university property to create his first products, exploited the trust of the Winklevoss brothers.

To which you might respond: I know all that. But its what Zuckerberg said in the instant messaging exchange that reveals much more than a move-fast-and-break-things ethos. It reveals the moral vacancy of his character, one dangerously enabled by arrogance then and power today.

Thursdays annual shareholder meeting did nothing to dispel that conclusion. Proposals seeking democratic change at the company were, as expected, voted down. Once again Trillium Asset Management put forward a stockholder proposal to bring Facebook into the contemporary age by separating the role of CEO from that of chairman. Zuckerberg occupies both positions and retains majority voting power through multiple voting shares. Once again Trillium, with the support of a number of institutional shareholders, made the case against too much power being vested in the hands of a single individual. Once again they lost.

We believe this lack of independent board Chair and oversight has contributed to Facebook missing, or mishandling, a number of severe controversies, increasing risk exposure and costs to shareholders, the proposal states. There are lots of examples: Russian meddling in U.S. elections; the dissemination of fake news; the Cambridge Analytica scandal; the slaughter of the Rohingya, etc.

The proposal noted Zuckerbergs past apologies that the company didnt take a broad enough view of our responsibility. That broader view is precisely what an independent board chair would provide, Trillium argued.

The board thought otherwise, filing a response with securities regulators that can be boiled down to this: we like the current structure, thanks very much; an independent chair would only bring inefficiency to the board; see you next year.

Similarly, a proposal to undo the dual-class structure was also defeated. Both proposals were supported by the investor advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis. The precise tally of voting support for both wont be known until early next week.

Now, wait a minute. This has been an explosive couple of years for Facebook, as the world knows. News breaks daily, and generally not in the social media companys favour. Facebooks head-scratching refusal to take down a doctored video of U.S. House of Representatives Leader Nancy Pelosi  or at least that was the companys position as of Friday morning  is just the latest example of the kind of unchecked arrogance that healthy boards of directors are meant to fix. Pelosi, ever cool, cast the company as an enabler of Russian election interference, because right now they are willing to put something on that they know to be false.

Facebook defends itself by pointing to the dialogue box placed on the posting, directing viewers to additional reporting. Additional reporting? Wheres the initial reporting? And I thought Facebook was arguing that its not a media company.

I cite the Pelosi fracas to make the point that Facebook still sucks when it comes to damage control.

And its not unreasonable to argue that it sucks because all the power rests with Zuckerberg, alongside his chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg. (McNamee describes the duo as the final arbiters of everything.)

There was a brief question and answer period at the annual meeting. One shareholder asked Zuckerberg to respond directly to the question of whether he was willing to cede some of that power.

He responded by talking about the struggles the world is facing to figure out the right framework, the right rules, for the internet. He noted that Facebook is taking a multi-pronged approach to the challenge, that he is travelling all over, that he is very focused. He was with French President Emmanuel Macron just recently, he said. (Sorry, Ottawa.) The company has spent weeks looking at content practices. He went on and on.

More precisely, he went on and on not answering the question.

But would he be willing to step aside as chair, the shareholder wanted to know?

Tough luck. Only one question per shareholder was allowed.

Its just a yes or no, implored the shareholder, reasonably.

To which the CEO offered only stony silence.

Zuckerbergs hubris put me in mind of a poem by Shelley, for I think this is how the story is going to end, eventually:

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away

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CALGARYA former Calgary teacher who pleaded guilty to 17 counts of sex crimes against children has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Christian Sarile, who is 29, was originally charged with 49 offences including sexual assault, sexual interference, accessing child pornography, distributing child pornography, luring and extortion.

He showed no emotion as the judge read his decision to a full courtroom.

Justice Earl Wilson described Sarile as evil, manipulative, and a danger to children and the community.

Court heard that Sarile used fake names to pose as a high school student and make contact with girls between the ages of 12 and 16 online.

He then convinced them to perform sexual acts in exchange for money, gifts and alcohol.

In total, 26 victims came forward who all claimed to have had contact with Sarile.

Court also heard that he used nude photos and videos of his victims as leverage to coerce them into more illegal activity.

Two of the victims spoke in court last month about their inability to be happy about anything and how the loss of trust in their teacher affected their ability to get help.

Police were first notified about Sarile when the family of a 14-year-old girl contacted police in December 2016, concerned about their daughter meeting a man in his 20s.

This was a concerned grandfather who called in some suspicious activity with his granddaughter, which started this whole investigation, Sgt. Mark Weir said outside court Friday.

Thankfully he made that phone call that got this all started or we may not even be here right now.

The Crown had sought 18 years in jail for Sarile. During a previous sentencing hearing, Sariles lawyer asked the judge to consider his guilty plea and his financial hardships. (CTV Calgary)

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WINNIPEGManitoba New Democrats are promising to put a price on carbon if they win the next election, even if the federal carbon tax were to be scrapped.

The carbon tax is part of NDP Leader Wab Kinews climate change platform that outlines broad goals but is short on detail.

If the current federal tax thats being imposed now gets repealed, were going to find a way to bring a price on pollution here in Manitoba that ensures large emitters pay, that gives more money back to lower- and middle-income people, and that could include cap and trade, Kinew said Friday.

Manitoba is one of four provinces that have refused to implement a carbon tax. As a result, Ottawa has imposed its own tax in those provinces. The levy starts at $20 per tonne and is to ramp up to $50 per tonne by 2022.

The federal tax is offset with income tax rebates for individuals and families.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has promised to scrap the federal tax if he wins the federal election in October.

Kinew would not say what level of carbon tax he would apply. He promised more details during a campaign for the provincial election, which is scheduled for next year, but which Premier Brian Pallister has repeatedly hinted could come this year.

A provincial NDP government would also pass a law to require Manitoba to cut carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2050. It would require annual progress reports.

Kinew indicated the law would not contain any penalties or enforcement measures to ensure the government reached its target. Instead, the public would be left to hold the government to account if targets were missed.

The most important enforcement mechanism is that I have young members in my party ... (and) this is their ballot-box issue. And they are not going to support our party if were not delivering when it comes to the environment, Kinew said.

The penalty, I think, is the accountability that comes from young people, that comes from family members.

The NDP plan also promises there would be an end to provincial subsidies for fossil fuel industries as well as new efforts to reduce emissions from home heating.

The latter could include solar panel projects in small remote communities that currently use fossil fuels, Kinew said.
MONTREALThe NDP is proposing a package of measures to combat climate change, ranging from subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles to easier access to employment insurance for workers in industries threatened by the move away from fossil fuels.

In a campaign atmosphere with rousing music and loud applause from supporters, New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh unveiled his plan Friday in Montreal, alongside his Quebec lieutenant Alexandre Boulerice.

To encourage the purchase of electric vehicles, the NDP would maintain the $5,000 subsidy announced in the last federal budget and, in addition, waive the federal sales tax on the vehicles for working families.

The incentives would eventually reach $15,000, but only for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles made in Canada. The plan also calls for all federal vehicles, including Canada Post delivery trucks, to be electric by 2025.

In the area of public transit, the NDP wants to encourage electric power and even pave the way for free public transit.

In order to reduce the carbon footprint created by housing, the NDP plan would give homeowners access to low-interest loans to encourage energy savings through better insulation, windows, heat pumps and other renewable technologies.

Read more:

Well work with cities, even when provinces wont work with Ottawa, says Trudeau

Were on the edge of a serious crisis, warns editor of new report on Canadas mountains

Manitoba NDP Opposition outlines climate plan ahead of expected election

The goal is to retrofit all housing in Canada by 2050  and half of it by 2030.

The plan is aimed at helping limit the global increase in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The party proposes declaring a climate emergency and adopting legislation obliging the government to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The NDP also wants to set up an independent Climate Accountability Office to measure progress.

Questioned about the cost of the plan, Singh said, We cant afford not to act. We cant afford not to actually respond to this big question, this massive question of our generation.

He added that an NDP government would ask the richest people to contribute their fair share, something he said previous Conservative and Liberal governments have not had the courage to do.

We are going to close offshore tax havens and CEO stock option loopholes that have allowed billions of dollars to go offshore and not be taxed, he said.

For the less wealthy, the NDP is proposing that, before being laid off, a worker in an industry affected by the energy transition would have the option of receiving employment-insurance-based training to enter a new sector.

We must defend the workers, never give them the idea that we are abandoning them, Singh said. The party predicts 300,000 jobs would be created in the transition to greener energy.

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OTTAWAThe Canadian Coast Guards recent struggles in resupplying northern communities and rescuing ice-jammed ferries appear set to continue despite the Trudeau governments plan to invest $15.6 billion in new ships.

None of the 18 vessels the government says it plans to buy is an icebreaker, meaning the coast guard will be forced to continue relying on its existing fleet for the foreseeable future.

Much of the coast guards icebreaker fleet is already near or even already past its expected lifespan, which has resulted in breakdowns and other problems.

Federal Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough acknowledged this week that the coast guard needs new icebreakers, but would not say when  or if  the Trudeau government would announce it is buying some.

Qualtrough instead indicated that any announcement on additional ships for the coast guard would likely come after the government adds a third shipyard to the two that are already partners in its multibillion-dollar shipbuilding plan.

The search for that third shipyard is expected to start in the coming weeks, but while many observers expect Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec City to win, a senior government official said a decision is unlikely before Octobers election.

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SAINT JOHN, N.B.A measles outbreak in southern New Brunswick has spread to a second high school.

The provinces chief medical officer, Dr. Jennifer Russell, confirmed Saturday that the latest confirmed case is someone who either works or studies at Hampton High School, northeast of Saint John.

As of Saturday, there were 12 confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in the Saint John area, all of them linked to New Brunswicks first confirmed case  a person who travelled outside the province before showing up at Saint John Regional Hospital in late May.

Russell said the other cases involve people exposed either at the emergency department at Saint John Regional or at Kennebecasis Valley High School.

The latest case is linked to a previously confirmed case at Kennebecasis Valley High School, she said.

On Saturday, health officials said a special clinic would be set up to immunize those at Hampton High School who may have been exposed.

The fact that theyre all directly linked is reassuring, in the sense that we know how everybody contracted measles, Russell said in an interview Saturday.

A dose of vaccine is the best way to protect people who have been exposed to the disease, Russell said. But that vaccination must be administered within 72 hours, regardless of previous immunization history.

On Friday, the province issued a warning to those who use taxis in the Saint John area, saying someone with a confirmed case of measles travelled repeatedly by taxi on May 22, 24, 25 and 26, using Vets Taxi Ltd.

The cab company operates 68 vehicles, and health officials dont know which one was used by the infected person.

People using the same cab afterward could have been exposed to the virus up to two hours later, Russell said, noting the disease is spread by respiratory droplets that can remain in the air for that long.

She said anyone who may have been in those cabs wont be offered the vaccine because too much time has passed.

It wouldnt be effective outside that window of 72 hours, she said.

All we can do is make those people aware and to watch for symptoms. Thats the best advice we can give in terms of protecting the public from further transmission.... Having the public know that information is really important.

About 9,000 doses of the vaccine have been distributed to deal with the outbreak, but many people in the province are having trouble getting a preventative shot.

The New Brunswick Pharmacists Association says local pharmacists have run out of the vaccine and likely wont get more until July.

Late last week, U.S. health officials reported 971 measles cases so far this year, the highest tally in 27 years.

They say overall vaccination rates have remained fairly high, but outbreaks have been reported in communities where parents have refused recommended shots.

Early symptoms of the measles may include fever, cough, red eyes, runny nose or tiny white spots in the mouth. Within three to seven days, a red, blotchy rash will appear, first on the face and then spreading to the body, arms and legs.

Provincial health officials say if these symptoms appear, it is important for patients to isolate themselves from others and contact the provinces Telecare system by dialing 8-1-1.

Russell says those suspecting an infection should not go to a clinic, physicians office or emergency room.

Most people in Canada are already protected from measles, thanks to two doses of vaccine they typically receive as children. In New Brunswick, the vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella is offered free of charge for babies aged 12 months and 18 months.

Health officials in New Brunswick say they need to count 40 consecutive days without new cases before they can consider the current outbreak over.

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The federal government is expanding a program offering support to privately sponsored refugees in the LGBTQ community.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says the Rainbow Refugee Assistance Partnership will build on a pilot project launched in 2011.

The program provides start-up costs and three months of support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and two-spirited refugees who are privately sponsored by Canadians.

The initial pilot project offered support to 15 refugees per year, but the government says that number will be raised to 50 starting next year.

The initiative is a partnership between the federal government and the Vancouver-based Rainbow Refugee Society, which applauded what it called Ottawas commitment to protecting LGBTQ2 refugees.

A statement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says the department is pledging $800,000 over five years to expand the pilot.
Toronto police announced arrests of two men for human trafficking-related charges, Saturday morning.

The unrelated cases saw 27 charges laid against both Simon Ho-On, 23, and Patrick Raphael Duchard, 29.

Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, harbouring and/or exercising control, direction or influence over the movements of a person in order to exploit that person, typically through sexual exploitation or forced labour.

Ho-On, from Toronto, was charged with 17 human trafficking-related offences on May 29, in addition to nine other offences that he was charged with in February.

.

In that case, police alleged that a man used a noxious substance to render a 22-year-old woman unconscious, and that he tattooed her body with his nickname of Sosa to let people know she belonged to him.

He then allegedly pressured and coerced her into the sex trade and advertised her on numerous websites along with another man.

Duchard, who is from Quebec, was arrested on May 3 in B.C. and brought back to Toronto to answer to 10 charges.

In that case, police alleged that between September 2018 and January 2019 a female met a male through a social media application and was coerced into working in the sex trade, while the man facilitated meetings with clients.

Police said Duchard has ties in Quebec and may be known by the nickname V12.

For both cases, police are concerned that there may be more victims.

Toronto police have arrested at least 14 people for human trafficking-related charges so far this year.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA.A longtime municipal employee in Virginia Beach shot and killed 11 people Friday afternoon and injured several others inside a public works building before he was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police, city officials said at a news conference.

Police Chief Kames Cervera said an officer was among the six wounded but was saved by his protective vest. He said the gunman, whom he did not identify, fired indiscriminately on several floors of the building, one of many in a complex near the centre of the city.

This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, Mayor Bobby Dyer said. People involved friends, co-workers, neighbours, colleagues.

The shooting occurred about 4 p.m., near the end of the workday, as workers were winding down for the weekend. City Councilman Aaron Rouse Tweeted, Pray for our City! Councilman Aaron Rouse said, This day will not define Virginia Beach ... We will come together.

Gov. Ralph Northam, who was en route to the city Friday night, called it a tragic day for Virginia Beach and our entire Commonwealth. My heart breaks for the victims of this devastating shooting, their families, and all who loved them.

Megan Banton, who works in the public works building where the shooting occurred, said she was on the second floor of the building when her supervisor heard a loud noise and told people to go into her office.

The sound of gunshots continued as about 20 people huddled on the floor after they barricaded the door with a desk. We kept hearing gunfire, Banton said. We were trying to keep as quiet as possible.

She said some people in the office were crying; others appeared nervous and some were just silent.

Relatives of victims were told to gather at a middle school for updates, even as representatives from the medical examiners office were headed to the scene. Police and other public safety workers were busy processing the vast crime scene and trying to identify the victims Friday night and were expected to be there into Saturday.

Conditions of the surviving victims were not immediately available; five patients were sent to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital and one was taken to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital.

Banton, the employee who was on the second floor of the public works building, said she has an 11-month-old baby boy at home and she sat wondering if she would ever see him again.

You never think this is going to happen to you. When it happens to you, its totally different, Banton said.

Sheila Cook, who was in the courthouse building in the complex, told a local television news station she heard muffled gunshots but knew it wasnt in her building. She said police acted quickly in telling people that they were safe after the shooter had been apprehended.

That was enough to make me feel safe enough to come outside and that God was with us, she said. She added,Im feeling shaken and relieved at the same time.

Cervera, the police chief, said it was too soon provide details of the suspected shooter or how it unfolded, though it appeared to be quick. He said officers entered the building shortly after the first calls and confronted the gunman. He said the FBI is assisting in the investigation.

There is no way to describe an incident such as this, Cervera said. The suspect was immediately confronted. ... our citizens can rest easy tonight. We do not have someone out in the community to do more harm.
NYERI COUNTY, KENYAHe was a priest just out of seminary. She was a nurse. They were both from the slopes of Mount Kenya, but their paths improbably crossed in Rome.

He became unshakable in his desire to marry her, even though he had taken the Catholic Churchs mandatory vow of celibacy for priests.

When he returned to preach in Kenya, Peter Njogu was shocked when fellow priests told him that many of them had broken that vow, marrying and having children. In hushed tones, they spoke of their secret families, kept hidden in distant homes. The thought of doing so pained him.

As the Catholic Church goes through a global crisis brought on in part by the revelation of widespread sexual misconduct by its clergy, self-proclaimed Bishop Njogu believes he has figured out how to save Christianitys largest church from its own sins: Let priests marry and raise families.

Njogus breakaway faction, the Renewed Universal Catholic Church, is Catholic in every way except in having optional celibacy for its priests. Its growth in Kenya is rooted in opposition to the practice of keeping secret families but reflects a growing worry among some Catholics that the celibacy requirement  to many an non-negotiable tenet of the priesthood  creates a harmful culture of sexual secrecy.

The Vatican has shown no interest in re-examining the issue for all priests, and Pope Francis has called celibacy a gift to the church. But the pontiff has also signalled that he is open to ordaining married men in remote parts of the world with a severe shortage of priests. More radical voices in the church have called for the church to rescind the requirement altogether.

Read more:

Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy when theyre ordained. But when they break that vow, their children are left to live a lie

Most of our members are ex-Catholics, said Njogu. They are tired of the hypocrisy. Some of our people call us the Church of the Future.

Nearly 20 priests and more than 2,000 parishioners have joined Njogu since 2011, he claims, mostly in the towns and villages that dot the fertile slopes of Mount Kenya, the 17,000-foot-high (5,182-metre-high) extinct volcano right in the centre of this country.

Now that Ive come out, these other priests tell me, The problem with you is you went public, he said on a recent Sunday after celebrating Mass. And I say, I am not the problem; I am the solution. Join me.

To his flock, he said: This is where you find your freedom from all that hypocrisy.

The church in the hilltop village of Gachatha where Njogu preaches his reformation is a far cry from a cathedral. The pews, pulpit and church itself are all made of wooden planks nailed together. The floor is sawdust atop dirt. On a clear day, the ice-capped peak of Mount Kenya glimmers through a glassless window.

While Catholicism has declined in numbers in some former bastions in the West, such as Ireland, it is growing more rapidly in Africa than anywhere else. Africans make up nearly a fifth of the worlds Catholics. Njogus sermons hark back to Catholicisms pre-celibacy era while appealing to the faiths future in Africa, where he believes it will have to reconcile with local customs as it grows.

No one in the Vatican understands the African soul. They do not understand that for the African man, priest or not, the worst sin is to leave this world without siring a child, said Njogu. Mandatory celibacy is thus the root of priestly sin, but they pretend all is well while their house is burning to the ground.

The Catholic Church excommunicated Njogu after he defected for alleged unbecoming behaviour, including purchasing land and speaking openly about his intention to marry Berith Kariri, who remains his wife.

These priests are not sincere, they are pursuing personal interests, said Father Daniel Kimutai Rono, general secretary for the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops. There is nothing about African-ness or European-ness. The vow of celibacy, he said, is about the vocation, about the call to serve God and the sacrifice which entails in serving God.

Dozens of Njogus followers said in interviews that they left the mainstream church because they doubted their former priests devotion to the vocation.

As a parent, I had to fear that a priest would impregnate my daughter if I took them to my old churches, said Margaret Kimondo, who was one of Njogus first converts. In front of the altar they may look one way, but at night, you dont even want to hear those stories.

Philip Muiga, 78, had been a Catholic priest for decades before joining the Renewed Universal church last year.

One day I met a priest in the street who I have known for a long time, and he was drunk, he said. When I went home and looked at myself in the mirror, I just saw darkness. I could not justify continuing to call these men my colleagues.

Rono, who represents the Kenyan Catholic Church, denied any sort of systemic abuse or existence of secret families but acknowledged a global churchwide trend of infidelity to the priestly vocation and said priests should avoid any kind of coverup. The Vatican deferred to its Kenyan representatives for comment.

Celibacy has been expected of Catholic priests since its origins in the first century after Jesus Christs death, but the 12th-century imposition of a celibacy vow was necessitated primarily by a priesthood that had begun using the church as a family business, said Chris Bellitto, a professor and church historian at Kean University in New Jersey.

Priests were handing their parishes along to their illegitimate sons as if they were training them as cobblers, who inherited your shop and tools when you died. This complicated the integrity of the sacraments  what if the son didnt have a vocation or disposition as a spiritual leader?  and the independence of the church, since the bishop was supposed to be naming parish priests, said Bellitto.

But the vow always seemed at odds with certain parts of the Bibles teachings, leading many within the church to question its purpose. Njogus faction is certainly not the first to try charting a new course without the celibacy vow, said Kim Haines-Eitzen, a historian of early Christianity at Cornell University.

In Catholicism, theres always been a pronounced preference for asceticism to prove devotion. But how do you square that with, say, be fruitful and multiply, from Genesis? Are priests expected to be separate from all other humans? she said.

That enforced detachment from the lives of their flock is what drives priests in Kenya to adopt secret families, said Father Matthew Theuri, 73, who was a catechist for nearly four decades before joining Njogus church as a priest. But it also presents a quandary in being a good priest, he said.

Our churchgoers come to us with questions about wayward children, trouble paying school fees, marital issues  how can we help them if we know nothing of that life? he said, while sitting at home with his wife, Jane, and two of his grandchildren.

After Njogus Mass on a recent Sunday in Gachatha, Joseph Macharia, a coffee farmer, said he thanked God every day for the new church.

This is a more open way of being, he said. The others, the ones who keep secret families, they come to the pulpit to lie. Maybe they think we are stupid.
KINSHASA, Congo - Opposition icon Etienne Tshisekedi, whose son is now Congos president, was laid to rest Saturday in his homeland more than two years after he died during a political stalemate over the countrys long-delayed elections.

A funeral procession joined by thousands made its way to the outskirts of Kinshasa following several days of tributes to the man who was the face of Congos opposition for decades but died before his political nemesis agreed to step aside and allow a new presidential vote to go forward.

In life, Tshisekedi was at times put under house arrest and his supporters jailed. But on Saturday the 84-year-old received a farewell befitting a former leader now that his son, Felix, holds the presidency in this sprawling Central African nation.

Tens of thousands greeted his casket as it was driven through the streets of the capital Thursday evening and then displayed at Martyrs Stadium the following day. Even the political coalition of his lifelong adversary, former President Joseph Kabila, issued a statement calling Tshisekedi undoubtedly one of the major political actors of our country.

At the time of his 2017 death in Brussels, family members say Kabila had blocked the return of his body to Congo for fear it could foment unrest and more calls for his ouster.

Tshisekedi was one of the most outspoken critics of Kabila, at one point accusing him of treason for not stepping down when his mandate ended. Kabila eventually allowed elections to be held in January, which Felix Tshisekedi won.

It took the hearse seven hours to reach its destination in Kinshasa on Thursday night as throngs of supporters took to the streets.

Im sorry that his body had to stay two years abroad but today we are showing our commitment to him still, Georgette Lobota said as she sold bread at the sports stadium where Tshisekedis body lay in state Friday, dressed in fabric with his image. He will finally be honoured as a dignified son of Congo.

On Saturday, Mass was celebrated and then he was interred at a mausoleum 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Kinshasa during a private ceremony with family members.

Tshisekedi helped found Congos main opposition party, UDPS, back in 1982 during the rule of then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Two years after the country allowed multiple political parties in 1990, Tshisekedi became prime minister in an uneasy on-again, off-again partnership with Mobutu.

He went into exile in 2000 after repeated clashes with the government of Joseph Kabilas father, Laurent, who became president after Mobutus departure and then was assassinated in 2001.

At one point, Tshisekedi was banished to internal exile in his home village 700 kilometres (435 miles) west of the capital but he made a triumphant return in 2003.

His international prominence grew in 2011, when he declared himself president after an election marred by allegations of vote-rigging by the ruling party. He was placed under de facto house arrest but later left for Belgium to get medical treatment.

Tshisekedi kept up his criticism until the end, at one point accusing Kabila of a coup detat that was carried out with the blessing of the constitutional court.

Kabilas government, under international pressure, eventually cleared the way for an election after 18 years in power, although Felix Tshisekedis victory early this year was disputed. Another opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu, maintains that he won.

Critics suggested that Felix Tshisekedi had reached a backroom deal with Kabila as the most palatable candidate after Kabilas chosen candidate fared poorly. Felix Tshisekedi has denied that claim.

___

Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.
MEXICO CITY - The mother of convicted drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman said Saturday that the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City granted her a visa so she can visit her son in prison.

Sitting in a wheelchair in front of the embassy, Consuelo Loera said she and two daughters were both approved Saturday for visas to travel to the United States.

Thank God, the U.S. Embassy gave me the permission, she said in a feeble voice while surrounded by a throng of journalists:

Loera, 91, said she hasnt seen her son in more than four years. She added that she has yet to receive the actual visa or set a date for her trip.

A U.S. official declined to confirm that the visa was granted.

Jose Luis Gonzalez, a lawyer for Guzman, said Loera was given a paper after the interview stating that U.S. officials would get in touch if they need more information. Gonzalez also said the three women were approved for travel.

Did you see how excited she was? said Gonzalez, repeating Loeras statement that she wants to hug her son.

If she could bring him anything, Loera said, it would be his favourite Mexican food dish: enchiladas.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lobbied for the visa to be issued after receiving a letter in February from Loera asking for assistance. In the letter, passed to Lopez Obrador while he was in Guzmans home state of Sinaloa to announce a highway project, Loera described herself as suffering and desperate to see her son.

The president said he intervened out of empathy for the mother. When Guzman was convicted in the U.S. in February, Lopez Obrador said: Let this serve as a lesson to show that money doesnt buy true happiness.

El Chapo, who led the Sinaloa drug cartel and twice escaped from Mexican prisons before he was extradited to New York, was convicted of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation. The three-month trial heard tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans and jewel-encrusted guns.

Guzmans lawyers did not deny his crimes but argued that he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than their client.

He is due to be sentenced this month and faces a life term in a maximum-security U.S. prison selected to guard against another of the jail breakouts that made him a folk hero in Mexico.

Loera reiterated that she would like her son to be returned to Mexico and to be set free. Both possibilities seem highly unlikely.

Guzman escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 after having served eight years. He moved between hideouts for years until being imprisoned again in 2014, only to escape a year later through an expertly dug tunnel leading to his prison cell shower.

Part of his success moving drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border also involved sophisticated tunnels.

Gonzalez said that Loera brought financial statements as well as proof of property ownership to show that she had the means to travel to the U.S., and reason to return to Mexico. Loera owns a ranch with cows and pigs, he said.

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking forfeiture of a fortune that Guzmans indictment valued at $14 billion.
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Youthful businessman Nayib Bukele has assumed the presidency of El Salvador, ending more than a quarter century of two-party dominance in the crime-plagued Central America nation.

Dressed in a blue suit with no tie and accompanied by his wife Gabriela, the 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador put his left hand on the Bible and swore to fulfil and enforce the laws of the country during his five-year term.

Thousands of Salvadorans in the Gerardo Barrios Plaza in the capital shouted: Yes, its possible! Yes, its possible! Nayib president!

El Salvador has suffered greatly. It is a country that has had to rebuild; it has had earthquakes and corrupt governments and yet we continue move forward, Bukele said in his inaugural speech.
BEIJINGChina is investigating FedEx after it diverted packages sent by Chinese tech giant Huawei, state media reported Saturday.

The missed deliveries drew unusual attention because of speculation that theyre related to rising U.S.-China trade tensions and U.S. sanctions on Huawei.

China has opened an investigation into FedExs actions, which severely harmed clients legitimate rights and interests and violated Chinas delivery industry regulations, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Four packages containing paperwork sent out by Huawei were found to have been diverted to FedEx headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, instead of being delivered to Huawei offices in Asia.

FedEx apologized and said the packages were misrouted accidentally. It added that the company wasnt told by anyone to divert the packages.

Huawei officials have questioned whether the diversions were truly inadvertent.

I dont think it is right for any company to intercept or detain individual documents or information, Song Liuping, Huaweis chief legal officer, told reporters Wednesday. If our rights were truly infringed upon, we have the legal right to defend ourselves.

China announced its investigation into FedEx on the same day that its latest tariffs on $60 billion (U.S.) worth of U.S. products went into effect. The duties of 5 per cent to 25 per cent are retaliation against President Donald Trumps decision to raise duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 per cent, up from 10 per cent previously.

The U.S. has accused China of stealing trade secrets and forced technology transfers. It has placed Huawei on its Entity List, effectively barring U.S. firms from selling technology to Huawei without government approval. China responded to this action Friday, announcing that it will establish its own list of unreliable entities consisting of foreign businesses, corporations and individuals.
SINGAPORE - South Koreas Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo on Saturday fended off calls to step up pressure on North Korea after it test-fired missiles last month.

Jeong told an annual security conference in Singapore that the tests were being investigated and a conclusion is within reach.

There are discussions whether or not it is a short-range ballistic missile. There is a perspective that it is a Russian Iskander missile, or it is a new tactical ballistic missile, he said.

There are data that we can verify, and we are working off those data to make sure we have a verification.

Jeong was responding to a question on whether the tests were a violation of a military agreement between South and North Korea last September to halt acts of aggression against each other.

He said the North was in fact acting within the boundaries of the agreement and tensions between their militaries have been lowered to a significant extent.

So currently the actions done by the North Korean regime have the intent to carry out the peace process through dialogue and talks. And I believe thats the hidden intent behind the lines in terms of their missile launches.

Jeong called on the international community to assure North Korea that the decision to denuclearize is indeed the right decision.

He said that South Korea sees humanitarian aid and the lowering of military tensions as ways to lead North Korea into conversation and away from ... the ways of the past.

North Korea itself has defended the launches, saying it was exercising its right to self-defence.

The U.S. and Japan say the short-range ballistic missile tests on May 4 and 9 were a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The tests ended a pause in launches that began in late 2017, and came amid deadlocked negotiations to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons.

Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who spoke at the same session on Korean security, stressed that a strict implementation of sanctions against North Korea was necessary.

He specifically directed his comments at South Korea, China and Russia.

We need to enhance surveillance on a global scale while strengthening effort locally to ensure the full implementation of sanctions, Iwaya said.

Earlier Saturday, U.S. Acting Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan told the Shangri-La Dialogue conference that North Korea remains an extraordinary threat and has neared a point where it could credibly strike regional allies, U.S. territory, and our forward-deployed forces.
BERLIN - Hundreds of people including prominent German politicians and members of the Jewish community are protesting against a larger, anti-Israel rally in Berlin.

Police in the German capital of Berlin kept the competing protests on Saturday apart.

The annual al-Quds  Arabic for Jerusalem  march against Israel drew more than 1,000 participants, with some chanting Palestine will be reborn! or Free Gaza! Others waved Iranian flags.

The German news agency dpa reported that the governments anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein; the Israeli ambassador in Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff; and Berlins top security official, Andreas Geisel, attended the pro-Israel rally.

Geisel urged the German government to consider banning the political wing of the militant group Hezbollah.

Some at the counter-protest waved Israeli flags and banners with slogans such as Its time to turn Hamas into hummus.
BUDAPEST, Hungary - The Latest on the deadly tour boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary (all times local):

6:50 p.m.

Hungarian police say the seven confirmed South Korean victims of the deadly sightseeing boat sinking on the Danube River have been identified.

Spokesman for the police Kristof Gal said Saturday they were identified in party by finger and palm prints, with the co-operation of the South Korean authorities and their relatives.

The sightseeing boat was carrying 33 South Koreans and two Hungarian crew members when it collided with a much larger Viking cruise ship in Budapest on Wednesday. Seven people were rescued and 21 are still missing.

Divers so far have been unable to approach the wreckage of the 27-meter (88 1/2 foot) tour boat due to strong currents and muddy waters.

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5:05 p.m.

Hungarian water management authorities say the Danube Rivers water levels are expected to fall quickly in Budapest in the coming days.

This may help efforts to salvage the wreck of a tour boat that sank Wednesday after a collision with a river cruise ship. The sinking has killed seven South Korean tourists and left 21 other people still missing.

The General Directorate of Water Management said Saturday that the Danube will peak soon at around 5.9 metres (19 feet, 5 inches) and fall to about 4 metres (13 feet) by the middle of next week. It added that no rainfall affecting river water levels was expected in the next six days.

The sinking happened Wednesday night. Divers so far have been unable to even approach the wreckage of the 27-meter (88 1/2 foot) tour boat due to strong currents and murky waters.

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This item has corrected the day of the sinking to Wednesday.

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3:45 p.m.

Hungarian prosecutors say a judge has ordered the formal arrest of a captain whose cruise ship collided with a sightseeing boat on the Danube River in an incident that killed seven South Koreans.

The judge on Saturday ordered the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn formally arrested for 30 days. He said the captain could be released on bail  subject to him wearing a tracking device and remaining in Budapest  but prosecutors are appealing that decision.

The Viking ship collided Wednesday evening with a smaller sightseeing boat carrying 35 people, most of them South Korean tourists, in the capital Budapest. Seven people were rescued and 21 remain missing.

The Viking ship captain has been in custody since Thursday.

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2:30 p.m.

Lawyers for the captain of the river cruise ship that collided on the Danube River with a tour boat, killing seven South Korean tourists, say they dispute that their client made any mistakes.

A Budapest court is set to rule Saturday on the prosecutions request to arrest the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn. Seven people were rescued after the tour boat sank and 21 are still missing.

Defence lawyer Gabor Elo said there are no grounds to consider his client a suspect in the case, arguing that the prosecutions request for the arrest was motivated only by the fact that the captain is a Ukrainian citizen.

Elo said his client, identified only as Yuriy C. in line with Hungarian laws, is very sorry that he was involved in such an accident in which so many people lost their lives or are missing.

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1 p.m.

A court hearing is underway in Hungary to decide whether the captain of a river cruise ship should be arrested after his vessel collided on the Danube River with a sightseeing boat, killing seven South Korean tourists.

Prosecutors are requesting that the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn be arrested. The captain has denied responsibility in Wednesdays collision in central Budapest.

The smaller sightseeing boat was carrying 33 South Koreans and two Hungarian crew when it collided with the Viking vessel. Seven people were rescued and 21 are still missing.

Efforts to salvage the 27-meter (88.5-foot-long) tour boat have been hampered by the rivers fast flow and limited visibility under water.

Specialists from South Korea and Austria are assisting in the salvage efforts being co-ordinated by Hungarys Counter-Terrorism Center.
CAIRO - Sudans state-run news agency says the Foreign Ministry has summoned the countrys envoy from Qatar, a day after the satellite news channel Al-Jazeera said Sudanese authorities shut down its Khartoum bureau.

Saturdays report by SUNA has quoted Babaker al-Amin, spokesman for the ministry, as saying that Ambassador Fathel-Rahamn Mohammed was summoned for consultations and will be sent back to Doha within the coming hours.

Qatar-funded Al-Jazeera said Friday that Sudans authorities banned its journalists from reporting in the country.

The development comes amid concerns from protesters that the ruling military council might disperse their main sit-in in Khartoum.

Both sides remain split over the make-up and leadership of a sovereign council that would run Sudan during a three-year transition period after the military overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Four Homer men convicted of illegal commercial fishing last year have been fined.

Alaska State Troopers say the men in July fished illegally in closed waters of Dog Fish Bay or drove salmon from closed waters to open waters.

District Court Judge Margaret Murphy on Wednesday found 66-year-old Mark Roth and 63-year-old Eric Winslow guilty of driving salmon from closed waters and failing to provide information to a fish transporter.

She fined Roth $11,000 with $7,500 suspended and Winslow $11,200 with $7,500 suspended.

Thirty-six-year-old Paul Roth and 40-year-old Robert Roth were convicted of commercial fishing in closed waters and other misdemeanours. Paul Roth was fined $4,000 with $2,000 suspended and Robert Roth was fined $4,000 with $2,500 suspended.

The fishermen forfeited 10,000 pounds (4536 kilograms) of salmon to the state.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois is likely to become the 11th state to allow small amounts of marijuana for recreational use after the Democratic-controlled House on Friday sent a legalization plan to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who campaigned on the issue.

Those 21 and older would be able to buy marijuana at licensed dispensaries beginning next year under the legislation approved on a vote of 66-47. Residents could possess up to 1 ounce (30 grams) and non-residents could have 15 grams.

Illinois would become the second state to endorse the idea through its legislature, following Vermont last year. Ten states and the District of Columbia have dropped pot prohibitions, mostly through ballot initiatives.

But the Illinois plan also became a social justice initiative as black lawmakers and activists stepped in to see that legalization reversed decades of inordinate treatment of minorities in narcotics crackdowns. The legislation provides for scrubbing of past low-level criminal convictions and boosts minority involvement in a nascent industry.

It is time to hit the reset button on the War on Drugs, the proposals sponsor, Chicago Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy, said. We have an opportunity today to set the gold standard for a regulated market that centres on equity and repair.

Pritzker called for legalization in his campaign for governor, arguing for its tax-revenue potential and for freeing police to enforce more serious crimes. He claimed there would be $170 million in licensing fees in the first year and a fully established industry could produce up to $1 billion annually in state tax revenue. But Cassidy said Friday the first years take would be $58 million and the state could expect $500 million in five years.

The vote came on the last day of the General Assemblys spring session, which got extended in part because of the 3 1/2-hour marijuana debate. House leaders, noting the volume of workload, announced that session would continue at least through Sunday. The Senate had not announced schedule changes.

Legislation after May 31 requires three-fifths majority approval. But Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, allowing Pritzker to take office in January with an expansive agenda following four years of stalemate between legislative leaders and Pritzkers vanquished predecessor, Republican Bruce Rauner.

The marijuana measure allows the governor to pardon anyone with records of convictions for possession of 30 grams or less. It eases record-clearing for possession up to one pound (500 grams) and some intent-to-deliver convictions. Minority-owned businesses would be given advantages in bidding for lucrative state licenses and offered low-interest loans to compete.

The state of Illinois just made history, legalizing adult-use cannabis with the most equity-centric approach in the nation, Pritzker said in a statement. This will have a transformational impact on our state, creating opportunity in the communities that need it most and giving so many a second chance.

Both sides in the debate traded summaries of studies that differ on the impact of using the psychoactive drug, with opponents claiming its a gateway to stronger drugs and that it can have ill effects, including producing psychosis.

No matter how you package this, whether its revenue, or its criminal justice reform, or its just saying that people are smoking it anyway, so just give up, I can pretty much guarantee you where were going to be in 10 years ... and its not going to be good, said Democratic Rep. Anthony DeLuca of Chicago Heights.

He then produced an egg and cracked it into a frying pan, recreating a famous 1980s public service announcement which suggested the frying egg represents your brain on drugs.

Originally intending to let anyone grow five marijuana plants at home for personal consumption, law enforcement opposition prompted Cassidy to restrict the five-plant home-grow limit only to qualified medical-marijuana patients.

Private property owners could restrict use. Landlords could ban marijuana on their property. And employers would still be allowed to maintain zero tolerance policies toward marijuana use and the workplace.

In other work, lawmakers were crafting a spending plan of about $39 billion and a $41.5 billion state construction program. It looked as if revenue for a building program would depend on a massive expansion of casino gambling , which itself appeared to be the means for resuscitating a dormant proposal to legalize sports betting.

Statutory protections for abortion in the face of strict restrictions on the practice in Republican-led states have House OK and await Senate action.

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Follow Political Writer John OConnor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor .
LOS ANGELES - An Army combat veteran charged with plotting to bomb a white supremacist rally in Southern California has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.

The Los Angeles Times says 26-year-old Mark Steven Domingo entered pleas Friday in Los Angeles.

Domingo was arrested in April after receiving what he thought was an improvised explosive device from an undercover law enforcement agent.

Investigators say Domingo wanted to kill people at a planned April Nazi rally that didnt take place.

Court papers say Domingo also discussed other attacks on Jews, churches and police.

Domingo, a convert to Islam, is a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan before being kicked out of the Army.

Domingo is charged with providing material support to terrorists and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
LAS VEGAS - A judge set bail at $250,000 on Friday for a 53-year-old Nevada businessman and grandson of a former Las Vegas mayor facing multiple felony charges of driving under the influence in a high-speed crash that killed one person and injured two.

Scott Russell Gragson appeared in court with his attorneys following his arrest in the Thursday crash in a gated community in Summerlin.

Attorney David Chesnoff said outside court they will investigate the case and fight criminal charges.

Police say Gragson was driving a 2015 Range Rover that struck several trees, ejecting three back-seat passengers. A 36-year-old woman died and a 50-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman were seriously injured.

Gragson and a 44-year-old front-seat passenger were treated for minor injuries.

Gragsons grandfather, Oran Gragson, a Republican, was mayor from 1959 to 1974.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal identifies the suspect as an executive with Colliers International, a large commercial real estate firm. His son, Noah Gragson, is a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver.

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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaskas attorney general says a man injured in a knife attack as a child is no longer liable for legal fees associated with the case.

Stephen Hansell was 8 years old when the 2001 attack occurred.

The Anchorage Daily News reports his parents sued the following year but eventually lost and were ordered to pay more than $24,000 in attorneys fees. Hansell, as a plaintiff, shared liability in the debt.

Residents annually can qualify for a check from Alaskas oil-wealth fund, but the state in 2014 began garnishing the checks to Hansell and his parents.

Recent news articles highlighting his case caught the attention of Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Attorney General Kevin Clarkson.

Clarkson says Hansells father remains liable for his part of the debt. Hansells mother died in 2016.

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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
ALHAMBRA, Calif. - The American photographer who shot the iconic image of a man standing in front of tanks at the 1989 Tiananmen protests says its time for the Chinese government to come clean about the bloody events of 30 years ago.

Jeff Widener was an Associated Press photo editor based in Bangkok when he was called in to help cover a growing student-led pro-democracy movement centred on Beijings Tiananmen Square.

The day after the military crushed the protests on June 3-4, Widener took the shot of an unknown man holding shopping bags facing a row of tanks. The photo of tank man became one of the most famous images of defiance of the 20th century.

In an interview, Widener said he doesnt understand why Chinas leaders wont admit to errors made and reveal the truth behind the crackdown.

The United States and European countries have made mistakes throughout history and theyve reconciled those problems, Widener told AP.

I think its time for China to move forward and just come clean on what happened, report to the family members what happened to their loved ones so that they can put this to rest, he said. I think thats the right, decent thing to do.

The 62-year-old Californian developed a love of photography at a young age, eventually joining AP as Southeast Asia picture editor.

Rejected for a journalist visa at the Chinese Consulate in Bangkok, he flew to Hong Kong, where he got a tourist visa through a travel agency, and made it through customs in Beijing with a mobile darkroom in his luggage.

With the protests in full swing, he developed a daily routine of riding a bicycle early in the morning to Tiananmen Square, where thousands of students were camped out.

His May 30, 1989, photo captured the Goddess of Democracy, the students version of the Statue of Liberty, facing the portrait of Communist Chinas first leader, Mao Zedong, on the massive Tiananmen gate.

So you had this democracy facing off with Communism that was quite striking, Widener said.

Soon, the mood began to change. After the government declared martial law, Beijing residents blocked roads to prevent troops  at that time unarmed  from moving toward the square.

That enraged party elders led by Chinas paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, steeling their determination to end the protests by military means.

On the night of June 3, Widener rode to the square with AP reporter Dan Biers, just as the Peoples Liberation Army began fighting its way eastward through barricades and crowds of protesters.

He suffered a serious head injury from a flying piece of asphalt, but made it back to the AP bureau and his hotel.

Widener emerged the following afternoon to find rock-strewn streets, burnt-out vehicles and a population dazed by the violence deployed against them by the government.

Asked to get a shot of military forces occupying the square, Widener headed to the Beijing Hotel, which had vantage points close to the action, even as gunfire continued to pop from parts of the city.

There, he met an American college exchange student, Kirk Martsen, who would play a key role in the tank man tale. Martsen acted as if he and Widener were old friends, allowing the photographer to slip past security men guarding the hotel entrance.

Martsen had a room on the hotels sixth floor facing the street, to which he gave Widener access. The problem though, was film. Widener had run out and there was no way to go back to the AP bureau to get more.

Martsen went hunting among the frightened tourists in the lobby, returning two hours later with a single roll that would prove crucial in the events that followed.

Widener stayed overnight, and early on June 5, he rushed to the balcony upon hearing the sound of approaching tanks.

I started to take a photograph and a guy walks out with shopping bags and Im thinking to myself, you know this guys going to mess up my photograph, he said. I mean it really was like I wasnt thinking clearly.

So I just watched him and waited. But they didnt shoot him. So I thought you know I need a closer shot, he said.

The man moved at least twice to block the tanks and climbed on the turret of one to converse with a crew member. Eventually, he was whisked from the scene by two men in blue, whose identities, like that of the man himself, have never been revealed.

At least five photographers as well as videographers shot the scene, but Wideners version became by far the most famous. The photo made him a Pulitzer Prize finalist and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential images of all time.

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Bodeen reported from Beijing.
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas former elections chief who resigned ahead of being forced out of office this week over wrongly questioning the U.S. citizenship of scores of voters is returning to a job under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, his office told a newspaper Friday.

The Dallas Morning News reported that David Whitleys new job as a special adviser will pay him a salary of $205,000.

Whitley served less than six months as secretary of state. He stepped down Monday as it became clear that Democrats in the Texas Legislature would deny him the confirmation vote needed to continue serving.

Whitley is a longtime Abbott aide who had previously been his deputy chief of staff before the governor picked him in December to become the states chief election officer.

David Whitley has been an exemplary public servant to the state of Texas for many years and the Governor is proud to welcome him back to our organization as a Special Advisor, Wittman told the newspaper.

Wittman did not return messages from The Associated Press on Friday.

Whitley was in charge when the state wrongly questioned the U.S. citizenship of scores of voters without properly vetting a list of nearly 100,000 names. His office claimed that 58,000 of the voters flagged were shown to have voted in at least one election since 1996, prompting President Donald Trump to renew unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud.

In April, Texas settled a federal lawsuit over the botched search that required the state to pay $450,00 in fees to civil rights groups.

News of Whitley getting a job back in Abbotts office drew swift criticism from opponents.

In the Abbott Administration, being incompetent and malicious gets you a cushy new gig with a fancy job title. In the rest of the world, it gets you fired, said Manny Garcia, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party.
EL PASO, Texas - The Latest on the large numbers of immigrants at the southern border(all times local):

6:40 p.m.

Border officials in Texas say a group of 116 Africans was arrested Thursday after wading through the Rio Grande to enter the United States.

The migrants were from Angola, Cameroon and other African nations and include families with children and young people who were not with relatives.

This was the first large group that agents in the Del Rio sector have arrested, although big groups have been showing up every day in other areas of the southern border. Agents have encountered 182 large groups, or those with more than 100 people, since October.

Its unclear if the migrants in Texas were seeking asylum, and the agency is still processing them.

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2:12 p.m.

U.S. authorities are overstretched and overwhelmed by an unprecedented surge of Central American families arriving at the southern border.

It is against that backdrop that President Donald Trump threatened this week to slap tariffs on goods from Mexico unless it cracks down on the flow of migrants.

On Wednesday, for example, Border Patrol agents near downtown El Paso, Texas, encountered a group of 1,036 migrants who had entered the country illegally  the biggest cluster the agency has ever seen.

At one point in May, a government holding cell designed for 35 migrants was crammed with 155.

And six children have died in U.S. custody since September, three in the past month.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A Jordanian-American is suing a Florida hotel after he says he and his fiancee were kicked out because he is of Arab descent.

The Miami Herald reports that Rami Ziyadat of Chicago filed suit against The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Ziyadat in his lawsuit says that on May 24 a hotel employee noticed Arabic words tattooed on his forearm and called security, telling Ziyadat he didnt look like he belonged there. He said a manager apologized but an hour later came to the couples room with security officers and evicted them.

The Westin declined comment, issuing a statement saying diversity and inclusion are part of the fabric of our culture.

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Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com
HILO, Hawaii - Hawaii County has temporarily closed a downtown Hilo park favoured by homeless people as part of a deep sanitization to clean up litter and feces in the grassy waterfront space.

Mooheau Park closed Friday. It was not known when it will reopen but Maurice Messina, the deputy director of parks and recreation, predicted the closure would not last for more than a few days.

Mayor Harry Kim said the county needs to make sure the park is safe for families, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

Its way past time  and I stress way past time, he said. We got to put our foot down.

Kim added: We need to remind everyone that this is our home. Its not their toilet, its not their camping ground, this is not your rubbish dump.

The county needed to take action quickly because families and visitors were in an unclean environment, said Messina.

The issues have gotten worse and overwhelmed park maintenance staff, he said.

Workers will pressure-wash and scrub the park as well as pick up trash, he said. Messina described the cleanup as a deep sanitization.

Sports teams and others with permits may still access the park during the closure. The park encompasses a commuter parking lot, practice fields and a bandstand.

Messina said a security guard will be posted at the park after it reopens.
MINDEN, Nev. - In California, Elizabeth Warren gazed into a laptop camera, resting her chin on her hand while recounting her working-class childhood for about 200 voters scattered hundreds of miles away across Nevada.

In Minden, Nevada, about 40 Democrats watched on a small television as Warren delivered parts of her stump speech before fielding her first question, posed by a teacher dialing into the videoconference from a high school library seven hours away in West Wendover.

Warren was one of four Democratic presidential candidates pioneering a virtual campaign trail Friday night in rural Nevada. The early voting state has struggled to attract presidential candidates to its far-flung and sparsely populated towns, spurring Nevada Democrats to set up videoconference town halls with candidates.

This is a way for us to get to see them and let them see us and see that we are here, said Janet Walls, a 77-year-old Democrat from Minden. Dont forget us.

Along with Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, author and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson and Massachusetts congressman Seth Moulton all participated in the cyber-campaigning Friday, speaking one after another to at least 17 locations around the state.

Nevada, the third-in-line state to cast votes on the Democratic presidential nominee, isnt as compact or accessible as New Hampshire, Iowa or South Carolina, where candidates can more quickly and easily visit rural areas.

Walls acknowledged the challenges that keep most Democratic presidential candidates from journeying to rural Nevada, where they might be met with a sparse crowd.

I dont like it, but I understand it, she said.

Kimi Cole, the chair of the Rural Nevada Democratic Caucus, organized the virtual visits to ensure voters in remote parts of the state can play a role in vetting the partys crowded field of White House hopefuls.

It could be a nationwide model as presidential candidates expand the traditional campaign map to seek support in places where Democrats have struggled, including rural America. For the candidates struggling to break out of a crowded Democratic field, rural support could make a vital difference in Nevadas caucuses.

Cole said about 200 people tuned in to the cyber-visits from libraries, schools, homes and even a pizza parlour.

There were some technical complications, including a few instances where candidates microphones were accidently muted or their words were drowned out by their own voice echoing across the other screen. But on the whole, voters who participated seemed enthusiastic about the opportunity and asked questions about issues like tribal sovereignty, natural resources and the opioid epidemic.

Loretta Kuliawat, 56, compared Bookers cyber appearance to a campaign stop he made in her town last month  the only candidate to visit Minden in person.

I dont feel any difference between watching him today and being in the room with him, she said. She called the virtual visits a really nice stopgap until the candidates show up in person.

Before each candidate signed off, Cole pressed that point with them.

That doesnt let you off the hook from coming out in person, Cole said to Warren.

Its not a hook! I want to come. Im ready, Warren responded. She then waved goodbye and closed her laptop.
SAN FRANCISCO - More than a dozen Democratic presidential hopefuls flocked to California on Saturday for the chance to make their cases to thousands of activists in the nations largest liberal stronghold during a three-day gathering of the state party.

Californias own Sen. Kamala Harris looked to make a show of force in the prime first speaking slot to kick off the days main event, and her campaign even emblazoned the official convention lanyards with her name. But it was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren who electrified the crowd the most among the early morning speakers, bringing the Democratic partys most faithful voters to their feet repeatedly as she pledged bold action.

Some say if we all just calm down, the Republicans will come to their senses, Warren said in a thinly veiled shot at former Vice-President Joe Biden, who has expressed hope the GOP will have an epiphany after President Donald Trump is gone. But our country is in a crisis. The time for small ideas is over.

Biden was the only major candidate not attending the weekend gathering, opting instead to campaign in Ohio.

Harris has a deep connection to California voters; she has won statewide office three times, once to U.S. Senate and twice as the states attorney general. Before that, she was elected as San Franciscos district attorney. In her remarks, she reminded the crowd of their long history together, then brought the crowd to its feet with her call for impeachment hearings for Trump.

We need to begin impeachment proceedings and we need a new commander in chief! she declared.

Earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi avoided mentioning impeachment in her remarks but said the House would hold Trump accountable.

Former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke also addressed the morning convention, slipping seamlessly between Spanish and English, a key move in a state with a large Hispanic population. He praised California Democrats for their massive turnout in the 2018 midterms, when the party flipped seven U.S. House seats held for years by Republicans and noted that his unsuccessful Senate bid drew record Democratic turnout as well.

You, California Democrats, have offered the rest of the country an example, he said. And in Texas we were right there with you.

California has shifted its 2020 primary earlier on the calendar, to March 3, part of the Super Tuesday collection of contests, in hopes of giving the state more sway in choosing the partys nominee. California will offer the largest delegate haul, but it is a notoriously difficult state to campaign in, given its massive size and expensive media markets. While Harris has a built-in advantage, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is also expecting to build heavily on the organization he built in the 2016 contest.

Sanders wasnt scheduled to address the full crowd until Sunday, but he greeted union workers at a Saturday morning breakfast and received an enthusiastic reception Friday night at a meeting of the Chicano-Latino caucus, which endorsed him during the close 2016 contest with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This time we are going to win California, he declared.

Other candidates attending the gathering: New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; California Rep. Eric Swalwell; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; former Obama housing chief Julian Castro; and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.
NEW YORK - If its Pride Month, theres gotta be a parade. And there will be, in New York City and places around the country and world.

But this year is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising that fueled the fire for a global LGBTQ movement, so theres also a lot more.

From symposiums to movie screenings, walking tours to art exhibits, and even an opera, a slew of institutions and organizations are filling June with events that commemorate that moment and its impact through the past five decades.

Its also being used as inspiration for the current generation of activists to keep pushing for the communitys civil rights.
ATLANTAWhile the new Georgia and Alabama abortion-ban statutes have striking differences, they also have one thing very much in common: Challenges against both will land at the federal appeals court in Atlanta.

Last year, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a notable opinion in a high-profile abortion case out of Alabama. And while the court followed the U.S. Supreme Courts precedent of Roe v. Wade, its ruling caught the attention of most everyone who closely follows abortion litigation.

After the 11th Circuit determines whether Georgias and Alabamas abortion laws are constitutional, its decisions are certain to be appealed to the Supreme Court, perhaps as soon as sometime late next year.

Alabamas law, which makes it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion at any stage of a pregnancy unless the mothers health is at risk, is already under attack. A recently filed lawsuit seeks to strike down Alabamas law, which is to take effect on Nov. 15. Its just a matter of time before Georgias law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, will face a legal challenge.

The lawsuit is coming soon, said Sean Young, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. He expressed confidence that the U.S. District Court judge who gets the case will follow Supreme Court precedent and declare the law unconstitutional.

Katie Byrd, communications director for state Attorney General Chris Carr, said her offices constitutional duty is to defend the states laws. House Bill 481 was passed by Georgias duly elected General Assembly and signed into law by the governor, and our office will defend this law, she said.

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Once a district court judge rules, the next stop will be the 11th Circuit, which oversees cases out of Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The 12-member court has six judges appointed by Republican presidents and six appointed by Democratic presidents. It typically assigns three-judge panels to decide its appeals.

Over the past few decades, the 11th Circuit has heard a number of sensational cases, such as one facet of litigation involving the hotly disputed 2000 presidential election, a challenge to President Barack Obamas health care law and the tri-state water wars dispute.

But the abortion cases could become quite a spectacle, with protests and demonstrations outside the imposing Elbert Parr Tuttle courthouse in downtown Atlanta.

Because its such a divisive issue, Id be surprised if there wasnt a need for added security when the cases are argued, said Buford attorney Kevin Morris, who closely follows the 11th Circuit.

Depending on the timing of the appeals, its possible the appeals court will choose to consider Georgias and Alabamas laws together, Morris said. He also estimated it would take the court about 10 months to decide the case once it dockets one or both of the appeals.

So far this year, governors in Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have signed heartbeat laws that are somewhat similar to Georgias. And federal judges in Kentucky and Mississippi have already blocked those two states from enforcing their new laws.

Supporters of the new anti-abortion laws are not expecting victories in the lower courts. They are hoping the Supreme Court agrees to hear one or more of them and uses the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade. Thats essentially what Gov. Kay Ivey said after she recently signed Alabamas bill into law.

As citizens of this great country, we must always respect the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court even when we disagree with their decisions, Ivey said.

Many Americans, myself included, disagreed when Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973. The sponsors of this bill believe that it is time, once again, for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit this important matter, and they believe this act may bring about the best opportunity for this to occur.

Three abortion clinics and an obstetrician who performs abortions at a womens centre in Huntsville are among those challenging the Alabama law. Their suit, brought by the ACLU of Alabama and Planned Parenthood, says in the 46 years since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, U.S. courts have recognized the constitutional right of a woman to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy.

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that this right is central to obtaining equality and respecting the dignity, autonomy and bodily integrity of all individuals, the suit said.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in Montgomery, who authored a ruling in the most recent high-profile abortion case to be heard by the 11th Circuit.

In 2017, Thompson struck down Alabamas so-called fetal demise law, which would have allowed criminal prosecutions of doctors who performed a commonly used procedure for second-trimester abortions. Alabama appealed to the 11th Circuit and the case was heard by a three-judge panel. In a unanimous decision, two judges in the courts majority begrudgingly upheld Thompsons ruling. Chief Judge Ed Carnes, who wrote the majority opinion, seized the opportunity to take a swipe at Roe v. Wade by citing justices who had criticized the Supreme Courts abortion decisions.

Some Supreme Court justices have been of the view that there is constitutional law and then there is the aberration of constitutional law relating to abortion, Carnes wrote. If so, what we must apply here is the aberration.

In closing, Carnes, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, said his job was to apply the law laid down by the U.S. Supreme Court to the facts of the fetal demise law.

In our judicial system, there is only one Supreme Court, and we are not it, Carnes wrote. As one of the inferior courts, we follow its decisions.

In a concurring opinion, Senior Judge Joel Dubina, also appointed by Bush, minced no words. He wrote that he believed Roe v. Wade has no basis in the Constitution.

The problem I have, he added, is that I am not on the Supreme Court, and as a federal appellate judge, I am bound by my oath to follow all of the Supreme Courts precedents, whether I agree with them or not.

Randall Marshall, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, said the 11th Circuit judges musings in the fetal demise case gave him pause. But the clear message was that they were going to follow the law, he said.

Alabama has appealed the 11th Circuits ruling in that case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to decide whether it will hear it.
The U.S. Navy on Saturday officially confirmed that it received a request to minimize the visibility of the USS John S. McCain warship while U.S. President Donald Trump was visiting Japan last month  an episode that has raised concerns about whether the commander-in-chiefs political grievances might be infecting military culture.

Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, the chief of Navy information, said in a statement a request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the Presidents visit.

He added that there were no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain, and that the Navy was fully cooperating with a review of the situation ordered by acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan.

Our forward-deployed Naval forces continue to stand ready to execute their assigned missions, Brown said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday that the White House wanted the Navy to put out of sight the warship initially named after the father and grandfather of the late Republican Sen. John McCain while Trump was visiting Japan over Memorial Day weekend. Trump has frequently criticized the late senator and Navy captain who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam  before and after his death.

White House and Pentagon officials told the Washington Post that lower-level staff had been trying to please the president without high-level directives. The officials, though, confirmed that a member of the White House staff sent a message to military officials in the Pacific asking them to keep the ship out of photos during Trumps visit to the Japanese port of Yokosuka.

Trump himself has offered mixed accounts of what happened. He initially tweeted that he was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan, though he also repeated his disdain for McCain and suggested those who wanted the ship obscured had good intentions.

I was not a big fan of John McCain in any shape or form, Trump said. Now, somebody did it because they thought I didnt like him, OK? And they were well-meaning.

Later, the president seemed to question reporting about the story, tweeting: The Navy put out a disclaimer on the McCain story. Looks like the story was an exaggeration, or even Fake News  but why not, everything else is! That seemed to be a reference to the Navy chief of information tweeting, The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day. The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage.

The Navys statement provides official confirmation that a request occurred, though it does not say who made the request of the military. The efforts that were actually taken to obscure the ship or prevent its sailors from participating in an event with the president remain a subject of debate.

The ships crew was not invited to an event on another ship, the USS Wasp, during Trumps visit, but a Navy official has previously told the Post that was because its crew was released from duty for Memorial Day weekend. So, too, was the crew of a third ship, the USS Stethem, the official said.

There were photographs taken of a tarp obscuring the McCain name on May 24, though a Navy spokesman has said previously it was taken down the following day and the ships remained in normal configuration during Trumps visit. The Journal reported that at one point, a barge was moved closer to the USS McCain in such a way that its name was obscured.

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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah - The story of Mormon pioneers who travelled West to settle the territory that is now Utah is enshrined in monuments, museums and history books. But far fewer people know the stories of the African American slaves and pioneers who also helped settle the region.

Some Utah residents are working to publicly honour their work.

A slave who travelled to Utah in the 1800s to settle the territory on behalf of the Mississippi couple who owned him was honoured in a recent ceremony that unveiled a headstone at his burial site, which was an unmarked grave for 130 years.

KUER-FM reported residents dedicated the new grave to Hark Lay Wales Monday in the Cottonwood Heights cemetery where he is buried.

Heres somebody that came in the valley with Brigham Young that didnt have a headstone, said Sheri Orton, a St. George resident who has researched Wales life and death for 10 years. It was just not right. It wasnt acceptable.

Orton, who also works as a professional genealogist, discovered Wales story after learning her husband is a descendant of the family who owned Wales. Orton said she was inspired to rectify his grave after reading a book detailing the familys history, including Wales.

Hark jumped off the pages at me, Orton said. Hes been with me ever since.

About 100 people attended Mondays ceremony, including Democratic Rep. Sandra Hollins of Salt Lake City.

She told the crowd that she wondered what Hark would think if he knew that Utahs first African American female lawmaker would one day honour him. Hollins recently passed a law that repealed slavery in Utahs constitution.

He represents the number of slaves who stories have gone untold, whose families dont remember that they are a part of their history, Hollins said.

Dozens of African American slaves like Lay are estimated to have travelled to Utah to settle the territory on behalf of their owners. Organizers said they hope the ceremony sparks a movement to recognize the burial places of former slaves in Utah.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Crews were making a last ditch effort on Saturday to save low-lying parts of a small Arkansas city from floodwaters pouring through a breached levee, and authorities downstream were warning people to leave a neighbourhood that sits across the swollen river from the state capital.

Further north in Iowa, a flood barrier along the swollen Mississippi River failed Saturday, flooding four to six blocks of downtown Burlington, a city of about 25,000 people that is 170 miles (274 kilometres) southeast of Des Moines.

On Friday, the Arkansas River, which has been flooding communities for more than a week, tore a 40-foot (12-meter) hole in a levee in Dardanelle, a city of about 4,700 people roughly 100 miles (160 kilometres) upstream from Little Rock.

Mayor Jimmy Witt said Saturday that officials dont believe a temporary levee being constructed will stop the water from flooding the south side of Dardanelle, but he hopes it will buy time for residents of up to 800 threatened homes to prepare.

We have started a last ditch effort to try and protect the southern borders of the city, he said at a news conference.

The river has been widening the levee breach and floodwaters have been slowly approaching homes, officials said. Water from some creeks and tributaries has already flooded some houses, they said. Yell County Judge Mark Thone said flooding has surrounded about 25 people in a rural community a few miles south of Dardanelle, and several roads have closed due to high water.

Meanwhile in North Little Rock, which is just across the Arkansas River from Little Rock, officials were going door-to-door Saturday to tell people in the Dixie Addition neighbourhood to consider leaving.

The river isnt expected to crest in the Little Rock area until Tuesday, but North Little Rock officials said on Facebook that they believe the river will back up storm drainage areas and cause roads to become inaccessible in and around Dixie Addition, possibly for more than a week.

City spokesman Nathan Hamilton said there are about 150 homes covered by the evacuation recommendation. He said other homes also could be affected by flooding, but officials were currently focusing on only the most pressing neighbourhood.

The evacuation recommendation followed a false alarm overnight that a nearby levee had breached and that flash flooding was possible. Officials quickly reversed themselves, though, and said that it hadnt failed and wasnt in danger of doing so.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday that officials were working to identify higher-risk spots in the Arkansas Rivers levee system.

Obviously the breach in Dardanelle is a sign that there could be more of these breaches that will happen as the pressure continues to mount in the coming days, Hutchinson said.

Record-breaking flood levels in Fort Smith, Arkansas second-largest city, remained steady through the morning, with the National Weather Service predicting the water would begin to recede Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The Arkansas River isnt the only one causing problems in the region.

In Burlington, Iowa, officials confirmed that a large, sand-filled barrier failed Saturday afternoon, forcing some businesses in the downtown area to evacuate. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the area until 10 p.m. Saturday.

Parts of the tiny northwestern Missouri town of Levasy were under water Saturday after a levee breach along the Missouri River. Officials there were conducting water rescues by boat, but no injuries were reported.

Officials in Illinois issued an urgent plea to residents of river communities to prepare for potential evacuations. The states Emergency Management Agency director, Alicia Tate-Nadeau, called flooding a life-safety issue, and the agency said levees along the Illinois River were in critical condition.

Flooding along the Missouri River in central Missouri prompted officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order Friday for some residents of Howard County, where the river had topped a levee. A topped levee along the Mississippi River, in northeastern Missouri, flooded several thousand acres of farmland Thursday.

In Oklahoma, water levels continued to drop as residents who were forced from their homes made plans to return. The weather service reported that the Arkansas River in Tulsa dipped below flood stage for the first time since flooding began.

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Four were engineers who worked to maintain streets and protect wetlands. Three were right-of-way agents who reviewed property lines. The others included an account clerk, a technician, an administrative assistant and a special projects co-ordinator. In all, they had served the city of Virginia Beach for more than 150 years.

These 11 city employees and one contractor were wiped out Friday when a fellow city worker opened fire inside a municipal building. A day after the shooting, city officials sought to honour them by sharing their job titles and years of service in a sombre slideshow.

They leave a void that we will never be able to fill, said City Manager Dave Hansen, who had worked for years with many of the dead.

Police Chief James Cervera identified the assailant as DeWayne Craddock, who had been employed for 15 years as an engineer with the citys utilities department. He declined to comment on a motive for the rampage, which ended with the shooters death in a gun battle with officers. City officials uttered his name just once and said they would not mention it again.

Joseph Scott, an engineering technician with the utilities department, said he had worked with Craddock and had a brief interaction with him Friday, passing him in the mens restroom about five minutes before the shooting.

He was in there brushing his teeth, which he always did after he ate, Scott said. I said Hey, how you doing? What are you doing this weekend? It was just a brief conversation.

Scott said he left for the day right after and learned of the shooting when a co-worker and then his son called him asking if he was OK.

I couldnt believe that it happened, he said.

One of the dead employees had worked for the city for 41 years. Six worked in the same department as the suspect, though authorities have declined to say if anyone was specifically targeted or if the suspect had issued threats before. The victims were found throughout the building, on three floors, police said.

The municipal building was open to the public, but security passes were required to enter inner offices, conference rooms and other work areas. As a current employee, Craddock would have had the pass to enter the inner offices, Hansen said.

In response to a reporters question, Cervera said the gunman had not been fired.

One of the dead, Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan, enjoyed Scottish music and joined a pipe band last fall. He played with the group in October during a Celtic festival in Virginia and marched with bandmates on St. Patricks Day.

Chris was reserved but very friendly, quietly engaging members one-on-one after our weekly practices, the band, Tidewater Pipes & Drums, said in a statement.

Another victim, Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach, was described as a super sweet lady who always had a big smile. She would always be out there in the yard, working on something and talking to my daughters, John Cushman, Gayles next-door neighbour, told The New York Times.

The other employees who were killed were identified as Tara Welch Gallagher, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine A. Nixon, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua O. Hardy and Michelle Missy Langer, all of Virginia Beach; Laquita C. Brown and Robert Bobby Williams, both of Chesapeake; and Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk. The 12th victim, Herbert Bert Snelling of Virginia Beach, was a contractor who was in the building to seek a permit.

The police and fire departments were to assign members of their honour guards to help each victims family.

Authorities have said the shooter fired indiscriminately. At least three other people who were wounded remained hospitalized Saturday.

Craddock appeared to have had no felony record, making him eligible to purchase guns.

Government investigators identified two .45-calibre pistols used in the attack, said Ashan Benedict, the regional special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

All indications were that the shooter purchased the weapons legally, one in 2016 and one in 2018, Benedict said. The police chief said at least one had a noise suppressor.

Craddock, 40, graduated from Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News in 1996 and joined the Army National Guard, according to a newspaper clip from the time. He received basic military training and advanced individual training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He later graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelors degree in civil engineering.

Scott said he worked in a different division from Craddock, whom he described as quiet, polite and a nice guy. Scott said he thought Craddock was in good standing at work and had never heard negative reports about him.

A handwritten note was posted Saturday at the suspects home expressing condolences to the shooting victims on behalf of his family.

Hundreds of people attended Saturday prayer vigils for the dead. Scott said he, his wife and several others prayed for the shooter too.

He was a human too, and his family is hurting too, Scott said. Hes not evil ... he was just another guy who had problems.

Neighbours described Craddock as a car enthusiast and bodybuilder.

Amanda Archer, 22, and Cassetty Howerin, 23, lived in a Virginia Beach townhome beneath Craddock for the past year and only got to know him in passing, exchanging the occasional greeting.

He wasnt much of a talker, Archer recalled. Hes a mystery to us. Hes a mystery to everybody, apparently.

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Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano, Michael Biesecker, Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C.; Michael Kunzelman in Virginia Beach; and Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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This story has been updated to correct Hardys middle initial.
President Trumps proposed tariffs on Mexico could wreak havoc on the U.S. refining industry, potentially raising prices at the gas pump for American consumers as the summer driving season begins.

The energy industry could be among the hardest hit if tariffs are applied to oil imports from Mexico, which accounted for 9% of all U.S. crude imports last year, the third-highest share after Canada and Saudi Arabia. Any retaliatory move by Mexico could have severe short-term economic impacts in both countries.

The U.S. and Mexico have become more interdependent in recent years as U.S. oil production and fuel exports surged. Much of Mexicos oil production is absorbed by the U.S. Gulf Coast refining system, which in turn exports substantial volumes of gasoline and diesel back to Mexico.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Valero Energy Corp. and Chevron Corp. have been among the biggest importers of Mexican crude this year. U.S. refiners such as Valero, Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum Corp. would face significant challenges should Mexico counter with a tariff on their exports of gasoline and distillates such as diesel fuel, analysts said. Since 2013, those exports to Mexico have nearly tripled to 826,000 barrels a day from 352,000 barrels, according to Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.

Imposing tariffs on Mexican products, particularly crude oil, could raise energy prices for U.S. consumers, disadvantage the U.S. refining industry and jeopardize passage of a new trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, said Chet Thompson, president and CEO of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a refining trade group.

Braden Reddall, a spokesman for Chevron, called for balancing any new tariffs against the potential for retaliatory actions that impair the development of new markets.

Mr. Trump said on Twitter late Thursday that the U.S. would impose a 5% tariff on all goods from Mexico beginning next Friday until the country reduced the number of migrants attempting to cross illegally into the U.S. through the southern border. The White House hasnt said whether any industries might be exempted from its proposed tariff plan.

The announcement sent shudders through stock, bonds and currency markets, even as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called for dialogue.

U.S. refiners on the Gulf Coast are configured to process heavier grades of crude, including from Mexico. Imports from the country have grown more vital in the last year after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela and Canada curbed its production. Plants that rely on heavy crude may be forced to scale back, reducing output of gasoline supplies just as the country enters what is usually a high demand season, analysts said.

The implication of that would be less gasoline produced, and prices would increase at the pump, said Sandy Fielden, director of oil research for Morningstar Inc.

Other potential issues could mitigate price increases, such as if Mexico imposes tariffs on U.S. gasoline exports, Mr. Fielden said. If the U.S. levies last for some time, the liquidity of oil and gas products in global markets is likely to soften the impact as well, he added.

Exports have been a cash cow for refiners in recent years, helping many to return significant profits to shareholders. Processing fuel has been one of the most lucrative businesses in the energy industry since 2012.

Valero and Marathon Petroleum didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. A Shell spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokesman for Phillips 66 declined to comment on the impact of the proposed tariffs but said the company supports Mr. Trumps efforts to boost domestic manufacturing.

Write to Bradley Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com


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President Donald Trump is moving to impose escalating tariffs on Mexican imports to force that government to take a harder line to stem the flow of Central American migrants into the United States, The plan has drawn criticism from business leaders and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are concerned the tariffs will hit American industries and consumers where it hurts.

It's the second time in recent weeks that Trump has shaken up trade negotiations with surprise tariffs; on May 5, he announced he would impose large tariffs on Chinese imports. But to understand how the new tariffs will ripple through the economy, here's a guide on tariff basics.

Q: What is a tariff?

A: Tariffs are taxes a nation imposes on goods and services imported from another country. They are paid by companies that import the products, not by the countries themselves.

Q: Why does Trump want to tariff Mexico goods?

A: Trump has said he is imposing the tariffs to punish Mexico for not doing enough to stop Central American migrants from entering the U.S. illegally.

Mexico is the United States' biggest trade partner. The U.S. imported $347 billion in goods from Mexico last year. But the tariffs will compel many American companies to buy fewer goods from Mexico, and U.S. companies that do manufacturing in Mexico may have to move their business elsewhere.

Q: When do they go into effect?

A: A 5 percent tariff will go into effect on June 10. After that, the White House has said it will increase the tax in 5 percent increments each month until October, when the tariffs would top out at 25 percent. The tariffs will remain at that threshold until Mexico "substantially stops" the flow of illegal immigration coming through its territory, according to a statement from the president.

Q: Who ultimately pays for these tariffs?

A: Although Trump often suggests that tariffs are paid by the countries they are imposed on, companies pay the tariffs when they import goods or services. Because few businesses can absorb these kinds of costs, they end up passing them to the consumer in the form of price increases, as National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow acknowledged in May.

Q: What products are affected by the tariffs?

A: About two-thirds of U.S. imports from Mexico are intermediate parts - pieces that U.S. companies use to manufacture goods - according to Deutsche Bank Securities economist Torsten Slok. American automakers like General Motors and Ford and heavy equipment companies like Caterpillar use intermediate parts from Mexico, and their goods often cross the border multiple times as they are being assembled.

Among popular intermediate parts are computer and electronic components, wires and cables. Many chemicals and raw materials, like oil and gold, come into the U.S. through the southern border.

The U.S. brings in a great deal of produce from Mexico, from avocados to cauliflower, pineapples to tomatoes. Mexico also supplies some of the best-selling beers in the U.S., including Corona and Modelo Especial.

Q: What will Mexico do in response?

A: Mexico has yet to announce a specific course of action, but officials have vowed to respond "strongly". Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sent Trump a letter Thursday evening after the tariffs were announced, saying he would send his foreign minister to negotiate in hopes of reaching an agreement "that benefits both nations."

Q: How are tariffs supposed to address the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border?

A: The White House has yet to explain exactly how driving up the cost of Mexican goods could stem the flow of migration. Many experts believe the tariffs could actually have the opposite effect: If the tariffs damage the Mexican economy, more of its citizens may try to cross the border in search of work in the U.S.

Q: How does this relate to China tariffs?

A: The tariffs Trump imposed on Mexico have no direct correlation to the recent 25 percent tariffs Trump levied against $250 billion in Chinese imports. But both are instances of the president using tariffs as a brute-force negotiation tactic to deal with what he sees as a lack of progress on key issues.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A longtime municipal employee in Virginia Beach shot and killed 12 people Friday afternoon and injured several others inside a public works building before he was killed in a fierce gun battle with police, city officials said.

Police Chief James Cervera said an officer was among the wounded but was saved by his protective vest. He said the gunman "fired indiscriminately" with a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun on several floors of the building, one of many in the complex.

The chief said people were found wounded on all three floors and one was shot in a vehicle outside. He said four victims were in surgery Friday night but there might be others who sought treatment on their own.

Speaking at a late night news conference, Cervera, along with the mayor and Virginia's governor, spoke in impassioned tones about the horror of what unfolded in a building used by as many as 400 workers as well as residents trying to obtain building permits, pay water bills or work through zoning issues.

The chief said police were working to notify family members of the slain victims, who were not identified Friday night. He said they have identified the shooter but would not make the name public until they could reach certain relatives.

Cervera said the shooter was armed with a gun with an attached sound suppressor and extended magazines, enabling him to fire many rounds and engage four police officers in what the chief described as a "longterm gunbattle" down building hallways.

"The officers stopped the suspect from doing more carnage in the building," Cervera said.

The chief said authorities will name the shooter, who according to a city spokesman worked in the public utilities department, only once. Thereafter, "he will be forever referred to as the suspect. Our focus is on the dignity to the victims in this case and their families."

Police had no immediate information as to a possible motive.

Mayor Bobby Dyer told reporters that "today is Virginia Beach's darkest hour." He said a "senseless crime happened and imposed tremendous grief upon the people of Virginia Beach, the Commonwealth and this country."

Gov. Ralph Northam said the victims, shot near the end of the last day of the week, "were heading into the summer weekend. That they should be taken in this matter is the worst kind of tragedy."

He added that the shooting, "tests our souls."

Friday's shooting added another city to the growing list of places affected by a mass shooting. It is the deadliest since November, when a gunman opened fire at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, killing 12 before fatally shooting himself. A police officer responding to that shooting died after suffering multiple gunshot wounds.

Virginia Beach, a resort city with an population of about 450,000, is the most populous city in the state. It has nearly twice as many residents as Richmond. The municipal center is a sprawling compound of more than 30 buildings and annexes that includes City Hall, courts and offices for multiple city departments, a city directory shows.

The three-story Building 2, where the shooting occurred, has workers who inspect properties, issue building permits, handle zoning issues and deal with the complex issues of public works, from trash pickup to water distribution.

"It's where all of our city business is located," City Councilman Aaron R. Rouse said.

Edward Weeden, an office assistant in Building 2, said he was at the first-floor reception desk when he heard a sound coming from the direction of a staircase. He and another employee went toward it and found a woman lying at the bottom of the steps, he said.

The woman was not responsive and was bloodied, Weeden said. One of his co-workers ran upstairs to check on what happened and fled back down, announcing that there was a shooter.

Weeden ran out of the building as law enforcement began to swarm. "I thank God for getting me out of that building," he said.

Megan Banton, who works in the building where the shooting occurred, said she was on the second floor when her supervisor heard a loud noise and told people to go into her office.

The sound of gunshots continued as about 20 people huddled on the floor after they barricaded the door with a desk. "We kept hearing gunfire," Banton said. "We were trying to keep as quiet as possible."

She said some people in the office were crying, while others appeared nervous and some remained silent.

Conditions of the surviving victims were not immediately available, and a precise count was not provided. Though police said four were in surgery, officials said there might be others. Hospital at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital reported two people in critical condition and two in fair condition. One patient at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in critical condition.

Banton, the employee who was on the second floor of the public works building, said she has an 11-month-old baby boy and sheltered in the office wondering if she would ever see him again.

"You never think this is going to happen to you. When it happens to you, it's totally different," Banton said.

Sheila Cook, who was in the courthouse in the complex, told a local television news station she heard muffled gunshots but knew it wasn't in her building. She said police acted quickly to alert people that they were safe after the shooter had been apprehended.

"That was enough to make me feel safe enough to come outside, and that God was with us," she said. She added, "I'm feeling shaken and relieved at the same time."

Harold Gaskill, a supervisor in the permits and inspections office, was at home on his last day of a week-long vacation when news of the shooting broke. He said he spent the next two hours calling his workers and other colleagues to make sure they were okay. Everyone he knew made it through unharmed, he said.

Gaskill, 63, has worked for the city for 29 years. He said he works on the first floor of Building frequented by the public. He said he was told by co-workers that the shootings occurred on the second and third floors, where offices for public works and utilities are located.

"As far as I know, everyone in my office is okay," Gaskill said. He added that he has not learned names of the dead or injured, or that of the shooter. "It's just hard to believe right now," he said. "I don't understand it."

"There is no way to describe an incident such as this," Cervera said. "The suspect was immediately confronted . . . our citizens can rest easy tonight. We do not have someone out in the community to do more harm."

- - -

The Washington Post's Justin Wm. Moyer, Lynh Bui, Debbie Truong, Mark Berman, Nick Anderson, Moriah Balingit, Jennifer Jenkins and Clarence Williams contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump's brinkmanship with Mexico over immigration has opened a new and risky front in his global campaign to pressure other nations to capitulate to his demands, a strategy that has paid few dividends over 21/2 years and left his major foreign policy initiatives in doubt.

From his "fire and fury" rhetoric against a nuclear-armed North Korea to an escalating trade war with China to new ultimatums aimed at Mexico, Trump has wielded threats, insults and punishments against his foreign counterparts with diminishing returns.

Though he lured Kim Jong Un to the negotiating table through a "maximum pressure" campaign of economic sanctions, Trump's historic summits with the young dictator ended in failure after talks collapsed in February.

Beijing attempted to negotiate over Trump's push for a trade deal, but President Xi Jinping has met successive rounds of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods with commensurate retaliatory measures, deepening an increasingly zero-sum clash between the world's two largest economies.

And although Mexico took steps to comply with Trump's hard-line immigration policies - allowing Central American asylum seekers to the United States a temporary haven - Trump's vow this week to impose sweeping tariffs unless that nation curbs unauthorized immigration into the United States stirred a public backlash.

For Trump, who campaigned on achieving "peace through strength," the consistent application of a tool kit of toughness has limited his options and left him in a precarious position as he accelerates his campaign for a second term.

Despite his pressure tactics, unauthorized immigration at the U.S.-Mexican border is at a 12-year peak, the tariff wars have sent jitters through Wall Street, and Pyongyang has resumed testing of short-range missiles, a sign that Kim is growing impatient.

"It strikes me that we are in the middle of an unprecedented and multifaceted experiment in the application of brute force," said Daniel Russel, who served as an assistant secretary of state on Asian affairs in the Obama administration. "President Trump has been extraordinarily effective at generating leverage . . . but it has yet to be shown that he has the ability to translate that leverage into results that are advantageous to the United States or are durable."

Trump campaigned on the theme that the rest of the world was taking advantage of the United States because of weak political leaders who valued multilateral partnerships over the unapologetic pursuit of national self-interest. He pledged that, as president, he would not hesitate to pressure rivals and allies alike to win a better deal for Americans.

"Mexico must take back their country from the drug lords and cartels," Trump tweeted Friday. "The Tariff is about stopping drugs as well as illegals!"

Foreign leaders initially sought to placate him by offering modest concessions, hopeful that it would satisfy Trump's domestic political imperatives by allowing him to trumpet small victories.

The Trump administration renegotiated a bilateral trade deal with South Korea and, after ripping up the 25-year old North American Free Trade Agreement, crafted a new accord with Mexico and Canada that experts said included valuable modernizations of some trade rules.

In Europe, some NATO members moved to accelerate previous pledges to increase their own national defense budgets amid Trump's complaints that they were freeloading off the United States' security umbrella - and his vague threats, first issued during his 2016 campaign, that he would pull out the United States of the alliance.

But on his signature initiatives, Trump's go-to tactics have faltered and the president has grown increasingly frustrated, prompting him in recent weeks to escalate his threats and punitive actions.

In early May, for example, after U.S. negotiators accused Beijing of attempting to backtrack on agreements after months of trade talks, Trump responded by raising tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods that he enacted last year from 10 percent to 25 percent.

That prompted Beijing to announce it would "fight to the end" and raise duties on $60 billion of American goods on June 1.

Trump administration officials have said the president feels emboldened by the strength of the U.S. economy and believes he can outlast his rivals in a showdown that could harm both economies. But some analysts said that the president could be dangerously miscalculating his position given the uncertainty of his own political prospects.

"I know that Trump considers the 2020 campaign as a triumphant march to the inevitable [reelection], but that's not the way the rest of the world is looking at it," said Christopher R. Hill, who served as a U.S. ambassador under the four presidents who preceded Trump. "You're already seeing the Chinese holding back and saying, 'We'll see what will happen over the next 18 months to see if he's still around and then maybe we'll do something.' To some extent, Trump does not have the self-awareness to understand that people are looking at the window closing on him."

For Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez, a liberal who took office in December, Trump's threats are a serious concern, given that 80 percent of Mexico's exports enter the U.S. market. But Lopez, who dispatched diplomats to visit Washington on Friday, is facing increasing calls from the public and political columnists to take a tougher line with the White House.

Trump, frustrated by Mexico's refusal to pay for a border wall, flirted with a plan to seal the southern border to trade and tourism in April before backing off over concerns from advisers about the effect on the American economy. This week, however, amid reports that U.S. authorities apprehended nearly 120,000 unauthorized immigrants at the border last month, Trump overrode similar warnings from aides.

"What's so striking with him is his willingness to pick multiple fights without thinking through the consequences," said Eliot Cohen, a former State Department adviser in the George W. Bush administration who organized a "Never Trump" coalition of foreign policy experts during the 2016 campaign. "The Mexico thing is a great example. It could really hurt him domestically."

Other analysts noted that Trump's trade war with China could harm his efforts to negotiate a nuclear weapons disarmament pact with North Korea, given that the president has counted on Beijing maintaining tough economic sanctions on Pyongyang.

But Trump has shown few signs of second-guessing himself. He has threatened new auto tariffs on Japan to win leverage in ongoing trade talks, although he announced during a state visit to Tokyo last week that he would delay any action for six months.

And Trump's reputation for hostility has preceded him. In London, where Trump will arrive next week on a state visit to meet Queen Elizabeth, Sky News broadcast a promotional video featuring a Trump baby balloon, flown by protesters during Trump's visit last summer, darkening the skies with the ominous tagline, "He's back."

"One of Trump's major failings is that he only has a hammer," said Andrea Schneider, a professor of law at Marquette University who focuses on negotiations and has studied Trump's tactics. "He has no capacity of looking at the long term and recognizing that the vast majority of our interactions in life are repeat interactions. I joke with my students that if you treat negotiations as a one-shot deal, it will be. No one will ever want to deal with you again."

- - -

The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung in Washington and Mary Beth Sheridan in Mexico City contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump sparked a new debate in Britain this past week, after calling past comments by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, "nasty," in an interview with the Sun tabloid.

During the 2016 election campaign, the duchess - then Meghan Markle - called Trump "misogynistic" and "divisive." The American actress also said she might move to Canada if Trump was elected president. Instead, two years on, she married Prince Harry and became part of Britain's royal family.

Suggesting that he had been unaware of the duchess's 2016 remarks ahead of preparations for his upcoming state visit to Britain and his royal reception on Monday, Trump said in an audio recording released by the Sun: "I didn't know that she was nasty."

Trump had previously used the word to describe his Democratic opponent during a 2016 presidential debate, calling Hillary Clinton a "nasty woman" - words that later became a rallying cry for the anti-Trump movement.

But this time, Trump refrained from provoking a full-blown spat, quickly emphasizing in the same interview with the Sun that "I am sure she will do excellently" as a duchess.

On Sunday, Trump suggested that his remarks on Meghan had been taken out of context. On Twitter, he wrote: "I never called Meghan Markle "nasty." Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold!" In the United States, Trump's earlier remarks were seen as part of a pattern of often-demeaning attacks on female critics, his opponents said.

But in Britain, Trump's remarks ahead of the trip also echoed concerns voiced in the lead-up to Meghan's wedding with Harry: that her past political activism may make things awkward for the royal family, which is not supposed to voice public political views. She started to speak out against sexism as a child and never hid her other personal convictions throughout her acting career, including thoughts on U.S. politics. As a member of the British royal family, Meghan has already strayed further into political territory than others have, for instance by speaking out against racism, which she has personally faced in recent months.

While her past comments are a nightmare for those familiar with the ins and outs of royal protocol, the British public may have a different take. "You know, we don't care what he thinks about us," British lawyer and political activist Shola Mos-Shogbamimu told Sky News on Saturday. "Women are going to stand up together and speak out against the lunacy of his presidency," she said of Trump.

The president has faced major resistance in Europe in the past, and a "Trump Baby" balloon greeted him when he visited Britain in July during a four-day working visit.

Trump's state visit, which begins Monday, has been repeatedly delayed. He also plans to attend ceremonies commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings while visiting Britain and France.

Meghan, who is still on maternity leave, and Trump will not meet during the visit. Harry is expected to meet with him, according to British media.

As a biracial and divorced American, Meghan's biography has vastly differed from the life experiences that have dominated the halls of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. Opening up traditions and acknowledging that even royals can have opinions, her supporters said, has infused royal traditions with a more human and natural touch.

When Harry and Meghan launched their Instagram account in early April, the handle immediately broke records, reaching 1 million followers in less than 6 hours. Many of the couple's fans are from the United States, where almost 30 million watched their wedding last year, compared with about 23 million who watched Kate Middleton wed Prince William in 2011. The birth of Harry and Meghan's first baby, Archie, was celebrated by fans around the globe last month.
These days, the Great in our name Great Rivers & Routes takes on a very literal meaning. The mighty river reminds us just how great she can be. This past week for the first time since the Flood of 1993, our Visitor Center is surrounded by the great and mighty Mississippi and shes threatening to lap into our entryway within inches. Lets hope the power of positive thinking can keep her at bay.

But, in the meantime a lot has changed since 1993. We have running water for instance as the water plant was moved out of the floodwater levels. Also, technology and the media are completely difference. Thanks to our phone systems being new models, we are actually answering our lines from adjacent office space occupied by the bureau, up the hill a bit. And, our live chat mechanism on our website is also working hard to help spread information on the flooding and traveling throughout our region.

But remember, this destination is filled more than just great rivers, we have great routes, many of which are high and dry. In fact, Jerseyville is the place to be this weekend to enjoy some great BBQ, bluegrass and family fun at the Jerseyville Family Festival. The St. Louis BBQ Society will be cooking up some of the best BBQ around for their competition on Saturday. This is also the 185th Anniversary of Jerseyville and they have added some great heritage tours of the community and its historic places and culture. The festival continues through midnight on Saturday and is located at the Lions Club and Wittmans Parkin Jerseyville.

You can also check out Godfreys annual Bark in the Park this Sunday at Glazebrook Park. Or if you prefer a chance to go to the races, Fairmount Park is active and is hosting a craft beer and party in the park on Saturday. Also, please support our local famers as they too are having a rough year. All of our farmers markets are in full swing.

For flooding information, farmers market, family fun and so much more, remember to follow www.RiversandRoutes.com and our social media channels. Lets all do what we can to support those in need and show the rest of the world how great the rivers and routes region stands together.

he mighty Mississippi River is not the only thing on the rise these days. I continue to be inspired and in awe of the leaders of our communities and tourism industry partners that are aligning with our efforts to bring more greatness to this region. As a bureau, Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau is quite committed to improving the quality of life for us all, making this one of the best places to visit and live along Route 66 and the Mississippi River.

We continue to get international interest in our region. And, also from the home front as we recently met with Troy and Maryville to continue our collaboration. We have also started the process to work with Greene and Montgomery counties. The Great Rivers & Routes region is all working together as todays traveler searches for more authenticity and excitement from a destination. Our mission is to make it easier for travelers to find us, visit with us and be aware of all the gems we have to offer.

In some of our recent gatherings of storytelling to the travelers, we showcased some things like one of a kind eats from a Japanese Pancake at Cleveland-Heath to a King Louie Burger and Root Beer or even the savory taste of Taylor Made Chili. We also get to showcase the many trails we have, but not just hiking.

We have the makings of a caffeine trail with wonderful coffee spots and of course a fresh grown trail to highlight our native produce. And, get your taste buds ready for the Great Rivers & Routes Craft Beer Week coming on May 10 through the 17.

One thing is for certain, we are doing our research and preparing for a revolution of tourism in this region to support us all. And our communities and industry continue to rally alongside this movement. Over the next six months, you will continue to see progress with new digital strategies, promotions and group sales efforts bringing more and more visitors to our region to have some fun!

Please keep the momentum going for tourism by signing up for our e-newsletter, checking our website at www.riversandroutes.com and following us on social media @riversandroutes. If you are interested in helping out in other ways, drop into the Alton Visitor Center to volunteer or explore more. The Rivers & Routes region combines the nostalgia this place with the natural beauty that has shaped it. What are you waiting for? Join the bandwagon of Great Rivers & Routes and get out there to explore all of the possibilities
A former Navy fighter pilot confirms that there have been dozens of recent intrusions of America by highly sophisticated, unknown crafts. Former Commander Dave Fravor, the same pilot who has a close encounter in 2004 with the so-called Tic Tac UFO off the coast of Southern California, told an audience in McMinnville Oregon, that he has since spoken with many military

By George Knapp / Matt Adams

www.lasvegasnow.com

5-31-19


EMILY BALLARD, Chariho, Girls Basketball, Sophomore; Ballard scored 39 points and grabbed 24 rebounds in two games. She had 16 points and eight rebounds against Coventry and 23 points and 16 rebounds against Cranston East.

NATE CYR, Stonington, Boys Basketball, Senior; Cyr scored 26 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a win against Woodstock. Cyr also had five 3-pointers. He is averaging 18.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

JACKSON OGLE, Westerly, Boys Basketball, Senior; Ogle scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds in a pair of Westerly victories. Ogle is averaging 12.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

ADDIE HAUPTMANN, Wheeler, Girls Basketball, Senior;Hauptmann scored 14 points, had 13 rebounds and came up with seven steals in an overtime win against Griswold. Hauptmann is averaging 12 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

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It was a fairly glum week for cake icing maker Real Good Food after it received a hefty fine from the London Stock Exchange as the final act in a two-year ordeal over what was described as a pattern of 'unacceptable conduct' by its previous board.

The issues dated back to a severe profit warning in August 2017, which was quickly followed by the resignation of company founder and executive chairman Pieter Totte, a Dutch businessman who set up the group in 2003.

An LSE investigation discovered that while in June 2017 the group had predicted full-year earnings for that year of between 5-5.4million, this figure was materially contingent on the company winning a number of ongoing legal actions, a caveat Totte failed to disclose to shareholders, and following which the firm fell around 2.4million short of the mark.

Cake icing maker Real Good Food received a hefty fine from the London Stock Exchange

The company also neglected to inform investors of consultant fees paid to Totte and another former director between 2013 and 2016.

These failings, the LSE said, had stemmed from a 'culture of poor decision making' and breached several AIM rules, and as a result the company was slapped with a 450,000 fine, although it managed to reduce it to 300,000 in return for early payment.

Hugh Cawley, the firms current CEO following a major overhaul of its board and governance rules, said that it was now their intention to 'draw a line' under the incident.

Investors also seemed keen to consign the bitter period to the history books, with the shares rising 7 per cent over the week to 5.6p.

While director shenanigans had caused ructions for Real Good Food, energy firm Yu Group got a boost in the week from a share purchase by its CFO Paul Rawson, which sent the shares up 6.2 per cent to 172.5p.

Meanwhile, the numbers came in for online gambling firm Stride Gaming, which shot up 25.8 per cent to 146.5p after confirming takeover discussions with FTSE 250 Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group that could see it taken out at a 29 per cent premium to its Thursday close price.

In the miners, Xtract Resources soared 38.6 per cent to 1p after clinching a deal with partner Mutapa Mining and Processing to finance and conduct mining operations for hard rock deposits at its Manica project in Mozambique.

Rainbow Rare Earths was another junior explorer on the up, rising 60 per cent to 5.2p as investors flocked to non-Chinese rare earth stocks amid worries the Peoples Republic could choke off supplies as part of its trade dispute with the USA.

The AIM All-Share was down 0.3 per cent in the week at 957.8, while the FTSE 100 was down 1.8 per cent at 7,143.5.

In the fallers, clothing group Bagir was trousered, slumping 33 per cent to 1.5p, after revealing that it had not yet received $13.2million as part of an investment agreement with clothing giant Shandong Ruyi, and that the Chinese firm had requested an extension to change the terms of the partnership.

Customer engagement specialist Netcall was scrambled after purchasing delays from the NHS meant revenues for its current year would be lower than expected. The shares fell 25.7 per cent to 42p in response.

Fire and Rescue service provider AssetCo saw its shares scorched after the Court of Appeal granted permission for Grant Thornton to appeal certain aspects of a February judgment that ordered the auditor to pay the company 21million in damages, which sent the shares 6.2 per cent lower to 305p.

Elsewhere, offshore oil services group Nautilus was torpedoed on the news that it would seek to de-list from AIM, with the shares plunging 65 per cent to 1.6p.
freenet AG provides telecommunication, radio and multimedia, mobile communications, mobile Internet, and digital lifestyle services in Germany. It provides a portfolio of services and products primarily in the area of mobile voice and data services. The Mobile Communications segment engages in distribution and sales of mobile communications devices, and additional services, such as marketing and digital lifestyle; mobile phone accessories, home entertainment, which includes music and video offering, and services, applications, and devices connected to internet; and offers mobile tariff portfolio, which comprises Telekom, Vodafone, and Telefonica Deutschland. This segment also provides postpaid, no-frills, landline, internet, and digital TV services. The TV and Media segment offers planning, project management, installation, operation, services, and marketing of broadcast-related solutions for business-clients in the radio and media sectors, and DVB-T2 services for end users. It offers Freenet TV for terrestrial TV and waipu.tv for IPTV. The Other/Holding segment provides e-commerce/advertising services; digital products and entertainment formats for downloading, displaying, and use on mobile devices; develops and provides communication and IT solutions, and other services; and payment services. The company provides its services under mobilcom debitel, freenet.de, GRAVIS, media broaadcast, klarmobile.de, freenet energy, EXARING AG, callmobile, vitrado, freenet BASICS, freenet MOBILE, CHECKTECH, CARMADA, THE CLOUD, and freenet Business brands. It operates approximately 560 mobilcom-debitel stores, as well as operates GRAVIS stores for digital lifestyle products. The company sells its products through approximately 420 electronic stores; and online platforms. freenet AG was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in BAdelsdorf, Germany.

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Conifex Timber Inc. primarily manufactures and sells lumber products in the United States, China, Canada, Japan, and internationally. It is involved in the timber harvesting, reforestation, and forest management activities; manufacture of finished softwood lumber from spruce, pine, and fir logs; manufacture, sale, and distribution of dimension lumber; processing logs into lumber and wood chips, as well as by-products or residues, such as trim blocks, sawdust, shavings, and barks; and providing value added lumber finishing services. The company also develops bioenergy and bio products; and operates a 36 megawatt biomass power generation plant, which produces renewable energy for commercial sale. The company was formerly known as West Fourth Capital Inc. and changed its name to Conifex Timber Inc. in June 2010. Conifex Timber Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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Imperial Oil Limited explores for, produces, and sells crude oil and natural gas in Canada. It operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical. The Upstream segment explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic oil, and bitumen. As of December 31, 2020, this segment had 138 million oil-equivalent barrels of proved undeveloped reserves. The Downstream segment is involved in the transportation and refining of crude oil, as well as blending, distribution, and marketing of refined products. It also transports crude oil to refineries by contracted pipelines, common carrier pipelines, and rail; maintains a distribution system to move petroleum products to market by pipeline, tanker, rail, and road transport; and owns and operates fuel terminals, natural gas liquids, and products pipelines in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. In addition, this segment markets and supplies petroleum products to motoring public through approximately 2,400 Esso and Mobil-branded sites. Further, it sells petroleum products, including fuel, asphalt, and lubricants for industrial and transportation customers, independent marketers, and resellers, as well as other refiners serving the agriculture, residential heating, and commercial markets through branded fuel and lubricant resellers. The Chemical segment manufactures and markets various petrochemicals and polyethylene, such as benzene, aromatic, and aliphatic solvents; plasticizer intermediates; and polyethylene resins. The company was incorporation in 1880 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Imperial Oil Limited is a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

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Its nice to know some things dont change.

Unfortunately, when it comes to our esteemed leaders in Harrisburg, that is not necessarily a good thing.

For years all manner of do-gooders and activists have urged the state Legislature to ban the widely held practice of officials accepting gifts. That would be all those special perks of office, dinners, trips and tickets to premier sporting events that find their way into the pockets of our representatives.

Of course, there are strings attached to most of these gifts, some obvious, others less so. The bottom line is this: This wink-wink, nod-nod way of doing business gives these business interests a level of access that most citizens do not enjoy.

In short, it doesnt look good. And it smells even worse.

Pennsylvania, home of one of the largest and most expensive governing bodies in the nation, does not ask for volunteers. You wont find many paupers walking the halls of the state Capitol. These are well-paid, full-time jobs, despite the often-heard complaint that it only delivers part-time results. You would think that this solid salary  and a gold-plated health care and benefits package  would suffice.

Yeah, right.

This week our state lawmakers newly filed ethics forms revealed just how deep into the pockets of our elected officials this sleazy old way of business goes.

State representatives and senators accepted more than $83,000 in free trips, along with a variety of other perks, including gifts, booze and free meals.

Pennsylvania remains one of the very few states that allows their elected representatives to accept such gifts. In fact, the state Legislature does not have any limit on how much its members can accept, usually showered on them by lobbyists and others seeking to gain influence in Harrisburg.

Gifts of at least $250 must be reported on their ethics filings, unless it is from a friend or family member. Lawmakers also must report transportation, lodging or hospitality expenses that add up to at least $650.

This is how some of the folks we sent to Harrisburg wound up in Taiwan, Israel and a variety of locales across the USA, including Seattle and Key West, Florida.

Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, the House Democratic Whip, listed a little jaunt to Israel. The price tag on that one was $11,400. Republican House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, also reported a $2,000 subsidy for a trip to Israel courtesy of the Jewish Foundation. He paid the rest out of his personal funds.

They are hardly alone.

Most states limit the amount of these little baubles elected officials can take, or ban them outright. Harrisburg is not among them. Some people would like to see that change, Gov. Tom Wolf among them. The Democrat enacted a complete ban on his own staff and others in the executive branch when he took office in 2015. He has urged the Legislature to follow suit. We hope hes not holding his breath.

There are bills pending in both the House and Senate that would forbid our pols from accepting these kinds of gifts. Its not the first time Harrisburg has flirted with such action. It also will not be the first time they are largely ignored.

When the group March on Harrisburg, a good government activist bunch, protested the lack of a gift ban in the Capitol earlier this month, they were quickly ushered out by Capitol Police. Maybe it was the fact that they were showering lawmakers with dollar bills that ruffled a few feathers.

Good for them.

Its long past time for Pennsylvania to enact such a ban.

We send these people to be our representatives in Harrisburg, not those of the special interests who haunt the halls of the Capitol.

The current system of unfettered gift-giving opens doors that too often remain closed to the public. And it often tilts the playing field and debate on important legislation in favor of those with the loudest voice  and the fattest wallet.

Just so were all clear, there is nothing illegal with an elected official in Pennsylvania accepting these kinds of gifts, so long as there is no expectation of public influence or other official action in return for such favors, and they are duly reported.

That doesnt make it look any better. Or smell any more pleasant.
ALBANY  Jim Pachter is one of several drivers the Hussain family would employ to operate their small fleet of stretch limos, which customers would book for weddings, proms and days at Saratoga Race Course.

The business, run by motel owner Shahed Hussain and his son Nauman, consisted of several Lincoln Town Cars and a stretch 2001 Ford Excursion that was 34 feet long and could carry 18 passengers  a party on wheels.

While Pachter had no problem driving any of the Town Cars, starting in early 2017 he avoided driving the Excursion.

"The brakes were not functioning properly," he said in an interview.

The Excursion was destroyed in October in the Schoharie crash that killed 20 people  17 passengers, the driver and two pedestrians.

Pachter, who testified before the Schoharie County grand jury that indicted Nauman Hussain in April on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, said the condition of the brakes bothered him long before the crash.

"About a year and a half before that accident, I refused to drive it," Pachter said.

The crash occurred on the afternoon of Oct. 6 just outside the village of Schoharie. The group of 17 friends and family members, mostly from the Amsterdam area, had booked the Excursion for travel to and from a birthday celebration in Cooperstown.

With Prestige driver Scott Lisinicchia at the wheel, the Excursion traveled down a steep hill on Route 30, blew through a stop sign, slammed into an SUV in the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store and plummeted into a shallow ravine.

Although it's unclear what Pachter told the grand jury, his recollections described to the Times Union mirrors recent court filings by Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery that assert some of the drivers that Nauman Hussain employed were afraid to drive the Excursion.

Mallery has alleged that Nauman Hussain knew there were critical safety problems with the Excursion when he rented it out on the day of the crash. His trial is scheduled to begin in January.

"Third parties had told the defendant the repairs he made were temporary and/or inadequate and the limousine required further repairs," Mallery wrote in a May 8 filing. "Individuals over a period of time refused to drive the 2001 Ford Excursion stretch limousine because of its condition."

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Nauman Hussain told investigators in the wake of the crash that he was operating the company while his father was overseas in Pakistan. Pachter said that when he worked for Prestige, he mostly dealt with Nauman, who he says went by "Shawn."

"I would see his father once in a while for maybe 30 seconds, but that was it," said Pachter, a former photographer who now drives for a living. "I dealt with Shawn for everything."

The Times Union reported earlier this week that court papers show Brian Chase, a New Hampshire forensics expert hired by State Police to assess the wrecked limo, concluded the cause of the crash was "catastrophic brake failure."

Nauman's defense team, which has asserted that the Excursion was safe at the time of the accident, has pointed out that a state Department of Transportation inspection report on the Excursion a month before the crash didn't mention anything about potential brake failure.

The only specific mention of the brakes in that DOT report, authored by DOT investigator Chad Smith, concerned the anti-lock braking system line that was found to be coming into contact with a tire.

"While the ABS line was reported to be dangling during Smith's inspection on September 4, 2018, that system merely prevents skidding, and ... was not found by the People's expert to have caused 'catastrophic brake failure,'" Hussain's attorneys wrote in a May 17 court filing.
A municipal building in Virginia Beach, Virginia, was turned into a scene of carnage Friday afternoon after a longtime public utilities employee began firing indiscriminately at his co-workers, killing at least 12 people and injuring four others before dying after a shootout with police.

It had been nearing closing time in an office offering some of the most mundane functions of city government, such as paying water bills and applying for building permits, when the employee, whose name and possible motive were not immediately disclosed, began stalking through several floors firing at his colleagues, authorities said.

The loud bursts of gunfire sent workers scrambling and barricading their office doors. "My boss basically was like, 'This is not a drill, get down, call 911,'" said Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who was in the building where the shooting happened.

About 20 people in her second-floor office were hugging and holding one another, she said, as a bloody scene unfolded in the building. They heard gunshots, shouts from police officers to "get down" and frantic conversations in a stairwell outside their office, she said. She stayed on the phone with 911 to make sure police were coming.

"They couldn't come fast enough," she said.

The identities of the victims were not released. One of those injured was a police officer, who was saved by his bulletproof vest, said Chief James Cervera of the Virginia Beach Police Department.

He called the shooting a "devastating incident" that "none of us want to be here talking about," adding that it was "going to change the lives of a number of families in our city."

The shooting took place shortly after 4 p.m. within the sprawling Virginia Beach Municipal Center, a campus of city offices and agencies, including the Police Department. The attack unfolded on multiple floors in Building No. 2, which includes offices for planning and public works, among others, and is adjacent to City Hall.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Robert Dyer said at an evening news conference.

"The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues," he continued before his voice trailed off and he bowed his head.

Dale Gauding, a spokesman for Sentara Healthcare, said five patients were taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.

Another patient at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital was being picked up by helicopter and transferred to a trauma center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, he said. Details on their conditions were not immediately available.

"This day will not define Virginia Beach," a City Council member, Aaron Rouse, said at the news conference. "We will show the strength of our city."

Another council member, Barbara Henley, told The Virginian-Pilot that she had been pulling up to City Hall when she heard police sirens and saw police cars. After initially thinking it was an accident, she heard a male voice shout "Get down!" and saw people scattering.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

"I was scared to death," she said.

All over Virginia Beach, residents were trying to process such horror on what had been the close to a normal week. "It is an awful, awful day for our wonderful city," said Will Sessoms, the former mayor of Virginia Beach, who retired last year. "We will get through it. We will get through it."

Eerily, police had scheduled a community workshop for Saturday morning on how to prepare for a mass shooting. The "active threat citizens defense" event had 36 people scheduled to attend, according to the department's Facebook page.

"Having to face an armed individual with bad intentions is every person's worst nightmare. You can't stop crazy, you can only respond to it," said a brochure for the workshop published by the local ABC News affiliate.

"You don't prepare for something like this," said Dyer. "It's a nightmare no one wants to actually live through."

Nothing like this has happened in Virginia Beach in the 40 years that Guy King Tower, a City Council member and retired lawyer, has been living there. "Nothing remotely like it, certainly in my memory," said Tower, who has been living in the city since the 1970s but just joined the council a month ago.

He was at the municipal center early Friday afternoon, but left before the shooting. He said that Building 2  where the shooting occurred  is connected by a tunnel to Building 1, which is the main administrative office.

He said that in addition to a dominant Navy presence, the area also has Marine, Army and Air Force bases. "This is a military town, and people deal with the wages of war on a pretty regular basis," Tower said. "There are a lot of people here who have had loved ones in harm's way. But certainly a mass murder had never happened that I can recall."
The body of one of the occupants of a boat that had capsized in Lake Champlain Friday night was located in the water Saturday, State Police said.

Police said that at about 10:30 p.m. Friday they responded to a capsized vessel in the South Bay area of the lake. Three occupants were able to swim to shore and call for assistance.
TROY  Two co-defendants testimony after making plea deals emerged as crucial cogs in the 2016 murder case in Rensselaer County Supreme Court Friday as the prosecution and defense summed up their positions before the jury began deliberations.

Magdaleno Perez Calixto and Salomon Najera Hernandez portrayed murder defendant Luis Alfredo Monges Guevara, 24, as the driving force in killing Javier Gomez Bartolon on Oct. 17, 2016 in his apartments kitchen at 1 East Glen Ave. during a burglary.

They came into this courtroom and told you a story. They had a motive. They pled guilty. All they had to do was give the people what they wanted, defense attorney Jay Hernandez III told the jurors.

Calixto, 32, and Najera Hernandez, 23, provided the testimony Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts needed to weave together with the physical evidence to prosecute the two counts of second-degree murder and a single count of second-degree burglary against Guevara.

Calixto and Najera Hernandez cut plea deals that allowed them to avoid facing possible murder charges. Najera Hernandez is to be sentenced to five years in prison for a burglary guilty plea while Calixto will receive a sentence of nine years for burglary and kidnapping charges.

The testimony by Calixto and Najera Hernandez isnt bought and paid for, Botts told the jury. Instead the testimony you heard from Magdaleno and Salomon is consistent with the physical evidence.

Botts backed this up by showing the knife that Guevara allegedly used to stab Bartolon 13 times; the shoes Guevara allegedly wore to the murder scene; and the hammer allegedly used by the fourth co-defendant Cresencio Salazar, 28, to hit Bartolons head 20 times.

Guevara is the only one of the original four defendants to go to trial facing two counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree burglary. While Calixto and Najera Hernandez cut deals, Salazar escaped prosecution and was handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation to Mexico.

The lack of corroborating evidence to the accomplice testimony presented by former District Attorney Joel E. Abeloves office to three different grand juries led Judge Andrew Ceresia to dismiss three sets of indictments. Guevaras case had the evidence that went beyond just his co-defendants testimony.

The defendants statements to police were at the center of the cases involving the killing of Bartolon and his roommate, Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez, 26, on Oct. 16, 2016. Its taken 31 months to bring Bartolons homicide to trial.

The deceased victim, the witness and the defense attorney share the same last name but are not related.

The four defendants are undocumented Mexican nationals as were the two deceased victims.

Calixto, Guevara, Salazar and Najera Hernandez were partying in a Colonie motel on Oct. 16, 2016 with Gonzalez Hernandez before attacking him, according to authorities. They dumped his body in the Quacken Kill creek in Brunswick. At Guevaras urging, the four decided to rob the roommates apartment of drugs, money and other valuable items, according to his accomplices testimony. They didnt expect to find Bartolon at home when they showed up on Oct. 17, 2016.

Calixto and Najera Hernandez said they left the apartment when they heard Bartolons voice. Guevara and Salazar stayed behind and allegedly killed Bartolon. Video surveillance cameras showed the four going toward the apartment from Calixtos parked red 2002 Ford Explorer on River Street and returning to the vehicle. They had a bag containing a bloody knife and hammer. Police allegedly recovered from a dumpster the weapons and a pair of bloody sneakers allegedly worn by Guevara. The shoes had some of Guevaras DNA, according to expert testimony.

The four fled the Capital Region. Calixto, Najera Hernandez and Guevara were arrested in Virginia. There they gave statements to State Police investigators saying Salazar, nicknamed Chucho, was the ringleader and responsible for the killings. Salazar was arrested in New York City and refused to make a statement to detectives. He went uncharged with the killings and deported to Mexico after indictments couldnt be made to stick.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

They know who killed him. They knew it was Chucho, Jay Hernandez III said about Calixto and Najera Hernandez.

The defense attorney said Calixto faced the possibility of his plea bargain falling apart. If that happened he could face 50 years in prison, Jay Hernandez said.

Thats why, Jay Hernandez said, Calixto claimed that Guevara made a jailhouse confession to him about killing Bartolon. While Guevara was present at the bloody crime scene in the apartment, no one ever saw him holding the knife.

Hes trying to put a weapon in my clients hand. And, hes trying to help himself, Defense attorney Hernandez said.

The only link was the shoes Guevara allegedly wore that day, Jay Hernandez said, but no one saw Guevara walking barefoot. Jay Hernandez questioned why no DNA was recovered from the murder scene and why the sneakers were the only physical evidence connecting Guevara to the apartment.

Botts emphasized the shoes as tying Guevara to the murder. The shoes, he said, had Bartolons blood on them as well as a white powder that also was on the kitchen floor.

Jay Hernandez played snippets of Calixtos filmed interview in Virginia to show he understood English and his comments were not the same as his testimony in court. While Calixto used a Spanish translator during the trial, at one point he listened to the video tape recording in English without the aid of an interpreter.

The jury deliberated for nearly 90 minutes late Friday afternoon. They resume deliberations Monday.
The trial of Daniel Nellis Sr., the man accused of killing 21-year-old Michaela MacVilla in September, begins Monday.

Nellis, a 45-year-old man from Oppenheim, is charged with second-degree murder and three counts of felony weapons possession. He was sent to Fulton County jail without bail after his November indictment.

MacVilla was last seen alive at about 12:10 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2018. She had just left the Stewart's Shop were she worked, on West Main Street in St. Johnsville, and started walking toward home. When she did not arrive hours later, family members reported her missing.

Her sudden disappearance sparked a massive search and then a grim discovery. Her body was found on Oct. 2 in heavy brush by a property owner on Kringsbush Road in Oppenheim, just north of St. Johnsville, State Police said.

An autopsy revealed MacVilla had been shot in the head once with a .38 caliber handgun sometime between Sept. 25 and Sept. 30, police said.

Nellis was already in county jail when her body was found. He had been arrested on Sept. 30 on weapons charges after police allegedly found more than 10 illegally owned handguns inside his home.

Weeks later, Nellis was indicted on the murder charge.

"This is just a small step in the right direction," MacVilla's mother, Samantha Jump, said at the time. "It brings me a very small piece of justice. It's still a long road and we have many unanswered questions. I would like to thank all law enforcement who have worked tirelessly."

Investigators have not said if Nellis and MacVilla knew each other. The Daily Gazette reported in March that court filings revealed the last call on MacVilla's phone went to Nellis' phone, and that the phones were in the same area shortly before her phone stopped moving on Mill Road in Oppenheim. Her phone was later found along that road, according to court filings.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

MacVilla was described as "a loving and caring daughter and sister" in an obituary. She was born in Missoula, Mont., and graduated in 2016 from Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville High School in Montgomery County.

Working as a Stewart's clerk was "a job she really enjoyed," according to her obituary. "She loved visiting with the customers and working with her coworkers."

MacVilla is survived by her parents, Samantha and Kevin Jump, as well as her sister, Tabitha, and two brothers, Jarrid and Kyle. Her fourth sibling, Kimberlee Jump, died in August 2018.

"She enjoyed being active in her community and was always the first to lend a hand. When she was relaxing at home she could be found cuddling with her cat, Mr. Perfect," her obituary said.
[May 31, 2019] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Continues Investigation on Behalf of Intelligent Systems Corporation Investors (INS)

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces the continuation of its investigation on behalf of Intelligent Systems Corporation ("Intelligent Systems" or the "Company") (NYSE: INS) investors concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. If you wish to learn more about this action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, lease contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com.



On May 24, 2019, Aurelius Value published a report alleging that the financial expert of the Company's Audit Committee had engaged in improper accounting practices and that its Chief Executive Officer had engaged in many undisclosed related party transactions. On this news, the Company's share price fell $4.18, nearly 11%, to close at $34.93 per share on May 24, 2019, thereby injuring investors.

If you purchased Intelligent Systems securities, have information, or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190531005593/en/

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COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2019 Exhibitor News Recap

COMPUTEX TAIPEI closes tomorrow, June 1, 2019 at the Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, and the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC). Please note the following important information:

Exhibitor News

http://www.tradeshownews.com/events/computex-taipei-2019/

Press Information

https://www.computex-press.com.tw/

Listed below is the exhibitor news recap through May 31, 2019. Business Wire is the official news distribution partner for COMPUTEX.

***

05/31/2019 - 04:01 AM

Vertexcom, QNO Technology and DFI Demonstrate Wi-SUN IoT Solutions at Computex Taipei 2019

05/30/2019 - 05:00 AM

WaveOptics and PEGATRON Demonstrate AiR Glasses Prototype at Both AWE and PEGATRON Day

05/28/2019 - 07:00 PM

Transphorm's Gen III JEDEC-Qualified GaN to Power Wentai's New 1.6 kW Titanium ATX PC Gaming Power Supply

05/28/2019 - 03:00 AM

Silicon Motion introduces the First Single Chip Controller for Cost Effective USB Portable SSDs

05/27/2019 - 11:00 PM

Intel Brings the Most Integrated Platform-Wide Leadership to PCs with New 10th Gen Intel Core Processors and Project Athena at COMPUTEX 2019

05/27/2019 - 06:00 PM

HyperX Expands Gaming Peripheral Line Up at Computex 2019

05/27/2019 - 06:00 PM

Clientron Showcases the Latest POS System and IoV Itelligent in-Vehicle Driving Solution at COMPUTEX Taipei 2019







05/27/2019 - 05:00 PM

Cypress Extends USB-C Leadership with Fully Integrated USB-C Charger Solution for Power Adapter OEMs

05/27/2019 - 05:00 PM

Wiwynn Showcases Immersion Cooling Solution with 3M Fluorinert Electronic Liquids at Computex Taipei 2019

05/27/2019 - 01:42 AM

COMPUTEX 2019 Kicks Off Tomorrow in Taipei

05/27/2019 - 12:30 AM

Crafted for Creators: Razer Blade Studio Edition Laptops

05/26/2019 - 07:00 PM

TYAN Showcases HPC, Storage and Cloud Server Platforms Featuring 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors at Computex 2019

05/26/2019 - 05:30 PM

Wiwynn Expands Edge Server Portfolio Based on Nokia-led OCP OpenEDGE Project

05/26/2019 - 03:00 PM

Airgain Introduces 6GHz Wi-Fi Embedded Antenna Solutions

05/24/2019 - 03:47 PM

COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2019 Exhibitor Profiles

05/24/2019 - 05:00 AM

Innovium to Showcase Range of Switching Solutions Using 12.8Tbps TERALYNX Switches at Computex 2019

05/23/2019 - 06:00 PM

The Posiflex Group Showcases an Ecosystem of Connected Solution Endpoints with IoT Remote Monitoring at Computex 2019

05/23/2019 - 05:00 PM

Immervision Unveils New Line of Augmented Resolution Panomorph Camera Modules at COMPUTEX 2019

05/23/2019 - 06:00 AM

CyberLink to Showcase FaceMe AI Facial Recognition Engine at Computex 2019

05/20/2019 - 06:00 AM

Analogix Introduces Its VirtualLink Reference Design for High-Performance Gaming Notebooks

04/11/2019 - 09:00 PM

Media Alert: Intel at COMPUTEX 2019

04/01/2019 - 09:23 PM

AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su to Deliver COMPUTEX 2019 CEO Keynote on New High-Performance Computing Technologies

***

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Learn more at www.businesswire.com. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @businesswire.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190531005596/en/
[May 31, 2019] "Go Safely" Billboard, PSA Contest Winners Announced

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) announced today the winners of the inaugural "Go Safely" distracted driving billboard and video contest for high school students. Anh Pham and Sophia Nguyen of Westminster High School (Westminster) won first place and received the most online votes for their video, "If Your Phone (News - Alert) Were A Person." Brittany Steenbergen of Davis Senior High School (Davis) won first place for her billboard, "Look Up, Not Down." Other video awards included: 2nd Place - "Prevented at the Last Second" - Jarod Hagen, Canyon High School (Anaheim)

Honorable Mention - "Driving Isn't Playtime" - Angela Kim, Gavin Nguyen and Mason Li, Portola High School (Irvine)

Honorable Mention - "Three Life Saving Tips" - David Sloan, North Valley Baptist School (Santa Clara) Other billboard awards included: 2nd Place and most online votes - "One Text Away" - Arinchai Laohasereekul, Northridge Academy High School (Northridge)

Honorable Mention - "Your Choice" - Kayla Martinez, Madera High School (Madera)

Honorable Mention - "Be a Hero" - Adrian Cruz, St. Mary's High School (Stockton)



The contest called on high school students to create a message encouraging their peers to "go safely" by not driving distracted, highlighting the dangers of distracted driving.

"We are pleased so many schools and students participated, putting on their thinking caps to come up with great messages that will resonate with their peers and hopefully change behaviors," OTS Director Rhonda Craft said. "The decision on winners was not easy. All the students who submitted a billboard design or video should be proud of their work." Judging was based on creativity, design, messaging and meeting video and billboard contest guidelines, such as incorporating the "Go Safely, California" theme. Thirty-five videos and 85 billboard designs were submitted from high school students across the state. Distracted driving remains one of the top traffic safety concerns, particularly with teens. Distractions, including the use of cell phones and talking with passengers, accounts for six out of every 10 crashes among teens. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 9% of all deadly crashes in 2017 were distraction-related. Video and billboard entries can be viewed at gosafelyca.org/billboard-contest and gosafelyca.org/video-contest. The OTS administers funding for traffic safety programs statewide with the goal of reducing deaths, injuries, and economic losses. The OTS is a department under the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190531005597/en/

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[May 31, 2019] MilitaryConnection.com Launches Job Portal for Veterans Seeking Employment

ST. LOUIS, May 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MilitaryConnection.com is pleased to unveil their new and improved Job Board Portal. The Portal, while accessible to any member of MilitaryConnection.com, features employers across the country who are looking to hire military Veterans. The Job Portal is open to national and local employment opportunities across the country, in any area of expertise. MilitaryConnection.com recognizes that Veterans come out of the service with a wide variety of backgrounds, skill-sets and experiences. It is the goal of the Job Portal to match those Veterans with employers who are motivated to hire them and positions that make the best use of their skills. Hiring a Veteran is more than just an honorable gesture. Companies who make Veteran-hires a priority are eligible for tax credits. MilitaryConnection.com, with offices in Missouri California and Maryland, is encouraging companies with nation-wide openings to advertise job posts on their site.



MilitaryConnection.com is the "Go-To" site or the one-stop shop for Veterans, active military and their families. The site features a real-time job postings board with new employment opportunities for candidates across the country. In addition to the job postings board, MilitaryConnection.com is loaded with information that has proven helpful for active and retired military, military spouses, families, retirees and more. From writing a competitive resume and cover letter to preparing yourself for the interview; from finding a local place to get your free flu shot to picking an exercise that works best for you, MilitaryConnection.com has your needs covered. MIlitaryConnection.com is the "Go-To" site for Veterans. With offices in Missouri, California, and Maryland.

Contact: Kris Galasso Phone: 314-594-4544 [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/militaryconnectioncom-launches-job-portal-for-veterans-seeking-employment-300860068.html SOURCE Military Connection

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[May 31, 2019] FIRST AMERICAN FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of First American Financial Corporation - FAF

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF). On May 24, 2019, KrebsOnSecurity reported the discovery of a massive data leak involving the Company that may have allowed unauthorized access to more than 885 million records related to mortgage deals going back to 2003 including "bank account numbers and statements, mortgage and tax records, Social Security numbers, wire transaction receipts, and drivers license images." The Company later confirmed its knowledge of a "design defect in one of its production applications that made possible unauthorized access to customer data." KSF's investigation is focusing on whether First American's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to First American's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.



If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of First American shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-faf/ to learn more. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190531005542/en/

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[May 31, 2019] FORD MOTOR INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of Ford Motor Company - F

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Ford (News - Alert) Motor Company (NYSE: F). Beginning in January 2018, several consumer class action lawsuits were filed against the Company on numerous grounds, including fraud and racketeering, based on alleged misrepresentations it made regarding the emissions standards of certain Ford vehicles when promoting and marketing them, including that vehicles employed "defeat devices" to turn down emissions controls, in order to give Ford the ability to obtain and market higher power and fuel efficiency from its engines while still passing emissions certifications tests. Recently, the federal court presiding over the consolidated cases denied the Company's motion to dismiss the action, allowing the case to move forward. KSF's investigation is focusing on whether Ford's officers and/or directors breached their fiduiary duties to Ford's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.



If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Ford shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-f/ to learn more. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190531005566/en/

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[May 31, 2019] Home Bancorp Wisconsin, Inc. Announces Private Placement of Approximately $4.08 Million of Common Stock

Home Bancorp Wisconsin, Inc. (OTC Pink: HWIS) (the "Company"), the holding company for Home Savings Bank (the "Bank"), announced today that it has completed a private placement of 417,949 shares of its common stock at a price of $9.75 per share, resulting in gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $4,075,000, before deducting expenses. The shares are being sold pursuant to definitive agreements with institutional investors and certain other accredited investors including directors and executive officers of the Company. FIG Partners LLC served as placement agent for the offering. The proceeds from the sale of common stock will be used for general corporate purposes, including strengthening the Bank's capital position, funding loan growth and maintaining regulatory requirements. The Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, James . Bradley, stated "We are pleased to announce this financing from a group of investors who are familiar with our Company. We appreciate their continued support, as well as that of our local community."



Home Savings Bank is a Wisconsin chartered savings bank that has served the banking needs of its customers since 1895. Home Savings Bank currently conducts business from its four full-service banking offices, with three offices located in Madison, Wisconsin, and the fourth located in Stoughton, Wisconsin. This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements about the private placement. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding anticipated future events and can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results include increased competitive pressures, changes in the interest rate environment, general economic conditions or conditions within the securities markets, and legislative and regulatory changes that could adversely affect the business in which the Company and Home Savings Bank are engaged.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190531005610/en/

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Photo Source: Tom's Hardware

Our time at Computex 2019 has come to an end. We've consumed more coffee than most would've thought humanly possible--and pretty much anyone might have considered medically advisable--to keep up with the keynotes and wander the show floor's many booths. Now the Tom's Hardware news team is flying across the globe to write up everything we couldn't cover during the week, eat some good ol' American cuisine, and sleep. (Mostly sleep.)

This wrap-up will be a bit different from its predecessors. As you might imagine, having an exhausted bunch of editors flying between Taiwan and the U.S. isn't exactly conducive to publishing a lot of stories. But we dropped one particularly interesting one this morning: Intel Brings Its Own Benchmark to Refute AMD's '2X' EPYC Claim. If there's anything we like more than drama, it's a measuring contest, and that's exactly what Intel and AMD gave us.

Here are the other stories we covered from Computex 2019 before our flights boarded:

We also have the Best of Computex 2019 awards, plus a collection of the best case mods we saw at the show. Otherwise you can check out our coverage from earlier this week via the following links: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4 of Computex 2019. We're discussing this year's announcements in the Tom's Hardware forums, too, so let us know if there was anything you thought stood out from the rest of the pack. (Or maybe let you down.)

That's all we have from Taiwan, but don't be surprised if we keep writing about Computex 2019 in the days ahead. You can follow us on the way home--not literally, seriously, we have thermal paste on our persons at all times and we aren't afraid to use it--on Facebook and Twitter. If you still haven't had enough of Computex 2019, check out the dedicated page for the show for all our coverage, as well as our coverage of previous shows. Now we sleep.
Kansas City Drivers Confront Moving Speed Bump Infestation

Can anything stop the armadillo from taking over Kansas City? In Texas, the armadillo is ubiquitous. What you might not know: The small mammals covered in a leathery shell are a relative newcomer to the Lone Star State. Armadillos are native to South America and were unknown outside the Rio Grande Valley in the southern tip of Texas when the state joined the union in 1845.

Zoo Touts New Prisoner

Hip, Hippo, Hooray: Kansas City Zoo welcomes 3-year-old hippopotamus The Kansas City Zoo has welcomed a new addition - Cairo, a 3-year-old hippopotamus.Cairo came to the zoo from the Gulf Breeze Zoo in Florida. She arrived in April and completed the quarantine process before heading out to explore her habitat for the first time this week.

Celebrate Kansas City Pet Tech Hype

Facial recognition app helps KC owners find lost pets KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Facial recognition to find lost pets? Yep, there's an app for that. The app is called KC Pet Project said the free app allows people to look for lost pets, post found ones and even adopt. Users are also able to register their pets on the app.

Black & White Roundup

Clay County deputy helps corral escaped zebras Clay Co. Sheriff SOURCE: Clay Co. Sheriff A Clay County sheriff's deputy helped corral a few zebras that escaped early Friday. The Sheriff's Office said the zebras were reported to be wandering in the area of Missouri 92 and Cameron Road about 7 a.m.A deputy responded and the zebras were quickly returned to their home, authorities said.

Show-Me Swimming With The Fishes

Missouri River to crest at highest level since 1993 PLEASANT HILL, MO (KCTV) -- The National Weather Service is reporting that the Missouri River will crest on Saturday at a level not seen since 1993. The river is forecast to crest at 36.4 feet in Kansas City in the morning. "This would be the highest crest at this gauge since the 1993 floods," the NWS said.

Fanboys Love Their Daddy Other Than Clark Hunt

Father's Day gift guide for Chiefs fans Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. Father's Day is just around the corner - happening next Sunday, June 16 . But don't worry-we've done the work for you.

Steamy In The City

Saturday will be warm, muggy Temperatures will quickly climb Saturday. Look for a high in the mid- to-upper 80s. You will notice the humidity increase, too. Strong to severe storms could po...

A glimpse at serious content hoping to help the world with powerful scantily-clad testimony:Closer to home, these news links also dominate our right now and mostly concern local Friday nigh wildlife:And this is thefor right now . . .
As tensions simmer between Wyandotte County DA and police, where is the mayor? Steven Rios, a Kansas City, Kan., police officer has been charged with sexual battery against a co-worker. He allegedly committed the crime while on duty, said Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree during a press conference Tuesday.

Pure partisan hackery from this column when, IN FACT, the new mayor has been clear on his support for 1st responders and police in particular. Here's the newspaper tragically targeting anyone who doesn't support their DNC social justice posturing. Checkit:
Bannon, Kobach unveil half a mile of crowdfunded border wall Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and ex-White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon unveiled a half-mile stretch of privately funded southern border wall on Friday amid questions into the fundraising of their group.

The Kansas firebrand is now part of a sketchy online begging effort that hasn't satisfied all of the supporters but HERE is the latest chapter in the immigration cash crusade . . . Checkit:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects inside a machinery factory in the country's Jagang Province, according to the Korean Central News Agency, Saturday. Yonhap



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected machinery factories and other economic facilities in Jagang Province bordering China, in his first public outing in more than three weeks, Pyongyang's state media reported Saturday.



Since Kim oversaw the launch of short-range missiles, May 9, he has not appeared in the North's state media, sparking rumors that he could be suffering from some health problem, such as diabetes or hypertension.



The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that he inspected the Kanggye General Tractor Plant, Kanggye General Precision Machine Plant, Jangjagang Machine Tool Factory and the February 8 General Machine Factory. They are key defense facilities.



At the Kanggye General Tractor Plant, Kim expressed his appreciation for workers "having produced highly efficient machinery and equipment conducive to the national economy and the strengthening of defense capabilities," according to the KCNA.









"The Supreme Leader of the Party, the State and the armed forces said that the 70 year-long history of the plant is the history of noble spirit and staunch revolutionary spirit," KCNA said.



At the Kanggye General Precision Machine Plant, Kim noted that it was necessary to "turn the plant into a modern plant with completed mechanics of production and thus put it on an advanced level of the world."





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un evaluates a new construction plan for Kanggye and Manpo cities in Jagang Province, while provincial officials and the project's technical officers listen to him, according to the Korean Central News Agency, Saturday. Yonhap
Right here, you can learn all the essential facts and features of the most critical Ferrari this year.

Ferrari introduced the first-ever plug-in hybrid dubbed the SF90 Stradale. It is quicker than the mighty LaFerrari, capable of driving on electricity, and it can reach 124 mph in a staggering 6.7 seconds when in attack mode. All of that at a dramatically lower price compared to any other Ferrari capable of such a feat.

Welcome the Most Powerful Ferrari Of All Time - the 986 horsepower Ferrari SF90 Stradale

First ever V-8 powered, all-wheel drive Ferrari

The most powerful V-8 engine ever installed in a road-going Ferrari

First Ferrari that can cover 15 miles as an EV

First Ferrari that can accelerate to 84 mph on electricity

Quicker compared to the LaFerrari at the Fiorano test track

The 2021 SF90 Stradale Is Ferraris First Series Production PHEV

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale is Maranellos first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Although an extreme representation of PHEV philosophy, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale is, in part, created to lower the average emissions and consumption within the Ferrari lineup. While Ferrari remained coy on the emission and fuel consumption details, I am sure that the SF90 will be eligible to enter the so-called Low-Emission zones in European cities and elsewhere.

After all, the SF90 can cover up to 15 miles only electricity. Its three electric motors source the power from a high-end, 7.9-kWh, lithium-ion battery.

That may not sound like a lot, but it is enough to give that electric boost, lower the emissions, and ease the consumption of the 4.0-liter, V-8 ICE.

Furthermore, with a plan to produce more than 10,000 vehicles annually, Ferrari enters the regulatory domain of mass production car manufacturers. That means they submit to most of the same rules any other manufacturer has to comply with.

2020 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Hybrid drivetrain specifications Internal combustion engine Type V8 - 90 - turbo  dry sump Total displacement 3990 cc Maximum power output 574 kW (780 cv) @ 7500 rpm Max torque 800 Nm @ 6000 rpm Specific power output 195 cv/l Max. engine speed 8000 rpm Compression ratio 9.5:1 Hybrid system Maximum power electric motors 162 kW (220 cv) Battery capacity 7.9 kWh Max. range under electric power 25 km Transmission and gearbox 8-speed, F1 dual-clutch transmission Performance Maximum speed 340 km/h 0-100 km/h 2.5 s 0-200 km/h 6.7 s 100-0 km/h 29.5 m Dry weight/power 1.57 kg/cv Laptime at Fiorano 79s

This Is Why the 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Has 3 Electric Motors

Yes, you read that right! The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale has three electric motors under its sexy body.

Why?

First of all, two electric motors are located in the front and power only the front wheels. The third one, called the MGUK (you'll learn later what this F1-derived tech exactly means) sits between the engine and the transmission.

All three of them source the power from the small lithium-ion battery pack.

With the introduction of three electric motors, Ferrari got a unique chance to create a 4WD car (the first mid-engine, V-8 powered, 4WD car for the company), and utilize a unique torque vectoring system. With two electric motors in the front, the Ferrari SF90 Stradales torque vectoring system can vary "between the inside and the outside wheel in cornering based on dynamic conditions." In short, if needed, the system can apply a certain amount of power to a certain wheel in a certain moment, thus enhancing cornering performance. So, apart from providing thrust and enabling the SF90 Stradale to use all the available grip in the right way, the front electric motors also provide power when the SF90 needs to reverse.

On the other hand, the third electric motor, called the MGU-K, is an F1 derived technology.

It does provide thrust when needed, but it also regenerates energy when decelerating. Ill let Remi Taffin, Director of Operations at Renault Sport F1 to explain to you what the MGUK does:

The MGU-K is very similar to what is found in the so-called hybrid production cars. In F1, we have an electric motor that is connected to the petrol engine. During the braking phases, it recovers the energy that is normally lost in heat. We now recover a good part of that kinetic energy that is then stored in a battery. The MGU-K can work in both directions: to recover or to supply energy.

Ferraris F1 car has the same tech, and now, the production SF90 has it too. When all three electric motors work together, they can release 218 horsepower.

Ferrari SF90 Stradale vs Ferrari LaFerrari Ferrari SF90 Stradale Ferrari LaFerrari Engine V-8 V-12 Horsepower 780 HP @ 7,500 RPM 800 HP @ 9,000 RPM Torque 800 NM @ 6,000 RPM 700 NM @ 6,750 RPM Hybrid system three electric motors HY-KERS system Hybrid power 220 HP 163 HP Top Speed 340 km/h 350 km/h 0-100 km/h 2.5 s <3 s 0-200 km/h 6.7 s <7 s

The V-8 in the 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Was Changed a Lot

The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradales twin-turbocharged V-8 engine develops an astounding 780 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. The V-8 engine, evolved from the one in the F8 Tributo (where it develops 710 horsepower), went through a massive change.

By increasing the diameter of cylinders (their bore) to 88 millimeters, Ferrari increased the V-8s capacity to 3,990 ccs. This is now a 4.0-liter, V-8 engine!

Completing the changes, Ferrari engineers also modified:

The intake

Added a new exhaust manifold

Revised the cylinder heads

Added new injectors

Added a new, smaller flywheel

Employed new engine mounts

Ferrari SF90 STradale vs. Ferrari F8 Tributo Ferrari SF90 Stradale Ferrari F8 Tributo Engine V-8 V-8 Horsepower 780 HP @ 7,500 RPM 710 HP @ 8,000 RPM Torque 800 NM @ 6,000 RPM 568 LB-FT @ 3,250 RPM Hybrid system three electric motors - Hybrid power 220 HP - Top Speed 340 km/h 340 km/h (211 mph) 0-100 km/h 2.5 s 2.9 s 0-200 km/h 6.7 s 7.8 s

The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Introduced Us to a Lot of New Acronyms

I am sure you wonder what the all-new Ferrari SF90 Stradales acronyms mean. Well, heres the answer:

MGUK (Motor Generator Unit, Kinetic) An F1- derived technology developed to recuperate energy otherwise lost during deceleration. It is an electric motor that sits between the V-8 engine and the transmission. Apart from recuperating energy, this motor can also provide thrust and help the V-8 to accelerate the SF90 Stradale quicker. RAC-e (Rotation Axis Control-electric) A torque vectoring, electronic cornering setup regulator. What? In short, the system precisely controls the level of torque applied to each of the front wheels. It helps Ferrari to corner better. eSSC (electronic Side Slip Control) A mastermind that controls torque distribution to all wheels, a new brake-by-wire system, electric motors, regenerative braking, and torque vectoring. Its like Keyser Soze of the Ferrari SF90 Stradale eTC (Electric Traction Control) As Ferrari reports, "optimally manages the availability of the torque - both ICE and electric - distributing it to the individual wheels to suit driving conditions and grip requirements."

The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Has a New Chassis

To fight the stresses of the AWD system, new propulsion methods, and even more extreme performance, Ferrari engineers dramatically reimagined the chassis compared to anything we have seen before.

Engineers changed the production philosophy introducing the hollow castings instead of the ribbed castings.

Also, theyve used new aluminum alloys, special carbon-fiber, and even more rigid materials. All of this is to improve NVH values, increase torsional rigidity, and keep the weight at the lowest levels possible. In fact, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale tips the scales at 3,461 pounds.

The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Has a New Steering Wheel and New Infotainment System

If you thought that the steering wheel on the 488 GTB was busy, take a look at this one. Not only you can control lights, indicators, or modes, but now you have a chance to control the central cluster screens, activate the voice control system, and use the cruise control (same as on the F1 cars).

The reason for the integration of even more controls on the steering wheel is quite smart actually.

Ferrari wants to create the best HMI (human machine interface) possible, and how better to do it than to enable the driver to control every function without taking hands from the wheel?

The infotainment system and the new head-up display play a major role in this.

Whats Does The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradales Name Mean?

SF90 means - Scuderia Ferrari 90th anniversary. Stradale, translated from Italian, means road-going! So, the real name of this car is Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari 90th anniversary Road-going! Yes, it is a bit of a mess, but it gives you some clues. The Ferrari SF90 Stradale is the best road-going car Ferrari has produced in its 90 years of history.

I led you astray with this tough.

See, the 2019 Ferrari F1 car is called the SF90! The SF90 Stradale, then, is like an F1 car for the road!

Whatever the case, the new Ferrari SF90 Stradale is simply incredible.

2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Performance

The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale lapped the Fiorano test track in 1 minute and 19 seconds. Do you know what this means? It means that the SF90 Stradale can beat the LaFerrari around the Fiorano. It will be on the tail of the FXX as well. That brute is barely a second quicker there. Yes, the SF90 Stradale is the fastest road-going Ferrari around the Fiorano test track. Thats amazing.

Ferrari lap times around the Fiorano track Ferrari SF90 Stradale 119.00 2019 Ferrari LaFerrari 119.70 2015 Ferrari F12tdf 121.00 2015 Ferrari 488 Pista 121.50 2018 Ferrari 488 Pista Spider 121.50 2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast 121.50 2017 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari 122.30 2003 Ferrari F12berlinetta 122.40 2012 Ferrari F8 Tributo 122.50 2019 Ferrari 488 GTB 123.00 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale 123.50 2013 Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta 123.50 2015 Ferrari 599 GTO 124.00 2010 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari 124.90 2003 Ferrari 458 Italia 125.00 2010 Ferrari 430 Scuderia 125.00 2007

The Ferrari SF90 Stradales raw performance numbers go as follow:

Ferrari SF90 Stradale performance figures Maximum speed: 211 mph 0-62 mph: 2.5 s 0-124 mph: 6.7 s 62-0 mph: <96.7 feet

Let me tell you that the SF90 Stradale is only 0.2 seconds behind the Chiron in its sprint to 124 mph and only 0.1 seconds behind the Koenigsegg Regera. I firmly believe that 0-62 mph comparison in this strange bracket of insanity is beside the point. I dont even believe the claimed 2.5 seconds to 62 for the SF90 Stradale. It will do 2 on a good day. It has to. It has freaking 1,000 normal horsepower.

The 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Does Not Have a Reverse Gear

The new dual-clutch eight-speed gearbox is quicker than before, 22 pounds lighter, and provides better fuel efficiency. The thing is that it does not have a reverse gear. At all. If you want to go in reverse in your SF90 Stradale, you have to select eDrive mode (electric mode), and select R. In that case, only the electric motors on the front wheels will provide power.

Kinda cool!

Ferrari SF90 Stradale Aerodynamics

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale generates 860 pounds of downforce at 150 mph. More important than that is the fact that the aerodynamic magic provides the cooling for numerous features that get really hot when driving hard. That was the most challenging part - the development of the aerodynamics that will disperse the heat correctly and effectively, but also provide insane amounts of downforce. With many active aerodynamic surfaces (like that sleek rear wing), the SF90 Stradale features an advanced aerodynamic setup.

While all this sounds impressive, I have to tell you that the Ferrari isnt even close to the extreme with this kind of downforce. Remember that ugly McLaren Senna? Well, that thing produces 1,764 pounds of downforce at 155 mph. The McLaren P1, which is older, generate about 440 pounds less, but still more than the SF90 Stradale.

Dont let this discourage you. I would argue that the Ferrari SF90 Stradale downforce is on par with the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. That one can produce up to1,080 pounds of downforce at its maximum velocity.

2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano Package

The Assetto Fiorano package is like a track package for a hypercar. Choose this and yours Ferrari SF90 Stradale will get:

GT racing-derived Multimatic shock absorbers

carbon fiber door panels

carbon fiber underbody

titanium springs

titanium exhaust

carbon-fiber rear spoiler

soft, track loving and track hugging Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 tires

2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale eManettino Switch

I will go on a limb here and suppose that you dont know what the Manettino switch does on Ferrari cars?

In short, with this little lever (manettino in Italian), you can usually control suspension settings, traction control, electronic differential, and speed of the gearbox.

For the Ferrari SF90 Stradale, the Italians changed its name to eManettino.

Unlike the classic Manettino, which is heavily inspired by the same switch in Ferrari F1 cars, the driver can choose between four different modes on the eManettino. They affect the propulsion system. Ill let Ferrari explain how eManettino modes work in detail:

eDrive The internal combustion engine remains off and traction is entrusted entirely to the electric front axle. Starting with a fully charged battery, the car can cover up to 25 km in this mode. This mode is ideal for city center driving or any other situation in which the driver wishes to eliminate the sound of the Ferrari V8. Hybrid This is the default setting when the car is turned on, in which the power flows are managed to optimize the overall efficiency of the system. The control logic autonomously decides whether to keep the internal combustion engine running or turn it off. If it is on, the internal combustion engine can run at maximum power thus guaranteeing powerful performance whenever the driver requires. Performance Unlike Hybrid, this mode keeps the ICE running because the priority is more on charging the battery than on efficiency. This guarantees that power is instantly and fully available when required. This mode is best suited to situations in which driving pleasure and fun behind the wheel are the main focus. Qualify This mode allows the system to achieve maximum power output by allowing the electric motors to work at their maximum potential (162kW). The control logic prioritizes performance over battery charging.

I am wondering if you can you deplete the battery if you select the Qualify mode and drive around the track at the limit for, say, half of an hour!? After all, Ferrari did say that the battery can provide maximum assistance and power for a lap even on the longest tracks on earth (including that one - the Nurburgring).

What if you want to drive five full laps on the Nurburgring? Would you have enough electric boost?

How Much Does the 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Cost?

Of course, Ferrari did not reveal the SF90 Stradales price, but the word on the street is that it will cost more than $500,000. Thats steep. But not steep enough, it seems. More than 2,000 people noted interest in this Ferrari. It is a big seller.

And I am not even surprised. You have Koenigsegg Regera and Bugatti Chiron levels of performance here, for a fraction of price.

I cannot believe that Im saying that half a mil seems like a bargain.

This price sits the Ferrari SF90 Stradale in the same bracket as the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. It is quite incredible how different these two cars are. Yet, when it comes to speed and dollars. Both of them knock it out of the park.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari

Read our full review on the 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale.

Read our full speculative review on the 2021 Ferrari LaFerrari Successor.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon meets members of a Marine Corps unit in Ganghwa County, Incheon, Saturday, amid fears of the spread of African swine flu, an outbreak of which has been confirmed in North Korea. Yonhap









Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon visited a pig farm and a military unit in a border region Saturday to check on efforts to prevent an outbreak of African swine fever following a confirmed case of the disease in North Korea.







Late last month, Pyongyang notified the World Organization for Animal Health of an outbreak of the swine fever at a farm near the border with China. Since then, Seoul has launched efforts to block any spread of the disease whose fatality rate for pigs is known to be 100 percent.







"As an outbreak of African swine fever has officially been confirmed in North Korea, it is very important to take disinfection and quarantine measures in border regions," the prime minister said after visiting a pig farm and a Marine Corps unit in Ganghwa County in Incheon, west of Seoul.







Lee stressed the need to focus on preventing wild boars from the North entering South Korean territory through the Han River estuary.







The government has designated 10 cities and counties along the heavily fortified border where quarantine measures will be undertaken. (Yonhap)


sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, May 31

Fluctuating prices of onions which alternatively leave farmers and consumers in tears may soon be a thing of the past as the government has teamed up with cultivators companies to buy their stock during surplus for release during lean periods.

Under a joint venture between the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and Maha-FPC  the apex body of farmer producer companies  in the state, 50,000 tonnes of onion are being purchased from farmers which will form part of the buffer stock being built by government. The onions will be released during the lean season when supplies dry up and prices begin to soar.

According to NAFED officials, storage and marketing infrastructure for onions is being constructed with funding from the government. Cold storage and sorting facilities are being set up in Nashik, Pune and other onion growing areas, according to Nana Patil, chairman, NAFED.

The initial corpus of Rs 25 crore is being shared equally by the government and farmer producer companies, according to Patil.

The MahaOnion project, which got to a small start last year, is being expanded and will cover most onion-growing areas in Maharashtra like Ahmednagar, Osmanabad and Aurangabad, according to NAFED.

In the past, the agency used to procure onions from the mandis of Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon. However, following the change in Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee rules by the Maharashtra government, farmer producer companies can bypass the APMCs and sell directly to NAFED.

Under the MahaOnion project we purchase, sort and grade onions which are then sent for storage, says Yogesh Thorat, managing director, Maha-FPC. The joint venture hit the headlines after it provided jobs to several thousand farmers in the drought-hit areas for sorting and grading onions. Thorat says the MahOnion project helped curtail the monopoly of traders who have a stranglehold on the onion trade.

Sources say farmers who sold their produce to the joint venture earned a decent Rs 933 per quintal just weeks after wholesale onion procurement prices crashed to less than one rupee per kilo in the Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon mandis. Though the amount of onions processed under the MahaOnion project is a tiny fraction of the total crop produced in Maharashtra, the state government expects to grow in the coming years.

Creating buffer stock
editorial@tribune.com

Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31

A 22-year-old youth, who was nabbed for ATM frauds in the city, had duped around 50 persons of Rs 10 lakh in different states. He had bought a Swift car and a motorcycle with the ill-gotten money.

A team of the Sarangpur police station had identified the fraudster as Monu Kumar, a resident of Dadu Majra Colony. He is involved in ATM fraud cases since 2016.

The interrogation of the suspect revealed that he used to withdraw Rs 20,000 from each card and had duped at least 50 persons, said a police officer. The police said he led a lavish life and spent money on gadgets. He had purchased a second hand Swift car for Rs 2.40 lakh and a motorcycle for Rs 70,000.

Monu learnt the art of duping people from a person in UP. Bablu of Saharanpur used to provide blocked ATM cards of victims, who were duped earlier. The same cards were exchanged with ATM cards of new victims.

The police said they had footage of a CCTV camera in which the suspect was seen duping a victim.

He used to identify gullible people and used to exchange their ATM card with a similar card on the pretext of helping them. Later, he used to withdraw money from the victims account. In February, he had withdrawn Rs 20,000 from a teachers account by swapping the ATM card. He also withdrew Rs 13,000 from another persons account earlier this week at an ATM booth in Ram Darbar.
editorial@tribune.com

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31

Heat wave conditions will persist for the next 24 hours. The temperature is set to dip from June 2 according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature touched 44.2C on Friday, which is the highest temperature recorded during the last seven years in May. It was on May 31, 2012, when maximum temperature touched 44.8C.

The heat wave conditions will persist for the next 24 hours. But from June 2 onwards there is a dip in temperature and the relief will continue till June 4, said Surender Paul, Director, IMD, Chandigarh.

Heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40C or more in plains and is above normal by 4.5C to 5C. If the temperature is above normal by 6.5C then it is a condition of severe heat wave. At present in Chandigarh, day temperature is above normal by 5C.

Health Department issues heat wave advisory

According to the advisory issued by the UT Health Department: Heat wave is emerging as a public health problem and has claimed 26,125 lives in India from 1992 to 2018. 

It is predicted that severe heat wave conditions may be experienced during May-June in many parts of the country.

Avoid direct exposure to sun.

Stay indoors in well ventilated and cool places.

Electric fans may provide comfort, but when the temperature is high, take a cool shower or bath, or move to a cooler or air-conditioned place.

Wear preferably cotton clothes which are lightweight, light-coloured and loose-fit.

Cover head with an umbrella/ cloth/hat when going out in sun.

Use footwear and goggles

Never leave anyone in a parked vehicle.

Call 108 for medical emergency

Maintain hydration

Drink plenty of fluids (non-alcoholic) at frequent interval, regardless of your activity level, Dont wait until youre thirsty to drink.

Preferably take water, lemon juice (nimbupaani), lassi, chaach, jal-jeera, aam-panna, butter milk, coconut water or other locally available natural drinks.

Eat fruits and vegetables with high water content like watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, pineapple, orange, grapes, lettuce or other locally available fruits and vegetables.

Avoid liquids that contain alcohol, caffeinated or soft drinks like cola or drinks with large amount of sugar as these lead to loss of more body fluid or may cause stomach cramps.

If you must be out in the heat

Limit outdoor activity to morning and evening hours. Cut down exercise.

If must exercise, drink two to four glasses of cool, non-alcoholic fluids each hour.

A sport beverage can replace salt and minerals you lose in the sweat.

Try to rest frequently in shady and cool areas.

Take regular breaks from any physical activity at least every hour.

Avoid strenuous activity during the hottest part of the day.

People at risk
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, May 31

The General House of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has cancelled the agenda for framing a policy to regularise mobiles towers installed without permission.

The MC had framed the policy on the directions of the Administration on the pattern of Punjab where the urban local bodies have been entrusted the responsibility of giving permission for such towers. In contrast to Punjab, the Estate Office of the Administration is the nodal agency for allowing towers in Chandigarh and the civic body has no role in the process. More than 400 mobile towers were installed on the MC land without permission over a period of the time.

When the Estate Office served notice to the telecom companies, they challenged the notices in the court and the matter is finally pending in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Administration asked the Municipal Corporation to frame a policy for regularisation of all illegal towers on the pattern of the Punjab so that it can become the source of income for the cash-starved MC. But councillors today rejected the policy in view of the pending court case. The councillors said any such policy should be framed only after the verdict of the court was announced.

400 towers installed sans permission

The MC had framed the policy on the directions of the Administration on the pattern of Punjab where the urban local bodies have been entrusted the responsibility of giving permission for such towers. In contrast to Punjab, the Estate Office of the Administration is the nodal agency for allowing towers in Chandigarh and the civic body has no role in the process. More than 400 mobile towers were installed on the MC land without permission over a period of the time.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31

Five persons  a Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, Labour Enforcement Officer, both posted in Chandigarh, two partners of a Bathinda private firm and an employee of a construction company  have been arrested by the CBI in a Rs 1.30-lakh bribe case.

Those arrested are Mahesh Chand Sharma, Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, Vivek Naik, Labour Enforcement Officer, Akhand Raj Singh of Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd, Bathinda, and Gurmeet Singh and Munish Garg, both from Advantage HR Solutions, Bathinda.

The CBI had a tip-off about some persons acting as middlemen between industrialists, contractors and government officials. They used to negotiate and collect illegal gratification from industrialists and contractors in lieu of extending favours to them by facilitating relief in inspections carried out in their establishments, the CBI said.

On May 30, the CBI laid a trap at Hotel Western Court, Sector 10, Panchkula, where the suspects were supposed to meet. The Labour Enforcement Officer and three others met at the hotel.

While leaving the hotel, Gurmeet handed over a packet containing the money to Naik. Acting swiftly, the CBI officials nabbed all suspects.

Naik claimed that he had taken a bribe of Rs 1.30 lakh, which was to be shared with the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, following which he was asked to call his senior and inform him about having received the bribe money, CBI sources said. Following the call, the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner was also arrested.

Searches were carried out at offices and houses of the suspects and some documents were recovered. All suspects were produced before the CBI court, Sector 43, today. While CBI sleuths demanded a five-day remand, the court sent them to three-day remand.

Dy Chief Labour Commissioner was to get share

Those arrested are Mahesh Chand Sharma, Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, Vivek Naik, Labour Enforcement Officer, Akhand Raj Singh of Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd, Bathinda, and Gurmeet Singh and Munish Garg, both from Advantage HR Solutions, Bathinda. Naik claimed that he had taken a bribe of Rs 1.30 lakh, which was to be shared with the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner.

Middlemen used to collect money

Gurmeet Sidhu and Munish Garg were acting as middlemen between Mahesh Chand Sharma, Vivek Naik and other unknown officers of the Labour Department. It is alleged that they used to collect Rs 35,000 each from private parties on a quarterly basis for allowing them to manipulate provisions related to compliance of the EPF Act and labour laws.

What had happened

According to the CBI, Naik had conducted an inspection on the premises of Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd in Bathinda on May 8. Naik detected irregularities in the records relating to compliance of labour laws and provisions of the EPF. The same day, Akhand Raj Singh, an employee of the construction company, informed Gurmeet regarding the inspection and claimed that despite paying Rs 30,000 on a quarterly basis, the inspection was carried out. On May 15, Gurmeet contacted Naik, who then asked him to arrange bribe money from the Nagarjuna company.
Devinder Sharma

Devinder Sharma

Food & Agriculture Specialist

Punjab, the food bowl, has broken all previous records in wheat productivity. From 50.64 quintals per hectare achieved last year, the average wheat yield has risen to 51.71 quintals. With such high crop productivity and with 98 per cent cultivable area under assured irrigation, Punjab farming should be an epitome of rural prosperity. But there is hardly a day when newspapers dont carry reports of farmers committing suicide. With 10,000 suicides reported in the past decade, Punjab has, in fact, turned into a hotbed of farm suicides.

Let us look at America. In 2018, the average farm incomes had nosedived, with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimating the median farm income to be in the negative. It stood at minus $1,553 (or minus Rs 1.07 lakh). In other words, the average farm household was living in debt, with the debt margin increasing substantially for half the households existing below the median. What made it still worse was that 2018 was not an exceptional year, the downward trend in farm incomes had continued for six years in a row. No wonder, the National Farmers Union and Farm Women United in the US have time and again expressed concern at the growing stress, and increasing depression among farm workers.

Lets come back to Punjab. A recent study entitled Levels of Living: Farmers and Agricultural Labourers by Punjabi University has shown that 85.9 per cent of agricultural dependant households are living in debt. The average debt that a farming household carries is Rs 5.52 lakh. The burden of debt is more for the farm workers, wherein the average debt per household is roughly Rs 68,330. The high productivity achieved was not translating into higher incomes. Like in the US, the burden of debt increases for the household with smaller farm size. The burden for small farmers being so severe that even the promised loan waiver of Rs 2 lakh is unable to provide succour. Otherwise, there is no reason why the spate of suicide in Punjab should not come down by a significant margin.

The question that arises, and is invariably ignored, is why indebtedness should be mounting in a frontline agricultural state which has very high yields of wheat, rice and maize  among the highest in the world? Why is it that despite putting in hard labour, keeping crop pests at bay, keeping an overnight vigil from stray animals, protecting the standing crop from weather anomalies, and producing an abundant and top quality harvest fail to get farmers the rightful price? Why is it that despite the crop yields improving year after year, more and more youngsters are not only quitting farmin, but also are leaving the country? In 2018, an estimated 1.5 lakh students had gone abroad for studies, and it is well-known that a majority will not return. Looking at the growing trend, a number of institutes in Punjab have started offering free IELTS courses to their students.

This surely is an outcome of the continuing neglect of farming. For several decades, agriculture distress has been growing not only in the more progressive Punjab and Haryana, but also across the countrys rural landscape, and clearly much more severely. With farming turning uneconomical and a losing proposition, what do we expect the younger people to do? And if all that the policy makers are suggesting as the possible way out is to borrow the failed prescriptions from the US or for that matter the EU, the rural youth feels stranded and lost. If the US agriculture is in itself faced with a terrible farm crisis, leading to negative farm incomes, and with EU agriculture somehow gasping on massive federal subsidies, there is no reason why the policy prescription to revitalise Indian agriculture cannot be more grounded, based on naturally available strengths.

Among the tasks cut out for the new government, agrarian distress and unemployment definitely take precedence. But if the thrust of the policy imperatives being suggested is to bring in more market reforms, primarily ensuring that the sales of tractors, automobiles and FMCG products pick up in the rural areas, farm distress will only aggravate. Some mainline economists and the dominant industrial lobby groups are demanding land acquisitions to be made easier, dismantling of the APMC regulating mandis and phasing out of MSP in the next three years, among other things. Much of the emphasis is on incorporating the US farm economy design, which relies on private markets and strengthening corporate control of agriculture.

If these policies had worked, there was no reason why US family farms would be in crisis. Why should the number of dairy farms, for instance, come down from 70,000 in 2007 to 40,000 in 2017? Why should dairy farmers be committing suicide at an alarming rate? This is happening at a time when the worlds biggest commodity trading centre  Chicago Mercantile Exchange  is located in the US, and the worlds biggest organised retail chain, WalMart, has completed over half a century. But neither commodity trading nor the entry of private markets could rescue agriculture. Some studies point out that in the 1930s, a US farmer would save 70 cents for every dollar of produce sold. After the entry of organised retail chains, the net income has dropped to 4 cents per dollar. If the BigAg prescription had worked, US agriculture wouldnt have been crying for a still bigger social security net.

Considering that small farmers in India are the backbone of a healthy food system, sustaining millions of livelihoods, and provides a trigger for a vibrant rural economy, the new government should not get attracted by a borrowed economic design that has outlived its utility. As India gets ready to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the government will do well to draw a roadmap for reviving agriculture based on Gandhian principles. Taking people out of agriculture to become dehari-mazdoor in cities is not the way forward. What India needs is a production system by the masses, and not for the masses. Making agriculture economically viable and environmentally sustainable is what the Mahatma had dreamt.
South Korean Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo attends the second plenary session of the 18th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual defense and security forum in Asia, in Singapore, Saturday. AP-Yonhap



Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo reiterated Saturday that more analysis is needed to determine whether North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles last month, even though his U.S. and Japanese counterparts have characterized the launches as a violation of UNSC resolutions.



Jeong made the remarks during a session of the Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, stressing that the assessment of the North's May 9 launches was based on close cooperation and coordination with the United States.



"There is a lot of discussion on whether they were short-range ballistic missiles or not ... There were similarities, but there were also differences. So we need more analysis to make sure and verify their nature," Jeong said in answer to a question from the audience.





Acting U.S. Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan, center, and South Korean Minister of National Defence Jeong Kyeong-doo during a gala dinner at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) 18th Asia Security Summit in Singapore, Friday. AFP-Yonhap







Speaking at the same session, Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said that he believes that North Korea test-fired "short-range ballistic missiles," and that this was a shared view between the U.S. and Japan.



On Thursday, acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan also told reporters, "These were short-range missiles and those are a violation of the UNSCR. Yes." UNSCR stands for U.N. Security Council resolutions.



Under the resolutions, the North is banned from testing ballistic missiles.





South Korea's Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, left, shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya during the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, Saturday. AFP-Yonhap
Prem Chowdhry

Prem Chowdhry

Author and academic, Delhi University

The recent acknowledgement of Dutee Chand, one of our foremost international sprinters and winner of several medals, about her same-sex relationship has once again foregrounded the issue forcefully. Within days of this declaration, a 19-year-old girl in Odishas Jagatpur district was beaten up and tied to a tree for being in a lesbian relationship. How long will this penalisation continue?

Homosexuality legalised

India inherited the criminalisation of same-sex relationship from the British who had criminalised anal sex and oral sex (for both heterosexuals and homosexuals) under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in 1861. This made it an offence for a person to voluntarily have carnal intercourse against the order of nature. After 157 years, the Supreme Court, in September 2018, legalised homosexuality by adjudging Section 377 to be unconstitutional and declaring it to be infringing on the fundamental rights of autonomy, intimacy and identity. It pronounced the criminalising of carnal intercourse as irrational, arbitrary and manifestly unconstitutional.

In 2009, the Delhi High Court had decriminalised Section 377, but this order was set aside in 2013 by an SC Bench. In 2018, the SC overturned its earlier 2013 judgment. Homosexuality, it was declared, was a part of human sexuality and consensual sexual acts of adults came to be allowed for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community. The SC also directed the government to take measures to create public awareness and eliminate the stigma faced by the members of the LGBT community, also referred to as the gay community. However, the Court did not recognise same-sex marriages, despite legal experts urging it to do so.

Khaps oppose same-sex marriage

Within two months of the SC verdict in November 2018, a sarv-khap panchayat (caste council), was held at Charkhi village of Haryanas Charkhi Dadri district which called for a ban on gay sex and live-in relationships. Held at the behest of the Sangwan khap, the largest and most influential khap, the panchayat was attended by various khaps from across Haryana. Despite legal recognition of homosexuality in India, the khaps continue to see gays and lesbians as enemies of traditional values and as a source of social instability.

The attitude of the khaps has compelled gay couples to seek protections through the courts. In 2011, a Haryana court stepped in to grant recognition to a same-sex marriage, involving lesbian women Beena and Savita at Khedka village in Gurgaon district. They married each other by signing an affidavit before a public notary in Gurgaon. Beena was unmarried while Savitas marriage had been dissolved by a khap panchayat in Bagpat district. The couple had begun to receive threats from friends and relatives in their village. Consequently, the couple submitted a petition before the court, stating that they had known each other for 15 years and in June, 2011, they decided to live with each other. Their counsel told the court that both the petitioners had conveyed their intention to their parents, who did not give their consent. Beenas relatives and villagers had threatened them with dire consequences. The danger from the khaps was even more acute as they would have imposed extreme punishment (even death) on them. In this case, however, the police gave them full protection and against heavy odds, the court helped them. Several same-sex marriage petitions are pending with the courts in Haryana.

In another incident, a 21-year-old woman from Haryana, who underwent a sex-change surgery so that she and her lover could be together, is in turmoil. The woman who is now the husband has filed a police complaint that the family is not allowing his wife to meet him. In his complaint, this husband stated that the couple fell in love when they were in school and she/he had to undergo sex-change as both their families didnt agree to the same-sex marriage. Another young couple in Haryana similarly defied their families to stage India's first gay wedding in a Hindu temple.

Taint of sin

It is not hard to see that despite its official and legal recognition, homosexuality is still tainted with sin and perversion in the mainstream public discourse. Swamis and politicians have spoken against homosexuality. Ramdev, in his petition to the Supreme Court declared homosexuality as a disease. He stated that it was a curable disease and that there was a cure for it in yoga. Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that homosexuality was against Hindutva and that medical research was needed to see if homosexuality could be cured. Yogi Adityanath, CM of Uttar Pradesh, said, The disease of men having sex with men (MSM) is unnatural and not good for India.

Although the BJP remained by and large silent, the Congress welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on gay sex.

The portrayal of homosexuals in cinema and TV is also somewhat uneasy. While cinema has been more forthcoming, TV has its own set of restraints. Despite that, there are some shows that have shown same-sex relationship.

Religions have split opinion

All religions, whether Hinduism, Islam, Christianity or Buddhism, have split opinion on homosexuality, which they can and do justify on the arguments drawn from their texts.

Yet, it is clear that an overwhelming majority of people, not withstanding their personal religion, perceive homosexuality as abnormal, unnatural and at best an illness. Homosexuality is also juxtaposed with social ills, such as substance abuse and HIV/AIDS.

Politically incorrect terms, such as homosexual addiction, becoming homosexual and infected with homosexuality, still occur regularly.

The media generally reports on gay people victimised in crimes, including blackmail, robbery and sexual assault, by adopting a certain you-deserve-it point of view to drive home the point that their victimhood had its roots in some inherent weaknesses or flaws due to their sexual orientation, such as promiscuity, cowardice and stupidity. Gays and lesbians have been described as violent subjects and media reports connect their love life (and sexual behaviour) to violence and depict gays as enemies of conventional values.

This means that despite its official and legal recognition, homosexuality is still tainted with sin and perversion in the mainstream public discourse.

The attitude of the society and individuals that stigmatise gays needs to change and, for this, more needs to be done than legal and legislative attempts.

Till then, the homosexuals and gays have to live like Dutee Chand with, as she put it, negative publicity. The Supreme Court ruling has certainly given courage to the LBGT community to speak about their sexual orientation but the ground-level realities need a change for its proper reception.
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Banking on impeccable credentials, PM Narendra Modi has handed over the key portfolio of External Affairs to former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar. Casting its net wide, the government has chosen a career diplomat over a politician. Jaishankar, who served as the Ambassador to the US and China, was part of the team which negotiated the Indo-US nuclear deal during UPA-Is term. He faces the onerous task of strengthening Indias relations with the US, while safeguarding energy security and ensuring stable India-Iran ties. Dealing with Pakistan in the Pulwama-Balakot aftermath will be another challenge for him. Amit Shah has been rewarded with the Home Ministry for leading the BJP to a landslide victory. His leadership prowess is likely to stand him in good stead while running a tough ministry. Rajnath Singh, known for a no-nonsense approach, is a good choice as Defence Minister. Synergy between Shah and Rajnath will be vital for decisions impacting national security, which was a major poll plank of the saffron party.

Nirmala Sitharaman as Finance Minister has caught Indian investors by surprise as they were expecting the portfolio to go to Shah or Piyush Goyal. Sitharaman, however, is no stranger to the financial world. This protege of former FM Arun Jaitley served as a junior minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, besides running the Commerce Ministry.

NDA-I did not give the beleaguered farm sector much to cheer about. Sending out a strong message to non-performers, PM Modi has replaced Radha Mohan Singh with Narendra Singh Tomar as the Agriculture Minister. The top brass confidence in Tomars abilities is not misplaced; as Rural Development Minister, his deft handling of welfare schemes contributed to the BJPs electoral success. Former Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will head the Human Resource Development Ministry, which remained in the eye of the storm over alleged attempts at saffronisation of education. Nishank has replaced Prakash Javadekar, who has been given back Environment and Climate Change. It is expected that globally relevant ecological issues will finally get due attention. All in all, the line-up seems promising. Hopefully, the ministers will put their best foot forward in the best interests of the country.
editorial@tribune.com

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has ordered State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) inquiry into the multi-crore Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) scam in the state.

The CM took the decision as it was brought to his notice that embezzlement of money meant for PMS for Scheduled Caste and Backward Class students by changing Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries and transferring the money into forged Aadhaar-linked accounts has been going on a large scale.

It was IAS officer Sanjeev Verma, Director, Department of Welfare of SCs and BCs, who blew the lid off the Rs 3.53 crore PMS scam in Sonepat district.

The Tribune broke the story Rs 3.53-cr post-matric scholarship fraud in Haryana, 4 suspended on April 6. As the Chandigarh Police was delaying registration of FIR despite several reminders, Verma threatened satyagraha outside the Chandigarh Police headquarters and within hours, the FIR was registered on May 13.

Verma in his report had also sought vigilance probe and special audit by the Accountant General (Audit), Haryana, as Rs 236 crore has been disbursed under PMS in the past three years.

On May 21, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Haryana Legislative Assembly under chairperson Gian Chand Gupta  while discussing a PMS scam of Rs 5.15 crore in Jhajjar district which the CAG had unearthed in its report no. 5 of 2017  recommended a CBI probe to the state government.

Now, the order dated May 30 from the CMs office reads, The CM directs that an investigation by the SVB may be initiated immediately into the embezzlement to identify complicity. The CM has desired that Director General, SVB, may constitute a Special Investigation Team for the purpose."

During the internal probe in case of the PMS scam at Sonepat, where Rs 3.53 crore was disbursed in February, it was found that same mobile numbers were used against a large number of candidates. While the process up to the sanction and passing of the bill by the treasury was duly followed, the forgery took place during the preparation of the list that was forwarded to the bank for payment.

The funds are not transferred if the Aadhaar number is incorrect, incomplete, doesnt exist or not linked with a bank. In this case, the Aadhaar numbers mentioned existed and were linked with banks.

The complicity of educational institutes involved and possibility of fraud at DWO level has not been ruled out in the internal investigation.

At Jhajjar, between March and November 2014, the CAG found that Rs 5.15 crore was fraudulently disbursed. Rs 41.71 lakh was paid in regard of 28 forms where the same bank account number was shown against two different students i.e. 14 bank accounts were shown against 28 different applicants.

Also Rs 1.34 crore was paid in regard of 90 forms where the names and addresses of 45 students were repeated but their photographs were different in each case.

The payment of Rs 17.93 lakh was made to three students involving 11 different bank accounts on 12 occasions. It was also found that no photographs were affixed on 28 forms in violation of the conditions mentioned in the guidelines.
editorial@tribune.com

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, May 31

Seven more residential structures in the Kant Enclave of Surajkund here face demolition following the expiry of the May 31 deadline to vacate the premises. Thirteen buildings have already been demolished in the colony, which has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court under the Punjab Land Preservation (PLPA) Act. All 44 structures are to be removed by July 31 as per the court order dated September 11, 2018.

Sanjiv Maan, senior town planner, said, Demolition can be undertaken any time now. The premises have been vacated. It is, however, reported that the request for extending the deadline of the demolition of the seven structures up to July 31 by some residents has been turned down by the district administration. The court had allowed time up to July 31 to the owners of 24 buildings after they submitted an affidavit on January 14 to vacate the premises by the given date. While seven residents had been allowed to stay put till May 31 in view of the affidavit submitted later, the administration removed 13 residential structures on April 1 after they failed to submit any affidavit.

The state government, which has been directed to compensate the loss, has provided compensation to 20 house owners so far. Twentyfour others have failed to provide the bank account details to the office of the senior town planner. We have transferred the money to the bank account of all those who have given the details, said the senior town planner. Owners of 12 out of the 13 houses that had been demolished on April 1 have been given the compensation. The compensation amount has been fixed between Rs 68,000 and Rs 1.3 crore as per the evaluation done by the senior town planner.

Spread over 424 acres and carved out after 1990, Kant Enclave of Surajkund was declared forest land by the apex court and all constructions were declared illegal.
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday reacted sharply to former CM Om Prakash Chautalas remark of nalayak pashu (incompetent cattle) and nakara (useless) during a public meeting in Sirsa.

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Chautala was released recently on furlough from Tihar jail on May 28. He has been serving a 10-year jail sentence term for corruption. He made the remarks on May 31 while addressing a public meeting.

Khattar tweeted on Saturday, telling Chautala that the public had taught him a lesson for his undignified language. You can lose dignity but my education is not up to that level. I will pray to the God to render you good sense and may you live long, he said.

Khattar has also attached the video of Chautalas remark with the tweet. It has already reached over 1,100 retweets and over 3,800 likes by the time of filing of the story.

Chautala had said our incompetent cattle, when they get useless, whether milch cattle or otherwise, we call them Khattar . The CM uses Khattar as surname.

This nakara (useless) has come in Haryana. No one thought that they could win. It is unfortunate for the country and the state. We have suffered a lot, he had added.

Chautala had remained in jail during the recent Lok Sabha polls. The INLD gave its worst performance with vote share dropping to 1.89 % from 24.43 % in 2014. Chautalas grandson Arjun along with all other party candidates lost their security deposits.

Even in Sirsa, the home district of the Chautalas, the partys candidate Charanjeet Singh Rori, who had won the seat in 2014, was fourth. The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), the breakaway faction of the INLD, was third on the seat.

Media adviser to CM Khattar, Rajiv Jain said, Both the INLD and JJP are disappointed and frustrated after the Lok Sabha results. Their comment on an honest CM reflects the same.
editorial@tribune.com

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, May 31

Residents of Sundana village in the district, including a considerable number of women, today blocked the Kalanaur-Jhajjar road to press for the removal of a liquor shop located at the village.

The protesting villagers also complained that the police had not taken any concrete action against some youths of Ritoli village who had stabbed a youth of Sundana village a few days ago.

The villagers want that the liquor shop, which is located at the village, be removed from its present location and shifted out. A few days ago, a youth of our village was stabbed by some youths of Ritoli village, including a salesman at the liquor shop. The attackers have not been arrested so far, said Kuldeep, sarpanch of Sundana village.

The protesting villagers lifted the blockade after police officials assured them that the attackers would be arrested and their demand for shifting of the liquor shop has been forwarded to the authorities concerned.

SHO (Kalanaur) Rajender Singh said he had asked the village panchayat to pass a resolution for the removal/shifting of the liquor shop and send it to the Department of Excise and Taxation.

We also told them that our teams will nab the attackers of the Sundana youth soon, he added.
editorial@tribune.com

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 31

The executive committee of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) today suspended Prof Pramod Sharma of the MBA department on the directions of the Election Commission (EC) for allegedly campaigning for the BJP in the Lok Sabha poll.

Some Congress leaders had complained against Professor Sharma, pleading that it was the violation of model code of conduct.

The EC took cognisance of the complaint and ordered action. The matter was referred to Himachal Pradesh University and the EC decided to suspend him and also constituted a five-member committee for charge-sheeting him as per the ordinance of the university. Sharma had contested the 2017 elections as the BJP candidate from Shimla (Rural) and lost to Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Meanwhile, the EC, which met under the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor Prof Sikander Kumar, gave its approval to release Rs 77 lakh to the Noida authority as advance to lease the Resource Centre of HPU for distance education and open learning there.

The lease was given for 99 years and the place had become a white elephant as the HPU could not start courses outside the state, sources said. They added that after the payment of the full lease amount, the HPU would now rent the building to the CBSE, which would fetch an additional amount of over Rs 2 crore for the university. The council decided to give the sanitation work to the Sulabh International Organisation, besides approving two chairs  Swami Vivekananda and Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar.

The council approved to give a chance to UG students, who completed graduation before 1990, to improve the division and gave its nod to all decisions taken by the academic council sub-committees regarding the syllabi of undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma courses.

The council approved to sign an MoU by the university with the UGC with regard to new instructions for the human resource development centers throughout the country.

The council also approved the recommendations of the selection committees under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) promoting Dr Arti Dhawan Pandit (commerce), Dr Kuldeep Katoch and Dr Ajay Kumar Atri (education), Dr Anita Sharma (psychology) and Dr Vikas Dogra (journalism and mass communication) as professors.
editorial@tribune.com

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, May 31

Four militants and a civilian, who the police said was an associate of the militants, were killed in two gunfights in south Kashmir on Friday.

While two Hizbul Mujahideen militants and a civilian were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Shopian district, two militants were killed in an encounter in the Tral area of Pulwama district. They are believed to be associated with the Jaish-e-Mohammed and their identity is yet to be ascertained.

One of the militants killed in the Shopian gun battle has been identified as Adil Manzoor Magray, alias Saju Tiger, a resident of Nowpora Payeen in Pulwama district. Magray was the commander of the outfit and was active for the last more than two years. He had managed to give security forces the slip during several anti-militancy operations.

The other slain militant has been identified as Hilal Ahmad, a resident of Armulla, Pulwama. He had joined the Hizb last year.

The civilian killed during the gunfight has been identified as Jasim Ahmad Shah, a resident of the Sugan area in Shopian. The security forces launched the operation around 3 am in an orchard area of Dragad, Shopian.

We had specific inputs regarding the movement of militants in the area. Ambushes were laid at several places and our units waited for the militants to move, said a senior police officer from Shopian. He said the militants were spotted around 4.30 am and were signalled to lay down arms.

They, however, opened fire, which was duly retaliated, the police officer said.

In the intermittent firing between 5 am and 12:45 pm, two militants and a civilian were killed in Shopian.

We have retrieved the bodies and along with them the arms and ammunition. While two of them have been identified as active militants of the Hizb, the third one has been a long-term associate of the militants and was accompanying them, the police officer said.

Meanwhile, clashes erupted around the site of the gunfight. Hundreds of youth tried to march towards the encounter site but were dispersed by use of pellet guns and tear-smoke shells by security forces.

Several protesters were injured and were treated at local hospitals. The authorities snapped mobile Internet services in Shopian district.

The Pulwama gunfight erupted in Nanner village around 5 pm. Amid clashes, the gunfight continued for a couple of hours before the militants were gunned down. Many civilians were injured in the clashes.We have retrieved the bodies along with the arms and ammunition. Their identities and affiliations are being ascertained, a police officer said.

2 cops injured in Kishtwar encounter

Doda: Two policemen were injured in a gunfight between terrorists and security forces in Kishtwar district on Friday. The security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Appan area of Marwah in Kishtwar after receiving inputs about the presence of terrorists. The police said while forces were on the job, they came under fire from unidentified militants near Faizi Bridge. The fire was retaliated and in the ensuing gunfight, two SPOs were critically injured. oc
kavishakohli@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 1

A young tourist guide drowned but only after he managed to save the lives of at least seven tourists in Pahalgam. The tourists boat capsized in the gushing Lidder stream, officials said.

The officials said Rauf Ahmad Dar, the guide, was a resident of Kulgam district's Yinad village.

The raft capsized at a rafting point in Mawoora Pahalgam after it was caught in sudden gusty winds and all passengers onboard fell in the Lidder river, the officials said.

Dar, who is being described as a braveheart, saved the lives of all tourists but could not save himself.

The officials said a rescue mission was launched by the local police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) to save the young man. However, only his body could be recovered on Saturday morning near the Bhawani bridge. After completion of medico-legal formalities, it was handed over to his relatives, said officials.

Deputy Commissioner Anantnag has recommended Dar for bravery award, the officials said, adding the chief secretary has also hailed his bravery and directed the district administration to support the family of the deceased.

Dars braveheart act has also earned him tributes on social media.

Omar Abdullah, the state's former chief minister, tweeted about Dars bravery.
editorial@tribune.com

Srinagar, May 31

Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi could play a decisive role in solving the Kashmir issue and promised to support any initiative that aimed at its peaceful resolution.

Mirwaiz, who heads the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference and is also part of the joint resistance leadership, said the Kashmir conflict could not be solved militarily or through confrontation.

As people of India have overwhelmingly voted for Modi, this mandate gives him the opportunity and power to play a decisive role in the resolution of the Kashmir conflict, which has consumed generations of Kashmiris, Mirwaiz said while addressing a gathering at Jamia Masjid here.

Mirwaiz said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khans offer of dialogue should be considered by the Modi government.

This issue cannot be solved militarily or through confrontation but by dialogue and deliberations and Pakistan PM Imran Khans oft-repeated offer of dialogue should be seriously considered by the new dispensation. He urged New Delhi to initiate confidence-building measures, including release of political prisoners on the eve of Eid.  TNS
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan looks on during the IISS Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, Saturday. Reuters-Yonhap





North Korea remains an "extraordinary" threat to regional and global security, acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said Saturday, calling on China and other countries to work closely on sanctions imposed on the reclusive regime.







However, he stressed his strong backing for diplomacy "to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and uphold the international rule of law," in a keynote speech during the 18th Asia Security Summit, better known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore.







"We acknowledge that North Korea has neared a point where it could credibly strike regional allies, U.S. territory, and our forward-deployed forces. North Korea remains an extraordinary threat and requires continued vigilance," Shanahan said.







Negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programs have been stalled since February when the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended in failure.







In an apparent show of frustration, North Korea conducted weapons tests twice last month, including launching short-range missiles.







Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, left, meets with China's Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe during a meeting on the sidelines of the 18th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual defense and security forum in Asia, in Singapore, Friday. AP-Yonhap




editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 31

The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to fall into the trap of regional mainstream parties such as the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party and engage directly with Kashmiri youth to end the impasse in the state.

In a statement, APSCC chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina, while congratulating Modi for assuming the office of Prime Minister for the second consecutive term, said the regional parties like the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had only been exploiting the sentiments of people and doing nothing for them.

No one can escape from reality that after the recent Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi has emerged as a strong leader of the country. Given this scenario, he alone can solve the problems being confronted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Kashmir valley, Raina said.

The APSCC chairman said the Prime Minister should walk the extra mile and engage with the youth of Kashmir so that their problems were understood at the highest level. He said once this was done, people could look forward to a solution to their problems.

Raina said the energy of the youth needed to be channelled in the right direction so that they could become assets for their families and the nation as a whole.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Akshay Kumar has secured the top spot in a list of popular Bollywood actors outside India, according to a study.

He is closely followed by Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Varun Dhawan. Akshay also became the most watched actor according to the consumption study.

The findings are a part of a consumption trend study done by Spuul, a video-on-demand (VOD) streaming platform for Bollywood and regional movies. The report is based on a demographic data and consumption pattern, which resulted in insights about what Indians and Indian diaspora are viewing, read a statement.

Mayur Krishna, Content Head at Spuul, said: Through this study, we hoped to understand our viewers content preferences and how we could improve their experience on our platform. The data in the report was gathered from January 1 to April 30 from more than 47 million registered users of the platform in India, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and the UAE.

IANS
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Mumbai, June 1

Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas says there's no truth to the rumours that she met Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle's son Archie, and gifted him goodies.

Priyanka took to Twitter to share a link of an article which claimed that the Quantico actress had visited baby Archie and given him gifts from Tiffany & Co.

While these are great gift ideas... this story is untrue, and I was actually in town for work. I hope whoever this "source" is starts checking their facts more often. https://t.co/S2sDlEiLaZ  PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) 31 May 2019

She shared a link to the report, and wrote: "While these are great gift ideas... this story is untrue, and I was actually in town for work. I hope whoever this 'source' is starts checking their facts more often."

The report also said Priyanka and her husband Nick Jonas found the royal baby adorable.

While Priyanka had attended her friend Markle's wedding to Prince Harry, the former Suits star could not make it to the Bollywood actress' wedding last December.

Priyanka also did not go for Markle's baby shower in February.

However, she had celebrated the baby's birth by posting a screenshot of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's announcement and wrote: "Congratulations M & H."  IANS
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Pithoragarh, June 1

An eight-member team of mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, has gone missing on its way to Nanda Devi East peak in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand.

The team, which includes seven mountaineers from the UK, US and Australia besides a liaison officer from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering, left Munsiyari on May 13 to scale the 7,434-metre peak and was scheduled to return to the base camp on Friday.

The district administration has sent a rescue team in search of them after they failed to return to the base camp.

The district administration sprang into action after people at the base camp informed the authorities late on Friday night about the team going missing en route to the peak.

The route to the peak begins from Munsiyari, about 132 km from the district headquarters. From Munsiyari to the Nanda Devi base camp, mountaineers have to traverse a distance of about 90 km on foot.

The rescue team comprising State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), police and medical personnel has been sent to the Nanda Devi base camp in search of the climbers, Munsiyari SDM RC Gautam said.

The team was scheduled to reach the Nanda Devi base camp on Friday and Munsiyari on June 1, he said.

The SDM said the rescue team would reach the base camp on Saturday night and start rescue operation with the help of expedition team members at the base camp. PTI
shalender@tribune.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 31

Within two hours of relinquishing charge as the Navy Chief, Admiral Sunil Lanba today drove off on his own from Delhi to his retirement home Panchkula, near Chandigarh  a refreshing sight, for sure.

Soon after the ceremonial handover to his successor, Admiral Karambir Singh Nijjer  who will be in office till November 2021  Admiral Lanba went to his designated bungalow on Rajaji Marg in Lutyens Delhi.

By 1 pm, he was in his personal SUV with his wife, Reena Lanba  both all smiles  having ended more than 40 years of service in the Navy. Chiefs serve till 62 years of age.

En route, the couple planned to stop for snacks in one of the eateries that dot the national highway. Earlier, on reaching home, the personal staff allocated to him due to his protocol duties got pictures clicked with the couple. The Services Chiefs have ceremonial duties, including hosting high dignitaries, hence the personal staff.

Originally hailing from Palwal in Haryana, the soft-spoken Admiral has opted to live in Panchkula. He will be the third retired service chief to call the tricity  Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula area  home. Former Army Chief Gen VP Malik (retd) resides in Panchkula, and another former Army Chief, Gen Bikram Singh (retd), in Mohali.

The tricity will soon have another retired Chief residing there. Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa is renovating his property in Mohali and is expected to move there. His father SS Dhanoa is a former Chief Secretary of Punjab.

Meanwhile, Admiral Karambir s mother Rajinder Kaur and his two children were present at the taking-over ceremony at the South Block. Admiral Karambir, who hails from Jalandhar, has superseded Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. Commissioned in 1980, Admiral Karambir is an alumnus of NDA.
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 31

In what brings out a new threat to India and shows a growing Chinese presence in the neighbourhood, a Chinese state-owned company, Powertech Technology Inc, has been contracted to construct a permanent submarine base in Bangladeshs Coxs Bazaar.

Coxs Bazar, in Bay of Bengal, is on the eastern coast of Bangladesh and in south-eastern part of the country that abuts Myanmar. In 2017, Bangladesh took delivery of a pair of Chinese Ming-class Type 035B diesel electric submarines, joining a prestigious club of Asian maritime powers.

Indian security agencies have informed the government of the project, which was anyway expected to come up since Bangladesh got the Chinese submarines. The submarines were procured under a contract from China at a reported cost of $193 million. The submarines have been through extensive refitting and modernisation.

The Chinese company has been appointed for the job through a government-to-government negotiation between Bangladesh and China. It is still not clear if China will base something of its own permanently, but it will have visiting rights, sources in India said. The construction of a base for submarines is expected to include facilities like barracks for troops and an ammunition depot, besides repairing facilities for submarines.

China has in the past supplied naval warships to Bangladesh. An agreement was signed with Chinas Ship Building and Offshore International Company Limited in September 2015 to build the two corvettes for Bangladesh Navy. The second ship was delivered last month. Among the facilities are modern artillery guns, missile system, sophisticated 3D radars and other combat equipment.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, June 1

President Donald Trump has terminated Indias designation as a beneficiary developing nation from June 5, ending the countrys USD 5.6 billion trade concessions under the key GSP programme after determining that it has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets.

The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

I have determined that India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate Indias designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019, Trump said in a proclamation on Friday ignoring the plea made by several top American lawmakers.

On March 4, Trump announced that the US intends to terminate Indias designations as a beneficiary developing country under the GSP programme. The 60-day notice period ended on May 3.

The Trump administration has prioritised working with the Government of India to ensure that US companies have a level-playing field, a senior State Department official told reporters on Thursday, hours after Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for a second time following his spectacular electoral victory in the general elections.

Meanwhile, reacting to President Trumps decision, India on Saturday said it will continue to work with the US to strengthen economic ties in the wake of Americas decision to withdraw export benefits under the GSP programme.

In a statement, the commerce ministry in New Delhi said that in any relationship, particularly in the area of economic ties, there are ongoing issues which get resolved mutually from time to time.

It said the GSP benefits given by developed countries like the US to developing nations such as India are unilateral, non reciprocal and non discriminatory.

India exported goods worth USD 5.6 billion under GSP last year, but our total GSP benefits were to the tune of only USD 190 million, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan had said in March.

What is GSP programme

Under the GSP programme, nearly 2,000 products, including auto components and textile materials, can enter the US duty-free if the beneficiary developing countries meet the eligibility criteria established by Congress.

India was the largest beneficiary of the programme in 2017 with USD 5.7 billion in imports to the US given duty-free status and Turkey the fifth largest with USD 1.7 billion in covered imports, according to a Congressional Research Service report issued in January.

The GSP criteria includes, among others, respecting arbitral awards in favour of the US citizens or corporations, combating child labour, respecting internationally recognised worker rights, providing adequate and effective intellectual property protection, and providing the US with equitable and reasonable market access.

Countries can also be graduated from the GSP programme depending on factors related to economic development.

The Trump administration argues that New Delhi has failed to assure America that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets in numerous sectors.

In a statement, Coalition for GSP executive director Dan Anthony said Trumps decision will cost American businesses over USD 300 million in additional tariffs every year.

Without GSP benefits American small businesses face a new tax that will mean job losses, cancelled investments and cost increases for consumers. Only a year after the Senate and House passed a three year reauthorisation of the GSP by a near unanimous margin, the Trump administration has kicked out the GSP country that saves American companies more money than any other, he said.

Anthony said the Trump administration made the decision in the face of opposition from members of the Congress and hundreds of American businesses that have called for continued GSP eligibility for India.

They also acted despite Indias willingness to negotiate new market access for American exports. Thus, there are no winners from todays decision. American importers will pay more, while some American exporters will continue to face current market access barriers in India and others, including farmers, are very likely to be subject to new retaliatory tariff, Anthony said.

In a statement in March, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said India has failed to provide the US with assurances that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets in numerous sectors.

The Trump administration had launched an eligibility review of Indias compliance with the GSP market access criterion in April 2018.

India has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious negative effects on United States commerce. Despite intensive engagement, India has failed to take the necessary steps to meet the GSP criterion, the USTR said.  PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 1

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar took to the social media for the first time on Saturday. His first tweet at 10 am thanking everyone for their good wishes and resolving to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Sushma Swaraj garnered an impressive 43,000 likes.

And like Swaraj, one of his 11 tweets of the day was in response to an Indian, Manik Chattopadhyay, stranded in Saudi Arabia. Jaishankars retweet asking Suhel Khan, Indias Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia, to cater to the distressed Indian promoted one of Twitterati to comment we wont miss Sushma maam much while others wanted him to continue with her legacy.

By the third tweet the Foreign Minister was in his stride, thanking Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Foreign Minister, and informing him about their impending meeting to prepare for the G-7 summit in Biarritz in south-west France. Next up was the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne who, unlike Jaishankar, is veteran in the job, having served earlier as the Defence Minister and Minister for Human Services.

Jaishankar also responded to congratulatory wishes from Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia, who like him was a career diplomat and has served as Ambassador in the Netherlands, Iceland and Norway. There seems to be no order or careful orchestrating of responses for the next four tweets were diverse, responding to congratulations from foreign ministers of Latvia, Estonia, Sri Lanka and Bulgaria.

Jaishankar has had a Twitter account for some time and despite the absence of activity on his handle, had over 21,000 followers. After he took over as Foreign Ministry, the number has jumped six times to over 1.20 lakh.
amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, June 1

New Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy courted controversy on the first day in office as he called Hyderabad a safe terror zone, inviting strong objection from Hyderabad MP All India Majlis-e Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

Reddy, who was elected from Secunderabad, one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in the Hyderabad city, had said on Friday that any terror incident in the country would have a link to Hyderabad. Following the controversy, Reddy clarified that he did not say anything wrong.

There are places in country where terror activities are on the rise. If an incident takes place in Bengaluru or Bhopal, its roots are traced to Hyderabad. State police, NIA have arrested terrorists in Hyderabad every 2-3 months, Reddy spoke to media after assuming charge.

Soon after his statement went viral, sources said, Union Home Home Minister Amit Shah Shah pulled up Reddy for the remark.

However, it could not be confirmed what exactly Shah told Reddy.

I would like to ask him (Reddy) that in the last five years, how many times did NIA, IB and RAW gave in writing that Hyderabad is a safe zone for terror? It is unfortunate that he is saying such things, Owaisi said, terming the ministers statement irresponsible.

The AIMIM chief also said for the last five years, there was complete peace in Hyderabad as no communal incident took place in the city and all religious festivals passed off peacefully.

He also accused the BJP of having hatred for Muslims and targeting them. An MoS speaking like this! This shows their hatred for Telangana, Hyderabad. Such irresponsible statements dont suit a minister, but we expect this from him. Wherever they see Muslims, they take them for terrorists. We cant cure them, Owaisi said.  IANS
gspannu7@gmail.com

Kathmandu, June 1

Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli has extended an invitation to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for a visit to his country and strengthen bilateral relations through regular exchange of visits.

Oli was on a two-day visit to New Delhi along with leaders of other BIMSTEC countries to take part in Modis swearing-in ceremony on Thursday as the countrys prime minister for the second term.

Besides India, BIMSTEC comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.

According to the statement by the Nepal foreign ministry, Modi has accepted the invitation.

Oli, who returned to Nepal on Friday, also met Modi during the visit where the two leaders expressed commitment to take bilateral relations to a new height.

He (Oli) extended best wishes for the successful tenure of Modi, the statement said.

Both prime ministers expressed happiness over the progress made in Nepal-India relations under their respective leadership, it added.

The two leaders underlined the importance of regular exchange of high-level visits between the two countries in order to further strengthen bilateral ties and advance cooperation in all possible areas for the mutual benefits of the two countries, the statement said.

During his first term in office, Modi visited Nepal twice in 2014  in August for a bilateral visit and in November for the SAARC Summit.  PTI
South Korean Minister of National Defence Jeong Kyeong-doo, left, and Japanese Minister for Defence Takeshi Iwaya attend the second plenary session of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) 18th Asia Security Summit in Singapore, June 1, 2019. EPA-Yonhap



The defense ministers of South Korea and Japan held one-on-one talks Saturday in Singapore for the first time since military relations between the two countries soured over a radar row in December.



The closed-door meeting between South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and his Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, lasted about 40 minutes on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.



Defense ties between Seoul and Tokyo have been strained since December when Japan claimed that a South Korean warship directed military tracking radar at its maritime patrol aircraft. South Korea has rejected the claim, saying the airplane needlessly approached the ship which was on a normal rescue mission.



Bilateral talks between the defense chiefs of the two countries were last held in October 2018.





South Korea, China agree to boost 'strategic' communications Pentagon chief says North Korea remains 'extraordinary' threat South Korea, US, Japan view North Korean missiles via different lenses During the meeting, Jeong told Iwaya that the alleged "directing of the radar is groundless, and the feud was essentially caused by the low-altitude, intimidating flight of the Japanese aircraft," the Seoul ministry said in a release.



Japanese Minister for Defence Takeshi Iwaya, left, shakes hands with South Korean Minister of National Defence Jeong Kyeong-doo during a ministerial roundtable on the sidelines of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) 18th Asia Security Summit in Singapore, June 1, 2019. EPA-Yonhap

He then called on Japan to abide by international law and "the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea," a 2014 agreement signed by 22 countries, including South Korea, Japan, the U.S., China, and Russia, aimed at reducing the chances of an incident at sea.



"The two ministers shared the importance of the swift resolution of pending issues to strengthen stable security circumstances in Northeast Asia, and agreed to push for working-level talks," the ministry said, vowing their commitment to defense cooperation over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a peace regime.



"We candidly exchanged our opinions on the flight of the Japanese aircraft (in December), and agreed to cooperate closely to develop our relations to prevent any recurrence of such incident," Jeong told reporters while leaving the venue.



Noting that the two sides need to work closely "on every single issue that takes place in the international community as close neighbors," the minister pledged to work for the improvement of bilateral ties.




rchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, June 1

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will address a major India-centric summit to be held here this month, according to the organisers of the event.

Organised by US India Business Council (USIBC), the two-day India Ideas Summit beginning on June 12 is the first major event after Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second term this week.

While Pompeo is expected to lay the groundwork for India-US relationship during Modis second term, Ross in his key note is likely to address the economic and trade aspect of the bilateral ties.

I think this is an important opportunity and quite frankly, Im really excited that USIBCs India Ideas conference will be one of the first opportunities where both governments can really amplify this relationship after the election, USIBC president Nisha Desai Biswal told PTI on Thursday.

We are expecting to have tremendous representation on the US side. Secretary Pompeo will be one of our keynote speakers and (it will) really (be) an opportunity to define the vision of US-India moving forward, not just in our bilateral relationship, but (also) about the partnership and how it can really shape the whole Indo Pacific, Biswal said.

The first edition of India Ideas summit was held in Mumbai last year. The 2019 Summit in Washington DC will focus on connecting cities and States, recognising the critical role of local markets in driving the commercial relationship. PTI
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 31

Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi today wrote to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking an inquiry into a case of suicide by a local farmer and asking why he was pressured to repay the loan when a moratorium on repayment was in force.

Congress president Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad this time, though he lost his traditional seat of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

As a thanksgiving gesture, Gandhi will visit Wayanad on June 7 and 8.

Ahead of the visit, he wrote to Kerala CM expressing sadness over suicide by VD Dinesh Kumar, a farmer from Neervaram in Panamaram panchayat of Wayanad.

I am deeply saddened by the suicide of VD Dinesh Kumar, a farmer, in Wayanad. On speaking with his wife, Sujitha, I learnt that her husband had been under severe stress due to his inability to repay loans he had taken and this pushed him to commit suicide. VD Kumars case is not an isolated one. There has been a spate of farmers suicides in Wayanad due to an inability to repay loans, Gandhi wrote.

He said it was disturbing that while the Government of Kerala had announced a moratorium on repayment of loans till December 31, 2019, yet farmers were being pressured and hounded by loan collection agents. Gandhi requested the CM to order an inquiry into the circumstances around Kumars death and to extend financial support to his family.

Moreover, given the devastating long-term impact of the 2018 floods on Kerala agriculture, it is crucial to consider long-term measures to free our farmers from the vicious trap. I offer you my fullest support and cooperation in finding concrete long-term solutions, he said in his letter.

What cong chief said
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 31

At its maiden meeting, the Narendra Modi Cabinet 2.0 today decided on a slew of welfare measures aimed at helping farmers and small traders. It expanded the ambit of the PM-Kisan scheme by doing away with the landholding cap, besides introducing two pension schemes.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, It has been decided to extend the ambit of PM-Kisan scheme by including all landholding eligible farmer families, subject to the exclusion criteria.

The Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Siddhi (PMKSS) was announced in the Interim Budget under which the government had decided to provide Rs 6,000 per year (in three instalments) to an estimated 12.5 crore small and marginal farmers holding land up to 2 hectares.

Tomar said, Now, the revised scheme envisages to cover around two crore more farmers, which increases the coverage to 14.5 crore beneficiaries.

He said the total burden on the exchequer would increase by Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 87,217.50 crore for 2019-20.

The government has also decided to launch a prototype pension scheme for an estimated three crore retail traders and shopkeepers. All shopkeepers and self-employed persons as well as retail traders with a GST turnover below Rs 1.5 crore and aged 18-40 years can enrol, a statement said.

Tomar said the Cabinet, in another decision, approved the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pension Yojana under which small and marginal farmers will get a minimum fixed pension of Rs 3,000 per month on attaining the age of 60 years for a paltry premium.

In the initial phase, the government will cover minimum five crore small and marginal farmers in the first three years, the minister said. Eligible farmers can enter the voluntary and contributory pension scheme between 18 and 40 years of age and the Centre will match the contribution made by prospective beneficiaries in the pension fund.

After the subscribers death, while receiving pension, the spouse of the beneficiary will be entitled to receive 50 per cent of the pension amount, the government later said. Tomar later said the portfolio of the two pension schemes would be managed by Life Insurance Corporation of India.

Scholarship hiked
gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, June 1

The Congress on Saturday said the US governments decision to terminate special trade status for India will have adverse consequences on exports and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the country into confidence and make a comprehensive statement explaining how he intends to overcome this grave trade and economic crisis.

Addressing a press conference, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it is a double whammy for India which has succumbed to US pressure of not buying crude oil from Iran and has also lost the special trade status and alleged that the government did nothing to pre-empt it despite being informed of the decision in March.

On behalf of the people of India, we urge upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a comprehensive statement on the issue to the nation and place before the public a way forward to overcome this grave trade and economic crisis, he told reporters.

The prime minister should take the nation into confidence, he also said.

The Congress leader also urged the Modi government to withdraw the hike in LPG prices for both subsidised and non-subsidised category which it has gifted to the people soon after coming back to power.

The LPG prices have risen by Rs 323.5 per cylinder for non-subsidised category and Rs 85.37 for subsidised category in the last five years, he alleged.

We urge the prime minster to take back this increase in LPG price rise, he said, adding that women of the country will be badly affected by the price hike.

Surjewala said on one hand the Indian government has decided to yield to pressure and stop purchasing crude oil of 23.5 million tonnes annually from Iran at favourable terms, on the other hand, special trade status for India has been withdrawn by the country to whom its export volume is the largest.

What is of more concern is the fact that the withdrawal of special trade status was notified to India on March 4, 2019 itself. Yet the government did nothing to pre-empt it. The most serious implication would be for sectors like agriculture, auto parts, pharmaceutical etc. which are already facing serious crisis, he said.

The Congress leader said in future, India could see many more industries, including the services industry which has more than UDS 28 billion under exports to the US being affected significantly.

He said a decline in exports to the United States which is Indias largest partner will worsen the job crisis.

Already, unemployment is at a five-year high of 6.1 pc (NSSO) and GDP growth has slumped to a five year low at 5.8 pc. At this juncture, withdrawal of the special trade status by the US is a double whammy, he said.

He said the United States proclamation terminating the status of India as beneficiary developing country or special trade status with effect from June 5, 2019 has grave trade and economic implications for India, as it directly effects Indias exports worth USD 54.4 billion (Rs 3,80,000 crores).

Surjewala recalled that it is after 44 years that this status is being taken back, as it was on November 24, 1975 when Indira Gandhi was prime minister that this was granted to India.

On the unemployment figures, the Congress leader said the NSSO data was earlier held back by the government but confirms that the job crisis in the country is grave.

It cannot be subject matter of a slanging match between two political parties. Indias young need jobs. Indias young are unemployed. Indias young are facing the worst unemployment crisis in last 45 years.

So, bereft of the niceties, all these technicalities, the responsibility and the onus lies on the current government to address the job crisis as its first priority, he said.

We will request the prime minister to look at the job crisis as a priority number one for the nation and we will support any steps taken in this direction by the prime minister, for this positively and in a concrete fashion.

We sincerely hope that a prime minister, who has been elected with such a huge mandate, is listening to the cry for justice of the young in this country, he said.

The US president has terminated Indias designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key GSP trade programme, with the proclamation stating that New Delhi has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets.

The Generalised System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

I have determined that India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate Indias designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019, President Donald Trump said in a proclamation on Friday ignoring a plea by several top American lawmakers.  PTI
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, June 1

A 60-year-old man was celebrating his birthday on Tuesday when he was surprised as a group of policemen from the Amboli police station in Mumbai turned up with a bouquet.

Valerian Santos is the father of late Keenan Santos, who was murdered along with his friend Reuben outside a Mumbai bar when they had tried to stop a group of men from harassing their friends.

Keenan & Reuben will be eternally missed by the city & we will always try our best to be there for their family. Our best wishes to Mr Valerian Santos #MumbaiFirst pic.twitter.com/EPb5PGB01L  Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) 31 May 2019

Santos had recently requested for police protection after they were informed that the prime accused in his sons murder case was granted furlough for 14 days.

Keenan and Reuben were murdered outside a bar at Amboli in October 2011 .

All four accusedJitendra Rana, Sunil Bodh, Satish Dulhaj and Dipak Tivalwere convicted by a Mumbai court in 2016 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

After Santos plea the police deployed a constable outside their home and even increased patrolling in the area.

But the policemen went beyond the call of duty and they made sure that the birthday of the father, who had lost his son, was a memorable one.
editorial@tribune.com

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31

Ending speculation over the alleged rift between Special Investigation Team (SIT) members probing the Behbal Kalan and Kotkpaura firing incidents over the chargesheet against five policemen and a former MLA, the Punjab Police on Friday asked the Home Department to allow the prosecution of the accused cops.

Under rules, permission of the government vide the Home Department is required to prosecute a gazetted officer.

A government spokesperson said the Police Department had attached a copy of the chargesheet with a request, seeking the prosecution of then Ludhiana Inspector General of Police (IGP) Paramraj Umranangal, former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Charanjit Singh Sharma, ADCP Paramjit Singh Pannu, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Baljit Singh and Station House Officer Gurdeep Sindh Pandher.

They were named in the chargesheet filed in the court of Judicial Magistrate, Faridkot, on May 28. The SIT is probing the police firing at the protesting mob in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura on October 14, 2015, following a series of sacrilege incidents in the state.

Earlier in the day, reports said there were differences within the five-member SIT over the submission and content of the challan. It was alleged that some SIT members had sent a communication to DGP Dinkar Gupta, disassociating themselves from the certain contents of the chargesheet.

Besides naming the five policemen as the direct accused, the SIT said it was further investigating the role of former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini into circumstances leading to the police firing.
editorial@tribune.com

Chandigarh, May 31

Just about three days after Punjab DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyay claimed non-availability of basic facilities for probing a fake encounter case handed over to him by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the officer today recused himself. The High Court will now take a fresh decision on reconstituting the SIT to probe the matter.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, Punjab Advocate-General Atul Nanda appeared before the Bench of Justice Arun Monga.

The Bench was told that the state could not spare the services of SIT member ADGP Gurpreet Kaur Deo as she was already engaged in other important assignments. Chattopadhyay, on the other hand, offered to recuse himself from the probe.

Chattopadhyay, who had sought requisite powers and facilities to probe the issue, earlier suggested that he may, alternatively, be given a mainline posting. The officer, on the previous date of hearing, had stated that he had been posted outside the mainstream and outside the regular state police service. As such, he would require necessary powers, appropriate office with supporting officers and staff along with necessary transport and office facilities to conduct the investigation as head of the SIT.

Nearly 25 years after 26-year-old Sukhpal Singhs alleged death in stage-managed encounter, the HC in April had not only admonished the Punjab Police for its failure to register an FIR but also directed the constitution of a SIT comprising senior police officers hailing from three different states.  TNS
gspannu7@gmail.com

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 1

Days before Operation Bluestar anniversary, the Amritsar rural police have nabbed a man, suspected to be associated with some radical group, along with a country-made .32 bore revolver.

The police officials were tight lipped over his arrest while claiming that they were verifying the facts in this regard.

He was identified as Nishan Singh, a resident of Bahadar Nagar falling under Valtoha police station in Tarn Taran district.

According to police, he was arrested from Cheecha village under Gharinda police station here.

A case under Section 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against him.

Vikram Jeet Duggal, Amritsar rural police chief, said he was arrested following a tipoff and a case under Arms Act has been registered against him.

He was produced in the court which granted two-day police remand for further interrogation.

In view of 35th Operation Bluestar anniversary, Punjab Police have been on high alert with elaborate security arrangements planned during the week.

Nearly 5,000 cops are deputed in the holy city with around six companies of paramilitary forces and police commandoes.

Dal Khalsa, a radical organisation, has given Amritsar Bandh call on June 6 during which they have announced to organise a peaceful march.

A couple of days ago Counter-Intelligence wing, State Special Operation Cell arrested two operatives of Babbar Khalsa International who were planning to disrupt peace and communal harmony by targeting people of a specific community.

They were on eight-day police remand and further interrogation was under way.
editorial@tribune.com

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, May 31

Tension prevailed at Gurusar village in Gidderbaha subdivision of Muktsar district on Friday when a group of Nihangs belonging to Baba Budha Dal, managing a gurdwara in the village, took control over a 43-acre agricultural land belonging to another faction led by Baba Balbir Singh 96 Crori.

Armed with sharp-edged weapons, a large number of Nihangs belonging to Baba Satnam Singhs faction on Friday started a morcha by installing a nishan sahib in the agricultural land. Sensing the gravity of the situation, a large number of policemen were roped in. Gidderbaha SDM and DSP too reached the spot to diffuse tension, but failed to do so.

Notably, this chunk of land is given on lease every year by Baba Balbir Singh to a farmer in the village. However, the group led by Baba Satnam Singh claimed that the land belonged to the gurdwara and the lease money should be spent on it. However, the land in the revenue records is registered in the name of Baba Balbir Singh.

Baba Gurpinder Singh, son of Baba Satnam Singh, who is heading the morcha, said, The land is illegally registered in the name of Balbir Singh. It belongs to the gurdwara and not even a single penny should be spent somewhere else. We have taken control over the land today and its earnings will only be spent only on the expansion and repairs of gurdwara. Now, we are ready to fight any battle for this genuine cause.

Last year, too, we had raised a strong objection over the ownership of land. But at that time, some officers had played a game with us. This time, we will not budge from our stand, said Baba Gurpinder Singh. Beant Singh, sarpanch of Gurusar village, said, A committee should be formed in the village and its decision be made mandatory for everyone.

Meanwhile, Inspector Harpreet Singh, SHO, Gidderbaha police station, said, The group taking care of the gurdwara, which started a morcha today, has agreed to reach a consensus after the intervention of the village panchayat. We have even deployed some jawans in the village to maintain law and order.
singhking99@yahoo.com

Sujoy Dhar

In the USA, in the state of New Hampshire, this is a year of rather unusual celebrations. It is the 150 years of operation of Mount Washington Cog Railway. Visitors here are being educated about the unique railroad history. The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the worlds first mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway).

However, for many tourists who visit Switzerland, if a cogwheel railway ride is on the bucket list, then land in Zurich, gateway to the Alps, and head for Mount Rigi, which boasts of Europes first cogwheel track.

The cogwheel mountain railway of Rigi will take a tourist up into the magnificent Alpine and snow world of Switzerland. But first know what is a cogwheel railway. By the simplest Wiki definition, it is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. When on May 21, 1871, Europes first mountain railway began its inaugural ascent, it was here from Vitznau to Rigi Staffelhohe. It was a milestone in the history of Mount Rigi.

The breathtaking views of the green valleys and lakes changing into snow-enveloped mountains will make it a cherished Swiss experience on cogwheel train. The Rigi mountains lie near Lucerne, between Kussnacht am Rigi, Goldau and Gersau.

Chugging along the mountains

Mount Rigi is not very far from Zurich. From Zurich HB (main station), start around 9 in the morning by a train. It will take you to Arth-Goldau. The journey takes less than 40 minutes. When you reach Arth-Goldau, board the cogwheel train waiting for you. These look inviting in bright blue and white shades or red. Enjoy the ride as the train rises to 1797 m above the sea level to reach Rigi Kulm, the highest peak of Mount Rigi. Overlooking Lake Lucerne, the train chugs along the narrow tracks through meadows, scary mountain slopes, woods, tunnels and then snow-covered tracks to take you to the top  Rigi Kulm aka Queen of Mountains.

From the top, you can enjoy a view of no fewer than 13 lakes and a regular sea of peaks. Just enjoy soaring summit views of the Swiss Plateau with the Bernese Alps, Vosges mountains (France), Black Forest (Germany) and Glarus Alps beyond.

On a leisure trip

Once you reach your destination, you can trek in the powdery white snow of the Alps, and then hunker down in a nice restaurant in any of the railway stations. Some tourists choose to stay a night at the Rigi Kulm Hotel on the top and witness celestial firework in the sky ignited by sunsets and sunrises.

For lunch, you can again board a train and come down to Rigi Kaltbad station to find this elegant restaurant at Hotel Alpina. Enjoy the view of the Alps and Lake Lucerne as you dig in on the plate of Swiss cuisine in this hotels restaurant with a terrace. After lunch you can go for a ride of horse-drawn carriage to explore Mt Rigis spectacular Alpine scenery.

Well, now is the time to descend. You take the cogwheel train back, and this time to reach Vitznau, for taking a one-hour scenic boat cruise to Lucerne.

On trail of worlds first cog

The scenic train ride to the summit of Mount Washington, the highest peak in the northeast in USAs New Hampshire, is the worlds first mountain-climbing cog railway train! A trip on the Mount Washington Cog Railway is a great way to experience the White Mountains and New Hampshire.
Canceled plans, deferred departures, anxiety-fueled enjoyment.

Once we get the vaccine, travel will go back to the way that it was before the pandemic, I told myself, like a stupid baby who was literally born yesterday. And everyone will be kind and fair and climate change will reverse and war is over and the meek shall inherit the earth and and and Well, not yet at least. Two years in, it feels like some of these shifts and trends have staying power. Its easy to think about all the negative new changesranging from irritating to devastatingwell forevermore have to endure, but there are a few silver linings come what may. And as far as the rest of it goes, itd be a safe bet to renew your Xanax prescription in 2022 and soldier on.
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe is seen at the IISS Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, June 1, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap



The defense chiefs of South Korea and China agreed Saturday to push for various measures, including the establishment of more military hotlines, to promote mutual trust and deepen exchanges and cooperation, Seoul's defense ministry said Saturday.



South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe reached the agreement during a meeting held on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit, better known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore.



During the talks, the ministers shared the need to boost "strategic communications" for regional peace and stability, while agreeing that China's constructive role is crucial in achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a lasting peace, according to the ministry.



In order to strengthen their ties, the two sides vowed to push for various measures such as the opening of additional communication lines between their navies and air forces. Currently, Seoul and Beijing maintain one such line between their armed services.











South Korean Minister of National Defence Jeong Kyeong-doo delivers his speech during the second plenary session of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) 18th Asia Security Summit in Singapore, June 1, 2019. EPA-Yonhap
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

NEW DELHI, May 31 (UNI)The Soviet Union and Pakistan, in a joint communique issued at the end of PM Alexei Kosygins one-day visit to Rawalpindi, today stressed the importance of an Indo-Pakistan settlement but made no mention of the 1966 Tashkent Declaration. The wording of the communique did not reveal any common ground between the two countries on Indo-Pakistan relations, one of the subjects reviewed by Mr. Kosygin and President Yahya Khan in their three-hour talks yesterday. Reporting from Rawalpindi, Tass quoted the communique as saying: Informing Mr. Alexei Kosygin of the situation in the sub-continent, President Yahya Khan noted that Pakistan was exerting efforts to resolve outstanding disputes with India by peaceful means. Mr. Kosygin re-affirmed his conviction that an early solution of Indo-Pakistani disputes would accord with the interests of the peoples of the sub-continent.
singhking99@yahoo.com

Arushi Chaudhary

As one of the oldest civilisations in the world, India is a goldmine of archaeological and palaeontological treasures. A wealth that remains largely out of the mainstream focus, save for a few isolated big discoveries making headlines now and then. Driven by her love for audio stories and a newfound passion for archaeology and palaeontology, journalist Anupama Chandrasekaran is endeavouring to effect a change in this arena through her podcast channel, Desi Stones and Bones.

For a business journalist, the choice of her podcast niche is atypical. Talking about the journey that inspired this concept of a podcast that focuses on excavating palaeontological and archaeological stories as well as the people behind it, Anupama says, I had always been drawn towards the audio format of story-telling. This interest led me to discover the world of podcasts. This was around 2013. At the same time, I chanced upon the book, Indica: A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent, by Pranay Lal and was fascinated by its insightful revelations that put a lot of things from our present existence into perspective as well. Thats how this love for podcasts and archaeology and palaeontology took form.

However, it wasnt until a couple of years later that Anupama decided to tap into this budding passion to embark on a new career path altogether. I was already exploring the idea of a podcast venture but hadnt found the perfect subject to base it on. It was then that I met Pranay Lal at the Hindu Literary Festival in Chennai. His enthusiasm and love for the stories from these two fields was infectious and acted as the nudge I needed to realise that these were the stories that I wanted to tell, because they became a part of my consciousness from moment I heard them, Anupama says.

Lack of technical know-how was the only stumbling block in her way now. As a print journalist, her understanding of sound equipment was limited. So, she began by learning about the various tools needed to put together a podcast and how to use them. Once the technical aspects were taken care of, the craft of storytelling itself became easy, she says.

Anupama has kept her treatment of podcasts on Desi Stones and Bones unique by following her instinct on the best way to tell a story. Keeping podcasts conversational at times and descriptive at others, she uses varied techniques and approaches, often going with her gut on what would be best.

It takes me about a month to complete a single podcast, because in addition to travelling to excavation sites and meeting with experts, I also single-handedly record the entire audio, then clean it up as sound quality is paramount in podcasts, write my script, record it, supplement it with other relevant audio bits and music, and also illustrate the key points of every story. So, its a bit of a long-drawn process but one that is immensely satisfying as these are beautiful stories that deserve to be told.

Desi Stones and Bones has released four podcasts in its year-and-a-half long journey. The first podcast was an interview with the man who catalysed this whole idea  Paranay Lal. Subsequent episodes have touched upon topics such as archaeologists trying to understand the timeline of human migration in India through Stone Age tools and dinosaur egg fossils discovered in Madhya Pradesh.

The upcoming fifth episode focuses on fossils in action with special emphasis on the recently unearthed fossil that shows a snake crushing dinosaur eggs stamped onto a rock alongside some dinosaur bones.

Speaking about her experience so far, Anupama says, It has been a rewarding and satisfying journey. Working on these stories is refreshingly different than journalistic reporting. Here, I deal with a close-knit community of experts who are more than willing to come forward and share their stories, help me learn, point my research in the right direction. There are no guarded responses or truths being swept under the cloak of carefully worded statements. These experts hold the key to a fascinating parallel universe of sorts and they are happy to let in anyone seeking to be a part of it.

Anupama concurs that given the limited popularity of podcasts in India, a niche like archaeology and palaeontology may not evolve into an economically viable model sustained by sponsors and advertisements. Thats not what I set out to achieve. I consider myself a student of these two fields who is learning on the job by way of experiencing the nuances first-hand and filling in knowledge gaps through research. My vision for this podcast channel is to turn all this audio footage into archival information that students of these fields can benefit from in future, Anupama says.
laxmi@tribune.com

Deepender Deswal

The Agri Business Incubation Centre (ABIC) at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University (HAU) with the support of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has provided single window access for all agricultural business activities to entrepreneurs and progressive farmers.

The corporate office of the centre has been set up on the HAU campus with financial assistance of Rs 11.74 crore from NABARD. The centre started functioning this week and two private firms offering expert advice to farmers in soil management and fertility have also collaborated with it. The ABIC is a platform to provide infrastructure and technical assistance in commercialisation and assist startup companies in establishing businesses through consultancy and training.

The focus areas for the startups, entrepreneurs and innovators are mushroom and bio-pesticide production, production and protection of crops, development of new varieties, organic farming, farm management, floriculture, apiculture, artificial intelligence in agriculture, processing and value addition, agriculture waste management, quality assistance, certification and branding, nursery raising, tissue culture, biogas or bio-fertiliser production and marketing.

Vice-Chancellor KP Singh says that marketing has emerged as the key tool for farming. Farmers must learn the ropes of marketing to get the maximum benefit of their hard work. Be it the production of fruits, vegetables and even traditional crops, farmers must learn how to sell their products in the market. This is what we are trying to teach them at the ABIC on the campus. The centre is a single window solution to all problems of farmers (small, medium or big). Even for new generation entrepreneurs, who dont own land but are keen to dabble into agriculture production and marketing, this field provides a good opportunity for not only earning a living but also contributing to the social and economic development of the state, he says.

The HAU has decided to rope in a team of business experts, including business managers, and assistant business managers, to reach out to young entrepreneurs and farmers to promote new practices in agriculture and marketing. The university has started the process to recruit the team which will play a pivotal role in the functioning of this centre, says a spokesperson for the university.

NABARD Chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, who was in the university last week to inaugurate the centre, had said that the ABIC offered infrastructure, counselling, technical mentoring and consultancy, services in capacity building, incubation and pilot-scale production, technology transfer, business plan preparation, networking, business mentoring, regulatory and advisory services, besides handholding and funding to startups. The university has fixed registration charges between Rs 2,000 and Rs one lakh.

It has fixed a fee of Rs 2,000 for an individual farmer, entrepreneur and students, and Rs 10,000 for NGOs and farmer groups. Public or private limited companies are required to pay Rs 25,000 while a fee of Rs 50,000 has been fixed for multi-national companies. The institutional membership fee is Rs 1 lakh.

Farmers need to learn marketing

"Farmers must learn the ropes of marketing to get the maximum benefit of their hard work. Be it the production of fruits, vegetables and even traditional crops, farmers must learn how to sell their products in the market. This is what we are trying to teach them at the ABIC on the campus." KP Singh, Vice-Chancellor, HAU
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Washington, June 1

A disgruntled veteran public utilities employee stormed a government building in the US State of Virginia and fired indiscriminately on multiple floors at his co-workers, killing at least 12 people and wounding six others, the police said Saturday, in the latest incident of mass shooting in the country.

The gunman was killed when police responded to the shooting in the southeastern coastal city of Virginia Beach.

The suspect, a long-term and current Virginia Beach city employee, fired indiscriminately on multiple floors in a public utilities building, police said.

Police Chief James Cervera told reporters there was an exchange of gunfire with officers and a police officer whose ballistic vest stopped a bullet was injured.

The shooting suspect was identified as DeWayne Craddock, according to a law enforcement official and a Virginia government source, CNN reported.

Craddock, 40, worked as a certified professional engineer for the city of Virginia Beach in the Public Utilities Department. He is listed on department news releases as a point of contact for information on local road projects over the past several years.

This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach. The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbour, colleagues, Mayor Bobby Dyer said.

The shooter was a disgruntled employee, the report said, quoting a Virginia government source.

The President has been briefed on the shooting in Virginia Beach, VA and continues to monitor the situation, White House said.

This is a horrific day for the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are devastated by the tragic shooting in Virginia Beach, said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam after visiting the scene.

The shooting took place shortly after 4 pm within the sprawling Virginia Beach Municipal Center, a campus of city offices and agencies, including the Police Department, when the gunman entered the public works department building of the citys municipal center.

The attack unfolded on multiple floors in Building No. 2, which includes offices for planning and public works, among others, and is adjacent to City Hall.

Police found victims on every floor of the building, the police chief said, adding the identities of the victims were not immediately released nor was the motive of the attack.

According to local Virginian Pilot newspaper, the shooter came armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor on it and shot one victim in a vehicle outside before entering the building. The rest were shot inside.

The FBI is helping the city police in investigating the shooting incident.

Senator Mark R Warner said that he is horrified by what has happened in Virginia Beach.

I am thankful to law enforcement for their swift and courageous response. My heart goes out to all the victims of todays senseless violence, their families, and the entire community that has been affected by these awful events. I will be praying for the swift recovery of those injured, he said.

My heart breaks for Virginia Beach. For the victims, their families, the community, everyone impacted by this terrible act of violence. But the moment we resign ourselves to be just onlookers to such carnage, we lose our soul. We can and will take action, Senator Ed Markey said.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the US since November.

Twelve people were killed at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California in November.

Officials said that gunman shot an unarmed security guard outside the bar, went in and continued shooting, injuring other security workers, employees and patrons. PTI
kavishakohli@gmail.com

San Francisco, June 1

A US judge has asked Facebook to hand over data privacy records related to the massive Cambridge Analytica scandal.

According to a report in Engadget on Friday, Facebook shareholders in September 2018 sued the social networking platform to obtain information pertaining to the data leak of 87 million users.

"Today, a US judge sided with shareholders, ordering Facebook to release the documents," said the report.

According to the judge in Delaware Chancery Court, the shareholders have a "credible basis" to suspect that Facebook board members may have committed wrongdoing.

The shareholders had sued Facebook to obtain records related to the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and other privacy breaches.

The irony is that Facebook argues that privacy doesn't actually exist on Facebook.

At a separate hearing in a class-action lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder argued that there is "no expectation of privacy" on the platform.

"There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy," Snyder told the US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria, arguing that users had given consent to share their data with third parties.

"You have to closely guard something to have a reasonable expectation of privacy," he was quoted as saying in a Digital Trends report.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg survived a leadership vote at the social networking giant's annual general meeting on Thursday to step down as Chairman. IANS
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Seoul, May 31

North Korea executed its special envoy to the United States following the collapse of the second summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.

The Chosun Ilbo said Kim Hyok Chol, who laid the groundwork for the Hanoi meeting and accompanied Kim on his private train, was executed by firing squad for betraying the supreme leader after he was won over to the US during pre-summit negotiations.

Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport along with four senior foreign ministry officials following an investigation, the newspaper quoted an unidentified source as saying. The other officials were not named.

Asked about the account, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was trying to verify it. Weve seen the reporting to which youre referring. Were doing our best to check it out, he told reporters on a visit to Berlin.

I dont have anything else to add to that today. Kim Hyok Chol was the Norths counterpart of US special representative Stephen Biegun in the run-up to the Hanoi summit in February. South Koreas Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean relations, declined to comment on the report.

Some previous South Korean reports of North Korean purges and executions have later proved inaccurate. News of the reported purge came as North Koreas official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling party, Thursday warned that officials who committed anti-party or anti-revolutionary acts would face the stern judgement of the revolution.  AFP

Paying the price
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, June 1

President Donald Trump is wading into the United Kingdoms political maelstrom days before he is set to embark on his first state visit there, saying Boris Johnson would make an excellent prime minister and calling Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, nasty.

In an interview on Friday with the British tabloid The Sun, Trump expressed support for the controversial ex-foreign secretary in his bid to replace Theresa May, saying, I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.

May is to step down amid an impasse over Brexit on June 7, just days after Trump is set to be feted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and after official observances of the 75th anniversary of D-Day are concluded.

Trump referred to the American-born Duchess of Sussex as nasty over comments she made in 2016 threatening to move to Canada if Trump won the White House.

I didnt know that she was nasty, he said of Meghan when read her prior criticism. The former Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, in 2018 and gave birth to their first child, Archie, in May.

During the state visit, the president, his wife, Melania, and his four adult children are expected to meet with Harry as well as his brother, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Meghan is expected to stay home with Archie.

Trump told the newspaper that he didnt know that he wouldnt be meeting Markle but predicted that she would make a very good American princess.

As for May, Trump criticised her handling of Brexit negotiations with the European Union, saying she didnt give the European Union anything to lose.

Trumps first visit to the UK as president was marred by similar critical comments he made to the same tabloid last year about Mays handling of Brexit.

Trump is scheduled to arrive in London on Monday for a three-day visit. AP
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Mecca (Saudi Arabia), June 1

Saudi Arabias King Salman on Saturday warned that terrorist attacks in the Gulf region could imperil global oil supplies, as he sought to galvanise support among Islamic countries against arch-rival Iran.

The king was speaking at a meeting of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the third and final Tehran-focused summit in the holy city of Mecca, marked by the notable absence of Iran and Turkeys leaders.

The worlds top oil exporter has ratcheted up tensions with Iran after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

Tehran has strongly denied involvement in any of the attacks.

We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies, the king told OIC member states.

In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the king vowed to confront aggressive threats and subversive activities.

Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation calls for a position on the attacks on the kingdom said OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen.

In the previous two back-to-back summits on Friday, Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia, which drew accusations from Iran of sowing division.

The summits came after Trumps hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Wednesday that Iranian naval mines were almost certainly responsible for the damage to the four ships off the United Arab Emirates on May 12.

The findings of a five-nation inquiry into what happened have yet to be released.

Tehran dismissed Boltons accusation as laughable and accused him of pursuing evil desires for chaos in the region.

Regional tensions have grown since US President Donald Trumps administration reimposed sanctions against Iran after Washington unilaterally pulled out of a multilateral 2015 nuclear accord signed with the Islamic republic.

But Trump appeared to soften his hawkish tone towards Tehran, saying during a visit to Japan on Monday that his government does not seek regime change.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was notably absent from the key OIC summit, an AFP photographer said.

A regional heavyweight, Turkey was instead represented by its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Irans President Hassan Rouhani was also not present.

Erdogans visit would have been his first to the kingdom since the brutal murder last October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which tarnished the international reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi, a Saudi royal insider and Washington Post contributor was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a rogue operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed.

Saudi prosecutors have absolved the prince and said around two dozen people implicated in the murder are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men.

But attention has remained focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder despite the kingdoms denials.

Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed.  AFP
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Washington/Mexico City, May 31

US President Donald Trump, responding to a surge of illegal immigrants across the southern border, vowed on Thursday to impose a tariff on all goods coming from Mexico, starting at 5% and ratcheting much higher until the flow of people ceases.

Trumps move dramatically escalates his battle to control a wave of tens of thousands of asylum seekers, including many Central American families fleeing poverty and violence, that has swelled alongside his promises to make it harder to get US refuge and his efforts to build a wall on the Mexican border.

The announcement rattled investors who feared that worsening trade friction could hurt the global economy. The Mexican peso, US stock index futures and Asian stock markets tumbled on the news, including the shares of Japanese automakers who ship cars from Mexico to the United States.

The Presidents decision, announced on Twitter and in a subsequent statement, was a direct challenge to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and took the Mexican government by surprise on a day when it had started a formal process to ratify a trade deal with the United States and Canada (USMCA).

It raised the risk of devastating economic relations with the biggest US trade partner for goods. Mexico, heavily dependent on cross-border trade, rose to that ranking as a result of Trumps trade war with China. The measures against Mexico open up a new front on trade and if implemented are bound to trigger retaliation that would hit heartland, Trump-supporting farming and industrial states.

Lopez Obrador responded in a letter he posted on Twitter, calling Trumps policy of America First a fallacy and accusing him of turning the United States into a ghetto, that stigmatized and mistreated migrants.

Determined to avoid a break down in Mexicos most important bilateral relationship, since Trump threatened to close the worlds busiest land border, Obradors government has drastically tightened controls on the movement of migrants, detaining and deporting thousands in recent months, while calling for US aid to tackle root causes.  Reuters

Country will overcome Trump threats: Obrador

Mexicos President said on Friday he would respond with great prudence to threats by his US counterpart Donald Trump to slap tariffs on Mexican goods entering the US, and called on Mexicans to unite to deal with the challenge

President Lopez Obrador said Foreign Minister Ebrard would be in Washington tasked with convincing the US government that Trumps measures were in neither countrys interest

I tell all Mexicans to have faith, we will overcome this attitude of the US govt, they will make rectifications, Lopez Obrador said

Radical action will give push to 2020 campaign
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Singapore, June 1

The United States will no longer tiptoe around Chinese behaviour in Asia, with stability in the region at threat on issues ranging from the South China Sea to Taiwan, acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Saturday.

Shanahan did not directly name China when making accusations of actors destabilising the region, but went on to say the United States would not ignore Chinese behaviour, the latest in the exchange of acerbic remarks between the worlds two biggest economies. He however added he was keen to foster a military relationship with Beijing.

Perhaps the greatest long-term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules-based international order, Shanahan said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asias biggest security gathering.

If the trends in these behaviours continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths, sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful. Shanahans first major speech since taking over as acting defence secretary in January came as the United States and China remain locked in an escalating trade war and at odds over a range of security issues in Asia.

His reference to artificial features was a swipe at islands built by China in the disputed South China Sea, a strategic waterway claimed almost wholly by Beijing.

Were not going to ignore Chinese behaviour and I think in the past people have kind of tiptoed around that, Shanahan said later in answer to a question.

He said it was in Beijings interests to have a constructive relationship with the United States.

But he added: Behaviour that erodes other nations sovereignty and sows distrust of Chinas intentions must end. Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow, and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefitted us all - including China.

Trade war

Shanahan said that he did not see the current trade dispute between China and the United States as a trade war, but rather just part of trade negotiations.

An increase in Chinese tariffs on most US imports on a $60 billion target list took effect as planned on Saturday, after Washingtons own tariff increases.

Shanahan also became the latest senior US official to call out Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying in his speech that it was too close to the Chinese government.

The United States has accused Huawei of espionage, breaching trade sanctions against Iran and intellectual property theft.

Huawei disputes all allegations.

Chinas Defence Minister Wei Fenghe is due to address Asias marquee security summit on Sunday when he is expected to criticise the United States over its implied support for a democratic Taiwan.

On Friday, Shanahan held talks with Wei that both sides called constructive, although their teams later reverted to type with critical comments on each others defence strategies.

Along with the expected warnings aimed at China, Shanahan referred to cooperation between the two countries in areas like military-to-military exchanges, counter-piracy and joint efforts to reduce the extraordinary threat posed by North Koreas military ambitions.

I am confident that well solve problems, Shanahan said.

Shanahan also called on US allies to contribute more to their own defences. Burden sharing, from Asia to Europe, has long been a demand of President Donald Trumps administration.

We need you to invest in ways that take more control over your sovereignty and your own ability to exercise sovereign choices. Reuters
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, center, meets members of a South Korean rescue team participating in rescue operations to find victims of a boat accident in Budapest, Hungary, Friday. AP-Yonhap



Frantic efforts to search for 21 missing victims of this week's tourist boat sinking in Hungary are still being impeded by high waters, strong currents and poor underwater visibility, officials said Saturday.



On Monday morning, divers from Hungary and South Korea plan to determine whether to launch full-scale underwater operations in the Danube River in Budapest where the boat sank, leaving seven Koreans dead and 21 people missing, including 19 Koreans.



But they plan to conduct surface-level searches up to 50 kilometers down the river, from the site of the sinking, starting Saturday.



The sinking occurred Wednesday night when the sightseeing boat carrying 33 Koreans and two Hungarian crew members collided with a larger Switzerland-registered sightseeing boat, causing it to capsize and sink.



In response to a request from Seoul, Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, which are neighboring countries to Hungary are also providing support for the search operations, officials here said.





Marine divers, members of a South Korean rescue team participate in operations to find victims of a boat accident, ride a dingy on the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary, Friday. EPA-Yonhap




In a brief, two-minute interaction in 2004, Desmond Tutu imparted a titbit of advice that serves me well to this day.

The late, lauded former South African archbishop was at the time greeting guests at the Presidents House in Port of Spain. The Arch, as Tutu was fondly called by his countrymen, came to Trinidad and Tobago, along with former South African president the late Nelson Mandela, to successfully lobby for their nations bid to host the 2010 World Cup.
The phrase politics is not for the faint-hearted is as old as the hills, and politics has
South Korean rescue team inspects the site of a ship accident on the Danube river where a sightseeing boat capsized in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, June 1, 2019. AP-Yonhap



South Korean and Hungarian workers were set to begin full-fledged operations on Saturday to search for 21 missing victims of this week's tourist boat sinking in Budapest, officials said, although high waters and strong currents remain tough challenges.



They plan to conduct surface-level searches up to 50 kilometers down the Danube River from the site of Wednesday's disaster that left seven Koreans dead and 21 people missing, including 19 Koreans.



The South Korean team, consisting of staff from the Navy and fire agency, plan to conduct four separate searches in the morning and afternoon. It has borrowed four boats from the Hungarian authorities.



In response to the requests by South Korea and Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria have also been conducting search operations in parts of the Danube River.





Rescue boats float on the Danube river where a sightseeing boat had capsized in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, June 1, 2019. AP-Yonhap



Underwater operations are expected to come later due to the adverse conditions. Divers from Korea and Hungary plan to determine whether to begin full-scale operations in the river on Monday, though they could proceed earlier than that, officials said.



On Wednesday night, the sightseeing boat carrying 33 Koreans and two Hungarian crew members collided with a Switzerland-registered cruise ship, causing it to capsize and sink into the river. Hungarian police have detained the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the cruise ship.



Since Friday, Seoul's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has been in Budapest to oversee the South Korean team's search operations and ensure coordination with Hungary.









Later in the day, the minister is to meet the victims' families who have arrived in the Eastern European country.





Local and South Korean experts talk during the search operation to find any survivors at the spot of a boat accident on the Danube river with seven dead and 21 people still missing, most of them South Korean tourists, on June 1, 2019 in Budapest. AFP-Yonhap



Alongside the search operations, the Hungarian authorities also plan to resume preparations to salvage the hull of the ill-fated boat out of the water.



The authorities have been mulling when to begin the salvage operations in earnest, while taking into account adverse river conditions, including strong currents.



Seoul has formed an emergency response team consisting of 53 people, including staff from the foreign ministry, police, the National Intelligence Service and other agencies, to support search operations and ensure coordination with Hungarian authorities.



It has also decided to send four professional counselors to Budapest to support the victims' families.



Among the victims' family members, 43 arrived in Budapest the previous day. Another six are to arrive there later.





A search operations continue near the Margaret bridge on the Danube river after a boat carrying South Korean tourists capsized in Budapest, Hungary, June 1, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap
Harambee Stars and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Victor Wanyama has sent out a word of encouragement to the relegation threatened Kenya Sevens squad ahead of the penultimate leg of the HSBC Series in Paris on Saturday.

Shujaa have a tough outing in the world's capital city of fashion-Paris, where Kenya will be battling to save their face by retaining their core status, starting with the match against Australia at 1.06pm.

Equally, Wanyama has a tough assignment-the Champions League final where Spurs will square it out with Liverpool later today, but the Kenyan skipper still stood with Shujaa in a turbulent journey following a tough season marked by mismanagement and players' revolt against the Union.

"Guys, I wish you all the best in tomorrow's (Today) Rugby Sevens. Hope you'll do better and the result will come. Good luck," Wanyama said in a video message to Shujaa squad.

Kenya will then return to the pitch at 4.10 against South Africa before winding their group campaign against Wales at 7.36pm.

With these tough fixtures, Shujaa still have to make it to the main Cup semis to be assured of avoiding the axe. Kenya is currently 14th, just one place above Japan and Ireland in the 21-team table.

Meanwhile, Michael Wanjala and Herman Humwa replaced the injured Dio of Daniel Sikuta and Daniel Taabu from the squad.

Story by Sasha Amor, TUKO Correspondent.

Source: SportsBrief.com
Researchers in France and Spain have warned against consumption of ultra-processed food such as chicken nuggets, ice cream, instant noodles and sweetened breakfast cereals.

The scientists said eating of such food to premature death, poor health and heart related complications.

READ ALSO: Kenyans laud government's directive on KSh 1000 notes, say it will help fight against corruption

Instant noodles is one of the ultra-processed food. Photo: Live Science.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Ajali yaua abiria 8 Bungoma huku sita wakijeruhuwa kufuatia ajili ya basi na matatu

The researchers noted amount of such food being eaten on daily basis have increased tremendously in the recent times.

Ultra-processed foods are those that go through multiple processes and contain many added ingredients and are highly manipulated.

Other common examples are soft drinks, chips, chocolate, candy, ice-cream, packaged soups, chicken and fries.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association had revealed consumption of 354ml glass of fruit juice a day is linked to a 24% increase in premature death.

It also found out that 340ml glass of soda causes about 6 % increased risk of early death over the same period.

Portion size is important because its really the greater recommended portion of every additional serving that caused the increased risk. I would encourage my patients to drink no more than 115 ml to 236 ml of juice per day, researcher Kate Patton told Philadelphia CBS.

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.

Kartelo's Untold Story - TUKO TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Cub Scout Pack 600 in Wagoner will hold a "Flood Relief Benefit Car Wash" Saturday, June 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Wagoner Fire Department.

The pack has adopted the Abshier family, who has suffered major losses in May's catastrophic floods. Any and all cash contributions will be given to the family to help them in their flood recovery efforts.

Toiletry and non-perishable food donations will also be accepted. These items will go directly to local shelters that are housing families displaced by flood waters.

Small toiletry items such as shampoos, soaps, toothpaste, snacks and such are encouraged.

All area residents are invited to come out and support the Oklahoma flood victims!

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All it took to sell Charli Bittick on the business of selling ice cream was a taste.

My father, my husband and I had been looking around for a business we could buy into, Bittick said. We wanted to start with something small and see how we did.

Bitticks father, Todd Palmer, learned that the Rustic Gate Creamery in downtown Jenks was available.

I had never been there before, Bittick said, but, of course, we had to try everything in the place before we made a decision. I may not have thought about owning an ice cream shop before, but this ice cream is just too good. We had to keep it.

Bittick and her family took over Rustic Gate Creamery, 101 W. Main St. in Jenks, in January. The shop specializes in serving Ashbys Sterling Ice Cream, a gourmet brand from Michigan.

They use a mix thats at least 14% butterfat, and they dont whip as much air into it as some companies do, so its a rich, super-dense ice cream, Bittick said.

Ashbys Sterling Ice Cream comes in about 70 different flavors, although Rustic Gate stocks 16.
Im not sure why anyone would do that, Mayor G.T. Bynum said of the hoax.

A firefighter water rescue team and police officers from Tulsa and Jenks converged on the river between 81st and 91st streets about 1 p.m. Wednesday after someone reported that a person in the river needed to be rescued.

Authorities searched both sides of the river and were notifying emergency responders downstream in Bixby about a possible victim.

Later, local authorities tracked down the person who made the report. Heather Nicole Jeffries of Tulsa was located at her apartment and told officers that a man told her he saw someone in the creek.

Jeffries was hospitalized due to a medical issue while being questioned, and while in the hospital she reportedly told a Tulsa police officer she was sorry she lied and didnt think anyone would believe her and was afraid of getting in trouble, according to her arrest report.

During an interview with a detective, Jeffries allegedly said she made up the story about the man telling her about the person needing rescue before saying I thought I saw someone in the creek.
Tulsa is one of 10 cities featured in the museum. Among the exhibit items are melted pennies from a home fire, looted church property and postcards showing charred corpses.

In seeing what black Tulsans kept, Franklin is convinced more has yet to be uncovered.

What was left by the mayor, city and county commissioners and other government leaders? Did religious leaders leave notes from sermons given at the time?

Who owned private planes back then? Who could have cut the phone lines? What were the thoughts and actions of firefighters and police officers? What did average citizens think or do?

That will shed light on the silence on the white Tulsa side, he said. There is a set of knowledge being kept away from public. Who were all the players in Tulsa in 1921 and what were they doing? I dont see that kind of investigation going on.

We will move forward, but we dont have all the vantage points from the past. Some are hidden from us, and we need to know more.

The 100th anniversary of the Red Summer is this year, which refers to the more than three dozen cities with race riots resulting in more than 165 deaths. Most of the victims were black.
NORMAN  Six years before he was indicted by Oklahomas multicounty grand jury and accused of operating an opioid pill mill, eastern Oklahoma Dr. Ronald Myers was targeted by a Johnson & Johnson sales representative who was promoting use of the opioid Nucynta.

He has two other doctors and a PA (physicians assistant) that practice pain management in his clinic, the Johnson & Johnson sales representative said in her email. These practitioners are not targets for me, but it would be insane for me not to call on them while I am at the clinic.
You guys have actually been working on this for so long, and we dont even realize it, he told the audience. The wisdom and experience you have, we need to build on that and use it to further everything we want to do in society.

We cant move on as a society if we dont learn from each other and learn from our mistakes.

Banks encouraged older generations to take the time to mentor teens and young adults, who in turn need to take that guidance to heart.

Meanwhile, Lankford highlighted the need for parents to set an example for their kids on how to respect and engage with other cultures.

This is the second year that Lankford has volunteered to speak at the symposium. Before joining Congress, the senator served 22 years in youth ministry. The John Hope Franklin Center has recognized him for his work toward increasing personal freedom and religious liberty.

About three years ago, Lankford began asking people whether theyve had a family of another race in their home for dinner. The most common response, he said, is they have friends of another race. Hell then point out thats not what he asked.
Dial 211

If you arent sure who to contact, its likely someone at this number can help.

Report storm damage

Go to damage.ok.gov to report your information. This is not the same as your insurance company, and you dont need insurance to report. The state is gathering information to coordinate assistance for people recovering from the storms. The information also could help determine federal aid.

State Insurance Department

The department is available to assist with questions or information about insurance. The department is warning people to beware of scams right now. Go online to ok.gov/oid or call 800-522-0071.

Tulsa Health Department

The health department is providing free tetanus shots and has other information available. Go online to tulsa-health.org or call 918-582-9355.
A leaf, still green and crisp from spring, floated past the SUV, which was parked at the water's edge with the door open and Jim Lumsden sitting half in and half out of the driver's seat.

"See that leaf?" Lumsden said, pointing with a trembling finger. "See it?"

For three days, he had parked near this spot to watch leaves and sticks and debris float through the streets of his Town and Country neighborhood, 20 minutes west of downtown Tulsa. And until now, everything had been floating south, which meant the water was still rising. But this leaf Thursday afternoon was floating north, toward the Arkansas River. And it couldn't have made Lumsden happier if it had been delivered by a dove.

"That means the water is going down," he said. "Finally. And by this time tomorrow, I should be able to get inside my house."

After nearly 10 inches of rain in Tulsa over the past two weeks, the river crested Wednesday afternoon at 23.41 feet, the second-highest water level recorded in the Arkansas in Tulsa and less than 2 feet short of the all-time high set in 1986.

Earlier in the week, Travis Harness flagged down a police officer to ask if he should evacuate his house in the Town and Country neighborhood. But the officer told him not to worry, Harness said. The water would never get high enough to reach his house, which was built on a raised foundation to stand 3 feet above the flood plain.

Fifteen minutes later, water was flowing into his yard as Keystone Dam opened its floodgates wider. And by the next morning, Harness needed a boat to get back to his house, where the water stood more than 2 feet deep in his living room.

Unable to do anything there, Harness was helping clean his sister's house, a few blocks south of his property. The water had already receded from her garage but was still lapping against the outside wall.

"She's lucky," Harness said. "It didn't get very high in here."

He was using a broom to push greenish-brown water out of a pantry, and the stench almost made him gag. A watermark on the wall reached knee-high, where the soaked Sheetrock looked as crumbly as wet cardboard. Pink insulation poking through a hole in the wall was soaking up the putrid water and pulling it higher into the house.

"This is all the Corps' fault," Harness said, stopping to lean against the broom. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers waited too long to begin letting water out of Keystone, then had to dump too much too fast, he said.

And officials didn't give his neighborhood enough warning to evacuate, he said.

"I guess they didn't want to ruin Memorial Day for the lake," Harness said. "What gets me is that we were told it was going to be OK. 'Don't worry.' And now look at this mess."

The Corps, however, can only share information with local officials, who are responsible for notifying the public, said Col. Chris Hussin, commander of the Tulsa District. Keystone Dam releases water based on actual rainfall, not weather forecasts, because forecasts can change or prove to be wrong, Hussin said.

"If we elect to pre-release water and the forecasted weather shifts to overlay the area impacted by the pre-release, we've created a flooding situation" instead of preventing one, he said. "Simply put, we have to make tough decisions to reduce excess water in our lakes faster than we prefer to ensure that the dams and levees hold."

Water from Keystone Dam takes 10 hours to reach Bixby, where Dianne Shelton stepped over sand bags to reach her front door, footsteps echoing through an empty living room. The downstairs had only a couple of bar stools left, with the rest of the furniture crammed upstairs, where she had to wedge herself sideways through a narrow, zig-zagging aisle to find her bed. No antique store has ever looked so cluttered.

"But I can't complain," Shelton said. "All my stuff is dry, while others have lost everything."

Early last week, Shelton's family planted a 3-foot stick on top of a berm that stands between her backyard and Fry Ditch Creek, where it flows into the Arkansas about 200 yards south of the Chateaus housing development. At the time, the water was beginning to trickle over the top of the berm, but by Wednesday, only the very tip of the stick was still poking above the surface.The water had reached Shelton's fence, and her stress level was reaching new heights too.

"What gets me is that we were told it was going to be OK. 'Don't worry.' And now look at this mess."  Travis Harness

"The hardest thing is not knowing what's going to happen next," she said. "You go to bed thinking, 'Well, we made it through another day.' Then you wake up and the water is still getting higher."

By Thursday morning, however, the water had finally peaked. And by Friday afternoon, the top of the berm was visible again. If the water continued to recede, as expected, Shelton was going to bring her furniture back downstairs this weekend, despite forecasts for scattered rain stretching into next week.

"The one good thing that came out of it," said Roxanne Whiteis, Shelton's daughter who lives in the same area, "is that the whole neighborhood has come together. I've talked to more of my neighbors in the last two weeks than in the last two years."

Related

Other neighborhoods may never be the same. One relief worker, who was surveying damage in the Town and Country neighborhood, predicted that some houses in west Tulsa and Sand Springs will have to be torn down.

"The owners may not know it yet, but it's going to cost too much to fix some of them," he said, not giving his name because his employer had not authorized him to speak to reporters. "You don't spend $200,000 to fix a $150,000 house."

Lumsden knows it. Now 92, he went through the flood of 1986 in the same house.

"I should have left then," he said last week.

Instead, he replaced flooring, drywall and insulation and soon had more money invested than he could hope to recoup by selling.

Thirty-three years later, the water seemed 2 feet deeper in his house, Lumsden estimated. This time, however, he managed to move most of his belongings the day before the water rose, and now, he has decided to rent a different house in Sand Springs. A house on higher ground.

He won't come back to Town and Country.

"I'm done," he said. "I've learned my lesson."

Michael Overall 918-581-8383 michael.overall@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @MichaelOverall2

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The Kim regime has mastered the art of insulting, but what do those insults reveal? Is it true that "none profess their innocence as loudly as the guilty?" Yonhap



By Amanda Price



The North Korean regime has led the modern world in brazen behavior. One of its prize-winning talents is its ability to use language that would shame the devil.



Despite this, Kim Jong-un is perhaps the only leader in the modern world who can refer to fellow leaders as "human filth," "barking dogs" or "witless puppets" and still be invited to tea.



Like a spouse living with an abusive partner, it seems we have become so accustomed to Kim's unbridled verbal attacks that they almost seem part of the accepted relationship.



Many of us have simply stopped listening, and even caring. Kim's long-winded accusations and attacks have become meaningless rhetoric, or the huffing and puffing of a dictator trying to inflate his own image.



We also have the great advantage of being able to switch Kim off. We can decide not to listen to his diatribes, nor read his denunciations. We can ignore Kim without the slightest fear of retribution.



North Koreans do not have anything like that luxury.



By contrast, North Koreans are force-fed Kim's venomous speeches through the state-controlled media on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week loop.



For those who cannot afford a radio or TV, Kim's condemnations are broadcast through public speakers into town squares, factories, schools, shopping centers and even fields. Giant public television screens now broadcast Kim's vitriol in high definition.



For North Koreans, Kim's insults are anything but meaningless. They are purposed to infiltrate people's minds like expanding wet concrete, leaving no room for opinion.



To those still under the spell that Kim is their savior, and the personification of virtue, these insults are imbedded into their psyche as a form of mind control.



But to the increasing number who silently know that Kim's purposes are anything but good, these insults are reminders of the brutal consequences that will befall them should they voice their doubts.



Looking deeper into this regulated flow of propaganda and vilification of the outside world, we hear Kim's real message to North Koreans. Quite simply, "Love me, hate the imperialists  or else".



In 2017, a team of documentarians from Russia Today (RT) were given permission to interview Pyongyang citizens during preparation for "The Day of the Sun," the celebration of Kim Il-sung's birthday.



Their watchers assumed that, as the team was largely Russian, the documentary they were filming would be one that promoted the regime.



They were wrong.





No leader in modern history has used propaganda as prolifically as Kim Jong-un, which is a significant claim. A senior-level defector explained that Kim's condemnation of world leaders stemmed from his awareness that he is not a legitimate leader, either by world or North Korean standards. Yonhap



One of their first interviews was with a mill manager, a woman at least twice Kim's age. "The commander loves us like a father," she recited. "When he entered our factory, we beheld his lustrous image. It was like a daydream. The entire factory was filled with his light."



A teenage student told an interviewer that the "Great Leader is inseparable from us. He does everything in his power to make us the happiest people on earth  People in this country are envied all around the world and we are proud of it."



In the documentary, Kim paid a surprise, yet highly publicized visit to a factory where an employee had lost both parents. Kim singled her out because, according the DPRK media, "he sensed her fidelity." She was given an apartment in Pyongyang free of charge, was featured in the national news, and even won a husband in the process. "The Dear Leader replaced all the love that I lost from my parents  and more," she said between tears, which were meant to look like joy.



An orphaned boy, 10, in a meticulously rehearsed speech, responded to a simple question, "we orphans have the loving attention of our beloved and respected leader making us happier than children with parents, we have everything"  inhale and glance sideways  "and want for nothing so there is no one we could possibly envy."



Though these were more privileged citizens of Pyongyang, the masquerade of emotions was like watching a bizarre ballet. Everyone knew they were being watched, everyone knew their role, and everyone knew the consequences of under-performing.



It was as if Kim's reign of terror had been wrapped in pink cellophane and tied with a ribbon.



And in the background, while flowers were etched into freezing black ice, the crackling sound of yet another message sent from the Dear Leader could be heard.









But threaded through the Great Leader's messages of love and benevolence were words carefully inserted to incite loathing and fear.



Deliberately weaponized, Kim's toxic criticisms of everyone who is not North Korean were armed to create animosity toward, and suspicion of, the non-revolutionary world.



The bulk of these odious or condescending insults were aimed at America. Japan came a close second, with all imperialist nations lumped together in third place.



According to DPRK history books, used to this very day, Americans "are the most evil nation in history." Their sole aim, according to "The U.S. Began the Korean War," is to take over the Korean Peninsula and use it as their base for their expansionist goals.



The U.S., the history book claims, "is the greatest national misfortune in the history of the peninsula."



The Japanese are "cutthroats" and "cowards," vanquished by the Great Eternal President, Kim Il-sung. They are "never to be trusted."



South Koreans are more to be pitied, "nothing more than puppets in the hands of the imperialists" or "lapdogs for the American invaders." Happily, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un is working to free South Koreans from their "American overlords".



Urged on by their "puppet masters," South Koreans also send spies into North Korea to steal women and children, who they then "masquerade as defectors."



Kim Jong-un has been more far-reaching in his condemnation propaganda than even his father or grandfather.



As a Pyongyang university student quickly explained: "Thanks to the Great Leader and Commander's revolutionary plan, we became the greatest country on earth. Anyone who dares to think otherwise are enemies!"



"We have a sacred obligation to the Motherland," said a sweetly spoken young woman while a soldier watched on, "to always be ready to fight, and fight the American bastards. That is our pledge."





Indoctrination begins in infant school.?These early elementary children will have already been taught to adore the Great Leader and hate anyone who does not do the same. But who knows what the future will be for these children.?Perhaps they will be among the first North Koreans to live as free people? Yonhap
OKLAHOMA CITY  A recently released report indicates Oklahoma ranks third in the nation for the highest percentage of bridges in poor condition.

The information was released by the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks from Federal Highway Administration data.

Large companies including Amazon, FedEx, UPS and Anheuser-Busch are lobbying Congress to allow heavier trucks and longer double-trailer trucks, according to the coalition.

Any increases in truck size and weight passed in Congress could negatively impact the state of Oklahoma and its bridges, said Shane Reese, Coalition Against Bigger Trucks spokesman. Bad infrastructure is also a highway danger and not only a highway danger to private motorists but to professional truck drivers and law enforcement officers patrolling the road alike.

The Coalition Against Bigger Trucks, a nonprofit founded in 1995 and based in Virginia, has asked Congress not to increase the size and weight limits on trucks. Legislation is already pending that would allow for heavier trucks nationwide, Reese said.
The recent storms, tornadoes and flooding in northeast Oklahoma have been nothing short of tragic. While some may see flood-causing storms as the main threat, its just as important to stay safe in the aftermath of a natural disaster. As a trained emergency room physician, Ive seen many injuries caused by floodwaters that could have been prevented. With that in mind, here are some important tips that will go a long way in protecting yourself and others.

As the floodwaters begin to recede, be cautious of the impacted area, as floodwater contains contaminants that pose serious risks to your health. Human waste is often found in floodwater due to water levels rising above sewer lines, so its important to not eat or drink anything that has been around the floodwater, as it can cause serious disease.

While you may be assessing the damage and going through your home or personal belongings, wear gloves and frequently wash your hands with soap and clean water, especially before eating. Its also important to thoroughly disinfect any items that have been touched by the floodwaters, especially cooking utensils and childrens toys.
Americans cheered the announcement three years ago that Harriet Tubman would be the new face on the $20 bill, making her the first African American to grace U.S. paper money and one of the few women.

The final design of the bills was to be ready in 2020, in time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.

Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin walked back those plans before the House Financial Services Committee. He testified that the redesign effort has been delayed to 2028, when, as he said, it will be another treasury secretarys responsibility.

He said the treasury departments efforts to foil counterfeiters had more important priorities than redesigning the $20 bill, but that excuse rang hollow to us.
The UEFA Champions League final team selections will be among the biggest of Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp's careers. Who's unavailable, who's a doubt and who looks set to miss out? UEFA.com ponders the possible line-ups and runs through all the team news.

MAKE YOUR FANTASY CHANGES

Don't forget you are permitted to make five free Fantasy transfers before kick-off in the final.

Possible XI: Lloris; Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Winks, Sissoko; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Kane

Out: none

Doubtful: Kane (ankle)

Watch all of Spurs' goals en route to Madrid

 Mauricio Pochettino was cagey when pressed on the fitness of Harry Kane during his Friday press conference. The Spurs striker is still considered a doubt having not played since 9 April, but is widely expected to be passed fit for a game of such magnitude. "[The players] don't know [the starting line-up]," said Pochettino. "We have one training session now and then we are ready to decide."

Possible XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane

Out: Keita (thigh)

Doubtful: none

 Roberto Firmino has shrugged off a groin problem and is available for selection, leaving Jurgen Klopp with almost a fully-fit squad to choose from. "From his point of view, he's ready," said Klopp when addressing the media on Friday. James Milner looks most likely to miss out in midfield.
On Friday, May 31, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with members of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine concerning energy security.

The president reminded that he visited the Lisova mine in Lviv region on Thursday, where two miners were killed, and expressed condolences to the relatives of the victims, the press service of the head of state reported.

"Two years ago, eight miners were killed at the Stepova mine. Recently, 17 miners were killed at the Skhidkarbon mine near Luhansk. These are all our people. Problems in the coal industry have common roots wherever they arise," the president said.

The head of state said that during the last week he had visited two places, where Ukrainians were killed. "Bullets and shells kill people on the frontline. And irresponsibility, mismanagement and corruption kill in the rear," Zelensky stressed.

The issue of the energy sector was discussed in the format of the meeting, and in two weeks appropriate decisions will be made. The stakes are extremely high - the safety and welfare of our people, the president noted.

Zelensky stated that during 2014-2018, coal production by Ukraines state enterprises had decreased by 47%. The Ukrainian economy is critically dependent on the import of energy resources, and very little has been done to obtain them from different sources.

The president reminded that one of Ukraine's commitments to the European Union was the reform of the energy sector with the demonopolization of energy markets being the key issue. Starting from July 1, the next stage of the electricity market should start.

"However, in conditions of total monopolization, there may be risks for producers, consumers and the Ukrainian economy as a whole. The international partners warn us against that," Zelensky emphasized.
For five years of war in Donbas, Russian invaders killed over 240 Ukrainian children, and another 56 went missing.

The press service of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported this on Facebook on June 1.

"Russian invaders killed more than 240 Ukrainian children in Donbas for five years. Another 56 children were missing," the report says.

Russian-led forces destroyed more than 700 schools using banned artillery systems and tanks.

The report clarifies that about 15,000 minors are constantly in danger and fear of shelling by the Russian aggressor.

The psychological trauma they get now will forever remain in their lives, the report says.

ish
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky accepted an invitation from his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to make a visit to Paris in the near future.

He said this after a meeting with French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, which took place in Kyiv on May 31, the press service of the head of state reported.

The Ukrainian president thanked France for the consistent support for our country's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

Zelensky also noted that the solidarity of France with Ukraine as a partner in the Normandy format and in various international groups and organizations was essential for maintaining security and defending the norms and principles of international law on the continent.

In addition, the parties paid considerable attention to the further enhancement of bilateral political dialogue and strengthening of cooperation between Ukraine and France, in particular in trade and economic sectors.

ish
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked President of the United States Donald Trump for the invitation to make an official visit to Washington, D.C.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian president, Zelensky also stressed that the draft law on strengthening support for Ukraine, which was presented in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, was an important signal of strong strategic partnerships between the two countries.

"I am grateful to the United States for the consistent support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Zelensky said.

As known, the draft law "To provide support to Ukraine to defend its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and for other purposes" is aimed at strengthening the defense capability of our state, in particular by transferring weapons, selling lethal defense weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and strengthening Ukraine's ability to withstand Russian cyberattacks. The list of types of weapons that can be transferred to Ukraine is supplemented by anti-tank, anti-ship and anti-aircraft systems. Also, the document envisages the provision of the status of a key military-political ally of the United States to our country.
The document is aimed at strengthening Ukraine's defense capability, including by transferring arms, selling lethal defensive weapons, as well as strengthening Ukraine's ability to resist Russia's cyber attacks.

The Embassy of Ukraine in the United States says a bill has been presented at the U.S. House of Representatives that provides for increased support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the expansion of military assistance and the granting of the major U.S. military and political ally status to the country.

Read alsoZelensky meets with U.S. Senator: We have two wars  with Russia and corruption

"The bill on providing support to Ukraine to protect its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity is aimed at strengthening the defense capability of our state, including by transferring weapons, selling the lethal defensive means to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and strengthening Ukraine's ability to resist Russian cyber attacks," the Embassy wrote on Facebook on May 31.

"The list of weapons that can be transferred to Ukraine is complemented by anti-tank, anti-ship and anti-aircraft systems," the report said.

The bill provides for "the possibility of granting the status of the major non-NATO ally of the United States to Ukraine for the period from the effective date of this document to our state's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance," it said.

"This status can be used to simplify the procedure for transferring defense means to Ukraine," the Embassy said.

Read alsoZelensky, U.S. envoys discuss reforms, counteraction to Russia's aggression

According to the document, U.S. policy should include support for:

- Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, as well as the country's Euro-Atlantic and European integration;

- the rights of Ukrainians to freely determine their future and make independent and sovereign decisions in the field of foreign policy and security, including those concerning relations with other countries and international organizations, without interference, intimidation or pressure from other countries;

- Ukraine's right to protection against Russian aggression by providing it with U.S. assistance;

- further consolidation of democratic values in Ukraine, including by strengthening the rule of law, enhancing transparency and accountability in the public sector, and fighting corruption.

In addition, U.S. policy should be aimed at:

- the rejection of any territorial changes in Ukraine, committed in a forceful manner, including through the Russia's illegal invasion of Crimea and Donbas, as well as the occupation of these territories;

- the condemnation of the detention by the Russian side of 24 crew members of Ukrainian naval vessels seized near the Kerch Strait;

- the insistence that the Russian Federation fully implement the Minsk agreements; support the deployment of international security mechanisms in Donbas, and assurance of the safe return of internally displaced persons and refugees.

The bill was co-sponsored by the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel and Republican Michael McCaul, as well as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy and the Environment of this Committee, Democrat William Keating, and the Ranking Member of the said Subcommittee, Republican Adam Kinzinger, the embassy said.
By Robert Neff





A Korean family  Russian postcard, circa 1900. Courtesy of Diane Nars

In the 19th century, life in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula was filled with hardships.



The harsh environment, predations by wild animals and outlaws, heavy taxes and the perceived prejudice of the government in Seoul for the region caused many to wander elsewhere seeking better opportunities. For many, Russia was the land of opportunity.



According to Isabella Bird Bishop, a feisty elderly Englishwoman who traveled extensively throughout the Far East in the 1890s, Koreans arrived in Russia in 1863 when 13 families settled in the Russian province. Slowly that number grew. By 1866, there were about 100 families  all "very poor" and provided cattle and seed by the Russian government.



It isn't clear when Koreans started emigrating but Korean documents indicate that in the winter of 1866-67 there were several incidents along the short Russian-Korean border.



"Bandits"  believed to be Koreans  crossed the Tuman River from Russia and carried away women, children, livestock and family possessions. A group of several hundred bandits  trying to flee into Russia  were forced to leave behind a large number of livestock, some 30 cooking stoves, grain and 20 carts.



The Joseon government tried to prevent a mass exodus to Russia by fortifying its border. A large number of guard posts were built  each manned with three or five soldiers  and a wooden barrier, with small alarm bells that would ring if someone tried to cross, was erected along the banks of the river. According to one of the reports, the defenses were so secure that "even little creatures like flying birds and leaping rabbits could not avoid them."



Heungseon Daewongun, the Korean regent and father of the king, proclaimed that he felt alarmed and grieved that the people of the northern province would "abandon the home of their fathers and mothers and flee to a land where the customs and language are strange." He ordered that some of the taxes be abolished or reduced and granted relief aid.





A Russian family in Vladivostok, circa 1900s.
The Ukrainian presidential administration has not specified the details of the upcoming meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pay an official visit to Washington, D.C.

Read alsoBill on strengthening support for Ukraine presented at U.S. Congress  Embassy

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is grateful to President of the United States of America Donald Trump for the invitation to make an official visit to Washington, D.C.," Ukraine's presidential press service said in a statement on June 1.

"The head of state also emphasizes that the bill on providing support to Ukraine to protect its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, which has been presented in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, is an important signal of strong strategic partnerships between the two countries," it said.

The document envisages increased support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the expansion of military assistance and the granting of the major U.S. military and political ally status to the country. The bill also expands the list of weapons that can be transferred to Ukraine.

However, the Ukrainian presidential administration has not specified the details of the upcoming meeting.
Each enemy provocation had an adequate response.

Russia's hybrid military forces in the past 24 hours mounted 10 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with two Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action.

Read alsoRussian-led forces in Donbas resume use of heavy artillery amid shelling of settlements, Ukraine troops  NGO

"Russian proxy forces 10 times attacked Ukrainian positions, including five times using 122mm artillery systems and 82mm mortars proscribed by the Minsk Agreements," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update published on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on June 1, 2019.

The enemy also used grenade launchers of various types, anti-tank rifles, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

Under attack were the towns of Avdiyivka, Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, as well as the villages of Vodiane, Starohnanivka, Mayske, and Novoluhanske.

No enemy shelling was left without an adequate response on the part of Joint Forces, the press center said.

According to Ukrainian intelligence reports, five invaders were wounded.

"Since Saturday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked Ukrainian positions yet," the report said.
Armed forces' units of the aggressor state destroyed more than 700 schools using proscribed artillery systems and tanks.

Russian invaders have killed over 240 Ukrainian children for five years of war in Donbas, while another 56 children have gone missing.

Read alsoNearly 270 civilians, incl. 27 children, killed in landmine blasts in Donbas since beginning of war

"Over five years of war in Donbas [eastern Ukraine], Russian invaders have killed more than 240 Ukrainian children. Another 56 children went missing. Armed forces' units of the aggressor state destroyed more than 700 schools using proscribed artillery systems and tanks. About 15,000 minors are constantly in danger and fear of shelling from the Russian proxy forces. The psychological traumas they get now will forever remain in their lives," the Ukrainian Naval Forces' press service said in a statement on June 1.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine on June 1 marks International Children's Day.
No Ukrainian army casualties have been reported from the start of the day.

Russia-led forces mounted three attacks on the Ukrainian army's positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, on June 1.

Read alsoRussian invaders kill over 240 children in Donbas for five years

"There have been no Ukrainian army casualties. Information on the enemy's losses is being clarified," the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an evening update on Saturday.

All attacks were reported in the Skhid (East) sector, the report said.

In particular, Russian-occupation forces fired at Ukrainian positions near the town of Avdiyivka, and the villages of Pavlopil and Verkhniotoretske.

"To hostile provocations, Joint Forces units gave an adequate response," the press center added.
Casey Lartigue Jr.

On July 8, 1999, the South Korean government opened the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees, often referred to as "Hanawon." In the past two decades, more than 32,000 North Korean refugees have made it to South Korea, with almost every refugee passing through Hanawon. In the lead-up to a forum marking its 20th anniversary, TNKR began asking North Korean refugees about their Hanawon experiences.  ED.



Female, name and arrival year withheld by request



My Hanawon experience was terrible, one of the worst things to happen to me in my life.



My family was in a good position in North Korea; we had relatives in China who helped me escape. One of my relatives there paid for me to get a Chinese ID. I was living and working with Chinese people and having a fine life. I didn't like having a fake life, however, worried about being revealed as being from North Korea.



My ID was fine for traveling within China, working and going to school or the hospital. I wasn't confident that my ID would be valid if I tried to get through Chinese immigration or if I returned from a trip. It may not seem important to people who were born in countries where they easily receive an ID, but I wanted to get identification so I could travel legally without concerns.



I decided to apply for asylum in South Korea. The Thai prison was the beginning of my trouble. Gangs were there, dominating and isolating newcomers. It seemed that the Thai officials encouraged it so they didn't have to abuse people directly but they could still keep control.



At some point, I started to get targeted when they realized I was from a nice family. We were all thrown together. It wasn't really possible to get away from the bullies. It continued on when we got to South Korea, then during Hanawon it got worse. We were close to freedom, but still so tightly controlled.



We were all kept together as a group, so that meant new rivalries and battles had started, and the previous ones continued. I stopped participating in Hanawon activities and only did the minimum required. I skipped the religious services even though they offered good food. I just stayed in my room, reading every book that was available.



It was a terrible time in my life, a terrible way to get introduced to South Korea. I don't regret escaping, but if I had known what I would go through, I would have trained as a fighter to be prepared for the chaos of Thai jail and Hanawon.



After I was released from Hanawon, I avoided everything to do with North Korea or North Korean refugees. I joined TNKR because I needed English, but other than this, I have no connection to North Korea-related organizations, and I don't have any North Korean refugee friends in South Korea. I still contact family in North Korea but I must be careful because I have been reported as drowning.



I am doing business and traveling a lot. Those are the two things that I love and I need to sharpen my English for both. I am doing business with people all over the world. I feel so free being able to travel.



I can travel without worrying about having a fake ID or anyone reporting me as being illegal. I am grateful to South Korea, but my warning is that Hanawon and the transition experience punches North Korean refugees in the face when they first arrive. It seems we need a transition process to get prepared for the Hanawon transition process.



Jong-Kyom, male, escaped in 2012, arrived in 2013



It feels like 100 years ago that I was at Hanawon. I mainly remember eating and sleeping. I wasn't focused on anything. I was just ready to get out. I kept thinking, "When will I be able to get out?"



I was so bored, they were teaching about history and Korea. Even when they offered incentives for good behavior and diligence, I wasn't interested. I just wanted to be released.



The main thing I remember is religion. I had heard about it but had never experienced it. In North Korea, I was forced to believe things, so it was interesting to meet people who chose different religions by choice. Three religions would visit Hanawon to try to teach us things. I don't remember their lessons. I do remember the Buddhists brought a lot of nice food, especially my favorite kind of fruit, and nice gifts.



The Protestants had so many beautiful ladies visiting. The sermons were so boring, but I could look at the beautiful ladies. I was in the all-male Hanawon, so of course it was so boring with us being together so often. We couldn't wait to see those beautiful ladies every Sunday.



I would avoid the Catholic religious services or visit them last; they just sang together. The other men in Hanawon and I developed a pattern: Let's go to the Protestants first to see the beautiful ladies, second, let's eat with the Buddhists. If we had time, we could relax by singing with the Catholics.



It is fun to recall that now. There are just a few things that I remember about the actual things we learned for adjustment. It seems that the process wasn't well organized. I learned how to open a bank account when I was in Hanawon, but after I got out, I had to re-learn it.



There were other things that I had been taught that I had to learn once I was free. After I had been out for one year, I had the feeling that if North Korean refugees could live outside of Hanawon for a month, experience many things and then return to Hanawon, that we would pay much closer attention.



It seemed that what we were being taught was in theory and that there would be people on the outside ready to help us if we had trouble. One month in South Korean society would be the best teacher, better than three months of preparation for people looking at the gates blocking them from freedom.



It took me some time to adjust. One problem is that I had a strong North Korean accent. Even if I never said I was from North Korea, some people could sense it if we talked for long. For a minute or two, I could fake a South Korean accent. I remember when I was making a presentation during one of my university classes. It seemed that as I was presenting that I had transformed from a South Korean to a North Korean man.



For the first minute, I was fine, but then I got nervous during the presentation, so I guess I forgot to use the South Korean accent. I kept wondering how I could handle this issue, but finally the day came that I decided to forget about it, just be myself and use my own accent.



If someone had a problem with it, then I didn't want to associate with them if they would judge me based on where I was from. I didn't do anything wrong, I was born in North Korea, and now I am in South Korea.





Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center, was the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" Prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and the winner of the Global Award from Challenge Korea 2017. TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee translated the remarks of refugees from Korean to English.






By Song Wha-sup





Song Wha-sup
A recent discovery could help to explain further why living with dirt can benefit human health. Scientists have found that a bacterium that lives in soil makes an anti-inflammatory fatty acid that can promote resilience to stress

ISLAMABAD (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 01st June, 2019) A recent discovery could help to explain further why living with dirt can benefit human health. Scientists have found that a bacterium that lives in soil makes an anti-inflammatory fatty acid that can promote resilience to stress.Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) led a study that investigatedMycobacterium vaccae, an environmental bacterium that feeds on decaying organic matter.Previous studies with cells and laboratory animals have shown thatM.

vaccae can reduce inflammationand protect against stress.However, as the authors explain in a recent Psychopharmacology paper about their work, "the molecular mechanisms underlying anti-inflammatory effects of M.

vaccae are not known."In the new study, the researchers "purified and identified a unique anti-inflammatory triglyceride" from the soil bacterium. They then synthesized and tested the "free fatty acid" version of the fat in mouse immune cells.The fatty acid has the name 10(Z)-hexadecenoic acid, and the team used "next-generation sequencing techniques" to investigate its interaction with macrophages, a type of immune cell.The researchers saw that the fatty acid bound to a particular receptor, or signaling protein, in the cells.

This event, in turn, blocked a number of inflammation-driving molecular pathways. The name of the receptor is peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR).Further experiments revealed that treating the immune cells with the fatty acid before stimulating them increased their resistance to inflammation."We think," says senior study author Christopher Lowry, an associate professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder, "[that] there is a special sauce driving the protective effects in this bacterium, and this fat is one of the main ingredients in that special sauce."He says that the finding is "a huge step forward for us because it identifies an active component of the bacteri[um] and the receptor for this active component in the host."The interaction between the anti-inflammatory fatty acid and immune cells is a product of the coevolution of humans and soil bacteria, Lowry argues.Macrophages are immune cells that eliminate pathogens, such as bacteria, by consuming them.

They play a central role in inflammation.It seems, says Lowry, that once the soil bacterium gets inside the immune cell, it releases the anti-inflammatory fatty acid. This then binds to the PPAR and closes down the "inflammatory cascade."The findings are further evidence that contact with soil bacteria helps human health in ways that are different from what scientists once thought.Decades ago, before more sophisticated analysis techniques were available, scientists could see little of what happened at molecular levels in cells.

All they could show was that exposure to microorganisms appeared to benefit health.Those studies led British scientist David Strachan to coin the term "hygiene hypothesis" in 1989.The theory states that the more people's modern lives distance them from the land and contact with farm animals, so their bodies miss out on the collaboration with microorganisms.

This damages the immune system and increases the risk of allergy and asthma.At first, the assumption behind the hygiene hypothesis was that exposure to potentially harmful microorganisms helped the immune system to develop resilience against them.However, researchers such as Lowry and his team are redefining the hygiene hypothesis to add another side of the coevolution story.It is not just that exposure to disease-causing bacteria can prime immunity, but also that beneficial soil microbes can actively boost health through direct molecular interaction with immune cells.In previous work, Lowry has demonstrated several ways in which exposure to beneficial bacteria appears to be good for mental health.One study, for instance, showed that children that grow up on farms with animals have immune systems that are more resilient to stress, and they are also less likely to develop mental illnesses than children that grow up in the city without pets.Another study showed that injecting rodents with M.

vaccae has a similar effect on behavior as antidepressants. The treatment also appears to have a lasting anti-inflammatory effect on the brain.Research has suggested that too high an inflammation response can raise the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related conditions.Lowry and his team also did another study in which they showed that treating mice with M.

vaccae could prevent them from developing a reaction that is similar to PTSD after experiencing a traumatic event.Mice that they treated with the bacterium were also less likely to develop stress-related colitis and display anxiety under future stressful circumstances.The team sees possibilities in developing M.

vaccae as a "stress vaccine." This could help to protect people with high-stress occupations such as soldiers and firefighters from developing stress-related psychiatric illnesses.There could also be scope for developing a drug that targets the fatty acid.

Further studies would first need to confirm that the fatty acid does indeed have therapeutic potential.Lowry says that their study is just exploring "the tip of the iceberg in terms of identifying the mechanisms through which [soil bacteria] have evolved to keep us healthy.""This is just one strain of one species of one type of bacterium that is found in the soil, but there are millions of other strains in soils."
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Pope Francis meets with the Catholic Community of Bulgaria in the town of Rakovski, and invites them to see things the way God does.

By Vatican News

Catholics in Bulgaria make up about one per cent of the population, in an overwhelmingly Orthodox nation. Around ten thousand faithful gathered in the predominantly Catholic town of Rakovski, in southern Bulgaria, on Monday afternoon to see and hear Pope Francis speak to them about a theme very close to his heart: seeing with the eyes of faith.

God gets involved

Gods people learn to seeand be guided by the power of the resurrection, began the Pope. While recognizing there will always be pain and injustice, they do not shrink back in fear, but courageously take the first step in finding creative ways of directly testifying that Love is not dead. The People of God get involved, said the Pope, because, in Jesus, God Himself gets involved.

God not worried about details

Pope Francis shared his experience of visiting a refugee camp earlier in the morning. He spoke of how every person there is recognized as a child of God, regardless of ethnicity or religious confession, and how there is no need to ask for a curriculum vitae. The Pope said he met many Christians who have learned to see with Gods own eyes, a God who is not worried about details.

God is not a pessimist

Pope Francis continued with a quote by Pope Saint John XXIII: I never met a pessimist who managed to do something good. The Lord is the first not to be pessimistic. Seeing with the eyes of faith means not spending your life pinning labels, said Pope Francis. Rather, we should try to create conditions in which every person can feel loved.

Living for others

Pope Francis then commented on the three testimonies that preceded the afternoon encounter. After a family told him how their parish was a second home where they found strength and support, the Pope confirmed that every parish should be a home in the midst of homes. After a priest described how it is people who help him become a good minister of God, the Pope said a priest without his people loses his identity.

A home with open doors

Responding to the testimony of a woman religious, Pope Francis spoke of the Church that is a Mother. She does not offer ready-made answers, he said, but makes her childrens problems her own. The Pope described the Church as a family among familiesopen to faith, hope and love for the Lord. A home with open doors.

Facing challenges

Pope Francis invited Bulgarias Catholic community to be bold and creative, and to find ways to touch the hearts of young people, especially, supporting and accompanying them through new and imaginative efforts in our pastoral outreach.

Let us not be afraid to meet new challenges, concluded the Pope. Just make sure that everyone has a community of faith to support them, and always listen with one ear to the Gospel and the other to the heart of your people.
Pope Francis greets the priests and religious men and women of North Macedonia, and says the Catholic Church in the country breathes with both her lungs: the Latin and Byzantine rites. The full text of the Popes address is below:

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis

Meeting with Priests, their Families and Religious

Skopje, Cathedral

Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you for providing me with this opportunity to meet you. I am particularly grateful for this moment, in which I can see the Church breathing fully with both her lungs  the Latin rite and the Byzantine rite  and taking in the ever new and renewing air of the Holy Spirit. Two lungs that are necessary and complementary, that help us better to taste the beauty of the Lord (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 116). Let us give thanks for this chance to breathe deeply, as one, and to sense how good the Lord has been with us.

I thank you for your testimonies, which I would now like to take up. You mentioned the fact that you are few in number and risk giving into a certain inferiority complex. While I was listening to you, I thought of Mary, who took a pound of pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus and then wiped them dry with her hair. The Evangelist concludes his description of the scene by saying: The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume (Jn 12:3). That nard was able to permeate everything, leaving an unmistakable impression.

In more than a few situations, we feel the need to take stock and see where things stand. We can begin by looking at our numbers we are few; the means at our disposal and they are not many. Then we look at the number of houses and apostolates we have to support they are too many. We could go on to list all those many situations in which we experience how precarious are the resources we have for carrying out the missionary mandate with which we have been entrusted. Whenever we do this, it can seem that our bottom line is in the red.

True, the Lord told us: if you want to build a tower, calculate the costs, lest once you have laid the foundations, you are unable to complete the work (cf. Lk 14:29). But taking stock of things can lead us into the temptation of putting too much trust in ourselves, falling back on our own abilities and our shortcomings. In this way, we might almost end up like the disciples of Emmaus, proclaiming the kerygma with our lips, while our heart is sunken in a silence marked by a subtle frustration that prevents it from listening to the One who walks at our side and is a source of joy and gladness.

Brothers and sisters, taking stock of things is always necessary, when it can help us to understand and draw near to all those persons who daily struggle to make ends meet. Families that fail to grow, the elderly and abandoned, the sick and bedridden, young people frustrated and without a future, and the poor who remind us what we truly are: a Church of beggars in need of the Lords Mercy. It is legitimate to take stock of things, only if it enables us once more to become fraternal and attentive to others, to show understanding and concern as we draw near to the frustrations and the uncertainties felt by so many of our brothers and sisters who yearn for an anointing that can lift them up and heal their hope.

It is legitimate to take stock of things, but only in order to speak out all the more forcefully and to pray together with our people: Come, Lord Jesus!

I need only say that this land was able to give to the world and to the Church in Mother Teresa just that kind of concrete sign of how one small person, anointed by the Lord, could permeate everything, once the fragrance of the Beatitudes was spread over the weary feet of our humanity. How many people were put at ease by the tenderness of her glance, comforted by her caress, sustained by her hope and nourished by the courage of her faith, which could make even the most forgotten in our midst realize that they are not forgotten by God! History is written by people like this, people unafraid to offer their lives for love: whenever you did this to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it to me (cf. Mt 25:40). How much wisdom do we find in the words of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: Certainly, the most decisive turning points in world history are substantially co-determined by souls whom no history book ever mentions. And we will only find out about those souls to whom we owe the decisive turning points in our personal lives on the day when all that is hidden is revealed (Vorgebenes Leben und Epiphanie: GW XI, 145).

All too often we let ourselves think that things might be different if we were strong, powerful and influential. But isnt it the truth that the secret of our strength, power and influence, and even of our youthfulness, comes from somewhere else, and not from the fact that our accounts are in order? I ask you this, because I was struck by Davors testimony, when he shared with us what really touched his heart. You were quite clear: what saved you from careerism was returning to your first vocation and setting out to seek the risen Lord where he is to be found. You set out, leaving behind your forms of security, to walk the streets and squares of the city. There you felt that your vocation and your life were renewed. Bending over the daily life of your brothers and sisters to share with them and to anoint them with the fragrance of the spirit, your priestly heart began to beat anew and with greater intensity.

You drew near to anoint the weary feet of the Master, the weary feet of concrete individuals, there where they were to be found, and the Lord was waiting for you, to anoint you anew in your vocation. How often do we expend our energies and resources, in meetings, discussions and programmes, on preserving approaches, methods and goals that not only excite no one, but prove incapable of bringing even a glimmer of that evangelical fragrance that can offer comfort and open paths of hope, while depriving us of personal encounter with others? How right Mother Teresa was, when she said: Everything useless weighs me down! (A. COMASTRI, Mother Teresa, Una goccia di acqua pulita, 39). Let us leave behind all the burdens that keep us from the mission and prevent the fragrance of mercy from being breathed in by our brothers and sisters. A pound of nard was able to permeate everything and leave behind an unmistakable impression.

Let us not deprive ourselves of the best of our mission; let us not stifle the heartbeat of the spirit.

Thank you, Father Goce and Gabriella, and your children Filip, Blagoj, Luca and Ivan, for having shared with us your joys and concerns, both in ministry and in family life. But also the secret of how to keep going during the times of difficulty that you had to endure.

Your testimony has that Gospel fragrance of the first communities. Let us remember that the New Testament speaks of churches that meet in homes (cf. 1 Cor 16:19; Rom 16:5; Col 4:15; Philem 2). A familys living space could turn into a domestic church, a setting for the Eucharist, the presence of Christ seated at its table. We can never forget the image found in the Book of Revelation, where the Lord says: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (3:20). This is the image of a home filled with the presence of God, common prayer and every blessing (Amoris Laetitia, 15). In this way, you give a vivid witness of how faith does not remove us from the world, but draws us more deeply into it (ibid., 181). The world may not be the way we would like it, nor are we ourselves perfect or spotless. But we are drawn into it in the precariousness of our lives and of our families, anointed each day with trust in Gods unconditional love for us. A trust that leads us, as you have clearly reminded us, Father Goce, to develop certain aspects of life that are as important as they are overlooked in a society frayed by frenetic and superficial relationships: the aspects of tender love, patience and compassion towards others.

I like to think of each family as an icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Its daily life had its share of burdens and even nightmares, as when they met with Herods implacable violence. This last was an experience that, sad to say, continues to afflict the many refugee families who in our day feel rejected and helpless (Amoris Laetitia, 20). Through the faith built up by daily struggles, they are able to turn a stable into a home for Jesus, with poor swaddling clothes and an abundance of love (Evangelii Gaudium, 286).

Thank you for having shown the familiar face of the God with us, the God who never ceases to surprise us amid the pots and pans!

Dear brothers and sisters, thank you again for this ecclesial opportunity to take a deep breath with both lungs. Let us ask the Spirit to keep renewing us in our mission, with the confidence of knowing that he wants to permeate everything with his presence.
Actress Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Cuban glamour boy, who eloped to Greenwich, Connecticut, express their happiness while waiting for Desi to make his next stage appearance at a New York theater. Wedding ceremony caused Desi to miss the first show.They met in Hollywood, during filming of picture,, in which both appeared. Arnaz gave his age as 25; Miss Ball said she was 26.Here below is a small set of romantic images of newlyweds Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball at the Roxy Theatre on November 30, 1940.(via Eclectic Vibe
Trump said the duties would "gradually increase" until "illegal migrants" stop coming into the US through Mexico. (Photo: AFP/Brendan Smialowski)

Trump's Twitter announcement of a five per cent tariff on all goods from Mexico starting Jun 10 sent shares in automakers with plants in the North American country falling sharply.

Trump said the duties would gradually increase until "illegal migrants" stop coming into the United States through Mexico.

Mexico's under-secretary for North American affairs called the move "disastrous" and vowed to retaliate.

The announcement saw shares in Japanese automakers plunge, with Honda dropping 4.26 per cent to 2,651, Mazda plummeting 7.13 per cent to 1,061.5, Nissan down 5.31 per cent to 734.6, and Toyota slipping 2.84 per cent to 6,384.

Tokyo's main index fell 1.6 per cent, while Hong Kong shed 0.8 percent. Shanghai edged down 0.2 per cent and Singapore lost 0.8 per cent. Sydney and Seoul managed a 0.1 per cent gain.

European stocks also tumbled at the open, with London slipping 0.7 percent. Frankfurt shed 1.3 percent and Paris retreated 1.0 percent.

Trump's announcement has put the new North American trade pact between the US, Canada and Mexico at risk - with the agreement still awaiting ratification by the legislatures of the three countries.

In a letter to Trump after the announcement, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador struck a conciliatory tone.

"I express to you that I don't want confrontation," he wrote. "I propose deepening our dialogue, to look for other alternatives to the migration problem."

'MARKETS ARE NERVOUS'

Coming amidst a protracted trade war between the United States and China, the announcement will do little to soothe investors' anxieties.

"A US-China trade deal will be even less likely," said Khoon Goh, head of research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore.

"At the end of the day, what's the point of doing a deal if the US can just impose tariffs arbitrarily?"

In recent days China and the US have ramped up their rhetoric, with Beijing accusing Washington of "naked economic terrorism" and Trump dismissing the Asian superpower as "a very weakened nation".

The two sides have not set a date for negotiations to resume in the row that has seen Washington and Beijing slap tit-for-tat tariffs on imports, while Trump's decision to blacklist Chinese telecom giant Huawei earlier this month has added a new dimension to the fractious relationship.

"Markets are getting nervous that we may not see anything constructive on the trade front until the June 28-29th G20 summit, where President Trump and his Chinese counterpart will meet on the sidelines", said OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya.

"The longer the trade war lasts, the greater the global growth deterioration," he said.

Oil prices fell after a smaller-than-expected drop in US crude supplies, with new data showing US oil production at an all-time high.

"US production appears to be ramping up too quickly to allow inventories to come down much," Moya said.

"Gasoline inventories also posted a strong rise for a second consecutive week, despite the beginning of the summer driving season."

- Key figures around 0820 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.6 per cent at 20,601.19 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.8 per cent at 26,901.09 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.2 per cent at 2,898.70 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 per cent at 7,167.24 (open)

Pound/dollar: UP at US$1.2627 from US$1.2613 at 2100 GMT

Euro/dollar: UP at US$1.1151 from US$1.1130

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.86 from 109.61

Oil - Brent Crude: DOWN 90 cents at US$65.97 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 51 cents at US$56.08 per barrel

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Bosch secures steady growth with Industry 4.0 as the main driver

2018 was a year led by high demand for Internet of Things (IoT) and mobility solutions across Southeast Asia. At Bosch, we continue to expand the range of our leading solutions in these domains, by successfully completing several iconic projects and embarking on new initiatives, said Martin Hayes, president of Bosch in Southeast Asia. We are also starting to see positive results from previously deployed Industry 4.0 innovations, with highlight projects generating visibility and greater demand for our solutions. In short, our strategic focus on connectivity is paying off.

Bosch employs some 10,000 associates in Southeast Asia, of which 1,380 are working in research and development.

Positive impact from Industry 4.0 to drive growth

With many earlier regional Industry 4.0 projects now in operation, Bosch anticipates that more companies will follow in embracing the digital transformation journey. Bosch has built up decades of manufacturing experience and is capable of showing the benefits of Industry 4.0 solutions in its own plants throughout the region. Faster, more efficient, and flexible plant controls enable businesses to maximise output. Businesses are able to achieve up to 15 per cent higher machine availability, 5-10 per cent higher production performance and downtime reduced by up to 20 per cent with Bosch Industry 4.0 solutions.

Bosch has supported various clientele in consulting and strategic planning for Industry 4.0 deployment programmes. Last year in Singapore, Bosch partnered with Singapore Polytechnic to set up labs on the institutes campus, aimed at driving the nations Industry 4.0 and smart city blueprint.

In 2018, Bosch also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with co-operation partners such as the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Vietnam to develop an Industry 4.0 curriculum for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the country. In Malaysia, Bosch is one of the five Digital Transformation Lab (DTL) partners of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the lead agency for driving the digital economy in Malaysia.

Mobility of the future: driver assistance and safety technology paving the way for autonomous driving

New mobility with safety technology and electrification

Road safety continues to be of concern in Southeast Asia. As a leader in the automotive sector, Bosch continues to see demand for braking systems and driver assistance solutions such as automatic emergency breaking and lane keeping support.

Demand for electric vehicles (EV) is also growing with the heightening awareness of governments to reduce traffic emission in Southeast Asian countries. Bosch sees the availability of infrastructure for e-mobility as one of the main drivers for technology adoption in the region. A recently established partnership with Pertamina Corporation in Indonesia will see the deployment of multiple EV charging stations to power the transition.

The move will bring Indonesia closer to its ambitions of electric vehicles constituting 20 per cent of its domestic vehicle sales by 2025. In Vietnam, Bosch closed a deal with Vietnams fastest growing electric scooter manufacturer to supply parts, drive components, and software for its emerging business.

Boschs local manufacturing plants contribute to the companys worldwide manufacturing network and play an important role to fuel electric mobility demand on a global scale. For example, the companys Malaysian plant in Penang, which traditionally produced only power tools, will begin manufacturing battery packs for e-bikes for the global market due to their rising popularity worldwide.

Invented for regional progress and sustainability

Bosch continues to break technological grounds by utilising smart IoT technology to bring traditional industries into the 21st century. One such industry is aquaculture that tries to counteract the depletion of fish population through overfishing by moving operations on land. AquaEasy, a smart aquaculture solution from Bosch utilises the power of sensors and algorithms to help farmers increase their yield in a sustainable way. The innovation includes measuring and monitoring multiple water quality parameters as well as pond management features. Equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI), the system can help farm technicians make important decisions on feeding, stock health, and even harvesting. The first trials in Indonesia have shown that the Bosch solution is capable of significantly raising yield while also simplifying the measurement process. AquaEasy was developed in close collaboration with local farmers and is flexible enough to be customised and scaled across any market or country around the globe.

Another local innovation is The Bosch Intelligent Microgrid for Asia (BIMA), a microcontroller solution that manages and combines power from multiple energy sources such as solar panels, batteries, or generators to achieve a reliable and stable energy supply. With its cloud capabilities, the artificially intelligent powered system continuously analyses usage and supply pattern to avoid blackouts and use the most economic energy source. In one of the first implementations, the system was installed at Nimasi clinic in Indonesia, which supports healthcare in a remote area in Timor. The clinic has experienced zero blackouts since the installation.

Bosch Group outlook 2019: climate action and air-quality measures

The Bosch Group expects global economic development to be subdued in 2019. Despite the difficult environment in industries and regions that are important for the company, Bosch expects its sales in the current year to slightly exceed their 2018 levels. Regardless of the short-term prospects, the company is intensifying its efforts to combat climate change and improve air quality. Climate change is not science fiction; its really happening. If we are to take the Paris Agreement seriously, then climate action needs to be seen not just as a long-term aspiration. It needs to happen in the short term, said Dr Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, at the annual press conference in Renningen, Germany. Were also committed to meeting public demand for good air quality in cities. As an innovation leader, we want to deliver technological solutions to ecological problems.

This is why, on the one hand, Bosch is intensifying its already successful efforts to reduce its CO 2 output. We will be the first major industrial enterprise to achieve the ambitious goal of carbon neutrality in a little over a year, Denner announced. All 400 Bosch locations across the globe will be carbon neutral from 2020.

On the other hand, Bosch is also pursuing an ambitious target when it comes to air quality: We want to reduce air pollution from traffic to virtually zero. To do this, were looking beyond the cars hood, Denner said. In this endeavor, the company will be basing its activities on three pillars: it is developing low-pollutant powertrain technologies, working with municipal governments on projects to maintain steady traffic flow, and implementing a company mobility management system at its own locations.
Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) will be under financial supervision this year. (Photo: cafef.vn)

The CMSC will review the operating effectiveness of the businesses to help them set targets and improve competitiveness. It also expects to help them follow laws and regulations on management and use of State capital and assets.

In addition, the committee will discover shortcomings and help the businesses resolve the issues. Its work also aims to enhance financial transparency at State-owned enterprises.

The 19 groups include the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), Vietnam Electricity (EVN), Vietnam National Coal and Minerals Holding Group (Vinacomin), Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group (VNPT), MobiFone, Vietnam Airlines, Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), Vietnam Railway (VNR), Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem), Vietnam National Tobbacco Corporation (Vinataba), Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), Vietnam National Coffee Corporation (Vinacafe), Vietnam Forest Corporation (Vinafor), Vietnam Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1), Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) and State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC).

The CMSC will also supervise State capital development, management and use of State assets, investment projects, capital mobilisation, issuing bonds, debt management and cash flows.

In addition, it will supervise firms' business plans, product supply, business results (return on equity, return on assets), State budget contributions, profit distribution and use of funds.

The 19 businesses are expected to closely monitor restructuring of State capital, investment at subsidiaries, salaries, bonuses, labourers benefits, and management.

The supervision plan will review the firms financial situation after six months and then for the entire year.
A man suspected of planting a parcel bomb in Lyon has been charged with "attempted terrorist murder" a prosecutor said. (Photo: AFP/PHILIPPE DESMAZES)

He was also charged him with criminal association and building an explosive for terrorist purposes, prosecutor Remy Heitz said.

A magistrate ordered the detention of Mohamed Hichem Medjoub, 24, in custody since his arrest on Monday.

Medjoub, who is of Algerian origin, told investigators he had pledged allegiance "in his heart of hearts" to the Islamic State (IS) group, Heitz said in a statement issued Friday.

Police arrested him after a manhunt that began last Friday when a homemade bomb containing screws, ball bearings and acetone peroxide, or APEX, exploded on a busy pedestrian street in central Lyon.

APEX is the volatile compound used in the deadly Paris terror attacks of November 13, 2015.

Police identified Medjoub via video surveillance cameras that caught him fleeing the scene on a bicycle. Investigators found traces of his DNA on the homemade bomb, which was detonated by remote control, a source close the case has told AFP.

Medjoub was arrested without incident while getting off a bus in a suburb just south of the city. His parents and brother were also briefly detained, but have since been released.

At the family's home, investigators found batteries and chemicals similar to those used in the explosive device, while screws, ball bearings, four remote control devices and a water bottle with traces of APEX were found in the building's rubbish bins.
On March 19th of 1953, weeks before it was announced to the public, scientist Francis Crick excitedly wrote a letter to his son and told him of one of the most important scientific developments of modern times: his co-discovery of the beautiful structure of DNA, the molecule responsible for carrying the genetic instructions of living organisms; or, as Crick explained it to 12-year-old Michael, the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life. Although DNA was isolated back in the 1860s by Friedrich Miescher, its now-famous double-helix structure wasnt correctly modelled until the early 1950s by Crick and his colleague, James Watson, thanks in no small part to work already done by Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, and Raymond Gosling. In 1962, Crick, Watson and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize for their efforts.

In April of 2013, this letter became the most expensive in history after being sold at auction for $5.3million.

(Source: The Letters of Note book  reprinted by permission of the family of Francis H. C. Crick.)

Transcript

19 Portugal Place

Cambridge

19 March 53

My Dear Michael,

Jim Watson and I have probably made a most important discovery. We have built a model for the structure of dex-oxi-ribose-nucleic-acid (read it carefully) called D.N.A. for short. You may remember that the genes of the chromosomes  which carry the hereditary factors  are made up of protein and D.N.A.

Our structure is very beautiful. D.N.A. can be thought of roughly as a very long chain with flat bits sticking out. The flat bits are called the bases. The formula is rather like this.

|

sugar  base

|

phosphorus

|

sugar  base

|

phosphorus

|

sugar  base

|

phosphorus

:

and so on.

Now we have two of these chains winding round each other  each one is a helix  and the chain, made up sugar and phosphorus, is on the outside, and the bases are all on the inside. I cant draw it very well, but it looks like this.

[diagram of the double helix]

The model looks much nicer than this.

Now the exciting thing is that while there are 4 different bases, we find we can only put certain pairs of them together. The bases have names. They are Adenine, Guanine, Thymine & Cytosine. I will call them A, G, T and C. Now we find that the pairs we can make  which have one base from one chain joined to one base from another  are only

A with T

and G with C.

Now on one chain, as far as we can see, one can have the bases in any order, but if their order is fixed, then the order on the other chain is also fixed. For example, suppose the

first chain goes  then the second must go

A                  T

T                  A

C                 -G

A                  T

G                 -C

T                  A

T                  A

It is like a code. If you are given one set of letters you can write down the orders.

Now we believe that the D.N.A. is a code. That is, the order of the bases (the letters) makes one gene different from another gene (just as one page of print is different from another). You can now see how Nature makes copies of the genes. Because if the two chains unwind into two separate chains, and if each chain then makes another chain come together on it, then because A always goes with T, and G with C, we shall get two copies where we had one before.

For example

A  T

T  A

C  G

A  T

G  C

T  A

T  A

chains

 separate 

A T

T A

C G

A T

G C

T A

T A



new chains form

A  T T  A

T  A A  T

C  G G  C

A  T T  A

G  C C  G

T  A A  T

T  A A  T

In others words we think we have found the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life. The beauty of our model is that the shape of it is such that only these pairs can go together, though they could pair up in other ways if they were floating about freely. You can understand that we are very excited. We have to have a letter off to Nature in a day or so.

Read this carefully so that you understand it. When you come home we will show you the model.

Lots of love,

Daddy
An investor

As an investor, Minh is very interested in the new startups in Vietnam. In 2017 on the Bloomberg Terminal (a computer software system for 350,000 professional users to access the Bloomberg Professional service, news, price quotes, and messaging), it was posted that billionaire Minh has invested $400 million into startups in Vietnam and the global market.

Minh holds an interest in many projects and large corporations in countries around the world and is respected by international financiers and politicians for his sharp strategic thinking and multi-billion-dollar assets.

In 2013, the chairman of SAPA Thale Group negotiated with the German government to acquire the project of Schunk Group's WHE Management Building. In 2015, he officially signed a contract with the chief executive of Schunk Group, completing the acquisition.

In 2018, Minh represented SAPA Thale Group to sign a bilateral investment co-operation with Dubai Investment Development Agency (Dubai FDI) and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) to invest in billion-dollar projects between Vietnam and the Middle East.

Not only Dubai and the Middle East, but also large corporations of Europe, the US, and Japan co-operate with SAPA Thale Group to invest in Vietnam,"  Minh added.

In early 2019 accepting the invitation of the Dubai Ministry of Economy and Investment and the Dubai FDI, an agency of the Department of Economic Development of the Government of Dubai, SAPA Thale Group leaders including Minh went to Dubai to work with Dubai FDI and leading corporations such as Emirates NBD, DP World, and DIFC on investment co-operation in Vietnam and many other countries in the world.

Activities at a government level

Billionaire Minh was widely reported by the media for his participation at international events such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (APEC). He is on the list of individuals praised for their contributions and sponsorship of these events, helping them to be successful.

He also met and worked with more than 30 top leaders in the world such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern, and Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard.
The ratings success paves the way for a future direct route to the United States

Vietjet, Vietnam Airlines, and Jetstar Pacific Airlines  the countrys top airlines  have achieved the highest ranking of seven-star on international aviation safety provided by global prestigious rating agency Airline Ratings.

The acquisition of International Air Transport Associations (IATA) operational safety audit certification (IOSA) was one of the important criteria helping Vietnamese airlines to achieve the highest safety assessments.

Since IOSA was applied, the airlines acquiring the certification have reported safe operation records four times higher than airlines that do not have the certification.

In 2017, the accident ratio of IOSA-certified airlines was 0.56 per one million flights, nearly four times lower than the 2.17 ratio of non-IOSA certified airlines.

Since IOSA was applied, the airlines acquiring the certification have reported safe operation records four times higher than airlines that do not have the certification.

Airline Ratings unveiled that IOSA standard checks are carried out every two years, and encompass more than 1,060 standards. Only 16 per cent of all airlines in the world have acquired IOSA certification, with three coming from Vietnam  Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, and Jetstar.

This allowed Vietnam to receive a Category 1 (CAT 1) aviation safety rating in this February from the US Department of Transportations Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In order to maintain the CAT 1 rating, a country must comply with safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN technical agency in charge of establishing international standards and recommended practices for operation and maintenance of aircraft.

The acquisition of CAT 1 is of great significance to Vietnamese airlines as it is not only a key technical element to establish a direct Vietnam-US flight but also contributes to elevating Vietnam in the international aviation market. In addition, the acquisition of CAT 1 gives the country the opportunity to codeshare with the worlds major airlines.

During the evaluation process, the FAA had kept close eyes on assessing the safety standards of Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, and Jetstar.

According to US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink, the CAT 1 certification means the FAA has assessed the Vietnamese aviation industry to have reached US and global aviation safety standards.

Last year, Vietnamese airlines transported a total of 50 million passengers, a 14 per cent jump on-year, and nearly 400,000 tonnes of freight, a 26 per cent jump on-year.

Aviation is a tightly-controlled sector as all airlines in the world must adhere to a raft of common regulations and standards for operation safety and security assurance.

Unexpected accidents might occur to any airline in any country. Therefore, ahead of each flight, a raft of checks will be held to ensure absolute safety for passengers.

In Vietnam, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), which is in charge of overseeing Vietnams aviation business and the airlines, has seen upbeat results in the airlines efforts to ensure safe flight operations. Over the past two decades, Vietnam did not report any major accidents in the aviation business. Simultaneously, the country has witnessed robust growth in both the quality and scale of the local aviation industry.

The contributions of the CAAV and the airlines deserve plaudits for consolidating and elevating the Vietnamese aviation sectors status in the world for gaining recognition from prestigious global ratings organisations.
The sign of the State Securities Commission (SSC) at its headquarters in Hanoi. SSC, other market regulators, stock exchanges and market members have proposed the National Assembly discuss allowing the sale of non-voting depository receipts as a way for local firms to increase capital without giving too much power to foreign investors. - Photo vietnamfinance.vn

According to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), NVDRs are meant for foreign investors who are interested in investing in a company but are prevented from doing so because of foreign ownership restrictions.

Buying NVDRs is an alternative option for foreign investors as they receive the same benefits in terms of dividends and warrants as those investing directly in a companys ordinary shares.

The difference between those buying ordinary shares and those buying NVDRs is voting rights. NVDR holders cannot be involved in company decision-making.

NVDRs have not been approved in Vietnam, but they may be the solution for Vietnamese companies. They would allow firms to raise more foreign capital without ceding power to foreign shareholders.

The foreign ownership cap is in place to avoid giving foreign interests too much power, so Vietnamese market regulators and companies may want to consider embracing NVDRs to raise capital.

A Vietnamese company can only increase its foreign ownership limit if it is not involved in sensitive sectors such as property, transportation or banking  the economic sectors that have a direct impact on Vietnams economic safety and security.

The maximum foreign ownership for those companies is 49 per cent. In the banking and aviation sectors, the limit is 30 per cent.

The issuance of covered warrants allows foreign investors to raise capital in Vietnamese firms, but these purchases are costly and investors can only short covered warrants for now, analysts have said. In addition, covered warrants are issued by securities firms but some foreign-owned brokerage firms cannot buy ordinary shares if a company runs out of room for foreign ownership.

According to Nguyen Thi Viet Ha, commissioner of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), NVDRs are in use in Malaysia and Japan and are treated like ordinary shares. Foreign investors can purchase NVDRs if their ownership in local companies exceeds the foreign ownership limit.

In Malaysia, the foreign ownership limit is regulated by the company charter. It is restricted by market regulators in Japan. But in both markets, foreign investors will receive financial benefits when buying this kind of share but will not have voting rights.

In Japan and Malaysia, foreign investors can trade a companys shares and market regulators address which of them have voting rights when the company is about to finalise its shareholder list for a meeting.

But in Vietnam, market regulators must supervise the list of foreign shareholders and their ownership as these two factors can change a companys ownership status from Vietnamese to foreign if foreign investors hold more than half of the companys charter capital or a controlling stake.

According to Ta Thi Thanh Binh, director of the Market Development Department at the State Securities Commission (SSC), only 50 listed companies have raised their foreign ownership limit to 100 per cent. There are nearly 800 companies trading on the HoSE, HNX and UPCoM.

Most Vietnamese companies were hesitant to lift their foreign ownership limit because they were afraid of being treated as foreign firms, which would restrict them from doing business in some sectors, Binh said.

Tran Thi Hong Ha, deputy director of the Market Development Department, said at a recent SSC meeting that NVDRs were proposed by HoSE six years ago but two main obstacles had prevented the launch of the new product.

There were no specific NVDR regulations in Vietnam, she said, adding that Vietnamese stock exchanges were not allowed to set up their own businesses to issue and manage NVDRs. This policy is different from how NVDRs work in Thailand.

Some experts have suggested the NVDRs issued by a company should account for 15 per cent of its total shares and NVDR holders should be able to attend shareholder meetings.

The product is not yet available in Vietnam, but it has been included in the draft amendment to the Law of Securities, which will be discussed at the 14th National Assemblys seventh meeting on June 6.
Promoting international religious freedom has been a key component of Americas foreign policy since 1998 when Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act. Host Carol Castiel sits down with Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, whose office monitors religious persecution and discrimination worldwide. Brownback talks about Countries of Particular Concern or CPC countries such as China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, which are egregious violators of religious freedom and/or which persecute religious minorities. He also lauds countries like Morocco and the UAE, and others like Nigeria and Mongolia, which are trying to promote greater religious tolerance and pluralism.
President Donald Trump says he's imposing tariffs on all goods from Mexico until the country stops the flow of undocumented migrants from Central America who cross its territory and enter the United States. Trump tweeted Friday that Mexico ``can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!'' Here's a look at what Mexico has done so far:



The problem



In the first three months of 2019, as many as 300,000 migrants  mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador  crossed through Mexico to reach the United States. Many were families with children, who cannot be detained for long in the United States.

How did Mexico's new president look at immigration?



Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office on Dec. 1, intending to reduce migration by addressing its root causes: joblessness, poverty and violence in such countries as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. He proposed creating a plan to develop the economies of Central America and southern Mexico, while creating humanitarian and work visas so that Central American migrants could stay in Mexico instead of heading to the U.S.

Did that cause a spike in migration?

The biggest drivers of the migrant exodus were in place before Lopez Obrador took office, and the first massive caravan of migrants formed last year, months before he took office. The caravans came about after tens of thousands of poor Central Americans decided they were a safer option than paying smugglers. New immigration routes for Cubans, Haitians and people from Africa also had opened up through Central America. Lopez Obrador's offers of visas may have made it easier or safer to cross Mexico, but probably didn't play a key role in most people's decision to leave their home countries.

What changed in Mexico?

A first huge caravan of migrants crossed Mexico headed for the U.S. border in November, before Lopez Obrador took office. The arrival of over 10,000 migrants taxed border facilities and angered Mexicans living in border cities. In January, another caravan crossed Mexico. By the time the third formed in April, it was clear that Mexico could no longer maintain an open-door policy.



In April, the United States began slowing border crossings by reassigning border inspection personnel to deal with the influx of migrants already inside the United States. That started hurting Mexico's economy, especially as time-sensitive shipments were held up at the border. Separately, migrants began forcing their way across the border with Guatemala, overwhelming border forces and sometimes refusing to register once they arrived.

Did U.S. pressure affect Mexican policy?

The border crossing slowdown in April and repeated threats by Trump to close the border or impose tariffs have played a role in changing Mexico's policies. But Mexicans' attitudes are also shifting. Increasingly, many Mexicans see large-scale movement of migrants across their country as a threat to their own safety and economy.

Has Mexico helped the U.S. at all?

Mexico is only bound to take in its own citizens when the U.S. expels people at border crossings, and has traditionally refused to take in people from other countries. But starting in late January, Mexico has allowed the United States to return over 6,748 Central Americans to Mexican border cities as they wait to hear about their U.S. asylum claims. The Remain in Mexico policy, as it is known, is meant to reduce the attractiveness of U.S. asylum requests that in the past had allowed claimants to remain in the United States for years as their cases wound their way through the courts.

Has Mexico done more to limit migration?

Mexico staged one of its first large-scale raids on a migrant caravan in April, detaining 371 people on a highway in the southern state of Chiapas. At the same time, Mexico announced that it would no longer grant humanitarian visas at the border with Guatemala after 15,000 people applied in the course of a few weeks. Instead, Mexico encouraged potential migrants to apply for such visas at Mexican consulates in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.



Humanitarian visas are still being issued for migrants already in Mexico, but at a very slow pace. Work visas are now limited to only a few southern border states in Mexico where wages are low and few migrants want to stay. When migrants began to hop freight trains toward the U.S. border, as they did in past decades, Mexico started police raids on the train. When Lopez Obrador took office, detentions of migrants were relatively low, with 5,884 migrants deported in January. By the end of May, the figure had risen to 15,654.

Why don't migrants ask for asylum in Mexico?

Some do. There have been over 18,000 requests for asylum filed in Mexico in the first four months of 2019, several times the levels of a few years ago. But many migrants say they either don't feel safe in Mexico, or they want to join relatives already in the United States. Many want to earn more money than is possible in Mexico.

Has Mexico yielded to U.S. immigration pressure in the past?

During a previous surge in unaccompanied minors at the U.S. border in 2014, Mexico's president at the time, Enrique Pena Nieto, tightened security at Mexico's porous southern border, including immigration checkpoints and raids on freight trains used by the migrants.
VOA Mandarin service's Libo Lui contributed to this report



SINGAPORE  Since the first week acting U.S. Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan took the reins at the Pentagon, hes said his top concern is China, China, China.

On Saturday, Shanahan told an audience at the annual Shangri-La defense forum that the U.S. would not ignore Chinese behavior, which he says has threatened prosperity in the region.

It's not about conflict. It's not about building walls. This is about security, Shanahan said.

WATCH: Shanahan Criticizes Chinas Cyber, South China Sea Behavior

China is infamous for its theft of other nations military and civilian technology, and the U.S. secretary said he took issue with Beijing's cyber attacks and state-sponsored stealing of intellectual property.

Experts say China has used this theft to narrow the gap between some critical American and Chinese military abilities.

The kind of advantage that we had against China and the western Pacific during the Cold War is gone for good, Michael O'Hanlon, a senior defense expert with the Brookings Institution, told VOA.

China also has continued to project more military power beyond its borders, most notably by constructing artificial islands in the South China Sea and placing heavy weapons on them to support territorial claims not recognized under international law.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Shanahan called the moves "excessive," saying that while the Chinese "argue that it's defensive, it looks like it's a bit overkill.

Recently, the U.S. has pushed for more international patrols in the South China Sea, including one last month with Japan, India and the Philippines.

Bradley Bowman, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said working with allies to combat Chinese aggression in the region will bolster the U.S. position of protecting international waterways key to global trade.

I think we need to characterize this conflict for what it is. It's not a conflict between China and the US. It's a conflict with China and the world, he said.

Speaking to VOA at the conference, Rep. Adam Smith, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said China has to some extent "overplayed their hand."

"They are seen as a bully in the region by a lot of people. They encroached on peoples territory in a variety of disputes ... and in doing that, those countries have turned to the U.S.," Smith said.

In his speech Saturday, Shanahan stressed that the U.S. doesn't want any nation in the region to have to choose positive relations with one partner over another, but, he said, the world deserved a fair playing field.

U.S. allies at the conference expressed anxiety over rising tensions between the two powers, and as one leader pointed out, many believe that if China and the U.S. won't work together, they risk upending the global system.
Britain's Border Force intercepted 74 people Saturday, including minors, on eight vessels trying to cross the English Channel into Britain. French authorities stopped two other boats.



The interceptions on an exceptionally sunny, warm day will heighten concerns that improving weather will encourage smugglers to try their luck at bringing more migrants to the U.K. from France.



Authorities said a criminal investigation was underway. The nationalities of the migrants were still being determined. Coast guard officials said the incidents stretched along Britain's southeast coast, from the port of Dover to Winchelsea Beach near Hastings, 50 miles (80 kilometers) away.



Home Secretary Sajid Javid vowed that he would work with French border authorities to halt this rise in people trafficking across the Channel.



``Those who choose to make this dangerous journey across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world are putting their lives in grave danger  and I will continue to do all I can to stop them,'' he said in a statement Saturday night.



Local lawmaker Charlie Elphicke suggested the numbers were unprecedented and demanded action.

'Get a grip on this crisis'



``This crisis was meant to have been dealt with at Christmas, yet numbers continue to rise,'' he wrote on Twitter. ``The Home Office needs to get a grip on this crisis.''



The reports about migrants using small boats to cross the English Channel to Britain are politically explosive, even though Britain has not seen nearly as many migrant sea crossings as have fellow European Union nations Spain, Italy and Greece. So far this year, over 21,300 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe, and at least 519 others have died trying, according to the International Organization for Migration.



In December last year, Javid declared a rise in migrant crossings to be a ``major incident.'' He said Saturday that since then, two cutters have returned to U.K. waters from overseas and he has agreed upon a joint action plan to halt human smuggling with his French counterparts.



Officials have blamed the influx on smuggling gangs.



``It is an established principle that those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, and since January, more than 30 people who arrived illegally in the U.K. in small boats have been returned to Europe,'' Javid said. ``We will continue to seek to return anyone who has entered the U.K. illegally.''



Overall, migration into Europe is down substantially since over 1 million asylum-seekers and migrants came to the continent in 2015, but the issue still resonates politically, including in the elections last week to the European Parliament.
Ten people were killed and 20 wounded Saturday in a suicide car bomb attack in Ragqa, a former stronghold of the Islamic State group in north Syria, a rights watchdog said.

The explosion killed five civilians and five soldiers of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by Washington that wrested the city from IS in October 2017, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attack, for which no one immediately claimed responsibility, was preceded by a bomb explosion that left several people wounded in another part of the city frequently targeted by IS, the observatory said.

"The car bomb attack was targeting an SDF position," observatory director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP. The explosion took place at the al-Naim square where IS had carried out beheadings when it was in control of the city.

On April 9, a double bombing claimed by IS killed 13 people, mostly civilians, in the jihadist group's former bastion.

IS jihadists seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" in areas it controlled.

Several offensives with U.S.-led coalition backing chipped away at the "caliphate" until it was declared eliminated on March 23.

Ambushes and hit-and-run attacks have continued in both countries, with IS jihadists still scattered in the Syrian desert.
You know things are not going well for your industry when one of your best customer gives a keynote speech at your annual conference to talk up your competition.

At the Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance's 40th Annual Conference in May, electric utility Dominion Energy highlighted the company's agreement with Smithfield Foods to generate electricity from hog waste.

"That's right," Dominion lobbyist James Beamer told the coal crowd, "Hog poop to green energy."

Speakers from both main utilities at the conference said they have big plans for renewable energy, and they aim to reduce their emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide 80% by 2050.

None of this was good news for coal, the most carbon-heavy fuel for power generation.

Saturday marks the two-year anniversary of President Trump's announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. But momentum to combat climate change continues anyway.

But it's not enough. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise in the United States and globally, putting the world farther and farther from the goal set in Paris to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Gloom in coal country

Beamer told the crowd at the Virginia coal conference that Dominion's biggest upcoming investment in coal country would be a storage facility for renewable power. The company plans to build 3 gigawatts of solar by 2022 and a pioneering offshore wind project, he added.

Although the Trump administration has acted to loosen regulations on mining and burning coal for power, utilities aren't interested. Since 2010, 289 coal-fired power plants have shut down or plan to, according to the Sierra Club. That's more than half the national fleet. No new coal plants have been built. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts coal will continue to lose market share to natural gas and renewable energy through at least 2050.

Kentucky's energy and environment secretary, Charles Snavely, a former coal executive, told the conference that EIA may be underestimating.

"If we're already projecting a significant decrease over time," he said, "I think that it will probably be worse than that."

Private sector pressure

One big reason utilities are moving away from fossil fuels is that some of their biggest customers are demanding renewable energy. Big, energy-hungry corporations are pushing for solar and wind power in states where fighting climate change is not a priority.

In Alabama, for example, the state public service commission first opened the door to large-scale solar projects in 2015 "based solely on the Walmart decision to come in and use solar power," according to Commissioner Jeremy Oden, speaking on a panel of state utility regulators at the Virginia coal conference.

The company aims to power half its operations with renewable energy by 2025.

Other corporations that Alabama is courting, including Toyota and Amazon, also have goals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and are willing, in some cases, to pay a premium to get it.

Companies like these are telling state regulators that they want renewable energy "no matter what," said Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman Ryan Silvey.

"No matter what," agreed Kentucky Public Service Commissioner Talia Mathews.

Federal climate

Major corporations also are lobbying the federal government to do more. Levi's, Nike, Mars Incorporated, Microsoft, PepsiCo, eBay and dozens of others are making the case that "we need federal policy. We need a price on carbon. And this is an issue that is not only about the future of our planet, our families, our kids, but our economy," said CEO Mindy Lubber with the corporate sustainability nonprofit Ceres.

Since the November 2018 elections swept a wave of left-leaning lawmakers into office, several states have stepped up their plans to fight climate change.

This year, New Mexico, Nevada and Washington committed to producing 100 percent clean energy by 2050 or earlier. California and Hawaii already passed similar laws.

The 2018 elections put climate change on the agenda at the federal level, too, for the first time in a decade. Democrats see an opportunity to campaign against Republican climate denial and inaction in the 2020 presidential election.

World falling short

No other country has followed the United States on its path out of the Paris climate agreement.

President Trump and his supporters have said the agreement puts the United States at a competitive disadvantage because it requires Americans to cut their emissions but does not impose the same restrictions on other countries.

"The biggest emitters in the emerging economies, including China, India and Indonesia, all have very ambitious pledges under Paris," said Andrew Light, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute and a former Obama administration climate advisor. "And it looks like they are on track to meeting them."

Meeting those pledges still would not keep the planet from disastrous warming. And efforts so far have not stopped greenhouse gas levels from rising, in the United States or globally. Emissions reached an all-time high last year, climbing more than 2% over 2017, at a time when U.N. scientists say global emissions must fall 45% by 2030 to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

Some 80 countries are prepared to announce bigger steps to cut their emissions at the U.N. climate summit in September, according to U.N. climate envoy Luis Alfonso de Alba, although he did not specify which ones.

"I am asking leaders not to come with beautiful speeches but to come with concrete plans to promote the climate action we need," said U.N. Secretary-General Luis Guterres.
Tens of thousands of mourners, some of whom camped outside overnight, gathered Friday to finally say farewell to Etienne Tshisekedi, the Congolese opposition icon whose son was declared president earlier this year.

The stadium ceremony came more than two years after the elder Tshisekedi died abroad at age 84. His rift with then-president Joseph Kabila was so entrenched that his remains were not allowed to return after his death in Belgium of a pulmonary embolism in 2017.

After Kabila gave way to pressure for a new presidential election in January, Tshisekedis son Felix was declared the winner. He vowed that his fathers remains would come home to Congo, where he was the face of the political opposition for decades.

In life, Etienne Tshisekedi was at times put under house arrest, his supporters jailed and beaten. But after the seismic shift in Congos political climate, he is being given a farewell befitting a senior statesman, with some African presidents in attendance.

A seven-hour procession to downtown Kinshasa followed the arrival of his casket Thursday night.

Pallbearers wearing ties representing the Congolese flag carried the casket into the stadium Friday. The flat cap that Tshisekedi always wore was placed atop the casket.

His funeral and burial are Saturday.
The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged Saturday over the accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists and left 21 missing.

The Mermaid, carrying mainly South Korean tourists, overturned and sank late Wednesday, seconds after colliding with the Viking Sigyn cruise ship on a busy stretch of the Danube in the heart of Budapest.

Strong currents have hampered the search for those missing  19 South Koreans and two Hungarians  preventing divers from reaching the submerged boat.

The Sigyn's Ukrainian captain was charged Saturday, a Budapest court official told AFP, but gave no further details.

The 64-year-old was detained Thursday for questioning for "endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths," police have said.

The captain's attorney, Balazs Toth, said the court had granted bail but prosecutors were appealing, so his client remained detained.

"He is devastated by the number of victims and is asking constantly that condolences are conveyed to their families," Toth said.

"My client has not changed his statement made as a witness. He insists that he has not made any error," his other attorney, Gabor Elo, told reporters after the hearing.

Help sought in search

Near the accident site, a floating crane was erected, as well as a small pier for use by divers.

But with the Danube swollen after weeks of rain, the strong current has complicated plans to lift the wreck, and the prospects of finding any of the passengers alive were seen as very slim.

Serbia, Romania and Croatia  countries along the Danube, south of Hungary  have been asked to help in the search after South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha insisted in Budapest on Friday that her country would not give up hope of finding survivors.

One of the bodies was found about 11 kilometers (seven miles) downstream of the accident site.

South Korean relatives of the Mermaid passengers arrived in Budapest Friday, and officials took them to the banks of the Danube.

The Hungarian Magyar Nemzet daily, meanwhile, on Saturday quoted police reports as saying the Sigyn might not have warned the pilot of the smaller ship that he was going to overtake.

According to the newspaper, he also did not alert police about the collision.
A prominent exiled Russian opposition figure says recently leaked documents show Russian meddling in U.S. affairs was more sophisticated, ambitious and potentially more dire than the social media influence campaigns during the 2016 election.



First reported by NBC, the documents involve Kremlin-linked oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and other figures whom special prosecutor Robert Mueller has already indicted for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.



Released by Mikhail Khodorkovsky's London-based Dossier Center, the latest communications reveal a 2018 plot to radicalize African-Americans, stoke violence and train politically disaffected ethnic minorities to carry out domestic terror attacks ahead of the 2020 U.S. elections.



Khodorkovsky, a self-exiled Russian oligarch-turned-Kremlin opponent, told VOA's Russian service in a Skype interview that the material suggests a drastic escalation of Russian meddling in U.S. affairs.

"From a legal point of view, there are sufficient grounds to declare an investigation" of an international criminal conspiracy, Khodorkovsky said. "If I were an American citizen, I would say that my security rights are now being neglected."

No Kremlin response



The documents have not been forensically assessed by an independent third party, though the Dossier Center's own analysis seems to verify their authenticity. Widely published reports on the material by major Russian news outlets such as Novaya Gazeta have yet to prompt a Kremlin response.



NBC News contributor Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI who reviewed the documents, said they may represent nothing more than "an amateurish thought experiment." Even so, he said, "the fact that these people are talking about doing this should disturb Americans of all stripes."



Prigozhin, known as "Putin's Chef" for catering presidential events and sometimes personally waiting on high-profile Kremlin figures and guests, has known Russian President Vladimir Putin since his days as a deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in the early 1990s.

He has been indicted by U.S. officials for funding the St. Petersburg-based "troll factory" that used social media to sow discord in the U.S. political system during the 2016 presidential election campaign. He also operates Wagner, a private security contracting firm whose paramilitary operations in Central African Republic and Sudan are well-documented.



According to the latest communications, Prigozhin's associates thought the election of President Donald Trump had "deepened conflicts in American society" and set out to exploit that discord by recruiting African-Americans to be sent to guerrilla-combat training camps in Africa.



Once trained, the Americans would be returned to the U.S. to carry out terror attacks and campaign for a pan-African state throughout the southern United States.

Although there is no evidence of efforts to enact the plan, Russia has tried to leverage U.S. racial tensions before. An October 2017 report to the Senate Intelligence Committee profiled Russian influence campaigns that undertook extraordinary measures to target African-Americans.



The report was commissioned by a bipartisan group of legislators and produced by the Texas-based cybersecurity firm New Knowledge in partnership with researchers at Columbia University and Canfield Research LLC. It said "the most prolific [troll factory] efforts on Facebook and Instagram specifically targeted black American communities and appear to have been focused on developing black audiences and recruiting black Americans as assets."



In some cases, social media ads were programmed to target users interested in topics such as the Black Panther Party, Louis Farrakhan, Malcolm X and the Weather Underground. Among the most popular Russian Instagram accounts was @blackstagram, which had over 300,000 followers.



One Russian social media campaign coincided with the 2017 riots in Ferguson, Mo., over the fatal police shooting of a young black man by a white officer. The Senate report says Russian operatives paid unwitting U.S. personal trainers to run self-defense classes marketed to African-Americans in an apparent attempt to stoke fear and gather contact details of Americans potentially susceptible to their propaganda.



In his interview with VOA, Khodorkovsky acknowledged that the ideas proposed in the Dossier Center documents sound far-fetched, but said they are consistent with actions by Prigozhin's employees at the troll factory. He added that the oligarch's well-funded paramilitary groups on the ground in Africa, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela possess the necessary skills to guide such an enterprise.

"When I first saw these documents, to be honest, my first reaction was laughter," he said, adding that he would have disregarded them if he had not "been familiar with a whole range of other documents related to operations on the African continent," and other Prigozhin-backed campaigns in Ukraine, Syria and the U.S.



"But since I saw them, and I saw these totally delusional, phantasmagoric things turn into real life, I passed from laughter to real recognition and reflection," he said. "And real reflection tells us that the infrastructure for this kind of project is, in fact, already in place. And as we know, American society is absolutely not immune to such a project."



Khodorkovsky says he believes Prigozhin's efforts to undermine U.S. society are "without a doubt an instrument of the Kremlin, the instrument of Vladimir Putin personally."



The outsourcing of dirty tactics to a third party shields Russian intelligence and military personnel from risk and gives Kremlin officials plausible deniability.



"Putin says it without blinking: 'It's not us, it's some private traders,' " he told VOA.

Life in danger



Khodorkovsky persists in his efforts to expose Russian wrongdoing in spite of considerable personal risks. Last fall he told Moscow-based Daily Beast reporter Anna Nemstovawhose father, renowned Putin critic Boris Nemstov, was gunned down within sight of the Kremlin in 2015that he has been living under a kill order.



In January, three Russian journalists hired by Khodorkovsky's now-defunct Investigation Control Center were fatally shot while reporting on activities of Prigozhin's mercenaries in Central African Republic. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said the journalists were killed in a botched robbery attempt.
Editor's note: We want you to know what's happening, why and how it could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly digest of the top original immigration, migration and refugee reporting from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

Trump's latest border announcement

In a surprise announcement, the Trump administration has renewed a push to overhaul America's immigration system. Trump tweeted late Thursday the U.S. would begin imposing a rising tariff on Mexican imports until the "illegal migrants" stop trying to travel through the country to reach America. He is placing a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, and the percentage will gradually increase  up to 25%  "until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied."

Mexico's president responds to tariff threats

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador responded to U.S. tariff threats with caution, urging "dialogue" over "coercive measures" in the latest conflict over the two countries' migration policies.

Some see immigrants as rural America's saving grace

The entire United States faces a massive shortage of health care professionals over the next decade, including up to 120,000 physicians by 2030. One-third of currently active doctors in the country will reach retirement age during that span. VOA immigration reporter Ramon Taylor went to Pennsylvania to learn more about how immigrants are helping amid a health care shortage in small rural towns.

What's an immigration czar'?

The Trump administration is creating a new position aimed at overhauling America's immigration system.The person most likely to hold the job: former Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, a conservative lawmaker known for hawkish immigration views. Political observers interviewed by VOA said Cuccinelli's views largely align with President Donald Trump's immigration outlook.

Student visa fees increase

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it is moving forward with increases in student visa fees.The I-901 SEVIS Fee for F and M international students will increase from $200 to $350. DHS will maintain the $35 I-901 SEVIS Fee for J exchange visitors in the au pair, camp counselor, and summer work travel program participant categories, but is expected to increase the full I-901 SEVIS Fee for other J exchange visitors from $180 to $220. The SEVP school certification petition fee for initial certification will increase from $1,700 to $3,000.

More Asylum-Seekers Sue Trump Administration

A group of detained asylum seekers sued the U.S. government Thursday claiming immigration officials in five Southern states are systematically denying them parole. It is the second lawsuit of its kind filed against the Trump administration. Twelve plaintiffs are seeking class-action status on behalf of hundreds of asylum seekers being held in detention centers in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

New DHS OIG report

A new report from U.S. Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found "dangerous overcrowding" and unsanitary conditions at an El Paso, Texas, Border Patrol processing facility after a surprise visit. "According to PDT Border Patrol processing facility staff, the facility's maximum capacity is 125 detainees. However, on May 7 and 8, 2019, #BorderPatrol's custody logs indicated there were approximately 750 and 900 detainees on site, respectively."

Hulu show about an Arab American Muslim millennial

The Hulu show Ramy shows generational differences between the more traditional Arab Muslims who immigrated to America and those who were born and grew up here.

From the feds

 The DOJ has settled an immigration related discrimination case. The U.S. Department of Justice concluded the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department in California improperly delayed rehiring a former deputy sheriff who was a lawful permanent resident (LPR) because he was not a U.S. citizen. Immigration law prohibits employers from discriminating in the hiring process based on citizenship status against certain categories of individuals, including recent LPRs, unless necessary to comply with a specific legal requirement.

 A California attorney pleaded guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges for engaging in a scheme that collected more than $50 million from foreign investors seeking green cards through the EB-5 visa program.

 A foreign national wanted in Guatemala, who also is a human rights violator, is facing federal charges. Francisco Cuxum Alvarado is wanted for his role in the 1980s massacre of indigenous Guatemalans.
A Turkish-American scientist who was recently released from three years in a Turkish prison said Friday he wants to return to the United States and his former job at NASA.

Serkan Golge, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was freed Wednesday shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone.

Golge is on probation and has been staying in his family home in Antakya, a southern Turkish city near the Syrian border.

Not so much as a traffic ticket

Golge told VOA Friday during an interview in his home that the conditions of his release prohibit him from returning to the United States.

I am on probation now, Golge said, saying he must go to a local police station four days a week.

Golge said his passport has been returned to him, but said he does not want to violate his probation conditions by leaving the country.

I have never violated any laws in my life, neither in Turkey or in the United States. I dont even have a traffic ticket, he said.

Arrested in wake of coup attempt

Golge was on a family visit in southern Turkey when he was arrested in July 2016 in the aftermath of a failed military coup against President Erdogan.

Turkey blames the coup on supporters of exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the United States, and Turkish authorities charged Golge with ties to Gulen.

Golge was sentenced in 2018 to 7 years in prison despite U.S. State Department protests that there was no credible evidence of wrongdoing. A Turkish appeals court subsequently reduced his sentence to five years.

Golge told VOA he always objected to the unfounded claims against him.

Golges wife, Kurbra, told media outlets this week she is joyful about her husbands release, but said he is not allowed to travel to the United States.

President Trump said in remarks to reporters Thursday that Golge would pretty soon be able to leave the country. He also thanked Erdogan for releasing Golge.

Meeting at G20

Trump and Erdogan are to meet at next months Group of 20 summit. The United States and Turkey are at odds over Turkeys plans to acquire a missile defense system from Russia. They also have disagreements over Washingtons support of Kurdish rebels in Syria and the U.S. government not extraditing Gulen to Turkey.

At the time of his arrest, Golge was working for the U.S. space agency in Houston, studying the effects of radiation on astronauts.

I would love to go back to NASA, Golge said. Im a scientist and Ive been away from science for three years.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Britains Theresa May will want a strife-free, three-day state visit to London for the American leader starting Monday, their aides say.

To reduce the possibility of mishaps, with protesters getting too close to the American leader, the traditional ride in a horse-drawn carriage down the tree-lined Mall to Buckingham Palace for visiting heads of state has been axed  although Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, also dropped the jaunt because of security concerns.

A huge London police operation is being planned to try to ensure the state visit goes off without a hitch.

Other risks to contain

But aside from protests, there will be other risks on this presidential trip that British officials are keen to contain as they press the U.S. leader for more details on a possible post-Brexit trade deal, and as they seek to ease strains in what British politicians especially like to dub the special relationship between Britain and the U.S.

London and Washington are at odds on a range of global issues, including climate change, policy toward Iran and Britains trade dealings with China.

The differences havent been helped by the lack of personal chemistry between the two leaders; Trump once complained May was too politically correct, triggering a transatlantic spat, and his aides have confided in the past that her school mistress manner makes the U.S. leader bristle. The two leaders have clashed publicly over several of Trumps tweets, and in 2018 the U.S. President declined to have a one-on-one meeting with her at the G7 summit.

The U.S. leaders free-wheeling style contrasts with Mays cautious, risk-averse and detail-oriented approach.

Like many of her European counterparts, shes found it hard to know how to react to a U.S. leader who largely sees foreign policy as a zero-sum game and is unsentimental about Americas traditional alliances, admits a Downing Street aide.

Looking beyond May

Not that the U.S. president is spoiling for a fight on this trip, say U.S. officials, or eager to wage an ideological skirmish, as he did nearly a year ago at a NATO summit, where he shook up Europeans as he berated them over greater alliance burden-sharing.

But Trump appears now to be looking beyond the Brexit-fouled May, who will leave office shortly after his trip. Hes unlikely to hold back on offering a norm-breaking running commentary about the British Conservative leadership race or repeating his lavish praise Saturday of key British Brexiters Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Johnson is running to succeed Theresa May, and Farage, leader of the Brexit Party, is soon to run for a seat in the House of Commons.

Although theres nothing listed in the official schedule, Trump has raised the possibility of meeting both men privately this week, possibly at a dinner at the U.S. envoys residence in central London, in what diplomats say would be a breach of convention. In an interview with Britains Sun newspaper Trump shied away from formally endorsing Johnson but made clear he was his favorite, saying Johnson is a very good guy and would be an excellent prime minister.

Asked by Britains Sky News whether Trump should refrain from praising Brexit leaders during a politically charged time in Britain, which is split down the middle over whether to exit the European Union or not, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said: The president will do what the president wants.

Some analysts in London have speculated that Trump will urge Johnson and Farage to forge a political pact.

Iran nuclear deal

Aside from Brexit, President Trump will be pressing for British support in his escalating standoff with Iran, U.S. officials say.

So far the British government has sided with the other major European powers in their efforts to bypass U.S. sanctions on Iran in an effort to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal authored by Barack Obama, an agreement President Trump withdrew from last year, arguing it had failed to restrict Iran from waging foreign wars or backing international terrorism.

According to Nile Gardiner, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher and now an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, Mays opposition to Trumps Iran strategy has damaged the U.S.-U.K. alliance.

He  as some Brexit-favoring aides of the U.S. president, as well as Conservative Euro-skeptics in London  believes some of the policy differences between London and Washington are the consequence of Britain being pulled in two directions between Europe and the U.S. a state of affairs he hopes will end if Britain exits the EU.

But it isnt clear that would be the case, say other analysts. Most senior British policymakers, regardless of whether theyre pro-EU or are Brexiters, share European qualms about the U.S. leaders approach to Iran, and also are critical of Trumps withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

Leaving EU? Still neighbors

Further, whether Britain is a member or not of the EU, they say, the countrys future would continue post-Brexit to be intertwined with fellow European nations.

The irony of Brexit is that the U.K. will end up having Europe as its principle external relationship in the future, Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House, said last week at an event at the London-based think tank.

At the same event, former British prime minister, John Major, said: Europes success matters to us, because whether we are part of the European Union or not, they are our biggest neighbor, their security and our security are inextricably linked, and we need the best possible relationship with them.

WATCH: Pompeo Seeks Common Ground on Iran, Huawei in Europe

China and Huawei

Another source of dispute that will likely feature in behind-the-scenes bilateral discussions in London this week will be whether the West should confront China. British officials expect Trump and his top aides to push hard for a reversal in a provisional British decision to allow Chinese telecom giant Huawei to develop Britains fifth-generation (5G) mobile phone network.

U.S. officials fear Beijing will use Huawei, which ultimately is answerable to the Chinese government, to eavesdrop and to sweep up data passing through Britains 5G network. The prospect is alarming to U.S. security chiefs, who fear Chinese spies will be able to penetrate, via Britains 5G, American communication networks and capture intelligence shared with Britain.

On a visit last month to London, Americas top diplomat, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, bluntly warned British officials against allowing Huawei to participate in building Britains 5G network, cautioning them that the tech giants political master Beijing wants to divide Western alliances through bits and bytes, not bullets and bombs.

If Britain went ahead, he said, it would put at risk the longstanding intelligence-sharing arrangement London has with Washington.

Pompeos threat sent shockwaves through the British establishment.

Intelligence ties bind

Britain is a key member of the so-called Five Eyes alliance, the U.S.-led Anglophone intelligence pact also linking Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Norman Roule, who was in the CIAs Directorate of Operations for 34 years, and served as a division chief and chief of station, says the U.S. intelligence relationship with the British is the closest on the planet.

And for the British it is the foundation stone of the special relationship. When relations have soured between individual U.S. presidents and British prime ministers, the transatlantic partnership has endured thanks largely to the tight intelligence-military partnership between London and Washington.

The U.K.-U.S. relationship is far less about the dynamics between two leaders, and far more about daily interactions between thousands of officials and military personnel who work closely together in person or electronically, according to a former top British defense official in a commentary for the Royal United Services Institute, Britains influential international defense and security think tank.

Of equal concern for Britains spy chiefs is another explosive issue which is likely to be raised by the U.S. leader this week about whether Britains MI6 foreign espionage service helped the FBI to spy on his presidential campaign, something the president alleges. British officials have denied the charge.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held their first face-to-face talks Friday on the sidelines of an annual summit of Islamic countries in Saudi Arabia.

The rare interaction at the highest level is the latest sign of easing tensions in traditionally acrimonious relations between the neighbors.

The animosity stems from mutual accusations of supporting militant attacks against each other.

An Afghan presidential spokesman said the meeting in the Saudi city of Makkah was a prelude to Ghani's official visit to Islamabad scheduled for next month. The Afghan leader has previously visited Pakistan but the upcoming trip will be his first since Khan took office last August.

"Afghanistan is ready to leave its bitter history with Pakistan behind, and move toward constructive state-to-state ties based on mutual respect rather than recrimination and hostility," tweeted spokesman Samim Arif.

A Pakistani foreign ministry statement said that both Khan and Ghani agreed on the need to work closely for intensifying cooperation on such issues as energy, security, trade, and cultural collaboration.

The prime minister, it said, reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. "He reiterated the belief that an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process was indispensable for a political solution," the statement added.

Earlier this week, Afghan national security advisor, Hamadullah Mohib, visited Pakistan where he held extensive discussions with the country's military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, on bilateral security matters and Afghan peace.

Afghan officials routinely allege leaders and fighters of the Taliban use sanctuaries on Pakistani soil to orchestrate insurgent activities inside Afghanistan.

Islamabad rejects the charges and, in turn, accuses Kabul of providing shelter and support to anti-state militants plotting cross-border attacks in Pakistan.

Pakistani officials take credit for arranging ongoing negotiations between the United States and the Taliban to help promote a negotiated settlement to the deadly Afghan war.

The months-long dialogue, however, has not offered any major breakthrough.

The Taliban wants a complete withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces from Afghanistan before it stops fighting and engages in intra-Afghan peace talks.

Washington insists a final agreement must cover not only a troop withdrawal timetable, but a ceasefire by the Taliban and their engagement in talks with the Kabul government.
For 30 years, photographer Liu Jian hid 2,000 photographs he started taking April 16, 1989, as mourners began amassing in Beijing's Tiananmen Square the day after the death of reformer Hu Yaobang, a onetime Communist Party leader.

The mourners, mostly students at first, made it clear they wanted what Hu wanted: more rights for common people and a more democratic government. Liu bicycled to the square each day as the protests grew, his Nikon camera on his back. A university sophomore, his classes had been canceled, as was true for many of the protesters.

"I didn't sleep much back then. During a movement like that, sleeping means missing opportunities," he told VOA.

"When the big parade took place on April 27, it felt like my heart was about to jump out of my throat.  It felt like we were growing little by little, as if we were getting more and more support," Liu said. "It was truly a tremendous force that nothing seemed to be able to stop. When so many people [stood] together, the government seemed very fragile to me."

The government revealed its strength overnight June 3.

"Never would I have thought that there would be the sound of gunshots, shots from submachine guns and machine guns in Tiananmen Square," he said. "I could see tanks and military vehicles. They were moving really fast, to my surprise. I had thought the tanks were always slow."

The next day, Liu went to the Shuili hospital, where he saw 20 or 30 bodies, a sight so overwhelming he could take only a few shots before fleeing.

"I was too scared to be there. I smelled blood, really, blood.  There were a few bodies I couldn't even look at. One of them had its skull shot open  half of it [was] gone.

"I couldn't have thought of anyone who would do such things to a student. Those students and city residents had nothing in their hands, nor did they oppose the Communist Party. They just made a few demands, and they were shot to death. And they were all so young."

On June 5, the military took full control of Beijing. The government said it had put down a "counter-revolutionary riot" in Tiananmen Square. That day, an unarmed man in a white shirt, carrying a white bag, stood in front of a column of tanks as they rolled toward Tiananmen Square.

Liu developed 60 rolls of film himself and stored the negatives without printing photographs. That decision made by the then-19-year-old preserved a citizen's perspective the Chinese government almost erased by confiscating any film it could find at the time.

Liu, who lived in a military compound that escaped the most invasive searches for film, tried to forget the events he had captured and stuffed in a box.

Over the years, China changed and "everyone was putting their mind to earning good money and living a good life," said Liu, who prospered in an art-related business. "The Communist Party was no good, but we also thought that things could be worse if it wasn't the Communist Party. China should not be in chaos again. Chaos is not in the interest of the common people."

Liu occasionally thought about June 4 and that box. He moved his family to Atlanta, in the southeast United States, for his daughter's education. Before leaving Beijing, he met with a friend to look through those old negatives.

Liu brought some to the U.S., but it wasn't until late last year that he knew what to do with them after he asked his daughter, "Have you heard about June 4th?"

"June 4th? What festival is that?" the then-17-year-old replied.

With that, he realized that her generation thought June 4 was just another day, because Chinese schools never mentioned the event.

"A sense of guilt gradually developed in me," he said from San Francisco, where the family is spending the summer. He decided that having been in the Tiananmen Square movement, he had an obligation "to let the kids know about it. They might go through the same thing in the future. They must know these things about the Communist Party of China."
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Governor of Chinas Yunnan province Ruan Chengfa (Photo: VNA)



During a reception for the Chinese governor in Hanoi on May 30th, PM Phuc spoke highly of collaboration between Vietnamese ministries, agencies, localities with Yunnan over the years. Two-way trade between Vietnam and Yunnan hit USD4.15 billion, up 13 percent from 2017, while bilateral visits and people-to-people exchanges has been promoted, he said.

The PM suggested the two sides thoroughly discuss ways to further boost two-way trade and develop the Kunming - Hanoi - Hai Phong economic corridor as a model for other localities.

He noted that Yunnan has great advantages to partner with Vietnam thanks to its aviation, railway, and road connectivity, while Vietnam is developing transport infrastructure in border areas.

The PM asked Yunnan to actively push forward cross-border trade, facilitate customs clearance for cargo to minimise jams in border areas, and import more agro-forestry-aquatic products from Vietnam via mainstream channels, contributing to the balanced development of two-way trade.

He proposed Yunnan boost people-to-people exchange and expand cooperative ties between departments and agencies of Yunnan and Vietnam.

The Vietnamese leader urged the two nations border localities to continue well realise legal documents on the Vietnam - China land border, properly and promptly deal with rising issues towards turning the borderline between Yunnan and Vietnamese localities into a model in bilateral ties and making it a borderline of peace, friendship, cooperation and development for the sake of people of both countries.

He described railway transportation as the main foundation for bilateral economic and trade ties, and proposed the opening of a Hai Phong - Yunnan direct flight to develop tourism and border trade.

Ruan, for his part, wished that both sides would reinforce economic and trade ties, especially via mainstream channels, as well as develop railway transportation and tourism.

Yunnan will work closely with Vietnamese ministries, agencies, and localities to realise agreements reached by the two nations senior leaders, he said, believing that the Kunming - Hanoi - Hai Phong economic corridor will thrive in the near future./.
Pope Francis braved a rain-soaked, twisting drive through the mountains of Transylvania on Saturday to visit Romania's most famous shrine, urging Romanian and ethnic Hungarian faithful to work together for their future.



Storms forced Francis to change his travel plans and add in a three-hour car ride through the Carpathian mountains that he had planned to traverse via helicopter. The steady rains doused the estimated 80,000-100,000 people who gathered for the Mass at the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.



The showers let up as Francis arrived and he made a quick run through the poncho-clad crowds in his popemobile. But the 82-year-old seemed unsteady after the long trip and held onto the arms of aides as he negotiated a mud-slicked path to get to the altar for Mass.



In his homily, Francis praised the multicultural and multilingual tapestry that makes up Romania and urged its people to put aside past divisions for the sake of "journeying together."

The rights of around 1.2 million ethnic Hungarians who live in Romania have been at the center of political disputes between the two countries for decades. Hungary lost Transylvania in the peace treaties after World War I yet the region remains heavily Hungarian in both culture and language.



Those tensions are often reflected in the uneasy relationship between the predominantly Hungarian Roman Catholic community and the Romanian-speaking Greek-Catholic communities. The two rites make up Romania's Catholic minority in the overwhelmingly Orthodox country.



"Complicated and sorrow-filled situations from the past must not be forgotten or denied, yet neither must they be an obstacle or an excuse standing in the way of our desire to live together as brothers and sisters," Francis said.



The pope delivered the homily in Italian, and it was translated into Romanian and Hungarian.

After Mass, with the weather improved, Francis was able to fly by helicopter back to the airport for a flight to another corner of Romania, the university city of Iasi in the northeast. There he had an appointment with young Romanians.



Francis was travelling across Romania to visit its far-flung Catholic communities to make up for the fact that St. John Paul II was only allowed to visit the capital, Bucharest, in 1999 in the first papal visit to a majority Orthodox country.


Muslims around the world break their fast at sundown during the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims believe Ramadan is an opportunity to get closer to God by, in some cases, learning more about the poor. That's why every Tuesday, a group of young volunteers break their Ramadan fast with homeless people in Washington. The young Muslims are part of an Islamic charity, where they raise money, buy food and feed the homeless. VOA's Nilofar Mughal has more.
The United States is reportedly sending dozens of Department of Homeland (DHS) security agents and investigators to Guatemala to help stem the flow of unauthorized migration from Central America to the U.S.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous U.S. officials with knowledge of the situation, reports DHS personnel will advise Guatemalan police and migration authorities on how to halt human smuggling. The intent of the effort, the Post reports, is to close heavily-traveled routes to the U.S. and discourage migrants from embarking on journeys to the U.S. through Mexico.

The reported plan has not been publicly disclosed, but DHS said in a statement Friday that acting secretary Kevin McAleenan finalized an agreement during a recent meeting with Guatemalan officials that included "a provision on law enforcement training to improve criminal investigations that disrupt human trafficking."

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened stiffer tariffs on Mexico on Thursday if it does not stop illegal migrants, mostly from Central America, from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He also threatened to cut off aid to Central American countries.

Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Jesus Seade said Friday his country wants to combat the issue by using "traditional mechanisms and better exercise(ing) existing rules." Seade will attempt to resolve the dispute when he meets on Wednesday in Washington with a U.S. delegation headed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Caravans of migrants, mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador began coming to the U.S.-Mexican border in large numbers last fall. The U.S. says an average of 4,500 migrants arrive at the border each day, the largest migrant surge on the border in a decade. DHS says 109,000 migrants were arrested at the border in April.
Saudi Arabias King Salman slammed Iran over recent attacks targeting the kingdom, describing the incidents Saturday in a speech before Muslim leaders gathered in Mecca as terrorist acts that threaten global energy supplies.

It was the monarchs strongest words yet since tensions spiked in recent weeks between the two regional heavyweights. The U.S. has sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to deter Iran as tensions run high. The crisis stems from the Trump administrations decision to withdraw the U.S. from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers last year and impose crippling economic sanctions on the country.

Organization of Islamic Cooperation

Speaking to leaders from the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, gathered in Islams holiest city of Mecca, King Salman opened the summit with a statement saying the world must fight the sources and funding of terrorism around the world.

He then said the alleged sabotage of four oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in past weeks represents a grave danger to the security of maritime traffic and regional security.

He blamed Iranian-backed terrorist militias of being behind a subsequent drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.

We emphasize that these subversive terrorist acts are aimed not only at the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also on the security of navigation and energy supplies to the world, King Salman said.

Iran urges focus on Palestinians

Iran, which had a representative present at the OIC summit in Mecca, denies being involved in the incidents.

Irans President Hassan Rouhani had his own message for OIC leaders ahead of the summit, urging them to stay focused on the rights of Palestinians.

In a letter published online Friday, Rouhani said Muslim leaders should not let the importance of Palestinian statehood be marginalized in the face of the Trump administrations forthcoming peace plan.

Rouhani also complained in the letter about not being invited to the Islamic summit, but expressed his countrys readiness to work with all Muslim leaders to confront the White Houses so-called Deal of the Century.

Palestinian independence?

Glimpses of the still undisclosed plan suggest it sidelines or ignores the longstanding goal of Palestinian independence. A meeting next month in Bahrain focusing on the economics of the plan is being boycotted by the Palestinian leadership, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE are attending amid growing ties with Israel in the face of shared enemy Iran.

King Salman told OIC leaders that the rights of Palestinians remains a cornerstone issue of the organization, which was formed 50 years ago in response to an extremist arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, one of Islams most sacred sites.

He said the mosque remains under occupation and threat.

We reiterate with emphasis the rejection of any measures that infringe upon the legal status of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, King Salman said, referring to east Jerusalem and the mosque compound.

Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said any peace deal that does not include an independent and sovereign Palestinian state along 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital will be rejected by the OIC body.

We shall not accept the rewriting of history, exchanging justice with economic benefits and disregarding dignity and legitimacy, he told the OIC summit.

Leaders from Africa, Asia, Mideast

The Islamic summit has drawn political figures and heads of state from countries spanning Africa, the Middle East and Asia. They come with widely varying policies and priorities, but share a common reverence for the Al-Aqsa mosque, known as the first Qibla because Muslims prayed toward it before the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca.

The meeting began after midnight and ran into the early hours Saturday because of evening prayers and daylong fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

Saudi Arabias effort to bring leaders to Mecca reflects the kingdoms desire to project a unified Muslim and Arab position on Iran to isolate it internationally.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Tehran regrets Saudi Arabias abuse of its privilege as the host of the OIC to sow division between Islamic and regional countries.

Emergency meetings

The summit follows two emergency Arab meetings the night before in Mecca criticizing Irans behavior and influence in countries like Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

Presenting a unified stance on Iran faces obstacles within OIC member-states, which includes Iran. Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is attending the summit, has sought good ties with both Saudi Arabia and Iran, for example.

The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group told supporters in Lebanon on Friday the Mecca summits are a Saudi call for help from Arab countries after Saudi Arabia failed to win in Yemen, where the kingdom and its allies have been at war since 2015 against Iranian-allied Yemeni rebels.

It is a sign of failure, Hassan Nasrallah said. These summits are calls for help ... that express the failure and the inabilities in confronting the Yemeni army, popular resistance and people.
The suspect in the shooting deaths of 12 people Friday at a municipal building in Virginia Beach has been identified as Dwayne Craddock, a longtime public utility employee.

Police Chief James Cervera said at a Saturday morning news conference the gunman was a disgruntled worker who was killed by police in what he described as long-term shootout. Cervera said a motive had not yet been determined.

Authorities focused on the victims during the news conference, naming each one as photos of them were projected on a screen along with biographical information.

City Manager Dave Hansen said all but one of the murdered victims were Virginia Beach employees and one was a contractor. Hansen said he worked for years with many of the victims and that they would "leave a void that we will never be able to fill."

Cervera said Friday the shooter "immediately and indiscriminately fired upon all the victims" after he entered the municipal building shortly after 4 p.m. Friday.

Officials said at four others were wounded in the shooting.

Witnesses say the shooting took place at Building Two of the Virginia Beach municipal complex, which houses the city's public works, public utilities and planning departments.

Cervera said one police officer was among those who was hit by gunfire but said the officer survived. The chief said the gunfight with the officers prevented the suspect from killing more victims.



He said in investigators believe the suspect acted alone. The gunman used a .45-caliber pistol equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and "extended" ammunition magazines that he reloaded repeatedly during the attack.

Reaction to the shooting

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dyer said at the Friday news conference. "The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues."

The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam traveled to Virginia Beach Friday and said he had offered the states full support.

This is unspeakable, senseless violence, he said in a statement.

Virginia U.S. Senator Mark Warner said Friday, "I am horrified by what has happened today in Virginia Beach.

Tim Kaine, Virginia's other U.S. Senator, said on Twitter, My heart is with everyone who lost a loved one, and I'm praying for a swift recovery for all those who have been injured.

The killings were the latest in a growing list of mass shootings in the U.S. It was the deadliest mass shooting since November when a gunman killed 12 people at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California before killing himself. A policeman also died of gunshot wounds after responding to calls for help in that instance.
The chief of the Taliban is calling on the United States to accept his insurgent groups logical proposals for advancing peace negotiations between the two adversaries on ending the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Hibatullah Akhundzada made the remarks in his annual message ahead of next week's Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr in Afghanistan as the months-long dialogue process has stalemated over the Talibans insistence it would not stop fighting and engage in intra-Afghan peace talks until all U.S.-led foreign troops withdraw from the country.

The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) with its peaceful policy invites America to adopt a policy of reason and understanding, to remain a sincere partner in the negotiations process and accept the logical proposals of the Islamic Emirate for advancement of this process, said the Taliban chief.

Washington says American negotiators, led by special reconciliation envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, have reached a preliminary draft agreement with the insurgent group on how and when foreign forces would leave in exchange for Taliban guarantees to disallow transnational terrorists from using Afghan soil to attack other countries.

Khalilzad has stated that a final agreement, however, must cover not only a troop withdrawal timetable, but a cease-fire by the Taliban and their engagement with representatives of the Afghan society, including the government, for finding a durable political settlement to decades of hostilities in the country.

No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of Jihad (holy war) or forget our forty-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives, stressed Akhundzada in his Eid message, evidently responding to cease-fire demands by U.S. and Afghan officials.

No word from Washington



There was no immediate U.S. reaction available to the Taliban chiefs assertions.

A State Department announcement Saturday said that Afghan-born U.S. chief negotiator Khalilzad has left on a new 16-day visit to regional countries that will also take him to Qatar where he will continue talks with the Taliban "to move the peace process forward." The insurgent group maintains an informal political office in the Qatari capital, the venue of the ongoing U.S.-Taliban dialogue. We are moving forward. I am optimistic. Success will require other parties to show flexibility, he wrote.

Akhundzada accused the Western-backed Kabul government, which the insurgent group rejects as American puppets, of blocking efforts the Taliban is making to engage with Afghan politicians outside of the government as well as civil society representatives to discuss peace and the nature of future political governance setup in the country.

The Islamic Emirate shall pay no heed to such futile efforts and diplomatic obstructions being created for the intra-Afghan dialogue," Akhundzada vowed.

The latest round of intra-Afghan talks, involving the Taliban, took place in Moscow earlier this week but it did not produce any substantial outcome in terms of whether insurgents would observe a cease-fire during the three-day Eid festival, similar to what they did last year.

U.S. and Afghan officials insist peace talks to end the war must be held within the current constitution to preserve gains the country has made since the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban from power 17 years ago by a U.S.-led military invasion of Afghanistan.

But Akhundzada explained the Taliban is seeking the establishment of a sovereign, Islamic and inclusive government acceptable to all Afghans. It is for this purpose, he noted, insurgent negotiators are engaged in talks with the American side and we pray to Allah that our compatriots witness its positive outcome.

Longest US overseas war



The Afghan war is the longest overseas U.S. military intervention and is said to have killed more than 150,000 people, including combatants and civilians, costing Washington nearly one trillion dollars.

The Taliban currently controls or influences more than half of 407 Afghan districts, and it continues to inflict dozens of casualties on embattled Afghan security forces daily. President Ashraf Ghani revealed last year that since he took office in 2014, government forces have lost more than 45,000 personnel while battling the insurgents. The United Nations say Afghan civilians also continue to suffer record levels of casualties.
Thailand has toughened its penalties for sharing photos and videos of sexual assault as the country grapples with a reported rise in child sex trafficking and a growing crop of "webcam centers" to exploit it.



But rights groups say most of Thailand's neighbors have yet to toughen their laws to tackle online child abuse in an increasingly wired region, and that even the Thai legal update may leave some troubling trends largely unchecked.



"It's great, what they've done. It's really good in terms of the legal framework. That's fine. But there still needs [to be] some other reforms to be done, especially in relation to livestreaming," said Francois-Xavier Souchet, Thailand country manager for Terre des Hommes, a child rights group.



The changes took effect Monday and double the prison terms for convicted rapists  which mostly range up to 20 years  who record their assaults and share the material. They raise prison terms by a third for rapists who record their assaults to exploit victims.



Prison terms for rapists in positions of authority over their victims, such as relatives and teachers, also were raised by a third.

Rights groups widely consider the number of reported rapes only a small fraction of the actual number, given the stigma victims can face and the pressures they often come under to stay silent.



In April, though, the Royal Thai Police Crime Suppression Division singled out rape as the "No. 1 public enemy" in the country. Citing police figures, the Bangkok Post said reported rape cases had dropped from 3,240 in 2015 to 2,109 the following year, but picked up again to 2,535 in 2017.



Human trafficking



Also in 2017, in a report on the latest trends in human trafficking into Thailand from its neighbors, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) identified the trafficking of children for webcam sex shows as an emerging problem.



At the report's launch, the UNODC said demand for sex with children was a growing driver of human trafficking across the Mekong region and that it had recently noticed webcam centers exploiting children moving from the Philippines to Thailand.



"Sadly, it has been part of a larger trend in the region," the UNODC's representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Jeremy Douglas, told VOA this week.

"Now they have so many cases about the use [of] the webcam," agreed Jaded Chaowilai, director of Thailand's Women and Men Progressive Movement, which helps rape victims.



"The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is an ongoing issue," said Damian Kean, spokesman for ECPAT International, a child advocacy group based in Bangkok.



"While we have no evidence to suggest that it is on the rise, we do know that certain manifestations of this crime are increasing," he said, "particularly sexual exploitation by travelers and tourists as Thailand's tourism industry flourishes; online child sexual exploitation as internet coverage improves; and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes as neighboring countries suffer humanitarian crises."



Child exploitation



Many of the cases of livestreaming, Kean added, "are facilitated by those in the child's circle of trust, including often parents."



The newly enacted legal amendments help address both problems by stiffening prison terms for rapists who record and share the abuse and have authority over the victim.



But rights groups worry that the law's failure to specifically address livestreaming, where the abuse is not actually recorded, may prove a loophole for getting out of the tougher penalties.



"Once you stop the, I don't know, Skype session or the Facebook Live, it's just gone, it's just gone," said Souchet, of Terre des Hommes.

He worries that the people who watch the shows  and often direct the abuse  also may fall through the cracks.



"The person who is watching, who is kind of ordering the abuse and directing the abuse sometimes, and opening this kind of livestream to other people for ... financial purposes, right? This guy, his responsibility, can he be charged against rape as an accomplice? This is not clear, because there's no ... direct physical abuse from his side. So that's a legal challenge," he said.



While Thailand is not alone in the region in toughening its rape laws  Myanmar in March upped the possible prison term for the rape of children under 12 to life  it is still an outlier.



"Thailand remains somewhat exceptional in this regard," said Douglas. "Positively, governments in the region are taking the issue of online child exploitation more seriously and they are cooperating on cross-border cases, although it is not enough and tends to be reactive."



Souchet said he recently heard from a victims shelter in Thailand that is concerned more pedophiles active in the country are moving to Laos to evade capture, and that authorities in Myanmar increasingly are worried about becoming "another Thailand" for child sex offenders as the country opens up.



Combating the problem "should be a regional effort," he said.
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Serkan Golge, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was freed from a Turkish prison Wednesday shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone. Golge was visiting family in southern Turkey when he was arrested in a sweeping crackdown that followed a failed military coup in 2016.
The World Food Program (WFP) says it has delivered food in the rebel-held militarized zone of Nihm for the first time since civil war broke out in Yemen more than four years ago. Nihm governorate is northeast of the rebel Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, close to the Saudi Arabian border.

WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel says persistent negotiations have paid off. He says WFP and a partner organization, Islamic Relief, have distributed food to an estimated 5,000 people living near the front lines in the Nihm district. He says the agencies gave out two months of rations at two food distribution points.

This is an important achievement for WFP as the district has been a front line conflict area, which is very difficult to access and that since a long time," he said. "However, reports by NGOs working in Nihm indicated some populations where hostilities are more intense had no access to the food distribution point.

In another bit of good news, Verhoosel says WFP has been able to provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable civilians around Dhuraimi city in Hodeidah governorate for the first time in a year.

The rebel-held port of Hodeidah is the principle entry point for vital humanitarian relief, including food, water, medicine and medical supplies. The area has been engulfed in intense conflict between the Houthis and government-supported Saudi-led coalition forces.

Verhoosel says WFP has provided a two-month supply of food, water, hygiene kits and dignity kits from the U.N. childrens fund and U.N. Population Fund. He says both parties to the conflict have helped WFP gain access to the area.

The United Nations calls Yemen the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. It warns around 14 million people, or half the countrys population, are on the brink of famine. WFP says it is distributing food to 10 million people a month. It says it hopes to boost that number to 12 million.
The United States has removed Eritrea from a list of countries uncooperative in the fight against terrorism, the latest in a series of diplomatic victories for the East African nation.

The U.S. State Department first placed Eritrea on a list of countries not cooperating fully with its anti-terrorism efforts in 2008. A year later, the country also faced U.N. sanctions for allegations that it supported al-Shabab, a terror group based in Somalia.

Until Wednesday, Eritrea was the only African country on the list, and it found itself alongside such pariah nations as Syria, North Korea and Iran. But government officials have long denied supporting terror groups, and a U.N. monitoring group was, for many years, unable to find evidence that Eritrea was backing al-Shabab.

Eritrean Minister of Information Yemane Gebremeskel took to Twitter to praise the change:

Herman Cohen, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, hopes the U.S. will take this opportunity to forge closer ties with Eritrea. We should see Eritrea as a friendly, crucial strategic country, and we should take advantage of it and give them assistance in the economic area because they are looking to modernize their economy, he told VOA.

Cohen also said the countrys location on the Red Sea, near Yemen and Gulf states, makes it an important military partner. Its very important to have military people there who can observe what is going on in that very volatile, crucial area, Cohen said. We used to have a military station in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. I think it would be wonderful now if we could restore that.

The move is the latest thawing of hostilities between Eritrea and the rest of the world. Last year, Eritrea and Ethiopia announced an end to a 20-year dispute over their border, and the U.N. Security Council lifted sanctions on the country. And in March, a U.S. congressional delegation made the first such diplomatic visit to the country in 14 years.

Awet Weldemichael, an associate professor of history and global development studies at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, said Eritreas removal from the list is a symbolic gesture, but U.N. sanctions, which lasted nearly a decade, had a more tangible impact on the country.

[The sanctions were] consequential for Eritrea because [of] the restrictions on the use of the U.S. dollar and close scrutiny of its foreign transactions (that had previously been carried out in U.S. dollars) severely hampered the countrys foreign transactions, even for legitimate and peaceful purposes, Weldemichael said in an email.

Since 2015, Weldemichael said, Eritrea has allowed Saudi and United Arab Emirates forces to use an Eritrea naval and air base to launch strikes against rebel forces in Yemen. This too may have raised the countrys status as a valuable military partner in the eyes of the U.S., he added.

There is already serious and consequential cooperation going on by proxy, he said of the U.S.-Eritrea partnership.

Eritrea remains a tightly controlled nation, without a democratically elected government and with severe restrictions on freedom of speech and religion. Thousands of young people have fled the country to avoid mandatory, indefinite military service.

But Cohen believes the countrys economy is improving, pointing to increased activity at the ports of Massawa and Assab, the potential for cross-border trade with Ethiopia, and the nation's rich mineral wealth.

Generally speaking, there is an upsurge of economic activity thats going on now. More mining companies are coming into Eritrea, Cohen said. They have a very, very big mining potential. So now that the tensions have diminished and the hostility is diminished, I think things should really expand nicely.
A lot has happened again around KDE Itinerary since the last two month summary. A particular focus area at the moment is achieving Akademy readiness, that is being able to properly support trips to KDE Akademy in Milan early September, understanding the tickets of the Italian national railway is a first step into that direction.

New Features

The timeline view in KDE Itinerary now highlights the current element(s), to make it easier to find the relevant information. Active elements also got an are we there yet? indicator, a small bar showing the progress of the current leg of a trip, taking live data into account.

Trip element being highlighted and showing a progress indicator.

Another clearly visible addition can be found in the trip group summary elements in the timeline. Besides expanding or collapsing the trip, these elements now also show information concerning the entire trip when available, such as the weather forecast, or any power plug incompatibility you might encounter during the trip.

Trip group summary showing weather forecast for the entire trip.

Trip group summary showing power plug compatibility warnings.

Less visible but much more relevant for Akademy readiness was adding support for Trenitalia tickets. That required some changes and additions to how we deal with barcodes, as well as an (ongoing) effort to decode the undocumented binary codes used on those tickets. More details can be found in a recent post on this subject.

Infrastructure Work

A lot has also happened behind the scenes:

The ongoing effort to promote KContacts and KCalCore yields some improvements we benefit from directly as well, such as the Unicode diacritic normalization applied during the country name detection in KContacts (reducing the database size and detecting country names also with slight spelling variations) or the refactoring of KCalCore::Person and KCalCore::Attendee (which will make those types easily accessible by extractor scripts).

and (which will make those types easily accessible by extractor scripts). The train reservation data model now contains the booked class, which is a particular useful information when you dont have a seat reservation and need to pick the right compartment.

The RCT2 extractor (relevant e.g. for DSB, NS, OBB, SBB) got support for more variations of seat reservations and more importantly now preserves the ticket token for ticket validation with the mobile app.

The train station knowledge database is now also indexed by UIC station codes, which became necessary to support the Trenitalia tickets.

Extractor scripts got a new utility class for dealing with unaligned binary data in barcodes.

We also finally found the so far illusive mapping table for the station identifiers used in SNCF barcodes, provided by Trainline as Open Data. This yet has to find its way into Wikidata though, together with more UIC station codes for train stations in Italy. Help welcome :)

Performance Optimizations

Keeping an eye on performance while the system becomes more complex is always a good idea, and a few things have been addressed in this area too:

The barcode decoder so far was exposed more or less directly to the data extractors, resulting in possibly performing the expensive decoding work twice on the same document, e.g. when both the generic extractor and one or more custom extractors processed a PDF document. Additionally, each of those were applying their own heuristics and optimizations to avoid expensive decoding attempts where they are unlikely to succeed. Those optimizations now all moved to the barcode decoder directly, together with a positive and negative decoding result cache. That simplifies the code using this, and it speeds up extraction of PDF documents without a context (such as a sender address) by about 15%.

Kirigamis theme color change compression got further optimized, which in the case of KDE Itinerary avoids the creation of a few hundred QTimer objects.

The compiled-in knowledge database got a more space-efficient structure for storing unaligned numeric values, cutting down the size of the 24bit wide IBNR and UIC station code indexes by 25%.

Fixes & Improvements

Theres plenty of smaller changes that are noteworthy too of course:

We fixed a corner case in KF5::Prisons Aztec encoder that can trigger UIC 918.3 tickets, producing invalid barcodes.

The data extractors for Brussels Airlines, Deutsche Bahn and SNCF got fixes for various booking variants and corner cases.

Network coverage for KPublicTransport increased, including operators in Ireland, Poland, Sweden, parts of Australia and more areas in Germany.

More usage of emoji icons in KDE Itinerary got replaced by real icons, which fixes rendering glitches on Android and produces a more consistent look there.

Lock inhibition during barcode scanning now also works on Linux.

PkPass files are now correctly detected on Android again when opened as a content: URL.

URL. The current trip group in the KDE Itinerary timeline is now always expanded, which fixes various confusions in the app when now or today dont exist due to being in a collapsed time range.

Multi-day event reservations are now split in begin and end elements in the timeline as already done for hotel bookings.

Rental car bookings with a drop-off location different from the pick-up location are now treated as location changes in the timeline, which is relevant e.g. for the weather forecasts.

Extracting times from PkPass boarding passes now converts those to the correct timezone.

Contribute

A big thanks to everyone who donated test data again, this continues to be essential for improving the data extraction.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Why Kerala balked the Modi Wave

Through the looking glass of a staunchly secular-minded Malayalia dirty word in the current idiom when triumphalist cultural nationalism is on the marchthe Indian election results evoke mixed feelings.

On the one hand, there is the wave of fear, anxiety, despair raging in the mind as one surveys the dismal national scenemixed in no small measure with anger and sheer disgust at the unfairness of it all, as outlined brilliantly by S. Varadarajan in The Wireand viewed from the heights with great insight by Harsh Khare in The Hindu newspaper.

On the other hand, there is a great sense of relief that Kerala continues to remain an oasis of sanity and temperancearguably, Gods Own Country. How come Kerala, a tiny slice of India tucked away in a remote corner, so defiantly balked the Modi wave which the rest of India found irresistible?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) once again failed to win a single parliamentary seat and, even more surprisingly, failed to increase its vote-share significantly beyond the 15 per cent mark it touched in the 2016 State Assembly elections. This is despite the larger-than-life public perceptions of the BJP that has been created by sections of the local media.

One major factor and a few supplementary factors account for what has happened. The major factor is indeed Keralas unique demography. This needs explaining. Ironically, the path of militant Hindutva that the BJPs national leadership chose as its main electoral plank literally dug the grave for the party in Kerala.

The Hindu nationalist frenzy, that was built up in the campaign, produced a strong reaction among the minority communities in Kerala Muslims and Christians alikeand that, in turn, led to a consolidation of their votes in support of the Congress, which they perceived as the main bulwark against the rising wave of Hindutva at the national level. This has made all the difference, since the two minority communities account for around 45 per cent of the States population.

Plainly put, the minority communities joined hands with the secular-minded Hindu voters to make a formidable winning combination under the canopy of the Congress-led United Democratic Front.

In this process, the Congress has been the single biggest beneficiary. If in the most recent elections in Kerala, a nascent trend had begun to appear of the Left parties incrementally attracting the minority community voters, that has undergone a dramatic reversal. The incredible victory of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad with a record majority exceeding 4.31 lakhs testifies to it.

In sum, this verdict represents a rejection of the BJPs communal agenda at the national level and it does not and will not necessarily reflect popular attitudes to the dialectical State level politics where many other local considerations inevitably come into play. Put differently, paradoxically, the BJP pushed communal polarisation to win the 2019 poll and it has got a thrashing in Kerala.

This also means that so long as the BJP sticks to its agenda of communal polarisation, it has no future in Kerala politics. Keralas demography and cultural and political ethos simply disallows majoritarianism.

Indeed, Rahuls decision to contest the election from Kerala electrified the political scene and helped the Congress to recover from the drubbing it took in the 2016 State elections. But the substantial erosion in the Lefts vote-share in the 2019 poll (steep drop from 43.14 per cent to 35.08 per cent) played an even bigger part in the Congress reversal of fortunes (from 38.59 per cent to a whopping 47.24 per cent of the vote-share).

This must be almost entirely attributed to the groundswell of discontent among Hindu voters who traditionally supported the Left, with the governments maverick handling of the Sabarimala temple issue, which turned out to be just as much opportunistic and unprincipled as the BJPs stance.

Clearly, the government offended the Hindu religious sentiments, overlooking that the Lefts support-base largely comprises observant Hindus, cutting across caste identity. In comparison, the Congress proved street smart.

The Congress soft Hindutva approach turned out to be pragmatic. It attracted observant secular-minded Hindu voters who abhor violence and strident religious rhetoric alike and also feel offended by the BJPs crass notion that the Sabarimala issue offered a golden opportunity to win the upcoming election.

The good part for the Left is that this must be a temporary setback that is almost entirely attributable to the mishandling of the Sabari-mala issue. From a medium-term perspective, the Left understands perfectly well that religiosity is not to be equated with fundamentalism. Having said that, the erosion in the Hindu vote-base should worry the Left parties.

In the Kerala context, cultural identity is largely a secular phenomenon. A glaring example is the humiliating defeat of Tushar Vellappalli in Wayanadprobably forfeiting his deposit. It shows that the Ezhava voters have a mind of their own. Clearly, the big shift of Ezhava voters in Malabar and southern Kerala, which signifi-cantly weakened the Left in its traditional strongholds, has been towards the Congress.

In the final analysis, it is a matter of satisfaction that secular politics has prevailed in Kerala. Unlike in the rest of India, the politically literate electorate refused to be swayed by the BJPs diversionary tactic to bring Pulwama, Balakot, etc. to the forefront to steer the debate away from the across-the-board failure of the Modi Government to redeem its 2014 pledges while seeking a mandate.

The Lefts campaign was so effective and structured in focusing attention unwaveringly on the serious national issues of development and constitutional rule in the country that Modi and Amit Shahs post-truth politics got entirely marginalisedalthough the Congress may have ultimately garnered the electoral benefits.

The bottom-line is that even non-Congress secularist opinion in Kerala will be quietly pleased with the outcome of the election. Simply put, the BJP has been kept at the gates denied entry. Second, in an overall perspective, it is just as well that the Congress has revived and will present an effective Opposition in the State politics in the period between now and 2021 when election is due.

Above all, of course, Kerala presents itself as a most liveable part of India in terms of security, social harmony, tolerance and compassion despite its highly competitive political environment.

Ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years, with postings including Indias ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998) and to Turkey (1998-2001).
Austin Avenue continues to attract retail shops, and the latest target is a structure at 924 Austin Ave. built in 1923.

Robison Construction has secured a permit to remodel space for retail use, with the cost of the conversion estimated at $1.35 million.

Nearby there are new and relatively new shops galore, including Simply Irresistible at 1018 Austin Ave., White Elephant, 930 Austin Ave., and Caliente Home and Apparel, 1002 Austin Ave. But the site has more going for it, according to a listing on the real estate site LoopNet, which gushes: Awesome historic building downtown with many options on Wacos coveted Austin Avenue. Two blocks from the Hippodrome, near Milo, Alpha Omega, Hey Sugar Candy, the Palladium. It adds the building practically is a blank canvas, with a wide-open floor plan and space for parking and storage.

Real estate agent Gregg Glime continues to promote the site, saying in an email message he found a new owner late last year who is moving forward with renovation on behalf of four would-be tenants. Glime said a lease agreement is pending, and he could name names within two weeks.

Toys R Us building
Barrett said they kept their bees on .175 acres in their backyard for about six years and only encountered trouble after new neighbors moved in about two years ago. She said after appearing before the Waco Animal Advisory Board, meeting with an assistant city attorney and speaking to the city council during a public hearing, they sold their hives.

We just want them to fix the ordinance so that it gives us some kind of protection and people dont have to make this investment, have this hobby (and then lose it), Barrett said. We want them to fix the ordinance and make it appropriate for the times.

Over the course of six years, they spent $1,000 on hives, $400 on bees and close to $1,000 on equipment including bee suits, smokers, brushes, barrels and various additions. Barrett said she estimates they spent close to $2,500 on bees and bee accessories.

Some of it, we added over time, but a lot of it we had to buy up-front, Barrett said.
The Eighth Street pedestrian bridge, an unlovely relic of concrete and chain link that carried generations safely over Interstate 35 to and from Baylor University, passed into transportation history Thursday night. It was 53.

Cause of its demise was progress, in the form of the widening of Interstate 35 from six lanes to eight.

Crews with Webber LLC worked with almost surgical precision Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights to take the structure down in stages, without ever having to close all the mainlanes of the freeway at once.

There are no plans to replace it, given the cost and difficulty of meeting slope requirements for wheelchair-accessible ramps, Texas Department of Transportation officials have said.

The footbridge had only in recent years begun to be used frequently as student housing and student-friendly restaurants replaced what had been a residential area on the downtown side. By then it was too late. The Texas Department of Transportations designs dating back to 2010 called for the removal of the bridge, and TxDOT officials said adding a new one would be too expensive.

In its final days, the bridge became a spot for selfies and attention it rarely enjoyed in the previous half-century.

Now a lot of people are passionate about that bridge, said Ashley Bean Thornton, founder of Waco Walks and Act Locally Waco. A lot of those people Im pretty sure never walked across it.  Its really sad. I feel like theyre tearing it down right when it was starting to get some use.

Thornton, who in the past has made a multi-mile commute on foot to a job at Baylor, only started using the walkway three or four years ago.

I was in the habit of using the Fourth and Fifth street bridge, she said. Then one day I looked at it and thought, What the heck? Why am I not going over that nice bridge? 

When it was built in 1966, the pedestrian bridge replaced a segment of Eighth Street that had been the main entrance into the Baylor campus from downtown, according to news reports from the time.

For the first several years of the bridges life, the freeway was still under construction through Waco and the segment around the bridge was used only by local traffic. Two letters to the Waco News-Tribune on Feb. 14, 1968, pointed to the dangers of the then-unfenced freeway segment, where a man had recently died after crossing the main lanes and being hit by three cars. One writer lamented that schoolchildren were crossing the interstate at grade instead of using the pedestrian bridge and other designated crossings.

Les Fisseler, who worked as an engineer in Waco for the state highway department from 1957 to 1993, said he does not remember the bridge being especially popular with Baylor students in its early days.

I think when we first built it, there wasnt that much reason to get across, Fisseler said.

He said downtown at the time was in steep decline, and retail interest was shifting to Lake Air Mall across town.

But at least it got more use than another pedestrian highway crossing state officials had built for La Salle Avenue, Fisseler recalls. In 1952, the state worked with Waco Independent School District to build a tunnel for students crossing what was then the main route between Dallas and Austin. It quickly fell into disuse, and the state stopped building pedestrian tunnels, Fisseler said.

You dont do that anymore, Fisseler said. People are afraid to go underground.

The pedestrian bridge was still in good condition before it was demolished this week, Waco-area TxDOT engineer Clayton Zacha said.

The contractor worked out a demolition plan with an engineer, dividing it into four phases to minimize traffic disruption, Zacha said. Crews used saws to precut segments of the deck so that when excavators hit a segment with a hammer attachment, the segment would fall cleanly without disturbing other lanes. The last segment was removed between 7 p.m. Thursday and 5 a.m. Friday.

Thornton, the pedestrian advocate, said she does not see an opportunity anytime soon to replace the pedestrian bridge. But she believes the remaining Baylor-to-downtown connections can be strengthened with better sidewalks and pedestrian-friendly development along University Parks Drive and Fourth and Fifth streets.

If were ever going to promote walking culture, the first rule of walking is that you have to have somewhere to walk to, Thornton said.

More coverage

Solutions eyed as I-35 work puts Baylor pedestrians in a pinch Carless Baylor University students already go to great lengths for groceries and food, and t

I-35 widening continues with ramps coming down, bridges to follow Contractors are juggling several projects in Interstate 35 work zone between North Loop 340 

Demolition of I-35 pedestrian bridge to limit crossing options between Baylor, downtown After 53 years bearing Baylor University students to and from campus and serving as a platfo

Bike, pedestrian groups seek to enhance underpasses between downtown Waco, Baylor The widening of Interstate 35 through Waco is meant to be a boon for freeway drivers. But pe

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Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Indian elections: It wasnt the economy, stupid!

by L.K. Sharma

Narendra Modis stunning victory in the parliamentary elections speaks volumes about the transformed India and an India keen to be transformed further. He defied the incumbency handicap to be crowned as Indias Prime Minister for a second term. He got the most impressive mandate despite his governments dismal economic record, his unkept promises, mendacity, an unprecedented rise in bigotry and sustained low-level communal violence during the past five years.

Elections are not won or lost because of one single factor. However, what mattered most to the voters and why they felt so enamoured of Modi became somewhat obvious. A more authentic assessment may be made by Donald Trumps election strategist. The rise of the two leaders calls for a composite study. The two have learned a lot from each other. Modis achievement is bigger because Indias economy faltered during his regime.

Indian voters had several reasons to do what they did but perhaps most of them looked for and chose a Messiah determined to protect the endangered religious majority. Such voters wanted a devout Hindu to be the Prime Minister. They responded to the BJPs clarion call: Declare with pride that we are Hindus!

Modis poll campaign in 2014 was about hope, this time it was about fear. In an atmosphere of fear, lynch mobs fear the other and the victims fear the perpetrators. There was no angry public response to the acts of commission by the Hindu vigilante groups and acts omission by the state police. This neutralised warnings by intellectuals and the Opposition parties that Modis India was heading towards Fascism. The people accepted electoral authori-tarianism for their security.

Sustained propaganda by Modi and his party created religious polarisation. The fear that Muslims are coming led to the consolidation of the Hindu votes. The religious card of the Hindu nationalist party worked wonderfully well this time.

An allied strand of this electoral strategy was the focus on Islamic Pakistan. Once an Indian Muslim terrorist killed para-military troops in Kashmir, Modis campaign of toxic nationalism took off furiously. The voters were warned that they live in a nation threatened by enemies within and without.

The Modi Government failed to prevent the killing of the para-military personnel in Kashmir by a terrorist. But Modis media management ensured that its criticism was not amplified. Such a killing during the Congress regime would have damned that Prime Minister. Modi in the Opposition would have gone to town demanding his resignation for the governments huge intelligence failure! Modi ordered a surgical strike into Pakistani territory, publicised it on a massive scale, highlighting his nationalistic credentials and macho image. His followers sang praises of Modis army!

Modi prevented any political harm resulting from his dismal performance on the economic front by distracting the voters attention from their economic woes. He harnessed their support for the greater cause of helping him to protect the nation! He avoided any reference to his 2014 promise of Good Days that never arrived. No new promise of economic nirvana was made.

Modi presented himself as a devout Hindu seeking to restore the glory of Hinduism by making it muscular and aggressive. Bigotry and toxic nationalism energised the BJPs election campaign. Millions followed him as they would follow a cult leader. In their eyes Modi could do no wrong. His failures, his divisive sectarian statements, his threats, uncivil remarks and lies only increased his popularity.

The campaign for these elections was launched by Modi immediately after winning the last one in 2014. A steady flow of communal poison kept dripping into the nations veins. The incidents of violence against minorities, rationa-lists, independent journalists and liberals have been well documented.

The vigilantes marching behind the flag of Hindutva enjoyed considerable freedom while Modis critics faced threats and lived in an atmosphere of fear. Writers were the first to protest against the culture of enforced thinking introduced by the Modi regime. The dissenting writers were neutralised by a social media hate campaign. In any case, how many battalions does a writer command?

However, the believers in majoritarianism alone could not have secured a record victory, so Modi wooed different voters with different messages. Some came to him because he appeared competent and efficient. Some believed he could not be corrupt because he does not live with his wife and has no progeny. Modis claim that he is a fakir was amplified by his acolytes, notwithstanding his valuable personal possessions and his very expensive and huge wardrobe. Many were persuaded by the repeated assertion that there was no alternative to Modi. Of course, Modi also offered political stability which is valued even by ordinary voters unless they are too dissatisfied by an outgoing regime. Thus, Modi sold himself even to many of those untouched by sectarianism.

Modi came across as a dynamic and charismatic personality. He could mesmerise large audiences with dramatic gestures and sharp and satirical remarks against his oppo-nents. Modi had access to record sums of money. He had the fullest support of the incentive-hungry business leaders ever ready to loosen their purse strings to expand his partys war chest. There was no level field in these elections.

The ruling partys muscle power comprised millions of booth-level workers and a vast net-work of volunteers working selflessly for the RSS, a so-called cultural organisation. Modi commanded a subservient media that amplified the message of hate against his opponents and against a religious minority.

However, for being able to coordinate the strands of a winning strategy the credit goes to the mind of Modi. Some may qualify his genius but he has proved time and again his under-standing of follies and frailties of human beings and of Indias social and religious fault-lines. He used his oratorical skills to exploit these fault-lines. Being a divisive figure, he has taken conflict to every home; so politics has come to dominate social life. Modi creates confrontation and prospers.

Since religious polarisation could not fully bridge the caste differences, Modi devised a complex strategy to break up the politically dominant castes. He wooed and won sub-castes to neutralise the opposition by that caste formation. With two powerful weapons of envy and resentment, he divided it by accentuating internal economic rivalry. This strategy saved Modi in a couple of States where he was challenged by the caste-based parties. The BJP thus firmed up the sub-caste identities.

Modi had the big advantage of having an incompetent and divided Opposition. He went after the enfeebled Congress and its young leader, Rahul Gandhi, because when it comes to an ideological war, the Congress is the only enemy. Most other Opposition parties have flirted with Modis party in the past. Enshrined in Indias Constitution, secularism was so cherished by the masses that the communal political parties were kept out of power for decades.

Modis party relentlessly attacked the secular parties for appeasing Muslims. In a society lacking in empathy, this propaganda influenced many Hindus and some of them even started holding the Muslims responsible for their economic misery. The Congress had no effective strategy to counter the onslaught against secularism. Modi derided the secularists and said that their days were numbered in a nation bubbling with Hindu pride. Scholars of Hinduism never protested against the BJP hijacking their faith for a political project and seeking to distort it. Hindu priests were either co-opted by the BJP or chose to remain silent.

The Congress raised the issue of corruption by alleging that Modi favoured a private Indian company instead of a public sector firm while striking a deal with France for the Raffle aircraft for the Indian Air Force. It did no political harm to Modi even after many reports embarrassing the government were published by one news-paper. Corruption becomes a big issue if a party is competent to exploit it.

The Congress had miserably failed to publicise the economic achievements of the Manmohan Singh Government. Thus, the voters got convinced by Modis assertion that nothing was done in India till 2014. The young impatient and aggressive aspirational class truly believed what Modi said.

In a confrontational election campaign, leaders like Modi have a natural advantage. The days of gentleman-politician are over. The growing criminalisation of politics is reflected in the profile of the new Parliament.Politics has place only for crafty individuals. Some years ago, Modi could not have called his opponents anti-national Indians.Every critic of Modi is asked to go away to Pakistan. This propaganda stooped to its ugliest level in the social media. Even after the Model Code of Conduct came into force and the Election Commission prohibited references to religion and the military in the campaign, the Prime Minister merrily ignored such advice.

India witnessed the ghoulish act of shooting down Gandhis cardboard cut-out in a public square by a saffron-clad woman. It was gleefully video-graphed and circulated. The scene had the artificial blood flowing down after the gunshot from a toy pistol. Some Hindu nationalists have not forgiven Gandhi for his sin of appeasing the Muslims.

The BJP fielded as its parliamentary candidate a terror-accused Hindu nun, Sadhvi Pragya, who is out on bail. She said she had cursed a police officer who had once investigated her in a Hindu terror case involving the killings of Muslims. This officer later died fighting Muslim terrorists and was widely hailed as a martyr. Sadhvi Pragya also applauded as a patriot the Right-wing Hindu killer of Gandhi, Nathuram Godse. She won by an impressive margin and will now speak in Parliament on the India of her dreams.

Modis mentor organisation, the RSS, has the declared objective of establishing a Hindu nation. Its political wing, the BJP, proudly calls itself a Hindu nationalist party. Modi has a proven record of consolidating the Hindu voters. As the Chief Minister of the Gujarat State which witnessed sectarian killings on a massive scale during his rule, he was hailed as Hindu Hriday Samrat (Emperor of the Hindu Hearts). His poll strategy in 2014 demonstrated that the Muslims, notwithstanding their numbers, could be politically marginalised. So, some compulsions of democracy were gone as far as Modis party was concerned.

Social media posts and statements by the BJP leaders had prepared the ground to instil the fear of a coming demographic disaster and the infiltration of the termites belonging to a different faith creeping into the nation. The BJP chief used the word termites while an official move was made to grant citizenship to all infiltrators barring the Muslims!

Educated Indians can be heard talking of the coming Islamisation of India. It is not that an epidemic of bigotry hit India all of a sudden. A large number of Indians, like the people of other nations, had kept such sentiments suppressed for years. In the atmosphere created by a new kind of political leadership, the dam burst.

Reading the election results, one has to say it wasnt the economy, stupid! Someone from a new breed of BJP intellectuals may write a tome titled Its the Muslims, stupid. He has a ready template in Its the Jews, stupid.

(Courtesy: Open Democracy)

The author is a senior journalist and writer who worked in India and abroad (notably Britain) in several major newspapers. Now retired, he is a freelancer.
School may be out for the summer, but many school cafeterias and other community sites in McLennan County will still open their doors to feed students for free.

Starting Monday, the Waco Independent School District will serve free breakfast and lunch to any child, up to age 18, at dozens of locations throughout the city.

The Waco ISD summer meals program lasts through Aug. 14, and each site has different days and hours of operation.

The Texas Hunger Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger, estimates there are 2.8 million Texas students who qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch at school, but many of those students lack consistent sources of meals during the summer break.

Students who are eligible for free meals during school often do not take advantage of the summer meal programs for whatever reason, according to Texas Hunger Initiative research. In the summer of 2016, 3,761 students in the Greater Waco area ate free meals coordinated by school districts, but another 21,000 were eligible for free or reduced-price meals that school year.
First Methodist is also absorbing the Robinson Drive United Methodist Church as its South Campus effective July 1, where pastor Gabe Dominguez has been leading a street-friendly Life Church.

First Methodist averages 1,350 in weekly worship attendance, making it one of the top 100 Methodist churches in the nation and the fourth largest church in the Central Texas Conference, which stretches from Fort Worth to just east of Abilene and south to Round Rock. It has three Sunday morning worship services, two traditional and one contemporary, and a Saturday evening service. Austin Avenue UMC currently numbers 100 members, Hidde-Gregory said.

The name Austin Avenue likely will be retained in the merger in some manner, such as a campus or location name, but budgeting, operations and programming will fall under First Methodists umbrella, Hiddle-Gregory said.

Worship services, the churchs preschool and other ministries will continue at the Austin Avenue location, 1300 Austin Ave., for the immediate future as leaders determine how best the site can be used to serve the area.
The Midland and Odessa MSAs are projected to experience particularly strong employment growth rates during the next five years, primarily as a result of the globally significant increases in oil and gas production and the corresponding effects on many channels of business activity. The Tyler (2.08 percent) and Brownsville-Harlingen (2.07 percent) MSAs are also expected to see job growth which outpaces the state.

Other MSAs are likely to see economic expansion ranging from 1.70 percent to 1.96 percent per year. Near the upper end of the range are Laredo (1.96 percent), Sherman-Denison (1.92) and Lubbock (1.90). More moderate employment gains are projected in Corpus Christi (1.88 percent), College Station-Bryan (1.86), Abilene (1.84), Texarkana (1.82), Waco (1.82), Amarillo (1.80), Longview (1.80) and Victoria (1.80). Expected rates of employment growth in San Angelo (1.76 percent), Wichita Falls (1.74), Killeen-Temple (1.71) and Beaumont-Port Arthur (1.70) metropolitan areas are slightly lower.

Even in the smallest of the MSAs, thousands of jobs are likely to be added . In some areas, such as the Permian Basin, employment growth is occurring at rates that are among the most rapid in the country. Over time, Texas will continue to see economic activity in the largest cities. However, there are also opportunities for those who live (or wish to live) in places with a slower pace, less traffic and a wealth of other amenities available .

Ray Perryman is a Texas economist and president and CEO of The Perryman Group, an economic research and analysis firm based in Waco.
The first of these is whether advisory firms should be subject to the same fiduciary standard that fund managers are. It seems clear that, at a minimum, their voting advice should be unbiased and strive to give a clear analysis of the possible implications that any vote would have on profitability. This would allow investors to understand the tradeoff they would be making with their votes. If the fiduciary duty applies to advisory firms, the focus of their recommendations would clearly be on maximizing investor return.

If the fiduciary standard does not apply, allowing advisory firms to pursue other social priorities, then care needs to be taken that fund managers do not automatically incorporate these tradeoffs in their decisions. To do this, fund managers must clearly understand the procedures and principles that govern the recommendations of each advisory firm.

Such an approach would also preclude fund managers from outsourcing the decision-making for proxy voting. While they may rely on outsiders for analysis, the final decision and responsibility for casting proxy votes must remain with these managers. President Trump recently asked the Department of Labor to study funds that explicitly pursue political goals and their relationship to this fiduciary standard.

Investors shouldnt have to pay for someones pursuit of a political agenda. Fund managers have a fiduciary duty to pursue the best possible returns they can achieve for their clients. We must ensure they make their investment decisions with the best interests of their investors in mind.

Joe Kennedy is president of Kennedy Research LLC and a former chief economist for the Department of Commerce.
That means the Russian efforts to get Papadopoulos to help their efforts were real, just as Papadopoulos says he believed when he pleaded guilty. Likewise, the Russian attempt to get Donald Trump Jr. to listen to a pitch on eliminating sanctions in hopes of obtaining dirt on Hillary Clinton was real  the offer that he responded to by saying, if its what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer. That would also suggest that when Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska allegedly used Trump campaign manager Paul Manaforts debt to him as leverage to obtain information on how Manafort planned to win the election  and maybe even a commitment from Manafort to help carve up Ukraine, a plan Muellers prosecutors alleged that Manafort pursued as late as 2018  that, too, was part of one of the numerous efforts Russia made in 2016.
A program enables local high school girls who might otherwise not get to experience prom take part in that special event.

Mission Prom just completed its second year. Program creator Donna Wiley adopts a high school and underprivileged girls there can apply to attend their prom for free. In 2018 Wiley adopted University High. This year it was Waco High.

The idea came to Wiley, a senior administrative secretary at the McLennan Community College Library, after she donated a dress to a nonprofit charity.

I bought a dress several years ago to be in a wedding, she said. However, that fell through so the dress hung in my closet until I donated it to Hidden Treasures by Caritas. The store held an event for high school girls to choose a dress, for free, so they could attend their prom.

Wiley says she remembers that when she was in high school a few of her classmates werent able to attend prom because their family was not financially able to purchase everything a young girl dreams of to attend prom.

After reaching out to friends and businesses, she put together a committee of 10 women who were willing to help her make her concept come true.
Melinda Seibert, vice president of development for Waco Tours, said the growth in the business has been incredible. TripAdvisor reviews have been glowing, she said.

We love being ambassadors for Waco, she said. Our staff loves our guests and do excellent work with a servants heart. We love growing it with people gifted in different areas.

The 2-hour trip on the Brazos River is one of the top choices in an online USA Today contest for Best Boat Tour. Final results will be unveiled at noon May 31.

Weve been looking at ways to enhance peoples experience of Waco, said Luke, who came to Baylor from Colorado and is the only non-Texas native of the owners. Wed been thinking about every little detail. On the water it just feels so peaceful. Everyone who takes the river cruise says they feel fully refreshed. Some enjoy it for a date night.

With the Texas Experience you get to ride through these beautiful bluffs that make you feel like youre hours from the city, but youre just 15 minutes from downtown. It takes people to what it was like in the 1800s. Have them envision the cattle drive of the Chisholm Trail, or how the settlers came upon the native Americans that were here.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > The Congress at a Critical Juncture

The humiliating defeat the Congress suffered in the latest Lok Sabha elections has faced it with an existential crisis. The truth is that as a parliamentary party trying to come to power through elections, it stands nowhere before the combined might of the BJP, RSS and other organisations of the Sangh Parivar. The challenge is not just political. It is also ideological. During the past five years, the Sangh Parivar has been successful in polarising Hindu votes on communal lines.

As the election results show, a large section of young voters in the age-group of 18 to 28 has voted for the BJP. Narendra Modis perfervid appeal to them to remember, at the time of casting their vote, the massacre of the CRPF jawans at Pulwama and the surgical strike of the IAF on a terror base at Balakot, deep inside Pakistan, has greatly sated Hindu hubris. The benefit of providing cooking gas connections, the construction of toilets, the stand against Triple Talaaq of Muslim women are also factors that went in favour of Modi and the BJP.

It is what is loosely called the traditional Idea of India that has been brutally challenged by the BJP. It is the pluralism of India which has come under attack. This pluralism is being sought to be nullified by the majoritarianism of a single communitythe Hindus. Jawaharlal Nehru is passe. The social reformers of the nineteenth century are passe (recall the vandalisation of Vidyasagars statue in a Kolkata college by the self-appointed champions of Hinduism). Even Swami Vivekananda is passe.

Recall the ringing words of Vivekananda in his famous speech at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893:

I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.

Does this find any resonance with the religious jingoism which the Sangh Parivar is preaching day in and day out in the name of Hindutva? Let us recall the prescient words of Mahatma Gandhi. On January 29, 1948, a day before he fell to the bullets of a Hindu fanatic, he wrote in his Last Will and Testament:

Though split into two, India having attained political independence through means devised by the Indian National Congress, the Congress in its present shape and form, i.e., as a propaganda vehicle and parliamentary machine, has outlived its use. India has still to attain social, moral and economic independence in terms of its seven hundred thousand villages as distinguished from its cities and towns. The struggle for the ascendency of civil over military power is bound to take place in Indias progress towards its democratic goal. It must be kept out of unhealthy competition with political parties and communal bodies. For these and other similar reasons, the A.I.C.C. resolves to disband the existing Congress organisation and flower into a Lok Sevak Sangh under the following rules with power to alter them as occasion may demand.

The Congress has to realise that it has, indeed, in its present shape and form, i.e., as a propaganda vehicle and parliamentary machine outlived its use. The task facing it today is not governing the country but saving the soul of India. It must get rid of the stereotyped way of thinking of fighting elections, winning some seats and losing some, finding itself in and out of power, but primarily concerned with gaining and retaining political power. In the vastly changed political landscape of today, it must cease to be a mere instrument of power but transform itself into an instrument of social change.

This is easier said than done. It needs the courage to break out of the old mould, realise the nature of the challenge it is facing today and devise ways and means of facing this challenge. The Congress has to realise that the massive victory of the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is not due to a sudden surge (wave) of mass support for Modi or the BJP. It is the culmination of a long process that the RSS has been painstakingly engaged in for decades. It has been able to infect the majority of the Hindu population with the virus of communalism and communal hatred.

Turning the tide will not be easy. It will be an equally painstaking struggle by the secular forces and this struggle has to be perseveringly waged without any let up, without expecting immediate results. The Congress is expected to lead this struggle. The Congress has to go to the people and treat them not as potential voters for the party but as votaries in the cause of secularism and democracy. The Congress has to address itself primarily to the younger generation and inculcate in them the values of democracy and secularism with the same zeal that the RSS has been inculcating in its followers the ideal of Hindutva.

How far and how deep the virus of communalism has spread can be gauged from the victory of Pragya Singh Thakur at Bhopal. The case against her for her alleged involvement in an act of terrorism is still there. Then during the poll campaign she openly said that Mahatma Gandhis assassin Nathuram Godse was, is and will ever be a patriot to her. In spite of this shocking statement she could defeat Congress candidate and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh.

The Congress should take the initiative to bring all anti-communal and anti-fascist parties and mass organisations on a common platform. It will be like the Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League (AFPFL) of Burma founded jointly by the Communist Party of Burma, Aung San and U Nu (who later became the UN Secretary-General) in 1945 and which existed till 1958. The AFPFL was a political alliance comprising several very different political parties held together by the leadership of Aung San and, after his death, by U Nu. The formation of such an umbrella organisation is the need of the hour in India today.

The primary task of this body will be to defend democratic freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of the judiciary, the freedom to impart modern, scientific education and the freedom of the individual to be loyal to his religious belief. In the five years of the first Modi Government, school textbooks were altered in States ruled by the BJP. Names of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and their role in the freedom movement were either totally removed or bought down to the minimum. Though pseudo-science was preached by those in government, pseudo-science did not get into textbooks. This time the entire educational system will come under a severe and systematic attack. The history of the freedom movement will be falsified and re-written in line with the Hindutva ideology. Future generations will not know the contri-bution of Jawaharlal Nehru in the field of science and technology, of the role he played in transforming India.

Today there is a string of research institutes spread across the length and breadth of the country. Future generations will not know that these were founded by Nehru with the help of Dr Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar. The prestigious Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was founded by Nehru in 1958. It is this organisation which helped Modi to take the credit for Indias successful shooting down of a satellite on the eve of the elections.

The Indian Institutes of Technology are the pride of India. Does Modi know that it was under the guidance of Nehru that the first IIT was set up as early as 1951 at Kharagpur?

Today, Modi can tell Pakistan that that its threat to use nuclear weapons against India does not daunt us. India, too, has the nukes and these are not for showing during the Diwali festival. But he will never admitperhaps he even does not knowthat it was Jawaharlal Nehru who secretly asked Dr Homi Bhaba to start research for making the bomb when reports reached him that China was already trying to make the bomb.

Nehru passed away in May 1964. China made its first nuclear test in October 1964. For the record, Nehru made the cryptic observation: We must develop this atomic energy quite apart from warindeed I think we must develop it for the purpose of using it for peaceful purposes. Of course, if we are compelled as a nation to use it for other purposes, possibly no pious sentiments of any of us will stop the nation from using it that way. (Bold type mineB.D.G.) Does Modi have a sense of gratitude for Nehru?

The Congress should be proud of the Nehru legacy. It has nothing to be apologetic about. While the Sangh Parivar will try its best to obliterate Nehrus name from the textbooks and from public memory, the Congress will have to aggressively propagate Nehrus ideals and ideology. Nehrus ideology beckons us to the future. The RSS ideology pushes us to the era of darkness and ignorance. Today it is more an ideological than a political struggle in which the Congress should try to draw in as many parties, organisations and individuals as it can. Our future is at stake.

The author was a correspondent of The Hindu in Assam. He also worked in Patriot, Compass (Bengali), Mainstream. A veteran journalist, he comes from a Gandhian family and was intimately associated with the RCPI leader, Pannalal Das Gupta.
Ted Koppel, right, interviews Randy Collins, the president of the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce, for a piece on CBS Sunday Morning. (CBS Sunday Morning)

The veteran newsman and CBS Sunday Morning contributor explains how a seeming puff piece about The Andy Griffith Show turned into an unsettling snapshot of an angry America.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > West Bengal Outcome: The Hard Truth - Its Pointless to Blame (...)

by Samyak Ghosh

Prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi wants you to believe that the biggest story in the general election of 2019 is inclusiveness. While following the election result trends from the Press Club of India in New Delhi, I heard several commentators mourn the surge of the Bharatiya Janata Partys vote-share as a mandate for religious polarisation of the worst kind. And, in the streets of New Delhi, people told me that the big story is Modi.

All of these are true to a certain extent. India seems to have come together in hatred like never before, and if you want to call it inclusive you are free to do that. Religious polarisation and the Modi factor appear to have struck several chords as well. But are we missing something here? Is there a more dramatic story thats hidden in the hoax by the name of election analysis? The answer to both these questions is a resounding yes.

While the nation watched an utterly mismanaged and poorly organised Congress-led United Progressive Alliance cobble its way to paltry gains, the real big story is the dent in the vote-share of the regional parties in eastern India. The shocker seems to have come from West Bengal. After all, the BJP+ has finally managed to not only put up an impressive show, but is breathing down the neck of the ruling Trinamul Congress, which appears to be staggering, at least with respect to seat-share.

The BJPs gains

This is a massive win for the entire BJP and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh. This will introduce a newfound energy among the party cadres across the nation because it adds a crucial emotional angle to the story. Bengal is the birthplace of the Jana Sangh and the BJP has waited for this moment for decades. Amit Shah is already making claims about a BJP sweep in the Assembly elections of 2021, and this narrative will embolden with time. But what, in reality, is the Bengal story? What are the gains? And who is behind scripting this historic moment for the Hindu Right?

Elections were held in 42 parliamentary constituencies (PCs) and eight Assembly constituencies (ACs) in West Bengal. While the TMC won in 22 PCs, the BJP stunned them in 18 others. The Congress, however, has two seats. The scenario is slightly different in the ACs, where the BJP has four, the TMC has three, and the Congress has one seat.

If we were to look at the numbers, it appears that the BJP has won in almost half the seats that went to polls in 2019 and the TMC has won the other half. The pollsters, news channels and the Delhi elite are therefore calling this a bipolar election. Brownie points for new vocabulary! We will now keep hearing this till next Assembly elections, where if the TMC does not improve its political game, it will be on the other side.

But what is this bipolarity? And who is missing from the picture? Ask any child in West Bengal and she/he will tell you its the Left Front which has suddenly disappeared behind the clouds. Their vote-share has been reduced from 34.04 per cent in the 2016 Assembly elections to 7.01 per cent in 2019. And they have secured zero seats.

If you look at the percentage mathematics, you will see the traditional Left hiding comfortably underneath the saffron shroud. The TMC has 43.3 per cent of the vote-share (they had around 45 per cent in 2016) and the BJP has 40.3 per cent (they had around 10 per cent in 2016 and 17 per cent in 2014). The translation to seat-share shows another riftthe BJP has swept northern and southwestern West Bengal, and the TMC has swept southern Bengal and Calcutta and its adjoining areas.

If you are a Bengali from West Bengal, you would know that Mamata Banerjee has not really failed. After all, Mamata has always been stronger in southern Bengal compared to the north. The traditional TMC voters have once again shown their trust in Mamata. She remains a favourite in her turf, while conceding an embarrassing defeat elsewhere.

Its crucial to remember that north Bengal has traditionally sided with the Left Front and the Congress. After all, this is the region where parties like the All India Forward Block (AIFB) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) won glorious victories during the Left regime. When that story ended, the TMC victories in north Bengal were always a result of a neck-and-neck race or what Bengalis call haddahaddi lorai (much more apt than the awkward phrase bipolar fight).

Even in 2016, when the TMC wiped out every opposition across the State, the BJP gains in some of the seats like Alipurduar were impressive. What emerges from the haddahaddi lorai of 2019 is the hide-out (maybe lukochuri is more apt) act of the Left Front. Their traditional voter in northern Bengal has voted for the BJP. The average vote-share of the Left Front in northern Bengal is around 5.71 per cent, while the numbers for the TMC and BJP are 35.29 per cent and 46.11 per cent respectively. While the TMC has managed to somehow stand on its feet in the haddahaddi lorai, it is the Left voters who have mostly fought them along with the BJP.

In fact, some of the significant developments came from the northernmost PCs of Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri, where the BJP has managed to pull together a massive mandate that translates to 50 per cent of the vote-share. These three frontier districts (along with Purulia and Bishnupur) are crucial towards under-standing the mandate for the BJP in West Bengal.

Who voted BJP?

I completely disagree with those who have been quick to blame Mamata for a political strategy that backfired. Again, it would be difficult to agree with anyone (I suspect the West Bengal BJP) who call it the Modi effect. It is foolish and ignorant to miss out the tremendous amount of work that the RSS has done in mobilising the people in all these frontier districts. I saw it in Jaigaon, a frontier town ion the Bhutan-West Bengal border in the Alipurduar constituency, during the Rama Navami celebrations on April 13 (north Bengal went to polls on April 18), and have seen it in my constituency, of Jalpaiguri.

The people I met in the last few months (since I began my fieldwork in March 2019) have continuously told me that they arent with Mamata. Of course, anti-incumbency is a major factor here and we should not forget that the TMC has been ruling the State for close to ten years (since it came to power by snubbing the Left regime in 2011). However, the same people took immense pleasure in repeating the slogan, aagey raam parey baam (first comes Rama and then the Left) which was often accompanied by an old Bengali proverb kaanta diye kaanta tulbo (we will weed out the thorns with thorns).

There were even reports that some powerful leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (at least more than one MLA) had asked the cadres and supporters to vote for the BJP. Of course, these were private meetings, but the message was quickly spread through WhatsApp and other social media networks.

I am not trying to say that the entire BJP mandate is a swing vote. The BJP took its campaign to the middle-class Bengali Hindus (mostly second and third generation Partition refugees) in all the frontier districts with the promise of eliminating the Bangladeshi problem, and quickly succeeded in raking up disturbing memories of violence and hatred that have long flickered underneath the veneer of a Bengali secularism. But in all our analyses of the 2019 West Bengal elections, we should remember that the story about the Left cadres jumping ship while chanting slogans in the name of Ram is the hard truth.

The sheer number of Hanuman temples in all these frontier towns (especially of north Bengal) and their patronage networks suggest a grim story where the Left cadre appears to be filling in the ranks of a Right-wing machinery. Try as you may to lay the blame on Mamata and her brand of stupid secularism, the truth is she seems to have retained some of her followers.

This was an extremely difficult fight for her. She was not just fighting anti-incumbency but infighting, loss of cadre base and charges of poll-time violence in a tremendously long election spread out across seven phases. And she seems to have scored some decent wins. How else would you explain the stunning victory of all the Bengali film stars who were nothing but a sheer embarrassment to the reeling TMC? Look at the margins and you will see why it is too early to say that it is not Mamata but Modi who matters in Bengal.

Even in PCs like Bongaon, where the TMC has been snubbed, it is largely because of the consolidation of the Matua votes for the BJP under the guidance of the Thakur family that recently underwent a major split. The Matua TMC voter, both a Dalit (belonging to the Namasudra caste) and a Partition refugee, chose the BJP in significant numbers. And while the Leftist elites and politicians still dont recognise a caste consolidation in West Bengals electoral politics, the BJP appears to have pitted the Namasudras and Sadgops (who can be said to be the equivalent of the Ahir community in north India) against the Muslims. They are paying back the TMC in the same coin of identity politics, only with the difference of sharper polarisation.

Significantly enough, if Amit Shahs wishes of a BJP Government were to come true, it would likely be led by Dilip Ghosh, the RSS-pracharak-turned-BJP-party-President, who reportedly belongs to the Sadgop caste. So while we are debating elections and strategies to resist Right-wing nationalism, may we also remember that at least in West Bengal, Modi was lurking in the margins while the RSS, the Left Front and the Bengali Hindu Partition refugees came together as a combination that worked for the BJP? Before speaking of a peoples movement led by the civil society who are apparently still secular, can we please recognise the people as the core constituent of the RSS-led movement all across the country?

Maybe we need to move beyond echo chambers and rethink our notion of the people. Clearly the old Leftist idea of the people versus the state wont work here, because the people are the statenamely, Hindu India. Maybe this is the big story, among several others that we will hear for the next five years.

(Courtesy: The Wire)

Samyak Ghosh studies history and literature at Columbia University in New York.
Near the end, the four dancers  Miami City Ballets Renan Cerdeiro and Lauren Fadeley, and Dance Theatre of Harlems Anthony Santos and Stephanie Rae Williams  surround Jiang, the pianist, who rises, still churning out chords, and soon all five of them slowly roll the piano to the far wing. One of the men fetches Jiang a new piano bench. The music is light, melodic, and the dancers skim the stage, seeming to fly. They return to the piano like birds to a nest, as Jiang sounds the final notes, gazing at them as if shes just awakened from a dream. Its a subtle glance, but perfectly rendered, and it ends the work with a sense of intimates brought closer together after a shared, transformative experience.


I was hired to restore wolves to Yellowstone in 1994, after they had been eradicated early in the 20th century. I am still at it, although they have recovered, and I mostly study them now. Doing this, I have caught so many wolves that I cannot remember if I sat alone with wolf 911. For the purposes of this story I will say I did. I also cant remember what those eyes said to me, but I do remember what happened afterward. This is his story, probably not unlike that of many wolves.
When doctors suspect chronic appendicitis, they face a difficult decision: Should they wait and see whether the pain clears up on its own  or should they go forward with an appendectomy, even though the situation is not yet life-threatening? Specialists say their judgment depends on the specifics of a given case. Sometimes, doctors may prescribe antibiotics to avoid having to perform surgery, which always carries risk. But follow-up exams are crucial in any case.
We can become very ill from your beautiful fragrances. We know you love them, and they may smell wonderful, but they make us sick! Please use unscented everything when you will be in close quarters. Thanks!
He used homespun words like nooks and crannies and cahoots  as in, it was bogus, this whole idea that the Trump campaign was in cahoots with the Russians. He invoked his 30-year relationship with Mueller, and then his own mortality: Everyone dies. He repeated his earlier assessment that a letter sent by Muellers staff, which expressed misgivings over Barrs initial communications to Congress, was a little snitty.


Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Narendra Modis Landslide: Bad for Indias Soul - Text of The Guardians (...)

The world does not need another national populist leader who pursues a pro-business agenda while trading in fake news and treating minorities as second-class citizens.

The biggest election in history has just been won by one man: Narendra Modi. Mr Modi has become the first Indian Prime Minister since 1971 to secure a single-party majority twice in a row. In 2014 the Bharatiya Janata Party won an absolute majority in the Lower House of Parliament for the first time in its history after the Congress partys appeal vanished in a haze of corruption. Despite a spluttering economy five years later, Mr Modi seems certain to have expanded his parliamentary majority. This is bad news for India and the world.

The BJP is the political wing of Hindu nationalism, a movement that is changing India for the worse. Little wonder, as it stands for the flagrant social dominance of the upper castes of Hindu society, pro-corporate economic growth, cultural conservatism, intensified misogyny, and a firm grip on the instruments of state power. The landslide win for Mr Modi will see Indias soul lost to a dark politicsone that views almost all 195 million Indian Muslims as second-class citizens.

On the campaign trail Muslims were denigrated as termites by Mr Modis right-hand man. Off it, they were lynched with apparent impunity. Despite their number, Muslims are political orphans, shunned by a political class fearful of losing support from the majority Hindu population. Before the election Muslims held just 24 seats in parliament, about four per cent of the total, and the fewest the community has held since 1952. This is likely to shrink further.

A divisive figure, Mr Modi is undoubtedly a charismatic campaigner. Rather than transcend the faultlines of Indian societyreligion, caste, region and languageMr Modis style is to throw them into sharp relief. He is a populist who speaks in the name of the people against the elite despite being a seasoned public figure. Mr Modi deployed with terrible effect false claims and partisan facts.

Perhaps we ought not to be surprised. Polling in 2017 revealed that support for autocratic rule by a strong leader was higher in India (55 per cent) than in any other country, including Vladimir Putins Russia. The world does not need another national populist. Mr Modi has threatened independent Indias most precious facet: a functioning multi-party democracy. As the authors of a new book on Mr Modis politicsMajoritarian Stateput it, the BJP has made it clear that no other party should compete with it ... reflect[ing] its views of competitors not as adversaries, but as enemies. Mr Modi recklessly chose to raise the stakes with neighbouring Pakistan over Kashmir earlier this year. He took both countries close to war and pressed conflict into his service by ridiculously accusing the Opposition of collusion with fundamentalist Islam.

The Congress party and the Nehru-Gandhi clan that leads it will have to seriously rethink how they can defeat Mr Modi. The BJP has been allowed to be funded anonymously to the tune of 10.3 bn rupees ( 120 m) by big business after Mr Modi legitimised opacity in political donations. The party pays lip-service to reducing the yawning inequalities that disfigure India, but political cleavages in Indias party system have grown along the lines of caste and religious conflict. This suits the BJP, with its pro-business and anti-Muslim nationalism. The Opposition will need to be able to run a distinctive campaign on an egalitarian platform. To be fair, the Congress did peddle, but without much vim, a form of universal basic income. Fights over symbolic aspects of identity need to be replaced by political compe-tition over how to benefit all Indians. That will require an Opposition in India far savvier and more in touch with the countrys poor than exists today.
Its not per se a family business, but it is a family atmosphere, Harvey said. Ive told companies reviewing hires that they dont have to do a review on me. My dad wouldve kicked my butt if I didnt do what was expected of me. And I could keep an eye on my son and my little brother. . . . We take a lot of pride in what we do here.
Susan Blake said that the $547 her father and uncle borrowed from their parents was the only loan that they took out until the 1960s. Their caution, she said, was born of the Depression. But as the company expanded, the brothers weathered disagreements about how to manage its growth.
Anthony Harris, a District resident, was found about 2:19 a.m. with multiple gunshot wounds in the 5300 block of E Street SE, officials said. He died on the scene after paramedics tried to revive him.
The family of DeWayne Craddock wishes to send our heart felt condolences to the victims. We are grieving the loss of our loved one. At this time we wish to focus on the victims and the lives loss during yesterdays tragic event. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who loss their lives, and those recovering in the hospital.
Cynthia Ann Day, 49, and Nathaniel Edward Holmes, 63, who were both of Prince Georges County and who were engaged to be married, had been vacationing in the Playa Nueva Romana section of the Dominican Republic with plans to leave the Bahia Principe hotel Thursday, according to local news reports.
The scooter caught fire near 14th and I streets NW in front of a Compass Coffee shop. Employees there said a woman came in to tell them that the scooter was on fire, but they did not see how it started. The cause of the fire is not clear, though fire and company officials said it appears to have started around the battery pack while the scooter was parked.
I had not been by for a long time, but when I walked by there last month the historic plaque had been removed. The website of the U.S. Trade Representative, whose offices are now there, says the story about Lincoln and Confederate prisoners is not factual. Nevertheless, the U.S. Quartermaster General and Army Ordnance departments were there during the Civil War, and Lincoln did visit. Surely all of that deserves a plaque.
The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration began issuing Real ID licenses and identification cards in 2016, under a process approved by the federal government, MVA officials said. However, a year later, the Department of Homeland Security notified the state that all drivers who had the new Real ID card would also need to have copies of the documents that prove their identity and U.S. residency on file with the MVA.
Even so, she said, A lot of times, the governors people want to come in and tell us how its going to be and what hes going to do for us rather than sitting down with us and hammering out something we can agree on. . . . Im hoping the Board of Public Works tells them to go back to the drawing board and work as a group to figure this out.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Modi Government Takes Charge

EDITORIAL

Less than seven days after the results of the 17th Lok Sabha elections came out handing PM Narendra Modi a handsome victory at the hustings and enabling him to embark on a second term as the head of the Union Government, he and his Cabinet as well as Council of Ministers have been sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at the forecourt of the imposing Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. The new entrant in the Cabinet is, of course, BJP President Amit Shah who is all set to get a plum portfolio. Also the conspicuous presence of S. Jaishankar, who functioned as Indias Foreign Secretary for a large part of Modis first term as the PM, in the Council of Ministers has led to considerable speculation of him handling the External Affairs Ministry.

It is noteworthy that several Ministers who have been sworn-in are not only ardent votaries of Hindutva but have outspokenly supported the anti-Muslim mobs killing minorities and tarnishing the governments image in Modis first five-year tenure.

It is against this backdrop that one has to take due note of what one of the few eminent persons still in our midst in the country, Nobel laureate Prof Amartya Sen, has written in a leading newspaper. Observing yesterday that the BJP leadership had grounds to be happy with the election results, he avers:

Narendra Modi, have reasons to be disappointed by global reactions to the BJP victory. There has been widespread criticism in the news media across the world (from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the Observer,Le Monde,Die Zeit and Haaretz to the BBC and CNN) of the ways and means of securing BJPs victory, including instigation of hatred and intolerance of groups of Indian citizens, particularly Muslims, who have every right to be treated with respect (as under the Gandhi-Tagore understanding).

Winning cannot be the only concern in fighting an election. It makes a big difference how the winners are viewed in the post-election world. A well-wisher of the BJP would have had reasons to desire more than just a win for her favourite party.

He also refers to the number of intellectuals who have been murdered for expressing views that the Hindutva movement finds objectionable and concludes:

The credit that the ruling party can get for winning the elections is seriously compromised by such repression. The victorious side has to consider what kind of regime it wants to run  and how it is viewed across the world. It is not hard to appreciate that democracy demands more than the counting of votes.

The Modi Government, as is well known, has been adopting a hard line in relation to Pakistan. Following the Modi-led BJPs landslide victory a leading Pakistani intellectual, well-known journalist and human rights activist, I.A. Rehman, who headed the Pakistan Human Rights Commission for long years, has written a strong article in Dawn highlighting Modis arrogance and belief in his own infallibility both in 2014 and 2019 and hoping that the Indian intelligentsia and saner elements in civil society, traditionally seen as a bulwark against the politics of hateful communalism, will have the courage and capacity to frustrate Modis plans to push India back to the mediaeval period.

Modis spectacular victory has obviously generated considerable fear and suspicion in the foreign media, including those in our neighbouring countries. He and his associates in the BJP and government cannot ignore these views. If they do so it will only spell more trouble for them in the long run.

May 30 S.C.
So far, it has not translated into success in the legislature. Both parties are expected to use gun control as an issue to mobilize their bases in the November elections, when all seats in the General Assembly will be up for grabs.
There are other things employees can do to minimize the threat of violence in their offices, Doherty said. For instance, if a worker has sought a protective order against someone, such as a former romantic partner, the employee should tell the company so that it can alter its security protocols. That can include moving a persons parking spot closer to the door or alerting security about the order and the person on the other end of it.
Had the license from the states Department of Health and Senior Services expired, Missouri would have been the first state since 1974 to be without a licensed abortion clinic, leaving women who seek the procedure to travel hundreds of miles and across state lines.
Danube cruise ship captain formally arrested: A Hungarian judge ordered the formal arrest of a captain whose Viking River Cruises ship collided with a sightseeing boat Wednesday on the Danube River, sinking the tourist boat and leaving seven South Koreans dead and 21 other people missing. The judge ordered the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn cruise ship to be detained for 30 days. He said the captain could be released on bail  if he wears a tracking device and remains in Budapest  but prosecutors are appealing that decision.
ONE OF the most brutal but least-known battles against Islamic State-affiliated militants has been underway for eight years in the Sinai Peninsula. In that desert landscape, Egyptian military and police forces have consistently failed to eliminate an insurgency rooted in deprivation and other local grievances. Their tacits, which have included mass roundups, the bombing and shelling of civilian areas, and the eviction of tens of thousands of people from their homes, have killed thousands, and thousands more have been arrested and tortured. The war has gone international: Israel is believed to have carried out scores of its own airstrikes on Egyptian territory.
Mr. Hofeller had concluded in 2015 that switching the way states distribute political representation  basing it on where eligible voters are, rather than on total population, whether voting-eligible or not  would benefit Republicans. Many Hispanics and their children would be excluded from consideration as legislative lines were drawn. Democratic districts would have to expand in order to encompass the same number of people. The result would be districts that skewed less Democratic. But Mr. Hofeller concluded that Republicans would need better data on the voting-age population  from, say, the census  in order to make the switch.
The scale and destructiveness of Trumps intentions in his trade war with China were hinted at during an interview with former Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon published on May 22 by the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Driving Huawei, which has pioneered 5G cellphone technology, out of the United States and Europe is, according to Bannon, 10 times more important than reaching a trade deal with China. Calling for a return to Cold War institutions such as the Committee on the Present Danger to fight China, Bannon  who said he talks to White House officials every day  said he has vowed to devote himself now to shutting Chinese companies out of U.S. capital markets. And Trumps threats to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico hit at immigrants and target the supply chains that U.S. manufacturers have created to take advantage of cheap labor south of the border.
That they were murdered in cold blood at their workplace on Friday afternoon is another sign that our society is not functioning properly in the face of an awful scourge. Mass shootings at schools, newspapers, concerts, nightclubs and factories have become a threat to public health and safety in the United States, an epidemic of violence resulting in hundreds of deaths every year. Would the nations politicians be mute and paralyzed if, say, 199 people were killed by food poisoning, a defective toy, or an automobile part malfunction? That is the number who have died in mass shootings so far this year (along with 643 nonfatal gunshot wounds), according to one group that keeps track. Sadly, sensible gun control generates headlines for a few days after each massacre, but then nothing happens.
At a forum near the convention, sponsored by the liberal group MoveOn, presidential candidate and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said that the country was facing a crisis and that the president would keep flouting the law unless he were stopped. The tug-of-war over potential impeachment is perhaps best exemplified by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who was scheduled to speak Sunday. While he represents the most liberal facets of the party on policy, the presidential candidate has long warned that pursuing impeachment could overshadow the issues Democrats are hoping to underscore as the 2020 election approaches.
New Delhi : In the first meeting of cabinet ministers after swearing in ceremony, the Modi government approved a proposal to extend the benefit of Rs 6,000 per year under the PM-KISAN scheme to all farmers in the country.

This is an amendment to the earlier scheme and this scheme will cover 14.5 crore farmers, said the newly appointed Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.



Modi government will present its new budget on July 5, while the new speaker will be chosen on June 19. The government has made a provision of Rs 10,774 crore for his scheme for three years.
We will have Mr. Muellers testimony, said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) in an interview with WNYC radio Friday. I think its very important that he testify before the American people even if he doesnt say anything beyond what was said there, because the attorney general and the president and others are lying all the time about what was in the report. And its very important that he, to a television audience and to the American people, state it, that he answer questions about it  even if there is no new information.
Still, the chorus of objections that enveloped the White House did little to discourage Trump, who was infuriated after more than 1,000 migrants from Central America surrendered early Wednesday to U.S. officials near El Paso. That development  on the same day that former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III delivered an in-person statement on the conclusions of his Russia investigation  marked the largest group of migrants taken into custody by U.S. border authorities in a single event.
I know that Trump considers the 2020 campaign as a triumphant march to the inevitable [reelection], but thats not the way the rest of the world is looking at it, said Christopher R. Hill, who served as a U.S. ambassador under the four presidents who preceded Trump. Youre already seeing the Chinese holding back and saying, Well see what will happen over the next 18 months to see if hes still around and then maybe well do something. To some extent, Trump does not have the self-awareness to understand that people are looking at the window closing on him.
Democrats contend their best strategy is an outside-in approach, in which they apply political pressure back home against Collins, Gardner and a few more GOP candidates in the 22 Senate seats Republicans will defend in November 2020. They want to organize liberal interest groups to work those states, so the Republicans then plead with McConnell to let them vote on Democratic proposals.
While Catholicism has declined in numbers in some former bastions in the West, such as Ireland, it is growing more rapidly in Africa than anywhere else. Africans make up nearly a fifth of the worlds Catholics. Njogus sermons hark back to Catholicisms pre-celibacy era while appealing to the faiths future in Africa, where he says it will have to reconcile with local customs as it grows.
High school students, if they are told anything at all on the subject, learn only that there was an incident between the spring and summer of 1989. And few Chinese under age 30 recognize the Tank Man photo, the quintessential image of the protests in which a man carrying two shopping bags, as if hed been out shopping for vegetables, stood in the street and stopped a column of tanks.
Ever since I was a child, Ive been told by my parents to be careful when speaking in public. Once when we were walking down the street, when I was 14 or 15, I told my father I was going to burn Maos portrait. We had been learning about Mao and the Cultural Revolution at school. My father punched me and hit me with a stick. He wanted to make me learn that I couldnt say things like this outside the house.
At the event, acting US Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan reaffirmed Washingtons free and open Indo-Pacific policy, adding that the US supports cooperation mechanisms in which ASEAN leads and plays a central role.

Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich (L) and RoK counterpart Jeong Kyeong-doo (Source: baomoi)

The US is ready to partner with ASEAN to build a region of peace, stability and development, he said, stressing that Washington attaches importance to the freedom of navigation, aviation and trade.

The Vietnamese defence minister hosted a reception for his Republic of Korea (RoK) counterpart Jeong Kyeong-doo, during which Lich said Vietnam is willing to contribute to peace process on the Korean peninsula.

Jeong said the RoK supports Vietnams stance on the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The two ministers agreed to continue promoting bilateral ties on the basis of the Joint Vision Statement on Vietnam  RoK Defence Cooperation through 2030, including defence industry and exchange of high-ranking delegations.

At a separate meeting, Minister Lich and his Australian counterpart Linda Reynolds expressed their satisfaction with the effective and substantial development of bilateral defence ties over the past years, notably the signing of the joint vision statement.

They also vowed to reinforce ties across education-training and UN peacekeeping mission./.
The Stocks Bull Market is Over Now Comes the Bloodbath

The markets are a sea of red this morning

Ive been warning for weeks that a collapse was coming and now it is here.

The markets have finally woken up to the fact that the US and China will NOT be reaching a trade deal and that the global economy is contracting.

Stocks have taken out critical support (red line). The next stop will be in the lower 2,700s (blue line).

Yes, we will get bounces here and there, but the bull market is officially OVER.

Stocks have been warning about this for months, but everyone was too short-sighted focusing on the last 12 months performance to see the BIG PICTURE.

Here it is

A Crash is coming

On that note, we are already preparing our clients for this with a 21-page investment report titled the Stock Market Crash Survival Guide.

In it, we outline the coming collapse will unfoldwhich investments will perform best and how to take out crash insurance trades that will pay out huge returns during a market collapse.

As I write this, there are only 11 copies left.

To pick up one of the last remaining copies

https://www.phoenixcapitalmarketing.com/stockmarketcrash.html

Graham Summers

Phoenix Capital Research

http://www.phoenixcapitalmarketing.com

Graham also writes Private Wealth Advisory, a monthly investment advisory focusing on the most lucrative investment opportunities the financial markets have to offer. Graham understands the big picture from both a macro-economic and capital in/outflow perspective. He translates his understanding into finding trends and unde74rvalued investment opportunities months before the markets catch on: the Private Wealth Advisory portfolio has outperformed the S&P 500 three of the last five years, including a 7% return in 2008 vs. a 37% loss for the S&P 500.

Previously, Graham worked as a Senior Financial Analyst covering global markets for several investment firms in the Mid-Atlantic region. Hes lived and performed research in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States.

 2019 Copyright Graham Summers - 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.

Graham Summers Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




A graduate of Yale Law School and former Supreme Court clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia, Flood spent much of his career at the Williams & Connolly law firm. In addition to working for Clinton, he represented former vice president Richard B. Cheney in a lawsuit filed by former CIA officer Valerie Plame, whose identity was provided to the media by a Cheney aide. He also served as special counsel to President George W. Bush during the investigation of the firing of seven U.S. attorneys in that administration.
Later, the president seemed to question reporting about the story, tweeting: The Navy put out a disclaimer on the McCain story. Looks like the story was an exaggeration, or even Fake News - but why not, everything else is! That seemed to be a reference to the Navy chief of information tweeting, The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day. The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage.
How to Properly Utilize Makeup Business Cards

While the modern world acts as if online ads and social media are the only way to reach clients, the reality is that tried and true classic methods like handing out business cards and flyers still work. This is especially true in one-on-one marketing. This is why makeup business cards are essential to those in the fashion and beauty industry, whether you sell these items or provide services in this area. The question then is how to properly utilize your business cards to grow your business.





Hand Them Out to Everyone Interested



While you may have a beautiful website, lovely Instagram page and T-shirts with your brand emblazoned across it, the reality is that most people won't remember the URL or name of your business an hour later. Give out your business card to every potential prospect. When you're doing the bride's makeup, give copies of your business card to all of the attendants and bride's family members who are even remotely interested. When you talk to someone about work, exchange business cards. This increase the odds they see the business card and remember your information, and it leaves open the possibility that they hand it off to someone who is interested. If the business card is thrown into the trash, it probably cost you less than fancy

mailers or flyers. Don't forget to include your business cards in cards you send to clients such as thank you notes for their business.



Include Them in Your Orders



One way to build customer loyalty and brand awareness is to have an "impression", an instance where they see your logo and brand name. If you've made the sale, congratulations. Now work on strengthening your relationship with the customer. You can invest in branded bags and boxes to ship or wrap your product when it is sold, but you can increase their level of investment in your brand by including your business card. They may keep the business card though they threw the packaging out. They may pass on the business card to others though they tossed your custom packaging. And the act of handling the business card gives them

another moment to see your contact information. This will increase the odds they remember your information and think of you the next time they want to order something similar.



Post Them on Billboards



You can print flyers and post them across your neighborhood. You can mail them out to every prospect in the surrounding area. However, there are other, cheap options at your disposal. Pin your beauty industry business card on public billboards, whether it is in a beauty salon, the local laundry mat or at the local university. Use your business card to increase the exposure of your business, as well. For example, post the flyer for your business on one part of the billboard and put your business card somewhere else. Then, if the flyer is torn down, the business card likely still remains. You could attach your business card to the flyer so that someone

could take that with them without having to tear down your flyer.



Add Them to Gift Baskets



If you create gift baskets full of beauty products, include copies of your business card. This allows the gift recipient to know which professional made the product. It also gives them the opportunity to place an order with you whether they want to order more of a particular lipstick or want to give a similar gift basket to someone else.



Use Them as Coupons



One tactic for converting business cards into marketing leads is to hand out copies of your business card, telling customers that if someone shows up with the business card and buys something by a certain date, the buyer will get a discount. This turns your business cards into coupons. It incentivizes the person to hand out your business cards. It reduces the odds they throw your business card out. It saves you the expense of printing out coupons that may never be used. And you'll generate good will with customers because they'll feel like they're getting a reward.



If there is an issue with the business cards getting copied, then it is easy to make minor changes to the design and reprint the lot. You and your staff will then know which business cards to reject as de facto coupons.

By Samantha Waites

This is a paid advertorial.

 2019 Copyright Samantha Waites - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Retirement savings giant AustralianSuper says there is no sign of a slowdown in the flood of cash flowing in via new members who were previously with a super fund owned by a big bank or AMP.

Thanks in part to the royal commission's damage to for-profit retail funds, the $155 billion AustralianSuper is forecasting $16 billion in cash inflows for the financial year about to end, a sharp increase on last year.

AustralianSuper chief executive Ian Silk said he had expected the royal commission's impact on fund flows would be a "blip," but it was still having a big effect. Credit:AFR

Chief executive Ian Silk on Friday said the trend was showing no signs of dropping off, as he also explained the fund would be putting more of its assets overseas over the longer-term.

Its not waning  frankly were staggered that its continuing. We thought thered be a short-term blip during the currency of the royal commission when the publicity was at its keenest," he said.
However, PS revealed that three new accusers - spurred on by Bowen and Moore's claims - had come forward in recent weeks to file complaints alleging they were treated poorly far more recently by Hadley, and well after he claimed to have changed his behaviour. Adam Lang, the chief executive officer of 2GB parent company Macquarie Media, which is majority-owned by Nine, the owner of this masthead, has previously declined to comment on Hadley, saying confidentiality policies around such matters meant he was unable to confirm or deny if any complaints had been made. However, PS was told this week that Hadley has made overtures to at least one of the complainants since PS made the revelations and that the matter would not go any further. Alan Jones is staying put at 2GB, signing an $8 million two-year contract. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen This week's announcement that stablemate Alan Jones had re-signed on a two-year, $8 million contract to remain at the helm of his breakfast show may also have an impact on one of the other complaints against Hadley.

One of the sticking points in Jones' protracted negotiations was that he keep all his team, which PS understands is around six full-time research and production staff. Among them is the individual who lodged one of the complaints against Hadley. And while PS has previously reported about the thawing of relations between Hadley and Jones, 2GB insiders say that the situation remains fraught given Jones' presence has thwarted Hadley's plans to take over the key breakfast slot. Hadley announced he had signed a new five-year contract with Macquarie last Christmas, and that Hadley would receive a "breakfast bonus" to take over Jones' slot, meaning his salary would jump from around $2.5 million a year to more than $3 million. Hadley has made overtures to at least one of the complainants since PS made the revelations. Jones appeared on Sky News on Tuesday night to talk about his decision to stay put at 2GB with fellow announcer Ben Fordham. On Wednesday, he appeared on fellow 2GB personality Chris Smith's afternoon radio show to talk about it further.

While Hadley offered a few warm words on his show about Jones this week, the pair are yet to actually breathe the same studio air at the same time. PS looks forward to hearing that reunion. Hats off to the Rich Listers Getting billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff's exact head measurements was no easy feat for The Australian Financial Review Magazine editor Matthew Drummond and his team as they compiled this year's Rich List. Harry Triguboff could just be the ultimate Rich Uncle Pennybags. Credit:Louise Kennerley The king of Meritonia, Triguboff, (ranked No.3 with $13.54 billion) along with fellow gazillionaires Anthony Pratt (No.1 at $15.57 billion), Jack Cowin ($2.79 billion), Lang Walker ($4.67 billion) and Justin Hemmes (88th on $1.06 billion) are among those moneybags who agreed to pose in a series of entertaining portraits for the special issue.

"We needed Harry's hat size because when we thought about what has been happening in the property market, the slide in prices, who's buying, who's selling, we kept coming back to the idea of Monopoly ... Harry was the ultimate Rich Uncle Pennybags, he just needed a top-hat." In an ode to his Dutch heritage, Hemmes features in a still life worthy of a Master, the bar tzar even borrowing a lobster from the kitchen at his hot-spot Ivy for the shoot. Billionaire bar baron Justin Hemmes as he appears in this years AFR Magazine Rich List. Credit:Louie Douvis Anthony Pratt's private jet had to be moved to just the right spot to ensure it was in the best light for his shot on the tarmac while Jack Cowin agreed to gobble down one of his Hungry Jack's Whoppers (he's actually a regular at the Oxford Street outlet) while Lang Walker went all Island of Dr Moreau in his Panama hat in the waters off his luxury private island Kokomo in Fiji. Anthony Pratt has raced ahead of the Rich List pack in 2019. Credit:Alina Gozin'a

Drummond says next year his dream portrait is to convince a so far reluctant Gina Rinehart to pose. "She's Australia's iron maiden of business," he told PS. The mind boggles. The G hits the spot on Instagram There's no excuse to sit around idly waiting for Sydney's property downturn to pass, as evidenced by tireless agent Gavin Rubinstein's inexhaustible Instagram feed which rivals that of Taylor Swift or Kim Kardashian when it comes to shameless self-indulgence.

Pint-sized Rubinstein, or "The G" as he likes his mates to call him, also appears to have inspired a rather amusing parody account by a fictional agent going by the name of Dick Slider, who echoes many of the feel-good, positive vibe mantras Rubinstein likes to post. Birthday boy Gavin Rubinstein shares his Versace robe with guests. Credit:Instagram PS's favourite is: "Where focus goes energy flows", accompanying a shot of "The G" being chauffeured about in a Rolls Royce. Subtle, no? And then there are the party shots from his pyjamas-themed birthday bash last year, with "The G" spending the evening in his flowing Versace robe surrounded by admiring ladies. And while rival agents have been sneering about how "The G" keeps his designer sneakers perfectly white, rumours one of his minions - though Rubinstein denied to PS it was his "bodyguard" - carries him from the car to his house opens appear to be off the mark.

Mia Freedman, co-founder and creative director of Mamamia. Credit:Cybele Malinowski However PS did hear about the "7-foot lump of muscle" who had to restrain one of Rubinstein's admirers from approaching him at The Woollahra Hotel not so long ago. Child labour at Mamamia Media mogulette Mia Freedman's digital empire is very much a family affair. This week, an announcement came out about the promotion of Jessie Stephens as Associate Editor at Mamamia.

She had previously been weekend editor at the publication and, even more interestingly, is currently dating Freedman's eldest child, son Luca, who has had something of a meteoric rise in the ranks and is now running Freedman's burgeoning "influencer" talent agency. Jesse Stephens and Luca Lavigne. Credit:Instagram Stephens' identical twin sister - Clare - is also working for Freedman as Mamamia's editor while Freedman's husband Jason Lavigne is the media group's chief executive officer. Rounding out the cosy office of 80 is word that Freedman's bestie Lisa Wilkinson's daughter Billie is working as an editorial assistant. No word on when Freedman's other two children, both still school-aged, will be joining the business, but surely it won't be long?
Silver SIL Mining Stocks Fundamentals

The silver miners stocks have been pummeled in recent months, plunging near major secular lows in late May. Sentiment in this tiny sector is miserable, reflecting silver prices continuing to languish relative to gold. This has forced traditional silver miners to increasingly diversify into gold, which has far-superior economics. The major silver miners ongoing shift from silver is apparent in their recently-released Q119 results.

Four times a year publicly-traded companies release treasure troves of valuable information in the form of quarterly reports. Required by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, these 10-Qs and 10-Ks contain the best fundamental data available to traders. They dispel all the sentiment distortions inevitably surrounding prevailing stock-price levels, revealing corporations underlying hard fundamental realities.

The definitive list of major silver-mining stocks to analyze comes from the worlds most-popular silver-stock investment vehicle, the SIL Global X Silver Miners ETF. Launched way back in April 2010, it has maintained a big first-mover advantage. SILs net assets were running $294m in mid-May near the end of Q1s earnings season, 5.6x greater than its next-biggest competitors. SIL is the leading silver-stock benchmark.

In mid-May SIL included 24 component stocks, which are weighted somewhat proportionally to their market capitalizations. This list includes the worlds largest silver miners, including the biggest primary ones. Every quarter I dive into the latest operating and financial results from SILs top 17 companies. Thats simply an arbitrary number that fits neatly into the table below, but still a commanding sample.

As of mid-May these major silver miners accounted for fully 94.4% of SILs total weighting. In Q119 they collectively mined 70.9m ounces of silver. The latest comprehensive data available for global silver supply and demand came from the Silver Institute in April 2019. That covered 2018, when world silver mine production totaled 855.7m ounces. That equates to a run rate around 213.9m ounces per quarter.

Assuming that mining pace persisted in Q119, SILs top 17 silver miners were responsible for about 33% of world production. Thats relatively high considering just 26% of 2018s global silver output was produced at primary silver mines! 38% came from lead/zinc mines, 23% from copper, and 12% from gold. Nearly 3/4ths of all silver produced worldwide is just a byproduct. Primary silver mines and miners are fairly rare.

Scarce silver-heavy deposits are required to support primary silver mines, where over half their revenue comes from silver. They are increasingly difficult to discover and ever-more expensive to develop. And silvers challenging economics of recent years argue against miners even pursuing it. So even traditional major silver miners have shifted their investment focus into actively diversifying into far-more-profitable gold.

Silver price levels are best measured relative to prevailing gold prices, which overwhelmingly drive silver price action. In late May the Silver/Gold Ratio continued collapsing to its worst levels witnessed in 26.1 years, since April 1993! These secular extremes of the worst silver price levels in over a quarter century are multiplying the endless misery racking this once-proud sector. This silver environment is utterly wretched.

The largest silver miners dominating SILs ranks are scattered around the world. 10 of the top 17 mainly trade in US stock markets, 3 in the United Kingdom, and 1 each in South Korea, Mexico, Peru, and Canada. SILs geopolitical diversity is good for investors, but makes it difficult to analyze and compare the biggest silver miners results. Financial-reporting requirements vary considerably from country to country.

In the UK companies report in half-year increments instead of quarterly. Some silver miners still publish quarterly updates, but their data is limited. In cases where half-year data is all that was made available, I split it in half for a Q1 approximation. Canada has quarterly reporting, but the deadlines are looser than in the States. Some Canadian miners really drag their feet, publishing their quarterlies close to legal limits.

The big silver companies in South Korea, Mexico, and Peru present other problems. Their reporting is naturally done in their own languages, which I cant decipher. Some release limited information in English, but even those translations can be difficult to interpret due to differing accounting standards and focuses. Its definitely challenging bringing all the quarterly data together for the diverse SIL-top-17 silver miners.

But analyzing them in the aggregate is essential to understand how they are faring. So each quarter I wade through all available operational and financial reports and dump the data into a big spreadsheet for analysis. Some highlights make it into this table. Blank fields mean a company hadnt reported that data by mid-May, as Q1s earnings season wound down. Some of SILs components report in gold-centric terms.

The first couple columns of this table show each SIL components symbol and weighting within this ETF as of mid-May. While most of these stocks trade on US exchanges, some symbols are listings from companies primary foreign stock exchanges. Thats followed by each miners Q119 silver production in ounces, along with its absolute year-over-year change. Next comes this same quarters gold production.

Nearly all the major silver miners in SIL also produce significant-to-large amounts of gold! Thats truly a double-edged sword. While gold really stabilizes and boosts silver miners cash flows, it also retards their stocks sensitivity to silver itself. So the next column reveals how pure these elite silver miners are, approximating their percentages of Q119 revenues actually derived from silver. This is calculated one of two ways.

The large majority of these top SIL silver miners reported total Q1 revenues. Quarterly silver production multiplied by silvers average price in Q1 can be divided by these sales to yield an accurate relative-purity gauge. When Q1 sales werent reported, I estimated them by adding silver sales to gold sales based on their production and average quarterly prices. But thats less optimal, as it ignores any base-metals byproducts.

Next comes the major silver miners most-important fundamental data for investors, cash costs and all-in sustaining costs per ounce mined. The latter directly drives profitability which ultimately determines stock prices. These key costs are also followed by YoY changes. Last but not least the annual changes are shown in operating cash flows generated and hard GAAP earnings, with a couple exceptions necessary.

Percentage changes arent relevant or meaningful if data shifted from positive to negative or vice versa, or if derived from two negative numbers. So in those cases I included raw underlying data rather than weird or misleading percentage changes. Companies with symbols highlighted in light-blue have newly climbed into the elite ranks of SILs top 17 over this past year. This entire dataset together is quite valuable.

It offers a fantastic high-level read on how the major silver miners are faring fundamentally as an industry and individually. The crazy-low silver prices really weighed on operating cash flows and earnings in Q1, and the silver miners years-old shift into gold continued. These companies are having no problem just surviving this silver-sentiment wasteland, but they probably wont be thriving again before silver recovers.

SILs poor performance certainly reflects the challenges of profitably mining silver with its price so darned cheap. Year-to-date in late May, SIL had already lost 12.2%. Silver itself was down 7.2% YTD at worst, starting to threaten mid-November 2018s 2.8-year secular low of $13.99. And that just extended last years losing trend, where SIL plunged 23.3% amplifying silvers own 8.6% loss by 2.7x. This sector looks ugly.

Silvers weakest prices relative to gold in over a quarter century have continued to devastate silver-mining sentiment. Investors understandably want nothing to do with the forsaken silver miners, so their stock prices languish near major lows. Even their own managements seem really bearish, increasingly betting their companies futures on gold rather than silver. Silvers Q1 price action further supports this decision.

During Q119 silver ground another 2.3% lower despite a 0.8% gold rally, bucking its primary driver. Q1s average silver price of $15.54 fell 7.1% YoY from Q118s average. That was way worse than golds mere 1.9% YoY average-price decline. The silver-mining industry is laboring under a pall of despair. Although production decisions arent made quarter by quarter, the chronically-weak silver prices are choking off output.

Production is the lifeblood of silver miners, and it continued to slide. The SIL top 17 that had reported their Q1 results by mid-May again mined 70.9m ounces of silver. That was down 3.1% YoY from Q118s silver production, excluding Silvercorp Metals. SVMs fiscal years end after Q1s, and it doesnt report its longer more-comprehensive annual results until well after Q1s normal quarterly earnings season wraps up.

Its not just these major silver miners producing less of the white metal, the entire industry is according to the Silver Institutes latest World Silver Survey. 2018 was the third year in a row of waning global silver mine production. This shrinkage is accelerating too as silver continues to languish, running 0.0% in 2016, 1.8% in 2017, and 2.4% in 2018! Peak silver may have been seen with this metal so unrewarding to mine.

The traditional major silver miners arent taking silvers vexing fading lying down. Theyve spent recent years increasingly diversifying into gold, which has way-superior economics with silver prices so bombed out. The SIL top 17s total gold production surged 10.9% YoY to 1387k ounces in Q1! This producing-less-silver-and-more-gold trend will continue to grow as long as silver prices waste away in the gutter.

Silver mining is as capital-intensive as gold mining, requiring similar large expenses to plan, permit, and construct new mines, mills, and expansions. It needs similar fleets of heavy excavators and haul trucks to dig and move the silver-bearing ore. Similar levels of employees are necessary to run silver mines. But silver generates much-lower cash flows than gold due its lower price. Silver miners have been forced to adapt.

This is readily evident in the top SIL miners production in Q119. SILs largest component in mid-May as this latest earnings season ended was the Russian-founded but UK-listed Polymetal. Its silver production fell 15.0% YoY in Q1, but its gold output surged 41.1%! Just 17.5% of its Q1 revenues came from silver, making it overwhelmingly a primary gold miner. Its newest mine ramping up is another sizable gold one.

SILs second-largest component is Wheaton Precious Metals. It used to be a pure silver-streaming play known as Silver Wheaton. Silver streamers make big upfront payments to miners to pre-purchase some of their future silver production at far-below-market unit prices. This is beneficial to miners because they use the large initial capital infusions to help finance mine builds, which banks often charge usurious rates for.

Back in May 2017 Wheaton changed its name and symbol to reflect its increasing diversification into gold streaming. In Q119 WPMs silver output collapsed 24.4% YoY, but its gold surged 17.4% higher! That pushed its silver-purity percentage in sales terms to just 38.8%, way below the 50%+ threshold defining primary silver miners. WPMs 5-year guidance issued in February forecasts this gold-heavy ratio persisting.

Major silver miners are becoming so scarce that SILs third-largest component is Korea Zinc. Actually a base-metals smelter, this company has nothing to do with silver mining. It ought to be kicked out of SIL post-haste, as its presence and big 1/9th weighting really retards this ETFs performance. Korea Zinc smelted about 64.0m ounces of silver in 2018, which approximates roughly 17% of its full-year revenue.

Global X was really scraping the bottom of the barrel to include a company like Korea Zinc in SIL. Im sure theres not a single SIL investor who wants base-metals-smelting exposure in what is advertised as a Silver Miners ETF. The weighting and capital allocated to Korea Zinc can be reallocated and spread proportionally across the other SIL stocks. The ranks of major silver miners are becoming more rarefied.

SILs fourth-largest component in mid-May is Pan American Silver, which has a proud heritage mining its namesake metal. In Q119 its silver production was flat with a negligible 0.4% YoY increase, yet its gold output soared 74.2%! Thus PAASs silver purity slumped to 40.9%, the lowest by far seen in the years Ive been doing this quarterly research. And its going to get much more gold-centric in coming quarters.

PAAS acquired troubled silver miner Tahoe Resources back in mid-November. Tahoe had owned what was once the worlds largest silver mine, Escobal in Guatemala. It had produced 5.7m ounces in Q117 before that countrys government unjustly shut it down after a frivolous lawsuit on a trivial bureaucratic misstep by the regulator. PAAS hopes to work through the red tape to win approval for Escobal to restart.

But the real prize in that fire-sale buyout was Tahoes gold production from other mines. That deal closed in late February, so that new gold wasnt fully reflected in PAASs Q1 results. Now this former silver giant is forecasting midpoint production of 27.1m ounces of silver and 595.0k ounces of gold in 2019! That is way into mid-tier-gold territory and a far cry from 2018s output of 24.8m and 178.9k. PAAS has turned yellow.

Pan American will probably soon follow in Wheatons footsteps and change its name and symbol to reflect its new gold-dominated future. As miserable as silver has been faring, Im starting to wonder if the word silver in a miners name is becoming a liability with investors. The major primary silver miners are going extinct, forced to adapt by diversifying out of silver and into gold as the former languishes deeply out of favor.

In Q119 the SIL-top-17 miners averaged only 35.4% of their revenues derived from silver. Thats also the lowest seen since I started this thread of research with Q216 results. Only two of these miners remained primary silver ones, and their silver-purity percentages over 50% are highlighted in blue. They are First Majestic Silver and Fortuna Silver Mines, which together accounted for just 7.6% of SILs total weighting.

With SIL-top-17 silver production sliding 3.1% YoY in Q119, the per-ounce mining costs shouldve risen proportionally. Silver-mining costs are largely fixed quarter after quarter, with actual mining requiring the same levels of infrastructure, equipment, and employees. So the lower production, the fewer ounces to spread minings big fixed costs across. SILs major silver miners indeed reported higher costs last quarter.

There are two major ways to measure silver-mining costs, classic cash costs per ounce and the superior all-in sustaining costs. Both are useful metrics. Cash costs are the acid test of silver-miner survivability in lower-silver-price environments, revealing the worst-case silver levels necessary to keep the mines running. All-in sustaining costs show where silver needs to trade to maintain current mining tempos indefinitely.

Cash costs naturally encompass all cash expenses necessary to produce each ounce of silver, including all direct production costs, mine-level administration, smelting, refining, transport, regulatory, royalty, and tax expenses. In Q119 these SIL-top-17 silver miners reported cash costs averaging $7.39 per ounce. While that surged 23.6% YoY, it still remains far below prevailing prices. Silver miners face no existential threat.

The major silver miners average cash costs vary considerably quarter-to-quarter, partially depending on whether or not Silvercorp Metals happens to have edged into the top 17. This Canadian company mining in China has negative cash costs due to massive byproduct credits from lead and zinc. So over the past couple years, SIL-top-17 average cash costs have swung wildly ranging all the way from $3.95 to $6.75.

Way more important than cash costs are the far-superior all-in sustaining costs. They were introduced by the World Gold Council in June 2013 to give investors a much-better understanding of what it really costs to maintain silver mines as ongoing concerns. AISCs include all direct cash costs, but then add on everything else that is necessary to maintain and replenish operations at current silver-production levels.

These additional expenses include exploration for new silver to mine to replace depleting deposits, mine-development and construction expenses, remediation, and mine reclamation. They also include the corporate-level administration expenses necessary to oversee silver mines. All-in sustaining costs are the most-important silver-mining cost metric by far for investors, revealing silver miners true operating profitability.

The SIL-top-17 silver miners reporting AISCs in Q119 averaged $12.70 per ounce, 7.2% higher YoY. That remained considerably below last quarters average silver price of $15.54, as well as late Mays ugly silver low of $14.34. So the silver-mining industry as a whole is still profitable even with silver drifting near quarter-century-plus lows relative to gold. And those AISCs are skewed higher by SSR Minings outlying read.

Another traditional silver miner that changed its name, this company used to be known as Silver Standard Resources. SSRM has shifted into gold too, gradually winding down its old Pirquitas silver mine resulting in abnormally-high AISCs of $19.76 per ounce. Excluding these, the SIL-top-17 average in Q1 falls to $10.94 which is a much-more-comfortable profits cushion between production costs and low silver prices.

Interestingly SSRM has been ramping up a new mine close to its old Pirquitas mill, and is starting to run that ore through. That makes SSR Mining one of the rare silver miners thats going to see growing output this year. It is forecasting a midpoint of 4.9m ounces of silver production in 2019, a 74% jump from last years levels! Higher production should lead to lower AISCs going forward, pulling the average back down.

As hopeless as silver has looked in recent months, it wont stay down forever. Sooner or later gold will catch a major bid, probably on surging investment demand as these dangerous stock markets roll over. Capital will start migrating back into silver like usual once gold rallies long enough and high enough to convince traders its uptrend is sustainable. Since the silver market is so small, that portends much-higher prices.

At Q119s average silver price of $15.54 and average SIL-top-17 AISCs of $12.70, these miners were earning $2.84 per ounce. Thats not bad for a sector that investors have left for dead, convinced it must be doomed. Being so wildly undervalued relative to gold, silver has the potential to surge much higher in the next gold upleg. The average Silver/Gold Ratio since Q116 right after todays gold bull was born was 77.1x.

At $1400 and $1500 gold which are modest upleg gains, silver mean reverting to recent years average SGR levels would yield silver targets of $18.16 and $19.46. Thats conservative, ignoring the high odds for a mean-reversion overshoot, and only 16.9% and 25.2% above Q1s average price. Yet with flat AISCs that would boost the SIL top 17s profits by 92.3% and 138.0%! Their upside leverage to silver is amazing.

The caveat is the degree to which silver miners earnings amplify this metals upside is dependent on how much of their sales are still derived from silver when it turns north. If the SIL top 17 are still getting 35% of their sales from silver, their stocks should surge with silver. But the more they diversify into gold, the more dependent they will be on gold-price moves. Those arent as big as silvers since gold is a far-larger market.

On the accounting front the top 17 SIL silver miners Q119 results highlighted the challenges of super-low silver prices. These companies collectively sold $3.0b worth of metals in Q1, which actually clocked in at an impressive 10.8% YoY increase. That was totally the result of these companies mining 10.9% more gold in Q1. Though it dilutes their silver-price exposure, shifting into gold really strengthens them financially.

But operating-cash-flow generation looked much worse, collapsing 55.1% YoY to $237m across the SIL top 17 that reported them for Q1. There was no single-company disaster, but Q1s average silver prices being 7.1% lower YoY eroded OCFs universally. That led to these miners collective treasuries shrinking 22.9% YoY to $2.3b. Thats plenty to operate on, but not that much to fund many mine builds or expansions.

Hard GAAP profits reported by the SIL top 17 silver miners were very weak too in Q119, plunging 54.9% YoY to $123m. But there were no major writedowns from these low silver prices impairing the value of silver mines and deposits. Investors dont buy silver stocks for how they are doing today, but for what they are likely to do as silver mean reverts higher. Silver-mining earnings surge dramatically as silver recovers.

Silvers last major upleg erupted in essentially the first half of 2016, when silver soared 50.2% higher on a parallel 29.9% gold upleg. SIL blasted 247.8% higher in just 6.9 months, a heck of a gain for major silver stocks. But the purer primary silver miners did far better. The purest major silver miner First Majestics stock was a moonshot, skyrocketing a staggering 633.9% higher in that same short span! SILs gains are muted.

The key takeaway here is avoid SIL. The worlds leading Silver Miners ETF is increasingly burdened with primary gold miners with waning silver exposure. And having over 1/9th of your capital allocated to silver miners squandered in Korea Zinc is sheer madness! If you want to leverage silvers long-overdue next mean reversion higher relative to gold, its far better to deploy in smaller purer primary silver miners alone.

One of my core missions at Zeal is relentlessly studying the silver-stock world to uncover the stocks with superior fundamentals and upside potential. The trading books in both our popular weekly and monthly newsletters are currently full of these better gold and silver miners. Mostly added in recent months as these stocks recovered from deep lows, their prices remain relatively low with big upside potential as gold rallies!

If you want to multiply your capital in the markets, you have to stay informed. Our newsletters are a great way, easy to read and affordable. They draw on my vast experience, knowledge, wisdom, and ongoing research to explain whats going on in the markets, why, and how to trade them with specific stocks. As of Q1 weve recommended and realized 1089 newsletter stock trades since 2001, averaging annualized realized gains of +15.8%! Thats nearly double the long-term stock-market average. Subscribe today for just $12 per issue!

The bottom line is the major silver miners are still struggling. With silver continuing to languish at quarter-century-plus lows relative to gold, the economics of extracting it remain challenging. That led to slowing silver production and higher costs in Q1. The traditional major silver miners continued their years-long trend of increasingly diversifying into gold. Their percentage of sales derived from silver is still shrinking.

There arent enough major primary silver miners left to flesh out their own ETF, which is probably why SIL is dominated by gold miners. While it will rally with silver amplifying its gains, SILs upside potential is just dwarfed by the remaining purer silver stocks. Investors will be far-better rewarded buying them instead of settling for a watered-down silver-miners ETF. Their stocks will really surge as silver mean reverts much higher.

Adam Hamilton, CPA

So how can you profit from this information? We publish an acclaimed monthly newsletter, Zeal Intelligence , that details exactly what we are doing in terms of actual stock and options trading based on all the lessons we have learned in our market research. Please consider joining us each month for tactical trading details and more in our premium Zeal Intelligence service at  www.zealllc.com/subscribe.htm

Questions for Adam? I would be more than happy to address them through my private consulting business. Please visit www.zealllc.com/adam.htm for more information.

Thoughts, comments, or flames? Fire away at zelotes@zealllc.com . Due to my staggering and perpetually increasing e-mail load, I regret that I am not able to respond to comments personally. I will read all messages though and really appreciate your feedback!

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Le Conseil des Minsitres a donne son aval a la siognature dun protocole daccords entre le Media Trust et lAll-China Journalists Association.

Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Media Trust and the All-China Journalists Association with a view to further promoting the cooperative relationship between news media and journalists of Mauritius and China. The Memorandum of Understanding would provide for cooperation in the following areas:

(a) strengthening of friendly exchanges;

(b) joint reporting activities;

(c) academic exchanges;

(d) training for journalists; and

(e) news award.
On page 24 of the Government's 2019/2020 Budget there is a sentence or two of populist rhetoric that surprises me coming from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

"To date, the Bahamas Development Bank, the Bahamas Entrepreneurial Venture Fund, and two commercial banks have joined in as funding partners in this initiative. While I am pleased about that, I expect to see all commercial banks committing to do much more to provide tangible support for microfinance and small businesses in The Bahamas - either through the government's loan guarantee initiative - or through their own programmes..." (Click on image to enlarge)

Comments like this surface from adherents of political parties from time to time and they serve to threaten banks using the bully pulpit in the hope that banks will loosen their credit policies to serve political ends.

In writing about The Canadian Solution to the financial crisis, Fareed Zakaria remarked:

"Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15th-largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.

"So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense. Over the past 15 years, as the United States and Europe loosened regulations on their financial industries, the Canadians refused to follow suit, seeing the old rules as useful shock absorbers. Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1 and European banks at a frightening 61 to 1. Partly this reflects Canada's more risk-averse business culture, but it is also a product of old-fashioned rules on banking..."

Here's the threat to force banks to comply or they'll be publicly embarrassed to join the desired parade:

"I put the banks on notice that I will be meeting with them collectively to discuss this issue and to consider the options for requiring them at minimum to publish and publicize their ongoing performance and portfolio makeup to microfinance in the country and loans and facilities extended to Bahamian small business."

As to a potential solution for young entrepreneurs looking for financing, I suggest that like minded millionaires, develop a private equity/entrepreneurial fund to help.

Government picking winners and losers with tax dollars or forcing banks to do the same with their depositors money is asking for trouble not unlike the mortgage crisis of 2008 so familiar to us all.
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Im not at a grave. Im able to go and see him. Im very grateful for that
"Tis unmanly grief," says the concerned king, Claudius, of his nephew/adoptive son Hamlet and his persistent gloom following the death of his father.

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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

"Tis unmanly grief," says the concerned king, Claudius, of his nephew/adoptive son Hamlet and his persistent gloom following the death of his father.

THEATRE REVIEW Click to Expand Hamlet

Shakespeare in the Ruins

Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park

To June 22

Tickets: $8-$35 at shakespeareintheruins.com

1/2 stars out of five

The line comes early in the tragedy and presents an immediate and interesting rationale for casting a woman  actress Heather Russell-Smith  "gender-occupying" the title role in Shakespeare in the Ruins' 2019 production.

That kind of casting is not new, mind you. Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet in the 1890s and a procession of modern actresses, from Diane Venora to Ruth Negga, have had a go at it in more recent decades.

But this production, directed by newly-minted SiR artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss, consistently and pointedly skews the gender energies of traditional productions, in which the men get all the fight scenes and women fret and fuss... or go slowly, picturesquely insane.

This is, after all, a contemporary 21st-century interpretation: Both the prince and palace guards are packing pistols, which prove to be just as ineffective as swords when the ghost of Hamlet's father (Steven Ratzlaff) desperately wanders the halls.

Hamlet (Heather Russell-Smith) with ghost-dad (Steven Ratzlaff). (Sarah Constible photos)

Ghost-dad is seeking to alert Hamlet that Claudius (Skye Brandon) murdered him to acquire both the crown and the bed of Queen Gertrude (Nan Fewchuk). Hamlet then plots revenge while feigning madness, a state of affairs that compels the interference of Claudius's most trusted counsellor Lady Polonia (Melanie Whyte) who employs her own daughter  and Hamlet's chaste lover  Ophelia (Reena Jolly) as a pawn in this prototypical game of thrones.

The shift of dynamics makes for a fresh perspective of a centuries-old play, and may actually defuse some of its mustier components. For example, the word "slut-shaming" doesn't necessarily spring to mind when a female Hamlet confronts Gertrude in her bed-chamber to talk about the Queen's betrayal.

Look too at Ophelia, traditionally portrayed as a blonde, frail, ephemeral entity. Her "mad scene" in this production presents us with something shockingly different. Jolly's Ophelia is primal in her emotions, and so violent in her expression, one worries for that actress's physical well-being.

Director Beilfuss, who himself portrayed Hamlet in a local indie production in 2015 directed by Sarah Constible, brings elements of that past production here, including a cross-cultural cast and a smattering of linguistic representation. (Horatio, played by aboriginal actor Aqqalu, delivers lines at the beginning and end of the play in Oji-Cree.)

Claudius (Skye Brandon) with Hamlet.

Beilfuss brings a big sense of play to the tragedy. The action is often accompanied by musicians who tweak themes with cheeky touches, as when Melissa Langdon plunks out the Simple Minds pop hit Don't You (Forget About Me) on her violin.

There is a Peter Nygard sight gag, a Keanu Reeves-infused line reading, a Monty Python callback and what may be an unprecedented iteration of the climactic duel between Hamlet and Laertes (Daniel Chen). Beilfuss is unrelenting in his quest to freshen up the rottenness in Denmark, stopping just short of making Hamlet an outright goth chick (probably not a bad idea, really).

It serves to give a necessary shot of theatrical Red Bull to a two-and-a-half hour show (including intermission) that requires the audience to move eight times throughout the ruins of the Trappist Monastery. It flies by.

Terrific performances help. In the other major gender-switched role, Melanie Whyte is notably delightful as the pompous, prattling Polonia.

Hamlet with Rosencrantz (Daniel Chen) and Guildenstern (Melissa Langdon). (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)

Russell-Smith brings energy and humour to her Hamlet, and establishes an emotional connection from her first appearance. And yet, this is not a Hamlet for whom you weep at the end. There is, perhaps, an excess of invention at the expense of the play's dramatic core.

In a setting where you can hear owls hooting during the graveyard scene, Beilfuss could stand to heed Hamlet's advice to his players, "that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature."

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing

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OTTAWA - The federal government has postponed a long-awaited update to Canada's corporate-misconduct provisions, including changes that could help SNC-Lavalin avoid being barred from lucrative federal contracts.

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This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The SNC-Lavalin headquarters is seen in Montreal on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

OTTAWA - The federal government has postponed a long-awaited update to Canada's corporate-misconduct provisions, including changes that could help SNC-Lavalin avoid being barred from lucrative federal contracts.

The government wants more time to study how it will modernize its so-called "integrity regime" following intense public debate about corporate wrongdoing that was ignited by a political controversy related to SNC-Lavalin, according to a federal spokesman. He did not say how long the delay will last.

The government revealed the postponement following questions from The Canadian Press, which obtained an internal federal document that showed the Liberals were planning to announce a revision in early February.

"The integrity regime's updated ineligibility and suspension policy will be published in early February 2019, and will come into effect at the end of February 2019," said information contained in a Feb. 4 email to an associate deputy minister. The email was released under access-to-information law.

Three months later, the government has yet to publish the integrity-regime update.

A few months ago, a change to the scheme would have attracted very little public attention. Today, it's a delicate political issue for the Liberals.

The integrity regime has been under scrutiny ever since SNC-Lavalin, the huge Montreal-based engineering and construction firm facing Canadian criminal charges over dealings in Libya, found itself at the centre of a political storm in Ottawa.

On Feb. 7, three days after the email, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's aides pressed former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the SNC-Lavalin case and help it avoid prosecution through a plea-bargain-type deal. Trudeau has denied his officials acted inappropriately.

In recent days, a Quebec judge ruled that there's enough evidence against SNC-Lavalin to send the case to trial.

A conviction could result in a severe punishment for the company: a disqualification from federal business for 10 years. Since much of SNC-Lavalin's work is in civil construction projects, that could be deeply damaging to its Canadian business.

However, SNC-Lavalin could still see a shorter suspension from federal contracts  or perhaps none at all  if the proposed update to the integrity regime comes into force.

SNC-Lavalin urged the Liberal government in 2017 to weaken federal penalties for corporate misconduct to the point a guilty company could completely avoid a ban on receiving public contracts.

A draft of the Liberal government's new scheme released last fall shows the revised provisions will carry no minimum ineligibility period. Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough, who is in charge of federal procurement, has said such a change would address concerns raised by companies about the "lack of flexibility" in the 10-year suspension terms.

Any adjustments to the regime that help SNC-Lavalin dodge a ban could be politically sensitive for the Liberals.

On Feb. 28, under questioning by a House of Commons committee, Qualtrough said the updated integrity regime would be finalized by late March or early April.

The integrity regime was designed to ensure the government only does business with ethical companies in Canada and abroad.

Federal officials held a public consultation on the integrity regime in 2017. A summary of the process, which included input from SNC-Lavalin, said most participants felt a disqualification period of a decade, or even five years, was too long.

Last fall, the proposal went through another round of public consultations with the aim of making additional tweaks before coming into force.

"Subsequent to this consultation, there has been considerable public discussion around corporate wrongdoing, as well as governments' responses to such misconduct," Jean-Francois Letourneau, a spokesman for Qualtrough's department wrote in an email Saturday.

"As a result, the government of Canada is taking additional time to assess possible next steps regarding the Integrity Regime.

"In the meantime, the current Ineligibility and Suspension Policy remains in effect."

Another tool designed to deal with corporate wrongdoing has been under a microscope since the political affair involving SNC-Lavalin first made headlines.

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The company has made unsuccessful attempts to preserve its ability to bid on federal contracts under that separate, plea bargain-type approach that would head off a criminal case.

But the federal director of public prosecutions ruled late in 2018 that its case was ill-suited for such a deal, which is known as a remediation agreement or a deferred-prosecution agreement.

It's the legal avenue at the heart of the political controversy that surrounded the Liberals earlier this year.

The federal attorney general has the power to overrule the director's rejection of a deferred-prosecution agreement and take on the case themselves. Wilson-Raybould declined to do so.

David Lametti, who replaced Wilson-Raybould as justice minister and attorney general, acknowledged Wednesday in response to reporters' questions that a deferred-prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin remains a possibility. He declined to comment further, saying the case was before the courts.

Trudeau has argued a criminal trial could lead to the company's moving to the United States and the loss of thousands of jobs, a sentiment supported by an internal SNC-Lavalin document obtained by The Canadian Press.
Winnipeg-based Delta 9 Cannabis began venturing west in the first quarter of 2019, as the marijuana producer started shipping products to licensed cannabis stores in Saskatchewan in addition to its existing supply deal with Manitoba.

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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg-based Delta 9 Cannabis began venturing west in the first quarter of 2019, as the marijuana producer started shipping products to licensed cannabis stores in Saskatchewan in addition to its existing supply deal with Manitoba.

The next stop is Alberta, where Delta 9 recently signed a supply deal with provincial wholesaler Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis. In an interview on Friday, Delta 9 CEO John Arbuthnot said the company plans to focus on ensuring supply to Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta before expanding to new provinces.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Delta 9 CEO John Arbuthnot said consumers should see pre-rolled joints on store shelves soon.

"Alberta has more stores than Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario combined, probably B.C. as well," he said. "Its a very big market from a distribution standpoint. It is competitive, but theres a lot of demand for product."

Delta 9s first-quarter results for 2019 were released Thursday. The company earned $5.6 million in revenue from January to the end of March, with $946,180 in loss from operations.

The companys production arm grew 418,901 grams of cannabis at Delta 9s east Winnipeg facility during the three-month period, for an average cost of $1.60 per gram including labour, packaging and labelling costs. Thats an improvement from the $1.97 per gram production cost the company recorded at the end of 2018, Arbuthnot said.

Delta 9 sold that cannabis bud to provincial wholesalers like Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries for an average price of $7.58 per gram during the first quarter. Licensed Manitoba cannabis retailers like Delta 9s retail subsidiary buy that cannabis from MLL and sell it to consumers.

Delta 9s retail stores in Manitoba sold 189,796 grams of cannabis from Delta 9 and other producers at an average price of $12.84 per gram in the quarter, a price Arbuthnot described as lower than competing stores. Retail margins remain slim, he said.

"Its our production and wholesale business that makes money... obviously, selling product to the province, they apply a dollar excise tax and a markup, you can infer from that that were buying product back around $9 a gram," Arbuthnot said. "Theres not a whole lot of margin between $9 and $12.50 to be able to make any real money here. So in terms of retail margin, it is still a very difficult market."

But Arbuthnot sees that margin improving as Canadas legal cannabis market matures, and said Delta 9 is lowering production costs using automation and economies of scale.

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"Ultimately that decreases wholesale pricing, which means that retailers can be more competitive with the black market, and really makes the whole picture work long-term."

Later this year, Delta 9 plans to offer what it calls "dried sift cannabis," popularly known among cannabis users as "kief"  the powdery, potent resinous glands of dried cannabis buds, without the accompanying plant material. (Its the same substance used to make hashish.)

Consumers should also expect to see Delta 9s pre-rolled joints on store shelves soon, Arbuthnot said. After a pending inspection by federal cannabis regulator Health Canada, Delta 9 also plans to start selling ingestible cannabis oils in the coming months.

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sol_israel
Its 5 p.m. on a wet Wednesday afternoon in the English market town of Spalding and Simon Bradshaw and his partner, Sharna, are taking their daughter to see a new statue commemorating 19th-century hiring fairs for farmers and shepherds.

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This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Its 5 p.m. on a wet Wednesday afternoon in the English market town of Spalding and Simon Bradshaw and his partner, Sharna, are taking their daughter to see a new statue commemorating 19th-century hiring fairs for farmers and shepherds.

Their visit says less about a keen interest in agrarian history and more about the Britain of today in the most ardently pro-Brexit region. They say the bronze structure is being vandalized by people from eastern Europe. Sharna, a stay-at-home carer, complains immigrants made the town dangerous and overcrowded. "Theyve no respect," she said.

From Donald Trumps America to Italy and Hungary, the vilification of immigrants is hardly new nowadays. But the flip side to the resentment in the U.K. is that for people who saw Brexit as a defensive wall against newcomers, the threat isnt human, its robot.

Bradshaw, 38, works as a forklift driver at a local food distribution company. Manual jobs like his are commonplace in the county of Lincolnshire, and many of them were filled by eastern European migrants in recent years. The irony for those who believed the influx of cheap labour was jeopardizing their livelihoods is that they now face having their jobs automated if Brexit yields some of the economic dividend its supporters say it will while curbing immigration.

Britain currently has the lowest density of robots in manufacturing among the Group of 10 countries, partly because businesses opted to use a cheap and expanding migrant labour force in the past decade rather than buy new machinery to boost efficiency.

Companies initially could use robots to fill labour shortages, but in the longer term, the threat is that they end up stealing jobs, too.

Indeed, the slow pace of adoption is a long-standing problem for Britains international competitiveness and productivity. In 2017, Britain had just 85 robots per 10,000 employees, compared to 106 on average across Europe, according to the International Federation of Robotics. About half of Britains robots are used in car manufacturing. The food industry is only just beginning to use them for cutting, moving and packaging products.

But Britains low robot density also makes it ripe for investment, with 1.5 million jobs at high risk of having some tasks automated, according to the Office for National Statistics. Regions most at risk of losing jobs to robots are also those that voted for Brexit, based on Bloomberg analysis of ONS data.

The area around Spalding had the greatest concentration of eastern European migrants in the 2011 census, and was also the biggest vote of anywhere in the U.K. for Brexit.

"The robots wont get sick and the robot doesnt need a visa," said Thijs Geijer, senior economist at bank ING Groep. He has found that Britain has four per cent of the robots used in Europes food and drink industry, with Germany and Italy being the continents main markets.

Robots most threaten "the three Ds," Business Minister Andrew Stephenson told the U.K. Parliament last month, jobs that are "dangerous, dirty or dull." He said the government is working with individual industries to ensure they use automation in a way that boosts profits and productivity without harming workers. There will be jobs lost to robots, though, he said.

Curbing immigration remains top of the list for many Britons who want to leave the EU. That particularly poses a challenge for food and drink companies, which make up the U.K.s biggest manufacturing industry. They have relied on EU migrants for almost a third of their combined workforce.

Darren Staples / Bloomberg Simon Bradshaw works as a forklift driver in Spalding, England. Many jobs like his in the local county were filled by east European migrants in recent years.

With politicians in Westminster still unable to agree when, how or even if the U.K. should leave the EU, thats becoming harder. Net migration from the EU has fallen to its lowest in a decade.

"Businesses are having to ensure they use their workforce effectively and find alternative ways of performing tasks for which they do not have labour," says Mike Wilson, chairman of the British Automation and Robot Association. "Robot automation being an obvious solution."

With Brexiteer-in-chief Nigel Farages new party polling ahead of all rivals before European Parliamentary elections on May 23, Lincolnshire encapsulates the disillusionment with the government 160 kilometres away in London more than most places.

In places like this, workers feel immigration is something that happens to them, rather than something they can be part of, said John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde. "They feel culturally isolated," he said.

About a third of Britains food touches Lincolnshire in some way, according to the local government. The countryside is an expanse of potato, rapeseed and tulip fields, interspersed with truck stops and food manufacturers like canning factory Princes Ltd. sitting alongside the wide roads.

Spalding was where barcodes were first trialled in a British supermarket in the 1979, but the town certainly doesnt look like its on the brink of an industrial and political revolution that could alter it for good.

The statue that piqued the interest of Bradshaw and his family stands amid 18th-century houses and a pub that boasts it once hosted the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, interspersed with new stores catering to the towns more recent Polish and Lithuanian arrivals.

Despite high employment, just 17 per cent of people in South Holland, the area around Spalding, have specialist training for technical roles or management, less than half the U.K. average. Gross weekly pay is 12 per cent lower than the British mean.

For the food and drink companies that populate the area, theres a perfect storm of tightening profit margins caused by the growth of discount retailers and now a U.S.-China trade spat thats pushing up the cost of raw materials.

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"With no investment and prices always being driven down, there was no room for investment, said Chris Brooks, a product development chef at Olympus Automation Ltd., which is working with local companies and the University of Lincoln to test its "robotic chef."

The aim is to replicate the work of humans on an industrial scale and with extreme accuracy, but without needing breaks or making mistakes. "Companies have got to a breaking point where its a case of which way do I go? I either go under or I invest," Brooks said.

Liam Fox, the pro-Brexit minister in charge of overseas trade, has said such technology could drive another revolution in manufacturing, boosting Britains woeful productivity level, which lags about 20 per cent behind peers in the Group of Seven countries.

Chinese automaker BYD is already selling driverless forklifts to Volkswagen, General Motors and Toyota. But Bradshaw reckons his job as a forklift driver in Spalding is safe because a robot couldnt do the same work. It requires a human to pick and mix the right pallets of products, he said.

"One pallet would be apples and another would be chocolate biscuits and a robot wouldnt be able to tell the difference," Bradshaw said. "Youve got to check everything is different, and with robots, everything is the same."

 Bloomberg
The events surrounding the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike have been well-documented. The largest open-ended general strike in Canadian history continues to be of great interest to academics, trade unionists and the public at large.

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This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The events surrounding the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike have been well-documented. The largest open-ended general strike in Canadian history continues to be of great interest to academics, trade unionists and the public at large.

Fourteen people connected to the strike are interred in Brookside Cemetery. Their lives, and the connections between them, offer a fascinating glimpse at key storylines associated with the strike.

Consider these facts associated with these citizens.

Two Russian immigrants, Rachel (Rose) Shapack and Jacob Penner, met here at a meeting of the Winnipeg Radical Society. Of note was the guest speaker that evening, American political activist Emma Goldman.

Two men, Fred Dixon and John Queen, were arrested in June 1919 and charged with sedition, along with Penner, who was interned for two years in 1940 due to his membership in the Communist Party of Canada.

Paul Moist at the gravesite of Fred Dixon.

Three incredible women, Frances Marion Beynon, Winona (Flett) Dixon and Gertrude Puttee, were executive members of the Manitoba Political Equality League, and were granted the rare honour of being seated on the floor of the legislature in January 1916 as legislation was passed extending voting rights to some women in Manitoba.

Two Ukrainian immigrants, Mike Sokolowski and Steve Szczerbanowicz, were shot on Main Street on Bloody Saturday, June 21, 1919.

Two men, Queen and Penner, founded the Winnipeg Socialist Sunday School, and then ran against one another twice for the office of mayor.

Jacob and Rose Penner

A journalist, Frances Beynon, opposed conscription and wrote of this period: "I am thankful to be living in these fighting days... when humanity is seething and boiling and stirring."

A strike leader, Thomas Flye, commonly known as the Mayor of Weston, defeated Helen Armstrong, who served with him on the Central Strike Committee, and went on to serve 21 consecutive years on City Council.

Winnipegs first alderwoman, Jessie Kirk, stepped back from running in the 1920 provincial election in order to support a slate of jailed strike leaders.

John Queen served as mayor of Winnipeg for seven years and as the first provincial leader of the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

A largely unknown retail clerk, Matilda Russell, was arrested on June 5, 1919, for urging workers of a downtown department store to join the general strike.

A business leader, James M. Carruthers, was incorrectly credited with conceiving of the "Permitted by Authority of the Strike Committee" placards.

Suffragist leaders like Frances Marion Beynon brought organizing ability and strength to their work in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg in 1919 was a city of contrasts. Fabulous wealth in the communities south of the Assiniboine River, poverty and substandard housing in the North End.

Winnipegs population was about 180,000 in 1920, having more than quadrupled in the previous three decades. It was an unbelievable growth rate, fuelled almost entirely by immigration from the United Kingdom, Ireland and eastern Europe.

Mike Sokolowski, The Forgotten Immigrant, who died on June 21, 1919, was one of two men who lost their lives during the Winnipeg General Strike.

This created a strong network of ethnic communities with a host of cultural and other organizations that wove a connectedness amongst the working class.

The 14 citizens buried at Brookside belonged to a wide range of groups, including the Womens Labor League, Manitoba Health League, Moderation League, Winnipeg Federenko Defence Committee and Winnipeg Single Tax League, not to mention more than a half-dozen left-wing political parties.

If one assumes a family size of three to four persons, the more than 30,000 citizens who struck for six weeks, beginning in May 1919, represented more than half of Winnipegs population.

Steve Szczerbanowicz was one of two men who lost their lives during the Winnipeg General Strike.

More than half of the strikers themselves were not members of any trade union. The strike grew in size over its first four weeks. Workers listened to their leaders and stayed home, and there was no increase in either police or fire incidents.

That the anti-strike Citizens Committee of One Thousand was concerned is an understatement. Their fear of the growing solidarity amongst Winnipeg workers drove their actions in forcing the arrests of strike leaders and the passing of federal anti-immigrant legislation.

They orchestrated a strategy to block a negotiated settlement of the two disputes, which gave rise to the general strike, and assumed policing authority through the deputation of hundreds of so-called "specials." Finally, they forced a violent end to the strike through the charge down Main Street to break up a silent march of returned soldiers on Bloody Saturday.

The memorial stone for Thomas and Sarah Jane Flye. Thomas went on to serve 21 consecutive years on City Council.

The calling off of the strike was the only decision the Central Strike Committee could make, given the forces lined up against them. It was a devastating blow for the thousands who lost their jobs and labour in general.

But it was a remarkable display of unity and organization by workers in what was Canadas third-largest city. How did they pull it off? How did they win the "hearts and minds" of the population at large before, during and after the general strike?

The answers to these and other key questions can be found in the fascinating facts that emerge from a detailed look at the lives of the 14 citizens buried at Brookside.

Katherine (Ross) Queen was a suffragist leader.

Four broad observations emerge.

First and foremost, labour in 1919 had earned the trust of the vast majority of workers through a sophisticated and effective communications system.

They had a daily paper and strong networks of public meetings. During the general strike, beyond Victoria Park, which was the workers parliament in the East Exchange, regular strike updates were supplied at a host of public parks throughout the city.

Gertrude Mary Puttee Gertrude Puttee was granted the rare honour of being seated on the floor of the legislature in January 1916 as legislation was passed extending voting rights to some women in Manitoba.

Fred Dixon, perhaps the most prominent strike player buried at Brookside, was a prolific author and politician. He took over publication of the daily strike newspaper along with J.S. Woodsworth after the arrest of William Ivens.

A century later, in the world of a thousand TV channels and social media, labour is far more removed from any such connection with rank-and-file workers. We could learn much from the effective communication systems that labour implemented a century ago.

Second, and of considerable importance to pulling off a largely peaceful and successful six-week general strike, was the role women played.

James Malcolm Carruthers was incorrectly credited with conceiving of the "Permitted by Authority of the Strike Committee" placards.

Suffragist leaders, including Winona (Flett) Dixon, Katherine (Ross) Queen and Frances Marion Beynon (each of whom is interred at Brookside), brought enormous organizing ability and strength to their work on the left in Winnipeg. This organizational capacity was critical to pulling off something as large and complex as a general strike.

Third was both the diversity and strength of a range of ethnic, religious, labour and political groups present in Winnipeg in 1919. These groups were strong, united and very supportive of their respective members.

Religious study groups, including a Socialist Sunday School, fraternal organizations and a full range of issues-based organizations all flourished in Winnipeg. They collectively provided the strike with a support base that had deep community roots. They shared food and offered support to those most in need. The strike could not have occurred, let alone lasted, without these supportive groups.

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Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, is the strikes political legacy. While the workers of that day did not win the union recognition and collective bargaining framework that they sought, they won something arguably more important in the long run.

They won wide-scale public support at the ballot box. Labour-endorsed leaders, including Fred Dixon, John Queen, Flye, Penner and Kirk, were but a sampling of the political legacy of 1919.

John Queen, along with two other jailed strike leaders, were elected from their prison cells in the 1920 provincial election, in which Labour achieved 11 of 47 provincial seats. Queen went on to achieve success as Winnipegs mayor for seven years and he was also the first provincial leader of the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF).

J.S. Woodsworth and A. A. Heaps enjoyed long periods of federal electoral success, as did many others. Winnipeg voters supported their leaders in the post-strike period, and the CCF and subsequently the New Democratic Party in 1961.

In 1969, 50 years removed from the general strike, the NDP formed government in Manitoba. Among many other achievements, workers finally obtained comprehensive labour legislation and a voice in the affairs of the province. A voice denied to workers in 1919, but a voice ultimately achieved because of the sacrifice of Winnipeg workers in the general strike.

Paul Moist is a retired labour leader and a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives  Manitoba. He researched the Brookside Cemetery Walking Tour. The next tour will be held June 22, beginning at noon. To register for the free event, contact Moist at paulmoist@gmail.com or call 204-793-7285.
OTTAWA  Days before a troubled national inquiry is set to release its final report, grieving Manitoba families who took part in its hearing process have little hope it will spark change.

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This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Days before a troubled national inquiry is set to release its final report, grieving Manitoba families who took part in its hearing process have little hope it will spark change.

"It was a waste of time and money," said Thelma Favel, caregiver of her grand-niece, Tina Fontaine.

Favel has been disheartened by the work of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

"Theyre not going to prevent another death," she said.

On Monday, commissioners are set to release their report near Ottawa, ending a process marred by bureaucratic ineptitude, numerous resignations and claims of inadequate focus on Manitoba.

The process culminated in an apparent leak of the report Friday.

Favel will fly to Ottawa for Mondays ceremony, but was disappointed in the report, even before seeing it.

She said the inquirys $92-million budget could have better gone to 24-7 services for vulnerable Indigenous youth.

Its still painful for Favel to hear the name of her grand-niece, almost five years after the discovery of 15-year-old Tinas body in the Red River shocked Canada and sparked a countrywide outcry.

"I had to lose Tina for people to realize that there is a problem," she said. "Theres still a lot of things happening out there."

The inquiry began in September 2016 with a two-year mandate the Liberals prolonged by six months, over the commissioners calls to double its timeline.

Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, the inquiry liaison for Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, lost her sister Dawn in 2011. She feels police didnt adequately probe her disappearance.

Anderson-Pyrz hopes the report touches on child welfare, criminal justice, poverty, homelessness and how these social systems leave children falling through the gaps, especially due to short-term funding allocations.

Her job of providing culturally appropriate support for families navigating the justice system is only funded until March 2020. She worries about what happens when the issue slips off the public radar.

"Where do these families go when were no longer there? Ive been thinking about that a lot."

Sheila North, a former MKO grand chief, said she hopes Mondays report will focus society on solutions such as reforming child welfare and rectifying poverty, instead of gawking at horror stories in the media.

"Were not talking about what needs to change," she said. "I dont have a lot of faith.

"Those issues have to be taken care of as a society, and I dont see that happening."

Indigenous leaders have blamed the inquiry for not adequately focusing on Manitoba, despite numerous advocates calling the province ground zero for MMIWG.

In July 2017, Marilyn Poitras resigned, leaving the inquiry with no commissioners representing either the Metis people or the Prairies.

In testimony, the commissioners have blamed red tape and privacy laws for hampering their work.

On Friday, the CBC reported it had obtained the final document, which has more than 1,200 pages and makes more than 230 recommendations. According to media reports, the slayings and disappearances of Indigenous women are referred to as "Canadian genocide."

The network said the report will call on the justice system to review a practice meant to divert Indigenous offenders from long jail terms, but which often has the opposite effect in Manitoba.

Since 1999, courts have been told to consider so-called Gladue factors, such as intergenerational trauma, and use them to consider community-led rehabilitation.

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But in Manitoba, probation officers often write both an offenders Gladue report and reoffending-risk report, meaning the same factors intended to provide more lenient sentences are instead used to prescribe higher-security jail terms.

Whatever the report brings, Anderson-Pyrz wants it to include an oversight mechanism, to ensure the recommendations are monitored for progress instead of gathering dust.

The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada lacked such a mechanism, and the Liberals promised this spring to start one in 2020, after urging by the former TRC chairman, Sen. Murray Sinclair.

Independent MP Jane Philpott, who served as Indigenous services minister, said the Liberals have tried to rectify the root causes identified in the inquirys interim report, but "a tremendous amount more work" is probably needed.

"I think people may be surprised by the breadth of how much work has to take place, in order to prevent the ongoing tragedies," Philpott told the Free Press.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
For 39 years, Winnipeggers have been helping us make summer camp an adventure for children who wouldnt otherwise be able to attend  now were hoping youll celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Winnipeg Free Press Sunshine Fund by donating again.

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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For 39 years, Winnipeggers have been helping us make summer camp an adventure for children who wouldnt otherwise be able to attend  now were hoping youll celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Winnipeg Free Press Sunshine Fund by donating again.

How To Help the Sunshine Fund: To donate, send cheques to the Winnipeg Free Press Sunshine Fund c/o Unit F-1215 Henderson Hwy., Winnipeg, MB, R2G 1L8. You can donate in person with a cheque during office hours or in a locked mailbox outside their door. You can also call in with a credit card number to 204-784-1130. click to read more To donate, send cheques to the Winnipeg Free Press Sunshine Fund c/o Unit F-1215 Henderson Hwy., Winnipeg, MB, R2G 1L8. You can donate in person with a cheque during office hours or in a locked mailbox outside their door. You can also call in with a credit card number to 204-784-1130. Or you can donate online by going to https://www.mbcamping.ca/ and clicking through to the funds Canada Helps donation page. And, if you are an alumni, please contact Rick Scherger at the Manitoba Camping Association. He can be reached at 204-293-7339 or rickscherger@manitobacamping.ca Close

Were looking for the children who are now adults  likely with children or even grandchildren of their own  who went to summer camp with the help of the Sunshine Fund to come forward to become Sunshine Fund alumni.

Its been 40 years since the Free Press launched the fund that has paid for thousands of children to leave the concrete urban centre of Winnipeg to go to rural summer camps to perhaps canoe and kayak for the first time, sleep in a tent under the stars, ride a horse or participate in an amateur theatre show.

Danial Sprintz knows what the Sunshine Fund can do for a child.

When Sprintz was seven in 1987, he walked through the front gates of Camp Massad at Winnipeg Beach for the first time and had one of the best experiences of his life. He went back several more times, became a camp counsellor and now, more than three decades later, he is the camps executive director.

Sprintz says he didnt know until later that the Sunshine Fund got him to the camp and, as he readily admits, where he is today.

The May 26, 1979 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press announced the Sunshine Fund campaign to help send kids to camp.

"I was just a kid enjoying my summer. I really didnt have that much of an idea of my status financially as a family."

Sprintz said he and his brother were raised by their mother, who had to work hard to make ends meet.

"For her it was a challenge to afford camp," he said. "With the help of the Sunshine Fund, I was able to go to camp from 1987 to 1994.

"The experiences I had at camp were my first leadership and first working job experience. I learned tact and I learned leadership here."

The Sunshine Fund began in 1979, the same year Pink Floyd released The Wall and Michael Jackson debuted his first solo album, Off the Wall  still a few years away from recording Thriller.

Away from popular music, the year also saw Margaret Thatcher elected for the first time as British prime minister, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan, the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran, the deposing of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and the hostage taking of Americans at the U.S. embassy in Iran.

In Canada, the Supreme Court ruled that the creation of officially unilingual legislatures in Manitoba and Quebec was unconstitutional, former NDP premier Ed Schreyer was appointed governor general, and Canadians watched the election of the minority government of Joe Clark as well as its defeat on a non-confidence vote just days before the end of the year.

But, on the front page of the Free Press at the beginning of summer in 1979, a column said that "for thousands of Manitoba children, a week or two at camp is the highlight of their summer holidays.

KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Sunshine Fund honorary chairman Fred Penner with Roxanne Heindl, 9, and Micheal Phillips, 7, as they sign up for camp in March 1989.

But for more than 1,000 others, its only a dream. The problem is simple. They just cant afford to go.

"But with the help of our readers, the Free Press hopes to quickly change that. Today, were launching a fundraising drive aimed at giving a rewarding camping experience to hundreds of kids now unable to afford it.

"The Free Press Sunshine Fund, which will become an annual appeal, is aimed specifically at helping those children who would otherwise be turned away from a camping holiday for lack of funds or sponsors."

Kim Scherger, the executive director of the Manitoba Camping Association, said many children have attended and continue to go to camp because of the generous contributions of Free Press readers.

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"We found information that we were at 24,000 people who have gone to camp because of the Sunshine Fund over the years," Scherger said. "Since 1979, there has been approximately $5.8 million donated."

Last year, donations sent 614 kids to camp. But it wasnt enough. Sadly, 50 kids werent able to go because there werent enough donations.

"My ballpark this year is to have 650 kids go to camp," Scherger said. "If we can get that extra 50 kids to camp this year, that would be great."

Will you help them get there? And, if you were one of those who benefitted from the Sunshine Fund, will you help others and let us know who you are?

After all, a Sunshine Fund only turns 40 once, but the benefits for children last forever.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Margaret Ferguson wove her love of nature into her life.

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This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Margaret Ferguson wove her love of nature into her life.

The Winnipegger, who died on April 27 at age 97, left a legacy of lichen-dyed, homespun and woven tapestries cherished by her children and grandchildren  as well as her research notes at the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library. The notes detail the colours created from lichen gathered during summers at her beloved Lake of the Woods.

"She had pots going on the stove in the cottage filled with dye," said Lyn Ferguson, the eldest of three children.

Ferguson made her own dye, spun her own wool and wove beautiful, practical pieces, her daughter said. "It was kind of fabricated into her life."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A binder with lichen-dyed wool samples that Margaret Ferguson researched was part of a museum exhibit called the Women of the Manitoba Crafts Guild that runs until December.

Going through family photos, the handiwork is omnipresent. "Theres her woven pillows, her rugs on the floor, a baby asleep on a handmade pillow. I have a beautiful scarf  she spun the wool, she dyed it, she wove it."

The crafter and creator, who had a masters degree in home economics specializing in foods and nutrition, used lichen as well as onion skins to develop richly hued dyes.

The Edmonton-raised Ferguson, and her University of Manitoba geologist husband Bob, had a cottage on Big Duck Island and a small aluminum boat.

They used it to buzz around and collect samples of the simple, slow-growing plant that typically forms a low, crusty, leaf-like or branching growth on rocks, walls, and trees.

Her meticulous notes, drawings and dyed wool samples can be seen at the Winnipeg crafts museum and online in a Virtual Museum of Canada exhibit: Narrative Threads: Crafting the Canadian Quilt.

SUPPLIED Ferguson and her late husband Bob Ferguson with whom she shared a love of nature and people. Bob died in 2015.

Her work at the crafts museum is part of an exhibit called Women of the Crafts Guild of Manitoba  a group Ferguson had served as president.

"Its such a wonderful piece to show the research she did, in terms of doing the dyeing  and she used that for teaching," said curator Andrea Reichert.

"She had people out to the cottage for dyeing workshops. She would make dye with all these natural materials and, from drab green and grey lichens, you could get hot pink and some super cool colours," said Reichert.

"It was wonderful," said Gerdine Strong, who took dyeing classes at the Lake of the Woods in the 1970s.

"It was very peaceful and they were so generous with having the craft people there," said Strong, 87.

SUPPLIED Margaret Ferguson - for Carol Sanders Passages feature / Winnipeg Free Press 2019

"The dark brown one gives you a gorgeous fuschia colour if you soak them in  the original recipe calls for strong male urine  but ammonia is whats normally used," she said with a laugh.

Strong and Ferguson belonged to a "cottage spinners group" that met monthly.

"She was a great one  very down to earth," said Strong, who took over as the crafts guild president after Fergusons term ended.

The guilds doors closed in 1997. Started as a branch of the Canadian Handicraft Guild, the provincial groups goal was to generate money, help solve rural problems and preserve the art of craft-making  all rooted in feminism.

"It was such a huge organization, and for so long it was run exclusively by women," Reichert said.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS PASSAGES Photo of Margaret Fergusons spinning wheel and wool that she spun, dyed and wove, into a scarf. Margaret, who died in April, was president of the Crafts Guild of Manitoba who experimented with lichens dyes for textiles  the results of her research with detailed technical notes were donated to the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library. Carol Sanders | Reporter May 30, 2019

For Ferguson, an ardent feminist, it was a good fit.

"Crafts are very practical," said her daughter Lyn. "She made beautiful things but they were always functional."

Ferguson, known to her family as "Muzz," had more than one spinning wheel, and a passion for wool.

"She collected wool," said Lyn, who recalled her mom spinning dog hair. "But she was really fascinated with sheep."

During a family trip to New Zealand, "she knew the names of all the sheep."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A binder with lichen-dyed wool samples that Margaret Ferguson researched was part of a museum exhibit called the Women of the Manitoba Crafts Guild that runs until December.

Ferguson belonged to the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg, and advocated for a safe environment and peace.

"She went through a stage where she was very concerned about radioactivity," said her daughter, who recalled having to drink powdered skim milk that was thought to be safer.

"I still cannot, to this day, drink skim milk," she said with a laugh.

The Fergusons opposed the Vietnam War  "I remember we hosted some draft dodgers in the 70s"  and were progressive, open-minded and always learning.

"My parents were kind of young at heart, in many ways."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A binder with lichen-dyed wool samples that Margaret Ferguson researched is part of a museum exhibit called Women of the Manitoba Crafts Guild, which runs until December.

When Bob took three research leaves (Cambridge and Oxford in England, and Adelaide, Australia) Ferguson went with him and embraced the opportunity.

It was during their time in Oxford in the early 1970s that Fergusons creative side began to flourish, her daughter said.

"When she got back, she became more interested in weaving and spinning."

Then, she began experimenting with natural dyes at Lake of the Woods.

"The cottage was a magical place, as cottages often are, where the kids and grandkids and the cousins all came together," said Lyn. "It was a place of great, great joy."

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Chris Ferguson-Martin as a baby laying on a pillow that was woven by his grandmother, Margaret Ferguson.

Fergusons creativity wasnt limited to textiles: her drawing of a huge pine tree near the cottage became an iconic image for the family. "Our son had it tattooed on his back," said Lyn, who has a framed print hanging in her home.

The couple spent five months a year at their island cottage, and continued to go after Ferguson was diagnosed with vascular dementia at age 80. Bob helped care for her as long as he could. He died in 2015.

In her final years, Ferguson had no memory of her craftwork and dyeing, so she didnt miss it, her daughter said.

"She wasnt doing a lot of grieving," said Lyn. "She was gracious, warm and lovely."

A memorial service will be held July 8 at 2 p.m., at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
In the spring of 1919, thousands of residents took to the streets in support of the Winnipeg General Strike. The six-week demonstration attracted media coverage from across Canada, with photographers capturing key moments.

The main photo on this page was taken at Portage and Main during the early days of the strike. Today, thanks to the use of large-format cameras in the early 1900s, we can see in greater detail who took a stand for labour rights 100 years ago.
Governments should expect to pay for sexual-assault victims to be represented in court as Canadian law evolves, a legal expert says.

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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Governments should expect to pay for sexual-assault victims to be represented in court as Canadian law evolves, a legal expert says.

University of Manitoba law professor Karen Busby, who has studied sexual-assault law for about 30 years, said it's a good sign the province is covering the legal costs of complainants who want to limit how much of their personal information can be used by the accused during the court process.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES University of Manitoba law professor Karen Busby.

"The government should be anticipating that there will be more cases," she said.

On Thursday, Manitoba's justice minister announced the department is spending $65,000 this year to cover legal costs for an independent lawyer to be appointed in sexual-assault cases that involve requests for records containing the victims' personal information.

For more than 20 years, complainants have been allowed to have a lawyer represent them to help guard their privacy when those accused of crimes wanted to access third-party records about the complainants as part of their defence.

But six months ago, Canada's rape-shield laws were expanded, allowing lawyers to represent victims in court when the accused wants to bring in evidence of the victim's sexual history or use records they already have  including medical records, therapy records, journal entries, text messages and online communication  to defend themselves against sexual-assault allegations.

It's up to a judge to decide how much of that personal information will become part of the public record in court. The hearing happens in private, with the Crown prosecutor, the defence lawyer and, if one is appointed, the lawyer representing the victim.

'These changes add to the protections for complainants of sexual assault and sexual-nature crimes, and they do serve a very important role in protecting a complainant's privacy and dignity'  Winnipeg lawyer Jennifer Gaba

Winnipeg lawyer Jennifer Gaba took on that role earlier this spring and was the first to be independently appointed for sexual assault victims in Manitoba since the updated laws came into effect in a case in which the accused doctor already had access to medical records and sought to use them against several women who have accused him of sexual assault.

"These changes add to the protections for complainants of sexual assault and sexual-nature crimes, and they do serve a very important role in protecting a complainant's privacy and dignity," Gaba said.

"It's a unique role  having an independent lawyer for the complainant puts somebody in the courtroom who has the specific role of considering how these factors under the Criminal Code apply in a particular case."

She said the judge, Crown and defence lawyer all have their own roles in a trial, "but counsel for the complainant, their purpose is to make everybody else stop and think about this particular information that's being sought. It's personal to the complainant, and is it in society's interest to allow this information to go forward?"

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Jerra Fraser, a counsellor in Klinic's sexual assault crisis program, says protecting privacy is particularly important in sexual assault cases.

Busby predicts courts across the country will see an increasing number of independent lawyers appointed to look after victims' rights, particularly after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled last week it's a judge's responsibility to ensure there's a proper hearing before details of a complainant's sexual history are allowed to be heard in court.

"So you don't wait for the Crown to object. The obligation falls to the judge to make sure that the evidence isn't introduced. So I think we might see a more robust application of sexual-history provisions, because they're just run roughshod in a lot of cases," Busby said.

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Busby is part of a team of U of M researchers looking into how and why sexual assault cases fall apart. There are about 15 sexual assault trials a year in Manitoba, she said.

"Fundamentally, what the trial process is about is saying, we don't believe what happened to you, you're exaggerating, you're lying, you're faking, you're vindictive, you have some kind of motive. I mean, it's a brutal, brutal process, and you have to be pretty strongly motivated to allow your own healing to take the back seat because the matter's going to stay alive until after the trial is over. And with the likelihood of a conviction being so low, I don't know what it will take to change," she said.

Protecting privacy is particularly important in sexual assault cases, said Jerra Fraser, a counsellor in Klinic's sexual assault crisis program.

"Anything that really looks at what's going to give survivors more choice, give survivors more privacy, give survivors more control  anything that asks that, I think, is a step toward being more trauma-informed."

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Manhattans Greenwich Village.

Its patrons, among the most marginalized people in all of New York City, risked everything and rose up in protest. The Stonewall Riots, also known as the Stonewall Uprising, is widely considered the birth of the gay liberation movement. And it was LGBTTQ* people of colour who were at the forefront of the fight.

Pride Winnipeg events 2018 Pride parade. (Trevor Hagan / Free Press files) SATURDAY 9:30 a.m.: Winnipeg Frontrunners Pride Run, The Forks 10 a.m.: Trans March, Manitoba legislature Noon: Show Your Pride Art Event, Central Park 1 p.m.: Two-Spirit Powwow, The Forks Noon-7 p.m.: Festival at The Forks, noon-7 p.m. click to read more SATURDAY 9:30 a.m.: Winnipeg Frontrunners Pride Run, The Forks 10 a.m.: Trans March, Manitoba legislature Noon: Show Your Pride Art Event, Central Park 1 p.m.: Two-Spirit Powwow, The Forks Noon-7 p.m.: Festival at The Forks, noon-7 p.m. SUNDAY 8 a.m.: Pride Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser, Club 200 9:30 a.m.: Pride Sunday Worship Service, Augustine United Church 10 a.m.: Pride Rally, Manitoba legislature 11 a.m.: Parade. Begins at the legislature, proceeds north on Memorial Boulevard, east on Portage to Main, and ending at The Forks. 1 p.m.: Sacred fire, The Forks Oodena Circle Close

In honour of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Pride Winnipegs theme for 2019s festival and parade, which takes place this weekend, is Pride of Colour.

"Prides across the globe believe that the reason Pride exists is because of the Stonewall Riots and we owe, big time, to all these amazing activists, especially the trans people of colour that were involved in the riots that has given us the liberty to celebrate our identity with peace and prosperity," says Muhammad Ahsan, the president of Pride Winnipeg.

Honouring a landmark moment in queer history isnt the only reason behind the theme.

"While Pride has been happening for more than three decades in Winnipeg, we have still not reached the point where two-spirit, Indigenous, black and other community members of colour can say they also feel included," Ahsan says. "That has been a common criticism of, not just of Pride Winnipeg, but Prides across Canada and North America, that weve not done enough. For me personally, its important we create safe spaces where people of colour and other marginalized identities feel they can also belong."

Karen Sharma is an organizer with Queer People of Colour Winnipeg, a collective that does exactly that  it creates safer spaces where queer and trans people of colour can feel "seen, valued and inspired throughout the year," she says. QPOC Winnipeg, which is independent from Pride, hosts everything from panels to dance parties.

An intersectional Pride is about more than ensuring two-spirit, black, Indigenous, queer and trans people of colour feel welcome at the festival, Karen Sharma says. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

When talking about building more inclusive, safe spaces, its helpful to use the framework of intersectionality, a concept coined by the black feminist scholar Kimberle Williams Crenshaw in 1989.

"Intersectionality is about thinking about the unique circumstances of oppression when they intersect at multiple forms of identity," Sharma explains. "So, for us, when it comes to any and all events  and thats in part why we exist  it is about recognizing that queer people of colour, so two-spirit, black, Indigenous, queer and trans people of colour do experience homophobia, transphobia and transmisogyny in unique ways that are often compounded because of the dynamics of racism, settler colonialism and anti-black and anti-Indigenous racism. When it comes to Pride, its another site in which our community has, in the past, tended to experience exclusion or the kinds of barriers we face havent been considered in the design of Pride programming. Its an issue thats been highlighted across Canada."

An intersectional Pride is about more than ensuring two-spirit, black, Indigenous, queer and trans people of colour feel welcome at the festival, Sharma says. Its also about ensuring they have a seat at the table when it comes to decision making and the design of the programming. "I know theres been a lot of effort in terms of this Prides mainstage to think about placing people of colour in the forefront," she says.

Pride Winnipeg president Muhammad Ahsan, Mayor Brian Bowman and other dignitaries raise the Pride flag at City Hall last Friday. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Ahsan points to Prides collaboration with Manitobas two-spirit community as another example of how Pride is putting its theme into practice. Two-spirit is an Indigenous term for someone with both feminine and masculine spirits.

"Weve been working very closely with the two-spirit community for the past four or five years, collaborating with them to have a two-spirit powwow as part of Prides celebrations," Ahsan says. "We were the first North American Pride to start that (in 2017, for the 30th anniversary of Pride), and Prides across North America have learned from our experience. And the most important part of that experience is weve never told the two-spirit community what to do. We ask them how we can assist them and provide them any space or resources, and then we step aside. Its their event."

This years grand marshal is Peetanacoot Nenakawekapo, an Anishinaabe two-spirit trans woman who attended the first Pride Parade in Winnipeg in 1987.

'Weve been working very closely with the twospirit community for the past four or five years, collaborating with them to have a twospirit powwow as part of Prides celebrations'  Muhammad Ahsan

Of course, its almost impossible to talk about Pride and people of colour without talking about the issue of uniformed police officers. In 2016, the Toronto chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement protested the Pride Parade in that city. One of BLMs key demands was the exclusion of uniformed police officers from Pride, which has been a heated issue at Pride events across North America.

Here in Winnipeg, Ahsan clarifies that police officers are welcome at Pride, just not in uniform, unless they are on duty.

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"If they are not on duty, theres no point," he says. "I dont see doctors or surgeons in scrubs. Especially this year, when were talking about people of colour, many racialized community members have had difficult experiences with police within Winnipeg and Canada. Were not trying to exclude anyone. Were trying to be safe and inclusive for people who may not find that safety and inclusion anywhere else."

'I think its really important to remember that queer resistance has always been as a result of the labour of people of colour' Karen Sharma

When asked why its important events such as Pride focus on the most marginalized members of the LGBTTQ* community, Sharma circles back to the Stonewall Riots.

"We dont always talk about this, but Stonewall was really the result of the actions of, largely, trans women of colour and trans and generally trans and queer people of colour  Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Storme DeLarverie  who were some of the first people to throw bricks, shot glasses, whatever they could get their hands on in protest against police violence," Sharma says.

"I think its really important to remember that queer resistance has always been as a result of the labour of people of colour. Its important that Pride includes the voices and experiences of our two-spirit, black, Indigenous, trans and queer people of colour communities because theyve always been at the forefront of resisting. The labour were celebrating was made possible because of us, and our ancestors."

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JenZoratti
The province's police watchdog has launched an investigation in the wake of a court ruling awarding $95,000 in damages to a family assaulted by city police at a Winnipeg hotel.

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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province's police watchdog has launched an investigation in the wake of a court ruling awarding $95,000 in damages to a family assaulted by city police at a Winnipeg hotel.

Officers, responding to a disturbance complaint, entered the familys hotel room without lawful cause and later "backfilled" their version of events in police reports and court testimony to justify their "egregious conduct," Queens Bench Justice Jeffrey Harris wrote in a ruling dated May 27.

"Once in the room, their conduct was malicious and high-handed," Harris wrote. "It offends the courts sense of decency, and must be deterred and punished."

Once in the room, their conduct was malicious and highhanded... It offends the courts sense of decency, and must be deterred and punished. Queens Bench Justice Jeffrey Harris

According to court documents, Ola and Andrew Beaulieu, their two teenage children and a family friend were staying at the Clarion Hotel on Dec. 26, 2014, when police officers investigating a disturbance complaint "entered their hotel room... (without) a warrant to do so."

Once inside "a number of physical altercations occurred between the Beaulieus and the WPS officers," ending with Ola, Andrew and 18-year-old daughter Kyra being charged with assaulting a police officer and other offences.

Officers testified they had grounds to enter the hotel room because they were concerned about the safety of minors inside. They told court Andrew Beaulieu assumed "an aggressive stance" when he answered the door and raised his fists, telling officers they were "making a big f---ing mistake."

Excerpts from the judgment Click to Expand "The WPS officers provided a version of events to the court which they hoped would justify their unlawful entry into the hotel room and provide a cover for their actions after that entry. Having demonstrated a willingness to mislead the court on this issue, I approach the balance of their evidence with caution, especially where it differs from that of the plaintiffs." "I am satisfied that by charging Ola with assaulting a WPS officer, Const. Macumber engaged in a deliberate and improper use of his office... I am satisfied that Const. Macumber laid the charge against Ola in order to conceal his unlawful attack on her and to support the narrative that was developed to justify the unlawful entry into the Beaulieus' hotel room." "It is impossible to understand how [Const. Macumber] considered the level of force used against Ola appropriate. Even if Const. Macumber was acting in the course of police duties, his assault of Ola goes beyond what could be considered within a reasonable range."

Once inside, the occupants yelled and swore at officers, and charged at them with cellphones, demanding their badge numbers, officers testified.

The Beaulieus described a very different scene, telling court they had been alerted by hotel staff about the disturbance complaint and waited quietly for police to arrive.

Ola Beaulieu said it was she who opened the door to police, after which the four officers walked into the room.

Kyra began recording the event on her cellphone. The 10-second video shows Andrew Beaulieu standing passively with his hands on a kitchen counter, talking "in a firm but non-aggressive voice."

Ola Beaulieu is seen standing to the left of the door, "where she would have been standing if she had opened the door, as she said she did," Harris wrote.

"There were no occupants yelling at the WPS officers, grabbing cellphones, and charging toward them, putting cellphones in their faces and demanding badge numbers... The video contradicts in a material and substantive way the evidence given by the defendants as to what met them as they entered the room. The chaos that they described to the court simply did not exist."

The video ends with Winnipeg Police Service Const. J. Macumber, the lone officer identified as a defendant in the case, walking toward Kyra and seizing her cellphone.

Another video recorded by family friend Cheyenne Mills on her iPad shows Macumber swinging his arm at Kyra, pushing her onto a table.

Macumber testified he was defending himself after Kyra had struck him on the arm. Kyra denied hitting Macumber, telling court she stepped in to prevent him from taking Cheyennes iPad.

Harris ruled Macumber and the other officers were intruders in the room, meaning Kyra was justified in acting as she did.

Ola Beaulieu testified she ran toward Macumber after he shoved Kyra. She said Macumber punched her in the face two to four times, causing her to lose consciousness.

Harris rejected Macumbers claim Ola Beaulieu punched him first, saying a picture tendered as evidence at trial showed no evidence he had been injured.

"As Const. Macumber was an intruder, Ola was justified in taking the actions that she did and would have been justified, in the circumstances, had she struck Const. Macumber as he alleges," Harris wrote.

The civilian director (of IIU) has determined that public interest demands an independent investigation be conducted. IIU release

When Andrew Beaulieu tried to intervene in the assault on his wife, other officers took him to the floor and subdued him with knee strikes to his thigh.

Harris rejected Andrew Beaulieus claim police punched him 160 times after he was handcuffed, finding his memory "questionable" given his alcohol consumption that night.

"However, both Ola and (one of her children) testified that they witnessed the WPS officers punching Andrew," Harris wrote. "The photos of Andrews injuries produced as exhibits at trial are consistent with a struggle to apply handcuffs."

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The Winnipeg Police Service advised the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba of the decision Thursday.

"In that judgment... a variety of circumstances were outlined by the trial judge that raised allegations of misleading justice and use of excessive force against a number of WPS officers," the IIU said in a release Friday.

"The civilian director has determined that public interest demands an independent investigation be conducted."

Download Judgment: Beaulieu vs. City of Winnipeg

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
At two points in his statement on Wednesday delineating the results of his Russia investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller pointed to the long report his team wrote as the ultimate authority on what was found.

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This article was published 1/6/2019 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

At two points in his statement on Wednesday delineating the results of his Russia investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller pointed to the long report his team wrote as the ultimate authority on what was found.

"It is important that the offices written work speak for itself," he said at the outset of his comments. Later, he said he didnt plan to testify before Congress, using a similar argument.

"Any testimony from this office," he said, "would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself."

The report, he added, was his testimony.

On the surface, this seems almost deflating: Mueller, after staying silent for so many months, is now simply going to point to the report that anyone can read? But as the immediate reaction to his comments made clear, there was enormous utility in his approaching the statement in this way.

Most people havent read the report and have relied on summaries in the news media or from U.S. Attorney General William Barr to guide their understanding of it. Barrs position was clear from the first four-page letter he offered publicly. Mueller didnt find a chargeable conspiracy by members of the Trump campaign to work with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential campaign and, by his own assessment, the potentially obstructive acts that Donald Trump undertook werent criminal. In his news conference before the report was released, Barr stated flatly that "no collusion" had taken place.

Each of those assertions was celebrated by Barrs boss, Trump. The president summarized Muellers findings in an inaccurate four-word statement: No collusion, no obstruction. But each of Barrs assertions also diverged from what the report said.

What Mueller did Wednesday was essentially hold up the report and point at it, telling America what it contained. By doing so, we have for the first time heard a member of the executive branch convey the reports findings accurately  in a way that Americans and the media would be hard-pressed to misinterpret.

Mueller noted that his team indicted more than two dozen Russians in connection with their alleged roles in hacking Democratic networks and accounts and with trying to interfere in the campaign via social media. But instead of saying there was "no collusion" by the Trump team with that effort  a term that the report itself explicitly rejected in its consideration of what happened  Mueller explained what his investigators found in more nuanced terms.

The first volume of his report, he said, "includes a discussion of the Trump campaigns response to this activity as well as our conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy."

Insufficient evidence, of course, is not a lack of evidence. Again, this distinction exists within the report, but its not how Trump or Barr presented Muellers findings.

The second volume of the report assesses Trumps efforts to undermine Muellers investigation. Here, Mueller spoke at length.

"Under long-standing department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office," Mueller said. "That is unconstitutional, even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view. That, too, is prohibited. The special counsels office is part of the Department of Justice, and by regulation it was bound by that department policy.

"Charging the president with a crime," he continued, "was therefore not an option we could consider."

This conflicts with what Barr said at that news conference before the report was released publicly. The attorney general was asked whether the opinion from the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel (referred to by Mueller above) was the reason Mueller didnt charge Trump with a crime.

"He  he was not saying that but for the OLC opinion he would have found a crime," Barr said. "He made it clear that he had not made the determination that there was a crime."

Because of the boundaries established by that opinion, Mueller said on Wednesday, "we concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime." In fact, the report says, his team would have exonerated Trump on obstruction charges if it could.

It couldnt.

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Mueller, in his statement on Wednesday, explained how the OLC opinion guided their work. First, he said, the opinion allows for an investigation of a sitting president in order to preserve evidence. Second, it points to the existence of other mechanisms for accusing sitting presidents of crimes.

Its easy to read between the lines here, though Mueller was still not direct. Among the other mechanisms are, of course, impeachment. Mueller noted that preserving evidence could be useful to charge co-conspirators, "among other things." An impeachment trial is, in fact, another thing.

For two months, the special counsel has seen others, Barr and Trump included, try to frame his work in a particular way. He pointedly said he didnt question Barrs "good faith" in releasing the full report, raising the question of points at which his confidence in Barrs efforts was less robust. He apparently hoped the release of the report would stand in contrast to the Barr-Trump framing (as was made clear in his letter to Barr), but that wasnt borne out.

So, for the first time since he was appointed in May 2017, he decided to speak directly. In so doing, he was able to do what no one else from the Trump administration had yet done: capture the public attention and use the moment to accurately and briefly convey what his investigation found and what his report said.

"It is important that the offices written work speak for itself," Mueller said. It was a warning that applied to his own comments  but also, obviously, those of his superiors.

 Washington Post
Ontario announced last week that Indigenous studies courses in high schools throughout the province would be optional.

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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ontario announced last week that Indigenous studies courses in high schools throughout the province would be "optional."

This was a reversal of a 2016 commitment by the former provincial Liberal government, which promised all students from grades 9 to 12 would learn about First Nations, Inuit, and Metis cultures, communities, and contributions to Canada.

This is not the first time Premier Doug Fords Conservative government reneged on a promise to incorporate Indigenous content in schools. In July 2018, it cancelled curriculum revision sessions designed to incorporate residential schools and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

The message here is simple: Indigenous peoples are optional.

The problem is, were not.

Look at your drivers licence. Every single person carries Indigenous names that make up your identity, like "Winnipeg, "Manitoba" or "Canada."

Look at the land you live on, the water you drink, and the resources this countrys economy thrives upon. Who helped make this happen?

Indigenous contributions are fundamentally and critically at the centre of Canadian life. Every decision, determination, and policy and practice must embody this principle.

The issue is too many Canadian leaders want to pretend this isnt true.

In Alberta, the newly installed United Conservative Party government has ceased making official treaty and territorial acknowledgements before opening government meetings and announcements. Doing so is now a choice, Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson said.

In Saskatchewan, the province is entrenched in several court battles over treaty rights, arguing it can tell First Nations when and where they can hunt and fish. The government has gone so far as to arm conservation officers with military-grade rifles to enforce its belief.

In Manitoba, the provincial government cancelled last year  without consultation or discussion  two multimillion-dollar agreements with the Manitoba Metis Federation to secure its support for Manitoba Hydro projects. Premier Brian Pallister called one of the agreements "hush money" paid to a "special-interest group."

Relationships with Indigenous peoples are almost always an option for Canada  and one seen as political, inconvenient, or a "problem."

Why does virtually every single resource project in Canada involve First Nations-held lands and not, say, a town or city? Why are First Nations territories always where Canada chooses to run its pipelines?

Even when politicians try to live up to Canadas responsibilities to First Nations things get mired in options and choices. Take, for example, the litany of bills still in legislative limbo, laws that would change the lives of Indigenous communities and fulfill Canadas relational responsibilities.

These bills, many proposed by Prime Minister Trudeau and his Liberal government, are now threatened as the next federal election looms, and most will likely run out of time to be passed.

Of the remaining dozens being debated in Parliament, approximately 16 would have direct impact on First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. These include Bills C-91 and C-433 (Indigenous Languages), C-92 (Indigenous Child Welfare), C-391 (Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property).

This is not to mention the litany of environmental bills that would, by default, protect Indigenous ways of life.

Even the recently proposed Bill C-99, which proposes to change the citizenship oath to include a commitment for new Canadians to respect Indigenous and treaty rights, is likely not going to make it through Parliament.

The most egregious example of Canadian leaders choosing to make Indigenous peoples pawns is the case of Bill C-262.

Introduced as a private members bill by NDP MP Romeo Saganash, C-262 would require the government to consider whether federal laws are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Passed by the UN in 2007, it ensures governments "constitute the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world." It protects the rights of Indigenous peoples to practice their cultures, customs, languages, and to develop and strengthen their economies and social and political institutions.

The impact of C-262 would be a game-changer in Canada. It would require the Indian Act be amended immediately, Indigenous governments be recognized, and adequate living conditions be ensured for Indigenous peoples everywhere.

It would not only bring equity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in this country but it would bind Canada to a principle that Indigenous peoples matter.

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But, in case you havent noticed, Indigenous rights are a choice for Canada to make  even if the constitution says otherwise.

While C-262 was approved more then a year ago by the majority of elected MPs in the House of Commons, a collection of unelected senators have spent weeks using tactics to delay the bill in the upper house.

In a letter to the leader of the senators co-ordinating the effort (Conservative Senate leader Larry Smith), Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and Justice Minister David Lametti asked his caucus to "cease its procedural delay tactics."

Speaking on the delay, Saganash added: "I find it troubling that, in 2019, in this place called Canada, that there are still people in our institutions that oppose the human rights of Indigenous peoples."

Its understandable  if some people matter and others are just an option.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Could SkipTheDishes make its next major delivery at The Forks?

There's a sense of momentum building in both the public and private sectors about the wildly popular Winnipeg born-and-bred food-courier service delivering itself to the much-anticipated Railside mixed-use development now being devised for 14 acres of undeveloped land on the west side of The Forks site.

Multiple sources confirmed that the company  which now boasts more than 2,300 employees in four different buildings in the East Exchange District  is interested in a new headquarters on Parcel 4, a city-owned property at the northwest edge of The Forks directly across from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, that is expected to serve as a significant component of Railside.

The sources confirmed a prominent Winnipeg developer, aided by Economic Development Winnipeg and its executive director Dayna Spiring, have been aggressively promoting the idea to the Forks Renewal Corp., and to the three levels of government that are serving as partners in a grander vision to establish a smart park for tech companies on the land.

Parcel 4 is the empty lot to the upper left of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in this 2018 aerial photo. (Dan Harper / CMHR)

City and provincial sources said EDW has been particularly bullish on the idea, arguing that failure to meet some of Skip's expectations around a showcase headquarters could cause the company to look elsewhere to set up its base of operations.

EDW refused to comment, but Paul Jordan, the chief executive officer of the Forks Renewal Corp., said in an interview the possibility of a SkipTheDishes headquarters at The Forks is very real.

Jordan said the company is working with one of eight developers that have been pre-approved to pitch projects for Railside. Although he could not name the company, he said it is a well-established player in the local development community.

"In conversation with EDW and the developer, we've said that we're OK with this kind of project as long as it fits into our overall vision," Jordan said.

Founded in 2012, Skip was sold for C$110 million three years ago to Just Eat PLC, a U.K.-based company that operates food-delivery services in 13 countries. Just Eat is currently rolling out Skip's distinctive app  which allows users to order a meal and then watch the progress of the delivery vehicle  and its delivery model (which relies on independent contractors, as opposed to employees) to its operations in Australia and the U.K.

The possibility of a SkipTheDishes headquarters at The Forks is very real, says Paul Jordan, the chief executive officer of The Forks Renewal Corp. (Mikaela MacKenzie / WinnipegFree Press files)

SkipTheDishes declined to discuss any particular location, but in a statement provided to the Free Press confirmed it's in the process of looking for a permanent headquarters in Winnipeg and in other cities, as well. There are offices in Calgary and Toronto.

"As one of the fastest-growing tech companies within Canada, there is an immediate need to establish a permanent headquarters that represents our brand, and supports ongoing business development and recruitment of top talent," the statement said. "Our preference is to maintain our position in our hometown of Winnipeg, though we are actively looking at a number of solutions."

Jordan said the Parcel 4 site is definitely a priority for Skip, largely so that it can remain connected to the Exchange District, where many of its employees live. However, before any serious discussion can take place, The Forks must acquire the land from the city and then must calculate what are expected to be significant costs to prepare the site for development.

Jordan said the site will require significant environmental remediation to deal with decades of contamination from its proximity to railway operations. There is also a requirement to do a comprehensive archeological investigation of the site to recover and preserve artifacts dating back to its earliest days as an Indigenous community and, later, as a hub of trading with European settlers.

Negotiations with the city on the purchase of the land has been stalled for many months, largely because the magnitude of remediation costs are not fully known, Jordan said. Work could start immediately if a deal could be struck to acquire the land, he added.

Negotiations with the city on the purchase of the land has been stalled for months because the magnitude of remediation costs are not fully known. (Sasha Sefter / Winnipeg Free Press)

"This is not a clean piece of land," he said. "It's going to require significant work to get it ready."

As exciting as the prospect of a Forks-based SkipTheDishes headquarters is for some, the idea of an office complex big enough to host a company that size will be controversial in some quarters

Quietly, some involved in the downtown development sphere are wondering whether a commitment to the company in one of the most important new developments in downtown Winnipeg is a good long-term bet.

Skip has been growing at an alarming rate. However, despite triple-digit growth in revenues, the company has yet to report a profit and is now battling competition from a flurry of similar online upstarts. Ownership has promised that 2019 will be a profitable year for the company.

Skip has also suffered in the court of public relations, with numerous allegations from its drivers that when all is said and done, it does not pay a fair wage.

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Public consultations have found a preference for residential development with minimal commercial and office space as part of any new development at The Forks. (Supplied rendering / Winnipeg Free Press files)

There are also concerns about whether a smart park office complex is consistent with the original vision of Railside, a project that has already been nearly a decade in the making.

Railside has been consistently described as a mixed-use development, a term that could very easily incorporate commercial or office space. However, a review of past public presentations and the results of several phases of public consultation has shown a decided preference for maximum amount of residential development with only minimal commercial and office space.

In fact, consultation documents posted by The Forks suggest that those canvassed were quite firm in recommending against large- or medium-scale office development. Some believed it would be incompatible with the rest of The Forks site, while others pointed out that it would be disastrous for The Forks to develop office buildings in a city with a high commercial vacancy rate and an over-abundance of empty lots throughout downtown crying out for investment.

Jordan said he believes what is being contemplated for SkipTheDishes will be consistent with the overall vision for Railside.

"If it's not consistent, we won't do it," he said.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Anyone who seeks a career in politics must first answer a difficult question: is my motivation in seeking public office to serve a higher purpose, or is it a naked personal ambition?

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This article was published 31/5/2019 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anyone who seeks a career in politics must first answer a difficult question: is my motivation in seeking public office to serve a higher purpose, or is it a naked personal ambition?

In reality, politicians must be both personally ambitious and committed to helping people other than themselves. The best politicians are those who keep both driving forces in balance; those who do not achieve such a balance risk losing their way.

This is the main challenge facing former Liberal cabinet ministers Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott. Both were considered stars in the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Both resigned their cabinet posts to protest against political interference in a criminal prosecution involving Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin. Both were ultimately ejected from the Liberal caucus for continued attacks on Mr. Trudeau and the Liberal party itself.

Jane Philpott (left) and Jody Wilson-Raybould will seek re-election as Independents. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press files)

There are many Canadians who are sympathetic to the cause as identified by Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Ms. Philpott. The question is whether there are enough of them in two ridings  one in British Columbia and one in Ontario  to return the dissident Liberals as Independent MPs in the next Parliament.

The two MPs confirmed simultaneously last week that they would submit themselves to the mercy of voters as Independents after eschewing an offer from the Green party. The hill they must climb now to accomplish their re-election goal is very steep indeed.

The vast majority of Independent MPs are those who, like Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Ms. Philpott, were rejected by the party they represented when they were first elected. In recent history, only a handful of MPs has left the fold of a registered party and subsequently retained their seats as Independents.

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In addition to the absence of logistical and financial support from party electoral machines, Independent candidates often have a tough time explaining to people why they want to continue in politics after losing the confidence of the party that helped them get elected in the first place.

This is the element missing from the narrative offered by both Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Ms. Philpott. Notwithstanding the issues of ethics and fairness that were raised in the SNC-Lavalin affair, neither MP has made a compelling argument for a continued career in politics.

Both claim that their candidacy is designed to promote non-partisan co-operation that frees MPs from the yoke of party discipline. Those are lofty goals, but few believe that on their own, a handful of Independent MPs has much of a chance to change the dynamics of the House of Commons. This is a reality that must be known by both former Liberal caucus members.

The vast majority of Independent MPs were rejected by the party they represented when they were first elected. (Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press files)

Of course, it should be noted that should there be a minority government  and the controversy surrounding SNC-Lavalin has made that a much more likely outcome in this falls election  Independent MPs could hold the balance of power in a fractured Parliament.

That would, however, require both Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Ms. Philpott to make another difficult decision: support a government led by Mr. Trudeau, a man whom they believe to be morally and ethically compromised, or a government led by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, a man whose policies are completely at odds with the values that brought the dissident MPs into politics in the first place.

First, however, Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Ms. Philpott will have to convince voters their motivations for remaining in politics have a higher purpose. That is a question that looms over their political careers.
KENYON, Minn.  If you find a penny on the ground in Kenyon, theres probably a story behind it.

Police Chief Lee Sjolander has been leaving these pennies around his southern Minnesota town for years as a way to cope with the bad things he sees and experiences keeping the peace in this tiny town of 1,800 people.

Its closure. Its to come back and say, OK. What did I do right, what should have happened, could have happened, he said. You have to put it away and move on. And the pennies are a way of doing that.

Sjolander, 52, has written publicly about this very personal ritual. Its one way hes helped flip the stereotype of the hardened, stoic police chief. He is candid about the lessons hes learned from a traumatic childhood and his own struggles with mental health.

In doing so, hes reshaping the role police play in Kenyon.

The cops here take in stray animals and take care of them with money raised from people living in the community until the animals are adopted. Bikes lined up in front of the station are donated and free to anyone who needs one. A well-stocked food shelf is just inside the stations front door, which is always unlocked.

For Sjolander, who has been chief for 12 years, a childhood marked by memories of a neglectful mother who abused drugs and alcohol, poverty and hunger play a huge role in how he approaches his job.

I can relate to a lot of what I see because when Im talking to somebody and theyre like, You dont know what its like to not have a parent, he said. Im like, Dude, I was there.

As a child, Sjolander carried the burden of taking care of his chaotic household.

My role was the caregiver, he said. While a lot of kids are learning to ride bikes and playing with their buddies, Im taking care of my younger siblings, making sure the meals are made, clothes are clean, homework is done.

Late one night when he was a teenager, after his mother and her boyfriend had a particularly violent and scary fight, Sjolander left.

The noise and the chaos and the screaming and spitting and the broken stuff, he said. I have to get the heck away from this.

Sjolander eventually went to the police and ultimately landed in foster care through high school with a couple that he considers his parents.

Sjolander said he spent years being angry at his mother. It was only as an adult that he realized that all those abusive topsy-turvy relationships, the drugs and the alcohol were a sign his mother was struggling with something deeper and darker.

I think its mental health, he said. I think she had a lot of demons and issues.

Today on the job, Sjolander encounters a lot of people with demons. Its a trend playing out across Minnesota and the nation as cops are increasingly called to help people in the middle of a mental health crisis. Often, without access to better resources, these calls end with people landing in jail or the already packed emergency room.

In Kenyon, Sjolander said he tries to avoid both scenarios by helping people before theyre in crisis mode.

If you can back up a little and say, OK, whats going on with you? Well, I cant get a job. Youll notice we have job postings out in the front of our office here. Im trying to feed my family. Well, we have the food shelf right here, he said. We dont judge people.

Sjolanders unconventional approach to policing has caught the attention of officials in Washington, D.C. In 2016, he was invited to a White House forum where chiefs from departments around the nation met to brainstorm ideas on building public trust and confidence in the justice system.

Policing a small town makes this approach easier than it would be in a big city. Sjolander knows most people living there, so hes already aware when a community member is struggling emotionally. He gives out his cellphone number. He offers advice and support. He drives people to treatment or connects them with social services.

Sometimes, these encounters can lead to long-lasting relationships.

Like with Jason, who stops by Sjolanders office with news that hes expecting his GED in the mail any day.

Jason is hoping Sjolander will keep the document in the office safe for him, because he doesnt trust himself to keep track of it.

Jason didnt want to give his last name because he suffers from bipolar disease and schizophrenia. For a long time, he was in a gang and struggled with drugs and alcohol, and did some time in jail.

On most days, Jason will call or text Sjolander several times just to shoot the breeze. But hes also called Sjolander in times of real crisis, like when he was stabbing his bed because he was sure mice and rats were going to eat him. Sjolander and his team were quickly able to connect Jason with his doctor and other supports.

Lees a lifesaver for me, Jason said. He helps me with my reading stuff, helps me with problem solving stuff, gives me good advice. I trust Lee more than I trust anyone in this whole world.

But Sjolanders natural skills as a caretaker have worn on his own emotional stability.

This is an awesome career field to hide in if you want to help people and not deal with your own stuff, he said.

All of Sjolanders stuff  the pain of his childhood and the stress of the job  caught up with him in 2015. He said he would start crying for no reason and felt a great deal of anxiety. He was ultimately diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

To cope, Sjolander saw a therapist and used medication for a time to manage his emotions.

But just as therapeutic for Sjolander was writing and speaking publicly about his own struggles with mental health, which he said is taboo in his profession.

We dont talk about our suicide rates or divorce rates or all this stuff, and its really, really high, Sjolander said. For me to come out and say, I want to talk about this and tell you Im having some struggles and if you are, there are things you can do, I think it helps.

Sjolander said he got calls and emails from cops all over the country saying they appreciated his candor  and that they were struggling with the same problems. Now, Sjolander is asked to speak on the topic and his writing on the subject has helped earn him a social media following of more than 30,000 people.

Sjolander  who is married with three children  said part of healing mentally is leaning into the discomfort of his emotions. He says its a hard thing to do because his job is a constant reminder of all the bad things hes seen.

So, thats when he started leaving pennies around town.

One is in front of a brown trailer where Sjolander lived when he first started working for the Kenyon Police Department after his first marriage ended.

This house has a lot of good memories for me. It was a fresh start, he said.

After Sjolander moved out, his friends bought the trailer where they raised their daughter, Jasmine. One day, Jasmine, who was 7 years old, came out of the trailer and collapsed in front of her father who was working in the yard. She was choking and Sjolander and his team were called to the scene.

They tried to do CPR but it was too late.

She choked to death basically in my arms right about here, Sjolander said.

He points to a spot on the ground where a rusty penny is barely visible between the cracks in the pavement.

In a blog post, Sjolander wrote about this practice and encouraged people who see the pennies to pick them up.

It wont bring you good luck, he wrote. But it just might remind you that everyone has struggles and everyone matters.

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Kindergarten teacher Amber Scott and one of her students sat in the hallway of Jefferson Elementary one morning as the girl flipped through words that appeared on the screen of an iPad, quietly but with confidence.

They were words like said, play, what and the  known as high-frequency words, ones that will appear often as she and her classmates learn to read during the next few years.

When the assessment was over, Scott pulled up a graph and pointed to where her students progress had been in January: 16 correct high-frequency words. Now, in May, shed hit 30.

The two high-fived, and the kindergartner broke into a gap-toothed smile.

I had kids come in who didnt even know their letters, and now they can read, Scott said. Seeing the light in their eyes is great.

Scott and her fellow kindergarten teachers across the district are using a data-tracking tool called Educational Software for Guiding Instruction, or ESGI, to assess their students on the building blocks of math and reading that five-year-olds need to know: rhyming, blending, sounds and sight words, identifying numbers through 31 and counting backward, to name a few.

The software creates the skill-specific assessments, which arent timed, tracks the results and can present them in graph form for teachers to examine and evaluate the data.

Its the basis of everything we do here, said Jessica Schmidt, who teaches kindergarten at Goodview Elementary. I dont want a kid coming into kindergarten and they already know all their sight words, and Im making them sit and learn their sight words. They know it. So lets keep it moving.

Teaching with differentiation in mind

At Goodview, Schmidt and her colleague Andrew Norman test kids using ESGI every other week, once a week if theyre monitoring the progress of a student whos struggling and quarterly running the entire gamut of the skills assessment.

Armed with the data, they mix their classes together three times a week and run guided stations that pinpoint the needs of specific students.

Its a quick and easy way to differentiate instruction, Norman said, and provides more detail to parents than a regular report card.

Instead of, Hey, your child is P, progressing in CDC words (words you can decode), this you can print out and say, These are the specific CDC words they missed, or maybe, They have them all, youre good to go, Norman said.

Data showing that a child isnt meeting benchmarks they should be can also alert teachers and parents to the possibility of a learning disability, which when identified early-on can be addressed so the child can succeed, Scott said.

Since students enter kindergarten with such a wide range of lived experiences from birth to age five, its natural that theyll start with skill levels all over the board, said Washington-Kosciusko kindergarten teacher Lisa Kulzer.

In Scotts classroom this year, for example, she estimated that about 50% of the children attended preschool.

But half of the achievement gap observed in third-graders is already showing itself on the first day of kindergarten, according to University of California-Berkeley professor Rucker Johnson, making early intervention crucial.

Especially critical is phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear and identify language sounds. The window when children learn it best ends at age seven.

After examining the ESGI data and concluding that two of her students at Jefferson were struggling with the high-frequency word the, Scott laid out three exercises for them in their targeted small-group time one morning, all involving a book about a pet store in which each page had a new animal: the rabbit, the bird, the fish. They read it together, then on their own, then clapped out the syllables of each word.

Practicing and testing the high-frequency and CVC words helps determine a students guided reading level, Scott explained. The districts goal is that all children will be at level C or above by the end of kindergarten, and at Jefferson, most of her students are there. At Goodview, Schmidt and Norman estimated that over 85% of their students meet that goal.

Another plus of the ESGI tests is that theyre low stakes, the teachers at W-K agreed, being un-timed and easy for children to become familiar with.

The focus isnt really the testing, said kindergarten teacher Kelly Allington. Its more what we do with the testing.

But testing five-year-olds, particularly with assessments more stringent than ESGI, is part of a national conversation on what kindergarten should look like.

Data and the whole child

Kindergarten standards have become increasingly rigorous, leaving advocates calling for less testing and more play.

Were expecting kindergartners to be smaller versions of their third-grade selves, said Katy Smith, a former parent educator in the Winona public schools and 2011 Minnesota Teacher of the Year who advocates at the state level for early childhood programming.

When Minnesota invested in early childhood and all-day kindergarten, Smith said, stakeholders wanted to be sure that what they were doing was paying off. Data and assessments were an easy way to prove it.

High-stakes testing can create a dichotomy between high-flyers and the students who struggle, planting an idea in those students and families heads that theyll have a tough time in school going forward, Smith explained.

It can also skew the focus toward reading and math skills, when the majority of parents she speaks to want their child to learn about life skills instead, she said, like playing well with others and being kind. Smith said she longs for the day when a social-emotional assessment is developed for kindergartners.

A test says something. It doesnt say everything, she said. Its up to teachers to carry the story.

For Winonas kindergarten teachers, that task is clear.

They know that as helpful as the ESGI data is, or any other quantitative measure they collect, its a snippet, a snapshot of where the student is that day  that theres much more that makes up a whole child.

At Goodview, Schmidt and Norman have built a behavioral goal in along with their reading and math standards they measure with ESGI. Of course, students playing appropriately on the playground cant be measured with a test on an iPad. Its still data, just qualitative this time.

A lot of people think, let them outside and go play. What they dont understand is we are literally watching them play, Norman said. You can tell, maybe not exactly, but you can see what goes on at home.

And its not just play, either. They evaluate participation, focus, work completion, getting along well with others, even whether a student can handle losing a game theyre playing in class.

The ESGI tests help figure out the next step in the classroom, Allington said. And data is an easy way to illustrate growth  something thats especially observable in kindergarten, the teachers agreed, when so many students come in barely knowing their letters and end the year knowing how to read.

But the first step, data and assessments aside, is always to connect, to make school feel like a good place to be.

Looking at the child as a whole child, and as a five-year-old child whos a lot of times just entering into this situation. Its different, its new, Kulzer said. They need to feel loved, they need to feel cared for, they need to feel like theyre a part of a community, were glad theyre here.

All those things need to be in place to have the best results.

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Informing her host on the working session with the Supreme Peoples Procuracy of Vietnam the same day, Yamila Pena Ojeda said the two agencies have engaged in an extensive cooperation for years, producing practical and effective outcomes.

She said Cuba is implementing its new constitution, with the Supreme Peoples Procuracy playing an important role in completing the legal system.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) and head of the Cuban supreme peoples procuracy Yamila Pena Ojeda (Photo: VNA)

The prosecutor said with delight that 80 percent of personnel at her agency are women.

Praising Cubas achievements in health, education and bio-technology, among others, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan stressed that despite global changes over the past six decades, Vietnam and Cuba have stood side by side in their national construction and development.

The two nations have cooperated in all fields, maintained delegation exchanges and regular meetings between their ministries and sectors, and supported each other at multilateral forums and international conferences. Bilateral trade has recorded continuous increases to reach USD335.8 million in 2018, while joint projects in agriculture, construction and health are running effectively.

NA Chairwoman Ngyen Thi Kim Ngan stated Vietnam supports the collaboration between the two procuracies. She said as Cuba has a new constitution, it is practical for the agencies to exchange experience and cooperate concerning the role of the supreme procuracy in constitution implementation and protection of the law.

She said she hopes joint programs between the two procuracies will be fruitful, contributing to the Vietnam  Cuba relations./.
An investigative piece in the Wall Street Journal last week took an inside look at how states and cities come to compete against each other, seemingly giving away their treasuries to land companies that promise jobs and economic gains in the future.

We in Wisconsin have come to know the practice well, thanks to the Foxconn deal engineered by former Gov. Scott Walker and his cronies in the state Legislature.

Foxconn and Wisconsin happen to be a major example of how a new niche of consultants called site selectors pit communities against each other in multi-state bidding wars to maximize tax breaks, grants, land deals and other incentives.

The Journals reporting showed how it worked with Amazon as the company conducted a nationwide search for the best place to build its second headquarters.

A major focus of the article was how site selectors from Ernst and Young, the international professional services firm, were able to achieve the richest incentive package in Wisconsin history to land Foxconns supposed LCD plant and a promise of 13,000 jobs for Racine County.
Ed shared that he was born in Texas, but as the son of a military dad, he moved around quite a bit. He decided, as a man of 21, that the military was calling to him as well and he joined the Army National Guard. He liked it so much that he decided to join full-time and made it his lifelong career. Ed spent most of his adult years in Germany, where he met and married his wife, with whom he is celebrating 53 years of life together. They moved to Mayville 10 years ago and have decided that this is where they will choose to call their forever home. Ed is a dapper man who showed up ready to run in a suit complete with a pocket square. In true Army fashion, he was perfectly prepared for the grocery giveaway with a pre-planned route. He had practiced with his friend from Germany serving as both his timer and encourager.
Their remarks were delivered Saturday at the two-day convention at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino. About 1,800 party delegates were enlisted to attend.

The backdrop for Karofsky and Fallone was the disappointment of the April Supreme Court election, in which liberal-backed Judge Lisa Neubauer was favored but upset by conservative-backed Judge Brian Hagedorn. The outcome preserved a conservative majority on the state Supreme Court at least through 2023.

Both of the candidates for the next Democratic Party chairperson  party vice chairman and state Rep. David Bowen, D-Milwaukee, and former MoveOn leader Ben Wikler  have vowed to ramp up the partys efforts in judicial races in light of that outcome.

Some critics question if its appropriate for state Supreme Court candidates, the election of which is officially nonpartisan, to address partisan events such as conventions.

Hagedorn took it a step farther at the state Republican convention last month, addressing it as a justice-elect to thank GOP activists for their support in April.
Maxar Technologies Inc. provides earth intelligence and space infrastructure solutions in the United States, Asia, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure segments. The Earth Intelligence segment offers earth imagery products, including orthorectified imagery, imagery basemap, 3D and elevation, and information products; and SecureWatch, a subscription offering that provides online access to imagery and geospatial intelligence platform. This segment also offers geospatial information, application, and analytic services. It serves U.S. and other international government agencies, such as defense and intelligence agencies, as well as commercial customers in various markets. The Space Infrastructure segment provides space based infrastructure, robotics, sub-systems, and information solutions, including communication and imaging satellites and payloads; platforms for space exploration and hosting instruments for earth science; space subsystems for power, propulsion, and communication; satellite ground systems and support services; space-based remote sensory solutions; space robotics; and defense systems. This segment serves government agencies and satellite operators. Maxar Technologies Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Westminster, Colorado.

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Fielmann Aktiengesellschaft engages in the investment in and operation of optical and hearing aid businesses. The company manufactures and sells visual aids and other optical products, including glasses, frames, lenses, sunglasses, contact lenses and accessories, and various merchandise, as well as hearing aids and accessories. As of December 31, 2020, it operated 870 stores, including 605 in Germany, 43 in Switzerland, 38 Austria, 3 in Luxembourg, 33 in Italy, 25 in Poland, 80 in Spain, 28 in Slovenia, and 15 in the rest of Europe. The company also 79 smaller locations in Eastern Europe. Fielmann Aktiengesellschaft also offers its products through online stores. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Fielmann Aktiengesellschaft is a subsidiary of Korva SE.

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The following companies are subsidiares of HCA Healthcare: 2490 Church LLC, 360 Community Alliance LLC, 4600 Waters Avenue Professional Building Condominium Association Inc., 52 Alderley Road LLP, AC Med LLC, ACH Inc., ADC Surgicenter LLC, AOGN LLC, AOSC Sports Medicine Inc., AR Holding 1 LLC, AR Holding 10 LLC, AR Holding 11 LLC, AR Holding 12 LLC, AR Holding 13 LLC, AR Holding 14 LLC, AR Holding 15 LLC, AR Holding 16 LLC, AR Holding 17 LLC, AR Holding 18 LLC, AR Holding 19 LLC, AR Holding 2 LLC, AR Holding 20 LLC, AR Holding 21 LLC, AR Holding 22 LLC, AR Holding 23 LLC, AR Holding 24 LLC, AR Holding 25 LLC, AR Holding 26 LLC, AR Holding 27 LLC, AR Holding 28 LLC, AR Holding 29 LLC, AR Holding 30 LLC, AR Holding 31 LLC, AR Holding 4 LLC, AR Holding 5 LLC, AR Holding 6 LLC, AR Holding 7 LLC, AR Holding 8 LLC, AR Holding 9 LLC, ASD Shared Services LLC, Acadiana Care Center Inc., Acadiana Practice Management Inc., Acadiana Regional Pharmacy Inc., Access 2 Health Care Physicians LLC, Access Health Care Physicians LLC, Access Management Co. 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Juliet (S. Mt. Juliet Road) LLC, CareSpot of Murfreesboro (1340 Broad Street) LLC, CareSpot of Nashville (2001 Glen Echo Road) LLC, CareSpot of Nashville (West End Avenue) LLC, Career Staffing USA Inc., Carlin Springs Urgent Care LLC, Carolina Forest Imaging Manager LLC, Carolina Regional Surgery Center Inc., Carolina Regional Surgery Center Ltd., Cartersville Medical Center LLC, Cartersville Occupational Medicine Center LLC, Cartersville Physician Practice I LLC, Catalog360 Limited, Cedar Creek Medical Group LLC, Cedars International Cardiology Consultants LLC, Cedars Medical Center Hospitalists LLC, Centennial Cardiovascular Consultants LLC, Centennial CyberKnife Center LLC, Centennial CyberKnife Manager LLC, Centennial Heart LLC, Centennial Hospitalists LLC, Centennial Neuroscience LLC, Centennial Psychiatric Associates LLC, Centennial Surgery Center L.P., Centennial Surgical Associates LLC, Centennial Surgical Clinic LLC, Centennial Womens Group LLC, Center for Advanced Diagnostics LLC, Center for Advanced Imaging LLC, Center for Digestive Diseases LLC, Center for Occupational Medicine LLC, Centerpoint Cardiology Services LLC, Centerpoint Clinic of Blue Springs LLC, Centerpoint Hospital Based Physicians LLC, Centerpoint Medical Center of Independence LLC, Centerpoint Medical Specialists LLC, Centerpoint Orthopedics LLC, Centerpoint Physicians Group LLC, Centerpoint Womens Services LLC, Central Florida Cardiology Interpretations LLC, Central Florida Division Practice Inc., Central Florida Health Services LLC, Central Florida Imaging Services LLC, Central Florida Management Services LLC, Central Florida Obstetrics & Gynecology Associates LLC, Central Florida Physician Network LLC, Central Florida Regional Hospital Inc., Central Health Holding Company Inc., Central Pasco LLC, Central San Antonio Surgical Center Investors Ltd., Central Shared Services LLC, Central Tennessee Hospital Corporation, Central Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Physicians PLLC, Centrum Surgery Center Ltd., Charleston CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Chatsworth Hospital Corp., Chattanooga ASC Acquisition Inc., Chattanooga Diagnostic Associates LLC, Chattanooga Healthcare Network L.P., Chattanooga Healthcare Network Partner Inc., Chelsea Outpatient Centre LLP, Chesterfield Imaging LLC, Chicago Grant Hospital Inc., Childrens Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Chino Community Hospital Corporation Inc., Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Hospitals Inc., Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Sports Medicine LLC, Chippenham Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Chippenham Pediatric Specialists LLC, Chiswick Outpatient Centre LLP, Christiansburg Family Medicine LLC, Christiansburg Internal Medicine LLC, Christina Cano-Gonzalez M.D. PLLC, Chugach PT Inc., Church Street Partners, Citrus Memorial Hospital Inc., Citrus Memorial Property Management Inc., Citrus Primary Care Inc., Citrus Specialty Group Inc., Citrus Surgicenter LLC, City of San Antonio H2U Employee Health and Wellness Center PLLC, Clarksville Surgicenter LLC, Clear Creek Surgery Center LLC, Clear Lake Cardiac Catheterization Center L.P., Clear Lake Cardiac GP LLC, Clear Lake Family Physicians PLLC, Clear Lake Medical Tower Owners Association Inc., Clear Lake Merger LLC, Clear Lake Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Clear Lake Regional Medical Center Inc., Clear Lake Regional Partner LLC, Clear Lake Surgicare Ltd., ClinicServ LLC, Clinical Education Shared Services LLC, Clinishare Inc., Coastal Bend Hospital CT Services Ltd., Coastal Bend Hospital Inc., Coastal Carolina Home Care Inc., Coastal Carolina Multispecialty Associates LLC, Coastal Carolina Primary Care LLC, Coastal Healthcare Services Inc., Coastal Imaging Center L.P., Coastal Imaging Center of Gulfport Inc., Coastal Inpatient Physicians LLC, Coliseum Health Group Inc., Coliseum Health Group LLC, Coliseum Medical Center LLC, Coliseum Park Hospital Inc., Coliseum Primary Care Services LLC, Coliseum Primary Healthcare - Macon LLC, Coliseum Primary Healthcare - Riverside LLC, Coliseum Professional Associates LLC, Coliseum Same Day Surgery Center L.P., Coliseum Surgery Center L.L.C., College Park Ancillary LLC, College Park Endoscopy Center LLC, College Park Radiology LLC, Colleton Ambulatory Care LLC, Colleton Diagnostic Center LLC, Colleton Medical Anesthesia LLC, Colleton Medical Hospitalists LLC, Colleton Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery LLC, Collier County Home Health Agency Inc., Collin County Diagnostic Associates PLLC, Colorado Health Systems Inc., Columbia ASC Management L.P., Columbia Ambulatory Surgery Division Inc., Columbia Arlington Healthcare System L.L.C., Columbia Bay Area Realty Ltd., Columbia Behavioral Health Ltd., Columbia Behavioral Healthcare Inc., Columbia Behavioral Healthcare of South Florida Inc., Columbia Call Center Inc., Columbia Central Florida Division Inc., Columbia Central Group Inc., Columbia Champions Treatment Center Inc., Columbia Chicago Division Inc., Columbia Coliseum Same Day Surgery Center Inc., Columbia Development of Florida Inc., Columbia Doctors Hospital of Tulsa Inc., Columbia Eye and Specialty Surgery Center Ltd., Columbia Florida Group Inc., Columbia GP of Mesquite Inc., Columbia Good Samaritan Health System Limited Partnership, Columbia Greater Houston Division Healthcare Network Inc., Columbia Health System of Arkansas Inc., Columbia Healthcare System of Louisiana Inc., Columbia Healthcare of Central Virginia Inc., Columbia Hospital Corporation at the Medical Center, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Arlington, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Bay Area, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Central Miami, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Corpus Christi, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Fort Worth, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Houston, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Kendall, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Massachusetts Inc., Columbia Hospital Corporation of Miami, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Miami Beach, Columbia Hospital Corporation of North Miami Beach, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Broward, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Dade, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Florida, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Miami, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Tamarac, Columbia Hospital Corporation of West Houston, Columbia Hospital Corporation-Delaware, Columbia Hospital Corporation-SMM, Columbia Hospital at Medical City Dallas Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Hospital-El Paso Ltd., Columbia Integrated Health Systems Inc., Columbia Jacksonville Healthcare System Inc., Columbia LaGrange Hospital LLC, Columbia Lake Worth Surgical Center Limited Partnership, Columbia Medical Arts Hospital Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center Dallas Southwest Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center at Lancaster Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Arlington Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Denton Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Las Colinas Inc., Columbia Medical Center of Lewisville Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of McKinney Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Plano Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Group - Centennial Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Daystar Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Parkridge Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Southern Hills Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Southwest Virginia Inc., Columbia Medical Group - The Frist Clinic Inc., Columbia Midtown Joint Venture, Columbia North Alaska Healthcare Inc., Columbia North Central Florida Health System Limited Partnership, Columbia North Florida Regional Medical Center Limited Partnership, Columbia North Hills Hospital Subsidiary L.P., Columbia North Texas Healthcare System L.P., Columbia North Texas Subsidiary GP LLC, Columbia North Texas Surgery Center Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Northwest Medical Center Inc., Columbia Northwest Medical Center Partners Ltd., Columbia Ocala Regional Medical Center Physician Group Inc., Columbia Ogden Medical Center Inc., Columbia Oklahoma Division Inc., Columbia Palm Beach GP LLC, Columbia Palm Beach Healthcare System Limited Partnership, Columbia Park Healthcare System Inc., Columbia Park Medical Center Inc., Columbia Parkersburg Healthcare System LLC, Columbia Pentagon City Hospital L.L.C., Columbia Physician Services - Florida Group Inc., Columbia Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Primary Care LLC, Columbia Psychiatric Management Co., Columbia Resource Network Inc., Columbia Rio Grande Healthcare L.P., Columbia Riverside Inc., Columbia South Texas Division Inc., Columbia Specialty Hospital of Dallas Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Specialty Hospitals Inc., Columbia Surgery Group Inc., Columbia Surgicare of Augusta Ltd., Columbia Tampa Bay Division Inc., Columbia Valley Healthcare System L.P., Columbia West Bank Hospital Inc., Columbia Westbank Healthcare L.P., Columbia-CSA/HS Greater Canton Area Healthcare System L.P., Columbia-CSA/HS Greater Cleveland Area Healthcare System L.P., Columbia-Georgia PT Inc., Columbia-Osceola Imaging Center Inc., Columbia-Quantum Inc., Columbia-SDH Holdings Inc., Columbia/Alleghany Regional Hospital Incorporated, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of Central Texas, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of Northern Ohio, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of South Carolina, Columbia/HCA Heartcare of Corpus Christi Inc., Columbia/HCA International Group Inc., Columbia/HCA John Randolph Inc., Columbia/HCA Middle East Management Company, Columbia/HCA Physician Hospital Organization Medical Center Hospital, Columbia/HCA San Clemente Inc., Columbia/HCA of Baton Rouge Inc., Columbia/HCA of Houston Inc., Columbia/HCA of New Orleans Inc., Columbia/HCA of North Texas Inc., Columbine Psychiatric Center Inc., Columbus Cardiology Inc., Columbus Cath Lab Inc., Columbus Cath Lab LLC, Columbus Doctors Hospital Inc., Commonwealth Perinatal Services LLC, Commonwealth Specialists of Kentucky LLC, Community Hospital Family Practice LLC, Comprehensive Radiation Oncology LLC, Comprehensive Radiology Management Services Ltd., Concept EFL Imaging Center LLC, Concept West EFL Imaging Center LLC, Congenital Heart Surgery Center PLLC, Conroe Hospital Corporation, Conroe Montgomery Physicians Group PLLC, Conroe Orthopedic Specialists PLLC, Conroe Partner LLC, Conroe Specialists of Texas PLLC, Continental Division I Inc., Coral Springs Surgi-Center Ltd., CoralStone Management Inc., Corpus Christi Healthcare Group Ltd., Corpus Christi Heart Clinic PLLC, Corpus Christi Primary Care Associates PLLC, Corpus Christi Psychiatric Specialists PLLC, Corpus Christi Radiation Oncology PLLC, Corpus Christi Surgery Center L.P., Corpus Christi Surgery Ltd., Corpus Christi Surgicenter LLC, Corpus Surgicare Inc., Countryside Surgery Center Ltd., Crewe Outpatient Imaging LLC, Cumberland Medical Center Inc., Cy-Fair Medical Center Hospital LLC, DFW Physicians Group PLLC, DOMC Property LLC, DS Real Estate Holdings LLC, Daleville Imaging L.P., Daleville Imaging Manager LLC, Dallas CardioThoracic Surgery Consultants PLLC, Dallas Cardiology Specialists PLLC, Dallas Hand Surgery Center PLLC, Dallas Medical Specialists PLLC, Dallas Neuro-Stroke Affiliates PLLC, Dallas Pediatric Neurosurgery Specialists PLLC, Dallas/Ft. Worth Physician LLC, Davie Medical Center LLC, Daytona Medical Center Inc., Dean 4641 LLC, Deep Purple Investments LLC, Del Sol Bariatric Clinic PLLC, Delray EFL Imaging Center LLC, Denton Cancer Center PLLC, Denton County Hospitalist Program PLLC, Denton Pediatric Physicians PLLC, Denton Regional Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Denver Clinic Surgicenter LLC, Denver Mid-Town Surgery Center Ltd., Denver Surgicenter LLC, Derry ASC Inc., Diagnostic Breast Center Inc., Diagnostic Mammography Services G.P., Diagnostic Services G.P., Dickson Surgery Center L.P., Doctors Bay Area Physician Hospital Organization, Doctors Hospital (Conroe) Inc., Doctors Hospital Columbus GA-Joint Venture, Doctors Hospital Surgery Center L.P., Doctors Hospital of Augusta LLC, Doctors Hospital of Augusta Neurology LLC, Doctors Osteopathic Medical Center Inc., Doctors Same Day Surgery Center Inc., Doctors Same Day Surgery Center Ltd., Doctors-I Inc., Doctors-II Inc., Doctors-III Inc., Doctors-IV Inc., Doctors-IX Inc., Doctors-V Inc., Doctors-VI Inc., Doctors-VII Inc., Doctors-VIII Inc., Doctors-X Inc., Doctors Memorial Hospital of Spartanburg Limited Partnership, Dominion Hospital Physicians Group LLC, Dublin Community Hospital LLC, Dublin Heart Specialists LLC, Dublin Multispecialty LLC, Dura Medical Inc., E.P. Physical Therapy Centers Inc., EASTSIDE URGENT CARE LLC, EHCA Diagnostics LLC, EHCA Eastside Occupational Medicine Center LLC, EHCA LLC, EHCA Metropolitan LLC, EHCA Parkway LLC, EHCA Peachtree LLC, EHCA West Paces LLC, EIRMC Hospitalist Services LLC, EMMC LLC, EP Health LLC, EP Holdco LLC, EPIC Development Inc., EPIC Diagnostic Centers Inc., EPIC Healthcare Management Company, EPIC Properties Inc., EPIC Surgery Centers Inc., EPSC L.P., East Falls Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery LLC, East Falls Family Medicine LLC, East Falls Plastic Surgery LLC, East Florida - DMC Inc., East Florida Behavioral Health Network LLC, East Florida Cardiology Network LLC, East Florida CareNow Urgent Care LLC, East Florida Division Inc., East Florida Emergency Physician Group LLC, East Florida Healthcare LLC, East Florida Hospitalists LLC, East Florida Imaging Holdings LLC, East Florida Primary Care LLC, East Houston Primary Care PLLC, East Houston Specialists PLLC, East Layton Internal Medicine LLC, East Orthopedics PLLC, East Pointe Hospital Inc., Eastern Idaho Brachytherapy Equipment LLC, Eastern Idaho Brachytherapy Equipment Manager LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners ACO LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners Holdings LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners LLC, Eastern Idaho Health Services Inc., Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center Inpatient Services LLC, Eastside Behavioral Health Associates LLC, Eastside General Surgery LLC, Eastside Heart and Vascular LLC, Eastside Medical Center LLC, Eastside Surgery Center LLC, Edmond General Surgery LLC, Edmond Hospitalists LLC, Edmond Physician Hospital Organization Inc., Edward White Hospital Inc., El Paso CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, El Paso Healthcare Provider Network, El Paso Healthcare System Ltd., El Paso Healthcare System Physician Services LLC, El Paso Nurses Unlimited Inc., El Paso Primary Care PLLC, El Paso Surgery Centers L.P., El Paso Surgicenter Inc., Eldridge Family Practitioners PLLC, Elite Family Health of Plano PLLC, Elite OB-GYN Services of El Paso PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of El Paso PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of Irving PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of Plano PLLC, Elstree Outpatient Centre LLP, Emergency Physicians at Wesley Medical Center LLC, Emergency Providers Group LLC, Emergency Psychiatric Medicine PLLC, Encino Hospital Corporation Inc., Endocrinology Associates of Lees Summit LLC, Endoscopy Surgicare of Plano LLC, Endoscopy of Plano L.P., Englewood Community Hospital Auxiliary Inc., Englewood Community Hospital Inc., Envision Stakes LLC, Eye Care Surgicare Ltd. a Missouri limited partnership, FHAL LLC, FMH Health Services LLC, Fairfax Surgical Center L.P., Fairview Medical Services LLC, Fairview Park GP LLC, Fairview Park Limited Partnership, Fairview Partner LLC, Family Care Partners LLC, Family Care of E. Jackson County LLC, Family First Medicine in Brownsville PLLC, Family Health Medical Group of Overland Park LLC, Family Health Specialists of Lees Summit LLC, Family Medicine of Blacksburg LLC, Family Practice at Forest Hill LLC, Family Practice at Retreat LLC, Family Practitioners of Montgomery PLLC, Family Practitioners of Pearland PLLC, Fannin MOB LLC, Fannin MOB Property Management LLC, Far West Division Inc., Fawcett Memorial Hospital Inc., Florida Care Partners LLC, Florida Care Partners Orlando LLC, Florida Home Health Services-Private Care Inc., Florida Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Flower Mound Surgery Center Ltd., Focus Hand Surgicenter LLC, Foot & Ankle Specialty Services LLC, Forest Park Surgery Pavilion Inc., Forest Park Surgery Pavilion L.P., Fort Bend Hospital Inc., Fort Chiswell Family Practice LLC, Fort Myers Market Inc., Fort Pierce Immediate Care Center Inc., Fort Pierce Orthopaedics LLC, Fort Pierce Surgery Center Ltd., Fort Walton Beach Medical Center Inc., Fort Worth Investments Inc., Forward Pathology Solutions LLC, Four Rivers Medical Center PHO Inc., Frankfort Hospital Inc., Frankfort Wound Care LLC, Freeport Family Medicine LLC, Fremont Womens Health LLC, Frisco Surgicare LLC, Frisco Warren Parkway 91 Inc., Frist Clinic Express LLC, Ft. Pierce Surgicare LLC, Ft. Walton Beach Anesthesia Services LLC, G. Rowe M.D. PLLC, G. Schnider M.D. PLLC, G. Voorhees M.D. PLLC, G.P. Martin Fletcher & Associates LLC, GA PHYSICIAN SERVICES LLC, GA Urgentcare Holding LLC, GHC-Galen Health Care LLC, GI Associates of Denton PLLC, GI Associates of Lewisville PLLC, GME Services of Osceola LLC, GPCH-GP Inc., GYN-Oncology of Southwest Virginia LLC, Gainesville GYN Oncology of North Florida Regional Medical Center LLC, Gainesville Physicians LLC, GalTex LLC, Galen (Kansas) Merger LLC, Galen BH Inc., Galen Center for Professional Development Inc., Galen College of Nursing, Galen Diagnostic Multicenter Ltd., Galen GOK LLC, Galen Global Finance Inc., Galen Health Institutes Inc., Galen Health Partners Limited, Galen Holdco LLC, Galen Hospital Alaska Inc., Galen Hospital of Baytown Inc., Galen Hospital-Pembroke Pines Inc., Galen International Holdings Inc., Galen KY LLC, Galen MCS LLC, Galen MRMC LLC, Galen Medical Corporation, Galen NMC LLC, Galen NSH LLC, Galen Property LLC, Galen SOM LLC, Galen SSH LLC, Galen Virginia Hospital Corporation, Galen of Aurora Inc., Galen of Florida Inc., Galen of Illinois Inc., Galen of Kentucky Inc., Galen of Mississippi Inc., Galen of Virginia Inc., Galen of West Virginia Inc., Galen-Soch Inc., Galencare Inc., Galendeco Inc., Galichia Anesthesia Services LLC, Galichia Emergency Physicians LLC, Garden Park Community Hospital Limited Partnership, Garden Park Hospitalist Program LLC, Garden Park Investments L.P., Garden Park Physician Group - Specialty Care LLC, Garden Park Physician Group Inc., Gardens EFL Imaging Center LLC, Gastroenterology Specialists of Middle Tennessee LLC, General Hospitals of Galen Inc., General Medical Clinics Limited, General Surgeons of Houston PLLC, General Surgeons of North Richland Hills PLLC, General Surgeons of Pasadena PLLC, General and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Conroe PLLC, Generations Family Practice Inc., GenoSpace LLC, Georgia Health Holdings Inc., Georgia L.P., Georgia Psychiatric Company Inc., Glemm SA, Good Samaritan Hospital L.P., Good Samaritan Hospital LLC, Good Samaritan Surgery Center L.P., Goppert-Trinity Family Care LLC, Grace Family Practice LLC, Gramercy Eye Surgicenter LLC, Gramercy Surgery Center Ltd., Grand Strand Regional Medical Center LLC, Grand Strand Senior Health Center LLC, Grand Strand Specialty Associates LLC, Grand Strand Surgical Specialists LLC, Grandview Health Care Clinic LLC, Grant Center Hospital of Ocala Inc., Grayson Primary Care LLC, Greater Gwinnett Internal Medicine Associates LLC, Greater Gwinnett Physician Corporation, Greater Houston Preferred Provider Option Inc., Greater Tampa Bay Physician Network LLC, Greater Tampa Bay Physician Specialists LLC, Greater Tampa Bay Physicians - Pinellas LLC, Green Oaks Hospital Subsidiary L.P., Greenview Hospital Inc., Greenview PrimeCare LLC, Greenview Specialty Associates LLC, Gulf Coast Division Inc., Gulf Coast Electrophysiology Associates PLLC, Gulf Coast Inpatient Specialists LLC, Gulf Coast Medical Center Primary Care LLC, Gulf Coast Medical Ventures Inc., Gulf Coast Multispecialty Services LLC, Gulf Coast Physician Administrators Inc., Gulf Coast Provider Network Inc., Gwinnett Community Hospital Inc., Gynecology Specialists of Utah LLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Del Sol Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Las Palmas Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Medical City Dallas PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - St. Davids Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers LLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Clear Lake Regional Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Conroe ISD PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Conroe Regional Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Corpus Christi PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  El Paso PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  PISD PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  San Benito CISD PLLC, HBP Lone Star Inc., HCA - IT&S Field Operations Inc., HCA - IT&S Inventory Management Inc., HCA - IT&S PBS Field Operations Inc., HCA - IT&S TN Field Operations Inc., HCA - Information Technology & Services Inc., HCA - Raleigh Community Hospital Inc., HCA - Viera ALF LLC, HCA - WHS Progressive LLC, HCA - WHS Services LLC, HCA ASD Financial Operations LLC, HCA ASD Sales Services LLC, HCA American Finance LLC, HCA Carenow Limited, HCA Central Group Inc., HCA Central/West Texas Physicians Management LLC, HCA Chattanooga Market Inc., HCA Development Company Inc., HCA Eastern Group Inc., HCA Global Capital LLP, HCA Gulf Coast GME PLLC, HCA Health Services of California Inc., HCA Health Services of Florida Inc., HCA Health Services of Georgia Inc., HCA Health Services of Louisiana Inc., HCA Health Services of Miami Inc., HCA Health Services of Midwest Inc., HCA Health Services of New Hampshire Inc., HCA Health Services of Tennessee Inc., HCA Health Services of Texas Inc., HCA Health Services of Virginia Inc., HCA Health Services of West Virginia Inc., HCA Healthcare Mission Fund LLC, HCA Healthcare UK Limited, HCA Holdco LLC, HCA Human Resources LLC, HCA Imaging Services of North Florida Inc., HCA Inc., HCA International Holdings Limited, HCA International Limited, HCA LewisGale Regional Cancer Centers Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA Long Term Health Services of Miami Inc., HCA Luxembourg 1 Sarl, HCA Luxembourg 2 Sarl, HCA Luxembourg Equities Sarl, HCA Luxembourg Finance Limited, HCA Luxembourg Investments Sarl, HCA Management Services L.P., HCA Medical City Limited, HCA Medical Services Inc., HCA Midwest Comprehensive Care Inc., HCA Outpatient Clinic Services of Miami Inc., HCA Outpatient Imaging Services Group Inc., HCA Patient Safety Organization LLC, HCA Pearland GP Inc., HCA Physician Services Inc., HCA Plano Imaging Inc., HCA Property GP LLC, HCA Psychiatric Company, HCA Purchasing Limited, HCA Realty Inc., HCA Richmond Cardiac Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA SF LLC, HCA SFB 1 LLC, HCA Sarasota Orthopedic and Spine Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA Squared LLC, HCA Staffing Limited, HCA Swiss Capital 1 LLP, HCA Swiss Capital 2 LLP, HCA Switzerland Finance GmbH, HCA Switzerland Holding GmbH, HCA Switzerland Limited, HCA UK Capital Limited, HCA UK Holdings Limited, HCA UK Investments Limited, HCA UK Limited, HCA UK Services Limited, HCA Wesley Rehabilitation Hospital Inc., HCA Western Group Inc., HCA-Access Healthcare Holdings LLC, HCA-Access Healthcare Partner Inc., HCA-California Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCA-EMS Holdings LLC, HCA-EmCare Holdings LLC, HCA-Georgia Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCA-HBPS Holdings LLC, HCA-HealthONE LLC, HCA-Solis Holdings Inc., HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of Continental LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of Gulf Coast LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of North Texas LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of TriStar LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Services LLC, HCA-Solis Master LLC, HCA-Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCAPS Anesthesia Manager LLC, HCAPS Conroe Affiliation Inc., HCOL Inc., HD&S Corp. Successor Inc., HDH Thoracic Surgeons LLC, HHBY Holdings LLC, HHNC LLC, HICCH-SCL LLC, HM Acquisition LLC, HM OMCOS LLC, HMMG 1226 LLC, HPG Energy L.P., HPG Enterprises LLC, HPG GP LLC, HPG Solutions LLC, HSS Holdco LLC, HSS Systems LLC, HSS Virginia L.P., HTI Gulf Coast Inc., HTI Health Services of North Carolina Inc., HTI Hospital Holdings Inc., HTI MOB LLC, HTI MSO LLC, HTI Memorial Hospital Corporation, HTI Physician Services of Utah Inc., HWCA PLLC, Hamilton Memorial Hospital Inc., Hamsard 3160 Limited, Harley Street Clinic @ The Groves LLP, Hathor Chelsea Ltd., Healdsburg General Hospital Inc., Health Care Indemnity Inc., Health Insight Capital LLC, Health International Billing Partners Limited, Health Midwest Medical Group Inc., Health Midwest Office Facilities Corporation, Health Midwest Ventures Group Inc., Health Partners of Kansas Inc., Health Service Partners Inc., Health Services (Delaware) Inc., Health Services Merger Inc., Health to You LLC, HealthCoast Physician Group LLC, HealthONE Aurora Investment LLC, HealthONE Care Partners LLC, HealthONE CareNow Urgent Care LLC, HealthONE Clear Creek LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Bariatric Medicine LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Behavioral Health LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cancer Care LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cancer Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cardiovascular LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Medical Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Neurosciences LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Occupational Medicine LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Oncology Hematology LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Orthopedic Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Otolaryngology Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Pediatric Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Primary Care LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Spine Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Spine Surgeons LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Surgery Neurological LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Surgical Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Transplant Services LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Womens Services LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Youth Rehabilitation LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services LLC, HealthONE High Street Primary Care Center LLC, HealthONE IRL Pathology Services LLC, HealthONE Institutes for Clinical Research LLC, HealthONE Lowry LLC, HealthONE Radiation Therapy at Red Rocks LLC, HealthONE Radiation Therapy at Thornton LLC, HealthONE Ridge View Endoscopy Center LLC, HealthONE Surgicare of Ridge View LLC, HealthONE Urologic LLC, HealthONE at Breckenridge LLC, HealthONE of Denver Inc., HealthOne Heart Care LLC, HealthOne Lincoln Investment LLC, HealthOne Westside Investment LLC, HealthTrust Europe Company Limited, HealthTrust Europe LLP, HealthTrust Locums Inc., HealthTrust Workforce Solutions LLC, Healthcare Oklahoma Inc., Healthcare Purchasing Alliance LLC, Healthcare Sales National Management Services Group LLC, Healthcare Technology Assessment Corporation, Healthco LLC, Healthnet of Kentucky LLC, Healthserv Acquisition LLC, Healthtrust Inc. - The Hospital Company, Healthtrust MOB Tennessee LLC, Healthtrust Purchasing Group L.P., Healthtrust Utah Management Services Inc., Healthy State Inc., Heart Specialist of North Texas PLLC, Heart of America ASC LLC, Heart of America Surgicenter LLC, Heartcare of Texas Ltd., Hearthstone Home Health Inc., Heartland Womens Group at Wesley LLC, Heathrow Imaging LLC, Heathrow Internal Medicine LLC, Hendersonville Hospital Corporation, Hendersonville Hospitalist Services Inc., Hendersonville OB/GYN LLC, Hendersonville ODC LLC, Hendersonville Primary Care LLC, Henrico Doctors Hospital - Forest Campus Property LLC, Henrico Doctors Neurology Associates LLC, Henrico Doctors OB GYN Specialists LLC, Henrico Surgical Specialists LLC, Heritage Family Care LLC, Heritage Hospital Inc., Heritage Medical Care LLC, Hermitage Primary Care LLC, Hidalgo County Family Practitioners PLLC, Hidden Lakes Health Center PLLC, Highlands Regional Medical Center, Hip & Joint Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Homecare North Inc., Hometrust Management Services Inc., Horizon Orthopedics LLC, Horizon Surgical LLC, Hospital Corp. LLC, Hospital Corporation of America, Hospital Corporation of Lake Worth, Hospital Corporation of Tennessee, Hospital Corporation of Utah, Hospital Development Properties Inc., Hospital Partners Merger LLC, Hospital Realty Corporation, Hospital-Based CRNA Services Inc., Hospitalists at Centennial Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists at Fairview Park LLC, Hospitalists at Greenview Regional Hospital LLC, Hospitalists at Horizon Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists at Parkridge LLC, Hospitalists at StoneCrest LLC, Hospitalists at Wesley Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists of the Wabash Valley LLC, Houston - PPH LLC, Houston CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Houston Healthcare Holdings Inc., Houston NW Manager LLC, Houston Northwest Concessions L.L.C., Houston Northwest Operating Company L.L.C., Houston Northwest Surgical Partners Inc., Houston Obstetrics and Gynecology for Women PLLC, Houston Pediatric Specialty Group PLLC, Houston Urologic Surgicenter LLC, Houston Womans Hospital Partner LLC, ICU Associates of West Houston PLLC, IMX Holdings LLC, IRL Pathology Services MidAmerica LLC, Idaho Behavioral Health Services LLC, Idaho Physician Services Inc., Illinois Psychiatric Hospital Company Inc., Imaging Realty LLC, Imaging Services of Appomattox LLC, Imaging Services of Jacksonville LLC, Imaging Services of Louisiana LLC, Imaging Services of Louisiana Manager LLC, Imaging Services of Orlando LLC, Imaging Services of Richmond LLC, Imaging Services of Roanoke LLC, Imaging Services of West Boynton LLC, InVivoLink Inc., Independence Neurosurgery Services LLC, Independence Regional Medical Group LLC, Independence Surgicare Inc., Indian Path Hospital Inc., Indianapolis Hospital Partner LLC, Institute for Womens Health and Body LLC, Institute of Advanced ENT Surgery LLC, Integrated Regional Lab LLC, Integrated Regional Laboratories LLP, Integrated Regional Laboratories Pathology Services LLC, Intensive Care Consortium Inc., Internal Medicine Associates of Huntsville PLLC, Internal Medicine Associates of Southern Hills LLC, Internal Medicine of Blacksburg LLC, Internal Medicine of Pasadena PLLC, Internist Associates of Houston PLLC, Isleworth Partners Inc., J. M. Garcia M.D. PLLC, JCSH LLC, JDGC Management LLC, JFK Internal Medicine Faculty Practice LLC, JFK Medical Center Limited Partnership, JPM AA Housing LLC, Jackson County Medical Group LLC, Jackson County Pulmonary Medical Group LLC, Jacksonville CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Jacksonville Multispecialty Services LLC, Jacksonville Surgery Center Ltd., James River Internists LLC, John Randolph Family Practice LLC, John Randolph OB/GYN LLC, John Randolph Surgeons LLC, Johnson County Neurology LLC, Johnson County Surgery Center L.P., Johnson County Surgicenter L.L.C., Jordan Family Health L.L.C., Jupiter EFL Imaging Center LLC, KC Pain ASC LLC, KC Surgicare LLC, KPH-Consolidation Inc., Kansas CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Kansas City Cardiac Arrhythmia Research LLC, Kansas City Gastroenterology & Hepatology Physicians Group LLC, Kansas City Neurology Associates LLC, Kansas City Pulmonology Practice LLC, Kansas City Surgery Center Properties LLC, Kansas City Vascular & General Surgery Group LLC, Kansas City Womens Clinic Group LLC, Kansas Healthserv LLC, Kansas Pulmonary and Sleep Specialists LLC, Kansas Trauma and Critical Care Specialists LLC, Kathy L. Summers M.D. PLLC, Kendall Healthcare Group Ltd., Kendall Regional Medical Center LLC, Kendall Regional Urgent Care LLC, Kennedale Primary Care PLLC, Kingwood Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Kingwood Surgery Center LLC, Kingwood Surgicenter LLC, Kissimmee Surgicare Ltd., Kyle Primary Care PLLC, L E Corporation, LAD Imaging LLC, LGMC Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, LOC @ The Christie LLP, LOC @ The London Bridge Hospital LLP, LOC Partnership LLP, LPN TeleBehavioral Health PLLC, Lafayette OB Hospitalists LLC, Lafayette Urogynecology & Urology Center LLC, Lake City Imaging LLC, Lake City Regional Medical Group LLC, Lake Forest Family Health PLLC, Lakeside Radiology LLC, Lakeside Womens Services LLC, Lakeview Cardiology Specialists LLC, Lakeview Hospital Physician Services LLC, Lakeview Internal Medicine LLC, Lakeview Medical Center LLC, Lakeview Regional Medical Center Inpatient Services LLC, Lakeview Regional Physician Group LLC, Lakeview Urology & General Surgery LLC, Lakewood Surgicare Inc., Laredo Medco LLC, Largo Medical Center Inc., Largo Physician Group LLC, Las Colinas Primary Care PLLC, Las Colinas Surgery Center Ltd., Las Encinas Hospital, Las Palmas Del Sol Cardiology PLLC, Las Palmas Del Sol Internal Medicine PLLC, Las Palmas Del Sol Urgent Care PLLC, Las Vegas ASC LLC, Las Vegas Surgicare Inc., Las Vegas Surgicare Ltd. a Nevada Limited Partnership, Lawnwood Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, Lawnwood Healthcare Specialists LLC, Lawnwood Medical Center Inc., Layton Family Practice LLC, Leaders in Oncology Care Limited, Leadership Healthcare Holdings II L.P. L.L.P., Leadership Healthcare Holdings L.P. L.L.P., Lees Summit Family Care LLC, Leslie Cohan M.D. PLLC, Lewis-Gale Hospital Incorporated, Lewis-Gale Medical Center LLC, Lewis-Gale Physicians LLC, Lewisville Primary Care PLLC, Lewisville Surgicare LLC, Lincoln Surgery Center LLC, Live Oak Immediate Care Center LLC, London Oncology Clinic LLP, London Pathology Limited, London Radiography & Radiotherapy Services Limited, Lone Peak Hospital Inc., Lone Star Intensivists at Gulf Coast PLLC, Lonestar Provider Network, Longview Regional Physician Hospital Organization Inc., Lorain County Surgery Center Ltd., Los Gatos Surgical Center a California Limited Partnership, Los Robles Regional Medical Center, Los Robles Regional Medical Center MOB LLC, Los Robles SurgiCenter LLC, Loudoun Surgery Center LLC, Louisiana Psychiatric Company Inc., Loveland Surgicenter LLC, Low Country Health Services Inc. of the Southeast, Lowry Surgicenter LLC, M. Jamshidi D.O. PLLC, MCA Investment Company, MCA-CTMC Holdings LLC, MEC Endoscopy LLC, MFA G.P. LLC, MFM Fact PLLC, MGH Medical Inc., MH Anesthesiology Physicians LLC, MH Angel Medical Center LLLP, MH Asheville Specialty Hospital LLC, MH Blue Ridge Medical Center LLLP, MH Eckerd Living Center LLLP, MH Highlands-Cashiers Medical Center LLLP, MH Hospital Holdings Inc., MH Hospital Manager LLC, MH Master Holdings LLLP, MH Master LLC, MH McDowell Imaging LLLP, MH Mission Hospital LLLP, MH Mission Hospital McDowell LLLP, MH Mission Imaging LLLP, MH Physician Services LLC, MH Transylvania Imaging LLLP, MH Transylvania Regional Hospital LLLP, MHS Partnership Holdings JSC Inc., MHS Partnership Holdings SDS Inc., MHS SC Partner L.L.C., MHS Surgery Centers L.P., MMC Sleep Lab Management LLC, MOSC Sports Medicine Inc., MOVCO Inc., MP Management LLC, MRT&C Inc., MSL Acquisition LLC, MVH Professional Services LLC, Macon Healthcare LLC, Macon Northside Health Group LLC, Macon Northside Hospital LLC, Macon Psychiatric Hospitalists LLC, Madison Behavioral Health LLC, Mainland Family Medicine PLLC, Mainland Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Mainland Primary Care Physicians PLLC, Management Services Holdings Inc., Manatee Surgicare Ltd., Marietta Outpatient Medical Building Inc., Marietta Outpatient Surgery Ltd., Marietta Surgical Center Inc., Marion Community Hospital Inc., Mark Gottesman M.D. PLLC, Martin Fletcher & Associates L.P., Martin Fletcher Associates Holdings Inc., Mary Alice Cowan M.D. PLLC, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialists of Corpus Christi PLLC, Maternal Fetal Services of Utah LLC, Maury County Behavioral Health LLC, Mayhill Cancer Center LLC, McAllen Comprehensive Upper Extremity Center PLLC, McKinney Surgeons PLLC, Mechanicsville Imaging LLC, Mecklenburg Surgical Land Development Ltd., Med City Dallas Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Med Corp. Inc., Med Group - Southern Hills Hospitalists LLC, Med-Center Hosp./Houston Inc., Med-Point of New Hampshire Inc., Medi Flight of Oklahoma LLC, MediCredit Inc., MediPurchase Inc., MediStone Healthcare Ventures Inc., MediVision Inc., MediVision of Mecklenburg County Inc., MediVision of Tampa Inc., Medical Arts Hospital of Texarkana Inc., Medical Associates of Ocala LLC, Medical Care America Colorado LLC, Medical Care America LLC, Medical Care Financial Services Corp., Medical Care Real Estate Finance Inc., Medical Care Surgery Center Inc., Medical Center - West Inc., Medical Center Imaging Inc., Medical Center Surgery Associates L.P., Medical Center of Baton Rouge Inc., Medical Center of Plano Partner LLC, Medical Center of Port St. Lucie Inc., Medical Center of Santa Rosa Inc., Medical Center of Southwest Florida LLC, Medical Centers of Oklahoma LLC, Medical City Dallas Hospital Inc., Medical City Dallas Partner LLC, Medical City Dallas Primary Care PLLC, Medical City Frisco, Medical City OB-GYN PLLC, Medical City Pediatrics PLLC, Medical City Specialty Surgicenter of Dallas LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Alliance LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Frisco LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Lewisville LLC, Medical City Transplant PLLC, Medical Corporation of America, Medical Group - Dickson Inc., Medical Group - Southern Hills of Brentwood LLC, Medical Group - Southern Hills of Nolensville LLC, Medical Group - StoneCrest FP Inc., Medical Group - StoneCrest Inc., Medical Group - Stonecrest Pulmonology LLC, Medical Group - Summit Inc., Medical Imaging Inc., Medical Imaging of Colorado LLC, Medical Office Buildings of Kansas LLC, Medical Oncology Associates LLC, Medical Partners of North Florida LLC, Medical Plaza Ambulatory Surgery Center Associates L.P., Medical Specialties Inc., Memorial Family Practice Associates LLC, Memorial Health Primary Care at St. Johns Bluff LLC, Memorial Healthcare Group Inc., Memorial Neurosurgery Group LLC, Memorial Satilla Specialists LLC, Memorial University Medical Center, Menorah Medical Group LLC, Menorah Urgent Care LLC, Mercy ASC LLC, Metairie Primary Care Associates LLC, Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Center of Boerne LLC, Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Center of Landmark LLC, Methodist Cardiology Physicians, Methodist CareNow Physician Associates, Methodist CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio Ltd. L.L.P., Methodist Inpatient Management Group, Methodist Medical Center ASC L.P., Methodist Physician Alliance, Methodist Physician Practice Services LLC, Methodist Physician Practices PLLC, Metroplex Surgicenters Inc., Metropolitan Multispecialty Physicians Group Inc., Miami Beach EFL Imaging Center LLC, Miami Beach Healthcare Group Ltd., Miami Dade Surgical Specialists LLC, Miami Lakes Surgery Center Ltd., Miami-Dade Cardiology Consultants LLC, Michael Mann M.D. PLLC, Mid-America Surgery Center LLC, Mid-America Surgery Institute LLC, Mid-Cities Surgi-Center Inc., Mid-Continent Health Services Inc., MidAmerica Division Inc., MidAmerica Oncology LLC, Middle Georgia Hospital LLC, Middle Georgia Urgent Care Services LLC, Middle Tennessee Neurology LLC, Midtown Diagnostics LLC, Midwest Cardiology Specialists LLC, Midwest Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery LLC, Midwest Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons of Kansas LLC, Midwest Division - ACH LLC, Midwest Division - CMC LLC, Midwest Division - LRHC LLC, Midwest Division - LSH LLC, Midwest Division - MCI LLC, Midwest Division - MMC LLC, Midwest Division - OPRMC LLC, Midwest Division - RBH LLC, Midwest Division - RMC LLC, Midwest Division Spine Care LLC, Midwest Doctors Group LLC, Midwest Heart & Vascular Specialists LLC, Midwest Holdings Inc., Midwest Infectious Disease Specialists LLC, Midwest Medicine Associates LLC, Midwest Metropolitan Physicians Group LLC, Midwest Oncology Associates LLC, Midwest Trauma Services LLC, Midwest Womens Healthcare Specialists LLC, Mikrod Services Inc., Mill Creek Outpatient Services LLC, Millenium Health Care of Oklahoma Inc., Mission Bay Memorial Hospital Inc., Mission Community Anesthesiology Specialists LLC, Mission Employer Solutions LLC, Mission Health, Mission Health Partners Inc., Missouri Healthcare System L.P., Mobile Corps. Inc., Mobile Heartbeat, Mobile Heartbeat LLC, Montgomery Cancer Center LLC, Montgomery Hospitalists LLC, Montgomery Regional Hospital Inc., Montgomery Surgery Associates LLC, Mountain Division - CVH LLC, Mountain Division Inc., Mountain View Hospital Inc., Mountain View MRI Associates Ltd., Mountain West Surgery Center LLC, MountainStar Behavioral Health LLC, MountainStar Brigham General Surgery LLC, MountainStar Canyon Surgical Clinic LLC, MountainStar Cardiology Ogden Regional LLC, MountainStar Cardiology St. Marks LLC, MountainStar Intensivist Services LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - Cache Valley LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - Ogden Regional Medical Center LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - St. Marks Hospital LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Neurosurgery-St. Marks LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Timpanogos Primary Care LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Timpanogos Specialty Care LLC, MountainStar Specialty Services LLC, MountainStar Urgent Care LLC, MountainView GME Primary Care LLC, Mountainstar Brigham OBGYN LLC, Mountainstar Cardiovascular Services LLC, Mountainstar Ogden Pediatrics LLC, Movement Disorders of North Texas PLLC, Mt. Ogden Utah Surgical Center LLC, NPAS Inc., NPAS Solutions LLC, NT Urgent Care PLLC, NTGP LLC, NTMC Management Company, NTMC Venture Inc., NTX Pathology Program PLLC, Nashville Psychiatric Company Inc., Nashville Shared Services General Partnership, Nashville Surgicenter LLC, Natchez Medical Associates LLC, Natchez Surgery Center LLC, National Association of Senior Friends, National Contact Center Management Group LLC, National Patient Account Services Inc., National Transfer Center Management Services LLC, Navarro Memorial Hospital Inc., NeighborMD Management LLC, Network MS of Florida Inc., Network Management Services Inc., Neuro Affiliates Company, Neuro-Hospitalist of Clear Lake PLLC, NeuroHospitalist of McAllen PLLC, Neurological Eye Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Neurological Specialists PLLC, Neurological Specialists of McKinney PLLC, Neurology Associates of Hendersonville LLC, Neurology Associates of Kansas LLC, Neurosurgery Atlanta LLC, Neurosurgery of Kingwood PLLC, Neurosurgical Associates of North Texas PLLC, Neurosurgical Specialists of El Paso PLLC, Neurosurgical Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Nevada Surgery Center of Southern Hills L.P., Nevada Surgicare of Southern Hills LLC, Nevada Urgent Care Holdings Inc., New Iberia Healthcare LLC, New Iberia Holdings Inc., New Port Richey Hospital Inc., New Port Richey Surgery Center Ltd., New Rose Holding Company Inc., Niceville Family Practice LLC, North Augusta Imaging Management LLC, North Augusta Imaging Services LLC, North Augusta Rehab Health Center LLC, North Austin Plastic Surgery Associates PLLC, North Austin Surgery Center L.P., North Brandon Imaging LLC, North Central Florida Health System Inc., North Central Methodist ASC L.P., North Charleston Diagnostic Imaging Center LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Lake City LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Live Oak LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Tallahassee LLC, North Florida Division I Inc., North Florida Division Practice Inc., North Florida GI Center GP Inc., North Florida GI Center Ltd., North Florida Immediate Care Center Inc., North Florida Neurosurgery LLC, North Florida Outpatient Imaging Center Ltd., North Florida Physician Services Inc., North Florida Physicians LLC, North Florida Radiation Oncology LLC, North Florida Regional Company Care LLC, North Florida Regional Freestanding Surgery Center L.P., North Florida Regional Investments Inc., North Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., North Florida Regional Psychiatry LLC, North Florida Regional Trauma LLC, North Florida Rehab Investments LLC, North Florida Surgical Associates LLC, North Georgia Primary Care Group LLC, North Hills Cardiac Catheterization Center L.P., North Hills Catheterization Lab LLC, North Hills Orthopaedic Surgeons PLLC, North Hills Surgicare L.P., North Houston - TRMC LLC, North Miami Beach Surgery Center Limited Partnership, North Miami Beach Surgical Center LLC, North Palm Beach County Surgery Center LLC, North River Physician Network LLC, North Shore Specialists of Texas PLLC, North Suburban Spine Center L.P., North Tampa Imaging LLC, North Texas - MCA LLC, North Texas Cardiology PLLC, North Texas Craniofacial Fellowship Program PLLC, North Texas Division Inc., North Texas General L.P., North Texas Geriatrics PLLC, North Texas Heart Surgery Center PLLC, North Texas Internal Medicine Specialists PLLC, North Texas Medical Center Inc., North Texas Neuro Stroke OP PLLC, North Texas Pulmonary Critical Care PLLC, North Texas Sports and Orthopedics Center PLLC, North Texas Stroke Center PLLC, North Texas of Hope PLLC, North Transfer Center LLC, Northeast Florida Cancer Services LLC, Northeast Methodist Surgicare Ltd., Northeast PHO Inc., Northern Utah Healthcare Corporation, Northern Utah Healthcare Imaging Holdco LLC, Northern Utah Imaging LLC, Northern Virginia CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Northern Virginia Community Hospital LLC, Northern Virginia Hospital Corporation, Northern Virginia Surgicenter LLC, Northlake Medical Center LLC, Northlake Physician Practice Network Inc., Northlake Surgical Center L.P., Northlake Surgicare Inc., Northside MRI Inc., Northwest Fla. Home Health Agency Inc., Northwest Florida Healthcare Systems Inc., Northwest Florida Multispecialty Physicians LLC, Northwest Florida Primary Care LLC, Northwest Medical Center Inc., Notami (Opelousas) Inc., Notami Hospitals LLC, Notami Hospitals of Florida Inc., Notami Hospitals of Louisiana Inc., Notami Hospitals of Missouri Inc., Notami LLC, Notco LLC, Nuclear Diagnosis Inc., OB Hospitalists of Womans Hospital PLLC, OB/GYN of Brownsville PLLC, OB/Gyn Associates of Denton PLLC, OBS Diagnostic and Treatment Centre LLP, ODP Holdings LLC, ODP Manager LLC, ODP Properties LLC, OHH Imaging Services LLC, OPRMC-HBP LLC, Oak Hill Acquisition Inc., Oak Hill Family Care LLC, Oak Hill Hospitalists LLC, Oakwood Surgery Center Ltd. LLP, Ocala Health Company Care LLC, Ocala Health Imaging Services LLC, Ocala Health Primary Care LLC, Ocala Health Surgical Group LLC, Ocala Health Trauma LLC, Ocala Regional Outpatient Services Inc., Ocala Stereotactic Radiosurgery LLC, Ocala Stereotactic Radiosurgery Partner LLC, Occupational Health Services of PRH LLC, Occupational and Family Medicine of South Texas, Ogden Imaging LLC, Ogden Internal Medicine & Urology LLC, Ogden Regional Health Plan Inc., Ogden Regional Medical Center Professional Billing LLC, Ogden Senior Center LLC, Ogden Tomotherapy LLC, Ogden Tomotherapy Manager LLC, Okaloosa Hospital Inc., Okeechobee Hospital Inc., Oklahoma Holding Company LLC, Oklahoma Outpatient Surgery Limited Partnership, Oklahoma Physicians - Medical Specialties LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Primary Care LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Surgical Specialties LLC, Oklahoma Surgicare Inc., Old Fort Village LLC, On-Site Primary Care PLLC, Oncology Services of Corpus Christi LLC, Oncology Services of Corpus Christi Manager LLC, OneSourceMed Inc., Online Pathology Services Limited, Orange County Healthcare LLC, Orange Park Hospitalists LLC, Orange Park Medical Center Inc., Orlando CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Orlando Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Orlando Outpatient Surgical Center Ltd., Orlando Surgicare Ltd., Orthopaedic Specialty Associates L.P., Orthopaedic Sports Specialty Associates Inc., Orthopedic Hospital Ltd., Orthopedics Specialists LLC, Osceola Neurological Associates LLC, Osceola Physician Network LLC, Osceola Regional Hospital Inc., Osceola Regional Hospitalists LLC, Osceola Surgical Associates LLC, Outpatient Cardiovascular Center of Central Florida LLC, Outpatient GP LLC, Outpatient Services - LAD LLC, Outpatient Services Holdings Inc., Outpatient Surgical Services Ltd., Outpatient Womens and Childrens Surgery Center Ltd., Overland Park Cardiovascular Inc., Overland Park Medical Specialists LLC, Overland Park Orthopedics LLC, Overland Park Surgical Specialties LLC, Oviedo Medical Center LLC, Ozarks Medical Services Inc., P&L Associates, P/SL Hyperbaric Partnership, PET CT LLP, PMM Inc., POH Holdings LLC, PSG Delegated Services LLC, PTS Solutions LLC, Pacific Partners Management Services Inc., Palm Beach EFL Imaging Center LLC, Palm Beach General Surgery LLC, Palm Beach Healthcare System Inc., Palm Beach Hospitalists Program LLC, Palmer Medical Center LLC, Palms West Gastroenterology LLC, Palms West Hospital Limited Partnership, Palms West Surgery Center Ltd., Paragon Physicians Hospital Organization of South Texas Inc., Paragon SDS Inc., Paragon Surgery Centers of Texas Inc., Paragon WSC Inc., Paragon of Texas Health Properties Inc., Parallon Business Solutions LLC, Parallon Enterprises LLC, Parallon Health Information Solutions LLC, Parallon Holdings LLC, Parallon Payroll Solutions LLC, Parallon Physician Services LLC, Parallon Revenue Cycle Services Inc., Park Central Surgical Center Ltd., Park Ridge Surgery Center LLC, Park South Imaging Center Ltd., Park View Insurance Company, Parkersburg SJ Holdings Inc., Parkland Hospitalists Program LLC, Parkland Oncology LLC, Parkland Physician Services Inc., Parkridge East Specialty Associates LLC, Parkridge Hospitalists Inc., Parkridge Medical Associates LLC, Parkridge Medical Center Inc., Parkridge Professionals Inc., Parkside Surgery Center Inc., Parkway Cardiac Center Ltd., Parkway Hospital Inc., Parkway Surgery Services Ltd., Parthenon Insurance Company Limited, Pasadena Bayshore Hospital Inc., PatientKeeper, PatientKeeper Inc., Patients First Neurology LLC, Pavilion 2 Condominium Property LLC, Pavilion 2 Medical Office Building Condominium Association Inc., Pavilion Surgicenter LLC, Peach State Anesthesia Partners LLC, Pearland Institute for Womens Health PLLC, Pearland Partner LLC, Pediatric Anesthesia Consultants of San Antonio PLLC, Pediatric Cardiac Intensivists of North Texas PLLC, Pediatric Critical Care of Clear Lake PLLC, Pediatric Hospitalists of Conroe PLLC, Pediatric Intensivist Group LLC, Pediatric Intensivists of El Paso PLLC, Pediatric Intensivists of North Texas PLLC, Pediatric Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Pediatric Specialty Clinic LLC, Pediatric Surgicare Inc., Pediatrics of Greater Houston PLLC, Pensacola Primary Care Inc., Physician Associates of Corporate Woods LLC, Physicians Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Physicians West Surgicenter LLC, Pinellas Medical LLC, Pinnacle Physician Network LLC, Pioneer Medical LLC, Plains Healthcare System Inc., Plano Ambulatory Surgery Associates L.P., Plano Heart Institute L.P., Plano Heart Management LLC, Plano Surgery Center - GP LLC, Plano Surgery Center Real Estate LLC, Plano Surgicenter Real Estate Manager LLC, Plano Urology PLLC, Plantation General Hospital L.P., Plaza Medical Specialists PLLC, Plaza Primary Care PLLC, Plaza Transplant Center PLLC, Podiatry of Clear Lake PLLC, Poinciana Medical Center Inc., Port St. Lucie Surgery Center Ltd., Portland Primary Care LLC, Portsmouth Regional Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Portsmouth Surgicenter LLC, Preferred Hospitals Inc., Preferred Works WC LLC, Premier ASC LLC, Premier Medical Management Ltd., Primary Care Medical Associates Inc., Primary Care Plano PLLC, Primary Care Services of Orlando LLC, Primary Care South PLLC, Primary Care West PLLC, Primary Care of West End LLC, Primary Health Asset Holdings Ltd., Primary Health Group Inc., Primary Health Inc., Primary Health Network of South Texas, Primary Health Physicians PLLC, Primary Medical Management Inc., Proaxis Therapy HealthOne LLC, Provident Professional Building Condominium Association Inc., Psychiatry Services of Osceola LLC, Pulaski Community Hospital Inc., Pulaski Urology LLC, Pulmonary Renal Intensivist Group LLC, Putnam Community Medical Center of North Florida LLC, Putnam Hospital Inc., Putnam Radiation Oncology LLC, Putnam Radiation Oncology Manager LLC, Putnam Surgical Group LLC, Quantum/Bellaire Imaging Ltd., Quick Care Centers LLC, Quivira Internal Medicine Inc., RCH LLC, RMC - Pulmonary LLC, RMC Transplant Physicians LLC, RMCA Professionals Mgmt LLC, ROi CPS LLC, Radford Family Medicine LLC, Radiation Oncology Center of Thornton LLC, Radiation Oncology Manager LLC, Raleigh Community Medical Office Building Ltd., Rapides After Hours Clinic L.L.C., Rapides Healthcare System L.L.C., Rapides Regional Physician Group LLC, Rapides Regional Physician Group Primary Care LLC, Rapides Regional Physician Group Specialty Care LLC, Rapides Surgery Center LLC, Raulerson GYN LLC, Raulerson Gastroenterology LLC, Raulerson Primary Care LLC, Raymore Medical Group LLC, Red Rock Holdco LLC, Red Rock at Smoke Ranch LLC, Red Rocks Surgery Center LLC, Redmond Anesthesia Services LLC, Redmond Hospital Services LLC, Redmond Neurosurgery LLC, Redmond Park Health Services Inc., Redmond Park Hospital LLC, Redmond Physician Practice Company, Redmond Specialty Services LLC, Regional Hospital Healthcare Partners LLC, Research Cardiology Associates LLC, Research Family Physicians LLC, Research Internal Medicine LLC, Research Neurology Associates LLC, Research Neuroscience Institute LLC, Resource Optimization & Innovation L.L.C., Reston Hospital Center LLC, Reston Hospitalists LLC, Reston Surgery Center L.P., Retreat Cardiology LLC, Retreat Hospital LLC, Retreat Internal Medicine LLC, Retreat Surgical Associates LLC, Rhodes Limited-Liability Company, Richmond Imaging Employer Corp., Richmond Multi-Specialty LLC, Richmond Pediatric Surgeons LLC, Ridgeline Surgicenter LLC, Rim Building Partners L.P., Rio Grande Healthcare MSO Inc., Rio Grande NP Inc., Rio Grande Regional Hospital Inc., Rio Grande Valley Cardiology PLLC, Rio Grande Valley CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Rio Grande Valley Urology PLLC, Riverside CyberKnife Manager LLC, Riverside Healthcare System L.P., Riverside Holdings Inc., Riverside Hospital Inc., Riverside Imaging LLC, Riverwalk ASC LLC, Roanoke Imaging LLC, Roanoke Neurosurgery LLC, Roanoke Surgery Center L.P., Roanoke Valley Gynecology LLC, Robotic Radiosurgery LLP, Rocky Mountain Pediatric Hematology Oncology LLC, Rocky Mountain Surgery Center LLC, Rome Imaging Center Limited Partnership, Roodlane Medical Limited, Rose Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Rose Health Partners LLC, Rose Medical Plaza Ltd., Rose POB Inc., Rosewood Medical Center Inc., Rosewood Professional Building Ltd., Round Rock Hospital Inc., Round Rock Trauma Surgeons PLLC, Royal Oaks Surgery Center L.P., S.A. Medical Center Inc., SAPN LLC, SCRI Global Services Limited, SCRI Holdings LLC, SCRI Scientifics LLC, SJMC LLC, SSHR Holdco LLC, SSJ St. Petersburg Holdings Inc., STPN Manager LLC, SWMC Inc., Sahara Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Salem Hospitalists LLC, Salem Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Salt Lake City Surgicare Inc., Samaritan LLC, San Antonio Division Inc., San Antonio Regional Hospital Inc., San Antonio Surgicenter LLC, San Bernardino Imaging LLC, San Joaquin Surgical Center Inc., San Jose Healthcare System LP, San Jose Hospital L.P., San Jose LLC, San Jose Medical Center LLC, San Jose Pathology Outreach LLC, San Marcos ASC LLC, San Marcos Surgicenter LLC, Sante Fe Family Practitioners PLLC, Sarah Cannon Development Innovations LLC, Sarah Cannon Research Institute LLC, Sarah Cannon Research Institute UK Limited, Sarasota Doctors Hospital Inc., Savannah Behavioral Health Associates LLC, Savannah Health Network LLC, Savannah Health Services LLC, Savannah Inpatient Services LLC, Savannah Multispecialty Associates LLC, Savannah Pediatric Care LLC, Savannah Primary Care Associates LLC, Sebring Health Services LLC, Selma Medical Center Hospital Inc., Senior Health Associates LLC, Short Pump Imaging LLC, Silicon Valley Health Holdings LLC, Silicon Valley Surgery Center L.P., Silicon Valley Surgicenter LLC, Sky Ridge Spine Manager LLC, Sky Ridge Surgery Center L.P., Skyline Medical Group LLC, Skyline Neuroscience Associates LLC, Skyline Rehab Associates LLC, Skyline Specialty Associates LLC, Smith Laboratories Inc., Solis Mammography at Bayshore Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Conroe Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Denton Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at HCA Houston Tomball LLC, Solis Mammography at Kingwood Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Las Colinas Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center Alliance LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center Arlington LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of Lewisville LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of McKinney LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of Plano LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical City Dallas LLC, Solis Mammography at Pearland Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Rose Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Skyline Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at StoneCrest Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at West Houston Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Womans Hospital of Texas LLC, Solis Mammography of Cedar Hill LLC, Solis Mammography of CyFair LLC, Solis Mammography of Dallas LLC, Solis Mammography of Flower Mound LLC, Solis Mammography of Frisco LLC, Solis Mammography of Garland LLC, Solis Mammography of Grand Prairie LLC, Solis Mammography of Houston NW LLC, Solis Mammography of Katy LLC, Solis Mammography of Louetta/249 LLC, Solis Mammography of Mainland LLC, Solis Mammography of Mansfield LLC, Solis Mammography of Mesquite LLC, Solis Mammography of Montgomery LLC, Solis Mammography of North Cypress LLC, Solis Mammography of North Loop LLC, Solis Mammography of Sugar Land LLC, Solis Mammography of West Plano LLC, Solis Mammography of Womans Place LLC, South Atlantic Division Inc., South Austin Surgery Center Ltd., South Austin Surgical Management LLC, South Austin Surgicenter LLC, South Brandon Imaging LLC, South Florida Division Practice Inc., South Texas Surgicare Inc., South Transfer Center LLC, South Valley Hospital L.P., Southeast Georgia Health Services LLC, Southern Hills Medical Center LLC, Southern Hills Neurology Consultants LLC, Southern Kentucky Medicine Associates LLC, Southern Kentucky Surgicenter LLC, Southern Texas Physicians Network, Southpoint LLC, Southtown Womens Clinic LLC, Southwest Florida Health System Inc., Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., Southwest Medical Center Family Practice LLC, Southwest Medical Center Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Southwest Medical Center Surgical Group LLC, Southwest Medpro Ltd., Southwest Surgical Clinic Inc., Southwest Virginia Orthopedics and Spine LLC, Spalding Rehabilitation L.L.C., Specialists in Obstetrics and Gynecology PLLC, Specialty Associates of West Houston PLLC, Specialty Physicians of Northern Virginia LLC, Specialty Surgicare of Las Vegas LP, Spotsylvania Condominium Property LLC, Spotsylvania Medical Center Inc., Spotsylvania Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Spotsylvania Regional Surgery Center LLC, Spring Branch Family Practitioners PLLC, Spring Branch Medical Center Inc., Spring Hill Hospital Inc., Spring Hill Imaging LLC, Spring Hill Physicians LLC, Springview KY LLC, Spruce Pine Healthcare LLC, St. Davids Austin Area ASC LLC, St. Davids Cardiology PLLC, St. Davids CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, St. Davids Healthcare Partnership L.P. LLP, St. Davids Heart & Vascular PLLC, St. Davids Neurology PLLC, St. Davids OB Hospitalist PLLC, St. Davids Ortho Neuro and Rehab PLLC, St. Davids Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation PLLC, St. Davids Quality Alliance LLC, St. Davids Specialized Womens Services PLLC, St. Davids Trauma Surgeons PLLC, St. Lucie Hospitalists LLC, St. Lucie Medical Center Hyperbarics LLC, St. Lucie Medical Center Walk-In Clinic LLC, St. Lucie Medical Specialists LLC, St. Lucie West Primary Care LLC, St. Marks Ambulatory Surgery Associates L.P., St. Marks Gynecology Oncology Care LLC, St. Marks Investments Inc., St. Marks Physician Billing LLC, St. Marks Professional Services LLC, St. Marks South Jordan Family Practice LLC, St. Martins Healthcare Limited, St. Martins Ltd., St. Martins Medical Services Limited, St. Petersburg General Surgery LLC, Stafford Imaging LLC, Statland Medical Group LLC, Steamboat Springs Surgicenter LLC, Sterling Primary Care Associates LLC, Stiles Road Imaging LLC, StoneCrest Surgery Center LLC, StoneSprings Medical Office Building Property LLC, StoneSprings Surgicenter LLC, Stonecrest Medical Group - Family Practice of Murfreesboro LLC, Stonecrest Medical Group - SC Murfreesboro Family Practice LLC, Stones River Hospital LLC, Suburban Medical Center at Hoffman Estates Inc., Sugar Land Surgery Center Anesthesia LLC, Sugar Land Surgery Center Ltd., Sullins Surgical Center Inc., Summit Convenient Care at Lebanon LLC, Summit General Partner Inc., Summit Heart LLC, Summit Outpatient Diagnostic Center LLC, Summit Research Solutions LLC, Summit Surgery Center L.P., Summit Surgical Associates LLC, Summit Walk-in Clinic LLC, Sun Bay Medical Office Building Inc., Sun City Hospital Inc., Sun City Imaging LLC, Sun Towers/Vista Hills Holding Co., Sun-Med LLC, Sunrise Flamingo Holdings LLC, Sunrise Flamingo Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center LLC, Sunrise Mountainview Hospital Inc., Sunrise Mountainview Multi-Specialty Clinics LLC, Sunrise Outpatient Services Inc., Sunrise Physician Services LLC, Sunrise Trauma Services LLC, Surgery Associates of NTX PLLC, Surgery Center of Atlantis LLC, Surgery Center of Aventura Ltd., Surgery Center of Bay Area Houston LLC, Surgery Center of Greenview L.P., Surgery Center of Independence L.P., Surgery Center of Overland Park L.P., Surgery Center of Port Charlotte Ltd., Surgery Center of Rome L.P., Surgery Center of the Rockies LLC, Surgical Associates of Southwest Virginia LLC, Surgical Care Medical Group LLC, Surgical Center of Irving Inc., Surgical Facility of West Houston L.P., Surgical Park Center Ltd., Surgical Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Surgical Specialists of Conroe PLLC, Surgical Specialists of Corpus Christi PLLC, Surgicare America - Winter Park Inc., Surgicare Merger Company of Louisiana, Surgicare Outpatient Center of Baton Rouge Inc., Surgicare Outpatient Center of Jackson Inc., Surgicare of ADC LLC, Surgicare of AGI LLC, Surgicare of Alpine LLC, Surgicare of Altamonte Springs Inc., Surgicare of Anchorage LLC, Surgicare of Arapahoe LLC, Surgicare of Arlington LLC, Surgicare of Ashburn LLC, Surgicare of Augusta Inc., Surgicare of Aurora Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Aventura LLC, Surgicare of Bay Area Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Bay Area LLC, Surgicare of Bayonet Point Inc., Surgicare of Bayside LLC, Surgicare of Bountiful LLC, Surgicare of Brandon Inc., Surgicare of Brentwood LLC, Surgicare of Brighton LLC, Surgicare of Brooksville LLC, Surgicare of Brownsville LLC, Surgicare of Buckhead LLC, Surgicare of CAREOS LLC, Surgicare of Central Florida Inc., Surgicare of Central Park Surgery Center LLC, Surgicare of Central San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Chattanooga LLC, Surgicare of Chippenham LLC, Surgicare of Citrus LLC, Surgicare of Clarksville LLC, Surgicare of Corpus Christi LLC, Surgicare of Countryside Inc., Surgicare of Dallas Specialty LLC, Surgicare of Denton Inc., Surgicare of Denver Clinic LLC, Surgicare of Denver LLC, Surgicare of Denver Mid-Town Inc., Surgicare of Dickson LLC, Surgicare of Eastside LLC, Surgicare of Evans Inc., Surgicare of Fairfax Inc., Surgicare of Florida Inc., Surgicare of Flower Mound Inc., Surgicare of Focus Hand LLC, Surgicare of Fort Worth Co-GP LLC, Surgicare of Fort Worth Inc., Surgicare of Ft. Pierce Inc., Surgicare of Good Samaritan LLC, Surgicare of Gramercy Inc., Surgicare of Greenview Inc., Surgicare of Hanover Inc., Surgicare of Houston Kingwood LLC, Surgicare of Houston LLC, Surgicare of Houston Womens Inc., Surgicare of Indianapolis Inc., Surgicare of Kansas City LLC, Surgicare of Kingwood LLC, Surgicare of Kissimmee Inc., Surgicare of Lakeview Inc., Surgicare of Las Vegas Inc., Surgicare of Laurel Grove LLC, Surgicare of Lorain County Inc., Surgicare of Los Gatos Inc., Surgicare of Los Robles LLC, Surgicare of Loveland LLC, Surgicare of Madison Inc., Surgicare of Manatee Inc., Surgicare of McKinney Inc., Surgicare of Medical City Dallas LLC, Surgicare of Memorial Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Merritt Island Inc., Surgicare of Miami Lakes LLC, Surgicare of Mountain West LLC, Surgicare of Mt. Ogden LLC, Surgicare of Nashville LLC, Surgicare of Natchez LLC, Surgicare of Newport Richey Inc., Surgicare of North Austin LLC, Surgicare of North San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Northeast San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Orange Park II LLC, Surgicare of Orange Park Inc., Surgicare of Orange Park Ltd., Surgicare of Orlando Inc., Surgicare of Overland Park LLC, Surgicare of Palms West LLC, Surgicare of Park Ridge LLC, Surgicare of Pasadena Inc., Surgicare of Pavilion LLC, Surgicare of Physicians West El Paso LLC, Surgicare of Pinellas Inc., Surgicare of Plano Inc., Surgicare of Plantation Inc., Surgicare of Port Charlotte LLC, Surgicare of Port St. Lucie Inc., Surgicare of Portsmouth LLC, Surgicare of Premier Orthopaedic LLC, Surgicare of Reston Inc., Surgicare of Ridgeline LLC, Surgicare of Riverside LLC, Surgicare of Riverwalk LLC, Surgicare of Roanoke LLC, Surgicare of Rome Inc., Surgicare of Rose LLC, Surgicare of Round Rock Inc., Surgicare of Royal Oaks LLC, Surgicare of Silicon Valley LLC, Surgicare of Sky Ridge LLC, Surgicare of Sky Ridge Womens Center LLC, Surgicare of South Austin Inc., Surgicare of Southeast Denver Inc., Surgicare of Southern Hills Inc., Surgicare of Southern Kentucky LLC, Surgicare of Southwest Houston LLC, Surgicare of Spotsylvania LLC, Surgicare of St. Andrews Inc., Surgicare of St. Andrews Ltd., Surgicare of St. Davids Austin LLC, Surgicare of Steamboat Springs LLC, Surgicare of StoneCrest LLC, Surgicare of StoneSprings LLC, Surgicare of Stuart Inc., Surgicare of Sugar Land Inc., Surgicare of Swedish LLC, Surgicare of Tallahassee Inc., Surgicare of Terre Haute LLC, Surgicare of Thornton LLC, Surgicare of Travis Center Inc., Surgicare of Tulsa Inc., Surgicare of Utah LLC, Surgicare of Wasatch Front LLC, Surgicare of West Hills Inc., Surgicare of Westlake Inc., Surgicare of Wichita Inc., Surgicare of Wichita LLC, Surgicare of Willis LLC, Surgicare of Wilson County LLC, Surgicare of Winchester LLC, Surgicenter of East Jefferson Inc., Surgicenter of Johnson County Ltd. a Kansas limited partnership, Surgicenter of Kansas City L.L.C., Surgico LLC, Swedish MOB Acquisition Inc., Swedish MOB I Ltd., Swedish MOB II Inc., Swedish MOB III Inc., Swedish MOB IV Inc., Swedish MOB LLC, Swedish Medpro Inc., TBHI Outpatient Services LLC, TCMC Madison-Portland Inc., THN Physicians Association Inc., TUHC Anesthesiology Group LLC, TUHC Hospitalist Group LLC, TUHC Physician Group LLC, TUHC Primary Care and Pediatrics Group LLC, TUHC Radiology Group LLC, Tallahassee Community Network Inc., Tallahassee Medical Center Inc., Tallahassee Orthopaedic Surgery Partners Ltd., Tampa Bay Health System Inc., Tampa Surgi-Centre Inc., Tarrant County Surgery Center L.P., Tchefuncte Cardiology Associates - Lakeview LLC, Teays Valley Health Services LLC, Telehealth Physician Services LLC, Tennessee Healthcare Management Inc., Tennessee Valley Outpatient Diagnostic Center LLC, Terre Haute Hospital GP Inc., Terre Haute Hospital Holdings Inc., Terre Haute MOB L.P., Terre Haute Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Terre Haute Regional Hospital L.P., Texas CareNow Physician Associates, Texas HSS LLC, Texas Institute of Medicine and Surgery, Texas Psychiatric Company Inc., The Austin Diagnostic Clinic PLLC, The Cancer Care Center of North Florida LLC, The Cardiovascular Partnership for Quality LLC, The Charter Cypress Behavioral Health System L.L.C., The Christie Clinic LLP, The Glynne Medical Practice Limited, The Harley Street Cancer Clinic Limited, The London Breast Institute UK Ltd, The Medical Group of Kansas City LLC, The Neurohealth Sciences Center LLC, The Physicians Clinic Limited, The Prostate Centre Limited, The Rankin Foundation, The Regional Health System of Acadiana LLC, The Wasatch Endoscopy Center Ltd., The West Texas Division of Columbia Inc., Timpanogos Pain Specialists LLC, Timpanogos Regional Medical Services Inc., Total Imaging - Hudson LLC, Total Imaging - North St. Petersburg LLC, Total Imaging - Parsons LLC, Town Plaza Family Practice LLC, Travel Medicine and Infections LLC, Travis Surgery Center L.P., Tri Cities Health Services Corp., Tri-City Multi-Specialty LLC, Tri-County Community Hospital Inc., Tri-County Surgical Specialists LLC, TriStar Bone Marrow Transplant LLC, TriStar Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, TriStar Family Care LLC, TriStar Gynecology Oncology LLC, TriStar Health System Inc., TriStar Joint Replacement Institute LLC, TriStar Maury Behavioral Healthcare LLC, TriStar Medical Group - Centennial Primary Care LLC, TriStar Medical Group - Legacy Health LLC, TriStar Medical Network LLC, TriStar OB/GYN LLC, TriStar Orthopedics LLC, TriStar Physicians LLC, TriStar Radiation Oncology LLC, Trident Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Trident Behavioral Health Services LLC, Trident Eye Surgery Center L.P., Trident Medical Center LLC, Trident Medical Services Inc., Trident Neonatology Services LLC, Tulane Clinic LLC, Tulane Professionals Management L.L.C., Tuscan Imaging Center at Las Colinas LLC, U.S. Collections Inc., Ultra Imaging Management Services LLC, Ultra Imaging of Tampa LLC, University Healthcare Specialists LLC, University Healthcare System L.C., University Hospital Ltd., Uptown Primary Care Associates LLC, Urgent Care Enterprise LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Ann & Simmons LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Cactus & Southern Highlands LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Charleston & Decatur LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Charleston/Sloan LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Craig & Clayton LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Craig & Decatur LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Durango & Cheyenne LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Durango & Flamingo LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Eastern & Horizon Ridge LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Rainbow/Mardon LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Warm Springs & Green Valley LLC, Urgent Care Extra Silverado & Maryland LLC, Urgent Care Extra-Tropicana & Jones LLC, Urgent Care Nevada LLC, Urological Specialists of Arlington PLLC, Urology Associates (London) Limited, Urology Center of North Georgia LLC, Urology Services of El Paso PLLC, Urology Specialists Devonshire LLP, Urology Specialists London LLP, Urology Specialists of Kingwood PLLC, Urology Specialists of Richmond LLC, Urology Surgery Center of Colorado LLC, Utah CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Utah Imaging GP LLC, Utah Medco LLC, Utah Surgery Center L.P., VH Holdco Inc., VH Holdings Inc., VHSC Plantation LLC, VIP Inc., Valify, Valify Inc., Value Health Holdings Inc., Value Health Management Inc., Vascular and Endovascular Specialists LLC, Venture Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Venture Medical Management LLC, Village Oaks Medical Center Inc., Virginia Care Partners ACO LLC, Virginia Gynecologic Oncology LLC, Virginia Hematology & Oncology Associates Inc., Virginia Hospitalists Inc., Virginia Psychiatric Company Inc., Virginia Quality Care Partners LLC, Vision Consulting Group LLC, Vision Holdings LLC, W & C Hospital Inc., WCP Properties LLC, WHG Medical LLC, WHMC Inc., WJHC LLC, Walterboro Community Hospital Inc., Warren County Ambulance Service LLC, Wasatch Front Surgery Center LLC, Washington Holdco LLC, Waterway Primary Care LLC, Weatherford Health Services LLC, Weatherford Mammography JV LLC, Weatherford Regional Medical Center, Welbeck Street Diagnostic Centre LLP, Wellington Diagnostic Services LLP, Wesley Cath Lab LLC, Wesley Manager LLC, Wesley Medical Center LLC, Wesley Physician Services LLC, Wesley Physicians - Anesthesiologist LLC, Wesley Physicians - Cardiovascular LLC, Wesley Physicians - Medical Specialties LLC, Wesley Physicians - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Wesley Physicians - Primary Care LLC, Wesley Select Network LLC, Wesley Urgent Care LLC, West Boynton Beach Open Imaging Center LLC, West Creek Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, West Creek Medical Center Inc., West Florida - MHT LLC, West Florida - PPH LLC, West Florida Behavioral Health Inc., West Florida Cardiology Network LLC, West Florida Cardiology Physicians LLC, West Florida CareNow Urgent Care LLC, West Florida Division Inc., West Florida Gulf Coast Primary Care LLC, West Florida HealthWorks LLC, West Florida Imaging Services LLC, West Florida Internal Medicine LLC, West Florida PET Services LLC, West Florida Physician Network LLC, West Florida Professional Billing LLC, West Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., West Florida Specialty Physicians LLC, West Florida Trauma Network LLC, West Florida Urgent Care Network LLC, West Hills Hospital, West Hills Surgical Center Ltd., West Houston ASC Inc., West Houston Healthcare Group Ltd., West Houston Internal Specialists PLLC, West Houston LLC, West Houston Medical PLLC, West Houston Outpatient Medical Facility Inc., West Houston Surgicare Inc., West Jacksonville Medical Center Inc., West Jordan Hospital Corporation, West LPN Fort Worth Oncology PLLC, West LPN Inc., West Los Angeles Physicians Hospital Inc., West McKinney Imaging Services LLC, West Paces Services Inc., West Park Surgery Center L.P., West Valley Imaging LLC, West Valley Medical Center Inc., West Valley Medical Group LLC, West Valley Medical Group Specialty Services LLC, West Valley Therapy Services LLC, Westbury Hospital Inc., Western Plains Capital Inc., Westlake Surgicare L.P., Westminster Community Hospital, Westside Surgery Center Ltd., Wichita CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Wildwood Medical Center Inc., Willis Surgicenter LLC, Wilson County Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Womans Health Group PLLC, Womans Hospital Merger LLC, Womans Hospital of Texas Incorporated, Women Practitioners of Houston PLLC, Women Specialists of Bayshore PLLC, Women Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Women Specialists of Mainland PLLC, Womens & Childrens Center LLC, Womens & Childrens Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Center LLC, Womens & Childrens Pulmonology Clinic LLC, Womens Center at Brookside LLC, Womens Health Center of Central Florida LLC, Womens Health Center of SWVA LLC, Womens Hospital Indianapolis GP Inc., Womens Hospital Indianapolis L.P., Womens Link Specialty Obstetrical Referral Clinic PLLC, Womens Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Womens Surgical Specialists of Texas PLLC, Womens and Childrens Professional Management L.L.C., Womens and Childrens Specialists LLC, hInsight-Airstrip Holdings LLC, hInsight-BMA Holdings LLC, hInsight-Customer Care Holdings LLC, hInsight-Digital Reasoning Holdings LLC, hInsight-Healthbox Holdings LLC, hInsight-I2 Holdings LLC, hInsight-InVivoLink Holdings LLC, hInsight-LS Holdings LLC, hInsight-Loyale Healthcare Holdings LLC, hInsight-Mobile Heartbeat Holdings LLC, hInsight-NX LLC, hInsight-PWS I Holdings LLC, hInsight-Procured Holdings LLC, and hInsight-VAI Holdings LLC.
iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF's stock was trading at $56.82 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, IGIB shares have increased by 4.2% and is now trading at $59.20.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.
Hurricane Energy plc, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, appraises, and develops oil from fractured basement reservoirs. The company has a portfolio of contiguous offshore licenses on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf, West of Shetland. Its producing oil fields include Clair, Foinaven, and Schiehallion; licenses focuses on the Rona Ridge, a major NE-SW trending basement; and assets comprise Lancaster, Whirlwind, Lincoln, Halifax, and Warwick. Hurricane Energy plc has an estimated contingent resources of approximately 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The company was formerly known as Hurricane Exploration plc and changed its name to Hurricane Energy plc in April 2013. Hurricane Energy plc was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Godalming, the United Kingdom.

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The following companies are subsidiares of JinkoSolar: Canton Best Limited, Jiangxi Photovoltaic Materials Co. Ltd., Jinko PV Material Supply Sdn. Bhd., Jinko Solar (Malaysia) SDN BHD., Jinko Solar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Australia Holdings Co. Pty Ltd., Jinko Solar Canada Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Denmark ApS, Jinko Solar Import and Export Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Japan K.K., Jinko Solar Korea Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Technology SDN.BHD., JinkoSolar (Chuxiong) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Chuzhou) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Shangrao) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Sichuan) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Switzerland) AG, JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc., JinkoSolar (U.S.) Industries Inc., JinkoSolar (US) Holdings Inc., JinkoSolar (Vietnam) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Yiwu) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar GmbH, JinkoSolar Hong Kong Limited, JinkoSolar International Development Limited, JinkoSolar Investment Limited, JinkoSolar LATAM Holding Limited, JinkoSolar Middle East DMCC, JinkoSolar Technology (Haining) Co. Ltd, JinkoSolar Trading Private Limited, Jinkosolar Household PV System Ltd., Poyang Ruilixin Information Technology Co. Ltd., Rui Xu Co. Ltd., Wide Wealth Group Holding Limited, Xinjiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., Yuhuan Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., and Zhejiang Jinko Trading Co. Ltd..
The following companies are subsidiares of Mohawk Industries: A&S Energie NV, A&U Energie NV, Aladdin Manufacturing Corporation, Aladdin Manufacturing Of New York LLC, Aladdin Manufacturing of Alabama LLC, Alsace Logistique S.A., Avelgem Green Power CVBA, Avon Pacific Holdings Ltd, B&M NV, BGE Mexico S. de R. L. de C.V., Berghoef GmbH, Berghoef-Hout B.V., Bienes Raices y Materiales del Centro S. de R.L. de C.V., C.F. Marazzi S.A., Canterbury Spinners Ltd, Carpet Foundation Ltd, Cevotrans BV, Ceramus Bahia S/A  Produtos Ceramicos, DT Mex Holdings LLC, DTM/CM Holdings LLC, Dal Italia LLC, Dal-Elit LLC, Dal-Tile Chile Comercial Limitada, Dal-Tile Colombia S.A.S., Dal-Tile Distribution Inc., Dal-Tile Group Inc., Dal-Tile I LLC, Dal-Tile Industrias S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile International Inc., Dal-Tile Mexico Comercial S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Operaciones Mexico S. De R.L. De C.V., Dal-Tile Peru SRL, Dal-Tile Puerto Rico Inc., Dal-Tile Services Inc., Dal-Tile Shared Services Inc., Dal-Tile Tennessee LLC, Dal-Tile of Canada ULC, Daltile, Daltile, Dekaply NV, Durkan, Dynea NV, Eliane Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Eliane S/A - Revestimentos Ceramicos, Emilceramica India Pvt Ltd., Emilceramica S.r.l, Emilgermany GmbH, Emilgroup Asia Ltd, Explorer S.r.l., F.I.L.S. Investments Unlimited Company, Feltex Carpets Ltd, Feltex Carpets Pty Ltd, Feltex New Zealand Ltd, Fibremakers Australia Pty Ltd, Flooring Foundation Ltd, Flooring Industries Limited S.a r.l., Flooring XL B.V., Floorscape Limited, Godfrey Hirst & Co Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Group, Godfrey Hirst NZ Ltd, Hytherm (Ireland) Limited, IVC BVBA, IVC Far-East Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., IVC France S.a r.l., IVC GROUP LIMITED, IVC Green Power NV, IVC Group, IVC Group GmbH, IVC Luxembourg S.a r.l., IVC Rus OOO, IVC US Inc., International Flooring Systems S.a r.l., International Vinyl Company - Vostok OOO, KAI Group, KAI Keramica Ltd, KAI Mining EOOD, KERAMA CENTER OOO, Kerama Baltics OOO, Kerama Export OOO, Kerama Marazzi OOO, Kerampromservis (LLC), Khan Asparuh - Transport EOOD, Khan Asparuh AD, Khan Omurtag AD, Koninklijke Peitsman B.V., Kraj Kerama OOO, MG China Trading Ltd., MI Finance SRL, MUD (Holding) Brazil Ltda., Management Co EAD, Marazzi Acquisition S.r.l., Marazzi Deutschland G.m.b.H., Marazzi France Trading S.A.S., Marazzi Group, Marazzi Group F.Z.E., Marazzi Group S.r.l., Marazzi Group Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Marazzi Iberia S.L.U., Marazzi Japan Co. Ltd., Marazzi Middle East FZ LLC, Marazzi Schweiz S.A.G.L., Marazzi UK Ltd., Mohawk Assurance Services Inc., Mohawk Australia Pty Ltd, Mohawk Canada Corporation, Mohawk Capital Finance S.A., Mohawk Capital Luxembourg SA, Mohawk Carpet Distribution Inc., Mohawk Carpet Foundation Inc., Mohawk Carpet LLC, Mohawk Carpet Transportation Of Georgia LLC, Mohawk Commercial Inc., Mohawk ESV Inc., Mohawk Europe BVBA, Mohawk Factoring II Inc., Mohawk Factoring LLC, Mohawk Finance S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Acquisitions S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Funding S.a.r.l, Mohawk Foreign Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Investments Inc., Mohawk Global Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Holdings International B.V., Mohawk Industries Inc., Mohawk International (Europe) S.a r.l., Mohawk International (Hong Kong) Limited, Mohawk International Capital N.V., Mohawk International Financing S.a.r.l, Mohawk International Holdings (DE) LLC, Mohawk International Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk International Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk International Netherlands B.V., Mohawk International Services BVBA, Mohawk KAI Luxembourg Holding S.a r.l., Mohawk KAI Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Capital S.A., Mohawk Luxembourg Financing S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Pacific S.a r.l., Mohawk Marazzi International BV, Mohawk Marazzi Russia BV, Mohawk New Zealand Limited, Mohawk Operaciones Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Mohawk Operations Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Pacific Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Resources LLC, Mohawk Servicing LLC, Mohawk Singapore Private Limited, Mohawk Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mohawk Unilin Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk United Finance B.V., Mohawk United International B.V., Mohawk Vinyl Financing S.a r.l., Molber Beheer B.V., Monarch Ceramic Tile Inc., P.F. Onroerend Goed B.V., PF Beheer B.V., Pergo, Pergo (Europe) AB, Pergo Holding BV, Pergo India Pvt Ltd, Polcolorit S.A., Premium Floors Australia Pty Limited, RR Apex LLC, Rata International Pty Ltd, Recubrimientos Interceramica S. de R.L. de C.V., Riverside Textiles Pty Ltd, S.C. KAI Ceramics SRL, Sibir Kerama OOO, SimpleSolutions USA LLC, Soft Step (Australia) Pty Ltd, Spano Group, Spano Invest BVBA, Spano NV, Stroyagromekhzapchast ChaO, Stroytrans OAO Orelstroy, Summit Wool Spinners Ltd, The Flooring Federation Ltd, Tiles Co OOD, Unilin (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Unilin ApS, Unilin Arauco Pisos Ltda., Unilin BVBA, Unilin Beheer BV, Unilin Distribution Ltd., Unilin Distribution Ukraine LLC, Unilin Finland OY, Unilin Flooring India Private Limited, Unilin Flooring SAS, Unilin GmbH, Unilin Holding BVBA, Unilin Insulation BV, Unilin Insulation SAS, Unilin Insulation Sury SAS, Unilin Italia S.R.L., Unilin North America LLC, Unilin Norway AS, Unilin OOO, Unilin Panels SAS, Unilin Poland Sp.Z.o.o., Unilin SAS, Unilin Spain SL, Unilin Swiss GmbH, Unilin s.r.o., World International Inc., Xtratherm, Xtratherm Limited, Xtratherm S.A., and Xtratherm UK Limited.
PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Exchange-Traded Fund's stock was trading at $101.21 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, MINT shares have increased by 0.4% and is now trading at $101.57.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.
Tamarack Valley Energy has been the subject of 5 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

According to analysts' consensus price target of $4.56, Tamarack Valley Energy has a forecasted upside of 50.6% from its current price of $3.03.

Tamarack Valley Energy has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.88, and is based on 5 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

4.9 Community Rank

Outperform Votes Tamarack Valley Energy has received 96 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.)

Underperform Votes Tamarack Valley Energy has received 35 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.)

Community Sentiment Tamarack Valley Energy has received 73.28% outperform votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Tamarack Valley Energy and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe TNEYF will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe TNEYF will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

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Bank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses. The Global Wealth and Investment Management provides client experience through a network of financial advisors focused on to meet their needs through a full set of investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement products. The Global Banking segment deals with lending-related products and services, integrated working capital management and treasury solutions to clients, and underwriting and advisory services. The Global Markets segment includes sales and trading services, as well as research, to institutional clients across fixed-income, credit, currency, commodity, and equity businesses. The All Other segment consists of asset and liability management activities, equity investments, non-core mortgage loans and servicing activities, the net impact of periodic revisions

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Rogers to Participate in Deutsche Bank's Global Conference

Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) will be presenting at Deutsche Bank's Global Industrials & Materials Summit, on Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 10:40 am Central time in Chicago. Bruce Hoechner, President and CEO, who will be joined by Mike Ludwig, SVP and CFO, will provide an overview of the company; discuss its competitive position and its strategies for growth.

A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available on the Rogers Corporation website, www.rogerscorp.com, under the investor relations section.

About Rogers Corporation (News - Alert)

Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) is a global leader in engineered materials to power, protect, and connect our world. With more than 180 years of materials science experience, Rogers delivers high-performance solutions that enable clean energy, internet connectivity, and safety and protection applications, as well as other technologies where reliability is critical. Rogers delivers Power Electronics Solutions for energy-efficient motor drives, e-Mobility and renewable energy; Elastomeric Material Solutions for sealing, vibration management and impact protection in mobile devices, transportation interiors, industrial equipment and performance apparel; and Advanced Connectivity Solutions for wireless infrastructure, automotive safety and radar systems. Headquartered in Arizona (USA), Rogers operates manufacturing facilities in the United States, China, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, and South Korea, with joint ventures and sales offices worldwide.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190531005590/en/
The following companies are subsidiares of Teledyne Technologies: Alia Corporation Inc, Bolt Technology Corp, Bowtech Products, CARIS, CDL do Brasil Equipamentos e Servicos Submarinos Sociedade Empresaria Ltda., CETAC Technologies, DALSA, Demo Systems, Detcon Holdco Inc., Ensambles de Precision S.A. de C.V., Falcon Analytical, Frontline Test Equipment, GMI Group Holdings Limited, Hafmynd ehf, Hanson Research Corp, IST Oldham Instruments India Private Limited, Industrial Control Machines, Intelek, Intelek Limited, Intelek Pension Trustees Limited, Intelek Properties Limited, LeCroy (Beijing) Trading Co. Ltd., LeCroy Corporation, Lidar Aviation Services Inc., Maple Imaging LLC, Micralyne Inc, Ocean Design Ltda., Oldham Instrument (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Oldham Simtronics SAS, Oldham-Winter GmbH, PDM Neptec, Reynolds Industries Limited, Rhombi Canada LP, Rhombi Holdings Limited, Rhombi Netherlands B.V., Rockwell Scientific Company, Simtronics AS, TDY Jersey Limited, Teledyne Advanced Pollution Instrumentation, Teledyne Australia Pty Ltd, Teledyne BlueView, Teledyne Bogatin Enterprises LLC, Teledyne Bowtech Limited, Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., Teledyne C.M.L. Group Limited, Teledyne CARIS B.V., Teledyne CARIS Inc., Teledyne CARIS UK Ltd., Teledyne CARIS USA Inc., Teledyne CDL Inc., Teledyne CDL Limited, Teledyne Catalyst Enterprises Inc., Teledyne Computer Access Technology Corporation, Teledyne Controls LLC, Teledyne Cougar, Teledyne Czech s.r.o., Teledyne DALSA (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Teledyne DALSA Asia-Pacific Ltd., Teledyne DALSA B.V., Teledyne DALSA GmbH, Teledyne DALSA Inc., Teledyne DALSA Industrial Products Inc., Teledyne DALSA K.K., Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor Inc., Teledyne Dalsa, Teledyne Defense Electronics LLC, Teledyne Denmark A/S, Teledyne Detcon Inc., Teledyne Digital Imaging Inc., Teledyne Digital Imaging US Inc., Teledyne Energy Systems Inc., Teledyne Europe Holdings C.V., Teledyne France, Teledyne France SAS, Teledyne Gas Measurement Instruments Limited, Teledyne Gavia ehf., Teledyne Germany GmbH, Teledyne Hanson Research Inc., Teledyne ICM SA, Teledyne ICM SPRL, Teledyne Innovaciones Microelectronics S.L.U., Teledyne Instruments Inc., Teledyne Instruments Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Teledyne Japan Corporation, Teledyne Korea Ltd., Teledyne Labtech Limited, Teledyne LeCroy AB, Teledyne LeCroy Delaware LLC, Teledyne LeCroy GmbH, Teledyne LeCroy Inc., Teledyne LeCroy India Trading Private Ltd., Teledyne LeCroy Japan Corporation, Teledyne LeCroy Korea Ltd., Teledyne LeCroy OakGate Inc., Teledyne LeCroy S.A.R.L., Teledyne LeCroy S.R.L., Teledyne LeCroy SA, Teledyne LeCroy Singapore Pte. Ltd., Teledyne Limited, Teledyne Micralyne Inc., Teledyne Monitor Labs, Teledyne Monitor Labs P.R. Inc., Teledyne Netherlands B.V., Teledyne ODI, Teledyne Optech Inc., Teledyne Paradise Datacom Limited, Teledyne RD Instruments, Teledyne RD Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Teledyne RESON, Teledyne RESON A/S, Teledyne RESON B.V., Teledyne RESON GmbH, Teledyne RESON Holding B.V., Teledyne RESON Inc., Teledyne RESON Pte. Ltd., Teledyne RESON UK Limited, Teledyne RISI Inc., Teledyne Rad-icon Imaging Corp., Teledyne Redlake MASD LLC, Teledyne Reynolds Inc., Teledyne SG Brown Limited, Teledyne Scientific & Imaging LLC, Teledyne Scientific Imaging GmbH, Teledyne Scientific Imaging Limited, Teledyne Signal Processing Devices Sweden AB, Teledyne Singapore Private Limited, Teledyne TSS Limited, Teledyne Taiwan Company, Teledyne Technologies (Bermuda) Limited, Teledyne Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Teledyne Technologies International Corp., Teledyne Technologies Israel Ltd., Teledyne Tekmar Company, Teledyne UK Limited, Teledyne VariSystems, Teledyne VariSystems Inc., Teledyne Wireless LLC, Teledyne e2v, Teledyne e2v (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Teledyne e2v (Overseas) Holdings Limited, Teledyne e2v Asia Pacific Limited, Teledyne e2v Limited, Teledyne e2v Semiconductors SAS, and The Oceanscience Group Ltd..
Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc. engages in the production and sale of cellulose products, which is a natural polymer commonly used in the production of cell phone and computer screens, filters, and pharmaceuticals. It operates through the following segments: High Purity Cellulose, Forest Products, Paperboard, Pulp and Newsprint, and Corporate. The High Purity Cellulose segment manufacture and market high purity cellulose, which is sold as either cellulose specialties or commodity products in U.S., Canda, and France. The Forest Products segment manufacture and market construction-grade lumber in North America through seven sawmills located in Canada. The Paperboard segment comprises paperboard products. The Pulp and Newsprint segment involves in the production of pulp and newsprint in Canada. The Corporate segment consists senior management, accounting, information systems, human resources, treasury, tax, and legal administrative functions that provide support services to the operating business units. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, FL.

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UTICA, N.Y. -- Former Utica Fire Chief Russell Brooks spoke for the first time since learning his lawsuit against the city was dismissed.

Brooks filed a lawsuit after the city of Utica denied his application for 9/11 medical benefits, which in part, grants sick time to world trade center responders.

Brooks says the World Trade Center Health Organization determined his leukemia was the result of him being at ground zero.

A state Supreme Court judge dismissed his lawsuit, and now Brooks says this is not over.

There is a saying that you can't beat city hall. I found out that I was up against, not only the mayor, but ten city lawyers that all were against me. But that doesn't mean Im giving up. Im going to the Appellate Court. Im going to appeal this. And it's something I have to do, and the reason I have to do it is for other first responders, said Brooks.

The Corporation Counsel for the city says Brooks has been provided with everything to which he is legally entitled.
Herkimer, N.Y. - A local World War II veteran who was missing in action for 71 years was finally laid to rest in Herkimer in 2015, but on Saturday a second ceremony was held for him at the same cemetery.

An unveiling of a headstone and plaque was held at the Herkimer Calvary Cemetery Saturday morning for Lt. Edward Barker.

Barker was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944 during World War II when his plane went down in New Guinea.

His remains were not discovered until 2012 and then not returned to Herkimer until 2015 where he was buried in a full military ceremony alongside his mother.

Since then, the only marker on his grave has been a laminated marker put there by the funeral home, that is, until Saturday.

Two local veterans, Don Engelbrecht and VFW Post 4915 Commander Joseph Sweet decided Lt. Barker needed a headstone so a couple of years ago they began to raise money, and that money was on full display on Saturday as a new headstone, as well as a military bronze plaque, were unveiled.

The military bronze plaque was commissioned by former Congresswoman Claudia Tenney before she left office.

Barker's niece, Daryl Ann Frey says she can't thank the local VFW enough.

Frey says although she never met her uncle, she has heard plenty about him over the years, "Our family talked about him all the time, especially my grandma because that was her only son and he was MIA when she died. And it broke her heart. She wouldnt even cash the life insurance check that she got saying that someday he come back."

Engelbrecht says he would have never heard about Lt. Barker if it wasn't for a family tragedy of his own, "This all started back in August 2015. I happen to be here incidentally because I had lost my twin grandchildren who are buried across the road from Lieutenant Barker. So I was here to witness Lieutenant Barker's service with full military honors. Since that time hes been laying in an unmarked grave, all thats been on it was the funeral home plaque and every time I came up to visit my grandchildren, Lieutenant Barker was speaking to me, he was saying please fix this, this is such an injustice to our serviceman."

Frey says she would have loved to have had her grandmother live to see her son come home, "She would be sobbing uncontrollably, almost like I am right now. I wish she wouldve lived to know that he was at least found and put to rest. Because its hard when your son is just missing and you know hes not alive after all those years but still, its wonder and I think it wouldve been closure for her."
Utica, N.Y. - Two people were rushed to the hospital Friday evening after a shooting on St. Vincent Street.

It happened around 5:30.

Utica Police say one person was struck by a bullet and a second person was injured during the shooting, but was not shot.

The details on how the second person was injured are not being released.

Police do say the male that was shot, was shot in the lower part of his body.

Police say both males suffered non-life threatening injuries.

If you have any information on this incident, you are asked to call Utica Police at (315) 223-3510.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) -- West Lafayette has a work around to keep its apartment inspection program going.

As we previously reported, it's been in jeopardy since the state supreme court ruled fees for landlords were too high.

But shifting those charges from registration fees to services fees, has provided a new avenue for funding.

West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said that's important.

"Obviously that doesn't come cheap," said Dennis.

Mayor Dennis is talking about his employees making money during rental inspections.

They are experts who are certified in things like electricity, plumbing, and foundation work.

Dennis said the whole staff has the same goal in mind.

"We want to make sure the apartments are for our students, permanent residents and anyone who is getting involved in a rental property," said Dennis. "We want to make sure they are safe."

Safety is always the number one priority.

The property owner will pay West Lafayette a certain amount based on a few factors. Those include how many people are living in the space and how big the space is.

Dennis added taking a step back and evaluating what the Indiana supreme court ruled helped fix the city's problem.

"We went back and looked at it and we realized the services that we provide weren't technically a registration fee," said Dennis.

It was an inspection fee.

"We never did slow down," said Dennis. "Even though we had to hit the pause button."

Dennis said the city worked with the Indiana Supreme Court every step of the way to make use it's new fees were compliant with that recent ruling.

The proposal will have its first reading at Monday's city council meeting.
Exposures are mounting of the horrendous and illegal conditions under which immigrant workers and children are being held, even as President Donald Trump responds to mounting threats of impeachment with new attacks on refugees and fresh appeals to his fascistic base.

On Friday, CNN cited a report by the Department of Homeland Securitys inspector general on inhumane, unsanitary and dangerous conditions at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center in Texas. The inspector general found standing room only conditions, with detainees standing on toilets in the cells to make room and gain breathing space, thus limiting access to the toilets.

An unannounced inspection found logs indicating that on May 7 and 8 there were approximately 750 and 900 detainees, respectively at the facility, which is designed to hold a maximum of 125 people. A cell with a maximum capacity of 12 held 76 detainees, another with a maximum capacity of eight held 41, and another with a maximum capacity of 35 held 155, according to the report.

With limited access to showers and clean clothing, it continued, detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks.

There is good reason to believe that similar conditions exist at other detention centers and holding pens for the tens of thousands of immigrants being swept up in the US governments expanding war on immigrants.

El Paso Del Norte was one of five Border Patrol stations and two ports of entry in the El Paso, Texas area, including greater El Paso and eastern New Mexico, which were included in the unannounced spot inspection visits carried out in May at Customs and Border Protection holding facilities.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is recommending that additional detention facilities be built in El Paso to deal with the growing wave of workers and youth crossing the border from Mexico to seek asylum from gang violence, state repression and brutal poverty in their Central American home countries.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency of DHS, has constructed a tent-like facility that can hold 500 at the site, is planning to open an 800 holding capacity modular facility by July 31 and a permanent processing center for some 1,800 people by December 1, 2020.

US imperialism is chiefly responsible for the horrific conditions in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. These are countries it has oppressed and exploited for more than a century, repeatedly intervening to topple governments and install CIA-backed dictatorships, most recently in Honduras, where the Obama administration and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backed the military overthrow of the elected president, Manuel Zelaya.

Trumps crackdown on immigration has spurred the increased flow of refugees across the border by virtually halting attempts by immigrants to seek asylum at ports of entry. The White House has asked Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency funding to further expand the border police and build more detention centers. Last month, it emerged that his administration is considering a plan to carry out the mass arrest of 10,000 immigrants in major cities across the US.

The expose of conditions in El Paso is only the latest revelation of the sadistic treatment of immigrant workers and youth. The Washington Post published a report Thursday that there are 2,000 unaccompanied children being held in overcrowded US Border Patrol facilitiesbeyond legally allowed time limits, including some who are 12 or younger.

Children are suffering from chicken pox and respiratory diseases. Six childrenfive Guatemalans and a Salvadoranhave died in US custody since September.

Last month, the Intercept reported on a study by an international consortium of journalists and news outlets documenting the widespread use of solitary confinement, defined as torture by the United Nations, at immigrant detention centers in the US.

These conditions are neither aberrations nor unintentional. They are the result of a deliberate policy of inflicting suffering on immigrants in order to deter them from seeking entry to the US and enhancing the administrations appeal to America First chauvinism and racism.

In the aftermath of Wednesdays statement by Special Counsel Robert Mueller suggesting that Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice in connection with his probe of supposed Russian meddling in the US elections and possible collusion by the 2016 Trump election campaign, and Muellers encouragement of a congressional impeachment inquiry, Trump has responded by doubling down on his persecution of immigrants and his effort to whip up backward and fascistic elements.

On Thursday, he announced that he would impose tariffs on all goods from Mexico, beginning at five percent and rising to 25 percent, unless the Mexican government halted all immigration from Central America via its territory. He told graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy in a campaign-type speech that he would soon make a major announcement on immigration and his crackdown at the US-Mexico border.

Politico reported that Trump was planning to issue a new rule that would choke off asylum to Central Americans by banning asylum applications to refugees who reached the US through a third country, i.e., Mexico. This would have the immediate effect of denying asylum to thousands of migrants waiting for months just south of the US border under a deal reached last year between Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The agreement, dubbed the remain in Mexico program, blocks asylum seekers from remaining in the US pending the disposition of their applications.

The stepped-up attack on immigrants is accompanied by increasingly aggressive assertions of unlimited presidential power and threats to resist efforts to remove him from office. Last month Trump threatened to cancel the 2020 elections and extend his term to 2022. He has in effect rejected congressional oversight by defying subpoenas from the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives for testimony from his aides as well as documents related to Muellers Russia investigation. This coincides with his declaration of a national emergency to use the military to build his border wall.

The response of the Democratic Party to Muellers speech is likewise right-wing. Underscoring the reactionary basis of the Democrats opposition to Trump, both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton seized on Muellers statement, in which he reiterated the baseless claims that the Russian government subverted the 2016 election in order to install Trump in office, by doubling down on their anti-Russia hysteria. Both responded to an unflattering edited video of Pelosi posted on Facebook by denouncing Facebook as a witting agent of Russian plots against America.

In the ongoing warfare in Washington, whether or not it assumes the form of impeachment, the Democrats will continue to focus on warmongering against Russia and demands for more severe internet censorship while virtually ignoring Trumps war on immigrants and attacks on democratic rights.
Between last Sunday and Monday, 55 inmates were killed in four prisons in Manaus, the capital of the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas. According to the Amazonas government, the murders were caused by a fight between two internal factions of Familia do Norte (Northern Family), Brazils third largest criminal organization, which controls the drug traffic in the northern region of the country.

The inmates were strangled or stabbed to death with sharpened toothbrushes, according to the secretary of Penitentiary Administration of Amazonas, Marcus Vinicius de Almeida. Eleven of those killed were provisional inmates, that is, they had not been tried or convicted yet of any crime. Forty percent and 65 percent of the inmates in Brazilian and Amazonas prisons, respectively, are in the same situation.

The first response from fascistic president Jair Bolsonaros justice minister of the government, the far-right Sergio Moro, who is responsible for Brazils public security system, was to transfer the leaderships of the factions responsible for the deaths to federal prisons. According to Moro, federal prisons are based on those American super-maxthey are maximum security prisons with individual cells, which they cannot escape from, where there is no rebellion, and no communication of the prisoner with the outside.

Moro has also sent troops of the penitentiary intervention task force to the state of Amazonas. Created in 2017 by the government of President Michel Temer, the penitentiary intervention task force is assigned to backing state governments in situations of extraordinary crisis in the penitentiary system to control inmates riots and solve other problems, according to a statement released by the justice ministry.

What led to the creation of the task force were the deaths of 126 inmates in the first 15 days of 2017 in riots that occurred in the three Brazilian states, among them Amazonas, where the riots began. Far from being an isolated and unexpected incident, this weeks deaths are part of what has become the norm in the terrible and inhumane Brazilian penitentiary system.

The escalation of this slaughter has been caused by a 300 percent increase in the prison population in the last two decades, especially since the beginning of the war on drugs initiated by former Workers Party (PT) president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2006.

The situation has been worsened by the Brazilian economic crisis, which, according to the Justice Ministry, led to a 75 percent cut in the prison systems budget in 2018. Furthermore, with the increase in incarceration rate showing no sign of abating, in both 2015 and 2016, 85 percent of the funds for the building of new prisons had already been slashed.

Brazil has the third largest prison population in the world, with more than 700,000 inmates crammed into facilities designed to accommodate only a little more than 400,000. The inhuman conditions of overcrowding and lack of proper sanitation led to the deaths of 6,380 inmates under state custody between 2014 and 2017.

In 2017, 80 prisoners were beheaded in clashes inside penitentiaries in six Brazilian states.

The precarious Brazilian penitentiary situation particularly affects the state of Amazonas, one of the poorest in the country, with the most crowded prisons. The state penitentiary system has 11,390 prisoners in facilities built for 2,554, and in the Anisio Teixeira complex (CAJ), the prison where this weeks massacres beganthe same one where the 2017 riots beganthere are 929 prisoners in cells meant for 454.

This situation in Amazonas is aggravated by the fact that the CAJ and the other prisons where this weeks massacre took place have been privatized since 2014. This for-profit prison operation is essentially criminal in nature. The company that manages the prisons, Umannizzare Prisional Management, receives from the state government of Amazonas 4.7 thousand reais per month per inmate, almost twice as much as for inmates in the rest of the country. At the same time, in 2015, out of the 250 employees that were supposed to be working in the CAJ, the company had hired only 153. Umannizzare employees have also filed several labor suits against the company, and a prison guard was killed during one of the riots in the prison.

The situation of the Brazilian penitentiary system has become even more explosive with the repressive measures of Bolsonaro government, which are being enthusiastically supported by Workers Party (PT) state governors.

Justice Minister Sergio Moro, the former judge in charge of the federal attorneys office linked to the Operacao Lava Jato (Car Wash Operation) which indicted former PT president, Lula da Silva for corruption, is an advocate of law and order measures that tend to strengthen Brazils repressive apparatus, even in face of the tragic consequences of such policies over the last two decades.

With utter contempt for workers suffering daily at the hands of the murderous Brazilian security forces, he tweeted a week before the massacre, on May 16: The solution cannot be impunity for anyone who violates the law, kills, steals private property or diverts public money. It is not possible to be lenient with violent crime, organized crime or corruption. This is the spirit of the anti-crime bill.

Moro was referring to the bill he sent to the Brazilian Congress in early February which amends several points of the Brazilian penal code. One of the most outrageous measures in Moros billwhich has caused wide revulsion to the point of pressuring the Brazilian Congress to threaten to reject italters the definition of legitimate self-defense. The change would allow police officers to walk free if they murder suspects as a result of fear, surprise or violent emotion. The measure codifies Bolsonaros campaign promise of a carte blanche for police murders, as fear is invariablyfrom the United States to Brazil, Mexico and Central Americathe universal excuse of fascistic officers who shoot even kneeling suspects in back of the head.

In addition, Moros anti-crime bill increases penalties for those who resist a legal ordera clearly intimidatory measureand reduces the possibility of alternative sentences and the postponing imprisonment while the case is reviewed by an appeals court.

In a BBC report, Moro said, What has been done in the anti-crime bill is a proposal for a selective hardening. These are measures that enhance investigations, that harden the serving of sentences ... Lets toughen the regime against the kind of crime that really needs hardening.

Significantly, those most enthusiastically embracing Moros anti-crime billwhich rather than reducing crime will inevitably increase the level of imprisonment in the countryhave been the PTs governors in the northeastern state of Bahia, Rui Costa, and of Ceara, Camilo Santana.

Soon after the announcement of Moros bill, Costa said that I conceptually declare my support [for the bill], advocating toughening legislation to combat high rates of violence. In addition to being an advocate of military police repression in Bahia, Costa is facing a teachers strike at state universities that began in early April. In a report of the Bahia News website of May 29, Costa defended the slashing of the striking teachers wages, saying that otherwise it turns into vacation.

Camilo Santana, the governor of Ceara, announced on Wednesday a draconian austerity program in the state, which freezes both hiring and the wages of the states public sector workers. In early 2019, the state of Ceara went through a crime wave that made Santana one of the Bolsonaro government supporters. After hiring a known promoter of inmate torture, Mauro Albuquerque, to head the states prison system in early 2019as a reward for his work under another PT governor in the neighboring state of Rio Grande do Nortehe has backed Bolsonaros proposal to extend the anti-terrorism law, which was approved by former PT President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, to include actions such as setting fire to buses and damaging public buildings.

In February, in an interview for Exame magazine, Santana bluntly said that it is necessary to review the laws of Brazil, which must be tougher, and that this is why he participated in the announcement of the anti-crime bill in Brasilia, which he viewed as an important step in the fight against crime.

These attitudes of the PT state governors have stripped the party of its mask of alleged opposition to the Bolsonaro government. Their pro-Bolsonaro stance also includes their support for the federal governments reactionary pension reform. In the same interview with Exame, Camilo said, I have always been in favor of the pension reform ... I have a huge pension deficit that is growing like a snowball. I have taken a number of measures over the past four years, but reform is needed at the national level.

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Brazilian Workers Party uses crime wave to back fascistic Bolsonaro on repression and austerity

[25 January 2019]
Over 1,500 University of Chicago (U of C) graduate student workers will hold a three-day picket beginning Monday to demand recognition of Graduate Students United (GSU) as a union by U of Cs administration. Last week, the GSU, of which the soon to-be striking graduate students are a part, announced grad student workers voted overwhelmingly to approve strike action.

U of C graduate students perform vital work for the university. They work as graduate and teaching assistants for professors in undergraduate courses, with some overseeing classes of their own. Additionally, they grade papers, administer labs and lead discussion groups, tutor one-on-one, all the while performing research and other critical duties as they study in PhD and Masters programs.

In anticipation of the pending picket, some U of C graduate students have already canceled classes for next week.

The GSU, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, has sought to win union recognition from U of Cs administration since last year.

In February 2018, the GSU withdrew its official certificate of union representation from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The withdrawal was in response to growing fears that the new Trump appointed NLRB board would overturn the Columbia decision which granted graduate students the right to unionize at private universities.

The GSU has since sought for the U of C to voluntarily recognize the GSU as a union, which has occurred at other private universities, including New York University.

On Thursday night, the day the GSU announced the picket, John Boyer, the Dean of the College, which oversees undergraduate education, sent emails to undergraduates, their parents and graduate students. In his emails to undergraduates and their parents, Boyer urged students to go to classes and cross picket lines. In his letter to grad students, he urged students to keep working, declaring, I would like to remind all graduate-student members of our teaching community of the importance of upholding your instructional responsibilities to students in the College.

In an effort to block the GSUs union recognition, U of Cs administration has attempted to define the work of graduate student workers as categorically something else. During an NLRB hearing between the U of C and the GSU, the universitys legal counsel said the primary purpose of graduate students teaching undergraduates students is to provide the graduate students with opportunities to practice their pedagogical skills. Adding that, The benefit that the undergraduates may receive from that is inextricably linked to that process.

During the same hearing, U of Cs legal counsel glibly proclaimed of graduate students, "They are not working, they are teaching."

U of Cs resort to anti-democratic legalities is no doubt intended to slow down and demoralize graduate student workers. But more fundamentally, the naked attempt to define graduate student workers as anything but workers expresses the U of Cs attempt to block the development of working class consciousness among students.

U of Cs board of trustees, a group of millionaires and billionaires, are nervously watching the development.

Among the U of Cs board of trustees is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella who in 2017 received over $25 million in compensation. Nadella has overseen the layoff of thousands of Microsoft workers. Theres also New York Times columnist David Brooks, a leading voice of Americas financial aristocrats, who has urged Americans to die sooner so the government can save costs. The vast majority of the remaining trustees head parasitic hedge fund and investment companies, like billionaire Ken Griffin.

The combined wealth of everyone on the board could pay the tuition of all students for hundreds of years, if not more. The average yearly pay of a U of C graduate worker is roughly $30,000, with many making less. Students are forced to pay grad fees and health insurance, which eat much of their income. The Student Life fee costs $1,209 per year, while U of C health insurance costs $4,398 annually.

This parasitic group is not the only one keeping over watch on graduate students. The heads of the AFT are actively watching what unfolds, ready to intervene in the case the picket expands beyond its official three-day limit. The politics of the AFT and its counterpart, the National Education Association (NEA), is pro-capitalist and adheres to the mandates of the Democratic Party, which in turn relies on the unions to suppress workers struggles and keep the class struggle at bay.

The GSUs decision to affiliate with the AFT, even for allegedly legal necessity as a steppingstone to form an officially recognized union, does not absolve the consideration of political questions.

The GSU leadership, conscious or not, shadows that of its parent organization. Like the AFT, the GSU is not seeking to fundamentally challenge the ownership and control of their workplace, in this case of the University of Chicago. Instead, it seeks to accommodate itself to the university administration, in brokering a contract which will do nothing to ultimately meet the needs of students. Limiting the student's action to a three day picket expresses the GSUs inability to wage a serious struggle.

This is because the unions have long ago shed any semblance of being workers organizations. Today, they function as nationalist labor management, policing the working class in the interests of their own bosses. Tied by a thousand threads to the Democratic Party and capitalism, they cannot be reformed.

The backstabbing by the AFT and NEA of teachers struggles from last years West Virginia wildcat strike to Los Angeles to the University of Illinois at Chicago confirms this. Similarly, the United Auto Workers, an organization rife with corruption, has overseen the decimation of the livelihoods of autoworkers by working with the auto companies to close down factories and slash wages and benefits. The most recent example is the closure of GM factories in Ohio, Michigan, Maryland and Ontario, which will destroy 15,000 jobs.

Graduate student must break with the GSU and the AFT and form independent rank and file committees. Appeals should be made to U of C students, custodial and janitorial workers, nurses, professors and beyond to logistic workers, autoworkers and Chicago Public School teachers. The grounds must be developed for a general strike across the United States.

Ultimately, students must break with the politics of the pseudo-left, including the Democratic Socialist of America, and fight for a genuine socialist transformation of society, that does not appeal to the Democrats and the unions but to the international working class.

The wealth of the capitalist class, like those that oversee U of C, must be expropriated to guarantee quality education, housing, jobs, healthcare and access to culture to all.

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[25 May 2019]
Labours right-wing has intensified its efforts to assert undisputed control over the party after it registered a disastrous result in the European elections, coming third with 14 percent, behind the Brexit Party and the pro-Remain Liberal Democrats.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn supported a Remain vote in the 2016 EU referendum in line with the demands of the dominant sections of British capital, but never succeeded in placating Labours strongly pro-EU Blairite faction which is dominant within the parliamentary party.

After facing off a leadership challenge immediately following the referendum, Corbyn has been forced to face both ways on Brexit trying to keep his fractured party together. He adopted a position of constructive ambiguity, stressing that Labour would respect the referendum result, but by seeking a soft Brexit maintaining tariff free access to the Single European Market.

Failing this, party conference decided that Labour would either seek a general election or a second referendum on any deal proposed by Theresa Mays Conservative government.

Above all Corbyn advanced his position as the best means of maintaining national unity while still eventually securing the outcome desired by the City of London. He spent six weeks prior to the EU elections in talks with May even as her premiership fell apart.

In the end she resigned just days after Corbyn reluctantly broke off talks.

In the absence of any genuine attempt to overcome the divisions sown in the working class by the 2016 referendum, the European elections became a de facto plebiscite on Brexit. As a result, the Tories were reduced to a nine percent vote, while Labour did little better against the overtly pro and anti-Brexit parties.

Polling by Lord Ashcroft showed that Labour lost nearly 50 percent of its 2017 general election vote to other parties in the European election. Of this total it lost 13 percent to the right-wing Brexit Party of Nigel Farage and significantly more to the Remain supporting Lib Dems (22 percent) and Greens (17 percent).

This was the cue for the Blairite right to insist that Corbyn could no longer just hold out the prospect of backing a future referendum. Labour had to become the main pro-Remain party in an emerging anti-Brexit alliance with the Lib Dems and Greens.

Tony Blairs former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, announced that in the election he had voted Liberal Democrat, whose manifesto was emblazoned with the words, Bollocks to Brexit.

Labours constitution prohibits its members to campaign against or vote against a Labour candidateand with many members demanding itCampbell was expelled.

Other leading Blairites lined up to declare that they too had voted Lib-Dem.

Former Labour home secretary Charles Clarke, multimillionaire daughter of a property developer, Fiona MacTaggart, and former defence secretary Bob Ainsworth all declared they had voted for different parties in the election. MacTaggart declared preposterously that it was time for all of us to declare I am Spartacus.

The hashtag #ExpelMeToo became widespread. The Guardian published an entire page of letters under the heading, The expulsion of Alastair Campbell is a Spartacus moment for Labour members.

Labours deputy leader, Tom Watson, who is leading the plot to remove Corbyn, as party leader described Campbells expulsion as spiteful.

Backed by the right-wing media, the Blairites have attempted to destabilise Corbyns leadership since he was elected with a campaign of lies and slander that Corbyn is an anti-Semite or that he facilitates hatred of Jews.

Within hours of Campbells expulsion, the Guardian wrote, That it happened on the very day that the Equality and Human Rights Commission began an investigation into that issue leaves a bad taste. It is hard to believe that the Campbell case is not being used as a diversionary tactic to deflect attention away from much more serious problems.

Blair himself told Sky News Tuesday evening that his message to Campbell was, I understand why you did what you did.  You wouldnt be the only person I know who had voted Labour all their lives that didnt vote Labour in this election.

The unindicted war criminal then declared his backing for unity among the pro-Remain parties, saying that Labour should stop equivocating and come out to a clear position That position in my view should be in favour of going back to the people [in a referendum].

Above all, the Blairites want to engineer this political shift without a general election being called and a Corbyn-led Labour Party coming to office.

With the government in meltdown and the Tories in the midst of a leadership contest with a dozen candidates, after May was forced to declare June 7 as the date for her departure, Blair said the Tories had to ensure they stayed in power.

Days after leadership contender Jeremy Hunt said that the Tory Party faced annihilation if a general election were called, Blair warned that they would be certifiably insane to do a general election before a Brexit deal was passed by Parliament.

The Blairites fear any break in the blockade they have elected preventing the interests of the working class finding political expression and impinging on the monopoly of power enjoyed by the financial oligarchy. This fear is heightened by the growth in social unrest and strike activity produced by worsening social inequality.

The Blairites rely above all on the fact that the Corbynite left agree with them on this issue 100 percent.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Shadow Home Secretary Dianne Abbott both stated that the European election result meant that Labour had to move to explicitly backing a second referendum.

Corbyn said in response that his aim remained one of negotiating a better Brexit deal than Mays, but that a public vote on a Brexit deal is some way off. He added, in a statement anathema to the Blairites, Let the people decide the countrys future, either in a general election or through a public vote on any deal agreed by parliament.

Guardian columnist Paul Mason, who has long advocated a Progressive Alliance comprising Labour, the Scottish National Party, Liberal Democrats, and Greens, utilised the result to declare that Corbyns strategy of constructive ambiguity had failed. While stating that he still supported Corbyn, he called for the ousting of virtually all the personnel in Corbyns office: the officials who designed this fiasco, and ignored all evidence that it would lead to disaster, must be removed from positions of influence. These included director of strategy Seumas Milne, Corbyns chief of staff Karie Murphy, and party chair Ian Lavery MP.

Corbyns faction will capitulate yet again. Even before the ink was dry on Campbells expulsion, Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti said that it would be reviewed and declared, in opposition to Labours rulebook, Merely voting for another party is not in itself grounds for exclusion or expulsion.

In the nearly four years since he was elected leader, all claims that Corbyn would push Labour to the left have been discredited. Labour is a pro-capitalist party, hostile to the strategic interests of the working class.

The only way to overcome the dangerous fracturing of the working class produced by the Brexit referendum and reinforced by all the parties of the ruling elite is for workers to build their own party, the Socialist Equality Party, based on the fight for a workers government and the United Socialist States of Europe.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, ill from years of confinement in Londons Ecuadorian Embassy, is receiving increasing support from workers, students and intellectuals worldwide. Assange, currently being detained in Britains Belmarsh prison over a bogus bail jumping conviction, faces 175 years in prison if he is extradited to the United States to face the governments charges under the 1917 Espionage Act.

In the first publicly-released statement since his imprisonment in Belmarsh prison, Assange wrote to British journalist Gordon Dimmack, I am defenceless and am counting on you and others of good character to save my life. He added, Truth ultimately is all we have.

The journalists appeal for support is being taken up by ever wider layers of the working class, as millions oppose the Trump administrations frontal assault on press freedom and the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Among educators in the United States, the attack on democratic rights strikes a particularly sensitive nerve, as thousands of teachers, who continue their strikes for better pay, smaller class sizes and funding for public education, face possible arrest, fines and dismissal for illegal strikes and use of sick days to exercise their right to protest. In Kentucky, state Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis recently demanded the names of all teachers from Jefferson County Public Schools district who called in sick on the days of mass rallies which took place at the state Capitol beginning February 28.

The Assange case is an attack on First Amendment rights and freedom of the press, and will have a chilling effect on any criticism of empire, Gavin, a Detroit teacher told the WSWS Teacher Newsletter. He added, Using the Espionage Act, specifically going after a non-US national is a dangerous precedent and a warning shot across the world that no citizen of the world can use the press to criticize US crimes.

They [the US government] have to stop Assange and Manning with these insane 170 year charges because they have exposed a little bit of what is a wealth of informationthat the United States is the greatest perpetrator of human rights abuses in the world.

Condemning the role of the mainstream media in the persecution of Assange and Manning, Joanne wrote in to the Teacher Newsletter to say, Julian IS A JOURNALIST. The reason people in power want to harm him and Chelsea is because the reports exposed their corruption. The reports exposed troops killing innocent people. Now you make up more lies to prosecute him. No harm came to troops, only embarrassment to the administration and exposure of some sick killers. The American people NEED WHISTLE BLOWERS in order to stop corruption, but it appears even whistle blowers don't slow down the corruption. The ones who should be prosecuted are the mainstream media who use their position to lie to the American people in order to keep their high salaries. Those who should be prosecuted are the oligarchs who command the mainstream media to lie and do their bidding or be fired.

The Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees issued a statement on April 18 explaining why workers should support Assange and Manning. The statement said in part, Assange is not a criminal, but a hero. He has been hunted down and persecuted for exposing war crimes, including the slaughter of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan by US military forces. The real criminals are those who launched these wars, including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and leading political figures in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

In response to the April 18 statement, a librarian wrote eloquently to the Teacher Newsletter:

I am writing to express my full support of the Statement issued by the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees in defense of Julian Assange.

As the director of a public library, I cannot overstate the need for a free press and the absolute right of working class readers to know the truth. The persecution of Assange, as well as the reimprisonment of Chelsea Manning for refusing to give information against him, are intended to send a chilling message to others who might report the truthin doing so, you will face imprisonment, torture, and possibly death.

Much has been made in the media about the threat of fake news, with both conservatives and liberals claiming the news reported by the other side is biased at the very least, and completely false at the worst. However, what most working class people know is that the news coming out of every major media outlet cannot be trusted. Facts are left unreported, major events and issues of critical importance to the lives and well-being of the working class are suppressed or only given minimal and biased coverage; examples from recent years include the bogus coverage of the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, the lack of reporting on the disastrous circumstances facing workers in Greece, strike waves across China, and the catastrophic implications of global warming for life on Earth.

Public libraries across the United States are being asked to offer classes on how to detect fake news, so that readers can better detect bias, lack of authority, and how to fact-check articles and reports, especially in an online environment. Yet the recommendations we are given by those touting the battle against fake news is to direct people to such news outlets as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other thoroughly discredited media conglomerates.

These supposedly objective news outlets are nothing more than mouthpieces for the ruling elite. They are responsible for false reporting and, later, burying any retractions deep inside the paper where people are unlikely to notice theman example being the role of the New York Times in spreading the lie about Weapons of Mass Destruction in the lead-up to the war against Iraq. The ruling class is in dire fear of people learning the truth, faced with an online environment where members of the working class can share the real truth in words and pictures; thus their attempt to enlist public libraries to spread the lie that the major media outlets can be trusted.

I remember as a child in the early 1970s, seeing news stories on television that horrified me. Little Vietnamese children running naked, in terror down a dirt road, being chased by US helicopters. I recall the fury of my parents and older siblings watching these atrocities, calling for an end to the war. I also remember watching protesters walking the streets in Buffalo, where I grew up, during that same period demanding the US get out of Southeast Asia, and that those in power who were responsible for these crimes be punished. That was the final gasp of the media playing its true role as the Fourth Estate in our democracy.

Edmund Burke, the 18th century Anglo-Irish Statesman and political theorist, stated there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all. Today those in power decry the Press as an enemy of the State and move to crush it, using courageous reporters and whistleblowers like Assange, Manning, and Edward Snowden as examples of what will happen to anyone who dares reveal the truth. While democracy requires a free and open press, tyranny cannot withstand it.

I join the call to release Julian Assange, that all charges against him be dropped, and that he be given full freedom to continue reporting the truth. He, along with Manning and Snowden, are heroes who deserve our full support and protection.

Following the announcement that the Trump administration had charged Assange with 17 counts under the Espionage Act, the WSWS received many more statements of support from workers.

Joanne, a secondary government teacher in Melbourne Australia, said, "I stand with Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning in their fight against the suppression of truth. I will be standing with them on June 12th, during my lunchtime, even if it is just me. My school is very conservative and would not approve of my stand, but I 'must resist, I can resist'."

Reiterating the widely-held sentiment that the war criminals should be jailed and the whistle-blowers freed, adjunct professor Rebecca said, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning are being targeted because the corrupt bourgeois government of the United States seeks to continue committing and covering up war crimes and human rights abuses abroad in service to maintaining its position as the global center of power.

In the face of its weakened global economic position and mounting worldwide social opposition to capitalism, the government of the United States will work to replace its lost economic might with the use of military force in order to maintain favorable social and geopolitical relations. The kind of radical journalism Assange and Manning practiced is vital now if we are to have a chance at stopping this.

The charges against Assange and Manning should be dropped and they should be freed. Their heroism and courage should be celebrated, and their journalism should be upheld as a model, not a crime.
On Friday UAW officials ordered workers at Faurecia in Saline, Michigan to continue working past the expiration of their contract, ignoring an overwhelming vote by rank-and-file workers in early May, authorizing strike action against the highly-profitable global parts supplier.

Having kept its members in the dark throughout negotiations over many weeks, the four-member bargaining committee at local 892 posted a perfunctory and incoherent statement on its Facebook page twelve hours prior to the scheduled contract expiration. Without citing a single issue in dispute, or offering any explanation, the union announced it had decided, without consulting the membership, to grant the company a three-week extension until June 21.

The extension was a slap in the face to workers who have made perfectly clear they want action against years of pay cuts, unsafe working conditions, the destruction of medical benefits and the reduction of scheduled hours of work. Many workers were angered by the delay.

What was the purpose of us voting for strike, then? one worker exclaimed. She was angered by the whole conduct of the union, and especially the contract extension. This union is worthless! The s--t they are doing is unreal.

We need to get our money back with a real wage increase, she said, referring to countless pay cuts over the years, pay freezes and the introduction of multiple pay grades that cut everybodys wages. We need to get Blue Cross back, she added, referring to their previous insurance coverage.

After the last contract in 2015, the company slashed Blue Cross health insurance and imposed a low-grade Aetna medical plan with the collusion of the union.

She spoke about the need for a trusted rank-and-file committee in the plant to take the question of safety into its hands. In a hard rain the water pours through the roof, she noted. There are all kinds of hazardous conditions in there, she added. They dont care about us, the workers. The union lets them get away with murder.

Many workers have described the preventable deaths of co-workers in the factory.

Despite the widespread sentiment for struggle on vital demands, the UAWs groveling post begins, In Good Faith the Leadership has decided to grant Faurecia Interior Systems at Saline an extension until Friday, June 21st at 12:01[A.M.]

Without explaining any of the issues that have prevented them from reaching a new agreement, the UAW states, We believe that this extension will allow the negotiators the needed time to address these significant issues, and hopefully come to resolution.

The extension is a stall and a cave-in on the part of the union. It takes place in the midst of a strike by some 2,000 nurses and support staff, who are members of the UAW, in Toledo, Ohio and on the eve of the opening of contract negotiations in advance of the expiration in mid-September of contracts for 155,000 workers at the US-based auto companies.

The UAW is determined to prevent the merging of the struggles of auto parts workers with a broader movement of the working class demanding the restoration of concessions and opposition to mass layoffs that would disrupt its cozy relations with management. They are well aware that there is a growing mood of resistance in the working class as expressed in the strikes by teachers and healthcare workers that coincides with a global resurgence of class struggle.

The critical question facing Faurecia workers is the need to take independent initiative in opposition to the sabotage of their struggle being carried out by the UAW. This calls for the building of a rank-and-file committee to take the conduct of the negotiations out of the hands of the UAW.

Rank-and-file committees must be elected from among the most trusted workers on the line to replace the bargaining committee, which has been selected by the union executives to serve as a rubber stamp of prior decisions taken in corporate boardrooms and backed up by the thoroughly corrupt and discredited officials at Solidarity House.

Preparations should begin for an all-out strike to win the restoration of all concessions, the elimination of tiers and temporary part-time work, and workers control over line speed and safety. This must include the mobilization of Faurecia workers throughout Michigan, nationally and globally against the French-based atuo parts giant. Workers interested in conducting such a fight are urged to contact the World Socialist Web Site.

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Faurecia auto parts workers await contract expiration in Saline, Michigan

[31 May 2019]
A report released last month by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) documents the widespread use of solitary confinement by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against detained immigrants. The report shows that, far from being a tactic of last resort to protect detainees in especially violent situations, ICE detention facilities use solitary confinement to terrorize, discipline and punish workers and young people caught up in the Trump administrations escalating war on immigrants.

The United Nations special rapporteur on torture has argued that solitary confinement should be banned except in very exceptional circumstances, that isolation for more than 15 days constitutes inhuman and degrading treatment, and that those with mental illness should never be placed in isolation. The ICIJ report found that over the course of both the Obama and Trump administrations, ICE has consistently and systematically violated all of these tenets.

Based on an unprecedented review of over 8,400 reports filed over five years (2012-2017), the Solitary Voices investigation was conducted as a multinational effort, carried out by the ICIJ in conjunction with Grupo SIn (Guatemala), Mexicanos contra la corrupcion (Mexico), NBC News, the Intercept and Univision (US).

Over the course of five months, the journalists involved in the project carried out interviews with dozens of former detainees and pored over innumerable audits, memos and incident reports obtained through a public records request. They were also aided by Ellen Gallagher, a whistleblower from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who has gone public for the first time after spending years trying to sound the alarm about ICEs abuse of solitary confinement.

Speaking to NBC news, Gallagher said she had decided to go public after what were essentially five fruitless years of trying to reform the system from within. All that her efforts yielded were several internal audits that were critical of ICE and a previously unreported letter in June 2015 from the Senate Judiciary Committee to Jeh Johnson (Obamas DHS secretary), which questioned the use of solitary confinement by ICE. In the meantime, as Gallagher pointed out, People were being brutalized.

She decided to share her story widely because she believed that without public action this same set of circumstances will not stop. On the contrary, she said, I think it will actually get worse.

The governments widespread use of solitary confinement as a weapon against immigrants underscores the horrifying and dangerous conditions faced by detained refugees in United States. According to the records obtained by the ICIJ, barely half of those confined in isolation were reported to have violated any rules. A large section of the segregated population seemed to have been placed in solitary confinement for reasons ranging from consensual kissing to reporting abuse by guards or other detainees, being identified as gay or transgender, being disabled or exhibiting mental illness.

A Guatemalan man was placed in solitary confinement for two months in a county jail in Maryland because he had a prosthetic leg. A mentally ill Ukrainian man was put in isolation for 15 days in a facility in Arizona for the crime of having put half a green pepper inside his sock. A long-term US resident from Afghanistan spent nearly four months in solitary confinement for entering a shower without permission. One detainee was segregated for giving haircuts. Another detainee, who was already diagnosed with mental illness, was placed in solitary confinement for 41 days for encouraging fellow immigrants to go on a hunger strike.

There were at least 373 instances of detainees being placed in isolation because they were potentially suicidal, and an additional 200-plus cases of people who were already segregated being moved to suicide watch and further isolation. There were 187 cases in which a detainee was held in solitary for more than six months. In 32 of those cases, the detainee was segregated for more than a year.

Those suffering from mental ailments are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of isolation. As Kenneth Applebaum, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, told the Intercept, This is the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a fire. Applebaum, who had looked into ICEs practice of segregation as a DHS consultant, was particularly critical of its use as a way to manage suicidal patients: This is a practice that exposes detainees to real psychological and physiological harm, he said. The stories detailed in the ICIJ report clearly bear this out.

Dulce Rivera, a 36-year-old transgender woman originally from Honduras and a longtime permanent resident in the US, was detained by ICE in 2017 and placed in solitary confinement in May 2018 for supposedly harassing other prisoners. For about a month, she was allowed one hour a day in the yard, a patch of concrete encased in metal fencing, where she could pace alone.

In late June, after being told by her guards that she would no longer be allowed to go into the yard, Rivera tried to hang herself. Following a brief stint at the hospital, she was returned to the facility where she was placed in yet another solitary confinement cell, this one labeled SUICIDE SAFE in block letters. She would remain there for nearly a year. Now released from detention, Rivera has recurring nightmares, disorientation and trouble sleeping.

Riveras experiences, unfortunately, are not unique. Karandeep Singh, a Sikh immigrant from India, who was placed in solitary confinement after attempting a hunger strike, also tried to commit suicide. After his failed attempt, Singh was returned to yet another solitary cell, triggering a further mental breakdown. Now back in India, Singh told the ICIJ that he has flashbacks that trigger the fear he felt in solitary confinement in Texas. You are changed; you cant feel safe, he said.

Jeancarlo Jimenez-Joseph, a 27-year old detainee, was initially placed in solitary confinement in mid-April 2017 for supposedly starting a fight in the Stewart detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia. Video footage later showed that he was actually the victim of the attack. Several days after being released from isolation, Jimenez-Joseph was sent backthis time for jumping off a second-floor balcony. As he told officials at that time, it was an action not meant to hurt anyone other than himself. After 18 days in segregation, Jimenez-Joseph managed to hang himself by tying a sheet to a small sprinkler head in his cell.

In a statement to NBC News, an ICE spokesperson responded to the report by claiming that the agency is firmly committed to the safety and welfare of all those in its custody, and that the use of restrictive housing in ICE detention facilities is exceedingly rare, but at times necessary, to ensure the safety of staff and individuals in a facility. The spokesperson added that ICE uses such practices to ensure that detainees reside in safe, secure and humane environments and under appropriate conditions of confinement.

The statement would be laughable if the human consequences that have been exposed were not so dire.

The horrors faced by immigrants in the various detention centers are the product of a network that has been gradually built up over three decades and a system that is driven in considerable part by the profit motive. It was Bill Clinton in the 1990s who first signed into law new requirements that mandated the detention of immigrants who had served prison time.

By the time of the Obama presidency, civil detention of non-citizens had become mainstream, with private contractors competing for multi-million-dollar federal grants, creating a seedy political economy of incarceration that has become the predominant tool of the American ruling class for dealing with the immigration problem.

In a report published last October, the Intercept detailed the way in which GEO Group, the private contractor that runs the Adelanto detention facility, by all accounts one of the worst immigration prisons in the country, has made millions through federal grants and deals with local officials. The Intercept described Adelanto as a dusty, rural settlement in the Mojave desert two hours east of Los Angeles, with approximately a fourth of its 42,000 residents consisting of incarcerated people distributed between the immigration detention center, a county jail, a state prison and a nearby federal prison.

Facing bankruptcy in 2015, the city made a deal with GEO Group contractually guaranteeing a minimum of 975 occupants in the detention center. At a rate of $111 per day per occupant, this meant the company was guaranteed an annual income of $40 million. The city would also get a cut of the grant, but that totals no more than $100,487 annually.

In the meantime, the Adelanto detention facility has been cited for intolerable and inhumane conditions, lack of medical attention, improper disciplinary segregation, cruel and degrading treatment by guards, sexual abuse of detainees and widespread indifference to suicide attempts. This has not resulted in any charges being officially filed by ICE against the company or moves to end the companys administration of the detention center.

In an interview with Spencer Woodman of the ICIJ, Rick Raemish, the former head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, who spearheaded the effort to limit solitary confinement in his state, declared, Its immoral. Its unethical. Its torture... This is a practice that needs to stop.
In the aftermath of the Matamoros strike wave, four maquiladora workers have declared their candidacy for the Tamaulipas state elections. The workers are running for office as independent candidates under the 20/32 Movement, a reference to the strikers demand for a 20 percent wage increase and a 32,000 peso ($1,700) bonus.

The candidates are Coca-Cola worker Juan Luis Gaytan for District 10; Cepillos worker Gloria Iselda Juarez Nunez for District 12; Tyco worker Mayra Lizeth Cepeda Leal for District 9; and Kongsberg worker Everardo Gomez Aguayo for District 11. The elections will take place on Sunday, June 2.

The WSWS warns that the 20/32 election campaign is a political trap. First, the electoral campaign was not demanded by masses of workers as a next logical step to the strikes. Rather, it was deliberately introduced by activist Susana Prieto, whom the WSWS has factually and objectively exposed as an operative for local independent unions and their patrons in the AFL-CIO in Washington.

It is not the case that workers had an earnest desire to run candidates for office, or that this was a major demand that was debated through rank-and-file discussions or by delegations of workers going from plant to plant, as was the case with the workers wildcat rebellion in January. The election campaign did not originate with the working class, but with Prieto herself.

The election campaign can be traced to April 14, when Prieto issued a call for a meeting at the citys plaza to register independent candidates. On May 1, the citys May Day celebration took place just a few months after thousands of workers marched to the US-Mexico border and appealed to their American allies for support. It should be added that this is the direction that workers chose to take without Prieto, as this coincided with her departure from the city. But Prieto, in contrast to the workers impetus for broadening and generalizing the struggle, now turned the day of international working-class solidarity into a rally for four candidates running in a local election whose program in no way advances the interests of the working class.

Bernardo, a worker from Inteva, told the WSWS that the support that the worker candidates are getting is low, I believe  because of the character of the lawyer Susana Prieto. This thing about the candidates, I don't feel that it has an objective and that they are only doing what the lawyer wants them to, and probably they are also looking for their own personal benefit. The lawyer is the voice of the 20/32 movement, and all she does is talk and contradict herself.

Second, the demands of the workers are entirely different from the platform being presented by the independent campaign. The 20/32 election platform proposes describing workers as technical professionals in order to get them on a higher pay grade, expanding daycare centers, adding publicity for workers to know their rights, and incorporating workers into monitoring and oversight organisms for corporate misbehavior.

The low attendance at events for the 20/32 election campaign is understandable given that workers know that these proposals will not fundamentally change their jobs or conditions. In some cases, the proposals are reactionary in character because they demand that workers enforce the decisions of pro-management labor courts and implement the normal operations of capitalist exploitation on their coworkers.

Moreover, any serious improvement in the conditions of workers is impossible without a frontal assault on the wealth of the ruling elite. In a town like Matamoros, where the citys economy is set up to extract as much labor out of workers as possible, why should corporations accept an attack on their profits when they can move their plants to any corner of the world and deploy state troops to crush resistance?

The proposals of the 20/32 election campaign contrast sharply with workers own demandsdemocratic control over hiring and firing at the plants, a shorter work week, a reduction in union dues, independent strike committees, unity with American and Canadian workers, and a nationwide general strike. Why have these critical points, which mobilized tens of thousands of workers, been dropped?

Bernardo from Inteva told the WSWS: It seems that the strikes in Mexico have dwindled down. On January 12, the strikes were gaining strength since it was proven that workers can do something united, but with the lawyer taking the leadership of the movement that she later named 20/32, she took the power away from the working class.

Third, the elections are taking place in the context of a mood for more strikes and protests. On May 24, hundreds of taxi drivers responded to the seemingly minor incident of 35 taxis being decommissioned by the government with a wholesale blocking of the citys center as well as the international crossing between Mexico and the Brownsville, Texas. This event shows that the working class and lower middle class were deeply affected and inspired by the strike movement and are looking for a way to fight for their jobs and wages.

Since the events in Matamoros, the financial press has proclaimed the end of labor peace and threatened that the mass strikes that shook the country might soon be repeated. As easy as one two three, the labor stability which we have maintained for decades, with hundreds of thousands of successful contract negotiations, is broken. And it wont stop there, wrote Mexicos main business paper El Financiero in February.

The administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is struggling to keep a lid on the countrys social powder keg. The national president of Morena, Yeidckol Polevnsky, traveled to Matamoros in mid-May to speak to two striking workers. When they asked her to help stop the blacklisting of fired workers, Polevnsky expressed hostility to the strikes and claimed that they were a ploy to move maquiladoras to the United States. The national politician has since been widely denounced by workers on social media.

However, at the moment when workers should be appealing outward, taking to social media, building their own organizations and fighting for the political independence of the working class, Prieto is advocating working with unions tied to the AFL-CIO. As for Prietos claims that the election campaign is independent from the ruling Movement for National Regeneration (Morena), it is a fact that just last year Prieto was campaigning for Morenas candidate, Javier Gonzalez Mocken, in Ciudad Juarez!

To fight for their interests, workers must indeed launch a political struggle. The question, however, is: on what program and with what perspective?

The fight of Matamoros workers is part of a growing wave of working-class struggle and social protests throughout the world, from teachers in the US and throughout the Americas, to the yellow vest protests in France and industrial strike throughout Europe, to mass protests and demonstrations in the Middle East and Africa.

As demonstrated by the Matamoros rebellion, workers cannot advance their independent class interestsand for that matter solve any of the major social issues like poverty and violence confronting Mexican societywithin a national, and much less local framework. The development of rank-and-file committees, independent of the trade unions, is the necessary foundation for uniting and integrating every separate struggle.

In every struggle, the question raised is who will run societythe ruling class, which controls the giant multinational corporations and banks, or the working class, the vast majority of society.

The fight against corporate reprisals and for the right to a decent job, pension, healthcare, high-quality education and freedom from imperialist oppression is the fight for the working class to take political power in its own hands through the establishment of a government of the workers, by the workers and for the workers.

This requires a revolutionary movement to overthrow the capitalist state and reorganize the global economy on a socialist basis. For this, workers need a party of their own, armed with a revolutionary Marxist programthat is, a section of the International Committee of the Fourth International.

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Lessons of the Matamoros workers rebellion

[17 April 2019]
Narendra Modi, the leader of the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was officially sworn in to serve a second term as Indias Prime Minister Thursday. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind also administered the oath of office to 57 othersall but four of them from the BJPwho will serve under Modi in the cabinet of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

The BJP and NDA were returned to power with an increased majority in the elections, held over seven phases in April and May, for the Lok Sabha, the lower but more powerful house of Indias bicameral parliament. With a 37.4 percent share of the popular vote, the BJP won 303 of the 545 Lok Sabha seats, giving it an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha for the second consecutive election. The BJPs twenty odd NDA allies picked up a further thirty seats, giving the BJP-led alliance a total of 353.

Indian big business and its media outlets strongly backed the return to power of the BJP/NDA, viewing it as their best means to accelerate the pace of pro-market reform and to aggressively pursue their great-power ambitions on the world stage.

They have been quick to hail the election results as a popular endorsement of Modis strong government and the BJPs noxious Hindutva ideology. They do so with the aim of intimidating working peoplethe vast majority of whom either voted for the BJPs opponents or did not voteand delegitimizing the opposition to the Modi government that will rapidly emerge from Indias workers and toilers.

Recent years have witnessed a mounting wave of social struggles. This includes militant strikes by auto and other workers in Indias globally-connected manufacturing sector as well as by teachers and other state employees, farmer protests against low-support prices and subsidy cuts, and popular agitations against environmental devastation.

But the opposition of Indias workers and toilers to austerity, reaction, and war could find no expression within the Indian political establishment. The BJPs electoral opponentsthe Congress Party, the Stalinist parliamentary parties, and a host of smaller regional chauvinist and caste-based partiesare all deeply discredited. This is because of their own decades-long role in implementing neo-liberal policies that have made India one of the worlds most socially unequal societies, support for the rapid expansion of Indias military, complicity in cementing an Indo-US global strategic partnership, and corrupt ties to various cliques of crony capitalists.

Both the Congress, the Indian bourgeoisies traditional party of government, and the Stalinist parliamentary partiesthe Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, and the Communist Party of India (CPI)suffered historic electoral debacles. The Congress, which ran a Hindutva-lite campaign and competed with the BJP in making bellicose threats against Pakistan and celebrating Indians military as heroes, polled just 19.5 percent of the vote. Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, whose mother, father, grandmother and great-grandfather all preceded him as party president, the Congress won 52 Lok Sabha seats, not enough even to be recognized as the official opposition.

Between them the Stalinist CPM and CPI won only five seats, and of these four were on the coattails of a right-wing electoral bloc in Tamil Nadu, in which they were junior partners of the DMK and the Congress. For decades the Stalinist parties and their trade union affiliates suppressed the class struggle and supported, in the name of blocking the Hindu rights rise to power, a succession of right-wing governments, most of them Congress-led. By politically paralyzing the working class, the Stalinists created conditions in which the BJP could divert popular anxiety and frustration over mounting economic insecurity and social inequality behind communal reaction.

A cabinet of reaction

Modis restructured cabinet boasts 21 new members. The most prominent and important are the new Home Minister, BJP President Amit Shah, and Subhramanyam Jaishankar, a former foreign secretary. The latter has been appointed Indias external affairs or foreign minister, although he is not a member of either chamber of parliament.

Jaishankars predecessor, Sushma Swaraj, did not contest the elections due to her ailing health. Rajya Sabha MP Arun Jaitley, hitherto Modis most important minster, has also had to step down, at least for the moment, due to ill health. Jaitley was finance minister throughout Modis first five-year term and doubled as defence minister for two half-year stretches in 2014 and 2017.

The appointment of Shah to head the ministry charged with internal security is a vile provocation and must be taken as a warning that Modi will deploy ruthless state violence against mounting social opposition.

Considered Modis right-hand man, Shah has been a close associate of the Indian prime minister since his days as Gujarats Chief Minister. As BJP president, Shah orchestrated the BJP election campaign, which featured bellicose attacks on Pakistan, the whipping up of animosity toward Muslims and Bangladeshi migrants, and the promotion of an indicted Hindutva terrorist, Pragya Singh Thakur, as a star BJP candidate. He also oversaw the five-year campaign to expand the BJPs power and reach that preceded the 2019 polls, plotting out a strategy in which communal provocation and polarization and bribery of political adversaries were key weapons.

Indias Central Bureau of Investigation accused Shah of having played a major role, while serving as Gujarats Home Minister, in the 2010 extrajudicial killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi and his associate Tulsiran Prajapati. But after Modi came to power in New Delhi, Shah was declared exonerated.

Nirmala Sitaraman, who has served as Indias defence minister since late 2017, has been named as Jaitleys replacement at the head of the Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministries.

She will be tasked with aggressively implementing economic reform measures long demanded by foreign and domestic big business. These include gutting restrictions on layoffs and plant closures in the so-called formal (large-scale) sector and changing land appropriation laws to make it easier for big business to gain access to large allotments of land for development.

According to the Economic Times, big business wants the government to place itself on a war footing in the drive to stimulate growth through the implementation of pro-investor measures. Whilst stock markets have soared on news of the BJPs re-election, Indias corporate elite is shot through with anxieties and fears over the multiple crises that beset Indias economyamong them, falling consumer demand, agrarian distress, anemic business investment and export growth, and a financial sector weighed down by massive corporate debts. With the elections over, the government finally released a long suppressed report that shows unemployment in India at a 45-year high.

Although Jaishankar is a lifelong career diplomat, his appointment as foreign minister is an unmistakable sign that the Modi government intends to align India even more closely with the US, especially in its strategic offensive against China. Jaishankar played a leading role in negotiating the 2007 Indo-US nuclear accord, which was seen by both sides as a means of consummating the Indo-US strategic partnership. He later served a two-year stint as Indias ambassador to the US, which only ended when he became the Modi governments Foreign Secretary or senior-most diplomat. As such, he was deeply involved in Indias adoption of Washingtons line on the South China Sea, the opening of Indias military bases to US battleships and warplanes, and its pursuit of closer bilateral and trilateral military-security ties with US imperialisms principal Asia-Pacific allies, Japan and Australia.

Jaishankar also has lengthy experience in dealing with China. He was Indias ambassador to China for four-and-a-half years ending in 2013, and he was the point-man for the Modi government in the negotiations with Beijing that led to the end of the seven-week 2017 military stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops over a remote Himalayan plateau. At its height, the Doklam border dispute threatened to trigger clashes between the nuclear-armed rivals.

With Shah replacing him as Home Minister, BJP veteran Rajnath Singh has been named Defence Minister. Singh is a notorious Hindu communalist, who worked to rebuild the BJP after it fell from national office in 2004 by trumpeting its Hindutva ideology.

With Shah in charge of Indias internal security forces and Rajnath Singh directing the military, the BJP/NDA government can be expected to intensify its brutal repression in Jammu and Kashmir, Indias only Muslim majority state and the site of a three decades-old, Pakistan government-supported anti-Indian insurgency. New Delhi currently has more than half-a-million security forces deployed in Indian-held Kashmir, making it one of the most heavily militarized regions in the world.

In their allocation of ministerial berths, Modi and his BJP have shown a contemptuous attitude toward their NDA allies, giving just one cabinet post each to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Shiv Sena, Loktantrik Janata Party (LJP) and Republican Party of India (RPI). The Janata Dal (United), which won 16 seats from Bihar, declined to join the government after its demand for three cabinet posts was rejected. However, it will remain part of the NDA. Internal disputes over who should be its minister apparently led the Tamil Nadu based AIADMK to decline the offer of a cabinet seat.

In a provocative step, Modi chose to snub Pakistans prime minster, Imran Khan, by conspicuously leaving him off the list of the regions leaders invited to Thursdays swearing in ceremony.

Modi seized on a February 14 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir to foment a war crisis with Pakistan that brought South Asias rival nuclear powers the closest they have been to all-out war since 1971. The corporate media, nonetheless, hailed the BJP government-ordered air strikes deep inside Pakistan as a bold assertion of Indias military prowess and a game changer in the long fraught relationship between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Buoyed by Washingtons downgrading of its ties with Pakistan and embrace of India as a key strategic ally, Indias ruling elite is determined to coerce Pakistan into halting all logistical support for the Kashmir insurgency and demonstratively accepting India as South Asias dominant power.
On Friday evening, the New Haven Teachers Association (NHTA) announced that after the third straight day of bargaining sessions with New Haven Unified School District (NHUSD) managers, the two sides had once again failed to reach a tentative agreement. Democrat Tony Thurmond, Californias State Superintendent of Public Instruction, who helped shut down the 2019 teachers strikes in Los Angeles and Oakland, took a seat at the bargaining table with the express intention of ending the strike.

There have now been six formal and two informal bargaining sessions between the two sides. District managers are ruthlessly seeking to make an example of New Haven teachers, while the union has continually climbed down its demands from a 20 percent salary increase over two years, in addition to other demands, to its current ask for a mere cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) salary increase. The strike involves nearly 600 teachers, counselors and nurses that serve roughly 12,000 students in Union City and South Hayward, California.

Early Friday morning, the NHTA announced that Thurmond would join that days bargaining session between the union and district managers. In their daily Strike Bulletin distributed to teachers on the picket lines, the union gushed praise for Thurmond, presenting him as a supposed ally of the teachers in their struggle.

The NHTA approvingly stated: Thurmond played a role in ending the Oakland teachers strike. This is great because it means our good, hard work is working. More and more local, state and national policy-makers are listening to us and applying pressure to the school board. Will they - and NHUSD managers - listen?

In a separate press release, Thurmond stated, I am happy to do what I can to help with this strike, but I want it known that my priority is to end it, and I will do what I can to encourage all parties to stay at the table until a resolution is reached, preferably as soon as possible.

Thurmond is now a veteran at shutting down strikes, preventing the expansion of struggles or any significant gains for teachers. During the Oakland teachers strike, the Oakland Education Association (OEA) leadership similarly invited Tony Thurmond to join the negotiations, hailing him to their membership as a solution to the bargaining impasse. In the negotiations, Thurmond demanded that the union bargaining team end the strike as quickly as possible, despite near universal support for teachers across Oakland and the entire Bay Area. Within less than a week, the OEA had forced through a sellout contract predicated on over $22 million in budget cuts.

Behind closed doors, Thurmond is now undoubtedly pressuring the NHTA to acquiesce to whatever demands the district managers impose upon them. The school board has already cut $4 million in services this year, with plans to cut another $8.6 million in the coming two years. Whatever agreement is reached to try to end the strike will then be used to justify even further budget cuts.

The NHTAs breathless enthusiasm for this strikebreaker reveals plainly that the union and state Democrats do not function in the interests of teachers. With every teachers strike over the past 15 months, the unions have done everything in their power to isolate teachers district-by-district, imposing sellout contracts that only deepen the crisis in public education through further budget cuts. While teachers in each state, across the US and internationally face the same assault on public education, the unions have prevented teachers from uniting in their common struggle.

In this case the NHTA, the California Teachers Association (CTA), and the National Education Association (NEA) are working to confine New Haven teachers and prevent them from forging links with teachers in neighboring districts and across the US.

In an interview with the East Bay Times Wednesday, OEA President Keith Brown stated, Our members are ready to spend summer vacation in Union City and South Hayward if the New Haven school district doesnt come to an agreement with New Haven educators.

The Times article notes, Brown said a significant number of Oakland teachers could be joining pickets around New Havens schools on Friday afternoon, at the start of Oakland teachers summer vacation. Browns claim is a blatant lie; the OEA has done nothing to mobilize Oakland teachers to unite with New Haven teachers. As of this writing, there has been no email sent to OEA members or posts made on social media encouraging Oakland teachers to join pickets in New Haven.

The NHTA deliberately timed the strike to take place when there is no financial harm to the school district, which no longer has to report the daily attendance figures that determine school district funding. In fact, the strike is financially benefiting the district because they do not need to pay striking teachers, who have now lost roughly five percent of their annual salary for this year.

It is now evident that district managers, who are themselves more affluent members of the Union City community, are determined to drag out the strike until the end of the school year. They have refused to continue negotiating over the weekend, and have not relented whatsoever, despite the complete prostration of the NHTA leadership and downgrading of their demands to a COLA increase.

New Haven teachers must reject the pro-capitalist framework put forward by the teachers unions and the Democratic Party, who maintain a symbiotic political relationship with each other while living as social parasites upon the working class. As shown in the climb down of their demands and their efforts to end the New Haven teachers strike, the unions have worked with the Democrats to peddle the basic premise that there is no money for public education, and to insist that teachers must accept the status quo of unending austerity.

There is more than enough money to fully fund a high quality public education for every child and a high standard of living for every teacher, but the wealth of society, produced by the working majority of the population, is monopolized by a handful of parasites. There are, in fact, 144 billionaires in California alone, most of whom live in the Bay Area and own the major tech giants that increasingly dominate economic life around the world. The wealth of the super-rich, in California and around the world, must be expropriated to provide for the social needs of the working class, including the universal right to free, high quality public education.
The strike of 600 teachers in the New Haven school district has lasted for nine days and is continuing into the weekend. The district has announced plans to cut nearly $8 million from the budget involving layoffs, school closures, and class size increases. Teachers spoke with the World Socialist Web Site about the conditions they face including poor pay and understaffing and how that impacts the students.

Naheed, a teacher at Alvarado Elementary School, explained the impact that larger class sizes will have. Theyve said theyre going to raise the class size in elementary school from 25 to 30, she said. They did that once before during the recession and it was horrible. With the smaller class sizes you could see your students every day in small groups, but with 30 kids, youll work closely with any particular student maybe three times a week.

The district plans include laying off dozens of support staff, which will make difficult classroom environments even worse.

A lot of our students are high-need and the district is planning on cutting some of the support staff, said Naheed. For one class at my school, 13 of the 25 students have experienced trauma in their past and you see some extreme behaviors like running out of the classroom or throwing things. We only have a psychologist for three days of the week and they work almost entirely on special education assessments, not counseling. Even then, they are overworked and assessments come in late. Its supposed to take 60 days, but we had one student referred in the beginning of the year and they only determined he qualified for services just now in May. During that whole time the teacher and student got no support.

A teacher on the picket line at James Logan High School who preferred to remain anonymous stated that he was upset at the various picket signs which had been prepared by the union, which claimed that the union was fighting for students, or to reduce class sizes. That is simply not true, he said. The demand which the union is presenting in bargaining is strictly limited to pay. Only by extended logic could you say that that is fighting for students, and it is not going to affect class sizes at all.

Working in special education is really tough, explained Daisy Serrano, a Speech Language Pathologist at James Logan. We really need a lot of support as professionals to work with students who have significant behavioral issues. Last year I got a concussion because I was head-butted by a student. And Im not the only one. We have students with moderate to severe learning disabilities, and we need more training on how to work with these students. We do have one behaviorist here at the district, but I dont know if thats enough.

Daisy is also concerned as a parent. When the district says, were here to serve our students and our community, being part of that community and trying to advocate for my son, it doesnt feel that way. As a parent, Im really struggling with the fact that were not even close to ending the strike.

My son is in kindergarten, and I woke last night at 3 A.M. feeling really guilty because hes missed 10 days of school. Im getting a little upset about it, because hes just learning to read, the basics of literacy, as well as the crucial fundamentals of math, and hes missed 10 days of school.

Debbie, a veteran English teacher at Logan High School with over 20 years of experience, highlighted how the district was trying to skip over their end of the year administrative problems. She spoke of the fact that high school students could not graduate without receiving a minimum 2.0 GPA and that the only individuals authorized to issue final grades for students were teachers.

The district, however, was going ahead and preparing to issue grades for students to circumvent the strike and was appealing to the California Department of Education to issue a special dispensation to authorize this illegal action. Debbie stated that under the rubric being used by the district to issue final grades, using grades from earlier in the school year, several of her students, particularly those with special learning plans, who would otherwise graduate would be unable to do so.

Two of my students, she stated, who have already received enrollment offers from four year universities would fail to graduate on these terms and would have their college admissions revoked.

Despite all of the difficulties, teachers were amazed by how supportive parents and workers in the community were. We watched the Oakland strike, said Rebecca Schroder, who teaches sixth grade at Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School, and the amount of community support they had was inspiring. I was worried that we wouldnt have that here because we didnt have much build-up to the strike. But the community has been very supportive.

She went on to detail the longstanding mistreatment of teachers in the district.

Ive been teaching in this district for 10 years, so I started out right after the 2008 crisis. The first year with a credential I could only get a job as a long-term sub. Then in the second year they finally hired me as a full teacher in April. The whole time I was doing the work of a regular teacher but getting paid only $160 a day.

In those years right after the crash there were always furloughs, but the worst part was getting a pink slip every year. Even tenured teachers would get pink slips. No one would know at the end of each school year whether they would have a job for the next.

This isnt just a local problem. What we need to do is storm Sacramento. Thats how we can get the funding we need. Weve got to find a way to shake it out of the Governor.
The United Auto Workers has scheduled a snap vote on a contract proposal by striking medical technicians at Mercy Health St Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio. The vote, which is scheduled for Sunday, will not include the nurses who are also on strike, but who belong to a separate bargaining unit.

Nearly 2,000 medical staff at Mercy Health, members of the United Auto Workers, struck on May 6 after months of fruitless negotiations over medical premiums, staffing levels and wages. The strike has won broad sympathy and support among workers in the area who are glad to see resistance to concessions and overwork.

The main issues for nursing staff are heavy workloads, forced overtime and on-call policies. Nurses complain of chronic understaffing on long hours of mandatory overtime, undermining the health and well-being of nurses and the care of patients. Hospital management has extended on call hours as a way of avoiding hiring additional personnel. Some Mercy Health nurses were on call as much as 2,000 hours last year.

Mercy Health, which merged with Bon Secours last year to form Bon Secours Mercy Health, is the fifth-largest Catholic healthcare system in the US, with 43 hospitals and 57,500 employees in seven states and some $8 billion in annual net revenue. With enormous financial resources at its disposal, management has taken an intransigent stance, seeking to wear down the resistance of strikers. They have kept the hospital open during the strike by using scabs at the cost of as much as $120 an hour.

The decision by the UAW to organize a separate vote by medical technicians, who comprise about 50 percent of the hospital staff at Mercy Health St. Vincent, is a stab in the back, an effort by union officials to divide and undermine the strike in order to shut it down. The medical technicians and support staff could return to work as early as Monday if the contract is ratified, effectively amounting to an attempt to force the medical technicians to cross the picket line against the nurses.

The new contract proposals were put together with the help of a federal mediator, with the talks closed to rank-and-file UAW members and held at a secret location. Management withdrew a previous contract offer which it claimed addressed the issue of on-call hours, which UAW officials said they would present to the membership for a vote, but would not make a formal recommendation for acceptance.

Since the walkout began on May 6, the UAW has done everything it can to limit its effectiveness. It has restricted picketing to the front entrance to the hospital and made no effort to stop strike breakers. No effort has been made to win support from workers at other Mercy Health facilities in the area and no mass rallies or mass picketing have been organized.

While a host of national and local politicians, including Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, made their way to the picket line over the past three weeks, they have abandoned and isolated the Mercy Health strikers.

In the latest attempt to throw dust in the eyes of workers, Republican Ohio state legislator Don Manning visited the Mercy Health picket line Friday to promote a bill he has introduced that would ban mandatory overtime for nurses. The bill has been stuck in committee since March and appears to have little chance of passage.

The decision by the UAW to break up the strike confirms the warnings made by the World Socialist Web Site that the union would carry out a betrayal. The UAW is not a workers organization in any genuine sense of the term, but a corrupt bureaucracy which functions as an agent of management. This has been demonstrated by the federal investigation into the payment of bribes by Fiat Chrysler to the union bureaucrats, which resulted in the bribery convictions of four top negotiators. Millions of dollars in bribes were funneled from the company through the joint UAW-Chrysler National Training Center and other corporatist schemes into the pockets of union executives. UAW President Gary Jones and Vice President Cindy Estrada have also attracted the scrutiny of federal investigators.

Mercy Health workers are not on their own. There is enormous sentiment in the working class for a fight after decades of eroding living standards, attacks on health care and the spread of low-wage, part-time and temporary employment. Strike activity in the United States is at its highest level in 30 years. The strike wave of public school teachers is being joined by growing numbers of health care workers and other sections of the working class as part of a global upsurge of class struggle, including teachers in Poland and maquiladora workers in Mexico.

There is enormous pent-up anger and a mood of rebellion among autoworkers in particular, who have endured one sellout contract after another. With the contract for 150,000 Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler workers set to expire on September 14 and the contract for 1,400 auto parts workers at Faurecia in Saline, Michigan having expired yesterday, the UAW wants to squelch the Mercy Health strike before it encourages a broader strike movement by workers.

To win a decent contract and beat back managements attempts to impose further concessions Mercy Health workers must rely on their own independent strength. That means rejecting UAW-management attempts to divide the workforce and turning out to mobilize the broadest support for the strike, including among workers at other hospitals and other workers coming into struggle such as autoworkers and teachers.

To do this workers must organize a strike committee independent of the UAW and comprised of the most trusted militant workers. Workers must have representation in negotiations, which must be conducted openly, not in secret. Workers must have adequate time to review any contract proposal and no return to work until all issues are resolved, including the elimination of forced overtime, the hiring of hundreds of additional staff, full-paid employer health benefits and a substantial wage increase to offset the increased cost of living.

Nurses should turn to the historical lessons of the great Toledo Auto Lite strike of 1934 and other experiences of the working class. The strike by nurses and healthcare workers underscores the irrationality of a medical care system based on private profit. The urgent question is to mobilize the growing insurgency of the working class under and independent, socialist, political program aimed at the source of lack of access to health care, low wages, poverty and war: the capitalist system. Workers interested in learning more about this fight should contact the World Socialist Web Site.
While hundreds of thousands of refugees are attempting to escape Libya to Europe, the Macron government in France is providing the Libyan coastguard with six ships to catch refugees sailing to Europe and return them to Libya, where they are imprisoned in concentration camps. The policy, which has been condemned by multiple human rights organizations because of the prevalence of torture, rape, slavery and murder in the camps, is both barbaric and illegal.

At a February security conference in Munich, Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly informed Faiez el-Sarraj, the President of the Government of National Unity based in Tripoli, that France had purchased six boats for Libya. The purpose was to stop the flow of migrants attempting to journey across the Mediterranean. According to the press, the ships, built by the company Sillinger, which equips the French special forces, include dedicated supports for the Libyan regime to mount machine guns.

On May 10, the Paris Administrative Court rejected the request of eight human rights organizationsincluding Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, Cimade, and Migreuropto suspend the boats delivery. They had pointed to European and UN embargoes against the sale of arms to Libya, and the foreseeable consequences of the delivery of the six boats for the human rights of migrants and refugees intercepted and returned to Libyan soil.

In the French-language press, a deafening silence reigns over the atrocious conditions in which refugees are being held in Libyan camps built with the financial support of the European powers. By 2017, human rights organizations and CNN had reported torture, sexual abuse and murder in the detention centers (See:  Amnesty International report exposes EU role in mass torture of refugees in Libya ).

Last November, La Croix interviewed Vincent Cochetel, special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on the conditions for refugees detained in Libya.

When asked whether the practicing of slavery in Libya reported in 2017 was disappearing, Cochetel replied: On the contrary, these practices have increased in number. As it is more difficult to leave Libyan soil, traffickers need to monetize their investment by exploiting even more detainees who are sold or lent by the day. In addition, detention situations have deteriorated.

He added, We dont know much about detention centers controlled by traffickers and militia. But  since the beginning of the year, 14,595 people have been intercepted at sea by the Libyan coastguard and repatriated to Libyan soil. Some of them were finally able to return home with the help of the International Organization for Migration. But it is clear that a large proportion of them have been sold to traffickers to be used for labour on farms or construction sites, or even, for women, for sexual exploitation.

Cochetels testimony underscores that the denunciations of human trafficking by European countries are entirely cynical, because the concentration camps they have built are an essential component of the financial strategy of these networks. According to Cochetel, Libyan law specifies that any irregular foreigner must pay a fine or hard labour. This legal framework promotes human trafficking and the detention system is part of its business model.

Libya is currently experiencing a resurgence of civil war between the militias that NATO powers supported during the imperialist war waged in 2011 to destroy the Gaddafi regime. The growth in military conflict, against the backdrop of a struggle for influence between Paris, Rome and other regional powers in the strategic and oil-rich country, only intensifies the suffering of refugees.

Marshal Khalifa Haftar, in conflict with the puppet government in Tripoli, launched an offensive in early April to conquer the capital. According to UN agencies, at least 278 people were killed, 1,332 injured and 35,000 displaced. The International Committee of the Red Cross stated: The humanitarian situation in and around Tripoli has deteriorated severely in the past three weeks.

Michael Neuman of MSF, an NGO that still has staff on the ground in Libya, testified to La Croix: Libyan coastguards are menacing when they intercept migrants at sea, and systematically send them to detention centres. France is complicit in these practices.

Nevertheless, despite unequivocal evidence, the Paris Administrative Court approved the transfer of the six French ships to Libya to force the refugees to remain in that country: The decision to make such a free transfer of equipment intended for the Libyan armed forces is not detachable from the conduct of Frances external relations. The court therefore declared itself incompetent to issue a judgment preventing the transfer of the vessels to the Libyan coastguard.

In other words, French foreign policy is not detachable from the torture, rape and murder of thousands of refugees, and a calculated disregard for their basic democratic rights. French policy follows the strategy of Rome, which has also concluded agreements with militia, particularly in Sabratha, to prevent boats from departing for Europe.

This also underlines the fraudulent nature of the official propaganda calling upon workers and youth to vote for pro-EU parties, supposedly to block the rise of neo-fascist organizations. In fact, the imperialist war in Libya has paved the way for the criminalisation of European foreign policy, in line with the xenophobia openly incited by the extreme-right.

This is an unforgettable lesson in the nature of the imperialist war in Libyaas well as the charlatanry of the pro-imperialist petty-bourgeois left who applauded NATOs bombing of Libya as a humanitarian operation to liberate the country from Gaddafi.

Postmodernist essayist Bernard Henri-Levy and the leaders of Olivier Besancenots New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) insisted that the country should be bombed, and that rebel Islamist or tribal militias must be armed in order to overthrow the regime. In 2011 Professor Gilbert Achcar of the NPA said that French imperialism should be called upon to protect Libya: We are in a situation where the population is really in danger and there is no other alternative to protect them.

These representatives of the wealthy middle classes, whose careers depend on their presence in the official media or on the state funding of their university research, have all adopted the view that imperialism could liberate Libya through a democratic revolution. It was a pack of lies. Now their democratic revolution has restored slavery and the most atrocious abuses, partly financed and facilitated by European money and military equipment.
Nils Melzer, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, yesterday issued a statement demanding an immediate end to the collective persecution of Julian Assange and condemning the US and its allies for inflicting psychological torture on the WikiLeaks publisher.

Assange, Melzer stated, has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture.

Melzers statement confirms the comments of Assanges father, John Shipton, who said last month that his son had been subjected to touchless torture, and the warnings of the WSWS that the attempt to extradite Assange was being conducted as a quasi-legal procedure akin to the extraordinary renditions carried out by the United States.

Melzers statement is an indictment of the eight-year campaign by the US and its allies Britain and Sweden, and more recently Ecuador, to railroad Assange to an American prison and end the activities of WikiLeaks, the publication he founded in 2006.

It demonstrates that Assange has been subjected to an unprecedented political and legal vendetta for his role in the exposure of US war crimes, mass surveillance operations and global diplomatic conspiracies.

This has included the Swedish preliminary investigation into concocted allegations of sexual misconduct against Assange, Ecuadors termination of his political asylum in April, the trumped-up British bail charges of which Assange was subsequently convicted, and the attempts to extradite him to the US to face espionage charges over WikiLeaks constitutionally protected publishing activities.

Significantly, Melzer has acknowledged that he was initially unsympathetic to Assange and had been affected by the same misguided smear campaign as everybody else. But after a months-long investigation, which included a meeting with Assange at Belmarsh Prison in April, Melzer published a moving and humane statement that exposes the lies and slanders directed against the WikiLeaks founder.

The UN official said the WikiLeaks founder showed all symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture, including extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological trauma.

His statement was released a day after WikiLeaks warned that it had grave concerns for Assanges health following his transfer to the prison medical ward. Assanges Swedish lawyer had previously told the press that he was unable to have a conversation with the WikiLeaks founder on May 24 because of serious ill-health.

Melzer stated that if Assange is extradited to the US on 17 espionage charges carrying a maximum sentence of 170 years imprisonment, he faces the prospect of further torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

In words that echo the feelings of millions of people all over the world, the UN official declared: The collective persecution of Julian Assange must end here and now!

Melzer wrote that since 2010 there has been a relentless and unrestrained campaign of public mobbing, intimidation and defamation against Mr. Assange, not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, Sweden and, more recently, Ecuador.

He stated: In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution, I have never seen a group of democratic states ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law.

Melzer wrote that Assange had been targeted with deliberate collective ridicule, insults and humiliation, to open instigation of violence and even repeated calls for his assassination.

This is a condemnation not only of the governments directly involved in the persecution of Assange, but also of those publications and media outlets, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian, which have conducted a systematic campaign to demonise the WikiLeaks founder.

Among a litany of slanders, the New York Times has branded Assange as a paranoid creep, while Guardian columnist James Ball suggested that Assange was a narcissistic creep whos a danger to civilised society.

The US late night talk shows have provided the crudest examples of the deliberate collective ridicule referenced by Melzer. Seth Meyers, host of NBCs Late Night, for instance, responded to the WikiLeaks founder's April 11 arrest by joking that he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy looking like Santa Claus with a manifesto.

All of these institutions and individuals are accomplices in the torture of a persecuted journalist.

While the New York Times and other corporate publications have written editorials formally condemning the Espionage Act charges, having previously supported the initial indictment on hacking charges, they have downplayed the unbearable conditions Assange has faced during his imprisonment. Neither the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal nor the Washington Post has featured Assanges inability to appear for his extradition case or Melzer's report on its front page.

They have signaled that they do not have any principled objections to allowing Assange to rot in prison for the rest of his life. The Washington Post last week complained that the federal government could have locked up Mr. Assange for years without challenging the First Amendment through an espionage act prosecution.

Melzers statement underscores the shameful role of a host of organisations, including the pseudo-left and the trade unions, that have either abandoned Assange or joined the campaign against him.

Jacobin, the flagship publication of the US pseudo-left, after remaining silent for over a week after the Trump administration brought the esionage charges against Assange, published a pro-forma statement Friday opposing his prosecution under the Espionage Act.

But Jacobin could not resist smearing the journalist, declaring that the defense of Assange is like being against torturing a terrorist or upholding a felons right to vote even if they committed a horrific crime. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

The only social force that can and will free Assange is the international working class. Assange is rightly viewed by millions of workers, students and young people around the world as a hero for revealing the truth about US war crimes, spying and mass murder.

The defence of Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and all other class war prisoners must become a central demand in the resurgent struggles of the working class all over the world.

The WSWS, the International Committee of the Fourth International and the Socialist Equality Parties around the world are fighting to mobilise the broadest opposition to Assanges threatened extradition to the US and for his complete freedom. We urge our readers to contact us to get involved in this crucial fight!
On Friday afternoon, a longtime public utilities employee opened fire in the municipal building complex of Virginia Beach, Virginia, just east of Norfolk and Chesapeake. At least twelve people were killed and another six were injured.

The shooter has been identified as 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, a certified professional engineer in the citys Public Utilities Department. News reports from the time show that Craddock had enlisted in the Army National Guard shortly after he graduated high school in 1996.

The shooting took place on multiple floors of Building No. 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, which includes offices for planning, public works, the police department and City Hall. It is the largest workplace mass shooting since the Aurora, Illinois warehouse shooting this past February.

The names of the victims have not been released as of this writing.

It has been reported that Craddock was killed, bringing the shooting spree to an end, though it is unclear whether or not it was during an extended shootout with police or the result of a self-inflicted gunshot. A .45 caliber handgun, extended magazines and a silencer were reportedly recovered by the police.

Injuries were being treated at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital and Sentara Princess Anne Hospital. The New York Times reported that one victim had to be airlifted by helicopter to a trauma center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, though details on the conditions of the patients are not yet available.

Local authorities were alerted to the situation by an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened. According to the available police reports, a disgruntled employee began firing indiscriminately, though they have not yet commented on a concrete motive.

As has become common after mass shootings in the United States, politicians, including Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, have responded with hypocritical laments about the unspeakable, senseless violence. Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine appealed for Congress to address the daily scourge of gun violence.

These words can be given no weight. Northam presides over a state with a heavy presence of all four branches of the US military, the greatest instigator of violence in the world. Kaine was the running mate of Hillary Clinton, who, as secretary of state, oversaw the destruction of Libya and laughed in response to the brutal killing of Libyan head of state Muammar Gaddafi by US-backed militias.

Nor can this latest mass shooting in the United States be treated as an isolated incident of unimaginable evil. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 150 mass shootings in the country since the start of the year, among a total of nearly 22,000 incidents of gun violence more broadly. To date, there have been 16,846 people killed or injured in shootings, including 1,332 children and teenagers.

These numbers speak to a crisis-ridden society rife with social inequality. They reveal as well the vast toll a quarter century of unending war has inflicted on American society. The conditions of life for broad sections of the population are sharply declining and, in the absence of a mass working class movement, such shootings are one of the many negative expressions of the overall social situation.

This killing also occurs a month after the 20th anniversary of the Columbine incident. As shown since then, the response of the political establishment to mass killings is to militarize the police and increase surveillance, initiatives that only intensify the repressive apparatus of the state.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Public sector lender SBI on Friday sought more time from the NCLT to file reply on Doha Bank's plea seeking stay on a decision of the committee of creditors (CoC) of Reliance Infratel (RITL).

Doha Bank has argued that the creditors' panel has considered the claims of lenders of parent firm Reliance Communications on the basis of corporate guarantee of RITL which would reduce its voting share in the CoC.

The bank claimed to be direct lenders and said as a syndicate of four banks, it had lent Rs 1,400 crore to RITL. Doha Bank is against considering lenders having corporate guarantee of RITL as financial creditors as this will marginalise their voting rights to 15 per cent from around 55 per cent currently.

The lenders of Reliance Infratel have invoked bank guarantees of Rs 8,000 crore issued by the company in favour of Reliance Communications. The tribunal asked State Bank of India (SBI) to file reply within seven days and Doha Bank to file a rejoinder in three days.

ALSO READ| Reliance Communications lenders claim Rs 49,193-crore dues

The advocate for Doha Bank Prateek Saksaria had said the petition should be heard before e-voting in the ongoing CoC, whose main agenda are the appointment of resolution professional, determination of voting rights among others.

According to the RComm's website, Reliance Infratel's lenders have claimed Rs 12,687.65 crore, of which Rs 9,665.07 crore has been admitted so far. Claims against RComm stood at Rs 49,193.46 crore and the resolution professional, RBSA Advisors LLP, has admitted Rs 47,038.79 crore. Saksaria said, as a syndicate of four banks, including Doha Bank, are direct lenders and had lent Rs 1,400 crore to RITL, the tower unit of RComm.

After listening to the argument, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) bench comprising of V P Singh and Ravikumar Duraisamy said, the IRP process will continue till the order is passed and so will the CoC meeting.

However, they said, it is to be clarified that if the CoC pass any resolution in the meeting, it will depend on the outcome of this plea. The tribunal has kept the hearing on the matter on June 21. The corporate insolvency resolution process of debt ridden telecom resumed after the appellate tribunal vacated the stay on the CIRP of RCom.

In September 2017, Ericsson had filed a petition in the NCLT's Mumbai bench seeking liquidation of the telecom operator to recover Rs 1,150 crore that RComm allegedly owes it.

This was accepted by the NCLT over RCom's failure to pay dues to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore, however, it was later stayed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) as both parties reached a settlement, with RComm agreeing to pay Rs 550 crore to Ericsson by September 30, 2018.

Meanwhile, RComm moved the Supreme Court, seeking an extension of the deadline to pay the amount to Ericsson because of a delay in completion of spectrum sale and other assets, to which the apex court granted it time till December 15, 2018.

After RComm had failed to pay the agreed amount, Ericsson moved the apex court wherein the court ordered Anil Ambani, Reliance Telecom Chairman Satish Seth, and Reliance Infratel Chairperson Chhaya Virani to pay Rs 453 crore within four weeks (March 18, 2019). The Swedish company has been opposed to RComm's insolvency proceedings as it will then have to return the money it had received.

Under insolvency proceedings, dues of financial creditors are settled first and operational creditors get paid only after that. The NCLAT had observed that in case insolvency proceedings against RComm and two other companies were restarted, Ericsson might have to refund the money.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc witnesses the signing ceremony between the Government Office of Vietnam and the French Development Agency (AFD) in E-government development cooperation (Photo: VNA)



Attended the signing ceremony were Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and French Ambassador to Vietnam Bertrand Lortholary.

The MoU aims to build bilateral cooperative relations between the Government Office and the AFD in implementing e-government in Vietnam, thereby supporting the Governments digitalisation, administrative modernisation, and reform process.

It is the continuation of another MoU signed between the Vietnam Government Office and the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the MoU aims to concretise the cooperation agreement between the two governments after the visit to Vietnam by French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in November last year.

Accordingly, the two sides agreed to boost bilateral cooperation in the development of E-government and modernisation of state administrative management.

PM Phuc said according to the UN evaluation, France is one of the leading countries in E-government adoption, so it has a plenty of experience to share with Vietnam, especially as the Vietnamese Government is defining the building of E-government as an important strategy to serve its people.

He asked the French Embassy in Vietnam and relevant agencies of the Vietnamese Government to support necessary issues to implement the agreement effectively.

Lortholary said Vietnam and France have cooperated effectively in numerous fields over the past time, including the building of E-government.

The important thing is to provide services for people in an effective, convenient, and safe manner, he said.

In recent times, France has sent many experts to Vietnam to help with the building of e-government in the Southeast Asian country, he added.

According to the MoU, the Vietnam Government Office and the AFD will cooperate in such prioritised fields as building integrated solutions and data sharing between government agencies and data protection; a national portal for public services; and solutions to identify individuals and businesses.

In the long run, the two sides could partner in other spheres of mutual concern, such as support to change the information system, building an IT infrastructure system, ensuring cyber information safety, and building digital government and open data./.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: For the past three days, followers of Buddha and Saraswati have engaged in a bitter war of words asking the University to choose between the Lord and the Goddess. However, on Wednesday, in the midst of police security at the administrative block, a truce was brokered.

The statue of Gautama Buddha will now sit beside a new statue of Saraswati, which was originally planned to be installed at the block. Both idols will be installed at the same time and a new pedestal will be created for the Buddha statue, the University authorities decided.

Students and faculty have been at loggerheads with the administration for the past few days as unidentified persons snuck the statue of Buddha into the campus and installed it in a place meant for a new Saraswati idol. Since then, groups have been threatening to protest at the site, leading the police to cordon off the area around the idol.

On Wednesday, a sub-committee tasked with finding the right place for the Buddha statue, met in the morning and Vice Chancellor Venugopal KR chaired the meet. The sub-committee decided to install both statues next to each other.

As per the decision, the pedestal, costing Rs 4 lakh, that was originally meant for the Saraswati idol, will be used as planned. The Buddha statue will be temporarily housed elsewhere till another pedestal is prepared. Both statues will then be placed side-by-side.

Also Read: 29-year-old arrested for insulting national anthem in Bengaluru mall

The sub-committee also decided to consult experts about the impact to the building because of the increased weight from two idols instead of one.

With a decision acceptable to both sides reached, the administration has appealed to students, faculty and non-teaching staff to maintain peace in the University and to support the decision.
Shevlin Sebastian By

Express News Service

KOCHI: At 3.30 p.m., on December 2, 1967, at the Observatory Road in Cape Town, a car comes to a stop across Wrenschs Town bakery. The driver is Edward Myrtle, 66. The others in the car include Edwards wife Myrtle, 54, daughter Denise, 25 and son Keith, 14. Myrtle and Denise get out, cross the road and enter the bakery. They want to buy a caramel cake for a family friend, Rachel, whom they are going to meet.

A few minutes later, they step out and are crossing the road. At that moment, an inebriated man by the name of Frederick Prins speeds through a red traffic signal and hits the duo with full force. Myrtle dies on the spot, while Denise is flung up in the air. Her head hits the wheel cap of the family car before she lands on the pavement. She is rushed in an ambulance to the casualty unit of the Groote Schuur Hospital, which is just two kilometres away.

But a few hours later the doctors declared her brain dead. A request is put to Edward. Can Denises heart be transplanted into a dying patient Louis Washkansky, 54, who is suffering from heart failure. Edward thinks for a brief while before he gives his assent. Denise was a very giving person, he said later, explaining his decision. At midnight, the operation for the worlds first heart transplant begins. By 5.45 a.m., after several moments of high tension, Denises heart starts beating inside Louis. An emotional Dr Christiaan Bernard, the cardiac surgeon, who did the pioneering surgery, told his staff in Afrikaans, Dit gaan werk! (Its going to work). And yes, it did work and Bernard entered the history books as the first man to do a heart transplant.

At the Heart of Cape Town Museum, located on the premises of Groote Schuur Hospital, on the afternoon of May 3, 2019, Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram, one of Keralas leading doctors, who is the chief cardiac surgeon at the Lisie Hospital, Kochi, listens to the story told by a guide with bated breath. It had always been a dream for him to see the museum and now it had come true.

As the group -- which consisted of his wife Jaimy, 11-year-old son John, Joses brother Dr Mathew, a paediatrician from Birmingham, and his wife Mary -- were taken around, the doctor duo looked stunned when they saw the equipment.

The heart-lung machine looked so outdated, says Jose. In those times, the operation theatres were open ones. There was no air conditioning. The ceiling was ten metres high, so there was plenty of ventilation. The students used to come and sit on a balcony at one side of the operating room. Was it germ-free? I am not sure.

In one room, there was was a silicone figure of Bernard in a coat sitting on a chair and talking on a phone. This was a recreation of Dr Bernards consulting room, says Jose. It looked so real.

Thanks to Bernards pioneering work, lakhs of transplants have now taken place all over the world. Jose himself became the first to do a heart transplant in Kerala and the first to do a heart retransplant in India. Dr Bernard is a hero to me, he says. Whenever we present a Powerpoint presentation on organ donation or transplantation to doctors, nurses or outsiders, our first slide is always a photo of Dr Bernard.

But what remained in Joses mind following his museum visit was that Bernard, and his team, in the 1950s, when the heart-lung machine was only in the process of being developed, thought about a possible heart transplantation. It is an organ which people dont want to touch because it is so vital and even touching it can produce changes in the heartbeat, rhythm and blood pressure, he says. So, even thinking about doing a heart transplant was very courageous.

One of Joses enduring regrets is that he was not able to meet Bernard in person. However, the celebrity surgeon did come to Chennai on December 14, 1995, to inaugurate the Madras Medical Mission hospital which was founded by Joses mentor Dr KM Cherian.

Former Chief Minister J Jayalalitha was also present. But by the time Jose came to know about the visit, through newspaper reports, Bernard had already returned to South Africa. Six years later. Bernard passed away at age 78. Asked to describe Bernard, after his visit to the museum, Jose says, He was a pioneer and a daredevil who had a dashing personality. He was the right person at the right place at the right time.

However, not everybody was happy with Bernards achievement. He had trained in the USA and worked closely with doctors who were doing research on transplants at the University of Minnesota. They were getting ready, after long years of practice and research, to do the first heart transplant when Bernard flew back to South Africa and beat them to it. At the museum, the guide told Jose, with obvious pride in her voice, We beat the Americans.Jose says, It is no surprise that the Americans have been angry about this for decades.
Ill be the first to admit that while Ive enjoyed much of the fourth season of Blindspot, I was pretty consistently underwhelmed by the Madeline Burke story line. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio makes a great villain, but I was never all that invested in Madelines vague plans for well, I dont know what for, and thats the point. Madelines motivations always felt elusive, and while that might make sense for a villain, a little clarity when it came to her evil vision could have gone a long way. That said, the two-part season 4 finale is a real barnburner, and immediately re-establishes Madeline as a villainous force Im eager to see again.

Masters of War and The Gang Gets Gone work great as tandem episodes because of how they also stand as single thematic ideas. In Masters of War, we get the team hunting down leads in an attempt to stop the Helios attack. In The Gang Gets Gone, the team begins to falter, questioning not only each others loyalties, but also their own morality as officers of the law. Its fascinating stuff. Where the first episode details why this team needs the ability to cross lines to get their jobs done, the second episode questions how anyone can do that and still hold on to their sense of self as a decent person.

At the top of the first episode, the team is desperate for a lead when it comes to Madelines associates, Barry and Dominic. Weitz is in the house, mostly fretting about getting this win so that he can look good and get hired as the new director of national intelligence, and that means hes mostly distracting everyone else from doing their job. Nonetheless, they track Barry, whos looking to pick up and release a viral contagion, to a house in Queens, only to show up and find Keaton with him. Apparently, Barry is ex-CIA, and Keaton just happened to locate him through some old communications. Nash, Keatons boss, shows up at the house too, and the teams fight over who gets to question Barry.

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All that fighting is for naught. When they agree to go to a neutral location and interrogate together, the convoy gets ambushed. A couple of rockets into the side of an SUV, and Barry is dead, and the one lead the team had in relation to Helios is no more. But how did anyone know about the convoy? It seems Dominic is being fed intel by someone, meaning theres a mole in the FBI or the CIA. With no leads in sight, the FBI brings in Madeline. Shes not much help either, though. She still insists shes innocent, all while going on about some beef between the FBI and her father, who died when she was young.

Luckily, the team manages to catch Dominic on a security camera at the Belmore science lab, presumably where Barry was originally meant to pick up the virus. The drop, between Dominic and some young woman, only recently went down, so Jane and Weller rush to the scene to see if they can still find him there. Thats when we learn about the mole: Nash calls Dominic and tells him to get away from Belmore, and to try and keep the rest of their plans in order. This terrorist plot runs deep, and high up the chain of command within U.S. intelligence.

The team tracks down the woman who handed Dominic the package, and shes completely mystified that she helped a terrorist. She thought Barry was working for the CIA, and that she was helping the government. It turns out she didnt give him a pathogen, but rather a computer virus that can be used to knock out nuclear reactors or disable the security on a military base.

To Madelines credit, she eventually gives up Dominics private cell number after some serious pressure from Weller. The thing is, we know Madeline knows more. This one good deed must be part of the plan, or is at least innocuous enough to not make a difference in the grand scheme of Helios. Sure enough, after tracking the phone for a brief moment before Dominic realizes it, the team figures out his target: the NYIOC, which controls the power grid that keeps the entire country running. Dominic enters the building after killing an NYIOC employee at his home and stealing his credentials, kills everyone, and uploads the virus.

Patterson, Jane, Zapata, and Weller rush to fix it. Jane and Weller catch up with Dominic, whos been texting his partner in crime Kathy the whole time, and kill him when he essentially sacrifices himself for the cause. That leaves Patterson to stop the grid from going down but she cant do it. Kathy blocks her attempts, and the lights go out on the entire Eastern Seaboard. Madelines evil grin closes out the first episode.

Things get a lot worse in the second episode. More of the grid starts to go out, and the team starts to fray at the seams. Reade lays into Weller for keeping Weitzs secret about the drone strike, even if it was to protect Jane, and then he feels betrayed when he learns Patterson and Rich met with Kathy, and therefore have a personal phone number they can track. They track that phone to the Perlan Museum in Iceland. The rumor is that the museum sits atop a massive cryptocurrency mining operation, which is why Kathy and the key to stopping the attack could be there.

Everyone but Rich heads to Iceland, and thats when things really go off the rails and Madelines true plan comes into focus. While the team is in the air, arguing about who crossed the wrong line and who didnt, Madeline and her lawyer open up their own investigation into the FBI, alleging that the team has gone rogue and are actually responsible for the power grid attack. These allegations are bolstered by the new director of national intelligence  not Weitz, but Nash. Madeline owns him, and he agrees to tracking down the team and prosecuting them.

Rich, alone and hiding in a vent, warns the team. As soon as they land in Iceland theyll be arrested, so theres only one choice: to jump. They strap parachutes to their backs, jump out of the plane, and meet the delightfully named Ice Cream, one of Richs dark-web buddies, on the ground. He gives them the password to get into the cryptocurrency mine, and Patterson goes about trying to reverse the grid damage. Again, theres a problem. Kathy has set up some program that then makes the attack worse, and Paris and London go dark. Add in the ransom demanded by Dominic showing up in accounts under each team members name, and security footage of Patterson, Jane, and Weller beneath the museum, and you have some pretty damning evidence to back up Madelines claims.

With the team all but busted and on the run, Jane and Weller send Patterson to the safe house while they improvise and stage a hostage situation in the museum to buy Patterson some time. Things go south when the Icelandic police raid the building and Jane and Weller are handcuffed and tossed into the back of a police van. A bad situation except it was orchestrated by Ice Cream to get them out.

Everybody meets back at the safe house, but the damage has been done. Weitz, whos under Madelines control because she has evidence about the drone strike cover-up, holds a press conference about the team being dangerous rogue agents. Then, to Weitzs surprise, Madeline steps behind the podium and announces a new Civilian Oversight Committee for the FBI. All of this, from poisoning the HCI executives to planning Helios, was so that she could essentially take control of the FBI, the institution she holds responsible for killing her father and ruining her family. Now she has that control. Rich is taken to some place called the Boat, which seems less like a yacht and more like a place to use some shady interrogation techniques, and Nash manages to track down the teams safe house.

Inside the safe house, the team makes up. They forgive each other for their past sins and reaffirm that any lines they cross, they do so in order to protect each other because theyre family. They all agree to get some sleep, and then set about crafting new identities and working to get their names cleared so that they can return to the U.S. and take Madeline down. Zapata even puts her hand on Reades; everyone is together again.

Jane takes the first watch outside the safe house, and Nash orders a drone strike, one confirmed by the nod of Madelines head. Weitz watches in disbelief as the new FBI launches a drone strike against the team. As Jane turns and looks at the house, a smile on her face because theyre all together and thats how theyll beat Madeline, the strike hits. The house explodes into a million pieces, nothing but fire and debris. And the episode cuts to the credits.

My God. What an ending. Is there a chance the team somehow hid in the tunnels underneath the safe house, the ones Ice Cream mentioned collapse all the time? Will anybody survive this? Will the final season be Jane seeking revenge alone, looking to clear the names of the people who brought her back from being a blank slate of a person? So many questions, and so many months until we get the fifth and final season. The wait is already too much to bear.

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Francis Ford Coppola recently worked cinephiles into a frenzy by saying that, after an eight-year absence from filmmaking, hed finally begun work on long-planned passion project Megalopolis, a film thats always been dogged by funding issues. That followed his unspooling of Apocalypse Now: Final Cut at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, which cut certain scenes from 2001s extended Apocalypse Now Redux while adding back some of the weirder elements lost from the 1979 theatrical cut. Final Cut will be released on Blu-ray in August.

Apocalypse Now  and what it says about how a work of art can shape-shift, in both its own form and in the minds of viewers and critics  was the reason for a wide-ranging new interview with Coppola conducted by Rolling Stones David Fear. The whole Q&A is a reminder of what a forward-looking thinker the Godfather filmmaker is; he even almost kicked off the smartphone revolution years before Steve Jobs.

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Fear asked Coppola about how Apocalypse Now was dinged by endless bad buzz leading up to its 1979 premiere and even upon its release was deemed by many to be a failure.

The avant-garde of yesterday is the wallpaper design of today, Coppola said about the negative reaction to his Vietnam War epic (which did tie for the Palme dOr at Cannes and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture). Some of the greatest artists of their day, we may have never heard of them. But the failures like Van Gogh or Rousseau, who had to take his paintings around in a wheelbarrow  youd give your eyeteeth now to have those paintings.

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Coppola also said, The things you get fired for when youre young are the same things you get Lifetime Achievements for when youre old.

The director famously clashed with Paramount executives when making The Godfather, an experience he regarded so negatively that he said he nearly passed on directing its sequel, The Godfather Part II. It was only when he realized that film could be the vehicle for another idea he had that he came on board as its director.

Totally apart from anything having to do with the first Godfather movie, Id been toying with the idea of making a movie about a man and his son, and trying to compare their stories when both were at the same age. It was just this idea I had floating around. But I thought it might work for that. And it did.

That sequel was racked with difficulties also: Al Pacino so disliked an early draft that he nearly refused to reprise his role as Michael Corleone, while Richard S. Castellano, who played Clemenza in the first movie, insisted hed only return if he could write his own dialogue  Clemenza was thus said to have died before The Godfather Part II begins and a similar role was created for actor Michael V. Gazzo in the character of Frank Pentangeli. And, of course, Marlon Brando refused to appear for the final scene of The Godfather Part II altogether.

Brando would appear as Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, but, as vividly shown in the making-of documentary Hearts of Darkness, he was extremely difficult on set. That said, Coppola still regards Brando as his personal hero, according to the Rolling Stone interview.

[Brando] could talk for hours about termites, or about the early Chinese settlers in America, or how shortwave radios worked, Coppola said. He just had this wonderful appetite to understand things.

The challenges Coppola faced ultimately paid off: Both of the first two Godfather movies won the Oscar for Best Picture, while Apocalypse Now is now considered one of the greatest war films ever made.

The director was forward-looking in another way altogether, however. He claims he had the idea for smartphones years before they were actually invented.

I was friends with Mr. [Akio] Morita at Sony, he said. So I showed him this thing Id made with balsa wood, a little beta computer from England and a recording device, and told him, This is the car of the future. Right now, if you want something, you have to drive to find it. But in the future, youll just reach in your pocket and order it from there. So he sent me to Sonys telephone department. I quickly realized that they were still stuck in the Alexander Graham Bell era. And I laid out this thing for them, basically what would become a smartphone, and nope, no thank you, no interest.

Alas. If Coppola had had that patent, he surely wouldnt have had to put Megalopolis on the back-burner for decades while he waited for funding.

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Warner Bros. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is stomping its way to an estimated $48 million debut from 4,108 North American locations.

The follow-up to 2014s Godzilla took in $19.6 million on Friday. The latest projection is slightly below earlier tracking estimates, which had placed it in the $50 million to $55 million range. In any case, its likely to debut far behind its predecessor, which took in $93 million in its opening weekend and wound up with $200 million domestically and $529 million from overseas territories. However, King of the Monsters will come somewhat closer to Kong: Skull Island, the second installment in the MonsterVerse franchise. That film took in $61 million in its 2017 debut.

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Michael Dougherty directed Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which centers on the legendary lizard battling other kaiju who have been awakened, including Mothra, King Ghidorah and Rodan. The film stars Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler and Bradley Whitford. The 35th Godzilla movie and third in Legendarys Dark Universe franchise, the monster pic holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes along with a B+ CinemaScore.

King of the Monsters has released in 75 markets overseas and generated roughly $31.4 million on Friday, bringing its international cume to $48.2 million. Top Friday debuts include China with $18 million, Japan with $2.2 million, Mexico with $1.2 million and India with $543,000. China is estimated to bring in another $30 million on Saturday.

Launching at 3,610 sites in third place is Paramounts highly anticipated Elton John biopic Rocketman, with an estimated $22 million. The musical earned $9.2 million on Friday.

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Taron Egerton stars as the British pop star alongside Jamie Bell as lyricist Bernie Taupin, Richard Madden as Johns manager John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Sheila Eileen. The film, which debuted at Cannes, is well-reviewed, with a 90% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and A- CinemaScore. Dexter Fletcher directed from Lee Halls script.

Universal-Blumhouse horror pic Ma is debuting just behind Rocketman with roughly $18 million from 2,808 domestic sites after generating $7.24 million on Friday.

Starring Octavia Spencer as a mysterious woman who holds parties for teenagers on her property that soon head in a bloody direction, Ma has a 61% on Rotten Tomatoes and B- CinemaScore. Tate Taylor directed the thriller from Scotty Landes script.

Meanwhile, a few holdovers will fill out the top five spots, with Disneys live-action Aladdin remake at No. 2 with an estimated $42 million. That number marks a 53% decline from its release last weekend, which tallied $116 million over the four-day Memorial Day holiday. The musical should finish the weekend with more than $180 million.

The third frame of John Wick: Chapter 3 will likely land in fifth with $10.75 million, resulting in $125.4 million domestically through the weekend.

Annapurnas Booksmart, which was the subject of much industry encouragement after its lukewarm debut last weekend with $6.9 million, should tack on another $3.7 million, bringing its domestic total to $14.74 million. United Artists Releasing handled distribution of the coming-of-age comedy, which is Olivia Wildes directorial debut.

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At least one of President Donald Trumps children officially joined him during his first state visit to the U.K.: Ivanka Trump met him at Buckingham Palace in London on Monday only a few hours after he and First Lady Melania Trump arrived for a three-day trip.

Ivanka, 37, was joined by husband Jared Kushner at the palace. Both are senior aides to the president.

A White House spokeswoman told PEOPLE last week that details were still being worked out about Ivankas role in the visit but that she will be participating in official and ceremonial events in London and then closing [the Global Entrepreneurship Summit] in the Netherlands.

I am looking forward to joining the US delegation for this commemorative visit, she tweeted Monday.

Ivanka has taken an increasingly public role at the White House in recent months, spearheading the administrations focus on economic, women and family issues.

She and Kushner, 38, have also battled near continual scrutiny of their government jobs given their relation to the president: Earlier this year it was reported President Trump personally intervened in their security clearances  a legal if highly unusual move.

The rest of the presidents adult children  Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who run the familys real estate business, and Tiffany Trump, a law student  are also expected to join their father for part of the U.K. visit, according to reports. The purpose for their attendance is unclear.

RELATED: Trump Will Make His First State Visit to the U.K. at Queen Elizabeths Invitation After Previous Trip Drew Protests

The president and first lady have a busy schedule that began almost immediately after they landed in London. Soon after they were greeted by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at Buckingham Palace.

On Monday afternoon, Prince Andrew will take the Trumps on a tour of Westminster Abbey before the president is scheduled to have tea with Charles and Camilla.

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The day will be capped off with a lavish state banquet, with about 170 guests reportedly in attendance.

Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's eldest daughter, at Buckingham Palace for a state visit | Chris Jackson/Getty

Ivanka Trump (center) to the right of her husband, Jared Kushner, at Buckingham Palace on Monday as President Donald Trump arrives | MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty

RELATED: What We Know So Far About President Trumps State Visit to the U.K.

The rest of the trip will consist of meetings and news conferences with British Prime Minister Theresa May, a quick trip to Ireland and then to France in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

Protests have been organized on social media ahead of the Trump familys arrival, with protestors looking to fly another baby Trump blimp as they did during his working visit to the U.K. last year. Organizers expect thousands to turn out, according to news reports.

Trumps state visit has been repeatedly delayed since he was first invited in 2017.

He previously told The Sun newspaper that the protesters last year made him feel unwelcome.
Mystery Surrounds Man's Death After He Suffered Head Injury Following a Dave Matthews Band Concert Man Dies After Suffering from Head Injury at Dave Matthews Band Concert

Police are desperate for answers after a man mysteriously died as a result of a head injury he sustained following a Dave Matthews Band concert in Missouri.

On May 15, Jasen Smith, 44, and his wife Darcy were getting ready to leave Hollywood Casino Amphitheater when Darcy realized she had misplaced her souvenir t-shirt, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Jasen then decided to go back and search the venue for it.

After some time had passed, Darcy realized her husband had not yet returned, so she decided to give him a call at around 11:10 p.m., according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and News Tribune.

On the other end of the phone, Darcy heard the voice of a paramedic, prompting her to rush to Jasens side. She found him unconscious and bleeding from his ear, the publication reported.

Jasen was later rushed to a DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton, where he died the following day.

Jasen Smith | Facebook/Jasen Smith

It was revealed that Jasen died after suffering a blunt force injury to the back of his head that fractured his skull. He also sustained a cut to his lip, family attorney Chip Gentry told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

At this time, police are urging anyone who may have seen what happened to come forward.

They are also looking for an individual, who alerted the venues security that a man was lying on a concrete pathway between the lawn and the seats, Maryland Heights police said in a press release on Wednesday.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Our ongoing investigation has determined that a person, described as a white male in his late 20s, may have witnessed the victim fall to the pavement. This person summoned a security guard and stated he saw the injured man and that his injuries were very serious, police said in the release.

Also, this person told the security guard that he was in the medical field, and that is why he felt the injuries were very serious.

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At this time, the incident is being investigated as a suspicious death.

RELATED: Oregon State University Student, 21, Falls to Her Death After Crossing Retaining Wall to Take Photo

Right now were just trying to find out: Was it an accident? Was it nefarious? Was it foul play? We dont know and were keeping all options open, Maryland Heights Detective Sgt. Rich White told St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The family wants answers, and we do, too, White said. Were trying to think out of the box, every which way we can to determine what caused this mans death, White told the publication.

Gentry explained to St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the family is completely devastated.

If you have any information, please contact Maryland Heights Police Department 314-298-8700. pic.twitter.com/BBD3JvtnNU  Maryland Heights PD (@MHPolice) May 17, 2019

Additional Information About The Suspicious Death at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater that occurred on May 15, 2019 pic.twitter.com/MEC1TxsrBT  Maryland Heights PD (@MHPolice) May 22, 2019

You cant fathom going to a Dave Matthews Band concert on a Wednesday evening and being struck by something, which cost you your life. We will certainly dig deep to hold those responsible accountable.

Jasen is survived by his wife and 10-year-old twin sons Ronnie and Frankie.

He was a great businessman and father to his twin boys. He ran a really neat car lot in town that specialized in custom trucks, Gentry told the outlet.

RELATED: Daddy Shot Mommy: Man Sentenced for Wifes Cold Case Murder That Son Helped Solve Decades Later

Members of Jasens family, as well as his friends, gathered on Monday for his memorial.

There were 1,000 people at his memorial service. He had a good reputation and a lot of friend, Gentry told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Gentry did not respond to PEOPLEs request to comment.
Gunman used security pass, two .45-caliber guns to access and kill 12 at Virginia Beach municipal building

Gunman used security pass, two .45-caliber guns to access and kill 12 at Virginia Beach municipal building originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A longtime city employee entered a packed building of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center using his own security pass and wielding two .45-caliber guns as he went floor-to-floor "indiscriminately" killing 11 co-workers and a contractor before police shot him dead during a fierce gun battle, officials said on Saturday.

Eleven of the five women and seven men shot to death at the Municipal Center on Friday afternoon were city employees and the gunman who allegedly committed the killing spree was also a city engineer, authorities said.

The suspect, identified by police as DeWayne Craddock, 40, allegedly used two .45-caliber pistols in the rampage, Ashan Benedict, the special agent in charge of the Washington field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. He said both guns were purchased legally by Craddock, one in 2016 and the other in 2018.

Ashan said two other firearms that were legally purchased by the alleged gunman were seized from his apartment.

Virginia Beach city manager Dave Hansen, his voice cracking with emotion, identified the dozen people slain by the alleged gunman, whose motive for the massacre remained under investigation on Saturday.

PHOTO: Mourners pray on June 1, 2019, for the victims of the mass shooting, during an improvised vigil in a parking lot of a shopping center in Virginia, Beach, Va. (Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

"Sixteen hours ago the lives of 12 people were cut short by a senseless, incomprehensible act of violence," Hansen said at a news conference just after 8 a.m. Saturday morning. "Overnight, our chaplains, our human services and our family assistance staff and teams completed the most difficult task anyone will ever have to do: And that is notifying the next of kin. So today, we all grieve."

The family of the suspect posted a handwritten note offering condolences to the victims onto the front door of their home in Yorktown, Virginia.

The Family of DeWayne Craddock wishes to send our heartfelt condolences to the victims," the note said. "We are grieving the loss of our loved one. At this time we wish to focus on the victims and the lives loss during yesterdays tragic event. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who loss their lives, and those recovering in the hospital.

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Victims in stable condition

Four of the victims wounded in the rampage remained hospitalized on Saturday.

Dr. Martin O'Grady, chief of the trauma department for Sentara Virginia Beach Hospital, said a total of five patients were brought to his emergency room and that one was dead on arrival while another perished soon after being brought to the hospital.

O'Grady said three patients were in stable condition at his hospital, and a fourth was in the intensive care unit of another hospital. He said one patient his staff is treating suffered "devastating" injuries and two had "significant" injuries. He said two of the patients underwent surgery.

A police officer, one of the first to arrive at the shooting scene, was hurt in the incident but was "doing well" on Saturday, said Virginia Beach police chief James Cervera, who added the officer's bullet-proof vest saved his life.

Suspect identified

Cervera identified Craddock as the gunman. He said Craddock, who lived alone, worked in the city's public utilities department for 15 years. He was killed during a gun battle with police.

The police chief said it would be the "only time we will announce his name."

"He was still employed," Hansen said of Craddock, clarifying earlier reports that the suspect had been fired. "He had a security pass like all employees have and he was authorized to enter that building."

Craddock enlisted in the Virginia National Guard in April 1996 and served for 17 years, Cotton Puryear, a spokesman for the Virginia National Guard told ABC News. Craddock had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment as a cannon crew member, but his records indicate he was never deployed overseas.

Court records show Craddock had no criminal history except for a traffic violation in 2013 in Virginia Beach.

Cervera declined to comment on a possible motive for the shooting, and Hansen refused to say if Craddock had recently been disciplined or was the subject of complaints to human resources.

12 killed named

An emotional Hansen read the names of the victims, saying he worked with many of them for years. He even served in the military with one of the victims: Richard Nettleton, a public utilities engineer for 24 years.

Nettleton was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army's 130th Engineer Brigade and served with Hansen in Germany.

PHOTO: A Virginia State Trooper guards a roadblock on June 1, 2019, at the scene of the mass shooting in the Virginia Beach Municipal center in Virginia, Beach, Va. (Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

"This morning, I had the responsibility to inform friends, co-workers and the public of those who lost their lives yesterday. All but one of the victims were employees of the City of Virginia Beach. I have worked with most of them for many years," Hansen said. "We want you to know who they were so in the days and weeks to come, you will learn what they meant to all of us, to their families, their friends and their coworkers. They leave a void that we will never be able to fill."

In addition to Nettleton, the victims were identified as Laquita C. Brown of Chesapeake, a public works right-of-way agent for 4 1/2 years; Tara Welch Gallagher of Virginia Beach, a 6-year public works engineer; Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach, a public works engineer for 24 years and a right-of-way agent; Alexander Mikhail Gusev of Virginia Beach, a public works right-of-way employee for 9 years.

Also killed were Katherine A. Nixon of Virginia Beach, a public utilities engineer for 10 years; Christopher Kelly Rapp, a public works employee for 11 years; Ryan Keith Cox of Virginia Beach, a public utilities worker for 12 1/2 year; Joshua O. Hardy of Virginia Beach, a 4 1/2-year public utilities engineer technician; Michelle "Missy" Langer of Virginia Beach, a public works administrative assistant for 12 years; and Robert "Bobby" Williams of Chesapeake, a public utilities special projects coordinator for 41 years.

Independent contractor Herbert "Bert" Snelling of Virginia Beach, who was in the Municipal Center to file a permit, was also killed.

Cervera said investigators and forensic technicians, including 40 sent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, worked through the night to process the crime scene and remove the victims' bodies "with dignity and respect."

"This is a large-scale crime scene. It's a horrific crime scene and please understand it takes not only physical but an emotional and psychological toll on everyone who spent the night in that particular building," Cervera said.

He said that while combing the building for evidence, police recovered the two weapons used in the shooting.

President expresses condolences

President Donald Trump, who was immediately briefed on the shooting, said in a tweet on Saturday that he spoke with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and the mayor and vice mayor of Virginia Beach on Friday night to offer his "condolences to that great community."

"The Federal Government is there, and will be, for whatever they may need. God bless the families and all!" Trump tweeted.

Spoke to Virginia Governor @RalphNortham last night, and the Mayor and Vice Mayor of Virginia Beach this morning, to offer condolences to that great community. The Federal Government is there, and will be, for whatever they may need. God bless the families and all!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2019

'Never thought it would be an employee'

The shooting erupted about 4 p.m. on Friday when Craddock allegedly gunned down one victim outside Building 2 of the Municipal Center as he entered the front door and continued the mass shooting.

"Once he engaged in this activity it just continued throughout the building," Chief Cervera said.

(MORE: 12 killed after gunman opens fire 'indiscriminately' at Virginia Beach office: Police)

Cervera said about 400 people work inside the four-story Building 2 of the Municipal Center on any given day and that the suspected gunman "indiscriminately" fired at and killed employees on every floor, except the basement.

PHOTO: Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen speaks to the press on June 1, 2019, in Virginia, Beach, Va (Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

Cervera said it remained unclear if there were victims Craddock was specifically set out to kill.

"Whether it's an individual or not, we do have a large-scale number of victims that were killed by the suspect," Cervera said.

(MORE: The US averaged at least 1 deadly mass shooting a month in 2018)

Ed Wheeden, a city employee, told ABC News that he was inside the building when he heard gunshots and a fire alarm sound.

He said he initially thought the shooter was a "disgruntled citizen upset about his tax bill or water bill."

"Never thought it would be an employee that you talk to daily," Wheeden said.

Another city employee, Megan Banton, said she and about 20 coworkers barricaded themselves in her boss' office. She said they pushed a desk in front of the door and hugged and held each other as the rampage was going on.

"My boss basically was like, 'This is not a drill. Get down, call 911,' and that's when I called 911," Banton told ABC News. "We all just ran in her office and closed the door. Basically, we just wanted to try and keep everyone safe as much as we could and staying on the phone with 911. We wanted to make sure they were coming. They couldn't come fast enough. It felt like hours."

Zand Bakhtiari, who also works in the building, said the carnage was evident immediately.

"We knew there were casualties because we saw some people getting wheeled by," Bakhtiari told ABC News. "Some of them weren't even in gurneys -- one dude was just lying on the back on the trunk of a cop car and they drove him to a secure area where the ambulance was."

Asked how well the building was secured, Cervera said, "It's an open government building. Citizens have the right to access open government buildings. Employees have a right to access their work site."

Hansen said that while there are no metal detectors, desks are stationed nearby for administrative assistants to work with the public.

"But all accesses to the inner offices and conference rooms are secured and require this [security] pass," he said, pointing to his own pass. "And, as I've told you, he [the gunman] was in possession of a pass."

'Long-running gun battle'

Cervera said officers responded to Building 2 within minutes of receiving the first 911 call.

He said two police officers, identified as detective supervisors, and two K-9 units rushed to shooting scene from the police station across the street, about 100 to 150 yards away and were met by people rushing out.

"Officers had to make instantaneous decisions on how to engage the suspect," Cervera said. "They did it miraculously because ... they did save other lives," he said.

Cervera said the officers quickly tracked down the suspect and engaged in a "running gun battle with this individual" that lasted less than 30 minutes before officers shot the gunman to death.

(MORE: 1 student dead, 8 injured in Colorado school shooting, authorities say)

He said that while Virginia Beach police officers had trained for a large-scale active shooter incident on March 30, "once you enter an environment such as this, things change in minutes."

"You cannot replicate the intensity of an environment such as this," Cervera said.

He said there were no words exchanged between the gunman and police during the gunfight.

"They didn't have any engagement with him verbally," Cervera said. "Once they identified him and he identified them, he immediately opened fire. We immediately returned the fire and again, I want everyone to know, this was a long-term, for lack of any other term, long-running gun battle with this individual. This is not what is traditionally a police-involved shooting. This was a long-term, large gunfight."

As police investigated the shooting, members of the public joined outside the scene of the massacre Saturday and formed a prayer circle. Several vigils are being planned in churches throughout Virginia Beach.

ABC News' Whit Johnson, Halley Freger, Ahmad Hemingway and Sarah Shales contributed to this report.
ABC News

Amid a record-breaking surge, the U.S. is now averaging more COVID-19 cases per day than at any other point in the pandemic, according to new data updated on Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal data shows the nation is now reporting an average of more than 277,000 new cases a day, shattering the previous record of 250,000 cases per day from last January. "These numbers are absolutely staggering, especially considering we are two years into the pandemic," said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Student, 15, with replica handgun sparks lockdown ahead of high school graduation originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A 15-year-old student with a highly realistic replica handgun sparked a swift response from police ahead of a California high school graduation on Friday afternoon.

The teen apparently drew the weapon, which was later determined to be a pellet gun, in Santa Rosa High School's music building just before 11 a.m. Another student saw the weapon and reported it to the school's resource officer, Matt Crosbie, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department.

(MORE: 12 killed after gunman opens fire 'indiscriminately' at Virginia Beach office building: Police)

Crosbie immediately ordered the school to be placed on lockdown and he and five other officers quickly responded to the music room. The suspect had left the building, which prompted a continued lockdown and hours-long search for the teenager, police said.

"During the search Santa Rosa Police received information that the student may have fled campus as the lockdown was being initiated," police said in a statement. "He was reported to have gone to the McDonalds located across the street from Santa Rosa High School."

PHOTO: A 15-year-old student at Santa Rosa High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., was arrested for bringing a pellet gun to campus and sparking a lockdown on Friday, May 31, 2019. (Santa Rosa Police Department)

Police located the student, who was known to Crosbie, in the neighborhood surrounding the school, and was arrested without incident at 12:48 p.m., authorities said.

He no longer had the weapon on him, but later admitted to tossing it in a garbage can at the McDonald's.

The student, whose name will not be released as a minor, is being held at Sonoma County Juvenile Justice Center on a charge of possession of a weapon on school grounds.

(MORE: 1 student dead, 8 injured in Colorado school shooting, authorities say)

Authorities said the student had been suspended from school and was not supposed to be on campus Friday.

Santa Rosa, which has an enrollment of over 2,000 students, is one of the largest schools in the Bay Area.

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Seniors were practicing on the football field for the evening's graduation when the lockdown was put in place and were immediately rushed into the school's gymnasium, according to San Francisco ABC station KGO. Underclassmen were still taking final exams.

"I was scared for my son. I was worrying outside the school. But I talked with him [by cellphone] and he said, 'Yeah, mom, I'm OK,'" Evelia Benavides, whose son graduated Friday evening, told KGO.

PHOTO: A 15-year-old student at Santa Rosa High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., was arrested for bringing a pellet gun to campus and sparking a lockdown on Friday, May 31, 2019. (Google Maps)

Parents were told to go to Santa Rosa Junior College, located adjacent to the high school, to be reunited with students.

The day was surreal for graduates, who huddled in classrooms during the lockdown before walking across the stage at graduation hours later.

(MORE: Body of missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis possibly discovered in Arkansas)

"I was with my friends crying and really scared, being here today and celebrating at the end of that, was really, really special for me and made me value it so much more," said senior Grace Alchemy.

The scare took place just hours prior to a fired employee walked into his former place of business in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and shot and killed 12 people before being killed by police.

ABC News' Alex Stone contributed to this report.
President Trump talks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

Welcome to 2020 Vision, the Yahoo News column covering the presidential race. Reminder: There are 248 days until the Iowa caucuses and 521 days until the 2020 presidential election.

After the April release of special counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian interference, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., became the first major 2020 Democratic candidate to call for President Trumps impeachment. Few were ready to join her. But more are now, following Muellers public statement emphasizing his office could not conclude that Trump had not committed a crime.

Below is an updated list of where every candidate stands on the impeachment issue.

Should Congress launch an impeachment inquiry into President Trump?

Yes

 Cory Booker: Robert Muellers statement makes it clear: Congress has a legal and moral obligation to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.

 Pete Buttigieg: This is as close to an impeachment referral as it gets. Robert Mueller could not clear the president, nor could he charge him  so he has handed the matter to Congress, which alone can act to deliver due process and accountability.

 Julian Castro: I think it would be perfectly reasonable for Congress to open up impeachment hearings against President Trump.

 John Delaney: If we continue to allow this President to be unchecked and manipulate the truth, we will forever alter our Democracy for the worse.

 Kirsten Gillibrand: Its time for Congress to begin impeachment hearings and follow the facts. Robert Mueller clearly expects Congress to exercise its constitutional authority and take steps that he could not.

 Kamala Harris: We need to start impeachment proceedings. Its our constitutional obligation.

 John Hickenlooper: I think we have to begin an impeachment inquiry and that doesnt mean were going to impeach President Trump tomorrow or maybe ever, but I think we do have an obligation to follow where the facts lead.

 Wayne Messam: I believe the President should be placed under impeachment proceedings and let the weight of the full report carry out the justice the American people deserve.

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 Seth Moulton: Mueller did his job. Now its time to do ours. Impeachment hearings should begin tomorrow.

 Beto ORourke: There must be consequences, accountability and justice. The only way to ensure that is to begin impeachment proceedings.

 Bernie Sanders: This president must be held accountable, and I believe that the Judiciary Committee should begin impeachment inquiries.

 Elizabeth Warren: If he were anyone other than President of the United States, he would be in handcuffs and indicted.

Not yet

 Michael Bennet: Lets let the process go forward and see where it takes us.

 Joe Biden: Congress must do everything in its power to hold this Administration to account. That is what Congress is doing and should do: continue to investigate.

 Steve Bullock: I think we should have the full investigations ... oversight thats occurring right now.

 Bill de Blasio: I think we should continue the investigations in the Congress ... and I believe they will eventually lead to impeachment.

 Tulsi Gabbard: I dont think that we should defeat Donald Trump through impeachment.

 Jay Inslee: Congress needs to get to the bottom of whats going on here. Impeachment should not be off the table.

 Amy Klobuchar: If the House brings the impeachment proceedings before us, we will deal with them.

 Tim Ryan: The President, no President, is above the law. And its Congresss job to make sure we are true to our founding principle that the President is not a King and must answer to the American people.

 Eric Swalwell: Im confident that hes going to be removed, whether its by the voters in November 2020 or by Congress. Were near the end of Donald Trump.

 Marianne Williamson: While I think the president has committed impeachable offenses, the political cost for beginning impeachment proceedings could be extremely high. There are multiple investigations going on and all of them must be allowed to be completed. If congressional findings point to impeachment at that time, I will support it.

 Andrew Yang: My focus is on beating Donald Trump at the ballot box and solving the problems that got him elected in the first place.

In his statement Wednesday, Mueller said he was bound by a long-standing Justice Department policy that a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office, and charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.

On Friday, Warren called on Congress to pass a law changing that.

No president is above the law, she said in a statement released by her campaign. Congress should make it clear that presidents can be indicted for criminal activity, including obstruction of justice.

Bernie Sanders holds a Golden State Warriors hat during a campaign rally in Santa Cruz, Calif., May 31, 2016. (Photo: Stephen Lam/Reuters)

Golden State (weekend) warriors

This weekend California will become ground zero for the 2020 contest when at least 13 major candidates  Sanders, Harris, Warren, Buttigieg, ORourke, Booker, Klobuchar, Inslee, Castro, Hickenlooper, Gabbard, Gillibrand and Swalwell  swarm Los Angeles and the Bay Area for the California Democratic Partys organizing convention and related events. All told, it should be the single largest gathering of 2020 hopefuls to date. Yahoo News West Coast Correspondent Andrew Romano has a preview:

Much will be made of how the huge herd reflects Californias increased importance on the 2020 primary calendar. Often one of the last states to vote, California has moved its primary up to Super Tuesday, March 3  the first primary following voting in the four states that traditionally lead the primary season (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada). Pundits will say that the presence of nearly every top-tier candidate  with the notable exception of Biden, who is campaigning in Ohio instead  is a sign that the fight for the states huge trove of 495 delegates (nearly a quarter of the 2,026 needed to win the nomination) will be especially intense this year.

Maybe so. But theres probably a bigger prize this weekend than making inroads with voters, or even making money. (Wealthy, coastal California has long been considered the partys political ATM, and Buttigieg, for instance, is holding four fundraisers Saturday alone.)

The real goal may be to make news. As New York Times television critic James Poniewozik has astutely observed, the umpteen Democratic candidates have two challenges. One is to figure out what entices news producers to show their clips and what lures voters scrolling their phones to hit play. The second, related to the first, is to implicitly argue how they, in a general election, would seize attention from a president who can rescramble the days news lineup by tweeting a mean nickname before breakfast.

Where better to show that you can stand out from the pack than in the middle of the pack itself  in some of the biggest media markets in the country, surrounded by the entire national press corps?

Whoever gives rise to the California conventions clickiest moment might reasonably be declared its true winner. The candidates will have no shortage of opportunities: at a Unity & Freedom forum Friday in Pasadena, Calif., where Sanders, Harris, Castro and Inslee will tackle the hot-button issue of immigration; at a Service Employees International Union breakfast in San Francisco Saturday, where Booker, Buttigieg, Harris, Klobuchar, ORourke and Sanders will discuss work and inequality; onstage at San Franciscos Moscone Center, where all of the candidates will address the convention, back-to-back; at a MoveOn forum Saturday afternoon, where Sanders, Booker, Warren, ORourke, Gillibrand, Harris, Castro and Klobuchar will each unveil one big idea that will inspire and mobilize voters in 2020.

Stay tuned for the (viral) fireworks.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks during the We the People summit in Washington, D.C., April 1, 2019. (Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP)

DNC tightens rules for third debate

If you have a favorite Democratic candidate and want to be (reasonably) sure of seeing that candidate debate, be sure to tune in for the June and July events because access to the debate stage is going to shrink considerably thereafter. For the early rounds, candidates need to get either 1 percent in three polls or 65,000 donors to qualify. Those who hit both marks are automatically given a space, and the rest of the 20 slots are allocated on a sliding scale. Starting with Septembers forum, the bar for admission from the Democratic National Committee rises steeply: Candidates will both need 130,000 donors and to hit 2 percent in four polls.

Those likely to clear the higher bar are Biden, Sanders, Warren, Harris and Buttigieg. ORourke is in good shape, and then it starts to get dicey with the tier containing Booker and Klobuchar. Candidates will have the advantage of the June and July debates to reach a broader audience and perhaps get a bump to propel them into the fall, but a consolidation of support around the frontrunners could choke out the candidates now struggling.

Campaigns have said the new donor requirements will be a drain on resources as money is spent chasing individual donors via social media, mainly on Facebook. Others in the party say the money could be put to better use on down-ballot races and for local organizing.

And as a point of scale: the amount of money many of the campaigns will have to spend in ads in order to hit 130k donors by September would fund Run for Something for a year, tweeted Amanda Litman, the executive director of Run for Something, a group that recruits and trains Democratic candidates.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., during a protest at the Supreme Court against anti-abortion legislation, May 21. (Photo: James Lawler Duggan/Reuters)

Bookers blues

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is struggling in early poll numbers as he combats the perception that he is falling behind in the 2020 presidential race. Yahoo News White House Correspondent Hunter Walker reports on the state of Booker's campaign:

When Booker entered the presidential race in February, he was widely considered one of the leading contenders in the crowded Democratic primary. Although he has largely held steady and is still edging out more than half the declared candidates, hes still at just over 2 percent support in most polls. He is behind some of his Senate colleagues, and he has watched far lower-profile politicians vault over him.

Faced with these daunting poll numbers and waning buzz, senior members of Bookers campaign made their case to Yahoo News for why, as the Democratic presidential debates begin in late June, they still think he can pull ahead. Theyre betting on a two-pronged strategy focused on building an organization in key early states and rolling out an ambitious policy agenda devoted to the idea of justice.

"Our philosophy has been, the race is going to be won in January or February of next year. The goal is to build a sustainable organization and have a platform, policywise and infrastructurally speaking, to be in it for the long haul, Addisu Demissie, Bookers campaign manager, said in an interview with Yahoo News last week.

The Booker campaigns plan to build a quality team and detailed suite of policies also includes a tight focus on the first four states on the primary calendar: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

"In Iowa and New Hampshire, in these places, you can actually win these things with retail politics. You can win by organizing and introducing yourself to people, Demissie said. The way to cut through the noise ... you can win hand to hand."

Even though Booker is getting in front of voters in key states with what he believes is a unique agenda, hes not receiving the extended coverage of his biography that other Democratic presidential hopefuls, like former Texas Rep. ORourke and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Buttigieg, are enjoying. Booker, who took office as mayor of Newark, N.J., in 2006, became something of a national political celebrity, thanks to his pioneering social media presence and hands-on approach, like personally shoveling snow for constituents and rescuing a woman from a burning building.

Demissie acknowledged that his candidate doesnt have what he termed the newness thing. However, he pointed to poll numbers indicating that much of the public has yet to meet Booker, even if reporters have already shared many of his stories.

"We have nine months to introduce him to these folks, and the numbers will change when that changes, Demissie said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks at event promoting the Green New Deal at Howard University in Washington, D.C., May 13, 2019. (Photo: Cliff Owen/AP)

An update on the 'AOC primary'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's recent appearance alongside Sen. Warren in a pair of viral videos has led to some speculation  and reports on fringe conservative websites  that the 29-year-old freshman phenom may endorse the Massachusetts senator over Sen. Sanders. Ocasio-Cortez, who got her start in politics as an organizer for Sanderss 2016 campaign, was quick to squash the rumor.

"I dont know why people are suddenly trusting alt-right outlets with 'scoops' on who Im endorsing," she tweeted Friday. "Lets use our reading skills. Context clues. If they havent ever reported about me honestly & in good faith, why would they start now?"

Ocasio-Cortez added: "Im not endorsing for some time."

It may sound strange, but outside of former President Barack Obama, there is perhaps no bigger endorsement for a Democratic candidate this cycle.

So who has the AOC edge? In an interview with the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery in April, Ocasio-Cortez praised both progressive firebrands.

"I havent endorsed anybody, but Im very supportive of Bernie," she said. "I also think what Elizabeth Warren has been bringing to the table is truly remarkable, truly remarkable and transformational.

One Democratic candidate who likely won't be getting AOC's seal of approval anytime soon: former Vice President Joe Biden. Bidens candidacy does not particularly animate me right now, Ocasio-Cortez told Skullduggery.

President Trump greets service members aboard the USS Wasp in Yokosuka, Japan. (Photo: Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

Verbatim

Im not a person of color. Im not a citizen of a tribe, and I shouldnt have done it.

 Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., when asked on The Breakfast Club about her past claims of Native American ancestry

"Right now, there's no path ... I don't see a way to get there.

 Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich on the possibility of him running for president in 2020

Before Bernie, Jerry and I used to be the most famous guys from Vermont.

 Ben & Jerrys co-founder Ben Cohen while introducing Sanders at a rally in Montpelier, Vt.

I think they agree in their assessment of former Vice President Joe Biden.

 White House press secretary Sarah Sanders when asked on NBC's "Meet The Press" about Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un both calling Biden a low IQ person

For a president, especially a president who never served, to say hes going to come in and overrule that system of military justice undermines the very foundations, legal and moral, of this country."

 South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, when asked on ABC's "This Week" about Trump's possible pardoning of some war criminals

"If we go down the road tomorrow and impeach President Trump, we're actually doing him a favor. That's what he wants, to be able to say he was railroaded, and then to have the impeachment from the House go to the Senate where I guarantee you Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are not going to convict Donald Trump. They're going to acquit Donald Trump, and then he's going to run for president saying he was acquitted."

 Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., during a CNN town hall in Atlanta

"Its a dirty, filthy, disgusting word. And it had nothing to do with me."

 President Trump to reporters on the word impeach

President Trump talks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., Thursday. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

Weekend forecast

Des Moines, Iowa

 Friday, May 31: Partly cloudy, 87/60

 Saturday, June 1: Thunderstorms, 79/51

 Sunday, June 2: Mostly sunny, 73/50

Manchester, N.H.

 Friday, May 31: Partly cloudy, 76/53

 Saturday, June 1: Mostly sunny, 76/54

 Sunday, June 2: Thunderstorms, 74/51

Source: Weather Underground

Read more original 2020 coverage from Yahoo News:
By Online Desk

Director Selvaraghavan, who is basking in the success of his latest release NGK, said that he was overwhelmed with the support and love that his movie is receiving. The director also revealed an interesting detail about the lead character played by Suriya in the movie.

The much expected Suriya-starrer 'NGK' which released on May 31 has received mixed reviews from both critics and audience likewise but is running to packed theatres.

The ace director took to Twitter to thank his fans and revealed that the character Nandha Gopala Kumaran (NGK), played by Suriya, had a lot of hidden layers and it's easy to find if the movie was watched closely.

Thanks for the overwhelmimg support & love for #NGK Grateful.The love have shown is truly remarkable. And as some you guessed, the character of #NGK has lot of hidden layers & secrets. It's easy to find when you watch the film closely. Enjoy the film with family and friends!  selvaraghavan (@selvaraghavan) June 1, 2019

The movie which was released in Tamil and Telugu simultaneously has actresses Sai Pallavi and Rakul Preet Singh playing the female leads with music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

NGK is Selvaraghavan's first release in six years as his previous directorial 'Nenjam Marappathillai' starring SJ Surya is yet to see the day of light. Actors who have associated with Selvaraghavan before have called it a one of a kind experience and Suriya also called him a 'Tough Taskmaster' while sharing his experience of working on the movie.

Actor Suriya has an interesting line up of films awaiting to be filmed and released. Suriya's next release will be 'Kaappaan', directed by KV Anand, where the director-actor duo has joined hands for the third time. He has also signed a film with director Sudha Kongara of 'Irudhi Sutru' fame titled 'Soorarai Potru' which was inspired by Captain GR Gopinath's life. There is also another film in the pipe line with director 'Siruthai' Siva who directed the blockbuster Viswasam. In an interview with TNIE, Suriya also expressed his interest in doing a bipic on the new CM of Andhra Pradesh Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Earlier, the Madras High Court had restrained several internet service providers (ISPs) and cable TV (CTV) operators from uploading NGK in regards to a petition filed by the movie producer SR Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures.
Jason Momoa Reveals He Was 'Too Broke to Fly Home' From a Trip During the Early Days of 'Game of Thrones'

It wasnt always easy being the Khal.

Even though Jason Momoa is pretty much a household name today, things were very different for him before he started playing Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones.

According to CNBC, Momoa reflected on his time as a struggling actor during his first days shooting the hit HBO show, before he was a star acting in hit movies and shaving his beard to raise awareness for the worlds plastic problem.

On Instagram, Momoa wrote about his experience during a holiday weekend about a decade ago when he and his best friend, Brian Andrew Mendoza, were too broke to fly home. So they decided to rent a U-Haul van in Belfast, Ireland, and drove around the countryside, searching for the greatest pint of Guinness.

Perhaps they should have headed to the Guinness Beer Castle in the Wicklock Mountains? But they were in Ireland, so it was probably nearly impossible to find a bad pint.

At least, thats what Momoa thinks. Turns out its perfect everywhere, he wrote on Instagram. So many wonderful people and stories I treasure those times It was the simplest moments I remember the most.

Momoas Irish road trip is a good example of using your ingenuity to take a vacation with your friends, even if you think cant afford it. Turns out, there are ways to get away, even on the tiniest of budgets. Luckily, Momoa had a hit show to fall back on.

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Much like other celebrities who suddenly hit it big, like Chrissy Metz, who told Glamour that she only had 81 cents in her bank account when she booked This is Us, Jason Momoa was just a struggling professional like many other people out there. Its hard to think about celebrities being too broke to do anything when theyre playing larger-than-life kings and superheroes, though.

But, as Momoa told the Hollywood Reporter in 2017, I haven't been an actor who's been able to pick and choose roles, and being a family man, it's been about putting food on the table.

Not only is Momoas most recent Instagram post very sweet, but its also very humbling to think about.
You can learn a lot from a conversation. This year, as we honor the 50-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, we had an idea: what if we brought LGBTQ+ people from their 20s to their 70s, of different backgrounds and identities, together to talk? What could they learn from one another? How would their experiences coming out from the 1960s to the aughts differ?

So, I invited six people - most of them strangers to each other - to my home one Tuesday morning for a candid, real conversation about our lives, our hopes, our fears, and our dreams for a better future. We were gay, lesbian, transgender, nonbinary. We were raised in Pentecostal homes, in atheist communities, and in military families. We were from places as far apart as New York and Nigeria. The conversation that followed was at times tender, sometimes a little tense, but always illuminating.

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Angel Ayon, 24

Community Organizer for the Latino Equality Alliance

"I'm a fat, brown, nonbinary queer. I dress as a sad boy. My pronoun is elle in Spanish."

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Belita Edwards, 70

Former Navy Auditor, Army Officer, and Substitute Teacher

"My preferred pronoun is she/her. I'm a lesbian."

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Rizi Timane, 42

Transgender Coach and Therapist

"I'm originally from Nigeria and West Africa. I identify as a transgender man. My pronouns are he and him."

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Sable Boruff, 66

Former Personal Assistant

"I'm a lesbian, and I prefer the pronoun she or miss."

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Jazzmun Nichala Crayton, 50

Health and Policy Coordinator at SSG/Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team

"I am a black trans woman. I use fem pronouns. Call me goddess, queen, or anything higher."

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Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick, 33

Writer

"My pronouns are he/him, and I identify as a gay, cis guy."

Coming Out and Owning Our Identities

Belita Edwards: I didn't really have to come out because my father was gay. I knew I didn't like males from a very young age. My sisters and everybody were having boyfriends, and I couldn't do it. At 17, I stumbled into this club - and it was a gay club. That's when I knew. It was explosive! I just couldn't stay away. I met my soulmate there at 17.

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She was married at the time, due to pressure. She is from Kansas, and her husband realized what she was and told her it was OK, that she could bring women home.

But when she brought me home, he saw this other connection, that it was the permanent kind, you could feel it - and he wanted me out of there. He became very threatening to me, and we had to leave; that's why we went to Chicago.

That was 1966. We didn't walk down the street holding hands - but we didn't hide it. We had friends from work who would invite us to dinner. It was like everybody knew but nobody cared, so I didn't get that thing that I hear about, like the demonstrations and the hate, thankfully.

Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick: Mine was different but not bad, either. I came out when I was 21. I come from a military, Catholic, Puerto Rican, Irish family, which is a lot of different things over your head.

For a long time, I was operating under the sense that I was just a "very creative" straight guy. I had brainwashed myself. It took years but, eventually, I met this one guy [at 21], and it was different. I realized that I didn't want what I had with him to not be every day.

It took me probably two or three years after that to come out to my parents because I was very concerned about whatever judgment they had, even though I had an aunt who identified as a lesbian. She was accepted by my family, but there still was a tension, that this "alien being" was in the family.

Eventually, I sent them a note in the mail with their Christmas present, and they were totally cool. I think they were trying to navigate what it meant, as I was, because that was years of my life they had no idea about. Now, things are great, and it's very comfortable - but there definitely was some time of strangeness.

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Angel Ayon: I come from a long line of butch lesbians. My godmother is a butch lesbian whose godmother is a butch lesbian.

I knew I was interested in mujeres (women) at 8 or 9. When I was around 12, I got outed as bisexual from family. That was my first coming out, and then finally, in high school, once I got with someone, I was like, "Mom, I got something to tell you. I'm with a mujer." Then all the inter-Latino tensions hit.

Luckily I had Tumblr, where people created content I could show my mom: I busted out a genderqueer PowerPoint to explain my queerness. [Laughter] I'm like, "OK. Think about this with gender but sexuality: I'm fluid."

My mom's down with me, luckily. She's second-generation: my great-grandmother and my grandmother immigrated. My mom was very Chicana, Americanized. She's like, "You're my daughter. I'm always going to love you no matter what." And now that I've come home from college and I'm rooted in all my identities, it's like, "OK, Mom. You live with a nonbinary person." So it's always a pressure of, "Why don't you shave your chin hair? Why don't you do this? Why don't you do that?"

KRF: What's interesting in that story is that you were able to harness the community, a la technology, to be like, "Here's a PowerPoint presentation to explain this."

Sable Boruff: That's because [they're] young. In our day, we didn't have PowerPoint. Prior to the internet, prior to the whole shebang, we had to do it the old-fashioned way: "Alright Ma, I got something to tell you."

But I was also really lucky. My father was in the theater. He wasn't gay, but he was a writer and actor. My parents had gay male friends because of that, and they weren't prejudiced at all against gay people. When I finally did come out to my mom, she was sort of hoping it was just a phase - but that was as far as it went. She loved me unconditionally. I had a wonderful mother. And my father was fine with it, too. I really feel very grateful that I didn't go through the absolute hell that some people do with religion.

That's devastating stuff - and a lot of people don't even make it. They end up committing suicide. I'm very grateful I didn't have that.

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Rizi Timane: That really touches me as well, because I am one of the people that had the religious experience. I came out three times.

At 8, I first came out to my parents. I remember clearly walking into my dad's room and saying, "Daddy, I'm a boy." He said it was a phase. Both my parents did.

It lasted continuously until about age 12, when I came back again and I said, "Well, it's not a phase, because I've been praying," since I grew up in a very religious home. My mother is a deacon of a church. I told her, "I've been praying every day for God to stop the feelings, but it's actually intensifying - and now I have been praying to wake up as a boy and I'm not waking up as a boy, and I'm getting kind of suicidal feelings as breasts are developing." Then my first period came and I ended up hospitalized for three weeks because of the dysphoria.

A few friends told me, "This is the body God gave you so, if you like girls, then you're probably just a lesbian and really confused." I then said, "OK, I'm a lesbian," and that resulted in the beginning of a vicious set of exorcisms that my mom would have, to try to save my life, because [the church] considered it demonic possession.

I think the worst was around age 12. I was watching TV, and they walked in, her and about 12 church elders, and just switched off the TV and had me kneel in the middle of the room. It was an ambush. They were screaming and praying in tongues and hitting me with bamboo branches, splashing holy water.

It was probably around my mid-20s that we got to a compromise state where, as long as I was dating someone and I called her my friend and never threw it in their faces and kept kind of half in the closet about everything, we had a family relationship.

Come age 35, I had been feeling the worst gender dysphoria, realizing that I needed to live my authentic life at any cost. Even though I knew from experience that this is probably going to break us apart again, I did it. I said, "I'm going to start hormones, do top surgery. I'm doing this because I need to live." They did stop speaking to me again for quite a while - but I did begin my transition and, honestly, I was really happy. I had my life just how I wanted it. I trusted and believed that, somehow, if they loved me, they would come around - and I'm very happy to say they have come around.

SB: That is such a story of triumph for you.

BE: [Rizi], you helped me understand [trans] struggles because I really didn't get it. I'm happy for you. You got proof your parents loved you. It was just a process for them to work it through.

Jazzmun Nichala Crayton: I grew up in a religious home, too. I was constantly coming out to somebody. My parents are still entrenched in religion, and it's interesting, because sometimes I think it's also a level of education, and I find with my family that they love me. They love me - but there are conditions, right? "I love you, but I can't condone . . . "

KRF: The whole "Love the sinner, not the sin thing?

JNC: Yes. I came out when I was 18, as gay, because I wanted to move out. I had to lie until I was 18 . . . I knew who I was but, in the church, you don't throw out all your cards. I was afraid of exactly what [Rizi] went through. I was not about to have nobody start doing exorcisms and praying over me.

And I'm always dealing with some sense of abandonment because my mother had me when she was 18 [or] 19, and there was no real relationship with my father. He never really sought me out or tried to build a relationship with me. There was always this angst or this feeling of, "You don't give a f*ck about me." So, I didn't give a f*ck about him - but I love my mama. I adore my mom and I didn't want to bring no harm and no shame to her.

I try to put myself in my mom's shoes, to be gentle, be kind.

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Understanding the Transgender Community

KRF: I love your point, Jazzmun, about constantly coming out. I feel that all the time, even if it's something as small as being asked in a store why I'm looking at more feminine things. I'm curious how everybody sees queerness fitting into their lives, day to day?

JNC: I love the time we're living in. It's a really fascinating time, and I like that even the word queer has came back to us, but in a healing form. When I was growing up, "queer" was a negative thing. It was not good to be "queer" or "fag" or "queen"; all that stuff was bad news. I remember "sissy" was shunned in the gay community. Now? I love that all the kids vogue!

It's about you being able to fully express yourself and be able to change the whole makeup of how [you] feel and how [you] look at any point. You tell us who you are, not "we tell you."

I'm impressed because I do work in the community and everyone's telling me who they are - and I have to practice. I have to tell the old girls, "You got to learn this foreign language. This is the wave of the future." And sometimes I go to these conferences and I'm just crying because I'm like, "Oh my God. They got language for their feelings." And I'm like, "Wow. I wish I had a language like this for how I felt!"

AA: Yeah - but we got our culture from you all. The everyday struggles that you all lived allow us to build on it.

Many of us are still going through our struggles. Our young people are still getting locked up. Our young people are still facing homelessness. But it's the continual knowledge and sharing of our traditions that y'all created that gets us by.

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BE: I like the fact that you all walk down the street holding hands, because that was one of my pains. I could not hold her hand walking down the street or show that affection. We couldn't get married. Now you can get married - and I'm happy for you all.

But I was having a problem with the language. We need to have a class in this. What do these terms mean? Why do we even have these terms? When you say, "I identify as they and them," it's like, I can't wrap my head around it.

AA: When I say my pronouns are they/them/theirs, I'm asking you to see me as a nonbinary person and not to call me "she." If you can't deal with it, I work with it. But I want you to at least respect me enough to refer to me by what I want to be called.

You have pronouns. It's just, you never thought of it.

JNC: I love that we're here, because so many people have died because they weren't "enough." Because they weren't enough of a woman or enough of a man - and no one wanted to give them an opportunity to be who they were.

A lot of times, gay men were expressing femininity, but it was like, "Don't do that because sissy is outlawed." . . . Can you imagine all the time walking down the street, people misgendering you, calling you by the wrong name? It wears on you. It's just really heavy.

SB: I have male gay friends that said, years ago, that very effeminate gay men were discriminated against by the gay community itself because they frightened the ones that were not so effeminate. And they didn't want to be associated with those stereotypes. Even within the community, there was prejudice.

JNC: People want to appear safe. People want to navigate the world where there's comfortability. Don't get comfortable. Because things are changing right in front of you. If you don't get on this little bandwagon, you're going to get stuck in your limitations.

RT: I was working at the LA Gender Center. At one point, as a therapist, helping families when younger children wanted to transition, something happened that educated me. A 13- or 14-year-old child came in with their parents. The mother was upset, saying, "I just don't understand what you want. I am supporting you, and I don't know what you want." And the child broke down and said, "But that's the thing: I don't know how to explain. I don't want to be a man. I don't want to be on testosterone." So then, the parents are like, "How are you transgender?" And [the child] said, "I feel like I'm Prince. I want to be able to wear my high heels and my pink pants and a blouse and have long hair or maybe have short hair. And maybe today I want to wear some makeup, and tomorrow I don't. . . . I'm they, and I need you to get it. I need you to understand.

BE: Well, I want to change my pronoun.

KRF: You can. You absolutely can.

AA: What do you want to change it to?

BE: They/them. The more I think [about it], that's exactly who I am. I've got the masculine, and I've got the feminine: it's both there.

What it Means to Be LGBTQ+ Today - and Creating Our Shared Future

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KRF: I'm curious, as queer people together in this room, what do we think are the biggest issues our community faces?

SB: Trans issues are really big right now. Especially with them trying to ban trans people from the armed forces - and all the political stuff going on against trans people. I think that's a cutting-edge issue.

RT: People don't realize that the military employs about 15,500 transgender people. That's a bunch of jobs for people that are already disenfranchised, already having difficulties getting jobs. One of the things we're trying to do is train employers on how to have transgender people in the workplace as well.

BE: I'm confused, because how [does the military] know you're transgender unless you tell them? If they don't have a need to know . . .

JNC: You want to create a space where people are allowed. You could come in and hide your identity - but why?

BE: You're not hiding it. You're just not bringing it up unless you have to.

JNC: But it's who you are.

RT: I think what you said was, "Why would you say it if you don't have to?"

That's the thing. With being trans, you have to. In some cases, you have to transition. If I'm saying, "I was born in the wrong body," part of my journey to not be depressed and anxious and suicidal is to start taking hormones so that I can start transitioning and everything. As soon as I start taking hormones, you're going to see that. I can't hide that I came in looking like you and six months later . . .

JNC: There's them/they, right? We've got to allow them/they to be in the military, too.

AA: When I'm thinking about where we are now and where we're going, I see the folks who are in these systems who don't have that choice. All of our detained trans folk of all races and genders. I think about the over 100 trans Latinas and trans folk who are held in detention right now, waiting to see if they'll be given political asylum or sent back to their countries that don't want them, who are killing them. They don't have communities of care to deal with their mental health, their food, their needs of security, their basic needs - and love. As well as our incarcerated folk!

JNC: Mental health. Basic things. We're talking about basic things that are not being met.

KRF: There are a lot of issues that we have that are unique to the queer community - but in a sense, almost every issue is an issue that relates to us. Fighting for racial equality? Fighting for gender equality? We're fighting for all of these things. That's exciting and, in some ways, overwhelming.

AA: I have learned - and this is not only about queer issues - but just really in general in my life: there's a tremendous power and joy in being authentic and being authentically yourself, whatever that may mean. It's tremendous.

Even straight people - everybody! - can do it. There's a tremendous power and joy in that.

BE: I really, really appreciate the younger generation. I feel so proud of them, with all of this educating me.

I just want to learn. I never understood why somebody would want to change their bodies. Just going to all these groups [like this], I get it, and the suffering . . . because I didn't believe it. I didn't at first.

JNC: But not all of it's suffering. Some of it's complete joy. Some people are like, "Honey, this is where I'm going. This is my direction. OK. Let's make it happen." [Laughter]

Some people have been living in their truth the whole time. They just want things to match up for them. How they felt on the inside, they want it to match up on the outside.

AA: I believe that all these talks are important, rooting ourselves back in community and finding a community - and please welcome our babies and our older folk and our homeless folk in the community. That's how we learn to deal with conflict and we learn how to deal with that nastiness so that we can live better.

RT: What I have personally learned from the whole conflict and eventual reconciliation with my family, something that seemed completely impossible, is that if we do not stay open - be your authentic self and stay open to understanding - we never would have gotten here. . . . [My family] are, right now, in the house waiting for me to come, so we can go watch movies.
Photo credit: David Appleby;  2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES

From Town & Country

Rocketman opens with Elton John (played by Taron Egerton) leaving the stage in a dramatic, bejeweled "Devil" costume and then promptly entering group therapy to deal with his personal demons. As the scene makes abundantly clear, Johns costume selections have always gone beyond pageantry, acting as expressions of his inner self and stemming from a wide variety of sources, from Londons traditionally straight-laced Savile Row to Gucci, all frequently adorned with Swarovski crystals.

Photo credit: Courtesy Swarovski

One designer who's been a constant through Elton's career is Richard James, the Savile Row tailor known for its bright use of color and unconventional suiting. And to coincide with the film's release-it opened in the U.K. last week, and hit American theaters on Friday-James is opening its archive and splashing on its New York and London flagship windows a host of the suits the label has designed for John over the years. (The pieces will be on view until June 7.)

Among the looks on display will be a handful immediately recognizable from John's stage shows, and the new biopic: Johns crystal tailcoats during his recent Million Dollar Piano Residency in Las Vegas, his "Dot" suit for the 2001 Grammy Awards performance, as well as his suits for royal weddings and his knighting ceremony in 1998.

Elton has been a friend and customer since we opened in 1992, says Sean Dixon, founder and managing director of Richard James. I remember very well when he first came into the store. He said he hadnt seen anything as fresh and interesting on Savile Row for years... and he bought one of everything.



Photo credit: Chris McKay - Getty Images

The designer says he has spent literally thousands of hours collaborating with the musician on his costumes. The sheer scale of the Million Dollar Piano show was astonishing-we made 30 bespoke suits, and each took 90 hours to make. A lot of attention went into ensuring Elton was comfortable and could move freely-the outfits really had to perform, Dixon added.

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Photo credit: Julia Reinhart - Getty Images

Each suit was hand-embellished with Swarovski crystals, another major contributor to Johns wardrobe. When the Austrian crystal company helped recreate the costumes for Rocketman, it confirmed that one million crystals were used across the 64 costumes designed by Julian Day for the film. The aforementioned "Devil" costume has 60,000 crystals and the iconic Dodgers costume required a whopping 140,000; thats not including Johns signature glasses and patches and other memorable looks like the "Yellow Brick Road" costume, replete with ruby crystal slippers.

Any good costume makes you feel ready to perform. I arrive at a venue, take a nap, then wake up and pick my outfit. Then I put it on. And thats the moment when I become Elton John John once told the New York Times.

The power of "the suit makes the man" (not to mention what one million crystals and devil horns) seems to have the same impact on actor Egerton, who is already earning rave reviews for his depiction of Elton John from critics.

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In the past few months, royal watchers have been blessed with adorable new pictures of Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, and Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. Now, theres a new royal name to add to that list: Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan.

The portrait is from royal publication Yellow Bhutans annual calendar, where the three-year-old posed for the month of June. The enthusiasm with which our monthly calendars are received is always heartening, Yellow Bhutan wrote in an Instagram caption. We know that seeing His Royal Highness grow up so quickly brings you special happiness, so we hope our June calendar brightens up your month.

It shows Gyalsey Jigme Namgyel, also called the Dragon Prince, sitting upon a wall in Punakha. He wears a red checkered robe, black knee socks, and loafers. Colorful flora and the mountainous scenery of the Himalayan town can be seen in the background.

The little prince has been a regular presence in the calendar for the past few years. In 2017, he memorably wore a stethoscopeand an ear-to-ear grinas a tribute to the countrys doctors. Like His Royal Highness, many children are fond of playing doctor-doctor, Yellow Bhutan wrote. Our health personnel are an inspiration and role models for many, for their hard work and sacrifice, and for healing and helping so many people every day. He usually is the headliner for more than one monthso perhaps the public will get another adorable glimpse of him in the near future.

His parents, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema, are sometimes referred to as William and Kate of the Himalayas by the Western press.

Originally Appeared on Vogue
(Adds Exxon no comment in paragraphs 3-4)

By Aref Mohammed

BASRA, Iraq, May 31 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil employees will start returning to Iraq's West Qurna 1 oilfield on Sunday after the government agreed to provide extra security, two senior Iraqi oil officials told Reuters on Friday.

Senior company management and essential engineers would be among the first employees to return, the Iraqi officials said, two weeks after Exxon pulled its 60 or so foreign staff from the oilfield and flew them to Dubai.

Exxon Mobil declined to comment on the plan to return staff.

"As a matter of practice, we don't share specifics related to operational staffing at our facilities," Exxon spokeswoman Julie King said.

The evacuation came just days after the United States withdrew non-essential staff from its embassy in Baghdad, citing a threat from neighboring Iran, which has close ties to Iraqi Shi'ite militia.

Exxon asked for extra security from the police and army at work sites and residences and Iraq agreed, the officials said. The company has received letters of assurance from the Iraqi oil ministry and Basra Oil Company.

Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban at the time called the evacuation "unacceptable and unjustified," saying it was a political move, rather than borne out of genuine security concerns. He said he had sent a letter to Exxon Mobil after the staff left asking for the company to immediately return to work at the southern oilfield.

Exxon Mobil is the lead contractor in a long-term deal with Iraq's South Oil Company to develop and rehabilitate the oil field and increase production.

Production was not affected by the evacuation and work continued normally, overseen by Iraqi engineers, Iraqi officials said at the time. Production remained at 440,000 barrels per day (bpd) and Iraqi officials later said they would increase it to 490,000 bpd shortly. (Reporting by Aref Mohammed; Additional reporting by Gary McWilliams in Houston; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Edmund Blair/Kirsten Donovan/Jane Merriman)
President Donald Trump and his acting defense secretary distanced themselves Thursday from an order to keep a warship rededicated in honor of the late Sen. John McCain, a Trump thorn , out of sight during the commander in chief's recent visit to Japan.

The Pentagon's acting chief, Patrick Shanahan, said he never authorized attempts to make sure Trump would not see the USS John S. McCain at its homeport in Japan and would have his chief of staff investigate. Trump said he was not involved in the matter.

Trump, who long feuded with McCain , told reporters at the White House that he "was not a big fan" of the Arizona Republican and onetime presidential nominee "in any way, shape or form." But, Trump added, "I would never do a thing like that."

"Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn't like him, OK? And they were well-meaning, I will say," he said, while insisting he was kept in the dark.

The order that a Navy destroyer be kept out of sight reflected what appeared to be an extraordinary White House effort to avoid offending an unpredictable president known for holding a grudge, including a particularly bitter one against McCain.

Three U.S. officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the White House told the Navy to keep the warship named for McCain, his father and his grandfather out of Trump's sight during Trump's visit Tuesday to a base outside Tokyo.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official wrote an email to Navy and Air Force officials about Trump's Memorial Day weekend visit, including instructions for preparations for the USS Wasp, where he was to speak.

"USS John McCain needs to be out of sight," according to the email, obtained by the Journal and whose existence was confirmed to the AP by the three U.S. officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private email correspondence.

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When a Navy commander expressed surprise at the instruction, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official answered, "First I heard of it as well," the Journal reported. The official said he would talk to the White House Military Office to get more information about the directive, the newspaper reported.

Trump tweeted late Wednesday that he "was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan."

Still, he added Thursday that he "was very, very angry with McCain because he killed health care. I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape or form."

As a senator, McCain broke with the president in key areas. He incensed Trump with his thumbs-down vote foiling the effort to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law. Trump also mocked McCain's military service, which included years of imprisonment and torture during the Vietnam War.

The warship, commissioned in 1994, was originally named for the senator's father and grandfather, both Navy admirals named John Sidney McCain. Last year, the Navy rededicated the ship to honor the senator as well.

Shanahan told reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday that he had been unaware of the request about the USS John S. McCain.

"I never authorized, I never approved any action around the movement or activities regarding that ship," Shanahan said. He said the military "needs to do their job" and stay out of politics.

The Journal, citing photos it reviewed, reported that a tarp was placed over the USS John S. McCain's name before Trump's arrival and that sailors were instructed to remove any coverings from the ship that included its name.

Asked if the tarp was meant to block Trump's view of the ship, the officials said the tarp had been placed on the ship for maintenance and removed for the visit. Navy Cdr. Clay Doss, spokesman for U.S. 7th Fleet, told the AP that the tarp was on the ship on Friday but was removed by Saturday morning, the day Trump arrived in Japan.

"All ships remained in normal configuration during the President's visit," he said.

Two U.S. officials told AP that all the ships in the harbor were lined up for Trump's visit, and they were visible from the USS Wasp. The officials said most of their names probably could not be seen since they were side by side but that the name of the USS John S. McCain could be seen from the pier.

Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, Navy public affairs officer, tweeted Wednesday night: "The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day. The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage." POTUS stands for president of the United States.

A paint barge was in front of the USS John S. McCain on Saturday morning when 7th Fleet officials walked the pier to see how everything looked for the visit. The barge was then ordered to be moved and was gone by the time Trump arrived, the officials said.

The Journal reported that sailors on the USS John S. McCain, who usually wear hats with the ship's name on it, were given the day off when Trump visited.

Two U.S. officials told the AP that sailors on the USS John S. McCain were not told to stay away but that many were away for the long weekend. The officials also said that about 800 sailors from more than 20 ships and Navy commands were on the USS Wasp during the president's visit, and all wore the same Navy hat that has no logo, rather than wearing individual ship or command hats.

Trump was not welcome at McCain's funeral and raised the White House's U.S. flag back to full-staff shortly after McCain's death last August, despite U.S. Flag Code stating that it should remain at half-staff for another day. The flag returned to half-staff later in the day.

McCain's daughter Meghan tweeted Wednesday that Trump will "always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life."

She added, "There is a lot of criticism of how much I speak about my dad, but nine months since he passed, Trump won't let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him.

"It makes my grief unbearable."

___

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The 3R militia group, blamed for the massacre of more than 50 civilians in the Central Africa Republic this month, has pledged to lay down its arms within the next two weeks, the country's interior minister said Friday.

Militia leader Bi Sidi Souleymane, also known as Sidiki, "gave his word on disarming his troops, which should take place within two weeks from this Friday," Henri Wanzet told a news conference at the airport in Bangui.

Wanzet had met with the 3R leader in Niem-Yelewa, in the west of the country, along with other government ministers and representatives of a UN mission in Central Africa Republic (CAR) and the African Union.

"We met Sidiki who acknowledged his group's responsibility for the massacre," Wanzet told reporters.

The massacre on May 21 in villages near the northwestern town of Paoua, close to the border with Chad, was the worst single loss of life since the government and 14 militias signed a deal in February aimed at restoring peace to one of Africa's most troubled countries.

According to a UN source, the 3R group -- which gets its initials from "Return, Reclamation and Reconciliation" and claims to represent the Fulani, one of the country's many ethnic groups -- hosted a meeting with the villagers and then gunned them down.

The militia has already handed over three members to the authorities, describing them as rogue elements who murdered the civilians, but the government has maintained an ultimatum for the group to surrender six other suspects and dismantle its roadblocks.

On Thursday, 3R agreed to take down the roadblocks, and Wanzet said the group had now also agreed to search for the other suspects "who have fled the country."

The UN mission Minusca backed by Portuguese special forces are to oversee the dismantling process, mission deputy chief Kenneth Gluck said Friday.

In early February, warring sides signed a peace agreement negotiated in Sudan's capital Khartoum with groundwork done by the African Union from 2017, the eighth deal aimed at resolving conflict in the CAR since 2013.

In the patchwork of ethnic and religious communities making up the country, 3R claims to represent the Fulani people, who traditionally include the semi-nomadic herders of west and central Africa.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday accused the country's Supreme Court of "legislating" from the bench after a majority of its justices voted to make homophobia a crime like racism.

Bolsonaro, who has in the past acknowledged that he is a homophobe, was speaking at a national convention of the evangelical Assemblies of God Madureira churches. Conservative church groups have been leading resistance to LGBT rights measures and contributed to his victory in the last presidential election.

Earlier this month, a majority of the top court's justices ruled that homophobia should be framed within the racism law until congress approves specific legislation. They argued the ruling was to address an omission that had left the LGBT community legally unprotected.

The final decision is due on June 5 after the remaining judges who have not yet voted make their decisions, but the result will not be modified.

In 2018, 420 LGBT people were killed across Brazil, according to the nonprofit Grupo Gay da Bahia.

During his 27 years in Congress and then campaigning for president, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has repeatedly made offensive comments about gays, blacks, other minority groups and women.

He once said in an interview he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.
Here are the companies Yahoo Finance is watching today.

A possible big deal for Amazon (AMZN). Reuters says the e-commerce giant is interested in buying Boost Mobile from Sprint, but only if Amazon gets to use T-Mobile's network for at least 6 years. Sprint and T-Mobile are currently negotiating with the Justice Department over conditions for their merger.

German insurance giant Allianz (AZSEY) is striking two big deals worth about a billion dollars. It's buying a unit from rival Legal and General in the UK, and taking full control of a separate joint venture with Liverpool Victoria. The deals will make Allianz the second-largest general insurer in the UK, with about 9% of the market.

Tesla (TSLA) has officially started taking orders for a Model 3 made in China. The base price is about $47,000 dollars. That's 13% cheaper than a version imported from the United States. The savings are largely thanks to getting around hefty import taxes on the cars. Tesla says it expects to start making deliveries of the Chinese-made cars in the next 6-to-10 months.

California is taking the necessary steps to prevent more wildfires. State regulators have signed off on PG&E's (PCG) plan to turn off power lines during dangerously dry and windy weather, but said utilities must do a better job of notifying people about any potential harm. The move comes after last year's fire in California killed 85 people and left the city of Paradise destroyed.

Starting today, Disneyland (DIS) guests will be able to visit the park's new Star Wars attraction. However, they'll have to pay high prices if they want the full experience - which includes $200 lightsabers and $42 cocktails. They'll also only be allowed to stay for about 4 hours before an employee escorts them out.
Goma (DR Congo) (AFP) - The Congolese army on Thursday displayed 23 corpses it said were the bodies of militants killed in combat in the east, where the Islamic State also claimed an attack on the military.

The military showed the bodies in Beni, where hundreds of civilians have been killed since 2014 in attacks blamed on a shadowy Islamist force called Allied Democratic Forces or ADF.

The army said the militants were ADF fighters killed in fighting when they launched an attack on an army base.

"Early this morning, the ADF attacked our position in the town of Ngite-Mavivi, our men reacted and inflicted a heavy loss in their ranks," Congolese army spokesman, Major General Leon-Richard Kasong told AFP.

The ADF, forced out of Uganda in the mid 1990s, is frequently accused by DRC authorities of attacking army positions in North Kivu province.

But later on Thursday, the Islamic State's Central Africa affiliate also claimed an attack against the army "close the village of Mavivi in Beni area," according to the SITE jihadist monitoring group.

AFP was unable to immediately verify the IS claim. It was unclear what relation there is between the two Islamist militant groups in the north DR Congo.

Last month, the IS group for the first time claimed to be behind an attack on a Congolese army position in North Kivu province.

Islamic State-affiliated groups are operating in several central and West African countries, including parts of the Sahel and Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
Kakoli Mukherjee By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD : A hard childhood with an abusive father made Marlise Karlin leave her home when she was 16. However, instead of becoming embittered by her experiences, she chose to convert them into something from which anyone in the world can benefit from. After training under meditation masters in India and Japan, she founded SOS Method, an app-based meditation and wellness brand. The aim of the app is to take meditation mainstream and making it accessible to people and enterprises worldwide.

Keeping in mind the fast lifestyle that people follow today, the app offers 5-minute meditation programmes that can be practised any time of the day. In fact, there are meditation programmes marked for different situations and feelings. The app can be downloaded from Google Play and there is a 14-day trial period. Marlise says: What stimulated my desire to bring meditation and mindfulness to the centrestage was the comprehension of its limited reach among people.

This led to the inception of a new approach to healing. Though SOS stands for Simplicity of Stillness, the mind need not be still to do these meditation programmes. You can practise them anytime but they will be still effective.

Krishna Karthik, the co-founder of the app, says, When you start your journey in the app, it tries to understand the behaviour of the user. For example, if the user is angry, we try to connect him to a meditation programme that can make him rid of the anger. There are similar meditation programmes for productivity, vitality, good sleep etc.

Talking about the tradition of meditation in India, Marlise says: Meditation was a way of life for Indians belonging to earlier generations, but now, the younger generation does not have the time to do it. I am bringing to you a part of your heritage in a format that you can relate to and take it with you wherever you want. You can just plug in your headphones and choose the meditation programme you want to practise. These mini meditations are meant to help you connect to your inner power.Marlise, who has authored books on meditation, currently lives in Arizona (USA), and is touring India to talk about her app.

The writer can be contacted at kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com

Twitter-@KakoliMukherje2
By Stella Qiu and Dominique Patton

BEIJING (Reuters) - China threatened on Friday to unveil an unprecedented hit-list of "unreliable" foreign firms, groups and individuals that harm the interests of Chinese companies, as a slate of retaliatory tariffs on imported U.S. goods was set to kick in at midnight.

The commerce ministry did not single out any country or company, but the threat could further heighten tensions after Washington this month put Huawei on a blacklist that effectively blocks U.S. firms from doing business with the Chinese telecoms equipment giant.

Beijing's "unreliable entities list" would apply to those who violate market rules and the spirit of contracts, block supplies to Chinese companies for non-commercial reasons, "seriously damage the legitimate rights and interests" of Chinese companies and harm China's national security, the ministry said.

A deluge of sharply worded commentaries, criticism and warnings from China in the last two weeks has intensified a battle of words with the United States that could complicate the run-up to any meeting between their respective leaders next month.

Earlier this month, Washington slapped additional tariffs of up to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods, accusing Beijing of reneging on its previous promises to make structural changes to its economic practices. That prompted Beijing to hit back with additional levies on the majority of U.S. imports on a $60 billion target list - due to take effect on Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to meet his counterpart, Xi Jinping, during the G20 summit, set for June 28-29 in Osaka, though China has not formally confirmed this.

Xi and Trump are likely to find it "difficult" to make major progress toward ending the trade war, a former top Chinese official said.

The U.S. approach to trade talks had been "bullying and America First", whereas the principles of China's approach to negotiations were equality and cooperation, said Dai Xianglong, who headed the People's Bank of China from 1995-2002 and remains an influential figure in China.

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"I expect that at next month's meeting of the leaders in Japan it will be difficult to achieve major progress," Dai said, later adding that he was not confirming that the meeting would take place, but that he hoped it would.

Dai also said he did not rule out stronger retaliation by China. He said heavy sales of U.S. Treasuries by China were a less likely option for retaliation as they would hurt China's own interests.

PUBLIC RELATIONS BATTLE

Since the latest round of U.S. tariffs, which caught Beijing by surprise, Chinese state media has gone on the offensive.

The People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's flagship newspaper, warned that China was ready to use its dominance of rare earths, crucial minerals used in electronics, to strike back in the trade war.

Speaking at a separate briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang took umbrage at Trump comments on Thursday that China was becoming a "very weakened nation" due to companies leaving China because of the tariffs.

"This is neither the first nor second time the U.S. side has said these lies," Geng said. "But the U.S. side seems to be very persistent, even obsessed with it, and is still repeating these lies."

At the Beijing seminar on Friday, former Chinese vice commerce minister Wei Jianguo said initiating a trade war with China might be the biggest strategic mistake made by the United States since World War II or even its founding.

There was a need to prepare for the likelihood for the trade war to ratchet up tensions to geopolitical areas including the South China Sea, said Wei, adding that the trade conflict might last for 30 years or even half a century.

He suggested that China had many countermeasures it could take, including rare earths and against Boeing Co. or U.S. software.

"There are lots of Chinese countermeasures, and, speaking honestly, we hope not to use them, because we always negotiate with the United States with sincerity and hope to achieve results," Wei said.

Dong Yang, a former executive director at the China Association of Automotive Manufacturers, said at the seminar that U.S. auto parts suppliers could also be hit.

"U.S. car components companies have presence in China, and set China as a global manufacturing base. The escalation of the trade war between China and the United States will seriously affect their development in China and the world," Dong said.

Other parts suppliers from countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea and France could also provide strong substitutes for U.S. components, he said.

All those who spoke at the seminar were former, albeit senior, officials. The government has not organized media appearances for top leaders or trade negotiators to answer questions on the trade talks. Chinese officials rarely take questions from foreign media.

(Reporting by Stella Qiu, Cheng Leng, Yilei Sun and Dominique Patton; additional reporting by Cate Cadell; Writing by Ryan Woo and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait, Simon Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's New Charity Has an Official Name, and It Suits Them Perfectly The first time we saw Harry, Meghan, Kate, and William together was on Christmas day back in 2017.

Nearly a year after news broke that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would be splitting from their joint charity with Prince William and Kate Middleton to start their own foundation, we now know the title of their new organization. According to documents obtained by E! News, their charity will be called "Sussex Royal The Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex," or "Sussex Royal" for short (just like their Instagram handle). With the help of their communications secretary and PR expert Sara Latham - who previously assisted Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton with their political campaigns - Meghan and Harry came up with the official name that aptly fits their brand.

We first learned that Harry and Meghan would be breaking away from their charity with William and Kate back in November. The Sunday Times reported that William and Harry were considering creating two separate offices at Kensington Palace, which would allow the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to forge their own path and would also reflect the increasingly different responsibilities that are being taken on by both couples. On March 14, the Cambridge and Sussex households were officially separated, as agreed by the queen and Prince Charles. Essentially, the couples will each do business as two teams rather than one, and it will give Prince Harry and Meghan Markle more autonomy now that their first child, baby Archie, is here.

"This long-planned move will ensure that permanent support arrangements for The Duke and Duchess's work are in place as they start their family and move to their official residence at Frogmore Cottage," the palace said in a statement in March. Meghan and Harry's office will move from Kensington Palace to Buckingham, which is also the queen's professional place of residence.

Harry and Meghan are now breaking away from the Royal Foundation, which is their joint charity with William and Kate. The Royal Foundation revolves around four main themes of work: mental health, wildlife and conservation, young people, and the armed forces community. Meghan officially joined as a patron in May 2018, but the couple will now pursue those philanthropic efforts separately.

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A statement explained, "The Royal Foundation will become the principal charitable and philanthropic vehicle for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will establish their own new charitable foundation with transitional operating support from The Royal Foundation. In addition both couples will continue to work together on projects in the future, including on The Foundation's mental health program, Heads Together."

It continued, "These changes are designed to best complement the work and responsibilities of Their Royal Highnesses as they prepare for their future roles, and to better align their charitable activity with their new households."

Harry and Meghan made their move from Kensington Palace to Frogmore Cottage, on the Windsor estate, in April just weeks before baby Archie was born. Plans are said to have been in the works since before Meghan and Harry got married in May 2018. "William and Harry are working to make sure the Sussexes have an office that can support their family when they move to Frogmore this Spring," the Times wrote in February. The split makes sense, given the difference in responsibility for the two couples - as the future head of state, William will take over the Duchy of Cornwall, while Harry and Meghan are afforded a bit more liberty and "have more of a blank canvas with their roles."

"The arrival of Meghan has changed the dynamic of the relationship in a fairly significant way," royals author Sally Bedell Smith told People last Fall. "It is inevitable and practical because it gives Harry and Meghan some freedom to build up their own collection of interests and charities. Meghan has very strong views on what she is interested in and that may be what Harry shares, but not what William and Kate share."

Harry and Meghan have shown their growing strength as a twosome during multiple joint appearances, including their first royal tour as a married couple in October 2018. While in Australia and New Zealand, the Duchess of Sussex gave three speeches, including an incredibly powerful talk to celebrate New Zealand's 125th anniversary of women's suffrage. "We are proud to be able to join you tonight in celebrating the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in your country," she told the crowd. "In looking forward to this very special occasion, I reflected on the importance of this achievement but also the larger impact of what this symbolizes. Because, yes, women's suffrage is about feminism, but feminism is about fairness," Meghan continued.

On top of supporting issues that are close to their hearts and interests, Harry and Meghan have also differentiated themselves from William and Kate by sharing a few more personal moments with the public. While in Sydney for the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games, Meghan took to Twitter and Instagram (albeit through Kensington Palace's accounts) to share a photo of her husband rehearsing his speech. And a few days later, Harry returned the favor by sharing a snap of his wife cradling her growing baby bump.

As we wait to see what the future involves for Harry, Meghan, William, and Kate, read on for all the times the foursome was photographed together.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP)  Masked men set fire to a pile of tires placed at the front door of the U.S. Embassy in the Honduran capital on Friday amid three weeks of street protests.

At least a half-dozen burning tires sent up a large plume of dark smoke at the embassy before Honduran soldiers moved in with fire extinguishers.

Thousands of teachers and medical workers have been protesting against recent presidential decrees that they fear could lead to massive layoffs in schools and hospitals.

On Thursday, at least 25 people were injured when police broke up a protest march; many of them suffered the effects of tear gas.

Protest leader Suyapa Figueroa, who also heads the country's health workers association, blamed the Friday fire on "infiltrators from this country's dictatorial government."

While a local television station had filmed footage of the men setting the fire, it wasn't clear who they were, nor why they weren't stopped by guards outside the embassy. A store was also attacked by masked looters.

The incident occurred a day after the U.S. Embassy urged protesters to avoid violence in the protests.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP)  A lawyer for a border activist being tried in federal court in Arizona says his client was just trying to be kind by helping two migrants with water, food and lodging last year.

But prosecutors said they have evidence 36-year-old Scott Daniel Warren conspired to harbor the migrants.

The prosecutors also say the migrants were not in distress when arrived at a privately-owned building used to provide aid to immigrants who crossed the desert from Mexico into Arizona.

The Arizona Daily Star reports defense attorney Greg Kuykendall said in his opening statement Wednesday that prosecutors must prove Warren intended to break the law to be found guilty of harboring migrants and conspiring to transport and harbor the two immigrant men found with him who were in the U.S. illegally.
Tegucigalpa (AFP) - Masked protesters set fire to the gate of the US embassy in Honduras on Friday during massive demonstrations against public sector reforms in the country.

Thousands of doctors, teachers and students had taken to the streets to demand the government abandon plans to privatize the health and education sectors.

Firefighters came to extinguish the blaze, which destroyed the diplomatic mission's gate without damaging the main embassy building.

The US embassy issued a statement after the attack urging Hondurans to refrain from "acts of violence."

Police spokesman Jair Meza told local media that one of the suspects, a 23-year-old man, had been arrested.

Relatives of the suspect later went with a crowd to the police headquarters where they shouted demands for his freedom.

Demonstrators blamed "government infiltrators" for the damage to the embassy.

burs-gle/je
By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's president and the top U.S. business lobbying group called on President Donald Trump to back down from a threat to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican imports, in a dispute over migration that could shock Mexico's economy.

Trump said he will introduce the tariffs on June 10 if Mexico does not halt the flow of illegal immigration, largely from Central America, across the U.S.-Mexican border, battering Mexican financial assets and denting global stocks.

The ultimatum from Trump is the biggest foreign policy test to date for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and a tall order for Mexican security forces struggling not only to combat migrant flows but also to fight a record level of gang violence and homicide.

Mexico's economy, which is heavily reliant on exports to the United States, shrank in the first quarter and would reel under U.S. tariffs that could reach as high as 25% this year under Trump's plan.

Veteran leftist Lopez Obrador, who took office in December, predicted that Trump, who is also engaged in a worsening trade war with China, would ease up on his demand.

"I tell all Mexicans to have faith, we will overcome this attitude of the U.S. government, they will make rectifications because the Mexican people don't deserve to be treated in the way being attempted," Lopez Obrador told reporters.

In April, Trump took a step back from an earlier threat to completely close the U.S. border with Mexico to fight illegal immigration, under pressure from companies worried it would cause chaos for businesses. The tide of migrants crossing from Mexico has swelled, with U.S. officials saying that an average of 4,500 are arriving daily.

Global equities tumbled and safe-haven sovereign bonds surged Friday after Trump's unexpected threat added to fears that escalating trade wars will push the United States and other major economies into recession.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said he would attend talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the tariff issue.

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The influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce is looking at ways to challenge Trump's tariff move against Mexico, including legal options. "We have no choice but to pursue every option available to push back," Neil Bradley, the business group's executive vice president and chief policy officer, told reporters.

Other industry groups also criticized Trump's threat, saying it would hurt American businesses, farmers and consumers who have already borne the brunt of the U.S.-China trade dispute.

The White House called on U.S. companies to persuade their Mexican partners to lobby their government to cooperate.

"Industry should be in communication with their counterparts in Mexico to encourage the Mexican government to work with the administration and stave off the dangerous crisis at our southern border as quickly as possible," spokesman Judd Deere said.

Underscoring the interconnected nature of the U.S. and Mexican economies, the U.S.-based Beer Institute said most Mexican beer sold in the United States is made from U.S.-grown barley and hops.

"Whether it be the truck driver, farmer, distributor, local retailer or favorite tavern, every community in America will be affected by this decision," Jim McGreevy, the institute's president and chief executive, said of the proposed tariffs.

Mexico sends 600,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil to the United States every day, mostly to refiners, and buys more than 1 million barrels per day of U.S. crude and fuel, more than any other country. Analysts are concerned that retaliatory tariffs from Mexico could disrupt that trade.

STEEP TARIFFS

Trump, who has embraced protectionism as part of an "America First" agenda aimed at reshaping global trade, said in a tweet on Thursday he would ratchet up tariffs on Mexico "until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied."

The plan would impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports starting on June 10 and increase monthly, up to 25% on Oct. 1.

Such levies would deliver a heavy blow to Mexico's economy, which is underpinned by exports to the United States of goods from avocados and tequila to televisions and cars made by companies such as Ford Motor Coand Nissan.

Mexico sends around 80 percent of its exports to the United States and is one of America's top trading partners.

Mexican officials have signaled they will respond in kind if Washington actually imposes tariffs, steps likely to target regions with high concentrations of Trump voters.

Mexican stocks slid 1.4% on Friday as equities fell across the region, while the peso softened 2.3%.

Trump sought to turn up the pressure again on Friday.

"Mexico makes a FORTUNE from the U.S., have for decades, they can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Trump vowed frequently during his 2016 election campaign to make Mexico pay for construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration, but successive Mexican governments have firmly rejected that idea.

The U.S. Congress also refused a request from Trump for $5.7 billion to help build the wall, prompting him to declare a national emergency and try to divert funds from other areas of the U.S. government. The issue is now in the courts.

Trump and fellow Republicans say something needs to be done to stem the biggest migrant surge on the border in a decade.

U.S. officials say 80,000 people are being held in custody, and the 4,500 mostly Central American migrants that on average are arriving daily are overwhelming the abilities of Border Patrol officials.

A senior White House official said Trump was particularly concerned that U.S. border agents apprehended a group of 1,036 migrants illegally crossing from Mexico on Wednesday, the largest single group since October, officials said. Before making the threat, Trump posted a video purporting to show the crossing on his Twitter feed.

Since taking office in December, Mexico's Lopez Obrador has urged Trump to help him tackle migration by promoting economic development in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the poor Central American countries where most of the migrants apprehended on the U.S. border come from.

(Graphic: Trump vows high tariffs on all Mexican goods link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Khd82D).

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher in Mexico City and Andrea Shalal, Steve Holland and Makini Brice in Washington; Writing by Alistair Bell and Sonya Hepinstall; Editing by Paul Simao and Leslie Adler)
By Pavithra George

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Missouri's only abortion clinic will stay open at least a few more days after a judge on Friday granted a request by Planned Parenthood for a temporary restraining order, allowing the facility to keep operating until a hearing on Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood sued Missouri this week after state health officials said the license for Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood in St. Louis was in jeopardy, meaning the clinic could have closed at midnight unless the judge granted the request for a temporary restraining order.

"This is a great day for the people of Missouri, but the fight is not over," David Eisenberg, the medical director for Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, said at a news conference. "We want our patients to know that our doors are still open and we will always fight for your rights and your health care."

Representatives for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services could not be immediately reached for comment.

Health officials had refused to renew the clinic's license because, they said, they were unable to interview seven of its physicians over "potential deficient practices," according to documents filed in a state circuit court in St. Louis.

The legal battle in St. Louis comes a week after Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, signed a bill banning abortion beginning in the eighth week of pregnancy, making Missouri one of nine U.S. states to pass anti-abortion legislation this year.

On Friday, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer said the clinic's license would remain in effect until a ruling is made on Planned Parenthood's request for a preliminary injunction against the state. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for 9 a.m. (10 a.m. ET) on Tuesday.

If the judge had ruled against Planned Parenthood, the clinic's license would have expired at midnight, making Missouri the only U.S. state without an abortion clinic since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that established a womans right to terminate her pregnancy.

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Parson said the state will soon have the opportunity for a prompt legal review of what he called the "serious health and safety concerns" of regulators regarding the facility.

"We are committed to and take seriously our duty to ensure that all health facilities in Missouri follow the law, abide by regulations, and protect the safety of patients," Parson said in a statement.

Outside the clinic on Friday, a handful of anti-abortion protesters stood holding "Choose Life" signs.

"Planned Parenthood is not above the law," said Mary Maschmeier, founder of the Defenders of the Unborn, an anti-abortion organization. "The deal is done when we have human life amendment and when Roe v. Wade is overturned."

Abortion is one of the most socially divisive issues in U.S. politics, with opponents often citing religious beliefs to call it immoral, while abortion-rights advocates say the bans amount to state control of women's bodies.

Anti-abortion activists say they aim to prompt the newly installed conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade by enacting laws that are virtually assured of facing court challenges.

A series of prominent U.S. media companies said they will rethink working in Georgia if a new state law takes effect, banning abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected by doctors. That standard effectively bans abortions at about six weeks into a pregnancy, before some women would even be aware they were pregnant.

Those companies include AT&T Inc's WarnerMedia, CBS Corp, Viacom Inc, Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal, AMC Networks Inc, Walt Disney Co and Netflix Inc.

(Additional reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Diane Craft and Cynthia Osterman)
Seoul (AFP) - North Korea executed its special envoy to the United States following the collapse of the second summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.

The Chosun Ilbo said Kim Hyok Chol, who laid the groundwork for the Hanoi meeting and accompanied Kim on his private train, was executed by firing squad for "betraying the supreme leader" after he was "won over to the US" during pre-summit negotiations.

"Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport along with four senior foreign ministry officials following an investigation," the newspaper quoted an unidentified source as saying.

The other officials were not named.

Kim Hyok Chol was the North's counterpart of US special representative Stephen Biegun in the run-up to the Hanoi summit in February.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean relations, declined to comment on the report.

Some previous South Korean reports of North Korean purges and executions have later proved inaccurate.

The paper also said Kim Jong Un's interpreter Shin Hye Yong was sent to a prison camp for a mistake at the summit.

She failed to translate Kim's new proposal when Trump declared "no deal" and walked away from the table, Chosun reported, citing another unnamed diplomatic source.

Kim Jong Un and Trump left the Vietnamese capital without a deal after they failed to reach agreement on rolling back Pyongyang's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The North has since sought to raise the pressure and carried out two short-range missile tests in May.

Senior party official Kim Yong Chol, the North's counterpart to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in nuclear talks, was also sent to a labour camp, the paper said.

In April, South Korea's parliamentary intelligence committee said Kim Yong Chol had been censured over his handling of the Hanoi summit, despite the fact he had recently been named a member of the State Affairs Commission, a supreme governing body chaired by Kim Jong Un.

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The Chosun Ilbo itself incorrectly reported in 2013 that Hyon Song Wol, head of the North's Samjiyon Orchestra, was executed by firing squad for distributing and watching pornographic content.

And the Unification Ministry also mistakenly announced in February 2016 that Ri Yong Gil, chief of the general staff of the North Korean People's Army, had been executed.

News of the reported purge came as North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling party, Thursday warned that officials who committed anti-party or anti-revolutionary acts would face the "stern judgement of the revolution".
The wait is over. After years of anticipation, "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" at Disneyland Resort in California is opening its doors to the public Friday, ready to transport guests to a galaxy far far away.

From a life-sized recreation of the Millennium Falcon to workshops where guests can build their own lightsabers and droids, the new land is the Star Wars universe brought to life.

And while tickets have sold out through June 23, there is another way to reserve a spot.

Here's what you need to know before booking your trip:

- For the period of May 31-June 23, reservations are required to enter "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge," and tickets are already sold out. There is, however, another way to get in: Booking a hotel stay at one of the three Disneyland Resort hotels during that time also comes with a designated reservation.

- No stand-by tickets will be sold.

- You might want to hold off booking a ticket until later this year, when the park opens phase two of the attraction, featuring "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance," an immersive experience that places guests in the middle of a battle between the First Order and the Resistance.

- Reservations will no longer be required after June 23.

- Leave your Stormtrooper and Chewbacca costumes at home. Aside from kids aged 13 and younger, a costume policy is in effect, banning guests from suiting up as their favorite Star Wars character at the park. Leave that to the park professionals.

"Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" is the largest single-themed land in Disney Parks history. The land opens at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida on August 29.
CHICAGO (AP)  New documents on the Jussie Smollett case released Thursday show that prosecutors told Chicago police detectives that a possible deal with the "Empire" actor was in the works a month before charges against him were dropped.

The approximately 460-pages of new documents show detectives investigating Smollett's claim he was the victim of a hate crime were told by Cook County prosecutors a deal with Smollett could include a $10,000 fine and community service. The detectives did not pass the information to superiors.

"They didn't pass it on because they didn't know it (the case) was going to be handled the way it was," said Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Smollett was charged with 16 counts alleging he lied to police when reporting he'd been the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack in January. Police contend the black and openly gay actor staged the attack because he was unhappy with his salary and wanted publicity. Prosecutors dropped charges on March 26 without Smollett admitting guilt.

Then Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Superintendent Eddie Johnson expressed outrage over the prosecutors' decision.

In the documents released Thursday, detectives note the Chicago Police Department was informed by the Cook County State's Attorney's office on Feb. 28 that they could no longer investigate the crime. Smollett was indicted on March 7. The lead investigators in the case met with Assistant State's Attorney Risa Lanier, who informed detectives "that she felt the case would be settled with Smollett paying the city of Chicago $10,000 in restitution and doing community service."

The detectives closed the case at that point because an arrest was made and the alleged offender was being prosecuted, according to Guglielmi.

Telephone calls to the Cook County state's attorney's office weren't immediately returned Thursday.

It was the attorneys for Smollett who announced charges alleging he lied to police about attack had been dropped. At the time, Johnson said he learned of the deal prosecutors made with Smollett when the deal was announced by lawyers, adding he didn't think justice was being served. However, he didn't directly criticize prosecutors.

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"My job as a police officer is to investigate an incident, gather evidence, gather the facts and present them to the state's attorney," Johnson said. "That's what we did. I stand behind the detectives' investigation."

The Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association said the dismissal of the charges was "an affront to prosecutors across the state" as well as police, victims of hate crimes and the county as a whole.

The city of Chicago is seeking $130,000 from Smollett to cover the costs of the investigation into his reported beating. The city claims about two dozen detectives and officers investigated the entertainer's report that he was attacked, resulting in a "substantial number of overtime hours."
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: All eyes will be on the Congress Parliamentary Party on Saturday, as the partys newly elected 52 MPs would meet to choose their leader in the Lok Sabha starting June 17. This will be the first meeting following party chief Rahul Gandhis offer to resign.

The Congress Parliamentary Party, as of now, is chaired by Sonia Gandhi and it is scheduled to meet on Saturday at the Central Hall of the Parliament House to choose a new leader with rumours that Rahul Gandhi may lead the party in the lower house.

The party will have to elect its new leader following constitution of the 17th Lok Sabha, said a party leader.This will be the first official party meeting that Rahul Gandhi will attend after his offer to resign on May 25 at the Congress Working Committee meeting.

Since then, Rahul Gandhi has not met any senior party leader and has been adamant that a non-Gandhi party president is selected.

The Congress Working Committee, however, rejected his offer to resign and unanimously passed a resolution authorising him to bring structural changes in the party at all levels in a bid to revamp it.

The party president has said that he would work as a party worker and look for revamping the party at grassroots level. Since, he was not talking to party leaders, the forum will see exchange of views between party leadership, the party leader added.
Sumuleu Ciuc (Romania) (AFP) - Tens of thousands gathered Saturday for a mass by Pope Francis on his second day in Romania with the ceremony in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the Transylvania region set to be the highlight of his trip.

The mass has been keenly awaited for reasons of both faith and national identity in majority Orthodox Romania where believers suffered under the post-war decades of Communist rule.

For Catholics in the "Szeklerland" area, where some 600,000 ethnic-Hungarians comprise a majority of the population, the pope's visit -- a first for that region -- is seen as welcome recognition of their identity.

In pouring rain, a sea of colourful umbrellas and rain coats formed around the hillside Sumuleu Ciuc shrine early Saturday.

In all, an estimated 200,000 people were expected to attend the ceremony, which will see the Argentinian pontiff present a golden rose at the large wooden replica of the Madonna -- a tradition for popes visiting major Marian shrines.

Most pilgrims will be Romania-based ethnic-Hungarians, but organisers expect some 25,000 will also travel from Hungary itself, as well as from Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine, all countries with sizeable Hungarian communities.

- Pilgrims from abroad -

Having come by train, car and bicycle, thousands of people already started to gather late Friday with churches in the nearby small town of Miercurea Ciuc, 215 kilometres (133 miles) north of Bucharest, staying open all night to accomodate pilgrims.

Between religious chants in Hungarian, they expressed their hopes for the 82-year-old's visit.

"If I meet the pope, I will tell him that Transylvania must be autonomous," Zoltan, 60, who came from western Hungary and makes an annual pilgrimage to Sumuleu Ciuc every year since 2006, told AFP.

Hungary's nationalist premier Viktor Orban, who is not going to Saturday's mass, has been building ties with the diaspora since he returned to power in 2010 as part of a so-called "national policy" that is seen warily in Romania as an effort to extend Budapest's reach.

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Over the weekend, the pope will continue to travel across the country to meet people of diverse faiths and languages, which include 18 officially recognised minorities.

Later Saturday, he will travel to Iasi in northeastern Romania, where he will meet with youngsters.

Francis arrived in the capital Friday to begin his three-day trip, praising the "sacrifices" of Romanian emigrants -- millions have moved abroad in search of better work opportunities -- and urging the faithful to reject "a culture of hate" following nationalist gains in recent European parliament elections.

In Bucharest, thousands lined the streets to wave to Francis in his pope mobile and filled two cathedrals. Many television channels transmitted his visit live.

He also had a private meeting with Orthodox Patriarch Daniel despite their strained relations, and they prayed alongside each other -- one in Latin and the other in Romanian.

The pope's visit follows 20 years after John Paul II received a warm welcome for his perceived role in the fall of Communism.
By Tim Hepher and Allison Lampert

SEOUL/MONTREAL (Reuters) - As Air France pilots fought for control, an Airbus A330 passenger jet plummeted from 38,000 feet for four minutes, its engines running but its wings unable to seize enough air to fly.

The doomed jet, weighing 205 tonnes, was in freefall after entering an aerodynamic stall. The ordeal ended in tragedy in the early hours of June 1, 2009 https://reut.rs/2YYR1lt, mid-way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris during an Atlantic storm, killing all 228 people on board.

As relatives mark the disaster's tenth anniversary, the aviation industry is still implementing lessons learned from Air France flight 447 even as it faces a new crisis over the two-month-old global grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft.

French investigators found the crew of AF447 mishandled the loss of speed readings from sensors blocked with ice from the storm, and pushed it into a stall by holding the nose too high.

The BEA investigation agency called for improved training of pilots, instructors and inspectors, and better cockpit design among recommendations to prevent a repeat of the catastrophe.

The crash, which sparked a wider debate about the balance of humans and technology, is seen as one of a handful of accidents that changed aviation. But it has taken as much as a decade to implement some recommendations put forward by the BEA.

Even before finding the main part of the wreckage, the agency called in late 2009 for improved tracking of aircraft.

The initial reaction of the airline industry was lukewarm and the regulatory panel charged with such discussions had gone for some time without meeting because it lacked a secretary, according to people with direct knowledge of the discussions.

It was not until after the disappearance of a second jet in 2014, the MH370 - a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, that regulators took firm action, they said.

A decision to require signals every 15 minutes in remote zones came into force last year.

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"After AF447 many people had an intuitive perception that an accident of a plane cruising over the ocean is very, very rare and so it wasn't evident that there would be another (case)," said the BEA's current director, Remi Jouty.

"To see adoption of international norms taking time was frustrating. But we know processes are very slow, and then MH370 accelerated matters and there was momentum," he told Reuters.

Airlines holding annual talks in Seoul this weekend will seek to restore confidence strained by the two recent Boeing crashes and still haunted by the disappearance of MH370.

A spokesman for the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations' aviation agency, cautioned against drawing links between AF447 and Malaysia's MH370."The real aircraft tracking recommendations came after MH370, and the only reason they appear to have been adopted more quickly is because they leveraged the work already initiated post-AF447," he said.

AUTOPILOT DILEMMA

A second major upheaval from AF447 concerned training, BEA's Jouty said. Investigators rarely cast blame for accidents but seek to understand the mental picture facing a confused crew and what training is needed to avoid future disasters.

Together with the fatal crash of a Colgan Air turboprop near Buffalo, New York, in 2009, the AF447 tragedy led to new procedures and training.

Yet other key recommendations remain mired in disagreement.

The BEA called in 2011 for an indicator showing pilots the "Angle of Attack" - a stall-related parameter that is once again in the spotlight after MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Opponents say civil pilots are trained to rely on other data and the gauge would be redundant or even confusing.

For almost 20 years, many investigators have also called for cockpit video cameras to record what information is actually displayed to pilots. The BEA repeated the proposal after AF447.

Pilot unions oppose the idea due to concerns over privacy and fears it could be a distraction.

Loss of control remains a worry.

Air France and French unions have defended the AF447 pilots, saying they faced conflicting alarms.

"I've been really for the past 20 to 25 years pushing people to fly manual," said Mohammed Aziz, a former air investigator and consultant with Aviation Strategies International, adding many pilots are ordered to use autopilot as much as possible.

"Automation is what makes your life much easier but then the minute you need to use your skills you find that most pilots have lost some," Aziz added.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
When General Motors(GM) took the wraps off the new Chevy Blazer in June, the company expected it to be a very profitable vehicle. After all, SUVs are in hot demand, the styling got high marks and the fact that it was being built in Mexico meant the profit margin would be fatter than usual.

Now the Blazer is one of many models potentially caught up in President Donald Trump's latest trade threat. If Trump makes good on his promise to put a 5% tariff on everything the U.S. imports from Mexico, GM will be stuck with a tough choice on the Blazer.

"What is GM's strategy going to be for handling these tariffs?" asked Michelle Krebs, an analyst for Autotrader. "I'm not sure GM knows if it should eat the cost, which would kill profit margins, or pass the five percent along to consumers which would raise prices and hurt sales."

Neither choice is a good one for GM or any other automaker importing models and parts from Mexico. Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the mid-90's made producing cars in Mexico more financially attractive, the auto industry has increasingly added plants and assembly lines south of the border. That's turned Mexico into the world's sixth-largest country for auto production.

The automaker's shares tumbled 4.4% in intraday trading Friday. Ford(F) was down 2.6%. Fiat Chrysler fell 5%.

The majority of what's built in Mexico winds up being sold in the U.S., the total climbing to just under 2.7 million vehicles last year, according to the International Trade Association.

When it comes to using Mexico as a production hub, no manufacturer has embraced Mexico more than GM. Last year, the automaker sold 690,865 Mexican-made Chevy and GMC models in the U.S., that's 27% of the domestic sales for those brands, according to Cox Automotive. Fiat Chrysler's(FCA-IT) RAM truck brand also has a huge production footprint south of the border. Cox Automtovie says 39% of the RAM trucks sold in the U.S. were built in Mexico.

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Neither Fiat Chrysler nor GM are commenting on Trump's new tariff threat, leaving the auto industry's trade association to comment on the potential impact. David Schwietert, CEO of the Auto Alliance says, "Any barrier to the flow of commerce across the U.S.-Mexico border will have a cascading effect  harming U.S. consumers, threatening American jobs and investment."

The President is hoping the threat will force Mexico to stop migrants from crossing the border. If not, he believes tariffs adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of a new vehicle will force automakers to move out of Mexico.

"In order not to pay Tariffs, if they start rising, companies will leave Mexico, which has taken 30% of our Auto Industry," Trump tweeted Friday morning.

Industry analysts doubt that will happen.

"These decisions [on factory locations] pre-date Donald Trump, and that plant will be in place for 30 or 40 years. So it will long outlive him as well. So they have to make strong economic sense to make these plant investment decisions," said Kristin Dziczek with the Center for Automotive Research.

Krebs is also skeptical auto tariffs would force GM, Fiat Chrysler or any other automaker to close an existing plant in Mexico and replace it with a new plant in the U.S.

"Heavens no that is not going to happen," said Krebs, " It costs billions of dollars and takes years of planning to set up an auto plant. Automakers can't just move them around quickly."

CNBC's Meghan Reeder contributed to this report.


Washington (AFP) - The US envoy negotiating with the Taliban will hold new talks this month with the insurgents in Qatar, the State Department said Saturday, as momentum builds for a deal to end America's longest war.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran US policymaker who is leading President Donald Trump's push to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, left Friday on a 17-day trip that will also take him to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said.

In Doha, he will resume talks with the Taliban after a break of around a month "to move the peace process forward," the State Department said in a statement.

Khalilzad has already met six times with the Taliban in recent months as he looks to seal a deal under which the United States will pull out troops who were first deployed following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The United States and the Taliban are believed to have largely agreed on the key demand of Washington from 2001 and again now -- that the Taliban not allow Afghanistan to be used by violent extremists.

But a major sticking point remains the refusal of the Taliban to negotiate with President Ashraf Ghani's government, which enjoys international support.

The Taliban, believing they have leverage on the military front, have also rejected Ghani's overtures for a nationwide ceasefire.

"No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives," Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhundzada said in a rare message released Saturday.

In Kabul, Khalilzad will meet representatives of civil society and women's rights groups, which have been especially concerned about a larger role for the Taliban.

Khalilzad will "encourage all parties to work towards intra-Afghan negotiations that lead to a final peace settlement," the State Department said.

Germany, another of Khalilzad's stops, has voiced willingness to hold a meeting on peace in Afghanistan.

He will start his trip in Pakistan, the chief backer of the Taliban before September 11, which has used its contacts to facilitate the talks with the Taliban.
The United States risks losing its measles "elimination status" if current outbreaks continue, US health authorities said Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday there have been 971 cases of measles reported in the US so far this year, which means more people have caught the disease in the last five months than in any entire calendar year since 1992, which saw 963 reported cases.

Authorities declared measles eliminated in the US in 2000, a goal set in 1966 with the introduction of the vaccine.

Measles is considered eliminated when there is an absence of continuous disease transmission for 12 months or more in a specific geographic area, according to the CDC.

An ongoing outbreak in and around New York City that started last fall is threatening the US's "elimination status" -- if it continues for four more months, the country will no longer be able to say it has eliminated measles.

Even though the New York mayor began requiring city residents in heavily affected areas, many with large Orthodox Jewish communities, to be vaccinated starting in April, the city still had 173 cases that month and 60 in May.

The US has never counted zero measles cases. Since 2000, the number has fluctuated between a few dozen and a few hundred cases per year, with 667 cases recorded during a 2014 outbreak in Ohio, especially in Amish communities.

The disease's resurgence can mostly be traced back to un- or under-vaccinated travelers who brought the infection back with them from abroad -- that's what happened last year when cases were reported throughout the country, originating from the Philippines, Israel and Ukraine.

"Measles is preventable and the way to end this outbreak is to ensure that all children and adults who can get vaccinated, do get vaccinated," said CDC director Robert Redfield.

"Again, I want to reassure parents that vaccines are safe, they do not cause autism. The greater danger is the disease that vaccination prevents."
Paris (AFP) - When world leaders gather for D-Day commemorations, Vladimir Putin's absence will be a sign of how Russia's huge sacrifices in World War II have gone missing in most French minds.

It's a striking reversal from 75 years ago, when the Soviet contribution at a cost of 27 million dead soldiers and civilians was hailed by the French as the biggest factor in Germany's defeat.

Just after the European fighting ended in May 1945, a poll by the French survey group Ifop found that 57 percent of the French thought Moscow had contributed the most to the war effort, compared with just 20 percent who named the United States.

But by the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings by Allied forces in 2004 -- when Russia was represented for the first time, by Putin -- the figures were reversed, with just 20 percent putting the Soviet Union first.

Instead, 58 percent lauded the US, even though its total losses of 400,000 in both the European and Pacific theatres were just a small fraction of the dead in the Soviet Union.

"From a purely historical point of view, overlooking the absolutely critical role of the Soviet Union is absurd," said Denis Peschanski, a senior research fellow at France's CNRS institute, who has long studied the evolution of France's collective memory of the war.

- Hollywood effect -

While the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact initially established neutrality between Moscow and Berlin, Hitler's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union led to brutal fighting and sieges of Russian cities until Stalin was able to mount a counterattack.

The fierce Russian offensives battered Germany's military might while immobilising millions of Nazi soldiers who might have reinforced the Atlantic coast.

"In 1945, the great ally was Stalin and the USSR -- their role was absolutely clear for the French," said Stephane Grimaldi, director of the Caen Memorial Museum for World War II in Normandy.

"But 50 years later, it's the US that won, for the very simple reason that in the meantime we had the Cold War," he said.

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Hollywood also helped change perceptions with a string of hit films starting in the 1960s showing brave Americans fighting far from home.

"If you look at way it has been portrayed in popular culture, it's all about the battle in France and the Battle of Britain, but World War II was overwhelmingly Germans and Russians killing each other," said Jeremy Shapiro from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

- Hearts and minds -

For decades, French presidents didn't officially commemorate the D-Day landings, when 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed France's Atlantic coast by sea and by air.

French Resistance hero and president Charles de Gaulle refused to honour the Allied operation in which he was relegated to a secondary role.

Upon entering Paris in 1944, he cheered a city "liberated by itself, liberated by its people" -- despite the lines of British and American tanks behind him

"De Gaulle wanted first and foremost to re-establish France's sovereignty, and that meant getting the Americans out," Grimaldi said.

His anti-American tendencies were echoed by France's Communist Party, which wielded tremendous postwar influence thanks to its role in the Resistance.

The communists regularly reminded voters in the post-war period of the Red Army's contribution.

But Soviet repression behind the Iron Curtain steadily eroded support for them -- just as the US was shaping its own narrative of how the war was won, on the silver screen.

"A film that had an absolutely essential role in the '60s was 'The Longest Day'," Peschanski said. "It puts the spotlight on the Americans and the French Resistance, and it was a phenomenal success."

Just over 30 years later, another D-Day film gave the heroic American account to new generations on both sides of the Atlantic -- Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" from 1998.

"The Cold War isolated the Russians, and it isolated the Russian story" of the war, Grimaldi said.

"The hero is now the nice American, it's John Wayne, and he's the one who's going to save Europe, not the Russians."

- 'Should be in front row' -

America's role in liberating Europe got a further boost when president Francois Mitterrand became the first French head of state to hold D-Day ceremonies at the Normandy beaches in 1984.

US president Ronald Reagan attended the commemoration, which would become a major world event just as the Soviet Union was collapsing.

Yet even as the war ended, gratitude to Russia hadn't totally eclipsed France's admiration for the US, with GIs getting rapturous welcomes as they fought their way across the country.

Asked in a 1944 poll which country they would visit if they could, 43 percent of Parisians picked the US, while just 13 percent chose the Soviet Union.

Russia's image has been tarnished further under Putin, whose relations with the West nosedived after he ordered troops into neighbouring Ukraine in 2014 to annex Crimea.

"Putin's not being invited has nothing do with World War II, it's about today," Peschanski said.

"If the goal was to talk about the past, the Soviet Union and its heirs, which means Putin, should be in the front row alongside the Americans and the British."
Manish Anand By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: With BJP chief Amit Shah getting the weighty Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) portfolio, the message Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have sent out is that his political sherpa will be the Number 2 in the government for all practical purposes.

In other words, Shah perhaps wont be confined to Home but will oversee the functioning of most ministers, freeing up Modi to concentrate on larger issues, including global concerns.

Except for new Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and a few others, the rest are junior to Shah and have taken orders from him in the past five years. The perfect chemistry between Modi and Shah would soon see the BJP chief cracking the whip, making the ministerial team deliver on promises made in the manifesto, said a top-ranking BJP functionary.

ALSO READ | Harsh Vardhan back in ministry he was shifted from in 2014

With Shah manning the MHA, BJP leaders expect the focus to sharpen on implementing the NRC (National Register of Citizens) across the country, besides pursuing the partys hard line on J&K, including abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A.

Within a year, clear steps may be taken towards constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya since Shah works in close coordination with RSS top leadership, added the BJP functionary.

By giving Nirmala Sitharaman the charge of finance, Modi appears to have reposed faith in her to take tough decisions to kickstart the economy that is stuttering at present.

Adding MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) to Nitin Gadkaris Road and Surface Transport portfolio indicates Modi prioritising the issue of unemployment and the need to address it on a war footing.

ALSO READ | Ex-diplomats hail US expert Jaishankar at the helm in MEA

The surprise pick of career bureaucrat S Jaishankar as the Minister of External Affairs is in line with Modis ambitions to emerge a global leader with impact, while ironing out irritants in Indias relations with China, including the conclusion of border talks.

Harsh Vardhan has returned to the Ministry of Health, besides Ministries of Earth Sciences, Science and Technology.

ALSO READ | NDA allies wanted better representation, upset over symbolic presence in Cabinet

The PM is keen to operationalise AIIMS projects sanctioned in his first term. Narendra Singh Tomar has also been vested with the task of heading the rural development, agriculture and farmers welfare and Panchayati Raj ministries.

New CcS

Amit Shah and S Jaishankar are the two new faces in the CCS that comprises ministers of home, defence, finance and external affairs, with PM in the chair
By PTI

MIRZAPUR (Uttar Pradesh): The omission of Apna Dal (S) leader Anupriya Patel from the Union ministry has come as a disappointment for supporters, with some leaders suggesting that she declined an offer to be a minister of state.

District unit president of the Apna Dal (S) Ramakant Patel said, "We were expecting that Anupriya, who was an MoS in the previous ministry, will be elevated to cabinet position and were not aware of her omission from the list till the last minute."

"She had received a phone call and was told to prepare herself for the swearing-in ceremony. But I feel that she did not agree for a minister of state rank," a party insider said, requesting anonymity.

"In the initial rounds, there were talks about her elevation, hence she might have declined the offer," the party leader said, adding she should have been offered at least the rank of minister of state with independent charge.

When contacted, senior party leader and MLC Ashish Singh Patel said it was up to the prime minister to choose his team.

"We are with the NDA. It is the prerogative of the prime minister who will join his team," he said when asked about his party not being accommodated in the Modi 2.0 regime.

Apna Dal (S) leaders cite senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh's promise of a "better deal" for Anupriya at a public meeting here during campaigning.

They say that the results in her favour had raised her supporters' expectations.

Before her departure to Delhi, a beaming Anupriya had remarked, "My margin is better than last time."

Her residence-cum-office in Bharuhana wore a deserted look and the lone party worker present there, on condition of anonymity, said, "Party chief Ashish Patel had said that even the offer of minister of state with independent charge would be acceptable, but her absence indicates even that was not offered."

When contacted, Apna Dal (S) MLA Rahul Kol, the son of the newly elected Robertsganj MP, also said that the decision was the prime minister's prerogative.

However, the explanation was not palatable to party insiders, who pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a ministerial berth to the RPI (A), though the party did not have a single MP, while the AIADMK, which got one seat, and the Akali Dal, which got two, also joined the government.

Apart from the prime minister, the Purvanchal region has got only one ministerial berth, with BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey being inducted as a Cabinet minister.

Supporters of Anupriya, who is in Delhi, feel that she might be accommodated in the government later, like the last time, when she was appointed a minister of state two years after Modi became the prime minister.

Even local BJP leaders say that the Apna Dal (S) is likely to be included in the government whenever the ministry is expanded at a later stage.

The Apna Dal (S) won two seats in Uttar Pradesh, same as last time, pushing the NDA's tally to 64 this time out of 80 Lok Sabha seats.

The NDA ally had got two seats in the alliance.

While Anupriya won from Mirzapur, Pakhauri Lal Kol won from Roberstganj.

The party, which has been with the NDA since 2014, enjoys clout among a section of the OBCs.

It is a Kurmi-based party.

The community constitutes nine per cent of the total state population and 24 per cent of the OBC population.

The alliance with Apna Dal (S), which was forged in 2014, had helped consolidate the Kurmi vote base in BJP's favour.

Its leaders project the party's victory from both the seats as its 100 per cent success rate which, they feel, should have been given due recognition.

A party leader said the expansion of the Yogi Adityanath government was on the cards and the Apna Dal (S), which has 9 MLAs and 1 MLC, might be accommodated.

At present, the lone minister of state from the party in the Adityanath ministry is Jai Kumar Singh 'Jackie'.

Party workers hope that some adjustments are likely in the UP Cabinet expansion, which might be carried out soon to fill vacancies caused by UP ministers being elected to the Lok Sabha.

There was another vacancy after SBSP leader OP Rajbhar was sacked for constantly embarrassing the BJP.

With less than three years to go for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, political analysts point out that the BJP is keeping its OBC allies at bay in the state.

Both the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and the Apna Dal (S) were crucial to the BJP's stupendous success in the 2017 Assembly elections when it won 325 out of 403 seats.

In just concluded Lok Sabha polls, these two OBC-centric parties helped the BJP consolidate its hold on non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits and crack the caste arithmetic of the SP-BSP alliance.

For her supporters, Anupriya's absence is not only shocking but has also led to apprehensions that development work initiated by her could be scrapped.

"The projects of road, medical college, central school, etc, which were started due to her initiative can be stopped midway," social worker Kiran Jaiswal feared.

"After a long time we were hoping that things will improve but now there are doubts about the development projects," rues Lalti Vishkarma, a daily wage earner.
A growing number of prominent ex-defense and security officials are joining Israels blossoming medical cannabis business in hopes of cashing in on a lucrative local industry that is beginning to take off.

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In January, Israels cabinet approved a law permitting the export of medical cannabis, thus paving the way for growers to expand into international markets. The countrys economy could reap hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the move, with the legal global market expected to reach $146.4 billion by the end of 2025, according to a recent report by Grand View Research.

A greenhouse growing cannabis on Kibbutz Revadim (Photo: EPA)

Last week, former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz was appointed chairman of a newly established medical cannabis company CFR. Last fall, former prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak was named chairman of another medical marijuana firm InterCure. In addition, ex-Air Force commander Ido Nehushtan chairs Cannasure Insurance Service, and Nitzan Alon, a retired major-general, is CEO of the cannabis cultivator Canndoc.

Earlier this year, former police commissioner Yohanan Danino was appointed chairman of Together Pharma, a company licensed to grow, export and distribute medical cannabis products.

It was very natural for me to come to Together Pharma and try to take it to very high levels with the big potential that I see in this field, Danino told The Media Line. Managers with a strong security background have experience that can be relevant to the unique, young and developing business world of medical cannabis.

Danino, who headed the countrys police force from 2011 to 2015, found himself in a rather singular position when he joined Together Pharma. Having once helped formulate stringent security guidelines for cannabis cultivators, he now has to follow his own rules.

Former Israel Police commmissioner Yohanan Danino (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

As police chief, I took care of the other side of cannabis: the illegal side. I put all the security demands on the growers that obtained the license, and now in my new position, I have to obey all the orders I gave many years ago, Danino chuckled.

The goal, he continued, is to ensure that this cannabis goes to the patients who need it according to the law.

Following his retirement, Danino was chairman of Migdal, one of Israels largest insurance companies. He revealed that several cannabis companies had approached him because of his extensive business experience in the private sector.

One factor that persuaded him to enter the medicinal marijuana sphere, however, was witnessing the positive impact the plant had on cancer patients. Ultimately, he realized that it was entirely different from the illegal recreational market he had encountered during his tenure as police chief.

Nevertheless, while serving as police commissioner, he called on the government to reexamine the laws surrounding recreational marijuana. In 2015, he said: I think its time for the police, along with the state, to reevaluate its traditional position.

How security comes into play

Security  on a domestic level as well as internationally, following approval for export  remains a major, ongoing concern in Israels medical cannabis industry, which is now entering uncharted territory. So it is perhaps no surprise that many former high-ranking figures in Israels security sector who are skilled at dealing with high-risk situations and unknowns, are highly sought after.

In March, there was an attempted robbery at a warehouse operated by Tikun Olam, one of Israels leading medical cannabis suppliers. Armed and masked thieves raided a facility located near the Sea of Galilee, marking the first such major cannabis theft attempt in Israel. Tikun Olam stated that its warehouse was empty at the time and nothing was stolen.

Every medical cannabis company in Israel must meet high quality standards in accordance with a broad range of Health Ministry guidelines, which correspond to growth, manufacturing, distribution and security processes. These rules specify that utmost attention be paid to security and that every permit holder must take necessary measures to prevent cannabis loss or theft.

Among the security concerns in the supply chain, the Health Ministry lists the involvement of criminal elements, theft, unauthorized persons using the drug and medical cannabis leaking into the black market.

Danino revealed that he had personally helped Together Pharma address such issues thanks to his professional expertise, and that he remains active in attempting to prevent medical cannabis from leaking into the black market.

I was police commissioner, and before that I used to be the head of intelligence and investigations, Danino elaborated. During that time, I was responsible for some aspects linked to regulations whose purpose was to avoid medical cannabis falling into the wrong hands.

The former commissioner asserted, however, that the chances of such leaks were almost nil due to industry protections already in place, ranging from physical precautions and security guards to cameras and other technologies installed at greenhouses and farms. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that cannabis has unique security needs because it is a plant grown outdoors and in greenhouses rather than being a pharmaceutical drug produced in a lab.

Theres also all the intelligence around the (industry): background checks on workers and on every move that is going to happen on the farms. Every cannabis company spends a lot of money on these issues, Danino says. Exports arent an issue if you know how to do it.

Medical cannabis (Photo: Shutterstock)

Defense brass propel industry forward

Some 40,000 Israelis currently rely on medical cannabis to treat a wide variety of health issues ranging from cancer to epilepsy and endometriosis.

Israels Health Ministry has seen a spike in the number of growers applying for licenses since the beginning of the year. So far, nearly 400 have passed the first round of the licensing process, which includes police checks as well as land-ownership verification. Yet only eight farms have so far completed all the tests and received permits for cultivation.

Yona Cymerman, COO of Can Innovation Finder, a firm that works with more than 30 Israeli canna-tech companies and some of the biggest licensed producers in Canada, believes the trend of high-profile figures from the security world joining the industry has both positive and potentially negative ramifications.

On the one hand, its great because it gives tremendous credibility to the industry. These (people) are globally recognized leaders in the military and political field with top-tier connections," Cymerman said.

Still, she added, I dont know how much they actually know about the cannabis industry and how much professional expertise they bring to the market. The cultivators need security on-site for handling, distribution, warehousing, etc., but they must have that in place before receiving a license to distribute."

Other industry leaders also highlight the important role such figures could play in propelling the medical marijuana industry forward in Israel from a business standpoint.

Most of these companies are raising money, and for this you need a good figure to open the door for you, and (one) who will be credible because its the cannabis industry, Dr. Orna Dreazen, founder and chairperson of Nextage Cannabis Innovation, a development platform for pharmaceutical cannabis-based products, told The Media Line.

A biochemist in the pharmaceutical sector, Dreazen notes that industry leaders have tended to seek out former defense and security officials and believes it was essentially Ehud Barak, the former prime minister and defense minister  and one of Israels most decorated soldiers  who led the charge.

Ehud Barak, the former prime minister and defense minister also in the business medical cannabis (Photo: Amit Sha'al)

Its like a domino effect, she explained. If Barak can do it and he thinks its a serious industry, why not (others)?

Indeed, Barak was the one who enlisted Alon, the retired general, as CEO of Canndoc. Alon is a former chief of the Israel Defense Forces Central Command was once the IDFs director for Iran-related issues.

A day after (I retired), I received a phone call from Ehud Barak, who said there was some fascinating space (for me to join), and I decided to jump in, Alon recounts.

In some ways, (the cannabis industry) is a very different realm, but there are similarities, he said, The cannabis industry is an evolving market that is characterized by a very dynamic environment, which is not so far from the intelligence and military world that I have some 35 years of experience in.

In addition to these similarities, Alon notes that his experience in security and collaboration with the police sector are helpful in dealing with some of the issues faced by the cannabis industry.

The business, he says, is like a puzzle with 1,000 pieces, and security is only one of them. Cultivation and agriculture are very precise and have very strict, rigorous (standards).

The former general also mentioned his expertise in research and development, as well as his extensive network of connections in Israels booming hi-tech industry.

Bringing technology to new markets

Indeed, aside from security and business opportunities, former defense officials could form crucial links between the medical marijuana sector and innovative technologies.

Lilac Mandeles, a chemist as well as founder and CEO of TechForCann, which seeks innovative technologies to incorporate into the cannabis industry, said she was not surprised that these senior figures were entering the cannabis fray.

Former defense officials are used to working with many defense technologies, cyber security and (are) very connected in many places around the world, Mandeles, who also sits on the board of the government owned Netzer Hasharon (formerly Israel Military Industries) added. They have the ability to step into businesses when theres a high risk and not a lot of information or certainty.

She believes that such people also have greater access to various technologies, including biotech and cyber, which could be of particular value.

The global interest in Israel is actually with the technology that they can bring to the industry, she elaborated. When you look at the medical cannabis industry, the technologies that are being used are not very high-end. The biotech and agritech areas are lacking new technologies.

This assertion is something Danino confirms as being part of his long-term strategy.

What I want to do in Together Pharma is not just grow (marijuana), because there will be growers all over the world, Danino emphasized. Its to take the technology and the research and turn it into a biotechnological company that can lead the (world).
Israel has seen an increase in the emigration of many of its most educated citizens to the United States, according to a new report by the non-partisan Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research, affiliated with Tel Aviv University.

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In the two decades prior to 2016, Israels population grew by nearly a quarter  to nine million  while the number of Israelis acquiring U.S. citizenship or permanent residency rights (a Green Card) rose by a little over 30 percent.

Dan Ben-David (Photo: Yaron Brener)

Prof. Dan Ben-David, who authored the new report, says the population leaving came from the segment most crucial to Israels success.

If a critical mass of the 130,000 leaves, all the rest are goners, he says, explaining that this small section of the population comprised much of Israels tax base.

Ben-David says that due to income inequality, 20 percent of the population paid 92 percent of Israels income tax.

Invariably, these are the ones who are most educated and the ones with options, and they leave.

Despite the many reasons Israelis would want to live in their country, conditions in Israel and modern technology making it easier to keep in touch and oftentimes make emigration more appealing.

Israel is quite unique in the sense that people have a strong (affinity) toward the country because of its history, because its the only Jewish country in the world, because of family connections, says Ayal Kimhi, professor of agricultural economics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and vice president of the Shoresh Institution.

Ayal Kimhi (Photo: Courtesy)

But we live in a global world, and especially for young people, it makes more sense for them find their future elsewhere.

Israel suffers from low labor productivity compared to other developed countries, which causes salaries to stagnate combined with a high cost of living.

Physicians are an example of a segment of the population that is leaving Israel, largely the result of more attractive earning possibilities in other countries, especially the United States.

Ben-David says that doctors in Israel also faced tougher conditions. You have to work a lot more hours and the caseload is greater. Its more difficult here, basically, than it is there.

According to the report, in 2006, the number of Israeli physicians working abroad in OECD countries was the equivalent of almost 10 percent of all physicians located in Israel. A decade later, that figure had grown to 14 percent.

Gav Yam high-tech park in Be'er Sheva (Photo: Lahav Dekel)

Despite Israel being the Start-Up Nation, Ben-David says that those who worked in high-tech still faced pressure to go to the U.S. There is a huge pressure on you to relocate and be closer to your investors and your markets, he says.

Approximately 3 percent of Israelis work in high tech, but the sector accounts for nearly 40 percent of the countrys exports, according to the report.

In addition, Israeli academics  that is, holders of academic degrees  are also leaving for Americas shores. Ben-David argues that this cohort was able to research more and teach less in the U.S., while still paying their bills. In Israel, people in academia often have to teach more classes and even take on other jobs to make ends meet.

A whole bunch of Israelis are now (working) at the top American universities, and so much so that you could actually populate completely new departments in Israel with the Israelis who are there, he said.

One such Israeli, who declined to be named in the piece and conducts research at a public university in Texas, tells The Media Line: In the last decade, Israeli governments have bluntly and carelessly prioritized two sectors in society, the settlers and the ultra-religious, over secular working and educated families and individuals.

"This manifests in the increased religionization of the public sphere (and) a culture of nepotism in government service that prevents educated people finding jobs there, and finally, lack of investment in higher education.

Prominent Israeli universities (Photo: Shutterstock)

According to the Shoresh Institutions report, in 2017, 4.5 Israelis that hold academic degrees left for every returning graduate. This was up from a ratio of 2.6 to one in 2014.

Ben-David contends that even though salaries in Israel were generally lower than in the U.S., improving factors such as education and infrastructure could be enough to get people to stay or even to return.

If Israel wants to keep all these guys here, its got to create conditions that will ease the burden on the (130,000 academics) shoulders, Ben-David says.

If the rest of the population does not play more of a major role in the economy, more and more of our young, educated and skilled are not going to stick around. Thats part of what were picking up on in the study.

According to Ben-David, one way to better conditions in Israel is to improve public transportation and invest in trains.

We have the ability to (connect) the entire country, at least from Haifa to Ashdod, and immediately eliminate most of the traffic jams, which would right away boost productivity, he says

Ben-David also argued that major structural education reform was needed to get Israelis to stay.

He added that the quality of teaching needed to be improved, noting that the teachers colleges in Israel had lower entry requirements than the universities.

The vast majority of teachers in Israel would never in their life get accepted into university, so how can we expect them to bring our kids to that level? he asked.

Ben-David advocated enforcing a mandatory core curriculum in all schools and improving the education of groups such as Arab Israelis, who comprise 25 percent of the child population. Their achievement in math, science and reading is below many third world countries.

Haredi schoolchildren (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Not educating people also has major consequences for Israels security. Ben-David points to the example of the Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox, who are given a partial education in secular subjects and are projected to account for half of the children in Israel within several generations.

Who is going to defend Israel? Who is going to develop the technology to shoot down missiles or (to do) whatever we will need when that comes around, and who is going to pay for all it? Ben-David says.

Its not a sustainable situation, and countries (can) fail. We get this opportunity (to live in an independent Jewish state) once every 2,000 years; we need to get it right.

Both Ben-David and the Hebrew Universitys Kimhi contend that pessimism about the future played a factor in why people emigrated.

We have a problem here, even beyond the economics: the (lack of) hope that someone will fix this country and put it on the right path, which may be a major influence in why people opt out, Ben-David says.

If the country is moving in the right direction, people will stay, Kimhi said. We have to show them a better future, but unfortunately the current political situation doesnt seem to (do that).

Ben-David believes that Israel still has time to change course so that more Israelis would stay.

Israel is the kind of nation that when its back is to the wall, it ends up doing the right thing. We just need to realize that we are now in that situation and that our back is to the wall, because if a critical mass leaves, (it will be) too late.

We are all in the same boat. We need to worry about where this titanic is headed, he says. Right now, its toward a big iceberg. We can change direction, but we need to get our act together.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's complicated relationship with an angry former protege has sent Israeli politics into uncharted waters.

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By triggering an early election, Avigdor Liberman has raised questions about the political future of the long-ruling prime minister who is bracing for expected criminal charges in a corruption case.

Netanyahu and Liberman in Knesset (Photo: AP)

He also has emerged as a feared kingmaker who could continue to threaten Netanyahu.

"They've been going at each other for years," said Reuven Hazan, a professor in the political science department at Hebrew University.

In coalition negotiations over the years, he said that Liberman has seemingly enjoyed dragging out talks "until the last minute."

The latest showdown, in which Liberman blocked Netanyahu from forming a coalition government, was the culmination of years of up-and-down relations between student and mentor. It ended in a vote early Thursday morning that dissolved parliament less than two months after elections and triggered another national vote in September.

In a further embarrassment to the infuriated Netanyahu, it happened just as President Donald Trump's Mideast team was arriving to promote a peace initiative. A lengthy Israeli election campaign adds even more uncertainty to the U.S. plan.

The rivals continued to exchange insults Thursday, with Liberman accusing Netanyahu of creating a "cult of personality" and the prime minister accusing Liberman of being a "serial toppler" of governments.

Liberman, a 60-year-old former nightclub bouncer, immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet republic of Moldova in the 1970s.

Liberman meets Hillary Clinton during his time as foreign minister (Photo: Reuters)

He got his start in politics as an aide to Netanyahu, serving as his chief of staff during his first term as prime minister in the late 1990s. He quickly resigned, however, to protest concessions Netanyahu made to the Palestinians and launched a new party, Yisrael Beytenu, appealing primarily to fellow Soviet immigrants.

That set the stage for one of the longest and strangest relationships in Israeli politics. While the U.S.-educated Netanyahu has cultivated an image as a telegenic and worldly statesman, Liberman speaks in a dour, Russian-accented monotone. While Netanyahu presents himself as a leader, Liberman is seen as a master backroom operator.

The sharp-tongued Liberman has been the source of countless controversies. He has referred to Arab lawmakers as terrorist "collaborators," calling for them to face the death penalty, and he led a failed attempt to require Arab citizens to take a loyalty oath. He has infuriated Egypt, a key ally, by suggesting that Israel bomb Egypt's Aswan Dam, and again by saying angrily that its then-President Hosni Mubarak could "go to hell."

Yet he has proven to be a valuable ally to Netanyahu, briefly merging their parties earlier this decade. He has used his influence to secure top posts, including foreign minister and defense minister, but also has feuded with him. He resigned as defense minister last year, accusing Netanyahu of being too weak toward Gaza militants.

Liberman and Netanyahu back in 2012 (Photo: AP)

"Liberman is very astute," said Ashley Perry, a former adviser. "He is a chess player literally and figuratively as he thinks long term and he sees the situation long term."

Perry said that despite Liberman's reputation as a polarizing figure, he has enjoyed strong working relationships across the political map.

After the April 9 election, Netanyahu appeared to be a lock for a fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, with his Likud party and religious and nationalist allies controlling a solid 65-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament.

But during six weeks of negotiations, Liberman drove a tough bargain in a dispute over Israel's military draft law. Unable to secure Liberman's support, Netanyahu was left one seat short of a majority and was forced to push for the new election.

Liberman appeared to be motivated by both political and personal reasons.

Liberman posts image of his family amid political turmoil

Though a staunch hard liner toward the Palestinians, Liberman also champions a secular agenda and has pledged to confront ultra-Orthodox influence over the country's secular majority. The dispute with Netanyahu focused on draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, a sore spot among secular Jews who are required to serve.

As his core immigrant constituency grows older or integrates into Israeli society, Liberman has sought to appeal to hard-line secular Israelis and rebrand his fast-shrinking party. Yisrael Beytenu won just five seats in the April election, down from 15 a decade ago.

Hazan, the political scientist, said Liberman realized during the campaign that the issue of secular rights was a winning one.

"There's nothing you can give him that is going to get him any further with his voter base. What he decided is to cut Netanyahu down to size," he said.

But the collapse of the new parliament also unleashed deep personal animosity. At a news conference Thursday, Netanyahu accused Liberman of betraying the public to save his party from extinction. "Liberman is the national toppler. He is a serial toppler of right-wing governments," he said.

Earlier Thursday, Liberman said the issue had nothing to do with political ideology.

"This is about a cult of personality," he said.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Liberman (Photo: AFP)

The new election campaign has suddenly made the long-dominant Netanyahu appear vulnerable. Israel's attorney general already has recommended that Netanyahu be charged with bribery and fraud in a series of corruption scandals, subject to a hearing scheduled in October.

With an election coming just weeks before the hearing, the corruption case is sure to be a key issue. And if Netanyahu wins, the corruption case will complicate his efforts to form a coalition, with his hopes shrinking for passing legislation granting him immunity.

For now, Netanyahu will continue to lead in a weakened capacity, as he has done since December, when he declared the previous election.

Throughout this period, Netanyahu has maintained a tough policy toward Iranian troops and their Hezbollah allies in neighboring Syria and has managed sporadic flare-ups of fighting in Gaza.

He tried to portray a business-as-usual image on Thursday, boasting to reporters about a series of meetings with U.S. officials, including presidential adviser Jared Kushner.

But as the U.S. promises to roll out a peace plan at an economic conference in Bahrain next month, it will likely be difficult for him to make any sweeping concessions.

Netanyahu meets Kushner to discuss Mideast peace plan (Photo: AFP PHOTO / Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem)

Despite their tense relationship, Netanyahu and Liberman could still find themselves together after the September election. Liberman said he would not back opposition leader Benny Gantz as prime minister. That could mean another round of tense negotiations between the old rivals.

Perry, the former adviser, said if Likud emerges as the largest party in September, he thinks Liberman will again recommend Netanyahu as prime minister and be ready to negotiate.

"What would be the reaction to that remains an open question," he said.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- A longtime city employee opened fire in a municipal building in Virginia Beach, killing 12 people on three floors and sending terrified co-workers scrambling for cover before police shot and killed him following a "long gunbattle," authorities said.

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Four other people were wounded in Friday's shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera.





Evacuees walk away from a building in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019.(Photo: Reuters)

The city's visibly shaken mayor, Bobby Dyer, called it "the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach."

Virginia Beach Mayor Robert M. Dyer, right. talks with other city and state officials after a news conference in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, May 31, 2019.

The shooting happened shortly after 4 p.m. when the veteran employee of the Public Utilities Department entered a building in the city's Municipal Center, and "immediately began to indiscriminately fire upon all of the victims," Cervera said.

Authorities did not release the suspect's name, instead choosing to focus on the victims during a news conference.





A police officer blocks a road to the Virginia Beach municipal complex, the site of a mass shooting, in Virginia Beach, Virginia on May 31, 2019. (Photo: AFP)

Police entered the building and got out as many employees as they could, then exchanged fire with the suspect, who was armed with a .45-caliber handgun, the chief said.

"It was a long gunbattle between those four officers and the suspect," he said. He said officers gave the suspect first aid after he was shot, but he died.

Police initially said the gunman shot and killed 11 people, including one who was found inside a vehicle outside the municipal building. Cervera later said one more died on the way to the hospital.

Police enter a building in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. (Photo: Reuters)

The shooting sent shock waves through Virginia Beach, the state's largest city and a popular vacation spot in southeastern Virginia.

The building where the attack took place is in a suburban complex miles away from the high-rise hotels along the beach and the downtown business area.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement he was devastated by the "unspeakable, senseless violence," and is offering the state's full support to survivors and relatives of the victims.

"That they should be taken in this manner is the worst kind of tragedy," the governor said during the news conference.

Rescue workers unload a stretcher from a helicopter following a shooting incident at the municipal center in this still image from video in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. (Photo: Reuters)

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911 and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door.

"We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe," she said. "We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasn't real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots."





A police canine unit stands by in this still image taken from video following a shooting incident at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2019. (Photo: Reuters)

"Thank God my baby is OK," Banton's mother, Dana Showers, said.

At a nearby middle school, friends and relatives were reuniting with loved ones who were in the building when the shooting happened.

They included Paul Swain, 50, who said he saw his fiancee from across the parking lot, clearly in an agitated state.

"I think she knew some of the people," he said.





Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera speaks during a news conference in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, May 31, 2019.

She said her husband initially called her from a barricaded room and said it sounded as if someone had been working with a nail gun. Then he saw the bodies.

"This is unbelievable for Virginia Beach," Cheryl Benn said. "By and large, it's a pretty calm and peaceful place to live."
MOSCOW - At least two people were missing on Saturday after blasts at the explosives plant Kristall in the central Russian town of Dzerzhinsk, Interfax and RIA news agencies reported.

"As we understand, two went missing," deputy governor Dmitry Krasnov was quoted by RIA as saying in a statement broadcast by Russian state TV channel Rossiya 24.

Some 22 people were injured, Interfax news agency reported citing a source. An official at the local health ministry said earlier that most of the injured have fragment wounds.
BERLIN -- Hundreds of people including prominent German politicians and members of the Jewish community were protesting against a larger, anti-Israel rally in Berlin on Saturday.

Police in the German capital were keeping the competing protests apart.
Two rockets were fired Saturday from Syria towards the Golan Heights, causing no casualties, the Israel Defense Forces said.

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A military spokeswoman said that the details were still being looked into and that it remained unclear who had fired the rockets and where they had landed.

IDF troops on the olan Heights (Photo: Illustrative/Shutterstock)

According to Golan Regional Council, "at 20:46, a report was received from the IDF Spokesperson's Office about two launches from Syria towards Mount Hermon."

The council said that, "one rocket landed in Syrian territory and the other was intercepted in an open area. We are in constant contact with the army and all the security forces. There are no special instructions for civilians."

The IDF Spokesperson's Office said that there had been no interception. The Hermon site said that the matter was being handled by the IDF.

Israel says that arch-foe Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, both of whom are fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad in the Syrian war, are trying to turn Syria into a new front against Israel.

In recent years, Israel has carried out multiple strikes against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria.

On Monday, the IDF said it attacked a Syrian anti-aircraft position that had fired on one of its warplanes, and Syrian state media said a soldier had been killed in the incident.
A sprinkler system will be added for safety and bathrooms will be remodeled to increase accessibility.

Throughout the building, new furniture and lighting will transform the look and feel of the space. The hope is that the LARC will provide not only the resources but also the environment that students will flock to. The look theyre going for is industrial chic. The team is evaluating energy-efficient and attractive lighting options and saying goodbye to the copious amounts of wood paneling in the library decor. Some of the mid-century retro fixtures and details will remain as a nod to the buildings 1969 origin. There will be more emphasis on natural lighting, as well. Every time we pull down a wall or remove a set of shelves, we see something different and we have so many new ideas, said Sikes. Its very exciting.
By ANI

PUNE: Former President Pratibha Patil on Saturday was conferred with "Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca" or Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico's highest civilian honour for foreigners.

The award was presented by Mexico's Ambassador to India, Melba Pria, at a special ceremony held in the MCCIA Bhavan, Pune.

Pria said the Order is the highest distinction given by the Mexican government since 1933 to foreigners for their prominent services to Mexico and to humanity.

Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa, along with 13 Indian nationals, including the first Vice president of India, preceded Patil. "This is also the first time that we have awarded the 'Aztec Eagle' to a woman," the envoy added.

On her part, Patil said, "I want to thank Mexico for conferring this prestigious award. This is the felicitation of the friendship of our two countries."

"India and Mexico are old civilizations. Both present vibrant and pluralistic democracies. We recognise each other on the international scenario and actively contribute to find creative solutions to global problems," she added.

"Congratulations to Former President of India Smt Pratibhatai Patil for 'Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca' (order of the Aztec Eagle), Mexico's highest civilian honour!," Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, tweeted.

"This award was presented in Pune today," he added. The award, which was created in 1993 by the then President of Mexico, Abelardo L. Rodriguez, is given to prominent heads of state or government, ambassadors after they have served in Mexico.
News

Washington, DC - During National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we acknowledge the significant ways Caribbean Americans have shaped our culture and heritage. Americans with roots in the Caribbean have greatly enriched our society, contributing to the arts, business, journalism, technology, government, religion, the military, sports, and many other fields.

Through his dedication to his faith, Joseph Sandiford Atwell exemplified the unyielding spirit of Caribbean Americans. Born in Barbados in 1831, Atwell moved to the United States in 1863 and attended the Philadelphia Divinity School. Following the Civil War, he went to spread Gods message of hope and love to the emancipated slaves in the South. Due to the strength of his ministry, he became the first black Episcopal deacon ordained in the Diocese of Kentucky and went on to become the first black Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Virginia.

Earlier this year, I met with the leaders of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia to reaffirm our partnership with the Caribbean. We discussed how we can bring greater prosperity to this important region, including potential opportunities for energy investment and enhanced trade partnerships. We made tremendous progress, and we will build on these discussions to strengthen further the relationship we share with our Caribbean neighbors.

This month, we recognize the vibrant culture and patriotism of Caribbean Americans that continue to bolster our country and enrich our lives, and we pay tribute to the strong friendship between the United States and the countries of the Caribbean.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2019 as National Caribbean-American Heritage Month. I encourage all Americans to join in celebrating the history, culture, and achievements of Caribbean Americans with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.

DONALD J. TRUMP
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.
PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will expand his cabinet on Sunday.

In Sunday's Bihar cabinet expansion, four new ministers, Ashok Choudhary, Neeraj Kumar, are likely to take the oath of office and secrecy.

Ahead of the Sunday's cabinet expansion, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar met state's Governor Lalji Tandon on Saturday.

Nitish Kumar's party Janata Dal (United) had on Thursday refused to be a part of PM Narendra Modi`s new cabinet, saying the BJP`s offer of only one ministerial berth was not acceptable to it.

"They (BJP) wanted only one person from JD(U) in the cabinet, so it would have been just symbolic participation. We informed them that we do not need it (cabinet berth)," Kumar had said.

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However, downplaying the issue later, Nitish said that it was ''not a big issue.''

"It is not a big issue. We are fully in the NDA and not upset at all. We are working together. There is no confusion."

The JDU chief even attended PM Modi`s swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, JD(U) won 16 seats in Bihar, while BJP bagged 17.

Despite being a part of the NDA, the party was also not part of the previous NDA government.

The BJP, however, is sharing power in the Bihar government with its leader Sushil Kumar Modi as the Deputy Chief Minister.
DELHI: A massive fire broke out at New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) building in Connaught Place on Saturday evening.

At least six fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire.

Delhi: Fire breaks out on the second floor of NDMC building at Connaught Place. 6 fire tenders rushed to the spot. pic.twitter.com/SxRxn7vfub  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

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The blaze was reported on the second floor of NDMC building at Connaught Place.

A Delhi Fire Brigade official told PTI that the fire department received a call about the blaze at 6.36 PM and six fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot.

The fire was brought under control by 7.15 PM, the official said.

However, what caused the fire is yet to be known.

No injury or casualty was reported due to the fire.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi Saturday said that Constitutional rights cannot be denied to country's Muslims.

If someone thinks that the Prime Minister will arbitrarily rule over India after winning 300 seats, it won't happen. (I) Want to tell the PM that (we) will fight back with India's Constitution, said the Hyderabad MP at a massive gathering in Makkah Masjid.

He added said people should not be bothered about BJP's return to power as the Constitution protects every citizen.

I will fight, openly contest. Now no one can not put any responsibility on me, we fought and were successful in Aurangabad. We got three lakh votes in Bihar, even there 'Mitro' could not be successful, he said.

We (Muslims) are hissedars (shareholders), not kirayedaars (tenants), he added.

Earlier, taking to Twitter, the Hyderabad MP wrote, Modi cant even better his own mediocre record. Record unemployment? Lowest GDP? Modi hai to mumkin hai Of course his core voter wont complain. Hes awake only when Gau lynching falls below 5% or when young Dalits ride a horse in their wedding baaraat.

The AIMIM won two seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik Saturday briefed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the security situation in the state, which is currently under the President's rule.

During the 15-minute meeting, the Governor apprised the home minister about the preparation for the Amarnath Yatra.

The 46-day-long yatra will begin on July 1, the day of Masik Shivratri, and would conclude on August 15, the day of Shravan Purnima.

Discussions were also held between the two on the law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley and the border areas besides various development issues.

"I have discussed security matters and development issues with the Home Minister," Malik told reporters after the meeting.

The Governor, however, said that the issue related to holding assembly elections in the state was not discussed as the matter was under the purview of the Election Commission of India.

Jammu and Kashmir is under the central rule since June 2018 and the assembly election is expected to be held later this year. Shah assumed charge as Home Minister on Saturday.
NEW DELHI: Week after offering his resignation, Congress president Rahul Gandhi was back on the podium trying to inspire his party to be formidable opposition in the Lok Sabha.

I realized quickly that 40 were enough to take on BJP. This time we are 52 MPs, will fight BJP every single day, said Rahul at the first Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting of the newly-elected party lawmakers in the national capital on Saturday.

Gandhi, who contested from two Lok Sabha constituencies this election, won from Wayanad but lost his traditional Amethi seat to BJP's Smriti Irani.

You are fighting for the right of every single member of the country, he said, adding, May be we will not get enough time in the house but even those two minutes would be ok to put down BJP.

Saturday's meet saw Sonia Gandhi being elected as the CPP leader once again. Speaking on the occasion, she said that it is an opportunity for the party to introspect and rejuvenate. The United Progressive Alliance chairperson and former Congress chief won UP's Rae Bareli constituency by defeating the BJP`s Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes.

Congratulating his mother, Rahul wrote on Twitter, Congratulations to Smt Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong & effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India.

Congratulations to Smt Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong & effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India. pic.twitter.com/iUcdB51tHE  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 1, 2019

Apart from Sonia and Rahul, the CPP meeting was attended by 50 other Lok Sabha MPs and Congress Rajya Sabha MPs. The meeting was held in the central hall of Parliament.

"Smt. Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party! She says, we thank the 12.13 Cr voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party," tweeted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Shri Rahul Gandhi thanked the voters & Congress workers. He says, every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the color of his skin or belief. pic.twitter.com/yMtE6IWUXo  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 1, 2019

As per reports, the lawmakers also brainstormed on the party's strategy for the upcoming session in Parliament. Congress received a massive drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, winning just 52 seats. The party failed to win a single seat in several states, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi etc. Taking moral responsibility of the defeat, Rahul decided to quit as the party chief during the Congress Working Committee meeting last Saturday (May 25).
Srinagar: An Army officer was injured in a firing incident in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, a defence spokesman said. "An officer deployed in the Pratap Pur Sector suffered gunshot wound at around 1050 hours today (Friday)," Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said. He said the injured officer was immediately evacuated to a nearby military hospital and is under treatment. Details of the incident are being ascertained, the spokesman said.

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The incident took place at the Siachen glacier in the region. The Siachen Glacier, in the Karakorum range, is the world`s highest battlefield. The troops deployed there have to battle the extreme weather and highly challenging terrain conditions, for maintaining the security of the borders of the nation.

The government spends around Rs 800 crore annually in import of Extreme Cold Weather Clothing System (ECWCS) and mountaineering kits for soldiers guarding the glacier at the heights ranging from 16,000 feet to 20,000 feet, according to official data.

Last year, the Army gave final touches to a long-pending project to manufacture specialised clothing, sleeping kits and key equipment for its soldiers deployed in the Siachen glacier. The items which will be produced in India include thermal insoles, snow goggles, ice axe, boots, avalanche victim detector, rock pitons, karabiner-related mountaineering equipment and sleeping bags.

The soldiers here have to battle frostbite and high winds. Avalanches and landslides are common at the glacier during the winter and temperatures can drop to as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius. According to official figure, the Army lost 163 personnel deployed at the glacier, the worlds highest battlefield, during the last 10 years. The Army first mooted the idea of indigenous production of the high-altitude clothing and equipment around 10 years ago.

India and Pakistan started deploying troops at the strategically key glacier in 1984. The sources said the high-altitude equipment are being divided into two categories. The first lot will be for those deployed in the range of 9,000 feet to 12,000 feet and second category will be for those guarding the border beyond the heights of 12,000 feet.
New Delhi: Newly-elected Lok Sabha MPs of the Congress will meet for the first time on Saturday and are likely to elect the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). The CPP is currently chaired by Sonia Gandhi and all 52 Lok Sabha MPs will be present at the meeting, besides its members in the Rajya Sabha, sources said.

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The meeting will be held in the central hall of Parliament and MPs will also chalk out its strategy for the upcoming session of Parliament, they said. In its first meeting after the constitution of the 17th Lok Sabha, the Congress MPs are also likely to elect their leader in the Lower House, the sources said.

They said this will be the first official meeting that Congress president Rahul Gandhi will attend after the meeting of the party's working committee held on May 25, where he offered to quit as Congress chief. The CWC has already rejected his offer to resign and unanimously passed a resolution authorising him to bring structural changes in the party at all levels in a bid to revamp it.
The Indian Air force (IAF) has lifted all temporary restrictions imposed on all air routes in the Indian airspace on February 27, a day after the Balakot airstrike. Taking to Twitter, the IAF made the announcement on Friday about the removal of restrictions that was earlier imposed by it. "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed," tweeted the IAF.

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India on February 26, had carried out airstrikes on terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad's (JeM) biggest training camp deep inside Pakistan's Balakot in a befitting response to the Pulwama terror attack. The airstrike on the JeM camp came 12 days after the terror group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 40 CRPF personnel on February 14. A day after the Balakot airstrikes, on February 27, a fleet of Pakistani fighter jets had unsuccessfully targeted various military installations in Jammu and Kashmir.

#Information : Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed.  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) May 31, 2019

The IAF foiled the Pakistani retaliation, and in the dogfight, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman downed an F-16 fighter jet of the Pakistan Air Force. Soon after he brought down the F-16, Wing Commander Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani Army as his MiG-21 Bison jet was hit but was released on March 1.

Pakistan had also kept its airspace fully closed after the Balakot airstrike. On March 27, it had opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. On May 15, Pakistan extended its airspace ban for flights to India till May 30 and on May 30 it further extended the closure of its airspace along its eastern border with India until June 15. According to a notice issued to airmen (NOTAM) by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Pakistan's airspace along the eastern border with India will remain closed until 5 am (local time) on June 15.

Due to the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. The flights from the US and Europe flying in and out of New Delhi are the worst hit. Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India. The operating cost for Air India, which flies to destinations in Europe and the US, has increased significantly as it had to take longer routes due to the closure of Pakistani airspace.

(with agency inputs)
NEW DELHI: Scorching heatwave conditions gripped large swathes of the country on Saturday as the mercury crossed the 50-degree mark in Rajasthan's Churu, while several other places endured maximum temperatures above normal with the weatherman saying there will be no respite until next week.

The national capital battled weather conditions in the "red category" as the maximum temperature recorded at the Palam observatory was 46.1 degree C, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The Safdarjung observatory recorded a maximum of 43.5 degrees Celsius.

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The India Meteorological Department on Friday issued the highest "red-colour" warning for the city. Mahesh Palawat of the Skymet Weather said heatwave conditions will persist in Delhi for another week and the maximum temperature will hover around 46 degrees Celsius.

Churu in the western part of the desert state of Rajasthan was the hottest placed in the country at 50.8 degrees Celsius, nine notches above normal, according to the met department office in Jaipur.

The entire state reeled under intense heatwave conditions with Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Kota recording their maximums at 49, 47.9, 47.2 and 46 degrees Celsius.

Jodhpur, Jaipur and Barmer registered their maximum day temperatures at 45.6, 45.2, 44.5 degrees Celsius.

In Uttar Pradesh, the highest maximum temperature was recorded in Banda at 48.4 degrees Celsius. Several areas in the state reeled under heatwave conditions.

The IMD said heatwave to severe heatwave conditions are very likely to prevail over Rajasthan, Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh during the next five days and over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and south Uttar Pradesh during the next three.

A heat wave is usually declared when the maximum temperature remains above 45 degrees Celsius for two consecutive days.

Heatwave conditions intensified in Punjab and Haryana also, with Narnaul (Haryana) sizzling at 47.2 degrees Celsius. Hisar experienced blistering heatwave conditions at 45.6 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal, as per a meteorological department report.

In Punjab, Amritsar and Ludhiana reeled under severe heatwave conditions with 45.7 and 44.1 degrees Celsius, up by five degrees above normal, respectively. Union Territory Chandigarh, the common capital of Punjab and Haryana, sizzled at 42.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal.

In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, at least four places recorded their maximum temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. The hottest place in the state was Una at 44.9 followed by Bilaspur 43, Hamirpur 40.6, Mandi 40.5 degrees Celsius.

However, capital Shimla and some other parts of the state got some relief from the scorching heat as thundershowers accompanied with gusty winds came towards the evening, Shimla MeT Centre Director Manmohan Singh said.

In the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Jammu city recorded a maximum of 43.6 degrees Celsius, 4.2 notches above season's average. While heatwave conditions continued throughout the day, there was a light duststorm in Jammu.

Elsewhere, the IMD said the maximum temperatures were markedly above normal (5.1?C or more) at many places over central Maharashtra and in some parts of Himachal Pradesh, west Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh and north interior Karnataka.

The maximum temperatures were 3.1?C-5.0?C above normal at most places in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Vidarbha and Marathwada and at a few places over Rayalaseema and Kerala.

The heatwave condition continued to prevail in the western part of Odisha while the coastal region encountered high humidity levels as 10 places in the state recorded maximum temperatures above 40 degree Celsius Saturday, IMD sources said.

Jharsuguda and Angul in the western region of the state recorded a temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius and 42.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday said that the monsoon in Kerala is likely to hit around June 6, a delay by four days. An IMD official said that at present the monsoon has covered some extreme parts of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea and Andaman Nicobar islands. In the next two or three days, it'll cover more parts of the Arabian sea, added the official.

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Earlier, in a press release the IMD had said, "This year, the statistical model forecast suggests that the monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be slightly delayed. The southwest monsoon onset is likely to set over Kerala on 6th June with a model error of  4 days."

The normal onset date for monsoon over Kerala was Saturday (June 1), which also marks the start of the rainy season over the region and relief from scorching summer temperatures. The IMD has been issuing operational forecasts for the date of monsoon onset over Kerala from 2005 onwards. An indigenously developed state of the art statistical model with a model error of  4 days is used for the purpose.

The 6 Predictors used in the models are; i) Minimum Temperatures over North-west India, ii) Pre-monsoon rainfall peak over south Peninsula, iii) Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) over South China Sea, (iv) Lower tropospheric zonal wind over southeast Indian ocean, (v) upper tropospheric zonal wind over the east equatorial Indian Ocean, and (vi) Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) over the south-west Pacific region.

IMDs operational forecasts of the date of monsoon onset during the past 14 years (2005-2018) were proved to be correct except in 2015.

If the monsoon arrives late, it will be third such instance since 2014 when it arrived on June 5, followed by June 6 in 2015 and June 8 in 2016. The delay in the arrival of monsoon may not necessarily have an impact on the overall rainfall. In 2018, it had hit Kerala on May 29, three days before the normal onset date. Yet, the country received 'below-normal' rainfall.

Similarly, in 2017, the monsoon arrived in Kerala on May 30, but the overall rainfall was 95 per cent of the long period average (LPA), which falls under the below normal category.

In its initial forecast released in April, the IMD had predicted a near-normal rainfall with an LPA of 96 per cent, which falls on the border of 'below-normal' and 'normal' rainfall category. On the other hand, the Skymet has predicted a 'below-normal' rainfall with an LPA of 93 per cent.
Delhi/Islamabad: Indian diplomats who had come for Iftar hosted by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad were allegedly harassed and manhandled by the Pakistani security agency officials on Saturday evening.

It has been reported that the Pakistani security officials misbehaved with them and some of them were even forced to turn back. The Pakistani officials even lifted their cars.

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Overall, the Iftar organised at Serena Hotel in Islamabad saw very minimal guests attending the event due to harassment of the invitees.

Speaking at the event, Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria said, I would apologise to all our friends who were subject to extra scrutiny.

During the event, the Indian envoy also spoke about the new government in Delhi led by PM Narendra Modi, which has recently taken charge.

Bisaria said, We had a new government which was sworn in just a couple of days. The new government comes with new hope, of new beginnings.

The tradition of Iftar hosted by the Indian mission was started some 12 years back by Sibi George, who is currently serving as India's Ambassador to Switzerland.

Harassment of Indian diplomats in Islamabad is not new. There have been several incidents in past in which supply of electricity to residences of Indian diplomats was abruptly and many of them being aggressively followed by the Pakistani security agencies. Last year in December, Pakistani authorities delayed gas connections to many Indian diplomats and blocked the internet facility given to them.

All this forced India to send several note verbale asking Pakistan's Foreign Ministry to investigate the incidents.

India, Pakistan Code of Conduct of 1992 says safety and security of the premises of diplomatic personnel, their families shall be respected and protected.
Newly-appointed Foreign Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in his first tweet on Saturday remembered his predecessor Sushma Swaraj.

My first tweet. Thank you all for the best wishes! Honoured to be given this responsibility. Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji, he said.

In his second tweet, Jaishankar tagged his colleague Minister of State V Muraleedharan and said We at Team @MEAIndia continue to be at your service 24x7 Happy to be leading the effort with my colleague MoS Muraleedharan ji

We at Team @MEAIndia continue to be at your service 24x7 Happy to be leading the effort with my colleague MoS Muraleedharan ji @VMBJP  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 1, 2019

The 64-year-old senior diplomat was a surprise pick in the Modi cabinet 2.0. The 1977-batch IFS officer has served as a foreign secretary from 2015-2018. He's considered an expert on China and the US and was a key member of the Indian team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal.

However, the day portfolios were announced, Jaishankar's son Dhruva Jaishankar stole some of his limelight with tongue-in-cheek tweets. Responding to an apparently misplaced request to the new Foreign Affairs Minister for help regarding visa or passport, Dhruva said, "Dude. Wrong Twitter". This was followed by a humorous clarification from Dhruva in which he said, "And before anyone asks, I can absolutely not help anyone with their passport, visa, or getting-you-out-of-a-foreign-prison problems." Dhruva added, "I have plenty of those problems myself (other than the prisons - I try to stay clear of those)."
NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi was once again elected as the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leader in the first meeting of the newly-elected Lok Sabha Congress MPs in the national capital on Saturday.

Sonia, who's also the current United Progressive Alliance chairperson, won UP's Rae Bareli constituency by defeating the BJP`s Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes.

"Smt. Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party! She says, we thank the 12.13 Cr voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party," tweeted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Smt. Sonia Gandhi elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party! She says, we thank the 12.13 Cr voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party. pic.twitter.com/H4z9i3dN8B  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 1, 2019

Apart from Sonia, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and 50 other Lok Sabha MPs were present in the meet. Congress Rajya Sabha MPs were also in attendance. The meeting was held in the central hall of Parliament.

As per reports, the lawmakers also brainstormed on the party's strategy for the upcoming session in Parliament. During electioneering, the Congress had been attacking the government over the issues of economic slowdown, unemployment and several other issues.

Congress received a massive drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, winning just 52 seats. The party failed to win a single seat in several states, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi etc. Taking moral responsibility of the defeat, Rahul decided to quit as the party chief during the Congress Working Committee meeting last Saturday (May 25).

Saturday's CPP meet was the Congress chief's first official meeting following the party's working committee meeting on May 25, where he offered to quit from the president's post. Gandhi, who contested from two Lok Sabha constituencies this election, won from Wayanad but lost his traditional Amethi seat to BJP's Smriti Irani.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: In a signal to Pakistan to open its airspace for commercial airlines, Indian Air Force has announced that all temporary restrictions imposed on Indian airspace post-Balakot airstrike have been removed.

Earlier this week, Pakistan civil aviation authorities had extended the closure of its airspace till June 14.

Pakistan had fully closed its airspace on February 27 after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot.

Pakistan opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.

Indian Air Force tweeted on Friday evening, "Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed."

#Information : Temporary restrictions on all air routes in the Indian airspace, imposed by the Indian Air Force on 27 Feb 19, have been removed.  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) May 31, 2019

Pakistan had given a special permission to India for then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly through Pakistani airspace to attend the SCO meet in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on May 21.

However, the airspace for other commercial airliners remains closed.

As a result of the ban, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan.

The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia.

The flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of New Delhi have been the worst hit.

Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.
Chennai: The Centre on Saturday stepped in to allay fears after Tamil Nadu-based political parties warned of a ''language war'' over Delhi's "attempt" to impose Hindi in the schools across the southern state.

Addressing their concerns, the Centre said that there was no intention to impose any language on anyone.

''There is no intention of imposing any language on anybody, we want to promote all Indian languages. It's a draft prepared by a committee, which will be decided by govt after getting public feedback,'' Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar on reported proposal of 3-language system in schools: There is no intention of imposing any language on anybody, we want to promote all Indian languages. It's a draft prepared by committee, which will be decided by govt after getting public feedback pic.twitter.com/t16JC3P8bf  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019

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It may be recalled that a bitter political row has erupted in Tamil Nadu over the draft proposal to continue the three language formula, which was seen as ''an attempt to thrust Hindi'' in the schools there.

The Tamil Nadu-based parties, which strongly opposed the proposal, alleged that it was ''tantamount to thrusting Hindi'' and called for it to be junked.

The Kasturirangan Committee has proposed to continue the three language formula in the draft National Education Policy.

Leaders cutting across the party lines in Tamil Nadu said the state has a history on the language issue and would not tolerate any imposition.

Warning the Centre, DMK president MK Stalin said that the BJP government should not even think in their dreams about the three language policy.

The DMK boss also warned that such "greedy" things will have serious consequences.

The comments from the DMK chief came a day after the recommendations of the Kasturirangan Committee came to the public domain.

Reacting to it, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president KS Alagiri said that people of Tamil Nadu will not allow the imposition of Hindi in the state.

He said Congress was not opposed to any language and it was up to the students to learn any language of their choice.

MDMK president Vaiko too joined the debate and warned that a language war will break out if any attempt is made to impose language in Tamil Nadu while a rebel AIADMK leader T T V Dinakaran said any such proposal would destroy Indian`s pluralism and make Tamils second class citizens.

Veteran Tamil actor and founder of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) Kamal Haasan said, "I have acted in many Hindi films. However, in my opinion, Hindi should not be imposed on anyone."

However, with the issue snowballing into a political controversy, the Centre stepped in to dispel apprehensions on the issue and said there was no move to impose any language on anyone.

(With Agency inputs)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will formally take charge of their respective ministries on Saturday, a day after the portfolios were allocated to them in the newly elected Narendra Modi government. The 58-member Union Council of Ministers includes those holding the 25 Cabinet ranks, nine Ministers of State (Independent charge) and 24 Ministers of state. While Shah has made his debut at the Centre with the Home Ministry after replacing Singh, the latter has replaced Nirmala Sitharaman as the new Defence Minister.

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Before taking charge of his ministry, Singh will visit the National War Memorial in Delhi. "Shall visit the National War Memorial tomorrow morning and pay tributes to our brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives in service to the nation. Later I shall be formally taking charge as the RM of this country. Look forward to further strengthen National Security and Defence," Rajnath said in a tweet.

Shall visit the National War Memorial tomorrow morning and pay tributes to our brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives in service to the nation. Later I shall be formally taking charge as the RM of this country. Look forward to further strengthen National Security & Defence.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 31, 2019

According to news agency ANI, the three services -- Army, Air Force and Navy have prepared a presentation for the new Defence Minister about their plans for modernisation.

Shah will take charge on Saturday at 11.30 am. Called as 'Chanakya' for his excellent organisational skills, Shah will have to address issues like scrapping the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution as promised in the party manifesto during the recent Lok Sabha election. Shah`s first responsibility will be to ensure that Pulwama like attacks on security forces or on civilians, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, do not take place for which he has to take steps to revitalize the security establishment. The other major issue that will come up for review in the Home Ministry will be whether to continue with the muscular anti-terror policy being pursued in Kashmir and whether the government would give an opportunity for internal dialogue with various stakeholders in the troubled state.

As India's new defence minister, Singh's one of the crucial challenges will be to ensure peace and tranquillity along the frontier with China while developing required military infrastructure to deal with any possible Chinese hostility. As he takes charge of the ministry just three months after India carried out air strikes on a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot, it is expected that he will continue with the policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross border terrorism. Containing infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan will be another key focus area. As the Defence Minister, Singh will face the challenge of strengthening the combat capabilities of the Army, Navy and the Air Force due to changing regional security matrix and geo-political dynamics.
New Delhi: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif's on-screen chemistry is adored by the audience. The duo has starred in several hit films together, the latest one being 'Tiger Zinda Hai' that released in the year 2017. Now, Kat and Sallu Bhai are awaiting the release of 'Bharat' which will hit the silver screens on June 5, 2019.

Ahead of the film's release, Salman shared a picture with his co-star on Instagram.

The actor is seen wearing a black tee with denims while Katrina looks like a breath of fresh air in an Orange saree.

Check it out here:

Bharat has been helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar and is one of the biggest releases of the year. It has some of the most talented actors of the industry on board. Besides Salman and Katrina, the film also stars Disha Patani, Nora Fatehi, Varun Dhawan, Jackie Shroff, Tabu and Sunil Grover to name a few.

Salman has various looks in the film as it is all about his journey from a cheerful youth to an old man, which is why we will get to see the actor in different avatars.
Washington: The Trump administration has exuded confidence that the US-India strategic relationship, which enjoys bipartisan support, will see a very positive trajectory during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term. PM Modi on Thursday took the oath of office, heading a 58-member ministry. He led his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) towards a resounding victory, winning 303 seats in the 542-member Lok Sabha.

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"This is really a resilient partnership. It enjoys bipartisan support. It has the structures and it has a strategic commitment in place to take advantage of our leaders' vision. I anticipate a very positive trajectory moving forward," a senior State Department official said Thursday.

As was evident in the tweets, statements and phone calls from the US President, Vice President and Secretary of State after the Indian elections, the US looks forward to working with Prime Minister Modi and his government in the second term, the official said. "We do expect that our strategic partnership will continue to flourish under his leadership," the official added.

Recalling Modi's 2017 visit to the US, the official said that President Trump and the Indian prime minister enjoy a warm relationship and personal chemistry. "You saw that when the prime minister was here in June of 2017. That means that the sort of the geopolitical compulsion to this relationship is matched by a personal leadership commitment to advance relations," the official, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

According to the official, Trump and Modi will meet in Japan on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit next month in Osaka, Japan. A trilateral meeting involving the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been planned, the official said. The partnership encompasses cooperation on a broad range of economic, defence and security issues and stands on the foundation of extensive people to people ties and shared democratic values, the official said.

"There's been significant momentum in the relationship since the Prime Minister's visit to Washington with the 2+2 mechanism that was developed last year. The meetings between our ministers of foreign affairs and defence will continue to serve as a strategic vehicle for our engagement with India," the official said.

"It capped off last year with a signing of a secure communications agreement that was 10 years in the negotiations and represented a breakthrough and our ability to achieve military interoperability. "We are looking forward again to early high-level contact with the Modi 2.0 government. We will have the G-20 meeting opportunity between our heads of state," the official said. There will be senior level participation at US-India Forum in New Delhi in August. There will be a 2+2 intercessional and maritime security dialogue in August and a 2+2 ministerial in early fall.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be speaking at the June 12 US-India Business Council's India Ideas summit in Washington. According to the official, the mechanisms for this engagement reflect what are now very developed habits of cooperation between the two countries that are allowing them to push the agenda much more rapidly in the past.

Much of the expansion in this relationship has been a result of the Indo Pacific strategy and this common vision that the two countries share secures a rules-based free and open Indo-Pacific region, the official said. The two countries, the official said also share complimentary visions based on democratic norms and rule of law.

"We also share concerns. Concerns about predatory lending, lending and norm-defying practices that have been seen in the region. That's why you've seen the US and Indian Navy's alongside those of Japan and the Philippines conduct a group sail for the first time ever in the South China Sea this month," the official said.

"We're also looking forward to our first ever tri-service military exercise involving the US and India Navy Air Force and army at the end of this year to further increase interoperability. And you'll continue to see forward movement on defence enabling agreements that will further deepen our information sharing and interoperability," the official said.
During an interview granted to correspondents of the Vietnam News Agency, the diplomat also shared his countrys experience in undertaking the role as the non-permanent member of the UNSC, and pointed to challenges that will face Vietnam in the work.

A session of the UN General Assembly will hold a vote on June 7 for five non-permanent member positions of the UNSC, including one for the group of Asian-Pacific nations - which Vietnam is representing.

Dian said Vietnam has well prepared in recent months, predicting that the country will not face any problem in the upcoming vote.

A session of the UN Security Council in New York (Source: VNA)

Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also greatly supported Vietnam because the bloc also wants its member countries to be present in the council.

If Vietnam wins the election, it will have only six months to get a thorough grasp of procedures and regulations of the council in order to well assume its position in the next two years, he said, stressing that careful preparation for this is very important and necessary.

He expressed his belief that if Vietnam is elected, it would do well its responsibilities at the UN Security Council.

The diplomat emphasized that Vietnam will contribute greatly to the council because it is very reliable, and works on principles.

Vietnam has sent personnel to UN peacekeeping forces and there are many other areas in which the country can contribute when becoming a non-permanent member of the Security Council, he noted.

As Indonesia was the rotary president of the UN Security Council in May, the ambassador also shared experiences in coordinating cooperation with other members of the council which have different viewpoints, especially the five permanent members, to maintain unity within the organisation./.
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: If everything goes as planned, Bihar would become the first state in India to have one high school in each panchayat by 2020. The decision was announced following the meeting of the education department held with CM Nitish Kumar and deputy CM Sushil K Modi on Saturday.

Official sources said that each of the purposed high school in every panchayat will be equipped with the smart class facilities besides all other essential facilities required for providing quality education to the pupils.

The posting of qualified teachers would be made and their attendance would be monitored through a hi-tech app developed by the education department. In Bihar, there are 8,463 panchayats and each of them would have a high school based on co-education.


By PTI

NEW DELHI: Rajanth Singh on Saturday took charge as the defence minister and immediately held a meeting with the top military brass.

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik, Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and top officials of the ministry accorded a warm welcome to Singh.

ALSO READ | Challenges of modernising security forces, speeding up Tejas project await Rajnath

After taking charge, the former home minister held a meeting with Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and newly appointed Navy chief Karambir Singh.

The defence secretary and several other senior officials of the ministry were also present at the meeting.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: Displaying the true traditions of 'Kashmiriyat', a tourist guide sacrificed his own life to save five people, including two visitors from West Bengal, after their raft capsized in Lidder river flowing through the picturesque South Kashmir resort town of Pahalgham.

Rouf Ahmed Dar, a registered professional rafter, cared a little about his life and jumped into the river when the raft overturned near Mawoora after it was caught in sudden gusty winds.

The five people, three locals and a couple from West Bengal, were onboard the raft when the tragedy struck it Friday evening at the rafting point in Pahalgham, 96 kms south of Srinagar.

Quoting eyewitness, officials said that Dar, who was escorting the couple as a tourist guide, had initially swam to safety. But on seeing the others getting drawn into the water, wasted no time and jumped into the water again and managed to save them, they said.

A search and rescue operation was launched immediately afterwards and teams of State Disaster Response Force were joined by the police and locals.

The searches continued until late hours, but were abandoned due to darkness, they said.

The body of the brave tourist guide was retrieved Saturday morning near Bhawani bridge and was handed over to his relatives after medico-legal formalities, they said.

"It was actual demonstration of Kashmiriyat, which teaches love brotherhood and care, displayed by Dar, who successfully saved five people including two domestic tourists, in the true spirit of trademark Kashmiri hospitality," said Deputy Commissioner (Anantnag) Khalid Jehangir.

On directions of chief secretary B V R Subrahmanyam, an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh has been sanctioned for the 32-year-old Dar's kin, who is survived by his parents, brother and wife.

The two tourists -- Manish kumar Saraf and Sweta Saraf hailing from Nandan Nager, Kolkata -- were taken to Srinagar.

They said they have got a second life thanks to Dar, a senior police official said.

Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, has recommended Dar for bravery award, the officials said, adding the chief secretary also hailed his bravery and directed the district administration to support his family.

State tourism in-charge and the advisor to Governor Satya Pal Malik Khursheed Ganai offered his condolences on loss of Dar's life.

"Without caring for his own life, Dar braved strong currents of river Lidder to save five people from drowning. It was an ultimate sacrifice one can offer."

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah also expressed condolences.

"My salute to this braveheart Rauf Ahmad Dar. He saved the tourists from his capsized raft but lost his own life in the process. May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannat."

Pradesh Congress chief G A Mir described Dar as a symbol of true Kashmiriyat.

BJP State General Secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul expressed grief over Dar's death and offered his deepest condolence to the family.

Koul appealed the Governor's administration to provide full support to Dar's family.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was on Saturday elected as the leader of Congress Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha by the Grand Old Party's newly-elected MPs.

The meeting of the MPs was held in Central Hall of the Parliament House and was also attended by party's Rajya Sabha members.

"We thank the 12.13 Crore voters for reposing faith in the Congress Party," said Sonia after her election.

In her speech after being elected the CPP leader, she called upon party MPs not to let their guard down and urged them to play the role of an effective opposition and ensure better coordination and cooperation with like-minded parties in Rajya Sabha.

She told the members that the issues they raise in Parliament must resonate in the minds of the party workers and with the public.

She also said that the party will play a constructive role in supporting the government in reform measures but will oppose it for it "divisive and regressive actions".

Party chief and Sonia's son Rahul Gandhi, who has offered to resign following party's performance in Lok Sabha election, said: "Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution, for every person in India irrespective of the colour of his skin or belief".

"Congratulations to Smt Sonia Gandhi on being elected Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Under her leadership, the Congress will prove to be a strong and effective opposition party, that will fight to defend the Constitution of India," he tweeted.

ALSO READ | We all would like to see Rahul as Congress chief, says NDA leader Ramdas Athawale

Sources said the Congress Parliamentary Party authorised Gandhi scion to pick the party's leader in Lok Sabha.

Sonia, in her speech, lauded the role of Rahul during the Lok Sabha polls.

Lauding Rahul Gandhi's role as party chief, she said, "I also take this opportunity to whole-heartedly thank Rahul Ji for his valiant and relentless campaign. As Congress President, he has given his all and toiled night and day for the Congress party."

She said Rahul demonstrated his "fearless leadership" by taking the Modi government head on and highlighted the "injustices" carried out against farmers, workers, traders and small businesses, against the youth, women and the marginalised sections of society.

She said Rahul has rejuvenated the Congress organisation in many states, and most recently led the party to victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

"As Congress President, he earned the respect and love of every worker and crores of voters across the length and breadth of our country. Even as I speak, emotional messages are coming from all corners, vindicating his leadership. We all express our gratitude to him for his sincerity of purpose, his relentless effort, his hard work and leadership," she said.

On the reducing strength of the party in Rajya Sabha, the new CPP leader said as numbers will be challenged, it is even more important to ensure better coordination and cooperation with like-minded parties.

ALSO READ | Mizoram Congress extends support to Rahul Gandhi

Gandhi's name was proposed by former prime minister Manmohan Singh and seconded by Jharkhand MP Jothimani S and Kerala MP K Sudhakaran.

She has convened a meeting of senior leaders in the afternoon to decide on the matter.

"In this time of crisis, we must acknowledge the numerous challenges confronting the Congress party. The Congress Working Committee met a few days ago to deliberate the next steps and the way forward for us. Several decisive measures to strengthen the party are being discussed," she told the MPs and leaders, while hinting at changes in the party that are in the offing.

The sources say that the party is discussing several proposals, including installing a non-Gandhi as the party chief and a body of senior leaders that acts as a guiding force to the new president.

She said even though the party had 44 MPs in last Lok Sabha and about 55 in Rajya Sabha, under Rahulji's leadership the Congress party has fought bravely to expose the government's misdeeds and congratulated the MPs for their hard work.

"We were in the forefront of ensuring that some of the UPA's historic Acts were not diluted. At the same time, we cooperated with the government on a series of reforms, with constructive suggestions. This time too, we will support progressive and inclusive policies but oppose the government strongly whenever they undertake divisive and regressive actions," she said.

The MPs will also elect the Congress leader in Lok Sabha and chalk out the party's strategy for the upcoming session of Parliament, they said.

This was the first official meeting that Congress president Rahul Gandhi attended after the May 25 meeting of the Congress Working Committee, where he had offered to quit as party's chief after the debacle in the Lok Sabha Polls 2019.

The CWC has already rejected his offer to resign and unanimously passed a resolution authorising him to bring structural changes in the party at all levels in a bid to revamp it.

There have been several representations from across the country, asking Rahul Gandhi to continue leading the party. He met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy, who had also called him to stay as Congress chief.

(With PTI inputs)
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: Four of a family including a woman and a minor were crushed by a speeding truck near Fakuli on Patna-Muzffarpur highway in Muzaffarpur district.

The mishap took place on Saturday morning when the four were on their way to Muzaffarpur on a motorbike. The police said a heavy commercial truck- Heawa, coming from opposite direction in reckless speed crushed all the four riding on a motorbike killing all of them on the spot. Soon after the mishap the locals rushed to the spot and informed the police.

The corpses were sent to the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital for the postmortem. "It was the worst mishap ever seen by me in last 30 years of job in police" said a cop after he reached the spot. The kid died grabbing his mother and the heads of two youths, one of them driving the motorbike,were crushed beyond recognition.

As a result of this mishap, traffic movement on the NH77 remained halted for half an hour.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Amit Shahs appointment as the Home Minister will probably mean taking tough decisions such as implementing the NRC across the country and annulling Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.

Efforts will also be made to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), another key promise made by BJP.

Also, a push for abrogating Article 370 is expected.

Experts said it was difficult to say if the government would be able to achieve these tasks because there are legal and practical hurdles. However, the government will certainly push these issues because they brought it huge electoral gains.

The BJP in its manifesto had said it was committed to annulling Article 35A which grants special rights and privileges to the natives of Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah has been the most vocal and strident voice on such issues.

He has reiterated his partys position since the time of the Jan Sangh for the abrogation of Article 370, which allows a separate flag and constitution for the state.

On illegal immigration, Shah has promised the adoption of NRC across the country.

Currently, the NRC is being updated in Assam.

Political commentator Mahendra Lama had earlier told this newspaper that countrywide NRC did not seem like a good idea when there was a lot of confusion over the process. At his poll rally at Raiganj in West Bengal, Shah had likened illegal immigrants to termites.

Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Management Ajai Sahni said the government will need a two-thirds majority in both Houses to pass the CAB and to abrogate Article 35 A and 370.

They have a nearly two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha but they are far from it the Rajya Sabha. It is not even credible to believe that they can pass these laws. They dont have the numbers. Also, for fulfilling the promise on Articles 35 A and 370, they need to pass the proposal through state assemblies too, Sahni said.

He asserted that these promises were election driven.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 and ease the process of granting citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Anti-CAB campaigners say that the Bill is anti-Muslim and against the spirit of the Assam Accord.
By PTI

KOLKATA: Setting the stage for escalation of the fight with the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday asked the party leaders to recapture TMC offices allegedly "occupied" by the saffron party as early as possible.

The TMC chief, who held an extended core committee meeting of the party, appointed her brother Kartik Banerjee and state minister Bratya Basu as the president and chairman respectively of the party's frontal 'Jai Hind Bahini'.

TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar was appointed the chairman of 'Banga Janani Bahini', another frontal organisation. The two organisations, which she had launched on Thursday, will "counter the growth" of the RSS in the state.

The TMC supremo also hit out at a section of the party leaders who had "surrendered" to the lure of money given by the BJP and termed them as "traitors".

"We have been told to recapture the party offices which had been occupied by the BJP workers after the Lok Sabha polls as early as possible," a senior party leader said after the closed-door meeting.

"She (Banerjee) said the people of Bengal will never forgive traitors. They will get a befitting reply," the TMC leader quoted her as saying.

Banerjee cracked the whip against internal strife and revamped the party by clipping the wings of several leaders and giving new responsibilities to several old timers. She told party leaders to reach out to the masses and expressed confidence that the TMC will bounce back in the days to come.

"We have been asked to reach out to the masses and increase the connect with them. We have been told to bring back the old timers to the party fold," the leader said.

Banerjee also directed her partymen to organise small meetings and gatherings in areas where the party was defeated.

"We have been asked to prepare a complete report on grievances of the masses," the TMC leader said.

Senior party leader Suvendu Adhikari was given the responsibility of various districts.

The TMC chief had last week effected several changes in the party organisation in Jhargram, West Burdwan, Malda, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad Purulia, Bankura, West Midnapore and Nadia districts after the party's poll debacle.

The BJP has won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, only four less than the TMC's 22. The remaining two seats were bagged by the Congress, while the Left Front drew a blank.

Meanwhile, TMC social media cell joint convenor Suparno Moitra resigned citing personal reasons. He had played a key role in shaping the party's social media campaigns in the recent general elections.
Santwana Bhattacharya By

India exists in ironies. Narendra Modi is here with a renewed, vastly improved mandate, by which he has consolidated his grip over the Delhi Durbar - the all-powerful Lutyens zone - above the sulking heads of the so-called Khan Market gang (the poor shopowners in Delhis upmarket bazaar are in any case BJP voters-turned-Modi bhakts). With a lot of people likely bending backwards to prove their allegiance to the new order, Modi can now lord over Parliament. The Rajya Sabha, which had marred his 2014 victory march, too is within striking distance - even NDA allies could become redundant.

Modi has, in fact, done better than Indira Gandhi. Theres no point in bringing Rajiv Gandhis still unparalleled mandate here, because that came as a reaction to Indiras brutal assassination, and he was Indias most apolitical prime minister. The irony is that Modi, even when he creates history in bold letters, essaying a transformational election, he is and will be compared to Indira. Its also ironical that India, that ancient and young place, has to go back to a woman icon as an ultimate measure of power and strength. However powerful Modi is - and indeed, India has not seen such a powerful PM in decades - he cannot escape the comparison with the woman who similarly transformed herself, her party, and India too, in many irreversible ways, winning a war to boot.

When Modi creates unforgettable moments in the linear history of Indian democracy, whether by winning an unparalleled majority or by appointing the first full-fledged woman Finance Minister of India in Nirmala Sitharaman, its Indira who lurks behind, competing with him on whatever track record he sets. If Indira lurched to the left, creating a tectonic shift, shaking up the placid waters of the Ganga and Cauvery, wrenching a centrist Congress out of its groove, Modi would be credited with the rightward lunge of the Indian polity. (Even if he has taken a careful centrist position in his post-victory speeches and now with his Cabinet, inducting the likes of S Jaishankar.)

The similarities are many. Neither Indira nor he is known for any academic excellence, but both were/are adulated by the masses and the classes alike. Both pegged themselves successfully as champions of the poor, and used overt religious iconography to their advantage. Both came in points of Indias political history where their arrival marked of a pre- and post- phase. Under both, India changed. Make no mistake, theres nobody else who remotely compares to these two political phenomena; both had to measure up to their predecessors (Nehru and Vajpayee), both have triumphed over the inherited legacy.

However, there begins the difference. And there lies the real narrative of this election. Indira propagated a dynasty (the seeds of which were sown early on), Modi is an ideological heir. One emasculated the party and shrunk it into a coterie of family loyalists, the other has expanded the partys footprint such that its created a New Order of Things. Both, however, are in a way rebellious challengers of the status quo they inherited.

So, make no mistake, Amit Shah may be Modis heir apparent, he may have closed the gnawing gap between his mentor and himself, from the time he was an ordinary karyakarta and an MoS for Home in Gujarat, to the point where hes about to assume charge of a crucial ministry once held by the likes of Sardar Patel or L K Advani. But hes still a satellite, deriving power from the all-powerful leader. His enviable election management has felled the once formidable Congress, the Left and at least three state satraps. But he remains an ace implementer of an agenda set by Modi, hes not a political sui generis. Whether Shah will finally grow to succeed Modi depends on if/when Modi decides to relinquish power, at his pleasure.

Unlike Modi, who wrenched power through brilliantly deployed mass politics and would be talked about in terms of representing an idea, Shah would be known for strategy. Shahs emergence itself is a triumph of Modi over the fountainhead organisation, the RSS. Shah, as BJP chief, as Home Minister and a possible heir, have all been crafted by Modis power and sway, not through deference to the Sangh. Yes, Modi has never taken on the Sangh in the way Vajpayee did - the latters grounding and political grooming of sorts in Parliament created that. Modis biggest influence still remains the Sangh.

Theres also no better exemplifier of Modis grit than this mandate, read against Decembers Assembly election results. He had no doubt that he would be winning - answering a young student, he had said May 2024 would be a contest, Tab tak main hoon (Till then, its me). He has also been cleared of the clutter of a generation of leaders who were either his contemporaries or were mentored by Vajpayee-Advani. Its a quirk of fate that ill-health has caught up with Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj - and three powerful heartland CMs (Shivraj Chouhan, Raman Singh, Vasundhara Raje) have lost their states. Former patriarchs Advani and M M Joshi, long sidelined, have now been granted the sight of a mandate earned without them contesting. In Cabinet meetings, Rajnath Singh, relegated to Defence, is going to be a loner among a much younger generation - most of whom are Modis creations and proteges. It certainly is a classic Modi moment that a swearing-in ceremony appeared like a Cabinet expansion, the pomp and grandeur and the BIMSTEC notwithstanding. As if the elections were just a diversion, a small punctuation, in between ongoing work.

(The author is Resident Editor, Karnataka. She can be reached at santwana@newindianexpress.com)
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: In his second term as a Union minister, D V Sadananda Gowda is looking forward to completing a lot of projects he had previously taken up during his stints in various ministries, especially for his home state, Karnataka.

He lauded PM Modi for choosing a 2.0 team packed with members known for their sincerity, honesty and commitment. It may be recalled that Sadananda Gowda is seen as one of the cleanest Chief Ministers of Karnataka and enjoyed a squeaky clean image even as a central minister.

Having handled the posts of Law Minister, Railways Minister, Minister for Statistics and Planning as well as taking over the Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry after HN Ananth Kumars death, Gowda says there is a lot more work to be done and that he is raring to have another go, working this time around, with greater speed.

For Karnataka, having Gowda at the centre is likely to result in more attention to the states woes. As Law Minister, Gowda had rendered his assistance to Karnataka in water disputes while as the Railways minister, he had worked on setting up the suburban rail service for Bengaluru.

ALSO READ | Informal Karnataka GoM soon, courtesy Sadananda Gowda

Talking about the Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry, Gowda said, Five of our important fertilizer plants in Ramagundam, Barauni, Talcher, Sindri and Gorakhpur that had shut down are being revived at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore. With this the costs will go down and people will benefit.

More work at greater speed

What are your priorities as Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers?

This is my second stint and the aim is to do more work at a greater speed.

Other areas of focus?

I am working to make several medicines cheaper, including generic drugs and cancer medicines.

ALSO READ | A first time for everything: Mantri Joshi raring to go

How can you help Karnataka mitigate the effects of drought?

As Law Minister I helped in the Cauvery water Case, the Upper Krishna Case and in other river water issues.

Will you continue your push for sub-urban rail for Bengaluru?

As Railways minister, I worked on setting up suburban rail with Rs 17,000 crore approval in six locations --Nelamangala, Ramanagaram, Chickballapur and so on with HN Ananth Kumar.
Naushad Bijapur By

Express News Service

BELAGAVI: A popular leader from North Karnataka and four-time MP of Belagavi, Suresh Angadi, who took over as Minister of State for Railways in the Modi cabinet has slammed the Karnataka government for several railway projects failing to take off in the state.

According to him, several projects, including the Bengaluru sub-urban rail system, would have been executed smoothly had the state government cooperated with the Centre. Several initiatives taken by the Centre to develop Karnatakas rail network met with failure during the first term of the Modi government, he said.

Angadi also said that it would be possible to give a new direction and shape to Railway policies if he had the local support of state governments. It is my first day in office and I would want to have a long list of works to start, especially for Karnataka, he said.

Sharing his objectives as MoS for Railways with TNIE, Angadi said, I will find out which areas needed what kind of facilities before going ahead with the works. You will definitely see a change in the railway sector soon, Angadi said.

While he may be a first-time minister, he is quite aware of the problems that the Railways faces in Karnataka. For the last 15 years, Angadi was involved actively in several agitations demanding development of the railway sector in North Karnataka, especially in Belagavi and Hubli region. He has been instrumental in getting three railway overbridges built in the last three years in Belagavi city which have eased traffic congestion to a great extent.

Suresh ANGADI

Railways will develop under my leadership

Did you expect a berth in the Union cabinet or is it a surprise?

I was expecting a berth in the Union cabinet after my fourth victory as an MP in Belagavi.

Are you content with the portfolio allotted to you?

For that matter, I would have accepted any portfolio and not only the railways which has been allotted to me.

What are your top priorities as MoS Railways?

Most of the major pending works which are needed to be implemented will be completed on to priority, be it Karnataka or any other region.

Do you think the state got its due in railway sector ?

Many works of the Railway Ministry were not implemented in Karnataka due to the non-cooperation of the state government in the last few years.

Do you have plans for development of railway sector in sub-urban Bengaluru?

To ensure that the railway sector in sub-urban Bengaluru developed at a fast pace, I will hold discussions with leaders in Karnataka.
On May 25th, the House of Representatives of Thailand elected Chuan Leekpai from the Democrat Party as its new speaker, following a general election held on March 24th.

Newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand Chuan Leekpai (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

Meanwhile, Suchart Tancharoen of the Palang Pracharath Party and Supachai Phosu of the Bhumjaithai Party have been named first and second deputy House speakers, respectively.

Thailands parliament will convene a joint meeting of both the upper and lower houses on June 5 to elect the countrys new prime minister.

Previously on May 24th, former President of Thailands National Legislative Assembly (NLA) Pornpetch Wichitcholchai was elected as the new speaker of the Senate with a five-year tenure.

The same day, Singsuek Singphrai, a former member of the NLA, and Supphachai Somcharoen, a former member of the Election Commission, were voted as deputy speakers of the Senate.

The new PM must garner a minimum of 376 out of 750 votes in the parliament meeting./.
Anusha Ravi By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: In February this year, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, on the floor of the House, ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into an alleged audiotape of BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa attempting to poach legislators.

The SIT was to submit a report within 15 days on Yeddyurappa purportedly claiming to have paid Rs 50 crore to Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. Four months down the line, the entire idea of an SIT has been given a quiet burial.

With the coalitions survival hanging by a slender thread, Congress and JDS do not want to do anything that could jeopardise the situation any further.

The SIT probe that was ordered on the insistence of Ramesh Kumar has been buried deep much to the convenience of the coalition, the BJP and Ramesh Kumar himself.

The entire seven-day budget session in February was stalled with the House clocking barely 15 hours over the controversial poaching tapes.

Kumaraswamy had ordered the SIT probe on Ramesh Kumars insistence despite BJPs stiff opposition. The entire exercise now looks like a charade with the government taking no steps to even form an SIT leave alone launch an investigation.

Four months have passed by and not a single officer has been identified to be part of the SIT. It is highly unlikely that the proposal will move forward given the political situation in the state. It is as good as dead, said a source from the Chief Ministers office confirming that no order or notification has been issued so far for the formation of the SIT.

With the coalition trying hard to keep its numbers intact, ministers in the government believe that raking up the SIT will only cause more trouble.

Nobody wants to stir up a hornets nest given the current scenario, said a Congress minister saying that it was in everybodys best interest not to rake up the issue at least for now.

Leaders of the JDS said that party supremo H D Deve Gowda has asked Kumaraswamy not to pursue the matter.

It will come as an embarrassment to Yeddyurappa, eventually Lingayat legislators and the entire Lingayat community that is already miffed with the coalition. Gowda has suggested that it is best to leave it alone, said a JDS leader close to Kumaraswamy and Gowda.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: A-63-year-old madrassa teacher was arrested early on Saturday for allegedly sexually abusing two minor students of his class in Thalayolaparambu in Kottayam district.

Yusuf, a native of Aluva, was arrested at Kodungalloor by the Thalayolaparambu police following a complaint from the Mahallu committee, the executive body of the mosque under which the madrassa functions.

"As both kids are below the age of 10, we didn't interrogate them further. Once the medical test at Vaikom Government Hospital is over, we will get further information on the physical assault," said Soofi T M, Thalayolaparambu SI.

According to the police, Yusuf is a serial offender and has raped more than a dozen kids. As parents were reluctant to file complaints, he has been escaping the long arm of the law so far.

"Yusuf confessed he has been raping kids since the age of 25. He himself was a victim of sexual assault when he was a child. He took revenge by raping the daughter of the man who raped him. As kids won't complain and often have no knowledge about the legal actions, Yusuf continued with his criminal behaviour. Even in this case, the parents of the two kids and Mahallu committee took a while to register their complaint," the SI said.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi writing to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the recent farmer suicides in Wayanad, the latter put the ball back in Rahuls court, urging him to join hands in the efforts to take up the issue of debt relief to farmers across the country. Rahul, who is Wayanads new representative in Parliament, wrote to Pinarayi seeking an inquiry into the suicides. Taking a cue from his Amethi experience, Rahul seems to have taken up one of the most burning issues in his constituency.

In his letter to the CM, Rahul referred to the suicide of V D Dinesh Kumar of Panamaram panchayat. He requested the government to order an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the suicide while also urging it to provide financial assistance to the family. Rahul said he spoke to the farmers wife Sujitha, who said her husband was under severe stress due to his inability to pay back loans which forced him to take the extreme step.

Terming it not an isolated incident, Rahul said there has been a spate of farmer suicides in Wayanad. Even after the state government announced a moratorium on repayment of farm loans till December 31, farmers are pressurised and hounded by loan collection agents. Given the devastating long-term impact of the 2018 floods on agriculture in Kerala, it is crucial to consider long-term measures to free thousands of our farmers from such a debt trap, Rahul said while offering his support and cooperation in finding concrete solutions to critical issues faced by farmers and ensuring a dignified life to farmers in the state. On receipt of the letter, Pinarayi urged Rahul to join hands in the united efforts.

Responding to the demand for a probe, the CM said the Wayanad District Collector has been asked to conduct a detailed inquiry and submit the report at the earliest for taking further action, including financial assistance. He pointed out Kerala has been making continuous efforts to help farmers and moratorium has been declared on repayment of loans. He went on to add that farmers across the country are facing severe distress due to difficulty in repaying agricultural loans taken from commercial banks and unscrupulous lenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest.

As these loans from commercial banks come under the SARFAESI Act, it is for the Government of India to take a stand with regard to the outstanding farmers debt with the banks. This issue needs to be raised in Parliament and I hope you will join us in taking up the issue of relief for the debt-afflicted families in Kerala as well as in other parts of the country, the Chief Minister said.
Rajesh Abraham By

Express News Service

KOCHI: The appointment of V Muraleedharan as Union Minister of State for External Affairs in the Narendra Modi Cabinet has given hopes to the 21 lakh expatriate Malayali community that he will intervene to resolve their various issues, including the issue of Keralites languishing in Abu Dhabi jail and the high airfares in the Gulf sector.

Sunithal Basheer, the wife of Muhammed Ibrahim, who is serving a 10-year sentence in Abu Dhabi, said the new Minister would certainly boost the chances for an active engagement with the UAE Government for her husbands release.

We will try for an appointment with the Minister as early as possible and explain the matter. We are hopeful, she told Express.

Muhammed, 39, hailing from Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district, was picked up by the Abu Dhabi police in March 2014 after he texted the name of a ship arriving at Mina Port, where he worked as a port coordinator, to an Indian embassy officer. He has completed five years in jail now.

Basheer said the embassy official had repeatedly asked her husband to text the name of the ship, assuring him it was for the security of both countries.

We are paying the price for that, she said, pointing out she is struggling to make ends meet, especially to educate their three daughters and a son. They moved to Kerala following the detention of her husband.

Two other Malayalees - Shihani Jamal Mohammad from Thiruvananthapuram and Manarthadi Abbas from Malappuram - are also in jail for spying. The former for 10 years and the latter for five years.

Abbas jail term will come to an end in June, though it will take another six months for the final release, said Basheer, pointing out other similar cases.

We can present all the four cases to the new Minister, she said.

Skyrocketing Gulf airfares another area where Keralites expect the intervention of Muraleedharan is related to the high airfares in the Gulf sector.

Babu Paul, chairman of IATA Agents Association of India-Kerala chapter, said the airfares to the Gulf sector have gone up by 15-20 per cent in recent weeks to take advantage of Malayalees travelling on account of school reopening.

We hope the new Minister of State for External Affairs would use his good offices to convince the airline companies to bring down the fares in this sector, said Paul.

There are about 21 lakh Non-Resident Keralites, of which a large number are based in the Gulf region.

Pinarayi congratulates PM, V Muraleedharan

TPuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who assumed office for a second term.

The chief minister had stayed away from the Modi governments swearing-in ceremony on Thursday.

In a message, Pinarayi stressed on the need for meaningful state-central cooperation to bring about inclusive development. Pinarayi also congratulated, V Muraleedharan, the lone BJP representative from the state who took charge as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and External Affairs.

He sought the Union ministers support in putting efforts to win Keralas demands.
By Express News Service

KOTTAYAM: The tiff between PJ Joseph and Jose K Mani factions in the Kerala Congress (M) reached a new level with Joseph sending a letter to the Election Commission intimating that he assumed charge as the temporary chairman following the demise of party chairman K M Mani. With the letter to the EC, which was sent on May 30, released in public on Friday, the tussle further intensified and the KC (M) high power committee member and MP-designate Thomas Chazhikadan came out against Joseph, stating the letter was against the clauses in the party constitution and it violated party rules.

Citing clause 29 of the party constitution, Joseph stated in his letter that he assumed temporary charge of the chairman from April 10 onward following the demise of Mani on April 9. It further stated the office bearers and general secretaries, including Joy Abraham, the general secretary in-charge of office, were continuing in their respective positions.

Joseph, who requested the EC to note his own office and personal address as the new address of the chairman, also stated the election to the existing vacancies of chairman and parliamentary party leader will be held as per law in due course.Later, in a clarification note, Joseph said he had to send a letter to the EC in the wake of media reports that one person wrote to the EC with regard to the election of the party chairman.

Earlier, Roshy Augustine, MLA, had convened a press conference in the name of a non-existent latter. Roshy also made an allegation somebody sent a letter to the EC stating the new party chairman was elected. In such a situation, I sent the letter to explain the present scenario to the EC, Joseph said. Roshys press meet created confusion among party workers, which was an unfortunate development, he said.

Josephs declaration against party constitution

Chazhikadan said Joseph declared he was holding the positions of chairman in-charge, temporary chairman and acting chairman through his letter to the EC, which is against the party constitution and rules. All these three positions have not been mentioned anywhere in the party constitution, he said.

The functions and responsibilities of the party chairman and working chairman are clearly mentioned in the party constitution. The chairman should take decisions in consultation with the working chairman, Chazhikadan said.In the wake of a situation in which any inconvenience prevents the chairman from implementing his responsibilities, the working chairman shall take the responsibilities in consultation with the chairman.

However, Josephs letter sabotages all these clauses, he said. Chazhikadan also questioned the position of party general secretary in charge of office. An office charge general secretary can be appointed only by the chairman, who has been elected by the state committee as per rules. In the wake of the demise of the party chairman, the position of office charge general secretary ceased to exist, Chazhikadan said.

Effect on workers

The tiff between KC(M) factions has spread over to workers with some leaders, including Jose K Mani, Roshy Augustine, Joy Abraham and Mons Joseph, being burned in effigy

In his letter, Joseph declared he is holding the chairman in-charge, temporary chairman and acting chairman posts. This is against the party constitution and rules Thomas Chazhikadan, MP-elect
Toby Antony By

Express News Service

KOCHI: National agencies are closely monitoring a Kasaragod-based drug cartel, which, it has emerged, is one of the major drug smuggling and supplying groups in the country. The agencies received information about the group after 100 kg of heroin was seized off the Porbandar coast in April this year, en route to Saudi Arabia through cartels operating in India.

Following the seizure, the Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad nabbed a person named Mohammed Abdul Salaam Kunni, 47, of Kasaragod, who is suspected to be the man behind the drug cartel from New Delhi.In the interrogation, Kunni admitted that he received drugs like heroin, Methamphetamine, also known as Meth or Ice, from Afghanistan, which entered India through Kutch or the sea route. He later dispatched them to West Asian countries, mostly to Saudi Arabia, using carriers. The drugs procured by the group also reach various states in the country, an Intelligence Bureau officer said.

A few people having links with the Kasaragod syndicate were arrested in Bengaluru and Mangaluru in recent months.As the demand for synthetic drugs in West Asian countries has increased, the drug cartels procure them from Afghanistan, to be illegally sent abroad. The Kasaragod-based cartel has people who operate in West Asian countries and major cities in the country, the officer said.

Narcotics Control Bureau Chennai Zonal Director A Bruno said the involvement of the Kasaragod-based drug cartel was reported in various parts of the country in recent times.A few arrests had been made in South Indian states which had links with the Kasaragod-based racket. Agencies are monitoring their activities and attempts will be made to put a tab on drug smuggling and circulation within the country, he said.Meanwhile, the Brazilian cartel that attempted to smuggle cocaine through airports in Kerala has shifted its operations to other airports in the country.

High-level meet tomorrow

TPuram: In the wake of the rise in drug cases and to prevent such unhealthy practices in the state, the state government is all set to hold a high-level meeting on Monday comprising all stakeholders, including the police and Excise. The meeting that will be led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will focus on the progress of the governments Vimukthi mission. Excise Minister T P Ramakrishnans office said the government had taken all steps to curb drug menace. The office said the Vimukthi programme would be expanded to the district level. Both the Excise and the police are doing their part well. Be it in educational institutions or any other place, the Excise sleuths are taking strong action against the use and supply of drugs, the office said. The Excise Department will conduct awareness campaigns with the participation of panchayats, library councils and NGOs. So far, we have got a very good response from the public. The government is in the process of rehabilitating youths who are addicted to drugs, the office said.
By Online Desk

The Tamil Nadu government and opposition parties in the state on Saturday protested the central governments proposed three-language system in schools across India, a media report said.

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has written to the Centre stating that Tamil Nadu will continue to have a two-language mode in the State, the report quoted state school education minister Sengottaiyan as saying.

The minister clarified that the government will continue the state policy of dual-language method of education.

The National Education Policy 2019, drafted by an expert committee, states that non-Hindi speaking states would include the regional language, English and Hindi, while states, where Hindi is spoken, would have English and another modern Indian language in addition to Hindi.'

READ| Centre dismisses fear of Hindi imposition, says yet to take decision on three-language policy

Students will be required to attain proficiency in discussing their major in at least one Indian language through an appropriate written project or presentation in that language, the policy says.

Minister for co-operation Sellur Raju exuded confidence that the chief minister would thwart the Centre's attempt to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu.

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami will address the new draft of a trilingual system of education put forth by the National Education Policy committee, he stated.

Opposing the triple-language policy of the Centre, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said, Forcing Hindi in Tamil Nadu is like setting a warehouse on fire. The DMK will do what it takes to oppose the move, Siva added.

The DMK will oppose in Parliament if any language, not just Hindi, is thrust upon us, said DMK MP Kanimozhi to reporters, adding that her party would not allow any policy that is against a specific language.

Leader of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) T T V Dhinakaran too protested the move. The order by Central government to include Hindi as a mandatory subject till class eight is condemnable, he tweeted.

Actor and founder of the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) Kamal Haasan stated that learning the language cannot be made compulsory. I have acted in Hindi films; my opinion is that nothing should be enforced and people should decide what they can learn, he said.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: While mocking the Congress for its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked the grand old party to shed the facade of being secular. During his annual address at Mecca Masjid on the occasion Jumat ul Vida, Owaisi tore into the Congress for accusing the AIMIM of indirectly helping the BJP by dividing votes.

The only place where the party contested and lost was Kishanganj in Bihar, where BJP did not come to power, he said. Owaisi during his speech also urged parents to keep an eye on their wards who are increasingly turning towards drugs such as cocaine and whiteners.

There are many who have amassed huge amounts of wealth. But are you looking after your children? Many of them are turning to drugs. I was made to hear a recording of one such child begging the dealer to give cocaine and that he would do anything in return, Owaisi said.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Setting his eyes on repatriation of infiltrators from the city, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said that his understanding of terrorism will enable him to play an important role in BJP implementing the national register of citizens (NRC) across the country.

A day after he was sworn in as the minister of state (MoS), alongside BJP leviathans, Kishan Reddy was assigned to be the helping hand or MoS Home Affairs for BJP president Amit Shah, who has been designated to be the Union Minister for Home Affairs.

In tune with partys goals concerning the State, Kishan Reddy claimed that there are a number of infiltrators in Hyderabad who have come from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

When a country like America knows whether its citizen is an American or not, the same is required in India. There is a need to know whether a person is identified as an Indian or not, argued Kishan Reddy when asked by media persons in New Delhi.

Amit Shah, on his campaign trail during Assembly and Parliamentary elections, has categorically stated that Hyderabad, Nizamabad and Mahbubnagar have turned to be a hub for infiltrators. He had accused the TRS government, allied with AIMIM, to be backing such infiltrators in the State by not taking any action.

ALSO READ| Will BJP play spoilsport for TRS in Telangana?

Political advantage: Now, with Kishan Reddys elevation as MoS Home Affairs, Shah is expected to take on a series of security-related decisions that could likely corner the TRS and gain political advantage. This would be done through Kishan Reddy liaising between the Centre and State.

Also, as Kishan Reddy is the only Telugu to be inducted into Narendra Modis council of ministers, he is also set to play the leaders role in Telangana as well as Andhra Pradesh. It may be mentioned here that in Andhra Pradesh, the saffron party has lost deposits and could not win any Assembly or Parliamentary segments.

I have been entrusted with the task of overseeing BJPs growth in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. I was told that since I have connections in both the states, with acceptance from communities and groups all across, I should not confine myself just to Telangana, he said.

It may be mentioned here that Kishan Reddy was a BJP State unit president in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. I

nterestingly, Kishan Reddy is not the first BJP leader from the region to be MoS for Home Affairs.

Earlier, veteran leader and Governor of Maharashtra C Vidyasagar Rao served as MoS for Home Affair in the then PM late Atal Bihar Vajpayees council of ministers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks at a key meeting to launch a campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission" among all Party members in Beijing, capital of China, May 31, 2019. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Friday reiterated the Party's original aspiration and mission, which is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at a key meeting to launch a campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission" among all Party members, especially officials at or above the county and director level.

Seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation is the fundamental driving force behind the heroic fight of generations of CPC members, Xi said.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng attended the meeting.

Wang Huning, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the leading group of the campaign, delivered closing remarks.

The launch of the campaign is an urgent need for arming the whole Party with the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, advancing Party building in the new era, maintaining the Party's close ties with the people, as well as achieving the goals and accomplishing the tasks put forward at the 19th CPC National Congress, according to Xi.

The Party's fundamental purpose of whole-heartedly serving the people, and its historic mission of realizing national rejuvenation should be kept firmly in mind, he said.

Xi said the campaign should adhere to high standards and strict demands, push Party members to rectify and adjust themselves with a clear purpose, avoid the practice of formalities for formalities' sake and bureaucratism, and help solve major problems that the people are strongly concerned about.

The campaign will educate and guide all Party members and officials to deepen their understanding of the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era and the major policies of the CPC Central Committee, as well as to strengthen their beliefs of Marxism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said.

Through the campaign, CPC members should foster perseverance, think what the people are thinking and work together with the people, he said, adding that the campaign also aims to resolutely prevent and crack down on corruption.

Xi called on the Party members and officials to better arm themselves with theory and have the courage to reform themselves.

All areas, departments and organizations should list the prominent problems that need to be addressed and make efforts to solve them, Xi said.

Noting the campaign is under the leadership of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Xi asked Party committees and leading Party members groups at all levels to enhance supervision and guidance over the campaign.

The passion of Party members and officials unleashed by the campaign should be converted to achievements in their work, Xi said.

Xi's speech will be a guideline for strengthening the Party building in the new era, Wang Huning said in the closing remarks, urging all Party members to unify their thinking with the spirit of Xi's speech.

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has reiterated the grouping's support for the legitimate rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the United Nations resolutions, the Pakistan Foreign Office said here Saturday.

The OIC is an international organisation consisting of 57 member states, with 53 countries being Muslim-majority nations.

The 14th OIC summit was held in the holy city of Makkah on Friday and several leaders of Muslim countries attended.

Prime Minister Imran Khan represented Pakistan at the Summit.

Foreign Office said in a statement that the Summit in Makkah reiterated the Conference's principled support for the legitimate right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with UN resolutions.

India has made it clear that there is no scope for any third party role or mediation in Kashmir.

The Ministry of External Affairs said in March that the Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.

The Conference approved Yousef Aldobeay of Saudi Arabia as OIC's special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir.

The Conference called for adoption of a comprehensive strategy to combat Islamophobia, building on proposals made by Pakistan in the OIC Ministerial Executive Committee meeting in March 2019.

Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address articulated Pakistan's views on the situation in Kashmir, Palestine, Islamophobia and the need for science, technology and innovation for Muslim countries, the statement said.

Prime Minister Khan held meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other leaders on the sidelines of the summit, according to the statement.
By Associated Press

ALHAMBRA: The American photographer who shot the iconic image of a man standing in front of tanks at the 1989 Tiananmen protests says it's time for the Chinese government to come clean about the bloody events of 30 years ago.

Jeff Widener was an Associated Press photo editor based in Bangkok when he was called in to help cover a growing student-led pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The day after the military crushed the protests on June 3-4, Widener took the shot of an unknown man holding shopping bags facing a row of tanks. The photo of "tank man" became one of the most famous images of defiance of the 20th century.

In an interview, Widener said he doesn't understand why China's leaders won't admit to errors made and reveal the truth behind the crackdown.

"The United States and European countries have made mistakes throughout history and they've reconciled those problems," Widener told AP.

"I think it's time for China to move forward and just come clean on what happened, report to the family members what happened to their loved ones so that they can put this to rest," he said. "I think that's the right, decent thing to do."

The 62-year-old Californian developed a love of photography at a young age, eventually joining AP as Southeast Asia picture editor.

Rejected for a journalist visa at the Chinese Consulate in Bangkok, he flew to Hong Kong, where he got a tourist visa through a travel agency, and made it through customs in Beijing with a mobile darkroom in his luggage.

With the protests in full swing, he developed a daily routine of riding a bicycle early in the morning to Tiananmen Square, where thousands of students were camped out.

His May 30, 1989, photo captured the "Goddess of Democracy," the students' version of the Statue of Liberty, facing the portrait of Communist China's first leader, Mao Zedong, on the massive Tiananmen gate.

"So you had this democracy facing off with Communism that was quite striking," Widener said.

Soon, the mood began to change. After the government declared martial law, Beijing residents blocked roads to prevent troops  at that time unarmed  from moving toward the square.

That enraged party elders led by China's paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, steeling their determination to end the protests by military means.

On the night of June 3, Widener rode to the square with AP reporter Dan Biers, just as the People's Liberation Army began fighting its way eastward through barricades and crowds of protesters.

He suffered a serious head injury from a flying piece of asphalt, but made it back to the AP bureau and his hotel.

Widener emerged the following afternoon to find rock-strewn streets, burnt-out vehicles and a population dazed by the violence deployed against them by the government.

Asked to get a shot of military forces occupying the square, Widener headed to the Beijing Hotel, which had vantage points close to the action, even as gunfire continued to pop from parts of the city.

There, he met an American college exchange student, Kirk Martsen, who would play a key role in the tank man tale. Martsen acted as if he and Widener were old friends, allowing the photographer to slip past security men guarding the hotel entrance.

Martsen had a room on the hotel's sixth floor facing the street, to which he gave Widener access. The problem though, was film. Widener had run out and there was no way to go back to the AP bureau to get more.

Martsen went hunting among the frightened tourists in the lobby, returning two hours later with a single roll that would prove crucial in the events that followed.

Widener stayed overnight, and early on June 5, he rushed to the balcony upon hearing the sound of approaching tanks.

"I started to take a photograph and a guy walks out with shopping bags and I'm thinking to myself, 'you know this guy's going to mess up my photograph," he said. "I mean it really was like I wasn't thinking clearly."

"So I just watched him and waited. But they didn't shoot him. So I thought you know I need a closer shot," he said.

The man moved at least twice to block the tanks and climbed on the turret of one to converse with a crew member. Eventually, he was whisked from the scene by two men in blue, whose identities, like that of the man himself, have never been revealed.

At least five photographers as well as videographers shot the scene, but Widener's version became by far the most famous. The photo made him a Pulitzer Prize finalist and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential images of all time.

Key trade senators also spoke up. Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, who has questioned the administration's ability to invoke national security threats for some other imports, called the tariffs a "blanket tax increase" on items Americans purchases from Mexico and "the wrong remedy."

The tariff threat comes at a peculiar time, given how hard the administration has been pushing for passage of the USMCA, which would update the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a usual Trump ally and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, slammed the president's action, saying it was a "misuse of presidential tariff authority" that would burden American consumers and "seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA."

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the livelihoods of farmers and producers from her state are at risk and so is the USMCA.

"If the president goes through with this, I'm afraid progress to get this trade agreement across the finish line will be stifled," she said.
By IANS

WASHINGTON: Ahead of the upcoming visit to the UK, Ireland and France next week, US President Donald Trump told a British daily that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was "nasty" in response to her 2016 comment where she called Trump "misogynistic".

Trump, in his Oval Office interview with the Sun newspaper published on Friday, weighed in on everything from outgoing UK Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit to the contenders vying to replace her to Markle's dislike of his politics, CNN reported.

During the interview, Trump was confronted by the comments made by Markle ahead of the 2016 US presidential election where she said on "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" that Trump was misogynistic and that his politics was divisive. The then actress added that she would move to Canada if he won the presidency.

Trump responded: "I didn't know that she was nasty. I hope she is OK..."

He seemed to bury the hatchet saying: "I am sure she will go excellently (as a royal). She will be very good."

Regarding Brexit, Trump criticized May's efforts, saying he thought that "the UK allowed the European Union to have all the cards".

May will formally step down as Conservative Party leader on June 7 after all her withdrawal agreements were disagreed by her Cabinet members, forcing her to resign from office.

"I had mentioned to Theresa that you have got to build up your ammunition... I am sure that you could have built up a big advantage for your side and negotiated from strength.

"And it is very hard to play well when one side has all the advantage... They had nothing to lose. They didn't give the European Union anything to lose."

However, he acknowledged, "at the same time, I respect Theresa and she would certainly know the facts a lot better than I know them".

May's resignation will trigger a party leadership contest, and once a new party leader is in place she will no longer be Prime Minister, a process that could take weeks, if not months, CNN reported.

Trump expressed his support for former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, calling him "a very good guy, a very talented person".

"I think Boris would do a very good job," the President told The Sun. "I think he would be excellent."

He also showed favour for British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. "Yup, I like him," Trump added.
Secretary for Security John Lee said today provisions can be added to the arrangement agreement to put extra restrictions on the surrender of fugitive offenders.

The Legislative Council Panel on Security held a special meeting to discuss the Fugitive Offenders & Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 today.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Lee said further safeguards will be provided to ensure the rights of suspects.

There is a provision which says in the case-by-case arrangements, we can put in provisions in the arrangement agreement itself, which then can put extra restrictions on the actual handing over of the surrendered person.

That will be a document tendered to the court for examination, so it has effect for court to examine.

Mr Lee reiterated the policy intent of the law change is to remove the geographical restrictions so that the Government can handle surrender requests with case-by-case arrangements with any jurisdictions around the world.

While the process will be started by a certificate issued by the Chief Executive, the whole regime and process of examining surrender matters by both the Government and the court remain the same, he added.

It will be doing such an examination in exactly the same way, the same format, and the same system as has happened in these 22 years.

I believe that it is an effective system because it is not just gate-keeping by the Government, we actually have a case in court which is eventually thrown out where the defendant or the suspect was immediately released.

We have been seeing all these cases to be operating smoothly.
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung today said the new measures relating to the fugitive bill have fully addressed public concerns.

Speaking to the media after attending an event, Mr Cheung said the measures respond to the views of various sectors of the community.

He also expressed hope that when the Legislative Council debates the Fugitive Offenders & Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019, it will be conducted in a rational and pragmatic manner.
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung

Founded in the year 1926, Munsang College began with the operation of just one class at each junior secondary level. Expansion followed with the setting up of the primary and kindergarten sections in the year 1927 and the senior secondary section in 1928. With the strong professionalism, dedication and visionary leadership of the management, the schools have become one of the leading education bodies in Hong Kong, currently accommodating a total of about 3,500 students.

Guided by the mottoes of "Light and Life" and "All For One, One For All", the Munsang schools have earned an enviable reputation of offering a high quality, rigorous academic programme in a caring environment. Since their establishment nearly a century ago, the schools have nurtured generations of prominent leaders who serve the community with remarkable achievements across all sectors of the community.

Our young people are the pillar of Hong Kong's future, they are our hopes as well. Education therefore plays a crucial role in unleashing and realising their potential. The current-term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is totally committed to investing in education. In its first year after inauguration in the year 2017, the Government increased by $3.6 billion recurrent resources to introduce a package of measures to increase additional manpower, funding and hardware to improve our quality of education. Last year, another $2 billion of recurrent funding was allocated to further enhance teacher development, kindergarten, and integrated as well as life-wide learning. In tandem, the Quality Education Fund also set aside $3 billion for school-based curriculum development, student support measures and other improvement initiatives.

This year, the total expenditure on education will increase remarkably to $124 billion, representing a surge of 12% growth over last year. Of this, the recurrent expenditure on education will increase to $90.6 billion, representing a 6%. Over the past 10 years, recurrent expenditure on education has increased by 77%, with an average growth rate of 6.6% per year. This massive investment in education fully demonstrates the Hong Kong Governments commitment in nurturing talent for the long-term development of Hong Kong.

I always give this example in my speeches: for every $100 we spend every day, roughly $21 goes to education, $19.70 goes to social welfare, and $17.50 goes to medical services. So in other words, education, welfare and medical services in that order - and this has been almost number one, the lion's share of government spending all along. This is very simple. Hong Kong has no resources, except our people. Investing in human capital is the only way we keep Hong Kong going. If we do not invest in our own young people, Hong Kong has absolutely no future at all. So education is a very, very important policy area. It is an important investment for Hong Kong in the future. While the Government plays an active role in promoting quality education, success in education requires the collaborative efforts of all who care about our next generation. Munsang College, and Munsang School as well, have all along been our close partners in promoting whole-person education for our next generation, with the aim of nurturing them into quality citizens who are socially responsible and equipped with a love for Hong Kong, a sense of national identity, and of course an international outlook.

Ladies and gentlemen, the completion of this seven-storey new teaching complex ties in well with the Government's latest new initiative in enhancing the support to schools in widening students' learning experiences. Indeed, education is founded on dedication, passion and commitment. The Munsang schools have been a shining example in cultivating our future generations for Hong Kong and neighbouring regions.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung gave these remarks at the Munsang College Topping-out Ceremony for its newly developed teaching complex on May 31.
Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan today said all pigs at the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse will be culled after a dead pig there tested positive for the African swine fever (ASF) virus.

This is the second ASF case reported in Hong Kong.

Prof Chan said all 4,700 pigs at the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse will be culled so that thorough cleansing and disinfection could be conducted.

She added that the slaughterhouse will be closed until completion of the disinfection work, which is expected to take four days.

As the Tsuen Wan Slaughterhouse is not affected, there will still be a limited supply of live pigs available for markets tomorrow, Prof Chan added.

She noted that the dead pig was imported from a Guangdong farm, and that the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department is checking when it arrived.

The health chief added that surveillance at the boundary has been enhanced since the city reported its first ASF case in early May.

For example, at the Man Kam To boundary, we have vets that actually check all the pigs before coming in.

And also, when the pig trucks arrive at the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse, again our vets have also checked all the pigs before going into the slaughterhouse.

She added that the virus has an incubation period of four to 19 days, so there is a possibility that some of the symptoms may not have exhibited upon checking.

Prof Chan reiterated that ASF poses no food safety risk as it will not be transmitted to humans, and well-cooked pork is safe for consumption.




PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will not attend liberation struggle icon Dr Dumiso Dabengwas burial today in the spirit of respecting the bereaved familys request for privacy.







This was said by Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba in a brief interview soon after President Mnangagwa officially opened the Zimbabwe Annual Mining Conference in Victoria Falls yesterday.





Mr Charamba said President Mnangagwa will be represented at the burial set for today at Dr Dabengwas home area in Emanxeleni, Ntabazinduna in Matabeleland North.





If a national heros family accepts the designation of national hero but opts for private burial, immediately the State President cannot participate directly except through delegated authority. The moment the President gets to that, it means we take over and that breaches the privacy and control of the family. So he will be represented at an appropriate level, said Mr Charamba.





He said a similar scenario has been used with other national heroes who were declared national heroes but their families opted for private burials.





In short the President doesnt go. This is for the purpose of upholding the privacy and control preferred by the bereaved family but more critically to also protect the National Heroes Acre because the moment we allow people to have a bite of the cherry then we are undermining the national shrine, said Mr Charamba.









President Mnangagwa left Victoria Falls soon after officially opening the mining conference because of other commitments in Harare.





Last week he mourned the death of Dr Dabengwa saying the former Zipra intelligence supremo was and will always remain a hero.








Newly-appointed Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) chair Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo has hit the ground running in the fight against corruption vowing, yesterday, to decisively deal with the vice in line with the expectations of the generality of Zimbabweans.





Speaking during the commissioning of a specialised Anti-Corruption Court housed at the Masvingo Magistrates Court here, Justice Matanda-Moyo assured the nation of a spirited fight against grand corruption by making sure all cases were thoroughly investigated and brought to court on time.





The ZACC chair was sworn in on Thursday by President Mnangagwa following the disbanding of the previous commission, which President Mnangagwa described as rotten to the core and is currently the only member of ZACC as other commissioners are still to be sworn in.





The visit to Masvingo for the commissioning of the countrys fourth Anti-Corruption Court was Justice Matanda-Moyos inaugural official appearance as ZACC chair.





The invitation (to open the Masvingo Anti-Corruption Court) could not have come at a better time because I commenced my duties as the new chairperson of ZACC only yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, she said.





This occasion is my inaugural address to the nation of Zimbabwe, but the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is yet to be fully constituted and we are yet to make binding decisions and be fully functional, but I am very clear on the vision that the Commission must pursue in line with our constitutional mandate as enshrined in the constitution.





Justice Matanda-Moyo vowed to leave no stone unturned in the investigation of corruption cases and rid the nation of the vice blamed for frustrating the countrys drive to engender economic growth.





I am equally aware of public concerns and expectations regarding investigation and prosecution of corruption cases. The public is concerned about cases of grand corruption and everyone expects thorough investigation which results in the presentation of concrete evidence for the successful prosecution of offences.





May I therefore assure you that my Commission will do everything in its power to meet the expectations of His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) and the nation at large and address these concerns, said Justice Matanda-Moyo.





She hailed the Judicial Services Commission for moving to open specialised Anti-Corruption Courts throughout the country with such courts having already been opened in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare on top of Masvingo.





Justice Matanda-Moyo underscored the need for all Zimbabweans to work together if the war against the scourge of corruption was to be won.





The ZACC chair urged the nation to draw lessons from challenges that have so far been encountered in the fight against corruption and use the window to chart new avenues for future battles against the pervasive vice.





She assured the nation that gone are the days when members of ZACC were found wanting on corruption themselves saying her Commission will do everything in its power to change the bad perception in the public by doing its job as per its constitutional mandate.





Giving keynote remarks at the event, Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza reiterated the JSC zero tolerance on corruption particularly within the organisations ranks.





The Deputy Chief Justice cited the mass transfer of the entire staff at Rusape Magistrates Court, the arrest of a Karoi Magistrate and a Clerk of Court at the station together with the on-going trial of a Plumtree Regional Magistrate for alleged abuse of office as clear proof to Zimbabweans that JSC did not condone the vice more so within its ranks.





The Judicial Services Commission will not tire in its efforts to encourage court users, litigants, legal practitioners and the general public to report any court official who demands or appears to act in a way that suggests that he/she wants a bribe to perform services that he/she is employed to offer, she said.





Justice Gwaunza said the scourge of corruption deserved to be confronted head on to make sure President Mnangagwa and Governments policies that seek to turnaround the economy such as the Transitional Stabilisation Programme became a success.





She said while the country had a raft of laws to help in the fight against corruption such as the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) and The Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act (9:24), the fight against corruption required joint effort to combat.





Allow me to remind the public that the fight against corruption is not a soloist, but a chorus which Zimbabweans must sing in unison. The courts on their own will not be able to root out and stem corrupt activities without active public participation, said Justice Gwaunza.





She also congratulated Justice Matanda-Moyo on her appointment as new ZACC chair and expressed confidence that she would be equal to the task.





Present at the commissioning of the Masvingo Anti-Corruption Court was JSC secretary Mr Walter Chikwanha, Senior Masvingo High Court Judge Justice Garainesu Mawadze, Zimbabwe Chiefs Council president Chief Fortune Charumbira and members of the local legal fraternity among others.





The setting up anti-corruption courts is in line with President Mnangagwas pledge during his inauguration that his administration will fight the scourge of corruption in the country.





The courts, which are being established in all the countrys 10 provinces are expected to deal expeditiously with graft cases. Herald








SHOCKING revelations of deep-seated rot and corporate malfeasance have been unearthed at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), where millions of United States dollars were siphoned through elaborate schemes of overpayments, purchase of obsolete equipment, luxury vehicles and accessories for the parastatals executives.





The findings, which are contained in a voluminous 6000-page report dated January 22 2019, compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), have been described by the newly appointed Minister of Energy and Power Development, Advocate Fortune Chasi, as horrendous and frightening.





The probe was ordered by the Ministry of Energy and Power Development and the Office of the Auditor-General, Mrs Mildred Chiri, in April 2018.

The new political administration has moved in to clear the rot which happened during the old dispensation.





According to investigations, Zesa Holdings and its subsidiaries  Zesa Enterprises (Zent), Powertel, Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC)  haemorrhaged millions of dollars through rampant corruption and gross mismanagement.





Most notably, investigators unearthed a curious pattern through which the parastatals management disregarded procurement regulations and invariably overpaid for critical materials needed by Zesa.





Red flags were mainly raised over the questionable relationship between the power utility and Indian firm PME Power Solutions, which was roped-in in 2010 to supply transformers for various suburbs in Harare.





Zesa, through Zent, signed four contracts with PME on November 26 2010 for materials for Glen Norah, Epworth, Mufakose and Greystone substations.





While Zent was supposed to make a down payment of US$6,2 million to PME, it reportedly overpaid by US$3,2 million, particularly at a time when the unit was experiencing cash flow problems.





PwC concluded that by making the advance payment to PME in excess of the amount due by US$3 207 680 and taking into consideration that Zent had been experiencing cash flow problems in the period under review, this further worsened Zents cash flow position.





It was also alleged that Zent paid PME US$11 million without purchase orders, in breach of Section 45 (c) of the Public Finance Management Act and the Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA) between the two entities, which states that materials were to be supplied after a written request.





However, Zent managers who were interviewed by the PwC blamed Zesas group chief executive officer, Engineer Joshua Chifamba, for the anomaly.

He, however, denied the charges.





But auditors accuse Eng Chifamba for authorising the overpayment using a facility from the CBZ. They also recommend disciplinary action against officials culpable of the anomaly.





But there seemed to have been a suspicious relationship between Zesa and the Indian firm, which bled the parastatal through inflating the cost of supplied materials. A comparative survey of materials supplied by PME and five other companies  Industrial Production Solutions, Zhengzhou LP Industry, Wilee (Transwire) South Africa, Dash Petroleum and Energy Services (India)  indicated that prices of PMEs products were inflated by more than 47 percent.





When concern was raised on the extortionate prices, PME purportedly reviewed its prices by between 12 percent and 20 percent without objection.





Notwithstanding the price review, Zesa, however, still paid Value Added Tax (VAT) to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) based on the high invoice values, prejudicing Zesa of more than US$450 000.





It is also believed that Zent could have wasted US$1,5 million from purchasing equipment such as transformer testers, regulators, transformers, alternators and capacity voltage dividers that were never used until some of the software became outdated.





Some of the materials were bought as far back as 1998 and 2011. It was the same pattern for other subsidiaries such as ZETDC, which reportedly paid Pito Investment and Enleaver US$2,9 million for works and materials without advance guarantees that are meant to hedge the company against prejudice.





Some of ZETDC buyers even source quotations via the telephone in contravention of standing procurement regulations and company procedures.





Zesa Holdings reportedly splurged US$600 000 between 2012 and 2017 on executive vehicles for Eng Chifamba.





He took delivery of a Mercedes Benz S350 worth US$209 202.93 on June 10, 2011 before buying a Toyota Landcruiser (ACO3070) valued at US$175 790 on March 23, 2012.





He topped up his top-of-the range fleet with a Mercedes Benz GL350D (ADY9279) worth US$126 785.22.





On July 12, 2017, Eng Chifamba also got a Toyota Fortuner, which set the parastatal back by US$65 789.55.





Eng Chifambas contract did not put a cap on the value of the vehicle the CEO could buy, which effectively gave him a blank cheque.





Zesas group financial controller Mr Eliab Chikwenhere also took part in the looting frenzy as he was allocated a Toyota Landcruiser worth US$156 087.47 in 2009, exceeding his contractual limit of US$130 000.





He was given another luxury car  a Mercedes Benz E300 (ACR 2230)  valued at US$119 465.27 in 2012  three years after he got the Landcruiser.





It later turned out that Mr Chikwenhere was the only executive who was given luxury cars after three years while others got their allocations after five years.





Zesa also splashed US$116 861.80 on a Toyota Prado (ABL0185) for Zesa corporate accounting manager, a Mr J Mapillar, way above his contractual limit of US$110 000.





iPads worth US$20 000. At least 17 Zent managers also gotiPads worth US$20 000.





The subsidiary also did not heed the parastatals procurement regulations (Section 2.1 of the Zesa Holdings Procurement Policy, Norms and Procedures Manual), which stipulate that purchase of goods above US$10 000 should go to tender.





PwC also queried circumstances surrounding the award of a 100MW solar power plant development project to Intratreck Zimbabwe, which is fronted by flashy ex-convict Mr Wicknell Chivayo, even after the company came second to China Jiangxi during the adjudication process.





Apparently, Intratrecks quoted project cost of US$248 million was US$65 million more than the Chinese firms fee.





But Intratreck later approached ZPC and requested to be considered for the project at a revised cost. The request was suspiciously acceded to.





The terms of the original tender were subsequently altered, which attracted a US$900 penalty for ZPC from the then State Procurement Board (SPB) for the variation.





It got worse.





ZPC decided to pay US$5 million to Intratreck for feasibility and other pre-commencement works.





PwC also discovered that while feasibility studies usually stretch for about six months or more, Intratreck completed its own exercise within one month.





The feasibility study for the Gwanda Solar project carried out by a non-independent consultant, Shanghai Electric, who were selected by Intratrek Zimbabwe, the contractor. The selection of Shanghai Electric by Intratrek Zimbabwe brings into question the independence and objectivity of Shanghai Electric and hence the results of the feasibility study.





The feasibility study was carried out in a space of one month when in practice, based on information obtained from various ZPC representatives, feasibility studies would take six months or more, read part of the damning report.





To date, no meaningful development has taken place at the project site.





Minister Fortune Chasi said Government would move heaven and earth to recover all the misappropriated funds.





It shows you that all the boards that existed during the time when all these things were happening were not appropriate boards. There were no systems that could pick such misdeeds by the staff, said Minister Chasi.





Added Minister Chasi: The onus is on the new board to implement the recommendations of the audit report, part of which is to ensure that everyone who is liable for any wrongdoing is actually brought to book and that the quantifiable damage or loss they caused the entity and the people of Zimbabwe is recovered from them.





The report is evidence of serious lack of good corporate governance at Zesa and the important need of the parent ministry to take an active interest in what is happening and follow up on issues, he said.





Former Zesa bosses, including the ex-group CEO Eng Chifamba, ZETDC managing director Engineer Julian Chinembiri and his finance director Ms Thokozani Dhliwayo, are already facing criminal abuse of office charges.








Civil disturbances that happened in the early years of Zimbabwes Independence that came to be known as Gukurahundi were a conspiracy by former Rhodesian security operatives who set up black compatriots and erstwhile freedom fighters against each other and cause instability in the country, an interview with national hero Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, previously unpublished, reveals.





The interview was conducted by researcher Garikai Mushambadope in 2009. Mushambadope had earlier, in 2008, met President Mnangagwa and challenged him to open up on Gukurahundi. In turn, President Mnangagwa snowballed him to Dr Dabengwa.

In the revealing interview, which we publish in full elsewhere in this issue, Dr Dabengwa locates the troubles that made Zimbabwes birth pangs and also highlights some key post-independence dynamics, including succession where he was involved in trying to persuade former president Robert Mugabe to step down.





The former Zapu intelligence supremo  affectionately known as the Black Russian  would also later try to revive the old Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (Zapu), the independence party of the late founding father, Joshua Nkomo.





The interview casts new light on the genesis of tribal tensions which former colonisers wanted to exploit.





Additionally, Dr Dabengwa reveals that some of his Zapu commanders worked with the Rhodesian elements in the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), perhaps unwittingly.





Its a painful episode both at personal and national level . . . betrayal by colleagues, says Dr Dabengwa.





There is a lot of discourse and fabrication surrounding that period and I would like you to put this on record.





He explains: To start with, there is a lot of blame being put on the then ZANU and people are saying this was a tribal engineered thing. Thats rubbish and that can only be said by people ignorant of what was taking place.





They did this by approaching ZIPRA commanders in strategically selected assembly points and lied to them that the new Shona government was planning to exterminate them . . . So these CIO officers convinced the commanders at assembly points to hide weapons in preparation for the so-called eventuality. When the freedom fighters were in assembly points, the Rhodesians hatched a sinister plan based on creating divisions and fissures between ZIPRA and ZANLA.They did this by approaching ZIPRA commanders in strategically selected assembly points and lied to them that the new Shona government was planning to exterminate them . . . So these CIO officers convinced the commanders at assembly points to hide weapons in preparation for the so-called eventuality.





In doing so they labelled the senior commanders like me and Lookout Masuku as having sold out to the Government. They presented it as if the commanders and their forces were on their own.





So indeed they hid weapons conniving with the white CIOs. What the ZIPRA commanders didnt know was that the CIOs were taking the information to authorities in Harare. When the CIO had enough evidence they told Ken Flower (their boss) and Peter Walls. I dont know whether it was Flower and Walls plan in the first place.





What I know is that Ken Flower and Peter Walls took it to the then Prime Minister, Mugabe. They had carefully presented it as our plan  (Lookout) Masuku and I.





Dr Dabengwa was jailed by Mr Mugabe until the Unity Accord in 1987 while Masuku died shortly after.





Dr Dabengwa was part and parcel of the Zanu PF succession debate wat back before the 2008 elections.





He recalled that him, Zvinavashe and Mujuru (all late) went to see Mugabe in his office were they asked him to step aside and give someone a chance to push the ideologies of the party further since Mugabe had run his race.





He was involved in the talks to convince the former president Mugabe to step down and give others a chance in the interest of the party as well as democracy.





It is said that Mugabe agreed to step down and promised not to contest in the next general election. Mugabe is said to have gone in public and said he was going to step down but however that did not happen and it came as a surprise to the other Cdes, who felt betrayed and that is the reason that pushed Simba Makoni and others out of ZANU PF to form the Mavambo/Kusile Dawn party.





The late hero even supported Simba Makoni while other Cdes were on the fence and afraid to come out in the open.





In 2003, Zvinavashe, Rex NhongoMujuru and myself went to see President Mugabe and we asked him about succession. We said President you have given your time and the country is grateful. We think it is time that you give or prepare to handover to someone who can take the country to another level. The President had done a brilliant job since independence and if he had taken our advice seriously he wouldnt be suffering like it is today, Dabengwa said.





Dabengwa said Mujuru broke the news first to Mugabe.





Zvinavashe and I came in and emphasised on a few points. He actually agreed with us and said he would make way. He talked about having free time to write his memoirs and give advice to the successor, he said. We all contributed but the first to speak was General Mujuruhe broke the ice so to speak.Zvinavashe and I came in and emphasised on a few points. He actually agreed with us and said he would make way.He talked about having free time to write his memoirs and give advice to the successor, he said.





Dr Dabengwa said that even though they had the courage to confront Mugabe on the succession issue but they had no one in mind who would take over.





Our expectations were that the party will open the race for everyone to contest democratically. To Mugabes credit after our meeting with him he came out and told the country that was his last term in office. We do not know what then happened in the background for him to change his mind later on. I have a feeling that some in ZANU (PF) leaned on him and he started seeing it as an attempt to push him out. The people in the Army and Security agents might have done that. For their own selfish interests, he said. No, we didnt.Our expectations were that the party will open the race for everyone to contest democratically.To Mugabes credit after our meeting with him he came out and told the country that was his last term in office.We do not know what then happened in the background for him to change his mind later on.I have a feeling that some in ZANU (PF) leaned on him and he started seeing it as an attempt to push him out.The people in the Army and Security agents might have done that. For their own selfish interests, he said.





revealed that it was because of the sticking succession issue. When asked why he backed Simba Makoni, Dr Dabengwarevealed that it was because of the sticking succession issue.




Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) shakes hands with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn in Beijing, May 31, 2019. [Photo: gov.cn]

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn Friday, calling for closer bilateral ties and cooperation under regional frameworks.

Hailing the profound traditional friendship, Li said China supports Cambodia in choosing a development path in accordance with its national situation.

China stands ready to enhance the synergy of development strategies with Cambodia, promote cooperation in key areas and jointly build a China-Cambodia community with a shared future, said Li.

He said China is willing to intensify coordination and collaboration with Cambodia under the frameworks of China-ASEAN and Lancang-Mekong cooperation and forge ahead with negotiations for the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, so as to safeguard a stable environment for the development in the region.

China backs Cambodia to host the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in 2020, Li added.

Prak Sokhonn, who is paying an official visit to China from May 30 to June 1, said Cambodia appreciates China's long-term assistance and is willing to further strengthen high-level exchanges and mutual support on regional and international issues and promote the building of a Cambodia-China community with a shared future.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Snow this evening will transition to snow showers late. Low 4F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 70%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected..

Tonight

Snow this evening will transition to snow showers late. Low 4F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 70%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected.
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Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 27-year-old man over the alleged rape of an intoxicated woman at a railway station in Koganei City earlier this year, reports Fuji News Network (May 31).

At around 1:00 a.m. on March 27, Tomoya Takemori called out to the woman, aged in her 20s, inside a carriage of the Chuo Line. aAre you fine?a he reportedly asked at JR Higashi-Koganei Station.

The suspect then took her to a toilet at the station and sexually assaulted her while she was passed out.

On Friday, officers apprehended Takemori on suspicion of quasi-coerced intercourse. The suspect admits to the allegations, police said.

Takemori surfaced as a person of interest in the case after a DNA analysis of material found at the scene proved to be a match for the suspect. As well, security camera footage showed the suspect taking the woman to the toilet.
Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe held talks here with U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan prior to the opening of the 18th Shangri-La Dialogue on Friday, and the atmosphere was "positive and constructive", said Wu Qian, spokesperson of the Chinese defense ministry.

This was the Chinese minister's first talks with Shanahan as U.S. acting defense secretary, and the two discussed Sino-U.S. military relationship, the Korean Peninsula issue and other affairs of joint concern "in a frank and friendly manner," and they have reached some consensus, Wu said.

"Both sides agreed that it's very important to maintain a stable Sino-U.S. military relationship," Wu said. "The two militaries should implement the consensus reached between the two heads of states, deepen exchanges and cooperation, contain divergence and risks, so as to make the relationship the stabilizer of bilateral relations," he elaborated.

On Taiwan-related issues, the Chinese minister pointed out that the United States has recently taken a series of negative actions, and the Chinese side strongly objects them. "On the matter of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the U.S. side should never underestimate the resolve, determination and capability of the Chinese military," Wu quoted the minister as saying.

Both sides agreed to jointly push forward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and safeguard the peace and stability of the region, he added.

Wei and Shanahan are here to attend the 18th Shangri-La Dialogue, also called the Asia Security Summit, and they will each deliver a speech at the plenary sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
State Chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-South geo-political zone have thrown their weight behind the Natio...

State Chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-South geo-political zone have thrown their weight behind the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.





Recall that the partys Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu had last week demanded Oshiomholes resignation in an open letter.





However, the chairmen accused Shuaibu of trying to cause disaffection within the party.





Rising from an emergency meeting in Abuja, the state Chairmen expressed confidence in the leadership of Oshiomhole, saying allegations of high handedness level against Oshiomhole by his deputy were not true and baseless.





In a statement jointly signed by the six (6) South  South APC State Chairmen, they said it was unfortunate Shuaibu was just realising the problems in the party few days after the party set up a committee to look into cases of anti-party activities against some party members.





Those who signed the communique include Hon. Ini T. Okopido (Akwa  Ibom), Hon. Amos Lalabunafa (Bayelsa), John Ochalla (Cross Rivers), Prophet Jones Ode Erue (Delta), Barr. Aslem U. Ojezua (Edo) and Hon. Ojukaye Flag Amachree (Rivers)





They faulted the public outburst of Shuaibu who they described as a senior party official who ought to be well acquainted with the provisions of the partys constitution regarding how to channel perceived grievances if any exist.





They stressed: The Deputy National Chairman North merely expressed his personal opinion on perceived issues which is not a reflection of the views of the generality of party stakeholders who are yet to find anything untoward in the stewardship of the partys National Chairman His Excellency, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.





The chairmen further disagreed with Shuaibus claims that the actions of the National Chairman were responsible for multiplicity of court cases bedeviling various chapters of the party.





Rather they asserted it was the landmines created by his predecessor who was bent on destroying the party before departing that fueled the unfortunate situation and wondered why Shuaibu is just realising the issues he raised barely few days after the NWC set up a committee to look into petitions against highly placed party stakeholders glaringly involved in anti-party activities, which was responsible for the loss of the number of states mentioned in his letter vis a  viz the depletion also in the numbers of elected Senators in the just concluded 2019 elections.





They dismissed the allegations of high-handedness against the National Chairman with particular reference to the altering of National Working Committee decisions as a veil plot to crucify the National Chairman over his uncompromising stance on truth against elements bent on destroying the party from within.





They, however, urged for restraint on the part of Shuaibu asking him to employ more civilized ways of expressing whatever private grievance he has against the National Chairman instead of playing to the gallery by granting interviews to launch unprovoked attacks on the National Chairman and by extension, the very party he claims to love.





They wondered whose interest the media outburst seeks to serve and its original intention stating unequivocally that, the National Chairman cannot be removed on the pages of newspapers because the constitution of the party which Senator Lawal Shuaibu subscribed to, as a member of the NWC, clearly guarantees the tenure of office of the partys National Chairman and the processes of removing him from office.





They gave Shuaibu seven days to apologise to the National Chairman in order not to receive the wrath of party members in the South South.





They also frowned at the intermittent and most unjustifiable attacks on the National Chairman who have maintained unblemished records since joining active politics and has untiredlessly ensured internal democratic norms are entrenched in the party since his assumption of office.





The chairmen observed what the Deputy National Chairman , North have done is tantamount to creating disaffection amongst party faithfuls, insisting that such action was very offensive to the constitution of our great party.





The chairman passed a vote of confidence on the National Chairman and vowed to resist any attempt to blackmail him out of office for standing against injustice that has hitherto been the hallmark of his predecessor which was the only legacy he left behind.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to slap sweeping tariffs on Mexican imports has drawn wide opposition and criticism, even from his close aides, as many fear the new tariffs, instead of a silver bullet to immigration problems, will end up with higher commodity prices for U.S. consumers and jeopardize the passage of a trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Trump said on Thursday he would impose a 5-percent tariff on all imported Mexican goods beginning June 10 so as to pressure the country to halt undocumented migrants crossing the border, and will gradually increase tariffs until the problem is remedied.

WRONG CONFLATION OF TRADE AND BORDER

Objections to Trump's use of tariffs are swift and wide-ranging.

"Trade policy and border security are separate issues. This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent," said Republican senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

"Imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico is exactly the wrong move. These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border," said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Trump's surprise decision is said to have unnerved his close aides. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer did not support the levy of tariffs on Mexico, according to CNBC, which also disclosed that the move is spearheaded by the president's senior adviser Stephen Miller, known for his hardline immigration stance.

"Lighthizer is not happy," an administration official told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Filemon Vela, U.S. Congressman from southern Texas, called Trump's tariff plan "erratic and nonsensical," saying in a statement that the decision is to "turn one problem into another."

Among U.S. states, Texas has the longest stretch of the border with Mexico. Sharing about 2,000-km border with Texas, Mexico is the state's largest trading partner. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Texas imported around 107 billion U.S. dollars of goods from Mexico last year, representing 35 percent of the state's total import.

Experts believed Trump's surprise plan to levy tariffs on all goods imported to the United States from Mexico would strike a hammer blow to Texas, threatening the state's economy and causing financial pain for the state's businesses and consumers.

Stephanie Leutert, director of Mexico Security Initiative at University of Texas at Austin, tweeted "Beyond this being terrible policy, it's ridiculous to think that Mexico could stop migration."

She also warned American consumers of rising prices of commodities, retweeting that "Dear America, get ready to pay more for pretty much everything until Mexico solves a problem that no country in the world has ever been able to fix."

USMCA TRADE DEAL IN QUESTION

At a time when the Trump administration is pushing for congressional approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a proposed replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), such a tariff threat is believed to hamper the ratification of the new trade deal as it needs to pass in the three nations' respective legislatures.

Lighthizer argued that the announced tariffs on Mexico could jeopardize the ratification of the USMCA which is already facing a bumpy road in the Democrat-controlled House, The WSJ cited people familiar with the situation as saying.

"Following through on this threat would seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA, a central campaign pledge of President Trump's and what could be a big victory for the country," senator Grassley said.

Earlier on Thursday, the White House sent a draft of "Statement of Administrative Action" to Congress, clearing the way for the administration to submit an enforcement bill to Congress after 30 days, which in turn starts a 90-day clock for an up-or-down vote on the trade deal.

If the tariff comes to pass, Mexico "should respond in a forceful way," said Jesus Seade, the trade negotiator for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, on Thursday.

In an opinion piece carried by the Forbes magazine's website on Friday, author Phil Levy argued Trump's latest tariffs against Mexico violated the recently-negotiated USMCA, and showed that "President Trump is unwilling to honor trade agreements and will repeatedly turn to tariffs to resolve an unending list of grievances."

Levy said that there is "astonishingly little policy coordination within the administration, leading to incoherent actions." He added that the tariff threat against Mexico "demonstrates that the (USMCA) deal does nothing to limit protection between the countries and kills the possibility of cooperation with Mexico."

The newly announced tariffs are also expected to particularly harm the U.S. automobile sector, one of the major concerns in USMCA. The American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), a Washington-based group representing U.S. automakers such as Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, said the USMCA "relies on duty free access to be successful."

The imposition of tariffs against Mexico, the AAPC said, will undermine the USMCA's "positive impact and would impose significant cost on the U.S. auto industry."

Automobiles worth a total of 52.6 billion U.S. dollars were shipped to the United States from Mexico in 2018, and another 32.5 billion dollars in auto parts entered the U.S. market from Mexico during the same period, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"Instead, Congress and the president need to work together to address the serious problems at the border," Bradley from U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement Thursday following the president's announcement.
In response to the United States' unilateral, protectionist trade practices, foreign experts said that the development of international relations needs to follow the basic principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. Starting a trade war with others will ultimately hurt the US, the experts said.

"There is no winner in a trade war," said Koryun Achoyan, chief adviser of the Peace Committee of Armenia.

Achoyan said that as China and the US are the world's two largest economies, trade conflicts between them are bound to have a profound impact on the world economy.

"The economic development of many countries is highly dependent on China and the US. At a time when global economic growth is still sluggish, a trade war initiated by the US could undoubtedly damage and seriously disrupt world economic governance," he said.

"Washington always emphasizes the priority of its own interest, the 'America first' policy, while China advocates equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, and promotes unimpeded trade and an open world economy through joint efforts of the Belt and Road Initiative," Achoyan said.

Taking his own country as an example, Achoyan said Armenia is now undergoing an economic revolution. "The country needs to participate in global economic initiatives, and the BRI is one of the largest."

"Within the initiative, Armenia and China can enlarge cooperation in many fields, for example, agriculture, commodity trade, air transportation and building free trade zones," he said.

Achoyan said he was deeply impressed by China's support for free trade and the multilateral trading system.

"From an economic perspective, Washington's argument that tariff hikes bring benefits is nothing but false," said Omar Latif, a member of the Canadian Peace Congress.

As China and the US account for around 40 percent of the world economy, Latif said that a trade war would solve no problems. On the contrary, it will lead to losses on both sides and have an impact on the world economy and economic globalization.

Meanwhile, in response to the US government's ban on Chinese tech company Huawei in the name of "national security concerns", Latif said the move is "wrong and regretful".

"Huawei is one of the world's leading companies and its success is a reflection of China's 40 years of reform and opening-up. The US move seems to allow protectionism to flourish under the guise of 'national security' and has attempted to politicize corporate interactions," Latif said.

"Starting a trade war will only backfire for the US itself, and eventually harm the interests of its own businesses and people," he said.
Huawei Technologies Co remained in the list of some key global standard-setting bodies against US government's restrictions on the country's tech firms, as the world's largest telecom equipment maker continues its contribution to an open and sustainable telecom community globally.

The move came as earlier reports last week said that Huawei has disappeared from the member list of world groups dedicated in making standards related to the information communications and technology industry, including JEDEC, SD Association, Wi-Fi Alliance and USB-IF.

By Thursday, the Chinese tech giant remained in the membership list on the websites of all four associations which set or promote standards in semiconductor, memory card, wireless network and common interface respectively.

Industry insiders pointed out that retention of Huawei in most standard-making groups reaffirms that standards organization plays a critical role in setting rules for "common" rather than a single country or company and an isolated case won't influence Huawei in the long term.

"Even if it is removed from the membership, a company can still adopt the standards or develop its own technology outside of global standards," said Xiang Ligang, director-general of Information Consumption Alliance, a telecom industry association.

Even if the removal is true, it won't impact Huawei's business in the long term. "The only bad impact is that Huawei may lose some voice in setting global standards," he said.

"Standards in the ICT industry are usually common and open to companies worldwide and the making of it requires global cooperation and partnership," he said.

Huawei has joined more than 400 standards organizations, industry alliances, and open source communities, in which its staff members have served in more than 400 key positions. The company submitted more than 5,000 standard proposals and nearly 60,000 related articles last year, its annual report showed.

To date, PCI-SIG, a consortium that specifies the peripheral component interconnect, which is used for attaching hardware devices in a computer, has suspended Huawei's membership. The firm asked staff in an internal letter to ban Huawei from any related email or activity due to Washington's embargo list.

The US government recently added Chinese tech champions including Huawei to its Entity List due to so-called safety concerns, which would effectively ban US companies from selling components and software to them.

As a latest response to US restrictions on Huawei, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday that the US has been "racking its brains" to make up various topics and mislead the public to suppress Huawei.

"But the US has dodged a topic that everybody cares about the most, which is where on the earth can it provide the evidence to back its claims," Lu said.
The World Health Organization (WHO)s decision of recognizing gaming disorders in its 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) has received mixed reaction from experts and the public in China. While some suggest that China should follow the same path, others expressed their discontent, calling the classification groundless and absurd.

The ICD-11, which the global game industry was awaiting since the WHO detailed its intention to include gaming disorders last summer, defines a gaming disorder as a pattern of gaming behavior characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.

According to WHO, the decision on inclusion of gaming disorder in ICD-11 is based on reviews of available evidence and reflects a consensus of experts from different disciplines and geographical regions that were involved in the process of technical consultations undertaken by WHO in the process of ICD-11 development.

The decision quickly sparked controversy in China. The hashtag GamingDisorderIsNowAMentalDisease on Sina Weibo garnered over 150 million page views in three days.

Needless to say, the new classification has created panic among the public, showing biased opinions against computer games. Many scientists have already expressed their opposition against the decision, VGgame, Chinas top gaming website, noted on its social media platforms.

Showing a different opinion, Tian Chenghua, Chief Physician at the Institute of Mental Health of Peking University Sixth Hospital, told China National Radio that the new classification can provide solid scientific support for hospitals to accept patients with gaming addiction issues.

Without such a classification, compulsory admission of patients [with gaming addiction issues] would lead to legal disputes. By approving the classification, hospitals would face less challenges when accepting those patients, added Tian.

Grey Area

Gaming addiction has been a heated topic in China. According to a report released by Chinese Society for Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Research in 2014, over 66.3 percent of teenagers in China had played games online, while based on its report in 2018, over 85 percent of juvenile criminals are addicted to internet.

Teenagers over-exposure to online games has led to negative consequences. In 2017, a 13-year-old boy from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province committed suicide because his parents would not allow him to play computer games, while a year later, a 15-year-old boy from Cili, Hunan Province killed his 23-year-old neighbor because he liked the feeling of killing people and wanted to try it in real life.

Fearing their children may suffer such additions, many Chinese parents have resorted to extreme and unscientific therapies for their kids. Yang Yongxin, a controversial Chinese psychiatrist who advocated and practiced electroconvulsive therapy as a cure for alleged internet addiction in teenagers, has been criticized by many medical professionals of misleading the public and causing trauma for kids. Before his practice was banned by Chinas Ministry of Health (MOH) in 2009 [MOH was dissolved and its functions integrated into the new agency called National Health Commission in 2013], thousands of children had undergone the electroshock treatment.

The research on gaming addiction in China is still scarce, and so far, we dont have a standard to diagnose or cure such problems. Normally, we would accept patients with game addictions only if they have exhibited other mental issues, such as dysthymic disorder, said Tian, who believed that a WHO approved classification would provide scientific basis for hospitals to cure those with gaming additions.

But others hold different opinions. According to a poll conducted by Caijing.com, a news portal in China, out of 25,000 participants, around 50 percent believe that calling a game addiction a disorder is an exaggeration, with many saying that the classification will bolster negative perceptions towards the online game industry, damaging the nations cultural industry.

Its worrisome that the WHO is pushing to label game addiction as a formal mental disorder while many medical professionals believe there is a lack of objective evidence to define and diagnose gaming addiction, noted VGgame in its announcement.

Though WHO has already issued the classification, it is Chinas decision whether or not to accept it. From my opinion, it would take a long time before Chinese authorities officially recognize game addictions as a disorder, said Tian.
Vietnamese automaker Vinfast has announced that the first edition of made-in-Vietnam automobile Fadil will be handed over to clients in the largest-ever ceremony in mid-June.

From June 1-5, clients could register to test drive Fadil in 32 Vinfast agents and showrooms.

Vinfast Fadil is now priced at 394.5 million VND (17,100 USD), inclusive of valued added tax.

From September 1, its price will be about 465 million VND.

Vinfast General Director James Deluca said that with the delivery of Vinfast Fadil to clients on schedule and the inauguration of an automobile manufacturing plant only 21 months after construction, Vinfast has fulfilled a huge volume of work that could take other manufacturers 36-60 months.

The test-driving programme before car delivery aims to deliver top experiences for consumers, he said.

Designed in a European style, Vinfast Fadil is equipped with a 1.4l engine, advanced safety features, and is available in six colours. VNA
Is The U.S. State Department Funding Attacks On Iranian Activists Abroad?

06/01/19

By Derek Davison (source: LobeLog)

Considerable evidence emerged late this week connecting the U.S. State Department to a Twitter account that has engaged in online attacks against human rights organizations, Iranian-American activists, journalists, and others advocating against the escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran. The revelation is raising questions about whether the Trump administration is using federal funds to propagandize in favor of a potential Iran war.

In the past 16 months, thousands of protestors have been arrested in #Iran, and most are anonymous. @sepehrifar of @hrw, a supporter of so-called Moderates within the regime, instead of documenting+proving these human rights violations, is working hard to prove @JZarif's claims. https://t.co/CvWzqULihT  IranDisinfo (@IranDisinfo) April 25, 2019

The story began to develop on Thursday, when Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's executive director for the Middle East and North Africa, flagged a tweet made last month by the "Iran Disinformation Project" (@IranDisinfo):

"This is a US State Department funded account," Whitson tweeted. Journalist Negar Mortazavi followed up, tweeting, "so the State Department uses taxpayer money to fund online attacks on HRW because the organization is researching the human cost of US sanctions in Iran. Is this even legal?"

That the "Iran Disinformation Project" is State Department-funded is unquestionably true. The organization's own "About Us" webpage reads as follows (emphasis added):

Iran Disinformation Project exposes and counters the nefarious influence of one of the world's few remaining totalitarian regimes. Daily in Persian, Arabic and English languages, the initiative brings to light disinformation emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran via official rhetoric, state propaganda outlets, social media manipulation and more. We provide near real time counter narratives and truth telling through our social networks as well as longer, investigative reports. Iran Disinformation Project's documentaries and other video productions, profiles of disinformation nodes and personalities, translations of scholarly works on disinformation and more provide to Iranian, Arab and international audiences an educative perspective on how Ayatollah Khamenei's theocracy ensures regime survival not only through aggression but also through the soft power of its lies about itself, about Iran and about our world. The regime's external terror, imperial wars and financial power are a focus, as are its internal repression, corruption and incompetence. Throughout our work, we amplify the voices and civic actions of courageous Iranians who reveal the regime for the evil it truly is. Iran Disinformation Project was launched in late 2018 and is funded by the US Department of State's Global Engagement Center.

The target of the project's April tweet, HRW researcher Tara Sepehri Far, expressed some dismay that the Iran Disinformation Project's attack on her was at least in part financed with taxpayer money:

Many of us accepted that toxic slandering is part of the cost of being an analyst or doing human rights work in a very polarized climate of the US government's maximum pressure campaign, but now we realize that part of the slandering is actually being funded by US taxpayers. https://t.co/nIwINQXnLd  Tara Sepehri Far (@sepehrifar) May 31, 2019

By late Friday, presumably embarrassed by the attention the Iran Disinformation Project was suddenly attracting, the State Department suspended its funding. NPR journalist Michele Keleman reported that the department is requiring "the implementer" to take "necessary steps to ensure that any future activity remains within the agreed scope of work." But questions remain. What is that "agreed scope of work"? Who is "the implementer" behind the project? How long has the State Department been aware that the project was using public funds to attack, repeatedly, journalists and human rights activists for propagandistic purposes? And perhaps most importantly, did anyone in the Trump administration direct the project to conduct those attacks?

Well that was an efficient outcome. Investigation should also identify coordination of @IranDisinfo with State and other organizations to attack #Iran human rights activists and groups. https://t.co/a5orNNufW1  Sarah Leah Whitson (@sarahleah1) May 31, 2019

So far, the State Department has offered no clarification about its relationship with the Iran Disinformation Project or the type of work it had been funding the project to carry out. But evidence has surfaced suggesting it may be linked to one of the most prominent Iran hawk think tanks in Washington. As highlightedby LobeLog contributing editor Eli Clifton, one of the project's main researchers appears to be Saeed Ghasseminejad, the "Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor" at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). His writings for the project are featured on FDD's website. FDD's role in shaping the debate on Iran in DC and in hyping concerns about Iran in the mainstream press is clear, as is its institutional preference for a U.S.-Iran military conflict. Its close ties to the Trump administration are similarly well-attested.

Multiple sources tell me that this person from @FDD is also running @IranDisinfo. It is interesting that he writes reports for the project and it is then promoted by FDD.



Saeed is well known for his hawkish views and for constantly attacking and smearing diaspora Iranians. pic.twitter.com/r2ysWnGNrq  Negar Mortazavi (@NegarMortazavi) May 31, 2019

Additional evidence appears to show that the Iran Disinformation Project is being operated in connection with Tavaana, an organization established in 2010, using State Department seed money, to help build Iranian civil society primarily using distance learning technologies. Tavaana's co-founder, Mariam Memarsadeghi, highlights an unspecified connection to the Iran Disinformation Project in her Twitter bio.

Tavaana is heavily involved in the @IranDisinfo site that has slandered U.S. journalists, experts and advocates w/ State Dept funding. Their co-founder @memarsadeghi lists IranDisinfo on her Twitter bio. There are several other ties outlined here: https://t.co/OpmDx5oyI0 pic.twitter.com/BiphFTpgwE  Ryan Costello (@RN_Costello) May 31, 2019

Without more information on the intended scope of the Iran Disinformation Project's work, it is impossible to say whether its State Department funding was legally (or ethically) justifiable. But as former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Joel Rubin noted, "We American taxpayers don't fund our government to attack our fellow citizens. If there was any direction given by State Dept officials to the grantee - which Americans to target, what message to use or even just a nod of approval - then we have a scandal."

Is the Trump administration funneling public funds to organizations dedicated to regime change in Tehran? Are those organizations using those funds to impugn their ideological adversaries online? Has anybody in the Trump administration directed those organizations to undertake such attacks? Given that the funds in question are public, the State Department owes U.S. taxpayers a fuller explanation as to how their money is being spent.





About the Author:



Derek Davison is a Washington-based researcher and writer on international affairs and American politics. He has Master's degrees in Middle East Studies from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in Iranian history and policy, and in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied American foreign policy and Russian/Cold War history. He previously worked in the Persian Gulf for The RAND Corporation.


When Anna-Linda was born to Esther, an apprentice seamstress who lives at Asamankese, on January 30, 2014, she was very excited to have a very lovely daughter.



The childs father was not enthused about the pregnancy since the couple were unmarried, but instead of taking the alternative way out with an abortion, Esther braced herself through the stigma and carried the pregnancy but not to full term, because Anna-Linda was born premature.



Anna-Linda, as a premature baby with the warmth, love, care and support from mum, grandma and family, lived, grew up and gained the normal weight for her age.



She grew up with her mum, a native of Anum-Boso, whose family had relocated to the farming community of Ashiorkor, near Asamankese. Esther was to graduate as an apprentice seamstress but due to the financial demands of single parenting, she could not pay off her apprenticeship fees





Her rent, which was GH40 a month, was also due. Unfortunately, due to lack of work and other constraints, she couldnt cough up the landlords request for rent advance. She needed to work to gain income and to reduce her expenses in order to save money for rent.



She decided to send her four-year-old Anna-Linda to live with her (Esthers) mum at Ashiorkor for a while.



Esther also moved in with her aged grandmother at Asamankese for a while, with the hope and intent of raising and saving some money to find her own accommodation.



Four-year-old Anna-Linda was so happy to live with grandma and cousins. She got enrolled in KG 2 at the local Presby school where she attended and continued learning her ABCs and 123.



One day, Anna-Lindas grandma needed to go to her farm to harvest cassava tubers which were long overdue for harvesting and marketing.



Her younger auntie was given the responsibility to care for Anna-Linda. The four-year-old decided to play with her cousin and another child in the neighbourhood while her younger auntie washed her clothes.



Around this time, 37-year-old neighbour Gyasi came to the children and called out Anna-Linda, who happily followed Uncle. Aunties and uncles are names given to adult females or males in communities whether relatives or not.



Apparently, Uncle Gyasi took four-year-old Anna-Linda to a quiet area in the community, drugged and defiled her until her intestines could be seen protruding out of her genitalia. He threw her into a nearby gutter after the act and quickly went home, relieved that he would never be found out.



Unknown to him, while in the act on the four-year-old, a young neighbour had chanced upon the incident which looked very odd and with fear and trepidation, sped home to inform family. Anna-Linda was nowhere to be found by her loved ones. After much search and tip-off, she was found lying still in a gutter.



The neighbours were alerted, the police were informed and grandma who had returned from the farm hurriedly borrowed money from a good Samaritan to seek medical attention for Anna-Linda. Unfortunately Anna-Linda, they later found out, was beyond any help.



She had died as a result of the gruesome sexual violence inflicted on her by 37-year-old Gyasi.



Earlier incidents



Gyasi, apparently, had earlier sexually assaulted another child in the neighbourhood but the families had hushed it up.



The excuse was that the childs family was known by the family of Gyasi so the matter should be handled with kid gloves so that the existing cordial family relationship continued undisturbed.



Incidentally, a local pastor reported that earlier on the same ill-fated morning of Anna-Lindas defilement, he had heard the loud scream of a child by his house.



Upon coming out of his house to ascertain the source of the scream, he had found a traumatised girl-child who narrated how a man had accosted her on her way to school, slapped her to dizziness and had forcefully removed her pants.



Her screams had caused the unidentified man to bolt while the trauma of the slap had caused her to defecate in her pants. Could this be the reason why trusting Anna-Linda was drugged by Uncle Gyasi before committing the heinous and fatal act on her? Anna-Linda is dead.



To quote a UK writer of The Telegraph in a report on a sexual offender, Gyasi had taken the opportunity to satisfy his own sexual gratification after identifying a vulnerable female, irrespective of age, resulting in death.



Prevention of similar incidents



Since females, irrespective of their age - from the baby in the cradle to the elderly - could be victims of sexual violence, there must be sex education from kindergarten.



Babies and children should be closely monitored by parents and caregivers. Sexual offenders may also attack boys in an unnatural manner.



Research shows that people known to and trusted by children, not strangers, tend to be the sexual attackers of children.



The Police Service, in collaboration with trained counsellors in the districts Departments of Social Welfare, should in line with the African Union protocol on the rights of women in Africa create public awareness in all sectors of society regarding harmful practices through information, formal and informal education and outreach programmes.



Traditional authorities, faith-based, as well as community-based organisations should be trained and equipped to provide shelters in their local communities, counselling and other support services for survivors and close family of victims of sexual violence.



A study by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has revealed that Ghana loses economically due to violence against females, including women.



In 2016, Ghanas economic cost in respect of violence against women was assessed at US$18.9 million in respect of adverse effect on health, loss of working hours and adverse effect on children and family development, which have a long-term impact on society.



Where the banner of Ghana freely flies, may the way to freedom truly lie.



The writer is a Lawyer, Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Business School and President of Women Assistance & Business Association (WABA).

Source: Gloria Ofori-Boadu/E-mail: [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.

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A group of teenagers has built an aeroplane in South Africa.



The 20 teenagers, from various backgrounds and across South Africa, plan to travel in their four-seater aircraft from Cape Town to Cairo in June.



They plan to cover over 10,000 km (6,213 miles) flying through Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea before they reach Egypt.



The operation is part of a programme called U-Dream Global, an aviation outreach initiative that aims to inspire young South Africans.



Agnes Seemela, one of the teenagers building and flying the aircraft, spoke to the BBC's Newsday about the experience. She was involved in building the wings of the plane and the horizontal and vertical stabilizer.



"I'm like a kid in a candy store. The plane takes off on the 15th June in Cape Town."



Like most teenagers, Agnes had no previous experience in aviation.



"I learnt it all during this amazing journey," she told Newsday.

Source: BBC









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Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi held talks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on how to boost bilateral relations, especially economic and investment ties, in Mecca on Friday.

El-Sisi had attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperations (OIC) ordinary summit in Mecca on Friday.

The Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said the pair also discussed the promising investment opportunities in Egypt and some regional files, in addition to the situation in the Gulf region and the Syrian, Yemeni and Libyan crises.

Both sides agreed on the importance of continued intensive bilateral coordination and consultations at the current critical juncture in the regions history and in light of the constantly changing conditions in the region, so as to shore up the unity of the Arab and Islamic nations in face of the numerous challenges besetting them, Rady said.

The kingdom is interested in boosting cooperation, the crown prince told El-Sisi, lauding Egypts efforts that contributed to the success of the emergency Arab summit and the ordinary OIC summit over the past two days.

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Burundi has threatened to break off relations with the UN envoy to the country, AFP news agency reports quoting UN diplomats.



A Security Council meeting on Burundi that was supposed to take place earlier this week was postponed without warning after the country said it would cut ties with Michel Kafando, AFP says.



Burundi wants the Security Council to end the meetings on the situation in the country, which happen every three months.



In 2015, Burundi was hit by a political crisis after President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would run for a third term.



The Burundian government says that the internal political situation in the country, including next year's election, is not an issue for the international community, AFP reports.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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"Pastor Ng'ang'a" has been a top search on Google in Kenya after a video of the controversial church leader warning his congregants not to disrespect his wife has been widely shared.



Pastor James Maina Ng'ang'a, who is the head of the Neno Evangelism Centre, can be seen insulting and threatening members of his church.



In a mixture of English and Swahili he said:



"If you continue to disrespect my wife I will kick you out of my ministry, I dont care who you are! If you continue to disrespect my wife I will kick you out of my ministry, I dont care who you are!



I swear I will excommunicate you from this church... This time I will show you my power. If you dont respect her, leave my church and go start your own. You are stupid and rubbish!"I swear I will excommunicate you from this church... This time I will show you my power. If you dont respect her, leave my church and go start your own. You are stupid and rubbish!"



It is not clear how his wife was disrespected.



This is not the first time Pastor Ngang'a has caused controversy.



In March, he was charged for allegedly threatening a journalist who had reported on the lack of transparency in the way that pastors deal with money.



He has not commented on the charges.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Audio Attachment: Click to listen to Haruna Iddrisu

The Minority in Parliament has again urged government to release the Justice Emile Short Commission report on the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.



The Minority in Parliament at a press conference on Wednesday called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to immediately publish the report of the Emile Short Commission.



According to them, the findings and recommendations of the Emile Short Commission report would enable Ghanaians to chart a path towards ending politically related violence.



Mr James Agalga, the Ranking Member on Parliament's Defence and Interior Committee, and Member of Parliament for Builsa North Constituency, speaking at the press conference said "any attempt by the Executive to stampede Parliament into enacting legislation on political vigilantism without recourse to the Emile Short Commissions Report could only result in the enactment of half-baked legislation not capable of dealing sufficiently with the problem."



Reiterating the minority's demand in an interview on Citi Eyewitness news, Thursday, Haruna Iddrisu said it is within their right to request for the report.



I am surprised that the media; you are demanding accountability . . . We have every right that we want to know what exactly happened . . . It is in the interest of good governance," he said.



"What is compelling is that the vigilantism bill presented to Parliament in its explanatory memorandum makes reference to the Ayawaso West violence commission report and findings."



"This findings and recommendations have not been made public to Ghanaians. How does it inform legislation? Why did he form the Commission," he questioned and added that if the President believes in accountability, he will make the report public.



Click the audio above to listen to what he said.

Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/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.

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A DECISION by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to demonstrate against the Electoral Commission (EC) over a purported district based online registration of voters is in doubt after a High Court ordered the opposition party to stop the protest.



The Ashanti Regional police command, which is expected to provide security for the protest march, has won an injunction after pointing to logistical challenges due to this years Ramadan festivities.



The Ashanti Regional chapter of the NDC had served notice to the police to go on a protest march on June 3, 2019 in opposition to the intended district based online registration of voters by the EC.



The party said in a statement signed by its Regional Secretary, Kwame Zu that the action, dubbed the Ye Npene/Baa Mu Yada, is meant to dissuade the EC from going ahead with the plan.



The NDC indicated that the plan, if allowed to be carried though, would disenfranchise many Ghanaians eligible for registration.



According to the statement, the march against the EC would begin from Aboabo Post Office through to the principal streets of Kumasi and end at the Ashanti Regional office where a petition would be delivered.



The NDC said the protest march would also be used to denounce what it described as a blatant attempt to torpedo the electoral laws of the country, charging its supporters and sympathizers to wear black or red attire to underscore the severity of the said plan.



Counsel for the police, Kwaku Boateng argued the scheduled protest against the EC in Kumasi would over-stretch the logistics of the law enforcers, which the court agreed.



It therefore prohibited the action on the scheduled date, asserting that the constitutional right to go on a protest or a demonstration by any individual or group is enjoined with the right to police protection.



It ordered the police to engage the NDC in a meeting to re-schedule the demonstration after the Ramadan festivities.







Source: Daily Guide









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Government is demanding explanation and apology from a Ghanaian artist who plagiarised a photo of a high-rise building in Kenya for use as the cover of the Ghana Beyond Aid strategy document.



Richmond Bansah was commissioned to produce an original artwork that reflects the vision of the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda and the highlights of the strategy document.



Instead, he allegedly plagiarised a photo of Dawit Insurance Limited headquarters in Nairobi, triggering criticism against the government, with some persons describing the act as embarrassing.



This is the original photo of Dawit Insurance that was plagiarised in the Ghana Beyond Aid strategy document

Critics were shocked by how government officials led President Nana Addo Dankwa AKufo-Addo to show off the document with the plagiarised photo at a national event televised live.



Government officials initially downplayed the issue and asked people rather focus attention on the content, but the Committee in charge of the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda issued a statement Friday to apologise for the gaffe.



The Committee apologises unreservedly to the President and the nation for this error, the statement signed by Secretary to the Committee, Dr Eric Yeboah said.



Ghana apologises for plagiarising photo of Kenya skyline

It said the Committee takes full responsibility for it and are currently ensuring that the cover page of the document is replaced before bulk copies are printed for widespread circulation.



Apologise for the embarrassment



In a separate letter to the artist, Richmond Bansah, the Committee said it needs explanation as to why he plagiarised someones work as against producing an original artwork.



For the Committee, what happened was singular act of indiscretion and lack of professionalism on the part of Bansah.



His action, the Committee noted, brought embarrassment to the President, the Ghana Beyond Aid Committee and its chairman for which reason he ought to explain and apologise.



You are therefore required to provide explanation and formal apology to the Ghana Beyond Aid Committee, the letter to Mr. Bansah dated May 31 demanded.



The Committee however, did not whether it will apply any sanction against the artist.



Critics have been demanding to know how much the artist was paid and whether on the face of the plagiarised work, government would seek a refund of all monies that may have been paid to Bansah, but the Committee did not touch on that.







Source: 3news.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.

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If youre yet to see a miracle unfold today, then youve come to the right place because we've got one for you!



Actor Majid Michel, who in recent times has become a fundamentalist preacher lecturing anyone who would listen about religion, has all of a sudden turned on religion, describing it as one of the evilest things known to mankind.



Majid shared a video to Instagram in which he unexpectedly criticized religion.



According to him, religion has perpetrated untold destruction on humanity throughout history, whether it is Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or what have you. He described religion as the biggest problem in the world.



Majid, of course, remains a 'man of God.



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Nagaland is in such a disturbed, dangerous condition that use of armed forces in aid of civil power is necessary: Govt notification.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi affirmed Egypts keenness on maintaining close coordination with the Saudi kingdom vis-a-vis all current developments in the Middle East region, in a meeting with King Salman bin Abdulaziz on Friday.

The pair met on the sidelines of a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday, and discussed the importance of the strategic relationship between the two countries.

El-Sisi said that furthering ties is one of the main and fixed priorities of Egypts diplomacy, especially as cooperation and coordination between both sides is considered a cornerstone of regional stability.

His spokesman Bassam Rady said that the Saudi monarch expressed deep appreciation for the Egyptian leadership and people, praising the deeply rooted and long-standing relations and historical bonds that connect the two sisterly countries.

El-Sisi stressed during the meeting that his current visit to Saudi Arabia reflects the closeness of the two countries relations and underlines their shared destiny and future.

The president also congratulated King Salman on the Islamic summits success in consolidating constructive cooperation to serve the best interests of the Islamic world.

Talks at the meeting tackled many important regional files, with both sides agreeing on the need to exert extra efforts to push forward cooperation among Arab nations and within the Islamic world to confront the growing challenges and escalated threats to regional security, Rady said.

El-Sisi reiterated that the security of the Gulf region is a fundamental part of Arab security and Egypts national security.

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Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, sent a cable of greetings to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr.

The pontiff wished success for the president in his efforts to build Egypt in order to fulfill the aspirations of Egyptians and secure a bright future for them.

The pope sent a similar cable of greetings to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

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Narendra Modi, Donald Trump (file photo) As he hardens his stand on trade, US President Donald Trump is ending India's $5.6 billion trade concessions under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences programme with effect from June 5. "I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets," he said in a proclamation issued Friday night.



"Accordingly", he said, "it is appropriate to terminate India's designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019."



The end to GSP comes ahead of the meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Japan later this month during the G20 Summit. Trade issues are likely to come up during their meeting.



Trump is on a mission to end the massive US trade deficits and has imposed or proposed higher tariffs on imports from several countries while involved in a trade war with China.



On Wednesday, he announced punitive tariff hikes on imports from Mexico over its leniency towards immigrants from Central America.



Turkey was also stripped of its GSP trade concessions along with India on Friday.



India, which came under the GSP programme in 1975, is its largest beneficiary in the US. However, India's GSP exports of $5.6 billion were only a small part of the total exports worth $76.7 billion in 2017, according to the US Trade Representative (USTR).



Total India-US trade was $126.2 billion in 2017, with a $27.3 billion deficit for the US.



The GSP programme is limited to certain categories like apparel and footwear with the aim of alleviating poverty by promoting exports by poor craftspeople and artisans in those sectors.



At a hearing held by the USTR last June on withdrawing India's GSP, the Minister in-charge of Commerce at the Indian embassy in Washington, Puneet R. Kundal, said that withdrawing GSP benefits to India "would be discriminatory, arbitrary, and detrimental to the development, finance and trade needs of India, which is a vast and diverse developing country with unique challenges."



Trump had notified Congress in March of his intent to end the GSP preferences as required by law.



Trump has been on a warpath against what he said were high tariffs on US imports to India.



While pushing for the Reciprocal Trade Act in January, he brought up India's duty on American whiskey, which he said was 150 per cent, and on Harley Davidson motorcycles that he asserted he had gotten reduced from 100 per cent to 50 per cent.



The decision to end the GSP may not entirely be influenced by high tariffs imposed by India on US imports. The two countries have had differences over the restrictions placed on e-commerce by Amazon and on Walmart subsidiary Flipkart and on data housing by Visa and Mastercard.



In retaliation for the US raising tariffs of steel and aluminium imports from India, New Delhi has threatened to increase duties on agricultural products like walnuts, apples and other fruits imported from the US.



A trade group has warned that ending GSP for India could ironically end up helping China on which the Trump administration has launched a trade war.



The American Apparel and Footwear Association said in written testimony to the USTR that if GSP benefits are withdrawn for India as well as Indonesia and Thailand, US "companies will have no choice but to return to sourcing from China".



But the US dairy industry made a strong submission to the USTR to end the GSP for India citing its difficulties in exporting to India.



Shawna Morris, Vice President of the National Milk Producers Federation and the US Dairy Export Council in oral testimony at the USTR hearing in June accused India of refusing to provide them equitable and reasonable access to its markets through "unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary requirements."



These requirements by India were that the exports should not come from cows that have been given cannibalised feed that includes offal or other meat products.



Kundal countered that it was not an issue of market access but of "certification given the religious, cultural and moral sensitivities" and India provide unimpeded market access to dairy products from all countries that met the criteria.



Another opposition came from the medical sector based on price controls on medical devices imposed by India. Kundal said that these were necessitated by India's need to provide affordable healthcare to its citizens.




Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/31/2019 -- According to a new market research report "Gene Panel Market by Product & Service, Technique (Amplicon, Hybridization), Design (Predesign, Custom), Application (Cancer, Congenital Disease, Pharmacogenetics) & End User (Hospital, Research Center, Pharmaceutical Companies) - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets



The test kits segment is expected to dominate the market in 2018



The growth of this market is mainly driven by factors such as the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, growing company initiatives, and growing adoption of gene panels owing to their benefits such as cost-efficiency and simplified the workflow.



Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=101282859



Based on product & service, the market is segmented into test kits and testing services. In 2018, test kits are expected to account for the largest share of the Gene Panels Market. The growth in this market is mainly driven by the increasing demand for gene panels in research as well as diagnostics to understand the genetic variability of chronic disorders.



Based on the technique, the amplicon-based approach segment is expected to dominate the market in 2018



The Gene Panels Market is segmented into the amplicon-based approach and the hybridization-based approach. The amplicon-based approach segment is expected to dominate the market in 2018. This segment is also expected to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period due to the advantages associated with this approach, such as its rapidity, cost-efficiency, and low sample requirement.



The research and academic institutes segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.



Based on end user, the market is segmented into research & academic institutes, hospital & diagnostic laboratories, and pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies. The research and academic institutes segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the increasing government funding programs across the globe and the focus of market players on providing efficient gene panels.



North America is expected to dominate the Gene Panels Market in 2018



In 2018, North America is expected to hold the largest share of the Gene Panels Market followed by Europe. The large share of this geographical segment is primarily attributed to the growing research on cancer and inherited rare diseases and the increasing number of NGS-based & clinical applications in the region. Other growth factors include government support for genomics research and the presence of leading NGS providers in this region.



Request Research Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=101282859



The Gene Panels Market is fragmented, with the presence of several large as well as emerging players. Prominent players in the Gene Panels Market include Illumina, Inc. (US), BGI (China), Agilent Technologies (US), Eurofins Scientific (US), QIAGEN (Germany), GENEWIZ, Inc. (US), Novogene Corporation (China), Personalis (US), Thermo Fisher Scientific (US), F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Switzerland), Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) (US), GATC Biotech AG (GATC Biotech) (Germany), and ArcherDx (US). Players in this market are adopting various organic and inorganic strategies, such as product launches & upgradations, agreements, partnerships, joint ventures, collaborations, and acquisition to widen their product portfolios and expand their presence in the market.



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.



Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.



MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.



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MarketsandMarkets INC.

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USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com
The two leaders also reviewed the current regional political scene, including the situation in Syria and other conflict-hit Arab countries, according to a statement by the presidential spokesperson

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri that he cherishes the strength of relations between Egypt and Lebanon at both the official and popular levels.

El-Sisi's remarks came during his meeting with the Lebanese prime minister on the sidelines of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Friday night in Mecca.

According to a statement issued by the spokesman of the Egyptian Presidency Bassam Rady, El-Sisi also wished Al-Hariri and his government of success to be able to meet the aspirations of the Lebanese people to achieve further progress, security and stability.



From his side, Al-Hariri said he valued the brotherly ties and solidarity between both countries, expressing his country's appreciation of Egypt as a key pillar in supporting and maintaining stability in the region.

The Lebanese PM also praised the successful inspiring experience of Egypt which promotes the priority of development success, noting that he considers it as a model to be followed by other developing nations.



Rady said in the statement that the two leaders discussed means of strengthening bilateral cooperation, including the possibility of benefiting from Egyptian expertise in a wide range of fields, including electricity, infrastructure and energy projects.



They also reviewed the current regional political scene, including situation in Syria and other conflict-hit Arab countries, Rady added.

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Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/31/2019 -- According to a new market research report "Hearing Aids Market by Product (Receiver In The Ear, Behind The Ear, In The Ear, In The Canal Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implant, BAHA implant), Types of Hearing Loss (Sensorineural, Conductive Hearing loss) & Patient (Adult, Pediatric) - Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets



The growth of this market is majorly attributed to the high prevalence of hearing loss, rising geriatric population, and technological advancements in hearing aids.



Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=198630754



Hearing aid devices segment to dominate the market in 2017



Based on product, the Hearing Aids Market is segmented into hearing aid devices and hearing implants. In 2017, the hearing aid devices segment is expected to account for the largest share of the Hearing Aids Market. Growth in this segment is majorly driven by the rising geriatric population, technological advancements in hearing devices, and the development and introduction of new and advanced products.



The adult patients segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.



By patient type, the hearing aid market is segmented into adult patients and pediatric patients. The adult patients segment is estimated to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period. The high growth in this segment can primarily be attributed to the high prevalence of hearing loss in this section of the population.



Europe to dominate the Hearing Aids Market



In 2017, Europe is expected to dominate the global market primarily due to factors such as the growing aging population and high prevalence of hearing loss in this region. In 2017, North America is expected to account for the second-largest share of this market.



Rising geriatric population and increasing conferences and symposiums help create awareness on market products and the latest technologies in hearing aids are the major factors supporting the growth of Hearing Aids Market in this regional segment.



Request Research Sample Research Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=198630754



The Hearing Aids Market is dominated by big players such as Sonova (Switzerland), William Demant (Denmark), and GN Store Nord (Denmark) with the presence of several small players as well. Some of the players operating in this market include Cochlear (Australia), Starkey (US), Widex (Denmark), MED-EL (Austria), SeboTek Hearing Systems (US), Audina Hearing Instruments (US), RION (Japan), Horentek (Italy), Microson (Spain), and Arphi Electronics (India).



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.



Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.



MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.



Contact Us:



Mr. Shelly Singh

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com
Tanzania is banning the importation, production, sale and use of plastic bags, becoming the 34th African country to implement such restrictions, according to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP

Egypt's Foreign Ministry urged on Saturday citizens planning to travel to Tanzania not to carry with them any kinds of plastic bags, and abide by the Tanzanian government directions in this regard.

A plastic bag ban comes into force in Tanzania on Saturday, as Africa leads efforts to stem the tide of plastic blighting the farthest reaches of the globe, and depths of the ocean.

Tanzania is banning the importation, production, sale and use of plastic bags, becoming the 34th African country to implement such restrictions, according to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

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Activism is often seen as a pursuit for the young, but many Washtenaw County residents have reached retirement age without retiring from their advocacy work.

Lori Saginaw of Ann Arbor notes that older people's activism "takes a different shape" from younger people's, particularly when it comes to the role of social media, but there is a place for both kinds of activism.

"I recognize their idealism and their passion and appreciate it, and I often think, 'Gosh, I wish I had that much energy,'" Saginaw says. "But at the same time, I have learned how to approach (issues) in more ways over time, and that's the benefit of more years on the planet."

We talked with three Washtenaw County residents who are still involved in activism in their 60s, 70s, and even late 80s.

Lori Saginaw: A commitment to speaking out for others

Saginaw says she learned "the importance of being aware of what is happening to other people and standing up for them and speaking to what isn't right" from her mother. Her parents and grandparents, all of Japanese ancestry, were put in internment camps during World War II.

Though her mother rarely spoke about the experience, she did speak out about other injustices when she saw them, and that family legacy affected Saginaw from childhood. She remembers that her own high school history teacher didn't know about Japanese internment camps because they weren't mentioned in the school's history text.

"I think that lack of awareness and level of ignorance ... are the basis for people not having any understanding or appreciation for what is going on in the lives of people who are different from them," Saginaw says.

She says it seemed like everyone was protesting the Vietnam War when she was in college in the '60s, but her interest in activism became more acute once she had children. Saginaw began teaching conflict resolution in Ann Arbor Public Schools, taking her children in strollers to protest marches, and raising civil rights issues at the dinner table.

"I think my desire to make the world better was fueled by wanting it to be better for them," she says.

Some of Saginaw's early involvement with activism stems from her involvement with the hunger-relief nonprofit Food Gatherers, which her husband Paul Saginaw co-founded. Her most recent activism work, with Ann Arbor's Independent Community Police Oversight Commission (ICPOC), grew out of participating in race dialogues sponsored by Race and Conciliation Encounters (RACE) Washtenaw about nine years ago, shortly before she turned 60.

Saginaw says those dialogues enabled her to "use a muscle that had never been strengthened, and that muscle was one of entering an area of discomfort."

Advocating for the creation of the ICPOC and being vocal about the need for transparency and representation of groups most negatively impacted by policing also took Saginaw out of her comfort zone.

"It was an act of sticking my neck out that I hadn't really done before," she says. "I was not using a network where I was known, with people I have relationships with. There's comfort and security in doing activism in that context, but once a person enters the public and political arena, it's a whole different ball game."

At the core of all Saginaw's activism is an emphasis on connecting with people who are different from her.

"I think it's easy to say that a problem is not mine because it's either too far away, or other people will deal with it," she says. "Once we know someone who has an experience that is so compelling but not ours, that experience becomes part of us. I think that fundamental to a life that feels enriched is building relationships and actively seeking out relationships with people that have experiences that are different than mine."

Gail Summerhill: Making "necessary trouble"

Ypsilanti resident Gail Summerhill also found her way into activism through creating relationships with people who had different backgrounds from her own.

Many of Summerhill's jobs over the decades involved public service, from working on employment skills with incarcerated women to giving premarital counseling about sexually transmitted diseases at the start of the HIV epidemic. Summerhill's activism grew out of those early experiences of being a non-judgmental source of support for people whose lives had gone much differently from her own.

When she was a caseworker with Washtenaw County, she recalls asking someone what had made them start using drugs.

"I thought then that to be addicted to crack was a person's choice. I didn't understand how you could do this knowing how bad it was," she says.

The person told her a story about growing up in a home where their mother was on drugs, 2-year-olds were allowed to drink beer, and 5- or 6-year-olds were smoking cigarettes. Summerhill realized that in a house where the mother is on drugs, the situation can lead to everyone else in the family being on drugs as well.

"I never thought about how a person's environment could have been so different (from my own)," she says.

Summerhill says that today, her activism work in voter engagement and helping vulnerable seniors comes from the heart.

"If you're showing people your heart first, that you're calm and not judging, people open up and trust," she says.

Summerhill became interested in senior concerns and end-of-life issues after seeing how poorly her own father was treated when he developed dementia. Due in part to that experience, she has been educating seniors on their rights and the resources available to them, as well as teaching families how to prepare for end-of-life issues, for several years.

That work recently caught the attention of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who appointed Summerhill to a state task force on elder abuse. Summerhill says lawmakers are often too far away from a problem to see it clearly, so she is the person in the trenches reporting back on average citizens' experiences and making sure people understand the resources available to them.

For instance, nursing homes are required by law to display a poster about residents' rights and who to contact if they feel they are being mistreated. But what if a resident doesn't understand the word "ombudsman" or other terminology used in the poster?

"You didn't know that that poster was telling you something to help you," she says. "But I talk about it to people in a way that makes sense to them."

Summerhill also became interested in politics and the Washtenaw County Democratic Party around the time Barack Obama first ran for president. One of her favorite moments working with the county Democrats happened a few years later when she met legendary civil rights leader John Lewis. They were both at a meeting where everyone was talking politics, and she thought Lewis looked bored, so she decided to talk to him about something more interesting: food.

"I said, 'Tell me this. Now that Obama is in office, do they have any soul food in the White House?'" she says. "He started talking about his mama and how she made the best sweet potatoes. He's laughing. I'm laughing. We're talking about food, not politics."

When she was feeling discouraged earlier this year, she asked Lewis to write her a letter she could show others about the importance of voting and being politically active.

"I asked him for a letter that I might use to educate people on who he is and what he did for us to have the right to vote and ... how he must feel for us to not even show up at the polls because somebody told us voting doesn't matter," she says.

In his reply, addressed to the Washtenaw Democrats generally and to Summerhill specifically, he wrote briefly about his own activism, and encouraged her to continue to "make necessary trouble." Summerhill keeps a picture of the letter on her cellphone and refers to it when she's feeling down.

"This gives me the courage to make trouble for justice and to use my voice to make a difference," Summerhill says.

Jim Toy: "I'm more of a doer, not a theorist"

Jim Toy hadn't planned to come out as gay in the most public way possible, but that's exactly what happened during a Vietnam War protest in Detroit in April 1970.

Each of a dozen groups who marched down Woodward Avenue that day appointed someone to speak at the rally that followed. But the speaker in the group Toy was marching with got cold feet at the last moment. Toy and the other group members looked at each other, wondering what to do next, and then Toy volunteered.

"I'd never spoken in public before and I got up on the speaker's platform and, I can feel it now, it was like fire and ice," Toy says. "I began speaking out against the Vietnam War, and as I wound up what I had to say, I said, 'My name is Jim, I'm 40 years old, and I am a gay man.' That marked my coming out."

The Detroit News and Free Press both reported on the rally and quoted Toy, outing him to an even wider audience.

Since then, Toy has been a founder or founding member of a dizzying array of gay rights and other social justice organizations, including the Detroit Gay Liberation Movement; the Ann Arbor Gay Liberation Front; Out Loud Chorus (still performing today); the HIV/AIDS Resource Center Washtenaw County (HARC); Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) - Ann Arbor; Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) - Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area; and the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project (WRAP). The former WRAP center was renamed the Jim Toy Community Center in his honor in in 2010.

Despite his astonishing list of accomplishments, Toy says his activism stems in part from feeling inferior growing up Asian-American during the anti-Japanese sentiment of World War II and feeling small and awkward compared to his star athlete father.

"Perhaps I've been trying to prove to myself that I'm a person of worth," he says.

Toy says he's not very introspective and doesn't know why he decided to blurt out in public that he was gay at age 40.

"I'm more of a doer, not a theorist," he says. "I never was. I'm too lazy."

Though he turned 89 in April and he has slowed down a bit physically, he still hasn't abandoned his advocacy work, and he continues to evolve in his understanding of social justice issues.

He says he avoided talking about race for most of his life, stemming from the deep shame he was made to feel about his ethnicity during World War II, but he's recently begun thinking about the "challenging" intersection of race and sexual orientation, for instance.

"It's difficult for white people to have that discussion with people of color, because queer people of color have that double burden," he says. "That dynamic is getting addressed, but painfully and slowly, in my experience."

He says it took him years to get on board with the "T" in LGBTQ, because he hadn't thought much about gender identity and "it took me a while to wrap my head around that particular concept."

Today, though, he puts the "T" in the front of the line, both when speaking to others and in his personal life. A bookshelf full of gay literature in his home, for instance, is labeled "TBLG." He says he puts transgender people first for two reasons.

"In my experience, we become aware of what's referred to as gender and gender identity before we become aware of sexual orientation concerns," he says. "I also put the T first because transgender people are the most harassed and discriminated-against members of this particular constituency."

These days, Toy considers himself mostly "homebound" because he doesn't drive anymore. But he keeps in touch with local advocacy groups and other activists by phone as much as possible, particularly with the University of Michigan's Spectrum Center, which provides support services for LGBTQ students.

"I'm doing what I can from here," Toy says.

Toy's story of gay rights activism kicking off in his 40s counters the common narrative that activism is the province of the young.

"It's true that many younger people become involved with advocacy, and sometimes what they're trying to do gets written off because of their being young," Toy says. "So when people in their elder years become involved, they may at first get met with disbelief, and then, I would hope, with (the realization that) older people have similar concerns, and they can address them with some degree of competency because of where they are in their lifespan."

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She joined Concentrate as a news writer in early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to other Issue Media Group publications. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com.

All photos by

Doug Coombe
Press Release

June 1, 2019 De Lima allays fears about new 4Ps Law as 'cash doleouts' Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has allayed apprehensions that the new law institutionalizing the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) would make its intended beneficiaries overly-reliant on government's cash doleouts. De Lima, the principal sponsor and author of the 4Ps bill in the Senate, said 4Ps is in fact among the few ingenious public sector programs that make tangible and lasting interventions in the lives of its beneficiaries. "Ang 4Ps ay isang pamumuhunan para sa magandang kinabukasan ng mga maralita nating kababayan," said the lady Senator. "Hindi man nito agarang maiaahon sa kahirapan ang mga benepisyaryo, hinihikayat naman nito ang pamilyang Pilipino na pangalagaan ang kalusugan ng kanilang mga anak, siguruhing nakakapasok sila sa paaralan, at sa huli, mabigyan ng kakayahang mapabuti ang antas ng kanilang pamumuhay," she added. De Lima made the statement after the Center for Women's Resources (CWR) criticized the signing into law of Republic Act 11310 or the 4Ps Law, claiming that it prevents Filipinos from becoming self-sustaining by supposedly giving illusion that the government will provide all financial assistance to cover their basic needs. RA 11310, which was signed by President Duterte last April 17, provides conditional cash grants to the qualified indigent families for a maximum of seven years, to improve their health, nutrition, and the education of their children aged 0-18. Refuting doubts that 4Ps will be a temporary relief, De Lima said the law enhances opportunities, such as employment and livelihood, to qualified indigent Filipinos to empower them to achieve the quality of lives that they deserve. "It is important to note that cash transfers under this law are conditional, for one, upon the child beneficiaries' enrolment in school and their requirement to meet a required class attendance. To regularly receive financial assistance, they have to meet the requirements set under this law and not just waste the money elsewhere," she said. "And by limiting the years of membership in the program to seven years, the beneficiaries are already reminded to make good use of the money in the period provided because financial assistance will not be offered to them forever," she added. The lady Senator from Bicol also assured CWR that the law she authored and sponsored has enough provisions against possible abuses, such as transparency program, creation of independent monitoring committee, and corresponding penalties. Under RA 11310, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) shall regularly and timely post and update on its website a report of financial disclosures and information about the beneficiaries based on geographical area, social, economic and cultural circumstances. The DSWD shall also serve as the central planning, coordinating, implementing and monitoring body of the Program by coordinating with the National Advisory Council and with the Independent Monitoring Committee at the national and local levels, to verify compliance on a monthly basis, using the monitoring and evaluation systems designed for the purpose. Any person who falsify their data and/or acted in conspiracy with public officials to alter the fact to be qualified as household beneficiaries will shall be penalized with imprisonment or a fine of not less than P10,000 but not more than P100,000 or both.
Press Release

June 1, 2019 De Lima bewails plight of 100,000 IDPs in Marawi Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has bewailed the pitiful plight of some 100,000 residents of Marawi City who continue to live in tents two years after heavy fighting with Muslim extremist Maute Group that left their city in Lanao del Sur in ruins. De Lima, a social justice and human rights champion, said the Duterte government should not neglect its obligation in addressing the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs) heavily affected by the military operations. "Ang mabagal na rehabilitasyon at kawalan pa rin ng ligtas at maayos na tirahan ang nagpapasariwa sa sugat at malagim na alalang iniwan ng kaguluhan sa Marawi. Nasaan na nga ba ang malasakit ni Duterte para sa mga kapatid nating biktima ng karahasan?", she asked. "Ilang libong bata, nakatatanda, may karamdaman, at naulila ng kanilang mga mahal sa buhay ang patuloy na magdudusa hindi lamang sa pagkawasak na dulot ng trahedya, kundi pati na rin ng patuloy na kapabayaan at kawalang malasakit ng gobyerno ni Duterte?", she added. In its report issued last May 22, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) noted that over 100,000 people have remained homeless and unable to reclaim their nomal lives despite several aid efforts by the government in Marawi City. ICRC's Philippine delegation head Martin Thalmann said the displaced people of Marawi who were left with "invisible" scars due to the delay in the city's rehabilitation now "want to stand on their own feet again and stop depending on assistance" because they "have grown tired and frustrated." Thalmann added that Marawi residents in evacuation areas or staying with their relatives are still encountering problems in getting drinkable water, sustainable livelihood, and most especially permanent shelters. The lady Senator from Bicol maintained the government should reassess if the combined efforts of concerned government agencies and private and foreign donors are properly applied to ensure rehabilitation and rebuilding the lives of IDP families. "The issues in the war-ravaged city, especially involving shelters and livelihood, remain unheeded. It's high time for the government to analyze and rethink their strategies to find out if these can truly rehabilitate Marawi," she said. "Hindi makatarungan na dalawang taon na ang nakalipas pero libo-libong residente pa rin ng Marawi ang patuloy na nagdurusa. Ang malala pa dito, ang iba sa kanila ay diumano'y araw-araw na tinitiis ang manirahan sa mga maliliit na tents habang wala silang katiyakan kung kilan sila makakauwi sa kani-kanilang tahanan," she added. Last March, several residents of Marawi City staged a rally in Marawi City to demand a return to their homes and protest their plight of living in tents and temporary shelters for more than two years. "It is not easy to live in a tent with five children. It is hot and the tent is small for us," Marawi resident Farina Pagazad reportedly said. The Marawi siege erupted on May 23, 2017 when Maute Group clashed with government forces, leaving the city in ruins. Despite the end of the fighting after five months, heavily armed troops stand guard in the city to prevent the possible return of the IS-inspired terrorists. In 2017, De Lima has filed Senate Resolution No. 512 urging the appropriate Senate committee to look into the government's response to the humanitarian crisis in Marawi, especially among the sick, elderly, disabled, women and children.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi affirmed to Gambian president Adama Barrow during their meeting in Mecca late Friday night Egypt's keenness on strengthening coordination with Gambia in all fields.

In a statement, Presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady said El-Sisi stressed to President Barrow Egypt's full readiness to support Gambia in the agriculture and land reclamation fields, and transfer its expertise to Gambia.

The Egyptian president told the Gambian president he values the distinguished brotherly relations that bind Egypt with Gambia in various political, cultural and religious dimensions.

From his side, Barrow expressed his deep appreciation and thanks to El-Sisi and the Egyptian government for supporting his country in establishing several development projects.

The Gambian president highlighted his country's aspiration to enhance the bilateral relations with Egypt at various levels, especially in the fields of trade exchange, as well as Gambia's interest in attracting Egyptian direct investments and technical support.

Barrow praised the Egyptian efforts to promote social development and economic growth for African countries.

Rady added that the meeting also discussed African issues, including the situation in the West Africa region, in the light of Egypt's current presidency of the African Union (AU) for 2019.

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Saudi King Salman told leaders of the OIC countries at the summit that 'the Palestinian cause is the focus of our attention until the brotherly Palestinian people get all their legitimate rights'

A Saudi-hosted Islamic summit on Saturday threw its support behind Palestinians ahead of a US-led peace plan suspected to be skewed in favour of Israel, as Muslim states rallied around Saudi Arabia over tensions with Iran.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, the third and final Iran-focused summit in the holy city of Mecca this week, denounced US moves to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The summit of the 57-member bloc, marked by the notable absence of Iranian and Turkish leaders, called for a "boycott" of countries that have opened diplomatic missions in the city.

Trump broke with decades of bipartisan policy to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017, a move rejected by the majority of the members of the United Nations.

The OIC's statement comes as Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner prepares to roll out economic aspects of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month.

The plan, which has been heavily talked up by Trump and dubbed his "deal of the century", has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say the president's policies have shown him to be overwhelmingly biased in favour of Israel.

The Palestinians consider the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Kushner, who was in Jerusalem on Friday on the latest leg of a regional tour to sell the plan, had looked to an alliance with Saudi Arabia against Iran as a way to gain Arab support.

But Saudi King Salman told leaders of the OIC countries gathered at the summit: "The Palestinian cause is the cornerstone of the works of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is the focus of our attention until the brotherly Palestinian people get all their legitimate rights.

"We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of any measures that would prejudice the historical and legal status of Quds (Jerusalem)."

Aggressive threats

The OIC also backed Saudi Arabia in escalating tensions with Iran, as King Salman warned that "terrorist" attacks in the Gulf region could imperil global energy supplies.

The remark came after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

"We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies," the king told Muslim leaders.

Tehran has strongly denied involvement in any of the incidents.

In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the king vowed to confront "aggressive threats and subversive activities".

"Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world," said OIC Secretary General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen, voicing solidarity that was shared by other members.

In back-to-back summits on Friday, Gulf and Arab allies similarly threw their support behind Saudi Arabia, which drew accusations from Iran of "sowing division".

The summits came after Trump's hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday that Iranian naval mines were "almost certainly" responsible for the damage to the four ships off the United Arab Emirates on May 12.

The findings of a five-nation inquiry into what happened have yet to be released.

Tehran dismissed Bolton's accusation as "laughable" and accused him of pursuing "evil desires for chaos in the region".

Erdogan absent

Regional tensions have risen sharply since US the Trump administration reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions against Iran, after he abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Iran in May last year.

But Trump has appeared to soften his tone towards Tehran, saying that his government does not seek "regime change".

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was notably absent from the key OIC summit, an AFP photographer said.

A regional heavyweight, Turkey -- which maintains close ties with Iran -- was instead represented by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani was also not present but sent a representative to the talks, an AFP reporter said.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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EgyptAir has announced an agreement with AeroMobile, a subsidiary of Panasonic Avionics Corporation, to provide inflight communications services for its Boeing B787-9 aircrafts.

In a statement on Thursday, the national flag carrier described the deal as an important step through which internet and roaming services will be available on board of its fleet of dreamliner B787-9 which are operated by the company on its flights to Europe, US and Asia.

As per the deal, EgyptAirs passengers will enjoy inflight Wi-Fi and Live TV services and will be able to use smart phones to make and receive calls and SMS messages, the statement added.

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Before unveiling its new strategy called Felling cities temporarily as a modus operandi for fighters, the central organisation of the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria put it to a trial run, in part to test the impact of the second part of the strategy, called Aims, on the third, called Execution.

During the past three months in Iraq, IS has carried out numerous attacks that it has categorised under the heading of guerrilla warfare, which it describes as appropriate to times of non-empowerment and which engages the hit-and-run or attack and retreat approach. The selected targets have varied from military to soft targets. Among the latter was a bus carrying Iranian tourists in the Salahuddin governorate in February. The bus was struck by a bomb, killing one of the passengers and wounding at least seven others.

A senior Iraqi police official, Hussein Al-Mansouri, described IS new approach as the most dangerous used by the terrorist organisation at present. He said that he was very careful when moving around outside his own compound.

Security premises belonging to the Iraqi armed forces as well as the Popular Mobilisation Forces [PMF] have recently been the targets of attacks by the organisations operatives, especially in the Diyala and Salaheddin governorates. Most of the attacks carried out by the terrorist Daesh [IS] organisation are blitz attacks and ambushes using boobytrapped vehicles and explosive devices, as well as assassinations using silenced weapons. Most of the attacks have targeted army officers and PMF commanders, as well as tribal leaders and elders and local civil-society leaders in Iraq, he said.

IS recently released strategy describes this tactic in its second part called Aims, and this is discussed in the remainder of this article.

This second section of what has already been described as IS post-caliphate strategy, the strategy that succeeded the management of savagery strategy that the organisation followed throughout its rise and up to its defeat, identifies six aims for its operations.

These are to spite and plunder the enemy, to stage prison breaks for IS prisoners, to provoke distraction, to encumber the security forces, to suppress hypocrites and champion the faithful, and to lay the groundwork for empowerment. As the strategy acknowledges that any confrontation with the enemy will be a protracted one, this part also ranks aims in terms of immediate, midterm and long-range needs, some of which might be met through the repetition of certain types of attack and others by distributing attacks across different geographical regions.

The repeated emphasis on the need for such a guerrilla war mode of operations and the detailed descriptions of their means is intended to reinforce the loyalty of IS members in both the mother organisation and its affiliates. At the same time, the strategy is intended to address non-IS members and specifically the lone wolves who are influenced by the terrorist organisations ideas through the Internet or other indirect means.

Repetition is a means to drive messages home and ensure that they are heard by members and followers across various media platforms, which is why ideas that are mentioned in the first part of the strategy are reiterated in others, including the six subsections of the Aims section.

SPITE AND PLUNDER

This phrase clearly implies a psychological end rather than a strategic or tactical purpose.

It is noteworthy that it is the first of the six subsections, as if the organisations most immediate aim was to drive its members and affiliates to exact revenge in a persistent and systematic way. The section suggests many methods or tactics to vent spite, including through abduction, murder, plunder, destroying property, etc.

The main purpose is material: plunder and ransom are means to finance the terrorists needs for arms and ammunition, fuel and equipment, food and medicine, and cash. A second purpose is to harass and sap the morale of others, be they government institutions or ordinary civilians.

The spite element has characterised most of the attacks carried out by IS and its affiliates recently.

PRISON BREAKS

An important point of this section is to raise morale both among imprisoned IS terrorists and among the organisations rank and file.

This is a new component in IS set of aims. No mention of it was made in the previous management of savagery strategy, and it should alert governments in the region to the need to tighten prison security in the facilities where terrorists are held and to strengthen security arrangements during prisoner transfers from one facility to another or from jail to courtroom.

For example, care should be taken to keep prisoners apart, to transport them at different times, and to distribute them across several high-security facilities. The importance of extra precautions here cannot be understated, as IS would reap a considerably higher morale-raising effect from a successful prison break than from a terrorist attack.

This consideration should give security officials the incentive to reformulate prison security strategies in facilities where IS operatives are held.

PROVOKE DISTRACTION

Like the spite and plunder aim, provoking distraction is also informed by a dimension of psychological warfare, although the tactics and purposes are different.

This subsection discusses a tactic that involves laying ambushes for security forces in areas remote from the places they customarily defend, thereby forcing them to dispatch forces to defend that area. Then, terrorist operatives stage an attack against the force that has been lured to the area.

The tactic epitomises the mode of guerrilla warfare espoused in this phase. It is a means to distract the security agencies by means of luring them to facilitate the execution of terrorist attacks. The objective is to wreak material and psychological attrition on the security forces.

Although the recently released felling cities temporarily strategy expounds on this tactic, IS has utilised it ever since it emerged in 2014. As a result, the security agencies in the region have learned how to handle this mode of terrorist operations. Moreover, they have created highly professional special counter-terrorist forces that have received training in unconventional modes of warfare and that possess the combat skills and capacities to confront this type of threat.

That said, the fact that IS underscored this tactic in its strategy is a signal to the security forces to further increase the numbers of special counter-terrorist forces as a precaution against a possible increase in IS use of this tactic in the coming phase.

ENCUMBERING SECURITY

This part takes the previous tactic up a few notches.

Terrorist units stage numerous attacks in different places, compelling the security agencies to deploy large numbers of forces across broad areas in urban and rural areas. The purpose is to keep large numbers of the security forces permanently mobilised in city streets or village outposts, thereby sapping the energies of the troops and compelling the security agencies to overstretch their resources, thereby weakening their ability to confront terrorist forces in the areas where they are located.

It appears that whoever formulated this portion of the strategy missed out on some of the new tactics employed by the security agencies. Or it could be that he simply regurgitated old material. The security agencies in this region and elsewhere have long since developed concepts, strategies and combat techniques that avert over-deployment and overstretch.

These modern alternatives effectively undermine the efficacy of this IS tactic.

SUPPRESSING HYPOCRITES

This is the new strategys first use of religious terminology for one of the aims to be achieved by IS members.

The notion of suppressing hypocrites and championing the faithful is based on a theological exegesis by the mediaeval jurist Ibn Taimiya, who in an epistle to the Sultan Al-Nasser Mohamed wrote that what the just imams had intended as the targets of jihad were the enemies of God who are renegades against the faith, and these are of two classes: tyrants and profligates, and trespassers and aggressors.

All of these deviate from the laws of the faith in pursuit of the ascendancy of hatred and corruption and in the renouncement of the path of rightful guidance. Such are the Tartars and suchlike among all who deviate from the laws of Islam, he wrote. IS has taken the substance of this mediaeval theological judgment and made it the fifth aim of its new strategy in the documents first incidence of the use of theocratic and jurisprudential formulas to ground it religiously and justify its content.

The subsection focuses especially on civilians, with the aim of intimidating them and deterring them from cooperating with the security forces in the fight against IS. The aim is not new. IS elements have applied it extensively over the past five years, and it is one of the methods borrowed from Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria. It was the second aim in ISs old strategy before breaking away from Al-Qaeda in 2014.

GROUNDWORK FOR EMPOWERMENT

The last subsection is based on IS ultimate goal of empowerment and strategies for the pre-empowerment phase, discussed in the first part of the strategy called Definition in last weeks article.

Here, the document speaks of temporary empowerment, using the tactic of making the security forces overstretch themselves and forcing them to prioritise some areas over others for more intensive security coverage. This theoretically makes the less prioritised and more marginal areas more exposed and more vulnerable to an IS operation to secure temporary control over an area. Eventually, when circumstances are more conducive that temporary control can be developed into permanent control and empowerment.

As for the means, it is to stage multiple attacks against diverse targets that are geographically remote from each other, diffusing the attention of the security forces.

Just as is the case with other components of this section, IS thinking here is based on an old and conventional assessment of the capacities and strategies of the security agencies in this region and elsewhere. These agencies are now equipped with greater experience acquired during engagements against IS over recent years and armed with more sophisticated strategies and combat tactics, all of which effectively put paid to the IS diversion tactics.

Three main observations might be made on the Aims section of IS post-caliphate strategy.

The first is that they incorporate many older elements taken from the previous management of savagery strategy or from Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria (Abu Mosaab Al-Zarqawis organisation). The borrowing testifies to the IS leaders lack of new ideas for combat plans and tactics.

At the same time, it is further evidence of how hastily IS leaders have put the strategy together in an attempt to prevent rifts and defections following the defeat at Baghour and the collapse of their caliphate and to prove to ISs affiliates in other regions that the mother organisation in Iraq and Syria is still cohesive and in control.

The second is that one aim is dedicated to targeting civilians, and this portends an impending rise in terrorist attacks against civilian targets.

The third is the frequent use of terms with psychological and emotional connotations associated with revenge, which represents an attempt to induce as many members and sympathisers as possible to undertake random terrorist attacks on their own initiative. It is simultaneously intended to solidify ranks and to raise morale, using the idea of retaliation for the defeat of the seat of the caliphate.

The idea has been put into effect in many recent attacks, most notably in the attacks in Sri Lanka that were claimed to have been carried out in revenge for the Syria Province.

The question now is how the six aims in this section affect the mechanisms for the implementation of attacks and the choice of targets and target areas. This question will be explored in the next article in the series.

*The writer is an expert on terrorism at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 May, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Islamic States new strategy - II

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Like Trump, Modi keeps invoking Indias past without really addressing its current problems like entrenched cast problems, growing crime, terrible national sanitation, rampant corruption, lethal air pollution and endemic communal tensions.





by Eric S. Margolis





How fleeting is glory! Back in 1998, the South Asian Journalists Association proclaimed me Journalist of the Year for a newspaper article I had written about India.





But the next year the award was angrily rescinded after I wrote that India should compromise with Pakistan over the festering Kashmir conflict. Prickly Indians didnt like being criticized, even by an old friend like myself.









This week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition won a landslide electoral victory, gaining 302 of the 542 seats in parliament. The venerable Congress opposition party, that long led India, was crushed.





We should pay attention. India is more or less the worlds largest democracy and is expected to be the third largest economic power by 2020. Its also an important nuclear state with land and sea-launched ICBMs that can strike the United States and Canada, Europe, and its rival, China.





Ive been writing for decades about the threat of accidental or planned nuclear war with Pakistan over Kashmir. My first book, War at the Top of the World, deals with the potential of future war between India and China over the high Himalayas and Burma, as well as India and Pakistan over Kashmir.





India, energized by growing economic power and nuclear Viagra is feeling its national oats. Prime Minister Modi is a hard-line religious nationalist determined to press his concept of Hindutva, or religious power. He has vowed to confront Indias largest minority, some 200 million Muslims, 15% of its estimated 1.3 billion people, and make India a great Hindu power again.





Modi has sometimes been called Indias Trump. He was governor of Indias most business-oriented state, Gujarat. Modi is openly antagonistic to Muslims and Sikhs, and failed to halt the massacre of thousands of Muslims during his tenure. He commands wide public support for his Muslim-bashing and anti-Pakistan invective. Modi likes to wave the scimitar and vaunt his military muscle.





Last February, he sent Indian warplanes to attack Pakistan after Kashmir nationalists (terrorists to Indians) attacked an Indian military convoy. India humiliatingly lost one of its MiGs to Pakistans crack air force. Worse, Modi ran a very dangerous and totally unnecessary risk by attacking nuclear-armed Pakistan. But Hindu nationalist mobs loved it. Just as many ill-informed Americans love Trumps war threats against Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and, of course, Russia.





Like Trump, Modi keeps invoking Indias past without really addressing its current problems like entrenched cast problems, growing crime, terrible national sanitation, rampant corruption, lethal air pollution and endemic communal tensions. Interestingly, in the recent elections, a majority of low cast untouchables (now called Dalits but still as untouchable) voted for the BJP. So did Indias always restive eastern hills states. These are positive signs for Modis BJP.





By contrast, the Congress Party that brought India to independence from British colonial rule in 1947 and gave it the elite Gandhi ruling dynasty, was crushed in the vote. Dynastic politics is always bad medicine, be it Gandhis, Kennedys, Bhuttos or Romanovs. The youthful but disappointing heir to the Gandhis Congress political machine, Rahul Gandhi, had no heart in the fight and even lost one of his two safe seats.





Thats too bad. Congress has a fairly moderate policy towards Muslims and Pakistan. Not so the BJP which remains based on an extreme Hindu movement founded in 1925 that promotes grassroots Hinduisation of the nation, or even expulsion of Muslims, as just occurred in Buddhist Burma (Myanmar). Many on the Hindu hard right also call for the reabsorption of Pakistan into Mother India, though, confusingly, that would add 213 million angry Muslims.





Meanwhile, Indias formerly stagnant economy is bustling, thanks in good part to lifting of punitive tax and absurd government restrictions known as the license Raj. Foreign investment is pouring into India, and highly educated Indian immigrants into the United States. Back in the early 1990s, I was given a early look at Indias just formed version of Silicon Valley, the city of Bangalore, (home of the bangalore torpedo for breaching barbed wire.) This complex grew into todays IT powerhouse, the pride of India.





India is on a roll. Now, even more so thanks to a strong central government that favors commerce and big business. But its not all sitar music and incense. India is a modern nation of 600 million atop an ancient rural nation of 700 million. Modern India will struggle to escape ancient Mother India. The Indian colossus still has political and financial feet of clay.




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/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



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SpaceX says 60 Starlink satellites will grow harder to see



Washington, May 31 (AFP) May 31, 2019



SpaceX said Friday that the first 60 satellites in its "Starlink" constellation, which is intended to provide internet from space, will be less and less visible from Earth as they reach their final orbit.

Elon Musk's company created a must-see event for space enthusiasts when it launched all 60 satellites simultaneously on May 23 -- a series of bright lights ascending through the night sky.

Over the past week, several observers have photographed and filmed the line of satellites, which pass over in just a few minutes.

But astronomers fear the constellation of broadband-beaming satellites, which could one day grow to as many as 12,000, could ruin scientific observation of the skies from telescopes.

Until now, Musk had downplayed the concerns -- earning criticism along the way.

But on Friday, the company seemed to address the issue.

SpaceX announced that "all 60 satellites have deployed their solar arrays successfully, generated positive power and communicated with our ground stations."

But the statement then said that "the observability of the Starlink satellites is dramatically reduced as they raise orbit to greater distance and orient themselves."

The satellites were released all at once by a Falcon 9 rocket at an altitude of 280 miles (450 kilometers). They progressively separated from one another and deployed the solar arrays.

In the coming three to four weeks, each will take position in a relatively low orbit of 340 miles (550 kilometers).

Scientists had already noted that they were less visible in recent days.

Starlink will become operational once 800 satellites have been activated, which will require a dozen more launches.
Boris Johnson would make 'excellent' British PM: Trump



London, June 1 (AFP) Jun 01, 2019



US President Donald Trump has said British former foreign minister Boris Johnson would make an "excellent" prime minister to replace Theresa May.

Trump was speaking ahead of the start of a state visit to Britain on Monday, during which he will meet May.

She is set to resign on June 7 over her failure to deliver a deal to bring Britain out of the European Union.

Asked by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun for his opinion on the 12 candidates to replace her, Trump said, "I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.

"I have always liked him. I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person."

He added that several candidates in the Conservative leadership race had asked for his support, without revealing who.

A key Leave campaigner in the Brexit referendum, Johnson has said he is prepared to take Britain out of the European Union, "deal or no deal".

In the interview, Trump also repeated his criticism of how May has handled Brexit negotiations, saying Britain had allowed the EU to "have all the cards".

"It is very hard to play well when one side has all the advantage," he said. "I had mentioned to Theresa that you have got to build up your ammunition."

May concluded a divorce agreement with the EU in November but her deal was rejected three times by the British parliament, forcing her to seek a delay in leaving the bloc, now scheduled for October 31.



- 'Nasty' Meghan -



Commenting on Britain's domestic politics and opining on ruling-party leadership choices at a sensitive time would normally be an unusual move for a US president -- but not for Trump, a former reality-TV star who often speaks his mind.

It could however add to tensions during Trump's three-day visit to Britain.

Trump is to be received in Buckingham Palace on Monday by Queen Elizabeth II.

He will then have a discussion with Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne who is known for speaking out against global warming -- an issue Trump is dismissive of. The president has decided to pull the US out of the Paris climate change agreement that seeks to curb carbon emissions.

A meeting with Meghan, the former US actress who married Charles's second son Prince Harry, is not on the agenda for Trump, whom she criticised during his 2016 campaign to be America's leader.

"What can I say? I didn't know that she was nasty," Trump said of Meghan, though he also said he was "sure she will do excellently" as a princess.

As for protests that are expected to dog Trump's state visit, the president insisted "I think I am really -- I hope -- I am really loved in the UK".
China must stop eroding neighbours' sovereignty: US



Singapore, June 1 (AFP) Jun 01, 2019



The United States warned China on Saturday against threatening its neighbours' sovereignty and said Washington was investing in new military technology in the next five years to keep Asia stable.

Washington and Beijing have been vying for influence in the region, which hosts potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait.

Ties between the two powers are once again taking centre stage at the weekend Singapore conference known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, which gathers defence ministers and top military officials from around the world.

While the forum is purely on security, the discussions are also being held against a backdrop of Sino-US trade tensions and high-tech rivalry.

"China can and should have a cooperative relationship with the rest of the region ... But behaviour that erodes other nations' sovereignty and sows distrust of China's intentions must end," acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told the forum.

"Until it does, we stand against a myopic, narrow, and parochial vision of the future, and we stand for the free and open order that has benefitted us all, including China."

Washington has been pushing back against Beijing's militarisation of the South China Sea, where China has built installations to enforce blanket sovereignty, pitting it against partial claims by Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Beijing is also regularly angered by US warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait, which it considers part of its territorial waters.

For the first time since 2011, China has sent its defence minister, General Wei Fenghe, to the Singapore gathering. Wei is scheduled to speak on Sunday during which he is expected to respond to Shanahan's remarks.



- 'Indo-Pacific is our priority' -



Shanahan said the United States was investing heavily in the Indo-Pacific region to maintain its military superiority and capability to defend its Asian allies.

"North Korea remains an extraordinary threat and requires continued vigilance," Shanahan said.

"The Indo-Pacific is our priority theatre. We are where we belong. We are investing in the region," he added.

"When we talk about preparedness, we mean having the right capabilities in the right places to respond to crises, and to compete with and deter high-end adversaries," the Pentagon chief said.

While the United States does not seek conflict, it knows that having the capability to win wars is the best deterrence.

"We want to ensure no adversary believes it can successfully achieve political objectives through military force," he said.

He said the Pentagon has requested $104 billion globally -- its most ever -- for research and development in the next fisal year and $125 billion in operational readiness.

On Friday, Beijing warned that the US should not underestimate China's military during a meeting between Shanahan and Wei on the sidelines of the conference.

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said both had "reached some consensus" on issues of common concern, adding that Wei "particularly emphasised the Taiwan issue".

China sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides having been ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949.

"He (Defence minister Wei) pointed out that the US has recently had a series of negative words and actions on this issue", Wu said, adding that Beijing was "firmly opposed" to this.

"On the issue of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the US should not underestimate the determination, will and ability of the Chinese military."
ExxonMobil staff to return to work in Iraq: ministry



Baghdad, June 1 (AFP) Jun 01, 2019



Foreign employees of US energy major ExxonMobil will return to work near Iraq's border with Iran Sunday, the oil ministry said, two weeks after being evacuated over tensions between Washington and Tehran.

"ExxonMobil accepted that the 83 employees evacuated will resume their posts from Sunday," spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP.

He said Iraqi authorities, which had slammed the decision to pull out the workers from the West Qurna oil field as political, have taken "the necessary security measures for their return".

ExxonMobil pulled out its expatriate employees from the southern oil field after the US ordered non-essential personnel to quit its diplomatic missions in the country on May 15.

Washington cited an "imminent" threat from Tehran-linked armed groups in Iraq as tensions fuelled by US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal spiked.

It came 10 days after the Pentagon deployed an aircraft carrier task force and B-52 bombers to the Gulf to fend off an unspecified alleged plot by Tehran to attack US forces or allies.

Oil ministry spokesman Jihad insisted that the absence of the foreign workers had not affected production as the bulk of the workforce is Iraqi.
US heads to new talks with Taliban



Washington, June 1 (AFP) Jun 01, 2019



The US envoy negotiating with the Taliban will hold new talks this month with the insurgents in Qatar, the State Department said Saturday, as momentum builds for a deal to end America's longest war.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran US policymaker who is leading President Donald Trump's push to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, left Friday on a 17-day trip that will also take him to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said.

In Doha, he will resume talks with the Taliban after a break of around a month "to move the peace process forward," the State Department said in a statement.

Khalilzad has already met six times with the Taliban in recent months as he looks to seal a deal under which the United States will pull out troops who were first deployed following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The United States and the Taliban are believed to have largely agreed on the key demand of Washington from 2001 and again now -- that the Taliban not allow Afghanistan to be used by violent extremists.

But a major sticking point remains the refusal of the Taliban to negotiate with President Ashraf Ghani's government, which enjoys international support.

The Taliban, believing they have leverage on the military front, have also rejected Ghani's overtures for a nationwide ceasefire.

"No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives," Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhundzada said in a rare message released Saturday.

In Kabul, Khalilzad will meet representatives of civil society and women's rights groups, which have been especially concerned about a larger role for the Taliban.

Khalilzad will "encourage all parties to work towards intra-Afghan negotiations that lead to a final peace settlement," the State Department said.

Germany, another of Khalilzad's stops, has voiced willingness to hold a meeting on peace in Afghanistan.

He will start his trip in Pakistan, the chief backer of the Taliban before September 11, which has used its contacts to facilitate the talks with the Taliban.
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The Dalai Lama had to flee to India with his followers to escape from the Chinese government and has been living in India since then.





by N.S.Venkataraman





It is reported that leader of Tibetan government in exile Mr. Lobsang Sangey was not invited to Mr. Narendra Modis swearing in ceremony for his second term as Prime Minister of India.





However, the Tibetan leader was invited for Mr. Modis swearing in ceremony for the first term in 2014. Why is this change now ?









One cannot but get an impression that by denying the invitation to Tibetan leader, Mr. Modi has gone out of the way to appease China and keep it in good humour. This is so, even as China is claiming that Indian province Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it and is occupying large Indian territory annexed by China during the 1962 Indo China war.





Millions of Indians who voted for Mr. Modi overwhelmingly in the recent election as Prime Minister did so, since Mr. Modi is viewed as a strong man adhering to his principles and faith and not yielding to compulsions to achieve short term ends.





It is well known that China occupied Tibet in 1950s by invading the country and massacred thousands of Tibetans. The Dalai Lama had to flee to India with his followers to escape from the Chinese government and has been living in India since then.





Jawaharlal Nehru who was the Prime Minister of India then, did not protest against Chinas aggression and looked the other way even when Chinas massacre continued in Tibet. Obviously, Jawaharlal Nehru who was a well read historian and knows Tibets culture and background very wel,l kept silent as he wanted to keep China in good humour and maintain good relations. Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai, which means, in Hindi, "Indians and Chinese are brothers" was Mr. Nehrus passionate slogan then.





However, China stabbed India and Mr. Nehru at the back and started a war with India claiming Indian territory in 1962.





In the last several decades, China has not changed its methods and policies and believes in violence when convenient and clever strategies as per the needs with least regard for ethical standards or good will for other countries.





What causes concern about Mr. Modi declining invitation to Tibetan leader is that whether Mr. Modi no more lacks the will and the desire to stand against China on the basis of principles , for the sake of economic and trade gains. Several countries in the world are not speaking against China though several human rights violations are taking place in China and Chinas occupation of Tibet , as they are more concerned about their trade relationship with China. Mr. Modi now gives an impression that he is no different from others.





India has to necessarily protect the interests of Tibet and should not disown interests of Tibet for the sake of political expediency. If Mr. Modi would adopt such approach, it would be a historical mistake as much as the historical mistake of Jawaharlal Nehru in dealing with China.





Pakistan has already lost itself to China and Sri Lanka and other smaller Asian countries are increasingly becoming vulnerable to Chinas dictates. Should not India guard itself against such negative trends in dealing with China ? .Denial of invitation to Tibetan leader is sending disturbing signal.
I kindly request this venerable monk not repeat the history of Barmaids/Barmakiyan/ Barmak in Arabic or Pramukha in Sanskrit in Sri Lankan soil with his missionary work for Islam and Muslims in Sri Lanka.





by a special correspondent





I happened to watch the interview of our venerable monk Gnanasara on Hiru TV. (27/5/2019) I must thank Hiru TV too for this interview. Thank you very much for you Ven monk for taking Islamic message into each Sinhalese household in Sri Lanka. In fact, taking Islam into hearts and minds of each Sinhalese in the world today. I must thank Hiru media for using its previous time to preach Islam on behalf of 2 million Sri Lankans. In fact, on behalf of 1.7 billion Muslims in the world. Many innocent Sinhalese people did not have any clue about Islam and Muslims until you have made them learn about Islam and Muslims. The majority of Sinhalese community did not have time and resources to learn about Islam until you have opened their senses and human faculties to listen about Islam and Muslims. You have created some golden opportunities for many Sinhalese people to learn about Islam and Muslims. May God bless you for this great service on behalf of 2 million Sri Lankan Muslims.









Dear Ven, monk the more you talk about Islam and Muslims, the more you educate your people about Islam and Muslims. The more you speak about the Holy Quran, the more Sinhalese people learn about the Holy Quran. The more you talk about the Holy Prophet of Islam, the more you educate your people about the Holy prophet of Islam. The more you speak about Islamic law, the more your people get interested in learning about Islamic law. The more you speak about Islamic ideological groups, the more your people learn about Islamic ideological groups. The more you speak about Islamic dress codes, the more your people learn about Islamic dress codes. Likewise, you have spoken about Islam and Muslims on many issues. Im sure you have directly and indirectly invited Sinhalese youths to learn about Islam and Muslims in this age of digital technology and social networks. Im sure that today, more Sinhalese youths will learn about Islam and Muslims with your missionary work on behalf of Sri Lankan Muslim community in Sri Lanka. I must thank you for this great service on behalf of innocent Muslim community of Sri Lanka. Soon After 9/11, more copies of the Holy Quran were sold in many western countries than ever before.





Curious people begun to read about Islam and Muslims in many parts of western countries soon after 9/11. Many of them ended up Muslims after reading Islamic books. In fact, it is reported that more westerners were converted into Islam after 9/11 than ever before. Likewise, I think more copies of the holy Quran will be sold soon in Sri Lanka too with your missionary work for Islam and Muslims in Sri Lanka. Thankfully, the holy Quran has been translated into Sinhala language now (without any comprehensive Quranic exegesis). Yet, this Sinhalese translation itself is enough to those who want to learn about Islam. You are inviting your people to read this holy book with your emotional talks, debates and behaviours. Im sure that more and more Sinhalese people will be keen to read about Islam and Muslims.





Dear venerable monk. Whether you like it or not, in this age of globalization and multiculturalism people are exposed to different ideas and ideologies. This is the social phenomenon of the modern world today. No one could stop it. Whether you like it or not. It is reported that more than 1.5 million Sri Lankans work in many Gulf countries and many of them are Sinhalese. Many of them have been living over there more than 30 years. Naturally, they are naturalised with Arab customs and Islamic culture. Many of them are exposed to Islamic teaching and ideologies. Dear venerable monk why dont you stop them from migrating into Arab countries?





The Sri Lankan Muslims community has been complicit in taking the peaceful message of Islam into hearts and minds of the majority of Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka. Muslims have failed in their duty to reach out with the peaceful message of Islam for the last 1000 thousand years in Sri Lanka. They have failed to do this for many reasons. The majority of Muslims do not speak in good Sinhalese language. So, there has been a language and intercultural barrier between Muslim and Sinhalese communities. Yet, Hiru and the most venerable monk have done a great job on behalf of 2 million Sri Lankan Muslim community in Sri Lanka. The entire Muslim community in Sri Lanka ought to thank them for this great service they have done on behalf of Muslim community. They have taken the peaceful message of Islam into each Sinhalese household with this interview with the venerable monk.





I kindly request this venerable monk not repeat the history of Barmaids/Barmakiyan/ Barmak in Arabic or Pramukha in Sanskrit in Sri Lankan soil with his missionary work for Islam and Muslims in Sri Lanka. In fact, the venerable monk and Hiru TV think that they are doing a favour for Buddhism with this campaign against Islam and Muslims, yet, they do not realise their programs are counterproductive. Hereditary Buddhist administrators of the Buddhist monastery of Nava Vihara of west of Balkh (Northern Afghanistan) became Muslims in Abbasids Era of Islamic history. These Buddhists elites occupied prestige positions and posts in Abbasids Empire. This conversion of Buddhist elites took place in medieval Islamic history. No one forced those elite Buddhists of Nava Vihara of west of Balkh (Northern Afghanistan) to embrace Islam those days. I fear that these anti-Muslims and anti-Islamic propaganda may encourage Sinhalese youths to read more about Islam in this age of social network. Please not make this Sinhalese community Barmaids of Sri Lanka. There is no compulsion in religion. You may have control over physical presence of Sinhalese community and yet, you do not have control over their minds and hearts.





Who could control what is going on in the minds of Sinhalese youths today in this age of digital technology? Today, the venerable monk Gnanasara Thero is ideally reaching out with Islamic message into the hearts and minds of millions of Sinhalese youths with his debates and talks. What thousands of Muslim clerics have failed to accomplish in Sri Lanka has been accomplished for Islam and Muslims by this venerable monk. Muslim clerics do not have skills and platforms to reach out Sinhalese mass with Islamic message and yet, this has been done by our venerable monk on behalf of Muslim clerics in Sri Lanka. The venerable monk claims that there are 50 Islamic groups in Sri Lanka. All these groups failed to reach with Islamic message into wider Sinhalese community in Sri Lanka. yet, our venerable monk has taken Islamic message into ears of Sinhalese community. He has indeed, created a curiosity in the minds of Sinhalese to know about Islam and Muslims. Every action has its reaction as well in this world. Im sure now, many people are keen to learn about Islam today than ever before in Sri Lanka.





So, no Sri Lankan Muslim should get annoyed or angered with what the venerable monk does today in Sri Lanka rather the Sri Lankan Muslim community must thank him for his dedication and sacrifice to spread the message of Islam among his community. Finally, for Hiru, some other media and some Newspapers in Sri Lanka, you are doing a great job by promoting Islamic teaching in Sri Lanka, each negative news items are counterproductive too. People have skills and resources to verify fake news. You are indeed, doing a great service for Islam and Muslim through your negative images of Islam and Muslims. You too stimulate the curiosity of Sinhalese people to know about Islam and Muslims: A big thank for you as well.




Adjusting budgetary estimates after Easter terror View(s):

Sri Lanka will be making a budgetary review in the second half of this year as government expenditure is expected to rise with payments for compensation and concessions and moratoriums granted mainly to tourism and other sectors affected by Easter terror attacks.

Government will have to re-prioritise expenditure during the second half of 2019 budget in the face of anticipated slowing down in tax revenue after the unfortunate incident, Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy told reporters in Colombo on Friday.

He was confident that the country will weather the storm as the countrys economy, except tourism and retail sectors, is untouched and quickly recovers from the Easter terror.

Only the confidence and sentiment of investors and foreign travellers had been affected but there was no damage caused to agriculture or industry, he said.

Dr. Coomaraswamy expressed the belief that the country will be able to manage its external debt obligations while maintaining foreign reserves at a sufficient level of 3 to 4 weeks of imports.

Foreign exchange outflows have improved making the rupee appreciation by 3.6 per cent upto April compared to statistics in December last year, he disclosed.

(Bandula)
Cinnamon brand to initiate own marketing efforts after travel advisories are relaxed View(s):

While John Keells Holdings (JKH) will play its part in helping the tourism industry and the country achieve a speedy recovery, the group together with the relevant chambers of commerce, is engaging the authorities to urge them to take immediate steps to prevent a recurrence of such (April 21) heinous acts and ensure regular and consistent dissemination of information only from designated spokespersons of the Government and military.

This was stated by JKH Chairman Krishan Balendra in the groups 2018/19 year-end financial review, his first as chairman after taking over the reins in January 2019.

The group, which suffered losses when its Cinnamon Grand Colombo property was one of three hotels blasted by pro-IS militants, says it will initiate its own marketing and outreach efforts once the travel advisories are revised which is expected in the next few months. Several countries have issued travel warnings with China being the first last week to relax the warning to be cautious from dont travel to Sri Lanka.

It is pertinent to note that studies of other travel destinations that were impacted by similar terrorism incidents indicate that destinations require 12 to 18 months to revert to pre-incident levels. Popular destinations which were affected by acts of terrorism such as Bali, Mumbai, Paris and Brussels have seen a recovery in arrivals in less than 18 months, Mr. Balendra.

City hotels sector witnessed a lacklustre year of operations, despite the improvement of overall room nights in the city by 4 per cent. This was predominantly due to the increase in room inventory within Colombo and the aforementioned political developments within the country which impacted MICE and corporate travel during the reporting period.

As far as the groups financial health is concerned, group revenue for the year ending March 2019 increased by 12 per cent to Rs.135.46 billion while recurring group earnings before interest expense, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 11 per cent to Rs.25.67 billion. The decline in recurring EBITDA was on account of the performance of the Leisure, Financial Services, Property and Retail industry groups, where we witnessed some one-off impacts in addition to the downturn in the performance of the city hotels sector due to a significant increase in the room supply within a short period of time, the chairmans statement said.

Recurring Group profit before tax (PBT) decreased by 24 per cent to Rs.18.40 billion for the financial year ended 31 March 2019.

Mr. Balendra said it was a challenging year for the group, where economic growth was muted amidst pressures emanating from the external environment, in addition to domestic macro-economic pressures, which were exacerbated by political uncertainty.

During the financial year, both the Port of Colombo (POC) and SAGT recorded a year on year volume growth of 11 per cent. The calendar year 2018 marked a significant milestone for both the POC and SAGT, with throughput recording an all-time high of over 7 million TEUs and 2 million TEUs, respectively.

The Supermarket business recorded a growth of 4.5 per cent in customer footfall which contributed towards a modest growth of 2.3 per cent in same store sales, despite the subdued macro conditions which resulted in a contraction in average basket values.

The penetration of modern fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) retail in the country remains low, compared to more developed regional countries, and continues to present a significant opportunity for growth. The business will continue to strategically expand its outlet network and distribution capabilities in gaining market share, the statement said.

Meanwhile the construction of the Cinnamon Life project is progressing with encouraging momentum, where the structural work of all buildings is now complete, and the installation of the mechanical and electrical services and the external facades are currently underway. The completion dates of the residential and office towers will be March 2020, whilst the operations of the hotel and retail mall are expected to commence in March 2021.

The project cost, as estimated in 2013, was approximately US$805 million, excluding interest during construction and applicable taxes and customs duties. Based on the finalised design concepts and increases in cost since 2013, the project cost is now estimated to be approximately 10 per cent higher.
Innovative Dome house builder seeks investor By Alvin Sallay View(s): View(s):

Selling an idea, even one that is environment-friendly, low-cost and time-saving, is hard. Just ask Duncan Wickramasinghe, an inventor who has been trying doggedly for many years to get his Dome House project off the ground.

The idea: Build low-cost, eco-friendly, disaster-resistant houses which can be put up in two to three weeks. The cost of each house ranges from Rs. 550,000 for a one bedroom, 350 square feet house to Rs. 4.2 million for a two-storey, four-bedroom, 1,300 sq. ft house.

Low-cost and quick, so what is the problem? I need a grant, loan or an investor to come in and back me. I need an initial sum of 10 million rupees to build a mould to construct the Dome House, explains Mr. Wickramasinghe.

Herein lies the problem for the 69-year-old inventor. Investors are willing to back him, but they want up to 75 per cent equity in his company. Convincing banks to get a loan, or convincing the government to give him a grant to build his Dome houses has also hit a brick wall.

Fate has also been unkind to the Mattakuliya resident. A former partnership with Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi ended when the Gampaha district parliamentarian was killed in a car crash in February 2008. The moulds used at the time was not under the control of Mr. Wickramasinghe and have since rusted with dis-use. Many years ago, former President Ranasinghe Premadasa had also expressed interest, but he too was cut down in the prime of his life by the LTTE.

Mr. Wickramasinghe has to start all over again, but is finding it hard to get the financial support to kick-start the project.

I have spoken to many investors but they all want a majority share of my company. I have a partnership with my two children, but all these outsiders want 60 to 75 per cent of the stake. How can I do that, laments Mr. Wickramasinghe.

Im willing to give a 10 per cent stake for an initial investment of Rs. 10 million. I guarantee the ROI will be under 24 months, and that it will give a return of Rs. 2 million per month, he adds.

In 1980, on a visit to Indonesia, Mr. Wickramasinghe went on a sightseeing trip to see a volcanic mountain. In the far-distance, he noted there were several bubble-like houses being built. Enquiries revealed that these were low-cost houses which would be disaster-proof to earthquakes and volcanoes.

I was on a scholarship to Indonesia and my studies finished in the morning. In the afternoon I was free, so I went to this project and asked if I could work there. That is how I learned about building Dome houses and got the idea to do the same in my own country, Mr. Wickramasinghe revealed.

Soon after he returned in 1982, he built his first Dome house, a boarding for 20 Singaporean engineers who were building the Karapitiya Hospital in Galle. Today it is a Bank of Ceylon branch.

A recent You Tube exposure has generated massive interest from the public with more than 220,000 people inquiring if he can build Dome houses for them. Each house comes with a 50-year guarantee and uses no timber or asbestos. Doors and windows are made from fibre glass, the design patented by Mr. Wickramasinghe.

Each house requires only seven to 10 days to put up. We save between eight to 12 trees every time we build a house, use only 1/16th of river sand and 3/16th of rock stone used to build a conventional house. In addition, these Dome houses are disaster-resistant and can withstand wild elephant attacks, Mr. Wickramasinghe pointed out.

Projections made by Mr. Wickramasinghe show that there is a potential to attract an order base of Rs. 700 billion. We have over 72 per cent of our population in the low- and middle-income earner group, and almost one-third of them have their own piece of land. I have been getting, almost on a daily basis calls from women working in West Asia asking if I can build a house for them.

The main attraction is it is cheap and is built quickly. A 500 sq. ft house will cost Rs. 550,000; 750 sq. ft/1.3 million; 850 sq. ft/2.3 million; 1,300 sq. ft/4.2 million.

The average cost of building a Dome house (across all categories) comes to around two million rupees. I have got 300 orders which means around 600 million rupees. If I take a 50 per cent advance  some people are willing to pay the whole amount up-front  this will mean 300 million rupees. For this to materialise, I will need a number of moulds and around 40 million rupees. But right now, all Im asking is for 10 million rupees so that I can get started, Mr. Wickramasinghe said.

In January this year, the Ministry of Housing sent a letter to all Provincial Councils (signed by Secretary Bernard Wasantha) giving priority to Dome Houses as it was eco-friendly, save forestry, rock stone, river sand, abstains from the use of asbestos and can withstand natural disasters.

Mr. Wickramasinghe adds: The letter said all the engineering institutions in the country have given approval, and since the houses were affordable and due to speed in construction, it serves the community who needs housing.

But to-date, even armed with this letter, Mr. Wickramasinghe has been unable to unearth an investor.

Not enough, says Wickramasinghe The government has come up short in supporting the low-cost Dome housing plan offered by Duncan Wickramasinghe with the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC) unable to meet the financial requirements needed to kick-start the project. I was offered two million rupees by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission which is not enough to even make one mould, Mr Wickramasinghe revealed this week. On Wednesday, the inventor had met SLIC Commissioner, Prof. Rangika Halwatura, at his office in Borella. Hopes of getting a grant of Rs. 10 million to begin his project was dashed. The SLIC functions under the purview of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research. At an inventors conference held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on May 19, Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe, had asked participants how they could market their inventions. Most inventors have a problem trying to sell their idea, which is hardly the case for Dome houses. You just have to go to YouTube to see the demand. It is unfortunate that the government cannot give me a (proper) helping hand, Mr. Wickramasinghe said.
Local Huawei officials and customers reflect confusion By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera US-China tech fight View(s): View(s):

Caught in the middle as the victim of the ongoing trade war between the US and China when US President Donald Trump cracked down on Chinese technology companies, the worlds second-largest smartphone maker Huawei is marking time.

Its local officials in Colombo reflected some confusion saying, theres NO problem pertaining to issues relating to the US-China tech competition which analysts however say will be more intense and drawn out, significantly outlasting the trade tensions.

According to local Huawei staff, they dont foresee a problem because there isnt one. We have been informed by our head office that theres no problem, an employee in a Huawei sales outlet told the Business Times. Many other Huawei staff echoed similar sentiments. What was evident however was that staff appeared to be confused as to what was going on. Some 40 per cent of Sri Lankas smartphone market is dominated by Huawei.

The local Huawei office in a statement on Tuesday said that Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of the key global partners, we have worked closely with their open source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry. Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after sales services to all existing Huawei and honour smartphone and tablet products covering those have been sold or still in stock globally, it said adding that Sri Lankan customers are also assured of continuous support for present, existing Huawei smartphones in the market.

Certain employees spoke of Huawei still using the version of the Android operating system available through an open source licence and how the ban wont impact the companys phone sales. But this too will be short term. The company was dealt a sledgehammer blow by Google which discontinued Huaweis Android licence after the US Commerce Department placed the Chinese tech giant on the banned Entity List. This is a list of companies that are unable to buy technology from US companies with no government approval alluding to cyber-espionage worries. In 2018, US intelligence agencies alerted against using Huawei and ZTE devices, and US politicians have described Huawei as effectively an arm of the Chinese government.

Now Google will let them use Android and its basic services for free but transfer of hardware, software or services to Huawei or technical interaction would be restricted by the US order. Also when Google launches the next version of Android later this year, it may not be available on Huawei devices. So, future Huawei devices possibly wont have apps such as YouTube and Maps.

Analysts noted that alternative suppliers such as Ericsson, Nokia and potentially Samsung can step in as a replacement for Huawei but in the longer run cost and scale will come into play.

The Chinese tech giant sold 59.1 million phones in the first quarter of this year and has also totalled about half of the 5G equipment market, shifting centrifugal force from western companies to China, and setting off fears that most 5G traffic will flow through Huawei mechanisms which will let China seize and spy on the next evolution of mobile telecommunications protocol.

The beleaguered phone maker  under the sights of the US Government whose trade war with China has become white hot in recent weeks after bubbling since early this year , will witness low sales in the medium term. Their sales wont be instantly impacted by the decision, but the future of updates for those phones and any new phones Huawei would produce, will, an analyst told the Business Times. Its not understandable how this will influence the full range of Android integrations that Huawei relies on, he added.

Lahiru Pathmalal CEO, Takas Pvt Ltd., an online trading platform noted to the Business Times that Huawei developing and releasing its own open-source operating system, and its own apps (as done by Apple) avoiding their customers need to use Googles apps will stand them on a better footing in the whole situation. Such a system is already deployed in China and it may be rolled out in the rest of the world.

What is concerning if this doesnt happen is that existing phones will continue to work but without future updates they will slowly turn into aging bricks.
New Cyber Security Act soon By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):

In view of growing cyber attacks, online security threats and social media related incidents, the government is set to enact this Cyber Security Act this month to protect critical information infrastructure within Sri Lanka.

The proposed Act gives sweeping powers to state cyber agencies and institutions and the Digital Infrastructure and Information Ministry despite concerns from civil liberties activists and computer societies over judicial oversight and potential abuse of power.

Alongside the new disposition on terrorism-related content, the Act seeks to set a framework to prevent the misuse of digital devices including social media networks, they said.

The proposed Act provides provisions for the establishment of the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) of the empowerment of the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) and National Cyber Security Operations Centre, a senior official of the Digital Infrastructure and Information Ministry said.

It will ensure the effective implementation of the National Cyber Security Strategy in Sri Lanka to prevent, mitigate and respond to cyber security threats and incidents effectively and efficiently.

It will act as the central point of contact for cyber security in Sri Lanka, and provide necessary advices to all government and private organisations in respect of cyber security matters.

This authority will take measures to interface for the multi-directional and cross-sector sharing of information related to cyber threat indicators, defensive measures, cyber security risks, and to provide warnings for government and private sector organisations.

Another function of the authority is to identify and designate Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) both in government and private sectors and regulate owners of CII with regard to the cyber security.

Information Security Officers are to be appointed across all layers of the government, who will be in charge of information and cyber security related matters in government organisations.

According to the Act any CII owner, who fails to report cyber security incidents to the Agency and CERT, commits an offence, and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding Rs 200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.

The CSA will be empowering the institutional framework to provide for a safe and secure cyber security environment as well as to protect the CII, he disclosed.

This agency will be coming directly under the aegis of the Digital Infrastructure and Information Ministry which will be the apex and executive body for all matters relating to cyber security policy in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankas hotel staff retrained, counselled, laid off post 4/21 By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

Sri Lankas tourism industry plans to overcome its current crisis within or less than a years time while looking at building up on its human resources with over thousands having lost jobs in the wake of the April 21 incident.

During a public seminar held on Wednesday on the theme: 4/21 incident and its impact on HR in tourism and hospitality sector conducted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) and the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association, speakers brought to the fore that recovery plans if set in motion could ensure a comeback within a year while most were of the opinion that this was an ideal time to train staff.

SLITHM Chairman Dilip De Silva highlighted that the over 1400 students sent to work as temporary staff in hotels around the country lost their jobs. In addition to this number about 2000 each from the state-run National Apprenticeship and Recruitment Institute and Training Authority (NARITA) and Vocational Training Authority (VTA) have also been laid off as these were the first to be asked to leave following the drop in the number of tourist arrivals.

He noted that they would be taken back to the institute but the students were looking at opportunities to find placements in other establishments or provide them further training as they were without any formal qualification at present.

Tourism Industry Skills Council Chairman T. Packeer speaking at the event said that the students should be trained in English as there is a need to break the language barrier.

Cinnamon Life CEO Dilip Mudadeniya said that hotels would take a longer time to pull through as evident in the case of Bali following the bombings there.

In this respect, he estimated it would take about a year for Sri Lankas tourism industry to recover with the right marketing plan in place.

In terms of human resources at this time of crisis he pointed out that there would be an increased reliance on outsourcing; using unpaid vacation to reduce labour force; stop recruiting; reducing the number of workdays per week; freezing pay rates; and laying off employees to reduce labour.

Kingsbury General Manager Christine Chevlaz, a French national, believed she were safer in Sri Lanka and need not look over her shoulder here as opposed to when in her own country.

A guarantee that the situation was returning to normalcy was more so highlighted at the Kingsbury when just three days after the even they went ahead with a scheduled wedding celebration at the venue.

On April 24 a client had a wedding and he was insistent that he would want it at the same venue as a show of support as well to the hotel, she said adding that this was a motivation to move ahead and be open.

Ms. Chevlaz pointed out at the Kingsbury the attacks had a tremendous impact on HR. As a result following this incident the management believed it should not affect their staff as they wanted to move on.

This was the result of psychologists being called in to relieve the pain, suffering and trauma of the staff. We need to look to the future and not what has happened, she insisted.

Today they carry out cross-training of the staff, which means employees will be trained in all aspects of hotel operations in a bid to ensure they would be equipped to handle any aspect of the hotel work when required to do so.

As a standalone hotel they were compelled to carry out their functions on their own without being able to send staff elsewhere, the GM noted.

She explained that some team members had opted to join the hospitality sector in other countries as a result of which they would leave the hotel.

However, she believed that they would come back to the country once the situation improves and in this context Ms. Chevalez believed that the recovery is shorter than one year.

She pointed out, We need a strong marketing recovery plan to put Sri Lanka back on the map.

Shangri-La Hotel Colombo Vice President and General Manager Timothy Wright described the incident as attacks led by terrorists that had left them with a very traumatic experience.

Following the blasts colleagues were given five days leave and thereafter counseling sessions by an organisation Art of Living began and is still continuing. These sessions were also provided to the families of the colleagues injured in the blasts. Some of those who attended this said that it was the first time they slept well, Mr. Wright said.

Some of the staff at the hotel have been sent to their operations in Oman, Mr. Wright said adding that students who were part of their workforce have been sent on full pay leave until June when their contract expires. But they hope to re-deploy these students as the hotel considers them to be their future.

Shangri-La Colombo will be looking at re-deploying the security personnel and have an increased number in this aspect of the hotels operations, he said.

Mr. Wright, still reeling from the shock, said, When we feel its safe we will re-open the hotel.

Asked about the loss of revenue to the hotel, the GM noted that Shangri-las loss of revenue is the least of our concerns. Recovery of our guests is key. Owners called on several occasions  they asked about the damage to the building, colleagues and guests. We havent even discussed revenue.

Newly appointed Promotions Bureau Managing Director Charmarie Maelge observed that one month on Sri Lanka Tourism has embarked on an aggressive promotion.

In addition they have added a PR campaign to the promotions carried out and noted that certain travellers were likely to visit the country as there were some who preferred to visit destination that were crowd-free.

There were about six more countries in the pipeline to reduce the travel ban to Sri Lanka, she said.

Promotions Bureau chief Kishu Gomes noted that the travel advisories could be softened by next month insisting that it was tourism that could turnaround the economy.

As an industry that impacts a wide cross section of the population it has had an impact on a number of people both directly and indirectly.
Sunshine sheds tea plantations By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s):

Sunshine Holdings PLC, following the sale of its tea business to a Singapore-based firm, will focus on healthcare and consumer goods businesses.

Group Managing Director, Vish Govindasamy in a statement said the sale of control of Hatton Plantations to Lotus Renewable Energy (Pvt) Ltd was part of a strategy to re-focus and specialise on healthcare and consumer segments.

Sunshine created Hatton Plantations in September 2017 to carry out the upcountry tea business of Watawala Plantations and listed it last year in a strategic move to separate the tea business from the more rewarding oil palm business of Watawala Plantations PLC. The new unit, Hatton Plantations which has 14 estates located in the Central Province with over 5,000 hectares of arable land was spun off to find a buyer for it as Sunshines tea segment has been worrisome of late as with all tea businesses in the country facing mounting labour costs.

Lotus Renewable Energy Group (LREG) bought control of Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) listed Hatton Plantations (HPL) at Rs 1 billion on Tuesday. LREG will be making a mandatory offer for the remaining outstanding shares at Rs. 8.30 per share. LREG is part of G&G Group of Companies, Singapore with its operations across India, Singapore and Australia. It has over two decades of experience in managing several plantation estates in Sri Lanka. Hence we made sure our divestiture will be to an experienced business entity, and we are confident they will continue to develop the plantations as we have done, Mr. Govindasamy said in his statement.

The group will continue to invest in its Watawala Tea, Zesa and Ran Kahata tea brands, he has said adding that the new owners of Hatton Plantation were already running similar businesses in Sri Lanka.

Earlier LREG, owned by the G&G Group in Singapore had 45 per cent in Pussellawa Plantations which they sold to a Damro entity two years ago. We ideally wanted a controlling stake in a plantation company where we own the make decisions. So HPL with 55 per cent was a good fit, Gowrie Shankar, Director G&G Group told the Business Times in a telephone interview on Thursday. He said that they own nine mini hydro plants with 9.15 MW (Mega Watts) total capacity here through Lotus Hydro Power PLC. There are three more for a total 6 MW awaiting approvals, he said.

While their main focus will be the tea business, he noted that hydro opportunities which Sunshine had earlier explored will be looked at.

He added that through G&Gs export arm in Singapore, LREG intends to export tea.
Tourism PR campaign gets cabinet nod By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

The much-awaited PR campaign has finally gained Cabinet approval this week, giving a go-ahead to the industrys strategy to promote the destination and bring back visitors to Sri Lanka.

Approval was granted for the implementation of a short term Public Relations programme for a period of 45 days and a six month advertising programme in order to re-establish Sri Lanka tourism brand name, according to an official announcement.

A campaign that had been kept far behind on the agenda of the cabinet had obtained approval to go ahead just this week with a publicity promotion that the industry believes would definitely help the industry to move on.

This PR campaign had been worked out with the authorities and the industry in a bid to overcome the crisis in the aftermath of the April 21 Easter Sunday attacks.

Hotels in the country are currently faced with a dearth of guests occupying the numerous rooms that increased in number over the past decade since the war with the LTTE ended in 2009.

Several countries have softened the travel advisories and urged their respective citizens to exercise caution when travelling to Sri Lanka.

Hoteliers like Chandra Wickremesinghe of Maalu Maalu resorts noted that everyone from government to opposition to military need to speak in one voice to assure a lifting of travel advisories that is likely to take more time.

On the other hand tour operators like Mahen Kariyawasam of Andrews Travel were worried that with airlines having cut down on flights wondered how they would come back.

Airlines like Emirates that have cut down on the number of flights and frequencies to Colombo have however, made a decision to inform all staff in Dubai at Emirates that those travelling to Sri Lanka could negotiate with hotels and Destination Management Companies to obtain good rates, according to the airlines Country Manager Chandana De Silva. The airline is currently facing a 50 per cent reduction in load factor.

A number of airlines have reduced flights to Colombo and cut down on the number of aircraft operating to the destination as well.

Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and India relaxed the travel bans, following in the footsteps of China which made the first move in this direction last week.

Promotions Bureau chief Kishu Gomes said that they expect a further relaxation of the travel advisories by next month as well.

Cabinet has also approved the implementation of a combined promotion programme with overseas tour operators who bring in more than 250 tourists in one instance, using Rs.150 million in order to promote tourism in

Sri Lanka. This campaign is expected to generate interest from foreign tour operators that would be selling Sri Lanka and who would be given a further financial inducement to promote the destination by local authorities.

Rolling out the red carpet for visitors from India, the tourism industry in Sri Lanka will be looking at Rs.100 million cash infusion from the Treasury to get onboard with a discounted joint offer to holiday on the isle. This campaign is still being worked out and it is not clear whether this would require cabinet approval as the authorities were only supporting the initiative and was mostly a joint effort by the tourism industry.
Governor Sally runs into storm at Kalutara View(s):

There was uproar in the Kalutara District Development Committee over the presence of Western Province Governor Azath Sally.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Members walked out of the meeting, saying it was a security risk. They wanted him to leave the premises. When it did not happen, they walked out. It was President Maithripala Sirisena who had made governors of different provinces as Deputy Chairmen of different District Co-ordinating Committees.

Large crowds including members of the Buddhist clergy had gathered outside the Kalutara Kachcheri where the meeting was held. The protests took a different turn with crowds shouting slogans asking Governor Sally to resign his post. There were also demands that Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hizbullah quit their positions.

Already a Vote of No-Confidence against Minister Bathiudeen has been handed in and Parliament will debate it on June 18 and 19.

The matter came up for discussion at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Central Committee meeting on Monday. The meeting was chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena.

It was decided that a decision on whether or not the SLFP should vote will be made at a CC meeting on June 18. Nevertheless, three SLFP parliamentarians have already signed the motion.

Rishad played politics with Chartered Accountants also

Minister Rishad Bathiudeen is in the firing line these days for a multiplicity of reasons.

Many accuse him of punching over his weight given the fact that despite his fairly negligible vote base in the larger context of the Sri Lankan polity, he had been given the crucial ministry of Trade.

One of the charges he now faces is his connections with a doctor under investigation in the North Western Province. While the Health Minister, on the one hand and the professional body of doctors  the GMOA  have both been in the dark and are ominously silent on the matter more information has tumbled out from another professional body that has been directly under the Trade Minister.

That is the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Last year, Minister Bathiudeen rejected some of the names proposed by the president of the Institute for seats in its supreme advisory council and nominated two lesser experienced persons  something never done in the Institutes history.

It is politically incorrect to say who these persons were but in the light of recent developments questions are being raised within the Institute whether the Minister showed some bias in his choices and leaving out the more senior professionals.

At the time the Minister had said the two persons were not his nominees but those of the Health Minister and a brother of the President.

If so, it shows that Minister Bathiudeen has done favours for his colleagues even if it be at the expense of professional bodies of Sri Lanka and he can be assured of protection from those he granted such favours in a you scratch my back; Ill scratch yours political scenario that the citizenry has got increasingly sickened of.

Three join Sirisena for Indian trip

Two ministers and a former minister accompanied President Maithripala Sirisena during his visit to New Delhi to attend the ceremonial inauguration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

They were Rauff Hakeem, Mano Ganesan and Arumugam Thondaman.

Now SB gives call to Rishad

S B Dissanayake, a former Minister and Sri Lankas celebrated politician for doing things and denying, is in the news again.

This time it is over a telephone call he gave Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. Rishad, oya apith ekka enna or Rishad, you join us, he is heard telling the Minister in the latest telephone call doing the rounds in social media.

During the constitutional crisis that broke out in October last year, Dissanayake figured in a few similar conversations with members of the UNP. One in particular with Palitha Range Bandara, the UNP parliamentarian went on the same lines like what Mr Dissanayake told Rishad Bathiudeen.

The Minister seemed shrewd enough. He said he was leaving Colombo for Puttalam and would not return for some time. Once he gets back to Colombo, he said, he would get in touch with Dissanayake.

Soldiers defuse Kundu-Dosai; Jaffna schoolgirl goes hungry

Following Easter Sunday attacks, ten year long peace and security relax became a long gone dream as checkpoints manned by soldiers return to daily lives of Sri Lankans.

For those children who were born after war came to an end in 2009, these things would be a new experience.

As part of special security measures that were taken to ensure security at schools, soldiers have been deployed at schools across the country. Students are asked to go through a checking process. Some switched to transparent school bags for quick pass.

In Jaffna, soldiers deployed at a checkpoint at the entrance to the city went to super alert mode this week when they heard from a school girl what she had in the lunch box. She said she brought homemade Kundu Dosai, a traditional breakfast item widely popular in Tamil households. Kundu in Tamil means bomb.

Concerned soldiers got into action swiftly by crushing all the Kundu dosais  the girl had brought in her lunch box with bare hands.

Of course the girl was left without her meal, but in the process the soldiers realised that it was only a food item and nothing dangerous.

Lost in translation

The Home Affairs Ministrys attempts to provide documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates under a one-day service was given much publicity early this year.

To make it convenient to the people the services have been made available at various departments. One such location is the Colombo Land Registry office along Marcus Fernando Mawatha.

The office seems to be well organised. Those expecting the services need to use a touch screen, obtain a token for the respective service required and wait for their number to be called out.

One such service available is Translations. Therefore, one of them requiring service duly obtained the token and waited for his number to be called out. For two hours the number was not called out.

Only when the Inquiries officer just seated next to the machine from where the tokens are obtained was asked about the delay he said for translation services you need not obtain a token.

But, he fell short of explaining as to why the topic translation is mentioned in the machine.

May be the machine had already programmed, but isnt it the duty of the inquiries officer to explain or at least display a board at the location?

Instead he shouted out thats not my business, little realising he was posted there to help those calling over to obtain the services for which the government is spending millions of rupees.
On the importance of countering false political narratives View(s):

In the wake of Sri Lankas Easter Sunday attacks, we have one (Muslim) Minister confessing to calling the Army Commander to inquire into the fate of a Muslim suspect arrested following the Easter Sunday attacks and another (Sinhala) Minister being so bold as to transport Sinhalese rioters attacking Muslim shops in Kurunegala from one police station to another where they were given bail. Both acts are equally condemnatory. But the media focus is on the first and not on the second. Why is this?

Irrationality is in the air

The problem of bypassing the Rule of Law posed by these two incidents, (one being an attempt and the other amounting to a success), captures in a nutshell precisely what is wrong with our law enforcement and media. The National Human Rights Commissions succinct finding as conveyed to the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) following a recent fact-finding mission to areas affected by anti-Muslim communal violence was that equal protection of the law had been denied to affected citizens and also to the public at large. The law had not been allowed to take its proper course. The Commission called upon law enforcement authorities to strictly act against instigators of communal violence and ensure that no undue political or other external interventions are tolerated.

These reminders are timely, going beyond the specific context in which they were made. Yet and quite tangibly so, irrationality is in the air. The xenophobes and the zealots in Sri Lanka have invaded the public space. We see spokesmen of every lunatic fringe outfit in town being given media time to expound their favourite fantasies,as unashamedly and un-apologetically racist as these may be. A case in point is the return to an old exhortation by one spirited fanatic this week that Sinhalese mothers should give birth to more and more children to prevent hordes of Thawheed extremists from invading the Dhammadeepa.

And the very mention of Thawheed suffices to push even generally sober citizens to (metaphorically) run for cover exclaiming in horror, notwithstanding repeated attempts by persevering scholars to explain that the term only symbolizes quite un-alarmingly, the sense of oneness with God or unification in other words. It is simply that this word has been used by jihadists to dignify themselves and their various organisational covers even as they act in a manner that puts every basic tenet of that spiritual injunction to shame. But this call to sanity is to no avail.

Hysteria over Sri Lankas NTJ goni billa

In particular, the now banned National Thawheed Jamath (NTJ) has assumed all the dreaded characteristics of the proverbial goni billa in Sri Lanka or the bogeyman carrying a sack commonly evoked by parents to scare recalcitrant children into obedience. As local level and municipal politicians of both the UNP and the Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Party are arrested for membership of the NTJ, some possessing swords, knives, petrol bombs and quantities of uniforms similar to those worn by army officers, the questioning of professionals allegedly having links to the NTJ is routinely reported. There is, in that sense, much of the same hysteria associated with the name Bin Laden in the United States following the 2001 September 11 attacks by al-Qaeda on the twin towers in New York and elsewhere.

Sri Lankas media has played a considerable role in promoting this hysteria. Though some newspapers in the Sinhala media retained their customary notoriety in this regard, it is the electronic media that takes the prize for communal reporting. One good example was the hype surrounding the discoveries of swords in Muslim houses during raids immediately following the Easter Sunday attacks. The taking into custody of swords found in one or two mosques (which certainly raises questions) aside, the rest of these discoveries in Muslim households were represented as if out of the common way.

But one would surmise that a great number of Sinhala households in Sri Lankas villages would also possess one or two swords, which is quite run of the mill as it were. However the terrifying sight of twenty and more swords laid out methodically for the roving eye of the television camera to infer that all these came from one source and that there was undoubtedly evil intent at play, hinted at unabashed communal propaganda. There are other instances of subverted reportage that raises serious questions of ethics. For example, press releases by the police on arrests made during a particular day are reproduced quoting the ethnicity of the suspect as Muslim but when Sinhalese are arrested, as was the case of the suspect apprehended in connection with the concealment of hand grenades near a school in Badureliya, the ethnicity is concealed.

Diversion of attention from core issues

This is a classic example of manipulation of news on a grand, even fantastic scale. It is fear mongering with no apparent fear of consequences. Journalists indulging in the same should be brought before the penal law, even under stringent emergency regulations notwithstanding our natural distaste in urging its use in these contexts. Nonetheless, scandalous, incendiary reporting must be dealt with firmly. In the alternative, the push-back by the Government may reverse all the gains in the past few decades. We are already hearing talk of criminal defamation being brought back into the statute books to counter media excesses.

Most importantly, there is a danger in this enveloping media hysteria as it diverts attention from important issues that should be at the front and centre of public attention. Despite the banning of the NTJ goni billa along with the Jamathei Milathu Ibrahim (JMI), Muslim elders have themselves warned that this does not comprise the sum total of the threat. Fundamentalism has been evidenced by other organisations that still operate freely and deploy their writ in other areas with force such as in the resistance to reform of laws and practices relating to women.

Indeed for years, the Easts Muslim politicians, protected by various power centres in Colombo, were responsible for encouraging and instigating the growth of communal enclaves, reacted to adversely not only by the Sinhalese but also by Tamils. Numerous tugs of war took place, administrative or political as the case may be, where Tamil villages bordered Muslim villages. Eastern centres of regional influence such as Kattankudy grew reclusively into themselves with home-grown radicals exerting knock-on impact in areas as far away as Mawanella to the profound displeasure of Muslims elsewhere. These were the seeds that finally destructively flowered in the form of the jihadist cell carrying out the Easter Sunday attacks.

This media circus must be halted

As Sri Lanka faces communal hysteria to an extent that is unprecedented even during war times, addressing these issues with restraint is important. For that, the media circus of shrill propaganda that is in full swing now must be halted. And as reiterated in these column spaces, framing the crisis entirely within the context of Sri Lankas majoritarian violence as directed against the minorities is profoundly disrespectful of the truth.

Militant Sinhala-Buddhist action by the BBS and others may have enabled a breeding site for Muslim youth to turn disaffected in a familiar vicious cycle. But as the radical trajectory of the NTJ and the specific targeting of Catholics and Christian on Easter Sunday tells us, that is not the whole truth here. Framing the narrative in this way to protect political interests can only continue to be counter-productive.

It is time that these collective cautions are taken to heart.
Calls the Sunday Times Political Editor and former Defence Secretary to clarify matters amidst protests by even religious leaders

PSC hearings and live telecast stir row; Sirisena calls Ranil, as relationship hits new low

SLFP wants early talks with SLPP on common alliance; Sirisena still hopeful about him being common candidate for presidential poll, but chances remote

A trait in President Maithripala Sirisena, mostly unmatched by his political contemporaries, is his humility. That he is at the butt end of very heavy criticism, after the senseless Easter Sunday carnage, has not been a deterrent for him to turn the searchlight inwards.

On an exceptionally hot and humid last Sunday morning, I was woken up to a call. The operator said in Sinhala that his Excellency the President wished to speak. With the exchange of greetings over, he got to the subject. It was the political commentary in last weeks the Sunday Times headlined President tells UNF: No military deals with the United States. Maawa gahalama daala neyda or you have hit me hard, he said laughingly.

Deng balanda, mulpitiuwey warthawa or see the front-page report, he noted and then declared Oyage political kolom eka or your political column. He laughed again and exhorted Mey dekama maawa kotu karannai karala thiyanney or both are intended to corner me. I explained that the front-page account was not mine but a report from Courts. It spoke of IS backed extremist suicide bomber Zahran Hashim had an open warrant for his arrest long before the Easter Sunday carnage. I explained that the news report was a fact. In the political commentary there were of course comments based on facts, I said. He listened.

Eka pethatha daamu ko or lets put that aside, he said very politely. President Sirisena then referred to the Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) between the United States and Sri Lanka, much in the news through the Sunday Times exclusive disclosures. His Defence Secretary number two, Engineer Karunasena Kodituwakku (now Sri Lanka Ambassador to Germany) had negotiated the agreement, as revealed last week. It was later signed by Defence Secretary number three Kapila Waidyaratne, who was earlier Senior Additional Solicitor General.

Oya Gotabaya Rajapaksa athsang karapu ekatai, apey ekatai venasak nehe, or there is no difference in the agreement (ACSA) signed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa (former Defence Secretary on July 4 2007) and ours, he claimed. I replied, with all due respect Sir, there is a huge difference. The 2007 ACSA under the previous administration, I pointed out, was only seven pages with the cover. I said, Sir, the one negotiated by your second Defence Secretary and signed by your third Defence Secretary was precisely 83 pages. I added that nowhere in the ACSA agreements signed earlier by the US with Sri Lanka contain any annexures. This time there were over 50 annexures. That gave the lists of US commands and military establishments which will be allowed the use of Sri Lankas airports and sea ports. The list was exclusively revealed in the Sunday Times (Political Commentary) of May 19.

President Sirisena listened patiently as I explained how the earlier agreement was only for a period of seven years. The one negotiated by one Defence Secretary and signed by another is open ended, I pointed out. It says, This agreement shall remain in force unless terminated by mutual written consent of the Parties or by either Party giving not less than 180 days notice in writing to the other Party of its intention to terminate. Interestingly, President Sirisena kept on saying Ehemada, Ehemada or Is that so, is that so, when I kept explaining the difference between the previous (2007) and the present (2017) ACSA agreements. I told him it had been hurried through even before a thorough study had been done by the armed forces commanders or officials well versed in the matter.

President: Wont betray the country

At the end, President Sirisena said he had already called for the copies of the two ACSA agreements in question that Sunday morning. He said he would also speak to officials who then dealt with the subject, including former Defence Secretary Hettiaratchchi, now Ambassador in Germany. This was to find out how the features in the 2017 ACSA were broadened and at whose behest. Mama kavadavath mey vagey deval walata ida denney nehe. Mama magey rata paava denney nehe. Mama hoya gannang mokkada vuney kiyala, or I will never allow room for such things to happen. I will find out. I will not betray my country, he asserted.

President Sirisena cannot be expected to remember every clause in a document that is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. He has to be advised, guided and correctly directed by those in the know. On the other hand, if he has by any means followed no such advice, he should take the full responsibility as the Minister of Defence. That is why the post of Defence Secretary becomes important and cannot be held by all and sundry in the state administrative structure. It is as simple as saying a butcher cannot be a neuro surgeon. This reality has been lost on most politicians who believed that only personal loyalty to them, being supine and animosity to the Mahinda Rajapaksa family were qualifications enough.

One Defence Secretary was well known for his drinking binges at nights with a service commander. Another frequented a Moghul restaurant run by a casino king where food and drinks were given free, not only for him but his entire security detail. This prompted President Sirisena to once reprimand him and say he should behave like a judge and not a freebooter. In another recent instance, he warned a Defence Secretary to be more circumspect with his remarks and not to shoot his mouth off arrogantly at every turn.

After the conversation with me, President Sirisena spoke that Sunday with Shashikala Premawardena, just named Sri Lankas High Commissioner designate to Singapore. She was on secondment from the Foreign Ministry to the Defence Ministry and had been then handling matters relating to the ACSA.

However, the most revealing aspects of how the ACSA was rushed through came when President Sirisena telephoned Ambassador Hettiaratchchi in the German capital of Berlin. The Sunday Times has learned details of President Sirisenas conversation from a high-ranking source. When he began the call, Sirisena laughed as he remarked Sunday Times eka maawa pethi kapala daala ney or the Sunday Times has cut me to slices. This in turn prompted the Sri Lanka Ambassador to laugh. President Sirisenas conversation was revealing and laid bare the question whether some diplomats were being paid by the government of Sri Lanka to literally work for the United States. It also raised serious questions over how some Foreign Ministers conducted foreign policy, steering in the opposite direction from being non-aligned.

Ambassador Hettiaratchchi told President Sirisena that during the negotiations for the renewal of ACSA in 2017, he was under constant pressure from Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lankas then ambassador in the US, to expedite the passage of the ACSA. He had made many calls to ensure the draft ACSA be concluded and placed before the Cabinet of Ministers immediately, he said. Also telephoning him periodically over the same matter, Hettiaratchchi revealed to President Sirisena, was then Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

That indeed, to say the least, was damning from a Sri Lankan Foreign Minister. Here is an instance where Samaraweera commits Sri Lanka to co-sponsor a US backed resolution before the UN Human Rights Council to probe violation of human rights, international humanitarian law and alleged commitment of war crimes by the countrys own troops. This is during the final stages of the separatist war in 2009. At the same time, Samaraweera and his then envoy in Washington DC, who was to later become Foreign Secretary, wants an open house in Sri Lanka for US troops and have included in the ACSA almost all US military establishments to gain access. Ironic enough, one of the elements in the ACSA is to teach Sri Lankan troops human rights, something that has been violated with impunity in some theatres of conflict by Washingtons own troops. What they did in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to terror suspects is just one glaring example. One rule for the Sri Lankan troops and another for their US counterparts.

Ironic enough, Hettiaratchchi told President Sirisena that both Kariyawasam and Samaraweera had pressured him at a time when the Defence Ministry had sought the observations of the Armed Forces Commanders on the ACSA deal. This was when, as reported last Sunday, President Sirisena declared when told that their (service chiefs) responses were being awaited Ekeng mata vedak nehe. Vahaama assang karanna lesthi karanna or I am not interested in all of that. Make arrangements to immediately sign it.

Thus, the draft went before the Cabinet on June 20, 2017 when armed forces commanders had not responded in full. Now, Ambassador Hettiaratchchi told President Sirisena that the then NAVY Commander, Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, had expressed serious reservations over some of the provisions in the ACSA. The power and pressure of the then Foreign Minister and his envoy and later Foreign Secretary put paid to all this. The Cabinet approved it. Some ministers did not even know what they had approved and the implications arising from it. They simply do not read lengthy memoranda.

The Sunday Times asked former Foreign Secretary and now the Speakers International Affairs Advisor, Prasad Kariyawasam for his comments on why he applied pressure for the early signing of the ACSA in 2017. His response: I cannot say anything on speculative reports. I have performed duties as a public official and, therefore, cannot make any comment about functions performed during my service.

President Sirisena asked Ambassador Hettiaratchchi as to what were the key elements of ACSA. He had explained that through it, the two countries had established basic terms, conditions and procedures to facilitate the reciprocal provision of Logistic Support, Supplies and Services. This will mean that a multitude of US military establishments covered by the ACSA (in terms of the Annexes) could use the countrys air and sea ports to obtain logistics support, supplies and services for a fee. Similarly, what is for Sri Lanka, President Sirisena queried. The Ambassador replied, Sri Lanka could in return use the same facility in the US to seek the same privileges through those listed military establishments in the ACSA. Why then was it not tabled in Parliament? No questions were asked nor answers given. That way the ACSA remains a secret notwithstanding claims that more than 100 countries have signed it with the US. Even if that is true, no two agreements are alike.

Reciprocity

This is where the issue becomes laughable if not hilarious. Leave alone using such US facilities, for example, could the Sri Lanka Navys vessels dock into Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii, thousands of miles away, where their Indo-Pacific Headquarters is located? Could the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) land any one of its air assets at the Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida? They simply do not have the required assets to do so? In that sense conceding those facilities only to US military establishments is totally one sided. That itself was proof that the US wanted a strong military foothold in Sri Lanka, though the agreement speaks of reciprocity. It was given to the US on a platter.

Why then was no thought given to these and other aspects? Why then were the reservations of the Navy not gone into? Is it in the belief that self-acclaimed super patriots would always protect the countrys interests and not promote the interests of other nations? Of course, there was also another factor then. The year preceding 2017 was a political honeymoon period with the US. President Sirisena who attended the UN General Assembly that year even shook hands with President Barrack Obama. Then Foreign Minister Samaraweeras friendship with Samantha Power, the US envoy to the UN, had also blossomed. Now, its a different US government and a different US Embassy in Colombo. Long gone are the days of detente and diplomacy. There are Foreign Ministry officials, posted to other ministries with decorated titles. They are also advising foreign diplomats or travelling together to other parts of the country with them.

President Sirisena, as reported in these pages last week, also directed Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana, whilst in the United States capital of Washington DC, not to proceed with the controversial Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States. The UNF government has been strongly backing the move. Such an agreement, as revealed last week, would have given an open licence for uniformed US troops with arms and communications equipment to roam any part of Sri Lanka.

The revelations in this regard last week did cause serious concerns in the defence and security establishment. They were of the view that in post-independence Sri Lanka, such a drastic move was halted by Sirisena at the eleventh hour did bring relief among them. Another area where there were signs of relief was at the highest levels of the Foreign Ministry. One official opined that there had been a move to rush through SOFA with Sri Lanka under cover whilst India was embroiled in parliamentary general elections. Otherwise, the presence of foreign troops in the neighbourhood would have been a serious cause for concern for New Delhi, the source said. Yet, letters have been exchanged in this regard suggesting formally that talks would continue.

Now, Clarke Cooper, Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs in the State Department, is due in Colombo during a tour of Singapore and India. Diplomatic sources believe he will, during his talks with government leaders, broach the subject of SOFA despite President Sirisenas directive not to go ahead. There is likely to be some amount of diplomatic arm twisting but we will not change position, said a senior Foreign Ministry official. Significantly, Colombos Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjit, during a significant visit met the Malwatter Chapter Mahanayake, the Most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Sumangala Thera, and the Asgiriya Chapter Mahanayake, the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera, on Friday in Kandy. They issued a statement warning against the presence of foreign troops in Sri Lanka.

A high-ranking military official, conversant with the geopolitics of the Asian region and holding a senior command appointment said yesterday, Why did we fight a separatist war for almost three decades. Many thousands were killed and more thousands wounded? It was to protect our sovereignty and national integrity. Our troops showed the world we could defeat a deadly terrorist enemy and ensure the writ of the government ran to every nook and corner of our beloved island. Why do we need foreign troops on our own soil? We have to safeguard what we have won in the battlefield and not to fritter them away for the greed of a few.

President Sirisena was also livid on Wednesday over the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that is probing the Easter Sunday attacks by IS-backed Muslim extremist groups. The parliamentary body made up of the UNF, TNA and JVP began sittings in the morning that day by directing Defence Secretary Shantha Kottegoda and former crime investigator, retired DIG Sisira Mendis, Chief of National Intelligence (CNI), to testify. They were broadcast live by the national broadcaster Rupavahini. As the programme was on air, security top brass and those in the Presidency expressed concerns to Sirisena that national security matters were being publicly aired. This was even before investigations into such matters had been concluded or fuller normalcy has been restored.

His first response was to immediately summon the Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) Chairman and Defence Secretary Kottegoda and the TRCs Director General P.R.S.P. Jayatilleke. The idea was to immediately disconnect the live broadcast. The TRC comes under President Sirisena, However, by that time, the live coverage was over and the PSC had adjourned. Video clips of testimonies went viral thereafter in the social media highlighting the tragi-comedy that is being played out at the highest levels of government.

President chides PM

President Sirisena, a source said, thereafter made a telephone call to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He charged that he had not been consulted on the appointment of a PSC or about live broadcasts. According to the source, President Sirisens had also contended that the live television coverage was to embarrass him and the armed forces. He had cautioned that serious consequences would follow if the practice was continued. The PSC is set to meet on June 4 again. A UNP source confirmed the call and added that Premier Wickremesinghe listened to what President Sirisena said and he did not make any comments. President Sirisena has, in the meanwhile, directed that no state broadcasters should televise live proceedings. The UNF is defiant and will not call off the PSC or inviting those concerned to testify.

This telephone call between the two leaders of Sri Lanka illustrates personal and working relationships have deteriorated. More worrying is the blame game over the Easter Sunday massacre. President Sirisena insists he was unaware of intelligence warnings. The UNF leadership seems wanting to demonstrate that he, in fact, was. There is no way President Sirisena could put a halt to the PSC process though the entire exercise is driven by the United National Front government together with its two proxies, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Hence, there is a likelihood that the acrimony would rise as more security forces personnel are invited to testify.

In fact, the Presidential Media Division on Thursday contradicted remarks attributed to retired DIG Sisira Mendis, Chief of National Intelligence, who testified before the PSC. It said media reports had quoted him as saying that the National Security Council (NSC) did not meet after the Easter Sunday massacre. The statement claimed that the NSA has been meeting every two weeks, and on some occasions the President had convened it every week. The statement said on April 8 the President convened the monthly meeting of the IGP and senior Police officersnone of the police officers informed the President that advance reports on a possible terrorist attack had been received. Who is right? President Sirisena or his Chief of Intelligence?

Retired DIG Mendis testimony, besides those challenged by the Presidents Office, had raised some issues in the intelligence community. One of the key questions being raised is why he did not use his right as a witness to testify before the PSC in camera  that is without the presence of the media. The man who holds the office of Chief of National Intelligence (CNI), the highest-ranking intelligence officer in the country, it is common sense, deals with matters of national security and issues of a secretive nature.

Such conduct impacts on public morale, in the confidence of the business sector that is clamouring for foreign investment or the tourism sector struggling to survive. There is also another strong message  if not for the Easter Sunday carnage, the chaotic state of the national intelligence mechanism, where there is gross incompetence and acute inadequacies, would not have surfaced. It is no secret that personal loyalty becomes the reward for promotions and perks in this important sector responsible for the well-being of the community and the nation.

At the PSC hearing, controversial minister Ravi Karunanayake asked Mendis what the meaning of Eyes Only was. His reply: It is a term used in intelligence circles. It was from them that I learned it.. The term Eyes Only means the matter is of utmost importance He was not quite right. In intelligence parlance in any part of the world, it is a secret or confidential communication to be seen only by the person to whom it is directed. That is fundamental.

Referring to CNI Mendis, former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundera, now under suspension, in a Fundamental Rights Application filed by him, said that he received a letter on April 9, 2019 from Sisira Mendis, Chief of National Intelligence. It enclosed certain contents of a letter by the Director, State Intelligence Service (DIG Nilantha Jayawardena) containing information regarding a planned attack by Zaharan Hashim and associates. The letter had said secret inquiries were being conducted and concluded it is important to alert the Law Enforcement agencies to be vigilant concerning the information.

Jayasunderas petition claims that the warnings from Mendis as well as the SIS did not contain any indication of the urgency of the situation, nor did they contain a classification to indicate the urgency or priority level, whereas the usual practice is to mark relevant letters Top Priority or Top Urgent. It is the Supreme Court that will eventually determine the validity of the claims. However, one factor that comes out is very clear. Retired DIG Mendis is not an intelligence officer and is not trained in intelligence work. He was a criminal investigator and spent more of his time at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Thus intelligence was an unfamiliar terrain for him. There are many others who find themselves in this situation. For more than a month, they have neither been identified nor has any form of action been taken for colossal failures.

Not only what transpired at the PSC, President Sirisenas anger spilled over to other areas, too. At Sirisenas request, key players in the now troubled Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) held a news conference on Thursday. National security must not be compromised by revealing intelligence information to the public. It would only lead the country to an unstable situation, declared Senior Deputy SLFP leader, Nimal Siripala de Silva. UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera added, Revealing intelligence information is a very dangerous thing. In no other country is such a practice followed. Both were missing the point. They appear to have blissfully forgotten that a monumental intelligence failure cost the lives of more than 250 men, women and children. A further 450 were injured. The whole world is talking about it, besides Sri Lankans. Instead of parroting inanities they should have focused on the damage caused to national interest by what is unfolding before the PSC and the resultant public exposure. That there is politics is not a secret.

It is in this backdrop that President Sirisena was to cope with a number of other issues this week. Important among them was a meeting of the SLFP Central Committee on Monday. A variety of political issues came up for discussion.

One is the re-introduction of criminal defamation laws to deal with what was claimed to be reporting by the electronic media. It was agreed that draft laws should be formulated by the Parliamentary Oversight Committee headed by Malith Jayatileke MP. It oversees defence matters. Thereafter, the draft is to be discussed with leaders of political parties and civil society groups. Such a new law, it was agreed, should also encompass provisions to ban hate speech and related matters. Despite the faithful commitments, whether these laws would become a reality before this years presidential election remains unlikely. This is in view of the time taken to draft, discuss, formulate a final draft and later present it to Parliament.

Opinion of the SC

There were also some proposals, which, to say the least, were laughable. One such proposal to come in the form of new laws under Higher Education is to closely monitor all Sri Lanka youth who return to their country after studies abroad. The learned rationale behind this is to determine whether those students have undergone any mental inculcation and would become suicide bombers. That the countrys politicians could think of such things is more repulsive than putting their plans into action. Thank god they are not talking of brain surgery, said a former SLFP minister who took part in the meeting. Another agreed but added it is these jokers who keep us going.

It was also agreed that steps should be taken to stop the desegregation of schools on religious basis. Together with this move, there will be no separate ministers in charge of Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim Affairs. All those subjects, it was agreed, should be brought under the President. Public representations are to be invited in this regard before giving effect to the move. The Muslim Marriages Act is to be amended to prevent underage marriages. It will require adherence to the 18-year age limit. The report of a Committee now studying the matter is being awaited.

Uva Province Chief Minister Chamara Sampath surprised those present by proposing that President Sirisena should seek an opinion from the Supreme Court in terms of the Constitution. He lost his six-year tenure in office to five after the 19th Amendment. He has every right to ask whether his office for five years took effect from the day he took his oaths, or when the Speaker of Parliament gave his assent to the 19A, he argued. There was no decision on the matter and President Sirisena remained non-committal when the proposal was made.

The most important subject of discussion at the Central Committee meeting was the eagerness of the SLFP to resume early talks with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). As revealed in these pages last week, the talks set for June 30 have now been advanced to June 8 at President Sirisenas request. The talks that originally began with the objective of forming a joint alliance had veered away to other issues as they progressed. Speakers at the meeting expressed concern over this and wanted specific issues discussed since the presidential election was only five months away. They will need us and we will need them, said one of the speakers. Sirisena agreed when a speaker declared, We cannot make it alone. Another remarked, We are the deciding factor. It was agreed that SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera should discuss the main aspects of a joint alliance  its structure, a common symbol, office bearers and formulation of lists for nominations at a parliamentary election. Jayasekera was asked to conclude the talks within one or two months. Whether it is in concert or not is unclear. But a smaller section in the Joint Opposition is also voicing the same view  expedite the formation of a joint alliance.

It is relevant to note President Sirisenas remarks to the media during his New Delhi visit for Prime Minister Narendra Modis inauguration. He said he had not yet decided whether he would contest. He is obviously focusing on reviving talks for an alliance and trying to explore whether there still a chance for his joint candidacy.

However, it is not going to be easy. It is near impossible. Firstly, any such prospect has already been ruled out. Those at the higher levels of the SLPP are confident they could win even if they go it alone. Thus, there are clear indications that they would place their own set of demands to the SLFP and declare take it or leave it. One of the main reasons for this is President Sirisenas vacillations and SLFP General Secretary Jayasekeras aggressive stance towards the SLPP earlier.

Whilst the SLFP is leaning towards the SLPP, its proxy war with the UNP-led United National Front (UNF) is escalating over the Easter Sunday carnage. The battle is over who is responsible? The words of Sir Winston Churchill, the war time Prime Minister of Britain, ring true: The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.
Sinking deeper into the security quagmire View(s):

Last weeks front page news item in the Sunday Times on the open warrant that had been issued on the evil mastermind of Easter Sundays bombings, and the Political Editors references to the manner in which the defence agreement, ACSA was signed with the USA, leave one with the inevitable conclusion that there is a whole lot amiss in the countrys security apparatus.

The news item, regular readers will recall, referred to the hitherto unknown fact that the man believed to have been the planner of the Easter Sunday carnage was already on the radar of the Police Terrorism Investigations Department (TID). They had followed up on several leads and obtained an open warrant for his arrest, but the man, by then, had gone into hiding.

It now appears that he was notorious in the Eastern Province as a potential perpetrator of violence, and some sensible leaders of his own faith had wanted him not just arrested, but physically eliminated. On the one hand, political patronage in the Eastern Province provided this dangerous man with some sort of protection, while the TIDs search for him dissipated with the arrest of its own chief on charges of complicity in a plot to assassinate the President.

Taken together, the man was allowed to plot his scheme with his coterie of followers, while the country was consumed by the political upheaval connected to the October Palace putsch of last year. Knowing the radar was on him may have accelerated his barbarous plan though he probably did not know the TID radar was switched off. It would seem the Indian Intelligence had, however, picked up the ball the TID had dropped, but again, this time with the TID virtually incapacitated, the rest of the Sri Lanka Police failed to see the red signals flashing.

Then, there is the reference to ACSA, the agreement signed in 2007 and renewed in 2017 with the United States. It now allows US military boots on the ground  with weapons and radio equipment. What the Political Editor wrote about, like that of the TID story, comes as news ex post-facto, in this case two long years after.

It shows the President as Commander-in- chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence paying scant regard to officials who said that the agreement needed to be studied properly because it contained several attachments with far reaching ramifications relating to the countrys sovereignty. It is possible that the officials, and the Tri-Forces chiefs sat on the papers showing no urgency, but for the President to have said he doesnt care about the attachments and order his officials to just sign the agreement blindly betrays a serious if not dangerous deficiency in the manner in which State security is being handled at the very apex of the country.

A Supreme Court judgment of yesteryear held that the Defence portfolio must be under the Executive President. Prior to the 1978 Constitution, the President was the Head of State and Commander-in-chief, but it was the Prime Minister who held the Defence portfolio.

President J.R. Jayewardene became Minister of Defence with the 1978 Constitution, but when the security of the State got badly compromised with the growth of the LTTE, he appointed a separate Minister of National Security. In 2001, with a cohabitation government, the then President relented under pressure from her advisers to give the portfolio to the Prime Ministers party. She, however, took it back on the strength of the SC order.

The issue is not whether the Defence portfolio should be with an Executive President, but how efficiently he or she handles the job. Clearly, an Executive President is immersed in political activity, especially in this case when he is cohabiting with a party with which he is openly at odds. This needs a good set of officials and advisers  to whom he must at least listen before taking decisions.

In hindsight now, the President seems to have understood the faux pas he has committed the country to, and is now saying No, No to every other defence agreement with the US. On the other hand, he is trying to balance the scales by signing defence agreements with China, raising the ire of India. None of these agreements is made public. Not that going before the Cabinet or Parliament means much, given that none of them bothers to study these voluminous papers, or would have understood the contents even if translated into local languages. Statutory think tanks established to analyse and strategise are also the least helpful.

The Indian Ocean security issue is warming up, meanwhile, with all eyes now on the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore where the US is expected to ramp up its military and geo-economic aims to curtail the growing presence of China in these waters and around it. China on the other hand is sending its Defence Minister for the first time to the conference.

Both China and the US link their agreements to trade concessions, investments and aid  theres nothing for nothing these days. But the whole point is that the Sri Lanka Government does not weigh the pros and cons when considering these agreements usually hatched in secrecy and incubated in darkness  and the big time power-play at work almost wraps Sri Lankan leaders around their little fingers.

How can a Government think at macro level when it cannot even sort its issues at micro level? The Police Department is also under the President. He took it over when he felt the assassination attempt against him was a genuine threat. He does not have any of his party ministers in the Cabinet and this gives new meaning to the phrase its lonely at the top.

From all accounts, the President is not going to yield to his UNF coalition partners pressure to hand over the Police Department to them, leave alone make the former Commander of the Army, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, the minister thereof. The UNF has a genuine grouse complaining that it is receiving the flak for the incompetence on the security front when the control centre is the Presidential Secretariat. These are the inherent problems of an Executive Presidency and a cohabitation government gone wrong. And the country will have to live with such imperfections.

There is, however, a higher duty cast on the countrys political leadership to ensure the security of the individual citizen, and the security of the State. The citizens expect no less from their elected leaders as the country struggles to get back on even keel.
Ed Sheeran to become a Billionaire View(s):

Ed Sheeran is said to be poised to become a billionaire before he turns 30 in just two years.

The chart-topping pop star  who turned 28 in February  has already amassed an eye-watering fortune and has millions rolling into his bank account each week thanks to the success of his Divide tour which has reportedly seen him earn close to 500 million so far. Ed is expected to earn more than 100million over the next three months of his money-spinning tour, meaning hell surpass U2s record of 579.35 million made during their 2009-11 run of shows.

Reflecting on Eds incredible success, music industry expert Mark Borkowski told The London Sun newspaper: The man who was busking on the streets is now a man who is going to be a billionaire. Above all, this shows just how potent live music is nowadays.

Its the one that generates the money. The music business has moved on with labels having to be more savvy and Ed clearly has a team that knows what its doing.

PR guru Marcel Knobil thinks Eds popularity can be linked to his humble persona and raw talent.

He said: Ed is an extremely talented individual who demonstrates it is not always about the packaging but about the perfect product.

Meanwhile, Ed previously credited his success to hard work. He said: Persistence gets you wherever you want to go. My dad always said, Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
What was the cause of all this? Well, that would be the announcement made by the US Commerce Department. The announcement, made last Wednesday, puts Huawei along with 68 other affiliates on an Entity List. Think of the Entity List as a trade blacklist. The list was made following an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump. Why? Because the US is accusing Huawei of aiding Beijing in Espionage. The Trump administration has been going at the company for some time now. This time, US might possibly have been able to put a dent on the Chinese Tech giant. As per the results of the list, the Chinese Smartphone manufacturer is forbidden from purchasing parts and components from US companies without expressive approval from the US Government. This also includes the Android and Google ecosystem as well. What does this mean to the public? Well, long story short, all future Huawei smartphones will stop receiving Android system updates and security updates as well. This also means that all future phones from Huawei will not have access to Google services including the Google Play Store and any other app that relies on the Google Services Framework. A Google Spokesperson explained that For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices. They also added that the company would only be able to use the public version of Android, Android Open Source Project (AOSP). As such, they will not be able to get access to proprietary apps and services from Google. These apps include Gmail, YouTube and Chrome browser as they are not covered by the open source license. Rather, they require a commercial agreement with Google. For the Chinese market, the impact is expected to be minimal. In case you didnt know, most Google Apps are banned in China. Alternatives to these apps are offered by companies such as Baidu and Tencent. The companies even have their own app stores to rival the Google Play Store. For other markets, the loss of Android is likely to be quite troubling, to say the least. If you take Sri Lanka, for example, Huawei is rated as one of the top 3 smartphone brands. This is especially true in terms of the midrange and budget smartphone categories. To an extent, even flagship devices such as the newly released P30 Pro are gaining popularity in Sri Lanka. While current devices will still continue to receive app updates for google apps, new devices will not.This can put a large dent in that market segment, opening the floor to some very intense competition from other Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Vivo and other brands such as Samsung. Huawei has replied stating that devices will continue getting security updates. Whether these updates are from Huawei themselves remains to be seen. In addition, how long these security updates would be provided for also remains to be seen. Huawei in turn responded staying that would continue to provide security updates and after sales service to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablets products covering those have been sold or still in stock globally. The statement also went on to explain that Sri Lankan customers are also assured of continuous support for present existing Huawei smartphones in the market. They added that holders of current Huawei smartphones with Google apps will continue to be able to use and download app updates provided by Google Added to this, Huawei has also received a temporary license to send software updates to their smartphones for the next three months. The license, which will expire on August 19, 2019 allows the company to provide software updates and patches to all existing devices. The catch is that these devices would have to be ones that were made available to the public on or before May 16, 2019. In addition, Huaweis existing network equipment will also receive security vulnerability updates within this 3 month period as well. Is this the end for Huawei? Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom, three for the worlds leading chip designers have also cut off dealing with Huawei. While Intel provides server chips and processors for their laptop line, Qualcomm provides modems and processors. The latter would probably not affect Huawei so much as they build their own mobile processors and modems. Ren Zhengfei  CEO of Huawei Technologies shared that it would be fine even if Qualcomm and other American suppliers would not sell chips to Huawei. We have already been preparing for this, Ren added. But even if Huawei is able to ship devices using their own hardware such as the Kirin processors, will people be willing to use devices with no Google products? As we stated, China will not have an issue. The rest of the world, however, will. According to a Bloomberg report, Huawei was supposedly gearing up for this ban and stockpiling chips from these US companies. The amassed chips would help Huawei operate for at least 3 more months. This, in turn, would give Huawei time to measure what their future plans might be. In terms of software too, Huawei has been developing their own alternative operating systems to rival Android and Microsoft Windows. But even if they do, things wont be the same. Even if the company does release devices that are running the companys own operating system, getting people to purchase devices is going to be a challenge. Also, bear in mind that while alternatives to Google Apps exist, they are limited to China. Its also highly plausible that other App developers such as Facebook will also pull out from supporting future Huawei devices. This, in turn, means apps such as Instagram and WhatsApp will not work either. That being said though, Huawei also sells enterprise equipment for Telecom Operators. So yes, the brand will take a hit in terms of smartphones, but the company will survive the fallout. Is an AOSP Huawei device plausible? If youve played around with rooting Android devices, you would have probably come across an AOSP custom ROM. These ROMs are based on Android but dont come with any Google apps. The functionality of these ROMS is the bare minimum. The ROM itself has a minimal amount of apps to take phone calls, send messages and take pictures. These are all possible without the Google Framework installed. If Huawei is planning to release their own operating system for their devices, they could use the AOSP resources to provide more or less the same functionality as Google would for markets outside of China. But then again, that is all depending on if people are still willing to purchase their devices. (The author is a senior writer for Readme.lk)
Marina Square to sponsor Aladdin View(s):

Marina Square-Uptown Colombo, has extended their support to sponsor a ballet adaptation of Disneys classic Aladdin, brought to life by the Deanna School of Dancing. It is produced and choreographed by Natalie and Natasha Jayasuriya. This ballet adaptation of the world-famous Aladdin will be staged from 31st May to 3rd June, at the Bishops College Auditorium at 4.00 pm. With the participation of over 600 students ranging from the age of 3 to 30, it is sure to be an entertaining evening for everyone.

Marina Square is the largest, single mixed development project offering over 1,080 City Condos along with a number of office spaces, retail and wellness services in the heart of tomorrows Colombo. The project will be completed by 2022.

Welcoming the sponsorship from Marina Square, the Principal of the Deanna School of Dancing, Natasha Jayasuriya, expressed her appreciation to Marina Square for the invaluable support extended to the school and the show. This is the Schools biggest show to date with 600 performers taking part in it.

Marina Squares Director-Marketing, Shivanka De Zoysa said that We are pleased to sponsor art and culture, which is an inherent part of the Urban Luxury Lifestyle offered by Marina Square. We believe that supporting the efforts of institutions like the Deanna School of Dancing helps to bring the performing arts to the fore and broad base its appreciation and enjoyment.
Dismissive stance on serious intelligence warning on impending terror attacks By Sandun Jayawardana and Sandran Rubatheesan View(s): View(s):

PSC hears shocking revelations from Defence Secretary and National Intelligence Chief

Some elements are trying to create ethnic tensions; added burden on security forces

Evidence given by the first two witnesses to appear before the Parliament Select Committee (PSC) appointed to look into the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks has indicated that a glaringly lackadaisical attitude towards national security had prevailed among senior officials in the months leading up to the carnage.

For first time in the countrys Parliamentary history, the media were given access to report the proceedings of a PSC this week. This is a new kind of experience and experiment in opening the doors to the media during PSC probes, in order to establish transparency in the governance and legislature affairs, Acting Chairman Jayampathi Wickremaratne noted, while emphasising that the media should be careful in ensuring accuracy and a non-partisan way of reporting on the proceedings of individual testimonies given by top officials before the committee.

In his opening remarks before the hearing on Wednesday (29), Dr. Wickremaratne recalled the significant damage the deadly terrorist attacks caused to the social fabric of the nation and added that the main challenge ahead of us today is rebuilding those ties between the people and trust between various communities.

Emphasising that the PSC members have to play a different role in the committee, he urged them to get rid of the clothing of typical politicians and engage in the legislatures check-and-balance mechanism to pave the way for legal action if the government so decides in future.

Appearing before the PSC on the first day, Wednesday, were two top officials of the government security apparatus  Defence Secretary Shantha Kottegoda, and National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis. They testified after taking oaths. At the outset of the hearings that went on for more than six hours, Dr Wickremaratne urged witnesses not to divulge any sensitive matters related to national security or reveal intelligence gathering strategies in detail.

General (Rtd) Shantha Kottegoda, who assumed duties just three weeks ago after his predecessor was fired following the attacks, acknowledged that there appears to have been a grave lapse in the intelligence network when coordinating among different agencies prior warnings of an imminent attack, but he sought more time from the committee to explain this lapse in detail because investigations were still not complete. Responding to a question by Chair, Gen. Kottegoda made it clear he reports directly to the President, as he is the Minister of Defence.

PSC member Ashu Marasinghe posed the question if there were any effective tracking mechanisms currently in place on border control security and biometric data of those who visit the country along with details of arrivals and departures of foreigners.

Gen. Kottegoda responded that he had taken an initiative with the assistance of relevant departments such as Department for Registration of Persons, Department of Immigration and Emigration and Sri Lanka Customs to implement such a programme in the near future. As of now, there is no mechanism in place to get visa details of a person in advance when he boards a flight to Sri Lanka, he said.

On questions raised about the efficiency of the intelligence community in the wake of the attacks, Gen. Kottegoda rejected charges that the intelligence network had collapsed with the arrest of certain intelligence operatives over various allegations. He pointed out that there was an effective intelligence network currently at play, with 99 percent of the immediate threat from terrorism being neutralised.

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka inquired extensively whether the Defence establishment was aware of the Islamic fundamentalist groups that were emerging in various parts of the country and the state of those ongoing probes if files were kept open. Gen Kottegoda replied that the Ministry came to know about the activities of these radical Islamic groups in 2017 and agreed to provide the relevant files to the Committee.

PSC member Ravi Karunanayake drew attention to last weeks Sunday Times page one story which said that Zahran Hashim, the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks, had an open arrest warrant since last year and monitoring moves became paralysed after the arrest of Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) Chief Nalaka Silva. The Committee decided to consider the news report as one of the items of evidence placed before committee.

During the hearing, Gen. Kottegoda expressed concern that some elements are trying to form a new ethnic issue by instigating ethnic tensions between communities, while referring to a protest staged in Kurunegala this week. He elaborated that the security forces and intelligence networks, along with the Special Task Force (STF), have to engage in riot control activities in addition to their around-the-clock patrolling to ensure civilian security across the country. This, according to him, became an additional burden on the security forces.

National Intelligence chief Sisira Mendis, a retired Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, in his testimony, said that after he assumed duties as Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) in July 2015, the first time that the Islamic State (ISIS) was discussed at the weekly Intelligence Coordination Meeting (ICM) was on October 6, 2015. A discussion was held that day on new regulations to be formed to address religious extremism and countering emerging terrorist threats. ISIS was the main focus of this discussion, he added.

Zaharan Hashims name had first come up in discussions at the ICM in March, 2017, following a clash between two groups of Muslims in Kattankudy, Mr Mendis revealed. It was noted that Zahran was spreading extremist views. That was the first time I heard of him, the CNI said, adding that he believes the TID even obtained a warrant for his arrest.

PSC member Nalinda Jayathissa pointed out that, in the aftermath of the attacks, certain individuals and groups, including Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera and some Muslim Moulavis, had publicly claimed that they had given information regarding Zaharan and his associates to the authorities but that no action had been taken. The CNI said he was unaware of any specific information given by such individuals.

The Committee then decided to summon all those who claimed to have given information.

Responding to questions, the CNI also said the National Security Council (NSC), the topmost decision-making body dealing with the countrys national security, had not met after February 19. After the meeting on February 19, there were no further meetings of the NSC till after the attacks.

This meant that intelligence about an Alleged Plan of Attack that had first been received in early April was never discussed at the NSC, it was revealed.

The CNI said he had received a letter dated April 7 from the Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Nilantha Jayawardena under the topic Alleged Plan of Attack. There was no mention of where the intelligence had come from. Since April 7 was a Sunday, it was only the following morning (April that he found the letter at his office. Though he wanted to speak to the then Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando on the matter, he did not get an opportunity to speak to Mr Fernando till about 3 p.m. that day, as April 8 was a busy day since the Indian Defence Secretary was also in Colombo. The CNI added that it did not seem as if the Defence Secretary was aware of the information till he spoke to him about it.

Though the Defence Secretary had said the matter should be taken up at the weekly ICM due to be held the following day (April 9), the SIS Head, who had sent the letter, did not bring the subject up at the meeting, Mr Mendis stated. I kept the letter on my table throughout the meeting waiting for it to be taken up, but when it wasnt, I told the SIS Head towards the end of the meeting that we should discuss it. He claimed he had already informed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) about it, he said.

Acting Chair Dr Wickramaratne expressed his dismay that an intelligence warning of an imminent attack was not given priority at the ICM. He asked: Are you telling this committee that this intelligence information did not become a key topic at the meeting on April 9?

That is correct. It was not a key topic, CNI Mendis acknowledged.

Nevertheless, the CNI said he himself sent his own letter to the IGP on behalf of the Defence Secretary on the same day about the alleged imminent attack. I used Eyes Only, which is a term used in intelligence circles to indicate top priority, to mark the letter. I even informed the person going to hand over the letter to Police Headquarters to get the name and contact details of the officer who will accept the letter. I still have those details, he added.

The CNI, though, said he did not receive a response from the IGP until the attacks occurred on April 21.

Field Marshal Fonseka faulted the then Defence Secretary for not taking up the matter at the ICM. If you (CNI) spoke to the Defence Secretary about this on April 8, there was no reason for him to wait for the SIS Director to bring it up on April 9. He (Defence Secretary) presided over this meeting. He should have taken it up on his own as he had a responsibility to do so and take necessary action, he emphasised.

The Committee consists of MPs Rauff Hakeem, Ravi Karunanayake, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Prof. Ashu Marasinghe, Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne and Dr Nalinda Jayathissa. The Committee Chairman, Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri was not present. Therefore Dr Wickramaratne served as Acting Chair.

Another two members Dr Rajitha Senaratne and M.A. Sumanthiran were also not present as they were overseas. The Committee is expected to submit its report to Parliament within three months.

The PSCs next sitting will be on Tuesday.
Dress code circular suspended View(s):

The Public Administration Ministry has suspended its decision to impose a dress code for state-sector employees.

This came after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe opposed the move to re-implement a 30-year old circular which stipulates a dress code for public sector employees  shirt and trouser or national costume for men and saree or osari for women.

Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara told the Sunday Times the decision was put on hold and the issue would be taken up for discussion at the Government Parliamentary group meeting tomorrow to reach consensus on the dress code.

We will be taking into consideration whether a dress code should be introduced or whether changes should be brought to the existing circular, he said.

A senior official of the Prime Ministers Office said the Prime Minister was of the opinion that the circular would have to be changed if a dress code was to be implemented.

The Public Administration Ministry had earlier decided to implement the dress code circular from tomorrow, raising concern among thousands of employees who already used to a particular dress than those stipulated in the circular.

Ministry Secretary J.J. Ratnasiri earlier told the Sunday Times that the Presidential Secretariat had given its consent to re-implement the circular issued in 1989 and accordingly they had decided to go ahead with it.

He said the dress code was being reintroduced to ensure that a common law was in place.

He said if changes were required the Cabinet would have to make a decision.

The move to implement a dress code came after a spate of incidents where there had been protests over wearing of certain types of dress to public offices and schools. In one such incident, a group of teachers had not been allowed to school on the grounds that they were not dressed in saree, but instead wearing abayas.

However, in the event of the implementation of the old circular, several female public sector employees who do not wear the Saree or the Osariya also would have been force to change their dress.

Ceylon Teachers Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin said the government move to make the saree and osari essential for working women in state sector was unfair.

He said that, in most public institutions and in schools, there were women employees and teachers who came dressed in skirt and blouse or an appropriate dress convenient for them.
Famed beaches could disappear By Abdullah Shahnawaz Illegal mining and building hasten erosion View(s): View(s):

Illegal sandmining and construction work in the coastal zone are increasing the speed by which our sandy beaches are being swallowed by the sea.

Coastal erosion is sometimes inevitable, occurring when the transportation of sand from riverbeds to the sea is disrupted due to wither natural or human-influenced factors.

Sea-level rises, global warming wave patterns, storms, currents, tides, wind-driven water and waterborne ice all contribute to the slow loss of coastal land, but this loss of land eventually evens out despite an altered coastline.

However, it is the haphazard construction and development in Sri Lanka that raises alarm as it speeds up the process of erosion, resulting in damage to the fisheries and tourism industries, choking peoples livelihood, and damaging houses in the region.

According to statistics from the Department of Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management, annual permits for 11 million cubic metres of sandmining are issued but Sri Lankas construction industry uses more than 20 million cubic metres of sand. An official from the department said that around nine million cubic metres are mined illegally per year.

This figure is based on recorded data but the actual figure could be much higher, said Chief Engineer (Coastal Development), R.A.S. Ranawaka.

When such a large quantity is mined from riverbeds, it distorts the sand-flow to the sea. This disruption causes a shortage of sand on the beaches, and this is coastal erosion, he said.

The Director-General of Coast Conservation, Prabath Chandrakeerthi, said the the threat is most serious in the Puttalam District, with Marawila and Thoduwa being the worst areas. Other areas severely affected are the Calido and Tangerine beaches in Kalutara and the beach adjacent to the Oluvil Harbour.

The breakwater constructed for the Oluvil Harbour has diverted sand-flow with the harbour receiving sand at the cost of other beaches in the vicinity, Mr. Chandrakeerthi said.

Mr. Ranawaka explained how the breakwater had led to a sandbar being created at the mouth of the harbour that rendered the harbour unusable.

With a 1.5 km sandbar forming at the mouth of the harbour, there was a lack of sand on the northern side of the port, and this has now spread for 9km northwards, he stated. The responsibility lies with the Ports Authority as it is their duty to conduct feasibility studies before commencing construction.

The commercialisation of Colombo has seen the city lose most of its beaches. Mr. Ranawaka cited the Kollupitiya to Bambalapitiya beach stretch as an example of how the Department had to opt for a revetment to mitigate erosion, at the cost of the beach disappearing.

When this was done more than 30 years ago, funds allocated for environment protection were limited so we had to choose the revetment strategy. The main priority was to safeguard the railway line. Hence, a revetment using rocks was constructed along the beach, he said.

Revetments, along with breakwaters and groynes are considered hard solutions (one that policy-makers resort to as a last option when the threat of erosion is severe). Sand nourishment and the measures taken to revitalise coral life are soft solutions and are environment-friendly, the official explained.

Sand nourishment is carried out at a number of beaches where it is assessed that the situation can be mitigated in such ways. In 2017, a sand nourishment project was undertaken for the beach in Marawila following the governments decision to allocate Rs. 800 million for coast conservation activities. A similar project was carried out at Unawatuna in 2015.

Another factor in erosion which has been plaguing the Coast Conservation Department (CCD) for some time is the illegal construction of beach-side restaurants, houses and hotels.

Permits to construct any structure in the coastal zone must be obtained solely from the CCD. Mr. Chandrakeerthi said that the current act was tough as it allowed the police to arrest owners guilty of constructions in the coastal zone without a permit.

The coastal zone is calculated from the permanent vegetation line along beaches to anywhere between 10-300m landwards, depending on the beach.

Last year, with the help of the police, we were able to crack down on many such establishments in the Mirissa region and we are pursuing the same policy now, Mr. Chandrakeerthi said.

In most instances the culprits were small and medium-sized establishments. Bigger businesses follow a public relations campaign based on environmentally friendly practices, so they avoid any activity that could stain their reputation, Mr. Chandrakeerthi said.

Contrary to public opinion, the construction of the Colombo Port City itself does not threaten severe coastal erosion, Mr. Ranawaka explained. This was because the existing south harbour breakwater has the port city covered, and so any erosion that might occur would be due to the breakwater and not the port city.

He said that even if the port city was not being constructed, sand would have accumulated at the site naturally as the breakwater had altered the sand transportation pattern. This sand deposit will come at the cost of a shortage of sand to other areas in the region.

Sand used to build the port city foundations came from offshore Negombo and in return the port city developers were required to build up sand at Negombo Beach, and they have done so, he said.

The CCD allows offshore mining, provided it is mined 3km offshore and from a depth of more than 15m. Dr. Terney Pradeep Kumara, General Manager of the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), said increasing coastal erosion damaged biodiversity and the economy.

The loss of beaches and biodiversity in the coastal zone reduces tourist attractions and this could have a long-term economic impact too, he said. Our economy is based on the environment and destroying the environment will damage the economy.
Fasting monk dehydrated, but physically stable View(s):

On the second day of his fast unto death, doctors found the Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera dehydrated but yet physically stable.

The medical team which, examined the monk yesterday, checked his blood pressure. They noted that he was suffering from dehydration, but did not require any immediate medical treatment.

The Ven. Rathana Thera had started his fast-unto-death in front of the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy on Friday morning, demanding that President Maithripala Sirisena remove Western Province Governor Azath Salley, Eastern Province Governor A.L.A.M. Hizbullah and Minister Rishad Bathiudeen from their positions as he believed they supported Islamic extremism.

United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake was the only MP to visit the monk upto last evening.

Buddhasasana Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera said he could not intervene in the matter, as the monks demands were directed to the President.

However I will take up this matter at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. I am unable to comment on the situation till then, he said.

Western Province Governor Azath Salley, meanwhile, remained defiant, amid increasing protests and calls for him to step down from his post.

Anybody can protest. Thats their individual right. But on what basis could someone protest demanding the resignation of an individual who has not been found guilty of anything? Let someone file a chargesheet first to see if there are any credible allegations. There is no need for me to resign as demanded, he told the Sunday Times.

A Presidential Secretariat official insisted that the Ven. Rathana Thera should have had the courtesy to first consult the President about his decision to start the fast. The President has no intention to intervene in this matter at this point, the official said.

Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian S. Viyalendran, who now supports the Joint Opposition, also began a fast at Gandhi Park in Batticaloa yesterday in support of the Ven. Rathana Thera.
For him, loyalty does not fade away View(s):

An old party stalwart came through security barriers to greet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe when he visited Ampara yesterday to open an economic centre there. The Premier also attended

a ceremony to launch the handing over of Samurdhi benefits to thousands of families.
Heartbreak hotel all over Lanka By Kasun Warakapitiya and Pravin Jayasundere Industry in crisis as tourists shun safety pledges View(s): View(s):

The armchair view from Colombos Taj Samudra of the Galle Face Green and the blue waters of the Indian Ocean is breathtaking.

Kings with their consorts, heads of state with their grandiose limousines, politicians, bureaucrats and food-loving Sri Lankans with a penchant for Indian cuisine have crossed the wide entrance day in and day out.

Last week, it was closed. Behind the iron gates lay coiled concertina wire  the kind of barbed wire that protects high-security military installations. Entry is from one corner. Drivers are asked to alight and open the car bonnet, where a security officer examines a running engine for hidden explosives. How he sees a bomb there or not is unclear but the ritual ends in a few seconds.

At the entrance, guests have to surrender their mobile phones to a lady holding a tray and walk through an arched metal detector. If a beep sounds there is another search with a hand-held detector. Not always are the security staff polite. Guests are greeted by an army (red beret) commando with his finger on the trigger of an automatic rifle.

The experience at one of the restaurants is depressing. The regular thali (or food platter with rice and curries the Indian way) is delayed. It arrives some 40 minutes late and one sees a marked difference  instead of sliced onions and green chillies there is onion sambol the Sri Lankan way. Instead of rice, there is pre-cooked biriyani and dhal makhni.

The restaurant has fewer than eight guests. The waiting areas are empty except for the hotel staff and the occasional soldier on guard. Business is far from normal.

Six weeks after the appalling bombings of hotels and churches that killed some 250 people on Easter Sunday, the scene is the same in the Cinnamon Grand, the Cinnamon Lakeside and other five-star hotels in Colombo: tourist occupancy is very low and most Sri Lankans are reluctant to walk in and go through the security hassles.

In Europe, which has also suffered the evils of terrorism, it is different: security measures exist but they are not visible. Here, the display of security might be a deterrent to attacks but it has also become a deterrent to clients.

At a church in Negombo, organisers of a wedding are telephoning guests to ask them not to come to the church ceremony. The church authorities have said that only 25 guests each from the grooms and the brides side would be allowed. At a funeral in Nayakakanda, Wattala only the immediate family members are allowed to join the funeral service in the church.

What do these events show? It is the reality that the situation in the city is still far from normal notwithstanding the fact that both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met the Colombo-based diplomatic community at separate meetings to plead for foreign business.

They made one appeal: to revise the travel advisories released by their countries on the risks to their nationals visiting Sri Lanka.

Some diplomats said it was too early to rescind the warnings and wanted more time. Others, like India, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and China amended the advisories to encourage their citizens to visit Sri Lanka. Some changed them from strict instructions such as Avoid non-essential travel to Sri Lanka to more relaxed terms such as Employ extreme caution when travelling to Sri Lanka.

Major countries such as the US, UK, and also Australia, have not yet changed their stance on the travel warnings.

The country is bleeding from the wounds dealt to the tourist industry through the bombs exploded by Islamic extremists on April 21.

Tourists are hard to find anywhere in the outstations, whether in the coastal areas or the central parts of the country such as Sigiriya, Nuwara Eliya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.

As a result, hotels in the coastal belt are targeting local visitors more than foreign tourists.

A reservations manager at a luxury beach hotel in Negombo, Sachini Wijeratne, said hotels were mostly receiving Sri Lankan and resident expats and only a few foreign tourists after the bombings.

There are much fewer bookings by locals on weekdays but with special offers the hotels are getting filled during the weekends, she said. Hotels are offering 50 per cent discounts and special promotions to attract local tourists.

Our country was the number one tourist destination before the blasts. Now, the tourism authorities should promote tourism by showing the world that our country is safe, Ms Wijeratne said. She thinks the few foreign tourists that hotels are seeing have arrived following the relaxation of some travel advisories.

Well-known tourist sites have been hard-hit by the drop in visitors. Sigiriya, considered the eighth wonder of the world, used to be swamped by huge numbers of foreign as well as local tourists but now there are few who come to climb the famous rock.

The Cultural Triangle Hoteliers and the members of Association for Dambulla and Sigiriya Tourism Promotion took matters into their hands and embarked on a tour to a number of European countries to promote tourism to Sri Lanka.

Saliya Dayananda, who is the head of both organisations, said the team visited Austria, Italy, Germany and Switzerland on a drive to attract tourists to Dambulla and Sigiriya.

We received a positive response from the travel agencies. Hopefully, European tourism will be back up to the level we want it to be at by next winter, Mr. Dayananda said.

In the south, the boat services that attracted many tourists to Kaluwamodara, adjoining the Bentota River, have not been operating since the Easter Sunday attacks because the tourists have stopped coming. The boat safaris explored the mangroves along the riverside.

Kalpitiya, another popular destination, has also been hit badly. The tourists normally there for kite-surfing and dolphin and whale-watching are absent. The beaches, once full of foreign nationals, are deserted.

A hotel owner in Kalpitiya, W.M. Emmanuel, said in May the city used to be packed with foreigners. I operate a small hotel but after the terrorist incident both local and foreign tourists have stopped coming to my hotel and Im finding it difficult to maintain my hotel and pay salaries to the employees. He is falling behind on the bank loans he had taken to set up his business.

The head of the Kalpitiya Tourist Boat Operators Association, said their members survival depended on taking tourists out to sea to watch whales and dolphins.

This is the worst time we have ever had, association head W. Roy Priyantha said. We cant make a living. Even when we had a 30-year war with the LTTE we were able to make a living, but suddenly everything has changed after the April attacks.

French national Leo Moret, who runs a hotel in the Kandakuliya area in Kalpitiya, said he believes Sri Lanka is a safe country.

Incidents similar to this incident had happened in my country but the arrival of tourists never decreased. The Sri Lankan government should take up its responsibility to state that Sri Lanka is a secure place and tell tourists not to be scared of rumours, he said.

If the government gives assurances about safety the tourists will return, Mr. Moret said.

The damage to the economy was described in stark terms by Harith Perera, president of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tourist Operators.

We are seeing a 30 per cent drop in arrivals, resulting in a $US1.5 billion hit to the sector, he said.

The whole tourist industry is affected directly. Not only hotels but travel agents, chauffeur guides, transport suppliers, excursions suppliers such as safari jeeps, shops and restaurants  the list is endless.

Also, indirectly, it affects others such as fish, fruit and vegetable sellers who do business with hotels, tuk-tuk drivers and many others. The impact could be greater than we think.

Mr. Perera said the industry was studying similar incidents in other countries to develop feasible forecasts of how long the industry would take to return to normal.

We have studied similar incidents in Bali, Paris and Bombay. Looking at the nature of the incident, the internal and external factors, we feel Sri Lanka should be back fully in nine to 12 months. We can get there faster if the marketing and PR activation happens as planned, he said.

Giving a snapshot of the damage to the Yala destination, Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) spokesman Nishad Wijetunge commented on the drop in employment for safari vehicles operating in the national park: It was reported that 400 jeeps had dropped to four or five a day. It has increased now to between 40 and 50 but is still nowhere near what it was.

In Kandy, there is a trickle of guests in hotels. Earlier, two weeks after the attacks, none of the hotels had even a single guest. Now the hotels are at around 10 per cent of maximum capacity, the President of the Kandy Hoteliers Association and General Manager of Amaya Hills, Samantha Ratnayake, said.

It is better than what it was before  the local travellers have helped fill the hotels, he said.

More locals were taking holidays, tempted by credit card promotions and massive discount packages. A recent advertisement showed a hotel on Pigeon Island, off the Nilaweli coast, offering rates of up to 60 per cent off original prices.

Mr. Ratnayake hopes the sector would be back on track within two to three months. He said it was a positive sign that there have not been many cancellations for the period following the Kandy Esala Perahera compared to cancellations for May and June.

False bomb panic in schools Several schools in the Negombo and Colombo faced commotions due to rumours of terror attacks.In one instance in Colombo, police had called in and instructed the school authorities to clear up a litter of broken desks and chairs, but this visit sent rumours slying around that police had come to warn of a bomb threat. In another instance, police had called in to warn parents not to park their vehicles opposite the school, and this sparked rumours that the police had brought news of a bomb threat. In both cases, some parents had come and taken their children away.

Italy also updates travel advisory The Italian Embassy in Colombo yesterday said that it was updating its travel advisory on its website for all Italian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka. The update advises Italian nationals intending to travel to Sri Lanka, to exercise the utmost caution.The improved outlook of the update adds that the security situation in Sri Lanka is gradually returning to normal even if a state of emergency is still in force until June 21. It further recommends avoiding areas directly affected by possible police operations and points with a large public turnout (such as places of worship, shopping centres, events, etc.) limiting travel in general, and following local authorities indications. It also advises travellers to be updated with news of any further developments. Pointing out that since Colombos international airport is operational, the advisory has asked those departing from Sri Lanka to reach early due to additional security checks.
IGPs FR petition claims SIS requested suspension of investigations into extremist Muslim factions View(s):

The State Intelligence Service (SIS), in a letter dated April 8, 2018, expressly requested Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara to instruct the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in charge of the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), to suspend all investigations into extremist Muslim factions associated with known international terrorist organisations operating within the country, according to the IGPs Fundamental Rights (FR) Petition filed before the Supreme Court (SC) this week.

In his FR petition challenging the Presidents decision to send him on Compulsory Leave, following the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, the IGP states the SIS letter had asked for the TID investigations to be suspended, as such investigations caused prejudice to the secret investigations being carried out by the SIS.

The Attorney General (AG), Acting IGP C.D. Wickramaratne, Members of the Constitutional Council (CC), Director SIS Nilantha Jayawardena, Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) Sisira Mendis and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando have been cited as respondents.

In his FR Petition, the IGP states there was an ongoing intelligence operation against the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ). The petitioner, however, claims he was unaware as to the specific manner in which the secret intelligence operations and investigations were conducted, as those operations are only privy to those within the intelligence community, from which the petitioner had been excluded.

The IGP states that the President excluded him from attending National Security Council (NSC) meetings from early October 2018, until after the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks on April 21. The petitioner had been excluded from NSC meetings, consequent upon the deterioration of the relationship between the President and the Prime Minister (PM), though the petitioner, being a responsible civil servant, did not take political sides with either the President or the PM, the petition claims.

The petitioner states that the first briefing done at NSC meetings is almost always by the Director SIS, regarding intelligence information, which includes the following: Developments pertaining to extremist organisations (whatever is relevant); LTTE and diaspora issues; threats to VIPs; activities of certain international terrorist and extremist groups.

The petitioner states that the importance of the NSC is that, the entire Intelligence Community [Director SIS, CNI, Director of Military Intelligence and Intelligence Heads of the 3 Armed Forces] is present at the NSC to discuss, decide and take remedial action from intelligence inputs.

In the absence of a State of Emergency in the country, preventive steps such as arrest and prosecution must necessarily be done by the Police hence, the presence of the IGP at the NSC was very critical, the petition notes, pointing out that, despite this, the petitioner was excluded from NSC meetings since early October 2018.

The petition further claims that the President required 4th Respondent SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena, as Director SIS, to report directly to him.

The petitioner was only made privy to whatever information was sent to him from time to time, and was denied the ability to have full recourse to or participate in vital consideration of matters of national security.

Regarding intelligence warnings about a planned attack, the petitioner states that, on or about April 9, 2019 at 10 a.m, the petitioner attended a meeting at the Defence Ministry, chaired by the then Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, at which meeting the 4th Respondent Director SIS referred to information of a threat of an attack by extremist Islamist elements. However, the 4th Respondent Director SIS did not emphasise the urgency and/or seriousness of the matter.

The petitioner states that, on or about the same date, April 9, 2019, the petitioner received a letter from CNI Sisira Mendis, which enclosed certain contents of a letter by the Director SIS, as an annexure containing information regarding a planned attack by Zahran Hashim and associates. The petitioner was also sent a letter from the SIS, containing the same.

Neither letter contained any indication of the urgency of the situation, nor did they contain a classification to indicate the urgency or priority level, whereas the usual practice is to mark relevant letters Top Priority or Top Urgent, the petitioner claims.

In the circumstances, the petitioner decided to forward the CNIs letter to four senior Police officers, namely SDIG- Western Province, Nandana Munasinghe, SDIG- Crimes, Organised Crimes, Police Narcotics Range and STF Commandant M.R. Lateef, DIG- Special Protection Range, Priyalal Dassanayake and Director- Counter TID, SSP Waruna Jayasundare.

The petitioner states that, when sending the CNIs letter to the four senior officers, the petitioner marked the document Top Priority. This was done as the petitioner wanted the information to be seriously acted upon.

The petitioner states that, in addition to informing the aforesaid 4 officers, he also informed all 9 SDIGs in charge of the 9 Provinces of the said information regarding possible attacks, over the telephone, on April 9 evening/April 10 morning, while discussing the Daily Situation Report.

The petitioner states he received three letters on 18th, 19th and 20th April 2019, all relating to the NTJ, Zahran Hashim and matters incidental to the same. The said three letters did not request any advice and/or action from the petitioner and were shared with the petitioner, only for his information. The said letters expressly stated that the SIS was carrying on further investigations.

The petitioner states that, on the night of 20th April 2019, the petitioner received a telephone call from the 6th respondent (Defence Secretary) regarding an intelligence input from the 4th respondent Director SIS, pertaining to an imminent attack.

He further claims that, at a meeting with the President on April 23, the President pressured him to submit his resignation immediately, accusing the petitioner of being grossly negligent of his duties.

On April 29, the petitioner says, he was sent on Compulsory Leave with immediate effect, subject to the conclusions reached at the inquiries being conducted.

The petitioner states that, any steps to remove him from the office of IGP are required to be taken in terms of the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act No. 05 of 2002, which was enacted to protect the holders of the offices of the AG and IGP from removal from such office, save in the manner and on the grounds provided for therein.

The petitioner urges the SC to grant leave to proceed with his application and also seeks, among other relief, to make a declaration, that the actions of the President and members of the CC have infringed the FR of the petitioner, guaranteed under Article 12 (1) and Article 14 (1)(g) of the Constitution.
Kurunegala doc also investigated for switching newborn By Pushpakumara Jayaratna View(s): View(s):

A week before Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohamed Shafi was arrested, the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital had recommended disciplinary action over allegations that he forged documents of a newborn to give the baby to another party.

The physician is facing hundreds of accusations of performing non-consensual sterilisations on women who delivered babies at Kurunegala and Dambulla hospitals.

The recommendation by the director of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, Dr A.M.S.Weerabandara, had been dated May 13, where he stated that the administrative officer of the hospital had investigated allegations that the name in the bed-head card of a mother had been changed and that a disciplinary inquiry should be held.

The report by the administrative officer says that according to preliminary investigations, the bed-head card of the mother of a new born had been altered in an alleged attempt by Dr Shafi to hand over a newborn to another party.

Accordingly the administrative officer had recommended that the documents be forwarded to the Health Secretary to take disciplinary action against Dr Shafi on charges of preparing forged documents, bringing disrespect to the Health Service and the Kurunegala hospital and by aiding and abetting an illegal act.

This came as more complaints on Dr Shafi flowed in until Friday at Kurunegala and Dambulla hospitals, where he had served, as well as police.

The Denzil Kobbekaduwa Dambulla District Base Hospital has recorded 43 complaints as of Friday. Some complaints go back to 2008.

The complaints varied from health complications after the caesarean operations by Dr Shafi, to failure to conceive again, afterwards.

The complaints have poured in from areas such as Galewela, Dambulla, Alawwa, Narammala, Mahawa, Ambanpola, Melsiripura, Gokarella, Mawathagama, Ridigama, and Polgahawela.

Dr Shafi, originally from Kalawewa, received his secondary education at Gampola Zahira, and entered the Sri Jayawardenapura University Medical faculty from where he graduated as a doctor. After he married from Kurunegala, he had settled in the area.

At the 2015 Parliamentary elections, backed by Minister Rishad Bathiurdeen as a member of his party, the ACMC, he contested on the UNP ticket from the Kurunegala district and was placed eighth. He narrowly missed the opportunity to enter parliament, as the UNP won only seven seats in the district.

During his campaign in an interview with the Lankadeepa newspaper, he had claimed that he had performed 8,000 caesarean operations and handled about 15,000 natural births.

However, Dr Shafi was arrested on May 24 by the police over amassing unexplained wealth.

Meanwhile, the North Western Provinces former education minister Sandhya Kumara Rajapaksa, has lodged a complaint with the Bribery Commission seeking an inquiry into on how Dr Shafi was re-employed after contesting elections. He had left the job to contest elections.
Medical fraternity divided over alleged unethical sterilizations at Kurunegala By Kumudini Hettiarachchi In one voice, though, strong call for impartial, prompt and thorough probe, based on evidence and science View(s): View(s):

Medical circles are abuzz with numerous stories doing the rounds of surreptitious and unethical sterilizations of mothers during Caesarean-sections (C-sections).

While some Consultant Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (commonly called VOGs) said that such sterilizations could be performed by a skilled doctor, there was an outcry from others  both seniors and juniors  in this field that such action would not be possible without someone in the operating theatre (OT) noticing what was happening.

In the eye of the storm is tubal ligation (Ligation & Resection of the Tubes  LRT). This is a surgical procedure for sterilization in which a womans fallopian tubes are ligated (tied up) and resected (cut).

Usually, fertilization  which later results in the birth of a baby  occurs when sperm from a male partner travelling through the female partners vagina, cervix and womb (uterus), meets in a fallopian tube, the female partners egg (ovum) released from an ovary. A woman has two ovaries and two fallopian tubes. The fallopian tubes are linked to the top corners of the triangular womb.

It would be a near-impossibility for the others on the team not to notice, question and report the matter to their superiors, was the view of a number of VOGs, who declined to be named for fear of a massive mud-slinging campaign on social media.

They voiced serious concern that the efficient state hospital system was having its very foundations shaken by such allegations which they said seemed totally fabricated and baseless.

This was while others said that though LRT may take some time and it is unlikely that ligation may have been done, the fallopian tubes could be held or clamped during a C-section.

What is suspected is that the fallopian tubes may have been clamped and held for some time. This damage may prevent future conception, a VOG said, referring to reports that when one nurse had asked the Kurunegala Hospital doctor in question during a procedure, why clamps were used, the alleged answer had been that the clamping was to control bleeding.

All those that the Sunday Times spoke to, however, were adamant that an impartial, prompt and thorough investigation, based on evidence and science is a must to distinguish fact from fiction.

The Council of the Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (SLCOG), it is learnt, is due to meet today (June 2) to discuss this issue with regard to the Kurunegala doctor. The SLCOG has offered technical expertise to the Health Ministry.

When contacted, the President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), Prof. Harendra de Silva said that if the Health Ministry after investigation of the conduct of this doctor finds him guilty and informs the SLMC, it will follow procedure. It will study the ministry file, seek evidence from people if necessary under a preliminary inquiry held by the Preliminary Procedure Committee (PPC) and submit its findings to the SLMCs Professional Conduct Committee (PCC).

The PCC would then hold a formal inquiry, at the conclusion of which if the doctor is deemed guilty, a decision would be taken to erase his name off the register for a variable period of time, said Prof. de Silva.

The Kurunegala doctor, Senior House Officer (SHO) Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi (42) who had also worked at the Dambulla Hospital, has been taken into custody by the police for allegedly acquiring a large number of assets through suspicious means.

The Kurunegala Hospital Director, Dr. A.M.S. Weerabandara, told the Sunday Times last week that an inquiry was being held by the hospital whether there had been misconduct on the part of a Medical Officer when performing C-sections. He said they were due to submit a report to the Health Ministry.

This was while Kurunegala Hospital staff unions refused to give any information to a Health Ministry team appointed to investigate the issue.

Meanwhile, one VOG was very specific about the complaints generating from some of the mothers who had undergone C-sections at the hands of the Kurunegala doctor.

Taking up the complaints, this VOG told the Sunday Times that what needs to be investigated is whether these women were sub-fertile after the Kurunegala doctor performed C-sections on them.

Referring to sub-fertility, this VOG said that usually after the first child (whether such childbirth has been a normal delivery or through C-section), a woman may have problems conceiving again. This is called secondary sub-fertility and could vary from 10-15% among such women, the VOG said, pointing out that a woman is deemed sub-fertile if she has had unprotected coitus (not using any method of contraception) for one year, while also not breastfeeding.

The Kurunegala doctor had reported for duty in his latest stint at the Kurunegala Provincial General Hospital on February 26, 2017 and, therefore, in mothers who delivered after that it is too early to say whether they are sub-fertile or not because they may still be breastfeeding their babies, the VOG said.

The VOG suggested that the Kurunegala Hospital authorities should only entertain complaints from really sub-fertile women and not those with non-specific complaints. Of the 300-odd complaints, 90% are not related to sub-fertility. Those are all non-significant complaints such as back-ache, impaired vision, abdominal pain and leg oedema (swelling).

If sub-fertility is established, then follow-up investigations should be carried out whether it is due to a cause on the part of her male partner or herself. If it is a problem with the woman, it needs to be checked whether it is due to an ovulation problem; an infection in the pelvis which can damage her fallopian tubes; or whether damage to the tubes has been caused intentionally, said the VOG.

Taking up other allegations of the Kurunegala doctor surreptitiously crushing the fallopian tubes, the VOG was insistent that it could not be done without his assistant seeing it. During a pregnancy, a mothers fallopian tubes are friable (crumbly) and such crushing could set off bleeding.

The VOG said that damage to the ureters and bladder may be caused when bleeding control is difficult during an emergency C-section and this is a known complication.

Next, the Sunday Times asked many VOGs: Who is in the OT when a mother undergoes a C-section?

The team (please see graphic) will include:

The operating doctor [in the Kurunegala case it was a Senior House Officer (SHO)]

An anaesthetist

An assistant to the operating doctor who is an intern or resident house officer

A scrub nurse

One or two running nurses

Two or 3 attendants

The midwife and the Paediatric SHO would be in an adjacent room

There is, of course, the patient or the mother who would be undergoing the C-section. She would usually not be under general anaesthesia or GA (a sleep-like state or complete unconsciousness brought on by a combination of medications and where no pain is felt).

However, she would be only under spinal anaesthesia (where local anaesthetics and painkillers are injected into the spinal fluid) or an epidural (where the drugs are sent into the epidural space), it is learnt.

When asked who is authorized to perform C-sections and when necessary tubal ligations, doctors said that it could be by a trained Senior House Officer (SHO) but under the supervision of the VOG (who is required to be physically present in the hospital and specifically not in the quarters). These trained SHOs would also be allowed to carry out normal deliveries including forceps and vacuum deliveries if the VOG is happy and satisfied with his/her performance.

The exceptions, where an SHO cannot perform procedures include C-sections after the first surgery (second C-section onwards), any instances when the babys condition is not normal, the babys position is not normal, the mother has complications in the form of high blood pressure or heart disease, where the mother has womb abnormalities or placental abnormalities etc. The VOG performs all difficult and high-risk surgeries.

These conditions apply to all state hospitals. The Kurunegala Hospital is a Provincial General Hospital.

The bottom-to-top order is  intern house officer (with provisional SLMC registration); post-intern Resident House Officer; Senior House Officer (with full SLMC registration); and Consultants/Specialists.

In Teaching Hospitals, meanwhile, there is the intermediate cadre of Registrars and Senior Registrars who are known as post-graduate trainees on the pathway to specializing in a particular field of medicine.

A skilled SHO could do many C-sections because the VOG simply cannot attend to all, considering the large number of deliveries in state hospitals and also due to the fact that there is no intermediate cadre to perform this work, except in a Teaching Hospital, many doctors told the Sunday Times.

A senior VOG, of the old school, explained that due to the large number of C-sections done, especially in the night, a VOG may allow a trained and trusted SHO to perform C-sections unsupervised.

Referring to the role of the SHO in Obs & Gyn, other doctors said that usually he/she has anything between 5-10 years of experience and is well-trained.

Tubal ligation & consent When a womans fallopian tubes are ligated (tied up) and resected (cut), it prevents an egg fusing with the sperm of her male partner. It is only if there is fusion that an embryo is formed, gradually growing into a foetus and finally a baby. Tubal ligation can be performed during a C-section or as an elective procedure (in non-pregnant women). It is a permanent method of sterilization and birth control. Under this procedure, one tube is made into a loop and clamped and then the top part of the loop is snipped off and stitched. The same is done to the other tube after that. How is tubal ligation

performed? Explaining that the two fallopian tubes from the right and left ovaries are attached to the top-corners of the triangular-shaped womb, many doctors say that to perform a ligation the tubes have to be taken up. Each tube is then looped and clamped with an arterial forcep while another forcep is placed under, before a stitch is put in and the top part of the loop is cut-off. This takes a few minutes, explain the doctors, adding that whenever the doctor carrying out the procedure needs the forceps or a scissor it is the scrub nurse who hands it to him/her. The scrub nurse keeps a strict count of what instruments are being used, they add. How consent is obtained for tubal ligation? Both the patient and her husband have to sign the document giving their consent for tubal ligation, after having an extensive discussion with the House Officer and the Midwife. Usually tubal ligation is advised when: A family is complete with more than two or three children.

If the mother has had three C-sections previously.

If the mother has contraindications against a pregnancy such as suffering from cardiac (heart) disease. (This is a specific situation in which she should not undergo surgery because it may be harmful to her) Even if a couple has signed for tubal ligation, once the C-section has been done, usually the mother would once again be asked aloud in the OT whether she consents to it  getting verbal consent. If the doctor sees an issue with the newborn, such as the baby not crying after delivery, having a congenital problem, he/she would make an on-the-spot decision to delay tubal ligation for a while, informing the mother that it would done at a later date.

What is a C-section? A Caesarean section  also known as a C-section or Caesarean delivery  is when a baby is delivered through surgery. This is often necessitated when a vaginal (normal) delivery could put the baby or mother at risk. Explaining that a C-section entails cutting through the walls of the abdomen and the uterus (womb) to take the foetus out, doctors say that once the womb is opened up, the first action is to deliver the baby. After that the need is to deliver the placenta (a structure that has provided oxygen and nutrients to the growing baby, while removing waste products from the babys blood. It is attached to the womb wall and the babys umbilical cord arises from it.) We have to clean the inside of the womb with a towel to ensure that parts of the placenta and membrane are not retained in the womb when we close up, a doctor says, going onto explain that thereafter a special tool called the green armytage hemostatic forceps is used to hold together the ends of the cut lips of the womb. Its a very bloody working field, it is learnt. Then the doctor would place one stitch at the end of the wombs open area to anchor down that area and start stitching from the other end of the open area. Once one layer is secured, another set of sutures would be put in place. The operating doctor is also expected to inspect both ovaries and both fallopian tubes on either side, before the abdomen is finally closed. Thereafter, the abdominal wall would be stitched together with three layers of stitches.
Parliamentary committee to recommend Batti Campus be brought under Eastern University By Asiri Fernando View(s): View(s):

The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Education & Human Resources Development (POC-EHRD) which is inquiring into the controversial Batticaloa Campus (Pvt) Ltd [BCPL], intends to recommend that the institution be taken over by the State-run Eastern University and brought under the purview of the University Grants Commission, MP Prof Ashu Marasinghe told the Sunday Times.

Prof. Marasinghe, is the Chairman of the Sub Committee (SC) appointed by POC-EHRD, to inquire into BCPL, which was constructed with a soft loan from a Saudi Arabian charity.

POC-EHRD Chairman, Minister Vadivel Suresh said the SC had visited the campus and would submit its report to the Parliament by the end of next week.

The SC has found several discrepancies with some of the agreements and documentation regarding the Saudi Charity and loan transfer. There are concerns that foreign currency regulations may have been violated when the loan was received into Sri Lankan bank accounts.

The SC is also set to recommend that the Financial Crimes Investigation Division and the Criminal Investigation Department look into the anomalies, Marasinghe claimed, pointing out that the conduct of some banks, in facilitating the loan, will also have to be scrutinised.

Questions have been raised on how a soft loan was received by a local account, which is, allegedly, not set up for loan repayment. How did this money come into the country? How can a normal account receive a US$ loan worth millions? A foreign loan must be received by an account type where repayment is possible. This begs the question, what was this money intended for, if it was not planned to be repaid? a parliamentary source who didnt want to be named told the Sunday Times.

It is alleged that one document indicates that, in 2013, when the agreement was signed, Hizbullah signed as Chairman and MP. How can a Parliamentarian enter into an agreement with a State entity? the source questioned, pointing out that these anomalies need to be answered.

The anomalies in how the loan was processed and the monies moved to local accounts, may be a sign of abuse of power of the Governor he argued. Some of the documentation from the Ali Al-Juffali Trust, which the SC has received, do not have matching addresses, with 4 documents having 4 different addresses, the source claimed.

We have obtained a US$ 24 million soft loan from Ali Al-Juffali Trust in Saudi Arabia. These loans have been channelled through an account belonging to the Batticaloa campus at the Bank of Ceylon, Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hizbullah told the Sunday Times, a few weeks back. However, Gov. Hizbollah had first told the SC he had received grant from a Saudi charity, only to later inform them it was a soft loan, the source said.

The Ministry of Higher Education, acting on a directive from the POC-EHRD, put on hold the administrative processing of the BCPLs application seeking permission and accreditation to commence operations. Further, The Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) is also investigating BCPL.

Minister Dr Harsha De Silva, speaking to the Sunday Times, said that the first round of investigations had raised several issues of concern and that, COPE had requested more information from the relevant stakeholders. We are expediting the process, he said.
A burst of colour at the Russian Centre View(s):

The walls of the Russian Centre in Colombo are a burst of colour with the creative efforts of their young students showcased in Space- the annual art exhibition of the Russian School of Art. The exhibition was opened on May 27 by Anastasia Khokhlova, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Russian Federation and Director of the Russian Centre in Colombo and will continue until June 10.

The Russian School of Art has 162 students, guided by Arjuna Jayasinghe and assistant teachers, Maheshika Fernando and Natalie Hettiarachchi.
Appreciations View(s):

You were our home, our hero

Ray De Silva

Thathi, all the sporting achievements pale in comparison to what your real achievements in life were. The great father and human being that you were.

You loved and cared for your family unconditionally, selflessly and totally. Despite losing both parents by 23, you excelled at your career, raised two girls, took care of your in-laws, extended family and friends in your all in manner. You never failed to make time for the people you cared for.

You taught us that education, hard work and sacrifice would enable us to stand on our own two feet. That as women we were equals and could achieve anything we desired. You were our personal cheerleader and making you proud was our motivation.

Through lifes many curveballs and harsh lessons  you stood by us and were the quiet background strength and protector who enabled us to move forward, stronger and wiser.

When life handed you the toughest hurdles (and it handed you many) you faced them all with absolute resilience, determination and zero complaints. You would find the humour to crack a joke even in the darkest of moments.

You were the most selfless, gentle and generous of men, the people you went out of your way to help and whose lives you enriched are numerous.

We hope everything we have both achieved, the way we care and love, the inner strength and tenacity we both hold is a testament to what a great father and role-model you were.

You were the person we looked up to and needed the most, you were our home and our hero.

Though your absence makes us feel like shattering, we will remember you, your strength and love of life and be strong.

Thank you for having been ours.

Himali & Rekha

Benediction to humanity

Mervyn (MPS) Wijesinghe

It is with profound sadness that I heard of the demise of my good friend Mervyn.

In fact on this day (May 7)we had a lunch date. Mervyn, Doris and I had planned to go to Uswetakeiawa for a drive and have lunch there. I had booked lunch and waited for Doris to ring me. She rang only to say that Mervyn had passed away.

I first met Mervyn in 1966 whilst he was the branch engineer of Browns at Lindula and I was appointed his assistant. He was never the boss as such, never threw his weight around, but did his job conscientiously and in a very responsible manner, working tirelessly right through the day. His technical ability and managerial acumen were manifested in abundance and he commanded respect from all of us.

Mervyn had his initial training at Ruston Hornsby in England before he took up this assignment at Lindula He was so good that he got rapid promotions that culminated in his appointment as Chief Engineer of Browns overtaking several engineers much senior to him. Usually in situations such as this many associates become envious and jealous but everyone respected Mervyn and extended their full cooperation to him. He rose to that position on sheer merit and was never after promotions or glory. He was also not interested in making money and was only content in doing a good job. That was his reward.

I left Browns and we parted company. After about 30 years, I met Mervyn again when I was offered a job as Engineering Manager for a subsidiary of Free Lanka, managing Pussellawa and Maturata plantations where Mervyn was the Director Engineering. Mervyn became my boss again, but this time we were more like friends. We had a rollicking time meeting practically every day in his office, travelling to distant estates together, exchanging anecdotes on our way in the car, with meals on the way and the occasional drink.

I left the job and we parted company again. We met again in retirement, Mervyn at his ancestral bungalow at Wellawaya and I at a house in Diyatalawa. We were less than one hour away and visited each other often.

Whilst working, Mervyn was so dedicated to his job, he neglected his ancestral land at Wellawaya. This caused many problems that required litigation to resolve. So he was involved in protracted litigation for most of his retired life. We have had many conversations about the progress of this litigation  he had to travel back and forth from various courts of law driving long distances at his age. This went on for many years.

Anyway we found time to travel around locally, have meals and indulge in small talk. In the evenings we had a drink and talked politics and world affairs, listened to music as Mervyn had a repertoire of golden oldies.

We also visited each other on our birthdays, and the last party we had was on his 80th. We also went on a cruise to Europe and had a wonderful time despite our inability to walk on some rough terrain. I am very glad that we did it as that was not something that Mervyn had experienced despite many sojourns overseas.

Mervyn was always very jovial and his good moods were infectious. He was such good company. But about a year ago everything changed, with the demise of his only daughter Shamalee. After Shamalees funeral Mervyn said to me that he at the age of 82 had to watch his young daughter being lowered to her grave. He never recovered from this tragedy and all his jovial personality vanished. He started to lose interest in all worldly things.

Mervyn was lucky to have had Doris as his wife, for behind the success of Mervyn there was Doris. She was there for him all the way for nearly 55 years of married life, supporting him in all his endeavours. His children too rallied round him at all times. As they say the legend a man leaves behind is his children. They have done him proud. So Mervyn not only had a successful professional life, he also had a happy family life.

At the latter stages Doris saw to his comfort, made sure that he had his medicine and took him to hospital kicking and screaming as he did not like to go to hospitals. She was by his side till the last minute and when he died she kept her composure and did what she had to do. Mervyn would be very pleased with her.

With Mervyns death, one whole chapter of our life ended. Life will never be the same again. We are going to miss you so terribly. Wherever you are I know it is a good place as you lived such a good life and expended your talents for the benefit of others.

Ananda M. N. Perera

The legacy he leaves behind holds much meaning today

Nissanka Wijewardane

If there is to be peace on earth and goodwill toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe,and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations- Martin Luther King, Jnr.

The recent demise of Nissanka Wijewardane took away one of a fast diminishing group  men of high ethics, decorum and morality. Finding men of their calibre today is like looking for gold on a barren lonely beach.

Nissanka Wijewardane w as a role model whom we tried to emulate in word and deed. The legacy he left behind holds much more meaning today especially at a time in our history when parents should take stock of which direction our children are headed in.

From 1948 when he annexed second place in the Ceylon Civil Service Exam, Wijewardane set his sights high in accomplishing his goals in life. Hailing from a well known family he knew that education, family and religion were the foremost principles to adhere to. In 1949 he joined Import Export Control as a Cadet under N. U. Jayawardena who was Controller.

Later he worked in other locations such as Trincomalee, Galle and Kandy as an administrative cadet. He served in different capacities in Local Govt, the Public Service Commission, as Asst. Director of Immigration , Govt. Agent Badulla and Kandy. Whilst at the Import Export Board he was picked by Governor General William Gopallawa as Secretary to the Governor General which post he held from 1967 to 1970. Buddhism was his main focus at the Governors office in Queens House and bana was introduced once a month.

Nissanka Wijewardane was also Chairman of the Ran Veta project at the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. He retired from the then Civil Service in 1972 and was recruited by WHO. He was also GM at Walkers Ltd. Later in 1977 to 1984 he was Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon

In April 1984 to December 1987 President J R Jayewardene appointed him as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York USA and also Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Brazil.

Ambassador Wijewardane and his wife Iranganee (nee Madanayake) who also hailed from an influential family were mindful of the Sri Lankan communitys activities in New York . He and his wife attended most events organised by the Sri Lanka Association of New York and were later awarded honorary life membership of the SLANY.

The fact they were both to be invited by Rotary International as Chief Guests when the writer was installed as the first Sri Lankan President of a Rotary Club in the US, brought him closer to the discipline of Rotary itself and in his own inimitable way he worked into the district hierarchy of Rotarys Gift of Life movement.

At a highly attended conference the then District Governor and Chairman of Gift of Life paid tribute to his efforts, stating that using his gentle persuasive diplomacy, Sri Lankan Ambassador Wijewardane was able to convince the GOL Board that we bring to the US Sri Lankas first Gift of Life child for open heart surgery here.

This child was sent by the Matale Rotary Club and was the beginning of hundreds of Sri Lanken children later benefiting from this programme. Gift of Life has now taken root in Sri Lanka itself since such surgery is done in SL today.

From 1989 to 1991 he served as Director General GCEC (Greater Colombo Economic Commission) in Colombo. He was honoured with the title of Deshamanya by the government of Sri Lanka. In Feb. 1995 he was appointed Chairman Janashakthi Insurance, a position he held for ten years till 2005 .

His illustrious career was attained not only by accomplishment and achievement , but religious fortitude as well.

May he attain Nibbana.

Jay Liyanage

Mother to six children and many more

Ratnawali Attygalle

My mother- Ratnawali Attygalle had the greatest sense of child bearing, education and personal development. Amma had a solid education-she was a recipient of both Sinhala and English education at Eheliyagoda Vidyalaya and at Fergusons High School Ratnapura and later at Polgolla Teacher Training College. She started her career as a teacher of home science and rose to the post of Principal.

She married my father Gamini Attygalle from Veraluppa, Ratnapura and they had five girls- Lakshmi, Subadra, Malathi, Jayanthi, Champika and one son- Asoka. I am still amazed and cannot comprehend how she managed the education of five girls in three different schools and that of her only son in another institute! Myself at Mahamaya Girls School Kandy, Malathi at Girls High School, Kandy and the other three sisters at Fergusons Ratnapura. My brother was at Dharmaraja College, Kandy. A peculiar advocate of discipline in the school hostel, amma made sure that all of us spent at least a few years in the school hostel away from the comfort of home.

Going by the principle she believed in, my mother never accepted to be on the staff of any school her children studied at. She served several schools as a teacher in many parts of the country accompanying my father who was a government officer whose job took him island-wide. When amma was appointed the Principal of Ellwala PahalagamaVidyalaya, she took over a thatched roofed, wattle and daub structure- almost a shack with no motorable road, lying across a paddy field.

With her reputation of being connected through marriage to the famous philanthropists of Ratnapura- the Attygalle family who had donated their family properties to build the Ratnapura Hospital and Seevali Central College, Amma could have requested for a more comfortable school. Yet with her iron will she converted the mud hut to a two-storeyed building followed with teachers quarters and other much needed sanitation facilities.

She would seek no transfer and uplifted the lives of the community. Not even natures elements such as floods to which the area was prone could keep her back. It wasnt uncommon for her to seek a ferry to brave the waters to reach her school and children!

Amma was so large hearted and knew no boundaries when it came to generosity. She would walk an extra mile to help the underprivileged, being a part of their everyday lives- helping in sickness and in any other misfortune. No village acquaintance who was hospitalized either in Eheliyagoda or Ratnapura hospitals left for their homes without a home-cooked meal sent by her. She set an example of how to make the best out of minimum facilities. She instilled in us a sense of charity.

A gifted seamstress, she dressed up all her girls in dresses stitched by her at home. Amma sat at her sewing machine until her ankles were swollen! She showed us that simplicity is the best form of sophistication.

My mother believed in enabling her children new vistas. She encouraged me to charter the unknown across the seas. The scholarship I won to the USA in the early 70s spoke to the fact. When I returned to the country, my mother, the far-sighted educationist she was, wanted me to serve her own school when I had the opportunity of serving my own school- Fergusons High School, Ratnapura. I learnt the alphabet of school administration from my mother. It was this very foundation which gave me confidence to occupy the high seat of school administration at Royal College, Colombo many years later as the Head of the Primary School there.

She was devoted to my father whose demise created a vacuum in her life which could not be filled. A marriage of more than half a century cemented by unconditional love, brought them grandchildren and my mother was the luckier one who could see her great grandchildren in her life time.

Amma, we are poorer today without you- our best friend. We miss you dearly.

Lakshmi Attygalle
Breaking fast and building bridges By Ruqyyaha Deane View(s): View(s):

As the evening shadows lengthened against the stately backdrop of the Town Hall building adorned in colourful lanterns evocative of Vesak celebrations the weekend before, around 2000 people from all walks of life gathered together on the lawn on Saturday May 25. They had come to break fast together at sunset as one Sri Lanka.

Organised by the Sri Lanka Muslim Society in collaboration with Soup Kitchen Sri Lanka Break fast at Sunset for many was a significant step forward to restoring society to what it once was and reaching out to communities fractured by the horror of the Easter Sunday attacks.

Muslims, during the month of Ramadan observe a period of fasting in which they do not consume food or water from dawn till sunset. It is a holy month where they strive to purify themselves. At sunset, families gather to have a meal and break their fast, and it was this, very intimate personal moment,that was shared with different communities last Saturday.

From those in their thobes and hijabs, others garbed in casual tshirt and jeans, from men from the forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and the Special Task Force) in their uniforms; from the sun-kissed faces of children, it was a picture of togetherness as they all sat down to share a meal.

The event began as the crowds found themselves a place on the rows of green tarpulin spread across the lawn. The national anthem was sung to start off the proceedings signifying a united Sri Lanka, those in the Forces saluting the national flag as they sang. Both religious leaders and civil society leaders then addressed the gathering.

Four young girls, Rachel Cramer, Sinali Peiris, Sanaathanie Anthiththan and Hajarah Rahman who represented the four different religions of the land- addressed the gathering in either English, Tamil or Sinhala sharing their thoughts. They spoke as one as they ended stating their name, ethnicity and with a poignant statement  Together we make Sri Lanka.

There was also a moment of silence to remember the lives lost.

As the clock struck 6.21 p.m. a beautiful recitation of the adhan (the Islamic call for prayer) was called out by an Imam present signalling the time for prayer. Taking cues from their Muslim neighbours, everyone present broke fast together. It was an evening of new friendships and old, rebuilding bridges and creating new bonds.

Shanuki De Alwis had received invitations from eight different people to attend the iftar. Having always been curious as to what happens at an iftar, Shanuki was pleased that she was able to attend and experience an iftar for the first time.

I met a lot of people I know and I also made new connections with people. There was a lady who I met there and she taught me about the significance of fastingI may have not been as spiritually engaged as the Muslims there but it was so lovely.It was so nice to be part of this, that we were able to enjoy ourselves with good company despite the current climate of the country.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Civil Society (SLMC) is barely a month old as it was formed following the Easter attacks on April 21. The SLMC is an umbrella organisation bringing together the various Islamic associations and movements in Sri Lanka.

Easily in the last 10 years there has been work going on to recalibrate the Muslim community within the country, it is a realisation which has been there but the sense of urgency after the 21st was what started off everything, an SLMC member told the Sunday Times.

The SLMC was instrumental in spearheading many events including a Solidarity Vigil on May 4, providing medical equipment to hospitals, visiting the affected areas of Kurunegala and Kelaniya, and much more.

Soup Kitchen having had a street iftar last year had wanted to have an event this year but was hesitant due to the prevailing situation in the country. However realising that the country desperately needed to come together as one, and build connections once again, Break fast at Sunset was organised in the course of a week.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Civil Society which organised the event, is an umbrella organisation with many groups coming under them. We, Soup Kitchen Sri Lanka, collaborated (with them) as we have had experience organising events of this nature, shared one of the core members of the Soup Kitchen.

The Soup Kitchen has been helping those in need since February 2015. From small-scale food donations to bigger projects such as health camps and providing eye surgery for the underprivileged, their goal is to feed the destitute and see that they are cared for. They have travelled far and wide around Sri Lanka to ensure that they can provide those in need some semblance of comfort.

The Soup Kitchen is working towards a community centre where those who are on the street, whenever they need it, would have a meal. Another long-term goal is a skills-building programme which will support the homeless to find jobs and help their future generations.

For all those who attended, the Break Fast at Sunset was a shining example of the power of unity amidst diversity.
Come buy my wares; on Instagram of course By Smriti Daniel Meet the growing band of young Lankan entrepreneurs banking on social media View(s): View(s):

J.K. Methma Jayawardhana runs a business in which she might never meet her customer, even though her products are customised, intricate and deeply personal. The young entrepreneur is a graduate of the University of Moratuwa and founder of the brand Loha.

The main intention of Loha is to reach passionate jewellery wearers through bespoke jewellery designing, says the 25-year-old. Listening to their rough ideas, favourite inspirations, stories and finally summarizing what they really expect is the beginning of a bespoke designing process. Methma accomplishes all this over social media, in particular over the platform Instagram. And in doing so, she has become part of a niche group of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs engaging in a bold experiment.

Currently there are approximately 6 million Facebook users and 1 million Instagram users in Sri Lanka. However, the proportion of those who engage in e-commerce is significantly small, says Kithmina Hewage, a Research Officer at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS). He adds that Instagram is popular among small businesses because its an easy tool to access a large audience without the necessity to invest in large sunk costs such as renting or buying physical space and other costs such as paying for shelf space and advertising.

To someone like Methma, who has watched fashion brands build a following on the site, its also about aesthetics. She appreciates that the layout is simple and beautiful, and sees the potential in offerings like Instagram stories, which disappear after 24 hours, but can bring with them higher viewership and greater engagement.

I realized that, Instagram has this ability to build bridges between the brand and the targeted audience, says Methma, adding that currently most of her clients actually contact her on Instagram. This flexibility allows her to keep her day job even as she continues to build Loha.

Jonathan Edward finds the same to be true. The young entrepreneur, who will turn 25 in a few weeks, is a trained architect who discovered that people loved the granola he made at home. Basically a personal endeavour to eat healthier resulted in a small business opportunity almost overnight, he says, adding that he teamed up with his mother Sharmika to launch 33 Granola. They have done well enough to be able to hire three women from their neighbourhood. Jonathan is convinced human contact is essential, and so makes all his deliveries himself, along with his childhood driver Manjula.

Using Social Media allowed me the convenience of switching between my professional and entrepreneurial lives without batting an eyelid, he says. Though his business does have a Facebook page, Jonathan feels like his generation is migrating away from the platform and toward options like Instagram.

However, the platform is not without its challenges. The very thing that Jonathan enjoys about Instagram is also what can leave him scrabbling. Updating his page with pictures, menus and recipes means that followers can quickly grasp the ethos of his business, but it also places a demand on him to constantly keep updating with fresh content. He also says that the platforms largely inscrutable algorithms can put businesses at a disadvantage. When 33 Granola first launched, they could count on at least 95 percent of their followers seeing a post, now theyre lucky if that number is 50 percent. Instagram wants businesses to pay for advertising, and if that isnt an option it can be hard to make an impression.

This was a real concern for Inoshi P when she decided to launch Fork_ed, a catering business. A normal restaurant or shop can open with a big bang and really make some noise (especially in a small city like Colombo). Starting online, there wasnt much we could do to create a real buzz, she says. Secondly, dealing with food we are always going to be challenged with not having a physical location, where people can actually go and enjoy not only the meal but the ambience and atmosphere.

However, she believes more and more businesses will start relying on online platforms. Its the way of the future. Its something Inoshi and the others would love to see government policy makers recognize. Whether an entire business is based online or if its just advertising and marketing, theres definitely scope for institutions to help with training and education for new e-commerce ventures and for ongoing ones (us included), she says.

Kithmina agrees, adding that the policy makers would also be wise to consider consumers. Whilst allowing for organic growth, one area that the state should pay more attention is to reform its Consumer Affairs legislation so it adequately covers e-commerce related fraud and malpractice, he says, adding, Similarly, law enforcement authorities should be better equipped to deal with issues that may come up through social media related e-commerce. Both consumers and businesses should be adequately confident of using these platforms.

Sri Lanka could see long-term benefits and leverage the great potential of this sector by addressing some of these issues. Kithmina, who has recently begun researching on the subject, says one critical step will be moving beyond cities, where such businesses are currently clustered. Theres a vast untapped market beyond these urban hubs. Access to and trust in these platforms amongst the public is critical if e-commerce is to grow in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the logistical capacity of vendors needs to also grow so they can cater to a wider clientele.

It could also help for the government to be aware of the impact moves like a social media block can have on these small businesses. Days after the Easter Sunday blasts, Methma had to get back to work to meet orders due in April. She found the ban made it very difficult to collect the information she needed to manufacture the pieces nor could she share progress reports. Deliveries were also delayed as courier companies scaled back due to the loss of business related to the block. For Inoshi, the impact was even more profound: Everything basically comes to a halt, she told the Sunday Times. We lose visibility and it obstructs private communications with our clients. It puts us in a state of limbo.

However as normalcy returns, so does business. Methma has begun experimenting with 3D moulds and says the future of her little business feels bright. Having done a lot of work with silver, she now wants to start experimenting with new materials to create signature pieces for Loha. She hopes to start up her own site where she can network and share lessons learned with other aspiring designers.

Inoshi says going forward one of her big challenges is always going to be keeping the business from taking over her entire life. Its easy to get swept up by the demands of an online business, since you are more or less operational 24/7, she says.Being strict with myself and finding the right balance is something Im still learning to do but I think its a big take-away for anyone. Meanwhile, she plans to enjoy the creative outlet her business offers, and hopes customers will continue to love their products.

Jonathan is also back on his delivery rounds. Like Inoshi, he can sometimes find himself scrabbling to keep up. Working full time during the week as a Junior Architect and working through the weekend to fulfil orders is not an easy task but it is most definitely rewarding, he says. However, for Jonathan keeping people at the heart of his business gives him the energy to keep going.

It starts with his team: Treating every single person in your production chain with dignity and respect goes a long way. As does the occasional outing to your local McDonalds. He believes this is what has helped him and his mother build a team dedicated to improving their product. As for his customers, Jonathan says they can be unexpectedly kind and supportive, even when there is a small issue with delivery or taking an order. Hes grateful because it gives him the space he needs to breathe. Ive learned that being human is completely okay. I am not perfect and neither is my business.

Find out more by searching for loha.lk, 3x3granola and fork_ed on Instagram.
The hottest on the beach  Sugar Talpe in Conde Nast By Joshua Surendraraj View(s): View(s):

Just last week Sugar Beach, Talpe got the glad news that leading travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller had picked them as one of the Hottest New Beach Clubs in the world. Amidst the gloom that has engulfed the Sri Lankan tourism industry, this was a welcome boost. The renowned travel and lifestyle magazine, which only prints eight issues every year, is read across the world. Sugar Beach, Talpe is among the only two beach clubs mentioned from Asia.

Dinesh Wijesinghe and Gehan Fernando, the Directors of MSD Productions, the company which owns and operates Sugar say being recognized by a media giant like Conde Nast Traveller during a time like this is a huge honour. The current situation in the country had caught them completely off guard as a company they say, but, this just goes to show that Sri Lanka does have the kind of attractions that draw peoples interests and the country can compete at the highest level internationally, Dinesh adds.

Conde Nast Travellers reviews are done after unsolicited and uninformed visits, we are told. They visit and observe the property independently and base their recommendations on that. Only the very best make it on to their lists.

Sugar, Gehan explains, is a lifestyle brand and their venues cater to different moods. Its all about the experience when you walk through our doors. He feels they have been successful, mainly because of their consistent quality  both of product and service. We take great pride in our staff and our team members with whom we work very closely.

A beach venue had been in their plans for a few years, since Sri Lanka is a tropical island with sunshine and warmth right throughout the year, essentially what most European travellers look for. The first Sugar Beach outlet  Mount Lavinia Beach Club opened its doors nearly one and a half years ago and Sugar Beach Talpe on December 27 last year. Talpe has the added bonus of a swimming pool and a whole beach to yourself.

With the Mount Club, Dinesh and Gehan had wanted to give Colombo the beach vibe and experience that people in the city usually go down south for. That idea worked well for them. You dont often have the time or resources to spend a weekend down south on the beach, but heres a great alternative where you get the same experience, Gehan explains.

The idea behind both these beach clubs is for people to spend the day. Typically, guests come in the morning, find themselves a nice sun lounger, relax, go for a dip in the ocean and have their lunch. In the evening as the sun goes down the club comes alive. The music plays till about 9 or 10 p.m. Thats a typical kind of experience that we promote at our venues, Dinesh says.

I think people find it very refreshing when they enter the premises, its very family-oriented, it caters to a wide spectrum of people, Gehan tells us. He adds this might be the reason why it was picked. Talpe attracts several young people as well as families, who come to spend the day. Some of them also visit from Dickwella in trishaws and were very happy about that, Gehan says.

Weve always had a very high standard of service. One of our strengths is the staff that works for us and the service that they offer to people, Dinesh explains, adding that their staff actually complement their product. Theyve also brought in external expertise to the table and feel their staff improve immensely by working with an outside influence.

Both Dinesh and Gehan are grateful to the authorities for the efforts they are taking to have countries lift their travel bans on Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Finance for the initiatives taken to eliminate the difficulties faced by the tourism industry. They hope the promised measures will materialise soon.

At the end of the day MSD Productions is proudly and completely homegrown and has a strong Sri Lankan identity. We have shown that Sri Lankans can achieve recognition like this, Dinesh says.

More to come Sugar has two exciting new concepts scheduled to open in June at Maitland Crescent, Gehan reveals  an island themed roof-top Resto Bar called Kava and a night club called Native.In these difficult times for the industry, both Gehan and Dinesh feel that unique concepts will encourage people to travel and go out more often.Kava will be a celebration of island cultures.The look and feel of it, along with the food offered will have an Asian and Polynesian influence given a Sri Lankan twist as well. This is the first outlet that were doing where we want to create a local identity, Gehan says. He adds that typically youd find local products right at the back of the menu at a local pub. Were changing that, and were actually going to celebrate it. Most of their signature cocktails will be made out of local liquors and their bartenders have also come up with drinks based on local ingredients. We want to really highlight that, because its time now that we all celebrate what it means to be Sri Lankan, he says.
Those school-going days and a tribute to free education View(s):

This book by my good friend K.L.Jayatissa who I first met as a fellow undergraduate in the Faculty of Agriculture of the then University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, just one year junior to me in the late 1960s, is one among many others that have come out under his pen, in both Sinhala and English. I started reading it late one night. The style of writing in the first person and narration dealing with the real-life experience of a young student in a school hostel was so absorbing that I read all 161 pages to a finish, completing it by the following morning.

Jayatissa proudly says in the preface, that he is a beneficiary of the Free Education concept introduced by C.W.W.Kannagara, through which the Fifth Standard Scholarship Scheme, and Central Colleges with comparatively better facilities in selected locations were established for needy children. Jayatissa was the first to win the scholarship from his village  Ehelakanda in the Matara district, where he studied at the Ehelakanda Junior School and made his way to the Deniyaya Central College as a residential scholar with financial support.

The author makes the point that if not for this, under the then prevailing conditions in the country, students like him who hailed from very poor families would have never got the opportunity to move up the social ladder sans any resources at their disposal.

The narration in the first chapter about his sitting for the Fifth Standard Scholarship Examination in 1955 along with three other students from the same school, and being the only one to get through is exhilarating. With all humility, Jayatissa describes how his beloved mother living in abject poverty in their humble wattle and daub home far away from a motorable road, prepared things for him and packed a suitcase for his first trip to the Deniyaya Central College as a resident scholar. Tears welled up when browsing through this part of the book, owing to the genuine emotion of an innocent 10-year-old rural lad of that era that the author notes with fine details, which brought back memories of my own childhood under somewhat similar conditions.

The author quite rightly contrasts the present day Fifth Standard Scholarship Examination to the one that he faced in the 1950s and points out that the former is overtly competitive and does not augur well to bring out a quality product by way of conducive attitudes and good discipline sans selfishness among students.

The second chapter which deals with Jayatissas first night at the hostel, apparently the first time he was away from his home and having to manage with a group of unknown boys in a totally strange environment, is really interesting. He describes the departure of his mother and uncle after bringing him to the hostel and the emotional farewell. From this chapter onwards, Jayatissa quite appealingly narrates his life in the hostel, how he gradually got to know the other boys and made friends with them and the altercations and interactions he had in the process.

The hostellers used to go for a bath and to wash clothes, to the river Ginganga flowing graciously bordering the Central College land. This was an enjoyable break for Jayatissa who gradually got used to the system. Jayatissa could not afford to go home for weekends unlike some students who were taken home by their parents or some relative. He went home only for the vacations.

Once Jayatissa reached the 3rd term of the 8th Standard, he came to a key turning point in his education. He wanted to study science simply because he wanted to get a job as soon as possible and make his mothers dreams come true. The practice was to select students for science from among those who score high marks for mathematics, science etc. Jayatissa had scored 86 for science, but his score for mathematics was 19. Hence, he was not included in the list of those selected for science. But Jayatissas determination was such that he continued to sit in the science class and ultimately the Vice Principal gave the OK, with the warning not to come back to him at a later stage with a request to go to the Arts stream. So little Jayatissa won this fight single-handed.

Jayatissas success at the GCE/AL paved the way to the then University of Ceylon, Peradeniya for his undergraduate studies in the Biological Science stream. He had no one to accompany him to Peradeniya, and it was a helper at the kitchen of the Deniyaya Central College by the name of William who volunteered to come with him, helping him by carrying his suitcase.

He says that the purpose of writing this book was to be a living witness to the effectiveness of the free education system and at least provide a hint to the younger generation, how blessed people like him who are the beneficiaries of this noble concept have been. Upon graduation from the Faculty of Agriculture, Jayatissa joined the Department of Agriculture and gradually rose up the ladder. During this time, he completed his M.Sc in Plant Protection at the University of Reading, U.K, under a scholarship from the UN FAO. After serving in a number of responsible positions in the Department of Agriculture as a member of the Sri Lanka Agricultural Service (SLAgS), he had risen to the position of the Deputy Director (Extension and Communication) of the Horticultural Research and Development Institute, Gannoruwa, by the time of his retirement.

Being the active man he is, Jayatissa continued to work on contractual assignments for the European Union, CARE Sri Lanka, the International Red Cross Society, UN Habitat in Pottuvil etc.

Book facts Gin Gangabada Hostel Parippuwo- by K.L.Jayatissa

Published by Nethwin Printers, Getambe, Kandy

Price Rs.300

Reviewed by A.Bedgar Perera
Help Save Sasindu View(s):

Seven-year-old Sasindu Dinusara from Kerawalapitiya, Wattala, has been receiving treatment for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia for the past two years at Apeksha Hospital in Maharagama.

His doctor, Sanjeewa Gunasekera, has recommended an immediate bone-marrow transplant to save his life. The surgery needs to be conducted within 12 days at Indias Apollo Hospital.

The surgery costs Sri Lankan rupees 12 million, which is a huge amount to be raised within 12 days. Well-wishers are requested to send in their contributions to H.A.L.P. Perera, Peoples Bank Account number 222100160977063. Or contact Sasindus father, Linus Priyantha Perera, on 0729518325 or 0112947854.
Identification of the dead in mass disasters View(s):

A mass disaster is an occurrence of a calamitous event, usually sudden and violent, resulting in a large number of victims, dead or injured, substantial material damage, and a significant disruption of society. The events of April 21 had all these features.

Forensic pathologists have a major role to play in mass disasters. The duties and obligations of pathologists investigating a particular disaster are many.

They have to assist the police in establishing the identity of each victim. They have to establish the nature of the injuries, and the cause of death. During autopsies, they have to collect pathological evidence to identify the cause of the particular disaster, and to assist in determining whether it is of criminal, accidental or natural origin, and whether any act of negligence caused or contributed to it.

Forensic pathologists have to collect pathological and other trace evidence, and produce documentary information, which would be of relevance to an inquest and to criminal and/or civil court proceedings.

They have to complete the pathological investigation with the maximum degree of thoroughness, coupled with minimum delay. This would enable bodies of the victims to be released to the bereaved relatives as soon as possible, but only after all relevant investigations have been satisfactorily completed.

Forensic pathologists should always bear in mind, when deciding the particular investigative procedures which are to be pursued, that the principle objectives are:

n The identification

n The detailed examination, and,

n The disposal of the dead as expeditiously as possible.

When nearly 260 local and foreign individuals died in the April 21 disaster, forensic pathologists in Colombo, Colombo South, Negombo and Batticoloa did their duty with dedication.

Personal identification is defined as establishing the identity of an individual. The need for personal identification arises in natural mass disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, floods etc, and in man-made disasters such as bomb blasts and mass murders.

In cases when the body is decomposed or dismembered to deliberately conceal the identity of the individual, the need to identify the dead is obvious for social and medico-legal purposes. Various techniques of biological anthropology are employed in the process of identifying the individuals from the bones or the body parts. The identification of the dead from the bones/body parts in a legal setting forms an essential component of forensic anthropology.

In a mass disaster, many bodies can be identified by facial features. Sometimes relatives, who are under severe stress, can make errors in identification.

When facial identification is not possible, the personal identification consists of determination of age, sex, stature and ethnicity. The identification process involves comparing two sets of information  data collected about a person, compared with information from the dead body. Forensic pathologists look for features that match.

In many cases, there is a coordinated effort by different agencies  coroner, law enforcement agencies and the forensic pathologist. If a possible match is found, all the relevant information must be checked for accuracy and consistency. However, not all evidence has the same value for identification. For example, if the clothing found with the body appears to match the description given in the ante-mortem record, this provides only a presumptive identification, not a positive identification.

On the other hand, if the fingerprints taken on the body match the fingerprints taken when the person was alive, this is considered a positive identification, because the probability of two individuals having the same print is very low. Positive identification may also be made through ante-mortem and post-mortem comparisons of dental or medical X-rays, distinct fractures, tattoos or particular diseases.

The final confirmatory identification today is by DNA analysis. It was Sir Alec Jeffreys, a British geneticist, who developed techniques for genetic fingerprinting and DNA profiling, which are now used worldwide in forensic science to assist police detectives in their work, and to resolve paternity and immigration disputes.

Sir Jeffreys worked on mammalian genes as a research fellow. He came to the University of Leicester in 1977, where in 1984, he discovered a method of showing variations between individuals DNA, inventing and developing genetic fingerprinting.

In the April 21 disaster, it is extremely important to correctly identify the perpetrators, or the suicide bombers.

The Government Analysts Department (GAD) said last month that DNA tests had matched, and confirmed the identity of the suicide bombers. The tests were performed by GAD using blood samples collected from their close relatives.

One of the Shangri-La bombers was Zahran Hashim, the leader of the local jihadist group responsible for the attacks. Hashim headed the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ). He attacked the Shangri-La with Ilham Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim. Ilhams elder brother Inshaf Ahmed was the man who bombed the Cinnamon Grand hotel. The Kingsbury, was bombed by Mohamed Azzam Mubarak Mohamed.

St Anthonys Church was targeted by local resident Ahmed Muaz. The St Sebastian bomber was Mohamed Hasthun, a resident from the islands east. The Christian Zion church in Batticaloa was hit by local resident, Mohamed Nasser Mohamed Asad.

The man who failed to set a bomb off at a luxury hotel, but detonated his explosives at a guest house in Dehiwela was identified as Abdul Latheef.

Shortly after the hotel bomb attacks, Fathima Ilham, the wife of the younger of the two brothers, blasted explosives strapped to herself, killing her two children and three police officers who rushed to the family home in Colombo.

Professor Ravindra Fernando

(Emeritus Professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University of Colombo, Senior Professor of Forensic Medicine, Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. He can be contacted via ravindrafernando@hotmail.co.uk)
Is there someone i can't love Bts? The members of the South Korean band are charming and are a role model of teamwork. Although we sometimes see them as a very close family, sometimes they need their time separated from
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Cloudy skies this evening. A few snow showers developing late. Low -7C. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 30%.
The Vinyl Haven owner Keesha Allen stands near some of her heat-transfer vinyl sheets. The store specializes in providing people with the tools they need to make customized decals for shirts, coffee cups and more.
The UAE has successfully delivered its central objectives at the first UN-Habitat assembly held recently in Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The worlds highest-level decision-making body on sustainable urbanisation, UN-Habitat Assembly took place from May 27 to 30 under the theme, Innovation for a Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities  Accelerated Implementation of the New Urban Agenda towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The event saw urban practitioners and experts, national, regional and local governments, academia, civil society and the private sector come together with a shared focus on innovative urbanisation and solutions for a better quality of life in global communities, said a statement from Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities.

A delegation headed by Mohamed Al Khadar, the executive director for strategic affairs of the Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities, outlined12 priorities identified for sustainable urbanisation in the Mena region to UN Member States.

These priorities were crowdsourced from the recent Pan-Arab Urban Development Symposium (PAUDS) held in Abu Dhabi.

Classified in three categories corresponding to each of the four pillars  Economy, Environment, Society and Culture - these will form the basis for the UAE programme at the tenth World Urban Forum, WUF10, which will take place in the nation's capital in February 2020.

Commenting on the announcement, Al Khadar said, "The UN-Habitat Assembly provided a unique opportunity for Abu Dhabi to advance the UAEs agenda for the upcoming World Urban Forum."

"Through our work at this event we aimed to underpin WUF10s goal to be an open platform for partnerships and new initiatives in representation of our best minds," he stated.

The UN-Habitat Assembly is the United Nations focal point for sustainable urbanisation and human settlements development. The event saw the adoption of global norms and policies that will guide how cities and communities are planned, managed and governed.

It will also determine the strategic priorities for accelerating implementation of the New Urban Agenda to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for the next six years, through UN-Habitats Strategic Plan (2020-2025).

WUF10 will take place in Abu Dhabi in February 2020, convened by UN-Habitat and jointly organised with the Abu Dhabi Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities.

WUF10 will showcase the Abu Dhabi Plan, through which the city aims to realise its long-term sustainable development vision. This blueprint will advance concrete achievements that position the Emirate as a benchmark, in a region with one of the fastest urbanisation rates on the globe.

Al Khadar went on to note that to advance to more sustainable urban models, there is a need to identify new ways of "working together, breaking down silo mindsets, and promoting transformative working methods."

"What better way to do that than to open up the conversation to fresh and creative thinking as we did at PAUDS, and we are happy to have continued this momentum with the brilliant collection of minds at UN-Habitat," he added.

A reception also took place on the sidelines of the UN-Habitat assembly, promoting the 2020 World Urban Forum.

The Forum will provide a platform to discuss 21st Century city planning within a context of rapid development with specific cultural and demographic considerations.-TradeArabia News Service
Raysut Cement Company, one of Omans largest cement manufacturers, said it has acquired its rival Sohar Cement Factory for $60 million as part of its ambitious plan to boost its capacity in the rapidly growing markets, mainly Africa.

This acquisition brings up Raysut Cement's cement capacity to 6.4 million tonnnes per annum, said the Muscat Securities Market-listed company in a statement.

Raysut, which had purchased all of Sohar Cements shares effective May 19, will immediately begin integration of the company located at the Sohar Industrial Estate in Oman,

The Omani cement group had earlier outlined its plans to expand its reach through acquisitions in Africa.

As a next expansion phase, Raysut will be looking at India, where it is likely to enter through acquisitions, it stated.

"The acquisition of Sohar Cement forms part of Raysuts ambitious plan to expand its capacity in 2019 to not only supply to its domestic higher demand Northern markets but also to service the rapidly growing markets, particularly in Africa and to focus on diversification and grow outside the Gulf region," remarked CEO Joey Ghose.

The Sohar acquisition also includes taking over the 20 per cent stake of Fujairah Cement in the company, stated the top official.

We are looking at an aggressive expansion strategy from 2019 with a view to eventually expand our production to 20 million tonnes per annum, noted Ghose.

The company had posted a growth of 26.6 per cent in revenues last year with turnover recorded at RO91 million ($236 million), a significant growth from RO71.8 million ($186 million) in 2017.-TradeArabia News Service
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday named his trusted aide Amit Shah, the chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to the key home affairs ministry as part of a major cabinet shakeup for his second term in office.

Regarded as the architect of Modi's landslide victory in the recently concluded general election, Shah replaces senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who will now be defence minister.

In this powerful post, Shah will be responsible for internal security with a control over the federal police. He will now pursue Modi's nationalist agenda in internal security, immigration and other key national issues, said local media reports.

Besides Shah and Singh, the cabinet boasts senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari continuing in his earlier portfolio of Minister of Road Transport and Highwaysand at least one surprise pick, former foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Nirmala Sitharaman moved from defence to become finance minister in a second shock, while career diplomat S. Jaishankar became India's new external affairs minister.

Former finance minister Arun Jaitley opted out of this government due to ill health, said media reports.

Jaishankar, a former foreign affairs secretary, will take over from Sushma Swaraj, the ruling party's veteran leader and the previous most senior woman in the cabinet. She has also stepped aside due to poor health.

This is the first time that a diplomat has been appointed as India's foreign minister.

Jaishankar is widely considered a tough negotiator and is credited with diffusing tensions with China in 2017 over the Doklam plateau, a border standoff that lasted several weeks.

He also played a major role in brokering the historic India-US nuclear deal during the prime ministership of Manmohan Singh.

In fact, Singh, who attended the swearing-in ceremony, was one of the fist people to congratulate him as he stepped off the stage after taking the oath.

"It shows that the prime minister is serious about foreign policy, and secondly, that he is entrusting it in the hands of a professional," Lalit Mansingh, a former foreign secretary, told Reuters.

Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the Nehru-Gandhi family bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, was made the Minister of Women and Child Development and was also given the charge of Ministry of Textiles, which she headed in the previous Modi government.

Congratulations to @AmitShah ji who transformed BJP into one of the largest political organisations in the world and will now play a bigger role in building #NewIndia, tweeted Irani lauding Shah as she took over the new post.

The list of other cabinet ministers includes:

DV Sadananda Gowda - Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers

Ramvilas Paswan - Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Narendra Singh Tomar - Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development; and Minister of Panchayati Raj

Ravi Shankar Prasad - Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology

Harsimrat Kaur Badal - Minister of Food Processing Industries

Thaawar Chand Gehlot - Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment

Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' - Minister of Human Resource Development

Arjun Munda - Minister of Tribal Affairs

Harsh Vardhan - Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology; and Minister of Earth Sciences

Prakash Javadekar - Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Minister of Information and Broadcasting

Piyush Goyal - Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Industry

Dharmendra Pradhan - Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi - Minister of Minority Affairs

Pralhad Joshi - Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey - Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Arvind Ganpat Sawant - Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise

Giriraj Singh - Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat - Minister of Jal Shakti.

Key cabinet decisions

A day after taking oath, the new cabinet met on Friday and approved the extension of the PM-KISAN scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers across the country. The first meeting was held at the Prime Minister's Office in South Block.

The extension will cost Rs 87,000 crore a year. A pension scheme worth Rs 10,000 crore, which will benefit five crore farmers, was also announced.

Announcing the two key decisions, Agriculture Minister Tomar said the Modi 2.0 government has announced the landmark decisions for the farming community in its very first Cabinet meeting.

"The Union Cabinet has approved to extend the ambit of the scheme by including all land holding eligible farmer families under the scheme, subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria," he said after the meeting.

The government also approved a new scheme, which assures a minimum monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to all shopkeepers, retail traders and self-employed persons after attaining the age of 60. The decision is expected to benefit more than three crore retail traders and shopkeepers.

Terming the decisions taken by the Cabinet as path-breaking, PM Modi said farmers and traders would benefit greatly from them. "The decisions will enhance dignity and empowerment of several Indians.PM Modi People first, people always," Modi said in a tweet.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that five crore traders are expected to join the scheme in the next three years.

"All shopkeepers and self employed persons as well as retail traders with GST turnover below Rs 1.5 crore and aged between 18-40 years can enrol for the scheme," an official statement said.
Turkish Airlines has restarted direct flights from its hub Istanbul to Strasbourg, thus adding the city to the list of its destinations in France. The national flag carrier will operate four weekly flights on the sector till October 25.

Announcing the relaunch of the flights, the Turkish airline said Strasbourg is its seventh destination in France linking its flight network that covers 124 countries of the world.

The airline started flights to Strasbourg Entzheim Airport from yesterday (May 31) thus becoming its third international destination this year after Sharjah in UAE and Marrakech in Morocco.

The flight TK 1455 took off yesterday from Istanbul at 8.35am and landed in Strasbourg Entzheim Airport (SXB) at 10.45am.

Turkish Airlines Southern Europe VP for Sales, Omer Faruk Sonmez attended the inauguration ceremony held in Strasbourg to welcome the flight along with other senior French airport officials.

This flight will operate on Mondays and Fridays in this sector till October 25. On return, the flight TK 1456 will leave SXB at 11.40am and arrive in Istanbul at 3.30pm, said the statement form the flag carrier.

Its other service, TK 1457 will start operations from Istanbul tomorrow (June 2) taking off from the Turkish airport at 3.30pm and landing in SXB at 5.40pm. This flight will operate on Wednesdays and Sundays in this sector till October 23. On return, TK1458 will depart from SXB at 6.35pm and arrive in Istanbul at 10.25pm.

Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 335 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 310 worldwide destinations as 260 international and 50 domestic, in 124 countries.-TradeArabia News Service
More Somali refugees opt to return from war-torn Yemen

United Nations, Jun 1 (UNI) More Somali refugees are leaving war-torn Yemen, and choosing to return home, amid rising safety fears.

Thats according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) which said on Friday that the latest boat carrying 125 refugees departed the port city of Aden this week, bringing men, women and children back to Somalia  where insecurity is also rife  in time for the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

A total of around 4,300 have returned to the Horn of Africa country, since the rollout of a UNHCR-facilitated Assisted Spontaneous Return programme, in 2017.
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By WestKyStar & MSU Staff Jun. 01, 2019 | 06:51 AM | MURRAY

The Murray State University Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business has added health administration, economic development and business analytics concentrations to its Master of Business Administration program, which is offered entirely online, on-campus or a mixture of both.Murray States MBA program prepares students for a variety of occupations and careers, from financial planning to branding, product, marketing and service management to consulting and more. Comprised of seven courses and three electives, students can tailor their path toward an MBA to fit their specific career interests. Concentrations include marketing, human resources management, finance, accounting (available on-campus only) and more.In the last year, the program has added concentrations in economic development, health administration and business analytics, with a concentration in cybersecurity to launch in fall 2019.According to projections from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, MBA graduates in the class of 2019 will see an average starting salary more than $25,000 higher than graduates with a bachelors degree in business.The program is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a credential only awarded to less than 5 percent of 16,000-plus business schools worldwide."Murray State offers an AACSB-accredited quality MBA program either 100 percent online or on-campus with one of the lowest costs in the country for such a program, said Dr. Joy Humphreys, MBA program director and assistant dean of the College of Business.Students who have earned their CFP (certified financial planner) certification or have completed programs at the LSU Graduate School of Banking or the Barret Graduate School of Banking may receive prior learning credit to fast-track earning an MBA at Murray State.Murray State University provides opportunities for students through a high-quality education with experiential learning, academic and personal growth and the ability to secure a lifetime of success. Since 1922, the true value of higher education has been found at Murray State University, where our commitment is to afford endless opportunities for developing leaders in the community, the country and the world. The Universitys main campus is located in Murray, Ky., and includes five regional campuses. For more information about Murray State University, please visit murraystate.edu.

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He earned a Bachelor's of Science in biology from the University of Kentucky in 1997, along with a Master's Degree in education in 1999. He completed a Rank I in school administration from Murray State University and his superintendent certification from the University of the Cumberlands in 2017.



"I am honored to be chosen as the next Assistant Superintendent of McCracken County Public Schools. As my role changes within this school district, I look forward to working with all of our schools ensuring that our students have lives filled with opportunities and choices," Ceglinski said. "Our school district is filled with wonderful people and I count myself lucky to be a small part of this great family."Ceglinski began his career as a biology teacher at his alma mater, Lone Oak High School (class of 1993), where he later served as assistant principal. In the 2010-11 school year, he was named interim principal of Heath High School and has also served as principal of Ballard Memorial High School. Before becoming the principal of McCracken County High School in 2012, Ceglinski served as the Director of K-12 Instruction for McCracken County Public Schools, having held the instructional director position since 2008.Incoming superintendent Steve Carter said that going through the process of interviewing candidates for this position confirmed to him that McCracken County Public Schools has an unbelievable caliber of individuals who serve our students."McCracken County Public Schools has wonderful educators who focus on what is best for the students in our district," said Carter. "I look forward to working with Mr. Ceglinski in his new role."Interim superintendent Heath Cartwright expressed his support of Carter in the selection of Ceglinski."I am confident in Mr. Carter's choice for Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction and Director of Technology," said Cartwright. "I have had the privilege of working with Michael Ceglinski throughout his career in McCracken County Public Schools. His passion for education along with his experience and personality make him an excellent fit in this role."
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 31, 2019 | 07:11 PM | PADUCAH





The city of Paducah's Parks Department has been fined $37,150 for safety violations, but that amount could be lowered after a meeting with state officials to discuss some of the complaints filed by an employee last year.On Thursday, the city received a report from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet Division of Occupational Safety and Health Compliance. It listing the violations and penalties from inspections in November 2018 and February 2019 of facilities maintained by the Parks Department.In a press release, the city says it has reviewed the report, with all violations requiring correction by June 3. However, the city says staff will attend an informal conference with state officials on June 7 in Frankfort. The city plans present evidence showing their efforts to correct these issues, and hopefully adjust the level of penalties incurred.The city says the November 2018 inspection of specific Parks & Recreation Department facilities was performed after the Labor Cabinet got a complaint. During the inspection, it was noted that several of the complaints were unfounded or inaccurate. However, other safety concerns were noted, and the city says they have since been corrected or are being addressed.Parks and Recreation Director Mark Thompson said in January that most of the issues had already been resolved, but the final report could contain issues that had not previously been mentioned.In Friday's press release, Thompson said, I have appreciated the opportunity to work with Kentucky Labor Cabinet. The inspections have been great opportunities to reinforce the importance of wearing personal protective equipment, maintaining and inspecting equipment, and stocking necessary supplies and hazard mitigation equipment. The Citys employees have made these topics part of weekly safety briefings and daily discussions.Violations in the report include lack of safety equipment, improper testing or storage of that equipment or lack of training or written procedures for it; lack of signage or written policies for specific jobs or areas, and broken lights or sharp edges on utility trailers used by employees.Safety violations listed by the Labor Cabinet included:Broken lights on utility trailers and sharp edges on metal flooring of those trailers - $3,400Eyewash station and shower not available when exposed to chemicals at Robert Coleman Sprayground - $4,250Eyewash station not tested each month at Noble Park Pool - $4,250Protective clothing and equipment not provided at Robert Coleman Sprayground and Maintenance Shop when workers could have been exposed to hazardous materials - $4,250Proper signage not in place limiting access to confined spaces (pump pits) at Noble Park Pool and Robert Coleman Sprayground - $7,000Written policies and proper training not provided for employees who may enter confined spaces (pump pits) at Noble Park Pool and Robert Coleman Sprayground - $7,000 each (total $14,000).Emergency action plan not reviewed with employees - $0Safety doors, ramps and sills not installed for inside rooms used for storing combustible materials - $0Workplace hazard assessment not certified at Maintenance Shop, Noble Park Pool and Robert Coleman Sprayground - $0Written, workplace-specific respiratory protection program and procedures not provided at Noble Park Pool and Robert Coleman Sprayground - $0Medical evaluation not performed, annual training not performed, and fit test not performed before employees were required to wear respirators at Noble Park Pool and Robert Coleman Sprayground - $0 eachProper storage not ensured for respirator equipment at Noble Park Pool and Robert Coleman Sprayground - $0Portable fire extinguishers not visually inspected at least monthly - $0Electrical breaker box blocked by stored supplies and equipment - $0Safety Data Sheets not accessible by employees for all hazardous substances in Maintenance Shop - $0Proper training not conducted about new chemical hazards in the workplace - $0You can read the entire report by clicking the link below.

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By West Kentucky Star Staff

May. 31, 2019 | PADUCAH

By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 31, 2019 | 12:52 PM | PADUCAH

A man arrested about a month ago is now facing an additional charge.



According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, 20-year-old Jeremiah Fuentes was arrested on April 30 after deputies responded to a burglary in progress on North Friendship Road. He was charged with burglary, hindering prosecution, and for possession of meth, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was also charged with carrying a concealed weapon when deputies found a .38 handgun on him.



Since then, Sheriff's Detectives and agents from ATF investigated the weapon and traced it to the original owner, who didn't know the gun was missing from her home in the Farley area. She had purchased it fifteen days before it was seized by deputies with the STORM team.



After interviewing Fuentes, detectives said on Friday they have also charged him with receiving stolen property (firearm) for having the pistol.



Fuentes is still in the McCracken County Jail from the April 30 arrest.
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 31, 2019 | 02:31 PM | PADUCAH

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Tinsley told West Kentucky Star that due to recent retirements, the number of firefighters now stands at 54, down from the 59 which is considered to be fully staffed.



A recent report from the International Association of Firefighters, at the request of the Paducah Professional Firefighters Union (IAFF Local 168), says the department needs even more staffing - 24 people on each shift instead of the current 18. They say this would increase the overall response time for a significant geographic area in the city. City leaders have not yet discussed the report.





Tinsley said the current new recruiting class will spend 20 to 22 weeks in training, which will put them into service before January 1st of 2020.





The Fire Department operates five stations within the city limits of Paducah.



The Paducah Fire Department is adding firefighters to their ranks, which will bring their total up to 59 by the end of this year.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

May. 30, 2019 | MURRAY

By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 30, 2019 | 12:13 PM | MURRAY

Murray State University and the Hutson School of Agriculture held a kickoff celebration May 29 to recognize foundational partners for its new Center for Agricultural Hemp, as well as to thank Kentucky Congressman James Comer for his work in revitalizing the Commonwealth's hemp industry.



The event took place in the Murray Room of the CFSB Center and featured speakers including Comer, Murray State President Dr. Bob Jackson, Hutson School of Agriculture Dean Dr. Tony Brannon, Assistant Dean Dr. Brian Parr and representatives from each of the center's initial Foundational partners: CV Sciences, Vertical Wellness, GenCanna Global, Unified Ag Holdings, Inc. and Fibonacci HempWood.



"I think we're going to look back in a few years and recognize this as a watershed moment for the University and the Hutson School of Agriculture," Jackson said. "We thank Congressman Comer for his hard work. He has spent a lot of time developing legislation to drive this industry forward, and we appreciate his efforts."



Comer, who first worked as the Kentucky commissioner of agriculture to legalize hemp farming in the Commonwealth with a pilot program in 2014, praised Brannon and Murray State for their foresight in supporting the industry.



"Murray State deserves to be where they are today: one of the leading industrial hemp research and development universities in the United States," Comer said. "It took a lot of courage for Dr. Brannon to take those seeds. No university had planted hemp since World War II. I don't think any other university would have planted hemp seeds if it weren't for Murray State."



The University's leadership within the area of hemp exploration is historic and diverse within higher education. Murray State planted the first legal agricultural hemp research plot on May 12, 2014, with seeds supplied by CV Sciences. Since that time, the University has been on the front line of exploration of the crop, hosting field days while continually working with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, local farmers, researchers, legislators, companies and partners to assist in the development of the industry within the region and commonwealth.



The 2018 Farm Bill, which reclassified hemp as an agricultural commodity, has continued to extend excitement and further interest toward the crop and its many possibilities. In the past five years, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture pilot program has expanded exponentially under the leadership of Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles. The KDA recently approved an expansion in planting to include up to 52,000 acres in the 2019 crop production year, with a substantial amount of this acreage within Murray State's service region.



"We're all building this from the ground up," Brannon said. "This is why industry partner support is so important. We couldn't do this with the help of just one or two of these groups; all these five partners have stepped up and we need even more. They say a rising tide raises all ships, and that couldn't be any more true for this industry."



Parr introduced guests from each partner industry, pointing out their expertise in a wide variety of hemp-related manufacturing outputs spanning CBD oil and food additives to hemp-based flooring.



"What we're doing here is special, but we needed that boost from our partners," Parr said. "They have realized that to grow this industry, it's important that we pool our resources together to research, grow and process hemp."



Established earlier this year, the center will focus on several primary topics and initiatives involving agronomy, cannabinoid science, agribusiness, economics and finance, animal feeds and fibers, education, hemp policy, workforce development and agricultural hemp farming.



The new center will be administered by the University's Hutson School of Agriculture in coordination with industry partners while continuing to position Murray State as a leader in research, education, policy and innovation within the hemp industry.
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 31, 2019 | 09:27 PM | SALT LAKE CITY

According to KTVX ABC-4, an undercover officer was contacted by a man looking for a sexual partner.





The suspect, identified as Logan Blackman of Salt Lake City, was told the teen he was talking to was 13.





Police said the conversation quickly turned sexual and Blackman told the minor he wanted to meet for sex and asked the minor to exchange nude photos, according to court documents.





Documents further stated Blackman then made arrangements with the minor to meet in the area where they both lived. When Blackman arrived, he was taken into custody.





During a search of Blackman's phone, police discovered he had sent sexual pictures and messages the previous day to an actual 16-year-old boy and had arranged to meet the teen for sex, documents state.



Blackman told officers he "jokingly" told the 16-year-old they should do something sexual with elementary school kids and mentioned "a Kindergartner", according to arresting documents





A background check on Blackman by ABC-4 shows he has no criminal history in Utah.



A former Paducah man has been arrested on child sex charges in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Qiu Shuang (left) with the pharmacy director of the China-Guinea Friendship Hospital[For Women of China]

China-Guinea Friendship Hospital (CGFH) officially opened in Conakry, capital of the Republic of Guinea, in April 2012. Qiu Shuang, a pharmacist at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, and 18 healthcare workers joined the 26th medical team from Beijing to work at CGFH on July 12, 2017.

Qiu is responsible for the management of high-risk poison hemp and expired medicines, the supervision and treatment of adverse drug reactions and the promotion of clinical pharmacy information at CGFH. She is also responsible for managing pharmaceuticals and distributing medicines to patients at the clinic, located near the Chinese medical team's residence.

"It was rainy season when we first arrived in Guinea.I was not able to adapt to the humid weather in the beginning, and I suffered from dermatitis. But I told myself that I couldn't slack at my work." Qiu says.

"The CGFH's pharmacy was short of hands and lacked effective medicine administration.I told them how Chinese doctors worked in China, and I raised their awareness of the safety and efficacy of drug use," Qiu says.

She has created French-language PowerPoint presentations based on her own experiences, and she has trained local doctors on pharmaceutical science, clinical drug use, pharmaceutical care and checking prescriptions. An ancient Chinese proverb states it is better to teach a person how to fish than to give him a fish. To improve local healthcare services, the Chinese medical team established a one-on-one mentoring system. Each member of the team is responsible for guiding and teaching a local medical worker.

Qiu Shuang (right) checks the blood pressure of a Guinean woman.[For Women of China]

"The director of the pharmacy of CGFH is my 'student.' She is very nice to me. She likes to call me 'my teacher' and 'my friend' in Chinese. She sent me a tailor-made traditional dress as a gift. She and her colleagues have also invited us to join their celebration of traditional festivals. That is the way for them to express gratitude to us," Qiu says.

Statistics indicate that, since 1963, China has sent 21,000 medical workers to more than 50 African countries, and they have treated 220 million African patients and trained 80,000 African medical workers. The friendship between Chinese and African people has deepened over the past decades.

Qiu is fixed-asset administrator at CGFH. "China's medical aid, including medicines and medical equipment, has been well- received by the locals. We discuss and submit their needs and applications (to Chinese government), so more people will benefit," Qiu says.

"The initiative on healthcare will bring more advanced and comprehensive health and medical care to African people, and it will train more professional doctors to safeguard African people's health. The healthcare workers in Guinea are all very happy, and they are looking forward to it," Qiu says.

"I witness and participate in the building of an even stronger China -Africa community with a shared future. My experience in Guinea is the most brilliant part in my medical career," Qiu says.

Qiu Shuang (second from right) gives a handbook of pharmaceuticals, which she compiled, to a doctor at the China-Guinea Friendship Hospital.[For Women of China]

(Women of China English Monthly March 2019 issue)
A little girl thumbs-up an attendant on the train Z102 running along the 3,056-kilometer route from Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province, to Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, Jan 21, 2019. [cnjiwang.com]

China is training more child welfare directors and strengthening its child welfare system in an effort to protect the country's children from violence and abuse.

Wang Zhenyao, dean of the China Philanthropy Research Institute in Beijing, said that China's child welfare directors are appreciated both by government and the children for whom they care.

China has made progress in child welfare, but the country's systems have developed unevenly, with effective child services unavailable to children in remote areas in Central and West China.

Building a professional child welfare protection system remains a priority for China, according to a report by the institute.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has since 2010 worked with UNICEF, piloting the Barefoot Social Worker project to help children in villages affected by violence and abuse.

The network of so-called child welfare directors, also known as Barefoot Social Workers, consisted of about 665,000 by the end of 2018. Among them, 45,000 serve in townships and sub-district administrative units, while 620,000 are in villages, according to the ministry.

Cynthia McCaffrey, UNICEF's representative in China, said that investing in training and support for these directors has had a significant impact.

"UNICEF, with the government of China, provides basic knowledge about the importance of child welfare and a holistic approach to child development. This includes how one safely stimulates a child and gives care, nutrition, love and companionship, making sure they understand those important elements that help children to develop and to be safe and happy," she said.

She said that UNICEF also provides guidance on where and how directors can seek help and support.

Gauden Galea, WHO representative in China, said that the types of violence children may face include bullying at school and sexual abuse.

"The social workers here (child welfare directors) are generally trained to respond to these incidences and children know that there is a network of social workers that has been set up. This would be of great help in themselves knowing where to go," he said.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
China will air a celebration gala to mark International Children's Day as well as the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Young Pioneers (CYP) on Saturday.

The gala, produced by China Central Television (CCTV), will feature a variety of performances including songs, dances, traditional arts and magic shows.

A number of prominent figures from different fields, such as Sun Yang, ace swimmer and Olympic gold medalist, and Liu Yang, the first female astronaut in China, will be present.

According to Xu Beibei, the gala's director, patriotism and traditional culture will be featured prominently in the gala. Some of the performances will also feature elements of the 2022 Winter Olympics that will take place in China.

First founded in 1949 and led by the Communist Party of China, the CYP is a national mass organization for Chinese children aged six to 14 years, mostly primary and secondary school students.

The gala will be aired on TV and be available for viewers online at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

(Source: Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks at a key meeting to launch a campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission" among all Party members in Beijing, capital of China, May 31, 2019. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Friday reiterated the Party's original aspiration and mission, which is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at a key meeting to launch a campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission" among all Party members, especially officials at or above the county and director level.

Seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation is the fundamental driving force behind the heroic fight of generations of CPC members, Xi said.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng attended the meeting.

Wang Huning, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the leading group of the campaign, delivered closing remarks.

The launch of the campaign is an urgent need for arming the whole Party with the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, advancing Party building in the new era, maintaining the Party's close ties with the people, as well as achieving the goals and accomplishing the tasks put forward at the 19th CPC National Congress, according to Xi.

The Party's fundamental purpose of whole-heartedly serving the people, and its historic mission of realizing national rejuvenation should be kept firmly in mind, he said.

Xi said the campaign should adhere to high standards and strict demands, push Party members to rectify and adjust themselves with a clear purpose, avoid the practice of formalities for formalities' sake and bureaucratism, and help solve major problems that the people are strongly concerned about.

The campaign will educate and guide all Party members and officials to deepen their understanding of the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era and the major policies of the CPC Central Committee, as well as to strengthen their beliefs of Marxism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said.

Through the campaign, CPC members should foster perseverance, think what the people are thinking and work together with the people, he said, adding that the campaign also aims to resolutely prevent and crack down on corruption.

Xi called on the Party members and officials to better arm themselves with theory and have the courage to reform themselves.

All areas, departments and organizations should list the prominent problems that need to be addressed and make efforts to solve them, Xi said.

Noting the campaign is under the leadership of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Xi asked Party committees and leading Party members groups at all levels to enhance supervision and guidance over the campaign.

The passion of Party members and officials unleashed by the campaign should be converted to achievements in their work, Xi said.

Xi's speech will be a guideline for strengthening the Party building in the new era, Wang Huning said in the closing remarks, urging all Party members to unify their thinking with the spirit of Xi's speech.

(Source: Xinhua)
The concert Our Common Homeland takes place at Peking University during the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations on May 18.[For China Daily]

From the traditional bamboo flute of Japan and the drums of South Asia to the domra from Russia, the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra presented a world music concert featuring more than 60 musical instruments from around the world at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations on May 18.

The concert Our Common Homeland took place at Peking University as one of the projects showcasing Asian culture during the conference. It was the latest example of the orchestra's effort in breaking the traditional concept of Chinese folk music, and "taking it to the context of world music," according to Luo Xiaoci, head of the SHCO.

Featuring an unprecedented collaboration between Chinese and foreign musical instruments, such as the Spanish guitar and Chinese pipa, the Russian balalaika and Chinese ruan, the concert first premiered in Shanghai in November.

Such inclusiveness is the greatest characteristic of Shanghai-style Chinese music, said Luo, who is also a national-award winning guzheng (Chinese zither) player and composer.

Rong Yueming, director of Literature Institute of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, says that this mash-up of musical instruments also reflects Shanghai's long-standing tradition of embracing diversity to sustain its cultural vitality.

"Inclusiveness has long been a key feature of Shanghai culture," says Rong, who also served as chief editor of the 2019 Shanghai Cultural Development Report compiled by SASS.

The report, which reviews the cultural development of Shanghai over the past year, says that the city has been an epicenter in China for the convergence of Chinese and Western cultures.

"For more than one century, the city has demonstrated great resilience in assimilating diverse cultures, which in itself has become a distinctive characteristic of what Shanghai culture is today," Rong says in the report.

He Jianhua, chief of the Shanghai Culture Research Center and former vice-director of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, shared a similar insight.

"In comparison with Beijing, which has concentrated on presenting the essence of traditional Chinese culture, Shanghai serves more like a platform for international cultural exchange. As a result, Shanghai culture has two facets - it is both Chinese and international," says He.

In a three-year action plan aimed at turning the city into an international cultural metropolis, authorities have encouraged industry players to create more original Shanghai productions and pave the way for more cultural products to be displayed and promoted across China and around the world.

As the birthplace of the Communist Party of China and one of the country's first five ports to open to international trade, Shanghai has a rich past to tap into to create original productions with an international reach, says the report.

SHCO's latest production of Our Common Homeland is just one of the many examples of productions that have flourished in recent years.
New NHS rock choir in North Wales gets ready for first big performance

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jun 1st, 2019

NHS staff, volunteers and members of the public have struck a positive note with the launch of a new rock choir.

Around 20 members of staff as well as former patients have begun rehearsing at Ysbyty Gwynedds Chaplaincy Centre to prepare for their first public appearance at ZipRoc Music Festival in this month.

The choir will perform one song on stage with The Betsi Blues Band whose members include Anaesthetist Dr Chris Thorpe, Consultants Dr Damian McKeon and Dr Chris Subbe and the Health Boards Chief Executive, Gary Doherty.

The new choir is the brainchild of Ysbyty Gwynedds Hospital Chaplain Wynne Roberts who has enlisted the help of singing performer and teacher Jenny Pearson to lead the choir.

He said: I was overwhelmed with the response and turnout to the first choir practice last week.

We are also really pleased to have Jenny Pearson leading us  I was amazed how quickly she had us all singing as one.

Its fantastic to have our first rock choir and there is still time for others to join!

The choir will perform on the same stage as Britpop legends Cast, Elin Flur and Bryn Fon when the festival takes place on 15 June.

The festival was set up in aid of the charity, Love Hope Strength, founded by Mike & Jules Peters, and raises funds for cancer services across North Wales.

Mike and Jules, who established Snowdon Rocks 13 years ago and now the 20km Snowdonia Rocks Wales and ZipRoc Festival, say they are delighted to have an NHS choir perform on the day.

It means a lot to myself and Jules to have an NHS choir made up of staff, volunteers and supporters playing a part in the day by singing at ZipRoc.

We would like to thank everyone for being part of this fantastic day which we hope will raise a significant amount of money for local cancer services, said Mike.

Nia Thomas, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Boards Head of Organisational Development, said: The choir is a wonderful way to bring staff and volunteers together to do something really enjoyable together outside the workplace.

Weve seen what a boost NHS choirs have given to staff elsewhere in the UK, so its just great to see our own NHS choir forming here in North Wales.

Two more rehearsals will take place at the Chaplaincy Centre in Ysbyty Gwynedd 

Tuesday, 4 June 5-6pm

Tuesday, 11 June 5-6pm

If you wish to join the choir please contact Wynne Roberts on wynne.roberts@wales.nhs.uk

For further information about the festival visit https://www.zipworld.co.uk/zip-world-rocks-2019
Police investigate as raven found poisoned on Ruabon moor  near where satellite-tagged hen harriers vanished last year

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jun 1st, 2019

A dead raven found on Ruabon Moor, near Worlds End, has been confirmed as deliberately poisoned  triggering a police investigation.

The bird was found dead on 28 August 2018 by a man who had been out photographing birds.

He said: I was coming home from Wrexham when I noticed the bird on the ground, away from the road in a little clearing of grass. It was upside down, its eyes sunken, and its feet in the air. It didnt look like it had been dead for long.

Thinking it may have been shot, he contacted the RSPBs Investigations Unit. Following liaison with the North Wales Police, Welsh Government arranged for toxicology tests on the bird. This revealed that the raven had been deliberately poisoned with the highly toxic insecticide bendiocarb which had been most likely been applied to a bait.

Police enquires in the area have failed to identify anyone responsible.

Ravens are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Killing one is a criminal offence and could result in an unlimited fine or up to six months in jail.

Ruabon Moor holds a significant proportion of the Welsh black grouse population and is an area managed for red grouse shooting. In 2018, two rare hen harriers named Heulwen and Aalin went off the radar in this general area, the birds had been fitted with satellite-tracking devices as part of the EU-funded Hen Harrier LIFE project.

Jenny Shelton, RSPB Investigations, says: It would seem that ravens and birds of prey are not welcome in this area, and naturally people will be asking why. There is a history throughout the UK of birds of prey and ravens being targeted on areas managed for intensive grouse shooting, due to the perceived threat these natural predators pose to the grouse. However, the law is plain: killing birds of prey and ravens is illegal.

On top of this, placing poison in a public area is hugely irresponsible. Many people will be bringing their families to places like this as the weather warms up. To think that a child or a family pet could have found this bird is outrageous. These crimes must stop before someone is seriously harmed.

Jenny continues: Ravens are beginning to recover in the UK after decades of persecution, and Wales is a key stronghold for these impressive birds. Spring  the start of the bird breeding season  is sadly a key time for the illegal killing of birds of prey and ravens. If you notice a bird of prey dead on the ground in suspicious circumstances, call the police right away.

North Wales Police are now appealing for information.

Rob Taylor, North Wales Police Rural Crime Team manager said The deliberate killing of a bird by poisoning is a serious risk to humans and other animals such as certain birds of prey who frequent the area. We are continuing our investigation and we ask members of the public who have information to contact us or ring Crimestoppers anonymously.

If you have any information relating to this incident, call North Wales Police on 101.

If you find a wild bird of prey which you suspect has been illegally killed, contact RSPB investigations on 01767 680551 or fill in the online form.

Or, to speak in confidence about bird of prey persecution taking place in your area, call the confidential Raptor Crime Hotline: 0300 999 0101. This number is for bird of prey-related matters only.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 00:18:56|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Palestinian medics help a wounded boy during clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, May 31, 2019. At least 11 Palestinians were injured on Friday afternoon during clashes between Gaza demonstrators and Israeli soldiers stationed on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said. (Xinhua)

GAZA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 Palestinians were injured on Friday afternoon during clashes between Gaza demonstrators and Israeli soldiers stationed on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told reporters that 11 demonstrators were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers' gunfire, adding that dozens suffered suffocation after inhaling tear gas fired by the soldiers.

Dozens of Palestinians joined on Friday, the 60th Friday of the weekly anti-Israel protests, better known as the Great March of Return and Breaking the Israeli siege which started in March 30 last year.

The Highest Commission of the Great March of Return had earlier called on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip populations to join the weekly protests to mark the International Day of Jerusalem.

Demonstrators gathered close to the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, burned tires, waved Palestinian flags, chanted slogans against Israel and the United States, clashed with the soldiers, and released arson balloons into southern Israel.

In eastern Khan Younis town in southern Gaza Strip, the demonstrators burned a symbolic puppet for U.S. President Donald Trump.

"Jerusalem was and will remain Palestinian, Arab and Islamic. It is the eternal capital of the state of Israel," said Ismail Radwan, member of the commission and a senior Hamas movement leader, who joined the protests in eastern Gaza.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy Hamas chief, told reporters in eastern Gaza city during his participation in the protests that "the crowds of people came here to send a message that Jerusalem is for the Palestinians and the Israelis have no place there."

In December 2017, Trump announced that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel and moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the city in May last year.

Al-Hayya said that the Palestinians "are united to reject the upcoming plan of the Americans, better known as the Deal of the Century, and also to reject the economic workshop that will be held in Bahrain on June 25."

"All these projects will fail and our people will walk on it," said al-Hayya, adding that "the Deal of the Century will not pass and Jerusalem will remain for the Palestinians because it is an Arab and Islamic city."

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, to be the capital of their independent Palestinian state, while Israel insists that the whole city is its eternal capital.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 00:59:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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LANZHOU, May 31 (Xinhua) -- After a 20-year absence, 40-year-old Wang Yongfu returned to school and chose two courses from an array of alternatives -- potato planting and sheep breeding.

He is among a group of farmers who have participated in a training program launched by the city of Dingxi, northwest China's Gansu Province, to help poor farmers master skills and start businesses.

The training system is lifting more and more people out of poverty in rural China.

Wang, born in Songchuan Village in Dingxi, used to work as a migrant worker. He had to return home two years ago because his family needed a laborer to do farming work.

On the barren and arid land, "it was difficult to make a fortune without any skills," he said.

Village cadres heard of his difficult situation and visited him with a list of various skill training courses.

"In the past, local people were reluctant to take part in training, regarding it as a waste of time," said Luo Jianguo, deputy director of the human resources and social security bureau in the city's Anding District.

But the local officials found a new way to attract attendees by printing 23 courses of seven categories on the calendars, distributing to every household.

The special calendar, about half a meter long, prints a wide variety of training courses at the bottom, such as "training for domestic workers" and "training in potato growing." Locals can choose training classes based on their needs.

At first, Wang did not believe that he could earn money after attending the training courses. But he finally decided to try when his neighbors dismissed his concerns telling him the courses were "pragmatic and easy to learn."

He attended potato planting and sheep breeding training classes in Dingxi polytechnic secondary school.

In the sheep breeding class, Wang, together with over 170 locals, learned knowledge such as epidemic prevention and forage ration from agricultural experts, and visited breeding enterprises.

Then he started his sheep breeding career with 18 sheep bought himself and five others offered free by the government.

He had a difficult start, as some of the sheep fell ill. With the help the experts overcame hardship and earned his first pot of gold, about 30,000 yuan (4,342 U.S. dollars) last year. Now, he owns more than 30 sheep and he is planning to expand the breeding scale.

Like Wang, many people in Dingxi earn more through taking training classes.

Ran Jiping, a resident from Daping village, can now earn extra hundreds of yuan each month by making hand-made tissue boxes at home, after attending related training courses. Last month, she managed to persuade several women in her village to join her in a knitting course.

Dingxi polytechnic secondary school trained more than 7,300 people in rural areas last year, and over 7,000 locals will attend the training courses this year.

The academy of agricultural science in Dingxi, another institution providing skill training, has offered a total of 11,000 attendees with learning opportunities by offering vivid "field classes."

China has set 2020 as the target year to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society and eradicating poverty. To achieve this goal, China needs to lift around 30 million poor rural residents out of poverty between 2018 and 2020.

Skill training has become an important channel for people in poverty-stricken areas to find a way out of poverty.

Some 1.63 million farmers have received skill training in southwest China's Guizhou Province, while more than 700 former migrant workers who returned to their hometown in Jialing district, Sichuan Province, have been reemployed by learning skills in evening schools.